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(05/28/02 4:00am)
This is the last one. I realize every year some senior decides that his (or her) last words have to make some indelible mark on the undergraduate student body . to leave them with a sense of wonder and heed the wisdom collected over four years of Brandeis living. I won't bother to do that here. Every other week I've racked my brain (Read: Drank beer and watched the Simpsons) over how to make this column interesting and insightful - something that you would want to read and that I would want to write. But, due to lack of motivation and my busy schedule of playing NHL2K in my underwear, I have found it difficult to provide quality week in and week out. The best I can hope for is that some of you have found these a tad bit entertaining. If I could only have one legacy at this school, it would be that my column was more popular than the police log.It was my mentor, Matt Ashare, who, when confronted with the pressures and deadlines of being a rock writer said, "It's only rock 'n' roll." That advice could be applied to anything. That's not to say if you become a surgeon and leave a scalpel in your patient you shrug and say, "it's only rock 'n' roll." That would be ridiculous and frightening. But, he's just saying that title doesn't dictate behavior. It's a call to the graduating class to relax, because you can't control everything.I've interviewed movie stars, rock stars, porn stars . and when they graduated (from high school, college, or with the latter, the Kitty Kat Klub) they really didn't have any idea where their life would take them. Maybe they were destined to be what they would become, but from the age of 22 looking up into the big blank world, it's hard to make out your life in the distance. Celebrities teach me so much. They teach me that being obscenely wealthy isn't the measure of talent (i.e., Arnold Schwartzeneger, Sylvester Stallone, et al.). They teach me that being humble is more attractive than being arrogant (i.e., Howard Stern). And they teach me that, despite legions of fans and paparazzi surrounding them, at one point in their lives they didn't have a clue (i.e., Pauly Shore, yesterday and today). But, this isn't some idolatry of a bunch of Hollywood phonies. Our country is big on hero worshipping - taking actors down from the silver screen and putting them up on pedestals. I guess seeing somebody so famous, up close and fallible, doesn't make them so untouchable.During an interview with Jason Alexander (note: this won't be just a bunch of name dropping, a point will come soon) his young son called in the middle of a question. He took the call and, like you do with little children, put on his cute voice and told him he'd be home soon. The guy that everyone knows as that putz, George Costanza on Seinfield is, in reality, not George. He is a father and a husband who just happens to be famous. And, you'd expect him to walk around with a pomposity equal to his prestige, but no, he's "down to earth." There I was, on one of my first major interviews, and I found that I could actually approach a television star without bursting into flames, or gaze upon him without turning to stone.Being a writer really means being a good observer. It's being the passive listener and the guy in the corner of the club with a pen and pad. Sometimes this sucks. Who wants to be the one who listens to how great someone else's life is . to have them drone on and on about their "project" or the wonderful people they worked with? But, sometimes you come away with a great conversation.Sometimes you come away wondering why you got into this soulless, mindless industry . where you are nothing more than a PR whore for some corporate movie studio. Those are the times when you go out for an interview and come back with pat answers. They're the times when media curiosity becomes media hype. The worst part of being a writer is when you feel obligated to give the reader what they want. In most cases what they want to hear is that "Star Wars: Episode II" was the most amazing movie ever and that little French flick isn't worth your money. Of course you have to be fair, and fairness means being honest with your audience.In this little column I've tried to be honest about my experiences, and tried to do as little pandering as possible. It was a nice little run, of course next time I'd like to get paid. So, for what it's worth, I hope you enjoyed . and if not that, I hope you didn't think I was a mockery of the journalism profession. Rock 'n' roll!
