The Tower Friday, March 10, 2006 7 Entertainment

Spring Break Trips: The ‘Tsotsi’ Adaption Loses Good, The Bad and The Funny Deeper Meaning of Book LAS VEGAS – 6 DAYS, 5 NIGHTS AIRFARE/HOTEL: $560 (Package deal with America West Vacations; The Flamingo hotel on the center of The Strip and roundtrip, non-stop airfare.) CAR RENTAL/MONORAIL: $55 FOOD: $200 (Split between buffets, fast food and a nice “dress up” dinner) (For those 21 and older, drinks are free if you gamble… a great way to save some cash.) SPENDING MONEY: $100 (Tacky souvenirs!) SHOWS: $150 (Includes 2 stage shows, an art exhibit, a tour of the Hoover Dam and a visit to the Titanic Artifact Exhibition) GAMBLING: Depends on your Luck (One visitor walked away $90 in debt, another won approximately $700. This is the only town where you could win back what you paid for your entire trip.) BIGGEST SNAFU: When booking through a vacation agency, make sure the airline does indeed confirm your room reservation. We arrived at the airport only to be told at the airport hotel check-in that there was no room reserved for us. A few phone calls across the country and a stressful hour later we were able to enter the room we had originally reserved. Save yourself the hassle and double-check before you get on the early morning flight. Also, the slot machines are addictive. Set a daily limit for yourself to ensure that you do not enter a bottomless pit of debt. WAS IT WORTH IT: Once you get over the sticker shock, Vegas is a great place to visit for Spring Break. The weather is mild and there is always (day or night) something to do. Those looking to save some cash could merely go for a weekend, for few weekdays or stay at a budget hotel and enjoy themselves immensely.

COURTSEY MIRAMAX FILMS A young South African thug tries to redeem himself by raising a child that he accidently kid- SAN FRANCISCO – 5 DAYS, 4 NIGHTS naps during a carjacking. “Tsotsi” both glorifies and realistically portrays the ghetto. PACKAGE: $520 (Hotel with roundtrip airfare and transportation to and from the airport) By DAVID SMEDBERG fleshed out considerably through flashbacks. Is it TRANSPORTATION IN THE CITY: $24 (7-day unlimited, multi-pass to the MUNI system. It Tower Staff the child (as it is in the book) who unlocks these includes the cable cars!) memories for him, which he had buried because FOOD: $150 Conversion stories vary as much as conversion they were too painful? Or are the flashbacks merely SPENDING MONEY: $50 (including buying an umbrella – see below.) experiences themselves, but one common theme is a cinematic device so that the audience’s interest BIGGEST SNAFU: Getting caught in the pouring rain without an umbrella while out to dinner. salvation that is effected through innocence, often and curiosity can be satisfied? Likewise, a crucial WAS IT WORTH IT: Definitely. The city has a ton of stuff to do (Alcatraz was $16), food is rel- personified by a child. Indeed, in the original con- early scene depicts the tsotsi’s interaction with a atively cheap and the nightlife is lively. Also, their metro system is really easy to use and who version story, St. Augustine’s “Confessions”, his crippled beggar, whom he corners to rob but then can’t resist cable cars? change of heart is precipitated by a child’s voice, releases, signifying his change from heartless crimi- heard singing the words, “Take and read.” In nal to human being – but what exactly his reasons “Tsotsi,” an Academy-Award-winning tale of for changing might be is unclear. redemption and hope set against South Africa’s The movie lacks also the book’s deeply-felt spir- strife-torn city streets, the events which lead to the ituality and excises all of the scenes related to the tsotsi’s (a word which means thug) life-changing “Church of Jesus Cries”, as the Africans called it. experience are also precipitated, in a vastly different What remains is a curious blend – the surface story way, by a child. remains largely unchanged, along with its brutality Very loosely based on the stunning novel by and heartrending power, but the deeper significance South African playwright Athol Fugard, the movie has been lost, or at least fundamentally changed. is updated to the present but retains, with crucial The result is some nasty contradictions – while the chances, the eternal tale of redemption, along with story decries the terrible realities of the ghetto slum raising pertinent questions about race, class and life, the soundtrack’s popular ‘kwaito’ glori- power. fies them. Even as we are shown the terrible conse- The main character has never had a home and quences which abject