McQuaid

Computers are amazing tools with an ing capacity forthe storage and process- lata. They are also, however, toys. No how practical the device, mankind will miss an opportunity to put an amusing it (this from a writer who recently red to his glee that his Macintosh had lity to quack like a duck).

Take, for instance, screen savers. This | rooted in practicality: a screen saver automatically shifts the picture on reen after a certain interval so as to timages from burning into your screen e. That’s all well and good, but screen ave evolved into a veritable entertain- edium. Software companies produce ore inventive and entertaining screen for bored computer users, and few oners of this art can rival Berkeley s. Berkeley secured its fame with the Dark screen saver packages, whose include the company’s whimsical trade- flying toasters. These and other such pictures made the After Dark program ite with computer users and spawned us spin-offs, some of them specialty s like Disney, Marvel Comics, The ns, X-Men, Star Trek, Star Trek: The eneration and more. 5 The Disney edition is sometimes amus- quently cute, and occasionally both. imation is nicely rendered but it has a endency to seize up or freeze in mid- . In short, the animation (especially in ces like the Little Mermaid and the flowers) looks choppy. The musical animent is a real treat, and crystal ome of the settings (like Donald Duck g) are rather nice-looking but a tad on W side. Funny -stuff includes Goofy

Treatranging your desktop, and cute stuff in- cludes those 101 Dalmatians we all love so gosh-darn much. My favourite display is the Mickey Mouse Haunted Screen setting (though it also tends to freeze in mid-motion now and again): it’s a tribute to one of the first talking

mows

}

Mickey Mouse cartoons wherein he wandered into a haunted house and ran afoul of a bunch of skeletons. This screen saver, done in the same black & white animation style, has aneat twist: Mickey walks around your blacked-out screen (you can see his eyes), occasionally lighting a match. When he does light a match, it illuminates the portion of your desktop he’s standing in front of... until a skeleton or some other creature frightens the beejabbers out of

nVWOWT iT) kr y OW.) NOY

him and the match blows out. I just get such a kick out of it.

Meanwhile, After Dark also offers what is virtually Disney's opposite number with the Simpsons screen saver, based on the popular animated series. Funny stuff includes

aw

the wrath of Mister Burns (sinister nuclear power plant manager), and the ultra-violent “Itchy and Scratchy’’ cartoons (a dubiously guilty pleasure best taken in small doses). With settings including virtually all the series characters, this program is fun forany Simpsons fan. There’s some choice musical cuts (espe-

cially the theme song), though Lisa’s saxo-

phone solo just doesn't ring true in terms of sound quality. Voice clips are abundant and

isney and Simpsons and Trek. . . .Oh My!

well done. A word of caution: the Simpsons are satirical characters aimed at adults, so you might not want kids scoping some of this stuff for hours on end.

Last but by no means least on our list is the Star Trek: The Next Generation screen saver. This boasts some impressive computer models of the Enterprise crew, though some of them are put to hideously boring use (like Counsellor Troi's advice program-- the one setting that depends entirely on conversation and they don’t even throw in a voice clip). Again, there’s some mighty fine computer tunes (like the digital rendition of the Star Trek: TNG theme). High points include Lieu- tenant Commander Data’s dance lessons (ex- pertly animated and a real hoot) and Lieuten- ant Worf’s weapons exercises, wherein he slices and blasts your desktop to pieces while his cute little son Alexander plays weapons- caddie. In terms of technical merit, one of the most impressive settings is the ‘‘Encounters’’ module, which relives scenes from past Star Trek: TNG episodes (it’s very disjointed, but features a killer rendering of the Enterprise bridge and its crew, plus some primo voice clips). One quibble is that it would have been fun to include more characters (like O’Brien, Barclay, Ro and Tasha Yar) in the profiles section, or even in the animated segments. Regardless, this is an enjoyable program. I wonder when we can expect a Star Trek: Deep Space 9 screen saver? (Or better yet, a Star Trek: Voyager screen saver!)

Oh, and lest I forget, there is always the basic After Dark program itself. Many of its settings are rather boring, but in some cases that’s relaxing in a meditative, hypnotic way- - and some of the modules (like Bad Dog, Rat Race, Daredevil Dan and the bizarro interac- tive game show You Bet Your Head) are pretty funny.

Pee

his dis de

“NEw Faces divays Made him Suspicsous.

F°hic/ Christopher Heath Robinson’ SFU Peak

th... LAG £ Sey !/

AND ENJO

get the 10th one FREE

tm THERE WILL ALSO BE WEEKLY PRIZES | OF ONE $25 GIFT CERTIFICATE AND A GRAND PRIZE OF A $500 TUITION CHECK!

| I SO COME IN TO FATHER'S LOUNGE | Y THE NEWEST ADDITION... FATHER'S DEN!

3)

h14, 1995

~~

; ms 1 ism