UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, October 10, 1996
5A
Gene Hackman and Chris O'Donnell star in The Chamber, a new film based on John Grisham's novel by the same name. The Chamber opens nationwide tomorrow.
Movie studies life and death penalty
Gene Hackman plays lead in The Chamber
By Erin Rooney
Kansan staff writer
Sam Cayell sat on death row in the Mississippi State Penitentiary for 16 years. A former member of the Ku Klux Klan, Cayall is overpowered by hatred deep in his soul.
The Chamber, the latest John Grisham novel turned into a film, introduces Cayhall, played by Gene Hackman, 28 days before his scheduled execution. Cayhall's grandson, a bright-eyed lawyer played by Chris O'Donnell, comes on the scene and tries to save the man's life.
It is an amazing film that made me seriously think about capital punishment and take a stand on a law that has existed in Kansas since July 1, 1994.
Cayah spent his early life as a member of the Southern poor white trash community that was taught to hate anyone who looked different or had different beliefs.
Hackman conveys these stereotypes.
He plays a bigot who slowly transforms into a caring, lovable, elderly man instead of a heartless child murderer.
The supporting cast was relatively believable.
MOVIE
REVIEW
Jo Jackson makes his acting debut as Sgt. Packer, a sensitive prison guard. Jackson, to my surprise, has talent beyond his Bo Knows campaign. Faye Dunaway plays Cayhall's daughter, and she is convincing as an alcoholic socialite.
Cayhall was sentenced to the gas chamber before death by lethal injection was the capital punishment of choice. Set in 1996, the film challenges the politics behind the death penalty and questions the methods by which an individual is put to death for a crime.
In one scene, Cayhall graphically describes the unusual death of a former inmate who went into convulsions during his execution and pounded his head so intensely against a metal rod that pieces of his brain were splattered around the chamber.
The movie uses O'Donnell's character as a view into the madness of days past and present.
Probably anyone could have played the grandson's role, but at least O'Donnell is attractive to look at.
Graphic, thought provoking and more entertaining than the book, The Chamber opens nationwide tomorrow.
Going online is getting to be out of line
Internet insanity proves stupid is as stupid does
By Jeff Ruby
Kansan staff writer
Finding out Alicia Silverstone lost all the weight she gained last spring affects my life in profound and disturbing ways.
It truly matters to me that Mayim "Blossom" Bialik has two cats, two fish and nine holes in her ears.
And I can sleep comfortably at night with the crucial knowledge that Macaulay Culkin is finally dating.
I'm told the Internet is full of valuable information.
Somewhere on this planet, a freak is quietly using his computer for educational purposes. The rest of us normal folks are surfing the net for key information on possible names for Madonna's baby.
Nowhere, other than a Trivial Pursuit card, are there more pointless, forgettable facts unworthy of space in our ever-decaying brains than on our computers. As a country, we have no problem finding out why Drew Barrymore dyed her hair black (because Courtney Love said it would be cool, of course), but we have no idea which state is New Hampshire and which one is Vermont on a map.
But going online is like going to the movies: As long as we're idiots, we'll continue to get idiotic entertainment. And if we can count on one thing, it's that Americans are idiots. In a country full of fanatics, if we keep visiting the Sandra Bullock website, it'll never go away. And we don't want it to.
Going online is fun and mindless if you do it right.
Important information is in there somewhere. But where? And if I knew where, I would I seek it out? Of course not, because I'm a moron too.
As always, it's someone's fault. We always want to blame online services for the fact that we know exactly where to go to hear that delightful, intriguing message on Pamela Lee's answering machine. In fact, I can feel the computer mouse pushing itself, not unlike the uncontrollable, evil movements that occur when one plays with a Ouija Board.
This is the culmination of thousands of years of technology? Is this why we've blindly pushed forward in the name of scientific progress, so we can find out the individual turn-ons and turnoffs of the cast of Friends?
Women's Week
I'm not saying I thought computers would help us erase the deficit, align the planets and bring world peace, but somehow I thought my computer would have a more important use than baseball trivia and reviews of Hulk Hogan movies.
Like millions of others, I still think of the computer as entertainment. Going online to read about what Rich Little has been up to is another goofy way of escaping from my boring life.
Somewhere. Bill Gates is laughing at us.
Sponsored by the Panhellenic Association October 14-11
Monday, October 14: Clothing/Supplies Drive for Lawrence Women's Shelter
Tuesday, October 15: Family Violence Speaker sponsored by Alpha Chi Omega, 6:00 pm,
Sunflower Room, Burge Union
Wednesday, October 16: Beverly Nelson speaking on "Women Who Do it All." 8:00 pm.
Thursday, October 17: Linda Graves speaking on
The Challenges and Opportunities of Serving as First Lady of Kansas; 8:00 pm, 100 Smith Hall
Sat. October 12th South Park Gazebo
Day Activities Start at 1pm
Clothesline Project Children's Theatre Voter Registration Service Booths Workshops
Evening Actions 7pm to 10pm
Rally Music Speak Out March Men's Rally
Sponsored by Women's Empowerment Action Coalition $ ^{\uparrow} $ Co-Sponsored by RVSS, WTCS and KU Student Senate Interpreted for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
STUDENT
SENATE
You could win $10,000 in the Second Annual "LifeStyles Condoms and Safer Sex" Video Contest!
Here's the deal: Shoot a 20-second video on how you'd sell condoms and safer sex today. You can be serious, off-the-wall, or fall-down funny. Just knock our socks off—and you could win the LifeStyles grand prize of $10,000.
It's ba-ack! Here's your second chance to enter the contest that proves safe sex pays off in more ways than one.
To enter our contest for FREE, just check out the Lifestyles Web site at http://www.lifestyles.com
or, for $5.95, you can enter by calling 1-800-213-4560. Then it's lights.camera._action!
You must be 18 or older. Open U.S. residence only. Visit N.Y.C., Midland and New York. Entries must be submitted on or before December 31, 1994. Prizes: Grand Prize (1) $10,500, cash; 2 Plane (1) $5,500, cash; 3 Plane (1) $2,500, cash; 4 Plane (1) $1,500, cash. Siblings 16-17 years old can receive a $5,000. Winnings are an estimated value of $50,000. Winners will be accepted on or before February 15, 1997. Winners will not be awarded until January 24, 1997.
For complete rules see www.midland.com/students/RIES. Lifelong Veldon Content. DD, Box 675, Hewlett-Brown, MI 00495-6045. Outreach of this project is fulfilled. Well worth provided.
Concerns against Anonymized, Personal Product Division, Merchandise Division. One Interactive, Two Industrial. © 07284 © 1996 Annual Inc.
Based on the lives of two real-life women who moved from Paris to Kansas in the 1880's and built twin houses near Klutchinson, hoping to escape the rigid rules of high society and begin new lives of independence, they discover that society's restrictions on women reach even to the American frontier.
Book Signing Friday, October 11, 1996 12 noon - 2 p.m.
Mt. Oread Bookshop, Kansas Union, Level two 864-4431