ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
February 13, 2013
Page 15
Editor’s Pick: Mumford & Sons Valentine’s Day Special
By DANIELLE GARRAND ASSISTANT ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
Last Wednesday night, while most college kids were cramming or snoozing, I was at The Barclays Center in Brooklyn watching Mumford & Sons perform their British hearts out. Every few years, there is that band that seems to captivate the nation’s attention with a completely new sound and style (Backstreet Boys, anyone?). Right now, Mumford is that band, and their star is not fading. The fierce foursome consists of lead singer Marcus Mumford (guitarist, drums, and mandolin), Ben Lovett (vocals, keyboards, accordion, drums), Winston Marshall (vocals, banjo, guitar, resonator guitar) and Ted Dwayne (vocals, string bass, drums, guitar). The now world-famous group formed in West London during 2007 and recorded its EP “Love Your Ground.” The band performed in small venues, gradually building up a devoted fan base until the release of it first full album “Sigh No More” in 2009 in the U.K. (2010 in the U.S.). They were an overnight success, topping the Irish charts as number one, the U.K. charts at number two and even made the U.S.’s top Billboard 200. By 2010, everyone knew the folk rock group. After making the leap across the pond to the U.S., Mumford was nominated for two Grammy awards in 2010 and performed at the ceremony. The success of their first album is due, in large part, to their mass appeal as well as their intellectual song lyrics. The title of the album, Sigh No More, isn’t just a strange sounding phrase; the saying is from William Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing. In an interview, Mumford joked,
Where: Empire State building 350 Fifth Ave at 33rd St.
This year for V-Day, instead of going to a boring rom-com or cuddling up to good old Ben & Jerry’s, visit classic Hollywood Haunts for a proper date night. Begin your tour with one of the most famous sights in the city: The Empire State Building on 350 Fifth Ave at 33rd St. This site has been the location of many romantic meetings and disappointments, but it all started with the 1957 film An Affair to Remember. Plan a rendezvous reminiscent of the Hollywood classic to spark a little romance on Cupid’s favorite night of the year.
Where: Tiffany’s jewelry store 727 Fifth Ave at 57th St.
COURTESY OF MARK HUMPHREY/AP IMAGES
On Sunday night at the Grammys, Mumford and Sons won Album of the Year.
“You can rip off Shakespeare all you like; no lawyer’s going to call you up on that one.” Many other songs on the album include references from the famous dramaturge, as well as lines from The Odyssey and Plato’s well-known work The Cave. Their intellectual lyrics prove that these Brits are more than just pretty faces; they are true artists. In 2011, the boys began an exciting adventure called The Railroad Revival Tour with artists Old Crowe Medicine Show and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. During the one-week tour, inspired by The Festival Express tour across Canada in the ’70s that included such greats as The Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin, the bands traveled exclusively in vintage railroad cars and performed only in outdoor locations. Mumford’s biggest year thus has far has been, without a doubt, 2012. In September of last year, their second album Babel was released. The twelve-song CD, with the lead single “I Will Wait,” was the fastest-selling album in
both the U.K. and the U.S.; in its first week, it sold 158,000 copies in the U.K. and 600,000 copies in the U.S. The band officially reached mega-star status when it sold one million copies worldwide. Currently, the band is on their 2013 “Gentlemen of The Road” tour across the United States. If you have a chance, or a spare $60, they are definitely worth the trip. Without revealing too much, their concerts are truly one of a kind. The band’s energy, combined with thousands of devoted fans, makes for an exceptional experience. Although the entire concert was remarkable, one specific instance took the cake. About two hours into the show, the four guys trotted off the large stage, through a thin aisle separating them from screaming fans, and onto a stage in the middle of The Barclays Center. In all honesty, the small stage was no larger than the size of a college dorm room. They proceeded to sing a few songs a capella while the entire audience of fans was dead silent. The moment was breath-
If you want to make the lady in your life especially happy, stop by Tiffany’s jewelry store on 727 Fifth Ave at 57th St. Make your girl feel like Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s and parade around the store like you own the place. You don’t have to buy anything to make the trip worth it, but to win extra brownie points pick up one of the most budget-friendly items. By Tiffany’s standards this would be a sterling silver infinity necklace ($175). Not only will she freak out as soon as the robin-egg blue box appears, but you will undoubtedly be the best date ever.
Where: Marilyn Monroe’s subway stop Lexington and 52nd Next on your trip, visit the subway gate where Marilyn Monroe shot her famous white dress photo on Lexington and 52nd. Strike a pose where one of the most beloved icons of film stood, and you will catch the eye of your date, if not a cute president, too.
