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u n i v e r s i t y d a i l y k a n s a n
Entertainment
Monday, November 25,1996
REVIEW
The Hottest State burns former fan's image of author Ethan Hawke
By Erin Rooney
Kansan staff writer
I saw the movie Dead Poets Society when I was in the ninth grade and spent the next year hoping that Ethan Hawke would jump out of the screen and become my boyfriend. He was an emotional, lovable schoolboy who rode his bike through a flock of birds and right into my heart.
But after reading Hawke's first and recently released novel, The Hottest State, I've decided he is no longer the man of my dreams.
The story follows a college dropout, William Harding, who has moved to New York to become an actor. He meets the girl of his dreams, a singer named Sarah, and Hawke spends the next 20 chapters describing William's obsession with her.
William announces in the first chapter that Sarah will dump him, and then, to my (gasp!) surprise, she eventually does. Unbelievable. Overwhelming suspense.
The Hottest State has potential to become very popular with junior high and high school girls. I read the book in 3 1/2 hours and decided that it was reminiscent of, but slightly better than, the entire Sweet Valley High series.
The characters lack any level of substance. Instead of feeling William's anger as he punched his wall, his phone, kitchen cupboards or Sarah's refrigerator, I was wondering how much it would cost for him to replace all of those things.
Hawke pleasantly surprised me when he failed to create Sarah as a blonde waif waiting for the world to take care of her. Instead, she was an odd dresser with a voluptuous build who wanted to have inner strength.
If this goes to the big screen in the next few years, I'll be happy to see someone other than an overpaid supermodel play her.
Nothing new in First Contact
Eighth movie captivates all with usual plot
By Kevin Bates and Jeff Ruby Kansan staff writers
Trekkers and non-Trekkers alike have to agree. In the world of Star Trek, the story is difficult to follow, the characters never change, and there's always trouble in engineering.
Star Trek: First Contact, the eighth in the series that just won't quit, stars the usual faces: Patrick Stewart as the austere Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, Brent Spiner as the more human-than-human Data, and Jonathan Frakes, who also directs the film, as Picard's right-hand man, Cmdr. Riker.
the universe — invading Federation territory near 24th-century earth. We all know it won't be long until Picard and his crew aboard the slick, top-of-the-line Enterprise join the fracas.
This visually attractive and comfortable movie begins with the Borg — a zombie-like race of automatons bent on conquering
Once they reach the battle, Picard annihilates the Borg cube, a drifting architectural monstrosity. But a Borg pod escapes, and our heroes in the Enterprise follow it into a time warp that throws them a few hundred years into the past.
They land in 2063 Montana,10 years after World War III has wiped out most of the population and a day shy of "one of the pivotal events in human history."
The event is the first human contact with aliens — an encounter that must occur, well, for things to end up right. Otherwise, Worf and Picard would never have been buddies. Of course, when the Star Trek gang is involved, somehow every event must be crucial enough to eliminate poverty, disease and war.
The Borg invade the Enterprise and convert it into a factory to create more nasties. Picard, who has a personal vendetta against the robotic clan, takes it upon himself to exact vengeance.
The confusing plot, which has become secondary to the enduring characters, is twice as confusing as one of the television episode's storylines because it has twice the amount of time to perplex the viewer.
Star Trek: First Contact has the luxury of not needing to develop its characters, presumably because the veteran Trekker audience already knows more about Picard than they know about themselves. It's difficult to tell whether this is a strength or a weakness. If the novice doesn't mind being left out of few subtle jokes and references, the movie is definitely worth the admission price.
For first-time Trekkers, this movie will move awfully fast.
The entire future of humankind is at stake as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and android Lt. Cmdr. Data (Brent Spiner) attempt to destroy their deadliest foe, the Borg, in *Star Trek: First Contact*.
For the diehards, who will predictably walk out calling First Contact the "best Star Trek ever," there are no real surprises. The familiar characters
say "resistance is futile," "engage," and "maximum warp" enough that those in the audience wearing Vulcan ears can exit satisfied.
COMMENTARY
Hair not as inspiring as anticipated
Musical trivialized era of peace, love and Vietnam War
By Bradley Brooks Kansan staff writer
Viewing the musical Hair:
Revised for the first time was supposed to be an inspiring event. I had been told that I would walk away with thoughts of revolution and peace in my head. Unfortunately, the only thing I could think of was this: Enough of the hippy crap, already.
Before I explore the concept of the University of Kansas wasting money by putting this fossil-of-thought before us, let me say that the acting and singing in the play were good, and the set and costumes were intriguing.
Theater is supposed to make its viewers walk away thinking. I did. And the more I thought, the more disgusted I became.
Maybe it was supposed to, but Hair: Revised trivialized the lives of both hippies and Vietnam veterans alike. All the hippies seemed to be standing up for was the right to trip on LSD, and the soldier-types were portrayed as brainless killing machines sent to rape, rob and plunder the Vietnamese people. Neat, huh?
Second, people who consider themselves feminists and weren't outraged by this musical should be ashamed.
Every major female character introduced herself by whom she had a crush on. The domestic violence segment of this archaic beast of a production was indicative of our nation's apathy
The audience and other characters in the play sat sheepishly by as Berger, the wise-cracking hippy, used a little bit of flowerpower and smacked his girlfriend around.
I've witnessed more depth and development in female characters on the pages of a Hemingway novel.
This musical, which supposedly is to lead me to distrust authority and make the world a better place, only left one burning question in my head: Who chooses what University Theatre produces?
I'd have much rather spent my money watching an original production by a KU artist. Yes, I know the department does that — witness John Gronbeck-Tedesco's original play *Coming Here: A Trilogy* — but let's see
one that serves as the flagship production for a semester.
Or even a KU student's interpretation of Hair: Revised. Maybe the lead character can't decide whether to take that secure job right out of college as an accountant in beautiful Johnson County, or follow his or her heart and pursue that elusive MBA degree. It would be a theme about as deep as what I witnessed Friday.
Like my father used to tell me: "Son, you've got to stand for something, or you're gonna fall for anything." As trite as that may be, it is good advice. I hope you'll stand with me and help in burying the '60's in a pile of patchouli-incense ashes, and move on with our generation's own thoughts and ideas.
Theater is supposed to make its viewers walk away thinking, I did.And the more I thought, the more disgusted I became.
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