#90's game center

[tamara-kama]

Japanese high school girl in arcade Center 1995

[retrogamingblog2]

Pokemon Sea Breeze Figures

[posthumanwanderings]

arcades in anime, Macross 7 E43: Individual Farewells

[thedakku]

‘Retro: G’ on the 6th floor of GIGO building 3 in Akihabara. A retro arcade with games you won’t see at any other Game Center in Tokyo. One of the few arcades that truly feels like you stepped back into the 90’s.

[theehorsepusssy]

The old hood

A. Cucina! Cucina! Was a shitty chain restaurant I managed at the Rose Garden arena (1997-2004) paid well, free food. I weighed nearly 300 lbs

B. Red Lion Hotel parking lot. Where I had to park on game days. Busted smoking pot out of a beer can with my boss. Huge rats and feral cats. Surprised I didn't get fired....or rabies.

C. Memorial Coliseum. I dropped The Red Hot Chili Peppers spaghetti take out order and had to run back to restaurant to replace. Took it back unaccompanied, was waved thru and wandered around backstage trying to find who to give it to. Nearly ended up on stage holding a take out pan of spaghetti during Give It AwayNow

D. Jags was a bar in the hotel where I would go play Video Poker when I was too tweaked to be around customers at my job. It eventually became a Detox center and sober house years later. Fucked a couple straight guys who liked to get freaky for meth hanging out near here

E. Budget motel. Had sleazy sex here a couple times in 90s

F. Warehouse where they held Mr Drummer leather 1990 maybe. my friend stood me up and I was alone.....on acid . There was a sex party afterward-$20 . Large room covered in unrolled black garbage bags. Coil's Hellraiser soundtrack played. I was tripping balls. Saw guys climbing up on a dudes wheelchair and face fucking him. Saw someone getting fisted for first time. Was told to leave while getting a titty twister from leather daddy. Years later, my friend turned the downstairs into Dirty Little Secret salon/spa and that stupid Eagles song "dirty little secret, dirty little lies, dirty little fingers in everybody's pies" gets stuck in my head and I think of the aforementioned fisting I witnessed

G. Walgreens I went to daily. Where to buy needles with a side of eye roll because I would confuse my insulin size order with the dope size other order. No ATM fees there.

H. Head Shop across from Franks Noodle House. Lousy meth pipe selection. If any. Dunno. I never smoked it always some trick would whine that they would only smoke and we'd end up here.

I. Lloyd Center mall. The bottom level bathroom was a decent place to poop when I was homeless for a while

J. The park I had registered as my "home" when I was homeless.

K. The hotel where I went to a Craigslist sex party and the host had a suitcase full of Ethyl Chloride cans and huffed so much we thought he died for a moment. Half the guys attending kept repeating " I'm straight, I've never done this before" I wish I had a camera

L. My mom worked here. I avoided these blocks for years, afraid of bumping into her while I was high

M. Tony Roma's Ribs. This was an occasional night out for me and Robert 1992-95. There used to be street whores on MLK back then

N. Hotel to party at. Call girls worked this one hard. You could still smoke in the rooms

O. The Red Robin I worked at for 2 weeks 1996. Worst job ever. I was told to learn to steal cuz no one tips. It was true

P. Courtyard Marriot. I would use lobby ATM for dope money if I was in a hurry. Met a online hookup there many years earlier who used a fake pic. Got there and dude was like 500lbs and asks if I can give him some meth and i ask how much he want to spend and fat boy gets all cheap and wants free and I'm thinking if I want to try and rob him before a moment of clarity and I leave

Q. The McDonald I got "groceries" at the last year I was using. I ate maybe once a week. I weighed 150lbs. It's by a Burger King that never had any customers the 20 years I was in the area. Is it a mirage? Is it haunted? Is it a money laundering front?

R. The 7/11 where I bought Camel Lights and Diet Mt Dew everyday. The old owners would whip out their shotguns when robbed. The new owners just let the robbers take the money

S. The seminary and Catholic church. You would see priests with unaccompanied minors at the Wendys across street. Suspicious. One night I was out smoking a cigarette and all the Catholics came marching out of the church playing Jesus dress up for Easter and the parade passed me and one dude thought I looked destitute and whipped out some cash for me and all Bless You my child or some shit. I was gonna give it back but went up to 7/11 for cigarettes and Diet Mt Dew. Thanks Jesus!

