The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Tuesday, February 23, 2010 - 5 The auditory as art "Why yes, am a natural blonde." Embracing Almod6var's away line, it feels as if Almodovar just couldn't help himself as the director fragmented film of a film about a director. There is brilliant directorial work in there, but stuffs in the drama Almodovar makes sure we don't miss any of it. By BEN VERDI That said, Penelope Cruz ("Volv- For the Daily er") absolutely shines. She plays a struggling secretary for whom we The overwhelming dramatic initially feel very sympathetic but silence of "Broken Embraces" makes over time we grow to desire, however it feel more like a ominous loving her may seem. By the play than a film, * end we're as haunted by the memory but it would work of her glowing face as the film's main as a five-piece Broken male character, Mateo Blanco, who soap opera if it signs his name "Harry Caine" on his had cheesier light- screenplays. ing. While Pedro At the In a sense, we make the same deci- Almoddvar's films Michigan sions that characters in the story ("Volver," "Bad So make when it comes to our ability to Education") always control our feelings for her: We let her feel geared toward get away with more than we probably an audience of filmmakers, "Broken should, but not because we (the film's Embraces" takes its director's habit a other characters included) are weak. bin too far. There's something about the way Much like the arrogant director/ she kisses us through the screen that writer around whom the plot is based, carries the story and the entire film, Almoddvar appears to have made this despite her noted .absence for more movie for himself. While many enjoy than half of it. work engineered by a heavy-handed Outside of Cruz's pure power, the man at the helm, the director's grip film is paced very well. It refuses to on the story feels slightly more con- rush, despite a somewhat predictable stricting foour senses than necessary. ending, and makes sure it leaves no When a minor character references stone unturned. And there are quite Fellini's "8 1/a" in, a simple, throw- a few stones. The only area where Cruz the film seems to drag occurs rough- ly two thirds of the way through. This single lull is an example of how the film is a victim of its own effec- tive pacing, because - up until this point - we have been trained to expect scenes from the past to last only so long before we're thrust back into the murky present. Yet this last flashback takes 30 minutes because it bridges the gap between past and present. It makes sense, and perhaps it's not meant to be anticipated, but it's almost as unsettling as it is potent. The film defies quick classification because of the director's ambition. This is not to say that films must fit into a formulaic mold to be assessed value within a certain genre. But the narrative awkwardly bounces between that of a story-told-out-of- order like "Memento" to a complex love-triangle to a confession about the relationships between fathers and sons to a near satire of actors and the film industry itself to the story of how a blind man went blind. If there were less, it would all mean more. It's as if Pedro Almoddvar - with the creation of this film - wants his name synonymous with its own genre, a genre that, due to his unquestionable talent and ambition, he wants packed full of every dra- matic tension known to man. On the audio track there is a robotic voice, emotionless, with odd, synthetic turns of phrase that make statements like "My mother has died" into mechani- cal articula- tions rather than emotive accounts. In the clip, the a voice makes d pointed state- ments that, if read, should evoke human WHITNEY v emotion, POW but in audio something is lost in tran'slation: "Tyranny is nothing new," the voice chimes, "It's going to jump all over your head and cock-a-doodle-doo." The odd, Sylvia-Plath-like rhymes are reminiscent of her poem "Daddy." The voice, how- ever, intones at the wrong vow- els, extending the "ew" in "new" into a strange sloping sound, high to low, sounding closer to a steam whistle than a voice. The work is titled "Repugnant Josephsons Chocolate" by Cecil Touchon, published on Text- sound.org, an online audio pub- lication. Without the auditory element of the work, one would lose the disturbing mechanical quality of lines like "Looking at a picture of a dead 6-year-old" and "children who blow themselves up." The sound performance adds crucial elements to this piece that are not necessarily palpable in reading the words themselves without the element of performance inherent in it. The audio recording is a somewhat overlooked medium in which to work and perform art. Many of these recorded pieces are presented to the public in audio installations in galleries and museums, which, while being a great venue for this kind of art, has a limited audience based on museum space and location. The audio works, how- ever, have recently found more accessible outlets in online audio publications, such as Textsound. org, an online journal established by at-some-point-Ann-Arbor- based people including Anya Cobbler, Adam Fagin, Anna Vitale'ind Laura Wetherington. Of the group, Anya and Laura are both poets who graduated