Mount Hood

Reseña: "Girlboss"

Por: Zoe Strickland
Redactora jefe

Knowing virtually nothing about the aim for the series, besides that it was based off of a bestselling memoir by fashion connoisseur Sophia Amoruso, I was excited when Netflix announced that they would be making a show aptly-named after the memoir of the same title.

“Girlboss” was overall enthralling and I’ll most likely watch it again.

However, I mistakenly went into “Girlboss” thinking that it would pack the same female empowerment punch that the memoir did; that it would be a show that would make me want to sit down and get stuff done.

At the beginning of every episode, it reminds you that, though the show is based off of a memoir, it’s still a “loose retelling of real events.” Readers of the book should take this warning to heart.

My main complaint about the series is that “Girlboss,” to put it bluntly, is a show built for 20-somethings. The main character Sophia, played by Britt Robertson, is snappy and a bit too immature to find endearing. She’s abrasive, a bit entitled and has a problem with taking any criticism or accepting that she needs help from others- even though she clearly does.

On one hand, these attitudes make her more realistic by not presenting her as an idealized go-getter. On the other hand, it plays into her own inability to connect with the characters around her; Sophia’s narcissism leads to the lack of sustained secondary relationships with the other people in her life, which make it difficult to connect with the character on a deeper level.

The cast of secondary characters is gold: RuPaul as Lionel, Sophia’s firecracker neighbor, and Mobias, a vintage shop-owner played by Jim Rash, were my personal favorite members of the cast. They were vibrant and acted almost as older siblings to Sophia. Sophia’s best friend Annie, played by Ellie Reed provided a breath of fresh air in contrast to Sophia’s tendency to be standoffish. However, the main love interest in the show, Shane, played by Johnny Simmons, occupied space as a doormat for Sophia’s problems.

These characters are all delightful in that they did a good job of being harmless, but they’re all too busy coming to Sophia’s aid to actually get their own sufficiently developed storylines. I cared more about them than I cared about the person the series is devoted to. Their storylines have the potential to be far more interesting than Sophia’s.

The plot was strong enough to maintain my interest, but I don’t expect the show to gain many accolades. There were certain threads that could have ended up either making or breaking the integrity of the show’s heroine, and I found it fulfilling to see how the writers dealt with balancing out everything that Sophia has to deal with.

However, the timing of the show needed a lot of work; they packed two years in a mere 13 episodes, and were inconsistent with how each year was represented. The show takes place between 2006 and 2008, but had references to media and events that occurred after the time period that’s shown. It was difficult to look past those minute details and focus on the storyline at hand.

One of the highlights for me was the soundtrack. The music accompanying “Girlboss” was beautifully chosen; the tracks complement the scenes that they accompany while also being kick-butt anthems suited for a heroine like Sophia Marlowe. The soundtrack is somewhat ‘90s and extremely empowering.

“Girlboss” was good, but that’s all it was. If you’re looking for something that will make you want to rally, I’d skip this and go read the book. If you’re looking to kill a few hours and get your mind off of things, “Girlboss” may be the show for you. “Girlboss” is enjoyable, but I’m not about to shout my love for it from the rooftops.

Contact the author at journalmanaging@wou.edu

Superheros, tacos and fireworks

Por: Ashton Newton
Redactor de Entretenimiento

If April showers really bring May flowers, here’s hoping those come up soon. In the meantime, there are plenty of fun local events both inside and outside to keep busy with.

Keizer Homegrown Theatre’s latest show, “Hearts Like Fists,” is running May 5-7 and 11-13 at 7 p.m. in the Chemeketa Community College Auditorium. “Hearts Like Fists” is a superhero romance that plays to fans of both genres.

“The play is very smart in that there’s nothing supernatural and no super powers. They are crime fighters. It’s grounded in reality,” Director Jay Gipson-King told the Statesman Journal.

Tickets for “Hearts Like Fists” are available now for $15 and can be found at keizerhomegrowntheatre.org.

Salem’s Pentacle Theatre opens their newest show “Leading Ladies” on May 26 at 7:30 p.m. and runs until June 17.

“Leading Ladies,” originally written by Ken Ludwig, is a comedy that finds two down-on-their-luck Shakespeare actors posing in drag as an old lady’s nieces in order to get ahold of her fortune but, when romance gets in the way, things don’t quite go as planned.

