Friday, April 18, 2003

by Alexis Reedy (Sort-of-Point) and Roxanne Yaghoubi (Almost-Counterpoint)

SORT-OF-POINT

Snow, nudity, running, and raw meat. These three things basically sum up
the movie “The Fast Runner” showing at 8pm today in the SCCS amphitheater.
So if you like these things, and I know that you do, you should definitely
consider going.

The thing to remember about this movie is that it is pretty long. I won’t
deny it. You will feel the time go by. This isn’t an action-packed movie.
There are no car chases. There are no explosions. What you do see is a
pretty interesting look at Inuit life and culture. You actually get to hear
their language and learn some of their stories, and that in itself is a
pretty wonderful thing that most of us haven’t experienced. You will come
out of the movie having learned something and you can’t say that about most
movies.

Another thing that I won’t deny is that the movie can be pretty repetitive.
As the title suggests, there are a lot of scenes, some of them pretty long,
with just running. I suggest that you think of these scenes as
mini-intermissions. Drank too much coffee? It’s the perfect time for a
bathroom break. I personally tried to keep a running tally of how many
times different characters were featured running. It could make for an
interesting drinking game.

I guess I would say that this movie is a lot like taking medicine. You know
that it’s good for you but sometimes it just doesn’t go down easy. Don’t go
into this movie expecting an easy, entertaining experience. The movie is
long, repetitive and worth seeing once. Twice…I don’t know about that.

ALMOST-COUNTERPOINT

Unlike “Adaptation”, I did not fall asleep during “The Fast Runner”.
Amazing right? My friends (who have sat through quite a few movies with me
over the years) argue that this should be an indication of how good “The
Fast Runner” really is. I would disagree. I think it was because I saw this
movie in the middle of the summer (when I was presumably well rested) and
because I had a large bottle of Coke at my side (yay caffeine!) that helped
me stay awake. One of those things (Coke in the middle of the school year,
or summer but without the caffeine) probably would not have managed to keep
me awake. So I’m forced to conclude that my level of alertness really had
very little to do with the movie itself. So yes, I’ll admit it…I didn’t
love the Fast Runner. It was three hours long after all. There are very few
things that I love doing or seeing for that long a period of time. And
while I generally don’t have a problem with subtitled movies, the English
at the bottom of the screen was so disconcertingly out of synch with the
rest of the movie, that after a while you stopped trying to read the
subtitles and instead just watched the scenery go by as the lone Inuit ran
along. Which was fine in that the scenery certainly was gorgeous, but it
meant that you lost sense of what exactly the plot involved. I think it
somehow concerned two brothers and an old Inuit fable…but other than
that, I couldn’t even tell you the ending. And after spending 3 hours
watching a movie, I normally expect to be able to at least tell you that.
So if you’re curious about Inuit culture, a runner, or just tired of this
spring-like weather, go see “The Fast Runner”, but, in my opinion, there
are better ways to spend three hours.

*****

While the temperature gradually crawls its way back up into the 50s (after
yesterday’s freak 30!) start getting warmed up again by donning your
favorite skimpy party gear and dancing the night away at Paces this Friday
at 10pm. If you’d rather warm up not quite so energetically, check out the
Yo La Tengo concert, 8pm at the Trocadero.

In the mood for standup comedy? Hop on the shuttle to BMC to check out
comedian Aladdin of ‘American Desi’ fame, the self-proclaimed ‘Funniest
South Asian in the Nation’ perform at BMC’s campus center main lounge from
8 to 10pm.

Couldn’t get tickets to Man Equals Man? Satisfy your taste for theater by
checking out Pig Iron Theater’s ‘James Joyce is Dead and So is Paris’, a
cabaret-style production about James Joyce’s troubled daughter, at Christ
Church at 2nd and Market. The show will be playing until April 26th. If
you’re more in the mood for music, you might want to check out the Tracy &
The Plastics, King Cobra and Booty Olympics, as part of the BMC Concert
series. This event takes place in Goodhart Music Room, from 8 to 11pm.

On Sunday, wind down your wild weekend with a soothing Sunday brunch at the
hip Blue in Green, a small but eclectic Old City cafe at 7 N 3rd Street. It
is open from 9am to 3pm Saturdays and Sundays.

*****

* Pentagon officials announced on Thursday that the US will be sending a
1000 person team to Iraq to search for weapons of mass destruction. The
group, named the Iraq Survey Group, will include military personnel,
intelligence analysts, civilian scientists and will probably be led by a
general. The group should be in Iraq and ready to begin work in a few
weeks. The ISG’s main goal will be to organize and take advantage of
intelligence provided by Iraqis in order to find weapons of mass
destruction. Pentagon officials have said that they expect that in order to
find weapons they will have to elicit information from the Iraqi people by
offering rewards, as Defense Secretary Rumsfeld put it, “The inspectors
didn’t find anything, and I doubt that we will. What we will do is find the
people who will tell us.”

* Sergei Yushenkov, a leader of the Liberal Russia party and a member of
the Federal Assembly, the lower house of the parliament, was assassinated
in Moscow yesterday. Yushenkov was shot a number of times in the chest and
died shortly after being taken to a hospital. The police are still
investigating the shooting, but the Russian media has already begun to
label the incident a political killing.

