RTS
14 I TUESDAY, Nov. 30, 2010
.t.LBUIVI REVIEW
`Cannibal'
Reviewed by Lindsay Cryer
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
As evidenced in her latest album, the apex of
Kesha's life will probably not be experiencing
morning hours like Puff Daddy or engaging in
oral hygiene with a bottle of whiskey.
The singer/rapper known for party hits such as
"Tik Tok" and "Blah Blah
Blah" released her second
album "Cannibal" last
Monday, which was pre
ceded by single "We R
Who We R"
And just a fair warning:
This review has been writ
ten assuming everyone
loves glitter-infested "sing
song rapping" like me.
The album opens with
song - Cannibal, - an addicting track featuring
tribal drums, a Jeffrey Dahmer reference and
some pretty weird lyrics. Despite some of
Kesha's outrageous personal touches on the
song, the chorus will instantly become one of
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t
. - 4,'.,4 .....
4,
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Coartesy of amazon.co
your favorite things to shout down Beaver
Avenue. The song about a topic that is so wrong
will actually feel so right.
The second track "We R Who We R" has
already made its way onto the party playlists of
college students across America, and rightfully
so. Anything about "going hard," dancing and
taking over the world is set to be an insta-hit.
Lyrically, "Grow a Pear" is a riot and musically,
"The Harold Song" provides a reprieve from
party hard-hits with a slower song where Kesha
actually - gasp - sings.
As hard as it is to say anything bad about this
pop chart princess-gone-wrong, it must be stated
that a few of the tracks just don't cut it. In
"Sleaz," the lyrics are pretty dumb, and the beat
isn't quite as party-ready as the majority of her
other songs. "C U Next Tuesday" also sounds far
too much like a bad concoction of a girl band,
desperate lyrics and elevator music.
At first. "Crazy Beautiful Life" also sounds a
bit annoying and reminds you of every other pop
song you've heard. My advice is to listen to the
song again. It sounds better after a few plays.
Four words: Give Kesha a chance. She may be
dirty and her big hair may be full with more than
just secrets, but she really has brought some
thing to the Top 40 charts that hasn't been
brought in a while some just plain fun music.
Ketha's got some hits up her bedazzled
sleeves.
Grade: B+
Download: "Cannibal," "We R Who We R,"
"Blow"
To e-mail reporter: Ibcl46@psu.edu
`Decision Points'
Reviewed by Hannah Rishel
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
When I picked up George W. Bush's "Decision
Points" I decided to go into it with an open mind.
Regardless of my personal feelings for Bush,
his memoir leaves something to be desired.
This is mostly because Bush is trying to write
history before it's published in textbooks. He
wants his memoir to "serve as a resource for
anyone studying this period of American history,"
he writes in the book.
If I had to study this period of American history
for a class, I would hope to
use a less biased source.
Basically, he wants to
make himself likeable to
the people who criticized
him during his presidency,
and he wants to justify
what he did in office.
For example: "The prob
lem was not that I made
the wrong decisions. It was
that I took too long to
decide," Bush writes of
Hurricane Katrina.
Courtesy of amazon.com
I understand that he's
attempting to humanize
himself, but this won't change peoples' opinion of
him, which I assume was his goal of this book
Bush takes the opportunity to address his pro
life stance in the book He writes that seeing the
fetus of his mother's miscarriage in a jar was
what caused his negative thoughts toward abor
tion. This part of the book is graphic, but I
respect that Bush cites a reason for his beliefs.
In another controversial move, Bush states his
stance on waterboarding. Whether or not this
procedure of simulated drowning is considered
torture is up to debate, but for Bush there's no
argument it's not.
"We gained valuable information to protect the
country, and it was the right thing to do, as far as
I'm concerned," he writes.
While waterboarding is legal, one has to won
der if it's the moral thing to do. I don't think this
memoir is the place to address that issue.
But I liked the structure of the memoir. It was
n't chronological, but weaved his pre-presidency
life into each chapter. Each chapter focuses on a
major decision he made during his two terms.
Of all the insights Bush gives the reader, the
most disturbing is that the "worst moment" of his
presidency was Kanye West calling him a racist
not 9/11, not Hurricane Katrina, but a fleeting
comment from a celebrity
I don't know what it's like to be president, but
people will undoubtedly criticize you. But I'd take
a comment over thousands of deaths.
Learning the president's thoughts is interest
ing in theory, but I didn't gain anything by reading
"Decision Points." I don't regret the time I spent
reading it; I just feel like it was missing that spe
cial something.
Grade: C-
To e-mail reporter: hmrso27@osu.edu
ALAS, POOR DOBBY
Potter movie best yet
Reviewed by Hannah Mabel
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
The "Harry Potter" movies in gener
al haven't met my expectations. True,
"The Sorcerer's Stone" took my 12-
year-old breath away, but as a big fan
of the books I was always disappointed
that they omitted some of my favorite
scenes and fines.
Of course I know that they can't
include everything from the novels, but
there are things they omitted that
added to the plot the back story of
Harry's father and his friends being
the creators of the Marauders Map for
one.
But "Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows: Part I," the penultimate film
of the series, surpassed my low expec
tations and became my favorite "Harry
Ettter" movie, mostly because it's the
most true to the noveL
"The Deathly Hallows" picks up
where "The Half Blood Prince" left off.
Harty (Daniel Radcliffe), with his faith
ful friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and
Hermione (Emma Watson), has decid
ed to leave Hogwarts to go find and
destroy Horcruxes— bits of
Voldemort's (Ralph Fiennes) soul that
he's magicked into important objects
that are the key to defeating him.
