LETTERS

Mash Notes, Hate Mail, Urgent Communiqués, Secret Messages, Thesis Pieces



From a Reader Who Should Be Very Happy With This Week's Cover: There's Always a Reason For Hot Models


Editor:


The "List Issue" story (September 15) was quite interesting. However, I must vehemently disagree with the view expressed in the piece, that one "can't possibly justify putting a hot model on the cover" of such an issue.


One can always justify the use of a hot model. Hot models are a supremely adaptable journalist resource.


In the case in point, consider the aesthetic value of writing the list categories upon the body of a comely young woman, rather than the ruled surface which was actually used. Fragments of certain categories could even have emerged enticingly from beneath her clothing.


In short, if you can't justify the use of a hot model, you're simply not trying hard enough!


Thank you,




Seth Balaban





Vegas vs. Reno vs. Real Estate vs. Social Services


Dear Editor,


Thank you for your article on the difference between Reno and Vegas (September 15, "Little Big City"). UNLV has been far too busy expanding to give a damn about the surrounding area, other than to tear it down, or to covet it for expensive situations that no righteous student should afford.


While [UNLV President Carol] Harter sits and covets Maryland Parkway and the surrounding area, their building record is suspect.


Why does no one make this school stand up to their plate? They flattened an area and did an asphalt job in the time that Steve Wynn built a casino. They built a poison building for a great deal of money, I am sure, on Swenson, right before Naples Street. No one wants to work in this building, nor could you walk by it when they were assembling it, due to the air conditioners, [because] poison was coming out. They took a beautiful example of landscape and created assembled boxes for students ... This also took an amazing amount of time. Geez ... even to paint lines on the asphalt took so much time. ... They had to do it twice. Non-students cannot use e-mail in their library. Sure, someone probably was creating a disturbance, but have they even thought about putting them out and let well-meaning residents improve themselves?


Nowadays, employment almost takes e-mail skills, but why help the community when you want to smash it down, own it and do something with it someday? Maybe put a few more evil boxes on it. UNLV does not want to be a part of the community. They do not want to help the community, unless they can write a large check in the form of a donation. And yet, when papers interview these people, they just gush all over. Is it the power? What is the problem with doing a little bit of research into their dealings? The airport purchased low-end apartments on the west side of UNLV, relocated the people and now it belongs to UNLV. So how does this accumulation of real estate work anyway?


The people of Chalet Vegas asked for UNLV police help ... again, nope. Too low-income, I am sure.


The dental college produces a service, but I do see that they moved it by UMC, so as not to see those old or poor people that are willing to keep their mouths open for a student, forever, so they can have dental care.


UNLV does not want to see the real world or any part of the world, unless it can own it. Say guys, you need to check out this bullshit expansion and the cracker boxes and costs. Screw education and your community. LET US OWN, OWN, OWN.




Bonnie J. Toadvyn





Movie Critic Josh Bell is Still Right! How Does He Do It?


Dear Mr. Bell,


My friend and I were hanging out tonight and we decided to stop at Blockbuster to rent a DVD that she needed to watch for her "Writing the Review" class in school. The movie she was supposed to watch was Crash so we picked it out and I excitedly told her, "Oh, I've heard great things about this. It's supposed to be very good."


Twenty minutes in, my friend tells me, "Man, this thing had better pick up soon."


An hour later: "I tell ya what, this movie just does not hold my interest." At the end of the film: "What the hell was that?!"


We sat around discussing the movie critically for about 20 minutes, trying desperately to grasp what we had just seen. We both knew that we had just been tricked by the mainstream cinema media, but we couldn't say why. We were confused, outraged, and ultimately extremely disappointed with the $4 and two hours that we wasted on the film.


However, we came across your review of the film in Las Vegas Weekly's May 5-11 online issue and immediately we both went, "That is exactly what I was trying to say."


Even in this brief review, I was impressed. I enjoyed your writing style. ("A racist but kindhearted beat cop" made me laugh at how absurdly Dillon's character was portrayed ... Again, my friend: "Oh come on! We're supposed to feel good about him now?")


I also think you summed the film up perfectly with the line, "By attempting to say everything about race, Haggis ultimately says nothing." My friend wishes she had thought of that.


Like Mystic River, Crash seems to ride a buzz-name director, big-time actors, and shock effect to success and respectability, despite problems with acting (Sean Penn wins an Oscar for that crap?! He was in 21 Grams the same year!), writing and a generally hackneyed feel to the project.


I applaud not only your style, but your willingness to pan a movie that most others seem ready to nominate for eight Academy Awards.


Thank you for an enjoyable read that helped me gather my own thoughts about the film.


Sincerely,




Ryan Hamley

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania





And the Follow-Up: UNLV vs. Reno: How Can UNLV Be on a Fundraising Mission?


Whoa, don't your writers read the Weekly? Last week, local programs were behind Reno due to "putting our sights on expansion." This was also an excuse for academia. Expansion (September 22, "Inventing UNLV Again") should never take the place of social programs, learning and/or the spirit of rebellion in the students.


It is all about the $$$$. The bigger this University gets, the lower the National Standards, but the richer it gets in that all-important fight for Real Estate and the Mighty Buck.




Bonnie J. Toadvyn

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