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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 1996)
Monday, February 12,1996 Page 12 Cliff Hicks Overplayed songs rule Grammys “And the Grammy goes to ...” the artist the most radio stations liked this year. All the award shows are becoming rotten, but the Grammys shall be our token sacrifice because their nomina tions already have been made and be cause they’re my favorite target: Take a look, if you will, at the list of all of the Grammy nominations in the category you listen to, be it rock, jazz, alternative... whatever. You know a song by every one of those artists, don’t you? Why? Be cause the radio and the major video channels have clubbed you over the head with them, not always at your behest. All of the artists who have been nominated for Grammys have been beaten into the heads of listeners with enough airplay time to make a presi dential election look like a used car dealer’s spot. At least the Oscars occasionally will nominate, and even give an award to, some tiny little film that no one saw or heard about. Still, even the Oscars can’t over come everything. If Tom Hanks wins the Oscar for Best Actor in “Apollo 13,” I will personally be stunned by how far things have escalated. Just because everyone sees or hears something, does that make it good? If all the rock radio stations began playing polka and telling me how popular polka was becoming and how everyone was requesting polka, and I was voting for Grammys, would I vote for a polka song in the rock category? 1 HATE POLKA! (No offense, to each his own.) NO! It seems to me, and maybe 1 am wrong as I have been before, that the line of thinking people seem to be fol lowing is this: If it’s played a lot, people must request it a lot, so it must be popular. And everyone else likes it, so I should too. Some of the best music put out this year was not played widely, if at all, on the radio. Some of the best films played at little tiny art theaters across the country. Some of the best work of the year never got noticed. bo, what do we do about it M m not quite sure yet. I’ve thought about it, and a couple of ideas came to mind. For starters, we could take over the radio stations and make them stop overexposing us to all this stuff we don’t want to hear. Storm them by force, drawn guitars at dawn. Then we could open our own ra dio stations, which will focus oh di versity, and not play the same stuff once an hour on die hour. Or, maybe we could just stop lis tening to the mass market... nah, sorry to say, that’ll never happen. Too many followers. The first idea makes the most sense. Call the radio stations and ask them to stop playing things you’ve heard before and ask diem to play something you haven’t heard. Support new mu sicians and new bands. Do not be over come by the masses. If there’s nothing better than Alanis and Mariah in music today (who tied for six Grammy nominations apiece), I have GOT to stop listening to music. Hicks b a freshman news-editorial and v.ngIkh major and a Daily Nebraskan staff reporter. Photo courtesy of the IMAX Theatre , This full view of the space shuttle in orbit around the Earth is just one of the spectacular shots audiences can see in “Destiny in Space,” one of three films now showing at Hasting’s IMAX Theatre. IMAX Theatre puts on a reast ror eyes By Gerry Beltz Film Critic With the IMAX Theatre in Hastings as my goal, I prepared my self for the Movie Review journey. Todd and I left Lincoln at a smooth 75 mpn witn “The Muppet Movie” soundtrack gently wafting through the speakers of his ’94 laser-red Mustang. (Time passed. I napped.) After arriving, we caught the first IMAX flick of the day, “Destiny In Sp^ce,” chronicling achievements in the space program and looking at the surface of other planets. We were the only two people in the theater, so we spoke in normal voices throughout the film and counted down to find the EXACT center- seats for opti mum sound and sights. The really nice quality of an IMAX theater is that there arc no bad seats; the incline of the theater is steep enough to let you see the full spectrum of the screen even if some one sits in front of you, and the sound is just incredible. The five-story high screen made the film a visual feast for the eyes. The footage taken during various shuttle missions was especially hyp notic, and the entire IMAX experi ence gives the feeling of actually being there, floating in space, look ing at close-ups of the shuttle and the people working inside. “Destiny in Space” is also very relaxing and soothing, both in its visual and auditory splendor. We got out of there at about noon. We hit the O.K. Cafe (about two blocks away) for lunch. It was damn good food. Problem: The next movie wasn’t until 3:30 p.m., so by the time lunch was done, we had more than two hours to kill in Hastings. What to do? We cruised. It was a beautiful day, so we rolled down the windows, cranked up some acceptable tunes and en joyed the weather. We met some very nice people, and also hit the bowling alley, piddled through a mall (stopping for video games), and checked out the place iin general. We got back with time to spare for “Niagara,” which truly could be enjoyed in only IMAX format, if the real thing isn’t available. This film captured the attention a bit more than “Destiny in Space” by placing the viewer in the front seat of some wild trips down the rough rapids leading to Niagara Falls. This included the trip of the Lelawala down the rapids, the first person to go over the fails in a bar rel, and two children who were nearly killed by the deadly power of Niagara Falls. Hie audience can’t help but get caught up in the raging river and awesome sight of this beautiful piece of nature’s work. That ended at about 4:15 p.m., so we had just less than two hours to kill before the final film began. We cruised some more, grabbed dinner at the O.K. Cafe (I’ll say it again —- damn, DAMN good food; try the hot beef sandwich, if you ever get the chance), and waited out the rest of the time sitting in the car, reading the paper as the sun set. See IMAX on 14 Illustrations put play on display By Patrick Hambrecht Senior Reporter Faust is an easy personality type to recognize on a college campus— an arrogant, lonely academic who is so lost in thought he literally hy pothesizes and bumbles all the way to Hell. Peter Cornelius’ illustrations of the man who made a deal with the dean of Hades capture both the hu mor and strong German flavor of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s play. The print series is now on display at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery. Pop art just hasn’t been the same since the Industrial Revolution, as evident in Cornelius’ meticulous detail. Every one of his prints is See FAUST on 14 Oscar picks tough to predict BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — For the past two years, the Academy Awards lacked sus pense. “Forrest Gump” and “Schindler’s List” both domi nated — as expected. This year it’s different. On the eve of Oscar nomina tions, almost every category is too tough to pick. And the Golden Globes, typically Oscar indicators, only add to the un certainty because there was only one multiple film-award winner. The only three movies widely seen as sure bets to make the best picture nomination list when they are announced in a pre dawn ceremony Tuesday are “Apollo 13,” “Leaving Las Ve gas” and “Sense and Sensibil ity,” which won two Golden Globes. There’s no telling how the Academy ofMotion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 5,043 voters will go regarding other contenders, which include “Babe,” “Nixon,” “The Bridges of Madison County,” “Braveheart” and “Dead Man Walking.” Nicolas Cage is a strong fa vorite to win best actor for “Leaving Las Vegas.” He won the Golden Globe for it, along with every major critic’s award. Competition comes from An thony Hopkins in “Nixon” and Sean Penn in “Dead Man Walk ing.” “Leaving Las Vegas” co-star Elisabeth Shue, also honored by critics but denied a Golden Globe award, is expected to be nominated as best actress along with Susan Sarandon from “Dead Man Walking,” Joan Allen of “Nixon,” Meryl Streep from “The Bridges of Madison County” and Emma Thompson for “Sense and Sensibility.” As always, some of the year’s most popular films at the box of fice may be blanked in every ma jor category. For all the tickets sold, “Batman Forever,” “Die Hard With a Vengeance” and “Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls” aren’t likely to get any top nominations. For Oscar favorites, plans are in full swing to boost their pres ence in theaters nationwide to capitalize on the momentum. “Leaving Las Vegas” in creased its theater run by almost 1,000 locations Friday—putting it in a surprisingly large run of 1,310 locations. “Braveheart” is set to be re released this week in about 500 theaters, and about 800 theaters reintroduced “The Bridges of Madison County” last weekend. “Sense and Sensibility” will be playing in almost 1,000 theaters. The Oscars will be awarded March 25.
