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Show A&EDiversions Page 6 Friday, Dec. 3, 2010 Artist dabbles in evil-fighting There are battles against "Danger Days: The certain things despair and True Lives of the in this world evil. Fabulous Killjoys" that we have 2. My Grade: B+ Chemical a natural aversion to. Romance has These things better guitar are different solos. for differ3. My Chemical ent people, REXCOLINMITCHELL Romance has but some of mine include cooler guns, the local landfill, cuddling but the Aquabats' lead with my roommates and singer has a mustache, so it human excrement. In the equals out in the end. process of life we learn to The album opens up overcome the awkwardness with the voice of Dr. Death Defying, who offers himthat these things may cause us, but some we never get self as the radio-DJ guide over. through this musical, evilFor a time, my list includ- fighting adventure. He ed the band My Chemical describes himself as "Louder Romance. It may have been than God's revolver and twice as shiny." I never knew the face-painting, the drug references or their explosion that God needed a revolver, of popularity, but I didn't but whatever. He gives us think much of them. Then an update about halfway they released their single through the album, advising "The Black Parade," and the the listener that clearly Queen-influenced two members band started to intrigue me. of the crew, Of course, the song got way Jet-star and the Kobra Kid "had too much play time and needed a rest from the radio a clap with an exterminator waves after a while, but the Brian May-like guitar solos that went all caught my attention. Puerto Rico About a week ago they and got themreleased a new album, selves dusted." I'm not really "Danger Days: TheTrue Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys." sure what it means to "go Similar to their last album, Puerto Rico," but the statement is really entertaining. "The Black Parade," this one builds up a kind of alternate Those little interjections persona for the band. The from the radio show host band members adopt new interrupt songs such as "Na identities as vigilantes that Na Na," a nice little song are fighting against some about killing people, blowhuge evil corporation. ing stuff up and selling drugs. This idea of a rock band It's really catchy, though. fighting evil is hardly an origThe songs tend to have inal one. The Aquabats have less-than-incredible lyrics. been doing it for years. Well, They seem to mostly just to be honest, the Aquabats be angry lines that hapare actually superheroes pened to fit the meter of that happen to be in a rock the song. Admittedly, young band, not a rock band that rock bands generally aren't known for their poetic abilifights evil. I guess the difference is a subtle one. There ty, but that is often the differare quite a few differences ence between a good song between the Aquabats and and a great one. They make My Chemical Romance, but up for the sub-par lyrics with the notable ones are these: a great rock sound, not over1. The Aquabats win their produced or synthesized. Rhythm Reviews And, the guitar solos still remind me of late '70s and early '80s rock bands, so I approve of that wholeheartedly. In "Bulletproof Heart," they actually get a really great line in, albeit a slightly violent one: "I got a bulletproof heart, you got a hollow-point smile." The comparison of the girl's smile to a type of bullet banned in certain states was very witty. Towards the end of the album, the song "Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back" gives you an idea of how the battle against evil is going. The line "I'll tell you how the story ends. Well, the good guys die and the bad guys win," is particularly revealing. And, of course, to end the album is another statement from radio host Dr. Death Defying. He explains that "The lights are out and the party's over," that he's going to be on the run now, but takes the time to warns us about the sun burning us up if we stay still too long. What a thoughtful guy! He even plays the StarSpangled Banner before signing off. Overall, it was a decent album. Not incredible, not earth-shattering, but definitely OK. The musical side of the album made up for what was lacking in the lyric department, but I still like it better when good prevails. Maybe My Chemical Romance should have called up the MC Bat Commander for some help, instead of that Dr. Death Defying guy. Well, I guess you can't have it all. - rex.colin.mitchell@aggiemaiLusu.edu A MEMBER OF the USU Roller Hockey team plays Roller Hockey last spring. Each Saturday morning the group plays games and encourages all students to come out and play. CARL RWILSON photo Roller Hockey hopes to expand with Saturday morning games By ALEXANDRIA EVENSEN staff writer Combine 20 men, some in-line skates and an empty parking lot on a Saturday morning, and you get Nolan Garrity's Roller Hockey team. "Everybody has a blast," said Garrity, president of the USU Roller Hockey club. A senior majoring in psychology, he's passionate about his favorite sport. "I think it takes a little bit more skill than other sports. You're on your feet and you have to get a ball into a small net. It's really challenging and fast paced," he said. "It's just fun," said Parker Allen a junior majoring in business,. "You can move fast, and it's not as much work as running everywhere." Seeing the club at Day on the Quad last spring, Allen, got his friends together and signed up. "I played a ton when I was a little kid. We played at a sports court all day in summer," he said. "I hadn't