The Michigan Daily - michigandailv.com
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 -5
The funny
females of'SNL'
"Yes, we want striped clothes for Christmas. Please."
Supe r 'Sessions
Scottish poppers bring their
greatest radio appearances
to one essential disc
By DAVID WATNICK
Daily Music Editor
Listening to the dance-begging northern
soul of their most recent efforts, it's almost
easy to forget that Belle and
Sebastian was once adored
simply because its Scottish
brand of chamber pop was s Bele and
quaint. But Stuart Murdoch
and company aren't ready Sebastian
to reject that legacy of their The BBC
quieter youth, even if they've Sessions
increasingly ratcheted up Matadtt
their volume and energy ever
since. Like any great band
from the British Isles - which it certainly qual-
ifies as - Belle and Sebastian has compiled its
finest radio appearances for the ever-present
BBC, gazing back at its vintage sound on The
BBC Sessions.
With recordings from 1996, 1997 and 2001,
the set is appropriately highlighted by cuts
from 1996's seminal If You're Feeling Sinister.
The band.has long-disowned the fidelity of its
most celebrated album - and for good reason;
the mix is dense, dull and muddy. Ironically,
the for-radio recordings of Sessions provide the
best sounding versions available of many Sinis-
ter tracks. Far from squeaky-clean, Murdoch's
vocal on "Like Dylan in the Movies" posses a
poignant analog warmth that embodies the
track's lyrical melancholy. Emphasizing rich
texture over understated presence, the takes
let the electric rhythm guitar achieve a promi-
nence the studio album never did; it flourishes
during the rock ending of "The Stars of Track
and Field" and spews an intimidating growl on
the previously timid "Judy and the Ijream of
Horses."
While Sinister always gets all the hype, Ses-
sions reiterates that the songs of predecessor
and near-twin Tigermilk are accomplishments
equally as impressive as their followers. Dis-
cretely drifting from an acoustic confession
into rollicking twee-pop, "The State I Am In"
proves a dually perfect opener. It both builds in
momentum and serves as a telling introduction
to classic Belle and Sebastian, tracing a melodic
path in purgatory between depression and bliss
while chronicling domestic personal conflict.
With the synths, guitar chords and vocals that
are so spacey on Tigermilk lowered a bit closer
to the ground, "I Could Be Dreaming" is just as
melodically possessive functioning as a more
straightforward rock ditty.
Dueting with Murdoch on a breezy run-
through of 1997 single "Lazy Line Painter
Jane," right-hand man Stevie Jackson shines
in the spotlight just as he does on his own
"Wrong Love," a subdued early incarnation of
"The Wrong Girl." Unfortunately, Jackson's
"Seymour Stein" is as pedestrian as the album
version, which famously inspired Jack Black's
character in "High Fidelity" to ask "Holy Shite.
What the fuck is that?" To say that this "sucks
ass," though, would be a bit harsh.
Of the 2001 set, which introduces four oth-
erwise unavailable songs, "Shoot the Sexual
Athlete" is uncontestedly the most interesting.
Doing his best Lou Reed impression, Murdoch
confidently struts his speak-singing vocal over
a sedoctive rhythm section groove.
The running theme throughout the disc is the
band's uncanny ability to reproduce their mate-
rial live with note-for-note fluency. Though
their early studio output was often wimpy, the
performances swell with swagger and muscle
definition without expending nuance.
The deluxe edition of the comp appends on a
second disc featuring a 2001 concert from Bel-
fast that serves as an even more convincing doc-
ument of Belle and Sebastian's increasing stage
poise. Gorgeous plays of "Dirty Dream #2" and
The Beatles's "Here Comes the Sun" rival each
other in assured elegance, but the blow-out win-
ner is a blisteringly nimble cover of Thin Lizzy
classic "The Boys are Back in Town."
Anytime an active artistbegins releasing any
sort of retrospective collections, it should be
cause for alarm about their future. But regard-
less of the implications of The BBC Sessions on
the band's shelf-life, the look-back is another
firm block in the foundation of the argument
that Belle and Sebastian is one of the premier
bands of its era.
In January of 2007, Christopher
Hitchens wrote an article in
Vanity Fair
explaining why
"women aren't
funny." Hitchens
- a noted hater w
of most things,
including, but
not limited to, AHCHAEL
Mother Theresa PASSMAN
- explored some
of the social and biological reasons
for his proclamation and made a
pretty convincing case. And, hon-
estly, I can't disagree with the guy.
