Random Thoughts

[megladon8]

Only hella better as you can move each player along their path as well as spin them. It is possible to have an actual offensive possession.

I find that....OFFENSIVE.

ritch:

[Mara]

We had a foosball table growing up, and a ping pong table. And I think a pool table for a couple years.

I didn't play 'em.

[Qrazy]

Casey's supporters are clearly taking the Ritchard bashing way too far with remarks wishing he died in the fight, but what of the self-esteem boost for Casey? What of the hope, however fragile and fleeting, this thing has imbued bullied kids with? Does the source matter in an instance like this? Again, with more knowledge of context, I refuse to take sides in the issue, so I'm not going to argue either way. I'm just asking some questions.

A self-esteem boost is not worth scaring a kid and his father with death threats.

[megladon8]

Pool is the game of gentlemen and scholars.

Though we refer to it as "billiards", and we play it while sipping on aged whiskey and discussing our stocks.

[NickGlass]

We had a foosball table growing up, and a ping pong table. And I think a pool table for a couple years.

I didn't play 'em.

See, I grew up with foosball, pinball, pool, air hockey, and a basketball game, and I did play them, which is probably why I'm so defensive of them--not only for my current enjoyment of them in bars, but as nostalgia parts of my childhood.

[Mara]

My brother played them. The way he played everything. Obsessively.

I tried to play with him a couple times, but I can't take that kind of intensity.

I beat him at HORSE once and he didn't speak to me for a day.

[megladon8]

A guy who lost his leg in a motorcycle accident had his prosthetic leg made with a look inspired by The Terminator.

[number8]

Do they for skeeball? Which ones? The only one I could think would plausibly do so is Full Circle on Grand St. in Williamsburg, but I don't really care for that bar so it doesn't really matter.

At Ace Bar in LES, or Redd's in Williamsburg, they have a rule that if you score a certain number of points, you get a free beer.

[number8]

Bars with ping pong > bars without ping pong

Jesus Christ, no, that shit is obnoxious. It's like trying to drink in the middle of a gym.

EDIT: Nick, ever go to Fat Cat? I will never step foot in that place ever again.

[NickGlass]

At Ace Bar in LES, or Redd's in Williamsburg, they have a rule that if you score a certain number of points, you get a free beer.

I know both those bars well (I briefly lived around the corner from Redd's, even), but generally don't play skeeball there. I used to play pinball at ACE all the time, but haven't been back in roughly 3 months (it's funny you call it the LES, though; I'd say it's the East Village but people have considered that to be arguable).

[Thirdmango]

Well if you ever acquire one, you will definitely want to check out "Pinball FX 2".

I actually need to write up a review of this game. Turns out I suck at pinball.

[NickGlass]

EDIT: Nick, ever go to Fat Cat? I will never step foot in that place ever again.

Ugh, unfortunately, yes. Fat Cat kills me because it has certain components that make it sound like the perfect social setting (rather cheap, live jazz all the time, lots of space to lounge and relax and talk, etc.), but it's completely ruined by its utterly boorish and entitled clientele. The only time I will go in there now is if I lose my job and can go late afternoon during the week--which is when I used to go before I made the mistake of going there at night.

[Acapelli]

Bar Great Harry

there's a pinball machine here?

[NickGlass]

there's a pinball machine here?

There's three of them: Spiderman, Twilight Zone, and Attack from Mars. How can you miss them? It's a small bar and they're right in the back room, past the bathrooms.

[number8]

Ugh, unfortunately, yes. Fat Cat kills me because it has certain components that make it sound like the perfect social setting (rather cheap, live jazz all the time, lots of space to lounge and relax and talk, etc.), but it's completely ruined by its utterly boorish and entitled clientele. The only time I will go in there now is if I lose my job and can go late afternoon during the week--which is when I used to go before I made the mistake of going there at night.

For those not in NYC, Fat Cat is a GIANT underground space with a live jazz area, and the rest is filled with half a dozen ping pong tables, a handful of pool tables, then a bunch of chess, checkers, foosball and shuffleboards. It's fucking ridiculous. It's like a bar full of grown men pretending they're still in their frat basement, and Nick's description of the clientele is right.

[Spinal]

There's three of them: Spiderman, Twilight Zone, and Attack from Mars.

Never played Spiderman, but those other two are classics.

[Ezee E]

Yeah, can't say I've seen ping pong in a bar, only because I guarantee that the ping pong balls will be lost in a matter of minutes. Some places try to do beer pong, but health department deemed it unsanitary, so it's no longer going on "announced."

[number8]

Put it this way.

The one time I was there, I was so suffocated by the atmosphere that I went up to have a smoke with my ladyfriend, and this douchehole was picking fights with the gay guys outside the gay bar across the street and calling them faggots. My ladyfriend works for GLSEN and doesn't take that shit well, so she started yelling "Fuck you" across the street at him. He started crossing the street toward us and called her a cunt, so I stepped forward and flicked my cigarette at his face and told him to walk the fuck away. He then proceeded to call me a, quote, "chink faggot."

That was the BEST part of my night at Fat Cat.

[number8]

I really hate Fat Cat.

[Spinal]

Put it this way.

The one time I was there, I was so suffocated by the atmosphere that I went up to have a smoke with my ladyfriend, and this douchehole was picking fights with the gay guys outside the gay bar across the street and calling them faggots. My ladyfriend works for GLSEN and doesn't take that shit well, so she started yelling "Fuck you" across the street at him. He started crossing the street toward us and called her a cunt, so I stepped forward and flicked my cigarette at his face and told him to walk the fuck away. He then proceeded to call me a, quote, "chink faggot."

That was the BEST part of my night at Fat Cat.

That guy is really good at identifying people that are different than him.

[number8]

That guy is really good at identifying people that are different than him.

We were around the corner from Stonewall, so his history is also pretty sound.

[NickGlass]

Ugh, it's pretty disgusting to realize people like that still exist in NYC--or even hang out in the fucking West Village.

My boyfriend and I were harassed on the R train at 4am last weekend for essentially leaning into each other as we filled out a crossword puzzle. That was fun. And it was a drunk girl--which saddens me even more. At one point she leaned against the bar staring at us for 30 seconds, and I was too exhausted to bother to verbally debase her (which would have been very simple, given the disgusting specimen she was), but my boyfriend was sure to tell her kindly to go fuck herself. She rambled on, quasi-shocked, then passed out.

[megladon8]

I just ignore people that are being ignorant jerks.

[Spinal]

If you're intolerant of diversity, New York City is probably a bad city for you to live in.

[megladon8]

I know all about discrimination.

My great grandparents were Irish.