Wednesday January 26, 2005 arts. michigandaily. com artspage@michigandaily.com U e @fdrligan &ptg ART s 5 . ... ....... . I I IIRIOIIS 'L I . ThE HOTTEST PICKS IN ENTERTAINMENT FROM A DAILY ARTS WRITER U2's "Vertigo" tour - According to Billboard Magazine, the philanthropic uber-band is already expected to claim 2005's top- grossing concert slot. With tsunami devastation still affecting South Asia, Bono's humanitarian soapboxing should seem a lot less tedious this time around - nothing like a tragedy to get the people rocking out. The New York Times Op/Ed columnists - To those who fear news outside the Jon Stewart safety zone, tremble no longer. Wil- liam Safire, Maureen Dowd and the whole crew make highbrow current events both palatable and hilarious. Clinching the deal is that illusory self-improvement element so vital to solid procrasti- nation: It's The New York Times ... it's good for you. 3 MC Gainey - He has a substantial role in "Are We There Yet?" - the No. 1 movie in America. As if that weren't enough, he gets substantial screen time in the most mem- orable scene of the year's best film. For those who saw "Sideways" (and you should), think jigglage. Horrible, hilari- ous, naked jigglage. Hey, a bunch of bankrupt, late-'90s dot-com executives called. They want their suits back. A SOFTER SNIDE ART FOLKERS QUIETLY IMPROVE 1 J.J. Abrams - While the Golden Globes threw a housewarming party for ABC's suburbanite soap opera, the network's unsung hero - creator of "Alias" and "Lost" - got zilch in the way of drunken black-tie feting. Fortunately for us, the net- work is airing Abram's bravely original and high-quality shows back to back. Besides, anyone who can offer steady work to a former hobbit has earned his place on this list. By Aaron Kaczander Daily Arts Writer Music REVIE.W** Clem Snide is a band that embodies the idea of contentedness: They have remained securely snuggled under the altjk-country Clem Snide umbrella since their 1991 End of Love debut. The Boston-based spinART group occupies a place off the radar where crit- ics tend to sympathize and fans are loyal, but never obsessive. With this cozy, anti-high profile veneer, they remain content. On their fifth album, End of Love, Snide adds a quietly enjoyable offering to their repertoire of drowsy, sorrowful tunes. The record is a lulling mix of distant electric guitar, brush drumming and woeful wailing from alarmingly Michael Stipe-sounding vocalist Eef Barzelay. Snide avoids the glaring limelight of the recyclable, hipster-approved rotation of indie-pop bands, all the while seeming at ease in their cozy little nook on the overcrowded folk highway. Despite lumbering like Life's Rich Pageant- era R.E.M., End of Love relaxes listeners with ease, brooding like a pensive and sweet back- ground album at a hip cafe. A stripped-down acoustic guitar accompanies Barzelay and the dreamily innocent voice of a young female in the duet "Made for TV Movie." "Jews for Jesus Blues" features a foot-tapping country tempo and a Southern-infused twang. Lyrically, Bar- zelay yearns for light and love, but not quite enough to lament with the intensity of his emo- tionally tormented musical peers. The sweet "Something Beautiful" offers a delicately picked, hi-hat heavy dose of sleepy balladry, though suffering from tepid lyrics in The album's tempo fails to change drastically, which plagues the flow of the tracks as if they're one consecutive yawn. Though this isn't always a bad thing, End seems to quietly pass without the fervor of a classic progressive folk album. In the tradition of quiet-core aficionados like Elliot Smith and Nick Drake, Clem Snide reach out to the thoughtfully moody, emotionally torn, albeit patient, listener. The album serves as a fitting addition to Snide's continually expanding library of folk-country balladry. Yet, End stalls in its low-profile spot behind their folk icons' melancholy wake. That isn't to say that the to-fi enthusiast won't find a good slot for an End of Love tune on their sleep mix. By no means is this a revelation of an album, but it's thoughtfulness and light sway will sustain Clem Snide in their cozy cultural nook. The record will still stand behind the folk gems of the band's late predecessors, but for now, they seem content with that. Academy - It's the+ Award nominations day every movie geek -AS and pun-happy editor dreams of all year. Leonardo flies high! Nat- alie's closer to some industry recognition! If Jamie Foxx can act surprised by his nomina- tion, he probably deserves the award. a "You make me wanna " confession of love. Courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences I 'MechAssault' sequel does little to improve By Forest Casey Daily Arts Writer When the "Robotech" anime series was first released in the United States, audiences couldn't relate to the "femi- nine" robots or convoluted history, and "MechAssault" was created as a more American