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The Friends C R A Z E
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hey have great apartments, great
clothes and of course, great hair.
We only get to spend time with
hem on Thursday nights, but somehow
hey have become our best friends.
What 90210 was to the late ’80s,
'riends has become to the ’90s. It is a
how that defines hipness for Genera-
;ionX and is shrouded in popularity.
Jimmy Hyland, a Friends fan and a
Taduatesi un ^° r account '^ n S major, said he suc
cumbed to the Friends craze because
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;he show was a unique alternative to
ither bland TV fare.
“The first time I ever saw it, I
bought it was different from every-
hing else on TV,” Hyland said. “Of
:ourse, they try to be too hip so they can
ippeal to the 20-something audience,
he coffee shop people, but it is still a
unny show.”
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Ross (David Schwimmer) and Phoebe
(LisaKudrow) star in Friends.
David Fernandez, a junior biomed
ical science major, said he got drawn
into the show by his roommate, who is
also a fanatic. He likes the show be
cause of the characters’ chemistry.
“The characters are really likable
and funny,” Fernandez said. “They work
well together, and each character is
counter-balanced by another. They all
seem to click. It seems real, at least as
real as TV gets.”
Everyone has their favorite character
they identify with or at least have a
crush on.
Lori Pollack, a sophomore business
administration major, said Ross holds a
place in her heart.
“My favorite character is Ross,” Pol
lack said. “He’s really cute. He’s such
a shy guy, and he’s a typical guy who
waits for the relationship to happen
because they’re scared. He’s also the
most educated.”
Not since “Who Shot J.R?” has a TV
question been more debated than “Will
Ross and Rachel do it?” Last week, the
mystery was solved, and the answer
was yes.
Candice Hausler, a freshman wildlife
and fisheries major, said the show will
lose some of its appeal now that the two
have slept together.
“I think the show isn’t going to be as
good since they slept together,” Hausler
said. “They’ve been building us up for so
long. Most shows end shortly after that
because it’s something they’ve been
aiming for.”
Even local businesses have jumped
onto the Friends bandwagon. The Bra
zos Brewing Company hosts a Friends
night on Thursday where friends can
eat, drink beer and watch the show.
Jere Blackwelder, a Brazos Brewing
Company owner, said Friends night has
been one of the company’s most success
ful advertising projects. He wanted to
create a place where friends could hang
out like the hang out on the show, The
Central Perk.
“The night of the pseudo-ice storm
we thought no one would come,”
Blackwelder said. “But we had
a record crowd. The place just
exploded. I thought the glass
was going to break. One
punch line and everyone
laughs together.”
At Friends night, the
brewery gives away huge cof
fee mugs and “Rachel” hair
cuts at the Other Eclips
Hair Care.
Gretchen Colford, an em
ployee at Command Perfor
mance, said the “Rachel”
haircut is one of the most
demanded styles.
“They come in and say
they want the ‘Rachel’ or
‘Friends’ haircut,” Colford
said. “It’s actually called ‘An
Increased Layer.’ It’s been
around a long time before
Rachel got it, but she’s the
one who made it popular.”
Diet Coke is traveling
across the country giving
away 50 parties at 50 differ
ent universities.
Leslie New, a self-described
Friends fanatic and a senior jour
nalism major, said she was chosen
to have one of the parties.
“The idea is that I invite 20 of
my friends,” New said. “Diet
Coke provides the drinks and
food, and on February 22, we will
have the party. Supposedly, they
will be surprising us with
Friends gifts. I love Friends. I
watch it, tape it and distribute it to
those who don’t have cable.”
The Friends name has become as
good as gold. Attach the name to the
product and most likely it will be a big
seller. Another trend that has spawned
from the show is the Y-necklace.
Julia Omar, owner of Julia’s Silver
Boutique, said she was surprised at how
popular the necklaces have become.
“They are sterling silver necklaces
with beads on them,” Omar said. “You
couldn’t get them in this area, and I
saw there was a demand for them. I got
a lot of response because I called it the
Friends necklace.”
But not everyone has bought into
the craze.
Suzanne Stocking, a junior anthro
pology major, said she hates the show
and all the hype that goes along with it.
“The show is extremely annoying,”
Stocking said. “I just think they knew
people would go nuts over it and want
to emulate that entire cool 20-some
thing lifestyle. They’re milking it for all
they can. And it’s working because I
look around campus and every girl I see
has one of those haircuts.”
Academy uses faulty logic in
choosing Oscar nominees
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A s I pored over
the Oscar
nominations
Tuesday morning, a
question from The
Simpsons popped
into my head that I
would like to pose
to the Oscar voters:
“Are you deaf,
or are you just stupid?”
But before I proceed, let’s get
everything out in the open.
