Apple II Bits

The Apple II is a great discussion piece: when people see it somewhere they weren’t expecting it, it often halts all other conversation and immediately begins a new one. "Wow, what is that?!" "I remember those!" "Does it still work?"

But it’s not always feasible to have the Apple II on display where others will see it. Such real estate is often reserved for something more applicable to one’s daily life and which can be more easily and broadly enjoyed, even by those without arcane technical knowledge.

But what if you still have that conversation piece but on the form of something small, useful — and soft? Something like… a pillow?

Introducing "The Iconic Pillow Collection", a Kickstarter from Throwboy that is a "cuddly tribute to the tech that changed our lives."

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/throwboy/the-iconic-pillow-collection-by-throwboy

This five-piece collection offers throw pillows based on five landmark Apple products: the Apple IIe, the Macintosh, the iMac, the iPod, and the iPhone. Its creator chose these five computers for the milestones they represent:

• • 1977 shook up the industry
• • 1984 started a revolution
• • 1998 was the ultimate comeback
• • 2001 ignited a musical odyssey
• • 2007 changed everything

I’d argue that Throwboy got those two descriptors backward — but it hasn’t stopped the campaign’s growth: seeking a minimum of $10,000, it’s so far accrued nearly $70,000 in pledges, guaranteeing its success when it closes this Friday, September 14, 2018. A single pillow can be preordered for $39 including shipping, a 35% savings off the $60 retail value when it actually ships in February 2019. Happy Mac and rainbow pinwheel pillows are also available for $20 each.

Hug it. Play it. Nap on it. Just like a real Apple II.

The Apple II pillow not only looks soft and cuddly, but also detailed, from the rubber feet on the bottom to the ports on the back.

I’ve already preordered my Apple II pillow. It’ll be a great counterpart to my handmade, one-of-a-kind floppy pillow:

(Hat tip to David Pierini)

Almost two years ago, filmmaker Glenn Aveni concluded a successful Kickstarter to produce a documentary about the Us Festival, a concert held today in 1982 and organized by Steve Wozniak. The final DVD was ambitiously scheduled for production for just seven months later, in July 2017. But Kickstarters rarely run on schedule, as good art takes time. So it’s just this summer, a year later than planned, that we’re seeing the first trailer for the documentary.

While the main attraction for readers of this blog may be Woz, the focus of the documentary is on the festival, not its organizers. While Woz makes appearances in original interviews conducted for this film, the musicians and concert appear to take center stage. That’s not surprising — the event was called the Us Festival, not the Woz Festival, after all.

But Kickstarter backers have not received an update since November 2017, and I can’t find a website or release date for the film. It’s being distributed by MVD Entertainment Group, whose website says the film was released on August 10, 2018 — but they’ve not responded to emails or tweets indicating where the movie can be seen or purchased.

I’m hopeful the trailer is evidence that the movie is not vaporware and that we will soon have our glimpses of the musical, event-organizing sides of Woz.

(Hat tip to Martin Kielty)

On July 15, we celebrated National Ice Cream Day, followed last Thursday by National Ice Cream Sandwich Day. But we haven’t been able to celebrate our favorite dessert and our favorite retrocomputer together — until now. Finally, these two great tastes go great together thanks to Not Your Mother, a vegan ice cream parlor that just opened in Toronto.

As if the dairy-free menu options weren’t niche enough, the restaurant has chosen a 1970s-themed naming convention — and one particular menu item caught my eye. What Kat Smith described as a "vegan vanilla soft serve topped with flaky, dairy-free pie crumbles, apple pie sauce, caramel, and meatless bacon bits" features two apples… so it is aptly named the Apple II.

Fruity, vegan computing deliciousness.

In keeping with an Apple II theme, I propose these other menu items:

• • Super Serial Card: A waffle wafer sundae topped with mint chocolate chip ice cream and Lucky Charms.
• • Zip GSX: Espresso-flavored ice cream with hot fudge sauce.
• • 4am: Cinnamon ice cream with marshmallows and graham-cracker crumbs.
• • csa2: Jalapeño ice cream with pecans, almonds, and walnuts.
• • Juiced.GS: A fruit-punch smoothie.

What other Apple-themed treats would Not Your Mother have to serve to get you to road-trip to Toronto?

