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12B - The Michigan Daily - Weekend Magazine - Thursday, September 12, 2002
Nightmare roommates
spoil fun of college life
The Michigan Daily - Weekend Magazine - Thu
Oscar hopefuls, sequels lead fallmovies-
B =Todd Weiser
Dailv ______Film_____Editor______f__.f,>___ '
By Jeff Dickerson
Daily Arts Editor
They are by your side all the time whether
you want them to be or not. They eat your food,
they use your stuff and they take up your space.
They can be your best friend or your worst
enemy. They are roommates.
Some students choose to room with friends
from high school or back home, but most
University students begin their college careers
with complete strangers sharing a tiny room
with them.
Once in a rare while, roommates get along
and become good friends (or even more mirac-
ulous, stay friends), but most living arrange-
ments turn out to be nightmares.
"I had a roommate who smelled really bad.,"
said Lincoln Gillett, an LS&A senior, "So I
ended up putting a box fan in the window dur-
ing the winter even though it was freezing, just
to get his stench out." His bad experience seems
quite tame compared to the horror stories of
other college students.
LS&A junior Al Bryant was one of the privi-
leged few who had a good roommate experi-
ence, but his neighbors down the hall were not
so lucky. "I was one of those lucky guys who in
a one in a thousand chance ended up having a
perfect roommate. But a few doors down from
me, two roommates had a really harsh relation-
ship." He added, "They had signs on their front
door with a picture that would describe how
much they hated each other that day. It would
range from Bill Clinton to Osama bin Laden."
The torrid relationship was more complicated
than just a few deragotory signs for their hall to
see.
Bryant said, "One day one of the guys put a
bowl of Ramen noodles in the microwave for
about a half hour so that the odor would piss off
his roommate. The microwave ended up smok-
ing and set off the fire alarm. South Quad had
to be evacuated and it was damn cold. I would
bet South Quad set the record for number of fire
alarms last year."
Is it time to draw a line down the middle of the room?
might arise with a roommate, students often opt
to live with someone they have known for a
long time. But that doesn't always work out.
Kinesiology senior Matt Brady said, "Don't
ever room with one of your friends from home
because your friendship will end. You'll end up
hating each other."
Brady's experiences with bad roommates
were not restricted to one person. "My fresh-
man year was even worse," he stated, "If your
roommate never talks, never leaves the room
and never makes any attempt at human interac-
tion, then it's time to fill out the form to switch
roommates."
In order to avoid any possible
problems that
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QUESTION OF THE WEEK
"What's the worst thing a roommate
has ever done to you?"
"He stunk up the room so bad that I had to sleep
with cologne on my hands."
- LSA sophomore Meeraj Rawat
"My roommate had sex with my brother."
- LSA freshman Justin Boelio
"She invited her smelly boyfriend over for a week
and ate all my Teddy Grahams."
- LSA sophomore Eleanor Hillcock
The leaves are falling, the temperature is dropping and
the bears are pondering hibernation. But while bears
escape into the dark confines of nearby caves to avoid the
surrounding snows, movie buffs tend to seek refuge in the
dimly lit world that is the local movie theater. While these
theaters do not always offer warmer temperatures, come
fall they do showcase the best movies of the year.
Want to be an Oscar winner? Your best bet is to be
released sometime in November or December. Don't
want to win? Pick any other month and be forgotten as
quickly as this year's summertime bomb "Pluto Nash."
But now that we have weathered those first nine months
of action films and box office wannabes, the studios see
it fit to flood all theaters with as many Oscar hopefuls as
possible. Bring on the waters!
No fall movie preview can start with any film besides
"The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" (Dec. 18).
Director Peter Jackson cleverly ended his first of three
films with an actual cliffhanger, unlike some other recent
trilogies (read: "Star Wars Episode One"), and everyone,
including the millions upon millions who have read the
books and know what happens, cannot wait to see what
non-stop action sequences Jackson has planned next for
our lovable fellowship of nine.
As with any other movie season, almost every other
Friday features another sequel or continuation of a series.
While "Lord of the Rings" is probably the most antici-
pated, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" (Nov
15) does not follow far behind. The obscenely popular
series of books debuted with a cinematic smash last
November and returns this year, much like our friends the
hobbits, almost one year to the date later. While director
Chris Columbus brings a darker edge to the first sequel,
cinemaphiles everywhere are already looking ahead to
next year's second sequel to be directed by "Y Tu Mama
Tambien" filmmaker Alphonso Cuaron.
James Bond and the cast of "Star Trek: The Next
Generation" also continue their movie franchises this fall,
in separate movies of course. Pierce Brosnan returns with
new Bond girl and teary-eyed Oscar winner Halle Berry
in "Die Another Day" (November 22nd). Patrick Stewart
and crew reassemble for what is rumored to be the last
time in "Star Trek: Nemesis" (Dec. 13), once again tak-
ing on those evil Romulans with the help of Data, Worf
and the rest of that crazy crew have come to love, kind of.
