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4 , THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, April 25, 2003 CONTACT US . ' MA J™YAdS^D IT Story ideas? Questions? Comments? contain the only truths to be E-mail us at gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com relied on in a newspaper.” FUTURE FILMMAKER, TENT-BUILDER AND FIREMAN PHOTOS BY TRISHA SHADWELL/THE GAMECOCK Above and below: Silvio Kohs, aka Albert Dorckstein, recruits Greene Street pedestrians for his “fra-sority" on Wednesday. Membership requires signing a contract and paying Dorckstein $5,000. BY CAITLIN COKER THE GAMECOCK Act now. You haven’t missed your chance to join Albert’s . Alpha Gamma Alpha Gamma Beta Gamma Alpha Babba Blabba Gamma Better Alpha Fraternity. But the main signup has al ready taken place. ’ Silvio Kohs, aka Albert Dorckstein, set up shop next to ' MTV’s Campus Invasion on Wednesday, hoping to pull in some Greene Street pedestrians. He erected a 3-foot-tall tent with the words “Headquarters of Albert’s fraternity” emblazoned in black marker. Equipped with a cardboard sign, a laptop and two doughnuts, the second-year art student began his active recruitment. Kohs clutched a wad of con tracts as he heckled passersby: “Albert’s Alpha Gamma Alpha Gamma Betta Gamma Alpha Babba Blabba Gamma Better Alpha Fraternity $5,000 contract.” If you’re looking to join the frat, just sign the contract — and pay $5,000 to Albert Dorckstein. “I hope to make as many people sign up today as I can,” Kohs said. There was no time for Kohs to wipe the doughnut glaze from his face — he had a fraternity to fill. In the middle of chewing the white doughnut filling, Kohs screamed at the passersby, “Hey, want to join my fraternity?” The pedestrians tried to look away, as if he were peddling Zipsheets. “Free doughnuts and stuff! Join my fra-sority!” he said to a passing gang of girls. But no one seemed interested. Nathan Britt, a fourth-year hos pitality student, said he didn’t have the timefo be in a fraternity. “I’m busy, actually,” he said. “And I’m not a big fraternity guy.” But Kohs was unfazed. He asked another person — Jonathan Canon, a second-year business student. Skeptical about the free dough nuts offer, Canon at first refused. “I can get those anywhere,” he said. But Kohs’s charm and ambi tion won Canon over and into Albert’s fraternity. “I’m not a fraternity type of guy, but his enthusiasm is conta gious,” Canon said. Obviously, that $5000 registra tion fee might have deterred would-be members from joining. Canon wasn’t too worried about it though. “It’s mom and dad. They’ll take care,of it. I’ll just say that it’s nec essary college expenses,” Canon said. It might have been hard, how ever, for people to take him seri ously with a camera following his every move and a microphone at tached to his shirt. Kohs joked that he’s a “bigfan of fraternities.” He said he thinks they’re crazy because you pay to get in. A fateful assignment in Kohs’ video-production class that re quired him to make a five- j minute independent film pro- I vided the perfect opportunity for * a zany fraternity spin-off. “I have weird ideas all the g time,” Kohs said. In a pre- ™ vious antic last semester, he dressed up as a snow- Jgfc man and grilled meats BB| on Greene Street. In an other stunt, a friend dressed up in a llama B costume and perched in a tree as Kohs bleated. In the future, he IIS plans to make a MB "Dreckstreet Boys” mu- IBB sic video, parodying the jBf' Backstreet Boys. He maintains lofty career B goals. “Maybe a fireman or a tent builder. I love tents,” he said. But for now, Kohs ex- B presses his perspectives fl through comedy. He is mak- fa ing this video to protest fra- fl temities; he aims “to bring jfl across the message in a ’ funny way (that) makes B more sense than having fl debates,” he said. “He likes to get people’s B| reactions on issues,” said Katie Board, a third-year media-arts student. “He’s really against those kind of orga nizations.” Kohs hoped for re actions from Greeks. “He’s prepared to get blessed out today,” Board said. But no one seemed to be angry with Kohs. Students were either entertained by his antics or ig norant of them. Mike ife, Sullivan, a third-year crim M inal-justice student in the W Alpha Tau Omega frater W nity, was indifferent to Kohs’s stunt and even snared some ot ms grievances. “Fraternities are overrated, yet I’m happy with mine,” Sullivan said. “I hate paying the dues, but you got to.” Kohs origi nally intended to advertise for Lj' Albert’s fraternity next I to other recruiting fra il temities. That way, peo f pie considering Greek f life would see his mock ery. Maybe then, some lucky parents would have saved what Canon called “necessary college expens es.” That, or Kohs might have found himself at the bottom of a Greek dog pile. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecockmixeditor @hotmail.com FILM FESTIVAL®*5"89* Beg and Grovel returns for 3rd year BY KRISTIN CHANDLER THE (1AMEC0CK I The Beg and Grovel Film Festival is back, and it’s bigger and better than ever. The third annual festival of fers independent movie buffs the opportunity to view up to 11 fea ture films and 25 shorts — then engage in discussions with the directors during a three-day ' weekend. The festival is the brainchild of Hybrid Films, a Columbia based nonprofit organization that supports independent filmmak ing in South Carolina. “This year, we decided to go bigger,” said Hybrid Films Executive Director Wade Sellers. “Our goal is to bring films that may not have been released, or are not readily available, to Columbia.” Hybrid produced the first Beg and Grovel Film Festival back in 2001 with fanfare from the movie community. The 2002 fes tival saw an increase in the number of films, but still aired during only one day and from one venue. “The main reason for increas ing the festival was last year’s re sponse. We sold out