When Hollywood plays with Video Games

While working on The Video Arcade this week-end, this got me to think about the times hollywood has tried to make video game related films. Upom reflection, I wasn't able to find many... especially "good" ones. The only good one I could come up with was Tron.

In recent years I can only recall: Tomb Raider, Doom, Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter.

Older ones I recall are: Cloak and Dagger, The Last Starfighter and the awful Super Mario Brothers.

Has anyone seen video game related flicks? Were they good?

THE VIDEO ARCADE

THE VIDEO ARCADE has been created as a resource for people interested in Video Games. All items listed on the site are pieces in my collection.

On the site I will list reference books, video game consoles, DVDs and other gaming related memorabilia.

It's a cool way for me to keep track of what I have enjoyed over the years and for others to perhaps discover a book or DVD which may interest them. Enjoy!

Long Week-Ender Report

Yeah, It's Monday morning and I am still enjoying the w-e. Gotta love 4 day week-ends. :) Why am I blessed with 4 days of laziness bliss like that? They owed me some hours at work and I had to take them before I move on to the new job next week.

On Thurday night, I watched The Aristorats. I had heard alot of great things about it so my hopes were high. The concept is that 100 comedians tell the same joke (the Aristocrats joke) and it's the ways they build the joke and tell it that is supposed to be hilarious. I was sadly disappointed in this film. The documentary was good but the joke whole thing didn't do it for me. Maybe I don't get that sense of humour. Too bad. Alot of my favorite comedians were in there too. (5/10)

Friday - Day One
Visit from the parental units
Woke up and did a little cleaning. My parents dropped by for a visit in the aft. They brought over a few things from their basement. Ever since they moved to the country, they have been trying to keep to the essentials and get rid of the things they won't use again. Not an easy thing to do.

World famous apple sauce
Later, I decided to make my world famous apple sauce (WFAS). It's funny, I don't cook as much as I used to (note to self: try to cook more). After it was said and done, I ended up making 5 or 6 little containiners. Maybe that is why I don't cook as much... things shrink and you never end up with as much as you thought you would. :) Seriously, as I type this, i am eating my toasts with some of my WFAS and it simply rocks!

Reading and Flying
I read a little in the afternoon and we watched some Smallville episodes in the evening. We must have watched 4 or 5 of them by the time we went to bed. Season 3 is getting real good!!

Saturday - Day two
Walk in the Streets
I did not too too much on Saturday. I woke up in a groiuchy mood and my stomac was a little queezy. In the afternoon, I went out for a small walk on Bank street and made my tipical run (used CD and DVD stores, the comic book shops, Big Buds, Blockbuster and Rogers, etc.) Didn't pick up anything. The weather was so nice.

Dinner at the Milk's
We went to Cinthia's parents for her brother's birthday dinner. I was hoping to go dancing at Calientes later in the evening for Melissa's bday but we ended up leaving early and I went strait to bed because my stomac was bothering me so much. I was a little pisseed because we were all set to go out.

Sunday - Day three
After a stop at Mountain Equipment Co-op, we did some groceries. One of the things my folks dro dropped off on Friday was a super-duper-blender-mixer-chopper-meat grinder. It gave Cinthia and I the idea to make thin mustard ham sandwiches. You know the ones you only see at Christmas, Easter or at a funeral when someone dies. I made 2 full loaves of sandwich bread. Mmmm Mmmm goodness!

We ate and wached the Tintin et le lac au requin DVD. Leter in the evening, I played a little on the net and went to bed.

Suped-up version of Superman II film on the way

Finally, it will be done. Warner has decided to let Richard Donner complete his version of the Superman II movie. No official release date but it will most likely be done to coincide with Superman Returns in theatres or its DVD release. How cool is that!

Blog 101

Tonight in my communications class, two groups or students presented their orals. The subject: BLOGS!

The result: me slapping myself everytime they said something that did not make any sence. I know the teacher didn't catch on to most of these errors but it was interesting to listen to nonetheless.

Did you know that all blogs are stuck with adds and that you cannot control what appears on them. It's the way the companies pay to the space. You cannot get them off. (I don't see any Viagra pill adds on this one little girl!)

Did you know that once a blog is posted, you cannot delete it. It is there forever for the world to see.

Did you know that blogs are marginal sources of info (why are journalists using them then... More and more columnists choose to post their comments on blogs)

Did you know that because of the appearance of things like blogs, their is a risk that countries like ours will fragment because when the CBC radio was created, their mandate was clear - unity across the country - one message from a sound media source. Now everyone can post an opinion and that can fragment the country and their won't be this clear unifying message for canadians. (sigh!)

