Arts and Entertainment
Chronicle Page 7
Monday, November 15, 2010
Photo courtesy of AMC
Director Frank Darabont has captivated audiences once again, this time with the ground-breaking“The Walking Dead.” The television series was adapted from the bestselling graphic novel series, and is already one of AMC’s biggest successes.
Zombies invade television sets with AMC’s new thriller By STEVEN AVILA Staff Writer Sunday nights now belong to the zombie. AMC, the cable TV network responsible for the Emmy-winning shows “Breaking Bad” and “Mad Men,” premiered its new show “The Walking Dead” Halloween night, with its third episode airing Sunday, Nov. 14. Even drama fans with no interest in zombies will have to take this show seriously. Nancy Dewolf Smith of The Wall Street Journal admitted the show is “so good that it has hooked even a zombie hater like me.” Adapted from the bestselling graphic novel series by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Chris Adlard, the show is in the hands of veteran film and television director Frank Darabont. The Oscar nominee, who has directed such powerful films as “The Shawshank Redemption” and “The Green Mile,” has an amazing ability of taking even the most unusual story premise—a zombie apocalypse, for instance— and shining the light on pure human emotion. “The Walking Dead” does just that. Andrew Lincoln especially stands out with his role as Sheriff’s Deputy Rick Grimes.
Injured in a police shootout, Grimes slips into a coma only to awaken to a world turned on its head. Lincoln does an incredible job of portraying Grimes not as the lone action hero common to many apocalyptic stories, but instead as a common man trying to survive in a world he no longer understands, a world full of “walkers.” Lennie James gives a moving performance in the series opener as Morgan, a man barricaded in his house with his young son. As they struggle to survive, Morgan is haunted by the presence of his wife, who is now one of the undead shuffling about outside. Of course, even with the focus on the living, you can’t have a zombie show without zombies. Those in “The Walking Dead” are some of the most realistic-looking to show up on either the big or small screen. There is undeniable hunger and emptiness in their eyes, and their speed—a source of debate among zombie fans—is neither too slow nor too fast. These are the zombies for a new generation. “The Walking Dead” marks a new resurgence of zombie popularity. With books like Max Brooks’s “The Zombie Survival Guide” and “World War Z,” movies like last year’s raucous “Zombieland,” and video games like “Left 4 Dead”
A mouse named Danger By JENNIFER BAUGH Staff Writer Listed as one of Esquire Magazine’s 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century, Brian Burton is a mouse to be reckoned with. Since his 2004 release of The Grey Album, the visionary producer and DJ also known as “Danger Mouse” has collaborated and produced albums for Rapture and Sparklehorse, Beck, The Black Keys and the Gorillaz just to name a few. His 12-song debut, The Grey Album, is an experimental combination of Jay Z’s acapella version of The Black Album mixed with deconstructed instrumental sounds of The Beatles’ The White Album. Originally made for just his friends, the album was leaked and spread all throughout the Internet falling into the laps of thousands of viewers, including music critics. Rolling Stone magazine once declared it as “the ultimate remix record”. “I sat down and tried to make one track, and it happened really fast,” said Burton. “Then I tried to make a second song, and it took a lot longer, but it still worked.
And I thought, Wow. What if I can do the whole album? It was almost this Andy Warhol moment, where I made a decision to do something artistically without a clear reason as to why, except to show people what I could do.” ‘’It’s just unheard of for an artist to create that kind of awareness,’’ said Eric Garland, chief executive of consulting firm BigChampagne. The firm’s data reveals that more than 100,000 people have downloaded The Grey Album. Burton created the stage name, Danger Mouse, before his 2004 debut of Grey Album based on the British cartoon series, “Danger Mouse.” He is famous for periodically performing in a giant mouse outfit, giving the excuse that he was too shy to show his own face. Before his rise to stardom, Burton had already three albums under his belt and created theme music for Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. He’s more recently known for forming Gnarls Barkley with singer CeeLo Green as well as the band Broken Bells with The Shins’ James Mercer. Rather than referencing to typical music legends as a muse, Burton centers his
and the “Resident Evil” franchise, our fascination with undead has never been more alive. But what draws our gaze to something so repulsive and yet so intriguing? It’s difficult to answer that with complete certainty, but perhaps it’s because zombies are as close to human as any movie monster can get. Fiction writer Adam-Troy Castro is quoted in John Joseph Adam’s anthology “The Living Dead 2” as stating “We laugh when the hero ... blows away the shambling rotter ... but we tend to forget that the rotter used to be a person.” “The Walking Dead” plays on that often ignored notion entirely. In a surprisingly sorrowful moment in the premiere, rather than going trigger-happy, Grimes says to an immobile zombie: “I’m sorry this happened to you.” Zombie fans and pure drama fans alike can’t miss this series. Like the Darabont works before it, this show is destined for greatness. “The Walking Dead” graphic novels are currently available with major booksellers. Tune in to “The Walking Dead” every Sunday night at 10 p.m. on AMC. Fair warning: “Don’t you get bit.”
inspiration from film directors. “Musically, there is no one who has the career I want. That’s why I have to use film directors as a model.” In an interview with The New York Times, Burton compares his philosophy of music production to the cinematic genius of Woody Allen. “Woody Allen was an auteur: he did his “thing”, and that particular “thing” was completely his own”, said Burton, “That’s what I decided to do with music. I want to create a director’s role within music”. As of now, Burton is in the works of an ambitious new project. The project was well kept under wraps until it was revealed in The Guardian recently, involving an Italian composer, Daniele Luppi, and film scores from the Spanish/Italian western spaghettis of the late 1960s, entitled “Rome.” The record will feature notable western scores of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly as well as Once Upon A Time in the West all recorded with ‘old-fashioned’ studio equipment at Rome’s Forum studio. And if that’s not enough for the general public, there will be a string of surprising guest spots such as Norah Jones and Jack White included in the production of the album. As if the young producer/musician is not busy enough, he is also in the works of producing U2’s next album. This will, for sure, be a great year for this dangerous mouse.
Marcelo Teson | Danger Mouse
Burton’s unique style helps to set “The Grey Album” apart.