I was a little concerned when I came across this article on MobilitySite, because they’re saying that the increased use of the Wi-Fi technology — so many of us have switched to wireless networking these days because it’s so easier and no more expensive that its wired counterpart, security issues aside — has led to several health problems. Among those cited include headaches, increased fatigue, lack of concentration, and impotence. Okay, maybe not the last one, but you can get over that with some adequate therapy and drugs and stuff. Sorry, what was I talking about again? Oh yeah, lack of concentration…

Granted, it may simply be a version of medical student syndrome, but I found that lately I have been feeling a little out of it. I often feel tired, although I know that I am generally getting an adequate amount of sleep. I may not be the healthiest diner in the world, but I wouldn’t say that I’m suffering from malnutrition or over-eating. My attention span may have suffered in recent years, but I blame that more on the overload of technology and entertainment than anything else. Most people in this generation have short attention spans, I find.

It makes me wonder, though, about the adverse effects of Wi-Fi, given that so much more is being said about potential cancer-causing cell phone use. Could this be another one of those “well, we didn’t know any better” kind of things? Like how Coca Cola used to have cocaine in it?

Time will tell. In the meantime, I’ll put up with the headaches, fatigue, and f^&*ing irritability to entertain you, my loving audience.

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but these computer-generated animation films are really starting to flood the silver screen. Sure, a few years ago, you may have gotten an odd one here or there, and for the most part, they were quite enjoyable if only for their relative novelty. I had a
thoroughly good time watching the first Toy Story. I couldn’t help but chuckle at Woody Allen as an insect in Antz. And like just about everyone else on the planet, I couldn’t get enough of Mike Myers as an ugly green ogre in Shrek.

This spring and summer, however, it seems like Hollywood has gone into overdrive with these flicks and they’re all starting to look a little generic. Between Ice Age 2, The Wild, Cars, and Ant Bully, it seems like we can’t go a week without a new computer animated film hitting up the local Silvercity, Colossus, Paramount, or the like.

Well, although the girlfriend has been catching these technological marvels religiously, the first that I’ve watched this season is Over The Hedge, based on the syndicated comic strip by Michael Fry and T. Lewis who also wrote the screenplay.

As expected, they’ve cast a good number of “real actors” to do the voices for this Dreamworks production, and I must say, I’m particularly pleased by the performances by Wanda Sykes (as a cheeky skunk), Steve Carrell (as a hyperactive squirrel), and Garry Shandling (as a traditionalist turtle… that’s a reptile, not an amphibian). The premise of the movie is quite simple. A group of forest dwellers emerge from their winter slumber to discover a huge hedge surrounding their grass and tree-filled home. Little do they realize that suburbia has popped up on the other side of that hedge.

They explore this brave new world filled with pizza delivery, automatic sprinklers, and Girl Scout cookies led on by a savvy, if somewhat dishonest, raccoon voiced by Bruce Willis. The animation may not be completely cutting edge anymore, but I found it to be colourful, vibrant, and quite suiting. There was just enough detail: not too much as to make it overwhelming, but not so little as to make it too simple or amateur-ish.

Along the way in Over the Hedge, you’ll forget that you’re listening to the voices of Avril Lavigne, Eugene Levy, and Nick Nolte, and will be much more interested in the hijinks of Heather the Possum, Lou the porcupine, and Vincent the Bear (who happens to be one of two main
“villians” in the movie).

While I wouldn’t put Over the Hedge in the same league as Shrek, there are several jokes and references for the older set to keep them entertained as they accompany the imminent flood of youngsters heading to the theatre to watch this movie.

Recommended? Sure, why not.

Okay, so this is still in the rumour stage at this point, but Wii Fanboy recently compiled a list of sixteen titles are scheduled to accompany the Nintendo Wii (formerly known as the Revolution) at launch. Even though a launch date and price (more on that in a bit) have not yet been announced for Nintendo’s next generation home video game console, the interweb is busting at the seams with stories about the not-so-powerful machine with ultra-innovative gameplay.

The sixteen games that we think have a good chance of being launch titles are the following:

• Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
• Wii Sports
• Red Steel
• Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam
• Madden NFL 2007
• Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors
• Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
• Metal Slug Anthology
• Trauma Center: Second Opinion
• Elebits
• Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
• Blitz: The League
• Rayman Raving Rabbids
• SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab
• Disney/Pixar’s Cars

Two of the most hotly anticipated of the bunch are Red Steel, a first person shooter-action title that takes you through the underworld of the Yakuza, involving guns, samurai swords, and a sense of honour; and Wii Sports, a series of pick-me-up and just have fun games that are destined to be party hits. If you poke around YouTube, I’m sure you can find a video of Wii Tennis with Shigeru Miyamoto himself.

