; y E Jt e E tr The Michigan Daily I michigandaily.com I Thursday, November 20, 2008 I TY} PLEASURES Things we hate to love. The Daily Arts guide to the best upcoming events - it's everywhere you should be this weekend and why. AT HILL The Arts Chorale, led by director John Trotter, pres- ents songs tonight about the various highs and lows of being in love during a concert called "Season of Love." The repertoire mixes North American and Euro- pean folk songs with other choral pieces, including a composition by Canadian composer Stephen Chat- man. The singing begins at 8 p.m. in Hill Auditorium. AT HILL The University's Women's Glee Club, directed by Julie Skadsem, teams up with the Saline Fiddlers, Ameri- ca's premier youth fiddling show band, for a concert at Hill Auditorium Saturday night. The show features music both new and old and closes with the traditional Michigan spirit songs stu- dents know and love. Tick- ets from $5 for students, $10 general admission. t's so much fun to enjoy things you know you shouldn't. The art world is full of such guilty pleasures. Like that DVD of "Purple Rain" you throw on every now and then, or the stack of "Weird Al" Yankovic CDs you listen to when no one's around. Yup - we know about those. And you know what? It's OK. We understand. The things most eas- ily enjoyed aren't always the most respectable. Every once in a while you should just swallow your pride and admit it. In honor of this sentiment, Daily Arts gives you our own guiltiest pleasures, the stuff so few would admit to liking. Maybe you shouldn't, either - you have a repu- tation to worry about, after all. someone calls you out on humming the-top explosions. When Cameron were gonna change the world and any lines - just say those damn Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy legitimize electronic music. songs got stuck in your head and Liu hop on stage mid-movie for a Today? It's probably the most put your headphones on. Then qui- ridiculously prolonged striptease, bedeviled and mocked genre, as etly enjoy the fluid angst. it becomes clear the filmmakers people assume it's all aboutclub kids, MATTEMERY weren't going for high art. wailingbackgroundvocals and "beep The film is a curiosity: It simul- boop" sounds. That's only half true - "DEGRASSI" taneously demonstrates why Holly- thanks to assholes like Paul Oaken- You all have a friend who bitches wood should be chastised and why fold and DJ Tiesto. yourearoffabouthisorherlifeprob- it should be celebrated. In other But the DFA, Jazzanova, Justice, lems. And even though you're some- words, it's the definition of a "guilty Daft Punk, DJ Shadow and a host of times irked by his or her vexations, pleasure." Savor it - behind closed others could out-groove any band or part of you enjoys the vicarious thrill doors. pop songstress. Acid jazz, jungle and of witnessing someone else's misery. BRANDON CONRADIS turntablism are experimental sounds Germans call this Schadenfreude. worthy of respect. Even ifthey some- Canadians call it "Degrassi." Imag- 100.3 WNIC CHRISTMAS times sound like they belong on the ine 25 friends like that one, all with MUSIC soundtrack of an old video game ... emotional issues - from self-injury Fine, I'll admit it. Unlike most, BLAKE GOBLE to bulimia to alcoholism and back again - all revolving in a fucked-up carousel, each coming back at just the right moment with a new hang- DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE up or foible. You can either disem- Ben Gibbard has all the angst of a bark to puke or stay on for the ride. 12-year-old girl with a snaggletooth I've stayed on - for five years and whose dog just died and her cur- counting. rent flavor-of-the-week boyfriend MARK SCHULTZ just called things off. But he does sing about his emotional issues "CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL eloquently, and that's only half of THROTTLE" the enticing elements surrounding Watching "Charlie's Angels: Full Death Cab. Their talent for melody Throttle" is like gorging on candy and catchy "bah bahs" somehow when no one's watching. trump lines like "All I see are dark What's the plot? Please. There gray clouds / In the distance mov- might not have even been a script. ing closer with every hour" and "If All that has to be said is that it's a there's no one beside you / When nearly two-hour-long parade of your soul embarks / Then I'll follow blindingly bright colors, beautiful you into the dark." Don't feel bad if people in skimpy clothing and over- who cringe at the thought of sleigh bells put to percussive use, I actu- ally look forward to WNIC's "iOO percent Christmas music, 100 per- cent of the time." I can't help but smile when Nat King Cole croons about chestnuts, or when Rufus Wainwright prods about my plans for New Years Eve, not to mention the embarrassing annual sing-a- longs during the rides home for the holidays with my like-minded roommate. So to all you closet-car- olers, quit being grinches and admit you love Rudolph, Frosty and the wintry wonder that is WNIC. SARAH CHAVEY ELECTRONIC MUSIC In 1997, we thought Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers and Prodigy "OCEAN'S TWELVE" AND "OCEAN'S THIRTEEN" It's probable that everyone, whether