4A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, November 21, 2002
OP/ED
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EDITED AND MANAGED BY
STUDENTS AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
SINCE 1890
JON SCHWARTZ
Editor in Chief
JOHANNA HANINK
Editorial Page Editor
Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's
editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not
necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily.
NOTABLE
QUOTABLE'
((More American
young people can tell
you where an island
that the Survivor TV
series came from is
located than can
identify Afghanistan
or Iraq."
- John Fahey, president of the
National Geographic Society, on a
new survey in which only 13 percent of
18-24 year olds could find Iraq on a map,
as reported yesterday by The Associated Press
JENNIFER GREENE JENN'S CORNER
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Pitch-perfect 'Sopranos' now tone deaf
LUKE SMITH THERE IS NO I IN COLUMN
BO's mecha- parison to cinema, because during the first friend hooked up with a politician and now
popular "Sopra- two seasons, each episode was a tightly daddy Soprano is crying over a dead horse.
nos" is just wrought 45-55 minute movie. Furio does not ever need to be seen crying.
dumb enough that most However, it wasn't all good: The show's Furio kills people. It is impossible to believe he
everyone enjoys it. 10th episode, "A hit is a hit," was a travesty, could actually be tricked into thinking Carmella
Unfortunately for Tony with the introduction of a rapper, Massive is remotely attractive. Along the same lines of
and the fam (who you Genius and Adriana's perked interest in the imagination, it is yet another wonderful coinci-
know does it better!), the music interest proved to be little more than a dence that of all of the men in the N.J.-area, Iri-
last two seasons of the speed bump in the show's overarching plotline. ana happens to fall into Zellman's lap.
show have been just Fast forward to the third season, which Christopher managed to kill the dog last
plain dumb. At its inception, David Chase put started off brilliantly, picking up perfectly week he was so cooked on smack and with
together one of the best debut seasons this where the second left off. The FBI bugging him set to inherit the throne, things aren't
side of "Twin Peaks." But David Lynch's Tony's house to the soft bounce of The looking good for Tony et al. But who cares?
vehicle was ultimately too smart, too well Police's "Every Breath You Take" merged No one should, because of the metered
directed and too intelligent for network tele- with the "Peter Gunn Theme" made this mediocrity of this season.
vision and was canned prematurely. episode one of the show's best. Even the once-tight directing is slipshod.
"The Sopranos" never had to worry about The third season was a season of terrible The lighting changed horribly during last
being intelligent. It is effectively the WWE of coincidence and even-worse plotlines. The week's episode where Tony boffed the one-
television drama, with its fair share of vio- once masterfully interwoven multi-tiered legged woman. Need I mention the Colum-
lence, sex and bada boobies - which is not to plotlines that littered the first two seasons bus Day episode? These subplots make the
say I don't like violence, sex or bada boobies, were replaced with trite, overblown story- James-Evelyn subplot of "Twin Peaks" sec-
I'm only saying it has plenty of all three - lines out of both balance and touch. It is real ond season look absolutely fabulous.
not exactly highbrow entertainment. Sure, cute how Meadow falls in love with Jackie Die-hard "Sopranos" fans are kidding them-
there is the dichotomous interplay of the tan- Jr.: "That will be convenient when we kill selves if they tolerate the last two seasons of the
dem families in troubled father/mob boss him later in the season," thought the brains show. Calling acrid waste "the best show on
Tony Soprano's life, but after two seasons, the behind this horrid plot point. TV" shows what a nuclear dump TV actually is.
plotlines ran dry and the fanboys and girls and Compounding the craptacular Jackie Jr. The multiple storylines have become con-
women and men refuse to realize their (and plotline, was the Dr. Melfi rape. Again, the voluted and congruent with that, the direction
America's) favorite non-network-television show's writers at the water machine, undoubt- and writing has sank with Raphine's corpse.
show is slipping down the proverbial toilet. edly talking with their hands, "Through sexual Yet, we'll all tune in every week no matter
During its first and second season, the violence, we'll be able to have Dr. Melfi over- how atrocious the show becomes. The main
show's writing was razor sharp. The acrid come her attraction to the power of the mafia. reason "Sopranos" is so terrible now is
slow burn of Big Pussy's betrayal had plenty It will be brilliant and muy dramatic." because how good it can be. We're all watch-
of time to bubble and percolate (almost two This season is a travesty. More of the ing "The Sopranos" second consecutive train-
seasons of build-up) until it boiled over in the same shoddy planning has driven viewers wrecked season and we're all rubbernecking
season two finale. The plotlines of the devel- into plotlines like Carmella and Furio getting in HBO's general vicinity.
oping "Soprano" families were interesting and misty for one another, Adrianna is being
involving - not to mention well-directed. courted by the feds, Christopher's drug prob- Luke Smith can be reached
The show deserved the consistent com- lem is threatening the family, Tony's ex-girl- at lukems@umich.edu.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
1
BCS is not broken, Horn
tries to make controversy
where there is none
TO THE DAILY:
David Horn clearly misunderstands the
college football situation in his article Buck-
eyes blamed for BCS Breakdown, (11/20/02).
