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Show In the game world, cheaters proudly prosper BY JOSE A N T O N I O VARGAS The Washington Post I'm Fishing for a Date. Catch me online: lewdou@wfrmls.com Mixing School MATERNITY INSURANCE Costs as little as $504115 / MONTH Pays out as much as $3,000 - $5,000 Must be in effect 10 months BEFORE you deliver the baby Works great with other health insurance policies Great prices on all Life, Health, Auto & Renters Insurance Cache Valley Insurance, be. 94 South Main, Logan (435) 752-4560 Ask for Quent Casperson or Curtis Craig CACHE CENTER FOR THE ARTS Something for Everyone... October 3 & 4 The Ten Tenors November 1 & 2 Seals & Seals November 18 BYU Ballroom Dance Company I January 25 & 26 Juniper Chamber Music Festival I usu Student Discount m- January 29 & 30 LostinYonkers February 13 & 14 Pirates of Penzance Tt j February 21 & 22 Preservation Hall Jazz Band March 1 & 2 Grand Derangement I. March 20 & 21 A Midsummer Night's Dream Bob Dylan has been around long enough to Eric Danton have done just about Hartford Courant everything. Trouble is, it's starting to sound like it. "Modern Times," his latest (available Tuesday on Columbia), is a mellow affair that rolls Grade C+ unhurriedly through 10 songs that couldn't be "Modern TimesYDylan less modern. That's not to say they're archaic, though he does include a cover of Muddy Waters' blues standard "Rollin' andTumblin"' and a re-worked version of the B.B. King classic "Someday Baby." But aside from a reference to Alicia Keys on the opening number, "Thunder on the Mountain," and a fatuous reference to floodwaters on "The Levee's Gonna Break," there's nothing tying the record to any particular place or time. That's fine, except these songs somehow fall short of timeless. The album is pleasant enough, but there's not enough of the personality, the serrated edge, that has made Dylan's classic material classic. There's a curious flatness to much of the music, as if Dylan told the band to vamp on one riff while he spun out verse after verse on songs stretching past five minutes. The lack of melodic movement becomes monotonous after a while, though, and despite a delectable jazzy guitar figure on "Spirit on the Water," it seems like the 7 1/2-minute song is never going to end. Music Review For tickets call 435-752-0026 j b r visit us online at www.centerforthearts.us tcket Office Monday-Friday 10am-S>3O pm 't" lillen Eccles Theatre ' South Main, Historic Downtown —» — --- A video games. "I don't play games to necessarily play the game," he says. "I play it for the story line." Kennedy, an editor at lUp.com, a one-stop site for gamers, was pummeling through the action game "Metal Gear Solid 3" a year ago. As he combed through the game's strategy guide, he realized that he had beaten the game differently than the guide recommended. He wanted to share that knowledge. On the site, the "M" in MyCheats has horns, as if to say, you're cheating, but go ahead. You can add cheats and edit cheats provided by other users, some of whom provide video tutorials on how to beat games such as "Nintendogs." It's like browsing through the collective intelligence of the gaming brethren. Neither "The Godfather" nor "City of Heroes" is on MyCheats. Not yet, at least. Though Graves, industrious as he is, has figured out ways to beat the system. "I'm not sure I should tell you what they are," he says. Because in the end, all cheating aside, it's every gamer for himself. "Modern Times" isn't devoid of musical dynamics, though. Two beautiful ballads dangle glittering musical hooks into the album's placid flow, and Dylan pushes himself beyond raspy, almost-spoken ruminations to sing world-weary melodies. Gentle piano, opens "Workingman's Blues 2," a downhearted song that finds Dyjan in full-on proletarian mode as he muses, "Some people never work a day in their lives/Don't know what work even means." "Nettie Moore" is a road song that aches with longing, as Dylan's musician protagonist thinks about the miles separating him from his love. Both tunes sound effortless, which makes some of the bluesbased ribaldry elsewhere seemed a little forced: Double-entendre references to sucking milk out of cows are a little creepy coming from the man who was once more circumspect about such things (see also: "Lay, Lady, Lay"). On the other hand, leering at the ladies is a sign that Dylan hasn't yet turned his attention from the here and now to the sweet hereafter. Mr. Metaphor even abandons his typical inscrutability to make that point abundantly clear wnen he announces, "I feel like my soul is starting to expand," on "Thunder on the Mountain." That's a refreshing about-face for a man who sang on 1997's "Time Out of Mind" about being "sick of love" and the gathering darkness. The darkness hasn't gathered too closely so far, possibly because Dylan stays a few towns ahead of it on his perpetual tour. Given that he recorded "Modern Times" with his road band, there's a good chance that a live setting is where these new songs truly come to life. Distributed by the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service British star is a virtual imkown in U.S. BY RAFER G U Z M A N WtBtStart your season off right* STEVE GRAVES, 2 4 , of, Alexandria, Va., says he cheats to win Dylan's mellow offering lacks connection to time, place, V A L L E Y 25% WASHINGTON — For every video game, there's a Steve Graves, Graves is a self-described "professional cheater." Today's games are anything but easy, the 24-year-old will tell you. And to get through the intricate, challenging, mind-numbing levels of "City of Heroes" and "The Godfather," two games he's currently stuck on, he needs help. "I cheat on all the games I play," Graves says proudly. Here's the ugly, sometimes dirty, often-overlooked truth in games: Everyone cheats. In many instances, cheating is built