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■ BEST BET
The smart man's bet is on Garrison Hearst and his success
in the NFL despite the recent discovery of his knee injury.
Hearst was named College Football Performer of the Year at
the first annual ESPY Awards Thursday night in New York City.
The Red and Black W—k»nd • Friday. March 5, 1993 • 7
A&E
Digable Planets dig up
By PARKER C. SMITH
Photo Editor/Secret Agent
Digable Planets reachin' (a new refutation of time
and space) (Elektra)
Music asks us to define our perspectives, as
does art. It requires that we take a fresh look at
the world and shape our perceptions into a tan
gible form, give them substance and weight. It
asks that we make the commonplace fascinating,
change the ordinary into the extraordinary.
Which is where the Digable Planets come in.
They are a fast new hip-hop act out of New York
City consisting of rappers Ladybug (a female with
deadly skills on the mic), Doodlebug and
Butterfly. Simply put, Digable Planets put the
“PH" in PHAT: irs intelligent, articulate, slick,
booty-shaking hip-hop in the style of A Tribe
Called Quest and De La Soul. Digable Planets is
a whole earth: evennman is an insect, working in
world community. Isaac Hayes has his own talk
show. Hammer is a pimp. Rhymes float like but
terflies, and beats boom like bees. It’s freaky and
wild, but wholly logical.
On “reachin,” DP plays down the politics and
gangsta rhymes that have taken over rap. They
lose the endless cliches of double-time Pig Latin,
blunt-puffi ng and mic-checking in favor of life,
love and a nickel bag.
Not that they refuse to approach a political is-
Flle
Digable Planets: straight outta NYC.
sue, mind you. In “la femme fatal” they tackle the
topic of abortion in much the same way that De
La Soul handled molestation in “Millie Pulled a
Pistol on Santa”- with subtle, articulate words
rather than coarse crudeness.
the groove
■ ALBUM REVIEW
Just like the roots which grow from their bod
ies on the cover photo, the Planets have deep taps
into the soil of music history. Much of the inspi
ration for “reachin” is provided by the beebop/cool
era of jazz, as is evidenced by the Art Blakely and
Sonny Rollins samples which pepper the tracks,
as well as the trumpet lines that punctuate “Last
of the Spiddycocks.” Their lyrics are all over the
place, dropping Satre, Nietzsche, Kafka and Marx
(Karl, not Groucho & Co.).
In the first single “Rebirth of Slick (cool like
dat)," the Planets pass the mic and bust rhymes
like it’s going out of style. Ladybug holds her own
with Butterfly and Doodlebug, proving her skills
the finest of all female rappers, ana smoother
than about 90 percent of all the males. As she
notes: “I’m thick like that.” Thick she is.
Throughout the length of “reachin’,” Digable
Planets exact their own vernacular, speak their
own styles and make their own moves. They ex
amine the world in a new light with a new phi
losophy. DP is as unique, fresh and entertaining
as anything I’ve heard in quite some time.
Doubtless, tne Planets will be huge.
“So what is really what/If the funk don’t move
your butt?” they ask in the final cut
“Examination of What.” Everything looks differ
ent depending on where you stand. Obviously, the
Planets are standing in the right spot.
rates a big Zero/Zero
‘Fifty/Fifty’
By JASON WELLS
Staff Writer
A new contender for being the finest mis
matched buddy action/comedy in history, the
masterful “Pi fly/Fifty” is a glowing achievement
for director Charles Martin Smith, the nerd in
“American Graffiti.”
The conceptual hook here is to have two self-
employed wise-guy American special operatives
named Jake and Sam (Peter Weller and Robert
Hays) working privately for any government on
the globe as long as the price is right.
Tne premise: The CIA offers them $500,000 to
sneak into Singapore, train a small village of re
bellious peasants in the art of American military
tactics, then set out with the army to eliminate
the evil, oppressive, anti-American dictator who
rules the land.
If you already can’t wait to go, there’s more.
Little children are seen screaming in joy as ar
tillery is parachuted from the skies for a nice sen
sation of victory at hand. Plus, the positive in
fluence of American obstacle course training tech
niques on simple, agricultural people is a beauti-
■ MOVIE REVIEW
ful touch.
The comic, title-influencing device of having
Jake and Sam constantly flipping a coin to decide
which mode of attack should be used for both
killing enemies and wooing women is always
fresh. I mean, what brilliantly written buddy in
teraction. I was so out of breath with laughter and
in constant contemplation of the intertwined the
matic elements of “chance,” “choice” and “conflict”
of this dialogue that I forget just what specifical
ly made it so funny.
And wow! Watching humans tom apart by
shrapnel and lead and reduced to worm-fodder in
synch with the triumphant movements of the mu
sical score was a grand and glorious experience.
Damn those evil, destructive leaders. Go for the
money, fellas, and learn some obvious moral
lessons from the innocent villagers that you led
into death on the way.
