Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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_News_ NAACP boycott of S.C. supported by USC NAACP I__| Sean Rayford photo editor The Confederate battle flag flies above the statehouse. The NAACP instituted a tourism boycott of South Carolina due to the refusal by the state to remove the historical relic. Boycott from page 1 tion will be focusing this year on educating members about economics, community ser vice and voting issues. The group is also focusing on “break ing racial barriers,” he said. “NAACP means the National Associa tion for the Advancement of Colored Peo ple,” he said. “We are all of different colors.” Another of the USC NAACPs goals is to co-sponsor a community service project this year. Wilson said they will co-sponsor a pro ject with any other organization. “Well work with a fraternity if they want to, or City Year [Serve-a-Thon] if they want to,” he said. Web site offers chance to dress, decorate like stars by Sharon Crenson Associated Press htw Yofk—Just when it 9eems the World Wide Web has every possible stock price, song lyric, celebrity photo and how-to book, here’s a new idea: putting clothes, fur nishings and props from TV shows within the click of a mouse. Since May, AsSeenIn.com has received more than a million hits, helping viewers search for duplicates of one of Susan Luc ci’s glamorous gowns, perhaps, or even a lamp from another favorite program. “Live like the stars! ” the site trumpets. “Fans want to know where they can find certain outfits,” said Sam Baldoni, who runs the site. “Everybody that we talked to about this site has fallen in love with it.” Currently, AsSeenIn.com shows where to buy items from three shows: Spelling Television’s “7th Heaven’’ and ‘ ‘Charmed, ” and Spelling Entertainment’s “Any Day Now. ’ ’ Spelling is a major share holder in the site. When the site launches in full next month, links are planned for three more shows— “Beverly Hills 90210,” “Safe Harbor,” and the daytime drama “Sunset Beach.” The site may eventually include items from movies and clothes seen on award shows, Baldoni said For now, surfers can click on “Charmed” and choose a room to peek inside, or pick a link to one of the stars’ wardrobes. But some apparel doesn’t lead visitors to another Web site. It’s like spotting a dream dress in a dis play window of a closed store. AsSeenIn.com does offer links to Web sites for Pier 1 Imports and Lucent Tech nologies, for instance, but the featured prod ucts are not always available online. Instead, AsSeenIn.com tells where to surf for items that can be bought on the In ternet, and provides store locations for items that cannot. Surprisingly, that may help its success, an analyst says. Irma Zandl, president of a Manhattan retail consulting firm that advises on con sumers under the age of 30, said many still limit their Web purchases to books, music or electronics. With other purchases, she said, they want to have something in hand first, or fear they won’t be able to make a return. “As a lot of kids say, ‘If I can’t try it, I don’t buy it,”’ Ms. Zandl said. Juliet Schor, an author and Harvard University lecturer, believes consumers’ pursuit of television characters’ make-be lieve trappings could be dangerous. “When twenty-somethings can’t af ford much more than a utilitarian studio but think they should have a New York ^ apartment to match the ones they see on ’Friends,' they are setting unattainable con sumption goals,” she writes in her book, “The Overspent American.” Criticism notwithstanding, television and Internet executives are scurrying to ex ploit the interest in props seen on popular TV shows. CBS, for example, has begun an ex periment in writing products into enter tainment story lines. A silver-dipped pewter bracelet showed up as a gift to a star character on the day time drama “Guiding Light" and was played up as a bauble with a mysterious past. Now, fans can buy a replica for $29.95 on the network’s Web site. % “A lot more people just don’t notice commercials,” Ms. Zandl said. “Having it be part of the story is going to be, certainly, a wave of the futu.e.” But while Zandl worries TV plots could suffer from the desire to please advertisers. Baldoni sees only the upside of his site. After all, he said, advertisers can reach audiences through a new venue, television producers get many of their props free1 — and his company gets a cut of anything bought through his site. Drop from page 1 time status. Students closed out of classes frequently register for any 12 hours until other class es become available.” Greiner recommended to Student Gov ernment that SG should consider “the pos sibility of placing course syllabi on-line so students may review course requirements prior to registration.” Greiner also recommended that SG “make the entire student body aware that holding seats in classes they are not intending or do not plan to complete, and then drop ping the classes on the last day of the drop period, prevents other students from reg istering for classes they need.” f Currently there are no plans for alter ing the drop/add date for next year, ac U.S. News from page 1 plains why some schools are ranked in U.S News & World Report’s top 50, but aren’t in the AAU. According to a media guide from the University of Florida, which is a member institution of the AAU, “universities are admitted only if they are pre-eminent in graduate and professional education and re search.” Wake Forest University and Dartmouth University are among the top 30 schools according to U.S News & World Report, but neither are members of the AAU. The magazine releases separate rank ings for graduate programs. USC’s Dari i Moore School of Business was ranked 51st in the nation, while the International Busi ness program regained the No. 1 spot after slipping to No. 2 in recent years. Protecting USC students from HIGH textbook prices & cheap buyback gimmicks. v Hake sure all \ of your textbooks \ have the 66% cash back sticker. RUSSELL HOUSE (lEI l lltNAr... bookstore Where your purchases benefit both you and the scholarship programs of the University ofSouth Carolina.