B6 Thursday, February 17, 2011
Old Gold & Black Life
THE
HOT
List
Movie Theater Releases for Feb. 17 I Am Number Four Vanishing on 7th Street Unknown Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son The Resident The Chaperone Gawd Bless America
Did you know? Walmart reports the highest amount of stolen goods of any retail store in the country.
Book Review | Happy Ever After
Romantic Roberts novel rounds out wedding series By Samantha Hoback | Staff writer
New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts brings her bridal quartet of books to a close with the story of Parker Brown in Happy Ever After. After watching her three best friends meet, fall in love and get engaged to “the ones,” Parker remains the single, career-oriented, obsessive-compulsive head of the team of Vows, the wedding planning business she started with her friends Mac, Emma and Laurel. Although she dreams of having her own wedding one day she is unwilling to settle for anything less than perfection. That is until Malcolm Kavanaugh comes along. Working as a mechanic at his mother’s garage, Malcolm is the exact opposite of everything Parker ever imagined she’d look for in a future husband. A forward, slightly arrogant daredevil with a dark past and a rebellious front, Malcolm wastes no time
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One-liner
Celeb Juice: This week’s gossip update
If you’re one in a million then there are 6000 people exactly like you. • Oscar-winning actress Christina Applegate, who has been battling breast cancer for the past year, gave birth to a baby girl earlier this month. Applegate’s tells all in an in-depth interview in the latest issue of People. • Lady Gaga appeared on the Tonight Show Feb. 14 and confessed that she does not remember her post-Grammy celebrations. • Billy Ray Cyrus admits that he’s concerned over the safety of daughter Miley. He says Satan has attacked his family. The country singer finally drew the line at Miley’s birthday party. He said Miley will become a “train wreck” if nothing is done to stop her. • During HTC’s Mobile World Congress Feb. 15, Mark Zuckerburg made an announcement that “phones with a deeper social integration” are on their way in 2011. Facebook will soon have its own button on many smart phones.
Student Union
Bartending Short Course Feb. 17 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Benson 401C SU Films: Waiting for Superman Feb. 19 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Pugh Auditorium
Drink of the Week Spring Fever
The beautiful weather this week has spoiled everyone with warm, sunny days that leave us craving for spring. 3/4 oz lemon juice 3/4 oz mango syrup 1 1/2 oz pineapple juice 2 oz orange juice Shake well over ice in a shaker. Strain into a glass half-filled with crushed ice.
love. All three of Parker’s best friends are planning their own weddings. Every weekend there is a rehearsal dinner, wedding or anniversary party. Parker always expected to be married, but she never expected to fall for someone like Malcolm. Malcolm was never the marrying kind until he met Parker. They say opposites attract. At times very cheesy and almost unrealistic, Happy Ever After satisfies readers with a whirlwind romance and fairytale ending. It is not hard to understand why Nora Roberts continues to attract female readers with her warm-and-fuzzy writing style, lovable characters and “happily ever afters.” Happy Ever After is the final chapter in the series that follows the love stories of the four friends who made their favorite childhood game of “wedding day” into a successful business. With four men that complete their perfect lives, the girls can finally say that it is their turn to live happy ever after.
Surrender to Sudoku
Word Play HEAD HEELS
in his quest to win Parker’s heart. He Parker must learn to juggle more than pulls the romantic card and woos her. just bridal consultations, cake tastings To her friends’ surprise, Parker and rehearsal dinners. She struggles becomes swept up in Malcolm’s bad- to understand Malcolm’s past, hoping boy style of romance. Late-night rides that by sharing their secrets they will on the back of Malcolm’s motorcycle become even closer. But unlike Parker, around the city were not in Parker’s Malcolm doesn’t wear his emotions on grand life plan. She is already busy his sleeve. He is easily hurt and sufenough with her fers from a dark past wedding business: that almost ended consoling bridezilhis life. Things Happy Ever After las and solving lastget even more minute dress mal- Author | Nora Roberts complicated when functions, while Genre | Chick-lit Malcolm’s mother remaining faithful Who’s it for? | Wedding-novel becomes involved. to her 6 a.m. daily readers, love story enthusiasts After finding out workout routine. Grade | Aabout her son’s With the encournew girlfriend, agement of her Kay Kavanaugh friends and her devoted family friend is eager to see her son finally settle and housekeeper, Mrs. Grady, Parker down, which only makes Malcolm finds herself falling fast and hard for more hesitant. the West Coast mechanic. But it is impossible to spend time In the months leading up to Mac’s at the Brown estate with the girls of wedding to English-teacher Carter, Vows and not get swept up in all the
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8 7 8 5 1 6 5
8 5 4 9 6 3 8 8 1 6 2 9 5 7 3
6 8 1
Check back next week for the solution to this week’s problem. In case you haven’t noticed, we like to keep people waiting in suspense.
