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©lp Sailg ©or Meri Wave of special effects leaves ‘Day’ mutilated BY PHILIP MCFEE EDITOR Somewhere out there, Ed Begley Jr. is laughing. Thanks to “The Day After Tomorrow” the latest in a long series of Gaia-gets-the-boot films, Americans can learn the egregious error of their over-consuming ways. By means of inexplicable tidal waves, über-tornadoes, hurri canes, potroast-sized hail and wolves. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Ice Age is backhand this time it’s brought friends. In the film, word gets out mankind’s lifelong love affair with fossil fuels has gone public. Until now, the trusting Earth thought she was the main steady, and now the wronged planet’s royally peeved. So, those cheating humans are getting their just deserts, and glob al warming-driven climate changes plan to serve man up. Chilled. This disaster-laced morality tale comes courtesy of director Roland Emmerich, who manages to fling all of his favorite devices into the cataclysmic mix. The bus-stomping mayhem of “Universal Soldier” meets the New York steamrolling of “Godzilla” and “Independence Day” with a bit of “Patriot”-style flag placement to boot. It’s a tall order, and all the chaos is something only one kind of man can handle: a paleoclimatologist. And there’s one kind of man to play that kind of scientist Dennis Quaid. Only the star of such pictures as “Frequency” and “Jaws 3-D” can bear the full brunt of the super storm’s fury. It’s his job to rescue his son, the doe-eyed Jake Gyllenhaal, from his icy, flooded, wolf-infested hidey hole in the New York public library. * After a breakdown near Philadelphia, it’s a scant 78-mile Advantage one-ups its peers if CHRIS COLETTA SENIOR WRITER ; S-It’s been almost 20 years since a prSdgy Italian plumber named MJario made his way into the living robms of America’s youth, kick starting the video game revolution and allowing the Nintendo Entertainment System to become a household name. In that time, video game music has taken off in a big way. The blips and bleeps of NES games’ electron ic-based soundscapes have influ enced everything from abstract dance music to a breakout single from Lil’ Flip, while games them selves become sophisticated enough to have their own soundtracks. A handful of groups have taken this infatuation and turned it into an obsession, mining the ghosts and goblins of eight-bit sound tracks to create rock songs from the electronic garble. Of those bands, none does the job better than The Advantage. On its self-titled LP, the group named after a long-forgotten, ill-advised NES joystick whips through 26 songs in 42 minutes with a precision that betrays its members’ status as players in Bay Area noise-rock bands. It’s an admirable undertaking, one that would be pleasant enough regardless of the group’s skill. But what truly sets The Advantage apart from its peers is the band’s creative reimagining of songs that never were meant to be heard outside their eight-bit homes. Thanks to the limitations of their medium, the mostly Japanese men and women who composed music for the system’s games had to focus on a tune’s melody instead of its texture. But The Advantage isn’t trapped BIOTERRORISM: Help Your Community Be Prepared! Orange County Mass Medication Distribution Exercise Tuesday, August TO, 2004 @ Culbreth Middle School, Chapel Hill £Join other Orange County volunteers on August 10th who ; are role-playing residents seeking medication following a [.simulated bioterrorist attack. Asa role-player, you will arrive Pat a distribution site and proceed through several stations. can expect food, transportation as needed, and ►the opportunity to learn one of the many ways Orange ►County reinforces public health preparedness. P Contact Laurie Bazemore, Volunteer Coordinator, ► for more information at 245-2388, | - ~ - |j —| l *' - J COURTESY OF TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX Jake Gyllenhaal knows he’s hosed as he wanders through the deluged New York streets plus he’s counting on Dennis Quaid to rescue him. MOWEREVIEW “THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW* walk through -150 degree deep freezes to the Big Apple. But if there’s one person that can handle it, it’s Hurricane Quaid. All the basic “what-if” schlock pic elements are on display, including: ■ Carefully edited sequences featuring leaps across crevasses; ■ A grizzled old team member with