Regarding release date, the most recent estimates have the Nintendo Wii slated for a late-October to early November launch, which makes sense, given the time needed for the super lucrative holiday season. Can you imagine the crowds of kids at your local Toys R Us demanding to snatch up a Wii?

As far as how much the Wii will cost, it seems that Nintendo may be taking advantage of the situation. Sony priced its PlayStation 3 into the upper echelons, so Nintendo may have a little more space to make a few extra bucks. Some have guess-timated a $250USD launch price, but if history is any indication — and it usually is — I’m fully expecting a price point of $199USD, the same price that the Nintendo 64 and GameCube launched at. Of course, for us Canadians, you can’t expect a great exchange rate, so I’m guessing $229-249 CDN.

What about you? Are you all hyped up about the Wii and will buy it at any cost? Have you already put down your deposit? Or are you saving up dem doubloons for a hefty PS3?

Source: Wii Fanboy

Summer may not have officially arrived just yet, but for many in the Asian community — particularly those of Chinese or Taiwanese descent living in the Vancouver area — it might as well have started because the floodgates to the “night market” have officially opened (as of this past weekend), letting in the army of counterfeit Gucci purses, late night dim sum, and shady electronics.

The fad may have started with the night market in Chinatown a few years ago, but it really took off when they found a larger venue in Richmond. We saw it in the Lansdowne Shopping Centre parking lot, and then a large space near where River Rock Casino sits now, but today’s Richmond Night Market is located a little further east, along River Road between No 5 and No.6 Road. For the uninitiated, that’s right around the IKEA/Future Shop/Staples/Home Depot area on Bridgeport and Sweden Way. Just follow the convoy of cars as they slowly roll into the $3 and $4 parking lots.

I haven’t been to the market this year, but have in year’s past. If you look around, you can sometimes find a good deal on some blank optical discs (CD-R’s years ago; more DVD+/-Rs and RWs in recent times), the occasional artsy puzzle, or some random clothing made in China. Caveat emptor, of course.

The RCMP are saying that they will be in full force at this year’s night market, not only with the small handful of uniformed officers making the rounds, but they are also deploying a rather large team of plain clothes inspectors to check up on the stands at night market. In years past, they have found pirated movies and video games, non-flame retardent children’s pajamas, and countless counterfeit purses (LV, Gucci, etc.).

Will I go again this year? Regretably yes, and it is largely for “something to do” and to munch on some mediocre Chinese food… “Asian” crepes, takoyaki, siu mai, and more. I’ll see you there among the middle-aged Chinese women and their Darth Vader masks/visors, white driving gloves, and the never-ending nagging for a better price.

UPDATE (7/12/2007):
Here are a couple of posts that you may find useful:
* Richmond Night Market 2007: Updated information for the 2007 season.
* Food at Richmond Night Market: The different stands and what to expect.

On my last full day through the Los Angeles area, we decided to rent a car and take the half-hour or so drive out of Hollywood and into Valencia, California. There really isn’t much to see along the way other than some random hills, trees, and random buildings, but this (relatively) short drive wasn’t about the travelling, it was about the destination.

We opted to rent a car (from Enterprise, no less), as when we looked up the trip through the LA area’s public transit system (Metro), it was a two-hour ride that involved multiple transfers. Where were we heading, you may ask? C’mon now, you should be smarter than that! Look at the title of this entry. Of course, we were heading to get our adrenaline fix at Six Flags Magic Mountain, arguably one of the best roller coaster parks in the world.

Although we probably would have preferred to head out to Ohio and try our luck at Cedar Pointe (rated THE best roller coaster park in the world, year in and year out), Magic Mountain was the next best thing that was within a more reasonable travelling distance. Because it is in the middle of nowhere, they have a monopoly on just about everything, including parking. Before we even entered the (huge) parking lot, we had to pass through a toll booth where they quickly demanded $15 from him for parking. Expensive, yes… but also absolutely necessary.

We arrived just as the gates were opening at 10am, and proceeded over to the admission booths to buy a season pass, reason being, it was the same price as a single-day entry. We then walked over to a tiny little building to fill out our information, get our (grainy black-and-white) pictures taken, and be supplied with a card so we could come back anytime we wanted for the rest of the calendar year. Best of all, it is valid at all Six Flags parks across the United States, so we might be taking a shorter road trip over to Wild Waves and Enchanted Village in Washington State, despite the fact that their park probably doesn’t have anything extra to offer above and beyond what PNE/Playland has.

