French pop bests America’s ‘dirrty’ girl singers
Singer Serge Gainsbourg
adds a touch of class
to the pop scene
By Helen Schumacher
Pulse Columnist
For the past several years music lis
teners have had to put up with the
downward spiraling pop music of
Britney Spears and Christina
Aguilera as they compete for the title
of "America's Naughtiest." Unfortu
n a t e 1 y,
FORGOTTEN
ALBUMS
what these
women fail
to realize is
_that more
cleavage
does not necessarily equal sexier mu
sic. What today's pop stars need is a
lesson in classy seduction from the
French master Serge Gainsbourg.
Gainsbourg's songs are to French
pop what lace is to lingerie. In
1997, Polygram released a "best
of" album of Gainsbourg work ti
tled "Comic Strip." With the help
of ye-ye girls Brigitte Bardot and
lane Birkin, the album is the 1960s
at its dirrtiest.
Within the first couple of trades on
"Comic Strip," the listener is trans
ported to a Parisian bachelor pad.
Imagine asuite on the top floor of a
swanky apartment building. There is
gold wallpaper on the walls and a
white, bear-skinned mg on the floor.
A small fire is burning in the fireplace.
Opposite the fireplace is a floor-to
ceiling window, which provides an
unobstructed view of the Eiffel Tower.
The centerpiece of the room is the
largest canopy bed you've ever seen.
The sheets are red satin. In the comer,
a debonair Gainsbourg stands behind
a marble-topped bar, mixing cock
tails, as you stand near the window,
smoking a cigarette and admiring the
lights of the city.
That's what listening to Gains
bourg feels like.
With songs about bank robbers
Turn to FRENCH, page 8
Graphics, combat make new game quick favorite
A wide array of characters
and some impressive
move sequences make
Soul Calibur II a fun ride
By Travis Willse
Editorial Editor
With eye-candy graphics, comically
overstated characters, the perfect tem
po for trash-talking and a plot typed
by 1,000 monkey copy writers, Soul
Calibur II fits seamlessly on the fight
ing game shelf at the local video game
retailer. But, there are plenty of reasons
to pull it off tire shelf, buy it and slide
it into your GameCube, PlayStation 2
or Xbox, and thereupon lay waste to
your friends' dignity for weeks.
Most immediately, Joe Newplayer
will notice the game's enjoyably sharp
learning curve. A greenhorn can sit
down on an overstuffed couch,
maybe glance at the control setup
screen, and button-mash his way into
combo or two and, more important
ly, some keen-looking moves. But, the
game's real appeal is to power players,
as mastery of the game is a much
(much) taller order.
To compete against a more
experienced corpus of players,
though, players will have to familiar
ize themselves with at least one of the
game's many characters' impressively
robust move sets. (Game developer
Namco deserves major kudos for do
ing all this with four basic moves —
horizontal attack, vertical attack, kick,
and block — while creating a very bal
anced array of characters). The most
difficult part of learning the actual
gameplay lies in picking up the nu
ances of timing — when to block, or
more potently, when to throw.
Learning the many characters them
selves is something of a cross between
watching Mel Brooks' "History of the
World — Part I" and browsing a
Dadaist art show: Historical stereo
types from the last 2,500 years
abound, but don't expect much in the
way of plot coherence. (Although, a
voice-over tongue-in-cheekly assures
players that "Transcending history and
the world," the game depicts "a tale of
souls and swords eternally retold.")
Still, the weak storyline is forgivable
since the game's strength lies in — and
players will spend most of their time
in — the superb (and superbly enjoy
able) player-versus-player mode.
To give a flavor of the combatants
plucked from across pseudo-history:
Astaroth, a six-foot-four oaf-servant of
the Greek war god Ares, wields an ax
with a blade the size of a pizza pan;
Cervantes de Leon, a dead Spanish pi
rate, years ago slaughtered his crew
and dined on their souls; and Talim, a
15-year-old priestess who wields twin
elbow blades, shows up as one of die
game's boilerplate young Asian girls.
Each of the three home consoles
features a character exclusive to its
platform. Ihe GameCube version fea
tures Link from Nintendo's ultra-pop
ular Zelda series, the Xbox version in
cludes the classic Todd McFarlane
comic book antihero Spawn and
gamers who play the PlayStation 2
version will get I ieihadii Mishima of
Tekken fame.
