-11"
10 - The Michigan Daily - Weekend etc. - Thursday, March 2, 1995
4.
40
Boogerman
Interplay
Sega Genesis
"Boogerman" is the most disgust-
ing video game ever made. It doesn't
even have one drop of blood, and is one
of the most creative Sega carts ever
created. So, how could it be so disgust-
ing?
Well, the overweight, jalapeno-
and-beans-eating superhero farts,
flicks and burps his way through Di-
mension X-crement in this fun game,
in order to save his world from being
overrun by pollution. What an envi-
ronmentalist!
In his pick-and flick-adventure,
Boogerman kills his enemies with
belches and farts, and best of all, by
throwing boogers. By picking up extra
items along the way, the sick superhero
enhances his weapons with milk, al-
lowing him to spit big juicy loogies,
and with a chili pepper that gives him
more gas than taco night at Alice
Lloyd Dining Hall, permitting him to
fly. Boogerman uses his atomic butt
blasts to get past numerous gross char-
acters like Puss Creature, Scab Crea-
ture and big bosses Hickboy, Deoder
Ant and Booger Meister in his attempt
to save X-crement from being overrun
by garbage. He swings, climbs, flies
and even picks through piles of trash in
his demented dementia, in an exciting,
challenging and sometimes frustrating
game.
"Boogerman"'s superb graphics
and animation make the repulsive game
that much more realistic. The anima-
tion flows beautifully, as the poor slob
jumps and runs through the different
adventures, picking and flicking along
the way. The only main problem with
the game is the difficulty players en-
counter with reading some of
Boogerman's gauges.
As Boogerman travels through
Flatulent Swamps, Boogerville, Mu-
cous Mountains and numerous other
levels, players have to be careful to
correctly read the different weapon and
life meters. It is difficult to correctly
interpret the long string of snot that
determines the amount of available
boogers and the color of Boogerman's
cape that determines the number of hits
the superhero can take before being
flushed down the toilet.
With all its shock value and quality
design, "Boogerman" is a sure hit and
continues to entertain hour after hour.
Its use of strictly biological fun makes
the game a lot less violent and more
enjoyable than other adventure games,
creating fun for the entire family. Well,
maybe not.
-Brian A. Gnatt
*****"******************************eA**e@@***********@@.
0
r00
i
11
I
s
"
"
S
"
"
SEGA GENESIS#
CONITEST
Here we go again, folkies, another video game contest for
you to enter. This time the prize is the Boogerman game for :
the Sega Genesis game system. And ... lucky for you guys,
this time all the answers to the questions are contained in -
this week's Weekend section (that's right, you need to read .
#
the section). Seems easy enough, right? Good luck!
.
A Marriage Made in
Heaven or Too Tired
for an Affair
Erma Bombeck
Harper Paperbacks
As I enter the age where my friends
are actually getting married, it's some-
what of a comfort to read Ermac
Bombeck's "A Marriage Made ini
Heaven or Too Tired for an Affair."
With great humor and poignancy, she
leads the reader through her marriage
from the traumatic and exciting walki
down the aisle, to her own children'si
marriages. While she doesn't make
marriage sound like a breeze, at least
she shows that even the worst mo-
ments can be survived with a healthy
dose of laughter.
Bombeck has made a career of
writing amusing anecdotes about her
life in such books as "Motherhood:
the Second Oldest Profession" and
"When You Look Like Your Passport
Picture, It's Time to Go Home." Read-
ing her novels is like having a mother
or friend by your side; warmth and
love fill her stories. This book is of the
same high caliber as her past writing.
Because it is so nicely divided by
chapter/age, it is easy to read in short
spurts, making it the perfect book for
someone who doesn't have much free
time (which would encompass nearly
every college student).
I haven't been through some of
life's more momentous experiences,
such as pregnancy. However, that fact
didn't stop me from laughing out loud
when Bombeck spoke of her lack of
modesty during pregnancy, as she
"bared [her bosom to a doctor in the
hall" to ask if she looked normal, only
to find out "he was a telephone repair-
man." She goes through tales about
the strange changes that take place in
adults when a child appears in the
home and the worries of having off-
spring return to the nest after college
with the same down-to-earth humor.
Not all of the topics she writes
about pertain only to mothers. For
instance, who can't relate to the inva-
sion of machines, where you can go
through an entire day without hearing
a human voice, or the impact of tele-
vision on a relationship (where "sex
was worked in around the commer-
cial breaks")?
Sprinkled in with all those hilari-
ous capers are a few more serious
moments, which graces the book with
a perfect sense of balance. One chap-
ter is devoted to the death of a friend
and the way it brought Bombeck and
her husband closer. Reading about
Bombeck's miscarriage made me cry.
