Artoo's Space [ Retired Blog ]

iBenoit.com Launched!

2007-09-22T18:11:00.000-04:00

We'll meet again!

2006-12-25T17:21:00.000-05:00

Well about a year ago, I decided to undertake this little Blogging experiment. September 2005 to September 2006. I've run many personal Web sites in the past... heck, in my little heart, my old BBSs were like a little log of my weekly musings. Since 89' we've seen: R2d2's BBS -> Artoo's BBS -> Artoo's -> Artoo's Space -> The Popcorn Gallery. Time for a little break.

Will it be back... Of course it will. In a few days? Maybe not. In a few months or a year? More likely. Thank you all for taking the time.

Artoo signing off for now!

Wii Time is Upon us!!!

2006-11-18T17:31:00.000-05:00

Wii-Sunday is upon us all!!

Wii Day!

2006-09-18T00:07:00.000-04:00

Alright girls and boys, Nintendo's new little console is coming out on the 19th of November. No need to take the day off to celebrate Wii-day because it falls on a Sunday!

Maybe a few of us can get together and have a little Wario Ware and Wii Sports competition.

More on this later.

Movie Night: Dawn of the Dead

2006-09-17T20:53:00.000-04:00

This week, my Zombie fix was taken care of at Cinema Chez Trish. A small group of us watched the Dawn remake. Some new lessons following this viewing: Zombies like product placements and do not rely on Sena to lead a group of survivors in case of a zombie attack. Maybe she should buy herself a copy of the Zombie Survival Guide.

Wii Press Release

2006-09-14T12:43:00.000-04:00

PRESS RELEASE

14th September 2006 - Nintendo will reshape the home entertainment and video game landscape with the launch of its heralded Wii™ home video game console. Wii will go on sale in the Americas on November 19th and Japan on December 2nd - European launch date, price and software line up will be announced at a press conference in London tomorrow (Friday 15th).

Wii will be sold as an affordable, mass-consumer product at an MSRP in the US of just $249.99. The price includes one wireless Wii Remote controller, one Nunchuk™ controller and the groundbreaking collection of five different Wii Sports games on one disc, which anyone can play using simple physical movements, experienced or not.

Every Wii console will include another distinctive feature: a series of on-screen “channels” that make up the Wii Channel Menu, which makes the console approachable and customizable for everyone, from the most avid gamer to people who have never played before. The Wii Channel Menu is the starting point for all of the console’s functions. The “channels” offer a gateway to a rich variety of entertainment options. When connected to a TV, the Wii Channel Menu offers a simple interface letting users pick games to play, get news or weather, upload and send photos or even create playable caricatures of themselves to use in actual games. The variety of options available through the Wii Channel Menu motivates both gamers and non-gamers to turn on Wii’s power every day.

Wii is creating worldwide excitement with its unique control system, an inventive, first-of-its-kind controller whose position can be detected in a 3-D space. The new controller allows users pinpoint target in games or move through the Wii Channel Menu with precision and ease. This intuitive control system will be understood immediately by everyone, regardless of their previous experience with video games. With this one small controller, Wii makes games both easier and more intense than anything previously experienced. For example, in the Wii Sports tennis game players swing the Wii Remote like a racket to hit the ball, as in real life. They can add topspin or slice the ball just by angling their hands and wrist like they would in a real match.

“Wii reinvents games for the devoted player,” says Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. “But more importantly, Wii breaks the wall separating players from non-players by delivering the best game experiences for the most affordable price. We believe the next leap is games for the masses – young and old, gamer or non, alone, with a friend or with the whole family.”

Fils-Aime made his remarks in New York, shortly after Nintendo executives in Japan announced Wii will launch there on Dec 2nd priced at 25,000 yen. Both announcements come ahead of a European press conference during which Nintendo will unveil specific detail around the console’s launch in Europe.

Between launch day and Dec. 31, Wii owners across America will enjoy a robust lineup of 30 software titles, with selections for everyone from video game veterans to newcomers. Some top Nintendo launch titles include Wii Sports, a compilation of tennis, baseball, golf and bowling; The Legend of Zelda®: Twilight Princess; and EXCITE TRUCK™. While publishers are free to set their own prices for games, first-party Nintendo titles will have an MSRP of $49.99. Wii’s self-loading media bay also can play the entire library of more than 530 Nintendo GameCube™ titles from day one.

Third-party developers around the world have lined up to provide unprecedented support for Wii, “I believe the Wii will attract new and casual gamers to the world of interactive entertainment,” says Larry Probst, Chairman and CEO, Electronic Arts. “It’s a fun, easy and economical system that will become a bridge to gaming for mainstream audiences. At EA, we are putting more support behind the Wii than any Nintendo hardware launch since the Super NES.”

Additional information about the list of Virtual Console games and the pricing structure will be revealed in the coming weeks.

Wii Information

2006-09-14T12:18:00.000-04:00

Wii for $250 - White only AHHH:
Nov 19th release date - 3 Days after PS3 and before Japan gets it!
Wii Sports included
Wii remote included
Wii Strap included
Nunchuk included
Stand included
30 NES titles at launch
30 Turbo Graphix16 Titles at launch
10 new Virtual Console titles added every month
Wii has Channels that will own you...
Wii Channel for local forecast
Wii Channel for news
Wii Channel for Shopping
Wii Channel for Mii (my fav)
Wii Channel for Web (Opera)
Wii Channel for Photocasting
Virtual Console titles for about $5-$10

VC systems show up as Channels (Super Nintendo Channel)
White only for US (simplicity)
expected to sell over 4 million in 43 days (until end of 2006)...thats insane
bowling and boxing added to Wii sports
Sensor Bar included

30 launch titles
first party titles are $49.99
500 Wii Points for NES Games
800 Wii points for SNES
1000 for N64 Games
2000 Wii Points for $20
games become thier own channels
the Mii Channel. A digital 3D caricature of you, your friends, your family, anyone you want to create. Three basic ways to interact. Creation, choose a look-alike, 2nd you can start from scratch. Transfer Miis to Wii Remote, take them with you. Populate your games. Wii Sports, etc.
photo viewer can play video clips

There is a Wii Message Board, send messages to other Wii users, PC users, or to cellphones. Leave messages for other family members on your calendar
You can download an Opera browser using Wii points and surf the web
Wii Remote has MSRP of $39.99
Nunchuk attachment has MSRP of $19.99.
All first-party, most if not all, content is widescreen.
2000 Wii points will be roughly $24 Canadian.

Watch the trailer! Awesome!!!

Prison Break: S2 Episode 4

2006-09-13T22:13:00.000-04:00

An OK show this week. I must say though that I am getting more and more disgusted by the T-bag character. The chase was a little less interesting this week. Bellock got his yet again and Michael and his bro ran a little further and are getting closer to Utah.
I was surprised by the death of one of the main convicts this early on in the season. My least favorite episode this season though. 5 mob bosses out of 10.

V foe Vendetta

2006-09-13T22:02:00.000-04:00

Picked up this flick last w-e at Rogers. I must say that I liked it quite a bit. It was original, intense, stylish and had a great performance by Queen Amidala. I wouldn't say it was the best comic book movie in years - that title goes to Batman Begins in my book - but the pure elegance of the cinematography was on par with the best of them.

I reminded me a little bit of a cross between Eyes wide Shut for the ambiance (minus sexual overtones of course), Batman (the first Burton one) for the darkness and a toutch of Cyrano De Bergerac for the poetry.

Worth the pick-up if you are into comic book based films or into good sci-fi films. I give this one 7.5 Vs out of 10.

Pokemon Trozei DS

2006-09-12T21:20:00.000-04:00

Will someone tell me how this game works... I can't say i am sold on the concept yet... puzzlers should be simple enough for one to understand how they work from the get-go. This one required reading and reading before truely understanding the gameplay. got it for a great price though...$19.99 - can't complain!

Rating: The verdict is not in yet...

Galaxina

2006-09-12T21:10:00.000-04:00

Galaxina shall be known as the first film in a while that I was unable to finish. I make the effort of watching things through... i may use the fast forward on my remote but i finish them. Well i don't get this one.

The plot line... okay, the story was supposed to be a campy space comedy staring an ex-playboy bunny... in space with a funny captain and bad crew... what is there not to like??? Ehh.. not even worth the typing effort. 2 out of 10. Run from this one. They apparently came out with a special edition of this film last week... I prefered Twinkle Twinkle Little Star AND compared to this film, Snakes on a Plane is an Academy Award winning film.

Zombie Honeymoon

2006-09-06T21:14:00.000-04:00

We saw this amazing funny romantic zombie flick on Monday. It was called Zombie Honeymoon. I believe that this was a very small independant film.

IMDB says the following about it: Zombie Honeymoon is a romantic horror film about a young married couple, madly in love, on their honeymoon. One day on the beach, the groom Danny is attacked and killed by a man who rises up out of the water with no explanation, leaps on top of him, and vomits blood into his mouth. Danny is resuscitated ten minutes later, and seems to look and act totally normal. However, his wife Denise finds out that that's not the case at all. It turns out that Danny has become a zombie.

Tagline: In sickness and in health.

What ensues is classic. Danny who used to be a vegerarian sarts eating people. He can't stop. His wife learns about this and has to make a tough decision. For a small film, this one goes a long way in the entertainment department. Proof that all you need is a solid plotline and alot of imagination. Definately one of my top 5 zombie flicks of all time. I give this gorefest a 8 un-dead newlyweds out of a possible 10.

Do cows really tip over?

2006-09-05T23:04:00.000-04:00

Random thought from a car ride on the week-end:

As we pass a bunch of cows in a field:

Me: "I have always wanted to witness a cow tipping over."

Cinthia: (silence)

Prison Break S2: Episode 3

2006-09-04T21:16:00.000-04:00

Excellent Episode III. Loved every minute of it. I somehow think that as time goes on, FBI guy will discover the innocence of link and be caught between the Prison guard unters and the fugitives. The escape and fake death scenario is a cool one. i love that the manhunt will continue though. A solid 9 blown-up cars out of 10.

Poor Little Rich Girl

2006-09-04T21:00:00.000-04:00

Guerilla artist Banksy tampered with 500 copies of Paris Hilton's debut album across 48 record shops in the UK by replacing the CD with his own remixes featuring such titles as Why am I Famous?, What Have I Done? and What Am I For? as well as swapping out her picture on the CD sleeve with one of her topless and with a dog's head.

