Daily Press from Newport News, Virginia • Page 83

LifeSty 1 V- VKJ i Guest Columnist 6 Bad attitude TED 'AC-MAN AT 2m By J. Freedom Du Lac Scripps Howard News Service Age has apparently done nothing to diminish Pac-Man's prodigious appetite. In fart, with his 20th birthday approaching a Y2K anniversary that will peg Pac as one of the grand old men of the video-game world the dot-dining, ghost-dodging, pie-faced yellow fellow with the international-icon status proved he's hungrier than ever. It happened three months ago, when a 34-year-old Cooper City, man named Billy Mitchell used a single puck-shaped Pac-Man to eat every dot every piece of fruit every power pellet and every blue ghost on every one of the 256 levels pro-grammed into the original arcade version of the game. His final score? Still hungry after all these years A perfect 3,333,360 points the first time the feat has ever been accomplished, which is rather amazing, really, given that Pac-Man has been played in arcades more than 10 billion times, making it the No.

1 arcade game in history Of course, Pac-Man is more than just the perpetually chomping champ of the coin- is scariest costume of all People seem to have all kinds of problems with Halloween. Not ma I have only one problem. And I'm going to take this opportunity to share it with the world. Some kids come to my door dressed as themselves. That's right, they don't wear costumes unless nose rings count for something.

What is the world coming to these days? Here I am giving away candy to total strangers in exchange for the pleasure of seeing a witch, a princess, a goblin or two. And, inevitably a few older kids have decided to move in on the action wearing nothing but jeans and a major attitude. Of course, they're not carrying cute, little Halloween treat baskets or plastic pumpkin pails. They're toting garbage bags! Never have I seen greed and optimism combined in such an unattractive manner Now, I don't begrudge young teens from wanting to take part in this holiday I can vividly remember the first year I decided I wasn't going to go trick-or-treating. I was sitting in the school cafeteria when I sadly announced that I was ending my traditional tour of the neighborhood.

Heck, I was in high school It was starting to get embarrassing. But I never could shake the love of dressing up each yean If I couldn't go out, I figured I could at least greet children at the door in the Halloween spirit Last year, I was a tiger. The year before that, I was a witch. Halloween is my chance to try on an alter ego and see how it fits. That why I'm so perplexed that anyone would choose to go trick-or-treating without wearing some sort of costume.

I can't help but think they're missing out an a great opportunity Without a costume, these kids go from being characters to being ordinary beggars. That just seems unfair to everyone Each year, I know when to expect them. At 5 and 6 o'clock at night, I get visits from the youngest children fairies, princesses, ghosts or one of a million different animals. After 6, 1 get the scarier children, dressed as monsters, vampires, and bugs. After 8 p.m.

I get the worst of them all the ordinary kids with the garbage bags. In the past, I've been less than kind to these garbage-bag kids. I don't like feeling irritated on Halloween, but every time I see one of these poorly clad children walking up to my door, the emotion washes over ma "What are you supposed to be?" I always ask them, snidely I get the same answer each time a big, blank stara Actually, thaf not exactly true Last year, a big woman walked up my steps withacou-ple of children in tow. She wasn't dressed up and neither were her kids, but they were all carrying garbage bags. Mom, too.

"What are you supposed to be?" I asked her. "Oh," she said, holding out her bag, "this isn't for ma It's for another child." Right I tossed her the tiniest piece of candy I could find and shut the door It was well after dark, and her group was one of the last to visit my housa After everyone else had left, my adult friends gathered outside and joined me for apictura One was dressed as a football player One was dressed as an Evil Republican. (It was self mockery he is Republican.) One was dressed as a cross between Dorothy from "The Wizard of Oz" and rock artist Marilyn Manson. And one was even dressed as our illustrious Editor Will Corbin. (He kept holding up a special section on the Starr Report and saying "This is the best (expletive) piece of journalism we've ever I smiled and snapped the photo.

This is the way Halloween is supposed to ba Sandra Tan is an education reporter substituting for humor columnist Tony Gabriele. She can be reached at 247-7854 or by e-mail at stan dailypress.com operated arcade parade. He's also the most pervasive gaming character in popular culture a charming, cherubic com-' puterized chap who's been celebrated in song ('Tac-Man and cereal box and recognized on screens both big and small Pac-Man Further proving that Pac-Man tran scends the boundaries of the gaming world, the term "Pac-Man defense" even came into existence in the dog-eat-dot world of corporate takeovers, used to describe a maneuver in which a takeover target turns right around and attempts to gobble up the original bidden Says Robert Thompson, president of the Popular Culture Association, an international group comprising culture-centric scholars and acade- Power pellet-eater has survived into the 3-D home-gaming age Elvis is the king of rock'n'roll, Pac-Man is the king of video games." Trace Pondering Pac-Man's place in the cultural pan- trie history theon, Thompson adds that it was the perfect game of home computer along with the computer revolution that was just games in getting underway in the United States. Science "We were at the dawn of a new era when Pac-r Sunday, 16. Man came out" he says.