he or she wants to admit it, loves StevenSoderbergh's remake of theclassicRatPackpicture "Ocean's Eleven." What fewer want to admit is they actually liked the sequels. Less coherent narratively? Perhaps. More self-indulgent? Definitely. But with an incredible soundtrack from David Holmes and a cast including the likes of George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle and Andy Garcia, it's simply too appeal- ing to balk at. I'm sorry, sue me. But in my book, "Ocean's Twelve" and "Ocean's Thirteen" occupy a secret but substantial page. NOAH DEAN STAHL "THE GEORGE LOPEZ SHOW" I'm a sucker for corny implicit- life-lesson family sitcoms. Deal with it. And as much as I love me some "Fresh Prince" and "Home Improvement," without my occa- sional dosage of "The George Lopez Show," I'd probably spontaneously combust. I don't care what people say, Lopez's comedic timing is flawless. Plus, anyone who can get laughs by poking fun at his dyslexic son and still appear convincingly com- passionate at the end of episodes deserves a medal. And, of course, you've got to love his individualistic brand of Hispanic super-slang. DAVE REAP "YOU'VE GOT MAIL" If you enjoy browsing through Pottery Barn catalogs and dream- ing of upward mobility untouched bymoral hazard, you'll love "You've Got Mail." The story depicts a New York of unfussy leather armchairs, gaily dressed children and holiday foodmotifs.Yes,it's aphilosophical- ly bovine world, but it feels so good. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan act out a slightly silly but humble courtship. Greg Kinnear, Dave Chappelle and Parker Posey are a tease for indie fans. The soundtrack recognizes Harry Nilsson's talents beyond that lime/coconut song. This is cinema's See PLEASURES, Page 4B AT POWER MUSKET, the University's only exclusively student- organized musical theater company, celebrates its 15th anniversary with this weekend's show. They will perform "Parade," a musi- cal about the 1913 trial of a Brooklyn Jew accused of murder in Georgia. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday at the Power Center. The king of B-movies returns with gory comedy By ANDREW LAPIN Daily Arts Writer Bruce Campbell is a real character. And not just because the cult horror film star is a colorful and engaging guy to talk to, though he is. It's because in his new movie "My Name is Bruce," he plays a self-absorbed, misogynistic horror film star named Bruce Campbell, though he's quick to point out that it's not actually him. "The wayI look at it is, he's just some guy named Bruce Campbell," Campbell said during a recent phone interview. "The fact that I look like him and sound like him and I'm named Bruce Campbell has nothing to do with his portrayal... My lawyer has informed me that I have com- plete deniability." Concerned that audiences would mis- take the film's moronic, alcoholic jerk for the real actor, Campbell wondered whether he should have named the char- COURTESYOF ROSEBUD acter Dash Ripoff instead. But, he ulti- mately concluded, "That's part of the filmmaking process, to confuse the audi- ence at every turn." Campbell stars in and directs the film. It follows the character Bruce Campbell after he is kidnapped from the set of his latest movie ("Cave Alien 2") by a fan from the small town of Gold Lick, Ore., where Guan-Di, the ancient Chinese god of bean curd, has been unleashed and is decapitating the town's denizens one by one. Naturally, with a villain this prepos- terous, only the actor who once fought mummies while portraying Elvis Presley is capable of saving the day. The cowardly Bruce, however, tries to shirk his respon- sibilities once he realizes the monster is real and not just an elaborate pitch for his next movie. "My Name is Bruce" plays as a hearty spoof oftheB-grade horror films that have made a name for Campbell since 1979, when he and fellow Michigan native Sam Raimi went into the Tennessee woods with a video camera and a small group of high school buddies to make "The Evil Dead." The movie became a cult clas- sic and spawned two sequels. Raimi has since become a high-profile director (he directed all the films in the "Spider-Man" trilogy), and Campbell has risen to the upper ranks of the sci-fi and horror elite with movies such as "Timequest," "Bubba Ho-tep" and "Man with the Screaming Brain" (his directorial debut). "Both he and Sam were really, really driven toward making movies," remem- bered Ellen Sandweiss, a Michigan alum who attended Groves High School in Bir- mingham with Raimi and Campbell. She played Cheryl (the sister of Bruce's char- acter Ash) in "The Evil Dead." She knew they were both going to make movies for the rest of their lives, but Bruce didn't know he was going to be a big horror movie star. "That was something he just kind of fell into ... He always had that handsome chiseled face, and the star quality was See CAMPBELL, Page 3B IN CONCERT Campus Philharmonia Orchestra, Michigan's ensemble for non-Music School students, gives their annual fall concert this weekend. They will perform works by Brahms, Schubert, Mascagni and Grieg, as well as selected pieces from the score of the film "Pirates of the Carib- bean." 8 p.m. tonight at the E.V. Moore Building. Free.