"Triple A" gaming, Israel style

Thanks to our friends at Nocamels.com for the following bit of cool gaming news.

It seems Israeli gaming company Space Cowboys Studio, is on a mission (first-person shooter, of course) to create the sabra equivalent of the massively popular Call of Duty series.

Screen shot from Space Cowboys Studio website depicting an "extreme hyper-realistic" gaming  environment.

Here's a small excerpt from the story:

Israel may be the startup nation, excelling in almost every field in the high tech industry, but there is one field in Israel has yet to conquer– heavy-duty gaming. In a country full of technological development, it was impossible however, for Roy Shapira, CEO and Creative Director of Space Cowboys Studio, to study game development. “In Israel,” Shapira explains to NoCamels,”People are just starting to figure it out.”

“When Israelis think of games they think Angry Birds, or Fruit Ninja, but these are not games, these are things to pass the time. Interactive cinema is a real experience,” Shapira tells NoCamels. The main goal inspiring Shapira and his team when he founded Space Cowboys Studio in 2009 was to create a “triple A” quality game. Triple A games, which include popular titles such as Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Grand Theft Auto, feature an extreme hyper realistic game environment and attract hundreds of millions of gamers from all around the world.

 If they pull it off, it would be a very cool addition to the gaming world. What do you think?

A love for Seinfeld and shows about nothing

Jerry Seinfeld’s web series brings a cast of fellow A-list comedians together. They shoot the breeze in cars and over coffee in a show appropriately titled Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.

From the Season 2 promo alone, one might say there isn’t all that much more to it. But if you get the likes of Sarah Silverman, Don Rickles, Chris Rock, Seth Meyers or David Letterman in your car, how can hilarity not ensue?

The sassy banter returns today at noon to a computer browser near you. Check it out at crackle.com.

Israeli science aids the visually impaired

It appears that Israeli ingenuity is about to open new vistas for the visually impaired.

Amid the announcement that Google’s Glass, a wearable computer in sun-shade form with a head mounted display (HMD), is nearly ready for mass production, Israeli scientists and researchers are rolling out a new strategy and new products to help people who suffer from ocular degenerative disorders.


Studies at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology into retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a genetic disease causing degradation in the light sensing-cells within the eyes that eventually leads to vision impairment, may have uncovered a possible treatment. A computer-driven technique called holography, using a Google Glass-like HMD, employs a process called parallel projection to translate visual scenes into light, stimulating restored vision cells and reconnecting them to the brain.

The Argus II is being tested in the United States and is showing promising results. It could be available later this year.

Connecting wirelessly to the Internet, the unit matches what the wearer sees to a vast library of images stored in a virtual data cloud.

For those with total vision loss, Orcam, an Israeli start-up, has unveiled a camera-based system that uses photo recognition software to read and translate into speech what the user is intending to see.

Worn also in a Google Glass-type style, the camera is mounted to standard or lens-less frames by a small magnet and is connected to a portable, pocket-sized computer. By reading aloud words and announcing objects pointed to by the wearer, visually impaired people gain greater mobility and visual comprehension.

Are there any other science fiction fans out there who remember the visor worn by The Next Generation character Geordie La Forge? Does all this mean that Star Trek creator Gene Rodenberry had the idea right all along?

When "T & A" doesn't stand for Tel Aviv

OK. So the whole world knows about this fiasco by now. Four young female IDF soldiers – who clearly have not yet graduated from Shuddaknownbetter U. – posed "barely there" with their M-16s (or whatever those semi-automatic weapons were that were covering their tushes) and then had the misfortune of living in a world where there's this thing called the Internet.

Oh and to make matters worse, they were the ones who posted the images up on their Facebook sites. Oy.

Needless to say, the offending pics went viral at warp speed and the story broke all over the web and mainstream media.

Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz congratulates a graduating class in this undated, and fully clothed, IDF photo.

Israel issued the obligatory "we're dealing with them" and "this is not representative of our young men and women" statements; detractors of Israel likely somehow managed to equate the event with Apartheid, and within the next day or so, this whole thing will have left our collective consciousness because society at large has mostly become ADD.

That said, ladies, really?! Was it a hazing thing? Aside from the fact that millions of adolescent and bar mitzvah-aged boys just got their jollies from seeing your mostly nude torsos, what were you hoping to accomplish?

You wanna pose nude? Knock yourselves out. But don't do it while in service. I believe Playboy just opened up shop in your country. Submit a resumé.    

Consulate staffer receives Leadership Award

Rebecca Singh, director of cultural affairs at the Consulate General of Israel in Toronto and Western Canada was recently awarded the seventh annual "Mallory Gilbert Leadership Award."

The award, handed out by the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACT), is named in honour of Mallory Gilbert, general manager of Toronto's Tarragon Theatre’s 34 years and former president of PACT, celebrates and recognizes significant and valuable leadership within the Canadian theatre community.

 

From left, Rebecca Singh, David Abel and Mallory Gilbert O.C. PACT lifetime member. [Boomer Stacey photo]

Singh was co-awarded the honour alongside David Abel, executive director of The Art of Time Ensemble, who chose her as his protégé-winner.

 

Aside from performing all her various duties for the consulate, Singh is also an accomplished actor, theatre director, and curator of Canada's Smallest Theatre / Theatre Local in Toronto - 

The award ceremony was held on May 24 in Victoria, BC during PACT's annual conference.

 

Congratulations Rebecca!  

Goldberg, Rogen choose Poutine for last meal

One of the stars and the screenwriter of the meta-comedy "This Is The End" dropped by the Toronto Star last week to taste-test poutine and shill for their upcoming film.

Vancouverites Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg seen in this Star clip, sampled an array of poutine.

Here, they talk about how the movie idea came about.



The film, scheduled for release on June 12, follows the exploits of a bunch of Hollywood actor-friends (all playing themselves) who are confronted with the Apocalypse. "Survival is funny" could have been the tagline. Sadly it isn't, and I will see no money from that genius tag.

Jewishness is all over this movie. Aside from Rogen and Goldberg, the film also stars other heavyweight Jewish actors, including Montrealer Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill and James Franco. Non-Jews include Emma Watson, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson and Brampton, Ont. native Michael Cera.

It looks like it's going to be one funny end-of-the-world romp.  

A rocking concert gives soldiers Peace of Mind

Idan Amedi returned to Toronto to rock out a multi-generational crowd at the second annual benefit concert for Peace of Mind (POM), a program at the Israel Centre for the Treatment of Psychotrauma.

The May 28 performance at Beth Tzedec Congregation – which also included Roni Daloomi, the 2009 winner of Kochav Nolad, an American Idol-type reality-TV competition – raised funds to support therapy for recently discharged Israeli soldiers. The program gives them the necessary tools and skills to transition back to civilian life.


Daloomi had the shul’s main sanctuary energized for Amedi, the evening’s featured act, who also performed in POM’s first benefit in Toronto last year, and each artist called the soldiers in the audience on stage for fitting tributes with their favourite song selections.


If you missed it, be sure to contact peaceomindcanada@gmail.com to get on the email list so that your can show your support at POM’s next event.