T. The Merrick. Casa de Horsepussy 2009-2016. 90% of all those old pics I post are on that block

U. Serene Court (a.k.a. Syringe Court) apartments.Used to be cheapest apartments in downtown area when I first moved here. Was exotic to cross the river from downtown proper to buy a bag of crank in this spooky old place

V. The Yards. I had an employee who sold pot lived here. I had to fire him. It was awkward as fuck

W. The Greyhound station was where to find heroin from someone who sold to someone I knew. Probably an open fent market these days

X. The Main Post Office. I had a meth dealer 2002ish that would mail tweak to NYC cuz those people would pay ridiculous price for an 8ball. He would get nervous about going in saying he was too high and have me mail it. Only later did he tell me what was in package

Y. Fancy loft area where one time I was having very intense drug induced roll play sex with some guy and he was veering into some script where I was his wife who drugged his beer and yeah, ok but then I think he just wanted a beer but it was all blurred reality with the sex game and I put 2 Zyprexa in his beer bottle and dude went down...hard. I had to dress him and get him back to his loft but he was practically dead from the sedatives and I didn't know where he lived exactly and just kind of rolled him out the car onto the curb off Lovejoy and sped off at 4am.

Z. My dad worked at some building under the 405. I lived a few blocks up the street and would find other routes to walk to the arena for fear of running into him

[raguonmynieceandnephew]

"It's so unfair to the Rat Grinders that they are killed instantly and the Bad Kids get to roll death saves." SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUUP

THIS IS LONG, AND HONESTLY FOR MYSELF, SO YEAH READ IF YOU WANT

I swear to god, this discourse is going to fucking be the end of me. Idk what kind of mind boggling spell Brennan Lee Mulligan wove into the fabric of the universe that spread through the data center of Dropout in order to absolutely hijack y'all's brains when it comes to Cocklord Assgape and her ragtag of character foils but whatever it was has made you Rat Grinder stans INSUFFERABLE in this site.

The levels of treating fictional characters as if they were real people have reached a level I honestly have never anticipated, to the point of y'all actually being mad AT THE CAST for "mistreating" them and ACTUALLY QUESTION BRENNAN'S CAPACITY TO DM. Do you not get how fucking insane that is?

We can't make fun of Copperkettle, one of the most pathetic, petty and incompetent villains in D20 history anymore (even though she is masterfully written and developed to generate this reaction from us) anymore because it's bullying apparently. I saw an account flip the fuck out because someone compared her rivalry with Kristen to Drake and Kendrick's beef. KIPPERLILY IS NOT A REAL GIRL. SHE IS A MAKE BELIEVE CHARACTER IN AN IMPROV SHOW SPAWNED FROM THE BRAIN OF A 36 YEAR OLD MAN

And then what truly pissed me off the MOST about this whole hell is the fact that, being chronically online avid consumers of this goddamn show, I would think you would have but a grasp of the main cast of characters' characterization.

Why the uproar about Riz saying they should chop Oisin's head off? The same Riz who tortured that pixie from Freshman year by shooting off their finger one by one? The same Riz who murked a disarmed and unconscious Coach Daybreak without battin an eye? The same Riz who ATE THE CORPSE OF KALVAXUS?

And the whole Fabian vs Ivy debacle MY GOD, THE GIRL WAS RACIST TO HIS GIRLFRIEND AND USED HER LAST BREATH TO CALL MAZEY "OBJECTIVELY UGLY". And the funniest thing is that is not even the most unhinged shit he has ever said.

And finally, Death Save Gate: THE RAT GRINDERS ARE NOT PLAYER CHARACTERS. THEY ARE NPCS! THE RULES FOR EACH WORK DIFFERENTLY, ESPECIALLY THEM BEING BOSS ENCOUNTERS. Imagine having to still hit Ivy or Oisin 2 more times to kill them when there is 14 foot tall Porter throwing legendary actions left and right, with Jace, and other 3 spell casters + Mary Ann and KLCK up and running. It's called balancing the fucking game. Also, game masters are entitled to break, mold and make up any rules they want if they find necessary in order to service themselves and their players. IF YOU PLAY WITH ALL THESE RULES AS THEY COME, GOOD FOR YOU AND YOUR TABLE. THIS IS NOT YOUR TABLE.

Not only is Brennan DMing for his CLOSEST FRIENDS EVER, he is also shooting and producing an ENTIRE TV SHOW. So yeah, i think he knows wtf he is doing.

"But the Ratgrinders had no real development": True. But it wasn't for lack of trying from the players. Everytime they tried to know more, the dice didn't let them, so they decided to focus on the mystery. It simply do be like that sometimes.

"But they are just kids!": And so were Penelope, Dayne, Ragh, Zayn, the Bloodrush Players, Aelwyn and Biz. Why wasn't it a problem then? Because most of them were evil to some extent and were about to bring the fucking apocalypse to the world? Yeah, sounds familiar right? And the ones who were manipulated or had any sort of redemption worked their way into earning it, right? Yeah.

