Lasers
Continued from Page 13
school, said he always was willing to
experiment with new ways to help his
students. Mann said the school had a
number of low-vision and partially
sighted students who were able to see
the lasers.
The contrast of complete darkness
with the intense laser light allows
visually impaired people to see the
lasers, he said. This contrast does not
occur with natural light. Because
everyone’s degree of blindness var
ies, Mann said, each person had a
different experience.
Some visually impaired people fail
to see anything, while others can see
movement, light and color, Mann
said. Those who can see the lasers
react with awe, he said.
“Kids can’t stop talking about it,”
he said. “They’re so excited they
have trouble coming up with words
to explain what they’re seeing.”
_:_
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Sign up for drawings
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Saturday 10-5
j !
“Stoner Witch”
Melvins
Atlantic Records j
Grade: D
t
The Melvins always have been
a romantic target for rock critics
looking to pinpoint the roots of
“grunge rock” because of their long
list of obscure independent albums
and their Aberdeen, Wash., resi
dency.
They developed the sound
Seattlites entitled “grunge” seven
years previous to the release of
Nirvana’s “Nevermind.” The
Melvins were the pioneers, yet,
ironically, even after the fateful
year that punk broke, they remained
undiscovered.
However, “Stoner Witch,” the
follow-up to their first major label
debut, serves to shatter the truth
behind any such dramatic
storytelling. Quite simply, while
the bands of Seattle dabbled in
more complex rhythms, a greater
depth of texture and empathetic
lyrics, the Melvins choose a differ
ent route, trapping themselves in
the loud darkness of bands long
past.
And “Stoner Witch continues
down this narrow path. Although
one cannot help but notice pieces
of “Bleach” and a few daring riffs
< floating amid the power chords of
the album’s faster tracks, the
metallike sounds stunt any
progress.
Songs such as “Skweetis” and
“Revolve” resemble a Glen Danzig
side project. The result is far from
anything that bands such as Green
River ever imagined — stale rock
teetering between metal, hard-core
and painful chaos.
However, when the annoying
vocals are silenced as in the instru
mental “Junebug,” the Melvins
prove they can develop a worth
while melody.
Relaxing King Buzz’s overdone
wails and shifting into a slower
gear, they display a somewhat re
deeming diversity in songs such as
“Goose Freight Train,” taking the
listener on a tour of almost spooky
bass lines and jazzy repetition.
Unfortunately, in the end, the
quiet moments that interrupt the
noise of such songs as “Roadbull”
absorb the first three minutes of
most tracks, and dominant epics
such as “Lividity” fall victim to a
lack of imagination that give them
the quality of purposeless metallic
sludge.
Although the Melvins may be
both diverse and loud, their new
album fails to illustrate their lin
eage to the post-punk sound and
leaves the listener knee-deep in
annoying, overexaggerated rock.
— Matt Kudlacz
' " ■
“The Cult”
The Cult
Sire Records
Grade: B+
With the release of 1989’s
“Sonic Temple,” The Cult seemed
destined for greatness. It was the
follow-up to the hugely successful
“Electric,” and the singles “Sun
King” and “Fire Woman” received
considerable airplay.
Then the bubble burst with the
1991 release of “Ceremony "This
album sat there, floated a bit and
then sank into obscurity.
Well, it’s been three years, and
The Cult is back. Although pro
duced by Bob Rock — who pro
duced “Sonic Temple” — “The
Cult” is not as heavy or as guitar
centered as the band’s earlier ef
forts.
The Cult seems to have taken
the sound from “Love” and
“Dreamtime” and refined it for the
’90s, tossing in bits of organ and
other instruments one would never
dream of hearing on a Cult album.
“The Cult” opens up with
“Gone,” a ripping song, followed
by “Coming Down (Drug
Tongue),” the album’s first single.
“Coming Down” is a great song,
and its grooves grab the listener
from the start and don’t let go.
Followed by “Real GrnT’ and
“Black Sun,” these songs show the
influence of the “Love” sound.
One true standout on this album
is “Sacred Life,” which deals with
the deaths of people like River
Phoenix and Kurt Cobain. It is a
wonderful song that shows that
even though Ian Astbury may have
lost those long black locks, he
hasn’t lost his singing ability.
Guitarist Billy Duffy holds back
on this album, and although he
doesjam on a number of the songs,
he never cuts loose.
All in all, this is a good, solid
album. The Cult has been around a
long time, producing albums un
der several different names, and it
is hoped that “The Cult” will help
the band achieve the level of suc
cess it deserves.
— William Harms
■ ■ ■ n
__ UNPLUGGED
»H HEW YOUR
“Unplugged in New York”
Nirvana
Geffen Records
Grade: A
Nirvana, the band that wouldn’t
give up even after the death of lead r
singer Kurt Cobain, lives on in its
latest release, MTV’s “Unplugged
in New York.’’
It may be the last tribute to
Cobain’s creation of a new musi
cal genre. “Unplugged’’ features
all the trademark Nirvana songs
permeated by Cobain’s haunting
voice.