Tickets for “Leading Ladies” cost $25 and can be found at pentacletheatre.org.

Leading up to Cinco de Mayo, Salem is hosting the annual Taco Crawl. On May 3-5, participating downtown restaurants will be open for guests to come in and try all the tacos they can eat. The event is all day long and ends with a performance from the Orquestra Pacifico Tropical at Venti’s on May 5.

For more information and a list of participating restaurants, check out tacocrawlsalem.com.

A little further from Monmouth, Portland’s famous Rose Festival begins on May 6 and has events throughout the month. The biggest event in the festival is Portland’s CityFair, running May 26-29. On May 26, the fair opens at 5 p.m. and includes a firework show at 8 p.m. Each day following, the fair runs from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

CityFair will have exotic animals, music, rides and more. The fair is held at the Portland Waterfront and only costs $8 to get in. Tickets can be found at rosefestival.org.

There are plenty of events this May to take a break from class and hopefully enjoy the sun.

Póngase en contacto con el autor en journalentertainment@wou.edu

Window into the life of a composer

By:Ashton Newton
Entertainment Editor

Western hosted the 13th annual Composers Workshop with guest speaker Dave Metzger on April 28. Metzger is an award winning composer and orchestrator who has worked on feature films such as “Frozen,” “Moana,” “The Avengers” and “X-Men: First Class.” He also orchestrated the music for the “Lion King” broadway musical.

Originally from Corvallis, Metzger found his passion for music at a very young age. In middle school, he began writing music and, after seeing “Star Wars” in 1977, decided that he wanted to become a composer.

Metzger started the workshop by talking about how he entered the entertainment industry. He made a point to note that his success partly came from the friends that he made in the industry.

“I can trace my entire professional career back to one trombone player in college,” joked Metzger.

With a room packed full of student and non-student guests alike, many of whom were in Western’s film composing class, Metzger’s expertise on the subject was met with many questions and a great amount of enthusiasm. Members of the audience asked questions about his connections in the industry and what it was like working with different composers.

One member of the participants asked if working for months at a time in New York and Los Angeles was tough on his family. Metzger made a point that living in Oregon has definitely helped his family life, but on projects like “Lion King” where he’s gone for six months, it can be difficult.

The most recent project that Metzger worked on was “Moana,” so he brought in a sample of the song “We Know the Way” and talked about working alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda to compose it, recounting the experience as a positive one.

Questions from the audience then shifted toward the technical side of composing. Metzger brought in pictures of his setup from home and gave recommendations on equipment and software to buy. Metzger mainly works on film scores from home, video chatting with colleagues in other parts of the country, so having up to date technology and an efficient workspace is important.

Many participants asked about their specific equipment and how to better their setups, especially while being on a college budget. Metzger gave advice on the best equipment and software to buy for maximum efficiency while composing.

Metzger ended the talk with some stories from working on “Frozen.” He first joined the project when he had a single day to create a mockup for the song “For the First Time in Forever” using only the rough draft animation. Impressed by his work, Disney offered him the job to work on every song in the film.

Western’s Composers Workshop offered a great look into the life of a composer and gave guests and students a plethora of tips and inspiration.

Póngase en contacto con el autor en journalentertainment@wou.edu

Review: “Solid State”

By: Darien Campo | Designer

“Dance like they are watching you – because they are watching you.”

This is one of my favorite lines from Jonathan Coulton’s brand new album, “Solid State.” The 17-track concept record tackles a story about the internet, trolls, artificial intelligence and how love and empathy will save humanity. It’s a complex, gorgeous album and a huge step forward for the internet-based musician.

In 2005, software developer Jonathan Coulton quit his job to pursue his dream of being a musician. He launched the “Thing-a-Week” project wherein he wrote, recorded and released a brand-new song every week for a year straight. Using the internet and Creative Commons licensing as his tools, Coulton managed to completely circumvent the crumbling music industry and build his own rabid fan base by writing geek-rock songs like “Code Monkey,” “RE: Your Brains” and Portal’s “Still Alive.” His 2011 album, “Artificial Heart,” broke away from the geek-focused storytelling of his previous music in favor of a more “elliptical” rock album inspired by producer John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants.

