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THURSDAY NOVEMBER 13, 2014
arts & features
HOROSCOPES
Because the stars
know things we don't
Aries (March 21-April 19)
Today is a 7
Focus on a subject you love, and breakthroughs are possible. An unpleasant surprise could arise, especially if you rush. Keep quiet. Don't talk back to authority. Plug a leak. Don't be afraid, or impetuous... go slow and steady.
Taurus (April 20-May 20)
Today is a 7
Keep costs down at home.
Love could seem intense... work together and keep your focus for great results. Talk to your partner. Play by the rules. Hidden obstacles provoke accidents, so go slow and watch out.
Gemini (May 21-June 20)
Today is a 7
Don't get intimidated by strong competition. Abundance, due to your own thrift, is yours. Don't squabble. Finish what you started. Temporary confusion can befuddle, so be careful. Advance with caution.
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
Today is a 9
Postpone expansion and travel. Don't talk about finances if you can avoid it. Quiet productivity allows you to keep your eye on a speeding ball. Finish an old job. Think it through to the end.
Leo (July 23-Aug. 22)
Today is a 9
Postpone a discussion. Family comes first. Avoid reckless spending. Your strength is quite attractive. Don't get stopped by past failures. Learn from them. Walk away from pushy salespeople. Make plans but don't act on them.
them yet.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)
Today is a 7 -
Postpone a romantic conversation until you've thought over what you want to say. Assess your position carefully. Pay attention to the mood, and let intuition guide. Light candles, add soft music and fragrant
flowers.
Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
Today is a 7
Don't pick off on a lark quite yet. Accept a challenge, it pays well. If you must go, allow extra time for travel. Think quickly, but move slowly to avoid accidents. Acknowledge the limits, and keep to them. Rest.
keep to them. Rest.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)
Today is a 7
Missteps could drop the cake, so walk carefully. Don't gamble, take big risks or experiment with the dinner you're serving guests. Discipline and creativity can boost your career now. The truth gets revealed. You are beloved.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)
Todav is an 8
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)
Today is a 7
A new theory doesn't work as well in practice. Friends offer good advice. Old and young share high ideals. Dispel nervous energy through exercise.
Blow off chores and follow your heart for a while. Clean up later.
Important associates come to an agreement. It could get chaotic.
Avoid a touchy subject. Make plans before you make messes.
Spend your money on your home and family, but not excessively.
capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)
Today is a 7
JAMES LAMB
@thejameslamb
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)
Today is an 8
Curb the desire to rush forward.
Associates put their money into the pot. Are there strings attached? Choose your direction carefully. Keep promises already made. Tally results.
@theiameslamb
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb.18) Today is an 8
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
Today is a 9
This Friday night, KU Theatre will debut its latest show,
"The Big Meal," on Stage Too! in Murphy Hall. University students will take on the roles of multiple characters across several generations in one family in this award-winning comedic drama from acclaimed playwright Dan LeFranc.
Duty calls. Work produces unforeseen benefits. Don't spend on frivolities. Watch out for hidden dangers. Develop a good habit. Eat well, and nurture strength and endurance. Keep the faith. Sacrifice or surrendering works wonders for your life.
'The Big Meal' set to satisfy audiences
"The Big Meal' is [about] a five-generation family set in ['Kansas']," said Jacquelyn O'Connor, a sophomore from Burlington who portrays Nicole, Maddie and Jackie at different points in the play. "It's a very heart-wrenching play, but it has a little bit of comedy in it. It's a great opportunity to see something different. The main thing is about family, so I feel like a lot of people can relate to it."
love life.
Kevin Siess, a senior from Lawrence who will be playing
have for people to come together and share in a communal experience.
"The issues that it deals with are not just basic issues, but they're universal issues: life, death, new family members, conflict, avoidance, love, marriage," Siess said. "There are so many issues that are covered in this play that everybody's bound to relate to it in some sense."
both Sam and Robbie, said the play is done in such a way that he thinks everybody can take something away from it.
Though he said he agreed the issues presented in the play are important, Director Dr. Peter Zazzali also said the distinctive way in which the play is crafted is a key draw point. In "The Big Meal," characters move from actor to actor, as the character being portrayed ages through the decades that span the play's 90-minute run time.
"What makes this play particularly unique is its form, the way it's written," Zazzali said.
"For example, there are a couple of actors who play the older track, so they'll play the characters as they're getting older, while conversely there are a pair of actors that play characters when they're younger," Zazzali said. "You'll be seeing the same character played by different actors as that particular character makes his or her way through life."
