30 questions.

Well, I guess it's better late than never ...

Back on July 5th, Neil entered this post in which he asked his readers to answer 30 question. Well, it took a while, but I finally answered all of the questions. When you read some of the stuff I wrote, you'll see why it took so long. Let me apoligize in advance for the ultra-long uber-nerdy response to the video game question.

1.Favorite Movie?
The Shawshank Redemption

2.Favorite Movie Character?
Yoda, particularly in "The Empire Strikes Back".

3.Favorite Novel, or Short Story?
"1984" by George Orwell

4.Favorite Poem?

There are a lot poems that I love. I remember particularly loving a lot of stuff by William Wordsworth and William Blake. However, it would bit a bit disingenuous of me to pick one of their poems, because I haven't really sat down and read a book of poetry since my college days. However, there are a lot of poetic song lyrics I really love, and I've never really stopped listening to music. Thus, I'm going to say that my favorite poem is the lyrics to the Beatles song "Eleanor Rigby". The previous link will bring you to a YouTube video of the song. However, if you've never heard the song, you might want to read the lyrics below first to get an idea of how well the words hold up all by themselves.

Aah, look at all the lonely people
Aah, look at all the lonely people

Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

Father McKenzie writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near.
Look at him working. Darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there
What does he care?

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

Aah, look at all the lonely people
Aah, look at all the lonely people

Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father McKenzie wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

5.Favorite Play?
King Lear

6.Favorite Actor or Actress at the moment?
I've always been a big fan of Gene Hackman's acting ability, so I'm going to give him the Top Prize here. Of course, Hackman's pretty much at the end of his career, but I can't really think of a relatively young actor/actress who really stands out from the crowd. However, I'll throw few names out there off the top of my head ( with the understanding that these actor/actresses may not be the best of their generation - they just happened to be the ones who popped into my head right now ).

Leonardo Dicaprio has been great in just about everything I've seen him in, and for that matter, so has Kate Winslet ( I actually haven't seen the "The Reader" or "Revolutionary Road", but I thought she was absolutely brilliant in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". ).

After I watched "Heathers", I thought Winona Ryder ( She was just 16 when this movie was made. ) was going to be the greatest actress of her generation. I really thought she deserved an Oscar nomination for that role. I was sure she would pick up a bunch of Oscars someday, but her career went into a downward spiral after Angelina Jolie outshone her in "Girl, Interrupted" ( Which just goes to show you that if you want to win an Oscar, you are always better off playing the bad girl/boy in a movie than the good girl/boy. ). Jolie won the Oscar for "Girl, Interrupted", and went on to make millions and marry Brad Pitt. Ryder wound up getting caught shoplifting.

Speaking of people who got famous from roles in teen movies, I think Reese Witherspoon is a really good actress. If you've never seen the movie "Election", you should rent it ASAP. I think that "Tracy Flick" is one of the more entertaining movie characters of all time, and Witherspoon played that role perfectly.

Let's see, both Ewen McGregor and Ralph Fiennes just popped into my head. McGregor is the only thing that made the new Star Wars movies watchable, and even though "Quiz Show" was nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture in 1995 ( Up against "Forrest Gump", "Pulp Fiction", "Four Weddings and a Funeral", and "The Shawshank Redemption", IMHO the greatest group of movies to be nominated for Best Picture in a given year. ), I think it is one of the most underrated movies of all time.

BTW, if you ever need to do a movie is which one of the characters also has to serve as the narrator, Morgan Freeman is the *ONLY* choice.

Oh, and I just happened to catch the last two-thirds of the movie "Children of Men". I've decided to give some props to Clive Owen, because he's been real good in just about everything I've seen him in.

7.Favorite Singer or Band at the moment?
The Beatles ( now and forever ).

8.Favorite Teen movie regardless of decade?
Heathers

9.Favorite Animal?
Dolphins ( Though I really hate the football team the Miami Dolphins ).

