Friday, February 4, 2011 - 5 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com PARODY PREVIEW A 'Folly' good time SUMMI PREVIEW Congress gets hoppin' Ross MBA students get wild for the B-School Follies By CASSIE BALFOUR DailyArts Writer "On a frosty, blustery day on the south end of central cam- pus ... a murder occurs," intoned Business graduate student Matt Harms, describing the ideal S AWO7 start to a Funny in preview Fol about his show. Tonight and Harms is tomorrow at $ p.m. one of the zany writ- Michigan Theater ers for the Tickets from$20 Business School Follies. And if his antics are any indication, the show is going to be a hoot. However, the comedy show is currently on Quadruple Secret Lockdown - Follies shorthand for, if you want to find out what the show is all about, you're going to have to see it yourself. . "Follies" refers to a once-a- year comedy show written, pro- duced and performed by the very Ross MBA candidates who in a few short years will be dictating our economy. Until then, they're happy just to make audiences laugh. This year's comedy show, titled "It's Always Funny in Fol- lydelphia," will be performed tonight and tomorrow at the Michigan Theater and will fea- ture live skits, singing and danc- ing, mixed in with some video clips. Since the humor is Ross- oriented, it could be said that the show is one big inside joke. "The skits make fun of profes- sors who have certain quirks, and just the MBA style of life, how we all still act like under- graduates," said assistant direc- tor and Business graduate studen "Kiistin Girouard.-"We make fun of how the guys love Sundergrads, we just make fun of the daily things in life that we talk about when we're hanging out in the Winter Garden." Although the jokes may be geared toward Ross students, the writers don't want to dis- courage undergraduates or other members of the campus commu- nity from coming to the show. In fact, the writing staff has a per- sonal request: that undergradu- ates attend. Harms and Business graduate student Reid Tatoris, the head writer, went on to explain how luring unsuspecting undergradu- ate girls to the show would bene- By SHARON JACOBS ManagingArts Editor There's no modern musical genre with the same socially divisive power as hip hop. Par- ents bemoan Lil' Wayne 7th Annual and Chris Brown for an Midwest Hip inappropri- Hop Congress ate message Sunmit or behavior and teenagers Tonight and rebel in turn tomorrow and buy their albums. Col- The Michigan lege-aged par- Union and League tiers bounce Free to the Black Eyed Peas as their hipster coun- terparts smirk. But organizers of the 7th Annual Midwest Hip Hop Congress Summit, which will take place this weekend at the Michigan Union and League, seek to counteract the negative and contradictory associations so common to hip-hop music and culture. "The Hip Hop Summit is designed to promote a diverse, inclusive space on campus," said Amer Ahmed, associate director of the Office of Multi-Ethnic Stu- dent Affairs (MESA) in an inter- view with the Daily. "We know that there's all sorts of problemat- ic representations and distortions of hip-hop culture in our media. So how do we use people's inter- ests in hip hop as a way to channel them into spaces ... more instruc- tive and more educational?" The solution found by the summit organizers is to provide seminars and concerts by artists who focus on the positive aspects of hip hop, using the medium as a vehicle for social justice and activism. Headlining this year's summit is Freeway, a Philadel- phia-based rapper who left the drug-dealing world for a career with Jay-Z's Roc-a-Fella label in the early'00s. "(Freeway is) a well known artist, and we feel like he's a name that attracts a lot of people without any significant negative stereotypes associated," Ahmed said. "At the same time, we real- ly do try to focus on a lot of the other artists, beyond just the headliner." Other artists who will per- form this weekend include the ReMINDers - a husband-and- wife hip-hop and soul duo - Detroit rapper Invincible and Magestik Legend - a local artist who has played alongside rap leg- ends from De La Soul to Ludacris. The seminars held during the summit are attended by the art- ists in addition to community activists and any member of the public who's interested. Ahmed said it's not just students who participate. "It's mixed ... I would say more than half the attendees are stu- dents from the University, but we also have young people," Ahmed said. One of Ahmed's goals in orga- nizing this year's summit - a goal that's shared by collaborat- ing youth groups like the Neutral Zone and the GEAR UP program - is to involve high school stu- dents, giving them a constructive outlet for their musical interests and the simple opportunity to engage with their college peers. "It's good for them to be around college students, and it's good for college students to be around high school students, because a lot of times college stu- dents ... get disconnected from that reality," Ahmed said. "They don't necessarily realize how great of mentors they can be just by being college students on a col- lege campus." The summit's seminars, which include workshops on each of