February 5, 2007
By ANDREW 'DICKIE' SCOTT
Film Reviewer
ABS2O3@PSU.EDU
Open Season
The phrase “Open Season”
typically has a certain connotation
to it, especially to men who enjoy
the great outdoors. It usually
denotes going into the woods at 5
a.m. and spending hours upon hours
waiting for an unfortunate animal
to wander into the wrong clearing,
or to bite on the wrong lure to end
up as the horns or a lacquered fish
hanging on the wall of someone’s
den. However, in this instance, it
takes a more lighthearted spin on
“Open Season.”
In this CG animated comedy,
expect to see a wide variety
of wildlife in their “natural
environment” and their hilarious
antics when interacting with each
'Play beyond' PS2
By OLIVER EISLER
Staff Reporter
OPESOOO@PSU.EDU
Five hundred and ninety-nine
US dollars: that is the price of the
premium version of Sony’s next
gen console, the Play Station 3. The
PS3 is considerably more costly
than its fellow next-gen consoles,
the Nintendo Wii and the X-Box
360. The reason for this several
hundred dollar price gap is due to
PS3’s wholly superior hardware.
The PS3 possesses a 3.2-GHz
Cell processor, developed jointly by
Sony, Toshiba and IBM; as well as a
PowerPC-based “Power Processing
Element” and six accessible 3.2-GHz
Synergistic Processing Elements.
The Graphics Processing Unit
is based on the NVIDIA G7O
architecture, which focuses on
maximizing per-pixel computation
in favor of raw pixel output.
The PS3 supports numerous
SDTV and HDTV resolutions. For
the optical drive, a wide variety of
DVD and CD formats are supported,
including Blu-ray Discs. In the
premium version of the system, a 60
Winterize yourself
By MARIN BENDORITIS
Layout Editor
MABS33B@PSU.EDU
Jus; because the days are shorter
and colder, doesn't mean that safety
has to be sacrificed. In fact, more
steps should be taken in the winter
to protect your skin, health, and ear
than in the w armer months.
A few extra minutes spent fixing
your ear or putting on a hat can
save time and grief later on. Here
are some easy tips to keep your
winter stress free; a little time
spent preparing now can save you
valuable time later on.
1) The most important advice for
the winter is keeping your ear in
good shape. You do not want to start
your car in the morning and hear
that angry chugging sound.
The Car Talk website suggests
fixing small problems before the
weather becomes too bad; you do
not want to be stuck on the side of
the road during a snowstorm.
2) You can never be too prepared
when it comes to car safety. Keeping
an emergency kit in the back ofyour
car that includes a blanket, warm
gloves, an ice scraper and some
THE CAPITAL TIMES
PICK'S
other and humans. The story focuses
on a Kodiak Grizzly Bear named
Boog, voiced by Martin Lawrence.
Boog was rescued as a cub by a
kind hearted wildlife ranger and
has become as domesticated as
the average canine, enjoying the
luxuries of sleeping on a padded
mattress, prepared food, and
excessive amounts of attention
from his keeper and the people of
Timberline, the town in which he
has lived his entire life.
Boog has it pretty good until he
comes by a scrawny Buck named
Elliot, voiced by Ashton Kutcher,
with one antler strapped to the
roof of a truck. To Boog’s surprise,
this poor excuse for a wild animal
regains consciousness and begs
Boog to help him escape.
Not seeing any harm in it, his
bear claws slice through the rope
restraining Elliot allowing him to
escape, enraging the paranoid hunter
Shaw who not only wanted Elliot
as a trophy but believes animals are
conspiring to reverse the “natural
order” of things and overthrow
humans. From this point on Elliot’s
hyperactive personality sucks Boog
into a series of mischievous events
that end up getting both of them set
back to the wild.
Despite Boog’s size and impressive
roar, his bark is worse than his bite
and all the wild animals are quick to
humiliate and harass him. On top of
that, Boog has no survival instincts.
He can’t catch fish, can’t climb
trees (due to some very protective
GB hard disk is pre-installed. In the
60 GB configuration, flash memory
can also be used.
As evidenced by the above, the
Nintendo Wii and X-Box 360
cannot compete with the PS3 as
far as hardware is concerned. It
integrates and surpasses the best its
competition has to offer.
In add ition to its own capabilities,
the PS3 achieved the impossible by
making the Play Station Portable a
useful part of a gamers’ experience.
This is no easy feat considering that
the Play Station Portable was voted
“the most useless system of the
year” three years in a row by Wizard
Entertainment magazine.
The PSP can connect with the
PS3 in various different ways, such
as being used as a real-time rear
view mirror in the Formula One 06
racing game
It is also possible to download
Play Station 1 games onto the PSP
via the PS3, therefore allowing
you to play all your favorite PSone
games on the go. In addition, like
its predecessor, the PS3 is fully
backwards compatible. Ultimately,
what makes or breaks a system
sand or ice melt is a simple tip that
w ill save you lots of time later on.