10.Favorite meal?
General Tso's Chicken

11.Favorite Fruit?
A Mango, or a pear during the 30 minutes or so when it is at the perfect level of ripeness. Nothing beats a perfectly ripe pear, but the window of pear perfection is so small that I guess mangoes win out overall.

12.Favorite Place that you've traveled to?
Disney World. :)
( It's the Happiest Place on Earth. )

13.Favorite anything with 13 in the title?
The movie "Apollo" 13 was pretty good, and I think the documentary ( "Apollo 13: To the Edge and Back" ) is even better. I love the story of Apollo 13 because it's one few stories where engineers are the real heroes.

14.Favorite Video Game?

This was the question I was most excited about answering. I've played a lot of video games systems over the years, so I'd like to name a favorite for each platform, along with an overall winner.

Before I start, let me note that I do not own any of the newest video game system ( Wii, Xbox 360, or Playstation 3 ). The last video game system I played seriously was the original Xbox. After Michael was born ( in October 2003 ), I stopped playing video games. I'll get back to video games someday, but not until the boys are old enough to play video games with me.

I'll now give a favorite for each system I've played in roughly chronological order ( PC games kinda span the time frame of a lot of the console systems ).

Atari 2600

I started playing the Atari 2600 so long ago ( back in about 1977 ) that back then it was simply called the Atari VCS ( for Video Computer System ). I probably spent more time playing the Atari than any other video game system - it really was the video game system of my childhood. Actually, the Atari VCS was really the first successful multi-cartridge/multi-game video game system. Before the Atari, most systems just played a single game, and they were really simple games like Pong ( The were a few multi-cartridge systems ( like the Fairchild Channel F ) which predated the Atari VCS, but none of them ever caught on ).

I played and loved so many Atari games that it is really hard to pick a favorite. Looking back at my Atari years, it's hard not to think of Pitfall.


Pitfall, which came out in 1982, was really a ground-breaking video game. The game involved running from one side of the screen to the other while avoiding and jumping over ( and jumping on - you had to jump on the crocodiles' heads sometimes ) various obstacles ( and swinging from vines - WEEEEEEEE!!!! ). Sound familiar? In a way, I think this game is really the grandfather of the Super Mario games that followed.

However, it's not my favorite Atari game ( My little brother could always kick my butt in Pitfall, so for that reason alone, it can't be my favorite. ). My favorite Atari game was Adventure.

Considering it was released in 1979, "Adventure" had extremely primitive graphics ( See the screenshot below. The yellow square is your character, and the "<-- " next to the square is your sword. ), but that was part of its charm ( Also, remember that back in 1979, we really didn't consider these graphics to be that primitive ).


Despite the primitive graphics, the game-play in "Adventure" was fantastic. There were keys to find, mazes to navigate, bridges to carry (???), castles to enter, dragons to slay, magnets (???) to use, and an enchanted chalice to find. Perhaps even more significantly, "Adventure" introduced the first widely known Easter egg to the video gaming world. If you did the right things, you could find a special room that had the message "Created by Warren Robinett". Unless you were a nerdy kid back 1979, you won't be able to fully comprehend how exciting it was to find that Easter egg.

Apple II+

The Apple II series was the first widely successful personal computer. The Apple II+ was the machine I learned to program on. It's probably the reason why I have the job I have today. When I wasn't writing games on the Apple II+, I was playing games. My favorite game was a game called Computer Baseball.

As you can see from the screen shot below, Computer Baseball also had really primitive graphics. However, the game was all about strategy, rather than graphics.


You see, I'm pretty much a baseball stats geek. I've probably been studying the science of Sabermetrics before the word Sabermetrics even existed. I won't bore anybody with details here except to say that there is a lot of math involved ( particularly probability and statistics ). Some of the things that Sabermetrics tries to determine are ...

1) Which baseball statistics correlate best with winning?

