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42 The Chronicle November 29, 2011 Entertainment
Harold and Kumar for the holidays
Emily Wood
The Chronicle
The movie opened with the
cheery tinkling of Christmas
bells and music, and the familiar
bustle of a shopping mall
during the wonderful holiday
season. Enter Kumar.
Directed by Todd Strauss-
Schulson, what followed was
a ridiculous medley of a monstrous
father-in-law, a druggedup
toddler, claymation hallucinations,
a run-in with the mafia
and of course, a classic appearance
by one Neil Patrick Harris.
In the third of the Harold
and Kumar series, A Very Harold
and Kumar 3D Christmas
begins under the premise that
the two friends have grown
apart. But with the delivery of a
giant joint, their journey to reunite
begins.
Having matured more
quickly than Kumar, played by
Kal Penn, Harold, played by
John Cho, is drawn back into
his old ways on Christmas eve,
during a quest for the perfect
tree. With this, he hopes to win
the approval of his father-inlaw,
played by the terrifyingly
hilarious Danny Trejo.
Though it induced eye rolling
from time to time, the plot was
not overly predictable. Writers
Jon Hurwitz and Hayden
Schlossberg had the events escalating
from scene to scene
to a colossal crescendo which,
although far from realistic, was
entertaining nonetheless.
The 3D aspect of the movie
was not so impressive. Yes, of
course, certain parts were undeniably
cool, but catering to
3D simply for the sake of catering
to 3D hype is unnecessary.
It would have been just as
entertaining without Kumar
blowing smoke rings directly
into my face.
In fairness, it was mocking
3D to a certain extent with
added slow-motion during an
egging on Wall Street, but the
amount of 3D effects was tiresome.
For a group of 18-yearold
guys however, it might not
be.
The maturity level of these
films doesn’t seem to age with
its audience, but instead continues
to cater to the teenage
(and primarily male) psyche.
The humour is undeniably
there, it just fails to reach a variety
of demographics.
For a night of silly fun and
mindless laughs, this movie
delivers. Harold and Kumar is
rated 18 A.
Breaking barriers with Hello Beautiful
Amanda Darrock
The Chronicle
A unique blend of hip-hop,
alternative and rock is the factor
that sets Hello Beautiful
apart from the rest.
This local band from Whitby
started out in 2006 as a trio. As
time passed the trio attracted
the attention of bassist Dan
Bradimore.
After the release of their first
EP, self-titled Hello Beautiful,
in 2006 they gained even more
attention, this time from Charlie
Royal, a local M.C. who, after
hearing the band’s unique
sound, contacted them and
helped them fully enter into
their hip-hop, rock and alternative
sound.
With their creative mixture
of diverse genres setting them
apart from others in the Durham
Region scene, they have
accomplished what they set out
to do.
“We set out to not sound like
anyone, “said Cole Kidd, lead
vocalist and rhythm guitarist.
“When we started out a lot
of our friends were doing rock
music and rock bands, and we
were kind of thinking that for
us to start a rock band.
We would have to battle it
through all the other bands that
were out there.
We just created our own
kind of thing, so that we didn’t
have to compete. We created
our own genre, try to make our
own scene with it.”
Their unique sound helped
them gain much success in
2007.
Not only did they realize
their full-length album entitled
Soundtrack for Scenario, they
also had the ability to share the
stage with bands and artists
such as Hedley, Swollen Members,
Mariannas Trench, Juelz
Santana and Hot Hot Heat.
2007 also brought about opportunities
such as winning the
Ernie Ball Battle, playing at the
13 th Annual Vans Warped Tour,
through The Durham Music
Society, and winning best rock
album of the year for 2007
were only a few of their accomplishments.
“My defining moment in our
music careers were when we
were able to pay a few of our
bills by rocking out,” said Kidd.
Not only did the album allow
doors to open for the band,
but it allowed them to project
themselves through their music
and share intimate experiences
with listeners.
“In our first album, we focused
a lot on every song, and
it had a specific topic we were
talking about, which was pretty
cool. We also just have fun with
it.”
Their song Toxic in the City
meant the most to lead guitarist/vocalist
Cole, as their former
guitar player at the time
was battling cancer and going
through chemo, while working
on the recording of the song
they received a phone call that
their guitarist was doing really
poorly and was possibly going
to die that night.
“Now the song has a trippy
meaning to it after going
through that experience.”
The band, which includes
Cole Kidd on lead vocals and
guitar, Kit Walsh on drums/
backing vocals, Dan Bradimore
on bass, keys, and backing vocals,
Charlie Royal on lead vocals
and Darrell Wallace on
lead guitar, will being playing
in Southern Ontario till the new
year.
Their next show will be at
Hamilton’s Pour House on Dec.
3.
As well as performing they
are buckling down and recording
for their third album.
Come the new year, Hello
Beautiful will be working on a
college tour and performing for
students.