If one person learns from this experience and avoids what I went through, it will have been worth posting this.
I got a message that I was to be in the HR director's office along with my company's director of network security late in the afternoon. An unscheduled mandatory meeting like that could only mean one thing--I was in trouble and it was for violating some tech policy.
I had been with the company for less than 3 months.
I wracked my brain for what it could be. Was it that eBay alert I had gotten on my personal phone that I checked on my computer? Was it hitting the link that our filter said was a forbidden gambling site when trying to remember the name of a casino I had visited several years ago during a conversation with a colleague? Maybe I wasn't supposed to check the news from my work computer. I didn't know what I had done but figured it could not have been but so bad.
It was a lot worse.
I was accused of violating the company's policy about accessing adult content on the network.
I was told on two separate dates my personal phone was used to access adult websites through the company's WIFI for private and guest devices. I was receiving a written warning. If it happened again, I would be fired. Logs were produced with websites, IP addresses, and the MAC address of my iPhone.
I was stunned because I knew one thing. I was not stupid enough to look at porn at work. Not only because it would be wrong, but I would also consider it incredibly disrespectful to my boss who I consider a close friend (I knew him long before I joined the company) and to the organization as a whole.
I tried to think about how this could have happened because while the evidence was there (and I assumed it was not made up) I also knew I had not used our network to visit those sites. One thing sealed the accuracy for me of their claims. They were sites I HAD visited on my phone, just not at work, and not at the times claimed. They could not know which sites I prefer otherwise.
Now I feel no shame saying that I watch porn provided it is legal content made consensually. I don't do it a lot, but I do it. I stay in a hotel 3-4 nights a week related to my job--and away from my wife--so sometimes the mood hits and I may use my phone or my tablet to relieve some stress while at the hotel. It happens.
But I am also not good about shutting tabs on my phone browser--not just porn but anything I browse. When I checked after this event, I had 30 browser tabs open on my iPhone. Not on purpose or anything. Just that Safari doesn't make you as mindful of it as you would be on a desktop browser
Could an open tab have "reached out" to an off-site server without me knowing it?
I asked the IT person a question. If a website had been open in Safari before I arrived at work, could it ping a server on its own if the phone were connected to the WIFI network.
He replied that it could not. But he said if I opened Safari at work to, say, check the weather, the background tabs could refresh by reaching out to their various servers.
I had no idea that happened. It makes total sense, I simply never thought about it.
What I think happened is this.
When I arrived in my office, my phone automatically connected to the guest network WIFI. When I went on to my phone to use Safari, it refreshed background tabs I had left open that I used to access adult content offsite on my own time. That background refresh triggered network monitoring software that said my device was accessing adult content. The monitoring software had no way of knowing that it was a background refresh and not "active" usage. And I had no idea my phone was accessing adult content while I was looking at something unrelated.
None of that mattered. I violated our adult content policies with my personal device even though I had NO IDEA it was even happening. In other words, my use of porn on my personal time and in my personal space bled into the office network without my knowledge or intent. The circumstances were irrelevant according to the policy. Adult content WAS accessed from my phone on their network.
I received a written warning and was told that should it happen again, I would be terminated. My personal devices are no longer allowed to access the company's wifi for personal devices. And some people probably think I am a total creeper and degenerate who looks at porn at work. My boss told me later that if it had been almost anyone else, they would have been terminated on the spot.
My boss gets it and we're cool. I don't know about HIS boss, the HR person, the people in IT who know, etc. And I feel like an idiot who let his boss, company, and himself down. All because I didn't think about the fact that my phone would automatically connect to a WIFI network and then refresh background tabs when I used the phone's browser.
I'm furious with myself. I'm furious with myself for not knowing how my device worked and what that meant. I am furious with myself that my ignorance damn near got me fired. And I am furious with myself that by my phone accessing off-limits content--even though I was not actively trying to do so--it could have put our network at risk of hacking contamination. I feel like a total fool.
TL;DR: I violated my company's adult content internet policies without even knowing I did it and almost lost my job.

Artist: Joji
Album: Nectar
Label: 88Rising
Release Date: September 25, 2020
Listen:
Spotify
Apple Music
YouTube Music
Deezer
Soundcloud
Background
Not many artists have had a come-up as interesting and eccentric as George Kusunoki Miller, a former YouTube comedian/edgelord turned moody R&B singer. George first got his taste of internet fame as FilthyFrank, a character he described as everything a person should not be, he played the notorious persona on YouTube for over 6 years and eventually had to retire it due to him losing passion for it and suffering from stress induced seizures, which playing the character often caused.
Throughout his time as FilthyFrank however he began experimenting with music, mostly of the satirical kind at the start, his first tracks were under the FilthyFrank persona, the first one being Who's The Sucker, a dumb track where he somehow manages to rhyme "nicer" with "vagina", go figure.
A few years later, alongside the satirical rap, Joji began to make what he would consider as serious music, and this is where the timeline gets a bit messy, as he put out multiple tracks under multiple different aliases and the lines got blurred pretty fast, so I won't focus on aliases too much, but rather on the music he put out, around this era he released the therapeutical Medicine, the slow and melancholy We Fall Again, and Dumplings, which was Joji's best attempt at a trap banger.
In 2015, he birthed the Joji alias, released two singles on Soundcloud under that name, and announced a project called Chloe Burbank Vol. 1, the project was later scrapped and is probably sitting on Joji's hard drive, unfinished, however, the two singles he put out, thom and you suck charlie, were the tracks that put him in the spotlight, not to mention that to this day, there are some of his fans that believe these 2 tracks are his best and will not be topped, but that's a discussion for another day.
Following the overwhelmingly positive reception, Joji began to put out more tracks and singles, both under the aforementioned alias and Pink Guy, which was a character that blossomed into a satirical rap project, but I won't be covering that too much, and will focus on what he did as Joji instead, most tracks Joji put out were met with positive reception, some of the tracks, such as worldstar money, ended up on his debut EP as well.
Sometime around early 2016, Joji ended up signing with 88rising, a label focused on building the bridge between east and west, he explained in an interview that he was initially a consultant for the duo behind the record label, however, once the duo noticed his music and how well it was received, they asked him to jump on board and he instantly took the chance, getting signed alongside the likes of Rich Brian and Higher Brothers.
The label immediately undertook Joji and began distributing his catalog on their YouTube channel and helped him release more music, which was a couple of singles in the earlier half of 2017, and his debut EP in the latter half, the EP, known as "In Tongues", was met with mixed reception from fans and critics alike, with some describing it as his most concise body of work so far that is oozing potential, and others describing it as a bleak project that fails to set Joji apart from the sea of artists on the same wavelength as himself.
Following the release of the EP, Joji began working on his debut album, known as BALLADS 1, the album's first single, YEAH RIGHT, was released on the 8th of May, the track was first believed to be a standalone loosie as it was released 5 months before the album itself, however it ended up being on the album and was confirmed as the one of the singles alongside SLOW DANCING IN THE DARK, CAN'T GET OVER YOU, which features a production credit from non other than Clams Casino, and TEST DRIVE.
The album was well received, and was praised for containing a wider variety of sounds than its predecessor, it felt like a natural progression for Joji's sound and was a step forward towards a more mainstream approach whilst not sacrificing any of the rawness that Joji's older stuff had, which seemed to be what most fans were expecting from him.
Moving forward Joji stayed mostly silent throughout 2019, appearing on the second 88Rising collaboration album, which was negatively received due to it's lack of creativity and sub-par performances from most label signees, he also appeared on Rich Brian's sophomore album, The Sailor, and released which is now known to be as the first single from Nectar, Sanctuary, a synth based poppy track that previewed a vocally improved and more confident version of Joji.
What was assumed to be a loosie turned out to be the beginning of an album rollout, as half a year later Joji released Run, setting a new standard for himself both instrumentally and vocally, and a couple of months later he released Gimme Love, a double sided track with a fun, catchy beginning and a melancholy ballad driven ending, the last single, Daylight, was released on the 8th of August, the instrumental was produced by Diplo and the track itself sounded like Joji's attempt to break into the mainstream.
Without warning, he also released two tracks that he classified as "NOT SONG", the first being Pretty Boy, which actually ended up on the album with a Lil Yachty feature, and the second being FTC, which sadly did not end up on the album, both tracks had videos and it seemed to me at first that the purpose of both tracks was to serve the lore that Joji has built around the album, which I will be touching up on in this write-up.
A day before the album's release, he put out Gimme Cum, an enigmatic track with a mysterious message.
Nectar itself was pushed back from it's original July release date due to the pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests, the album however was released on the 25th of September.
Album Lore
If there's one thing George is no stranger to, it would definitely be worldbuilding, as he has proven time and time again that he has a knack for it, especially with his FilthyFrank YouTube channel, where he managed to create characters, locations, and an entire universe out of a few satirical characters, his lore was adored by many and even though visually he never wrapped up the story he did release a book that served as closure for the FilthyFrank lore.
This album's lore is not as straight forward however, and there are multiple theories doing the rounds on the internet, personally I will go by what sounded most convincing to me in terms of timeline and storyline, however do feel free to expand on what I've said or correct me, George has left multiple things left open to interpretation therefore I would not be surprised if there were multiple different meanings to the same thing.
Our story begins in the music video for Gimme Love, where we see a young Joji who appears to be a small time engineer that is eager to climb through the ranks of the company he is working for, as he rises however he appears to become more stressed out and agitated at all times, lashing out at his coworkers and breaking down consistently, throughout the music video we can see that the more he progresses, the more roadblocks he runs into, which causes his behavior to become more psychotic and manic, as the shots move forward we see him accept awards, lead his very own research team, run failed experiments on his coworkers that causes them to bleed, and eventually receive military covert status, which did not come without sacrifices, as we see him smile less and less throughout the video.
In the second half of the video, we see Joji steal the rocket he helped build by locking out his crew members, and launch himself into space, disappointing everyone he worked with and stabbing them in the back he appears to be quite happy however, eventually his mood flips as he is faced with two choices, engage or eject, the following shot does not allow us to see which one he picked as we are facing his back, all we see is Joji making the choice and gearing up for what's to come.
The lines get blurred around this spot and many people have different theories as to which video is the right one chronologically, personally I believe Daylight comes next, and my theory is Joji is having some sort of fever dream featuring his previous coworkers, most notably the older people who went through layers of plastic surgery, who appear in the music video for FTC, where they are seen wearing badges that features the same organization Joji worked for, throughout the video they are seen rummaging through the wreckage caused by Joji, clearly looking for something specific, which ends up being the award Joji won.
Back to Daylight, Joji appears to be some sort of intern working for the director and the actors, towards the end of the music video we can see Joji waking up from the aforementioned fever dream, clearly in a daze, as the shot widens we see that he is alone, in a barren wasteland, with nothing around him except for a tent and what appears to be a device used for communication, he plants a few seeds in the soil and sits by the device, hoping for a sign of life.
Next comes Run, where we are once again met with Joji having a nightmare, the entire video symbolizes being trapped in a place you don't want to be in, as Joji appears to be in a never ending limousine with people he has no interest in whatsoever, towards the end of the nightmare we actually see Joji running across a massive wasteland, the same wasteland we saw him in at the end of the Daylight music video, throughout the video, we see Joji become consumed by the soil itself, which I would assume is a representation of his fears back then, seeing as he was alone and had little to no hope of being saved whatsoever.
Joji wakes up from this nightmare and appears to be in some kind of spaceship, if the videos were released chronologically, we would be completely lost at this point, lucky for us, we already know what the spaceship is, as we see a picture of the Sanctuary crew in the final shots of the Run music video, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that the crew is the ones that saved him from death and picked him up from the mess that he placed himself in, hence the name Sanctuary, which means refuge or safety from pursuit, persecution, or other danger
The crew itself is seen in action in the music video for Sanctuary, where Joji appears to be fighting and defeating some sort of one-eyed alien supervillain at the start, however, once he is defeated, both Joji and the crew themselves become aimless, as they are living monotonously without a goal, thankfully(???), one of the crew members sees this and decides to take matters into his own hands, by surgically removing his own eye, which portrays his transformation into the new supervillain, and following this up by killing a crewmember and escaping on his own, once again giving the spaceship it's own purpose.
Unfortunately the music videos that were put out after the release of the album appear to be too subtle for me to think they are connected in any way, shape or form, there are many theories of course but I can't help but feel like that most of them are a reach.
The most plausible explanation for this lore that I can think of is that the whole escaping from earth on his own, landing in a barren wasteland, trying to plant seeds in it, and eventually being picked up by a group(88Rising, wink wink) is a metaphor for his transition from FilthyFrank to Joji, the barren wasteland stands for how hopeless he felt at the time and the seeds symbolize the loosies he was slowly dropping before ditching his channel to become an R&B superstar, which if true, solidifies the idea that George was done with FilthyFrank long before he actually left the channel itself.
Regardless, I thought the lore was very enjoyable and it was nice to see Joji back in one of his elements at least, most fans would have been disappointed in me if I had not touched up on it a bit seeing as it was a huge part of the albums release and they are intertwined in some sort of way.
Review

When it's lovely I believe in anything What does love mean When the end is rolling in

• Ew

It is important for me to preface this review with the fact that this Joji album is not like anything we've ever heard from him before, this is not the one man army, garageband using, sample meshing Joji that we knew in the past, this is Joji with an entire team behind his artistic vision, a whole group of people working with him to help him push his sound to the next level, and unfortunately, while the quality of the music has clearly went up, when so many people have their own input on something eventually the lines get blurred and the album loses its artistic direction and cohesion, which is one of my only complaints with this album, and I'm glad I got it out of the way first.
Artistic direction and cohesion aside, this album contains some of Joji's highest highs to date, especially the singles, that's not to say that there aren't some deep cuts on here that shine as well, but once you listen to the album in it's entirety you quickly understand why the singles were chosen as singles, especially when you consider how sonically different they are from the non-singles.
Sanctuary, the album's first single, is a sweet, poppy and synthy track that features a high pitched and melodic Joji, some of the track's lyrics are somewhat abstract but they are quite visually descriptive and that's always a plus in my book, the instrumental itself is quite spacey and has a nice retro vibe to it, already a huge step forward from what we've already heard from George, the track's climax reaches towards the end and gives us a beautiful bridge,with Joji crooning about wanting to be held by a significant other.

