The Daily Tar HeelFriday, January 15, 19887
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DTHJulie Stovall
Heather Weideman rides her mountain bike to class from her apartment on Airport Road
Students conquer all terrains
with the help of mountain bikes
By LEIGH PRESSLEY
Staff Writer
As many UNC students trudge
through snow and slip over
ice, some rely on their
mountain bikes to get them where
they need to go.
As the newest rage in bicycles,
mountain bikes resemble conven
tional 10-speed bicycles but allow
the rider to travel over a variety of
challenging surfaces.
Chuck Briggs, a technician at Per
formance Bicycle Shop of Carrboro,
said much of the mountain bike's
allure is its adaptability.
MYou can ride it to work or to
school," Briggs said. "On the week
ends you can go off-road riding
where road bikes are inaccessible."
Mountain bikes originated in the
hilly country along the West Coast,
and their popularity has spread
across Jjiefiation to the steep roads
and trails around Chapel Hill.
Dave Witten, owner of Chapel
Hill Cycle Shop, said the mountain
bikes were custom-made for people
who saw the need for "a good,
rugged bike for commuting."
A smaller frame, wider tires and
generally 18 gears, combined with
stronger construction, make the
mountain bike a better all-terrain
bike than the traditional 10-speed.
The frame is angled so that the
rider can ride sitting upright instead
of leaning over in a sometimes
uncomfortable position.
Tucker Stevens, a junior history
major from Allentown, Pa., said he
thought mountain bikes were much
more comfortable to ride than regu
lar road bikes.
"You have more ease and more
balance with these bikes," Stevens
said. "You have a low center of
gravity when you lean over on a 10
speed." Billy Thomas, a senior economics
major from Charlotte, has had his
mountain bike for almost four years.
"They're a lot easier to ride
because the tires are bigger and they
have hand brakes instead of pedal
brakes," Thomas said.
The wheels of mountain bikes are
generally 26 inches high, while regu
lar road bikes sit 27 inches from the
ground. Heavily treaded tires that
are 2.5 times wider than road bikes
were designed to withstand the
shock of rough surfaces.
John Jester, a sophomore English
major from Greensboro, said he
liked to challenge the rugged con
struction of his mountain bike.
"You can go around curves and
across rough trails without popping
the tires," he said. "We even go
down the stairs."
Briggs said that the bike's durabil
ity made the mountain bike suitable
for treks up steep hills and across
rough terrains.
Most mountain bikes cost any
where from $300 to $500.
Briggs said maintenance, includ
ing oiling and cleaning the bike, is
relatively easy.
It should be stated from the outset
that Steven Spielberg's latest film,
"Empire of the Sun," is enjoyable.
This does not, however, make it
particularly good.
The film is based on J.G. Ballard's
much-acclaimed autobiographical
novel, but it contains little of the
book's grit or bleak nature, which has
never been Spielberg's forte. What is
Spielberg's forte is the telling of a
good story something that is
noticeably absent here.
The outbreak of World War II in
Shanghai is the film's initial concern,
in particular the out-stayed welcome
of the city's British contingent of
which the film's star is a part. Jamie
Graham (Christian Bale) is the
airplane-loving, precocious young
son of a wealthy British family. He
has never lived in Britain (not that
one would tell from his accent) and
has had a very protected childhood.
It isn't until the Japanese launch a
full-scale invasion that the Brits
realize their time is up. Spielberg
makes much of this realization and
highlights the vast differences
between the British country-club
lifestyle and the real Shanghai that
is about to be devastated.
Obviously the British have to leave,
and in the chaos, Jamie gets separated
from his parents and is left behind.
Spielberg thrives on this and creates
an atmosphere in which the audience
expects a Young Boy's Adventure
Tale to unfold but, apart from a
few pointless chases, it never does.
Jamie eventually winds up at an
internment camp where he becomes
the savior of many who can no longer
fend for themselves. He makes sure
people get their rations, helps out in
the hospital and exchanges scarce
goods (such as cigarettes and shoes)
for those daring enough to take the
chance.
The camp is filled with characters,
few of whom amount to anything.
This is partly due to the fact that
Jamie is on screen 95 percent of the
time. Playwright Tom Stoppard is
credited with the screenplay, in which
people appear and disappear ineffec
tually. Their significance, one sup
poses, is the way in which they are
able or unable to shape Jamie's life,
and to emphasize the contrast
between the ways adults and young,
carefree boys respond to the threat
of the Japanese.
Miranda Richardson plays the
Richard Smith
Cinema
constantly-ill, pasty-faced Mrs. Vic
tor who, together with her husband,
becomes Jamie's unwilling guardian.
