Hugo

It is nice to finally see Hollywood manage a 3D movie that doesn’t treat the audience like wide-eyed children on a festive Holiday sugar binge. It has become common practice in the industry to smack the entire theatre upside the head with one nauseating 3D element after another. Inevitably these effects are haphazardly paraded past the audience as if they were explosions in a Michael Bay film. Hugo's director, Martin Scorsese, succeeds where others have failed as he is able to apply the same effects in a tactful and subtle way. Anywhere 3D is used in the film, it is done so in such a way that two dimensions of the film blend together seamlessly. This restrained hand makes this film the first non-3d animated film worth seeing in full 3D.

Anyone who saw the previews for this film most likely thought “Oh great, Scorsese spent too much time at Disney World and sold out to start making 3D kids movies.” While it may seem that the world of popular film is crashing down around us, it quickly becomes obvious why Scorsese got involved with the project in the first place. Hugo is based on the 2007 historical fiction book entitled: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selcnick. This magic story is an unapologetic love letter to cinema itself and a celebration of the early pioneers of the art. The passion in the story makes this one of Scorsese's most touching and imaginative films. This is a double-edged sword however, as some viewers may complain that Hugo is too 'brainy', and indeed it may be for some mainstream audiences.

Even with the added element of 3D, Hugo, is unmistakably a Martin Scorsese film. As with Gangs of New York, sweeping camera work is used to explore the dense and provocative city scenery. This is a method employed throughout Hugo and the most poignant use of this technique is films introduction where we float through the Paris train station. While the title would suggest the film is about an automaton, and the plot does revolve around one, the key take-away from the story is a soul-stirring love of cinema. Hugo is a movie about making movies created by one of the foremost master film-makers of our time. For this reason alone, it is an experience worth seeing and a work of visual beauty to behold.

After the broad introduction to 1930's Paris, we are introduced to a young Hugo Cabret who is played by Asa Butterfield. Hugo is the orphaned son of a master clock-maker, who lives inside Paris’ train station maintaining and repairing the many clocks for his drunken uncle. Hugo’s uncle has gone missing leaving Hugo alone within the walls of the train station. As he does not want to be sent to an orphanage he chooses to go about his Uncle’s job of fixing the clocks without being noticed. The scenes of Hugo running through the walls are kept lively with dreary but evocative steam-punk environments. The whirling gears and releasing steam valves are rarely out-of sight for long.

We are quickly introduced to the train stations inhabitants, such as the train stations police inspector played by Sacha Baron Cohen of Borat. The train inspector is a war veteran, who requires a leg apparatus to walk, which at times can be quite comical. We also meet Madame Emilie played by Frances de la Tour and Monsieur Frick played by Richard Griffiths, both known for their roles in Harry Potter. Frick has a fondness for Emilie, however whenever he gets close her dachshund attacks him. All these miniature stories played in the background show a real depth to this busy and chaotic station.

Next we learn that Hugo's father passed away in a museum fire but left him a mysterious automaton. The automaton is essentially an old mechanical robot with the ability to draw pictures or write letters. Hugo spends much of his free time attempting to repair the device, as he believes it carries a secret message from his father. However, Hugo lacks the special heart-shaped key to make the machine move again. To fix the mechanical object Hugo often has to steal items from the station. One day, while stealing a clock-work toy mouse from the local toy maker, played by Ben Kingsley, he gets caught. The toy maker takes Hugo’s blue-prints of the automaton and tells him to get-lost, threatening to burn the book that once belonged to Hugo’s father. Convinced that the automaton contains a message from his father, Hugo goes through great lengths to fix the machine. He gains assistance from the toymakers god-daughter Isabelle (Chloe Moretz). Isabelle and Hugo become fast friends, reading books together and one day going to see an old time movie. Hugo shows Isabelle the automaton at which time Isabelle shows Hugo a key heart necklace given to her by her God-mother. The heart necklace fits the automaton allowing it to start working. The automaton draws a sketch of a still from an old movie that Hugo once saw with this dad, which ends up spinning Hugo’s and Isabelle’s life in a whole new direction.

From the early scenes it is very apparent from the look of the set and scene set-up that Hugo is embracing a modern trend in film making, which is to remove 3D from film as a gimmick. Scorsese uses bold strokes where he chooses to implement the technology, often using it to add supplemental material rather than create the fabric of the scene. The choices Scorsese makes are pioneering and mentally stimulating in both the creativity of their conception and the production of their implementation. The first scenes of the train station come to mind as shining examples of how the subtle use of 3D can successfully augment any movie going experience. Every shot is combined with 3D to produce astounding depth. The arm of the clocks hang into the foreground, steam jets from pipes and off the screen, snow and dust are used everywhere to complete the sense of three-dimensional immersion.

