In this video we play the long versions of our two songs, mixed with a segment from our movie “The Best *#@! Christmas Ever: An Atari 8-bit Journey Into The Vertical Blank” To lay out just what The Vertical blank means to us and why we use it as the metaphor for the retro gaming hobby.
3 responses to “What The Heck Is “The Vertical Blank” Anyway?”
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I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of the experiment known as Shrodinger’s Cat. It’s meant to illustrate the theory behind quantum physics, rather than to actually be carried out.
As far as I understand it, a cat is placed in a box, along with a flask of poison that’s lethal to breathe. Finally added is a radioactive substance that has a 50% chance of emitting radiation, such as a lump of Radium.
The box is sealed, so nobody on the outside knows if the radiation ever grows strong enough to rupture the flask and kill the cat. As long as the box remains closed, the cat is alive and dead at the same time, since perception truly is one’s reality.
Your existential monologues and dialogues about the Vertical Blank remind me of that illustrative experiment. While the beam is between perceived frames, alternate realities are possible. Atari simultaneously exists and doesn’t. The 7800 is released in 1984, and it’s not. EG holds onto publication through the console slump, and it doesn’t.
Just a thought on a sunny Saturday! Thanks as always for the awesome and inspiring show(s)!
Chris++
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>>Your existential monologues and dialogues about the Vertical Blank remind me of that illustrative experiment. While the beam is between perceived frames, alternate realities are possible. Atari simultaneously exists and doesn’t. The 7800 is released in 1984, and it’s not. EG holds onto publication through the console slump, and it doesn’t.
This is brilliant. Yes, I agree, it’s much like this. The space between the lines not only offered possibility when we were kids, it offers a sense of “what could have been” and maybe “what was” if the multiverse truly exists. You comment is, quite possibly, the best comment we’ve ever received for one of our stories. Thanks Chris++
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Wow. Thanks. That’s quite a compliment! But that’s just the sort of thought your stories (and joint-discussion podcasts) inspire.
Somewhere in the multiverse, we’re playing Food Fight VII!LikeLike
intotheverticalblank.com 
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