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In Bruges
By Declan Hertel, Entertainment Editor

Two Irish hitmen are ordered to hide out in Bruges, Belgium after a job goes horribly wrong. This sounds like a terribly un-Christmas film, I know. But beyond the movie taking place during Christmas, it has several elements of the Nativity story in it: a couple can’t find a place to stay to see out the trial ahead of them and it centers around the fate of a young boy, to name two.
The pretty Christmas-y themes of redemption, forgiveness, and selflessness make up the fabric of the narrative, and as characters talk about the charming, beautiful Bruges being a “fairy tale town,” the film, which starts in absolute realism, becomes more and more like a fairy tale.
A fairy tale full of guns, blood, and about one profanity per sentence spoken, but a fairy tale nonetheless.
While it’s not “about” Christmas, Christmas is the foundation “In Bruges” is built on. It’s currently streaming on Netflix. Spike your nog and check it out.

Edward Scissorhands
By Darien Campo, Staff Writer

If you’re looking for an unconventional Christmas film to celebrate the holidays, look no further than the 1990 classic “Edward Scissorhands,” which is truly one of the oddest films I’ve ever seen.
The story revolves around a young man (Johnny Depp) constructed by an eccentric inventor (Vincent Price.) Before he can finish his creation, the inventor passes away and leaves the young man in an incomplete state — with a collection of scissors in place of his hands (don’t think about it too much).
The protagonist finds himself dragged into a bright, pastel-colored suburban paradise where everyone knows everyone else and rumors travel quickly. He finds it hard to fit into suburbia (what with the aforementioned scissors for hands) but manages to fall in love with a beautiful young woman (Winona Ryder). As the Christmas season approaches, tensions rise and Edward’s new life is threatened.
Tim Burton brings us a delightfully out of place character who’s fun to watch, and easy to relate to.
Edward has one of the biggest hearts in cinema, and is easy to love (even with scissors for hands).

Gremlins
By Stephanie Blair, Photo Editor

Nothing screams “the holidays” like a 1980s mom defending her kitchen against green-blooded demons, so if you’re into that kind of thing, go ahead and throw “Gremlins” in the VCR.
Set in Kingston Falls, U.S.A, “Gremlins” is the story of a kid named Billy trying to support his family while his eccentric father hacks it as an inventor. Billy works at the bank with Kate, a quiet, pretty girl he has a crush on.
There’s also an evil old lady with bad eyebrows; a crazy, racist neighbor; and Billy’s faithful, but mischievous dog, Barney.
It’s a cute family movie taking place just before Christmas. And then things get weird.
Billy’s father gives him a Mogwai, a little three-fingered, Furbie-looking creature that has three strict rules:
No bright lights- sunlight will kill him. Don’t get him wet. Never feed him after midnight.
After accidentally breaking the second two rules, Gremlins begin to wreak havoc on the town.
It’s the perfect holiday-family-horror film. Christmas spirit, young love, and murder by microwave; who could ask for more?

The Western Howl

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Board games for the holidays

By: Declan Hertel
 Entertainment Editor

Families often play games at Christmas, and they are often dull. I am here to save you from the holiday gaming blues with some great, inexpensive games to bring the family together.

“Gloom: Second Edition” – For telling all-new dark Christmas stories.

“Gloom” is a fun little card game with a Tim Burton/Edward Gorey feel, wherein you preside over a family of Victorian miscreants and deadbeats and make them as miserable as possible before sending them to the grave.

Most of the fun of the game is making up stories about exactly how Lord Wellington-Smythe came to be “Cursed by the Queen,” and then “Beaten by Beggars.”

If your family doesn’t have the dark and wicked sense of humor the game wants, try “Once Upon a Time,” which has similar storytelling bits, but in the vein of fairy tales. Both are $20.

“Forbidden Desert” – For uniting the family in perilous times.

Your airship has crashed while on an expedition! Rebuild it and escape before you’re swallowed up by the Forbidden Desert! This cooperative exploration game demands teamwork to recover the lost parts of your vessel.

Each character has a different set of abilities, and finding the best strategy to utilize them and get home safely is key to getting home, along with efficiently and quickly exploring the desert as the sandstorm rages on. No one gets left out because everyone has to help out.

