Campus Circle Newspaper Vol. 21 Issue 29

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NEWS

FILM

MUSIC

CULTURE EVENTS DVD GAMING SPORTS MEDIA BLOGS Colors of Culture D-Day Ex Couch Potato Seduction Community Spirited Bruin Trend Blender Trojan SideLines

inside campus circle

campus circle Aug. 3 - Aug. 9, 2011 Vol. 21 Issue 29

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Editor-in-Chief Yuri Shimoda editor.chief@campuscircle.net

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03 BLOGS SPIRITED BRUIN 03 BLOGS TROJAN SIDELINES 04 BLOGS D-DAY

  —  

05 BLOGS SEDUCTION COMMUNITY

a fifth anniversary showcase

11 BLOGS TREND BLENDER 19 BLOGS COLORS OF CULTURE 06 FILM MOVIE REVIEWS 06 NEWS PROJECTIONS 07 FILM DVD DISH

a fifth anniversary showcase

Managing Editor/Art Director managing.editor@campuscircle.net Film Editor film.editor@campuscircle.net Music Editor music.editor@campuscircle.net Web Editor Eva Recinos Calendar Editor Frederick Mintchell calendar@campuscircle.net Editorial Intern Kristina Bravo

07 FILM SPECIAL FEATURES 08 FILM BELLFLOWER Writer/director Evan Glodell brings on a love apocalypse.

08 FILM TV TIME 09 FILM SPECIAL FEATURES 10 MUSIC MUSIC REPORT 10 MUSIC NOTES 12 MUSIC GRIEVES Keeps It Together 12 MUSIC MOVING MOUNTAINS Create an Artistic Wave

Contributing Writers Meiyee Apple, Zach Bourque, Mary Broadbent, Jonathan Bue, Jason Burnley, Erica Carter, Richard Castañeda, Nataly Chavez, Natasha Desianto, Jacob Gaitan, Denise Guerra, Victoria Gu, Elisa Hernandez, Ximena Herschberg, Josh Herwitt, Tien Thuy Ho, Dana Jeong, Alexandre Johnson, Cindy KyungAh Lee, Patrick Meissner, Hiko Mitsuzuka, Samantha Ofole, Sean Oliver, Brien Overly, Sasha Perl-Raver, Rex Pham, Ricardo Quinones, Eva Recinos, Dov Rudnick, Mike Sebastian, Doug Simpson, David Tobin, Emmanuelle Troy, Drew Vaeth, Kevin Wierzbicki, Candice Winters

13 MUSIC WARPED TOUR GUIDE 14 MUSIC KIMBERLY COLE Poised for Stardom 14 MUSIC LIVE SHOW REVIEWS 15 MUSIC JILL SCOTT Brings Light to the Gibson 15 MUSIC GET UP, GET OUT 16 MUSIC CD REVIEWS 17 MUSIC FREQUENCY 18 MUSIC SPECIAL FEATURES 04 CULTURE BEAUTY BEAT

Contributing Artists & Photographers Tamea Agle, Emmanuelle Troy ADVERTISING Sean Bello sean.bello@campuscircle.net Joy Calisoff joy.calisoff@campuscircle.net Jon Bookatz Music Sales Manager jon.bookatz@campuscircle.net

18 CULTURE CURTAIN CALL 18 CULTURE PAGES 20 CULTURE ON THE MENU

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20 CULTURE JET SETTER

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22 CULTURE COMEDY 23 CULTURE GAME ON 21 SPORTS FOOTBALL 22 SPORTS GALAXY KICK 22 SPORTS DODGERS 411 23 EVENTS THE 10 SPOT

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Follow CAMPUS CIRCLE on Twitter @CampusCircle SPIRITEDBRUIN

Opportunities in Computer Sciences by tien thuy ho Since its founding at Texas A&M University 44 years ago, Upsilon Pi Epsilon (UPE) has remained the only international honor society in the Computing and Information Disciplines. UPE has challenging requirements for admission such as a junior ranking with a 3.5 GPA in the major. Upholding the ideals of all UPE chapters, UPE at UCLA is dedicated to educating others about the relatively young yet immensely impactful subject of Computing Sciences in order to instill in our generation the motivation and skills to create worldly changes with this new knowledge.

Allen Wu is the Internal Vice President at UCLA’s UPE, and Campus Circle had the opportunity to interview him.

Please give us an insight of what you do for UPE. I am officially in charge of everything to do with candidate induction (getting the list of eligible students from counselors, emailing invites, keeping track of candidates’ progress and organizing the banquet).

UPE has so many competitions in addition to infosessions.

Do you participate in most of the competitions?

Yes, and my favorite competition was the Facebook SoCal Hackathon. My team designed a web collaboration tool and won first place.

How did you decide on Computer Science?

I first started out as a Computer Science and Engineering major at UCLA because I was interested in the software and hardware aspects of computers. After a year or two, I became more interested in Computer Science rather than Electrical Engineering.

Right now are you doing something you really enjoy?

Currently, I’m working at Microsoft as a Software Development Engineering Intern, and I really like the industry. Microsoft is truly one of the top companies in the software industry as I’ve come to first-handedly experience its work culture. Because Microsoft is one of the top companies in the software industry, being a part of their team requires discipline. For example, in order to soak up all the exposure that the company offers me, the rate at which I have to learn how things work and the hands-on activities is unbelievably high. Here, I not only apply what I learned in my classes but also must figure out ways to bring ideas in my textbooks and formulas to form hardware and technology. Its fast-paced culture is tough to assimilate into, but once you find yourself a step into it, the excitement is rewarding and thrilling, especially for a young professional.

How do you see Computer Science in the future?

Computer Science will dive into a very promising future because it has integrated itself into our lives in every way possible. The main thing that people forget is that aside from the technology leaders like Microsoft, Google and Amazon,

TROJANSIDELINES

usc vs. nfl Pros Coming to Town

by elisa hernandez Los Angeles is known for being the entertainment capital of the world, home to the beloved L.A. Lakers and L.A. Dodgers. Fashion, glamour and celebrities – it seems the city has it all except a professional football team.

Sure we have the crosstown rivalry between the UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans, but college athletics can only go so far. Especially when USC has a bowl ban for another season, and UCLA … well the closest they get to bowl games is playing at the Rose Bowl. Regardless, the blueprints are in and a possible NFL stadium could be in the works next to the Staples Center, and just down the street from the L.A. Coliseum.

The USC Trojans are the closest thing to a professional football team Los Angeles has come to since the Rams left to St. Louis and the Raiders left to Oakland. Talks have been becoming actions as Los Angeles is taking the necessary steps to bring a team here. But how will USC compete when the pros come to town?

“I think USC football would be bigger than the pro team for awhile,” says longtime USC fan Davon Fisher, “but eventually the pro team would take over So-Cal … a pro team in L.A. has been missing for years, USC being the next closest thing to it.”

The L.A. Coliseum is an iconic landmark that is now home to the USC Trojans. But before they took over, it was

UPE at UCLA

UPSILON PI epsilon

Campus Circle > Blogs > Spirited Bruin

UPE’s Qualcomm Student Infosession and Officer Luncheon Computer Science shows up in a diversity of places. Since my experiences of working in Bioinformatics, Imaging Technology and DNA sequencing, I have come to think it is pretty obvious that Computer Science will emerge as the basis of the future of health care amongst numerous other fields.

Do you have any advice for others who pursuing careers in Computer Sciences?

Be aggressive in taking advantage of the opportunities in CS. You can do research in almost any other field with a CS background, and since everyone is interested in different areas, you will meet many people who can help you find your place in any area. You must enjoy being a part of a fast-paced industry.

Lastly, what I have noticed is that more than 80 percent of what you do in the industry is what you learn on the job. What you learned from a theoretical CS degree (the CS program here at UCLA is pretty theoretical) just teaches you foundational methods.

Have a student group or idea for a future Spirited Bruin article?

E-mail editor.chief@campuscircle.net.

Campus Circle > Blogs > Trojan SideLines home to a different team. The Rams became the first NFL team to move to the West Coast. They played their first game at the coliseum on Sept. 29, 1946 against the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Trojans have thus taken that position; in July 2007 through June 2008, USC’s athletics budget came in at just over $76 million. Football contributed over $28 million in revenue. Since then ticket sales have gone through the roof as USC continued to be a factory for producing NFL stars.

In this past year alone nine players were selected in the NFL draft. USC offensive tackle Tyron Smith became the 75th USC player to be drafted in the first round. USC set the record for the most players drafted by a school in 2011, and for all time players drafted overall.

Now that the NFL lockout is over talks have once again emerged about the Minnesota Vikings, San Diego Chargers and Carolina Panthers possibly making a new home in Los Angeles. Regardless of what team lands here, it seems USC students aren’t worried about the competition.

“I don’t think [an NFL team] would affect USC football at all. USC has done more for this city than any NFL team ever will,” says Guido Jimenez, a USC band member alumni.

“The love will remain and people will continue to go [to USC games]. If anything, USC will help the NFL in L.A.” One thing that USC fans can look forward to if a team comes to Los Angeles is seeing their favorite USC players play pro and stay close to home. Having that USC-NFL connection will only bring more support and bigger fan bases for the team.

“If Mark Sanchez had gone to an L.A. NFL franchise, tickets would have sold fast,” says Jimenez. “Seeing our favorite superstars grow [would make the NFL] even more popular in our town, [Sanchez would’ve been] a sort of

Plans for a football stadium in L.A. Live are in the works. homegrown player.”

Another plus to this is that once sanctions are over and probation is a thing of the past, USC and the NFL could network with each other to become a dynamic duo powerhouse. These two franchises could potentially run L.A. athletics, and even the coliseum can serve for both causes.

“I think it would be benefiting to the people who live here to share the coliseum. Also the days that games are played can be alternated so the field can be prepped with the teams logo,” says Frankie Telfort, a USC football student coach. “Also both teams could collaborate in helping out the community in the underprivileged areas in L.A.” But take a breather, these are longterm plans and goals that won’t be reality for another year or so. So for now USC students and fans can bask in the cardinal red and gold glory that is USC football.

Have a student group or idea for a future Trojan SideLines article? E-mail editor.chief@campuscircle.net.

Campus Circle 8.3.11 - 8.9.11

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CULTURE EVENTS DVD GAMING SPORTS MEDIA BLOGS Colors of Culture D-Day Ex Couch Potato Seduction Community Spirited Bruin Trend Blender Trojan SideLines

D-DAY

AUGUST ENTERTAINMENT For the Broke College Kid by denise guerra It’s the start of August, folks, and the countdown is on for our summer lovin’ to end. But not quite yet.

Los Angeles still has a lot in store for those who decided to stay in the city or decided to come back before the start of the school year. Though the start of many of the city’s concert series have already come and gone, it’s still not too late to catch the remaining shows left for the summer season.

And don’t worry, I’ve compiled a real list that not only makes the most out of your L.A. experience but also on your checking account (because I know tuition is going to get a lot higher this year, if you know what I’m saying).

We start off with The Levitt Pavilion Concert Series.

In my opinion the Levitt Pavilion is like a miniature Hollywood Bowl with its dome-shaped stage, grassy lawns and the outdoor moon and stars as your ceiling. Concerts are completely FREE and run from Wednesday to Sunday all the way up to Aug. 28. Don’t forget to bring your pillow, blanket and picnic items.

Some acts I would love to see in Pasadena include really experiencing something different and out of this world with Lazare Houetin’s Night in Africa on Aug. 24. I expect a

Campus Circle > Blogs > D-Day compilation of high-octane drumbeats and conga rhythms stemming from distant lands across the sea. Also I’m excited about Jessica Fichot on Aug. 26 with her eclectically smooth fusion of French-inspired tunes that always makes you feel like you’re right on the streets of Paris. More information and complete concert listings can be found at levittpavilionpasadena.org.

But if Pasadena’s too far for you, some MacArthur Park shows I’m looking forward to are La Santa Cecilia (Aug. 14), a true L.A. band conjuring Latin fiestas and Spanish songs. If you haven’t heard their rendition of the Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields Forever,” then YouTube it … now. Also, another interesting evening will include the Aug.28 Youth Talent Night where we can witness first-hand the future of Los Angeles’ music scene. Plus kids’ talent shows are just awesome and cute. If you want to know who else is playing in MacArthur Park, check out levittla.org for more details.

If you want more of a cultural/global music scene in mind, Sunset Concerts at the Skirball is happening now until Aug. 25. For students located on the West Side, the Skirball is located near the Getty Center and easily accessible by transportation. All Skirball galleries are free and open until 10 p.m. during Sunset Concerts. Visit skirball.org to see the summer concert schedule.

Also for August, indie lovers could venture on down to Silver Lake and Echo Park for the Spaceland Under the Stars concert series which will include Bixby Knolls, Marcus Very Ordinary, Noah Lit and the Megafauna, Spirit Vine and Black Flamingo at venues like Echoplex, the Echo, Malo and El Prado to mention a few.

The same production company hosting Spaceland Under the Stars also does some amazing concerts in Downtown’s Pershing Square, which also has a grassy lawn,

BEAUTYBEAT

MAKEUP AND FRAGRANCE ONLINE SHOPS by erica carter

Sometimes there’s nothing better than shopping from the comfort of your own home. Your favorite products are usually in stock, you can get reviews and tips from other buyers on new products and you don’t have to get all dressed up to go shopping. For me, the best is benefit is having the option to have my go-to products readily available. Here are some sites that I have visited in the last 60 days: BeautyEncounter.com – Over 1,300 fragrance, hair and skin care and beauty accessory brands can be found. The BE Steals are the best, offering products up to 90-percent off. Right now, Beauty Encounter has a Back to School special going on, quite early I know, but you can get 10-percent off. It’s here where I picked up my wonderful Spa Sister Overnight Softening Socks and adorable Bouffant Shower Cap for under $20. They also carry hair color, tints and dyes that are often sold out at my local CVS and Rite-Aid, like Wella Color Touch Shine Enhancing Color 1:2.

Thebodyshop.com – I’m putting this one in here because

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Campus Circle 8.3.11 - 8.9.11

Andy Sheng

NEWS

Jessica Fichot serenades Pasadena for free Aug. 26. let’s go picnic under the stars in the middle of downtown kind of setup. Pershing Square has free concerts Wednesday through Saturday starting at 8 p.m. On Thursdays, the best of alternative music and cutting-edge DJ sets are spinning starting at 8 p.m., and Fridays include movies on the lawn after 8 p.m. More info can be found at laparks.org/ pershingsquare/downtownstage.

And lastly, free jazz concerts are sprinkled throughout Los Angeles in August. Don’t miss: Wine, Jazz & Moonlight at Hollywood & Highland Center by some of the country’s top jazz performers every Tuesday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Central Courtyard on level 2, Free Jazz Thursdays at Westfield Century City and Jazz at LACMA every Friday until November, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

I love music and entertainment, and I love anything that’s close to free. So let’s make the most out of our L.A. summer together. A lot of these venues are designed to expose you to the best of Los Angeles’ local talent, and all are easily accessible by public transit. Hope to see you there.

If you know of other cool events happening around the city, feel free to send them our way.

Campus Circle > Culture > Beauty quite honestly they deserve a mention. They create their own natural products (The Olive and Almond Body Butters are a staple.), and they always give you incentives to shop. Over the past week, they’ve offered 40-percent off storewide and they have a section dedicated to really good specials, like the Aloe collection of skin care products. I haven’t tried the makeup just yet, but just like Sephora and Drugstore, you can read reviews from others to help you make a decision.

Drugstore.com – Speaking of local shops, drugstore.com is CVS, Walgreens, Target and Rite Aid wrapped in a neat little package. Those individual stores do have their own shopping sites, but they don’t hold a candle to drugstore.com. Not only can I order my laundry detergent and refill my contact lens prescription at the same time, I can also place items on autoship so I don’t forget! This comes in handy when I’m down to the last toilet paper roll, the last bit of toothpaste or my last energy bar. Yup, drugstore.com even carries fitness bars.

I love the free shipping for orders over $25, and they have a very nice return policy on makeup. It’s called the 100 Percent Color Price Guarantee. If you buy a color with the guarantee label and it doesn’t quite match with your skin tone, they’ll gladly take it back. Nice and Easy!

Makeupalley.com – This Web site doesn’t necessarily sell products, but you can gather a lot of information on upand-coming brands. You can click through to Web sites that feature the products you’re researching. I found Nars the Multiple by reading all the frank and realistic comments on that bad boy. It’s the highlighter extraordinaire! Makeup Alley lets you search by skin type (dry, combo, etc.) and skin tone. It’s a breeze getting a well-rounded view on makeup you’re looking for.

Saks.com – OK, a little random, but Saks.com has a special place on my list because they carry my tried-and-true lip gloss by Chanel. Between the Lèvres Scintillantes Glossimer and the Aqua– lumière Gloss High Shine Sheer Concentrate, the color combinations are endless. Chanel is pricey, $25 for a tube of bliss, but Sephora.com’s Web-only a little goes a long way, exclusives have products and they last for months. like the beautyblender.

Chanel’s colors are very versatile for all skin tones. I’ve never been let down by them.

Saks.com seems to always the newest colors and hardly ever is out of stock. Try walking up to the counter and buying High Shine Hirondelle and you’ll be surprised … almost no one has it.

Sephora.com – I think it goes without saying that Sephora is the leader in makeup accessibility. They carry big brands like Yves Saint Laurent and Dior to hip brands like Bourjois, Benefit and Fresh. One thing that I love about Sephora’s online experience is being able to purchase Web-only exclusives. It’s here that I found the beautyblender brand. beautyblender, a hot pink makeup sponge that is ergonomically designed, ensures even coverage of your makeup. Wide at the bottom for blotting and pointed tip at the top for eye application, this new product has been helpful for me in blending eye shadows.

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SEVEN RELATIONSHIPS You’ll Encounter in Life by victoria gu To navigate around the dating world with more ease, we should have good knowledge of the different types of relationships we can encounter and where they lie in terms of commitment and boundaries. With many new types of relationships created by people for the sake of convenience, relationships between love interests become increasingly difficult to define and categorize. The lack of defined rules and boundaries can cause miscommunication and differing expectations. The “gray areas” in these ambiguous relationships make them unstable and leave people feeling hurt.

Therefore, it’s important to know where you and your relationship stand. While my seven levels of relationships might not be the most accurate for everyone, they can at least provide a rough point of reference to know what type of relationship you have in hand.

1) One Night Stand: self-explanatory. It’s better to leave as soon as you can to avoid awkward morning talk.

2) Buddies: Conversations between people involved in this type of relationship mainly revolve around arranging time and location for the next get-together. Even better, they only consist of spontaneous drunken booty calls.

3) Friends With Benefits: Watch Friends with Benefits the movie. In my opinion, this is the most dangerous one to be in. Neither a purely sexual relationship nor a committed one, this hybrid breed of relationship makes it easy for someone to develop emotional dependence on the other person while the relationship is not exclusive. This often causes people to develop different expectations out of the relationship and worse, jealousy. This type of relationship is an intermediary relationship that would either lead to something further or ruin the friendship that you had before.

4) Seeing Each Other: This concept is the burgeoning stage of a committed relationship when two people begin to go on dates. It is the stage where two people are testing things out to see whether they want to take things further. Exclusivity is not usually discussed in the stage of “seeing each other,” as the two people are just trying to get to know each other.

5) Dating Each Other: Hard to distinguish from and often used interchangeably with “seeing each other,” dating someone involves a higher level of commitment between the two people, although boundaries of exclusivity are not drawn out explicitly and nothing is yet set in stone. This is usually the stage people are in before someone in the relationship decides that he/she wants to take things further, and it is the appropriate time for the “talk.”

6) Open Relationship: This is the one that I had the most difficulty to comprehend, and it revolves around the concept “polyamory.” Polyamory is any practice of relationships with multiple partners with your other partner’s full knowledge and extent (that’s right, the opposite of monogamy). However, these types of relationships involve the same level of commitment as any other more seriously committed relationships (refer to below), the only difference being that romantic or sexual relationships with additional people are permitted or tolerated.

I had always failed to grasp the underlying concept of an open relationship. How can two people care about each other but be OK with the other person hooking up with other people? How do they cope with the jealousy? Someone eventually told me that while two people are unwilling to let each other go, it is the desire to be free and not to be tied down that makes an open relationship work.

7) Committed Relationship: This is any relationship that is “exclusive.” Any romantic or sexual relationship with individuals outside of the relationship is not allowed and if happened, it would be considered cheating. The typical couple (whether boyfriendgirlfriend, engagement or marriage) is considered to be in a committed relationship.

Maybe I am just making things more complicated by categorizing the different relationships. Maybe it would be easier to just “go with the flow” and stop focusing too much on a label. But knowing these different types of relationships can help you to navigate around the dating world with more ease and a more realistic perspective.

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EVENTS DVD GAMING SPORTS MEDIA BLOGS The Channel Surfer DVD Dish Interviews Movie Reviews Projections Special Features

MOVIEREVIEWS The Future (Roadside Attractions) The Future stars Miranda July as Sophie and Hamish Linklater as Jason. They function as a couple who have been together for four years and are in the process of adopting a cat that they have to wait 30 days for because the cat’s illness needs tending to by the clinic from which they will be adopting it from. The cat serves as a narrator, and it expresses its discontent on living outside as well as its gratefulness for the adoption. Sophie works as a dance teacher while Jason works as a technical support operator out of his home, but those two jobs are quickly thrown out the window once the couple realizes that they are adopting a pet; the cat works as a metaphor that ties the whole story together.

The movie was directed and written by July, who wrote and directed Me and You and Everyone We Know, displays her tremendous capability for performance art again in this film. She is consistently displaying her dancing capabilities and her character’s quirkiness shines throughout, but it leads Sophie into trouble in the end. The film has a sexual tone to it that draws the viewer deeper into Sophie’s flaws that become Jason’s challenge. The challenge becomes apparent after Jason purchases a piece of art from a gentleman whom he meets in the clinic. A phone number is written on the back of the sketch that the person who purchases the art can call in case they want to return it which confuses the audience at first until the story unravels. It unravels beautifully. It beautifully points out the fragility of humanity by using the cat as reference to compassion towards another.

The couple faces challenges after shaking things up in their own lives because they feel a need for change, which is for better or worse depending on how the audience sees it – and that’s the beauty of the film. It leaves the audience

Campus Circle > Film > Movie Reviews with a thought of either satisfaction or disgust because of the way Sophie veers towards another man and away from Jason.

Time is a factor in this picture with Jason having the ability to stop it, but not the ability to change what happens in the future, hence the flexibility of the plot.

Grade: A —Ricardo Quinones The Future releases in select theaters Aug. 5.

The Whistleblower (Samuel Goldwyn) Human trafficking is one of the most prominent crimes that is executed throughout the world, and this film depicts a story in which a police officer from Nebraska, Kathy Bolkovac (played by Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz), is sent to Bosnia on a peace mission as a peace officer. The United Nations contracts with security firms to maintain or ensure the development of a war-torn country, which was the case in Bosnia. The movie is a true story that was written and directed by a Ukrainian who was born in Canada, Larysa Kondracki.

This is her directorial debut, and she does the job rather well.

The movie shows Kathy’s life being torn apart due to a divorce. She is left with the challenge of finding a position as an officer so that she could be close to her daughter but ends up taking a job in Eastern Europe with a private security firm, lured by the fact that she could make $100,000 in six months.

Her superiors in Bosnia are impressed with her work and promptly promote her to the position of captain, and that is when she encounters the truth of the matter. The country may have ended the war, but there is strife nevertheless.

She is mentored by the head of the Women’s Rights and Gender Unit, Madeleine Rees (Academy Award winner Vanessa Redgrave), but the limitations of the relationship

PROJECTIONS by kristina bravo

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Aug. 5-26 @ Hancock Park It seems like the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has made it a goal to spoil Tim Burton fans this summer. Having already held screenings on-site of the guy’s films in conjunction with the ongoing exhibit that features pieces inspired by Burton’s works, LACMA is now holding an outdoor event at Hancock park entitled A Tim Burton Sampler. Not that we’re complaining. Summer evenings are meant to be spent outside, and watching Burton’s quirky classics while lying out on a blanket in the park is not a terrible way to pass time.

To commence the free outdoor film series, there will be a screening of Corpse Bride on Friday, Aug. 5. Before Helena Bonham Carter became ratty-haired villain Bellatrix Lestrange in the Harry Potter series, she voiced the equally dead at heart (although in different ways) Emily, who rises from the grave and mistakingly assumes Victor (Johnny Depp) to be her groom. This dark fantasy musical seems to have been made to be seen under the stars, so take advantage of the opportunity and thank the heavens – or LACMA – for being so generous in helping us fill our calendars.

Corpse Bride will be followed by James and the Giant Peach on Aug. 12, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure on Aug. 19 and Alice in Wonderland on Aug. 26. All will be screened at Hancock Park.

For more information, visit lacma.org.

Bellflower

Umami Burger Movie Nite

Aug. 5-6 @ The Nuart The Onion AV Club’s Noel Murray calls it “enjoyably badass, with a plot that’s like one long, drunken dare,” while IFC’s Matt Singer calls director and actor Evan Goldell “a mad

Aug. 9 & 30 @ Space 15 Twenty If you haven’t tried a burger from Umami, go. Soon. Don’t let the smaller portion fool you – sometimes you really don’t need to eat a hamburger the size of your head – because the

Campus Circle 8.3.11 - 8.9.11

Rachel Weisz as Kathy in The Whistleblower are quickly determined when corruption in the inner circle is unearthed. Enter an Internal Affairs officer (played by David Strathairn). He encourages Kathy’s investigation, so she begins to conduct raids of bars where females are kept in dark and filthy rooms while working as waitresses. They work in these bars before being picked by male patrons to perform a service.

The film is sharply edited because of the different stories that are being told. The audience can clearly see the mental struggle of Kathy throughout, but there are moments of awkwardness when encountering the other peace officers involved in the corruption. Weisz plays the role well in showing the raw emotion involved with the investigations that tie in with her own personal war with her ex-husband but seems to struggle with the character’s aggressiveness at times. This is a movie that must be seen: There are currently 1.2 million people who are being trafficked. The film also gives a glimpse into the frail diplomatic operations of the United Nations. It’s a thriller with a dramatic sense to it.

Grade: A —Ricardo Quinones The Whistleblower releases in select theaters Aug. 5.

Campus Circle > Film > Projections scientist of a filmmaker.” The most revering praise however is made by James Rocchi of MSN, who raves that it is “one of the most strong and stylish critiques of the idiocy and confusion in young manhood since Fight Club.” Although I have not seen Bellflower, an irresistibly action-packed trailer and one Fight Club comparison are enough to convince me to give an indie film a chance.

Bellflower tells the story of best friends Woodrow (Evan Glodell) and Aiden (Tyler Dawson) who build Mad Maxinspired flamethrowers and muscle cars to prepare for a global apocalypse. Woodrow then meets and falls in love with Milly (Jessie Wiseman), which sets off his and Aiden’s already crazy journey even crazier than it is.

Incorporating some of his personal life experiences and using unconventional filming methods, Bellflower is Goldell’s feature-length directorial debut. Moving from Wisconsin to California with some friends in his early twenties, Goldell sold personal belongings and lived in an abandoned office wing to get funding for Bellflower.

In a press release, Goldell says, “I am a strong believer that stories on film should be told in an exciting way – whatever that means. To me, I suppose it translates into tons of fire, violence and insanity, but if I thought I was putting something negative into the world, I would most likely burn it before I would let anyone see it.”

The Nuart is located at 11272 Santa Monica Blvd., West Los Angeles. For more information, visit bellflower-themovie.com.

A Tim Burton Sampler

Sophie Giraud/Smauel Goldwyn Films

NEWS

Catch The Fifth Element at Umami Burger Nite on Aug. 9. tender and juicy meat will do you right just fine. And since this is a film column, why not pair this gastronomic experience at the Cahuenga location, which is hosting movie nights at the courtyard of Space 15 Twenty throughout the summer.

This week, on Aug. 9, Umami will screen The Fifth Element at 8 p.m. The 1997 science fiction film was directed

by French filmmaker Luc Besson and features an all-star cast that includes Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman and Milla Jovovich.

Browse and shop the experimental Urban Outfitters location and the surrounding shops beforehand, and when it’s time to see the movie while eating your burger, ogle at Jovovich’s futuristic costumes designed by Jean Paul Gaultier. And if you have a little too much testosterone for that, just sit back and watch all the action and guzzle down a beer with your burger.

Umami will next screen the 2001 romantic comedy Two Can Play That Game on Aug. 30.

Space 15 Twenty is located at 1520 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood. For more information, visit space15twenty.com.

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special features

“A weird mix of John hughes And Mad Max. one of the most strong And stylish critiques of the idiocy And confusion in young mAnhood since Fight Club .”

– James Rocchi, msN

by mike sebastian

The Majors: Jake Gyllenhaal is a soldier who must continuously relive the same eight minutes leading up to a train bombing in order to stop another terrorist attack in the sci-fi thriller Source Code. As Gyllenhaal searches for clues he becomes increasingly disoriented with the time travel. Meanwhile, his superiors aren’t telling him everything. Vera Farmiga co-stars.

From the Vault: Some fantastic under-seen gems are now available online through the Warner Archives, including one of French master Jean Renoir’s few Hollywood films, the noirish love triangle The Woman on the Beach, the P.G. Wodehouse-scripted musicalcomedy A Damsel in Distress, the Cary Grant/Carole Lombard melodrama In Name Only and two action flicks, the mercenary film Dark of the Sun and the very ’60s espionage film Assignment to Kill.

Also available: a young Melissa Leo in Streetwalkin’ Made in Japan: Sam and Dean, brother investigators of the occult, get animated in Supernatural: The Anime Series, a Japanese adaptation of the live-action show. The anime series takes place during the show’s first two seasons, as the Winchesters traverse the country in search of their missing father. Stars Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles provide voices on select episodes.

The Horror! The Horror! Brandon Routh is the eponymous supernatural P.I. in the horror-comedy comic book adaptation Dylan Dog. China’s The Matrimony is a gorgeously shot period ghost story in the spirit of Hitchcock’s Rebecca.

In a post-apocalyptic world of vampires, a teenage boy must rely on a lone vampire hunter to get him to Canada’s safe zone in Stake Land.

When a virus breaks out on a plane turning passengers into bloodthirsty maniacs the survivors have to ban together in an isolated airport terminal in order to survive in Quarantine 2.

Blu Notes: John Cusack stars as a disaffected high schooler in one of the best comedies of the ’80s, the cult favorite Better Off Dead.

Jake Gyllenhaal gave his breakout performance in the genre-blending, mind-bending sci-fi coming-of-age film Donnie Darko coming to Blu-ray in a 10th Anniversary Edition, which includes both cuts of the film and tons of extras.

Also available: Jean-Claude Van Damme in Nowhere to Run

Funny Business: An absurd marionette spoof in the style of Team America, Jackboots on Whitehall is a British WWII satire with an all-star voice cast, including Ewan McGregor, Tom Wilkinson and Alan Cumming.

Also available: indie comedy The Sweet Life with Joan Jett, Dear Lemon Lima

The Idiotbox: Created by Diablo Cody, United States of Tara: Third Season stars Toni Collette as a mother who has multiple personalities. This final season finds Tara going back to college. Eddie Izzard guest stars.

