Weird laptop thing...

I picked this up weird thing at a thrift shop recently:

It has a working keyboard and an actual mouse (not pictured... the fake mouse on the computer does nothing... ignore the rotate and start buttons.)

The graphics on the screen are ripped off from the internet.
Hey look:

Notice anything?

It came with a cartridge with 48 games:

 The games run on the Nintendo Famicom system (which was the Japanese version of the NES.) Most of the games seem to be ports of old Windows 3.1 programs.

You can type as Mario runs below you.

Not sure how much I will use this silly thing, but I am glad to have it.

Guy Hutchinson

Duck Hunt TV

Here is a neat little project I did this weekend.I was very pleased with the results and it was incredibly easy.

To start out I had an old TV. It was a square TV, but it had a nice flat screen with a bright clear image.

I bought a mount for it on eBay and put it up in my basement:

Look at that TV with it's sweet built in VCR!

I then took an old foam mounted poster I had. A sturdy piece of cardboard would have worked too.

I printed out a bunch of Duck Hunt images:

I included the "laughing dog". I love him. I am surprised to find how many people on the net hated him. It's like 50/50 between "I hate that dog" and "I'd hit dat".

Then I cut the foam board to match the size and shape of the TV leaving a spot for the remote control sensor:

Then I painted it blue and glued on the images on:

Then I just used a staple gun to staple it to the TV:

Not too shabby! Sure hanging the heavy TV was a bit back breaking... and yes, I did get some glares from the cashier at Kinkos after printing the images... but wow. Looks really good!

There is something kind of disorienting about playing Duck Hunt on a TV with a Duck Hunt graphics around the screen.

So I just use it to watch Cheers.

Guy Hutchinson

Mister Rogers' High School Yearbook

I got these in the mail:

 I collect celebrity yearbooks. I have several of Mr. T's yearbooks, one from Alan Hale (The Skipper from Gilligan's Island) and one from Burr Tillstrom (the creator of Kukla, Fran and Ollie.)

The other day I Mister Rogers senior and sophomore yearbooks.

Here is a bit of trivia. Remember Mr. McFeely on Mister Rogers Neighborhood? Fred's mother's maiden name was McFeely. It used to be a tradition for people to give kids the mothers maiden name as a middle name.
I think it was. Not sure. I think I heard it in a country song.

 One of the things I noticed about Fred Rogers in his yearbook is that he was a superstar student. He was all over this yearbook!

 The picture above is Mister Rogers as a Soph. He's on the right. Its hard to miss him. He really didnt change much over the years.

 Here is another one. This is the French Club. He's in the front row seated in between the pretty gal and the moody guy.

 There he is, Student Council president and ladies man.

This is my favorite picture because he is wearing a cardigan sweater!! It's not a zip up like he wore on the show, but wow!

Guy Hutchinson

Mexican Purim

This year I tried something new. Mexican Purim.

Purim is a Jewish holiday that seems like a cross between St. Patrick's Day & Halloween.

Since I'm not Jewish I've never celebrated Purim.

Now let's get to the Mexican part:



This is a synagogue not too far from my house. They gimmick up Purim every year. This year it's Mexican!


Take a look at that shot above. You can probably spot someone in a Halloween costume. If not, take my word, they were there.

They also had a mariachi band!

They gave out this book at the door:


This is the story of Esther. I showed it to the mariachi band and said "See! Esther!" they responded "Ah! Siesta!" and they fell asleep.


The whole Magilla.


I think this is sideways, but I am not sure. It's either a foreign language or Space Invaders.


Fun. I sat there and drank some fruity boozy cocktail. Part of the Purim celebration involves drinking... the fun part.


They had a Mexican buffet, but I skipped it and went to get the new Doritos Taco from Taco Bell!


Oy vey! Thats Mexican!

Guy Hutchinson

Happy Easter, Lord Vader

Vader with bunny ears. Feel that? Yes. A little piece of your childhood just died.

Guy Hutchinson

The Radio Shack Electric Scoreboard

Here is a great little oddity from the past:


It's a great little Pong system from Radio Shack. Just think... almost 40 years ago someone brought this up to the counter and was asked "what's your phone number?"

See, 'cause they used to ask everyone that. I understand they don't ask anymore.

Anyway, this sweet Pong knock off has a light gun. It's a serious looking pistol!

No red tip or crazy color scheme, this looks like the real thing. It's funny, even though I grew up with realistic fake guns, and I'm not opposed with kids playing with toy guns,seeing one is still a bit jarring.


Seriously, that's supposed to be dad and daughter kicking back with some video games... but with the gun on the floor it just screams HOSTAGE SITUATION.

Guy Hutchinson

The greatest pro wrestling themed skateboards ever...

Guy Hutchinson with Nichelle Nichols from Star Trek

Dave Letterman Live at Five

Here is something I had nearly forgotten about... when I was in High School I used to make sure I was in front of the TV at 5pm for Live at Five.

Look at this boring show:

The reason I watched this was that they were live at the same time Late Night with David Letterman taped. So what?... well, I'll get to it. First look at this video:

Man, Dave was funny back then! Dave starts off with his "record collection":

This was a reoccurring segment where Dave showed off obscure records like this:

Then he would play clips that were usually out of context and hysterical. As the segment goes on Dave pauses to introduce Adam West (who couldn't look any dorkier) :

Adam waves to the audience and then exits. That's it.

As the record bit continues Leslie Ann Warren shows up and does the same. Dave pretends not to know her. I don't have to pretend...

Both Leslie and Adam West were being interviewed on Live at Five and Dave would regularly get their guests to come in and interrupt his show. It didn't matter what was going on, the show would stop and the guest would enter and wave and leave.

Check this clip out, too:

In this clip Dave shows up at the Live at Five studio where he runs into a guy who pretends he can't let him in:

Then Dave does the weather with Al Roker:

And this is why I would watch Live at Five. It was dull as a box of rocks, but you always had the chance that Dave may show up or at least you could say "Hey! I saw Adam West dressed like a dork at 5pm!"