Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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THE GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, October 7,2002 ' * 7 m TJT771 IV/TTV THEYSAIDIT PONTAPT TT^ I-1 |-^ m/I I \ JOHN STUART MILL: “All that makes VjV/li J. UO rrft ■ I | ' i 1/ | I /%" existence valuable to anyone, depends Story ideas? Questions? Comments? | | | i f I I i 1 on the enforcement of restraints upon E-mailusatgamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com —®® ■ ^ ^ ^ " ®^ the actions of other people.” Aaron Karo, author of % “Ruminations on College \ Life, ” is becoming one of the hottest, and sometimes most honest, authors published ■ Aaron Karo Quotables ON EXAMS AND THE CURVE: “Taking exams in college is easy. Figuring out the curve is the hard part. I have no idea how the curve works. How do I get a 25 and get an A? How do I get a 95 and get a C? Do you ever get the feeling that the curve is just one big conspiracy against you?” ON WHAT HE LEARNED AT COLLEGE: “I have no idea what an imperfect monopoly is, I can’t conjugate a Spanish verb and I can barely spell ’calculus,’ let alone derive anything. But I can buy a keg, tap a keg, fix a keg, pump a keg, and do a keg-stand, all with my eyes closed. Ah, the wonders of a college education.” BY MATT ROTHENBERG THE OAMECOCK Most books about college life are written by people who haven’t stepped onto a campus in years and proba bly have little or no idea about what really goes on when classes end each day. But now there is a book that breaks the trend. One recent college grad uate has taken many of his thoughts and observations Of daily college life and put them together for all to read. Aaron Karo, a 2001 alum nus of the University of Pennsylvania’s prestigious Wharton School of Business, wrote his book, “Ruminations on College Life,” based on the experi ences he had during his four years of higher education. Karo sent regular e-mails to high-school friends dur ing his freshman year about the inane, strange and pe culiar aspects of college life. Karo’s writings blossomed into a mass mailing to sev eral thousand recipients. “I never expected all of it,” Karo said about the pop ularity of his writings. “I e mailed it on a whim when I was a freshman, and even then, when my friends got a kick out of it, I wrote 'anoth er one and still didn’t really think much of it. It wasn’t really until second semester of freshman year that I start ed getting e-mails from around the world. When my subscriber list reached a couple hundred, I was like, ‘Wow, I could really do something with this.’” , Among the varied topics Karo explores in his 159 - page work are thoughts on Greek life, being a fresh man, nightlife and going back home. Most Of the material in the book is from Karo’s e-mails - which became sc popular that he created a Web site, www.aaronkaro.com, for them. You might think Karo spent much of his college career drunk, but he still must have done plenty of work to have graduated magnacumlaude. Nevertheless, even if you have already read the e-zines on Karo’s Web sites, reread ing the “Ruminations” is just as good as reading it the first time. The book appeals to everyone—from the “pre frosh” to the parent of a col lege student. In doing so, he had to soften some of the lan guage, but that still has not taken away from the overall meaning of his words. “I think it was a good idea because we (my editor and I) wanted the book to appeal to as universal an audience as possible,” Karo said. “The other reason was that we _ ♦KARO, SEE PAGE 8 P Aaron Karo, above, says he draws inspiration from Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock. Capitalizing on the success of his book, he plans to make a movie and a television show. “I never expected” the popularity, he says. PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK THEATER REVIEW Novices, veterans make Shakespeare accessible “KING LEAR" Performed by Theatre South Carolina ★★★★ out of BY CARRIE PHILLIPS TUB GAMECOCK “King Lear” is a hard one. Not only is it one of Shakespeare’s most thematically complex plays, but two very different versions of the play have survived. Most modem editors combine them, creating a play that is more than three and a half hours long. In short, it is an easy play to do a mediocre job on. USC’s Theatre South Carolina, however, has taken the challenge head on. Director Jim O’Connor creates an inviting presentation of the story of the aging king, whose downfall is caused by his mis placed trust in his daughters’ love. The production is straightforward and direct; it veers away from pre senting Shakespeare as difficult or pretentious and keeps the play eas ily accessible for the audience. Le^r is going to split his king dom among his three daughters, Cordelia, Goneril and Regan, ac cording to their eloquence in declaring their love for him. When Cordelia says she can say nothing to top her older sisters’ proclamations, Lear banishes her and says she is no longer his daughter. She marries the king of France and leaves England. Once the kingdom is in his old er daughters’ hands, things quickly spiral out