Darren Barefoot, a prominent Vancouver blogger and “technologist”, recently commented on the difference between a technical writer and one that works in the marketing department. His was a response to a post by another commentator (out there in the wide world of the interweb) who stated that she would like to see more marketing elements and funding put into the making of user manuals. Instruction booklets are too dry, she said. They’re not compelling enough, she went on. Darren shot her down, and I’m on his side on this one.

I posted up a brief comment up on Darren’s blog and it reads as follows:

I agree with you Darren. The most important aspect of a manual is ease of use. No one will read an instruction book from cover to cover; they might read the introduction and the getting started sections, but more likely than not, they won’t delve into any other part of the manual until they’re stumped. At this point, two things must happen:

1) The information must be easily found. This is where a good table of contents, a comprehensive index, and a well-designed categorization/section system comes up. If I’m having trouble figuring out how to download pictures off of my camera phone, I shouldn’t have too much trouble going to a specific page in the manual for that particular task.

2) The information must be easily understandable. This is especially true for consumer products. Eschew the jargon and put it in a language that Joe Public can understand and put in practice.

Nowhere in the equation does the writing have to be necessarily compelling, engaging, or even interesting. Technical writing is, in my mind, for “functional” purposes only, whereas marketing speak should be fun, engaging, thought-provoking, and so forth.

I guess as a budding writer myself (with an interest in a wide range of styles, including copywriting, marketing, technical, news reporting, human interest, etc.), Barefoot’s post was of particular interest to me.

Whatever your view, I think that Darren’s entry is a good read. Check it out here.

Okay, so I lied. I didn’t come back right after the Panther Paintball entry to talk about the festivities for that evening. So sue me. (Actually, please don’t. I’m but a lowly freelance writer struggling to afford an extra value meal at the golden arches. I want to get a McChicken, please. Fries’d be nice too) Anyways, getting back to my cousin’s stag this past weekend, after we finished up with the Pain Game in South Surrey, everyone went back to their respective homes to shower, clean up, and get ourselves all pretty for the Chilli House Thai Bistro, located in Downtown Vancouver.

More specifically, the Chilli House is right along the north shores of False Creek, tucked in along the pedestrian-only walkway just south of Yaletown. This is the same neighbourhood, approximately, as you would find StoneGrill, C Restaurant, and Marmalade Bar and Lounge.

My brother (yes, the same brother as my now famous So a crow flies into my house story) and I were one of the first to arrive, so we thought we’d help ourselves to a couple of drinks. Heading upstairs to the private lounge upstairs where the bachelor party would be held, we found a personal bartender who would be helping us for the rest of the evening. While they had some more exotic drinks (with a distinct spicy Thai influence), my brother and I weren’t so adventurous. I opted for a simple vodka martini whereas he ordered a Jack Daniels and Coke.

Eventually, the other 20-some-odd goofballs filtered into the room, including the man of the hour, Quincy. As expected with Yaletown fare, the food came in fairly small portions (they were all share plates), but the price was a little lower than I expected (it was a set menu, working out to $30 a head, including taxes and tip).

One of the most interesting dishes was what appeared to be Japanese prawn tempura, except instead of the usual batter, the jumbo prawn was wrapped in crunchy Thai noodles. The same stuff you’d find in a Mandarin Chicken Salad at most restaurants (including fast food joints like Wendy’s). Along the way, we also got a spicy beef salad, chicken curry, pad thai noodles, spring rolls, and a whole crab (complete with the brainy guts under the shell).

All in all, I’d say the food was quite good at Chilli House, but given that it was Thai, the dishes were a little too spicy for my tastes (as I fully expected). I didn’t have a chance to check out their regular menu, but I’d suspect that the pricing would be more or less in line with similar restaurants, like Thai House, Tropika, Banana Leaf, and others.

After dinner, the majority of my cousin’s “crew” went to The Penthouse for the stereotypical bachelor party entertainment. We all had to chip in for Quincy’s… er… fun, whether we were going on not. My brother and I were not. In any case, I received an email from Quincy shortly afterwards, exclaiming that he was the last man standing at 5:30am the next morning. Well done, cous (is that how you type out the shortened version of cousin?), well done.

This past weekend went by faster than a teenager on methamphetamines for me. More often that not, I try to enjoy my days off by sleeping until noon, relaxing in front of the boob tube, and maybe heading out for a game of tennis or two. Of course, playing my Nintendo DS Lite is usually factored into the equation as well. This past weekend, however, was quite different. Want to find out about my (mis)adventures? Then keep reading…

It was my cousin’s stag party on Saturday and it was an all-day event. I partook in two-third’s of the day’s festivities, skipping out on the ubiquitous strip bar / lap dance portion. I know, I know, I should have gone, but I was dead tired and… wait, I don’t need to explain myself to you, so I’ll just stop there.

