How do you follow one of the highest selling video games of all time? Breaking the single day sales record is a start, which is exactly what Call of Duty: Black Ops, the latest game in the first person shooter franchise did. While it was released a year after 2009’s Modern Warfare 2, Black Ops is not a sequel. It may play similar to prior games, but its Cold War setting is a first for the series, and the change in setting does wonders for the single player campaign. An interrogation session involving the game’s main character, voiced by Avatar’s Sam Worthington (Ed Harris and Gary Oldman also voice characters), leads to blurred memories of covert missions, ranging from the Bay of Pigs to Soviet Gulags to Vietnam. The story doesn’t make for great literature, but it is fun and a noticeable improvement over last year’s mess.

However, most players will be playing Black Ops online. The new multiplayer brings in new features like a currency system, which can be used to by new gear or be risked in wager matches. The multiplayer does seem more suited for casual gamers, as the pacing, while still frenetic, isn’t as chaotic or unforgiving as previous entries. A ridiculous, but entertaining zombie mode (featuring a shotgun wielding JFK) is thrown in for good measure. While its annual presence is beginning to become a little tiring, Black Ops is a terrific game that lives up to its popularity.

After eight Tony Awards and only four years on Broadway, the coming-of-age musical Spring Awakening came to Minneapolis for the second time on November 6 and 7. It was a short run at the Orpheum Theatre, but a full audience proved the show lost none of its appeal and popularity.

An adaptation of Franz Wedekind’s 1891 play, the musical is a collaboration of folk rock music from Duncan Sheik and script by Steven Shater. The story focuses on themes like sex, child abuse, homosexuality, conformity, and abortion, making it quite a controversial piece.
I’ve seen shows from the floor seats and nosebleed balconies in the Orpheum before. This time, I was one of the lucky few students seated onstage.

Experiencing Spring Awakening’s musical numbers from an ontological perspective was definitely eye-opening. I recommend it. The actors will touch you, flash their chest in your face, and jump onto furniture inches from where you sit. Performing the same choreography on the same stage set-up from the original show, the actors have practiced their steps enough times to know not to drop a prop on your head. Or accidentally roundhouse-kick your face during audience favorites like the high energy number “Totally Fucked.”

The young cast touring with this season’s production did a fantastic job building the momentum and emotion of every scene and number, all with a minimalist stage set-up. Short blackouts and spotlights left little room for error during scene changes.

The hidden chorus singers were a great surprise. Masquerading as student attendees seated on stage, understudies pulled out microphones and joined the chorus partway through the production. I don’t think audience members will look at their neighbor the same again.
The actors poured sweat, spit, and effort (trust me, lots of spit) into a flawless production and deservedly drew tears from the crowd. Brava!

When most people die, they instantly become more pure in the eyes of society. The grouchy lady down the street who swears at little kids becomes one of the most upstanding citizens, the bully who made high school a living hell for certain kids becomes the lion-hearted model student, and the mediocre become the extraordinary. While I don’t usually have a problem with this, it has turned the celebration of the lives of the departed into a monotonous ordeal with a stale format. If everyone is sanctified upon death it becomes easier and easier to overlook those who should be remembered, those who have left a fire on this earth that should be felt by all, and leave them solely in the memories of family members, if that. I fear that fate for local revolutionary and recently departed Michael Larsen.

On Oct. 17th, 2010, Michael Larsen, more commonly known as the Eyedea half of Twin Cities hip-hop group Eyedea & Abilities, was pronounced dead. While there are journalists, fans, and haters out there prying open every door and floorboard in search of the cause of death, you won’t find that anywhere here, so if that is what you’re craving you might as well give up now. This isn’t sensationalism; this is a remembrance, a look into his uncommon life rather than his unfortunate death. While I know more about Eyedea than the average college student, I did not have a personal relationship with him, leaving me with a scarcity of knowledge about who he really was and how he influenced those around him. To truly gain some insight into this lost artist, I looked to friends close to him, one deeply embedded in hip-hop culture, b-boy Jason Noer, and one from another way of life, fellow emcee Chris Keller.

