by Sam Juliano
Today’s Monday Morning Diary was delayed because of a driving run to Connecticut to pick up a new in box Monster Bash pinball machine remake from the Chicago Gaming Company. Lucille, young Sammy and Jeremy accompanied me on the 80 minute trip (160 minutes round trip) to Automated Services in Milford. As longtime pinball aficionados it was admittedly thrilling to leave the area in view of the fact that it has been around 10 months since we last left New Jersey. Of course we all wore our masks and maintained social distancing even as we briefly toured the establishment’s glorious game room. Jersey Jack Pinball’s just released “Guns n Roses” machine is a real stunner, and it brings the concert experience to a machine like no other music pin ever.
Our family spent most of the past week viewing Christmas films for the umpteenth time, beloved movies such as It’s a Wonderful Life, the 1951 A Christmas Carol, the 1947 Miracle on 34th Street and the Christmas episodes of the Honeymooners, The Twilight Zone (Night of the Meek and The Changing of the Guard) and timeless shorts like Charlie Brown’s Christmas, The Snowman and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.
Jim Clark’s continuing Ingmar Bergman series this past week produced another stupendous essay on the master’s late career After the Rehearsal.
Wishing all our friends and readers a Happy New Year. Certainly no year can top the one just ending for pain.
Lucille and I DID see one 2020 film this week and it was quite good, though not the masterpiece some are claiming it is. The abortion drama features an excellent lead performances:
Never Rarely Sometimes Always **** (Tuesday night) Netflix
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Happy New Year, Sam! Very much looking forward to your review of the new Monster Bash pinball. If there was a way to post a picture here, I’d post one of my classic “Sea Hunt” pinball from 1973, that I have carried with me through every move from college to now. It could use an overhaul and definitely needs new rubber, but it still works (good ol’ mechanical/relay electronics). So more in common than just our name and movie love! My dream was to have a pinball room like Hefner’s in my mansion; alas, I never acquired the mansion so the single pinball was all I had room for. It does look good, though, next to my AMI Continental II Stereo juke from 1961, and my Bally slot machine. About 1000 pounds of gear that can be replaced by a 12 oz. iPad, but nahhhh. From Austin, it would take considerably more than 80 minutes to get out of this state, but believe me, there is incentive to do that (and not look back) based on the suit that Texan Louis Gohmert filed today against VP Pence. Just so your readers know, not ALL Texans are insane morons.
Hello my dear friend and Texas namesake, always a treat to hear from you! And now to learn of yet another shared interest, the old silverball. Wow! Well the re-make of MONSTER BASH goes way beyond the original, though I know some collectors and player still prefer the Bally/Williams machines for various reasons related to the actual playing of the game, but there can be no doubt (and mind you I did own the original for almost four years) that the Chicago Gaming Company’s three re-makes (we also own their Attack from Mars and Medieval Madness) are far beyond the originals, artistically, conceptually and technologically. Wow that is awesome that you have that classic “Sea Hunt” machine from 1973, during the electro-mechanical era! I just now found this excellent appreciation of it on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSzLZ6BQJBs
Yes that lawsuit from Louis Gohmert is another joke from these deranged people and believe me I completely understand that Texas is split down the middle now as far as political leanings. It won’t be long before it flips and when that happens we will celebrate! You my friend are part of the literate half as I long have known.
Happy New Year!
Thank you so much for that video! I had no idea there was such a thing as a “Sea Hunt” aficionado… his love being the TV show, but still… I always assumed Allied Leisure had sort of “borrowed” that name because as far as I can tell, there’s no direct tie-in with “Mike Nelson” or Lloyd Bridges. I give the guy credit for extending his love of the “Sea Hunt” TV show to buying 3 pinball machines just because they have the same name. But then again, I’m out here commenting on your blog (that I love) – which I originally found because we have the same name!
We ARE working to turn Texas blue again, but it is recalcitrant… and populated by people who voted “Jesse James” as state treasurer for 40 years based on the irony of his name. So to we’ve had “Buster Brown” and I believe that our moron Dan Patrick owes his success to the sportscaster… I doubt he’d have been as successful with his real name of Danny Goeb. When the electorate votes because “that’s a funny name for a treasurer”, it’s hard to really reach them intellectually!
I’ve played the original Monster Bash, which I always thought one of the greatest pinball machines! I’d love to hear about the updating! Happy New Year to you and the family. We’ve never had worse than 2020, so I think we have reason to be positive.
Ricky, until today I never knew you were a pinball enthusiast, though I don’t think I broached it with you. MONSTER BASH is absolutely as you note one of the greatest pinball machines ever made. The updating includes a fabulous TOPPER of Franky, Bride of Franky and Dracula jamming, a larger animated screen now in beautiful COLOR, a shaker motor and vivid and sturdy construction in every sense. Obviously the playfield is made now to resist damage like never before. It is a real work of art, and presently it joins Medieval Madness, Attack from Mars, The Wizard of Oz and Elvis in our at-home lineup. Yes my friend, no matter how we perceive it 2021 MUST be better than the horrific year that is coming to a merciful end. Thank you and Happy New Year!