ISSUE 10

| Free | Issue10 |

MxPxTuMbledown

derek webbGooGle earTh

The newCalvinisM

2009Promo_Poster.qxp 3/9/2009 10:40 PM Page 1

MxPx09Derek Webb14

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Contents

INSPIreD | ISSUe 10 | 7


mike herreraun-covered

Cover

by Marc Jolicoeur

If you don’t like punk music, never have, and never will, than this inter-view will mean very little to you. But, if you’ve ever dipped your toes into the

mosh pits of life, been tempted to pierce any-thing other than your ears, or held the faintest disestablishmentarianistic views, then read on my mohawk-minded friend.

Mike Herrera is the the singer and bassist for one of the mainstays of the modern punk movement, MXPX. Their 17 year career has produced 8 full-length records, as well as a leg-endary EP of cover songs cleverly titled On The Cover. We had the chance to catch up with Mike and talk to him about the long-awaited sequel to their cover project, his new band, and “life in general”.

IM: Greetings and salutations from the North! We’re excited to be able to speak with you to-day, so let’s jump right into it. On The Cover was released about 14 years ago, under a climate where there were much fewer expectations on you (MXPX) as a band. Now that you have all this experience and the weight of hype on your shoulders, how did you find the recording experience differed this time around?

MH: Well, we’ve obviously got a little more experience under our belt now. We did this record all by ourselves. I was in there all day, by myself most of the time, doing a lot of the vocals and stuff like that. Originally the idea behind it was like “Hey, let’s pick some songs we like and kick it out, no problem, easy”. But once we started really getting in the studio and working on the songs, we realized there’s more involved than we’d first thought. I don’t know why, but it seemed there was every bit as much effort involved in making this cover album as there would be on a normal MXPX studio album. We didn’t know what we were in for.

10 | ISSUe 10 | INSPIreD

IM: Well, it turned out nicely, so we’re glad you did it. Now, the amount of guest appearances you have on here is reminiscent of a modern-day hip hop album. What was the thought pro-cess behind that?

MH: We’ve always had at least a few guest collaborations on our albums (probably since The ever Passing Moment), but with a cover al-bum, we kinda realized we could do stuff that we wouldn’t normally do on a regular MXPX album. We could get away with having some crazy guitar parts or crazy vocals, so that’s why we decided to have so many guest appear-ances...because we could.

IM: And that’s the reason we do anything, right? Just because we can.

MH: exactly!

IM: One of the most surprising tunes on the re-cord is “Linda, Linda” by the Japanese punk band The Blue Hearts. How did you guys even hear of this band?

MH: We discovered them through our Japanese label. We mentioned that we’d wanted to do something different for the Japanese release of the record, as we usually do, and they said “Oh, there’s this great song by this band that’s really pretty big over here”, or at least were...they’re like the Sex Pistols of Japan, you know? We heard the song and said “That’s great! They sound like us, except they’re Japanese.” So we did the song and liked it so much that we decided to not just include it on the Japanese version. We decided to do 2 versions. I sang an english version that does have some Japanese in it, and then I sang an all-Japanese version for the Japanese release.

IM: Another notable track on here is U2’s “I Will Follow”, which is the 1st song on the band’s 1st album, back when their connection to the new-wave/punk scene was more than just a distant memory. Is there any significance to that song choice?

MH: We have definitely been U2 fans from way back. Not necessarily HUGe fans of their newer stuff, but that album (Boy) was huge. I mean, their first 4 albums were big influences on us as musicians, so we wanted to do something that fit us. We didn’t wanna do “Where The Streets Have No Name” or anything like that.

We wanted to do something a little more punk, and that’s why we chose that song.

IM: Makes sense. Well, it’s meeting with good re-views, and we wish you continued support for it. It may be too soon to ask this question, but any word on a new MXPX record?

MH: I’m starting to think about a new record, but I’m sure it’ll be a while...just ‘cause it always is. IM: I read online that you have a surprise for MXPX fans this fall. Any hints on what that could be?

MH: Umm...no. Because...

IM: ...Because you don’t know what it is?

MH: (laughter) I’m sure I know what it is and I’ve somehow forgotten! There’s just so many things. I’m like “Write it down and let me know what I gotta do next”. Literally every day is a long day of work, so I don’t think much past 2 months.

IM: So, since it’ll be a surprise for you too, we look forward to seeing your reaction. MH: Yeah, exactly! Oh, and we just put out a live DVD for the first time called “Triple Threat”. There’s tons of songs...3 whole shows. It was a real do-it-yourself type endeavor. We didn’t necessarily have a license to fly, but we were just like “Ah, let’s make a DVD”.

IM: Well, that’s what punk’s all about. Let’s take a few minutes to talk about your new side-proj-ect, Tumbledown. How long has this idea been on the backburner?

