The Rice Thresher, Vol. 95, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, December 7, 2007 Page: 10 of 16
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10
THE RICE THRESHER
ARTS * ENTERTAINMENT FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7,2007
Discover Heights of the Houston art scene
More artsy and less selfconsciously
hip than Montrose, the Heights neigh-
borhood has an old-timey, unassuming
charm. Think old Victorian style homes
and antique stores. If you do
not know what I am talking
about, then you have been
missing out on the coolest
area inside the loop.
I am not the best with
directions, so lefs just say
if you are north and west of
Downtown and you can see
Heights Blvd, Washington
Street, Yale Street, North
Shepherd or Studewood,
you are on the right track
Part of this "artsiness" is embodied
in the Yale Street Arts Market, that
takes place on the first Saturday of
every month. Held in a parking lot
next to the Wind and Water Gallery,
the market consists of decent-sized
grouping of artists' tents, which feature
the expected painters, photographers
and jewelers. There is also a potter,
a man selling orchids and a woman
who makes wind chimes out of wine
bottles and tea kettles (with spoons for
chimes), among many other interest-
ing and intriguing crafters. Even if
you would rather save your money
for something else, there is no cost to
just look around and it is well worth
the trek to experience part of the local
art scene.
Just strolling around, it is nearly
impossible not to get into conversation
with the artists. One photographer
takes pictures of found objects em-
bedded in asphalt — pennies barely
scratch the surface of random items.
No, he does not always walk staring at
the ground. You get an eye for spotting
things, he says.
The potter is a soft-spoken middle-
aged man who throws and glazes pots
(and mugs and plates and goblets and
bowls) in his free time while teaching
art to eighth graders during the week.
While I was chatting with another pho-
tographer and talking about my own
interest in photography, she shared
her special method that involves an
TEETH
From page 9
stepbrother — and perhaps it bears
repeating — a woman with a toothed
vagina. I question whether a man is
qualified to address this subject matter.
A man probably is, but whether he is
doing society's perception of women
any favors with this method of address
is still a separate question.
So Teeth will probably end up being
one of two things: an intellectual explo-
ration of how femininity is constructed
Ingrid
Norbergs
old camera bought of off eBay and a
Pringles tube, and encouraged me to
get into the Flickr photographers' com-
munity. Houston apparently has avery
active group.
The art is even fairly
affordable. Yes, the larger
works like the paintings
were predictably out of
my price range, but there
were bins of affordable
photographs, reasonably
priced jewelry and the
high school art teacher's
pottery, which was the
best deal I found. I bought
a beautifully shaped and
glazed mug for $9.
The Arts Market is only one of the
many things that gives the Heights
its appeal. Just on 19th Street alone
you can find Retropolis, my favorite
vintage store and co-op of clothing
sellers, a number of antique stores and
an Asian-inspired design store called
Tatsu, among a few more blocks of
quaint stores and restaurants.
The Heights is also home to Live
Oak Friends Meeting, the Quaker
congregation that lias a meeting room
designed by James Turrell, the artist
who designed the MFAH's lighted
underground passage. Every Friday
twenty minutes before sunset the
public is welcome to come watch the
skyscape. It is one of the most peace-
ful and inspiriting events I have ever
witnessed.
One of my favorite restaurants, the
Dry Creek Cafe, is BYOB and has the
best burgers in Houston, or so I am
told—I do not eat beef. The Grilled Ahi
Tuna Salad is my inevitably delicious
pick. Its sister establishment, Onion
Creek Coffee House on White Oak, is
my second favorite coffee shop—after
Rice's own Coffeehouse, of course.
They serve Katz Coffee and have the
cheapest draft beer 1 have seen outside
of Valhalla and it is just a chill place to
hang out
How do I love the Heights, let me
count the ways ...
Ingrid Norbergs is a Baker College
senior.
To Downtown
26* St.
LEGEND
A Yale St. Arts Market
B Retropolis
C Live Oak Friends Meeting House
D Dry Creek Cafe
White Oak Or.
Dylan isn't there, but his
image shines through
by Hajera Blagg
FOR THE THRESHER
The latest Bob Dylan biopic and
unique visual indulgence, I'm Not
There, defies all the rules of the
traditional biographical film.
11 'I'm Not There'
Jf ★★★★★ of five
now ptey/M at AMC and
rds theaters
The gimmick of the film is
that six different actors portray
seven stages in Dylan's life,
and it never once spirals into an
incoherent mess.
In that sense, Todd Haynes' film
then is more than just a biopic. It
looks and feels like a narrative
collage. It is a statement about per-
ception, obsession and cultural rel-
evance. Bob Dylan both controlled
his public persona and unwittingly
allowed it to be controlled by his
fans, the media and the genera-
tion that he represented. Haynes
expresses the idea that Dylan was
whatever we wanted him to be.
Dylan's six different manifesta-
tions are in some cases unusual.
Cate Blanchett (Babel) as Dylan
at the height of his musical career
has garnered the most publicity,
and despite the gender switch,
Blanchett's character is the most
physically identifiable. She talks
like Dylan, walks like Dylan and
dresses like Dylan. At the same
time, however, the illusion is just
that. Look once, it's Dylan. Look
again and it's a skilled actress who
inhabits the Dylan character but
never becomes him.
As for the other depictions, Heath
Ledger (Brokeback Mountain) plays
the unlikable hippie, Christian Bale
(American Psycho) gives us the folk
singer, a young African-American
boy, Marcus Carl Franklin (The
Water is Wide) portrays the pre-
famous Dylan and Richard Gere
(Bee Season) presents us with the
Western outlaw. The sixth Dylan,
played by Ben Whishaw (Layer
Cake), is Dylan the poet. There are
so many Dylans, and yet not once
in the entire movie is Bob Dylan
mentioned by name.