Danny McBride returns as the washed up Big Leaguer turned gym coach Kenny Powers in Eastbound & Down: The Complete Second Season. Sinking ever lower, Kenny goes to Mexico where he attempts to stage a comeback by joining the local team.

HBO’s breezy Hollywood comedy takes a darker turn when Vince is injured on the set of a film in Entourage: The Complete Seventh Season.

From the Golden Age of Television, Omnibus: American Profiles documents America’s iconic people and places, from William Faulkner to Dr. Seuss’ Museum that Ought to Be. Joel and his robot friends lambaste all five giant turtle monster movies in the box set Mystery Science Theater 3000 Vs. Gamera.

Also available: family drama Everwood: The Complete Fourth Season, the animated Conan the Adventurer: Season One Foreign Fare: ultra-violent Italian cop movie Live Like A Cop, Die Like A Man, Pasolini’s The Anger, Gogol adaptation The Conqueror, Tinto Brass’s erotic double-feature Monamour/Kick the Cock

Bellflower BW Ad V3.indd 1

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SPECIALFEATURES

SUNDANCE TO SHOW Films online by john horn

los angeles times (MCT) It’s hard enough to get into the Sundance Film Festival, BUT it’s almost equally hard to leave with a distribution deal. Only a handful of Sundance titles receive a meaningful theatrical release. Determined to break that distribution bottleneck, the Sundance Institute just launched an initiative that for the first time packages festival films under the Sundance name and offers them for simultaneous viewing on six of the Internet’s biggest video platforms – iTunes, Amazon.com, Hulu, Netflix Inc., YouTube and SundanceNow. The nonprofit institute also gives Sundance directors marketing guidance through its Web-based Artist Services program and a partnership with Topspin Media, a company that makes software for marketing and selling directly to consumers.

Keri Putnam, the institute’s executive director, says the pact was driven by the fact that “many of the films that we support are not finding conventional distribution” and that their directors “needed help.” Putnam says the deals allowed filmmakers to retain their copyrights, meaning the online services would not purchase the movies. What’s more, the deals would not be exclusive to any one platform, so a film could be shown simultaneously on competing sites. Filmmakers would receive a share of advertising revenue or proceeds from a rental or purchase.

Although the festival yields a bidding war or two every year, many movies attract scant buyer interest, leaving the films’ backers buried in debt. Online deals can occasionally reach $1 million, but many contracts for streaming sites typically pay much less. Furthermore, festival films are often obscured by more star-driven, bigger-budget studio films. Sundance filmmakers interested in participating in the new deal would see their movies packaged with other festival films and promoted under a Sundance-branded channel, theoretically improving their chances to be discovered by fans of art-house fare. © 2011, Los Angeles Times. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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FILMINTERVIEWS

BELLFLOWER

Evan Glodell presents love’s cryptic side. by nataly chavez ‘I’ll hurt you, and I won’t be able to help it.” These are words nobody wants to hear at the beginning of a relationship. Yet, they don’t always keep us away. Maybe it’s easier not to believe it, or it’s the harsh reality that we just can’t escape getting hurt. The way relationships work is, no matter how special they were in the beginning, they end.

Like in many cliché love-story films, if the protagonist were to be going through a painful breakup, by the middle of the second act, he/she would already be meeting the “love of their life.” Few films address the aftermath of getting your heart broken. Why would they if we live in an age where we breakup, we self-medicate, we create a match.com account and find ourselves a compatible partner. But that can get real boring real fast.

Evan Glodell’s Bellflower, is one of this year’s rare indie gems that will have you saying “What the hell...” in an awed kind of way. This disturbingly powerful and morbid film takes a conventional idea and dives into a fantasy portrayal of love’s deadly vigor.

The film follows two friends, Woodrow (Glodell) and Aiden (Tyler Dawson), who spend their days building flamethrowers and the ultimate badass car for their imaginary gang, Mother Medusa, in hope to dominate in a coming apocalypse. Before all hell breaks loose, Woodrow falls deeply

Campus Circle > Film > Interviews in love with Milly (Jessie Wiseman), until slowly driving them on a venture of betrayal, heartbreak, extreme violence and disdain. Fueled by intense performances and a characterdriven plot, writer/director Glodell takes us on a heightened look at the inability to understand the pain of a breakup.

Like many before him, Glodell came to California in the pursuit of being a filmmaker with a series of short videos and his work as a cinematographer under his belt, all the while struggling to get Bellflower on the map. Loosely based on Glodell’s personal breakup experience (If you watch the film, you’ll see why I say loosely.), the film began as raw feelings put to paper. After finishing the first draft, it was locked away for a couple of years, but never forgotten.

“I never stopped thinking about it. I wrote the first version, got ideas, made changes for the better as I got older,” says Glodell.

He continued to do rewrites, every time approaching the characters and story with a truer perspective, and always keeping the original idea as the core structure for the film.

All in all, it took approximately five years to finally get the movie done.

“I didn’t have the resources. After four years, I realized nobody was gonna give me money, because I didn’t know anybody. I hadn’t proved myself, I guess. So I decided to make the movie with no money,” he says.

His feature-length directorial debut, took a lot out of Glodell, who with a small crew took on quadruple roles during the production of the film. Casting was crucial for such an intimate undertaking.

“Since it was so personal, I didn’t know I was the best actor. It would bring something extra that I didn’t know what it was,” Glodell shares. “I was mostly worried about the character of Aiden, because it had to be a very specific person, sincere, supporting character, yet an asshole.”

TVTIME

‘Web therapy’

Lisa Kudrow plays a vain therapist. by greg braxton los angeles times (MCT)

Lisa Kudrow, who may forever be identified as her lovably clueless “Friends” character, is out once again to show she can be the “anti-Phoebe.”

Her first notable TV attempt to bury sweet Phoebe came in 2005 with the character Valerie Cherish, the self-absorbed former star trying to rebuild her career in HBO’s “The Comeback.” The critically acclaimed mockumentary that cataloged the relentless humiliations of Hollywood earned her an Emmy nomination but was axed by HBO after one season.

Now with Showtime’s “Web Therapy,” Kudrow is tackling another grating lead character: self-professed psychotherapist Fiona Wallice whose webcam counseling is overshadowed by her own narcissism and lack of expertise. The program is an outgrowth of a series of Web episodes put together by Kudrow, along with writer-director Don Roos and executive producer and co-star Dan Bucatinsky.

“I can’t help it,” Kudrow says with a laugh. “There’s just something about not doing what the audience expects of you.”

As Wallice, Kudrow certainly strives to help her patients,

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With a low budget, no legal permits and no rules, the film seemed destined for failure. With no gas money or food for the cast and crew, everyone sacrificed something to keep production going. Glodell used all available resources, even selling his personal items to fund the film. Aside from having to build a fully functional flamethrower, the Medusa car was his most difficult challenge.

“It meant building all night, shooting all day, working on the car at night. The engine blew up before shooting; it took nine months before there was solution.”

The film’s split into two very different extremes was thrilling to watch. As it gets more bloody and dark, the true irony is that love’s cryptic side could be more dangerous and deadly than the apocalypse itself.

“The darkness doesn’t necessarily equal evil, the ending is a hopeful ending. In a twisted way,” says Glodell.

Overall, Bellflower is the must-see movie of the year. It will leave you asking for more.

Bellflower releases in select theaters Aug. 5.

Campus Circle > Film > TV Time but a horrifying web-side manner serves only to underline the obvious point – physician, heal thyself. Her rambling, illinformed and off-base diagnoses, however, can be hilarious.

This type of character “is certainly a risk,” acknowledges Kudrow, but “people who think they’re pulling something off when the rest of the world can see right through them have always struck me as funny. They make me laugh a lot.”

Some of her former “Friends” have found success with lighter fare that doesn’t travel far from their popular TV persona: Jennifer Aniston is a romantic comedy mainstay and Courteney Cox anchors “Cougar Town” with considerable pleasant fluffiness. Still, Kudrow is indebted to Phoebe, who has given her the luxury to be discriminating. By the time the NBC comedy about six yuppies in New York City ended in 2004 after 10 years, each cast member was earning a reported $1 million per episode.

“Thanks to Phoebe, I don’t have to worry – I can have fun,” Kudrow says.

Ironically, she said her flaky Phoebe was more challenging to play than her grittier roles.

“Phoebe was very far from who I was as a person,” Kudrow says. “But part of her definitely rubbed off on me, inspired me to be more optimistic.”

Kudrow exhibits a relaxed, sunny demeanor while discussing her latest venture in a room at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The actress is clearly proud of “The Comeback” and “Web Therapy,” flashing a smile that highlighted her quiet glamour. Even when playing troubled or unpleasant characters, she displays a good-natured likability. Fans of “The Comeback” marveled at her performance – though Valerie Cherish was unapologetically self-centered, she displayed a vulnerability that was ultimately winning and charming.

Her success as Phoebe also enabled Kudrow to branch

out in show business. In addition to being an executive producer on “Web Therapy” and “The Comeback,” she is also an executive producer on “Who Do You Think You Are?,” the NBC series in which celebrities trace their ancestry. (The reality series will soon launch its third season.)

Still, “Web Therapy” represents one of her riskiest projects and characters. The format is unconventional – Kudrow is on-screen almost the entire show, talking to clients via webcam, so there are primarily only two characters on screen simultaneously. The dialogue is basically improvised, although a basic story and arc have been outlined.

“Lisa is playing someone who is definitely not America’s sweetheart,” says Roos, who has worked with Kudrow on several films, including The Opposite of Sex and Happy Endings. “With Valerie, you really wanted her to succeed. But it’s very hard to be sympathetic toward Fiona. She’s a ruthless, narcissistic therapist. It’s amazing to see Lisa play someone who is not so adorable.”

The acerbic therapist also fits in with the gallery of antiheroines in other Showtime series such as “Weeds,” “Nurse Jackie” and “The Big C.” Kudrow hopes that “Web Therapy” has a longer life than “The Comeback.”

She is still stung that HBO did not renew the show: “I think it was a mistake,” she says.

Although Kudrow is obviously pleased creatively with “Web Therapy,” “The Comeback” served as a valuable lesson.

“I’m being cautious this time,” she says. “But I do hope people like it.”

“Web Therapy” airs Tuesdays at 11 p.m. on Showtime. © 2011, Los Angeles Times. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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Campus Circle > Film > Special Features

Coraline was glorious in its multidimensionality, but 3-D doesn’t always mean a better moviegoing experience.

3-D IN THE MOVIES Getting in Too Deep

by betsy sharkey los angeles times (MCT)

It’s bad enough that animation, action, fantasy and horror have been hijacked by 3-D mania. But the ground shifted for me when Werner Herzog’s breathtaking documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams, a Zen meditation on ancient cave paintings and peoples, came with a bulky pair of 3-D glasses and a bloated ticket price.

What I didn’t get was a better moviegoing experience.

The artistry of black brush strokes on cold stone brought those stampeding horses to life, not the legacy of a thousand greasy fingerprints I was forced to gaze through.

I don’t blame Herzog for trying; it was an interesting experiment and if anything it’s the boundary-pushers, James Cameron chief among them, and tradition-breakers who’ve historically taken 3-D to new artistic heights. Even B-movie horror meister William Castle was going for a better boo with the rudimentary 3-D of his 1960 campy thriller, 13 Ghosts.

It’s hard not to wonder how Kubrick might have reimagined A Clockwork Orange if he’d had all the 3-D tools available today, or to have hopes for the inventive Peter Jackson’s 3-D vision of The Hobbit.

I’m not suggesting that 3-D can’t be fabulous or shouldn’t be something that filmmakers employ – Michael Bay just scored a big one for the team in his visually immersive and explosive Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The technique brought an eerie hyper-reality to the stop-motion animation of 2009’s Coraline, and its midnight garden coming to bloom was glorious in all its multidimensionality. With Cameron’s Avatar, I admit to finding the pull of that blue magic irresistible in ways that simply didn’t translate when I watched it on DVD at home.

It’s equally clear that 3-D technology is not going

anywhere, as a tidal wave of ads are pushing everything from 3-D TV to 3-D video on cellphones, turning it into a made-for-the-masses gizmo. Classic is an ad that features a frustrated dad, his kids’ ping pong game and a 3-D cell. Not content with the “action,” he snatches a paddle and slams the ball at the camera, something he’s sure will “play” better with 3-D. Here’s what typically happens. The most exquisitely realized 3-D moment of most 3-D films comes in the first few minutes when the very proud studio, beating its 3-D chest, has its title floating “miraculously” in midair.

As for all the objets d’art – the swords, spears, fireballs and the lot – that require countless hours of work to ensure that they come barreling through space towards us? I have yet to see even one person duck at anything being “hurled” from the screen. Well, there was the 4-year-old and the popcorn incident, but that’s another story.

Not that long ago, 3-D films were an anomaly. Two or three a year was the norm in the United States, so the artistry question wasn’t as weighty. In 2008, there were only five, and the 3-D Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus and U2 concert films should barely rate a count. By the time we close out 2011, the figure will top 40.

What’s troubling in the move from unusual to ubiquitous is that the choice to go 3-D has increasingly become a commercial rather than a creative one. We all realize that making movies is a for-profit business.

Instead, let’s talk about the fear factor. There is the worry that a studio saying no to 3-D might offend a filmmaker it seriously can’t afford to offend. But more often, it’s fear that “we the audience” want, desire, even demand 3-D in this technocentric age.

So does that mean it’s up to us to somehow stop the madness? Or are studios simply not listening to the actual word on the street? I ask because I asked you, or at least some of you. Not a scientifically rigorous test, but illuminating none the less.

And for the doubters, it’s one you can easily replicate.

Ask 10 people you don’t know to name the last three movies they liked, and let’s just assume we get lucky and there was one 3-D movie in the group. Then ask them why they liked it. In my survey, 3-D did not make the top five reasons for most. It only began to creep into the list with 12-year-old

boys, and even then it was more an “oh yeah” than “must have.” What did matter was the fundamentals – a well-acted story cleverly told.

Which brings me to another gripe about the 3-D grip.

It’s an ego thing – the ultimate form of studio swagger. That I could live with, the industry always has been and always will be an egocentric swampland, but it leads to a narcissistic belief that 3-D will carry the day. It will not. Usually the result is a film like Thor, which looks neither better nor worse with 3-D – one of several I saw both ways to put the theory to the test.

At other times, 3-D actually makes things worse, as it did with the latest edition of Pirates of the Caribbean, the Walt Disney Studios and Jerry Bruckheimer collaboration.

On Stranger Tides, which Chicago’s Rob Marshall directed, had many problems, but the dark and claustrophobic deep shadow cast by 3-D was a significant one. A major action sequence that had Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow swordfighting the fleet-footed Penelope Cruz’s femme fatale was only a shade short of pitch black and nearly impossible to see, much less enjoy.

The subtext in all of this is that Hollywood no longer trusts our imagination. And that is the saddest 3-D ripple effect of all, because “we the audience” do indeed still have vivid imaginations, something great filmmakers never underestimate. When they believe, we believe. Then the intangibles that make humans human – fear, love, anger, surprise – can be brought to life by characters and moments that have depth as much as dimension.

Consider one example from the past – Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 palm-sweating Vertigo – and another from more recent times, 2007’s low-tech, low-cost thriller Paranormal Activity.

Both films used the unseen and the imagined to hair-raising, heart-palpitating satisfaction (for us) and success (for the bottom line). One is still a classic more than 50 years hence, the other may become one or slip into a footnoted memory.

Both understood at the most fundamental level that the mind is a filmmaker’s most powerful tool, and a terrible thing to waste.

No glasses required. © 2011, Los Angeles Times. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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CULTURE EVENTS DVD GAMING SPORTS MEDIA BLOGS CD Reviews Frequency Interviews Live Show Reviews Music Notes Music Report Special Features

MUSICREPORT by kevin wierzbicki Chili Peppers to Play Benefit for Silverlake Conservatory The Red Hot Chili Peppers will perform a rare intimate club show Wednesday, Aug. 24 at L.A. Live’s Club Nokia to benefit the Silverlake Conservatory of Music, an entity co-founded by the band’s bassist, Flea.

