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(04/19/06 12:00pm)
Last Tuesday, a packed crowd in the Packer Hall gymnasium was treated to an evening of comedy headlined by Pablo Francisco. The show also featured former "Saturday Night Live" cast member Dean Edwards.
Students and visiting friends lined up outside the door more than 20 minutes before the event, many of them eager to see Francisco live for the first time. It was not his first visit to the College. Francisco's last appearance was in 2003.
In the last 10 years, Francisco recorded three live comedy CDs, "A Knee to the Groin," "Sausage" and "Pablo 3." He recently released a DVD called "Bits and Pieces," recorded during an Orange County stand-up performance.
He is perhaps best known for his appearances on Comedy Central, energetic, rapid-fire style of sound effects and his pop culture references.
For his routine, Francisco launched almost immediately into his most famous voice - the "movie trailer announcer," who deeply and dramatically promotes upcoming films ("Jackie Chan IS.").
The dead-on voice is not only useful for mocking current movies, but has brought him an extra job. Since using the voice in his act, he has recorded trailers and commercials for TBS and Comedy Central.
The audience was both amused and impressed by his ability to channel the voice, while also providing a wide array of movie sound effects like punches, twangy music and a human heartbeat.
Francisco also performed a lot of risqu? sexual humor. In one bit, he talked about Captain Cockblock, a superhero dedicated to preventing his friends from having sex. He also imitated love-making between celebrities, cartoon characters (Droopy Dog and Mr. Magoo will not be burned out of the audience's brains anytime soon).
In one of his funniest jokes, Francisco listed songs that are nearly impossible to have sex to, such as "Monster Mash" and "Tequila." He tackled current events with a "Brokeback Mountain" parody set in the 'hood - "out of the closet, into the streets," he said.
Francisco performed popular older routines, such as his horror-movie spoof ("Is someone there? Billy? I'm gonna get naked and take a shower!") and his imagined trailer for an Arnold Swarzenegger action movie called "Little Tortilla Boy."
Edwards interacted with the crowd in a semi-improv style and some college-themed humor.
He mined a variety of subjects for material, including the repetitiveness of rap music videos (put them on mute and you can watch "one long video" for an hour), the rules of men's restrooms (e.g., standing one urinal apart), and advice for myspace.com photos (his member name is DeanEdwards1, if you'd like to put him in your Top Eight).
Edwards joked about the cheapness of the gymnasium venue. He elicited cheers from the audience by giving one of the microphone stands to a student and insisting, "This is yours! Take it!" because of the overpriced $14,000 tuition. He amended the statement afterward, saying, "Don't say I told you to."
Appropriate for a Francisco crowd, however, Edwards got the most laughs out of celebrity impersonations, including Chris Rock, Denzel Washington, Jay-Z and an incoherent, drowsy version of rapper 50 Cent.
Although the word hilarious was heard quite a bit after the show, not all the audience members were long-time Francisco fans.
"I had never heard of him before," admitted Lindsay Knight, junior English major and member of College Union Board (CUB), which sponsored the event. "I thought he was hilarious," she said.
All three comedians stuck around after the show to sign autographs, take cell phone pictures and talk to their fans.
Asked how the college experience compares to smaller clubs, Francisco said, "It's fun because you don't stay all week. You just come down, meet all the people."
Francisco also said he prefers colleges to small clubs, because he can perform in front of "a thousand people instead of like 200."
Francisco named his "brother's tape recorder" as his inspiration for comedy - he honed his talents at a young age watching late-night comedians and imitating their routines.
"He was really awesome, hilarious," Lauren Paris, junior elementary education/Spanish major, said. "I loved his imitations."
Arun Gurunathan, freshman biology major, agreed that the imitations were a highlight. "The voices were amazing," he said. "So he was funny and also really talented."
(02/08/06 12:00pm)
Someone should throw Michigan J. Frog a retirement party.
The amphibian mascot of the WB will hang up his top hat this September when the network joins forces with UPN to become "The CW."
Both channels, so-called "baby networks," formed in 1995 and found unique but relatively small programming niches.
UPN is usually associated with the otherwise underrepresented African-American demographic; by my count, there are nine current network shows starring black characters, and eight are on UPN.
