'Oz,' 'Dark Side' shown together for public

Since "Dark Side of the Moon" debuted in 1973, it has been debated whether Pink Floyd purposely wrote the album to line up with the film "The Wizard of Oz." On Saturday night, the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, in conjunction with the Ryder Film Series, showed them together.\nUpon watching this combination, one might be inclined to say the links between the movie and the film are purely coincidental. \nFreshman Steven Kramer and his friends used to talk about the combination when Kramer was in high school. \n"We always wanted to try it, but just never did," he said. "I'm glad I got the opportunity to see it at least once."\nThe film showing brought in college students, high school students and a few older couples. At 10:30 p.m., the theater was not very full, but everyone was chatting about the film and was interested to see what was in store. \nBut not everyone stayed through the entire movie. People seemed to be in and out, as if the movie didn't hold their attention. The film is just more than an hour-and-a-half in length, while the album is only about 42 minutes long. \nKramer commented on observing that the album played two-and-a-half times in order to span the entire movie.\n"I didn't think the album would play so many times. I guess I didn't realize how short the album was," he said.\nOther viewers found the actual screening to not quite meet their expectations. Sophomore Kim Cook was not sure what to expect from the combination. After the film, however, she had a very different perspective. \n"It didn't line up as well as I thought it was going to. There were times when it was really funny, but other times, it was just OK," she said.\nAt times, viewers found themselves trying to read what the characters were saying, as other would sit back and listen to the music -- much as if it were a music video for the album. Cook commented on the effect that this synchronization had on her.\n"My favorite part was when Auntie Em and Dorothy were arguing with Miss Gulch over Toto," she said. "The music lined up really well there. A character would always turn their head or something on the accent of the music. That was great."\nTo see the phenomenon of "The Wizard of Oz/Dark Side of the Moon," there are many Web sites (http://www.rareexception.com/Garden/Floyd/Floyd.php, for example) with instructions on how to do it and what versions of the movie and album are best. There are also Web sites that explain which scenes in the movie line up with certain lyrics on the album.