T M g a ic dyFriday, October 4, 2013 - 7A

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

[VENT PREVIEWTVEV
Artists to 'Turn Up
the Beet' at the Ark

Farm taps roots
of the Ann Arbor
community
By CAROLYN DARR
For theDaily
On Oct. 6, Ann Arbor's clas-
sic venue, the Ark, will host
"Peas Turn Up the Beet," an
event that will raise money for
the Community Farm of Ann
Arbor.
A community farmer for four
seasons, Kat Oshman gave the
Daily the sweet scoop on this
delicious event.
"Paul Bantle and Anne Elder,,
who are head farmers at the
Community Farm, had the idea
that we could have a benefit
concert for the farm to try to
sell shares to members," Osh-
man said. "The last couple years
we've had a bit of trouble selling
shares, so we have had some big
fundraisers. In the past, they've
been a bit piecemeal because
we really need to raise money
and not spend any. This year,
we decided we were going to
go all out because not only do
we want to raise a lot of money,
but we also want to make this a
big community event. We did a
Kickstarter and raised almost
$10,000 to put on this concert."
The Community Farm is the
oldest CSA in Michigan and
the eighth oldest in the coun-
try. CSA stands for Community
Supported Agriculture and rep-
resents a movement to support
local farms and bring the com-
munity together to share fresh
produce. Ann Arbor's Commu-
nity Farm grows produce for
180 Ann Arbor families who are
responsible for picking up their
individual shares. Often, how-
ever, they are drawn into the
magic of the farm and end up
becoming participants in this

tasty movement.
"We are very unique," Osh-
man said. "Members take own-
ership in the farm and make
decisions together. We really
emphasize community and
bringing people together."
The farm, she explained,
does not use pesticides or fer-
tilizers and also makes its own
compost.
"Our mission is, first of all,
to help the earth by using prac-
tices that are sustainable and
respectful to the environment
and other creatures that are
living there," Oshman said.
"We don't think of this as just
food production. We think of
the farm as-a piece of land that
we are here to take care of in
every sense of the word, not just
something we can get what we
need from."
Attendees will have a chance
to sample some of that lush,
sustainably grown produce for
themselves.
"We're going to have free food
samples available in a showcase
called Taste of the Farm," Osh-
man said. "We are preparing
snacks for people to have before
the show and during intermis-
sion, all with things we grow
on the farm. It will be a little
mini feast for people, a really
nice way for them to experience
what it literally tastes like to eat
things from the farm." E
The two bands playing at the
event, Seth & May and Breathe
Owl Breathe, have close con-
nections with the farm and its
organic mission.
"Both bands have played fun-
draisers for us before," Oshman
said. "We feel their message is
in line with things we do at the
farm in terms of things they
try to urge their audience to
be mindful of. Their music can
be a real call to action to make
people aware of the environ-
mental issues and inspire them

to take action and make some
sort of change. These two bands
are really at the heart of Michi-
gan folk music. A concert with
them on the bill is a really spe-
cial event."
This appetizing concert will
bring in people from all over
Southeast Michigan, includ-
ing Detroit. The farm got indi-
viduals and organizations like
Whole Foods and Plum Mar-
ket to sponsor concert tickets
to make the event available to
those who could not otherwise
attend.
"We decided to sponsor
young farmers in the Detroit
community to make the show
accessible' to them," Oshman
said. "There's a huge move-
ment going on there right now.
There's urban farming, res-
taurants popping up all over
the place, local education with
school gardens and so on, but
these people really can't come
to Ann Arbor. We wanted to
make a connection between the
two communities."
The Community Farm hopes
that the event will not only help
it raise the money it needs, but
will bring everyone in the com-
munity together.
"This is an expression of,
what the farm has been doing
throughout its existence," Osh-
man said. "We want to bring
people together to celebrate
this vibrant community that
we have, the local food that we
have and all the good work peo-
ple are doing these days. Come
out to the farm, walk on the
land and really experience what
it's like to be there. People come
and say,'Wow it just feels good
here,' and you can see the trans-
formation happen in the person.
I think this concert is an oppor-
tunity for people to come and
really see for themselves what
it's like to be part of something
like this."

A better love story than "Twilight."
All 'Bad' things come to
an en d in Flia

FILM REVIEW
'Gravity' shoots for the stars
with out-of-this-world visuals
By CARLY KEYES
Daily Arts Writer
When I was 9, my mom told me
I should watch this movie called
"Star Wars." However, my next-
door neighbor,
with whom I A+
was forced into
play dates, was Gravity
a huge "Star
Trek" fan - and At Quality 16
a total nerd - so and Rave
I wanted none WarnerBros
of that "sci-fi"
stuff.
Somehow, she reversed my
obstinacy (as moms tend to do),
and as soon as she popped the
VHS into the VCR (it pains me to
know that many aeople today and WARNER BRos