What I love about The Moth storyslam is how relatable it is. Attendees throw their names in the hat for an opportunity to tell a true story from their own lives in which they feature as the protagonist. From falling in love to being lost to finding your way, the stories echo themes that resonate with their listeners, whether in a live audience or on the podcast.

But a select few Moth stories extend beyond the boundaries of everyday occurrences. The Moth Mainstage invites singers, actors, even astronauts to share their experiences — but these extraordinary lives still retain humble themes of humanity.

While I’ve come to expect the occasional mainstream celebrity to make an appearance at The Moth, I was surprised to find a superstar from our own niche Apple II community take the stage. As I queued the latest episode of The Moth podcast, a familiar name and voice were introduced: Richard Garriott, creator of the legendary role-playing game franchise Ultima.

In his story, "Reach For The Stars One Small Step At A Time", he reflects on how his perspective on the world changed as he grew up, from discovering a world beyond his neighborhood to one beyond the horizon, and the ensuing ambition that drove his career and his life.

As someone who’s seen the documentary Man on a Mission: Richard Garriott’s Road to the Stars, I still learned more about Garriott from this story: he was not a star academic student; he lost almost everything when the dot-com bubble burst; the vision issues that originally grounded him were part of the research he conducted in space.

I love how The Moth provides an outlet for us to be vulnerable. By sharing his weaknesses and how he overcame them, Richard Garriott spun a story that Apple II users and others can relate to.

There are many efforts being made to capture the design and aesthetic of early modern computers. The Vanamo Online Game Museum produces high-resolution, public-domain photos of vintage hardware; Charles Mangin creates 3D-printed miniature replicas; and Steve Weyhrich adapted the Apple II into a Minecraft structure.

All these facsimiles are, for the most part, static: once produced, they don’t move or change. James Ball pursued a more dynamic form of art with his recent online exhibit, "I am a computer". His medium of choice: the GIF.

Like Vanamo, Mangin, and Weyhrich, Ball began with a physical models by photographing sixteen computers at the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park. He then adapted those photos into his own stylized, animated art.

https://giphy.com/gifs/oOULnWKYrmGih3MpQa

Wrote Ball:

‘I am a computer’ celebrates the visual character of desktop computing machines from a colourless period in industrial design.

From word processors and video terminals, to the very first desktop personal computers, these compact machines heralded a beige age, a period of microcomputing from the the 1970s and early 80s when design standards had conformed to realise a palette of neutral coloured machines throughout offices and later the home.

Any new way to depict an old computer is a welcome one. My thanks to Ball for including the Apple II in his gallery!

(Hat tip to Matthew Gault)

Ready Player One was my favorite novel of 2011, providing a dystopian cyberpunk adventure targeted at geeks who grew up immersed in 1980s pop culture. I’ve since recognized the book’s problematic elements with gatekeeping, transphobia, and fan service without substance … yet I still can’t help but be fascinated by all the elements author Ernest Cline wove into his narrative.

With Ready Player One‘s recent adaptation to film, audiences are discovering anew the Oasis, the fictional virtual world created by James Halliday (played by Sir Mark Rylance), a virtuoso computer programmer who sets himself up as the massively multiplayer online role-playing game’s benevolent (but absent) god. Many of Halliday’s (and thus Cline’s) favorite games make appearances in Ready Player One, and in this new WIRED interview, Cline details each and every game in the movie — with one in particular being of interest to Apple II users.

Turns out one of the Apple II’s own played a major role in the story:

Akalabeth is one of the first attempts by a computer programmer to translate the experience of playing Dungeons & Dragons into a computer game. It was created by Richard Garriott, who also helped serve as the inspiration for James Halliday. Richard Garriot is a famous video game designer from Austin, Texas, where I live, who has an alter-ego: his Dungeons & Dragons and game avatar called Lord British. He would dress up as Lord British in public at press events and things. He eventually ended up using his video-game money to travel into space and go on the International Space Station. He was really an inspiration to me as like a geek with unlimited funds and what could be accomplished. So he and Howard Hughes helped inspire James Halliday in my book. And his game, Akalabeth, and the games that followed it: Ultima I, II, III, IV, and then Ultima Online, the first MMO, those all helped inspire the Oasis in my novel.

While Garriott was directly referenced in the book, I didn’t pick up any mentions in the movie. Little did I know that an entire, integral character was based on Lord British himself!

(Hat tip to Hades Kong via WTF Dragon)