The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, November 16, 1999 -- 11 'Fi hter' Iits witli lite nex Radio host Rehm writes autobiography without 'Voice' L v un eS punche Virtua Fighter 3tb Dreamcast #'Virtua Fighter 3" came out in the arades several years ago, and it shows on the Dreamcast. Sega avoided releasing the game on the Saturn bicause it was not felt to be a strong enough hardware platform and it was in its death throes. The strategy has backfired on them, however, because "Virtua Fighter 3tb" is not a strong enough piece of software to compete the Dreamcast. ith figures that look a step and a half behind newer fighting games and more or less the same fighting system to be found in "Virtua Fighter 1 and 2", "Virtua Fighter 3tb" stagnates, mistaking past glory for present com- petitiveness. Characters are more complicatedly rendered than in past entries in the series, but this seems to twist them into ugliness. It's like having a new skin that's wrinkled and scarred. In exchange there are less planes, making old favorites like Pai appear to have a more realistic structure, and a realistic home- liness. To complete the experience, the learning curve imposed by the disc is not user friendly to the non-veteran. The fighting system is still counter intuitive and fighter movements seem delayed compared to its Dreamcast peers. The game does succeed in creating some interesting environmental quirks. You can fight on a slanted roof or on a staircase, and gain an advanta- geous position over an opponent. Other games have succeeded more in that regard, but this game has the virtue of being a traditional looking 3D fighter. And it is certainly an evo- lution of the "Virtua Fighter" fran- chise, and some level effects like undulating levels of water around a tiny island you're fighting on come off incredibly well. In a lot of ways, this is not as good a game as "Virtua Fighter 2." "3tb" is not cutting edge in the visual or play departments, and altogether falls short. It is fun, just not as fun as the series indicates it should be. - Ted Watts Finding My Voice Diane Rehm Knopf ** There are usually a couple things to keep in mind when writing a celebrity autobiography: first off, make sure that you're a celebrity. Second, hire some- body to write it for you. Diane Rehm breaks both rules with mixed results in her autobiography, "Finding My Voice." Right now most of you reading are probably wondering just who Diane Rehm is. If you're not from Washington D.C. and don't listen to public radio with great frequency, I can assure you that you're not alone. Diane Rehm is the host of her self-titled radio program on NPR which deals with a topics rang- ing from politics and health to music and art. It has aired since 1979 and has been syndicated nationally since 1995 (okay, so she's sort of a celebrity). Knowing that she is not a high pro- file celebrity and that she took it upon herself to write 240 pages of her life story by herself, I was surprised that it wasn't as terrible as it probably should have been. The first half of the book deals with issues in Diane's childhood, from her abusive mother and Christian Arab upbringing to her short-lived first mar- riage and into her second marriage. This section suffers from noticeably disorganized writing; the paragraphs jump from topic to topic very quickly with barely anything connecting them to one another. It reads like an extended application to a country club with only a few fits of heartfelt honesty mixed in. When she gets'around to recounting her voyage to radio stardom, her writ- ing improves, and she becomes a more likeable person. She talks about work- ing through constant feelings of low self-esteem and her willingness to push herself forward (often with the encouragement of her husband) despite them. Throughout the '70s, Diane started as a part time radio host for WAMU- FM public radio in D.C. After a few misadventures in television, she returned to WAMU in 1979 to host the same show that she helped out on ear- lier (which was called "Kaleidoscope" until it was renamed after her in 1984). Throughout her 20 year career, some of the people she has interviewed include Hilary Rodham Clinton, Newt Gingrich, Tom Clancy and Salman Rushdie, along with a whole host of medical experts in just about every field imaginable. Being a mother of two and a sufferer of a rare voice ail- ment known as Spasmodic Dysphonia, health issues have always been an inte- gral part of the show. By the time she gets around to describing her marginally successful struggles with Spasmodic Dysphonia, she loses the reader almost complete- ly in an inundation of medical terms. It is understandable that she would trip herself up in this fashion; most people who suffer from specific ill- nesses tend to become paranoid and compulsively over-explain their plight simply to set their mind at ease. However, it doesn't help the reader out any. The lack of real adventure on the radio is also tough to deal with. She doesn't have any fascinating stories to share. I guess that's what we have Howard Stern for. A few misadven- tures, embarrassing mistakes or bright and shining moments shouldn't be too much to ask for. Throughout her career in radio, Diane Rehm remains grateful to her fans