'OC' star visits, stresses
importance of voting
As a Kerry supporter, Ben McKenzie stops at Taylor's
to encourage students to send in their ballots
BY DAHVI FISCHER
PULSE REPORTER
Cool, calm and collected, in a pair
of Levi’s, sipping on a glass of Bud
Light, Benjamin McKenzie, also
known as Ryan “Chino” Atwood from
the hit television show “The OC,” ap
peared at Taylor’s Bar & Grille on
Monday to promote voting and ex
press his pride in the Kerry/Edwards
campaign. The 23-year-old actor hap
pily answered questions, signed auto
graphs and posed for photographs for
close to one hundred swooning fe
male fans and excited liberals.
The enthusiastically liberal Texas
native expressed his passion for the
approval of gay marriages and pro
claimed the importance of people
voting as a means to determine the
status of health care, war, education,
jobs and the military.
“We need to get back the desired
image for America. If Bush is re-elect
ed, the world will continue to look at
us as a world bully, not a world
leader,” McKenzie said.
McKenzie, regardless of not having
voted in the previous presidential elec
tion, said he has always been a Demo
crat, and said he didn’t realize how
important voting was in the last elec
tion until it was too late. Even though
he didn’t vote last time, he said he has
always identified himself as a Democ
rat because “Democrats are the real
Americans — the people with strong
families who work for a living. ”
Anne Marks, spokesperson for the
Democratic Party of Oregon, was also
present at McKenzie’s gathering. She
said that this event was arranged to
encourage youth to vote.
“Given the number of first-time
voters in Oregon, new voters will de
termine the election,” Marks said.
“The purpose of this event is to get
people to turn in their ballots. Be
cause our state goes by absentee bal
lots (voting by mail), we need to get
out the vote early. ”
Matthew Strickland, a senior po
litical science major and Vote Blitz
Team Manager said, “This event will
appeal to young, single women.
Twenty-two million single women
under the age of 30 did not vote in
the last presidential election. As an
appealing male, McKenzie is going
to talk to women about issues that
affect them and why it is important
to vote.”
According to Marks, McKenzie
came to speak to University students
by choice.
“Ben was generous with his time.
He wanted to get involved. He volun
tarily came,” Marks said.
He also made a stop at Oregon
State University prior to visiting
Eugene.
McKenzie, who spoke at the De
mocratic Convention, said he feels
like his involvement has already
made a difference.
“I’ve already collected 100 signa
tures from OSU alone,” he said.
“Every bit helps. Every signature
makes a difference.”
McKenzie said that voting is espe
cially important because not only
does it determine the president, but it
also determines the Senate and the
Supreme Court.
The actor said that the other
members of his TV show are also
fairly active with the Kerry/Edwards
campaign.
"Adam (Brody) and Rachel (Bil
son) promote a lot as well. They were
just recently promoting for Kerry in
Nevada,” McKenzie said.
The event, organized by several
University students associated with
the Kerry/Edwards campaign, lasted
about an hour.
dahvifischer@ daily emerald, com
■ Movie review
Russell film delivers a plot
that should be taken to heart
Complex characters and
7 Heart Huckabees' \
BY RYAN NYBURG
PULSE EDITOR
A new sub-genre seems to be de
veloping in American cinema — the
post-modern comedy. The pioneer of
the style has been writer Charlie
Kaufman, who along with directors
Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry has
created films that find humor in a
protagonist’s search for identity and
meaning in an absurd world. It’s an
oddly cerebral form of humor, and
films such as “Adaptation,” “Being
John Malkovich” and “Eternal Sun
shine of the Spotless Mind” have
been some of the best comedies of
the past decade.
“I Heart Huckabees” can probably
be considered the first film in this
style to not have been scripted by
Kaufman. Written and directed by
David O. Russell (who directed the
comedic absurdities make
lost-modern excellence
excellent Desert Storm movie,
“Three Kings”), the film concerns
Albert (Jason Schwartzman), a con
fused environmental crusader who
hires a pair of existential detectives
to follow him and solve a crisis of
personal identity. This is an irre
sistibly oddball premise, and one the
film takes on all sorts of absurd di
gressions. The detectives, played by
the pitch-perfect Dustin Hoffman
and Lily Tomlin, follow Albert every
where he goes (“even to the bath
room”) and put together a story
about his life that explains the diffi
culties he has been having.
In a way, the film expresses and re
solves two views of existentialism:
The view promoted by the detectives
that everything is connected (the
“blanket” theory) and the view of
their nemesis, a mysterious French
existentialist who believes that every
thing is disconnected and disjointed.
Through this search, the film often
strays away from Albert to follow oth
er characters. There is the overly
charming PR executive of a Wal-Mart
-like chain store and his model girl
friend (played by Jude Law and Nao
mi Watts, respectively), who come
under the radar of the detectives.
Then there is the firefighter played by
Mark Wahlberg, who is obsessed
with the pain and suffering caused
through petroleum dependency.
These characters are all fully real
ized and complex, partly because we
can watch them deal with the prob
lems of their own identity and partly
because of the skills of the actors in
volved. If there is a weak spot in the
film, it’s Albert. His character is never
filled out and though Schwartzman is
engaging in the role, he simply isn’t
given enough to do.
But this hardly matters. There is so
HUCKABEES, page 12
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Decor: Organization the
key to utilize small spaces
Continued from page 10
rooms with a laundry line for hang
ing photos, magnets and large pieces
of fabric as wallpaper. To make the
best use of space, hall residents can
raise their beds with cement blocks
to create storage space underneath,
stack plastic crates in their closets,
use hanging shoe pockets for any
thing from hair spray to scissors and
give some items dual purposes, such
as using a storage bin as a table.
Above all, eliminating clutter will
make any room look more spacious.
“When you’re in a cramped
space, it’s good to have everything
organized,” Merrill said. “Give
everything a place and that gives
you more open space. ”
natchilingerian@dailyemerald.com
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