3) Check your car battery and
charging systems. When the weather
gets cold, your oil will become
less viscous, putting strain on
the battery.
Also, batteries lose power as the
temperature drops; so replacing your
battery in the winter or just making
sure it has enough charge is an easy
step to prevent future problems.
4) Car Talk also recommends
buying winter windshield wipers.
They keep ice from building up on
the blades and are able to push snow
and ice off the windshield easier
than just regular blades.
Make sure the windshield and
wipers are clean of ice and snow
before you drive. Visibility is key
while driving in the winter.
5) Keeping your car healthy is
as important as keeping yourself
healthy. Because of the cold and
increased time indoors, more
people are more susceptible to
becoming sick in the winter than in
the summer.
Getting a flu shot annually and
seeing your doctor when you
hooligan squirrels) or even “go” in
the woods...you know, when nature
calls, he just can’t answer.
In a desperate attempt to get
back to the life he had, he tries to
find his way home with the help
of Elliot, who is not the master
of the wild that he claims to be.
As a result, he and all the other
animals are eventually caught in
the hunting grounds the day Open
Season begins, but Boog won’t go
down without a fight and rallies that
animals large and small to fight back
and show the hunters just how crazy
and dangerous the wild can be.
Besides Lawrence and Kutcher
the voice-over cast is packed
with talented actors and actresses
including Billy Connelly, Debra
Messing, and Gary Sinise. Open
Season has a very entertaining
plot and keeps a very good pace,
allowing for plenty of comedy while
still carrying the serious moral of
the story. The only problem is that
the story as a whole is somewhat
played out and a couple of scenes
are quite dull and stretch on half
a minute longer than they should.
It is still a very funny movie that
combines just enough innocent and
crude humor to make it entertaining
to both children and adults; making
it an all around quality film worth
watching over and over again.
I give Open Season 3 out of 5 nuts
OOO<2><o>
are its games.
The following
are highlights
of games
currently out for
the system:
Resistance:
Fall of Man
- a first person
shooter that
takes place in
an alternate-
reality version
of the 1950’5.
An intelligent
race of chimera
has already
taken over
Asia and most
of Europe with
Britain
remaining
You play as
Sgt. Nathan
Hale, who after
being infected
by the chimera,
seems to be
Pbofo courtesy of Googl* Images
The sleek new look of the Playstation 3 is only one benefit
to buying Sony's newest member of the Playstation family.
the only hope
for mankind. The back-story ends
there, leaving the player to uncover
start to feel ill are
two good ways to
prevent illness.
6) According to Health
Services, the most
important way to keep
yourself healthy in
the winter is to wash
your hands
Use hot water and do
not just run them under
the faucet
ft is recommended
to sing the ‘Happy
Birthday’ song in order
to kill as many germs
as possible,
7) A common
misconception in the
winter is that you have
the flu. Although you
may feel stuffy, it is
probably a cold.
Health Services
recommends taking over
the counter medication
that is directly related to
your symptom.
Taking medications that encompass
multiple symptoms can make you
tired and are too strong when you
only have one or two symptoms.
PICKS
Spearheaded by the likes of
Andre the Giant in the romantic
comedy The Princess Bride and
Terry “Hulk” Hogan in the short
lived television series Thunder in
Paradise, professional wresters
have expanded their careers into
the realm of acting (as opposed to
what they already do for a career).
This is a trend carried through to
today with Kane in See No Evil and,
most notably, Dwayne “The Rock”
Johnson in a variety of films. The
most recent silver-screen blend of
the wrestler-actor comes from John
Cena in the WWE production,
The Marine.
Cena plays the highly decorated
specially trained Marine Corp.
Sergeant John Triton who is recently
honorably discharged from the
Corp. After getting home and
“reacquainting” himself with his
ith Sony's ne
the rest of it as the game progresses.
Be sure to pay close attention to the
ith our simple, easy tips
Photo by ALEX POMIROY/Capital Times
Washing your hands is the recommended way to keep healthy all year round, use hot water and lots of
soap to kill bacteria on your hands. It is recmmended to sing 'Happy Birthday' to time yourself.
Use a decongestant for a stuffy nose;
cough medicine for a cough, etc.
8) Although the temperature may be
low, that doesnotmeanthattheUVrays
The Marine
gorgeous wife Kate, Kelly Carlson
(Nip/Tuck), Triton gets back out in
the work force as an office security
guard with a buddy of his. To say
the least, the job doesn’t work out
and Triton is left questioning what
to do with his life without the Corp
Kate suggests they take a trip
and they hit the road. Meanwhile,
a group of ruthless criminals, led
by Rome (Robert Patrick), steal 24
million dollars in diamonds and
make their get-away.
