The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 25, 2003, Page 4, Image 4
4 , THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, April 25, 2003
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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.
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@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”).
: : : \
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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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