Even the most casual gamer has heard of, played or avoided World of Warcraft – a game increasingly notorious for anecdotal stories of fun and horror as more and more players log on.

In a speech early last December, former Federal Communications Commission commissioner Deborah Tate said that addiction to online games like World of Warcraft is one of the leading causes of college dropouts across the United States.

World of Warcraft (WoW), made by Blizzard Entertainment, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) set in an expansive fantasy world where players develop game characters, complete quests and often form partnerships with groups of other players, known as guilds. Each player is charged a subscription fee of $15 per month, billed through credit cards or prepaid game cards.

Blizzard Entertainment released WoW in 2004, and the game’s second expansion “Wrath of the Lich King” hit the shelves in November. The company also announced in December that WoW’s online population grew to 11.5 million subscribers worldwide – dominating other titles in the MMORPG market.

WoW is currently the only computer game on stock in the UC Davis bookstore TechHUB – advertised solely to UC Davis students.

“WoW sold better than I thought it would,” said Mike Adams, an employee at the TechHUB. “It outsold our initial order.“

As the world’s most-played MMORPG, the game’s popularity and tendency to cause addiction has sparked continual reference, particularly in popular culture mediums such as the television show “South Park.“

Moreover, WoW’s addictive nature is not a new subject. Research on the addictive properties of similar video games is common – a 2006 study conducted by psychiatrists Philip A. Chan and Terry Rabinowitz offered a connection between video game addiction and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder among adolescents. Last year, the National Science Foundation granted UC Irvine $100,000 to research American and Chinese in-game modifications in WoW.

Colin Milburn, assistant professor of English and science and technology, emphasized the increasing incorporation of virtual worlds such as WoW and the similar game Second Life into everyday lifestyle. Video games are moving from a condition of being fun and games to a condition of a serious lived experience, he said.

“These games are becoming an aesthetic of our age,” Milburn said. “People can claim to be residents of Second Life or WoW rather than the real world – it shows how this is transforming the way that people are considering their relationship to the media they consume.“

Despite common allegations that such games induce addictive behavior and are detrimental to education and development, Milburn expressed that they have significant benefits as well.

“It’s a cultivation of a community of shared interests, the ability to explore activities unavailable in everyday life, strategizing and working with a group towards common goals,” Milburn said.

He also discussed the business side of games like WoW.

“There’s a whole sense of entrepreneurialism that’s very common in these [MMORPGs], like starting businesses and sustaining businesses,” Milburn said. “People are making money living in these worlds. There are a number of benefits by spending a good deal of time in these worlds, not to mention that they are simply a lot of fun.“

Milburn is currently writing a book on the role of video games in recent nanotechnology research. He frequently takes students on field trips in Second Life – even meeting with Harvard professor Katy Park to discuss medieval studies within the game.

Technocultural studies professor Bob Ostertag noted other benefits of online games.

“I do not share the concerns of some about violence in computer games, nor do I see them as detrimental in the same way that channel-surfing on television is,” Ostertag said in an e-mail interview. “And there are without doubt elements of creativity in the way some gamers engage with that world.“

Both Ostertag and Milburn addressed the risks of excessive playing, arguing that such use should be countered with moderation.

“I don’t think that there’s anything inherent in gaming that’s different from other types of entertainment media or experiences,” Milburn said. “People who may be prone to addictive behavior should be cautious about overexposure to these games, but I wouldn’t worry about it as being some kind of contamination or pathology.“

And while dropouts potentially represent an extreme result of a video game obsession, the players themselves debate the extent to which their grades are affected.

Jeffrey Hsu, a sophomore molecular cell biology major, quit WoW after playing throughout high school.

“I feel like I’ve been through stages of addiction – dependence, withdrawal and relapse – so it’s pretty much as bad as a drug,” Hsu said.

“WoW is a game where anyone from a so-called ‘noob‘ to a hardcore player can play it because there’s so many levels of things you can do,” he said. “[There are] raids for the hardcore people, or you can go through the game solo as slow as you want, and still have fun.“

Andrew Sawin, a junior mechanical engineering major at Cal State Northridge, also addressed the potential risk of WoW addiction. After quitting WoW shortly before his fall semester finals, Sawin said he felt a new sense of relief away from the game.