the four pillars of hip hop - DJ-ing, MC-ing, graffiti and breakdance - delve into a culture whose pop- ular perception is often reduced to drug references and violent undertones. Ahmed emphasized that hip-hop expression is more vibrant than most realize - par- ticularly in Ann Arbor. Changing perceptions about hip hop. "(Our perception of hip hop is) probably more diverse than it is in other places because of the diversity of our community and the different kinds of experienc- es and backgrounds people come from," Ahmed said. "There's a student organization called Hip Hop Academy that teaches the different elements of hip hop; a lot of those students are Korean- American ... (so) they brought Korean breakdancers out in October." Though the University's out- lets for the hip hop-inclined are both various and varied, it remains a misunderstood move- ment by a large part of the popu- lation. By showing an alternate, more constructive side to the cul- ture, the Hip Hop Summit hopes to change minds. ERIN KIRKLAND/Daily In this economy, even Ross MBA students need a diverse skill set. fit the Daily and campus at large. It's easy to see where the Fol- lies cull their material from. Although undergraduates aren't part of the show, more than half of both MBA classes are involved in some aspect of the Follies. This bonds the rela- tively small MBA community together even more, drawing in more Follie wannabes every year. "We're a relatively small com- munity on a really big college campus ... everyone is support- ive and they cheer each other on," said director and Business school graduate student Paul Bockwoldt. "A lot of the faculty members get involved with the show; this year we have about twelve staff members. Anyone who wants to be part of the show can be part of the show." Although some may be surprised that. these but- toned-up "Yodng Urban rofes- sionals" would have the time or the pizazz to put on a comedy show, many MBA students use it as a creative outlet and as a way to poke fun at what Bockwoldt called "the daily monotony of Business school." "It's a lot different from doing spreadsheets and reading the Wall Street Journal," he added. Although producer and Busi- ness School graduate student Laura Stancik says that "no one should quit their day jobs" in the show's cast because very few members actually come from a theatrical background, it's apparent that all it takes to make the comedy show enjoyable is a lot of dedication. "You just have to be able to make a fool out of yourself," Gir- ouad said. "A lot of singers have a back- ground, but a lot of Business School kids don't come from a theatrical background ... weird,. right?" Girouard said. "Some people come in during auditions, and you'll ask them if they can sing and they'll say, 'Yeah, badly.' So if you see the skits, people just go crazy with it, and it's hilari- ous because the lack of talent is part of why it makes it so funny. People use the show as a way to break out of their shells." Some of the participants agree that the arts and business aren't all that mutually exclusive after all. "You think that business is straight-laced, and this is more arts- and creative-based, but I think increasingly in business, there is that level ofs creativity that people know they need to have," Girouard said. "And this is a way to sort of get at that cre- ativity and bring it out." Although they only have a month and a half to rehearse and pull the show together, everyone is in jovial spirits. And the pro- cess has had it's fair share of - ahem - follies. "The end of the third night ... we were exhausted after all of the auditions," Stancik said. "We didn't realize the camera was still rolling and we started dancing and singing ourselves, but then we saw the red light was still on. It was a great Follies moment." COURTESYOF 20THCENTURYFOX "You have beautiful eyes." Dusk settles on'Narnia' CONCERT PREVIEW n Unzipping the hood on Allen By ARIELLE SPECINER DailyArts Writer "I hope to be annoyingly in- your-face all year," said Hoodie Allen, a young Long Island-based hip hop new- comer, in a recent inter- HoodieAllen view with the Tonight at Daily. 9p Big things are happen- Club Vintage ing in 2011 for Ticket from $15 Hoodie Allen (not to be confused or associ- ated with the silver screen legend Woody), who started off with his highly acclaimed mixtape debut, The Pep Rally, in late 2010. The new year is a busy one for Hood- ie, with a new music video and album planned to come out, in addition to his first tour - which includes a stop tonight at Ann Arbor's Vintage. "There's no room for chilling out," Allen said. "I try to keep myself very busy. Every day I'm wiriting, every day I'm mixing new stuff; every day I'm meeting new people, collaborating and producing new videos and music. 