Spectrum Culture: The Final Articles
I want to say the largest reason I decided to leave MITYC for a while was my being let go from Spectrum Culture. I could tell I was going to be let go for a month leading up to the main event, and it sucks, but I was relieved when the end finally came. I couldn’t handle being super stressed out over something I wasn’t putting my best into. In all honesty, I had written a resignation letter 10 days before I was let go on September 12th. In that time I had pumped out four mediocre articles, and only three were published. Below are the three that made it, and the one in its entirety that didn’t.
End of the Aughts: Video of the Decade
The Decemberists – “16 Military Wives”
In schools across the country, model United Nations are teaching children about international relationships. The Decemberists took that premise and switched the international relationships to personal ones to represent real problems in the world.
Brendan Benson – My Old Fimiliar Friend
Brendan Benson already has a successful solo career that has seen the release of three albums. He picked up a huge boost by becoming Jack White’s lieutenant in The Raconteurs, and after the release of Broken Boy Soldiers in 2006 and Consolers of the Lonely in 2008, the groundwork had been laid for Benson to make a run at a larger mainstream audience with My Old, Familiar Friend.
I’ve always been impressed by the bravado that prog rock bands tend to possess. Sometimes, it just isn’t good enough to have a short, catchy album title. Danish indie-rock band Mew’s latest release is 23 words long:
No More Stories
Are Told Today
I’m Sorry They
Washed Away
No More Stories
The World Is Grey,
I’m Tired
Let’s Wash Away.
This article was submitted, but never published.
Visioneers
Dir: Jared Drake
2008
Are you… stressed out… unhappy with your life… having problems in the bedroom? Experiencing strange dreams? Do you feel like you could just explode? In the Visioneers, the stress of these dilemmas could literally make you spontaneously explode.
On the dystopian meter, Visioneers is closer to The Island than Brazil. It’s the present day, with very few futuristic elements except for a corporation in the United States that is more powerful than the President. As with most omnipresent corporations, it only takes two sentences to get the exposition out of the way. “Welcome to the Jeffers Corporation. The largest and friendliest and most profitable corporation in the history of mankind.”
In the opening of the film, we find a diligent employee or Level 3 “Tunt” George Washington Winsterhammerman. Standing at the doorway of his small office, George steps up to a framed picture of his boss and with the “Jeffers salute” (flipping the middle finger) calmly says, “Good morning Mr. Jeffers.” An epidemic is sweeping across the nation; people are exploding for no reason. To rectify the situation, the Jeffers Corporation and its subordinate—the US federal government, tries to have citizens look at the beauty of the world around them, and all that is wonderful. The Jeffers Corporation believes if it can externally apply happiness; the epidemic of explosions will end.
Visioneers isn’t groundbreaking. It’s a bit reminiscent of the worlds of Brave New World and 1984. The films strength comes from a tour de force performance from Zach Galifianakis as George Washington Winsterhammerman. George is a man who constantly lives in the shadow of his ancestor, President George Washington. Instead he wrestles with his internal revolution. For two-thirds of the film, Galifianakis is deadpan. Using only small movements, Galifianakis acts like a shy child to convey emotion before going on the occasional massive freak out.
Galifianakis’ introduction to mainstream audiences came this summer, in Todd Phillip’s The Hangover and in the rodent infested Disney film {G-Force}. Galifianakis is probably best known for his stand up routine, occasionally touring as a “Comedian of Comedy” with Patton Oswalt, or lip-syncing Kanye West’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” with Will Oldham on a North Carolina farm. It is Galifianakis’ ability to put his body into violent convulsions and extreme situations that came in handy for when it came time to emote as a person who can’t feel.
Throughout the film, George’s wife Michelle (Judy Greer) follows every bit of advice from TV guru Sara. Now, imagine going through life following everything exactly as Oprah does—you would be dead inside too. Greer and Galifianakis are an awkward couple, but that’s the point. Both George and Judy are traveling through life along a set path. It is only when George starts to deviate, that Michelle must compensate to keep things as normal as possible.
The director/writer team of Jared and Brandon Drake use George’s world to exaggerate the awkwardness of normal human interaction. It’s as if everybody is so emotionally distant, that they don’t understand how to deal with each another on any deeper level. The only time George finds a connection with someone else is with a Level 4 “Tunt” named Charisma. Whenever his office phone rings, George’s face lights up and gets quiet, as he attempts, to cherish every word she has to say.
The score, by Polyphonic Spree front man Tom DeLaughter, is extremely subtle.As George strays farther and farther from what he considers normalcy, a flurry of percussion begins to invade the void left by his sanity. When George finally calms down, the score returns to simple piano chords, allowing the actors space to perform.
Galifianakis begins the film by giving the audience a “Jeffers salute” and from there it is a 95-minute decent into the human condition. What is happiness? Audiences are bound for a surprise when they don’t find Galifianakis acting awkward or funny. Much like Will Ferrell’s role in Stranger Than Fiction, Galifianakis as the straight man, in a foreign existence makes up for the lack of shtick.
By Nicholas Ryan
Related posts:
- Spectrum Culture: The Garden I got another review up!!! SCORE ANOTHER ONE FOR ME!!! I’m actually pretty excited about this one. After I submitted it, I was rather worried that it was total shit, so I started rewording the entire thing in my head while in the shower, and later in the day Spectrum’s...
- Spectrum Culture: Oh Captain My Captain I’ve been sitting on this for a little over a day due to my massive sleeping habit. Yesterday I went to bed a little after 9am and woke up to take a shower at 8:50pm. I know… the good life. This is the first piece I submitted to Spectrum Culture,...
- Spectrum Culture: Year One: Movies Man, I have been completely letting down my fan base. I haven’t updated in 3 weeks. I’m a terrible blogger… OR it is summer time in the city and I’m just lazy. Here is one that I should have put up on the 21st, I’ll try to be better in...