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www.ubyssey.bc.ca WIKI HEALTH VELOMUTATIONS ASWANY: A NOVEL EVENT CAR Hi ERIOU It'sanobrainer. 35 bucks for all this! (per month, with Fido® Agreement) -O- i 250 weekday minutes Unlimited evenings and weekends from 7 p.m. Unlimited incoming calls 100 long-distance minutes within Canada Free Call Display Hurry to the Student Phones kiosk for your free little black book, with a listing of our favourite local hangouts. M&KjgSTUDENUT www.stuciempnones.com Or call 1 866 287-1835 to subscribe. A monthly system access fee of J6.95 (non-governmental fee), a monthly 911 emergency service fee (50a|. taxes, long-distance and roaming charges,as well as other charges are not included. For information about these fees, visit fidcca. The Motorola L2 is free to new customers activating a monthly airtime packages with a 3 year Fido-Agreement while quanti^^^ The 250 weekday minutes, the unlimited evening* and weekends as well as the unlimited incoming calk apply to local calls only. Each additional minute of local airtime costs 3 DG. Airtime used for calls made and received on the expanded network is not included in your monthly airtime package and costs 255 per minute, The 100 long-distance minutes apply to calls made within Canada and are billed by the second with a 30-second minimum charge. Each additional long-distance minute in Canada cost 304. Fido reserves the right to change this offer as well as the pricing at any time without prior notice. Subject to Fido's Fair Use Policy Some conditions apply fido is a registered trademark of Fido Solutions lner THE UBYSSEY TUESDAY, 26 SEPTEMBER, 2006 CULTURE Riding Alone makes investment too ea*assy RIDING ALONE FOR THOUSANDS OF MILES now playing by Jesse Ferreras CULTURE EDITOR Chinese director Zhang Yimou has made his mark in recent years with martial arts extravaganzas such as Hero and House of Flying Daggers. These films have unfortunately obscured his more solemn, introspective work in such films as 1999's The Road Home and Not One Less. Before his next martial arts epic hits theatres in December, Zhang has returned to his minimal ist roots with some success in Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles. Although it is not as emotionally captivating as his earli er work, the film manages to tell a touching father-and-son story through very simple narrative means. Gon-ichi Takata (Ken Takakura, recognisable to western audiences from Black Rain) is a lonely, sombre old fisherman who has whiled away his time pining over his strained relation ship with his son, Ken-ichi. He has spent many a day staring out to the horizon, isolated and alone with his mournful thoughts. One day he gets a call from Rie (Shinobu Terajima), Ken-ichi's wife, giving him the news that his son is now in the hospital suf fering from liver cancer. Although Takata goes to Tokyo to see an actor who can captivate the audience's attention from laughs out of the difficulties faced by individuals trying to him, his son will have none of it. The only gaze he is allowed beginning to end. Ken Takakura fills this role with immen cross boundaries through appeals to the emotions. into his son's life is through a videotape given to him by Rie. sity, delivering a strong yet emotional rendering of a lonely Unfortunately, the film is hampered from achieving great The tape shows an interview with a performer of Chinese mask old man who has tried hard to obscure his feelings, and in ness by its tendency to use voiceovers to communicate the opera, revealing that Ken-ichi is an expert of Oriental folk arts. so doing has lost all that is dearest to him. The film is thoughts of its characters. Too often, beautiful shots of Takata Prompted by the tape, he ventures to China's Yunnan province extremely effective at representing Takata's isolation, often staring at mountains are disturbed by needless voiceovers that in order to film a performer singing the traditional song, dwarfing him against vast, mountainous landscapes, as communicate insights the audience can already perceive. "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles." On the way, aided by an well as his difficulties of communication through technol Zhang Yimou's Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles is a ineffectual interpreter, Lingo (Liu Qiu,) Takata seeks a stronger ogy and translation. His means contact with others are cel touching work by a director who has perhaps strayed from understanding of the son that he missed out on in all the years lular phones and visual technology, and Zhang goes to great this style for too long