“I think it’s definitely something people should learn to regulate more, regulate their time a little bit better, because it’s easy to play it a lot,” Sawin said. “It can definitely affect your work.“

Video games and online virtual worlds are increasingly becoming crucial aspects of our technological culture, Milburn said.

“Attending to both the benefits and potential risks of them is the task of the moment,” he said.

JUSTIN T. HO can be reached at arts@theaggie.org. 

Advertisements on billboards, text in album sleeves and letterforms on book covers – the art of typography may be taken for granted, but artist and designer Simon Johnston has made quite a name for himself in the field.

In the exhibit “subject/verb/object,” which is currently on display at the Design Museum in Everson Hall, Johnston explores the nature of visual language and the relationship between visual aids and their semantic roles. An artist talk and reception featuring Johnston will be held tonight at 6:30 in Everson Hall.

As both an artist and designer, Johnston distinguished the two fields. Both are forms of expression, he said, but while design is an expression on behalf of someone else, making art deals with personal concerns and interests.

“Making art is making an aesthetic and philosophical proposition … so [it has] more self-expression, freed from utility,” Johnston said in an e-mail interview. “Design is operational, it has work to do, [it] is about use.“

Johnston, who attended the Bath Academy of Art in England and the School of Applied Arts in Switzerland, got his start studying under notable graphic designers Armin Hofmann and Wolfgang Weingart. Along with Mark Holt and Hamish Muir, Johnston founded the London-based graphic design firm 8vo as well as Octavo, a magazine that focused on typography.

Though his background is in design, Johnston said that he has always been obsessed with language and how language is seen. In an editorial published in Octavo, Johnston described typography as “the point where content and form meet,” and with an acute awareness of both sides, Johnston lets the words and typeface speak for themselves in his work.

“All visual forms speak to us in a subtle way,” he said. “The different shapes of typefaces might suggest qualities that reflect or amplify the content of the words … for an identity you have to look very carefully at the relationships between the letter shapes involved, as they will work better in some typefaces than others.“

Johnston highlights what he calls the “secret subtext” of seemingly insignificant words with “Investigation.” In the piece, Johnston paints over and deletes text in pages of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations and pares the book down to a single word: “This.“

“I was always spending happy hours as a child reading the dictionary – there’s a whole world in there,” Johnston said. “You have to love language to be a good typographer.“

For more information on Johnston, visit simonjohnstondesign.com. To learn more about the Design Museum, go to designmuseum.ucdavis.edu.

Text by Rachel FilipinasPhoto by Liam O’Donnell

Revolutionary Road is essentially a reworking of 1998‘s The Truman Show, instead using themes of abstract (rather than literal) confinement.

The film’s lack of linear plot renders it rather difficult to describe. It spends very little time with back-story, instead choosing to jump directly into what might be termed the conflict. This permeates every part of the film, never allowing the characters or the audience a chance to catch their breath.

Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio play ‘50s suburban couple April and Frank Wheeler, who are surrounded by a contrived world that offers them only enough individuality to foster complacency. Their existence in this white-bread life revolves around their own perceived superiority.

When they realize they are in danger of surrendering the rest of their lives to a mind-numbing humdrum existence, they make spontaneous plans to move to Paris.

It is probably a stretch to call this the plot of the movie, but it is the best that can be done. The majority of the scenes occur independently of this thread-thin plot line, and many seemingly act as redundant filler scenes. For the most part, the film is simply an uninvolved observer to their sepia-toned suffering.

Director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition) obviously expected the film’s themes to be significant, but instead they come across as dull, familiar and unimpressive. The typical representation of overwrought emotions results in a rather unsympathetic audience. The film is saved by dedicated performances by Winslet and DiCaprio, who are a credit to their profession with the electricity they bring to the roles.

Revolutionary Road uses futile displays of anger to question the subjectivity of love, happiness and contentedness, but falls flat on all counts. All in all, it’s not a very accessible film. It’s simply an exploration of the stifled desperation and permeating ineffectuality of people.

