By Cliff Hicks
and Emily Wray |
British novel
plays with
Apocalypse
Shakespeare was right. People
behave better than angels and worse
than demons, sometimes at the same
time.
The book of the week is Cliff’s
choice. “Good Omens, The Nice
and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes
Nutter, Witch,” by Neil Gaiman and
Teiry Pratchett, was written by two
Brits who had nothing better to do.
Actually, both of them were
working on other projects at the
time (Gaiman on his “Sandman”
comic and Pratchett on his next
Discworld novel), but they took
time off to write this joint effort.
Fans of Monty Python and Dou
glas Adams are used to the British
style of comedy exhibited in “Good
Omens.” Of course, it’s more fun
than Monty Python. Instead of soak
ing up light rays from the tube, av
erage readers MUST actively par
ticipate (use their imagination).
The book’s main theme, the
Apocalypse, always stays in the
back of the reader’s mind and leads
to the book’s climax.
I ne main character is Adam, the
Antichrist, who happens to be a very
nice 11 -year-old British boy. Other
major players include Crowley, (an
angel who did not so much “fall” as
“saunter vaguely downwards”),
Aziraphale (an angel and part-time
rare book dealer), Newton Pulsifer
(Witchfinder Private) and Anath
ema Device (descendant of Agnes
Nutter).
The supporting cast gives a good
literary performance. Highlights
include the four Apocalyptic
Horsepersons. DEATH (WHO
TALKS IN ALL CAPS), War (Re
member all those WARS fought
over women. Maybe it’s just a co
incidence War is female and maybe
not), Famine (who now runs health
food joints) and Pollution (who re
placed Pestilence after the invention
of penicillin) make up the original
Hell’s Angels.
And then there’s Dog (Satanical
hellhound and cat-worrier). When
the sources of Evil send a hellhound
to guide and protect Adam, the An
tichrist, the dog’s name will deter
mine its destiny.
Without giving away the plot, a
couple of comments hit close to
home for us. For poor Crowley, part
of hell on Earth was his cassette tape
collection. All tapes left in a car for
more than about a fortnight meta
morphose into “Best of Queen” al
bums. (Just imagine Tthaikovsky’s
“Another One Bites the Dust.”)
With many smirks and a few
groans, Emily finds this book bet
ter than any homework assigned so
far this semester.
Cliff, on the other hand, thinks
it's a tad bit better than that. His
praises would have filled all the
space allowed, but thank God..no,
the Devil...no, Adam...for self-ed
iting.
Hicks is a sophomore news
editorial and English major.
Wray is a junior news-editorial
major. Both are book lovers and
Daily Nebraskan staff reporters.
• -- - ;* • . .• : - •;»- • .
Stayteflers bring craft back to mainstream
Presentation to showcase performers in revival of defunct art form
By Ann Stack
Senior Reporter
Dave Landis has a stray to tell.
Actually, he and some friends have
a few stories to tell—and they’re tell
ing them Friday night on the UNL cam
pus.
Landis and the Nebraska
Storytelling Festival are working to
gether to present “Tell Us A Story” at
7:30 Friday at Westbrook Music Build
ing. The presentation will be a
storytelling concert featuring Steve
San field, Karen Libman, Landis and
Four Bright Chicks, a troupe of tellers
from Omaha.
“It’s an outgrowth of the
storytelling festival in Omaha,” he said.
“We haven’t had one in Lincoln since
the Flatwater Festival.”
The Flatwater Festival was a fall art
festival that has been defunct for four
years.
Landis, a state senator from Lin
coln, feels that storytelling is becom
ing a revived art form.
“It has an awareness that’s rela
tively new, and that’s caused by a back
lash to television. TV socially has the
effect of making listeners passive, un
imaginative and with a shorter atten
tion span,” he said. “Storytelling is an
antidote to all three. Listeners can cre
ate the picture themselves.
