2B - Thursday, November 16, 2006 {the b-sidel
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com *
FASHION
Now Ann Arbor fashionistas won't have to
break the bank to dress like Hollywood's favor-
ite starlets - at least if you're looking at their
favorite Roland Mouret dresses. The London-
based Mouret has designed a special five-dress
collection for Gap (includingshifts, tunics and
shirtdresses) that tops out at $108. The dresses
will hit select Gap stores around the country
starting Dec. 1.
Known for his sexy frocks, the French
designer's contract with Gap adds him to the
slew of top fashion designers who have gone
from arm-and-a-leg couture to clothing closer
to the range of the average consumer. Isaac
Mizrahi and Mossimo Giannulli have found
success with Target in recent years, for exam-
ple, and the corporation's successful "Interna-
tional Flights of Fashion" venture - featuring
an affordable but still exclusive line from a
new maker every few months - has included
the likes of Luella Bartley and, most recently,
Behnaz Sarafpour. Great fashion for less?
Always a good deal.
BOOKS
The ever-popular Sacha Baron Cohen
- or more specifically, his outlandish alter
ego, Borat - may be getting a book deal.
Apparently several publishing companies
are big fans of the comic's Kazakh journalist
caricature, recently brought onto the big
screen in Fox's "Borat: Cultural Learnings
of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation
of Kazakhstan." Publishers are competing
to sign Cohen to a multi-million-dollar
offer, assuming audiences (and Cohen)
will still be interested in Boratsploitation
months from now. No word on what exactly
the book will be about, but according to
the New York Post's Page Six, it may be "a
volume that reportedly will contain photos
of naked women from Borat's village."
GOSSIP
"Fundamental differences" have never
stopped a Hollywood couple before, but appar-
ently that was behind the final split of Jude
Courtesy of Paramount
Jude Law and Sienna Miller co-starred in "Alfe." Now they hate each other. Coincidence?
Law and Sienna Miller earlier this week. The
couple, who previously had been estranged
after Law publicly admitted to sleeping with
their nanny after his children told their mother
they had seen the two in bed together (which
he later attributed to a sex addiction) last year
and only reunited in the early months of this
year, made the decision to split for good at a
"crisis meeting" earlier this week, a friend
said. We had forgotten they were still together.
Oh well.
CELEBRITY
Congratulations, Hollywood: One more
ego is about to be inflated beyond the capac-
ity of an average hotel suite. George Clooney
was recently named the Sexiest Man Alive for
2006 by People magazine, bringing his total
titles to two. The only other celebrity who
can boast that, um, honor, is Brad Pitt, whose
recent sex factor has certainly declined with
the new presence of three babies hanging off
SONY/NINTENDO
* From page 1B
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MUSIC
ms. Nothing like not having kids
married to make you sexy. Right,
Yoko Ono refuses to fade away, gracefully
or otherwise. And she's still wearing that hat.
The former wife of the late Beatle John Lennon
has a new album slated for release titled Yes,
I'm a Witch. Seriously. Chock full of big-name
guest vocalists like The Flaming Lips, Cat
Power, Peaches (!) and The Polyphonic Spree,
the forthcoming album is comprised of new
and different renditions of some of Ono's big-
gest, er ... songs. While the album will surely be
strange and interesting if nothing else, a Yoko
Ono/Peaches duo on "Fuck the Pain Away"
would really have been the icing on the cake.
- Compiled by Caitlin Cowan,
Kimberly Chou, Bernie Nguyen
and Jeffrey Bloomer.
Harrison's All Things Must Pass
and John Lennon's Plastic Ono
Band.
So let us finally lay to rest the
ridiculous notion that Ringo is
mmer a bad drummer. Not only is that
ingo by myth easily discredited by any
han great. number of rational arguments, but
ll the conversely the opposite is true:
uess Ringo is one of the best drum-
igno- mers ever. Paul put it pretty well
ven some in a postcard he sent to Ringo,
r of his since published in Ringo's book
n "Shin- "Postcards from the Boys," when
his solo he wrote, "You are the greatest
se. Beau- drummer in the world. Really."
