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By Anna Belle Peevey
STAFF WRITER
Imagine. It's the weekend
after Serendipity. You are still
recovering from three straight
days of absolute craziness.
Even your head hurts a little
bit. Why not change the pace
this weekend?
The One Love Roots Coop
eration Celebration, scheduled
for the weekend of April 15-16,
is a two-day, substance-free mu
sical festival with educational
workshops.
It is designed to bring to
gether Guilford College stu
dents and staff, as well as other
members of the community and
celebrate, as the pamphlet
states, "Guilford's roots through
a cooperative educational farm
Movie Review:
ROMEO MUST DIE
By Peter Morscheck
SPORTS EDITOR
Good martial arts flicks only
seem to come out in this country
about once a year. By "good," I
mean films where fight scenes
are choreographed like ballet,
meaning the credits usually in
clude the name John Woo or
Jackie Chan
Enter Romeo Must Die, a
bare-bones retelling of the Romeo
and Juliet story involving a gang
war between Chinese and African
American Mafia families, most
notable as Chinese martial arts
master Jet Li's lead debut in an
American film.
An aside: Remember Li (pre
viously seen stateside only via a
cameo in Lethal Weapon 4)\ he's
going to be HUGE! The man has
moves that makes Jackie Chan
look weak. The producers essen
tially use this film to introduce
him to mainstream American au
diences just as The Replacement
Killers served to introduce Chow
Yun-Fat (late of Anna and the
King).
Our hero (Li) escapes from
prison in Hong Kong and journeys
to America to avenge the murder
of his brother by the African
American gang. While there, he
falls for the daughter of the rival
family (Aaliyah).
The expected clash of hip
hop culture vs. oriental tradition
Features
program."
Initiated by Guilford
alumni Christopher Reiser and
Debra Kiliru in early August of
1999, the One Love Roots festi
val is designed to "remember
our roots to bear the fruits," as
Reiser stated.
For those who don't know,
Guilford College recently bought
three meadows (located behind
the student apartments), to pro
tect them from development.
However, there are now
plans to build a road through
one of the meadows, for an en
trance to the expanded YMCA.
This meadow where the festival
will be held is seen by partici
pants in the event as a way to
"bring people together to enjoy
the meadows and envision how
the road could help serve the
formation of a cooperative farm
and machine guns vs. martial arts
follows, with the addition of hu
mor and examination of family
values lifting this one out of mere
mediocrity.
The juxtaposition of the two
families made this movie for me,
in fact. Much like Heat , signifi
cant screen-time is spent on in
ter-generational dynamics and
the struggles of the elders to keep
the younger generation in line.
Both families are shown to be
human, a fact lost in many recent
action movies.
This film also features de
cent actors, most notably Delroy
Lindo ( Usual Suspects, Cider
House Rules), Isaiah Washington
(Love Jones, Girl 6) and Russell
Wong (Joy Luck Club). Placed
against a backdrop of nice cars,
expensive suits, exotic machine
guns, and hip-hop music, the ac
tors manage to lend dramatic
weight to roles which could have
been merely "phoned in."
Then, of course, there are the
fight scenes. The film could have
been titled simply Jet Li Kicks Ass.
We see him kick ass while hanging
upside down six feet off the ground,
kick ass with a fire hose, kick ass
using his girlfriend as a weapon,
etc.
Well worth the two hours and
ticket price, Romeo Must Die stands
as a surprisingly good martial arts/
action film heightened by great
production values, humor, and (as
the title promises) real romance.
The Guilfordian
on the fertile land," said Reiser.
The festival, which begins
at 9 a.m. on Saturday, has a wide
variety of events planned.
From plant identification walks
to informative talks, from blue
grass jams to reggae bands, the
celebration has something for
everyone.
There will also be art mu
rals, vendors, peace games for
children, and conferences on the
potential for a Guilford College
Farm Cooperative.
"We're working in conjunc
tion with vendors and organiza
tions in the community to make
sure this event brings good
vibes, good music, and good food
to Guilford," said Jessi
Waggoner, a Guilford student
involved in the celebration.
Although the festival is free
with Guilford I.D, there is a $7
GUILFORD COLLEGE
SERENDIPITY 2000
APTURE THE FLAG (FOUNDERS)
LASER RIDES,
COfrON®ANPY;SNO-CONK,S.I®ESHMENTS '
$lO TO ENTRENCI FS FOR NITESHOWS
6:00- TtA/O DOLLAR PISTOLS
8:30- THI POTRICK B ROCK S BAND
10:00- COWBOY MOUTH
11:30- APARTMENTS PARTY
5800 W. FRIENDLY AVE, GREENSBORO, NC. 316-2301
March 31, 2000
donation requested. Fifty per
cent of the proceeds will go di
rectly to the farm endowment,
while the remaining half will go
towards an IN.JAH.I Ghana
Trod scholarship fund.
IN.JAH.I is an organization
co-founded by Reiser and
Kiliru, which specializes in
Reggae Renew-all festivals,
Rites of Passage Vision Quests,
and experiential educational
programs to Africa.
Meetings for the festival
are every Wednesday night at 9
p.m. in the Hut for students and
staff members who wish to par
ticipate in the celebration or
want to offer ideas. If you are
interested in vending or have
questions and suggestions feel
free to call either Reiser or
Riliru at 292-1188.