“That my career is something I believe in with all my heart is an incredible gift,” says Flea. “To direct the energy of that work to help out the school which I also believe in with intensity and have nurtured for the past 10 years is a transcendent double doozy of greatness. We are going to rock our balls off for the Silverlake Conservatory of Music, like a pack of wild animals!”

The conservatory is a non-profit organization that offers the people of the Silver Lake area the opportunity to study music with exceptional teachers at a reasonable price. The band’s 10th studio album, I’m With You, drops on Aug. 30.

SSMF Honors Mötley Crüe Mötley Crüe will be this year’s recipient of the Elmer Valentine Award, named for the late co-founder of the Whisky A GoGo, to honor their contributions to the history of the Sunset Strip. The ceremony will take place on Aug. 18 at the House of Blues Sunset Strip and will officially kick off the Sunset Strip Music Festival that runs through the 20th.

“It’s an honor to be recognized by the Sunset Strip Music Festival,” says Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee. “It means a lot to us that we are recognized for our contribution to this historic place.”

Mötley Crüe got their start on the Sunset Strip, as they performed many nights at the Whisky A Go-Go and the Roxy

Campus Circle > Music > Music Report Theatre. The band also filmed their “Kickstart My Heart” video at the Whisky and for a while lived just up the street from the venue on Clark Street, making the Sunset Strip their official home. The city of West Hollywood will also be honoring the band on the 18th.

Mutemath: Odd Soul Mutemath has announced that their next album will be called Odd Soul and will drop on Oct. 4. The band crafted the album over a six-month period where they locked themselves down at the New Orleans home studio of singer Paul Meany, not emerging until they were ready to play the finished music for others.

“The idea of complete isolation was the only thing that appealed to us,” Meany says. “No camera guys, no producers, no engineers, no record label people, no management. No one would hear or comment on what we were doing until we were done.”

Mutemath will introduce the songs from Odd Soul at a special performance at the Troubadour Aug. 16.

The Power of the Riff The lineup for the second annual all-day the Power of the Riff festival has expanded, adding Eyehategod, Black Cobra, Baptists and Seven Sisters of Sleep. Also on the bill will be Pentagram, Winter, Pelican, Trap Them, All Pigs Must Die, Acephalix, Skin Like Iron, Masakari, Alpinist, Aeges, Early Graves and Slave. The marathon takes place at the Echo and the Echoplex Aug. 13.

Terraplane Sun: Coyote Venice band Terraplane Sun has had tons of success getting their music played on television; “Nurse Jackie,” “Damages”

MUSICNOTES

music travels

Festivals Around the Country by eva recinos Sometimes staying in Los Angeles just isn’t enough when it comes to getting your music fix. Without the stress of classes and a fixed schedule for most music lovers, summertime is the ideal time for getting out of your comfort zone and exploring the rest of the country. In the next couple of months, the music festivals are diverse and plentiful, awaiting your presence amongst thousands of other music lovers. So pack up the water bottles, sun block and iPod playlists for an exciting trip to these music festivals.

Lollapalooza Aug. 5-7 @ Grant Park, Chicago, Ill.; lollapalooza.com For the adventurous, a trip to Illinois is more than worth it if you buy tickets to Lollapalooza. Started back in 1991, this festival is still going strong and will feature an impressive set of artists, ranging from Eminem to Deadmau5 to Cee Lo Green. Other major acts include Muse, Foo Fighters and Coldplay along with duo bands the Kills and Cults, and even Cage the Elephant and Cold War Kids. It’s enough to make an alternative music lover’s head swim, with three days and plenty of choices. Tickets are already sold out, but keep an eye out for any last-minute sales from festivalgoers whose plans

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Red Hot Chili Peppers rock for Silverlake Conservatory. and “The League” have all featured the band’s music, and the new A&E show “Relapse” uses the Terraplane Sun tune “Trouble” as its theme song. Now the five-piece blues/folk/ rock band has one more thing to howl about – their new album Coyote. The band will play some of the new music live at the Echo Aug. 11.

FYF Fest Returns The FYF Fest returns to downtown Los Angeles this Labor Day weekend with a 12-hour event scheduled to take place at 1st and Main near City Hall on Sept. 3. The fest will operate a bit differently than last year in an effort to avoid some of the issues of the 2010 event; there’ll be multiple entrances including a separate VIP entrance, three times the food of last year will be on hand and cheaper prices are promised. No Age, the Dead Milkmen, Four Tet, Simian Mobile Disco, Guided

by Voices, Death From Above 1979 and the Descendents are just a few of the dozens of acts slated to appear. FYFFest.com.

Campus Circle > Music > Music Notes have changed.

Outside Lands Aug. 12-14 @ Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, Calif.; sfoutsidelands.com If you’re itching to see Muse or Deadmau5 but don’t feel like going to Chicago, they are also going to visit San Francisco for the Outside Lands festival. Boasting music, wine, art and food all in one place, Outside Lands is three days of acts in Golden Gate Park featuring artists such as the Black Keys, Major Lazer, Arcade Fire and Ana Tijoux. Outside Lands will also focus on going green, with Eco Lands pushing attendees to have as a green a concert experience as possible. There will even be a stage that is solar-powered. With this much emphasis on the earth and a great lineup of artists, Outside Lands is bound to be a unique experience all around.

Outside Lands promises great music, delicious food and an overall green concert experience.

Pacific Festival OC Aug. 13 @ Oak Canyon Ranch, Orange County, Calif.; pacificfestival.com So if the prospect of sitting in an airplane high in the sky for hours or being cramped inside a car for endless hours is anything but attractive, you can just head to the freeway and travel to Orange County. The Pacific Festival OC promises musical fun in the sun in one day with more than 50 acts. Rap legend Snoop Dogg will be there along with electronic artists Steve Aoki and Cut Copy. It’s that not quite up your alley, !!! will also be gracing the outdoor venue along with Toro y Moi. The festival is one day only and gates open Saturday, Aug. 13 at 11 a.m. so you can start dancing and headbanging early.

The event is 18-and-over and proceeds will be donated to Surfrider Foundation. If you visit the Web site, you can sign up to win two free tickets.

Virgin Mobile FreeFest Sept. 10 @ Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, Md.; virginmobilefestival.com You read right. Freefest is Virgin Mobile’s absolutely free music festival. Tickets were given away via online means with attendees being encourage to donate to RE*Generation, a program created by Virgin Mobile for youth without a home, in exchange for the ticket. All the tickets are unfortunately gone by now but you still have a chance to snag one if you sign up for a volunteering opportunity or purchase a Fan ePak, which is $49.50 and available online. You can start rocking out at 11 a.m. to acts like the Black Keys, Big Sean, Cut Copy and Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. The fun doesn’t stop with the music though – there will also be art on display, circus performers and a variety of food and drinks to meet your stomach’s every need.

Greg Cherry

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a date with peter adrian part II by dana jeong

All Photos styled and modeled by Peter Adrian

Beach Date

Concert Date

You can easily put together a stylish summer outfit with only two things: nautical and neutral.

Peter’s breezy striped tee is perfect for the occasion, while the cuffed khaki shorts complement it with its equally relaxed fit. Add some cool shades and a hat, and you’re ready to hit the beach!

A concert is one of the few places where man-cessories are not only accepted but widely appreciated, so take advantage! You can finally throw on that vintage scarf you were afraid to wear in public, or sport that super hipster necklace you bought on Melrose months ago. Ray-bans, fitted gingham shirts and black skinny jeans are also some concert faves. Rock on!

Picnic Date

A Night Out

A romantic picnic won’t be so romantic if you showed up in a disastrous outfit, but comfort can’t be ignored when picking out clothes for such an outdoors-y occasion. Stay classy and relaxed with a plaid shirt and a light, neutral sweater layered together. Loafers are your best substitute for uncomfortable dress shoes or dirty sneakers, so make sure you invest in a nice pair for your future dates!

There aren’t that many guys who can pull off sleeveless (and yes, I’m talking to you, the big sweaty guy at the gym). Instead of trying to show off your buff bod with an ugly sleeveless with overly exposed armpits, show off your style with an effortlessly cool denim vest. Finish your look with tough-looking combat boots – now, this is the good tough all of us girls are looking for.

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MUSICINTERVIEWS

GRIEVES

Setting Himself Apart by brien overly With his signature shaggy hair, lip pierc– ing, tattoos and what could almost pass as a southern drawl, Benjamin Laub, better known by his stage name of Grieves, looks every bit like he would be at home in a Warped Tour crowd, but it’s not easy being a hip-hop artist on a giant “punk rock summer camp.” Spend two months surrounded by a bunch of dudes in tight jeans, cowboy boots and full war paint, it would understandably be a struggle for even the most seasoned of rhyme-slingers to not go into culture shock. Luckily, Laub is no stranger to turning audiences’ preconceived notions on their heads, though this summer marks new territory as he does it outside of the hip-hop world.

“We’re so used to touring in the hip-hop world, and now we’re dealing with a different kind of touring and a different kind of animal we’ve never partied with before,” says Laub with a laugh. “I don’t know if I could do it all the time, but it’s definitely showing me a different dynamic to the world we’re in.”

Though he’s been making a name for himself lately in the hip-hop circles, Laub admits that Warped has reawakened the spark of his early days of trying to break out.

“You’ve got kids here who only want to listen to metal or pop-punk and actively do not want to listen to hip-hop, but the fans we do sway, I feel like we’ve got them forever. We

Campus Circle > Music > Interviews get to introduce them to hip-hop, and there’s a really happy feeling in that for me. They didn’t want to like it, but they found out they love it,” he says. “It’s not like watching a Day to Remember where they’ve got 10,000 kids singing along to them, which is awesome, but if we get to walk with 300 of them a day, that’s sick.”

Rediscovering his inner salesman, Laub isn’t too good to chat up show-goers and flyer up a venue himself to spread his word.

“I’m chasing people down, I never do that,” he says with a laugh, “but it feels good to be working.”

The fact that he’s found quite a bit of success so far with an audience demographic that isn’t his usual one might stem from the fact that he understands the concept of interactivity better than artists who are decades his senior, both in hip-hop and in rock.

“It took me a day to figure out how to connect with these kids,” he says of his first exposure to Warped crowds. “You can’t just be ‘rap-rap-in-your-face-rap.’ They don’t want that, they want that personal experience.”

It was this unique understanding of both musicianship and performanceship that found Laub a home on Rhymesayers, where he collaborated with label mate producer and DJ Budo for his debut full length, this summer’s Together/Apart. A mix of retro soul from yester-decade and the modern realtalk lyricism that his label is known for purveying with their artist roster, the album is the culmination of all the firsthand experiences Laub drew from for its inspiration. “Together/ Apart was the album we wanted to make for a really long time, I’m super pumped about it,” he says.

While the rest of hip-hop is better known for posturing and machismo, Laub opted to go a very different path with his music and the album, with lyrics that read more like diary

MUSICINTERVIEWS

MOVING MOUNTAINS Making Waves

by brien overly While being a post-hardcore art-rock band on Warped might not present as big of a challenge as being, say, one of the lone hip-hop emcees on the tour, being in a band whose greatest strength is their ability to create a sonic mood does have its own unique challenges.

“That was something we realized the first day, it’s really hard to get that atmosphere of being in a club out here, so we had to rearrange our set a little bit,” says drummer Nicholas Pizzolato. “You have kids walking by and you want to be playing the higher energy stuff that’s going to grab their attention. We’d like to play some slower stuff but … it’s kind of tough with people’s attention spans,” he laughs.

“We’re saving the stuff that creates more of a mood for when we come back on a club tour. So it’s like getting two completely different sets in the same city,” jokes guitarist Frank Graniero.

Joined by vocalist Greg Dunn and bassist Mitchell Lee, the New York-bred foursome have been on the receiving end of a good amount of buzz lately for their latest full-length, Waves.

“It’s a lot like our live show. We wanted it to be like a live record, and it’s the first full-length all four of us have done together,” says Pizzolato, though the band has ironically taken

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pages than a sales pitch.

“It’s what I was going through at that point. It was an interesting part of my life,” he says. “We were touring so much, I wasn’t home, wasn’t getting to be around the people I was used to being around.”

Jokingly, he adds, “It got real,” though the emotional weight of his statement isn’t completely hidden, either.

Even within the more indie hip-hop circles, introspection is often still a rarity, but Laub doesn’t know any other way to write or perform.

“It feels good, because I’m not going to talk about it otherwise. Music has always been my release,” he says.

He may be the stylistic odd man out on a tour of postpunk rockers, metalcore thrashers and dance-pop partymakers, but one thing Grieves has in leaps and bounds over many of those other bands is a commitment to his DIY work ethic. And really, what’s more punk rock than that?

Grieves performs Aug. 10 at Vans Warped Tour Cal State Dominguez Hills. For more information, visit myspace.com/ grieves.

Campus Circle > Music > Interviews a more 3.0 approach to long-distance songwriting.

“We all kind of demo on our own, with Greg writing a lot of the songs and bringing us really stripped down stuff. A lot of it is done through sending demos online, then when we decide to record, that’s when it comes together,” he says.

While the band is of a consensus that Waves is a much greater representation of the members’ collective influences, just who those influences are is a vast and varied range of artists. Citing everyone from Saves the Day, Glassjaw and Thursday to the National, Ellie Goulding and Lady Gaga between them, sonically pinning them to said influences might be an impossible task. A brief but knowing pause at the realization of their frankensteinean hodgepodge of a list, and Pizzolato adds, “…We also listen to a lot of stuff that sounds nothing like us.” Just in case anyone was getting the wrong idea.

Just as with their musical selections, however, there is a clear sonic dichotomy to be heard on Waves, which is half dreamy jam session and half hard-rocking mosh anthem.

Controlled intellectual lyricism and vocals balanced by chaotic and unpredictable instrumentation, having garnered them comparisons to some of the best post-punk bands of the past and present. Masterfully emotive, often even without the need for lyrics in order to be as much, the album showcases the band’s commitment to artistry instead of gimmickry. Of course, that isn’t always an easy path to take, however.

“I’m proud of it, but in an environment like this, it’s tough sometimes to be that way,” says Pizzolato of being the legit fish in the illegitimate pond. “I don’t want to fit into that gimmick niche, but less kids see us, less kids buy stuff and no one’s heard of us. But that’s why we’re doing this, we’re hoping to get people who have never heard us before.”

To be fair though, just because they don’t ascribe to any blatant trends doesn’t mean the band is free from criticism

either. What does a highly skilled band like Moving Mountains get ripped for, you ask?

“We mostly get shit for the way we dress,” says Pizzolato with another laugh. “We had a dude who at the Pomona show who came up to us and said, ‘You guys are like a bunch of preppy dudes rocking out on stage!’”

Damned if they do, damned if they don’t.

Luckily, the very normal and down to earth foursome has built up a pseudo-support group of similarly minded and similarly talented bands amid a scene of extreme personalities.

“We’ve all kind of been gravitating towards each other because we all realized we were like, ‘Where the fuck are we?’

We have a little family going.”

With strength in numbers, there just may be hope for their scene yet.

Moving Mountains perform Aug. 10 at Vans Warped Tour Cal State Dominguez Hills. For more information, visit movmou.com.

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Campus Circle > Music > Special Features

VANS WARPED TOUR GUIDE 2011 by brien overly

Just in case you didn’t get enough facemelting awesomeness on the first go-around, Warped is back in SoCal for round two of this year’s run. While the lineup is light on old-schoolers and true arena-level headliners, the fresh blood added this year is without question the best the tour has seen in years. Here’s a refresher course on the best bands to see at the Carson stop of the tour.

