The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Tuesday, March 8, 2011 - 7 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, March 8,2011 -7 Hearing the inner scream Lavigne's' Lullaby' T here'a a moment in Terry Zwigoff's 1994 documen- tary,"Crumb," when the subject, legendary comic artist Robert Crumb, pulls an old 78 from his shelf and narrates: "When I listen to old music, that's one of the few times I actu- ally have a kind of a love for human- ity. You hear JOE the best part DIMUZIO of the soul of the common people - their way of express- ing their connection to eternity or whatever you wanna call it. Modern music doesn't have that calamitous loss that people can't express themselves that way anymore, you know" And when I see him lean back against the wall, eyes open, lis- tening to Geeshie Wiley's "Last Kind Word Blues," I believe him. I believe for a moment that we've lost it. We really missed the point, dropped the ball. Some "calamitous loss" has been, well, lost. Later in the film, Crumb roams the Haight neighborhood, sketching locals both real and imaginary - a man meditating outside a corner store, a drunk passed out on the toilet, beef heads with Adidas logos embla- zoned on their chests. He draws portraits of commodified doom. In his sketches, yuppies chat, "Gosh isn't it a beautiful day?" and headphones plaster every ear. In one, chunky twenty- somethings talk while a man hangs, crucified. The title? "Hey, I'm dyingup here." Walking down the street with his brother, Crumb says, "People can't wait to have the money to getthe a beaut of sarc Ove fixated scream ing of t Whitel Samue play, if it so, is machir linked woman experi( stores peratel higher ir hands on this stuff. It's - can be found in just about tiful world," with no hint anything. asm. Crumb's unapologetic with his opinions, which is part of *** what makes him so endearing. But his take on music is practi- r the last month I've been cally rockist; his school favors on the idea of the "inner the passion, the reality, authen- a," prompted by a view- ticity. Also, his narration tips at :he British actress Billie the basis of early communica- aw's 1973 performance of tions studies - that we have 1 Beckett's "Not I." The effectively lost our culture, that it's appropriate to call everything we speak, "like" and a lengthy, one-person find comfort in are ideas that ne gun stream of phrases have been commodified and spit- loosely by the concept of a shined before we were finished n suffering some traumatic incubating. The words I write ence. She recalls grocery are bought and sold for cheaper and deadbeat parents, des- meanings. y pleading to some silent But who am I to deny the power. In the onslaught inner scream in Waka Flocka? "Born This Way"? Debussy's Dieu qu'il la fait bon regarder? I h D u s find "calamitous loss" in songs hen Debussy so mechanical and corporate and W aka Crumb would spit on me. Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" is just Ocka collide as calamitous as U2's "Pride (In the Name of Love)." Who am I to render the shivers down your spine are any less worthwhile ds and spit, the perfor- than mine? If our emotions can reaches a hypnotic sort of be commodified, then music can a, abstract but lucid. The be too. But that music is just as itself, without definition, viable as Crumb's beloved 78s, it ses a furious, impression- is the state of our common soul, lamity. it is the essence of modern pop. Fl Avril's latest waxes nostalgic but lacks the emo touch By CHLOE STACHOWIAK Daily Arts Writer Something magical happened in 2002 - something with the power to change mainstream music forever. It was a time * characterized by bleach-blond AvdlILave hair, scantily clad women and Goodbye provocative lyr- Lullaby ics, as Christina Aguilera and RCA Britney Spears ruled the charts with singles like "Dirrty" and "I'm a Slave 4 U." Nothing was too over-the-top or erotic for the pop scene, a pop scene with leading artists who wore their sexual appetites as proudly as their leather pants. That is, until Avril Lavigne's arrival. With her messy hair, unconventional eye makeup and too-cool-for-school attitude, she ignited radio culture with the desire to be different. Her album Let Go, drenched in guitar riffs and angst, drew in 13-year-olds everywhere to the mystical alter- native America. We wanted to be sk8er bois and date rock stars in lieu of dancing ballet. We wanted to wear men's ties in our belt loops. We even felt a sense of superior- ity when we didn't hang out with the popular kids at lunch - and if any of our friends did, we were entitled to label them "sellouts." Avril Lavigne was our anti-estab- lishment Barbie, making "uncool" the new "cool" in a nation that once drooled over mini-skirts and platforms. Now, nine years after she began her campaign against "preppy clothes" and social conventions, the artist