29 p.9 11/28/00 5:25 PM Page 1 (1,1) ARTS The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, November 29, 2000 -9 ead arrt ipkil-l me y Lisa Rait ily Arts Writer Beware the information age. eware wealth, material excess and italism. Beware genetic engineer- and other accoutrements of a Ichnologically advanced society. eware bodysuit-clad, silver-haired, ex-crazed nymphettes, who double s psychopathic assassins (who would ave guessed?!?). These are the messages inherent in Killing Time," the latest effort by opular novelist and public policy enthusiast Caleb Carr. This book couples a highly interesting and Killing relevant subject Time matter with dull, Caleb Carr formulaic writ- Grade B ing and a corny tandom HoSusse plot. The book begins with an intriguing sce- nario: It is the year 2023. Gideon Wolfe, a prominent psy- hiatrist and historian, is faced with vidence that the recently assassinat- d female president was not killed by he person who is in prison for the rime. One of the main questions of he book is introduced: How do we now what we know? What is reality, who controls it'? After realizing that the world was eceived, the doctor embarks on a ourney with several evil geniuses, in n airplane/submarine that is ren- lered invisible by a holographic pro- ection device and bulletproof thanks o a really strong electromagnetic eld. Sound cheesy'? Good, because it is. This journey involves a plan to eive the world about the founding Fers, which is possible, since the vil geniuses have developed all kinds if evil devices. Why would someone Paradime proves skills at the Pig By Dustin Seibert Daily Arts Writer In these days of the hard-assed hip- hop mentality, its refreshing to hear a rapper put on a feel-good concert with- out being so con- cerned about his image. This is what Michigan Paradime native Paradime, aka Freddie Blind Pig Beauregard, suc- Nov. 25, 2000 cessfully pulled off in a drunken haze at the Blind Pig last weekend. He performed most of his songs from his debut record Pura- graphs, an inde- pendent release that has been floating around for about a year. And believe it or not, the Caucasian sensation spits fire on the microphone without emulating his more popular contemporaries. Though he may appear like a shorter, chunker version of Ever- last, Dime's skills definitely exceed Everlast's, and Dime actually gives a seemingly routine serious nature of most hip-hop shows. Dime's eight-song set consisted of some inventive joints, like "Same '01, Same '01" in which'he does nothing but rap about routirr;,-- unique concept for a song. In "Broke," he seperates himself-from the ig Willie" image that accompanies most rappers by telling us exactly how nuch money he doesn't have. For "Gir I Like," he invites five of the cutest (od drunkest) girls on stage for a hilarious display of human nature under the influence. Paradime is unique. His connections with D-12 and Kid Rock haven't forced him to sell out to them. He gets..on stage and does his unique thing witbut being afraid of his image (evidenced by his on-stage intoxication and foolhardy behavior). On top of it all lie actually has skills, and that alone comes at-a premium these days. I did not interview him after the show due to his Guinness- induced stupor and his relentless pur- suit of fine ladies, but I can attest that he is certainly one to be watched, and if he actually gets the props he deserves then maybe there is something to say for an industry just out to show off talke thugs and pretty faces. Paradime, hip-hop's ragin' Caucasian, blew up the spot at the Pig on Saturday. better showing on the mic than many of the African-Americans who dominate the genre. Backed by the strength of a live band and DJ, Paradime and his hype man Saliva had the crowd laugh- ing between songs with off-the-bat humor: They were constantly ragging on each others' weight (Dime is big, and Saliva is exteremely skinny), and their funny, albeit dangerous imitation of Cypress Hill was highly amusing, proving to be a departure from the want to deceive the world about something so fundamentally impor- tant? In order to reveal that the entire thing was a hoax, and show the world how dangerous and malevolent the information age really is. Also, to prove that with the advent of comput- ers and excessive Internet use, we have no way of knowing what is real and what is not. The year 2023 world that Caleb Carr constructs is a frightening place. High schools and prisons are essen- tially the same thing, due to sophisti- cated security devices. Everyone carries a "DNA disc," which contains his or her full genetic code. Thete is no such thing as personal privacy, and anyone can be tracked and monitored at any time. Computers rule the entire world, as opposed to governments. The bad guy in the book is clearly the Internet, from which all that is evil is spawned. A singular reality, a collective consciousness for modern society, ceases to exist because any- one can log onto the Internet and make one's own. We soon discover that the evil geniuses in the book ( Larissa the aforementioned nymphette and her brother Malcolm, namely) are not so evil, They are sim- ply genetically engineered products of the modern age, so one wonders who is to blame for their behavior. In the tradition of Orwell, Huxley and other great futurists of our time, Carr is sending out a warning to the world, and perhaps his warning should be heeded. It is interesting to note that Carr is a military and politi- cal advisor for several well-respected publications in those fields. Is this novel food for thought or just a cheesy, easily consumed piece of futurist fluff? You decide. But if in twenty years you are shown that reali- ty can be manufactured, are then seduced onto a ship/submarine by a nymphette psychopath and subse- quently enhark on ut journey trying to warn the mases about the nature of reality, donti hC surprised. After all, you've been warned. Stretching *} boundaries, '4 expanding opportunities. making connections At Vitesse, we're achieving a standard in communications technologies which the competition can only seek to imitate. We are seeking extremely motivated professionals to join our team. Record sales, record profits, record growth and breakthrough products in the high-speed communications markets mean success. Vitesse, with its ever-faster ICs, is the dominant player supporting the high growth tele- communications and data communications revolution. We enjoy an impressive and high profile track record. 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