The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Monday, March 28, 2011 - 5A My novel personality S urrounded by a pile of college classics like "1984" and jeans, cereal boxes, "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the DVDs, posters and Galaxy." I had books no one had notebooks waiting to find a ever heard of, like the entire temporary cardboard home, I bibliography of Tom Robbins. struggled to I had childhood favorites like tape shut a Philip Pullman's "His Dark huge, almost- Materials" trilogy. My books bursting were quirky; I was quirky. My packing box. identity was slowly being tied to My dad, who what was on my bookshelf. was loading Only in retrospect do I real- up the car ize how common this is. Per- that would LEAH haps second only to an iTunes take me to BURGIN library, a populated bookshelf my first day defines our perception of its of college, owner. If someone displayed almost broke his back lifting it. every Judi Picoult and Nicholas Demanding to know what was Sparks book ever published, we inside, he pulled apart the lov- would think of that person dif- ingly applied duct tape to reveal ferently than someone whose ... books. And lots of them. library boasted Shakespeare Refusing to cart this minia- and Nietzsche. Now, obviously, ture library four hours north, an individual is much more my parents demanded I leave than the contents of his or her some of my precious books bookshelf, iPod, DVD collection behind. It was a cruel and ter or closet. No one can be solely rible process - I forced myself defined by material things - to abandon the Laura Ingalls there are unique nuances and Wilder series, the "Harry Pot- idiosyncrasies that cannot be ter" novels, most of Orson Scott conveyed through commodities, Card's bibliography and count- no matter how convenient it less other books from my child- may seem to proscribe people as hood. The thought of facing the sum of their material pref- college without the familiarity erences. and comfort of my books was But what if we could be? What intimidating. What if I needed if we could be solely defined by to quote Michael Crichton's the pages upon our bookshelves? "Jurassic Park" or Alexander If you had to pick five books that Dumas's "The Count of Monte defined your personality in total, Cristo" for a paper? What if could you do it? Which ones my siblings, in my absence, would they be? borrowed Gaston Leroux's "The Phantom of the Opera" and wiped their snotty noses all over its pages? What if my 'Tuesdays W ith books missed me? Despite these concerns, my M orrie' is the parents refused to budge. So I grudgingly re-packed the sur- ideal icebreaker. vivors of the purge and went on to pack the slightly more necessary items, like toothpaste and pens. Little did I know that With a preliminary perusal the books I chose to grace my of my current dorm room book- dorm's bookshelves were to shelf (which is now hidden impact how people perceived under my bed so no one can me throughout freshmen year. judge me), I've chosen the five I It began with my roommate. think can pretty much sum up She judged me, not for the con- my personality. And they are - tents of my bookcase, but for drum roll please! - Orson Scott the sheer number I brought. It's Card's "Enders Game," Wil- something she still teases me liam Goldman's "The Princess about. She also was amused by Bride," Jean-Dominique's "The my confession that I only added Diving Bell and the Butterfly," Mitch Albom's "Tuesdays with Jerome Lawrence and Robert Morrie" to the pile to stimulate E. Lee's "Inherit the Wind" and conversation with her if we had Martin McDonagh's "The Pil- nothing else to talk about - she lowman." had told me she liked "memoir So, OK, the last two are tech- books" and it was the only one I nically plays. But still, these owned. Luckily, we didn't have are the five books I could never to resort to that plan B. leave behind. They belong on But the judgment didn't end my bookshelf. They each have there. Whenever new acquain- a special, irreplaceable place tances would walk into our in my heart and, because of dorm room, they would be this connection, I believe they distracted by my books. People define me the most. If you want would want to talk about them, to get to know me better (and gush about which ones they who wouldn't?) read them. also loved or inquire who in Absorb them. And then let me the world was Tom Robbins know what you think. Please and why did I own a dozen of remember, though, to