Culture

Hamlet takes backseat in Stoppard's play

2010-06-18T05:00:00Z

To be or not to be -- that is the question . . . but not for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

In 1966, playwright Tom Stoppard (in photo) re-imagined Shakespeare's "Hamlet" from the point of view of two of the play's minor characters, the courtiers Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The result was "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead," an absurdist, existentialist tragicomedy.

The play will be staged by Daytona State College at 7:30 p.m. June 22 through June 26, and at 2:30 p.m. June 27 in the Gillespy Theater at News-Journal Center, 221 N. Beach St., Daytona Beach. Tickets are $8 per person or $15 for two; free for Daytona State and Volusia County students. For more information, call 386-506-3042.

The action of Stoppard's play takes place mostly in the wings of Shakespeare's work, with brief appearances by the Bard's major characters in fragments of the original's scenes. That leaves Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as confused protagonists with no direct knowledge of what is happening to the Prince of Denmark, yet still entwined in Hamlet's fate.

Stoppard's work won Best Play from both the Tony Awards and the New York Drama Critics Circle.

Photo: T. Anthony/New York Times

Hop to this beer guide

2010-06-17T15:01:44Z

Some beer-heads will think there's a typo in the title of Roger Protz's book "300 Beers to Try Before You Die!" -- only 300?!

In any event, Protz's research hops from Belgian fruit beers to "hoppy" cask ales, from microbrewery wonders to beires de garde (an ale traditionally brewed in the Pas-de-Calais region of France).

The promotional copy for the book trumpets Protz as "one of the world's leading beer writers," leaving some of us to wonder why Mr. Podbutter, our high school guidance counselor, never told us about that career path.

"300 Beers" is available now in a revised and updated edition from CAMRA Books.

No controversy here, as latest 'Tiger' delivers hole-in-one

2010-06-17T13:13:26Z

Well, well, well, "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11" is rated "E" for "comic mischief." What could possibly be comically mischievous about Tiger Woods, hmmm?

First, let's say this: "Tiger" again gives us the best sports game of the year (so far). If you're a casual gamer, you can play as Tiger or as other pros and have fun.

If you're a serious gamer, you can create a golfer from scratch and slowly improve your game, earn better clubs, and topple the golfing world.

But there's definitely some shenanigans going on with Tiger's game franchise, no matter how pretty, intuitive and smooth it is.

SHENANIGAN NO. 1: If you rent "Tiger," or play a borrowed or used copy, you can't golf against other gamers online for free. Instead, you have to spend $10 for an online "Tiger" code.

EA is instituting that fee with its sports games this year. If the airline industry was saved from the recession by baggage fees, EA and others could be buoyed by online fees.

However, game companies must proceed at the peril of their reputations. More Americans now hate airlines. Likewise, some gamers are so furious about extra fees, they're threatening to skip EA sports games out of spite.

Personally, what repulses me is, once again, the online "Tiger" store. I'm quite good enough at "Tiger" to earn points to buy better clubs and balls. But if you stink, you can spend hundreds of real dollars, buying virtual clubs to swing in the game.

I'm not sure who to be more repulsed with, EA or cheating gamers. But I'm repulsed, I tell ya.

SHENANIGAN NO. 2: To make "Tiger" more realistic (uh-oh), the game takes away a targeting reticule for you to point at, during drives and approaches. That makes the create-a-golfer mode (which is already tediously slow in the beginning) harder.

SHENANIGAN NO. 3: The game always comes with magical mojo, which you earn, to let you golf sharper. But now, mojo is limited, and if you use mojo too much or poorly, your top-tier abilities dry up. How "Dungeons and Dragons" -- to limit magic is to pile a false construct upon a false construct.

SHENANIGAN NO. 4: "Tiger" adds the Ryder Cup, and with it, team-based playing online, where teams of 12 can compete. (Plus, there are new courses.)

