The Battalion
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Stacking Up
Students make the push to get Bonfire erected on time
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Stew Milne, The Battalion
tog-cryl Martin, a freshman BioMedical Science major, directs the placement of
pyi FK S onto stac k as the "scarecrow" Monday morning during push.
Dr. Gisef
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Amy Protas
The Battalion
W hen push comes to shove, 800 to
1600 students make a mass ex
odus every night. Their destina
tion is the Polo Fields where they are
building the world’s largest bonfire.
Push is the phase of stack that started
on Nov. 16. The shifts last from 6 p.m. to
midnight and midnight until 6 a.m.
Carl Baggett, head stack redpot and
a senior accounting major, said many
people come out for push because they
get to see the actual building of Bonfire.
“When you work for something, it’s
easier if it’s tangible,” Baggett said.
“You can see it before your eyes making
a difference. We know we’re making it
for around 60,000 people, and we get re
ally excited.”
Working at stack all night long may
be detrimental to grades, especially
with finals looming ahead.
Rebecca Fields, a Bonfire coordinator
and a junior environmental design ma
jor, said students have to know how to
balance their time.
“It’s a commitment of my own heart,”
Fields said. “From the very beginning,
you have to have your priorities in order
and balance your time. Grades are a top
priority, but once you make that com
mitment to Bonfire, it has to be a top
priority too.”
Baggett said the reason there are
shifts is to allow students time to keep
up with school.
“There are only 10 days of push when
we’re really busy,” Baggett said. “The
reason there are eight or nine red pots
is so we can work in shifts. When we’re
not working on Bonfire, we’re either
studying or sleeping.”
Baggett said that despite the long
hours students spend cutting down
trees, most students are not burned out
by the time push rolls around.
"In so many ways, Bonfire is
the tangible personification
of A&M."
— Carl Baggett
head stack redpot
“Bonfire has a lot of different as
pects,” Baggett said. “We have eight dif
ferent cuts. If someone gets tired at cut,
in two weeks, you have a whole new en
vironment called push and stack.”
To many students, Bonfire is more
than just building something that is go
ing to burn in one night — it is about
friendship and tradition.
David Thurston, a sophomore gener
al studies major, said he works on Bon
fire because it represents the spirit of
people at the site.
“I started working last year because
of the camaraderie with friends,”
Thurston said. “Bonfire is one of the
traditions of A&M. Personally, I hate
heights, but I’m willing to get up there
for Bonfire. People will come out here
and are willing to give up personal
things for Bonfire.”
Last year, when Bonfire stack fell,
people sacrificed hours of time to re
build Bonfire in one week.
Noel Hoff, a sophomore agricultural
economics major, said that this year,
the pressure is off and not so many peo
ple have come out.
“This year, it is laid back because we
don’t have to rush to build in one week,”
Hoff said. “We don’t have enough people
coming out, and there are still trucks
showing up with more wood. People
think because it hasn’t fallen, they don’t
have to come out, but there are still a
lot of dedicated people. There just aren’t
that many new faces.”
Last year, there were publicized
complaints about racism and sexism
at stack.
Baggett said that this year, they
have worked to not have any more
incidents.
“We changed the whole framework,”
Baggett said. “This is now an environ
ment with an open-door policy. There
used to be closed meetings, but
now there are representatives from
different organizations that come to
our meetings.”
Baggett said Bonfire is different from
other traditions because anyone can
work on it.
“In so many ways, Bonfire is the tan
gible personification of A&M,” Baggett
said. ^Silver Taps and Muster are great,
but you can touch and feel Bonfire —
especially on the night it bums.”
corsese rolls the dice and wins big with violent Casino
Engines
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Wes Swift
£ Battalion
Casino is a gamble for Martin Scors-
le. The critically acclaimed director al-
ady conquered the mobster film genre
I th GoodFellas, and film audiences
ay wonder why Scorsese would want to
ckle another mob film.
But when Scorsese rolls the dice for
isino, he wins.
