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(04/26/07 4:00am)
Music Review
Calvin Johnson
Calvin Johnson & The Sons of the Soil
3 stars
Calvin Johnson is less known for his vocals, and more for his involvement with Beat Happening in the early '80s and the band's subsequent influences, for a reason.
The Olympia native's first solo effort What Was Me was released in 2002 - on his record label, K Records - and was a compilation of tapes from his days with Dub Narcotic Sound System.
Acting as the frontman on his second full-length LP, Johnson's voice wavers at times and is oddly off-key at others, but the album manages to remain endearing.
The band backs him up admirably, providing a rousing accompaniment to "Banana Meltdown" and letting Johnson take the vocal reins at "Can We Kiss." But the band is clearly not the focus of this effort.
"Move Around" opens with minimalist, bluesy instrumentals that continue through the track and offer it a soothing air, as Johnson continuously and not coincidentally, given the name of the track, croons, "move around."
After a couple listens, "Lies Goodbye" and "Banana Meltdown" are the catchiest of the bunch.
The vocal-heavy "Can We Kiss" is comically imperfect - one gets the sense that Johnson is constantly improvising his chord progressions. While it's not an ideal candidate for continuous loop, it's an amusing track to stumble across half way through the album.
Lyrically, this record doesn't shine, but it doesn't seem like lyrical depth is Johnson's aim. As a whole, Calvin Johnson & The Sons of the Soil is an outcropping of Johnson's motto. If you just go with it, you'll enjoy his experiment.
Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.
(04/12/07 4:00am)
Music Review
Kings of Leon
Because of the Times
3.5 Stars
Kings of Leon: what you get when you mix three-part brother, two-part guitar, a cousin and an evangelical-father-led road trip across America, which inspired the title of the album.
Turns out to be a pretty good recipe: homegrown Southern fare with a hint of garage rock and seasoned with poppy melodies.
Because of the Times is the band's third album since its inception in 2000, and the album more experimental than its previous two. The Nashville-bred band plays with a harder sound and relies less on catchy melodies.
"Knocked Up," the first track on the LP, opens with the bold lyrics, "I don't care what nobody says/We gonna have a baby." Backed up a strapping guitar riff and Caleb Followill's distinctive voice, the track sets a positive tone for the rest of the effort.
"On Call" is another of the album's best tracks - Followill's lyrics and voice are showcased, lending the Kings a more mature sound. When he croons, "I'm on call/I'll be there," you might buy it.
"Charmer" boasts a grungier, garage sound as does "Black Thumbnail," in which the band is reminiscent of a Southern version of the White Stripes - not much evangelical about these two tracks.
The album falls into a slump near the middle, but its eighth track "Ragoo" gives it a much-needed shock: "Here's to the kids out there smoking in the streets/They're way too young but I'm way too old to preach," Followill sings. Promptly following "Ragoo," upbeat track "Fans" helps resuscitate the effort.
Times' final four tracks are solid and end the album on a good note - pun intended. Good thing these guys didn't leave the preaching to the pulpit.
Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.
(01/25/07 5:00am)
MUSICREVIEW
Julie Doiron
Woke Myself Up
3 stars
A name like Julie Doiron seems to promise female singer/songwriter greatness. Those four-syllables ring nicely with famous names like Joni Mitchell, Liz Phair, Rilo Kiley and more recently, Regina Spektor.
Julie Doiron's music also fits neatly into the aforementioned girls' club. A compilation of breathy vocals and acoustic rock, the album wavers between Spektor's catchy pop sound and Phair's edgier melodies.
"I Woke Myself Up" and "The Wrong City" are the LP's two best tracks. They diverge slightly from the lulling bore of the female singer/songwriter formula, which Doiron falls into in the middle of the album. In fact, if more of her tracks were exceptional, the album, on a whole, would fare better.
Still, the brand of indie rock on Woke Myself Up deserves praise for its sincerity. Doiron, who's been around since 1990, knows what she's trying to say.
