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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 8, 1989)
Page 12 The Battalion Wednesday, March 8.1989 ^ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZM BONFIRE ’88 pictures tu SCOREBOARD ’88 pictures The Fish Drill Team will be Selling 8x10 pictures of: Bonfire ’88 tu Scoreboard ’88 5 In A Row Scoreboards Pictures for sell in the MSC Monday, March 6 thru Friday, March 10 s S ? >: >> S s Bush decides against settling Eastern strike by intervention Spring Break for Sale Great Rates f Make your spring break affordable! Gre the whole family. $88 per nlght/gets you $88 Emerald Beach - the best that Corpur • Located on 600 feet of whit • Relax & play in the surf, jo • Indoor pool, whirlpool & sa • Indoor playport for the kids Call 1-800 Holld (Not available on ocean!root rooms. Must 1102 S. Shoreline, Corpus ( FREE SNEi WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi dent Bush on Tuesday virtually ruled out intervening in the Eastern Airlines strike, saying “man-to-man negotiation” is preferable to a gov ernment-imposed settlement. While he didn’t flatly rule out stepping in to end the walkout, Bush said his policy “will hold firm” de spite pressure in some congressional quarters to force him to act. Fielding questions for more than 40 minutes in the White House briefing room, he insisted that “there isn’t malaise” in his adminis tration because of the drawn-out fight over confirmation of Defense Secretary-designate John Tower. “A lot is happening,” the presi dent said. “Not all of it good, but a lot is happening. . . . We’re on track.” Bush defended his chief of staff, saying John Sununu, the former New Hampshire governor, knows his way around Washington and is doing his job well. Bush said he has “total confidence” in Sununu. Bush noted that Tower has pledged not to drink a drop of liquor if he gets the job and told his nation ally televised news confreence, “You’ll have 25,000 people in the Pentagon making sure that’s true.” The president said his backing of Tower against Democratic opposi tion in the Senate “isn’t iron-willed stubbornness; it’s a question of fun damental principle here.” The president had spare time in news conference statement to “res tate my belief that free collective bar gaining is the best means of resolv ing” the strike. He exhorted Eastern manage ment, the Machinists union and other unions to conduct “head-on- head, man-to-man negotiation” and said he thought that would be “bet ter and more lasting . . . than an im posed government settlement, which could cause the airline to totally shut down.” On other subjects during the more than 40-minute question-and- answer sesion, Bush said he wool like to see Palestine Liberation Orj! ni/.ation Chairman Yasser Arafe “speak out” against raids that hai been carried out by Palestinian guei rillas against Israelis in southei Lebanon. Bush said he hoped these int dents would not jeapordize U.S talks with PLO representatives said he thought that Arafat shouli “forthrightly condemn any tentt that might be perpetrated by the Pi estinians.” President intends to replace immigration head, source says 11 nr i WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration will replace Alan C. Nelson as head of the Immi gration and Naturalization Service, an administration source said Tues day. Attorney General Dick Thorn burgh, who recently received a de partment audit that criticized man agement and operations of INS, is searching for someone to take over the agency, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity. The source confirmed a report in Tuesday’s editions of the Los An geles Times that Nelson would be 1986 immigration reform law, whid E rovided for massive amnesty for :gal aliens. INS became embroiled in a mini her of lawsuits charging that itwii improperly making it difficult fori legal aliens to obtain legal status un der the new law. The Justice Department audn completed two weeks ago, cited INi for its failure to conduct backgrount checks on many applicants for d izenship and found that 23,000 valir able naturalization certificates hat been lost by the agency’s Miami rt gional office. fe> WAS