And knowing that she could manage
to keep up her writing and still care
for her family inspired me.
In the end, what is the reader left
with? Not a manual for the perfect
marriage or even very much advice
about how to run your life. Maybe the
most valuable thought Bombeck leaves
us with is the idea that a good marriage
is possible. Love doesn't have to be
elaborate to work; sometimes it is about
gestures as simple as hiding the pickled
cauliflower from the kids, then giving
it to your spouse because you know she
likes to eat the tops. The world may not
be a perfect place, but books like
Into the Green
Charles de Lint
Tom Doherty Associates
Welcome to a world where music
opens a path into the green, the land of
magic and spirits and ageless wonder.
Open the pages of Charles de Lint's
"Into the Green" and you'll meet
Angharad, a tinker, ha r, and witch,
in a world where co ibinations of
three lead you places most will never
see. In Charles de Lint' latest novel,
we follow Angharad's life, as she
grows from an immature girl, to a sad
adult, to a woman with a mission to
bring magic back into a world filled
with people who are araid to con-
front the extraordinary.
Admittedly, the idea of returning
magic to the land is not-a new theme
in fantastic literature: However,
Charles de Lint has the afity to weave
words into such a story that, once
you've picked up the book, you'll
find it extremely difficult to return it
to the shelf. A worn idea becomes full
of life through this engrossing novel.
Like many of his novels, de Lint
takes full advantage of a store of an-
cient folklore and braids old stories in
with the new. Such ideas as the magic
of three, the horned god of Celtic
mythology, and tree magic appear
several times throughout the story, as
Angharad makes her way t9 her des-
tination. For those of us with a little
background in Celtic mythology, it is
entertaining to note the deft way in
which de Lint repatterns these old
designs into an lovely web of ntricate
design. You don't need such previous
knowledge, though, to apprpciate de
Lint's spectacular creations,
The one problem I had with "Into
the Green" was that the beginning
was not as seamless as it might have
been. It seems as though de Lint be-
gan with the idea of writing several
short stories about the travels and
discoveries of Angharad and only
about halfway through the book de-
cided to join the stories into full-
fledged novel. The opening stories
seem to have few ties, other than the
fact that they nearly all cqncern
Angharad and magic; they don't flow
as smoothly as I would have liked. It
might be that de Lint wanted to fully
flesh out Angharad's charact be-
fore jumping into the main plot. How-
ever, I think it might have been more
coherent had there been better con-
nections from the start.
On the other hand, when the d6vel
reaches the half-way point the stries
actually do begin to come together.
and it's easier to settle down into the
novel The tale becomes mre com-
plicated and interwoven, and de Lint's
gift for words and stories becomes
more and more apparent.
Often when someone puts out a
large volume of material in a sltrt
amount of time, the resulting books
are poorly written and the plots sound
repetitious. Charles de Lint has no such
problem; he is a prolific writer who has
rapidly become a must-read in the fan-
tasy genre. Even if you are not a great
fan of fantasy novels, I would stIl
Bombeck's make m realize that the recommend that you read "Into the
problems life hand4 ne can be sur- Green."
vived as long as I reii mber to laugh.
-Holly Singer -Holly Singer
Parallel Time:
Growing Up in Black
and White
Brent Staples
Pantheon Books, hardcover
Author Brent Staple's' blue-col-
lar hometown of Chester, Pa. was "a
bulging muscle on the Delaware,a
place of promise and money and
steel." It is powerful imagery such as
this, so quiet, pointed and able t
paint a precise portrait of what is
being described, that Mr Staples
makes expert use of throughout "Par-
allel Time." It is also hat Staples's
autobiography of his first 20-som
years so powerfully alluring. "Th
cold," he writes of a Chicago winter,
"slipped its knife through the bath
room window and cut you as yo,
showered." Much like the assailant
portrayed here, Staples strikes quickly
and effectively with his descriptions,
so much so that each one has the feel
of a short, well-directed from a video
biography montage.
Staples's ability to craft vivid im-
agery seems to be largely the product
of his extensive journal writing, be-
gun while pursuing his Ph.D. in psy-
chology at the University of Chicago.
Yet there was much that preceeded
literary pursuits (he currently serves
on the editorial board of the New
York Times) which well could have
led him down other, far more risky
avenues. Drug and gang activity, hav-
ing come in to fill the void left by the
departure of industry from Chester,
claimed the life of one of Staples's
brothers; little money and divorced,
over-burdened parents left other sib-
lings languishing in fruitless pursuits.