He also thinks it’s a form worth pre
serving for its artistic integrity,
“It’s a beautiful art form,” he said.
“You find when you go to a storytelling
event that you’re almost always re
Aaron Steckelberg/DN
minded of powerful stories in your life
... and of how we reveal ourselves in
telling stories.”
He said he chose the term “concert”
to describe the event because that’s
how he would like the audience to view
it.
“A concert has the focus of the au
dience, yet the return of variety,” he
said. “At a concert someone has to take
center stage and deliver. With this,
there’s a connecting with the audi
ence.”
Landis is reading two short stories
in the 90-minute performance, “Jacobi
the Shoemaker” and “Nalgiri,” a story
about India.
“The first is funny and touching.
The second is insightful. It’s about the
power of inner calm,” he said.
Another storyteller performing Fri
day is Karen Libman, assistant profes
sor of theatre arts at UNL.
She’s a professional storyteller as
well, and is excited about the concert.
“I think storytelling is a recovering
art form,” she said. “It’s made a big
comeback since the early ’90s — it’s
vogue. There are festivals happening
all over the country.”
Libman will be performing a love
story, as the concert is geared towards
adults rather than children.
Steve Sanfield is a children’s sto
ryteller who has written more that 20
books. While in Lincoln, he will be
doing storytelling in the public schools
as a guest of the Arts Are Basic pro
gram at UNLas well.
Admission is $3 for students with
IDs and $5 for the general public. Ad
vance tickets are $4 and can be ob
tained by calling 466-9352.
Exhibit brings ceramic art to life
By Feed Poynee i
Art Critic i
Ceramic forms sprout from the
walls and floor in the latest show at the
Richards Hall Gallery, the venue for ;
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s
Department of Art and Art History.
“Handle Spout Story Shrine,” an 1
exhibition of works by 18 artists, pur- 1
poseful ly moves away from the craft
association the medium can invoke in
the minds of many viewers.
me snow was curatea oy UNLce
•amics professor Gail Kendall, who
currently has a show of her own at the
Haydon Gallery. Many of the pieces
n “Handle” combine organic and geo
netric elements in creating lifelike ves
sels, towers, hangings and assem
blages.
Several artists approached the me
lium through an exploration of the fen
astic and bizarre. Jake Jacobson's
Earthenwares are whimsical as dis
torted and colorful derivations of mod
em tableware, while Joann Schnabel's
man-sized sculptures are menacing and
sqrr^al.
Several upcoming events comple
ment the quality of this exhibition, in
cluding studio demonstrations by ce
ramic artists Saturday from 10 a.m. to
4 p.m. in 104 Nelle Cochrane Woods
Art Building, and a slide lecture the
same day in 225 Richards Hall at 7:30
pm -
“Handle Spout Story Shrine” will
be on display through Nov. 21 in 402
Richards Hall.
HrW\
Ozzy, Danzig
rock Pershing
with old, new
By Ann Stack
Music critic
Everything good comes back
around, and Ozzy Osbourne is no
exception.
Ozzy and company put on a
rockin’ show Tuesday night at
Lincoln’s Pershing auditorium, de
spite a slightly hoarse voice.
The Madman seemed in near
top form as he belted out all of his
old classics, plus a good mixture of
new material. He*s still on the road
touring in support of his 1.995
“Ozzmiosis” release.
He opened to a chant of “Ozzy!
Ozzy!” with “Paranoid.” He then
'Challenged the crowd of sweat
soaked moshers todo “whatever the
(expletive) yoi) want” to earn a
backstage pass.
Ozzy had sggne familiar faces on
stage with hint The drummer for
Faith No More and bassist Robert
TYujillo of the former band Suicidal
Tendencies have both taken spots
with Ozzy. -
Mixed between classics
“Goodbye Tb Romance,” “Suicide
Solution” and “I Don't Know” were
some Black Sabbath songs, includ
-T
Please see OZZY on 17