Artsweek

Master of the Melancholy

October 8, 2009 by

In the hands of a lesser, more ordinary artist, a set of mostly soft, piano-driven songs played in front of a completely unadorned stage would probably come across as tasking and fairly lifeless for a...
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Schwartz Conjures Up “Séance,” Opera Style

October 8, 2009 by

Opera, musical and theater fans, rejoice! Stephen and Scott Schwartz have together constructed a marvelous production which combines the most essential and beautiful elements of all three mediums to t...
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“Zombieland” Brings Vibrancy to the Undead ***

October 8, 2009 by

"Zombieland" features decapitations, mutilations, lacerations, disembowelments, exploding heads, dead children and about 400 on-screen deaths. It is also laugh-out-loud funny.
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Cool “Whip” Is Light, Frothy Film-going Fun ***

October 8, 2009 by

Drew Barrymore's lifelong acting career has given her some keen insights into the film industry, and it's for this reason that viewers should have a little faith in her abilities. Her directorial debu...
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Fertile Flaming Lips Deliver Embryonic ****

October 8, 2009 by

The Flaming Lips' latest record is Embryonic, a volatile collage of often paradoxical elements. This album of 18 tracks -- split between two discs -- is a study of oppositions: It comes across at once...
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Five Must-See Fall Flicks

October 1, 2009 by

With a couple days of school under our collective belt thus far, there are already those trying to figure out how to divert themselves from schoolwork and find effective ways to procrastinate. I say t...
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Second Shot at “Fame” Scores ***

October 1, 2009 by

Replete with raging hormones and teenage angst, the 2009 update of 1980's Oscar-winning film "Fame" portrays the high school experience we all know too well. Emotions are constantly in high gear, as t...
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Mountain Goats Explore New World ***

October 1, 2009 by

If you have trouble finding the new The Mountain Goats' album when it is released Tuesday, you might want to try and see if it was mistakenly stocked in the Christian music department. No, the trio ha...
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Electricity in the AIR ***

October 1, 2009 by

AIR: The French electronica band's name alone conjures up elemental and celestial thoughts, and the band itself lives up to its namesake by feeding off the spacey, electronic sounds made popular in th...
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Filmic Future Looks Bleak **

October 1, 2009 by

Remember that one movie where everyone is plugged into machines that created a large-scale simulacra of the world until a single man rises up and frees all human consciousness? Or how about the one wh...
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A Giant Black Hole **

October 1, 2009 by

The story of "Pandorum" is this: By the year 2174, the planet Earth has become significantly overpopulated; the only possible solution to the overcrowding is to send a large spaceship of humans to a p...
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“Star” Is Not So “Bright” ***

October 1, 2009 by

Director Jane Campion's "Bright Star," the latest of this year's Cannes selections to be given a theatrical release, is a period film based on the final years of Romantic -literarily and literally - p...
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New Album Reviews: No Age (***) and The Swell Season (****)

September 24, 2009 by and

No Age returns to smaller releases after flirtation and romance, brought singer-its last two projects have produced LPs. The Losing Feeling EP - due out Oct. 6 - is a bit of a departure for the band, ...
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A&L Celebrates Its 50th Birthday in Style

September 24, 2009 by

If there's one thing most students don't take enough advantage of during their four-year stay at this fine institution of higher learning, it's UCSB's very own Arts & Lectures... not that you'd know i...
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New Noise Festival To Debut in Downtown SB

September 24, 2009 by

Featuring a beautiful beachside locale, tons of reggae, a number of jam bands and copious amounts of ganja, the West Beach Music & Arts Festival pretty much embodies the Santa Barbara image, love it o...
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