Features Editor:
LisaToth
lisatoth@dailyemerald.com
Bored with music news? ‘Get over If
Columnist Dave Depper has more than CDs
on his mind — how about movie reviews?
Read it at www.dailyemerald.com
Thursday, February 7,2002
20-year-old
animation
re-blasts off
nime has been on American TV
far longer than the “Pokemon”
-Z. A.wave of the mid-1990s. In the
1960s, “Mach Go Go Go” was brought
here as “Speed Racer.” The 1970s saw
the American release of the first of the
Japanese “big three” sci-fi epics:
“Uchuu Senkan (Space Battleship)
Yamato” as “Star Blazers.” “Robot
ech,” in 1985, brought a new group of
fans to anime.
Now, within six months of each oth
er, the other two “big three” shows
have made their official debuts in
America: “Gundam” and “Macross.”
Yes, Macross was released back in
1985 as the first part of “Robotech,”
which was an attempt to meld three
shows together into one. But until
now, Americans have been denied the
chance to see the series that helped be
gin the current in
terest in anime
here in its original
form.
It is the year
2009. For 10 years,
humanity had
worked on repair
ing a mysterious
alien warship,
which crash-land
ed on a remote is
land south of
Japan. Unbe
knownst to Earth,
the warship is just
one vessel in
volved in a massive galactic war. Dur
ing the gala launch celebration, includ
ing a demonstration of the “Valkyrie”
mecha (a fighter plane capable of trans
forming into a humanoid robot), aliens
attack Earth, intent on destroying the
vessel. So begins the story of “Chou
Jikuu Yousai (The Super Dimension
Fortress) Macross,” a classic, 20-year
old Japanese anime show.
The show, plotted by Ken’ichi Mat
suzaki and Shoji Kawamori, juxtapos
es the gigantic scale of space warfare
, (pitting our heroes’ one ship against a
fleet of four million) with the intimacy
of a love triangle.
Animeigo, Inc., dyed-in-the-wool
otaku (anime fanatics) and a company
which specializes in anime classics,
including “Bubble Gum Crisis,” “Uru
sei Yatsura (Those Obnoxious
Aliens)” and “Waga Seishun no Arca
dia (Arcadia of My Youth),” took the
best part of two years to work on the
TV series, and it definitely shows.
Harmony Gold (the prime offenders
in Robotech) supplied Animeigo with
the original TV broadcast film for
“Macross” that it still had in a Los An
geles film vault. The first task that the
set’s producer, Shin Kurokawa, set
himself to was to clean the original
stock of the grime and dirt that every
film accumulates over time.
Not only are the colors of the show
more vibrant than ever before, but the
restoration team also eliminated most
frame jitter and all splice lines.
The dialogue in “Macross” is light
years away from what it was in “Ro
botech” and should give a whole new
dimension to the characters for those
who have seen only “Robotech.” The
Turn to Anime, page 7
Thomas Patterson Emerald
Actress Maggie Tryk steams up the rehearsal room while performing a very frank soliloquy from “The Vagina Monologues. ”
These lips are made for talkin’
■ Profits from “The Vagina Monologues”
will benefit local women’s organizations
By Mason West
Oregon Daily Emerald
Feb. 14 is no longer just Valentine’s Day. It
is “V-Day” — standing for victory, valentine
and vagina.
The reinvention of Valentine’s Day is
thanks to playwright Eve Ensler’s revolution
ary play, “The Vagina Monologues.” First
performed in 1996, the play had gathered so
much attention by 1998 that Ensler decided
to establish a day to bring attention to ending
violence against women.
Windy Borman, performing arts coordina
tor for the UO Cultural Forum, is directing
“The Vagina Monologues,” in its third year
at the University.
“The Vagina Monologues” will be per
formed at 8 p.m. Feb. 13-15 in the Robinson
Theatre. Tickets are $7 for students and $10
general admission and can be purchased at
the UO Ticket Office. Borman said the Uni
versity has been able to produce the show be
cause of a 1999 “V-Day” expansion program
that allows “The Vagina Monologues” to be
performed on college campuses during Feb
ruary without royalties as long as all profits
are donated to local organizations to end vio
lence against women.
According to the Web site, www.vday.org,
more than 65 campuses participated in the
first year. That number has now grown to
more than 540.
“This is such a great gift because Ensler
realizes the message is so important,” Bor
man said.
Proceeds from this year’s production will
go to benefit Sexual Assault Support Ser
vices, Womenspace, Saferide and Night Ride.
Borman said “The Vagina Monologues”
and “ V-Day” are important ways to empower
women by breaking the stigma surrounding
the word “vagina.”
“She (Ensler) has experienced acts of vio
lence in her life and just got tired of the
shame, guilt and disconnection women have
with their vaginas,” Borman said. “She want
ed to break open the mystery. ”
Ensler began work on “The Vagina Mono
logues” by interviewing more than 200
women about their vaginas and issues sur
rounding them, Borman said.
As the play says, “Women secretly love
to talk about their vaginas. They get very
Turn to Monologues, page 8
String quartet turns classical music on its ear
■ Turtle Island String Quartet
mixes genres to create its own
Latin-flavored musical style
By Jen West
Oregon Daily Emerald
String instruments are usually
placed in the classical music category.
But by infusing classical music with
Latin jazz, pop, R&B and folk styles,
the Turtle Island String Quartet pro
duces a sound that breaks with the
conventional uses of its instruments.
The Turtle Island String Quartet
will perform at 7 p.m. Feb. 10 at the
Hult Center for the Performing Arts.
Tickets are $18 to $26 for the general
public and $14 for youth and stu
dents, and they are available at the
Hult Center Box Office or on the Inter
net at www.hultcenter.org.
Cellist Mark Summer and violinist
David Balakrishnan founded the quar
tet in 1986, and soon after, they added
violists Danny Seidenberg and Evan
Price. The name of the quartet comes
from an ancient Native American term
for the North American continent,
Summer said.
“It was David’s brainchild,” Sum
mer said. Balakrishnan composed the
music for his masters thesis at Anti
och University West, but there wasn’t
a group to play the music, he said, and
“I was looking for a way to express
myself.”
He said Turtle Island is creating its
own style of music using the musi
cians’ favorite styles.
“It’s something totally different than
what you’ve heard in either jazz or
classical music,” said tour manager
Christopher Joy.
He said the string quartet’s form,
which was originally rigid and classic,
has been turned into something new.
“There are different ways of playing
Turn to Quartet, page 7
Courtesy photo