Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 25

T402P Video game review: reimagines a classic and comes out swinging. Page D2 www.JournalStar.comlivlng402 Journal Star Thursday, June 11, 2009 Where you live what you need to know Comments? Questions? Call Kathy Steinauer-Smith. 473-7251 Pngfi DosiRn: Gwwgfl WnRht v.f I i I n. 4 IL i AH- ri mi M1U IA jl Zombie bike display adds a ride For the second year, Against the Wall Gallery, 6220 Havelock will spotlight a series of bikes brought back from the dead: bikes pulled apart and re-configured; twisted, hacked, zombifled by mad local artists. "Dead Center Eccentricity: Return of the Zombies" will have its opening reception from 7 to 10 p.m.

Friday and will run through July at Against the Wall. The artists will ride the zombie bikes to the opening reception, departing at 5:30 p.m. Friday from Recycled Bike Shop, 2756 South St. ft. 4 mm Haymarket Park is one of the few ballparks in the country with a live organ player.

BY MICAH MERTES Lincoln Journal Star At Saltdogs home games, Haymarket Park blasts as much modern music variety as any other ballpark. Recent radio hits boom between innings. And, of course, all Saltdogs have their own "stingers," a few seconds of a chosen song that plays when each athlete is up to bat. During any given game, you're bound to hear a robust mix of '70s rock, contemporary hip -hop, maybe a little White Zombie, some Soulja Boy, even a Guns 'N' Roses number. But peppered into all of it is a much older sound, one rooted in the early days of the game itself.

Dan Benes, 49, sits at the far right side of the press box, overlooking the whole park, hunched over his Hammond X5 organ and waiting for the right moment. Because for the organ player, it's all about timing. He tucks in a melody or two between innings and gently pokes fun at the visiting team. When the other team's batter strikes out, Benes keys in a few lines of "Show Me the Way to Go Home" or some-, times "So Long, Farewell" from "The Sound of Music." Foul balls get a "Somewhere Out There." A straight-up out might score alittle "Chicken Dance" or "Hokey Pokey" or "Hang Down Your Head, TomDooley." "They haven't thrown me out yet," Benes says. "But you don't want to totally treat the other team like crap." Benes became the Saltdogs' organ player at the start of last season and has played most every home game since.

"We're one of the few ballparks in the country with a live organ player," says Saltdogs assistant general manager Bret Beer. "It's a mix between today 's technology and kind of going back to the beginning." Also the owner of Timeless Treasures antique mall on Street, Benes has been playing the organ since he was in third grade, and it remains one of his favorite pastimes. He comes from a musical background; his father, Bobby Layne, is still a touring musi-cianat76. When he's not at Haymarket, he's playing for Lincoln Berean Church services or during dinnertime at Lee's Ftle photo Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta star in one of the best summer blockbusters, "Grease," according to a new list from Netflix and Family Circle magazine. The best summer film favorites Ah, summer: How we love your skin-cancer-inducing rays, your carefree ways and your giant movies.

Each year, the multiplexes are inundated with big, juicy entertainments. But if you're jonesin' to travel back to a more classic era of the summer blockbuster, here's a list for you. Netflix and Family Circle just compiled their nine-movie lineup of the All-Time Summer Film Favorites: 1. "Raiders of the Lost Ark" 2. "Grease" 3.

"Jaws" 4. "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" 5. "Dirty Dancing" 6. "Back to the Future" 7. "Toy Story" 8.

"Jurassic Park" 9. "Iron Man" Not a bad list. Presumably "The Dark Knight" was a little too, urn, dark to make the cut. Here, IMHO, are the worst summer blockbusters ever. Or, you know, the past 25 years.

1. "Batman Robin" 2. "Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace" 3. "Van Helsing" 4. "Pearl Harbor" 5.

"Battlefield Earth" 6. "Wild Wild West" 7. "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" 8. "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" 9. "Planet of the Apes" (2001) Micah Mertes ERIN DUERR Lincoln Journal Star Dan Benes, the organ player for the Lincoln Saltdogs, sits at his organ overlooking Haymarket Park on Monday.

