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.
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