The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 10, 2001, Page 5, Image 5
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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