Entertainment – Page 53 – The Western Howl

Chrys Weedon | Entertainment Editor

If anyone could claim that they were addicted to podcasts, it would probably be me. I am a self-diagnosed podcast addict, and I have an endless supply at my fingertips; it seems like everyone and their mother has a podcast, and of course they do: everyone believes they have something important to say. I mean, I review stuff. I’m pretty much roasting myself here.

A recent addition to my arsenal of podcasts that I keep up with regularly is a show called “Just Break Up.” True to its title, the show tackles topics related to relationships, including friendships, familial relationships and romantic ones.

The first episode of the podcast was released on July 15, 2018. The two co-hosts are Sam Blackwell and Sierra DeMulder, two English majors based in Minnesota. Sierra DeMulder is also published poet and author of four books of poetry.

“Sierra and Sam hope to convey what they’ve learned throughout their own romantic journeys to bring comfort and support to others who might be going through similar situations,” said the podcast website, justbreakuppod.com.

Anyone can be endlessly validating, but that is not always healthy, and may even cause an unhealthy situation to continue. In my opinion, sometimes being stern while giving advice or expressing a perspective on an issue is key. My love of “Just Break Up” stems from the fact that Sam and Sierra manage to be validating while also being brutally honest. The co-hosts accept submitted letters from listeners and formulate thoughtful responses providing advice and support.

“They’re affirming and validating, but not to the point where they’re making excuses for the way we can act badly about relationships,” said Western alumna Danielle Durand, who introduced me to the podcast. “I learn something new about myself every time… And I find myself looking forward to Mondays every week now.”

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of justbreakuppod.com

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Rainbow Dance Theater

Chrys Weedon | Entertainment Editor

On the evening of Friday, Jan.11, students and community members alike packed into Rice Auditorium to experience the Rainbow Dance Theater. The RDT has been performing at Western since the year 2000, after the dance company moved from Honolulu, Hawaii, where it was founded.

Friday’s performance consisted of two separate dances, each telling a separate and unique story. Both dances were choreographed by Valerie Bergman and Darryl Thomas.

Act one, titled “Origins,” follows the development of life on Earth, starting within the darkness of the deep ocean. The audience witnesses the birth of single-celled organisms and their metamorphosis into more complex multi-celled beings and eventually primitive humans. The whole first act is submerged in complete darkness, with performers illuminated with suits of light. This type of dance is called “iLumiDance” by the dance company.

Act two, “The Garden of Earthly Delights” is a dance that was performed at the Spring term 2018 dance concert.

“Both music composition and choreography were inspired by the eponymous early 16th-century triptych by Hieronymus Bosch,” explained the program. This piece was set to an original scored by Leroy Osmon that was commissioned by the Salem Concert Band to be performed in early 2018.

This second act opens with Eve in the paradise that is the Garden of Eden. The audience follows as Eve loses her innocence, meets various animals and magical beasts and travels with Noah through the great flood. Throughout the dance, Eve is introduced to a world filled with eroticism and animal lust.

The end of act two sees Eve reappear, transformed into a peaceful and strong figure bringing the hope of peace and beauty in the chaotic world that was displayed throughout the performance.

Since its inception, the Rainbow Dance Theater has toured the globe, performing on multiple continents and throughout the United States. During a regular touring season, the RDT performs over 60 concerts. According to the concert program: “The Company celebrates diversity with its virtuosic style that fuses West African Dance, Haitian Dance, Hip Hop, Martial Arts with American Modern Dance.”

Earlier in the day on Jan. 11, the RDT gave a special performance for around 200 students aged from kindergarten through eighth grade. This interactive concert was performed as a part of the Smith Fine Arts’ Education Outreach initiative. The young students participated in a special demonstration that showed them how STEM processes are used to create new technologies within the dance world. A number of students were given the opportunity to create their own dance with a light-wire puppet.

RDT’s most recent performance is innovative kinesthetically and creatively. The technical complexity of the first act is truly amazing, as is the skill level of the dancers. Although the second act is a dance that Western has seen before, it is still just as complex and interesting as the 2018 performance.