That probably sounds a little sexist
- eh, probably a lot - but as a close
observer of humanity, I'd be lying
to myself if I pretended his asser-
tion wasn't true. As a whole, women
aren't exactly the most hilarious
people on earth. Sorry, it's just the
way things are. Plus, Hitchens was
waterboarded for another column,
so he must speak the truth.
For the majority ofmylife,no social
institution has done abetter job of
reinforcing the ideaof female unfun-
niness than "Saturday Night Live."
The early'90s is commonly regarded
as one ofthe show's stronger eras, but
Ibet you can't name two female cast
members fromthe1993 cast -David
Spade doesn't count. Going back, Gilda
Radner (who attended but did not
graduatefromtheUniversityofMich-
igan) is really the only woman who's
considered one ofthe show's best cast
members, and I'm not sure how funny
she reallywas. But this season, which
has been one ofcthe strongest in years
(relativelyspeakingbut whatever)has
actually been notable fortits female
cast members - andnot because
they've been terrible.
Obviously, Tina Fey's Sarah Palin
impression was exceptional. In
terms of comedic potential, Palin
is the female George W. Bush, and
Fey milked the character for all it
was worth. Technically, Fey hasn't
been a "Saturday Night Live" cast
member since 2006, but as far as
most people are concerned, Fey was
"SNL" this fall and for good reason.
She was even able to parlay her
"SNL" cold-open appearances into
a ratings bump of roughly six whole
people for the "30 Rock" season
premiere, which is like a 70 percent
increase. Clearly she was doing
something right.
But two actual - and significantly
less heralded - cast members have
been the unsung heroes of "Saturday
Night Live" this season. And yes,
they happen to be funny girls.
Amy Poehler had a rather average
eight-year run on "SNL." (Spending
alot of time on"SNL" isn't exactly
something to be proud of. It's kind
of like being the captain of a minor
league hockeyteam. Sure, you're
OK at whatryou do, butyou're not
exactly an in-demand commodity.)
She broke in when the Ana Gastey-
er-era crew of female cast members
was already established and floated
around for a few years. But then she
gotknocked up by G.O.B. Bluth and
, a za a
something changed.
Poehler spent the first month-
and-a-half of this season with a lot
of baby in her - girl was very preg-
nant. Now, I cannot attest to the
difficulties of navigating life while
pregnant, but I have difficulty hold-
ing a conversation with a backpack
on, so it could not have been easy.
Her Weekend Update Palin rap -
performed just a week before she
gave birth - might have been the
pinnacle of the season thus far. It
was like M.J. playing with the flu in
'97: no human in that shape should
have been able to pull it off. But she
did. And not only did Poehler run
the Update desk with Seth Meyers,
she also participated in traditional
"SNL" skits - something Meyers
doesn't even do anymore - with
that kid inside her. The majority of
her run on the show may have been
fairly average, but the shows she
put in atthe beginning of the sea-
son were damn impressive.
Although her name is still listed
in the show's opening credits, Poe-
hler left "SNL" after giving birth
to her baby and will not be coming
back. Her departure left only two
female cast members on the show,
one of whom, Casey Wilson, is only a
featured player. (Last week the show
added two additional featured play-
ers - Michaela Watkins and Chris
Elliot's daughterAbbyElliott--but
they received only limited screen-
time this past Saturday). This means
the only full female cast member is
Kristen Wiig, and that would seem
to place a tremendous burden on
her. Except she was already in 90
percent of the sketches, so it doesn't
really change anything.
Last season, Wiig established her-
self as the most prolific "Saturday
Night Live" cast member and one of
the show's most talented perform-
ers. This season, she solidified her
standing as the show's best. In a cast
almost entirely devoid of memo-
rable characters, Wiig plays many.
Target Lady, one half of the Two
A-Holes duo (aka people you meet
in West Bloomfield), Surprise Lady
and excitable travel reporter Judy
Grimes are just a few of Wiig's origi-
nal characters. The rest of the cast
combined doesn'thave that many
half-decent creations. She's also
shown an ability to handle lower-
key impersonations of real people
like Suzie Orman, Nancy Pelosi and
Elisabeth Hasselbeck - OK, Hassel-
beck isn't real, butcyou get the point.
If anyone at "SNL" is goingto keep
the show's momentum going past
the election, it willibe Wiig.
So maybe Hitchens was wrong
andwomen actually are funny.
"Saturday Night Live" has been
derided for seemingly forever, but
anyone who's kept a close eye on
this season has to admit its been at
least decent so far. Lorne can thank
the ladies for that.
