10B -The Michigan Daily - Weekend Magazine - Thursday, January 22, 2004 w ww ,w w lqw s qw The Michigan Daily - Weekend Magp ME WEEKEND ENTERTAINMENT VILE I TODD WEISER - WAmINGF R PTMAN TPS REPORTS, DONALD I WORLD OF CULT FILI DARKO AND THE M FANDOM . ............. I ............... ............ . ............ . ... . ... ... Courtesy La Face "I am your neighbor!" BiLLBOARD TOP 10 1. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, uKast -What's your favorite Andre? Mine's the bass player. He's dreamy. 2. The Very Best of Sheryl Crow, Sheryl Crow - Breaking news: Millions sue after buying blank Sheryl Crow CDs. Get it? Cause there s no Very Best of Sheryl Crow. 3. The Diary of Alicia Keys, Alicia Keys - Can't she stick to being a waitress? What if that guy comes in wanting a special with hot chocolate? 4. Shock'N Y'all, Toby Keith - For some reason, people keep feeling the desire to buy this crap. Damn you, Operation Iraqi Freedom. S. Closer, Josh Groban - Don't worry, sooner or later every soccer mom in the world will own this and he'll slip off the charts. 6. NOW That's What I Call Music, Various Artists - What the fuck! There isn't a song by 7.ehe Singles 1992-2003, No Doubt - Ah yes, still riding that "ska was cool for 10 minutes' wave. 8. Soulful, Ruben Studdard - Now showing practically every day on FOX: yet another "American Idol." 9. Fallen, Evanescence - Thank god for the "Daredevil" soundtrack, otherwise no one would like these hacks. 10. The Black Album, Jay- Z - The bitch song is the real highlight of this album. trying to define a genre may be one of the most difficult tasks in art criticism. Breaking films, books, etc., into genre distinctions usually turns into a list of a genre's standard conventions rather than a clear, succinct sentence on what a melodrama is, or what makes up a post-World War I B-movie detective noir. An even more difficult task is to try and define a genre when it isn't a genre at all. This happened last semester during one of the many film classes I've been a part ofat this fine uni- versity. A friend you know him as esteemed Daily Music editor Joel M. Hoard, I just call him J-Ho - and I were doing our normal thing, sitting in the way back of the auditorium reading the newspaper as loudly as possible, when a checklist appeared on the out-of-focus projector screen. The checklist compared two clear genre categories (I wasn't paying enough attention to remember what they were, so let's just say musi- cals and comedy) and a third category, cult movies. J-Ho and I laughed (as quietly as possible, of course). Musicals: a genre. Comedy: a genre. Cult movies: not a genre. Honestly, I shouldn't be so holier than thou on this issue; "cult movies" is historically a hard term to define. But in my book (not the textbook, I never opened that sucker up or even bought it, come to think of it) and in the books of most of the classmates I talked to, this definition was blatantly wrong. In his description of cult films, Tim "Diggler" Dirks of film- site.org (a favorite website of Chicago Sun Times film critic and all-around great guy Roger Ebert) writes, "Cult films are usually strange, quirky, offbeat, eccentric, oddball, or surreal, with outrageous, weird, unique and cartoony characters or plots, and garish sets." "Diggler" (a nickname I made up, by the way) gets closer to my definition than my film professor did, but his description even seems too specific. Basically, cult movies are films that were ignored upon their initial theatrical release, buf slowly gained attention over the years as more and more people saw them, liked them and then joined the cult following. Under this definition, films with obvious cult followings like the "Star Wars" or "Lord of the Rings" trilogies do not count, as they were immediately loved by everyone, not just a small group of loyal, mainstream-hat- ing fanatics. "Star Wars" and LOTR go beyond cult films, for they are an entire culture in themselves. My professor's cult-as-genre description feels like a neo- capitalist take on the art of filmmaking. A screenwriter can sit down, planning to write a comedy. How do you write a cult movie? The impetus for this entire discussion was Tuesday's 58th birthday celebration for one of the kings of cult filmn- David Lynch, Lynch makes films which are "strange, quirky, offbeat, eccentric, oddball, etc." They're just plain weird. Think "Eraserhead," "Blue Velvet," "Mulholland Dr." John Waters ("Pink Flamingos") and Sam Raimi ("Evil Dead"), two of the other kings of cult filmmaking, also gravitate toward the out- rageous. Guys like these make the definition of cult movies as a genre understandable. However, it's still not correct. The ultimate cult film has to be 1975's "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" "Rocky Horror," and the transvestite-rocking good times it inspired, failed at the box office at first but then found new life in midnight screenings all across the country. The midnight screening has since been an immediate identifi- er of a cult film. Still, while the State Theater may cause