~~ Y342 Terrace Review — Wednesday, March 6, 1991

On the Small Screen _

|Video reviews by Harrlett Fjaa

Flatliners

Starring Kiefer Sutherland,
Julia Roberts, William Bald-
win, Kevin Bacon, Produced by
Michael Douglas and Rick
Bieber. Directed by Joel
Schumacher. Rating: R. Run-
ning time: 111 minutes.

Four medical students are
struggling to make their way
through med school, Three of
them carry the scars of a
- traumatic childhood incident.

_ They have banded together to
form an elite group that is as
unique as it is dangerous.

Each of them wants to cross
the thin line between life and
death and back again to satisfy
their insatiable curiosity about
what reaf/y is on the other side.
The wonders of medical tech-
nology enable them to achieve
their goal, but the results aren’t
quite what they expected.

- Although not particularly
frightening, this movie is some-
what bizarre, with a rather
syrupy ending.
Witches

Starring Jasen Fisher, Mai
Zetterling. Produced by Mark
Shivas. Directed by Nicholas
Roeg. Rating: PG. Running
time: 92 minutes.

After his parents’ untimely -
death, young Luke (Fisher)
goes to live with his grand-
mother (Zetterling). But Luke’s
granny is no ordinary lady. For
one thing, she believes in witch-
_ es, and has.in fact, done battle
with them, so she says, when
she was a young woman,

She proceeds to educate
Luke, explaining that witches
have one goal in life — to
destroy all the children on
earth. To a witch, granny ex-
plains, a child smells like dog

Cal teens
offer to
build bus
shelter

What do Heritage Park and
Howe Creek have in common? A
dedicated group of Caledonia
Senior Secondary woodworking
students and staff who seem to
have taken a liking 0 community-
oriented projects.

Last fall, this group of teens and

teachers completed an important
link in the Howe Creek linear
park; a bridge over the creck west
of Munroe St. While these students
were working on the bridge, some
local seniors had another project in
mind. They asked city council for
sidewalks and a bus shelter on
North Sparks St. This didn’t go
unnoticed by the Caledonia group.
Thete was tittle they could do

about the sidewalk, but according:

to Caledoriia teacher Joe Murphy

they would like to build a heritage
theme bus shelter in front of Heri-
tage Park. His offer is currently
under consideration by the city.

esund

droppings.

Luke soon gets a first-hand
view of witches while on holi-
day in England, when he un- .
wittingly drops in on a witches’
convention. He overhears a
diabolical plan to eradicate all
the children in England using a
secret formula, but before he
can do much about it, the
Grand High Witch, the most
evil and witchiest of all witch-
es, turns Luke into a tiny
brown mouse.

With the help of his granny
and a new found friend, Luke
sets out to give the witches a
taste of their own medicine.
The only drawbacks to his plan
involve mousetraps, an angry

cat, a pot of boiling soup, and

being stepped on.

by Betty Barton

The New Orleans Connection
made their first appearance in
Terrace last week. To hear the
New Orleans Connection combine
the classics with American jazz is
proof that traditional jazz music
has a place in the concert hall.
Thursday and Friday students and
band members of Skeena Junior
Secondary, Kiti K’shan, Veritas,
Thornhill Elementary and Cale-
donia schools were entertained at
the R.E.M. Lee Theatre as part of
their music curriculum. Saturday
evening, the New Orleans Connec-
tion performed to an enthusiastic

audience at the Lec Theatre, as
part of the Terrace Concert series.
In addition to the freshness and
vitality of their music, this jazz
sextet of skilled professionals had
a stage presence that captured the
imagination of the audiences -
adults and children alike.

One familiar face in the group,
that of trumpet player Don Clarke,
received the most resounding
applause from the students. Last
spring, Clarke had done workshops
with School District #88 band
students, to rave reviews.

The repertoire of the New
Orleans Connection included an
extensive range of themes, starting

from the classics, Their rendition
of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik gave
new life to the fantasy of its
creator without losing any of the
characteristics endowed it by

_Mozart.

The ensemble illustrated their

versatility, transposing to the beat
of new rhythms as they played
Dixieland, swing and ragtime.

The New Orleans Connection has
quickly established itself as one of
the most exciting and polished
professional ensembles in western
Canada. Their recent concert "Live
Aid" broadcast from Budapest,
Hungary received critical praise
and acclaim by audiences. in
Europe.

rarer as at

WEDNESDAY WITH FAE

BY FAE MOONEY

Turning 40

Forty. It has been called the old age
of adolescence. I guess that means
when we tum 40 it’s time we started
to grow up.

Turning 40, Is there any significance
to it? Should there be? Does it really
mark the end of youthfulness? Is it all
over? Nowhere to go but down?

In his book called Forty, the Age and
the Symbol, Stanley Brandes writes,

-"There seems to have emerged no single age to compete with forty as .

representing the major mid-life turning point.”

For many, turning 40 does signify a turning point, or at the
very least — a change in direction. But as for a spiral that leads
only downward, no evidence suggests that this should happen. As
Mr, Brandes records: ‘‘There is, in fact, no good evidence that
reaching the age forty in and of itself produces any dramatic
alterations in physical and intellectual powers, except perhsps in
individuals who might be influenced by the belief that this age
should mark some dramatic physiological turning point.’’

