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Northern Star

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The Student News Site of Northern Illinois University

Northern Star

The Student News Site of Northern Illinois University

Northern Star

Looking forward to fall breakups

By Brayton Cameron | September 1, 2005

The letters P, D and A, when used in an acronym of that order have two meanings. The first is Personal Digital Assistant. The second is public display of affection. To restate the obvious, it is when one person is affectionate with their significant other...

Want some water, comrade?

By Chris Strupp | September 1, 2005

People write me every week wanting me to give them advice on what is going on in their lives. Out of the hundred advice questions I receive per week, it is really hard to pick only two or three to answer. Sometimes I respond to them because I feel the...

Donations wanted

By Genevieve Diesing | September 1, 2005

The Egyptian Theater will not be continuing their tradition of showing independent and foreign movies this fall due to a broken film projector. The theater, run and staffed entirely by volunteers from a group called the Preservation of the Egyptian Theater,...

“Undiscovered”

By Genevieve Diesing | September 1, 2005

Most Hollywood films that cast up-and-coming musicians as supporting characters have agendas. Some of these films hide it cleverly and some do not. "Undiscovered" does not even make an attempt to hide its agenda.

This film, known to most as "that movie with Ashlee Simpson in it," is memorable only for that reason. Even if we ignored that the executive producer is her father and the original title of the movie was changed to match the name of one of her songs, the flimsy characters and cheesy, shallow story line act as weak facades for the distasteful self-promotion that are Simpson’s on-screen musical performances.

The story centers around singer Luke Falcon (Steven Strait), who is struggling to make it. He is described in the movie as Jeff Buckley crossed with Elvis Costello, although he comes across more like a grisly version of John Mayer.

Luke ends up mysteriously achieving success and his character gets tested. Although this is the story’s focus, the plot keeps jutting over to the performances of a certain supporting actress. One must endure Simpson’s singing three times throughout the movie - Luke’s songs aren’t much more prevalent.

Simpson plays the cheery sidekick who always seems to pop up and say the right thing whenever the lead characters are having emotional difficulties, but she isn’t completely terrible in this role. In fact, none of the performances themselves are too bad, but the script is. The characters come across as bland and uninteresting. These personalities seal in the utter cheesiness of this film, appearing exactly like stereotypes - the shallow, bimbo model, the money-hungry record producer and the saintly protagonist.

Ironically, this film is about hardworking, supposedly talented, musicians. When Simpson’s character, Clea, finally gets her break at the film’s end, the parallels of her character’s achievements to her own could not be more different.

One gets a squeaky clean picture of the ins and outs of the L.A. music scene and the film’s exploration of broken egos and relationships is as uninsightful and innocent as a "Brady Bunch" episode. As if this weren’t already enough like a made-for-MTV movie, director Meiert Avis (whose film credits consist only of music videos), insists on so many close-up shots in every scene, one literally begins to get dizzy. This forcedly intimate approach does not result in a feeling of intense realness. Instead, it’s unsettling.

While this film aims to appeal to today’s seemingly boundless market of young and aspiring entertainers by tapping into the niche that "American Idol" so successfully exploited, it doesn’t accurately represent its audience. In its failed attempt to portray the realities of the entertainment industry while also trying to push a musician’s career, "Undiscovered" comes across as original and heartfelt as one of Ashlee Simpson’s songs.

Tommy Lee fails Reality 101 – Part One

By Kelly Johnson | September 1, 2005

Reality television shows prey on our innate desires to witness the outlandish. Upon first hearing the title "Tommy Lee Goes to College," it sounds like a recipe for success. Unfortunately, the only thing great about the show is the title. "Tommy Lee Goes...

Get ‘Tricked’ by graphic artist Alex Robinson

By Brayton Cameron | September 1, 2005

Weekender got in touch with award-winning comic writer Alex Robinson to talk about his latest work, super hero comics and pro-wrestling. Weekender: Give us a brief run down of your most recent book "Tricked." Alex Robinson: "Tricked" is about six people...

“Ladykillers”

By Richard Pulfer | September 1, 2005

This 1955 classic gave way to the Coen Brothers’ troubled remake starring Tom Hanks and Marlon Wayans. In the original, several crooks posing as traveling musicians rent a room in downtown London from a seemingly helpless old lady (Katie Johnson). Several...

“Carnal Knowledge”

By David Rauch | September 1, 2005

After watching 2004’s "Closer," directed by Mike Nichols, I found it impossible not to recap a career highlight for his directing. In 1971, "Carnal Knowledge," starring a young, chauvinistic Jack Nicholson and a sensitive Art Garfunkel of the acoustic...

A southern-comfort feel

By Adrian Finiak | September 1, 2005

Mardi Gras exists all year long at NIU. The New Orleans Room, located in the basement of Stevenson North C, makes this fantasy true. The non-profit lounge is open to all students and is organized by the Residence Hall Association. The room’s theme is...

Library does intensive study on Thoreau

By David Rauch | September 1, 2005

Room 337 of Founders Memorial Library will be the bustling apex of transcendental culture no more. For the last six years, NIU has been the world’s leading researcher on Henry David Thoreau. The research project, known as the Thoreau Edition or "The...

“The Professional”

By Adrian Finiak | September 1, 2005

This Luc Besson film is a vivid portrayal of the life of a professional assassin. Jean Reno plays a skilled hitman who befriends a young, troubled Natalie Portman. Gary Oldman plays a short-tempered crooked cop who kills Portman’s family over a misplaced...

The Cribs: The New Fellas

By Derek Wright | September 1, 2005

Pop-culture critic David Eggers theorizes we listen to songs to "solve" them. When a track loses its mystery, it loses its purpose. If so, The Cribs’ sophomore LP poses one riddle: "Where have we heard this before?" The English siblings’ mimicry is...

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