Last week’s street faire brought us joyous smells of hemp, Indian food, and (of course) our favorite Eugene-only Off The Waffle.
So, after grabbing myself a chill winter-cap (it’s really colorful) and buying some gifts for friends and family, I had to make a quick stop to grab Off’s infamous “The Bully” … my dream waffle filled with strawberries and chocolate chips. As I was standing there, this faint little hit of honkey-tonk type country created this waffle-house atmosphere. I had to know what that music was and where I could buy it.
I asked the kindly young woman, who handed me my delicious waffle, what they were currently listening to. A man in the back checked his iPod and said “It’s called Gypsy Jazz.”
Okay, before I get any further, I’ll kind of let you in on where i first heard this so-called “gypsy jazz.” The year was 1999 and love was in the air. I only presume. I was only 7 years old. Anyways, a cute little movie called Toy Story 2 had just come out and, being a diehard fan from the beginning, I had to see it. About midway through the movie, a sweet little song called “Woody’s Roundup” (written by a band called Riders In The Sky) is played on the TV. Now, it’s not exactly country because it lacks the twangy-ness, and it’s not folk, because… well, it just isn’t. So this was my first encounter of what I would later find out was called “gypsy jazz.”
So I did a little research last night and realized that “gypsy jazz” was a form of jazz more commonly played in France than anywhere else. So if you watch French movies with café’s in them, you will most likely hear a little bit of this music. It consists of a sort of swing-dancing sound but without the brass band (like most big bands in the 30s and 40s). The main elements are the guitar and the violin, and it’s called “gypsy jazz” because of this… assuming that all gypsies played guitar and violin….
The most famous person I could find in this genre was a man named Django Reinhardt (1910-1953), who played a mean guitar. Most people who know about “gypsy jazz” refer newbies to this man and his work, and after a night of listening to it I can see why they consider him a genius. His riffs are incredible, and his music is just so upbeat that even the hip-hop music fans in the Earl lounge wanted to dance… well maybe not… but I hope they wanted to.
Here’s a little clip from YouTube that I found of one of Django’s songs… this is probably my favorite one, but there are so many to choose!
If you want more of this music, iTunes has a huge “iTunes Essentials: Gypsy Jazz” set you can download.
My goal now is to bring it back. Who doesn’t want to swing dance down the street while walking to their next class? Let’s make this Eugene’s new thing!
The headline of today’s Oregon Daily Emerald boldly states: ”Passion’ drummer parties solo,’ in reference to the Passion Pit house party Friday night that was orchestrated by the Oregon Voice and The Nudelman in lieu of the band entirely postponing (Don’t say ‘cancelling’!) their performance that was scheduled to take place in the EMU Ballroom.
Of course, the Emerald headline is in need of correction.
In fact, 4/5 of the band were in attendance at the house party, along with DJ E603 and members of their crew. But whether or not it was Nate solo or with his comrades is irrelevant (Save for, you know, being accurate with headlines.) What matters is that the fine students at the University of Oregon didn’t get completely short-changed. The infectious tunes, loops and beats Nate delivered certainly highlighted an otherwise dark and dreary Eugene night.
Unlike the embedded video courtesy of Ivar at the Emerald suggests, the impromptu party was most certainly off-le-hook and came to a head in the early morning hours when swarms of police officers arrived to disperse the near 250+ people that packed the 12th and Washington basement.
The house received a $750 noise violation. No MIPs or furnishing citations were given.
If you’d like to help us help the inhabitants of the house with the now monetary woes, please feel free to send donations to: Oregon Voice, 1228 Erb Memorial Union, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97401.
Hello again avid internet surfers, this is Derek Donovan with another visit to the Trailer Park.
I apologize for the late post, I’ve been suffering from a very bad flu which lead me to leaving campus and heading back to my hometown of Beaverton, Oregon to recover. However, I expect to be back at University of Oregon sometime tomorrow.
Anyways enough about my misfortunes let’s talk about the trailers cause that’s what your reading this for right?
It is my belief much like the last edition of Trailer Park that you can’t judge a book by it’s cover but you can certainly judge a movie by it’s trailer and I have selected a few to showcase this week.
