What originally brought you to NA/VGS?

Black Friday, 2015, I was striking out finding anything to buy. My future wife and I met up with her friends at one of our favorite bagel spots on Long Island (Strathmore, Ronkonkoma). We were talking and somehow, we got on the topic of video games. She mentioned that she had an old Super Nintendo and some games that she no longer used and I could buy them if I wanted, since I didn’t find anything for black Friday. I always ask people if they still play them because I feel bad buying them if I do. She said she didn’t so we went back to her house and low and behold a beautiful yellowed SNES and some games were there waiting.

I didn’t know it at the time but this would become the first purchase that I would make to start collecting. After this we got back to our apartment in Maryland (we were visiting for Thanksgiving) and I got on eBay and bought a Nintendo 64 and NES and from there, in early 2016 when we bought our first house together, I had a spare room to start building a collection. The first year of collecting was all over the place, I bought everything for everything. I started hitting yard sales back when there weren’t resellers for games all over the place. I remember the first “expensive” game I bought was Mega Man for NES.

I stumbled on NintendoAge sometime in 2018, and was just hooked on how much information there was and the knowledge that people had on the subject. I spent a long time lurking just absorbing and eventually I created my account in order to heavily utilize the Buy/Sell/Trade section. My first target was CrimsonCobra – he had a Little Samson for sale. Since I was a new member, we started small in order to build trust – I bought Duck Tales 2 and then Mighty Final Fight. After those two went well, he sold me the Little Samson.

I wasn’t really a true member on NA for all that long. I was a lurker for a while but the email to activate my account didn’t come until 5/28/19. VGS was born towards the end of October of that year and I joined the exodus out of NA to our new home here. No need to rehash the NA junk, but I’ve enjoyed this community more as it is significantly more welcoming.

 

Story behind your username and avatar?

I’ve been using this username as long as I can remember – I think it started very early on Counter-Strike or Team Fortress Classic before Steam was even around. A3quit4s is aequitas which is Latin for justice. It’s a Boondock Saints reference, one of the brothers has it tattooed on his trigger finger where the other has veritas or truth tattooed on his. Funny story I have it tattooed on my arm (18-year-old me made super good decisions). My brother has veritas tattooed on him as a shout out to me.

My avatar changes semi-frequently. It used to be a 49ers logo but I switched over to the Link to the Past avatar a while ago and I just like it. I always thought it was cool to have an animated avatar. I’m old and remember like PHPBB based forums that didn’t support that.
 

What do you do for a living?

I work in Information Technology. I sometimes can be seen making comments to help people out with IT related issues they are having. Or bitch about NA not having an SSL certificate. My official title is Cloud Infrastructure Architect but I personally feel like I’m more of an engineer than an architect. This means that if you have a technical business problem or pain point or something you want to accomplish, you can talk to me and I’ll help you translate the problem into a technical solution and help you figure out roughly how much it’ll cost. Unlike most architects, I can actually deploy the solution as well. I work at Amazon Web Services in the Professional Service arm that serves the public sector. 

I’ve worked with all sorts of teams and all kinds of problems. I come from a data center background before I got into Cloud Services and before that Sys Admin all the way down to help desk. I’ve been doing IT for 10-12 years and before I did that I was in sales, best career decision of my life.
 

Where do you hail from?

Funny story, right now I live in Wappingers Falls, NY which is the area I’m originally from – Dutchess/Ulster County NY. I’ve spent 30 or so years of my life here, except for about a year of living with my future wife in Long Island and 8 years living in Gaithersburg, MD.

We moved back to NY in July, my wife is a teacher and wasn’t happy at her district in MD, we have a three-year-old and decided it would be good to be closer to family again (hers in Long Island and mine right around us). She found a job at a nearby district before we moved and my job is remote so I’ve come back home.
 

Favorite piece in your collection?

I think it has to be the guide for the NWC championships that I bought off a member of NA back in the day. I think I only paid like $100 for it – he was auctioning off a bunch of stuff that he had (rbudrick). A close second is my Zelda display case. Zelda is my favorite game series to play so I have a lot of them CIB in a nice Ikea display case that I put some LED lights in.
 

Top 10 games of all time and why?

Top 5 in order, 6-10 are interchangeable depending on the day!

