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Show Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, March 5-8, 2005 The Park Record C-10 PARK CITY REAL ESTATE AND YOU Craig Reece, CRS HOME BUILDING EDUCATION The National Association of Homu Builders launched a highly successful educational project keyed to middle and high school students two years ago. Since it was first announced, more than 2.2 million students and teachers have participated in the program nationwide. The title of the project is "Building Homes of Our Own." it uses familiar concepts of home building to teach math, science, civics, technology and personal financial responsibility. The course is provided free lo educators by the NAHB. "Educators tell us this paigram has really excited their students, intaiducing them to diverse industry professions and the concept of homeownership. It forces them to sharpen their critical thinking skills in key subject areas," said Bobby Rayburn, NAHB president. "It's become so popular that teachers, students and their parents are contacting us for extra copies for use at home - for extra credit assignments or just for fun." This is a great example of how the real estate industry can work in tandem with communities to achieve quality educational programs for young people. In this case, it ftxuses on the design and construction of homes. But the educational value to kids extends far beyond those boundaries. For information, visit the NAHB Website - www.nalib.org - dick on Education. For rock solid advice on buying or selling real estate, call Craig Reece at 435-647-8017 or toll free at 1-800-553-4666. Craig has been a full time Park City resident since 1973 and a full-lime real estate agent since 1978. www.DeerValleySpeciallst.com Craig@DeerValleySpeclallst.com (435) 647-8017 • (435) 649-7171 (800) 553-4666 (fe Prudential Utob Reo I Estate S4ddl<-i-invOI(kr Pwk 1100 ['.irk Avtnuf, Bldg D n j i k t i t v . u i s-ioto .no regslwedepivicsrTwifcsc-nho Prudc-fitol insurance Comporcy America. Equji housing opportunity EJOI comply mde-fx-ndeflty c-Ant-d and opcraled All title companies offer tie same services... Mot all title companies offer the same GREAT service Video game industry adopts new ratings BELMONT, Calif. (AP) A big fan of Mario Bros, video games, 9year-old Nicholas Patton is itching to play "Super Smash Bros. Melee." But to his dismay, his parents have declared Ihc "T'-ratcd game off-limits. The disagreement has sparked incessant requests and some tense moments - bul nothing out of the ordinary for parents and their young children who often don"! see cyc-toeyc when it comes to the form of entertainment that has infiltrated millions of American households. A little relief might be on the horizon. 'Hie Pallons. who live in the San Francisco suburb of Belmonl, and other parents struggling to find appropriate video games for children approaching their teens will now have a better measuring stick. 'Hie rating board for the game industry announced , a new category Wednesday aimed at that group. 'Hie "E10+" category should help fill a gap between games rated "E" for everyone, which some children outgrow, and "T" for teen, which arctoo violent or mature for some parents' tastes. "Super Smash Bros. Melee," which includes a little more violence than other Mario-based games, might have gotten a permissible "E10+" instead. "In that age group, you're left in the middle." said the boy's father, Paul Patton. "Unless you're into the sports games, the "E" games aren't that exciting anymore for him. and as for the "T" ones - your concept of reality isn't totally there yet." Ratings, which range from "EC" for early childhood to "AO" for adults only, are meant to be a guide and certainly are not always in line with parents' views. But the Entertainment Software Rating Board, a self-regulatory body set up by the gaming industry, believes the new ""E10+" label will come in handy for parents, especially because the organization has seen an increasing number of games getting a " T ' rating, perhaps because of mild violence, when the titles could be considered suitable for a 10-yearold. "We found we were pulling games we thought were pretccn in the teen category." said Patricia Vance, president of the board. "And with the levels of sophistical ion in game play and graphics now, we felt there was enough nuance in the range of games to warrant a new category between 'E' and T.'" 'Hie "E10+" rating means the video game may be suitable for children 10 and older. The title might contain moderate amounts of cartoon, fantasy or mild violence; mild profanity or minimally suggestive themes. Likely candidates might be racing games with more extreme air crashes or games with super heroes or carloon characters - cute as they may be - involved in some fighting, Vance said. Hiough existing games won't be rcclassified, ones that might have qualified as "E10+" include "Super Smash Bros. Mclcc." "Shrek," "Ratchet and Clank," and "Jak II." she said. Two upcoming games already set to receive the new rating are "Donkey Kong Jungle Beat." in which the gorillas have to fight each other a bit more than other Donkey Kong games, and a game based on Tim Burton's "'Hie Nightmare Before Christmas." Vance said the latter is "on the scary side - something you might not want a 6-yearold to see but nothing that most preteens can't handle." The underlying theory is that not all children are created equal: There are very distinct developmental differences in the ages of 6. 