ArtsSEntertainment Friday, April 9,1993
Quest for success *
‘Holy Grail’ showing meant to begin Starship 9 tradition j
By Gerry Beltz
Staff Reporter ___
Do you know what the average wind speed
velocity of an unladen swallow is?
If you responded, “African or European?”
then you know where this weird question comes
from. And those who didn’t know now have a
chance to gel enlightened.
In celebration of the first anniversary of the
Starship 9, the long-popular comedy “Monty
Python and the Holy Grail” opens today at the
Starship 9 (13th and Q streets).
Byron Bonsall, manager of the Starship 9,
said “Holy Grail” was brought back, not only to
do something different for the anniversary, but
also for a filler should the condition arise.
“There might be a situation where we might
not find enough product for the screens, and we
have a movie that should be gone and out of
there,” he said. “If older films like this will play
well at the Starship, we’ll do this more often.”
Bonsall noted that for now this is “just an
experiment.”
But he predicts that business will be very
good for the film.
“I expect to kick some major butt,” he said.
In “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” King
Arthur is gathering his knights together be
cause he believes he’s on a mission from God
to find the Holy Grail. But of course, they can’t
find it, and this leads the entire bumbling troop
(including John Cleese, Michael Palin and Eric.
Idle) into a myriad of bizarre comedic encoun
ters and situations, including cow tossing and
the attack of a giant wooden rabbit.
Bonsall said that he thought it was the
general zanincss that attracted people to “Holy
Grail.”
“Going to this movie,” he said, “you have to
Brian Shellito/DN
-4*
I expect to kick some major butt.
— Bonsall,
manager of Starship 9
know that you’re going to see some very bizarre
things.”
Bonsall said he had hopes of bringing back
other old movies, provided that the “Holy
Grail” venture was a success.
“If this goes over, I already have it down to
three films which I would like to show next year
for our second anniversary,” he said. “I would
like to make this a tradition if at all possible.”
Diary of a Madman
I w^nt home to help Mother
call her baldness to
Father's attention,^
VteUo Fatter THot-her yourj
Hair looks great today y
From the looK on Father s
face I think he finally
finured it out. _
(T^ank hou Son
I believe hes finally
becoming more aware of
u/hats on Ground him.
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Mirror experiments raise hot issues
In January, the Russians launched a small
payload into orbit, which unfolded to become a
65-meter-diameter mirror. Laced along a spi
dery framework was a thin sheet of reflective
Mylar.
The mirror, orbiting 225 miles above Earth,
reflected weak sunlight back to Earth—some
what less candlepowcr than a full moon.
OK, so it's not exactly Sputnik. For all the
press coverage, it’s on the same level with the
interminable Cosmos satellites they keep
launching, which only make news when their
nuclear reactors fall back to Earth.
But since this little experiment is the firsl
step in a planned series of larger mirrors, it
raises a valid question: How far can — or
should — man go toward controlling the envi
ronment?
The Russians have always been big on this.
Back in the days of the Evil Empire, the Soviet
government used nukes to dig lakes and canals,
reversed the flow of several rivers and even
planned to use a siring of nuclear power plants
along the Pacific to raise the water temperature
and create much-needed warm-water ports for
military ships.
The U.S. government considered using huge
inflatable mirrors during the Vietnam War to
illuminate the dense jungles where troops were
fighting at night. Code-named Nile Blue, this
also floundered due to opposition from astrono
mers, who warned that the extra light would
render their telescopes useless.
So just what good is a giant orbiting mirror?
Well, cities along the Arctic Circle like
St.Petersburg or Nome, Alaska would probably
like a little sunshine during their six-month
long winters.
Even the Americans considered digging a
new Panama Canal across Nicaragua with nukes.
And the Russians aren't the first to think up
i -—i
Davtd Baddera/DN
this space mirror idea. A German rocket scien
tist, Hennann Obcrth, first conceived it in 1929.
During World War II, the Nazis thought
about using mirrors as “sun guns,” but it never
came off because atmospheric scattering of the
light and heat prohibited it.
Illuminating cities from space and lengthen
ing the days in winter could not only lessen
power consumption, but provide aid to those
suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder.
Extended illumination could lengthen crop
growth.
All wonderful things, to be sure. But what of
the downside to it? Nature operates on a fairly
predictable cycle: long days in summer and
shorter in winter. Circadian rhythms by which
the body regulates itself have built themselves
largely around this cycle of light and dark.
Start having 12-hour days in December, or
even lengthening days in summer, and you’re
bound to upset it.
And, of course, with the Hubble telescope on
the frit/., astronomers arc going to complain
about light pollution again.
Alt valid concerns — but docs this make it
a bad thing?
Most people who make these choices think
only as far ahead as the next election, not the
next generation.
So what's the point, you ask? It’s that using
technology, and especially new space technol
ogy, involves a trade-off between bcifcficial
and detrimental uses.
It might be terrific to light Nome, Alaska, in
the winter, but widespread use of artificial light
over large areas of land could disrupt the natu
ral order of things.
Unfortunately, our leaders are often un
schooled in the adverse effects — and left
clueless about the positive uses — of new
technologies.
Or they’re so constrained by pesky legisla
tures and inertia-bound bureaucrats that the
technology isn’t even noticed.
And too often the result is no result.
Smnt Kepfidd b not a scientist, but k nows an awful lot
■bout it, and b an arts & entertainment columnist
Theatrix features struggles
of Chilean prisoner, writers
Theatrix offers two plays this week,
“Death and the Maiden" and “Squirrels,”
both of which began Thursday.
“Death and the Maiden,” directed by
Robin McKcrchcr, will run in Studio 301
of the Temple building today and Satur
day at 9 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Set in Chile after the collapse of the
Pinochet regime, “Death” hinges on the
experiences of a woman who was held
prisoner for 40 days in the hands of the
totalitarian government that tortured and
raped her.
Playwright Ariel Dorman is a Chilean
exile, but no country is ever specified in
the play, making it particularly relevant
to the current struggles of people in the
former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe,
McKercher said. .
A few seconds’ walk away in the
Studio Theater is “Squirrels” by David
Mamet. It runs today and Sunday at 7
p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m.
One of Mamet’s earliest and least
known works, “Squirrels” is a short,
snappy play about two writers who arc
incapable of completing a paragraph.
“Nothing really happens,” said direc
tor Randall Wheatley, “but it’s a lot of
fun.”
“We sec TV. We sec movies. We sec
all this stuff, and it looks so alive,” he
said, “yet all it is is one man silling alone
in squalor typing away. I sec this as a
writer’s nightmare.”
—Matthew Grant
Things in the Big City arc back
to normal: nothing to do.
But the weather is supposed to
be nice, and frisbees will be mak
ing their annual appearance, along
with luscious people in shorts eat
ing ice cream slowly and tanning
their thighs, so get out and do some
thing, for Pete’s sake!
i__ _ yl
Weekend — “Gas Food and
Lodging” al the Carson Theatre,
various times, $4 for students; “S ing
On!” at the Creamery, various
times, $7.50.
* Friday — Chris Proctor, guitar
ist, LAFTA house concert at 3160
S. 31st St, 7:30 p.m., suggested
donation — $5.
Saturday — Malaysian Night
’93,6 p.m. Nebraska Union Cen
tennial Room, 6:30 p.m.; Lincoln
Symphony Orchestra Young
Artist’s Competition, 8 p.m., Six
Sunday — UNL Brass En
semble, Kimball Hall, 8p.m.. Tree.
Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
Mow MunN BooRdS
would +HE Mongols HoqRd,
i9 MONGOL MoRdES {
Go\ BoR£d ? ;