10) Go Radio: Fun, catchy rock with big guitars and anthemic vocals … that still feel like they’re being performed by grownups, who actually have the life experience to mean what they say lyrically. Exactly what pop-punk should be, effortlessly walking that fine line between catchy and hard-rocking.

9) Every Avenue: Though underrated in the past, the melodic rock act’s newest material is about to change all that. A little less pop-friendly than previous work, the lead single from their forthcoming album looks like the band is exploring the grittier side of the rock spectrum. They just might be doing their best work yet.

8) Grieves: Whether taking the dark and moody path to introspection, being poignantly critical of his surrounding culture, or lightheartedly nostalgic, Grieves’ rhymes are relatable above all else. A master wordsmith and beatsmith, the Seattle native is infectiously catchy while being heartbreakingly real with his emotional honesty. Raw and unfiltered when it comes to saying what he thinks and feels, you’ll swear you just had a one on one bonding session with him by the time his set is done.

Gym Class Heroes are one of the most fun sets of Warped Tour, and they give audiences something to think about afterward.

7) Lucero: One genre Warped has inexplicably yet to really tap into is the folk and southern rock corners of the scene, so who better for the tour to diversify its lineup with than Lucero?

Feel good, classic-sounding rock ’n’ roll perfectly suited to those long road trip drives or … standing in a SoCal parking lot all day. Either way.

6) D.R.U.G.S.: If there’s one thing D.R.U.G.S. frontman Craig Owens knows how to do, it’s sing like he really effin’ means it.

Easily the most intense live show Warped has to offer this year, you can bet Owens is going to do some damage when he takes stage now that he’s got a full band that can actually match his level of stage intensity and musicianship.

5) The Dangerous Summer: Straightforward and pretensionfree, this guitar-driven melodic rock band doesn’t need to fit into a scene, have a specific wardrobe, or carry any kind of attitude in order to have worthwhile music. Bringing intelligent lyricism and anthemic instrumentation, the Maryland band breaks all the typical Warped clichés when they play.

4) Moving Mountains: Westchester-bred Moving Mountains bring a little artistry and emotionality with their brand of hard-edged rock. Whether delicately crooning out his words or cutting loose with gritty howling, vocalist Gregory Dunn is emotive above all else and is backed by band mates who are similarly pros at setting an emotional atmosphere via instrumentation. From slow and spacey to furiously aggressive, together the foursome can intensify whatever mood they’ve taken on for a song without needing a single lyrical word, a

testament to their cohesive musicianship.

3) Against Me! Despite consistently taking a very grown-up, traditionalist approach to their brand of punk, the Florida native elder statesmen of the tour are still one of the most infectiously catchy bands on the lineup. Frontman Tom Gabel’s signature whisky-soaked howling never fails to bring out the inner anti-establishment-ist in everyone, and is proof that the concept of punk isn’t just for kids these days.

2) There For Tomorrow: Having graduated from their position as pop-punk pack leaders into full- fledged rock ‘n’ roll heavyweights, this foursome could show even some of their more senior tour mates the right way to do melodic rock.

Powerhouse vocalist Maika Maile is one of the best singers to have ever graced a Warped stage, and guitarist Christian Climer could teach the masterclass in emotive shredding, with the entirety of the band possessing a skill level beyond their years. Bringing artistry and intellectualism to a genre largely lacking both, their new album is the epically big-sounding and their live show is likewise the most infectiously in-yourface set Warped has to offer.

1) Gym Class Heroes: Though not a prototypical Warped band, Gym Class has still always embodied the most basic tenants of what it means to be a part of this scene. Masters of seamlessly mixing rock, pop and hip-hop, the foursome’s strength has always lied in their ability to bring the real-talk of the former genre with the fun, feel-good atmosphere if the

latter two. Frontman Travis McCoy is a skillful lyricist and performer when it comes to bringing a party atmosphere, making Gym Class one of the most fun sets of Warped while still giving audiences something to think about afterward.

Best of the Rest Just in case you already caught all these bands in Pomona or Ventura, here’s a few more up-and-coming acts who are worth their weight in canned tour water.

The Wonder Years: A throwback to the classic early days of pop-punk, just replace the lyrical infantilism of the old school bands with, y’know, good songwriting and you’ve got these Philadelphia natives The Menzingers: Gritty, whiskey-soaked punk from Scranton, the foursome’s Bayside-esque brand of infectious-rockmeets-traditional-punk begs to be sung and drunk along to.

Sharks: With their Gaslight Anthem-y classic rock stylings, the UK-bred band brings some even older influences to this year’s tour with their anthemic rock sound.

Middle Class Rut: Equal parts classic rock and modern indie, with just the slightest hint of ’90s alternative, the Sacramento twosome are pros when it comes to writing massive rock epics, despite their low membership count.

Vans Warped Tour Cal State Dominguez Hills is Aug. 10. For more information, visit vanswarpedtour.com.

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CULTURE EVENTS DVD GAMING SPORTS MEDIA BLOGS CD Reviews Frequency Interviews Live Show Reviews Music Notes Music Report Special Features

MUSICINTERVIEWS

Comes From the “Heart” by ricardo quinones Kimberly Cole started performing early on in her life, singing while toying with instruments as a baby then evolving as a pro-skater when she was in school. She was born and raised in Orange County by her mom who is a principal of a school and her father who is a dentist.

“When I skated, I didn’t realize it was a sport,” she says with a bubbly attitude. “I was known for my performances.

I’m a competitive person. It’s morphed into what it is today.”

Cole started out skating to classical music but switched over to acting in commercials as well as television shows and films such as Bring It On and Van Wilder before getting in front of the microphone to sing.

“I’m an actress but a singer first. Acting is my number one thing,” she answers when asked what she considers herself as foremost. But she ultimately believes in “making a positive difference,” hence, writing the dance hit “Smack You” which reached No. 4 on the Billboard Dance charts a few weeks after it was released. It was written after she witnessed a girl getting bullied while she was in school and is an expression of her desire for people to stand up for themselves in order to prevent their own victimization.

Having fantastic support from her parents certainly led

to her current success as a performer, and that support helps her remain grounded.

“It’s all about curves every day. I think that’s what life’s all about. Music can help you through those curves.”

Being an exotic mixture of Hungarian, Russian and Puerto Rican certainly helps to give off those sexy moves as a performer. Her choreography is erotic at best and oozes of sexual innuendo. Her first album was released in 2010 with good reviews and a good response. It was incorporated into a reality show called “Bad Girls Club” on the Oxygen Network, which was a unique deal. Along with her team, Cole decided to “do it backwards” and build “it on our own with Twitter.”

Utilizing such social media sites has worked. She currently has 1,371,048 followers on her Twitter. That is quite a number of followers considering that she has not reached the peak of her career yet.

When I asked her about how she felt about headlining for one New Year’s Eve concert she reveals, “To be able to headline, it was amazing ... it was dope.”

What makes this particular artist unique is her hands-on approach to the creative process. Creative control is her desire, but she also interviews other artists, which gives Cole insight into the creative process. Her deals with X Music Network and MTV as a hostess for shows and as an interviewer have given her the ability to see the other side of the coin.

“Hands-on is the best way to be,” she says about the process of climbing the ladder of success in the entertainment world. “You learn so much.”

Being completely involved in the creative process certainly gives the artist a first-hand look and a unique perspective on which direction to go with her own music or with other projects. What compels her to express herself is the need to bring out the fire in other people, and the audience certainly

LIVESHOWREVIEWS Ben Folds July 21 @ The Wiltern In college, a friend of mine loved every song by Ben Folds Five and then later of course Ben Folds. When I saw that the tour would bring Ben Folds to the L.A. area, it was a flash back to college and the friends who listened to the music. The concert was everything we all would have loved to have gone to. Folds, now on his Lonely Avenue Tour took over the stage with energy and contagious excitement.

Beginning the night with songs co-written by renowned author Nick Hornby, Folds played a high energy and skillful set accompanied by an eclectic and very talented band. After the first song, Folds announced, “That was written along with Nick Hornby ... and now, a song also written by myself and Nick Hornby. I will mix it up a bit later.” He delivered on his promise, playing songs from other albums throughout the set.

The audience reacted with stereotypical L.A. enthusiasm, but it was still clear that everyone was loving the concert, and the song “Gone” was especially well received. The night ended on a high note with a one-song encore that included impressive solos by the skilled band. —Tamea Agle

Dolly Parton July 22 @ Hollywood Bowl “I’m crying, again. She is the shit,” a teary-eyed co-ed exclaimed behind me in between Dolly Parton’s “Precious Memories” and “Coat of Many Colors.” But perhaps the most enlightening moment of the night happened when a 20-something audience member two rows in front of me stood up and pulled his jeans down to show everyone a 10inch tattoo of Parton’s face on his hip. There couldn’t be a more literal testament to the imprint of the singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, author, actress and philanthropist on

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Kenny Sweeney

KIMBERLY COLE

Campus Circle > Music > Interviews

does since her choreography on stage is completely engaging.

Being a back-up singer for Katy Perry and then garnering an opening slot for her has propelled Cole to her current status, but she’s going for the gold. She likes to train and will rehearse for eight hours before putting on a show. She is now planning a tour that will include skating incorporated into the choreography. Cole is also focusing on the singles market now and has just released a song called “Arrow Through My Heart” via the Internet. It was produced by Eddie Amador and features Garza. It is her first dub-step song and has riveting beats.

Her desire in the future is “writing an album that is a musical journey,” but she will make waves on television and in clubs as well as the dance charts with her singles for the moment because she loves to “stay on top of everything.” The current state of the music industry is evolving into something else than what it was decades ago, and artists like Kimberly Cole will point the direction of the evolution.

For more information, visit kimberlycolemusic.com.

Campus Circle > Music > Live Show Reviews pretty much every generation.

Having just released a critically acclaimed album, Better Day, the musical icon embarked on a world tour, including two nights at the Hollywood Bowl, her debut at the venue.

While performing several tracks from the new album, such as “In the Meantime,” “The Sacrifice” and “Holding Everything,” she also made sure to showcase favorites like “Jolene,” “My Tennessee Mountain Home” and the breathtaking “Little Sparrow.”

Parton gave the show a modern edge with mash-ups of Collective Soul’s “Shine,” “Walking on Sunshine,” “Help” and “Stairway to Heaven.” She shared stories and photos from the set of her upcoming film with Queen Latifah, Joyful Noise, before attempting to … rap! Then, she kicked off a section of her biggest hits, beginning with her first million-seller, “Here You Come Again” (1977), followed by “Islands in the Stream,” “9 to 5” and, of course, “I Will Always Love You.” One of my earliest memories is my parents taking me to see Parton on tour with Kenny Rogers, and I must say that Parton lived up to the bigger-than-life image that she had imbedded in my memory all those years ago. She is the consummate performer, just as energetic as I remember, her voice is strong as ever and she can still play a mean guitar, fiddle, saxophone, harmonica, banjo, piano, etc. etc. – the list really does go on. —Yuri Shimoda

Tito “El Bambino” July 28 @ Conga Room I truly did not know what to expect from attending a live reggaeton concert at L.A. Live’s the Conga Room in Downtown, but it turned out to be a great night of music.

The charismatic and talented Puerto Rican singer Tito “El Bambino” came out styling, dressed with fitted blue jeans, a

Tamea Agle

NEWS FILM MUSIC

Ben Folds shared his new songs, co-written with Nick Hornby. white button dress shirt, a dark grey sports coat, dark blue Louis Vuitton shoes and sunglasses, the signature piece of a true reggaeton ambassador. From the beginning of this much awaited show, he did not disappoint.

As a starter, Tito performed his “Cama Huele A Ti” (My Bed Smells Like You), an upbeat romantic track that features duo Zion y Lennox. Although the duo was not present, Tito captivated the audience with his smooth tone of voice. “Pepe,” which is extremely favored in Central America, was another popular song on the night.

Tito continued to showcase tunes from his albums Top of the Line, It’s My Time, El Patron and El Patron: Invencible.

Some of the songs featured included “El Tra” (Do Work), “Caile” (Let’s Get It On), “El Amor” (Love) and “Llueve el Amor” (Raining Love). To seal the night at this marvelous and intimate venue, this 29-yeard-old phenomenon delivered with “Flow Natural” (Natural Flow) that pays tribute to the Jamaica reggae genre. —Marvin Vasquez

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JILL SCOTT byjonathan takiff

philadelphia daily news (MCT) In the 11 years since she debuted with Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1, the artist has sold more than four million albums, won three Grammys and risen to the rank of theater headliner. Scott also earns fans and praise for acting – in Tyler Perry films, a Lifetime channel movie and, especially, with her starring role in the first-ever-filmed-in-Botswana TV series “The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.”

Of late, anticipation has also been running high for Scott’s fourth and most fascinating studio album of fused-up soul, jazz, hip-hop, blues, theatrical pop and poetry called The Light of the Sun. The first single, a “perfect for weddings” (she hopes) duet with Anthony Hamilton called “So In Love,” has already soared to the top of the R&B chart. Hamilton will be along for the ride (with fellow album guest Doug E. Fresh, Mint Condition and DJ Jazzy Jeff) on Scott’s first “Summer Block Party” tour.

When it came to record The Light of the Sun, Scott returned to Philly, “thinking I’d be here for a month or two. I stayed for nine.” There were frustrating nights when the artist and her collaborative bandmates couldn’t get off the dime, but there were other times when all she had to do was open her mouth, heart and brain, and out came complete songs such as “Le Boom Vent Suite,” “Rolling Hills,” “Quick” and “Hear My Call.”

So what’s next for Scott? “I look to my ‘go-to girls’ – Barbra Streisand, Whoopi Goldberg, Bette Midler and Diana Ross – for inspiration. Because they were able to swim through genres with grace and ease ... Those are the ones for me. Why not be a renaissance woman, or a renaissance person?”

Elizabeth Robertson/Philadelphia Inquirer/MCT

MUSICINTERVIEWS

© 2011, Philadelphia Daily News. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. The Light of the Sun is currently available. Jill Scott performs Aug. 10 at Gibson Amphitheatre. For more information, visit jillscott.com

GETUPGETOUT

THE LIONS Aug. 6 @ Levitt Pavilion

by erica carter ‘Sweet Soul Music’ is alive again in the form of musical all-stars the Lions. Not to be mistaken for the rock band of the same moniker, this lineup features members from some ska, dub and funk bands, including Hepcat, Ocean 11 and Breakestra.

The Lions are set to take the stage at MacArthur Park’s Levitt Pavillion for the summer concert series.

What started as a jam session of local musicians, they soon realized they had something new and refreshing in the studio. Their unique ability to blend the old school rhythms with modern soul, jazz and world music flavor has landed them at Sunset Junction, the Bacchanal and as of late, the Roxy. Their 2008 release Jungle Struttin’ was a glimpse of the Lions’ range, from Latin tinged tracks like “Hot No Ho” and “Cumbia del Lion,” to ’70s funk on the title track. But undeniably the Lions are a live concert band.

Twelve to 13 members comprise this local L.A. group, with three vocalists who have long been known for their harmonies. Alex Désert and Deston Berry of Hepcat makeup half of the vocals, and they are known for their alto/baritone melodies. Add to the mix Malik Moore of Ocean 11’s smooth voice and it’s apparent why the Lions are becoming a force to be reckoned with. Well that, and the insane brass section behind them.

No doubt, Levitt Pavillion will be full, so be sure to arrive early to grab a spot on the grass to set up your picnic and enjoy the music.

Levitt Pavilion is located in MacArthur Park. For more information, visit facebook.com/ thelionsreggae.

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NEWS FILM MUSIC

CULTURE EVENTS DVD GAMING SPORTS MEDIA BLOGS CD Reviews Frequency Interviews Live Show Reviews Music Notes Music Report Special Features

CDREVIEWS Dir En Grey

Karmakanic

Dum Spiro Spero (The End) This Japanese metal band has achieved only cult status in the States despite the fact that they’ve long worked an angle fairly unique here. But now apparently Dir En Grey has decided the gimmick is worn out, and they’re forgoing the “visual-kei” aspect of their show, something that found them indulging in delightful activities like onstage self-mutilation.

