Tag: nostalgia

A relic of ancient times

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I’m currently at my parents’ house in Virginia, and I was rooting through some old things in the basement.  I stumbled upon this magnificent jewel of the past.  My mom got this for me back in like 1989 on a cold Saturday morning after Korean school.  It was purchased from a Kiddie City Toys.  The original set of four AA batteries lasted all of three days as I, my sister and one of my cousins sought 100 lines in Tetris.

I can’t believe I remember all these little details.  It’s also hard to believe that the handheld division of Nintendo started with this brick, which actually doesn’t feel so much like a brick any more.  Granted, compared to an SP, it’s monstrous, but in my hands again, it didn’t feel like I was holding a hoagie or anything.  What an amazing journey it’s been for Nintendo in this regard; what started out as the puke green brick, ended up being the only thing keeping the entire company afloat when Pokemon games continued to sell in the midst of the CD-based console wars, and now Nintendo is among the triple crown of game companies all over again.  And now it’s called The 3DS.

But there would be no 3DS if not for this Game Boy.  Funny how things work out.

Closing out Borders appropriately

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

The demise of Borders bookstores legitimately makes me sad.  Considering I remember when I saw one for the first time at Springfield Mall when I was still just a young child, seeing their inevitable demise now is kind of like feeling the loss of something very familiar and a symbol of childhood.

Borders was always my preferred merchant of literature, over Barnes and Noble, and to some degree, even Amazon.com.  Mostly because of the coupons that Borders sent out on a very frequent bonus, and it enabled me to purchase my choice of books at a discount, at mostly my own convenience.  As opposed to Barnes and Noble’s bullshit “membership,” which cost actual money, in order to save 10% off purchases through the finite time frame of 365 days.  I don’t like having time limits attached to my hobbies, especially ones that cost money.

Continue reading “Closing out Borders appropriately” →

Ruining the classics

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

A long time ago, I used to really like Looney Toons. When my family first acquired cable when I was in the third grade, Looney Toons was almost literally, always on television. The TNT network was still very raw in those days, and they compensated for their lack of programming by having gigantic blocks of Looney Toons at almost all hours of the day. Before I left the house to go to the bus stop, I could watch some Bugs Bunny. The time in between returning from school and being forced to go piano lessons or Tae Kwon Do, there was more Looney Toons. In the evening, or on those nights where I couldn’t sleep, all I had to do was turn it to channel 100, and sure as shit, there would be some Looney Toons. Needless to say, I really liked Looney Toons.

Recently, I discovered that Cartoon Network has essentially created a new Looney Toons, and is currently in circulation. I won’t attest to making a conscious effort to check out this new show, as my television activities are pretty limited to baseball, wrestling, and sometimes Top Gear, but I did catch a few episodes in recent weeks.

Professional wrestling has taught me that adding “New” to anything is pretty much condemning it to suck. That being said, Cartoon Network’s New Looney Toons fucking sucks.

Continue reading “Ruining the classics” →

Over eleven years in the making

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

This serves as a preview picture of the 100 photos I took over the weekend, and a reminder that I am indeed in the brogging business.  May was a gauntlet of a month to begin with, and I’m hardly finding much time to catch up with personal brogging shit from a combination of prior engagements, baseball, family shit, and work.  But back from the wedding of my big gay brother, I am left with a feeling of happiness for him, and recognition of a good time altogether.  Pictures will be soon coming.

But in the mean time, this may be a picture of us all looking all polished, nice, and dapper, but approximately 4,234 days ago, this following picture was taken:

Continue reading “Over eleven years in the making” →

The end of madness

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Today is a sad day for those of us whom are professional wrestling fans, as it was discovered that legendary wrestling superstar, Macho Man Randy Savage died today in a car accident that was triggered by a heart attack while he was behind the wheel.  He was 58 years old.

Typically the deaths of wrestlers come as no surprise to me, as throughout the years, I’ve shrugged off the deaths of numerous sub-40 year old wrestlers whom I certainly do remember, but were mostly indifferent about their passings.  Renegade, Test, Rocco Rock, and Crash Holly come to mind as wrestlers who died early, mostly because of their own stupidity and/or drug problems.  There was a stretch between 2004-2008 where there was pretty much another wrestler dying on a monthly basis.  And every time, it was the same stories – heart failure.  Drug overdose.  Or both.

If they were big enough wrestlers, then the media would get a hold of the stories, and then point their fingers at steroids, and just how stupid professional wrestling is.  Otherwise, they would die in relative obscurity, except to those of us who remember them as enthusiasts.

But the death of Macho Man is different.  The death of Macho Man legitimately makes me feel a little bit sad.  Macho Man’s death isn’t just the death of one man, but it’s also the death of a small slice of childhood.

Continue reading “The end of madness” →

Holy shit

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I almost couldn’t believe it when I saw this, before I filled up my tank (for the first time since Wednesday). $140.00 to fill up someone’s car? Jesus Christ. And the thing is, I think that the vehicle being filled still wasn’t at full capacity, because of the unlikely event that the car was able to hit approximately $140.00 even on the pump. But no matter, $140.00 is ridiculous. I balked at the notion that filling my new car still encroached into the $40.00 territory, solely based on the asinine price of gas in the first place, but to stamp a Benjamin on top of that, I might as well just kill myself if that were my fate, because there’s no way I’d be able to sustain such fuel costs with how much I’m required to drive in the first place.

To put it in perspective, I’m going to assume that the vehicle is obviously in the class of a Ford Excursion, or super-crew Chevy Silverado, or something along those lines, based on the 35+ gallon fuel capacity. On a good day, these guys are averaging anywhere from 15-17 mpgs, so they’re getting anywhere from 540-600 miles on a tank of gas. Based on where I was filling up from, and the notion that most people work out in the city of Atlanta, or at least from where I was, not there, so I’m going to guess that if these people were like me, they’re putting anywhere around 300-400 miles on their vehicle during a five-day work week. Factor in recreational/weekend driving, and we’re looking at possibly the necessity to fill up once a week. At $140.00 a fill up.

In 1993, my parents bought me a Sega Genesis at a Price Club, for roughly $140.00. Think about that for a second – basically, whatever guzzler this person is driving could have literally bought an entire video game console, with a second controller and Ecco the Dolphin, every single week, for what they’re paying for in gasoline. Fuckin’ crazy.

A glance back in time

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

The last time I was up at my parents house, when they weren’t there, after they changed the locks and went to Costa Rica, I couldn’t sleep.  I was bored with computers, there were no sports on, and I was without an XBOX, so I eventually found my old high school yearbooks.  After spending about two minutes glancing back to junior, and senior year photos, slightly amused by the youth in mine, and everyone’s faces, I found my way to the signatures section, since I couldn’t give a shit less about anything else in these gigantic four pound editions.

The above drawing was drawn in my yearbook by my last high school crush.  Naturally, as many other teenagers, I went through my share of unrequited crushes, but this one was only one I ever really manned up and came out to admitting to, directly to her.  Naturally, right after graduation, so I wouldn’t have to really see her again if things went awry.  Surprisingly, it was not received poorly, and she even kissed me on the cheek before we parted ways and would never see each other again.  I vaguely remember feeling a sense of satisfaction, and slightly relieved that it went as well as it did, back in those days.

Continue reading “A glance back in time” →