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(04/22/10 4:53am)
When and how did you become interested in photography? Was there a point when it transformed from a hobby to a passion?\nMy first camera was a 35mm point-and-shoot that I got in the fourth grade, just before a family camping trip to the Pike's Peak area of Colorado. Having grown up in the pine flats of east Texas, it was my first exposure to mountain landscapes and I was a smitten.
(04/08/10 5:11am)
On a rare day off, when she is comfortably settled on a sofa in her Los Angeles home having a bite of pineapple, you would never guess that Heather Morris is one of the stars of television's most talked about shows. After all, she sounds like any other 23 year-old excited about a new job and all the great experiences that come with it.
(04/08/10 5:08am)
Is there any question that ABC's Modern Family is the best show on television right now? We here at tableau have been obsessed since its brilliant pilot episode last fall and have been singing its praises for quite some time now. How is it possible that a half-hour comedy manages to balance 10 main characters in its first season better than Lost or Grey's Anatomy ever has? Like The Office in its prime, Modern Family is grounded in reality yet realizes that life is often hilarious - making for a television show that is both relatable and escapist.
(04/08/10 5:07am)
The Cavalier Daily sat down for an interview with Alex Patton, one of the co-directors for Spectrum Theatre's production of Bang Bang You're Dead. The first showing of the play is tonight at the Forum. The show will begin promptly at 8 p.m., with other productions April 9, 10, 15 and 17. There will be Sunday matinee showings April 11 and 18.
(03/04/10 7:02am)
"Tell me what you don't like about yourself." That iconic opening line of Nip/Tuck, one of cable television's most ground-breaking shows, was uttered for the final time last night when the show's series finale premiered on FX Networks. Nip/Tuck has lived a long life, probably too long, and it comes as a relief that it has finally ended, but my feelings still linger. The story of Dr. McNamara and Dr. Troy, successful plastic surgeons living the high-life in Miami and later L.A., started seven years ago and has featured flashy sets, shocking plot twists and a lot of skin. These ingredients made the show an instant hit, and when the second - and best - season premiered in 2004 it only got better.
(12/03/09 6:52am)
If you've logged on to iTunes anytime during the past week, you may have noticed that about a dozen or so new albums have been released just in time for the Christmas season. Because we here at tableau are all about accommodating you - the reader - we've decided to give a rundown on all the highs and lows of these new albums to help guide you through the selection process.
(11/19/09 7:20am)
Looking back at my notes about John Mayer's fourth album, Battle Studies, I noticed one word that consistently appeared underneath each song title. "Pleasant." I never wrote anything awful, and a few times, I made note of a song that seemed to strive for something more than the others did - but more often than not I simply wrote "pleasant." Perhaps that is just typical Mayernomics - pleasant songs with quiet melodies and subtle lyrics - but whether that is a good enough excuse to forgo real musical growth is a question still waiting to be answered.
(11/19/09 7:14am)
"For those among you who are easily frightened, we suggest you turn away now" - from that brilliant line, one thing is clear about Rihanna's highly anticipated fourth album: Rated R is not for the faint of heart. As she approaches the follow-up album to 2007's international success Good Girl Gone Bad, Rihanna has the world at her fingertips. This is a woman who has had more No. 1 records than any other female artist this decade, who can hold her own next to Jay-Z on stage and who is on covers of high fashion magazines around the world. She also is the victim of one of the most public scandals in recent memory, describing the aftermath with the line, "It was like I went to sleep as Rihanna and woke up as Britney Spears." Taking that all in, Rihanna has the steep task of turning the media focus back on her life as a performer rather than a tabloid fixture, and on Rated R - arguably, her best album yet - she does exactly that.
(10/15/09 4:53am)
ABC's Modern Family - This hilarious new comedy is one of the best on television since Arrested Development - high praise indeed.
(10/08/09 6:12am)
Throughout this decade, it seems that pop music has looked back to the 1980s more than any other time period, almost to the point where it's become tiresome in 2009. Rihanna famously sampled Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" for her 2006 hit song, "SOS", to great effect - but for every success, there's been eight or nine failures. Perhaps that's because the '80s are so distinct, so much so that referencing them for a song or even an album can appear cheap and redundant. Britain's latest import, La Roux, tackles this problem head on through its self-titled debut - a tightly executed set of 12 brazenly synthesized songs.
