RoadTrip Walk the Planks in Ocean City

SOURCE 07-08-07 DC EE M8 CMYK

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M8 Sunday, July 8, 2007 DC The Washington Postx

Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition Nintendo Wii

Rated Mature

Capcom

$29.99

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TITLE BASIC STORY SAMPLE GRAB GRADEWHAT YOU’LL LOVE

SPOON BY AUTUM DEWILDE — MERGE; EXTRAS BY RAY BURMISTON — HBO

“Nobody likes rich guys

who cheat on their wives

and lie to the cops, he

might say, if he were ever

candid.”

— Our “hero” reads his lawyer’s mind

Despite the movie-of-the-week premise,

this debut thriller from a retired Goldman

Sachs partner delivers in ways both

predictable (fast pacing) and pleasantly

surprising (complex character

development).

The Arizona journalist expands upon an

award-winning essay, examining how what

we’ve built on Earth would mutate over time

if human beings were to vanish.

The band is tightrope taut but still evokes

a loose moodiness to complement Daniel’s

unruffl ed ruminations.

“You got no time for the

messenger / Got no regard

for the thing that you don’t

understand / You got no fear of

the underdog / That’s why you

will not survive”

— “The Underdog”

The Pumpkins pick up where they

left off in 2000, favoring the

downcast drivel that put them out

of business. Bring back the band in

the ice cream truck!— C.R.

The hokum measurements on

this fl ight reach “stratospheric.”

And the fi lm would have you believe that you can

build a perfectly functioning rocket from spare

parts.— Greg Zinman

It’s a good thing you’ve got those evil beasts to

defend you, because the average mob goon can

apparently take 20 bullets and keep on coming.— Christopher Healy

RE4 is the bloodiest, most mature title on

the system, drowning Nintendo’s would-be

cutesy console in a puddle of gore — and

some profanity.— Evan Narcisse

Despite the game’s roots in two-year-old

technology, the gesture-based shooting

and slashing controls of the Wii make for a

much-improved experience.

Terrifi c voice acting and

sharply realistic graph-

ics — not to mention

the startling violence

— give the game a

very cinematic feel.

Seeing Daniel Radcliffe,

right, demolish his

boy-wizard persona is

priceless, and a bushel

of outtakes demonstrates

how much fun the cast has

making fun of stars.

Being threatened by the Man

and the impending foreclo-

sure of his ranch don’t stop

Charlie Farmer (Billy Bob

Thornton) from attempting

to launch a rocket ship from

his barn.

Billy Corgan tried to get

the band back together, but

drummer Jimmy Chamberlin was the only other

ex-Pumpkin who showed up for

this gloomy reunion disc.

It’s “Goodfellas” meets

“Aliens”: A mafi a hit man

who’s about to get whacked

suddenly learns to control a

horde of vicious monsters.

Singer-songwriter Britt

Daniel forks over his latest

set of knife-sharp tunes

and positions himself as

the Elvis Costello of his

generation.

Ga Ga Ga Ga GaSpoon

Merge

$15.98

The World Without Us By Alan Weisman

Thomas Dunne

$24.95

A high-powered Wall Street executive’s life

spirals out of control when his estranged wife is

found murdered and he becomes — you guessed

it — the prime suspect.

Restitution By Lee Vance

Knopf

$23.95

You get to see a man in a spacesuit ride a horse.

“Please don’t stop / It’s lonely

at the top / These lonely

days / Will they ever stop? / This doomsday

clock / Tickin’ in my heart, not broken”

— “Doomsday Clock”

New-agey power ballad

“Pomp and Circumstances”

is oddly compelling. Think

Enya meets Thin Lizzy but,

you know, in a good way.

“ ‘Chubby little loser / national joke.’ . . . No,

that’s not it. ‘Pathetic little fat man / no one’s

bloody laughing / The clown that no one laughs

at / they all just wish he’d die.’ ”

— David Bowie works out a tune about Andy

Razor-fanged demons shred wiseguys limb

from limb and then eat their hearts to gain

more energy. Nice.

The book boasts an

amazingly imaginative

conceit that manages to tap

into underlying fears and subtly inspire

us to consider our interaction with the

planet. (Hint: Your house wouldn’t last

nearly as long as you might think.)

When perpetually

underemployed actor

Andy Millman (Ricky

Gervais) gets the chance to star in his own

lame sitcom, he rankles at his minor

celebrity. Cameos abound.

The new edition

includes side

missions focusing on

femme fatale Ada Wong that

previously were available only

on the PlayStation 2 version.

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Haters will continue comparing this to Gervais’s

previous triumph, “The Offi ce,” but he’s not

resting on any laurels: The show improves on its

fi rst season.— G.Z.