Newfound maturation is reflected in the album title too; a reference to the recent catastrophes in Japan, Dum Spiro Spero translates from the Latin to mean “While I breathe, I hope.”

What all this boils down to is that Dir En Grey is now ready to make it solely on the basis of the music they create, which ultimately is what it’s all about anyway.

Most of the album is sung in Japanese, as is the Englishtitled “The Blossoming Beelzebub,” a number that starts out as sludgy doom metal but ends up sounding more like prog rock.

“Different Sense” also meshes disparate sounds, churning away as woozy thrash metal but then having a soaring chorus that recalls classic rockers Boston.

The drastic variation in sounds may be what’s holding the band back outside of Japan; fans that enjoy their manic Cradle of Filth-style songs will probably be turned off by lightweight numbers like “Shitataru Mourou.” The cult of Dir En Grey will get a little bigger as a result of this album, but most likely this one is fated to come and go without too much notice.

Grade: C —Kevin Wierzbicki Dum Spiro Spero is currently available.

In a Perfect World (Inside Out) Karmakanic is the side project of Jonas Reingold, the bassist for prog rockers the Flower Kings. In a Perfect World uses what many consider to be prog’s greatest body of work as a reference point; that of early Genesis. And while pre-hit singles Genesis is the main influence here, Reingold also tips his cap to lots of other big name prog groups; 14-minute opus “1969” for example includes segments that sound like Rush, Styx and Yes. Importantly though the familiar sounds are only woven into Karmakanic’s overall sound; they are not the sole fiber of the tapestry. Reingold gives his backing quintet plenty of room to move but they function here without the excess that sometimes bogs down prog bands, and the result is the kind of music that got lots of airplay on progressive radio stations 30 years ago. Some songs meander freely but “Turn it Up” is a Toto/Alan Parsons Project-style mash-up that would have ruled the airwaves in 1979.

Chameleonic singer Goran Edman plays a big part in Karmakanic’s sound, channeling Peter Gabriel for the introspective intro of “The World is Caving In” then finding his own voice as the song turns into a lush, melodic rocker.

Fans of the formative days of prog rock should thoroughly enjoy the appropriately titled In a Perfect World.

Grade: A —Kevin Wierzbicki In a Perfect World is currently available.

Fountains of Wayne Sky Full of Holes (Yep Roc) “Stacy’s Mom” is gone, but Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger – better known as Fountains of Wayne – continue their splash of energized and sometimes despondent power pop with fifth release, Sky Full of Holes. Fountains of Wayne dissects dimly-lit suburbia with a representative mixture of smart wordplay, typical telling details, dynamic melodies and trademark character sketches about an incompetent entrepreneurial couple (the brisk “Richie and Ruben”), a stressed-out, middle-aged dad (the downhearted, sincere “Action Hero”) and a family attending a military funeral (the serious tale of “Cemetery Guns,” a moving elegy to kin and kith).

Collingwood and Schlesinger don’t deny their typical bitter humor: for example, poppy opener “The Summer Place” has a sister who won’t step inside the kitchen due to a Cuisinart phobia. But generally Sky Full of Holes has a matured edge about folks trying to endure dead-end jobs, debilitated depression, high blood pressure and the wary weariness of depression-era America.

Grade: B —Doug Simpson Sky Full of Holes is currently available.

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Campus Circle > Music > CD Reviews

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Last Winter The Heart & the Broken Compass (Lifeforce) If you’re not yet familiar with this Orlando-based band and you like groups like Anberlin and Silverstein then you’ll want to check them out. Last Winter plays a kind of metal-tinged power pop that fans of both the aforementioned bands will recognize except that they don’t cross over into the realm of screamo as Silverstein does upon occasion.

Singer and guitarist Ian Dempsey is more interested in displaying his penchant for working with harmony and he multi-tracks his vocals to achieve a big and friendly arena-rocking sound on cuts like “Nightlaunch” and “The Northern Lights.” “Yellowbelly” finds Last Winter utilizing a bit of a harder sound that highlights the frenetic pounding of drummer Chris Pock, but the song also retains enough melody and harmony to recall the best punk-pop of, oddly enough, Yellowcard.

With a total of three guitarists in the band, most of the songs on The Heart & the Broken Compass are sliced and diced by stinging six-string riffs but Last Winter pulls out the synthesizer for closing cut “Arrows,” using the instrument to add sugar to the already sweet vocal line. These guys have been around for a decade, and while they may not be a household name, this set demonstrates that they easily could be.

Grade: B —Kevin Wierzbicki The Heart & the Broken Compass is currently available.

Mat Kearney Young Love (Universal Republic) Mat Kearney’s Young Love could not be more appropriately titled. It reaches that nostalgic place in all of our hearts of first dates, long walks on the beach and that unforgettable first-kiss moment. The album not only matches but exceeds that of his previous album, City of Black & White.

“Ships in the Night” is the most noteworthy on the album, with its catchy melody and driving beat. “Sooner or Later” and “Young, Dumb and in Love” are also on the list of tracks not to be missed on this sentimental and touching album. These three songs remind us exactly what it is to be just that: young, dumb and/or in love. “Rochester” takes this CD to another level, though, as Kearney narrates a touchy subject and painful subject of an abusive father.

Stretching to conquer a higher level of maturity and substance, Kearney surpasses that expectation.

Grade: A—Stephanie Forshee Young Love is currently available.

Moonface Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I’d Hoped (Jagjaguwar) Spencer Krug is one of those “no one band can hold me” kind of guys who has been the driving force behind Montreal acts like Sunset Rubdown and Wolf Parade. Here, working as Moonface, he is a true solo artist tinkering only with organ, digital drums and his voice.

The lengthy “Return to the Violence of the Ocean Floor” sounds like something Thomas Dolby or Gary Numan would have cooked up in their early days, and like those artists Moonface manages to use his keyboard to simultaneously produce bright notes and dreary drones that swaddle each tune in mystery. And therein lies the appeal of Organ Music: the fact that the listener isn’t quite sure about what emotion to feel creates an almost hypnotic state of raptness. “Fast Peter” is done as Kraftwerk-style while “Shit-Hawk in the Snow” taps into the eerie drone first explored by Suicide. At less than 40-minutes Organ Music is something between an EP and an LP, but it is the ideal length to leave the listener hungry for more quirkiness.

Grade: B —Kevin Wierzbicki Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I’d Hoped is currently available.

Richard Buckner Our Blood (Merge) Roots singer-songwriter Richard Buckner’s last release was in 2006, but he has not been idle. Over the last half decade Buckner worked on a soundtrack for an unproduced film, lost his stockpiled recordings when his home tape recorder broke down and his laptop was stolen and was briefly at the center of a police investigation regarding a headless corpse in a burned-out vehicle – just a few of Buckner’s characteristic life moments which scorch the dark narratives on his newest foray, Our Blood. Buckner’s twilight-tinged songs – which illuminate Buckner’s shadowed memories and melancholy ponderings – shift from blanketed electric arrangements to ruralized, acoustic numbers which have a stark, poetic timbre.

Buckner’s grizzled voice resonates with lingering mystery through cuts like “Thief,” inspired by Buckner’s missing computer; and the alt-country rumination “Traitor,” which is coated with guilt and recrimination. Our Blood is a haunting, brilliant performance that continues Buckner’s obsession with reconciling yesterday with tomorrow.

Grade: A —Doug Simpson Our Blood is currently available.

Become a CAMPUS CIRCLE Fan on Facebook http://bit.ly/dhFhEE FREQUENCY by brien overly Lykke Li Aug. 3 @ The Greek It’s still a little weird to me that Lykke Li is playing venues like the Greek now. Logically, I know she’s of that level of mainstream attention right now, but the Swedish singer-songwriter’s blend of dark indie and haunting electronic just feels like it should be played in tiny hole-in-the-wall Witness Lykke Li’s dynamic stage presence Aug. 3. dance clubs. But to her credit, with her signature aesthetic and dynamic stage presence, the songstress can effortlessly take command of whatever stage she performs on.

Matisyahu Aug. 3 @ Club Nokia Aug. 9 @ The Grove of Anaheim Let’s be honest, for many of us, going to see a Hasidic Jewish hip-hop-reggae artist perform is about as close as we’re going to get to cultural enrichment this week. Fear not though, he had a Top 40 hit, and the venues both serve alcohol, so you can still pretend you’re a too-cool celebrity while listening to a dude sing about the Torah.

This Century Aug. 5 @ Chain Reaction This week’s Frequency has so much melodic pop-punk in it, I’m really hoping you guys don’t think I’ve gone soft or anything. I’m still the same pretentious, indie and progloving elitist I always was. I think?

Maybe my musical taste is devolving, but I’ve kind of grown a soft spot for Phoenix natives This Century. Maybe it’s because their brand of melodic rock makes me hearken back nostalgically to when I first discovered Anberlin so many years ago. Effortlessly capturing that fun pop-rock sound that feels youthful without coming off as the least bit juvenile, the foursome may hang with a scene that draws a younger demographic, but their music is definitely not age-restrictive.

I mean, unless you absolutely detested the period of your life that included your best youthful indiscretion stories and all your summertime adventures. In which case, you have bigger issues than your musical taste.

The Cab Aug. 9 @ Rock City Studios This band is something of a guilty pleasure I have, because even for as big-sounding as they are and how many power chords they hit in any given song, these Las Vegas natives are still very much girl-friendly pop. Not that there’s anything wrong with girl-friendly pop, as I’m a firm believer that there’s room for all points on the pop-to-rock spectrum.

It’s just that … they’re a few choreographed moves short of that kind of girl-friendly pop.

Even so, I still kind of love this band. I don’t go out of my way to find them on my iPod or anything, but if Genius is going to wedge them on a Warped-themed playlist … I admittedly don’t rush to flip to the next track either. To the point I may or may not know a good portion of the lyrics to their album Whisper War by heart. Don’t judge me.

These dudes write a catchy song like no other in their genre, and even when being lyrically snarky or pointed, there’s an inherent fun quality that’s infectious when listening to them. And their forthcoming new album sounds even more catchy and big sounding than their first one, if that’s even possible.

Even better, while it’s not the usual cool kids found at L.A. shows, seeing the band at this Ventura County venue is practically like having them play in your living room.

Frontman Alex DeLeon will practically be sweating directly on you. Your kid sister’s gonna be so jeal.

Deerhunter Aug. 9 @ The Wiltern Because I have to somehow regain my indie cred before closing out this week, I’m going to hope my parting pick will be the one that resonates over the next seven days.

Retro inspired garage indie from Atlanta that’s cool enough you’d swear they grew up in the dive bars of Silver Lake, the foursome’s brand of rock manages to blend artsy ambience with just enough pop sensibility to make you want to move while listening to them. Evoking the same mix of yesteryear lo-fi nostalgia and moody, atmospheric progressivism as fellow Atlanta natives the Black Lips, Deerhunter is one of few bands who might be able to make a big venue like the Wiltern feel as dark and seedy as the Silver Lake venues they should have started out playing in.

Next week: back to our regularly scheduled elitism and pretension.

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SPECIALFEATURES

URL UNDERGROUND RAPPING Rising to the Top

by elisa hernandez To most artists Aug. 7 is just another day of the year, but for 10 MCs it’s the biggest day of their underground battle careers. Tsunami Surf is one of the 10 that will put his reputation on the line going against rapper K-Shine.

Summer Madness is supposed to attract thousands of underground rapper fans from across the country. The Ultimate Rap Leagues (URL) top competitors will be going head to head in Webster Hall in New York, N.Y. There’s never been an underground battle at this level to get this much attention.

“We’re the first group of battle rappers to do this … win or lose it’s a whole other level we are on,” says Surf as he anxiously awaits for the day.

To give an inside look into a rapper’s life Surf is giving Campus Circle an exclusive interview.

Starting at the age of 19 Surf is perfecting his craft, because

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Campus Circle > Music > Special Features as he says, “you’re only as good as your last performance PERIOD.”

behind what I say.

It’s a different recipe for every battler rapper.

During a battle how important it is to represent your hometown?

It’s everything! That’s all that matters. For someone [from Newark, N.J.] to get this type of attention it’s a big deal. I think 90 percent is why I do it, 10 percent is the love for rap and my passion. Half is definitely for Jersey, and I got my kid and my hood. I think I earned my keep, in general I get respect …I demand respect, so it doesn’t matter where I am.

What’s a rapper’s biggest fear?

I don’t have one because it’s battle rap, there’s no one that can tell me who I am. I don’t feel threatened; I have no fear. But if I had one, it would be to forget my words. That would be my biggest fear.

How do you remain creative and versatile?

You want to be different all the time, but at the same time you’re known for certain things. I want to come different, but you got to do what the crowd wants from you. Surf is a trademark I can’t come to [a stage as] not myself.

In Summer Madness what’s your advantage over K-shine?

Are you ready?

I actually got bars! I think mine are way more complex, I think his bars are not predictable, but after two seconds you know what he’s talking about. When it comes to me, I get tweets till this day from people telling me “I just got this [rhyme].” I’m more complex you will have to marinate on mine.

I’m ready for my battle! I’m never nervous. I couldn’t pass up performing in Webster Hall for the first time.

How important is the crowd’s role during a battle?

It’s very important, take the DNA battle – they showed me no love in New York. You might feel you have no love, you might think I got killed, but close your eyes and listen to the rap.

Because you have so much adrenaline you don’t take into consideration what it looks like on camera. It’s hard to control a ring full of people … trying to control 1,500 people is beyond crazy.

Besides your own, what battle are you looking forward to?

When can fans see them?

I’m looking forward to the Calico versus Math Hoffa battle, and the Hit Man versus Hollow Da Don. [Depending on the] quality of battles they might be posted three to four weeks after. But the best battle will be posted last on YouTube.com around mid-October.

When battling, what’s an important asset to have?

When you actually become a battle rapper, you have to know your abilities. For me I need 40-percent aggression and 30-percent bars.

If you take what I say and give it to someone else like Tech N9ne it may not sound the same, my aggression is the push

What is your ultimate goal with your music?

Everyone wants money to come; that’s everybody’s goal. I just want to be heard … there’s a story out here that not a lot of people know about, and I just want to let them know that. I want to let people know [that in] New Jersey here, we actually exist.

CURTAINCALL

Broetry

“Bus Stop”

(Quirk) “Classical music. It makes you smarter./And admit it, you could be more cultured;/you just picked up a book call Broetry.”

This is the closing stanza of “Why You Should Listen to Classical Music,” part of Brian McGackin’s literary debut entitled Broetry. The slim volume of poems includes other titles like “Whorecrux,” “Haikougar” and “I’ll Take ‘Crazy Bitches’ for $200, Alex.”

Broetry may not meet any sort of literary canon, pass a Microsoft Word spellcheck or cater to women who aren’t fond of being called all sorts of offensive names, but at least it’s aware of its lack of intellectual appeal. It’s safe to say that McGackin, who attended Emerson College and earned his masters in poetry at the University of Southern California, wasn’t aiming for a Pulitzer. In fact, his target audience is people who are not into that whole poetry thing, which should be about the majority of the population.

Using frat boy vernacular to explore issues like sex, football, Reese’s peanut buttercups and Disney princesses, Broetry is a somewhat entertaining read reflecting common experiences and contemporary culture. Don’t want to be bothered by Shakespeare’s archaic English and hieroglyphic metaphors? Then look pass the nauseating title and open this book.

Although many of the poems have hilarious high points, a punchline like “If only you had a smaller bladder,/I could cheat on you more often” barely counts as clever humor.

