The Galloping Ghost: Say "Game Over" to Boredom

Outside on the street

Everyone has a favorite classic arcade game.  Some people love Pac-Man or Frogger or maybe even that foulmouthed, orange ball Q*bert.  My personal favorite is Robotron 2084.  Not only was the use of two joysticks innovative, the sound effects still hold up through my rose tinted glasses.  Whatever arcade game you loved in your youth, the Galloping Ghost probably has it.

You used to find arcade games everywhere.  From the ice cream parlor to the video store, you couldn't go anywhere without finding a cabinet ready to eat your unwanted quarters.  And what mall didn't have the ubiquitous arcade, dimly lit and filled with brightly colored screens.  Wow!  How times have changed.  Some of my fondest childhood memories include my father and I playing Tokyo Wars at the local mall and trying to beat the legendary, Konomi classic Turtles in Time.  Thank God someone is preserving these outdated relics of the past.  Remember that overweight, unemployed guy in his late 20's who always hung around the arcade pumping quarters into Mortal Kombat II so that he could get the high score and enter his name as ASS.  Well, for one day I got to be that guy.  And it was awesome

A Smash TV cabinet is on the
corner.  The game is loosely
based on the film Running Man

Way out in the badlands of the Chicago suburbs, the Galloping Ghost has managed to collect many of the greatest arcade games under one roof.  Unlike the "barcade's" that have become popular with the millennials, the Galloping Ghost charges a $20 flat rate per person.  For just $20 you can play until 2am.  Also, the fact that they don't serve booze keeps the atmosphere family friendly.  This place has made Brookfield, IL a pilgrimage for novice and hardcore gamers alike.  Overtime the Galloping Ghost's legend has continued to grow.  After gaining fame as the Mecca for vintage arcade games, it appeared on several notable Youtube channels, including Cinemassacre.

With so many great games in one place, it can be overwhelming.  The first game I played was Street Fighter.  That's right.  I didn't say Street Fighter II or Alpha...just Street Fighter.  I'd never actually seen a Street Fighter cabinet before.  The game is borderline terrible.  It's still a tournament fighter, but you don't have the ability to pick your character in the game.  You're stuck playing with Ryu.  A prime example of the sequels being superior to the original.  The game's terrible quality is certainly surprise considering it comes from video game juggernaut Capcom.  

I have fond memories of
playing Afterburner at
River Falls Mall

Don't be surprised if the unlimited continues result in the urge to settle some old scores.  I fulfilled a childhood dream of beating Sega's arcade classic Afterburner II.  As a child, I always played the motion simulator version at River Falls Mall.  I also had the Tengen version for the NES.  I've always wanted to beat the game but never seemed to have enough quarters.  Let's just say that around level 15 the game gets cheap...incredibly cheap.  Dodging missiles basically becomes luck until you beat the game at level 23.  I probably got my $20 worth on just this machine.

The Galloping Ghost also has a ton of movie and TV tie-in games.  Some great and some not so great.  I personally love the beat-em-up classics of the early 90's that dominated my trips to the pizza places of southern Indiana.  Of course they have the Konomi classics TMNT: Turtles and Time, X-MEN, and The Simpsons.  Only one of which ever got a home console port.  Shame!  

GREAT

Alien vs. Predator 
Finally got a chance to play the legendary, arcade-only Alien v. Predator.  Considering its reputation, it's crazy that this was my first time ever even seeing the machine.  It more than lived up to the hype.  Few things are as satisfying as taking a flamethrower to a xenomorph.

Cadillacs and Dinosaurs 

Even Capcom's lesser known games from the 90's are classics!

It's as awesome as it sounds.  A classic beat-em-up that you've probably never heard of.  And to top it off, it shares a cabinet with Aliens vs. Predator.


Sunset Riders 
Love beat-em-ups and the old west?  Then this is the game for you.  It's great to experience a 90's wild west property that doesn't have a giant mechanical spider.

Capcom vs. SNK
I love Capcom's Marvel vs. Capcom and Marvel Superheroes games, mainly because of the Marvel heroes.  However, this underrated tournament fighter actually plays smoother and is more fun.  I imagine it's because they didn't have  to shoe-horn in the Marvel Heroes' moves.  Even if you are like me and don't know any of the SNK characters, check this one out.     

NOT SO GREAT

A relatively rare Real Ghostbusters cabinet.  

The Real Ghostbusters
Poor graphics and weak game play hold back this arcade game from achieving the greatness that the franchise deserves.

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi 
This Atari made game isn't as well known as its vectrex fore bearer.  And there are several reasons why.  Going with an isometric perspective is almost always a bad decision.  In hindsight, Atari should have stuck with Vectrex graphics for this sequel.  No matter how advanced technology gets, I will always think that Vectrex graphics are the future.

