December 2014

december

EMILY D’EMICPresident and Publisher

JEREMY ISABELLAEditor-in-Chief, Layout

LORY MARTINEZAssociate Editor

MELISSA NEIRAPhoto Editor

REGINA BELLCopy Editor

RALPHSUN NAYEMTreasurer

2. This Month’s Spotify Playlist

3. To Boldly Continue: The Return of Optimistic Science Fiction CinemaMATT GREENBERG, STAFF WRITER

4. Music You Should Be Listening ToALLISON DREXLER, STAFF WRITER

6. The Best Album ClosersGRANT HERSON, STAFF WRITER

8. Film Review: The Skelton TwinsALLIE YOuNG, STAFF WRITER

front cover photo by melissa neira, photo editorall other photographs are property of their respective owners

december

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It’s hard to imagine there would exist any comparisons between a time-bending jour-ney through deep space and an animated superhero origin story, but in early Novem-ber, releases Interstellar (directed by Chris-topher Nolan) and Big Hero 6 (directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams) both mark a comeback for exploration and experimenta-tion as positive attributes of modern science fiction. Each film’s enthusiastic depiction of science as a means to improve human pro-ductivity and functionality, hidden beneath jaw-dropping spectacle, helps reverse a recent cinematic tendency for the downbeat and dystopic. While these films are not with-out dark narrative flourishes, they ultimately encourage their audiences to look up to the achievers of today rather than fear the dark-er possibilities of tomorrow. The space crew of Interstellar is driven beyond our known galaxy by a need to pro-tect and repopulate humankind. It is a mis-sion of extreme concern, leading the scien-tists to cautiously analyze and weigh every

choice. When faced with difficulties during their voyage, scientists Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) and Brand (Anne Hathaway) square off in a debate of passion and logic. The film takes care to depict the scientific method as a crucial component of experi-mentation, yet does not ignore human emo-tion as another key element of the process. Likewise, the characters of Big Hero 6 are shown tinkering with advanced technology in order to accomplish common academic (and later heroic) goals. In particular, teen prodigy Hiro (voiced by Ryan Potter) is driven by his superior intellect and familial loss to design and optimize his robotic cre-ations. Both films contain moments of emo-tion trumping reason, which are depicted as threatening to one’s character. Yet, each draws the conclusion that such passion is necessary to fuel inventive thinking. In fact, Big Hero 6 explicitly shows its characters in an academic setting, presum-ably to persuade its younger demographic to pursue a scholarly path. Hiro and his fellow

TO BOLdLY COnTinue: THE RETuRN OF OpTIMISTIc

ScIENcE FIcTION cINEMA

by MATT GREENBERG

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MuSiC YOu ShOuLd Be LiSTening TO

(IF YOu AREN’T ALREADY)

student engineers are all characterized as dedicated and collaborative workers, de-spite the variations in their level of ability. Interstellar similarly encourages careful examination of pedagogy, with characters being undermined and later respected for their intellectual abilities. An early scene referencing the legitimacy of the Apollo 11 moon landing in a school setting demon-strates a need for honesty and empiricism in our current system. This message was likely supported by the film’s executive producer and consultant, theoretical physi-cist Kip Thorne. To universalize the importance of learning to their respective audiences, both films carefully include heroic multicultural and multi-gendered characters. As such, every character is depicted as capable of triumph over antagonism and destruction. But what would these brave thinkers be without their technology? Both films show robotic companions as aids, avoiding the common trope of an “evil machine.” Inter-stellar’s TARS (voiced by Bill Irwin) cracks wise about the enslavement of the human race, and yet is the first to protect its hu-

man companions in a perilous situation. Big Hero 6’s Baymax (voiced by Scott Ad-sit) is also a lighthearted invention, though despite its cuddly appearance and social incompetence it is powerful beyond any human ability. These are important charac-teristics, discouraging a pre-conceived fear of artificial intelligence in favor of remind-ing us why we choose to improve our tech-nology. The humans and robots of these films are the carriers of a message for modern audiences: to examine the problems of the present and ponder their solutions for the future. Each film treats the scientific process as meticulous experimentation, almost as a puzzle on a grand scale. While not every moviegoer will be motivated to be the next scientific revolutionary, both Interstellar and Big Hero 6 explore the unknown by raising a significant question: what if one could be?

