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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 31, 1999)
Prince “The Vault... Old Friends 4 Sale” Warner Bros. Grade: A The Purple One is back for more. Prince, or the Artist formei known as such, is back with an album that, while not quite new, reestablishes his reign with 10 old-school, funky tracks. “The Vault ... Old Friends 4 Sale,” which was released Aug. 24, contains work from when the Artist was still known as Prince. The tracks were recorded between January 1985 and June 1994, most ly at Prince’s Paisley Park Studios in Minnesota. This is one of the first tastes lis teners have had of Prince’s leg endary backlog of unreleased material, aside from widely circu lated bootleg recordings. The album is reminiscent of Prince’s best work, but with a slightly different tone and a tweaked sound. The sexy, swarthy voice - heavy with falsetto - is still the same, and the sultry lyrics would still shock the sexually faint-of heart. Songs such as “When the Lights Go Down” and “5 Women+” are adorned with saxophone, trum pet and a plethora of other instru ments. They have a jazzy feel that is a unique and welcome twist to some of Prince’s other work. “She Spoke 2 Me,” an eight minute extended remix, is rounded out nicely with a long instrumental cut that makes listeners feel as though they sat in on the jam ses sion. Keep in mind, most of the songs were recorded in the mid-’80s, so synthesized keyboards are heavy, and the bulk of the music is obvi^ ously from a bygone era. This explains why the disc is being sold under the name Prince, not the symbol the Artist adopted in 1993. Only one of the songs postdates the Artist’s name change. But that’s part of what makes it so good - it’s music from the Prince we all know and love. The collection was handed to Warner Bros. Records three years v ago as the last part of Prince’s obligation to his 1992 $ 100-million contract, which eventually turned into a bitter feud and had Prince scribbling “slave” across his face. The album gathers together recordings that come from an array of different projects Prince has worked on throughout his career. Songs on the disc date from his 1985 “Parade” and “Under the Cherry Moon” sessions, his aban doned 1994 “I’ll Do Anything” musical project and include remix es of songs that originally appeared on film soundtracks. The disc isn’t full of obscure songs and definitely retains most of the campy kitsch that makes Prince the personality he is. Most of the songs have strong lyrics and tunes that stick in the brain, with a vision of the high-heeled sex machine get ting his groove on while rocking out. Overall, the disc could be com pared to a good party: It starts out fast, catchy and fun and, as the night goes on, slows down to some nice jams Prince wrote just for the ladies. It’s a perfect disc of tunes from the past to take listeners past the hype of 1999 and into the new mil lennium. - Sarah Baker This Diamond is a Worker’s Best Friend During this construction season, please be extra careful and attentive when approaching roadwork zones. ‘Astronaut’s Wife’ lost without plot, suspense By Samuel McKewon Senior staff writer “The Astronaut’s Wife” is one of those curious creations that has ripped off several science-fiction genre movies yet managed to be entirely void of sus pense and intrigue. No wonder there weren’t any advance screenings of this film for crit ics to ravage. Written and directed by Rand Ravich, the movie looks good enough and employs just about every camera trick and cliche ever invented (including the slow motion shot of a glass of water shattering on the floor). The cast is good-looking too, with Johnny Depp going blond and Charlize Theron as the aforementioned title char acter. But where, oh where, is the story? A better question might be: What is the motivation for such a story? Depp plays Spencer Armacost, an astronaut who loses contact with his NASA base for two minutes while working in space on a satellite. He makes it back OK, but his part ner (Nick Cassavetes) turns up dead after a few weeks. A few days later, the partner’s wife kills herself, claiming to Spencer’s wife, Jillian (Theron), that the dead astronaut is still “hiding inside her.” Spencer and Jillian pack up and move to New York, and Jillian gets preg nant. Him Review nw Facts Title: “The Astronaut’s Wife” Stars: Chartize Theron, Johnny Depp, Joe Morton Director: Rand Ravich Rating: R (one f-bomb-laced verbal tirade, graphic alien sex) Grade: D Five Words: Script belongs in outer space. Here, the movie takes on a definite “Rosemary’s Baby” feel, except Depp’s character makes way, way more money working