Unfortunately, her latest effort won't finally catapult Doiron into notoriety. It doesn't do enough to wake its listener.
Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.
(01/25/07 5:00am)
Movie Review
"The Painted Veil"
3 Stars
Already a Golden Globe winner, "The Painted Veil" comes prepackaged with expectations of greatness. Unfortunately, like most movies whose publicity predates their wide release, it doesn't quite live up to the hype.
While the acting is commendable for the most part, some flaws in the movie's production hold it back.
At the onset, for example, the plotline moves jarringly. The memories of Kitty Fane (Naomi Watts) serve as flashbacks that are meant to bring the audience to the present. In the rush to do so, however, depth is lost. A more comprehensive treatment of the characters' histories would have made the main players more dynamic and sympathetic.
When the movie settles in at the present, the plotline grinds to an excessively sluggish pace. Luckily, the plot - however slow - is engaging, which saves "The Painted Veil" from being truly mediocre.
Based on W. Somerset Maugham's 1925 novel of the same name, the movie follows bacteriologist Dr. Walter Fane (Edward Norton) and London socialite Kitty Fane from 1920s England to Shanghai. There, an indiscretion mars the young couple's marriage and directs the plotline to a cholera-ridden town in the Chinese country.
The evolution of the Fanes' relationship serves as the main focus and lends the movie a quiet, dignified air that is its best feature and almost wholly justifies the slower pace.
Norton's established acting ability is showcased in his role as Dr. Fane. As he transitions from subtly enamored to hotly heartbroken and quietly resentful, his performance is seamless. Unfortunately, he handpicked Naomi Watts to play his counterpart, whose performance is lacking.
Watts, like her character, evolves over the course of the movie. Initially, her accent is grating, her haughty manner overdone. As the movie progresses, however, she improves with her character, fitting more aptly into the role of a kinder Kitty Fane. At the movie's end, one wishes she'd been as good from the onset.
Supporting cast members, including Watt's real-life squeeze Liev Schreiber and "Infamous" star Toby Jones, adeptly round out the talented cast.
Aesthetically, the movie excels. The Chinese background is breathtaking, the wardrobes are fitting to the times and the eerie piano solo that serves as a constant soundtrack is appropriate.
Ultimately, however, "The Painted Veil" is only slightly better than okay, which is a shame since so much anticipation has surrounded its unveiling.
Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.
(11/30/06 5:00am)
MOVIEREVIEW
"Happy Feet"
4 stars
If you normally don't find small, fluffy, giggly baby penguins adorable, there could be something wrong with you.
If you don't find small, fluffy, giggly baby penguins adorable after you've seen them dancing and singing in Warner Bros. Pictures' latest animated flick, "Happy Feet," you're a lost cause.
But the movie's appeal doesn't lie solely in the cuddly nature of its main characters. Rather, the penguins combine with a meaningful message, stimulating soundtrack and awe-inspiring visuals to produce a thoroughly enjoyable movie-going experience.
There's a reason "Happy Feet" has danced circles around Bond at the box office.
Several big-name actors lent their voices to the project. Elijah Wood gives voice to Mumble, the well-meaning penguin-protagonist whose dancing talent doesn't jibe with his community; Brittany Murphy is Gloria, Mumble's childhood friend and love interest; Hugh Jackman is Memphis, Mumble's unapproving father; Nicole Kidman is the kind Norma Jean, Mumble's mother; and Robin Williams is three very spirited penguins.
Beneath its animated facade the movie carries an important environmental message that is developed with a shrewd sense of its audiences: deeper meanings and double entendres abound.
If kids are pleased with the PG playfulness, parents will be entertained by the mature humor - think "Shrek" or "The Incredibles."
In a nutshell, the plot proceeds thus: The Emperor penguins are suffering from a fish famine. The established hierarchs pray mightily to the great penguin in the sky but to no avail. When they become aware of Mumble's unorthodox dancing, the hierarchs attribute the dearth to his pagan ways. Mumble, who we learn early on was dropped as an egg, is excommunicated and goes in search of the true reason for the scarcity of fish.