How Trailer Park works is simple, I give the embedded Youtube video of the trailer showcased for you all to watch and then at the bottom of the video, I display my opinion and then give it a rating based on our unique top of the line rating system:
Clean – A rating of Clean means this movie looks like a must see and you should definately give it a watch once it comes to theaters.
Decent – A rating of Decent means this movie looks okay, but it’s still a little sketchy and I recommend you wait for the reviews to come out before you pay for your ticket.
Dirty – A rating of Dirty, much like a trailer park itself means this movie looks absolutely horrid or is not interesting at all and I recommend you stay away from it.
Be warned, this is my opinion and my opinion only, do not criticize me if I bash a movie that you think looks promising.
So let’s dive right in!:
#1 The Tooth Fairy
Response: Wow, just.. wow. I don’t even know what to say, this trailer is so wrong in so many different levels that there is absolutely no way to perfectly describe the amount of pain that watching this trailer has given me, but I’ll give it a try anyways. This movie looks horrendous, abysmal, terrible.. Okay, I’m being too nice. Most people would give movies like this slack because it’s obviously made for kids but who in their right mind would take their child to see a movie like this! The Rock as a egotistical jackass of a hockey player turned slave to an apparent Queen of the Tooth Fairies aka Julie Andrews who punishes him for not believing in fairy tales and so goes to the extent of giving him wings and making him wear a Too-Too while being given Tooth Fairy gadgets from Billy Crystal?! Is Hollywood out of their minds? I mean, I’m just absolutely speechless. This makes The Game Plan look like Citizen Kane! You know what? I’m done talking about this, let’s just give this movie a DIRTY rating and let’s forget I even saw this. WOckcoakjhs
Rating: DIRTY
#2 The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Response: Now as many of you may or may not be aware, this was the last movie Heath Ledger participated in before his tragic death. Unfortunately, he never finished filming his role, thus why Jude Law, Johnny Depp and Colin Ferrell stepped in to play his many alter egos when he travels dimensions. Anyways, this trailer gets nothing but praise from me, this movie has excellent visuals and effects and an A-List cast of actors including Christopher Plummer (The Sound of Music) and the late great Heath Ledger. This is definitely a movie I will see and it’s not because this was Heath Ledger’s last film (Although it is a minor reason), it’s because this movie truly looks like a movie worth seeing.
Rating: CLEAN
#3 Toy Story 3
UPDATE: Trailer is now released on Youtube.
Response: This trailer is not released officially till Monday, so it’s not allowed on Youtube. But I was sneaky and found a site that shows the first legitimate trailer for the movie, so consider this a Trailer Park exclusive courtesy of Mr. Derek Donovan. Anyways, I’ve loved the Toy Story movies ever since I was a kid, in fact the original Toy Story was the first movie I ever saw in a movie theater and continues to be one of my favorite movies of all time. So to see a trailer for the 3rd movie in the franchise brings back a lot of memories for me, and I’m sorry if I sound bias but after looking at this trailer I’m absolutely psyched to see this movie. The concept of Andy growing into a fully mature 18 year old heading to college is almost parallel to what I’m going through and it’s something I can fully relate to. However, the visuals for this movie look much better than the previous movies given the advancing digital technology and I’m overjoyed that Tom Hanks and Tim Allen are reprising their roles as Woody and Buzz Lightyear. To me, this movie is a definite watch, not just because the original movie is so near and dear to my heart but because much like all of Pixar’s films, this movie looks like it will be a top notch piece of work and I’ll be first in line to see it.
Rating: CLEAN
The RV:
After looking at a bunch of this year’s trailers I narrowed it down to just one, The RV represents a trailer that was not released this week but is also not in theaters but shows excellence and superiority among other trailers and is a fine example of how a trailer should be made.
This Trailer Park’s RV is…
Avatar
Response: This is a trailer that has received mixed reviews from almost everyone, you either love it or you hate it. Frankly, I absolutely adore this trailer. I was one of those people that woke up at 7am on the day it premiered online just to watch this trailer and every time I see it, it reminds me of how much I missed James Cameron. This movie perfectly blends CGI, Live Action, Motion Capture Animation, Green Screen and Blue Screen into one holy grail of absolute beauty. This is definitely a movie I will see in IMAX 3D.
