T he C lackamas P rint » O ctober 22, 2003 * 6
A rts <£ j E ntertainment
Great cast can't saye drowning 'Mystic River'
Isaiah Creel
A Sc E EDITOR
Despite much fanfare, the latest
abomination of Warner Bros, called
Mystic River caused this reporter
many sleepless nights since its nation
wide release on Oct. 15, due to fits of
projectile vomiting.
It's not that I don't enjoy a good
projectile vomit now and again, and
everything about the movie was great,
but there was a little something miss
ing.
So I was minding my own busi
ness, sitting amongst the numerous
like-minded moochers yearning to
watch a film without paying $7.50,
when all of a sudden my train of
thought was interrupted by 140 min
utes of mindless drivel.
The story opens during the inci
dent that would come to define three
young boys. They are in the middle
of some harmless defacing of public
property when a car pulls up. A shady
character steps forth claiming to be a
police officer and insists that for the
crime of writing their names in wet
cement, one of the boys must come
along to become his pommel horse.
Reluctantly, the tallest of the three
children unwittingly volunteers for the
position and their lives are forever
changed.
Years later when the child of one
of the three gets murdered, the former
friends are forced into contact once
again through a bizarre string of coin
cidences. One friend, a policeman,
must search frantically for the real
killer before the crime-boss father of
the deceased strangles the first suspect
his cronies can abduct. And thus a
generic crime drama ensues, complete
with a dramatic plot twist at the end.
How unpredictable!
The acting, however, was great.
The star-studded cast, including such
veterans as Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon
and Tim Robbins, performed up to
their "A-list” expectations. Even
Lawrence Fishbume managed to
avoid being typecast as "Morpheus"
through superb acting and an excellent
Baaahston accent (that's Boston to you
non-Bostonians).
The cinematography was also
excellent, and director Clint Eastwood
deserves kudos, but not even his grasp
of cinema was enough to save a regur
gitation of a plot. Done to death!
The same story could be seen on
television during prime time. Police
stories are all the rage, and haven't
gone out of style since their spawning.
The only way to stop seeing the same
horribly formulaic concepts played
out over and over is to write a letter to
the president.
I give Mystic River an 8 out of 10
on the I-can't-believe-its-not-CSI-o-
Photo Courtesy of Warner Brothers Pictures
meter.
Kevin Bacon and Lawrence Fishburne in ’’Mystic River.”
'Gunbound' unleashes sweet mayhem online
Robb Egan
T he C lackmas P rint
From the Korean game company
Softnyx comes “Gunbound,” a game
that pits player versus player in an
online artillery battle-royale reminis
cent of “Worms” or “Scorched
Earth.”
“Gunbound” has a lot going for it.
First and foremost, it’s free, both to
download and to play. Players need
only download the game, install it
and sign up for an ID before they are
ready to unleash sweet, sweet may
hem on each other.
Gunbound is also cute, almost
obnoxiously so. Fans of Gravity
Corps’ “Ragnarok Online” will feel
right at home with the cutesy player
avatars, complete with customizable
appearance via the ability to buy and
equip new gear. Each piece of equip
ment will affect an avatar’s stats,
increasing attack, defense and more.
Adding to the RPG-esque play is the
ability to earn experience points and
gold, called GP and G
respectively, by win-
n’n£ hatties, making
good shots or doing
exceptional amounts
of damage in-game. Conversely,
shooting one’s teammates or oneself
will cause one to lose GP and G,
which helps to increase the challenge
C unbound
screen shot
“Ha Hah” yells Fylz as Mygod feels the burn. Thrills like these await you in the wonder
land that is ‘Gunbound.’ Typical user response to ‘Gunbound’ is “OMFGWTFLMAO!”
of the game and discourage that
scourge of all multiplayer games, the
TK’er (team killer, for all you
noobs).
But it’s in actual gameplay that
“Gunbound” really shines. From the
game lobby, players choose in which
zone to play, then are shown a list of
all the rooms currently being hosted.
Each room shows the game mode,
the number of players allowed and
which map and game mode the room
is set on. There are four different
modes of play ranging from Solo (a
sort of last man standing mode) to
Score (teams share a set number of
lives, which members can use to
respawn after they are destroyed).