(10/01/09 6:39am)
Where do you go when your last record leaves you in the middle of the road? That is the defining question for the Noisettes, an indie-rock-pop-jazz-funk band hailing from the U.K., as they approach a new era in their careers. Their first record, What's the Time, Mr. Wolf?, did not cross to a mass market but it still turned a few heads among those who might follow the music review Web site, Pitchfork. That leaves the second album, Wild Young Hearts, in a delicate position, saddled both with the challenge of making it to the mainstream market while at the same time not alienating fans of the first record.
(09/24/09 5:57am)
Shakira "She Wolf" - This ode to lycanthropy is backed by one of the greatest guitar riffs and bass lines in pop music this year. The fact that she actually howls like a wolf is an added bonus.
(09/17/09 5:28am)
Every once in a while, an album comes along and changes perception - after that album is released, you can never quite look at the artist the same way. Jay-Z's 2001 landmark album, The Blueprint, was one of those albums. Not only did it provide numerous hit singles, it changed how people viewed Jay-Z. He was elevated to superstar status, and his rise has continued since then. Eight years later, we find Jay-Z invoking his most famous album's title for his newest record, The Blueprint 3. This is no run through of past glories though; instead, the only possible comparison is that both records strive to define the best of their genre and time.
(09/10/09 6:17am)
If there's one place we look to each year for a bit of outrageousness on television, it's MTV's annual Video Music Awards. OK, so perhaps the show has slipped in recent years - the 2007 jaunt to Vegas for the show was remarkably awful - but we still watch, in hopes that another classic VMA moment might occur. After all, it can't be too much to ask of some of today's most popular musicians to create a must-see performance, and so with that in mind, we've created a little wish list of what we'd like to see happen at this year's VMAs.
(09/03/09 9:03am)
Third albums can be tricky. As if surviving the fabled 'sophomore slump' wasn't enough, it is a struggle for any band to prove in its third album that it is here to stay. Great Britain's Arctic Monkeys are not immune to the third album syndrome, but instead of treading lightly, careful not to make a mistake, they have taken a left turn away from their in-your-face attitude and created their most interesting record yet. The band worked almost exclusively with Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme, presenting a different breed of Monkey on Humbug. The voice of lead singer Alex Turner has gotten deeper and sounds even darker - so much so that when coupled with his trademark lyrics, it creates an eerie mood apparent on the whole album.\nFrom the start, album opener "My Propeller" signals a change in direction. It retains a classic British rock feel, featuring tambourines and circular instrumentation, but Turner sings in a near-whisper that draws you in, almost magnetically. It sounds like the type of thing you might imagine James Bond would listen to during an off day.\nAs the album progresses, things only get gradually more intriguing as the Monkeys work their way through their bag of tricks. "Dangerous Animals" features a chorus filled with spelling - think Fergie's "Fergalicious" - while "Potion Approaching" works in handclaps, classic Monkeys guitars and chanting ... all the while melding in a Southern rock feel. Only during "Pretty Visitors" does the album veer back to familiar territory, where the band blends in synthesizers along with their guitars. It is the one track that would not sound out of place on their previous records.\nThat is not to say that Humbug is a massive departure from the band's previous work; it's different but it feels like a natural progression continuously strung together through Alex Turner's lyrics. Who else could make sense of these lines: "If we're going to escape though / We really ought to think it through / Would you like me to build you a go kart?" Later in the album, Turner describes the longing of a lost love on the standout, "Cornerstone", by approaching several lookalikes during a night out on the town, only to be turned down repeatedly when he politely asks his prospects, "Please, can I call you her name?" It takes a certain amount of wit to not sound like a stalker, but Turner pulls it off.\nReining in the album is Josh Homme's production, which is not so much the driving factor as it is a focal point. A distinct sound flows throughout; background vocals have an eerie echo effect to them, and the layering of the instrumentation is expertly done, all giving way to a near-psychedelic feel. The Beatles' later work sometimes springs to mind.\nHyperbole aside, Humbug really is an album worth a listen - or 10. It is not often that a band is so confident in its own identity that it throws caution to the wind, refusing an en vogue sound to create a record that no one else could have. But that is what has happened here. There are no flashy American producers, and there is no aim to top the Billboard Hot 100. Instead, a band embraces the third album syndrome by diving deep into the dark part of its psyche. It makes the listening all the better for us.
