14 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, April 21, 1998 'Players' loses big By Geordy Gantsoudes Daily Arts Writer Ever since his impressive debut in "Boyz N The Hood," Ice Cube has made some questionable choic- es in the roles he chooses to accept. "Friday," a hilar- ious comedy co-starring Chris Tucker marked one of his better choices. So when he chose to team up with the same group again for "The Players Club," one might have thought this was a match made in heaven. But because Cube wrote and directed "The Players SonicNet rocks World Wide Web 19 The Players Club At Showcase Club," he has no one to blame but himself for the mess that is his directorial debut. The plot is a twisted hybrid of "Showgirls" and "Striptease." It tells the story of a stripper with a heart of gold, Diamond (LisaRaye). She wants to go to a predominantly black college, while her father wants her to go to a "better school." Rather than bow down to her father, she decides to pay her way through college. When selling shoes does not pay the bills, she takes some advice Courtesy of New Line Cinema Ice Cube chills as director of the drama "The Players Club." words. A. J. Johnson (Little Man) plays the bouncer at the club, and takes comical beatings the entire film. Cube cast himself as one of the villains in the film and does a fine job. The cast, however, cannot make up for the poor excuse for a script and the terrible performance by LisaRaye. She follows in the footsteps of Demi Moore and Elizabeth Berkley as being a bad actress in a horrible stripper movie. The film may have been salvageable if someone else had been cast in the lead. There are other problems with the movie that do not concern LisaRaye. The movie flows like a Faulkner novel. But stream of consciousness does not work well in the movies. The movie just jumps from one scene to another with very little continuity. There are some really funny, laugh-out-loud scenes, but they are few and far between. Jamie Foxx thankfully comes to the movie's rescue toward the end. He appears as Diamond's love inter- est and club DJ, Blue. His ability to steal the spot- light from everyone else on the screen - naked or not - makes up some of the difference, but not enough. His talent does not make up for LisaRaye's lack thereof. No one could have saved the movie at that point. 1 he movie spends so much time trying to set up the story that all of the stories barely have enough time to be wrapped up at the end. Too much was crammed into the climax, but by that point, it didn't really matter. Unless you need an lee Cube fix, and "Friday" just won't do it anymore, you may want to avoid this stinker. By Chris Cousino Daily Arts Writer On what concert dates will Beck open for Dave Matthews Band? Will Metallica ever record with Madonna? Why does Johnny Quest think Less Than Jake are sellouts? How many ribs does Marilyn Manson really have? These intriguing questions and many more can be answered on the music extravaganza Web magazine known as SonicNet. A combination of music bios, pictures, sound bites, chat rooms and much more grace the links of this Web page. With a barrage of music information, sound and excitement, SonicNet has some of the most jamming music coverage on the Internet. With brief news articles updated daily, SonicNet provides crisp fea- tures and funky album reviews, covering a wide array of new popu- lar and independent artists. It has great information for both the avid fan searching for the date concert tickets go on sale or a listener who just likes a song heard on the radio. Along with the articles and reviews, it provides solid, in-your-face inter- views of music stars and perform- ers. Along with its extensive news section, SonicNet's Music Guide has a database of thousands of bands and artists. The Guide con- tains bios, album reviews, discogra- phies and audio clips from the albums. Searching the Guide is sim- ple, browsing by topics such as artists, concerts, labels and genres. Just be ready to wait a little while because it takes some time to jump to other sections. The user-friendly SonicNet links to many other sections on the Web directly from the Music Guide's front page. The Guide is very help- ful in attaining more information that it doesn't have, linking to a throng of quirky newsgroups, great fan sites and way cool online stores. A store known as the Music Boulevard can be found in SonicNet as well. The Boulevard has a quick, easy search through its tremendous catalogs of moderately priced albums and merchandise. Whether looking for that hard-to- find Radiohead concert video or that always wanted Guns 'N Roses T-shirt, the Boulevard is bound to have it. After browsing through Boulevard's quaint online store, drop into the Station for a dose of music culture and lore. In the Station, a pulsating rain of live music, sounds and videos floods the computer screen. Also located here are numerous chat rooms set up to converse with other idiosyncratic music lovers. Along with the News and the Music Station isa SonicNet third major section of SonicNet that brings a jolt- http://www.sonic- ing multime- net.com dia interactive thrust to the computer. Attributes for enhancing the Internet with such an entertaining web page go to Michael Goldberg, editor in chief of both SonicNet Music News and Addicted To Noise. His precise reporting and comprehensive information make for a beneficial search to learn more about those favorite bands. The pop- ularity of SonicNet has spawned three other versions in Switzerland, Australia and Japan, which all can be accessed from the main one. These others are very intriguing, but none compare to the original SonicNet. Whether it is interviews with Pete Townsend, live chats with the Cherry Poppin Daddies or those must-have Debbie Gibson posters, SonicNet puts on a great show and rocks the World Wide Web. from two customers and joins them as strippers. The cast is rounded out with some of Cube's costars from "Friday." Bernie Mac is his usual funny self as the sleazy and ill-spoken Dollar Bill. He shares with Don King the ability to make up words like "perpitude" and to create new meanings for old i ,. pw Ni' H I L LA H LADY OF THE I, R Y Interested in becoming a peer educator? Want to build your own job search skills? Apply for the position of ... CP&P PEER ADVISOR " Develop extensive knowledge of CP&P resources & services * Advise clients on career related questions " Offer feedback on job search tools such as resumes & cover letters " Further develop communication and customer c2onstaccen 3200 Student Activities idg Career Plannin Plac ent www.cpp.umich.edu FIRST A M .... UNITED STATES s CLI T 0 N 11 Al M ®i~ii IIll 94 SPEECH TO CELEBRATE YoHA Tuesday, April 28, 1998 Hill Auditorium 2:00 PM FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC Tickets Required Distribution from the Michigan Union Ticket Office Hours: 9 AM - 5 PM M-F " 9 AM - Noon Saturday Students, faculty, and staff must request tickets in person at the Union box office. Phone orders will be taken beginning April 25. (763-TKTS) 1 REUET Author Seamus Deane %- t Ss. . : * s . ;e f. ,, . . '" ® Seniors only starting April 22 All students starting April 23 UM ID required - 1 Ticket per person UM FACULTY/STAFF Starting Friday, April 24 UM ID required - 1 Ticket per person U - s i UMI eurd.1Iiktprpro I n.. c.. .... X s..a.,.. ,