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Show A&EDiversions Friday, Sept. 18, 2009 Page 7 Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.aggietownsquare.com Not your average animated film The movie Nicholas “9” is a very peculiar one, Peterson to say the least. The animated film takes viewers inside a post-apocalyptic world run by Grade B machines. The machines were “9” initially built by humans and eventually turned against the entire world. The only hope left comes from nine mini burlap mutants who were created by a famous scientist just as the world was coming to its end. Of course, a name like Tim Burton would be attached to such a strange film. While strange is a word often associated with Tim Burton, others are also creative, clever and artistic. Each burlap-covered creature comes with its own specific dimension of a personality. Where one may lack in some area of behavior, another will most definitely make up for it. The main character, Reel Reviews and hero of the story, 9 (voiced by Elijah Wood), gets his name from the number on his back. Although he may be the least knowledgeable of the nine friends when it comes to surviving in the destroyed world they call home, he shows many typical characteristics of the hero: honesty, compassion and leadership. Some of the other tattered creatures include 1, a stubborn old man who is set in his ways; 5, the trusty sidekick who is always someone for 9 to rely on; and 7, the fierce female of the nine, who is ready for a fight at the drop of a hat. What is truly incredible about the film is the attention to detail. Throughout the group’s journey to stop the evil machines, a visual world is displayed that is a true feast for the eyes. Although the scenery is filled with darkness, smog, fire and crumbling buildings, it is easy to see the beauty of an artist’s work showing through. This is very similar to the wonderful world portrayed in Pixar’s “WALL-E.” This may be one of the only resemblances to a film such as “WALL-E,” because “9” could be more closely related to one of the Terminator films. Throughout the action, adventure and sorrow, the audience never loses faith in 9 and his attempt to bring down the machines that destroyed all former life, including his own creator. While nine completely different personalities may seem like a bit much, they actually flow well together throughout the film and keep the excitement high. My expectations were fairly high for this film, and although it wasn’t one of the best animated films ever, it was certainly one of the most creative and unique. After a slow first half and initial doubts about the quality of the story line, it was clear to see I was looking for excuses to not enjoy the film. By the end, I couldn’t find many reasons to give the C grade I had been planning on after the first half hour. The story line picked up and got running fast, and before I knew it, I found myself secretly enjoying the fight scenes between these mini creatures and the enormous machines. -nicholas.peterson@aggiemail.usu.edu Caillat’s new album offers more of a country feel Colbie Caillat came Landon out with a brand new, highly anticipated album, Hemsley “Breakthrough,” this last week. Let us imagine for a moment there is a linear spectrum of all the music in the world. At one end, Grade Brepresenting all the stuck- “Breakthrough” up, snobbish, ignorant losers with little talent, is Kanye by Colbie Caillat West, and at the other end is the purity, innocence and beauty of Taylor Swift. (Note the subtle reference to West’s video music award debacle.) In this album, Colbie Caillat is three or four notches away from Swift in that spectrum. She is approaching singer-songwriter and country-pop status. Indeed, there has been a slight shift toward country in Caillat’s style. Such a shift is one that seems to be quite prevalent in female singer-songwriters recently. For example, when I listened to the first track of her album, “I Won’t,” I did a double take to make sure I was listening to the right song. “I Won’t” is a country track, plain and simple. There are swooning guitars, violins and just about everything else that has come with the biggest hits of country for the last 10 years. Such music would normally cause my ears to start bleeding, but, oddly enough, this one doesn’t. That doesn’t mean I’m particularly fond of the track, but I do know that most who listen to it will like it. It’s no super-smash hit, but it is a quality song that almost anyone can relate to and enjoy. Indeed, that is the great appeal of country music and Caillat’s music alike – people can relate to it. It touches people in parts of their lives that no other type of music can and describes the difficult moments better than just about anything else. That’s part of the reason why Caillat’s first album was a winner. The other part of the equation was that the music was good, plain and simple. On the whole, the 13 tracks of the album are a lot more of the same from the guitar-playing mistress of beauty. If you liked her first album, “Coco,” you’ll dig this one too. There’s a lot of guitar, a lot of love songs and certainly the same type of catchy tune that vaulted her from nothingness into the national spotlight in a matter of months. However, if you’re looking for another “Bubbly,” it’s not in this album. Nothing on this record quite measures up to Caillat’s monster single from her debut album. That said, it’s important to remember that this is still a quality album. It is musically capable, hooks abound within it and, of course, practically every girl I’ve Tune Takes introduced this music to approves of it. The album starts of with the upbeat tempo and twang of “I Won’t,” and on the whole maintains the sound through the second track, “Begin Again.” I found the second track’s title to be cute. Say, for example, you really didn’t like the sound of the first track. The second certainly gives you the option to begin again with a track that has possible potential both in radio and in the hearts of those who like Caillat’s music. “Begin Again” has a great hook and melody. The music sticks with you after you’re done listening to it. It’s a song with a great melodic progression and strong lyrics. It’s pretty good. The only thing that I could possibly have against this song is that Caillat sounds a bit too much like Amy Grant for my taste every now and again but don’t read too much into it. This song is pretty good. Caillat changes the tempo a bit as she moves through her next track, but there is good reason. The third track serves a filler’s purpose. It takes up space on the album and gives the listener a break before moving onto the big single, “Fallin’ for You.” It’s a quaint little track but, on the whole, it follows Caillat’s sound. Melody, great