Later in the film we are treated to a fantastic scene where we see the making of old time films in an early movie studio. An underwater scene comes to life in astonishing detail and depth as fish, shrimp, and bubbles float by. A monster built to scale using wood and fabric lashes out at the audience. The storybook nature and dream-like atmosphere of the scene is an ideal use of the 3D medium. The fun and excitement of these early productions, more reminiscent of a play than a modern movie set, is palatable in the air. These scenes form one of the most compelling cases to-date for why 3D should actually become more than just a novelty. Future filmmakers will no-doubt reference the scene when searching for inspiration for many years to come.

Expert screenwriter John Logan (of Gladiator and The Last Samauri) is a true wizard when it comes to adapting a good book into a good film. Not always an easy task, the screenplay offers something for every generation. There is almost too much going on in Hugo, but Logan manages to weave complex plot elements between one another without too much stumbling. While the deeper context of the film may be lost on small kids, the adventure and the visuals will enchant just about everyone. The entire story elements come together artfully, which is an achievement in-and-of-itself, considering the sheer number of plot parts the team had to wrap together. Some of the side plots almost feel extraneous but are brief and don’t get too much in the way.

Casting is expertly done with only a few exceptions. Clearly Scorsese's name can bring in the big talent even on a smaller production like Hugo. Jude Law makes an appearance, as does Ray Winstone, Christopher Lee, Emily Mortimer and Michael Stuhlbarg. All of these minor roles work together to form an interesting side-narrative and each member of the cast adds a small piece that augments the whole. Sacha Baron Cohen being cast as the over-bearing inspector with a steam-punk leg disability is questionable as his antics quickly become tiresome. Some of the street exchanges between Cohen and his apparent love interest have the best intentions but come off as being highly dubious. There are some other attempts to use his character to sprinkle in real-life texturing reminiscent of Jean-Pierre Jeunet ambient masterpiece Amelie, but these fail to deliver with any sort of depth.

As purely comic relief, Cohen's character is upbeat at-first and a welcome relief from Hugo’s dreary life. Unfortunately, he devolves into something of a parlor clown before eventually becoming a serious threat to Hugo’s well being just before the film ending. This creates a character that is both crass and generally unlikable rather than a mystery of the station. Chloe Moretz's character, Isabelle, is also clever counter-point to the often-serious and understandably depressed Hugo. Fans of the Harry Potter series might feel as if Hermione Granger was torn directly from the pages of J.K Rowlings novels and placed along side Hugo. This comparison is a fair one, and she fails to add anything substantial beyond that. Her penchant for using large words and researching any problem first in the library offers little else to drawn on.

Hugo is not expressly a kid’s film and it should not be confused for one. It is, however, a strong family film that is more than deep enough to entertain the older members of the family. Much of what makes Hugo the enchanting story it is will be over the heads of small children, who will be unable to grasp the historical importance of the story, however film lovers will be drawn to Scorsase's adaptation every time. The scene where sets and costumes are burned because no one wants them anymore is enough to draw a tear from any true movie fan. Even the typical viewer will undoubtedly enjoy the time they spent eating their popcorn and take confidence in the understanding that their entertainment dollar is in good hands.

ELF

Elf is a movie, which everyone pretty much just assumed would be awful. No one expects a whole lot from Will Ferell and many of us just allowed it to sit unassumingly in their movie collection. Occasionally you might have come across it while searching for a respectable film to watch and shuddered at the memory of the self-doubting moment you removed the DVD from the discount pile at Wal-Mart. That is until you actually watch the film.

Will Farrel plays a man named “Buddy” who was inadvertently brought back to the North Pole with Santa's sleigh as a baby and is then raised as an elf. He was taught to do all sorts of elf things like build toys and wear tights. When Buddy is unable to meet his etch-a-sketch quota in the toy workshop, it is suggested that he seek out his true identity by finding out about his father in New York City.

The story may sound awful, but the surprise is that Elf is a legitimately funny and endearing holiday film. The casting is spot-on as Bob Newhart, Peter Dinklage, and Zooey Deschanel all play fantastic roles. Will Ferrel's chaotic personality fits the role of Buddy perfectly. Many would even claim that the film is a real throwback to the Rankin-Bass Christmas classics such as Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. More likely than not, Elf will join these films as a tradition to be shared at Christmas time with family and new generations alike.