MH: I started writing country songs around 1998, but it took me quite a while before I decided, you know, “I gotta start a band”. Forward 10 years or so. In 2007 I did some demos with these guys (we weren’t a band or anything, I just hired them to come in record with me...actually, we traded work, ‘cause I recorded their band and then they recorded with me) and I got some good response from those demos, which are now the Atlantic City eP. After that came out, we started practicing a bit, and then we de-cided to do some shows. We started playing locally. Then, slowly, we went out on a few short tours. Finally, we did a full-length record this fall of all-new songs, and I kinda feel like we’re a real band now.


Cover


IM: There are a ton of adjectives floating around from people who’ve tried to classify this project, but they all seem to agree that the sound relies quite heavily on Hank-Williams-eque, old school country. Have you always been a fan of that music?

MH: Well, that’s what I started writing. Songs that were, you know, slower and ballady. But with the new stuff it’s a lot faster...a lot more punk. “Red Dirt Country” is a good way to describe it. It’s a little more punk even than that, though. I’d obviously like to break into the country scene a little more. We’re just this weird band that’s playing with other punk bands in punk clubs. It kinda works, but we’re not really finding all of our audience, I don’t think. The people that see us like it, but they don’t know that they’ll like it until they see it.

IM: Well, if you could write just one country hit and break into that scene, you could retire a wealthy punk...there’s money in that market.

MH: (understanding laughter) Yeah...um, your readers might wanna know that we have a split 7” coming out on Anchorless Records with Canadian band Yesterday’s Ring (www.myspace.com/yesterdaysringmtl) on April 21st, and our full-length comes out May 19th.

IM: We’re looking forward to that, for sure. Now, here’s the question you probably knew was coming: How do your beliefs influence your songwriting?

MH: Well...hopefully they make things interest-ing, and propose some ideas as well as some problems...sometimes some solutions. I’ve al-ways had questions. I’m not somebody who has the answers. It seems like the more I live this life the less sure I am of anything, except for the obvious (death and taxes). It’s funny, because your priorities change when you get to a certain place in your life. With MXPX I’m still very optimistic, or at least I try to be hopeful with the lyrics. With Tumbledown, it’s a little bit different. It’s a little bit more about just havin’ a good time. A good way to describe it, hon-estly, is “drinking music”. Go out to the pub, have a good time, get rowdy and sing along, you know? That’s basically what Tumbledown is about. Obviously, MXPX is a little more serious, but at the same time, fun music.

IM: So then, when it comes down to songs that you believe are worth writing, are you motivated by any subject matter in particular, or do you find inspiration to produce material that is mainly entertainment?

MH: It’s both. Everyone likes having a good time, so that can be a strong motivation in songwriting. But just coming up with an idea that strikes you in a cool way, whether it’s a serious emotion or a current event, or even just a catch phrase that you thought of and you’re like “Ah, that needs to be a song!”, anything that sparks something in you, you just use that energy to propel you through the song until you’re done. Usually, the good ones don’t take too long. Maybe an hour. Maybe less.

IM: Cool man. Well, thanks for taking the time to talk with us, and we wish you the best in your many endeavors.

MH: Alright man, thanks! You can find more information about MXPX at www.mxpx.com , and more about Tumble-down at www.tumbledownhq.com

On The COver II TraCklIsT:

-Dead Milkmen - Punk Rock Girl (featuring Matt Hensley of Flogging Molly on accordion) -The Ramones - My Brain is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg) -U2 - I Will Follow -Descendents - Suburban Home -The Proclaimers - (I’m Gonna Be) 500 Miles -The Go-Go’s - Vacation -Belinda Carlisle - Heaven Is a Place on Earth (duet with Agent M of Tsunami Bomb/The Action Design) -Kim Wilde - Kids In America -Poison - Fallen Angel (with additional vocals from Craig Owens of Chiodos and guitar solo by Stephen Egerton of Descendents) -The Clash - Should I Stay or Should I Go -The Blue Hearts - Linda Linda -Queen - Somebody to Love (with additional vocals, piano, and key-board by Bryce Avary of The Rocket Sum-mer and guitar solo from Ethan Luck of Relient K) -Bonus Track “Major Tom”


Cover


by Marc Jolicoeur


Feature

I had the privilege of catching up with ac-claimed singer/songwriter Derek Webb while he was home in Nashville, TN, follow-ing a month and a half out on the road. For your convenience, I’ve typed out our

conversation...

IM: It’s great to get a chance to speak with you today. Let’s get started by talking about your new baby. Not your actual son, but the thing that’s been taking up even more of your time this last little while, www.noisetrade.com. Take us back to when this idea was conceived.

