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* THE GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, February 2, 2004 7 f f §11 "Fve been on a calendar, but «t’ve never been on time.” MARILYN MONROE Contact. Us , ACTRESS Story ideas? Questions? Comments? ___-_ V i - • % BY KRISTIN CHANDLER THE GAMECOCK • o some, bumper stick ers are the perfect way to tell the world about oneself and one’s pet causes. To others, they are simply a tacky and annoying means for other people to express themselves. Regardless of your ) i stance, bumper stickers are barometers of popular culture. Cashing in on the wear-your heart-on-your-vehicle trend, cam pus bookstores stock a large vari ety of .bumper stickers, from the simple “USC” to others that spec ify which sport or college the driv er supports. Regina Croxtin of the SC Bookstore doesn’t think bumper stickers are extremely popular in general, but attributes the high sale of USC tags to the catchy and slightly perverse slogans that many of them sport. “There’s one that’s really pop ular,” she said, “that says ‘You Can’t Lick our Cocks!’ That’s a fa vorite.” Third-year electrical engineer ing student and WUSC DJ Ben ) Reynolds thinks the “Cocks” stickers become popular among students for one particular rea son. “You put a sticker that says ‘You Can’t Lick Our Cocks!’ on your car and you get to be obnox ious in other states,” he said. “Although, with the cars most stu dents are driving, the bumpei' stickers make a big improve ment.” Alanna Wendt, a fourth-year women’s studies student, has three small bumper stickers on her car, and says she’d most likely take one off before adding more. “I’m a member of Amnesty International,” she said. “And I feel like it’s a good cause and the bumper stickers are a good way I to get word out.” Many people, like Shalonda Johnson, a fourth-year women’s studies student, use bumper stick ers to support political candidates. “My cousin, Steve Benjamin, ran for attorney general last year, so I had a sticker supporting him,” she said. “I took it off after the election. I don’t have anything against bumper stickers; I just feel they take away from the look of the car.” Courtney Wolfe, a third-year psychology student, also uses bumper stickers to broadcast her political views. While some might consider a slew of stickers to be overdoing it, Wolfe said, “It doesn’t really matter how many you have. If it’s something that I really cared about, I’d put a stick er on.” Wolfe’s car currently sports two stickers: one advertising the Rape Crisis Center in Spartanburg, and one against free trade and for fair trade. The best bumper sticker she ever saw was, “I love my country, but fear my government.” Second-year psychology stu dent Ryan McCurdy doesn’t have any Dumper sticKers on nis car, though he used to have a sticker saying “Mean People Suck.” “If I found something that caught my eye,” he said, “I’d get it. But I think people are more likely to use something magnetic that can be removed easily.” The SC Bookstore doesn’t often get new styles, tending to stick to the tried and true slogans it al ready has. Past bumper stickers can be checked out on the vintage bumper sticker collection door near the stickers for sale. Any of these stickers can be reprinted by request if the newer styles aren’t as appealing. “Vintage things are in, just like the Jim Morrison trucker cap that’s back,” Croxtin said. “The old stickers bring back memories for people who had them when they were new, and the students think they’re cool now.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu Bumper stickers allow students to show their loyalty to sports teams and universities. While some And the stickers tacky, others can’t seem to stop collecting them. PHOTOS BY MORGAN FORD/THE GAMECOCK Political slogans and organizational logos adorn many cars around campus. Some students see their bumper stickers as a medium for getting the word out on Issues they care about. Movie.Review ‘Agent’downplays physical appearance “THE STATION AGENT” ★★★★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆ BY GRAHAM CULBERTSON THE GAMECOCK | j “The Station Agent,” this past weekend’s offering at the Nickelodeon, is a low-budget in dependent film about a dwarf liv ing in an abandoned railroad de pot in New Jersey. When the film opens, the diminutive Fin (Peter Dinklage) is working at a model train shop in Hoboken, N.J. His only friend is the shop’s owner, an elderly man named Henry Styles, who walks with Fin to work every day and spends time with him in the evenings. Fin and Henry are both obsessed with trains, both real and model, and spend their evenings with groups of other train-philes, watching films about trains. Early in the film, Henry unex pectedly dies and the shop is sold, p Fin moves to the piece of land b Henry has left him in his will, a half-acre in rural Newfoundland, N.J., which houses an abandoned train depot. . Fin has no friends, no family and no attachments without Henry and the model train shop, so he abruptly moves into the de pot, thinking he can find the soli tary existence he craves while watching the trains he loves. Fortunately for Fin, and the film, his chatty neighbor Joe (Bobby Cannavale) never gives him a moment’s rest,'Joe moved from Manhattan to take care of his ailing father and run the fam ily business, a hot dog truck he sets up at the intersection in front of Fin’s depot. Living in the country is killing Joe, and he deals with his boredom by talk ing nonstop on his cell phone whenever he’s not busy hound ing Fin. Rounding out the primary cast is Olivia Harris (Patricia Clarkson), yet another exile in the area. Olivia lives in the Newfoundland house her husband purchased for summer getaways before their separation. Although there is not a great deal of action in the film, it re mains well paced as we watch Fin get involved in the lives of the peo ple around him even as he tries to remain apart. In the thick of the movie, Joe stands out as the bright spot—his motor mouth gives viewers in centive to keep watching. Contrasting the taciturn Fin and the depressed Olivia, Joe bubbles over with a desire to be social. He cooks dinner for Fin and Olivia, accompanies Fin on his long walks along the train tracks, and after Olivia lends them her digital camera, even drives Fin alongside a train so they can film it — an ex perience known as “train chas ing.” Although the characters con front conflict — Olivia must deal with her estranged husband and Fin comes between a hot-headed bigot and his girlfriend, the local librarian — the focus of this film is not tfie plot. It’s more concerned with ex amining the lives of each charac ter, particularly Fin’s, as they struggle with isolation in their lives — all except Joe, whose in fectious enthusiasm buoys the film and the other characters. Fin has to deal with bigoted people, both in Hoboken and Newfoundland, but his physical appearance is not overplayed in the film. In fact, the most remarkable thing abovit “The Station Agent” is in how it treats Fin’s condition; although he is slightly sensitive about it, and other people remark on it, this movie is first and fore most the story of a man, never the story of a dwarf. “The Station Agent” offers no firm answers or a firm conclusion, but it also refuses to dissolve into sappy sentimentality, and re mains a low-key but enjoyable character study. Comments on this story?E mail gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK ‘The Station Agent’ played at the Nickelodeon this past weekend. The film tells the story of a train-obsessed dwarf. CD Releases for Tuesday “WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN” Kenny Chesney “A CROW LEFT OF THE MURDER” Incubus i ii ii a-i;;s>i..n V i..,—...y-Yi-A'-iaat* u— “START SOMETHING” Lostprophets “FORGET YOURSELF" The Church I_ “ONLYYOU” Harry ConnickJr. “THE BATTLE FOR EVERYTHING” Five For Fighting