You probably won't be surprised by the culprit.
Within the archetype of the travel narrative, Mumble finds himself while in search of something far-off, which lends another layer to the well-produced movie.
All in all, it only takes an hour and 38 minutes for "Happy Feet" to impart its important messages - time enough to keep audiences off their feet and on their happy toes.
Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.
(10/12/06 4:00am)
MOVIEREVIEW
"Employee of the Month"
1.5 stars
Jessica Simpson is having a rough time of it lately: Album sales on her recently released A Public Affair have been lower than predicted, and now she's part of a movie that's going to bomb at the box office. Badly.
Because that's the only way to characterize "Employee of the Month:"
Bad. Really bad.
Simpson's acting is bad, Dane Cook's timing and presentation is bad, even Andy Dick's off-the-wall character and overwrought mannerisms are awesome - just kidding, bad.
Here's the gist: Simpson gets transferred to a new Sam's Club-esque store after having a romantic affair with the "Employee of the Month" at her last place of employment. In an effort to win her over and eventually sleep with her, comedian Dane Cook and Dax Shepard of MTV's "Punk'd" vie for the employee of the month title.
From the opening scene of the movie, audiences can rightly assume that Simpson's character Amy is going to be a one-dimensional cliche that is poorly written and poorly acted. To give Simpson dimension, therefore, producers cleverly relied on two of her other assets.
Cook, America's nicest comedian, does little to resuscitate the flailing flick as Zack, the failed dot-commer turned apathetic loser, whose job title of "box boy" is an alliterative delight.
Andy Dick is unsurprisingly nutty, and he does have some one-liners worth a chuckle, but one can't help but feel bad for the one-time funny guy who's now stuck in Simpson's latest foray into acting.
Harland Williams of "Sorority Boys" and Efren Ramirez of "Napoleon Dynamite" round out the line-up, but no amount of comedic genius can save such a poorly-written sinker.
To be fair, there are moments at which the movie produces laughter, albeit guilty laughter at so unrefined a comedy. Those moments, however, are significantly overshadowed by a general boredom.
To sum it up in as cheesy a one-liner as one might find in the film, no one involved in the creation of this movie should be nominated for employee of the month.
Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.
(09/21/06 4:00am)
MOVIEREVIEW
"The Black Dahlia"
2 Stars
On January 15, 1947, Elizabeth Short's naked and disfigured body was found in a lot south of Hollywood. Her body was halved and her face was grotesquely mutilated.
The Black Dahlia case, as it was known, was never solved.
If that sounds suspiciously like a crime-novel teaser, you may have heard of James Ellroy's acclaimed adaptation of the events, the 1987 novel "The Black Dahlia."
Riding on the heels of previous, successful adaptations of Ellroy novels such as "L.A. Confidential," Short's story has been exhumed once again for the film version of the murder-mystery case.
It should have been left to rest in peace.
The murder itself was fodder enough for an engaging plotline, but director Brian De Palma overextended the movie's reach and ended up with a jumble of plotlines and characters that only serve to muddle the film's intention.
Against the backdrop of a '40s noir film setting, Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart and Josh Hartnett desperately try to make us care about their characters, but all the acting and fiery red lipstick in the world can't save them from mediocre performances - they just don't have enough to work with.
In fact, when one of the trio is murdered, the audience is more inclined to laugh than cry. Even Oscar-winner Hilary Swank's character is too confined to the femme fatale mold to be given depth.
And her accent is grating.
Seemingly superfluous twists in the plot only serve to distract the audience and add nothing to the movie but room for inconsistency.
Even when all of the story line's loose ends are reconciled at the end of the film, and the mystery is solved - a la "The Usual Suspects" - it's too quick and neat an ending to the immensely puzzling, and at times disturbing, film.
To be fair, it's easy to see how the movie could have succeeded as an artsy adaptation of a pre-packaged thriller, but De Palma's vision just doesn't cut it - pun intended.