from the University's MFA program. I have had the privilege of working with Textsound, help- ing to turn the cogs in a local sound-based art journal among the ranks of other online jour- nals that have found something important in the value of per- formed works of art in digital media. Textsound has produced eight issues of sound works and published pieces by Pulitzer Prize finalist Alice Notley as well as University Professor and sound poet Thylias Moss. The process of gathering the pieces for publication is a curato- rial process, as mentioned on the "About Us" for Issue 5, where the online listening spaces in Textsound function similarly to a museum space in how they preserves these works while pro- viding user accessibility to them. Here the definition of "exhibition space" is stretched to incorporate virtual spaces, where accessibil- ity to the works of art is of pri- mary importance. This all brings into question what an "exhibit space" is and how it functions as more and more works of art become digitized and available for viewing or listening online. In blurring the line between online exhibit spaces and physi- cal exhibit spaces, publications like Textsound also blur and meld the link between poetry and sound and performance art. The primary point of interest is not necessarily the words or sounds each by themselves, but the way, when put together, both complement one another. For example, Professor Thy- lias Moss's piece, "EnterRupted- Sums" in Issue 2 is presented in two versions. The first is a spo- ken version with heavy reverb and a droning, zombie-like cadence as the artist performs the lines aloud: "Let one offend /This one defend." The second version, however, begins with an energetic percussive beat and catchy synthesizer notes. When the voice enters the recording, there is a more singsong perfor- mance of the lines and a jazzy refrain of "A line forms" sung behind them. The words themselves have not changed between the two recordings, but the experience arid effect of the words change with the manner in which they are performed - the spoken version is almost chant-like, imbuing a sense of foreboding and isolation into the lines. The music-accompanied version, however, instills the piece with a kind of rhythmic, pulsing undertone, making the words seem lighthearted in how the music tones predominantly tie the piece together. The idea of performance affecting how we experience words brings to mind theater and how the way words are intoned and presented can change how we experience certain lines themselves - the sentence "Where were you" can become a question with a rise in tone to the end of the phrase; accusatory with emphasis on "were" and no tonal change. Many of these performance Collapsing spatial barriers with aural art. pieces play with sound and how it affects the way we perceive and understand language itself And similarly, audio journals like Textsound affect the way we perceive exhibition space and how art should or could be presented to the public. Publica- tions such as these use technol- ogy to play with and deconstruct the lines we see drawn between "separate" genres and spaces - virtual space versus physical space as well as written word versus performance art. Digital spaces in particular allow us to re-think definitions of what something is and how this defini- tion can be stretched to better fit the accessibility of the Internet and the collaborative nature of digital sound. As we investigate the meaning digital mediums can imbue works of art and works of poetry, we can see how jour- nals like Textsound are moving forward, utilizing contemporary mediums as jumping points for reinvestigating traditionally ana- log forms of expression. Pow is the guest editor for Textsound.org. E-mail her at poww@umich.edu. '16 and Pregnant' returns with even worse parenting A drunken delight By CHRISTINA ANGER DailyArts Writer "If you don't shut up, I'll just leave and you'll never see me again." Most likely, this sentence conjures up fond memories of those jaded teenage years when contemptu- ous threats to par- 16 and ents who just didn't understand were Pregnant another part of Tuesdays daily life. But this is MTV, so there must be some additional MTV element of drama for any otherwise relatable experi- ence. And this time, the quote came out of the mouth of a teen mom. Back for its second season, because apparently the first didn't scare . enough teens into celibacy, "16 and Pregnant' sums up nine months of confusion, ill-preparedness and demands for paternity tests in each hour-long episode. The show's first season centered around strong teen- aged girls who decided to birth their babies as the whole world watched them grow, both physically and as more mature mothers. Admittedly, season one was ... cute. Sure, teenaged pregnancy is hard - but those babies! And if some girl on MTV can do it, and probably get a nice lump of cash, so can any whats-her- name in Anywhere, USA. This time around, it's no longer sufficient just to be pregnant, but one must also exhibit the qualities of a horrible mother. Jenelle is the show's bait for its sec- ond season. She seemed OK at first, a bit heavy on the attitude, but that's ascribable to hormones. That is until Jace comes