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3DS: Live at Budokan

Nintendo launches new handheld in Japan

By Cody Klyne, Arts Editor

uch to the childlike chagrin
of North American gamers,
this last weekend marked the

one month countdown to the launch
of Nintendo’s new handheld, the 3DS.
Elsewhere, in the land of the rising sun,
Japanese gamers have been gifted, as has
been the standard practice since the birth
of Mario himself, to an early release. But
is first really always best? The answer in
this case is... probably not.

Fact: pricing in Japan sucks.

Ringing up at tills across the
country for a whopping 25,000 yen
(approximately $300 CND), while
some Japanese gamers might be used to
swallowing the pill of a price hike for the
bragging rights of having first access to
Nintedogs + Cats, speaking as a student
gamer of a budget, dishing out 300 clams
qualifies this thing as an investment.
Much to my relief, undoubtedly due to a
number of cryptic black ops surveys and
devilish market evaluation techniques

(and magic), when the device touches
down in Canada in late March, expect to
cope with something closer to (the still
high) price point of $250.00.

Fact: launch titles for the 3DS are,
across the board, underwhelming.

If you took my previous mention
of Nintendogs + Cats as an indication
that for the time being, the 3DS’ library
is a little lacking in substance, you’d be
right. With the distinct absence of the
mustachioed one as the part and parcel
example of this point, more time for
upcoming game announcements can only
be looked at as a good thing. I don’t care
if you’re trying to showcase your new
handheld as a fun and pirate-free place for
third-party developers to call home, Battle
of the Giants: Dinosaurs 3D just isn’t
doing it for me Nintendo.

The long and short of it is this: show
a little patience. With importing distinctly
less attractive an option than even before
(region locking be damned) there’s really
nothing you can do about it anyway.

 

 

Ekodoom leaves an aftertaste
Dance at the 2011 Chutzpah! Festival

By Julia Siedlanowska

hursday marked the closing night
of Ekodoom, the subtly penetrating
show by Israel’s Kibbutz
Contemporary Dance Company. This non-
linear performance left me struggling to
find meaning. Like all good art, its lack
of definition left in me a curiosity and
unsettledness that continues (into the next
day so far) to provoke thought.

The show opened with a woman in a
box, large enough for her to crouch in, but
too small to be considered comfortable.
Like an animal in a cage, she flailed
around, trapped and contorted. Behind her
was a large, lit, leafy green tree (my mind
automatically referenced Eden.) The show
was full of these contrasts. Uncomfortable
coldness, juxtaposed with the would-be
comfort of nature. Throughout the show,
there was a repeated sequence where the
dancers would walk, almost robot-like, in
a single file line, abruptly shrugging their
shoulders in unison. I noticed that in this
sequence, the individual did not exist. All
marched in an inhuman gray line.

Later, the dancers split into pairs.

But even when coupled, the dancing was
without intimacy. Two dancers were left
on the stage and the dancing turned into
something that resembled hard, loveless
copulation. Real humanity and love was
only felt in glances, like in one of the
sequences where a woman danced with a
soldier. This is where themes of war really
started to settle in. Images of the KKK
and hangings were invoked when the
dancers systematically marched forward
over and over again; sometimes holding

 

be ‘tie

what looked like hoods up behind their
heads. In another scene, dancers dressed
in what resembled tacky 1940’s inspired
(but still relevant) beach vacation attire
danced stupidly and gaily, smiling in an
almost clown like, satirical fashion. Was
this the juxtaposition between the Jews
and the Germans, or Afghanistan and a
spring vacation in Maui?

My favourite scenes were those
danced under white flakes that fell from
the ceiling. It was beautiful, yet seemed
slightly pained. The flakes resembled
snow, but after the tone of previous
scenes, also made me think of ash. After
an almost tranquil solo of flinging about
in the snowy material, from behind the
falling matter came more dancers. They
looked almost as if they were marching
in from the horizon. The visual effect was
absolutely beautiful.

For the ending, the back curtain
and the wings were pulled up to reveal
backstage. The effect was similar to
that of epic theatre — we became quite
aware that we were watching a show. I
liked this, but perhaps it is the reason I
did not have any emotional response to
the ending. The dancing softened, while
a woman did a headstand amongst the
others. The song playing was like an
anthem, with the lyrics “Everybody gets
a little lost sometimes.” With the woman
in the headstand, and the tree lit behind
her, when the song ended, the woman
fell to the ground. The dancers bowed
and left the stage. With the audience still
anticipating the fall of the curtain, stage
hands came out and swept the flakes off
the stage.