of control. Cordelia and Goneril swiftly strip their father of his power, his court and his dignity, sending him into the throes of madness and despair. For the part of Lear,* O’Connor has brought in guest actor Keith Jochim. Jochim has played Broadway and London’s West End, has toured around the world, and appears frequently on televi sion and in film His portrayal of Lear is sympathetic; the old man stoops as he stomps across the stage, mutters under his breath and generally acts like an old man. His stage presence is what it should bp for a man of his experi ence. His Lear, so strong and en during at the beginning of the play, turns into a lonely old man whose frustrations drive him insane. He is simply cathartic to watch. No character con nects with the audience as much as Edmund, the bastard son of the Duke of Glouchester who is plotting to kill his father and legiti mate half brother. Michael Kroeker’s Edmund just looks das tardly with his oily hair and lace-up pants. His performance is witty and charming, and he oicais me snow Deiore intermission. As the Earl of Gloucester, Bob Hungerford takes over as the fa vorite character after intermis sion. Gloucester’s naivete is al most infuriating at the beginning of the play, but once he becomes the victim of the sisters’ rage, he fills the stage with nobility and repentance. . As the older sisters, Jackie Doleman as Gonerial and Raia dirsch as Regan are wonderfully jvil. The actors playing their hus sands are flat and uninteresting in comparison. Marcella Kearns slays the part of Cordelia fully, sut she is much better as the Fool, ^.s the king’s companion, her tal ents are put to better use. Park Bucker is the comic relief of the production. His effeminate portrayal of Oswald, one of Goneril’s servants, is strictly fun ny. His fights with the Earl of Kent, bluntly played by Scott Bellot, are funny, but Bucker manages to keep a dark under ♦ KING LEAR, SEE PAGE 9 PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Keith Jochim plays King Lear In the Shakesperean tragedy. The play will run from Oct. 4 to Oct. 12 at Drayton Hall Theatre. CD REVIEW Powerful tribute promotes a cause “RISE ABOVE” Various Artists ★★★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆ BY BEN ANGSTADT THE GAMECOCK Tribute albums are always a risk. One can never be sure whether the album will be a qual ity effort by contemporary artists to honor a classic band, or whether it will fall short by not living up to the standards of the original musicians. Fortunately, “Rise Above” does not disap point. “Rise Above” is a 24-song trib ute to hard rock/punk pioneer Black Flag, the band that gave Rollins Band front man Henry Rollins his start. But “Rise Above” is more than just covers. Proceeds from the album will be donated to the legal defense fund of the West Memphis Three. The West Memphis Three are three men who were convicted of the 1993 murders of three young, boys in West Memphis, Ark. But according to court dockets, fur ther investigation into the mur ders and the trial, revealed that there is little to no evidence that connects the Three'to the mur ders. Police got a confession from Damien Echols, one of the Three who is borderline mentally re tarded, and the teens were found guilty. Echols received the death penalty, and the other two ac cused, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin, received multi ple life sentences. Rollins decided he should spread the story of the West Memphis Three to support then attempts for legal appeals. “Rise Above” is the result of these ef forts. Rollins rounded up a strong cast of hard-rock stars, including Tom Araya of Slayer, Nick Ollveri of Queens of the Stone Age, and Ice T. Rollins, himself, performs on a few tracks, putting a new spin on some of his old Black Flaesones. Most of the songs are about 90 seconds long and have a high lev el of energy that reflects Black Flag’s original style. One of the best efforts is on the track “American Waste,” performed by Neil Fallon of Clutch. He masters the fast-paced excitement that Rollins created when he origi nally performed these songs with Black Flag. But the album’s true strength lies in the fact that all the artists brought their individual styles to the table while retaining Black Flag’s charisma. Notable are Corey Taylor’s aggressive style in “Room 13” and Ice T’s angry attitude coming through on “Police Story.” The biggest surprise on the al bum is Ryan Adams’ cover of “Nervous Breakdown.” He per forms solo with an electric guitar on the track. He stays true to his eclectic, sedated style of rock, but it fits perfectly in the context of the song, despite the massive dif ference between his version and the original Black Flag version. It’s nice to know that artists such as Rollins are still around — musicians who use their tal ents to promote causes and not just to line their pockets. For his selflessness, he managed to head up a solid album that will pro mote the cause of three young men looking for a new shot at life. To learn more about the album or the West Memphis Three, visit www.wm3.org. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com