With planning, patience, and a little luck, you just might make it out alive. $20 – $25.
“Bang!” – For when the figgy pudding hits the fan.

Tensions can run high around the holidays, and sometimes you just need a good old shootout to get back on track. “Bang!” is a card game that simulates the gun battles at high noon from old “spaghetti western” movies.

The Sheriff and his Deputies have got to eliminate all the Outlaws and the Renegade, the Outlaws need to kill all the lawmen, and the Renegade needs to be the last man standing.

The catch is: no one knows who’s who. Watch carefully and take notes, because when the lead starts flying you just might catch some!

If you’re looking for a simpler, cheaper shootout game, you can’t go wrong with “Poo,” wherein zoo monkeys fling poo at each other. It’s quick, dirty, and a lot of fun.

“Bang!” is $25, “Poo” is $10.

The Western Howl

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“The Good Dinosaur” review

By: Declan Hertel
Entertainment Editor

Pixar’s latest film, “The Good Dinosaur,” is a curious little piece. It’s quite a good little piece, but it is definitely curious.

It holds the distinction of being the second Pixar film this year; “Inside Out,” which was released in June, was great, but this is a first for Pixar, who has never released more than one film in a single year.

It’s clearly a “kids’ movie,” as opposed to a “great kid-friendly movie,” like the rest of Pixar’s repertoire. It’s an intriguing step for Pixar, especially as we look ahead to their faster release schedule for the coming years.

Firstly, let me say that “The Good Dinosaur” is jaw-droppingly gorgeous. The vibrant landscapes, the fluidity of movement, the detail on the characters, it’s all stunning.

I mentioned two weeks ago that “Toy Story” still looks really good 20 years later, and it does, but it looks like a B-grade student project next to “The Good Dinosaur.”

There’s hardly a frame in this movie that couldn’t stand on its own merit, visually speaking.

But this leads us to one of the curiosities: sometimes the movie comes off as experimental in animations that were strung together to create a movie.

This is reinforced by the episodic structure of the movie; it’s more of a series of islands than an A-to-B progression, highlighting that this might not have been a grand-concept picture from the get-go like “Finding Nemo” or “The Incredibles.”

This method of storytelling is not inherently a bad thing at all, and actually makes for an interesting feel for “The Good Dinosaur,” which is to say that it is is a “boy and his dog” story in the American South, but with dinosaurs.

This is weird, but ultimately really cool, and allows southern baritone Sam Elliott (the narrator in “The Big Lebowski”) to voice a giant T. Rex, which is just tops.

Elliot’s character, Butch, brings up another strange part of “The Good Dinosaur:” it couldn’t decide how grown-up it wanted to be.

It had all the goofy antics one would expect from a movie like this, but also features, among other moments, Butch telling a story about how he drowned a crocodile in its own blood.

There were several moments that could be genuinely unsettling to a small child, and several were unsettling to me (though the child two rows behind me seemed to thoroughly enjoy the movie).

It’s almost unfortunate that Pixar has such a great overall track record: we expect greatness from them now, so a film like “The Good Dinosaur” that is just “solid” will likely get overlooked. It’s definitely worth a watch, but it is especially worth your time if you’re a diehard Pixar fan like your faithful author.

It keeps that innovative spirit that Pixar is known for, yet features many “kid flick” clichés. It feels familiar, yet is a fundamentally different movie than they have ever released before. It’s greater than the sum of its parts, but in an odd way.

All I know for sure is that it’s immensely interesting. Watch it, and if you see me around, let’s talk about it.

The Western Howl

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Light it up

By: Joleen Braasch 
Freelancer

On Friday Dec. 4, 2015, the giant Sequoia located on the lawn in front of Campbell hall will be strung with shining lights for the 48th time. It will once again be the center of WOU’s holiday spirit.

The Sequoiadendron giganteum, planted back when the college was still known as the Oregon State Normal School, was a given as a gift to Western by the senior class of 1887.

Nicole Larsen, a senior anthropology major, views the winter holidays as a special time for the WOU community.