10. and 13. Just as in real life, "you don't go from child to teen in one leap," said Ralph Lopez, a Cornell clinical pediatrics professor with whom the rating board consulted. What counts as humorous for a 6year-old will often be passe for a 10year-old, Lopez said. A car hitting a tree could be terrifying for the younger set bul humorous for a tween. Another difference comes when the line between fantasy and reality is better understood, usually during the teen years. Hence, any game that depicts real injuries - versus unrealistic physical recoveries - gets at least a "T" rating. Language is also a key issue, and the rating board examines not only the script of games but accompany- ing song lyrics. The rating board recruits people - without any game industry lies - to review video games before they hit store shelves. About 53 percent of the games sold in the United Slates in 2004 were rated "E." according lo the board, though data analyzed by GamcrMctrics and IGN.com show that only 46 jxircenl of all games sold in 2004 were rated "E." with the bulk of sales in " T ' and "M." A random, telephone-based survey conducted by Peler D. Harl Research Associates last year found that about 70 percent of parents refer to the ratings every time they buy a game. Count the Pallons among them. Their generous collection of 50-plus video games for their two sons, ages 5 and 9, are all rated "E" - except for one "T" game that a relative gave lo Nicholas as a gift and is being stored in a closet until the fifth grader comes of age. Among their concerns: limiting exposure to violence and more mature language. Sure, even some Disney movies now include words that were unacceptable on the big screen 30 years ago. but it's another matter if the word is repeated 45 times in 30 minutes, Nicholas' father said. "I don't feel we're rigid," said his mother, Kim Palton, "but we do feel we have to have limits. Nicholas has the whole rest of his life to be exposed to things." 'Dear Frankie' is a tender and fragile tale COMPANY TITLE CITY PARK A step above the rest 649-8322 (AP) The opening moments of director Shona Auerbach's "Dear Frankie" refleel the love and attention the filmmakers clearly lavished on this wondrous little gem: A boy carefully packs his few treasures up in newspapers and a cardboard box as his family prepares lo move. In meticulous letters, he writes his name, "Frankie Morrison," and the instructions "Handle With Care!!" on the box. Thai may well have been the slogan for Auerbach and her collaborators, who treat Frankie and his odd circle of companions like cherished loved ones. This story and these people are handled with abiding tenderness, allowed lo float along and reveal themselves al an unhurried pace that lends enormous domestic authenticity lo the action. "Dear Frankie" is a story that needed that kind of affection, a fragile tale that easily could have swirled off into syrupy sentiment. While the film has an elegiac tone and spins a mournfully sweet drama of family bonds tested and renewed, it remains firmly rooted in the bleak industrial grit of the Scottish seaside port where it is sel. Frankie (Jack McElhone) is a 9year-old deaf boy perpetually on the move witli his mother. Lizzie (Emily Mortimer), and grandma (Mary Riggans). They never stay long in one place; Lizzie and her mother have reason to hide out in fear of Frankic's absent father. Unable to bring herself to share, the cold truth with Frankie, Lizzie has concocted an elaborate fantasy about a distant dad sailing the seas on a commercial vessel. Frankie writes regularly to this make-believe man, Lizzie intercepting his letters from a post -off ice box and replying with detailed correspondence of his father's-travels.-' *' The ruse is meant to shield Frankie, but it also becomes an emotional salve for Lizzie in understand- ing her son. who can talk in faltering speech but rarely docs. A sense of inevitable fate hangs over the family's latest move to the coast. Frankie excitedly relating to his father that they now live on the sea. When the ship Frankie's father supposedly sails aboard schedules a port call in their new town. Lizzie decides to take the deception to a higher level. . Her friend Marie (Sharon Small) hooks her up with an acquaintance (Gerard Butler), a seaman willing to pose as Frankie's father in exchange for the few pounds Lizzie can scrape together. What follows is a gloriously understated expression of maternal devotion so deep thai it's blind. and. well, the startling kindness of strangers. Screenwriter Andrea Gibb. who drew on her own experiences in childhood writing letters to her father while 'he-lived overseas, has fashioned a richly nuanced tale from ihc sparest of scripts, exposition held lo a minimum in favor of awkward silences infused with meaning. So much of "Dear Frankie" is told in the stillnesses, the gazes among characters, and first-time director Auerbach could scarcely have found a cast more suited to that end. Mortimer's fathomless eyes register every imaginable damaged-goods emotion, fear giving way to anger, suspicion giving way to utter surprise at ihe smallest of nice turns. Butler, whose countenance was concealed behind a mask as (he title character in last year's "The Phantom of the Opera." here puts on a stony cipher's face which he lels crack at just the right moments as the stranger finds himself uneasily progressing beyond dad-for-hire. 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