Prison Break S2: Episode 2

2006-09-03T12:08:00.000-04:00

Equal Opportinity Blog (following 24's Elisha Cutbert pictires last week, I give you ladies: Dominic Purcell)

Episode 2 - Not as good as the season opener. A lot less of that FBI guy in it. They only grazed on some plot lines in this one and concentrated on Burrow's son. I liked the fact that they ended up face to face with the FBI guy and that he quickly figured out that they woulnèt shoot him. Makes me think that they are again borrowing from The Fugitive here and that the FBI guy might be the one, in the end, that figures out that Link is innocent and helps them. 6 severed hands stitched back up out of 10

Les poupées russes

2006-09-03T11:40:00.000-04:00

I really enjoyed the french film L'auberge espagnole which I saw a few months ago. It was fresh, had great young upcoming european actors in it and had a nice cohesive aura about it. Les poupées russe takes off 5 years after L'auberge espagnole left off. Does it work? Yes. maybe not as fresh as the first film, the author still manages to grab our curiosity from the start of the flick. These are characters that we quickly rediscover and care for. What doesnèt work in the film is the fact that we concentrate on one storyline and skirt around a bunch of other ones which could have been as interesting as the main one. The first film was able to tell 4 or 5 stolylines by intertwining them together in a cohesive fashion. Can't say that the film didn't work though. It was quite enjoyable with nice editing visual effects. A nice 7 Tatou out of 10.

Butterfly Effect

2006-09-03T11:29:00.000-04:00

Was it a revival of the famed Movie Night? Time will tell. Trish, Claude, Sena, Cinthia and I watched the Butterfly Effect last Thursday.

IMDB blurts out: A young man (Kutcher) blocks out harmful memories of significant events of his life. As he grows up, he finds a way to remember these lost memories and a supernatural way to alter his life.

What I thought: Film was good. I was expecting something a little more esoteric and messed up but I can't say that this one wasn't enjoyable. We decited to watch the Director's cut and the ending, although not as hollywoodesque, made more sense than the original theatre cut (which we peeked at afterwards). I though it could have been a little less linear (plot was: try, try again, try again then figure it out). Kutcher was believable in this. I give this one 6.5 notebooks out of 10.

Star Trek: CGI

2006-09-01T19:55:00.000-04:00

Today CBS issued a press release on the upcoming original Star Trek CG upgrade:

"Hollywood, Calif. -- STAR TREK is getting a 21st century makeover. CBS Paramount Domestic Television is releasing digitally remastered episodes of the iconic 1960s sci-fi series, with all new special effects and music, to celebrate the groundbreaking series' 40th anniversary, it was announced today by John Nogawski, president of CBS Paramount Domestic Television.

The new episodes also mark the first time in 16 years that the original STAR TREK series can be seen in broadcast syndication. The episodes will begin airing on the more than 200 stations that own the rights to the weekend broadcast syndication window starting Sept. 16 (check local listings for station and dates). All 79 episodes of the original STAR TREK series will eventually be remastered, with the first batch of episodes chosen from a list of STAR TREK fans' favorite shows.

"STAR TREK redefined science-fiction and constantly pushed the envelope with concepts that were ahead of their time," Nogawski said. "By giving the series a digital upgrade using the best technology available today, it will continue to be a leader in cutting-edge television programming as we introduce the series to a new generation of viewers."

The most noticeable change will be redoing many of the special effects, created with 1960s technology, with 21st century computer-generated imagery (CGI). That includes:

• Space ship exteriors -- The space ship Enterprise, as well as other Starships, will be replaced with state of the art CGI-created ships. The new computer-generated Enterprise is based on the exact measurements of the original model, which now rests in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

• Show opening -- The Enterprise and planets seen in the main title sequence will be redone, giving them depth and dimension for the first time.

• Galaxy shots -- All the graphics of the galaxy, so frequently seen through the window on the Enterprise's bridge, will be redone.

• Exteriors -- The battle scenes, planets and ships from other cultures (notably the Romulan Bird of Prey and Klingon Battle Cruisers) will be updated.

• Background scenes -- Some of the iconic, yet flat, matte paintings used as backdrops for the strange, new worlds explored by the Enterprise crew will get a CGI face-lift, adding atmosphere and lighting.

The refurbished episodes also feature higher quality sound for the famous opening theme. The original score by Emmy Award-winning composer Alexander Courage has been re-recorded in state-of-the-art digital stereo audio with an orchestra and a female singer belting out the famous vocals. A digitally remastered version of William Shatner's classic original recording of the 38-word "Space, the final frontier…" monologue continues to open each episode.

The remastered episodes have been converted from the original film into a High-Definition format, which gives viewers a clearer, crisper, more vibrant picture than before, even when viewed in standard definition. Once stations upgrade and start broadcasting HD signals, the episodes will be all ready for viewers to enjoy in HD."

I'm up for watching some of these.

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

2006-08-30T22:24:00.000-04:00

IMDB: This film is a sequel in name only to Valley of the Dolls (1967). An all-girl rock band goes to Hollywood to make it big. There they find success, but luckily for us, they sink into a cesspool of decadence. This film has a sleeping woman performing on a gun which is in her mouth. It has women posing as men. It has lesbian sex scenes. It is also written by Roger Ebert, who had become friends with Russ Meyer after writing favorable reviews of several of his films.

What I saw: Film started with a bang. Music was incredible. Would love to catch the soundtrack some day. I love the photography, the mood, the ambiance of the whole spectacle. Some very off cats in this one. I always knew Ebert was a little askew in his personal movie tastes but this one was a little odd for my taste. As my friend Alexandre said: This is a twisted cross between Silence of the Lambs and Rocky Horror Picture Show. 5 boobies out of 10 (hey, what can I say, it's a russ Myers film!!)

How many flicks on this list...

2006-08-30T21:42:00.000-04:00

Picked this one off Kate's Blog (a friend of Kevin, who is a friend of James and Ferda. You are apparently a a movie whore (or movie man-ho) if you have seen at least 100 films on this list... First impression: this should be easy. Here goes:

(1) Pirates of the Caribbean
() Boondock Saints
() The Mexican
(2) Fight Club
() Starsky and Hutch (the one with owen wilson)
(3) Neverending Story
(4) Blazing Saddles
(5) Airplane
(6) The Princess Bride
(7) Young Frankenstien
() AnchorMan
(8) Napoleon Dynamite
() Saw
() White Noise
() White Oleander
(9) Anger Management
(10) 50 First Dates
() Jason X
(11) Scream
(12) Scream 2
(13) Scream 3
(14) Scary Movie
() Scary Movie 2
() Scary Movie 3
(15) American Pie
(16) American Pie 2
(17) American Wedding
(18) Harry Potter
(19) Harry Potter 2
(20) Harry Potter 3
() Resident Evil I
() Resident Evil 2
(21) The Wedding Singer
(22) The Wedding Planner
() Little Black Book
(23) The Village
(24) Donnie Darko
(25) Lilo & Stitch
(26) Finding Nemo
(27) Finding Neverland
(28) 13 Ghosts
(29) Signs
(30) The Grinch
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original)
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre2 (the one with jessica biel)
() Butterfly Effect
(31) Thirteen going on 30
() I Robot
(32) Dodgeball
(33) Universal Soldier
() A Series Of Unfortunate Events
() Along Came A Spider
() Deep impact
() KingPin
(34) Never Been Kissed
(35) Meet The Parents
(36) Meet the Fockers....
(37) Eight Crazy Nights
() A Cinderella Story
(38) The Terminal
() The Lizzie McGuire Movie
() Passport to Paris
(39) Dumb & Dumber
(40) Dumb & Dumberer
() Final Destination
() Final Destination 2
(41) Halloween
(42) The Ring
(43) The Ring 2
() Harold & Kumar (white castle)
(44) Practical Magic
(45) Chicago
(46) Ghost Ship
(47) From Hell
(48) Hellboy
(49) Secret Window
(50) I Am Sam
(51) The Whole Nine Yards
(52) The Whole Ten Yards
(53) The Day After Tomorrow
(54) Child's Play
() Bride of Chucky
(55) Ten Things I Hate About You
(56) Just Married
(57) Gothika
(58) Nightmare on Elm Street
(59) Sixteen Candles
(60) Bad Boys
() Bad Boys 2
() Joy Ride
(61) Seven (SE7EN)
(62) Oceans Eleven
(63) Oceans Twelve
() Identity
() Lone Star State of Mind
(64) Bedazzled
(65) Predator I
(66) Predator II
(67) Independence Day
() Cujo
() A Bronx Tale
() Darkness Falls
(68) Christine
(69) ET
(70) Children of the Corn
(71) My boss' daughter
() Maid in Manhattan
(72) Frailty
() Best bet
(73) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
() She's All That
() Calendar Girls
(74) Sideways
(75) Mars Attacks
() Event Horizon
(76) Ever after
(77) Forrest Gump
(78) Big Trouble in Little China
(79) X-men 1
(80) X-men 2
() Jeepers Creepers....
() Jeepers Creepers 2
(81) Catch Me If You Can
(82) The Others
() Freaky Friday
() Reign of Fire
(83) Cruel Intentions
(84) The Hot Chick
() Swimfan
(85) Miracle
() Old School
() Ray
() The Notebook
(86) K-Pax
(87) Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
(88) Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
(89) Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
() A Walk to Remember
() Boogeyman
(90) Hitch
() Back Door Sluts 9
(91) The Fifth Element
(92) Star Wars episode I The Phantom Menace
(93) Star Wars episode II Attack of The Clones
(94) Star Wars episode III Revenge of The Sith
(95) Star Wars episode IV A New Hope
(96) Star Wars episode V The Empire Strikes Back
(97) Star Wars episode VI Return of The Jedi...
() Troop Beverly Hills
() Swimming with Sharks
(98) Air Force One
() For Richer or Poorer
(99) Trainspotting
() People under the stairs
(100) Blue Velvet
(101) Sound of music
() Parent Trap (the original)
(102) The Burbs
(103) The Terminator
(104) Empire Records
() SLC Punk
() Wild girls
(105) A Clockwork Orange
() The Order
(106) Spiderman
(107) Spiderman 2
(108) Amelie
() Mean Girls
(109) Shrek
(110) Shrek 2
(111) The Incredibles
(112) Collateral
(113) The Fast & The Furious
() 2 Fast 2 Furious
(114) Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow
(115) Closer
(116) Titanic
() Saved
(117) Bowling For Columbine
(118) Farenheit 9/11
(119) The Sixth Sense
(120) Artificial intelligence (AI)
() Love actually
() Shutter
() Ella Enchanted
() Princess diaries 1
() Princess diaries 2
() Constantine
(121) Million Dollar Baby
() Envy
(122) Eurotrip
() Malibu's Most wanted
(123) Big Daddy
() Black Sheep
(124) The Breakfast Club
(125) West Side Story
(126) A Christmas Story
(127) Spanglish
(128) Pulp Fiction
() Sleepover
(129) The Evil Dead
(130) Killer Klowns From Outer Space
() The seed of chucky
(131) Vanilla Sky
(132) Nightmare Before Christmas
(133) Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
(134) Interview With The Vampire
(135) The Crow
(136) Purple Rain
(137) Reservoir Dogs
(138) Wayne's World
(139) Wayne's World 2
(140) 21 Grams
(141) Blow
(142) Edward Scissorhands
(143) Clerks
(144) Beauty And The Beast
() Guess Who
() Monster In-law
(145) ELF
(146) Stuart Little
(147) Stuart Little 2
(148) Mall Rats
(149) Chasing Amy
() Chasing Liberty
(150) Dogma
(151) Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
(152) Beetlejuice
(153) Last Samurai
() The Amityville Horror
() The Aviator
() Romeo and Juliet (original)
() Beauty Shop
(154) Legally Blonde
() Legally Blonde 2
(155) Forgotten
() Confessions Of A Teenage Drama Queen
(156) Grudge (japanese or american)
() Wimbledon
(157) Bring It On
() Bring It On 2
() flight of the phoenix
() Johnsons family vaction
() Vegas family vacation
(158) Thirteen
(159) 2001: a space odessy
(160) Dr. Strangelove how i came to love the bomb
(161) indiana jones and the temple of doom
(162) indiana jones and the raiders of the lost ark
(163) indiana jones and the last crusade
(164) animal house
(165) happy gilmore
() once upon at time in mexico
() love dont cost a thing
(166) Breakfast at Tiffany's
(167) Bend it like Beckham
(168) Meet Joe Black

Heh heh heh... 168... pimpin' movies is my game! Kewl!

