Calgary Herald from Calgary, Alberta, Canada • 63

Entertainment CALGARY HERALD Sunday. November 1998 F5 CD-ROMS THE SOAPS Lengthy string of luck helped launch actress money, but then one day I just decided that I wanted to test the waters in acting to see what I could da I also used to watch soaps like Days and think to myself, 1 could do that' So off she went, with only $200 in her jeans. By the time she got to Arizona, she was down to $75. "I thought it was an awful lot of money, even though I knew I would need more," she says, LILANA NOVAKOVICH For the Calgary Herald Krista Allen-Moritt is the quintessential example of beginner's luck. Allen-Moritt is a Texas beauty queen who bagged the role of Billie Reed, formerly portrayed by Lisa Rinna, on Days of Our Lives.

i Xj0- Ills Br i XL This is the same girl who, on her third day in Los Angeles, landed a recurring role on The Bold and The Beautiful And without either head-shots or a tape of her work, she scored her first movie opposite Jim Carrey in Liar, Liar. It gets better. Shortly after Liar, Liar, Allen-Moritt went to audition for a minor role in the Burt Reynolds action thriller Raven. It must have been some audition. After reading for the role, the casting director literally chased her into the parking lot to implore her to do a cold reading for the lead.

She nailed the lead, a CIA agent Allen-Moritf conquest of Tinsel laughing at her naivete. "I just thought it would last me for a long time because my rent was $200, and since I'd be staying in motels, I figured they'd only be about $30 a night I'm from Texas I didn't realize what it would be like out here." Existing on chips and water, she managed to make it to Las Vegas, down to her last $20. Lady Luck smiled on her. The neophyte gambler plopped a quarter into a slot machine and won $2,500 on her first try. "I knew something good was going to happen," she says philosophically, "and Vegas set the course for it" But it wasn't all aces.

Arriving in Krista Allen-Moritt Fun factor powers Heart of Darkness Salem in 1996, she found it "really tough in the beginning. Billie was created by Lisa Rinna, and Lisa did such an amazing job doing the tramp with a heart of gold that's what her character was, and everybody loved Billie. "When Billie came back as Krista Allen, it wasn't the same Billie that fans knew and loved. Here was a Billie who had a much higher voice, was more sophisticated and less edgy." She was also fickle, weak, boring and had trouble holding on to her man But having survived heroin addiction and death of her baby, Billie is no longer a wuss. "Billie is getting more evil and is getting a backbone and I like it It's fun getting to be a villain instead of the eternal victim." Town was shaped in her teens in her home town, Houston.

After winning several local beauty contests, she was proclaimed the national Texas Bud-weiser Girl and had her picture plastered all over the U.S. on billboards, ads, catalogues and calendars. While teaching aerobics at World Gym, she was asked to be the official model for all of World's ad campaigns. All this and she was still an undergrad, a former University of Texas student interning as a kindergarten teacher. "I never thought I'd be doing anything as far as acting goes," she insists, "I thought Td definitely be a teacher and work with children.

I loved my job, had a great dog, cool roommates and a little Calgaryje Herald WRD ON THE I -1 forces of darkness in Tie Fighter and X-Wing, or go adventuring in the cute Yoda Stories. As an extra bonus, you also get a peek at the vehicles section of Star Wars: Behind The Magic. This is one of those collections that makes a perfect Christmas present Also out now is the full version of Star Wars: Behind the Magic. Just when you thought you knew everything there was to know about the Star Wars trilogy, this expansive guide offers you even more. With scene-by-scene guides, a sneak peak at the upcoming prequel, never-before-seen movie clips (such as an alternate cantina scene), biographies of all the characters, a look at the toy line, galactic maps, descriptions of the technology, Behind the Magic could easily have been entitled the Complete Guide to the Star Wars Universe.

Now the best way to enjoy any of the latest games js with a good video card For the longest time, I've preached that serious gamers should buy a secondary 3Dfx card, but the price of these cards has turned off a lot of casual gamers. Thankfully, Diamond has come out with the perfect solution. Monster Fusion (Diamond Multimedia; Win 9598NT, PCI or AGP slot; www.dia-mondmm.com) is a 2D3D graphics accelerator that delivers everything the two-card combo can at a fraction of the price. This little beauty combines new 3Dfx Voodoo Banshee technology with 128-bit Windows acceleration and a speedy 16 megs of memory. I tested the Monster Fusion on all the power-hungry 2D and 3D titles in my arsenal and it played them all on my lowly Pentium 150 without a single hiccup.

