i nf ii:% is% j: i:":%Sj>iSti.:;5>:!{:;:jij;:}?%>i:%ii::"i:<2"ii::i:%i: :i<-5>:i:%%> :?ii:i:4i:i iii>i:ii?: is?: iii iil:"i: is is Y.b:i i :-:>::>}:">:::>:>'.;: n>'. . :. . .. . :. ::::: :". :::. :::. :::. .: ..::. ................................................ ........, .. ;... .!.:. ::.::.. :::::::::::::::::....::::::::. :::::::r"i :" i:bi'?::v. . ::":::::::" :-i>S: iii:4: iii:biii; : ::::L:": i:?i ii:hii ii ii: :":: Yi;{4;":ti?4;::"::. :"::::::::::.. p::::;:ii::is4i:4i::O:tii :G:::ii"i}}?ii:LU:::-iTi: ii iii a: >:-iii:.............%i :">'i: iiii l.:... %i....".. Stream of agony Streamers Starring Matthew Modine, Michael Wright, Mitchell Lichtenstein, and David Allen Grier Directed by Robert Altman Now playing at the State Street Theater By Larry Dean T HERE ARE A number of ways people can interpret films. For example, there must be a few reckless ones out there, living on the artistic razorblade-edge, who lay claim to liking any or all of Vice Squad, Under the Rainbow, or Yentl. It's common knowledge that such a critical underbelly throbs with a ticket- buying life of its own, so we may as well fess up and deal with this inconsistency of human beinghood on a purely metaphysical level by consulting the I- Ching Book of Celluloid Phenomena. This book, a time-worn tome, exists today only in a sparse couple of texts. One is safe behind the usual six inches of reinforced glass and mesh steel at the I-Ching Museum in the lowermost bowels of Burton, Michigan, that misbegotten of all metropoli. Under the video camera's watchful eye, vast ranks of armed guards, and the most advanced of burglar alarm systems, this copy of the I.C.B.C.P. can be regarded as safe from harm or theft. However, there it is no more than a museum piece, serving as conversation for art historians and "friends of the museum" who like to boast about how much they gave for the benefit of the public good to their peers; there, it cannot be used as a handy reference guide. I, luckily, happen to own one of the other surviving copies. Hand-written by the monks who cared for it, gold- embossed and iguana-hide bound, the book kept its appearance up over the eons due to its remarkable craftsman- ship of make. Back then, books were built to last, much like our American cars once were. Every once and awhile, I pull the book down from its nook to consult its ancient wisdoms, for, as the elders say, a good bit of advice never wears out. When I saw John Carpenter's The Thing and the audience howled with in- dignation, I recalled that the I.C.B.C.P. had foretold of such a reaction cen- turies before Carpenter ever even heard of the terms 'best boy' or 'dolly grip,' and was satisfied by my decision that the film was underrated genius. The same is true for Little Murders, A Fine Madness, Shriek of the Mutilated, Lord Jim, and a score of other movies that have since entered the collected unconscious of our fine, arts-conscious, governmentally-supported society. In this case, I am again put to the task of unshelving the weighty volume as help in resolving my ambivalences toward Robert Altman's latest venture, Streamers. Since the big A is in the big A-squared to produce his Secret Honor project, the proverbial red carpet of servility has been unrolled to reveal midnight screening of his Come Back To the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (another play adaption, by the way): and since the air is all a- crackle with his name much as it was when Lawrence "Larry-to-his-friends" Kasdan was in town, then some decision needs to be reached on this very affective film adaption of David Rabe's play of the same name. Rabe is the author of the trilogy of Viet Nam-inspired plays, of which Streamers is one-third, the other two are Sticks and Bones and The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel. Rabe ob- viously has put in his duty time, and as an exchange, he has given us three very passionate and unsettling works in the above-mentioned plays. Streamers translates very easily to the realm of film. Like the play, it takes place entirely within the barracks of. some Viet Nam-bound soldiers. From the start, there is tension in the air: forget the atmospheric opening credits with soldiers showing off their flashy gun handling in a foggy, dream-like set- ting, because this is all showmanship on Altman's part, his little way of saying, "The story you are about to see is true; the names were changed . . ." and so forth. The initial dilemma that faces our boys in uniform is that one of the men has slit his wrist. He is reluctant to let another trainee help him out - he is even pleased and elated by the situation! This is a gut-wrenchingly visceral scene that, following on the heels of some playful detonation hijinx by the resident sergeants, manages to cut quite deeply an imprint of the kind of mental crowbarring both Rabe and Altman intend on delivering. The