Where: P.J Clarke’s 915 Third Ave at 55th St. Conclude a vintage tour and head over to old-school celebrity fave P.J Clarke’s on 915 Third Ave at 55th St. Famous figures such as Jackie O, Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole thought P.J.’s oversized hamburgers, raw bar and comfort foods were the bee’s knees back in the day. Any restaurant with a client list that distinguished is a sure-fire way to end your date on an excellent note. — COMPILED BY DANIELLE GARRA ND ASST ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
Send tips, event listings or comments to fordhamramculture@gmail.com.
taking. This past week, the band interrupted its tour by taking a little trip to the Grammy Awards. They took the Grammys by storm, earning Album of the Year for Babel. In addition, the boys won Best Long Form Music Video. Even though these modern and folk Beatles have hit the jackpot,
they are not slowing down. Lead singer Marcus Mumford stated in December that they have already begun recording their new album, which includes electric guitars and synthesizers. There’s no telling what Mumford & Sons will accomplish next, but one thing is for sure; its star isn’t dimming anytime soon.
Summer Blockbusters Thrive at ‘Other Oscars’ By VINCENT PELIZZI COPY EDITOR
Receiving much less attention than the headline-making, starstudded rush of “major” awards handed out at the Oscars every year are the awards given to the men and women behind the camera — names of people that we often do not recognize but who bear the unsung burden of taking raw films and refining them into the finished products that earn the big prizes. The technical and artistic categories not only give the people behind the magic their due praise but also largely serve as the major pathway through which the year’s big blockbusters earn nominations. For this year’s Academy Awards, these categories, which include Best Costume Design, Best Makeup, Best Art Direction, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing, feature a mix of Oscar darlings such as Skyfall, Argo and Life of Pi, as well as audience favorites like The Avengers and The
Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. While these categories often help to give some recognition to the biggest and most popular films of the year, such as summer tent pole movies which would not receive any nominations otherwise, the Academy’s nomination and voting processes do not lend themselves well to showcasing the absolute best of what the fields, by definition, have to offer. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ nearly 6,000 members are divided among their disciplines, such as actors, producers, or cinematographers; the members belonging to each branch then decide on the nominees in their related categories, except for Best Picture, for which any member can nominate. This allows for the nominees in the Best Film Editing category, for example, to be decided on solely by fellow film editors. Once the nominees are selected, all members of the Academy vote to decide the winner. This often causes a distortion — the expanded field of voters has, as history has shown, often voted for what they feel is the
best film in the category as opposed to voting for the film that purely has the best visual effects or sound mixing, regardless of its other qualities. A perfect example of this was last year’s Best Visual Effects category. In a field of nominees including Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Martin Scorsese’s Hugo took home the award, in addition to garnering four other tech and art awards — Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction. While I felt Hugo was one of the best films of the year and certainly deserved the latter two awards, it by no means had better visual effects than Rise’s phenomenally-crafted Caesar, brought to life through motion capture by Andy Serkis to critical acclaim, or the tremendously intricate work on both the robots and devastated Chicago by Industrial Light & Magic in Transformers. Many felt that Hugo’s near-sweep of these categories served as a consolation prize to Scorsese for the film losing Best Picture and Best Director to The
Artist. Unfortunately, treating categories such as Best Visual Effects and Best Editing as “consolation prizes” proves unfair to movies that, while perhaps not as wellregarded as Best Picture nominees on the whole, undoubtedly excel in the specific field for which they were nominated. The award is called Best Visual Effects, not “Best Movie that also has Adequate Visual Effects.” There are certainly cases where these choices can overlap, such as at the 83rd Academy Awards, where Inception won four technical awards. More often than not, however, the categories serve as auxiliaries to those movies that have already won big. This year’s show marks an unusual occasion in that a large majority of the nominees in the tech categories also happen to be not only Best Picture nominees but box office hits as well, including Skyfall, Les Miserables and Lincoln. In addition to those and other “Oscar-bait” movies such as Argo and Life of Pi, the categories feature nominations for The Hobbit and The Avengers,
among other blockbusters. The Avengers, the third highest grossing film ever, garners its sole nomination in the Best Visual Effects category. Given the existing trends for these categories, it seems unlikely that a non-Best Picture nominee will achieve any victories. Argo and Skyfall, the former due to its tremendous award show buzz up to this point and the latter due to its positive critical reception as a Bond and action film, will likely take the sound awards, and Life of Pi, for its computer-generated tiger, is likely to win Best Visual Effects. For Best Cinematography and Best Editing, which are almost entirely made up of Best Picture nominees, Argo or Lincoln seem the likeliest choices, with the chance that these awards match the Best Picture winner or serve once again as a consolation prize to the runner-up. The Academy Awards are supposed to showcase and honor the best that film has to offer each year. When the voting membership does not take a slew of the awards seriously, then it cannot fully live up to that expectation.