Millions

2006-08-29T23:09:00.000-04:00

Heads up, statisticians; another Nintendo milestone for ya. At some undisclosed time on Thursday morning, the two millionth unique user logged into the Nintendo Wi-Fi system.

Since Nintendo loves to put big numbers in perspective, their press release points out that this number is more than the population of fifteen of the United States...which, of course, is sort of silly, seeing as how the tally is coming from players worldwide. Still, it's an impressive number, and perhaps this added confidence in online gaming will give Nintendo the shove it needs to back it unconditionally for the upcoming Wii.
Upcoming games utilizing the Nintendo Wi-Fi feature? Some big ones: Final Fantasy III, Star Fox: Command, Yoshi's Island 2, you name it. Nintendo WFC is here to stay.

Cloak & Dagger

2006-08-29T21:54:00.000-04:00

Many folks foncly remember watching the movie The Wizard (staring Fred Savage) and thinking it was the coolest 90 minute commercial for Nintendo, Super Mario 3 and the Powerglove. Well, rewing a few years when Atari was kings of the home consoles and you would probably have been as giddy about the film Cloak & Dagger.

IMDB says: 1-year-old Davey, whose mother is dead and whose father is preoccupied with his own problems, has retreated into a world of video games and an imaginary hero-pal, the swashbuckling superspy Jack Flack. When an FBI agent about to be murdered slips him a video cartridge containing top-secret data, Davey is suddenly plunged into the intrigue and danger of real-life espionage. No adult believes his story, so he must run a gauntlet of violence and villainy aided only by a younger girl and the encouragement of "Jack Flack" at his side. How long can a comic-book role model guide him through this encounter with reality?

I say: What a cool little kids movie. It reminded me of these awesome Saturday made-for-tv movie specials I saw as a kid. Henry Thomas, fresh from a performance in E.T., plays a believable kid that finds danger at every corner street. Highlights include a few nice scenes in a video game store show some cool retro gaming equipment and nice hard to find Atari adverts. A fen film for young ones - along the lines of Goonies, Explorers and War games. 6.5 catridges out of 10.

Snakes on a Plane: Worth it?

2006-08-27T12:36:00.000-04:00

The film that was over-exposed before it ever even hit the screen. Now I pride myself for being a B-movie film buff but SOAP didn't quite make it in my book. Mildly entertaing in a few scenes, the film, cast and storyline are - like the audience - waiting for the punch-line of the film : one line of dialogue. Before and after that... lame.

Fun? Meh! There are just so many waysthat a snake can kill a passenger on a plane. There are just so many ways one can kill a snake. SOAP is pretty much a compendium of how a snake can kill and how one can kill a snake.. on a plane mind you.

Should one go see it just to hear one line of dialogue? That's up to you to decide but in my book, SOAP was a wash-out. 3 MF'ing snakes on a MF'ing plane out of 10... but you don't have to take my word for it.

24: Season 5 - Pretty good!

2006-08-26T19:02:00.000-04:00

We finished watching 24 Season 5 on Friday. we hd downloaded the lot from the web. It's hard to give this one a review without ruining some of it. I'll opt out of giving it a full review. Instead, i'll simply say that we enjoyed it quite a bit and that they did a really interesting thing this year... they left us on a cliffhanger similar to Season 1. Pretty sweet. You never know who will dies in this show and brings great appeal to the show. They do a great job introducing new charaters we care for every season.

Can't wait for next season - I still haven't decided if i'll PVR the episodes or wait for the entire run to be available for D/L. Again, if you have never checked out "24", it's a must. Season 5 gets a 7.5 tickers out of 10.

Transformers movie: ???

2006-08-26T10:48:00.000-04:00

What did they do to Megatron??

OK, Most of you know that there is a live-action Transformers film coming out next July. Pictures are slowly leaking onto the internet. Expect a American-Choppers paint style Optimus Prime big rig and this thing as a Megaron... Not the Tranformers I remember Mr. Michael Bay!

Wii Release Date Announcement?

2006-08-24T21:20:00.000-04:00

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney

2006-08-22T18:02:00.000-04:00

Friday Night, I put down a few dollars and finally got my grubby little hands on the Nintendo DS game Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. I had been looking for this Capcom game for a while.

It was released early on in the first Months AD (that "After DS" was released, for those of you in the know). It quickly sold out and Capcom never reissued the title. You can sometimes find copies on Ebay for $50+. Well I was lucky enough to find a used copy at a new EB Games store in Gatineau for $29. All I can say is: what a fun little game this is.

I'm not much into these Attorney TV shows but this little game keeps me awake at night. Play is simple and once I have completed the game I may just store it away for a few years until I forget the solutions but it's a fun ride. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney gets a solid 8.5 out of 10.

24: Season 5

2006-08-22T17:47:00.000-04:00

I would like to thank fellow canadian Elisha Cutbert for taking time out of her busy schedule to make a cameo appearance in 24 Season 5 which I am currently watching. Meeow!

Fot those of you who have not yet seen Season 5, I believe it is coming out on DVD next Month. It's an excellent story arc. Plenty of stists and turns in this one.

Unbreakable Redux

2006-08-22T17:36:00.000-04:00

This past week-end, we watched the M. Night film UNBREAKABLE. I like this film every time I see it. After the show I made the remark, it's as though Lex Luthor had helped Clark Kent become Superman in order to have a place in life: his arch ennemy. Great film. Little action but you get a good psyche examination into what makes a superhero and a villain. 7.5 Comics out of 10.

Movie Factoid: The film takes place in Philadelphia. On the wall of Elijah's workshop among the newspaper clippings is a headline "Killer Virus Released at Airport". Bruce Willis starred in Twelve Monkeys (1995), in which a killer virus was first released at the Philadelphia airport.

The Fugitive: Prison Break Ep 1

2006-08-22T17:29:00.000-04:00

Last night was the premiere of Prison Break Season 2. PLease do not read on if you do not want to fall on a spoiler or two.

I must say that I enjoyed the first episode. Not yet as engaging as last season but I don't mind the direction they are taking with it. I am hoping that they find a way to reinvent the "Fugitive" storyline a bit. Comparison can already be drawn between the two. Fugitive is on the run. Semi-charismatic FBI agent on the trail. IMO, the FBI guy was the best new element. I am hoping that we will slowly develop a empathy for this guy's character. It would be quite the coup if they can manage this. Empathy for the fugitive and the cop after him - I like. Episode 1 get a mark of 7 Fugitives out of 10.

PS: If you haven't seen this week's episode, don't watch the previews after the show. They seem to give way too much of next week's plot.

The Island

2006-08-21T22:53:00.000-04:00

Ryan lent me the film The Island last week. We watched it on Thursday night and enjoyed it quite a bit. Parallels to Logan's Run run rampant after viewing this film but it still held up.

If you are in the mood for a futuristic trip to a world where you slowly learn piece by piece what is really going on in this universe, you might enjoy this one. It's a light, action packed film with pretty good special effects. Not what I expected.

I give this one 7 lotto winners out of 10.

Snakes on a Plane - Anyone?

2006-08-21T00:02:00.000-04:00

OK, on this 21st of August, I just have to know...

Did anyone go out and see Snakes on a Plane this week-end? Better yet, what did you think of it?

When was the last film that you saw where it has hype but for being a - very bad- film but apparently provides the viewer with a fun movie going experience? I'm drawing a blank here.

I can think of movies like Freddy vs. Jason, Aliens vs. Predator or a Bruce Campbell flick but this one seems to have an aura about it. Maybe it's just Palmer constantly telling me itès going to be the best film ever for the last 3 weeks during lunch hours.

Arcade: EA goes cold on PSP... More DS work in future.

2006-08-16T23:40:00.000-04:00

Ouch. Hard blow to Sony when EA says it out loud. Let's face it. The PSP had so much potential yet it didn't deliver. It's not surprising to read something like this:

EA says it has shifted its handheld priorities since DS began pulling away from PSP. "There's no doubt that EA has historically bet more on PSP," said Garner. "I think we were excited by the technology, but the consumers have proven that actually what they want is fun.

Makes you wonder... with all the bad press Sony has been getting pre-PS3 launch... i'm sure top exectutives are not too happy.

Stolen Summer: Holiday Movie Viewings

2006-08-16T20:34:00.000-04:00

What to do when you have a month off? Go Camping? Check. Help gf move in? Check. Go to Montreal? Check. Visit Mont Tremblant? Check? Watch Movies? But of course.

Clerks 2: Let's face it Clerks rocked. It was done on a string budget. it was witty. it was original. It was the start of a movement of independant films. It had something special. Fast forward 10 years later and Kevin Smith decides to make a sequel. Is it still funny? Some of it. Is it original? Somewhat. Did I like it. Yeah - but i would recomment it to Smith fans. A rental for the rest of you. My ratings: 6.5 donkeys out of 10.

Crimson Rivers 2: I loved the first film. It was beatiful. it was creepy. It had good plot twists. if only it would have had a better ending. How does this sequel rank up? Kinda the same thing minue the intreague, plot twists and creepyness. A disapointment. 4 monks out of 10.

Dead and Breakfast: Cheap B-movie that I picked up at HMV for $6.66 during their last horror DVD sale. Skip it unless you are into an evening of getting really drunk and listening to a sub-par horror flick. Play a drinking game where you spot the bad acting and flubs in the film. 2 Zombies our of 10.