"And Pac-Man emerged, much like Elvis did in the 1950s, as the first one to plant the flag of this new era into the soil of our consciousness. 1 1982: Hanna-Barbera's "Pac-Man Show" cartoon is a Saturday morning hit onABC. Pac-Man memorabilia flood the market Items include Pac-Man toilet seats, whoop- ie cushions and air fresheners. 1983: Pac-Man makes a comedic computer-screen A "It was the fuse that lit the video-game explosion, and people just jumped on it It was a lifestyle, not just a video gama" One that spawned 430 officially licensed products and a slew of spinoffs, the latest of which is the Sony PlayStation game, 1 Pac-Man World 20th Anniversary The game is now in stores, about a year shy of the vaunted video game gobbler's 20th birthday It was i designed by Namco, the same Japanese company that made Al Pac-Man among the first charac cameo in "National Lampoon's Vacation." This year's game spinoffs include Junior Pac-Man. 1984: Pac-Man Fever is dying down as is the golden Inspired by a pizza missing one slice, Japanese designer Tohru Iwatani in the late 70s conceptualized what became the most popular video game icon ever a circular yellow character with a diet of dots and fruits.

He gave it a name that translates to "Eat Man." Here's a look at how the game has gona 1980: Namco and the Bally Midway Manufacturing Co. introduce an arcade game across America. Originally called "Puck-Man," its name is quickly changed when it's discovered that a minor amount of adolescent tinkering can convert it into something seriously vulgar. It's an instant hit by any name, selling about 100,000 coin-operated machines in its first year. 1981: Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia release "Pac-Man Fever," a parody of the Ted Nugent song "Cat Scratch Fever." It reaches No.

9 on the Billboard pop singles chart and achieves gold-selling status. Ms. Pac-Man becomes the first of many Pac-Man spinoffs to enter arcades. Pac-Man costumes are a huge hit on Halloween. Atari rush-releases the first home version of Pac-Man for its 2600 system.

age of arcade games. 1990: Namco issues a Game- ters to anchor an arcade game, when personality-free spaceships and paddles were otherwise the Boy version of Pac-Man. 1996: Namco re-releases the arcade version of Pac-Man, sparking a minor revival of Pac-Mania. TODAY: A year before Pac-Man's actual 20th anniversary, Namco's "Pac- 1 Cs IN i norm. Namco marketing director Mike Fischer says the new, 3-D game was created by a team of designers who'd grown up playing the original Pac-Man and, therefore, Please see Pac-ManH2 Man World 20th Anniversary is released, updating the power pellet-eater for the 3-D home- gaming aga Scrippt Howard New Service Taylor finds love and all the answers Hi i.i.

iini. I I a Hiip i I'll I IHIIIMWI.MW I i i AOjotiiioif Make preparations to help ring in the holidays by I Note to readers. I List of Contibutors. I About the writers. AIlonHZ sending in your organization's holiday A A 7 events.

The annual Holiday Happenings calendar listing He desperately wanted to check on Taylor, but with Eddie's bold boasts about having the place surrounded, he couldn't afford to wait Eddie had managed to antagonize an already unstable Carter. What was the man tlunking? "Everybody wants to be a Rambo," he mumbled. Ignoring the pain that each silent step shot Last time: While Marvin keeps his nose glued to the reporters' notebooks and assorted evidence from the buried bag, Eddie and Brent arrive in the boathouse in time to see Carter smack Taylor, sending her flying into a wall, Eddie wants to rush in and save her, but Brent cautions that without a gun, they need to rely on the element of surprise. The two look for available weapons. Eddie accidentally alerts Carter to their presence when he clangs a fishing hook against the side of a small boat.

Brent, with a rope as his only weapon, disappears. Eddie taunts Carter, but Carter gets the edge when he pulls a gun on Eddie. Chapter 90 A serial romance suspense novel by Melissa Simpson Felicia Mason take me down?" Brent hoped Eddie's mouth wouldn't get him killed. Sweat cascaded down Eddie's back. Reporters were supposed to see the news, not be it He won these special events occurring throughout the rest of the year will run on Nov.

21 The deadline for submissions is Nov. 1 0. Make sure you include the date, time, location and cost (if any). Send it to: Daily Press Holiday Happenings, 7505 Warwick Newport News, VA 23607, or fax it to 247-4848; or e-mail ft to asewarddaifypress.com. For more information, call 247-4792.

whacked Carter in the ribs. The big man stumbled, and the gun fell from his hand. With his head down, Eddie tackled Carter, and the two crashed to me floor As they tumbled and turned with punches being thrown every which way, each man scrambled for the gun but it remained just out of reach. 5 A second later; Brent's commanding tone stopped the fracas. dered what the Daily Gazette headline about his shooting would say "I'm Taylor's brother," he croaked, his mouth dry with fear ffflLfl through him, Brent hoisted the rope from his shoulder and quickly made a lasso.

The rope was rather thick, but beggars couldn't afford to be choosers. "Where's all your talk now, big man?" rent didn't know if his plan would work, but it was all he had. He hadn't lassoed anything in a long time and he'd get just "Brother?" Carter glanced back at Taylor. That was all the opening Eddie needed. Carter drawled to Eddie.

"And just who Please see ComfortH2 might you be, another G-man come to He swung the fishing hook in an arc that one shot to make it happen..