Streetplay: The Blog » jumprope

Double Dutch Divas: Remastered

Hugh McNally — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:24:10 +0000

Way back in August 2000, we put 4 short videos of the Double Dutch Divas on Streetplay, part of our jump rope coverage. Well, some 10 years later, we fixed them up a little (putting them all together, for one thing) and posted them on our new YouTube channel.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSP4nbO2ck0

The video quality may not be great like Hulu, but the message of fun still shines through after a decade has passed.

Malcolm McLaren, RIP (“Double Dutch”)

Hugh McNally — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 19:27:22 +0000

Perhaps better known as the impresario of the Sex Pistols, Malcolm McLaren had a hit with “Double Dutch” in 1983 (a follow-up on “Buffalo Gals,” his take on what we called rap back then).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt6Co7EMNCU

He definitely helped shape a lot of the music scene back then, mixing and matching genres. Sadly, he died today at the age of 64.

Videogame: Go Play City Sports

Hugh McNally — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:50:36 +0000

The ongoing newsfeed search for “stickball” has turned up this gem today: a suite of “street games” for your Wii gaming console!

Go Play City Sports by Majesco Entertainment

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jKWJLU5lNg

Video courtesy of NintendoWorldReport.com; read their review of the game

I’m not sure whether this is great–keeping the games alive for future generations–or whether it’s just more fodder for the oft-heard argument that videogames keep kids indoors getting fat sitting on the couch. And it’s true: this is at least the second street game-based videogame available (MLB Stickball is the first I know of). I don’t know my take on this yet: maybe this will encourage kids to go outside and play the games they rehearse on the Wii. And I love my Wii, so it would be a little duplicitous to say an ill word against it. But I do wish that the “handball” depicted here were the Ace-King-Queen version, though (where the ball hits the ground before hitting the wall). And where’s skully?

I mainly wish the milieu depicted by publisher Majesco Entertainment weren’t so shabby; it’s an insult to people who actually lived (or live) in the city as a child. The implication is that the street is a dirty, ragtag place that (thankfully) the shiny white Wii box is saving you from having to experience firsthand. Hey, when I grew up, that setting was my home, and it was the greatest place to be in the world.