Crazy

If you grew up in the 1980′s, you would be familiar with the humor magazine Mad. It’s possible that you were also familiar with Cracked, but I had never heard of Crazy until I got the issue shown here (some time during the mid-1980′s).  (Click on each picture above to see more detail.  Of particular interest is the fine print on the bottom of page 3.)

No. 94 was the last issue of the magazine.  It was published in April 1983 (see the fine print); the 1982 year on the masthead is a typo.  The column on the right (by the magazine’s mascot Obnoxio The Clown) hints at the reasons for the end of the magazine’s run. Some history is provided by the special announcement below.

Of all the imitators of Mad, Cracked was the last one to cease print publication (in 2007). As of this writing, Mad is still publishing in print.

Red Bird

I recently went with my daughter to the mall toy store I regularly visit. As I was looking at the Hot Wheels, she asked me what kind of cars I was looking for. I told her I was looking for those that looked weird. “Like this?” she said, as she showed me the car on the left.

Note that, unlike the Angry Birds Minion that I have, this one has the Angry Birds logo on the upper left.

Sablay

One of the benefits of getting a doctoral degree at the University of the Philippines Open University is that you get to own and wear a sablay hood. While the ordinary sablay is a sash, the sablay hood is a sablay sewn together into a hood with a medallion.  (The picture on the left shows me wearing both a sablay and a sablay hood as well as a Chancellor’s List medal.) Although the sablay hood is the academic dress for doctoral degree holders in UPOU, I’m not sure if the other constituent universities in the University of the Philippines system also use it.

Tiny Tonka Rescue Van

One of my toys when I was a child was the orange Tonka van shown here. It seems to be a Tiny Tonka no. 999 Rescue Van released from 1975 to 1977. (See, for example, this or this.)

I don’t remember it having stickers on the sides, but perhaps they were removed. It’s extremely strong. I remember playing very roughly with it and the only crack in the plastic windows is a 1-cm long crack at the bottom corner of the passenger’s side of the windshield. The only writing on it is the word “Tonka” at the bottom and on the tires.

Cagsawa Ruins

Some time in April 2010, on a trip to Legazpi City from Naga City, I had a chance to quickly pass by the Cagsawa Ruins. I wasn’t able to take as many pictures as I wanted, as I was on a tight schedule.  (In the background is Mayon Volcano, hiding behind some clouds.)

Philippine basketball trading cards

Some time in 1988, I got the basketball card shown above (featuring Jerry Codiñera) free with a pack of frozen Purefoods hotdogs.  Now, 25 years later, I get the basketball card shown below (featuring Marc Pingris) free with a pack of San Mig Coffee.  I personally prefer the format of the earlier card, which includes more information about the player.

Preparing for an Adventure in Oz

The second program I’m entering on Classic99 is also the first in TI Extended Basic.  (The picture on the left shows the book that apparently comes with the TI Extended Basic Command Module.)

It’s called Adventure in Oz.  It’s the longest program in the book Programs for the TI Home Computer by Steve Davis.  It’s composed of four programs:  the main one has 320 multiple-statement lines, two other programs create two data files, and the last one is a TI Basic music-playing program called Rainbow.

By default, the TI-99/4A had 16 KB of RAM (also called VDP (Video Display Processor) RAM).  Adventure in Oz requires the Memory Expansion unit (32 KB of RAM, but with only 24 KB available to TI Extended Basic programs).  The main program listing and the values of the numeric variables are stored in the Memory Expansion, and the values of string variables (in the two data files) are stored in VDP RAM.

The book says that the adventure game requires TI Extended Basic, the Memory Expansion unit, and a floppy disk drive. It fails to mention that the game also requires the Speech Synthesizer module.

So far, I’ve input enough code to show the title page.  When I have more time, I’ll type in the rest of the program.  I’ll blog about it when I’ve finished.

Grand Lodge

I just got a copy of a one hundred peso commemorative note celebrating the centennial of The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippines.

Batmobiles

It’s very difficult to find Hot Wheels Batmobiles sold in malls at list price.  (Some specialty stores have them but sell them at higher prices.)  Sometimes I am able to buy a Batmobile because I arrive just as the salesperson is taking it out of the box and hanging it on the racks.

So far, my wife and I have a #207 Batmobile from 2007, a 2007 First Edition TV Batmobile, a ’66 Batmobile from 2009, a Batman: Arkham Asylum Batmobile from 2011, and a Batman Live Batmobile from 2013.  (The TV Batmobile and the ’66 Batmobile have different wheels.)

The Mystery Machine

I was recently able to buy a Hot Wheels version of The Mystery Machine.

According to this report, in a “poll of 3000 people [...] conducted by Toys R Us in conjunction with the launch of Disney Pixar’s new movie Cars,” The Mystery Machine was voted the best fictional car of all time.  (The Batmobile was ranked third.)