These are major alterations. But if you don't like the crazy ones, you can use the game's options systems to reconfigure "Tiger" back to several old-style "Tiger" modes. That's good.

I, for one, hate the new TrueAim mode so much (the camera angle stays behind your shoulder instead of flying with the ball in the air), I didn't toy with TrueAim longer than one minute before turning it off. But maybe some hardcore golfers like it.

What's most noticeable? The skies over courses seem duskier this year. Ominous, even. What could be going on in Tiger Woods' life to cause such menacing clouds to hang over his head, hmmm?

Doug Elfman is an award-winning entertainment columnist who lives in Las Vegas. He blogs at lvrj.com/columnists/Doug_Elfman.html.

Move over, Andy Warhol -- icons pop up at museum

2010-06-11T05:00:00Z

If Andy Warhol did it, why not area painters and visual artists?

Warhol gained fame -- and notoriety -- in 1962 when he painted 32 canvases that each depicted a single Campbell's Soup can (one for each variety the company made at the time).

Members of Beaux Arts of Volusia must have been in a Warholian mood lately.

"American Icons," the new exhibit at the Ormond Memorial Art Museum and Gardens, features members' creations that incorporate the brand logos and-or popular images of Coca-Cola, Tootsie Roll, Hershey's Kisses, Jimi Hendrix, George Washington, the Statue of Liberty, Crayola Crayons and the artist Mary Cassatt -- that is, her postage stamp.

(Pictured at right: "Coca-Cola Refreshes" by Beau Wild.)

The exhibit opens June 11 and runs through Aug. 1 at the museum, 78 E. Granada Blvd., Ormond Beach. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Admission is a suggested $2 donation. For more information, call 386-676-3347 or go online at ormondartmuseum.org.

The exhibit includes paintings, sculptures, jewelry, photography, pottery and mixed media.

Dreaming by Daas

2010-06-11T05:00:00Z

The artist Daas didn't learn the art of origami when he was living in Japan.

However, the muralist, painter and former Daytona Beach resident was so inspired by the centuries-old art of folding paper that he began casting whimsical, origami-looking hummingbirds, horses, kangaroos and other beasties onto his wood canvases.

The result is "The Origami Dream," a series of paintings currently on display at the Tongue and Groove Gallery inside daVinci, a DeLand coffeehouse.

"If you look at my art and smile, then I have achieved my goal," Daas writes in a posting on his website, daas-art.com. "I want my paintings to be uplifting, thoughtful and light-hearted.

"For me, art is a way to express the curiosity and amazement I feel while experiencing the changes, adventures and emotions of this life. I believe the creation, observation and-or participation in art is a pathway to happiness."

The works of "The Origami Dream," Daas (in photo below) says, "represent this idea perfectly."

In early 2007, Daas moved from Daytona Beach to Osaka, Japan, where he began a three-year stint as a performer and live artist at Universal Studios Japan.

Long fascinated by origami, Daas says he "became enamored by this traditional art form and began using it as inspiration for a new direction in my art."

His "Origami Dream" paintings are not intended to be an accurate representation of origami folds and structure, he says.

Rather, Daas says, "I have chosen to use wood, stains and lively colors as a way to embody the spirit and craftsmanship of this beautifully complex style of art."

Daas previously exhibited his origami works in Japan, but the Tongue and Groove exhibit is their first showing in the United States.

Daas currently lives in St. Petersburg, but he plans to relocate soon to California.

If You Go

WHAT/WHO: "The Origami Dream" -- paintings by Daas

WHERE: Tongue and Groove Gallery in daVinci, 112 W. Georgia Ave., DeLand

WHEN: Through June 21; gallery hours 5 p.m.-2 a.m. Wednesday-Saturday. Opening reception 7-9 p.m. June 11

ADMISSION: Opening reception -- free

INFORMATION: 386-873-2943

Violinist goes Gaga with etudes and pop

2010-06-04T05:00:00Z

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- In March violinist-composer Daniel Bernard Roumain performed with the wild and wanton Lady Gaga on "American Idol," romping through her techno-pop hit "Poker Face."

