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Thursday
October 14, 2004
arts. michigandaily. com
artspage@michigandaily.com
ART s
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At least 'The Osbournes' finally ended ...
Teen-drama 'life'
recycles tired plots
By Abby Stotz
Daily Arts Writer
ABC's new teen-centered drama
"life as we know it" tells the story
of three teenage boys trying to get
through high school. One has a crush
on a teacher,
another is in love
with a chubby girl
and the third is
trying desperately
to push his girl-
friend into having
sex, while dealing
with the fact that
life as we
know it
Thursdays
at 9 p.m.
ABC
his mother is sleeping with his hockey
coach. All of these storylines would be
quite novel - if it weren't for the fact
that the WB has been doing this stuff
for almost a decade.
"Life as we know it" does have
some plays on the genre. For one thing,
these boys are not the eloquent teens
equipped with adult vocabularies that
populated "Dawson's Creek." No one
would mistake these boys for geniuses.
The leader, unmistakably the dumb-
est of the trio, is Dino (Sean Faris,
"Smallville"). He's a hockey player
who simply wants to get some from his
girlfriend, and is one of the most arro-
gant characters primetime television
has seen in a while. For example, when
he discovers his mom's affair, he con-
fronts her about it by snapping her bra
strap. Also, the lying and aggression
he uses to get his girlfriend into bed
has dangerous undertones of a future
date rapist. Ben (Jon Foster, "The Door
In the Floor"), the boy with the crush
on his English teacher, is slightly less
revolting. Sure, his obsession with his
teacher is disturbing, but he seems too
simple to be really objectionable. After
the viewer sees the teacher for the first
time he turns to the camera - a device
too heavily relied upon by the show
- and exclaims "Oh my god!"
The third boy is by far the most
endearing. Jonathan (Chris Lowell),
a photographer with a hipster hair-
cut, is in love with Deborah (Kelly
Osbourne). He's afraid to actually go
out with her, as Dino and Ben contrib-
ute to future eating disorders across
America by acting like Deb's the size
of an elephant. Regardless, Jonathan
stops listening to the duo by the end of
the pilot, resulting in the most endear-
ing moment of the episode.
"Life as we know it" has a sort of
been-here-seen-this vibe with all of
its seemingly recycled plot lines. The
camera testimonials have got to go
- these people are not deep enough
to warrant introspective commen-
tary. Fortunately, there are some good
things about it. For teen actors, this
cast isn't bad, as the three lead boys
are convincing and Osbourne is espe-
cially good, showing that she can act
far better than she can sing. Overall,
"life as we know it" is a decent, albeit
repetitive show that hopefully will get
better as it matures.
THEY'VE GOT GAME
Courtesy of
EA Sports
He's on
FIRE!
nor (
While it can't quite do for basketball what
"Madden 2005" does for football, EA Sports's
"NBA Live 2005" - the newest installment in
company's basketball franchise - provides users
with some fun new twists and
an overall entertaining game.
This year's major addition NBA Live
to the "Live" franchise is the 2005
NBA All-Star Weekend slam- PS2, Xbox,
dunk and three-point con- GameCube and PC
tests. The hoopla surrounding EA Sports
these events is apparent from
the highly realistic light show
introduction for All-Star Weekend 2005 in Den-
ver, which gainers can experience when selecting
one of these two new game modes.
The dunks are slightly awkward upon first
attempt, and it's hard to get the timing and dis-
tance right. But after some practice, it's not hard
to pull off some pretty sick dunks.
Gainers are slightly limited in the number of
throw-downs they can connect on, but combining
different types of take-offs with different aerial
maneuvers allows players to dip into their entire
repertoires. EA Sports also adds the ability to
rotate players in the air and the choice of different
ball tosses to begin dunks.
The three-point competition is fun at first, but
gets repetitive. One button press grabs balls off
the rack; another shoots it. Releasing the ball at
the right height of the player's jump increases its
chance of going in.