Did you know what makes a blog site a blog is the fact that people can add comments to them and that the info is always in achronological order. (Ed: ok, it is in reverse chrono on most of them but a blog is not a blog just because you can add comments on it. If so, i had a blog a long time before blogs were created.)

Oh, and the best one was a student peresenter saying:
"I was in Bourget this week-end and in a remote place like that with very few people, they don't know what a blog is..."

I hope they have electricity.

Whaaaaaa??? I kid you not.

Introducing the new redesigned Nintendo DS

I wish more people tried playing with a Nintendo DS. It's simply da bomb I tell you. Fun, fun, fun!!

New lighter version on the way too.

Trim your current DS 1cm in width, height and thickness, replace with real squishy buttons, move the Start/Select buttons around, move the mic to the center hinge, and make your device sexy Apple-white; voilà my friends. Nintendo DS lite.

Sneaky Nintendo Co. silently revealed tonight their new and redesigned Nintendo DS portable console, which will now be smaller, lighter, and feature 4 level of brightness; pretty much like the Game Boy Micro. Here are the details:

Product Name : DS Lite
Japanese release date : March 2nd of 2006
Dimensions : (Side) 133.0 x (length) 73.9 x (thickness) 21 5mm
[ Current ]: (side) 148.7 x (length) 84.7 x (thickness) 28. 9mm
Weight : 218g [ Current ] : 275g

I wonder if Sony will make a move and introduce a new PSP console; this one with good games for it.

The Price of a Cherished Childhood Memory

Too rich for my pac-blood!

As I mentioned earlier, I was following this auction for a vintage pac-man watch on Ebay.

The story goes like this. I used to have this watch (or rather a watch like this one) when I was a kid. I still remember when my parents bought it for me from Consumer's Distributing via their catalogue. I used to love that place when I was a kid. Anyhow, I love this little video game watch and it brought me hours and hours of joy. I remember being sick at home - in bed - and playing for hours with it.

Like many childhood things, the watch disappeared from my life 10 or 15 years ago. Was it thrown away in the garbage? Most likely because I remember it having a broken wrist band and being quite scuffed. Point is. It's gone.

Now since then I have rediscovered my love for the little yellow pellet gobbling man. I have kept up in my video game collection and I even got to built that awesome Arcade cabinet with my dad. I have peaked on Ebay over the years for a new pac-watch but was never successful in winning one.

Well I was ready tonight to buy back that piece of my childhood... Online was a mint-in-box pac-man watch (the one with the joystick) up for auction. Things looked good until about 12 minutes were left on the clock... the bids started to go up in numbers... then up again... long story short, the bidding went sooooo high ($324.47 CND) that I decided to fight (err... bid) another day... That's probably about what a next generation Nintendo Revolution game console is going to cost next year.

This got me thinking about the things we get attached to as we grow up. Now there is no way that this watch is worth anywhere close to this price (I know, I know, this things was mint and in pristine shape) but i'm ready to bet that a few thirty-something individuals like myself probably went after this. Why? To get back a little part of that special feeling they had when they were a kid.

My wish in all this is that 1) the person that bought this is going to wear it (heck, I would have!) and 2) that someday - I stumble upon this little gem again (who cares if it's not in mint shape)... and at a cheaper price. :)

Until the next pac-auction... Artoo signing off!

Today's Signtings

Number of:

• Subs sandwiches eaten: 1
• People in line at Terri-Q: 7
• People on the bridge this morning: 3
• Work days left at my current job: 5
• Films I started to watch last night: 2
• IPods headphone seen today: 3
• Orange Juices that I drank today: 1
• People at my lunch table today: 5
• Cups of coffee: 0
• ADM speeches reviewed: 1
• Ebay auctions I won this week: 3
  
• Comments left on blogs today: 3

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Finished watching Smallville Season 2 last night. I loved it. Some episodes were not related to the main story arc though and those bugged me. I prefer a show like 24 or Lost where everything revolved around a main arc. Here, they do have a cool storyline going but some shows are added in and don't help the main thread as much as others.



Next up, finish watching season 1 of Prison Break. I have 8 to go.

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I won 3 Ebay Items this week: 2 Tintin DVDs as well as a CD. Sweet. A few months ago, I posted an entry about this Pac-Man Watch that I had as a kid and lost over the years. Well, looks like I might be able to bid on one today. Price is steep but I'm thinking of going for it. You only live once right? We shall see if others get in one it as well.

