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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 17, 1996)
y anuary 17,1996 clists on sh Drive ege Station ordi- ig bicyclists and eorge I3ush Drive Fexas A&M cam- irion Pugh to FM ffect Tuesday, in police will en- ordinance until George Bush Dri- 1997. a Texas Depart- rtation area engi- uction, which be- s ago, will make ir use by pedestri- es raise p money 60 Texas A&M reiving financial aled by the sale a" collegiate li- 5,000 Aggie li- been sold by the 1 the program has i cost $30 more plates, and $25 each plate is used Milne, The Battauon GIE... jinson, a fresh- roke out during night. Robin- ;, resisting ar- , Night News Editor ii'E Editor sports Editor o Editor :h, Graphics Editor ■hics Editor nis, Pamela Benson, ia Henry, Lisa )ohn- Wes Swift, Angeh Rachel Barry, KristinJ tin DeLuca, Thomas ' Hubble, John LeBas, isa Nance, Stephanie • Swift ixter, Rob Clark, Erin , Elaine Mejia, Chris lez & Kieran Watson iy Angkriwan, Amy , Cory Willis & Evan M-Mubarak, Michele on Ed Goodwin, |ohn 3 & Gerado Quezada ry, Mandy Cater, Am- ns A&M University in t of Journalism, one: 845-3313; Fax: r endorsement by The g, call 845-2696. For in 015 Reed McDon- day. Lax: 845-2678. iludent to pick up a sin- pr, $40 per school yea r ■r or American Express, Eriday during Ihefall ! ie summer sessions ,&M University. 'aid Building, Texas > The Battalion Wednesday January 17, 1996 Aggielife Page 3 By Marisa Demaya The Battalion Learning the ropes Howdy Camp helps new Aggies adjust Shane Elkins, The Battalion Brad Bernhard, a Howdy Camp counselor and a senior civil engineering major, naps after returning from Howdy Camp. H owdy Camp ’96 kicked off at the Lakeview Conference Center near Palestine on Jan. 14, featuring at tractions like Freudian Slip and dance lessons with the Aggie Wranglers. Howdy Camp, unlike Fish Camp or Transfer Camp, was designed to welcome freshmen and transfer students before each spring semester. Chin Vu, director of Howdy Camp, said the camp is aimed to welcome all new students to A&M. “Howdy Camp is really weird,” Vu said. “This includes everybody coming in the spring semester, transfers, freshmen, graduate students — everybody.” This year’s theme, “Coloring Your Fu ture,” focused on learning about traditions and meeting new friends. Students were divided into five major camps, which broke up into smaller groups known as D.G.s, or discussion groups. D.G.s are a form of networking de signed to allow students to meet new peo ple in smaller groups without feeling overwhelmed at how many new faces there are in the crowd. Students had the opportunity to partici pate in a number of different activities, such as trading warm fuzzies, relay races and putting notes in each other’s mailboxes. Chris Mclain, assistant director of Howdy Camp, spoke of one of the most popular events at camp. “Probably the funniest thing I’ve ever done was dueling watermelons,” he said. Another skit, “Cooking with Copen hagen,” was a favorite of those attending. Other popular attractions included two mixers, where students danced or even showed off what they learned from the Aggie Wranglers. This year’s mixer themes were “Pajama Party” and “Howdy Hee Haw.” Students were encouraged to dress in costume. Campers not only learned to feel more at home at camp, but they also learned about some of the traditions at A&M. Mclain said the silent Yell Practice was one of the most memorable events that took place during camp. The theme behind that is you’re sup posed to imagine what you’d hear five miles away from Kyle Field on the night of Yell Practice,” Mclain said. "Everybody whispers each yell. It's really strange, and it's actual ly probably one of the neatest things I've ever seen." — Chris Mclain assistant director of Howdy Camp “Everybody whispers each yell. It’s re ally strange, and it’s actually probably one of the neatest things I’ve ever seen.” Yell Practice is not the only tradition campers learn. They also learn about Sil ver Taps, Muster and Bonfire. Most of the directors, Co-chairs and counselors understand what new stu dents are feeling through previous expe riences. Tiffany Ward, associate director of Howdy Camp, is a former camper