Y'all Are Lucky I Love You

Recently we here at Donnell decided that despite our deepest hopes and dreams, floppy disks just aren't gonna make a comeback. So we got around to the nasty business of making certain that they had been thoroughly deleted from the system (they had). In the course of this job, I discovered an old friend. Below the Root, babies. Based on the book by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, it translated into an enormously satisfying video game. I played it for hours on my Commodore 64 and WON (unlike, say, Q-Bert) and lo and behold here it was at Donnell. I was thrilled. If any of you have an old Apple computer, invite me over sometime. We'll break out the joysticks and give it a whirl. It even has the map!

But if you wish to get that old-timey computer interface into your life a different way, I've found that there's a way to make your blog look like a Commodore 64 interface. Everybody say it with me! LOAD, "*", 8,1 and return! If I didn't love you all so very very much I might be seriously tempted to do this. Though, if I'm going to be honest, it would be cool for about 3 days. Then the blue would start to get to me. Thanks to BoingBoing for the link.

By the way, I've also found that children's picture book author/illustrator Jarrett Krosoczka shares my love of 80s arcade games. Examine the evidence. He found this place where post-it notes could create a Donkey Kong image and he's also the one responsible for that Q-Bert image I linked to. Bravo to you, sir.

Hope They Do Something With the Mario Theme

I leave all info regarding children's music to my esteemed colleague Warren at Children's Music That Rocks. Last week the children of New York were on some kind of a break (Spring? Late Winter?) and the joint was hopping. As a result, I never had time to see what Warren had posted in his free time. As a result, I haven't seen until now his posting on the children's album ComputHer. How cool is this album? Says Warren:

With an almost fanatical loyalty to computer systems of yore, ComputeHer, aka Michelle, has created an album of hyperdanceable tunes using an old Game Boy, a Game Boy Camera, a Commodore 64, an Apple IIe, an Atari 2600, an old Nintendo, a couple of Texas Instruments educational games, and a keyboard here and there. She goes all out and issues her CD, Data Bass, in a 5 1/4 in. floppy sleeve to the delight of us oldsters.

Awesome.