The Jackson Sun from Jackson, Tennessee • 50

Page 20 i it -A St t- i Humor i'V i Download Christmas laughs from the Net "I like it when the elf gets his NVision president Ferguson worldwide recognition." Johnson notes proudly the company received an e-mail the other day "from a girl in America whose family is still in Kosovo and who'd sent 'Elf Bowling to her father. "They were able to make a connection through this game," he says. "Our (flatulent) elves are bringing people together." Hey, don't laugh; it's serious 3 5i says, adding that "Elf Bowling has generated multiple new-business leads. Not bad for a goofy little game that was created for less than $70,000. "Millions and millions of people see our work every day," marvels Matt Johnson, the director of multimedia for NVision Design.

"The 40 people we have here in a little shop in Dallas now have Next Drawing Dec. 29 rr 0 New entries stuff, the electronic communications scholar Smith says. "Humor fosters human connections. At a very basic human level, it's a great bonding tool that serves a lot of important cultural functions. "Everybody loves a good joke.

Now, if I want to hear one, I don't go down to the tavern to see if Moe's heard a good one; I just log on." YOUR PLACE TO SHINE" JOB liip Pop culture's coolest jokes spread like wildfire online. v. By J. FREEDOM du LAC Scripps Howard News Service Santa's got a brand-new bag, and it's NOT filled with toys. Instead, it's holding the bowling ball jowly old St.

Nick has been using to topple his elves, who have gone on strike and taken to taunting their boss with bare butts, Vanilla Ice parodies, fits of flatulence and truly taste-lesstrash talk some of which is unprintable here. Welcome to the wacked-out winter wonderland of "Elf Bowling," a crude animated computer game in which insolent elfkin assistants pose as bowling pins and you, the computer user, control Santa's ball-tossing form with a casual click of a mouse. But this isn't just a simple dose of holiday humor highlighted by such funny sound effects -as the squeals the wide-eyed elves emit as the ball barrels toward them. Distributed for free mostly via e-mail, "Elf Bowling" is also the latest and, perhaps, greatest example of how humor has become more mobile, immediate and interactive in the digital age. Upon its mid-November release on the Internet, the game becaqie an instant international smash, dashing and dancing around the world faster than you can say "holiday irreverence." According to NVision Design president Dan Ferguson, whose Dallas multimedia company created "Elf Bowling" to garner laughs while also attracting potential customers the game was played more than a million times in the first weekend it was available.

Currently, Ferguson says, it's being played a staggering 9O0 times per second by gamers from Newcastle to The Netherlands and probably in a home or office near you. "Humor has always circulated in one form or another, but we're at warp 10 now," says Sam Smith.who chairs the Electronic Communication Culture division of the Popular Culture Association, an international group composed of culture-centric scholars and academics. "Somebody comes up with a good joke," he says, "and it doesn't take three months to get from the West Coast to the Midwest anymore. With the Net, it goes around the world immediately." From his office in Sacramento, advertising account executive Barry Prickett has e-mailed "Elf BoKhng to only two people since he received the game. But here's why: "Most people I know already have says.

"If everywhere; it spread like wildfire. It's already pop culture and it only what, two weeks?" On a recent workday, Prickett is at his dpsk, praising and playing the game that's become his latest electronic obsession: head pulled off. Hey, I just killed the deer that rules! This game is hilario oooooh, the elf just side-stepped the ball! Cool. Striiiike! I'm on fire. God, this game is dope." Lest you think Prickett is a poster boy for that modern employment evil known as cyber-slacking, it should be noted that the person who sent him the "Elf Bowling" e-file was his boss.

Of course, she included a disclaimer: Don't play "Elf Bowling" at work. Oops. Don't look now, but a large chunk of the crew at Prick-ett's company is probably bowling over Santa's helpers at this very moment. "It's the latest rage," says Dave Hardy, another ad salesman with an admitted "Elf Bowling" addiction. "In this electronic age, when a lot of us log on for a living, it's nice to get a little levity.

I mean, it's great to have an elf shout "Who's your daddy?" at you. It's a lot of fun. I've e-mailed it to a lot of friends, and I've taken it through my family. My four daughters have all played it, even the 7-year-old. And my wife said: 'Hey, the elves (mooned) "I'd rank this right up there with the best computer comedy I've seen." That's saying something, given how much comedic cybermatter is circulating via the Internet, tak- ing up mind-boggling amounts of bandwidth while keeping comput er users chuckling.

Often, it comes in the form of text or still digital photos; in- creasingly, it's also in video form, as with an infamous clip of a frustrated, real-life worker beating up a computer under the watchful eye of a security camera. Less common, at least for now, are interactive examples of e-humor such as "Snowcraft" an amusing animated snowball-fighting game that's also circulating in cyberspace and, of course, "Elf Bowling." The Popular Culture Association's Smith says the latter is easily among the top five slices of cyber-comedy he's ever seen both because of that interactivity and also because of the layers of laughs it provides. No wonder, then, that "America's Funniest Home Videos" is considering showing a sample of "Elf Bowling," in which the newly unionized elves hold up picket signs that defiantly declare "SANTA SUX." Then again, if the game does make its way onto television, it could be too late. After all, it already seems to be well on its K. way to reaching critical mass.

So strong is demand that computer users repeatedly have been denied entry onto NVision De sign's overcrowded Web Site (www.nviHionde8ign.com), where the PC-only game is available for downloading. been a little bit what we were expecting," the OCiQQ. BflfiqM (ma gd wmi Player Card member! wifl receive 10 bonus upon presentation of this i coupon and v. completion of a Hollywood Casino Player Card application. One coupon per person, No purchase necessary.

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