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Puzzle by websudoku.com Difficulty Level: Hard
1 3 8 5 4 2 7 9 6
4 9 2 7 6 3 5 8 1
5 6 7 8 1 9 2 4 3
7 5 3 6 8 4 9 1 2
2 1 6 3 9 5 8 7 4
9 8 4 2 7 1 3 6 5
8 2 9 4 5 6 1 3 7
3 4 1 9 2 7 6 5 8
6 7 5 1 3 8 4 2 9
Puzzle by websudoku.com
Solution from 2/10
Movie Review | Black Swan
Portman thriller is “en pointe” to audiences By Katie Lushefski | Contributing writer
The recent drama and suspense-filled Black Swan, starring Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis and Vincent Cassel, has been an attention-grabbing hit. This movie satisfies a wide range of audiences from hard-core moviegoers to those just looking for suspenseful entertainment. The storyline is unlike any previous film I have seen, and the acting is phenomenal. Not once did I take my eyes off the screen or get bored during the film. Electrifying and eerie, Black Swan conveys the story of a meticulous ballerina, Nina (Natalie Portman), who dances for a New York ballet company. Nina’s obsession with ballet controls her existence and extends to her home life where her mother (Barbara Hershey) is also consumed with Nina’s achievements. Nina wins the dual role of white swan and black swan in an upcoming performance of “Swan Lake.” The role involves being two separate swan characters at once: an innocent and angelic white swan queen and her evil and seductive black swan twin. The ballet director, Thomas (Vincent Cassel), assures Nina that he knows she can be the white swan but is not yet convinced that she can also play the black swan. Nina becomes obsessed with perfecting each part of the role and struggles to find her inner black swan; in doing so, she becomes Black Swan increasingly psychotic. Rating | R The characDirector | Darren Aronofsky ter of Nina is Who’s it for? | Dancers, psydisturbing and chological thriller fans widely emoRunning Time | 1 hr. 48 mins. tional, but PortGrade | Aman nails it and gives an unbelievable performance. She satisfies each aspect of Nina’s dynamic personality and dances beautifully, utilizing her own childhood ballet skills. Kunis plays Nina’s ballerina rival, Lily, who effortlessly fits the devious and erotic persona of the black swan. As Nina strives to find her dark side, she envies Lily and becomes convinced that Lily is secretly trying to steal her role in “Swan Lake.” Interestingly enough, Nina also develops a peculiar sexual desire for Lily. Kunis delivers a spectacular performance as well, enticing the audience with Lily’s relaxed yet unpredictable character. Kunis and Portman provide complete executions of acting and dancing in their roles, a feat in and of itself. Both actresses lost a substantial amount of weight in order to fit the ballerina persona. Black Swan attends to multiple deep-seated fears including losing your mind without even realizing it, losing your job to another, letting your children grow up, and becoming disfigured or overweight. The film is also filled with unconventional sexual tensions, contributing to its uniqueness and allure.
Photo courtesy of Fox Searchlight Films
Nina (Natalie Portman) struggles with playing both the innocent white swan and the seductive black swan, contributing to a precarious mental state. In addition to Nina’s fantasies about Lily, there are sensual moments between her and her director, Thomas. Nina’s mother has a borderline sexual obsession with her daughter, which is discomforting but an interesting addition to the plotline. Despite the intriguing plot points of the film, I felt rather unsatisfied in the end because parts of the plot were left unexplained. Some of the ambivalence of the script is thought-provoking and exciting, but I would have liked more of the plot to have been clarified or carried out further. For instance, the strange relationship between Nina and her mother was depthless and fruitless. Likewise, I was confused as to which scenes were figures of Nina’s imagination and which were really happening. I was also perplexed as to whether Nina was initially mental or if the harsh stresses of the ballet world made her crazy. The movie had too much incongruity and I had to generate too many of my own conclusions. Likewise, the sexual relations were not as stirring as they could have been. For example, the bedroom scene between Nina and Lily was very lascivious in theory, but the film did not play out the incident in a captivating way. There seemed to be a lot lacking in that sense between the potential of the film and the way it played out.
I had similar thoughts about the relations between Nina and Thomas, which were rather trivial and lacked complexity. The film had more potential intensity than it actually produced. “Black Swan would be more interesting if the erotica was sustained,” English professor Dean Franco said. He believed the film reflected bad movie-making, as it was “incoherent, obvious, ridiculous and two-dimensional.” Franco addresses his dissatisfaction with the erotica, deeming it too “contained.” This opinion is almost the direct opposite to what many viewers think: that there was too much overt sexuality. In contrast to Franco, many students seem to be pleased and profoundly enthralled with Black Swan. “After watching it, I had trouble sleeping. I lost my grasp on reality,” junior Ben Gionet said. The anxiety and anticipation of the screenplay kept my attention throughout, yet I found myself cringing at times from the graphic nature. Although Black Swan has more potential, it already stands out highly with its dark exhilaration and impressive acting. The movie has become increasingly popular since its release. Additionally the file is a viable candidate for many Oscars, including Best Motion Picture and Best Actress for Natalie Portman, who already won a Golden Globe for her role.
Solution to Word Play: Try to understand