Ville mas- Really.
est of the
plays on a - Cargo can be reached
George at lhcargo@umich.edu.
Rocky (1976)
Directed by John G. Avildsen
Starring Sylvestor Stallone
By PAUL TASSI
Daily Arts Writer
The American dream has been
addressed from many different
angles with films ranging from
"Pretty Woman" to "Scarface."
While one rags-to-riches story ends
with playfully shallow romance,
the other climaxes in a coke-fueled,
assault-rifle rampage. Between the
two lies an uplifting, inspirational
story in which no one ends up dead,
floatingin a fountain. Sylvester Stal-
lone's "Rocky" is the ultimate moti-
vational tale of an everyman who
became something more. Inspired
by a true-life fight where nobody
Chuck Wepner knocked down
champ Mohammed Ali, the film
aims to show that there is no such
thing as an ordinary man.
Rocky Balboa (Stallone, "Judge
Dredd") is a down-and-out thug
from South Philly who moonlights
as a boxer. His IQ lands just north of
the Hulk and a bit south of Forrest
Gump, but what he lacks in vocabu-
lary he more than makes up for in
heart. Though he's a decent fighter,
Rocky laments that he never had a
peak, no defining moment. But this
moment comes when heavyweight
champion Apollo Creed (Carl
Weathers, "Predator") chooses him
for a publicity stunt, giving a title
shot to an unknown.
Rocky gives up his lifestyle of
smoking,drinkingandbreakinglegs
for the mob as he begins to train for
the match. "Rocky" pioneered the
use of the montage, which involves
splicing together various clips of
training overlaid by the sound of
inspirational music. What should
be months of hard work is com-
pressed down into about a minute
and a half, and we see Rocky turned
from a lazy workhorse to the Italian
stallion that was in him all along.
When the fight comes it becomes
clear that Creed is treating the
event purely as a spectacle. Rocky
eloquently remarks that "he looks
like a big flag" as Creed dances
merrily around the ring clad in red,
white and blue. After Apollo toys
with Rocky, the turning point of the
fight comes when the cocky champ
is suddenly knocked on his ass for
the first time in history by the over-
whelming underdog.
The fight does not end in a cli-
mactic knockout punch, but instead
the bell rings after an exhausting
15-round battle with Creed declared
the winner by split decision. At this
point in the film there are often
cries of "What? He didn't even win?
Lame," but those who need Rocky
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to win for a satisfying ending are
missing the point. The triumph was
in the journey, not the outcome.
By making Rocky lose it's easier to
see that his prize is the change in
himself, which makes a belt or title
almost meaningless.
But giving the unrelenting fans
what they wanted, Rocky did come
back to lay the smack down on
Apollo to claim the belt in "Rocky
II." His title reign came to a halt in
"Rocky III" as it became very clear
that Mr. T had no pity for the Ital-
ian Stallion. Finally, in the fourth
film Rocky fights what can best be
described as a blond Russian cyborg
and his victory effectively ends the
Cold War. This was the last proud
moment for the franchise as the
abysmally conceived "Rocky V"
left fans disenchanted, wishing the
series had quit while it was ahead.
Responding to the masses and
wanting to bring back glory to the
"Rocky" name, Sylvester Stal-
lone is writing, directing and star-
ring in the sixth film in the series
"Rocky Balboa," to be released this
December. Publicity images show
Stallone in the ring looking pretty
damn cut for a 60-year-old who
for all practical purposes should
have man boobs by now. He needs
to keep up this trademark physique
as an apparent onset of nostalgia is
also causing him to release another
Rambo movie due out in 2008.