(08/28/09 1:11am)
Who's In?
(04/16/09 6:21am)
Anyone who has ever played darts knows that hitting the bull’s eye is a rare event, and the only thing that can truly better your chances is increasing the number of darts you have to throw. It can become tedious, throw after throw, coming close, but never hitting the mark. Albums are not immune to this scenario, always approaching greatness but never really reaching it. Pint-sized British rapper Lady Sovereign suffers from this phenomenon on her second album, Jigsaw. Most well known for her 2006 sleeper hit, “Love Me or Hate Me,” the Lady fails to recreate the effortless cleverness of her first hit, but it’s not all a drag.As with many sophomore albums, this rapper experiences an array of emotions throughout the whole affair that creates an atmosphere of ambiguity by the time the whole thing ends. That much is obvious with the first single, “So Human,” a playful ode to bad days, which samples “Close to Me” by The Cure. Its theme of dealing with the curveballs that life throws at us is more than relatable, and the song works because the music serves as a great contrast to the subject matter. The guitar-driven “Jigsaw” exemplifies the tone of the album best, as Lady Sov asks, “My heart is like a jigsaw puzzle ... / Can you figure it out?” It’s almost jarring to hear the girl who used to proclaim, “Love me or hate me, it’s still an obsession!” Everyone has his or her vulnerable moments, but it seems to come unnaturally for Lady Sov, and that hampers parts of the album, even if the music is strong.Where the album easily succeeds is when the Lady throws away her concerns about being human and instead boasts about her ability to create music that is like nothing else. When I put the album into my iTunes library, the genre had been set as “Unclassifiable,” and it’s that kind of undeniable cleverness that makes the self-proclaimed “biggest midget in the game” worth a listen. Songs like “Bang Bang,” “I Got You Dancing” and “Pennies” prove to be the most exciting for their ability to combine the rapper’s trademark humor, rapid-fire rhyming and knack for intricate melodies. “Bang Bang” is a huge electro-tinged number with a huge chorus full of irresistible boasts. On “I Got You Dancing”, Lady Sov borrows Kanye West’s autotune machine from 808s and Heartbreaks to create huge dance floor anthem for techno houses around the country. It might not be the most original song, but somehow Lady Sov makes it sound brand new.The stand out track, “Pennies,” finds the Lady reuniting with hit-maker Dr. Luke (Katy Perry, Flo Rida) to craft what is on the one hand, a brilliant ode to independence, and on the other, a searing criticism of the record industry. Very few people hold the right to sing about fame and the experiences it brings, but the Lady gets away with it. The production is layered, detailed and as hard as something you might expect to find on the new Nas album, but never overwhelming, allowing the Sov to be the real hero, or villain, depending on your view.It’s unfortunate then, that once you hear a track that shows how great the album could have been, you are saddled with so many tracks that miss the bull’s eye. Even running at a lightning fast time of 35 minutes, there are times where the album’s end cannot come fast enough.
