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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2000
`Almost' Perfect:
The irony here is obvious: a boy
lovingly instructed never to
take drugs falls in love with a
girl at the exact moment she
overdoses. Perhaps in any other
movie, the irony would be trite, but
in Cameron Crowe's new film there
is no such thing. It's just an honest
example of the cruxes in life.
Based on Crowe's own
experiences, Almost Famous is the
story of William Miller (played by
newcomer Patrick Fugit), a bright
beyond-his-years misfit who taps into
"cool" with the rock albums his sister
leaves behind after she flees their
strict, but well-meaning mother
played Frances McDormand. As a
college professor, Elaine tries
desperately to shield her children
from the gluttonous paradise of the
early 70's only to cloak it in alluring
mystery.
William grows into the frenetic
utopia of his world of music and
begins writing about it in local
publications. But at age 15, when
"Rolling Stone" sends him on tour
with a show opener named Stillwater,
he must struggle to bring back that
elusive thousand words about and
For Rent: the moving
by Katie Galley
editorial page editor
Cross dressers, lesbians, gays and
straights all make up the cast in the latest
musical to hit Pennsylvania. No, it's not
the Rocky Horror Picture Show, it's
Rent.
Rent is the 1996 Tony Award winning
musical by Jonathan Larson. Based on
the opera, La Boheme by Puccini, Rent
tells the story of eight friends over one
year of their lives in New York City.
The opening scene shows friends
Mark and Roger hanging out in their
grotestquely furnished apartment, with
Mark shooting footage of Roger on his
hand held Bmm camera. Quickly
introducing the audience to the
characters, we find out that Roger is
infected with HIV and has been in rehab
for the past year, just recently returning
King reigns over
e-books
by Erin McCarty
staff writer
After a near-fatal accident last
June, horror master Steven King
announced to the world that he
would never write again. How
ever, King's own horror experi
ences urged him to tap out yet an
other page-turner...or screen
scroller.
King shocked the world by pub
lishing his latest novel as a serial
in e-book format and asked people
to pay for it on the honor system.
Surprisingly enough, he has seen
a 75% return.
Now the writer has published
a long-awaited book of memoirs,
and his bizarre accident actually
served as a concrete ending point.
Movies
15 Minutes
Digimon: The Movie
Get Carter
Imposter
Meet the Parents
10/6
* release date is 10/10
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Billy Crudup (left) and writer/director Cameron Crowe on the set of
Almost Famous
despite sex, drugs and rock and roll
Almost Famous is as poignant a
snapshot of sin and redemption as any
of those that mark William's journey.
Set against the ruthless search for
adoration and the desperation of
innocence, Crowe captures the true
paradox of the era. The band
members and the groupies—
to his apartment in Alphabet City in the
East Village.
The phone rings, and Benny, former
friend to Mark and Roger, informs them
that the past year's rent is due on their
apartment, or they will be evicted. The
stage goes dark and then suddenly
bursts alive with music and the cast
spouts off about AIDS, having no
money, past loves, living on the streets,
cheating lovers and eating disorders--
in no particular order.
Greed, corruption and selling-out are
all undertones in this musical. However,
the theme that weaves all the stories
together is 'no day but today.' Can
people find love after being burned?
What if they have AIDS and have no
hope for the future? Can people make
a name for themselves in this world
without giving into corporate sponsors?
These are the questions that the friends
In the book, King details his early
fascination with writing, describ
ing how he used to go to the mov
ies, then sell novels to his class
mates for a quarter. The gruesome
also attracted him from an early
age, and he clearly remembers the
time his mother described seeing
a man die after jumping off a roof.
The book also reveals the eerie
details of the freak accident that
nearly killed him last year. While
walking down the road in Bangor,
Maine, King was hit by a van. The
van driver had apparently been
distracted by his dog. In a strange
twist of fate, Bryan Smith, the
driver of the van, was found dead
at his home this year on Stephen
King's birthday, September 22.
