12 I FRIDAY, JAN. 22, 2010 `My Dinosaur Life' Reviewed by Lindsay Cryer COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER In the opening track of its fourth album, "My Dinosaur Life," Motion City Soundtrack insinu ates that it "deserves a gold star"— but the band only merits a silver or bronze this time. ; "jt\ • - With its newest release, the band best known it a. for upbeat pop-punk i • L s:„:.:4tli .. songs such as "The I , Fliture Freaks Me Out" • and "Everything is Alright" has issued its ccurles ! , of desperate attempt to alternativeaddiction.com prove its worth. But its pleading outcry should be silenced sometime near the fourth track and first single of the album, "Disappear," whose cliched chorus comparing loneliness to "an angry island, a bitter bee sting" rings just as hollow as the first three tracks. The lyrics and instrumentals are reminiscent of almost any pop-punk band circa 2004. Both will bring readers back to the days of Hawthorne Heights' "cut my wrist and black my eyes" maybe with less eye makeup. According to Motion City Soundtrack, songs about angst and confusion are back in style. Perhaps the most outrageous of the tracks is - Delirium." the band's effort to appear mentally unstable something best executed by Say Anything's front man Max Bemis, not these wannabes by helplessly stating that they "swim in pharmaceuticals," for lack of better imagery The most redeeming song is the lighter "Stand Too Close." which coyly reminds listeners of falling in love after "years of sweet resistance falling overhead." By the end of the album, listeners will be cross ing their fingers for a wholesome acoustic ballad to clinch the album. They'll be let down by "The Weakends," another harder-core song indistin guishable from the rest. This time around, the guitars strum louder and the beats aren't as friendly as they used to be. Motion City Soundtrack may be trying to climb the ladder of musical popularity, but they have only remained true to the lyrics in "Skin and Bones": "I'm just skin and bones/ there's no mys tery. .we just grow up to fade away." Listeners can only hope the fifth album will make everything "alright" again. Grade: C- Download: "Her Words Destroyed My Planet." - Stand Too Close" To e-mail reporter: Ibcl46@psu.edu `The Theory of Light and Matter' Reviewed by Stephanie Goga COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER The short stories in Andrew Porter's "The Theory of Light and Matter" have a special way about them. In each story, it feels as if the reader has dropped in unexpect edly on a stranger. After hearing some of the stranger's innermost secrets, the reader floats easily out of his life at the end of the story, which usually ends as jaggedly as it began. The 10 stories in Porter's collection may not all be about earth shattering events, but Courtesy of they each feel that way andrewporterwriter.com when they're delivered with Porter's polished prose and talent for turning the ordinary into the exceptional. Just when the reader dismisses a story line as too simple, Porter pulls the reader back with a zinger. The book. reissued as a Vmtage paperback this month, won the 2007 Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. The honor is much-deserved. The standout story of Porter's collection is its namesake: The Theory of Light and Matter." The college student-professor romance is a plot that has been written to death, and at first glance, readers may consider skipping another attempt at capturing a May to December rela tionship. But Porter somehow creates an utterly believable and memorable ode to the subject. Readers will cheer at this fresh interpretation. Another brilliant piece is "Skin," a two-page story that is thin on words but thick with emotion Its haunting undertones and inconclusive ending will linger with the reader throughout the rest of the book and perhaps even after it's over. Other stories take the reader on journeys to rural Amish country, suburban neighborhoods and a cottage in New England. Each time, the reader is delightfully welcomed into the action and sated with rich description and sharp looks at interpersonal relationships. Readers should note that there aren't any feel good stories in this bunch. Every character seems to be struggling with some insurmount able obstacle, and because of the stories' con densed lengths, they usually don't overcome said struggle. With stories written as beautifully and wisely as these, though, it's easy to forgive Porter All 10 of the stories, as fleeting as they are, are completely unforgettable. In just a few pages, Porter invites the reader into the lives and the hearts of his flawed but charming characters. Simply by turning the pages, the reader is able to empathize with these vividly written characters and envision the poetic scenery and learn a lot, too. Grade: A To e-mail reporter: scgso2s@psu.edu A Rom to vick Cluttered book adaptation misses the mark Draw / vicrA,Lcyrl. Reviewed by Kristen Karas COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Turning great books into equally great films is a difficult but not impossible task There is no filmmaker who should under stand that better than Peter Jackson, the Oscar-winning director of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Unfortunately Jackson entirely missed the mark with "The Lovely Bones," a messy and utterly boring adaptation of Alice Sebold's best-selling novel of the same name. The film not only relies too heavily on computer-generated graphics, but it also ignores some of the novel's key plot ele ments. "Bones" follows Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan), a young girl who is murdered and narrates the story from a heaven-like world known as the "in-between." Susie watches her family as each member tries O cope with her death, as well as her murderer (Stanley IliceD as he attempts to cover up his crime. The film is a mess. Its tone jumps around so frequently from teenage angst to inappropriate humor to horror film creepiness that it never quite sta bilizes, leaving it strange and unengaging. Jackson created a breathtaking and imaginative world with the "in-between," a young girl's fantasy filled with rapidly blooming flowers and giant ships-in-bot tles that could rival 'Avatar - But as gor geous as the graphics are, they interrupt the more interesting story taking place on earth and halt the film's plot in awkward places. Jackson's casting is also hit-and-miss. Some characters were incredible, includ ing Tucci as the murderous neighbor George Hafvey, a portrayal that will most THE DAILY COLLEGIAN certainly garner him an Oscar nomina tion. Michael Imperioli of "The Sopranos" is also perfect as the detective assigned to Susie's case, while the chain-smoking, cosmetics-obsessed grandmother could not have been better cast than with Susan Sarandon. Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz, how ever. are horribly miscast as Susie's sub urban parents. Wahlberg in particular retains his tough-guy persona in a way that dilutes his character's development. While the father's obsessive search for his daughter's killer should seem unusual for his character, it's hard to believe a guy like Wahlberg wouldn't act this way natu rally. Lastly, Ronan's Susie grows irritating over the film's progression. While Ronan is fantastic in the scene just before her death, her dreamy-voiceover is bland and uncomfortable throughout the remainder of the film. Jackson also fails to include some cru cial story aspects from the novel. One sto ryline involving the mother is completely ignored, taking away from an interesting development of the Salmons' marriage. The Ruth and Ray characters (Carolyn Dando and Reece Ritchie, respectively) both classmates of Susie's are also mis managed. Their characters are never developed and leave viewers who didn't read the book wondering why they are included at all. - The Lovely Bones," which had great source material and included a top-notch cast and director, should have been a no brainer. Instead, it wound up a grave dis appointment and one of the most boring films of the year. Grade: D+ To e-mail reporter: kgksoos@psu.edu
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers