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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 2003)
Aaron Shakra Notebooks of DJ Serpentine Media doesn't portray reality The best drama on television isn't "ER," "The West Wing" or "The Sopra nos" — it's your news channel, providing the best drama money can buy, presented in a form available for consumption, 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Sure, it probably comes as no surprise that the information you take as fact is fic tion, a crafted entertainment of the high est caliber, carefully scripted and present ed in high-definition widescreen (where available). There's so much money in volved in making this stuff look good that you might even confuse it with reality. But overall, there's about as much reality in the news as in any reality television show. What perhaps isn't as obvious, howev er, is what you're missing. There is no doubt that information is being presented by these newscasts. But it's shown in ways emphasizing the visual presentation and not the actual content. This has been labeled "sensationalism" in the past, but whatever it is, its power ful formula has proven reliable and fi nancially lucrative for those funding the shows. But if you think "the news" tells you what's happening in the world, you're dreadfully mistaken. First think about this: Say corporation Y owns a news channel and corporation Y also makes movies, video games, releases music, maybe owns a radio station here or there and perhaps even a newspaper. Wouldn't it be silly to consider these various mediums separate from one another? Or not influenced by one another? For all these different prod ucts — be it a film or a newscast — the end result for corporation Y is the need to sell you something. Linder this edict, why shouldn't coverage of a war look like a video game? Why shouldn't a television news anchor look like a movie star (well okay, not all of them — but most wear at TumtoSHAKRA, page 11 TEXAS continued from page 7 but that still doesn’t make up for the gross sight of her re mains covering the back seat. The group stops at a nearby farmhouse in order to wait for the sheriff, who picks up the body. The sheriff s mocking of the corpse is comical until it turns out he is part of the fami ly that includes the chain saw bearing madman, Leatherface. lessica Biel's character Erin is the equivalent of the 1974 ver sion's Sally, who is left to es cape Leatherface and his crew after her friends are slain one by one. In the original, the deadly family consisted of three men and a decrepit old grandpa; in the new version, the family is a larger clan of weirdos, in cluding a few homely women and a little boy. This is a case where more doesn't equal better. The original characters were classically simple, while the new ones bring an overkill of frightful and shocking moments. Ihe most cleverly disturbing moment in the film is when Leatherface, who wears a mask of his victims' faces, turns to Erin wielding his chain saw and wearing the face of her dead boyfriend. One moment that stuck with me hours after the film ended was when Erin finds one of her friends alive but missing a limb and hang ing from a hook in Leather face's basement of dismem bered bodies. She stabs her friend to death to put him out of his misery. From the first kill on, the film is a non-stop ride of cli maxes, chase scenes and body mutilations. Unlike the original, which has more sporadic high-intensity scenes, the new version doesn't leave enough time between scenes to take a deep breath. The new film's elaborately gross setting, overdone sus pense and graphic killings de liver thrills very successfully. They're more like I-want-to throw-up thrills instead of ex citing thrills, but maybe that's what Halloween is all about. Contact the Pulse reporter at natashachilingerian @dailyemeraid.com. Self Defense Speaker and Teacher * r Erin Weed h UNIVERSITY OP ORBGON Brought to you by Greek Life, the Health Center, Women's Space, and UO Housing. Information Session October 30th EMU Ballroom 7-9 pm Free! Events are open to all female UO students. Hands-On Self-Defense Training October 31st, 9am-10am, 10-11am, or 11am-12pm Bean West Conference Room - Salf-ldantiflad Woman CONCERT continued from page 8 others would be judged. Few have matched the intimacy and soft passion that Smith shared with his fans through his music. He took all those ugly thoughts, the ones most of us pre tend don't exist, and dressed them up with guitar and made them into songs so pretty that hearing them makes your heart break all over again. A statement from his label, DreamWorks Records, eloquently states "(H)e was perhaps his generation's most gifted singer songwriter. 11 is enormous talent could change your life with a whisper." Smith's music has a comforting hon esty that isn't forced or contrived, and that is hard to find. Last Wednesday I once more turned to his music for comfort. This time, it was the news of his death, at the age of 34, that 1 needed solace from. Ihe past week I've been noticing people doing the same. The night the news of his death broke I called one of my friends and I could hear "Miss Misery" playing in the background. A couple days later, at another friend's apartment I noticed her copy of "Roman Candle" sitting next to the CD player instead of on the shelf with the rest of her CDs. Since that first Smith concert, 1 have been both spoiled and lucky enough to see a great many shows with talent ed and responsive musicians. I lowev er, that show, and Smith's music, were the catalyst for me. And Elliott, 1 just want you to know that 1 keep you apart, deep in my heart, separate from the rest, where I like you the best. Contact the Pulse columnist at helenschumacher@dailyemerald.com. Her opinions do not necessarily represent those of the Emerald. 5-IQ Q3UiC | 1 NOTE CHANGE OF DATE ALL TIX HONORED THE CLARKS & PSEUDOPOD FOR A FULL SCHEDULE VISIT WWW.THRASHERPRESENTS.COM PRODUCED BY STEINBERG THRASHER PRESENTS STOLE YOUR WOMAN & ALTEREGO THURn NOV l« 7:00PM DOORS ALL AGES 16? WEST 6TH AVENUE • 541 485-3825 & TRACHTENBURG FAMILY SLIDE SHOW PLAYERS 1010 WILLAMETTE ST 541-344 4343 7:00PM DOORS (S) TfcketsWest TICKETS AT ALL SAFEWAY/TICKETSWEST LOCATIONS, ONLINE AT WWW.TICKETSWESTCOM OR CHARGE BY PHONE 1-800-325-SEAT BE PART OF THE SCENE, JOIN THE STP STREET TEAM! EMAIL: STREETTEAM THRASHERPRESENTS.COM
