Domino's Robbed by "Ninjas" Wielding Shotgun

 If they were real ninjas, they wouldn't have even been seen, just ask a ninja

 By JACKSON WEST

The world has seen the rise of Somali pirates, but should be start being wary of East Bay ninjas, too?

Seems a Domino's Pizza franchise in El Sobrante was robbed last night by a pair of assailants wearing "ninja" masks.

And wielding what appeared to the employees as "a very non-ninja cut-down shotgun."

But of course they weren't ninjas with real, ultimate power.

If you've seen an actual ninja, it's already too late -- just ask a ninja.

The masked bandits made off with some cash, but knew better than to steal any of the food sold by Domino's masquerading as "pizza."

Photo by Joey Gannon.

Jackson West

"Sherlock Holmes" Saves the Day

"Avatar" sold out? Don't sweat it

By SCOTT ROSS

Not since "I Love You, Man" have two (allegedly hetero) men been so deeply, unapologetically in love as Holmes and Watson in the new "Sherlock Holmes." "Old Cock" and "Mother Hen" they call each other, respectively, lest there be any confusion about the pecking order. And in keeping with the cinematic traditions of the bromance, the alpha male, Holmes, expends a fair amount of energy sabotaging his sidekick's pending nuptials, when he's not too busy trying to save the world.

Robert Downey Jr.'s Holmes echoes Hugh Laurie's Dr. Gregory House, the irascible, Vicodin-gobbling TV doctor based on the legendary sleuth. Laurie has been brilliantly playing a riff on Holmes for six years, any "House" fans that haven't yet realized it will immediately recognize him in the new film. Luckily, Downey is talented and charming enough that we soon forget about House and join Holmes on a ripping adventure through the streets of London.

Screenwriters Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham and Simon Kinberg do a nice job of dancing around Holmes' legendary drug use. In a movie like "Sherlock Holmes" that strives to launch a franchise, a coked-up hero is unacceptable. So instead we get sly jokes about anesthetics that won't offend those too young or dim to get them.

The movie bears all the hallmarks of a Guy Ritchie film: the quick cuts, the violence, the convoluted plot, seat-shakingly loud explosions. At times Ritchie's love of fast edits and backtracks come together to suck the life out of the story. On two occasions we see and hear Holmes plot a plan of attack in slow motion, only to watch him execute it in fast-motion a moment later. It's a too self-conscious attempt at crafting an iconic moment that backfires. And enough with the ravens, we get it -- DEATH IS IN THE AIR!

by Cewhitley

VB News Wire

Why It Was Influential: In the days of Ultima Online and EverQuest, MMORPGs were seen as solely the realm of the unfairly labeled "nerds"...stat hounds and fantasy fanatics. But it was Blizzard's World of Warcraft that made that first "M" truly something massive. It's weird if you think about one game with orcs, warriors, and elves being more popular than another game also featuring orcs, warriors, and elves, but Blizzard's artistic approach to WoW had a friendly and inviting Disney-esque quality to it -- it also didn't hurt being based on one of the most popular PC franchises of all time. The player base skyrocketed, which meant that development and support teams expanded, and the world of Azeroth evolved dramatically as Blizzard provided regular new content and balance adjustments. Everyone knows at least one person who canceled their account only to reactivate it when the two expansions kept the party going.

Effects Still Felt Today: Five years later, WoW is still going strong. The third expansion, Cataclysm, is currently under development and will dramatically change the face of the game's "old world," which players have been accustomed to since the launch in 2004. It's also made a surprising impact on popular culture, with celebrities freely admitting that they've rolled characters, and an entire episode of South Park was based on the game. WoW is such a juggernaut, other MMO developers and publishers need to think long and hard about their business strategy.

Brain Age (2005, Japan) -- Train a Nation in Millions a Day

Guitar Hero (2005) -- Believe in Music

Why It Was Influential: What Konami's Guitar Freaks got wrong, RedOctane got right...it's all about the music. Guitar Hero's approach wasn't just about being a rhythm game, it was about turning you into that rock 'n roll god that you wanted to be since high school. (Or while currently in high school.) Hitting the notes at the right time was an important part of the game, but when you missed it you weren't disappointed over the lack of points, you were disappointed about the missing screech of the solo. Fantasy-fulfillment is a primary reason why we all play games, andGuitar Hero's pitch perfect execution launched an entire micro-industry that not only influenced video games, but the music industry as well.

Effects Still Felt Today: Music games are everywhere, for better or worse. Peripheral-based gaming is currently peaking thanks to the heated rivalry between Electronic Arts/Harmonix and Activision/Neversoft. Artists are choosing to debut new music over Rock Band and Guitar Hero, while others are reaching back into their recorded and live catalogs in an attempt to get a piece of the action. The amount of plastic instruments some of us have in our living rooms is alarming (as is the cumulative amount spent on downloading additional songs), so we'll have to see how much longer the show can go on.


Wii Sports (2006) -- Motion in the Blue Ocean

Why It Was Influential: As the GameCube limped to a regrettable finish, many speculated that much like Sega at the beginning of the decade, this was Nintendo's last hurrah as a hardware manufacturer. Oh, how wrong these people were. Their success with the DS proved that their "blue ocean" approach (that is, cultivating a new audience) was viable, so they needed something similar to shake off the "disappointment" of the GameCube. At the 2005 Tokyo Game Show, the world found out why Nintendo codenamed their new project "Revolution" -- a simple remote control that detected 3D motion. The first images pf the controller get-up were stunning...in that "they have completely lost it" sort of way. But early reports about a functioning version of Metroid Prime 2 were almost entirely positive. But Metroid wasn't even close to "blue ocean," so something else was in order: Wii Sports. A collection of mini-games that highlighted the features of the motion control was included with every single Wii system sold in the United States. For many months after its 2006 launch, it was nearly impossible to find a Wii system on store shelves because the buzz around Wii Sports' bowling game -- bowling, if you can believe it -- was everywhere in the mainstream media. The interactivity and novelty of Wii Sports resonated with children, adults, grandparents...regardless if they knew what "Nintendo" was. As such, it was the most important pack-in game of all time.