On June 4, Roumain will share a bill with visual artist Radcliffe Bailey, writer Richard McCann and 24 associate artists-in-residence at the Atlantic Center for the Arts.

It's INsideOUT, the traditional presentation that concludes a residency by ACA master artists and their students. At INsideOUT, works in progress and various collaborations among participants are the norm.

It's not so outlandish that Roumain would stage-dive into Gaga's techno pop. The Haitian-American's 2007 album was aptly titled "etudes4violin&electronix" and featured classical chamber music, including a collaboration with Philip Glass, and electronica, hip-hop and trip-hop collaborations with DJ Spooky and others.

Roumain's new album, "Woodbox Beats and Balladry," continues that vibe, with such tracks as "Sonata for Viloin and Turntables," "Spaceships Over Haiti" and the heavy metal-coated "Slowly Fooled."

A native of South Florida, Roumain has hopped across genres since graduating from Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music and earning his doctorate's from the University of Michigan.

The violinist has performed with symphonies in Seattle and Vancouver, with dancers Bill T. Jones and Savion Glover, with turntable artists/deejays Radar, Scientific and Spooky, jazz singer Cassandra Wilson and -- perhaps an outgrowth of his South Florida roots -- the notorious rap group 2 Live Crew.

In 2007, Roumain premiered "One Loss Plus," a work commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). The multimedia work featured electric and acoustic violin, prepared/amplified piano, electronics and video.

"Darwin's Meditation for the People of Lincoln," his latest orchestral work, is a musical setting of a play by Daniel Beaty that explores an imagined conversation between Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln, and the political relationship between England, North America and Haiti.

"Art is an antidote to the ills of the world and a conduit for the free flow of ideas, and the systemic changes that come with them," Roumain wrote on his blog at dbrmusic.wordpress.com.

His blog also is filled with posts expressing his grief and support for his fellow Haitian people following the island nation's devastating earthquake.

"My work as a composer includes thinking about, and wanting to help, our world," Roumain wrote last month. "I don't want to forget about Haiti, and how revenue and currency can only go so far. My job, now more than ever, is to direct it all towards our island-nation, Haiti."

The blog then provides a link to a video in which Roumain plays a melancholy lament on solo violin.

If You Go

WHAT: INsideOUT

WHO: Violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain, visual artist Radcliffe Bailey, writer Richard McCann and 24 associate artists-in-residence of the Atlantic Center for the Arts

WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday June 4

WHERE: Atlantic Center for the Arts, 1414 Art Center Ave., New Smyrna Beach

ADMISSION: Free to ACA members, $10 nonmembers; reservations requested

INFORMATION: 386-427-6975 or atlanticcenterforthearts.org

Get a monopoly on Dead recordings

2010-06-03T15:12:40Z

With apologies to Don Henley: Out on the road today I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Monopoly-like game.

Grateful Dead-opoly is a board game that resembles that one with Marvin Gardens and Park Place. Except that, instead of building a business empire, here the goal is to "tour with the Dead, traveling from gig to gig trying to get rich by purchasing and trading master album recordings, concert venues, road trips, cheap road motels and luxury hotels."

Tokens include a guitar, amp, tour bus and Otis the dog. Players deal in Dead Bucks and Karma Cards.

Can a person really get rich by turning the art and rebellion of rock 'n' roll into a capitalist commodity? Hmmmmmm.

"Grateful Dead-opoly" was released by Discovery Bay Games. Find out more at discoverybaygames.com or at Amazon.com.

Next 'Galaxy' can't possibly be good enough for adults

2010-06-02T04:05:00Z

Yes, "Super Mario Galaxy 2" is a very cute Mario game that I would strongly suggest for my nephew, Kyle. It's quite good. On the other hand, I'm going to devote a lot of this review to criticizing the one super dumb thing in it that's annoying me to no end.

