European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 2, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse The 8 million alcoholics a Tot of people have multiple health Ramirez says. There Are no estimates however for the number of people who lie awake at night smoking cigarettes because they Are depressed Over their drinking statistics of course when properly used Are supposed to Lead to truth and protect against falsehood. They Are a vital part of government and Industry widely used to establish policy appropriate Money Lor research and health care Market drugs and Monitor the health of the nation. The trouble though is that statistics often Are misinterpreted or misused says or. Stanley Lem show a University of Massachusetts statistician who is chairman of the american statistical association s Section on health statistics. If you Don t know How to use them they May be confusing congrats recognizing the need for accurate health data established the National Center Lor health statistics three decades ago to compile and maintain facts and figures on the nation s health the information compiled through ongoing population surveys and from birth and death records is made available to anyone who requests it. Once we release the information people can interpret it and use in in whatever manner they says Ramirez. So while Fertility experts bemoan the fact that 25 million american couples cannot conceive even after a year or More of trying to have a baby some family planning specialists applaud the fact that an estimated 10 million americans use the Pill to keep Horn getting pregnant. A number of health related organizations such As the american heart association the american cancer society and the american dental association brim with statistics of their own. Like government figures the organizations data Are Rega ded As highly author italine. The dental association in order to educate americans about the magnitude of Mouth problems says 34 million americans have advanced periodontal disease. Presumably however some of those victims Are not seeking help because the association says 12 million americans Are dental phonics so fearful of a dentist s Drill or dental anaesthesia that they avoid dentists like the plague an estimated 25 cases of Ptag a. Incidentally occurred in the United slates last year. Writers of books on health related subjects have a particular fondness for health statistics. Or. Larrian a Illespie says that despite the title other new Book you Don t have to live with cystitis. 3 million american women nevertheless do live with the ailment making this disease the most common affliction prompting women to seek medical Edward and Patricia Krimmel. Authors of the new Book tie Low blood sugar handbook say 50 million to 75 million americans have Tow blood sugar which they say causes general fatigue mental letdown and a Host of other problems whether Tow blood sugar is really a problem for most people however is one of the most controversial issues in Medico. Or. James Lance says in his new Book migraine and other headaches that 10 percent of men and 20 percent of women Are bothered by migraines. Ii we take the lower of these figures there should be in excess of 20 million people in the United Stales alone who stand to Benefit from Reading this Book says Lance whose paperback Book costs $10,95. Often the various authors cannot agree on the magnitude of suffering. Or. David f. Pardon says in his Book. Osteoporosis your head Start on the prevention & treatment of Brittle Bones that every year at least 1 million americans break Bones that would not have been broken had they not been weakened by osteoporosis. He says there Are no reliable figures on the number of cases of osteoporosis. But Wendy Scott and or. Stanley Conn say in their new Book. Osteoporosis How to prevent the Brittle Bone disease that 20 million americans have the disorder and that it is responsible for 1.3 million fractures each year. Many companies touting new products make Liberal use . The Upjohn co., which Hopes to Market soon the first government approved anti baldness treatment says or instance that 30 million american men Sutler from hair loss and Are eager forint Ormason to help untangle the facts from the fiction surrounding their condition Duth it strand san a not Battfay h out with Hight a font. Magic on the screen special effects or special defects by Vernon Scott United press International he Awe inspiring special effects of Star wars in 1978 ignited a decade of flashing strobes trick photography laser imagery and computer graphics in movies the result is a plethora of weak stories poor character development and puny human relationships As filmmakers become More intent on dazzling audiences with special effects footwork Ergo special effects have become a major and enormously profitable Industry within an Industry and in the process Are starting to seem More like special defects. George Lucas the enormously successful filmmaker is the Modem father of special effects. He created the Industrial ought and magic company to provide special effects for his films and those of other producers. Since then such special effects wizards As Richard Edlund and John Dykstra have Farmed Boss films and apogee inc., respectively to provide effects for major movies. Effects have however become a classic Case of the Tail wagging the dog moviegoer especially youngsters now Rush to see the latest cinematic magic show not a comprehensive Story with believable settings and characters. The results Are Guios busters Blade runner poltergeist allans and scores of other Freak films whose major attractions Are monsters and or effects that bedazzled the audience. Zoran Perisic is one special effects magician who says enough already. The yugoslavian bom Perisic directed sky bandits a new $18 million world War i adventure spool with limited effects mostly involving air planes. Sky bandits is a fanciful Story of How two Cowboy Bank robbers in a Flimsy Kite at a plane beat the German air Force almost single Anderly. Perisic won an Oscar for outstanding visual effects in Superman earning him the reputation As the Man who made Superman Fly. He also won an award from the movie Academy for developing the Optie special effects method. Says Peri Sec a very big ail a wagging a very Small dog when producers hire High powered affects specialists. The problem lies with most directors they Are not technically minded and they Don t know when to say Stop to the effects supervisors. The exception was Richard Donner on Superman. He Kepi he effects in Check. A lot olo of movies have succeeded because of spectacular effects. But some have bombed. Mega Lorce and the movie version of Batt Lestar a tactics proved my theory that too much of a Good thing ruins a film. They were �00 percent effects. Other producers picked up on he Success o Star wars including the James Bond Illus which slipped when they relied too heavily on effects. Effects Are most effective when used judiciously. Of a film is full of them the audience becomes jaded. Vou must save the big bang for the final reel or the film collapses. It s not always the director s fault. Spielberg has a great touch with effects but producers cry Lor More and More. If audiences get too much they can l follow the concept. So another plane crashes so what a movie requires time out for the audience to regain a sense of time and place to precondition them for the Perisic says a Good Many of today s top special effects experts started with Stanley Kubrick \n�001 a space Odyssey. He and Douglas Trumbull who also worked on 3001 Are among the handful of special effects men who have become directors. That picture provided a new generation of effects supervisors Perisic said. We nil know each other from the Kubrick school. For three years i had my own effects operation on a stage at Paramount where we turned out the greatest american hero and Deal of Trie Century personally i prefer directing to supervising effects. I d Taka to direct a picture with no effects at All. But i do have the advantage of doing effects better and cheaper than other directors. Naturally producers know this and want to take advantage of the act Perisic added. I get offers to direct cheap pictures with simple stories held together with special effects. I Don t want to see audiences overdose on the Glitz and dazzle of special effects because in the end it i. that movies can tuesday december 2, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 17