The Corpse Bride: A many of you know, I am a huge fan of Tim Burton's Nightmare before Christmas. Not only is the film funny, dark and cute - but the film was also an achievement in puppetry. Well if you liked the first film, you are in for a treat. Corpse Bride is also worth the stop. great animation, great voice acting and you can tell it's a Burton film. Loved it. 7.5 dead corpses out of 10.

Moise - L'affaire Roch Theriault: A very hard subject matter - this true story is played perfectly by Luc Picard. He is charming, charismatic and scary. Cults as a very interesting subject matter - I have not seen many films which dealt with the subject. This film id definately worth a rental - Just make sure you are in the right mood. 7 cults out of 10.

Jamel: 100% Debouse: Jamel is probably my favorite comedian from France. He was simply hilarious in the french tv show "H" and in Asterix: Mission Cleopatre. I decided to pick this stand-up DVD in Montreal. Unfortunately, the routine is too much centerer on French news to be funny for us north americans. Too bad. 5 laughs out of 10.

Les Boys IV: Les Boys is a true classic in Quebec. For us hockey is a religion. It shouldn't be a surprise that they roll out these hockey comedies every few years. I fully expect to see a Les Boys 5 in the next 2 years. How did this one fare? Not too bad considering it's the 4th one. Some funny bits that should make people at a party laugh through the night. 6 Old Timers out of 10.

Les Revenant: My holidays would not have been complete without a zombie flick. Les revenant is an awesome film and is a great social commentary on society. Imagine old people coming back from the dead and needing to be reintegrated into society. What would you do? Givethem their old jobs back? Do they have rights? How different arte they? How do you deal with their reinsertion into society? Great take on the zombie genre. 8.5 Zombies out of 10.

Wonderland: John Holmes was a Porn Star in the 70s. He apparently ruled the world. He was the basis for the Walberg role in Boogie Nights. He lived life in the fast lane and was involved in a publicized murder case in the early 80s. This film explored the 2 murder case scenarios. Entertaining. 7 Porn Stars out of 10.

Jersey Girl: Cinthia hadn't seen this Kevin Smith film. We watched it a few nights before seeing Clerks 2. Many people hate this film yet I kinds have a soft spot for it. I know, I know. Ckick flick central. What can I say. A good film. 7.5 Bennifers out of 10.

Fluffy Cumsalot: Let's face it, portn stars have very strange stage names sometimes. This funny documentary explores the origin of some of these names. A good watch. 6.5 Dirk Digglers out of 10.

My Architect: A famous architect that lived for his work dies. He was so absorbed by his work that he was rarely at home. Many years later his son attempts to find out who his father was by visiting my architectural masterpieces and speaking to the people that knew his father. A toutching documetary. 6 building plans out of 10.

Incident at Loch Ness: Herzog is a great director that has done some well known films over the years. A few years back him and the screen writer of X-Men decided to make a film documentary about the Loch Ness monster. Strange things happened during the shoot. It's documented here. Great fun through these strange, strange events. 6 Nessies out of 10.

Firefly: The Complete Series: I FINALLY got through watching Firefly. I had tried a few years back but gave up after the first 2 shows. This time, i stuck to it and discovered a funny, witty sci-fi adventure. A must see series. 8.5 Jane's Town out of 10.

Serenity: Fans wanted it. Weaton delivered. A great conclusion to the Firefly tv series. Another must-see for Firefly and Joss Weaton fans. 7.5 Reavers out of 10.

The Amazing Story of Superman: A few years back. Ken Burns made a great documentary called Empire of Dreams for the release of the Star Wars DVD set. Well, this time he takes on the man of steel's universe and delivers. 7.5 kriptonite Rocks out of 10.

Tip Toes: Strange, strange chick film. Family reunions, little people, romance story, etc. I'll bet that never has a film hired so many little people actors since The Wizard of Oz. OK plot - no more. 5 Mini-Mes out of 10.

A Celebration of Me, Grover: I love Sesame Street. I grew up on it and Grover has always been one of my favorite monsters. A great Sesame Street style roast full of puns and classic SS clips. Just don't say the word "roast" near a chicken!! 7 Roasts out of 10. "gaaawwwkk!!"

Hellboy: I hear they are making a sequel to this film. Can't say i was ever too familiar with this comic book character. Film one was sub-par in my book. great costumes but plot was so-so. A rental if you are into comic book flicks but this won't crack your top 10 comib book inspired films. 5.5 devil children out of 10.

A Passage to Ottawa: Always cool to see films that were filmed in your home town. I wonder if New-Yorkers are over this feeling. Anyhow, I would qualify this little movie as a cute independant film. I enjoyed it. Good - Catch it on TV. If plays on the tube from time to time. 5.5 Rideau Canal boat rides out of 10.

Signin' in the Rain: One of my top 10 films of all time. Always makes me feel happy when i watch it. i was very glad that Cinthia enjoyed it. She turnde it down dozens of times thinking she wouldn't enjoy a musical. Well, she did. 9 Good Mornin's out of 10.

(Drive-In) Asterix et les Vikings/Good Cop, Bon Cop: Cinthia an I decided to catch a double-bill at the Templeton drive-in 2 weeks ago. Yep, we still have one last drive-in theatre in the area. it's in Gatineau. She had never been to the drive-in in her life. Great times. We first watched Asterix. This cartoon was funny. Some good parts although I didn't care much for the modern music and shading-art style. 5 magic potions out of 10.

Good Cop, Bon Cop is probably the funniest film I have seen this Summer. Half french and half english, this film has the makings of a great series. i definately hope they make more of these. Action galore - it's rare that a canadian film goes all out in the special effects and stunts department. Funny dialogue and great play by the main actors. 8 dead guys on the highways out of 10.

Movie Factoid: Stolen Summer is the name of a film which was made following the first Project Greenlight experiment.

Joystick: Some Wii Titles

2006-08-11T17:39:00.000-04:00

Reports are pointing to a November 2nd launch for the new Nintendo gaming console. Here are the scheduled Nintendo Wii launch titles:

Avatar: The Last Airbender
Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII
Blitz: The League
Call of Duty 3
Cars
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2
Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors
Elebits
Excite Truck
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers
Far Cry
GT Pro Series
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Madden NFL 07
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
Metal Slug Anthology
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Monster 4x4 World Circuit
Need for Speed: Carbon
Open Season
Rayman Raving Rabbids
Red Steel
SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam
Trauma Center: Second Opinion
Wii Sports

Not bad at all. If you add to this a dozen or so Virtual Console games, early adopters of the new console could have a nice selection of titles to choose from.

Movie Factoid: The tagline for the film Joystick was: "More fun than games". Not sure about that. Painful film to watch.

The Great Outdoors - 2006 Summer Holidays - Weeks 3 & 4

2006-08-11T17:10:00.000-04:00

The fun didn't end there. On the 3rd week of July, we decided to go camping. Cinthia chose Mont Tremblant as our destination. She opted for a small lake called lac l'escalier. We chose the middle of the week in order to avoid week-end campers. We thought that the roads would be clear and we would be able to get there faster. Little did we know that there would be a torrential rain fall with thunder and lightning the day before that would break a bunch of trees and that there would be debris all over the roads near Tremblant. It was an adventure. At least we didn't get caught in the storm ourselves.

When we got there, we quickly set up the tent and headed to the beach. Not much of a beach. There was only about 5 or 6 feet of sand around the lake. That was a little disappointing but our mood quickly changed when we got in the water. This lake was awesome. You could walk and walk and the water was still at waist level. This was really cool. We got closer to the middle of the lake and we had water up to our necks. It was quite pleasant. A bonus to us was that very few people were out that day - probably still drying off from the storm that hit the night before.

We walked, swam again the next morning and chilled by the fire. I must say that day two's fire was much better than the first day. Might have been the fact that some of the wood wasn't dry enough. Cinthia made her traditional camping meal: Spaghetti. We had a very nice time there. I even got to play a little DS while relaxing under a tree.

On our last day, we visited the village at Tremblant. Nice, but too commercial for my taste. I did snap a few nice pictures of the place but can't say that I would ever want to go back there. Nice, but not my cup of tea.

On week four, Cinthia went back to work and I chilled in town. We dropped by my parents for a visit at their cottage and watched a few movies.

On my final week-end, we went in Gatineau Park and took a nice long walk around Pink Lake.

I have to give 2006 Summer Holidays a solid thumb's up. I had never taken a full month off and I recommend it to anyone who can manage it. You can't relax fully in one or two weeks - To really let go and forget about work, a longer period is a must. I am refreshed and much more relaxed as I take on the new challenges of this new job. Long live summer holidays.

The Wizard - a DS Collection

2006-08-10T19:55:00.000-04:00

When taking a break from watching DVDs I often play with my DS. Here is a list of my collection.

Nintendo DS Games Collection

Movie Factoid: In the awsome kids flick The Wizard staring Fred Savage, the sounds made by Lucas' Power Glove as he punches its keys are the famous five tones from Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).

Québec-Montréal - 2006 Summer Holidays - Week 2

2006-08-10T18:03:00.000-04:00

Okay, so we only went to Montréal. We're saving Qu/bec for October or November to go see the Tintin exposition. Québec-Montréal is still a very funny film. Check it out!

week 2 brought so well deserved R&R for us. After a move, a birthday, placing everying in the house and a garage sale, we headed out to Montréal for a few days.

We opted to go by Bus in order to relax a bit and not be stuck with the car in downtown Montreal. Bus trip was great and we got to the Central Bus Station at around 10am. Did a little reconnaissance at one of my favorite BD stores and headed down St-Catherine towards our Bed and Breakfast to drop our bags. We stayed at Les Bons Matins yet again. It's hard to go elsewhere now that we have discovered this little island of paradise in downtown Montreal. Again worth the extra dollar or two for an amazing decor and awsome breakfast (which is included with the room). Check it out!

The days shopping didn't bring too, too much spending. I bought a few Blake et Mortimer books as a couple of Tintin reference books to add to my collection. Cinthia picked up some clothes at Jacob (now that I think of it she spent more than I did... again!)

In the evening, we headed towards St-Denis for the Comedy Fest. We had bought tickets to Laurent Paquin. He delivered a great show. His classic bit about the weather really nails it for me:

Ever notice how when weather people on TV give out the weather, they never say that there is a 50/50 chance of rain. It's always 40% or 60%. If you think about it, some of these 40%s and 60%s are actually 50%s. Wouldn't that be awesome if they came on with the truth. Today, it might rain, or it might not - We don't know! None of this 40 or 60% B.S.