Site of the Week: Wookieepedia

Wikipedia, I knew about... but WOOKIEEPEDIA?! No way!!! Too cool! :)



I dedicate this discovery to Cinthia and Véro!!

Canada votes!

Martin, Duceppe, Harper and Layton are flying on the Executive Airbus to a gathering in British Columbia when Martin turns to Harper and says, chuckling, "You know, I could throw a $1000 bill out the window right now and make someone very happy."

Duceppe looks at him and says, "I could take $100 and give it to a Quebecer and he could buy himself a referendum."

Harper shrugs and not to be outdone, replies, "Well, I could throw ten $100 bills out the window and make ten people happy."

Layton says, "Well I could throw a hundred $10 bills out the window and make a hundred people happy."

The pilot rolls his eyes and says to his co-pilot, "Such arrogant asses back there. Hell, I could throw all four of them out the window and make 32 million people happy."


Happy Voting!!!!!!

Calm week-ender or moi.

Pretty calm w-e on my end. Which is good after the whole new-job stress thing last week. Glad it is settled and that I know what lies ahead now. Hopefully nothing will go wrong and I will sign the papers tomorrow.

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On Friday, we were at Milestones in the market with some friends for dinner. Great food - decent price. Strongly recommend!! Then tried to hook up with the folks that were celebrating Joelle's birthday. Didn't happen- they were in one part of town, we were in another. Hope you had a great B-day Joelle (will make it up to you Jo - dinner invite is still open).

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Saturday, a visit at Costco in the West end with Cin and MJ... man that place is huge. I bought Bomber Man DS. Yay! In the evening, we watched Hero. Ever since we saw Geisha, i've wanted to show Cinthia the film Hero. A great film. beatiful music and awsome colours. She said she liked it.

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Today was spent resting and reading a bit. I'm back into reading some Tintin stuff. I picked up a cool Tintin book in Montreal last w-e and it's a cool study of all his adventures. I also scored a copy of Tintin et le lac aux requins on Friday.

SW: Deleted Magic
I also watched a really cool documentary I got off the net called Star Wars: Deleted Magic. It's a doc which presents all the scenes that were cut from SW. Pretty cool stuff. ONe would think that I would have seen all the available footage related to SW by now but there were quite a few scenes I had red about but never seen in there. Très cool!

2006 CD Discovery #5 - Matt Mays - Self Titled

Artist: Matt Mays
Album: Matt Mays

The skinny: Folkish, Dylan/Neil Young/Blue Rodeo sounding guitar album which introduced me to an artist which could be worth following in years to come. I can't say that I didn't like the CD. It's good music but it didn't blow me away. I gave it at least 3-4 full spins this week and I found myself finishing the CD and just moving on to something faster and more upbeat. It made for some good mood music in the background as I read but it didn't stand out.

I guess I was hoping for something a little more upbeat after I got the CD and read about him. Palmer then said that his later album is much more rock sounding. I shall have to borrow a copy sometime to try it out.

Fav. songs: Your Heart & Sometime Soon

Open for business... later this year.

Clerks 2 is on its way... Kevin Smith just cut the first trailer for the flick - See it here!

I can't wait for this one.

"North by Northwest" strikes again

We watched my favourite Hitchcock film tonight at Trish's. The Film: "North By Northwest". I love this movie. It has a little bit of everything: suspense, drama, romance, action, a great all around cast, a solid cold war storyline as well as a scary mother. Everything is pulled together rather nicely and Hich's direction is just great. This film has stood the test of time and it's not moving from my top 10 films of all time.

Memorable bits:

- Hitchcock cameo of him missing the bus in the first two minutes of the film
- the great vista vision coulours
- the intense Bernard Herrmann score
- the sultry blonde tease that is/was Eva Marie Saint (Meow!)
- the superb acting of Cary Grant

Interesting sidenote, Eva Marie Saint, the blond lead in this film, will play Martha Kent in the upcoming Superman Returns film this summer.

Oh and let's not forget the first "Palmerism" of 2006:

"I love old movies, they make me feel young!"

Fortune Cookie

I found my fortune cookie piece of paper from last night while cleaning the living room today. It read:

"Time is the wisest counselor."

High cost of low prices

We watched the documentary film Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices tonight. A great doc that I strongly recommend for all - especially the information minded.
The documentary exposes the realities that surrounds the Wal-Mart empire and what happends when they decide to invade a small town. It was quite sad at times yet it's good that these people's stories have been documented and will hopefully help other little towns get organized.

