The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com


Wednesday, September 18, 2013 - 5A

This is the face of fatherhood.
The ultimate 'Family'
spins novel mob tale

INTERSCOPE
Gaps I did it again.
Brand New excites
concert crowd

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)ng-awaited tour as everyone sang along to front-
man Jesse Lacey's slow-building
elivers thrilling melodies and simple guitar work.
Finally, the tension so carefully
performance built over these past few hours
was explosively released as the
By TYLER BAILEY final ringing notes of the intro-
Daily Arts Writer duction transitioned seamlessly
into "Sic Transit Gloria ... Glory
ger fans scrolled through Fades." The full band outburst
phones,checkingoldsetlists perfectly punctuated the feelings
wapping ideas of a perfect of the crowd and provided a per-
I New set as they stood fect release for the fans.
ng in a line that stretched After the initial excitement,
locks before turning a cor- the crowd's energy only grew
nd finally ending beneath as the opening chords of "I
and Rapids overpass. All Will Play My Game Beneath
retty much expected for a The Spin Light" affirmed some
that had sold out within an fans' hopes - they were indeed
When the last of the crowd going to play Deja Entendu, their
y filed in about an hour and acclaimed 2003 album, all the
after doors opened, around way through.
people packed into The During the set, Lacey worked
ection got their - perhaps the crowd well with the wit and
in-a-lifetime - chance to composure of a man who has
e elusive band play. been on stage for over 15 years.
many in the crowd and "I'm 35 years old, I can't do
d the world, Brand New is this shit anymore," Lacey joked
of punk-rock messiah, cer- early in the set while tuning up
one of the most critically between songs. A short cover of
med and significant bands a few bars of Modest Mouse's
indie-punk genre. Count- "Trailer Trash" was also a
modern acts constantly crowd-pleaser, a sort of inside
the New Jersey outfit as joke as well as an homage to a
istic influence, and they are contemporary influence. Along
t universally loved by fans with these jokes and banter,
various sub-genres of mod- Lacey was quick to give his fans
unk and alternative music. and supporters appreciation and
f such bands, The World Is thanks as the band made its way
utiful Place and I Am No through their selection of songs.
r Afraid to Die, provided Overall, the set's energybegan
d opening act with atmo- to dwindle near the end of the
ic post-rock passages and album play-through as the ener-
snally charged outbursts getic anthems gave way to slow
red the crowd for the head- introspective songs. This wasn't
building up the energy and necessarily detrimental to the
pation of the crowd. overall performance, as it gave
er nearly 30 minutes of the tired fans an opportunity to
ess, the crowd's eagerness enjoy the musicianship without
ed a peak as the opening the hectic scrambling present
kicks of "Tautou" marked in the crowd during some of the
entrance. It was clear that louder songs. A highlight of this
one present was prepar- section of the set was a wonder-
r what they all knew was fully stripped down version of
ig after the subdued and "The Boy Who Blocked His Own
dering introductory song, Shot," which mainly consisted

of Lacey alone singing and play-
ing guitar until the whole band
joined in at the end for a power-
fully expressive finish that high-
lighted the band's strength as a
unit.
After the acoustic album
finale "Play Crack The Sky,"
the band continued with their
almost two hour-long set by
playing songs from their most
recent effort, Daisy, as well as
those from The Devil And God
Are Raging Inside Me. The con-
cert lacked any songs from Your
Favorite Weapon, which marked
the band's debut in 2000. This
is understandable as the band's
extensive catalog of songs allow
them some separation from their
less-developed first album. Less
understandable, however, was
the noticeable absence of the
songs "Jesus Christ" and "Sow-
ing Season," two of the band's
most popular songs.
The set's closer, "Luca," con-
veyed the overall feeling of the
entire performance with many
standing in subdued apprecia-
tion during the slow, stripped-
down sections before going
wild and screaming along to
the song's climactic explosions.
After the conclusion of the set,
many fans were left waiting for
an encore that might have con-
tained one or two of the still-
unplayed hits, and their chants
of "one more song" were left
unanswered as the lights went
up and the crew began putting
away the equipment.
This lack of closure seemed
like a slight snub to the fans
for whom Lacey professed his
appreciation for earlier in the
set - even more disappointing
compared to the transcendental
nature of the performance. Alas,
all things must come to an end,
and even without the encore
most fans were left with the sat-
isfaction of finally being able to
see the iconic band perform live
while they still had the chance.

By CONRAD FOREMAN
Daily Arts Writer
Robert De Niro is a family man.
Plain and simple. OK, so maybe I
have no idea if he's a family man
in real life, but
if his career
decisions are
any indication, The Family
he certainly is.
He loves to play At Quality16
the patriarch of and Rave
a family Some-
times it's a liter- atity
al family, like in
"Meet the Parents"; sometimes it's
a family in the mafia sense of the
word, like his role as Al Capone in
"The Untouchables." In his new
film, "The Family" (who woulda
thunk?), De Niro combines the
best of both worlds as the father
of a family trying to lead a nor-
mal, safe life after snitching on his
other Family (the mob!).
Giovanni Manzoni (De Niro)
and his family have been in the
witness protection program for
10 years, but can't quite get the
hang of the whole "laying low"
thing. Giovanni's violent nature
aside, his wife, Maggie (Michelle
Pfeifer, "Scarface"), son, Warren
(John D'Leo, "The Wrestler") and
daughter, Belle (Dianna Agron,