I fell for your magic, I tasted your skin And though this is tragic, at least I found the end I witnessed your madness, you shed light on my sins And if we share in this sadness, then where have you been?

• Run

Run is one of the more cinematic cuts on this album, the track is truly a double edged sword because although it's one of Joji's best, it has set an extremely high standard for both Joji and the album, leaving fans such as myself worried about whether or not he will ever reach a similar high, the production is clean, Joji's vocal lines are as dynamic as ever, the guitar melody is infectious, the lyrics are better than anything Joji has ever written and he is putting his heart and soul into every word, the electric guitar solo at the end is also something worth mentioning, which sits perfectly right in front of Joji's distant and wide vocals, ending the track on a strong note.

Look into your heart and let me know Do things turn black and gray as they go? When I'm far too gone, can you show me love? Give me love

• Gimme Love

The lyrics above come from the album's third single, a 2 sided track that starts as a bouncy, percussive, fast paced, and catchy song, with Joji chanting and pleading to be given love, softly singing about being surrounded by apathetic people, after the second chorus the entire song comes to a halt in order to make room for a mellow guitar and Joji's harmonies, which are absolutely stunning if I may add, the track, much like many other tracks on here, ends on a cinematic strong note with a string section and a grandiose piano.
The final single, Daylight, is no doubt unexplored territory for Joji, the instrumental, which was produced by Diplo, starts off slow and minimalistic, with a simple yet groovy bassline, and reaches its apex on the chorus, when it suddenly becomes extremely lush, heavy, and thick, the track is most definitely a solid attempt at modern day and mainstream pop music, clearly made with the intention of receiving radio play.
All of the singles show up in the first leg of the album, which is absolutely phenomenal, the opener track, Ew, starts off light and easy, with a somber and distant arpeggiated piano backed with Joji's soft vocals, who's singing about heartbreak and the loss of many relationships, sounding as bitter as ever lyrically, the chorus includes a grand string section and a chord progression that is fully panned to the right and sitting all the way behind the mix, and surprise surprise, the track itself ends on a cinematic strong note, much like many of the other tracks on here.

I've got no aim, a million rounds, is nothing real? A hundred pounds of heavy steel, it feels so loud Tied to my chest, it feels so loud I'll take a peek to across the peaks This grass is neat and I'm quite unique But I'd like to be, but I'd like to be

• MODUS

Up next comes MODUS, a moody track that has an intro similar to the opener track but later on has Joji melodic rapping to a murky trap instrumental, with Joji of course sounding better than ever, lyrically speaking, many of the themes on this album are similar, Joji is mostly singing about relationships, heartbreak, and the need for a significant other, the lyrics themselves give the album a nocturnal, bitter, hopeless vibe, which is what we've come to expect from Joji's music nowadays.
The third track, Tick Tock, is a plucky banger of an instrumental that has Joji rapping over it with pitched up vocals on the chorus which is something that's a little bit reminiscent of his older, more amateur work, the vocal layering on the verse is also something worth mentioning, really showcases Joji's dynamic range and how much he improved as a whole, the track is nothing groundbreaking in terms of what we've heard so far and remains lowkey for the most part but is without a doubt one of my favorites on this project.

On Nectar, one of the yet-to-be-announced tracks was produced when the artist was only sixteen years old. “I’m excited to see if it sticks out or not to the listeners.” he reveals.

• Joji Interview with Schön! Magazine.

While not officially announced by Joji himself, it is safe to say that Upgrade is the aforementioned track, a small interlude that seats itself in the earlier part of the album, the track starts with a grandiose piano, which is quite unnecessary if you ask me, because once we have it out of the way all we get is a very obviously barebones instrumental made from a different time, the telltale sign being non other than the ukulele that we have seen in George's earlier work.
It upsets me that Joji has not made this fact much more known because this track has been consistently the subject of criticism by critics and fans alike, but at the same time I understand, because at the end of the day George left that track in there for the die hard fans, not the critics.
Up until this point there is no doubt that Joji has played it safe, sure the album is much more grand and cinematic than its predecessor, but there's no denying that the signature sound is still there, we still get the hazy and moody slow bangers, if Nectar was only the first half then Joji might have had a strong album in his catalog, maybe even a classic, but I understand him wanting to expand and experiment with other sounds in order to grow as an artist.
The midsection gets a little bit tricky, as Joji begins to get out of his comfort zone and the album features start appearing, to me it sounds like Joji did not know how he could keep the listener interested in the second half of this album and decided to opt in for a bunch of features as a quick fix, some work out fine, some better than others.

Handsome young man, never pull up on time Lookin' in the mirror, lookin' good should be a crime, crime All this pain I'll never let show (No) My real thoughts, you'll never know (No)

• Lil Yachty on Pretty Boy

I never really listened to Lil Yachty that much aside from the obvious hits he had over the course of his career, but he clearly shined on this track as the feature, for starters, the track is very light-hearted, definitely one of the more lofi tracks on this album, the highlight for me without a doubt is the bridge, which sounds like something straight out of Pink Season, George was clearly having genuine fun with it, some even speculate that most of the bridge was made using samples from his earlier work as Pink Guy.
High Hopes, which features Omar Apollo, is one of the more lowkey cuts in here as well, the percussion on the instrumental and the detuned guitar on here remind me of some of Joji's stuff from BALLADS 1, unfortunately however the track doesn't stand out much, at least not as much as Afterthought with BENEE, another track where Joji's melodies and vocals shine through once again, and BENEE's feature definitely adds some character to the track, at least enough to the point where the feature made some sense
On Normal People, Joji recruits childhood friend rei brown, in an attempt to capture lightning again after their first collaboration, Once In A While. Unfortunately lightning didn't strike twice here for me and the track felt quite lackluster and uninteresting, especially for such an anticipated track and when compared to their first song, many of the tracks and collaborations on the second part of the album really felt like Joji just trying to recapture the magic of his earlier work, and while some of those attempts did work at the end of the day it does feel like a cheap cop out.

Oh, understand, girl, I'm out of sight To the other side, I don't want no stripes Got my insides loud like motorcycles Girl, don't notice it, I don't notice it

• NITROUS

Another example of Joji attempting to recapture magic is NITROUS, which marks Joji's second time collaborating with Clams Casino, the track is very reminiscent of their first track together, both Joji and Clams Casino however killed it, the track's instrumental is very murky and nocturnal, much alike most of the album, but that doesn't stop Joji's delivery, which is very fun-loving and upbeat.

By the way you move, I know you want me to Tell you all the rules, I know I'm searching too Give me all your clues and things to guide me through The end of the world, the end of the world

• Mr. Hollywood

Produced by the one and only Kenneth Instrumentals, Mr. Hollywood is one of the more heartfelt and personal tracks on this album, Joji is singing about his evergrowing popularity and how it will never affect what is important for him, which in this case is the girl he's singing about, like many other tracks on this album, you will often hear something that will remind you of Joji's older work, in this case it is the ad-libs on the chorus, which are very reminiscent of his ad-libs on BESIDJU, regardless the song has at least a bit of substance which makes it one of the more commendable tracks.
The final run of this album is where Joji flips the script here, there are a few tracks that have questionable artistic decisions, such as Reanimator, with non other than Yves Tumor, the track serves as an instrumental interlude before the final two tracks, however with a feature such as Yves Tumor I honestly expected much more than what we got, and what we got is basically a 3 minute track, with the first minute and a half being nothing than a drone-y, synthy instrumental, and the second half being quite a lackluster performance by Joji and his guest, much like some of the other tracks on the album, it seems like it received a similar treatment, where the track was initially unfinished and still half-baked, and rather than attempting to finish the track they opted for an easy way out, which in this case was making more than half of the track an instrumental and then calling it an interlude just to be safe.

"that weeknd synthpop track sure is doing huge numbers, maybe i should also make a synthpop track as well"

• Joji, probably.

I would be down to argue that if Blinding Lights by The Weeknd had not existed, 777 wouldn't have existed either, Joji's constant attempts at breaking into the mainstream and commercializing his sound have always left a bad taste in my mouth as it felt like it came from a place where authenticity is lacking, nevertheless I find it bizarre to make a track that is very similar to one of the most successful tracks of the year and not attempt to push it at all, that's not to say that 777 on it's own is not a good track, however there's no denying that the sound selection on the instrumental, some of the flows, and the chorus itself hold blaring similarities to The Weeknd's track, I understand why he would make such a track however and find it admirable at the very least.
Thankfully, the album ends on a strong note, the final two tracks are both beautiful even though they're worlds apart, Like You Do, is a quintessential love ballad from Joji, a stripped down instrumental with beautiful piano chords and a laid back vibe, Joji is singing about his current partner and how what they have might not work out, even though he feels like they're perfect for one another, the closing track, Your Man is a massive change in tempo, with an upbeat, electronic, deep house-esque instrumental, we hear a Joji that is optimistic, which is a nice change of pace, especially considering how bitter most of his albums and projects have been up to date.

Since I met you All the gloomy days just seem to shine a little more brightly Consider what we've got 'Cause I can never take you for granted

• Like You Do

Conclusion
There's no denying that some tracks on here sound like a bastardized version of Joji's signature sound. Joji is trying his best to commercialize his sound without sacrificing the rawer elements of it, which unfortunately results in a jumble of sounds. This album is not free of criticisms as there are many issues in here that need to be worked on, it's much less cohesive than its predecessor and at times sounds like a bunch of rough ideas put together in order to create the world's most average musical equivalent of a photo collage, but if we were to just set all of that aside and just look at this album for what it is, then there's definitely something in here for everyone. George might have not made a classic, and he certainly hasn't found his sound yet, but this album is an indicator that he's on to something, and once again I am already anxious to hear what he has in store next.
Talking Points

• What did you think of this album? Is it a good follow-up to BALLADS 1?
  
• Do you think Joji works better alone or when he has a team behind him?
  
• Do you think Joji will yet again set another high standard for himself next project?
  
• What are your predictions for Joji's sound in the future?
  
• Now that he's more keen on having features, who do you think would compliment Joji's sound the most?
  
• Favorite tracks?
  