I get that it’s not the point of “broetry,” but a little wit in a literary work, no matter how much of it is based on everyday reality, never hurt anyone. You can read funnier 140-word quips and a teenager’s account of last night’s party on Tumblr and you don’t have to pay for it.

Perhaps that’s a little harsh, but McGackin is obviously smart and talented well enough to be able to speak in a voice that gathers an enthusiastic audience, which isn’t an easy feat. In that case, well-played bro! Maybe easy on the menstrual jokes and portmanteaus next time?

Grade: C—Kristina Bravo Broetry is currently available.

Now-Aug. 20 @ Westchester Playhouse I love the play “Bus Stop” by William Inge. Set in 1955 Kansas City, Mo., a bus carrying a group of amusing and strangely dynamic characters is forced to stop at a diner to wait out a horrible snowstorm.

The audience soon meets Cherie (played by Bo (Sam Hambrecht) and Cherie (Jessee Foudray) Jessee Foudray), an aspiring in “Bus Stop” countrified nightclub singer; Dr. Lyman (an amusing performance by David Kunzle), the alcoholic professor smitten with Elma (Janet Lee Rodriguez), the young, open-eyed waitress working the late-night shift at the diner.

There’s Grace (Valerie Ruel), the owner of the diner who can’t resist seeing a good fight or the touch of a man; Carl (Neil Engelman), the bus driver secretly fooling around with Grace; Bo (Sam Hambrecht), the dimwitted cowboy infatuated with marrying Cherie; and finally, Virgil (Andy Grosso), Bo’s smarter sidekick.

It is the dialogue between these people that makes this play so hysterical and so much fun to watch. Unfortunately, the Kentwood Player’s production was a letdown. It was amateur at its best. It felt more like watching a bunch of vignettes within the show and not an ensemble working together.

The energy, with few exceptions, was too weak. The actors’ diction was not always clear and made it difficult to understand what they were saying.

The set design by Max Heldring Storme’s was lovely and depicted a 1950s diner quite well. If only as much detail went into the performances – what a stronger production it could have been.

—Ximena Herschberg Westchester Playhouse is located at 8301 Hindry Ave., Los Angeles. For more information, visit kentwoodplayers.org.

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COLORSOFCULTURE

CREATE:FIXATE Stop-Pause-Now

by cindy kyungah lee During the weekend of Carmageddon (Los Angeles’ most feared traffic monster), Create:Fixate presented its most recent artistic rendezvous at the Premier Events Center in Downtown Los Angeles. If you by for some chance missed the countless number of previous events hosted by Create:Fixate, the evenings of the July 16 and 23 were your chance to make up for the loss. Usually Create:Fixate holds one-night only events, but on top of the one held on the 16th, Create:Fixate held an encore of StopPause-Now, the first encore in its 10-year history, on the 23rd.

Just like its previous cocktail parties of art, Create:Fixate didn’t fail to provide its visitors with an evening – in this special case, two evenings – of undivided attention and indulgence into the arts.

Michelle Berc, the Founder and Artistic Director of the arts organization states, “Sometimes, you’ve got to take a moment, with all that’s whizzing by. The noise level rises and it becomes an ever-increasing challenge to just be, much less Be Present. So take a moment. Let go of that angst about the past and your worries about the future. Give your undivided attention to what’s going on right in front of you. Pause. Center. Focus. And when you’re ready, Take Action. Find your way to Now and make it happen!”

Sure enough just like the theme set forth by Berc, numerous artists gathered to create an evening surrounding the queer timelessness of the present, the gift and valuable experience of enjoying it.

Organized into two sections, the Optical Lounge and the Audio Lab, Stop-Pause-Now called forth over 30 visual artists as well as a group of musical artists to please its audience.

Surrounded by brilliant colors and music that vibrates to your core, Create:Fixate stamped yet another successful event in its series of bringing art to life.

Still artists, video artists, live artists, graphic artists, jewelers and designers all brought to the space contributions filled with the touch of their own lives and passion, colors that lured and tantalized the audience into long deciphering gazes. And of course, as usual, the Audio Lab completes the evening organized by Create:Fixate. Probably what Create:Fixate is most known for. The art of course is one thing, but the true element that defines Create:Fixate as Create:Fixate is its unique combination of all of the arts and not a simple presentation of one. The music, in collaboration with the art creates a type of synchronization that truly makes the night memorable.

Bored of the still art? Simply make your way to the terrace next to the gallery and enjoy a more sensational indulgence. Bounce to the live music provided by a unique lineup, and if you’re tired of walking around to see the art, take a seat on one of the couches prepared outside and stare at the wall with the LED panels that continuously show a confusing pattern. Just stop to enjoy the video art in front of you.

Create:Fixate spoils its audience with the plethora of art they provide in a single night.

From its visual contributions to its audio pleasures, Create:Fixate always holds an evening filled with valuable sights that people tend to miss in their ordinary lives. If in the future you have a chance to visit one of the events, remember to be fully prepared-because what you will be exposed to in the venue will be something you have not experienced before.

For more information, visit createfixate.com.

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THE MARKET SMP

395 Santa Monica Place, Level 3, Santa Monica by erica carter Santa Monica Place used to be one of my favorite destinations when I lived in Venice. A short 15-minute bike ride along the coast, and I was shopping at Forever 21, Sanrio Surprise, BCBG and more. I had heard rumors that the mall as it stood – half occupied, but the occupants that did rent there were quality – was in talks of going under a massive renovation.

The Macerich Company proposed that the Santa Monica Mall be torn down and replaced with something more modern, namely condominiums and offices, with specialty boutiques.

Fearing that this would go against the beachy lifestyle and makeup of Santa Monica, residents strongly rejected the idea.

So as it goes, in 2007 a happy medium was reached where the mall still stood, but the roof was lifted and the walkways expanded. It took about three years for this process, and so far, so good.

The Santa Monica Place houses something for everyone.

But what really stands out, for better or worse, are the food options. On the top level of the circular mall, the Dining Deck displays a great variety of restaurants, like Pizza Antica, Xino

Campus Circle > Culture > Food and the wine wonderland Sonoma Wine Garden. But nestled off in the corner is the Market, a quaint section that can be likened to San Francisco’s Ferry Building. Not to be mistaken for a food court, the Market features artisan eateries and an organic skincare kiosk.

When you step through the doors, it’s almost like an oasis.

The hustle and bustle of neighboring restaurants is quieted, and it feels sort of like a farmer’s market, but indoors. Right now, the Market has more sweets and snacks than anything, but they are “fresh, fun and local:” Aurélie Vachresse, the Cookie Guru’s fresh baked chocolate chip cookies; Groundwork Coffee Company; Röckenwagner Bakery (the most delicious pretzel bread!).

The pretzel bread paired with Norcino Salumeria Cheese Bar’s wonderful cheeses is a nice little pick-me-up. You may be better off eating one of Norcino’s Panini, like the Calebrese: sausage and pesto on ciabatta bread. Or you can treat yourself to some appetizers, wine and/or dinner at Primi Al Mercato.

I enjoyed the chopped vegetable bruschetta, paired with the Rigatoni with tomato and mint basil pesto. You can order low-carb, gluten-free items and vegan items here. Or you can indulge in one the classic decadent Italian desserts, including the creamy cannoli and tiramisu.

The Curious Palate is the biggest player here however, with the patio-adjacent café, seasonal menu and small market. The same delicious entrees like the Cubano sandwich and Famous Mac n Cheese from the original Venice location have made their way over to Santa Monica. Some of the best things here include the Shishito Peppers and Ceviche. I think the winner might be the Grilled Cheese Royale. Gruyere, mozzarella and cheddar all come to the party, with a side of fries.

A nice added touch to the Market is the Gourmandise School of Sweets and Savories, a school started by French pastry

JETSETTER

GOIN’ NUTS In Plains, Georgia

by kevin wierzbicki The folks who live in tiny Plains, Ga. won’t mind if you think their town is nuts. As a matter of fact they’ll encourage the notion since Plains sits in the middle of the country’s “peanut growing belt” and is also the hometown of the world’s most famous peanut farmer of all time: former President Jimmy Carter.

The entwined legacies of the humble goober and our 30th leader are both celebrated in Plains where on the same short stretch of Main Street you’ll find Plain Peanuts where you can buy peanut everything (and have a free sample of yummy homemade peanut butter ice cream) and the Plains Historic Inn where the rooms are decorated with memorabilia from different eras ranging from the 1920s to the 1980s and where Carter-related items are found throughout the building. A block away is the Plains High School Museum and Visitor Center; this National Historic Site was formerly the Plains High School that President Carter graduated from, as did former First Lady Rosalynn Carter.

The Carters still live in Plains so when the pair are not off building houses with Habitat For Humanity or Jimmy is not globetrotting on a diplomatic mission it’s not unusual to see either of them out and about. And there’s a way to make sure that you’ll get to see and meet the Carters – head to Sunday school!

The Carters attend services at the Maranatha Baptist

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Campus Circle 8.3.11 - 8.9.11

Enjoy seasonal menu items in the Curious Palate’s café. chef Clémence Gossett and Southern maven Hadley Hughes.

Here you can learn how to perfect your cooking techniques, and meet some great chefs with cookbook signings and special events. Or you can visit Magical Blooms, Jenny Barker’s floral designs space that features unique arrangements and classes.

There are some things that need to be worked out at the Market. Though the food is local and fresh, there needs to be more of it! If I could walk in there and purchase fresh fruit and vegetables to go along with my flowers, pretzel bread and jasmine green tea, that would be something. Also, most of the shops are on the pricey side, especially when you can step outside and eat at one of the neighboring restaurants. An addition like Cabbage Patch, fresheast or Tender Greens would make the Market a big draw. There’s hope, as the Market just opened in May, so there’s plenty of room to grow.

For more information, visit themarketsmp.com.

Campus Circle > Culture > Travel Church when they are in Plains and Jimmy teaches Sunday school there a handful of times throughout the year. All are welcome, at least up to the capacity that the small church holds, and those who come for the service will generally be able to get their picture taken with the Carters.

Here’s how it works: Firstly, to be guaranteed entry, arrive early to get in line, 9 a.m. is good. You will have to go through a security check conducted by Secret Service agents so leave all unnecessary items in your car but do take your camera.

About a half hour before Carter comes out, the congregation is briefed on how things will proceed and what you can and cannot do; the session is conducted by a woman who has a delivery comparable to a stand-up comedian and she makes it very entertaining to find out when you can use your camera and tidbits like the fact that you will not at any point stand or clap for Carter.

Sunday school begins with Carter spending a few minutes telling what he’s been up to in the recent past and asking a few members of the congregation where they are from (this is the only time you can take pictures inside.) After he gives his lesson, Carter will leave for a brief period and then return with Rosalynn for the church service that’ll last about an hour.

Afterwards is when you can get your picture taken with the couple, and to keep this from getting out of hand there’s a set procedure on how this works too. The Carters stand holding hands under a tree, amiably posing until all who want a photo are accommodated. The Secret Service manages the line; when you get to the head of the line you hand your camera to one of the agents and then you go stand by the couple and you can choose to stand next to either one of them.

This is not a time for conversation and there’s definitely no touching or hand shaking; the agent snaps the photo, you collect your camera from another agent waiting to

Kevin Wierzbicki

NEWS

Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, after sunday school hand it back to you and then basically you are shooed out of the way. This might sound a little cold but it is actually quite thrilling, and it is understandable that the Carters can’t stand around and chew the fat. Since Jimmy and Rosalynn are both octogenarians it is a wonder that they offer this rare opportunity to the public at all.

The man that locals refer to as “Mr. Jimmy” will be teaching Sunday school on Sept. 11, 18 and 25, and if you visit Plains on Sept. 24 you can also enjoy this year’s Plains Peanut Festival.

For more information, visit plainsgeorgia.com.

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Campus Circle > Sports > Football

Paul Moseley/Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Dallas Out)MCT

the truth behind sports concussions by elisa hernandez

In January 1994, the state of Texas celebrated the Dallas Cowboys’ second consecutive NFC Championship win, assuring them a spot in Super Bowl XXVII. As the city of Dallas embraced the victory, Cowboys’ star quarterback Troy Aikman was in the hospital unable to remember anything that had happened.

Aikman suffered a traumatic head concussion in the third quarter of the NFC championship game against the San Francisco 49ers. Hours after the game, he sat in a pitch-black room in the hospital. Super agent Leigh Steinberg was one of the few visitors he had that night.

“Troy looks at me and says, ‘What am I doing here? Did I play today? Did I play well?’ I said, ‘You’re going to the Super Bowl.’ His face brightened, and he got very excited,” Steinberg says. “Five minutes passed, and he looked at me blankly, asked the same sequence of questions all over again.”

Steinberg says he first realized the importance of head concussions after seeing the shape that his star quarterback was in.

“It terrified me to see how tender the bond was between sentient consciousness and dementia,” he says. “I could no longer represent players in the NFL unless I took the concussion issue seriously and got information from players about longterm repercussions.”

The NFL recently began addressing the issue of head concussions in athletes. The league began fining players during the 2010-2011 season for head-to-head collisions during games. The new rule implications came about thanks to the long struggle of Steinberg who advocated the seriousness of this issue.

He has been representing athletes since 1976, NFL players such as Troy Aikman, Steve Young, Warren Moon and Ben Roethlisberger.

Steinberg says that during the late 1980s and early 1990s, NFL quarterbacks such as Steve Young and Troy Aikman were suffering multiple concussions during the 16-week NFL season. He came to find out that no doctor had any idea what were the longterm consequences of concussions or ‘how many is too many?’

“Steve Young suffered a concussion in a game against the Cardinals but denied it happened. He went into the following week’s game as if nothing had occurred,” Steinberg says. “He had impaired reflexes and higher risk for a second concussion.

He received a blow to the head and never played again.”

That prompted Steinberg to begin to hold Concussion and Player Safety Conferences throughout the 1990s in Newport Beach, Calif. He invited leading neurologists to make presentations about the short and longterm effects of concussions on athletes.

“If you see the shape these former players are in, it defies conscience not to help them,” Steinberg says. “It’s one thing not being able to bend over for your child at age 50 … it’s another thing to not be able to recognize your child.”

There are an estimated 1.6 million to 3.8 million sports concussions a year, according to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Sports concussions are traumatic head injuries that can happen from both mild and severe blows to the head, and can cause the brain to swell. Symptoms include dizziness, nausea, memory loss and headache.

The NFL is just beginning to address the longterm consequences of concussions in athletes like Troy Aikman.

“There are a number of patients that also have emotional and behavioral changes such as impulses and changes of judgment,” says David Ko, MD, professor of neurology at USC. “Recently there’s been a few cases of people in football particularly, who have unfortunately taken their lives.”

A study by the University of North Carolina’s Health Center found that clinical depression and suicide among retired NFL players was correlated with the amount of concussions they had received throughout their careers. Some doctors believe that three or more concussions trigger higher risks of athletes developing Alzheimer’s or dementia. USC was selected by the NFL to be one of the sites where neurologists can evaluate the brain function of former NFL players, whose current average lifespan is 55. No wonder people say that NFL stands for ‘Not For Long’.

“One has to realize you can’t be a football player forever,” says Willie Gault, former Chicago Bears player.

After car accidents, sports-related concussions are the second most common cause of traumatic brain injury.

Neurologists say once an athlete suffers a concussion, they are as much as four times more likely to sustain a second one.

“We are still trying to decide what the right test is. Do we pull him out as soon as it happens? How long does it take to recover? When can he play? [These are] all common questions when it comes to concussions in games,” says Michael Crovetti, an Orthopedic Surgeon.

Steinberg advocated ideas to the NFL about having neurologists on the sideline, pulling AstroTurf out of stadiums, outlawing blocking and tackling with the head in games, establishing an accepted methodology of diagnosis and treatment, rating the severity of concussions and forbidding reentry into a game or two, or a season.