As mentioned before, Michael Larsen is best known for his work in the hip-hop duo Eyedea & Abilities, but to even try and grasp a trace of who he was requires quite a bit more knowledge. An essential part of his legend comes from his battle emcee background. Most notably, people recognize him for winning Blaze Battle, a national emcee freestyle competition that was aired on HBO in 2000, when he was still underage. This aspect became an inseparable force throughout his life. While most popular emcees of our time shy away from this form of expression, undoubtedly because of its degree of difficulty and uncertainty, Michael put an overwhelming emphasis on battle, including it in his live shows and cyphering frequently with friends.

But there was far more to Eyedea than just battle rap and freestyle talent. Chris Keller, or Kristoff Krane, when performing, make sure that its not the only thing he is remembered for, offering up this advice to those who want to know more: “If you find something appealing in [Michael], then look deeply into his whole world and his whole approach.” This doesn’t require much effort either, for Larsen has released music under at least five different names: The Sixth Sense, Oliver Hart, Face Candy, Carbon Carousel, and Eyedea & Abilities. Within these you can find diversity uncommon to traditional emcees, for Carbon Carousel was an alternative/grunge rock group, Face Candy was an improvisational rap/jazz group featuring Chris Keller and others, and Larsen has been known to reach into all aspects of hip hop, too.

Well-respected b-boy Jason Noer noticed this upon their first meeting: “I met him as a b-boy, he had mad moves, and he was rhyming all the time.” It didn’t stop there either. As their friendship progressed, Jason noticed how Larsen was unlike anyone else within hip-hop culture, “Mikey was different because he evolved much faster . . . I still define myself as a b-boy and a hardcore hip-hop purist. Mike went beyond that . . .[he] was always interested in things outside of hip-hop. He only battled to get people to listen to E & A’s first album.” The talent he is known for most isn’t even the thing he was most passionate about.

Chris spoke about the first time he hung out with Michael, how he had invited him over to freestyle with him and another local rapper, Carnage. “He was very impressed with the way that I freestyled . . . I wasn’t brought up in the b-boy, hip-hop world . . . so I didn’t fall for that sort of stuff and I think that that’s what initially caught his attention, that he could learn something from me, but in return he was naturally a teacher to anybody he was in a relationship with,” Chris said. Michael brought Chris into the hip-hop world and honed his musical skills, while Chris helped him look at music from new perspectives. In a way,

Michael has passed on this developing form of hip hop onto Chris, one that doesn’t hold onto certain traditions, one that is free to flow, change, and incorporate new elements. It is devastating that at only 28, Michael had to leave this world, but with the short time that he had, it is remarkable what was accomplished. He has left his mark within the people here, and if it isn’t evident now, keep an eye out and an ear open, because it will be.

When I saw a trailer for Gaspar Noé’s Enter the Void I immediately thought it was the next step in cinema, a revolution. I thought wrong. This film is what you would get if you took a disturbingly perverted high-school dropout who smokes too much weed and gave him an unlimited budget to make a movie. The amount of repeated shots, the unacceptably weak acting, and the fact that Noé must have missed the lesson on “leaving things up to the imagination” make the film seem like a void that repels anything that could be deemed artistic, much less revolutionary.

The drug use portrayed isn’t even the worst part; a sixth of this movie is basically porn. I’m not being sensitive either, for I’ve seen Requiem for a Dream and Teeth, both graphic and disturbing films, and found some merit within both of them, but not here. The extent to which Noé goes to show so many sex scenes negates any meaning they could have held. I would say this is joke, that Noé is trying to pull a fast one, but then there are all the references to Freudian theory (i.e. psychosexual development, Oedipus Complex).

You know what, maybe there is some merit here! Oh wait, that’s right, these subjects have been so heavily discussed for that last 100 years that this film centering around them, and bringing nothing new to the table, shows just how worthless and uninspired this film really is.

At this point in his career our venerable Mr. Costello has traversed through so many musical styles that recent albums have felt like more of a pretense for genre exploration than anything. National Ransom ups the ante this outing with sprawling ambition and a dose of that old Elvis magic.

