M ay 12,1
8 • T he C lackamas P rint
ma
Hugh Jackman do
many CGI scenes of Dracula’s brides flying
around
and screeching like- banshees, Van
T he C lackamas P rint .
Helsing finally manages to kill a vampire.
Fans of the classic Universal Studios mon
What follows is scene after scene of Van
ster movies and Hugh Jackman fanboys alike Helsing and Anna being confronted by one
will derive either great pleasure or terrible pain monster after another, including a werewolf that
from the release of “Van Helsing,” a movie that used to be Anna’s brother Velkan (Will Kemp),
proves long on potential but short on delivery.
as they struggle to find Dracula’s lair and kill
Jackman (Wolverine from the X-Men him before he can kill the girl (thus dooming her
movies) plays Bram Stoker’s character Van family to Purgatory for all of eternity), find
Helsing, a nineteenth-century monster hunter in ' Frankenstein’s monster and use him to unleash
the employ of the Vatican. It seems Van Helsing a horde of his progeny on the world.
has been doing their dirty work, killing all the
It’s readily apparent that the
monsters in Europe and gaining himself a rep film’s di
utation as a murderer, while searching for clues Sommers
to his missing past (oh, he has amnesia).
Mummy,”
When Van Helsing is told the answers he Mummy Returns," etc.),
seeks can be found in Transylvania!, he accepts a spent the majority of the
mission from the Church to free Romania from film’s budget on ambiance. The set
the tyrannical rule of Count Dracula (Richard design and costumes of “Van Helsing”
Roxburgh) and save the last survivors of a royal excellent; the only exception is the title charac
family cursed to kill Dracula or never enter the ters ‘80s hairstyle and stupid hat. Sadly, the back-
gates of Heaven.
drops prove to be the only thing really pleasing
So Van Helsing sets off, along with his friar/ to the eye (aside from Kate Beckinsale in form
weapons inventor/sidekick Carl (played decent fitting breeches, of course), as the computer-
ly by David Wenham). After receiving a less- rendered characters are nowhere near what
than-friehdly welcome from the citizens of audiences have come to expect from
Transylvania, including the vivacious and tight Hollywood.
ly-clothed Anna Valerious (Kate Beckinsale),
While overall “Van Helsing” does prove for
princess and last surviving member of the fam an entertaining movie, the mostly mediocre
ily Van Helsing was sent to save, the vampires visual effects and a story full of unanswered
show up and start trying to kill the heroes. After questions detract heavily from its overall enjoy
a tortuous action sequence involving way too ability.
Robb Egan
¡Prepare yourself
for Mac-attack
PC. It lets a user run many
Windows applications on a Mac
and blows the compatibility argu
From first-grade typing les ment out of the water.
sons all the way to twelfth-grade
After I rolled my eyes at his
graphics class, I’ve worked with ill-informed objection, he con
Macintosh computers. I’ve heard ceded that he would buy whatev
all the objections, insults and er computer I wanted if it was
stereotypes that go along with within his price range. After all,
using a Mac, and I’m here to say he was talking to the computer
that, despite it all, I’m a proud guru
of
the
household.
owner of an Apple iBook G3.
However, once we got to Fry’s
First of all, let me say that I Electronics, he began his ill-
don’t mean this to be a rant informed questions again.
about Microsoft products. I’m
“Is Mac here to stay? Won’t it
not particularly
fond
of get bought out by Microsoft
Windows, nor do 1 really despise soon?” he asked the Fry’s
it, but my work with Mac OS, employee. Objection number
two: are Macs around to
especially in recent years, has
increased my affinity for the
“T stay?
alternative system. New editions
J
The simple answer is
The complicated one is
are not only more stable, but JMr yes.
t
also more efficient than certain
th
that while Apple only directs
5 .percent of the
Microsoft products. In
hfc. market, they have
addition, Mac lap-
I a strong market
tops don’t have
base. The entire
the heating
F Graphics Arts indus
issues that ,
try runs on Macintosh
wit
I’ve
in
j because, of the great
nessed
software and hard
other mod
ware specifically
even
els,
designed
for
high-end ones
graphic arts. This
like Toshiba
F in particular was
and Sony Vaio.
especially important
When I asked
to my decision consid
my dad for
ering my major is Graphic
Macintosh for my high
school graduation present, he Design.
“Is there a big price difference
looked at me as if I were crazy.
His objections were ones that I between Mac and Windows?”
was my dad’s next question of
had heard before.
“Why would you wantxa Mac? the salesperson. Objection num
They’re totally incompatible with ber three: price.
' everything else!” he said. -
The one big concern to stu
Objection number one: compati dents about Macintosh is, like
everything else, the price of soft
bility.
With the help of CD burners,- ware and hardware.. I get around
the Internet and a program called this problem by reminding
Virtual PC for Mac, compatibili myself of an old business saying:
ty is no longer a problem. “The bitterness of poor quality
Almost every computer now stays long after the sweetness of
comes with a CD burner, and all low price fades.”
have had CD ROM drives for the
In the end, after my dad had
past ten years. With the Internet embarrassed me in front of the
and e-mail, it doesn’t matter what unusually knowledgeable Fry’s
OS created the file, since a pro employee, he bought me my
gram’s format is compatible iBook, and all was well. I can
across platforms as long as one honestly say that it’s something
has the software to support it. that I never regretted, and I
Therefore, major ' formats like would encourage anyone to
PDF, DOC and JPEG are uni invest in a Macintosh if you
versal. Greatest of all is Virtual enjoy quality and stability.
Michaele Cooper
Ü ber N erd
i
Hugh Jackman al
legendary monsj
hunter Van Helsi
V
internet I
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