It seems as though when Wal-Mart decides to move into a town, there us so much behind the move that city halls often open their arms to them without realizing what the impacts will be in the long run.

I won't talk about the film too much because I would really like to start lending my copy around to you guys.

Do they abuse poor countries to sell their shirts for .88 cents? Yes. Do they use every possible techniques to break up employees trying to unionize themselves? Yes. Do they only care about profits? Hell yeah.

Will I go back to Wal-Mart after this? I will definately try not to. Actually, I may go back there to return something that I bought elsewhere and lost the receipt. Call it my own little way of stickin'it to the man.

My question now is: just how many of the stores or big corporations fall in the same category as Wal-Mart? Is HMV a bad guy too? What about The Bay? Sears? Blockbuster?

2006 CD Discovery #4 - James Blunt: Back to Bedlam

This week's discovery disk is James Blunt's Back to Bedlam. Cinthia asked me about this guy 2 weeks ago and I checked out his album. I hadn't heard about him other that that Beautiful song which I heard on the radio in the car. A little early for my end of week discovery but my verdict is in. So here goes:


Artist: James Blunt
Album: Back to Bedlam

The skinny: My main complain for this debut album is its length - less than 40 minutes. To me, that's not a complete album. I do understand that this is a debut album, but in my book, that's delivering half a job to music fans. It's unfortunate because other than that - this *is* a solid album from A to Z. This guy has a nice voice (reminds me a little bit of Gowan for some odd reason). I don't know much about this guy's background other that what my gf told me nor do I really care. Solid pop ballads on here. Will stay in rotation in my Ipod for a while longer. I like.

Fav. Songs: You're Beautiful (my gf melts when this one plays on the radio), Wisemen (one great tune!), Tears and Rain (great vocal display).

Nintendo Revolution Commercial

Speaking of commercials, a few months back, Nintendo of Japan released this commercial for it's upcoming next generation video game console: the Revolution.

I had heard about the commercial on newsgroups but never actually seen it. I hear this was done to give us a glimpse of what will be possible with the new Revolotion controller.

I can see it now: a lightsaber battle where you move your controller like an actual saber handle. Sweet!!

Worth a look!!

52nd International Advertising Festivals

Went to the Bytown Cinemas tonight with Cinthia, Ryan, Russ, Anne, Heidi and Generiève. We watched the 2005 Cannes International Advertising Festival. We all had an excellent time.

My 5 highlight commercials are as follow:

5. Jaguar chases antilope commercial
4. Taiwan Energy : Don't go over 90 campaign.
3. Playstation 2: golfers vs porn stars
2. Dancing transforner Car by Citroen
1. Workaholic mouse clicker commercial

A great time. Russ, thanks for the invite.

Week-End News Report

A great time was had by all (well at least by Cinthia and I). We got to Montreal in wet weather but the drive was perfect. Great tunes and better conversation. When we got to the Bed and Breakfast, we we greeted by a very friendly individual who showed us to our room. It wasn't actually a room.. It was more like a loft. Kitchenette, dining room, living room and bedroom in a large 600 sq. feet room beatifully decorated with bright colours and cool artwork. Did I mention the fireplace and double jacuzzy roman bathtub?? Ohhh yeah. Who cares if the weather was bad!! The place was clean, and the staff were friendly.

We went shopping on St-Catherine for a few hours. I bought a new sporty winter coat for a whooping $39.99… awsome deal. We picked up some clothes, a couple of CDs and a few DVDs. I also bought my traditional Tintin book. Everytime I go to Monrteal, I try to buy myself something Tintin related. This time it was a cool hardcover book titled Tintin: Reporteur du Siècle.

Another cool hilight for me was the fact that while we drove into Montrea, the Canadiens were having a press conference to announce that they were firing their head coach. It was everywhere during our stay - on the radio, on tv and in the papers. Yay for me! (sorry, I love the excitement brought by trades and changes in a sports team.

After our shopping trip, we decided to go back to the B&B and order in instead of going out to a restaurant. What a great idea that turned out to be. Our own fire-lit candlelight dinner with soft romantic music and a bottle of wine. Sweet!!

Sunday, we decided to do a little more shopping closeby as it was really cold out. We decided that we would do the Old Montreal another time when the weather was better.

All in all, an awsome week-end in great company. What a way to forget about a crazy work week and get some perspective on things.

Letter "B", Let her be... Ooohhhh, it's "Let it be"

I was listening to a Nirvana song this morning on my IPod while walking to work. The way Cobain sang the lirycs, It remembed me of all those times when a certain cute brown-eyed girl sing a song in the car and trip over a line or sings a lyric her ears have chosed to be the right one. I find it cute... but still funny.