The next day brought some nice weather and we walked in Old Montreal for a good part of the day. We took some nice pictures and then decided to do more shopping on Mont-Royal. There, ben was in his element and things were back to normal - I blew a couple of bills on a bunch of DVDs and comics. It felt great! :) Following a nice long walk in the latin quarters, we decided to sit down for a nice Sushi dinner.

Following the dinner, we headed to the Comedy fest again for a few street acts then headed to the bus station to get back home. All in all, a wonderful short escapist trip away from home. We had a great time.

Movie factoid: Québec-Montréal won 4 Jutras awards in 2003.

Mannequin: On the Move - 2006 Summer Holidays - Week 1

2006-08-09T17:17:00.000-04:00

The move happened on July 4th. That's right The Cinful One moved into my place on my birthday. How cool is that. It was rather funny when a couple of weeks prior to that, in an email to my grandmother, I mentioned that Cinthia would be moving in soon. She replied that maybe she would be my birthday gift and move in on my birthday. Turns out that she was right. My beautiful girlfriend moved in!!

All in all the move went extremely well. We had some great help from both our sets of parents and we hired some movers to take care of the big pieces. They were able to move everything but a couch which - according to them - was too big to get out of help place. Err… How the heck did it get in then? We laugh about it now but we were a little miffed at the fact that these professionals not only were not able to get it out but they also banged up a wall and an area of the ceiling at her old place. For those wondering, the couch is not still at the apartment. A few days later, Cinthia's brother, her dad and myself took it out and moved it to her bro's place - a shame that it didn't make the original trip. We look at it this way, if it was hard to get it out of her place, it would have been even harder to move it into our front room as the door frame is much smaller.

We were able to incorporate pretty much all of her stuff into my place. We gave lots of stuff always and were fortunate enough to be able to take advantage of a garage sale at her parent's place the following Saturday. All in all, when all bills were counted, I made $326 and Cinthia sold for $98. My money is in a jar awaiting for Nintendo's Wii to come out this Fall. Wiiiiiiiiii!

Amidst all the hoopla of a move and garage sale, I turned thirty something. I received a nice indoor grill (Similar to the George Forman one) and got the ultimate remote control: a Harmony 360. Really cool. I will talk a little more about the remote in a few posts. Geeky friends - stay tuned!

Week one was a long one and we accomplished a lot. Thank goodness we had some help from our loved ones. Thanks a bunch.

I also read on a few blogs that a few of you are now addicted to the goodness that is the Nintendo DS (Ferda, James, Ryan and co.). I am glad to hear that you are all enjoying it. I have been raving about the little gem for so long, it's nice to read that others like it as well. (James, I will forward you my friend codes when I get a chance).

Movie Factoid: The girl that played the Mannequin in Mannequin: On the Move later played the movie role of Buffy in Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

National Lampoon's Vacation

2006-08-09T00:16:00.000-04:00

It has been a long time since I blogged. I can hear Sena now pointing out my shortcomings as a blogger - How dare mess with her daily reading material. As Randal pointed out in Clerks: "There's nothing more exhilarating than pointing out the shortcomings of others, now is there!". I must admit, it's been a while. What have I been up to all this time? Well...

I was on a well deserved vacation! Four and a half weeks of pure bliss of doing absolutely nothing - resting on the beach of an ocean in the southern hemisphere, feasting on the food of the gods while being cooled down by the delicate wind off a palm tree branch held by a beautiful young tanned… *whoa!* Wake up there buddy. That's not exactly how it transpired. It was even *better* than that (to me anyways!)

I was indeed on holidays for that length of time. It was the first time in my life that I took that long a break from work. I guess the last time I had a break that lasted for that long I was in High School. What a way to live when you think about it… I guess that's what one can look forward to when they retire *sigh!* 25 more years before that happens!!

Right before holidays, I also decided to change jobs. My old boss is now a director and he approached me at the beginning of June with an interesting opportunity. Seeing as the program where I was working was on hold while waiting for funding, I decided to make a move. I am taking a job doing something I love which is to work on a Web site and develop a program for new immigrants. Should be fun!

In the next few posts, I will highlight what transpired during my 4 weeks off. Here begins that recap of: Summer Holidays 2006.

Born on the Fourth of July

2006-08-08T23:54:00.000-04:00

Showing Tomorrow: A Serial begins: July in Review (the move, the trip to Montreal, the camping escapade and the vacation in review!)

Born on the Fourth of July: Well, what can I say. It's true. I was indeed born on the 4th or July.

Cinemania

2006-08-08T22:45:00.000-04:00

Since the site's primary purpose is to record flims I watch, I decided to give the site a new look that I feel fits the task. Hope you all like it.

Cinemania: Loved this documentary about a few strange movie viewers in the New-York area.

Turn Right, Turn Left

2006-08-08T22:29:00.000-04:00

"He's Baaaaaaaack!"

Vacation time is indeed over. Time for a little shift to stir things up on the blog. We'll see where it goes. Welcome to the PopCorn Gallery (or TPG for all you government workers. What can I say - we love accronyms).

When I first re-started Artoo's, the idea was to have a place where I would be able to record my movie viewings somewhere and share a little bit of my days with friends and family. I've pretty much been able to stick with it and have a nice record of what i have watched and done in the last year or so.

Turn Right, Turn Left: Awesome flick by Johnny To. If you liked Serendipity, check it out!

Vacation Time Almost Over!

2006-07-27T21:45:00.000-04:00

Vacation Time

2006-07-04T10:50:00.000-04:00

Time for a little break. July is vacation time for your's truly. Enjoy the summer.

Superman Returns!

2006-06-28T15:05:00.000-04:00

Weekender Report: 23-06 to 25-06

2006-06-26T15:43:00.000-04:00

Noo, nee-noo, nee-noo, nee-noo…

Friday evening: Martin, Myriam, Cinthia and I went to the Ribfest on Sparks. Good eats but I think I found out that I prefer beef ribs to pork ribs. Following our sticky finger activity and some Jell-o wrestling conversation, we headed out to the World Exchange Cinemas and watched the Al Gore documentary: An Unconvenient Truth. The subject of the film is Global Warming and the effects that it is having on the planet. Quite alarming when they stack up the facts and statistics. We all know it is happening yet very few of us realize how bad it actually is.

Saturday: Did a little cleaning. Partly because we were having friends over in the evening but I have also started to sort through some boxes and stuff since Cinthia is moving in next week. We decided to move in together. We are quite excited. We even found a parking spot to rent behind the condo. We took a walk down Bank and stoped at Blockbuster. I picked up the Rockstar Table Tennis game for the Xbox360 in exchange for a bunch of old DVDs I didn't want. They only give you $5 for each bu when you consider the fact that I am always bargan shopping and often find great deals on some of the DVDs, many of these didn't cost me much to start with. In the evening, Claude, Sylvie and Ryan poped by for a couple of brews and chatter. We played 80s Trivia. I had fun. After everyone left, Cinthia went to bed and I watched the NHL draft which I had recorded on the PVR.

Sunday: Busy day. Some highlights include a trip to MEC where cinthia bought a fleece. Who else but my lovely to buy a fleese jacket when it's 35 degrees out. :) I love you babe! We also went to the market and bought some fresh fruits. Is there anything better than a good strawberry when it is in season?! I think not! Later we went out and played some mini-put where someone won and the other person lost. I can't remember the actual score for some reason. We also planed the move some more and watched an episode of Naked Josh (what a great show that is!!).

They call it "New Math": 2 = 1

2006-06-23T10:25:00.000-04:00

a = b
a² = ab
a²-b² = ab-b²
(a+b)(a+b)= b(a-b)
(a+b)=b
a+a=a
2a=a
2=1

Bowling = Soreness = Wimp??

2006-06-22T20:15:00.000-04:00

Monday was our Public Service BBQ at the RA Center. After a morning of listening to the higher-up talk and a bad buger and fries, some of us decided to take in some 5 pin bowling.

I played pretty well, considering that it had been about 10 years since I last played. i won the first game with a score of 169. i have no idea how good or bad this is all I remember is that as a kid, I had trouble breaking 100.

We paired the guys and the ladies for a battle of the sexes game in the second game and the guys won (of course!).

The next morning, i woke up and was sore (shoulder and front of legs). I play 2.5 hours of frickin' bowling and get sore muscles?!?! I was surprised how this game exercised some weird muscle groups. Go figure. It was fun... in a bad pimp shoes kinda way!

Everyone loves the World Cup

2006-06-22T20:13:00.000-04:00

Global Warming: The Proof

2006-06-21T09:51:00.000-04:00

Week-ender Report: 16-06 to 18-06

2006-06-20T18:23:00.000-04:00

Fri Day: Went to the Franco-ontarien festival with Ryan, Vero and company. Saw some good comics: I especially appreciated the last comic Louis José Houde. A nice outing. Cinthia went to see the Cirque du Soleil with MJ. She said it was a great show.

Sat: We went to a restaurant called Le Rendez-vous in Aylmer to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Cinthia's Parents. There were 54 family and friends at the restaurant. OK food but slow service.

Sun: We visited my folks for Father's Day at the cottage. Nice weather but a little warm for me. i always seem to have trouble adapting to the first few weeks of Summer. It seem as though my body gets tired really quick in warm weather. I gave pop some fishing gear items to go with the new boat. We also met their new little dog called Bonhomme. Later, I watched the film Spellbound, a documentary about kids competing for a spelling bee championship.

Nintendo DS Lite Review

2006-06-16T16:42:00.000-04:00

Check out my review of the new Nintendo DS Lite.

Mario revealed!!

2006-06-15T16:14:00.000-04:00

This picture is simply awesome!!

Transformers Movie: iPod - Transform!!

2006-06-15T10:50:00.000-04:00

Gadget mag T3 is reporting that robots appearing in the upcoming live-action "Transformers" movie will be upgraded to reflect some of the advances in gadgetry over the last 20 years. The magazine says they got a peak at a leaked copy of the movie's screenplay, which revealed robots that turn into an iPod, Xbox 360 and a plasma television.

I have a very bad feeling about this film!

Stick People Humour #3

2006-06-15T04:24:00.000-04:00

Week-ender Report: 9-06 to 11-06

2006-06-12T16:30:00.000-04:00

Fri: Picked up the Magnetica game for the DS. Cinthia has been addicted to it ever since. While she played, I played a bit of Xbox 360. There a re a couple of cool Xbox Live Arcade games that I am considering buying.

Sat: Went out for a long walk and shopping with my lover. Found a few good deals at HMV: a bunch of horror flick were on sale for $6.66 ea. Picked up Night of the Living Dead, Day of the Dead 1 & 2 (yes there is a second one which is apparently horrible) and the independent comedy Dead and Breakfast for my Zombie film collection. Guess it's a collection now. I then traded a book I had at Chapters for a DVD box set of Dawn of the Dead. Will this madness ever stop? :) We spent the eveing playing Atari games. We played Circus Atari most. 8 Bit games can be so fun. Hard to explain to today's generation what we see in these games. After Cinthia went to bed I watched The Theatrical version of Dawn.