is trading in her baggy jeans for a style more typical of pop. Her newest album, Goodbye Lullaby, packs enough romance, sentiments and corny lyrics to nourish a Taylor Swift song - a far cry from the pop-punk prin- cess image she tried to carve for herself in the past. With sugary-sweet tracks like "I Love You," it's hard to believe the artist behind Goodbye Lullaby once encouraged us to wear Chuck Taylors and clothing embossed with chains. The song, like most of the album, moves slowly and tenderly with acoustic guitar and soft vocals. It's a warm, personal ballad and is complete with equal- ly gooey lyrics: She includes fluffy "La la la's," a list of the reasons she loves her boyfriend and a four- minute plea for him to always be next to her. Though the poppy romance style in "I Love You" is atypical of Lavigne, each corny line sounds genuine. Even the revoltingly affectionate "reason I love you is you" refrain is convinc- ing - impressive from an artist once known for teaming up with Missy Elliot and chasing after another girl's boyfriend. That's not to say that Goodbye Lullaby doesn't contain traces of Avril's former defiant side. Her attempts to hang onto her past of wor mance hysteri soundi express istic ca COURTESY OF RCA image are clear in songs like "Smile," which bounces with per- cussion and a faster pace. Even with its spunky sound, however, the track's tough-girl attitude feels forced and feeble.The"edgy" vibe is immediately offset by the song's generic lyrics, featuring cringe-worthy lines like "You know that I'm a crazy bitch" and "I do what I want when I feel like it." The track just doesn't sound believable or natural on the album - especially when surrounded by songs with titles like "Darlin" and "Wish You Were Here." Preteens of this decade may need tolook to'violentvideogames and R-rated movies for their serv- ing of nonconformity, because Goodbye Lullaby doesn't deliver the same punch as past Avril Lavigne work. Instead, the album reveals a sentimental side of the' artist - one that was covered in layers of eyeliner years ago. The album sounds natural in its vul- nerability and sappiness, which poses a devastating question for Let Go fans: Was the sk8er girl we worshiped in middle school really as tough as we thought? To me, the inner scream is a production of the id - it's the unknowable essence of self talk- ing, communicating something, singing. So if 51-year-old Robert Crumb's monopolized ideal of the inner scream exists solely in Geeshie Wiley and old Char- ley Patton 78s, good for him. But that "calamitous loss," that "inner scream," that "soul of the common people" - pop music At the end of the movie, Crumb moves to France - he's had it with America. He watches anx- iously as moving men as stocky as his Haight sketches pack his precious 78s - into a massive truck. "Not I" ends with a fade, no conclusion, an endless scream. The cycle goes on and on. Dimuzio is inwardly screaming. To join in, e-mail him at shonenjo@umich.edu. Fi'C EVd REk FILM REVeIEWr Rang o', a-iei i By MACKENZIE METER DailyArts Writer, If another stupid animated film with no message and gratu- itous fart jokes is what audiences are looking for, they should stay far away from "Rango." With- Rango out trying to R hard, "Rango," At Quality16 voiced by John- and Rave ny Depp, estab- lishes itself Paramount as a visually stunning cartoon with a positive message and proves again that animated films can be entertain- ing and worthwhile. Hopelessly lost in the desert, a yet-unnamed chameleon with a crooked neck meets a fellow By IMRAN SYED Daily Arts Writer Films about nice guys can be dangerous. Sre,, such movies may be intentioned as good, clean fun, but often the incom- petence and aimlessness Cedar Rapids can really add up and make At the Michigan them down- Fox Searchlight right noxious to watch. Any- one who had to sit through "Din- ner for Schmucks" - a misfire so epic it still brings chills - should be familiar with the concept. At first glance, "Cedar Rap- ids" has all the makings of a well intentioned disaster. Ed Helms (TV's "The Office") plays Tim Lippe, a naive simpleton from a small town in Wisconsin. Tim sells insurance, is "pre-engaged" to his seventh grade teacher and really doesn't know or do much else. But one day, he is called upon to attend a major insurance con- vention in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which to Tim is a bustling cen- ter of commerce and debauchery unlike anything he has ever seen. Tim meets new friends, learns new things and discovers the meanin just be with h Film F screen ary as1 series, emotio matic b a Sund first S under theless unamb vention only m tially " that's n ng of life - conveniently, ally entertaining. fore the movie concludes Though Helms's good-guy appiness for all. charm has made his character on official-2011 Sundance "The Office," Andy, a fanfavorite, estival