In conclusion, I fucking love the Rat Grinders, I truly do, and not unlike 90% of this website, i'm still holding on to hope that they have any sort of development and redemption in the last episode, because I agree, they ARE children and they WERE manipulated by Porter and Jace, but like, can we also agree that they are fucking assholes and had it fucking coming? Also, the BKs are children too y'know. SO STOP BEING FUCKING ANNOYING.

[aethesfaelibrarae]

Mouthwashing has given me a lot of brain worms and we've got thoughts—time to share them with the hungry void that is Tumblr. One of the last places I'm 90% certain my words won't show up stolen or regurgitated by machine.

Warning for spoilers about the game and rambling!

I believe that Mouthwashing is a modern-day Lolita. The storytelling is similar, in that, almost against their own better judgement and will, the audience finds themselves thinking like our unreliable narrator(s).

Most people.. Sorry, some people have cottoned on to the fact that Anya's personality is not that of a scared, timid and ultimately, useless nurse and she's been in fight or flight response for months now with no other choice but to fawn. As someone who has been in a similar situation for only one day a week for months, the fear only got worse, the longer I went without support. And the things that she does in the background.. No doubt similar to the way that Daisuke kept track of their food supply was brushed over and unsung.. So is the fact that Anya has been keeping a severe burn victim—with 4th degree burns so severe, any treatment we currently have is experimental and expensive.. If the pain does not kill you first—she's been keeping Curly alive for months with no help and incredibly minimal supplies. (I personally think that Anya probably was on the side of giving him an easier death or maybe even suggested a gentler way of giving him medicine—but (sterile) syringes in space? Limited water? An especially dismissive Swansea and go with the flow Daisuke?.. Easier to try and give Jimmy what he wants.)

But. I believe that people overlook the ways in which Catastrophe Jim's perspective on Curly twists our own. Pre-Crash Curly exists upon a pedestal—a good man, better than Jimmy could ever hope to be; a good, well-liked captain. Well-off, better looking (I say this because of the similarities in how Jimmy mentally views himself in similar shape and age as Curly) and still reaching for more. For better. People catch the underlying jealous and resentment for the life that Jimmy wants at all cost but.. They miss the pedestal. The miss the fact that if Jimmy says that Curly's better than he is, a good and better Captain.. That means that Curly is doing the bare fucking minimum: keeping them all alive year after year. Curly is a nice captain with the capacity to soothe over minor issues and keep a cool head and keep the crew on schedule.. But he is not a good one. He's not even a good person. Not really. Jimmy thinks of him as a good person, puts him on this pedestal that he's foaming at the mouth with excitement to pull him off of. Dirty the golden boy and spit on his silver-threaded bootstraps once and for all.

Except.. What evidence do we have that Curly is especially liked or respected? Where is this cheering crew? Where is Curly good?

Curly is a human, at the end of the day.

And.. Which comes to my more complicated and no doubt contriversal take... Curly is also a victim of Jimmy stuck in fawn response. This doesn't absolve him of the ways in which he failed the crew but Anya especially by letting Jimmy run amok and failing to take any action while he still had the chance. He stood by when Anya begins to hint at something beneath the shiny veneer of a happy tight-knit crew and most damningly, he stood by as Jimothy entered the cockpit immediately after suggesting a plan to kill everyone aboard.

I genuinely.. Genuinely.. Don't know what he thought would happen.

But he does take action.. And his last action is what makes he and Anya swap places. Except.. Not truly.

Yes, they are in similar situations—vulnerable to the whims of a psychotic madman with an inferiority complex and their plight largely ignored by the crew; a necessary sacrifice to keep the peace.. Just until safe harbor—but where Anya begins to gain autonomy and some relief from Jimmy no longer having a need for her.. Curly finds himself the center of Jimmy's world.

And that is not a great place to be in.

Curly is systemically isolated (bad-mouthed to the crew over and over again, berated publicly, blamed for an awful accident that Jimmy caused) and his torture and abuse mirrors the continuous, silent medical, emotional and physical abuse that many disabled people face. And almost in a worse way, his voice is stolen from him and used in such insidious inspiration porn.. A lot of people think that he actually said those things.

But we won't know. And if he did say these things.. Why does Jimmy only seem to (mis)understand them in the final acts? Recalling them in Curly's voice but not as the Captain but as a savior, his last charitable act to wipe the ledger of blood clean.

Jimmy doesn't want to see Curly better. He likes feeling useful. He enjoys having Curly watch him and in the same breath, he loathes it. He wants Curly's judgement. He wants Curly's praise. He wants.. Everything that makes Curly Curly.

Curly as a silent observer isn't remarked on often.. Nor is the fact that more than likely, the others heard Curly's sobs of pain from the medbay. But Curly is very conscious, very aware and very alone in his thoughts.

There's a point in which the perspective changes during Swansea's mercy killing—a gift that no one offers Curly—and once again, Curly is stuck watching all of his mistakes play out, one after the other. Unable to do anything but laugh.

