Clattertron

[dc]T[/dc]oday on the Friday Six:  Clattertron Amazon aStore, a portable NES/SNES system, How to Draw Stupid, The Devil’s Backbone Criterion, video games, and more.

Quick Note: If you are having issues with the site, such as getting a ‘Database Error’ page, I’m aware of it, trust me. The site was migrated to a new server this week, and it is causing the error. According to my host, it should stop soon. Migrating can cause DNS issues.

[ ] Clattertron now has an Amazon aStore (also accessible on its own). It is attached to my Amazon Associates account, so if you buy anything through my ‘store,’ I get a percentage. The perk of the aStore is I can handpick items to include, such as board games, geek stuff, and comic making supplies. I also created an Amazon Enigmas section to collect all the weird stuff I find.

[ ] ThinkGeek Geek Thing of the Week: This Retro Duo Portable NES/SNES Game System.

Yes, you can play classic Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo Entertainment System cartridges in this thing. How cool is that? It gets better.

You can hook the Retro Duo Portable NES/SNES Game System (got all that?) up to a TV as well. Look at all the stuff it comes with:

[ ] I really enjoyed Kyle Baker‘s How to Draw Stupid and Other Essentials of Cartooning book, which I picked up from the library this week (I like to browse the drawing book section from time to time).

How to Draw Stupid leans more toward a memoir than a full on instructional book, but there are plenty of great pointers, such as showing character movement, emotion, and what he calls ‘drawing stupid’ (essentially, exaggerated ‘stupid’ expressions and the like). Expressions and body language are my focus as of late, as I try to hone my style, such as it is.

[ ] Guy Davis did the cover art for the upcoming Criterion edition of Guillermo del Toro’s The Devil’s Backbone (director of Pacific Rim—Davis did some concept art for the film), which comes out on July 30^th.  Davis, who lives in Michigan (and near Lansing, I think), is perhaps best known for his artwork on the Hellboy spinoff, B.P.R.D.

I have yet to actually watch Devil’s Backbone, but I plan to do so soon, as I enjoy del Toro’s films. He is great at creepy and weird.

[ ] Sorry there wasn’t a Friday Six last week—I was camping in Michigan’s lovely ‘thumb’ region. The highlight of the trip was teaching my toddler nephew to say ‘Eat my shorts,’ which he pronounced ‘show-orts.’ Adorable. To borrow a line from Brain Donors, “Corruptible youth! God bless them!” If you think I’m joking about the corrupting part, well just read this recent comic.

[ ] I conducted a Super Scientific Poll on Facebook and Twitter the other day. I asked folks to tell me their favorite arcade or pinball game, because why not?

The answers, let me show you them: Galaga, Attack From Mars, Pacman (3), Tetris, Jurassic Park Pinball, Rescue 911 Pinball, Donkey Kong, Super Mario Pinball, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Pinball, X-Men, Creature From the Black Lagoon Pinball (2), Shadow over Mystara, Time Crisis, Joust, Dig Dug, Star Wars (1983), Tales of the Arabian Nights Pinball, and Crazy Taxi.

Thanks to the folks who responded—how about you? What’s your favorite arcade game or pinball machine?

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