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Show StatesmanSpedsd Features Friday, Aug. 31, 2007 Page 2/ 'Rate my Space' is big e-hit for decorating dorms BY NANCY SCHOEFFLER The Hartford Courant Within three days of posting a photo of her dorm room on HGTV.com's "Rate My Space" site, KAlicial324" had zoomed to the top-rated spot. Her second-year room at college — already viewed by nearly 1,600 people as of Tuesday afternoon — won enthusiastic comments for its colorful, striped pillows and paper lanterns; bedside lamp with beaded fringe; bright ribbon tied around her fish bowl; and her hot-pink bulletin board of snapshots, crisscrossed with wavy ribbons. "Love the memo board with Ric-Rac — have never seen it done that way." "Cute!" "Love the display of pics — great idea." "Very cheerful!" Two weeks earlier, Alicial324 had posted a photo of her firstyear room — and by the time she put up her second photo, her first-year room had been seen by more than 10,000 people. Dorm rooms have just been added to "Rate My Space," which has 15 other categories of spaces online — from living rooms and garages to boys' and girls' rooms, nurseries and porches. HGTV.com launched "Rate My Space" in late February, and since then, according to Ron Senkowski, who leads the site's convergence team, there have been more than 51 million page views of more than 13,500 spaces. "Overall, after Decorating, it is the No. 2 most popular section of the site," he said. A Tennessee kitchen on the site has been viewed 460,000 times; a cozy New York City retreat more than 180,000 times. Dorm rooms have quickly taken off. A chic, modern dorm room in chartreuse, deep blue and white posted by Casey Cole ("Caseyl216") has been viewed more than 35,000 times, and is among the top-rated. Reached as she headed back to Finlandia University 'Fury' takes the ping out of pong Some see the glass as nine-tenths empty; I see it as one-tenth full. So 1 will begin with some nice things concerning the Ping-Pong comedy "Balls of Fury." The nicest thing is the Asian-American actress known as Maggie Q, who has in two earlier American films — "Mission Impossible III" and "Live Free or Die Hard" — been little more than incidental eye candy. In "Balls of Fury" she's entrusted with a part, and she turns out to be spunky, sarcastic, graceful, athletic and absolutely adorable, ^ " ^ ^ ^ " T T ^ ^ ^ ^ ™ 1 ^ ^ ^ ^ " and one iStepnen Hunter w ; s h es Wash. Post the movie Reel Reviews Grade C "Balls of Fury* had taken more advantage of her vitality. Every time she's onscreen, it sparkles; when she ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ leaves, it droops unless ... Nice thing No. 2 appears, and that would be the great Christopher Walken, slumming as an international gangster named Feng with a PingPong obsession so intense that he convenes a world championship death match. This is nowhere near one of Walken's great outside-the-box performances, to be treasured long after memories of the movie itself have vanished. He basically does a Fu Manchu thing here, with a pile of sleek black hair and some froggy-eye glasses. Nothing original, nothing outrageous, given what must have been lame instructions from director Ben Garant of "Reno 911!" fame but still, it's Chris Walken and even half-asleep he's fascinating. He carries the picture along with... Nice thing No. 3, the comedian George Lopez as an FBI agent responsible for infiltrating a crime ring behind the Ping-Pong-to-the-death tourney. Lopez, like Madam Qand Honorable Walken, has a vivid presence and, even laid back and talking with Audie Murphy's Texas accent, he brings a stability to the film the others can play off (even if they usually don't). What a great straight man and how nice if he were teamed with a great quipster or someone who knew how to use his calm stylings. Alas, that ends the very short list of what works. As for what doesn't, try this: the rest of the movie. "Balls of Fury" has an interesting conceit never quite delivered upon. It takes the standard kung-fu action plot and reconstrues it with Ping-Pong as the zone of conflict. It has all the hallmarks of late 70s kung-fu action, with outlandish villains and garish costumes and colors and clearly over-exaggerated action sequences. It is meant, I suppose, as some kind of parody, but it's nowhere near clever enough to bring offthe sophistication of actual parody, as did, say, the Zucker/Zucker/Abrahams boys in their "Airplane" and "Naked Gun" movies. The plot has our hero — one Randy Daytona — as the would-be world champ who was humiliated and disgraced in the '88 Olympics. Now grown to manhood (and played by Dan Fogler), he is recruited by the FBI to infiltrate Feng's tournament on the suspicion that another plot is afoot. Once