But is it a laugh or a sob? Jimmy doesn't care and neither does the player—what's important is the objective: the gun. 739. Click. He steps over Anya's body like it's not even there and runs away.

We don't find out what set Swansea off—maybe Jimmy couldn't help himself and said something about Daisuke or Anya that blamed them. Maybe it was something else. Curly watches on. Helplessly.

There's something to be said about the black screens and the static that occurs when Jimmy hurts Curly or kills Swansea—like he's cutting the memory off before the guilt can get to him. And it's the same thing I'd like to bring up about Curly's voice. Yes, it takes a lot to speak without lips.. Or from what it looks like a tongue.. But there are more noises Curly can make. Noises that can refute Jimmy.

And in the same way that he's at the precipice of something so terrifying he keeps returning to the same spot that's slowly killing him, he's learned that fighting is useless.

It's 2 months after the crash when see Jimmy's perspective again, after all. And while Anya's requests for help seem to be new.. Who's to say that the beatings are?

The worse type of abuse is the type that leaves no bruises. After all, Curly cries all the time in pain.. What's the difference here?

To cycle back to my original point in this.. I don't see a lot of people consider Post-Crash Curly's living hell as another facet of Jimmy's abuse going unchecked by the people around him as anything other than comeuppance. As Karma. And it's the coldest take I've seen from the fandom so far. Allow me to reheat it up for you: disability so severe that you must rely on others is not divine punishment. It's not just desserts. Just as disabled people are your infantilazed, idealized, inspirational iron woobie that can take pain and push through it.. They are also not being punished by the divine. They are humans and sometimes shit just happens and it sucks.

The way that Jimmy views Post-Crash Curly as a saving prop.. Proof that he can indeed fix it.. is so normalized that as the audience, it can be something that you aim to achieve–one of the earliest and easiest achievements you can get is opening and closing Curly's mouth like a mannequin.

There's a relief that we share when Curly shuts up. There's a shutdown in empathy when Jimmy brutalizes him. Up until we can no longer look away.

Because Jimmy can no longer look away. And that is the chilling part of all this. Jimmy gets away with it—all of it—because of the crew's inability to overcome their own apathetic acceptance of the monster in their midst.

Just like most people accept the main character from Lolita as a gentleman, the crew accepts Jimmy as a guy. A little rough and short-tempered but what do you expect from blue collar work? Hold your nose, it'll be over in a year. In 8 months. In 10. Soon. It'll be over soon.

I can't help but worry if Jimmy weren't so bad at being likable and if he were even a smidgen of the charismatic mastermind, he so clearly wants to be..

We'd have another Valentino on our hands.

Mouthwashing is a horror that I can't help but devour. FEAST, indeed.

[starlightseq]

Continuing my Archie cover redraw series with issue #1 of the miniseries !

I feel like the original still draws the eye much easier due to the action lines and dark hatching on Robotnik. Perhaps I should have included some of that into my own piece but oh well!

Sketches and thoughts on the issue below ⤵️

I posted a timelapse of my piece on BlueSky.

For Robotnik, my series is focused on redrawing the covers as if they stayed true to the original JP game designs. So, while Robotnik in this cover feels far more menacing and angry, I wanted to give a far more quiet menace to Eggman with his signature grin.

Sally in the mean time, I wanted to try and translate her style a bit into the classic Sonic style, while also maintaing her SATAM look. It makes me feel like I'm drawing her a bit chibi haha.

As for my thoughts on the issue...I don't really have any tbqh. It's very basic saturday morning cartoon humor ! Though, I'm not a big fan of miscommunication plots which was the center of the main story of this issue.

This is the issue that tells us Rotor is the tech guy of the group and Antoine here feels a bit less like a punching bag and more capable than the previous issue. Still a punching bag, but, y'know. Less.

It's also the issue where Sally's colours change from blonde hair and red fur to black hair and pink fur. IIRC, she'll have that colour scheme for a little while. I'll still be drawing her with her red hair and brown fur, though I did consider doing the black/pink combo. After all, they gave a canon reason why her colours were different before.

The most important detail of this issue is OBVIOUSLY the fact that Mexico was made canon in Mobius with this issue /j

It'll be several issues into the Actual series before we start seeing any semblance of the wild stories to come, but for now we just silly humor for those 90's 10 year olds.

[patemi-pk]

I would like to make a post with every Disney magazine/book series currently published, by country, to help people orienting themselves in this environment.

Of course I will start with Italy (and I ask for everyone from a different country to share their perspective of their own Disney magazines. For example the Brazilian Culturama ones... I have a hard time understanding the different identities of the various titles).