The record kicks off with a bass-heavy roots rocker that sounds like a leftover Attractions b-side, thanks to the man himself Steve Nieve being called back up to fill organ duties. Fans of Costello’s earlier work shouldn’t get too excited, however. From the gypsy folk jazz of the second cut “Jimmy Standing in the Rain” onward, the King takes his listeners on a wild scattershot of his past dalliances. There are thick strings and overtones of Costello’s classical dabbling on tracks like “Stations of the Cross” that brush against stately country tearjerkers like “That’s Not the Part of Him You’re Leaving.” Not to neglect the strong playing on the album’s bluegrass and western-swing portions by Elvis’ crack string sextet The Sugarcanes, or the excellent rhythm section that the Impostors provide for country rockers.

If you’re just now catching on, National Ransom is a big record, with a lush wall of sound dynamic that occasionally works against it. The record is just a bit too long, and certain cuts sound like they would benefit from the tighter, edgier instrumentation of Costello’s earlier work. Still, it’s a masterfully composed set of songs from a titan of songwriting. We can nitpick, but at the end of the day National Ransom is still a must-have for the King’s loyal subjects.

Trailer Park Boys is a Canadian television series centered on the lives and exploits of a group of residents of a Nova Scotia trailer park. A hit in Canada over the span of several years, the show has only developed a cult following here in the states. That isn’t likely to change as the show’s run ended in 2008, but the show is still making new material and incorporating it into a live version, which came to Minneapolis’ Pantages Theater on Oct. 17. I stumbled upon Trailer Park Boys almost by accident, after my cousin made a brief mention of it during a get-together. Bored one day, I decided to start watching. After burning through its seven seasons and two movies, its safe to say I was hooked and there was no way I’d miss the live show when it was in town.

A mockumentary, new viewers will compare the show to more familiar mockumentaries, such as The Office, but the show’s do-it-yourself style and comedic content set it apart. The live show, much like the television series, centers on the escapades of Ricky, Julian, and Bubbles (Robb Wells, John Paul Tremblay, and Mike Smith, respectively), and to understand the live show, an explanation of the series is in order.

Julian is the de facto leader of the group and is always hatching schemes to make the gang money. Never without a rum and Coke in his hand, Julian could be seen as an intimidating thug, but his genuine concern for the state of the park and the financial state of his friends makes him far more complex then that. Bubbles is the most honest member of the boys, preferring kitties and toy trains to stealing meat and bootlegging liquor. Despite his “googly-eyed” glasses and the fact that he lives in a paint shed (with full plumbing and all), Bubbles is considered the wisest and most respectable member of the trailer park, but his abandonment issues keep him from straying away from the others’ influence.

Ricky is the scene-stealer of the show. He is a foul mouthed, vulgar, abrasive, and volatile lowlife who has been stirring things up at the trailer park since grade school. He is characterized by his ridiculous malapropisms, which have been termed “Rickyisms.” They range from such phrases as “supply and command,” “my mother’s mating name,” and “sweet and power chicken.” Ricky is a widely renowned and self-professed idiot, having failed the 6th grade several times and never finished the10th. However, he does have a preternatural knowledge of growing weed. Despite his nature, Ricky does possess genuine human compassion, especially toward his daughter, Trinity, and his on-again, off-again fiancée/girlfriend, Lucy, and has aspirations of becoming a more educated individual. Unfortunately, this facilitates his illegal behavior just as much as it leads him away from it (“Just think how good I’ll be at growing weed once I get my grade 10”). Opposing them at all turns is the eternally drunk ex-cop and trailer park supervisor, Jim Lahey, and his perpetually shirtless assistant and lover, Randy Bobandy.

Every season or movie starts and ends in the same way with few exceptions: the boys get out of jail and a few months later they are back in jail. While this is a big deal stateside, the Canadian big house is portrayed in significantly different ways than it is in the American media (“Jail this time sucked, the guards don’t even let us smoke pot or get drunk anymore”).

