PARADE OF LOST SOULS

Vancouver has been given the insulting moniker of NO FUN CITY and for the most part, it's true. A lot of our events like Indy get cancelled and other like The Festival of Lights are always teetering on the brink. But one event is still going strong, it still brings out thousands of onlookers and still unites a community. I'm talking about East Vancouver's PARADE OF LOST SOULS.

Described as a "celebration of the cycle of life & death" and "of our facing fears in order to live life to its fullest". This pre-Halloween event sees costumes, house dressing, dancing, music and walking & talking through the streets on and around Commercial Drive. It's a pretty cool night that really brings the East Van Community together and one I recommend checking out if you haven't before. The Parade usually takes place the week before Halloween and you can see some our pics from this year's parade HERE!!!

VEGAS: FAMILY STYLE

Corsiworld once again visited their favorite weekend destination spot in the world, the City of Sin, Las Vegas. But this time it was different... this time it was "Family style". Michelle went down for the entire week along with her sister Teri, I went down for the initial weekend and then got on the plane as Michelle's Mom & Aunt arrived. Then a few days later when Mom & Aunt went home, Michelle and Teri spent some time with their brother Robby who arrived there on their last night with his wife Kathleen. Quite the family affair.

Like I said, it was a bit of a different trip for a couple reasons. 1) We didn't stay in a Hotel, no no, this time and for the first time we stayed at our Time Share at TAHITI VILLAGE which was cool. But lets look at the overall picture, let's call it "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly"....

The Good - Awesome pool, awesome Margaritas, awesome bed & bathroom in the giant awesome room. 24 hour hot tub, spa, gym, sauna and BBQ's, grill up a steak by the pool at 3am if you like, go ahead! It's Tahiti Village!

The good but not great (the bad to keep the movie reference alive) - the food, Tahiti Village is connected to a Denny's and a place called Tahiti Joe's. Denny's is... well, Denny's (Hangover breakfasts) and Tahiti Joe's has quite a good Dinner Menu but the Late Night Menu is quite a disaster. Also, they offer a free half hour shuttle that takes you to four stops along the strip which is great but it's small and fills up fast and even if its full, the shuttle still goes to all the stops to say "sorry, we're full". Also, the Village is on the strip which is great but anytime you need to cab to the main part of the strip instead of using the shuttle, it's $20. That adds up fast (Note - cabbing home at 4am only costs about $13 since the roads are quiet).

The Ugly - No maid service, they say that if you are there for the week, you get maid service on the 4th day, yeah, we didn't get it until the 7th. Also, they are "really" pushy for you to take another meeting to hear about all the great things that they are doing with "Tahiti Village", like they call you every morning and since we are both on the contract, we both have to be at the meeting. And they are utterly horrified if you don't want to go to the meeting, like you are breathing in space without a helmet and they are freaked out because your eyes are about to explode and they cannot look away. Needless to say we didn't take the meeting but we will next time so we can get some free show tickets. Finally and this is the real kicker for us, the overall service. Tahiti Village, will bend over backwards to get you to sign on and make you feel like a million and wait on you hand and foot but once you sign, your not important anymore. You're in... we got the money, we got your signature, your "little people" now. Potential owners get the bigger buses, the better coffee, the tastier food. Owners get no maid service and tiny shuttles. Overall though, it was a fun experience and cool to stay in our "time share" but next time we will use our week in one of the sister hotels in Hawaii or Florida. 

2) We are family. Usually you go to Vegas to party and gamble with guys, or see shows and live in decadence with your partner, this time it was to show the family the sights and sounds of Vegas. Much like my trip last year with my dad, Michelle wanted to do the same for her Aunt, Mom and Sister which was really cool of her. The best part is that Teri & Mom Ruth have never been to Vegas and Aunt Edie was only there for 1 day on a stopover years ago, so they were amazed. The best part? Ruth & Edie gambled every night till 6am, EVERY NIGHT! They loved it and they won too! They all had a blast.

A week in Vegas is a lot but it was a lot of fun and great to see the family having such a good time. Next time we go though, it'll just be Michelle and me. Vegas baby, Vegas. See some of the pics HERE.

ANDREW BAWIDAMANN

A little known fact about me is that I am a huge fan of Pin-Up Art! I'm not talking about Playmates (although I've been known to looksee at a playmate or two in my time) but I am talking about Pin-up Art from the 30's and onwards. Call it cheescake, call it smut, whatever, I think its cool and I think it started for me when I saw footage from WWII and that great art some of the soldiers had painted on the sides of their planes. The older I got, the more interested I got in Pin-up art. There's something about well done pin-ups that is worth looking at!

There's tons of artists to look at (And don't worry it's not pRon so you can look at it at work) too, like EDWARD RUNCI, EARL MACPHERSON, PETER DRIBEN, GEORGE PETTY, GIL ELVGREN, BILLY DEVORSS and the legendary ALBERTO VARGAS. While I respect the classics, I like the modern takes on pin-ups, a little more stylized, a little more iconic like RALPH BURCH or JOEL HERRERA but one in particular is my favorite... ANDREW BAWIDAMANN.

How did I find this cool artist? Well, while looking for cool Russian pics for my TIKIBARTV character, Mr. Ambassador, I came across this piece of art.


Wow! How cool is that? The piece is called COSMONAUGHTY and you can find more like it and the ones at the top of this post at his website HERE. There are some great pieces, some military-based, others fantasy-based, as well as sketches, stickers and clothes, unfortunately his book is sold out but if anyone knows where I can snag a copy, please lemme know.