"Galaxy 2" feels a lot like the first "Super Mario Galaxy." You portray Mario. You travel from planet to quirky little planet, running or riding across each orb for a few minutes, bonking bad guys, finding hidden gems, collecting floating stars and coins, then flying to the next planet for more of the same.

OK, that's great. For kids. And for casual gamers. And for parents.

But what is it with all the adult reviewers in America giving this game their best ratings of the year?

With all due respect to other reviewers, this is kids' stuff. Are you really enjoying this game so much? Really? Really?

It begins with Princess Peach getting kidnapped by Bowser for the 1 zillionth time in a Mario game.

After that, there's no serious plot, and that's OK. You don't need storyline with Mario. You just need to run from point A to point B to C to D to infinity.

The big, good thing: There are more than 40 stages to travel through. The universe looks creative and colorful. The planets are lovely. It's fairly easy to maneuver Mario (but not smooth enough, I'd say).

The annoying thing: As usual with the Wii, you hold one hand controller in your left hand, and another hand controller in your right hand. That's fine.

But for this game, more than most games, you must point the right-handed wand at the screen for what seems like an eternity, to control a cursor that A) rolls over floating stars (to collect them), B) grabs onto things to eat, and C) grabs onto things to zipline up to.

Am I the only critic who thinks pointing-at-collectible-stars-all-the-time is off-putting and makes my right hand go numb after a few hours? I think I might be.

That's not nitpicking. If I wanted to nitpick, I'd tell you the background music sounds like the bad orchestral cheese they spread over the end-credits of Academy Awards programs.

I don't want to sound like a Mario hater. I'm not. Me and Mario go way back. But this never-ceasing Wand-pointing business makes me want to play a different game in my spare time. I want to stress that complaint to game-makers for future "Galaxy" sequels. Thank you.

That said, let's get back to perspective: This is a very good, huge game, with months of replay value for your nephew, your casual gamer, your parents, your Nintendo fanboys.

Also, your adult critics, one of whom called this the best Wii game yet made.

Hmm. Regardless, I would like to say to Mario directly: Your therapist would call your emotional need to save the princess over and over a "rescue fantasy." You may want to look into that.

Doug Elfman is an award-winning entertainment columnist who lives in Las Vegas. He blogs at lvrj.com/columnists/Doug_Elfman.html.

Super Mario Galaxy 2

Retails for $50 for Wii.

Plays pretty fun.

Looks very cute.

Moderately challenging.

Rated "E" for mild cartoon violence.

3 1/2 stars (out of 4).

Pulitzer winner, professor show their photos

2010-05-28T05:00:00Z

Stephen Crowley, a graduate of the photography program at Daytona State College, won a Pulitzer Prize for his photos of the war in Afghanistan. Those photos and more are part of a new exhibit of his work at his alma mater.

The exhibition "Objects & Equations" features five bodies of work drawn from Crowley's professional and personal photography, including "Urban Archaeology," "If I Were Your King" (the title of the photo above), "Voices of Afghanistan," "Time Spent: Florida as It Once Was 1972-1982" and "Crowleygraphs."

Crowley's works will be on display in conjunction with "Forty Years in Photography," an exhibit by Dan Biferie, chair of the School of Photography at Daytona State College. Crowley and Biferie knew each other as students at the school. Crowley graduated from the college 35 years ago, the same year that Biferie joined as a faculty member.

Both photographers' exhibits will be shown through July 30.

The museum is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 28 and 1 to 5 p.m. May 29-30. The museum then begins its summer hours, noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, through July 30. The museum will be closed during the school's summer recess from July 31 to Aug. 17.

The museum is in the Mori Hosseini Center (Building 1200) on the campus of Daytona State College, 1200 W. International Speedway Blvd, Daytona Beach. Admission is free. For more information, call 386-506-4475 or go online at smponline.org.

