Some strange people have created an old-school video game based on Fitzgerald’s “Jazz Age” classic in high school.

But that’s not the end of the story, ‘cause the game itself is a bit of mystery.  The creators of Great Gatsby Game website state that it’s actually an unlicensed copy of a little known NES game they found in an old tag sale and subsequently posted online.  They even uploaded some scans of its supposed manual.

The thing is though, I’ve never heard of such a game and neither has anyone else, so it could all be an elaborate hoax that they concocted.

One thing is for certain though, the game ROCKS!  You play as Nick Carraway (the novel’s narrator) as you make your way through a gloriously classic 8-bit world of flappers, robbers, butlers, etc. as you search for the elusive Gatsby. Armed with only your hat as a weapon, the game is actually fairly challenging.

The control scheme is simple but classic, and the graphics are perfect for what it is… which is kind of like the original Castlevania on NES.

But you don’t have to take OUR word for it… Check it out yourself at:

greatgatsbygame.com

Artwork can change the look of a room entirely. A series of prints hung above a bed or sofa completes a room. Large, bold posters bring a dull hallway to life. The internet has some excellent resources for finding one of a kind prints for any taste. Here are some go-to sources for insanely good deals.

1. ETSY

Etsy is a great resource for handmade art. This selected artist offers unique prints on pages torn from a ‘turn of the century era Deutsch-English dictionary.’ Just see how good they look in these salvaged flea market frames. Check her store for literally hundreds to choose from.

Vintage Book Page Art Print from Dreamery Studio on Etsy, $8.50 for 1, $25.50 for set of 4

2. eBay

Posters today lack the appeal they had back in the day, the reason why a lot of great ones are so valuable and hard to find. Luckily, there are plenty of vintage reproductions that will give you the same look. Search vintage poster, and you’re bound to find something you love for as low as $5. FIVE DOLLARS!

There is a huge selection of vintage repro movie and travel posters, like this Rosemary’s Baby Polish cinema poster…

Rosemary's Baby Vintage Repro Poster 13x19, $3.99

3. Society 6

The Society 6 Shop is loaded with insanely colorful prints made by uber-talented artists. Virtually anything you’ll find will make you wonder what drugs the artist was taking when creating these gorgeous works of art. Fund their habit by purchasing one of your faves, here are some of mine (bonus, prints can also be purchased as ipod/iphone/laptop skins, clothing, etc).

the cage by Cappellosenzatesta Art Print / SMALL - 17" X 22", $25

4. 20×200

20×200 is an affordable art site curated by Jen Bekman, an NYC-based gallerist who supports emerging artists. All prints are limited edition exclusives. I adore this photograph of a rare African parrot from a series by Luke Stephenson, The Incomplete Dictionary of Show Birds. The best prints from this series are selling out, so snag this one up fast if you dig it.

Lovebird #6 by Luke Stephenson edition of 200, 8x10 $20

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Have you got expensive tastes, but unfortunately are as broke as a spoke? Then you’ve got to check out ‘The Frugal Materialist’! Visit this awesome site to get tons of ideas on how to make your home look like a million bucks without having to pay through your nose.

Glenn Beck's words

Imagine if Jesus was part of the Tea Party Movement?

I mean, after all, according to clowns like Glenn Beck and Ann Coulter, et al, they’ve practically got a direct line to the Man from Nazareth, so the two should go hand in hand.

Or do they?

Some folks have put together a fantastic site, entitled Tea Party Jesus, that actually puts the words of celebrity Teatards  in the mouth of ole Jeez… to chilling effect I might add.

You need to check this out.

Hey Z Readers! Check out “Small Worlds”… a game about exploring, designed by David Shute.

For the last couple of days, I haven’t been able to stop playing this beautiful 8-bit masterpiece.

Winner of the 6^th Annual Casual Gameplay Design Competition (CGDC6), everything about it from the whimsically retropixel look to the melancholy and well-produced soundtrack is absolutely outstanding.  

In these sad, culturally bereft days of celebreality, THIS is where the art is hiding!!

Check out Mr. Shute’s blog, “A Startling Lack of Banjos” as well, to keep up with the genius’ latest projects!

 It had to have happened sooner or later, the 90s nostalgia craze is officially afoot….

 Some brilliant minds at a site called Wonder-Tonic, have come up with an hilarious program that converts all websites so they, in their own words, “look like they were made by a 13 year old in 1996”.

 Go CHECK OUT your favorite sites in their Comic Sans font, Ally Mcbeal baby, and horrible yellow-y glory!!

 Some sites work better than others, but it’s a hell of a lot of fun to play around with!!

 Man… total flashbacks… I gotta say, I NEVER thought that shit remotely looked good, and I never understood what the designers were thinking.  

Geocities-izer… Z RECOMMENDS!

Artist: The Polaroids
Album: S/T
Label: N/A

Track Listing

1. After The Flood
2. Denver, Colorado
3. Top Five
4. Diamond Eyes’ll Cut Right Through You
5. Heather… I
6. Your Nervous Desire
7. I Love You
8. Wings*
9. Lifetime to Learn*
10. Shadows

All songs written by Ansley & Bran Lancourt, except where noted*

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Walrus Jones – Vocals, Guitars
Zeitgeisty in a Flash -Vocals, Bass, Wurlizter and Piano
Eric “The Shield” Slovin – Drums and Percussion, backing vocals on “Wings”

Claudia Chopek – Violins on “Denver, Colorado” and “Diamond Eyes’ll Cut Right Through You”

Produced and Arranged by Ansley Lancourt

*(Lancourt/Lancourt/Slovin)
(c) 2007 Bransley Music and Donut Ltd.

