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MARCH 4 — Five days after I turned 48, the Pokémon franchise turned 30.
Why yes I do feel positively middle-aged now thanks very much.
To get me out of the house (else I would rot under the blankets) I have picked up Pokémon Go again and now must make the daily trek to collect Pokéballs and catch random monsters along the way.
So if you happen to be around Petaling Jaya and hear a disgruntled woman mutter “Get in the ball you little s***,” at her phone that’s probably me.
I have also added new people to my game friend list, getting nice in-game postcards from as far away as the US and Germany.
Sometimes at odd hours of the night I get invitations to storm the castle…I mean, do a Pokémon raid.
Raids are battle groups where you use strength in numbers to take down a particularly powerful Pokémon.
It’s harmless, wholesome and a great way to make friends or bond with fellow players (like the one who lives with me).
Aggression is an inescapable facet of human nature.
There is a reason why martial arts, shooting ranges and video games exist — to excise the aggression in our DNA that, in some people, is more volatile.
Manners evolved, I think, as a way to ensure unchecked aggression does not lead to our mass extinction.
Yet the spectre of war has not lessened.
I miss the old days when beauty queens would breathlessly say they wished for “world peace.”
So do I, Miss Colombia, so do I.
It’s 2026 and the US has decided that the rules of engagement are now dictated by the President’s whims and fancies.
Congress buy-in? Who needs that when the GOP is content to look away from the bombs, inflation and the Epstein files?
The upcoming Pokémon Pokopia game is the best reviewed Pokémon game ever and releases worldwide on March 5.
Yes, I did preorder a copy.
The game’s premise is that it mixes Pokémon with elements of the popular Dragon’s Quest and Animal Crossing games, set in a dystopian future where the humans have all disappeared leaving the Pokémon bereft and bewildered.
Reviews are already out and Pokopia looks set to be a strong contender for Game of the Year.
The upcoming ‘Pokémon Pokopia’ game is the best reviewed Pokémon game ever and releases worldwide on March 5. — Picture via Nintendo website
It’s telling how much cozy games — games that differentiate themselves by providing a relaxing experience — have become a huge genre now.
The world is on fire and people are looking for a safe haven wherever they can find it, even if it’s just on a gaming console.
This week too TGV is screening the extended edition of Fellowship of the Ring, which is my second-favourite film after Return of the King.
J.R.R. Tolkien, whose books were the source material for The Lord of the Rings films, experienced war as a soldier.
He watched people die.
He saw the horrors of war up close and in his books the people he saves most of his admiration for are not the great warriors or powerful wizards.
In his words, Tolkien’s greatest affection is reserved for the hobbits.
On his deathbed, the dwarf king Thorin Oakenshield says to hobbit Bilbo Baggins: “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, the world would be merrier.”
If only we lived in a world that cared more for children’s lives than for oil reserves.
No matter how hard the world gets, we still have stories, books, songs and yes, video games that let us remember what it is to love the world as a child does — for all its bright wonders and possibilities.
I just hope mankind gets its act together because as it is now, this is a world where fewer children are being born or living to adulthood… because we forget that this world is not just for our present but for them, our ultimate hope and future.
To hobbits, to dreams, to the joy of catching Pokémon and to the hope of better days even in this current darkness.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.