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Show -'—.v -•:- v TV: : T Monday • November 24, 2008 B 7 £^rS&«v^^^ C O M I C B O O K B O O K R E V I E W Change we can believe in Marvel's Ultimatum is changing things in a big way, for comic books at least R E V I E W If you haven't read it ANGELA'S ASHES by Frank McCourt •JASON GIBBONS. Life writer Unfortunately, the Ultimate Universe has been a bit Life writer stagnant recently, to say the Nobody starts off an least. event like Marvel Comics. When it wasfirstconDid they just kill millions ceived, the Ultimate Uniof people on the East Coast? verse was a modern alternaYep. Did half of the Fantas- tive to the traditional Marvel tic Four just die? I think so. Universe. Classic characters Were those X-Men being like Captain America, Iron slammed by a tidal wave Man, Spider-Man and Thor that consumed all of New were given an updated treatYork? Indeed they were. ment and origins that shed If you read the Ultimate the forty years of continuity line of books, then you are that intimidated new readmore than likely ready for ers. some kind of shakeup. It Books like Ultimates, doesn't feel like that long Ultimate Spider-Man, and Then, tilings started to ago that the Ultimate books Ultimate X-Men launched to were some of the most ex- huge sales and critical praise. get routine. The Ultimate citing and fresh comics on The stories were grounded Universe started to look the stands. In fact, the recent in a world more resembling more and more like the regMarvel movies Iron Man our own, and things like ular Marvel Universe, and and The Incredible Hulk are politics, media spin and su- the books started to be nothalmost directly based off perhero sex tapes, played ing more than retellings of classic Marvel tales. their Ultimate counterparts. heavily in the books. ENJAMIN BAILEY With Ultimatum, all that seems to be changing. Written by Jeph Loeb (the guy behind everything from The Long Halloween To SpiderMan: Blue) with art from the amazing David Finch, the book certainly has the star power to deliver the big changes in grand style. Loeb brings the action front and center from page one, and Finch executes the epic scale with beautiful style. With four more issues to go, we can only hope that Ultimatum keeps the fast-paced action and highstakes battles coming, because those of us that have been following the Ultimate Universe are ready for some change we can believe in. Somber but beautifu Local band Somber Party gives more than music dion, viola, violin, Rhodes keyboard, upright bass, and Staff writer even a glockenspiel. Upon first meeting the "It's like old meets new," members of Somber Party, Robbins said. "We've got one can't help but notice old world instruments, but how friendly and charming also a newer edge with electhe band members are. So tronic stuff such as drums, why is it that they write such synthesizers, and other modsad music? ern blends of technology." "I think it's because By combining old and some people need music new musical forms, Somber as a means of expressing Party's music poses a quesemotion," Nathan Robbins, tion: How do you get back singer for Somber Party, to humanistic ideals in a says. "I've found that when technological and corporate I'm sad, not my normal self, age? The answer, Robbins 1 need to write about it and says, is making music that channel it in a productive helps people connect with way." each other. Somber Party is a local "Our music has a phiband that is in many ways losophy of people connectdifferent from other locals. ing to people, experiencing For one, they utilize a wide real emotions, and genuine array of musical instru- human warmth," Robbins ments, including the accor- says. "The ideal thing I want fgfGREGWILCOX > i ^ to leave with listeners is for we are similar to everyone them to have emotions and else, ways we can connect." thoughts that wouldn't norSo although Somber Parmally occur to them." ty's music is melancholy, it Perhaps it is this connec- is certainly not despairing or tive philosophy that explains unhappy. Rather, the band Somber Party's considerable and their music exude a reamount of loyal fans. I ob- freshing authenticity that is served as fans reverently sat rare in an often-superficial down on the floor at Muse world. Music to enjoy and absorb If you want to go to a the band's performance, as . show to dance to upbeat muif awaiting a religious ser- sic, Somber Party probably mon. Robbins attributes this isn't what you're looking collective unity to the goal for. If, however, you seek to of the band, which encour- connect with others through ages inclusion. a medium of thoughtful mu"A lot of people use sic, it might be just what you things they are into, like need. music, hobbies, clothes they Check out Somber Parwear - they use them to set ty's MySpace page for more themselves apart from oth- information and future show er people," Robbins says. dates: http://www.myspace. "What we are trying to do com/somberparty with Somber Party is the opposite of that: Finding ways Angela's Ashes is the first and best of a trilogy of Frank McCourt's memoirs written after he retired from his 30-year career as an English teacher. In heartbreaking detail, McCourt tells of his childhood and coming of age in Limerick, Ireland around the time of the Second World War. McCourt is able to recount without bitterness the true story of a father who drank away their money at every opportunity, a mother often reduced to the status of beggar, and three siblings who didn't survive childhood. Throughout all of this hardship, McCourt still manages to find humor and poetry in his experiences, and the reader shares in his setbacks and triumphs. Shining through the despair is an indomitable human spirit and living proof that the American dream can still be a reality for those who believe in it. This is a great book and another must-read: "When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood. People everywhere brag and whimper about the woes of their early years, but nothing can compare with the Irish version: ' the poverty; the shiftless loquacious alcoholic father; the pious defeated mother moaning by the fire; pompous priests; bullying schoolmasters; the English and the terrible things they did to us for eight hundred long years." Frank McCourt is 78 years old and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife Ellen. Angela's Ashes won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1996 and the Pulitzer Prize in 1997. Wisdom • Discounts for Missionaries • Root Canal Therapy • IV Sedation for Ultimate Comfort • Insurance/Emergencies M Hqb OFF of 4 Wisdom Teeth 0 Extraction Not valid with any other discount or offer. Orem office 1834 S. State YOUNG FA M I LY D E NTA L classifieds help wanted EQUINE HELP WANTED Looking for help with Nannies Unlimited exercising and grooming horse Grdat Jobs. Nation Wide-Out of for 1 hour, twice daily in State, 1 yr commitment. 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