Baseball has kept many statistics for a long time, but many of the statistics traditionally used to determine "which players are the best" have been proven by emperical research to have a much lower correlation with winning than lesser known statistics. In fact, those who study Sabermetrics are constantly trying to come up with new statistical tools to determine which players actually help their teams win the most. For years, traditional baseball men have considered the Sabermetrics guys to be eggheads who have ( for the most part ) "never played the game", but over time these new statistics have gained acceptance. Baseball is now a billion-dollar business, and when baseball owners spend millions to acquire players, choosing the right players ( the ones that will help a team win ) can be the difference between making millions of dollars and losing millions of dollars.

2) How well can we predict what a player will do next year based on what he has done in the past.?

Once again, accurately predicting how a player is going to perform in the future can be the difference between making and losing millions of dollars. In order to do this, you not only need to take a player's statistics into account, but also factors like the player's age, height, weight, the stadiums the player has played in ( stats can be highly dependent on the environment a player plays in, so Sabermetrics folks figure out "park-factors" for each ballpark ), and the fielding abilities of the teams the player has played for ( if the player is a pitcher ).

3) What managerial strategies make most sense?

For a given set of players, what's the best batting line-up? What is the best pitching rotation, and how should innings be allocated to the relief pitchers? What's the best strategic move for a given game situation? How do various strategic moves affect the probability of winning a given game?

The last item above had the most relevance to Computer Baseball. When you played Computer Baseball ( either against the computer or against a friend ), you acted as a manager of of a team ( The Computer Baseball disk came pre-loaded with 26 famous historical teams, and you could add many more if you were willing to enter the all the statistics for other teams ( Which my brother and I eventually did ( using a huge copy of The Baseball Encyclopedia ) for more than 100 other teams. )). I already had an interest in managerial strategy when I got my copy of Computer Baseball, and the game allowed me to put many of the things I'd read about into practice. Also, as a huge baseball fan, it was fun to see how the simulated Sandy Koufax would do against the simulated Babe Ruth, or who would win a series between the simulated 1927 Yankees and the simulated 1975 Reds.

Because of my interest in how great baseball teams of the past might fare against each other, I set up a tournament between all teams that came with Computer Baseball. I gave 6 of the 26 teams a first-round bye and played 7-game series between all the teams until a champion was determined. Eventually my brother and I added more teams so we could have a 32-team tournament, and we eventually had a 64 team tournament ( We eventually added a bunch of the worst teams of all time and had a tournament between all of those teams. We also created All-Star teams, and even created teams full of superheroes and cartoon character - creating appropriate stats for each character ( Superman's stats: 600 at bats, 600 home runs, 100 walks and 300 stolen bases )). Eventually we got our friends involved and started a Computer Baseball league in which we played games against each other. This is how I spent a good deal of my leisure time in my early teen years. This also led to me playing in Strat-O-Matic baseball leagues ( Kinda like Computer Baseball, but more advanced despite the fact that no computers were involved in the game play. Instead, you rolled dice and then checked various charts/tables for each player and situation to see the results ) for three straight summers between the ages of 17 and 19. This all goes a long way in explaining why I didn't have a girlfriend until I was 21.

Arcade Games

I put a lot of quarters into "Super Punch-Out!!" during my freshman year of college.

Sega Genesis

It's hard not to say John Madden Football, because that's probably the most famous game to hit it big on the Genesis. I certainly played a lot of "Madden" in my day, but I'm going to give the prize here to NHL '94, which just might be the most acclaimed sports video game of all time. This game had such an impact that there are still websites like this dedicated to the game, and people still play in "NHL '94" leagues like this one.

After reading the paragraph above you might think that I'm a big hockey fan, but actually I'm not. I'm really a big basketball fan, and considering that hockey and basketball are played at the same time of the year, I almost never watch hockey. The fact the I love "NHL '94" so much is a testament to what a great game it is. Almost everything I know about hockey I know from playing the Electronic Arts ( EA ) hockey games for the Genesis. I played and loved every EA hockey game in the series, including the '93 version which was featured in the scene below from the movies "Swingers" ( They movies claims they are playing "NHL '94", but a video game geek like me can tell it's actually the '93 version of the game ).