you to think differently, not all midnight screenings are of cult films and not all cult films are given midnight screenings. The question now is what are the recent cult movies? It's another tricky subject, because the whole point of cult movies is that they're not immediately popular. Still, modern cult films exist, and some don't fit people's normal expectations for what a "dark, strange and difficult" cult movie is supposed to be. Next month, we get to celebrate the five-year anniversary of one cult film, Mike Judge's "Office Space." In 1999, "Office Space" received average reviews and garnered only $10 million at the box office. Today, it's hard to find a college house without a copy of the DVD. It's even harder to find a cubicled office without at least one ref- erence to the movie every day. Lumbergh, PC Loadletter and Vibe Magazine are all now synonymous with the once under- rated comedy hijinks of Peter Gibbons, Michael Bolton and Samir Nagheenanajar. And finally, the true point to all this rambling ... "Donnie Darko." The Coen Brothers' "Big Lebowski" offers some competition, but Richard Kelly's film debut about the tangent- universe adventures of a high-school kid with a superhero's name is playing out as the cult film choice of a new genera- tion. Manhattan's Two Boots Theater has been showing "Darko" every weekend at midnight for over a year. Jake Gyllenhaal and Co. almost never found an audience after a very-limited post-Sept. 11 release (due to the film's principal event of a plane crash), but thanks to DVD word of mouth the film has flourished, quickly finding its cult and making young stars of Gyllenhall, his sister Maggie and director Kelly. "Donnie Darko" also now finds itself as a favorite of the State Theater and its midnight screenings. "Darko"'s 1980s world of Sparklemotion, Frank the Bunny and Patrick Swayze ran during the fall semester and now returns on Jan. 31st. Cult movies are not made, they just happen. "Donne Darko" has happened. Go join the cult. No KoolAde involved. - eiser has so much more to say about this topic. E-mail him about yourfavorite cult movie at tweiser@umich.edu. C tesyoUniversa l "Wanna have a gasoline fight?" WEEKEND BOX OFFICE Gross in millions of dollars 1. Along Came Polly (32.4) - Ben Stiller playin a neurotic loser? I smell Oscar. 2. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (12.4) - I just hope Sean Astin gets some sort of GLAAD award for this. 3. Big Fish (12.3) - Tim Burton's come a long way from "Planet of the Apes," huh? I mean, c'mon, Ape Lincoln? What the hell was that? 4. Cheaper by the Dozen (11.8)-We hear the guy from Smallville has big feet. You know what they say, right? 5. Torque (11.4) - Just what we need, another plotless movie about motorcycles. Ice Cube's finest since "Anaconda" 6. Cold Mountain (7.9) - Jack White plays a guy that playsg uitar a lot.Brilliant! T. Something's Gotta Give (6.7) - Keanu as a doctor - almost as believable as Jack Nicholson still being attractive. 8. My Baby's Daddy (4.4) - I've lost allfaith in humanity. There is nothing good and pure left in this world. I just give up, ou win. 9. Caendar Girls (3.8) - Take it off girls. Take it all off. No, dear God, put it back on! 10. Last Samurai (3.7) - No makeout scenes, just Tom. How is this still on the top ten? DAVID TUMAN/Daily Students prepare for the temporary shut-down of Wolverine Access as upcoming changes are implemented. CH. 0SCH... CH. .CHANGES WOLVERINE ACCESS GETS UPGRADE FOR 2004 By Katie Maie Gates Daily Arts Writer "I didn't go to any of my classes," commented Engineering senior Joe Kuechenmeister about the first day of class this semester. Due to the shutdown of Wolverine Access, Kuechenmeister, along with other students, took an extra unexpected day of vacation. "I didn't think I needed to print them up," he said, "so I didn't know the rooms." This recent malfunction of the University's registration website has low- ered morale about the now four-year-old system. "You can't get into it when you need it," said LSA sophomore Maricela Marcinez, who had to make a trip to the Office of the Registrar last semester to register for a class. "It was a pain because I couldn't log on," she said. Wolverine Access will have another, scheduled shutdown from 5 p.m. on February 5 until 7 a.m. on February 10 to change to a new version of the website. During the outage, campus offices are prepared to help with tasks that are usu- ally completed online, but students are advised to take care of important busi- ness beforehand. Michigan Administration Information Services, which is in charge of Wolverine Access, hopes to alleviate some student concerns with this upgrade. "We manage the University's enter- prise-wide administrative databases," explained MATS Communication Coordinator Linda Hancock Green. MAIS includes M-Pathways, the central system organizing information on every- thing from payroll to admissions. "It's a lot more than just Wolverine Access, it is just one way of delivering infor- mation off of the student administra- tion database." Before Wolverine