©ljp lotlg (Bar UM
Polanski adds twist
to Dickens’ classic
BY WHITNEY ISENHOWER
STAFF WRITER
Oliver Twist is never in the
right place at the right time,
but thankfully the new film that
shares his name often is.
Roman Polanski’s latest peri
od project is a visually appealing
piece about an orphan who falls
into a variety of unlucky circum
stances.
Dealing with the themes of
class, society and greed, it’s a
story that unfortunately never
will be outdated.
Oliver Twist, played by new
comer Barney Clark, starts out
in an orphanage and is tossed
around by uncaring adults before
he finds his way to the streets of
London.
He then falls into a gang of boy
pickpockets led by a man named
Fagin, a creepy yet pitiable figure,
played by Sir Ben Kingsley.
Based on the classic Charles
Dickens work, “Oliver Twist” feels
like a novel at times.
It ends and begins with
sketched drawings of locales that
could be found among pages of a
leatherbound book.
Polanski’s use of light to situate
a mood is so dramatic, contrast
ing between different scenes, that
it’s akin to an author’s detailed
description.
His film reminds the audience
how people who have very much
can he greedy —as can people
who have very little.
The men in Oliver’s orphanage
feed children quarter-full bowls of
porridge, and revel in shock over
their bountiful table when Oliver
wants seconds. (Yes, screenwriter
Ronald Harwood didn’t forget the
well-known “Please, sir, I want
some more” line.)
Fagin and his friends live in
Sheryl Crow fit for the birds
BY MORGAN ELLIS
STAFF WRITER
When Sheryl Crow made her
major-label debut in 1993, all she
wanted to do was have some fun.
Twelve years and a few albums
later, she’s still putting out the
same old sound. And it’s just not
fun anymore.
Her recent release, Wildflower,
with its overproduced sound,
feels dull like the songs were
rehearsed too many times before
actually being put to tape.
Every track but one contains
an orchestral arrangement, mak
ing the album monotonous and
burying some promising songs.
The lyrics deal the heaviest
blow, though.
Pop music never requires lyr
ics to be extremely insightful,
and the track “Perfect Lie” holds
true to the genre with its singsong
clips.
Crow proclaims, “I don’t hold
no mystery” on the track —and
on the single “Good is Good,”
7C X
v <s* ,<s yS
7~ .
I WITH UNC STUDENT ID GET
I $1 OFF I
! DINNER BUFFET!
I J
35 Chinese has the best variety of Chinese food around. You can choose
from over 50 items on our Super Buffet or order from the extensive menu.
Lunch 11am-2:3opm
Friday/Saturday Dinner 4:3opm-10pm
Sunday-Thursday Dinner 4:3opm-9:3opm
143 W.Franklin Street • Chapel Hill • 919.968.3488 • www.citysearch.com/rdu/35 • fax 919.968.0268
Duke University Medical Center
The Genetics of
Environmental Asthma
Healthy non-smokers
2 (age 18-40), with mild asthma
jS or allergies.
jHHR And a few people without
asthma or allergies asked to
participate an asthma study.
Three visits required.
Compensation offered.
Contact person: Catherine Foss
919.668.3599 • fossooos@mc.duke.edu |Rg #2JJ7
COURTESY OF TRI STAR PICTURES
The adorable Barney Clark makes a big-screen splash in 'Oliver Twist,'
director Roman Polanksi's adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic work.
cramped quarters with enough
to eat and drink. But they hoard
gold and jewels for themselves,
keeping the goods from Oliver
and the other boys.
Oliver is merely a pawn for
everyone’s gain. Here, Clark deals
well with the script’s weighty sub
ject matter, though his perfor
mance often is overshadowed by
the film’s veteran stars.
With all of his troubles pop
ping off in an almost two-and-half
hour span —and often in cockney
accents that even the most avid
British television fan might find
hard to understand the film
luckily escapes the boredom often
associated with period pieces.
Polanski eases through scene
after scene, keeping the viewer
interested throughout the film.
Besides, Twist is such a sympa
thetic character that it’s hard to
look away the fate of a 10-year-
Crow certainly proves herself:
“Good is Good/And bad is
bad/You don’t know which one
you had.”
f However, the childish elemen
tary school rhymes make her
songs predictable.
But if listeners can make it
through inane lyrics and over
used string arrangements,
Wildflower has its moments.