PC Games

I just love adventure games where you walk around and talk to people to try to solve various puzzles and mysteries. My favorite game of this sort was "Grim Fandango". Unfortunately ( as the linked Wikipedia article notes at the end ), nobody really makes adventure games for PCs anymore.

Sega Dreamcast

The Sega Dreamcast system was really ahead of its time, and so was the game "Shenmue". You spend much of the game interacting with characters in an open-ended city environment. I've got to imagine that the makers of the Grand Theft Auto games were influence a little by this game.

Xbox

It hard not to pick Halo, which has always been considered to be the killer-app for the Xbox. There were times when I sat on the floor playing Halo for so long that my legs got numb. However, I've got to go with "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell". In this game, you play a secret agent who must sneak into secure locations to complete missions. You need to scale walls, hide in the shadows, and often need to sneak up behind people and club them in the back of the head ( and then hide the body before anybody notices anything. ). During the month or so that I played this game, I often had dreams about sneaking up on people and clubbing them in the back of the head.

And the winner is ...

When I first started to write this part of the blog post, I intended to name "Adventure" as my favorite video game, because it really did the most with the least. However, after writing that long section on "Computer Baseball", I realize that I've got to give "Computer Baseball" the prize. I mean, for goodness sakes, I loved that game so much that I played it to the detriment of my teenage social life. When I think back to how much I played that game, it's stunning that I had a enough social graces to eventually convince a woman to marry me.

And yet ...

... I don't regret a single minute I spent playing that game.

That, my friends, is one great video game.

15.Favorite Video Game Character?
Leisure Suit Larry

16.Favorite Animated Feature Film, no saying that I no longer watch them because I'm an adult because that reasoning is actually really childish?
Monsters Inc.

17.Favorite Animated Short, featurette, or TV special?
My favorite animated short is the Bugs/Daffy/Elmer cartoon "Rabbit Seasoning". I don't know how long the video below will be available before it is pulled for copyright violations, so enjoy it while you have the chance.



18.What's the craziest thing you've done while drunk?
I've answered this question before. See this blog post and look for the question "Have you ever done something outrageously dumb?".

19.Name a celebrity that you share a general birth date with?
I'm not sure If you mean somebody who was born in the same year at roughly the same time, or if you mean somebody who shares my birthday. I'll go with the later and say Martin Luther King, Jr. We were both born on January 15th. Starting in about 1986, MLK Day became a national holiday in the USA, and it is celebrated the 3rd Monday of each January. However, prior to that, every January 15th was holiday in New York City. Thus, I always got my birthday off from school when I was a kid. :)

20.Where is Waldo?
That's what the Mafia would like to know.

21.I say communitychannel you say that her real name is?
If you've got any doubts about whether I know the answer to this question, you can check out this blog post.

22.What's your favorite play by William Shakespeare?
King Lear.

23.Favorite Batman Villain?
The Joker.

24.Favorite Spider-Man Villain?
Dr. Octopus.

25.This one is just to check if you've been paying attention to some of Neil's relatively recent posts. Who on youtube does Neil claim has a smile that makes his brain melt?



26.What's your favorite game show?
Jeopardy.

27.What's your favorite TV show of all time?
Cheers

28.What do you think of when you think of Canada?
Hockey

29.Have you ever drawn or painted something seriously and if so, do you mind if I have a look just online of course?
Not really, but I once did have some of my artwork displayed in Lever House art gallery in New York City. When I was about in 3rd grade, there was a city-wide art project in which schoolkids were asked to draw a picture representing one of New York City's 5 boroughs ( Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, The Bronx, and Staten Island. ). I was from Queens, but a drew a picture of my Aunt's house in Staten Island. Somehow, mine was selected as the picture to represent Staten Island. So, we got to see the picture displayed at Lever House, and I was awarded a $50 savings bond or something like that. There really wasn't anything special about the picture. It was just your typical-looking kid drawing ( which is perhaps why they choose it ). So while I don't really have any talent for drawing or painting, I guess I can say that I've had my art displayed in a gallery. If I still had the picture I'd scan it, but I have no idea where it is these days.

30. To finish things off. What month of the year were you born?
January