ITALY - Part 1

Topolino (1949-)

The flagship title, that publishes new original stories every week. Although it is named after Mickey Mouse, duck stories have always been pretty prevalent, but the trend has never been as strong as in northern european countries. It has now 164 pages, so it accomodates both long stories (with chapters on different issues or in the same libretto) and shorter ones. It is truly a magazine, so the comic stories are accompanied with artciles about lifestyle, games and more.

I Classici Disney [2nd series] (1977-)

This is the most historical of the reprint titles: since its first iteration, in 1957, it helped to spread Disney comics culture to generations of readers, proposing classics to kids and adults who may have lost track of them in the weekly magazine. The new revamp of the second series (since 2019, and following some changes in 2021) goes back to the original format of linking the stories proposed in longer narrations through inbetween pages, now written by some reknown Disney writer, who gets to choose the stories too. The title has generally reprinted more recent stories, compared to the subsequent I Grandi Classici, and nowadays thw covers are by Stefano Zanchi. It is published once every two months (plus a special summer issue).

I Grandi Classici Disney [2nd series] (2016-)

I Grandi Classici has been another title of reprints, but with a lens more interested in digging up older stories than the ones proposed in I Classici. A big role in defining the identity of the magazine has been played by the never forgotten Luca Boschi, who took the reins of it, becoming the curator, in 2004, during the previous run of the title. He led this book to become more philological, always proposing balanced indexes, between stories which can clearly considered Great Classics, parodies, and more minor and lesser known stories, like some american and S-coded ones. His mantle was then passed over to Pier Luigi Gaspa, who continued to follow this path. As a title dedicated to more in-depth knowledge of the material published, it presents a few articles, detailing the more interesting adventures appearing on its pages every month. Since the 2005 revamp, the cover artist has been Giorgio Cavazzano.

Disney BIG (2008-)

This is the disapponting title. Initially it competed with the Classici for the same stories, period-wise, as it is more centered around recent ones, but, as Classici went back to its original format, BIG could fly more freely in the skies of Disney publications. The main advantage of it is its size. Beaing cheap for its number of pages (initially over 500, now over 400) its popularity rose among parents who want to have their kids occupied for a lenghtier time than the average Disney magazine. But the choice of stories has always been... disapponting. Its size could favour longer and lessen known series, but it rarely went that way, publishing even parts of different series, leaving them unfinished. The selection is, so, pretty random, albeit initially it was supposed to be thematical, a differentiation from other riprints that was soon lost. It is monthly and the covers (which nearly always are dedicated to the first sstory in the volume) have always been done by Corrado Mastantuono.

Paperino (1986-)

One of the oldest titles, Paperino is now not much more than the covers of Alessio Coppola. The series started as a ploy to capitalize the popularity of Donald Duck, producing even some original new stories and selecting some old classics. In the 90s it recolored those old stories and, under the guidance of the usual Luca Boschi, developed some taste for lesser known tales, revolving every issue around a theme. Now it mostly reprints itself, with stories having appeared multiple times over the years. Recently the original story has become, more often than not, an Egmont story, as the places to publish foreign material have winded down over the years and to curb the investments on it. It presents, nevertheless, some articles to introduce the stories, every month.

Paperinik (2017-)

With the popularity of Paperinik, could we not have a title dedicated to him? Many times the numeration has been rebooted and at every iteration there has been the will to change some minor aspect (proposing a chronological reprint of the stories of the Duck Avenger, publishing the Frittole series, importing some Egmont stories or some DPW ones, getting more "social") but its identity has stayed more or less the same. The title is monthly and the covers are now by Ivan Bigarella.

Zio Paperone (2018-)

This is a more interesting title. Zio Paperone in its previous iterations was the magazine for the "collectors", the Donaldists, if I may say, focusing on Carl Barks, Don Rosa and the artists perceived as the heirs of the Man of the Ducks. The articles and the analysis have been so important for the more cultured readers that it was the go-to title for everyone interested in behind the scenes and te re-discovery of lost material. This new book, started years after the demise of the previous one, has a very different aim: it is pretty much the equivalent of Paperino, but for Uncle Scrooge. The choice of stories has, instead, been pretty interesting, as they always publish a new story (Egmont or, more often, dutch), the "Superstar" adventure in every monthly issue is really a source of interest in many ways. There are a few more articles than the norm (2) and they care to publish even some series (and complete them, do you hear, BIG?). The cover artist is Andrea Freccero.

Almanacco Topolino (2021-)

We end this first episode with the heir of Zio Paperone, the current title for more cultured readers, Almanacco Topolino. Its role is easy: to publish selected new foreign stories, older international stories with some significance and a couple of episodes originally published in the previous historical series of Almanacco. The link between all of these proposals is, among others, the fact that it is mostly dedicated to 4 rows per page stories. Originally edited by Luca Boschi, his mantle has passed to Davide Del Gusto and recently to Marco Travaglini. It has plenty of articles, to dive deep in the Disney lore and it is published once every three months. The cover artists is Emmanuele Baccinelli.

