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March 22, 2007page 9 www.digitalduke.duq.edu

that'swhack

Mellon Arena, Lower Hill DistrictPittsburgh Xplosion Basketball vs. MinotSkyrockets7 p.m., Friday, March 23$12 - $52.50Mr. Small’s Theater, Millvale Jazzam with special guest Euphonic Brew8 p.m., Friday, March 23$7Club Café, South SideChris Trapper and Gran Bel Fisher7 p.m., Saturday, March 24$10 - $12Peter Mills Theater, Rockwell HallSpotlight Musical Theater Company presentsLittle Shop of Horrors8 p.m. Friday, March 22 - Sunday, March24$5Stumbling jaggedly along East CarsonStreet at 2 a.m. in a Coors Light inducedcoma, foolish thoughts careen around your

cranium. Feelings of the lady you’re ghting

for take control of your emotions. Thelittle common sense you have left that isn’tsoaked in booze tells you to forget yourfairy tale love story, go home and cuddleup under the covers.But then the liquor takes control. Andyou do it.

You ip open your Samsung and text

sweet love slurs to the person you hope to

be your future partner. The next morning

you remember bits and pieces of yourlusty divulgence, curse your stupor andplan how you will avoid contact with therecipient of your mumbling message.Why do we do this to ourselves, folks?We know nothing good ever comes out of

drunken texts. If there’s uncertainty about

a relationship, why do we complicate thingsby becoming inebriated poets? Why can’twe just let sobriety control our love?That’s Whack broaches this topic be-cause a guilty friend recently lost hand in

a relationship squabble due to an intoxi

cated text message. The little boy, unable

to handle his green beer on St. Patty’s Day,mustered up the courage (or stupidity)

to text the girl whose heart he recentlylost to another young man. The horric

misspellings and wretched punctuation didnothing to help his situation.

But worst of all, TW experienced the

brunt of the repercussions. A couple of days later, the female approached TW to

let it know about the text she received.

That wasn’t awkward at all. So if for noother reason, please refrain from the lovey-

dovey-drunky texts. They might cause some

uncomfortable moments for an imaginaryfriend who writes a weekly humor column.And we all don’t want that.

n the world of stand-up com-edy there are virtually norules, save one: Don’t stealfrom other comedians. It’snot talking about cars or cash, it’sabout jokes, about the material.For comedians at every level, a jokethief is reviled.“Basically THE cardinal sin incomedy. You can be a hack, notfunny, a jerk, but as soon as youare known as a time-tested jokethief you’re the lowest of the low,”said comedian Jeff Konkle, 23, of Upper St.Clair and the winner of the Improv’s 2006 "Funniest Per-son in Pittsburgh’ contest."Joke stealing has received a lotmore attention recently, in largepart due to an Internet video of stand-up comedian Joe Rogan,known mostly as the host of

Fear Factor

, arguing with fellow come-dian Carlos Mencia. The incidenttook place on Feb. 10, and began with Rogan introducing Mencia as‘Menstealia.’ Mencia took umbrageto this, and the ensuing dispute was videotaped for Rogan’s Website.The video has received more thana million hits on YouTube.com,and has been discussed amongstcomedians big and small acrossthe country. Konkle cuts Mencia alittle slack.“When it comes to Carlos Men-cia,” said Konkle, referring to theportion of the video which played a

clip of comedian Ari Shafr doing

a joke about building fences alongthe Mexican border, and Menciadoing a similar joke, almost ver- batim. “It’s possible those twocomics would have a similar lineof thinking.” Konkle has experi-

enced such a phenomenon rst

-hand.“I had a joke about the Immacu-late Conception being like a badepisode of Maury Pov-ich, and then Isaw someone on Comedy Centraldo the same type of joke,” saidKonkle. “We thought of it aroundthe same time, but separately.“Comedians have to be wary of the parallel development argu-ment,” Konkle said, referring tomere coincidence, when two ormore comics come up with a simi-lar joke about a topic. Think aboutO.J. Simpson. Thousands uponthousands of jokes have been made

