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Arts & Life
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LAKEPORT – Five of Lake County’s own have struggled their way through 4,500 bands competing for a $1 million recording contract from Bodog Music.
Faded At Four members Jon Foutch, Brian Kenner, Martin “Martan” Scheel and Chris “Pencil” Sanders played Sunday, Jan. 13 at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco to a sea of their fans who traveled over three hours to support their favorite rock band.
Faded At Four’s 22-minute set in the 12-band show included fan favorites from their soon to be released CD, “Collateral” such as “They” and “Unhero” after a special tribute to Iraq war veteran and band member Chris “Murph” Murphy, who was in the audience cheering on his fellow band members on.
The band arranged travel, food and entrance for three buses of their fans from Lake County, Mendocino County, Sonoma County and Sacramento to win their place in the competition through fan voting and ticket sales with their performance scored by judges from as far away as Texas.
This competition started as an online voting process with Faded At Four registering in July 2007 and quickly moving up the ranks to hold steady in the top five in the world and number one in the San Francisco Division.
The first live competition was held in October 2007 and eight of those bands advanced to the next round in December. Four bands from the December round moved on to the Semi-Regional Finals and from there, three bands move on to the Regional Finals in Hollywood.
The single band that wins the March competition in Hollywood will advance to the reality-based TV show “Bodog Battle of the Bands” in which eight bands will compete worldwide through touring and various music based competitions. Bands will be eliminated one at a time with the final band winning a one million dollar recording contract from Bodog Music.
Their fans will be able to design their own Faded At Four vacation in Hollywood for this round of competition with arrangements being made for travel to and from the city via air, train, or bus, group rates for hotel accommodations and various group activities leading up to the competition.
Faded At Four past accomplishments were to win the Uber grand prize in Ukiah’s first annual Bandslam Competition; the band also opened for Kid Rock at Konocti Harbor Resort and Spa.
For more information visit the band's Web site at www.fadedatfour.com.
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That the action thriller “Cloverfield” is inspired by a famous Japanese monster is unmistakable on several fronts, particularly when the ugly creature turns out to be the size of skyscraper. The film’s producer J.J. Abrams conceived the idea of a new monster when he noticed a plethora of Godzilla-themed toys while on a publicity tour in Japan. It dawned on him that in America we don’t have a monster with an enduring cultural relevance. Indeed, he isn’t thinking of Paris Hilton or Britney Spears. Simply put, we don’t have our own Godzilla-like beast that scares the daylights out of the populace.
Even with its relatively short running time, “Cloverfield” is milking suspense and tension from the same claustrophobic atmosphere achieved in “The Blair Witch Project.”
The film opens with official government documentation of a retrieved camcorder that chronicled the end of party time for a bunch of twentysomething Manhattan hipsters. Yes, this entire movie is shot by a handheld camera; the result is as unsteady as a partygoer who’s had one too many drinks.
The main character is Rob (Michael Stahl-David), if only because the party is being held in his honor as readies for an executive transfer to Japan and the early footage on the tape involves his morning-after a big date with Beth (Odette Yustman).
As the bon voyage party starts to gear up at a trendy SoHo loft, Rob’s good friend Hud (T.J. Miller) is assigned to document the event with a small video camera, a task for which he is uniquely unqualified.
Though he rarely gets on film, Hud is an amusing narrator of the party scene, especially as he focuses on pretty party organizer Lily (Jessica Lucas), and her boyfriend Jason (Mike Vogel), brother of the guest of honor.
Seeking to get on-camera testimonials from the party guests, Hud becomes so enamored of the indifferent Marlena (Lizzy Caplan) that he pesters her with constant questions. The party cranks up to full blast, consuming a good chunk of time while the audience nervously anticipates when all hell will break loose.
The prolonged party scene affords an opportunity to become aware of the central characters that will be forced to band together for mere survival. Beth arrives at the party with a new boyfriend, though it is readily apparent that Rob has a major crush on her and wants to recapture the magic they previously had.
The action kicks in suddenly and potently when the loft starts shaking as if a 7.5 earthquake is eerily unleashed in the Hudson River.
Partygoers rush to the rooftop only to be frightened witless by scenes of exploding buildings in lower Manhattan. Panic rules as everyone rushes haphazardly into the streets, and in a scene reminiscent of 9/11 there is billowing smoke and dust rolling through the streets.
When the head of the Statue of Liberty drops into the middle of a wide avenue, there is something afoot far more fearsome than just a few well-timed explosions.
Attempting the flee the city on foot across the Brooklyn Bridge, Rob, Jason, Lily, Marlena and Hud are suddenly pushed back to Manhattan when the monster wipes out the bridge. To heighten the tension, the monster is seen in only brief glimpses, resulting in a far more intimidating presence.
When the Army arrives with guns and tanks blazing, the monster becomes more fully realized as it sheds parasites the size of large dogs, which have a speedy crab-like crawl and viciously attack and destroy people.
Meanwhile, Rob is frantically trying to reach Beth by cell phone, only to discover that she’s trapped in her high-rise apartment building. Going against good sense and ignoring the evacuation plans of the Army, Rob insists that he will have to rescue Beth. His friends agree to the sheer folly of the mission, including climbing some 50-odd flights of stairs after being warned that a deadline has been set for the final destruction of Manhattan.
“Cloverfield” may pull more interest from the under-25 crowd, not just because the characters are young hipsters, but also for the “YouTube” style of filmmaking. Others may be less enamored of the home movie feeling that comes with unsteady camera work.
On many levels, the tight framing device of handheld photography heightens the terror and disturbing images attendant to the monster’s vicious destruction of the city.
