Wednesday, June 30, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section B·Page 3
Chemical Brothers get mixed review
Surrender, the Chemical Brothers' third proper album, might be an unwelcome change to fans who have been weaned on Big Beat for the past few years.
Pioneers of the corner of electronica populated by Fatboy Slim and Prodigy, the Chemical Brothers have been making dance music suitable for air guitar since the early '90s. As a result, songs like "Life Is Sweet," "Block Rockin' Beats" and "Setting Sun" were played on modern rock stations and had widespread appeal.
But now that Big Beat is the soundtrack of every summer film and car commercial, the Chemicals moved on, a move that actually heads toward more traditional dance music.
Commentary
Sure, Oasis' Noel Gallagher (a "Setting Sun" collaborator) returns for "Let Forever Be," the first American single, and a mellower "Setting
Sun," a song that postulates what the Beatles would sound like if they had used a drum machine. And Bernard Summer of New Order appears on "Out of Control," another mellow song that wouldn't be out of place
Chris Eckert
on a New Order album.
But most of Surrender is traditional dance music, groove-based house tracks. "Hey Boy, Hey Girl," the first single in Europe, is a basic Euro house number, deemed too
Other decidedly non-Big-Beat tracks like "Music: Response" (a Kraftwrap pastiche) and "The Sunshine Underground" (a beautiful glam-psychedelic centerpiece clocking in at more than nine minutes) have been derided by many as meandering or dull. "Hey Boy, Hey Girl" and 'Surrender in general have been called the same.
underground for popularity in America. Given the initial critical response, Astralworks (the record label) was probably right.
This is probably a result of listeners' expectations; if they expect More Block Rockin' Beats, they will be left confused and disappointed. If they allow some (non-radical) experimentation in the music, Surrender serves as a great summer album for the porch or the automobile.
And driving is exactly what you should plan on doing if you want to
see the Chemical Brothers perform this summer. After some coastal dates, including Woodstock III, the closest they will get to Lawrence is Chicago and Denver.
Eckert is Towac, N.J., junior in English.
The South Park movie: bigger, longer, funnier
Commentary
By Katie Burford
Kansan campus editor
Surrounded by young boys playing Gameboys, I wonder to myself — Am I, as a 20-something, not in South Park's demographic?
Ten minutes into South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, I began to wonder even more when the audience burst into unparious laughter — and hoots — every time an abscess came out of the mouth of one of South Park's elementary-aged angels.
The swearing starts when the South Park foursome — Eric, Kyle, Stan and Kenny — go to see the full-length film Asses on Fire, with Canadian characters Terrance and Phillip, emperors of the scatological joke.
But during the film, something goes awry. Stripped of the constraints of broadcast television, Terrance and Phillip really let it rip, so speak. The R-rated Terrance and Phillip prefer to talk about what the other's uncle did with a horse and other barnyard animals rather than just who farted.
And thus, the chil-
And thus, the children of South Park are corrupted.
I start to worry. I mean, George Carlin's seven dirty words coming out of Eric Cartman's mouth in amazingly creative strings is funny once
And the film is a musical.
But if one is a good little South Park fan and is patient, things will start to get good. Those searingly accurate jabs at today's society that are the trademark of South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone start to shine through.
And it occurs to me that South Park is basically like Disney.
Really. They use the same formula. Younger kids like it because it's animated and because the characters say funny
Huh?
things, while older kids (and adults) like it because they understand the underlying story or message.
South Park is what Disney would have been had Walt done 15 to 20 years in the Big House prior to the creation of Mickey Mouse.
I suppose that theory is enough to make any parent cringe.
That's the point. They use the images, words and symbols that make us laugh at things that are supposed to make us uncomfortable.
Because when you laugh at characters that are so monumentally stereotypical, like Chef and Big Gay Al and Mr. Garrison, you realize that these stereotypes are alive and well — despite the crusaders of political correctness — or else you wouldn't be laughing.
To laugh at your biases, you have to acknowledge them. Biases in the open can be dealt with. It is the hidden prejudices that are like the Klausman's hood, hiding the racist's face. Refusing to confront our intolerances makes us do crazy things like go to war with the Canadians because they say "about" funny and they made a movie, which made the children of South Park have potty mouths.
I the message? It's always easier to find flaws in others before looking at our own.
So go ahead. Laugh. It's hard not to. I mean, just imagine: Satan feeling dejected because all Saddam Hussein wants to do is get it on.
It's sick, but funny. Running time: 1:45.
General's Daughter disappoints mind, unsettles stomach
Commentary
By Elissa Harris Kansan movie critic
You might identify the killer right away. If not, you will spend the next two hours changing your mind each time you meet a new suspect.
Mavbe.
I found myself wishing that most of the suspects would get punished for some wrongdoing or another, and when the real killer was discovered, it seemed pointless.
The audience is told right away that a woman has been killed, and pictures of her naked body, tied spread eagle to the ground, are obviously images meant to stick in our heads throughout the film. I say that because we are shown the images time and time again.
The woman killed, the General's daughter, of course, is also a woman who has pushed her sexuality into an alpha-male military world.
John Travolta (Paul Brenner) enters again into the well-refined character of a wise-cracking, soft-spoken guy who just seems to charm even the bad guys.
His "detective" role is the good ol' boy without the racist and sexist attitude.
Madeleine Stowe (Sarah Sunhill) is an agent with power. She plays the sex crimes expert, and fortunately there is no stereotypical "she was a victim once, too, and it's payback time" aspect to her character. Instead she is charming, tough and smarter than any of the other investigators.
James Woods (Colonel Moore) is always so good at being on the dark side that one can never tell whether to like him or not.
The event of her death isn't known until the end of the movie, but events leading up to it will twist and turn your stomach.
what may twist your stomach even more is a slight implication that this woman was partially responsible for her own demise.
Directed by Simon West; written by Christopher Bertolini and William Goldman. Based on the novel by Nelson DeMille.
Paramount Pictures. Running time: 118 minutes. This film is rated R.
Contains graphic sexual violence.
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