on lm, on television, in books and

magazines about O.J. Simpson.Some are bound to be similar, butit doesn’t always mean a comic is athief. Within the comedy world it

is difcult, and dangerous, to label

someone a thief because of the na-ture of the label itself.Comedian Terry Jones, 20, of Penn Hills, is a sophomore philoso-phy major at Duquesne. He sharesKonkle’s views on joke thieves.“It’s unoriginal. It’s the worst thing you can do in comedy,” he said. ForJones it’s not just about comediansstealing, it’s about being stolenfrom that upsets him.“When you’re writing, sweating,

not eating, working ve hours on a

joke that lasts one minute, it’s hard. All it takes is 10 minutes of some-one watching your set for them tosteal your work,” said Jones. Headmits it is a touchy subject amongcomedians, and tries to give peo-

ple the benet of the doubt. Like

Konkle, he knows it’s possible fortwo comics to come up with similarmaterial.“I’ve had people come up with jokes like mine. You might havethe same premise as someone else, but you can rewrite a punchline,”Jones said. “It’s like the Egyptiansand the pyramids. They’ve foundpyramids all over the world. It justhappens.”What further confounds theproblem in the industry is that, be-cause the thief label is so deroga-tory, comics are wary to con-front other comics aboutstealing. Especially if thethief is well-connected.“Comics don’t alwaysstand up to certain com-ics because the personmight have morepower than themand they’re afraid of burning that bridge,”said Jones. “Jokethievesare able to steal and keep hosting,headlining. It’s not fair for youngcomics.”Konkle agrees. “There are man-agement problems too. The atti-tude is ‘we’re making money and why would we stop.’ Genuine art-istry doesn’t usually go hand-in-hand with big dollar bills,” he said.Unless you’re Carlos Mencia andare good at taking both from othercomedians.

nternet

photo

Joe Rogan confronts suspected joke thief Carlos Mencia on stage at theComedy Store in Hollywood. The video of the argument was recently postedon YouTube. Rogan claims Mencia steals material from other comics.

Video about joke theft moves issue beyond back

stage

It's easy for Carlos Menciato smile and give thumbsup. He has had great suc-cess as a stand up comedi-an, and now he has his owntelevision show on ComedyCentral,

Mind of Mencia.

But other comics consider his fame undeserved, say-ing he steals jokes fromother comedians. Comics

Ari Shafr and George

Lopez have confrontedMencia about his tendencyto tell jokes that aren't his.But Mencia's harshest criticis Joe Rogan, the comedianand television show hostmany comics think is thebiggest advocate againstplagiarism in stand-upcomedy.

ozuch

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march 22, 2007

sequel can either make or break a new game franchise. For ev-ery

Resident Evil 2

(awesome!),there’salways a

Devil MayCry 2

(bad!). De- velopers are faced

with the difculty of

balancing new game-play elements to keepthe series fresh with-out deviating fromthe original formula.Newly-crowned gamedirector, Cory Barlog,thankfully found theperfect recipe for

God of War 2

on Playsta-tion 2.The story picks up

right as the rst game

left off. After defeat-ing Ares and becom-ing the new God of War, Kratos begins to lead the Spartan army against anyone who stands in his way. Dis-pleased with Kratos’ bloodthirsty enthusi-asm, the gods of Olympus decide to betray him and remove his powers, making himmortal once more. Thus begins Kratos’ jour-ney in search of the Sisters of Fate to travel back in time to the mo-ment of his betrayaland change his destiny forever.The graphics in

God of War 2

feature someof the most impres-sive visuals seen in any game to date. Sony’sSanta Monica Studiodid such an amazing job with the now out-dated PS2 hardwarethat it will make somedevelopers on next-gen consoles seem lazy by comparison. Thereare times when theenvironments and en-emies become so largethat many will wonderif this is a PS3 game.