Matt Greenberg is a Cinema student at Binghamton University, and the host of CINE 123 on WHRW 90.5FM Binghamton.

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MuSiC YOu ShOuLd Be LiSTening TO

(IF YOu AREN’T ALREADY)

by ALLiSOn dRexLeR

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Alex G – DSUThis is Alex G’s debut album. It’s so wonder-ful and lovely and just the best. It feels so warm and inviting, like hot chocolate. Real hot chocolate. Not those pre-packaged Swiss Miss things. It’s so personal and makes me smile. I give it two thumbs up. I’d give more, but alas I only have two. TRACKS TO JAM TO: Harvey, Icehead, Boy

Avid Dancer – I Want To See You Dance (EP)

This isn’t really an album because it’s an EP and only has 4 songs but like it’s so good. This shit is so hot like fire, just like Aaliyah sings about. I really like this EP so much and super cannot wait for the album. The EP is called “I Want To See You Dance,” which is fitting because this EP really makes me want to dance. I could totally see myself awkward-ly dancing to this at some sort of function where I would bust it out on my iPod Classic (RIP iPod Classic). TRACKS TO JAM TO: There are only 4 songs and they are all good so -- ALL SONGS

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – I’m In Your Mind Fuzz

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard is a seven-piece psych-rock band from Australia. They are so fucking amazing and crazy. This al-bum makes my face feel like it’s gonna melt off, but in the best way so don’t worry. Like I just wish my hair was longer so I could head bang and mosh like crazy to this. This album

is the psych-rock that you never knew you needed, and once you listen to it, you can’t live without it. GO CHECK THIS OUT AND SEE THEM LIVE IF YOU CAN. TRACKS TO JAM TO: Cellophane, I’m In Your Mind, I’m In Your Mind Fuzz

Deers – Demo [Single]Deers is a duo from Spain and ugh I’m in love. This is only a single but like this is so amazing. I heard this for the first time on the radio and was like I NEED THIS IN MY LIFE. And then I got it and it was great. These ladies are killing it let me tell you. It sounds summery and makes me think of the sun, which is cool. I like that. These two songs make me so pumped for the album. I have high hopes. TRACKS TO JAM TO: There are only 2 songs and they are both great so ALL SONGS

Flake Music – When You Land Here, It’s Time to Return

GUYS IT’S THE SHINS. IT’S THE SHINS!!! Flake Music is The Shins before The Shins. It sounds like The Shins because it’s James Mercer in 1997 before The Shins but it was just remastered and released. LISTEN TO THIS IF YOU LOVE JAMES MERCER OR THE SHINS OR MUSIC OR LOVE. TRACKS TO JAM TO: Spanway Hits, The Shins, Blast Value

Parkay Quarts – Content NauseaPARKAY QUARTS / PARQUET COURTS! What-

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ever you want to call them or whatever they want to call themselves, I don’t care because IT IS LOVE. They are one of my favorite bands right now and they consistently put out the best music. This is their new release as Parkay Quarts, which is separate from Parquet Courts because it’s not all the same members as Parquet Courts. This album is technically an EP but has more songs than

most full albums, so yeah. It gets confusing but it’s always great and that’s all that mat-ters. It’s punk and rock and poetry and head banging and moshing and LOVE. Just listen to this. I could not possibly recommend it more. TRACKS TO JAM TO: Uncast Shadow Of A Southern Myth, Content Nausea, Everyday It Starts

