Adamsvil generally attracts an assortment of wandering vendors and worthless vagrants, ranging from the pathetic fish-dependent bum Wendell to the obvious fraud Katrina, but on Halloween we received a visit from a genuine kook: a figure calling himself the King of Halloween. This was the first time I encountered another person of authority on my new home turf, so I was surprised when our summit degraded into him begging me for candy.

A meeting of another kind is due with the ruling body of Holliday. Their leader, RhondaCat, is attempting to subvert Adamsvil's dress code by introducing an anti-Adamsvil "ladybug" design.

I've always considered Kate Bush to be a pretty obscure singer, so I was more than surprised to see Kate's song "Wow" in the track listings for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. She also happens to be one of my favorites, and believe me, that's a short list, given my general un-interest in music.

I remember reading some kid's terrible review of Grand Theft Auto 3, where he bashed that game's "eighties station." I wonder what he thinks of the all-80s Vice City. I love it... although having real music creates a much more personal reaction while you're flipping the channels. Now, you can find songs that you've hated for years, so getting that radio on an acceptable frequency is very important.

Back when Cartoon Network.com debuted Cartoon Orbit, I was pretty uninterested. Cartoon Orbit is, after all, a fancy online Colorforms equivalent. But I signed up anyway and gradually collected a bunch of cToons for my very own. cToons are essentially stickers that you buy with your accrued virtual points and display for all to see. Although the plain stickers never mattered much to me, they have made a bunch of cToons that are actually little games. Login to Cartoon Orbit and visit my cZone to see what I'm talking about; I always try to keep a game or two visible.

My name is Rhonda Fourhman and I am addicted to Animal Crossing. Not since Ico has a game captured my attention for more than an hour like AC. I find that sitting down to play a game when there are so many other things I should be doing (cleaning, laundry, making dinner, showering) is usually difficult. But, I lose all track of time when I am visiting Holliday as RhondaCat…no small feat when the game itself pops a clock up if you are idle for more than a second.

What is most disturbing is that my entire outlook on life has been tainted by the game. As I drive home I see a tree with yellow leaves and I wonder if it’s carrying a golden shovel. At the grocery store I pass over the oranges (my town’s native fruit) and head right for the apples that please my islander. I go to the mailbox and all that awaits me is disappointment, sorry no presents from UPS.

Check out MSN's list of top gadgets; the Hiptop/Sidekick is #2 and the iPod is #1. I've been mulling over an iPod purchase more and more lately, if only as an excuse to buy something at the new King of Prussia Apple Store. But while I think more on that, here's some collected Strange (But True) Tales of My Hiptop.

Last night I had to use an unfamiliar bathroom. I entered, and the lights were out... and there was no switch to be found in the usual place. When I say "usual place," I mean "the wall." So I spend some time feeling around the near walls - which already creeps me out because I'm fondling a strange bathroom wall - and still no luck. Buy this time, I really have to piss. So out comes the Hiptop, and that beautiful backlit screen. Holding it straight out of The X-Files, the friendly glow of the Hiptop was able to guide me to the urinal, where the traditional activity could begin.

I like Star Wars, but probably not in the drooling fanboy sense. I'm pretty sure my interest in Star Wars falls squarely in the Perfectly Normal category, because I get regularly appalled with each issue of Star Wars Insider.

I've been getting it off and on for several years now. I actually subscribed to it during the peak of my Star Wars love back during the theater release of the Special Edition original trilogy. I let it die around Episode 1, only to inherit it back again when my subscription to TopDeck turned into Star Wars Gamer and then Insider shortly thereafter.

I know, I know, you bought the first DVD release of Fellowship of the Ring. Well, that's your own stupid fault; we all knew the Extended Edition DVD was coming. You've got nothing to blame but your own impatience.

I waited. And it was worth every day.

The Extended Fellowship will shock you with how long Peter Jackson and Co. can stretch out those "over 30 minutes." They're everywhere. A new line here, a longer scene there. Plus several completely new bits. Just about every chapter has been enhanced in some way. Spoiler alert.

The town has seen fit to reward my weeks of leadership. Nook himself arranged the building of a life-size gold statue, near the train station.

Magnificent, isn't it? It is my hope that the Adamsvil townsfolk of the future will stand before this monument, dressed in their noble shirts, and draw inspiration from this azure monarch.

I am chronically late for work. I don't have an excuse. I won't blame traffic. Can't blame my kids (don't have any). Still, despite repeated reprimands and dirty looks, again today I was late.

The only solution I can think of is to get a job with a later start time. However, I have a hunch that even then... I would be late. Why is this? As many times as I have been asked you'd think I'd have an answer, but I don't.

We've had another reason to celebrate in Adamsvil. The town is finally at 100% compliance with the Noble Shirt dress code.

   

(L-R) Admiral, Sydney, Puck, Pippy

   

(L-R) Paolo, Olivia, Hazel, Grizzly

   

(L-R) Belle, Cashmere, Boots, Bitty

  

(L-R) Billy, Cheri, Bea

I finally beat the single player Story Mode in Mario Party 4 last night. I was pretty impressed with the final sequence, a Mario Partified boss fight with Bowser. Every review of the game mentions how boring the single player mode is to play. Yeah, the game was made for multiplayer, but I wouldn't call it boring when played alone. The thing about Mario Party is that it's so annoyingly random at times that you really have to pay attention to hold the lead. Even with my three COM opponents set to Easy, I still lost several games in 1P. All Easy gets you is an almost guaranteed dominance in mini-games; you still have to be on guard for star stealing, item attacks, and that terrible Reversal of Fortune.

My only gripe about MP4 is that there's not enough mini-games. In one evening's play of 3 boards, I kept hitting the same games over and over again. Many of the games are really long too... so yet another round of "Blame It On The Crane" or "Cliffhangers" becomes unbearable.

This is by no means a terrible game. The artistry is very nice, the controls are fine... it just falls hugely short in a very unacceptable way. I'm inclined to start my review right there because I'm still pretty pissed about it, but I want to give you some spoiler space first where we can talk about the good bits.

Shadow of Apokolips is based on the recent animated Superman series (which in turn came out of the '90s animated Batman series.) Following the cartoon's designs and style, it comes off very well. As Superman, you must engage enemy robots and a handfull of supervillains across Metropolis. What little plot there is involves unknown super-weapons and a Stryker's Island breakout. You'll see the usual cast: Lex Luthor, Darkseid, Perry White, Intergang, Kanto, Maggie, Jimmy, Lois.

The Harvest Festival was a celebration of vegetarianism, as I continually filched silverware from the table so the carnivorous Tortimer could not cook up poor Franklin, a visiting turkey. It meant quite a lot of running around Adamsvil, searching for Franklin's varied hiding places so I could inform him I had stolen a fresh set of knives. I'd like to point out that I did all this running even while afflicted with Katrina's horrible tripping curse.