The opener, “I Know Why,”
might be the strongest track,
incorporating a gritty guitar solo
and a surprisingly fitting banjo.
This is the Sheryl Crow who
rocked the Austin City Limits
Festival in 2004.
Her title track slows the album
down with minimal instrumenta
tion and emphasizes Crow’s vocal
ability and melodies.
“Lifetimes” offers another
change of pace, falling into a nice
groove with the use of an electric
piano and bass.
The final track, “Where Has All
the Love Gone,” brings another
Diversions
MOVIE ;
'OLIVER TWIST'
++ick
old orphan is at hand.
Though it revolves around chil
dren, this film is hardly child’s
play. (For that one might look
more towards Disney’s “Oliver
and Company”)
Assertions about greed and the
consequences of environment will
resonate with a mature demo
graphic.
Polanski explores the ambi
guities of what it means to leave
others behind and to rise above
circumstances.
His approach to the tale, still
relevant today, does Dickens a
great justice.
Contact the AC)E Editor
at artsdesk@unc.edu.
MUSIC
SHERYL CROW
WILDFLOWER
icbk
facet to the album with a sound
straight out of The Beatles’ cat
alogue minus the lyrics, of
course.
Inevitably, the use of obvious
rhyme schemes holds this album
back.
The fact that every song
seems to be about the negative
parts of love doesn’t help either.
Loneliness, insincerity and lost
love encompass the LP’s themes.
Maybe Crow should show more
respect for her athlete-fiance
Lance Armstrong.
This album doesn’t include
Crow’s best good thing The
Very Best of Sheryl Crow has come
out already.
Contact the AdE Editor
at artsdesk@unc.edu.
Next up Carolina Athletics
psg FREE ADMISSION' WTH VALID UNC OneGad
V i.Mf hrl leclPltir.com lor man ? info and update? tPuUt
CBHfIB ( TAILGATE^
vimtmmtmmmr ?RWli*litlliP*m SPECIAL
1. Medium 1-Topping Pizza
2 Large cheese piua UNC Pizza Headquarters
<ti2E. Main Street, Carrboro or t e X‘!t^ 9 ‘'
•. 2Small Cheese Pizzas OO O rV) PL 2 Liter of Coke
4. Breadstix, Cinnastix & a 20oz. drink 1 -ZJsi <9 $22.99 J
5. 1 Small l-Topping Pizza & a 20oz. drink
Ask about our NOW HIRING!
delicious side items! V 7 „ w " ' "V ■ •
Delivery & Front Counter
fl||Mi|n| Positions Available
(Delivery on campus only)
Wolf Parade hits the
high road on ‘Queen’
BY JACKY BRAMMER
STAFF WRITER
Hype is both a gift and a curse.
It entails an expectation for suc
cess and a readiness for failure.
With a pedigree like Wolf
Parade, the hype is twice as trou
bling on both ends.
After a year of opening for the
Arcade Fire, catching the ear of
Modest Mouse brain trust Isaac
Brock, and getting signed to Sub
Pop records Wolf Parade has been
dubbed the next “It” band.
But do they live up to the
hype?
The Montreal quartet’s full
length LP, Apologies To Queen
Mary, fits somewhere between
“angst-ridden menagerie” and
“plaintive epic.”
Just don’t try to find those
genres in any rock dictionary.
Singer/guitarist Dan Boeckner’s
contemplative vocals evoke images
of a grief-ridden generation over
come with entrapment in the con
veniences of a “Modern World”:
“I’m not in love with the mod
ern world/It was a torch driving
the savages back to the trees/... It’s
gotta last to build up your eyes/
And a lifetime of red skies.”
On “I’ll Believe In Anything,”
Spencer Krug takes the aural reins
and tells how this dependence on
an apathetic urban society creates
No frills needed on Portastatic LP
Lo-fi album boasts many bright ideas
BY ORR SHTUHL
STAFF WRITER
Pack the sunscreen, button your
plaid shirts and fire up your tape
decks: Portastatic has crafted the
first-ever 10-fi road trip album.
The band’s seventh long-play
er, Bright Ideas, boasts enough
jangly chords and soaring vocals
for a cross-country drive —and
still sounds good coming out of a
Chevrolet Nova’s busted speakers.