The WB shifted its focus to youth (and guilty-pleasure-loving older viewers) following its success with shows like "7th Heaven," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Dawson's Creek."
But the WB's highest-rated show pulls in about 3.5 million Nielsen viewers a week, slightly more than UPN, compared to the over 25 million viewers who tune into CBS' "CSI" or FOX's "American Idol."
In fact, it's often been the case that the lowest-rated shows on a channel like NBC still rank higher than almost every show on the WB or UPN.
At least part of this gap is caused by the fact that not all local affiliates carry both stations, and some carry neither.
This is meant to change next fall, as spokespersons announced on Jan. 24. Dawn Ostroff, the former head of UPN, was named the CW's entertainment president, overseeing a 50/50 staff pulled together from both networks.
By bringing together their most valuable assets, the networks hope to follow in the footsteps of FOX in the 1990s and become credible ratings competition.
The merge leaves some current programs facing an uncertain future, but the CW has already announced its adoption of several key WB and UPN shows next season, including hits like "Smallville," "Gilmore Girls" and "America's Next Top Model," as well as less-appreciated critical favorites like the teen-noir "Veronica Mars" and Chris Rock's autobiographical sitcom "Everybody Hates Chris."
Also likely to survive the move are the Ashton Kutcher-produced reality series "Beauty and the Geek" and UPN's pro-wrestling staple "WWE Smackdown."
Space is being saved for a few new shows, such as a new drama from "Dawson's Creek" creator Kevin Williamson and a "Smallville" spinoff based on the comic book hero "Aquaman."
And for those wondering about the name - CW stands for the two networks' parent companies, CBS Corp. and Warner Brothers, not "could work," as some have joked.
The new channel does not yet have an official logo, but that dancing frog is still looking for work.
(11/30/05 12:00pm)
The most famous song of the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical "Rent" asks how to measure a year, and the answer is through "love." I've decided that if I'm disappointed with the Broadway show's movie adaptation, it's largely because I'm measuring it by my love for the original.
Written by the late Jonathan Larson and adapted for the screen, "Rent" is loosely based on the 19th century opera "La Boh?me" and focuses on the friendship, love and counter-culture spirit of seven New Yorkers in 1990, four of whom are living with AIDS.
The movie begins on Christmas Eve with unemployed filmmaker Mark (Anthony Rapp) and musician Roger (Adam Pascal) facing eviction. A girl downstairs named Mimi asks Roger for a candle match, and he is instantly charmed by her (through song!). Meanwhile their former roommate Collins (Jesse L. Martin) is beaten and mugged (thankfully not through song) and finds help from Angel (Wilson Jermaine Heredia), a cheerful street drummer and amateur drag queen. Collins and Angel quickly fall in love, as do Roger and Mimi.
The movie features most of the original Broadway stars, with newcomers Rosario Dawson as Mimi and Tracie Thoms as pro-bono lawyer Joanne. The recognizable Taye Diggs appears as Benny, a former friend of the gang who sold out and became their homeless-hating landlord.
There are plenty of reasons to enjoy "Rent" right now. The musical wears its anti-corporate politics on its sleeve, and counters dark subject matter with touching, casual portrayals of gay and lesbian romance alongside straight couples. The rocky relationship between fierce, sometimes obnoxious Maureen and straightlaced Joanne ("I hate mess but I love you," she sings) is actually expanded in the movie to include a marriage proposal, so their sexy, angry duet "Take Me or Leave Me" is set at their own engagement party. "Rent" has humor, tragedy and memorable music with profound lyrics like "The opposite of war isn't peace - it's creation," and there's no one in the cast who doesn't have insane vocal talent and an energetic attitude on camera.
Sometimes the film's visuals bring the show to life: Mimi giving her party-girl soliloquy "Out Tonight" while performing at a strip club, the Mark/Maureen/Joanne love triangle expressed in a tango dream sequence, Collins singing the seductive "Santa Fe" while dancing around a New York City subway.
But elsewhere, director Chris Columbus' adaptation suffers from juggling gritty realism (heroin montage!) and overdone musical moments. Can someone explain why the title anthem "Rent" ends with an angry mass of Bohemians throwing flaming garbage out of their apartment windows? They started those fires to keep warm in the freezing December weather, but suddenly avoiding pneumonia seems less important than making a statement against The Man. Then there's Roger and Mark's number about their restlessness in America, as Roger heads west and sings on top of the Grand Canyon, hair blowing in the wind. It's supposed to be majestic, but instead looks sort of like a Creed video.
