Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 12, 2005)
I Op ■ ■ isEntertainment Clackamas Print Wednesday. Oct. 12, 2005 5 utagen: Straight out of the O.C. zabeth Hitz flackamas Print ■first glance, Oregon City |nt Nathan Birchfield I like a quiet, ordinary ■First impressions are ling. jchfield, along with Ray | and Louis Couryena [the three-piece rock band |en. The band beg.an about [years ago when Birchfield, Isfied with the five previous I he had played with, came [th his own ideas for a band Rated his own demo. Taylor ■the demos, and asked to Krums. lile the two started off using Esizer tracks for their bass,, [¡ally they taught Taylor’s |er brother Couryena to play [thus creating the indelible [at is Mutagen. lough the group has a wide I of influences (including: Local group Mutagen, from left: guitarist/lÿricist/vocalist Nathan Birchfield, bassist Louis Couryena, and drummer Ray Taylor play heavy rock footed in métal, punk, and industrial. Nirvana, Megadeth, Nifte Inch Nails, the Misfits, and In Flames) Mutagen has a sound and style all its own. A style which Birchfield describes as “basic rock, punk, and thrash metal with the melodies still intact ... with very powerful vocals.” Even the lyrics, which are all written by Birchfield, add to the band’s unique sound. Mutagen enjoys a broad range of exposure. They have played atypark concerts, Rock N Roll Pizza, the New Paris Theatre in Portland and Oregon City High School, where they placed third in the Battle of the Bands two years ago. The band usually side steps bar gigs because Couryena is under 21. The group -also has a website where interested listeners can hear demos and get an up-to-date peek at the band’s scheduled shows (www.myspace.com/mutagen). Scheduling can be tough since it has to be worked around the busy calendars and outside plans Of all three members. • Taylor works at Albertsons, and is thinking about possibly going baCk to college to be a counselor for troubled teens or a psychologist. Couryena is finish ing school at Oregon City High. School, and Birchfield wants to professionally publish his com ics. Overall, the lasting impression Mutagen leaves is the unruly urge to bang the head in time with the music and a desire to turn up the bass so high that the entire block is shaking at its founda tions. Smart sci-fi cure for the ‘Star* Wars’ blues ira Cameron 'Uamas Print Lie-goers, rejoice; they have the cure for the new “Star ftrilogy. Lenity,” the movie sequel [Whedon’s short-lived TV [Firefly,” follows the crew [Firefly-class transport ship k — jaded, cynical captain |m“Mal” Reynolds (Nathan Ltough-as-nails first mate Lua Torres);: wacTty/ irrev-' ■lot Wash (Alan Tudyk), [»-bright tough guy Jayne [Baldwin), bubbly mechan ic Kaylee (Jewel Staite), bril liant doctor Simon (Sean Maher)' and Simon’s genius sister River (Summer Glau). Mai and Zoe are hardened vet erans who fought together on the losing side of an interplanetary civil war against the Alliance, a massive government that desires control over all the inhabited plan ets. Now, eight years after the war, Mai and the crew of Serenity named after the pivotal Battle- of Serenity Valley — roam the outer fringes of the solar system pull ing off small crimes, odd jobs, and anything else that will get them paid while trying to avoid the Alliance. This becomes more difficult after they take on Simon and River, since Simon has kidnapped River from an Alliance-run facility where they were attempting to make peo ple into psychic assassins. The result is that they are both fugitives, and River, while still a genius, is highly unstable and unpredictable. Keeping off the Alliance’s radar becomes less of a struggle and more of an impossibility when the government sends a man known only as the Operative (Chiwetel Ejiofor) to track them down. The Operative is an assassin, COLLEGE SURVIVAL TIP and he is very good at what he does. He has only one goal: cap ture or kill River. As Mai and crew try to stay ahead pf their relent less pursuer, two former mem bers of Serenity’s crew get caught up in the action: the preacher Shepherd Book (Ron Glass), and a Companion —- a sort of futuristic geisha ■— named Inara (Morena Baccarin). The crew is forced to go to greater and greater lengths to escape the Operative long enough to discover why the Alliance is so desperate to get River back, while also avoiding run-ins with die Reavers -S- humans driven into cannibalistic madness at the edge of space. “Serenity” is a gem of a movie. It is superbly written and directed, and features a cast full of blind ing talent. It is a dark, witty and energetic flight through an easily believable future where Earth has been abandoned and humanity is spread across a hundred worlds. Whedon knows how to pull heartstrings. This movie can go from anxiety to euphoria to grief and back -again in a matter of a minute or two. After two hours, the audience is left emotionally drained. Fans of the TV show will appre ciate the same snappy dialogue and full, complex characters that made “Firefly” a cult hit, and while watching the series first will help tiie movie make more sense, it’s still easily accessible to the uniniti ated. Some of the lines will sound like they are ih another language, and they are. Whedon’s universe speaks both English and Chinese, adding another intriguing layer to his rich and colorful world. “Serenity” is a thoroughly engrossing film, and it is difficult to find points to complain about. It will not disappoint. HE STUDENT HEALTH CENTER. CARES ABOUT YOU LIKE YOUR MOTHER, BUT WON’T TELL YOUR DAD. ■ Bachelor's degrees for working adults • 16-month deg ree-completion prog rams Multiple bachelor's degree options . Class one night a week Credit for life experience ■ Information meetings at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 20, 26, and Nov. 7 Portland Center 12753 S. W. 68th' Ave., Port la nd From intramural ankle turns to a lingering souvenir from your spring break in Thailand, the campus health center’s your ticket to the best medical care money can’t buy. (It’s free. It’s discreet. And it will only hurt for a second. 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