University of South Carolina Libraries
/.V . THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, April 9, 2004 5 Mr & ■ “I■ ■ ^ JW m "JT" “We all learn by experience, I i ^ ■ /■ I % / but some of us have to go to sum- J I-1 L4 m / I I mer school.” Contact.Us I I P i \/ I I /\ peter DEVRIES U Story ideas? Questions? Comments? | I I ^ m m m A m E-mailusatgamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu —■-■-*—^ T _■-■— _ _ , - ■ - A-.—«■ -1 PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK BY CAITLIN COKER TlIK (lAMKCOCK With their extra free time in the coming summer months, students will have the chance to learn a new instrument, explore a new hobby or spend hours doing noth ing at all — or even attend a sum mer music festival. As a practice round for summer festivals, students can try out the 3 Rivers Music festival in down town Columbia April 16-18. Described on its Web site as “South Carolina’s largest outdoor music festival,” 3 Rivers will fea ture pop, rock, punk, alternative, Guster will be performing at Bonnaroo Music Festival in Tennessee, along with Wilco and Primus. jazz, blues, drum’n’bass, salsa, doo-wop and hip-hop artists per forming on seven stages. Local artists Mean Weiner, Beat Junction Project and I-Nine will be featured, as well as out-of towners Morris Day & the Time and ’90s superstars Better Than Ezra. An hour or so drive away, Uptown Charlotte will play host to CityFest Live May 7-9. Jason Mraz, Leftover Salmon, Less Than Jake, Sister Hazel and Jump, Little Children are a few of the 60 bands that will perform in CityFest. Bonnaroo Music Festival will be held in Manchester, Tenn., June 11-13, upping the indie quo tient. Left-of-center groups such 'as Yo La Tengo, Wilco, Guster and Primus are scheduled to per form. Mainstream favorites like Dave Matthews and friends and Bob Dylan will also take the stage. Camping and RVs are permitted, but there are no showers — the perfect conditions for nu-hippy rockers. . Vans Warped Tour will storm through Atlanta, Ga., July 28, and thrash through Charlotte, N.C., Aug. 2. The Warped Tour, known for post-punk, punk-pop, punk Summer concert festivals unite bands and fans with wide range of music, convenient locations ska, hard-core, emo-core and var ious other hyphenated types of bands, will feature such acts as The Aquabats, Bad Religion, Coheed and Cambria, Piebald, NOFX and Taking Back Sunday. First-year music students Nick Jay and Logan Goldstein consid er themselves music festival vet erans. The 96 Wave Birthday Bash in Charleston a few years ago stands out as one of their more memorable excursions. “I almost got into a big fight,” Jay said. “Remember when Geddis got socked right in the face?” Goldstein said. “I think he got punched in the fat, too,” Jay said. “It’s because of all of the drunk people. There’s a load of them. They try to come up behind girls and put their hands on them.” Jay said that to have the opti mum festival experience, people might need to venture outside of the region. “You got to be in New York or California to go to the good festi vals,” Jay said. First-year music student Thomas Gilbert is no stranger to the music scene either. He plays the keytar—a combination between a keyboard and a guitar—for the lo cal band No Way Jose and listens to “everything except opera.” His experience at thp Strawberry Bluegrass Festival last June was rosy and peaceful, in contrast to Goldstein and Jay’s fes tival outing. “Everybody was swimming in the lake, smoking pot, playing gui tars and listening to music in theif RVs and tents. At night, you’d join in the bonfires and jam with the groups,” Gilbert said. “There were big fields where we’d go play soc cer barefoot.” Comments on this story?E-mail u gamecockfeatures%gwm.sc.edu — "tr1 "a—* an ® T| p m 3 a ill 2 0 •< m 'ff Jp ^ (JSC’s summer study abroad program offers trips tot France, Germany, Spain, Mexico and Italy. Students interested In the program can attend one of two weekly interest meetings. Students use summer for far-away learning BY LINDSEY JEFFERSON tiii: ham I'X;ook Another semester has rolled by, and soon students will be dis missed for the summer. No more fi a.m. classes and no more 15 minute jaunts across campus in an attempt to make it to those early classes on time. Absolute freedom might sound wonderful now, but after about two weeks away from cam pus, many students might be dy ing to find something to keep themselves entertained and busy. for some, avoiding the hum drum of mid-summer has meant enrolling in a summer study abroad program. Alexa Maddox, a study abroad adviser, said there were 76 students who studied over the summer last year, and USC sends approximately 250 stu dents abroad each year on sum mer, semester and full-year pro grams. While abroad, students can ., earn 3 to 6 credit h.Jurs during a four-to-six week stay and can stay longer if desired. Students can also earn internship credit abroad. USC sponsors summer trips to France, Germany, Spain, Mexico and Italy; Spanish-speak ing countries are the most pop ular