into the game. It's a multimillion-dollar industry, legally sanctioned. Well, at least most of it. You can flip through magazines such as Tips & Tricks, which boasts of its "Cheat Code Blowout!" Or buy 150page strategy guides, the Cliffs Notes of gamers, which last year drew $67 million in sales, according to the NPD Group. Or log on to MyCheats.com, a Wikipedia for the gaming set, the latest in the growing crop of sites that promote cheating in games. Never mind Sophocles' approach: "I would prefer even to fail with honor than win by cheating." When it comes to games, all bets are off. "This is what I tell people all the time, and I'm actually pretty adamant about it: I don't play games to necessarily play the game," Graves says. "I play it for the story line. I play it for the mechanics. I play it for the graphics. I don't want to get stuck coming around the same corner 50 times. I'd rather get past it and see what the next story development is." Graves is a network engineer by day and a hard-core gamer by night, clocking an average of four hours in front of his PC or his Xbox in his Alexandria, Va., home. Remember "Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, (Select) Start"? If you grew up playing the shoot-'em-up game "Contra" on your Nintendo Entertainment System, chances are that cheat is forever frozen in your brain. GameFaqs.com, one.of the most popular game-cheating sites, recently listed it atop its "top 10 most memorable cheats" in gaming history. Says Jeff Veasey, an editor at GameFaqs: "I hate to admit it, but cheating is a part of playing games." But what constitutes cheating? Is cheating less objectionable when you don't have to pay for it? As in, looking up a code on the Internet, where it's free, versus dropping $16.99 for a copy of the strategy guide for "Madden NFL 2007"? When roaming the online "World of Warcraft," is cheating warranted so long as the only one affected is you? For example, buying weapons on eBay instead of earning them in the game? Is cheating ever OK? "It's like lying. We all agree that lying is bad, but we all do it anyway, and there are definitely different degrees in which you should do it. Like lying to hold back a surprise party," says Jason Blake, 23. For tips on "Halo 2," Blake scours the forums on Bungie. net. You did it from the start, trying to cheat your way in a game. You talked to your friend Freddy and exchanged ways to outsmart "Pac-Man." Years ago, before the PlayStation-XboxGameCube generation, games were easier to beat. On "Super Mario Bros. 3," released in 1990, you played the same levels repeatedly until you mastered them. In "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," released in 2004, designers created an open-ended, multi-layered gaming experience with more and more levels to explore. To cheat way back when was to figure out how to keep your character alive and finish the game. To cheat now is to unlock doors and expand the breadth of your game. "It's not just cheating, really," says Sam Kennedy, the mastermind behind the new MyCheats.com. "It's trying to get more out of the game, kind of like buying a special edition DVD where you get extra stuff." Newsday Quick: Name a song by the critically acclaimed British singer Richard Hawley. Can't do it? You're not alone. Even though Hawley is nominated for the Nationwide Mercury Prize, one of the most prestigious music awards in the United Kingdom, he is virtually unknown in America. That's often how it is with the Mercury Prize, whose winner (always a British or Irish artist) will be announced Sept. 5. Each year, Americans greet the news with a scratch of the head, as few of the nominees are ever familiar (Guillemots? Lou Rhodes?) except to all those music hipsters who shop primarily in the imports section. Even when there is a wellknown nominee, the prize often goes to a more obscure artist. Last year, Coldplay lost to the underground act Antony and the Johnsons. As for Hawley, he earned his nomination on the strength of "Coles Corner" (Mute), an overlooked gem to say the least. (It has sold about 4,000 copies in the U.S. according to Nielsen SoundScan.) Hawley is no newcomer: He began as a guitarist, first with the '90sera band Longpigs, then as a session man for Pulp, Beth Orton, even Robbie Williams. But in the 2000s, Hawley embarked on a solo career. It's unclear what took him so long to find his voice, because its one of the more compelling voices around, a resonant baritone that quivers with emotion. Hawley's • ART SUPPLIES BLUE ON BLUE. You have auburn hair with blonde highlights in Biology 1110, always front row. I have blue eyes, too. Drop a note back if interested. Back ow Tony lowest Prices on Art Supplies toWe'll match any price in town! ^( P W UtahState UNIVERSITY BOOKSTORE Let that someone special know you have eyes for them. TSC 105, or www.utahstatesman.com/classifieds slow-motion phrasing has a drugged, dreamlike quality that recalls Scott Walker, Tim Hardin and Roy Orbison, all pop crooners who were grandiose, melodramatic and more than a little weird. "Coles Corner" is named after a spot in Hawley's hometown of Sheffield where, he writes in the CD booklet, lovers of a bygone era once met and began their evenings out. (The booklet contains some personal, poignant memories of the spot pulled from a Sheffield Web site.) The songs are orches-. tral and lush, almost otherworldly — in other words, perfect for Hawley, who sings as if he's floating in space or in the middle of the sea. (Check out the album's hypnotic centerpiece, "The Ocean") Hawley is competing for the Mercury prize against Radiohead singer Thorn Yorke, who recently released his first solo album, and against the young buzz band Arctic Monkeys. In other words, his odds are slim. But win or lose, Hawley deserves a larger audience than just the Mercury judges — and. all those hipsters. |