The game plays very much like the rst

title, and in this case, that’s a good thing. While there are new combo attacks in Kratos’arsenal, the overall combat system remainsthe same. Even the weapons and magic spellsclosely resemble their counterparts from theoriginal. Kratos does, however, get a few new items to play with, such as the Golden Fleeceand the Wings of Icarus. The most notable isthe Amulet of Fate, which, like in the recentPrince of Persia series, gives the ability toslow down time.The puzzle solving continues to be a bench-mark for the series. This is more evident in

God of War 2

. While none of the puzzles be-

come overly difcult, they are integrated into

the levels particularly well and help break upthe action after intense battles. The gamedoes provide hints if you get stuck.There’s nothing to be seriously disappoint-ed about with this game, but there are someminor complaints. There are times whenthere is noticeable screen tearing in certainareas. Also, the collision detection isn’t per-fect and can become annoying, especially when trying to avoid certain attacks. With plenty of extras and a game lengththat nearly doubles the original,

God of War 2

is undoubtedly a must-have title for PS2owners. The gorgeous graphics and epicsoundtrack are the best the PS2 has everseen and will be a contender for Game of the Year.

potlight Musical Theatre Compa-ny’s

Little Shop of Horrors

prom-ises an enjoyable evening from the

overture to the nal curtain.

Bursting into a strong and energetic open-ing, the stage is set for the cast of characters.Three urchins, Crystal, Ronette and Chiffon,

usher into the story: A decaying ower shop’s

inept employee Seymour Krelborn nurses anunearthly plant in order to drum up businessfor the shop and impress his blowhard boss,Mr. Mushnik. Named for Seymour’s ditsy coworker (with whom he is secretly in love),the plant, or the “Audrey II,” possesses ex-ceptional qualities.In addition to thriving on a strict diet of human blood, it somehow has a hand in ex-traordinary occurrences in Seymour’s life.

Soon, Seymour nds himself living a life he

had only dreamed of – but at a price, for asthe plant grows, so does its thirst for blood.As Seymour, Nick Bell creates a loveablecharacter that is both endearingly awkward

and sincere. Laura Paterra plays Audrey,

giving a somewhat simple-minded charactera genuine heart that shines through beauti-fully on many occasions. As Crystal, Ronetteand Chiffon, Dina Ghandour, Sarah Murthaand Brittany Mulgrew radiate attitude andshowcase powerhouse voices throughout theshow.Eric Mathews portrays Mr. Mushnik,owner of “Mushnik’s Skid Row FloristShop,” where the majority of the musicaltakes place. Mathews, while representingMushnik with a true self-serving greed, stillmanages to bring lovability and comedy tothe character. As Audrey’s boyfriend, thesadistic dentist Orin Scrivello (D.D.S.), Joey Frollo displays a blend of humor and sleaze.Rounding out the cast are Phil Pauvlinch,Sarah Charlier and Aaron Pfeiffer, who com-plete the colorful assortment of characters,including the entertaining gaggle of “bumsand wine-o’s” littered outside of Mushnik’sshop.Not to be forgotten is the illustrious Au-drey II itself: the evil plant voiced by DavidFord and maneuvered by A.J. Minotti. Inan-imate or not, this plant quickly asserts itself as one of the stars of the show, frequently in-teracting with Seymour in both comical anddiabolical ways.Those behind the scenes compliment theironstage cohorts. Director Art DeConciliis,stage manager Kaitlyn Yoha, musical direc-

tor Brian Buckley and choreographer Laura

Paterra successfully bring the elements of sight and sound together.Showtimes for

Little Shop of Horrors

areMarch 22-24 and 29-31 at 8:00 p.m. in thePeter Mills Theater in Rockwell Hall. Theprice of admission is $5 for students, seniorsand faculty, and $10 for adults. For moreinformation or to order tickets, call 412-396-5380 or e-mail spotlighttix@duq.edu.

New PS2 game impressive to the eye and mind

Blood, gore and a little 'horror'

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the duquesne duke

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Nick Bell plays Seymour Krelborn in the latest Spotlight Musical Theatre production.

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