Month: November 2007

Although it’s relatively old news, it’s all the buzz on the tech blogs today: Accordion Hero, the accordion version of the Guitar Hero videogame:

Alas, Accordion Hero is just a parody — it’s just a clever idea that’s been given it’s own website.

However, that doesn’t mean that someone hasn’t built an accordion-style controller for Guitar Hero-type games. Ladies and Gentlemen, I’d like you to meet Oded “SoundGuy” Sharon and the game controller that he created by hacking a toy accordion. Here’s a photo of Oded playing Freetar Hero (a Free Software version of Guitar Hero) with his “Accordion Hero” controller:

You can find out more about the controller in this entry on his blog.

Oded, you’re a true Accordion Hero — I salute you with a filet mignon on a flaming sword!

The return of this blog to its regular “look and feel” heralds two things, namely:

• The complete archives, with entries going all the way back to November 10, 2001, are back online
• This blog had its sixth anniversary on Saturday!

Of all the hobbies that I’ve taken up over my 40 years (I still feel weird saying that), only the accordion has been as bizarrely rewarding as blogging. Through this blog, I have:

• Landed a job
• Avoided some serious girl trouble
• Convinced a cute girl in Boston that I was a stand-up guy (she read the archives as a form of background check)
• Met a great number of people
• Landed some television and newspaper appearances
• Improved my writing
• Established my reputation (or notoriety, take your pick)
• Broadened my social and professional horizons
• Had a lot of fun

I have to extend a special “thank you” to my friend Cory Doctorow, who convinced me to start my own blog and who over the years has sent me a lot of link love from the most powerful blog in the known universe.

To my readers, thanks for coming here all these years. There’s some interesting stuff to come, so please keep visiting!

According to New York magazine’s restaurant blog, Grub Street, Ben Curtis, the dude who starred in those “Dude, you’re getting a Dell!” ads is now a waiter/bartender at Tortilla Flats in New York City:

For nostalgia’s sake, here’s an old Dell ad featuring the Dell Dude:

Can’t see the movie? Click here.

I think he and Ellen Feiss (stoner chick from Apple commercials from a few years back) should work on some kind of — ahem — joint project:

Can’t see the movie? Click here.

[This was cross-posted to Global Nerdy.]

The latest videogame to get featured on South Park — and lampooned a little to boot — is Guitar Hero, in an episode (in)appropriately titled Guitar Queer-o. The episode guide has this brief summary:

Stan and Kyle are hooked on Guitar Hero. But Stan’s superior skills on the video game damage his friendship with Kyle.

Here’s a quick snippet from the opening act, in which Stan and Kyle play Kansas’ Carry On Wayward Son, one of the songs featured on Guitar Hero II:

Can’t see the video? Click here.

When Randy saw the kids playing Guitar Hero and tried to impress them by actually playing Carry On Wayward Son on a real guitar and singing as well, only to be told “that’s gay, Mr. Marsh”. Not only does the real guitar fail to win the kids over, but later that night, Randy finds out that real guitar-playing skill does not translate into Guitar Hero skill. The bit where Thad, the professional backup player, played Guitar Hero without a console — “acoustically” — was a laugh-out-loud moment. I don’t want to spoil the story, so I’ll just simply say that the “real vs. virtual” and “rock star” themes get pushed farther, to hilarious results.

The episode aired last night and won’t air here in Canada for a few more weeks, but it doesn’t matter — the entire episode is online at South Park Zone.

Well, they’re not exactly new digs. We’re doing a little people-shuffling here at Tucows, and the Communications Department (of which I am part) has been moved to a new location within the office.

It’s the most-dimly lit section of the office, and this is becoming more so with the return of Standard Time and the approach of winter. I decided to take the old-school overhead projector that’s been sitting in storage forever and use it as a combination of indirect lighting, internal communications gadget and an excuse to indulge in a little cartooning…

Here’s a closer view: