2B - Thursday, February 14, 2008 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com REDUCTIVE REASONING Picking one and one apart. The Daily Arts guide to Ann Arbor's upcoming events Today 2.14.08 Valentine's Card-Making and Cookie Decorating 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. At the Michigan League Underground Free Japanese Contemporary Dance 12 p.m. At the University Hospital Main Lobby, Floort Free Tomorrow 2.15.08 Brown Bag Lecture: Jo Kanamori 12 p.m. At School of Social Work Building Free NINA Materialize Sacrifice: NOISMO8 8 p.m. At the Power Center $16-$40 Open Mic Night At the Michigan League Underground Free Saturday 2.16.08 An Evening with Ahmad Jamal 8 p.m. At Hill Auditorium $10-$42 Two Candles Burning, A Chamber Opera 8 p.m. At Duderstadt Center (Media Union) Free Sunday 2.17.08 Dance on Camera Festival 7 p.m. At the Dance Building, Betty Pease Stu- dio Theatre Free Please send all press releases and event information to artspage@michigandaily.com. 4 4 4 SINGLE REVIEWS A 'KNIGHT RIDER' (1982) VS. 'KNIGHT RIDER' (2008) The car 'Knight' returns "SUPERNATURAL SUPERSERIOUS" R.E.M. Every time R.E.M. releases anythingit's hard not to hope that they'll finally reclaim some of the brilliance that's been mostly absent since 1996's New Adventures in Hi-Fi. "Super- natural Superserious" doesn't really make it, but with its jangly guitars and super-catchy melody, it's immediately loveable. The sound harkens back to R.E.M.'s storied IRS Records years, while at the same time, the super-clean gui- tars of the intro could stand to be a little less, well, clean. Lyrically, Michael Stipe still seems a bit too attracted to platitudes, but the song is still fun and works pretty well. MATTRONEY "GANG OF THIEVES" STATE RADIO The new single from Chad Urmston's band State Radio rocks surprisingly hard. "Gang of Thieves" has a sort of piano-punk feel, with it's swingin' beat and rapidly- delivered vocals. Unfortunately, Urmston's politics are a bit dated, making what should be biting "war for oil" lyr- ics feel kind of contrived. At the beginning of 2008, it's unlikely that we really needed yet another indictment of the Bush administration - Urmston's not wrong, he's just kind of late. Nonetheless, "Gang of Thieves" is an undeni- ably catchy single thatshould rant its way into the hearts of hippie-punks everywhere. MATTRONEY By DAVE REAP Daily Arts Writer Nowadays, everybody's car can talk to them. In fact, it's no longer considered out of the ordinary to get bossed around by a GPS system. With this in mind, NBC's made the deci- sion to bring "Knight Rider" back from the dead. The focus of the original 1980s TV series was not David Hasselhoff, who played pro- tagonist Michael Knight, but his super Pontiac Trans Am nicknamed KITT (short for Knight Industries Two Thou- sand) voiced by William Dan- iels ("BoyMeets World"). Chief among KITT's attributes, which included rocket launch- ers, impenetrable armor and 300 mph speed, was its artifi- cial intelligence. That allowed the car to become a character rather than just a prop, served as Knight's partner, giving him advice and even cracking the occasional joke. The formula was apparently successful, because the show maintained a loyal fan base and ran for six seasons. However, "Knight Rider" 's KITT just isn't as special as it used to be. A talking Trans Am doesn't have shit on a DeLorean that travels through time ("Back to the Future") or a Camaro that morphs into a gigantic metallic alien ("Transformers"). "Knight Rider" is outdated, compared with recent trends in the sci- ence fiction genre. For this reason, it's hard to imagine the show surviving today. Yet NBC plans to test this by air- ing a two-hour movie event based on "Knight Rider" on Sunday. If nothing else, NBC is killing the "Knight Rider" legacy in hopes of making a quick buck. Based on the pre- views, the show looks like a half-assed modernization of the original series with a less colorful lead actor (Justin Bruening, "All My Children") and a more commercially driven KITT (in the form of a 2008 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500). Updating KITT has already caused controversy - the original voiceovers done by Will Arnett ("Arrested Development") needed to be replaced because of his par- ticipation in General Motors ads. Val Kilmer ("Batman For- ever") now supplies the voice. Vhat's even more troubling Be real, not even KITT could ease Ford's woes is the way NBC has adver- tised the upcoming special; it looks like a two-hour long Ford commercial. NBC's man- ner of dealing with the Ford Mustang just goes to show they are approaching the TV special: with an eye on mak- ing money rather than a qual- ity product. Even if the network took a more serious approach to the "Knight Rider" franchise, it's questionable whether audi- ences would be truly receptive to the revived concept. While KITT might have seemed cool in the '80s, there's nothing truly spectacular about the car by today's standards. In retro- spect, it probably would have been best to leave "Knight Rider" on the shelf rather than damaging its reputation by trying to market it to a genera- tion that's moved on to bigger and better things. 4 4 MST GRE GMAT MCAT OAT OAT KAT TOM PR ACT'C EST FEBRUARY 16,2008 Al Tests are in Angell Hall: To play: Complete the grid so that every row, column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9. There is no guessing or math involved, just use logic to solve, Good Luck and enjoy! JOIN DAILY ARTS, E-mail gaerig@michigandaily.com for an application Freshmen and Sophomores, are you looking for a summer internship? Would you like to take a step towards bolstering your resume? Do you want to work with the coolest people on campus? Difficulty: Medium 7 1 9 2 1 5 4 3 714 2 6 819 816 7 13 8 4 2 5 6 8 7 3 1 9 5 I I licati10com~ I Thinnovation Introducing MacBook Air, ,the world's thinnest notebook, U-M Computer Showcase Michigan Union 17341 847-2537 http://showcase.itcs.umich.edu www.apple.com/education/store A A A A