Page 8 - The Behrend College Beacon ■ Thursday, November 12, 1998 Website of the week By Mike Perkins layout editor Imagine controlling an entire country yourself. You must set up the government; will you be a dicta tor, a king, a benevolent president or the overlord of a communist society ? What will your taxes be like? Will you be a warring nation or one dedi cated to the pursuit of peace? You can have that control at the free website chttp:// www.solariagames.com/earth>. At this site you have the option of two types of games, standard or tourna ment. In the standard game you must Serraffini’s: not quite up to par By Roger Burlingame staff writer Recently 1 visited ian restaurant (located on W. liih street) because I heard it was the best Italian restaurant in Erie. 1 was sadly disappointed. If this is the best Ital ian food Erie has to offer, then I sug gest going to some other city for Ital ian food. We sat at the bar for ten minutes before someone came to seat us. It was another ten minutes until we were waited on. And to top it off, they didn’t have the first three drinks I ordered. This was to be the sad story throughout our meal, with an atmosphere that was more ori ented toward quantity rather than quality. With poor service, medio cre food, and a limited selection, this establishment proved to be no more than an overpriced family restaurant. The appetizers we had to choose Waterboy a splash at opening weekend By Michael Coursey staff writer The Waterboy , the latest Touch stone release starring Adam Sandler, opened last Friday night with a sold out theater at Erie’s own Tinsletown. This lighthearted comedy also starred Henry Winkler and Kathy Bates, about a 31 year old Cajun waterboy with an overprolective mother (Kathy Bates). The movie started out portraying a slow, stuttering Bobby Boucher (Adam Sandler) as the waterboy for a fictional University of Louisiana’s football team. The team’s players were ruthless in their treatment of the waterboy, staging pranks and poking fun at him, until the coach finally fired him. Feeling rejected, he went home to his mother and told her of his plight. He then ventured out to another school. SCLSU, where he met another football coach, played by Henry Winkler. Bobby talked to (he coach set up your country, and expand to gain land and people. You need to construct buildings to service your people as well as research technolo gies to make your nation more pow erful. With hundreds or thousands of other players trying to expand as well, you must master the skills of diplomacy, negotiating treaties and alliance with other nations. And where diplomacy fails, you must gather your army to fight for sur vival. In the Tournament game, you must also master all this skills but the action proceeds faster. The from were limited to deep tried veggies or shrimp cocktail. So we skipped the appetizers and 1 went straight for-the french onion soup. Hd&ever, tfsfenfcrf that they ha 3 mixed the old batch of soup in with the new batch and put too much salt in the lot of it. Next came the salads, which were very ordinary; but let me say that the house dress ings were very good. Their Ital ian dressing was excellent, as was the blue cheese. However, I’m sorry to say these two dressings were the highlight of our meal. The best chardonnay that they sell by the glass is fair at best. The huge selection of two wines was what I had come to expect at this point in the meal. For the main course, I had the veal marsala and my date had the broiled scallops. Both were over done. The marsala dressing was about becoming the waterboy for the football team, and he agreed. Everything was going well at his first practice with the new team, until-the quarterback played a trick on him and had a few players run him over. The coach told him he had to stand up for his rights, and visualize his adversary as some body that would irritate him to fire him up and take action. After more taunting by the team’s quarterback he lashed out at him and tackled him with a stunning hit. The coach and team were quite impressed and offered Bobby a chance to join the team, along with the Cajun hillbilly defensive coach, who spoke in a unintelligible Cajun dialect. Bobby’s natural instincts made up for crude but enthusiastic ability when they put him as line backer, where he made a instant impact. Although he was a tremen dous asset on defense, they did not utilize him on offense. As Boucher started to develop Tournament game, which holds less players lasts a month, while the standard game lasts for three. The Earth game is a lot of fun, and while it doesn’t have all sorts of fancy graphics, it more than makes up for it with strategy and enjoyment. Remem ber the game is entirely free, and is not weighted down with all sorts of adver tisement banners that can be so annoy ing. Remember the website chttp:// www.solariagames.com/earth>. The Beacon will be featuring a different website every week not bad, to be mild. My date’s scallops had a rubbery texture, which happens when scallops are overcooked. She may have found maybe four good scal ■ l(jps rt However, she liked the pasta marinara. I tasted it and found it to be passable, although a little bland. For dessert we were offered all of three basic choices: ice cream, choco late cake, and cheese cake. They were out of everything else, which came as no surprise. I had one bite of the dry cheesecake, and I passed on dessert. I had coffee instead. All in all, I would not suggest going to Serrafini’s, "the best Italian restau rant in town." I was so disappointed I will most likely never go there again. If any readers have any suggestions for any other Italian restaurants in Erie they would like for me to review, please, E-mail it to the Beacon at behrcolWtfl 1 aol.com. a cult following among the “Mud Dog” supporters, he kept his football a secret from his mother, who disapproved of it. His girlfriend Vicky came back to see him and made some amorous advances towards him, for a man that was all too innocent for a3l year old man. Bobby and the team continued to make strides towards a bowl win after 40 consecutive losses. The movie continued with some pre dictable but funny college scenes, and a barbeque with baby alligators for the main course among other things. The use of the visual effects in the key scenes proved