(04/30/02 4:00am)
Cold weather on Sunday couldn't cool down the Brandeis sailing team after a hot start Saturday at the New England Dinghy Tournament in Portland, Maine, hosted by the University of Southern Maine. Needing to finish in the top six in order to qualify for next weekend's New England Championship regatta, Brandeis cruised to a fifth place finish.Nick Farina '03, skippered the A division the first day, with Arwen Roth '03, as her crew, and Matt Guilbert '02 sailed the B division, with Amanda Davis, '03, and Chris DeRienzo '03, sharing duty as his crew. Each boat competed in eight half-hour long races in 12-foot long 420 sailboats. Teams navigated strong currents, as a 12-foot tide streamed in and out throughout the day. "We went in knowing that we should have been in the top six," Guilbert said. "So it was a matter of executing."Weather conditions were ideal on Saturday, with temperatures in the mid-50s and gusts of wind picking up throughout the day. Brandeis sprung to action early, sitting in second place after the first few races. As the day wore on, and dour weather forecasts for Sunday came in, additional races were held. In that stretch, Brandeis survived some tough races, but slipped a little in both the A and B division rankings.The boats may also have had something to do with that. This spring the Brandeis team has had little experience in 420s, which are flat-bottomed for better planing on the water. "We never practice in 420s," Guilbert said. "If it was in FJs we would have done a lot better"Still, Brandeis hung tough on Sunday, earning a spot in next week's championships. Undeterred by weather in the 30s and 40s, with gusting sleet and rain on the water, Brandeis pulled out fifth place finishes in both divisions.Emily Hyman '02, teamed up effectively with Guilbert on the second day of racing, while Farina continued his impressive year at the helm. Finishing in the top five against strong competition, Farina is really coming into his own as a skipper."Nick has been improving a lot lately," Guilbert said. "It's great because he has another year left."The team hopes that Farina's strong performance will carry over to next weekend, when Brandeis enters a field with the 18 best teams in New England (which is regarded as a tougher field than the one at the national championships). As one of the smallest teams in the region, Brandeis knows it will have a tough time against some of the big powerhouses in the area. Coming off a 17th place finish at last year's New England Championships, Guilbert says the team is setting its sights on a better finish."Our goal (for next weekend) is just to beat a few teams. We're looking to beat the teams that qualified with us (at Portsmouth). It's within our reach.
(04/23/02 4:00am)
Last night I found myself at the edge of my seat, waiting to see who would be "dismissed" on one of MTV's latest reality TV shows. Would it be sexy, ditsy Lisa, or timid Sara who would win over Matt's heart on their three hour long date? In the past two years, a whole new wave of entertainment has crept its way into the minds and homes of America's 50 million viewers. Perhaps oxymoronically dubbed "reality TV," this new wave of shows which peers into the lives of the cast, ever-probing for exciting and scandalous feelings and behaviors, is a product of a certain hidden voyeuristic culture that is now manifesting itself on primetime television. We have a growingly infantile society. As adults today are mesmerized by any form of graphic entertainment, from video games to hand-held computers, they are growing indistinguishable from their children to the entertainment companies who are working ever-harder to deliver this entertainment faster and more glamorous with each delivery. Today, faster and more technologically advanced transmission of stupidity can be seen as progress.The new MTV series "The Osbournes," which tracks the life of perhaps the most obscenely shocking figure in the music of our generation (along with his wacky family), is just the latest of shows on our voyeuristic menu hoping to please our pallet. Perhaps 2001's "Fear Factor" was meant not just to reveal to 12 million debut viewers the innermost fears of six contestants, but also to try to shock an increasingly unshockable society. And, as the voyeurism continues to manifest itself, so does the level of obscurity that these shows include. The recent "Tough Enough," another creation by MTV genius, tracks the weaning down process experienced by WWF contestants. When will this phenomenon end? Will we need to have a show that tracks the level of stress and excitement experienced by toll-takers that a woman driving up in a Beamer invokes?Perhaps the good economic times we live in have afforded us the opportunity to hail "choice" as the ideal that rises above all others. Competition is said to root out the weak and push forward the strong. To separate away the dross and leave the gold. But, these voyeuristic shows, many of which such as "DisMissed," "Fear Factor" and "Survivor," pit contestants against each other, also underscore a clear truth: this competition has a different, corruptive effect with mass culture. It brings out a fierce cultural desensitization leading to a ratcheting up of violence and degradation. How many people do we need to see cry on "Fear Factor" or get divorced after a few weeks on "Temptation Island" before our voyeuristic thrills are satiated? How many self-confidences do we need to see shattered by "Tough Enough" or bodies mutilated on an episode of "True Life" featuring breast implant surgery before we are confident enough with ourselves to leave our houses the next morning?As television networks sink to the industry's challenge of thinking lower, the viewers award these networks with ratings through the roof. Pitted against shows like the stalwart "Law and Order," these reality TV shows have blatantly triumphed. No matter how you look at it, a culture that enjoys a show like the appropriately named "Jackass," both for its content and for the viewers it draws, needs to do some reconsidering. Perhaps the religious doctrines are correct; some pleasures are immoral purely because they are desensitizing, even if done behind the closed doors of America's homes. Inevitably, this coarsening of entertainment does rear its ugly head in public, and will ultimately lead to the destruction of our society. What is the next level of a violent voyeuristic primetime hit show? Perhaps six teenagers playing Russian roulette in their living room would be entertaining to our increasingly senseless and coarse society. And, then our President questions how someone from a culture that he has had no first hand experience with can lack the sensitivity to commit certain outrageous acts of violence? Unfortunately, senseless violence sounds a bit more familiar to me than that. Just turn on the television and get your daily dose, as millions of other Americans do each day.
