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Show life B6 MONDAY • OCTOBER 9 '2006 Sugarcult's new sound Caz Bevan Life Writer 'The radio is here to stay, turn it off and walk away." As if Sugarcult wasn't one of your favorite radio pop bands, they seem to chant these lyrics as part of their new sound. This new sound seems very similar to Our Lady Peace, minus the annoying nasal tone. A little more angst than pop. someone in the band must*ve gotten dumped. Claiming to have a "screaming intro," it took me a few listens to realize what was meant by this, exactly. In their intro track, there are some crackling background screams, but nothing I would advertise as genuine, almighty screaming. They're not that angry. Lights Out marks the third label release for Sugarcult. This album will surely bump their overall album sales to over a million with songs such as "Los Angeles" and "Do It Alone." Seemingly small-time for a popular band, don't let the numbers fool you. Sugarcult has toured nonstop for the last five years-everything from Warped Tour to the opening act for Green Day. Touring seems to be their primary source of existence and motivation as a band. Things may change, however, as Lights Out is a mature sound for Sugarcult, who claims to be in their prime. Sugarcult seems to be, as they say, "all about the music." Regardless of how their music may be defined, it is obviously something that they genuinely love doing. Courtesy Photo/punkwave.it Against their image, Sugarcult matures 3 out of 5 stars) Faculty spotlight: Professor Lee Mortensen 00 Sensing the Complexity in Writing Eleanor Takahashi Life Writer OFF , Regular price on any cut and J I 5"OUUU slylts color service or perm 2230 N. Univcrsih l'kwy.. (Ortlonircc Sijuarc) • Pruui, V AdvancedSliulio c.\duJi-(f Lee Mortensen has been teaching at U VSC as a professor of English and literature for fifteen years. In that time, she has opened up thousands of students to the world of literary writing, while producing complex and exciting fiction of her own. The College Times recently sat down with professor Mortensen to ask some questions about where her writing has taken her, and why we should be investing in the arts. ! '' <>np<>" J.xjiin-* SuvsmhiT $t't,2<H)6 JMCTflCUWRIflQORf! Q: Why do you write-what is your motivation? A: Charles Baxter says that fiction writers write to get all of those voices out of our heads-those obsessive, awful voices, those characters that are screaming to get out. We write for those characters, to give them a space, to work themselves out of us. So I'd say, that's some of it. I feel like 1 do have this terrible, nasty affliction of needing to gel certain kinds of voices, certain kinds of stories down on the page. Q:Whatgenresdoyou\vritc,andwaydovouchoosethem? A: I mainly write literary fiction, with certain sorts of postmodern techniques, so that I am playful with the form. I don't just tell stories in a realism sort of fashion. So, I am concerned with playing with form and I am pushing some of those boundaries a little bit, in terms of writing about contemporary Western subjects. I am writing usually about queers in the West, and Mormon's and religion, and all the stuff that is here, but turning it on its Courtesy Photo/Lee Mortensen head. Because it is coming more from a queer perspec- UVSC literature professor Lee Mortensen tive, which you see, but it's not commonly published. related characters; and it has such long stories, they are Q: Who are your favorite authors? actually very hard to place, because journals don't want A: My mentors are people who have more humor in to publish usually more than 8T000 words. So, I am havtheir writing, because I think that life is disgusting and ing trouble finding the right market. My last pub was a terribly sad, but it is also tragically humorous as well. And four-page story; so, flash fiction is a little bit easier to so I definitely like to work with that complexity. I can't publish. I give readings, because most of my pieces are read fast, and I haven't read all of the queer authors yet. very performative. And they are fun to read. And audiI am really interested in reading all of the literary Mor- ences, who aren't totally pissed off, are usually groovmon writers, because I like to see what everyone is doing ing and enjoying in a complex, non-MTV kind of way. here. So it's easy to say Jeannette Winterson. a British author who I teach in most of my classes, because she Q: What do you want students to learn about writing is humorous and beautiful, and romantic and sad, and in your classes? her work is poetic; there is a sort of magical realism. Her A: This idea that there is a huge complex world of serivoice can carry me through so nicely and surprises me. I ous writing as ait, literary writing. I think makes my stucertainly use her as a mentor to get that sort of complex dents more educated, at the very least. A lot of people think. voice that's not always sad, or always happy or always What is creative writing for? What's its purpose? There are joking like David Sedaris, who I love. I've been using so many answers to that. Sometimes, it's to give somebody him as kind of a mentor lately as well. But I have to be a larger, deeper view of the world. And so, when we are careful with both of them, because they are such stylists asked to think about what people get from learning about that they can bleed into [my writing] a little too much. art, often the answer that is desired is a practical capitalistic answer. What [students! g e t ' s a sense of complexity and gorgeousness, and pain and shock and humor. What Q: Where do you like to see your writing go? A: The thing about publishing is that my new collec- they get is something that they can't get anywhere else. tion mostly is full of very long stories that have inter- Chinese Cuisine BUSINESS HOURS Mon SaL: :0 am 9:30 -"Closed'' Sunday ° " Dine-In • Take-Out • Delivery Party Room (up to 100 people) 801-225-8883 435 East 1150 South • Orem, Utah 84097 (Next to University Mall) netxnews.net Fill it back up. Tired of running on empty? Pick up a UTA Ed Pass at the Campus Connection in the Siudeni Center and start saving right away. I I |