4 - The Michigan Daily - Weekend etc. - Thursday, March 30, 1995 'Young' full of Brit rock [. . Wtelcome to Netcape < ._ _ - __ By Scott Plagenhoef Daily Arts Writer What happens when a 40-some- thing ex-drill sergeant played by Burt Young of "Rocky" fame and a teen prodigy played by a mostly pre- Feldman Corey Haim share a fresh- man dorm. It's "Roomies" the odd- couple situation comedy in which two complete opposites share the ups and downs of being unconventional in the wacky, hijink-laced environment that is college. Sounds great, huh? Well someone at NBC thought so. Misfit, one-di- mensional roommates don't typically make for quality television. Beside "Roomies," there has been "Double Trouble," "Good and Evil," and even the anthropomorphic "emotions" pent up inside "Herman's Head." The vast majority of these pro- grams are entirely empty because they are one-joke formulas. Those who have to live so close are so different and their incompatibility is the foun- dation of all of the show's humor. "The Young Ones" are four quite- different, quite simplistic characters who have nothing in common except that they each represent a sub-strata of youth culture: a hippie, a nihilistic punk, a leftist would-be poet and a coifed, straight world, self-appointed ladies' man. Excepting for a barrage of hippie jokes, their disparities are not the source of the comedy. There is no odd, cruel twist of life which has tossed them together; why they live together is never explained, but never contemplated either. They simply share the surrealism which encom- passes them and the show. "The Young Ones" debuted on the BBC in 1983 and appeared on MTV late Sunday nights in the mid-'80s. Its 12 episodes have been resurrected by Comedy Central to be aired Saturday nights at 11:00 p.m. and undoubtedly repeated too often throughout the week. Each episode works only as a slice of these four student's lives. The narrative begins odd and gets odder, but never grasps hold of a nice, neat structure. When Theo had girl trouble, the Cos explained the birds, the bees and made a few obstetrician jokes in a neat 30 minute package. Jack Trip- per could find the girl of his dreams, be engaged, and have her find out that either he lives with two girls or that Ralph Furley believes him gay (which he couldn't deny in front of Ralph or he'd lose his apartment, which con- sidering he is about to be married and presumably leaving the domicile of Janice and Chrissie/Cindy/Terri doesn't seem like much of a conse- quence) therefore breaking off the relationship, never to be spoken of again in future episodes in the same 30 minute period. "The Young Ones" doesn't purport such rigidity or con- trivances, which may turn off many viewers. The four do encounter a different obstacle in each episode whether it be Vyv (the punk) planting, Neil (the hippie) in the back-yard, finding a nuclear bomb propped up against the refrigerator or simply changing a light bulb. Yet the events are never treated as problems to be solved. In the Brunei-like landscape of their North London apartment, the unusual is commonplace, we only peek into their lives for a short-period of time before our voyeurism is terminated abruptly. Each episode also features a guest appearance by a British post-punk group. The Damned, Nine Below Zero and Dexy's Midnight Runners are amongst the featured musicians, yet the musical highlight is certainly Lemmy arching his back, straining to reach the microphone whilst he and the rest of Motorhead churn out "Ace of Spades" in the flat's kitchen. "The Young Ones" isn't for ev- eryone, thank goodness. If itwere, it would mean it was typical, safe and accessible. It doesn't ask any ques- tions like "what happens when..." The gang doesn't get the willed riches of Vyv's long-lost spinster aunt provided they can spend one weekend in a haunted house. Neil is never trapped in an elevator with a pregnant woman. Only a hodgepodge of surrealism, a healthy dose of anti-establishmentism and the feeling that you never quite know what will happen next, and if you do, so what; it won't have any- thing to do with what follows after that. If only Corey Haim portrayed Vyv. SI~ om R~cdImages open Print FigJren TAP L~~ai*rs IN p A/orne' nkscpe comrn/home iwekcorne .ftr 1 ek ome IWhat's New? What's Coo? Ij Qestion I NtSers Ne iretory 0 This Is how a computer.running Netscape looks. Isn't It beautiful? Welcome to Netscape: Future now By Josh Herrington Daily Arts writer Have you ever wondered about the indie music scene in Western Australia? How about the possibili- ties of music therapy for the visually impaired? How about interviews from your favorite glam-rock heroes? These are just snippets from the wealth of music-related information one can find through Netscape. For those of you who haven't peered over at a neighbor using the system at any of the campus comput- ing sites, Netscape is a massive Internet program installed last No- vember on the University server - a larger version of the previous net fo- rum Mosaic. It has the capacity to access literally