Here’s a first-hand account of a collector buying the Nintendo World Championships Gold cartridge for $17,500. It’s the most valuable video game cartridge and only 26 of the gold cartridges exist. If you read the comments below his story or on other gaming sites, it’s a few “congratulations” and a tons of “get a life” or “should of put that in your baby’s college fund.” And his responses to them lack any snarkiness that you’ve come to expect online.

I can definitely understand people not wanting to pay a lot of money for a collectors item. But I’m not paying that much money to play the game, just like people who buy a Honus Wagner baseball card aren’t going to put it in the spokes of their bicycle or Action Comic #1 buyers aren’t going to buy it so they can read it while they eat breakfast. The same can be said about rare paintings, “why would I pay millions of dollars for a Picasso when I can just look at a poster of the same painting?” They are pieces of history and very rare. That is where the value comes from. Not because someone wants to play the game. That being said, I can completely understand why someone wouldn’t want to spend that much money on a video game. Just as I can understand it for a painting, a comic, a vintage car, or anything else.

There’s also concern about his confidence that the value of the cartridge will continue to rise. I have a bare Earthbound SNES cartridge. A few years ago I could have thrown it on eBay and (if I remember correctly) got more than $150. More people realized they had them lying around and fewer people wanted them. Now it’d be hard to get more than $60. I’m no expert, but it seems that while  the average price of a collectible game will decrease, a holy-grail item like this (where only a couple dozen exist) will only increase in value.

Even dorkier example (”But wait, what could be dorkier than collecting video game cartridges?” Answer: Magic the Gathering.): I have a few Balduvian Hordes that I could of sold for $20 each when I first got them, but now you can pick up four for $5 on eBay. But an alpha Black Lotus is worth more now than it ever has been.

I tuned out of Free Darko after overloading and plowing through their excellent book. I went through the archives from this year and it looks like I’ve been missing out, but I’ve started reading them again and they’ve got some good thoughts about the Ron Artest signing.

Like it or not, there is something admirable about Artest. Otherwise, he’d be a garden-variety sociopath. He’s no longer a symbol of instability or risk, but of the enduring quality that could redeem such a blood-blender of a career: the fact that, at the time, he sure did mean it.

You might also say he’s the opposite of Kobe Bryant, who by the least charitable reading, is the form of conviction without any of its substance. That would of course be totally wrong and unfair (though I expect to hear it echoed in the comments section), and yet it gets at something of Kobe’s, well, dullness. Artest is complicated in the literal sense, of things fucking each other up and getting in each other’s way. Kobe’s complicated like a watch or schematic, and it’s only us on the outside who don’t see the internal logic. Ron Artest is inconvenienced by logic, Kobe redeemed by it.

If anything, it’s gonna be an exciting year in Los Angeles. While I’m at it, here are some other views on Artest to the Lakers. TrueHoop thinks he’s one of the best players the Lakers could have acquired.

Ron Artest was at his worst two years ago in Sacramento. He was not, as Larry Brown would say, playing the right way. He broke plays to go one-on-one. He appeared to be using his full complement of defensive skills on only a fraction of plays. He felt bad for missing jumpers (something he has never been amazing at) and then grew determined to get the points back for his team by … forcing more jumpers. But despite all that, even with the Kings he was one of the best and most productive players on the roster — as he has been throughout his career. The lesson, to me, is that Artest has something in common with LeBron James besides build. James is way better, of course, but both have strengths that overwhelm notable flaws. (I think of them as the “You get what you get, and you don’t get upset” players.) The conditions could not be more favorable now. A championship on the line, a team with powerful leaders and a legacy to be built. Purple and gold, I suspect, is going to look very good on Ron Artest.

And SLAM gives Ron a few pointers.

You’re not Dennis Rodman: Dennis was one of the first names mentioned when this deal was announced. Rodman was a force of nature when he joined the Bulls in 1996, a crazy, cross-dressing, hair coloring, rebounding machine that was delivered to us straight from the caves of hell. But here’s the thing. Dennis was way, way more of a headcase than you. You’re infinitely more manageable.(Kobe and Phil won’t have to reign you in nearly as much as Mike and Phil did with Rodman. They understand that you will say and do wild things from time to time, and may have to serve a suspension or two during the season – just to get it out of your system – but if the last few years have proven anything, is that you’ve *gulp* matured and toned down the crazy.)

As a side note (I’d give this its own post if I had something specific to link to), I’ve been seeing a few things about what Shaq’s nickname should be. “Big Witness Protection Agency” came up during his interview on PTI yesterday and he seemed to like it. I sure do, especially given his past as a volunteer policeman.

The Expendables.

“Alright, here’s the pitch, it’ll star Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, and Mickey Rourke. And we’ll find a way to throw Arnold Schwarzenegger in there.”

“Wait, what about the story?”

