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THE GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, September 23, 2002 5 CONTACT TIS • THEY SAID IT Uk3 HERBERT GARDNER: “Once you get peo Story ideas? Questions? Comments? pie laughing, they’re listening and you E-mail us at gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com can tell them almost anything.” r* Corey Garriott takes a break from riding around campus on his heels. The company Heelys hopes to create the next extreme sport with its skate-ready shoes, which let their wearers perform tricks similar to inline skating moves. PHOTO BY CANOI HAUGLUM/THE GAMECOCK Heelys shoes make getting around campus faster, more exciting for college students BY COREY GARRIOTT THE GAMECOCK Coolness takes effort, and trial and error. Skateboarding probably even seemed hokey when the first guy nailed wheels on a board. So no laughing — this could be revolutionary. Heelys shoes, named for the single remov able wheel nested in each heel, look and fit like sneakers with the wheel pushed into the sole. You can walk normally with the wheels in, un til you need to impress your friends. Then, surprise! You can skate by lifting your toes off the ground, standing only on the wheels, one foot in front of the other. To keep your balance, you can put your stronger leg behind you and lock it. You skate in Heelys like a human bicycle, one wheel in front of the other, so cracks in the pavement are bad news — one could catch your lead foot, halting the other foot and causing you to crash. Instead of the wheels, the only thing left spinning would be your head. The company, of course, suggests instead that you skate on smooth, stable surfaces and that you wear a helmet, wrist protectors, el bow pads and kneepads. Heelys shoes come in 11 designs with such names as Grail, Maxus, Tite, Axis, Rush, Accel, Motions, Stealth, Rage, Shredder and Predator. There are also slick models for grinding tricks and one model is specifically made for women Grocery stores are a good place to practice technique in Heelys shoes. You can get a gro eery cart to hang on to in the early, awkwarc stages. And there’s nothing cooler than a col lege student skating with a grocery cart while picking up yogurt. These shoes can fly. If you’re on a smootl surface, such as the road or the Russell House basement, you can glide all the way from Sut City to your mailbox. Even on the brick walk ways and sidewalks that dominate the cam pus, you can get around pretty well if you learr the peculiarities of the ground. But old, boring transportation isn’t the poinl of wearing Heelys. These shoes are supposed to get big, like skateboarding has, and become the next extreme sport — or so the cheesj training video hopes. It subliminally flashes such words as nonconformist, iconoclast, pio neer and rebel. It makes me think jumping over stairway railings will soon grant me here status and a girlfriend. Heelys are all about the tricks. The Pipeline requires that you skate witl your toes pointed in opposite directions, mak ing you look like an elf or a mime. The Psyche 360, which is like a figure-skating trick, is a sei of several high-velocity swivels in place. Mj favorite, the Liu Kang, is a jackknife in the air, performed in a “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” style. “Only for the truly insane,” as the video says, is the Blood Stain, a scary swivel per formed with your toes pointed toward each oth er. It’s a move that is out of my league. I’m not that good. Oh, well. I didn’t buy these to participate in extreme sports so much as I bought them to placate my inner child. So many actual children buy them, I can’t go wrong. After all, said Ashley Shew, a second-year philosophy student, “My 10-year-old sister has a pair of those.” It.seems that Heelys shoes have a special appeal among the younger-sister market. But only the hopelessly adult could fail to appreciate them. Nothing garners cheers and disapproving looks like eerily gliding across a USC lecture hall before sitting down. Given the right room, I could be the coolest kid in it. Heelys prices range from $50 models to $130 models with slick grooves. They are available locally at such stores as Journey’s or Gadzooks. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com MOVIE REVIEW Action film runs gamut of emotions “THE FOUR FEATHERS” Starring Heath Ledger, Wes Bentley and Kate Hudson ★★★** out of ☆☆☆☆☆ BY MEG MOORE THEUAMECOCK Do not go see “The Four Feathers” expecting to endure a film without being moved. Acting as an adventure story, a tale of de votion and a grueling drama all at different moments, the latest film from director Shekhar Kapur evokes laughter, tears and empa thetic agony, all within a two-hour span. Bringing to life the socially cen tered world of the 19th-century British aristocracy, “The Four Feathers” at times explores set tings of sheer grandeur and situ ations of frivolity. But it also re minds its audience of the horrific brutality that went on beyond those palatial English walls. Unfolding amid upper-class res idences as well as the stark, war tom Sudan, “The Four Feathers” maximizes the power of contrast. An adaptation of a 19th-century novel by A.E.W. Mason, much of the movie takes place in the rooms of grand manors or out on a lawn in the thick of a rugby match. Initially, it seems as if the only battle the featured company of British soldiers will see is the