Legend of Zelda – Ocarina of Time – Ok Ok this is a pretty generic choice but hear me out. I started playing on NES in 1989 or so, moved to SNES in 1992. The move from NES to SNES was great, right? Better graphics, way better colors, and like way more buttons on the controller. Now think about the change from SNES to N64 and 3d. No moment in gaming changed my life more than stepping out onto Hyrule field for the first time (after that god damn owl stops talking). People complain about the Z targeting but hey even that was revolutionary. Once you get Epona and you can just ride around, I mean c’mon. This is the game that made my brain click to what games could actually be in the future.

Legend of Zelda – A Link to the Past – I agree with Reed on his ranking for this game. I can’t say it better than him. Read the rankings. I actually cannot remember for the life of me if I had this when I was a kid. I may have played it later on in my teens. Nonetheless, a prototypical breakthrough Zelda game.

Super Mario Bros 3 – Ok so there were several iterations of Mario before SMB3. NES SMB gave us the baseline for a Mario game, SMB2 was a wtf moment and we really should have just got the Lost Levels here as SMB2 no matter how hard it was. Although Doki Doki Panic re-skinned as SMB was a fun ass game. SMB3 set the standard for a Mario game. It's creative, it’s fun, there are many different worlds to explore, each one has a gimmick, and most importantly, it has infinite replay value. I may actually play this more than my top 2 only because you can just pop it in and play

Counter-Strike – My favorite genre of games has always been first person shooters and it’s because of this game. I don’t have close to the number of hours in any game I’ve ever played than the Counter-Strike series. I’m not really sure what it is about the game, it’s just fun to play; I’ve played it in clans, for fun, competitively (any old CAL folks here!). The gameplay is fun, the maps are on point (de_dust2)

Halo – When I was in high school, I can remember my friend driving to my house in a snowstorm (school was canceled) to get my Xbox and TV so we could head back to his house to pile in his basement with like 20 other people to link 4 xbox systems and tvs together using a 10mb hub and playing together. Some of the best times I can remember are playing with 16 people or playing co-op and fighting the flood on legendary for the umpteenth time. Not to mention this game single handedly saved the Xbox. Blood Gulch 4 life.

High Speed – I didn’t realize how much fun pinball games are on console. I find myself buying them across all the systems I have, which is a lot according to my wife. NES High Speed happens to be my favorite, so much so that it inspired me to buy the actual pinball machine of it which is just as fun. A close second is Devil's Crush on TG16.

Ghost of Tsushima – This is probably odd on a list, but this is a game that I have the closest to of 100% completion and having almost 3,000 games, that says a lot. I never feel the need 100% games but for some reason after I finished the main story line, I just wanted to keep playing. It was really fun and really well done. The story was interesting as well

GoldenEye 007 – I could put a couple games from the N64 on here but this one stands out the most. 4 player multiplayer on N64 was a game changer. Just so many nights with friends playing this where the person who came in last had to hand off the controller. The game modes were awesome – License to Kill on throwing knives lol. I mean for all the shit the N64 library gets it had some 4 player bangers – WCW vs NWO, WaveRace, MarioKart – N64 was a blast with friends, and if you were alone, play, I dunno, Ocarina of Time The single player is awesome as well, diverse levels, good controls for what they had to work with, didn’t stray away from the movie which I liked because GoldenEye is one of my favorite Bonds

Stardew Valley – I don’t like farming sim games, but this one I love. I was straight up addicted to this game for like a month, which never happens to me. Usually, I’ll get a game and play it for a few days and move on but this game was so much fun. I had to put it down and force myself to play something else. I come back to it every now and again and start a new farm with something new that I learned from the previous play

Grand Theft Auto V – I wasn’t a fan of the early like top down GTA games, I had one on game boy really early on that I got frustrated every time I played. GTA 3 or Vice City or San Andreas could be on here as well. GTA 4 was fun but it didn’t really expand the series for me. GTA V and the introduction of playing as different characters was really awesome for me. I played the shit out of this game. It’s on the list and I’ve never even played GTA online. There is just so much to do besides play the main story line, it’s a fun game that has excellent replayability. GTA games from 3 and one are just fun as hell to play, they don’t take themselves too seriously and know what they are. I’d be scared to release GTA 6 as well look at what we have come to expect from the series.

 

Family? Pets?

No pets. I’ve got my wife and my 3-year-old boy who is in the I never stop talking phase. Anyone have any potty-training advice?

 

Favorite movie of all time?