offshoot. The huge, lumber- ing robots (or mechs) that were previ- ously the villains 5 in "Robotech" became the stars MechAssault of "MechAssault," 2: Lone Wolf and the franchise Xbox became typi- .s fied by its regu- lar Godzilla-like destruction. The "MechAssault" video games have never been known for complex plot development or techno- logical innovation, but they have been consistently enjoyable nonetheless. "MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf" is no exception. Even in the training stages, players are thrown into multipart res- cue missions that most games would have saved for the end. These first missions are thrilling - there are few things more exhilarating than acciden- tally bombing entire city blocks to kill a lone enemy mech. "Lone Wolf," however, is mostly mindless gameplay: Steal mech, circle strafe around enemy mech, shoot, kill, repeat. There's really no advantage to using any particular weapon, and it is nearly impossible to strafe past an ene- my's attacks. The game lacks any strat- egy to the combat or any indication as to how much damage an enemy mech has taken. The game's lone improve- ment over the first "MechAssault" is the ability to hijack any vehicle. Stylistically, the game is at the other end of the spectrum from this generation's best mech game, Kona- mi's "Zone of the Enders." It is nearly impossible to care about the storyline: The main character in "Lone Wolf" is creatively named "Mechwarrior" and emotes less than "Halo's" Mas- ter Chief. The Americanization of the series really shows: The level design is uninspired and the soundtrack is an amalgamation of every high school OSCARS Continued from page 1 including Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. "Maria Full Of Grace" earned a Best Actress nod for star Catalina San- dino Moreno's portrayal of a drug mule. On the supporting side, veteran actor Alan Alda picked up a nod for his appearance in "The Aviator," while the unheralded Sophie Okonedo received notice for her role as Don Cheadle's endangered Tutsi wife in "Hotel Rwanda." The Best Actress race is reminiscent of 1999, where Hilary Swank and Annette Bening will prepare for a rematch for ~ their respective roles in "Million Dollar Baby" and "Being Julia." Swank won the Oscar in 1999 for "Boys Don't Cry," even though Bening was the favorite to win for "American Beauty." However, it wouldn't be the Oscars without several snubs, as plenty of mov- ies with major critical buzz in 2004 failed to sustain their momentum. The widely praised "Eternal Sunshine of the Spot- less Mind" only received two notices - Best Actress for Kate Winslet and Best Original Screenplay. "Kinsey," about the life of the famed sexuality researcher, scored a sole nomination for Laura Lin- ney as Best Supporting Actress. "Clos- er," while shut out of many important categories, did earn two nominations for supporting players Clive Owen and Natalie Portman. Arguably, the most surprising omission was Paul Giamatti for his role as a depressed novelist and wine connoisseur in "Sideways." Gia- matti was also snubbed last year for his performance as cartoonist Harvey Pekar in "American Splendor." Many of the year's popular foreign films - such as "House Of Flying Dag- gers" and "The Motorcycle Diaries" - failed to capture spots in the Best For- eign Language Film category and barely received any other mentions. Two of 2004's most talked-about and controversial films also failed to capture significant nominations. Direc- tor Michael Moore, who pulled out his Bush-bashing documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" from the Best Documentary cat- egory, did not receive any recognition from the Academy. Mel Gibson's bib- lical epic "The Passion of the Christ" received three nominations, but only for technical work. ABC will televise the 77th Acad- emy Awards ceremony, hosted by Chris Rock, on Feb. 27. Courtesy of Microsoft It's morphin' time! guitar riff ever played. The salvation of "Lone Wolf" is with Xbox Live and a game mode called Conquest. Similar to the clans found in "Halo 2," Conquest has the player enlist in groups of mechwarriors with the ultimate goal of controlling the universe, planet by planet. When the team conquers a planet, they acquire the territory and the members of the conquered team. The larger team then moves through the universe, gain- ing and losing team members, while acquiring new planets and defend- ing their territory from other teams. Conquest is ongoing and immensely dynamic, with gainers who were ene- mies only one planet before now offer- ing support, airlifting in supplies and providing covering fire. Unfortunately, it seems like it should be a part of a better game. All criticism aside, the "MechAs- sault" series is nothing if not enjoyable. "Lone Wolf" is a game with features that you may have seen before, but it's still undeniably fun and much better with friends. ?;;::.. :;::