Monthly Archives: December 2010

RED: Old Dogs, New Guns

John Malkovitch in RED

By Ben Garfinkel

“I didn’t even know that this place existed,” says retired CIA agent Frank Moses (played by Bruce Willis) as he follows Henry the records keeper (Ernest Borgnine) into a high-security file room. “It doesn’t”, Henry candidly responds in a tone straight out of a James Bond movie. It’s scenes like these that give RED, directed by Robert Schwentke, its tongue-and-cheek charm. Drawing on films such as The Bourne Identity and Die Hard, as well as TV shows like The A-Team, RED does not bring much new to the table but still delivers in campy explosions, humorous dialogue, and a terrific cast.

It is clear from the beginning that RED (stands for Retired and Dangerous) had never been conceived as a serious action thriller. As Moses converses with his long-distance love interest Sarah (Mary-Louis Parker of Weeds), a pension office customer service agent from Kansas City, it seems like the story is unfolding into more of a romantic comedy than anything else. Nevertheless, after Moses survives a government-sanctioned assassination attempt, he escapes and flies to Kansas City to protect Sarah in fear that their phone conversations were tapped (they were). Meeting up with his old mentor Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman), paranoid conspiracy theorist friend Marvin (John Malkovitch), and former wetwork agent Victoria (Helen Mirren) along the way, Moses fights to unravel a conspiracy involving the CIA, the vice president, and a certain dubious private defense contractor (played by Richard Dreyfuss). While the actors are individually talented, it seems Schwentke may have overvalued the charm of watching old people doing things they usually don’t do.

If there is one thing that Schwentke loves more than generic spy flick plots, it’s explosions and gunfire. This would be excusable, but almost no one dies on either side no matter how many guns are involved, making the firefights almost exclusively filler content for the boring drama happening in between. While a character or two does get shot at points in the movie, most of the deaths occur in scenes involving grenade launchers and slow motion bullet-time shots reminiscent of The Matrix. The silliness gets annoying at points, but is still mildly entertaining if not taken too seriously.

If there is one thing that shines about RED, it is the cast. Never before has a film audience been able to enjoy John Malkovitch as he plays off the stoic Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman. And who wouldn’t want to see Helen Mirren pick off soldiers with a sniper rifle? In the end, RED amounts to a well-intentioned action comedy that would fair a lot worse without its talented cast.

Your Roadmap to 9 Natural Science Credits and Quantitative Proficiency

By Shane Hisner

This is a memo to all of you Obies that shiver at the sight of the quadratic equation and grow uneasy when the terms meiosis and mitosis are mentioned in conjunction. There is no need to fear. There is a simple, easy, and—god forbid—interesting path through all this. And along the way you will have had the privilege of being taught by three of Oberlin’s finest professors. I know, it sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Without further ado, here is a step-by-step guide to knocking out 9-9-9 and quant in one school year.

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The Trip Home: Music for Driving

By Shane Hisner

Inevitably, many of us will be driving home these next few days.  There are certain albums that just hit the spot when you’re trucking down I80 at about 85mph. Here are a few to keep you company on that long, lonely toll road.

Maps by Tunturia

For the contemplative night driver. These Canadian post-rockers mastered the concept album in their first attempt. If Explosions in the Sky is thunder and lightning, Tunturia is a steady rain on the roof of your house. The album’s third track, “Satellites,” samples transmissions from astronauts in space. Listening to Tunturia, I find the road before me somehow becoming more than a road, and everything I look at seems to contain some metaphorical value I can’t quite sort out.

Tunturia – “Satellites”

Willy and the Poor Boys by Creedence Clearwater Survival

For the southbound driver.  CCR’s 1969 release starts things off with radio classic “Down on the Corner” and never loses speed. Tom Fogerty’s rhythm guitar plays something like a ’69 Mustang–a little kick here and there, but you just know she ain’t breaking down anytime soon. This is the sort of album I find myself setting the cruise for and jamming along on harmonica.

CCR – “Cotton Fields”

Exile on Main Street by The Rolling Stones

 

Please, take your foot off the gas petal, set the cruise at 70, and quit treating your steering wheel and dashboard like it’s a drum kit. You’re going to kill someone acting like that.

The Rolling Stones – “Rip This Joint”

Sing! by The Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank

Really this one may actually be music for hopping a train, but most people that find themselves in such a situation don’t have the liberty of setting a playlist on their iPods. In 2007, this was the Hobos breakout album. Breakout, of course, is a relative term, but gaining recognition within Minnesota folk-bluegrass circles has to count for something.

Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank – “Go On Back Home”

The Rhythm of the Saints by Paul Simon

The beats are impeccable. This one somehow got forgotten in the wake of Graceland, but you could argue that with the 1990 release of Rhythm, Paul perfected what he was going for in 1986 with Graceland.

Paul Simon – The Coast

Why You Should Go See the Oberlin Symphony Orchestra

By Shane Hisner

To me, it seems odd that I would even have to make a case for this. Tickets to most good orchestras cost more than any of us would be willing to pay, yet, about once a month in Finney Chapel, a fleet of musicians that could be appropriately called the future of American classical music plays for free. This post comes a little late for those hoping to catch them this semester; they played just last week. Listed below are a few reasons you should go see them every time they play:

  1. 1. They play with some of the world’s best musicians.  Just last spring, associate professor Yolanda Kondonassis, renowned as one of the world’s premiere harpists, played with the Orchestra. This semester they’ve played with world-class virtuosos Jeremy Denk and Lee-Chin Siow on the piano and violin.
  2. The bass section. Led by first chair Adam Bernstein, Oberlin’s bass section has been spot on every time I’ve see them.  Upholding the stereotype that bassists are often the most raucous and colorful members of an orchestra, these guys play with a lot of emotion.
  3. Because our sports teams are no good. Let’s face it: In the way of athletics, Oberlin doesn’t have much to take pride in. Sure, you should hike to North Fields and see Oberlin’s most successful team, the cross country team, when they have their one home meet in the fall, but beyond XC there isn’t much winning going on. Outside Indiana University and maybe a couple other Big Ten schools, we have the best musicians in the Midwest. Let’s mark that up as a win.
  4. They play fun songs.  Their last line-up included Vaughan Williams’s “The Lark Ascending,” Gerschwin’s “Cuban Overture,” and pieces of Leonard Bernstein’s score for West Side Story.

Gettin’ Muddy: Music for Studying

By Shane Hisner

It is that time of year again. When each Oberlin student gathers up all his or her necessities—MacBook, headphones, several packages of Sour Patch Kids, and a case of Starbucks frappuccino—and stakes out some remote corner in Mudd Library as their own.  A flag is planted, a written statement read, and the hours of facebook creeping and iTunes sorting are ahead. From time to time, this ritual procrastination is interrupted by brief periods of study.

Whether studying or just chilling out like the worthless slacker you are, you should at least do it to good music. Below is a list of albums that, during my time at Oberlin, have proved to be great study music:

Specifics by Midwest Product

This 2002 release is prescribed to the student on a deadline. Subdued yet danceable electro-rock from the now defunct Ann Arbor band. Coupled with the 40mg’s of Adderall you just snorted, your heart rate should have no problem staying above 100bpm (ideal for studying) for the rest of the night. Here’s the opener:

Midwest Product – “Still Love in the Midwest”

Machinarium Soundtrack by Tomáš Dvořák

 

Machinarium is a puzzle/adventure game available for download here. It comes highly recommended—an artistic masterpiece, really. The visuals are out-of-this-world, and the music is the dopest—maybe somewhere between Four Tet and Bjork. I have no idea who Dvořák is, except for that he’s Czech and that at the time of his last photoshoot he was sporting a bowl cut.

Tomas Dvorak – “Mr. Handagote”

Dreamcatcher by Andy Mckee

 

Mckee is the artist behind one of the first viral videos in the history of Youtube. His video for Drifting has claimed over 35 million views and has been on the tube since 2006. He plays his guitar almost exclusively open-tuned, and gets more noise out of it than one would guess is possible.  For some reason the sound of harmonics being played on a guitar makes me feel like I should be thinking. It’s the natural soundtrack of the active brain. Here he is playing some mass of an instrument beautifully:

Andy Mckee – “Into the Ocean”

Self-titled, 13 & God

This album is for a long night when the lights go out on the fourth floor, and you’re pretty sure there’s something living behind the wall you’re propped up against—something large.

This is the only album on this list that is not strictly instrumental. Generally I find studying to music with lyrics intolerable.  Once, after turning in a paper that I never bothered to proofread, I got it back with question marks surrounding an errant Springsteen lyric. 13 & God is somehow different. It’s a collaboration between the German recording wizards from The Notwist, who you may know for their 2002 cult-classic Neon Golden, and California-based hip-hop group Themselves. Here’s a strange video:

13 & God – “Perfect Speed”

Music Has the Right to Children by Boards of Canada

 

My absolute go-to in a crunch. If you are searching for inspiration for your surrealist fiction final, this is it. Some music has a way of inspiring writing’s creative process. Boards of Canada falls into this category. The Scottish duo changed the path of electronic music forever when they emerged in the 1990’s. Eerie vibes, eerie vibes.

Boards of Canada – “Open the Light”