LAURA KROEGER can be reached at arts@theaggie.org. 

Liberal arts professors tend to appear quite busy as they sprint across campus from staff meeting to staff meeting, their bags overflowing with academic journals and used notepaper. Always curious about on-campus happenings, MUSE set out to discover what exactly these busybody professors were really up to. The answer for three hard-working professors was simple enough – writing.

Francisco X. Alarcón – Spanish Department

Besides teaching in the Spanish department at UC Davis, Francisco X. Alarcón has also published a dozen volumes of poetry, the most recent being a picture book of bilingual children’s poems titled Animal Poems of the Iguazú / Animalario del Iguazú.

As a bilingual poet, Alarcón said that learning and speaking more than one language, despite the necessary investment of time and effort, is beneficial for almost all people.

“My belief is that to learn and speak a second or a third language is a tremendous asset for any educated person in the world, the United States and especially in California,” he said in an e-mail. “There are more than 12 million Latinos now living in the state of California, and the majority of those Latinos are bilingual.“

As for poetic inspiration, Alarcón has drawn from both the innocence of children and the natural beauty of northern Argentina’s Iguazú National Park. One assignment for a class of fifth graders asked the children to write a poem about how they saw themselves in 20 years. The poems moved Alarcón to write Poems to Dream Together. Similarly, while admiring Iguazu’s magnificent landscape, Alarcón said he again felt the need to write.

“I write most poems really in a fit of passion, without any set plan. “Most poems come to me unexpectedly, sometimes in places and times I least expect to find inspiration,” he said. “I wrote a whole book of animal poems – where the animals speak in first person – while visiting Iguazú National Park.“

Fran Dolan – English Department

With rising divorce rates and the persistent debate over gay marriage, English professor Fran Dolan’s latest book, Marriage and Violence: The Early Modern Legacy, addresses an issue that has been on everyone’s mind for some time now. In fact, Dolan’s book traces ideas about marriage from the 16th century all the way up to today’s pop culture.

“I’m interested in how we describe marriage or married couples,” she said. “There’s phrases and attitudes that began in the 16th and 17th centuries that still survive today in how we talk about marriage.“

Dolan said she took a special interest in the notion of marriage as only having room for one person, as suggested by the popular romantic notion that, in marriage, “two will become one.“

The structure by which Marriage and Violence connects both past and present was inspired in some part by Dolan’s experiences teaching classes about the history of marriage and domestic violence.

“I always wanted to start at the beginning and move forward in time,” she said. “The students wanted to come into class and talk about the connection between the past and the present. I learned from the students to appeal to a larger audience.“

The core of Dolan’s book concerns itself with the common conception of marriage as an unequal relationship that includes one dominant member.

“Conventional wisdom says that if you both try to be in charge, you’re going to fight with each other. I’m trying to say that this idea comes from a place – it has a history. And we can rethink it. It’s possible to imagine marriage as a relationship of equality. That’s the argument of the book.“

Lucy Corin – English Department

English professor Lucy Corin’s book of short stories, titled The Entire Predicament, addresses a number of diverse scenarios.

“As far as plots or scenarios go, there’s [a story] about throwing pate into the ocean, one about going to the dentist when there’s a sniper on the loose [and] one about a house getting overrun with mice and how that drives a man into the tundra,” she said in an e-mail.

Corin, who published her first work while still a senior in college, elected to wait until she finished her Masters of Fine Arts degree before sending out more stories.

“My real job is to learn to write, not to learn to write something I think people would publish,” she said. “That’s still what I make myself remember whenever I feel like I’m getting caught up in desire for recognition.“

Being a writer compels Corin to pay extra attention to the events in her life.

“That’s what I do as a fiction writer everyday, really, is look at everything I encounter in terms of how it could make a great story.“

ZACK FREDERICK can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

Amongst my list of innocently bad habits (i.e. constantly cracking my knuckles, biting on straws), my worst vice has to be a combination of two others: the Internet and going on random tangents.