Fans will notice some of Larson's greatest counterpoints and harmonies have been cut, each song confined to a handful of characters in one location. Ironically, translating the one-set play to the limitless world of cinema makes it seem smaller. The film opens with the entire cast on a barren stage, singing directly at the audience - even Columbus knows that's where they really belong.
In spite of these problems, "Rent" is worth seeing for the value of its music and message. It wasn't written to be a movie, but for those who can't make it to Broadway, this is the next best way of seeing a modern classic.
(10/19/05 12:00pm)
In the 1970s, Iran's government fell in a communist revolution, and shortly after, was overtaken by an Islamic theocracy. For the so-called "Western world," it is sometimes easy to divide such a nation into backward fundamentalists and helpless victims.
Enter Marjane Satrapi, a smart and free-spirited little girl who talks to God and uses her imposed veil to play dress-up games with her friends. Introduced on the first page of "Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood," a candidly autobiographical graphic novel, Satrapi's cartoon narrator might be the most personal, human face the non-Iranian world has seen since the revolution.
Born in 1970, Satrapi witnessed Iran's cultural revolution and devastating war with Iraq in her childhood.
Before the revolution, her family was part of the upper-middle class and well-educated. She grew up in a liberal household in the middle of a mixed-ethnicity district in Tehran.
As "Persepolis" and her other books reveal, Satrapi left Iran alone at the age of 14 in 1984. After living abroad and studying in Austria, she returned and departed again by the time she was 24. She has not gone back since the publication of her book, which is banned in Iran.
Satrapi's books are a mixture of major historical events seen through Satrapi's eyes as a child, and the more universal story of a rebellious young girl discovering boys, cigarettes and punk rock.
The revolution and war's aftermath hit Satrapi tragically close to home - the bombing of her neighbor's house and the execution of her uncle - but she still maintains humor and a believable, childlike tone.
Satrapi has lived and worked in Italy, Germany and Austria, and is a citizen of France, where her books were originally published.
This international lifestyle has made Satrapi sensitive to the idea of communication across cultures. Her stark black-and-white artwork is an attempt to find a universal, visual language.
Though critics have called her work wise, funny and poignant, Satrapi is accustomed to people not taking it seriously at first glance. She says that a graphic novel is as much a book as any genre - "pages put together, it has a cover, you can read it," - she said.
While Satrapi remains tight-lipped about her upcoming book, "Chicken and Plums," she will talk about her current project - an animated movie adaptation of "Persepolis" due in 2007, which she is writing and directing.
Eden Casalino, freshman music major, said she and her classmates were surprised at first by the summer reading choice. "When we first looked at the book, we said, 'What the heck? This is a cartoon,'" she said. "But as we read it, we realized it was more complex. The pictures just added images to the story."
Maya Eilam, senior English major, also said she is a fan of Satrapi's work. "I liked 'Persepolis' because it's such a personal story, but she writes and draws in a way that everyone can understand and relate to."
This is, in fact, Satrapi's motivation for writing. Her goal, she said, was to make her characters "human, not Iranian," and her childlike artwork completed this effect.
Images of a character smiling or crying are more effective than words alone in conveying human emotion that transcends language, Satrapi said.
(10/12/05 12:00pm)
In the 25th century, astronauts are cowboy-like pioneers who carry old-fashioned pistols and occasionally swear in Chinese. Such was the idea behind "Firefly," the failed TV show that's now the basis of a full-length movie.
"Serenity" is the directorial debut of screenwriter Joss Whedon, the fanboy hero who created "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" (TV shows based on a failed movie - maybe it's the circle of life). His latest story is a fun, comic book-style adventure worth checking out by fans and newbies alike.
The hero of the story is Captain Mal (Malcolm, nicknamed Mal) Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) of Serenity, a cargo ship that is literally falling apart in the sky. Mal is his generation's Han Solo, a no-good rebel who is secretly an honorable man. His crew of petty thieves and criminals is usually being pursued by uptight agents of The Alliance and by the disfigured Reavers, a roving pack of merciless cannibals who represent the closest thing here to an alien race.