I found this cool site which shows some of these mistakes people have done over the years. The site is called AmIRight.com

I'm sure some of you have experienced funny moments like these.

Weekend Destination: Montreal

Time for a little escape. With all these crazy things happening these past days, what better than a little lover's week-end in Montreal.

We're off to this cute little Bed and Breakfast we fond online last night. Here are a few pictures of our room. We intend on spending some time in Old Montreal and take things easy:

The description of the room we booked is as follow:

Very attractive suite with a queen-size bed and bathroom with a two-person whirlpool bath and shower. Living room with wood-burning fireplace (winter use only), dining area and kitchenette. Private terrace.

Category: Large deluxe suite occupying an entire floor.
Occupation: Maximum 3 persons (Queen-size bed).
Size: Approximately 650 square feet .
Brightness: Many windows, patio door and skylight. Sunny all day long.
Comments: This room is an ideal choice for romantic getaways and honeymoons. A real love nest. Our largest suite.


I am a little perplexed by the Maximum 3 persons notion besides the Queen size bed notice. LOL

2006 CD Discovery #3 - The Avalanches: Since I Left You

Artist: The Avalanches
Album: Since I left You

Odd mix on here. I won't be too long with this one as I did not enjoy this CD too much. The record is well produced and some of the tracks are okay but there was simply too much overdubbing and too much sampling one here. At time, it sounded to me like a DJ's sample Mix gone wrong. One or two catchy tunes including The title track but that was it to me. I won't replay this often.

How does that song go again: I had a bad day.

I had a bad day! Worked hard on this document. Worked to get it done and when I was finally done, I printed a copy, showed my boss and wend back to my office. I decided to make a final little change and BAM! system crash and the data was lost. No backup because those things are done in evening, no saved copies because I was working on the main document. @#$%#$! (yeah, yeah, thank goodness for the printed version). It's still going to take someone a couple of hours tomorrow to re-type the damm thing. Not my week workwise.

I am starting to wonder if i shouldn't go back to program delivery (the opportunities are everywhere) as opposed to policy writing. I've been at it (policy design stuff) for a while now and the bloody progress isn't going fast enough for my taste. I am used to knowing everything at the tip of my fingers. I'm generally much more engaging and challenging at meetings. I'm used to leading at what I do. I've been at this new job for 8 months now. I understand that it can take some time to grasp things and be fully functionnal. The boss doesn't seem to have any issues with my performance. He said he is satisfied. The problem is that *I* am not. I've not yet decided what i'll do nor am I leaning in any direction yet but this is frickin' frustrating.

Someone once told me: "Some minds are made for policy design and others are not"; maybe this is not for me. Who knows.

A quick note to welcome Trish the Dish to the World of Blogs. You can read her rants at: evilsmurfette.blogspot.com.

Hot date + saw Memoirs of a Geisha

Just got back from this hot date with this cute girl named Cinthia. Man, I hope I get to see this babe again soon. She is damn hot! (sigh)

We went to see the movie MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA. It was pretty good. Beatiful cinematography and spectacular music. The music was composed by John Williams of (Star Wars and Jaws fame just to name a few) and the violin solos were played by Itsacc Perlman (you might remember his solos from the Shindler's List soundtrack) and Yo-Yo Ma on cello solo. Awsome stuff.


The strange thing for me was that I recognized a few chinese actors and actresses from the Hong Kong cinema DVDs i own and the story and film was placed in Japan. It was just a little odd to hear chinese actors talking in english and playing japaniese parts. Only an American director would do such a thing (I believe that Rob Marshall is american).

I think I would have appreciated the film more had the actors spoken in their original language though. I don't mind subtitled films and in this case I think it would have added to the experience (if you forget the chinese-japaniese actor shuffle).

I would rate the film a solid 7.5 out of 10. I hadn't read the book but Cinthia who enjoyed the film as well said that it was relatively close to the book.

Top10 DVDs of 2005

My top 10 DVDs of 2005 are as follow.

