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1 Marium Mohiuddin & Leah Templeton
Staff writers
y enior year in high school is spent studying on the
(K - couch, watching television or hanging out with
nan / the family in the living room. When college ar-
3S, however, the living room no longer holds the sig-
icance of family bonding. Whether it’s a residence
I room, an apartment or a house, all students try to
_orp< >rate a little bit of the living room into their lives.
• WHEN IS A LIVING ROOM
NOT A LIVING ROOM?
rill The first day of school arrives. Students are busy
it classes, studying and attempting to gain a social
:. Odd weekends roll around when a student might
(jv .t want to lounge around and watch a favorite tele-
1 ion program, but friends crash in and this is when
Jltving room is not a living room.
Matthew Powell, a junior civil engineering major,
the weather can have an effect on what can be
g; nein a living room.
‘‘One day my friends and I got together to watch
TO big game,” Powell said. “We began to barbecue
d it started raining outside. That is when our liv-
^ l room turned into our patio. We moved the bar-
^ cue inside.”
Jason Day, a sophomore geography major, said
ablfienjhe was younger he lived in an apartment where
ere was not much space. This caused the living
om to also be used as the kitchen, and there was al-
„ tys plenty of action.
, Along these lines, Day said living in Walton Hall
eans not having much space for a living room.
“My living room here is not much different than
y bedroom,” Day said. “In the dorm, the living room
thellounging area. It’s my bedroom and I guess also
^y living room. I wouldn’t call it something different
jecause] they are both the same.”
Elizabeth Harris, a freshman elementary educa-
iei
tion major, said in a residence hall, the living room
can be used for everything.
“You sleep, eat, cook, dress, dance, exercise and
have guests all in the same small dorm [room],” Har
ris said. “My roommates and I really like dorm life
and we have had a lot of fun, but we are ready for an
apartment because it is hard to do everything in that
one room.”
• WHAT IS THE CRAZIEST THING YOU
HAVE DONE OR HAVE HEARD DONE IN THE
LIVING ROOM?
Since the living room is the common room to hang
out in, people always will end up in this space. When
gathered in a confined area, naturally something mis
chievous will occur.
Powell said the craziest thing to happen in his
apartment occurred during the week of finals.
“Me and my roommates were studying way too
much for finals and we needed to take a break,” he
said. “So we converted our couch and tables into forts
and declared war. We spent the next few hours pre
tending to battle each other.”
Day said he has not had many crazy adventures irT
his living room.
“The craziest things I have ever done are typical
teenager things,” Day said. “Your parents go away and
your friends come over. They are 17 to 18 years old,
so they search for your parents’ stash of alcohol.”
Day said not many crazy things happen in a liv
ing room because it is a room families hold sacred
for bonding.
“At home your family spends a lot of time in the
living room,” he said. “When friends come over, you
usually don’t go to the living to hang out with them.
You go straight to your bedroom. So most of the
crazy things happen in other rooms. Maybe be
cause the living room is familiar and reminds you
of family time.”
Harris said Vanilla Ice’s arrival in Bryan-College
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FIRST FLOOR PLAN
Station caused her and her roommate to become cre
ative in their living room.
“Before the Vanilla Ice concert, my roommate and
I put on Tee Ice Baby’ real loud,” Harris said. “People
from all over the hall came to our room and we start
ed dancing to the song.”
• WHAT CAN BE FOUND IN THE LIVING
ROOM THAT REFLECTS YOUR PERSONALITY,
OR IS PERSONAL TO YOU?
Even with the excitement of college, there are lit
tle and big things missed from the comfort of a living
room. To make their residence halls, apartments and
houses more comfortable, students equip them with
personal touches.
Powell said personal belongings in a living room
can tell a lot about a person.
“The personal touch in our living room is the car-^
pet covered with books,” Powell said. “Books tell a lot*,
about a person — what they do or don’t like or even*
how they may act.”
Please see Room on Page 4.>
*•
v
ip
M
o those
, Sat When Footloose was released, it
is a hit. Many years later, pon-
ring over the movie, makes you
mder “What was so good about
” It is the typical ’80s scenario:
y/giii is bad and rebels against
parents, he/she falls in love, over
comes the odds, the enemy is
beaten and everyone is happy. In
typical ’80s style, there are cheesy
song moments, tacky dance num
bers and tight clothing.
Watching the movie after these
years brings roars of laughter, but
one has to remember the decade to
appreciate the movie. The movies of
the ’80s set the standard for what is
being done today. Many scenes in
Footloose (a girl playing chicken with
a Mac truck) have been adapted in
recent movies. Criticism put aside,
we can use a break from the serious
ness of ’90s films and enjoy an ’80s
flick. After all, Footloose is what made
the ’80s an unforgettable decade.
— Marium Mohiuddin
As soon as those dancing feet ap
pear during the opening credits of
Footloose, you know that you’re
about to watch one of the most pop
ular movies of the ’80s. So what is it
about this movie that keeps it great
today? Is it a frustrated Kevin Bacon
dancing around a warehouse and
swinging from rafters in the middle
of the night? Or is it every kid’s
dream to play tractor chicken with
his or her dad’s farming equipment?
Whatever it may be, Footloose
was a cult hit right from the start.
Who knows if teenagers in these
small towns actually wore ripped
T-shirts and maroon tuxedos. How
many girls at your high school
wore the same pair of red boots
everyday? Despite the styles, Foot
loose has lasted throughout the
’90s, and it will probably be
around another 10 years.
— Leah Templeton
Two guys dancing in seclusion
against a powerful religious force
... no, it isn’t a movie about a cou
ple of priests, it’s the ’80s “gem”
known as Footloose.
A good guy, who everyone thinks
is bad, tries to win the heart of a
good girl. He faces opposition from
her minister father and various
surly townsfolk.
Kevin Bacon does his best
Leonardo DiCaprio impression as
the puberty-deficient rebel. John
Lithgow has gone onto better things
and Lori Singer is probably lap
dancing in a Mexican truck stop.
This is the kind of movie that
makes Reagan wish Alzheimer’s had
hit him a decade earlier so he
couldn’t remember it.
—Travis Irby
In second grade, my friend Victor
called this kid named Dwayne “foot
loose” on the playground and got in
big trouble. I never understood why
this was such an insult until some 13
|
years later when I actually sat down
and watched the movie.
Footloose, which ironically came £
out in 1984, features a land where L*
dancing and rock ’n roll are strictly £
forbidden by the ruling class.
New-kid-in-town Ren rebellious-^
ly blasts Men at Work from his Bug
while laying rubber to the school £
parking lot.
Long live the glorious struggle! £
The only saving grace of Foot-#
loose is that it brought the song *
“Let’s Hear It for the Boy” to the cul
tural identity. No song back in the
day could rock the roller rink quite
like it, except for, of course, “Ghost-
busters,” by Ray Parker, Jr.
— Chris Martin
Please see Footloose on Page 4.
nit)
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