THE RETRIEVER WEEKLY January 31, 2006 11 Arts & Entertainment Actor Chris Penn Dies at 40

NICK TESTA Retriever Weekly Editorial Staff Aside from his work with Tarantino, Penn engaged in a wide variety of work, lending This past week, Chris Penn—actor and his voice to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and brother of Mystic River star Sean Penn—was his distinctive personality to films including found dead by his house keeper at his home Rush Hour, Beethoven’s 2nd and the mob parody in Santa Monica, California. While not a Corky Romano. He also made guest appearances household name for many, Chris Penn starred on TV shows such as “Will and Grace,” “CSI: in such films as Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Miami” “Law and Order: Criminal Intent” and Dogs and Footloose. His latest film, The Darwin “Entourage.” Awards, was set to premiere this past week at Many film critics and others (myself The Sundance Film Festival. included) consider Chris Penn to be one of the The Santa Monica police have said that most underrated actors of his time. Chris was there was no evidence of foul play involved and often overshadowed to an extent by his older that his autopsy indicates Penn died a “natural and audacious brother Sean, but none the less death.” Although the specific cause of his death talented. If you aren’t familiar with Chris Penn, has yet to be revealed, it is said that prior to his I strongly recommend seeing him in Reservoir death Penn weighed 270 lbs and that his health Dogs alongside such great actors as Steve had been in decline. His neighbors, quoted Buscemi and Tim Roth. The film is a great in the Santa Monica Daily Press, said that he gangster movie on its own, but is also a stellar had seemed unhealthy as of late and that “You example of his talent. knew he was hurting.” A few of the deceased’s neighbors even said they weren’t surprised by Nick Testa is the Assistant Editor of Arts and his passing, and that they had even suspected it Entertainment for The Retriever Weekly. He can Yahoo Movies when they hadn’t seen him for a few days. be reached at [email protected]. Gangstas: Chris Penn (left) in Resevior Dogs with Steve Buscemi (center) and Michael Madsen (right) New Facebook feature shows more of the same NICK TESTA Retriever Weekly Editorial Staff listed in the top ten books. Not a huge surprise, So how does this happen? Well, let’s take a look there whose primary goal in making a Facebook but interesting nonetheless. At military and naval at two bands on the Face Book Top 10. The Beatles profile is not to depict themselves truthfully, but to universities you’ll find that the books are often and Led Zeppelin. The Beatles broke up in 1970, impress others with name-dropping. Facebook.com has a new feature called more diverse than the national trend in favorite and Led Zeppelin in 1980. While they’re both very In defense of these bands they are good, and “Pulse,” which measures trends in what people put books. And at some schools, such as Morgan State good bands, neither has had a new song in a long it’s nice to see them getting more exposure. But it’s in their profiles in terms of their favorite movies, University, the lists are almost completely different time and is definitely not getting heavy circulation really only because the CEOs at Hot Topic and music and so on. But what can this new feature of than the Facebook average. on radio stations aimed at younger people. So why other companies decided to hop on the retro band the Facebook show us in terms of where the tastes But the main point here is that these colleges aren’t older artists like The Clash or Bob Dylan in wagon. So to that end, this new Facebook feature of college students and young people in general are are exceptions. In the categories of music, movies the top ten? As far as I am concerned, it’s because doesn’t really show us anything new, just the same aimed? And more importantly, what do I think and television, the majority of colleges are the some guys in a boardroom decided they’d be better old radio and TV endorsed media. Although about it? same. Titles may change position in the top ten as off slapping Beatles and Led Zeppelin logos on t- it would seem that its users are at fault in this If you haven’t taken a look at the Pulse feature their popularity shifts from college to college, but shirts to make money off of young people. situation. While it could prove to be an interesting yet, it is really not much more than a top ten list over all it’s the same stuff in a different order. Lets face it, older groups like these are “cool” sociology study, don’t count on it to expose you to for movies, music, television, and books according Now this can mean a lot of things. For one, it’s now because retro is in and you don’t have to original things. to those listed in every Facebook user’s profile. a very clear sign of how people’s tastes are becoming listen to a band to buy their shirt-- list them in You can look at specific colleges and their trends very homogenized. In all fairness there are a lot of your Facebook favorites and follow that trend. Nick Testa is the Assistant Editor of Arts and and compare them to the whole database or one factors that go into this list, such as the average age Hot Topic and Target are selling Beatles shirts not Entertainment for The Retriever Weekly, and thinks another. of a Facebook user, their ethnicity, religion, gender because they’ve put out a new album, but because more people should listen to the Clash. Argue with Using this feature can yield some interesting and so on. But that doesn’t change the fact that they’ve convinced people it’s cool to like bands you him about the virtues of Facebook at nicktesta@trw. results. For example, at Brigham Young University UMBC, a fairly diverse school, has 9 out of 10 might not even listen to. As much as we don’t like umbc.edu. in Utah you’ll find that The Book of Mormon is artists in common with the overall Facebook list. to admit it, there are entirely too many people out Winter break a time for reading JULIE SAGER all time: the exploration of a large meteor orbiting Retriever Weekly Editorial Staff the earth known simply as the Stone, which turns out to be hollow, and filled with ruins of ancient Semester breaks are a time of many changes for human civilizations. In the course of their work, the UMBC community. Without a heavy courseload they discover that these old buildings and libraries and class readings, we find ourselves able to make are actually remnants of a future human world that dramatic shifts in our schedules to accommodate has somehow met them in the past/future, a sort things we might not get to accomplish otherwise. of backwards time capsule that serves the unique Some students spend their breaks working or purpose of warning present humanity of the great volunteering; others opt to travel, explore, and spend dangers that lay ahead. As war wages back on earth, quality time with family and friends. As for me, I a small group of scientists and soldiers are trapped spent pretty much all of January sitting on the couch outside to watch, and their explorations bring them in my parents’ house, watching Animal Planet and closer to the realization that the Stone may not be as reading anything printed on paper that I can find. totally abandoned as it seems. It may not be the greatest sci-fi I’ve ever read, but it’s a very fine attempt. Bear avoids many of Greg Bear, Eon the troubles I associate with epic novels: his science, While the cover touts Eon as “the greatest while researched, is either simple enough for the science fiction novel of our time,” I’d say that’s a average English major to understand or not made bit of a stretch. Granted, I do have a morbid fear crucial enough to the plot to make it confusing for of any attempt at a giant, generation-spanning sort those without a scientific background. His characters of story—delightfully ironic, since there are two are varied, likable, and easy to remember. of them on this list—but I find that such books often run the risk of being utterly confusing if not outright dull. However, Greg Bear has made fair Jeff Long, The Descent work of the science-fiction epic genre in this book. I came across this book completely by accident: Telling a story of destruction, discovery, and the my mom found it abandoned on an airplane and power of human knowledge, Eon follows a young figured that, with its horror-esque plotline and facebook.com physicist named Patricia Vasquez as she is invited see READING, page 12. The Pulse: The new facebook feaure keeps track of what’s popular. to participate in the greatest scientific discovery of