So when you’re leading an Internet-less lifestyle at home like I’ve been doing for the past month, it’s easy to devote an awful amount of time normally spent on web browsing (read: Facebook and online shopping) thinking instead about useless things, such as which of my friends would make the best “Chain Reaction“ teammates or what country I would visit if I were Anthony Bourdain.

Unfortunately, without Wikipedia and other wonders of the World Wide Web at my every whim, most of my thoughts have been restricted to things that are easily accessible.

In other words, I’ve been thinking about myself a lot.

Well, not quite. Let me explain – I’ve been thinking about Rachels in general. As a shareholder of the 17th most popular name of my birth year (1987), I’ve encountered plenty of name twins. For a good portion of elementary school, teachers referred to me as “Rachel F,“ and in kindergarten, I had to go by “Rachel Fil.“ because there was a like-named girl with the surname of Fernandez.

Of course, no Rachel has captured my attention quite like the ones that have made a name for themselves in history and other entertainment outlets. Thus, I’ve compiled a short but sweet list of some my favorite Rachels to live vicariously through:

Rachel, wife of Jacob. Appearing in Hebrew Bible in the Book of Genesis, this Rachel lived a rather melodramatic life. So what if she got her sister Leah’s sloppy seconds (marrying Jacob just a week after Leah did, scandalous!), was kinda barren and a bit of a crybaby – she was the favored wife as well as the prettier sister, and that’s all that matters, right?

Rachel, Animorphs. For those unfamiliar with it, Animorphs was a popular young adult sci-fi book series (and later, TV show) about a group of kids who morphed into animals. I can’t say that this Rachel and I had too much in common – besides the whole ability to transform into animals such as elephants and grizzly bears, she was really aggressive, had a dark side and died at 16.

Rachel Green, “Friends.“ As probably the best-known Rachel on television, this one was living a life only possible on popular, long-running sitcoms: She lived in a nice roomy apartment in Manhattan, went from working as a waitress to a buyer at Ralph Lauren and managed to maintain a strong friendship with five other people over the span of 10 years.

Rachel Keller, The Ring. Out of all the Rachels that I have witnessed on the big screen, Naomi Watts‘ character proved to provide one of the most unnerving movie-going experiences. Thanks to this 2002 remake of the Japanese film Ringu, I’m always wary of unmarked VHS tapes, permanently creeped out by pale (but precocious) little boys and relentlessly followed by an evil spirit of a girl named Samara.

Rachel Dawes, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. As Bruce Wayne’s childhood friend and close confidant, Dawes provided the type of support that loyal servant Alfred could not. Of course, the more important issue arises: Who played her better – Katie Holmes or Maggie Gyllenhaal?

It should be noted that any variants of my name – mainly, the sucky version “Rachael“ – were exempt from this list, meaning that people like Ray, Leigh Cook and Yamagata were automatically eliminated. Sorry, girls.

RACHEL FILIPINAS really isn’t as self-centered as this column would lead you to believe. Put her in her place at rmfilipinas@ucdavis.edu. 

John Frusciante

The Empyrean

Record Collection

Rating: 3

John Frusciante will always be known for his work with the Red Hot Chili Peppers rather than his side career as a songwriter. His personal work, while generally impressive, is essentially just an offshoot of his work with the band, and The Empyrean offers nothing to the contrary.

Frusciante’s playing in RHCP’s Stadium Arcadium really emphasized his ability as a vital member as opposed to just the band’s backing guitarist. More and more, Frusciante’s playing style has evolved into a mellower approach opposite of RHCP bassist Flea’s faster, funkier slapping.

It’s a little inappropriate to compare The Empyrean to a RHCP album instead of taking into consideration earlier works from Frusciante, but it’s almost impossible not to think of RHCP while hearing this album. If Stadium Arcadium provided proof of the band’s split personality, The Empyrean embodies everything Frusciante’s more relaxed side ever wanted to write. Flea even plays bass on four of the album’s 10 tracks.