This is where the title of
the film — and the point of the
film — comes into focus. What
makes Bob Dylan so interesting
beyond the great music is the great
myth. Adept at transformation, Bob
Dylan has reinvented himself more
times than the George Foreman
Grilling Machine. Thus, previous
efforts at pinning the singer down
— namely, D.A. Pennebaker's film
Don't Look Back and a handful of
unauthorized biographies — have
failed because they were all attempts
at unveiling the "real" Bob Dylan,
when not a single one exists.
For those viewers who do not
know much about Bob Dylan's
life, I'm Not There still has much
to offer. The most absurd scenes,
including the Beatles getting stoned
for their first time and poet Allen
Ginsberg joining Dylan in poking
fun of a statue of Christ on the cross,
provide a delirious brand of humor
that pops up throughout the film.
Haynes even transforms Dylan's
lyrics into entire characters and
mini-storylines that seamlessly flow
with the narrative.
But above all, the music, a
carefully selected soundtrack that
demonstrates Dylan's incredible
lyrical and musical range, propels
the movie forward just when it is on
the brink of losing everyone except
the most astute Dylan scholars. So
even if Dylan was never there, or
is never there, this film more than
makes up for his absence.
Enchanted is charming for all audiences
not only in society, but also by women
themselves, and what happens when
violent revenge is thrown into the mix,
or a disgusting, blood-soaked comedy-
horror thatwill probably make me wish
I were never born. Iichenstein must be
an evil genius, because undoubtedly I
will be there to find out.
Nikki Mctzgar is a Baker College senior
and arts and entertainment editor.
by Amanda Melchor
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
By pulling the audience into
a story that will have even the
most cynical filmgoer believing
in happy endings, Enchanted
lives up to its title. A tribute to
and a parody of past Disney films,
this movie offers enjoyment for a
wide-ranging audience.
'Enchanted'
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★ ★★★ of five
at AMC and
rds theaters
Most of Disney's recently
successful animated films like
Ratatouille and Finding Nemo
feature beautifully-detailed digital
imagery. But while these films
were cute and appealing in their
own way, theyalso exhibit how far
Disney has strayed from its roots
of hand-drawn animation that fans
loved and embraced as children.
In this new film, Disney does a
great job of returning to its roots
and expertly combines hand-drawn
animation with live-action and CGI.
The combination gives the film
a unique texture that resembles
nothing else in theaters.
The film begins with a slow
zoom on a jeweled book, much like
the opening action of Disney's 1959
Sleeping Beauty. The action starts in
the animated world of Andalasia as
Giselle (Junebug's Amy Adams) sings
to her helpful and anthropomorphic
woodland friends about her desire to
find the man of her dreams. Enter
Prince Edward (X-Men's James
Marsden) who valiantly rescues
her from a giant. Upon catching her,
Edward and Giselle declare their
undying affection and decide to be
married the next day.
Edward'sevil step-mother Queen
Narissa (Stepmom's Susan Sara-
ndon) decides she must prevent
Edward from marrying in order
to retain her throne and promptly
sends her to a place where "there
are no happy endings:" New York
City. Once in the Big Apple, Giselle
chances to meet divorce attorney
Robert Philip (Grey's Anatomy's
Patrick Dempsey) and his daughter
Morgan (Duane Hopwood's Rachel
Covey) who agree to let her spend
the night at their home.
The real success in this movie
lies in two things — the script
and Adams' performance. Writer
Bill Kelly (Premonition) infuses
the script with delightful dialogue
that not only moves the action
along — as good dialogue should
do — but entertains as well. After
spending the night, Robert's fi-
ance, Nancy (Rent'sliMna Menzel),
finds Giselle wearing nothing but
a towel in Robert's apartment
and promptly storms out. Robert
explains Nancy's anger over her
assumption of the previous night's
events and Giselle, horrified, asks,
"She thinks we kissed?" After a beat
or two, Robert confusedly replies,
"Something like that."
Giselle's character progression
is another fantastic element of the
movie that makes it different from
traditional animated movies. She
transforms in front of the audience
from a girl naively in love to a young
woman who comes to question her
values and the life she has led.
In the hands of another actress,
Giselle's naivete could have been
nauseatingly annoying and would
have made her dynamic develop-
ment less believable.
The rest of the ensemble is
also superbly well cast. Dempsey
properly fulfills his McDreamy
reputation as a handsome divorcee,
though the chemistry between him
and Adams is bard to believe at
times. Marsden is perfectly cast
as Prince Edward, a dashing but
sweetly self-confident and simple
man, while Sarandon expertly plots
trouble at appropriate intervals.
Aesthetically, the movie is
gorgeous. The sets and costumes
are filled with rich, vibrant colors
and textures that reflect the fun
and beauty of the fantastic world.
Even the dank streets of New York
have a certain glimmer and shine
to them that are only present in
cinematic depiction.
Giselle's unwavering optimism
Even the
dank streets of
New York have
a certain
GLIMMER and
shine to them that
are only present
in cinematic
depiction.
combined with Robert's pessimism
regarding love and relationships
act as a metaphorical reminder
of the emotional balance life de-
mands: The world is filled with
beauty and ugliness, pain and
love. Enchanted leaves its view-
ers with wonderfully contented
and charmed, making it a great a
study break or flick to watch with
the family.
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Whitfield, Stephen. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 95, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, December 7, 2007, newspaper, December 7, 2007; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443064/m1/10/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.