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If you don't like to read... you don't like to make money!!!!
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Matthew Davey — Chief Executive Officer and Director
Mr. Davey has over 25 years of experience within the digital media, sports, entertainment, leisure and gaming ecosystems, as well as experience in the public sector. He is an experienced public company executive officer and board member. He has served in executive management positions across the gaming technology arena. Over the course of Mr. Davey’s career, he oversaw more than ten mergers and acquisitions and over $1.2 billion in debt and equity capital raised to support the companies he has led.
Most recently, Mr. Davey was Chief Executive Officer of SG Digital, the Digital Division of Scientific Games Corp. (“Scientific Games”) (Nasdaq: SGMS). SG Digital was established following the purchase by Scientific Games of NYX Gaming Group Limited (“NYX”) (formerly TSXV: NYX), where Mr. Davey served as Chief Executive Officer and Director. The NYX acquisition provided Scientific Games with a vehicle to significantly accelerate the scale and breadth of its existing digital gaming business, including the strategic expansion into sports betting. In his capacity as Chief Executive Officer of NYX, Mr. Davey developed and implemented a corporate strategy that generated strong revenue growth. Mr. Davey shaped company strategy to focus on digital gaming supplier platforms and content that provided various gaming operators with the underlying gaming and sports betting systems for their online gaming business. In 2014, Mr. Davey oversaw the initial public offering of NYX, and his experience in the digital media, sports, entertainment, leisure and gaming industries helped NYX recognize momentum as a public company. After the public offering, from 2014 to 2018, Mr. Davey oversaw seven acquisitions which helped establish NYX as one of the fastest growing global B2B real-money digital gaming and sports betting platforms. These acquisitions included:
• OpenBet: In 2016, NYX completed the $385 million acquisition of OpenBet. This was one of the more complex and transformative acquisitions that Mr. Davey oversaw at NYX. Through securing co-investments from William Hill (LSE: WMH), Sky Betting & Gaming and The Stars Group (formerly Nasdaq: TSG, TSX: TSGI), Mr. Davey was able to get the acquisition from Vitruvian Partners completed successfully, winning the deal against much larger and well capitalized competitors. By combining two established and proven B2B betting and gaming suppliers, NYX was well positioned to provide customers with exciting player-driven solutions across all major product verticals and distribution channels. This allowed NYX to become the leading B2B omni-channel sportsbook platform in the market and the supplier to over 300 gaming operators globally with an extensive library of desktop and mobile game titles, including more than 700 on NYX platforms and more than 2,000 on the OpenBet platform.
• Cryptologic/Chartwell: In 2015, NYX completed the $119 million acquisition of Cryptologic and Chartwell. The acquisition provided NYX with more than 400 titles of additional leading gaming content, a broader customer base, and direct exposure to PokerStars and Intercasino, part of the Gamesys Group (LSE: GYS) — two of the world’s largest online casino offerings.
• OnGame: In 2014, NYX completed the distressed acquisition of OnGame, a premier poker content, platform and service provider. This acquisition provided NYX with one of the best poker products in the industry, access to several regulated jurisdictions, and a valuable talent pool that was instrumental in the growth of NYX. The addition of OnGame further established a path for NYX to continue its growth in both European and U.S. markets.
These acquisitions, together with meaningful organic growth, increased NYX’s revenue from $24 million in 2014 to $184 million annualized in 2017. During that time, Mr. Davey helped build NYX to have over 200 customers in the global gaming industry and a team of 1,000 employees. Mr. Davey’s success at NYX ultimately led to its sale to Scientific Games for $631 million in 2018.
Mr. Davey joined Next Gen Gaming, the predecessor to NYX, in 2000 as the Vice President of Technology, was appointed as Executive Director in 2003 and named Chief Executive Officer in 2005. Prior to that, he was the Senior Consultant for Access Systems, a company that specializes in the provision of back-end software for licensed online casinos. Prior to joining Access, Mr. Davey worked for the Northern Territory Government specializing in matters pertaining to the internet and e-commerce along with roles in the Department of Racing and Gaming. Mr. Davey received a Bachelor of Electrical & Electronic Engineering from Northern Territory University, Australia (also known as Charles Darwin University).
Robin Chhabra — President
Mr. Chhabra has been at the forefront of corporate acquisition activity within the digital gaming landscape for over a decade. His prior experience includes leading corporate strategy, M&A, and business development at two of the global leaders in the digital gaming industry, The Stars Group (“TSG”) and William Hill, and a leading supplier, Inspired Gaming Group (Nasdaq: INSE). Mr. Chhabra served on the Group Executive Committees of each of these companies. From 2017 to May 2020, Mr. Chhabra served as Chief Corporate Development Officer at TSG and, from 2019 to August 2020, he also served as the Chief Executive Officer of Fox Bet, a leading U.S. online gaming business which is the product of a landmark partnership between TSG and FOX Sports, a transaction which he led. During that period, Mr. Chhabra led several transactions which transformed TSG into the largest publicly listed online gambling operator in the world by both revenue and market capitalization and one of the most diversified from a product and geographic perspective with revenues of over $2.5 billion. Mr. Chhabra’s M&A experience is extensive and covers multiple global geographies across the digital gaming value chain and includes the following:
• TSG/Flutter Entertainment Merger: In 2019, Mr. Chhabra led the TSG M&A team that was responsible for TSG’s $12.2 billion merger with Flutter Entertainment (LSE: FLTR). The merger between TSG and Flutter Entertainment is the largest transaction in the digital gaming industry to date. The combination created the largest publicly listed online gaming company with approximately 13 million active customers and leading product offerings, which include sports betting, online casino, fantasy sports and poker. The combined entity includes some of the world’s most iconic digital gaming brands such as Fanduel, Fox Bet, Sky Bet, PaddyPower, Betfair, PokerStars and SportsBet. TSG/Flutter Entertainment is one of the most geographically diverse digital gaming and media companies with leading positions in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Germany and Georgia.
• TSG/Sky Betting and Gaming (“SBG”): In 2018, Mr. Chhabra led the acquisition of SBG from CVC Capital Partners and Sky plc, Europe’s largest media company, in a transaction valued at $4.7 billion. At the time of the acquisition SBG was the largest mobile gambling operator in the United Kingdom and one of the fastest growing of the major operators having doubled its online market share in three years. The acquisition of SBG provided TSG with (a) greater revenue diversification, significantly enhanced expertise and exposure to sports betting just ahead of the judicial overturn of The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) by the U.S. Supreme Court, (b) a leading position within the United Kingdom, the world’s largest regulated online gaming market, (c) improved products and technology as a result of the addition of SBG’s innovative casino and sports book offerings and a portfolio of popular mobile apps, and (d) expertise in deeply integrating sports betting with leading sports media companies, positioning TSG to create more engaging content, deliver faster growth and decrease customer acquisition costs.
• William Hill (LSE: WMH): At William Hill, from 2010 to 2017, Mr. Chhabra served as Group Director of Strategy and Corporate Development where he led several transactions which contributed to William Hill’s transformation from a land-based gambling operator in the United Kingdom to a leading online-led international business. Mr. Chhabra led William Hill’s entry into the U.S. sports betting and online lottery markets with the acquisition of four businesses, including the simultaneous acquisitions of three U.S. sportsbooks, Cal Neva, American Wagering and Brandywine Bookmaking, in 2011 for an aggregate purchase price of $55 million. These businesses ultimately led William Hill to achieve a leading position in the U.S. sports betting market with a market share of 24% in 2019. Additionally, Mr. Chhabra played a key role in structuring William Hill’s successful joint venture with PlayTech Plc (LSE: PTEC) in 2008. The combined entity created one of the largest online gambling businesses in Europe at the time of its formation and led to William Hill’s buyout of Playtech’s interest for $637 million in 2013. Prior to the transaction, William Hill had struggled in its attempt to establish a strong online gaming platform and a meaningful presence outside the United Kingdom.
Mr. Chhabra has also successfully completed four transactions worth over $1.2 billion in Australia, the world’s second largest regulated online gambling market, and various partnerships in Asia. Additionally, he completed several technology and media related transactions, including William Hill’s investment in NYX, where he worked with Mr. Davey on NYX’s transformational acquisition of OpenBet.
Prior to working in the gaming sector, Mr. Chhabra was an equities analyst and a management consultant. Mr. Chhabra received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Eric Matejevich — Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Matejevich is a seasoned gaming executive with extensive experience in both the online gaming and traditional casino industries. From February to August 2019, he served as Trustee and Interim-Chief Executive Officer of Ocean Casino Resort (“Ocean”) (formerly Revel Casino, which had a construction cost of $2.4 billion) in Atlantic City, where he successfully led the management team through an ownership change and operational turnaround effort. Over the course of seven months, Mr. Matejevich managed to reduce the property’s weekly cash burn of $1.5 million to an annualized cash flow run rate in excess of $20 million.
Prior to Ocean, from 2016 to 2018, Mr. Matejevich served as the Chief Financial Officer of NYX. At NYX, he focused his efforts on integrating the company’s many acquisitions and multiple debt refinancings to simplify its capital structure and provided liquidity for growth initiatives. Additionally, Mr. Matejevich was instrumental to the executive team that sold NYX to Scientific Games for $631 million.
Prior to NYX, from 2004 to 2014, Mr. Matejevich was the Chief Financial Officer of Resorts International Holdings and later, from 2011, also the Chief Operating Officer of the Atlantic Club Casino, a property under the Resorts International Holdings umbrella — a Colony Capital (NYSE: CLNY) entity. As Chief Financial Officer, he provided managerial oversight for all finance functions for a six-property casino company with annual gaming revenue exceeding $1.3 billion, 10,000 gaming positions, 7,000 hotel rooms and over 11,000 staff members during his tenure. Mr. Matejevich led the transition effort to integrate a four-casino, $1.3 billion acquisition from Harrah’s Entertainment and Caesars Entertainment (Nasdaq: CZR). As Chief Operating Officer of Atlantic Club, he lobbied for and was successful in obtaining the first internet gaming legislation passed in the United States. The Atlantic Club was the sole New Jersey casino proponent of the legislation.
Prior to serving in various gaming positions, Mr. Matejevich was a Vice President of High Yield Research for Merrill Lynch, where he managed the corporate bond research effort for the gaming and leisure sectors and marketed high yield and other debt transactions totaling $4.8 billion. Mr. Matejevich received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from The Wharton School and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from The College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania.
Our Board of Directors
Morris Bailey — Chairman
Over the past 10 years, Mr. Bailey has been a leader in turning around Atlantic City, as well as being among the first gaming executives to embrace online gaming and sports betting in the United States. In his efforts, Mr. Bailey partnered with two of the largest digital gaming companies in the world, PokerStars, part of the Stars Group, and DraftKings (Nasdaq: DKNG). In 2010, Mr. Bailey bought Resorts Atlantic City (“Resorts”) and initiated a comprehensive renovation which allowed for the property to be rebranded and repositioned. In 2012, Mr. Bailey signed an agreement with Mohegan Sun to manage the day-to-day operations of the casino. In addition to Mohegan Sun’s operational expertise and ability to reduce costs via economies of scale, Resorts gained access to their robust customer database. Soon thereafter, Mr. Bailey and his team focused on bringing online gaming to the property. In 2015, Resorts established a platform to engage in online gaming by partnering with PokerStars, now part of the $24 billion Flutter Entertainment, PLC (LSE: FLTR), to operate an online poker room in Atlantic City. In 2018, Resorts announced deals with DraftKings and SBTech to open a sportsbook on-property and online. For 2020 year-to-date, Resorts has performed in the top quartile in internet gross gaming revenue in New Jersey. Mr. Bailey’s efforts in New Jersey helped set the framework for expansion of online sports and gaming throughout the United States.
In addition to his gaming interests, Mr. Bailey has over 50 years of experience in all facets of real estate development, asset M&A, capital markets and operations and is the founder, Chief Executive Officer and Principal of JEMB Realty, a leading real estate development, investment and management organization. Mr. Bailey has notable investment experience within the energy, finance and telecommunications sectors through investments in the Astoria Energy Plant, Basis Investment Group and Xentris Wireless.
Tony Rodio — Director Nominee
Mr. Rodio has nearly four decades of experience in the gaming industry. Most recently, Mr. Rodio served as the Chief Executive Officer and director of Caesars Entertainment Corporation (“Caesars”) (Nasdaq: CZR), one of the world’s most diversified casino-entertainment providers and the most geographically diverse U.S. casino-entertainment company, from April 2019 until its acquisition by Eldorado Resorts, Inc. in July 2020. Mr. Rodio led Caesars through its $17.3 billion merger with Eldorado Resorts, one of the largest transactions in the gaming industry to date. Additionally, Mr. Rodio was instrumental to Caesars’ expansion into the digital gaming industry and oversaw the implementation of new digital segments such as its Scientific Games powered retail sportsbook solution that now operates in various states throughout the U.S. From October 2018 to May 2019, Mr. Rodio served as Chief Executive Officer of Affinity Gaming. Prior to Affinity Gaming, he served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of Tropicana Entertainment, Inc. (“Tropicana”) for over seven years, where he was responsible for the operation of eight casino properties in seven different jurisdictions. During his time at Tropicana, Mr. Rodio oversaw a period of unprecedented growth at the company, improving overall financial results with net revenue that increased more than 50% driven by both operational improvements and expansion across regional markets. Mr. Rodio led major capital projects, including the complete renovation of Tropicana Atlantic City and Tropicana’s move to land-based operations in Evansville, Indiana. Each of these initiatives, among others, generated substantial value for Tropicana. Ultimately, Mr. Rodio’s efforts at Tropicana led to its sale to Eldorado Resorts in 2018 for $1.85 billion. Prior to Tropicana, Mr. Rodio held a succession of executive positions in Atlantic City for casino brands, including Trump Marina Hotel Casino, Harrah’s Entertainment (predecessor to Caesars), the Atlantic City Hilton Casino Resort and Penn National Gaming. He has also served as a director of several professional and charitable organizations, including Atlantic City Alliance, United Way of Atlantic County, the Casino Associations of New Jersey and Indiana, AtlantiCare Charitable Foundation and the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming Hospitality & Tourism. Mr. Rodio brings extensive knowledge of and experience in the gaming industry, operational expertise, and a demonstrated ability to effectively design and implement company strategy. Mr. Rodio received a Bachelor of Science from Rider University and a Master of Business Administration from Monmouth University.
Marlon Goldstein — Director Nominee
Mr. Goldstein is a licensed attorney with nearly 20 years of experience in the gaming space. He joined The Stars Group (Nasdaq: TSG)(TSX: TSGI) in January 2014 as its Executive Vice-President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary until his retirement from the company in July 2020 following the merger of TSG with Flutter Entertainment, PLC (LSE: FLTR). Mr. Goldstein also previously served as the Executive Vice-President, Corporate Development and General Counsel of TSG. Mr. Goldstein was also the senior TSG executive based in the United States and was one of the primary architects of TSG’s strategic vision for its U.S.-facing business. During his tenure, TSG grew from an approximately $500 million market-cap company to an approximately $7 billion market-cap company through a combination of organic growth and strategic mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Goldstein participated in numerous M&A transactions and capital markets offerings at TSG, including several transformational transactions in the digital gaming industry. Notable transactions in which Mr. Goldstein was involved include:
• TSG/Flutter Merger: In 2019, TSG merged with Flutter for a $12.2 billion transaction value, the largest transaction in the digital gaming industry to date.
• TSG/Fox Bet Partnership: In 2019, TSG entered into a partnership with FOX Sports to create FOX Bet in the U.S., a leading U.S. online gaming business. Wall Street Research estimates an approximate $1.1 billion valuation for Fox Bet post-partnership with The Stars Group.
• TSG/Sky Betting & Gaming: In 2018, TSG acquired Sky Betting & Gaming, the largest mobile gambling operator in the United Kingdom at the time, for $4.7 billion.
• TSG/CrownBet and William Hill: In 2018, TSG simultaneously acquired CrownBet and William Hill, two Australian operators, for a total of $621 million in a multi-part transaction.
• TSG/PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker: In 2014, TSG acquired The Rational Group, which operated PokerStars and Full Tilt and was the world’s largest poker business, for $4.9 billion.
Through his ability to legally structure large and complex transactions, Mr. Goldstein was integral to TSG’s vision of becoming a full-service online gaming company. Additionally, he assisted in structuring TSG’s capital markets activity, which generated liquidity for acquisitions and strengthened its balance sheet.
Prior to joining TSG, Mr. Goldstein was a principal shareholder in the corporate and securities practice at the international law firm of Greenberg Traurig P.A., where he practiced for almost 13 years. Mr. Goldstein’s practice focused on corporate and securities matters, including mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, and financing transactions. Additionally, Mr. Goldstein was the founder and co-chair of the firm’s Gaming Practice, a multi-disciplinary team of attorneys representing owners, operators and developers of gaming facilities, manufacturers and suppliers of gaming devices, investment banks and lenders in financing transactions, and Indian tribes in the development and financing of gaming facilities.
Mr. Goldstein brings experience and insight that we believe will be valuable to a potential initial business combination target business. Mr. Goldstein received a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in accounting from Emory University and a Juris Doctorate with highest honors from the University of Florida, College of Law.
Sean Ryan — Director Nominee
Mr. Ryan is a digital media and technology operator with extensive global experience in online payments, e-commerce, marketplaces, mobile ad networks, digital games, enterprise collaboration platforms, blockchain, real money gaming and online music. Since 2014, Mr. Ryan has been serving as Vice President of Business Platform Partnerships at Facebook, Inc. (“Facebook”) (Nasdaq: FB), where he leads a more than 500 person global organization that manages the Payments, Commerce, Novi/Blockhain, Workplace and Audience Network businesses. Prior to his current role, Mr. Ryan was hired in 2011 as the Director of Games Partnerships to lead and grow the global Games business at Facebook. While the Director of Games Partnerships, Mr. Ryan focused on re-shaping Facebook’s games and monetization strategies to derive more value for Facebook, its users and its partners, including the addition of a Real Money Gaming offering in regulated markets. Mr. Ryan’s team helped accelerate a major trend in engagement through cross-platform games and therefore the opportunity to increase users through establishing games on multiple platforms. Prior to joining Facebook, Mr. Ryan created the new social and mobile games division at News Corp, an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by Rupert Murdoch. While at News Corp, Mr. Ryan led the acquisition of Making Fun, a San Francisco social-game start-up, that created News Corp’s games publishing division.
Before joining News Corp., Mr. Ryan founded multiple digital businesses such as Twofish, Meez, Open Wager and SingShot Media. Mr. Ryan co-founded Twofish in 2009, a virtual goods and services platform that provided developers with data analytics and insights for individual application’s digital economies. Twofish was later sold to online payments provider Live Gamer, where Mr. Ryan served on the board of directors. From 2005 to 2008, Mr. Ryan founded and led Meez.com, a social entertainment service combining avatars, web games and virtual worlds. The white label social casino gaming company Open Wager was spun out of Meez and was later sold to VGW Holdings, Mr. Ryan also co-founded SingShot Media, an online karaoke community, which was sold to Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: EA) and merged into its Sims division.
We believe Mr. Ryan’s experience will be valuable to a potential initial business combination target and would provide an expanded perspective on the digital gaming landscape. Mr. Ryan received a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Tom Roche — Director Nominee
Mr. Roche has more than 40 years of experience in the gaming industry as a regulator, advisor and independent auditor. Mr. Roche joined Ernst & Young (“EY”) as a partner in 2003 and opened its Las Vegas office. He was subsequently appointed as the Office Managing Partner and Global Gaming Industry Market Leader. In 2016, Mr. Roche relocated to the EY Hong Kong office to supervise the expansion of the EY Global Gaming Industry practice in the Asia Pacific region. Mr. Roche has been integral to numerous transactions that have shaped the current gaming landscape, including:
• Wynn Resorts (Nasdaq: WYNN) initial public offering: Mr. Roche was the lead partner on Wynn Resort’s initial public offering, which raised $450 million in 2002.
• Harrah’s Entertainment/Apollo Management Group & Texas Pacific Group: Mr. Roche headed the regulatory advisory services on the buyout of Harrah’s Entertainment, the world’s largest casino company at the time, for $17.1 billion.
• Dubai World/MGM Resorts: Mr. Roche headed the regulatory and due diligence advisory services to Dubai World in its approximately $5.1 billion investment in MGM. Dubai World bought 28.4 million MGM shares, or 9.5 percent of the casino operator, for $2.4 billion. It then invested $2.7 billion to acquire a 50% stake in MGM’s CityCenter Project, a $7.4 billion 76-acre Las Vegas development of hotels, condos and retail outlets.
• MGM Growth Properties (NYSE: MGP) initial public offering: Mr. Roche provided tax and structural transaction services to MGM Resorts in the creation of MGM Growth Properties, a publicly traded REIT engaged in the acquisition, ownership and leasing of large-scale destination entertainment and leisure resorts. MGM Growth Properties raised $1.05 billion in its 2016 initial public offering.
Mr. Roche also directed EY advisory services to boards and management teams for profit improvement and technology related initiatives. In addition, Mr. Roche provided advisory support to the American Gaming Association on several research projects, including those specifically related to sports betting, the revocation of The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) and anti-money laundering best practices in the gaming industry. Equally, he has assisted government agencies in numerous international locations with enhancing their regulatory approach to governing the industry especially in the online gambling sector.
Prior to joining Ernst & Young, Mr. Roche served as Deloitte’s National Gaming Industry Leader and as the co-head of Andersen’s Gaming Industry Practice in Las Vegas. In 1989, Mr. Roche was appointed by then Governor of the State of Nevada, Robert Miller, to serve as one of three members of the Nevada State Gaming Control Board for a four-year term, where he was directly responsible for the Audit and New Games Lab Divisions. As a board member, he spent a substantial amount of time assisting global jurisdiction regulators enact gaming legislation in the design of their regulatory structure. During his career, Roche has been involved in numerous public and private offerings of equity and debt securities. His background includes providing casino regulatory consulting services to casino licensees and to federal and state agencies including the National Indian Gaming Commission and the Nevada State Gaming Control Board, and industry associations such as the Nevada Resort Association and the American Gaming Association.
We believe Mr. Roche’s highly regarded reputation as a gaming auditor and advisor in the gaming industry will be valuable for us and a potential business combination target. Mr. Roche is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and is licensed by the Nevada State Board of Accountancy and Mississippi State Board of Public Accountancy. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Southern California.