I feel like I don't really have one. I've watched a ton of movies in my 37 years on this planet. I actually used to collect them before I moved onto games. I had about 800 or so before I moved down to Long Island with my now wife. I'd say I have a couple that I will always watch if they are on TV or I see them in passing in some way. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World will probably come the closest to the definition of favorite. I actually own it on blue ray or DVD I think. Its just a great movie and a great graphic novel series as well. Obviously all the video game references are awesome and there is just something about the character that is alluring. I watch the Christmas Story marathon every year, I'll watch it at least twice fully through. It always makes me laugh and brings me into the Xmas spirit, although its been easier to get into since having my son too. The original Fast and the Furious I still love and will seriously think about buying a Skyline for the next month after I watch it.The Boondock Saints is up there too, I mean it's a fantastic movie with fantastic characters from like a nobody writer/director. I'll get shit here but I like the Twilight movies - I really can't explain this, I'm a hopeless romantic? ps. OK after Reed's last question I came here to put any movie John Hughes directly did or even had a hand in ie, Home Alone. Clearly as a hopeless romantic his 80's movies with Molly Ringwald I will forever watch.

 

Favorite television show of all time?

This is along the same lines as the above question - I mean I've got shows that I will always watch but I'm not sure I'd rank them above each other - The American version of The Office. I tried to watch the British one but Ricky Gervais is so much more cringy than Steve Carrell that I just couldn't even watch it. Dexter was absolutely awesome all the way through. Sopranos I could say the same about. The Witcher was amazing but now that Henry is leaving I'm sure that'll end up washed up after next season. Game of Thrones save for the last season IYKYK. Younger me loved Doug on Nickelodeon - OMG to grow up in the golden age of Nickelodeon is something I'd wish for all kids, I'm telling ya.

 

Favorite musician/album/song of all time?

I'm my mothers son here - Guns N Roses - Appetite for Destruction - Welcome to the Jungle. I've got a really eclectic taste in music (no country though) but when your mom has you when she is 19 in 1985 your going to know the words to all the songs on Appetite for Destruction before you know the ABCs. 

 

Favorite book of all time?

Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. There is no contest here except maybe with some of Kurts other books. Loved the man, shed a tear when he died. After reading Slaughter House Five, I read everything of his. Funny story, a guy I worked with at Wal-Mart a lifetime ago met him and Kurt said to him "I wouldn't picture me wearing these socks either". 

 

Nice, I'm actually working on finishing the entire Vonnegut library.   What was your least favorite story?

I wouldn't say any of them are my least favorite but I will say some, more than others, took me a bit to get into. Player Piano for instance, I think I had to pick it up 4-5 times before I was actually able to get through it. Like SH5 and Breakfast of Champions and Cat's Cradle, you pick up and you are hooked. Player Piano, Slapstick, Timequake, and a couple others took me more time to get into. I also read them when I was much younger so my patience isn't what it is now. Not that its much better now.

 

Player Piano is actually one of the two Vonnegut novels I haven't read yet (alongside Hocus Pocus).  I keep putting it off because I'm afraid I won't like it.  By chance have you read his son's novel about being schizophrenic?

I mean it's still a Vonnegut novel, for me it just took longer to get into than some of the others that I read. It may have been that I went from like his crowning achievements to his earlier work when he was still finding his voice. Its take on automation it's definitely still spot on today though, maybe even more than it was when it was released. I have not read the sons novel, but it does sound interesting.

 

Beer, wine, or liquor?

If it's any of the three it's beer and that's very sparingly and it's probably a Miller Lite. Most people here know I'm not really a drinker. 1. I'd rather eat my calories since I'm pretty big on health these days (that wasn't always the case says me who used to weight 50-60 pounds more) 2. I dunno after that age when you drink a lot it doesn't really sit well with me anymore.

 

Favorite restaurant? 

Casa Vallarta in Poughkeepsie, NY at the moment. TexMex is my jam and this place delivers the best every time. Uncle Julios was my go to in MD before I moved a few months ago, I never thought anything else would compare. I was wrong.

 

Which member of The Breakfast Club are you?

This is a great question, Reed. Bender for sure. No respect for authority, getting girls way out of my league, and teaching the nerds to rebel! DON'T YOU FORGET ABOUT MEEEEE TIL Tears for Fears does not sing that song.

 

Game you're most excited for?