DW: It’s been at least a couple years. The “Aha!” moment was when we ran our little experiment of giving away my Mockingbird record for free. The album had been out for some months and we had sold what we felt like we were gonna sell (which is typically the same amount for each record). I don’t tend to sell a lot. There was no more marketing money left, and the sales had really slowed, so people started talking about me making a new record. I wasn’t really ready to do that. I wanted to continue to play these songs. So I hatched this idea; I went to the re-cord label and asked them if they’d let me give it away for free. Nowadays, that doesn’t sound so outrageous, but 2 1/2 years ago, it did. Still, they let me do it because I was able to convince them of a model way we can do it which would benefit them greatly. Instead of just putting a zip file of the record online for people to grab, we structured it where people would give us their information, put in their name and email address and zip code. In addition, we asked that people would think of 5 friends who they thought would be interested in hearing the record and put their email addresses in. We didn’t keep those email addresses, we just used them to send out a little email to those 5 friends with a personal message inviting them to come download the record. That’s it. With this system in place we tried a little experiment. Within 3 months time we gave away around 85,000 copies of the record, which is a tremendous amount of records for me, and a lot more than we had sold. And now we had infor-mation. Zip codes, email addresses...the kind of information with which you can make a living. So immediately after we had this great success we started dreaming about and developing a way to put this system into effect for others. It took a few years, but Noise Trade is the product of that development.


IM: But why make this system available so readily for others? Who is Noise Trade for?

DW: I have a lot of friends who, like me, are blue-collar musicians (not rich, not famous, but making a living and trying to continue making a living playing music) and I knew they’d be will-ing to give up a little music for free in exchange for information with which they can make their living. That’s who we built this for. I continue to use it myself. I’m giving away my newest record, The ringing Bell, for free.,,and we’ve got about 100 other artists giving music away through the site. In about 4 months time we’ve given away about 750,000 songs (over 70,000 albums), which we’re thrilled about. We’ve got a lot of big ideas in terms of where we wanna take it from here, and some great people on board who are gon-na help us run it.

IM: So when artists sign up at Noise Trade to give music away, they’re given with access to all the information that fans who’ve downloaded their record provide?

DW: exactly. We are merely the conduit through which the artists and the fans are connecting. Anyone can sign up, and when people put mu-sic up here, one of the primary tools we give to artists are widgets that they can take and em-bed anywhere that takes HTML (MySpace, Face-book, any blog, any social networking site). They give the fans the opportunity to listen to samples of whatever the artist has uploaded, and then they give them a choice; they can either tell 5 friends and get a free download, or they can pay any amount that they want. Whichever one they choose, the person downloading the record gives you their information. So either way, you’re getting something helpful. You’re either getting paid (which is essentially a donation, since you’re giving your music away) or you’re getting the most effective type of promotion in music right now: friend recommendations.

IM: In your opinion, after giving away this music, what is the next step towards sustainability in a music career?

DW: I think there’s a handful of ways, and regard-less of what they are, we are at the point now where anyone who is desiring to make their living being creative (as a musician or whatever) has to try and figure these things out. At Noise Trade, we are simply trying to come in and help people answer some of these questions, but we’re really doing nothing but responding to the condition that we’re currently in, which is not something we created. We’re all having to figure things out right now. How do you have a half-existent mu-sic career when there is no record industry? <in-sert laughter> That’s pretty much where we’re

going. In other words; How do you make a living if you cannot sell round pieces of plastic to peo-ple? These are the questions facing everyone right now. So Noise Trade’s answer is that you make meaningful impressions with your fans and you empower them to help you find more fans. People who listen to my music...I can’t assume that they’ve told all their friends about it. Yet their friends have a pretty good chance of liking my music, or else these people probably wouldn’t be friends. So what I wanna do is reward people for telling their friends about my stuff by giving them more of my stuff.

IM: So, as far as artists actually making money, would you say the only way to do so these days is by touring?

DW: In my opinion, as a musician, you never wanna make all your money in one place. It’s a really dangerous thing to do. What if you can’t tour anymore? You need to have a handful of things that you’re able to do to make money. With the music business the way it is now, you won’t be able to just sell a bunch of records and make money. Barely anyone’s ever been able to do that anyway, even in the industry’s hay day. So what we’re finding with Noise Trade is that the short-term money is the Tip Jar (fans choosing to pay for downloads). We have some relatively unknown artists who are making great money giving their music away for free. That sounds illogical, but it’s true. There’s a band called The Major Labels from LA. They are a great power-pop band who were basically un-known when they put their record up on Noise Trade. They are making an incredible amount of money because tons of people are download-ing their music, and many of them are choosing to pay for it. It’s remarkable! So it’s a thrill for us to be cutting these checks every month and help-ing these guys make a living in the short-term. The long-term benefit is all this information that bands are able to download and use to get in touch and keep in touch with their fans. Now The Major Labels are embarking on their first big tour and they’re able to use this information to figure out where their fans are and how to promote those shows to ensure the rooms are full of people. The bottom line is that in the next few years you’re gonna find people giving music away for free across the board, purely as a marketing tool, and the actual music is just gonna become a connection point. Once you get people to listen and once you get them invested, then we’re all gonna have that question: How do we sustain it? I think harvesting your fans’ information and making connections with them is your long-term answer.

IM: How has this system helped you out in the past?


