Newspapers / Brevard College Student Newspaper / Feb. 23, 2007, edition 1 / Page 10
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Page 10 ARTS & LIFE The Clarion \ February 23, 2007 CD Review DragonForce is a musical Godzilla by Aaron Palmer Managing Editor I was completely unaware of this band until just recently, when they thoroughly rocked my world. DragonForce can just about be summed up by their name. Their sound could pass for the soundtrack to a Final Fantasy game played in 80’s genre speed metal. Most of their material seems to be about other worldly medieval, epic battles, like putting a sound to Michael Wheknan’s art. At first glace the band comes across in a rather humorous man ner Opening the album with a speedy, finger picked intro accom panied by a synth drum and key board, it’s just about what you’d expect from the name. Within sec onds, the band tears off on a musi cal rampage that does not a cease until the fmal song, which doesn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the material. The drums run faster than you can tap your fmgers for about an hour straight, which sounds more tiring than impressive. The bass ist holds up his end occasionally throwing out some impressive riffs, butmostly keeping pace. The guitars are what truly make the band. There are two guitarists that take turns between ma- chine-like aggression of rhythm and shred ding fire down the neck of their instru ments. Often they come together and somehow never miss a note through their borage of tapping and scaling. These guys have re juvenated speed metal from two decades past only to give it a new, tighter edge. Not since Slayer’s “Reign In Blood” has there been such an attack on the ear. Not only that, but DragonForce makes it sound easy. Even if opposed to the idea of this music, you cannot dub yourself a guitarist without a listen. DVD Review Babel: hyped disappointment by Zacl Harding Arts & Life Editor Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu Starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett Paramount Vantage, 2006 So there I am, strolling through the recent DVD releases and my eye lands on the much touted 5a- bel. It must be the best choice, right? Nope. It is not that Babel is a particu larly bad movie, but it is defmitly boring, it fails to realize the po tential that it has, and it ultimately doesn’t come to a very meaning ful end. The premise revolves around four groups of people, spanning three different countries, who are all linked to a shooting that takes place in Morrocco. The movie switches between the four differ ent settings throughout and at tempts to tie them together, though only loosely. It takes a good hour before any thing really interesting starts to happen, which is one of the down falls of the movie. Everything up to the shooting is very banal and serves to take away from any messege that tries to come across. There is an overall theme of the difficulty of communication be tween different cultures, but it re ally never manifests itself within the film. The clearest example is with the deaf/mute character Chieko, a sex-crazed Japanese girl who is outcast due to her disabil ity. There are certain scenes where we see the contrast of the vibrant world around her and her inner sensation of absolute silence. These scenes are some of the best in the film. The acting is good, though the way the film is set up, there are no real “starring” actors. Brad Pitt does well as the frantic, worried husband, and though Cate Blanchett’s acting is well done, it is somewhat wasted in the lacking role that she plays. The two young boys who play Morrocan brothers are excellent in their roles. Babel was co-produced between three different countries, and this disjointedness shows. Ultimately it is a film that falls far short of what it intends. It takes a long time to pick up, and once it does, it never really unites the four sto ries of the different cultures in any meaningful way. In fact, the Japa nese storyline is almost completely unimportant to the rest of the movie, and could have easily been dropped. I didn’t detest this film, I was just remarkably unim pressed. It gets 2.5 out of 5 stars. HOROSCOPE Aries: Today is the day to revamp your look. People are staring and its time to look just a little better in the public. Lucky Color: Neon Car rot Taurus: Not sure what to do eh? Well, hopefully you'll cool your jets long enough to realize everything is not perfect, but okay. Lucky Color" Purple Razzmatazz Gemini: You're not sweating any thing at all right now. All you have to do right now is pay off your family debt and you won't be hung at dawn. Lucky Color: Scabies White Cancer: Crab take over alert! Ve nus has moved out of your sys tem causing you to be a little more "extroverted". Lucky Color: Sepia Leo: Pampering yourself is always a good way to realax...when you have the money. Watch out or you'll be sorry. Lucky Color: Rad ish Bloom Virgo: You're so bashful! Stop be ing a knot-on-a-log and enjoy your fruit a little here and there. Lucky Color: Alpine Libra: You're never completely balanced and your romantic life is in extreme jeopardy because of it. Fickle thy name is Libra. Lucky Color: Denim Scorpio: Keep your lips sealed because there are things larger than scorpions. Sometimes its nice to just lay low for a while. Lucky Color: Blue Bell. Sagittarius: You're not far from Libra this week, then again you were always somewhat of forget ful, conceited, amphibian. Lucky Color: New Shrimp. Capricorn: The oracle is not re ally interested in you this week. You should just lie down where you are. Lucky Color: Fern. Aquarius: Asking for help is not a big deal. Asking others for opin ions may be too much. Be careful of who you ask and even more so of who is watching while you do it. Lucky Color: Evening Hush. Pisces: People wonder where you are and what you do. You're an enigma to those who think you're special—open up and come out. Lucky Color: Asparagus.
Brevard College Student Newspaper
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