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5 CONTACT US THEY SAID IT Story ideas? Questions? Comments? THEODORE ROOSEVELT: “Speak Write us at gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com softly and carry a big stick.” Cartoons aren’t just for kids anymore: Cartoon Network televises first adult-themed cartoons BY TUG BAKER THE GAMECOCK Cartoons are for kids, right? That seems to be the consensus among most adults. They would be surprised, however, at how many college students stay up late tuning in to the Power puff Girls or Dexter’s Laboratory on Cartoon Network. Some watch because there’s nothing better on, some because it seems “retro” and some because they just think it’s funny. Fear not, closet cartoon fans, because last week, Cartoon Network kicked off its first series } targeted specifically at adults. Adult Swim airs Sunday nights from 10 p.m. until 1 a.m., with an encore performance Thursdays at the same time. Home Movies is a hilarious show following three third graders who believe they’re film auteurs. Brendon, the director (only because his mom owns the camera), takes himself and his films very seriously. In the first episode, the group’s musical director, Duane, who looks like an eight-year-old Joey Ramone, wants to make a rock opera about Franz Kafka. Brendon, scared of losing the spotlight, drops the idea for his own i project, called “Louis-Louis,” about a fictional meeting between Louis Pasteur and Louis Braille. Needless to say, both films turn out to be equally sidesplitting. Following at 10:30, The Brak Show is destined to become the hit of Adult Swim. Poking fun at every family sitcom ever made, the cartoon stars Brak and Zorak, the much-loved characters from Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and Cartoon Planet. Brak is the typical teenage neighborhood kid, while his best friend Zorak is the troublemaker. Brak’s mother is a sweet alien lady, and his father speaks with an inexplicable European accent. Also featured is Thundercleese, your everyday friendly neighbor, except he’s a huge robot who leaves weapons of mass destruction lying around the back yard. The first two shows on the network to carry the TV-14 rating are Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law and Sealab 2021. Harvey Birdman, a relic from the old Hanna Barbara days, tries his hand at being a lawyer. Each week, he’ll defend different cartoon characters from days past. In the first episode, he fights for Dr. Benton’s custody of Johnny Quest while trying to hide the homosexual relationship between Dr. Benton and his “bodyguard” Race. It’s rumored that Birdman’s next challenge will be to represent the Scooby Doo gang as they’re tried for possession of marijuana. Sealab2021 puts animation from the old Sealab 2020 cartoon to some interesting uses; in the first episode, Debbie searches the lab’s crew for the perfect man to impregnate her. Space Ghost: Coast to Coast is a revival of the same show made popular years ago on Cartoon Network. Fans of the Ghost, rejoice! Cowboy Bebop finishes off the set at midnight. Produced by Sunrise, the people who brought us Dragonball Z, Cowboy Bebop is the latest and greatest among anime series. It follows the adventures of two bounty hunters as they travel through space looking for their next meal ticket. The animation is superb, and the show is handled with such maturity and quality that it has a cinematic feel. Cartoon Network is going to great lengths to make sure kids stay out of the Adult Swim pool. Every break is filled with “No Kids Allowed” commercials, and a TV rating appears in the corner throughout every show. As if that weren’t enough, no one can get to the Adult Swim Web site from CartoonNetwork.com. Visitors have to hit AdultSwim.com instead. All in all, Adult Swim is a welcome addition to Cartoon Network, and, most importantly, one you can laugh at, guilt-free. FIRST OF MANY Mr. Space Ghost, star of Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, has his show revived after being made popular years ago. THE CHARTS Top 10 movies Figures are for the weekend of September 7-9. MOVIE_BOX OFFICE 1. The Musketeeer $10.7 million 2. Two Can Play... $83 million 3. Rock Star $6.18 million 4. Jeepers Creepers $6.1 million 5. The Others $6.1 million 6. Rush Hour2 $5.85 million 7. American Pie 2 $4.7 million 8. Rat Race $4.4 million 9. Princess Dianes $3.4 million 10. "0” $2.7 million Top 10 albums Rgures are for the weekend of September 7-9. TITLE ARTIST 1. Aaliyah ' Aaliyah 9 2. No More Drama Mary J. Blige 3. Iowa _ Slipknot 4. Songsjn A Minor Alicia Keys 5. Now Maxwell 6. Now 7 Various Artists 7. Superhero Brian McKnight 8. Project English Juvenile 9. Pull My Chain Toby Keith 10. Come Clean Puddle of Mudd LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK. WVW.DAILYGAMECOCfc.COM Fatboy Slim takes home 6 VMA awards Slave For You,” which featured the singer slithering on stage with a snake and other animals. Mudvayne won the MTV2 award spotlighting emerging artists, but it was hard to con centrate on the heavy metal group’s acceptance speech; they appeared at the podium in gory makeup that made them look as if they had been shot in the fore head, with fake blood oozing down their faces and chests. And Macy Gray upstaged the announcement of the award for best new artist as she urged everyone “to take a minute and concentrate on my dress,” which read, “My new album drops Sept. 18,2001.” Collaborating with No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani proved to be a good move for Moby and Eve; the DJ won best male video for his “South Side” video fea turing Stefani, and Eve won best female video for “Let Me Blow Ya Mind,” also with Stefani. Comedian-host Jamie Foxx got the evening off to a some what raunchy start. After paro dying the evening’s setting at the Metropolitan Opera House with opera renditions of hits such as “Bootylicious,” he launched into a monologue that had to be censored by MTV. Foxx had previously said he would not lampoon celebrities during the show, but