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Art Seniors Finish With a Flourish
Danielle Stone
Staff Writer
A well-dressed crowd admires
paintings, photography, and graphically designed advertisements
strategically placed on white walls. Conversation-piece metal
sculptures accent the floor space. Classical music plays from a live
band and guests carrying mini plates of finger sandwiches mingle
with the artists. Sound like the opening of a New York City
gallery? It was actually the scene of WestConn’s senior thesis
exhibition last Wednesday night.
The reception, held in the Higgins
Hall gallery, was well-attended by students, faculty, family and
friends. The show, on display through May 14, is the art student’s
final presentation of the best work they have done in their
particular field of study over the past four years.
Wednesday evening was their
shining moment when they finally got recognized by the WestConn
community as real artists. Although the show had a wide range of
artistic mediums – graphic design, illustration, photography,
sculpture, and painting – the artists all shared similar feelings
about their work in the art program.
“It feels really good, I feel
proud,” said photography major Cynthia Heslin, who stood beaming
beside her enlarged pictures of the ocean. The black and white
photos depict choppy waves seem from above.
“I was on a boat, looking down at
the water. It was kind of abstract,” the photographer explained,
adding that it took two rolls of film to capture the three shots
that appear in the gallery.
Heslin wasn’t the only one who put
a lot of effort into creating a final product that looks, well,
effortless.
“I didn’t expect it to be so much
work,” said Lauren Lindroth, also a photography major. “I was
actually printing [my photos] the day we were setting up for the
show.”
Lindroth, who specializes in black
and white portraits that are heavy on the shadows, calls it a “big
relief” now that the exhibit is finally on display to the public.
“I think it’s weird,” said graphic
design major Travis Cuddy, spreading his arms to indicate the
crowded show. “I mean, it all boils down to this. It’s kind of
exciting, though. No one outside my class cared [about my work], but
now that it’s in a professional gallery, people actually care.”
The quality of the display was
obvious even to non-art majors.
“I’m surprised at how
professionally everything is hung,” commented Allison Fabrizio, who
was there to celebrate her sister Erica’s painting achievements.
Many students noted that adjunct
professor Darby Cardonsky was exceptionally helpful in guiding them
through the gallery set-up. Cardonsky is the instructor of a course
called Gallery Techniques, which teaches students about proper
lighting and how to hang their work like pros.
“It’s been fun; a close group,”
recalled Cardonsky of the class, who is also the owner of a gallery
in Kent.
Because Gallery Techniques is not
a required class for an art degree, not all students got a chance to
work with Cardonsky. There were, however, plenty of other classes
that these students attributed to helping them succeed.
“I’m ecstatic about being able to
complete my degree!” said studio art major Stacey Kolbig, who
specializes in sculpture. “The generosity of [adjunct professor]
David Boyajian allowed me to create work outside the box.”
Kolbig spent time at the Sculpture
Barn studio in New Fairfield working with cast bronze and steel
debris to create her abstract sculptures.
It was apparent from the success
of the show that all of the art seniors put a tremendous amount of
work into the program. This may have been their last presentation at
WestConn, but these students appeared to be ready to take the art
world by storm.
“I don’t feel like it’s an
ending,” said Kolbig. “It’s a beginning.”
Opeth’s “Watershed” Nearly Lives Up
to its Name
Thomas Jacob
Arts and Entertainment Editor
“Watershed” is a terrible name for
an album. Listeners will almost immediately expect some sort of
radical departure from the artists’ catalogue or a full re-imagining
of their sound, so even if the album is enjoyable, it may be viewed
as a disappointment simply because expectations were skewed. It is
then much more difficult to critique an album such as Opeth’s
“Watershed,” the band’s ninth studio album in 13 years, if only
because what the listener expects and what the listener perceives
are different.
Opeth’s core sound, dark
progressive death metal interspersed with sections of soft acoustic
beauty, mystique, and bluesy guitar work, has remained relatively
unchanged over the band’s tenure. In recent years, however, lead
compositional mastermind Mikael Akerfeldt has indulged his interest
in ‘70s progressive rock, resulting in the band’s trademark
experimental, heavy sound becoming somewhat diluted and softened,
especially on 2005’s “Ghost Reveries.”