Next time we will dive into the less regular magazines, divided between the more popular ones and the prestige titles.

[tamara-kama]

Today is national arcade day..

Happy National Arcade Day!! 💜🕹️👾😃👍🏻

[retrogamingblog2]

Pokemon Waterfall Figure set released by Re-ment

[posthumanwanderings]

Game Ware Vol.5 (Sega Saturn): Joypolis Girls Collection

[vintagelasvegas]

Sands Hotel & Casino '52-'96

Sands, December 1952

Kit Carson Club ('46-'50) Kit Carson Motel ('46-'64) La Lue nightclub ('50-'51)

'46: Kit Carson Club opened by H. Bynum, D. Anderson, G. Frisbee on US Hwy 91 outside of Las Vegas, adjacent to Kit Carson Motel. The club will later become LaRue nightclub, then the Garden Room of the Sands Hotel.

'50: Kit Carson Club reopened as LaRue nightclub by Billy Wilkerson, Nola Hahn, 12/23/50.

'51: LaRue closed by summer. Mack Kufferman buys LaRue and hires architect Wayne McAllister to build around the existing club. Kuffman and partners apply for gaming license. The project is called Sands by 12/51.

Sands ('52-'96)

'52: Kufferman gaming license denied in Apr., sells to Jake Freedman (RG 4/9/52, RG 6/13/52). Partners running the Sands are B. Barron, E. Levinson (casino manager), S. Wyman, J. Entratter (showroom & restaurants). Hidden partners are believed to include J. Stacher, M. Lansky. Sands road sign designed by McAllister, built by YESCO.

'52: Dec. 12, Sands opens with 200 rooms in five buildings arranged in Y-shaped layout. The guest wings are named after race tracks: Arlington Park, Belmont Park, Haileah, Rockingham Park, Santa Anita. Three other wings of equal size were added circa ’53-54 (two were named Churchill Downs, Hollywood Park), another by ’58, and larger wing by ’60. The total room count in ’60 was 465.

'53: Frank Sinatra plays his first engagement at the Sands and becomes 2% owner in Oct; Carl Cohen joins the Sands as shareholder and casino manager in Oct.

'54: Sign modification: Second reader board added below the main board, Feb or earlier. Antonio Morelli joins the Sands as musical director for the Copa in Jul.

'55: Sands partners assume control of the Dunes in Sep. They sell the Dunes in four months later.

'58: Jake Freedman dies 1/19/58; Jack Entratter becomes Sands president.

'59: Sign modification: Attraction board attached to the sign, Feb or earlier. Baccarat begins at the Sands. Sands acquires the former Orinda Motel, property to the south, used for expansion of the Sands parking lot.

'60: Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop (the "Rat Pack") are first billed together in the Copa in Jan-Feb. during the filming of Ocean's 11. Senator John F. Kennedy visits during the Democratic primary campaign.

'63: Opening of Aqueduct hotel wing (83 rm) in Apr. Julius Gabrielle, architect (RJ 4/28/63). Sinatra surrenders ownership 10/7/63.

'64: Sands acquires the former Kit Carson Motel; Belmont and Arlington buildings (base of the Y) moved southward to accommodate construction of a hotel tower. Sign modification: The frame around the main marquee painted tan.

'65: Second sign in Aug; tower completed late in the year and officially opened Jan. ’66. Martin Stern Jr, architect.

'67: Howard Hughes buys the Sands, 7/23/67. Sinatra leaves his Sands residency after confrontation with Cohen, 9/11/67.

'69: Dean Martin leaves Sands to join Riviera.

'71: Entratter dies, 3/8/71.

'73: Cohen leaves the Sands, Jan. '73.

'80: Inns of America buys the Sands from Hughes heirs Summa Corp in Oct.

'81: Oct., Sands third sign and new porte-cochere.

'82: Jan. 15, Completion of remodeling effort including new Copa room.

'83: Summa Corp re-assumes control of the Sands, 4/5/83.

'88: Kirk Kerkorian buys the Sands in Jan. Kerkorian sells to Interface Group led by Sheldon Addison in Apr.

'90: Sands Expo and Convention Center opens.

'94: Remodeling of the casino.

'96: Sands closes 6/30/96. Tower demolished 11/26/96.

Photos of the Sands

Sources include David G. Schwartz. At the Sands: The Casino That Shaped Classic Las Vegas, Brought the Rat Pack Together, and Went Out With a Bang. December 1952 photo courtesy of Slidetreasurehunt.

Construction of the sign, 1952. The pylon sign pedestal was 56’ high, 21�� wide, with the S at 34’ tall. Design by Wayne McAllister, fabricated and installed by Young Electric Sign Co. Photo: YESCO Corporate Records (MS-00403), UNLV Special Collections & Archives.