Even more numerous are the char
acters' cheesy sound bites. Begin
ning-of-the-match threats range
from Cervantes' bizarrely culinary
"You shall be my nourishment!" to
Cassandra's junior-high-dance yelp
"EEEK! You're definitely not my
type" to Yoshimitsu's Kevorkian "1
shall assist your suicide!" to Night
mare's downright Schwarzenegger
ian "AGHHII! Annihilate!"
While the game's graphics are
Courtesy
Namco's Soul Calibur II features a character exclusive to different gaming systems,
including Link for GameCube owners and Spawn for the Xbox version.
largely above-par, the stages them
selves leave much to be desired.
Most of the arenas have chasms for
combatants to cast each other into,
and there's some interesting scenery,
but there's not much more actual va
riety than the stage's size and where
walls are. (In small stages, ring outs
are almost as common as knock
outs). While the stages boast
Turn to SOUL, page 8
Thank you to having whole year to give thanks
Thank you, all poets, philosophers
and anarchists of the night. Thank
you to colorful leaves falling from
trees — colors that I dare not name
because doing so would diminish the
beauty they bestow upon me.
Thank you, breakfasts of granola
and green tea, almond milk and com
flakes, gourds of yerba mate. And
when necessary, that thick brown cup
of coffee giving the quick caffeine
high. Thank you, dinners of red
beans and rice, eaten with chips and
chop sticks I picked up in San Fran
cisco during my Chinatown trip.
Thank you, sleep — I may only
get four hours a night, but whenev
er you greet me with dreams, my
eyes are wide open even as they
look idly at peace.
Thank you, cold bicycle rides at
night, cold fog and mist that some
Aaron Shakra
Notebooks of DJ Serpentine
times make poems write themselves,
but then disappear by the time 1 get
home — never remembered and
when 1 write them, they never come
out the way they were supposed to.
Thank you, barely manageable
school schedule, thank you for that
Wednesday of tai chi chuan followed
by rock climbing on concrete walls
with colorful jibs and holds, and
that red dragonfly inexplicably en
graved in the wall as if to remind me
there are thousands of other rock
faces outside.
l’hank you to everyone who avoids
using paper cups every time they
need a coffee fill up. Thank you,
Dumpster diver people, scavenging
to reclaim food, then turning it into
a meal to feed anyone in need.
Turn to SHAKRA, page 8
Cross's behind-the-scenes DVD features Eugeneans
I'm going to make a confession. I
have a little crush on David Cross.
He's that bald guy from the cult pro
gram "Mr. Show," and he's hilarious.
The highlight of my crush was last
spring. I was working as an intern for
Sub Pop Records in Seattle. The label
had previously released a double al
bum of the funny man's work, and it
was the night of their 15th anniver
sary show. While standing near the
back of the crowd watching the band
Iron and Wine, I noticed a man in
black glasses cracking jokes not
more than a few feet in front of me.
I'm easily star-struck, and this
time was no exception. I spent the
rest of the night charging whiskey
and cokes to my boss's tab, trying to
work up the courage to introduce
myself. During the final band's per
formance, I found myself standing
right next to Cross, but just as I
turned to speak to him, he left the
show.
My dream of spending the rest of
Helen Schumacher
Notes from the underground
the night doubled over in laughter
was mined. But at least I had my
David Cross story to tell my friends
the next day.
1 just watched Cross's newest re
lease, "Let America Laugh," a be
hind-the-scenes documentary of one
of his comedy tours. The DVD
(which starts out like some low
budget pom, but quickly redeems it
self when Cross gets kicked out of a
club in Nashville, Tenn.) is largely
comprised of interviews with inebri
ated fans — all caught on tape for
the enjoyment of others.
"Let America Laugh" also contains
footage from his show at WOW
Hall. Eugene's own Frog has a
cameo. His appearance is actually
one of the highlights of the film. I
don't want to give away too much,
but let's just say he does more than
sell Cross a joke book. Walking past
the bookstore hasn't been the same
for me since.
Turn to SCHUMACHER, page 8
t Complete
Selection
of:
• Skis
• Boots
e • Clothing
• Ski Rentals
13th & Lawrence* Eugene * 683-1300
www.bergsskishop.com
^XOIl CtUfy
SPAGHETTI
A garlic bread
>3“
Every Tuesday
PIZZA
PETE’S
2506 Willakenzie 344-0998
HoPIP P/OTO
2673 Willamette 484-0996
Oregon Festival af American Hutk
Now Hear Thi* 2003-04
o
:30
AM
Itafus
in Wright
:ial guest Martha Wainwright
, December 12th
pm at The Shedd, Eugene
Ticket Office: 687-6526
(^formation: www.ofam.org