New DVD Exposes Nardwuar at His Most Classic, Annoying “Welcome to My Castle” By Ashleigh Mattern, The Sheaf (University of Saskatchewan) SASKATOON (CUP) -- His voice is high- pitched and irritating, and a moment’s glance at his style of interviewing—a high-energy attack that often features nonsensical questions — leaves one doubting whether or not to take him seriously. But whether you love him or hate him, Nardwuar the Human Serviette is a undeniable Canadian star, and a closer look at Nardwuar and his style of interviewing reveals an intelligent reporter and an extremely interesting person. Nardwuar has achieved great success since his debut as a reporter for the UBC college radio station CiTR in 1987, but not just for his interviews. His achievements include owning his own record label, playing in two bands — The Evaporators and Thee Goblins — and doing interviews for MuchMusic and a variety of music magazines. In his spare time, he promotes shows in Vancouver, releases DVD compilations of his interviews, and runs a website with transcripts and videos of his interviews. From a quick perusal of this list, it seems Nardwuar has interviewed “When watching Nardwuar’s newest DVD, remember that can ook forward to approved of RCMP officers pepper spraying protesters outside. Chrétien, evidently confused, replied, “for me, pepper, I put it on my plate.” One of the outcomes of Nardwuar’s over-the-top style of interviewing is his ability to draw out unconventional answers. Although some stars have appreciated his interesting style, suchas Michael Moore and Marilyn Manson, sometimes his personality is too much for the stars he interviews, and many of them react with anger. In one infamous scenario, Sebastian Bach of Skid Row physically attacked Nardwuar and stole his signature toque. Other times his persistence and penchant for going places he’s not supposed to be gets him ultra-exclusive interviews, like his interview with Kurt Cobain—the last Canadian interview before Cobain’s death. After a recent scare with a cerebral hemorrhage it seemed as though the days of Nardwuar’s highly entertaining interviews might come to an end. Luckily he recovered, and fans of Nardwuar ° ° f oe <<) the skip button is your (2 mow’ yeas © influential musician fi end.” his unique approach to from almost every riend. journalism. genre. Surely there From the moment you is no one else in the world who has interviewed both Hilary Duff and Slayer. The list is literally the ABCs of music superstars: from Alice Cooper and Arcade Fire, to Bright Eyes and Broken Social Scene, to Classified and Courtney Love... the list goes on. Nardwuar, often considered a guerrilla journalist, is known for sneaking into press conferences disguised as a normal journalist, and then asking scandalous questions. One of his more famous moments was when he asked Jean Chrétien at the Vancouver 1997 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference if the Prime Minister encounter his new DVD compilation, Welcome to My Castle, Nardwuar manages to annoy you. The front of the DVD features a shirtless Nardwuar, a sight no one should have to see. During the DVD menu, a woman repeatedly sings his name so you’re forced to press play immediately, or go insane. The beginning of the DVD features an awful song performed by Nardwuar and his band The Evaporators called “Welcome to My Castle” in which he repeatedly sings the words, “welcome to my castle.” When watching Nardwuar’s newest DVD, remember that the skip xedonne Anais than’a'm ad 7" Sy TTA IY button is your friend. With so much footage, it’s hard to feel bad skipping past some of the less interesting interviews, or any of the songs by Nardwuar’s band. Welcome to My Castle is a prequel to his last DVD, Doola Doot Doo... Doot Doo! Aside from the interviews, his newest DVD is interesting just for all the awesome 90s fashion. The camera shots are unconventional, showing more than just Nardwuar and his interviewees. The DVD also comes with a 16- page booklet featuring articles written about and by Nardwuar, including a copy of a signed letter from Jello Biafra (man, that guy has a crazy signature). If it weren’t for his unique personality, Nardwuar would never have interviewed so many famous artists, but he also takes a lot of shit from some of them. In one interview with Jello Biafra (the DVD features two), Biafra takes a permanent marker and starts drawing all over Nardwuar’s face. Unfazed, Nardwuar continues to ask his planned February 4, 2008 Daal * m questions, which is fairly commendable. Sonic Youth also takes Nardwuar’s approach the wrong way, and seems to think it’s a joke of some sort. They make fun of him, and refuse to answer any of his questions, even the serious ones, with a truthful answer. The result is a long, hardly entertaining interview that offers no information about the group, although they do say some pretty funny stuff. The interview with Cobain is surreal. A very casual Cobain is backstage eating pizza after a show as a very collected Nardwuar chats with him about nothing in particular. Welcome to My Castle is an interesting DVD, and definitely worth watching. Even if you’re not a fan of Nardwuar, the interviews are entertaining. Who doesn’t like to see politicians and B-list actors taken a little off-balance by a zany question? And with more than five hours of interviews, it will keep you busy for a while. Don't Miss Cloverfield By Garth McLennan Csi, which has been an incredibly high grossing movie, is an awesome thrill ride. The whole movie is filmed through the use of an ordinary video camera by different characters in the movie. Almost everything about this movie was awesome. The camera shots make you feel like you’re re right in the middle of the action, and the acting is great. The story itself is a combination of terrific writing and a wonderfully intriguing and mysterious plot straight from the mind of the brilliant J.J. Abrams, the guy who made LOST. Cloverfield has numerous mysterious and parts you have to watch closely to find. There are also dozens of hints layered throughout the Internet, provided by Abrams, which help unravel the mysteries. If you go and see this movie, I guarantee you won’t be disappointed, and don’t forget to stay after the credits.