take the his books? (Hint: Robbins in experiment out of context and the genius behind "Even Cow- realize that, outside of a hypo- girls Get the Blues," which was thetical realm, there is much adapted for the silver screen by more to me than the charac- Gus Van Sant.) It came to the ters, thoughts, jokes, stories point that friends of friends of and emotions that exist within friends would walk in, share an those pages. in-depth conversation with me And please don't read "The about literature and then leave, Pillowman" first. You will want never to be seen again. to run as fast as you can in the Friends began associating opposite direction. me with my books. If someone wanted a recommendation or Burgin is looking for new reading to borrow a book, he or she material. To provide, e-mail would come to me. I had the her at Irburgin oumich.edu. Lamenting the loss of Liz Elizabeth Taylor made the most of her fame on and off the screen By Ben Verdi I Daily Arts Writer Liz Taylor's passing from con- gestive heart failure last Wednes- day, at the age of 79, is a sad loss for the entertainment world, and the world in general, as we've not only lost an icon, but a good soul. While she may not have starred in the films on our generation's list of favorites, losing her is akin to losing Michael Jackson, her good friend, from the perspec- tive of the cultural influences and legacies they both left behind. Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor meant so much to the world of American film and entertain- ment, gracing the screen in films like "Cleopatra," "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," that it's not quite possible to quantify her effect on the American art of show busi- ness. At age 12 she was headlin- ing films like MGM's "National Velvet" and carving out a place in '40s and '50s cinema as a child star. Unlike most child stars, however, she transitioned seam- lessly from the teen icon she was into the world-renowned cultur- al force she was to become. Despite standing 5'2", she commanded the focus of people in every room she walked into. She was the woman you'd teach your child to point at and say "movie star." She had the kind of beautiful face that could go in the dictionary next to the words "innocence" or "grace," and no one would disagree. She was the kind of celebrity that other celeb- rities had a crush on, the kind to dominate headlines - with eight marriages to seven different men - as much as the box office. She won two Academy Awards and was the first actress to earn $1 million for a film role. She han- dled every high and low of her life with enough aplomb to keep people smiling and hopeful. Liz Taylor had a famous heart too. Despite her success, she remained the same witty, intelli- gent and caring woman her whole life. She helped raise more than $100 million for AIDS research and was a voice for the causes of civil and gay rights before either cause was "cool" or profitable. It's as difficult to sum up what she meant to the world as a phi- lanthropist and caring soul as it is to describe how powerful and famous she really was. While Taylor had issues and weathered the storms of celeb- rity, she did so with a sense of humor, and an uncommon amount of appreciation for her own fame, knowing that she had a responsibility and an example to set as someone in the public Elizabeth Taylor in the film "Butterfield 8" in 1961. AP eye. She never thought she was more famous than she actu- ally was. She was never afraid to make fun of herself. She knew what she bargained for, in becoming famous worldwide because fame itself was never her goal. For her, fame almost came by accident, a residual affect of her undeniable talent and effortless beauty. What she did with that fame, however, was always something she consid- ered more important than sim- ply acquiring more of it. Taylor always knew where the camera was, an unteachable characteristic of true celebrities that does not arise out of vanity like most people think, but out of a genuine awareness of one's self - one's true, silent confidence - and a respect for the humbling responsibility of fame. Beauty fades, and dollars and tabloids last only as long as it takes to print new ones. But her legacy of grace, combined with humil- ity under the American spotlight, still remain after her death as reminders that even though a lot of people have become famous in America, few will ever be as deserving of fame as Liz. Snyder packs a visual 'Punch' By