The science-speak gets very

technical at times, so some

readers may fi nd their eyes

glazing over.— Sara Cardace

This album’s a grower. You

might not realize its genius

until you notice that you’ve

listened to it 14 times in a row.— Chris Richards

The pull-it-all-together denouement is something

of a wobbly high-wire act: Vance makes it

across, but just barely.— Reviewed by Adriana Leshko

“Your house, your city. The

surrounding land, the pavement

underneath, and the soil hidden

below that. Leave it all in place, but extract the

human beings. Wipe us out, and see what’s left.”

— Weisman sets up his investigation

“I see how the girls look at you. They adore you.

They adore their daddy who wants to go into

space.”

— Audie (Virginia Madsen) says these words to her husband (Thornton) with a straight face

Special Agent Leon Kennedy

encounters a strange plague of

zombie-like villagers while on a

mission to track down the president’s

missing daughter in Europe.

D

The Astronaut Farmer Rated PG

Warner Bros.

$27.95

Extras: The Complete Second Season Unrated

HBO

$29.98

ZeitgeistSmashing Pumpkins

Martha’s Music/

Reprise

$18.98

The Darkness PlayStation 3,

Xbox 360

Rated Mature

2K Games

$59.99

WHAT YOU WON’T

MediaMix A Quick Take on New Releases

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»

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It’s “Baywatch,” the early years, at the Ocean City Life-Saving Station

Museum, where the history of swimwear gets the scholarly treatment.

Ocean City goes ’round and ’round on the carousel at Trimper’s Rides and Amusements.

Pop go the cheddar and caramel flavors at

Fisher’s Popcorn, home to one of O.C.’s

favorite snacks for 70 years.

The Ocean Gallery is crammed

with original paintings from the

Kitsch Period (picture beer cans

and crabs). Owner Joe Kroart

is on a crusade to create a

beach version of Stonehenge

made entirely of boats.

Learn to ride the waves atMalibu’s Surf Shop, oradd the perfect Australianlongboard to your collection.

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Get the scoop from Dumser’s Dairyland,purveyors of locally made ice cream.

Hold the ketchup: The fries at Thrasher’s can bedrenched only in vinegar. Avoid the lines at the mainshop and order instead at this smaller outpost.

The 118-foot-tall Ferris wheel provides the bestviews of the boardwalk, high above the carnivalscene at Jolly Roger at the Pier.

At Shenanigan’s Irish Pub and Grille,Celtophiles groove to performers whosesurnames start with “Mc” and “O.”

Fill summer skies with colorful fliers from theKite Loft, whose models range from basic deltadesigns to 250-square-foot custom-made kites.

Every night, Harrison’s HarborWatch Restaurant and Raw Bar mixes its signature Rhinestone Lagoon — a boozy concoction of coconut rum and vanilla vodka with mango, orange and pineapple juices.

A T L A N T I CO C E A N

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OceanCity

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WHERE: The boardwalk in Ocean City.

WHY: Sand-and-shell art, retro carousel rides and grandma’s bikini.

HOW FAR: About 1 mile, or 30 minutes on foot.

S ummer’s lovin’ the boardwalk in Ocean City. The three-mile wood walkway has anold-timey beach vibe, like Beaver Cleaver on summer vacation, thanks to such in-nocent pleasures as popcorn stands, a kite shop and a family-run amusement park.

Ocean City’s affair with boardwalks began in the late 1880s, when beachsidehotel owners laid out planks for guests who wanted to avoid walking on the sand.

The temporary “boardwalks” were removed at night and replaced each morning. In 1892,the city finally got a clue and built its first permanent path. The first boardwalk was eightblocks long and 12 feet above the sand; today’s is much longer and lower.

In the 115 years since its debut, the boardwalk has been slammed by hurricanes and con-sumed by fire, yet many of the original stores remain. “We still have the same families, thesame traditions and the same feelings,” says Sandy Hurley, an assistant curator at the OceanCity Life-Saving Station Museum, which is housed in the relocated Life-Saving Station (builtin 1891).

The boardwalk’s institutions are mostly concentrated on the southern half, which is foot-ed by Trimper’s Rides and Amusements, a family business that dates to the boardwalk’sbirth. The northern part is mostly hotels and rental properties. And closer to the middle isThrasher’s, where beachgoers have been stuffing their faces with greasy french fries fornearly 80 years.

— Ben Chapman

Road Trip maps are available at www.washingtonpost.com/roadtrip, as areaddresses and hours of operation (be sure to check before you go). Have an

idea for a trip? E-mail roadtrip@washpost.com.

WEDNESDAY IN STYLE Escapes explores Kent Island in the Chesapeake.

MAP BY JEROME COOKSON FOR THE WASHINGTON POST; PHOTOS BY BEN CHAPMAN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Proofed by: phadkep Time: 13:10 - 07-06-2007 Separation: C M Y K HIGH-RES PROOF. IMAGES ARE RIPPED. FULL PROOF INTEGRITY.Product: SOURCE LayoutDesk: SOU PubDate: 07-08-07 Zone: DC Edition: EE Page: RDTRIP