millions of files on the "web," connecting a student procras- tinator with information in areas rang- ing from aviation to cooking. One of the most heavily-used and largest area on the web is music. The area of popular music in Netscape is intense. If you like, you can ask ques- tions of Sebadoh (and they'll respond personally), print out the cover of your favorite Pixies album (many al- bum covers and candid photos are scanned into the program), or copy the lyrics of your favorite Neil Dia- mond tune. You can even listen to sound bytes of music - although you wouldn't want to disturb any students around you who are actually doing work (bring headphones). The mean- ing and content of song lyrics incite pages of forums where ideas merge from around the globe. Interviews can be found from the most obscure sources, along with letters from art- ists explaining their works. It's enough to absorb you so thoroughly that hours will go by completely unnoticed. And believe it or not, Netscape isn't hard to use. It childishly guides the viewer through each step in the fact-finding process. To access the main directory you have to click the word "YAHOO," as if surfing the net was like watching a rerun of "Bo- nanza." From there, clicking on "En- tertainment" and then "music" will open up this part of the web. Just like that. The most frustrating problem occurs when stumbling upon a file that looks delicious, only to find that Netscape is somehow "unable to lo- cate" it. This happens quite frequently. However, some "missing" files through which other files are accessed can be bypassed by using the "search" feature; here, Netscape acts much like Mirlyn does in the libraries, finding all files which contain the requested key words. Once you get to a musi- cian or group (or anything), you'll encounter a "home page" where lists of addresses and topic headings can be located and opened with a mouse click. For the most part, you don't even have to touch the keyboard. Much of this information can be found by looking up individual artists (using "directory" or "search"), and branching out from there into various Internet locations (hence the name "web"). However, now that we are in an era where identifying with a hip indie label or an oppressive, evil ma- jor label is crucial to the consumer, many put out their own home pages - starting points where official ad- dresses containing discographies, art- work and other information can be accessed. For example, one could use the 4AD home page to download files about the Breeders, the Pixies, Belly boarding and so on. Some labels give addresses- one may write to purchase albums-of featured bands, like an Internet ver- sion of the Home Shopping Network Of course, major labels also have been, using home pages to peddle new prod- ucts, including samples of entire songs off upcoming albums. This is no sur- prise; the color photos and song blurbs are obvious ways to reach a world- wide audience very inexpensively. This, of course, raises an issue which has yet to come to the fore- front; the establishment and enforce- ment of illegal activity. Anyone with the proper technology can scan in. pictures or sample songs, potentially infringing copyright laws in the pro- cess. Once installed, one can print out anything from Netscape that appears, on the page. Such prospects may not seem as controversial as the Jake Baker case, but nevertheless many foresee the potential for legal may hem. Nevertheless, the impending prospect of legal consequences does# not seem to be curbing the ever-grow- ing list of pirated music goodies. Until the government and judicial system See NET, Page 8 Used & Rare BOOKS Bought & Sold 113 W. Liberty (1/2 blockWof MainSt) 995-1891 It's Worth the Trip Westside Booshop since 197?5 Don't let half your grade get you stressed during finals. Get the EXAM PACK? Blue Notes of Ann Arbor Inc. Savings of 20% or More! (alterations included) Including Chaps by Ralph Lauren, Tino and Metropolis For quality clothing and tailoring at its best.... Vahian2s CLOTHING & TAILORING Serving Ann Arbor since 1967 Located on the upper level of Readerna e4 668-7172 311 East Liberty 662-7888 I m I Please return y beSt restaurants/bars for... coffee_ March 31 to ,,e pies pizza the Daily at :,hot do 1 .g, '>eheap beer 420 May taril, bar drinks Ice cream/frozen yogurt chipati 48109. Results sandwihess_ subs cookis ___________________ will be printed in Italian food , middle eastern food the April 13 **"*'** men's clothing _ women's clothing _ thrift/used clothing _ bicycle sales/repair_ books textbooks used books haircut first-run theater video store liquor/party store - photocopying sporting good groceries florist trael agemc ----a---s fraternity to party with sorority to party with co-op ugliest building bathroom lecture hall best (and worst) entertainment local band dancing spot concert in the past year radio station place to go when in an altered state best (and worst) dating stuff pine to meet a mate___ _________ mkLagr. Hams am.a.& MOWAAte' ick-up telS__________________________ I