Never making It

That’s very interesting. Only those individuals who believe that
this age holds some sort of dramatic — or even traumatic —
turning point are likely to experience noticeable changes in how
they feel, or perceive themselves.

And then there’s Jack Benny. It you’re old enough to admit to
being 40, then you are old enough to remember the perpetual
39-year-old,

Turning 40 seems to attract attention, at least in the popular
mind, says Brandes. ‘‘Small wonder, then, that when Jack Benny
tefused to grow older than 39, all America laughed, Like most
successful humourists, Benny had hit upon a sensitive issue in the
personal lives of his public. By openly expressing his anxiety
about reaching 40 and the fantasy of never having to do so, his
joke about aging became proverbial.”’ Jack Benny died at age 80,
never having reached 40.

Self-defeating

We can deny it, like Jack Benny, Or we can ignore it:

‘““These crazy, self-defeating ideas about age!’”’ Leo Buscaglia
has nothing good to say about the subject in his book Living,
Loving & Learning, ‘‘We’re in a society that really puts age in
such a strange place. Like all in a sudden, when you get to a cer-
tain magical age, then you’re not good for anything anymore.
Don’t let it happen! Don’t believe it...

‘There's so much you can do... You can make the decisions...
to drop these crazy, self-defeating ideas, and to be all that God
intended you to be, which is the least you can do for God. How
dare you die without becoming all that you are!”

‘“‘You’re going to be living for a long time,”’ writes Herbert J.
Freudenberger and Gail North in Women’s Burnout. “‘In fact, a
recent study... tells us that women can expect to live until eighty-
nine... What are you going to do with those years?’’ At 40, we’re
not even half-way through our lives!

The art of being ageless

Leo Buscaglia comes on strong here: ‘‘Oh, I hate this one. ‘I’m
too old for that.’ How often have you heard that I’m too old
to... We have a big thing about age. I will never tell anybody
-how old I am. I think it’s a hang up. It’s sick! Because the
minute we attach an age to you, you're supposed to. behave like

something... What do years have to do with my age? And when

_ you hear yourself saying, ‘’m too old for that,’ you’re also clos-

ing doors. You’re never too old for anything! Because age is in
your head, nowhere else.’’

Mistaken notion :
Age has nothing to do with years, says Dr. Buscaglia, It’s a
state of mind. But there is a tragedy in our society, a mistaken
notion as Norman Cousins puts it in his book, Head First, the
Biology of Hope. On age he writes, ‘“There is nothing wrong
with the desire to be active and attractive, What is terribly
mistaken is the notion that these qualities are associated almost

> exclusively with youth. The society as a whole pays a fearful

price for this error, depriving itself of a valuable resource — the
skills and experience of a large segment of the population.

“Society has yet to catch up with the fact that the prolongation
of life has been accompanied by the prolongation of productive
capacities. Adding another 25 or even more years to present life
expectations is a realistic possibility during the next
half-century.”’

Time on our hands

Well, with more than half our lifespan stretching ever-longer
before us, what are we going to do with all the opportunities that
are yet to come along?

So we’ve outlived Jack Benny. And we can expect to live well
into the next century. How are we going to live the rest of our
long lives? What great things have we yet to experience and ac-
complish?

Life begins at 40 ~-

When Walter B. Pitkin was in his fourth decade, he wrote the
best seller Life Begins at Forty. Later in his life he claimed, ‘“‘Life
after forty has been more exciting and profitable than before for-
ty.”

What was it that the poet Robert Browning wrote?

Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life,
for which the first was made. ES

“The best is yet to be.’’ Our life’s experience up to this point are
what can propel us into the rest of our life.

To quote again from Brandes’ book on Forty: “‘The popular
media continuously reinforce our sense that the age forty represents
an occupational turning point.” And it can be. ‘‘For instance, an
article about British mystery novelist P.D. James reports that
although she knew from childhood that she wanted to be a writer,
difficult economic circumstances prevented her from fulfilling her
ambition.” But Ms. James did something about it — ‘ton my 40th
birthday. 1 realized that there was never going to be a convenient
time, that another year had gone by, and still I was not a writer.”’
P.D. James became a writer. After turning 40, she began getting up
two hours earlier in the morning to allow herself time to write.

XL

Some words of advice for the 40-year-old. And the ageless. First
from Dr. Buscaglia:

“Maintain your dignity; maintain your integrity. Nobody can put
you down except you, They may see you differently, but you know
who you are, and you be that something, and with pride.’’

Take care of yourself. ‘Try to live with moderation, not ex-
cessively with extremes and excesses,’’ encourage Freudenberger
and North. Learn to pace yourself, and allow yourself time for
leisure and love as well as work and accomplishment.

Finally, remember what the Roman numerals for 40. look like:
XL. Pronounce it. Right — EXCEL. |

_ The best has not passed. The best ig yet tobe...

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Jazz quintet connects §
on first Terrace visit

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