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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 1993)
Epic sequel stops short, alien saga renews past Flying saucers, fuzzy worms in new sci-fi books David Gerrold “A Season for Slaughter” Bantam Spectra Books There are a couple of annoying things about David Gerrokfs newest volume in his “War Against the Chtorr” epic. Volume four, “A Season for Slaughter,” is three years overdue — it’s difficult to remember every detail read four years ago, especially such intricate things as Genold deals with. If that wasn’t enough, the inter view in the back of the book states that the “War Against the Chtorr” will now include seven books, instead of the original four. Also, the first two books were issued in 1984 and 1985, then rewritten and expanded four years later. Nonetheless, if you can get past all of that, his continuation of this series is fairly good reading. A brief recap: a series of plagues wipes out nine-tenths of humanity, as a precursor to an invasion by an alien ecosystem. At the top of the food chain are the Chtorr, boxcar-sized,red, fuzzy worms with bad attitudes and voracious ap petites. The Chtorran ecology is fero cious, wiping out Terran ecosystems without pause. The Earth is in danger of being turned into an alien planet, and humanity wiped out—or worse. Captain Jim McCarthy, barely out of his teens, is assigned to investigate and control the infestation. Along the way, he undergoes every form of tor ture, both physical and psychologi cal, known to man. “A Season for Slaughter” picks up the tale as McCarthy leads a team into a worm infestation in Mexico. After his team suffers three casualties, he is reassigned to a top-secret mission to Brazil. The purpose of the mission is to explore a huge Chtorran colony. While there, they make a shocking discovery — captive humans are be ing turned into Chtorran life forms. And there, maddeningly, the tale ends. The book is not without its prob lems. True to epic form, it runs 500 plus pages. The action is a bit slow at times, veering off into emotional ex tremes of love and hatred between McCarthy and his paramour, who also happens to be a superior officer. It loses some of the pure horrific energy that drove the first three books, and could just as easily have been done in 300 pages — and Garold states that each book in the series gets longer. Nonetheless, the reader is into sweeping SF sagas and doesn’t mind side excursions, then this soon-to-be completed septology Tills the bill. Algis Budrys “Hard Landing” TOR Books Algis Budrys has only written a few novels, but all of them—“Rogue Moon,” “Michaelmas” and “Who?” Courtesy of Bantam Books to name a few — are classics. “Hard Landing” reads like one of those old black-and-white movies made in the ’50s, warning the “They Are Among Us.” This is not necessar ily bad and Bundrys has the talent to pull it off masterfully. A flying saucer crash-lands, forc ing its alien crew to fend for them selves in the human world. Fortu nately, the aliens can pass for human beings, and begin the task of assimi lating into society. They disperse, take up jobs, marry and try to hide their identities. However, a chance meeting be tween two of the crew members sets off a tragic chain of events — which also includes an interesting theory on why Watergate happened. “Hard Landing” is a tale of sur vival and adaptation, with no fancy gadgets or elaborate scientific theo ries. It’s SF the way it used to be done, and it’s a pleasure to see that it is still possible. — Sam Kepfield Video games still take our money “I’ve got a pocketful of quarters and I'm going to the arcade..." That line was from ‘Vac-Man Fe ver,"a song that epitomized the video game fad in the early 1980s. Way back then, young persons like myself were pouring our birthday money into games like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Asteroids. I am even old enough to remember the pioneer of them all, “Pong,” an electronic version of air hockey. About 15 years later, my genera tion is still pouring money down ma chines. This time, though, we’re spend ing money on Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter n (champion edition), and Time Warriors. And it’s still draining our piggy banks. With those early electronic pio neers, playing a game was simple. I wiggled my joystick and pressed a button. I had three lives, and that was that — I was dead. Of course, lots of things have changed since then. First, those games have been altered to give players more of a testosterone rudt. No longer do we have to settle for an eyeless monster eating ghosts. At ics of humans being bcheade<f(with the spine dangling from the head, toe other major change is the length of games. In the days of Donkey Kong, games lasted two or three min utes at first, but after a couple of bucks, I could play fifteen minutes or more on the dam thing. Obviously, the big boys at Nintendo, Midway, and Atari didn’t like that very much. They were get ting less and less money per hour, and the quarter was deflating anyway. What could they do? They tried raising the price or games, but they could only raise it so far before kids |cttdisgusted and bought more Atari Then one of them came up with a great idea - the “continue game.” For instance, last week, kicking butt with Mortal Kombat I was burned alive by the computer in about two minutes. Then it put up a message: ‘To continue, deposit one coin and press Start” I did. Two minutes later, I had to continue one more time. And again ■ two minutes later. By the lime I de feated that damn machine, I had shelled out two bucks for fifteen min utes. Well, practice still makes perfect After the $ 10 mark, I can now survive five minutes on that game. Meanwhile, I’m looking toward the future. Already, there have been 3-D games (including a kind of “Dragon’s Lair” starring a time-trav eling cowboy). Now, I’ve heard about “Virtual re ality” in which one dons a pair of goggles and special gloves and plays the game as if in the middle of Super ManoLand. I can see it now: My grandkids begging me, ‘‘Grandpa, I need some cash for the new ‘ V.R.