Retro Thing

Bringing Silent Movies Back To Hollywood

Hearing an artist talk about his craft can be mesmerizing. Here's Michel Hazanavicius eloquently discussing his Academy Award winning silent film The Artist with Joe LaMattina.

The Wide Screen Rip-Off

An incredibly wide Philips TV . Let's hope computers don't go the same way.

I love my widescreen TV. Modern movies fit better, and I love the almost-cinematic aspect ratio. It makes sense when viewing films and HD TV programs.

That said, widescreen displays don't make any sense at all on portable computers.

Few of us write wide but short emails or view web pages that are wider than they are tall. Online newspapers are still presented in columnar format because its easier to read that way. Blogs like this one are presented vertically. Even computer code is rarely written as a long line of horizontal text, unless you're entering an obfuscation contest.

Computer companies justify their new 16:9 widescreen displays with marketing buzzwords such as "HD" or "cinema ready." It's as if they imagine a world in which we gormlessly watch endless widescreen movies on our notebooks. I don't know about you, but streaming video isn't the main reason I own a computer. It isn't even in the top ten. I'm more likely to write code or edit a book -- stuff that works best on a taller monitor.

So why are companies constantly trying to push skinny screens on us? It's all about profit. Notebook screens are measured diagonally and a 16:9 screen has less surface area than a traditional 4:3 display. Twelve percent less, in fact. And twelve percent less surface area translates into significantly lower manufacturing costs, since less raw material is required. 

The unfortunate side effect is that many modern screens offer much the same vertical resolution as machines sold 5 years ago -- around 768 pixels or so. Our quest for the latest fashion is to blame as well. When standing in the computer aisle of our local electronics and white goods purveyor we're going to choose a computer or tablet with a wide aspect screen because "it's HD." It'll probably have an impractically glossy finish, too.

The iPad 2 (4:3 aspect ratio) vs the skinny Xoom 2 (16:10)

It doesn't have to be this way. The iPad is a very successful case in point, with a 1024x768 display that retains the classic 4:3 aspect ratio. The traditional shape gives it an advantage over many skinnier tablets that feel a cramped when you flip the screen horizontally, and you get 12% more screen real estate for your hard earned dollar.

So there you have it - my tech peve of the week. What's yours?

Yamaha Returns To Their Roots With The Y125 Moegi

Back in 1955, a little company called Nippon Gakki unveiled a 125cc 2-stroke motorcycle known as the YA-1. It won a couple of races and started selling at the blistering pace of about 200 units per month. Fast forward 57 years, and the company -- better known as Yamaha -- has gone back to its roots with the Y125 Moegi concept bike.

The Moegi looks more like a classic bicycle than most scooters, but its decidedly high-tech from the handlebars to the tires. Yamaha's engineers chose to mold the aluminum frame from die cast aluminum, resulting in a machine that weighs a mere 176 lbs.

Like its ancestor, the bike uses an air-cooled 125cc engine, although the modern low friction 4-stroke power plant uses the world's first mass production aluminum die-cast cylinder for motorcycle use. While it won't win any races, the bike is probably capable of 45 mph and the company reports that the miserly power plant couple manage as much as 188 mpg.

Let's hope the company decides to put this retrofuturistic design into production.

 

Daddy Saddle - Humiliate Your Dad, Texas Style!

I marvel at all you dads out there. Hacking away at the fierce world that has turned its shoulder against you, making a way for your family, your children. Occasionally you sit back, trying to enjoy the life you've built from freakin' scratch... with that piercing look of intense pride, like Barbara Stanwyck looking out over the back forty.

Okay, that was a pretty tortured onslaught of imagery, even for me...

Okay, so I can understand that you dads will do anything for your kids. I also remember rare horsey rides eliciting a "ya-hoo" or two out of this cowpoke. The Daddy Saddle is taking us into a whole weird area, though... Are you dads out there telling me that when Mr. Junior Rodeo asks to saddle you up, making you look even more like the pack animal you already feel like, you say "giddyap, pardner"? Thank goodness Kenner (who also offered a pulse-pounding milkcow action playset) didn't include an oat bag too.

Certainly this is such a crazy product, that it could only come from a more innocent past, right? Wrong. There are several companies that manufacture this same product today. One is called the "Daddle" and recommends that you also get knee pads.

There's not much more I can add to that. Right, Trigger?

link:

Get your Daddle at Amazon (oh, and please don't search for "daddle" on Amazon and don't look at the fourth result - Thanks.)

Eat Your Way Through Atari's 40th Anniversary

This year will see a lot of Atari celebrating the founding of the company 40 years ago. You can expect that  we'll do our fair share here on Retro Thing, but you may also see some retro punters take a shot. Target has teamed up with General Mills to offer kid's cereals in classic packaging (again). The idea is to bring back some of that 70s vibe when all that mattered on a Saturday morning was slamming down some Lucky Charms, watching SuperFriends and edging up that Space Invaders score.