played for years, but we loved it." Stemming from ice hockey, roller hockey got an official set of rules in 1940, according to the USA Roller Sports official website. Although the stick and ball sport didn't catch on until after World War II, its popularity spread across the United States especially in the early '90s with the improvement of inline skates. Along with a surge of followers came the first World Inline Roller Hockey Championship. "You wear less padding and It's not as physical as ice hockey," Allen said. "You can make contact but you're not there to hit people. It can be really aggressive and competitive, but it can be nice." Still in its infancy, USU's Roller Hockey Team was officially created in 2009 by Garrity's brother Keegan. Advertising through KSL and Craigslist, the brothers recruited more than 50 people, 10- 20 of which will play on any given Saturday. "There are a lot of people who played as a kid. You can pick it up right away," Garrity said. Garrity, like many hockey players, was introduced to the sport as a child. Growing up in Portland, Ore., he first picked up a stick at 7 and has been playing off and on since. When he got to USU and realized that there was no official team, he said that he just started to play. Even before they started a club, the Garrity brothers were starting pick-up games. "We were already playing around Logan," he said. Although he didn't start playing until this fall, Allen said he has seen growth since the club began. "Last year they were just trying to get started," he said. In order to boost attendance at games, this year the club heads started to help club members find equipment. "It's pretty consistent and organized. They'll make sure you have wheels. If you give them the money, they'll order it. Sometimes they'll provide equipment," he said. I See SPORT, page 7 Movie good, but book much better The first "Harry Potter half of the and the Deathly last installHallows Part l" ment of the Grade: AHarry Potter saga came to the the big screen Nov. 19 with "Harry DACE SMELLIE Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1." The famous trio Harry, Ron and Hermione come together again to take down the evil Lord Voldemort. This movie is the start of Harry's grand finale, and I am very happy they split the Deathly Hallows into two separate movies. It allows viewers to get the story in greater detail, and enjoy it for longer. Before I get too far into this review, I need to get some things that I am biased about out there. I absolutely loved the seventh book of the Harry Potter series, and generally I have hated the movie adaptations of the books, especially the sixth movie. They seemed to rush through the story and it was like trying to stuff everything into an allotted amount of time, and in the case of the sixth, the ending was changed completely. I am a book loyalist for sure, so it is safe to say I was nervous about this movie. It also must be said that for movies as big as this one, everyone is going to have strong opinions. I don't think I am an exception to this rule. Overall, I thought this movie was very good. It told the story of the book very well, and director Daniel Yates did a good job of setting the stage for this grand finale with an extraordinary opening scene that depicted a meeting among Voldemort and his loyal followers, the Death Eaters. Throughout the movie, I felt like I was at a family reunion. It was like Yates made sure to show off every character and give them their own momentary spotlight. I thought this was a good decision. As the Reel evi ews "DEATHLY HALLOWS" CAST MEMBERS Kate Fleetwood, Daniel Radcliffe and Steffan Rhodri escape from the dementors in a scene from the latest Harry Potter film. young adults that we have grown up with begin their adventurous search for the horcruxes, Hogwarts school is nowhere to be seen. They are up against all odds, and have to stay in a tent and keep on the move to avoid capture by Voldemort's loyalists who have also taken over the Ministry of Magic. Their progress is always up and down as they struggle to locate and destroy horcruxes. It becomes too much for Ron, and he decides to leave Harry and Hermione on their own for a while. Of course, he returns just in time to save Harry's life. The ending of this movie is not an ending at all. It stops at a little over halfway through the book, but I thought Yates did a pretty good job of picking a spot to wrap it up. Something that I really liked about this movie was that it was so dark. I could definitely feel the tension throughout the film. It could be said that death was in the air. Most of the time in a movie this isn't desirable, but I liked it because that is how the book is. I felt the same tension and despair that I felt while reading the book, and I was so happy Yates was able to recreate that. While some parts of the movie felt rushed, overall it wasn't bad. It was fastpaced, but not rushed. I credit this to the decision to split the last book into two movies. This movie was substantially better than the past few movie adaptations of the Harry Potter books. Yet as with almost all movie adaptations of books, the original novel was so much better. I love the book so much and I would recommend it to anyone. I love it. Still, Yates did a great job of depicting this incredible book, and I am so excited to see part two and how Yates puts the last few hundred pages of the novel onto the big screen. It will surely be a great moviewatching experience. As for this movie, it wasn't terrible like the sixth movie and I do recommend it. - jace.smellie@aggiemaiLusu.edu |