WILL DEFEBAUGH Daily Arts Writer Reality is a prison. Freedom is in the mind. These are the mantras of director Zack Sny- der's ("Watch- men") new * film, "Sucker Punch." Sucker Punch The film follows the At Quality 16 mind-bending and Rave story of Baby Doll (Emily Wamer Bros. Browning, "A Series of Unfortunate Events"), a 20-year-old girl who is sent to an insane asylum after she acciden- tally shoots her sister in an effort to protect them both from their evil stepfather. Upon arriving, her stepfather makes a deal with the twisted owner of the asylum to ensure that Baby Doll will be lobotomized in five days. To cope with the harsh new reality in which she finds her- self, Baby Doll re-imagines her prison as a burlesque house. The owner of the asylum becomes her pimp, the doctor becomes her dance instructor and the other inmates, Blondie (Vanessa Hud- gens, "Beastly"), Amber (Jamie Chung, "Grown Ups") and sisters Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish, "Lim- itless") and Rocket (Jena Malone, "Into the Wild"), become her fel- low dancers and friends. Unfor- tunately, this fantasy is not much better than reality - they're still prisoners, only now they're strip- pers too. This might leave some view- ers to wonder why Baby Doll may not have chosen a more pleasant reality, but those people prob- ably aren't familiar with Snyder's work. He has a penchant for the macabre and it's this aesthetic that ultimately makes the film. So, when Baby Doll is first asked to dance, she escapes to an alter- nate reality within her alternate reality, where an old man tells her she needs five items in order to escape: a map, fire, a knife, a key and a mysterious fifth item that only she will be able to get. On the quest to get each of these objects, Baby Doll and company are trans- ported to other worlds filled with apparent robot Nazis and fire- breathing dragons, where they have machine guns, samurai swords and even racier outfits. The blueprints to the asylum- brothel become a treasure map, the kitchen knife becomes a bomb on a high-speed train that they must dismantle. Robot Nazis, strippers and dragons, oh my. These alternate worlds are visually stunning. The incorpo- ration of Bjork and music from the film's own Emily Brown- ing (try her cover of "Sweet Dreams" and her duet with Yoav, "Where Is My Mind?") work well. The aesthetic is clas- sic Snyder, looking half like a movie and half like an extreme- ly well-developed video game - and wholly over-the-top. While some might see this over-the-top quality as a prob- lem, it works for most aspects of the movie. The only place it doesn't is for the ridiculously revealing "costumes" the girls wear. Despite the film's claims to be feminist, it still feels like a bunch of half-naked girls with machine guns running around in fishnets and heels - or, in other words, every man's "fantasy." Apart from that, the film's main problem may actually be that it isn't over-the-top enough. Many films adapt an in-your-face- ridiculous quality and it works for them. The problem is, it needs to carry over into the writing as well - it can't just be in the direction and cinematography. And despite the film's name, its plot is actu- ally quite straightforward and predictable, establishing a pattern for itself within the first 30 min- utes (find object, fight bad guys, repeat). All in all, "Sucker Punch" doesn't just look like avideo game, it functions like one too - enjoy- able and visually entertaining, but without much depth. The Department of Communication Studies The Howard R. Marsh Center present a lecture by MICHAEL DOBBS 2010-2011 Howard R. Marsh Visiting Professor ofJournalism TWEETING THE REVOLUTION: THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN TOPPLING DICTATORSHIPS Tuesday, March 29; 2011 Reception 4:30 pm - Lecture 5:00 pm The Hussey Rooms in the Michigan League 911 North Unisersity Avenue Ann Arbor, MI48109-1265 For directions, pleas 'e http://suniorn.unrici.edu/league/nmips/directions/ Contact the Department of Communication Studies (734.764.0423) for more information. Rich Cormier Sales and Leasing Consultant Dunning Toyota/Ann Arbor MI (734) 997-7600 rcormier.dunningtoyota@gs.reyrey.com NEED A NEW CA R? YOU MAY QUALIFY FOR A $1000 COLLEGE GRAD CREDIT ON MOST NEW TOYOTA'S/SCION'S *OVER AND ABOVE YOUR BEST DEAL* PRE-OWNED PROGRAMS ALSO AVAILABLE FOR GRAD & STUDENT CALL RICH AT DUNNING TOYOTA of ANN ARBOR 906-231-9001 AMERICA'S FAV014TTo SANDPWICHtIDELIVERY 6auYisr r