Two other comedic sequels highlight the upcoming
final months of 2002. Three years after enjoying the suc-
cess of the "Sopranos"-if-it-were-a-comedy hit "Analyze
This," Robert DeNiro and Billy Crystal re-team for
"Analyze That"(Dec. 6) to once again prove Bobby D can
be funny, too. Ice Cube is also back in the strangest of
The rapper who hates Moby but likes Elton John flexes his acting muscles in "8 Mile."
trilogies finale "Friday After Next" (Nov. 22) but once
again, note Chris Tucker is not along for the ride.
A list of some of the big time Oscar favorites also reads
as a who's who of contemporary American directors.
Martin Scorsese's much-delayed Miramax big-budget
tale of 19th century gang conflicts on the streets of New
York "Gangs of New York" finally hits theaters Christmas
day. Scorsese's return to the American film mainstream
stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz. If that's not
enough Leo for you, then "Catch Me if You Can," also
released Dec. 25, might whet your appetite. Steven
Spielberg's true story of a con artist (DiCaprio) and the
FBI agent who hunts him down (Tom Hanks) has the star
power and hype to make any movie fan excited, but
remember, so did "Minority Report."
Younger American filmmakers Steven Soderberg and
P.T. Anderson also have the Oscar buzz swooning around
them for "Solaris" (Nov. 27) and "Punch-Drunk Love"
(Oct. 11), respectively. Soderberg's version of Stanislav
Lem's 1961 space epic features George Clooney
(Soderberg must have trouble finding other actors) and
the hvne is so strong that neonle are throwing out "2001"
Kubrickian comparisons with a straight face. As for the
genius behind "Boogie Nights" and "Magnolia,"
Anderson received Best Direction honors at this year's
Cannes Film Festival for "Punch-Drunk" and the off-beat
love story, which runs at half the running time of the
frogstomp "Magnolia," provides Adam Sandler with his
first real dramatic role, not including his humorless per-
formance in "Mr. Deeds."
A film season without star power is like an episode of
"Friends" without Monica annoying the hell out of you,
but the biggest star appearing in a movie this fall has
never even headlined a movie before. Marshall Mathers
(you know, that guy who hates Moby) makes his film
debut in Curtis Hanson's "8 Mile" (Nov. 8). Shot on the
streets of Detroit and Highland Park, Hanson ("Wonder
Boys") wanted nothing but authenticity for his story of a
struggling rapper, including the controversial burning of
a condemned house (shouldn't we be thanking him?).
Based on previews and early screenings, Eminem appar-
ently more than holds his own amidst a cast featuring
Kim Basinger and Mekhi Phifer.
Other stars appearing onscreen include Jack Nicholson
in Alexander Payne's "About Schmidt" (Dec. 13);
Roberto Benigni's long awaited return in "Pinocchio"
(Dec. 25); Renee Zelwegger, Richard Gere, and
Catherine Zeta-Jones in the big screen version of the
Broadway hit "Chicago" (Dec. 25); Salma Hayek and
Antonio Banderas in the Frida Kahlo biopic "Frida" (Oct.
25); and Guy Ritchie directing his wife Madonna in a
remake of the Italian love-story "Swept Away" (Oct. 11).
A few other highlights to look for over the coming
months are George Clooney's directorial debut
"Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" (Dec. 27) about
"Gong Show" host/C.I.A. operative Chuck Barris, from a
script by Charlie Kaufman ("Being John Malkovich");
the big-screen version of the MTV hit-you-over-the-side-
of-your-head hit "Jackass: The Movie" (Oct. 25);
"Silence of the Lambs" prequel (and unnecessary
remake) "Red Dragon" (Oct. 4) with an all-star cast
including Anthony Hopkins, Edward Norton and Ralph
Fiennes; and finally for all the "American Psycho" fans
out there, the Roger Avary ("Pulp Fiction" writer) helmed
"The Rules of Attraction" (Oct. 11) featuring James Van
Der Beek as the boy next door, dealing coke and insane-
ly dodging heterosexual and homosexual advances at a
liberal arts college. Okay, so it's not quite Capeside.
These are the options coming to a theater near you (or
in Ypsi) in the foreseeable future; buckle your seatbelts
and expect a much less bumpy ride than the now gone
summer fare of "XXX" and "Men in Black II."
Support the best and forget the rest.
Courtesy of Universal Pictures
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AAUW
50th Annual Used Book Sale
September 13-15, 2002
Friday: 10 am- 8 pm
Preview with $5 admission, Sam-10am
Saturday: 10 am- 8 pm
Sunday: 10 am- 3pm
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Courtesy of New Line Cinema
Wormtongue (left) and Eomer are some of the many characters added to the mix in "The Two Towers."