6B
Thursday, October 31, 1996
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Toy, games and gifts for all ages.
Contributed Photo
This photo of the cast of the past five Real World shows is one of many that appear in the Real World Diaries, a book about the past shows, characters and off-camera events.
SUA.FILMS
Burroughs Film Fest
Short Beats: A Compilation of Short Films By or About Beatniks Thurs, Oct. 31...7:00 FREE PRIZES AT EACH SCREENING
DRUGSTORE COWBOY
Thurs. Oct 31 7:00p.m.
NAKED LUNCH
Fri. Nov. 1..Midnight
Sat. Nov. 2..Midnight
This Spectrum Film event is cosponsored by the KU Film Department, the KU Bookstore, Harmonic Arts, and the Love Garden.
the Love Garden
ALL SHOWS IN WOODRUFF AUDITORUM
TICKET $2.50 for regular show $3.00 for nighta or FREE WITH WUSA MOVIE CARD
The Real World squabbles capture viewers' attention
MTV seems to reveal more than real life situations in series
By Jeff Ruby Kansan staff writer
The gall of that Puck, sticking his scabby fingers into poor Pedro's personal peanut butter jar and starting the long and bloody holy war in The Real World 3 in San Francisco.
Oh, the hysteric that ensued when sleazy Joe took off his swimsuit in the fabled hot tub in The Real World 5 in Miami.
And who didn't secretly cheer when pompous Neil got a piece of his tongue bitten off in *The Real World*. 4 in London, because it meant we didn't have to hear him drone on about his elevated British intellect?
We have lived and died for MTV's ridiculous, manipulative soap opera, The Real World, far too long. That's why I'm calling for a campus-wide boycott of MTV's highest-rated show, soon to start filming its sixth season. But when it comes right down to it, I'll probably tape it and watch it later when I'm sure no one's around.
How did we get sucked into this, arguing with our friends about whether David molested Tami by pulling that blanket off her in Real World 2 in Los Angeles? Why do we care that Eric forgot to videotape Star Trek for Norman in the first season in New York? As educated, discriminating college students. aren't we above this trash?
Obviously not. The show's baffling popularity is a phenomenon that no one has quite been able to explain. Somehow we've eaten up the show's voyeuristic MTV spinoffs, Road Rules and Buzzkill. When we're channel surfing, it's difficult not to stop on the channel that has two people about our age calling one another racists or sexists or squabbling about cleaning up the mess the dog left on the carpet.
Now MTV has released The Real World Diaries, a book hot on the heels of The Real Real World, MTV's 1995 book that inexplicably remained on the New York Times bestseller list for 14 weeks.
Producers Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jon Murray say the ground-breaking new literary opus "adds a depth and perspective
COMMENT
that is not possible to achieve in a mere 22
minutes per episode."
Thank God. I didn't feel like I had enough information about how Cory was waiting for the right guy to whom she could lose her virginity on The Real World 3. I never thought they delved deep enough into the obviously essential dilemma of Mike not being able to get his prized ranch dressing in a British grocery store.
For pete's sake, I know more about these losers than I do my own family.
Part of the appeal must be in our secret daydreams about how we would fare on the show, wondering whether we too would look like the spoiled, complaining brats MTV knows we love to hate each season. The show is rigged. They're a bunch of actors. It's already scripted. It has to be.
The Real World is more soap opera than documentary, because real life is never this entertaining.
Burroughs films featured at SUA
Weeklong festival a tribute to local writer and artist, subject of Spencer exhibit
By Erin Rooney
Kansan staff writer
William S. Burroughs inspired generations of beatnik authors, songwriters, artists and filmmakers. The Student Union Activities spectrum film committee decided to pay tribute to his works that were created for the silver screen.
A full-length beatnik feature will begin at 7 tonight
and a couple of short films will be shown at 9:30 p.m. at Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union
Gretchen Hedrick, Manhattan junior and SUA spectrum film committee coordinator, said the Burroughs film festival was a way for SUA to get involved with other groups on campus.
"We found out last year that the Spencer Art Museum was putting on the Ports of Entry Burroughs
exhibit," she said. "The spectrum film committee voted to devote a whole week to Burroughs films in conjunction with the Spencer exhibit."
The "short beats" include the six-minute Thanksgiving Prayer, one of Burroughs' poems filmed by Gus Van Sant with Burroughs doing a voice-over, and A Junky's Christmas, a 22-minute Claymation film based on Burroughs' 1952 story about Danny, the junkie car wiper.
Originally, two other films were scheduled to run with the festival. A documentary about the filming of Naked Lunch and Pull My Daisy never arrived at the University. Because of these backacks, SUA decided not to charge an admission fee to the shorts.
The 100-minute Drugstore Cowboy will play at 7 tonight. The movie features Matt Dillon and Kelly Lynch in what fluctuates between realistic and euphoric, seemingly drug-induced, sequences.
Joshua Mermis, Houston junior, said that he enjoyed Drugstore Cowboy because it didn't preach against drug usage.
"I liked it because it really didn't say, 'don't do drugs,' it just said this is the way it is in society," Mermis said. "William Burroughs even has a cameo in it."
Admission to Drugstore Cowboy is $2.50 and free for students who have an SUA movie pass. Books written by Burroughs, CDs that claim him as an inspiration and a set of bongo drums will be awarded as door prizes.