- Sideways
- What the Bleep do we Know?
- Old Boy
- La grande Séduction
- Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
- March of the Penguins
- The Incredibles
- House of Flying Daggers
- Haute Tension
- Napoleon Dynamite

Sideways: loved it - a fun buddy picture with fine acting by the most underated actor on this planet Paul Giamatti. What the Bleep made me look at a few things differently. It's not for everyone (heck, it's partly a documentary about Quantum Physics) but it struck a cord with me. Solid set of extras. Old Boy - for pure storytelling, it's the one that Wowed me this year. Solid, solid tale about the subject of vengeance. La grande Séduction was my coup de coeur this year. Funny story all around with fine Québec actors. Sith - as I have stated previously in my Moments of 2005 entry, it closed the loop. The DVD is full of goodness. March of the Penguins was discovered in the last week of 2005 but crept on my list like a tough penguin in minus 50 weather. The Incredibles was my animation film of the year. Flying Daggers was simply stunning! If you liked Hero, you'll love this one. Haute Tension was seen with some friends at Trish's for movie night. I remember us chatting about it for 45 minutes after the flick eas over. Great horror film. Napoleon - well... one word: Liger!!

Thank you MacGyver!

The Great Snowshoe Excursion: Success!!

Well, I had a great time in Gatineau Park with Cin, Miryam and Martin. I even got to show off my MacGyver skills when one of the straps on one of my snowshoes broke. I knoew those weren't wasted hours of TV watching!!

I was surprised by the hi-tech shoes that our friends had. Cinthia and I had classic wooden "raquettes". The other couple had these aluminium alloy, spiked micro shoes. I felt as though I was in a wooden chariot waiting on a corner street and then a ferrari stops besides and waits for the green light to turn. Ah well, the times they are a chaingin' and so are the snow shoes I guess. We still got to the top and had a good time nonetheless.

I'll see how many times I go out this year and maybe next season I will buy a pair of these little metal wonders!


Later in the evening, I watched my first episode of PRISON BREAK which Ryan had given me a while back. I liked it alot and will watch Ep.2 tonight.


In Other news, my cat Mork has been sneezning/coughing for the last month. At first people told me it was probably because of the dry air and thefact that I had turned on the heating. He does it only a few times a day for 3-4 minutes. It's as though he has a chest cold and can't cough the bad stuff out. I'll go buy an humidifier this week (I need it too) and if that doesn't help, off to the vet we go next week.

A movie to make you blush

I know this guy, let's call him Art Woo.

He ia a weekly reader of a website called DVDTalk. In his opinion, the site is probably the best resource for DVD news and releases out there. DVD Talk covers everything from Anime to horror (shlock), from silent film to avant-guarde cinema, from hollywood blockbusters to video games (quick sidenote: the site also offers a really cool podcast with interviews from cinema insiders and famous folks who produce DVDs). They house over 14,000 DVD reviews on the site. Whenever Mr. Woo is considering buying a DVD, he always peek at their site to see what their reviewers have to said about a disk.

In recent weeks, they released a cool set of Top 10 lists of their favorite DVDs for the year 2005. They coverered pretty much all possible DVD categories (from top 20 dvds to top foreign to top box set etc.) Amongst the list, was a top 10 list of adult features. Since Mr. Woo has an X and a Y chromosome, he checked the list out.

The number one movie on the list for 2005 is called Pirates and the review sound pretty sweet. So over holidays, Mr. Woo and his girl checked it out.

Sidenote: At this time, Mr. Woo believes he is one of the very few people who has at one time or another paid into that 2.6 billion dollar plus industry that is adult entertainment. Right? :) Actually, Mr. Woo didn't really rent or pay for the film this time around, he just downloaded the torrent file off the net. (evil grin!)
Anyhow, Mr. Woo and his significant other watched the movie. The film was pretty cool. Very high production values with hollywood quality sets and costmes. The story was pretty decent as well. There was a comedic element to it that made the whole thing flow. They even had some impressive computer generated special effects. To make a long story short, Mr. Woo and his girlfriend were quite impressed by the film and would recommend it to anyone wishing to snuggle up with a special someone on a cold winter evening.

Another reason why I hate IE!!!

Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) plain sucks!!! I am reverting back to this canned bersion until I have a moment to retool the webside design. Holly told me on Saturday taht she would have to scroll down a while before she saw the blog entries. I checked things out and it would seem that folks using the caveman age IE were not getthing the styles sheet read properly! Figures... Yet another reason why NOT to use IE!

DO yourself a favour and get Firefox or Opera as a web browser. A lot less likely to get a virus on your PC (e.g: more secure!) and it reads pages more easily and faster!! Sigh!

Artoo in the great outdoors!

A pretty quiet w-e. Feels good after the Xmas holiday rush to take our time. Was supposed to head down to Montreal this w-e but opted to go next week and use these 2 days as R&R instead.

Holly came over for dinner last night. We made a fresh pasta dish. Yummy! Good to see you girl. Hope you kicked ass at Mario Party later in the evening.

