EDITOR
Doug Kouma
OPINION
EDITOR
Anthony Nguyen
RIAL
RD
Paula Lavigne
Joshua Gillin
Jessica Kennedy
Jeff Randall
Our
VIEW
Sold out
Lincoln theaters leave
city cold during Oscars
The Academy Award nominees have
been announced. The guessing has started.
The race has begun.
This year’s race for the Oscars will be
different from those of the past—with the
majority of this year’s nominees coming
from independent filmmakers, such as the
Coen Brothers’ “Faigo” and Scott Hicks’
“Shine.”
Even the more recognizable films were
less-than-spectacular box office successes,
such as “The English Patient” and “Jerry
Maguire.”
It will make this year’s Academy
Awards ceremony — airing March 24 — a
nice and refreshing change from the past
ceremonies of awarding blockbuster after
blockbuster.
It is too bad we won’t get the chance to
see the movies ourselves.
Granted, there are six weeks between
now and March 24, but given the films’ low
possibility of huge financial success, the
chances of them playing in downtown Lin
coln are slim-to-none, and Slim’s out of
town.
The best place to have caught most of
this year’s films hasn’t been any of the flashy
theaters downtown, but our own campus
grown Maty Riepma Ross Film Theater.
Dan Ladely, director of the Ross, is con
stantly trying to bring in films based on ar
tistic content, not financial possibilities.
However, considering the ever-increas
ing number of quality independent films, the
Ross can’t possibly carry the entire load by
itself.
Perhaps the Douglas Theatre Co. could
lend a hand here — and also show some
responsibility to the customers it serves —
by screening films that won’t necessarily
bring in oodles and oodles of money, but
will show some diversity in programming.
Officials of the Douglas Theatre Co.
have in the past been quoted that they run a
business, and you need money to run a busi
ness.
No one will argue that.
However, when you decide what an en
tire city gets to see at the movies (DTC owns
and runs all but two theaters in Lincoln: the
Ross and the Joyo Theaters), there is also
an obligation to offer these customers as
wide a variety of choices as possible.
It won’t happen. Not with three screens
of “Ransom” and none of “Ghosts of Mis
sissippi.”
So during the next six weeks, there will
be endless amounts of pre-Oscar hype, and
late show hosts asking their guests for Os
car picks.
March 24 will arrive, and millions of
people will tune in to see Billy Ciystal in
troducing celebrity after celebrity, who in
turn will announce nominee after nominee,
and winner after winner.
It would be nice to at least have an idea
what these people are talking about.
Not if you live in Lincoln.
Editorial Policy
Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the
Spring 1997 Daily Nebraskan. They do not
necessarily reflect the views of the Univer
sity of Nebxaska-Lincoln, its employees, its
student body or the University of Nebraska
Board of Regents. A column is soley the
opinion of its author. The Board of Regents
serves as publisher of the Daily Nebraskan;
policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Edito
rial Board The UNL Publications Board,
established by the regents, supervises the
production of the paper According to policy
set by the regents, responsibility for the edi
torial content of the newspaper lies solely
in the hands of its student employees.
Letter Policy
The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief let
ters to the editor and guest columns, but
does not guarantee their publication. The
Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit
or reject any material submitted. Sub
mitted material becomes the property of
the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be re
turned. Anonymous submissions will not
be published Those who submit letters
must identify themselves by name, year
in school, major and/or group affilia
tion, if any. Submit material to: Daily
Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R
St. Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448. E-mail:
letters@unlinfo.unl.edu.
Mehs ling’s
VIEW
DN
LETTERS
In the Eye
I’d like to commend Heather
Lampe on her column “Catwalk of
Tragedy,” (DN, Friday). It’s refresh
ing to have someone point out
society’s hypocrisy toward women
rather than labeling them victims
and not addressing the problem at
all. Women have fought for equal
rights in voting, wages and recogni
tion.
Unfortunately, the exponential
growth of social diseases such as
anorexia and bulimia prove we have
only begun the battle. Women are
judged on a daily basis by what they
wear and how they’re shaped.
Basically, women are judged on
how-they look and it is accepted by
the majority of our society. Women
who are heavy or even the “ideal”
weight for their height and frame
are often viewed as overweight and
unhealthy.
Beauty comes in all forms and, in
people, all shapes and sizes. Women
need to pull together in an effort to
change perceptions and educate. We
need to make it known that being
thin is not necessarily being healthy
or beautiful and we want this ideal
to change.
Mary Lyons
sophomore
general studies
Good and Bad
I would like to comment on Jason
Nord’s letter to the Daily Nebraskan
regarding a column by J.J. Harder.
There is a lot of credence in
Nord’s point of view, however a few
points need to be clarified.
The Nazis were NOT Catholic. I
believe the Nazis were atheists like
many of their socialist counterparts.
It is also important to realize that
the lack of new learning in medieval
times was largely because of
translation problems. For example,
most of the knowledge from the
Greeks was only written in Arabic.
The Catholic Church did not ban
these texts, there just weren’t scribes
who had the knowledge to translate
the texts. Yet Nord’s points should
Matt Haney/DN
be taken seriously in regards to
political oppression by Christian
churches. Christianity has a rotten
track record when it comes to
individual civil liberties.
Christopher Nollett
junior
news-editorial
Misplaced Censor
I feel your Marilyn Manson
editorial “Heltcr Skeltered?(DN,
Tuesday) should serve as a silencer
for anyone who thinks college
campuses are “too liberal.”
Whether or not Manson’s onstage
antics are “beyond-the-limits,” as
judged by your subjective param
eters, is really quite irrelevant.
He is not “abusing” the First
Amendment, as you claim; he is not
screaming “fire” in a crowded
theater.
That you would seek to silence
him from fear of the backlash
(censorship) his show might
provoke, is misplaced and indicative
of the kind of cowardice that allows
such totalitarian virtues as censor
ship to rear their ugly head.
Urging a boycott of Manson is
not the answer. Leave such assess
ments as to whether or not one
should buy his products to the arts
department. Urging a tolerant
society, where the First Amendment
is safeguarded for those we disagree
with, as well as more benign
elements, is the answer.
Don’t worry about Manson.
Confront those who would censor
him because they find him “offen
sive,” and ask why when some
people seek to censor it’s labeled
“political correctness,” but when
others seek to do it, they’re per
ceived as safeguarding our morality.
Akim D. Reinhardt
graduate student
history
Money Game
Yesterday I was listening to my
brand-new Marilyn Manson CD. As
I sat listening to their music, I began
to wonder about the steps that led up
to me buying the album. I imagine it
went something like this:
(Marilyn Manson are in their tour
bus, heading to Nebraska.)
“Hey, where did you say we were
going?”
someplace called Nebraska.
“What’s there?”
“Lots of Republicans and
churches.”
“Good place to stir things up and
get publicity. Lots of churches you
say? Then we should put some devil
things in our act; churchy people
always have fits over satanic stuff.”
“Then we’d better have a few
heaps of gore on stage, maybe even
an intestine or two.”
“Yeah, and do the same things
Ozzy was doing 15 years ago.”
“What else do we know about
Nebraska?”
“I think they are big on water
rights there.”
“Great!* I’ll shove a water bottle
up my ass and pass it off as a
statement against polluted water.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“And afterwards, some sorry
liberal campus newspaper will write
an article about what nasty people
we are, and that should generate
juuuuussst enough interest to get
that punk kid Scotty Knutson to go
out and buy our album, in turn
giving us more royalties.”
“I love it when the public does'
our advertising for us.”
“Yeah. What a bunch of saps.”
Scotty Knutson
senior
English