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Page 3 • Monday, March 22, 1999
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by. Call Holly:
lore informatri
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,ove is a many splendored thing
lakespeare in Love garners seven
iwards including Best Picture at Oscars
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — In a night of sur-
rises and upsets, the romantic comedy
Mkespeare in Love won seven Academy
iwards on Sunday, including best picture.
t Rwyneth Paltrow won the best actress Os-
runners: uv: ar f or ro j e as 0 5j ect 0 f a y 0U ng Bard’s
n <l1 o: ( : flections in Shakespeare in Love. Roberto Be-
^ollie WhiteC* 1 j_ as an it cl ]j an j ew shielding his son from
te horrors of the Holocaust in Life is Beauti-
il, became the first star of a foreign film to
the best actor prize.
■sade forChnst <•{ jon’t f ee i ver y deserving of this in your
■^etmg at 7P : " ®ence,” a sobbing Paltrow said, naming her
Zall Kurt at w nominees.
Ushakespeare had six Oscars and Saving Bri
an Ryan five, while Life Is Beautiful had
of Baptist St-jjree After last year’s 11-Oscar blowout by Ti-
sweekly wors’ me, the movie crowd seemed to welcome a
'' »al i,ire this year.
^0 College Ms | The tragi-comic Life is Beautiful, which Be-
3-3223 fordt jgi j also wrote and directed, won additional
tcldemy Awards for foreign film and dramat-
« Motorcyc:; score.
i oved. Wew “This is a terrible mistake because I used
-lax on HanripfeH my English,” he said, as he leapt to the
Sweet Huge tate for the second time,
lark at 691-kWudi Dench, who played the imperious but
aiii-minded Queen Elizabeth 1 in Shakespeare
i Love, and James Coburn, the alcoholic,
udents Asscbusive father in Affliction, won best sup-
- O' can. on ing Oscars.
a.in the All paving Private Ryan, Steven Spielberg’s
B)dy depiction of World War II combat, won
directing Oscar for Spielberg..— his second
nonymous: - find also took prizes for cinematography,
, from 11:301 diting, sound and sound effects editing,
of the Beute ‘‘Am I allowed to say I really wanted this?”
>e call LornaU pielberg joked as he accepted the directing
or via ends car.
ife2.tamu.edij Shakespeare in Love, which led all con-
enders with 13 nominations, also picked up
Friday ,sc ars for original screenplay, art direction,
ostume design and musical or comedy score.
foung People Uzabeth won for makeup. Gods and Monsters
knonymous); 'on for adapted screenplay.
etingatBp.m.'The most controversial moment of the
copal Church (Htow came and went quickly, as director Elia
i), For more infm
311695-2827.
Kazan — reviled by some for naming names
during the McCarthy era — stepped out to ac
cept a lifetime achievement award. Many mem
bers of the audience applauded heartily, some
stood, while others, like actors Nick Nolte and
Ed Harris, sat silently.
Besides Benigni, the only performer in a for
eign language film to win an Oscar was Sophia
Loren for Tlvo Women in 1961.
Fittingly, it was Loren who presented him
with his first award of the night. The perpetual
ly ebullient Benigni clambered over the backs
of seats and hopped onto the stage after Loren
openly rooted for her fellow Italian and an
nounced his foreign film victory.
‘T want to kiss everybody,” said Benigni,
who also was nominated in directing and
screenplay categories, while the film was a best
picture contender.
Another Holocaust film. The Last Days, won
the documentary award.
Dench, who made an indelible impression
despite her brief screen time in the romantic
comedy, held up her gold statuette and said
with a smile: “1 feel for eight minutes on the
screen I should only get a little bit of him.’
It was the first Oscar for the 64-year-old
British stage actress, who had been nominated
last year for playing a different queen, Victoria,
in Mrs. Brown.
Coburn, 70, had never been nominated.
“I’ve been doing this work for like over half
my life, and I finally got one right, I guess,” said
the veteran actor, whose dozens of films include
Our Man Flint and The Magnificent Seven.