Donkey Kong 3
Some people consider this a hidden gem, but I have little love for this overblown collector's item.  While the terraced playing field was innovative for the time, spraying bug spray up a giant monkey's butt isn't my idea of a fun game.  Also, the game play is as unforgiving as my critique.  A rare miss for the Big N.

NEXT TIME

Original Star Wars cabinet
featuring vectrex graphics

Metal Slug 
A good portion of the back wall is taken up by Neo Geo machines that contain about 5-6 games each.  The downside of this is that all the Metal Slug games are on one machine.  There also seemed to be a line to play these arcade classics.  Next time I make it to the Galloping Ghost I will make sure to beeline for this machine and play a couple rounds of SNK's immortal franchise before the crowds really start pouring in.  Everyone knows that the Neo Geo versions are the best and that no home port can truly do the franchise justice

If you are going to the Galloping Ghost, I recommend that you get there early.  Word on this place has gotten out.  It was packed just a few hours after opening and many of the best machines had developed lines by the time that I left.

This place is basically an interactive museum.  The next time you're in the Windy City, skip the bean and take the train to the Galloping Ghost.  You won't be disappointed.  




   

Golgo 13: Master Assassin

Golgo 13 is Japan's second longest running manga series.  It follows an assassin for hire named Duke Togo who often goes by the code name Golgo 13.  Often compared to James Bond, Golgo 13 travels the world carrying out "contracts" as a hitman.  Unlike James Bond, Duke Togo is not a charmer.  Stoic nearly to the point of absurdity, Golgo 13 is much more like the Bond of Fleming's novels than the one-liner-spouting, Tuxedo wearing Hollywood Bond.  He never shows emotion and only cares about his work.  Golgo 13 has a dedication to his job that mirrors Japanese salaryman culture.  It's the duty and dedication to his craft that makes Golgo 13 so interesting.  

I just finished the last volume of Viz Publishing's English translations.  Viz, who publishes many great English translations of Japanese manga series, has translated 13 volumes of Golgo 13.  The various plot lines cover everything from postwar Japan to the Bush/Gore presidential race.  The first story I read involved the docking of the US Apollo and Soviet Soyuz space capsules.  Though the translated volumes aren't published in chronological order, its safe to say that Golgo 13's stories have always been firmly rooted in current events.

What keeps the series so fresh is that often the stories don't focus on Golgo 13.  Sometimes he's more of a supporting character.  The series certainly use this to its advantage.  The writers do a great job of grounding each story's narrative in story's setting.  It's wonderful to see how each new story will incorporate elements of the setting's culture or history.  The artwork usually features great images of the cityscapes include memorable renderings of Chicago, New Orleans, and of course Tokyo.

If you're interested in a great manga experience ,make sure to checkout Golgo 13.  It's thrilling, has amazing art, and certainly isn't for kids.

  

Charlie's Steakhouse: One-of-a-Kind Fine Dining

The neon sign lights the way to
deliciousness

Charlie's Steakhouse doesn't have a menu.  That's the first thing separating this place from the rest of the crowded steakhouse market.  Walking into the bar is like taking a step back in time to a time before every strip mall in America had a Longhorn steakhouse.  And this place has class to spare.  The first thing you'll notice is the neon sign on the building.  Charlie's is on a mostly residential street just off Napoleon Avenue.  Put simply, this place is an institution. 

The bar has that "classic" look

You enter in the bar.  It's got that classic old-school wood paneling, letting you know you've come to the right place.  It even has the old style pre-digital cash register.  The bar looks like it hasn't changed since the 1960's, but if it ain't broke don't fix it.  I recommend the old fashioned.  You'll certainly get your moneys worth out of it, because it is strong and well worth the price tag.  Even if you're not in the mood for a steak, stop by the bar for a great cocktail.  The only downside is that they don't have a beer on tap.  However, the does a TV.  They showed the MLB playoffs the night I went.  Starting a steak dinner off with a cocktail is always a good choice.        

Old Fashioned with a side
of class

Steaks ready to eat

As I said earlier Charlie's doesn't have a printed menu.  The night we were there, they had four different cuts of steak.  The waiter should be able to recite the list of sides and steaks by memory for you.  However, if you don't know what you'll be eating when you go, you might have come to the wrong place.  Everyone knows that steak is the main attraction.  The salads are huge and the dressings have that homemade taste, so you know you aren't eating anything too healthy.  I recommend the au gratin potatoes.  They are smothered in cheese.  Everything on the "potatoes end" of the steak and potatoes is awesome.  