struggle for the rugby ball. While adept cinematography lets the au dience sit amid the brutal blows and fast-paced action of the match es, it is the contrasted desolation of the African desert and the wild rapaciousness of battle that will leave viewers breathless and emo tionally drained. In “The Four Feathers,” Heath Ledger plays Harry, a British sol dier compelled by family tradition to join the army. He resigns his commission upon hearing that he will be sent to fight. Abandoning his company as it prepares to ship off to Sudan, Harry is branded a coward and receives three white feathers, symbolic of his weak ness, from fellow soldiers. The fourth feather comes from his fiancee, Ethne (Kate Hudson), who hesitates to marry Harry af ter he confesses he did not resign simply tp be with her. A torrid chain of events is set into motion that leads Harry and company on convergent warpaths. Much of the second half of the film unfolds in the sand-swept African desert. Harry’s company is sent to combat a raiding Arab army in Sudan, an unjust and cru el place where Harry’s comrades cannot survive. Harry, ashamed of his resigna tion, also journeys to Africa, dis guises himself as an Arab and hopes to somehow aid his friends as they ride on toward battle. Ultimately, no amount of military training or experience could have prepared any of them for the se vere situations they face in the African wasteland. “The Four Feathers” is not a film for those with weak stomachs or those expecting lighter fare. It is a war movie, but it transcends the usual bounds of typically bat tle-heavy screenplays in other war movies. Delving into the significance of devotion, the importance of hon or and the social value of pride, “The Four Feathers” powerfully explores the gap between filigree and savagery, as well as between civilization and the severity of war. It is a tale of friendship and the ultimate sacrifices one can make to save someone else. Evoking a wide range of emotions, “The Four Feathers” engrosses the viewer and moves the audi ence with every twist from the comical to the catastrophic. i Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK -The Four Feathers” stars Heath Ledger and Kate Hudson. The wartime epic follows one man’s search for his Inner strength. VIDEO -GAME PREVIEW ‘Unreal IIP ups graphics ante BY ANDY EVANS THE.GAMECOCK When the “Unreal” series came out, it was seen as just an other “Doom” clone: a first-per son-perspective shooting game. The only thing that made it appealing was that the graph ics were a little smoother and more polished than those of oth er games in its genre. But now, “Unreal Tournament” is about to get a sequel, “Unreal Tournament 2003,” loaded with new gaming modes and better graphics. Epic Games, the developer of the “Unreal Tournament,” used the Unreal Graphics Engine to create a death-match game that pits player against player. After “Unreal Tournament” was born, “Quake III Arena” was its main competition, and consumers were split on which game, was bet ter. Death-match games used newer innovative fea tures than the standard free-for all combat games did. New modes, such as capture the flag, team death match, and mission, were added into the games. The mission mode as signed one team a list of objec tives it would have to complete in order to finish the mission in the time given, while the team guarding the flag would defend it at all costs. Now, in “Unreal Tournament 2003,” and gamers are anxious ly awaiting its November re lease. Atari and Epic Games re cently made the demo available to the public, and Internet servers have been packed with players testing the demo. So far, the game is meeting all expecta tions; because of a major graph ics overhaul, its environments and effects are breathtaking. One of the bragging rights of the new “Unreal Tournament” is its physics engine. It allows the animation to change de pending on where and how play ers shoot their enemy, including the force and location of the hit. This realism makes the new “Unreal Tournament” a game not for the faint of heart. For example, if a rocket blows up and kills a character, the way the character flies through' the air and tumbles down the stair well depends on the force and di rection of the rocket’s impact. In most games, the animation just shows the character sliding down the stairs. One of the most popular fea tures in the demo is the bomb ing mode. Two teams play for control of a ball, which is actually a bomb. The bomb has a timer on it, and the game resets when the timer goes off. There are goals on each side of the gaining environment; to score, the gamer must make it to the goal and shoot the bomb through it. Depending on how long it takes and how many ene mies they kill, gamers can earn more points when they score. This is just one of a horde of new features to look forward to in the new and full “Unreal Tournament 2003” release. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditotiaJwtmaiLcom I ..' ‘' ' ~1 PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK “Unreal Tournament 2003,” which will offer new models and better graphics, will be released in November. FALL OUT 2002 PHOTO BY JOHN RABON/THE GAMECOCK Audlovent bassist Paul Freid lets a out a scream at the Fall Out festival Friday afternoon. Audlovent was the fourth band to perform at the all-day event. Jimmy Eat World, Our Lady Peace, Seether, SR-71, 3rd Strike, Sparta and Cave In also played.