lican Li offreje defense night ai firmatu whethe pledge. Sena Mitchel cerns" i conside Dole notirna drainin; ing i r - w mation. Undt confirm 12 U. THE NATIONAL COLLEGE NEWSPAPER Life And Art ■ SPRING Kathleen Peterson She completed her degree on the 56-year plan By Tim Casey ■ The Minnesota Daily U. of Minnesota, Twin Cities At a university, graduations are sometimes commonplace and often routine. But for Kathleen Peterson, who started her college career in 1932 at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn., a college career has taken on a new meaning. “I went for two years, then quit school to work because (of) the De pression,” she said. Now 73, Peterson, who “always regretted not finishing school,” re cently received her English Litera ture degree in December — 46 years after she started her course work and eight years after return ing to the U. of Minnesota. She finished last June with a 3.8 grade point average and went through ceremonies last quarter at the urging of her family. Peterson said she didn’t feel out of place at the university because of her age. “I’ve found that people will be a little nicer to you if you’re handicapped or old. I try not to look too decrepit.” At one time, Peterson even attended school with her daughter Mary and her granddaughter Sarah Williams. Film critics: Ten stars or two thumbs down? Led From Self-styled celebrities are either true authorities or blatant advertisements By Randy Gener ■ Sagebrush U. of Nevada, Reno When you browse through the Style section of any newspaper and read the exclamatory critics’ quotes in the movie ads, don’t they make you feel as if the greatest pictures of the year appear ev ery week? Film Commentary Page one has Critic X blurting out: “Sheer pleasure! Don’t miss it!” Just be low that, Critic Y screams, “Compelling! One of the year’s best!” with four huge stars emblazoned across the ad. Then come the conflicting opinions: Critic A says the movie is “remarkable.” Critic B launches a slap-dash attack: “silly, crummy, predictable.” You are flabber gasted: are these idiot savants watch ing the same film? But such is the politics of critical su perlatives nowadays. A movie no longer sells because it is a movie, work of art or simple entertainment. Movie moguls are more concerned with a set of good reviews from the national critics. Newspapers and television stations, on the other hand, are simply en chanted when their critics get quoted — it’s publicity for them too. So they accelerate efforts to “sell” their critics, who then become instant celebrities, whether deserved or not. No one is disputing that credit should be given when due. But when intelli gent film discussions are reduced to im potent puffs, the public is being duped. National Review Film Critic John Simon once wrote that reviews are in ventions of newspapers. Essentially a consumer service group, staff critics were but publicity tools. When some media big-wigs found out only a handful of people read reviews anyway, they “a iculous, fhow’ve: hd,” I sai [years ol too. Still |en they vasapai |’d like t i got a ct hver and [f/' \ |like tha ay, call jo get mi Jht, talk: lling.” Ill, I had: had to come up with a easy-on-the-mind shorthand. Thus the star-rating system emerged as a form of criticism. Ultimately, however, the star system is as meaningless as KABC-TV movie reviewer Gary Franklin’s 1 to 10 ratings or Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert’s “Two thumbs up!” Is there truly a difference between two stars and one-and-a-half stars? If there is, should people go to the two star movie instead? Franklin himself isn’t satisfied with his system and sometimes exclaims “10 plus!” Does a better film than that be come a 10 plus-plus? And when Siskel and Ebert say “two thumbs up,” does it mean they were better films than last week’s “thumbs up” films? What if you saw the movie anyway and you’re not sure what you think of it. Do “thumbs up” or “six stars” help you make any sense of it? Village Voice film critic David Edelstein got upset over a similar issue: “For several months my name loomed large on a ... marquee for the Japanese film Tampopo — ‘Obscenely pleasurable! Edelstein, Voice.’ Then they took me down for two serious critics: T liked it Roger.’ T liked it too, Gene. Let’s give it two thumbs up.’ Swine.” Often, the quotes are deliberately lifted out of context. Vincent( The New York Times was quotol ads for Midnight Run, whichbl “i nstan tly forgettable,” since hef a fine performace by RobertDe!| the ads for Cop, the line, thriller!”, could be seen. Butifl really saw Janet Maslin’sj Times piece, that quote wasactiu headline of the review. The worst cases occur when! seems to pander to publicityp only interested in spreadinghii! name around. Jeffrey Lyons, ftiira Pereiro d flamenco, jazz I the lead role i ill," from his la ing auditions, o i, who coordinate Sneak Previews, is the MaryPojS f movie critics. Lyons’ critical |ng the Iasi appeared in 97 ads last year, ft iSandra Pereiro only by Joel Siegal of ABCwil (hanMTVvidec Lyons is the “critic” who h# sic - Pereiro 15 Cruise’s dopey performance inG as a “tour de force,” and rave Vibes, one of the most panned last year, with “I haven’t laug! hard all year.” To top it all off,lit ^ FI a ’ e a spokesman for General In the end, it’s all a debilitatiiffor all and piriting mess. With critics mistake the glint of Tinseltown! and with publicity people for win sponsible advertising” is an o$ the movies have become a art. is Italian for "to I inelhat focuses who is headi: the magazin 1 in art in gene ous activities an Themagaz HELL FOR BEGINNERS AfceitF umaoucnctf to hhs CMTTooO Foe Meowrij wt> a remumai. comae Foe those lino mmeut koi mtwiwJ WHO: ST»a or this cumoi. DlSTlU&OlWlUi Ffc*ru«sr. TwX> 6*0TECQgt (MS. •wLfci® 6S6S. COMITWT Tv)ITCHm*C,. E*OTl*»Hl STUT*: ftffTtA. DtPft&CStP, UOAmAl. WHO: *AA«lT C*JTMC-O>0. ptSriritoiSHntb FCATtfftfC: 0A$«cAi.L’9, iH PftAG. Emotional STATE: OtCA« »©•>*». w*, STKAwhGD. WHQ: BfttfTMCAS, o* tovffts. O® torn. Distinguishing FtAr*tCf: tcrrM fcifts on Si PC OP m«ac>. fcwtfrioHAt STfcTt: iNSnurAUt. WHO: ho out e&Au* cA«6f DISTINGUISHING REA?«tfS.- TAKfc A &OESS. CMoTipHAf STATt: SOUtcCWCO UJILL THE CHARACTERS IN "uFE IN HELl" EVER ACHIEVE HAPPiNESS? whixt ft siu-y ooes-noo: Anp-mt vnu &e esnapp*) ps w'flet. College favorite Groening achieves success in ‘Hell’ ons, is brc .prose, art and c “difterentiate ine$,"said Twee m department. ■ 1 Tar Heel, Biel Hill By John Delavan ■ The Maroon Loyola U., LA The introductory cartoon to Matt Groening’s nihilistic look at Life In Hell. The primary themes of Matt Groen ing’s cartoon are love, sex, work, death- ... and, of course, rabbits. It’s a comic strip featuring characters teeming with feelings of alienation and angst, whose mental states are tenuously neurotic at best. Given the premise, Life In Hell has rapidly become one of the most popular alternative comics, featured nationwide in college newspapers and weeklies. Groening seems to be taking most of his success in stride. He comes across as pleasant and amiable, grateful that suc cess has come on his terms. “The total enterprise of drawing car toons is frivolous and absurd,” Groening said. “It’s like playing.” But why create a rather demented (and often controversial) cartoon , featuring three pathological ral and two fez-wearing, gay midgets Groening confirmed that some characterizations in his strips ac came from life experiences. “1 ^ Binky on a friend I had in a said. “We both had tremendous m tic difficulties with girls, us endless frustration.” Groening’s choice to draw rabbit; pretty arbitrary, he said. “But Iq® 1 ennsy Vdni learned that a rabbit was the only® ness and Br al I could draw that most people ft ilswtio aren’t ai readily identify.” sol visual andpe iled arts prograr With Groening’s success has co® is, le student is series of compilations entitled W dean get hands- Hell, Work Is Hell, School Is Hi Childhood Is Hell. He is also an Emmy nominated writer for Fox-TVs W ion," not just or Ullman Show, which features aca® family named the Simpsons ing things ii . Described only journal World Review is of about 40 stm [global affairs and itotmostjourna loose and discus "Weil said. "But icltas'Questionii The st is for foreign c i The Professor t I to appeal to nor med at arts majo live. “We’ve trie ■Michelle ^western, Noi