MAME 0.223

MAME 0.223 has finally arrived, and what a release it is – there’s definitely something for everyone! Starting with some of the more esoteric additions, Linus Åkesson’s AVR-based hardware chiptune project and Power Ninja Action Challenge demos are now supported. These demos use minimal hardware to generate sound and/or video, relying on precise CPU timings to work. With this release, every hand-held LCD game from Nintendo’s Game & Watch and related lines is supported in MAME, with Donkey Kong Hockey bringing up the rear. Also of note is the Bassmate Computer fishing aid, made by Nintendo and marketed by Telko and other companies, which is clearly based on the dual-screen Game & Watch design. The steady stream of TV games hasn’t stopped, with a number of French releases from Conny/VideoJet among this month’s batch.
For the first time ever, games running on the Barcrest MPU4 video system are emulated well enough to be playable. Titles that are now working include several games based on the popular British TV game show The Crystal Maze, Adders and Ladders, The Mating Game, and Prize Tetris. In a clear win for MAME’s modular architecture, the breakthrough came through the discovery of a significant flaw in our Motorola MC6840 Programmable Timer Module emulation that was causing issues for the Fairlight CMI IIx synthesiser. In the same manner, the Busicom 141-PF desk calculator is now working, thanks to improvements made to Intel 4004 CPU emulation that came out of emulating the INTELLEC 4 development system and the prototype 4004-based controller board for Flicker pinball. The Busicom 141-PF is historically significant, being the first application of Intel’s first microprocessor.
Fans of classic vector arcade games are in for a treat this month. Former project coordinator Aaron Giles has contributed netlist-based sound emulation for thirteen Cinematronics vector games: Space War, Barrier, Star Hawk, Speed Freak, Star Castle, War of the Worlds, Sundance, Tail Gunner, Rip Off, Armor Attack, Warrior, Solar Quest and Boxing Bugs. This resolves long-standing issues with the previous simulation based on playing recorded samples. Colin Howell has also refined the sound emulation for Midway’s 280-ZZZAP and Gun Fight.
V.Smile joystick inputs are now working for all dumped cartridges, and with fixes for ROM bank selection the V.Smile Motion software is also usable. The accelerometer-based V.Smile Motion controller is not emulated, but the software can all be used with the standard V.Smile joystick controller. Another pair of systems with inputs that now work is the original Macintosh (128K/512K/512Ke) and Macintosh Plus. These systems’ keyboards are now fully emulated, including the separate numeric keypad available for the original Macintosh, the Macintosh Plus keyboard with integrated numeric keypad, and a few European ISO layout keyboards for the original Macintosh. There are still some emulation issues, but you can play Beyond Dark Castle with MAME’s Macintosh Plus emulation again.
In other home computer emulation news, MAME’s SAM Coupé driver now supports a number of peripherals that connect to the rear expansion port, a software list containing IRIX hard disk installations for SGI MIPS workstations has been added, and tape loading now works for the Specialist system (a DIY computer designed in the USSR).
Of course, there’s far more to enjoy, and you can read all about it in the whatsnew.txt file, or get the source and 64-bit Windows binary packages from the download page. (For brevity, promoted V.Smile software list entries and new Barcrest MPU4 clones made up from existing dumps have been omitted here.)

MAME Testers Bugs Fixed

• 02603: [Sound] (cinemat.cpp) tailg: Phasor sample plays incorrectly. (Aaron Giles)
• 03307: [Sound] (cinemat.cpp) ripoff: Multiple issues with sound samples. (Aaron Giles)
• 03720: [Sound] (cinemat.cpp) speedfrk, wotw, wotwc: Incomplete sound samples implementation. (Aaron Giles)
• 06033: [Gameplay] (sothello.cpp) sothello: Gameplay logic is broken. (hap)
• 06896: [Gameplay] (gottlieb.cpp) krull: Invisible enemies cause deaths in cave scene. (dink)
• 07237: [DIP/Input] (vsmile.cpp) vsmileg [walle]: Wall-E does not recognise the joystick controller. (Ryan Holtz)
• 07340: [DIP/Input] (vegas.cpp) nbagold, nbanfl and nbashowt: Digital joystick inputs are not present. (Ted Green)
• 07537: [Sound] (nemesis.cpp) twinbee: Speech does not play. (AJR)
• 07608: [Gameplay] (uzebox.cpp) uzebox: All systems (except craft) that use the avr8 CPU have regressed severely. (hap)
• 07644: [DIP/Input] (pcipc.cpp) pcpci: Mouse movement causes spurious keyboard input. (Samuele Zannoli)
• 07687: [Compiling] AsmJit fails to compile for ARM targets. (Belegdol)
• 07689: [Sound] (s8a.cpp) scrzy_l1: Sounds do not play. (Robbbert)
• 07690: [Crash/Freeze] (kingdrby.cpp) cowrace: [debug] Assert upon start. (AJR)
• 07691: [Crash/Freeze] (eprom.cpp) eprom, eprom2: Game freezes upon end of demonstration. (AJR)
• 07693: [DIP/Input] (dooyong.cpp) sadari: Third button (activate power-up) is not present. (hap)
• 07696: [Graphics] (taito_l.cpp) fhawk, fhawkj: Background graphics are not displayed correctly. (hap)
• 07708: [DIP/Input] (segas18.cpp) wwallyj, lghost, and clones: Controls do not work. (Ivan Vangelista)

New working machines

• Conny / VideoJet Dora l'exploratrice - Pocket Dream Console (VideoJet, France) [TeamEurope, David Haywood]
• Conny / VideoJet PDC150 Tactile - Pocket Dream Console (VideoJet, France) [TeamEurope, David Haywood]
• Conny / VideoJet PDC200 - Pocket Dream Console (VideoJet, France) [TeamEurope, David Haywood]
• Conny / VideoJet PDC40 Tactile - Pocket Dream Console (VideoJet, France) [TeamEurope, David Haywood]
• Conny / VideoJet PDC50 - Pocket Dream Console (VideoJet, France) [TeamEurope, David Haywood]
• Conny / VideoJet Plug Play TV Games 2 (4-in-1) (VideoJet, France) [TeamEurope, David Haywood]
• DataCash Systems / Staid CompuChess: The Second Edition [hap, Berger, Achim]
• Dice game [Aleksandr Gofman, MetalliC]
• Elektor AVR-Max Chess Computer (English) [hap]
• Fidelity Electronics Chess Challenger (model UCC10, 10 levels) [hap, Berger, Achim]
• Guitar Star (Europe, PAL) [David Haywood, TeamEurope]
• Linus Åkesson / kryo The Hardware Chiptune Project [Ryan Holtz]
• Linus Åkesson Phasor [Ryan Holtz]
• Linus Åkesson Power Ninja Action Challenge [Ryan Holtz]
• Micro Vs. System: Donkey Kong Hockey [algestam, Ryan Holtz]
• Millennium 2000 GmbH Millennium Arcade 101 (M489) (Game Station 2 101-in-1) [TeamEurope, David Haywood]
• Motorola EXORterm 155 [68bit]
• Motorola M6800 EXORciser (M68SDT) [68bit]
• Novag Micro Chess [hap, Berger, Achim]
• SciSys / Intelligent Games Intelligent Chess [hap, Berger, Achim]
• SciSys Chess Companion [hap, Berger, Achim]
• SciSys Chess Intercontinental Traveler [hap, Berger, Achim]
• Senario / Marathon - Mystery Animation Inc. Totally Spies! (France) [TeamEurope, David Haywood]
• Senario Vs Maxx 6-in-1 Casino / Senario Card & Casino Games [Sean Riddle, David Haywood]
• Subor Sports and Dance Fit Games Mat D-555 (PAL) [David Haywood, TeamEurope]
• Telko / Nintendo Bassmate Computer [algestam, Mr. Do]
• Ultimate Products Ltd. Reactor 32-in-1 (NTSC) [Sean Riddle, David Haywood]
• Ultimate Products Ltd. Zone Mini [Sean Riddle, David Haywood]
• WinFun Guitar Buster [Sean Riddle, David Haywood]
• Wireless Fitness / Dance Fit (Senario) [Sean Riddle, David Haywood, anonymous, Kev (FBN)]
• Xing Wireless Interactive TV Game 'Wi TV Zone' 48-in-1 (Europe, PAL) [David Haywood, TeamEurope]

New working clones

• 4-in-1 (version SWS1-110984) [Siftware]
• Astro Fighter (set 4) [Juan Romero, ClawGrip]
• Cruis'n USA (rev L4.4) [Brian Troha, The Dumping Union]
• Dead Or Alive ++ (Korea) [chacal231077]
• Double Wings (set 2) [Jorge Silva]
• Elektor AVR-Max-Schachzwerg (German) [hap]
• Fidelity Electronics Elite A/S Challenger (Glasgow program, set 2) [Berger]
• Galaxian (Cirsa Spanish bootleg) [Juan Romero, ClawGrip]
• Hammerin' Harry (World, M84 hardware bootleg) [ClawGrip, Roberto Fresca, Recreativas.org, The Dumping Union]
• Jack Potten's Poker (set 13, ICP-1 PCB) [Roberto Fresca, Matt B]
• Jolly Joker (original program, interleaved GFX, Impera logo) [Roberto Fresca, TeamEurope]
• Jolly Joker (original program, interleaved GFX, no logo) [Roberto Fresca, TeamEurope]
• Master Boy (1987, Z80 hardware, Ichi-Funtel, set 2) [Retromaniacs, Recreativas.org]
• Ms. Pac-Man (bootleg, set 3) [Andrew Welburn]
• Ms. Pac-Man (Novatronic bootleg) [Juan Romero, ClawGrip]
• New Lucky 8 Lines (set 11, W-4) [Siftware]
• Pipi & Bibis / Whoopee!! (Ryouta Kikaku bootleg, decrypted) [jordigahan]
• Race Drivin' (compact, prototype) [andynumbers, The Dumping Union]
• Robotron: 2084 (Unidesa license) [Juan Romero, ClawGrip]
• Ultimate Products Ltd. Zone 7-in-1 Sports (PAL) [David Haywood, TeamEurope]
• Slap Shot (Ver 2.2 J) [Jorge Silva]
• Space Trek (Video Game S.A., Spanish bootleg of Scramble) [Rubén Casaña (Retro Arcadia Valencia), Isaías Hernández]
• Splash (Modular System) [jordigahan, ClawGrip, David Haywood]
• Super Forte (version C, V3.6) [Berger]
• Witch Star [Brian Troha, The Dumping Union]
• Zero Time (Spanish bootleg) [Juan Romero, ClawGrip]

