Page 2
The Blue Banner
September 2,2004
Features
‘Super Size Me:’ tales of a McGlutton
I
BY Apryl Blakeney
Staff Reporter
If there’s any validity to the
statement “you are what you
eat,” then Morgan Spurlock is an
unlucky cow smothered in
cheese and sandwiched between
stale refined pieces of white
bread. He’s a bessie with veins
pumping sweet sugary Coke
straight to his heart and he pos
sesses a stomach lining made en
tirely of deep fried potatoes and
honey mustard.
That is, if you believe the
cliche.
Or perhaps he’s just a film
maker with a horrifically won
derful idea for a documentary
entitled “Super Size Me.”
Spurlock, with a team full of
doctors at his slim healthy side,
chooses to order a life altering
diet of McGriddles, McFlurries
and McNuggets three times a
day, every day for an entire
month. His goal? To disprove a
McDonald’s statement that fast
food is actually good for you.
Spurlock wanted to disprove
their statement to all of America,
which just happens to be the fat
test nation in the world.
Thus, he began a regimented
and well-documented “McDiet”
with three very simple rules.
One, he must eat everything on
the menu at least once. Two, he
jcould eat things only from the
I McDonald’s menu, which, much
to his dismay, does not include
multi-vitamins or Tylenol. And
three, if asked to Super Size, he
must accept.
Thirty days later and nearly 25
pounds heavier, Spurlock, a de
pressive McDonald’s addict with
a liver more closely resembling
liver mush than a functioning or
gan, has a libido that makes the
Pope look like a stallion, accord
ing to his vegan girlfriend.
Spurlock’s doctors warned him
of total liver failure if he contin
ued on the Super Size Me diet,
which consists of 5,000 calories
a day.
“I always enjoy movies where
there is danger in the life of the
character and they could possible
die during the filming of the
movie. I wouldn’t have liked the
film that much if he wasn’t in
danger,” said Alex Grettinger, bio
chemistry major.
Now playing at the Fine Arts
Theatre, “Super Size Me” proves
to be more than just a shocking
fdm about a guy with a secret and
shameful affinity towards Big
Macs.
All disgusting imagery aside,
“Super Size Me” is an informa
tively thought-provoking film
about public health, social re
sponsibility and the stigma at
tached to being overweight,
which is second only to smoking
as the No. 1 cause of preventable
death.
“Spurlock is really trying to
change the way obesity is per
ceived, because right now they are
seen as people who have created
PHOTO COURTESEY OF JUILE SOEFER
Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock displays two McDonald’s Big Mac’s, the core menu item for his super size me diet.
their own problem,” said Seth
King, history major. “I think he
wants to get the focus off the in
dividuals and on to the idiosyn
crasies of our cultural and eco
nomic system.”
Indeed, social responsibility
seems to be the underlying
theme and Spurlock does more
than just hint at the notion that
big corporations are addicting
our children. With more than
$1.4 billion invested in advertis
ing a year, fast food industries
hook Americans at a young age.
In fact, more first graders recog
nize pictures of Ronald
McDonald before they can iden
tify Jesus.
“I think, by providing a bulk
of evidence about advertising
and lobbying, Spurlock is imply
ing that while marketing doesn’t
negate personal responsibility it
certainly marginalizes it,” said
King.
Spurlock’s clever wit and en
joyable presence keeps his sub
jects entertained and even will
ing to humiliate themselves by
singing the Big Mac song...in
harmony.
Often compared to Michael
Moore because of their shock-
u-mentary style of filmmaking,
Spurlock is far less confronta
tional in his approach and thus
more successful in attaining his
desired information.
“People seem comfortable
around Spurlock because he
doesn’t bulldoze them with ques
tions and so they are more hon
est and they make more mis
takes,” said King. “Where as with
Moore, his subjects always act as
if they are expecting a trap.”
Costing less than $75,000 to
make, “Super Size Me” proved
to be a brilliant, enjoyable film
about the ultimate glutton for
punishment.