The phrase, “wrong place at
the wrong time” never had truer
meaning than when Triton and
his wife pull over for gas shortly
after the “fun loving” bunch of
sociopaths and are quickly involved
in a chaotic shoot out and massive
demolish of the station. The end
result leaves John Triton knocked
out and his wife as a hostage. From
that point, Triton pulls on all of
his Marine Corp. training to chase
down and rescue his wife.
The rest of the movie is a non
stop rollercoaster of gunfire and
explosions the likes of which
have not been seen since Arnold
Swartzenagger’s Commando.
Action packed and adrenaline
pumping fight scenes are lightened
up with sarcastic rhetoric and a
certain nod towards one of Robert
Patrick’s most well known roles.
Again, very much like the
older Swartzenegger films, The
Marine shows one man’s ability to
overcome insurmountable odds and
cause untold amounts of property
back-story hidden in the game’s
intelligence reports, they explain
away certain alleged “plot-holes.”
Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection
- Man meets dinosaur in an all-out
struggle for existence. Filled with
blood, gore, and man-eating raptors,
this game is not to be missed by any
fan of rampaging dinosaurs.
Genji: Days of the Blade—
sequel to the original Genji, it is one
of the more popular games out for
the PS3 right now. Often recognized
for its presentation at F. 3 rather
than for its actual content, Genji:
Days of the Blade allows players to
reenact ancient samurai-battles with
astonishing historical accuracy.
That being said, it should be noted
that the underlying story involves
fighting giant enemy crabs
In addition to the above, the
following are some games to look
forward to in the coming year:
Sonic the Hedgehog - Speeding
faster than the month of February,
everyone’s favorite supersonic
hedgehog makes his PS3 debut on
January 30"'.
Virtua Fighters 5 - On February
20"', gamers can get ready to break
are not harmful. Applying sunscreen
in the winter is just as important as in
the summer.
Use a moisturizer with a SPF to
help moisturize and protect your
damage while barely getting a
scratch on him.
As to be expected, this is simply a
“guy movie” and a damn good one
it is. None of that boring drama or
excessive screen time cluttered
with dialogue.
With only a rating of PG-13 this
movie could have done a lot more
to help desensitize its viewers
and incorporate more gratuitous
sexuality. Cena deserves a lot of
credit for portraying a Marine very
well, clearly showing respect for
the men and women of the United
States Armed Services and even
incorporating the theme into his
ongoing wrestling career.
He has a lot of potential to make
more movies but probably does
not have the versatility in his roles
of Dwayne Johnson, who was
exceptional in his recent film The
Gridiron Gang. If you’re a girl, after
seeing this movie, you’ll further
believe men are small-minded
violent-macho-adrenaline junkies
and will feel more comfort in the
superiority of your sex. If you’re
a guy, you’ll want to eat red meat,
fight, drive fast, and/or lift weights;
maybe even at the same time.
I give The Marine 3 out of 5 nuts
for massive amounts of action and
excessive explosions, losing points
only for the content not shown due
to its rating.
000<2><2>
PS3
a leg, an arm, and whatever part of
their opponent’s body they feel like.
Although the rating is still pending,
if the rumored ability to rip out your
opponent’s spine is true, then this
game will probably end up with an
MA rating.
Formula One Championship
Edition - The Championship
Edition of the best-selling racing
game premiers on the PS3 in late
February.
FE A R- Short for “First Encounter
Assault Recon,” the premise of this
game is simple. You shoot things,
they hurt, they bleed, and you watch
them die. Simple.
Grand Theft Auto IV - Here’s the
big one. On October 16"', Rockstar
will release the latest installment in
their line of the controversial best
selling Grand Theft Auto series.
Expected to be another instant hit,
Grand Theft Auto IV is expected to
boost PS3 sales significantly. Rated
MA for a good reason, squeamish
people be warned.
Not as strong as some of the classic
Nintendo launches, but still the
greatest of the next-gen launches,
the PS3 has a promising future.
skin. A Chap Stick or
lip balm that contains
aloe and an SPF can
protect your lips from
being chapped.
physical health, your
mental health is
important to take care
of in the winter. Many
people are affected
by SAD, or Seasonal
Affective Disorder.
Because of the short
days, the basic lack
of light and the cold
weather can make
people feel depressed.
Many different
approaches can be
taken to counter SAD,
such as ‘light therapy’
(tanning), exercising or
even taking a vacation
to a warmer climate.
though
may be in full swing
this winter, and you may
be worrying more about checking
online to see if classes are cancelled,
it is important to follow these simple
tips to keep safe.
Besides your
classes