The Academy and I have not
been happy bedfellows ever since
last year, when Forrest Gump
won the award for Best Picture.
The Shawshank Redemption,
Quiz Show and Fhilp Fiction all
rated higher on my Best Picture
list, and I was supremely dis
pleased when the Academy of
ion Picture Arts and Sciences
gave in to a bleeding-heart film
that outranked the other nomi
nees only in the number of times
the audience went “ahhh!”
But now the Academy has
thrown down the gauntlet.
It has crossed the Hollywood
Rubicon and slapped me in the
face.
I, in return, have declared war
on that most hallowed, yet incred
ulously ignorant, organization
that is the AMPAS.
This year’s nominees for Best
Picture are a motley crew: the
:e odyssey Apollo 13; the
quirky animal film Babe; the Ital
ian-made The Postman; the Jane
Austen novel film Sense and Sen
sibility; and
Braueheart, the
epic about Scot
tish rebel William
Wallace.
Amazingly ab
sent from the
ranks of this “ech
elon” of the year’s
best films is Leav
ing Las Vegas, the tragic love sto
ry between a prostitute and a self
destructive drunk.
Let me repeat this: Braveheart
is up for Best Picture and Leaving
Las Vegas is not.
Until the Academy gets its head
out of the sand, I won't recog
nize them as a true yardstick of
the top movies.
Who let the inmates start run
ning the asylum here?
Don’t get me wrong. Brave-
heart was a solid film with a
plethora of good points.
But anyone who elevates this
film past the dynamic and grip
ping Leaving Las Vegas either
has the major hots for Mel Gibson
or is getting kickbacks from the
William Wallace Mutual Admira
tion Society.
Vegas had more critical praise
than any film of the year, includ
ing the nod as Best Picture from
the Los Angeles and the New
York film critics associations; but
still no Oscar nomination.
Once again, the Academy has
ignored the most powerful film of
the year in favor of a tamer, less-
disturbing film.
Sure, watching a bunch of
Scots running around half-naked
and swinging swords isn’t Mister
Roger’s Neighborhood, but it can’t
compare to watching Nicholas
Cage slowly descend into the
abyss of an alcoholic death for al
most two hours.
Perhaps Vegas was slighted
because it is extremely brutal.
The film was tough and raw,
and it was so traumatic for some
viewers, they walked out.
The same can be said
for Pulp Fiction and its
foul language and blood-
riddled violence.
The old guard of Acad-
______ emy voters needs to wake
up and realize that not
everything in life is a bowl of
cherries. Yet for the past two
years, the Academy has turned a
blind eye to the darker, gritter
film.
Truth be known, however. I’d
rather see a gore-filled, foul-
mouthed movie that struck a
nerve than some grandly filmed
epic about Scotland six centuries
ago.
Until the Academy gets its
head out of the sand, I won’t rec
ognize them as a true yardstick of
the top movies.
Wes Swift is a junior
journalism major.
The 1996 Oscar Nominees
Best Picture
Apollo 13
Babe
Braveheart
The Postman
Sense and
Sensibility
Best Director
Mike Figgis — Leaving
Las Vegas
Mel Gibson —Braveheart
Chris Noonan — Babe
Michael Radford — The
Postman
Tim Robbins — Dead
Man Walking
Best Actress
Susan
Sarandon -
Dead Man
Walking
Elizabeth Shue — Leaving
Las Vegas
Sharon Stone — Casino
Meryl Streep — Bridges
of Madison County
Emma Thompson —
Sense and Sensibility
Best Actor
Nicolas Cage — Leaving
Las Vegas
Richard Dreyfuss — Mr.
Holland's Opus
Anthony Hopkins —
Nixon
Sean Penn —
Dead Man
Walking
Massimo
Troisi — The
Postman
Best Supporting
Actress
Kathleen
Quinlan —
Apollo 13
Mira Sorvino
— Mighty
Aphrodite
Mare Winningham —
Georgia
Kate Winslet — Sense
and Sensibility
Best Supporting
Actor
James Cromwell — Babe
Ed Harris —
Apollo 13
Brad Pitt —
7 2 Monkeys
Tim Roth —
Rob Roy
Kevin Spacey
The
Joan Allen — Nixon Usual Suspects
MSC Student Conference on National Affairs
presents
Governance of America in the 21st Century
SCAN A
4 1
Thursday. February 15:
6:00 p.m. MSC 201
Keynote Address
“Governance of the 21st Century”
Dr. Thomas Mann, Director of the Government Studies
Program, The Brookings Institution
All Presentations are open to the Public
For more information, call 845-7625
Persons with disabilities please call 845-1515 to inform us of your special needs. We request notification
three (3) working days prior to the event to enable us to assist you to the best of our abilities.
.
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