So how many of you remember that great late 80's blatant, feature-length Nintendo advertisement? Personally, I look back on it with nostalgia. I know it was an ad, I know it was a pretty bad movie, but man did I think that powerglove was cool, and how many of us wanted to play Super Mario 3 on that enormous display?

I only bring it up because a friend of mine and I were reminiscing about it and wondering what that girl Haley was up to these days. Well, we found out.

Now she's in a band called Rilo Kiley. They've released two recent albums, and my friend and I listened to them, not expecting to like them beyond the novelty of the whole thing. Turns out, this is one damned fine indie rock band. I suggest that everyone go check out any track from Rilo Kiley's "The Execution of All Things". Out of curiousity, has anyone else heard of the band? I had no idea who they were until a few days ago, now I'm planning on driving 3 hours to see them on March 1st in D.C.

Me and a bunch of my Nintendo-playing buddies actually went to the Nintendo World Championships in 1990. I even have a T-shirt buried somewhere in my closet. I got to compete in the first round of the "triathalon" event (SMB, Rad Racer, Tetris) and came within 50,000 points of qualifying for the next round. Oh well, at least we got a chance to preview all the new games and such.

So how many of you remember that great late 80's...

Darn! With that title and that lead-in, I was expecting a discussion of Paul Hardcastle's electro-pop classic, "The Wizard"...

Peter

Wasn't part of that used for "Top of the Pops " at one point.
Great tune.

I'm going to date myself and say that the first image that came to MY mind was Micheal Jackson and Diana Ross...

the powerglove was bad ass, I bought one mostly because of that movie, too bad it worked kinda crappy.

That was The Wiz, which, of course, now reminds me of that Seinfeld episode: ``Nobody beats the Wiz! <ding>''

I also participated in the Nintendo World Championships in 1990 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston Texas. I was eight . I made it to the second round where I got to play on the massive screen with all the people watching. I seem to recall not doing as well on the second level though. I think you got to go to Orlando, Florida for the third one.

What were the specifics of the three parts? I think I remember you had to get a certain number of coins in SMB (100?), finish the level in the desert in rad racer, and get a certain number of lines in Tetris.

Unfortunately my level of video game skill has depleted significantly since then-- perhaps due to the fact that I don't enjoy them (in general) nearly as much anymore. Too bad, really.

John

Odd. I get a banner saying temporarily disabled when I go to that site. We getting a mini slashdot effect here or something?

- Trevor

I think it was 50 coins. You were allegedly supposed to just tear through the SMB and Rad Racer portions and rack up all the points in Tetris. But I remember reading somewhere that there was an easter egg of sorts where you could hang out in SMB, warp to one of the worlds, and rack up a ton of points there. The "triathalon" cart is allegedly available as a NES ROM image for emulators, but I have never bothered to try to track it down.

Wasn't that "The Wiz"?

I answered in haste.... Didn't see Bitt's post....

Man that movie creeped me out as a kid....

That's very odd. It was working yesterday, I believe. Strange.

For the time being, there's a fan site at www.rilokiley.net

Nobody Beats the Wiz!

I just wanted to say that I saw Rilo Kiley at the Black Cat (in D.C.) on Saturday night. They have renewed my faith in the indie rock band. They put on one of the best shows I've ever seen, and were incredibly talented. I am also impressed that they are doing about 28 shows in a month all across the country, with two other bands in tow. Hell, from DC on saturday they're going to NY city, to MA, to PA, back to Brooklyn, then out to Ohio and the midwest. I'm always impressed by bands like that.

I just watched the Wizard today with my girlfriend and laughed that it was the same girl. She looks almost exactly the same but is totally different

disclaimer: I'm not trying to force anyone to listen to the group, I'm just saying how impressed I am with a group I didn't expect to like more than a novelty