41 Page 14 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, June 19, 1984 Find-the -Films - in-the-Film Contest ATTENTION film fanatics. If you've seen Gremlins (and who- hasn't?), you've undoubtedly recognized many, many references to other motion pictures laced throughout the length of the film.: Some say that the references are all that there is to the movie. But that's' not the question. The question is, how, many cinematic allusions are there in, the film? To answer this raging inquiry, The Daily is sponsoring a' Find-the-Films-in-the-Film contest.: The rules are simple: The entrant who can list the most references to other movies in Gremlins wins. These references can be as fleeting or in- nocuous as you wish, but truly bizarre or irrelevant ones will be thrown out by the judges, whose decision will be final. As an example, Robbie the Robot, star of Forbidden Planet, has a bit part in Gremlins. The cinemaniac- who finds the most references will win Arbor, Michigan, 48109. The contest his or her very own Mogwai and a will end on July 22, so you have plenty Michigan Daily T-shirt. Turn in your o to wa , th yil aain and lists to the Arts Editor, at The, time to watch the film again and Michigan Daily, 420 Maynard, Ann again. 'Ko aanisqatsi.' simple masterpiece (Continued from Page11) with plastic tubing sticking out from it, revolving doors. Then he cuts to both seem like cheap shock effects. workers on production lines, furiously In his final shot, Reggio takes his serving machines that stamp out TVs, metaphors to a literally mythic end. He sausages, and twinkies. cuts in stock footage of a missile rising The effect is humorous at first, but is up from its launch pad, and then ex- repeated to the point of absurdity, and ploding into a plume of fire miles long, when we cut to a close up of $100 bills like a contemporary Prometheus. As being rolled off a printing machine the the sole smoldering fragment tumbles overstatement is grossly heavyhanded. slowly to earth, Phillip Glass's funeral Likewiseisa ridiculous sequence com- like organ dirge comes on loud, to paring microphotography of computer, hammer in the point. Like the rest of chips with satellite photographs of the film, it's a breathtaking scene, but cities. It's interesting, but nothing to the pervading technophobic overtones, pontificate over. and the sheer solemness of the film's Ati times he manipulates the people tone negate much of the impact. on screen with a heartless coldness. A Koyaanisqatsi is a brilliantly con- pitiful vagrant, lost in the middle of the structed film, and one I strongly metropolitan shuffle, or a frail, aged recommend without hesitation. Silly as arm reaching up from a hospital bed it is, it's magnificently so. Records 'More Songs From the Original Soundtrack of the Big Chill' (Motown Records) The Big Chill left many, many movie- goers with a warm feeling, but when you look past glossy acting and a great soundtrack, you feel the biggest chill of all. Lawrence ("Larry to his friends") Kasdan and Motown are at fault: the University alum cashed in on nostalgia in a big way, but his reflections on the '60s, as Dave Marsh pointed out in Record a few months ago, are about people who never were in the Movement and don't know much about rock 'n' roll either. Wait a sec, you might say, don't you think the movie was great? I think the music was terrific, but, as Marsh poin- ted out, even the clueless main charac- ters can like great music. Remember the scene when the characters discuss the music over the last 10 years? The same guy, played by Kevin Kline, sneers at our generation's music but listens to such greats as Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Creedance Clearwater Revival, and the Band. Marsh argued that Kline's character liked the music, because it was removed from him - it was the safe and distant past. No Sex Pistols, Clash, or Jam to ask him what in hell he's doing in the modern world. The same thing goes for the Tom Selleck-like actor - do you think he really could go from speaking on the Diag to enraged students to Hollywood glitz and glamor? That's like believing the Regents really give a damn. This all blends into an argument that great rock music means a hell of a lot and really extends beyond time to challenge all of us to give a damn, not bemoan how involved we were in college and why snorting coke isn't the same as getting the shit kicked out of you for protesting against Vietnam years ago. Which is all a perspective on More Songs, its parts far greater than the whole. In a thinly-veiled attempt to flesh out another LP, Motown's dreams of platinum required four ad- ditional cuts, taken from Martha and the Vandellas ("Dancing in the Streets"), Marvin Gaye ("What's Going On?"), the Four Tops ("It's the Same Old Song"), and the Marvellettes ("Too Many Fish in the Sea"). Out of these four songs, the first two deserve mention: the Vandellas' Motown original rips Van Halen's remake, showcasing Martha Reeves' soulful singing that puts David Lee Roth of Eddie and the Geeks to shame. The Marvin Gaye addition is a true insult - not due to his tragic death (in fairness, Motown compiled the album long ago), but to the song's meaning. Gaye's song comes from his great LP of the same name, which deals with the same issues that the characters in The Big Chill turned their backs on. The soundtrack veers from the great (CCR, Percy Sledge) to the forgettable (Steve Miller Band). Notable are "Gimme Some Lovin' " by Spencer Davis, which you can't find except in dusty used record stores; "The Weight" by the Band, which should serve Kasdan ... 