who decid ed to contribute to the program after her ex periences at camp. “I transferred two years ago,” Ward said. “Everybody was so nice that I just wanted to give back.” Since then, Ward has been a counselor twice and became a co-chair before going on to become the associate director of Howdy Camp. Whatever the reasons, everyone from the directors down to the counselors share the same goal — to make new Ag gies feel welcome. Jason Ray, assistant director of Howdy Camp, also came into the program after being a camper. “When I came in as a camper,” Ray said, “I saw the time and dedication that other counselors gave to the program. It was just a great experience.” Originality ranks behind money for filmmakers T he film indus try follows a quick formula to make it big. Sequels and big names guarantee monetary success. And artistic val ue? Well hey, this is a business. One of the surest ways to have a box office hit is to make a sequel. If people enjoyed the first one, they’ll pay to see a se quel no matter how awful it is. A search through the Internet Movie Database for movies with “11” in the title gave up after churning out 200. Luckily only three movies made it up to VII (counting only movies with actu al Roman numerals in the title.) Critics almost invariably pan these sequels, and fans general ly share the disgust. In the In ternet worst-movie fan rankings, Santa Clause Conquers the Mar tians was followed by a string of sequels making up eight of the worst 10 movies. In the worst 25, the Police Academy series strives for domi nation. The seven Friday the 13th movies received universally bad scores, yet Paramount made over $200 million on the series. Films with originality often bomb. People talk about how wonderful they are, but nobody goes to see them. Warner Brother’s Family Entertainment has produced highly praised G-rated fea tures. Both A Little Princess and The Secret Garden were di rected by foreigners. Both featured no-name casts, with primary roles filled by pre- teen girls making their Holly wood debuts. Both received high critical acclaim, yet both bombed at the box office. If films don’t bear the Disney logo, they are destined to fail. Disney-animated features, whether good (Lion King) or bad (Pocahontas), always take in hundreds of millions of dollars. Popular book adaptations also guarantee huge box office grosses. After the success of Jurassic Park, any movie based on a Michael Crighton book is sure to be a hit. Congo was almost univer sally scorned (perhaps un justly) by the critics, yet contin ued to gross millions. Movies based on Tom Clancy thrillers have also struck gold at the box office. And hardly a year goes by without another hit based on a Stephen King story. Classics are a little more risky, but Mark Twain books continually appear on the big screen. Jane Austen novels have made a recent debut on the big screen, even Alicia Silverstone’s Clueless bears remarkable simi larity to Austen’s Emma. Americans are reluctant to flood to subtitled movies, yet redo them for an American audi ence, and a hit results. Cyrano de Bergerac was redone by Steve Martin as Roxanne. Another French film, Trois Hommes et un Couffin, became a hit in the United States when redone as 3 Men and a Baby. Popular television shows have also found their way to the big screen, such as The Fugitive, The Flintstones, and the soon-to- be-released Mission: Impossible. Children’s shows and comic books such as Casper, Richie Rich, and Dennis the Menace have also made successful jumps to the big screen. A huge name is another sure way to have a blockbuster. Apol lo 13, Forrest Gump and Toy Story all featured Tom Hanks. Schwarzenegger is always hot, and Stephen Spielberg films dominate the all-time money making list. Sometimes, original, no name films make it big, but rarely does another Star Wars come along. Jeremy Hubble is a junior civil engineering major. Jeremy Hubble Columnist Wayans brothers do it again with Don't Be A Menace By Wes Swift The Battalion Oh, those wacky Wayans brothers. Just when you think it’s safe to go to the theaters, the wild Wayans clan strikes again, handing out laugh-out-loud her nias to moviegoers. The family’s newest