destinations. Third-year biology student Ian Kane studied abroad in Wittenberg, Germany last sum mer. Kane, who has traveled to Germany before, said studying abroad can be “a really unique experience.” With terrorists striking over seas, some people might choose to shy away from leaving the country, but Maddox said she doesn’t think this is a reason to shy away from studying abroad. “Terrorism can strike any where,” she said. She advised, however, that there are some sn uations of which students should steer clear. “Avoid political protests where you might be singled out, be aware of surroundings and follow the rules of the pro gram's.” So, you’re ready to travel the globe now, right? Well, don’t “If you have an open mind, are curious about other cultures, and are willing to do the work as well as play, this is for you.” ALEXA MADDOX STUDY ABROAD ADVISER pack your bags just yet. The de cision to do a summer study abroad session “requires a cer tain amount of planning,” Maddox said. Interested students need to meet with an adviser to get courses approved, just as if you were applying for regular sum mer school. It may also prove helpful to brush up on the lan guage of the country. L ane said he found it helpful to get acquainted with the German dialect as opposed to how it is taught in class. “Eligibility requirements for summer study abroad vary, but minimum language and GPA re quirements tend to be more flex ♦ ABROAD, SEE PAGE 6 Movie. Review ‘Ladykillers ’ hinges on Hanks' “THE LADYKILLERS” ★ ★ ★★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆ BY LESLIE DENNIS THU (JAM (BOCK Anomalous filmmaking broth ers Joel and Ethan Coen have once again attempted to bring their individual style of humor to life on-screen. “The Ladykillers,” a remake of the 1955 British com edy starring Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers, offers an unconven tional take on a seemingly ordi nary plot line involving a heist and the mishaps that ensue. Set in Mississippi,-the movie provides two examples of old-time southern folk: Goldthwait Higginson Dorr (Tom Hanks) and Marva Munson (Irma P. Hall). Although the story takes place in the present, Dorr acts and dress es as though he jumped straight out of a Mark Twain novel, and Munson espouses all the stereo typical religious verses and “back in-the-day” stories of an older southern woman. Juxtaposing these two tradi tional characters with modern day society, the Coen brothers cre ate a dichotomy between the two cultures and a bond between Dorr and Munson. When Dorr, a professor of Greek and Latin who name is as verbose as he, appears at Munson’s door looking for a room to rent, Munson is easily sucked into the professor’s eloquently spoken and deviously concocted web of deceit. Munson, a widow who donates money to the ever PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Marlon Wayans, left, and J.K. Simmons as star as conmen In Joel and Ethan Coen’s latest, “The Ladykillers.” (Diane Delano); the General (Tzi Ma) heads the tunneling expedi tion; and Lump (Ryan Hurst) is ob semi-bland storyline with their distinctive style of filmmaking. What “The Ladykillers” lacks in controversial Bob Jones University and talks to her dead hus band’s por trait, becomes a facilitator and obstacle in Tom Hanks plays an eccentric southern thief looking to rob a casino from the root cellar of an old-fashioned gal. viously the dim witted manual labor guy. Posing as a Renaissance musical band, the motley crew of misfits is al lowed access to the professor’s plan to rob a casino boat. After their initial introduction to the professor and Munson, each of the men be r Me professor’s gang -o po. aaved through their past crin. .jM histories. The trig ger-happy Gawain MacSam (Marlon Wayans) takes the spot of the “inside man” and works for the casino the professor hopes to rob; Garth Pancake (J.R. Simmons) is the explosive expert with an inter fering girlfriend, Mountain Girl Munson’s root cellar for “prac tice” purposes. After assembling a team of stereotypical criminals, the professor plans to dig through the wall of Munson’s root cellar and into the underground casino treasury. But once they begin to carry out the heist, complications, and then pandemonium, ensue. With a resume of brilliant movies such as “Raising Arizona,” “Fargo” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” the Coen brothers have electrified a plot originality, it makes up for with performance and style. As Goldthwait Higginson, two time Academy Award winner Hanks gets to stretch his already flexible acting muscles. With a Colonel Sanders suit, a toothy grin and a panting laugh, Hanks vividly recites the wild poetry of Poe and revels in the eccentricity of his character. Hanks convinc ingly articulates the professor’s anachronistic appearance and mannerisms. Although “The Ladykillers” does not compare to the strength of “Fargo” or “Raising Arizona,” semi-overused humor and con vincing performances save the floundering plot. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockfeatures(a>gwm.sc.edu