apparent ly had a change of heart, joking about Mariauh Carey’s recent nervous breakdown and Back street Boy A.J. McLean’s battle with alcohol abuse. The Backstreet Boys gave out the evening’s first award, for best hip-hop video. Before the members of OutKast picked up their trophy, McLean thanked MTV and fans for supporting him during his recent stint in re hab. “Today is 64 days sober, and I’m proud of it,” he said to ap plause. As the group made its way off the stage, Foxx held out a bottle to them. “You want some cham pagne, some champagne?” he joked before the stunned crowd. “It’s apple cider, apple cider! You can drink apple cider, can’t you?” Moments later, however, the mood turned somber with a trib ute to Aaliyah, who was killed Aug. 25 in a plane crash. Janet Jackson, Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott, Ginuwine and Timba land joined Aaliyah’s brother, Rashad Haughton, in remem bering the 22-year-old singer and actress, who was to be a presen ter Thursday evening. “I think what we’ve got to learn out of this is to appreciate each other while we’re here on earth,” said Elliott, who wore a white jacket with Aaliyah’s im age on the back and her name on the side. “I love you, Aaliyah, and you’re forever missed.” Bono also paid tribute to Joey Ramone, who died earlier this year of lymphoma, and intro duced the remaining members of the legendary punk rock group the Ramones. Among the evening’s per formers were Jennifer Lopez and Ja Rule; Linkin Park; U2; Jay-Z and Elliott, who dedicat ed her performance to Aaliyah. Michael Jackson makes surprise appearance with group, ‘N Sync at VMA’s Model search is - * search for suckers BY ASHLEY VAUGHAN . THE GAMECOCK Editor’s Note: Every semester, model searches air radio commercials promising to launch careersfor print and runway models, actors and actresses. Every semester, naive college students shuffle into a convention center or assembly room at some local hotel, most without any prior knowledge of the industry. The Gamecock sent reporter. Ashley Vaughan to one such model search to find out whether its sponsors were looking to help hopefuls, or whether they were out to make a buck. It’s 7:30 p.m. on Friday,Sept. 7, at the Sheraton Hotel. After filling out a survey with your name, address, age, height and shoe size, you’re herded into a large room, where Trisha Labracio, the Manhattan Model Search’s scout, greets you and begins a long lecture that sounds like a used-car salesman’s pitch. “The Manhattan Model Search is the largest and longest-running company in the world. Over 50 different agencies in the U.S. depend on Manhattan Model Search to find new talent.” Manhattan Model Search takes credit for the careers of Tyra Banks, Giselle, Nikki Taylor and Linda Evangelista, among others. After Labracio’s speech, The Manhattan Model Search bombards you with Cinderella stories of how ordinary people got discovered through their search. You hear people praise the company who, you are told, are highly respected in the fashion and modeling businesses. The Manhattan Model Search also boasts that it finds talent for NBC, MTV, YM Magazine, Cosmopolitan Magazine and Men’s Health Magazine, and has provided models for Abercrombie and Fitch, Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger. All this information, which takes about an hour to present, leads up to the product. wo, it s not a used car; it s a convention of modeling agencies in Atlanta hosted by none other than the Manhattan Model Search. What’s the catch? To attend the convention, you must pay Manhattan Model Search $350. Labracio justifies the amount of money by pointing out that most conventions cost anywhere from $500 to $1,500. Labracio adds that the convention is a one-day event, hut it starts at 9:00 a.m., so you might want to spend the night in the hotel that has a special contract with the Manhattan Model Search. Luckily for you, the Manhattan Model Search is once again saving you money by charging you the “discount” rate of $99.00 per night! prices, Manhattan Model Search softens the blow by making you feel special. Each hopeful walks by Labracio, who tells half the room to leave by saying, “You’re free to go,” and the other half to stay by saying, ’“Please stay.” If Trisha asks you to stay, you automatically feel like model material. This feeling increases your willingness to play into the Manhattan Model Search’s hands. What Trisha doesn’t say is that if you do decide to pay the $350, there’s no guarantee an agency will hire you. Though Labracio tells most hopefuls they have a 75 percent chance of getting an interview with an agency, she admitted when asked that the chance of being “called back” was more like 40 percent to 60 percent, and simply earning an interview ♦ MODELS, SEE PAGE 6 BY NEKESA MUMBI MOODY NEW YORK (AP) — Fatboy Slim’s “Weapon of Choice” video was the big winner at Thursday’s MTV Video Music Awards, winning six of the nine awards for which it was nomi nated, but it was the sexy video “Lady Marmalade” that took home the year’s top trophy. “Lady Marmalade,” the Moulin Rouge-inspired video, was a collaboration featuring Pink, Christina Aguilera, Mya and Lil’ Kim. It also received an award for best video from a film. The night’s other big winner was ‘N Sync, who recejved four awards for their special-effects laden video, “Pop,” including the viewer’s choice award. The “Weapon of Choice” clip by Fatboy Slim, doesn’t even fea ture the artist; its star is actor Christopher Walken, dancing around an empty hotel lobby. Among the awards it nabbed was for best direction, for Spike Jonze, and best choreography. As always, however, the awards themselves tend to be an afterthought, upstaged by the evening’s over-the-top moments. ‘N Sync capped off a colorful ren dition of “Pop” with the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson. Jackson gyrated for only a few seconds to ‘N Sync’s hit, but re ceived a standing ovation from the crowd. Another anticipated moment was Britney Spears’ perfor mance of her new song, “I’m A