{"id":9688,"date":"2012-09-08T09:36:16","date_gmt":"2012-09-08T14:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/?p=9688"},"modified":"2021-03-03T19:10:25","modified_gmt":"2021-03-04T00:10:25","slug":"christmas-bytes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2012\/09\/08\/christmas-bytes\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Bytes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a title=\"The Sears Video Arcade by willceau, on Flickr\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/willceau\/2303269638\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm3.staticflickr.com\/2172\/2303269638_154a49041f_b.jpg?resize=640%2C420\" alt=\"The Sears Video Arcade\" width=\"640\" height=\"420\" \/><\/a><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/3\/33\/Atari-2600-Joystick.jpg\/232px-Atari-2600-Joystick.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"162\" height=\"167\" \/>One Christmas morning some 30-odd years ago my Father snapped this photograph on his <em>Sears-branded<\/em> Pentax SLR as my brother unwrapped a <em>Sears-branded<\/em> <strong>Atari 2600<\/strong> known as the <em><strong>Sears Video Arcade<\/strong><\/em>. In between my brother and me is the box for a small, portable, black-and-white TV that my Dad bought to use with the Atari. He didn&#8217;t want us hogging up the big color console playing <em>Asteroids<\/em> or possibly burning a ghost image of one of the games into the screen. It was a good decision. <em>We played it to death!<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">About 4 years ago I scanned the print and uploaded it to my <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/willceau\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Flickr<\/a><\/strong> account and let it bounce around the internet. It got a decent amount of traffic being that there are a lot of Atari 2600 aficionados out there!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Earlier this summer <strong>Brett Neveu<\/strong> of <strong>Wild Mouse Films<\/strong> asked if he could use the photo above for a Kickstarter campaign to finance a film which was titled <em><strong>Atari Christmas <\/strong><\/em>at the time. Emails went back and forth. He sent me the script which is a lot of fun, and I said,<em> &#8220;Sure. Why not?&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Earlier this week the Kickstarter campaign for the film now titled <em><strong>Christmas Byt<\/strong><strong>es<\/strong><\/em> went live.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/1678105444\/christmas-bytes\/widget\/video.html\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Suddenly, I and the rest of the world is being bombarded by this Christmas morning image of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/brianbubonic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brian Bubonic<\/a> and me!<\/p>\n<p>It looks like a fun project, and I loved the script. It sort of feels like a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0000455\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">John Hughes<\/a> movie which will be a welcome respite from the explosions, CGI creatures and costumed crime-fighters currently glutting the multiplexes.<\/p>\n<p>Sadly, our Dad, the house, the Sears Video Arcade, the black-and-white portable TV, and Brian&#8217;s and my hair are all gone. <em><strong>Christmas Bytes<\/strong><\/em> will bring that era of games measured in kilobytes back! I can&#8217;t wait to see the finished product!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One Christmas morning some 30-odd years ago my Father snapped this photograph on his Sears-branded Pentax SLR as my brother unwrapped a Sears-branded Atari 2600 known as the Sears Video Arcade. In between my brother and me is the box &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2012\/09\/08\/christmas-bytes\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[148,1942,1940,1939,1943,1941],"class_list":["post-9688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-148","tag-atari-2600","tag-christmas-bytes","tag-cristmas","tag-kickstarter","tag-wild-mouse-films"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1ed1x-2wg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":38553,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2022\/08\/18\/the-old-homestead\/","url_meta":{"origin":9688,"position":0},"title":"The Old Homestead","author":"Joe","date":"August 18, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is a shot of my parents' house in Westville, NJ that I took sometime during the Fall of 1982. The Sears branded SLR camera I shot this with was borrowed from my Father and was loaded with either a roll of Pan-X or Tri-X black-and-white 35mm film. This was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blast from the Past&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blast from the Past","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/blast-from-the-past\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Old Homestead","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52276885578_0ed1100516_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52276885578_0ed1100516_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52276885578_0ed1100516_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":19181,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2015\/07\/05\/courtesy-is-caring\/","url_meta":{"origin":9688,"position":1},"title":"Courtesy is Caring","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"July 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I meant to put this name-badge up on Fathers Day, but, of course, I couldn't find it, and it's only natural that I came across it when I was looking for something else. I never did find the other thing I was looking for. Anyway... This name-badge with it's anniversary\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blast from the Past&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blast from the Past","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/blast-from-the-past\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Courtesy is Caring","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/418\/18789657853_9070f3a820_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/418\/18789657853_9070f3a820_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/418\/18789657853_9070f3a820_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":44218,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2024\/12\/12\/gone-daddy-gone\/","url_meta":{"origin":9688,"position":2},"title":"Gone,  Daddy, Gone!","author":"Joe","date":"December 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Places in and around Philadelphia that aren't there anymore.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blast from the Past&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blast from the Past","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/blast-from-the-past\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"NewMarket circa 1990 - 001","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54185579230_0d0d4104ec_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":40016,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2023\/02\/08\/social-isolation-for-88%c2%a2\/","url_meta":{"origin":9688,"position":3},"title":"Social Isolation for 88\u00a2!","author":"Joe","date":"February 8, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This ad is a clearing house of school house contraband that would inevitably be confiscated by the teacher. I always wanted to order at least a couple of these items, but I was always talked out of it by a parent or older, wiser sibling. This particular ad appeared in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;What I Miss About Comics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"What I Miss About Comics","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/what-i-miss-about-comics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"88\u00a2 EACH","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52677278675_80a97d0a14_c.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52677278675_80a97d0a14_c.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52677278675_80a97d0a14_c.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52677278675_80a97d0a14_c.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20443,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2016\/03\/12\/never-say-never-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":9688,"position":4},"title":"Never Say Never Again","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"March 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"PLUS 2 ALL NEW BLOCKBUSTERS!!! I was a junior at The Philadelphia College of Art when I took this. I had loaded up my trusty, Sears-branded SLR with color film rather than the Pan-X I had used for the Photo Elective in the previous year. I was probably carrying the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Blast from the Past&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Blast from the Past","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/blast-from-the-past\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Never Say Never Again","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1644\/25100865024_4b34332f3f_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1644\/25100865024_4b34332f3f_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1644\/25100865024_4b34332f3f_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":18257,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2015\/03\/02\/lees-breakfast-lunch\/","url_meta":{"origin":9688,"position":5},"title":"Lee&#8217;s Breakfast &#038; Lunch","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"March 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Back in the 1980s, I went to art school, and I along with all of the other illustration majors were required to take a minor course in photography. We had to shoot the photos as well as process the negatives and make the prints. I don\u2019t recall what the particulars\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The Photo Elective&quot;","block_context":{"text":"The Photo Elective","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/the-photo-elective\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lee's Breakfast & Lunch","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm9.staticflickr.com\/8626\/16049508294_42d3fa59d8_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm9.staticflickr.com\/8626\/16049508294_42d3fa59d8_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm9.staticflickr.com\/8626\/16049508294_42d3fa59d8_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9688\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}