A team of mercenaries head to South America on a mission to overthrow a dictator.

“Sold. Green light it.”

P.S. STONE COLD! STONE COLD! STONE COLD!

My favorite movie speech, dubbed in Spanish. And of course, here’s the original scene. And for another translation, here it is in Shakespearean. (2:25 for the money shot!)

Ron Artest tells CBS Sports that he’s signing with the Lakers.

Artest’s exuberance — he spent the whole summer in L.A., including several appearances at Lakers home games during the NBA Finals — got ahead of the process a bit. Other teams that made overtures for Artest – including the Cavaliers — have not yet been notified that Artest is signing with the Lakers. (Consider them notified.) Bauman has spoken with Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak, but parameters have not yet been agreed to. Still, it’s pretty clear where Artest is going.

“I don’t really care about the money,” Artest said. “I’ll play there for nothing. … L.A. was very interested in me, and they got me.”

Obviously next year’s off-season will be more exciting, but this year’s hasn’t been too shabby.

Ten more pick-up hoops players you’ll meet in hell. You’ll absolutely recognize each and every one of these characters.

The Glad-Hander

Signature Behavior: Working pregame handshakes like BIll Clinton working a receiving line; remember everyone’s name.

Natural Enemies: Healthy competetive disdain; the collective, ego-sustaining delusion that pickup basketball is a little bit like war, or at the very least means something.

Mating Call: “Good Look”

Here are two articles: ESPN reports Rudy Fernandez is upset and The Oregonian reports Rudy Fernandez is not upset. Ignoring the difference in position, I think Fernandez will end up being a better player than Turkoglu. For comparison’s sake, here’s Fernandez’s rookie season statistics:

Season    Tm  G   FG  FGA  FG%  3P 3PA  3P%  FT FTA  FT%  TRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS
2008-09   POR 78  4.8 11.4 .425 2.9 7.2 .399 2.2 2.6 .839 3.7 2.9 1.2 0.2 1.6 2.0 14.7

And Turkoglu’s at similar ages:

Season    Tm  G   FG   FGA  FG%  3P 3PA  3P%  FT FTA  FT% TRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS
2000-01   SAC 74  4.0  9.7 .412 0.8 2.5 .326 2.5 3.2 .777 6.1 2.0 1.5 0.7 1.6 4.0 11.3
2001-02   SAC 80  5.3 12.6 .422 1.2 3.1 .368 3.1 4.2 .726 6.6 3.0 1.0 0.6 1.5 3.4 14.8
2002-03   SAC 67  5.1 12.0 .422 0.9 2.4 .372 2.7 3.4 .800 5.8 2.7 0.8 0.4 1.5 3.8 13.7
2003-04   SAS 80  4.5 11.2 .406 1.8 4.2 .419 2.0 2.8 .708 6.2 2.7 1.4 0.6 1.6 2.9 12.8

Here’s hoping the Oregonian has the story straight and ESPN is wrong, because he’s my second favorite player on probably my favorite team.

[Update: Those are stats per 36 minutes.]

I forgot what website it was, but a few months ago I read an enraged rant about photography. (It was truthful and entertaining from what I remember.) One of the points was that there can be good photographers who work on their craft, but then there are people who luck into situations allowing them to take pictures far more interesting than any professional would take. An example is if someone took a legit photograph of an alien—it’d be the most popular picture ever. Anyway, if you’re on the International Space Station, and it just happens to be directly above a volcano eruption, you just might shoot some awesome pictures.

The New York Times interviewed thirty chefs to come up with The Perfect Burger and All Its Parts.

Pat LaFrieda, president of LaFrieda Wholesale Meat Purveyors, which delivers custom blends to many of the top burger restaurants in New York City, recommends grinding the meat yourself with a food processor or a mixer’s grinding attachment. He prefers chuck and brisket, and said to put them in the freezer first and chill them to 30 degrees.

When my parents came up for graduation, my mom dropped off a bunch of chuck-eye steaks so I threw them in the Magic Bullets for a few pulses for burgers and they were basically awesome. Medium-rare burgers used to be sort of iffy for me, but there’s really no going back once you have a good one. I felt better knowing that I was using meat I’d eat medium-rare as a steak anyway. A Hamburger Today got this in their mailbag:

Question: Have your ever gotten sick from ordering an “undercooked” burger or do you ever wonder if it could happen to you?—Josh “Loving the Medium-Rare” S.

Answer: No and no.

Firefox 3.5 was released this week. Initially, I was ho-hum because I thought it was just a speed upgrade, and the only time I remember being impressed by browser speed was when Chrome came out last summer. But there are a few more interesting changes. Lifehacker provides an overview of more important Firefox 3.5 features. My favorite is pulling tabs out to new windows or merging them into existing windows. Reopening closed tabs also seems useful.