(04/09/09 5:35am)
If you have heard Flo Rida’s ubiquitous hit, “Right Round,” then you know just about everything there is to know about the rapper’s sophomore album, R.O.O.T.S. That’s not necessarily a bad thing: “Right Round” and its unexpected sampling of Dead or Alive’s 1980s classic, “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)”, is the perfect song for any party or treadmill, and you can’t blame a guy for trying to recreate the formula in as many ways as possible. In fact, the songs on which Flo and his army of producers try to match the dizzying heights of “Round” are the most successful, while the others are tedious, repetitive and sometimes downright boring.The sheer amount of people who were roped into constructing the album is a wonder unto itself. Between the mass of producers, the group involved in R.O.O.T.S. has helped create an impressive collection of pop hits — including Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl,” Britney Spears’ “Circus,” T.I.’s “Whatever You Like,” Estelle and Kanye’s “American Boy” and Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop.” That’s only the beginning though. Throughout the course of the album, Flo is joined by Ne-Yo, Nelly Furtado, Wyclef Jean, and Akon, while sampling everyone from Eiffel 65, Benny Benassi, Tina Turner and the previously mentioned Dead or Alive. To say the least, it makes for a high-budget affair.It might not be such a big revelation then to say that the album is never so much about the album itself as it is about the collection of giant singles that are sure to be derived from it. About seven songs are sure to find their way to pop radio, following the lead of the massive, unavoidable first single. The second single, “Sugar,” which features the young, upcoming Wynter Gordon — don’t worry if you haven’t heard of her, you will — has already shot to the top of the iTunes chart. It features the typical Flo formula of rapid-fire rapping verses followed by a bouncy, infectious bubblegum chorus.“Jump,” featuring Nelly Furtado, is sure to be a future staple of stadiums across the country, despite Furtado unfortunately being assigned nothing but a phoned-in chorus that wastes her unique vocals. “Be On You” — this time with Ne-Yo — finds Flo attempting a little bit of romance — sorry ladies, but usually all he has to offer is a random hookup — but Ne-Yo dominates the song so much that you’d think it was his new single. The Latin-influenced “Available,” anchored by huge synthesizers and clever verses, rises above expectations, even if the chorus — this time by Akon — is a slight letdown.Where the album falls apart is every time Flo tries to reach for more than a party anthem, with only the title track proving there might be more to this rapper than girls, money and glossy chains. Backed by unexpected choir hymning, Flo details where he came from and his reluctance to leave everything behind considering all that he has achieved. It is a terribly small glimpse into the soul of a man who has risen above his beginnings in the projects. The two halves of the album, the one in which Flo details his hard-knock life, and the other — where the pop is poured on so hard you half expect Britney to show up — make for a less than continuous listening experience. But those that get the party going are worth the 99 cents on iTunes, and because it’s hard to believe Flo and Co. were aiming for much more than that, maybe it’s a win-win after all.
(03/12/09 5:38am)
It’s been five years since U2, one of the world’s biggest rock bands, released their last album, How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. In that time, you’ve probably heard lead singer Bono plead tirelessly for aid to Africa and AIDS research more than once. An admirable cause, to be sure, but a preachy one as well, and so it is with all the more welcome that the band returned to rock with its new album, No Line On The Horizon. Heralded as an enormous experiment we haven’t heard before, the album may not be quite the departure the band claims it to be, but it’s still pretty fantastic. Incorporating sweeping orchestral arrangements, surprising synthesizers and a not-often heard falsetto courtesy of Bono, the album seems to resemble a box of chocolates, keeping the listener guessing as to what you might get next. The mystery is present from the beginning, as the title track kicks off the album with a slight atmospheric feeling and different vocal styling from Bono, with interludes of hard rock instrumentals.The music here is made for arenas; one cannot help but imagine Bono running around the stage, indulging himself in whatever he chooses while singing. The heavy percussion throughout the album is made for gigantic stereos blasting out to 30,000 people, most obviously during the album highlight, “Magnificent”. The song features poppy clapping and a slightly sappy refrain, but it still retains a decidedly U2 sound.U2 worked with producers Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois and Steve Lillywhite on Horizon, and it is hard not to imagine there may have been a struggle behind the scenes as the band tried to fit its out-of-the-box ideas into the context of the album. For this, the producers deserve a standing ovation, because despite the odd ideas, the album is a more or less cohesive piece of work. There are a few duff tracks peppered throughout, such as the bizarrely titled, “FEZ-Being Born”, which barely contains 50 words and lasts more than five minutes. The biggest surprise from the album, especially considering the band’s ultra serious lead singer, is the clever sense of humor that permeates throughout a number of tracks. During “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight,” Bono sings, “The right to appear ridiculous is something I hold dear.” Oh really, Bono? So are we to believe the joke is actually on us? Doubtful, but one has to admire that Bono, heading into his fourth decade in the music business, can still throw a knowing wink our way. The first single, “Get on Your Boots” — which works much better in the context of the album — and “Stand Up Comedy” also display a subtle sense of humor, with the latter track being a great — but not overdone — exercise in bluesy, funk rock.The album’s emotional high point comes in the form of “White As Snow”, a ballad that wouldn’t sound out of place in a Western-styled saloon. As with many U2 ballads, there are some spiritual elements to the number, but it’s never the focus. Instead, the spotlight shines solely on Bono’s pure, unaffected vocals. Unfortunately, the album crashes with its closing track, a boring editorial about world affairs called “Cedars of Lebanon”. Luckily, it’s not horrible enough to detract from the previous greatness. And it is great. Instead of reaching back to the band’s landmark album, Joshua Tree, U2 has created a rock album that chooses to be whatever it feels like. The result is a wild roller coaster you’ll want to listen to again and again.
