6 Arts & Entertainment _
Eric Gregory/Daily Nebraskan
Preparator Renee Kay, Dennis Vaske and Gregg Lanik move John Chamberlain’s “Ivory
Joe” steel sculpture on the upper floor of the Sheldon Art Gallery. The sculpture, made
from old automobile parts, and Andy Warhol’s “Portrait,” in the background, are part of
the “Private Choices exhibit that opened Tuesday.
Annual art symposium to begin today,
highlight of program to be held Friday
By Micki Haller
Senior Editor
The role of institutions in the de
velopment of the arts in the Midwest
is the topic of the 12th annual sympo
sium beginning Wednesday at Shel
don Art Gallery.
Sponsored by the Center for Great
Plains Studies and the Nebraska Art
Association, the symposium is not
restricted to discussing a certain era,
but because most of the speakers are
art historians, there will be a historical
tendency, said Jon Nelson, curator of
the Great Plains Art Collection.
Nelson said tonight’s keynote
speaker, Howard Roberts Lamar, said
there is more of an interest in Great
Plains art than many Nebraskans real
ize.
Nebraska and surrounding states
weren’t the cultural desert they once
i_
were thought to be, he said.
“Every town had a band at one
time,” Nelson said.
There were also opera houses,
touring groups, musical companies
and more live theater in the earlier
years of Nebraska than there is now,
he said.
Nelson pointed at several ex
amples of institutions helping the arts
in the Great Plains.
He said the Nebraska Ait Associa
tion contributed to the excellence of
the Sheldon Art Gallery, and even
businesses like the Burlington Rail
road bought uniforms and instru
ments for bands that existed along the
railroad.
Certain sessions will be offered
fret: to students. Nelson said he’s
expecting students, Lineolnites and
people from out of town.
Nelson said at least 100 people had
paid registrations for the banquet
sessions.
“Who knows how many people
will drift in and out of the sessions
during the day,” he said.
The highlight of the program,
Nelson said, comes at a bad lime
because many students will have left
already for spring break.
However, at 1:30 p.m. Friday,
Frederick Hoxie, director of the
D’Arcy McNickle Center for the
History of the American Indian in
Chicago, will give a speech entitled
“Edward Ayer: Robber Baron as Art
Patron.”
Nelson said other highlights in
clude “The Amon Carter Museum”
by Ron Tyler, the director of the
Texas State Historical Association,
and “The University Education of the
Artist: the Role of the Midwest” by
See SCHEDULE on 7
SCHOOL IS +i£LL
f
—I
A CARToori Book By
MA+t* 6fto€^lM<5
Courtesy of Random House
m
Movie is disappointing,
‘masquerades’ as thriller
By William Rudolph
Staff Reviewer
“An heiress. A hustler. A set-up.
A murder.” And an incredibly dis
appointing film.
“Masquerade,” by Bob Swaim,
is a perfect example of how two
stars with past big box-office draws
— in this case, teen heartthrob and
Brat-Packer Rob Lowe and Meg
Tilly (“BigChill,”“Agncsof God”)
— do not necessarily make a good
thriller._
The above promo reveals the
movie’s plot. Tilly is Olivia Law
rence, the heiress, a sweet little filly
with more than S200 million in the
bank and the emptiest head on rec
ord. Lowe plays Tim Whalen, the
hustler. He races yachts. He also
races from one bed to the next. And
there is, of course, the set-up. And
the murder, which follows it. The ad
copy tells us, “It’s not a game any
more.” That’s true: It’s an ex
tremely irritating movie.
To be fair, screenwriter David
Wolf doesn’t insult the viewer’s
intelligence, at least not intention
ally. All the clues are laid before the
viewer at the film’s beginning. The
problem is that smart viewers will
be able to figure out the twists be
fore they occur. It’s not hard when
the plot is the kind of thing you’ve
seen in countless television movies
— except then it’s usually done
better.
The movie might succeed if the
acting didn’t get in the way. Quite
frankly, Lowe is handsome, sports a
nice tan and can look evil easily, but
that’s about it. Tilly delivers her
umpteenth variation on her trade
mark role, the impossibly naive
little girl in a woman’s body. She
stares wide-eyed, she blinks, she
looks confused, she speaks in her
characteristic 4-ycar-old voice un
til you want to somehow enter the
movie and shake some sense into
her. Olivia Lawrence is supposed to
be innocent. Tilly, however, gives
us a woman who seems incapable of
reading without moving her lips.
The girl’s not innocent; she’s
underwater.