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Video*
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Jurassic Park
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Cameron Crowe's new film celebrates the
sanctity of happiness amidst the den of sin
by'
affectionately termed "hand-aides"
because of their intense loyalty—
grasp at the remains of their
experiences, hoping it's enough to
justify their shame and their happiness
alike.
Fugit's cherub face does well to
mask William's true sophistication,
but also reminds the viewer of his
Broadway
must deal with during the year.
Roger, the one with AIDS, can't deal
with the world and wants to write one
great song before he dies. Mark, his
roommate, hides behind his camera
making documentaries of the 'real
world.' Then there's Maureen, ex
girlfriend of Mark, who left him for
Joanne.
Mimi, another tenant in the building,
likes Roger, but is a current drug addict
with AIDS and can't love herself or let
herself be loved. Benny, former friend
of Mark and Roger, used to go out with
Mimi and now wants to kick the entire
crew out of their building to build a
cyberarts studio.
Then there's Tom Collins, who also
used to live with Mark and Roger,
whose most recent job was teaching
computer-age philosophy at NYU. He
hooks up with Angel, a cross-dresser
Houston charged in drug case
by Clifford White
staff writer
Pop diva Whitney Houston is being
charged by the Hawaii prosecutor on
drug charges. She has until October
26 to turn herself in or she could face
jail time
In January, Houston was stopped at
the Keahole-Kona International
Airport during a routine inspection, at
which time airport security discovered
15.2 grams of marijuana inside her
bag. The security guards seized the
bag and tried to detain the singer, but
she had already boarded her flight to
San Francisco. The private company
that provided security for the airport
who detained Houston was unable to
arrest her, as they could only deal with
airport security crimes. The police
reportedly arrived 45 minutes after the
flight had taken off.
In April, the Hawaiian prosecutor
said that charges would not be pressed
against Houston, but the matter would
be turned over to the police for further
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Wallflowers
Breach
Orgy
Vapor Transmission
impressionable age. Through the
perfect blend of introspection and
wonder, Fugit masterfully develops
his character as the awe-struck moral
center of that all-consuming fantasy
world. Kate Hudson's portrayal of
Penny Lane, the tour's most popular
band-aide, also invokes the right
combination of heart and whore.
While the camera goes out of its way
to illustrate her fragile angelic features
with long one-shots, her true
vulnerability is most obvious when
she shares the screen with Russell.
Played by Billy Crudup, Russell is
Stillwater's guitarist and pretty boy.
Arrogant with an emerging conscious,
Crudup's Russell, the self-proclaimed
"Golden God," softens as he sees his
soul through William's young eyes.
The conflicting traits of saint and
sinner are what give this film its
decency. Without the distraction of a
molded hero, the dissidence of the
characters and life itself allow for true
reflection and sincere filmmaking.
Crowe masterfully pays tribute to the
earnestness of his younger years and
to the ardency of those who joined
him.
musical
with AIDS. The entire Alphabet City
Avant Garde crew joins forces to keep
Benny from tearing down the building,
kicking out a tent-city of homeless
persons.
Did everybody get all that? And
while the gang is successful in deterring
Benny from creating Cyberarts, they
aren't successful in their personal lives.
Loving, losing and leaving make up the
rest of the year in the life of the friends.
Losing members of their family and
selling out tear the friends apart
throughout the year. In the end, after
losing one friend and nearly losing
another, they realize that love and
friendship are the most important things
in the world, and that there really is no
day but today.
investigation. However, if any new
evidence were to surface against her,
prosecutors would take further action.
It was reported by Hawaii County Vice
Squad Lt. Robert Hickcox that there
were fingerprints found on the
marijuana container that was tested,
but he would not say whose prints they
were.
