One Man Band Rocks Zelda Wind Waker Theme

Well, the holidays have come and gone, and we’re now in the infancy of a new year. Along with getting Left 4 Dead early for Christmas, I scored quite a few things from my wish list including Chrono Trigger, Animal Crossing: City Folk, plus some comics and Donkey Kong Jenga (thanks Maureen, I never expected that!). I’ll try to get some impressions up on some of these in the not too distant future.

The wife and I spent New Year’s with friends, and although I tried, a few of them weren’t keen on seeing the New Year’s countdown happen in Animal Crossing, so we flipped to Carson Daly (Dick Clark’s clone body no doubt) to ring in ‘09. As the evening of drinking, snacking and playing Rock Band 2 and Left 4 Dead wound down, we started watching YouTube via the Opera browser on Wii. My buddy Aaron pulled up an amazing video, of a young man named Fredrik Larsson (Freddie25 on YouTube) who on Christmas Eve compiled an acoustic version of a Zelda medley focusing mainly on the theme of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and plays almost 20 different parts all by himself! Check it out below:

Now, check out the original version of the tune and hear it wither in comparison. For more detail on this amazing video, here’s an interview with Fredrik on Nuclear Geek. This video was a very special treat in the earliest hours of 2009 for our party, and I had to share it with you all here.

Max

F-ed Up Things You Can Get at Super-Fly Comics that are Actually Kinda Cool

A couple weeks ago, I was in Super-Fly Comics & Games, my beloved local comic shop and video game depot, and was ordering something or another. Tony, one of the owners was looking up the thing I wanted in the computer and was reading off some results.

“There’s Donkey Kong Jenga,” he said.

We shared a hearty laugh.

“You’ve got to be fucking with me,” I replied.

Nope! It turns out that Donkey Kong Jenga is real! It plays like original Jenga if you want, or can be a more faithful adaptation to the original Donkey Kong arcade game, where Mario must ascend the pink platforms, overcoming obstacles to save Pauline from Donkey Kong. I’m not sure exactly how it works, but it involves a spinner (there’s plenty of info here). So now I must eat my laughter, as it looks pretty cool and I almost want it.

Sure, Donkey Kong Jenga sounds crazy, but it’s almost sane compared to other things you can order from a comic shop: hentai action figures; replicas of actual Green Lantern lanterns, Joker canes or a Star Trek communicator; a giant Hero Click figure of Fin Fang Foom; Indiana Jones bookends, and… I’ll stop there. I’m sure you get the picture.

(NOTE: I'm not saying Super-Fly has any of this stuff, DK Jenga included, but they can order it!)

Max