Bandwagon answer here - Breath of the Wild 2, although I'm not really sure what I am expecting. Can team Zelda do it again? Is that asking a lot from people that have delivered some of the best games known throughout the world? Is it possible to give you Breath of the Wild, with more? And what even is more in this sense? I'm pretty stoked for Haunted Chocolatier as well, since you know my obsession with Stardew Valley.

 

What are you playing right now?

I just finished the main storyline in God of War: Ragnarok and am toying with the idea of doing some of the side missions. I was really caught up in the story and just went scorched earth through the main quest, which I sort of regret, but it happens. It's kind of funny, the game is really insistent on you doing some side quests; Mimir and Atreus will constantly hound you about going to do other things before heading back to the main quest. Main story was really good; I'm not crying, you're crying.

 

You're working on a full SNES set.  What was the hardest game to track down?  Which one still eludes you?  What game cost the most?

SNES has actually been fairly easy. At this point it's more just throwing money at a problem, rather than having a hard time finding anything. It's definitely been more buying on eBay and maybe finding some stuff at local game stores. I feel like when I did N64 and NES the Buy/Sell forums were much more active on NA and here. I've got something like 30 or so left and none is really further away than an eBay search. Aero Fighters was the most expensive, its the only one that cost over $1,000 and I got an ugly cart. Hagane was a near second. I'm not looking forward to alphabetizing them in the least bit. By now I had already alphabetized the NES set and put PS4 games as placeholders for the ones I was missing. 

 

What does the wife think of your collection?

She tolerates it. I mean don't get me wrong, I think she has been a good sport about the whole thing. I think she expected this to be like the many hobbies I have picked up over the years; I get really into it and then one day not long after it starts I'm over it and onto something else. She really enjoyed the shit out of me getting the actual High Speed pinball machine, which was odd, I never knew that about her that she liked pinball so much. She has definitely spent her fair share of time in the game room playing whatever, mostly Donkey Kong. I think now that our son is getting older she gets that it's something we can all bond over so maybe now she is even a fan of it. I'm not sure she is a fan of me collecting full sets, because really neither am I after completing four (SNES done soon). Just so much filler and it takes up so much space. But it is really awesome to look at! She has only asked me a few times what something I bought cost or how much did I spend at the game store, but I have never spent money we didn't have or anything like that so the collection has never been something we argued about. I'd have given it up long ago if it became a point of contention in our marriage.

 

What's next for the game room?

I'm not really sure. I think I've got it to the point of where I wanted version one to be. Now its just about going back to buying things to make it look super cool and comfy. I was thinking of making a super comfy corner for like handheld playing or reading old Nintendo Powers or something like that. I also realized that I should have gotten some sort of neon sign long ago because it would just complete the look. Now they are far too expensive for like a OEM Nintendo one and I'm not sure an aftermarket would do it justice. One of those Nintendo fiber optic signs would be awesome. Once I finish out SNES I'll have to look into it.

 

SNES or Genesis?

I was fortunate and had both. SNES at my parents and Genesis at my grandparents. I can remember playing Sonic and Jurassic Park on the Genesis and they were OK. Nothing was sending me off the beaten path of being a Nintendo child though. Shoot, I would have traded in all the games and my Genesis for just Super Mario World, the game was fantastic to play over and over again. Throw in Link to the Past and C'MON MAN there is no argument here. As an older gamer though, being able to get some of the titles I didn't know about on Genesis then and play them now it makes a stronger case but still doesn't compare.

 

Saturn or PS1 or N64?

Never had a Saturn or a PS1 growing up so it easily goes to N64 here. Like I said I'm a Nintendo child and now a Nintendo adult (although I play my PS5 and XSX way more than Switch). Even though I have a Saturn now and a PS1, I'm sure most people are like me and play the consoles they had as kids more often than the others. Plus if you get a number of people together, besides for Switch, the N64 is the best party console. Smash, Mariokart, Mario Party, Goldeneye...

 

PS2 or Cube or Xbox?

These consoles were released when I generally got away from gaming was I was younger. I did have all three at some point in my life though and especially now as a collector. I really wasn't a Playstation person until PS4, I mean I have a lot of PS2 games now, and PS1, and XBOX, but I hardly ever play them. Same could be said for Cube really, but right after High School I did have a Gamecube, so I'll have to give it again to the little Nintendo Box that could. Xbox really only had Halo going for it but Cube had Zeldas, Mario Sunshine, Paper Mario, more MarioKart, Tennis, Golf. No character can carry a system like Mario as hard as it is to say as a Zelda fan.

