Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 31, 2000)
Page 5 Monday, July 31,ft indiiy, July 31,2000 itiued from Pa^t current revision*! the option to tifc itional or cultpii lents can even lal their majors, g students to choos lational and cutos can take lesscontii such as Asian hist aid. iculum review con in February 1999k jlty Senate, coni m faculty, adminis- idents before dra* aosal. 1 the goal of the “'ST _ THE BATTALION et payed to pray Pastor shows true compassion by paying congregation ^ ~ ^ few years ago, a Florida preacher started using an nnovative marketing chnique: He offered peo- le$5 each to attend his lurch. Rev. Rick Sebast- ew committee was! |j j s now p as t or G f New osal that would help it offending anyone tiued from Page] unction Wednesday ive effectively shut on Friday night. 's ruling, the appeals ibstantial questions" d about "the merits injunction." means Napster can ■ation at least until es to trial; no trial et. The RIAA could decision to the full t Court of Appeals reme Court, iployees screamed Friday's ruling was rs of the site took to humbing their virtu- recording industry's bly breaking the law, continue," said John Deale, Md., as he dis- ion in a Napster chat ily there's a market ng met. I'm on here 70s music that you ymore." y, tens of thousands,, had pledged to boys' g industry inretalia- lit. ite, more than 75,000 'd an electronic peti te buy music unless ?d its lawsuit against ould cost the indus- $1 million if each ist one $15 CD. oftware to Napster topic Friday, and levelopers accelerat- titute music sharing ■ witching hour for hed. is alive, well and — for now. penious "small pro- and easy method to in MP3 format with quickly grew from am beginnings to an 'henomenon with illion users sharing for free each day. rr • uedfrom Page l Police Department, an has been active in rove resident partic- pretty successful, ong way to go in >eople involved," College Station is e because, with the college students in rhoods tend to ge town, students nost every semes- ," Johnson said, she knows of four uled block parties, r neighborhoods without telling the here are probably med. d other local law ■ncies will be on r a kickoff gather- lie Sears/ Dillards t Oak Mall. Prizes ay by local police cGruff the crime the kickoff is a raolice officers to / questions and ifeln Christ, a small non- enominational church in Bryan. Sebastian ombs the streets,of Bryan every Sunday aorning in a bus with this message: "We will iay you $10 to come to church." Although he soften turned down, many people do accept lis offer. Some people see Sebastian's offer as a trick odraw people into his congregation. Al- hough Sebastian admits his program is a immick, it is also something more. He is demonstrating how much he cares rbout others by offering money out of his )wn pocket. Sebastian's actions are admirable nthis age of money-hungry evangelists who affer cheap coffee mugs in return for large monetary donations that would land most people in the poorhouse. Sebastian deserves credit for his selfless ness and concern for human welfare instead ofbeing criticized. In addition, Sebastian should be applaud ed for his attitude toward people who do not accept his offer.-He does not shout at disinter ested people on sidewalks, bombarding them with his message. Instead of using scare tac tics and judgmental comments to attract an audience, he entices listeners by offering them something they can really use — money. When they accept his offer, he drives them to his small church for the service. Sebastian is not in the preaching business to pad his pockets. Instead, he is making an active effort to change people's lives. Many of the people attracted by Sebast ian's offer rarely attend church on their own, and his offer gets them through the door. Sebastian says he feels strongly about his cause because "it gets them into church, and if we can get them into church where they can hear the word of God, their lives can be changed." In addition, many of the people Sebastian ministers to need help, both financial and spiritual. Although $10 may not sound like much to college students paying thousands of dollars in tuition, it is a lot of money to the less fortunate. Sebastian's gift works to make his message much more convincing than those of hyped-up televangelists who show more concern for incom ing donations than for their congre gation's well-being.Sebastian's method of re cruiting church members is a huge improvement over most religious trends of the past few years. With some religions in-fighting over official doctrine and other groups prosely tizing messages of hate, Sebastian should be praised for finding a fresh new way to attract a con gregation and for the spirit of humanitarianism that runs through his idea. Too many evangelists lose sight of the individuals in their follow ing because they are too con cerned about recruiting the masses. Sebastian shows concern and compassion on a one-on-one basis. That is what makes his message so touching — and convincing. Jessica Crutcher is a junior journalism major. KELSEY ROBERTS/Thf. Battalion PG, PG-13 films better for Hollywood Obsence mainstream rappers ruin genre for other artists I n a recent pa per on the study of movies rated PG, PG-13 and R, Texas A&M Uni versity research fellow Arthur De Vany argued that Hollywood produces too many R-rat- ed movies. In his opinion, this over production is not a moral issue but an economic one. Society's fascination with the R rating has gotten com pletely out of hand. Movie makers need to shift their production dollars out of R-rated movies and into films with PG and PG-13 ratings. De Vany said, "Evidence shows that the combination of a big budget, stars and R-rating may be the worst investment a studio can make." R-rat- j ed movies are a gamble for studios. They gross less money than PG-13- and PG-rated movies. Nonetheless, more than half of all movies produced are rated R, 20 percent are PG-13, and 20 percent are PG. Hollywood seems to think unless a movie is R-rated, it will be a financial failure. Producers think unless the film displays blood, sex, and violence, it will not do well at the box office. De Vany's research proves other wise. Of the 30 top grossing movies in Hollywood's history, only one of them is R-rated. In 1992 Michael Medved did a study on Hollywood's eagerness to produce R-rated movies. In it he states that R-rated films were less than half as likely as PG releases to make $25 million in domestic box-of fice revenues. PG and PG-13 movies