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.