Stallone's post-midlife crisis
aside, he truly delivered a master-
fully crafted franchise best exempli-
fied by the original "Rocky." Many
films have the capacity to enter-
tain, but few are able to inspire us
to try and change something about
ourselves. Whether it's training for
an athletic event or studying for a
colossal exam, many people have
tried to find their own "Eye of the
Tiger" to muster the strength inside
to succeed.
Looking for a Sufjan kind of love
RI
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*18 51
NORTHWESTERN
UNIVERSITY
MASTER OF SCIENCE IN EDUCATION
PROGRAM
Ranked #10, Best Graduate Schools of
Education,
U.S. News and World Report
One year program option in
* Elementary Teaching " Secondary Teaching -
Advanced Teaching -
" Higher Education Administration and Policy"
Early Admission Deadline Fall 2007
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Monthly Information Sessions and
Thursday Morning Drop-Ins Available
Call or Email with questions: (847) 467-1458
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Visit our website at
www.sesp.northwestern.edu/msed
By CAITLIN COWAN
Daily Arts Editor
We need another love story.
Even though the American Film
Institute lists the 1970 film "Love
Story" as the ninth most romantic
movie of all time, it's infamous for
its tear-jerking capacity. The tale of
two young lovers has devolved from
a truly affecting film into the kind
of flick girls settle down to watch
with a box of Kleenex and a pint
of cookie dough ice cream when
they're in the mood for a good cry.
While some of the dialogue in
"Love Story" seems canned and
sappy in retrospect, with all of the
full frontal and fucking in movies
today, audiences could use a taste
of true love, however unrealistic it
may be:
I give you the finale of "Jen and
Oliver," a similar version of the
original's final scenes, starring
Jena Malone and Hunter Parrish.
The first strains of Suflan Ste-
vens's acoustic guitar and "Casimir
Pulaski Day" slowly and purpose-
fully crescendo. After a few bars, he
sings,full offeeling, "Golden rod and
the 4H stone/ The things I brought
you when I found out you had cancer
of the bone."
Oliver ascends the stairs of the
white-tiled hospital for what will
be the last time. The camera pans
up and away fromhis feet, dragging
heavily up each step, to profile his
thin frame as he approaches Jenni-
fer's room, his face pale and stoic.
A gentle banjo strum has surfaced
behind Stevens' beautiful voice. "Oh
the glory that the lord has made /
And the complications you could do
without / When I kissed you on the
mouth," he sings.
Technicolor scenes of better
times flash in rapid succession:
Jennifer eating snow, the couple
swaddled in wrinkled bed sheets,
Oliver kissing her forehead as they
cross an empty field; the pair sail-
ing together, careening downhill
on bicycles, reading paperbacks.
The banjo gurgles and swells in
preparation for another confession.
"On the floor at the great divide
/ With my shirt tucked in and my
shoes untied / I am crying in the
bathroom."
Oliver wipes at his eyes as he
enters her room.
The sickly girl regards him care-
fully, a painful smile creasing her
lips. Oliver sits on Jennifer's bed,
and slowly, gently, pulls her slight
body into his arms. The scene is
witnessed only from the doorway,
with all dialogue out of hearing.
No one knows what would pass
between such people - lovers too
young to face the end.
A solitary trumpet emergesfrom
the guitar and banjo lines like a her-
ald augmenting the soft, strange
chorus.
We are only allowed into the
room at the very end: The camera
zooms slowly in as the life in the
room is pushed out. She closes her
eyes and slips away.
Oliver lies motionless beside
her.
Seconds pass. Minutes.
The sweet voice again ... "In the
morning when you finally go / And
the nurse runs in with her head hung
low/And the cardinal hits the win-
dow."
Gradually the room begins to fill
with stony doctors and nurses and
Oliverrises,watchingthemdescend
upon her body as if in a dream.
"Oh the glory when he took our place
/ But he took my shoulders and he
shook myface ... "
He bursts out of the hospital
room and into the arms of his father,
who is waiting sullenly in the corri-
dor. Tears spill from his eyes as he
clutches him desperately.
"And he takes and he takes and he
takes."