6C - New Student Edition - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 8, 1999 Cruel' start to career ust fine with alum By Chris Cousino Daily TV/New %Jdia Editor Selma Blair wants to set the record straight. Rumor has it that she "will cook anything made with cheese" but Blair, a 1995 University graduate, admits "that is just a fallacy." "It makes me sound like I'm inventing new ways to put fromage in my food," she said, "I mean, I really hate cheese, to tell you the truth. I get bloated and I get a lot of phlegm and I don't eat cheese." This charismatic, 26-year-old actress took a moment in February to rest between her recent projects. With the anticipation of the premiere of her first studio film, "Cruel Intentions," a dark, teenage retelling of "Dangerous'Liaisons" that also stars Ryan Phillipe, Reese Witherspoon and WB network alum Sarah Michelle Cellar, she .comes off the release of her WB teen comedy, "Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane." But Blair doesn't notice a real difference in everyday life. "Everyone's like, 'So, is it so strange, you're like famous?' I'm like, in my dreams. Nobody knows who I am. My life hasn't changed at all and it's been really nice" Ahh, but such things last only for so long. Blair no doubt was on the mind of many males under 25 who saiv "Cruel Intentions," a tale about desires and the sexual manipulation of two naive innocent women, Cecile Caldwell (Blair) and Annete Hargrove (Witherspoon), by the evil Kathryn (Gellar) and Sebastian (Phillipe). To put it bluntly, who is the better kisser in the film - Ryan Phillipe or Sarah Michelle Gellar? That's right, none other than the vampire slayer herself ties tongues with-,the innocent Blair. "Umm, this kiss is gonna be my claim to fame," said Blair before shrieking, "It was damn good." While the dream of most adolescent, hell, many American males, Blair knows from first hand experi- ence.. "Sarah is a mighty fine kisser and I gotta say, I wish more boys kiss like Sarah," she claimed, "But Ryan is, you know, I can't say anything bad about him either cause he's just too cute." Blair said of her three co-stars, "They're all really sexy characters and I'm not," though most would beg to differ. "They're the real sexy, beautiful characters and I'm basically the fool." In "Cruel Intentions" Blair brings a different approach to the Cecile character than Uma Thurman's perfor- mance in "DangerousLiaisons." "I did not want to play it as the victim the way Uma Thurman did it so beautifully, this really innocent victim that kind of flowers in spite of herself," Blair said. "I really wanted to play her really as something that made you laugh." This subtle string of comedy may be the only glimmer of ight in the intensely dark "Cruel Intentions," which Blair feels "is really evil." At the helm of this insidious film is first time director Roger Kumble, whom Blair "automatically had a won- derful rapport with." "Roger Kumble was the greatest director to start out with," gushed Blair, "and he really decided Cecil needed to be something that people could laugh at. "I really got to create this character." STONE COuLD -jr Complaits i~I- '>Q' N, May p t Rockmi hard place By Alana Steingold For the Daily On the corner of Hill Street and Washtenaw Avenue sits the Rock, one of Ann Arbor's most famous - and most frequently used landmarks. Almost every day, it is covered and re-covered with a fresh coat of paint, displaying Greek let- ters, graffiti, social commentary and other various messages. Though the Rock holds a long tradition for University students, alumni and other residents and visitors of Ann Arbor, many feel enough is enough. Officials at city hall, as well as area res- idents, are frustrated with the destruction of the Rock, its surrounding grounds and private property. The Rock, like many others, was origi- nally gray. Geologists estimate it to be between 20,000 to 30,000 years old. It was moved by a glacier from the Georgian Bay, just north of Toronto, to the Pontiac Trail, not far from Ann Arbor. The grooves that can be seen on the under part of the rock are a result of its glacial travels. In 1932, Eli Gallup, the superintendent of parks for Ann Arbor discovered the rock in a landfill. Along with the financial support of the Daughters of the American Revolution, he decided to transport the 25-ton limestone boulder to its present location, not only to preserve geological history, but to honor the bicentennial birthday of George Washington. Local high school students at the time scrapped together pieces of copper and cast a plaque that was to be affixed to the front of the rock. The plaque, which was last seen in 1982, but is still somewhere underneath the eight inches of paint, reads "To George Washington - This memori- al is erected in celebration of the 200th anniversary of his birth, 1932." It is shaped like a shield with a sword running through it, and is approximately three feet long. Beneath the rock, Gallup buried a lead box containing its history. It was not until the 1950s that the Rock was painted for the very first time by stu- dents from Michigan State University, who painted a green "S" on it before the Michigan/Michigan State football game. But in recent years, the tradition has turned ugly. p LUUIStl(OUWN/Ud1 Even though all it does is just sit there, the Rock, located at the corner of Hill Street and Washtenaw Avenue is at the center of a contro- versy. Local residents complain about the noise and mess generated by the students who come to paint It several times a week. In 1993, the Rock became a heated issue in the Ann rbor community and was given nationa attention in newspa- pers. Private homeowners had many prob- lems with the conduct of those who paint- ed the rock, as well as gripes with the many sororities and fraternities that are interspersed throughout the neighbor- hood, Many worried that the paints contained harmful toxic chemicals, including lead, titanium. cadmium and mercury. although tests found no harmful iniredients. Many suggestions on ways to solve the problem were proposed, including moving the Rock to a landfill -which would cost an estimated S4.300 - or breaking it up in pieces and selling them as souvenirs. On Aug. 17, 1993, the city's parks department can~e up with a solution to buy the small piece of land from private owners and name it George Washington park. A