Now, you're probably thinking, what does Michelle think about Pin-up Art? Well, she likes it and appreciates the good stuff! Luckily, she's also a fan of Bawidamann and his iconic/retro style but seriously, how could you not be? You may not like the subject matter but you can definitely dig the style!

You can see some of my favorite Bawidamann pieces HERE!!!

BRILLIANT

Real or not, it doesn't matter, it's just brilliant...

WHAT HAPPENED TO GIOCHANNEL?

So for the longest time, I ran an entertainment site called GIOCHANNEL and from October 2003 until summer 2008, I or some of my close friends, would update that site everyday with the latest Movie, TV, Comic Book or DVD news. We wrote reviews, he hosted trailers we even had a section for idiotic but entertaining links found on the information superhighway. Lately, the parent site of Giochannel called CGCHANNEL has been going through some internal issues as well as having some server issues and the first and only victim of said issues is ofcourse GIOCHANNEL.

I've tried and tried to get GIOCHANNEL back up and running, but dealing with a parent site in Quebec while I am in Vancouver has not been easy. After a few months, I had to give up, the dream seems to be over my friends, GIOCHANNEL is gone.

But the Entertainment News lives on! While I am working on a new web venture with some fans of GIOCHANNEL, I've set up a blog so you can get all the same info I would have posted on GIOCHANNEL HERE!

I call the blog GIO'S ENTERTAINMENT NEWS and for all you oldtimers out there, that was the name of my original daily entertainment email that I used to send out before I started GIOCHANNEL. Everything old is new again indeed!

So if you are looking for your Entertainment News fix from me, GIOCHANNEL may be down but I am not out. Visit GIO'S ENTERTAINMENT NEWS and be sure to bookmark it as I update it everyday!

THE NEW JOB

So it's friday evening and I just finished my first official week at "the new job", guess what... I love it. I know, I know, it's the "honeymoon period" right now and once I get comfortable, I'll be exposed to the real deal but really, I've been exposed to a lot so far. I've met a lot of people, been part of a lot of meetings, seen a lot of presentations and read a lot of docs so I've seen a lot of the "real deal" at HUMANATURE already and it doesn't scare me. I love it. The projects are interesting, the bosses seem cool and my small team is awesome, the jokes are already flying fast & furious. This is gonna be a great adventure.

ENDINGS & BEGINNINGS

It was a weekend of endings and beginnings for us at Corsiworld.

First off on Saturday, we said goodbye to our brother-in-law EARL O'DONNELL who passed away last week after a lengthy battle with Liver Disease. Earl was one of my favorite relatives since for the five years that I knew him, he never got my name right. It was always "Gino" and no matter how many times I corrected him, the very next moment it was "Gino", so I just stopped trying. He also took a keen interest in my industry and found it quite amazing that I made Video Games for a living and I loved telling him about it cause he seemed truly impressed with what I was sharing with him. The funeral occurred on Saturday in a chapel packed with over 300 people and it was a beautiful service complete with fantastic speeches by four of Earl's grandkids. Earl was a good guy, he was always smiling or cracking a joke and it is sad to see him go but we know he's up there smiling down on us all. We'll miss you buddy.

On Sunday, we took part in the baptism of my little niece AMAYA. We met at the family church (The Corsi's aren't church-goers but we all seem to go to the same one for these types of events) and a small group of family and friends were on hand for the ceremony. Ida & Albert's friends Leslie & Robby were named the Godparents and Amaya was in perfect form for the entire Baptism. Afterwards, the whole gang headed to Gusto Di Quattro for a beautiful lunch and a few laughs with old family friends. It was a great way to spend a sunday and Amaya was just perfect. Pics can be seen HERE!!!

GOODBYE PROPAGANDA

Today marks the end of an era for me. Three and a half years ago, I started work at a small games studio called Revolution Games and I was employee #18. Today, I leave a large Disney-owned Company called Propaganda Games that is now home to 150+ talented, passionate people. Why?

I got offered a great & creative gig at another studio that felt too good to pass up and would allow me to flex some long dormant muscles that were in desperate need of some activity. I'm really excited with this new opportunity but it was a hard choice. I have so many good memories at Propaganda: the first Whistler Staff Day, San Diego Comic Con 2005, Snow Day on Grouse, getting my first SLR camera (thanks Frank!), Pancake Breakfasts, the Turok Launch Party, GDC in San Francisco, Beer o'clock, Poker Nights, Costume Days, Mini Game Week and finally seeing the fruit of our labour, Turok, on the shelves in stores.

It's been a hell of a ride but sometimes you gotta follow your gut and suit up for a brand new adventure and that's just what I'm gonna do!

Thanks for all the memories PROPAGANDA GAMES!!!

BYE BYE SEPTEMBER

Time is really flying this year, I can't believe September has come and gone, it feels like New Years was just a few weeks ago... man, time really does fly. Lot's to recap this month:

• Michelle and I celebrated our third wedding ANNIVERSARY
• I had a BIRTHDAY
• KEN & LOREEN tied the knot!
• A review for THE KINGSTON is up at VANCOUVER EATS
• All my Italian relatives came for a visit and we all spent a weekend in WHISTLER together which was grand!
• FREWER had a birthday
• I took some shots of Natasha's BRIDAL PARTY to get me some more photo experience!
• Finally, take a look at our SEPTEMBER Pics
• All in all, a great month! Now onto October!