While there are a handful of shows and kiddie rides, Six Flags is clearly designed with the roller coaster junkie in mind. On mere acreage alone, Magic Mountain can’t compare to Disneyland or maybe even Universal Studios, but they certainly managed to pack in the scream machines, with about a dozen or so of the steel beasts littered throughout the park. With names like Batman, The Riddler, Scream, Colossus, and Goliath, they certainly were of superhero proportions. I enjoyed trying out the different configurations, including those that allowed you to be essentially standing the whole time, have your feet dangling, or some other innovative design.

Easily, the most thrilling ride in the park was named simply “X”. In addition to the standard fare of ultra fast travel speeds, inversions, and “hair soaring through the wind” drops, the seats themselves were hydraulically rotated as well, giving a new “spin” on an otherwise standard coaster. The experience simply cannot be described in words.

Because we went during a “low season”, the lineups were remarkably short, with the longest wait being no more than fifteen or twenty minutes, compared to three hour or longer queues found at Disneyland during the months of July and August. I had a blast, and I am quite happy that most of the rides simply had a high “excitement” value rather than turning over stomachs with a higher “nausea” rating (veterans of Roller Coaster Tycoon will know exactly what I’m talking about– interestingly, most of the mean machines found in RCT are based on Six Flags rides).

Jay Leno wasn’t the only celebrity that I managed to spot while on my four-night excursion through California. Nope, his show wasn’t the only one that I got to catch. In following with the late night trend, I so happened to be walking past the El Capitan Theater on Hollywood Boulevard when a couple of the show’s representatives reached out and asked if I wanted to be a part of the live audience for Jimmy Kimmel Live! Without too much hesitation, I replied with a “Why not?” and signed up myself up to come back in a couple of hours when the taping for the late night talk show would commence.

When I returned to join the lineup, I started to see what all the hub-bub was about in front of Graumann’s Chinese Theater (which was across the street). They were holding the premiere for Mission Impossible III that Thursday evening, and the expected attendees including none other than Scientologist Tom Cruise and his recently de-pregnant-ated (yes, I know that’s not a word) Katie Holmes. As luck would have it, just as we were about to enter the El Capitan Theater to be seated for Jimmy Kimmel, the unmistakable theme from Mission Impossible blared over the loudspeakers as a Bugatti Veyron came ripping down the closed-to-the-public Hollywood Boulevard.

The driver was Tom Cruise. He pulled a u-turn at the end of the block and came back around to park on the red carpet. He emerged for the hot sports coupe (said to be 1001hp, priced north of $1 million USD) to a sea of flashing lights – there were crazed fans with cameras everywhere, not to mention the army of press surrounding the event as well – and he walked around to the passenger door to help the lovely Katie Holmes (who is notably taller than Cruise). I tried to
cast away the rumours of him eating the placenta from Suri’s birth.

He went around the crowd, graciously provided photo ops before doing a few autographs. Unfortunately for me, the staff at Jimmy Kimmel told us to move it along and into their venue. With a little bit of a grumble, we – and the several other people in line – complied and waited in the lobby to be seated. I have no regrets for watching Jimmy Kimmel, but I do have a few comments that I just need to get out there.

There’s a reason why Jimmy Kimmel is often not mentioned in the same breath as Jay Leno, David Letterman, or Conan O’Brien. He just isn’t as good an interviewer. I’ve never caught an episode – is that what you call them? – of Jimmy Kimmel Live prior to this appearance, but what I found is that he doesn’t seem to allow his guest to freely ramble and express themselves. It is as if he deems it necessary to butt in his voice every so often with an “Is that so?” or the occasional “Uh huh” and “Right right…”

Much more so than The Tonight Show, the organizers behind Jimmy Kimmel live work very hard to get the crowd “into it”. We felt it almost necessary to force the laughter and applause for Jimmy’s sake, and I do not like the feeling of being manipulated. The banter just wasn’t as
captivating as Jay’s, and Jimmy’s bald lackey sort of bothered me when he went around waving his arms, trying to convince us to laugh or applaud. The show does seem more audience-focused, however, with the cameramen swinging around to get live shots of “authentic” haha’s and hoho’s.

The guests that evening included Isaiah Washington from Grey’s Anatomy, probably better known to the average public as “that black guy that’s going out with that Korean girl on that TV show.” He talked about getting his DNA tested to discover his real roots: his father’s bloodline traces back to Angola, whereas his matrilineal heritage is that of Sierra Leone. The second guest was Kathie Lee Gifford, who was just as talkative and extroverted as always. The evening concluded with a couple of musical performances from the British alternative rock group Art Brut, who played some interesting tracks from their latest album “Bang Bang Rock and Roll”. Brit rock usually isn’t my cup of tea, but these guys were certainly entertaining.