By KAYLA UPADHYAYA
Managing Arts Editor
It should go without saying
that the following discussion of
the "Breaking Bad" finale will
contain infor-
mation as to A
what happened
in the "Break- Braking
ing Bad"finale, Ba
but people tend
to be particu- Series finale
larly sensitive
about spoiling AMC
with this show,
so this is your very fair, explicit
spoiler warning.
"All bad things must come
to an end," declared the AMC
promos for "Breaking Bad" 's
"Felina." And for the first time
in a while, we got a series finale
that really did feel like the end.
After two weeks of episodes
packed with tension and horror,
"Felina" plays out much more
quietly, replacing the break-
neck speed and instability that
defines the whole series with an
almost dreamlike fluidity.
In the opening scene, Wal-
ter White (Bryan Cranston)
- stuck in a stolen car covered
in snow as red-and-blues swirl
around him in blind pursuit -
calls, earnestly and for the first
time, upon a higher power to
take him home. Keys magically
fall into his lap, and everything
that follows in the extended
episode has a fantastical, unreal
haze covering it that so starkly
contrasts the slashing realness
of all that precedes it.
Walt haunts scenes perfect-
ly framed by Vince Gilligan's
directorial hand. Todd (Jesse
Plemons) and Lydia (Laura Fra-
ser) don't notice him sitting just
feet away in their usual meet-
ing place, After Marie (Betsy
Brandt) calls Skyler (Anna
Gunn) to warn her Walt's back
in town and probably coming
for her, the camera shifts to
reveal he's already there, hover-
ing. In a perfect example of how
"Bad" uses sound mixing and
other techniques to set tone,
evoke emotion and even provide
narrative to an extent no other
show has accomplished, Walt
'lurks in the shadows of Elliot
and Gretchen's (Adam God-
ley and Jessica Hecht) home,
the silence and shadows more
threatening than Elliot's tiny
knife could ever confront.
It's a marked change of pace
from the rest of the whiplash-
inducing final season, and the
mostly unsettling series reach-
es a surprisingly settled conclu-
sion.
"Felina" 's standout moment
comes not from its most violent
outbursts, but from a quiet con-
fession from Walt to Skyler. "I
did it for me," he cuts her off as
she tells him to stop giving her
bullshit about doing it for the
family. "I was good at it. And I
was really ... I was alive." Most
of us knew Walt's motivations
were never about others (except
for the contingency of the few-
but-loud Team Walt soldiers
insisting he was a Family Man
who lost his way, a victim of
uncontrollable circumstances -
they're, hopefully, eating their
words and then some). But to
hear Heisenberg himself spell it

out and
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show his true baby-blue puppet.
- in what's possibly the Perhaps because of how
oment of pure honesty accustomed I became to Gil-
he character since sea- ligan - and every last actor
e - satisfies more than on this damn show - tearing
ig else in "Felina." Gunn relentlessly at my heartstrings,
ives off some serious I feel oddly uneasy about how
a Soprano vibes with her neatly "Bad" wraps up. It's not
lity - worn but resolved a happy ending by any means.
e scene) proves just how It's not even a just one. In a per-
she is of the little golden fect, just world, Hank would
she won a week earlier, live and bring down the bad
ng Skyler's surprise in a guys (or, Marie would exact
ook. revenge herself ... and then find
aking Bad" has always peace, but mostly I just want-
mmensely punitive, and ed Marie to poison everyone).
not a religious show, it Brock would have a mother.
ossesses an Old Testa- Walter Jr. would get unlimited
ew of consequences and breakfast food for life. In a just
"Felina" doles out jus- world, Walt wouldn't have had
th machine gun robots the final say or the power to
via packets. Walt built write his own fate. His belief
end of Heisenberg on that the world owes him some-
il wealth, but as he thing just because of who he is,
n "Ozymandias," "Gran- the belief that he's truly peer-
e" and "Felina," money less in terms of his intelligence
stolen and empires can and power, informs all of his
e. With almost every- actions. The writers don't nec-
tripped away from him, essarily sympathize with Walt
ts out on a direct path in the final chapter, but they
justice, driven by the do grant him that same con-
ng he has left, the one trol he used to hurt others time
hat reignites Heisenberg and time again. "Felina" isn't
his pride. Walt's deter- Walt's apology or his quest for
path in "Felina" is not grace; it's just acceptance. He's
redemptive, but there a ghost from the start. Despite
itely a sense that what's his cancer, Walt always fancied
ed to happen, well, hap- himself a god, able to-outsmart
ydia dies at the hands his enemies at every turn. Or,
the Chekhovian ricin. more accurately, thinking he can
o-Nazis get what they outsmart them: The show's best
in a Tarantino-esque moments are when he under-
it that allows for one last estimates those in his way and
berg-helmed tech trick. overvalues his own abilities -
sttit-for-tat deliberation the most extreme case being
when Jesse (Aaron Paul) when he thinks he can spare
dd in a grotesque scene Hank's life in "Ozymandias."
irrors Walt's strangling In "Felina," Walt still has his
y 8 back in season one. noxious pride, but that blind-
ing sense of immortality evapo-
rates.
ligan cooks Now that we have all of
"Breaking Bad" 's pieces in
1p one last front of us, it's easier to point to
the series's highlights. "Phoe-
batch of nix" haunts me to this day.
"Fly". unfolds like a poem, and
r'v magic, proved the series could shine
even when the intensity wasn't
turned up to explosive levels.
"Ozymandias" will go down as
season in particular has one of the best hours of televi-
o devastating, so pain- sion in our lifetime. "Breaking
the characters we care Bad" has several cornerstone
Hank and Marie meet episodes, but "Felina" isn't one
-agic endings, and both of them. It's satisfying, that's
of the season overflow for sure. And it's one of the
ood and tears (two of the better series finales I've seen.
c symbols that make up But the same reason it works
agram "Fe-li-na": Iron. so well is the reason I walked
n. Sodium. Blood. Meth. away from the end of "Breaking
Gilligan is a genius/bas- Bad" a little disenchanted. For a
he amount of time I've series about the moral complex-
worrying about Jesse ity of humans, the conclusion
in over the past five is strikingly well defined. Walt
affles even me. I know receives a death sentence in
t a real person and that the pilot, and so in the end, he
he were a real person dies. It's a strangely beautiful
s would almost certain- (and poetic) end for aman who
r intersect, and yet Jes- embodied so many ugly things.
e has always been a top But that's what "Breaking Bad"
n of mine. He's "Bad" 's has always been: a beautiful
st tragic character for show about the wicked. It's
the series, but he finds full of darkness and evil, all
s at last in "Felina." Jes- set against a colorful backdrop
ining character moment of sunny-bright Albuquerque.
n he shoots Gale at the It made me care about junkies,
season three - sneaks drug dealers, shoplifters and
an eerily similar scene, assholes. I already miss it, but I
s time his gun points at also know we'll be talking about
he wounded Heisenberg it for years to come.
it to pull the trigger, but In that way, I guess Heisen-
done taking kill orders berg got what he wanted after
he man, done being his all: an indelible legacy.

