10 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, March 20, 1998 What if 'Titanic' doesn't win everthing? Redman rules at Ark. By Joshua Rich Daily Arts Writer While basketball fanatics clamor to pick the winners of the NCAA Division I bas- ketball tournament, movie fans often take part in a different gambling endeavor dur- ing the month of March - the annual Academy Awards "office pool." To accurately pick the winners in all of Oscar's 24 categories, not just the best director, actors and screenplays, one must accurately prognosticate winners in the evening's technical categories. This is not an easy task. After all, competitions for best sound effects editing and best original musical or comedy score tend to be less publicized and less predictable than mar- queeevents like the year's best picture. Already a virtual lock to take home awards for best picture and best director, James Cameron's "Titanic" is the odds- on favorite to win in most of the non-act- ing, non-directing and non-producing categories as well. Look for it to domi- nate all nine artistic competitions in which it is nominated. And rightfully so: one could argue that the only remotely questionable technical nod "Titanic" received was that for makeup, especially when its facial preparations are com- pared to the elaborate alien masks fea- tured in "Men in Black." Still, one must not get swept up in the "Titanic" wave and ignore some of the night's most important awards. The tech- nical categories recognize accomplish- ments that compose the backbones, hearts and souls of most films. (Indeed, if nothing else, "Titanic" is a hit because of its monumental special effects, cine- matography and art direction.) So let's be like Cameron - who imag- ined a Titanic with fabricated lovers Jack and Rose aboard - and dream a bit our- selves. Let's envision an Oscars in which "Titanic" doesn't take home a statuette in more than half of the night's events. Predicting artistic categories now gets much more difficult. The race for the cin- ematography award would become hotly- contested when the stylized film-noir images of"L.A. Confidential" duke it out with the expressive tones of "The Wings of the Dove" and the lush, jarringly rich colors and vistas of "Kundun." Editing would come down to the { fast-paced action phenomenon "Air V Force One" and the slick thriller "L.A. Confidential." Films rich in sound - be they a muscle flicks such as "Con Air" and "Air Force One" or sci-fi dramas such as "Contact" - would make some 4 much-deserved noise. And "Face/Off" and "The Fifth Element, whose become a category in which the original sets of "Gattaca" and "Men in Black" are pitted against the backdrops of "Kundun" and "L.A. Confidential;" which astutely evoke specific times and places. Some of the movies' most inventive visual effects would rise to the surface when either the thundering dinosaur herds of "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" or the thundering insect herds of "Starship Troopers" storm off with an award. Acclaimed composer Philip Glass' evocative original dramatic score for "Kundun" would go head-to-head with legendary movie music writer John Williams' "Amistad" composition and former rocker Danny Elfman's "Good Will Hunting" tunes. And obscure orig- inal songs like "Good Will Hunting"'s "Miss Misery" and "Con Air"'s "How Do I Live" would have a chance to take home a prize in the . absence of the olympian "My Heart Will Go On," from "Titanic." For best original musical or comedy score, the only technical category in which "Titanic" wasn't- and couldn't H elium inhales new, imaginative sound By Jason Birchmeier For the Daily Rainbow dragons, outer space, pros- titution and having a baby vampire embedded within your body are topics found in the imaginative songs of Helium. These few examples are only a sample of what talented songwriter Mary Timony extracts from the myste- rious depths of her complex mind when it comes to composing songs. Helium will exhibit its fairy-tale fashioned musical spectacle at the Blind Pig tonight for a rare appear- ance. Anyone turned on by highly philosophic songs enclosed in fuzzy distort- Helium ed guitars and lo-fi extraterres- Blind Pig trial keyboards cannot afford to Tonight at 9:30 miss this cere- bral stimulation. When describ- ing Helium's present tour in a recent interview, poet-pritestess Timony said, "Last time we went all around the country. This time we're doing small towns for the most part." Timony says fans of both Helium's more abrasive guitar drenched disso- I Courtesy of Matador Helium lifts off tonight at the Blind Pi. nance and its present cosmic rock 'n roll will enjoy Helium's present tour. She said that "this time we're playing older songs. It's kind of fun to revisit the old ... it's fun to play live now because we have a keyboard player" "The theme of going into outer space or away from the here and now," is her present concise objective, Timony said. "I'm definitely one of those people that floats through," Mary said. "I don't feel like I have an control over that. We get bored with sounding a certain way so we try to come up with new ideas." "I have a problem writing songs' Mary said in reference to the aesthetic nature of her art. "I feel lucky if I can be creative because it's hard for me. I pick up a guitar or keyboard and fool around." "I've got a baby vampire in me ... saw you put it in me like a seed," an "you've got a skull; baby, you've got a spine. After I'm done with you I'll spit them out like rinds" are examples of Timony's unusual creativity. Aside from those dark lyrics, Helium has become a bit more cheery with Timony's boyfriend, Ash Bowie of the band Polvo, joining the band as bass player and songwriter. On Helium's most recent album "The Magic City,' there are more con forting mythical lyrics such as "we, will ride on a moth's wing up to where there is no sound," and "I was born underground. I have two horns and I'm gonna make love to the unicorn." Psychedelic storybook lyrics like "when the sun comes up under the ground, love is shining all around. Down by the river the dragons play, digging for the light of day," surround- ed by a symmetric song structure o dynamic guitar articulation that con- trasts continuities of comfort and chaos can also be found. Timony remained reluctant to unveil much of the mystery surrounding Helium, encouraging students to come to the show and form their own con- clusions. She chooses to let her art do the majority of the talking. Don't miss this rare opportunity to see musical performance art on it most cosmic plane tonight at the Blind Pig. Don't wait until the last minute to find that super summer job. Fox Hills is looking for enthusiastic individuals to fill all positions. Pro Shop, bag attendants, grounds crew, waitstaff, set-up, cooks, cleaning. All shifts. Free golf. (734) 453-7272 Fox Hills 8768 N. Territorial Plymouth, MI 48170 so m r. m m U U -I