key to the humor. Along with the directing and composure of Adam Sandler, the effective acting of Henry Winkler and solid performance by Kathy Bates, The Waterboy proved to be hilari ous especially to Adam Sandler fans. The entire theater was laughing con tinuously throughout the movie. The Waterbov is highly recommended for people who have enjoyed Adam Sandler’s other movies, and also to those who have yet to see one of Sandler’s comedies. Features Alumni return to offer advice t communication majors By Rose Forrest layout editor Everyone knows, especially the staff of the Beacon, how disparaging it can be going into the field of communica tions. Communication majors aren’t going to school for the money or the availability of jobs. This Tuesday, November 10, the Communications Club helped a few students out. For the second year now they have invited Penn State Behrend alumni with communication degrees to talk about how they got started and where they are now. Tuesday’s panel was made of five new speakers this year. Randy Furgason graduated from Behrend in 1994 with a Bachelors of Arts in Communication. He considers himself a non typical student because he was married during college and had a daughter in 1993. For this rea son he wanted to find a paid intern ship. He found a position in public re lations at the Horizon Hospital. At the end of his internship he receded a com plimentary review stating pleasure with the experience he brought from Behrend, “a credit to Behrend,” he ex plained. After graduating, Furgason spent a year editing an outdoor magazine then decided to make a career move to a hospital in Meadville. For the past three years he has worked for Channnelock as a communications di rector. Vicci Snyder, the district represen tative for Congressman Phil English, graduated a year earlier than Furgason with a communications degree. She started her career as a journalist and it actually began here at Behrend with ACROSS Enthusiastic Killer whale Forces out Mexican treat Kyser and Medford Loosen laces Lost one’s balance on ice Restless desire Steak cut With tasteful beauty Washed Terrier type Dogma dissent Meadow mama New Zealand parrot Stare open-mouthed No matter what cost Images of gods Have regrets Madrid mister Party horn Dancer Pavlova Rim of a cup Tennis shot Joel of “Sullivan’s Travels” Devoid of inhabitants Like a temp committee Female relatives Ground grain Old crones Braided string Film Pot starter Land measure Rectify Port on 5D Burden 18 19 20 DOWN 1 Perplexed 2 Frankie of The 4 Seasons 3 More aloof 4 Move aside 5 Japanese island 6 Worn-out car the Collegian where she was Editor in Chief. She described it as, "an ex perience I value." She took her internship in her se nior year at WJET TV. After work ing for Jet TV she switched to WJET radio for another year. The biggest change in all three of these fields she explains was the dillerence in writ ing styles. For this reason she advises it is, “important to learn different styles of writing." After the year she was fired with five other people because of low rat ings. Snyder didn't get discouraged, however. She explains, "you have to be prepared because that happens... you have to pick yourself up and move on ... It is part of this business ... Almost everyone in TV and radio has been fired." She took a job at WLKK w hich she described as a “totally different experience” until February i 997 when she was offered her position with English where she can, "get into the community to benefit the con gressman." Loretta Blakesley also graduated in 1994 with a Bachelors of Com munication and did her internship with Senior Health Care Services. Blakesley only worked on the Col legian for a semester or two but she says, “I wish I did more ... Its ben eficial as hard copy" to show when looking for a job. She also suggests taking greater advantage of public speaking and computer classes. Sherri Reider is the front page and makeup editor of the Times Publish ing Company. She graduated from Behrend in 1987 and served her in ternship at the mall. She was discour aged at first but ended up learning many valuable skills and worked ©1998 Tribune Media Services, Inc. All rights reserved. 7 Full course 8 Drained of color 9 Jumps farther 10 Open a castle door 11 Kitchen appliance 12 Fork prongs 13 Squalid 21 Curb-side quaff 24 Yo! 26 Skirt description 27 Tonic’s partner 28 Bother 29 Food from taro 30 Golfer Ernie 32 Northern sea bird 33 “The Crying Game” star 34 Country hotel 35 Opposing position 36 End of an 38 Chosen 42 Woody’s ex 43 Antarctic body of water 47 Ship's front there for a year after. The next two years she spent at a door and hardware supplier until she realized it was not for her and took a secretarial job where she could move up. For this job she was tested on grammar, punctuation and she could not make one mistake. She feels this proves how important school is. She is very happy now' though and explains, "it is different job every day. something new happens." Tammy Owens who graduated from Behrend in 1991 agrees with the importance of new experiences every day. Owens, who works for Froggy says, “everyday is different," when she explains why she likes working lor the radio station. Owens selected the Behrend communication major because she wanted to get into sales and thought that interpersonal com munication skills would help her more than marketing class. She leels she needs to know how to talk, to present herself, PR skills, and writing. One point she stressed was that when students first start their careers they do not get a textbook. Sometimes there are training courses but usually they are on their own which is why taking advantage of the classes here is so important. Owen's also made four points of personal ad vice. They are- getting grants because, "every penny you don’t have to pay back is a penny you have later," slay home for as long as you can; stay away from credit cards; and start sav ing for retirement early. Alter these Alumni shared their sto ries students were allowed to ask questions. The Alumni were able to present them with relevant advice to help get started. 48 Molten matter 49 Computer disk 50 Onion-flavored seasoning 51 Pine sap product 52 Princess of Wales 11/12/98 53 In the neighborhood 54 Shell rival 55 _ cotta (ceramic clay) 56 Concluded 58 Aga 111