Crowley and four other photographers at The New York Times won the Pulitzer for feature photography in 2002 for their work covering the war in Afghanistan. In 2005, American Photo Magazine included Crowley on its list of the "100 Most Important People in Photography."

His personal photography has been exhibited at the Library of Congress, the National Geographic Society and the Corcoran Art Museum.

Biferie's exhibit includes works from three ongoing series of photographs taken over the past 40 years. "Family Portraits" consists of digitally manipulated photographs of Biferie's wife and three sons "created for artistic purposes rather than as a record of our daily lives," he says.

"Churchscapes" includes digitally manipulated images of landscapes and church architecture. "A Few People" is a collection of environmental portraits.

Artists taught themselves

2010-05-28T05:00:00Z

DAYTONA BEACH -- Michelangelo didn't do it this way.

In the late 1960s, 40-something Alabama native Mose Tolliver hurt his legs in a work accident. Getting bored while recovering from his injuries, Tolliver picked up a brush and began slapping house paint on cardboard and plywood.

No need for Tolliver to take art classes. He began creating big-headed, childlike portraits of people, as well as paintings of birds and beasts.

And, says the website of the Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science in Tallahassee, which exhibits some of his work, "Occasionally his paintings are explicitly erotic images of women."

In 1982, Tolliver's works were included in the exhibit "Black Folk Art in America 1930-1980" at the Smithsonian. Soon after Tolliver was selling more works than that Sistine Chapel fellow.

Two Tolliver works go on display May 29 at the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach. The works are part of the exhibit "Stories of Community: Self-Taught Art from the Hill Collection."

The exhibit features 34 paintings, collages, drawings and mixed media assemblages drawn from the collection that Lou and Calynne Hill donated to the Brogan Museum. None of the 19 painters and sculptors in the exhibit studied art in any traditional fashion.

"Most of us have dreams, but we don't often take time from our everyday routines to talk about them, much less express them in a work of art," said Jay Williams, the Gary R. Libby Curator of Art at the Museum of Arts and Sciences. "Perhaps that is why we instinctively enjoy the work of self-taught artists like those represented in the Hill Collection."

Along with the Tolliver works, "Stories of Community" includes "Caution" by Lonnie Holley. It's a mixed media work composed of wood, paint, sponges and a poster reproduction of a self-portrait by Van Gogh. Beneath the image of Van Gogh, Holley sketched a portrait of an Asian man in traditional clothing.

The Brogan Museum's website says the 60-year-old Holley titled the piece "Caution" because "he wants to advise caution about the way we appreciate artists, especially the ones we may not understand. Like Van Gogh, some artists are governed by emotions and those emotions can cause creative stops and starts."

The exhibit also includes works by Archie Byron, Arthur Dial, Richard Dial, Thornton Dial Sr., Bessie Harvey, Charlie Lucas, J.B. Murray, Mary Proctor, O.L. Samuels, Mary T. Smith, Georgia Speller, Henry Speller, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, James Henry ("Son") Thomas, Luster Willis and Purvis Young.

If You Go

WHAT: "Stories of Community: Self-Taught Art from the Hill Collection"

WHERE: Museum of Arts and Sciences, 352 S. Nova Road, Daytona Beach

WHEN: May 29 through Aug. 23

MUSEUM HOURS: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, closed Monday except open for holidays (including Memorial Day)

ADMISSION: $12.95 adults, $10.95 seniors and students, $6.95 ages 6-17, free for members and children 5 and younger

INFORMATION: 386-255-0285

Look at me looking at you

2010-05-27T17:31:50Z

You like to watch . . . you know you do. And you like to be watched.

To explore our society's ever-increasing and increasingly perverse desire to see and be seen, writer Hal Niedzviecki decided to do some investigative reporting on blogging, YouTubing, nanny-camming, Facebooking, reality television, GPS tracking and other means of cyber-connecting.

And so Niedzviecki interviewed a guy who wore a camera on his head for a year. He talked to couples who like to make very naughty videos and post them online. He slipped a GPS tracker into his wife's car. He invited all 700 of his Facebook friends to a party in an actual physical space.