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of Ashlynn Norton

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A year in review: Movie edition

Chrys Weedon | Entertainment Editor

According to the Motion Picture Association of America, an average of 600 movies are released every year in the United States. Out of those movies, only a handful of them stand above the rest. Although I couldn’t have possibly seen every movie released this year, I did make it a goal to see as many as I could. Below I will discuss four of my favorite movies of 2018. Reader beware: there may be spoilers.

Fourth place: “A Star is Born”

So, in the interest of complete transparency, Lady Gaga could record herself watching paint dry and I would absolutely love it. With that in mind, I enjoyed this movie immensely. The movie is the fourth remake of the original 1937 movie starring Fredric March and Janet Gaynor. This new version is widely different from the previous versions, but it works.

Lady Gaga’s talent makes the film. I believe that many people went into theaters not expecting much from Gaga, as I did myself. I was very surprised to find, however, that she matches veteran Bradley Cooper’s acting skills. Her singing skills, however, blow Cooper’s out of the water. In my opinion, the only detriment to the movie is Bradley’s mediocre singing.

But where Cooper’s musical skills fall behind, he makes up for with his directorial vision. The cinematography is beautiful and accentuates the chemistry between Gaga and Cooper. Not only is the acting full of emotion, the way the movie is shot accentuates that emotion and drew me into the film.

Overall, I would give the movie a four out of five stars.

Third place: “BlacKkKlansman”

I consider this movie in my top four of 2018 not because it was fun to watch, but because it was hard to watch. The movie was difficult to digest because while it portrays the prevalence of the Klu Klux Klan in Colorado Springs in the 1970s, it connects the the present, in which racist rallies are still being held.

The movie was so impactful in my opinion because although it ends with a victory for the main character (based on a real person), there really is no happy ending. The movie ends with four minutes of video of the racist rally in Charlottesville in 2017. It really accentuates the political tension we are feeling in America today; it made me wonder how far we have really come.

I would rate “BlacKkKlansman” four out of five stars.

Second place: “Hereditary”

The release of “Hereditary,” I believe, raised the bar for the entire genre of atmospheric horror cinema. As someone who enjoys horror movies that do not rely too heavily on jumpscares (I have a higher tolerance for body horror, and I think less of movies that use jump scares as a crutch) I enjoyed this movie tremendously. Every element of the film came together perfectly and was executed with a level of skill that I believe is hard to match. The acting was superb (Toni Collette, you’re doing so good sweetie), and the use of color, depth of field and the development of three-dimensional characters combine to create a movie unlike what the horror genre has ever seen before. The film is a slow burn; a descent into madness.

The movie tackles so many complex things and weaves a story that isn’t too cluttered or too simple — easy mistakes to make in the horror genre. It is rare for a singular movie to change the landscape of a genre forever, but I believe that is what “Hereditary” has done.

Overall, I would rate this film five out of five stars.

First place: “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”

I didn’t expect to be impressed by this movie, much less find it to be one of my favorite movies of the entire year. I’m not even much of a Spider-Man fan. But aside from the plot or characters, the animation alone would have shot this movie into my top four. I felt like I was inside a comic book. The animation is like nothing I’ve ever seen before, and the pure artistic talent within the movie is astounding.

Even though I am fairly new to the Spider-Verse, the movie was easy to become involved in, as the storyline is pretty accessible to people new to the Marvel universe. I even caught on to some of the smaller details from watching other, smaller Marvel shows, such as Daredevil. The Spider-Man humor is right up my alley and watching all the Spider-People interact was incredibly fun. John Mulaney is in it; who wouldn’t love that?

Overall, I would give this movie a five out of five stars.

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of livenationproductions.com (“A Star is Born”), focusfeatures.com (“BlacKkKlansman”), sonypictures.com (“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”)

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Analysis: “Birdbox” vs. “A Quiet Place”

Chrys Weedon | Entertainment Editor

In early April 2018, the box-office hit “A Quiet Place” premiered in theaters around the country. According to Forbes.com, the post-apocalyptic film made over $213 million dollars in less than a month.

