02/10 - Merced College

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Blue Devils’ Advocate Entertainment Page 10 TheTime is Now 14:59 By Jessica Dugan Advocate Staff Writer Andy Warhol once said that —in the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.“ There are a few celebrities that may have abused this limit. Ashlee Simpson could be a person you know. She‘s a teenager trying to find her own way in the world without being in the shadow of an older sister. However, when this sister is a major pop star, a MTV personality, the wife of a former member of the boy band 98 Degrees, and didn‘t know that Chicken of the Sea is a brand of tuna, chances of not being compared are slim. Ashlee arrived to the media scene with her own show, on MTV in June 2004. After selling millions of copies of her CD entitled Autobiography, fans and regular viewers of the late night show Saturday Night Live tuned in to watch the youngest Simpson perform live. On October 23, Simpson was ready for her second song of the show, —Autobiography“ after her hit —Pieces of Me“. There are many excuses as to why things went wrong this night; Simpson blamed the band, then acid reflux, then a sore throat. Either way, what the in-studio audience and home viewers saw was the drummer playing, the voice of Simpson on playback, her panicked expression as she reached for the microphone, then she put it down and started to do a —hoedown“. The SNL incident labeled her a —lip syncher“, and the world has yet to forgive, as proven at the Orange Bowl on January 5. A crowd of 72,000 was treated to a half-time show that included Simpson, Kelly Clarkson and Trace Adkins. Simpson was the last to perform with her song —La La“. After finishing the words —You make me want to scream“, fireworks went off and the crowd started to boo her, with the camera cuts off from Simpson‘s face as soon as the crowd starts. Both of these clips can be found on the internet, as can the latest anti-Ashlee craze: stopashlee.com, an online petition to stop her from singing, which at this writing had 350,000 signatures. Ask any person at random who Ashlee Simpson is and the answer you‘ll more than likely receive is —Jessica‘s sister.“ Ask what she is famous for and you‘ll get the same answer; —Jessica‘s sister.“ Now comes the important question: Are you a fan or is she overrated? We asked Merced College students that question. James Collins comments that —I don‘t like Courtesy of www.myspace.com Ashlee Simpson —entertains“ a large crowd with her famous on stage antics. her; I‘d still do her though,“ while Barrett McQuillen says —She‘s overrated“ and that he‘d sign the online petition. Crystal Mendoza said —I think she‘s overrated. I think that she‘s in the business really because her sister‘s in the business and that her dad‘s their manager so it‘s easy.“ It is the opinion of the general public that perhaps Miss Simpson has overstepped her spotlight boundary and that her 15 minutes of fame are just about over, much to the collective sigh of millions of music lovers. Correction: In our February 2005 issue, we miscorrectly listed the writter of our Editoral on Page 14. The correct author is Melinda Cornwell.
Blue Devils’ Advocate Entertainment Page 11 Movie Night Raises Hell By Seth Williams Advocate Staff Writer Gods, demons and popcorn, it‘s your average night at the movies with —Son of the Mask“ and —Constantine“. —Son of the Mask“ is a terrible excuse of a movie. It does not attempt to revive Jim Carrey‘s amazing role of Stanley Ipkiss with another actor. Instead, they truly embraced the crapulent nature of this sequel, stuffing Jamie Kennedy into a role as a frazzled animator-slash-costumed mascot. Said role is not only two dimensional, boring, and less believable than what movie theaters pass off as —butter“ (Go ahead, ask. They‘ll show you the ingredients.), but absolutely putrid once he puts on the titular mask. Here Kennedy attempts, badly, to imitate Carrey‘s dynamo of perfectly styled green energy. The result is pathetic at its best. Alan Cummings‘ role as Loki barely rises above mediocre, although this is more due to poor scripting than anything else. Even worse than the acting is the cinematography. The sets attempt to be cartoonish in nature, but the end result is garish and hideously unbelievable. The CGI effects look dated through the first half of the movie, and the non-CGI costuming effects look like cheap Halloween costumes instead of movie makeup. In the end, the only part of the movie that won‘t have you cringing is the heavily CGI-rendered sequences depicting a rivalry between a maskwearing dog and a supernaturally gifted baby for Kennedy‘s attention. These are merely excuses to rip off jokes from old Warner Brother‘s cartoons œ but in a movie where everything else feels terribly flat and trite, at least they manage plagiarism well. There may be worse movies out there, but most involve singing purple dinosaurs or chimpanzees that run upper-class hotels. FINAL GRADE: ² of five stars —Constantine“ is a high-octane, noirish comic book ride through hell and back. Keanu Reeves, well rested after sleepwalking through the last —Matrix“ movie, gives a worthy performance as the dying and damned exorcist John Constantine. In many ways, Reeves reminds viewers of a young Clint Eastwood. Shia LaBeouf also puts on an excellent show as Chaz Kramer, Constantine‘s apprentice (read: cabbie). While he does function as comic relief, LaBeouf‘s character is also capable and intelligent, far from the one-dimensional punk he had to play in —I, Robot“. Kudos to Francis Lawrence for finding an actor that fit the role without typecasting. Tilda Swinson also makes a fantastic appearance as the half-angel Keanu Reeves is John Constantine in Gabriel, a the new high-octane film Constantine. remarkably unlikable character from the start. It takes a lot of talent to make people distrust you from the moment they lay eyes on you. While I won‘t ruin the plot here, it‘s a very well developed bit of comic book action-drama involving the end of the world and the Spear of Destiny. Naturally, enough time is given for Constantine to blow up several demons, visit Hell multiple times, and even meet with Lucifer himself (who Constantine refers to as —Lou“) before the world is saved. It‘s a movie where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts œ in explaining this film, some elements may seem cliché or dull, but it‘s packaged in such a way that you don‘t expect anything ahead of time while you‘re watching it. While not anywhere near a masterpiece, —Constantine“ is a great flick with good acting that doesn‘t succumb to classic action movie clichés. It‘ll wash away the nasty taste from the last few miserable attempts at comic-to-movie conversion… Elektra, anyone? FINAL GRADE: Four of five stars
Page 1 and 2: Volume 10, No.2 MC‘s Finest Educa
Page 3 and 4: Blue Devils’ Advocate The Front P
Page 5 and 6: Blue Devils’ Advocate Campus News
Page 9: Blue Devils’ Advocate Entertainme
Page 13 and 14: Blue Devils’ Advocate Sports Page

02/10 - Merced College

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