TV's "Glee") make enough trouble mer heavyweight in the world
to justify their own police detail. of organized crime coming to
As the family situates themselves terms with who he was and who
in their new home near Nor- he has become. The diversity in
mandy, each character's storyline these storylines, highlighted by
plays out with a delightful blend common themes of violence and
of cringe-worthy misdeeds and togetherness, creates a complete
endearing good nature. The real picture of the family.
problems arrive when the Man- If you're aware that Tommy
zoni's past threatens to catch up Lee Jones ("No Country For Old
with them because, of course, Men") is in this flick, then you'd
there's only one real way out of probably guess that he plays a
the mafia - in a box. cop - and he does - and he kills
it, as always. Nobody can capture
the essence of a too-old-for-this-
De Niro #1 Dad shit federal agent quite like TLJ
- typecasting rules!
in the w orld Captivating though it is, "The
Family" takesthe easy way out
when it comes to key plot devel-
opments. All of the drama at the
The film parallels the stories end of the film is a result of hap-
of each character by frequently penstance that, while not dimin-
flashing between them. Espe- ishing the legitimacy of the film
cially effective in this respect are completely, gives very little cred-
the match cuts incorporated by it to the villains and cheapens
editor Julien Rey ("The Lady") an otherwise well-thought-out
and director Luc Besson ("The script.
Fifth Element"). This storytell- Giving a unique take on the
ing method allows the audience mob movie, "The Family" is
to see a wide range of narratives expertly paced and doesn't bore
- a young woman discover- - more likely you'll wish the
ing her sexuality, an adolescent running time were a tad longer.
boy trying to fit in at a new high And if you're a fan of De Niro,
school, a mother struggling to make sure you check him out in
turn over a new leaf and a for- his ultimate family-man role.

Travel to Lovecraft Country

By GRACE PROSNIEWSKI
DailyArts Writer
My interest in H.P. Lovecraft
began while reading the thoughts
of another master of horror, Ste-
phen King. King's statement that
Lovecraft was the impetus for
his literary life in horror caught
my attention. Acting as the single
greatest influence on a man who
wrote such chilling pieces as "The
Man in the Black Suit" and "Suf-
fer the Little Children," I was
impressed and intrigued.
Then suddenly, Lovecraft
began to pop up more and more.
I quickly decided I needed to see
what all the fuss was about and
planned to read one of his works.
However, the sheer number of
stories, coupled with the fact that
I found the short-story format
an awkward fit to my schedule,
meant that I kept pushing it off.
Enter mysummer job. Sittingin
a small, isolated booth for upward
of two hours a day, I found the
length, and atmosphere, of Love-
craft's stories a perfect fit. With
high temperatures and some
unreasonably angry patrons, it's
no wonder I turned to tales of ter-
ror and madness.
I discovered a very devoted fan
base, covering everything from
RPGs to theoretical postulates on
the Cthulu mythos. Indeed, I'm
still very much a newbie to the
cult of Lovecraft. But even so, I'm
here to initiate you.
Lovecraft is best known for his

unique
combin
and the
self des
"Super
ture":
"The
thing
bloody
clankin
A cert
less an
outer,
present
expres
and p
its sub
concep
- a m
pensior
laws of
safeguo
of cha
unplun
Cc
Wi
bet
a
if t
blow
wrong.
Love
ritual
decayir

brand of weird fiction, a fectly in tandem with talk of non-
iation of the supernatural Euclidian geometry and the very
e scientific. Lovecraft him- nature of space and time. This
scribes it best in his essay, scientific veil increases the scari-
natural Horror in Litera- ness of the stories because it pro-
vides a sense of reasoned, rational
e true weird tale has some- thought to an otherwise unbeliev-
more than secret murder, able, albeitdisturbing, worldview.
bones, or a sheeted form One of Lovecraft's signature
g chains according to rule. features is his rich, darkly dis-
ain atmosphere of breath- turbing New England settings.
id unexplainable dread of Coined "Lovecraft Country"
unknown forces must be by scholars of his work, pictur-
t; and there must be a hint, esque and not-so-picturesque fic-
sed with a seriousness tional'towns appear frequently
ortentousness becoming throughout. From the prestigious
ject, of that most terrible Miskatonic University situated
tion of the human brain in the bustling city of Arkham,
align and particular sus- to the dilapidated coastal town of
n or defeat of those fixed Innsmouth, Lovecraft Country is
Nature which are our only the quintessential old New Eng-
ard against the assaults land, filled with puritanical fears
os and the daemons of and myths.
nbed space." Lovecraft's antiquarian ten-
dencies, dwelling specifically on
the gentry and customs of colo-
nial New England, give his works
)sm iC horror an added depth of foreboding and
alks the line eloquence and harkens back to
the literary tradition of Nathan-
ween science iel Hawthorne.
All other things aside, he's
nd fiction. simply a fantastic writer. The
chase scene in "The Shadow
over Innsmouth" will leave you
breathless and the ending of
hat description didn't just "The Haunter of the Dark" will
your mind, then you're have you hesitating before you
turn off the light.
ecraft can make evil cults, So pick up a tale and join us.
human sacrifices and Just don't try checking out the
ng ancient abodes fall per- Necronomicon at the UGLi.

THERE'S NO USE HIDING.
WE KNOW YOU'VE BEEN RE-WATCHING 'BATTLESTAR
GALACTICA'... AGAIN.
JOIN THE TV/NEW MEDIA BEAT. WE UNDERSTAND.
to apply, e-mail arts@michigandaily.com

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