suicidal victim is helped out by Richie (Mitchell Lichtenstein), an ef- feminette soldier who toys with Billy's (Matthew Modine) own sexual con- fusion over roles and role-playing. The referee for this carnal cock fighting is Roger (David Alan Grier). Two sergeants (played by Guy Boyd and George Dzundza) command the barracks and spend their off hours boozing it up in honor of the absurdity of the war, which, ironically, they enlisted Streamers: Another Altman adaptation for. Within this framework enters Carlyle (Michael Wright), a poor black man from the inner city with a temperment worse than that of Norman Bates. He comes seeking the company of Roger, another black soldier, but soon his presence touches all the men in a variety of different ways - Roger is frightened by him, Billy angered, and Richie attracted. It is how these emotions are handled within the course of Streamers that lends it its unbridled dramatic flair and relentlessness of issue. The acting is far and away better than the ensemble acting in, for exam- ple, The Big Chill, which has "Hollywood" stamped all over its glitzy surface. Altman has a knack for picking red hot actors, and there's not a dud performance in the bunch. Add to this the fact that most of the faces will be unfamiliar to you - thus, the realism of the characters seems that much more a possibility; if anything, they look more like someone you know in "real life" as opposed to an actor whose name you can't place. And who better to helm this produc- tion than Robert Altman, director of Nashville, M*A*S*H, A Wedding, and the dismal Popeye, as well as Quintet, Health, Three Women, and other voyages into the uncategorizeable and the bizarre? When Altman abandons the occasional bent for slickery that produces such luscious narcolepsy as Popeye in favor of his more jerky, sim- ple style of storytelling, he can weave a film like Penelope used to weave her tapestries for Odysseus' imminent homecoming. His films then become lyrical, weird, unfocussed parables (like Three Women), documentary- style slice-of-life epiphanies (Nashville, M*A*S*H), or powerful tone poems, of which Streamers is a good example. Quite often, his camera pans leisurely to a character's hand as he talks to the others, or else keeps tabs on the objects in the barracks, as if they were as important to the story as the human elements, which, actually, they are. No big symbols here, but a sense of the -symbolic out of the ordinary, of some importance in all this musterable lunacy hanging in the air like napalm. Altman proves that, for him at least, less is better, and the result of that restraint is a subtle, ticking timebomb of a movie. So why do I need the I-Ching Book of Celluloid Phenomena if Streamers is such a swell flick? Well, for all its good points, I don't see it as too sincere of a film on the basis that the material, to begins with, is packed with so much energy and tension that very little needs to be done with it to make it suc- ceed on its own terms as a film. That, plus I don't think it's going to be enor- mously popular with the general public; the people I saw it with were more concerned with jabbering about hockey, business, comfy feet, and other assorted mediocrities to let the power of Streamers hit them at gut level. Maybe it was just defenses going up; but what should be happening is that they should be going down, instead. Walking out of the theater, I heard one philosopher mumble, "I dunno, M*A*S*H was a lot funnier." I guess quality isn't always very fun- ny. Take a byte The Illustrated Computer Dic- tionary/The Bantam Fast and Friendly Computer Guides/Mastering Your Timex Sinclair 100 Personal Computer By various authors Bantam Books By Mark Kulkis ''H] ACKER: COMPUTER jargon i.for a person who is intensely interested in and/or very knowledgeable about computer sof- tware." The book shelves are bursting with books designed for greenhorn "non- hackers" these days. In all likelihood, there are probably more books about computers on the market than there are books on dieting. If you find yourself byting your nails in frustration or con- fusion over the ongoing "computer revolution," then one or more of the following books may be .for you : The Illustrated Computer Dictionary, The most "comprehensive guide to com- puter language." The bad thing about the book is that I can't see it being of any real use to anybody. If you already own a com- puter, chances are that ypu possess some sort of manual that describes the necessary computer terms probably in much greater detail and clarity than the dictionary does. If your manual does not give ample definition to computer terms, then don't count on this book being any great help. Although the definitions in the dic- tionary are accurate, they are short (usually one of two sentences in length) and many times don't tell you what you really want to know. I