2011 should be very fun and very busy." Allen has been producing and writing his own music for the past 10 years. He cites his biggest influences as BlackStar, OutKast, De La hop act into hi: "The inspire directl' whethe ing it. whethe Diamoi just the I'm kic the mu them it Sam Rally, a tracks stopsa like th playing Angele L raI Vi Hoo tonight hip-ho; based i Hoodie brough ft Soul and other '90s hip- Only Management, a University ts, which he incorporates student-founded management s own style. and production company. music that I like is what "I'm just excited to meet all of s me," Allen said. "I may the people who helped make the y put it into my music, concert happen, to meet fans, to r by sampling or referenc- make new fans by performing," So a lot of the influences, Allen said. er it be Marina and the Ann Arbor is the perfect stop nds or Yeasayer, these are for Allen because most of his e artists that I enjoy when audience is in the college-aged king back and listening to bracket. isic. So I've incorporated "I've been getting a lot of great nto what I do." reactions from the college scene," pling is a big part of Pep he said. "And obviously the atten- nd Allen plans to test the tion is on blogs, which college out on tour. Most of his kids read, so it's a natural fit." are at college campuses, Though Hoodie is not signed e University, but he's also on to a major record label and is in major cities like Los currently managed by a smaller s. team, he is grateful for the power of the internet and feels that blogs and social media are an Ilad hsmu essential part of the promotion of ong .~la.c1LI his music. per Hoodie Hoodiedis at the cusp of his career and is already being rec- 'ears up for ognized by a growing group of fans all around - his music fills ntage show. college dorm halls and teens' cars. But he is still humbled by the fact that people even know his lyrics. die will be joined onstage "I think every time I see some- by ZAK!, a New York one in the crowd just mouthing p artist, and Ann Arbor- back word-to-word every single ndie-pop group The Hop. song, to me (it) is always going and the other acts were to make me feel like it's a special t to Ann Arbor by Invite experience," Allen said. By IMRAN SYED Daily Arts Writer What do you do when your mildly interesting book-series-to- film adaptation jumps the shark after the first movie, and you still have six more The Chronicles books to go? Certainly of Nania: that was the Voyage of the challenge faced by Dawn Treader the produc- At Quaity16 ers of "The Chronicles 20th Century Fox of Narnia" films, and you have to admire their determination. Even though Walt Disney Pictures, the origi- nal production studio, bowed out after the second film, 20th Cen- tury Fox jumped aboard, and the series has pressed on. One miscal- culated production after another, they have poured in hundreds of millions of dollars to create fan- tastic worlds for films that are so cartoonish and laughable thatyou almost forget they're based on one of the most celebrated works of children's literature ever written. Admittedly, the allegory underlying C.S. Lewis's "Narnia" novels is unsubtle and corny, but there is a certain majestic charm in the characters he created espe- cially for younger readers. None of that translates to film any lon- ger: The latest film in the series, "The V er" is a petent disaste ally sta with "T Wardro Two Edmun story s in the Previou Narnia by Li Edmun Lucy (G in the their s Poulter indisti pose. T encounl talking a not-s from a sent ba next st Doi H t Busi And n vision. where. It is oyage of the Dawn Tread- was very opposed to his stories an almost vulgarly incom- ever being translated to live- production - a thud of action cinema. He was on to r for a franchise that actu- something: There's only so much arted out reasonably well you can do to make half-human The Lion the Witch and the fawns, talking rats and bison or a obe"'in 2005. Jesus-lion work in a conventional of the Pevensie children, Hollywood blockbuster. And yet, id and Lucy, return in a that's no excuse for the absolute et on the decks of a ship atrocity that is "Dawn Treader": fantasy world of Narnia. This material can be handled usly anointed rulers of more competently on film, as well by the great Aslan (voiced we know from the first movie in am Neeson, "Taken"), the series. id (Skandar Keynes) and Helmed by Andrew Adamson, Georgie Henley) are joined "Wardrobe" worked as a fasci- ir return to Narnia by nating period piece - if one felt illy cousin Eustace (Will inclined to give it some thought ), a bitchy British boy of - rich with the air and attitude of nct intention and pur- wartime England. Given that the Together, they once again first film put the silly fawns and ter magical people and talking badgers in their proper animals before learning roles in this children's fairytale o-subtly Christian lesson - maintaining a hint of the real * booming lion and being world into which the story was ack home to wait for the born - it worked on several lev- ory. els and didn't need to be defend- ed with defeatist arguments like, "Calm down, it's just a kid's n't drop your moThere is no such introspec- tion or effort in "Dawn Treader." am iltons on There's just a ship, random spec- 'his m ovie ters of white mythology ("Lord Such-and-such-ian" - always an old white man with a ridiculous beard), annoying animals and ness as usual in Narnia. idiotic caricatures of anything ot a speck of cinematic that may actually exist in the real or daring to be found any- world. And we still have four more said that Lewis himself films to go! Excited yet?