monosyllabic name (better for yelling in despair) cutting own line/stays behind/likewise takes one for the team; ■ Fatalist statements by one of the young leads results in end-of the-world nookie; ■ Dash Mihok (optional). The film flopped the first time when it was called “The Core.” And this one swaps homoerotic undertones for a hackneyed eco- ft 1 MUSICIEVIEW THE ADVANTAGE THE ADVANTAGE by those boundaries, and its album responds by imbuing the songs with a vitality that wasn’t possible in the original versions. The blades-of-steel guitar attack in the theme from “Bubble Bobble,” for example, is augment ed by the work of drummer Spencer Seim, who also smacks the skins for San Francisco group Hella. When the song speeds up into a wily musical workout, it’s worthy of the world’s geekiest mosh pit. And the underworld theme from “Super Mario Bros. 2” even brings out a little white-boy funk, thanks to Seim’s rendition of the original’s kick-snare beat and gui tars that one-up the bleeps by giv ing the track a heavy, cavernous feeling. Most tracks on The Advantage employ a similar formula, and this is both the album’s greatest strength and its most obvious weakness. Though the band finds inventive ways to perform songs from games as diverse as “Castlevania 3” and News concern. But it’s a film about about glob al issues. Really. At one point, commenting on a trio of mega-storms, an astronaut says, “The ones over Europe and Russia are even larger.” Really. It’d help to see them. Open-ended international sequences only serve to further insulate the convoluted plot. The other continents are neglible, after all. The real important things are the effects on U.S. soil —a result of our rapid resource consumption. And, as subtle as a 200-foot wall of water, the final message crash es in, sweeping away the plotlines in a glossed-over denouement that leaves the audience thusly washed out. Shoot, nature, you cold as ice. Contact theA&E Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu. “Marble Madness,” repeated lis tens to the album grow a bit tire some as the novelty and nostalgia wear off. Still, The Advantage’s impres sive pedigree, creativity and tech nical wizardry are worth praising. So thank you, Mario, but the princess is in another castle. Contact theA&E Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu. STARSYSTEM ★ .POOR ★★ FAIR -kirk GOOD kkkk EXCELLENT kkkkk classic ( MOVIES AT TIMBERLYNE N Weaver Dairy at Airport Rd. DAY AFTER TOMORROW EH Daily 12:00,2:30, 5:00,7:30,10:00 RAISING HELEN ESS Dally 12:00,2:25,4:55,7:20,9:45 SHREK 2E Daily 1:00,1:15, 1:30,3:00,3:15,3:30, 5:00,5:15,5:30,7:00,7:15,7:30,9:00, 9:15,9:30 TROY 1 Daily 12:30, 1:00,4:15,7:30 ct a CH’ROC.INasS" SUMMER MATINEES NOW! “FUNNY UTI “TWO AND \j* f THUMBS OUTRAGEOUS.” UR” SSh. yjit * SUBERiSIIE MATINEES DAILY 2:15 .4:30. too, 9 :is summermatineesnov^ FROM THC DIRECTOR OF & ' INOCPCNDENCI DAY CL THE DAY AFTER i _ TOMORROW _A m ... r . . -4^* MATINEES DAILY 2 00~4 2o"oo9lo BBWMBMiBBgaiiwwLIJIiiIIULIIJWM 7:15, 9:30. SAT-SUN 2:15.4:20 SUNSHINE 7:10, SAT-SUN 2:10 VOYAGE 7:00. 9:20, SAT-SUN 2:00, 4:30 YOUNG APAM 9:30, sat-sun * *o Agent brings hip-hop home BY BECCA MOORE STAFF WRITER Local rhymespitter Agent Fitz’s new LP, Microphone Damaja, opens with an intro that chastises anyone who isn’t impressed by the lyrical audacity of the emcee. The album includes a poignant track of homage to his Irish her itage, calls to action in forms of rumpshakin’ and fond tributes to Blue Heaven and sweet tea. After opening with the tongue in-cheek memo to listeners, Microphone Damaja pumps up the jams with “Surprise,” a frenzied track laced with bouncing horns and an genuine old-school hip-hop feel. Fitz’s lyrical flow moves seam lessly, spouting verses about trav eling the country and the frantic lifestyle of the open road. “Sexual Influx,” an ode to bump ing-and-grinding, features the overused snake-charmer musical hook behind the freaky lyrics. Yes, it’s the beat the “ladies wanna shake to,” but it’s the same groove that’s already been shaken to time and time again. It’s time for anew cultural hook. THE Daily Crossword By Alan P. Olschwang 65 End of query 66 Latin being 67 Notorious fiddler 68 Jittery 69 "Take Her, Mine" 70 Was familiar with 71 Advanced gradually DOWN 1 Boxer Riddick 2 German industrial region 3 Maturing substance 4 Runner 5 Cubic meter 6 Spelling contest 7 Erte's style 8 AD part 9 Table extension 10 Large marine mammal 