Machines promoted to working

• Adders and Ladders (v2.1) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• Barquest (v2.6) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• Blox (SJM BLOX, 50p/20p Play, Version 2.0) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wall, David Haywood, Angelo Salese]
• Business Computer Corporation Busicom 141-PF [Robbbert]
• The Crystal Maze (v1.3) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• The Crystal Maze Team Challenge (v0.9) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• The Mating Game (v0.4) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• NBA Showtime / NFL Blitz 2000 (ver 2.1) [Ted Green]
• NBA Showtime Gold / NFL Blitz 2000 (ver 3.0) (SportsStation) [Ted Green]
• NBA Showtime: NBA on NBC (ver 2.0) [Ted Green]
• The New Crystal Maze Featuring Ocean Zone (v2.2) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• Nice Code Plug and Play Sudoku Game (NES based) [Sean Riddle, David Haywood, GameHistory.org]
• Photo Y2K 2 / Chaoji Bi Yi Bi 2 / Dajia Lai Zhao Cha 2 / Real and Fake 2 Photo Y2K (M101XX 05/25/01 11:02:54) [iq_132, dink]
• Prize Tetris (BWB) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wall, David Haywood, Angelo Salese]
• SCCH LLC-1 [Robbbert]
• Senario Guitar Star (US, Senario, NTSC) [David Haywood]
• Strike it Lucky (v0.5) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• TaiKee Rockstar Guitar / Guitar Rock (PAL) [David Haywood]
• Tetris Payout (BWB TET1 Version 2.2, set 1) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wall, David Haywood, Angelo Salese]
• unknown rocket/animal-themed poker [Roberto Fresca]
• Vegas Poker (prototype, release 2) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood, Highwayman]

Clones promoted to working

• Adders and Ladders (v2.0) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• The Crystal Maze (v0.1, AMLD) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• The Crystal Maze (v1.1) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• The Crystal Maze (v1.2) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• The Crystal Maze Team Challenge (v0.8) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• The Crystal Maze Team Challenge (v1.2, AMLD) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• dreamGEAR Shredmaster Jr (NTSC) [David Haywood]
• Eurohard S.A. Dragon 200-E [Nigel Barnes]
• The New Crystal Maze Featuring Ocean Zone (v0.1, AMLD) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• The New Crystal Maze Featuring Ocean Zone (v2.0) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• Photo Y2K 2 / Chaoji Bi Yi Bi 2 / Dajia Lai Zhao Cha 2 / Real and Fake 2 Photo Y2K (ver. 100, Japanese Board) [iq_132, dink]
• Prize Space Invaders (BWB INV1, 50p/30p Play, Version 1.2) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood, Angelo Salese]
• Prize Tetris (BWB) (Showcase) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood, Angelo Salese]
• Sirio II (Calfesa S.L. Spanish Moon Cresta bootleg) [Ivan Vangelista]
• Strike it Lucky (v0.53) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood]
• Tetris Payout (BWB TET1 Version 2.2, set 2) (MPU4 Video) [Ryan Holtz, James Wallace, David Haywood, Angelo Salese]
• Torch Computers Torch CH240 [Nigel Barnes]
• VTech V.Smile Motion [Ryan Holtz]

New machines marked as NOT_WORKING

• El auto de papa [Victor Fernandez (City Game), ClawGrip]
• Bingo Roll / Turbo Bingo? [TeamEurope, Roberto Fresca]
• Captain Lucky [Siftware]
• Destruction Derby [TTL] [Frank Palazzolo]
• Diana Olakoa [Victor Fernandez (City Game), ClawGrip]
• E-mu Systems Carnaval - Jugando con Fuego [DBWBP]
• E-mu Systems EMAX II 16-Bit Digital Sound System [DBWBP]
• E-mu Systems Orbit 9090 - The Dance Planet [DBWBP]
• E-mu Systems Planet Phatt - The Swing System [DBWBP]
• E-mu Systems Pro/Cussion Maximum Percussion Module [DBWBP]
• E-mu Systems Proteus/1 16-Bit Multi-Timbral Digital Sound Module [DBWBP]
• E-mu Systems Proteus/1 XR 16-Bit Multi-Timbral Digital Sound Module [DBWBP]
• E-mu Systems Vintage Keys Classic Analog Keyboards [DBWBP]
• Far West (Compumatic) [Victor Fernandez (City Game), ClawGrip]
• Football [PinMAME]
• JAKKS Pacific Inc / HotGen Ltd Hannah Montana G2 Deluxe - All in One (JAKKS Pacific TV Game) [Sean Riddle, David Haywood, Kev (FBN), anonymous]
• JAKKS Pacific Inc / HotGen Ltd High School Musical G2 Deluxe - All in One (JAKKS Pacific TV Game) [Sean Riddle, David Haywood, Kev (FBN), anonymous]
• JAKKS Pacific Inc Power Rangers Super Megaforce Hero Portal [David Haywood, Team Europe]
• Kawai Musical Instruments Manufacturing KSP10 Digital Piano [DBWBP]
• Kawai Musical Instruments Manufacturing SX-240 8-Voice Programmable Polyphonic Synthesizer [DBWBP]
• Korg microKORG SynthesizeVocoder [DBWBP]
• Korg WaveStation A/D [DBWBP]
• Korg WaveStation EX [DBWBP]
• Korg WaveStation SR [DBWBP]
• Lexibook Console Colour - Disney's Planes [TeamEurope]
• Lexibook Console Colour - Minnie Mouse [TeamEurope]
• Lucky 7 (Impera) [TeamEurope, Roberto Fresca]
• Macro Winners Game Sporz Wireless Duet Play Ping-Pong [Sean Riddle, David Haywood, Dave Silva]
• Marvel Avengers TV Game Console (32-bit) (Lexibook) [TeamEurope, David Haywood]
• Michael Jordan (1.30) [PinMAME]
• Millennium 2000 GmbH Millennium Arcade 250 (M527) [TeamEurope, David Haywood]
• Puzzle Me! [TeamEurope, Roberto Fresca]
• Reno Reels (JPM) [David Haywood]
• RS-70 648-in-1 [David Shah]
• Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 "Collie" [Ryan Holtz, O. Galibert]
• Sony NWS-3860 [Plamen Mihaylov, Patrick Mackinlay]
• Sport Dart TV [Victor Fernandez (City Game), ClawGrip]
• Susanita tiene un raton [Victor Fernandez (City Game), ClawGrip]
• Tecnodarts [Victor Fernandez (City Game), ClawGrip]
• Toy Story 3 (Lexibook) [Sean Riddle, Kamaal Brown, David Haywood]
• unknown 'TE06' [TeamEurope, Roberto Fresca]
• Unknown Compumatic ProSPDP based darts machine [jordigahan, ClawGrip]
• VideoJet Kiu Games [Sean Riddle, David Haywood]
• Virtual TV Ping Pong [TeamEurope, David Haywood]
• Yataimura Kingyosukui (4-player, China, Ver 1.000) [Darksoft]

New clones marked as NOT_WORKING

• Anakonda [Robbbert]
• Funhouse (L-2) [PinMAME]
• Funhouse (L-2, prototype PA-1 System 11 sound) [PinMAME]
• Kharkovsky [Robbbert]
• Laser Ball (L-2, PROM sound) [PinMAME]
• Last Action Hero (1.04 France) [PinMAME]
• Last Action Hero (1.07) [José Renato Castro Milanez, Sergio Munemori]
• Magic Card - Wien (Sicherheitsversion 1.2) [TeamEurope, Roberto Fresca]
• Nove Diamante (bootleg) [Ioannis Bampoulas]
• Unga [Robbbert]

New working software list additions

• fmtowns_cd: Akiko - Premium Version, Cal III - Kanketsu-hen, Chiemi & Naomi, Curse, Eikan wa Kimi ni 2 - Koukou Yakyuu Zenkoku Taikai, FM Towns Application Catalog CD-ROM - Original Soft-hen, G5 (HMA-206), Gambler - Queen's Cup, Gokuraku Mandala, Hyper Fetishism, Illust Hyakka - Yamashita Hideki no Ikiiki Cut-shuu, Iris-tei Serenade, Jouhou Club - Card Processor Ver. 1.1, Mahjong Musashi, Manami no Doko made Iku no? 2 - Return of the Kuro Pack, The Manhole (1990-08-01), Marionette Mind, Mirage 2 - Torry, Neat & Roan Fairladies in MagicLand, Noushuku Angel 120%, Shamhat - The Holy Circlet (FM Towns Marty version), Tenshin Ranma, Two Shot Diary, Viper-V12 RS, Viper-V8 Turbo RS, YES! HG - Erotic Voice Version [redump.org, r09]
• gba:
  • Rayman IV (Rayman - Sunshine of Trip) (unlicensed) (protection hacked) [RibShark]
  • Crash Advance IV (unlicensed) (protection hacked), Digimon - Ruby and Sapphire (unlicensed) (protection hacked), The Lord of the Rings IV - The Fellowship of the Ring (unlicensed) (protection hacked), Pokemon - Sapphire Version (unlicensed) (protection hacked), Rayman IV (Rayman - Puteshestviye Solnechnogo Sveta) (unlicensed) (Russian) (protection hacked), Sonic 3 - Fighter Sonic (unlicensed) (protection hacked), Super Mario DX (unlicensed) (protection hacked), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 (unlicensed) (protection hacked), Ultraman - Confrontation Between Justice And Evil (Ul'traman - Konfrontatsiya mezhdu spravedlivost'yu i zlom) (unlicensed) (Russian) (protection hacked), X-Man - Armour of Might (X-men) (unlicensed) (Russian) (protection hacked) [taizou]
  • Chaoji Maliou DX (unlicensed) (Chinese) (protection hacked) [yy小龙虾]
  • Leiman IV - Guangming Zhi Lv (unlicensed) (Chinese) (protection hacked) [侵蚀你的私处]
• ibm5150:
  • Bloodwych (Quest & Glory Compilation) (Euro), Bloodwych (USA), Budokan - The Martial Spirit (5.25"), The Colonel's Bequest (3.5"), The Colonel's Bequest (5.25"), Dragon's Lair (5.25"), F29 Retaliator, Lakers vs Celtics and the NBA Playoffs (3.5"), Leisure Suit Larry Goes Looking for Love (in Several Wrong Places) (5.25"), Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, Mario Andretti's Racing Challenge, Speedball 2 - Brutal Deluxe (Euro, 3.5"), TV Sports Basketball (3.5", USA, EGA/TANDY version), TV Sports Basketball (3.5", USA, VGA version), TV Sports Basketball (5.25", UK, EGA/TANDY version), TV Sports Basketball (5.25", UK, VGA version), Xenon 2: Megablast [ArcadeShadow]
  • SCO XENIX System V Development System version 2.1.3 [archive.org, Davide Cavalca]
  • IBM Personal Computer Interactive Executive (PC/IX) 1.00 [WinWorld, Davide Cavalca]
• ibm5170: B-17 Flying Fortress (5.25"), Corridor 7: Alien Invasion (demo), Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle (France), Out of this World (USA, 3.5" DD), Out of this World (USA, 5.25" HD), Sam & Max Hit the Road (Germany) [ArcadeShadow]
• megadriv: Starwars (Prototype 19930125) [ArcadeShadow]
• nascom_snap: Adventure 16K, Adventure 32K [The Nascom Repository]
• pc98_cd: F15 Strike Eagle III, if 2 - Invitations from Fantastic Stories, Manami no Doko made Iku no? 2 - Return of the Kuro Pack, Phobos, Pro Student G (ALS-0010), YES! HG - Erotic Voice Version, Yuurou - Transient Sands [redump.org, r09]
• sgi_mips:
  • Desktop Special Edition 1.0, European Language Module 1.1, European Language Module 1.3.1, Hot Mix 5, Hot Mix 7, IndiZone 1.0, IRIX 5.2 for Indy R4600PC and Challenge SX, IRIX Patch 5.1.1.2, ONC3/NFS for IRIX 6.2 Version 1, ONC3/NFS for IRIX 6.2 with Indigo2 IMPACT 10000 Version 1, Support Advantage 10/94, Support Advantage 6/95, SupportFolio 2/97, SupportFolio 4/97 [darkstar]
  • NetBSD 1.6.2, NetBSD 2.0, NetBSD 2.0.2, NetBSD 2.1, NetBSD 3.0, NetBSD 3.0.1, NetBSD 3.0.2, NetBSD 3.1 [NetBSD Project, Davide Cavalca]
• sgi_mips_hdd: IRIX 5.2, IRIX 5.3, IRIX 6.2, IRIX 6.5, IRIX 6.5.22 [Davide Cavalca]
• vsmile_cart:
  • Bianfuxia - Zhengjiu Chengshi (China) [tenyuhuang]
  • Disney/Pixar Wall-E (China) [tenyuhuang, Ryan Holtz]
  • Les Bisounours - Le monde merveilleux des Bisounours (France), Nickelodeon Bob L'éponge - Une journée dans la vie d'une éponge (France) [DisizDream]
• vsmilem_cart:
  • Disney/Pixar Cars 2 (France), Disney/Pixar Toy Story 3 (France), DreamWorks Kung Fu Panda - La mission de Po (France), Football Challenge (France), Martin Le Dauphin (France), Nickelodeon Dora L'Exploratrice - Les adventures de Dora Apprentie Mécano (France), Sporti'Folies (France) [DisizDream, Ryan Holtz]
  • Action Mania (USA), Disney/Pixar Toy Story 3 (USA), Marvel Spider-Man & Friends - Secret Missions (USA), Soccer Challenge (USA) [Sean Riddle, TeamEurope, Ryan Holtz]