“Solid State” pushes Coulton even further from his monkey-and-zombie-song roots. While the album is a concept record, telling a very specific story, each track stands on its own without needing to be supported by the rest of the tracklist. Songs like “Brave” and “Don’t Feed the Trolls” are very reminiscent of the “Artificial Heart” indie-pop-rock vibes and are very hard to not dance to, even if they are watching you. And then there are tracks like “Wake Up” and “All to Myself” that have a very droning, Beatles-esque feel to them. “Solid State” is a wonderful blend of Coulton’s own soft-rock tendencies with a bit of synth-pop and psychedelic rock thrown in as well.

It’s a challenging album, which is a wonderful surprise, but might be a bit off-putting to some returning fans. Coulton’s previous work covered easy-to-follow, quirky narratives. Co-workers who have turned into zombies, mad scientists who fall in love with their captives – you know, the usual stuff. But “Solid State” tackles much more complex and difficult-to-parse ideas. The record follows a particular narrative, but each song’s lyrics swing wildly around what they’re trying to say.

“That’s my favorite songwriting trick,” said Coulton in an interview with Paste Magazine, “is to say a thing without saying it directly, to let something be revealed by what you’re saying rather than saying it out loud. That’s the kind of songwriting that has always delighted me, and the thing that I always aspire to do.”

“Solid State” is released under SuperEgo records, Aimee Mann’s label. Mann can be heard all throughout the album, providing backup vocals on songs like “All this Time.” Coulton and Mann also collaborated on her most recent album, “Mental Illness.” They are currently on tour together.

For fans who want a little more, Coulton also offers a companion graphic novel on his website. The comic is 132 pages long, written by Matt Fraction and drawn by Albert Monteys.

“Solid State” a challenging album, and you may not like every song the first time you hear it, but this record is worth the relisten. You will find yourself discovering more and more things on every play. Coulton is ever-growing as a musician, and “Solid State” is easily his best work yet.

Contact the author at dcampo13@wou.edu

Review: “The Circle”

Por: Ashton Newton
Redactor de Entretenimiento

“The Circle,” directed by James Ponsoldt, is a thriller about a tech company that is connecting everybody online and the implications that complete social transparency has on people, based off of a 2013 novel by David Eggers. It’s an obvious response to things like the cloud and Facebook, but due to poor performances and odd pacing, it really packs no punch.

Emma Watson’s character, Mae Holland, starts out as a customer service representative for The Circle, a tech giant with goals to place cameras all over the world for complete online transparency.

Mae Holland is the worst protagonist that I’ve seen in a recent film. Watson’s performance was passionless and amateur-feeling and the character choices were so sporadic that it was hard to pinpoint what the character’s actual values were. Her trials, her achievements, her personal life: they all felt meaningless. Watson’s poor American accent and atrocious fake cries helped to make Holland not only unlikeable, but distracting to the movie itself.

That said, there are some side characters that keep the movie from being absolutely horrible. Tom Hanks and Patton Oswalt play the two in charge of The Circle. Both men believe what they’re doing with The Circle, having everyone’s information, is right, but are taking immoral steps to make it happen. Hanks gives a likeable but untrustworthy performance, causing me to like him, hate him, like him, hate him and like him again.

Karen Gillan plays Mae Holland’s friend and fellow employee at The Circle. Her performance throughout the movie is by far the best. She shows a side of working for a tech giant that isn’t all yoga breaks and exercise ball office chairs and acts as the film’s sole voice of reason.
Cultural relevance is what “The Circle” is really banking on; working at The Circle is much like what is shown of working at companies like Google and Facebook. There’s an emphasis on fun, but all the while The Circle is collecting every bit of information that anyone has.

The problem with this is that the protagonist weaves in and out of supporting and disliking The Circle, so much so that I was lost on who I was supposed to care about that I stopped caring altogether.

“The Circle” is an intense movie with a great concept. While watching, I was constantly wondering where the film would go next, and it did go down some unexpected and interesting roads, but without anyone or anything to root for, the film fell short of what it was trying to be.

“The Circle” stands tall and tries to speak loud, but no words come out.

¼
– Awful performance from Emma Watson
– Poor attempts at cultural relevance

Póngase en contacto con el autor en journalentertainment@wou.edu

Artist spotlight: Patty MeLT

Por: Ashton Newton
Redactor de Entretenimiento

For many students, music is a great hobby. Writing, playing and even listening to music is beneficial and rewarding. Western student Patrick Jaursch, sophomore psychology major, takes that one step further by pursuing music as a passion.