On September 22, deputy
Prosecutor Mel Fujino said the Hawaii
County Prosecutor's office has
decided it will press charges against
the pop star with third-degree
promotion of a detrimental drug,
which is punishable by 30 days jail
time and a $l,OOO fine. Prosecutors
will give her until October 26 to turn
herself in. If she refuses, a warrant
will be put out for her arrest.
The police uncovered enough new
information about the superstar's drug
use to convince prosecutors to file
charges. Court TV has already applied
for permission to cover the case.
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by Deanna Symoski ,
Running
Numbers:
How the MPAA is
gambling with film ratings
Afew months ago I was waiting in the lobby of a local movie
theater when a mother and her son, approximately nine years
old, approached the ticket booth. They looked up at their
choices of films, when the young boy decided on The Replacements,
rated PG-13. The mother said no, suggesting instead Space Cowbop.
I thought about that for a moment, realizing the mother had proposed a
film with the same rating as the first. She had seen neither, hut
apparently trusted that senior citizens were somehow /cAA PG-13 than
Gen-Xers. It was just a fleeting thought, and after a moment I paid it no
more attention. But with with the tongue-lashing and all-out threats that
Hollywood has recently gotten about its test-screening procedures, the
scene occurred to me again, as it perfectly illustrates the absurdity of the
current film ratings system.
Undoubtedly, this latest attack by the government on I lollywood will
provoke some changes, one of which might very well he the complete
overhaul of the way the MPAA (Motion Picurc Association of Am'crica)
rates films. It's the change that critics feel is long overdue, and given the
arbitary nature of the system, one that may save unsuspecting parents
from gambling with the viewing habits of their kids.
The difference between PG-13 and R is a subtle one, as is the tine line
between R and NC-17. But it's not what you see that deternmes a rating,
it's the number of times you see it. It's a numbers game that the board is
really playing. In fact, the same movie, with the same plot, is subject to
all three of these ratings depending upon how many times it employs the
use of certain words or actions. For example, DI: Dolitile got tagged
with a PG-13 rating for language. Yes it was explicit, hut that wasn't the
problem. It was the amount of explicit language that sent ratings board
members into a tizzy. Forget that any curse words were used in a child
friendly film, what mattered was the number of times they were used.
Obviously, board members are missing the point. Ratings were
established to help parents understand the content of films. All the board
currently does, however, is rate the amount of content that is hardly
acceptable for PG and PG-13 rated films in the first place, all hut
forgetting the inherent insidiousness of these phrases or actions. the
board increasingly chooses to focus on the number of times the phrase or
action occurs. The problem that no one seems to realize is that if a word
was troubling 36 times, it will be no less troubling at number 35.
Such arbitrary standards determine the line between R and NC- I 7 as
well. An R rating means that children may attend the film N\ it h a parent
or guardian, but an NC-17 sticker will not admit children under 17
despite the accompaniment of an adult. So what's the difference?
Board members felt parents would not condone the original versions of
films like South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut or Two Grip and a
Girl, so they sent the films back to the chopping board. After returning
numerous times, the films were both tagged with R-ratings (instead of
the original NC-17). What they changed wasn't content. It was, of
course, the amount of it.
South Park came before the ratings board six times before it was given
the less severe rating. Among changes was a sentence using "God" and
two expletives, which was was worth NC-17. Changed to "God" and
one expletive—well, that's a measly R. The Heather Graham/Robert
Downey Jr. film saw requests for similar changes during its 14
submissions to the board. In the film's only sex scene, Graham was
restricted to moving her arm up and down three times instead of six,
while Downey could only be on his knees three seconds instead of seven
Again, the message of the content was ignored and the foals became
the amount of times the message was sent. Sex is sex, whether a child is
allowed to see seven seconds of it or only three. The impression has
already been made. And if using "God" and
twu expletiNcs i unsuitable
shouldn't using "God" and one expletive be just as inappropriate'? If the
board feels that numbers should define the viewing habits of children, it
must seriously reconsider its own standards.