The Guilfordian
March 27,1998
A Transmission Error on WQFS
♦ Nabil Ahmed forcasts a brave new world of steel and flesh and rock stars, total rock stars
BY PHOEBE JEWETT
Staff Writer
If you had turned on the radio to 90.9
Wwm. ;
: x . 5T*~Y*
Hjfjj - 4*MP
* fe \
H / '
Hook up to the Life Support System every
Thursday from 10 p.m.-midnight.
PHOTO BY SARAH GIVENS
last Thursday night at about five till mid
night you would have heard Wagner
Carter and Morscheck Go to the Movies
♦This Week: Primary Colors interesting politics but mixed reviews, now playing at Janus
1
\ * Mr
F
PHOTO BY BECCA
LEE
even want to run for President? Like real life,
the movie has no easy answer for either ques
tion.
The movie presents the presidential cam
paign of Jack Stanton (John Travolta), seen
through the eyes of campaign aide Hairy
Burton (Adrian Lester). It's like a course on
political campaigns: the characters are con
stantly ill from work and stress, they travel so
frequently' they don't have time to pack lug
gage, and they get almost no sleep. The rela
tionship between Jack and his wife Susan
(Emma Thompson) is mechanical; they think
only of the campaign and not their personal
lives, so even when Susan finds out about
Jack's affairs she stands by him because the
goal is all that matters.
Ultimately the movie is about morality
in politics; people get so wrapped up in the
uniquely combined with Rom Size. "It's an
example of a transmission error," says DJ
Nabil Ahmed, "like getting NPR and a
jungle station at the same time."
"Transmission Error" is the
name of his show, broadcast on
WQFS every Thursday night from 10
p.m. io 12 a.m. Ahmed, who origi
nally comes from Bangladesh and has
lived "all over," is the sole DJ of the
show —a diverse combination of mu
sic that defies labeling. He plays what
he likes, exploring the intricacy of
music, opening people's ears and per
haps their minds.
Woven into the mix of "crazy
things" Ahmed plays arc his original
creations, created on his computer and
the drum sequencing machine he
brings to the studio. The music, mostly
drums and bass, is Ahmed's way of
"dealing with where technology is
going and finding an artistic voice in all that
technology." Life Support System, the
I believe it
was President
Franklin Pierce
who first inquired
why anyone would
want to be Presi
dent. The movie
Primary Colors,
poses that question
and another: why
would anyone
campaign that they foiget they're doing it be
cause they want to make the country a better
place. Unfortunately, the message is lost dur
ing the events of the film so when it is exam
ined at the end it doesn't liave much of an
impact.
Although the plot and characters are
strong, they don't always hang together the
way they should. Some people disappear
awkwardly towards the end of the film and
others are characterized unevenly. One of
the first scaies of political strategist Richard
Jemmons (Billy Bob Thornton) establishes him
as a pervert, but that never canes into play
later and is never even mentioned again.
While the movie is based partially on
Bill Clinton's presidential campaign (a south
em governor runs for President and is accused
of having affairs), it has many fictional ele
ments. Actually, Travolta's Clintonian exte
rior obscures his unique character, so we al
ways see him performing Clinton instead of
being Stanton. The movie would have ben
efited by not making any homages at all.
Primary Colors could have had value
as both a story and a lesson on political cam
paigns, but its uneven plot prevents the straight
storytelling that would have been necessary.
Still, it shows the reality of politics, something
that should interest certain people.
Features
name Ahmed attributes his work to on the
air, is "music for music's sake."
Ahmed, who is also program direc
tor of WQFS, began DJing just last year,
during his first semester at Guilford. Now
he lists the studio as "pretty much my fa
vorite place at college," and spends hours
on his music. "He's really got a flair for
music," says senior Allison Strizak, and
many listeners apparently agree.
One such listener is Happy, an other
wise anonymous fan who periodically calls
Ahmed during his show She never makes
requests, he explains, just calls to say she is
listening and really likes it. "There are some
crazy people who listen," he notes. "If you
play strange, alien music you get strange
responses."
Can Happy and her cohorts purchase
their own Life Support System? Not yet.
although it is in the works. Ahmed and two
friends are in the process of starting an in
dependent record label, which may or may
not be called "KGBeats."
>} What drives
people to politics?
- *Wt Is It possible
V t0 get elected to
* > pi nat * ona l office
*J® ; ~ without sacrific
ly- f|||| ing your morals to
„ To what
3 HOTO BY AMY . ...
ROUSE lengths will a wire
go to publicly pro-
PHOTO BY AMY
ROUSE
tect her cheating husband even while she's
emotionally dying inside?
Based on the recent book by "Anony
mous," which was itself inspired by the 1992
Clinton campaign, Primary Colors asks
these questions and more.
Alternately a satire of Clinton and poi
gnant political drama, it tells the story of
"Jack Stanton" (John Travolta), a southern
Governor seeking the Democratic presiden
tial nomination, through the eyes of Henry
Burton, an idealistic young campaign
worker.
Burton and long-time Stanton friend
Libby Holden (Academy Award winner
Kathy Bates) struggle between their wishes
to see Jack reach the White House, and
their discoveries that even he, whom they
had believed in for so long, is tainted.
The tentative title humorously reflects
Ahmed's political views, which have a
''radical leftist bent'' without being commu
nist. Ahmed takes inspiration from existen
tialists, early anarchists and Latin Ameri
can revolutionary movements. Not too sur
prising perhaps from a philosophy/religious
studies double major who claims that "ar
guing is good for the soul."
''He has a brilliant mind." says fellow
philosophy major Amanda Printz, but
Ahmed describes it as "a good head on my
shoulders." Trusting intuition and personal
experience is his philosophy of life and he
moves tow ard the future with that in mind.
"1 do what 1 feel —1 guess 1 kind of have
faith in myself of some sort; 1 w ant to play
music."
And so far. he seems destined to do
just that. Ahmed is packing up his drum
sequencer to leave the studio when the next
show s DJs come in. As he walks out the
door, they give an unsolicited opinion "He's
such a rock star, a total rock star "
The sad realization that even the best
of persons is flawed and there may be no
such thing as an ideal leader is the film's
sobering, but very real, point.
Gripping performances are given all
around, with standouts Travolta, who has
Clinton to a tee, and Emma Thompson
(Sense and Sensibility) as very human
wife Susan Stanton.
Billy Bob Thorton ( Sling Blade) is
hilarious as a redneck strategist, and Bates
has the line of the movie: "I'm a gay les
bian woman; I do not mythologize the male
sexual organ" (said while threatening to,
umm... forcibly remove said organ).
Better (albeit different) than Dave
and The American President, Primary
Colors is the first truly great film 1 have
seen this year.
The only reason I won't be seeing it
again tonight is, well, I 'm going to the prom.
Seriously folks, even if you don't
groove on politics, give this one a try.
Not only is the story of the highest
quality, it raises some important issues and
manages to be very humorous in the pro
cess.
Give this one a chance, and if you
miss the prom, this film would be a good
excuse.
7