Ushering in the end of 2018 was another movie about the end of the world along the same vein, “Birdbox.” Since its release on Dec. 23, “Birdbox” has been watched by 45 million Netflix accounts, according to Forbes.

Both films entertain the idea of an apocalypse in which humanity has to adapt to the “loss” of one of their senses; in “A Quiet Place” it’s hearing or sound.

“Many people in the deaf community (myself included) are cheering the film on…’” commented Pamela J. Kincheloe in her guest article on the Huffington Post website. While the movie is a refreshing take on horror, popular criticisms of the movie cite the fact that the film is catered only to hearing audiences.

“The scenes with ASL are captioned for the hearing audience, but the spoken scenes were not captioned for the deaf audience,” said blogger T. Frohock on his website tfrohock.com.

Another criticism of “A Quiet Place” centers on the closing scene of the film. In the end, mother Evelyn and her daughter Regan discover that the secret to killing the bloodthirsty aliens lies in Regan’s cochlear implant.

“It is the implant, not the signing deaf person, that is heroic,” said Kincheloe.

The biggest difference shown in “Birdbox” is that blindness, in the end, is seen as a true advantage in the new world. In this way, blindness isn’t portrayed as a disability, really. But where “Birdbox” improves upon “A Quiet Place” in certain arenas, it still falls flat in some ways.

“Instead of killing themselves in gratuitously gory ways… people with mental illnesses become literal agents of evil, obsessed with carrying out the monsters’ mission to destroy humanity,” commented writer Jess Joho in her Mashable article. So it seems that while “Birdbox” portrays one disability as a positive, it throws a whole other set under the bus.

While “A Quiet Place” and “Birdbox” are audience favorites, the way they portray disability leaves some wanting more.

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of netflix.com (“Birdbox”), paramountmovies.com (“A Quiet Place”)

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Upcoming on-campus entertainment

Chrys Weedon | Entertainment Editor

Jan. 11:

Event: Rainbow Dance Theatre

Description: The Rainbow Dance Theatre group returns to Western with two works entitled “iLumidance” and “The Garden of Earthly Delights.” The performance will feature dancers using ultraviolet light and electroluminescent wire. Western students get in for free. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 the day of the show. Doors open at 6 p.m.

Location: Rice Auditorium

Jan. 17:

Event: “Mama Mia! Here we go again” sing-a-long movie night

Description: A showing of the second movie in the “Mama Mia!” franchise will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Free popcorn and snacks will be provided.

Location: Werner University Center Willamette Room

Jan. 18:

Event: Visiting artist John Gorka

Description: John Gorka is a folk musician who released his 14th album in January of 2018. From 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., Gorka will hold a free songwriting workshop in which attendees will get his take on the craft. RSVPs are encouraged and can be found on the WOU event calendar webpage.

Location: Rice Auditorium

Event: John Gorka performance

Description: After his workshop, Gorka will perform his original music. Tickets are free for WOU students. Otherwise, they are $25 in advance and $30 the day of. Doors open at 6 p.m.

Location: Rice Auditorium

Feb. 4:

Event: Todd Davis poetry reading

Description: Environmental writer Todd Davis will come to WOU to meet with students and give a poetry reading. The reading is open to the public and starts at 4:30 p.m. This event is free.

Location: Hamersly Library room 107

Feb. 20:

Event: Paul Roberts concert

Description: WOU has invited musician Paul Roberts to perform for students and community members. Western students get in for free, and general public tickets are $8. The concert starts at 7:30 p.m.

Location: Smith Music Hall

March 5:

Event: Chamber and Guitar Ensembles

Description: The Chamber Ensembles, directed by Dr. Keith Karns, will perform in a concert with the Guitar Ensemble, directed by Christopher Woitach. The performance will start at 7:30 p.m. Western students are admitted for free, and the general public can purchase tickets for $5.

Location: Smith Music Hall

March 15:

Event: Western Oregon Voices

Description: Western Oregon Voices will perform their winter term concert. The ensemble’s performance will be directed by Dr. James Reddan. The concert starts at 7:30 pm. Public tickets are $5, and Western students get in for free.