The movie's other central character is River (Summer Glau), a 17-year-old rescued from the clutches of the government by her brother, Serenity's doctor. River is a frightened, graceful waif with more strength than a dozen grown men (Whedon Fixation number 1). Oh, and she's also prone to staring creepily and talking in cryptic nonsense, since she's equal parts brilliant, psychic and insane (Whedon Fixation number 2). Soon the crew must decide how far they're willing to go to protect the innocent and dangerous girl.
What separates "Serenity" from other movies of its kind is the vividness of its characters. The visuals are only a slight budget increase away from TV-quality, but the dialogue is filled with enough wit and energy to make you realize just how dull most sci-fi movies are underneath the shiny costumes and special effects. In between the stylized fistfights and noisy explosions, this movie actually cares about the simple interactions of people on small ships and dusty planets.
Despite frequent humor, be warned that the film is darker in tone than the television series was. Network executives once demanded that the captain be kinder and fluffier than the shell of a defeated war veteran has any right to be. Movie Mal has a harsh attitude and proves more than once he has no problem shooting an unarmed aggressor. Throughout the movie, he's haunted by doubt and uncertainty and has a tendency to isolate himself from the people he needs the most. By the way, this is Whedon Fixation number 3.
The movie picks up with three romances left dangling by the original series, including cute, awkward tension between Mal and his lost love Inara (Morena Baccarin), whose status as a socially-respected prostitute is only subtly hinted at.
Other scene-stealers within the large, mostly unknown ensemble cast include the adorable, grammatically challenged Kaylee (Jewel Staite) and gruff mercenary Jayne (Adam Baldwin), the passenger most likely to start a mutiny at any moment. Even The Operative (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a gentle-voiced, intellectual villain with a particularly gruesome way of executing his enemies, is given a more ambiguous side than most movies would allow. Some characters are given more time than others, but the creator finds moments to showcase all of their unique personalities. And as it turns out toward the end, he isn't shy about killing them off one by one, if that's what it takes to make us worry about the rest.
People ask if "Serenity" is a more meaningful experience if you were a fan of "Firefly." The answer is yes - there's no way it couldn't be. When we get the first glimpse of the battered ship and a re-introduction to the crew in an unbroken 10-minute tracking shot, it's a special kind of geek vindication.
But even if you know nothing about the history of this movie, you'll enjoy it at face value. It's funny, scary and smarter than the average space drama. In short, "Serenity" is a very cool movie.
(09/14/05 12:00pm)
Chastity! It's the vow of religious leaders, the cornerstone of the Bush sex education program and now it's the subject of a top-grossing motion picture.
OK, so the chastity of "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" isn't voluntary. Andy (Steve Carell), the painfully awkward title character, hasn't chosen abstinence as much as resigned himself to it. Without many friends, he amuses himself at home with his wall-to-wall action figures and '80s band posters. The movie establishes nearly everything you need to know about Andy within his first minutes onscreen: he's a man who not only rides a bike to work, but removes the wheel when he gets there in case anyone plans to steal it. It's not much of a shock to learn he's as na?ve about sex as a twelve-year-old Mormon.
Here's what is shocking: this movie is funny. Really funny.
"Virgin" thankfully values creativity over clich?. Andy doesn't make it with a young foreign exchange student, nor does he stumble upon a beautiful girl who just happens to love "The Six Million Dollar Man" as much as he does. Instead, his love interest is Trish (Catherine Keener), a smart, offbeat single mother and - gasp! - grandmother.
Meanwhile, his pursuit of first-time booty is a journey much less tiring than the misogynist antics of the "Deuce Bigalow" movies (and then he meets a disabled woman! and then he meets a fat woman!). Instead it holds funny insights into the world of sex and dating. In one of the cleverest scenes, Andy manages to charm the pants off a pretty bookstore clerk simply by repeating everything she says in the form of a question.
Somehow, we can root for the hero even while laughing at his misfortune, as in the brutal scene where his forest of chest hair is waxed off one strip at a time. It's probably because of Carell, who co-wrote the screenplay and created "Virgin" in his early days of improvisational comedy.