Sun: Did some groceries. Bought a Nintendo DS Lite. Played a few games, read a bit and watched some BSG. A perfect rainy Sunday.

Stick People Humour #2

2006-06-12T16:16:00.000-04:00

Transformers Movie teaser Poster

2006-06-08T23:02:00.000-04:00

Stick People Humour #1

2006-06-08T10:14:00.000-04:00

Survey: iPods more popular than beer

2006-06-08T10:10:00.000-04:00

The iPod music player surpassed beer drinking as the most "in" thing among undergraduate college students, according to the latest biannual market research study by Ridgewood, N.J.-based Student Monitor.

All I can say is: "WoW!"

Nasty Neighbour?

2006-06-07T11:15:00.000-04:00

Mini Movie Review: House of the Dead

2006-06-06T09:29:00.000-04:00

6-6-6, Blog post of the Beast!

The fear of the number 666 is known as hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia.

In hommage to today being the 6th day of the 6th month, 2006... 6-6-6, i decided to watch the film House of the Dead last night to make a review. Picked up the film this w-e at the flea market. I payed $5 for the film and it's going strat back to Blockbuster where they will give me $5 for it. I should have been paid for my wasted time in watching this one.

As Palmer would say: "Worse film ever!!!!"

It was made by this guy called Uwe Boll, who has made such gems as Alone in the Dark and Blood Rayne. He discovered the video games craze and is about to make a film on the games Dungeon Siege, Postal and Far Cry. His films are so bad that fans of video games have even gone out and made a petition for him to stop making video game themed games. You can find the petitions here and here. These are just sample petition, if you want to see more, type "stop Uwe Boll" in google and look at the results.

Anyhow, back to this horrible piece of junk. House of the Dead opens with five twenty-somethings attempting to reach a rave which is taking place on a small island. They have missed their boat and are desperate to get to "the party of the year" (When I saw the rave, I laughed out loud -- there are about 30 people there.) So, they hire a local captain named Kirk (?!?!), to take them to the party. Once they reach the island, they find that zombies attacked the party and that there's no way off the island.

There is a 20 minute gun battle and they shoot zombies for the sake of shooting zombies with so much ammo that the canadian army would be jealous. I was amazed at how well today's college kids can handle a machine gun and be so precise in their shots.

I'll spare you the details and say that only a handful of them made it off the island when the cops showed up.

Rating: 2 awful directors out of 10.

Ebayer from the UK gets even...

2006-06-05T18:43:00.000-04:00

This ebayer got ripped off when he purchased a laptop from this guy named Amir. The laptop was indeed broken but the buyer was able to get the hard drive out and it was packed with photos and personal info on Amir. Since Amir refused to refund the money, the said ebay got even buy creating this Blog site.

Week-ender Report: 02-06 to 04-06

2006-06-05T18:18:00.000-04:00

Artoo: Artoo calling Orson! Artoo calling Orson! Come in Orson?
Orson: Artoo? Is that you?
Artoo: Yes your fattitude, how's it hangin'?
Orson: Your report Artoo!!
Artoo: Busy week-end this side of the Big Dipper. What happened on Fri, Sat and Sun days? Let me give you this quick round-up big boss-man!!
On Fri, some visit came by our pad for some good chatter and some video-gamin'! Claude and Sylvie droped by for a few hours to check out the new X-Box 360 and catch up.
Orson: And how are they doing?
Artoo: Seems like poor 'ol Claudski got hurt while tossing a while ball around a court. He hurt himself playing volleyball and his leg will be in a cast for a few weeks. Sucks to be him. But his leg might get that pilot tv show if he's lucky.
Orson: Did you have a good time?
Artoo: Of course! We had a great time. Claude and I threw down and played Fight Night Round 3 - each won a fight. Sylvie found out that she can't beat the 4 little ghosties with the aid mf my main man: Pac-man. Sad.
BTW, Sylvie owes me $4.75 in quarters for the use of the arcade cabinet! :)
Orson: It is noted in my logs.
Artoo: Sat was a busy day. Cinful one went to work in the morning while I slept in. Barely remember hearing her leave. Did some groceries and some walking about Bank street in the aft and we went to my granparents for a great supper. Later in the evening, we stopped at BB and I picked up 2 DVDs : Les Daltons and The Corpse Bride. We watched Les Daltons. (Review to follow later).
Orson: I see you are still not over that DVD addiction of yours.
Artoo: Never!!
Sun day flew by. We woke up and went to the store to pick up some things for Cinthia's bro. We then headed out to Ile de grand-calumet for see their new baby girl Marguerite. Spent a couple of hours there and then headed out to Carp Road to check out the Flea Market. Unfortunately, we got there late and very few outdoor vendors were left. We shall have to plan a trip next Sunday or the week after and go early in the day. We still managed to pick up 2 movies for $5 each: House of the Dead (Yay! Zombies!!!!) and Swimming Pool.
When we got home, we ordered St-Hubert (MMmmmm! St-Hubert sauce!!) and watched a few episodes of Battlestar Galactica. Storylines are amazing in that show! After Cinthia left, I watched the new X-men 3 film which I had d/led.
Orson: How was it?
Artoo: What an awful experience. See my full review in another transmission. It will make your eyes bleed it is so bad!
Orson: Your review or the film?
Artoo: Har-Har! Good one your immenseness!
Well, that's all for this week grand-fatso. Artoo signing off. Na-noo Nanoo!

Mini-Movie Review: X-Men 3: Boooooo!

2006-06-05T11:41:00.000-04:00

X-Men III: Zero emotional development for any characters
Ok, I'll cut to the chase with this one quick: This film plain sucked!!
It was awful. I prefered the movie The Hulk to this one! At least in that one, they seemed to care about the rocks and cars that they destroyed. Yuppers, they missed the boat on this one. No emotional development for any of the characters. I am so disapointed.

For comic fans – Phoenix and the Phoenix saga isn’t just any story. It’s one of THE Marvel stories. To cover that story plus, the mutants vs government, plus deaths of 3-4 main guys (okay it's the Marvel universe, they may not be really dead!) in the same film is ludicrous. They grazed on so many great storylines and never delivered. If you are a comic fan and know some of the stories, you won't be a happy camper. Too many things were off with this film. The treatment of Wolverine… Bleh! Comedic role at the best. Beast? Looks great but never takes off. Cyclops… don't get me started… anticlymactic like no other. Storm? Halle Berry wanted a speaking part, she got one but did very little when it was all said and done. Magneto and Xavier are played woderfully but again… if you think of what they are involved in… story-arc wise. Underdeveloped and flat when they could have been soo much more.

I won't go on, you get the picture. Maybe folks who don't read or haven't read the main marvel storylines will be wowed by the FX and cool new characters - even there I doubt it. This series needs a break and then make a spin-off film with Wolverine to kick-start the franchise again.

My rating: a sad 4 mutants out of 10

Film: The Unconvenient Truth

2006-06-02T15:25:00.000-04:00

"In 39 years, I have never written these words in a movie review, but here they are: You owe it to yourself to see this film. If you do not, and you have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you decided not to."
- From Roger Ebert review of Al Gore's film on the effects of global warming. I definately want to see this one.

Artoo gets an Xbox 360... has hell frozen over?

2006-06-01T21:41:00.000-04:00

Let the next generation of gaming begin.

Bought 2 used games for it too: Dead or Alive 4 & Fight Night: Round 3

I still say the Wii will be more fun! :)

Play Super Mario Bros. Online for FREE

2006-06-01T21:33:00.000-04:00

Subject says it all. It's awsome what some people can do with Web pages now.

Z and X are the B and B buttons and the arrows control Mario. Enjoy this while you wait for your car ride to go and buy the new Super Mario Bros. game on the Nintendo DS.

Mini-Review: The Da Vinci Code

2006-05-30T11:48:00.000-04:00

Saw the film last week. I had read the book a while back. Liked the book quite a bit even if the ending felt a little rushed to me. The movie? Same thing. It followed the storyline quite closely. I felt Ron Howard did a good job with the adaptation.

Some have said that Hank's performance was flat. My take on this is that he was playing a university prof. How dynamic did folks think he would be? My main beef with the film is the omission of saying what profession Sophie Neveu (Tatou) has. She was a cryptologist. She worked as an officer and decoded stuff as part as her job. In the film, re was only Langdon's ignorant Watson the whole movie. In my book, that's a wrong move. Other than that, the film was pretty good. I don't know why some critics are being so hard on it.

Funny thing - when we got out of the movie place, there was a pamflet on the window of our car from a religion group offering folks a chance to win $10,000 if we helped disprove the lies in the DaVinci Code book/movie. Then this past Saturday, I was at a wedding and when we walked out of the church, there was a sign on the community bulletin board advertizing a discussion on the DaVinci Code called Truth or pure fiction. Why are religious groups so threatened by this book. If I believe in something, why would some author's rendition of history have any bearing on what I believe in.

I give this one 7 Grails out of 10.

What kind of monster are you?

2006-05-29T15:57:00.000-04:00

Annual Great Gleebe Garage Sale Report

2006-05-28T17:13:00.000-04:00

Man I love big garage sales. I have said it before: one man's trash is another one's treasure.

How did I fare? Pretty good; here is what I found:

8:10am - Rush Hour board game ($3): This was the first thing I found. Cinthia and I had been thinking about buying this game for a while now. Complete, perfect shape and looks like a fun game.

8:45am - Quarto! Game ($1): Hummm... Another great find. This game is in the same collecction as Cathedral and Quoridor wooden games. It has won tons of prizes around the world. happy find but i was hoping that this would not turn into a board game type of day. You can generally find tons of board games in garage sales and although they are cool to find, it's not generally my main reqason for treasure hunting.

9:00am - Sony Turn Table ($5+$2): YESSSS! This is the find of the day in my book. I was looking for one in good shape for the last few months. Yep, hi-fi Artoo goes lo-fi... I love LPs... I can finally start hunting for cool records everywhere now. I found the turn table at a church and then looked in the bins and found 8-9 Lps for $2 (Michael jackson's Thriller, Gowan's Strange Animal, Brother's in Arm by Dire Straits, Peter Gabriel' s SO, etc...) Happy feeling! Spent a good 25 minutes looking in the boxes of LPs.

9:25am - Atari 12-in-1 joystick ($5): Although I have most of these games, this is a fun plus and play game that I can plug and...err.. play... anywhere I want. ;) Couldn't pass it up.

9:55am - Exotica Book (.50): When i was in Cegep, i discovered this great film by Atom Egoyan and I borrowed this book from our library 4-5 times in the year. It contains inverviews and the screenplay.