'Larry' to his friends as a reminder of Robbie Robertson's great talent; and the omission of "You Can't Always Get What You Want" - cum-funeral dirge, easily the funniest scene in the movie. The LP is rounded out by the Rascal's version of "In the Midnight Hour" (shoulda been Wilson Pickett) and the Beach Boys' "Wouldn't It Be Nice (reminds you of what a joke they've become). Enjoy this album but don't let the film's "message" get to you - the music still matters, rock 'n' roll isn't really establishment stuff (punk should've taught you that), and, when I'm older, I'll be damned if I let business execs and sorority-girls- turned-doctors trivialize the Jam, U2, or Big Country. They're too important. - Steve Kaminski *I Econonists predict future of state's industry (Continuedfrom Page 1) Chairman of the Board of Public Sector Consultants, Jerry Faberman agreed with Rhodes, arguing that while the state slowly changes to a high-tech economic base, it must revitalize existing industries and retrain the labor force. "The state has to go back to the basics-commerce, trade, and tourism," he said. "WE NEED TO do it and do it quickly," Faberman said. "We need to find jobs, and high-tech does-but not quickly." Others are more convinced of high- tech's potential. "High-tech firms in and of themselves cannot give an enormous amount of jobs, but it can have a significant impact," said Pete Plastrik, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Commerce. "(High-tech development) helps the industrial base to be competitive." He said there has beei a .visibleyrifpaet'already,:but (co p redto tde, ien opa.pf th state's economic problems, it is not much." Though Ann Arbor is not typical of the rest of the state's economy, Mayor i 4w Louis Belcher said the city will move toward high-tech. But he doesn't recommend that path for the rest of Michigan. "IT JUST so happens that when the state went down the tubes, Ann Arbor didn't because it never was in the automobile industry to begin with," Belcher said. "I think Ann Arbor will move toward high-tech because of the type of city it is. I think it would be a mistake for the State of Michigan to say, 'We are going to go completely high-tech.' " He said the state should instead work to rebuild its existing in- dustry as an economic solution. Yet no matter how hard lawmakers push to move Michigan toward a high- tech industrial base, the final decision is still up to the individual businesses, which often rely on personal prejudices when locating. That, according to Rhodes, could mean trouble for the state. SHE SAID Michiga'nsinagge aS a state with a high wage base, a high unemployment rate, and an abundance of unskilled workers may dissuade a firm from even considering Michigan as a possible location. Perhaps the biggest hurdle the state must clear, though, has nothing to do with Michigan's economic situation: it is the very existence of other, already- developed high-tech centers. Barbara Kraus, a spokeswomen for Apple Computer, said her company probably would never locate a research or manufacturing facility in Michigan. Apple Computer is located just outside San Francisco in the area known as Silicon.Valley. "THERE IS a certain kind of at- mosphere in Silicon Valley," she said. "We have a very experienced work for- ce. Stanford, an excellent educational facility, is nearby. And there is a good cross-pollination of ideas between people." Kraus said it is a common occurence for people from any of several Silicon Valley high-tech companies to get tegether8, ekeha geides',an; frm "a new company in the same community. She said Apple would not want to give up the advantage of their current location to move to the Midwest. If Michigan does have the capacity to attract high technology firms, it seems the state's ability to keep them is questionable as well-even in its self- proclaimed high-tech capital. "A num- ber of high-tech firms do get their start here, but very few end up staying," University Economics Prof. Harvey Brazer said. He said the state's economic woes may be the reason many firms leave Ann Arbor for California or Texas. Wayne State University Business Prof. David Verway disagrees. He thinks Michigan and technology go hand-in-hand. "I think of Michigan as a high-tech state," he said. "We lead the nation in dollars spent on research and development ... and I think it is wor- thwhile to try to attract more high-tech industry." Bill Loukins, director of the Ann Arbor-based Michigan High Technology T sk yorcfagrees witt, (h.t "We are not going to duplicate Silicon Valley in Michigan but we have to try to apply high-tech to industry in Michigan," he said. el 0I