6 -- Friday, October 19, 2012

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

6 - Friday, October19, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom

Viewing life through
the lens of'Samsara'
By SEAN CZARNECKI
DailyArts Writer

BARSUNK
Looking for a new girl
Death Cab Iingers

Gib
Ben
album
of his,
knows
Cab
was p
Gibba
projec
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why
album
stray
from
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kens 1
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And
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opens
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"Drea

bard struggles to as an introduction to the more
traditional Death Cab. Flush
edefine sound with acoustic guitar chords
that bounce back and forth and
on solo debut anchored by a steady bass line, it
sounds warmly familiar. Already
ByMATT BURNS apparent in the second track,
For the Daily Former Lives focuses on several
themes laced in past Death Cab
Gibbard's debut solo and Postal Service lyrics: sleep-
, Former Lives, evokes much ing, dreaming, unrequited love,
well, former life. Everyone etL If anything, it's efficient.
Death Surethere are many bandsthat
for Cutie **M write about the same things over
rimarily a and over. As the old saying goes,
rd-driven Benjamin "Go to the well 'till the well runs
t, which Gibbard out." Gibbard goes to the well, but
explain instead of drinking the water, he
his solo Former lives tries to purify it then add some
i doesn't Kool Aid mix. Granted, Kool Aid
too far Barsunk may taste good, but in this case, it
his Death doesn't taste right.
lays. If anything, it har- Take "Something's Rattling
back to earlier albums by (Cowpoke)." The track is, in the-
Pacific Northwest indie- ory, a simple ooh-ah melody with
roup. Lives offers a more a mariachi guitar section that
ed down version of Death should be effective in its modesty.
nd a brighter spotlight on In reality, it sounds like an odd
ont man, who is trying to mix of Los Lobos and Beirut with
te himself from his past, for a regular white dude singing.
or worse. It's ambitious, and the rhythm is
I boy, does he try. The first admittedly memorable, though
"Shepherd's Bush Lullaby," bordering annoying.
to Gibbard half-singing, This is the paradox Gibbard
hanting, backed by himself and so many other front men face
rmony with an a cappella when breaking off from a success-
bop. It's an odd introduc- ful band. Do they try to redefine
hat may confuse listeners or create a new sound for them-
in to hear more of what selves? Or do they stick to what
Gibbard so popular in the they know they're good at and -
?lace. Luckily, the opener, maybe more importantly - made
m Song," functions more them popular in the first place?

Try the former, and you risk end-
ing up ridiculed for not produc-
ing the quality music everyone
expects (see: Plastic Ono Band).
Stick with the latter, and get
ripped for laziness.
Gibbard seems aware of this
line and tiptoes along it. There
are the quintessential Death
Cab songs: the aforementioned
"Dream Song," "Teardrop Win-
dows," "Bigger than Love," "A
Hard One to Know." These are
what Gibbard fans have come to
know and expect in his music:
upbeat piano, acoustic, yet twangy
guitars and vocals that crescendo
in a drawn out, yetinfectious cho-
rus. Ballads, lullabies and elec-
tric-guitar numbers. Gibbard has
proven to be effective with the
optimistic, yet heartbroken style
of Death Cab as well as the dark,
moody, electric vibes of the Postal
Service alongside Jimmy Tambo-
rello's production.
From seemingly outofnowhere,
Gibbard has ascended to The Twi-
light Saga: New Moon Original
Motion Picture Soundtrack and
UPS commercial fame (and Zooey
Deschanel). He is sidestepping his
previous careers in an effort to fly
solo. He has written lyrics about
being left wanting more, usually
regarding a romantic relationship.
This theme continues in Former
Lives, but in a nuanced way. Gib-
bard is still unfulfilled and long-
ing for love, but this time, it's the
listeners who are left yearning for
more.

Disclaimer: By saying any-
thing about "Samsara," the
latest pseudo-documentary/
guided meditation from Ron
Fricke ("Baraka"), I unavoidably
become a pretentious douche.
Yes, I'm that guy: the B+ student
trying to sound like the A+ stu-
dent talking about big things he
doesn't yet understand.
Freed of any traditional sense
of narrative and without a sin-
gle line of dialogue, "Samsara"
spares us the lecture. Instead,
it shows you a series of camera
shots and images from around
the world - with the exception
of maybe one scene - and builds
its argument. It simply guides us,
asking for the viewer's diligent
participation. Strangely, the film
dodges any preachiness - its Don't sneeze.
message is developed through
the individual's engagement. challenges.I
"Samsara" shows us many begin and
religions, but whether or not Would it ev
they are merely superstitions is the places
irrelevant. With the way the film sara," we r
is shot, there's something plainly their name:
divine about the scenes and the names. I th
land where they developed. And poseful. Aft(
from the land, human culture and done, wI
was grown. We forget that some- to time, any'
times.
We celebrate our ingenu-
ity, and "Samsara" shows us Dretet
cities of glass and steel and
concrete that should mark the asi
horizon forever. Then, we see
a decrepit school after a natu--film
ral disaster. We mold our own
image: a man preparing for lipo- you
suction, a woman undergoing -'
plastic surgery. What we get is
dissatisfaction: personalized
sex dolls, a single tear dropping To state t
from a Geisha. We celebrate ous: There':
life: A father kisses his newborn there. For a
daughter. We commemorate its exciting of n
end: a golden sarcophagus. But rations mig
do we celebrate life by actu- "Shark Wee]
ally living? "Samsara" shows us of "Samsara,
long sequences of languishing awe; I was uj
assembly line workers - as hol- An hour la
low and mechanic as the prod- coffee shop,'
ucts they piece together. er, stressing
Though aware that the Coffee follov
world's not in equilibrium, we more readinE
remain skeptical of revolu- In the be;
tion and change. We face great a group of:

