Solarbabies is a classic, in its way. Any movie containing the line

“This is Terminac — a multi-capable masterpiece. He can squeeze the color from a ruby. He can pluck the eye from a living bird. And he’s been programmed to enjoy what he does.”

is not to be taken lightly.

Home for the holidays. It’s good to be back. Not much has changed except that David has taken over my room. We played a game of go. He’s seven stones stronger.

Pizza at Mario’s with David and his friend Andy. We pumped about six bucks into a three-player game called Gauntlet, which has pretty good graphics and a great appetite for quarters.

People tend to be pretty bowled over by the animation test I’ve been showing them. “Don’t you realize what you’re looking at?” Jon Menell said. “This is the light bulb.”  

Macworld Expo ’86 was pretty slick. The coolest thing there was the Radius 8 ½” x 11” tall screen. 

Dad called all excited because David did well in the dan tournament. I hadn’t stopped to think about it until now, but the speed of his rise has been really startling. From total beginner to shodan in nine months. If he keeps this up another year or two, he could be one of the best non-Asian go players in the history of the world. 

That’s something.

The Nintendo game machine has sold a million units in the U.S. over Christmas. As of now, only a handful of cartridges are available. Nintendo is keeping a tight rein on new titles, presumably to avoid a flood of product like the one that sunk Atari a couple of years ago. Broderbund — thanks to Doug’s Japan connections — has three of the coveted slots.

Karateka would be a natural, but Doug is apparently leaning toward choosing some older titles — Castles of Dr. Creep or Spelunker or Raid on Bungeling Bay or even Choplifter — instead.

I talked to Ed and Alan with great passion, trying to convince them. This is the first time in my life I’ve had to lobby so hard for something I desperately wanted, and it’s exquisitely frustrating. It’s so painful wanting something from someone, being reduced to wishing and hoping they’ll give it to me. I hate it.

If I’m going to be a screenwriter someday, guess I better get used to it.

Progress on Prince of Persia has slowed to a snail’s crawl. I’ve been drifting in to work around eleven or twelve, and between that, the Butchery and the Sport Court, my workday is about forty-five minutes long. Ed and Gene and Lauren keep checking in to see what new and exciting stuff I’ve got up on the screen, and they go away disappointed.

Instead, I’ve been spending my time playing with my new Mac, Radius screen, and Scriptor screenplay formatting software. Shiny new toys.