both screen ings and had to turn people away,” Sellers said. This year, the festival has tripled in size. Though most of the films .will be shown at the Nickelodeon Theatre, other venires such as the Hunter rnu I U orLV/iHL i i ni. “Confederacy Theory,” directed by Ryan Deussing, will show at the Beg and Grovel Film Festival, which is in its third year, this weekend. Gatherer and the Columbia Museum of Art are involved. ' Hybrid wants to encourage lo cal filmmaking. “Friday night should be excit ing,” Sellers said. “That night is essentially regional, with all the films directed by state members or based on South-Carolina-re lated stories.” The festiyal kicks off tonight at 7 with “Confederacy Theory,” an in-depth look at the Confederate flag debate in South Carolina ' directed by Ryan Deussing. The 9 p.m. feature, “Ding-a ling-less,” directed by Onur Tukel, tells the story of a man who is missing a certain some thing, but then learns of a medi cal procedure that could turn his life upside down. Tonight’s fonal feature — “Generation Ax,” directed by Tommy Faircloth — airs at 11. The film is a high-school horror story shot in and around Columbia. All three directors will be at the festival. “The directors will be at their screenings and available for questions from the audience,” Sellers said. “Those that are here are here for the weekend, so there’ll be a chance to«ee them in formal and informal set tings.” Saturday, the Columbia Museum of Art will sponsor a dis cussion forum of filmmakers to address the state of independent movies. An open movie screening will also be held. The Hunter-Gatherer will pre sent short films at 10:30 that night and at 10:30 a.m. Sunday. Hybrid Films will hold a Sunday brunch panel to discuss “The Pleasures and Pitfalls of Shooting Abroad” at the Basil Pot restaurant. Later, the museum will offer a workshop called “Document aries and Change,” led by USC professor David Whitman. The workshop will feature clips from documentaries that have been instrumental in advocating so cial change. Finally, on Sunday, the muse um will allow area filmmakers the chance to show their projects in progress and discuss them with fellow artists. Films will be screened contin uously throughout the weekend at the Nickelodeon Theatre. Tickets are available at the door or in advance. Eight directors will attend, including Steve Daniels (“Strings of Death” and “The Flying Squirrel”) and Karen Sosnoski (“Wedding Advice”), as well as producer Peter Wentworth (“Other Voices, Other Rooms”). : : : \ Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail. com The dark horse of gaming systems BENANGSTADT GAMECOCKMIXEDITOR@HOTMAIL.COM As most people will tell you, there are two video-game consoles out there to choose from: Sony’s PlayStation2 and Microsoft’s Xbox. Unfortunately, anyone who doles out that information is over looking a vital piece of the video game puzzle. They are forgetting the GameCube, Nintendo’s little box that packs a punch but is fre quently overlooked. Ironically, the most forgotten system is the one that deserves the most attention. And if the statistics are right, many of you out there are proba ' bly going to buy video-game sys tems, especially if you’re a male age 18 to 26. With the multibillion-dollar gaming industry bigger than ever, and tens of millions of the current three game consoles sold, it’s be coming the norm to own one. Ignoring the GameCube as a vi able option, however, is ignoring quite possibly the best all-around system on the market. I can hear the responses now: “Nintendo, you say? You mean the company that makes all the kid’s games?” The GameCube’s presence is still overshadowed by the N64’s dismal past; its end was wrought with an overabundance of Pokemon and very little mate rial worth giving a second look. The GameCube is undoubted ly the most family-friendly of the current generation of game con soles. But “Super Mario Sunshine,” “The Legend of Zelda” and “Animal Crossing,” some of the games that receive the heavi est criticism for their lack of blood and their “Everyone” game ratings, offer some of the deepest and most enjoyable single-player experiences in contemporary gaming. Plus, any hint of kid-friendli ness on the GameCube’s part is avoidable. Just consider the two James Bond games, “Splinter Cell” and the uber-action title “Metroid Prime.” Plus, for those of you who must have blood and gore, look no further than “Eternal Darkness,” the revamped “Resident Evil” series and Capcom’s upcoming “P.N. 03.” Also, don’t forget that an in creasing number of ’Cube games contain extra features when they are connected to a GameBoy Advance via a special cable. The PlayStation2, on the other hand, has been relying on sequels for a while now. It’s offered little original material, and most of the sequels have felt more like in creasingly stale versions of their predecessors. A few upcoming ti tles look like potential winners, but most of the PlayStation2 games merit little excitement. The Xbox, however, has offered virtually nothing since ... well, since “Halo” on the day the Xbox came out, and has nothing else un til “Halo 2” comes out sometime next year. The PC in a console case definitely wins the numbers game: a built-in Ethernet port for online gaming via a broadband connection; a bulky 10-gig hard drive, which eliminates the need for memory cards; and an NVIDIA GeForce 3 graphics card. Unfortunately for the Xbox, graphics don’t make the game, as evidenced by the mediocre re views that most Xbox-exclusive games receive. Sure, they look Vvi<i nun iU nu<* —V* «. U1 V W1VJ U11J And, like “Splinter Cell” and “Wreckless,” many of the better Xbox games soon enough find their way onto their competitors. So do yourself a favor, and don’t count the GameCube out. He might be a little guy, but he’s a spitfire, and he sure holds his own in a fight. 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