"In case you can’t tell, I’m being sarcastic. You
stink!" - Homer Simpson.
This sub-mental, blow ’em away flick fails to
the torturous, witless extreme.
For starters, when is someone going to allow
the incessantly bad-aiming BAD GUYS of cine
ma to hit the rifle range for an extra drop of be-
lievability.
The editing in this film is wretchedly choppy,
literally leaving out the movements of actors from
one place to another (wait...over here! No
wait...over there!).
The script is painfully devoid of unpredictabil
ity, right down to the village love interest and the
offensive “butt” camera shots that go with her.
And the acting? Poor Peter Weller. Now the
masterful “Naked Lunch” represents your peak
leading to downfall. How dry and underdeveloped
can a screen presence be? And Robert, if your go
ing to attempt serious emotions, yelling with
bulging eyes expresses nothing but that wonder
ful phrase “over the top.” Mr. “Airplane” Hays is
sadly incapable here of even looking to the left in
a convincing manner.
This is one of the shoddiest, most pointless
films you’ll never see. It lasted one week in wide
release, and when it emerges in the dollar hous
es, you know what not to do.
‘Falling Down’ never even
begins to stand up straight
By JASON WELLS
Staff Writer
Slipping into the category of
“great concept/bad delivery,”
“Falling Down” in no way lives
up to expectations.
We’ve all had fantasies of
holding a gun to an “I’m sorry,
sir” McDonalds employee and
demanding our pancakes at
11:31 a.m. What made this film
so appealing in the previews was
this very idea of an ordinary con
sumer at war with the trivial
rules of the everyday world.
Sadly, this does not rest as
the emphasis of the story.
Rather, it’s more of a tale of one
man’s sudden insanity and vio
lent quest to see his young
daughter on her birthday de
spite his ex-wife’s strict re
straining order (the always
bland Barbara Hershey).
Even more grueling is the
heavily weighted subplot which
develops involving a policeman,
Sgt. Prendergast (Robert
Duvall) who, since it’s his last
day on the job before retirement,
is trying to make it to 5 p.m.
without criminal obstruction, a
surprise going-away party and
many nagging “come home ear
ly” phone calls from his overpro-
tective wife.
As the nameless nuclear
weapon engineer with license
plate “D-FENS” (what the clos
ing credits name him), Michael
Douglas certainly is more lively
than he’s ever been.
After a brilliantly edited
opening traffic-jam sequence
with its many flashes of auto-ex
haust, obnoxious school bus chil
dren, buzzing electric road signs,
a neck-attracted fly, dirty sweat
beads and angst-riddled cold
stares, D-FENS suddenly snaps.
Exiting his vehicle right in the
middle of the highway, he shouts
out to all “I’m going home.”
■ MOVIE REVIEW
But unfortunately for him,
this odyssey to simply see his
daughter will require that he
walk through many gang-
plagued, spray-painted down
town Los Angeles neighborhoods
and all of the uncompromising
characters and rip-off stores that
come with them.
Mean while.. .Prendergast, af
ter helping to push the “D-
FENS” car off of the road, begins
receiving many odd calls about a
man in a white shirt and tie
who’s going on a violent ram
page. So much for returning
home early on his last day to
please his worried wife (an as
pect of the story with way too
much time devoted to it). There’s
a final villain to be pursued and
a psychological mystery to be
solved.
Douglas’ character is played
as one who is blossoming from a
hidden dark and violent nature
which only his ex-wife and
mother had ever witnessed. The
ugly scene in which he smashes
a Korean-owned convenient
mart for its high prices and
“must make purchase for
change” stipulations certainly
erupts the viewer in angry, hate
ful, even racist emotions. There
follows violent, social-fear play
ing scenes where Douglas’ re
leases his fearless aggression on
a gang of attacking Chicanos
which ultimately leads to his ac
quiring of a bag full of machine
guns.
At best, the cinematography
offers a horrifying depiction of
L.A. as the great armpit of the
planet. Otherwise, there’s no
sympathy built for any of the
characters, particularly Douglas
who winds up being a mere vi
cious, murderous bad guy rather
than someone we understand
and empathize.
Georgia
GYMNASTICS
SATURDAY • MAR. 6
7:30 P.M. • COLISEUM
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vs.
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Haircut
^yyy/7y//y/y/7yyy/y/y/y/y///////Ar/7AOT/7//7///////y/7///y//7/y//////////////>7////////y>
Gil White
presents
EUROPE AND THE WORLD
<1 ON 840 A DAY
An informative lecture about
traveling on a college students budget.
ioeas
Monday March 8,1993 7:30 pm
\sscieei~
Doors open at 7:00 pm
learn
* 28 creative ways to obtain free rides
* 20 creative ways to obtain free accommodations and food.
* How to save on the foreign money exchange...and much more!