There is certainly nothing wrong
with a metal band playing softer music; in fact, Opeth are
undoubtedly the masters of juxtaposing heavy and light playing,
weaving a tapestry of monumental, brutal, and beautiful sounds
together into ten-minute masterworks. It is discerning, however, to
hear a band so clearly adept at playing heavily fall into the
pitfall of grasping for mainstream exposure. By all means, Opeth
should have a rather large fan base, especially in the underground
metal community, but by somewhat streamlining their material, they
risk alienating their old fans.
2008’s “Watershed,” then, may
prove to be a rather important album in the band’s discography, if
for no other reason than it shows Opeth playing music for themselves
and indulging in their own interests as opposed to appeasing
old-school listeners. The first track, the beautiful “Coil,” is a
prime example of this. Mikael’s opening vocal melody is unabashedly
singable and catchy, and doesn’t sound like anything else the band
has written. Unfortunately, the pristine atmosphere of the first
minute or so is marred by an incompetent female vocalist, who takes
over the second half of the song, yet can’t quite sing with the same
power as Akerfeldt.
“Heir Apparent” is the obvious
centerpiece of the album; immediately brutal, rocking, and heavy, it
exhibits everything great about the classic Opeth sound without,
somewhat unfortunately, any particularly resonating guitar or vocal
licks. Regardless, the driving force of Mikael’s booming growls is a
real treat for long time fans who may have been put off by the
relatively soft quality of “Ghost Reveries.” The outro is pure,
classic Opeth and a real treat for any metalhead.
With “The Lotus Eater,” Opeth
explores new sonic territory, and the results are a mixed bag. This
song is all about atmosphere, yet at times the melody and structure
of the piece suffer at the hands of this technique. Additionally,
the inclusion of a Dream Theater-esque keyboard groove, completely
out of place in the song, was an incredibly poor decision by the
band. Opeth has always maintained an air of subtlety and intrigue
that Dream Theater hasn’t been able to match in a decade, yet this
little slip into prog-metal wankery is extremely disquieting.
Regardless, some of the album’s best vocal melodies are hidden
within and Akerfeldt’s ability to switch between growls and clean
vocals is admirable (though I still suspect the two vocal lines were
recorded separately). |
And then there’s
“Burden,” which sounds like Opeth’s attempt at a Kansas tribute
tune. The opening vocal melody is actually rather original; in fact,
Akerfeldt’s clean vocals have never quite sounded better than on
this record, and even when the melodies miss, his incredibly clean
and powerful delivery is able to work wonders. Unfortunately,
“Burden” presents a problem that has persisted in Opeth’s
discography for the last half-decade: overlong, “soft” songs
containing no climax or hint of metal. Opeth are at their best when
they bridge the gap between progressive metal, death metal, and
progressive rock, so removing two of these elements severely dampers
their appeal.
This doesn’t mean that “Burden”
isn’t enjoyable; it is, in fact, a rather listenable and darkly
interesting tune. One does wish, however, that the progressive style
had been implemented in conjunction with the band’s heavier side,
not against it (and the inclusion of a dreadful Hammond organ solo
does not help). The severely out-of-tune acoustic guitar outro, no
doubt recorded purposefully, is actually physically painful to
listen to.
“Porcelain Heart” is the single
from the album, which is odd considering the tune lasts for eight
minutes and contains no discernible chorus, save for a droll
“Ah-Ah-Ah” theme repeated ad nausea. The transitions between light
and dark are particularly effective here, yet the complete absence
of Akerfeldt’s growls dampers the impact. A few exciting drum fills,
courtesy of new studio drummer Martin Axenrot, are powerful and
technical despite sounding slightly out of place, though he proves a
worthy successor to previous percussionist Martin Lopez.
“Hessian Peel” is the other
heavy-hitter of the disc, and at nearly twelve minutes it contains
almost everything one would expect from a typical Opeth epic.
Compositionally, the song is all over the place, with the various
sections fighting to flow together smoothly and nearly succeeding.
Despite its choppy nature, the song maintains a powerful drive and
purpose throughout, which is more than can be said for the previous
two (shorter) tracks.