What really makes Frusciante’s talent stand out on this record are his instrumental segues that scatter themselves throughout the album. The album is dying for Frusciante’s imperfect and smooth sustain, and guitar-centric songs like “Before the Beginning” are outnumbered by boring, experimental delves into instrumental composition

Frusciante’s voice might sound like a mix between Cat Stevens and Phil Collins, but it fits the music well. His use of electric piano and organ is thoughtful, but the two instruments make their way into the record way too often and simply aren’t up to par with Frusciante’s guitar ability. “Dark Light” sounds like a broken gospel record.

All in all, The Empyrean is a pretty relaxing album. It’s great to hear the origins of RHCP’s softer side, which wouldn’t exist without Frusciante. The album probably won’t make you jump or cringe, and it’s infinitely better than the new All-American Rejects travesty.

Give these tracks a listen: “Before the Beginning,” “Unreachable“

For fans of: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ashlee Simpson

Justin T. Ho

MUSIC

Katy Perry, Alphabeat

Today, 7:30 p.m., $20

Empire Events Center in Sacramento

Never mind Katy Perry – also known as the woman responsible for arguably the most annoying song of 2008 – I’m turning my focus to Alphabeat. The Danish dance-poppers have been associated with the Wonky Pop movement, a musical crusade for the “quirky, credible and catchy” that is rooted in the offbeat side of pop music of the ‘80s.

Sweet Hollywaiians

Today, 8 p.m., $5 to $10

The Spirits House

I would never have thought to put together The Big Island with the likes of Afro-Caribbean Calypso and ragtime blues, but in the case of this Osaka- and Los Angeles-based group, the result is a sweet, sweet medley of vintage Hawaiian tunes.

Fruit Bats, Sera Cahoone, The Ancient Sons

Today, 8 p.m., $5

Luigi’s Fungarden in Sacramento

Fans of The Shins should easily warm up to the Fruit Bats – Fruit Bats mainstay Eric Johnson is a member of both bands! Also worth mention is the Patsy-Cline-Neko-Case-Cat-Power reincarnate Sera Cahoone, who provides a good balance between cool indie brooding and upbeat alt-country – plus, she got her start by playing drums for notable bands like Band of Horses and Carissa’s Wierd.

Brilliant Red Lights, Purple Girl

Friday, 8 p.m., $5

Luigi’s Fungarden in Sacramento

Unnecessary fact: My first show in Davis was a BRL at the ASUCD Coffee House my freshman year! Aw, I was just a baby then.

After the Crash, The Federalist, The Athens

Friday, 10 p.m., $3 to $5

The G Street Pub

A look into the history of After the Crash (dare I say, a look before the crash?): The product of a fortuitous Craigslist.com advertisement, the San Diego-based band (think of rock acts like Staind or A Perfect Circle) took advantage of networking sites like Myspace.com and have been on permanent tour ever since. Bottom line: Behold the power of the Internet.

C’Mon Everybody, The Teutonics, DJ The Analyst and DJ Birthday Girl

Saturday, 8 p.m., $5

Delta of Venus

What happens when members of two Oakland bands from different sides of the modern garage movement (specifically, Russell Quan, Tina Luccesi of trash rock band The Bobbyteens and Yea-Ming of lo-fi trio Dreamdate) get together? Answer: C’Mon Everybody, a new bubblegum glam band.

Voodoo Glow Skulls, The Toasters, Monkey, Deal‘s Gone Bad, Punch the Clock

Saturday, 8 p.m., $12 in advance, $14 day of show

The Boardwalk in Orangevale

Ska is dead? Most certainly not, despite the name of the recurring “Ska is Dead” tour. This year’s headliners The Toasters and Voodoo Glow Skulls paved the way for third wave ska acts like Bomb the Music Industry! and Streetlight Manifesto.

Matt and Kim, Hawnay Troof, Bananas

Sunday, 8 p.m., $8

Luigi’s Fungarden in Sacramento

I’m always a sucker for indie pop duos (think Mates of State), so Brooklyn-based Matt and Kim provide me with yet another source to quench my musical thirst. Also worth noting is Hawnay Troof, a poppy, dance-punky electronic solo project from Oakland musician Vice Cooler.