poverty has wreaked upon the has adopted a life of violent crime, until he carjacks country, director Gavin Hood has adopted a rich woman’s car without knowing that her baby Hollywood cops-and-robbers storytelling conven- child rests in the back seat. When he discovers the tions which are fundamentally celebratory of the child, it awakens in him a desire to discover the sort kinds of practices which caused that poverty. (Not of life that, up to that point, he had lacked. He takes to mention that he fails to reflect reality on a much the child home and attempts pathetically to care for more basic level, with the over filtered cinematogra- it, eventually forcing a local woman at knifepoint to phy – in several scenes, the sky isn’t blue, it’s orange, assist him. However, the child’s family is hardly and it’s just distracting.) resigned to the loss of their baby, and, possessing Emotionally striking but intellectually upside- the money and influence to force the reluctant police down, “Tsotsi” is the kind of movie which the into action, begin to close the net around the tsotsi. Oscars have historically been vulnerable to honor- The character motivations for the young criminal ing, but it cannot be recommended. are never made quite clear although his past gets BETH MERLO / TOWER STAFF ST. PETERSBURG, FL – 5 DAYS, 4 NIGHTS Song of the Moment You Aren’t GAS MONEY: $75-$100 HOTEL: $90 (Split among friends) FOOD: $80 Does booze count as food? $115 Listening To, But Should Be SPENDING MONEY: $5 By NIGEL T. GULLY BIGGEST SNAFU: Assuming “8 miles to the beach” meant it was going to take 10 minutes to Tower Staff drive to the beach. Like a sucker, I believed the hotel’s website. WAS IT WORTH IT: Totally. It was a hell of a lot nicer than D.C. Artist: Octet Title: “Recluse Street (‘Girl’ remix)” : “Guerolito” Genre: Electronic-pop The bottom line: once again affirms his dedication to the pursuit of highly artistic, orig- DISNEY WORLD – inal music with his latest release, “Guerolito”- a remixed version of his latest album, “Guero” (Spanish slang for “white boy”). Remix artists aboard the project include upcoming indie 5 DAYS, 4 NIGHTS artists such as 8-Bit, El-P and , as well as established musicians like AIR and Adrock (of the ). One of the most thoughtful pieces comes from the French elec- tronica duo Octet (Benjamin Morando and Suzanne Thoma) whose remix of the shiny, 60’s PACKAGE: $400 (Hotel with 3-day Cali-surfer sounding “Girl” focuses on the lyrical dimension to produce a more aggressive, park hopper tickets and transportation melancholy track. The song begins with a dark, fleeting piano melody (imagine someone run- to and from airport.) ning from a killer in a pitch-dark forest) which pauses before joining Beck’s vocals in a duet: AIRFARE: $160 Roundtrip on “I saw her, yea I saw her/ With her black tongue tied ‘round the roses/.” A few seconds later Southwest the pace accelerates with the addition of muffled drums, a humming synthesizer and a static- SPENDING MONEY: $150 (including like guitar distortion; the pace bounces between three speeds, each designed to perfectly add food) emphasis to very specific lines from Beck’s despondent lyrics about his infatuation with a BIGGEST SNAFU: No hot guys directionless, enigmatic girl. A truly dynamic change takes place about ¾ way through the remotely close to our age. song as the vocals are destroyed (cut-off, distorted, fragmented and layered upon amidst a WAS IT WORTH IT: Definitely. torrent of electronic shrills, beeps, and knife carving samples) and then tormented (violently stretched and suppressed) in order to mirror Beck’s self-agonizing nihilistic philosophy which is very latent in the song’s lyrics- as well as many other songs found on “Guerolito.” It’s clear KATHLEEN KOMARINSKI / TOWER STAFF Octet’s remix not only offers a noteworthy new perspective on the piece, but also affirms their LONDON AND DUBLIN – 8 DAYS, 7 NIGHTS keen composing skills and promise for the future. AIRFARE: $550 HOTEL: Friends and youth hostels; we lived cheaply! FOOD: $200 (that doesn’t include beer.) SPENDING MONEY: $400 (including $80 train ticket to Blarney to get the gift of gab!) BIGGEST SNAFU: Missing our international flight home, spending 24 hours in four different Like bossing people around and getting airports and losing luggage. WAS IT WORTH IT: Definitely. I got to see my friends that are studying abroad while enjoying the final say? fish and chips and Guinness. Become an editor at The Tower! —Contributing to this article: Meghan Gates, Beth Merlo, Matt Butram, [email protected] Kathleen Komarinski and Kate McGovern, respectively