While it is always great to see your idols up close in person, the theatre experience is less enjoyable than its televised predecessor. Audience members, many of who were dressed in track pants and tacky shirts like their favorite characters, seemed more interested in shouting out their favorite lines and praising the actors than watching the performance. Even the Trailer Park Boys were thrown off by the excess of cheering, with Julian asking the audience, “Will you shut up?” Also, the Trailer Park Boys did seem to lose comedic impact when transitioning from mocumentary to variety show. That being said the show was still very funny with the boys grilling up hot dogs to make money and shooting reels to get into Jackie Chan movies. This was likely the end of my Trailer Park Boys experience, as the creators are moving on to other projects, but I hope it marks the beginning of yours.

In the 1994 World Cup, tournament favorite Colombia faced the United States. Aided by an own goal by defender Andres Escobar, the United States beat the Colombians 2-1 and shocked the world. But this was no “Miracle on ice,” as Escobar was murdered days later in retaliation for his mistakes on the pitch. The Two Escobars uses the incident to reflect on Escobar and the golden age of Colombian soccer, as well as the cocaine trade and the life of history’s most notorious drug lord, Pablo Escobar.

The film does an excellent job connecting Andres and Pablo, whose humane traits (a love of soccer and a genuine compassion for the poor and underprivileged) are given as much focus as those more insidious. Using interviews with family members, teammates, underworld associates, and government officials, the film chronicles two tragedies: the death of Andres and the state of violence in Colombia. A powerful sense of dread lingers over the segments involving Andres, as the audience knows his fate and how his dreams of starting a family, playing in Italy, and of a peaceful Colombia will remain painfully unfulfilled. The other tragedy involves Colombia itself, as it was dying with Pablo; rival cartels, the government, and the paramilitary group Los Pepes were all locked in a brutal and ruthless war. Colombians could take pride in their national team, but with laundered drug money and gambling funding it, not even sport could provide escape.

Capable of portraying tragedies and complexities small and large, The Two Escobars is a remarkable documentary.

Zola Jesus

We haven’t had an artist since Xiu Xiu who is more depressing than Zola Jesus. It’s very fitting; after all, Nika Roza collaborated with Xiu Xiu frontman Jamie Stewart in the project Former Ghosts. What sets Zola apart though is how young she is: 21-years-old and just now graduating with a double major from a school in Wisconsin, in the state where she grew up. She is no stranger to the local Midwest scene, and her sound which can best be described as gothic rock has not been delved into with such veracity and finesse until now. With lyrics about eminent world destruction and hopelessness, it might seem you’ll want to cry by the time you finish listening to one song. Fortunately, the beats she creates are so stellar and reminiscent of Twin Cities bands like Lookbook or Digitata that you end up forgetting what she is saying and just get lost in the perpetual filter of lo-fi buzz coming at you.

Warpaint

This LA-based band has been around for ages, but if you don’t live on the West Coast, you’ve probably never heard of them. Like any band that has torn up a local scene for years, more often than not, no one more than 50 miles from the band has heard of them. Good thing Warpaint finally released some tangible material and signed to a major label, then. Their single “Undertow” has been floating across the web for a while, and debut album The Fool was already released in Europe to uniform critical acclaim. They’ve toured with Yeasayer, The xx, Vampire Weekend, and Little Joy, and their haunting, slow melodies coupled with Tegan and Sara-ish dual vocals will really make this act a mainstay for years to come. If you aren’t sold, the band features a former member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Yes, that might still not sell you on them, but you gotta admit that is pretty interesting.

Fool’s Gold

While it’s been a year since their debut album, Fool’s Gold, has remixed everyone who is anyone in the indie world. The cool thing about the band’s remixes is that they aren’t steeped in electronica like typical reworks; instead, Fool’s Gold utilizes dozens of instruments and their cultural backgrounds to remix songs with an international flair. Their self-titled debut from last year was a total sleeper, and I haven’t discovered it until now. Poor decision on my part, as this was definitely one of the best albums of last year by a long shot. Their tunes hearken so full-heartedly to ethnic musical traditions that it’s difficult to not enjoy them and become cultured in the process. They are epic jams, every song verging on five minutes of sonic bliss, and each part from the 11 members in Fool’s Gold is composed seamlessly with the next. It’s insane how rich these compositions are.