film, Don’t Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, is another parody of African-American films. Starring Shawn and Marlon Wayans and produced by their brother Keenan Ivory Wayans, Menace apes the recent slew of “gangsta” movies that have garnered critical and commer cial success. Shawn Wayans stars as Ash tray, a typical hood teen-ager who dreams of leaving the hood. Marlon Wayans is Loc Movie Review t Be A Mi I While Juice g: Sha yans oduced by is an Rated: R Playing at Honyvvood lS ★★★ (out of five) Dog, Ashtray’s cohort in mis chief and a gang banger who spends his time matching his weapons to his shoes. Loc Dog and Ashtray whittle away their days hanging out with their rogue’s gallery of a posse. But things change when Ashtray falls in love with the beautiful Dashiki (Tracey Jones), the neighborhood floozy with a pen chant for childbearing. Romance buds between Dashiki and Ashtray, but the relationship is not all roses. Dashiki’s ex-boyfriend, Toothpick, thinks Ashtray is imposing upon his territory and decides to hunt down Ashtray, Loc Dog and their homeys. Make no mistake about it — this is not the stuff that award winning films are made of, but it is damn funny. Give the lion’s share of credit to Shawn and Marlon Wayans and Phil Beauman for a solid script that gives the most laughs without going too overboard. But the Wayans family should have a lot of expertise in this area, with their work on In Living Color and I’m Gonna Get You Sucka. Menace takes parody to some hilarious extremes. Every mem orable scene from Boyz ‘N’ The Hood,. Higher Learning, Men ace II Society and Poetic Jus tice gets warped and twisted into fantastic comedy. The only Menace in this film is the chance that someone watching may bust a gut. Shawn and Marlon Wayans star in Don't Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood. Movie Maestro Richard Dreyfuss plays Glenn Holland in Mr. Holland's Opus. Powerful performance from Dreyfuss makes Mr. Holland's Opus a masterpiece By Wes Swift The Battalion The world needs more people like Glenn Holland, and the world needs a few more films like Mr. Holland’s Opus. In a film spilling over with wonderful, yet understated perfor mances, director Stephen Herek has painted a brilliant portrait of a man searching for greatness and leaving a legacy in his wake. Richard Dreyfuss stars as Holland, a dedicated musician whose one great wish is to make music. A long-time trav eling musician, Holland takes a job as a high school music teacher, hoping the job’s stabili ty will give him more time to compose his great masterpiece. What starts out as a short term gig, however, becomes a 30-year passion for Holland, who finds that teaching music can be just as gratifying as making it. Holland’s life is filled with both agony and ecstasy. His joy comes from teaching a less-than-bril- liant student the pleasure of the bass drum. His pain comes from the tragic discovery that his son, Cole, can not hear and may never realize the power of music. Then there is a beautiful young songstress with a crush on Holland, the laughable creation of the school’s first, and pitifully un coordinated, marching band and Holland’s tumultuous relation ship with a son. The heartfelt moments in Opus are as plentiful and beauti ful as the notes in Beethoven’s 7th Symphony. Each scene pulls a little bit harder on the heartstrings, so much that at the end, there can be nothing but tears and applause for this everyman music teacher who makes greatness rise from the ordinary. Glenne Headley heads a strong cast as Iris, Holland’s wife. Olympia Dukakis and Jay Thomas also give good perfor mances as Holland’s teaching colleagues. But the stage belongs solely to Dreyfuss, who blends warmth, passion, humility and pain into the music teacher so uncompromisingly real that the audience laughs with him and cries his tears. Every watcher cares about what happens to Holland, so much that he becomes the teacher everyone wanted in high school: the man who poured his passion into other lives, changing them forever. And after all of the emotional crescendos and decrescendos, the audience is left with a revelation of just what Mr. Holland’s Opus truly was. Here’s a hint — it did not have a whole lot to do with music.