BeST ALBuM CLOSeRS

by gRAnT heRSOn

When I was around the age of eleven my dad gave me a copy of The Smashing Pump-kins’ Siamese Dream because he knew how much I loved the songs “Cherub Rock,” “Rocket,” and “Today.” I would honestly not venture off much from those main tracks. It wasn’t probably until the two hundredth time of listening to “Cherub Rock” in my dad’s car that he imparted this rule upon me: if I was going to play CDs in his car I had to play them all the way through. Whether he was doing this just because he was sick to death of “Cherub Rock” or he wanted me to get the full album experience is up for debate, but there is no denying this changed the way I judge and listen to music.Almost a decade later, I am more into mu-

sic now than I have ever been. I have come to the conclusion that an album should be viewed as a complete experience, like a film or novel. Similar to cinema or literature, the ending of a record can make or break the whole experience; it sets in stone the final lasting impression a listener has. So, I compiled a list of some of my favorite album closers. Not only am I recommending these individual tracks, but the albums as whole.

Andrew Jackson Jihad – Knife Man – “Big Bird”

AJJ is band that takes a certain amount of

cynicism to even begin to appreciate, and on Knife Man that becomes abundantly clear within the album’s twenty-two second opener, titled “The Michael Jordan of Drunk Driving.” But if you manage to stick through all the self-loathing, four letter words, and violent imagery, the closing track “Big Bird” really pays off that much more. The song is basically just front man Sean Bonnette rat-tling off everything that he is afraid off. This includes everything from: God, his grand-father’s cancer, his dog not loving him any-more. The song has the self-confessional tone and vulnerability of artists such as Se-badoh or Daniel Johnston. In an album that seems to pride itself on its raw honesty, it takes a lot for a track to stand above the rest, but “Big Bird” definitely succeeds in do-ing so.

Slowdive – Souvlaki – “Dagger”

Souvlaki is an album full of noise. That is until we get to the closing track, “Dagger,” where everything is stripped away and we get this stark, hauntingly human acoustic ballad. “Dagger” strips away all the dreamy walls of electric guitar noise that the al-bum seemed to pride itself on up until that point. The song “Dagger” is only armed with an acoustic guitar and with the occasional swoosh of piano that can only be heard if you are really looking for it. Even though instrumentally this is the lightest song on the album, emotionally it is unmatched. Neil Halstead’s lyrics just cut you in half and have such an existential vibe that you can’t help but feel three feet shorter after listening to it.

Sonic Youth – Washing Machine – “The Dia-mond Sea”

In their thirty year career Sonic Youth has managed to release some of the most chal-lenging, genre-defining, and influential albums of all time. Albums like EVOL, Sis-ter, Daydream Nation, Goo, and Dirty have gone on to become solidified classics in the

realm of alternative/experimental rock. But an album in their discography that does not seem to get the recognition it deserves is their 1995 release, Washing Machine. Wash-ing Machine has some of the best lyrics and instrumentation of any Sonic Youth record. This can be seen on their magnum opus of a closing track, “The Diamond Sea”. The track clocks in at a daunting twenty minutes and perfectly captures everything that Sonic Youth represents. The lyrics and the vocal delivery on this track are some of Thurston Moore’s best and most emotive. But, where the track really shines is the interplay be-tween the vocals, guitar, bass, and drums. Sonic Youth has always seemed to pride themselves on their ability to go on these long, lengthy improvisational jams in their live performances, but it hadn’t really been captured in album format until “The Diamond Sea.” The last ten minutes of noise if left in the hands of any other band would come off as dull and tedious. But, here it has this mys-tic and hypnotic glow to it that seems to only prove that a band that has been around for the better half of two decades can still break new ground and remain relevant.

