Pika!

I use to do some animated Pokemon scripts for their online content and came across a release about their annual Video Game Showdown. Sweet!



"Fans across the planet" can win a seat at this first annual contest in Orlando. But you have to show-up on July 12th in Los Angeles, CA or July 19th in New York, NY to qualify. This regional qualifying event, free to the public, will feature the best players in America battling it out on Nintendo’s Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl video games for the opportunity to compete against the best players from Japan. Two first place finishers at the Video Game Showdown will be awarded a 6 day / 5 night vacation package for four to your choice of NY, Honolulu, or Tokyo, Japan as well as a custom Nintendo DS Game System. Prizes are also awarded to the top finishers in each of the two age divisions at the qualifier tournaments including a Nintendo Wii package worth over $500! Pokémon is a Kid-tested / Parent-approved brand that unlike many of the current video games on the market, has always promoted non–-violence and encourages interaction and socialization with other users. We’re happy to send over artwork for the Video Game Showdown as well. We’d love it if you could tell all our local kids about this exciting event that allows them to showcase their talents and win the experience of a lifetime!

Who Else Thinks this Brooklyn Bridge Waterfall Fiasco is Dumb?

So tonight I'm going to peruse the Brooklyn Bridge via watertaxi for work to get a close-up view of this hideous waterfall. Do they really think it's going to rake in the dough from tourism? Right now it looks like a metal erecta-set circa 1982 and any minute Jimmy Hoffa's body is going to get sucked up into it and go over the edge. My hubster's comment this morning on the subway ride while we gawked at it over the Manhattan bridge with all the other commuters? "At least it'll help circulate the East River a little bit."

Frank Sinatra didn't sing about this in his Brooklyn Bridge song... "All the folks in Manhattan are sad... 'cause they all wish they had, a waterfall monstrosity under the Brooklyn Bridge!"

Apparently it's the handiwork of "brainchild of Danish artist Olafur Eliasson." He's the same brainchild of The Weather Project at the Tate Modern, London from 2003.

I do think it's interesting, but horrifically out of place and oddly offensive against such a beauty as The Brooklyn Bridge. It seems tainted somehow. I'll have a better close-up view tonight. Don't call me a hack, it's a free event, can you really pass up the opportunity?

Travel Alert - Hideous Waterfall

Found this press release in my email this morning....


Entertainment Cruises is excited to announce that in addition to breathtaking views of the Manhattan skyline, Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty and more, this summer the cruise line will offer spectacular views of New York’s most awe-inspiring new attraction – The New York City Waterfalls, debuting today!

Famous for reinventing nature in artwork, Olafur Eliasson will replicate the beauty and splendor of waterfalls in four, 90 to 120 foot-tall art projects located at Pier 35 in Manhattan, Governors Island, Brooklyn Bridge and Pier 5 in Brooklyn. There will be no better view of the brilliant sites than aboard Spirit Cruises, where passengers will sail up close to the city's most unique art attraction while enjoying dinner, dancing and entertainment.