 

DS or PSP?

Gotta go PSP here. I remember working at like Wal-Mart in 2005-2006 and picking one of these up right around its release day and being blown away but what was possible on a hand held device. DS was like yeah we have two screens but this was made for kids. I was playing Twisted Metal on handheld babbbbbyy

 

3DS or Vita?

3DS. I'm not sure what happened with Vita but it went down this very odd course of having many JRPGS which don't really interest me. That followed by the not strong library of other games and then it basically just fell off a cliff. 3DS had more great games and a lot of great remakes/remasters/whatever like Samus Returns and then your normal library of Mario and Zelda and other oddities that made it fun to play. I wasn't really into handhelds then but it did provide fun on flights and being in the car driving back and forth from MD to NY.

 

We’re both big San Francisco 49ers fans.  What do you expect from the Niners the rest of the season?

Man, I've been back and forth about this. With the Niners its always about staying healthy. Shanahan has been cursed since he came to the Niners. I don't know if he is running these guys ragged at practice or what but it seems like someone is always out. Christian McCaffery was a huge addition, but again the risk/reward if he can stay healthy is there. 3TDs in what his second game with us? I expect if we stay healthy to be contenders for the Super Bowl again, we basically already made it there with the team we have and have CMC now. If we can't stay healthy, well at least maybe we get a decent pick unless we have traded them all away already.

 

What are your thoughts on Trey Lance?

Haven't seen enough of him to really comment yet. Second game as the starter and you are out for the year. Tough breaks. I wasn't really expecting much of him this year as it was, but now you are set back a year and OMG if Jimmy wins a Super Bowl this year, yikes. I do know what generally happens to young QBs that have a lot of expectations but the jury is still out on this one. As a fan, I do hope the best for him though. I've had the golden years of QBs as a Niner fan and whatever the heck the complete opposite is of golden years....JT O'Sullivan anyone?

 

I actually attended the JT O'Sullivan game in Seattle where they beat the Seahawks.  Don't think I've ever seen those people so angry - parking lot fights as far as the eye could see.  Ever been to a Niner game?

This actually goes together with your story, I have seen the Niners play twice, once in like 2007-2008? They were playing the Giants and JT O'Sullivan was the QB and I think they got stomped out, which is better because the Meadowlands are not friendly to away team fans in the least bit and its worse when they lose. I saw them play the G-Men again (I'm from NY) in 2015 like the day after I got married. Kaep was QB then and even though we were winning for most of the game we still lost. I think I've only seen them in person twice and never at home. I'm hoping to change that this season. My wife and I were supposed to go to a wedding in Jamaica but then COVID and we still have the airline credit. Sucks that they don't play at the Stick anymore, I'd like to see San Fran but then I gotta go to Santa Clara for the actual game. I've heard the commute isn't fun.

 

Deebo or Kittle?

Jeez, that is really a toss up man, two great players that are just bound for greatness. Kittle's impact on the field is well known before he really even starts catching passes, and once he gets involved in the offense my man catches everything and just YAC all day. The best part about that is I could very well be talking about Deebo as well, my man also catches everything and is a complete YAC machine. I gotta tie these two, I think they are both great and headed for even better things.

 

Bosa or Warner?

I'm going to give a slight edge to Bosa here, but that is like having the greatness conversation about LeBron and Jordan, like you give Jordan the GOAT but LeBron is no short of legendary. I give the edge to Bosa because this dude just destroys games when he is on. Forget the fact that he is a sack machine, Bosa has QBs looking over their shoulder on every play; commanding double teams, flushing QBs out of the pocket. Fred is a stud LB, worthy of a comparison to THE number 52 Patrick Willis himself. Apparently, this is why the Chiefs are our kryptonite, because Mahomes plays better out of the pocket and when you play the Niners your QB is running for his life the whole time.

 

McCaffrey or Juice?

Juice is a fundamentals nightmare, he just does everything that he does perfectly. In a league where the FB position is dying everyday, he is the outlier that makes the position relevant. Blocking, running, pass catching, he is a one man show. It's funny that almost all 49ers have this thing in common on offense, they can literally play anywhere. Bring CMC to this equation and we really have a shot at the Super Bowl again this year. I hate Troy Aikman but watching the Cards game the other night, he mentioned that CMC would be an all-pro at slot receiver just as easily and it really made me think about yes that is true. Especially after watching some of the catches he made in just that game. I mean c'mon the dude had his hands in 3 TDs his second game as a Niner, his football intelligence is off the charts. I gotta give the edge to CMC though, he is younger and I think he has a lot of years left in the tank, even as a RB with great hands. He is really going to flourish under Shanahan and that is saying something because he was excellent as a Panther.

