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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 15, 1999)
_',-va4jp ,v- ^ ■ & ‘*.->•• h.^- ‘‘£:~ '• '-' , • • ••• .. ■ -r • ■ ■ . By Jeff Randall Senior staff writer Generally speaking, if you pick up a book and see the word “Nebraska” anywhere on it, you might expect a colorful history of crop rotation, an expose on bison conservation or another historical account of the Oregon Trail. Then again, that’s prob ably not a book from the University of Nebraska Press. Unbeknownst to most Lincoln residents, the University of Nebraska Press is much more than your average university book factory. As the second-largest state univer sity press in the country, it is also a renowned publisher ofbooks in numerous genres dealing with countless subjects. And outside of the typically Nebraskan suojecis sucn as western American; Native Studies, the University of Nebraska Press has made a name for itself as one of America’s leading pub lishers of translated fiction. “There are a lot of things we do here that we realize aren’t necessarily recog nized by people in the community,” said Erika Kuebler Rippeteau, publicity manager for the University of Nebraska Press. Among those things are extensive lists of published books covering every thing from baseball history (including Brett Mandel’s “Minor Players, Major Dreams”) to a newfound series of guides to Civil War battlefields. “The genres and subjects that we’ve become known for have come about gradually,” Rippeteau said. “There aren’t many that we’ve instantaneously excelled in.” Another well-known segment of die University Press’ work has been Bison SSSS*“K^^ Books, winch specializes in reviving out-of-print books and providing new editions of popular past works. Bison Books recently started its latest venture, a series of science-fiction reprints being published under the name Bison Frontiers of Imagination. Included in this series is Edgar Rice Burroughs’ classic 1924 novel, “The Land That Time Forgot.” Kippeteau saia. WRgpr “But we do have a soft spot for regional || ^ work, particularly outside I of academia. I “If somebody turns in a I memoir or other personal i manuscript, we would I | undoubtedly give a longer ^ I look at something with a^tea^ IiNeoraaca connection: ^ And that “soft spot” extends beyond publishing. The University of Nebraska Press also sponsors programs that bring well-known authors to UNL. This spring, the husband-and-wife writing team of Michael and Linda Hutcheon will come to town as part of the Lincoln Lecture Series. The Hutcheons are best known for books that examine die connection between medi cine and music, particularly in opera. Thev will give three lectures at the ^ Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery April 6 8. But lectures and reprints aside, the University of Nebraska Press gives something else to Lincoln and the University ofNebraska-Lineoln: a little bit of prestige. “Having a publishing house in your city is a mark of cul ture,” Rippeteau said. “We’re not New York or Chicago, but at least we have something in common with them.” ----— Ones to watch for The University of Nebraska /y— y Press and Bison Books wiU pub- CC /V / Bsh more than 80 titles this spring V %% vl and summer. The following are ■A some highlights of the catalog: Kk The House of Joshua” jl^Jjb B% by Mhtdy Thompson Wk FulHove r B% This memoir examines the impact of place Bm on people on a daily basis, particularly when B% they grow up. Fuiiiiove is an associate profes B& sor of psychiatry and public health at B% Columbia University and a research psychi Mk atrist for the New York State Psychiatric Bj% Institute. mt “Childhood” W^k by Patrick Chamoiseau M| (translated by Carol Volk) Wjk Another memoir, this time by Hi Caribbean author Chamoiseau, mjjk takes a look at growing up in pover ty. This is his second book pub lished by the University Press, “The Origins of the Jump mk Shot” mk byJohnChristgr** mS This book is a histoncai ¥ study of the players who transformed basketball a stationary sport into an one. Subtitled as “Eight Shook the World of Basketball,” “Jump Shot also attempts to unravel the mystery of who really invented the shot that now is a part of every player’s arse nal. “Take Two and Hit to Right” by HobeHays Another historical account of the f sporting life, this book is written by semi F pro player Hobe Hays, who played for the rUniversity of Nebraska and slugged it out for "years in the Comhusker state’s baseball cir rcuit. wmmmm * “The Collected Short Works, 1920-1954” by Bess Streeter Aldrich edfted by Carol Miles Petersen This short story compilation cov ers the work of Nebraska author Aldrich, one of the country’s most \ widely read authors in the