“Some of them you do for money, some of
them you do for love. This is a love child,”
Coburn said.
Host Whoopi Goldberg, who changed cos
tumes repeatedly to mimic film characters, got
the show off to a rousing start when she came
out in full regalia as Elizabeth — who figured in
two of this year’s contenders — getting a rous
ing ovation, then a laugh when she announced
with an accent that was more Bette Davis than
British, “I am the African Queen.”
She joked about being the last master of cer-
ROBERT HYNECEK/Thk Battalion
emonies of the century and millennium, saying:
“I am the last 20th century fox.”
And referring to this year’s furor over the spe
cial Oscar for Kazan, Goldberg joked; “I thought
the blacklist was Hattie McDaniel and me.”
The lack of a runaway favorite helped make
the 71st Academy Awards among the most an
ticipated in recent history. With two well re
ceived films as the leaders, the campaign for
votes was conducted largely in Hollywood trade
paper and newspaper ads.
Miramax, which often stages big-money
campaigns for its Oscar candidates and suc
ceeded two years ago with a best-picture win for
The English Patient, laid out millions for Shake
speare in Love ads.
Vernal equinox marks beginning of
spring, signals time of celebration
BY BOBBIE EFTEKHAR
The Battalion
O n Saturday, March 20 at
8:45:52 p.m. EST, spring
arrived with the vernal
equinox. Sunday, March 21,
marked the first full day of spring.
Dr. Ronald Schorn, professor
of physics, explained what actu
ally occurs during the vernal
equinox.
“The sun passes northward
across the celestial equator,
which is the circle in the sky
halfway between the north and
south celestial poles,” he said.
The word equinox means
equal day and night, but Dr.
Schorn says that is not exactly
true.
“ [The equinox] doesn’t mean
there will be equal night and day,
because twilight makes the day
longer,” he said.
Dr. Schorn said the vernal
equinox marks the beginning of
longer days and warmer weather
for the Northern Hemisphere.
He said ancient calendars be
gan with the vernal equinox sig
naling the first day of the year.
Dr. D. Bruce Dickson, profes
sor of anthropology, said there is
evidence that stretches back to
the Stone Age that phases of the
moon and celestial bodies were
recognized.
“These sorts of changes are of
ten important in agricultural cy
cles. Later on it [the importance]
became invested in other things,”
he said.
Although many societies cel
ebrate the vernal equinox. Dr.
Dickson said they all recognize
the event in different ways.
“The vernal equinox is some
thing interesting tied into some
thing important. It enabled [an
cient cultures] to calculate time.
Human beings find movement in
the heavens to be intrinsically in
teresting,” he said.
One religion that celebrates
the vernal equinox is Wicca. Jeff
Hamielec, a sophomore genetics
major and Co-chair of the Texas
A&M Pagan Students Associa
tion, said the holiday marks the
beginning of spring.
“[The equinox] is significant
because the old religions revolved
around the seasons and go in a
pattern of life, death and rebirth,”
he said. “This particular holiday
signifies rebirth. God is repre
sented as a young healthy man.”
Another term used for the
vernal equinox in Wicca is Os-
tara, represented by the color
white. At the exact time of the
vernal equinox, a ritual is per
formed.
“During a ritual, a good thing
to have is a potted plant to sym
bolize that life is able to grow
again,” Hamielec said. “General
ly you have all your materials,
such as candles, set up on an al
tar. A circle is cast and a few
things are said to honor the holi
day. Once finished, the circle is
closed down.”
One culture that finds signifi
cance in the day is that of Iran.
The vernal equinox represents
the arrival of spring and the New
Year. Older family members give
brand new, crisp money to the
younger family members.
Seven items that begin with
“s” in the Persian language are
placed on a table to celebrate the
New Year.
There are always sweets and at
least one vegetable. Additional
items are eggs, candles and a fish.
The vernal equinox holds dif
ferent meanings in different soci
eties, cultures and time periods,
and every meaning is important
to that society.
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