-OregonDaily Emerald
PULSE
Aaron Shakra
Art falls apart
Promotion
materials
waste our
desk space
Hello, Aaron here. I don t know if there
will be a more opportune moment to say
this, so I'm going to take advantage of it
and talk behind-the-scenes a little in my
first column ever. And before I lose you,
dear reader, potentially on the verge of
boredom with yet one more columnist
talking about the Emerald (didn't we just
do this in the year-end issue?), let me say
this is still about entertainment. Indirect
ly, of course.
With the staff recycling here recently at
the Emerald, the office has gotten signifi
cantly cleaner. Not that last yea/s staff— of
which I was part of, canying the title of
"Pulse Reporter" — was particularly dirty,
but over the course of one school year,
much waste accumulates. Late last week, I
spearheaded cleaning the Pulse desks, and
let me say there was no greater culprit for the
aforementioned waste. Pulse had become a
veritable tour de force of uber-clutter.
To give you a picture of what I'm talking
about, imagine piles of expired press re
leases, movie promo kits and publicity
photos, compact discs, videos and books
spanning three desks. More material items
probably run through this section of the
paper than all others combined.
* Unfortunately, the Pulse desk cannot
possibly control the sea of information
that comes our way. The fault is largely
that companies think we want to write
I about every single thing they release, and
proceed by shoving endless hordes of
press releases, packets and other material
items down our throats. I mention no or
ganization in particular; however, I still
feel it necessary to make an effort to stem
the tide of waste and say the following:
Please, think about the press materials
you create. Please, don't send us every little
thing, using large envelopes and non-recy
clable plastic with massive amounts of pa
per. How long do you think a press packet
for the movie "Hollywood Homicide" will
be useful around here? Do you think we're
going to be impressed by the plastic couch
you sent us containing information about
"Anger Management"? Is that going to be
the turning point that makes us write a
positive review of the film? Do we really
need one more piece of plastic — largely
non-recydable — with a glossy paper
booklet of information that could be
more easily found on the Internet? No!
There are hundreds of organizations
and media outlets shoving information
down our throats. Of course, how are
these groups supposed to know what we
care to write about? They send us every
thing so we're able to have a choice about
such things.
My solution to this problem is not
"don't send us stuff." Rather, it's to use e
mail and conduct business electronically
whenever possible. The computer age is
upon us, and right now there is no
greater, practical tool for conserving
the waste I'm talking about. Many
Turn to Shakra, page 6
Summer at the silver screen
Summer movie season is here, and this
year brings Hollywood fans a grab bag
of horror, comedy, art films, and kitsch
By Ryan Nyburg and Aaron Shakra
Freelance Reporters
The summer movie season has been under
way since halfway through spring. Still, there's
plenty of summer left. Here are, in our hum
ble opinions, the interesting films in store for
the remainder of the dog days.
Director Danny Boyle, of "Trainspotting"
fame, takes the traditional zombie
film and reworks the formula in "28 /
Days Later, opening on June
27. The result is one of the most
anticipated horror films of the
year. The stoiy is about a vims
that wipes out all of London,
leaving only a few survivois. The
infected population becomes
flesh-eating zombies, and the
survivors have to band together
in order to fight them off.
George Romero fans rejoice.
Since Pixar Animation Stu
dios and Walt Disney have
raked in the dough early with
"Finding Nemo," the remain
ing highlight for summer ani
mation comes from Dream
Works SKG, with "Sinbad:
Legend of the Seven Seas," set
for release July 2. Early word
has it that the animation — a
mix of traditional 2-D cell
animation and 3-D computer
generated imagery — is stun
ning. Screenwriter John Logan,
most recently of "Star Trek:
Nemesis," provided the screen
play for the film. Voice roles for
the characters include Cather
ine Zeta-Iones, Brad Pitt and
Michelle Pfeiffer.
Opening the same day is
"Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines." With
two of the original stars missing, as well as the
original director, this highly anticipated film
could be hit or miss. With a $170 million
budget, director Jonathan Mostow better
hope it's a hit. If it's even nearly as good as ei
ther of the first two, it could make half its
budget back in a single weekend. Apart from
commercial consideration, the effects look su
perb, as does new villain Kristanna Loken.
