Monthly Archives: December 2009

InsertCoin winners announced

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Earlier this year Humana Games for Health put out the call for aspiring video game designers to pitch them with their ideas for a fitness based video game. The contest, dubbed InsertCoin, was an effort by Humana to find new and innovative game concepts that would motivate people of all generations to get more exercise. The top three entries in the contest would earn a chance to see their idea developed into an actual video game and also receive a fairly significant cash prize. Considering how difficult it is to break into the video game industry, and how hard it can be for game developers to come up with original ideas, the contest looked to be a potential win/win situation for all parties involved.

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Why I won’t be seeing Avatar.

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I have no desire to see the movie Avatar.

I realize that, in some ways, I have just committed some kind of sin that shall get me ostracized from geek subculture, but the statement is true. I’m just not interested. I fully admit that the film looks to be a special effects bonanza. James Cameron has never failed to deliver in that particular regard, and some of the films from his body of work are all-time, and often quoted, favorites of mine (especially Terminator and Aliens). Cameron also directed another film that I saw in the theater called Titanic. In fact, I saw it in the theater three times. That little blockbuster of a film broke all kinds of records and got a whole bunch of Academy Award nominations.

I can’t watch it today.

I mean, I could…but I can think of a lot of things I’d rather do with my time. Things like, I dunno…cleaning my ears. Checking my cat for worms. I think you get my point.

The reason I feel that way about the film is because I feel like Titanic was, ultimately, a rip-off. Cameron made sweet, sweet love to our eyeballs for a few hours and did so in a mind blowing fashion but the next morning he was gone and he left a note on the bathroom window saying that we might want to call our doctor and get checked for STD’s. Titanic had the potential to be a movie that would stand the test of time, and the fact that he created a bogus story to tell on top of the tragedy that was the Titanic is, in some ways, a bit insulting to those who died that day if you really think about it. It’s pretty much a statement that, of all of their stories, none of them were good enough to get people to come to the theater and watch a movie. Not really a valid statement when he had Kathy Bates playing “the unsinkable” Molly Brown.

Now I know a lot of you might look at the fact that I saw Titanic in the theaters three times and say “Well, you obviously enjoyed yourself when you went to see it.” You’d be 100% correct. I did. I cannot argue that fact, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I thought it was an awesome film at the time.

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Artist’s Way Exercises

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Probably not too terribly interesting to you guys, but there ya go…

Week One, Exercise Five

Write a letter to the editor in your defense. Mail it to yourself. It is great fun to write this letter in the voice of your wounded artist child: “To whom it may concern: Sister Ann Rita is a jerk and has pig eyes and I can too spell!”

To Whom It May Concern:

I do not understand this exercise. It is poopy. Poopy things are not fun and I do not enjoy doing them. Unless it’s taking a real poopy. That isn’t so bad. I like to read when I’m having a poopy.

Yeah, for real. I’m totally not getting this exercise and I believe it’s one of the reasons I’ve been held up for the last few weeks. Letter to the editor in my defense? What’s up with that? I think it is supposed to be in response to the horror story that I wrote about, but I’m not really sure that I have any particular person I need to reply to in regard to that one. I mean, I’m the only person who made me feel bad there. Nobody else was responsible.

So there ya go, editor. That’s my letter to you and the statement I need to make. You don’t have people bringing you down. You bring yourself down. You are surrounded by people who support you in what you do and believe in you. The only thing stopping you is your own mental blocks.

Which, in the end, is what all of this is about.

Week One, Exercise Eight

Imaginary Lives: If you had five other lives to lead, what would you do in each of them? Whatever occurs to you, jot it down. Do not over think this exercise. The point of these lives is to have fun in them – more fun than you might be having in this one. Look over your list and select one. Then do it this week.

