Arts & Entertainment
Morrill Hall hosts Ecuadorean artifacts
By John Payne
Senior Reporter
The University of Nebraska-Lin
coln is one of only six United Slates
stops for “Ancient Ecuador: Stolen
Treasures Recovered,” an archeol
ogical exhibit containing 64 artifacts
dating back as far as 6,(XX) years.
The display opened Saturday at
Morrill Hall, 14th and U streets, and
will remain there through Dec. 31.
Lincoln is the last stop for the
collection before it returns to Ecua
dor. “Ancient Ecuador” has appeared
in museums in places like California,
Virginia, Louisiana and the District
of Columbia. It features artwork from
11 ancient Ecuadorean cultures - from
the country’s highlands to its tropical
and coastal regions.
Perhaps as interesting as the art
work itself is the recent history be
hind it. The 64 items are only a small
part of the 9,263 antiquities looted
from archeological sites in Ecuador.
In 1975, the Ecuadorean government
learned that many of the relics had
been exported to Italy, where they
were being sold.
Eight years and numerous legal
battles later, the artifacts were re
turned to Ecuador’s Museum of the
Central Bank in Guayaquil. From them,
64 pieces were chosen for this ex
hibit.
Morrill Hall is the only Midwest
site for the display, and according to
museum director Hugh Genoways,
people who visit the exhibit will be
impressed.
“We’re talking about artwork
anywhere from 1,500 to 6,000 years
old, and some of the detail is abso
lutely exquisite,” he said. “These
were sophisticated artisans.”
Museum Curator Thomas Myers
said that the artifacts represent a
“complex social organization,” par
ticularly those of the coastal regions.
* ‘Those items seem to be the most
refined, the most complex, politically,”
Myers said.
One of the aims of the exhibit,
according to Myers, is to bring the
problem of antiquities theft to the
attention of the public. Myers said
that archeological looting like the
Ecuadorean theft is “a billion dollar
industry.”
“There’s lots of money to be
made,” he said,4 ‘and these thefts are
being committed without any regard
to the native cultures of the country
that’s being robbed.”
Myers said that looting is wide
spread, and has taken its toll on Na
tive American artwork as well. He
said that it has been a particular prob
lem in the southwestern United States.
4 ‘The looting is unfortunate for the
public’s sake as well,” Genoways
said. “We need to keep in mind that
the nearly 10,000 artifacts brought
back to Ecuador are just the ones that
were found.”
“We don’t know what’s still in
Italy, England, et cetera. This is just
what was discovered,” Genoways said.
Julia Mikola)cik/Daily Nebraskan
A coca chewer statue, dated 500 B.C. to 500 A.D., is part of the “Ancient Ecuador: Stolen
Treasures Recovered” exhibit at Morrill Hall. The visiting archeological exhibit contains 64
artifacts dating as far back as 6,000 years.
ueout is lesson on life
100 Days’ lyrics overcome generic sound
By Brian Meves
Staff Reporter
100 Days Like This
“100 Days Like This”
Hanging Johnny Records
”100 Days Like This” teach us
what life is all about.
The self-titled debut album from
the quartet, 100 Days Like This, takes
us on a fun house ride of life’s ups and
downs.
After opening for such alternative
favorites as Caterwaul, Crime and the
City Solution, 100 Days Like This
have created their own style of so
called alternative music with ease.
For the most part, the group’s music
sounds like a mixture between the
new toned-down Replacements and
any other soft-sounding practical al
ternative group. On occasion, they
use pianos, organs and synthesizers
to distinguish themselves from the
others.
The vocals arc true and enjoyable.
Each picturesque lyric flows smoothly
from the lead singer’s mouth to the
microphone.
The fun house ride begins with the
upbeat song “1:20,” which also
happens to be only 1 minute, 20 sec
onds long. Now, there’s something
you don’t see too many bands do.
Then the ride takes us through a
long song, “Commotion,” a simple
tune with acoustic guitar and piano,
helping to set the mood lor the love
drenched lyrics.
“So lets climb all the trccs/And
swim all the occans/Lel’s get down
on our knees/And pray for more.”
The best song on this bumpy jour
ney is, unquestionably, “The Enemy.”
The music is basically pop song ma
terial with a synthesizer adding the
finishing touches. Vocally, the lead
singer steals the singing voice from
Enuff Z’ Nuff to crank out a truly
great song about our screwed up world.
“This nation’s children must un
derstand/This foreign policy is way
out ol hand/Your silly patriotism 1
cannot see/Whcn there’s an 11 -year
old innocent child gunning for me.”
The ride then takes us by a collec
tion of sad songs like “Numb,” “This
Year’s Clown,” and “Shake And
Smear.” Each song shows the sensi
tive side of the songwriter and the
vocalist.
The ride comes to a screeching
halt with “Victoria.” This song ex
plains an ordeal between a woman’s
life and her approaching death.
“100 Days Like This” is a great
debut album.
-“I
Film drains endorphins
Lundgren’s ‘I Come in Peace’
predictable cop film with twist
By Jim Hanna
Staff Reporter
With the summer’s best movies
slowly fading from the theaters and
the best Christmas offerings still a
couple of months away, it’s fall
housecleaning time at Hollywood
warehouses.
In the lull between hit-movie
seasons, film distributors unload
their most pitiful offerings of the
year on the gullible public. “I Come
in Peace” was recently dumped on
the masses with an audible, pa
thetic “thud.”
Dolph Lundgrcn stais in this
miserable little formula film as Jack
Came, a muscular, renegade cop
who never wears a uniform and
refuses to follow his superiors’
orders.
Caine is angry because his part
ner was killed in a bungled drug
bust. The bad guys arc supposedly
a group of ruthless, well-dressed
kingpins simply called The While
Boys.
Of course Caine, vows revenge
for his partner’s death but is ham
pered on the home front by a soured
In case the movie wasn’t corn
relationship with his girlfriend.
Then somehow, the FBI gets
involved and Caine is assigned a
nerdy fed partner, Larry Smith
(Brian Bcnbcn), who (believe it or
not), does everything by the book.
Caine on the other hand always
follows his instincts and ignores
procedure just like the streetwise
cop he is.
- •
Stop me if you’ve heard this
one.
The only slightly original twist
to this movie is one that eventually
ends up muddling it beyond belief.
It seems that a drug dealer from
outer space has come to earth to
extract endorphins from people’s
brains because it provides a pure
form of a drug that is popular on his
home planet.
This evil alien spurs endorphin
production in people by blasting
them with stolen heroin. Then he
slicks a tube into their brains and
sucks out the endorphins.
plctely unintelligible yet, the pro
ducers throw in a cop from outer
space who is chasing this dealer
and firing his high-tech outer space
gun at him. Apparently everyone
on their home planet is a bad shot
because they arc never able to hit
one another with their fireball guns.
They always miss and blow up a
car or something nearby and flames
shoot everywhere and it’s super
cool.
There is simply no way (and no
reason) to further explain this ex
ceptionally poor movie. The movie’s
makers have crammed so many
hackneyed formulas into the film
that it collapses under it’s own
weight.
Additionally, the acting is be
yond bad. Dolph Lundgrcn may
look nice, but please don’t let the
man speak. Acting support is mar
ginal at best.
This is a very, very bad movie.
Do not go see it.
‘T Come in Peace” is playing at
the Plaza Four Theaters, 12th and P
streets.