What happened? What did Niedzviecki discover? The answers lie in his new book, "The Peep Diaries: How We're Learning to Love Watching Ourselves and Our Neighbors" (City Lights, 256 pages).

Here's one spoiler: Only one of Niedzviecki's 700 Facebook friends bothered to shut down the ol' laptop and meet up face-to-face.

Read his blog at The Peep Diaries.

'Red Dead' sequel rolls back time to lawless, low-tax America

2010-05-26T16:20:27Z

There's an intriguing political nuance to "Red Dead Redemption." It lets us see what America may have looked like when our nation was a libertarian fantasyland.

"Redemption" is set in the Old West of 1911, when there are no real laws beyond thieving and murdering. The thrust of the game is, you hijack and ride horses so that you may hunt down criminals and kill them. At times, you shoot 12 to 20 bad guys in a desert canyon showdown.

The intrinsic politics: This is a no-tax America; no health care beyond snake-oil salesmen; everyone's poor; everyone's white; towns exist on the pure capitalism of saloons, prostitution and bounty hunting.

People rob graves and churches, because they can. They die in duels over pride. Neighbors hang innocent people with quick justice. Women are all moms, nuns, cowhands or prostitutes.

Some cowpokes complain about the lameness of their little government -- a sign of bigger government to come.

And everyone carries guns. And bullets. And they use them.


I was buying ammo for my Winchester Repeater rifle, and the weapon salesman said, "We got the Second Amendment for a reason, don't we?"

Yep.

Later, as I was taking out a bunch of bad dudes, my character said to himself, "I think they call this a massacre."

Then, I sifted through their corpse pockets for money, because looting is good.

That's the undertone of "Redemption": Old West libertarianism gave us the freedom to roam -- and to die poor, young and ugly.

The overtone is, "Redemption" is just another "Grand Theft Auto" copycat (by Rockstar, the makers of "GTA"), but instead of hijacking cars, it's horses. Some of us call this "Grand Theft Horse."

To wit, you travel and slay across a big West world. If you behave too criminally, deputies come after you.

But feel free to lasso a woman, hogtie her and place her on railroad tracks for slaughter.

There is a haunting soulfulness. While riding my horse, I jumped off to skin a dead horse lying on the ground, to collect its meat and pelt. My own horse stood behind me, staring at the skinned horse, simpering. That was spooky and sad.

This is a well-made game, a heavily acclaimed title. But to me, it's not nearly as fun or mechanically smooth as "Just Cause 2," a "Grand Theft Auto"-copycat/masterpiece that came out earlier this year.

And, during its first week of release, the online multiplayer was a mess of visuals (my guns and horses keep disappearing); and glitches (the game freezes and ends repeatedly).

I've been waiting six years for this sequel to "Red Dead Revolver." Do you hear me? Six years.

The first "Red Dead" was much different -- a phenomenal, linear-narrative adventure where you portrayed a kid in the 1880s hunting his dad's killers, including a Reconstruction politician.

This sequel is pretty good. Not bad. Fine. As I've said before, anticipation doesn't pay, unless you're a sinner or a seller.

Doug Elfman is an award-winning entertainment columnist who lives in Las Vegas. He blogs at lvrj.com/columnists/Doug_Elfman.html.

Reis' Pieces at museum

2010-05-21T05:10:00Z

Tom Reis is an illustrator whose work has appeared with stories in Time magazine, Rolling Stone, the Wall Street Journal, Entertainment Weekly, Sports Illustrated, Business Week and other publications.

But Reis, a 1988 graduate of Stetson University in DeLand, also is an artist who creates works in the style of classically trained painters.

The exhibit "Reis' Pieces: The Paintings of Tom Reis" opens May 21 and runs through Aug. 1 at the Museum of Arts and Sciences, 352 S. Nova Road, Daytona Beach.

