8A -- Monday, March 7, 2011

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

8A - Monday, March 7, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom

ALBUM REVIEW
A dry desert romance

ByJULIASMITH-EPPSTEINER
Daily Arts Writer
Being a fan of exotic romance
in far-off deserts might be the
only driving reason to purchase
300Lovers.
DeVotchKa's
fifth studio
album takes a DeVotchKa
drastic depar-
ture from being 100 Lovers
"The Winner" ANTI-
(theme song
of "Little Miss
Sunshine" and energy commer-
cial score) and causes the band to
head toward a less sublimely epic
part of its 14-year career.
An internationally diverse
quartet born out of Denver,
DeVotchKa delivers a sound com-
monly labeled as "gypsy-punk"
or "indie-folk." Its interest in
being hip n' trendy is proven by
the scratchy black-and-white,
artificially antiqued cover art
of 100 Lovers. A man in a black
suit hovers inches above a can-
yon, while two umbrellas keep
him just above the sand of fail-
ure. The photograph presumably
was taken in the Arizona desert
where the band records all of its
albums.
"The Alley" and "All the Sand
In All the Sea," the two opening
tracks, have a cinematic sound-
scape of yearning and crescendo.
Lead singer Nick Urata's tenor
exaggerates the tracks' bewitch-
ingly rustic auras. This vivid
sound is driven from Urata's
experience in film composition.
His work on the recent film "I
Love You Phillip Morris," star-
ring Jim Carrey, has caused Ura-
ta's career to rise rapidly since it
was jumpstarted by the Grammy-
nominated soundtrack for "Little
Miss Sunshine" in 2006.
The pre-released single - a

strategically altered version of
the album title, "100 Other Lov-
ers" - is clearly the least risky
endeavor on the album. The
single is DeVotchKa's attempt
to appeal to the lowest common
denominator of the mass public
while remaining in its desert-
romance frame. The song is like
meeting someone and only being
able to say, "Well, he's nice" - it's
a wash of colorless chords and
monotonic murmurs from Urata.
Bursting with dysfunctional
love and syncopated handclaps
is "The Common Good." The
track begins with a Spanish bull-
fighting sound and transfers into
luxurious rock interwoven with
violin and exotically twisted lyr-
ics like, "Go ahead and chew me
up and spit me out."
100 Lovers throws its listen-
ers two under-60-second inter-
ludes that convincingly call to
mind an eerie, back-alley setting.
The entire middle portion of the
album is somewhat of a headache
- "The Man From San Sebastian"
and "Bad Luck Heels" will make
the listener drop his orher capote
cape and get out of the desert
quick.
"Exhaustible" lifts the album

above the canyon dirt, a musi-
cal foil to its title. The track is
complete with whistles, tambou-
rine, beautifully weighted vocals
and a beat that kicks to the core.
It depressingly contrasts with
"Ruthless" and the only thing
keeping "Exhaustible" from
drowning in its overemphasized
Mariachi and Bolero inspira-
tion is the seasoning of sexy steel
drums.
'100 Lovers' a
bit too much.
Wondering where the pinata
is to lighten the mood, the head-
ache-inducing fiesta continues
with the tings and dramatic ser-
enade of "Contrabanda." Succes-
sive to that fiesta, and leaving the
final touch on 100 Lovers, is the
droning-on "Sunshine" which
shines less than DeVotchKa must
have hoped for.
Not enough to sweep the
masses into your desert this
time, DeVotchKa. Not without
ibuprofen.

Director Miguel Arteta moved production of "Cedar Rapids" to Ann Arbor because of the Michigan film tax incentive.
Discussing'a pids'

Miguel Arteta talks
Ann Arbor-made
Midwest film
By MACKENZIE METER
DailyArts Writer
Hailing from San Juan, Puer-
to Rico, award-winning direc-
tor and four-time Sundance film
festival participant Miguel Arte-
ta has roots about as far from the
Midwest as possible. Nonethe-
less, attending his own screen-
ing in cuffed jeans with simple
black lace-up shoes, his button-
down untucked, Arteta seemed
as down-to-earth as the charac-
ters in his wholesome new com-
edy "Cedar Rapids."
Though rather far removed
from the state where the film
takes place, Iowa, "Cedar Rap-
ids" was shot almost exclu-
sively in Ann Arbor's Clarion
Hotel. The hotel was chosen for
its unique structure, which
features a centralized, indoor
swimming pool. Further filming
took place at a ramshackle white
house on the outskirts of town,
which was demolished the day
after shooting wrapped up.
Representing an entirely dif-
ferent part of the country while
on location somewhere else the-
oretically poses some problems
from a production standpoint.
However, according to Arteta, it
was surprisingly simple to recre-

ate Iowa amid Ann Arbor's tree-
lined landscape.
"Fortunately the film is about
a convention ... very indoors,"
Arteta said in a recent interview
with The Michigan Daily. "And
both places (Cedar Rapids and
Ann Arbor) are cold! It was jus-
tifiable that we would be inside a
lot of the time."
"Cedar Rapids" was origi-
nally slated to be shot in the city
of the same name, but early on
in the production, a total col-
lapse of the Iowa film tax credit
incentive resulted in a dearth of
funds with which to produce the
film and a waste of eight weeks
of preparatory work. Fearful of
production falling far behind
and attracted by the 42-percent
tax rebate offered by Ann Arbor,
production was relocated - with
only four weeks of prep work
allowed. Though the production
team rushed to complete the
preparations, by a stroke of luck
four weeks was plenty of time,
according to Arteta.
This abrupt change was
taken in stride by the director,
who regarded the shift as just
another difficulty to overcome,
displaying a resiliant trait evi-
dent throughout the events
in Artera's life. Despite being
expelled from high school in
Costa Rica, he moved to Boston
to complete his schooling and
subsequently made his way to
Harvard, where he met and fell
in love with filmmaking, before