AT THE MOVIES

Taken

Today only, 6:30 p.m. at the Varsity Theatre on Second Street

What’s better than a free advance screening, provided our very own Campus Cinema? Liam Neeson, that’s what.

Revolutionary Road

Opens tomorrow at the Varsity Theatre on Second Street

Mixed reviews have gotten me all kinds of confused about whether or not I should see this movie, but see one person’s opinion of the film on this page.

ART / GALLERY

Art Studio Program Lecture Series: Catherine Wagner

Today, 4:30 p.m., free

Technocultural Studies Building (formerly the Art Annex)

It’s not too often that I actually look forward to attending lectures, but I can make an exception for artist Catherine Wagner. For more information, check out page __.

subject/verb/object

On display now at the Design Museum

Artist and designer Simon Johnston investigates the nature of visible language, including issues of semantics and operation. A free opening talk and artist reception will take place today at 6:30 p.m. in Everson Hall.

MONDAVI

Kodo

Wednesday, 8 p.m., $35 general admission, $17.50 with a student ID

Jackson Hall

Kodo takes the art of traditional Japanese Taiko drumming to a new level.

RACHEL FILIPINAS can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

Art Studio Program Lecture Series: Catherine Wagner

Today, 4:30 p.m., free

TCS Building (formerly the Art Annex)

As students, we are expected to make school the focal point of our lives – planning our schedules according to classes and units taken or devoting a good portion of our lives to earning a university education. This is precisely the kind of thing that interests photographer Catherine Wagner.

Wagner will appear as part of the Art Studio Program Lecture Series today at 4:30 p.m. in the Technocultural Studies Building (formerly the Art Annex). The event is free.

Known for her conceptual work in photography, Wagner examines influences on cultural identity, such as institutions of knowledge, science and technology. Her work is represented in the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York as well as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. In 2001, Wagner made Time magazine’s list of Fine Arts Innovators of the year.

Wagner explained that her investigation of institutions can be closely linked with UC Davis. Her book American Classroom: The Photographs of Catherine Wagner addresses the ways in which our cultural identities are shaped and dictated by signs within institutional settings like the classroom.

“A lot of my work is really talking about how knowledge is transferred,” Wagner said. “In any institution of learning – UC Davis included – I’m looking at how these are set up and how knowledge is transferred within them.“

Wagner explained that simply the way in which classrooms are structured can influence the way in which knowledge is transferred.

One other concept Wagner looked at was the shift toward environmentally conscious green practices. Recent writings regarding the end of the light bulb inspired Wagner’s recent work, “A Narrative History of a Light Bulb.”

Wagner described the piece, which features arrangements of historic light bulbs provided by the Baltimore Museum of Industry, as an investigation into “the way that light plays an important role in our lives.“

She illustrated the process of photographing the light bulbs as “working with light to photograph light.”

“I was thinking a lot about the metaphor of the light bulb with the idea of knowledge or thinking,“ Wagner said. “Without light, our lives would be very different.“

Today’s lecture is a retrospective look at Wagner’s work, which in addition to photography, deals with writing and architecture. Darrin Martin, an assistant professor in the art studio department, eagerly anticipates Wagner’s visit.

“Her camera lens elicits a challenging repose to the things we think we already know, but have never truly had the opportunity to engage through their uncanny representations,” he said. “The way in which Wagner focuses upon very specific interests but keeps them alive and fresh through the framing of her lens will hopefully be a creative inspiration to all the students that attend.“

Julia Elsas, graduate student coordinator for the 2008-2009 Art Studio Program Lecture Series, explained that the program functions as a way to address the isolation artists at Davis might feel.

“Wagner’s lecture, like the other artist lectures in our diverse [program] this year, provides exposure to and dialogue with an active national and international contemporary artist,“ Elsas said.

Wagner expressed her enthusiasm for lecturing to an audience of mostly students.

“People are at school because they are keenly aware of the times in which they live,” she said. “I always think that universities are ideal for this lecture because they’re primed for thinking, and thinking is the basis of my work.“

JULIA McCANDLESS can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.