The closer, “Hex Omega,” is the
oddest track on the album. After an unassuming metal riff, the song
devolves into what sounds like modern-day Porcupine Tree,
particularly the vocals and ambience of the verses. Porcupine Tree
frontman Steven Wilson and Akerfeldt are renown friends, and
countless times before the two have either collaborated or borrowed
ideas from one another (Wilson produced Opeth’s classic album
“Blackwater Park” in 2001), yet never before has either band’s
influence been so readily portrayed. The song’s boring harmonic
movement threatens to ruin the vibe, but the sense of dark
atmosphere that pervades the composition pulls the listener in,
ending the album on a strong, if anticlimactic, note.
So, is “Watershed” a bad album?
Hardly. When Opeth rock out and bring the metal, the results are
staggering and among the strongest music currently in the scene,
while the more wayward, experimental nature of some of the tracks,
particularly “The Lotus Eaters” and “Hex Omega,” is only minimally
detrimental to the album. Technically speaking, Akerfeldt and
company still have some awesome chops, yet many of the songs lack
that one defining hook to make them truly classic tracks among
Opeth’s 13-year oeuvre. Fortunately, every track seems to age
extremely well with repeated listening, as the slightly stripped
down nature of the riffs and composition appear to make more sense.
All of which almost makes
“Watershed” live up to its name; while the music contained within
can hardly be seen as a drastic departure save for a few radical
inclusions here and there, fan reaction is almost certainly going to
be more divided than ever before. The keyboards have been thankfully
toned down quite a bit since “Ghost Reveries,” yet the introduction
of two new members, guitarist Fredrik Akesson and Axenrot, has still
left many fans in unwarranted disarray.
While the record may never be held
in the same regard as such as classics as 1999’s “Still Life” and
1997’s “My Arms, Your Hearse,” “Watershed” will almost certainly be
remembered as one of the most thoroughly original and difficult
records of Opeth’s discography. What it lacks in melody, resonance,
and structure, it almost makes up for with daring, experimentation,
and intrigue, not to mention the band’s trademark dark and beautiful
atmosphere. Any open-minded music fan will find plenty to enjoy,
while longtime Opeth fans would do well to listen with open ears and
an open mind.
Daly’s Gone Confused
Danielle Stone
Staff Writer
When bands try incorporating
different styles into their songs, they risk sounding confused about
their own musical genre.
Confused is precisely the way
Daly’s Gone Wrong sounds on their new CD, “Never a Hand to Hold,”
which the band released themselves last July. The Bronx foursome’s
MySpace claims that the band “was born
from the idea that a band should play exactly what they want, when
they want, and how they want to. [Daly’s Gone Wrong] stands
together to create what nobody else could give them...the music that
they always wanted to hear.”
After listening to their CD, it’s safe to say that what they
wanted to hear is hardcore,
pop-punk and screamo all mushed together on a single track. Songs
like “Stapleton’s Solution: Life’s Tough, get a Helmet,” start out
with high pop-punk vocals. Then, right when you get used to hearing
lyrics like, “In all honestly, I wish we could change the
four-letter word we used to explain ourselves” and “I thought we
were a hit waiting to happen,” the cute, catchy vocals suddenly
switch to intense screaming. The transition comes without warning
and seems out of place with the rest of the song. If Daly’s Gone
Wrong is seeking to grab the listener’s attention by the roots and
force them to wonder, “Is this the same song?” then the band has
succeeded.
All the songs on the album are
fast paced and heavy on the bass and drums, making Daly’s Gone Wrong
far from easy listening. The catchy melodies will make you want to
get off the couch and jump around, even if the beginning of “Bronx
Dance Party” sounds like a Blink 182 song.
“Never a Hand to Hold” is an
appropriate album title, considering that the songs are primarily
love songs about failed relationships or those doomed to failure.
While the metaphors for love are creative (such as the line from
“Bronx Dance Party”: “My life is a broadcast. Peter Jennings is
dead. Who will anchor me?” or “If we’re gonna kiss, tear my skin
apart. Honey, I know that life is sweet, but then it comes to my
destruction, it ain’t got shit on me. Here’s to us cracking in
place” from the song “You’re the Man Now, Dog!”), it gets tiresome
listening to yet another take on star-crossed lovers who weren’t
really meant to be, after all.
