GeekNights 090512 - Retro Arcade Museum

Apreche

Tonight on GeekNights we have a very special interview with the proprietor of the Retro Arcade Museum.

Walker

Looks like Rym messed the editing up a bit. The "What was your first computer?" bit is repeated at 51:38 (which was played first at 46:29), which is followed by a repeat of "Tell us a bit about yourself" at 56:56 (which was played first at 30:41), the only difference being that he recorded over the interview so we could hear the question.

Great job, otherwise. He seems like a really interesting guy.

Rym

ooks like Rym messed the editing up a bit.

Oops. I'll fix that tonight. ^_~

HungryJoe

I haven't listened to the episode yet, but the title alone brings back a wave of nostalgia. I remember a time when there was a crappy arcade on nearly every street corner. When I say "crappy", I mean the good kind of "crappy"; the type of crappy that repels jocks and cheerleaders, the kind of crappy that geeks love.

These little arcades would disappear as suddenly as they appeared. In that way, they were beautiful as a mayfly is beautiful; frail and evanescent on the last day of class before summer vacation begins. Entering these halcyon halls, smelling of stale cigarettes and beer, you were filled with the same wonder and anticipation as Indiana Jones upon entering a lost tomb. There could be anything lurking within that darkened maw. Anything. You could see that new game you saw on Starcade, or a game that you had only read rumors about in Electronic Games. You wanted to stay there forever, because you knew that, if you came back tomorrow, it might be gone; vanished forever like your vivid dream of flying upon waking the morning of the big chemistry exam. It was Elysium. It was Nirvana. It was the Field of Dreams. It was The Great and Secret Show, and it was not meant to last.

Of course, there was always Aladdin's Castle, but that was clean enough for the jocks to come in and bully their way into the Pac-Man line in front of you and for the cheerleaders, naturally attracted to and following the jocks, to come in and loudly wonder why anyone would waste their quarters on some stupid game when they could be buying shoes. It just wasn't the same.

If there's a heaven, I'm sure it will have a crappy little arcade. Hopefully one with a couple of pinball machines for good measure.

Jason

When Joe gets poetic, it means he's drunk.

Kiey

Did you record the questions and answers seperately and then edit them together? It sounds that way, and its sort of distracting, and very unnatural sounding.

Rym

Did you record the questions and answers seperately and then edit them together? It sounds that way, and its sort of distracting, and very unnatural sounding.

We brought two different kinds of microphones for the interview, and the linelevel differences between the two were impossible to manage. All of the audio of -us- talking was unbearably bad.

Believe me, it's such a pain to do it this way, but I had no other option this time around (short of postponing the interview while I drove back home and got another mic). -_-

Kate Monster

Did you record the questions and answers seperately and then edit them together? It sounds that way, and its sort of distracting, and very unnatural sounding.

We brought two different kinds of microphones for the interview, and the linelevel differences between the two were impossible to manage. All of the audio of -us- talking was unbearably bad.

Believe me, it's such a pain to do it this way, but I had no other option this time around (short of postponing the interview while I drove back home and got another mic). -_-

You live five minutes from the Arcade.
Regardless, now you know for your next interview.

Rym

You live five minutes from the Arcade.

And we were already there in the middle of the interview on a weeknight. ;^)

Kiey

Well I think if there was more space between the question and the answer it would have been ok. It was just that you asked a question, and then suddenly he's answering, which doesn't seem natural at all, since there would normally be at least a pause in there.

Apreche

Rym is so concerned with his audio qualities that he sacrifices the conversationality. When I was re-asking the questions, I tried hard to ask them in the same tone as when I was there. Rym was content to ask them in morning zoo voice.

Rym

When I was re-asking the questions, I tried hard to ask them in the same tone as when I was there.

Scott, I have the audio of when we were there. You re-asked in a just-as-stilted-by-comparison voice. ;^)

Apreche

Scott, I have the audio of when we were there. You re-asked in a just-as-stilted-by-comparison voice. ;^)

The point was that I consciously tried not to. Whether I succeeded is another matter entirely.

Mankoon

This is such a great episode. I'm planning my visit with some friends =D. I thought I was going crazy when the computer question was asked again.

Luke Burrage

Yeah, the repeated sections really threw me for a loop. In the end I just quit listening after trying to find more that I'd not heard before. Was there anything new after the first repeat?

Rym

Updated. Let me know if there are any other issues. ^_~

wodenpwn

To anyone who lives in California near the bay area, this place might be worth checking out:

http://www.ujuju.com/

Its a mechanical pinball museum on the island of Alameda. $10 cover charge for all you can play. I haven't had a chance to check it out yet, but it looks pretty cool. there is also an interview with the proprietor on "A Life Well Wasted" podcast.