Under The Bridge Downtown Pt. 2

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER CONVENTION APPEARANCES

DWEX 2010: THIS IS NEXT WEEKEND!!!
The Dallas Webcomics Expo – Aug 21 in Plano, TX
With Something*Positive, Cyanide and Happiness, Gastrophobia and Complex Actions
MORE INFO

Baltimore Comic-Con: Aug 28-29 @ in Baltimore, MD
MORE INFO

Dallas Animefest: Sept 3rd – Sept 6th, 2010 Dallas, TX @ Hyatt Regency Dallas at Reunion
with Shortpacked and Two Lumps
MORE INFO

Special thanks to Rob D of Cyanide and Happiness for guest staring in the comics this week.

It’s been nice taking a break this week from making fun of geek pop culture and just making fun of some freakin’ weirdos that hang around under an overpass once or twice a month (for context see Part 1). There is something I realized about the First Saturday Sale computer swap meet and its seemingly endless supply of bizarre shit and even more bizarre characters. It’s not about the “why” as much as it is about the “when” and the “where”. You see, it doesn’t matter why you’re gathering under an overpass in the middle of the night in a sketchy neighborhood. You could be selling broken laptops or running a dog fighting ring. All that matters is that you are somewhere that you aren’t supposed to be at a time when you should be home in bed (had you any sense). I think that’s what creates the magic.

UPDATE: The print is in the store for a limited time! Get it while you can.

Under The Bridge Downtown Print
 BUY THE PRINT HERE!

Commenters!
I challenge you to reminisce about finding, buying or stumbling upon old hardware (computers, games, whatever) and testifying as to how you enjoyed it or put it to use.

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39 Comments

  2. Great, a bee-filled Dreamcast™. Where the fuck was this guy when I had a seventh grade scavenger hunt?

    One damn item short and I never hear the end about it.

  3. found a (re)shrink-wrapped copy of super play action football for SNES and it is now sitting proudly on my shelf. That game and the NFL blitz series are the only football games i had fun playing.

  6. The eternally flaming golf club and Joel's serious, studious facial expression while considering the deal did it for me.

  9. Back in college my fraternity had a barbecue for the seniors on the last day of finals. This, plus people moving out, plus generous quantities of alcohol led to a tradition of finding an old busted-ass piece of technology at goodwill (or in some cases, in the dumpster out back) and hurling it from the third story window of the dorm we lived in, then promptly Office Space-ing the hell out of it.

    • reminds me of working at dad'a office and what we did when we had too many desks: throw 'em off the 2nd-floor balcony! To this day, I have "moving office furniture and equipment" under job experience on my resume.

  10. I briefly considered driving to Dallas (only three and a half hours) if there were really, in fact, seven-dollar Dreamcasts. Then again, I do have a sharp things collection (or a "things you could kill someone with" collection, as I prefer to call it), so it might still be worth it.

  11. God I love this comic. I have not, however, found any junk to buy. I was at a Goodwill about 2 years ago and saw a Fully Functioning VHS Camcorder. they wanted $120 for it (!) or I would have been all over that. I had visions of myself being all Danny Tanner with this rocket launcher sized hunk of obsolescence perched on my shoulder at sporting events, charity auctions, family gatherings and Halloween night. It was gonna be SPECIAL. It would never have been $120 special though. sigh.

    • Ah, Goodwill, land of dreams. It's not hardware, but I did pick up a professionally framed "Mark McGwire – 62 Home Runs" poster for fifty cents at a local Goodwill a couple months ago. They said it wasn't their price tag, but they sold it anyway.

    • Who needs a camcorder
      The size of my hand
      You know I wanna look like a NEWS CAMERAMAN!!!

      — Rhett and Link, "In the 80s"

      I totally almost bought one of those at a rummage sale in like '99. I forget how much it would have set me back.

  12. When I worked at Best Buy back in 2003 a lady brought in a computer that was almost exactly like an older gaming rig I used to have. She decided that she was going to buy something there and I told her I'd take her old PC off her hands. It had one of the old Slot A Athlon processors and a Voodoo 3. That thing ran Quake III like a champ. I just couldn't let something that awesome end up in a dumpster.

  13. Joel, you could probably do this for the next 3 weeks and I wouldn't get bored. Love it.

    I need sharp stuff. I need plugs what ain't attached to stuff! Where is this magical sale?

    Oh, right – thousands of miles away. Stupid ocean.

  15. A good buddy of mine found an old computer and knew I'd want it and brought it to me. Turns out it was an Osborne 1A "Portable". The thing is nearly 30 years old and booted up just like it should. It even has some software. As far as a use I can't think of anything except irritate my wife, who doesn't get it. I could have only dreamed about owning something like it when it was new, and I did dream. I'll be hanging on to it even though it's a bit of a boat anchor now a days.

  16. For a moment, I thought the guy in the second panel was George Lucas, and I found I wasn't surprised at all that he was shilling his wares under an overpass. I had hoped maybe Karma had caught up with him.

    • I really hope you're kidding since Ive been talking about how they would be leaving the store until Xmas for weeks now via the blog and twitter, and how there was precious little time left to get one. In fact I removed them from the store this morning.

  19. Back in college I found a N64 that came with four controllers w/ rumble packs, Goldeneye, and WCW vs NWO World Tour for 70 bucks. It was the focus of 3 AM drunken parties.

  20. Hey, some people juggle geese.

    Though that seven dollar Dreamcast could easily be fixed with one of those "plugs what don't got stuff attached to 'em". Sure, I could buy a replacement online for six bucks or so, but where's the fun in that, right? And that Club of Eternal Flame may come in handy once Z-Day is upon us.

    • Or that box of sharp stuff. OH! if you put some of the sharp stuff on the flaming club you'd have an awesome zombie killer. Like something Simon Belmont would use.

  21. I love looking for old games. Here in Australia there's a chain of video game stores called Gametraders that accepts retro games for trade-in and then sells them. I've purchase a lot of Nintendo 64 games and an Atari 2600.

  24. I freekin’ love the first pannel, it is so Homer Simpson. Not even questioning or concerned as to why it is on file but just looking to get the best deal possible based on such uncommon common denominators. The the bestestest!

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