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Editor’s PickThe Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts

Club Band – “A Day in the Life”

“A Day in the Life” remains one of the great-est statements John Lennon and Paul Mc-Cartney made in their legendary careers. It comes at the end of an album that saw un-precedented production value for its time and has often been called one of the first concept records. The orchestral arrangements on “A Day in the Life” are sublime, especially the swell-ing crescendo bridge that comes in halfway through and separates McCartney’s section from Lennon’s. Despite its flashy produc-tion choices, the song would be nothing if not for the songwriting of Lennon and Mc-Cartney and the performances of the rest of the band. Lennon’s verse in particular has a

tight, bouncing rhythm that culminates with a gorgeous vocal harmony. McCartney’s sec-tions are more subdued and melancholy, but equally as beautiful. The progressive nature of the instrumenta-tion is what stands out the most to me about this song. It seems effortless as the song shifts between the two different passages, each providing mundane yet unique glimpses of daily life in England. The final piano chord that strikes and rings out for some time is a fitting conclusion. Like other songs off Sgt. Pepper’s, “A Day in the Life” feels surreal and psychedelic. The Beatles were clearly experimenting, and the result turned out great. It’s almost as if they invite us along with them on their acid trip, and what a strange trip it is.

FiLM Review:

THE SkELETON TWINS

by ALLie YOung

When I heard that Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig were co-staring in a movie, my initial reaction was to find director Craig Johnson, take him out to dinner, sit the man down, and personally thank him for doing human-ity an honest service. Knowing that the two

would be acting in an indie film was some-thing I didn’t realize I wanted until I heard it was happening. A true homage to humor and the good old days of SNL, a sidesplit-ting slapstick of endless buffoonery, and the greatest comedy to grace the silver screens

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of 2014, right? Well, not exactly. Though The Skeleton Twins is filled with scenes of snarky re-marks and witty comments, they serve as much-needed comic relief in the story of Maggie and Milo. Wiig and Hader play a pair of twins separated by 2,500 miles and a decade of silence, one a struggling gay actor and the other a women forced into a painfully normal life. As Maggie is about to swallow a handful of pills, she is interrupted by a call informing her of her brother’s attempted suicide. Hoping to give him some stability, she flies to LA and of-fers him a place in her home. However, the gesture is not made solely for Milo’s sake—Maggie may need just as much stitching-up as he does. She has everything that some-one desperately attempting stability would be expected to have: she’s married, lives in the city, and is safely employed as a den-tal hygienist. While she doesn’t have the golden retriever to top off her picturesque American dream, her husband (played by Luke Wilson) comes pretty damn close. It becomes clear that these elements of her life are not only on the brink of falling apart, but also driving her to internalize a screaming unhappiness. Unhappiness, dissatisfaction, and painful loneliness are some of the themes that lay-er the Skeleton Twins’ initial atmosphere. Director Craig Johnson does a brilliant job of assuring that depression is not roman-ticized despite its dominating presence in the film. Through awkward dinner conver-sations, desperate calls to past lovers, and the reveal of a tragic upbringing, we begin to see how much these characters are truly hurting. Perhaps the most telling of these signs is the phrase echoed by both Maggie and Milo that we say often say to convince ourselves as much as others: “No really, I’m fine.”

The unique cinematography of Skeleton Twins was a phenomenal story telling aid. Some shots of the twins parallel earlier flashbacks to their childhood; the framing moves the twins progressively closer to one another throughout the film; underwa-ter scenes capture how slow we wish time could pass as a swarm of bubbles dominate our vision. However, if the aesthetics of the film are not enough to convince you this movie is worthwhile, the performances of Hader and Wiig should. The two comedi-ans have made a step in their careers not unlike Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, or Steve Carell in Little Miss Sunshine. Their chemistry is so effortless that at times it was hard to believe the two didn’t share a womb. They perfectly portray two people who, despite years of physical and verbal separation, remain in sync. Though Milo and Maggie try to cover up their past with men, careers, and glass-es of something strong, it is their shared tragedies that ultimately bind them togeth-er. Now, at this point you may be thinking this movie is a sure way to depress your afternoon. Yet, in spite of the dark themes surrounding the film, I couldn’t help but leave the theatre feeling more optimistic than when I had entered. Perhaps it was all the 80s music, scenes of giggly secret telling, and sassy one-liners. Or maybe it was being shown how vulnerable we all are, and being reminded how incredibly okay that is. Sometimes our newly found strength is gained simply by exposing our fragile framework. When the time comes, it is important that you are the one who opens the door and lets the skeletons fall from your closet—even if you need some-one there to help you catch them.