Did you ever imagine what Pink Floyd’s Magnum Opus, “The Dark Side of the Moon” would sound like if it was used as a soundtrack to an old school Nintendo video game?
Well, Brad Smith, a video game programmer from Ontario, Canada, has… and he DID something about it.

He painstakingly recreated the entire album using the blips and bloops of the classic gaming system, and in doing so created something not only incredibly fun and interesting… but completely NEW and thoroughly enjoyable to listen to as well!!

This take on the rock classic not only reinforces how great the original album is, it takes it in a new direction of sorts.

Example.. A few months ago, the Flaming Lips recorded their version of Dark Side and came up with a tired, boring product… This guy Smith, did the same thing to COMPLETELY DIFFERENT EFFECT… He transformed it… He deconstructed it to its base elements and still managed to evince the melancholy, ennui, anxiety and ultimately uplifting characteristics of the music to great success.

It’s imaginative, brilliant and well worth the considerable time and effort he must’ve put into it.
Cheers to you Brad Smith.

Check out the rest of the album at HIS YOUTUBE HOME PAGE… and enjoy.

8-bit Dark Side…. Z RECOMMENDS!!

Pomplamoose is one of those hipster, cutesy, boyfriend/girlfriend indie music sensations which ordinarily make my molars ache, but I’ve got to admit it’s hard to ignore the fact that there’s a lot of bone fide musical mastery going on here. They’ve become a Youtube stand out with their quirky covers of popular top 40 hits and their latest offering, Lady Gaga’s ‘Telephone’ is pretty damned awesome. The dude (Jack Conte) has got some major chops, playing the drums, keys, xylophone, guitar and other assorted doo-hickeys with an innate ease and the dude-ette (Nataly Dawn) warbles pleasantly enough while keeping down a more than comepetent groove on the bass. The thing I find most impressive about these guys is the arrangements they’ve come up with to the cheesy playlist of dittys in their repetoire. For instance, they’ve sped up Aerosmith’s ballad ‘I don’t wanna miss a thing’ and added a nice jazzy swing to it which improves that shlock-fest by leaps and bounds. Beyonce’s ‘Single ladies’ is equally well done, and I have to say their little lyrical change in the bridge is pretty hilarious.

Of course, the bottom line is that many of the songs they choose to cover are just so inherently crap-tastic, it kind of feels like a lot of wasted effort. Still, the final result is quite enjoyable so I guess that’s all that matters in the end. Sifting through their videos, you get a feel for their personalities and unfortunately they seem goddamned irritating. They’ve got that whole vegan, boho, williamsburg, san francisco, pork pie hat, skinny jeaned, brown rice, fey, ironic pretentiousness thing down to a tee, but shit…they can play. I want to hate them, but the musician in me respects their ability, if not their choice of music.

Check out some of their covers…

Lady Gaga -  ‘Telephone’

Aerosmith – ‘I don’t wanna miss a thing’

Michael Jackson – ‘Beat it’

Beyonce – ‘Single ladies’

Ever wonder what a map of New York would look like if it were part of an old Apple II RPG, like Ultima III?  Well, you’re wondering days are over!!

Check out 8-Bit NYC  and see for yourself.

Now, non-old school gamers might ask themselves, what exactly would be the point of something like this, to which designer Brett Cramper provides the following explanation…

“8-Bit NYC is an attempt to make the city feel foreign yet familiar, smashing together two culturally common models of space: the lo-fi overhead world maps of 1980s role-playing and adventure games, and the geographically accurate data that drives today’s web maps and GPS navigation. I hope to evoke the same urge for exploration, abstract sense of scale, and perhaps most importantly unbounded excitement that many of us remember experiencing on the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Commodore 64, or any other number of 8-bit microcomputers. Maps offer us visual architectures of the world, encouraging us to think about and interact with space in particularly constrained ways. Take some time to think about New York a little differently. Set out on a quest. Be an adventurer.”

Don’t have to tell ME twice… Gamers, head over to 8-Bit NYC and get your quest on!!

Z RECOMMENDS!!

Anyone into collecting old LPs (like myself) will surely appreciate a terrific blog started by Ian Hrabe, a student from Kansas City…. Why are there so many records in my life? – A project of alphabetical listening

The project’s premise is to go through Ian’s entire collection, one record a day, posting a picture of himself and the album, including biographical details (where he bought the record, why he bought it, etc.) as well as the price, because as he says,  ”I am curious to see how much I have spent over the past six or seven years since I started collecting/ how much money I have wasted that I could have spent on, I don’t know, rent or food“.

It’s a really fun site to browse… kind of like rummaging through the bins at an old record store.  I dig checking to see which ones I own myself, and what his perspective is on it, as a young kid.

So, vinyl lovers defnitely surf over and see what Ian is spinning on the turntable today… You can be sure it’s usually something good, ’cause he’s got great taste and you just might get turned onto something you never heard of before!

Z RECOMMENDS!!!