New York City

In 1942 Piet Mondrian painted one of his final works titled New York City. The painting marked a distinct deviation from the typical 'Mondrian style,' which the artist had first established more than twenty years earlier. An important contributor to the group of work known as De Stijl, Mondrian spent over 40 years championing the non-representational philosophy, which he termed Neo-Plasticism, referring to a design philosophy for the new age.

New York City is currently housed within the Louvre, Paris and is described as oil on canvas, which is approximately 4ft by 5ft in size. The piece is different from earlier works because it abandons the characteristic thick black lines on a white background separating rectangles of color for something all-together different. The artist trades in his black lines for colored ones and paints them intertwining across each other. He achieves a new sort of flatness when compared to earlier works. Mondrian's strict visual style of non-representational abstraction is beginning to become slightly more relaxed in his old age. Slight is certainly the correct word to use and while he is offering some interpretation in conveying a street layout of New York, is still purely minimalistic.

Neo-Plasticism influenced the Bauhaus and eventually the International style of design because the modernist principals of the De Stijl were an ideal building block to usher in the new era of technology. The case could be made that after over 40 years of a dedication to art and design as a principled endeavor, Mondrian began to sense the world had changed and embodied this feeling in his painting of New York City's busy infrastructure.

Skyrim

Have you spent the past few weeks as a nefarious female rogue warrior, which by now has picked up superior lock picking skills? If this makes any sense to you, then you are probably playing Skyrim, (PS3 Xbox 360, PC) the most recent installment and 5th sequel to the original 1996 Elder Scrolls game. 200 years have passed since the Elder Scrolls 4 and the land is plagued by not only civil war, but also dragons who were long thought to be extinct.

This is a game where the player can do entirely as they please, a massive fantasy sandbox with serious traditional RPG appeal. You can choose to take a quest, go dragon hunting, steal from old ladies, cook yourself dinner, craft a potion, buy a home, or start a butterfly collection. If you choose to, you can seek out the secrets of the dragons and put a stop to their terrorizing the lands of Skyrim. Each character will be slightly different as no two characters are identical; this is because the leveling system relies on a realistic system, which rewards the player for the skills they use. For instance, a player who only uses right-handed weapons will be much stronger in that arm than a left handed player.

It is hard not to be awed as you gain sight of a seemingly infinite mountain range or walk through a snowy field to a far off town. Even a tough crowd is sure to appreciate the spectacle of a dragon flying overhead and landing in your path. ‘Detailed’ does not begin to describe the world Bethesda's development team has managed to create. The world contains 150 dungeons and employed over seventy voice actors to record over 60,000 lines for the game. Skyrim also features 244 quests and over 300 points of interest as well as an entirely library of books and an entire 'dragon' language developed entirely for the game. Even without this astounding depth, Skyrim is easily one of the best RPG games of all time.

Zero Punctuation

Most critics take years to reach the level of trust and endearment they need to develop a large fan base. This convention was shattered when Ben Croshaw's release his review series, Zero Punctuation. The series has achieved notoriety essentially over-night and Croshaw has the following to say about his newly found fans: "Fans are clingy complaining dipshits who will never-ever be grateful for any concession you make. Incidentally, why not buy a Zero Punctuation t-shirt?" Corshaw has become famous for this sort of rapid-fire humor, much of it backed up by witty and profane observations. Croshaw or “Yahtzee”, as he is better known by his fans is a critic and amateur game developer, as well as the originator of the popular series Zero Punctuation.

Zero Punctuation began its life humbly-enough as a simple YouTube upload. Croshaw had posted up the video as new content for his website. The video was a review of “the Darkness” for PlayStation and Croshaw decided that he would try a new approach this time. Rather than simply film himself talking, he began using common tools like Windows Movie Maker and Photoshop to create an animation, which would run with his audio as the narration. The cartoon imagery was placed on yellow background and used to illustrate what is being said in the narration or to provide an ironic counterpoint to it. The videos are typically no more than five minutes in length. Once the Darkness review was finished, he moved straight to Fable: The Lost Chapters. Within a month of releasing the Fable review, several organizations approached Ben with offers for him to produce exclusively for their network. Croshaw decided to partner with The Escapist, an online magazine covering video games, gamers, the gaming industry, and gaming culture.

Croshaw's typical review consists of pointing out the flaws in large commercial games that he says 'mainstream' critics don't bring up. Things like a blatantly cliché storyline or plots with holes so large you could drive a truck through them. Although the reviews are not universally negative, the vast majority certainly are. Corshaw shuns certain die-hard staples of the gaming industry like fighting games or the corporate mascot reinventions like Mario or Sonic the Hedgehog. Being an amateur game developer himself, Corshaw continually preaches his disdain for certain game mechanics such as timed-events; it is partially this level of interest, which has earned him notoriety among hard-core gamers.

