"Review Update part 2" on 02/03/2005

CityBeat have overhauled their website and it's now legible. Also, I have two major articles in there this week.

The first is the lead review, because Andy's taking a rare vacation. I compare/contrast Hide and Seek, Alone in the Dark, and Fascination. A sample:

"Unfortunately, there aren’t enough laughs to justify Hide and Seek even on cheeseball grounds. Alone in the Dark hits a lot closer to the mark, beginning with an opening text crawl that’s read aloud and goes on for some nine paragraphs. It’s like the verbal equivalent of the mothership at the beginning of Spaceballs, and it’s total nonsense to boot, all about some fictional Indian tribe called the Abkani, who somehow opened a portal to a realm of monsters, which have something to do with a scientific experiment to turn people into zombies."

whole thing is HERE

And then -- remember when I was soliciting (or trying to solicit and failing) readers who played sports video games? This story is why:

"Hans Christoph, a personal trainer and manager of the power smoothie/exercise store bodyfactory, was pretty blunt when asked about health benefits from intense gameplay: 'Absolutely none whatsoever. If your body is complacent and neutral, you’re advancing none of your muscles, except maybe a mental aspect, so basically it requires you to be lazy.'"

more HERE

It's a very Cathy Seipp-ish piece, in that I totally interviewed friends of mine. But some strangers too.