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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 22, 2001)
Features Editor: Lisa Toth lisatoth@dailyemerald.com Monday, October 22,2001 Not just for wizards anymore ■Though the popularity of Pinball’s has fallen over the last decade, it’s still a daily distraction for some By Mason West Oregon Daily Emerald President of Stern Pinball Inc., Gary Stern said pinball is an American icon, and like our country’s economy, pinball is n’t in the best shape. In October 1999, Williams Elec tronic Games Inc. left the pinball market, making Stern Pinball the sole manufacturer of pinball ma chines in the world. Stern said the pinball market has bottomed out, and it won’t ever return to the level of success achieved in 1992. In that year, Stern said 100,000 machines were made. In 2001, Stern Pinball will have produced 10,000 ma chines, at most. Stern said his company is com mitted to releasing at least three games a year that have been de signed in-house. Designing a game takes anywhere from nine months to a year, he said. Stern’s upcoming release, Monopoly, was designed in-house with the help of outside designer Pat Lawlor. Lawlor is a celebrity in the pin ball industry, having designed many successful machines, includ ing “The Addams Family,” which is the biggest seller of the modern era games, according to Stern. Jerry Johnston’s company, Amusement Unlimited, distributes pinball machines and other games to The Break in the EMU. Five of the company’s 70 pinball machines are at the University, which is more units than at any other location, but pinball is only 10 percent of the company’s business, Johnston said. Though pinball may be an Amer ican icon, it has international ap peal. Stern Pinball does 40 percent of its business in exporting ma chines around the world, primarily to Western Europe. Stern said good pinball is self-teaching in a Pavlov ian way: People respond to the me chanical stimuli before visually rec ognizing it — thus language barriers are less important. “We need to have enough in the game for the better player, but first we need to create fun for the casu al player,” Stern said. University student Jason Lewis is not a casual player. For 11 years, he has perfected his skills at pin ball into a fine art. Lewis said he spends a dollar a day for pinball on average (mostly in The Break), with an average playing time of an hour and a half. But that varies. "I have had to rearrange my gro cery budget (because of excessive playing) — not by intention, though,” he said. Lewis establishes a direct con nection between pinball expendi tures and his classes in any given term. “Playing pinball is a wonderful diversion from my classes not be cause it is a mental diversion; it ranks among the only times that my mind is actually stimulated,” he said. Where the average pinball player doesn’t know all the subtle nuances of a pinball machine, Lewis has memorized most as pects of his favorite machine, “Medieval Madness.” One of his hints is activating multiball play before raising the trolls so that there are more balls on the table with which to hit the trolls. Based on his criteria for good pinball games, Lewis said he is not hopeful for the Monopoly pinball machine. “They found the right medium for that, which is the board game. Pinball machines are manic. They’re relentless, and they’re fast paced. Monopoly is slow,” he said. Pinball distributor Johnston said that he would likely buy a few Mo nopoly machines and has already bought two Austin Powers games, one of which is in The Break. Lewis keeps an eye on new games, such as “South Park,” but for the most part he is focused on beating “Medieval Madness” and getting more free games to perpet uate game play. To date, his record of free games, which is how he measures pinball success, is eight. Lewis was present when his older brother beat “Attack from Mars” in the EMU. He described it as “a spiritual experience,” vicarious though it was. “He is the ruler of the universe,” Lewis said. That title isn’t simply Lewis be ing boastful — the game bestows the honor after the victory. Though the industry may not be booming, players such as Lewis will consider pinball indispensa ble. “I still use the phrase, ‘Let’s go play video games,’ but it means pinball,” he said. Mason West is the senior Pulse reporter for the Oregon Daily Emerald. He can be reached at masonwest@dailyemerald.com. Adam Amato Emerald The Austin Powers game, pictured here in The Break on the first floor of the EMU, is one of many machines owned by pinball distributor Jerry Johnston. Bestseller ‘Bridget Jones’s Diarv’ is a daily delight ■The humorous incidents related in this popular volume will ring true for many readers Helen Fielding ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’ By Lisa Toth Oregon Daily Emerald She sits at home on Saturday nights indulging in Bloody Marys, waiting for the phone to ring and watching television reruns to cure her loneliness. At one point or an other, many readers have been in the shoes of Miss Bridget Jones. This sometimes clueless, 30-ish working “singleton” seeking Mr. Right is the primary character of Bridget Jones’s Diary, a novel by Helen Fielding. But this witty and poignant book is more than just an average daily chronicle of events. It’s filled with the day-to-day inner workings of the female mind. The release of this No. 1 na tional bestseller-turned-major motion picture has given women everywhere something to laugh about and discuss. Fielding based this book on her columns in the British newspaper The Indepen dent. The 12 chapters of this creative daily record represent each month of the year. The first chapter begins with Bridget’s long list of New Year’s resolutions, and the final chapter ends after Christmas the following season. A few of her resolutions in clude forming a “functional rela tionship” with a responsible adult and reducing the “circum ference of thighs by 3 inches (i.e. 1 1/2 inches each), using anticel lulite diet.” Bridget embarks on an intense quest to find Prince Charming and improve herself inside and out. But it is quickly evident that like Alice falling through the rab bit hole, Bridget can’t seem to maintain control in her life. Each chapter begins by documenting her daily successes and failures with the amount of calories and units of alcohol she has con siimed, fags (British for cigarettes) smoked and lottery tickets pur chased. What makes the beginning of each chapter amusing is that Brid get is the concentrated version of all the stupid neuroses of the fe male species. For example, on Thursday, Feb. 23, she writes: 125 lbs. (if only could stay un der 126 lbs. and not keep bobbing up and down like drowning corpse — drowning in fat), alco hol units 2, cigarettes 17 (pre shag nerves — understandable), calories 775 (last-ditch attempt to get down to 119 lbs. before tomor row). Readers can’t help but relate their own experiences to those that Bridget encounters — whether it be the flirtations that lead to shag ging her boss or her frustration in learning to program the VCR. On Monday, June 12, she writes about fumbling with the VCR in a frantic attempt to tape a television show: 10:33 p.m. Yesss, vesss. RECORD ING CURRENT PROGRAM. Have done it! Aaargh. All going mad. Cassette w has started rewinding and now stopped and ejected. Why? Shit. Shit. Realize in excitement have sat on remote control. It also becomes evident as the novel progresses that Bridget un apologetically enjoys sex. Her scandalous frolics with younger men or “twenty-somethings” and the miniskirts and revealing outfits she wears to work further prove that point. But her desperation for male attention also leads to heart break or what she refers to as “emotional fuckwittage.” At times, Fielding overplays Bridget’s female insecurities, such as her constant need to lose 20 pounds and desire to find a steady boyfriend. This pounding repeti tion in almost every chapter be comes annoying. But Bridget’s focus on achieving happiness through such superfi cial means, as well as her flakiness and ineptitude, are what make it evident that romance and the per fect weight aren’t the keys to lead ing a satisfying life. 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