6A Monday, December 8, 2014 A rts
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.eom
6A - Monday, December 8,2014 A rts The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
for X-mas music
By CHRISTIAN KENNEDY dildo to use in- family game over
Daily Arts Writer winter break and Frank Sinatra's
rendition of "Jingle Bells" comes
The calendar has slid into on. All of the "bells" magically
2014's final month and, just in turn into "balls" when you're
case someone hasn't noticed confronted with a six-foot dis-
from the over-stressed and play covered in condoms. Christ-
under-slept students or the bit- mas music, pick your battles
ter, cold wind blowing them please. Will you rein me into
down State Street., we can my third copy of Kelly Clark-
always count on one thing to slap son's Wrapped inRed? More than
us across the face with a heavy likely. A box set of flavored con-
dose of December: holidaymusic doms? Probably not (OK, well
in public places. just the peppermint ones). Pep-
It's "Have Yourself a Merry permint-flavored products aside,
Little Christmas" and "All I the holiday music may have gone
Want for Christmas is You" that too far.
remind shoppers they need to Everyone has an opinion on
keep their eyes peeled for that when Christmas music should be
perfect snow globe to add to played (not until after Hallow-
Grandma's collection or that een or Thanksgiving, etc.), but
quesadilla maker from Kohl's few take notice of where it should
their favorite Daily Arts Writ- be played. Clearly, it's always
er has been eyeing (*wink*). acceptable through headphones
Throughout the month, the no matter time or place; do your
soundtrack to our lives is stra- thang. Deciding which back-
tegically altered and encourages ground music to play in public
over-spending and general hap- places is trickier. Let's start here:
piness, and that is 100 per cent 14 re' n entire section devot-
OK. Bring it on, Target. he pday, let it play. The
That said, holiday tunes must sameecan d for department
be restricted to holiday stores. It T@ eda shops (Pepper-
gets a little freaky when you're mint mocha, anyone?).
in the Safe Sex Shop looking for a Restaurants are a bit more
complicated. It may be the holi-
day season, but restaurants are
not directly holiday-related like
department stores where people
shop, nor do they usually roll out
holiday-themed menus like cof-
fee shops. However, the closer
holidays get, the more accept-
able holiday music is in restau-
rants. A Christmas album on
repeat starting Dec. 1 is a little
intense, Applebee's. Further-
more, Christmas music should
never be played in bars. That is
the set up for a sad scene in a
"Grey's Anatomy" holiday epi-
sode. The only exception is Bob
and Doug McKenzie's "12 Days
of Christmas." If you don't know
it, do yourself a favor and check
it out.
It's time to stop complaining
that "it's too early for Christmas
music." That debate has been
argued every which way and no
one will agree. It's time to com-
plain that "it's not the place for
Christmas music!" Pick your
battles, holiday tunes and who-
ever is the DJ beh that inter-
com. It's time to it together
because Christm usic in a
sex shop (and many other ven-
ues) just is not going to cut it.
TOMMY BOY
"Something's gotta pay for the kids' colege tuition...
Ghostface sticks to
old tricks nScss
Rapper struggles up for the duration of the album. years away. She claims she
At 44, Ghostface Killah is thought he was dead and tells
to move forward on one of the older rappers in him that she's moved on, she's
the industry, and he's acutely got a new man who can take
new album aware of his seniority. But with care of her kid. "So I turned my
36 Seasons, he's not asking head down and walked away
ByBRIAN BURLAGE listeners to ignore that fact, nor from the crib," Ghostface raps
Daily Arts Writer is he trying to usher them back at the end of the verse, followed
toward the Supreme Clientele by a stark silence that's actually
Ghostface Killah is back after era and say, "this is where I shocking. This is the same guy
36 seasons. That translates want you to stay." Instead, he's who says he's sold more drugs
roughly to nine years, he tells asking listeners to and accept and witnessed more homicides
us on the his age with him. By no means than he could rap about in a
album's B. is it a comfortable process; career, and yet, when it comes
opening sometimes the album feels a to family, he knows when to
track "The 36 Seasons bit overdone, a bit clichd. But walk away and let the non-
Battlefield." then think about the first line music speak for him.