Quake 2 looked great and I could finally play TombRaider 2 in a resolution higher than 640x480. In fact, this card supports resolutions as high as 1920x1440. With support for all the latest gaming technology such as Direct3D, Glide (Voodoo and Voodoo2) and MiniGL, this card will run virtually every game you throw at it and run it at a gorgeous 60 frames per second, too. If you've ever wanted to see what the latest titles look like when you pump them up with 3D acceleration, you've just run out of excuses. This is the best 2D3D combo I've seen so far.

Grant McKenzie tests every PC title on a Pentium 150 with Matrox Mystique video card combined with an Orchid Righteous 3Dfx accelerator. Mac titles are tested on a PowerMac 720090 with Xclaim VR video card. He can be contacted via e-mail at mckenzigcadvision.com grant Mckenzie For the Calgary Herald Every now and again some new piece of software lands on my desk that I can't wait to tear into. The main reason for this reaction is, quite simply, the fun factor. A lot of today's games come with weighty, text-heavy manuals that explain how every single letter and function key of your keyboard is essential to mastering the game.

But sometimes a gamer doesn't feel like studying a manual for hours before going out and having some fun. This all brings me to Heart of Darkness (Interplay; Win 9598; Pentium 90 or better; All Ages; wwwJieartofdarkness.com). This actionadventure game begins with an extremely cool mini-movie that introduces us to our hero Andy. Andy is just a regular redheaded kid whose dog is suddenly whisked away by the evil forces of darkness. Fortunately for the dog, Andy has secretly built a spaceship and ray gun in his spare time and is coming to the rescue.

Unfortunately for Andy, however, the spaceship doesn't hold together very well and his ray gun doesn't seem to balance the odds against the hordes of menacing shadow creatures who attack around every corner. This is a side-scrolling adventure that you can leap right into and will challenge the best thumb-twitchers out there. Thankfully, you also have unlimited lives and an automatic save function that means if you die after a very tricky piece of acrobatics, you can probably start again at the place you died without having to re-do the whole level. With 176 locations on eight different worlds, fantastic full-screen video and some of the creepiest bad guys to ever crawl from the heart of evil, you'll soon be swinging from vines, leaping across fiery pits and battling the currents of monster-infested rivers. And best of all, you'll be doing it with a big smile on your face.

Another game pack that will brighten your smile is the latest goodie bag from LucasArts. The Lucas Arts Archives VoL IV (LucasArts; Win 9598; Pentium 133 or better; All Ages to Teen; www.lu-casarts.com) delivers all the Star Wars action you could ask for at the price of about one regular game. Along with the excellent, first-person actionadventure Dark Forces, you also get the first three levels of its sequel Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2 and three levels of Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith. On top of those three, you can battle the 7 (11 V' -1 Sir" Qekbrating 23 years of Stiktak ousel i. yon are invited to sample some Succuknt sask and Surrender to th sizzling seafood at one of oar exceptional restaurants.

3 1 I SUECIYAKI HOUSE Banff Japan food 3rd Floor, Food Court Calgary International Airport (403) 291-0059 is Taste treats from the old East 21 1 Banff Avenue 2nd floor, Park Avenue Mall (403) 762-2002 National Sponsors 0 Dine-in, Sunday to Thursday evenings only with coupon. Not valid with any other offer. Coupon expires November 30, 1 998 0 1 1 li wo fS Uniiea SUKIYAKI HOUSE 2 irl VIACOA CANADA ChaptersGLOBE.cJm fp iijuac ALL FGOD 517 10th Ave. S.W. 263-3003 7 Investors oat rsumu r.

umnTfra USANFORD. Canada NemWIre 'ujroup 11 I ll-TAI 0 The Department of Canadian Heritage Book Publishing Industry Development Program, National Literacy Secretariat, Department of Human Resources Development Canada Dine-in, Sunday to Thursday evenings only with coupon. Not valid with any other offer. Media Presenters a -TJ Coupon expires November 30, 1998 17 iScops rnrTH CFCN Calgary Herald BZI rvyuiu i Japanese cuisine in a a fY contemporaty setting WOOD 901 16th Ave. S.W.

245-3188 Rogional Partners Dine-in, Sunday to Thursday evenings only with coupon. Not valid with any other offer. -I Hardlhck SUSHI SHINO a Coupon expires November 30, 1998 Uf Corner of Centre St. 4th Ave. S.E.

II TacoTime- El i restaurant and sushi bar Sb 7fc Parking under Dragon City Mall I What's a Japanese restaurant doing fl fl 9fi9 ftftn I the heart of Chinatown! Thriving! A immkmMtm fc O-O0U3 AA1B465B For event information call: 403.269.9701 Internet: http:sites.sympa:ico.cawots email: wotscalgtelusplanet.net.