On the default setting, the three-point contest is
far too easy - any newcomer could land a score
in the high 20s or even a perfect 30. On its hardest
difficulty setting, it becomes much more realistic
and entertaining.
The gameplay in the regular mode of "Live
2005" is easily the best in the series, but still falls
short of being 100-percent true to life. Blocked
shots are far too common, and it's hard to set up
any real plays besides basic pick-and-rolls or iso-
lations. The transition game is zlmost nonexis-
tent, and the only way to get a fast break going is
to simply out-run your opponent down the court.
Nearly all non-gameplay aspects of "NBA Live
2005" are impressive. Player faces have never
looked better (players can easily be identified by
their faces without seeing their name or numbers),
stadiums are identical to their real-life counter-
parts and the player animations are smoother than
ever. Garners can choose from a wide range of
jerseys - not just home, away and alternate any-
more - in which to outfit their team, and many
are unlockable by completing different parts of
the game.
The only knock on the game's detail is the listless
crowd that never gets up on its feet to cheer - even
in the game's final minutes. The crowd even appears
almost two-dimensional from some angles.
"Live" features some of the better commen-
tary available in sports games. Long-time NBA
announcers Mary Albert (play-by-play) and Mike
Fratello (color commentary) man the booth and
describe the action. Fratello's color commentary
actually contains player-specific portions - after
a Kenyon Martin comment, videogame Fratello
references Martin's knee injury from his college
days at Cincinnati. This is a nice touch that could
make a good addition to other titles in the EA
Sports catalog.
Overall, the game has enough features to make
it worthwhile. While a die-hard NBA fan may
cringe at the lack of a realistic basketball game,
most videogame-playing fans looking for a fun
hoops experience will enjoy "Live 2005."
EA HIGHLIGHTS THE SLAM DUNK CONTEST WITH 'LIVE 2005'
The Explosion draw on punk roots for newest release 'Tape'
By Amos Barshad
Daily Arts Writer
Boston punk band The Explosion is making the
jump from indie label Jade Tree to Virgin Records
on their latest release, Black Tape. Surely ready to
face the firing squad, especially considering Black
Tape's considerable anteing of the pop quotient since
2002's Flash, Flash, Flash, The Explosion really
have nothing to worry about. Sure, first single "Here
I Am" is borderline pop-punk, but its heartfelt pleas
and paranoid prophecies are scenes away from the
"she didn't return my phone call" variety. Frontman
Matt Hock delivers his public service announce-
ment with urgency, asking "Whatever happened
to the golden age / It's gone,
yeah, it's gone away." These
days-of-'77 revivalists are still The Explosion
pining for the past, back when Black Tape
punk rock was dangerous. Virgin
That being said, The
Explosion are not going to
lead any kind of revolution; they're just going to
talk about it. There's no overt politicking done
here, like their counterparts in the Warped Tour
community. Hock's message is rooted in the
"Revolution Rock" of the Clash and the purported
anarchy of the Sex Pistols. On "No Revolution,"
Hock makes it clear that he's got his head craned
backward. "We look to the past and ask for noth-
ing more / There's no revolution anymore." With
mentions to fallen heroes and prayers for redemp-
tion, it's clear The Explosion don't want to carry
the torch; they just want to be soldiers in the fight.
Unfortunately, they're 20 years too late.
Still, the spirit is there, and it makes the whole
album feel pleading and despairing, burning for
attention. And the vagueness works. Hock sounds
dead serious and that's what matters. Ultimately,
the band is cultivating their cynical mentality well,
pulling the listener in to their tales of small time
tragedies and putting forth a general sense of hope-
lessness with just a touch of resignation to the situ-
ation. Go ahead, "Sell the Hollywood sign / We'll
still sing our favorite songs."
They're young, brash and snotty. They keep
the songs short, choppy and to the point. They're
not pushing the boundaries, just making good
punk records. How many bands can really say
that right now?
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