Staten Island Ghostface of "The Battlefield" and let it Unfortunately, that's not the
has changed Killah frame the rest of the album. whole story. Later in the song,
quite a bit Nine years puts Ghostface at Ghostface's newfound wisdom
since he Tommy Boy Records the inception of Fischscale, his is checked as he rattles off a
left. Now most successful and acclaimed few lines of misogynistic talk-
the "cops stay screwin' and album of the last 14 years, and behind-the-back. "I never did a
his name's "faded out like so n ow, with 36 Seasons, he's back, damn thing to deserve i/ This
damn old socks." Kis asmo e toniders this album'o be ma an :' orld,I go acome
weed insthe schoolyard. No on a revivai of sorts, a reflective oti okin' for you / you
afraid to breach enemyterritory. statement at the end of a long fuckin' up the plans, girl," he
Bottom line, Ghostface says: odyssey - a return to form. raps with the same snarl that
there's no respect. This return is particularly he'd supposedly outgrown. If
All of these feelings and the album is to be about change
reflections converge with the and the depth of its effect, then
track's melancholic hook: "Been a verse like this can put a halt
on the battlefield for a long, long At times, the on the emotional momentum.
time ./ I can see life closing in be And it does.
on this old body of mine." Stop album can e 36 Seasons reveals that
and think for a minute. When had Ghostface hasn't lost a beat
was the last time you heard a little hard to in the way of his storytelling
Ghostface Killah cop to any s l or his gusto, but the latter
kind of resignation? Defeat? swallow might not be a good thing.
Transient meditation? The There are plenty of heartfelt
soulful, embittered voice of Tre and sincere moments here;
Williams delivers those words, the problem is that they're
which get pinched between hard to swallow, though, since too frequently negated by
two somewhat antagonistic 36 Seasons doesn't sound or instances of unrequited anger
and typically aggressive verses. feel like a grand statement. and unfairness. And while.,the
It's a pretty clever production Ghostface addresses love, album is filled with the sound
technique. Stuff antithetical loyalty, friendship and change of soul and retro East coast rap
emotion into the hook, then through the vein of soul, and styling, it all feels like a kind of
stuff the hook in between two these slow beats and drawn- conjuring trick in the end. That
opposite messages. The result out horn sections serve only after nine years of learning,
here with 36 Seasons is a kind of to conjure ome feeling fusic-making and growing
sad and reminiscent survey of nostalgia. For example, on up, Ghostface Killah still relies
what Ghostface has lost in his "Love Don't Live Here No on the tricks and traps of the
home town in Staten Island, only More," he raps about coming rapper who rests in peace with
it's too out-of-character to hold home to his girl after nine long Fishscale.
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Yoga pants.
Film just scratches
surface of iconic life
By REBECCA LERNER
Daily Arts Writer
"Awake: The Life of Yoga-
nanda" is a shallow introduc-
tion to the fascinating life of
Paramahansa
Yogananda, Ct
who brought
the spiritu- "Awake:
alism of theT
East to the The life
materialis- of Yoga-
tic West in
the 1920s. nanda"
Despite cen- Counterpoint
tering on the Films
importance Michigan Theater
of medita-
tive experiences, the movie's
disjointed and rushed feelings
may misalign your chakras.
Checking all the boxes for a
biopic, the film travels through
Yogananda's childhood and
adolescent propensity for
spirituality. After he finds his
spiritual master and founds a
school in India, he realizes his
journey must be taken to the.
materialistic and spiritually
uneducated West. In'Boston
and then California, Yoganan-
da establishes his foundation
and begins to teach the masses
his theories of enlightenment.
Much of the movie focuses
not on the life of the yogi, but
on his influence on others. Fre-
quently distributed throughout
the film, interviews are from
diverse subjects, ranging from
George Harrison of The Bea-
tles, who constantly sought out
life advice from Yogananda's
autobiography, to a Harvard
physicist who confirms that
Yogananda's methods were
based in neurological scienc-
es. However, the interrupting
interviews that lionize the yogi
distract the viewer from the
actual story of his life.
The most interesting parts
of the movie are centered on
the sources of conflict in the
yogi's life. Entering the roar-
ing 1920s as a dark-skinned
man teaching foreign concepts,
Yogananda is the victim of rac-
ism and yellow journalism. The
yogi lectures and lives through
World War II and the bomb-
ing of Hiroshima - events that
fundamentally contradict his
views of the world. But even
with subject matter as com-
pelling as the arduous life and
forward thinking beliefs of the
yogi, the film hurries through
this content.
This movie seems like an
introduction to the life of
someone who influenced the
world with yoga, using the
spirituality of the practice to
try to achieve peace instead
of as an ab workout, as is the
case with most modern yoga.
Other biopics this year, such as
"Get On Up" about soul singer
James Brown and "The Theory
of Everything" about physicist
Stephen Hawking, have a pro-
found and confidential nature
in their details that make the
audience identify with the sub-
ject. Instead of acquainting the
audience with the personality
and flaws of the man behind
the legend, the film focuses
its energy on the glorification
of Yogananda. "Awake" barely
scratches the surface of a com-
plex man who deserved a bet-
ter exploration of his depths.
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