there, he realizes that his only means of survival is to win the tournament, where, of course, he will be opposed at the end by the then-East German who defeated him in '88. But whoever decided Dan Fogler could front a movie? Heavy, clumsy, more a rocker than an athlete, he's by no means a gifted comic actor; this role would have been perfect for the young John Belushi or Chris Farley — someone who could show surprising agility and speed beneath the weight. Fogler's just fat and slow, and when the camera tricks give him a world-class table tennis player's moves, it looks fraudulent. Then there's the racism. These are ancient Asian stereotypes, complete with "concubines" lounging around the set in kimonos split up to their hipbones, dragon lady makeup, very high heels and cigarette holders. Finally, there's the Pong itself. These guys think it's funny, ho ho ho, and a lot of the humor turns on Pong jocks chasing high bouncers into pillars or down elevator shafts. But the fact is that any sport played at the world level demands extraordinary athleticism — speed, discipline, courage, stamina, fortitude and extreme hand-eye coordination — and that includes Pong no less than catching or throwing footballs in the NFL. The filmmakers make fun of it, when they should use their film as a platform by which to show its grace and power. Like ... who do they think they are? - - - "Balls of Fury" (90 minutes) is rated PG-13 for crude and sex-related humor and profanity. in Michigan, where she will be a senior, Cole, 21, said she designed the dorm room last year for $300; the green chair was a $50 thrift shop find. Cole, who is studying graphic design and hopes to go to graduate school for interior design, said she frequents the site. "Lots of rooms are added every day," she said. "I like the kids' rooms a lot. A lot of parents think they have to do themed rooms, but there are a lot of other options." HGTV.com had planned to build in a means for people to seek advice about their spaces from other online viewers, but, Senkowski said, "What's happened is that people have done that without our guidance." When Nina Cancellieri, 43, of Seaford, N.Y., posted a photo of her sitting room in March, she noted, "I contemplated getting an area rug but decided against it since the room is so small." Many of the more than 9,000 people who have viewed the room on "Rate My Space" opined that although the room has beautiful hardwood floors, a rug would help pull the room together. When Cancellieri found a rug she liked, she then posted an updated photo in April — which has been viewed by more than 13,000 people, including many who commented on the addition of the rug. "I'm not one to make decisions based on what other people say," she said, but it was helpful to get so many people's opinions, "rather than just asking a few friends or family members." She cautioned that people who post photos from their homes have to be "a little thick-skinned. If you're not, you could get your feelings hurt." Senkowski said that this sort of give-and-take on the site echoes "what we hoped would happen, and we're happy with that." So happy, in fact, that "Rate My Space" will become the basis of a TV program HGTV plans to launch in mid-2008, hosted by Angelo Surmelis, host of the network's "24 Hour Design." iI XM Radio to air book readings (LATWP) — The National Endowment for the Arts will partner with XM Radio to bring literature to satellite radio with the launch of "The Big Read on XM," a series airing audio versions of classic novels in 30-minute installments. The series, based on the federal arts agency's national reading program of the same name, premieres Sept. 10 on Sonic Theater (XM Channel 163), the channel devoted to audio books and contemporary theater. The series' first installment will feature Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451," followed by programs on Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God," Willa Cather's "My Antonia" and Carson McCullen's "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter." The programs, with each new installment broadcast three times a day Monday through Friday, also will include readings, interviews and commentary by authors, actors and other public figures. Participants include Bradbury and writer Alice Walker, former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, and actors Robert Duvall and Cheech Marin. Open Thursday, FridayllAM-6pM, Saturday 10AM-5PM or by Appointment CO ALWAYS OMEN, AT \MW.MAYASCORNEILCOM, BUY YOUR TEXTBOOKS AT THE BOOKSTORE AND A MACBOOK or PLAYSTATION 3 AND OTHER GREAT P 1 ^ r ! l f * ; f . ' i r e ' i l l l 1 > i t ^ f h ' l J M i 1 i * f ' ' ' ^ ' H ' ' V ' < ' i * ^ " ^ " ' ^ •*"•'" ti> -* 1 ' * » ' - ' **'| " " "" IVVfiKiiii! |