Software list items promoted to working

• cpc_flop: Secret Agent - Sly Spy (UK), Secret Agent - Sly Spy (UK) (2 faces) (Spain retail version) [Original], Sly Spy - Secret Agent (NonGoodCPC), Sly Spy - Secret Agent (Ocean Software), Sly Spy - Secret Agent (Ocean Software)[cr XOR][t +2 XOR], Sly Spy - Secret Agent (UK) [a1] [Barry Rodewald]

New NOT_WORKING software list additions

• fmtowns_cd: Pro Student G (ALS-0010), Towns-Telop, True Heart [redump.org, r09]
• leapfrog_mfleappad_cart: Disney/Pixar Cars (Spain) [TeamEurope, ClawGrip]
• mobigo_cart: Disney Jake and the Neverland Pirates (USA, alt), Disney Princess (USA, alt), Disney/Pixar Brave (USA), Dreamworks Shrek - Forever After (US), NAND User Cartridge (unknown data, set 1), NAND User Cartridge (unknown data, set 2), Sesame Street - Elmo and Abby - Nature Explorers (USA) [TeamEurope]
• novag_ssensor4: Quartz Chess Clock [Berger]
• pc98_cd: DOR Special Edition '93, DOR Special Edition '93 (alt), Kanji Land 3-nen, Kyrandia II - The Hand of Fate, Lemon Cocktail Collection, Lip 3 - Lipstick Adventure 3, Mirage 2 - Torry, Neat & Roan Fairladies in MagicLand [redump.org, r09]
• pi_storyreader_cart: Disney Blanca Nieves y los siete enanos (Spain), Disney El Rey León (Spain), Walt Disney Peter Pan (Spain) [TeamEurope, ClawGrip]
• tvgogo:
  • Basketball (EU) [ClawGrip, TeamEurope]
  • Basketball (US) [Sean Riddle, David Haywood]
• vsmileb_cart: Teletubbies (France) [DisizDream]

Merged pull requests

• 6825: docs: Improved analog joystick mapping documentation, and added health warnings. [Firehawke]
• 6837: debugger: Added loadr and saver commands for loading or saving data to/from a memory region. [bombzj]
• 6838: fmtowns_cd.xml: Added 28 new entries, and replaced 22 entries with improved dumps. [redump.org, r09]
• 6844: gigatron: Hooked up CPU output callback, fixed program counter wrapping, and added CPU input callback. [Sterophonick]
• 6848: startouch.cpp: Added Biostar M5ATD motherboard BIOS option to europl01. [ClawGrip]
• 6849: armedf.cpp, ddenlovr.cpp: Improved DIP switch documentation; nes_vt.cpp: Added zudugo manufacturer. [David Haywood]
• 6850: ibm5170.xml: Corrected floppy interface for humans_525, and corrected metadata for inca2 and goblins. [ArcadeShadow]
• 6851: chicago.cpp, exidyttl.cpp: Corrected ROM dumps, and added a skeleton driver for Exidy Destruction Derby. [Frank Palazzolo]
• 6852: sound/ym2151.cpp: Simplified noise frequency calculation. [cam900]
• 6853: sound/k051649.cpp: Improved playback rate calculation, and cleaned up code. [cam900]
• 6856: sound/saa1099.cpp: Improved sample rate and mixing behavior, and fixed stereo output routing for vgmplay. [cam900]
• 6857: sound/k007232.cpp: Converted to use device_memory_interface and added support for clock frequency changes. [cam900]
• 6859: megaplay.cpp: Added motherboard PLDs. [caius, ClawGrip]
• 6860: cpu/cp1610: Ensure SDBD operations set condition flags correctly. [ElectricMagic]
• 6862: Only build asmjit for x86 and x86-64 targets. [Belegdol]
• 6864: Added arm64 and s390x configurations to Travis CI. [Belegdol]
• 6865: sgi_mips_hdd.xml: Added software list with pre-installed operating system images for SGI MIPS workstations. [Davide Cavalca]
• 6867: generalplus_gpl16250_nand.cpp, spg2xx_wiwi.cpp, tvgogo.xml: Added three machines and a software list entry. [David Haywood]
• 6868: sgi_mips.xml: Added eight entries, and corrected some metadata. [darkstar]
• 6870: leapfrog_mfleappad_cart.xml: Added an entry. [TeamEurope, ClawGrip]
• 6871: pi_storyreader_cart.xml: Added three entries. [TeamEurope, ClawGrip]
• 6872: vsmile_cart.xml: Added three entries. [tenyuhuang, DisizDream, ClawGrip]
• 6875: ibm5150.xml: Added six entries and corrected some metadata. [ArcadeShadow]
• 6877: sgi_mips_hdd.xml: Added an entry and improved instructions in comments. [Davide Cavalca]
• 6879: vsmileb_cart.xml: Added one entry. [DisizDream, ClawGrip]
• 6880: bosco.cpp: Fixed sprite/background priority. [kunikuni]
• 6881: vsmilem_cart.xml: Added seven entries and fixed two incorrect serial numbers. [DisizDream, ClawGrip]
• 6882: Added ten TV games, a V.Smile Motion BIOS, and several software list entries. [David Haywood, Sean Riddle, TeamEurope]
• 6884: midyunit.cpp: Fixed sound and added PAL dumps for mkyawdim2. [TwistedTom]
• 6885: sgi_mips_hdd.xml: Added one entry. [Davide Cavalca]
• 6887: sound/rf5c400.cpp: Fixed loop sample loop position calculation (GitHub #6883). [cam900]
• 6888: video/atarirle.cpp: Fixed source file name in header comment. [cam900]
• 6889: rf5c400.cpp: Fixed regression in sample loop and end position calculations. [cam900]
• 6890: vsmile_cart.xml: Added one entry. [tenyuhuang, ClawGrip]
• 6891: vsmilem_cart.xml: Corrected checksum/digest for cars2mf. [ClawGrip]
• 6892: microdar.cpp: Added skeleton driver for Compumatic Far West darts machine. [Victor Fernandez (City Game), ClawGrip]
• 6893: machine/cop452.cpp: Added partial COP452 frequency generatocounter emulation; hp_ipc.cpp: Added beeper. [F.Ulivi]
• 6894: machine/6821pia.cpp: Added checks for disabled side effects on read accesses. [68bit]
• 6895: bus/rs232: Initialize serial printer RxD output high (idle state). [68bit]
• 6896: formats/os9_dsk.cpp: Added 8" 16-sector single-density formats (used by OS9 L1 on Motorola EXORciser). [68bit]
• 6897: formats/mdos_dsk.cpp: Added Motorola MDOS floppy format. [68bit]
• 6898: formats/wd177x_dsk.cpp: Be tolerant of missing sectors from the third track onwards. [68bit]
• 6899: sgi_mips.xml: Added six entries, and added missing disc dumps to one entry. [darkstar]
• 6900: vsmilem_cart.xml: Added some serial numbers and updated notes. [ClawGrip]
• 6902: mobigo_cart.xml: Added five entries, and corrected the checksum digest for one entry. [TeamEurope, ClawGrip]
• 6903: sgi_mips_hdd.xml: Added one entry. [Davide Cavalca]
• 6904: sgi_mips.xml: Replaced a badly dumped disc image added in #6868. [darkstar]
• 6905: sgi_mips.xml: Added eight NetBSD installation/source sets. [Davide Cavalca]
• 6906: monkey_king_3b.cpp: Added skeleton driver for systems based on Monkey King 3B system-on-a-chip. [David Shah]
• 6908: formats/mdos_dsk.cpp: Fixed the cell size and gaps, and added notes. [68bit]
• 6909: Added five TV games and a software list entry. [David Haywood]
• 6910: Fixed arcade subtarget build. [MASH]
• 6912: ibm5150.xml: Added two entries, and re-dumped on entry. [ArcadeShadow]
• 6914: machine/cop452.cpp: Fixed timer reloading. [F.Ulivi]
• 6915: sgi_mips_hdd.xml: Added one entry. [Davide Cavalca]
• 6917: sound/rf5c400.cpp: Added support for clock frequency changes, flagged imperfect sound, and cleaned up code. [cam900]
• 6918: galaxian.cpp: Added Cirsa Spanish bootleg of Galaxian. [Juan Romero, ClawGrip]
• 6919: tourvis.cpp: Added Tourvision BIOS V4-54. [Juan Romero, ClawGrip]
• 6920: cave.cpp: Added graphics layout for sprite lines, simplified tilemap graphics decoding, and cleaned up code. [cam900]
• 6921: Added a TV game and a number of imperfect dumps of unlicensed Game Boy Advance cartridges. [David Haywood]
• 6922: sound/ymz280b.cpp: Improved frequency calculation and cleaned up code. [cam900]
• 6923: pdp11.cpp: Removed GPL dependency. [shattered]
• 6924: williams.cpp: Added clone Robotron: 2084 (Unidesa license). [Juan Romero, ClawGrip]
• 6927: Added Motorola EXORterm 155 terminal emulation. [68bit]
• 6930: mpu4vid.cpp: Allow v4strike and v4barqst to decode questions, and fixed some parent/clone relationships. [David Haywood]
• 6931: machine/mc6852.cpp: Implemented more functionality and added a byte communication interface. [68bit]
• 6933: devcb.h: Use GCC broken friend workaround with clang 8 as well. [Tiago Pierezan Camargo]
• 6934: pc98_cd.xml: Added 15 entries and replaced 11 entries with improved dumps. [redump.org, r09]
• 6935: hh_sm510.cpp: Added Nintendo Micro Vs. System: Donkey Kong Hockey. [algestam, Ryan Holtz]
• 6936: hh_sm510.cpp: Added gnw_dkong3 PCB label to comment. [algestam]
• 6937: mpu4vid.cpp: Added layout and tweaked inputs for v4addlad, and added a protection workaround. [David Haywood, James Wallace]
• 6938: ibm5150.xml: Fixed some data area sizes (GitHub #6876). [r09]
• 6939: megaplay.cpp: Added two more motherboard PLDs. [Kevin Eshbach, ClawGrip]
• 6940: cpu/gigatron: Added output callback; gigatron.cpp: Started implementing video, and added ROM V5a BIOS option. [Sterophonick]
• 6941: 4enlinea.cpp: Added Sport Dart TV. [Victor Fernandez (City Game), ClawGrip]
• 6942: ibm5150.xml: Added XENIX Development System. [archive.org, Davide Cavalca]
• 6944: galaxian.cpp: Added Spanish bootleg of Zero Time. [Juan Romero, ClawGrip]
• 6945: goldnpkr.cpp: Fixed syntax error in input port definitions. [Davide Cavalca]
• 6946: ibm5150.xml: Added five entries. [ArcadeShadow]
• 6947: ibm5170.xml: Added one entry. [ArcadeShadow]
• 6949: docs: Updated RTD theme to 0.5.0 (fixes issues with links in search results). [Firehawke]
• 6950: Improved screen aspect ratio in internal layout for EXORterm 155 terminal. [68bit]
• 6952: vsmile.cpp: Marked V.Smile Motion as working, as the games are playable even without accelerometer controls. [ClawGrip]
• 6953: bus/nes: Implemented FDS sound emulation. [cam900]
• 6954: vsmilem_cart.xml: Promoted software to working, and corrected some metadata. [ClawGrip]
• 6956: Significant improvements to Gaelco Modular System bootleg emulation, and new TV games. [David Haywood]
• 6958: Added driver for Motorola M6800 EXORciser (M68SDT) and device for corresponding floppy controller. [68bit]
• 6958: mw8080bw.cpp: Improved gunfight audio, including a better transistor model and noise generator. [Colin Douglas Howell]
• 6959: Improved video emulation for several Gaelco Modular System bootlegs, and added inputs/sound for raidenm. [David Haywood]
• 6960: plugins/autofire: Don’t save empty configuration files. [kunikuni]
• 6961: machine/v3021.cpp: Converted to use device_rtc_interface, and implemented serial interface and more commands. [cam900]
• 6962: ibm5150.xml: Added IBM Personal Computer Interactive Executive (PC/IX). [WinWorld, Davide Cavalca]
• 6963: namcos2.cpp: Worked around conflicting default input assignments for fourtrax. [MASH]
• 6964: raiden_ms.cpp: Improved raidenm emulation; spg2xx_zone.cpp: Added two TV games. [David Haywood]
• 6967: ibm5170.xml: Added five entries. [ArcadeShadow]
• 6969: plugins/autofire: Improved method for detecting empty configuration. [kunikuni]
• 6970: microdar.cpp: Added skeleton driver for unknown Compumatic ProSPDP dart machine. [jordigahan, ClawGrip]
• 6971: pgm.cpp: Cleaned up drawing code, and improved timing of intro sequences in some games. [cam900]
• 6972: hh_sm510.cpp: Added Telko / Nintendo Bassmate Computer. [algestam, Mr. Do]
• 6973: mpu4vid.cpp: Fixed inputs, fixed up machine ROM sets, and promoted several machines to working. [David Haywood]
• 6977: gigatron.cpp: Added audio DAC, started hooking up OUTX port, and cleaned up code. [Sterophonick]
• 6978: mpu4mod4yam.cpp, mpu4vid.cpp: Started untangling sets now that they boot, and tweaked inputs. [David Haywood, James Wallace]
• 6979: Added netlist-based audio for thirteen early Cinematronics vector games, and minimal artwork for Warrior. [Aaron Giles]
• 6980: video/imagetek_i4100.cpp, metro.cpp: Improved flip screen drawing; hyprduel.cpp: Fixed sprite delay. [cam900]
• 6982: Added five TV games. [David Haywood]
• 6983: sound/ics2115.cpp: Improved envelope behavior. [cam900]
• 6984: mw8080bw.cpp: Improve 280zzzap audio emulation. [Colin Douglas Howell]
• 6986: generalplus_gpl16250_rom.cpp: Replaced tkmag220 ROM with correct dump. [TeamEurope, David Haywood]
• 6987: Switched AppVeyor MinGW GCC build to use -O3 (works around GitHub #6804). [Belegdol]
• 6988: Changed Travis CI configuration for installing prerequisite packages in an attempt to speed up builds. [Belegdol]
• 6989: microdar.cpp: Added Diana Olakoa dart machine. [Victor Fernandez (City Game), ClawGrip]
• 6993: Added beam_dot_size for controlling the size of “dots” on vector screens. [Aaron Giles]
• 6997: sound/k053260.cpp: Suppress read side effects on debugger accesses. [cam900]
• 6998: microdar.cpp: Added EEPROM dump to “prospdp”. [jordigahan, ClawGrip]
• 6999: nes_vt.cpp: Added two TV games; mpu4.cpp, mpu4vid.cpp: Split up more sets and improved descriptions. [David Haywood]
• 7000: sound/ics2115.cpp: Resolved license issue, re-implemented envelopes and fixed ramping. [cam900]
• 7002: Worked around issue updating MSYS2 packages from AppVeyor. [Belegdol]
• 7005: ibm5150.xml: Added four entries. [ArcadeShadow]