Players can choose from more
than a dozen vehicles, called
mobiles. Each mobile has its own
unique appearance, eccentricities,
characteristics and weapons. A play
er can also select from a list of
powerups available.
When the game starts, the game
randomly decides player turn order
and placement on the map. The play
er then proceeds to destroy the
opposing team members by either
knocking them off the terrain or
through the old-fashioned system of
knocking out all their health. Which
method one chooses to kill the oppo
nent is often a matter of which
mobile one uses, as some are excel
lent diggers, while others deal a lot of
damage.
The cutesy characters create an
illusion of innocent mischief. Each
mobile has its own whimsical per
sonality augmented.- by
sound effects attuned
to their persona. The
triceratops, Trico, has
one of the cutest corpses
available, complete with animated
tears.
The graphics themselves are
some of the best seen in a free online
game, and the replay value exceeds
many pay-to-play games. Titles
such as “Dark Age of Camelot” or
“Star Wars Galaxies” spring immedi
ately to mind.
The music and graphics just add
to the overall cuteness and lightheart
ed feel of “Gunbound,” proving that
death and destruction can be dished
out just as effectively in an upbeat
and happy environment as it can in a
gloomy, black dungeon full of death.
Huzzah!
So those who like super-cute
mayhem and don’t mind super-addic
tive Asian games full of “English”
should check out “Gunbound”. It can
be downloaded free of charge and
registered for at www.gunbound.net.
Cover band puts fresh punk spin on pop hits
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Michaele Cooper
T he C lackamas P rint
Cover band “Me First and the Gimme Gimmes” puts an
alternative spin on pop hits of the ‘80s and ‘90s. With
great dance moves and sweet bow ties, these fellows
rule the punk-rock scene.
The 2003 release of Me First and
the Gimme Gimmes is by far their
best album to date.
Five guys from well-known punk
bands NOFX, Lagwagon, Swingin’
Utters and No Use for a Name have
come together as “Me First and the
Gimme Gimmes,” a group that has
chosen the alternate route of music:
the cover band.
Their newest album, released just
this year, is entitled “Take a Break.”
The material is semi-recent, mostly
pop hits from the ‘80s and ‘90s.
Unlike many tracks on their three
previous works, most qf the songs cm
the new release are kept at their orig
inal speed.
The best song on the album is
their rendition of “Save the Best for
Last,” a Vanessa Williams song.
Slowing adding bass, drums and then
guitar, this song gets exciting even
before the lyrics start. Like many of
the songs on this album, the vocals
are not sung to copy the original
artist, but tp give the song a punk
twist. It sounds as if the band is feel
ing the song as if they had written it.
The album really takes off at
track five, “Nothing Compares 2 U,”
originally by Prince. The song starts
out simple, adding another layer as
each line goes by. While the usually
tender song is performed in an
almost-yelling, vowel-slurring voice,
it doesn’t lose its emotion. This ver
sion is quite a contrast when you
think of previous covers of the song,
like Sinead O’Connor’s.
One track that all can appreciate
on this album is R. Kelly’s “I Believe
I can Fly.” The song begins with the
sound of ocean waves and a ukulele.
Vbcalist Spike actually carries a time
until the chorus where he graciously
half-growls, half-screams the lyrics.
Another notable song is “Mona
Lisa,” a ‘50s hit made famous by Nat
King Cole. The cover first imitates
the original, where Spike shows his
talent in singing once more. Wood
and stringed instruments accompany
him in the first part of the song.
The second time around, they
turn up the volume and quicken the
pace, making this into a true punk
rock song. As another plus, it even
features an awesome guitar solo near
the end.
As is the Gimme Gimmes’ cus
tom, they end the album with a song
that makes fans want to play it all
over again. Carole King’s “Natural
Woman” is played with an incredible
amount of energy. It starts out loud,
then takes it down for the first verse.
One will probably recognize the song
from the first thirty seconds of guitar,
even if only from the ‘Herbal
Essences’ commercial. Something
that’s different from any other song
on this album, the rest of the band
harmonizes with a series of “ooo”s
throughout the second verse. It’s a
fantastic end to a great collection of
songs.
Most covers try to copy the artist;
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
have chosen instead to reinvent the
music. In the words of a fellow fan,
“This album reminds you that you
don’t listen to the Gimme Gimmes
because they cover well-known
songs in a quirky way; you listen to
them because they play great punk
rock.”