Many gamers also know Corshaw's history as a game developer and now gaming-insider. Corshaw recently admitted that Duke Nukem Forever's developer, 3D Realms, had approached him to write a script for the upcoming game. Two of the lead developers, Brian Hook and Jay Brushwood pushed for Corsaw's involvement in reinventing the game, but the lead designer claimed it wasn't the right fit for the Duke Nukem fans. It is difficult to speculate on events, which did not occur, but while the Duke Nukem release bombed in sales and received mediocre fanfare at best, Zero Punctuation has continued a dramatic rise in popularity. Most of his videos achieve a half million hits on YouTube, and even more for The Escapist.

So can you rely on Zero Punctuation for all your game reviewing needs? To put it frankly, no. Corsak is far too hard on games and it seems that some of this negativity is generated primarily to sell the jokes. Almost all games receive negative reviews, so even that game you spent a hundred hours devoted on will certainly be torn apart. While he may hint occasionally that he is being nit-picky with certain titles, it is so brief that no one notices and after that it is straight to the funny insulting bit. While I enjoy the series just as much as any other gamer, it is for the entertainment value and not for the game reviews themselves.

Top Gear

There are a number of questions surrounding the History channel's recent Top Gear spin-off. Exactly a year has passed since the History Channel premiered the 'American version' of the classic English Top Gear and a great deal has already been said online about why the new domestic offering fails to deliver when compared to the quirky antics of the original U.K show. Comments fill the internet ranging in tone from “give them a chance” to “too scripted, not funny.” For anyone not familiar with Top Gear, it is an automotive show, which began its life in the U.K. during the late 70's. It was later revamped in 2002 it has since then won much critical acclaim and fans. It won an International Emmy for best non-scripted show in 2005 and continues to be one of the world’s most-watched television shows. So should we be giving the American Top Gear a chance?

They certainly have gone to great lengths to impress us with the Americanized show. The three hosts were handpicked after nearly 2 years of casting. They consist of professional racing driver Tanner Foust, actor and comedian Adam Ferrara, and automotive/racing analyst Rutledge Wood. The first show in the series was extremely over the top, starting off with time trials in a trio of Lamborghinis and driving a Dodge Viper being chased by a Cobra attack helicopter. Although these aspects/stunts may be seen in the UK Top Gear , how can you compete with the original show that has already sent the first ever automobile to the North Pole? Or invented the combine snow-blower? How can you show-up the show whose hosts managed to cover the entire country of Vietnam on $100 scooters which were then converted into boats in order to reach the bar at the end of the trip?

It is an entirely valid question. Nothing else really sets the new version apart from its parent show. Both shows feature cars being driven, tested, and occasionally destroyed. Both shows feature 'The Stig', an anonymous race car driver in a white race suit. Not only do they feature a similar stage and set for both shows, but the format for each is nearly identical. However, anyone familiar with the classic episodes will quickly point out that the new hosts don't have the same chemistry of their across-the-pond counterparts. This is a point which is hard to argue when you watch the first episode. While they had likely rehearsed their banter in some respect, they came off as three people in a rather awkward situation. The chemistry improves a bit as the season moves forward, but the cast is a far cry from what the existing fan-base is comparing them to. Rome was not built in a day, so should we be so quick to blame the shows presenters?

The real question at hand is why this show even needed to be created in the first place. The English version was already immensely popular in the USA, with prominent placement in the BBC-America prime time line-up and millions of hits on YouTube. The only logical answer for the shows existence lies in the only reason anything exists on television--money. It is no wonder that the show is being poorly received by the existing fans since it is entirely disingenuous from its conception. Following the Emmy win in 2005 NBC and Discovery channel both tasted residual cash in the air and began producing pilots which they hoped would win them the licensing rights from the BBC. Several reasonable people asserted that the show would never be a success without the original hosts, and the project was abandoned to the television-producer limbo. There it would have rightly stayed until the History Channel came and decided Top Gear would fit in nicely with their current line-up of quality programming such as Ancient Aliens andHairy Bikers.

