Fans of Joss Whedon rejoice! Whedon, the executive producer and creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly, is coming back to prime time television. Joss recently signed a contract with FOX for a new series called Dollhouse. The show will feature Eliza Dushku, who played the character Faith on Buffy. Due to the recent writer’s strike, FOX has decided to give Joss a contract for seven shows up front without basing everything off of the strength of a pilot episode. This is exciting news for those of us who were sorely disappointed by the cancellation of Firefly.

In Dollhouse, Dushku will play Echo, one of many doll-like people who can be imprinted with memories, personalities and abilities in order to perform various tasks. These dolls can be imprinted with any desired purpose by those who can afford it. After their tasks, the doll’s memories are destroyed, and they are returned to their child-like existence in their home, codenamed the Dollhouse. There is only one problem: Echo is beginning to remember. She is not retaining whole memories of what she has done outside of the Dollhouse, but she is beginning to suspect that she was someone before, and that things are not right.

Due to the strike, production of Dollhouse has been delayed, but it looks like the series will start this coming fall. For more information visit www.dollverse.com.

Andrew Wright

More Info.

Share This

What would the mission of the savior of rock music be? Ostensibly to save it from dilution and corruption, to return it to the purity it once had. One can only speculate as to what impurities Kid Rock aims to wash out of the fabric of rock, but one thing is certain. The product he puts out is neither pure nor uncut.

It’s hard to say what category the Kid’s music falls under. Is it country music, sleazed up with a layer of rock and roll and injected with a tinge of rap for good measure? Or is it watered-down rock music, rollicking with hip-hoppy goodness and sissified just a bit by country influences? Perhaps it is really a white rap album, dosed up on both country and rock until the rap is barely visible. Though it’s difficult to put a finger on just what the album is cut with and what the pure substance was, it is safe to say the Kid has dosed this album with something.

But perhaps I am looking at this the wrong way. If we consider the holy trinity of rock to be sex, drugs and — of course — rock n roll, this album lives up to the standards. Rock’s lyrics are strewn with accounts of his sexual prowess and affinity for booze and narcotics. He sings quite proudly of his escapades as a “lowlife living the high life,” a theme that shoots through the album.

Ultimately, however you interpret the title of Kid Rock’s new album, the bottom line is clear: this collaboration of songs is rock n roll blasphemy.

Nate Campbell

Share This

In 1950, Jules Dassin directed Richard Widmark in Night and the City, a pitch-black film noir that really didn’t have any sympathetic characters. This was the only film on which the director and actor collaborated, but it’s been on my mind the past week — not only is it a near-flawless moral tale, but Widmark and Dassin both passed away this past March, within a week of each other. Both were in their mid-90s.

Their deaths have been eclipsed by that of well-known actor Charlton Heston in the news, but Widmark’s and Dassin’s contribution to film — and the art of storytelling — is immeasurable. Night and the City was the final film Dassin made in the United States before he was blacklisted during Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s communist witch hunt and exiled to France. He has a substantial list of directorial credits, from the better-than-average (Brute Force), to the excellent (the Naked City and Thieves’ Highway) to the iconic (Rififi, the blueprint for every single heist film since). Though not a household name, Dassin’s talent and cultural impact will resonate for years.

While rarely a leading man in big Hollywood pictures, Widmark had a great reputation amongst his peers. He was a versatile, complex actor, equally at home in westerns (How the West Was Won), in film noir (the incredible Panic in the Streets) or in romantic comedies (The Tunnel of Love). His turn as two-bit hustler Harry Fabian in Night and the City, though, is unnerving and claustrophobic — and arguably his best role in Dassin’s best film.

Many of Widmark’s and Dassin’s films are available on DVD. Check them out.

Jason Panella

Share This

Dead Patrol is a web-exclusive series of video shorts by Jason Tisch. It distinguishes itself from the vast array of YouTube do-it-yourself videos with high production values, creative cinematography and realistic sets and designs. The five-minute episodes follow Lt. Brigham (Geneva alumna Joanna Lowe) and Cpl. Keenan (Brandon Keenan), the remnants of a militia trying to clear Pittsburgh of the undead so that the city can be rebuilt. The drama-filled scenes have Brigham and Keenan face existential questions while trying to survive the zombies attack. And while the series’s use of elementary CGI for some scenes break the sense of realism, its opening theme and high quality video make the series enjoyable and engaging.

Watch the series at: www.deadpatrol.com. The site currently features three episodes, as well as a way for viewers to donate to the continuation of this project.

Greg P. Veltman

Share This

Who knew that a stencil, spray paint and a shirt could make a great piece of clothing? This is Drew Dawes’s approach to making his signature clothing. He simply searches Google Images for what he wants, draws that image on a stencil, cuts it out and spraypaints it onto a piece of clothing.

Drew first started making stencil apparel for his high school band The Pones. After that he started making clothes for his Geneva-connected band Heart 2 Hart.

Megan Drew took the opportunity to sit down with him and ask him a few questions over lunch.

Megan: My favorite work that you stencil is the people. Do you enjoy stenciling people?

Drew: Yeah, no one really knows who they are, you know? So only those who know who that person is get a kick out of it.

Megan: Do you ever sell your apparel?

Drew: I started a fake company called Dazé. It turned a small profit but it was just over one summer.

Megan: How do you know what to make?

Drew: I just make what I want and if people like it and want it then I give it to them.

Megan: The question that everyone has now is: can we place orders?

Drew: Yes! adawes[at]geneva[dot]edu is my e-mail. It would be best if people would bring their own shirt or sweatshirt or whatever because the costs will be lower and that way we know it fits.

I have been impressed with Drew’s ability ever since I traded him my high school field hockey shirt with “DREW” on the back for his Pones t-shirt. His work is both impressive and stylish. I think everything looks better in stencil now.

Megan Drew

Share This

I don’t like TV. That’s what I tell people. It’s too restrictive. If you find a show you like or a story you want to follow, you are stuck — every Thursday night at nine or some such. Sure, you can wait ‘til it’s on DVD, but who wants to wait? But I really, really like TV shows. There’s a certain pleasure to knowing you are watching the same story as someone else, somewhere else, and that just maybe tomorrow you will both be able to turn that viewing experience into a conversation.

That’s why I like Hulu.com. It streams full episodes of television shows for free, and it gets them up fairly quickly after they air. It doesn’t have everything, but the selection is much better than the assorted clips you can find on YouTube. It’s not limited to new shows or even to TV; it has full movies and a generous selection of older shows.

Of course, all of this doesn’t come without a catch. Hulu.com is legal, which means small commercial interruptions happen during the shows. But they are slight — nothing in comparison to the commercials that accompany live TV. And, when I can watch clips of last week’s SNL without having to sit through the full hour and a half (most of which is never funny), it’s a small price to pay.

Nate Campbell

Share This