Staples, however, manages a scholar-
ship to a local college and afterward
to the University of Chicago, thereby
moving abruptly from the realm of
black poverty to white opportunity.
Unfortunately, Staples assumes
that the reader knows why he is torn
between thse two worlds. For all the
turmoil that such a transition would
seem to cause (and which the cover of
the book seems to suggest, with its
prison uniform-like black and white
bars and subtle reference to doing
"Time") Staples fails to explain to the
reader the causes that lie behind it
Instead, he focuses almost solely o;
the manner in which his fear and
anger manifest themselves.
For a good portion of the book, he
is able to get away with such an ap
proach, allowing his forceful imag
cry to carry things along. Indeed.
Staples's assorted pictures of his youth
are movingly pieced together in a
patchvrk fashion, almost like a mob'
saic, which must be admired for both
the composite image and precisiot
craftmanship that led to its creation'
But when Staples is done weaving his
story, the reader finds that there is n
common thread of self-analysis to tip;I
together the pieces of "Parallel Time"
into something purposeful; there is
no glue to make it one.
-Matt Ben{
0
a
1. Name two of the illustrious characters from the
Boogerman game, other than the Boog-man himself (this
one's a given).
2. Where did Toad the Wet Sprocket get their name from?
"
M
"
0
j
4
}
S
S!
0;
3. Who is the director of "The Needle"?
4. What is the name of the boy in the death fact?
5. Name two of the songs on the record "Addition and
Subtraction".
6. Who wrote the most articles for Weekend this week?
Return your entry to the Arts room at The Michigan Daily,
Student Publications Building, 420 Maynard, by 5 p.m. on
March 6, 1995.
S
s
s
"
"
"
i
"
"
"
"
"
0
0
i
"
S
0
*0
"
r
r
S
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
i
"
0
__ 1--
Name
L
r
Phone #
F
"
This contest is not open to any employee of the Daily, or their mates or their family. Or pets.
0 **********************
BLOOD
Continued from pages
chemistry developed between Segal's
traditional guitar style and Pieti's mod-
ern-chord dissonance, while Rafferty
never seemed to run out of percussion
ideas. Cimol i'snoise explosions added
a certain tension to the proceedings,
especially during Badynee's attempts
to quiet things down with a ballad-like
progression.
"This is what all of us do all the
time, just jamming in our basements
and stuff," explained Badynee. "The
difference here is that we all got to-
gether and an audience got to see what
it's like." But as good as the chemistry'
was, Badynee explained that the band
members probably wouldn't be work-
ing togetheron otherprojects. "It's like.
if you meet someone who's married
and you've got great chemistry with
them, but you know they're already'
taken. This will just be something we
do with different people, maybe ever)
couple of months, or maybe this will b
the last show, who knows ? We'll seer
what happens."
Perhaps the best way to summa
rize St. Januarious' Blood's music',
is that it represents the violent,
sounds of one part of the thriving;;
energetic Detroit music scene. Or
perhaps Pieti summed things up best
with his conment at the end of the>
show: "My ears hurt!"
' ;U'.
pI HOOTIE
I University of Maryland
University College
Continued from page 7
of pop music but also languishes in the
One-word Syndrome category of rock
monikers.
The problem here is that most of
these one-word names denote noth-
ing about the band (trnlike the
bombasticism above, which tends to
denote too much). A few such as
Prong and Helmet suggest a hard-
edged groove while others like Phish
or Wings suggest limp-wristed guitar
technioue. and although possibly in-
"Hello Cleveland! We're Phish! Are
you ready to rock and roll until you
bleed?!" It just doesn't work.
Most one-word names, however,
don't indicate much meaning. Unless
you extrapolate a bit further than what
the group gives you. For example,
Wham! as in "Wham! Here we are!
We sure do suck!" Or, Yes, as in
"Yes, we suck." Or, Megadeth, as in
"We Megasuck." (In "Rock Names,"
by Adam Dolgins - completely
worthless trivia reading if you're in-
terested - Megadeth guitarist Dave
Mustaine says "The band's name
means the act of dying, but like really
brilliant but emotionally angst-riddei 0
band - part of that grungy explosion'
thing. The name c6nnotes the band -
it's image, it's sound. Yet, standing
alone, the word is rather plain.
The best band names always ap-
pear to indicate nothing yet suggest
everything. The Beatles is a play ort
words of Beat music and the insect.
The Rolling Stones is named after A-
Muddy Waters tune - the type of, *
sound the band wanted and the imagi
ery they wanted to conjure. The Re-
placements is a common-sounding
bar-band title. Cows is an unnaturat
name for an unnatural band.
*Small classes
*Instruction in English
*Students from