Carell's career has included scene-stealing supporting characters like the mentally-retarded weatherman of "Anchorman" and one of Jon Stewart's handful of "Daily Show" regulars.
Carell treats Andy with surprising sensitivity and there's something lovable about his insecurity, channeled through hopeful eyes, averted glances and the way he seems to force curse words out against his own mouth's resistance. While the other male characters conceal their sexual anxiety with overzealousness and gay jokes, Andy wears it on his sleeve. "I respect women," he insists. "So much that I completely stay away from them!"
Carell isn't a household name, but he has the gift of old-school Bill Murray or lately Jim Carrey for balancing an outlandish character with glimpses of humanity.
He's supported well by the rest of the actors. Keener, best known as the woman who seduced both Jon Cusack and Cameron Diaz in "Being John Malkovich," plays Trish as a refreshingly imperfect love interest. Andy's sex-chasing buddies - womanizer Jay (Romany Malco), sardonic Cal (Seth Rogan) and crushed romantic Dave (Paul Rudd) - have great wisecracking chemistry and deliver the movie's most quotable one-liners. There is also a unique cast of wacky minor characters, including Jane Lynch ("Best In Show") as Andy's boss, who occasionally seems to be minutes away from bad-touching.
The movie was directed and co-written by Judd Apatow of "Freaks and Geeks," an unconventional teen show that was praised by critics, worshipped by cult fans and virtually ignored by everyone else with a television. On that series, encouraging actors to improvise beyond their scripted dialogue resulted in material funnier and more real than ordinary TV. It's obvious that some of "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" was shot the same way.
The movie does begin to drag in the last half-hour, but by the shamelessly bizarre final scene that must be seen to be believed, it's clear the director and cast have created an instant classic worthy of another viewing. Like sex, as Andy learns by the end of the movie, I suspect "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" gets even better after the first time.
(10/20/04 12:00pm)
Ink, the College's creative writing organization, welcomed back four recent graduates for a different kind of homecoming on Oct. 8. A small but intimate turnout of friends and strangers chose to forego their other appointments (including the second presidential debate) to enjoy the first Student Reading Series (SRS) event of the semester.
The alumni readers varied in style and theme - touching on love, cicadas and Billy Joel - but one thing they had in common was a passion for creative writing that didn't fade after graduation.
Those expecting a dry, ultra-cerebral reading were proven wrong within minutes of hearing the opening guest, Craig Sernotti from the class of 2002. Peppered with references to "The Simpsons," Sean Hannity and at least seven X-men, Sernotti's first piece consisted of extremely short stories based on sentences his fiancee murmured in her sleep.
Sernotti followed with a series of bizarre one-liners in the persona of a raspy stoner/pervert. The audience responded to his mix of shock and humor with laughter and applause.
The tone changed dramatically when Sernotti's reading was followed with the graceful lyric poetry of Rebekah Sankey, who graduated last year. She now teaches third grade and plans to enroll in a Master of Fine Arts writing program.
"I am beautiful because you cannot touch me," Sankey read from the point-of-view of a fossil. "Ruin me with your bent eyes, turn me over, and terrorize a story out of me," she continued.
Maya Eilam, junior English and women's and gender studies major, said Sankey's poetry was the highlight of he evening. Eilam praised Sankey's work as being both fresh and timeless.
A major presence in campus and community theater, 2004 graduate John Elliot, read two original monologues from plays-in-progress. One was from the point of view of a female intern embroiled in an art controversy, the other from a would-be serial killer. Elliot recited both pieces in character, adding to their poignancy and humor.
Another 2004 graduate, Dan Brady, ended the reading with several new narrative poems in his typically direct but subtle style. In addition to what he called his obligatory "poems about trains and girls," his work mused on youth, illness and a historical public relations spinner for Adolf Hitler. As the founder and former president of ink, Brady was prepared for a future in arts management, the graduate field he and Elliot currently study at George Mason University.
Junior English major Bethany Allinder summarized the alumni line-up as a "diverse selection" featuring something for everyone.
All of the alumni were pleased to see their event had become a new College tradition even in their absence. "It's very heartwarming to see it still going on," Sankey said. "That makes it feel like we did something good."
SRS will continue throughout the fall and spring semesters. There is an underclassmen reading in the works for Nov. 22.