severely doubt that this text will "help you make sense of the computer language in adver- tisements, in your manual, and on your computer." For instance, let's say you're in the market for a home computer, and you want to know how much memory you'll be needing. You can't decide whether to invest in a 2K or a 16K machine. Looking up "K" in the dictionary, you find that this is an abbreviation for "kilo." You turn to the next page, and discover that 1 kilo= 1,024 bytes. What the heck is a byte? (A group of eight bits, silly!). Don't even attempt looking up "bit;" all you'll find is a lengthy description of the binary code used by computers. If you buy this book, THEN you'll be wasting your money. GOTO: The Bantam Fast and Frien- dly Computer Guide. If you're looking to purchase a computer, here's the book to get. All three books are basically the same, differing mainly in the price range (and thus capabilities) of the computers they describe. Home/Family Computers are the ones $100-1,500; Professional/Per- sonal Computers are $5,000-15,000. The books cover 90 percent of the same material, and some of the chapters are identical in all three books. (So whatever you do, only buy one of these books.) The books' structure is set up to give the reader enough information about computers to be able to knowledgeably compare the benefits and prices of the various computer systems on the market. The books are divided into five chapters (each one page long), each chapter describing one aspect of a computer system (monitor, software, etc.). The descriptions are clear and understandable, and include many helpful allegories between computers and cars (the keyboard = the steering wheel) and stereos (the floppy disks = the records). The books include illustrations on nearly every page, and a complete chart in the back for rating the benefits/capabilities of the various brands and models of computers. To sum up: these books do indeed ....... ...... ........................... "make it easy" to choose the right computer for your own needs. GOTO: Mastering Your Timex Sin- clair 1000 Personal Computer. The beauty of this book is that you don't even have to own a Timex Sinclair to benefit from the valuable lessons in BASIC programming which it contains. This book is one of the clearest step-by- step explanations of how to program in BASIC that I've ever read. It covers usage of all the reserved words in BASIC, including graphics, with plenty of examples to sharpen your understan- ding of the language. Of course, since I already knew BASIC, I didn't read the entire book, and thus cannot go into specifics regarding its content. However, the sections I did read were top-notch; I would suggest that anyone with a desire to learn (or brush up on) the BASIC computer language should pick up a copy of this book. These five books are but a sampling of the myriad computer books you can buy. A good tip is to know specifically what you're looking for (how to program, how to choose the right com- puter, etc.) before you buy any of these books. And be sure to always keep your BANTAM I OOMPL BUSN COwmMx : miN mw eyes open for f books as: Jane Book. 100 PRINT "en 999 END Coming Attrac Ray Bradbury has a new book coming out. It's called A Memory of Murder, and it's a never-before- published collection of 15 of the master's early suspense classics, in- cluding "The Small Assasin," a story that Bradbury considers to be "one of the best stories, in any field, that I have ever written." The stories will. run the full range of mystery and suspense. (Price: $2.95 To be published by Dell Books on February 2). A book entitled Who Farted? is scheduled to hit the racks soon. From the excerpts that I received, the book appears to be a compendium of old movie stills, fro to assume that each of the pho the movie stills intended to be us effect is quite a To be publish (Pocket) Bo February). Norman Mail Guys Don't D published by Ra The only detail that the novel t cetown, Massa with an unfal violence and pas FLY ICELANDAIR MARCH THRU MAY $450 ROUND-TRIP* Detroit - Luxembourg CORNER MAYNARD AND LIBERTY (Kinko's Entrance) fU Bantam Fast and Friendly Computer Guides: Home/Family, Business/Of- fice, and Professional/Personal, and Masterint Your Timex Sinclar 1000 Personal Computer. Let's start with The Illustrated Com- puter Dictionary. Simply put, this is a dictionary of any and all terms that you're likely to come across when dealing with computers. One thing the book can't be criticized for is being in- complete; without a doubt, the book is a Rent a Car from Econo- OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK '-. ( ;. . .,;: 1/2 OFF SALE MEN'S, YOUNG MEN'S CLOTHING AT DRASTIC SAVINGS! ADDITIONAL U* 10% DISCOUNT WITH i ' ISC Iince 1891 of ann arbor ' ----S..--... 318 SOUTH MAIN STREET - DOWNTOWN WE RENT TO 19 YR. 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