Actor (full-time), Writer, Teacher, Motivational Speaker, Nutritionist

Those wacky New Yorkers are at it again

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Some of you may recall the somewhat unconventional tactics used by the New York City health commissioner in the war against obesity. Not only have they put laws into place that require chain restaurants to post calorie information on their menus, they have banned the use of trans fats in food production. Once they had those rules in place they started a fairly graphic advertising campaign against sugary drinks that showed a stream of fat being poured out of a bottle.  9DNZY6EMJZ6W

On the off chance that you Big Apple residents didn’t get the message the first time, though, the office of the health commissioner is back with a brand new ad.

And it’s worse.

It’s a video.

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General Mills announces plans to reduce sugar levels in many popular cereals

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chocolatecoveredsugarbombs

I have some news for you that may just come as a bit of a shocker, so you may want to brace yourself before reading this.

Many of the breakfast cereals marketed to children have a lot of sugar in them.

I know, I know.  It’s hard to believe, right? I mean, who would have thought that food containing marshmallows or designed to look and taste like chocolate chip cookies might have high amounts of sugar? Besides, all the commercials I watched about breakfast cereal when I was growing up told me that cereal could be part of a balanced breakfast. That means it has to be good for you! Never mind the fact that those statements were made over a scene that included a big glass of orange juice, some toast, and a side of fruit as well.

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Nice Muscle, America!!

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Regular readers of the site may recall a post from a few months ago where I lamented the fact that the disturbingly bizarre Namco/Bandi game Muscle March was not available for purchase in the Western markets. As I said at the time this game really doesn’t fit all too well into the “fitness game” genre that we generally cover here but, frankly, I don’t care. You could burn calories basking in the sheer awesomeness that is Muscle March. I mean, come on! You can play a body building Polar bear in a swimsuit who has his protein shake powder stolen by a football player, working your way through the various obstacles thrown in your path by going into body builder poses! How can a game like that NOT be good for you??

Well soon there will be no need for you to spend hundreds of dollars for a Japanese version of the Wii to experience the awe that is Muscle March!  Namco/Bandi as announced that Muscle March will be available for download next Winter through Nintendos online service, Wiiware.

The only bummer about this particular announcement is the fact that we have to wait so long for it to be released. I suppose the upside is that we have plenty of time to work on our form so that we’re in top shape and ready to bust some serious protein shake stealing butt next Christmas.

Guess it’s time to go speedo shopping.

Slim-Fast recalls all canned products

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slimfastcan_225kvThe company behind the production of the Slim-Fast line of products, Unilever, has announced a voluntary recall of over 10 million of their canned, ready-to-drink Slim Fast meal replacement shakes. Internal quality assurance testing on the drinks found traces of Bacillus Cereus, an unpleasant but non-lethal toxin that can cause nausea and diarrhea in its victims. Bacillus Cereus is traditionally associated with fried rice in Asian and Mexican restaurants but the commonality of the disease is difficult to verify due to the fact that so few people actually report cases of food poisoning to a physician.

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Computer users more likely to be overweight

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Image courtesy of Manuel Cernuda

Image courtesy of Manuel Cernuda

I stumbled across an interesting article over at MSNBC.com this morning while I was doing my daily scan through the numerous feeds I follow. Apparently some scientists over in Australia did a bit of research and came to the startling conclusion that people who spent more than five hours a week using a computer were two and a half times more likely to be obese than people who did not use computers at all.

I understand that next they are going to try and sort out once and for all whether or not that water stuff is actually wet.

In all seriousness, though, this article is yet another piece of information we have confirming what is a rather unfortunate truth for those of us who spend most of our day working and playing in front of a glowing box. Namely, if you’re a heavy computer user you’re considerably more likely to be fat. (In all fairness the same pretty much holds true for any sedentary activity, but there aren’t a lot of people I know who get paid to watch television all day.) We could get into the whole chicken and egg argument about whether computer users are predisposed towards obesity, but the whys and wherefores really do not change the facts of the situation.

The question is – What do we do about it?

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