 

Niners winning it all this year?

This year, next year, and every damn year after that

 

FMK: Garappolo, Kittle, Shanahan

F - Jimmy for sure, he is just the best one night stand material.
M - Kittle, Jimmy I want to spend the night with, George I want to spend the weekend with.
K - Shanahan, 28-3, nuff said

 

FMK: Donald, Kupp, McVay

K - Donald, no one is allowed to be that good and play against the Niners regularly.
F - McVay - He is good looking but I can't stand him.
M - Kupp, for as much as he shits all over everyone on the field and is the best WR in the league, super down to earth and cool, and humble.

 

FMK: Cersei, Daenerys, Brienne

K - Cersei, get her before she gets you.
F - Daenerys, on the crazy/hot scale burning down a city is about what I would expect from her.  So I'm going to have one go with her and ghost her.
M - Brienne - Out of the three this is the choice that leads to the most normal life and possible one where my wife isn't regularly trying to kill me. 

 

Gi Joe or Transformers?

Neither for me really. If my son were to answer he would definitely say Transformers because he was watching the crap out of Rescue Bots for a while there.

 

Ninja Turtles or Power Rangers?

I grew up with both but Ninja Turtles for sure. Honestly, I still have Ninja Turtles stuff and will always seek it out. Not as much as games, but I've got a bunch of Ninja Turtle stuff around. I really wish I had kept all the figures that I had in the early 90's, not because they are valuable now but because they were really cool. I actually just watched the live action movies on Netflix again because they are on there. I made it halfway through the 3rd because its so damn weird and off script from the first two. I don't even want to think about how much money my parents and grandparents spent on TMNT stuff over the years.

 

Country you'd most likely to visit?

Hmmm...I think Japan would fit in here. I don't know -  I know so little about eastern countries and it seems like a good place to start. I'd only be concerned about what I would eat there because I'm not a huge seafood person but I'm sure I'd find something. Obviously, I would need a guide/translator but maybe not. For all I know the country is very english speaking friendly, at least in the cities. If I ventured out into the country I'd probably be pretty screwed. Brazil would probably be a close second, something about the culture and the nightlife would probably bring me back a couple years, but I'd also have to be careful where I traveled too. I've heard South America can be a tourist's dream as much as it can be a nightmare.

 

How many different states have you been to?

I'm fairly well traveled in the US. I've covered the east coast; I flew down to Florida from NY with some friends to get a car and drive it back up from FL to NY. I've driven from NY to ME with my ex many times over the summer for vacations in ME. I've been to Cali, Nevada, Texas, PA, and the District of Columbia. One place I haven't been that I'd like to go is New Orleans, it just seems like a blast.

 

Ever met anyone else from NA/VGS?

No one yet in person. One thing I have still yet to do since I have started collecting is go to a convention. I keep meaning to go to the one in PA but just haven't done it yet. I blame COVID. I'm sure I'd meet up with some VGS folks there.

 

Favorite Xmas movie?

No contest here, A Christmas Story. I think I've been watching the TBS or whatever channel it's on for 24 hours for at least 20 years. I always laugh at it and it just kind of puts me in the mood for XMAS. Even when we broke out of cable for streaming, I bought it on Blu Ray in order to watch it every year. It's nuts that they are making a new one, I'm not sure how I feel about it to be honest. Like all things it can go horribly wrong or horribly right. It won't ever replace the original for me no matter how good it is, but hopefully it'll have some good laughs.

 

What are you hoping to get for Xmas this year?

I volunteered to be an elf again this year for Secret Santa, which is by far the coolest tradition that VGS has, and Santa asked me if I had anything on my list. The answer is nothing really. I'm a shopaholic by nature so if I want something I usually buy it for myself. I did tell my wife I wouldn't mind getting the NFL Blitz Arcade1up for the last spot that I have left in the game room for a smaller scale arcade machine. A Stadium Events would also be nice?

 

How does one get a tree in the NYC area?