DW: Well, when I gave Mockingbird away, we got an offer for a show in some club in Houston, TX, that holds about 300 people. I’d never been there before, so they wouldn’t offer me any guarantee. They just said “We’ll give you 90% of the door, but we won’t guarantee you any mon-ey...and we’re gonna give you a Tuesday night (which is not a great night)”. But after looking at the list I had from giving away the album and fil-tering it to within 20 miles of downtown Houston, I knew that there were 2,200 people who had downloaded my record in that area. So with that information, you can take a gamble. You can go down there and you can make great money on a random night of the week, and you can impress the promoter and get booked again, and then it starts to build on it’s own. There were some cities that I had no idea I had any fans in, like New York and Los Angeles. Now I go to these cities and I sell out shows, because with this info, we can play smarter shows.

IM: This isn’t intended to be a trick question, but would you consider Noise Trade (or rather, the artists who are a part of it) to be faith-based?

DW: All I can do is observe, because I have no intention about this. We in no way filter the artists who are signing up. I’m just as surprised as any-body to see who comes along and puts their music up here. right now, we’ve got a pretty good mix. There are a handful of artists who I guess you could categorize as faith-based. But there’s a lot of other artists that you really couldn’t. <again with the laughter> Incidentally, the music that I make, I would in no way cat-egorize as “Christian music”, if for no other rea-son than the fact that I don’t really know what that means. That’s a much bigger conversation, though...I am a follower of Jesus. That’s my world view. But I’m a singer/songwriter. That’s my job. I make music about whatever’s in front of me. I do not make music about spiritual content as a rule, and I think we have several artists on board who are like that. But if you’re asking me if we have any intention about that, we don’t.

IM: If you don’t filter the artists at all (either for content or quality), are you at all concerned that you could end up with some low-grade material on the site which would then reflect poorly upon yourself personally or upon the sys-tem as a whole?

DW: Umm...no. The one thing about the site which some have cited as a deterrent is the fact that we have a cost. We are providing a service, and there’s a lot that goes into it, so we have a set-up charge. For a while, I was conflicted about that, because I had initially wanted this to be a free service. But in order for this to work as a business, we had to cover our costs. This fee has served to

help keep artists who are serious about their ca-reers and who understand the value of spend-ing some marketing money as our main clients. If Noise Trade were a completely free service it would be just like MySpace. right now we only have 100 artists. I’d wager that if we were a free site, there’d be thousands of bands on there...but only about 100 would be worth download-ing. <even more laughter> I’m not trying to pass judgment, but you don’t have to have anything to go setup a MySpace page. You can sing a capella into a tape recorder. <ok, this time I was the one laughing> It’s almost impossible to navi-gate these bands and find anything that you like. So while I was conflicted at first about that little starting fee, I think it’s been a gate for peo-ple to have to come through in order to express their own commitment to their career. When we meet with record labels and show them our service and the results, they immediately ask us how much it’s gonna cost. When we tell them, they just about fall out of their seats because of how inexpensive it is. They understand the value of spending marketing resources. Whereas many of the indie artists we speak to say that it seems counterintuitive to spend money to give your record away for free.

IM: Well, it’s been a real pleasure talking with you today. In closing, what’s the haps on your new record?

DW: Well, I sure am trying to work on it. I’ll tell ya that getting Noise Trade off the ground has taken up almost all of my creative energy for the last year. I should probably have a new record finished already, but I’m really just starting on it. I have a trajectory for it. I think I know the record I’m making and I know how I’m gonna make it. Now it’s just a matter of carving out the time to do it. Now that I’m home from this tour I’m going to really start working on it in earnest. I took out some portable recording gear and tried to work on it while we were traveling, and I did get a bit of work done, but I think on the earliest side of things we’re looking at a May release. We’ll have to see. With this record in particular I wanna take all the time it needs to make sure we’re doing it right. I’m definitely very excited about the direc-tion. It’s gonna be a different kind of project for me altogether. The way we’re recording ti, the way I’m writing it, the sound...eveything’s gonna be an experiment for me. I’m finally starting to get energized about putting some time into my own career again, which has been the thing I’m least interested in for the last year!

*For more information on Derek Webb, please visit www.derekwebb.com, and don’t forget to check out www.noisetrade.com

Feature

FM STATICDear Diary20093/5

Punk is dead. Pop punk, however, is alive and well.

Ask any skinny jean wearing, Ipod touch bearing, 14 year-old boy or girl what the kids are listening to these days and they list bands like Fall Out Boy, Good Charlotte or Hawk Nelson. So the name FM Static may mean “radio noise” to anyone older than 25, but mention the name to any group of teenagers and your knee deep in 8 gig shuffles.

