The Cakoluchiam Machine

Inspired by Lee Presson's interpretation in Jump-Swing from Hell, I decided to do an a cappella arrangement of Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse". Here's a render of the MIDI file; and hopefully I'll be singing this with the Audiophiles in the near future:

What magazines do you subscribe to, and why?

I have subscribed to Nintendo Power magazine since issue 100, which was around the time they started previewing what was then known as Zelda 64. I currently have over 100 issues on my shelf, some missing in the mail and some lost through borrowings to my friends (unfortunately, this includes some of the main strategy issues for Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Majora's Mask).

I subscribe because I have always been a Nintendo fanboy. The only system that came close to rivaling my loyalty was the Sega Genesis, and primarily for the 7-up promotional game, Cool Spot. I scour each issue for news on the Zelda series, even though it is rarely news now, and more often hype.

The magazine has degraded much since I first began subscribing. I first noticed it when they started having advertisement pages after almost every section and article, but the problem has gone deeper than that. I stopped reading Pulse back when it was still Players' Pulse, because the NP Crew has taken on many annoying habits of internet flamers since the Nintendo Power interaction moved to being primarily online. The internet is a wonderful medium of free speech, but it certainly isn't the most professional form of interaction, and certainly not one I want transferred into the news I pay to read.

My most recent quarrel with Nintendo Power is that they recently changed their issue labeling format such that the issue which arrives at the beginning of August is labelled as the September issue. The problem with this is that the news delivered is still on a magazine schedule; that is, the news comes a month late already. With the new system, Nintendo Power delivers to me last month's news in next month's issue.

On top of this complication, there seems to have been a mighty rift in the past few years between Nintendo Power and Nintendo itself. The magazine has been delivering less and less exclusive news, and I can often get ten times more and better information from internet-based gaming spy sites such as GameSpot. Despite NP's claim as an exclusive Nintendo source, they hardly ever seem to have any exclusive information anymore. The closest they seem to come are their developer interviews, which rarely if ever reveal anything about a game the internet didn't already know.

But, I am a loyal fan.

What was the first movie you remember seeing in a movie theater? 
Question submitted by mainmor.

Though I only remember actually being in the theater and the title. All I remember of the movie is from the millions of times I watched it on VHS. The first movie I actually remember the experience of seeing in the theater was

My mom took me and my friend-at-the-time Josh when we were kids. It was the first PG-13 movie I ever saw, and on probably the biggest non-IMAX screen I've been to yet. We sat in the back of the theater, and I think the resulting distortion of the screen made it even scarier. I had nightmares for years, literally.

What is your favorite cover song?
Question submitted by Ray.

Hunting for an excuse to put the work of Arjen Anthony Lucassen in my blog, I was struck with the most fortunate of QotD's. Star One is probably my favourite of his musical projects, as well, particularly for the track The Eye of Ra, which tells the story of the Stargate movie. I love songs that tell stories, and both David Bowie and Arjen Lucassen are great at doing just that, so the combination of the two is, of course, stellar by my accounts. Thus, Star One's cover of Bowie's Space Oddity is my favourite cover song. It can be found on Star One's first album, Space Metal.

Runner-Up, Richard Cheese's rendition of Chop Suey. Obvious reasons include: "...when angels deserve to ... die, ladies and gentlemen."

Honourable mention goes to Stream of Passion for their "Live in the Real World" covers of Ayreon songs, which, given Star One and Ambeon before them, I have decided cover well.

The tune you will find at the right is not from Stream of Passion, but rather a totally-not-Arjen's-fault club remix of Day 7: Hope from "The Human Equation". I liked it too much not to share.

What is your current computer desktop image? Let's see it!

...though I should get in the habit of changing my background weekly or so; I've certainly spent enough time crafting 'em.