The article implies that there would be a con-
troversy over whom should be in the national
title game should Miami and Ohio State win
out. This is not true. In fact, this would be
the first situation in the BCS's history where
there would be no controversy.
Everyone would agree that Ohio State and
Miami should play in the Fiesta Bowl. While
there are serious doubts about Ohio State's
ability to compete with Miami, no one has
suggested that a team with a loss go in Ohio
State's stead. Horn seems to be trying to cre-
ate a controversy were there is none.
DANIEL BAXTER
LSA senior
Plane ad paid for out of
own pocket, Daily wrong
to imply otherwise
TO THE DAILY:
The Michigan Daily is one of the most
widely-read student newspapers in the
world. I read this paper every day and I feel
compelled to correct the prejudicial and
stereotypical information in yesterday's
editorial Just plane ridiculous.
Your editorial staff raises some key
issues about campaign finance reform. Stu-
dents have a right to know from what
source their representatives get their money
and how much they have spent on their
election campaigns. I have spent a total of
around $350 on this election. That money
came from my job at Morgan Stanley last
school year and during the summer.
It was highly dishonorable and unethical
of you to print this article yesterday - the
first day of elections. The only reason I can
imagine that you waited so long to publish
this article, is that you had a personal desire
to help the other candidates and parties win.
My father is not a "wealthy sugar
daddy." He has been unemployed since
the Sept. 11 attacks forced his company to
less well, as your column suggests, it is
money that I no longer have for a car, new
clothes or other common conveniences. I
decided to sacrifice my quality of life to
help put myself in a position where I can
affect changes at this campus. Your staff
has made a valiant attempt at nullifying two
weeks worth of my life. Two weeks of
eight-hour campaign days. I hope students
saw through the bold assertions of yester-
day's editorial. I am not, in fact, a rich man.
MICHAEL MASCETTI
LSA freshman
'Insightful' review gives
'amazing' look into Dave
Matthews Band (sarcasm)
TO THE DAILY:
I wanted to thank the Daily for Joel
Hoard's particularly insightful review of
the Dave Matthews Band latest release. In
the space of about one-eighth of a page,
Hoard managed to use the word "shit"
three times (how many definitions does
that have, anyway?) and managed to give
me such amazing insight as the songs aver-
age 17 minutes each (thank God Miles
Davis' "Bitches Brew" has not been put to
Hoard's short-attention-span test, for I fear
it would have been "shit" also).
Of course, if Hoard's linguistic imagi-
nation is any indication of his ability to
appreciate artistic breadth, (and I'm
assuming the former is better given his
position as a "journalist"), I cannot imag-
ine that bodes well for much beyond three-
chord rock.
JOHN BEMESDERFER
Engineering senior
Hoard's DMB review is
waste of space; proves lack
of knowledge in genre
TO THE DAILY:
I am upset that The Michigan Daily
allowed Joel Hoard to write a review of the
new Dave Matthews Band CD "Live at Fol-
som Field." When I read a review, I expect
some knowledge of the genre of music and
then critiques, both positive and negative
about the CD itself. Hoard's article does
Issues, not funny slogans
will make elections more
valuable to students
TO THE DAILY:
It was inevitable. The event had been a long
time coming. Someone finally created a curi-
ous concoction of football Saturday and stu-
dent government campaigning -
commissioning a plane to hover overhead with
a campaign banner trailing behind. Certainly,
nearly everyone who has ever campaigned for
student government in a university where the
canon of football Saturday reigns supreme has
dreamt of this day; but until now the costs have
been prohibitive. I applaud the Daily editorial
board in their promotion of comprehensive
campaign finance reform. We need it.
However, this demonstration reflects a
greater underlying problem in student gov-
ernment - where are the issues!?! Sure,
your name and picture might be cute and I
might recognize your last name - but why
should I vote for you? What will you bring
to the government and the University? What
do you stand for and in opposition to? How
will my academic experience be improved
by your presence on government?
Candidates typically dismiss these ques-
tions by invoking the faulty logic that students
just don't care. Very, very false. First, we are at
a University lauded for civic engagement. If
events in the Middle East have the propensity
to polarize the campus, issues 'back home' do
too - that is, if we know what those issues are.
Second, history has asserted that our demo-
graphic block (i.e., educated and relatively
wealthy), will be the most politically active in
future years. Therefore, it is not widespread
apathy driving low government turnouts, it is a
lacking sense of ownership and potential bene-
fit. Third, as a 40,000 collective, our student
status is all that unites us; and being a students
constitutes the vast majority of our time,
thoughts and energy. If you can convince me
that your actions might put me in the driver's
seat of my education, then I'm all ears.
I am certainly not extolling or con-
demning any particular candidate or party.
Just like everyone else, I have misrepre-
sented myself publicly. It was a poor
choice, not a comment on character. And
the candidates do not bear the entire burden
- we will never see an issue oriented cam-
paign until voters refuse to elect faces
they've seen and names they know. So,
_
.. . .
~iI