Comic book adaptations are
all the rage these days. They don't all come
from the staple cadre of super heroes, howev
er. "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,"
based on Alan Moore's comic book, is a
chimera of 19th century literature and the
20th century superhero. Characters from
books of H.G. Wells, Bram Stoker and Mark
Twain show up in "LXG" among others. Sean
Connery headlines the cast as Allan Quarter
main. This film marks the second adaptation
of a Moore comic book — 2001's "From Hell"
was the first — and arrives in theaters July 11.
_ "Pirates of the Caribbean" will be
Jr the major competition for LXG.
With a slew of direct-to-video sequels
to their older classics, and now
a film based on one of their
amusement park rides, it looks
like Disney has run complete
ly out of original ideas. On the
other hand, how can one resist
Johnny Depp in a pirate outfit?
As long as the filmmakers
don't take things too seriously,
this could be the camp classic
of the summer.
The spy-spoof genre is alive
and well in the form of "Johnny
English," which stars Rowan
Atkinson, best known as Mr.
Bean, in the title role as an inept
secret agent assigned to save
Britain from the scourge of a
jewel thief. Interestingly
enough, the film's two writers
are Neal Purvis and Robert
Wade, who wrote the two most
recent James Bond films. "John
ny English" opens July 18.
Also opening July 18 is
"Garage Days." Director Alex
Proyas, who brought us "The
Crow" and "Dark City," sur
prised some people with his de
cision to direct a light comedy
Turn to Movies, page 6
J
Festival goes ‘Bach’ to baroque this year
The Oregon Bach Festival will star renowned
conductor Helmuth Rilling and instead
of debuting new musical faire will mostly
feature pieces by classical composers
By Ryan Nyburg
Freelance Reporter
The Oregon Bach Festival begins for the
34th time Friday, opening with the voices of
Pacific International Children's Choir Festival
at 6 p.m.
The festival is returning to more traditional,
baroque pieces this year, with performances of
the works of Handel, Beethoven, Brahms and
Johann Sebastian Bach himself.
"This year is our off-year," said George
Evano, the festival's director of communica
tions. "Last year we debuted a major Ameri
can work, next year we're debuting a new
piece. This year we're concentrating on Bach's
contemporaries."
The festival is guided by artistic director
and internationally renowned conductor
Helmuth Rilling. Rilling, whose honors in
clude receiving the Theodor Heuss Prize,
conducting the musical portion of the cere
monies for the reunification of East and
West Germany and being the first German
conductor to conduct the Israeli Philhar
monic, turned 70 on May 29. In homage of
his birthday, and also as a fundraiser, the fes
tival has given him another honor: His im
age is commemorated in a bobblehead doll,
copies of which will be available at the festi
val's Web site.
"I got an e-mail from (choir director) Peter
Hopkins saying, 'I think I have a way for the
festival to make millions,'" Artistic Administra
tor Marla Lowen said.
Rilling's isn't the only birthday being cele
brated this year, however.
The Hult Center for the Performing Arts, one
of the festival's major venues, will be turning
20. A reprise of Brahms' "German Requiem,"
the first piece the festival ever performed in the
Hult Center, will take place in the Silva Con
cert Hall on July 6.
Even though the festival is moving toward
more traditional performances this year, it
will still offer things for those seeking some
thing new. One performance, "TheTao of the
Well-Tempered Bach," promises to be a festi
val highlight. The performance combines the
dancing of Tai )i master Chungliang A1
Huang with a piano performance of Bach's
"The Well-Tempered Clavier" by pianist
Robert Levin.
Another festival highlight is the performance
of Handel's "Jephtha" on the opening day of
the festival.
"That should be of interest, as it has never
been performed at the festival before,"
Lowen said.
Combining two of the great classical com
posers in one performance, the July 13 per
formance of Bach's "Magnificat" and Mozart's
Ryan Nyburg
is a freelance
reporterfor
the Emerald.
"Mass in C Minor" is looking
to be one of the most
popular concerts at
this year's festival,
Evano said.
Tickets are
available
through
the Bach
Festival
office by
phone at
(541) 682
5000, or on
line at www.ore
gonbachfestival.com,
or at concert ticket win
dows an hour before
showtime. Tickets are
also available through
the University Ticket Of
fice in the EMU. Ticket
prices range from $12 to
$49, depending on the
event. For certain shows,
college students are eligible
for $20 tickets.
Helmuth Rilling
bobbleheads are
available for $25.