Location: Rice Auditorium

This is not a comprehensive list of all the winter term arts events. To see more events, visit the Western events calendar at http://calendar.wou.edu/.

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu

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Smack dab in the middle of a Western jazz concert

Chrys Weedon | Entertainment Editor

Western Oregon Voices gave a warm and cozy end to a rainy, festive night with their jazz-themed concert, “Pass Me the Jazz.” Following the 51st annual Holiday Tree Lighting, the auditioned ensemble of 13 students, accompanied by a jazz combo, performed five jazz pieces and one traditional Christmas song, “Carol of the Bells.”

The accompanying jazz combo included Noah Adams on drums, Jacob Marsh on bass, and Julia Harrington on piano.

Dr. James Reddan directed this concert, his second performance in one week. Dr. Reddan is a nationally and internationally acclaimed conductor, clinician, and adjudicator. Reddan has also won two awards: one for “Excellence in Music Education” from the American Prize in Choral Music and one for being the conductor for the first “Honored Artist Choral Ensemble” by the American Prize.

“I chose to focus on jazz specifically because of the many musical doors it opens for the singers in this ensemble,” said Dr. Reddan. “The skills that the students learn from singing vocal jazz repertoire translates extremely well and benefits them when performing in all other styles of vocal music,” he added.

Despite some difficulties with sound, the concert went down without a hitch, and the smooth uniform style of the performers added exponentially to the overall ambiance of the performance. The song choice included pieces that were recognizable but not naggingly cliché.

Starting Winter Term, Western Oregon Voices will be performing in and around Salem. Auditioning for an international festival and performance is also on their radar.

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of Ashlynn Norton

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Great American band music comes to Western

Chrys Weedon | Entertainment Editor

Western’s wind and percussions ensembles and the Chemeketa wind ensemble paired up to perform a substantial concert on Thursday, Nov. 29.

Chemeketa’s ensemble, directed by J. J. Meyer, opened the performance. They played five pieces, all of which sounded impressively full despite the small size of the band. Songs played included “American Folk Rhapsody No. 2” by Clare Grundman, “Cajun Folk Songs 2” composed by Frank Ticheli, “Foundry” created by John Mackey, and “Down in the Valley” by Pierre La Plante.

Following Chemeketa’s performance was a set of performances by Western’s percussion ensemble. Two pairs of musicians played two movements each composed by Mark Mellits as part of a multi-movement project. Percussionists were Bailey Schafer, Noah Adams, Evan Saab, and Elijah Thompson.

Western’s wind ensemble was next in the line-up, directed by Dr. Ike Nail. Playing seven pieces, Western’s ensemble was slightly bigger than Chemeketa’s, but not by much; they still showed a great amount of musicianship and displayed a rich sound. Two songs, “Carnival of Venice” and “Reverie,” featured Keith Karns, a trumpet player and arranger. Karns is also the new Director of Jazz Studies at Western.

The final performance of the night combined both ensembles, finally filling all the stage seats and creating a truly large, triumphant, traditional-sounding group. “El Capitan, March” by John Philip Sousa was the closing song.

Both ensembles avoided the trend of playing holiday pieces, tempting being that it is that time of year. Despite the regular amount of missed notes and hiccups that any ensemble knows too well, the concert had a lively pace and there was rarely a lull in the action. Western’s wind ensemble exhibited a collegiate level of musicianship, as did Chemeketa’s even though their numbers were noticeably smaller. Coming together at the end gave the concert a sense of closure and the characteristically full sound of a classic American ensemble.

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of Ashlynn Norton

Western Oregon University’s Land Acknowledgement
Western Oregon University in Monmouth, OR is located within the traditional homelands of the Luckiamute Band of Kalapuya. Following the Willamette Valley Treaty of 1855 (Kalapuya etc. Treaty), Kalapuya people were forcibly removed to reservations in Western Oregon. Today, living descendants of these people are a part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians.

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Podcast Review: “Just Break Up”

Rainbow Dance Theater

A year in review: Movie edition

Analysis: “Birdbox” vs. “A Quiet Place”

Upcoming on-campus entertainment

Smack dab in the middle of a Western jazz concert

Great American band music comes to Western

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