ARTS The Michigan Daily Friday, October 29, 1982 Page 7 Simulations: A step beyond TV The Fresk Quartet imported a little of Sweden to Rackham Auditorium Wednesday evening. Fresk Quartet; sringling Sweden By Julie Winokur YOUR BOBSLED is being restrained at the starting line and you feel the excitement build with the pressure of your weight leaning forward. Before you can turn back, the sled is released and you're on your way down a narrow icy trail. But don't be deceived by the slow, smooth start, because within seconds, your momentum has skyrocketed and the trail has become a series of ' treacherous turns and sudden shifts in direction. Now, at seventy-five miles per hour, the sled carries you into a horizontal position on the side of a high- walled curve. The journey twists and winds at high speeds,constantly shaking from side to side and distorting your center of gravity, until finally, with great relief, you reach the finish line. Be careful not to get too comfortable, because the ex- citement is about to begin all over again. Seriously, where in Ann Arbor can you possibly take such a 75-mile-per- hour bobsled ride? Where else but in the Simulation Station's Amaze N'Blue simulator. And an icy bobsled trail is only one of the many places the simulator can take you. In the past year, the simulator has taken passengers over the peaks and plunges of a rollercoaster ride, boat rides through rapids, and trips down high speed Alpine Slides. Simulations scheduled for the future include a jour- ney in a barnstormer plane and a wheelcart ride down a mountain tren- ch. But the simulator is much more than a child's game in a video arcade; its implications reach very deeply into our culture and our future. Anyone who dismisses the Amaze N'Blue simulitor as a simple toy is unaware of the machine's sophistication. The audio-visual motion simulator consists of a twelve-passenger The Amage N'Blue Machine is tucked into the front of the Simulation Stationvi By Knute Rife THE FRESK String Quartet sailed into Rackham Auditorium Wednesday evening and treated the pudience to an evening of warm sounds from a cold climate. The quartet consists of violinists Lars Fresk and Hans-Erik Westberg, violist Lars-Gunnar Bodin, and cellist Per- Goran Skytt. The musicians started playing together in the early 1960s and pfficially formed the quartet in 1965. Since then the quartet has become one of the most popular younger ensembles. The program opened with Mozart's Quartet in D major, followed by Wiren's Quartet No. 3. Wiren is a Swedish composer, and this piece soun- ded like Sweden in microcosm, with themes based on Scandanavian folk music and others invoking images of elk moving through a dark wood. The root of the piece seemed to be the ten- sion caused by the uneasy truce bet- ween forest and factory. The concert closed with Borodin's Quartet No. 2. Written in Borodin's usual, passionately nationalistic style, it is an instant crowd-pleaser as two of its themes were used in Kismet as the tunes for "And This Is My Beloved" and "Baubles, Bangles, and Beads." Though the first movement of the Mozart is marked "Allegretto," the quartet started slowly, not in tempo but technique. Notes were missed. Cellist Skytt gave my hopeless partiality toward cellos some rational basis by laying down a smooth, solid foundation throughout the concert. The super- structure, particularly the violins, sometimes left a lot to be desired, especially early in the concert. The musicians largely righted the problem by the middle of the Mozart, though, and the rest of the concert was mouch better. The quartet blended well, producing a beautiful, sonorous tone. This was the ensemble's strongest point. The slower movements made full use of this with sustained chords that one wished would never end. capsule with a quarter spherical screen at the front of its interior. A projector shows a film on the screen while a memory card programs the capsule to move in coordination with the visual scenes. This causes the seatbelted passengers to feel as if they are ac- tually participating in the adventure. The film and memory card are easily replaced to facilitate different simulated experiences. What does this seemingly innocent toy imply? The simulator experiments with a new concept in entertainment: it classifies entertainment as the com- plete simulation of an experience rather than the experience itself. By removing all of the preparational procedures, discomforts, dangers, and commitments to an impact-filled ad- venture, the simulator attempts to in- duce the thrills of the experience without requiring first-hand par- ticipation. In an age where children are