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The Clarion | February 27, 2009
Arts & Life —
Anary student quest column:
Awards shows fail to lionor real art
by Jarrod Hayworth
Contributor
In a country of shady politics
and corruptive businesses that
leave the average consumer
damn-near penniless, we, as a
people attempt to seek solace
by any means necessary. And
although positive news in the
broadcasting world is hard to
come by nowadays, we have
managed to find comfort else
where- in the entertainment
industry. With the American
population under an umbrella
of an economically catastrophic
disappointment, it is this indus
try that seems to be the only
thing that may help raise us out
of the impending depression.
Now Fm not oblivious to the
fact that platinum records and
box-office hits help these people
generate a profit, but their over
all goal is to entertain us; and in
these times of strife, that’s not
an easy accomplishment. But it
does happen.
It takes a certain quality to
produce a work of art that truly
moves people. I’m not referring
to the latest ‘Now! That’s What
I Call Music” CD installment
that’s advertised on television
or the latest^/r Bud movie. I’m
talking about real talent. Some
executives have tried to fool us
into thinking that we have the
power to make someone into
an artist. This is why American
Idol is a shame and so are the
winners. I mean really, what
happened to Ruben Studdard
or Kelly Clarkson? Choosing
someone to be a recognizable
person is easy with today’s me
dia, but choosing someone to be
a true artist is impossible.
Talent comes from within,
and fame is something to be
earned with years of hard work.
not from a sappy song written
by marketers. (Suck it Jonas
Brothers.) And I personally
beheve that these talents should
be rewarded, and not just fi
nancially either. Luckily for
some, there are some industry
award shows that are desig
nated for this purpose; most
notably, the Academy Awards
and the Grammys. And while
these shows do provide some
acknowledgement to deserving
individuals, a few real artists are
often forgotten about.
In the case of the Grammys,
Radiohead and their album “In
Rainbows” seemed to be the
best piece of work in the entire
industry. Not only was “In Rain
bows” neglected by mass media
and MTV, but the band beheved
in the record’s artistry so much
that they offered it online for
a price that was chosen by the
buyer Some who downloaded
it paid nothing, while others
paid up to $100 for it. And
Radiohead was able to do this
because they were unsigned and
therefore bypassed the money-
grubbing music companies. But
it wasn’t this pay-what-you-
want approach that made the
album successful, it was hard
work, determination, phenom
enal talent and ingenuity. And
while they were nominated for
6 awards, they were largely
ignored. But I must say if you
haven’t ‘experienced’ this work
of art, contact me and I’ll make
sure you get a copy. Your life
will be changed forever
Grammy rigging aside, the
largest award show disappoint
ment has to go to the Academy
Awards. This year, the Ameri
can population has been privi
leged to witness the release of so
many great films. The Reader,
Milk, The Curious Case of
Benjamin Button, Doubt, The
Dark Knight, Frost/Nixon, and
even Wall-E helped us regain
our faith in the motion picture.
Now most of these films and
their artists received deserv
ing recognition, Kate Winslet,
Sean Perm, Heath Ledger, and
Wall-E; but the disappointment
of the year must go to Slumdog
Millionaire. Did you know that
this film was originally sched
uled to be a straight-to-video
release in the United States?
Although I did think it was a
decent film and deserved to be
in movie theatres, I was not im
pressed. The plot was ridiculous
and the acting wasn’t anything
special. I was upset when it
was nominated in so many cat
egories. And I was disgruntled
when it won other awards, but
when it won Best Picture, I
couldn’t stop yelhng at the tele
vision. I was livid! How could
this movie be added to a list of
previous wiimers that included
Forrest Gump, Platoon, Schin
dler’s List, Gone with the Wind,
Braveheart, American Beauty
and The Departed? It’s absurd.
If you can explain to me what
makes Slumdog Millionaire
a candidate for Best Picture,
please let me know.
Game time with tlie Beej
by BJ Wanlund
Definitely has game
When looking for places to
buy legitimate copies of old
games, your options are quite
limited. You could go on Ama
zon.com or eBay, but you will
get price gouged if you want all
the cool little extras that came
with the game.
In terms of digital distribution,
however, you would have been
totally out of luck. Until GOG.
com came along, that is. GOG.
com is a website from the folks
at CD Projekt, a game devel
oper most recently responsible
for The Witcher GOG.com is
a place to pick up Good Old
Games (hence the GOG).
Most of the titles so far are
the kind that people may have
missed on the PC back in the
day, like Fallout, Broken Sword,
Beneath A Steel Sky, and others
like these.
All releases happen on Tues
days, while the “coming soon”
aimouncements always happen
on Thursdays, some more inter
esting than others.
So, what can people expect
from GOG? First of all, you will
have to expect to play these on a
Windows XP or Vista machine,
so if you’re not running these
operating systems (even on a
Mac), you’re going to be out
of luck.
Secondly, you can expect that
all the cool little bonuses that
came with the games (in the
case of Beneath A Steel Sky,
you got a free comic book with
the game) will be available for
you to download FREE OF
CHARGE after you purchase
see Beej, page 5