FM Static started in 2003 as a side project of TFK (Thousand Foot Krutch) singer Trevor McNevan. Six years and three albums later, April 7 marks the release of Dear Diary, the bands new concept album. FM Static has always done the pop punk thing well, so there are no surprises when you put the album into your player. A blend of clear vocals, catchy lyrics and danceable rhythms jump out at you from the first single, “A Boy Moves to Town With an Optomistic Outlook”. Trevor’s vocal talent and creativity fit the album well and come through very clearly on tracks like “Man Watcha’ Doing”. Steve Augustine (who founded the band with Trevor) makes the poppy, rhythmic guitar sounds sound complete in the form of very capable drumming. The music on Dear Diary draws the listener in more than on any previous CD. “Her Father’s Song” works extremely well for the band because it is something that we haven’t heard before. This track is a down-tempo ballad with a really good drum line and very catchy chorus. The song “Take Me As I Am” doesn’t typify that old pop-punk sound and is new ground for the guys and that is commendable.

Dear Diary is a concept album because of it’s lyrical themes. Trevor has decided to appeal directly to his listening audience. He has taken what most high school kids think about and created songs, weaving together themes of searching and themes of being out of place. That has to count for something more than just “radio noise”. ~ Luke Johnson ~


DeLIrIOUS?My Soul Sings20094.5/5

When you think of the live concert very few bands

can match the mainstream performances of U2, The rolling Stones, and Michael Jackson. They are the titans of the live stage, the proverbial blue whale in a sea full of krill. Christian music is much the same, there are few that can do it well and can do it right. Hillsong United, Newsboys, and Third Day come to mind, but only manage to make ripples next to the waves created by a band from Littlehampton, england. If the ocean rolls then Stonehenge rocks when Delirious? is in town.

As we enter 2009 we draw closer to the end of the good book Delirious?. March 24 is the bands final chapter. The live DVD/CD My Soul Sings: Live from Bogota, Colombia was recorded in front of 12,000 Spanish worshipers packed into Bogota’s MCI Convention Center, there to witness a live concert from the industries best. Packed with a light show that truly entertains, giant screens that play some creative video images, and a set list that captures many of the bands well known songs, this package is a must for any fan. The 1 hour 15 minute DVD is highlighted with lots of memorable moments. During “History Maker” singer Martin Smith goes into the front rows of the huge audience and gets a Colombian flag from a fan, he then wraps it around himself and reads from the bible accompanied by full Spanish translation. “All God’s Children” features a group of 15 children from a Spanish kids choir on the stage with the band as they perform, making the song truly memorable. The three song encore features the song “Kingdom of Comfort” made unforgettable by all members of the band dressed in white and Martin Smith wearing a crown made of life’s comforts (which includes an ipod, cell phone, and television remote).

As the music DVD becomes increasingly popular, can more bands translate their live show to the Television? One thing is for sure, Delirious? leaves as the big fish while Jonah is left in awe. ~ Luke Johnson ~

and frustrating. In this movie, the dialogue consists of overly sweeping generalizations (the most heavy-handed moment probably being when Ben repeatedly yells at his friend Dan, “Do what you promised me! Do what you promised me!”) The characters seem to be trying with all their might to refrain from spilling the beans and telling us what “it” means. And as if that weren’t annoying enough, Guccino chooses to tell the story with a jarring, nonlinear structure.

The only thing that really connects the confusing scenes of Seven Pounds is their equal sappiness. We meet a weak-hearted, dying emily Posa (played by the stunning rosario Dawson, who does create some touching moments with the less than remarkable material). We also follow Ben as he interacts with a single mother, who’s boyfriend beats her, an old woman, who suffers in a convalescent home at the hands of cruel nurse, and the pitiful blind man from the start, who longs for someone to love him. It’s all starting to sound a bit like a Lifetime special. If you like a good cry and enjoy being emotionally manipulated by a filmmaker then Seven Pounds just might be the film for you. But, if you’d rather not waste your Friday night playing the guessing game with that little girl on the playground, then I’d say there are plenty of other films out there that pull off mystery, melodrama, and nonlinear structures with grace. ~ Leslie MacGregor ~

NICK AND NOrAH’S INFINITe PLAYLISTGenre: ComedyStarring: Michael Cera, Kat DenningsDirector: Peter SollettStudio: Sony Pictures3/5

Nick and Norah’s Mediocre, Yet Charming Playlist. Boy-meets-girl. Boy and girl fall in love over the course of one wild sleepless night. The plotline has been around since the beginning of movies (for all those classically-inclined, think It Happened One Night) and yet, moviegoers still want more. Give us popcorn, meet-cutes, wrong-mates, goofy buddies, and some fast-paced, witty dialogue, and

SeVeN POUNDSGenre: DramaStarring: Will Smith, rosario Dawson, Michael ealy, Barry Pepper, Woody HarrelsonDirector: Gabriele MuccinoStudio: Sony Pictures3/5

“I know something you don’t know. Neener, neener, neener.” remember that little girl? You know the one—the pig-tailed creature that skipped around the playground smugly proclaiming how she possessed some great hidden knowledge. Sure, at first you’d take interest. Who doesn’t like a good secret? Maybe she did know something you didn’t know. But, soon you’d realize that prodding the annoying know-it-all really wasn’t worth the effort. Ultimately, she’d lose the one thing she wanted most—your attention.