weened on television until they are old enough to play video games, an audio-visal motion simulator is one more step away from interpersonal communication and first-hand experience. The simulator practically eliminates the need to communicate with other people in- volved in the adventure. Further, it removes the com- plications of trial and error, interper- sonal cooperation, labor, and the in- video game arcade on E. Liberty. vestment of energy, enthusiasm, risk, and physical exertion. In actuality, the passenger is left with only one part Of the journey, the moment of the event (t- self, an event to be experienced separately by each individual. This trend in entertainment is moving our culture farther and farther from physical involvement and per- sonal interaction. Whether or not we chose to be subjected to this breakdown1 in communication, it is one of t1 unavoidable effects of technological progress. As to the simulator's effee- tiveness, my best advice is to stop 14 500 E. Liberty and try the "experience for yourself. Records Gargoyle Films show thoughtful features Trees- Sleep Convention" (MCA) Sleep ionvention blends the latest styles inlBritish technopop with dumb American lyrics. It doesn't work very well. The reason that this somewhat in- triguing idea doesn't work is because they're blended too well. The end product is a very smooth mixture, no rough edges, and nothing to catch your interest on. The best Technopop songs have some interesting quirk, something in- teresting to make you pay attention. There's nothing like that in Sleep Con- vention. The best dumb American lyrics can get away with their stupidity because of greattemotions behind them. Trees take sll of their lyrics and squeeze them into a wimpy whispy drone. In Sleep Convention, Trees seem to have taken the worst of both worlds: dumb emotionless lyrics and repetitive boring music. Trees is a one-man band. Dane Conover is the man and he plays all of the electronic instruments so heavily relied upon in his debut album. He also produced it. Martin E. Eldridge and Missy Zizzo are cited for assistance, with percussion and vocals. Sleep Convention's song subjects and lyrics aren't very interesting. Side one has a song about sleeping. Side two has a song about waking up. "Delta Sleep" is a bubblegummish tune extolling the wonders of traveling in my pajamas. WITH SEVEN film societies on campus already, you might think it foolhardy to start up another. But two law students have started up Gargoyle Films, screening movies every Satur- day night. SRoger Mourad, who together with John Waligore puts on each show, says f)at Gargoyle Films in the past "was a very minor, low-key thing, geared taward a social outlet for law studen- ts." t The new society has slightly higher ideals. "We're trying to establish a viable, thoughtful film program; that's a little bit different from the other groups," explains Mourad. Every Saturday has a double-feature showing with a common thread running through the two films. "This Saturday we're showing two Altman films, A Wedding (at 7 p.m.) and Three Women (at 9:15 p.m.)," says Mourad. The ultimate aim of the group is to of- fer, according to Mourad, "an in- teresting schedule for people all over campus." "11:00 A.M." asks the question am I awake?/am I asleep? "Wildwood" is simply mellow and annoying with a too- cute rain-sound. "Gotta Moon" is an obscure song devoted to being a teenager that would be better leftsto Shaun Cassidy. There isn't any sub- stance to these songs. There's nothing behind them. Conover did think a little bit to come up with "Red Car," a song about nuclear testing and what nuclear arms will do someday, and it's interesting because ofthat. "Shock of the New" has a nice chorus, but is horribly pretentious if Conover thinks of Trees as "new." All of Sleep Convention is INDIVIDUAL THEATRES 5th Ave o ' liberty 761-0700 SAT ."SUN ofl~y $2.00 shows before M P.M. The story of"O" continues in the Orient- F. MON.-6:40, 8:30, 10:20 SAT. SUN.- 1:10, 3:00, 4:50, 6:40, 8:30, 10:20 The night no one 1:00 comes home. 3:00 A1111E 7:00 SEASON OF 93 THE WITCH AUVERSAt9:30 MIDNIGHT FRi& SAT 12:00 danceable; in the same mindless wiY disco was. -Joe Hoppe (375N MAPLE4 769-1300 1.00 TUESDAYS PO TER1ST 1:00, 3:05, 5:10, 7:15, 9:30 " :: 1:00 3:00 5:00 7:00 9:15 ON GOLDEN POND 1:00, 3:00, 5:00, 7:00, 9:15 IL THE MOVIES AT BRIARWOOD 1-94 & S. STATE (Adjacent to J. C. Penny) 1.00 TUESDAYS 12:30 M 4:30 19:40 "IT'S A MIRACLE... IT WILL LEAVE YOU FEELING TEN FEET TALL--REX REED THE BOAT 10:00 1:00 4:00 7:00 4:40 -7 PETER O'TOOLY JESSICA HARPER FAVORITE YEAR MGMUA 10:00 12:30 2:30 4:30 7:00 9:30 V I ! M r A s ti It M 1