eventually leaving for Wesley-
an. After graduating from that
institution, he earned a Student
Academy Award for his film
"Every Day is a Beautiful Day."
He then attended the American
Film Institute, where he earned
his MFA in 1993.
Two years in the making,
"Cedar Rapids" represents a
mishmash of Midwestern val-
ues, hypocrisy and Arteta's own
life philosophy. He is a man who
believes in what the Midwest
stands for, having fun with it but
"never making fun" of it, he said,
and defending it when necessary.
For example, Arteta pointed out
that Iowa accepts gay marriage
and voted to elect President
Barack Obamayet still bears the
brunt of jokes about Midwestern
conventionalism from so-called
"liberal" states like California.
Arteta's love and respect for the
oft-ridiculed Midwest is evident
in his view of the film and the
script as a whole.
"What affected me about the
script is that it told the story of
how you can be kind but not be a
chump," Arteta said. "That's the
kind of people I'm looking for in
my life and that's what I'm aim-
ing for myself."
Thanks to Miguel Arteta and
his philosophy, perhaps "Cedar
Rapids" will bring some glory
and respect back to the Mid-
western slice of the country that
we call home, while sending a
positive message in the process.

So indie it gives you a headache.

m of

Unierity ofMicligan

VIDEO GAME REVIEW
'Magicka' not quite spellbinding

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Most innovative
fhunitlerglu ate .xperience

By SHIN HIEFTJE
DailyArts Writer
Usually, fantasy-themed
video games feature a number
of different archetypes to play -
archers, mages,
brute force
warriors, etc.
"Magicka," a Magcka
$10 download-
able PC game, PC
strictly focuses Arrowhead
on the class
of the wizard
and the aspect of spell-casting.
While this might seem deriva-
tive and unoriginal as a concept,
the "Magicka" combat system
makes the game feel novel and
refreshing.
"Magicka" puts the player in
the role of a wizard and provides
different elements that the play-
er can combine to make spells.
These elements - relegated to
the left side of the QWERTY
keyboard - can be combined in
all sorts of ways. For example,
combining rock and fire cre-
ates a fireball. Combining rock,
freeze and shield will create a
half circle of rocks that sprout
up to shield the player and
freezes any enemy that comes in
contact with them. When going
off the beaten path, players will
often find "spell books" that
give information about more
advanced spells, like the ability
to create a blizzard or tempo-
rarily slow down time. Players

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;o find different staffs and Swedish but clearly isn't. The
s that augment various camera is pitted from an iso-
al properties, like becom- metric perspective, meaning
sistant to ice damage or the player has an overhead view
sing electricity damage. of his character and enemies on
le from a basic tutorial, the battlefield. The graphics and
very little guidance sound effects are cartoonish and
its about what elements not especially impressive, but
ombine into what, so they fit the tone and get the job
ame encourages experi- done for a $10 game.
tion and creativity to be "Magicka" is a fairly lengthy
sful. Discovering new game, consisting of 13 "chap-
ve spell combos against ters," or levels - each one taking
es is rewarding. Creativ- usually anywhere from 30 min-
equired in later stages of utes to over an hour, depending
as the difficulty ramps up on how difficult the situation is
as the levels progress. in each chapter. The play can get
parts seem almost impos- fairly monotonous at times how-
ntil figuring out a correct ever, as facing wave after wave
;y of spells to cast. The of goblins can get tiresome.
tells often require four or There is also an online co-op for
puts of elements at once, up to four players, which can be
ng quick reflexes are key a lot of fun and reduces the diffi-
ory as well. culty significantly. Unfortunate-
ly, connecting to other players
can be a finicky and unreliable
process. There's also an arena
mode to fight off multiple waves
creativity, of enemies, for those who want
an even greater challenge than
the single player campaign.
It can be tedious at times, and
y-wise, "Magicka" is a it would be nice for the game to
earted satire on the fan- give a little more guidance in
arrative. It's the standard combining spells due the rela-
of saving the world from tively difficult gameplay. But for
ut the game is aware of those who don't mind a chal- n1
he dialogue is tongue-in- lenge and are looking for some-
and funny in itself, but thing different in their game
y funny is how everyone playing experience, "Magicka"
in a ridiculous-sounding is a nice way to spend a Hamil-
n language that resembles ton.

What makes learning at U of M so special?
If you are an undergraduate student grab your video camera and tell us in 4 minutes or less
what you think is most innovative about undergraduate education at U of M,
and we'll award the three best storytellers with a
$200 cash prize.
Show us, don't tell us, about some method of teaching or creative approach to learning you
have experienced at the university. The more creative you are in telling us the story
the more likely you are to win.We'll post the best entries on a blog we're creating about
undergraduate education.
Entry deadline is: March 21st
Please post your videos to YouTube and send the link to: Professor Lewis
Morgenstern (Lmorgens@umich.edu) and include your name and contact
information. Remember you must be a currently enrolled undergraduate
student at U of M to enter.
Please obtain permission from subjects before filming.

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