for a defense contractor and developing a strange, revolutionary warplane. The movie hadn’t taken much shape by the time of the New York move and just fell apart even further directly after. Part of it has to do with the sheer delay of suspense; we’re not even sure what’s wrong until well past the one hour mark. This movie has scenes that simply don’t belong: Jillian teaching some sec ond graders, Jillian dancing around the apartment. The dialogue and just plain stupidi ty of the movie’s plot make up the other part. Depp’s role is severely undercut; his lines carry so little weight toward any thing that his talent is wasted. And not to be unfair to the beautiful Theron, but she’s over her head in a role that requires more than crying and col lapsing on the floor - the two main sta ples of her performance here. She’s in nearly every frame of the movie, and there isn’t a whole lot for her to do. At only 24, Theron’s too green to take on the weighty role of a woman who may be carrying the world’s destroyer inside her. Just what is inside her remains fair ly unclear for a long time, and when a whacked-out NASA official (a jittery, almost funny Joe Morton) finally clues her in, Theron kicks the crying and full bodied sobs into full gear. It all leads up to a chase scene between Depp and Theron that is among the most ludicrous ever put onscreen. Really, truly ludicrous. All the way down to the shifting from night to day within a matter of seconds - appar ently an issue overlooked by Ravich. Not long after comes the ending, which, when you think about it, renders the entire movie null and void. There isn’t much good to say about “The Astronaut’s Wife.” The parts are so much greater than the whole. Ravich, as a director, has promise, and a few scenes do make the hair stand on end. As a screenwriter, though, he doesn’t have much talent. Ultimately, a pretty worthless script overrides any redeem ing production value the movie might have had. Beer school informs at fair BREW from page 11 Olympics in Atlanta. “Any place people gather to drink beer, the Beer School will show up,” he said. It may show up in a slightly differ ent form next year. Plans are under way to expand and redesign the school, said senior project manager Daryl Reeves. The Beer School will be closer to a movie theater in atmos phere and will include a High Definition theater, an entryway with a big screen showing the company’s Sim Fair Events Aug. 31,1999 * Bw* Time Location Border Town 5:30 -7 p.m., West Beer Garden > 8 - 9 p.m., 10-midnight Lorena Prater & 7-11p.m. Hooters Beer Garden the Western Reunion . | Billy Ray Cyrus 8 p.m. * Bob Devaney Sports Center ! history and a special brewmaster area. The new design won’t change the beermaster’s approach, Reeves said. “They love beer, and they love to make beer.” Act explores plights of masculinity CRIMES from page 11 while entertaining them at the same time. “Theater doesn't replace tradi tional forms of education, but it does bring in other issues exposing emo tions and forcing people to think,” Tetreault said. Tetreault’s own collaboration with Karen Libman, a former UNL professor of theater arts and dance, led to the formation of outreach the ater groups on campus in previous years. Since ^ibman’s departure, such classes for outreach theater have not been available. Tetreault feels “Crimes Against Nature” provides an opportunity for outreach theater to return to UNL. 402-472-2588 402-472-1761 (FAX) dn@unl.edu 20 Nebraska Union P.O. 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Call 438-7143. *■ ■ ■ ' IBM Model 70 386/25mhz, 6MB RAM, IBM color moni tor, Epson LX800 printer, $195. 466-2258. Mac Powerbook 5300cs. 100 MHz/1.6 RAM/750 HD, $550, printer $70.14.4 modem $25, carrying case $15. All for $600. 438-2567. Pentium 133. Multi-media system. Fast 56K modem. Internet ready. 32 mb RAM. $340. 438-9894. For sale: bookcases, sofa, table, hutch, futon frame. $40 each, 438-1335 Full and Queen size'mattress sets. New and in plastic. Never used. 10 years warranty. Retail for $439 and $639. Sell for $165 for the FuH, Queen $195. 477-1225. Futon with brand new frame. Best offer. Call Nicole at 328-8095.__ Quality entertainment center with rollers on bottom for easy moving, $75. Call 325-0281. Queen waterbed frame, mattress, new heater, underside drawers, 2 bedding sets, $50. Cedi 470-3318 Texas Instruments TI-85 graphing calculator, $50. Eve nings, 475-8205. Ofr*...gHEP 2-4 tickets to the NU vs. KSU game, Nov. 13th. Please call (913)339-4838, or email matt.bunker®eds.com. ‘88 Honda Civic LX, only 58k. Great condition. $3,850 OBO. 994-2290. ‘90 Dodge Ram 50, 4x4, extended cab, 50K miles, $7,150 060. Call 476-0144.