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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 9, 1996)
* V oe By Kasey Kerber New system rates actors by income Here’s the deal. If you’re in Hol lywood, your name is no longer the most important means of identifi cation. It’s now your number. No, not your phone number, fax number, beeper number or even your Social Security number. It’s your The Hollywood Re porter number and the number alone is now what determines a star’s worth in the movie business. You see, every year “The Hol lywood Reporter” ranks all actors and actresses (even those that have appeared in Howard the Duck) based upon how likely they are to bring in the big bucks on the silver screen. Is it a good system? A bad one? Is it unfair because it doesn't take into account an actor or actress’s actual acting ability? Maybe. Yet are we really the ones to criticize? Heck, every time we pay $4 to see a “good” movie we’re inadvertently ranking the ac tors and actresses in it. And every time we pay $1.50 to see a “maybe it's worth six quarters” movie, we’re inadvertently telling the actors and actresses that they need a better agent. Yet, ail jokes aside, Hollywood is a money business, and “The Hol lywood Reporter” is merely echo ing that fact. I agree with some of the rankings, but others are more off than an archer experiencing a sei zure. Take for example Adam Sandler. His rank is a 22. This guy is a major money maker, but some how Hulk Hogan, Jon Lovitz, Shannen Doherty and “Freddy Krueger” Robert Englund all have higher ranks. Or the fact that you can appar ently add up the ranks of two O J. Simpsons and three Chris Elliots and barely make more money than one Julia Kooerts. Then this makes me wonder what the actors and actresses are thinking when they see their own ranking. I can just see the expression on “The Karate Kid’s” Pat Merita (Mr. Miyagi) when he picks up an issue of The Hollywood Reporter and sees that his ranking places him be low Hulk Hogan: RAT MORITA: “Let’s see., here I am. Well, crap!” Overall, it can’t be all bad. Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Tom Hanks, Mel Gibson and Arnold Schwarzenegger do have perfect 100’s. Sean Connery is close with a 94, as well as Jim Carrey with a 97. Yet the question remains: Should we judge an actor or actress by how much hey make and not the quality with which they doit? I think that in the end, The Hol lywood Reporter ranking system matters little in the long tun. Kerber is a sophomore news editorial major aad a Daily Ne braskan staff reporter aad col _ Ron Sodrun/DN STUDENTS, FACULTY and the community view the latest addition to UNL’s sculpture collection, "Ibm Notebook.* About 400 people attended the unveiling of the sculpture Friday. ‘Tbrn Notebook’ unveiled Friday By Sean McCarthy StaffReporter Tom notebook pages now scatter the outside of the Temple Building. This may sound like litter to anyone who hasn’t read the paper or has been out of the country the past month. Ac tually, it’s “Tbm Notebook,” the lastest addition to UNL’s sculpture collection. The sculpture and die Madden Gar den, where “Tom Notebook” rests, were unveiled Friday in front of about 400 spectators. The sculptors, hus band-and-wife team Gaes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, attended the ceremony along with benefactors Mr. and Mrs. John Madden, whom the gar den was named after. George Neubert, director of the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden, led off with die in duction. Other distinguished speakers included Pat Lundak, president of the Nebraska Art Association, Terry Fairfield, president of the University of Nebraska Foundation, Gail Yanney, chairperson of the Nebraska Arts Council and Mayor Mike Johanns. UNL Chancellor James Moeser was also among the speakers at the dedication. “This is a beautiful place where once we had a very unbeautiful park ing lot,” he said. u This is a beautiful place where once we had a very unbeautiful parkins lot.” James Moeser UNL chancellor Moeser praised the connection be tween the 20-foot sculpture and life in Nebraska. He cited the way the spiral of the notebook represents the torna dos and the lines of the tear in the note book represent the Platte River. “Even the colors, black and white, remind us of the academic garb,” he said. Johanns said Friday was one of the top five days he would have as Lincoln’s mayor. ‘“This has been a truly remarkable day,” he said. “This piece of artwork will continue to indicate this close re lationship between the city and UNL.” Artists Oldenburg and van Bruggen spoke after receiving a welcoming ova tion. Please see NOTEBOOK on 13 Sculpti ehas dualpurpose By Fred Poyner Art Critic Against the background of a Ne braskan fall, a new and animated sculp ture has, in a proclamation by the Sheldon Gallery, “blown into town.” ‘Tom Notebook,” a joint effort tty Coosje van Bruggen and Claes Oldenburg, is not intended to be a per manent addition to the sculpture gar den. From a distance, the twistings tossed appearance of the individual “pages” reinforces this fact. Closer inspection of the center sculpture, however, reveals the steel armature between the pages, changing a viewer’s impressions from move ment-oriented to inflexible stability. The nature of this work is really dual in purpose. Again, the distant view compared to the close-up characteris tics confirm this duality. Hie perspec tive view shows us an oversized note book with loose sheets of paper — a familiar image on a college campus and the indispensable tool for the student, the artist, the writer. Upon approach, the notebook im age loses part of its definition. Hie words on die pages become holes in metal, while die illusion of paper is replaced by the heaviness of the me dium. Hie separate pages seem to emerge from the ground, rather than pass along the surface unencumbered. By itself, the sculpture is a depar ture from the Sculpture Garden collec tion, in terms of location and interpre tation. As an installation physically removed from the rest of the collec tion, it maintains its illusion as a nonsculpture object. As a sculpture focused on incorporating both far-off motion and close-up permanence, it avoids a future death of common ac ceptance and stagnancy as a university feature. “Tbm Notebook” requires a second look. Popularity catches up with Omaha band By Ann Stack Senior Reporter The members of the Omaha group Blue Moral Ghetto apparently haven’t caught on as to how successful they’ve became. Either that, or they’re just ig noring it. Flip on any radio station—classic rock, alternative, Ibp 40 — and you can hear their catchy, sing-along single “Shine All the Time.” It was in heavy rotation all summer across Nebraska. For every time they were heard on the radio, they were probably playing somewhere live. Band members said they nearly killed themselves playing four to five shows a week to promote their self-titled HP. But you won't see these four band members wasting any time riding the wave of success their single has brought them. Instead, they’re going to try to reach the widest audience pos sible through their music. “People call us pop—but there’s much more to it than that,” drummer Joel Kassera said. “The advantage that we might have is that our music has much more mass appeal. We get people from all walks of life at our shows. They’re really into the music.” Getting a wider fan base means leaving Nebraska for a while. The band won’t play Omaha again until Edgefest on Sept 15, where they will be per forming between The Refreshments and Ttacy Bohnam. This month they’ll also be playing gigs in Kearney, Lawrence, Kan. and St. Louis before heading into the Stu dio to record a new full-length album due out early next year. And all this after foaming not even a year and a half ago. “We’re at a record-setting as far as local bands go,” Kassera said. “That’s not saying we're better than anyone else, we’ve just worked really hard and we’ve gotten some lucky breaks.” “Shine All The Time,” which fea tured a harmony with KDGE-FM Please see BAND on 13 Maini Spbck/DN MATTHEW BAN1A, lead singer fw Blue Moon Qietto, plays Saturday Night at the Brass Rail, 1436 OSt .