“The holidays are a time where I realize how intertwined Western is with the city of Monmouth, and it’s another thing that makes attending college here so special,” said Larsen.

Marta Herring, a senior interdisciplinary studies major, loves that the giant sequoia plays such a central role in the holiday festivities at WOU.

“The tree itself is a historic part of the WOU and Monmouth story and it’s nice to acknowledge that it still plays a role on campus to this day,” Herring said.

The tradition of lighting the famous Western Sequoia began in 1967.

Dormitory students and a few other individuals raised the money needed to buy lights that would cover the giant tree, and the Monmouth Fire Department was responsible for putting up the first strands of lights that would become a tradition.

Currently, the campus Physical Plant has the honor of decorating the tree, and an essay winner from local elementary schools gets to flip the switch and light up the campus.

This is Herring’s favorite part of the festivities, and she believes that “it’s important to emphasize that writing and education is important, and to give the kid a chance to participate in their community in an exciting way.”

Savannah Hively, a sophomore majoring in exercise science, comes for the emotion. “[I love] the holiday magic that occurs when all the children’s faces light up as they light the tree,” said Hively.

Larsen said “[I] love the festivities and food! It’s a chance to connect with people from all over campus and also alumni and members of the community.”

The holiday parade begins at 6 p.m., and indoor activities will follow in the Werner University Center, beginning at 7 p.m.

The indoor activities include a tree decorating contest, cookie bake-off, arts and crafts, pictures with Santa, school choral performances, and a “Toys for Tots” donation site.

Looking for even more fun? Stop by Gentle House between 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. for the Holiday Open House.

The Western Howl

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Singers and choir sing way into hearts

By: Rachael Jackson 
Staff Writer

Gospel and choral music were taken to new heights on Monday Nov. 30, 2015, with rousing renditions of choral classics sung by the Western Oregon chamber singers and concert choir.

The chamber singers took the stage first. They performed three modern compositions of familiar ecclesiastical pieces. While songs remained in their original Latin, their arrangement breathed fresh life into the classic tradition of chamber music.

The chamber’s first piece, “Ave Maria,” which features text that has been used in choral music for over a thousand years, was revamped in 2015 by composer Daniel Elder.

Another piece written in 2015, “Salzburg Missa Brevis,” was directed by Choral and Instrumental Conducting graduate student Miriam Means.

To finish out the set, the chamber choir sang arguably the most modern of their pieces.

It was a fun incarnation of the “Benedictio” prayer. Faster than the other songs, it also displayed a series of terse and jaunty notes.

After a short intermission, the concert choir took the stage with their conductor, professor Zsofia Csikos-Tardy. They performed four songs that followed the tradition of gospel music, full of enthusiasm and praise.

Csikos-Tardy explained that this choir formed at the beginning of the term on rocky footing; since it is a non-audition choir, all members were accepted, meaning they had varied degrees of musical knowledge.

Half the members did not know how to read music, and the lack of deep bass voices made it difficult to find music to perform that would fit the choir’s makeup.

“At the beginning it was a fear in me that we would not be ready,” Csikos-Tardy said. Finally a couple men joined with the bass voices they needed, and they all learned the music faster than she anticipated.

“But,” Csikos-Tardy said, “They were ready in the last three weeks so I just had to take care of the band.”

However, Csikos-Tardy’s fears were put to bed when the group received applause and appreciation from the gathered students, who had the opportunity to be exposed to possibly new and beautiful forms of choral and gospel music.

The Western Howl

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Electro swingin’

By: Joleen S Braasch 
Freelancer

Ever heard of electro swing? If you haven’t, then look no further than Western’s own campus to explore this exciting, multi-era musical genre.

Western Hemisphere Voices, a campus-based student vocal group featuring 11 vocalists, a rhythm section, and horns, put on a show in the electro swing style, Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2015.

Terra Schwartzwalt, a conductor at WOU for fall term, describes electro swing as a new age genre, “capturing the traditions of jazz from the past and fusing it with pop and electronic music in the modern day.”

The concert arrangements were inspired by the band Caravan Palace, a Paris-based group influenced by Herbie Hancock and Daft Punk.

“Basically their music is sort of a collision of Gyspy Jazz and electronic dance music,” said Schwartzwalt, who arranged most of the music for the show.