do so well at the box offices because they reach a much broader audience. Adults with children are much more likely to be comfortable going to see a PG-rated movie than an R-rated film. Most people see movies because they think the trailers are interesting or they heard good things about the movies from other people. They do not see movies simply because they are rated R. Hollywood needs to lessen its faith in the effectiveness of R ratings. Motion pictures are some of the riskiest products. Movie producers are never sure how well a film will do at the box office. R-rated movies have a much greater chance of flopping at the box office than PG and PG-13 movies. Movie producers risk R-rated films because of star quality. Film pro ducers know that it helps to have a cast of well-known actors and actress es. De Vany's evidence shows, that stars appear more often in R-rated movies than in PG and PG-13 releas es. Stars are present in 45 percent of R-rated movies, but in only 23 per cent of PG movies. Film producers think that, without big names like Harrison Ford and Ju lia Roberts, their films are more likely to flop. Most PG and PG-13 movies do not appeal to big-name actors be cause they do not think the movies will earn much money. But De Vany's report indicates the opposite is true. PG-13 and PG movies are more likely to be success ful at the box office, and if stars were more inclined to appearing in PG and PG-13 movies, the films could take in even more money. The success rate for R-rated movies is 6 percent, compared to 13 percent for PG-rated movies. The box-office success rate for all non-R- rated movies is twice the rate for R- rated movies. Hollywood needs to note these statistics and reduce the number of R-rated movies produced. Hollywood should support the films that a broader audience can enjoy. Sunnye Oivens is a junior journalism major. tWEY ®\ILY SHOULD UPGRADE SECURITY AT GoVTERNmEMY BUILDtNOS ... J ^ay-Zis "big pimpin'," Eminem is under fire for his gay-bashing lyricism, and the Cash Money illionaires have dropped ungodly amounts of money on mansions, Italian sports cars and diamond-en crusted platinum teeth. True enough, the vast majority of rap acts that hold a spot on "Total Request Live" tend to be the epitome of why people who hate rap hate rap'. Objectification of women and love of money have become the general formu la for becoming a multi-plat inum rap artist. In truth, today's hottest rap pers constitute a very small mi nority of the thousands of rap artists who exist, but the glitz, glamour and "bling-blinging" tends to blind the eyes of the gen eral public to the talents of the majority. While people focus on vulgar and violent lyrics, they miss the quick-witted, well-worded lyricism of lesser-known rappers. In turn, they fail to see that rap is one of the most socially conscious, intelligent art forms in existence. Being quick to dismiss rap as being anything close to socially conscious is understandable, be cause, truthfully, socially conscious rap is almost never heard. Most people will never hear rap lyrics that educate the mind or pro mote positivity, and it is not be cause they are underground or do not exist. It is an unfortunate con sequence that having something intelligent to say in raps tends to constitute not having songs played on mainstream radio and selling fewer records. While a few groups, such as The Roots, A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul, have somewhat freed themselves from this fate, most will remain known and un derstood only by the most avid of rap connoisseurs. Take, for instance. Common. His most recent single, "The Light," has hit urban radio airwaves. Past songs by Common have addressed religion and racism, while "Retro spect For Life," a duet with Lauryn Hill, takes on the issue of abortion. Too bad such a talented poet had to wait until the release of his fourth album for just one of his songs to get any mainstream airplay. There is another side to rap most casual listeners probably have not heard — one that might actually appeal to them. Mos Def achieved gold status with his debut solo album, "Black On Both Sides," a major feat for an independent label rapper. His song "New World Water" confronts wa ter conservation from a sociologi cal perspective and does it in a tight flow that few emcees could imitate. The only song off his al bum with the ability to grab gener al public attention was "Ms. Fat- Booty," which was just as good a song, but with hardly the same so cial responsibility. Even big-name rappers have made attempts at producing songs that address social issues and all have received minimal at tention for it. Wu-Tang Clan, father group of Method Man and OT Dirty Bastard, addressed HIV in the black com munity with "A.I.D.S. (America Is Dying Slowly)." Unfortunately, the song re ceived very little attention other than being included on an AIDS benefit compilation album. Rap artists have a difficult deci sion; to make and sell records, or stay true to the issues that they feel are important. Those rappers who choose to have something signifi cant to say rather than selling out to the "money, cash, hoes" philoso phy should be commended. That is not to say that main stream rap does not have its place. For instance it is especially enjoy able when going out with friends to have fun. But mainstream rap should be regarded just as that — fun. The premise of such songs is very superficial,! and they contain barely any substance, making it difficult to analyze the impact that the lyrics will have on society. No Limit, Cash Money and other la bels make songs that have pure shock value or include big guns, fast cars and loose women because they know they will sell more records, not because they are trying to send any sort of message to rap's audiences. Even Eminem has said many times in interviews that he does not really believe in the things he says in his albums. He intentionally does it to make people angry. Fans of other types of music are often put off by rap that they see on MTV or hear in a bar. But there is another side to rap most casual listeners probably have not heard — one that might actually appeal to them. Listeners should not dismiss rap as being less than music. An entire music genre cannot necessarily be judged by what is popular at the moment, or what generates the most money. After all, that would be like saying the Backstreet Boys and 'NSync represent the finest that pop music has to offer. Sheena Harrison is a columnist for The State News at Michigan