After two conferences in Newport Beach and dozens of speeches and interviews campaigning on the issue, not much had changed. In 2007, Steinberg and Warren Moon, a former NFL quarterback, and Dr. Tony Strickland of the Concussion Institute for Los Angeles hosted another seminar. In order to grab the world’s attention, Steinberg invited the national press, AP, CNN, the New York Times, Washington Post, ESPN and the Los Angeles Times.

“I brought [them] to insure that the results were widely disseminated and that the NFL could not ignore the urgency of the problem. I called it a ‘ticking time bomb’ and ‘undiagnosed health epidemic’,” Steinberg says, “[This] led to Commissioner Roger Goodell convening a NFL Physician’s Conference to examine the problem, [and] the denial which existed surrounding the issue started to fall.”

After his stunt, the NFL issued a “whistleblower’s edict” urging NFL athletes to report players whom they thought were impaired and to generally look out for each other. They began to use the Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment

and Cognitive Test (IMPAACT), which is a baseline test that established the normal functioning of a player’s brain. This could be used to judge the degree of impairment in an injured player.

Steinberg later organized a second conference in 2009 campaigning for it, and both conferences received national attention. Although it’s alarming that this issue has been concealed for so long, what’s most disturbing is that most fans think that by giving players fines for head-to-head collisions is hurting the game of football.

“It’s making it weak, you might as well play tag football,” says Dennys Hernandez, a long time Denver Bronco fan, “we watch to see those hard hits, and now it’s watered down, we might as well not watch it.”

Steinberg as well as other former players joined together to address this epidemic, and show people the seriousness of it since it seems no one cares about the players once they step off the field.

“I’m glad they’re taking those kinds of precautions … but it definitely changed the perception of QBs even more,” says Mark Sanchez, current quarterback for the New York Jets.

“You’re already [seen as] the prima-donna, the china doll out there … it’s sad and almost embarrassing.”

The NFL head-to-head collision rule fines defensive players for tackling, or going for a hit leading with their helmet. Although it’s a split second decision for a player to hit another with his helmet or shoulder, players can be fined up to $75,000. They can also face possible suspension depending on the severity of the hit, according to NFL.com. Yet this rule is controversial because of the inconsistency of officiating.

“With the hits too, it’s a tough call there’s definitely unnecessary hits out there,” says Matt Leinart, current quarterback for the Houston Texans. “I have to say I agree with some [calls], and I don’t agree with some.”

Steinberg continues pushing this issue, to help the NFL understand how these hits can affect players. He feels very strongly about this and hopes the NFL will create better pensions and overall healthcare for current and retired players.

“At some point you become retired, and it’s all about the benefits,” says Toi Cook, former cornerback for the New Orleans Saints. “Most players’ don’t have 12-year careers … when I retired you got two years of health insurance, I think it’s up to five now.”

Steinberg hopes to get the NFL to extend player benefits, provide better healthcare, give baseline tests, provide EKGs for heart monitoring and help these players live past the age of 55.

“Dealing with the injuries that occur in violent sports like football, every Sunday night during football season seems like an episode of ‘ER’,” Steinberg says. “[The NFL has to] take care of veteran retired players that made the game … they need to prioritize these health issues.”

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GALAXYKICK

Campus Circle > Sports > Soccer

UNBEATEN STREAK IMPROVES

by Marvin vasquez

The Los Angeles Galaxy’s unbeaten streak improved to 14 games with a dominating 4-0 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps FC in Canada on Saturday before a sold-out crowd of 27,500. Vancouver’s Empire Field witnessed its biggest audience ever for an MLS match, though it arrived and departed in disappointing fashion for the host. With the win, Los Angeles’ record moved to 12-2-9 for the year with a total of 45 points, which is a league-best and good enough for first place in the Western Conference thus far.

“I thought our team played very well for 90 minutes. The first half, both teams created chances, but we took control around the 30 minute mark and had a very good second half,” L.A. head coach Bruce Arena says. “Landon’s goal broke Vancouver’s backs. It was a very good day for the Galaxy.”

Midfielder and team captain Landon Donovan not only scored once, but twice and then assisted on another. Donovan struck his 10th goal of the season in the 61st minute after defender Sean Franklin delivered a chopped ball into his run.

The Inland Empire-native then chest trapped the leather in front of him and once in the box, he finished with above-par class in a left-footed curled shot.

“To go a goal down against these guys, it’s sort of their bread and butter – you knew they were going to pack up shop,” former Galaxy player Peter Vagenas tells the media after the game. “We came in and changed our tactics a bit, and again gave up – and this is not to disrespect anybody on this team – we gave away three amateur-level goals. The second, third and fourth ones.”

Donovan gives his thoughts on the initial score, which propelled the Galaxy to gain momentum and net more goals.

“The game was pretty even until the first goal,” Donovan says. “Vancouver did a good job of attacking, but I think we also did a good job of attacking. The two teams clearly wanted to win the game. Our fault in the first half was not being clinical in front of the goal, but once we were in the second half, we were able to pull away.”

Fourteen minutes after at the 75th minute mark hit, Donovan scored his 11th off a well-executed penalty kick; he is now a perfect four-for-four on PK conversions. Currently, Donovan is tied with New York Red Bulls’ French striker Thierry Henry with a league-best 11 scores. For the sixth time in his 11-season MLS career, Donovan has reached double figures in goals.

“We were a little fortunate with the penalty, but we knew if we were smart and we passed the ball we were going to get a number of chances, and it was just about making sure we finished them,” Donovan states.

Los Angeles’ scoring did not end there. Franklin, who last week netted his first MLS career goal, collected another against Vancouver. In the 80th minute, defender Todd Dunivant connected with Donovan, who raced into the box and near the end line before releasing a rapid-rolling pass for Franklin.

Franklin, who last year had a career-high six assists, suggests the first half of play was scoreless because Vancouver’s

COMEDY

FURCAL TRADED TO CARDINALS

“Awake”

by marvin vasquez

Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times/MCT

DODGERS411

Rafael Furcal heads to St. Louis.

After six seasons with the team, the Dodgers traded short– stop Rafael Furcal to the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday in exchange for a minor league player.

When healthy and motivated, Furcal can be a superstar offensively and the best shortstop defensively. Furcal, who has a home in La Cañada, is just 33 years of age.

“I’m so excited,” he says to multiple reporters. “Who wouldn’t want to be in this situation? They’re looking for a win, and I’m looking for that, too.”

Dodgers’ general manager Ned Colletti is sad to have dealt Furcal, but is simultaneously happy to see him go to an immediate contender.

“Raffy was a pivotal part of our success in 2006, 2008 and 2009,” Colletti admits. “He’s respected by his teammates and people around the game because of how hard he played day in and day out and his passion for being a Dodger.”

In exchange for Furcal, the Dodgers received an outfielder in Alex Castellanos, who was playing at Double-A Springfield. Castellanos, whose 25th birthday is next week, was the Cardinals’ 10th-round draft pick in 2008; he was batting .319 with 19 homers, 62 RBIs and 10 steals in 93 games.

“We’re getting a player who has shown a combination of power and speed,” Colletti says. “We hope he can refine those abilities to a big league standard.”

The Cardinals will pay about $1.38 million of the remaining $4.8 million on Furcal’s salary. Top prospect in shortstop Dee Gordon has been recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque; he ranks as the No. 25 prospect in baseball.

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lagalaxy.com

NEWS

Forward Adam Cristman scored the final goal for the Galaxy. stadium and crowd made an impact.

“The first half we were adjusting to the turf, and Vancouver came out flying,” he remarks. “The first 15 minutes they were really coming at us, but we started to get better towards the end of the first half.”

Forward Adam Cristman finished the scoring in the 90th minute mark with his first season goal, which came unassisted in a hustle play that saw him fight and head the ball past former Galaxy goalkeeper Joe Cannon.

For the affair, Puerto Rican-American goalkeeper Josh Saunders made three saves and earned his fourth shutout this 2011 campaign. In 23 games this season, the Galaxy has gathered 12 clean sheets. Jamaican Donovan Ricketts, who is injured, leads the team with six.

Los Angeles continues its two-game Northwest road trip with a stop in Portland on Wednesday, Aug. 3, as they visit the Timbers at JELD-WEN Field at 7:30 p.m. Soon after, the Galaxy host FC Dallas on Saturday, Aug. 6, at 7:30 p.m. at the Home Depot Center in Carson.

Now-Aug. 20 @ Bootleg Theater Joe Hernandez-Kolski is not afraid to try new and different things. In fact, HernandezKolski tests theatrical entertainment in “Awake.”

“Awake” is a new solo show written and performed by Hernandez-Kolski himself. A lot of the ideas behind it have been supported by developer and director Benjamin Byron Davis, who has worked with Hernandez-Kolski in the past. Their solid working and personal relationship is depicted in this daring solo show. With one of the most creative, yet imaginative beginnings that theater can have, “Awake” starts with sexual humor. While experiencing oral sex, Hernandez-Kolski thinks, talks to himself, continues to think and then speaks to his partner, but then the thinking continues. Absolutely hilarious!

Technology and self-reflection are illustrated in “Awake” as well, but HernandezKolski executes this to perfection while performing jokes and saying truthful elements regarding Facebook. But where Hernandez-Kolski succeeds most is when he connects with the passing of his beloved mother throughout an honest, but vigorous awakening of emotions.

Humbling and socially fulfilling, “Awake” also contains scenes of hip-hop and breakdancing while continuing to touch the hearts of the audience through comedy and drama. “Awake” is almost a complete autobiography of Hernandez-Kolski, who carries the title of actor, writer, def poet and Emmy-Award winner.

One of the unexpected parts of “Awake” lies with the surprising change of wardrobe in front of the public on stage, as Hernandez-Kolski removes his casual shoes, jeans and shirts and instantly transforms into the business man.

Hernandez-Kolski, a Chicago native who is of Polish and Mexican descent, is a graduate of Princeton University and currently resides in Los Angeles. Consequently, “Awake” is an ideal piece for the college student, as he deeply resonates essential topics of the collegiate life, culture, growth and entertainment. “Awake” is a daring thrill.

—Marvin Vasquez Bootleg Theater is located at 2220 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles. For more information, visit bootlegtheater.org.

Follow CAMPUS CIRCLE on Twitter @CampusCircle

CALENDARTHE10SPOT

BY FREDERICK MINTCHELL FRIDAYAUG. 5 Nike 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament L.A. Live, 800 W. Olympic Blvd., Downtown; nike3on3.com Basketball players of all ages and skill levels are encouraged to sign up. Plus, experience the Nike Basketball fan fest, Slam Dunk Contest, Celebrity Shoot Out and more. Runs through Sunday.

WEDNESDAYAUG. 3 California for Alabama M Bar, 1253 N. Vine St., Los Angeles; facebook.com/pages/California-forAlabama/222814721061914 The event features comedian and author Greg Behrendt (“The Greg Behrendt Show,” He’s Just Not That Into You), actor and comedian Chris D’elia (“Workaholics,” “Whitney”), comedian Matt Braunger (“Mad TV”), actor and comedian Jamie Kaler (“My Boys,” “Robot Chicken”) as well as fellow actor/ comedians Drew Droege, Matt Knudsen and Sean Carrigan. Musical acts scheduled to appear are Travis Howard and Bobby Joyner – all to raise money to support the victims of the April 27, 2011 tornadoes that killed hundreds and left thousands homeless across Alabama. 7:30 p.m. $10.

WEDNESDAYAUG. 3 Shawn Green ESPN Zone at L.A. Live, 1011 S. Figueroa St., Downtown; espnzone.com/los angeles The former Dodger and two-time MLB all-star signs his book, The Way of Baseball: Finding Stillness at 95 MPH. 6:30 p.m.

THURSDAYAUG. 4 International Television Festival itvfest.org The premiere festival in the world for independently produced TV pilots, web content and digital features showcases industry panels, independent pilots, innovative webseries and mobile series and parties. Runs through Aug. 12.

FRIDAYAUG. 5 Batman Begins/The Dark Knight Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood; americancinematheque.com If you are counting down the days until The Dark Knight Rises hits the big screen, catch up with Christopher Nolan’s first two entries in the Batman saga. 7:30 p.m. $11, $9 w/student ID.

SATURDAYAUG. 6 Hard Summer Music Festival L.A. State Historic Park, 1245 N. Spring St., Downtown; hardfest.com Four stages of 30-plus performers including Duck Sauce, Boys Noize, Chromeo, Ratatat, Skrillex, Odd Future,

Digitalism, Jack Beats, Caspa, Nero, Noisia, Emalkay, Karlsson & Winnberg of Miike Snow, Siriusmo, Gesaffelstein, Gaslamp Killer, Destructo and more. 6 p.m.-2 a.m.

SUNDAYAUG. 7 Ten Times Funnier Comedy Show Jon Lovitz Comedy Club, 100 Universal City Plaza; thejonlovitzcomedyclub.com Comedian-turned-actor Eddie Griffin returns to his stand-up roots with host Kaspar Nelson and friends in a night of outrageous, raunchy comedy. Every Sunday in August @ 9 p.m. $10.

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In Store Now your pleasure is Our passion 19 CA Locations — 1.800.34.adult Call for locations or visit www.RomantixOnline.com to find a store near you!

MONDAYAUG. 8 The Rules of the Tunnel: A Brief Period of Madness Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood; booksoup.com A journalist faces his toughest as– signment yet: profiling himself. Vanity Fair writer Ned Zeman recounts his struggle with clinical depression in this high- octane, brutally funny memoir about mood disorders, memory, shock treatment therapy and the quest to get back to normal.

7 p.m.

TUESDAYAUG. 9 Duke Snider Bobblehead Night Dodger Stadium, 1000 Elysian Park Ave.; dodgers.com All fans in attendance get a bobblehead when Los Angeles takes on the Phillies. 7:10 p.m. Tix start @ $10.

TUESDAYAUG. 9 L.A. Sparks Watch Giveaway Staples Center, 1111 S. Figueroa St., Downtown; wnba.com/sparks The first 1,000 fans get a G2 Sparks watch courtesy of Deuce Brand when the Tulsa Shock led by Stanford alum Kayla Pederson and the age-defying Sheryl Swoopes come to town. 7:30 p.m. Tix start @ $5.

For more events, visit campuscircle.com/calendar.

To submit an event for consideration, e-mail calendar@campuscircle.net.

GAMEON “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” (Electronic Arts) The most action-oriented installment in a decade of “Harry Potter” games based on the film series, “Deathly Hallows: Part 2” is a pretty decent third-person cover-based shooter, à la “Gears of War.” Does that make this “Gears of Wizarding War?” More or less, though there’ll be no chainsawing enemy wizards in half here; Death Eaters fall in a cloud of black smoke, not a spray of blood.

The game starts off with the robbery of Gringotts bank and moves quickly from there to the town Hogsmeade and Hogwarts school as Harry and his friends search for Lord Voldemort’s horcruxes. The magic bolts fly fast and furious throughout, ranging from precise single-shot spells like Expelliarmus, which can break an opponent’s Protego shield spell, to the rapid-fire Expulso, which delivers a hail of fire whose accuracy decreases greatly the longer it’s used. New spells are introduced periodically, and ducking behind objects for cover is a necessity.

Grade: B —Justin Hoeger, McClatchy Newspapers (MCT) “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” is currently available.

“Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale” (Atari) “Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale” doesn’t try to directly recreate the “Dungeons & Dragons” experience. Instead it’s a dungeon crawl in the vein of the recent “Dungeon Siege III” or 2003’s “Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes.” The game follows a familiar formula: Find a character with a quest, fulfill the quest’s conditions, gain reward, repeat. Some quests drive the story forward, others are simply for experience or material gain. The action is solid but not exceptional.

Grade: B—Justin Hoeger, McClatchy Newspapers (MCT) “Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale” is currently available. © 2011, The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.). Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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