Retro Thing

The Last Good Thing About VHS Tapes

When you get into the retro game, you'll meet people who will do anything to justify their devotion to their old favorites. It's subjective; love what you love! You don't have to come with some inalienable reason to justify your retro lust. Sometimes those discussions can be fun and interesting. For example, LP collectors have a whole raft of reasons "explaining" why vinyl is superior and remains relevant today. The CD vs. LP argument will continue unabated forever - fair enough. There are some valid technical points that are worth taking about.

It gets weird when folks feel that same pressure to rationalize their love, and it's for something that doesn't have much going for it. I've met people who try to tell me that cassettes sound better than CDs, or that a well mastered VHS tape looks better than a DVD. Those aren't good arguments to try to make; cassettes are far noisier than CDs, and a VHS tape has about half the resolution of DVD and lots of analog noise in the picture. Nothing is going to change those technical shortcomings. Enthusiasts will never win the argument on technical merit, so they should move the benefits discussion elsewhere.

Like we've always said here on Retro Thing, it's okay to like something just because you like it. Sure, it's great to uncover some hidden and forgotten benefit of something old - we do it here all the time. Recently I've been watching some Laser Discs on a modern high def LED TV. The display is far too precise, and the images look just awful... but the LDs still have a distinct (and admittedly odd) benefit in this modern world that has nothing to do with image quality. They're often mixed in with LPs at the thrift - so I can get a Criterion Collection remastered feature film (which used to cost easily $80+) at ten to the dollar. When DVDs came out and were clearly here to stay (for a while anyway...) my friends with large VHS collections tried to come up with elaborate rationalizations of how their VHS tapes still had an edge somehow. They don't, nor do they need to.

Back then, I do remember saying that the only remaining benefit of a VHS or cassette tape is that is that it stays at the point you left it. You have to re-cue DVDs and CDs if you leave off in the middle. The jokey meme I've included with this post reminded me of that argument. It's a funny place to draw your line in the sand. So by all means, collect what you want to collect, watch what you want to watch. No one can tell you not to like it. Point with pride at your wall holding thousands of VHS tapes... but understand if I'm busy on moving day.

Contra Sweater - 8-bit Knit

PLEASE tell me that this belogs to one of our readers. If it does, you have the most badass grandma in the history of badass grandmas.

Sadly, it's a Photoshop fake (the gradient on the "C" in the logo is a tip off) - but you were pretty excited there for a few seconds, weren't you?

3 Ring Circus Rumpus Room

There's just no way for me to discuss how great this room is without sounding envious. I may be 40, have my own place and a car that I can drive anywhere, but damn... I want a room that looks like a circus tent.

I'm not sure where this photo originated from. I don't think it's from a catalog as there's too much custom work going on here. My thinking is that it's a photo from a home improvement magazine, or a kid's room ideabook. The canvas panels are a colorful way to separate this space from what I guess is the rest of the basement. The red & white fabric up top is camouflaging some ductwork, though I don't know if the local fire marshall would approve. Check out the pipe camouflaged as a giraffe's neck.

Are we thinking that this photo is from the 60s? The TV series "Mad Men" is re-educating people about the sheer amount of drinking that went on in certain crowds back then. Not surprising if even the kids have their own bar! Check out Buzzcut BIlly back there making time with one of the ladies over a mug of ice tea.

Okay, so I'm still a little jealous, but my feelings have subsided a bit since realizing that this isn't a page from some pie-in-the-sky rich kid catalog (I hope). I prefer to think of this as an ambitious project that is actually within reach of folks with a bit of ingenuity and a couple weekends to spare. What a great way to liven up an otherwise dead and useless space. The overall scheme is clever too with the little lion's cage above the bar, and the paper lanterns that are reminiscent of balloons. Check out the cute "peep show" sign over the color TV set.

Wait a minute. These 60s kids had their own color TV, and our family didn't get one til the mid 80s? I'm back to being mad again.

Care For Some Wine With Your White Castle Sliders?

White Castle is a famous regional hamburger joint started way back in 1921. You can find the little white castle-shaped buildings throughout the midwestern United States as well as New York, and word of White Castle has spread even further in recent years thanks to a stepped up media presence (yes, I'm calling dope comedy "Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle" a "media presence").