Access existed, stu- dents had registered via telephone with the CRISP program. Over the years, the website has made the registration process easier by adding a backpacking option and providing other important student information, like financial aid reports and transcripts. "I like that you can always look at your information, so you can warn your par- ents ahead of time how much you're going to owe and check your grades," LSA freshman Ashley Thomas said. Despite the website shutdowns, Thomas appreciates its convenience. The new system, to be implemented Feb. 10, will add greater convenience to students with added options including: Enhancement to the financial aid pages allowing students to accept or decline aid and complete the Federal Perkins Promissory Note online a crucial element for attaining state funds. Paycheck information for student employees and financial aid disburse- ments. .................. .................. . ... . ..... .. . r ............ .. ...... ..... I j- . ; ............ - .............. NEWS IN ENTERTAINMENT HOT OR NOT? Backpack and registration options on two separate pages with a tab to move between them. A new graphic design. Additionally, Wolverine Access will become a single sign-on service with the University's online directory, mail.umich.edu and CourseTools Next Generation. "When you sign into your mail, you are also authenti- cating to Wolverine Access and vice versa," Green explained. "That's a good thing, but it could also be a very unsafe thing." Leaving Wolverine Access open can allow other students to take advantage of personal infor- mation, class registration and email. Thus, it is important for students to remember to logout The logout process for the new system requires four steps: one to end the ses- sion, one to log out of the Wolverine Access gateway, another to confirm and finally a security-alert box to finalize the logout. If a student does not complete all steps, they will remain logged into the system. Engineering freshman Andy Lin, who often uses computing sites, said he is not concerned that his identity could be stolen by leaving the system open."Most people log off (the computer) before they leave;' he said. "It seems like the school is too psycho about login," commented LSA sopho- more Scott Balentine. "It's kind of annoying." Since he uses mail and Wolverine Access at the same time Balentine said, "It will probably be easi- er (to be logged into both)." Other students complain about the operating hours of Wolverine Access, since it is not a 24-hour site. "Nobody goes to bed here," said Marcinez. "It should definitely be 24 hours." The weekday hours are 7 a.m. to 4 a.m. during the month of January, but will return to 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. next month. Shutting down the site "is important P. DIDDY'S EX WANTS HIM TO PAY UP. Misa Hylton-Brim, who gave birth to Sean Combs' first son Justin in 1994, wants the hip-hop mogul to step up his monthly child support payments to about $30,000, reports E!Online. The onetime Mrs. Combs slapped the "Shake Your Tailfeather" singer with a child-support suit last fall around the time he raised more than $2 million for children's charities by running in the New York City marathon. Hylton-Brim claims her son deserves the same amount of support as Combs's younger son, Christian. This would increase the current payment of $5,000 to $30,000. TAKING OVER BROADWAY The multihyphenate superstar is going to make his Broadway debut in a revival of "A Raisin in the Sun," author for record keeping and reports," Gre said. "We take a snapshot every nig and if they were doing that on a real-tin database, it might slow it down consid ably. Building that snapshot takes a cc ple of hours." The reasoning behind the Februa upgrade is new software created PeopleSoft that allowed the University abandon the expensive custom-built sy tem now in use. "There are a lot of und lying architectural changes that will transparent to the students,'Green said.' fact, we made the decision to keep the s dent's experience as similar as we could Lorraine Hansberry's semi-autobio- graphical play about a black family moving into Chicago's white suburbs, reports E!Online. A representative for Diddy confirmed he will perform as the lead role of Walter Lee Younger, originated by Sidney Poitier on Broadway in 1959 and reprised in the 1961 film version. Theatergoers will see the curtain rise on this production in April. THIS WEEK'S TRIP TO THE PEN Grammy-nominated artist Michael Tyler, better known as Mystikal, was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to sexual battery. CNN.com reports that Tyler forced his hairstylist to perform sexual acts, which his bodyguards taped. Both guards were also charged. P. Diddy could not be reached for comment. SCOREKEEPERS WE HAVE SOME NEW WEEKEND DRINK SPECIALS WE THINK YOURE GONNA LiKE FRIDAY ANN ARBOR'S LONGEST HAPPY HOURI With Featured Mug Drinks On Sale Along With The Pint - Bottle special of the week 5ui'turday S No Covert 25 Taps! Full Menu! 310MAYNARD-995,000 (2i&OVER WITHP I' II I I