10:20am - 2 more LPs ($1): No more change so I had to pay for these with a 20 dollar bill. The guy was not impressed. :(

10:40am - How to play Guitar book, CD, DVD, CD-Rom ($2): Nice!!

11:05am - It's never too late to become a Buffy Fan book ($1): What can I say. It was a buck. The guy said that the author is a local lady. cool!

11:20am - Unfinished mitten (free): The paper bag I was carrying was killing my hands. I picked this piece of soft fabric to wrap around the bag handle. Ahhhh. joy!

11:45am - 4 Sesame Street figures similar to Smurfs ($1): A little girl was selling these for 10 cents a piece. I haggled and told her that I did not have any change so she had to take my looney. We were both pleased.

12:10pm - i call it quits as I have a wedding to go to at 2:30 with my cutie. All in all a very fruitful day and I made a few nice finds. Yet another successful trip to the Great Gleebe Garage sale.

New Design

2006-05-27T20:05:00.000-04:00

As Summer is around the corner, i took a few minutes to give the site a new face lift.

Too much free time at the office? (push-pin art)

2006-05-25T11:58:00.000-04:00

Check this out, this guy has talent... and too much time on his hands.

Vader calls in! (Robot Chicken)

2006-05-23T23:36:00.000-04:00

Great Glebe Garage Sale : Find the Treasures!!

2006-05-23T15:37:00.000-04:00

Each year for nearly two decades, thousands of people have flocked to the Glebe for the annual Great Glebe Garage Sale. This year's event is on Saturday, May 27, 2006 from 9:00am to 3:00pm.

When: 9:00am - 3:00pm. (While 9:00am is the "official" start time, sellers and buyers are usually out much earlier.)

Buyers: Given the huge popularity of this event, with people even coming from out of town, safety can be a concern. The Ottawa Police have observed that some streets become so congested that emergency vehicles cannot get through. Please help keep our streets safe by walking or biking rather than driving around, and asking your friends to do the same.

Bring cash: ATM machines empty out early, so bring cash to avoid disappointment.

Sellers: All participants are asked to donate 10% of proceeds to the Ottawa Food Bank. On the day of the sale, Food Bank representatives will drop off contribution envelopes to all participants.

Rain date: The Great Glebe Garage Sale goes rain or shine.

Weekender Report: 19-05 to 22-05

2006-05-23T11:11:00.000-04:00

Seems like we have been a little more erratic lately with these posts. What can I say. Blame it on being away to BC for a few days, a visit to my parent's cottage last Sunday for Mother's Day and an all around state of "busy-ness" (like it? business, busy-ness...err, ok - nevermind).

Fri: Took the extra day off. I cleaned most of the day. House was a wreck. In the evening, Took Cinthia out to a nice Italian Restaurant on Metcalfe. T'was quite nice. We got drenched when we walked out of the restaurant though.

I made one little purchase pre-long week-end: New Super Mario Bros. for the DS. Wow! What a cool game! Definately worth the purchase. Coolest DS game so far. Well worth the wait. I shall do something special on this one later in the month. Stay tuned.

Sat: We spent most of the day out. Went to the hospital so see Luc and Isabelle's new baby girl. After a few complications in the last 48 hours, everything seems to be better now. Her name is Marguerite. Cute little bundle of joy!

Did a run to the store to get some food and such for Sunday night's get together. I went to HMV and splurged a little, picking up a bunch of TV Seasons on DVD: Batman Animated S1&2, Gilligan's Island S1, 2 & 3, Firefly and Arrested Development S2. They are having a great sale on some TV DVD sets. Many of these were $19.99. Go check it out.

In the evening, we finished watching a flick we had started a few days ago. I showed Cinthia the film Shaun of the Dead. She doesn't like horror films but I sold her on it by saying it was a parody of a zombie film. She enjoyed it and we laughed alot. What an awesome film! Definately one of my favorite comedies of the last few years!!

Sun: We finished cleaning up the place and had Miryam, Marie-Josée and their boyfriends over for some great pasta! A good time was had by all.

Mon: woke up late. While Cinthia went to work for a few hours, my Zombie-Fest continued. I watched Day of the Dead (1985).

Embrace Geekness! Come-on, These are sooo cool!

2006-05-23T11:04:00.000-04:00

Yet another reason for the Cinful One to call me strange (if only I could get a dime for every time...)

In 1982 Tron was one of the first films to incorporate computer generated graphics. Over the years Tron has achieved an almost cult status amongst computer gamers around the world. The Stan Smith Comfort shows Tron himself on the tongue and his enemy the Master Control Programmer on the footbed. Black-turquoise.

Why hide your nerdiness from the world when you can walk around town in shoes inspired by that movie of movies, Tron? From Addidas and available in the UK for £65 (about $140 CND), these shoes—officially called The Stan Smith Comfort—won't give you special superpowers or anything, but then again, neither will that "Pwned!" shirt that you constantly wear. Apparently, the tongue shows a picture of Tron and the evil Master Control Programmer on the footbed, but you wouldn't know it from the pictures that Adidas supplied.

NHL Round 3 Playoff Predictions

2006-05-19T18:20:00.000-04:00

Round 2 prediction:

East:
Ottawa-Buffalo: I took the Sens in 7 games. the speed of Buffalo was too much for them. Sens choke yet again in second round. Buffalo is the team to beat!
New-Jersey-Carolina: Brodeur was not a factor. Wrong again.

West:
San Jose-Edmonton: SJ in 6 games? Nope! Edmonton is hot. Wrong prediction.
Anaheim-Colorado: Ducks are on a roll. Good prediction.

1 out of 4. Not too sharp with this round.

Both Bufallo and Anaheim in 6.

--

For the Finals, I take Bufallo vs. the Ducks.

Upcoming Star Wars DVDs

2006-05-17T19:52:00.000-04:00

Upcoming Star Wars Limited Editions (the ones you saw in theatres) DVD artwork has just been released. It is sceduled to be released later this year (9/12). Interesting how the box art is based of classic poster art.

Guitar Hero on a PC using your own music?

2006-05-17T17:48:00.000-04:00

One of the coolest games to come out last year on the Playstation 2 is called Guitar Hero (Sequel in the works according to folks at E3). The only issue with the game is that you are stuck with the song selection on the game. This may be a problem of the past.

A former computer science student from Ottawa may have the solution. His Freetar Hero is already showing a lot of promise. The first part, a music editor, should be available soon. Follow the link to see it in action.

Guitar Hero review

Who do they really belong to?

2006-05-16T15:36:00.000-04:00

I have a question about SUNshing Girls. While looking at this morning's Sun newspaper (gotta use this term loosly), I notice while reading news about the Sen's recent exit out of the Playoffs the SUNshine girl on the right page. On the bottom of the page, it read: Jim Wells’ SUNSHINE GIRL

If he the photographer? Her boyfriend? The guy who discovered her?

Pattents are a dangerous thing if not filed correctly or at the right time

2006-05-16T10:47:00.000-04:00

Creative apparently decided since it couldn't beat Apple at its own game, it was going to sue the company into submission. Creative asked the US International Trade Commission to halt sales of all iPods and investigate whether Apple infringed on its Singapore-based patent covering Creative Zen multimedia players. Creative says it filed a patent on August 9, 2005, "for its invention of its user interface used by most portable digital media players."

But wait. The iPod had already been on the market for quite a few years by then. WTF? Creative says it owns menus on music players? Weren't there already menus on the iPod and hundreds of other music players by summer, 2005? When, oh when is someone going to do something about the sad and sorry state of copyright law in the US?

Mini Movie Review: 28 Days Later

2006-05-15T20:24:00.000-04:00

Ahhh, the Zombie fest continues this week with 28 Days Later. Oh and what an interesting twist on the whole genre this one was. Rare are the good flick that build on how zombies came about. In this case it's more about a rage-virus than an undead state but it does qualify as a tale from the zombie lore.

Directed by the same guy who did Trainspotting, Danny Boyle, this films offers alot in the atmosphere department.

What's it about?
Anti-vivisection activists make a very bad judgment call and release an experimental monkey infected with "rage". 28 Days Later..., as the title has it, bicycle messenger Cillian Murphy wakes up from a post-traffic accident coma in a deserted London hospital, ventures out to find the city depopulated and the few remaining normal people doing everything to avoid the jittery, savage, zombie-like "infecteds" who attack on sight. (Amazon.co.uk.)

The scenes in the first third of the film really make this film in my opinion. Not much happens, yet so much is set-up through mystery. THe DVD also offers 3 endings if you're into that sort of thing. I have yet to listen to the audio commentary but the overall film was definately worth the 9.99 price tag at Rogers.

8 Dead Zombies out of 10. (Ehm... can there be a live zombie?)

DVDTalk has a cool list of what is in the film: Two zombie breasts. 1,008 corpses (give or take 58 million to 6.2 billion). Untethered wangdoodle. Rampant product placement. Multiple firesuit stunts. Ol' flat tire at the worse possible moment gag. Thumbs to the eye sockets. Gratuitous shopping spree. Gas station fireball. Oodles of civil unrest footage. Gratuitous dream sequence. Self-medicating. Flaming Michelin necktie. Angry amputation. Point-blank execution. Head crushing. Bloody kisses. Gratuitous skip-frame fast mo.

Only return stuff to Walmart!

2006-05-15T17:09:00.000-04:00

"More and more, Americans are being caught in a dilemma: They love electronic gadgets with lots of bells and whistles. But they're also frustrated when they get their new toys home and find out they aren't easy to install or operate.

Half the products returned to stores are in good working order, but customers can't figure out how they work, says a recent study conducted at the Technical University of Eindhoven in the Netherlands. On average, American consumers will try for just 20 minutes to get a new gadget to work before giving up, the study adds."

What??? You mean to tell me that we actually return stuff that is in good working order? Nooooo. Funny how thay don't go into the whole "awful instructions" piece. Some of them can be real bad sometimes. My favorites are the translated ones. You can never count on those translators you know!

The arguments provided are okay, but impulse buying must also be listed as one of the main reasons why people return stuff (and i'm not talking abouy Palmer's X-Box he almost returned to a store a year later). The quality of the products is also often questionable.

Now I won't get into Ryan's scheme to become rich over BBQ covers... :)

Mini-Dvd Review: Turbulence des Fluides

2006-05-13T22:07:00.000-04:00

Wow, what a movie. I picked this one up in Vancouver as well and watched it on my portable player in my hotel room. I was simply blown away. What a great, great film. It will most likely be in my top 10 at the end of the year.

What's it about?
It's the story of a sismologist living in Tokyo that is called back to her home town of baie Commeau to look into a stange phenomenon involving the ocean reef. She discovers other stange things are going on in the town and tries to piece it all together.

Great storyline, very good acting and a very good mystery.