The group performed three of Caravan Palace’s songs: “Je’Mamuse,” “Pirates,” and “Dramaphone.”

Some of the other selections included selections from other electro swing groups and renditions of well-known pops songs, such as “Burn” by Ellie Goulding and “Give Me Love” by Ed Sheeran.

As a showcase for these student musicians, almost every member of the group performed a solo during the night, and students Brandon Franko and Kathryn Powers even arranged the Ed Sheeran piece.

The band was also made up of students, and some of the members even switched from playing various instruments to singing.

Haley Lancourt, a junior exercise science major, thought the concert was a “phenomenal idea.”

She had heard a couple of electro swing styles songs, but she had never thought to make a concert out of it.

Eli Schenk, a senior music major and member of Western Hemisphere Orchestra, 15 Miles West, and the Western Hemisphere Big Band, enjoys the musical diversity that the music program has to offer.

Shenk said, “Last year, I did everything from New Orleans Jazz, to Radiohead, to like everything […] It’s wonderful how diverse the contemporary programs are.” Now he can add electro swing to that list.

The Western Howl

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Kobe Bryant announces his last season

By: Jamal Smith 
Sports Editor

Hate him or love him, no one can deny that Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest basketball players of all time.

On Sunday, Nov. 29, 2015 Bryant announced that this season, his 20th in the NBA, would be his last.

Bryant, 37, addressed the media after the Los Angeles Lakers 107-103 loss to the Indiana Pacers, saying that he had made his decision to step away from the game a while ago.

“I’ve known for a while. A decision like this, you can’t make that decision based on outside circumstances,” Bryant said at the post-game press conference.

“It has to be an internal decision, and finally I’ve decided to accept that I can’t actually do this anymore and I’m OK with that,” said Bryant.

Kobe may be an amazing player, but three injury-plagued seasons have held him back.

In the last two seasons, Bryant has only appeared in 41 of 164 Lakers’ games, and he exited last season early due to a torn right rotator cuff.

Since making his return this year to the purple and gold, he has had trouble shooting the ball. Through 15 games this year Bryant is averaging only 16.8 points while shooting .311 from the field and .222 from beyond the arch.

Just a day before his announcement, Stephen A. Smith, a popular sports analyst for ESPN, said that Bryant should retire immediately. Smith called Bryant a liability on the court, and said his dreadful season could damage his legacy.

Bryant’s accomplishments in the eyes of most sports fans will overcome his lackluster final season, and with only 15 games played in the season Bryant has the opportunity to turn it around.

“With 17 NBA All-Star selections, an NBA MVP, five NBA championships with the Lakers, two Olympic gold medals and a relentless work ethic, Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest players in the history of our game,” said NBA commissioner Adam Silver in a statement. “Whether competing in the Finals or hoisting jump shots after midnight in an empty gym, Kobe has an unconditional love for the game.”

Fans and NBA players are still grappling with the news.

NBA superstar LeBron James was saddened that this is Bryant’s last season.

“I knew I had to be better because of Kobe Bryant. I knew he was in the gym and I knew he was working on his game. And I knew he was great,” said James in an interview with ESPN. “So every day that I didn’t want to work out or every day I felt like I couldn’t give more, I always thought of Kobe.”

No matter where you fall on the love-hate scale with Kobe, it will be sad to not see Bryant on the court.

Western Oregon University’s Land Acknowledgement
Western Oregon University in Monmouth, OR is located within the traditional homelands of the Luckiamute Band of Kalapuya. Following the Willamette Valley Treaty of 1855 (Kalapuya etc. Treaty), Kalapuya people were forcibly removed to reservations in Western Oregon. Today, living descendants of these people are a part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians.

Accessibility Public Records Privacy Student Consumer Information

WOU prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national or ethnic origin, age, religion, marital status, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression in all programs, activities and employment practices as required by Title IX, other applicable laws, and policies. Retaliation is prohibited by WOU.

Unconventional Christmas movies

Board games for the holidays

“The Good Dinosaur” review

Light it up

Singers and choir sing way into hearts

Electro swingin’

Kobe Bryant announces his last season

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