Well that’s all the trailers I have for you this week, don’t forget to log on next week for another visit to the Trailer Park.
As you may remember, around this time last year there was supposed to be a Cultural Forum sponsored concert in the EMU Ballroom with the nationally touring act: Rogue Wave. That show, because of a broken hand suffered by guitarist Zach Schwartz, was in most sense, a bust (Save for those local bands who did their best to still hold it down.)
It happens again – the curse continues.
Now, apparently Michael Angelakos of Passion Pit took the words of Disturbed a little too seriously and got “down with the sickness.” What sickness we’re not exactly sure, but word on the street (of course it is) suggests Swine Flu. Let’s hope that’s not the case.
For Pacific North-westerners, this cancellation comes as another major blow after the band cancelled their Nike-sponsored performance at MFNW this past September in favor of shakin’ it (At a completely different point on the spectrum that is history.) in Juan’s Basement – an entirely overrated and Pitchfork-approved (word on the street is) moldy venue with the capacity of a Ford Aspire.
Though if you’re into that sort of thing, check out this article and accompanying video for Passion Pit’s song “Sleepy Head” from the Portland Mercury.
Sufjan’s rearrangement of his experimental album Enjoy Your Rabbit (2001) is great listening. Strings do a lot taking the place of electronic instruments. Just thought you should know and plan the next phase of your life accordingly.
As part of Allen Hall Productions, a series of short documentaries were made for each student publication at the University of Oregon. Here’s the one that was created for the Oregon Voice. Thanks to Abby Silverman and Christina Diamond for the video.
Please refrain from laughing (too hard) at our interview shyness.
On Friday the 9th through Sunday the 11th Eugene will be host to an international film festival (who knew?) showcasing over eighty films: features, shorts, and documentaries made by independent up-and-comings and Hollywood hotshots. The festival will be held at the Valley River Center Regal Cinemas. A detailed schedule of the festival and information on the films can be found here.
Admission: $8 for an hour and a half $75 for a weekend pass.
Or, for aspiring filmmakers, $100 gets you a pass to the festival and enrollment in a three-day screenplay-writing retreat taught by Tom Sawyer (sadly not Huck’s companion, but writer for Murder, She Wrote) and Ken Sherman (Hollywood literary agent). More info at the EIFF site.
Yesterday I attended a sneak peak showing of All’s Faire in Love, a romantic comedy advertised as a centerpiece of the festival. Owen Benjamin plays Will, a star college quarterback, who is forced by his grudging professor (Cedric the Entertainer) to work at a Renaissance Fair in exchange for a passing grade. Will, who has the sensibilities of a bro, is troubled to find himself surrounded by intensely passionate theater people in Elizabethan garb. (Subtext: Renaissance Fairs and the people who attend them are completely absurd.) Within the hierarchy of the fair, Will is cast as a lowly “fetch boy,” and is required to obey the commands of the nobility. Chris Wylde comically portrays one of these nobles, Prince Rank, a despicable and overzealous Renaissance player. Will’s luck improves when he befriends Crocket (Matthew Lillard), and wins the admiration of a young actress named Kate (Christina Ricci). Every scene is pervaded by bouts of slapstick and punch lines, some of it witty though most of it uninspired. The soundtrack is the film’s great weakness. Made up of tacky selections such as “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)”, the soundtrack gives the film a distastefully cliché air. Despite some corny jokes and poor song choices, All’s Faire in Love is worth seeing for its moments of well-written and brilliantly performed humor, if not simply to support Eugene’s own film fest.
Rated: A slightly mealy Red Delicious out of a juicy Honey Crisp.
Hello avid internet surfers, welcome to the Trailer Park. A new weekly blog showcasing some of the week’s best and worst trailers for movies coming to theaters.
While I understand you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, you can certainly judge a movie by it’s trailer and I have picked a select few to showcase.