In the Minneapolis theatre district there is a tall office building just like any other office building. It has a front desk security guard and large polished glass windows. Short sidewalks connect it to similar office buildings off LaSalle Avenue. There’s a dentist’s office next door and a hotel across the street.

It may not look special, but this building is where the Hennepin Theatre Trust employees make magic happen. From starting a new Broadway lecture series, to lining up an impressive list of shows for the 2010-2011 season, to continuing musical theatre programs for students; the Trust has been busy.

Luckily for college students, one of the Trust’s magical acts is convincing new shows to offer student rush tickets. A “rush,” aka a ticket that goes on sale two hours before a show starts, is cash only, costs a set price, and requires standing in line outside the box office with a valid student ID to purchase up to two.

“Usually rushes only cost between $20 to $30 a ticket,” said Anna Pitera, marketing associate and street team coordinator at the Hennepin Theatre Trust. “Regularly, box office tickets can be up to $130 depending on the show. And you get the best available seats at the time, so you usually get a great deal,” Pitera said. “We push for every show to have a student rush. With higher profile shows sometimes they don’t have extra tickets. But they do usually offer a lottery in place of a rush.”

For the single weekend showing of the coming of age musical Spring Awakening, showing Nov. 6 and 7, rushing allowed students to buy $20 tickets for seats that could have cost up to $60 originally. It’s a good deal, and we college students love a good deal, though standing in line for hours before a show starts is no guarantee of rush tickets.

“Popular rushes can be lined up down the block and around the corner,” Pitera said. When Avenue Q was in town over the summer, “People started lining up 2 to 3 hours before the box office opened. It’s expected when we have shows targeted to young people,” she said.

Another way to get discounted tickets, or in this case FREE tickets, without standing in line is to join one of Pitera’s street teams. Like many shows, Spring Awakening is a touring performance. So, to get the word out about its imminent arrival, local street teams organize to flier areas, do grassroots publicity, and answer questions in the community about the show.

“The Spring Awakening street team is called ‘The Guilty Ones,’” Pitera said, “It’s a play off one of the song lyrics. The idea started in New York City at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre where young people loved the show and wanted to get the word out. The idea grew and blossomed.”

The Guilty Ones this year in Minneapolis were asked to flier in eight different places, put posters up in 10 places, and use their social media connections to “get the word out to personal networks.” They met twice with the marketing team at Hennepin Theatre Trust offices, first to talk about the show and find out what was required to receive free tickets, and later to check in with the team and report their progress.

“You need to continually find creative ways to reach students,” Pitera said. “Using theater fans’ enthusiasm is the most beneficial thing for getting the word out.”

Members of The Guilty Ones this year also received a special perk: two on-stage seats. Opportunities like that aren’t made available to the public. They’re to reward those who work hard to help out the theatres.

The next big upcoming show that will include a student rush is Hair. Presale tickets have already started appearing on the Trust’s social media pages. Previously there were competitions on Twitter including “what would be your monster name” where winners received free tickets. So keep your Internet eyes open. You can find the Trust online at facebook.com/htt and twitter.com/hennepintheatre.

In January Pitera will be sending out a call for a Hair street team. Teams tend to be 10 to 15 people. If you’re interested in joining, keep an eye out online and feel free to email for more information and join a student mailing list at StreetTeam@HennepinTheatreTrust.org.

A nonprofit organization, Hennepin Theatre Trust is the owner of Pantages, State, and Orpheum Theatres. Find out more online and look up shows at www.hennepintheatretrust.com. Search for rush opportunities at other venues around the Twin Cities by visiting their websites or calling ticket offices.

Why does Cee Lo Green think he should get the pretty girl? While it’s totally OK to want the pretty girl, Cee Lo can’t be a whining jerk when he gets turned down. Why? Because he obviously only likes the pretty girl—or Heartbreaker as she’s dubbed—for her looks.