SHOW DATES
He said there are nine actors, and many of them play at least one of the five different roles that are repeated.
Though the play is a comedic drama, those involved said there are some serious and dramatic moments within the play that are heavily loaded with emotion, which is something the actors found out through the rehearsal process.
"When you deal with tragedy and death in life, a lot of people, and I'm one of those, usually put those feelings down in a place you don't want to explore that often, and through this process, some of those feelings I've had from people I've lost in my family and tragedies that have occurred, they kind of resurface," Siess said. "You don't want to let your feelings overcome your character, but it's almost impossible to explore some of those emotions without having to look at yourself and how you dealt with them in your life, and that can be scary."
Friday, Nov. 14 - 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 15 - 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 16 - 2:30 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 21 - 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 22 - 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 23 - 2:30 p.m.
"It's a lot different than looking at something on Netflix alone on your computer," he said. "It's live, it's three-dimensional, its palpable, it requires more from the audience, [for them] to really be a part of it, because without the audience, it really doesn't exist."
The play will be presented on Stage Too!, which refers to the intimate configuration used when the audience is also on the stage. Zazzali said theater is important to preserve within the community as it is one of the last opportunities we
"The Big Meal" opens Friday at 7:30 p.m. on Stage Too! at Murphy Hall, and will play Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m., as well as at the same times the following weekend.
Edited by Alyssa Scott
VHS FROM PAGE 1A
them and they were unintentionally hilarious. We would have screening parties for our friends."
By 2004, the duo had amassed enough secondhand material to change its show's venue from a dorm to a theater. The setup of the show is simple. Pickett and Prueher take the stage and give the audience a guided tour through selected videos.
"We offer a running commentary," Prueher said. "Sometimes the videos speak for themselves. Sometimes we'll point out things that we have noticed from watching them dozens of times."
Prueher said one of the most fun parts of the job is discovering new footage. When the two arrive in a city to do a show, they spend the day scouting thrift stores for new tapes. He said the two will go digging, and will look to see if there is anything that sticks out or looks interesting.
By the end of a trip, Pickett and Prueher have collected quite an eclectic stack of dusty VHS tapes.
"The fun part is finding," Prueher said. "The hard part is sitting down and locking ourselves in an apartment and trying to get through as much [footage] as we can without going nuts."
Pickett and Prueher look for a couple of characteristics when choosing new footage. Prueher said a key quality is that it has to be unintentionally funny.
"Whatever it's trying to do, we have to be appreciating it in a different way than was intended," he said. "We also gravitate towards people who have a lot of ambition even if they don't have a lot of talent. There's something great about that combination that makes it very endearing and very entertaining."
Prueher said his favorite clip changes, but the video he most enjoys from the current show is entitled "How to Have Cybersex on the Internet." He said it's an instructional video from 1997 that a company from Minnesota made and the video tried to be both sexy and informational, but it ends up being neither.
"We reunited two people
"It's very confusing," he said. "There's a young woman who's teaching you how to get a chat name and sign into a chat room, and all of the sudden she's topless. Then all of the sudden she has a modem problem. It's incongruous and odd I've never seen anything like it before."
CLIPS FROM THE SHOW
The show celebrated its 10th anniversary earlier this year and Prueher said the show has changed over the years. Now that the two know there is an audience behind the program, they go to great lengths to find the people behind the videos they are sharing. Prueher said they will fly out to interview people and play the interviews at the show.
Totally Tulip: A woman in a painted sweatshirt works out in the ambitious opening music video to "Totally Tulip," a 1988 fabric painting instructional tape.
Nick Prueher. "Totally Tulip is full of crude video effects, pastel sweatshirts and an irritating song that just won't end. It's like 1988 just threw up on the screen."
Facercize: Carole Maggio, the host of the 1996 facial workout video "Facercize," tightens and tones her cheek muscles.
Prueher: "Funny faces are always hilarious, especially when performed by a woman who's trying to be serious."
Prueher: "John and Johnny are two of the most obnoxious home shopping hosts ever to appear on television. They are so hyperactive on screen they're constantly fumbling over their words and dropping things. It's pure slapstick!"
John and Johnny: Hyperactive home shopping hosts John and Johnny promote Christmas items in newly unearthed footage from the Wisconsin-based America's Value Network (c. 1987).