DVD RELEASE UPDATE
You may recall “The Matador” as a quirky, enjoyable, oddball film about a hit man. Richard Shepard was the director responsible for that adventure, and now his latest foray into suspense and action is the DVD release of “The Hunting Party.”
Inspired by true events, this edgy thriller stars Richard Gere and Terrence Howard as vacationing journalists who try to get the scoop of a lifetime by embarking on a dangerous mission that takes them deep into hostile territory in search of a missing Bosnian war criminal.
Fast-paced and exciting, “The Hunting Party” is loosely based on an Esquire magazine article about journalists fronting as a CIA hit squad in one of Eastern Europe’s deadliest regions.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
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This neglect is a calculated strategy to dump some lousy films on an unsuspecting public. Well, I won’t fall for it, and neither should you. So let’s take a look at some of the DVD releases for the short term, and figure out if staying home is a better option.
If the writers strike keeps going on indefinitely, we might be seeing more DVD releases like the one for El Cid, starring film legends Sophia Loren and Charlton Heston from a bygone era when grand-scale, sweeping historical epic films were made in Hollywood. The Limited Collector’s Edition of El Cid digitally remasters its picture and sound, with an introduction by director Martin Scorsese.
The richly romanticized tale of a real-life Castilian knight and legendary Spanish hero earned several Oscar nominations and popular acclaim. The special two-disc DVD set includes not only multiple featurettes, but also reproductions of the original 1961 souvenir program and original 1961 El Cid comic book.
An ongoing trend in the DVD business is the reliance on the ubiquitous Collector’s Edition to spice up old favorites. This is the case for director Rob Reiner’s timeless romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally.
Starring in the titular roles, Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan attempted in comical ways to answer the question of whether sex will ruin a true friendship between a man and a woman. The film was memorable for some of the greatest scenes and quotes in movie history. Now, this special edition of the DVD has many hilarious deleted scenes and never-before-seen bonus features, including the “I Love New York” featurette in which the cast and crew describe the location and its importance in setting the story.
Denzel Washington cut a charismatic figure as Frank Lucas, the brutal heroin kingpin from Harlem, smuggling the drug into the country from the Far East in American Gangster. This film may be released on DVD sometime in February at the earliest.
Meanwhile, the true story of Frank Lucas’ drug rival during this era is being released as Mr. Untouchable. Nicky Barnes became the face of drug trafficking and dominated the heroin trade scene of the 1970s. Trusted and trained by two Italian mobsters, Barnes set up his own black crime family, the Council.
Infamous for his excessive lifestyle and inability to be prosecuted, Barnes was dubbed “Mr. Untouchable.” After 23 years of silence, Mr. Untouchable includes firsthand tell-all testimony from Nicky Barnes, who is currently in a witness protection program. The film includes interviews from former Council members and others in the Barnes drug collective. One of the bonus features is a recorded phone conversation between Nicky Barnes and Frank Lucas.
Maybe you didn’t catch this quirky dark comedy series when it was on the FX network, but now you can pick up The Riches Season One DVD set.
Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver star as Wayne and Dahlia Malloy, who take their family of three children for a life on-the-run to con and scam the unsuspecting and the greedy. One day, in a darkly comedic twist of fate, an opportunity presents itself, allowing the Malloys to escape from their past by pulling off the con of all cons. They assume the identity of a family living a privileged life in an exclusive, gated suburban community. Living as law-abiding citizens is complicated by nosy neighbors, jealous fellow con artists, and authorities hot on their trail.
British actor Clive Owen is not quite a household name, but he’s done terrific work in films like Croupier and Children of Men. Not so long ago, in recognition of his charisma and physical presence, he was touted as a possible James Bond. His early television work made him a huge star in Britain, and now it is time to catch up to Chancer.
Acorn Media already released Chancer, Series 1 last year, and now “Series 2” delivers the final seven episodes about a con artist, swindler and purported savior of a struggling sports car company.
The central figure is Clive Owen’s Stephen Crane, an irresistible rogue who gets caught up in enough intrigues involving sex, money and power struggles to rival anything seen on Dynasty or Dallas.
Jason Biggs, who achieved notoriety by carnal knowledge of baked goods in American Pie, stars with Isla Fisher in the riotous comedy Wedding Daze. After suddenly losing his “perfect girlfriend,” Biggs is convinced he’ll never find love again.
But at the urging of his best friend, he spontaneously proposes to a neurotic coffee shop waitress named Katie (Fisher). Thus starts an unusual journey to the wedding, which somehow involves a prison break by the bride’s father and a robbery of a clothing store for appropriate wedding attire.
The Dragon Dynasty label from the Weinstein Co. keeps cranking out martial arts films. Fatal Contact presents a dark, amoral world with contemporary style, pace and themes.
A naïve martial arts champion of China’s national team, Kong (Wu Jing) is desperate for cash and with the added pressure from his girlfriend he reluctantly joins an underground fighting ring. Blending visually brilliant fight scenes with raw violence, Fatal Contact is broken up by occasional humor from the supporting cast, including funnyman Ronald Cheng.
The post-holiday cinematic blues should end in the next week, and the studios will be back to promoting even their mediocre product.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
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The next meeting will be on Monday, Jan. 14.
Reading is mostly at home, discussion at meetings.
The club is for seekers of metaphysical knowledge willing to share their experiences.
For more information and sign-up contact Joy Byrd, 995-6054, or the store, 994-9453.
Wild About Books is located at 14290 Olympic Drive, Suite A, in Clearlake.
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