Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • Page 49

CONNECTICUT LIVING SECTIOjJ FRIDAY AUGUST 8, 1997 Christopher Rouse wants to rock the classical-music world I ff y. JR." "CF" 1 fe J. 7 EXCE RPTS A COLUMN BY AND FOR PEOPLE IN THEIR 20S Finding friends, along with yourself By MARC SASINSKI Special to The Courant I think we'd all agree that the coterie in NBC's hit sitcom "Friends" needs to branch out, or at least twig out a little. Yet as we snarl and jeer during those 30 minutes of perfect hair and expensive advertising, we remain voluntarily enslaved because wg're simply jealous. lZ That's right, green with invidfr.r But we don't just covet their good looks or abundance of free timeV Instead, it's the chemistry between urn, friends that really attracts Most of us can only wish for a -similar support group to guide us through our 20s a period that -defines who we are, more so than any other period in our (Whoa, no pressure there or anything!) The "Reality Bites" of it is, for 20-somethings, that true friendship is difficult to come by, and even tougher to sustain.

In high school, cliques pretty much dictate friendship. Then there's that blurry summer after your senior year when the equality of high school turns into the reality of social class distinction. Please see 7. 5 1V i ft A time, Page E3 3 Sherry Peters The Hartford Courant Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Christopher Rouse is the composer-ln-residence at Tangle wood in Lenox, Mass. Illustration by Michael Mann Special to The Courant By STEVE METCALF Courant Music Critic In olden days a major triad Would touch off a jeremiad But now, God knows, anything goes.

With apologies to Cole Porter TOCKBRIDGE, Mass. Christopher Rouse is contemplating a question about whether there are any rules whatsoever these days for writing a serious piece of music. Twisted humor, smart mouths in 'South Park' ple using every kind of stylistic language and variation imaginable." Serialism, minimalism, new-romanticism, to-talism: All of these and their variants, Rouse says, are now just out there like items on a buffet table, to be selected or passed over. "So, really, this is a wonderful time to be a composer." Considering the hostility and marginalization that has been the lot of most contemporary composers, it's possibly the first time in a number of decades that the phrase "wonderful time" has been applied to the profession. Please see Rouse's, Page E3 --He James He draws on an ugly 70-cent cigar.

"No," he says. "Not really. Anything does go. There's certainly no book that will tell you the right way to compose music. And if you look at academia and at composing competitions, there are now peo -I Endrst ON TV 1 A scdeemscen 'Conspiracy Theory' is full of holes, but paranoia prevails By MALCOLM JOHNSON Courant Film Critic "Lethal Weapon" and its sequels.

The Australian American star is playing a road warrior of sorts, a blabby cabbie with tormented memories and a paranoid's worldview. At the start, Donner underlines the madness of Gibson's Jerry el Gibson made his name and his fortune playing men of action with lunatic tend Kids say the darndest things on "South Park." And I'd really like you to hear some of them. Unfortunately, rules of decorum not to mention guidelines on obscenity at my newspaper prevent me from doing so. Outrageously entertaining, devilishly original and singularly warped, "South Park" is a new animated series from cable's Comedy Central. Sure, "South Park" (which makes its debut Wednesday night at 10), looks innocent enough.

It is, after all, a cartoon about a bunch of adorable-looking third graders. But whoa, the mouths on these kids. And talk about your bad attitudes There's Stan, the plain-spoken leader of the group, who punctuates most of his sentences with "dude" (as in "That sucks, Kyle is the lone Jew and made to suffer for it even though he's not Please see Subversive, Page E8 Fools for love Sisters compete for strange new neighbor in offbeat, amusing "Love Serenade." Please see review, Page E2 The real thing No doubt about it: "Comrades, Almost a Love Story" is a love story. Please see review, Page E5 encies. In "Conspiracy Theory," he rattles along so dementedly that some fans may be Please see 'Conspiracy, Page E8 taken aback.

This head case goes far beyond Mad Max at his craziest. 1 A I I. 1 FILM REVIEW Julia Roberts listens to the ravings of a paranoid, but finally vindicated, Mel Gibson in "Conspiracy Theory." Maniacal Mel is here teamed with a calm but finally dangerous Julia Roberts and director-producer Richard Donner, who drew out Gibson's eccentric side in Andrew Cooper Warner Bros. STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS tried-and-true conniving form as he attempts to win back Ewing Oil. Meanwhile his ex, Sue Ellen (Linda Gray), gets a bad case of the hots for brother Bobby (Patrick Duffy).

,5 if" i wmm 11,11 r- nuM-inri- i Howdy, Dee There's a new anchor on WFSB-TV, Channel 3. Dee Griffin, who joined Channel 3 on Monday, will be a co-anchor during the weekend and a reporter weeknights. Griffin was anchor of both the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts at WJBF-TV, the ABC affiliate in Augusta, before coming to Hartford. Rated for barbaric Originally shown on pay-per-view from Las Vegas on June 28, the infamous Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield heavyweight title fight will be rebroadcast by ABC (locally WTNH, Channel 8) next Thursday, Aug.

14, at 10 p.m. The three rounds that the fight lasted will be shown, and then Al Michaels and ABC boxing analyst Alex Wallau will comment on the controversy that followed. Tyson lost his boxing license and was fined $3 million after being disqualified from the fight for biting both of Molyfield's ears. Here they come again You knew It would probably happen, and now here it is: "War of the Ewings," the sequel to last year's high-rated "Dallas" reunion telepic. Starting production in Dallas Sept.

22, the latest installment of the lives of the ever-feudin' Texas clan will have J.R. (Larry Hagman) in Whatever will be, will be Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, who are celebrating 60 years as a songwriting team, will pop up on the biography of Nat King Cole that airs early next year. They taped the shows last week. Livingston and Evans, each 82, earned three Oscars (for "Buttons and Bows," "Mona Lisa" and "Que Sera and, in addition to writing many standards, penned the theme songs for the series "Bonanza" and "Mr. Ed." Comedy Central Stan, left, is the leader of the "South Park" group; Kyle is made to suffer for his Jewishness..