- PHOTOS COURTESY OF FOUND FOOTAGE FESTIVAL
from this home shopping show that we found on VHS back in the early '00s," he said. "They hadn't seen each other in 26 years. We flew one guy from Seattle all the way down to Tampa, Fla. It was pretty magical."
This reunion can be seen at Sunday's show as well.
Pickett and Prueher have a few plans for the future of the Found Footage Festival as well. Prueher said they are working on a TV show based on the festival, and that they want to tour Australia next. Another plan is to put together-
er a coffee table book of their favorite VHS covers. However, the two said they truly love what they are doing now.
"As long as we're able to tour around the country and do a show-and-tell for people, that's really the most gratifying part for us," Preeher said.
The Found Footage Festival accepts submissions. If someone has something to share with Pickett and Prueher, they invite them to bring it to the show.
- Edited by Logan Schlossberg
Marilyn Monroe's lost love letters to be auctioned
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. It's no secret Joe DiMaggio loved Marilyn Monroe. The baseball great cried at her funeral and for 20 years had flowers placed at her crypt several times a week.
The public displays were unusual for the famously stoe and private DiMaggio. Now, his heartbreak over the breakup of their marriage will get a rare public airing when "Marilyn Monroe's Lost Archives" goes up for bid at Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills next month.
"I love you and want to be with you," DiMaggio said in one pained letter to Monroe from the collection, written when she announced she was filing for divorce after a matter of months in 1954. "There is nothing I would like better than to restore your confidence in me."
The 300 items also include love letters from Monroe's third and final husband, playwright Arthur Miller. There's also a handwritten letter from Monroe to Miller in which the woman who was arguably Hollywood's greatest sex symbol muses about her many insecurities.
DiMaggio wrote in his letter that he learned Monroe was leaving him when he saw her make the announcement on television.
"My heart split even wider seeing you cry in front of all these people," he wrote in the letter addressed to "Mrs. Joe DiMaggio" and mailed special delivery.
Other letters in the collection come from such friends as Clark Gable, Cary Grant and Jane Russell, the latter imploring Monroe in 10 neatly handwritten pages to give her marriage to DiMaggio another chance.
"It really gives you the chills when you read some of the stuff and see the intimacy and the personal nature of it," said auction curator Martin Nolan, who spent nine months organizing and cataloging the collection.
Auction owner Darren Julien estimates the pieces could fetch $1 million or more, noting a watercolor Monroe painted and planned to give to President John Kennedy went for $80,000 at an estate auction nine years ago. Monroe's "collectability" has skyrocketed in recent years, driven in part by deep-pocketed Asian and European collectors with a fondness for American pop-culture artifacts, he said.
The fact that the centerpiece of this collection is not just celebrity tochotkes but deeply personal artifacts is also expected to fuel interest.
"We anticipate a lot of fans will be here. They'll fly in from all over the world," said Julien, who will put the items on display to the public at his Beverly Hills gallery for four days before they go on the block Dec. 5-6.
Monroe, who died of a drug overdose at age 36 in 1962, willed "The Lost Archives" to her mentor, the legendary acting coach Lee Strasberg. He gave it to a friend he trusted would take proper care.
That friend's family, which Julien said wants to remain anonymous, obviously met Strasberg's expectations. Many of the letters look as pristine as the day their authors wrote them.
"Please, if I've ever made you cry or made you even more sadder, ever for a second, please forgive me, my perfect girl. I love you." Miller wrote in a pencil-scribbed P.S. at the bottom of a typewritten letter.
In a reply to one of his missives, Monroe takes issue with what the author of "Death of a Salesman" had called her nobility in handling a difficult childhood followed by public adulation that nearly crushed her.
"In other words, there was no choice to make, the same road was always before me," she wrote. "So for you to speak of my nobility, it really wasn't so noble."
She went on to say: "It's doubly difficult to understand that you, the most different, most beautiful human being, chose me to love."
Other items in the collection include a 19-minute reel of a movie made for Monroe after her final picture, 1961's "The Misfits," wrapped. It shows her flicking happily at the beach with co-star Gable and others.
Notably, there's also a framed letter she kept on her coffee table from costume designer Cecil Beaton, who assured her she really was a fine actress.
"It's fantastic to see how loved she was," Nolan said. "Like you thought she was vulnerable and not loved and she craved love and she needed that reassurance. But she had it. She had it with Joe DiMaggio. She had it with Arthur Miller."
And, so it seems, she still has it with much of the rest of the world.
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