The Oklahoma Daily | OUDaily.com
Tuesday, March 22, 2011 • 5
LIFE&ARTS
Autumn Huffman, life & arts editor dailyent@ou.edu • phone: 405-325-5189 LUPE FIASCO
REVIEWS, PREVIEWS AND MORE
“Lasers� (Atlantic)
THE DAILY’S
NEW MUSIC TUESDAY
Rating: Â?Â?Â?Â? 1/2
PHOTO PROVIDED
Pictured is a movie still from “Toy Story 3.� Studio efforts to adapt films such as this into 3-D take away from moviegoers’ viewing experiences and cheapen the effect, The Daily’s Laron Chapman writes.
3-D movies must be done right barely tolerable in 2-D, and the additional dimension only magnified its lack of cohesion. Similarly, the latest installment in the “Saw� franchise used 3-D as a marketing tool by suggesting that the severed limbs of the victims on screen would be thrown at audience members. This modification directed viewers’ attention away from the screen rather than allowing them to have a connection with the images on it. Many of the films converted to 3-D in post production are perfectly adequate in their original format. The result is often a film with changes that are too subtle or barely visible. When the changes are apparent, the hurried alterations often dim colors that were once rich and vivid and make the visual focus of each film ambiguous. Such was the case with “Toy Story 3,� a great film on its own terms, undermined in exchange for a surcharge on viewers’ movie tickets. It seems the studios are less focused on quality and more concerned with profit. This is not to suggest that 3-D films are some kind of bad fad. In fact, many of them are made efficiently. However, when studios dish out inferior products in the name of a buck, it ultimately diminishes the appeal. Just as not every novel needs to be adapted into a feature film, not every film needs to inherit an extra dimension. —Laron Chapman, film and video studies junior
TRAVIS BARKER “Give the Drummer Some� (Interscope Records) Rating: ��
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necessarily all that good. Overall, the album is worth a listen for hip-hop fans. If you’re more a fan of Barker’s traditional music, you probably won’t buy into this one. Either way, don’t expect to be wowed. It’s certainly something different, and some may enjoy it more than others. — Ryan Querbach/The Daily NOAH AND THE WHALE “Last Night On Earth� (Island Mercury) Rating: ��
It’s clear that indie-rock band Noah And The Whale were aiming for the big leagues with its third studio album, “Last Night On Earth,� and this new mindset has made the band’s music almost unrecognizable from its previous albums. The band has traded in its mandolins and folksy sensibilities for shining pop synthesizers, cheery choirs for backing vocals and a singular desire to rewrite “Livin’ On A Prayer� 10 times over the course of an album. There are good songs amongst the pack (“Give It All Back� and “Just Me Before We Met� are two highlights) but the best material on the album is brought down by the uninspired stuff around it. — Conor O’Brien/The Daily
Travis Barker is no doubt a very talented drummer, and his crossover to hip-hop is interesting to say the least. Barker got about everyone you can think of for the album, including Lil’ Wayne, RZA, Lupe Fiasco and even his Transplants partners. It is refreshing to hear real drums on a hip-hop album, as opposed to computerized percussion. The instrumentation almost makes it seem as if each rapper is the front man to some superband when they rhyme. Some embrace Have any music news? An that role, others just don’t album suggestion for our quite fit in. The effor t isn’t ter r i- writers? Questions? Email us ble, although it’s also not at dailyent@ou.edu.
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From cassette tapes to iPods, PCs to Macbooks, DVDs to Blu-ray discs, techSTAFF COLUMN MN nology seems to evolve as frequently as Lady Gaga changes her wardrobe. Laron Our tech-savvy American culture has a Chapman n powerful attachment to the products and innovations that emerge as our collective mind seeks to discover more efficient ways of living and experiencing. This could explain the resurgence of the 3-D film in multiplexes around the globe. The prospect of having an enhanced viewing experience screams dollar signs. When films of this nature are made as proficiently as James Cameron’s “Avatar,� the advancement seems necessary. However, with the new wave of lackluster 3-D films released over the last few years, this added feature appears to be an overt marketing ploy for studios looking to cash in on the current craze. The difference is a film like “Avatar� was designed for 3-D. It demonstrated with vivid artistry and meticulous detail the illusion of depth. These qualities allowed audiences to be drawn in and enveloped by the space on screen. Whereas, the film’s recent successors— “Megamind,� “The Green Hornet,� “Clash of the Titans,� etc. — cheapen this effect due to the studio’s decision to quickly convert the films to 3-D in post production. Take the insufferable “The Last Airbender.� Here’s a film that attempted with disastrous results to use 3-D as a diversion from its terrible direction. The film was
Lupe Fiasco fans have been awaiting “Lasers� for some time now, and despite what some critics have said, it was worth the wait. There’s been a lot of hubbub about the album sounding too commercial — and to a certain extent it may be true. Lupe had to compromise with the label to release the album, which is the reason for it sounding as it does. Some of the songs do sound commercial, but even those exhibit Lupe’s outstanding lyrical ability. Combine that ability with powerful political messages, and you’ve got “Lasers.� No, it is not better than his previous two albums, but it is no doubt a solid and worthwhile effort. — Ryan Querbach/The Daily