Virtual Fools

Wanted to pop my head in.  First to apologize that VF exclusive content has been a bit thin as of late–Bobby just moved, I’m preparing to move, car troubles, new dogs, other obligations all factor into the mix–but we will never forget our flagship institution.  The place where we built our reputations and glory.  So, in that spirit, I’m here to inform about things I’ve been doing elsewhere, with a bit of an idea for rumination and discussion at the end.

Things have really started to heat up over at Adam Miller’s site Camp Academy!  He’s been posting some great pieces on bad films as diverse as Witchboard (1986…starring Tawny Kitaen!) and National Lampoon’s Lost Reality (2004).  I’ve been lucky enough to recently contribute pieces on Won Ton Ton, The Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976) and The Happy Hooker (1975).  Plenty more on the way, including a double-header on Robert Altman’s Popeye (1980), and a review I did of the British sci-fi-softcore film Zeta One (1969).

Today marks the debut of the Summer 2009 issue of The Modest Proposal, your low-key literary/review journal of choice.  The two main highlights are a long interview with Sam and Rebecca Umland about their book Donald Cammell: A Life on the Wild Side (2006, FAB Press) and a photo-essay on elephants by Roshan Patel.  On top of that, we’ve got four lengthy book reviews.  Stay tuned for another issue of The Modest Proposal in the Fall!

On the video game side of things, the extended VF crew recently got together in Richmond, VA and recorded a star-studed, all-in-the-same-room edition of the Low Score Podcast.  Discussion runs the gamut, from Fallout 3 to IP saturation.  Check it out.

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I wanted to quickly point out some recent wisdom on gaming bargains.  Sure, I occasionally get lucky with game purchases–in fact, just yesterday and I snagged a copy of Jade Empire for about $2.  According to our buddies at X-Strike Studios, there is a pretty massive, YMMV (your mileage may vary, i.e. apparently different from store-to-store) sale on right now at FYE (not, as far as I know, online, though).  On this forum thread, Mr. Tim Ekkebus outlines some of the great $1 and $2 games he was able to get thanks to FYE silently lowering their prices, to absurdly low levels, on last gen Xbox, PS2 and DS games.  If you are gaming on a budget this summer, and you probably are, be sure to check it out.

So, by way of Summer discussion, have you gotten any ridiculously good deals on games lately?  Secret sales?  Flea markets?