Passman just really wants Kristen
Wiig's number. E-mail it to him at
passman@michigandaily.com.
Bringing a script to life
By MOLLY MCGUIRE
Daily Arts Writer
Marc Zakalik thought he was
going to be a pre-med gunner his
freshman year.
But instead of Drumadoon
toiling away in
the chemistry Script
lab spending his Reading
nights writing
formulas, he cre- Today,7 p.m.
ated something At the Hatcher
he always wanted Graduate Library
to do instead: a
screenplay.
"I was like, OK, that's got to
mean something," Zakalik said. "I
took that as a sign, switched paths
and haven't looked back."
Zakalik, who graduated from
the Screen Arts and Cultures pro-
gram last year, emerged from the
demanding screenwriting pro-
gram with two full-length screen-
plays. One of these scripts will be
read aloud by students Tuesday at
a reading hosted by the University
of Michigan Libraries.
Set in a small seaside village
in Scotland, "Drumadoon" cen-
ters on 21-year-old Dave "Disco"
Drummond, a single father and
football player who aspires to play
once more for the Celtic Football
Club in Glasgow. The winner of a
Hopwood award, "Drumadoon" is
loosely inspired by Zakalik's own
experience on the Isle of Arran in
Scotland.
"As a writer, I've sort of dis-
covered what my preference is
to write about, and I like writing
about normal people who do nor-
mal things," Zakalik said. "I'm
nervous for it, actually. It's the
first time I'm showing my work to
the general public, so it'll be inter-
esting to see what people say."
The screenplay readings pro-
vide student writers with oppor-
tunities to hear their work read in
front of an audience. Discussions
following the readings will bring
the general public into the cre-
ative process and provide young
screenwriters with feedback from
fresh eyes and ears.
"The Writer's Guild has these
all the time in New York and L.A.,"
said Jim Burnstein, an accom-
plished Hollywood screenwriter
who heads the Screenwriting
Program,. "Established writers
would come in and have a new
script read, bring in actors and do
a table read, get a reaction from
people and get feedback."
These events are key opportu-
nities for interested students to
get a first taste of the program.
They give people who aren't in the
department a chance to see what
these students can do.
The screenwriters of the Screen
Arts and Cultures program are the
cream of the crop: entrance into
the program is merit-based and
highly selective. Last year, four
students won Hopwood awards,
eliciting Hopwood judge and U-M
alumnus Elwood Reid to proclaim
the scripts "incredibly competent,
ambitious and polished." Alumna
Beth Schwartz wrote last week's these skills right from the start."
episode of "Brothers & Sisters." While today's event is akin to
Zakalik himself secured a great a conventional table reading, the
job upon graduation, working as program used to hold unconven-
the assistant to the director for tional, staged readings of screen-
the film "Youth in Revolt." plays. Students, faculty and local
"The feedback I got and the actors would work together to
attention I got in the screenwrit- animate the words on the page,
ing program was fantastic, some- melding theater and film into a
thing that really helped me grow groundbreaking new medium.
as a writer," Zakalik said. "You never saw anything like
The program is unique in that it," Burnstein said. "You didn't
students can come out of it with know if you were watching a play
several full-length screenplays. or a movie. It was kind of like a
Many other schools might prompt hybrid where you're acting out the
screenplay, you're putting it on its
feet, so it looks sort of like a theat-
rical production but it so approxi-
A screenplay mates the movie in the speed in
which it moves. I mean, audiences
realized without just loved it."
Burnstein and Chlipala hope to
all the frills of bring back these screening series
again soon, but until then, these
Hollywood. screenplay readings serve as an
acceptable stand-in to showcase
student talent. With salty Scottish
brogues and a good deal of curs-
students to write only a first act, ing, students will bring Zakalik's
but Michigan's program focuses weighty tale to life. It's a chance
on making the experience as pro- to be a part of a screenplay revi-
fessional as possible. sion, learn about the program,
"If a studio asks you to write and see a script come alive.
a first draft of a screenplay, you Today, the audience might not
would have 10 weeks. That's about actually see all the flashy visual
a term here," Screen Arts and Cul- effects that inhabit the film medi-
tures Program Coordinator Mary um, but student voices will still
Lou Chlipala said. "This program galvanize the sights and sounds
is based on the working profes- of dreary Scotland in Zakalik's
sional, and what's demanded of script.
the working professional, so the "It's all on the page," Burnstein
students here are really acquiring said. "You'll see it completely."
S U D O K U