Benes started with the Saltdogs last summer. JournalStar.com Video: See and hear Dan Benes inactionatJournalStar.com. jplfll WM One prediction: a i.i i Chicken Restaurant. And at the end of each summer, Benes plays during the State Fair horse shows. But "it's a joy" to play at the ballpark, Benes says, "to get to watch the game and make the fans happy.

Anytime you can add happiness into someone's life, that's what you've got to do." Benes is pretty well settled into Haymarket Park and doesn't want to go anywhere anytime soon. How long will Haymarket have its own organ player? The real question, Benes says, is, "How long am I going to live Reach Micah Mertes at 473-7395 or nimertesjournalstar.com. AiriareDytne pound If swimsuit season hasn't gotten you exercising, maybe this will: Some airline-industry analysts predict that the cost of flying eventually could depend on your weight. It's likelv. thev sav.

hecause of simple physics: The more weight you bring on the plane, the more fuel that is needed to get you to your destination. Robert Mann, an industry analyst and consultant, envisions passengers being charged based on body and baggage weight, rather than simply by the seat. "It's' the wav careo flies: if Finally, let's get digital on Friday something is twice the weight, you pay twice as much Mann said. How exactly such a plan would be implemented is unclear. People may estimate their weight when buying a ticket on the Inter lnsideD2 Frequently asked questions and answers about the digital television conversion.

1 i BY JEFF KORBELIK Lincoln Journal Star Ready or not, the digital television conversion is really going to happen this time. On Friday, the remaining television stations that have not converted to digital, including Lincoln ABC affiliate KLKN -TV, will shut off their analog signals. That means if you watch tele -vision over the air with an antenna and don't have a converter box or a new television with a digital tuner, you won't be able to watch back-to-back episodes of "Samantha Who?" Friday night on ABC. According to the National As -sociation of Broadcasters, 19.6 million TV homes receive their TV content from over-the-air signals. NAB's latest survey noted that 2.1 million or 11 percent of those households have not yet taken action to get ready for the transition.

Nebraska viewers, however, appear to be prepared. Several stations, including Lincoln CBS affiliate KOLNKGIN and PBS affiliate NETTelevision, converted in February, forcing men weign in wnn weir Dags at the airport. Or airlines could go with the estimate. Zeke Adkins, co-founder of Luggage Forward, a luggage-delivery service, said a pay-by-weight sys- tern long has seemed inevitable, which is part of the reason he launched his company in 2004. It seemed even more likely when fuel prices rose and airlines began taking steps to lessen weight on planes, such as reducing the number of magazines they carried.

"In the next year or 18 months, airlines will have to start taking' this into account," Adkins said. "Remember, two years ago charging for a bag seemed pretty far out there." Rebecca Puhl, director of research at Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, warned that such a pricing model could stigmatize heavy passengers. "If some kind of increased fee is going to be inevitable, they need to find ways to charge those fees without humiliating people," she said. "I just don't see how all this can be implemented In a way that Is effective and fair," Chicago Tribune quires full-power station to cease analog broadcasts. The move will free up airwaves for commercial wireless services and emergency-response networks, while also providing clearer pictures and more channels.

The transition was to occur Feb. 17, but the Obama administration extended the deadline after the government-backed rebate coupon program for converter boxes ran out of money and 18 percent of the 19.6 million households weren't ready yet. After the conversion, some stations will have new locations on the digital spectrum. KLKN, for instance, will move from channel 31 (UHF) to channel 8 (VHF). Viewers will need to res-can channels to pick up moved signals.

They also will need antennas that receive both UHF and VHF signals to view all channels. Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelikjournalstar.com. REED SAXONThe Associated Press Television converter boxes allow viewers with older analog sets to see the new digital over-the-air broadcasting format. viewers who hadn't bought boxes or digital TVs to do so or go without such shows as "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and "Masterpiece Theatre." KLKN general manager Roger Moody said early conversion by other stations have made Friday's shutoff for KLKN not so worri some. "Our biggest issue will be getting people to rescan their converter boxes in order to get us," he said.

To review, the digital conversion is a result of the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005, which re-.