I realize that I’m reading pretty far into this, but each time I hear Cee Lo’s “Fuck You” song, I cringe. I cringe not because of the song—which is good—but because of the music video that accompanies it.

The scene opens with three beautiful women in tight, matching lime green dresses. Dancing in a style that is somewhat remnant of the Marvelettes, the sirens seductively beckon the camera to follow them into a 1960’s-era diner. There we see a young Cee Lo Green, already cranky because the object of his affection is paying attention to another boy.

Cee Lo explains that he is unlucky in love due to a lack of funds and in 3 minutes and 54 seconds, we witness his coming of age in conjunction with a constant failure to obtain Heartbreaker’s affections. Then right when it seems that Cee Lo will never get the girl, roles are reversed.

Toward the video’s close, the singer pulls up to the diner in a slick, red convertible. There the girl who he always wanted stands with a broom in her hands while Cee Lo looks on smugly from the driver’s seat. Wearing an expensive-looking suit, it is apparent that Cee Lo no longer lacks funds—or women, as three singers accompany him.

The sirens, wiggling rhythmically in the backseat of the car, have changed into black evening gowns with white boas. Their swank outfits contrast starkly with Heartbreaker’s garb of a shabby, pink dress. Her eyes are downcast; Heartbreaker has obviously fallen on hard times and regrets her rejection of Cee Lo.

So here’s my problem: Heartbreaker, throughout the whole video, is villainized because she won’t give broke Cee Lo the time of day, but it seems to me that Cee Lo is only lusting after the girl because she’s hot, and furthermore, ignores others girls because they’re not.

At one point a bouquet of yellow roses intended for Heartbreaker accidentally ends up in the hands of a Steve Urkel-looking female who is very appreciative of the gesture. Cee Lo looks at Urkel in disgust and then says under his breath, “I really hate your ass right now.” The lyrics call Heartbreaker a “gold digger” and “shallow.” Though she could very well be a shallow gold digger, isn’t Cee Lo objectifying Heartbreaker’s looks in the same way that Heartbreaker is objectifying his financial status? Cee Lo probably wouldn’t be so upset with her gold digging ways if he had the cash to spend.

There are a lot of reasons besides money that could make Heartbreaker not want to hook up with Cee Lo. For example, he’s overweight. Also, Cee Lo appears pretty needy in the verse that contains him crying, “Why! Why!” The tenor of his laments is so shrill, that really, it should be reserved exclusively for the cries of hurt children. Why would Heartbreaker—or any woman—want to date a guy like that?

While I acknowledge that Cee Lo never directly comments on Heartbreaker’s physical attributes, it’s worth noting that aside from Urkel, Cee Lo had as an attractive study buddy during his college years. Though not as overtly sexy as Heartbreaker, Study Buddy is still a fox and can be caught giving Cee Lo a “come hither” glance more than once. Despite this attention, Cee Lo is so preoccupied with his pursuit of Heartbreaker that he totally ignores the cutie sitting right next to him at the diner’s counter.

Now this could either indicate an obsessive personality or a standard of beauty so ridiculously high that even a foxy study buddy won’t cut it; regardless, Cee Lo is a man who needs to solidly reevaluate his priorities when assessing a mate. Or perhaps less harshly, the music video shouldn’t commoditize women’s looks.

The three singers are practically interchangeable, like Barbie dolls that you pull off the shelf one after another, and as the song implies, a woman is something that you buy. Note the lyrics, “I had to borrow/Beg and steal and lie and cheat/Trying to keep ya, trying to please ya/’Cause being in love with you ass ain’t cheap.” Why not write her poetry?

Yes, these aren’t new concepts, but what bugs me so much about this music video/song is the double standard. It’s OK for Cee Lo to be shallow, but not Heartbreaker. I see this concept a lot in real life; girls are called gold diggers, but it’s totally OK for a guy to dismiss a lady and fawn after another because of looks. If Cee Lo wants a hot girlfriend, then Heartbreaker should get a rich boyfriend. They deserve each other.