Newspaper Page Text
Page 7
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Resistance is Useless
...ANP AT THAT MOMENT, CLARK REALIZE?
HE'P MAPE A MISTAKE ON "WEAR A COSTUME
TO WORK" PAV...
REEL
continued from page 6
acting talent (is that a real
phrase?) will please those
who have come to love
this actor in prior film
roles and in television’s
“The Office.”
“Little Miss Sunshine”
has some of the elements
of 2004’s “1 Heart
Huckabees,” with a lot
less of the existential
stuff. Stylistically, with
cinematography, score
and overall mood, it’s
similar. It’s also a low-
DEAD
continued front page 6
but a lot of imperfections
hold it back from being a
“must buy”. The biggest
issue with the game is the
microscopic in-game text
that is required to read if
one wishes to progress in
the main quest line. The
creators of “Dead Rising”
have gone on record to
say that this game was
meant to be played on a
High Definition television,
but even they may have a
tough time deciphering the
almost illegible text.
Other nitpicks include
a poor save system,
frustrating civilian AI, and a
lack of co-op or multiplayer,
but for every one thing is
does wrong, it corrects it by
doing three things right.
With spectacular
visuals, great sound
effects and voice acting,
and an all-around genius
premise, “Dead Rising”
is an undeniable guilty
pleasure for all X-Box
360 owners. With a quick,
fun and addictive single
player, the game exudes
an almost reminiscently
arcade feeling and will
keep gamers pleasantly
content for days.
9.0
(cot 10)
budget film promoted
by Fox Searchlight, who
purchased the film at
the Sundance Festival
for one of the highest
amounts on record.
The film is basically
about realizing who you
are and what you are
meant to do. As Richard
continues to reiterate
throughout the film,
“In this world, there are
winners and there are
losers. Which are you?”
Sometimes, the answer
isn’t that clear.
What is clear and
evident is the high quality
A Prelude to Atlanta's Dragon*Con
By Erik Waters
Staff Writer
Erikwaters@bellsouth.com
One weekend a year,
amidst the busy streets of
Atlanta, the unsuspecting
population is subjected to
a surreal spectacle. Super
heroes riding Marta, film
icons in the bars, and video
game characters at the
Varsity, anything is possible.
Anything is possible,
that is, during Dragon Con.
Seen as a Mecca for sci-fi
and fantasy fans. Dragon Con
is one of the laigest popular
arts conventions in the world.
Spanning three hotels,
The Marriot Marquis, Hyatt
311, The Wailers rock Atlanta
By Stephanie Pauli
Staff Writer
spaulll @ my. westga.edu
One of the most
anticipated concerts
of the summer took
place last Saturday.
The Omaha-based
band 311 performed
with The Wailers and
Pepper to a sold-out
crowd at HiFi Buys
Amphitheatre in
Atlanta.
Eager fans
began their concert
experience around
2 pm by filling the
parking lots in order
to grill out and
socialize before the
7 pm concert. The
amphitheatre, with its
19,000 person capacity,
By Jesse Uukt
of this film. Although
the premise has been
done, in every way (road
trip, family, etc), there
is something different
about this film. What
began as a simple road
trip across two states
turns into a wonderful
and hilarious lesson
in self-examination
and acceptance for the
characters and for the
audience.
GRADE: B+
Regency, and The Hilton, the autograph of your favorite Perhaps the biggest
there is more than enough obscure film celebrity (like draw to fans of Dragon Con
Photo by Jesse Duke
An example of Atlanta’s rush-hour traffic during Labor Day weekend.
space to house the infinite Dirk Benedict) or owning the (or any Sci-Fi convention for
amount of activities available, competition at the gaming that matter) is the costuming.
Whether it’s looking for a rare tables, chances are your Months are spent replicating
Spiderman back issue, getting hobby is represented. armor, uniforms, dresses
would soon be filled to the venue as thousands of
the brim. people danced and sang
Pepper, a band similar along to their music,
to Sublime, kicked off the The legendary reggae
concert. band The Wailers, who
Photo courtesy of3ll.com
311 rocks the stage at a recent show. They were in Atlanta last Saturday.
Their reggae inspired
music flooded throughout
The Aggrolites review
By Bobby Moore
Editor in Chief
Rmoore 7@my. westya.edu
If there’s one term
that I find cringe-worthy,
it’s “modern ska”, or
modern anything else for
that matter.
Regardless of what
wave of ska something
is supposedly a part of,
I want music that will
remind me of the legends
of ska and rocksteady,
with soulful rhythms
and lyrics.