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"Star
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re generations will never Clooney, we have a problem."
hat means), an obsession Heat") struggles to survive on her
one that instigated my love very first trip into space.
and for storytelling, and it George Clooney ("The Descen-
hing to do with the "sci-fi" dants") plays her right-hand
es at the Mos Eisley Can- man, Matt Kowalski, a seasoned
aboard Jabba the Hutt's astronaut on the verge of retire-
ge. ment: This is his last venture. Ed
Harris ("Snowpiercer") makes
a highly fitting and endearing
Star W ars' "appearance" as the voice of Mis-
sion Control, a throwback to his
ith Bullock pivotal role in "Apollo 13." (If
you don't know what a VCR is,
then you probably don't get that
either).
Wars" is full of dramatic It's easy to understand why
ts sprinkled with a-bit of Clooney's listed in a double billing
, and just happens to be set - big names sell. But, as they tend
. And that's exactly what to do, movie marketers mislead.
y" is. Viewers might be disappointed
ten and directed by Alfon- when they discover that Clooney
r6n ("Children of Men"), shares very little screen time with
y" is almost entirely set in Bullock, though he does provide an
t first, it seems doubtful impactful and pleasurable breath
riter-director could create of fresh air. In fact, if "Gravity"
cation storyline to sustain were a song, the artist for the track
nute, full-length feature. would read: Sandra Bullock (feat.
in to "Cast Away," where George Clooney). His appearance
inks mesmerizes as simply is a necessary part of the plot, but
tuck on an island," Cuar6n the film strictly relies on a riveting
way to keep the dialogue performance by Bullock, unargu-
flict fresh and the viewer ably the most fierce and fearless
uciating suspense as Dr. female protagonist since Sigour-
one (Sandra Bullock, "The ney Weaver as Ellen Ripley in

"Alien." She's a damsel in distress
that actually does something about
it, instead of waiting powerlessly
for a manto come to her rescue.
Warning: A cheesy pun too
good to avoid approaches. ... The
special effects are "out. of this
world." Whereas 3-D can also be
a helpful marketing scheme, but
since "Avatar," it has been typi-
cally an unnecessary and actually
cheapening visual addition. But
the 3-D presentation in "Gravity"
endlessly heightens the immersive
experience.
You wouldn't want to watch it
any other way as the collision of
images and sound grips emotion-
ally. The entire ride feels almost
tangible, like we're right there
with Bullock during every beat of
her journey, which unfolds in real
time, wishing we could escort her
to safety.
"Gravity" combines cutting-
edge computer-generated tech-
nology with a simple tale of
one woman's solitary quest for
survival. It's an incredible and
elaborate cinematic achievement
that'llleave you walking out of the
theater with a newfound appre-
ciation for freedom ... and solid
ground.

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