Gabriele Muccino’s latest release, Seven Pounds, makes a similar mistake. The film opens shockingly with a weeping Ben Thomas (played by Will Smith, who joined director Muccino in his earlier melodramatic work, The Pursuit of Happyness). We see Ben on the phone with 9-1-1, claiming that he will soon be the victim of his own suicide. Ok, so you got our attention, Muccino. I guess, we’ll keep watching. In the next scene, our leading man, whose constant pained face is easily comparable to a woman in labor, is on the phone yet again. This time, however, he’s yelling at a sweet, blind telemarketer (Woody Harrelson). The dialogue in this scene is so painfully cruel that it’s impossible not to squirm in your seat as you watch. “Do you even know what color the ocean is?” What could possibly motivate a person to say that to a blind man? Maybe the next scene will offer a clue. Nope, only more questions. Perhaps, the next. Nope, nothing there.

Quite remarkably, the film manages to last about an hour and forty-five minutes without providing a single answer. It could be argued that this is expected from any good mystery or suspense film. We know that the secret usually won’t reveal itself until the very end. But, Seven Pounds is no Hitchcock. In order to keep your audience engaged, the avoidance of the topic at hand shouldn’t feel unnatural


Reviews

we’ll be happy campers. Who cares if we know from the start the two will end up together?Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, though adding a modern flare and a fun glimpse at a night-in-the-life of today’s urban teenager, is no exception to the rule. In Peter Sollet’s film, Michael Cera (best known for his role in Juno) plays Nick, a heartsick New Jersey high schooler, who can’t seem to get over ex-girlfriend Tris (Alexis Dziena), the archetypal lip-gloss-wearing mean girl. In an attempt to discover if he still has a chance with this wrong-mate, Nick offers to drive around the quirkily self-deprecating Norah (played by Kat Dennings, seen previously in The 40-yr-old Virgin). The two meet-cute in a club in the Lower east side when Norah, trying to one-up her rival, asks Nick to pose as her boyfriend. This rival just happens to be Nick’s ex-girlfriend. I know, right? While cruising around the city in search of the mysterious band “Where’s Fluffy?” the couple discover that they have much more than a relationship with Tris in common. For one thing, their Ipod’s share the same playlists. If that doesn’t scream “made for each other” than I really don’t know what does.

When Nick’s well-meaning, gay buddies lose Norah’s best friend, Caroline (played hilariously by Ari Graynor, who provides some of the film’s biggest laughs), the gang is forced to search the city for her. The chances of finding a very skinny and drunk teenage girl in the entire city of New York seem very slim. relying heavily on coincidence, the equally thin plot of Playlist provides some cutesy, just-missed-her moments, and then, not much memorable happens aside from the eventual and expected coupling of the protagonists.

The fact that this storyline is essentially a C-level take on the traditional romantic comedy does not mean, however, that the film is void of charm. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist is proof that likeable leads can save a movie from destruction. Fans coming for the dry wit of their favorite stuttering straight man, Michael Cera, will not be disappointed. But, he’s not

the only one who delivers the goods. His co-star, Dennings, brings her own unique wisecracking, low-voiced humor, and the combination yields a few magic moments. This is quite an achievement considering their dialogue is far from genius (don’t expect Diablo Cody). But, despite its faults, the film contains many sweet and relatable moments that, I think, make it worth the rent.

Ultimately, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist knows its audience and does a good job at appealing to the world of the modern 17-year old—a world where a boy is cool if he wears too-tight pants and drives a beat-up Yugo and where kids spend their Friday nights feeding their souls at indie shows. Please don’t call them “concerts”. You’ll just sound stupid.~ Leslie MacGregor ~

MArLeY AND MeGenre: ComedyStarring: Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, eric Dane, Kathleen Turner, Alan ArkinDirector: David FrankelStudio: Twentieth Century Fox3.5/5

Woke up this morning ready to write a review of Marley & Me starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston. enjoyed my morning coffee, black. rushed to get my girls to school on time. Took my dog Tetley for a walk, we chased a squirrel. Stopped at the post office and picked up the mail. Anticipation for Marley & Me builds. Arrive back at the house, put in the screener from my friends over at Fox. Thinking how lucky I am to call this work. Marley & Me tells the story about a family and their adorable, but naughty and neurotic dog. Owen Wilson in his most earnest and endearing roll to date as reporter and columnist John Grogan, quickly draws you into his life with Jenny and their Labrador Marley. enjoying the intelligent and witty narration, disguised in part, as John’s on going column. Movie got interrupted when our real estate agent unexpectedly knocked on our door to


make plans for an open house this Sunday. Sat back down to Marley & Me when my own dog Tetley decided she wanted to play with Marley and barked relentlessly at the television screen. Took Tetley for her second walk of the morning chuckling the entire time at how Tetley would fail obedience school just like Marley. Sat down once more to continue writing about Marley & Me. Laughed out loud when Marley makes a break for it on the way to get “fixed”. Answer a knock at the door, water services representative here to read the meter, gets chased back to his vehicle by Tetley, guess he doesn’t like dogs, guess she doesn’t like strange smelling men. Back to Marley & Me, really enjoying the subtlety of Owen and Jen’s performances. The writing is so authentic that even those without a canine companion will likely relate to the ups and downs that make everyday so memorable. Refilled my coffee, ignoring the phone in favour of what I now realize is an honest, compelling and heart-warming story about life and love that will make even the most jaded of viewers feel rare and pure and special. ~ Antony ~