Added to these not-so-sterling
performances is John Glover as
Olivia’s dissipated, perpetually
drunken stepfather. Glover winsthc
audience over by stumbling around
exaggeratedly and spitting out
slurred phrases like a cat with a
hairball.
Curiously enough, the support
ing cast does better than the two
leads. Doug Savant does well as
Mike McGill, the seemingly nice
young police officcr/local Hamp
tons boy who’s loved Olivia (why I
can’t imagine) since childhood.
Technically, the film is pretty.
Photography director David Wat
kin gives us properly moody images
of the Hamptons. John Barry’s
music also fils in well . . . except
when it creates an intensity the cast
doesn’t match.
Along with the scenery and
score come some very racy sex
scenes between Lowe and Tilly that
border on an X rating. B ut no matter
how many limes and from how
many angles wc sec Lowe’s bare
posterior attacking Tilly while lacy
shadow patterns caress it, it doesn’t
make up for “Masquerade’s” de
fects: listless leads, all-loo-obvious
twists and an absolutely flat ending.
“Masquerade”certainly lives up
to its title: It’s a glossy disappoint
ment masquerading as a riveting
thriller. If its big-name leads and
tightly edited TV promos (not to
mention the lure of seeing Lowe’s
derriere not once, but several times,
ladies) fool you into spending
money to sec it, then it’s accom
plished its purpose.
“Masquerade,” rated R for lan
guage, love scenes and what cable
TV would call “adult themes,” is
playing at the Cinema Twin.
University of Texas music prof to present
lectures, classes at UNL this week
Amanda Vick Lcthco, head of
piano pedagogy at the University of
Texas-Austin, will present a series of
lectures and master classes today
through Friday at the University of
Ncbraska-Lincoln.
Lethco is an authority on teaching
music to children and teachers of
children.
Lethco will give two lectures open
to the public. Interested persons also
are invited to observe master classes
that she will teach today and Thurs
day. The lectures will be at 10:30
a.m. both days,and the masterclasses
will be 3:30 p.m. both days in
Westbrook Music Building 9.
On Friday, Lcthco will offer a
master class and lecture from 1:30 to
3:30 p.m. for piano scholarship stu
dents from Nebraska high schools
who are attending Career Day activi
ties at the School of Music. The Fri
day master class and lecture arc also
free and open to the public.
During her visit to the campus,
Lelhco also will work with UNL
pedagogy students and will conduct
private lessons and master classes
with UNL piano students.
Binky the rabbit portrays college life
as ‘helV in new cartoon compilation
By Joseph Bowman
Staff Reviewer
“School Is Hell,” Matt Groening
(Random House)
Good morning, class, it’s time for
“School is Hell.” So, can the chatter,
you little monkeys, and listen up.
Is school hell? Find out the aston
ishing answer in “School Is Hell,” the
latest mini-jumbo compilation of
hellish cartoons by Matt Groening.
The hero of the strip is Binky, a
crudely drawn rabbit. His outstand
ing characteristics include big ears,
bulging eyes and an overbitc. He’s
also socially inept and terribly alien
ated from his fellow students.
See Binky become more al ienaled
with each cartoon. Watch Binky
suffer crushing boredom and heart
breaking disappointment. Learn
from Binky how to survive college by
being incessantly mediocre, by care
fully avoiding originality and by
writing volumes of spineless papers.
Laugh, while Binky’s integrity
goes down the tubes. Notice that
Binky soon learns to enjoy having his
imagination crushed. Just don’t be
too surprised if Binky reminds you of
yourself. But, of course, that makes it
even funnier.
Learn the tell-tale “flipping out
warning signs.” Things like: In the
middle of a lecture, you leap to your
feet, point accusingly at the teacher
and shout, “ Au contraire, mon fr6re! ”
Meet the most bitter person in the
world, the graduate school dropout.
He has spent four long years living
wretchedly, plowing through thou
sands of tedious books, repressing all
anger, working late into the night,
having a series of degrading low
paying jobs and finally giving up
after being unable to finish his thesis.
Find out “The Horrible Secret of
Adulthood.” The bullies, cheaters
and tattletales who tormented you in
school are now trying to sell you
insura nee, explaining why a pay raise
is currently impossible, informing
you your tax return is being audited
and tcliing you why your country has
just declared war.
This small yet meaty cartoon
contains other subjects, like “Junior
high school: The deepest pit in hell,”
“Grad school: Some people never
learn” and “Trouble, getting in and
weaseling your way out of.,T
He addresses sibling sadism with
See BINkV on 7