first half of the 20™ century. The Land That Time Forgot” by Edgar Rice Burroughs As one of the most influential sci ence-fiction tales of all time, this reprint of The Land That Time Forgot" has a lot to live up to. The commemorative edition compiles all three parts of the Caspak trilogy into one volume. __ j ‘Message in a Bottle’ should have stayed corked By Sam McKewon Senior editor “Message in a Bottle” is the worst kind of romantic teaijeiker. For one, it’s just plain bad, with a filmmaker who didn’t have a clue as to how to convey a message. For another, it’s a rip-off, with a story that unfolds in implausible fashion, changing into the absolutely ridiculous by die end. “Message” wants to be a powerful drama of love lost and found. Based on a novel from Nicholas Sparks, it stars Robin Wright-Penn as Theresa Osborne, a researcher for the Chicago Tribune who’s recently been divorced because her husband cheated on her. She hops up to Cape Cod for a few days where she clears her mind and finds a message in a bottle on the beach. It’s from a man, writing a letter to his dead wife, and of course, it’s woven like the poetry of a lovelorn 12,h-grader. It’s signed “G.” Theresa takes the letter back to the i Him Review The Facts Title: “Message in a Bottle” Stars: Robin Wright-Penn, Kevin Costner, Paul Newman Director Luis Mandoki Rating: PG-13 Grade: D Five Words: Throw “Message” back to sea Tribune, where every woman swoons, her boss steals it for a column, she gets mad and then decides to track down the author because the letter is so romantic. Problem here. When Theresa reads the letter the first time, the director, Luis Mandoki, decides to edit several frames together of Theresa on a plane, at home and at work. The letter loses all its impact. An audience can’t be expected to watch new locales and lis ten to emotional dialogue at the same time. It’s one or the other. Now that the letter scene has been botched, she eventually finds the author, Garret Blake (oh yeah, that’s a movie name.) He^s a boat builder on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, a place, where apparently everyone has lost their Southern accent. It’s beautiful there, and Garret (Kevin Costner) has holed himself up in his work, remembering his dead wife, Catherine, and arguing with his father, Dodge (Paul Newman). Inevitably, Garret and Theresa fall in love, and for two folks who have been hurt so much, they get together fast Ofcourse, Theresa already knows Garret’s a closet romantic. But she doesn’t tell him she knows about the * ' letters. But their relationship, like most of the movie, isn’t believable - Costner’s character, especially. And Wright Penn, for as hard as she tries, can’t cre ate a character that has any flaws. Not one. Why did her husband teave her? Who knows? Wright-Penn conveys nervousness as Theresa, but not vulner ability. Newman is granted all the good lines, and he fires them off with a cranky grandeur, stealing every scene he’s in. It’s funny to watch him and Costner together on screen, because they don’t even live on the same planet of acting. But Newman’s character has little impact until the aid. Eventually, Garret finds out about the letters of his Theresa found, and diere’s a falling out of sorts. He misses his wife too much. Oh, but he does love Theresa so much. Could they get back together? It all leads up to an ending that is so bad, so poorly planned, so completely out of left field that it negates the little momentum “Message” had going for it up to that point.' The conclusion fits in with Costner’s “Waterworld” more than it does this movie. It’s a complete emo tional rip-off as there’s nothing at the end of the film that answers die events that transpire. A 10-second voice-ova isn’t going to cut it If the entire movie / had been a dream, it would have been a better ending. If this is the ending in the book, the director should have changed it. But then again, Mandoki botches almost the whole film from start to fmish. Like a spoiled child, he can’t decide which toy he wants play with next. There’s always music in the movie, or a swift , edit, or a completely unnecessary shot of the Chicago skyline. Mandoki refus es to let one scene stand by itself. You feel bad for Wright-Penn, because she tries to create a full-bodied character and you do like her. But Costner acts as if he’s on cruise control - who wouldn’t be if you had lines like “Do you like meat?” - and wastes his scenes. Paul Newman is Paul Newman, and this tune, that wasn't enough. What would’ve been enough? After that ending, nothing. As the credits rolled, no one in the theater was crying, but smiling. They thought they had seen everything, but “Message in a Bottle” trumped them all. Don’t go see it Please.