(02/05/09 7:27am)
Is anyone looking for the soundtrack to a night out in London? A concept album of sorts, Franz Ferdinand’s Tonight takes the listener through the chronicles of one wild night and the morning after, punctuated by song titles like “Turn It On,” “Twilight Omens,” “What She Came For” and “Lucid Dreams”. The music doesn’t stop roaring until the final two songs, and by that point, you will want to go back to track one, ready to relive Tonight all over again.Listeners are first lured in with “Ulysses,” a lesson in old school Franz in the way it builds through time and exposes more layers with more listens. It is almost a red herring, as the rest of the album carries a big electronic torch. That is not to say the band has abandoned its classic big bass lines in favor of a reinvention, but this album is different enough to mark a change in sound. Never fear though; by the time the second track, “Turn It On” — with its shout-inspired vocals and seductive bellows of “yeah, yeah, yeah!” — is over, you will be more than happy to join the party and eager to see where it goes.The next stop, “No You Girls,” is the standout track closest to being a full-blown anthem. Lead singer Alex Kapranos drives the song with his trademark ice-cool vocals across a huge landscape of clapping beats, heavy percussion — some of which is provided by a skeleton (you will know when you hear it) — and a big, repetitive chorus that goes, “No you girls never know how you make a boy feel!”. Only those who lack any sense of rhythm will be able to fight off the sheer power of Kapranos’ calls to the dance floor. The song also contains a clever lyrical twist at the end, a recurring theme throughout the entire album.It is not just the music that makes this album pretty spectacular, but also the attitude that is conveyed. During the course of Tonight, relationships are made and broken, and you never know where the lyrical observations are coming from. On “What She Came For”, a decisive fly-on-the-wall approach is taken as Kapranos sings, “Whoah! Look out / You’re what she came for!” as the song delves into a huge instrumental breakdown at the end. Yet, on the 1980s-sounding, “Live Alone”, the band makes sure to add a personal touch with lyrics like, “Want to stay in love with you / So I’m going to live alone / Yeah I’ll be happy on my own.”Franz Ferdinand has always been able to throw a few twists and turns our way — anyone who’s ever listened to the debut single, “Take Me Out,” knows that — and that contorted pattern is maintained in this album as well. Entirely produced by Dan Carey, who’s helmed music by British pop sprite Lily Allen and Australia’s Kylie Minogue, the album is cohesive from start to finish. Carey’s greatest imprint by far is the seven-minute electronic extravaganza, “Lucid Dreams.” At about the five-minute mark, the song almost delves into an all-out rave, but it is controlled enough to not feel scattered and lost. It is a real producer’s song and also marks a transition for the album, signifying the transformation of night into the morning after.The two closing songs of the album play with this new feeling. First up is “Dream Again”, which retains the album’s synthesized sound though it is on the mid-tempo side of things. Kapranos’ light vocals declare, “I live to dream again.” Well, that’s a relief — everyone survived the night before. The closer, “Katherine Kiss Me,” meanwhile, is an acoustic, intelligent and witty sequel to “No You Girls,” as Kapranos plays on the chorus, singing, “I never wonder, how the girl feels.” How you’ll feel when the song ends is like you just experienced an awesome soundtrack to a night out in London — and are ready for another go, er, listen. 3