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September 20, 2005

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Fire Evacuates Donlon Hall

By | September 20, 2005

A room fire on the fifth floor of Mary Donlon Hall caused the evacuation of the dormitory at approximately 7:45 p.m. last night.

According to resident advisors, the fire was caused by a pair of pants left hanging on a lamp. No one was in the room when the pants caught fire, and no one was injured.

Five fire trucks were sent to the scene, along with a ladder unit and an ambulance. “The dispatch went out as a full assignment, and it was then upgraded to a second alarm,” said Ithaca Fire Chief Brian Wilbur.

“The ladder was used to get above the fire floor,” he added.

“We were smelling smoke for about 20 minutes,” said Jack Kroeger ’09, who lives across the hall from room 534, where the fire was located.

Kroeger said that a resident tried to put the fire out with an extinguisher.

According to firefighters, the fire was contained by the dormitory’s sprinkler system.

Archived article by Eric Finkelstein
Sun Managing Editor

Discovering Danny Elfman

By September 21, 2005

One of the most overlooked elements of cinema is always its musical score, yet it is often what makes a film most memorable. Who could imagine Star Wars without its booming march, or the equally imposing theme to Raiders of the Lost Ark, or Jaws without the pensive and terrifying warning of impending danger? However all of the aforementioned scores are by one man, John Williams, who has often dominated the market of composing film scores for the past 20 years. This has often overshadowed the equally talented composer, Danny Elfman who is most recently responsible for the score of The Corpse Bride by director Tim Burton. While listening to the soundtrack to this film which arrived recently at the Sun offices, I started to wonder who exactly was the person who developed the dark but effective music that I was hearing. After a little research, I was incredibly surprised by the talented and diverse career of Danny Elfman. Elfman’s work is often based on using dissonant tones and minor keys, a very sharp contrast to the ostentatious grandiosity of John Williams. Elfman’s talent is quite similar to the style of film composer Bernard Herrman, who created the themes to many Hitchcock films like North by Northwest, Psycho and, most impressive of all, Vertigo. In fact most of Elfman’s most impressive work has come out of collaborations between himself and Burton. After working with his rock band Oingo Boingo for several years and composing scores for his brother’s early films, Elfman was recruited by Burton to compose the theme to Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. Throughout the 80s Elfman continued to write scores for the Pee-wee series and additional films. In 1989, Elfman collaborated again with Burton to produce probably his most memorable score: Batman. The dark score brings to mind the imposing works of Richard Wagner’s Ring series of operas. It was the perfect compliment to Burton’s dark and monumental revision of the Batman comic book series. The Batman score was used again for the film’s sequel and television series. After that, Elfman has composed the score of almost every Burton film including Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Mars Attacks, Sleepy Hollow, Planet of the Apes and Big Fish. Elfman also composed the entertaining score for Burton’s summer hit, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory including the opening credits and all of the Oompa Loompa songs. Elfman even provided the voices for most of the Oompa Loompas. However Elfman’s scores do not solely appear in Burton films. He also composed the music for Scrooged, Men In Black and Good Will Hunting. Elfman also provided music for Chicago, although the original songs are from the Broadway musical. Continuing in the Batman tradition, Elfman has often lent his talent to movies based on comic books including the film versions of Dick Tracy, Spider-Man and The Hulk. All of these scores usually have a very similar dissonant, but strong tone to the Batman theme. Elfman’s music can also be heard on television. He created the recognizable scores for The Simpsons and the most recent hit Desperate Housewives. Elfman continues to lend his talent to the movies and is slated to write the scores for the upcoming films Charlotte’s Web and Spider-Man 3.Archived article by Mark RiceFilm Editor
When in Rome…

By September 21, 2005

Before I start to write this column about a little show on HBO called Rome, I’m going to preface it by giving you some context. In a nutshell? This isn’t your mother’s Rome. Imagine if while accompanying Mark Antony (James Purefoy, in another clunky headgear-wearing role), the newly appointed People’s Tribune, on his way to Rome, Titus Pullo (Ray Stevenson), soldier extraordinaire decided to cheerfully communicate his excitement for the capital by proclaiming, “I’m gonna drink every drink, smoke every smoke, and fuck every whore in the city!” And imagine that this charming scene is supplemented by what appears to be People’s Tribune, Mark Antony, copulating with an anonymous shepardess against a tree trunk in the camera’s peripheral vision. And finally, add in an entire regiment of Caesar’s (Ciaran Hinds) famed legion, momentary halted in their march due to Antony’s foliage fixation. Well, you don’t have to imagine because that was actually the second episode of Rome, adeptly titled, “How Titus Pullo Brought Down the Republic.” Just recently renewed for a second season, Rome marks the first co-production effort from HBO and BBC. The two networks had previously collaborated on Band of Brothers, and let me just say that besides both being money-sucking black holes in the budget department, the two series have nothing in common. Unlike the obligatory acknowledgement of how great Band of Brothers was due to its having followed the tried and true formula of emotion-heavy war drama flavored by bonding of the masculine sort, my stamp of approval for Rome came voluntarily and with no effort at all. The show’s synopsis is actually far from simple and seems to hint at the existence of political intrigue, especially when you consider Caesar’s femme fatale niece Atia (Polly Walker looking very Julie Cooper-esque) and annoyingly precocious grand-nephew Octavian (Max Pirkis). Basically, the Roman senate is getting antsy with all the positive publicity that Caesar’s been getting by conquering Gaul and being friendly with the plebeians. Add into the mix, Pompey Magnus (Kenneth Cranham), Caesar’s one-time mentor, friend and brother-in-law but presently, Caesar’s arch nemesis. The storyline is rounded out with two “everyman” stories in the form of the aforementioned Titus Pullo and fellow soldier, Lucius Vorenus (Kevin McKidd). Oh yeah and don’t forget that dastardly charming Mark Antony. If it all seems just a bit too familiar, you’re probably still suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome of the Empire variety. Having premiered earlier in the summer, Empire had been ABC’s contribution to the blood-and-sandal-epic genre. Due to certain uncontrollable forces, namely the FCC, Empire can at most only count as a meager appetizer to prep audiences for the shameless ostentation of Rome. HBO’s Rome is less unflattering togas and lending of ears and more – hey wouldn’t it be cool if we saw frame by frame how to extract shards from a patient’s skull and nail a metal plate to their head with only the crudest of instruments? The publicity for Rome is a plethora of praise on authentic costumes and elaborate sets but what does give the show its extra oomph? It’s definitely not the writing, if Titus Pollo’s lines are any indication. Rome is, and this may sound somewhat corny even for me, carried on the shoulders of its amazing cast. Hinds’ stoic, more patrician-than-thou gaze alone is worth more than an entire page of meaningful character interaction. Meanwhile, Walker’s Atia is, perhaps, the most cunning political player of all as well as completely without shame. “Well, come in. Don’t be such a goose!” she scolds her son, as he peers with uncertainty from behind a curtain. Considering the fact that she, herself, happens to be entirely naked and in the process of bathing, I would say that Octavian’s shyness was not unfounded. Raunchy, bawdy, an uproarious good time. These are all attributes that I could bestow on Rome, but upon greater reflection, the most prevalent characteristic of HBO’s newest attempt at alleviating some of that Sopranos anxiety would have to be nudity. If that’s not a reason to watch, I don’t know what is.Archived article by Tracy ZhangArts and Entertainment Editor