the Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

hhTuesday, September 2, 2008 -5A

In campy
album,
Wilson
lives on
Legendary Beach Boys
songwriter returns with
quirky solo effort
By DAVID WATNICK
Daily Arts Writer
That Lucky Old Sun is not a cool album. It's slick,
campy, nostalgic and a tad too friendly. Of course,
these attributes place it in at least moderate con-
trast with Wilson's last proper
effort, the 38-years-in-the-mak-
ing Smile. That record, through a
combination of vestigial psyche- Brian Wilson
delia, juvenile lyrical schizophre-
nia and its own living legend, was That Lucky
almost hip. That Lucky Old Sun is Old Sun
not. But that doesn't matter. Even Capitol
if it was more superficially embar-
rassing than it actually is - that
would've been possible, but not easy - a truly jaded
ear would be required to ignore how plainly blissful
of an album it is.
Broadway-esque arrangements and ultra hi-fi
sound keep That Lucky Old Sun from being the
quintessential California record that it was con-
ceived as; no matter how determined the lyrics are
to evoke vintage L.A., the record's sheen makes it
sound more like the product of spray-on fake tanner
than authentic Venice Beach rays. But Brian Wilson
has always been at his best when he utilizes the
most ornate and sophisticated recording approach
possible, and in doing so here with his standard
arsenal of string, horns and bells, he has again con-
structed an unassuming symphony.
Within the squeaky-clean tracks, Wilson essen-
tially merges the real California beach vibe of All

A BAD COMEDY FLUNKS OUT

Not your daddy's Wilson.
Summer Long and the orchestral majesty of Pet
Sounds for a contemporary update of The Beach
Boys' sound. In this vein, the pulsating low end of
"Morning Beat" makes it the new "Do It Again," and
"Forever My Surfer Girl," with rising tension pre-
choruses, comes off as a remake of "Don't Worry
Baby." Boisterous harmonies throughout should
draw comparisons to "California Girls."
Wilson proves himself beyond self-plagiarist or
even relic status, however, and on two occasions he
actually expands the hallowed grounds of his per-
sonal song hall-of-fame. The first new inductee is
the show-tune duet "Good Kind of Love." Though
undeniably corny, the melody carried in its "Oh
oh oh oh oh" choruses is a musical brain parasite
if there's ever been one. "Midnight's Another Day,"
meanwhile, is a hauntingly-melancholy piano bal-
lad that could only emerge from the equally murky
and joyous mind of Wilson.
Only occasional spoken word interludes with lyr-
ics courtesyofenigmatic Smile wordsmithVanDyke
Parks distract from the continuously ear-sweet,
unbroken song cycle. Still, they're appropriately
placed and not nearly as troubling as the outright
bizarre spoken word Mount Vernon and Fairway (A
Fairy Tale) EP Wilson attempted in 1973.
The fact of the matter is that Brian Wilson is 66
years old. He's survived drugs, severe mental ill-
ness, crippling fear of everyday life, wildly mercu-
rial obesity, an abusive father, an even more abusive
therapist, jealous and conniving bandmates (I'm
looking at you, Mike Love) and the '80s. Through
it all, his social relevance has waned accordingly.
And it would be unfair to expect him to reverse that
trend. But if one facet of Brian Wilson has endured,
it is his gift for melody. Don't play That Lucky Old
Sun at your co-op's next party; play it when you're
in private. Sing along, dance and be willfully embar-
rassed. Just don't let anyone see you.

By ANNIE LEVINE Dan Callahan and Adam Ellison,
Daily Arts Writer who had no previous writing
credits whatsoever before they
This fall, incoming freshman penned the disaster that is "Col-
trickle into the University, excited lege." After the first few moments
to live away from Mom and Dad of the film, it's not hard to see why
and meet new this movie was teetering danger-
people. Mean- ously close to straight-to-DVD
while, seniors 7 territory.
are clinging to "College" embodies all that is
the joys of col- C ee wrong with the so-called "boy
lege life, which At Qualityl6 humor" movieswithlimited plots:
will disappear and Showcase an abundance of swear words,
after graduation. MGM gross-out gags and usually at least
Each class is one naked chick. Who should
starting the year be more offended by the film?
off in different ways, but there is Women, for the obvious misog-
one thing they all have in com- yny that is passed off as buddies
mon: We're in college to learn, but having a good time, or men, for a
we're also here to party. movie industry that thinks they
College-based films have a long- are dumb enough to find this crap
standing tradition of emphasizing entertaining.
Most importantly, the film
leans heavily on making fun
of sexuality. At a time in
College has whichsame-sexrmarriage
is slowly gaining support,
never looked this why are films still being
made where accusing one
unappealing and character of being gay '
is deemed funny?
stereotypical. In a 94-minute n
film, I counted
14 different'
times where the
core of a joke
the seemingly care-free lifestyle was blatantly
that you can really only get away homophobic -
with while enrolled in establish- about 14 times
ments of higher learning. It's an too many.
appealing subject to document. Leaving
After all, what 18-year-old can't aside - as
associate "We're going streak- hard as it
ing!" with the-film "Old School"? is - the com-
And who hasn't wondered if pletely unfunny
Greek life is really anything close and offensive°
to "Animal House"? The most subject matter
recent movie in this over-saturat- of the jokes, the
ed genre comes to us from writers film also fails

to meet any of the criteria for a
legitimate movie. I'll put it in a
way that any of the film's idiotic
characters can understand: The
acting sucks and even as a broad
satire of academia, the film goes
above and beyond anything that
can be remotely identified as col-
lege life. At the fictional Field-
mont University, parties have
limitless supplies of fancy mixed
drinks, women tend to walk
around topless if they aren't busy
riding the stripper poles in cages
hung from the ceiling, public sex
is pretty much everywhere and
model-hot girls are out on the
prowl for overweight and geeky
guys who don't look a day over 15.
Academics are, at best, an after-
thought. When one of the main
characters blows his scholarship
interview, the response from his
friends is to get over it and get
drinking. Real life and real
people just don't work that
way.
"College" is unoriginal,
unentertaining and unpleas-
ant. The only reason I
didn't walk out of the
theater during the
movie - something
I have never done
- is that I needed
to know just how
bad the movie is in
order to warn others
against it. As a proud
and, hopefully, edu-
cated student at the
University of Michi-
gan, the best way to
rationalize our awe-
some lifestyle is not
to support films like
"College."


In class and at the bookstore
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