Jamie is too much for them he's
too much for everyone except the
audience and Mrs. Victor gives the
boy painful, withering glances that
make up for her lack of anything to
say or the strength to say it.
Nigel Havers plays Dr. Rawlins,
another character allowed to drift
insignificantly. He tries to educate
Jamie with Latin and literature, a task
that comes to a head during an
American attack on the camp when
Havers screams at him, "Try not to
think so much!"
John Malkovich is the splendid
Basie, an American sailor who always
gets on the right side of the law so
that he can take advantage of it, and
he's the person who has the most
influence on the boy. Jamie hero
worships him, and they develop a
relationship akin to Fagin and the
Artful Dodger; Jamie serves him
largely by pilfering, though comes
close to endangering his own life on
occasion. Even so, the relationship is
not strong enough for the audience
to share in Jamie's grief when Basie
lets him down.
The difficulty here is that these
characters clearly do affect the boy,
but the extent to which he's affected
is mostly left to the interpretation of
unreadable expressions on faces and
flowery music.
The direction of the film is often
confusing and jumpy. Spielberg
creates a sense of community life at
the camp but does not give any insight
into the horrors of such a place or
the terror . experienced when the
attacking Americans actually strike.
The real problem, though, is that little
really seems to happen; and when it
does, Spielberg leaves us in no doubt
that something is happening. There
is a sense of over-direction that rarely
leaves the screen.
Jamie's fascination with airplanes
builds to an obsession of absurdly
religious proportions at times, a
feeling aided considerably by the
music. The score is (of course) written
and conducted by John Williams, and
despite moments in which one fully
expects angels to descend from
heaven, it is rather fine and includes
some beautiful themes, especially the
opening hymn, "Suo Gan."
But when the war is winding down
and the camp is all but destroyed,
Spielberg really goes astray and the
film stumbles to an not-unexpected
but overdone conclusion.
Despite all the problems, "Empire
of the Sun" is still enjoyable. Pho
tography by Allen Daviau ("E.T.")
ensures that the film is visually
impressive, but much of the movie's
appeal lies in the young English star-in-the-making,
Christian Bale. He is
directed superlatively, and that he
more than carries off such a demand
ing role is very much to his, and
Spielberg's, credit.
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933-9249
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A COMEDY OF
SC&: Truly Loony Proportions, -
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DanAykroyd
Charles Grodin
Walter Matthau
Donna Dixon
A MICHAEL RITCHIE FILM
A LAWRENCE CORDON PRODUCTION
DANAYKROYD CHARLES GRODIN "THE COUCH TRIP" DONNA DIXON RICHARD ROMANUS DAVID CLENNON ARTE CROSS
and WALTER MATTHAU as "Becker"
? CORDON A. WEBB "1? RICHARD A. HARRIS SIS DONALD L THORIN. ut KEN KOLB
LAWRENCE GORDON
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Mil 1 9uwj ccnrtniK
it STEVEN KAMPMANN.WILL PORTER - SEAN STEIN
E MICHAEL RITCHIE rrinuDtiu
STARTS
TONIGHT!
1TMYS K1D
HIT
77
THE
NO ONE UNDER 17
"WE'VE NEVER LAUGHED HARDER.
TEARS RAN DOWN OUR CHEEKS!"
Gene and Roger
TOM SELLECK TED DANSON
. STEVE GUTTENBERG
SSAT rvi
BEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR
HAS ARRIVED, s
Peter leavers,
PEOPLE MAGAZINE
WILLIAM HURT
M ML
HOLLY HUNTER
ALBERT BROOKS
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WINNER OF THE NEW YORK FILM CRITICS' CIRCLE AWARDS
FOR BEST PICTURE, BEST ACTRESS, BEST DIRECTOR
AND BEST SCREENPLAY.
TWO THUMBS UP!
A WONDERFUL TIME AT THE MOVIES-
CHER IS ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT
The funniest American comedy in years... We loved it!"
-Gene Siskcl & Roger Ebert. SISKEL & EBERT &THE MOVIES
"'MOONSTRUCK' IS IRRESISTIBLE...
A happy romantic comedy... A movie to Cherish."
-Gene Sh. NBC-TV TODAY SHOW
w "IT'S PERFECT..
: " WHAT A SWEET
WONDERFUL FILM!"
-loel Sfgel ABC TV
" FOUR STARS!
HOPELESSLY ROMANTIC.
-Chrs Chase. NEW YORK OILY NEWS
"MOONSTRUCK'
IS ENCHANTING...
Inventively writtea wittily scored
and seductively photographed..
jewison does his best work in decades.
Cher has never been so engaging?
-David Ansen. NEWSWEEK
"A CHARMING
SCREWBALL COMEDY!"
-Joseph Cctrms. NEWSDAY
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