to remember how to properly absorb that he has not seen him. lengths to emphasise this. Also effective is the film's gentle his audience. The film is a wonder to look at, but it does not A minimalist work such as this requires the presence of satire of Chinese bureaucracy, which manages to induce quite reach its potential. @ DJ a Shadow of his former self Snow Patrol fails to stun DJ SHADOW He sampled cuts from his previ at the Commodore Ballroom ous albums—Entroducing, the SNOW PATROL September 19 Private Press, In Tune and On Time— at the PNE Forum and a few tracks from his new CD September 21 by Eric Szeto The Outsider. I don't know how you CULTURE STAFF would describe his new CD, but it's by Isabel Ferreras definitely unconventional Shadow. A CULTURE WRITER I knew it was an ominous sign that couple of times while listening to his the sold out DJ Shadow event was new album I had a recurring thought: The PNE forum was smothered with an ambience of going to be more hype than sub "Is this DJ Shadow?" I believe others drunk British men, 14-year-old girls, loud middle-aged stance after an extremely awkward in the audience can attest to that. women and a general sense that what would appear encounter I had with my ex-girlfriend that night would be something worth seeing. The con last Tuesday at the Commodore. cert on September 21 brought together a diverse group Shadow's set started off great. EVOLVING AS A of people to listen to one of Canada's favourite Irish The crowd was buzzing with antici MUSICIAN IS ESSENTIAL... bands, Snow Patrol. pation and the opening track had Snow Patrol's breakthrough album was called Final While most of their greatest hits were played, and the crowd jacked up to the max. IT'S SIMULTANEOUSLY A Straw. With it came the unforgettable hit "Run," which played well, Snow Patrol did little to make themselves And before the novelty of thinking HUGE RISK. shot all the way up to number five on the UK charts, stand out. Nothing that occurred during the concert was to myself that I was actually in front and also resulted in Final Straw reaching number anything out of the ordinary, and while their audience of DJ Shadow wore off, I was com three on the album charts. It sold 1.2 million copies in interaction was sufficient, it bored many fans. That said, pletely drawn into the show. The Unless you are a die-hard fan, the UK alone, and propelled the band to stardom after when the band played "Chasing Cars" and "Run," you visuals and dark, down-tempo style which I thought I was before the years of hard work. After Final Straw, Snow Patrol could not deny the sense of bliss coming out of the crowd. that Shadow fans are familiar with show, you really can't appreciate his knew that the next CD they were to record would have A common sentiment among the crowd was that the show gripped the audience. One of my new album or his attempt to branch to either match, or surpass the quality of their current could have been a lot better, had it been played at the favourite moments was when Chris out. The crowd's gradual disinterest one. Out of this came Eyes Open. Commodore Ballroom as originally planned. The PNE James, who is featured on his new with his set is also a good indicator. On September 21, to promote their new album, Snow Forum proved to be a bit too impersonal (and large) of a album, came and performed This is not a knock for trying new Patrol played to an audience of over 600 eager fans in setting for a band of this character. "Erase You" while Shadow spun. things. Evolving as a musician is Vancouver. Once they finally hit the stage (after an excel Snow Patrol, a band that has many admirers and fol But as the set wore on, it became essential and that's what Shadow is lent opening act called Augustana) there was no chance to lowers, failed to exude their effect on an audience to its more of the same—dreary, repetitive. trying to do. It's simultaneously a escape the noise the crowd made. The audience's enthu full potential. For a band with as many hits as they have, It's not a knock on Shadow. He is one huge risk. siastic screaming was even louder than the sounds of the they must improve their communication with the audi of the great DJs out there right now. Needless to say, a performer of band's speakers. For the amount of screaming and admi ence, should they hope to continue playing big venues. Associated with Quanuum of Ninja DJ Shadow's stature needs to put on ration that came out of the audience, you would expect the However, judging on how many fans they have garnered Tunes, Shadow stands out among the a performance that matches his concert to stun.