Tag Archives: nintendo

Arts and Culture

Super Mario Clouds By Cory Arcangel

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Super Mario Clouds
Photo By Gail

For this installation, entitled Super Mario Clouds (2002), Cory Arcangel hacked into and modified a cartridge of a Super Mario Bros, the blockbuster Nintendo videogame released in the United States in 1985. By tweaking the game’s code, the artist erased all of the audio and visual elements except for the iconic, fluffy white clouds that scroll endlessly across the bright blue sky.

Arcangel, who is trained as a musician, considers computers and video game consoles as his instruments; he will often learn a new programming language in order to develop an artwork. Viewers cannot handle the console on display here, but they can model their own version: Arcangel provides detailed instructions as well as the code for re-creating this project on his website.

Photographed in the Whitney Museum of American Art in NYC.

Music, Pop Culture

Video Clip of The Week: Romero, “Take The Potion”

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Stoner-metal riff monsters, Romero, have revealed their tongue-in-cheek new video for the title track from their recent album, Take The Potion. I’ve never really played video games but I can certainly appreciate this hilarious and spot on parody of the 1980’s Nintendo – Legend Of Zelda 8-bit video games. This video is a combination of classic 8-bit in an almost stop-motion style that is animated frame-by-frame — similar to the process originally used by South Park, which can be very tedious and time consuming!

The funniest thing is that this video made me recall a one-off band called The Advantage that, in 2006, made a record of covers of Nintendo Game Theme Songs. So genius.

Coincidentally, the video for “Take The Potion” was directed by Aaron Romero (no relation to anyone in the band, as none of them are named Romero), who has recently directed videos for Wolf Bites Boy, Iron Reagan, Rebel Flesh, The Renfields, and Ratbatspider. “Take The Potion” is a kick to watch and it’s refreshing to find a heavy band that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Visit Romero on the web and download their music at Romero is Loud Dot Com. Enjoy!

Romero Take the Potion CD Cover
Romero Take the Potion CD Cover

Music, Pop Culture

Gail in Print: Modern Drummer, August 2006

md cover august 2006
“Hi, I’m Stewart Copeland, and I still have more hair than Sting!”

Please check out my updates with drummers Spencer Seim of the Nintendo game theme song cover band, The Advantage and uber-hottie Brian Viglione of The Dresden Dolls, both in the August 2006 issue of Modern Drummer magazine with Stewart Copeland (from The Police, for those of you who have been living under a rock) on the cover!

Music, Pop Culture

The Advantage Help You Get Your Geek On

Advantage Elf Titled

For the past few weeks I have been telling everyone I know about my new favorite band, The Advantage, a rock quartet from Sacramento that plays only covers of Nintendo Game Theme Songs. Oh my god, they are so way beyond genius. I’ve never played video games in my life, but these songs’ bizarre sonic amalgam of Yes, Frank Zappa and Oingo Boingo thrill me completely. I just can’t stop playing their new CD, Elf Titled, which comes out on January 24, 2006. The Advantage fucking rule, and you need to get your geek on and check them out.