Opens Dec 15. Danny Thomas, Connie Rusell, Lou Wills Jr, Ray Sinatra Orchestra. Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas, 0007-0345.

Aerial view of Kit Carson Motel and the Sands, '62

[silentdhill]

𖦹ׂ ₊˚⊹⋆ My life in 2025 ⋆⊹˚₊ ׂ 𖦹

Some of the things I manifested for in 2025…

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Appearance *ੈ𑁍༘⋆

—embrace my masculine side

—gaining weight and muscle

—having perfect clear skin

—plumper, fuller lips

—perfect eyebrows

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School *ੈ𑁍༘⋆

—always get the best grades

—easily understand every subject

—4.0 GPA

—being extremely popular

—passing every class with a 90 or above

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Social life *ੈ𑁍༘⋆

—big group of friends

—always invited to the best parties

—being the center of attention wherever I go

—tons of hang out opportunities

—social butterfly

—finding a inseparable friend(s)

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Hobbies *ੈ𑁍༘⋆

—being the best writer and violist

—always having writing creativity and story ideas

—knowing how to play all my music and being very proficient playing it

—being a high class player/gamer in every game i play

—flourishing in ever hobby and interest; gaining new ones as well

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Love Life *ੈ𑁍༘⋆

—dating my crush

—to constantly have love options and interest

—having many romantic relationships being presented to me and waiting to happen

—able to pull anyone i desire

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and that’s it !

i'm so excited for this new year, and I hope ya'll are too! this whole idea came from @marwiaft , and if anyone has an manifestation tips my inbox is open!!

[tobiasdrake]

hearing you call live-action sonic surprisingly conservative in your post about media moving forward felt like being shot in the heart

i mean, sonic as a character is pretty leftist. his whole deal is being free and setting people free,

beating up enemies in the game is literally breaking the shell that the animals are stuck in

Eggman was an analogy for pollution, with him destroying the environment for personal gain, and later being more of a fascist dictator

and his thing is always turning people into products, into literal machines he can control to do his labor and fight his wars, which would be every capitalist’s dream.

and so i never put the pieces together when it comes to the movie being conservative.

damn.

ouch.

could you elaborate more on it? idk, the conversation hurts but i’d like to know what your thoughts are on live-action sonic specifically

Oh, sure. We can talk about the surprisingly conservative themes and ideas of the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog films. With the caveat that this is old-school traditional conservatism, not modern nakedly fascistic conservatism. The Sonic movies are conservative in a Home Improvement sort of way, not a Lady Ballers sort of way.

What it amounts to is that Paramount approached the films not with intent to make a Sonic the Hedgehog movie but with intent to make a "relatable" story for an audience that also has Sonic the Hedgehog in it.

Have you ever seen 2019's Godzilla: King of the Monsters? A film which centers a broken family trying to connect with each other, while also there's a disaster movie happening around them? Like. Godzilla and Mothra and Ghidorah is all stuff that's happening, but what really matters here is whether this daughter can forgive her mother.

It's the of writing a low-stakes personal drama and then stapling the film premise to it. The kind of move that makes sense with something like The Day After Tomorrow where the premise is just "It got fucking cold" so the movie kinda needs something with some actual characters that it can be about.

But when it's an adaptation, it shows low confidence in the IP itself to carry a film. It says, "I don't think a Sonic movie would work, so instead I'm going to just make a movie and have Sonic in it."

And the a movie that they made centers some conservative values. But, like, old-school conservative values, not the hyper-fascistic transphobia and white supremacy and stuff you see around today. Things that were considered commonly recognized conservative values in the 80's and 90's, when white people were still supposed to believe that racism was over and all that jazz.

For one, Tom is a cop. Which is a wild choice for a film coming out at the height of BLM and ACAB. The film, as well as its subsequent sequels and spinoffs, play Tom's policing very sympathetically. A major theme of the first film is that Officer Wachowski is a vital and valuable part of his community.

There is no ambiguity; The cops are the good guys here. They're kind of wacky but we're meant to love both of them, Tom and Wade. They are, however, contrasted by the wickedness of the Feds.

Eggman, in the film, is reimagined from an industrialist to a federal agent. He represents the long arm of Big Government overreach coming for the sleepy town of Green Hill. Which is then further represented by G.U.N., who oppose Eggman once he goes rogue but are still the enemy nonetheless.

Even the Knux series still manages to be about fighting the Feds. The federal government has been the antagonist for 3 out of 3 entries thus far, when Eggman himself has only been the antagonist for 2.

The films leave the environmentalism of the original behind, instead centering family values. Rather than setting out to rescue woodland creatures from industry, Sonic has heart-to-heart chats with Tom about growing up and finding his calling. Knux isn't the guardian of Angel Island, but Sonic's adopted brother. Maddie can ground him for inappropriate behavior.

