Salon wonders when Japanese “dancing” videogames will finally strike it big in the States. They’ve actually got them here in the UK and they’re amazing to watch. Every time I go in Funland in the Trocadero, the same two Asian kids are there in the middle of a circle of admirers workin’ it. They’ve even got extraneous bits worked out to dazzle the crowd – touching the floor, leaping over the bar, and spinning on the buttons. I don’t think I could ever do it myself though. Way too embarrassing. I did play Parappa the Rapper on Playstation though, which was fun. I lived with a guy from Hong Kong who had all the best bootleg Japanese games. Too bad all Americans want to play is Quake and Super Tecmo Bowl.

AICN reports on the “Harry Potter” movie and the rumored regional differences. Basically, the original book was called “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” but we Americans are dumb and don’t like to buy books with words like “philosopher” on them. So they changed it to “Sorceror’s Stone” and switched a few references in the text for the U.S. version. The movie will also go by the two different titles, but it will be the exact same film and use the word “philosopher” in the dialogue. Get it? Whew. As long as they get everything else right, I don’t mind.

A theology professor from my University wrote an article examining SUV’s (sport utility vehicles, or “utes” as my Aussie would call them) from a Catholic moral standpoint. This is the sort of thing that I really LOVED about going to a religious school. Even though I didn’t share their beliefs, I still got to look at issues (even mundane ones!) from an entirely different perspective.