Casino chronicles the mafia’s fall
)m grace in the Las Vegas gaming in-
istry. Set in 1973, the film exposes
.ervice, 1 tie dark side of the Vegas glitz, com
ing Cenlft te with fast living, fast dying and
in car tons of cash.
i 3 p.mi| Robert De Niro plays Sam “Ace”
rson HiAthstein, the mob’s most skilled book-
i call 8% who is sent to Vegas by his mafia
rasses to run The Tangiers, the city’s
P lost luxurious casino,
ierviceill Ace’s golden touch turns The Tang
ing Ceitlf|f” s i n ^° a cash cow for his bosses. His
Starring Robert De Niro, Sharon
Stone and Joe Pesci
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Rated R
Playing at Post Oak Mali
*+** Cout of fivel
lopmentj
nore inf'!
3Xt.
lion sen
od fortune even spreads to women,
en the former bookie marries Ginger
haron Stone), a casino-hustling vamp
10 catches Ace’s eye.
To keep an eye on Ace, the mob
Jnds his childhood friend Nick Santoro
t and fentloe Pesci). Nicky is a genuine hood
is shouWj
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n date,
tices are
in in W
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through and through, and it doesn’t
take him long to start his own Las Ve
gas underworld.
Things go smoothly until Ace crosses
paths with some Nevada politicians
who cause him to lose his gaming li
cense. At the same time, Ginger dives
into drug and alcohol addiction, putting
herself, Ace and their daughter at risk.
Nicky isn’t doing well either.
His psychotic tirades make him a
marked man in Vegas, and he begins to
lose control of the city he once had by
the throat.
When all three lives become too cost
ly, the mob decides to take action with
dire results.
Casino proves why Scorsese is one of
the best filmmakers ever. The film is
riveting; the action sequences are pow
erful, and Scorsese tells an excellent
story about high-crime.
De Niro is superb as Rothstein, adding
the right blend of toughness and wisdom to
make the character work. Pesci is over the
top as Nicky, combining a laughable quali
ty with an undercurrent of psychotic anger.
Stone comes through with the first
good performance of her career. Ginger is
greedy, conniving and unfaithful. Stone
gives her a realistic quality that few ac
tresses could.
The film does drag in places, though.
Running at nearly three hours, Casino
starts losing momentum after the first
90 minutes when it shifts the focus to
the failing relationship between Ace
and Ginger.
But then Scorsese flips back to the
film’s forte — violence. The gruesome,
brutal crimes make the film believable
and kill the romantic mob image. This
is where the film gets the viewer — not
with its high-stake card games, but
with its stark violence that ingrains it
self on the viewer’s mind.
The images are powerful enough to
leave audiences wanting more. They
should come to Scorsese’s Casino, and
roll the dice. They’ll win, too.
Ace Rothstein (Robert De Niro) and Ginger (Sharon Stone) share a relation
ship tainted with neurotic impulses in Casino.
THE WORLD OF PENTECOST PRESENTS
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PHILLIPS, CRAIG & DEAN
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8TH 7:30PM
$10 Reserved & $8 General Admission
tickets on sale NOW at all UTTM Ticket
Centers or charge by phone at 477-6060.
new album
PREMIERE!!!
WORLD OF PENTECOST
1504 EAST S 1 ST STREET
AUSTIN, TEXAS 78723
5 Siam
rexasA**
1997
JUNIOR ACTIVITIES!!!
E-Walk 1995
November 30th
97 Minutes after noon
Meet at Bonfire Stack
Scheduled activities:
United Way Fundraiser (bring $1 to support the
United Way)—Pull-Out Yell at Stack-
Motivational Speaker, Dr. Lee Phillips - Picture
in the shape of '97 at Kyle Field — Pictures with
an elephant — Live radio remote — Prize
giveaways from the Chicken, Roadhouse,
Black Eyed Pea, and more — Party that night
at King of the Roadhouse on Northgate!!
DON'T TRASH THE
TRADITION!!
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