The nostalgic packaging is cute, but the "Atari Activities" promised on the box are a little pale. Let's ignore the fact that a sterile name like "Atari Activities" doesn't exactly sound "Totally Radical".   of the box has some puzzles and riddles that I'm not sure would actually engage the kids who are supposed to eat the cereal, or even a retro gaming hound like me. There is an online version of Centipede you can play, so I guess that's something... but I was hoping for at least a lame 70's era cereal prize like an Atari sticker, or a patch or something. It would be great to have a little souvenir of so many years of Atari fun. I don't fault General Mills for cashing in on Atari nostalgia, but I am disappointed that they cheaped out so badly.

Kraftwerk Retrospective - All 8 Albums Performed Live

In early April, New York's Museum of Modern Art will host eight consecutive nights of Kraftwerk performing all 8 of their original albums. Live. My God.

In these days of so many long-in-the-tooth musicians cashing in on their back catalog, this event promises to be a fresh look at the pivotal synth artists' entire repertoire in a series called "Kraftwerk - Retrospective 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8" They promise that these eight performances will not only feature their sublime and seminal synth music, but each evening will feature 3D visualizations tailored to MOMA's Marron Atrium. Another break with contemporary music industry convention is that these once-in-a-lifetime performances are quite reasonably priced at $25.

If you're a New Yorker, or if like me you're trying to figure out a way to take two weeks off to fly to NY for this staggeringly cool sounding event, you can find more details at MOMA's website. The group did a similar residency in Munich in 2011. Is it possible that if this US exhbition goes well, Kraftwerk would consider doing similarly affordable "installations" in other cities around the globe? Pretty please?

link:

MOMA website with dates and details

The iPad Finally Gets A D-Pad Controller

I admire Jony Ive's sense of minimalism, but sometimes it feels like things have gone too far. The iPad is a case in point -- the absence of physical controls makes it tough to play some games. No matter how often the Ghost of Steve whispers eerily that we're in the post-console world, wiggling your finger over a tiny image of a 3D joystick while banging another finger repeatedly against a sheet of hardened glass just doesn't capture the spirit of retro gaming.

To fill the gap, iCade will soon introduce the 8-Bitty. It's a rainbow colored iPad/Pod/Phone/Android controller that evokes the design of the original NES gamepad (a skinny rectangle, in other words). This diminutive bluetooth-powered gadget offers a Nintendo-style d-pad, 4 action buttons, a couple of shoulder buttons and the requisite select/start buttons. It's compatible with Atari Greatest Hits app for iPad, along with a number of indy titles and various incarnations of the MAME arcade emulator.

ThinkGeek is promising that the 8-Bitty will be available "later this year" for a surprisingly reasonable $24.99. So why are they telling us about it now? To give developers a chance to add 8-Bitty support to their apps, of course.

Find out more about the iCade 8-Bitty at ThinkGeek

Disneyland In The Fifties

We took our 9 year-old son to Disneyland for his first visit in January, so it's especially fascinating to see how the park looked in 1957 -- less than two years after it opened.

While the castle and main street remain its heart and soul, the early park looks like a brightly colored carnival in comparison to its more polished modern look. The footage appears to be 16mm Kodachrome, professionally transferred using a Spirit DataCine. You can read more at the Disney History Institute.

Disneyland Canon 1957 - YouTube [Thanks to everyone who sent us the link!]

Maverick Audio's $199 Tube Amplifier

Last night's episode of Top Gear offered a look at the Chinese automotive industry, which has gone from almost nothing to almost respectable in less than a decade. The same can be said of the burgeoning Chinese boutique stereo industry, which sometimes serves up suspiciously good deals. Like this one.

The Maverick Audio TubeMagic A1 is either an oddly named Audi subcompact or a shockingly affordable hybrid integrated amplifier. For the sake of my sanity, I'll go with the latter. The diminutive 10" W x 2.1″ H x 6.5″ D case  features a brushed aluminum front panel "in black color" with a power switch, large volume knob, smaller audio source selector (RCA analog in on the rear or line in from the front panel) and a headphone jack. That's it. The back panel is similarly spartan:

Watch out for the manual voltage selector switch.

The hybrid Class A/B circuit incorporates a pair of matched NOS 6J1 tubes that feed into a solid state final stage capable of driving 20W x 2 into 8 Ohms. It's a necessary compromise to get reasonably high volumes out of an inexpensive design. If you enjoy experimenting with your gadgets, the company offers several tube upgrades including a pair of military grade factory matched Raytheon 6AK5 tubes for $45.

Straightforward through-hole construction.

There's a special treat in store for late night music lovers -- the headphone output is driven solely by the tube circuit. It's beefy enough to drive heaphones with an impedence of 16 ~ 600 ohms with an output power of between 300mW ~ 1000mW. As the company succinctly points out, "It has tons of power to drive any kind of headphones on the planet."

All in all, it's a rather appealing package if you're looking to put together a simple stereo system for your office, garage or basement. Paired with sensitive bookshelf speakers, the A1 should adequately fill a small space. The A1 sells for $199, plus around $30 to ship the unit from China by DHL.

Maverick Audio TubeMagic A1 Hybrid Integrated Amp