, , , 0@ 0 'theb side @0e @0e 0@e 00e @0e * 0 0 00 0 * 0 0 @0 0 * 0 0 @0 0 * 0 0 00 0 -* 0 0 00 0 * 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 0 0 o e The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com I Thursday, January 7, 2009 e .n -a 0 0 0 0 e weekend essentials Jan. 7 to Jan. 10 AT THE MIC If you've experienced a Motown withdrawal over winter break, never fear! Ann Arbor Soul Club is back in its usual first-Friday-of- the-month time slot at the Blind Pig. This week, patrons will be treated to tunes spun by DJs Robert Wells and Brad Hales. Come groove to the legends and bask in the sheer coolness of vinyl LPs. Doors open at 9:30 with a cover charge of $5, and $8 for those under 21. COUNTLESS MEDIA OFFERINGS OF THE PA YEAR SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO 0 @0 0 0 * 0 0 0 0 000 0 0 0 0 0@ 0 00 00 0 0 0 0 0 ST CELEBRATE O e The Center for Japa- nese Studies's sixth annual Japanese New * Year celebration, Mochitsuki, will be in * full swing Saturday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The festivities will * * * * include making and taste-testing mochi; performances with the Aaikodrumand..ko * and more crafty fare like origami, manga- initely not wear- drawing and Japanese ring their signa- calligraphy. The whole als haven't been shebang is free, so cel- ental pop record ebrate two New Years s the ears with- for the price of one. 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 000 e 0 0 0 0. 04 What's that, you say? Our pick for the best film of 2009 is flawed? Why yes, it is. "Inglourious Basterds" is as flawed as those cheeky misspellings in the title. It's as flawed as Brad Pitt's Italian. And it's as flawed as the historical accuracy of that final whiz-bang, shoot-em-up climax that plays out like John Wayne's wet dream. But the greater flaw would be our inability to recognize Quentin Taran- tino's absurd, gleeful propaganda riff for the work of sheer filmmaking bravado that it is. And that, my friends, is a bingo. -ANDREW LAPIN The Animal Collective gang may have grown up, but they're def ing ties. While Merriweather finds the indie iconoclasts tempe ture banshee wails and zero-gravity space jams, these Animz neutered. The album is an irrefutable crackerjack, an experim of startling maturity and immediacy that consistently shimmie out ever spilling over into the noodly realm of overindulgenc polyrhythms and mind-dripping textures grace wedding-cake walking the fine line between airtight and twisty. Put simply, the decade's definitive electro-pop album (but to simply call would be utter sacrilege). It uncannily melds the warmthc mouth sunshine pop with the coldness of electronic cyborg with any pop masterpiece, the melodies are guaranteed to in the warm kind, of course. It looked stupid. It looked obvious. It was going to flop. Or so we thought. With "Avatar," James Cameron, the grandest showman in Hollywood, once again proved he can deliver a blockbuster of incomparable scale. Already one of film history's most remarkable aesthetic accomplish- ments, "Avatar" sends the audience light years away from Earth to the o planet of Pandora, where the local Na'vi people attempt to defend their 0 sacred homeland from invasive, mon- ey-grubbing humans. Maybe you've O seen "Avatar" ten times already; maybe you haven't seen it at all yet. 0 But you will see it. And when you do, you'll never forget the astounding 0 journey on which Cameron leads you. -NICK COSTON .0 e o e 00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ce. uoubme-neiix song structures, Merriweather is it "electro-pop" of melt-in-your- drones. And, as iduce shivers - -JOSH BAYER w - cm ML Grizzly Bear just Gets It. The band has one of today's most complete and attuned rhythm sections, two phenomenally gifted vocalists in Ed Droste and Dan Rossen - the latter also being a vastly inventive (and underrated) guitar- ist - and, most importantly, the maturity to keep from collapsing under the immense sum of its parts. Veckatimest is a paradox, somehow displaying the scrupulous, detail-obsessed work that went into it while still seeming trans- parently effortless. The shipwrecked beauty of "Dory" and "Ready, Able," the layered intensity of "Fine For Now" and "I Live With You" and the pop mastery of "Two Weeks" all sound calculated down to the core, yet remain unbridledly emotional and human. But Veckatimest's greatest gift is something that, in a culture of irony and detachment, is becoming a rare and under-appreciated commodity: simply, an occasion to feel. -JEFF SANFORD While artsy contemporaries Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear obscured their so-called masterpieces behind dense clouds of reverb and harmony, Dirty Pro- jectors had no shame in flaunting the naked, waif-like sexiness of its songs on Bitte Orco. Delicate, sensitive, feisty and cerebral, the record is a career achieve- ment from notoriously eclectic frontman David Longstreth, who finally decided to zero in on songwriting and style. Though the album's pacing benefits from a few song-length detours into acoustica, the temperature peaks with "Stillness is the Move," a featherweight R&B titan on which singer Amber Coffman unapolo- getically gets her falsetto rocks off. -DAVE WATNICK FILM "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," opening Friday at the State, may always be known as the final per- formance of the late, talented Heath Ledger. But it's also a return to form for director Terry Gilliam ("Bra- zil"), whose dazzling production design, fan- tastical characters and inventive narratives make him of one of our generation's most gifted filmmakers. Plus, it has Tom Waits as the Devil - just the icing on the cake. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A director's prowess in filmmaking is gauged, among many other criteria, by what he can do with the resources he's given. "District 9" director Neill Blom- kamp made his $30-million budget look like a $100-million one. The result is one of the most hauntingly beautiful movies of the year, melding South African apartheid allegory with stunning visual effects and quirky humor. By seamlessly combining documentary-style footage with spectacular CGI, "District 9" deliv- ers an out-of-this-world story that hits close to home. By the way, this movie is for humans only. -HANS YADAV 0 0 0 ;; 0 0 See BEST FILMS '09, Page 3B 0 0 0 0 .00 0 00 0 SEE INSIDE: DESIGN BY ANNA LEIN-ZIELINSKI PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE ARTISTS 000 0 00 0 0 0 0. 000 See BEST ALBUMS'09, Page 4B 0 0 0 00 0 CONCERT Need some Appa- lachian stomp to brighten your week- end? Mountain Heart, a soulful sextet of virtuosic musicians, will be showcasing its amped-up bluegrass tunes Friday at The Ark. The storied Ann Arbor venue is cel- ebrating its 45th year of bringing famous and not-so-famous acts to our humble little college town. Starts at 8 p.m. and tickets are $25. 0 0 0 0 0 000 . TELEVISION: We're absolutely gleeful to present this sunny set of selections. * VIDEO GAMES: We have risen to our call of duty to present you this list. . YOUTUBE VIDEOS: Is this real life? Yes, but it's also a list of YouTube videos. 0 0 0 0 0 0 000 e . PERFORMANCES: From rude to nude, 2009 took the stage. . SONGS: Because an ahlbum without songs is just a frisbee. 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 000 0e 0 0 00 0 0