So History started out their capitalization efforts by alienating the gigantic existing fan-base they had created their show for in the first place. The American show is not a labor of love caressed gently into existence by three friends over many years, rather it was conceived to target 'core demographics', fill appropriate time-slots and leach from a something generally regarded as artful. Similarly, the Australian version of Top Gear which has run for a couple years is apparently canceled as of 2011. The Russian version was so poorly received that after only half-a-season, they began airing the British episodes in its place. So far, it has been pretty clear that even if you take the proven, segmented scripts, and formulaic approach; portraying the genuine relationships in Top Gear is not as easy as it sounds. While the American Top Gear was recently renewed for a second season by History Channel, it is also worth noting that Ancient Aliens, a show dedicated to examining the role of aliens in history, has also just entered into its third season this past July. While there are still many questions to be answered about the American Top Gear, for now it seems the fans have spoken.

The Aqua Tower – Architecture Review

Chicago was, and will always be a modern city. The roots of the modernist movement still grow deep here along every street from 31st to Sheridan Avenue. Occasionally these roots will sprout massive steel buildings into the sky like grapes growing on a vine. The seeds of these buildings can be traced back to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, one of the members of the Bauhaus and a founder of modernism. Van der Rohe fled Nazi Germany before World War II and found his way to Chicago where he founded the Chicago's Armour Institute of Technology, now known as IIT, to continue the work he began at the Bauhaus. From this school the modern style of architecture known as the International or Chicago style was born. One of the most recent additions to this proud architectural heritage is Jeanne Gang's Aqua Tower. This building is a shining example of how far architecture has come since the invention of the modern skyscraper nearly a century ago.

The Aqua Tower sits near a large park in the Lakeshore East area of downtown Chicago. At 86 stories, the building feels right at home nestled inside the endless rows of International Style towers which stretch off to either side of the Chicago River. The form of the building is similar to its neighbors, yet at the same time entirely different. Not one floor plan is identical and the abstraction of the glass seems to fill in between the concrete like water rushing to fill the low parts of a valley. The play of the forms are rather subtle as each floor changes shape slightly to suggest flowing forms. The description sounds like a hiking trip rather than a building, and this is what makes Aqua Tower something special. The harshness of the lines and materials of construction are still present, yet they intertwine with the fantasy of the shape so effortlessly--so organically--that the suggestion of the movement in form is always present.

Jeanne Gang feels just as at home in Chicago as her Aqua building. She was born in Illinois in 1964 and leads Studio Gang Architects, a Chicago-based architecture and design firm. The Aqua Tower is the tallest building in the world designed by a woman which holds the promise of opening the field of architecture, dominated for so long by men, to young women in the future. Jeanne was recently honored with the very prestigious 2011 MacArthur Fellow Award for her ground-breaking work in architecture. She has brought a holistic approach to the art, combining the principals of the Chicago Style with concern for the environment and the people who will use the structure. All of her projects make use of 'green' building techniques and employ things like recycled or recyclable materials, energy conservation, and sustainable construction methods.

Modern Art always begs the question of what is next, and in the case of architecture the answer can be found in the pursuit of nature. Chicago has seen several buildings attempt to take this path. The Trump Tower plays with sweeping curvilinear lines which seem to catch the setting sun from any angle, while buildings like Bertrand Goldberg's Marina Towers have been experimenting with the organic floor plan idea since the 60's. What separates the Aqua Tower from these other attempts is the execution. While the Marina Towers is using the same principals, each floor is identical which creates the never-ending vertical structures we all expect when we look at a skyscraper. The Aqua destroys this barrier by eliminating any vertical continuity between floors. While the this topographic approach has surely been conceived before, it was not until computer and material technology advanced to a point that the execution was financially viable to produce. In this way, the Aqua Tower still embodies the essence of modernism and the International Style even though it appears so radically different from its predecessors.

The Aqua Tower will prove to be a crowning jewel for the city and one of the most significant architectural advancements to grace the Chicago skyline in many years. Not only is it fantastic to look at, but the implications for international architecture and the culture of Chicago are wide-reaching. Mies van der Rohe is known for coining two phrases: “less is more” and “God is in the details”. While Mies van der Rohe may not have been able to foresee a woman designing such an important architectural work, both of his phrases certainly apply to the Aqua Tower. You could even make the case that in exploring the ties architecture has to nature, the Aqua building is indeed finding God in the details.

Willem De Kooning's Excavation

In one of the most prominent areas of the Art Institute's modern wing hangs a work of abstract expressionism, which was inspired by the 1947 Academy Award-nominated, film Bitter Rice. The scene which served as the inspiration for this painting involves a woman toiling in the rice fields of northern Italy. The painting is the work of Willem De Kooning and is entitled Excavation (1950). Viewers will understandably be struck by the lack of a rice field, a woman, or anything that could be a shape of a person. There are, however, abstract images of animals and human body parts like noses, eyes, teeth, necks, and jaws.