“My music is very freeing. For me, I write music to get away from the stresses of life. Music is a way for me to relieve and get things off my head while I express myself through a creative outlet which allows me to make something that I can enjoy doing and other people can enjoy hearing,” said Jaursch.

Jaursch goes by the name Patty MeLT for all his music, a name he carefully chose.

“I chose Patty MeLT as a name because I love music so much that I wanted to take the whole ‘rapper’ stereotype out of its box,” said Jaursch. “I’m Patty MeLT because it clicks in your head and makes you say ‘isn’t that a sandwich, that’s kind of weird.’ I just wanted to evoke an emotion that’s off-putting.”

Jaursch is actively writing and recording new music. In 2016, he released a 10-track album called “TIMBERLINE: A Comprehensive Journey” that featured rap, some folk and a skit. A new single, “T I D E S,” was released on April 10 and marks a shift in Patty MeLT’s music.

“I’m moving onto bigger and better things, making music that actually comes from my heart. I’m doing things because it’s what other people do, I’m on my own path now.”

Patty MeLT’s next big project, which doesn’t have a release date yet, comes straight from the ideas that he begins to work with in “T I D E S.”

He says the album “is about saving the world. It’s a story, an audiobook. It’s not actually an album, I can say that much. While there’s music in it, more than anything I want to convey a message, so I’m trying to tell a story. I wrote a book and I’m having somebody, who if people listen to my music they’ll know who they are very well, narrate the album.”

When he’s not making music, Jaursch enjoys hanging out with friends, writing poetry and doing anything creative.

“I just like to be creative, I’m a very creative person. I’ll just draw, I’ll make music— anything that entertains me.”

Western has helped Jaursch follow his passions of music with their music program and services on campus.

“Western does a great job of being sure that students have access to resources. For example, our music program has studios on campus and drum labs that are both useful, and students who are music majors and minors have access to them. Western has been great at accompanying me with a studio that I can work with,” said Jaursch.

To anyone else wanting to follow their passions in music or any other field, Jaursch made sure to point out that it’s important to do what’ll make you happy.

“Follow your dreams, follow your passions. Do what makes you happy in life more than anything,” expressed Jaursch.

Patty MeLT’s music is available for streaming right now on Bandcamp and Soundcloud.

Póngase en contacto con el autor en journalentertainment@wou.edu

Review: “DAMN.”

By: Kevan Maloney 
Staff Writer

Two years after his last album, Kendrick Lamar returns better than ever with his latest release: “DAMN.”. He brings a fresh take on his career by making an album that sounds much more modern than any other album he has made to date. Despite how original this album is compared to his earlier work, Lamar still highlights and brings out his highly thematic lyrics and his unmatched flow, for which he is best known. While his lyrics are second to none, his ability to perform them is better than ever.

The first song released from this album was “HUMBLE.” which became an instant hit, with his high-powered rapping skills combined with a rags-to-riches storyline. It’s the perfect song to use as the frontline for the album.

After listening to this album a few times, some songs seem to shine more than the rest. It comes to no surprise that “LOYALTY. FEAT.
RIHANNA.” is one of the best on the album. Lamar brings Rihanna into the song and lets her show off her best qualities and mixes it with his best, this created an instant hit.

“DAMN.” is Lamar’s fourth studio album, featuring 14 songs. Unlike his previous albums, “DAMN.” has no skits.This album came out of left field for those who weren’t paying attention. It took a little over two weeks from the release of the frontline single to the release of the full album.

Compared to rest of his albums, “DAMN.” is almost as imaginative as “To Pimp a Butterfly,” while sounding nothing it by abandoning the styles of his previous works. “DAMN.”, follows the tropes of early and modern rap, as opposed to the jazz inspired album “To Pimp a Butterfly.” “DAMN.” takes on a more violent tone as he verbally duels with several artists and public figures, making for some of his hardest hitting songs on this album.

This album isn’t the best Lamar has made, yet it is still one of the best albums on the market. It’s an amazing and imaginative album, though it’s missing the same quality in the middle of the album, which would have made it extraordinary.

Contact the author at kmaloney15@wou.edu

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