[Sonic Youth proves they’re
ot too old to make noise
BY Rachel Wright
Staff Reporter
With the rapid flashing of illu-
linated. X-ray images of guitars
as a backdrop, Thurston Moore
grinds his body against an amp
producing rhythmic feedback,
vhile his wife, Kim Gordon, hikes
her leg onto her bass prodding it
vith a silver heel. Lee Ranaldo falls
to his knees as he uses a tape mea
surer, like fingers, on the strings
, of his guitar. Sonic Youth contin-
e.s to prove the perfection of turn
ing experimental noise into mu-
|ic, this time at
lie Orange Peel.
“You’re 18,
you re going to
Register to destroy
^le religious, fas-
>^ists, right-
;) Bringed white su
premacy,” said
Jdoore as he leads
ilie band into
teenage Riot,”
from their 1992
l)irty album.
^rom the reaction
of the crowd it’s
* infusing as to
heiher the song created the ec-
aiic yells and applause, or the ob
vious anti-President George W.
Bush message. This is not the first
Pmc Sonic Youth lashed out at one
of our fine presidents. Dirty also
■ contains the pleasant “Youth
Against Fascism,” protesting op
position to none other than the
liirmer President George Bush.
Sonic Youth, formed in New
York City in 1981 with Moore and
analdo on guitar and vocals and
IGordon on bass, guitar and vocals.
Whe group has since been through
■ several drummers and guitarists,
I yet the core persisted through the
I decades of new wave, gmnge, pop,
I punk, hardcore, progressive me
lodic hardcore, etc.
The band remains to create
their erotic noise-art and sell out
venues, despite the various sounds
of music the band lived through,
and a switch to the major record
label Geffen in the late 1980s.
“Personally, I didn’t like the
show because the majority of the
time they weren’t playing music but
were rubbing their guitars against
speakers and creating distortion,
making noise not music,” said
Erich Melville, senior political sci
ence major. “But I guess this is what
makes them Sonic Youth.”
Midway through the first set,
Gordon pleases crowd members
with much loved “Kool Thing.”
She dances
around, like a
cheerleader, in
her black velvet
looking, baby-
doll dress which
falls above the
normal mother’s
skirt length.
Dress straps
fall away as she
shakes her shoul
der length, dirty
blonde hair
“Personally, I didn’t like
the show because the
majority of the time they
weren’t laying music, but
were rubbing their gui
tars against speakers and
creating distortion,
making noise not music.”
Erich Melville
senior political science major
around her gaunt
features, like
those of a hero-
that of Edvard
ine addict or
Munch’s “The Scream.
“It sure was cool when Kim
started playing the guitar with her
rock star, silver high heels on. She
truly is a rock goddess,” said
Ellenor Moore, elementary educa
tion major at Warren Wilson Col
lege and a “Sonic Youth virgin” be
fore this event.
The show at The Orange Peel
on Friday, Aug. 20 was a celebra
tion of the band’s nineteenth al
bum, Sonic Nurse, released June
2004. Additional members include
Steve Shelley on the drums and Jim
O’Rourke on guitar and bass. A
record which employs melodic-ten
derness, crazed, jagged guitar riffs
with overtones of experimental in
strument sessions.
Sonic Nurse will never be consid
ered an epic like EVOL (1986), Day
dream Nation (1988), Goo (1990),
Dirty (1992), or Murray Street
(2002).
“It’s all awesome,” said Jacob
Hartman, concerning the band’s
transition from the ‘80s to the
present.
A bit harder and more crazed
in the ‘80s, yet they’re still around
looking great and playing kick-ass
music. What about the distortion
session as a final encore.”
Moore agrees that the sound
evolved but still remains a fan. “I
think their new stuff rocks, but so
does their older stuff. So I cannot
say which stuff rocks harder. But
they have progressed. Their sound
has definitely changed, but they
will always continue to change and
do new and interesting stuff.”