Willem De Kooning's Excavation is joined in its long-term home with other works from the same movement, like Jackson Pollock's, The Key (1946). These artists use large and expressive brushstrokes coupled with various background textures to portray an overall mood. These techniques define abstract expressionism. It is easy to feel the tension present in De Kooning's painting, not only in the line-work itself, but also in the overall visual atmosphere they create. It isn't entirely pleasant and it isn't meant to be. The woman is not there because the piece is not about her physically, but about the mental disillusionment the field workers feel. Although a human figure is not directly discernible in the painting, the human presence is implied.

Those who would contend that the layout is arbitrary need only seek out De Kooning's other works, they would then understand that this is an odd piece for his visual style. It is strangely structured, and while De-Kooning is known for visually separating his subject matter into imaginary planes, there is something else going on here. It only seems appropriate that the overall structure of the painting is vertically aligned into approximate rows when the subject matter at hand is a rice field. None of De- Kooning's other works exhibit the intentional vertical alignment like we see in Excavation. Each individual feels the tension when they look at this piece, even though they may not understand why. This contention and the extent of abstraction used by the artist are both reasons why this work of art has stood the test of time.

Miró's Chicago

In 1963 the Brunswick corporation commissioned Spanish artist Joan Miró to design a sculpture for their new skyscraper in downtown Chicago. Unfortunately, the Brunswick corporation suffered sticker-shock at the prestigious bill they received from Miró and decided to cancel the order. The original plaster Maquette entitled The Sun, the Moon and One Star is currently owned by the Art Institute of Chicago. A full twenty years after the original design the city decided to revive the plans and place the work in its originally intended location. Miró was so proud of the work that he never bothered to name it so it was named Miró's Chicago. Not really a good set of working conditions by any stretch. The finished piece is a towering 40 foot concrete and iron monster with colorful ceramic insets in various, 80's styled, shapes. Organic shapes of the concrete base are offset by harsh linear lines of the iron crown.

In the final decades of Miró's life he had begun to explore daring color schemes and ceramic as a medium making his work much more subjective. This is in sharp contrast to some of his earlier works like the elegant Moonbird (1966) sculpture in New York, which was designed a year after Chicago and is generally viewed as one of his best works. In contrast, you might make comments about the Chicago piece like: “It looks like a bird with a fork in it's head” or “Is it supposed to be a woman?”. Those people probably don't fully appreciate the finely-tuned aesthetic language Miró worked his entire life to create. Regardless of the intentions of the artist, Miró's Chicago is one of his least aesthetically pleasing and confounding sculptural pieces on display in any large city. Houston's Persona of Birds has us beat fair-and-square for the number one spot, but Chicago certainly lacks the grace of Spain's Dona i Ocell (woman with Bird), which was finished around the same time as Chicago. Ultimately, the sculpture that almost wasn't is an interesting piece of Chicago lore, but ultimately fails to evoke the sort of passion we hope to see from our public landmarks.

Black Dogs: The Possibly True Story of a good book

The tag-line for Jason Buhrmester's first-time literary entrance, Black Dogs, reads like he has set himself up for an easy win. “The Possibly True Story of Classic Rock's Greatest Robbery”. It sounds like the best mystery novel ever made. The anticipation grows more when we learn that the story is based on the true-life events of a 1973 robbery involving none other than classic rock legend Led Zepplin. During a three-day concert at Madison Square Garden $203,000 is stolen from their hotel suite and no arrests were ever made in connection with the robbery. Robbery mystery? Check. Classic rock legend Jimmy Paige? Check. True story? Possibly. This back-story is better than anything CSI could ever have hoped for.

The story soon gets better with sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. Patrick and his friends Frenchy, Keith, and Alex quickly scheme to rob Led Zepplin after their famous concert in New York. In addition to scheming, the boys also smoke pot, listen to Black Sabbath, and engage in sex acts with various women. An unfortunate series of self-inflicted events deteriorate the character's situations to the point where they have no choice but to pull off the most rockin' heist the world has ever seen.

Once the reader begins to realize what is going on, it is too late. You are several chapters in and nursing a wicked hangover. In this sobering state you begin to fully take stock of the situation. You may stop several times and ask yourself, “Wait, is this really a true story?” You flip the book over and examine the tag-line on the cover to re-read a critical word: “The possibly true story.” Turns out a “possibly true story” is the same as a fictional one. While Led Zepplin did loose a load of cash in New York, the Baltimore teens who rocked out so hard in order to pull off the heist are fictional. Now everything begins to make sense.