Museum hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday; closed Mondays (except holidays). Admission is $12.95 adults, $10.95 seniors and students, $6.95 children age 6-17, free for members and children age 5 and younger. Admission includes the planetarium.

For more information, call 386-255-0285 or visit moas.org.

Reis received his MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1993.

Reis' whimsical portraits of Mel Gibson and Michael Moore, rappers Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls, Bill Gates (as Frankenstein) and others can be seen at thomas.reis.home.mindspring.com (those illustrations and others will not be part of the museum exhibit).

Game Dork: New 'Skate' title shows better skateboarding skills than I do

2010-05-20T13:15:28Z

I was talking to Tony Hawk at a party a few months ago. (I know that's name-dropping, but it happened, and it's relevant.) I told him I suck at skateboarding, because I'm not 20 anymore. Hawk, 41, looked at me in disbelief as I uttered that excuse, staring at me past his midlife crow's feet.

Let me be even clearer. Things I suck at: 1) Skateboarding. 2) Skateboarding in video games. I've always been honest about my skateboarding suckitude. And here I am, facing the same suck-music again, with "Skate 3."

"Skate 3" is clearly a good game. I'm not exactly sure how good it is, since I can't accomplish much in it.

But it seems cool. You portray a skateboarder who rolls across a big city (which was designed and illustrated specifically for this sequel).

You ollie (a basic skateboarding jump, which I can pull off). You rotate and flick the board mid-air during jumps (I can do that, too).

You jump the board up onto sidewalk rails and metal edges (I'm cool with that, as well).


But then you face challenges, to combine many wild skateboarding moves across the city. During those challenges, you must skate fast against rivals -- weaving through traffic, or pulling off jumps and tricks in skating parks -- and you must score more trick points than rivals do, quicker than they do.

I can't do any of that. I've tried. I'm not accustomed to losing. I am The Game Dork L.L.C., a registered Trademark with the U.S. government. But with skateboards, I am a big, stupid loser, the end.

I do have the wherewithal to report "Skate 3" isn't a huge departure from the acclaimed and popular "Skate 2."

It just comes with a new city to explore and conquer. "Skate 3" is bigger than its two predecessors, and the controls are even more intuitive (easier to handle).

I love its park-building capability. You can erect your own super-high ramps, like the ones that cause crashes on ESPN. You can build a ramp like Hawk's crazy one in real life. You can upload those ramps online. And you can download other gamers' ramps. That's excellent.

"Skate 3" comes with a new online experience, where teams of three compete against other teams, or against each other.

The thin plot here, so to speak, is for you to build up a skateboarding company. When you beat challenges, buyers are impressed, leading you to sell a lot of skateboards. The game wants you to sell 1 million skateboards, eventually.

What I need in "Skate 3" is my dad. He's a physicist. Over the years, I've asked him to explain the physics of black holes (which I now understand) and the difference between the macro and micro worlds (I totally get that).

Dad is a skateboarder. For real. He ollies. I can't. So frustrating. I've asked him many times to explain the physics of skateboarding. He does. No capice. It is obviously time to move on.

Learn the knightly arts

2010-05-20T05:00:00Z

Today's namby-pamby universities don't teach a curriculum like they did in the good ol' days . . . say, the year 1369.

Back in ye merry olde England in the later Middle Ages, it helped to know a few of the knightly skills -- and who's to say those skills won't come in handy again some day?

And so Michael Prestwich, a bona fide medieval history and warfare scholar, has penned the book "Knight: The Medieval Warrior's (Unofficial) Manual."

Basing his work on historical accounts, Prestwich provides, according to his publisher, "all the essential information you need to become a successful knight . . . Should you go on a Crusade? Which order of chivalry might you consider joining? What is required when you go through the ceremony of knighthood?"

There's also a chapter on how the knightly arts can affect one's chances of landing a babe.

"Knight: The Medieval Warrior's (Unofficial) Manual" (Thames & Hudson, 208 pages) is available now