Save for the slithering title
track, which spotlights an impres
sive Elliott Smith whisper, singer
Mac McCaughan’s earnest vocals
impressively tie the record together,
alternately propelling and calming
his songs while overcoming some
of the band’s ho-hum guitar riffs.
Portastatic effortlessly tries on
varying musical styles, from the
sunshiny power-pop of “Through
With People” to the haunt
ing Americana of “Truckstop
Cassettes.”
One of the album’s strongest
tracks, “I Wanna Know Girls” is
the unborn anthem of a hypotheti
cal collaboration between The
Shins and Bryan Adams. Colored
with strings and chock-fiill of back
ground “oohs,” it showcases one of
McCaughan’s most whimsical cou
plets: “Love is like an Uzi/It weighs
a ton/Oh yeah, my love weighs a
ton.”
Immediately following is the
record’s sweet, plains-rolling cen
terpiece, “Little Fern.” Evoking
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2005
a race of pseudo-pod people.
Underneath these melancholy
odes though, there lie some rockin’
beats and hedonistic melodies.
The combination of the two
duel to create a battle of disso
nant and consonant sounds. It’s
crazy.
Boeckner provides sterling gui
tar work that trades jabs with the
ever-present keyboards of Hadji
Bakara and Krug.
Drummer Arlen Thompson
keeps the pace intact throughout
the sprawling 48 minutes.
But even at that length, the
album is a bit too long.
A gluttonous three-and-a-half
minute instrumental at the end
of “Dinner Bells” is a significant
blunder.
Equally misguided are a few
lyrics that don’t make sense on
repeated listens —much less on
the first one.
But compared with a band like
Sigur Ros which has crafted
several great albums around a
fictional language this becomes
excusable.
Either way, Krug’s lyrics main
tain a consistent narrative thread
throughout the album, which is a
boon for listeners.
By the point of “It’s A Curse,”
Boeckner’s rugged vocals and
Krug’s wailed stylings bring the
images of flora and fauna, it begs
the view of a dusty horizon vibrat
ing in a rearview mirror.
With this record Mac
McCaughan takes a step away from
Superchunk and truly embraces
the future of Portastatic.
But Bright Ideas does falter at
times. “White Wave” opens with a
blandly banging guitar that went
out of style with Third Eye Blind
and goes on to rhyme “pool” with
“cool” in a cringe-inducing jukebox
reference.
Still, McCaughan’s missteps are
few and far between, and in the
record’s latter half he gains confi
dence in his lyrics, letting loose a
slew of similes in the closing tracks.
While they generally work, there is
no need for McCaughan to prove
himself as a songwriter; the indie
rock veteran is far more affecting
as a straight-ahead popsmith than
as a literate crooner.
In the end, Bright Ideas comes
FREE
Practice Test!
GRE MCAT DAT
Take a free practice test with Kaplan and
find out how you’ll score before Test Day!
University of North Carolina
Saturday October 15, 2005
9:00 am
Call or visit us online today to register!
/ffllttL 1-800-KAP-TEST —I
kaptest.com/practice I|h||u
Test Prep and Admissions
•Test names are registered trademarks of their respective owners. ••Conditions and restrictions apply. g I
For complete guarantee eligibility requirements, visit kaptest.com/hsg. The Higher Score Guarantee f
applies only to Kaplan courses taken and completed within the United States and Canada. * <5 I
f | '/if u
t a nil I
Vi 11 jIJ
Wot# poftKOC ill *{* (j i f- i
MUSIC SMEW
WOLF PARADE
APOLOGIES TO THE QUEEN
MARY
tektek
album full circle as they voice
frustration about how the culture
of luxury has turned the natural
world into a barren wasteland.
“We walked five whole minutes
to the dark edge of town/Took
a long look at nothing, and we
turned back around.”
On the closing “This Heart’s on
Fire,” the band shows that its heart
bleeds for no one.
It is instead ignited with a pas
sion and hope that everything is
already getting better.
Contact theAdE Editor
at artsdesk@unc.edu.
J
MUSICRIVIEW
PORTASTATIC
BRIGHT IDEAS
trkirk
out a bit sprawling, but the disc’s
share of highlights makes it a wor
thy addition to the indie-pop song
book.
So hit the road with Portastatic.
It’s about time you cleaned out that
back seat anyway.
Contact theAdE Editor
at artsdesk@unc.edu.
7