Daly’s Gone Wrong’s eclectic
musical tastes would do well at a live show attended by a moshing
crowd of girls and guys who have had their hearts broken, but are
too punk rock to cry about it in the corner with the emo kids. This
is the kind of music that makes you want to shove and kick the shit
out of the dude standing in front of you, just to make yourself feel
better.
Or, better yet, you can flail
around your bedroom in a one-man mosh. Then maybe when you “feel
like [your] heart can’t start beating again,” you can let out the
emo in you and shed a few tears of confusion.
DJ Mary Fresh “Aww That’s My Jam” of
the Week
Circulation/Production Manager
Mary Gleeson
Rick Astley – “Never Gonna Give You
Up” – In recent months the
phenomenon of being “Rickrolled” is sweeping the nation. Think
that’s a boob video you just clicked on? Nope! His poignant lyrics
come dashing into your ears and a ginger appears before your eyes,
somewhat like a sighting of Jesus. You have just been “Rickrolled.”
This jam has become so popular it was a write-in winner for the Mets
8th inning song, beating out American favorites with five million
votes. If that’s not convincing enough, at least Astley is “Never
gonna give you up/
Never gonna let you down/Never gonna run around and desert you/Never
gonna make you cry/Never gonna say goodbye/ Never gonna tell a lie
and hurt you.” |
Duran Duran – “Hungry like
the Wolf” -
This is the ultimate on the prowl song. While most men approach
ladies like the women they are, Duran Duran takes a different
approach and hunts them down like they’re poor feeble sheep. “Mouth
is alive with juices like wine” Oh well when you put it like that, I
don’t mind if you hit on me and take me home, in the night…alone.
ABC- “Poison Arrow”-
“Who broke my heart? /You did,
you did/Bow to the target/Blame cupid, cupid/You think you’re
smart/Stupid, stupid.” This jam is brilliantly executed, 80s style.
One will not get the full effect of this jam unless they watch the
video which includes, 80s dramatic stare, hair, and flair.
Air Xylophone, yes please! Dust off the old Casio and synthesize
your way to nu-wave awesomeness.
Corn Mo/ .357 Lover –
“Hava Nagilia Monster”
– This Brooklyn bread band was in the area on Saturday promoting a
show at Cousin Larry’s when I heard this mangled mash glam metal
song on how the Hava Nagilia Monster is going to get us all. The
song really sounds as if Dio bore the son of Satan that turned out
to be Jesus. My comparison doesn’t even make sense, that’s how
freaking kick-ass this song is. Also check out “Maybe Tonight,” an
up-beat, toe tapping ditty that alludes to all the possibilities
after making out at the mall with a girl.
“Pomp and Circumstance”-
For obvious
reasons, The sweet, sweet orchestra booming, my diploma on stage,
It’s gonna be awesome, see you at graduation!
Sooo Not My Jam of the
Week
Any Graduation/Good
Memories Song – These include, but are not limited to, Vitamin C –
“Graduation Song (Friends Forever)”, Green Day “Time of your Life
(Good Riddance), Boyz II Men – “Yesterday”.
Wahhh, Wahhh, Wahh. We’re leaving, ahhhh! I don’t know how to live
my life outside of school! These songs rely on the belief that all
people do after graduation is remember the past. Oh, if I can get a
job with a salary and benefits doing that, sign me up! I’ll be the
girl in the corner thinking of what I’m going to do for the rest of
my life.
To my faithful readers, I
bid you adieu, for this is my last jams. Thank you for reading my
feeble little attempt to spread the wonderfulness that is music.
Keep your ears open and turn the volume all the way up to 11.
Once Upon a Failed Suicide
Samuel Prezelski
Staff Writer
Ben Bettenbender’s “The Siren Song
of Stephen Jay Gould” which was put on by the WestConn play
production class in Berkshire Hall’s Reimold Theatre, is a very
interesting play. It starts off with an unnamed female (played by
student Jacqueline Madera) throwing a ring box into a river, when
she is rudely interrupted by a man falling on her. The man (Adam
Schofield-Bolt) gets up, slightly dazed, and looks in horror at the
woman on the ground, who now has a broken arm because of him. He
wakes her up, and through a humorous back and forth, discovers that
she had tried to commit suicide by ipecac (a dried root used to
induce vomiting), a fact that the unnamed male finds hilarious.