We watched Serendipity late last night. What a great film. Ièm always joking around with Cin when we watch a chick flick saying that it's a pain to watch these. Well this one is a cool one. I don't know if it's because it's a John Cusack flick (I don't think I have ever been disapointed by one of his flicks) or because Kate Beckinsale was in it (meow!) but it was a cute and charming film.



Today, we are going snow-shoeing. I should be an adventure!! Will report back on the misadventures of Artoo in the great outdoors.

Longjohns'r'us

Sigh... not the sexiest of underwear!! :)

Did you know that the name 'Long Johns', long skin-tight underpants, was actually first used for the long underwear issued to American soldiers during World War Two. The name is derived from the old boxing gear worn by John L. Sullivan, who was a boxer in the late 1880s, the height of his career being 1882-92.

2006 CD Discovery #2 - The Strokes: First Impressions of Earth

Artist: The Strokes
Album: First Impressions of Earth

This year if off to a great start with my music discoveries. I gave the bamd The Strokes a try this week with the album First Impressions of Earth. WoW! A great disk this was. Raw power of most tunes is what carries this album along in my ears. Every song buids and builds to an eruption of musical goodness. Simple guitar riffs with great vicals. In the same line as the While Stripes. Something to try out if you haven't had a chance to listen to these guys. They apparently have 3 CDs so I am definately behind with this sound. I'll check their other stuff out real soon. My favorite tunes: Red Light, Ize of the World. 7.5/10 - Very Good Album!

2006 CD Discovery #1 - The Postal Service: Give Up

I decided to try out a new unknown artist/cd per week in 2006. Should be quite easy given the Ipod is always with me. Here Goes:

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Artist: The Postal Service
Album: Give Up

Really cool melodic album. This electro-synth pop album reminded me a little of a cross hybrid sound that would be between the Grapes of Wrath, Men Without Hats and Radiohead. Very digital sounding polyphonic melodies. An easy to listn album that caught my ear the first time I listened to it. My favorite tracks were: We will become silhouettes, Brand new colony and Such great hights. I loved it and this album will remain in my regular rotation for the next little while. A definate 8.5 out of 10.

Mini-movie review: National Treasure

Watched this film last night. Popcorn flick that rips off the DaVinci Code story. You can tell this one was hurried out by hollywood execs to capitalize on the popularity of the Dan Brown book. Ridles are figured out too quickly by man actor and this was a poor attempt to make an Indianna Jonesque film to feed on the historical fact-fiction craze that is out there right now. 3/10

Next Media Format - What comes after the DVD...

A few days ago, Studios announced what will be their first wave of HD-DVD titles. Today, Sopranos has just been added by HBO to the list of this year's titles.

As I read this today, after having picked up Sopranos Season 5 on DVD yesterday (used for $50 no less), I started thinking about the times we live in - vis-a-vis portable media. It will be interesting to see if HD-DVD make an impact in the marketplace before it becomes obsolete.

I don't currently have an HD-TV set nor do 80% of the people I know. I have been knows to be a relative earlybird when a new technology comes out -- at least an "earlier-bird" than most people... I don't expect to buy into this gebneration of technology (the HD-DVD that is, not the TVs). Too plain risky and not enough of an upgrade on the few hundreds of DVDs I already have.

Personally, I will most likely end up waiting for the next generation (holographic versatile disk anyone?). While I am happy that these players will he backwards compatible, unless my player breaks on me, I will wait.

At the speed at which new media is being developped, one has to be careful in his or her purchases. These format wars make consumers weary of technology. We buy more and more disposable crap every year. The speed at which the little mem sticks has shrinked in size is scary. Portable media is getting cheaper and cheaper. Why is it that a perfectly good XBox system which still functions {and has just come into his own game-wise in the last year and a half - meaning that developpers just learned all the cool ways of taking full advantage of the machine's power) is put on the way side in favour of a new unit after only a few years... the Xbox came our 4 years ago for crying out loud! It is now considered old news??

I won't start the debate over instant downloadable media replacing hard copies. Books will always have a place. People will always want to buy a piece of plastic or whatever with a picture on it and say it is theirs even if Bill Gates or that Apple guy creates a system by which one can instantly watch a movie, listen to a tune at his or her leisure without going to a store.

But this generation of media that is upon us (blu-ray, HD-DVD) might be a little too close to what is about to come out in a year or two or three. My warning: If people arem't careful, they are going to learn the cost of buying in to a technology too soon when they have another betamax on their hands.