Make sure to put your
napkin up

Steaks come out of the kitchen still sizzling.  Make sure to put your napkin over your shirt so you don't get delicious grease on your shirt.    

The "spread"

The steaks are amazing just as you'd expect.  Do yourself a favor and order yours medium-rare the way God intended.  If you order it well done or medium-well you'll likely receive a puzzled look from the waiter.  I ordered the second smallest steak at 14 oz.  It was almost too much food for me.  I almost can't believe anyone could finish one of the larger steaks. 

Next time you're in the Crescent City and looking for a steak, take the streetcar uptown to Charlie's          

Mardi Gras: Made in China

Mardi Gras: Made in China is a documentary about the manufacturing of the celebration's ubiquitous, plastic beads.  The crew journeys to China's Fuzhou city in Fujian Provience and documents the manufacturing of the beads in a massive, walled factory.  The crew then travels to New Orleans during Mardi Gras, recording the beads at the end of their life cycle.  

Movie Cover

At the factory, the crew interviews many of the labors who work 12 hours a day making the necklaces, doubloons, and even plastic penises that get thrown to the crowds every year.  Unsurprisingly the conditions at the factory aren't good.  But what really makes life so terrible is the restrictions the factory puts on its employees personal lives.  Employees can be fined an entire day's wages for talking during working hours.  Also, employees can only leave the prison-like factory on Sundays.  The other six days of the week they must spend all their non-working time in the compound.

On the other hand, the owner of the factory lives large on $2 million a year, producing items for the Krewe of Tucks.  He was born in Mainland China but went to Hong Kong as a child.  He returned to China to open the factory after the initiation of economic reforms.  This isn't surprising considering the communist party opened China to Chinese from Taiwan and Hong Kong as a way to bind them closer to the mainland and use the experience and expertise of other "Chinese" to rebuild the country following communism.  Think FoxConn but on a much smaller level.

The Factory Owner

Back in New Orleans, the beads are tossed off the sides of floats.  Some make it to the spectators while others simply fall on the ground, staying exactly where they land.  At the end of the partying, most are just thrown away.  During and after Mardi Gras signs advertising bead recycling centers are posted in public places.  Apparently the beads have a high content of lead which seeps into the groundwater.  The documentary shows the bulldozers that roll down St. Charles Ave. cleaning up the beads after each parade.

I am no sandle wearing hippie, but it's an enormous amount of waste.  The documentary really doesn't do it justice.  Each night bulldozers and workmen travel down the Avenue scooping up the beads.  It's troubling to see how many of the beads don't even make it to the spectators, simply falling onto the ground.  They become trash the instant they get thrown over the sides of the floats.  I am not an innocent party in this either.  Last year I rode on float.  By the end of the parade I had tossed bags of beads without the slightest thought about where they came from or where they would end up.

Beads Everywhere!

Don't get me wrong, I love Mardi Gras, but the waste resulting from the cheap trinkets really troubles me.  That's why I snatched this documentary off the library shelves the second I laid eyes on it.  I hope that one of the Mardi Gras krewes "goes green" in the future and realizes the economic and environmental problems this worthless crap causes.  But with krewes that have mottos like "throw until it hurts," its likely that this tradition won't die easily.  

James Rolfe Revolutionized Entertainment

Does Anyone Else Remember the Power Glove?

Early this summer at the height of the Ghostbusters (2016) fiasco, a memory of the terrible Ghostbusters NES game that I had as a kid popped into my head.  The game was unplayable.  It ended up in my video game collection for the same reason it probably ended up in millions of other kid's collections...It had the word Ghostbusters printed on the front.  The first thing that came up after googling the video game was a video by the "Angry Video Game Nerd."  The video was a hilarious.  I felt like it had vindicated me and every other kid who got ripped off by crap merchandise.  In the video the Nerd plays the game and does a review while he is.....well....angry.  His character is basically that 30 year old guy that we all know who still lives in his mom and dad's basement.  He makes fun of all the crap video games that ripped us off as children.

The Angry Video Game Nerd, or AVGN as he is known, had hundreds of videos on Youtube.  He was one of the website's first real celebrities.  For the next week, I did nothing except watch James Rolfe's AVGN videos.  When I finished I started watching all of the other videos that his website, Cinemassacre, made over the last 10 years.  He did it all on a shoestring budget.  I kept watching these shows because they were great and incredibly entertaining.  It got to the point where I preferred watching Rolfe's videos to actual Hollywood produced shows.  Before this I had never gotten into the whole Youtube thing.  After watching the AVGN there was no going back.

James Rolfe and his partner in crime Mike
Matei during their amazing Batman episode.