OBSerVe AND rePOrT Genre: ComedyStarring: Seth rogen, Anna Faris, Michael Pena, Celia Weston and ray Liotta.Director: Jody HillStudio: Warner Bros.2.5/5

When I first heard Seth rogen was the leading man in another comedy, I yawned a little bit. Why can’t Seth rogen lay low for a while? Why can’t Seth rogen take another supporting role like in Superbad? Plus, when news of “Observe and report” hit the streets, there was no denying the similarity in premise to the other mall cop movie, “Paul Blart ... (ahem) ... Mall Cop”, that came out earlier this year. Despite all of this, I went into the movie optimistically ... Hoping it would surprise me. It definitely did.

“Observe and report” follows ronnie

Barnhardt (Seth rogen), a delusional and unfortunate security guard at Forest ridge Mall. He wants to impress Brandi (Anna Faris). He can’t. He wants to be a real cop. He can’t. He wants to catch the pervert who flashes people in the mall. He can’t. Sounds like a recipe for a hilarious Seth rogen movie, right? Wrong.

Seth rogen may be on the poster, but it’s the supporting cast that brings life to this movie. Anna Faris plays Brandi, the blonde bimbo, so BrILLIANTLY that I didn’t want her to go away. Creating memorable moments out of lacklustre writing is not easy but she manages to steal every single scene she’s in. Alternatively, Collette Wolfe, playing the adorable secondary love interest, doesn’t even need Seth rogen to create on-screen chemistry. Any guy who looks at her is going to want to hold her hand and buy her ice cream.

The best part of “Observe and report” is the last 10 minutes. I don’t know who helped write those last pages of the script, but if that person had written the whole movie, “Observe and report” would have been a masterpiece. The worst part of this movie is, unfortunately, every other scene.

Director Jody Hill takes this comedy to some dark, disturbing and depressing places like he did in his directorial debut “The Fist Foot Way”. It would be fine if he was working with subtlety and subtext, but he’s not. Ultimately, it feels like the production team tried to copy another Seth rogen movie and completely missed it.

My advice is to go to the theatre, read the little magazines and eat the delicious popcorn until “Observe and report” has been playing for about an hour - THeN get your ticket. Maybe they’ll even let you in for free.~ Francois Goudreault Jr ~


Reviews


IN THe WOrDS OF Canadian philosopher Marshall McLu-han, we are living in a “global village”. Our population grows

while our borders shrink. While there is no single cause behind this (trade, travel, and television are major factors), there is little doubt that the innovation most responsible for putting the finishing touches on this little town we now call earth is the Internet.

The “I” in Internet is capitalized, some say, because it is a place; like Toledo, Wal-Mart, or Nirvana. I’d tend to say it’s more like an-other dimension. It’s Bizarro World. In the Internet, we can travel through time and space instantly, or become things that we could never imagine...also, Superman lives there, but he’s not as nice as you’d like him to be. The Internet enables us to do more than just the fantastical, obviously. There are many real world connection points (banking, shopping, keeping in touch with friends next door and across the globe), all of which compact this planet into an easily traversable place. And at the rate which the real world shrinks, the Internet gets proportionately larger. As of last July, it was estimated that there were more than 1 trillion (1,000,000,000,000) web pages on the Internet, and the rate of growth cur-rently sits at several billion pages per day. Of course, every kingdom needs a king, and in the nether-world of the Internet, Google reigns supreme. They aren’t the only search engine, but they may as well be. Thanks to their patented technology, information is now as readily available as we want it to be. If you can type it, you can find it.

As you’d expect, there are ups and downs to this brave new world. For example, if I

were to search the word “love” right now (as I’ve just done), I’d get approximately 1,910,000,000 returned entries. In other words: a good afternoon’s worth of read-ing. But, were I to Google “poverty”, I’d get about 69,900,000 returns, or “war”, 887,000,000. There would be news results, blogs, wiki entries, and other forms of dia-logue, opinion and/or fact-based. And here’s the kicker: This information would be here, floating around, whether or not I asked for it.