Anyways, the day started by meeting at my cousin’s place so that we could carpool to event number one: Panther Paintball in South Surrey. The drive from Lougheed Highway and Willingdon Avenue to the location took us a full 40-45 minutes, much longer than I was expecting, considering we were only a hop and a skip away for the Trans Canada Highway as he embarked on our journey. Upon arrival, we signed our lives away with a waiver form, taking on full responsibility for the following four hours. If one of us happened to get hurt, Panther Paintball would have no legal obligation to really do anything. Great. Just great.

I knew that I was probably going to be in for a world of pain, and it certainly didn’t help that the sun was beaming down on us all day. It was pretty darn hot in those coveralls that they provided (better than getting my own clothes dirty though, that’s for sure). Taking in the big picture, I think I got away much “cleaner” than most of the other 16 participants, as they displayed their “battle wounds” with pride. Oozing welts were nothing out of the ordinary; the groom — my cousin — even got shot in the neck at one point.

I ended up with two smaller bruises / welts on my right arm, and a larger one in the middle of my back. The husband-to-be, however, got lit up like a Christmas tree with several “marks” up and down his back, chest, stomach, arms, and that one glorious-looking one on his neck.

It was like playing Counterstrike, except for real (well, sort of). I operated mostly in “stealth” mode during the eight or nine games that we played (interestingly, “Capture the Flag” — the prototypical paintball game — was missing from our day; no reason or explanation was given). Rolling around in the forest with a full goggle-mask (that inevitably fogged up, impairing everyone’s vision), donning full camouflage gear, and pelting one another with exploding plastic balls… As violent and beastly as the “game” may sound, it is an awful lot of fun.

The most interesting game we played was the Gauntlet. Poor Quincy, my cousin, was disarmed and thrown into the playing field while the rest of us stood in a line, paintball guns cocked and aimed, ready to cover his clothes in exploding green paint. His goal was to run from one end of the field to the other, but he only made it about halfway before he called it quits. Understandably, he was shot at least 10 times (probably many more) while trying to transverse across the course, jumping from barrier to barrier.

“Terminator”, “Head Shots Only”, and “The Pain Game” were some of the other highlights. Good times… too bad I couldn’t see most of the time, thanks to the foggy goggles.

I’ll check in again later tonight or maybe tomorrow with part two, covering the dinner at Chilli House Thai Bistro.

Okay, here’s a shameless use of my webspace to pawn off some of the junk (good junk, I might add) kicking around the house. I live in the Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada) area, so if you’re around here, that’d be the ideal situation for me to give you the stuff and for you to give me the money. Otherwise, you can just PayPal me the funds (adding in the shipping cost) and I’ll send it your way.

Anyways, here’s what I have for sale. ‘Tis best that you send me an email at michael@michaelkwan.com if you’re interesting. Prices are obo (or best offer), and I’m probably up for appropriate trades as well.

Nintendo GameCube games - $10 each
Both come with original instruction booklet, case, insert, etc. and are in immaculate condition
- Madden NFL Football 2006
- Product Number 03 (sometimes listed as P.N.03)

Movie DVDs - $7 each
Legitimate (not copied) and complete with original case and insert, unless otherwise noted
- Bourne Supremacy (Matt Damon) *disc only*
- Out of Time (Denzel Washington)
- One Hour Photo (Robin Williams)
- Rain Man (Tom Cruise)
- Moscow on the Hudson (Robin Williams)

Books - open to offers
- Mankind Have a Nice Day (WWF)
- The Rock Says (WWF)
- Drew Carey: Dirty Jokes and Beer
- Airframe (Michael Crichton)
- Student Entrepreneurs
- Big Book of Hell (Matt Groening)

With the recent (oh, I guess not that recent anymore) release of the Nintendo DS Lite, Shigeru Miyamoto and crew have found themselves at the forefront of video gaming again, having sat under the shadow of Sony and their PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and — to a lesser extent — PlayStation Portable. The DS Lite brings iPod-like glossy appeal to the video game arena, and when coupled with Nintendo’s innovative dual display set up (one of which is a touchscreen) and incredible gameplay, the DS Lite is quite the winner.

Speaking of great games, here are just a handful of titles available for the Nintendo DS that should be a part of every gamer’s library, regardless of genre preferences. Action junkies, RPG lovers, and simulation aficionados should all have a nice long gander at these titles.

Mario Kart DS: This is the “killer app” for the Nintendo DS (Lite). It is an absolute must-have title, not only because it brings such a long tradition behind it, but the compilation is an absolute masterpiece. The gameplay mechanics are second to none, the graphics are vibrant and colourful, and who can resist the appeal of hucking a red shell at Donkey Kong as he drifts around the corner on a goofy-looking 150cc go-kart. Veterans of the series will find themselves right at home, as many of the tracks are direct translations of those found in the Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, or Game Boy Advance variations of the Mario Kart franchise. Not only will you enjoy playing the single player mode in MK-DS, but you’ll really appreciate this title when you go online and challenge other Mario Kart-ers from clear cross the globe. There are at (at least) 12 characters, 36 karts, and 32 courses to be found in Mario Kart DS.

Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day: Known as Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? in Japan, Brain Age is a collection of mini games designed to help improve your brainpower, processing speed, and reaction time. It’s funny, really, because this “game” was originally marketed at the middle-aged set in Japan in an effort to slow down the brain aging process, helping those folks feel young and revitalized again. Never before has there been this much of a focus on marketing a video game to anyone over the age of 40. Don’t diss this title until you’ve tried it: you really can’t appreciate how much fun memory games, mathematics, and screaming out the word “yellow” can be until you’ve tried Brain Age. In many ways, Brain Age is superior to its follow-up, Big Brain Academy, but both games are pretty darn good in their own right(s).

Animal Crossing: Wild World: Another game compatible with Nintendo’s free WiFi Connection (WFC), AC:WW takes the concept of EA’s “The Sims” to a whole new level, not to take anything away from the series inspired by the legendary Sim City. Animal Crossing: Wild World for the Nintendo DS is very similar to the original Animal Crossing for the GameCube, but with plenty of extras thrown in (like being able to visit other gamer’s towns online via the Nintendo WiFi Connection) to keep every gamer satisfied. Another unconventional title, Animal Crossing: Wild World gets you to take on a mortgage, go fishing, catch bugs, and write letters to your neighbours. Just like Brain Age, this is another instance of “Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it”.

Trauma Center: Under The Knife: A sequel to this surgery game, Trauma Center: Second Opinion, is destined for the Nintendo Wii and it will feature much the same kind of gameplay. Whereas the Sony PSP has taken more conventional games and genres — like first-person shooters, standard action-adventure titles, and simple racing games — Nintendo has ventured into arenas never exploited in video gaming before. Trauma Center was developed by Atlus, and gets you to take on the role of Derek Stiles, a 26-year-old surgeon who is only starting to realize his genius at Hope Hospital. You remove shards of glass from an explosion victim, sew up the wounds, and other necessary tasks when it comes to rescuing someone using surgical techniques. All of this is accomplished with an intuitive touchscreen interface.

Magnetica: If you’ve played the free online game Zuma , then you’ll feel particularly comfortable with Magnetica for the Nintendo DS. The mechanic is nearly identical, where a train of different coloured orbs is slowly making its way toward a death pit. Your task is to create sets of three identically coloured marbles (which will then disappear), before this train of orbs reaches the black hole. There are a few different orientations, trails, and specialty orbs to jazz up the gameplay. Other puzzle games you should check out on the DS Lite include Meteos (a variation on the standard match-three gameplay) and Tetris DS (with online play and 6 different game modes).

Other Notable Nintendo DS Games:

• Meteos
• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
• Metroid Prime Hunters
• New Super Mario Bros
• Nintendogs
• Sonic Rush
• Worms: Open Warfare

Coming Soon:

• Madden NFL 2007
• Star Fox Command
• Mario Hoops 3 on 3
• Cooking Mama

With the car show season just over the horizon (the Paris Motor Show kicks off next month), automotive news is slowly starting to trickle in with some new models, fresh takes on older cars, and some incredibly innovative concepts that may not even have working prototypes yet. It’s hard to keep up sometimes, so here is a short summary of the week for the world of cars, trucks, motorcycles, sport utility vehicles, and a variety of other people-movers.

The University of Minnesota has joined forces with Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science, and they’re working on a vehicle that can literally run on water. This technique will mostly be deployed in a fuel cell-powered car to generate hydrogen fuel. The goal is to have a working prototype by 2009.

If high-powered, lightweight roadsters are more your foray, then take a look at the R1 from Javan Sports Cars. The British automaker has put together a 1,430 pound car with 220 horsepower, a 0-60 time of 3.6 seconds, and a 12.2 second quarter mile.

By 2015, Ford predicts that we will no longer be able to buy a car with a four speed automatic transmission, finding continuously variable transmissions (CVTs) and 6-speed auto gearboxes instead. Ford is also working on a gas cap-less solution for the 2008 model year.

We could be the cusp of seeing the official launch of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X, because the carmaker has issued the 2006 Lancer Evo SE, the final update to the Evolution IX bodystyle.

It’s far from being official company issue, but I came across a Subaru Impreza STi-powered ATV. Four-wheeling was never so much fun, especially considering the 230hp put out by the turbocharged engine.

Peugeot may not be particularly well known around these parts, but they are a legend in the World Rally Championship. Now, they have a 700hp super sedan known as the 908 RC. It’s classy, but it’s also f&*%ing fast.