A Few Quick Thank-Yous




"If you should ever leave me
Though life would still go on, believe me
The world could show nothing to me
So what good would living do me
God only knows what I'd be without you"
-The Beach Boys, God Only Knows


[If you feel compelled to point out to me that what I have just quoted is a love song, or are taking it as an indicator of a fragile emotional state, then you have missed my point by so much that you just beaned the scoreboard operator.]

It's a hideous, Academy-Award platitude, but nonetheless....... Nobody who reaches this point in the NES scene does so on his own. After all, how many hits would I have recorded if only I visited this site for the furtherment of my own narcissism? Ten-, maybe twenty-thousand, tops.

No occasion is attached to this. I recently recorded my 32,223rd hit, but despite my favor for They Might Be Giants, I don't have much interest in palindromes (that number wouldn't be one anyway -- it's got that comma.) The move may have precipitated it to a point -- few things are as revelatory of how far one has come as actually trying to transport all of one's stuff somewhere. But mostly, I just think it's overdue. If you've ever seen how much of this supposedly NES-based site I devote to talking about myself, you know why.

Contrary to the self-righteous subtext of what I've hitherto written, I haven't made it here by myself. Sure, this site has been, and will probably continue to be, a growth opportunity for me, but I am not who I am solely because of my own thoughts. Sure, they've played a part in it, but so have the many people I have met -- both by way of the Shrine, and outside of it -- since and before that fateful evening in January of 1998 when I answered my own mental inquiry with "sure, why not" (I think I dismissively swiped my hand backwards when I said that, too. Clearly I didn't anticipate that a web site could ever mean this much to me.) Lo and behold, I have more than two friends. This is rather alien.

Bear in mind, those I haven't met have influenced both myself and the site, so they're included as well (I'll try not to reach as much as I did in the "Site History.") All that aside, I'd like to force my thanks (does anyone ever really "offer" theirs?) on...

Tim Connolly and Bryan Cord -- by my argument, the two greatest NES reviewers yet -- for, each in his own way, helping me find my voice; and, in the case of the former, being my good friend (Cord, you could eliminate the "in the case of the former" and add an S to "friend" if you'd just REAPPEAR!), and letting me rip off both his Ratings Explanation Page and The Game Show Tournament. They also sparked my interest in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and shooters, respectively.

Martin Nielsen, for being to this whole thing what Miyamoto was to its basis.

Big Stu, for giving me the idea to mention Nielsen and Miyamoto, and otherwise being Big Stu.

Jeff Nussbaum and Michael Melanson, for first showing me this scene.

The Game Music Ring, for leading me to Nussbaum and Melanson (this could go on a while.)

Kurt Kalata, for raising the bar of NES reviewing beyond the one-paragraph mark, and inspiring a host of imitators. (I derive my style more from Connolly and Cord, but if it weren't for Kalata, I and most other people would still just be synopsizing games, if we'd be reviewing them at all.)

Seanbaby. I'm not sure that I care for him personally, but the artistry of what he's doing is beyond question. Though it doesn't really emulate his mockeries, I don't think the Pedantry section would have occurred to me had I not seen his page first.

Everybody who's given me an award, for obvious reasons (they're on the front page).

The Videogame Music Archive. Without them, I wouldn't be able to irritate the people whose crappy browsers can't stop my MIDIs (OK, I have the same complaint NES Triforce. So what?)

Spazzoid, for being the expressed inspiration for much of the new influx of NES sites, and thus the reason the scene hasn't crashed and burned just yet; for saying what he believed, and thus pretty much killing my inhibition when I didn't have the courage to; and, more recently, for defending our theoretically well-intentioned nation against all invaders (on a related topic, I've begun constructing a fallout shelter out of popsicle sticks and Elmer's glue.) Your site lives on, Spaz!

Quizzle, for showing me the aforementioned "new influx."

Turambar and TsuramiSea (yes, they're different people), whose occasional intellectual probing and friendly conversation keeps me forever on my toes.

Funcoland. I know, I know. We all like to rant about it, and the payroll consists mostly of people with social disorders and Marilyn Manson addicts, but there are no pawn shops near me. Without this chain, there would be no hope for the expansion of my collection.

Lynyrd Skynyrd, for helping me win a game of hangman (everyone always picks the vowels first -- fools), and performing the greatest regional tribute ever written. (Okay, so I'm from Illinois, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate a really hoppin' tune just because it's about the South. I can't stand that "Chicago" song, come to think of it.)

Andrew Vestal, for singlehandedly sparking my interest in web-surfing, and then leaving his brilliant "Square Net" in the hands of people who made it suck like a Dirt Devil (come on! They're more full of themselves than I am.)

Dutch the tree, for listening to me vent, and helping me discover myself. I'm waiting for you to unveil the secrets of nature to me, friend, but I suppose that in order to listen to your soundless voice I ought probably to shut the hell up when we meet. (Dutch is an actual tree. That's not a coy nickname.)

All the people with whom I played NES games as a child. It probably wouldn't have been as memorably fun without you all. Okay, so it would've, but you were great.

Jim Henson, for proving to me that the lives of great artists don't have to suck, doing in a 5,000 year-old art something that had never been done before, living a life equal in grandeur to that of Forrest Gump, and helping me find the rainbow connection.

They Might Be Giants, for demonstrating that silliness and philosophic depth are not incompatible, and doing so without LSD. "Birdhouse in Your Soul" is a tour de force, and SHOULD go down as one of the most relevant songs of the nineties (it won't, and yet "Get Your Gun" will -- mark my words. Few people recognize TMBG for anything other than "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)", which they didn't write, and "Particle Man", which, in my view, is far from their best work.)

The Beatles, for having the integrity to chuck their secured acclaim in order to try something new. They even inspired Henson, at least as regards the name of the Electric Mayhem's "Sgt. Floyd Pepper."

The Beach Boys (esp. Brian Wilson), for doing something new without seeming to do so, and thus not having to worry about their secured acclaim. Pure sound -- you don't even realize how materialistic half of their songs are.

The makers of "Quiz Show". Theirs is the greatest moral/intellectual film ever made. (Of course, it could just be the most obvious. I'm not really a film conoisseur.)

Me, for getting way the hell off topic.... again.

Anybody who has submitted a MIDI or an editorial -- the latter more than the former. Though both are valued highly, I assume an editorial takes more time (unless the person composes the MIDI him/herself.)

Every other member of the NES scene whom I've not already mentioned, for, each in his/her own way, keeping the ball rolling.

Everyone who has sent me positive responses, for letting me feel, if even for a moment, that I'm doing something quite good.

Everyone who has sent me negative responses, for keeping me from buying into my own bullshit.

Everyone else who has visited my page, for being here, and doing a little of each of the two things previously mentioned.




"Now if you want to go, and get away from it all."
-Again, The Beach Boys

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