After that fact has been made
known, the woman starts to inquire as to why he landed on her, and
through a series of increasingly ridiculous and improbable guesses,
it is determined that he was jumping off the bridge directly behind
them. She finds this incredibly hilarious, and points out that even
trying to commit suicide on such a small bridge, over such a small
river during a drought is laughable. He explains that after reading
a book by Stephen Jay Gould, he realized how meaningless his life
is. The woman refuses to believe that this is the only reason why he
wants to kill himself. She discovers that it has something to do
with the man’s younger ex-girlfriend and a cat. And so the two
continue to bond over their shared desire to die. They even make
plans for a joint-suicide in future.
“The Siren Song of Stephen Jay
Gould” is in every sense a black comedy, with humor coming from
something that usually would be horrifying, but in this context is
ridiculous. Adam Schofield-Boat plays the part of a slightly
off-kilter man beautifully, while Jacqueline Madera plays the part
of an overly romantic (yet, slightly off-kilter) woman, and they
both play off each other wonderfully. At times, though, their acting
skills faltered slightly, leaving the other actor to carry the
weight. The load they were left to carry wasn’t that heavy, and this
happened so infrequently that it never occurred to me that I was
watching a play. The play could have been better, but keep in mind,
that would have required perfection on every little detail. I
enjoyed it, and if I were to give them a rating, it would be an 8.2
out of 10.
Harold and Kumar Defy Stereotypes in
Guantanamo Bay
Samuel Prezelski
Staff Writer
When one thinks of “Harold and
Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay,” one thinks it will be more of the
same college humor. One would be right, but in this case, more of
the same is not a bad thing.
“Harold and Kumar Escape from
Guantanamo Bay” starts out with Harold having a pleasant shower,
daydreaming romantic dreams about his girlfriend, when his dreams
are quite rudely interrupted by Kumar “using the facilities.” It is
then made known to the audience that they are leaving for a flight
to Amsterdam quite soon. Thus begins Harold and Kumar’s quest.
First off, I have to point out to
everyone reading this article that this movie is not at all for
people under the age of 17, let alone children. Though some R-rated
movies have only some objectionable content that parents might think
their children can handle, “Harold and Kumar 2” is not one of them.
Everything that classifies a movie as R-rated is in this movie, from
violence to drug use to sexual innuendo to nudity. And there is a
lot of nudity in this movie, to the point where one of the first
scenes is a “bottomless party.” Parents, keep your children away
from this movie at all costs.
That out of the way, this movie is
one of the funniest movies I have seen all year. There is ridiculous
scene after ridiculous scene. John Cho and Kal Penn (Harold and
Kumar respectively) play their roles fantastically, with Cho
reacting to the increasingly ridiculous events as any normal person
would, and Penn reacting to the increasingly ridiculous events as
any normal person on illicit substances would. However, I have to
say that Cho and Penn don’t pull all of the comedy weight in the
film. Every single supporting actor adds to the pool of
ridiculousness, from Rob Corddry playing a racist Department of
Homeland Security official, to Neil Patrick Harris playing Neil
Patrick Harris, and James Adomian as President George H. W. Bush.
All of them contribute to the comedy pool.
However, I was surprised at the
fact that “Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay” wasn’t just
laughs. I found it interesting that throughout the movie, characters
were introduced in a way that the audience assumed they were
stereotypes, just to have those stereotypes debunked less than a
minute later. This happened so often that when Harold and Kumar
encountered a Ku Klux Klan meeting, I half expected that when
discovered, the Klan members would treat them to keg stands and
poetry readings.
There is no way that I can
recommend this movie enough, and I strongly encourage the reader of
this article to see this movie immediately. Don’t even wait for a
six dollar matinee; the second you finish reading the wonderful
articles in this paper, put it down and run to your car so you can
drive to the nearest theatre to pay full price for this movie. It is
well worth it. |