Ranaldo performed one of his
expected, quiet poetic tunes off of
Sonic Nurse, “Paper Cup Exit.”
“Skimming the tops of tall trees
through the clear light of free
speech, a sudden memory disease,
claims all the air around me,” sings
Ranaldo as background melody
and chaos find a transition into
one.
For those readers who still ques
tion how to interpret the quality
of the band’s musical character,
Moore fills in the holes.
Sonic Youth sounds kind of
like hash- browns from Waffle
House, with cheese, tomatoes, on
ions, pickles, and topped with
ranch dressing.”
Regardless, in most cases age
calls for respect. Sonic Youth de
mands this with the band mem
bers in their late 40’s and early 50’s,
rocking out for over twenty-years.
The fans at the show reflect the
number of years Sonic Youth has
spent in the underground, indie-
rock scene. Youngsters in typical
tight t-shirts, dyed-black hair and
Thurston Moore-like shags, mixed
with rebel adults seen without their
nine-to-five day wear, rumpled
grey hairs and beers in hand.
AMANDA EDWARDS/features editop
The Usual Suspects on Merrimon Avenue offers its patrons great food, cheap drinks and fun atmosphere.
The Usual Suspects: North
Asheville’s newest night spot
BY Emily Sarkissian
Staff Reporter
The Usual Suspects, Merrimon
Avenue’s very own night spot, serves
not only as a fun place to hang out
and relax, but offers patrons good
food and a great atmosphere. If
watching cars roll by while sitting on
the outside patio, drinking cheap li
quor and eating excellent food
doesn’t do it for you, their game
room could surely keep you enter
tained.
Looking out from the patio at
The Usual Suspects, one would not
exactly think they had the ideal view
for sipping their evening cocktails
and enjoying their dinners al fresco
although no one sitting outside
seemed to mind.
“It seems real laid back and ev
eryone seemed to be having a good
time, said Heidi Bickner, senior
math major.
The outside patio, huge and com
pletely covered with a high roof,
brings comfort that even during a
thunderstorm the evening won’t be
interrupted by the weather.
To contribute to the open-air feel.
a glass garage door acts as a window
to the patio and can be lowered and
raised depending on the weather,
which makes less of a separation be
tween the inside and outside. If there
are not any seats outside, just sit at
the inside seats near the raised garage
door and it feels like the out
side.
“It’s really nice to have the
open space, inside and out
side, said Mayumi
Sakamoto, senior math ma
jor.
Opened earlier this summer. The
Usual Suspects happens to often be
mistaken for being simply a bar, but
it’s also a restaurant.
‘ I thought it was going to be more
of a bar, but it’s more a restaurant,
and that s kind of nice,” said Jo Per
sons, sophomore Spanish major.
The restaurant was converted
from an old paint store and still has
an open warehouse-type atmosphere.
It isn’t a huge place, but seems a
lot bigger due to the minimal decor
and high ceilings.
One of the walls, in all brick cov
ered with old beer advertisements,
while a partition separates the smok
ing and bar area from the non-smok-,
ing area. In the middle of the part
tion, a screen shows silent clips'
old black and white movies on a coi
tinuous loop that adds a nice tout
to the aura of the room.
The 1940’s jazz and blues mus
and subtle lighting keeps the then
of the warehouse styl
The lamps are simple cj
inders that hang hig
from the ceiling. T1
restrooms as well have
unique quality. T1
woman’s at least, painK
in bright orange, creates a shift froi
the lower light of the bar area, so I
ready. It’s clear every single aspect i
creating the atmosphere was car
fully planned and well executed.
“I thought it had a nice atm
sphere,” said Bickner.
“Even the wait staff is dressed i
fit in with the scene. They didr
wear anything obnoxious, but tht
were clothed a bit more creative
than the basic black Asheville servi
garb.”
With old movies and jazz stai
dards, it almost feels like Los At
geles in the days of Bugsy Sieg^
See Usual on page 3