If the film intends to provide an answer to "the most notorious unsolved murder in California history," albeit a fictional one, it only ends up offering up a rendition as mystifying and dismembered as its namesake.
Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.
(09/14/06 4:00am)
MUSICREVIEW
Yo La Tengo
I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass
3 and 1/2 stars
Yo La Tengo's latest album is like a New York City hot dog: Its medley of ingredients is not readily discernible, but the ultimate product is delicious.
If you're comfortable with that concept, you'll at least taste I'm Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass, which boasts the band's signature eclectic mix of rock and pop that still begs comparison to The Velvet Underground.
The 15-track LP alternates between cerebral, atmospheric instrumental rock and catchy, upbeat tracks. Though you won't find any groundbreaking advancement in Yo La Tengo's sound on its 12th album, the same recipe still will delight critics and listeners.
"Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind," the album's 10-plus-minute opener, boasts an extended instrumental preface, a hallmark of the band.
Tracks two and three, at more digestible lengths, echo the band's typical style, characterized by Ira Kaplan's airy vocals, violin accompaniment and instrumental interludes.
Interestingly, iTunes lists the album's genre as "Children's Music," which one might infer from its sanguine sound, but Yo La Tengo's album is anything but simplistic.
Feel-good track four, "Mr. Tough," for example, diverges from the rest of the album and asks, against the backdrop of salsa-esque music: "Why don't you meet me on the dance floor?"
To which you might appropriately respond, "OK!"
After a roller-coaster ride of musical genres, Yo La Tengo rounds out the album with a guitar-heavy, almost 12-minute track titled "The Story of Yo La Tango."
The band's latest doesn't compare to I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One, which cemented Yo La Tengo as an undeniable force in independent music, but it's a fitting chapter in the band's story.
Despite its intimidating title, I'm Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass is worth a try - which many will agree is more than can be said for street meat.
Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.
(04/21/06 4:00am)
If you've ever enjoyed watching a diaper-clad infant prodigy try to murder his mother, you are not alone.
UNC's first Stewie Griffin Festival will be held at 9 p.m today on the Hinton James lawn.
The Residence Hall Association and the Carolina Union Activities Board are sponsoring the event, which will include a viewing of four episodes of "Family Guy," followed by the movie "Family Guy Presents: Stewie Griffin - The Untold Story."
(04/20/06 4:00am)
MUSICREVIEW
The Disco Biscuits
The Wind at Four to Fly
3 Stars
The Disco Biscuits' latest double LP is a compilation of live performances gathered after drummer Sam Altman announced he was leaving.
Altman had been with the band since its 1995 founding at the University of Pennsylvania.
The band's sixth album, The Wind at Four to Fly, therefore, is simply a collection of new takes on old songs, which would be OK.
It would be as good as Eric Clapton's Unplugged album if it touted anything more than extended versions of already overly extended tracks.
(03/30/06 5:00am)
MOVIEREVIEW
'She's the Man'
.5 Stars
The only thing emptier than the theater airing Amanda Bynes' latest attempt at acting is the movie's plotline.
"She's the Man" is a cheesy, poorly adapted take on the gender-swapping plotline of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," and Bynes does nothing to resuscitate the doomed flick.
Unlike "10 Things I Hate About You," loosely based on the Bard's "Taming of the Shrew," "She's the Man" doesn't succeed in adapting archetypal plotlines to modern sensibilities. And bad acting is this movie's downfall.
(02/28/06 5:00am)
Today marks a homecoming of sorts for Tola Oguntoyinbo.
A reception at 6 p.m. in the Student Union art gallery will feature the work of the UNC graduate student, whose first art show appeared in the gallery more than a decade ago when he was an undergraduate.
"I'm about to graduate, so who knows if I'll be there again for a long time," he said.
"For me, it's kind of a personal thing because I showed there so long ago. It's kind of like closing up on that."