How Trailer Park works is simple, I give the embedded Youtube video of the trailer showcased for you all to watch and then at the bottom of the video, I display my opinion and then give it a rating based on our unique top of the line rating system:
Clean – A rating of Clean means this movie looks like a must see and you should definately give it a watch once it comes to theaters.
Decent – A rating of Decent means this movie looks okay, but it’s still a little sketchy and I recommend you wait for the reviews to come out before you pay for your ticket.
Dirty – A rating of Dirty, much like a trailer park itself means this movie looks absolutely horrid or is not interesting at all and I recommend you stay away from it.
Be warned, this is my opinion and my opinion only, do not criticize me if I bash a movie that you think looks promising.
So let’s get started:
#1 A Nightmare on Elm Street (Remake)
Response: Normally, I’m not a fan of remakes.. Well actually, I hate them. However, looking at this trailer, it seems to look a little promising. The original movie released in the 1980’s and directed by Wes Craven, scared the living shit out of me, giving me nightmares for about a month.. I was 15. From the looks of this trailer though, it looks like they will be keeping the nostalgia that the original offered and it will stay true to the original movie. Although there are some moments that are questionable (What the hell did they do with Freddy’s iconic face?) everything else looks like it will pack a punch once released. I wouldn’t call this a remake, more like a reimagining, plus with James Earle Harley (Watchmen, Little Children) taking the helm that Robert Englund once held, this movie seems like it will appeal to it’s teen/young adult audience.
Rating: DECENT
#2 Alvin and the Chipmunks 2: The Squeakuel
Response: God this trailer was absolutely painful to watch, why the hell are they making a sequel to that travesty that they called an Alvin and the Chipmunks movie, the same movie that ripped the balls of my childhood and destroyed it with every single fiber of their being? It’s not their voices that annoy me (Although it still was painful to listen to) it’s the simple fact that these 3 inch little rodents are going to a HIGH SCHOOL populated with human beings, people that could squash their tiny little bodies with 1 single footstep! In the original series, the chipmunks were the size of children so it made much more sense and it was less awkward, but because apparently Hollywood has to make everything “logical” they reduced the chipmunks to a much smaller scale, funny? No. cute? Not so much either. The addition of the Chippettes (Their 3 alter/opposite gender egos from the TV series) is a plus, but it still does not save this movie from looking like an absolute mockery.
Rating: DIRTY
#3 A Christmas Carol (W/Jim Carrey)
Response: First off, let me tell you that I’m not exactly ecstatic that Robert Zemeckis has chose to make all his newest movies motion captured orgasms, while Polar Express was okay, Beowulf totally destroyed the original work and ever since, I have despised any idea that Mr. Zemeckis (who directed such classics as Forrest Gump and Back to the Future) had in store. However, with Disney leading the way and Jim Carrey starring not only as Scrooge, but all 3 of the ghosts, this might turn out to be a great movie. The movie has fantastic visuals and of course, it has Jim Carrey, who is one of my favorite actors. Can Disney conjure up a phenomenal version of the Charles Dicken’s classic tale? I’ll be buying a ticket to see for myself.
Rating: CLEAN
The RV:
In case you are wondering what the RV is, the RV is basically showcasing a trailer that didn’t come out this week but is also still not in theaters and caught my attention so impressingly that I just had to post it for you all to see.
This Trailer Park’s RV is…
Inception:
Response: If there were a definition for a movie trailer, this would be it. This movie trailer, unlike most others, does not give anything away and leaves people guessing. Also the fact that it’s being directed by the same guy who did The Dark Knight is also a major plus. With an all star cast lead by Leonardo Dicaprio, this movie looks like it will pack a serious wallop once the release date rolls around.
Well that’s all the trailers I have for you this week, don’t forget to log on next week for another visit to the Trailer Park.
That’s meant as the “Gee wiz” or “How interesting” form of the sentence, not asking if people would hypothetically look at something. But while there’s talk of looking, check out our very own Grace Pettygrove’s column in today’s ODE.
Oregon Voice Magazine is paid for and produced by students at the University of Oregon. Our weekly meeting is on Wednesday at 6pm in Century Room E. Contributors are welcome.