Cobain sings with pain on the
album’s first song, “Come as You
Are,’’ as his caustic voice forces
itself on a truly fatalistic song.
Hearing Cobain ’ s conversations
between songs is almost eerie. His
calm demeanor and persona con
trast with his lyrical fury. Cobain
jokes with bassist Krist Novoselic
and drummer Dave Grohl and then
launches into song.
Almost any Nirvana fan will
choke up over the oozing symbol
ism and irony on “Jesus Doesn’t
Want Me for a Sunbeam.’’
It cries out with such sympathy
and sincerity that it’s hard not to
feel something — anything — at
all. The song has almost a Celtic
ring to it that implies a sort of
spiritual emotion.
“Pennyroyal Tea,” a great song
in studio version, is fall of Cobain’s
mulling spirit. The raw-edged
acoustic guitar sharpens the over
all tone of the song.
“Unplugged” lends depth and a
deeper personality to Nirvana’s
songs “Polly,” “Something in the
Way,” “Plateau,” and "All Apolo
gies.”
The 14-song compilation ends
with “Where Did You Sleep Last
Night,” which is, appropriately,
peaceful — the way Cobain’s life
should have ended.
The jury on Cobain’s value to
society is still out, but no matter
what the verdict, Cobain truly was
a great inspiration to a stagnant
musical world in desperate need of
change.
This true genius was captured
one last time on “Unplugged.” May
Cobain’s memory andinfluence
live on.
- — Paula Lavigne
BOOKS
“Couplehood”
Paul Reiser
Bantam Books
Grade: A
“So there we were, on the brink
of the Next Big Thing. Forever.
The Final Frontier. We stared at
each other for a moment, and then
I thought, ‘Uh-oh, if this person’s
going to be with me forever, she’s
going to find out what I’m really
like. That can’t be good.’”
Paul Reiser took a break from
his incessant comedic worrying
recently to sit down in front of a
word processor and do more of the
same.
And “Couplehood” happened.
A loose description of what it is to
be in love, the book actually tack
les a number of topics, including
Reiser’s stand-up material and his
work on NBC’s sitcom “Mad About
You.”
The reader follows Reiser, how
ever illogically nutty his concerns,
like a Branch Davidian, entranced
with the conversation style and wit
he displays.
A laugh ensues even upon open
ing the book, as the text begins on
Page 145, so, as Reiser explains,
you’ve reached the middle before
you’ve even begun, and you feel
like you’ve accomplished some
thing. Plus, he gets credit for writ
ing a bigger book.
From that point, his keen obser
vations of the oddities of daily li fe,
combined with his personal, often
sardonic tone, prove inescapably
humorous.
So clever is his style, the reader
finds himself or herself inexplica
bly knee-deep in the secrets of
companionship at the book’s clos
ing, able to remember only Reiser’s
descriptions of his half-hour con
versations with his wife about “The
Jeffersons” and discussions about
fishing for the bodies of union
bosses.
“Love can’t be the topicof this,”
you think, ripping through chap
ters. “He’s funny, but right now
he’s talking about grapefruit. I’m
not really seeing any love there."
And then—Boom! —you’re done.
And suddenly, his message is
clear, and you say, “Oh,” not re
ally sure how you got to the point
that you did but positive that
“Couplehood” is quite a ride.
— Matt Kudlacz
Doom
Continued from Page 13
The real story of “Doom” begins
with id Software, as it sought to de
velop a game that would provide real
istic sounds, animation and action in
a first-person-perspective action-ad
venture.
Id Software met and exceeded its
goals with this game. In addition to a
realistic virtual reality environment,
“Doom” can be played over a net
work, a modem or a simple cable
between two computers.
In a network game, up to four
players interact with each other and
the hellish “Doom” reality in order to
save humanity. A much more popular
multi-player “Doom” game is a com
petitive “death match, in which play
ers fight each other with an assort
ment of chain guns, rifles and rocket
launchers.
In an interview over the Internet,
Dave Taylor, one of the programmers
of "Doom,” said 100,000 people had
registered “Doom.”
Taylor also said five times that
number of people had purchased the
sequel, “Doom II," in three weeks.
Although Taylor doesn’t play his
creation much anymore, he does hear
stories about it.
MA guy, after death-matching for
several hours one night, decided to
drive home. He saw a concrete pylon
on the shoulder of the road and
swerved to intercept it, thinking it
was a missile," Taylor said.
"Doom" mania continues to
spread. A virtual reality entertain
ment center in Milwaukee held a pub
lic "Doom” tournament last week
end.
Although the threat of the “Doom"
invasion is minimal (for the time
being), people can join in on the
virtual blood bath by simply connect
ing to the Internet and downloading a
copy of “Doom” to their computer.
For those who are computer liter
ate, “Doom” is available on the
Internet via anonymous FTP at
infant2.sphs.indiana.edu.
Those interested in “Doom” but
not the Internet can buy the shareware
“Doom” for only $5 on disk at a
computer store.