Lets get back to the gratuitous drugs and sex at the beginning of the novel. On one hand, it is perfectly understandable why this material was included, and it makes sense with the 'rock and roll' lifestyle the story is trying to portray. It also makes sense as an easy lure for 16 year old boys to keep turning pages. From a female reader's perspective it seemed a bit like a highschooler's wet dream and with one-liners like: “'No problem.' She giggled cooly, sipping her beer. I lay down next to her and by 'Ruby Tuesday' we were making out.”, it's not exactly classy. That wasn’t even the largest problem with it. We are not taking a peek into the notoriously devious lifestyle of classic rockers like Paige or Osborne. These are run off the mill deviants, retail workers, and small-time criminals we are talking about here. If we can take anything from these scenes, it's that stealing stuff and smoking pot will still get you laid.

You may be inclined to think the Ocean's Eleven style assembly of would-be theifs is a clever plot driver. It could be argued that Mr. Buhrmester came to this same conclusion after watching 2007's Ocean's Thirteen when it arrived with his other Netflix selections. By the third installment of the Ocean's series, nearly every one of Buhrmester's readers been thoroughly desensitized to this approach. It could still work, but where Ocean had a group of well-prepared, interesting, and skilled people from around the world Patrick has a group of seemingly inept local misfits with the only interesting thing that defines them is highly amplified distortion and extended guitar solos.

Despite everything that is going on around them, there is very little growth from these characters. The uninspiring descriptions used at the start of the book are as true at the beginning as they are at the end. The person best suited to this novel is someone who will enjoy anything where Jimmy Paige makes an appearance. Connoisseurs of grit will be disappointed by the detail, mystery lovers will be let down by the mystery, and everyone else will probably continue reading hoping for more sex and drugs.

The Green Hornet

Many of us have fond memories from our childhoods of the dashing superhero, classic villains, and observant detectives. The most common place to find these characters was often the local comic book shop. Within the next year there will be an influx of movies adapted from comic books such as The Avengers, Captain America, Cat Woman, Batman, Tin Tin and Superman. However, where is this new fad going? Are these movies examples of Hollywood gone sour, or can the child-hood inspired superhero win their way back into the hearts and minds of a new audience? When one thinks of comic books that are successfully adapted for the big screen they may think of Batman, Blade, Spider Man or Men in Black. However, the recent movie Green Hornet does not immediately spring to mind as a movie which will go down in history as a great adaptation of a once famous comic book.

The Green Hornet is based upon an American radio and comic book masked vigilante created by George Trendle and Fran Striker. The story begins predictably with a prelude of the main character, Britt Reid, who as a child has an ambition to be a super hero. His father, the owner of the major newspaper in his city becomes disappointed in him when he continuously gets in trouble at school for trying to stop fights. This then leaves the son feeling like a failure throughout his life growing up to be surrounded by women and wild parties, now played by Seth Rogan. Meanwhile the city has a new mob boss in town named Chudnofsky, played by Christoph Waltz who is most notable for his role as the villain in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Bastards. However, in the Green Hornet he doesn’t seem quite scary enough to be the villian. The first scene sees him being introduced to a new drug dealer and club owner Crystal Clear, played by James Franco. Clear makes fun of him for not being ‘scary’ throwing such insults as  ‘Disco Santa’ and ‘passed his prime’ while all the while pronouncing his name incorrectly. Chudnofsky becomes extremely upset by this so pulls out his double barreled gun shooting four guys in two shots leaving just Clear. He then continues to ask how he could be scarier, asking if his gun is scary enough and going into details on how it was made. It’s as though Chudnofsky is experiencing a midlife crisis. He then leaves the club blowing off a bomb inside, pulling the typical bad-ass move of not looking back when an explosion goes off.

Just as anticipated something unfortunate happens leaving Britt to run his father’s company and ‘clean up the streets.’ At first Britt rebels against this by chopping off the head of his father’s statue and firing everyone who worked for his father. However, knowing he cannot work alone he befriends Kato, an employee of his father. This friendship leads to the beginning of the green hornet with several more explosions and other ridiculousness. At one point they are driving around the top floor of a skyscraper with the entire back of their car missing. Anyone over the age of eight might suspect this scene would not end so well in real life.

Adaptions of comic books to movies do not need to be ‘realistic,’ however there is fine line between a childhood hero fantasy and pure absurdity. After the movie was finished it was hard to determine whether the director wanted to impress, alienate, or directly insult its core audience. At times it seemed that the movie was trying to be the next greatest superhero and other times it had the mental capacity of Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle. It will probably make millions for Hollywood as a big budget blockbuster full of an impressive cast and explosions. However, it wasn’t a reminder of the comic books many of us read as children. So here is hoping that the new movies, based on adaptions of comic books, will be much more impressive and allow new generations to enjoy the heroes of the past. 

