Iw w w -~ w - wr w W V w w 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 U U Weight Training, Step Aerobics, Kickboxing, Swimming, Lifeguarding, Hip Hop, Yoga, Taekwondo, Tennis, Ballroom Dance and more! Most classes offered at the CCRB. www.umich.edu/~umove or 764-1342 FREE DROP-IN CLASS Bring this coupon in for a free drop-in class ($5 value). Good for Swim Conditioning, Masters Swim, Ultimate Water Workout, Dance Aerobics, Hip Hop, Cardio Blast, Step Aerobics or Butts & Guts. Limit 1 per person. This coupon does not permit entry to the CCRB. 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 C In case gjou've noted that the void in djour life is God-shaped Campus Chapel Ministries C '"* 5undatq services @ i i.,,o am n4ergr a4 Discussion on WedS@c 9 p www.campusckapel.org lctdone block nortk of (A4 Tow crs on Wa56litenaw Court Ann Arbor Branch 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 Friday: Saturday: Sunday: $2 hardcovers and trade paperbacks, $1 paperbacks all books half price all books $5 per bag PROFESSIONAL HAIRBRAIDING Free Transportation Provided to and from your appointment Call Anytime Toll Free for an Appointment at 1-877-Braids8 (1 877-272-4378) or 734-483-9118 www.locksofbraids.com I w2 WE Morris Lawrence Building Washtenaw Community College Supporting the education of women for over 100 years! http://community.mlive.com/cc/aauwaa Courtesy of New Line Cinema Wormtongue (left) and Eomer are some of the many characters added to the mix in "The Two Towers."