Slothrop's Hawaiian Shirt by Zak Smith (2006).
I just want to begin by thanking u/Bloomsdayclock for coordinating this endeavor, for all of the previous posts thus far, and for the enthusiastic interaction and scholarship that’s been happening in the comments for each post. This group read has rekindled my love for this book and is helping me understand it in so many different ways and in such greater depth that it's honestly like I’m reading a different book at this point. Also, kudos to each previous poster for creating a coherent post! The book is complex enough on its own but once you start going down the rabbit hole, sussing out the references, reading through some of the scholarship, etc., I almost found myself paralyzed by information overload (kinda feeling a bit like Charlie Kelly trying to figure out who “Pepe Silvia” is :) ). When this reading group started, I was like, “damn, I’m trying to read this insanely complex novel and the group posts are just as long, dense, and complex” and now I’ve gone and written some super long and dense post, too. To paraphrase either Blaise Pascal or Mark Twain (or Woodrow Wilson or apparently a rather large number of dead white guys from history): I would have written a shorter post if I’d had the time! Apologies in advance!
Anyways, this post will (attempt to) cover the start of the second section of the novel, Un Perm’ au Casino Hermann Goering. The events that transpire are zany and sinister, titillating and deeply sad. There is a mix of images both gorgeous and disgusting and much of the planning and plotting that took place at “The White Visitation” during the first section are starting to come to fruition in part deux. For each “Episode”, I will provide a general summary of the “action” and then some commentary and we’ll finish this post up with a few discussion questions. Let’s begin!
Episode 22
Summary
Slothrop is on furlough/leave at a casino in Monaco (from what I’ve read...I thought it was France before, still not completely sure) that’s been renamed in honor of the big fat slob that led Hitler’s air force during the war. He’s in paradise but wakes up “...[waiting] for a sudden noise to begin his day, a first rocket” (p. 181). His friend Tantivy Mucker-Maffick and a somewhat suspicious friend of his, Teddy Bloat (“[there’s] something about the way he talks to Slothrop, patronizing? Maybe nervous…” (p. 182)), are staying down the hall. They’re talking about meeting some girls but, as the first song of the section reminds us, Englishmen can be very shy. Slothrop is happy to help his “buddies” out, but tells them not to “expect [him] to put it in for [them]” (p. 183). Classic Slothrop!
Slothrop decides to wear a hideous (or amazing, depending on your sensibilities) genuine Hawaiian shirt that he received from his brother Hogan in the Pacific. The shirt seems to emit a glow (once he steps into the sun, it “blazes into a refulgent life of its own” (!) (p. 184), so Tantivy, “friend” that he is, tries to convince Slothrop to cover it up with scratchy Savile Row coat.
The trio hit the beach and the ladies are on them already. They’ve got food and booze and are ready for a nice day on the beach. The morning seems too good even for a bit of the “early paranoia”. And then Bloat ruins everything by drawing Slothrop’s attention to the woman down the beach being attacked by “the biggest fucking octopus Slothrop has ever seen outside of the movies”. Slothrop rushes off to intervene and, left without recourse, starts trying to bash the cephalopod on the head with a wine bottle to no avail. Thankfully, Bloat just happens to have a big, tasty crab on his person, which he tosses to Slothrop with the advice, “It’s hungry, it’ll go for the crab. Don’t kill it, Slothrop.” Slothrop uses the crab to bait away the animal from its current prey, noticing that it does not seem to be in good mental health. He eventually tosses the crab, like a discus, into the sea, and the octopus follows. The damsel has been saved, Slothrop is championed as a brave hero and his first thought is where in the fuck did that crab come from.
The exchange:
“Tantivy smiles and flips a small salute. “Good show!” cheers Teddy Bloat. “I wouldn’t have wanted to try that myself!”
“Why not? You had that crab. Saaay-where’d you get that crab?”
“Found it,” replies Bloat with a straight face. Slothrop stares at this bird but can’t get eye contact. What th’ fuck is going on?” (p. 187).
The damsel thanks Slothrop. Her ID bracelet identifies her as Katje Borgesius. Slothrop feels like he knows her and “...voices begin to take on a touch of metal, each word a hard-edged clap, and the light, though as bright as before, is less able to illuminate….it’s a Puritan reflex of seeking other orders behind the visible, also known as paranoia, filtering in…” (p. 188). How does Slothrop deal with this? By dividing up his present company into a dichotomy: the increasingly drunk Tantivy, “a messenger from Slothrop’s innocent, pre-octopus past” flirting with the girls and Bloat, “perfectly sober, mustache unruffled, regulation uniform [on the fucking beach!], watching [him] closely” (p. 188). And then there’s Katje, who, with her glance, makes Slothrop think she knows something (what?), asking him “Did you know all the time about the octopus? I thought so because it was so like a dance-all of you” (p. 188). Well, fuck me! Katje then tells “Little Tyrone” to be “very careful” and that “Perhaps, after all, we were meant to meet…” (p. 189). Now that’s a “meet cute” for ya!
Commentary/Questions

1. Is the casino fully owned and controlled by Them at this point (is César Flebótomo (Spanish for “sandfly”) a(n) (un)willing patsy in Their employ?). Is it the “lab” for this “phase” of the Slothrop experiment. Or is it just secured enough to ensure the results of the experiment aren’t tainted by some unforeseen variable/interference?
2. Teddy Bloat seems like a purposeful pun in reference to the bureaucracy of government/intel agencies
3. Tantivy Mucker-Maffick’s name is also filled with meaning
4. Songs are one way that Pynchon fills his book with “the language of the preterite”, a term from Weisenburger used to describe the “slang, underworld cant, songs, games, folk-genres, and material culture” used by Pynchon to pit “open, unsanctioned, and “low” languages” against the “closed, orthodox, privileged language of a culture”. This idea is expanded on by literary critic/philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin who notes that the “heteroglossic” aspect of novels allows them to be radical, open-ended artworks filled with a variety of voices that each embody a particular time and place (his term for this idea is a “chronotope”).
5. The whole episode is just soaked in paranoia, from beginning to end. Whatever Slothrop thought he thought he was feeling in Section 1 has been taken up a notch. He senses a plot but keeps playing along.
6. Is “Borgesius” a tribute to J.L. Borges?
7. “Little Tyrone” echoes “Baby Tyrone” from Jamf’s experiments and maybe is supposed to make us realize that while the antics in this episode could possibly be construed as a “loss” of Slothrop’s “innocence” that was actually taken from him as a baby.

Episode 23
Summary
Dr. Porkyevitch (“Porky the pig”?) and “Grisha” (“[frisking] happily in his special enclosure”) stare back at the “blazing bijou” of the Casino from their ship, contemplating their future now that they may no longer be of use to Pointsman, yearning for traces of the Russia they’ve been exiled from.
To the casino: Katje is a vision in shades of green and is escorted by a two-star general and a brigadier. Is it Pudding? RHIP :) Slothrop and Tantivy in the dining room. Slothrop raises the “The Ballad of Tantivy Mucker-Maffic” to get the room singing of his friend’s drunken exploits so that he can speak to Katje who uses the cacophony to invite him to her room after midnight!
Slothrop then probes his buddy to see if he notices anything funny going on. Tantivy brushes him off a bit (“there’s always, you know, an element of Slothropian paranoia to contend with…”(p. 192)) but then concedes that the bastard Bloat is receiving coded messages. Ha! And it turns out Bloat has become a bit of a different man over the last few years, something more than being “Blitz rattled”. He’s also warned Tantivy away from Katje (“I’d stay clear of that one if I were you” (p. 193)) and Tantivy feels used by Bloat (“being tolerated for as long as he can use me” (p. 193)). The encounter ends with Tantivy telling Slothrop to be careful and, should he need help, he’ll be there for him.
At midnight, Slothrop leaves for his rendezvous with Ms. Borgesius, “ascending flights of red-carpeted stairway (Welcome Mister Slothrop Welcome To Our Structure We Hope You Will Enjoy Your Visit Here)” (p. 194). Arriving, he teases her about her date at dinner and then about their slightly sinister “meet cute” while examining her closet which is absolutely filled to the brim with a variety of outfits. The “Too Soon To Know (Fox-Trot)” before they get down to it. As he is undressing her, he notices “...the moonlight only whitens her back, and there is a still a dark side, her ventral side, her face, than he can no longer see, a terrible beastlike change coming over muzzle and lower jaw, black pupils growing to cover the entire eye space till whites are gone and there’s only the red animal reflection when the light comes to strike no telling when the light-” (p. 196). Yikes! As they fuck, she wonders if his “careful technique” is for her or “wired into the Slothropian Run-together they briefed her on”. Either way, “she will move him, she will not be mounted by a plastic shell” (p. 196-197).
Then, a slapstick fight with a seltzer bottle (planted by Them?) that has Slothrop looking for a banana cream pie to toss (classic!) after which they fall asleep, lying like two Ss. In the morning, their post-coital bliss is interrupted as Little Tyrone is rudely awakened by the sound of someone robbing his pants in the room next door. He chases after the thief, first naked, then dressed in a purple satin bedsheet. As he’s chasing, from way down the hallway, “a tiny head appears around a corner, a tiny hand comes out and gives Slothrop the tiny finger” (p. 199). Haha! He chases the thief up a tree only to have the tree cut down while he’s in it. The thief escapes and Bloat and some general find Slothrop a mess.
Bloat takes Slothrop to his room where, “every stitch of clothing he owns is gone, including his Hawaiian shirt. What the fuck. Groaning, he rummages in the desk. Empty. Closets empty. Leave papers, ID, everything, taken… Hogan’s shirt bothers him most of all” (p. 201). Nobody knows where Tantivy’s gone off to. Bloat gives Slothrop a uniform (“a piece of Whitehall on the Riviera” (p. 201)) which doesn’t fit but the book advises, “Live wi’ the way it feels mate, you’ll be in it for a while” (p. 201). Slothrop ponders the meaning of the architecture and design of his surrounds, but “shortly, unpleasantly so, it will come to him that everything in this room [The Himmer-Spielsaal, no less] is being used from something different. Meaning things to Them it has never meant to us. Never. Two orders of being, looking identical….but, but….” (p. 202). THE WORLD OVER THERE. Against this realization Slothrop issues the only spell he knows, a defiant “Fuck You”. Walking, rainstorm, entertainment at the casino, no one has seen the dancing girls from the drunken breakfast, Slothrop is “finding only strangers where he looks” before freaking out in the casino, then getting wet in the rain, then returning to Katje, the only place he knew to come.
Commentary

1. I love “The Ballad of Tantivy Mucker-Maffic” and would like to write a similar tune about the inebriated shenanigans committed by my best friend and I during college.
2. The bit about Oxford and Harvard not really existing to educate was a nice touch (p. 193)
3. “Snazzy” is an “Americanism” in the 40s! (p. 195).
4. Slothrop ponders an impending loss of innocence (but, again, it seems like that has already happened). He has nothing and no one in a foreign country and the sensation that his life is being purposefully, possibly nefariously influenced by forces he can vaguely perceive. “It’s here that saturation hits him, it’s all this playing games, too much of it, too many games: the nasal, obsessive voice of a croupier he can’t see...is suddenly speaking out of the Forbidden Wing directly to him, and about what Slothrop has been playing against the invisible House, perhaps after all for his soul, all day - terrified, he turns, turns out into the rain again where the electric lights of the Casino, in full holocaust, are glaring off the glazed cobbles.” And then, “How did this all turn against him so fast? His friends old and new, every last bit of paper and clothing connecting him to what he’s been, have just, fucking, vanished. How can he meet this with any kind of grace?” (p. 205)
5. The word “holocaust” is used quite a bit in this story
6. Setting this all in the casino is a nice touch: there is the illusion of chance and luck in a casino but the house always wins.
7. The juxtaposition of the comic (seltzer fight) with the tragic (Slothrop alone, trying to understand what’s happening) heightens both effects.