selection that was it works overtime here as he is put ed in Ann Arbor in Janu- into the preposterous position of part of the Sundance USA going from clueless to world-beat- "Cedar Rapids" lacks the er in about three sequences flat. nal, rhetorical and the- However, coupled with the genu- bite one might expect from ine infectious charm of his co- lance film. It's hardly the stars - John C. Reilly ("Cyrus"), undance selection to be Anne Heche (TV's "Men in whelming, but it is, none- Trees") and Isaiah Whitlock Jr. , somewhat shocking how (TV's "The Wire") - there is itious a film this is. A con- enough energy and warmth here nal underdog story that is to please the average viewer and oderately funny, it's essen- even to score a few laughs. Tommy Boy"-lite - and no, Filmed almost entirely in ot a good thing. Michigan, "Cedar Rapids" fea- tures some prominent Ann Arbor scenes - disguised, of course, to films about looklikeCedarRapidsIowa.That ilms bout the state's much-debated film tax nicegucredit has brought in productions of all sizes and types is no longer finish last. deniable, and hopefully it will remain in place so that more pro- ductions follow the money to this struggling state. As for this par- rever, all its shortcomings titular film, while "Cedar Rapids" nly to hold the film within is not as good as it easily could ilm of average, as opposed have been, it's an underdog story gingit down into the realm with an unrealistic sense of hope norable disaster. As forget- and resilience - both of which nd bland as the film is, it Michiganders should understand s watchable and occasion- very well. F COURTESY OF PARAMOUNT You know you're in trouble when the chicken-riding posse comes to town. reptile "Wedd him a Dirt. U chame mered tus jui the sat la). A£ about gun-s. iff Ran quest t r water Fif cou w named Beans (Isla Fisher, tle down-and-out creatures and ing Crashers") who gives booing the greedy water hogs of lift to the derelict town of the big cities. Jpon entering the town, the The voices by Depp and Fisch- leon promptly gets ham- er as Rango and Beans are trans- on something called "cac- fixing. Because the characters ce" (which seems to have were shot with a technique called me effect as straight tequi- "motion capture technology" fter some made-up tales - made famous in "Avatar" - his imaginary Western which records actors' movements inging, he becomes Sher- and dialogue in a studio and then ago, leading the town on a animates them, it is easy to for- :o reclaim its disappearing get that it is actually animated supply. characters on screen and not the actors themselves. Furthermore, the effects - both visual and teen m inutes auditor y -aemzigEvr teen m n tes frame is beautifully composed - ild save ... oh from the cracks in the buildings I to the arid, creviced landscape to rong gecko. the dust blowing in the Mojave Desert wind. In a scene toward the end of the film, audiences will be captivated and transported le the plot is children's- by a devastatingly beautiful des- predictable, don't be too ert sunset of reds, purples and o judge: The storyline has blues stretching as far as the eye 1 adult elements like the can see, followed closely by an It search for an identity - extremely realistic shot of what hrough Rango's literal and looks like the Salt Flats of Utah. ive search for a name - The sounds throughout the film emes of big-city greed and make a perfect auditory cocktail, ,mental harm. Water and featuring noises like true-to-life ortance are a strong, cen- crunching sand, shrieking hawks eme throughout the film, and sloshing water. .e exhaustive quest for it "Rango" is a great example of ts lots of empathy for these a children's movie with relatable parched little animals. themes. It's a visual and auditory ice members might find treat with fantastic vocal and lves cheering for the lit- artistic talent backing it, and a message to overcome greediness and to persevere through every- thing, regardless of background or seemingly impossible circum- stances. It's a refreshing, worth- while film that, after specimens like "Gnomeo and Juliet" and "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole," brings some dignity back to the animated genre we know and love. UM newspaper OS 92 'L IK E' TH E CHaLLelGe MICHIGAN DAILY Whi movie quick t several difficu seen th figurat and th enviror its imp tral th and th promp poor, Audien # themse How serve o the rea to drag of men table a remain Campus Mind Works Wellness Groups r FREE drop-in education and support groups for any U-M student with Depression, Bipolar, or Anxiety When: Tuesday, March 8th from 5:00-6:30 p.m. 2nd Tuesday of every month, Oct.-Apr. Where: North Campus, Room 133, Chrysler Center Visit www.campusmindworks.org for more information. No pre-registration is required. MichiganEngineering Uniersiy oMichigan Depression tenter _II 1< _..