Effects Still Felt Today: If somebody told you in 2004 that Nintendo would be back in first place, comfortably ahead of Sony's PlayStation 3, the ensuing fit of laughter and derision would have been legendary. But here we are in 2009, with both Microsoft and Sony furiously at work on their own motion controller technology in an effort to claim some of the pie. Longtime Nintendo fans are still dealing with abandonment issues (despite the promise of more Mario, Metroid, and Zelda), and sales of the Wii have cooled significantly during this economic downturn, but for now, Nintendo's in the driver seat.


Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007) -- Perks of the Job

Click here to see more stars’ reactions

VB Music Feed

James Cameron: China should let more movies in The Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — Hollywood director James Cameron urged China to open its doors to more foreign films, arguing it would boost the local cinema industry after the WTO ruled Beijing was illegally restricting movie and other media imports. In Beijing to promote his latest sci-fi extravaganza, "Avatar," Cameron said Wednesday that China's breakneck economic growth meant it no longer needed measures to protect its film industry. "China's economy is expanding very, very rapidly. And I think the feeling right now is that perhaps it doesn't need to be protecting itself quite as much," Cameron, the director of blockbusters that include "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" and "Titanic," told reporters. "Chinese filmmakers are very strong ... they're highly respected." The Chinese government protects local films by limiting the number of film imports on a revenue-sharing basis to 20 a year, a quota that effectively limits Hollywood blockbusters to 20 slots annually. These and other restrictions have been a key complaint by Western countries, who say that China's rapid rise as a trade power has been in part aided by unfair policies that boost sales of Chinese goods abroad while limiting imports into its market. "I think that by opening the doors in China to other filmmakers, it will raise the entire film industry in China," Cameron said. "It will get people more excited, there will be more seats, more cinemas, more excitement about the cinema-going experience, which will also raise the Chinese filmmakers' ability to play their films." On Monday, a World Trade Organization panel upheld a ruling in a case brought by the U.S. government that China was obstructing trade by forcing foreign suppliers to distribute movies, music and books through state-owned companies. China expressed disappointment at the decision but gave no immediate sign whether it could keep trying to defend the controls. The WTO case focused on complaints by groups representing music labels such as EMI and Sony Music Entertainment, publishers including McGraw Hill and Simon & Schuster and Hollywood studios Warner Bros., Disney, Paramount, Universal and 20th Century Fox. The groups say the Chinese rules cost them tens of millions of dollars each year in lost business opportunities. China's box office is booming, but still comparatively small compared to the U.S. market. Government statistics show that revenues surged from 920 million yuan in 2003 to 4.3 billion yuan ($630 million) in 2008 — compared to $9.8 billion in the U.S. last year. "Avatar" is a special-effects heavy space fantasy starring Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana that combines an inter-species love story with human-alien conflict over natural resources on a distant planet in the 22nd century. The film opens in Chinese cinemas in 2-D and 3-D in January. We're heating things up with a new look and new style! With a whole new was to navigate. You can get to everything you need easier and faster. So come inside and enjoy the view!

Crime Stats? There's an App for That

How you -- and your phone -- can keep an eye on the bad guys

By SCOTT BUDMAN

Over the years, we've shown various ways that police officers are using technology in their daily work routines.

Cameras in cars, cameras on earpieces, taser guns, that sort of thing.  Now, citizens can arm themselves with neighborhood crime stats, by touching their smartphone screen.

A new, free app called Crime Reports uses crime data, GPS, and Google maps to track everything and everybody in your neighborhood, district, and city, laying out all the crime going down in your area. 

As used by the San Jose Police Department, in the heart of Silicon Valley where so many of the technologies behind it were invented, the app collects data on robberies, car thefts, assaults, all sorts of crimes, and lets you find out where and when they happened on your GPS-powered phone. The information offered in other cities depends on what data is provided by local agencies, but more than 600 agencies participate across the country.

The app is currently available on the Apple iPhone; the makers of Crime Reports tells us they're working on other platforms, too.

Want to find out where the sex offenders live in your area?  Or, why six cop cars were stopped on 14th Street a few nights ago? Crime Reports can tell you.  Slide your finger into a new neighborhood, and the local crime stats follow you.

You can compare neighborhoods, or, what most people did when we showed them the app, find out how many sex offenders are living in which neighborhoods.

One woman we asked grabbed the phone out of my hand, found her own cul-de-sac within a few touches, stared for a minute, and then handed me the phone with a smile, saying, "I picked a pretty good place to live."

Eventually, officers say they'd like the app to be a two-way street, where citizens can report incidents in their neck of the woods, and, as the app updates itself, both other residents and nearby officers could see what's going on as it's being reported. 

According to Steven DiNoto of the SJPD, the app works because "you can get accurate and timely data, in a common language between officers and community members."

Not to mention a good conversation starter, no matter what neighborhood you're in at the time.

Burying "Jersey Shore"

“SNL” and Alyssa Milano fight back against crude reality series – with humor

JERE HESTE

By: JONATHAN LANDRUM JR
The Associated Press