The creator and host of Electric Playground is the subject of my “Trigger Happy” column in this week’s Georgia Straight.

Lucas, who is one of the most recognizable figures in the video-game industry, is also a genuinely nice fella, and deserves some recognition for his accomplishments.

Guess that’s why he got an Emmy.

Read the Trigger Happy Victor Lucas profile over here.

This week’s Straight, by the way, is the annual Best of Vancouver issue, in which the Vancouver community voted Electronic Arts as the second best employer to work for.

Good for them.

Another gem picked up from CBC Radio 3 and the R3-30, aKido’s “Dancing in Chains” hit number 4 on the chart this week, and the industrial sounding dance track has been in my head since I heard it on my Shuffle yesterday.

It’s the percussive nature of the song I like, and the crescendos. Can’t get enough of those crescendos.

I don’t despise the Canadian cable company just because of its CEO, Jim Shaw, but writer Denis McGrath clearly articulates why Canadians should call for the public humiliation of the blowhard.

In a post today, McGrath writes a letter to the Canadian Television Fund, the Minister of Canadian Heritage, and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. He clears up the issue with respect to the CTF that Shaw has been working so hard to confuse.

Jim Shaw has done very well by Canada’s broadcast system, but now he seems to think that he’s making some sort of donation [by paying into the CTF]. He isn’t. It’s not his money, it’s money collected from Canadians by him, to help fund television for Canadians.

McGrath talks about the overwhelming popular success of Trailer Park Boys and how the fact that Shaw uses the show as an example of how the CTF has failed simply indicates that Shaw doesn’t like the show. And if Jim Shaw doesn’t like a show, well, it doesn’t deserve to get any funding, does it?

What an arrogant ass Shaw is. He wants to be the one to decide what Canadians get to watch on television.

He must not be allowed to have that kind of control.

“I think I know the hell of a lot more about crafting stories than Jim Shaw ever will,” writes McGrath.

Hear, hear.

We left the apartment this morning to visit the weekend market, and discovered that it’s also Davie Day in the West End of Vancouver.

On a warm, sunny September Saturday this was a charming happenstance, even if it was also a bit tedious.

One stretch of the street was being “entertained” by a recording of the Vancouver Men’s Chorus. I don’t have a problem with the group itself, but blaring any music through crappy speakers is bound to drive me insane.

When we arrived back home we realized that the crappy speaker, elevated on a speaker pole, was high enough in the air that it sounded like it was just outside our window. Oh joy.

On a more positive note, the Chorus was promoting their group with the help of “Queen Elizabeth”. Doesn’t she look great?

Too many games, not enough column inches, I always say.

Every once in a while, I find myself with a stack of reviews that are going to fester if they don’t see some attention. Thanks to the Georgia Straight, though, I can bring out a double-sized “Trigger Happy” and clear out some space.

Get the lowdown over here.