H2o

These days bottled water isn't just simple H2O. Store shelves and vending machines are filling with so-called fitness waters, which may come packed with vitamins, minerals and herbal extracts. Others contain soluble fiber, fruit essence, caffeine or, thanks to modern science, an extra dose of oxygen. What effect does all this have on our efforts to drink a healthy amount of water--usually five to eight glasses a day? Not an ounce.

Among emerging artists, video games as inspiration are nothing new, but using a video game itself as a digital canvas? Welcome to "The Sims: In the Hands of Artists" at Otis College of Art and Design's Ben Maltz Gallery. The exhibit features submissions from 16 Otis students vying for prizes in two categories: traditional media and machinima, the latter of which is the creation of films using 3-D video-game technology -- in this case, Electronic Arts' Sims 2.

Drinking six to eight glasses of water each day is healthful, most health experts agree. But apparently not everyone is on the same page. A general practitioner from Scotland says that health advice is “thoroughly debunked nonsense” and is propagated by bottled water companies out to make a profit. In a commentary published online in the British Medical Journal , Margaret McCartney quotes experts that say drinking too much water can cause hyponatremia (low sodium levels in the blood)

Some years back, during a break in the criminal case against her, the Beverly Hills madam, Alex Adams -- the more circumspect predecessor to Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss -- went padding down the courthouse hallway. She carried her empty bottle of Evian water, and she refilled it at a public drinking fountain. It struck me as funny when I watched her do it then -- Evian pretensions and tap-water realities. It's still funny now, for different reasons.

Inside every grown-up is a kid who remembers running through the sprinklers. Which is why waterworks by the Universal City company WET Design are so enticing. If most urban fountains are sedate--bubbling quietly, offering unobtrusive comfort--those of WET (which stands for Water Entertainment Technologies) are shape-shifting and unpredictable. In cities around the world, WET has invited people to sprint through geysers, grab at airborne H2O and otherwise behave like children.

* Bad Religion marks the release of its new album with a set of Sunset Strip club shows, Jan. 24 at the Whisky, Jan. 25 at the Roxy and Jan. 26 at the Key Club. Tickets go on sale Saturday.... Tickets also go on sale Saturday for Nelly Furtado's Feb. 11 Wiltern Theatre date.... Also due at the Wiltern: Alicia Keys Feb. 28 (on sale Sunday) and Dream Theater March 8 (available now).... Luis Miguel has added a sixth show, Feb. 3, to his Universal Amphitheatre engagement. Tickets go on sale Friday..

Huntington Beach, sentenced to five years' probation after pleading guilty to spewing tons of sewage from its aging downtown pipelines, has been released nearly three years early for good behavior. For city officials, this week's announcement of the reduced sentence was welcome after a series of public relations disasters ranging from budget shortfalls to an illegally collected property tax to a summer in which beaches were routinely closed due to contaminated water.

SUNDAY You'd think after so many seasons the globetrotting, multi-Emmy-winning reality series "The Amazing Race" would have run out of new places to go. But then there's Bangladesh, Ghana and the Arctic. May we suggest dressing in layers? (CBS, 8:30 p.m.) Polygamy: It isn't just relegated to remote desert compounds and HBO comedy-dramas. The new docu-series "Sister Wives" introduces viewers to the Browns, a suburban family with one husband, three — going on four — wives, and 13 kids.