Geeks & gamers
Top 10 household
items used to
make a bong
(to be blunt)
t. Beer cans
I 2. Apples, carrots
ana potatoes
3. Juice bottles
4. Two-liter bottle
and a bucket
of water
5. Toilet paper tube
and tinfoil
6. Discarded
PVC pipe
7. Empty pen tube
8. Flute (or other
wind instrument)
9. Water cannon
(it really works)
10. Surgical
tubing and
a watermelon
(That extra duct
tape you have
can be useful
for all of these.)
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Gamers submit to great
128-bit digital mother
Hardcore gamers live a life
of late nights, flashing lights
and stomped goombas
Jacquelyn Lewis
Pulse Editor
Hardcore video game players in
habit a world of flashing lights and
glowing consoles, but they might be
anyone from college students to pro
fessionals — and their legions are
growing. According to survey results
released by the Interactive Digital
Software Association in 2001, 60
percent of Americans age six or old
er say they play video games on a
regular basis. A May 2002 survey by
the same company revealed that
U.S. consumers purchased 219 mil
lion video and computer games in
2001, a dramatic rise from 1996’s
105 million.
Springfield resident Derek Brandt
said he became a frequent player
when he purchased an Xbox last
year. The 30-year-old said playing
video games is a relatively new hob
by for him. A friend who works as a
computer analyst introduced him to
the Xbox game “Halo” several
months ago. Brandt now plays the
game, which allows for a large group
of friends to compete simultaneous
ly, for more than 15 hours a week —
up to six hours in a single night.
“The draw for me is actually the
team sport of it,” he said.
Adam Amato Emerald
A May 2002 survey estimated that American fans bought 219 million console and
computer games in 2001.
Brandt said he doesn’t see the
hours he puts into game-play as a
bad habit.
“I don’t feel like I waste time doing
it,” he said.
Brandt, who holds two jobs, added
that playing “Halo” helps him relieve
stress after a 13- to 15-hour work
day. He said the only drawback is
that late hours spent playing often
leave him tired.
Marge, a junior anthropology
major and video game player who
preferred not to reveal her last
name, said excessive game play
leaves her exhausted as well. She
said she has to stay up late making
up for homework she did not do
during the day.
“I’m perpetually tired,” she said.
Marge said her favorite games in
clude “Animal Grossing,” “Snood,”
“Tetris,” “Eternal Darkness,” “The
Sims” and “Kingdom Hearts.” She
plays games on computers, Playsta
tion 2, GameCube and Game Boy.
“On some days, I can play for
three hours,” she said. “And on
some days, I can play for five hours.”
Marge said she plays as a means of
escape from her daily routine.
Turn to Games, page 7B
The ring that binds them
The ‘precious’ novel and
movie trilogies have spurred
a worldwide fan craze of
conventions and literary classes
Mason West
Movies/Music/TV Columnist
Much like the One Ring itself,
J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings”
trilogy has a power over some peo
ple. While the power may just be a
healthy interest in fantasy, when
fans, like the author, stroke copies of
the extended edition DVD murmur
ing, “We love it, my precious,” there
may be a problem.
The original obsession started
with the books.
Senior Jessica Bailey began her love
affair with the “Lord of the Rings” as a
sophomore in high school, when she
and her then-boyfriend would read it
to each other in the park.
“We never finished,” she said.
“But I finished them the next year
and never looked back.”
Now, Bailey never sleeps without
one of the books beside her bed.
“It’s so easy to read in your spare
time,” she said. “I just turn to a page
and start reading.”
She owns four complete copies of
the trilogy, each of which she has read.
She reread the entire series before
each film release and will have another
under her belt before “The Return of
the King” opens in December.
Bailey said she also has the story
on CD so she can listen to it in her
car — which came in handy when
driving to Portland to see the mid
night release of “The Two Towers”
and then returning to Eugene the
same night to work in the morning.
Others take their love of Middle
earth and expand the story with their
own fictions. Rebecca Brauning writes
fan fictions and has posted a few on
www.tolkienonline.com. Brauning
also created a list of 127 telltale signs
of a “Lord of the Rings” obsession.
For Brauning, who lives in the Do
minican Republic, Web sites are a way
to connect with other fans worldwide.
“I am a constant poster on Tolkien
Joe Kukowski for the Emerald
Edward Shanahan and Tracy Pong, members of the Seattle Knights weapons
demonstration group, do battle at a Lord of the Rings conference.
Online, where I have about 1,150
posts,” she said. “Since I don’t know
many fans near where I live, that is
usually where I discuss.”
Other fans attend gatherings like
RingCon, held last weekend in Gig
Harbor, Wash. The “con” (for con
vention) boasted an appearance by
Brad Dourif, who plays Wormtongue
in “The Two Towers.”
Former University student Justin
Speyer performed at the con with
the Seattle Knights, a weapons
demonstration group. He was a
“generic orc/goblin thing” taking
punishment from the good guys.
“While I’m not a con junky — I
don’t travel the country dressing
like an elf — I do belong to an or
ganization that hires itself out to do
live steel combat at (renaissance)
fairs,” Speyer said. “. . .As far as
some people are concerned, that
does border on the crazy-and-or
nuts category.”
From the academic perspective,
Saint Louis University Professor
John Walter said it is too much when
reality is abandoned for fiction.
“We’re not meant to stay in Mid
dle-earth, but to enjoy it, find within
it what we want ... and bring that
back with us,” Walter said.
Walter has taught three courses
with Tolkien’s works, his first at Port
land State University with professor
Marjorie Bums. Both Walter and
Bums referred to Tolkien’s essay
“On Fairy-Stories” when discussing
fantasy as a vice.
“Tolkien himself was greatly
drawn to other worlds,” Bums said.
“He knew the dangers.”
Walter said his 2001 class, the first
Tolkien course offered at SLU, had a
huge waiting fist.
“I had students whom I’d never
met chasing me across campus beg
ging to be let in.”
He said there is some resistance to
serious study of Tolkien’s work.
“Various members of the British
literary elite freaked out when the
reading public chose the ‘Lord of the
Rings’ as their favorite literary work
of the past century,” he said.
Walter said the public chose
Tolkien’s trilogy over works like
“Ulysses,” because it speaks to every
one on the same level and “there’s an
anti-snobishness about it.”
Fans like Bailey agree.
“I don’t think I’m cooler than
anybody,” she said. “I’m a mission
ary, and I want to convert every
person I meet.”
Contact the Pulse columnist
at masonwest@dailyemerald.com.