9 earthquakes out of 10.

Mini-Dvd Review: Grizzly Man

2006-05-13T21:54:00.000-04:00

What's it about?
Grizzly Man could easily have been sensational and exploitative, but in the hands of Werner Herzog, it becomes something extraordinary. Herzog was granted exclusive access to over 100 hours of video shot by amateur naturalist, wildlife advocate and troubled loner Timothy Treadwell, who spent 13 summers in Alaska's Katmai National Park, where he grew to know and love the grizzly bears that lived there. He was also killed by one of them, in October 2003, along with his girlfriend Amie Huguenard, and that seemingly inevitable fate informs every minute of Herzog's riveting combination of Treadwell's video with his own expert filmmaking and unique vision of nature and man.

My appreciation of the film: Cinthia, Martin, Anne-Marie and Myself watched this documentary last night not knowing what to expect. i picked this film up in Vancouver last week. All I had heard was that it was supposed to be good. I have been pretty lucky as of late with my documentary picks. This one was an odd one.

I can't say that we didn't like it. it was interesting. It was beautiful. it was intreaguing to find out what would happen next. We knew the guy was going to die but his descent into some strange sort of madness was a little hard to watch. It left us with many questions regarding his life choice for the last 13 summers of his life. Should he have been let there alone with these beasts? Did he get what he had coming? It's for the viewer to decide.

Rating: 6 grizzly bears out of 10

Mini-Dvd Review: Rush: R30 (Deluxe)

2006-05-13T21:43:00.000-04:00

What's on the DVD?
The R30 Deluxe Edition 2 DVD & 2 CD set features Rush's Frankfurt, Germany concert in September 2004 near the close of their 30th Anniversary World Tour.

The performance was captured with 14 cameras in high definition and is presented in 16:9 widescreen format. Audio options include Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound or PCM Stereo.

Songs include the exclusive "R30 Overture" (an instrumental medley of "Finding My Way," "Anthem," "Bastille Day," "A Passage To Bangkok," "Cygnus X-1," and "Hemispheres"), "Xanadu," "Subdivisions," "Red Barchetta," "Summertime Blues" (from last year's covers EP Feedback), and the "vault" track "Between The Wheels" which hasn't been performed live in 20 years. The 2-CD soundtrack is not available separately. Another cool bonus: the 2 guitar picks with Rush logo and Lee/Lifeson signatures (replica of course)

My appreciation:
I loved the show. Rush has put out a second home-run of a spectacle after the amazing Rush in Rio 2 years ago. If you like the band, this is a must. The overture is simply astounding as the 3 musicians play many of their top hits in an intrumental medley that works as a song. As a bonus, they give you the condert on CD. I recommend picking up the Deluxe Edition as it has the CDs, booklet, guitar picks and backstage pass included. I bought mine used for $13 and feel like it is a steal!

Rating: 8.5 guitar picks out of 10

Artoo does Vancouver

2006-05-11T22:09:00.000-04:00

Well, i'm finally back! I have been out in Vancouver, British Columbia for work meetings for the last few days. Nice weather! Beautiful city. Friendly people too. Around my meetings, I had some time to walkabout and discover the city which was a nice break.

I will try to do an Artoo Strip of my trip in the next day or so.

I see I missed a gread Palmer get-together this past w-e while being away. Oh - and the Sens lost a third game in a row! sheesh!

You know, Hermit the frog

2006-05-11T17:44:00.000-04:00

(Earler tonight - Cinful One is looking at some digital pictures of toys on Artoo's computer)

- Cinful One: "He looks like the real one."

- Artoo: "Who?"

- Cinful One: "That one - Hermit!"

Artoo slaps his forehead.

E3 2006 Convention: Funny Bits

2006-05-11T16:53:00.000-04:00

For those of you not in the know, E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) is the annual video game convention where 1000s of products are introduced to the world. it is taking place this week in L.A.

Booth Babe Protesters: Quite a stir was made before E3 when the ESA announced they were changing the rules to add teeth to their booth babe policies. Bikinis were out. Violators could be fined up to $3000.

Funny story: Women in skimpy clothing were found outside the E3 Convention center protesting the decision with signs that read, "Booth Babe Protest: I am rated "E" for Everyone."

Imagine our even greater surprise when E3 security showed up during our interview to force them off the premises.

Not for being in skimpy clothing, but for being protesters. In skimpy clothing.

"We want to have fun, too," said Niki Nicholson, one of the protesters, when we asked about the meaning behind their sign. "It's a good thing to hear a girl say that it is not a big deal to wear a bikini. It's an adults only convention."

Niki and her co-protester, Roisin Taylor, were not spontaneous protesters, but were actually hired by intellivisiongear.com to promote their after E3 party. The signs were a joint idea between them and their company to help attract attention.

It worked.

Mini-Movie Review: Broken Flowers

2006-05-06T11:26:00.000-04:00

What's it about?
As the devoutly single Don Johnston (Murray) is dumped by his latest girlfriend (Delpy), he receives a anonymous pink letter informing him that he has a son who may be looking for him. The situation causes Don to examine his relationships with women instead of moving on to the next one, and he embarks on a cross-country search for his old flames who might possess clues to the mystery at hand.

My appreciation:
I liked this film. I love the recent roles that Bill Murray has taken as of late. He is just perfect for those roles at this time in his life. Story is simple and a little too even but the film works in the end. May not be everyone's cup of tea though. If you like introsspective storylines with dark humor and mundane reflections on existential questions related to one's life, then maybe this is for you. I would go as far as saying that if you liked Lost in Translation, you'll like this one. if you prefer ninjas and American Pie humour, maybe you should skip this one.

I rate this one 7.5 pink roses out of 10.

Mini-Movie Review: Control Room

2006-05-06T11:15:00.000-04:00

What's it about?
A chronicle which provides a rare window into the international perception of the Iraq War, courtesy of Al Jazeera, the Arab world's most popular news outlet. Roundly criticized by Cabinet members and Pentagon officials for reporting with a pro-Iraqi bias, and strongly condemned for frequently airing civilian causalities as well as footage of American POWs, the station has revealed (and continues to show the world) everything about the Iraq War that the Bush administration did not want it to see.

How was it?
Yet another documentary that did not disapoint. Fascinating expose about the flip-side of amarican journalism during the first year of the Irak War. At a time when governments often control and spin news stories to their advantage, this was an fascinating piece to see. I highly recommend it. It was made by one of the co-directors of Start-up.com

I give this 8 headlines out of 10.

Mini-Movie Review: Thir13en Ghosts

2006-05-06T11:05:00.000-04:00

What's it about?
When Dr. Zorba dies, he leaves his house to his broke nephew, who moves in with his daughter. With the house come two unexpected pluses (or minuses): the house has 13 ghosts which can only be seen with a special pair of glasses, and there's a fortune hidden somewhere in the house...and someone wants it. (Why did Zorba have so many ghosts? He collected them!)

What I thought:
This film reminded me of a cross between Cube, Hellraiser and a bad ghost story. It may sound a little worse than it actually was. The film did keep me interested the whole way. I can't say that there were too many scary bits. Some were a little over the top but the suspense element was a little weak. Visually it was pretty cool and the ghosts were quite well done. Unfortunately, the ending was a little bit of a letdown.

I give this one 5 ghosts out of 10.

Mini Movie Review: I am a Promise

2006-05-05T10:53:00.000-04:00

What's it about?
Directed by Alan and Susan Raymond, I AM A PROMISE paints an unflinching verité portrait of the children of Stanton Elementary School in North Philadelphia, an inner-city neighborhood where 90% of the students live below the poverty line. As seen through the viewpoint of devoted principal Deanna Burney, the film shows Stanton as underfunded, understaffed, and filled with children struggling to overcome their difficulties. For these at-risk kids, the only hope for their future survives only in the success of their education.

My Review:
Highly engaging and thought provoquing - this great documendary gets you from the first few minutes of viewing the film. You feel the pain and sorrow that the principal and teachers go through as they try to give these young disadvantaged kids what they can - knowing very well what neighborhood they live in and what may await some of them in the future. Sad yet uplifting tale that is definately worth seeing.

Rating: 8 apples out of 10

Korean Scientists Develop Female Android

2006-05-05T10:49:00.000-04:00

Scientists in Korea have developed the female android... also known as a "fembot". :) While the bot doesn't move it's lower half, it's face is actuated with a bunch of tiny motors that synch it's lips to speech and allow it to make eye contact while talking. They hope to have it able to walk and sit down by the end of this year.

NHL Playoffs: Round 2 Predictions

2006-05-05T06:28:00.000-04:00

First round is over. Time to peeks ta my predictions. How did I fare?

TB-OTT = OTT (5) - OTT won in 5. Perfect!
MON-CAR= MON (7) - CAR won in 6.
NYR-NJ=NJ (6) - NJ won in 4
PHI-BUF= BUF (6) - BUF won in 6. Perfect!

Western Conference
DET-EDM= DET (5) - EDM won in 6
COL-DAL= DAL (6) - COL won in 5
CAL-ANA= ANA (6) - ANA won in 7
NAS-SJ= SJ (5) - SJ won in 5. Perfect!

Ah well... Got 5 series out of 8 including 3 perfect predictions on the number of games. Not too bad.

Round 2:

East:
Ottawa-Buffalo: I take the Snes in 7 games. I really fear the speed of buffalo.
New-Jersey-Carolina: I take Jersey in 6 games because of Brodeur.
West:
SanJose-Edmonton: It's going tp be hard to stop the Sharks. SJ in 6 games.
Anaheim-Colorado: Looks like the Ducks are on a roll. I give them the series in 6.

Doctors to drill Keith Richards's skull

2006-05-04T15:32:00.000-04:00

SURGEONS plan to drill a hole in the skull of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards and drain blood from his brain after he bashed his head in a tumble in Fiji last week.

The 62-year-old rock wild man hurt himself when he fell out of a palm tree at an expensive island resort.
Richards was originally diagnosed with mild concussion, but he continued to complain of dull headaches after he was transferred to a hospital in Auckland. Tests later revealed a small haemorrhage.

A British newspaper quoted a friend as saying: "Keith's accident has turned out worse than everybody feared. After the tests, doctors decided they should drain his skull. It has given him a scare but he's been told he should make a full recovery once it's done."

It remains unclear whether Richards' injury will have any effect on the Rolling Stones' world tour.

Artoo loves this invention: The Transparent Toaster!

2006-05-03T17:12:00.000-04:00

Artoo is a sucker for a good piece of toast. Check this out:

This transparent toaster allows you to see the bread while it is toasting so you never surprised by toast that comes out too dark. This idea is based on the transparent heating glass featured in this issue. Although the glass does not currently get hot enough to toast bread, some day this application may be possible. The concept was developed by the Inventables Concept Studio.