Episode 24
Summary
They wake up with Katje calling slothrop a pig, which responds to by oinking. At breakfast, he is taking a refresher course in technical German and learning about The Rocket. His tutor, Sir Stephen Dodson-Truck (who speaks 33 languages!) aiding his understanding of German circuit schematics by way of ancient German runes. Slothrop understands immediately that Dodson-Truck is in on the plot but not sure how (“There are times when Slothrop can actually find a clutch mechanism between him and Their iron-cased engine far away up a power train whose shape and design he has to guess at, a clutch he can disengage, feeling then all his inertia of motion, his real helplessness… it is not exactly unpleasant, either. Odd thing. He is almost sure that whatever They want, it won’t mean risking his life, or even too much of his comfort. But he can’t fit any of it into a pattern, there’s no way to connect somebody like Dodson-Truck with somebody like Katje…. The real enemy’s somewhere back in that London anyways” (p. 207).
Back in the Himmler-Spielsaal: “in the twisted gilt playing-room his secret motions clarify for him, some. The odds They played here belonged to the past, the past only. Their odds were never probabilities, but frequencies already observed. It’s the past that makes demands here. It whispers, and reaches after, and sneering disagreeably, gooses its victims.
When they choose numbers, red, black, odd, even, what did They mean it? What Wheel did They set in motion?
Back in a room, early in Slothrop’s life, a room forbidden to him now, is something very bad. Something was done to him and it may be that Katje knows what. Hasn’t he, in her “futureless look,” found some link to his own past, something that connects them closely as lovers?” (p. 208-209). “It is a curve each of them feels, unmistakably. It is the parabola.”
No more news from London or Achtung. Bloat is gone now, too. Sir Stephen and Katje with their identical Corporate Smiles to dazzle him while they rob his identity. But! “He lets it happen” (p. 210).
Slothrop is getting hardons after his rocket study sessions and then goes looking for relief with Katje. Sir Stephen appears to be timing these erections! So, Slothrop gets the smart idea to get him drunk via a drinking game and many, many people end up getting sloshed on some high class bubbly. Half the room is singing the “Vulgar Song”. Slothrop and Sir Steve get pretty hammered and start walking through a nice sunset, where Slothrop sees robed figures, hundreds of miles tall, on the horizon. Sir Stephen informs Slothrop that he’s got “potency issues” (which makes him the perfect observer for Slothrop’s sexual misadventures… “no nasty jissom getting all over their reports, you know” (p. 216)). He’s about to tell Slothrop the secret of “The Penis He Thought Was His Own”...
...but then starts waxing nostalgic about Sir Stephen’s son and his wife, Nora and her “Ideology of the Zero”. An interlude with Eventyr, Sachsa, Leni… “but where will Leni be now? Either we didn’t mean to lose her - either it was an ellipsis in our care, in what some of us even swear is our love, or someone has taken her, deliberately, for reasons being kept secret, and Sachsa’s death is part of it too” (p. 218). More on Sachsa’s death.
Then, Sir Stephen vanishes (“but not before telling Slothrop that his erections of high interest to Fitzmaurice House”). Katje is pissed that Slothy got Sir Steve drunk enough to dish on the plot. They fight and then fuck. More rocket study sessions. The rocket taking off looks like a peacock, def pfau. Slothrop pressing for more information, Katje rebuffing, warning/advising“Oh, Slothrop… You don’t want me. What they’re after may, but you don’t. No more than A4 wants London. But I don’t think they know...about other selves...yours or the Rocket’s. No more than you do. If you can’t understand it now, at least remember. That’s all I can do for you” (p. 224).
Then, “They go back up to her room again: cock, cunt, the Monday rain at the windows” (p. 224) (Oh, Tom, you romantic!). And finally, a bit of kazoo music, a final night together, and Katje disappears, too.
Commentary

1. Slothrop makes an important connection to his childhood and wonders if Katje knows about it/whether she’s with him because of it (ol’ Pynch even manages to work in the rocket, too!): “You were in London while they were coming down. I was in ‘s Gravenhage while they were going up. Between you and me is not only a rocket trajectory but also a life. You will come to understand that between the two points, in the five minutes, it lives an entire life. You haven’t even learned the data on our side of the flight profile, the visible or trackable. Beyond them there’s so much more, so much none of us know” (p. 209).
2. More on the import of setting the action in the Casino: “The Forbidden Wing. Oh, the hand of a terrible croupier is that touch on the sleeves of his dreams: all his life of what has looked free or random, is discovered to’ve been under some Control, all the time, the same as a fixed roulette wheel-where only destinations are important, attention is to long-term statistics, not individuals: and where the House does, of course, keep turning a profit…” (p. 209).
3. A beautiful passage: “‘Holy shit.” This is the kind of sunset you hardly see any more, a 19th-century wilderness sunset...this anachronism in primal red, in yellow purer than can be found anywhere today, a purity begging to be polluted...of course Empire took its way westward, what other way was there but into those virgin sunsets to penetrate and to foul” (p. 214). Always dualities in this book.
4. “A pornography of blueprints” (p. 224). is a nice turn of phrase.
5. Foreshadowing: “She has her hair combed high today in a pompadour, her fair eyebrows, plucked to wings, darkened, eyes rimmed in black, only the outboard few lashes missed and left blond.
6. Connection to Nabokov: I really do think “Signs and Symbols” influenced this novel. Lines like this, “Here it is again, that identical-looking Other World - is he gonna have this to worry about, now? What th’ - lookit these trees - each long frond hanging, stuny, dizzying, in laborious dry point against the sky, each so perfectly placed…” (p. 225) remind me so much of the atmosphere in the story (itself about paranoia (“referential mania”)). This is a key excerpt from the Nabokov ditty: “In these very rare cases the patient imagines that everything happening around him is a veiled reference to his personality and existence. He excludes real people from the conspiracy - because he considers himself to be so much more intelligent than other men. Phenomenal nature shadows him wherever he goes. Clouds in the staring sky transmit to one another, by means of slow signs, incredibly detailed information regarding him. His inmost thoughts are discussed at nightfall, in manual alphabet, by darkly gesticulating trees. Pebbles or stains or sun flecks form patterns representing in some awful way messages which he must intercept. Everything is a cipher and of everything he is the theme.” Obviously this guy is, uh, slightly more clinical, but I still think the atmosphere/tone is similar between the two.

Episode 25
Summary
We begin this episode with a Pavlov lecture about the physiological symptoms of hysteria and one of Pointsman’s poems (which he never shows to anyone). Then to the “White Visitation” chaps (Pointsman, Grunton, Throwster, Groast) rumor-mongering about their future. Things are looking bleak. Pudding might cut off funding, “Slothrop’s knocked out Dodson-Truck and the girl in one day” (p. 227), and Sir Steven’s got the P.M.’s son-in-law making embarrassing inquiries. But Pointsman is calm. Very calm. In fact, “[b]y facing squarely the extinction of his program, he has gained a great bit of Wisdom: that if there is a life force operating in Nature, still there is nothing so analogous in bureaucracy. Nothing so mystical. It all comes down, as it must, to the desires of individual men. Oh, and women too, of course, bless their empty little heads. But survival depends on having strong enough desires - on knowing the System better than the other chap, and how to use it. It’s work, that’s all it is, and there’s no room for any extrahuman activities - they only weaken, effeminize the will: a man either indulges them, or fights to win, und so weiter” (p. 230). And then we find out that Pointman’s figured out how to play Pudding to keep his support (more on that in a bit…) as he’s figured out Treacle, Groast, and Throwster, how to use them and manipulate them to get what he wants. What a fucking devious guy!
Webley Silvernail sticks around after the meeting and imagines the lab animals putting on a beguine performance of a song called “Pavlovia” (right after this realization by Silvernail: “From overhead, from a German camera-angle, it occurs to Webley Silvernail, this lab here is also a maze...but who watches from above, who notes their reponses?” (p. 229)). And it’s all song and dance for a bit but since it’s Pynchon, it’s followed by an incredible poignant/tragic moment of clarity: “They have had their moment of freedom. Webley has only been a guest start. Now it’s back to the cages and the rationalized forms of death-death in the service of the one species cursed with the knowledge that it will die…. “I would set you free, if I knew how. But it isn’t free out here. All the animals, the plants, the minerals, even other kinds of men, are being broken and reassembled every day, to preserve an elite few, who are the loudest to theorize on freedom, but the least free of all. I can’t even give you hope that it will be different someday - that They’ll come out, and forget death, and lose Their technology’s elaborate terror, and stop using every other form of life without mercy to keep what haunts men down to a tolerable level - and be like you instead, simply here, simply alive….” The guest star retires down the corridors” (p. 230). What a soliloquy. [Tangent: almost 50 years later, how prescient is this passage?! This little monologue filled me with so many conflicting emotions: hope (because humans like Pynchon exist to dream this stuff up) and also dread because this paragraph describes a fundamental aspect and egregious flaw (or flaws) in human nature. Reading and re-reading this passage depresses me a little (hence my question about mental health below).
Now Pudding is sneaking about the bowels of “The White Visitation”. He heads past the cells of loonies on his way to a secret rendezvous. It seems like Pointsman may have drugged him at some point to get at hidden desires. We watch as our dear old Brigadier putters from room-to-room, finding items left for him by Pointsman that mock him and describe his descent into a personal hell (for info on the symbolism, the Weisenburger book is quite helpful).
In the final room, Pudding drops to his knees at the feet of his Domina Nocturna (with “her blond hair...tucked and pinned beneath a thick black wig”... “naked except for a long sable cape and black boots with court heels” (p. 233)). Pudding is thinking of the night they first met. He saw “her” “...through the periscope, underneath a star shell that hung in the sky, he saw her….and though he was hidden, she saw Pudding. Her face was pale, she was dressed all in black, she stood in No-man’s Land, the machine guns raked their patterns all around her, but she needed no protection. “They knew you, Mistress. They were your own.
And so were you” (p. 233).
And then he offers her a “nice” memory of a legion of Franco’s troops killing and getting killed at a massacre at Badajoz for which he is “rewarded” with her beating and then pissing and shitting in his mouth… … … …
However off-putting this may be for some (most), it does something for Pudding. He needs pain. “They have stuffed paper illusions and military euphemisms between him and this truth, this rare decency, this moment at her scrupulous feet….no it’s not guilt here, not so much as amazement - that he could have listened to so many years of ministers, scientists, doctors each with his specialized lies to tell, when she was here all the time, sure in her ownership of his failing body, his true body: undisguised by uniform, uncluttered by drugs to keep from him her communiqués of vertigo, nausea and pain. Above all, pain. The clearest poetry, the endearment of greatest worth…” (p. 234-235).
Munching down on a hot turd makes Pudding think of the horrible smells of his service during WWI: putrid mud, rot, death, “...the sovereign smell of their first meeting, and her emblem” (p. 235). After eating her shit, he jerks off (his release), in a style that Domina Nocturna has learned from watching Captain Blicero and Gottfriend (at this point, it is safe to say, Domina Nocturna is Katje. Will we ever be able to look at her the same?).
Pudding is then dismissed to “...a late-night cup of broth, routine papers to sign, a dose of penicillin that Pointsman has ordered him to take, to combat the effects of E. Coli” (p. 236). So thoughtful, that Pointsman...
Commentary

1. The Silvernail hallucination/phantasmagoria seems like something straight out of “The Big Lebowski” had Jodorowsky had a bit of influence over the Coen Bros. art direction. Many of the songs in this section feel “Lebowski-esque” but this one especially so to me. Maybe its the detailed choreographic notes: “They dance in flowing skeins. The rats and mice form circles, curl their tails in and out to make chrysanthemum and sunburst patterns, eventually all form into the shape of a single giant mouse, at whole eye Silvernail poses with a smile” (p. 230).
2. The Franco bit is a nice way of linking facism and death worship
3. Pudding eating Domina Nocturna’s shit really, to quote an earlier passage, gave “de wrinkles in mah brain a process!”. There is so much symbolism there! Instead of ascending to heaven, Pudding heads down to hell. We have so many dualities linked in the act: between young and old, sacred and profane, pleasure and pain, pleasure through pain, WWI and WW2, man and woman, life and death, the general as a slave, even the food transformed through Katje into waste, all linked through the act of eating shit. For a moment they are linked so intimately, so delicately. No parabolas, a circle. And, of course, there’s also the diabolical Pointsman in the background, pulling the strings and manipulating to keep Pudding in line. I remember reading this for the first time and just being shocked and confused and now reading it again and finding so much meaning. That ol’ Pynchon is a devious bastard, hiding such loaded symbolism in such an obscene encounter. The Pulitzer committee had no idea what was coming for them!

So, if you’ve reached this point, congratulations and I am sorry! Here are my discussion questions. Looking forward to future posts!
Discussion Questions Both On Topic and Tangential

1. Why is paranoia described as a “Puritan reflex” in Episode 22?
2. In Episode 23, as Slothrop peruses Katje’s extensive wardrobe, what is the significance of the line, “Aha! wait a minute, the operational scent in here is carbon tet, Jackson, and this wardrobe here’s mostly props” (p. 195)?
3. In Episode 24, what’s the significance of “the watchmen of world’s edge”? Is this an intrusion of the spirit world? Is Slothrop just hallucinating?
4. In Episode 24, when Peter Sachsa gets the blow to the temple from Schutzmann Jöche, why is his last thought, “How beautiful!” (p. 220)
5. In Episode 25, there’s a line in the part where Pudding is sneaking around: “A voice from some cell too distant for us to locate intones:...” (p. 231). Why us here? Why the change in perspective?
6. How’s this book affecting everyone’s mental health (you know, given that we’re in the end times right now)? Seriously, though, there are times when this book makes me so happy to be alive and proud of humanity and also times where it depresses the everloving shit out of me and makes me think that, as a species, we’re doomed to continue making the same mistakes, over and over again, until we end up destroying ourselves.
7. In a similar vein, do you think people as prodigiously talented and brilliant as Pynchon have any responsibility to counter the evil they see in the world? Is writing books enough or should they do more (lead, teach, etc.) to fight against the awful things they are able to see before the rest of us do?

Resources

• GR Wiki & Annotations - here
• Some Things That “Happen” (More or less) in “Gravity’s Rainbow” - here
• Larry Daw’s reading notes - here
• Weisenberger’s Book at the Internet Archive - here; Zak Smith’s book - here (gotta “rent”/ “borrow” both).
• Notes from a class on GR at Swathmore College - here
• How Pynchon Avoids Cultural Appropriation - here
• “History & Fiction: The Narrative Voices of Pynchon’s “Gravity’s Rainbow” (2004) by Paul A. Bové
• “A Supernatural History of Destruction; or, Thomas Pynchon’s Berlin” (2010) by Eric Bulson