In some respects, one could argue that this has always been the case, even be-fore the information superhighway had a lick of pave. But now that the “Church of Google” (seriously, check out www.thechur-chofgoogle.org and at least read their “Nine Proofs” section...you’ll be intrigued, appalled, or both) has arrived, our society is faced with the burden of choice; whether or not we should encumber ourselves with the weight of this knowledge. There was a time where people would get upset when the morning paper suggested there was trouble down South. It was knowledge that they both did and didn’t want. But once the morning paper was tossed out, you were free until the next morning. Now, the morning paper is about as relevant as swing music. We have access to more global in-formation than newsprint could ever have provided, and it’s available anywhere, any-time. You wanna find out about the crisis in Sudan? Type it. economic meltdown in Ice-land? Type it. There are no boundaries. If the world is shrinking, then why do my shoulders suggest it seems to be gaining weight?

So, in this current climate, with it’s access to an onslaught of potentially dishearten-

by Marc Jolicoeur


ing news, how do we live compassionate and involved lives? How do we avoid the pitfalls of apathy and desensitization, when it seems like a natural defense to the infor-mational “white noise” that surrounds us?

See Your World

Start by actually seeking out information about your world. Go on the offensive. I’m not suggesting you give up World Of War-craft or anything, but spend at least some of your time online familiarizing yourself with global issues rather than shying away from them. regardless of your beliefs, most of us would say it is our responsibility to be well-rounded, informed, and caring citizens, right? Browse sites, read articles, and keep an open mind and spirit throughout.

Define Your World

There’s only been one man in all of history who has had the potential to fix everything in this world, and that man is not you. As you read, you’ll find articles about abject pov-

erty, racism, war, and disease. You’ll find some issues focused mainly in your country, and others spread out around the world...some in countries that you’ve never even heard of. Do not be overwhelmed. Keep your eyes open for what strikes a deep chord within you, and then (while maintain-ing a general knowledge of the other issues on our hands) focus on learning as much as you can about this particular issue.

Change Your World

Once you’ve narrowed things down a bit, it’s time to do something. You might settle on something environmental or social, med-ical or educational. Whatever your passion, this is the time to remember that the Inter-net is a tool to benefit the real world, not to replace it. Find out the practical/physical things that you can do to act on this issue, and then...do them.

This may sound overly simplistic, but life is supposed to be simple when you live in a village, isn’t it?

Your World


Borrowing the expression of my favorite Zoolander character Mugatu, “that John Calvin is so hot right now.” According to

TIMe magazine, “The New Calvinism” ranks number 3 out of 10 ideas that are “changing the world right now.”Calvinism, a theological system with an emphatic overview on the sovereignty of God, is not a new idea, as it’s been in ideological circulation for nearly the last 500 years. The concepts stem out of the teachings of French reformer John Calvin, who played a central role in the fostering of reformed theology and traditions. The distinguishing feature of Calvinism is its confident and specific approach to salvation, summarizing, “God does everything”. Further stretching the elasticity of the human ability for comprehension (and patience), Calvinism insists that God has already picked (and not picked) the eternity roster for the “New Jerusalem Angels”.

Some of the greatest Biblical scholars, teachers, and pastors in the last 500 years up to the current age have adhered to Calvinistic teaching. This latest resurgence, now dubbed “New Calvinism”, is due largely in part to the likes of emergent-type leaders such as Mark Driscoll, who pastors one of the fastest growing churches in America, Mars Hill Seattle. Driscoll hard-lines his Calvinistic influence to eager followers from his online forum www.theresurgence.com.

What I find exciting about the rediscovery of Calvinism is the attributing rediscovery of the

The New Calvinism

by Nathan Finochio

MArk DrIsColl

FaithScriptures. Although I am not a Calvinist (nor am I an Arminian), I recognize the strength of this movement; that is specifically young people returning to a deeper hunger for the infallible Word of God, that they may know God. In regards to navigating Calvinism (and it’s opposing thought, Arminianism), I would suggest a thorough reading of the history of both movements, paying close attention to the social climate and historic happenings under which both were conceived, as well as a thorough reading of the general propositions. Additionally, I would scrutinize the health and long-term fruit of church movements that have embraced Calvinism.

Its dictates may seem as discreet metaphysical subtleties, but they do eventually manifest and inform the philosophy and in turn methodology of the disciple. It has been difficult for me to commit

to either position because of the overwhelming abundance of Scripture to support both views, and both sides admittedly maintain that a proper hermeneutic will recognize “truth in tension”; on this discourse, however, it seems as though such principle has been thrown

to the wind. In any case, the New Calvinism is back with a flash, and I give it mad props for getting people thinking. Definitely check it out.

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. . . and go. You want to change the problems in the world. What is an appropriate response to hunger, shortage of clean water, lack of adequate health care, and to reaching the lost – either here at home or somewhere else in our global village?

For over 85 years Prairie has been teaching students how to impact the world for Jesus Christ. If you are ready for an adventure we invite you to learn more. Today you only imagine yourself doing these things; Prairie will prepare you for whatever God is going to lead you into tomorrow.

Learn more. Call us at 1.800.661.2425 or visit us online at www.prairie.edu.

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