11 Lotion botanicals 12 Tether 13 Southpaw 21 Downcast ACROSS I Vexatious kids 6 False god 10 Mural site 14 Relative of should 15 Sea eagle 16 Toward shelter 17 Start of George Carlin queiy 18 Sicilian mount 19 Bread unit 20 Fielder's flubs 22 Part 2 of query 24 Operate a loom 26 Undemanding 27 Docking place 30 False pretenses 33 Love in Limousin 35 Wake up 36 Expressions of satis faction 39 Part 3 of query II Part 4 of query 43 Printer's measures 44 Feudal lord 46 Type of tire 47 Funny business 49 Formerly, former ly 50 French capital in an old song 53 Madagascar pri mate 55 Part 5 of query 58 Traps 62 Put in a reclining position 63 Writer Oz b l a l b I y ß b M g l s B p I s M I I irrrpgjTUHgA e Rip; E L A IMI I z aBBg a m u]7 T O R T] I | L L A FLA TJH S T E T H EI BI I[G EINICIHIT LADA L I N E Pp NJ c a Aj t|r|elk a l d[rl iln Belmlmly H r| i UIMtI i aMBBriF sThToIe p I Q I L i A I R H T R o \°m A R t T Y a[l|almloMrlalnl i ■ llelaTp w lalx.l£ldM?l l l e lomdlelpii gsf; ’ 1 && /'* /fL| 3! If'■ ; ■’!! GUARANTEED OPEN UNTIL 4am THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 2004 MUSICKEVIEW AGENT FITZ MICROPHONE DAMAJA However, any track that lyrically references “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” receives merit for that alone. The slow and steady pace of “Average Joe” shifts the focus from the music to the lyrics, where Fitz muses over the definitions of suc cess and self-validation in today’s hip-hop world. “People said, ‘here’s where you rap about diamonds and big cars’/ they said, ‘wait dude, have a simple hook that all the chicks can relate to.’” Fitz goes on to expound on the importance of being himself in the overpowering business, all the while shunning the idea of person al trainers and teeth-whitening. In “Irish Luck Pt. II,” Agent Fitz recalls how his grandfather told him to “never snap the limbs off the family tree.” The ode to his heritage features a delicate piano hook that outlines 23 Groups of eight 25 Knowledgeable 27 Remove rind 28 Mosque prayer leader 29 Untold centuries 31 Oregon city 32 Late starter? 34 Alleviation 36 Culture medium 37 That woman's 38 Editorial note 40 Made free (of) 42 Ran 45 Sandler movie, "Happy 1 2 3 4 7 I 8 19 - "HHFO 11 1 12 13 TT" ” “ ' Hp “ ' “ - - ‘ " fßjjhig ° 20 pi —f~- ■hr 25 " ““ 27 28 29 “’""■■■3<r“ 31 32 """TMT 33™ “ ' ”"“"■■■36 37 38 39"” “ ’ "40 |Bg4l ‘ 42 “““ n44 ™"“ 45 ” " 4^Tlßp9 50 51 52 ‘"““‘■■Bfs3 54 55”" T 56 57 ~|Mjsß 59 60 61 62 “ 1 66 '■p " - ■■ 70 “ ~■■ ■Hr - ■ Healthy Mexf Always fresh, juicy, big and healthy. MENU SAMPLING: various menu items. $2 old school veggie burrito. ~...2 veggie burrito deluxe. 4 chicken burrito 5 quesadilla 3 chicken quesadilla 4 ...and more plus all mexican beers $2 [&4I aiPPI nlipFFj I ANY ORDER OF $5 OR MORE EXPIRES 6/9/o4 | s 2@FFi I ANY ORDER OF $7 OR MORE EXPIRES 6/9/04 CHAPEL HILL: 960-3955 right across the street from the varsity theatre at 128 franklin street [at the end of the halll DURHAM: 286-1875 on 9th street and perry street [across from brueggersl NEW YORK CITY: east village, 3rd ave at 13th near nyu a mental journey through family memories and importance of loy alty. “Carolina Flashback” has a retro feel to the Motown beat that cush ions the memories of adolescence, citing pretty girls, arcades, Dean Smith and Franklin Street. It’s a rare chance for 4-year ten ants of the area, who have a limit ed history with the town, to hear a more personal perspective on the small slice of heaven so many have come to love. He also slams on Duke, and such digs never go unappreciated. Fitz ultimately compares hip hop to a woman, saying in an inter lude that, “You gotta approach her and have the best lines and the best flow. If not, hip-hop, or a woman, is gonna be leaving out the door with the next guy who flows a little bit tighter than you.” With a voice that flows seam lessly and with ease over his often quirky and powerful lyrics, Agent Fitz has the passion to back up the product. Contact the AdE Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu. (C)2004 Tribune Media Services, Inc. All rights reserved. 47 Economist John Maynard 48 MLB bosses 50 Loses color 51 Sloshing 52 Pay hike 54 Merge 56 Social standing 57 Portent 59 Chimed 60 So what is new? 61 Luge 64 Pen dame 9
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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June 3, 2004, edition 1
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