* Public health officials in India announced the first confirmed case of
the SARS virus in that country on Thursday. Dr. A.C. Mishra, director of
the National Institute of Virology, said that a 32-year old engineer had
been diagnosed with the virus after traveling in Hong Kong and Singapore.
The man first checked into a local hospital, but was referred to a larger
hospital when it became apparent that he had symptoms characteristic of the
SARS virus.

*****

Friday:

Good Friday Service
Memorial Hall – Bond, 12:30 p.m.

“Dream Haiti & A Herstory on Nam: A Poetic Performance Sequence”
A performance lecture by Kamau Brathwaite
Upper Tarble, 12:30 p.m.

Art Gallery Opening featuring work by Christine Shin & JoAnne Zhung
Kitao Gallery, 4:00 p.m.

Wall of Peace: Natural Building Presentation by Janell Kapoor
LPAC Cinema, 4:00 p.m.

“Taking Nature’s Pulse: A History of Fluctuation Phenomena”
A physics lecture by Debbie Coen, Harvard University
Dupont 133, 4:30 p.m.

Movie: “25th Hour”
LPAC Cinema, 7:30 & 10:00 p.m.

Movie: “Wild Reeds”
Sponsored by SQU
IC, 7:30 p.m.

“Man Equals Man” by Bertold Brecht, directed by Roger Babb
Pearson-Hall Theatre – LPAC, 8:00 p.m.

Movie: “The Fast Runner”
Sponsored by the International Club
SCCS Lounge, 8:00 p.m.

Saturday:

Wall of Peace: Adobe Brick-Making Workshop
Parrish Steps, 10:00 a.m.

“Man Equals Man” by Bertold Brecht, directed by Roger Babb
Pearson-Hall Theatre – LPAC, 3:00 p.m.

Easter Mass
Memorial Hall – Bond, 3:30 p.m.

Movie: “25th Hour”
LPAC Cinema, 7:30 & 10:00 p.m.

“Man Equals Man” by Bertold Brecht, directed by Roger Babb
Pearson-Hall Theatre – LPAC, 8:00 p.m.

Senior Honors Voice Recital by Julie Gregorio
Lang Concert Hall, 8:00 p.m.

Sunday:

Easter Morning Sunrise Service
Amphitheatre, 6:00 a.m.

Easter Sunday Mass
Memorial Hall – Bond, 11:00 a.m.

Meeting for Worship
Sponsored by the Young Friends
Bond Common Worship Room, 5:00 p.m.

Study with a SAM
Trotter 303 & 201, 7:00 p.m.
———-
THE WALL OF PEACE: PRESENTATION AND WORKSHOP

On Friday, April 18th, come listen to our special guest, Janell Kapoor,
present a slide-show presentation about building with natural materials and
her own experiences with it. Held in LPAC cinema at 4pm (a reception will
follow). We will begin an adobe brick-making workshop on Saturday, April
19th, at 10 am on Parrish steps.  But feel free to join us at any point
throughout the day behind Mullan tennis center and the track field
bleachers, for some wholesome fun in the mud! This event is open to all:
students, faculty, staff, children, and Swarthmoreans alike!
———–
A Senior Recital will be presented by Julie Gregorio, soprano, assisted by
Debra Scurto-Davis, piano, on Saturday, April 19, at 8 p.m. in Lang Concert
Hall. The program will include Purcell, “The Blessed Virgin’s
Expostulation” (Tell Me, Some Pitying Angel); Mozart, “Bella mia fiamma,
addio”; Resta, “o cara” K. 528; Schubert, “Ganymed, Nacht und Traume,
Rastlose Liebe”; Bellini, “Per pieta, bell ‘idol mio, Ma redi pur contento,
L’Abbandono”; Debussy, songs from “Ariettes Oubliees”; and Barber, “Four
Songs,” Opus 13.

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

Niamh Shortt led the Garnet with four goals, while Jackie Kahn contributed
three, and Jamie Larson and Emily Szydlowski added two each. Heidi
Fieslemann scored a goal as well and made a career-high five assists. The
victory improves the team’s record to 6-8 overall.

Larson scored the first goal for the Garnet at 21 seconds, which was soon
matched by the Cyclones’ Nikola Henry at 1:07. However, from that point on
the Garnet dominated scoring the next 8 goals.

*****

Muhlenberg defeated the Garnet twice on Clothier Field Thursday afternoon,
by a score of 12-0 in the first game and 8-3 in the second. The team’s
record fell to 2-8 in the Centennial Conference and 3-16 overall.

*****

Today:
Baseball hosts Washington, 3:30 p.m.
Men’s Tennis hosts Washington, 3:30 p.m.
Track at Widener Invite, 4:30 p.m.

Saturday:
Badminton at US Open Championships
Track at Widener Invite, 10:00 a.m.
Women’s Rugby hosts The College of New Jersey, 11:00 a.m.
Baseball at Dickinson, 1:00 p.m. (DH)
Men’s Rugby hosts Bucknell, 1:00 p.m.
Softball at F&M, 1:00 p.m. (DH)
Women’s Tennis at McDaniel, 1:00 p.m.
Women’s Lacrosse hosts Ursinus, 1:00 p.m.
Men’s Lacrosse at Haverford, 1:30 p.m.
Women’s Lacrosse Alumni Game, 2:30 p.m.

Sunday:
Badminton at US Open Championships

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.”
–Mark Twain

*****
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