r
,
h
b
,
t
I
a
t
,,
n
r
t,
t]
t
.
.,

Where does change over a sand painting, painstak-
how will it end? ingly creating their ritualistic
'en matter? For all image a few grains at a time.
explored in "Sam- At the end, they nonchalantly
emain unaware of erase all their hard work, and
s not one of their put it into a bowl, throwing it
hink that was pur- all away as easily as we might a
er all has been said Kleenex. And then there's me,
hat's a name to land, an hour after exiting the Michi-
way? gan Theater: a conceited writer
strugglingto delete the inconse-
quential scraps of this article's
r s first draft. Had I the discipline
ItiOUE~3IiA to create something so beauti-
de this ful,I wouldn't erase it and start
anew - I'd publish it.
can blow While I was watching "Sam-
sara," I didn't feel like I was
ir mind. being a "pretentious douche." I
had surrendered control. And
"like tears in rain," (see: "Blade
Runner") I took helpless com-
the banal and obvi- fort in its vision of timelessness.
s a big world out For those 99 minutes, the entire
ll I know, the most world was there on screen and
my sight-seeing aspi- everything outside was a reflec-
ht be relegated to tion of it. I'm not the first to
k." But walking out notice or write about this movie-
" I was briefly left in going phenomenon. But for once,
plifted. I wished that revolutionary
:ter, I was back at the ethos would somehow translate
back at my comput- outside that dark theater into the
g, writing, reading. Other World. But the screen had
wed by more coffee, already blackened, and it was
g, more writing. gone.
ginning of the film, Pretentious douche: over and
monks are huddled out.


PERKS
Call: #734-418-4115 From Page 5
Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com In the sh
he had with th
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couia n ave e.

RELEASE DATE- F
Los Angel
Edi
ACROSS
1 Kool Moe Dee's
genre
4 Response to a
drought ending
10 Spotthat many
avoid
14 Words of
attribution
15 Inspiration for
jambalaya
16 Jaunty greeting
17 *Components at
39-Across
20Yao-like
21 Guwmmy
22 *Components of
39-Across
28 Ughtsobar
wielders
29 Getready for a
drive
30 Elem. school
staple
33 Some
emoticons
37 Barbera d:
Italian wine
38 Soshi sapper
39 Symbolicsumof
17-, 22- and50-
Across
41 Key forgetting out
of a jam
42 Humble reply to
praise
44 Visit
45 _ Cabos,
Mexico
46 Chowderhead
48 Gaseous: Pref.
50*Components of
39-Across
56 Signal to try to
57 They're often
bruised
59 Classicmanual,
with"The,"and
what the starred
answers'
components are
vis-ai-vis 39-
Across
64 Greg's love on
"House"
65 Hard pieces
66 Flicks
67 Pup without
papers
68 Writer de
Beauvoir
69 Miss Pym's
creator

Friday, October 19, 2012
es Times Daily Crossword Puzzleu
Red by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
DOWN 35Go after, puppy- 52 Gangster Frank
1 Lake floater styie 53 Briefly

2 Burka wearer's
deity
3 Comedian Shore
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septet
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Andrews golfer
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25 Spirit
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27 Books thatrequire
a commitment
30 Tops
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forget yor lines
32 Ex-Laker
silhouetted in the
NBA logo
34 Detective's
pronoun

36 Serious 54 Abu Sim
40 "Eli's Coming" 55"Honestr
songwriter 58 Steamy
43 Support fora 59 Sunbloc
downward-facing 60 Sch. wit
dog Riverhe
47 Campbell of "Wild campus
Things" 61 Prefix w
49 "is this what __ for 62 Marshla
...?" 63 Lubbock
51 Tampico tots Laredo
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ingto one of Sha
drama-heavyw
Once the ligh
down and the

ort conversation
he Daily, Lerman
xpressed his love
clearly. From his
nces to old films
"Ordinary Peo-
his points, or his,
or visual-effects
driven films, Ler-


ich Ingagiola has
te in "Macbeth."
acters are known
personalities with
rn sensibility that
e melodrama, add-
kespeare's already
orks.
hts of the stage go
curtain is closed,

Ingagiola's hopes the audience has
beenthoroughly entertained. They
should expect funny moments,
not because the show is written
as a parody, but because the play-
wrights in and of themselves have
humorous styles reflected and
maximized by the application to
Shakespeare's works.
"The show will give (the audi-
ence) a different perspective on
modern theater, and even Shake-
speare, for that matter," Ingagiola
said.

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man claims to love every aspect
of filmmaking. And household
name or not, behind the camera
or in front, Lerman's not plan-
ning on saying goodbye to the
silver screen anytime soon.
"I really want to get behind
the camera. That's why I got into
acting in the first place," Lerman
said. "I love everythingthat goes
into filming so I could be any-
thing - I could be a props guy,
who the hell knows?"

A

I

By JeffChen
(c>2012 Tribune Media Services, Inc.


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