and has maintained a surprising amount of integrity at the same time. "Finding My Voice" is at best a decent autobiography, but is only going to be interesting to her more avid fans. - Nick Broughton jovovich brings humanity to Joan' U, LosAngeles Times There is a striking photograph of Milla Jovovich taken by Italian fash- ion photographer Paolo Roversi that the actress and cover girl brought home one day to show her husband Wench film director Luc Besson. SIt was, she recalls, the portrait of this creature, neither woman nor $oan,with Medusa-like curls snaking apart and stiff, powdered hair going this way and that, and crazy, sepia- rohed, "Blade Runner"-type makeup filled with shadows and strange expression. "YWouldn't it be amazing if some- body represented Joan of Arc like Oat?" the tall, cat-eyed Jovovich sked her bearded mate. Soon, they were tossing out vari- ous ideas and images about France's fanious teen-age warrior-saint, dis- cussions that would lead to Besson's new film, "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc," which stars Jovovich in the title role. The $60 million-plus movie from Columbia Pictures and French film *mpany Gaumont co-stars Dustin offman as Joan's conscience, John Malkovich as King Charles VII and Faye Dunaway as Yolande d'Aragon, Charles' shrewd mother-in-law. The union of Besson and Jovovich would not outlast the film's post-pro- duction process. In April, the 23- year-old actress and the 40-year-old director announced they had separat- ed. But their collaboration has led to a Saring and controversial take on one of history's most puzzling heroines. Filled with bizarre, dreamlike sequences, gory battles and palace intrigue, "The Messenger" is an unorthodox look at Joan as a human being wrestling with doubts. Filmmakers have long had a fasci- nation with Joan of Arc, for her story did she have to learn how to mount and dismount horses wearing 50 pounds of armor, but she also had to give off a constant flow of intensity, whether yelling orders to her troops or whispering secrets in the king's ear. Besson admits that he has taken lib- erties with the historical record but defends his script thusly: "I'm not a historian looking for truth. I'm just an artist - I watch this part of the puzzle with this line beginning (here). I see the line go here, and I figure the line goes here, and I try to have a picture of the whole puzzle which makes sense." While it will be interesting to see whether "The Messenger" finally gives Besson the critical acclaim that generally has eluded him, the film could also go a long way toward determining whether Hollywood views Jovovich as a serious actress. Does Morality Need God? A public lecture by Dr. John Hare Philosophy professor at Calvin College And author of The Moral Gap Date: Thursday, November 18th, 1999 Time: 7:30 pm Place: Rm. 116, Hutchins Hall, School of Law NE corner of Monroe and State Streets For more info, see www.campuschapel.or Sponsored by Campus Chapel Ministries, Graduate Christian Fellowship, Christian Legal Society, and Ad Hoc (Christians at SSW) Courtesy of Columbia Pictures Milla Jovovich plays Leonardo DiCaprIo In "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc." is compelling on almost any level. Convinced she was acting under divine guidance, this peasant farmer's daughter led the French army to a monumental victory over the English at Orleans in the 15th century, only to be betrayed by her king, captured by her enemies, declared a witch and burned alive at the stake at age 19. Pronounced innocent 25 years later, she was canonized a saint by the Roman Catholic Church only in this century. The Ukrainian-born, California- raised Jovovich was a L'Oreal model with the million-dollar cheekbones and a curious acting resume that includes "Return to the Blue Lagoon," "Chaplin," "Dazed and Confused" and "He Got Game." Only when she appeared as the orange-haired, bioengineered Leeloo in Besson's "The Fifth Element" did Hollywood really begin to take notice of her acting skills. With the exception of Carl Theodor Dreyer's 1928 masterpiece, "The Passion of Joan of Arc," Besson said he was dissatisfied with how filmmakers have depicted Joan, including the recent CBS miniseries "Joan of Arc" starring Leelee Sobieski. Besson believes that even though Joan did great things, she must have had some doubts because of the death and destruction left in her wake. "They always start with her as a saint," Besson complained. "For me, she became a saint at the end (of her life) because she has to admit, 'I was wrong.' By accepting it, that is the only way she can purify herself." Jovovich echoed Besson in a sepa- rate interview, where she pointed out that "The Messenger" attempts to place Joan in a human context. "She had her good points and her bad points," the actress explained. "I think nobody in the past has dwelt on the strange side of the fable and the myth because she is a saint, but she is responsible for death. So, what about that? What about that dark pocket that nobody has really reached into?" The script's demands on Jovovich were particularly daunting. Not only I You've got plans to engineer the2lSt Century You're looking for a company with the ene awer andreors 2.. " rri to launch your career. AL Em I