along, stuck in daycare while Jenelle returns to high school. He's watched by his grandma when That's gonna be one sassy baby. Jenelle needs to "get out." Sympathy and concern for Jenelle's baby are what make this season's pre- miere worth watching. More often than not, Jace is referred to as "it," and well into his first few months, his mother still seems to be toying with the idea of actually raisinghim. When babies are better off with grandma. If this entire season follows the low motherly bar set by Jenelle, MTV's show is going to make a few state- ments distinct from its first season. Instead of displaying the hardships of the teen mom, season two seems to focus on how much it would suck to be the baby - providing a differ- ent point of view to deter teen moms from thinking they can handle the pressure. And Jenelle is a prime example of how much a teen mom loses, like, you know, partying with friends, "me time" and going to the beach. Jenelle prides herself on how she takes care of herself, while everyone else is only noticing how she doesn't take care of her baby. When her mom reminds her to fill a few bottles, she whines, "Are you serious?" While the season premiere is a bit difficult to watch, and even more annoying to listen to courtesy of Jen- elle's constant whining (to be noted, more than her baby), it provides a more realistic look into how teen pregnancy isn't just learning to work life around a baby. It isn't just being able to tell mom before the bump comes or making the baby daddy put a ring on -it. It's living at home with mom and dad and it means no more being a kid. Moms from last season pulled up their britches, stuck out their bellies and took the role of mom head-on. Jenelle threatens to run away and leave her baby with grandma. But honestly, if the camera portrays her mothering accurately, that may not be the worst thing. Hopefully teens will get the message, or their tacky threats might not mean much. And what's a teen without a contemptu- ous mouth? ByARIELLE SPECINER For the Daily You'll want to buy out a vin- tage boutique and raid a liquor store after hearing Joan- na Newsom's new three- Joanna disc album Have One On Newsom Me. The alco- Have One hol-infused, On Me highly antici- DragCity pated record goes nicely with a flapper dress, a feather in the hair and lounging on a velvet couch with a bottle of scotch. It has been four years since Newsom's last album, 2006's Ys, and Have One assures lis- teners that it was worth the wait. Comprised of more than two hours of gorgeous vocals, chilling harp riffs and play- ful piano parts - all played by the California native - the sul- try and sweet songstress takes us to a twisted time of cabaret with bluesy vocals, jazz and liquor. Have One On Me opens with "Easy," a beautiful and bluesy six-minute song that sets the album's tone with jazz flute, horns, haunting harps and ori- ental staccato vocals. The standout on the record is the Dusty Springfield-inspired "Good Intentions Paving Com- pany. Newsom takes the lis- tener on a dragged-out night drive with a frustratedlover as she croons: "And the tilt of this strange nation / And the will to remain for the duration / Wav- ing the flag, feeling it drag." The song ends with a minute's worth of eloquently beautiful, locomotive harmonies and a horn solo, truly emphasizing the old-time cabaret sound. For all the jazzy accompa- niment, the strength of the album lies with Newsom's vocals. Although Newsom is an incredibly skilled harpist and Sr.,T v rv-i f T Feng Sh pianist the in like "B Newso melodi velvet' trainee she ret pitch t guisha u 12 par New operat bizarr' ment, tracks Good a disti. two t of flo soundi beauti ui fail. t, her voice shines above makes this album unique. strumentals. On tracks Though normally our atten- 3aby Birch" and "Esme," tion spans do not suffice for m displays upper-ranged a two-hour set of songs, the ic shrills through her album is sensibly split into y tone. Her voice sounds three discs, which allows the d and well rehearsed, but listeners to appreciate New- ains her quirky, piercing som's ingenuity. The three- *hat makes her so distin- disc setup works perfectly so ble. listeners can really recognize Newsom's genius by listening to each separately, thus making the album fully digestible. Newsom Nobody in the music world is quite like Joanna Newsnm: inleashes a Perhaps only she is able to three- write such a poetic album with LZZy, tdream-like harp chords and Stime warp. whimsical harmonies. Have t W ' One On Me shows that New- som has clearly graduated from the peculiar and perky tenden- nsom's buttery, almost cies of 2004's The Milk-Eyed ic voice is paired with a Mender and transformed into e but beautiful instru- a folksy, feathery-voiced song- the 21-stringed kora in stress. like "Autumn," "On A Although lengthy, it's truly a Day" and "Go Long" for pleasure to devote time to the nctly oriental sound. The graceful lyrics and poignant otally different sounds sounds of the album. Her craft wy vocals and eastern- and originality is so impressive ing hums melt together that she should know: The next fully, which is what one is on me, Joanna. DAILY ARTS REVOLUTION! ENLIST TODAY. E-mail join.artsyoumich.edu for information on applying.