The idea to split the novel into two
movies was a fantastic one. There is no
way the entire story could be crammed
into three hours. But I was surprised
where they ended part one well into
the second half of the novel.
I'm slightly worried about "Deathly
Hallows: Part II" being all action, but
Fl! have to wait until July 15, 2011 to
Kanye CD fresh, good
Reviewed by Josh Bollinger
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Kanye West is back, and he's
brought a refreshing style of hip-hop
that draws from many musical genres.
West's album "My Beautiful Dark
Twisted Fantasy" was released Nov. 22
and is a classic
testament to
West's ever
changing style of
music. His earlier
albums are more
hip-hop oriented
SOL
than his last
effort, "808 s &
Heartbreak,"
which is synth
pop heavy
"Twisted Fantasy" is a mix of the best
of both worlds.
Along with the style of his last album
came one of the worst developments
and trends to ever hit rap the Auto-
Tune feature. Not all Auto Tome is bad,
but there's a line artists all too often
cross. It can complement music well
when used tastefully, but when artists
overuse the feature it drives me to the
point of insanity and leaves me won
dering what else there is to listen to.
Too much Auto Tome and not enough
rapping ruined West's last album.
Though Auto Tome is still present in
his new album, it's not nearly as
prominently used as it was on his last
one and when it's used, more often
than not, it's in good taste.
Thankfully, West is mostly rapping in
his songs again. On the album, he raps
with his signature drawl and smooth
flow that can touch on every tone from
calm to upbeat.
Every actor in the film brought
his or her best performance yet.
I've never been a big fan of
Watson's acting skills, but she
proved me wrong during the
scene where Ron gets hurt. While
I was well aware that Ron would
pull through the injury, her frantic
yells and tears actually made me
feel nervous.
As always, Grint brought
humor and heart to the trio, but
he showed his range when one of
Voldemort's Horcruxes made him
believe Harry and Hermione
were in love.
And Radcliffe was practically perfect
in the scene when his friends use
Polyjuice Potion to make themselves
doubles of him to confuse Voldemort.
He had the challenge of playing Ron,
Hermione and the others pretending
to be Harry.
I also loved the scene where Harry
is preparing to leave his aunt and
uncle's house forever and steps into
the closet under the stairs, which
served as his bedroom for the first
eleven years of his life.
While the trio carried the majority of
the movie, the other actors in the film
shined as well. Helena Bonham Carter
reprised her deliciously evil role of
Bellatrix Lestrange and the despera
tion and fear oozed from Jason Isaacs'
Lucius Malfoy. Sadly Snape (Alan
Rickman) had only a brief role in this
film, but I'm quite excited to see his
larger role in part two.
The movie wasn't completely per
fect, though.
I was terribly confused at the ran
dom dance Harry and Hermione share
To get the full experience of West's
genius on this record, I strongly rec
ommend listening to it from beginning
to end. I listened to "Twisted Fantasy"
while traveling and it made time fly.
West oozes compositional prowess.
He's able to write catchy songs, and to
make each one sound different.
Moments after the first beat of
the album dropped with
"Twisted Fantasy" I found
myself grooving to its bumping
rhythm and up-beat hook.
West has an uncanny ability to
talc;
text
schi
bier
= Po!
takes same
sic songs •
porates
orchestrz
drops that
bring his
music to
new level,
stylisticall:
separatinf
him from
his model
musical
counter
parts.
West's
lyrical tht
also separ
him from
rappers of
scene to&
rhymes an
refined ani
ally referee
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
after they have a falling out with Ron
on their quest for Horcuxes. I knew
Hermione was going to end up with
Ron by the third book, so to see a
scene where she and Harry are shar
ing an almost romantic moment does
n't make any sense to me.
Plus why waste precious minutes of
the movie with a scene that adds noth
ing to the plot and makes a casual fan
of the series think there's a spark of
romance between Harry and
Hermione?
I was also a little put off by the addi
tion of Bill Weasley (Domhnall
Gleeson) and Mundungus Fletcher
(Andy Linden) to the film. Both charac
ters appeared earlier on in the books,
but were cut out of the films. But
because they were needed for the plot
they were both shoved into the movie,
somewhat awkwardly.
But besides these issues, "Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I"
was a good adaptation of an even bet
ter book.
Grade: A-
To e-mail reporter hmrso27@psu.edu
modern and important issues instead
of the typical "get money" attitude of
most rappers.
You don't have to look very far if you
want proof of West's unique rapping,
as the songs on "'heisted Fantasy" fea
tures artists like Kid Cudi, Jay-Z, Rick
Ross and Nicki Minaj.
- Monster" has a heavy beat, and the
constant changing of vocalists gives
the track a new life each time some
one else chimes in. My personal
favorite is Nicki Minaj, who rants with
a Rasta-flair.
gable track on the album
New Dress," which incor
'nces of R&B with a
line and laid-back, rolling
proves to be the perfect
w West's flowing delivery.
if the album generally
mood of most of the
;pecially for the song
Jay." Clocking in at more
nine minutes long,
' , way" starts with an
, sustained piano intro
initially evokes a very
:ary and depressed feeling
we the chord progression
• a sharp corner and
Is up with a beautiful and
;lying resolution.
wall this album is a
-needed return to West's
Lai style and shows why
' one of the top acts in
d: "Monster" and
I reporter: 0526710psu.edu