The first film also features the popular old-school conservative theme of Rural America vs. Urban America. Tom is a small-town cop who yearns for the glamour of the big city. He thinks his calling is there. But, over the course of the film, he learns to appreciate the value of small-town living and his importance to his community, and sets aside his foolish dreams of urbanity.

"I wanted to run away to the city but then learned that my Real 'Murica small hometown is where I truly belong" is probably the single most popular conservative story in decades of film and television.

It's worth noting that the film does feature an interracial marriage, which is something I hear brought up a lot as a way of saying "Actually it's not conservative because...."

But for as much credit as Maddie might warrant... There is the issue of Rachel. A character who exists primarily in the film to be a Sassy Black Woman who reacts with furious histrionics towards Tom for no apparent reason. She just. Hates him. From the bottom of her soul, despises "Relatable Cop Boy".

Like. So far as the film's concerned, it needs no explanation. Her relationship with Tom is just an eyeroll, sly glance at the camera, and "In-laws, amirite?" The second film at least gives her more to do, but the first concludes her subplot by having them tie her up and steal her car.

Like. That's it. That is what she amounts to. Maddie's sister yells sassily until she passes out and then the payoff is that they steal her car and leave her tied to a chair as... I guess her karmic retribution for being so sassy and mean to Tom? It's hard to really say whether this is mean-spirited because we do not know what her beef is. The film doesn't think we need to know. "In-laws are crazy, amirite!?"

When you set aside the cool action scenes of Sonic punching robots and look at what the films center as their emotional heart? You get a story about a small-town cop learning to appreciate his rural roots and build a family with his wife despite her unreasonably psychotic relatives, while the wicked federal government attempts to destroy their home, town, family, and way of life.

[blazehedgehog]

what was the deal with games media and forums during the 2000s being so harsh and in many cases downright unfair towards games that wanted to experiment or do something interesting? part of me feels that is why the 2010s had so many massive game series pumping out boring and "safe" games.

We were a lot more ignorant back then. You have to figure that games media has a definitive age, right. Now we had video game magazines going ball the way back to the 80's, but it feels like there was a real boom in game magazines in the 90's with things like EGM, Gamepro, Game Players, Game Fan, Nintendo Power, Game Informer, Edge, Next Generation, PC Gamer, CGW, Tips & Tricks, PSM, etc.

But the age of the industry back then... even if a lot of the writers were in their 20's, 30's, and sometimes even 40's, the readers were all pretty young. I started reading gaming magazines when I was 11. And to some degree it felt like the industry grew up with us. It also reflected the wider era as a whole.

We used to be a more innocent people. More ignorant. Unaware of the wider world at large. American white males (the primary demographic for gaming magazines) lived in this tiny little bubble where they got to feel like they were kings. The world was their oyster. Racism? Nah man, civil rights solved that back in the 1950's. Racism is over. We beat the nazis in the 40's, they don't exist anymore either. Women belong in the kitchen making us a sandwich. I'm American, I'm straight, I'm white, I'm a man, and that makes me the center of the known universe. As long as I have beer, boobs, and bacon, my life is perfect.

And the thing about being comfortable is that people like to be comfortable. Comfort usually means cozying up with something you already know you're going to like. A known quantity. So that's this era, right: repeating familiar ideas and milking them for all its worth, completely unchallenged, because nobody is comfortable when they are being challenged.

But widespread, modern internet access began to spread across the world. Smartphones and social media connected us more closely than we ever have before, both for better and worse. And suddenly all those Straight, white, American males are rubbing elbows with very different international cultures than they're used to, and the perspective on American life begins to shift. The veil is lifted. Eyes are opened for the first time. The world is a very different place than what most Americans thought it was.

Racism? Not actually solved. Nazis? They're still out there, actually. Women? Minorities? Equal rights are not as equal as it sounded. Plus, we trample all over other cultures constantly. And bad actors are rapidly trying to muddy the waters so they can continue to operate unopposed. Welcome to the real world.

Some people embraced this new knowledge with open arms. Learning, and growing, and changing, seeing fresh perspectives and new ideas. And other people just wanted to stay comfortable, sticking their heads in the sand, and trying to deny what was now right in front of them.

My point is, as a people, a worldwide planetary entity, we're a lot more diverse now. We're a lot smarter and more accepting of others. We're a lot more mature.

And then there's something I haven't touched on and its the fact that corporations love "comfort", too. They love being able to avoid taking risks and feeding us the exact same content in perpetuity. But with the indie game boom, more people than ever before can put their art out into the world, which just drives diversity even more.

My point being that we used to be pretty dumb and ignorant, but some of us are less dumb and ignorant nowadays.