guitar progressions but no real strong hook is in this one. Get ready though, because track number four is a home run. “Fallin’ for You” is the one track on this album everyone has probably heard. If you get a minute, try to prove me wrong. Go to Caillat’s Web site and listen to the song and tell “The Cats of Mirikitani” film screening showing tonight By CHELSEY GENSEL staff writer The USU art department will screen the film “The Cats of Mirikitani” Friday night in Old Main, 112, at 6. The film follows now 89-year old New York artist Jimmy Mirikitani through his experiences with homelessness, Japanese internment camps and the events of Sept. 11. It has won more than a dozen film festival awards, including one at its premiere during the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. One of the advisers to the film, Roger Shimomura, is a painter who visited USU this week and gave a lecture Wednesday night. Some of his art deals with Japanese internment camps during World War II, and the documentary-style film brings art like that of Shiromura and Mirikitani together with real historical events. “The idea is that the internment camps, 9/11 were a result of a whole society not understanding another society and that led to acts of horrific violence,” said Scott Foster, exhibition coordinator for the art department. Shimomura’s visit and the film screening are both part of the Tanner Project, which is a series of events throughout the year organized by the art department. This year’s theme is crossing boundaries and is divided into four sections. The film is being shown as part of the section titled “Memories of Captivity,” Foster said, and is about building community through the appreciation of individual stories. “It’s a year-long diversity series,” he said, “to help us to understand the point of view and the experience of a person as a means to build our community.” Foster said though he handles logistics for events, such as coordinating details and behind-the-scenes work, art department head Carolyn Cardenas, who was Shimomura’s student as an undergraduate, “was instrumental in getting (the film) here. She should really get credit for this.” The film has elements of narrative depicting Mirikitani’s journey to find friends and family and to research his past in the aftermath of Sept. 11 with the help of a filmmaker he met on the street while making his art. “It has to do with documenting an experience,” Foster said, and parallels between current events and those of history. The film will be introduced by assistant professor of photography Chris Gauthier and will run for one-and-a-half hours. -pulcre.puella@gmail.com me you haven’t heard it before. It’s been all over the radio since the single was released apart from the album a few months ago. This is the one song on the album that will stick in your head if any will. There’s good reason for this song to be out in the public ear so much – it’s musical greatness. And then Caillat takes a dive with the next song, “Rainbow.” The main beef I have with this track is its excessive harmony. Harmonies should allow the song to develop, grow, progress and should add a new level of depth that would be absent otherwise. Not so here. If anything, the harmony in this song only distracts from Caillat’s voice, which is singing a middleto-decent melody. This song reminds me of the music that the hippie girl in high school always played on the lawn outside the school. Yeah, you may glance up and mutter an empty compliment to the poor girl but, really, the music is just kind of weird. The rest of this album is fairly strong. If there was one thing I could say that I don’t really like about the album as a whole, leaving behind any individual track, it would be that the tempo and beat behind all of Caillat’s music is too homogeneous. There’s little variety in the beats that underlie Caillat’s music, both in “Coco” and “Breakthrough.” I guess if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. But on the other hand, if it is broken, then it needs fixing. “Fallin’ for You” is the better selling song in the album on iTunes. The next is the sixth track, “Droplets,” which features guest artist Jason Reeves. The entire album sounds way, way too similar to itself to be taken as seriously as “Coco” was. By far, the best track of the rest of this album that Caillat sings by herself is the 11th track, “It Stops Today.” The chorus is probably the most catchy of any song in the album, including “Fallin’ for You,” but it’s so far buried in the album that you quit paying attention to the music by the time the track arrives. I give this CD a B-. The album earns points because it’s listenable and its hit single but loses points because of the homogeneous style, lack of experimentation and overall lack of musical depth. It’s pretty good stuff, but not something you are going to spend an afternoon listening to because of the sheer glory of it, unless you replay “Fallin’ for You” 1,500 times without listening to the rest of the album. So, if this is not to be played in your iPod all day long, where should you play this music? The next time you throw a party at your place, pop this album in the boom box and enjoy. It’s great easy-listening music, and it certainly won’t offend anyone. It’s a decent album but certainly nothing that is going to rock the foundations of the musical world anytime soon. -la.hem@aggiemail.usu.edu Education fails A subject that building openly comes up fairly M. Johnson admitted to cheatoften is academic on over half staff writer ing integrity and judghis exams last ing from the article year, saying it was in Wednesday’s worth it because paper about the it put him on the changes in the USU dean’s list and kept policy there are his scholarship. He “What we’re hearing” said, “What is the many who claim to feel strongly point of school if about the subject. you can’t cheat?” However, there are also those 4. A girl recently realized that who could care less. I would Alaska is not an island. All this like to share some of the many time she was convinced it was academically questionable com- because they put it next to Hawaii ments I heard this week. on maps. 1. Overheard a student adver5. Heard a story recalled about tising to do homework, take tests a guy who finds it difficult to label and write papers for $50. maps of Europe because he can 2. “I don’t know how I would never remember which country have passed chemistry without is the USSR and which country is having the girls in 213 to do my Russia. homework, and all I had to do in If you hear things that are stureturn was be their friend. They pid, funny or outrageous, inform were such nerds.” M. Johnson with a quick e-mail to 3. A kid in the engineering Mardy.McFly@gmail.com Fly on the Wall |