Neon Trees – Habits

Habits, by Neon Trees is the first album from the Utah alternative rockers.  How, does it compare to other alternative mainstream acts of 2011?

Picked from obscurity by the Killers, who took the four-piece on tour with them in 2008, Neon Trees’ sound has hard hitting base lines and catchy tunes, much like the band they toured with. But is it a match for the world’s biggest arena-fillers? The album is well put together, but contains much of the same thing. It only includes 8 songs, so it is not exactly the most bang for your buck.

It starts off with "Sins of Our Youth". The chorus is as follows:

“I've got these habits that I cannot break, and as I'm older there is more at stake,
Go ahead and call me fake, but these are the sins, The sins of my youth “.

One thing comes to mind when reading these lyrics- they are cheesy. Although the song is catchy it does not seem well thought-out, and more of a mash up of pop with alternative lyrics.

The next song "Love and Affection" is much like the first. After the song is over you will have already forgotten it. It is impossible to remember a single line, except for the continuous chorus which repeats "love and affection", with the occasional "woah woah". Following this is, "Animal",  the platinum-selling single and the only song on the album that is almost enjoyable. The catchy lyrics mixed with the repetitive guitar and bouncy keyboards makes for a commercial-sounding calling card. The chorus makes you want to sing along at the top of your lungs while bouncing around the room. But after a while the continuous "uh-ohs" come across as rather boring, so it is not a song you can listen to multiple times. The start of the album really sets a template that the band never strays from. As such, across 8 tracks, Habits becomes something of a drag.

The rest of the album follows much of the same formula – slow starts, slow build ups, big middles with sudden fades. Each song sounds so similar that is hard to make note of the other records on the album. Variations are slight, at best: 'In the Next Room' adopts a somewhat of a raunchy change of pace, but still feels like they could have taken it further. Also the ‘woah woahs’ continuously heard throughout the album as fillers seem unnecessary.

Tyler Glenn is a powerful lead vocalist and his voice makes the album a little enjoyable. The bassist also adds some great parts to the album; however the drummer and the guitarist seem too repetitive with their involvement. When compared with other alternative rock groups such as ‘The Bravery’ or ‘The Killers’, this album does not seem as well thought out and original. Neon Trees does not come across as an alternative rock band, but as a pop band with the look of the alternative scene. Here's hoping that with their next album they will step out of the box further.

Gemmy’s ‘Supligen’

Dubstep as a style can be be traced from the streets of south London to a number of commercial artists such as Britney Spears and Rihanna. The roots of this music can be traced to DJs in the late 90s using reverberant samples and hard bass lines. This had grown out of earlier styles like 2-step and even breakbeat. An element of funk was added to the rhythm and you ended up with songs that have an often unmatched enthusiasm in the electronic genre. 

Gemmy is a permanent fixture of the dubstep scene in Bristol. His recent album, ‘Supligen’ is a polished and exciting offering. Now let’s be frank, the first and title track: ‘Supligen’ is the sort of song that hits you in the face within the first second of pressing play. It is OK to interpret these first sounds as a warning for your ears. Within 30 seconds you begin to get the idea that your sub-woofer might soon part ways with your shelving unit, and the experience doesn’t seem to reach an appreciable crescendo until near the end.

 

Make no mistake, ‘Supligen’ has a very smooth and clean feel for a genre where the ‘grimy’ sound often gets the most attention. The second track, appropriately titled ‘BT Tower’, brings us back to the roots of dubstep with what can only be described as a “filthy” sounding song. There is a good reason for this, however, as the BT Tower is a reference to the giant radio tower which disrupts the landscape just north of Bristol. This is abruptly apparent just before the one-minute mark where, what had been an ethereal and intrepid beat, becomes a massive and devastating mechanical bass line.

The hard hitting feel of dubstep is a force that simply can’t be ignored. With elements creeping into mainstream media like motion pictures, music, and media. It’s nice to take a step back and acknowledge some of the history. In 2011, a lesser known DJ Fresh made the #1 spot on the UK singles charts, the first time a song with dubstep elements made the top spot. Lucozade Sport Lite, the Uk’s leading low calorie drink shot a video for the song, going so far as to hire award winning director Ben Newman. Granted DJ Fresh’s track ‘Louder’ has been tamed for the pop market. The sampling is a lot sunnier and the vocals soften the punch, but those hard hitting melodies are still there hammering away the same as Gemmy’s ‘Supligen’.