But don't expect to discern any nostalgia in the artwork. Oguntoyinbo said his exhibition "Odds: Ends" doesn't display a concrete message or overt storytelling.
"If there's any message that I really try consciously in my pictures . I like people to feel positive," he said.
The exhibit features mixed media, including xylene-based paint pens - an opaque medium designed for non-porous surfaces - and acrylic paints. Each piece is painted on a used door rather than canvas.
"I used to use a lot of purples and a lot of blue and a lot of greens, and that was pretty much it," he said.
"I think I've moved away from that a bit by trying to be a little more balanced."
Other aspects of Oguntoyinbo's artwork also have evolved since his initial showing at the gallery.
"I think my style has changed a lot," he said.
"It's kind of tough to explain, but it has definitely advanced. I think the older you get, the more complex your work gets."
Oguntoyinbo also said that perfection has become less important as his style has evolved and his expectations of himself as a person and artist have changed.
"I think it shows a lot more as far as you can see the point of where I started on the work sometimes."
In addition to his exhibitions at the Union, Oguntoyinbo has showed his paintings at Carrboro's Open Eye Caf
(01/26/06 5:00am)
MOVIEREVIEW
'Glory Road'
4 Stars
"Glory Road" is wrapped in all of the clich
(01/25/06 5:00am)
The co-creator of VH1's highly rated TV show "Pop-Up Video" spoke at the Student Union auditorium on Tuesday about "demystifying the rock star mythology."
Tad Low, one of the men responsible for the pop-culture phenomenon, talked about celebrity and the show's origins.
"They weren't used to this type of treatment," he said of the celebrities who fell prey to the show's smarmy commentary.
Low's speech was presented by the Carolina Union Activities Board's social commentary committee and was attended by about two dozen people. The event was preceded by a 30-minute screening of the show.
Low said he came up with the idea for "Pop-Up Video" after listening to countless stories about Mariah Carey's antics during shoots, which were provided by his good friend - who happened to be the pop star's stylist.
"The stories of how she acted on the set are horrifying and mesmerizing," he said. "She's the impetus behind the whole show."
Initially, VH1's parent company, Viacom, was hesitant to adopt the show, Low said. The company, which also owned Blockbuster, contended that people didn't like to read, as shown by the lack of popular interest in foreign films.
After some convincing, however, VH1 gave Low and his team $3,000 to produce the pilot.
VH1's "Pop-Up Video" debuted in October 1996. The new show featured "info-nuggets," which literally popped up on the bottom of the TV screen, providing biographical information about the individual artists and a behind-the-scenes look at the video's production.
"At the time, VH1 was a super-big loser channel," Low said.
"Pop-Up Video" received up to five times the ratings of other VH1 shows and revived the fledgling station, he said.
By the time the show's regular run ended in 2002, it had spawned copycats and parodies. NBC's "Today" even did a piece on the wildly popular show, which Low screened for the audience.
Mae Karwowski, chairwoman of CUAB's social commentary committee, said Low's speech was one of the committee's more lighthearted presentations.
"We wanted to do something that commented on pop culture and was entertaining at the same time," she said.
Low said "Pop-Up Video" was the first show that took less of a "fawning" approach to celebrities. He said there had been an agreement between the media and celebrities not to air negative information - "a secret handshake in the industry."
"We weren't playing by those rules," he said. "We just went for it."
Contact the A&E Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
(01/19/06 5:00am)
MOVIEREVIEW
"Casanova"
3 Stars
After Casanova's mother leaves her son to chase the love of her life, Casanova's grandmother consoles him and bestows upon him priceless wisdom: Libidinous love runs in the family blood.
To Casanova (Heath Ledger) and contemporary college males alike, that serves less as a consolation and more as a justification for promiscuity.
And Francesca Bruni (Sienna Miller), the latest object of his affection, sees through Casanova's justification.
(11/11/04 5:00am)
"The curse of the Dean Dome" might sound odd to some.
(10/28/04 4:00am)
Raymond Raposa is searching for something in this Cathedral.