* machine. It’s a new version of air hockey called Pong’.” The more things change, I sup pose, the more they stay die same. Jan Calinger Is a freshman news-editorial major and an Arts and Entertainment col umnist. Peter, Paul and Mary to grace Pershing Auditorium on Thursday The folk-singing trioof Peter, Paul and Mary will be harmonizing for one performance at the Pershing Audito rium Thursday at 8 p.m. Tickets, priced at $24.75, $19.75 and a limited number at $34.75, are available from all Ticketmaster out lets. Special rates for children, senior and groups are available. The Omaha Ballet will perform “Cinderella,” one of the world’s best loved fairy tales, Wednesday night at the Lied Center. It will be their Lied Center debut. / Tickets are $20 and $16; student tickets are half-price. Group and se nior citizen rates are also available. — From Staff Reports Dima Continued from Page 8 chi in ha- apartment — especially during the winter. “Sometimes my 4-year-old son follows behind me when I practice at home," said Ma. She has introduced tai chi to more than 2,000 students in China and 600 in Lincoln. Ma said her youngest stu dent was 6 years old, while her oldest was an 84-year-old grandmother. Ma, currently “31 or 32” years old, said she hoped to practiceregularly even •w when she is /u ana »u. “I still hope to practice every day, both tai chi and qi gong,” she said. “If my husband gets a good job, I would like to study English for two years,” Ma said. “Then Icouldpossi bly open a martial arts school. One of my toothers might even be able to come.” After graduating from the Beijing Institute of Physical Education, Ma was assigned to Chen’s university in Xian, where they were married in 1987. Since then, Ma has offered in struction in the wudan style of tai chi, in which her family has its history. 3 The wudan style emphasizes arm motions, ui gong, unu me ujiiciauuii of internal energy and outer motion, she said. This contrasts with the Shaolin style, which focuses on leg motions and external movements. The characteristics of the wudan style are apparent in Ma’s everyday conversation as well as in her instruc tion at the F Street Recreation Center. They can be seen in the smooth grace < with which she serves tea just as in the i efforts of her students. i “The students at F Street are won- i derful — they try so hard to under stand my English,” Ma said. “We | always feel refreshed after class, es- | pecially in the middle of a busy day.” i Grunge sound thrives on strong debut release Bone Club “Beautiflu” Imago Records I’m sure the guys in Bone Club are sick of being described as having the Seattle sound, but when listening to their six-song debut “Beautiflu,” it’s hard not to think of flannel shirts, coffee and rainy weather. Of course, that isn’t necessarily a put-down. Bone Club, who is actually from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, does at times sound reminiscent of Soundgarden and other grunge out fits, but “Beautiflu” is a promising debut. Throughout the six songs, Bone Club shows not only its ability to be loud and heavy, but also its ability to change with moody dynamics. Courtesy of lm«go Records In fact, the best song might be the appropriately titled “Slomowhich is by far the most mellow song. Even during the almost-punk tempo of “It’s Not Alright,” the club slows things down in the middle for a great, stripped-down interlude that’s just as powerful. Songs like “Arrive” and “Slippin" arc more straight-ahead'heavy blasts in which Bone Club brings its own twist to the grunge sound. All in all, “Beautiflu” may sound familiar during the first listen, but its heavy grooves and moody interludes soon take on a promising life of their own. Check out Bone Club live Thurs day night at The Edge, 227 N. 9th St. — Matt Silcock Bone Club brings dynamic Seattle sound to The Edge When one thinks of live alterna tive music in Lincoln, Duffy’s Tavern is probably the first place that comes to mind. However, over at The Edge, 227 N. 9th St., touring national Bands are also featured twice a week, and Thursday, up and-coming Imago recording art ists Bone Club will be hitting the stage. According to Ernie Pulos, who coordinates live music at The Edge, touring bands play every Thursday and Saturday. This works well with Duffy’sschedule, as they offer live shows on Wednesdays and Sun days. “If bands coming through can’t hit one club, they can hit the other,” Pulos said. “We increase the avail ability of live alternative rock in Lincoln." Pulos said that having bands play on Saturday night makes The Edge the only club in town that consistently features live altema live music on weekends. So far The Edge has mainly featured out-of-town acts from the Midwest, such as Stick (formerly Kill Whitey) from Lawrence, Kan., and other bands from area cities like Kansas City and St. Louis. In March, two Chicago bands. Big Hat and the Lilacs, will both be coming to The Edge. “We’re trying to branch out,” Pulos said. For now, The Edge is gearing up for Thursday’s Bone Club show. “We’ve caught them right on their wav up,” Pulos said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re the next Nirvana.” Local favorite Sideshow will be opening for Bone Club. “We like to have local bands open for the touring bands every Thursday and Saturday," Pulos explained. The show should start at 10:30 p.m. — Matt Silcock Bowling strikes East Campus Today from 11:30 am. to 1:30 &m. at the East Campus Union, the niversity Program Council Union Festivals Committee is having a Bowl ing Extravaganza. ' For two nours there will be free lanes and free shoes for all University students who attend. Activities like this will occur ev ery Wacky Wednesday this semester. — Staff Reports Mind Continued from Page 8 Dr. David Eisenberg, instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School and first American medical exchange student to China told Moyers, “Most remedies use plants, but, spine also contain deer antlers, snake gallblad ders, shark fins, and other exotic sub stances." He said dried geckoes have been proven to halt a cough and reduce phlegm, and the ginseng root increases the *Ychi”, or vital energy, and life force of the body. . Along with the in-depth and uniaue nterviews Moyers elicits from a hignly espec table cross-section of the medi cal community, he also taps into the ascinating infrastructure of the latest nedical trend: healing the body hrough the mind. "Healing and the Mind" is a must or anyone interested in alternative tealing procedures for chronic ill less. UPC International Films Presents: "Erotic. Nesmerizing and Hypnotic! Heaves an intoxicating spel Sun., Feb. 26 - 3,5,769 p.m. Sheldon Gallery - 12th 6 R Mary Rom Theater $3 UNL Student*