I’ve found what I
have been looking for
in The Aggrolites. Their
self-titled Hellcat debut is
more similar to the days
of rocksteady than it is to
your typical obese man
w ith a trumpet group. You
do not need horn solos
when you have an organ,
after all.
This very talented band
features the soulful vocals
from Jesse Wagner and a
new, talented drummer in
Scott Abel.
Abel may be the
reason that this band is
so great. Longtime ska
fans might recognize his
name because he was
a longtime member of
Hepcat. More recently,
he played with Lars
Fredericksen and the
Bastards.
These guys are not
only talented. They are
also well-schooled in
Jamaican music.
The band formed
to back reggae legend
Derrick Morgan, and
played with Bob Marley
for seven years, came on
since then they have had
the honor to play with
the likes of Prince Buster
and the late, great Joseph
Hill of Culture.
They continue to pay
homage to the greats with
this album, as they used
recording techniques that
make it sound more like a
judge Dread album than a
typical Hellcat release.
Songs like “Funky
Fire” and “Mr. Misery”
do not sound out of place
in my reggae saturated
weekend play list.
“Time to Get Tough”
is another good track, and
has a title that sounds like
it should be on a Prince
Far I album.
“Countryman Fiddle”
references the old sound
system days. If they were
from London instead of
California and this was the
1970’5, they would be able
to hold their ow n at a sound
clash if Jah Shaka was out
of town with some of these
cracking tunes.
Instrumentals like
“Thunder Fist”, “Death
at Ten Paces”, “5 Deadly
Venoms” and “The
Volcano” are among their
best work.
“Work to Do” with its
simple “Twelve swinging
on a tree” is reminiscent
of the earlier days of
Jamaican music. It is
follwed by “Someday”,
which has a beautiful
piano introduction.
The slow paced,
melodic “Heavy Load” is
more like early roots reggae
than the other songs on the
stage shortly after Pepper’s
set ended.
Continuing in Marley’s
footsteps, Junior Marvin
sang for The Wailers and
gave a memorable
performance.
They
started with “Stir
It Up” and went
on to play a string
of hits, including
“Jamming” and
“Is This Love?”,
throughout the
night before
ending with “One
Love”.
Headliners 311
finally came
on stage at 10
p.m. to a roaring
applause. Their set included
music spanning from their
<TI?e HUcst Ok'nryian
album in both its lyrics and
song structure.
With “Grave Digger”
and its western film
inspired opening lines,
fans are transported from
the simpler sounds of the
1960’s to the dub sounds
of the 1970’5.
Basically, the band
covers all of the bases as
faras Jamaican music goes
outside of dancehall. The
album ends with songs
like “Prisoner Songs”
“Lightning & Thunder”
that make this one of the
new albums that I can
listen to without skipping
half a dozen tracks.
While I am usually all
for a band that doesn't try
to sound like groups of the
past. The Aggrolites are so
good at what they do that
I cannot help but put them
and this album over.
If you want to hear
some real ska as opposed
to bad comedy or overrated
drug culture icons, pick up
a copy of Aggrolites.
In closing, I would
like to bring up my
reference to Hill, the
longtime lead singer
of Culture. He passed
away on Friday, August
18. Partially thanks to
Hill, Culture is the only
band to receive a five
star rating on all of their
proper albums from The
Rolling Stone Record
Guide. Between this and
the death of “the king of
ska” Desmond Dekker,
this has been a rough
year for reggae fans all
over the world.
and weapons by attendees
in an attempt to recreate
the favorite characters. On
Saturday morning a parade
is even held down Peachtree
Street to showcase all of the
hard work put forth.
Of course, a costume
in not required to attend
the convention as many
people just hang out to take
pictures and to party. So, if
the curiosity proves to be too
great, readers should swing
by this weekend for a truly
unique experience.
Check out http://www.
dragoncon.org or call
(770) 909-0115 for ticket
information and directions.
first album to ,usic to their
latest album "Don’t Tread
on Me”. They played
many favorites including
“Do You Right”, “Down”,
“Amber”, and “Frolic
Room”.
In addition to their
popular tracks, they played
some little known songs,
including their first of the
night, an instrumental that
can only be heard on their
1997 album “Transistor”
as a secret track.
“The intro was the
best part,” said long-time
fan Matt Graff, “because
it’s played so rarely these
days.”
If you missed the
performance, 311 is
still on tour with The
Wailers and Pepper until
September 9.