I'm far out of the NYC area by about 90 miles and around the Hudson Valley there is never a business that is selling them more than 5 miles apart. If there is anything we have an abundance of by me its XMAS trees. Funny story though, when I was still watching hockey regularly, I was following the NY Rangers. There was like an inside look at the team series and I still remember Marion Gaborik going down like 5th Ave to buy a tree and flopping like this 6ft tree over his shoulder and walking it back to his condo.

 

What'd you get the kid for Christmas?

Just a few things so far. You know we have so much family that gives him stuff we usually don't buy him much. Trying not to make him a spoiled brat but as any parent will tell you its harder than it looks when all you want to do is spoil them 100% of the time. I've got a feeling it'll be another Paw Patrol ass Christmas, can't get enough of those friggin dogs I'll tell you. He is also in that cars and trucks phase so some of that. Construction vehicles are his big thing now which is odd because I don't know one damn thing about construction vehicles. He'll be like "Daddy look an excavator" and I'll be looking at a garbage truck or something and be like "Oh yeah Bub thats so cool". I did manage to get him another one of the like dinosaurs that transforms into a car from a specific set he really likes and has been playing with for months. Kids are tricky, they really love something for a week and then its onto something else.

 

All-time favorite Xmas present?

It really bothers me sometimes that I can't remember what year it was. Had to be like 1989 or 1990. You gotta remember I grew up out in the STICKS in NY, Dover Plains NY. So word takes time to travel about cool toys from the city folk. But one of those years I got my NES and it was beautiful. I actually don't even remember ever playing one before that or even any of my friends having one. I just remember being really excited because it was like the Action Set box with the Zapper and oh man I was about to bust down some ducks. I had this little 16" TV in my room which at the time was probably ballin and from there I was hooked. Got Legend of Zelda with it and I remember my mom and me playing it and filling out the map with all the cool stuff to find. A close second was the Ghostbusters Firehouse that mom and dad managed to get me, it was sold out everywhere. I have no idea how my parents managed to find it. Mom told me the story about it once, I need to ask her about it again.

 

If you could meet one person, living or dead... 

Gotta go with Kurt Vonnegut on this. I'm not even really sure why, I'd really love to hear his take on just the current state of everything that is going on in the world. I could probably do with some of his humor at this point as well - maybe if he hung around long enough he could give me an idea for something he would write about and I could pass it on to someone deserving of authoring it? I'd be awesome if I knew I was meeting him ahead of time so I could see about how his kids and grandkids/great grandkids because I am sure he would ask. A lot of people only think about what they would ask the living or dead person, but if we are bringing someone back from the dead you've gotta be prepared to answer their questions as well! 

 

Star Wars or Star Trek?

I'm getting shit on for this answer but neither. The closest I'll ever get to being a fan of either is the JJ Abrams versions of Star Trek. I don't know, I was born in 1985 so these were a little before my time. I haven't watch much Star Trek besides the aforementioned, but I did buy the 6 movie Blu Ray for Star Wars and watched them with my wife. I don't know if they were like OK movies. Not something I would go out of my way to watch again. I'm also not really a fan of the LOTR trilogy. I've got weird taste I guess cause I'll watch the shit out of the first Fast and the Furious movie! It's not even like I'm not a fan of science fiction or fantasy movies.

 

Disney or Pixar?

Shit, this might be the hardest question you've asked me thus far. When I was a kid it was all about the Disney movies. My grandmother had a shelf of the VHS tapes that came in those vinyl white holders that could cut your finger clean off if you opened them wrong. Robin Hood was my favorite, which I think I mentioned before, but we had them all; All Dogs Go to Heaven, Lady and the Tramp, Rescuers Down Under, Fievel Goes West, Aladdin, Lion King, the list just goes on and on. Even when I was a tween, the Disney Channel Original movies were dope; Brink, Johnny Tsunami, Zenon, Smart House, etc, etc. Pixar though man, just fantastic movies all the time and the dialogue in them is just funny at all ages. Pixar might be a better gift to the world that Steve Jobs left over Apple. I have to give the edge to Disney right now, only because they have been at it for so long and the sheer volume of their library, but make no mistake Pixar is the real deal. Up has to be the most emotion that I have felt in a children's movie in my entire life. Although, I just Wiki'd Up and saw that Disney distributed it and didn't know that Pixar has been a subsidiary of Disney since 2006. Really a pick for either is a pick for Disney

 

Who should I interview next?

I feel like @Naked Warrior has a good story or Mr. Dragon Warrior himself @Ferris Bueller, @CasualCart, so many options!