You can find a Youtuber making their own videos about almost every subject.  I started subscribing to a few whose videos I liked.  I found a guy calling himself SerpentZA who does videos about his life in China.  Youtube completed changed the content that I consumed.  Gone were flashy Hollywood shows with laugh tracks, and in were low budget, do-it-yourself videos about subjects that I actually cared about.  I find Rolfe and others like him inspiring.  Rolfe genuinely loves what he does and comes through in all of his videos.  Just try not to laugh when he takes you back to the past to remember something as stupid as the Virtual Boy or all those crappy Tiger handheld games you got for your birthday.

Times have changed and we're no longer stuck with what the networks give us.  Now people have the ability to create and publish their own material.  It's Rolfe and people like him that are the future of entertainment.  So get out there and start your own Youtube channel or a blog.  Yes, I know that I was late to the game on this subject, but no time like the present.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLVGmvmNitg  

Aldrich-Genella House: A New Orleans Haunted Treasure

Every town in America has a haunted house or two, but New Orleans has far more than its fair share.  Few are as prominent as the Aldrich-Genella House.  Situated at the corner of St. Charles Avenue and Bordeaux Street, this massive mansion commands respect.  The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Its architecture style sets it apart from other mansions on "the Avenue".  Built in the Second Empire architecture style (think of Paris and its mansard roofed buildings), this house is certainly a one-of-a-kind building in America's most unique city.

I decided to highlight the property as a haunted house because it has fallen into disrepair.  I often wonder what tourist think as they role down St. Charles on the streetcar and see a mansion vaguely resembling Norman Bate's house.  Many of the windows are missing glass and the banister on the front staircase has disintegrated.  A Christmas decoration spookily spelling out "Believe" hangs in the window year round.  I'll admit, the first time I saw this place I was taken aback.  After passing by it a few times, I started to notice the cars parked in the driveway.  At least two of the three have flat tires.  The Corvette looks like it hasn't been driven in a decade or more.

Though the architecture style originated in France, you're far more likely to see a mansion like this in the Midwest or on the plains than in the Big Easy.  So how did this mystic manor land on the city's most prominent residential street?  Apparently it was part of a military academy.  I couldn't find much on the subject, but below is a link to someone else's blog that carried a piece about it.  As time goes by, I have started to worry about the house.  It's so unique compared to the other buildings in the city.  I hope it doesn't fall into disrepair and have to be torn down.  However, it'd also be weird to see it completely restored.  After all, every place needs "the house" that you cross the street to avoid.

http://neworleans.danellis.net/rugby_academy.htm

The house viewed from the neutral ground
in St. Charles Avenue

From the side.  Notice the broken window at
the top of the tower.

Broken window on the right.

At least someone is still cutting the lawn.

Flat tires on the one of the cars in the
driveway.

The stoop leading the front door.

I hope that isn't a load bearing column.

Project A: Martial Arts Movie Saturday III

Considering his currently close ties
to the Communist Party, Jackie
Chan probably regrets wearing this
Royal Navy uniform

Outside of Asia, Project A isn't well known.  Funny considering it was a favorite movie of Japanese Emperor Hirohito.  This Jackie Chan masterpiece chronicles the misadventures of the Hong Kong Police Force and Royal Navy in the early period of colonial rule.  It's notable for starring three of the "7 little fortunes" of Hong Kong cinema; Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao.  Some of my older readers might remember Sammo Hung as the star of TV's Marshal Law.  As a kid I remember ads for this show but haven't seen any the episodes.  Sammo Hung is also notable for being an overweight marshal arts expert.  That's right....overweight marshal arts expert.  His character is affectionately called "Fats" in the film.  You can see some of his moves in the film, and they are genuinely impressive.  These three actors would later go on to star together in other classic films, such as Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars and Wheels on Meals.  

The hallmark of any Chan film is the stunts, and get ready because Project A has some awesome ones.  In one seen Chan has to hang on to the hands of a clock, a la Charlie Chaplin, before falling three stories to the ground.  The final scene of the film features more grenade explosions than you can shake a German potato masher at.  It's like something out of a low budget Michael Bay film, except that here it's meant to be a little funny and outlandish.

The three main characters

The time period  and setting of the film are refreshing.  There's no "tournament fighting" motif or "shaolin masters" in this film, making it something of an anomaly for kung fu films with English dubbing.  Overall it's great to see an action film with an original premise, particularly one so funny and entertaining.  In terms of tone, the film is way ahead of its time.  It's more like some of Chan's later American movies than other early 80's films.  It fits comfortably in the action/comedy genre alongside Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon.  It certainly contrasts with American action films of the 80's, where if it moves, the lead actor just shoots it to death.    

If you're in the mood for something original and retro, checkout this little known classic.

Eat your heart out Doc Brown and Marty McFly