For a chain that isn't exactly national, they're responsible for many industry firsts that gave birth to fast food the way we know it today. In the early 1900s, Upton Sinclair's novel "The Jungle" alerted the public to poor sanitation in the meat packing industry leaving people reluctant to eat ground beef. White Castle was determined to restore the eating public's confidence with gleaming white porcelain enamel exteriors (created to resemble Chicago's Water Tower), and an open stainless steel kitchen where you can still watch your meal being prepared. Back then it was doubtful that the hamburger would hang on as a fast food staple.

White Castle's signature is their small 2.5" square burger cooked on a bed of onions, nicknamed the "slider". There is an equally signature after-effect of eating White Castle (especially after an evening's drinking) that we won't go into here. Young guys will brag about how many "belly bombs" they can down, which was a lot easier back when they were only a nickel a piece.

In recent years, upscale restaurants have caught on to the appeal of little burgers. Many have lifted the concept to create a plate of burger "shooters" (or other sporty jargon these places insist on), leaving White Castle to look for something new to bring people back. Perhaps their focus group included some of the drunks you typically find at White Castle at 2am, because the restaurant is considering offering alcohol.

The chain is experimenting with serving wine at their Lafayette, Indiana location. Legally it does require that the restaurants offer table service, which is a pretty novel idea in a dining room built out of impregnable formica. You can choose from four varieties of wine (ask your server if you can smell the screw-top); a Merlot, Chardonnay, Moscato, and a "sweet red" blend which has been variously described as "sweet" and "red".

If this vino scheme works, it could have far-reaching effects on the entire fast food industry. The dirty little secret in fast food is that there's little profit in the food, the money is all in the beverages. The paper cup your soda is bubbling away in can have more value than the drink itself (hence it being so easy for fast food places to offer free refills - it's literally pennies a cup). Alcoholic beverages means even higher prices & margins for drinks. Other countries already offer beer and wine with fast food, and it's proven to be an excellent profit center.
 
White Castle is an American classic that has largely remained the same for several generations. It's still a family business. Their early days defined the fast food business in so many ways, and this next step may be another big step for the rest of the industry to follow. I find it terribly funny to try to class up sliders with wine instead of beer (though the toxic after effects of beer & sliders will make it difficult to pass local fire codes), but I hope that it works. White Castle has never been shy of being a little bit odd, and it seems to have worked for them for the better part of a century.

[note: before any of you go accusing us of buzz marketing White Castle, you should know that we've received no compensation for this post - not one lousy Moscato-soaked slider.]

Kickstart A 3/4 Scale Arcade Machine Project!

My wife gets nervous whenever I mention arcade cabinets or pinball machines. It's an understandable sentiment, because a good friend of mine has a basement filled with over two dozen vintage machines. She knows that as soon as one sneaks through the door, more will undoubtedly follow.

Archie Jones faced a similar problem a couple of years ago. He wanted to build a multi-game arcade unit, but his wife didn't want a refrigerator-sized machine lurking in the corner. The result is the American Ace Arcade—a scaled-down arcade machine that stands just over 4 feet high. It's the perfect height for kids or seated adults.

The design looks absolutely beautiful and Archie just rolled out an affordable Kickstarter project for anyone interested in getting their hands on one. Pledging $40 gets you a set of plans, blueprints and full-sized templates to make cutting side panels a breeze.

If you're not quite so into DIY, a $300 pledge gets you a cabinet kit that assembles with only a screwdriver, and you can add a $150 pre-drilled control panel (USB arcade controller, sanwa joystick and happ buttons) and accessory kit (marquee lights, t-molding, plexiglass and marquee retainers). There's also a $250 personalized artwork option which gets you the side panel art, marquee and control panel overlay.

Once you have the cabinet assembled, what goes inside is up to you. You'll need to supply your own monitor, sound system and game board (PC-based MAME arcade emulator, JAMMA multi-game, or even a home game console).

The fit and finish of the American Ace Arcade looks first rate and it's an excellent alternative to buying a pre-built unit, which can easily cost several thousand dollars. The compact size makes it easy to accomodate in the corner of a family room and makes it absolutely irresistable to kids. And if you like the compact cabinet but want something that adults can play standing, it should be easy to build a small pedestal to raise the unit.

So what are you waiting for? Check out Archie's American Ace Arcade and let me know what you think!

Links:
American Ace Arcade Kickstarter
A Flickr set of American Ace photos
Build A 'MAME Brain' For Under $150