sign declaring the park's name was erected, and a set of rules on the back. These rules included: No drinking, loud noise, littering, painting beyond the Rock, dumping paint in sewers, vandalism to private property or trespassing. Additionally, the park would be closed from midnight until six a.m. Violations of these rules would result in a $520 fine, or the removal of the Rock. According to Gerry Clark, the city's park planner, definite improvements were made in 1994 and 1995, as the city worked in cooperation with the Interfraternitv Council and Panhellenic Association and dedicated more time and manpower to keeping the park and the bordering sidewalk clean. But the Rock continues to be painted and the neighbors continue to complain. Bobbi Heilveil, the house director of Delta Phi Epsilon, the sorority closest to the Rock and whose front pillars have also been painted and vandalized, feels that the Rock provides, "an innocent form of expression," and she would rather see stu- dents paint the rock as opposed to engag- ing in other activities. She also pointed out that while many of the houses were originally privately owned, the University has purchased much of the property on Washtenaw a other streets in close proximity. But neighborhood residents have in fact cho- sen to live there, in the "middle" of cam- pus. It is quite possible that many students often forget that non-students live in Ann Arbor, especially near campus. As a result, the Rock still could be removed, not so much because of the painting but because of the noise and other negative effects. But for now it will remain in its ho on Hill and Washtenaw. As some letters on file in the paik department read: The Rock is a tradition, a landmark, and a part of Ann Arbor. And a 1929 alum wrote that she feels stability in the Rock. Clark also worries about what would show up instead, if the rock were to be removed. As Heilveil said, "We have our rock.....what do other schools have?" Studios have students eye theaters By Will Weissert Daily Arts Writer Thousands of miles away, studio executives in Los Angeles waited anx- iously for LSA Senior Steve Thomson's call. "I had these guys from Disney pag- ing me over and over," Thomson said. "When I finally got a chance to call back they said 'tell me exactly what you saw."' Thomson is part of what studios term the College Student Network, 20- something moviegoers hired across the nation by nearly all major studios to watch dozens of movies and dozens more previews almost every week. The best part: It's all free. Thomson, who works for the Walt Disney Company and its smaller dis- tributing satellites, including Buena Vista, and thousands of moviegoers like him head to local theaters mostly just to catch the previews before all the movies or to view audience-response to a new Disney movie. "We rate audience reaction to each preview they see on a scale of 1-5 - or if it's opening night we see how many people are there and what they try to judge what they think of the movie," he said. "Then we input all that onto a stu- dio Website online so they know almost immediately what audiences think of a particular preview or of a new release" The best preview in recent memory is the trailers for the long-awaited lat- est Star Wars epic - "Episode One: Phantom Menace," Thomson said. "You have people cheering and clap- ping whenever they see those," he said. "That's definitely a trailer that would get a top rating." Besides grading how well previews are received by local audiences, I.4 Thomson also checks to make sure that area theaters aren't cutting any corners Disney executives would not approve of. He looks especially for such no-nos as showing outside ads and commer- cials before Disney previews or using one copy of a studio-issued movie print to "interlock" or show the single movie print to two audiences at the same time. The search for would-be violators sent Thomson to a theater outside of Southeastern Detroit over Thanksgiving break. "They call it inter-locking films - using the same print to show the same movie to two audiences," Thomson said. "Whenever you have a theater that has purchased only one' copy of a movie and where they are showing the same movie at the same time or just a few minutes apart from one another it can be a problem. That's why they sent me out there." When checking up on theaters that may be bending the rules, Thomson said he reports directly to officials at Buena Vista by phone. Buena Vista company executives said they were familiar with Thomson's work for them but could not comment officially on the work of any of their College Student Network employees. But while Thomson admits such espionage missions can be exciting, most of the time he just sticks to watching all the previews and headi to opening-night premiers. "That is the only time thefyve-es sent me to check out a problenmw like that;" he said. "The theaters in A Arbor have no problems at all'., A media representative from -it Artists at Briarwood says the thea used to having people like Thoms around. "They've been doing things like t as long as I can remember and the p( ple they send have always been v( professional;' the representative;.sa "It's all very routine. They askforti( et counts and check seating capatit in the theaters - this is somethi- t comes with the territory of r theater." Though Thomson says the toigh part about his job is that he is requil to sit through the previews of evl movie showing at one complex C1 huge movie mini-malls. "Places like Showcase have -X t aters and I have to go to everyone, said. "It's OK if the previews are g but if they aren't its like listeng to awful song over and over. Thomson also finds time I* trailers at each theater to catch at l some of the other movies playing: "I've seen bits and pieces of-alm everything out there right' no Thomson said. "But where -ese you get paid to watch free movies?, WATCH FOR OUR NEW LOCATION The School of Music invites you to enjoy... Performances every week The student ensembles and renowned faculty of the School of Music offer fine concerts throughout the year, many free. Orchestras *Bands * Choirs *Theatre *Musical Theatre Opera *Dance * Faculty and Guest Recitals - Jazz, Percussion, Early Music, We h -f HOURS: M-F 7 ISTUDENTS: WE RECYCLE FOR THE FUTURE* PRESERVE THE PLANET'S RESOURCES BY RECYCLING TOUR POJECTS, A :30 am to 4 pm; Sat. 7:30am tolI1Iam I