Mini-movie review: The Wedding Crashers

Movie night at Trish's yesterday with Trish, Claude, Matt and Joe. We watched the Wedding Crashers. I give the film a 6.57/10. I liked it but thought it dragged a little. There are some funny bits but they would have done better by cutting the thing by 20 minutes. Funniest bits for me were with the crazy younger daughter who was obsessed by Wedding Crasher #1 guy. Hilarious stuff.

Mini-movie review: The Sea Inside

I am not surprised that this flick won best foreign film in 2005 at the Oscars. The leading actor should have been seriously considered for Best Actor. The performace given is incredible. I won't go too much into the storyline other than saying that it is about a man who is fighting for the legal right to end his life. It is an excellent film that would go well with Les Invasions Barbares as a double bill to strike a good evening of conversation on the issue. I really enjoyed the way they treated the subject matter. Based on a true story. A must see film. 8.5/10

Things that make me laugh!

A few days ago, I discovered the Ricky Gervais Show Podcasts. For those of you not familias with Mr. Gervais, he is the genius behing the British tv show: The Office. He has a perculiar sense of humor and always seems to surround himself with odd characters. Check him out. I added a link in the sidebar menu to his site.

Fortune, I wish you fortune!

Here is what my fortune cookie read last night:

"Every man is a volume if you know how to read him"

New year, new look

I decided to spice up the site design a little to start the new year. Enjoy!
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Took things easy for New Year's Eve. We went out to the Casino for a few hours with Cinthia's bro and his gf. I came out on top by $10. Yay for me.

Mini-movie review: Childstar

Watched Childstar, by Don McKellar tonight with Cinthia. The films was okay but i was holing for alittle more. Good acting but didn't have the full Don McKellar feel to it. DVD extras explain that the struggles all along the making of the film. Perhaps this is partly why. Interesting subject matter though. 6/10

Moments of 2005

Well, I suppose if everyone else is doing it, I’d better join the fray with a year-end introspective of my own. Here are 8 randomly-selected things that made me happy in 2005, in no particular order.

Cinful One and Artoo start dating: What to say... 2005 is the year where Artoo and the Cinful One developped their relationship. Without falling into clichés, I can safely say that I am very happy for having met the Cinful One. My Cinful One. I have had a blast this past year and cherish the bond that exists between us. I love you.

Duran Duran Concert at Bell Centre (Montreal, QC) Earlier in the year, I went to see a band that I grew up loving in the 80s. The band, finally with the original members, released an awsome album last year called Astronaut. I went to Montreal by Bus and has a great time. I find that I like going and seeng a band by myself once in a while. It may sound odd but for me a trip somewhere by myself always end us being an introspective journey.

StarWars: Revenge of the Sith Screening with Claude and Ryan: There are very few movies that have marked my childhood. As a kid, I lived everything StarWars. I had it all, the bed sheets, the action figures, the records, the books, the tapes. I could recite the StarWars audio storybook by heart: "This is the Story of StarWars, you can read along with me in your book. You will know when it is time to turn the page, when you hear artoo Deetoo beep like this...". Well 2005 marked the end of the StarWars saga. With the release of Revenge of the Sith in theatres, the circle was now complete. I had a great time seeing the film with two good friends. Chatting afterwards about the film and your StarWars memories was quite enjoyable.

Artoo and the DS are introduced: As I have stated before, I am an avid fan of Video Gaming. Unfortunately, in recent years, the new generations of game consoles have all but lost their souls in favour of powerful machines and better graphics. This past July, I purchased Nintendo's new handheld, the DS. If you want to experience what gaming with soul is, thy the DS - you won't be disapointed.

Artoo Does New-York: My first trip to the Big Apple was a success. I will try to render the trip justice in a later post. My recommendation: go with someone you love, it will make it that more special. New-York is a groovy town for lovebirds.

U2 Concert at the Corel Centre (Ottawa, ON): You have heard me rave about this show in recent weeks so I wonèt dwell too much on the event. I will simply say that they deliver an amazing set and give it their all.

Artoo meets the Hedgehog: an odd meeting yet a fun night. A bunch of us went to listen to some stand-up comedy by the one and only Ron Jeremy earlier in the first quarter of the year. A funny evening not soon forgotten.

2005 International Montreal Jazz Festival Vacation: Magical moment underneath a starlit night in Montreal on July 5th. A short walk from the hotel led us to a small stage where a New-York band called Tortured Soul was playing the smoothest grooves i had ever heard. We just hung there and danced to the cool soulful tunes! A magical moment with a special someone.