© the other press ¢ Culture Check out these latest releases while they're still warm! Movie: Jersey Girl Release Date: March 26, 2004 Oh God not again. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez return to the silver screen in this dramat- ic comedy from writer/director Kevin Smith. From the looks of it though, this won't be anoth- er Gigli disaster. For one thing, Jennifer Lopez only appears in the first 15 minutes, and besides...even a bad Kevin Smith movie is likely to be entertaining in spots. Just look at Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Book: Gutterboys: A Novel, by Alvin Orloff Release Date: March 2004 According to the publisher, this twisted tale of early 80s Lower Manhattan “portrays a carnal world of orgiastic delights that may never exist again.” The shy 19-year-old Jeremy falls in love with Colin, a disturbed yet brilliant older rejects Jeremy as a lover but takes him on as a protégé. What follows is a look into the decadent world of 80s new- wave nightclubs in the days before AIDS and the war on drugs came along and crashed the party. hustler who Album: Guilt Show, The Get Up Kids Release Date: March 02, 2004 Kansas City’s pioneers of emo return to their roots with this smart, catchy, and mature album. The boys are back in town and ready to rumble after shaking off On A Wire’s mean- dering alt-country vibe along with its producer Scott Litt. Expect a_ bigger, messier sound—but don't wipe those tears from your beers just yet, the album closes with some slower experimental numbers like the densely layered “Dark Night of the Soul.” This series is creepy dark, has large fire arms, vampires, tons of violence and gore, and a story that ties it together in one very entertaining, but messed up way. And unlike recent movies that have given vam- pires guns, this won't make anyone’s head explode trying to comprehend the awfulness. Although, even with the huge amounts of violence and guns, this series turns out to be a bit of a mind fuck in classic anime fash- ion that harkens back to Neon Genisis Evengelion, and much like Eva, Hellsing even manages to work in Religion. My only technical problem with this whole DVD box set is the fact that the sound for both the English and Japanese tracks where only 2.0 channel sound versus 5.1 channel sound. This is especially surprising since these discs are from Pioneer and they tend to be far ahead of their competitors in quality. Although I should point out that its soundtracks have got to be the nicest 2.0 channel ones I’ve ever heard. As for the English voice acting I have to commend every actor for his or her excellent British accents and use of British slang. Except for Crispin Freeman who did a sub-par job in his role as Arucard. I mean, if the show is set in Britain and every- Krispy Kreme Komes to Kanada Ted Morrison OP Contributor American “donuts” establish colony in Delta. Approximately 25 people had wait- ed in line to be the first to enter when the mysterious new building at 72 and Scott Road opened its doors. Kevin Berger of Surrey was the first person in line. “I have the time right now to do it; 1 am going to be here and be the first one” said the self-employed Berger. He told the Vancouver Sun's correspondent that he had eaten his first Krispy Kreme “donut” only ten days prior, but that the experience was “phenomenal.” It may be odd to wait all night for the opening of a doughnut joint, but Berger isn’t even close to the current record: A man in Indiana once waited for 17 days. That's not a misprint: 17 days. Founded by Vernon Rudolph in a North Carolina storefront in 1937, the Krispy Kreme chain has, in recent years, grown to mammoth proportions. While competitor Dunkin’ Donuts boasts 3600 stores in the US alone, Krispy Kreme is truly international, with 319— sorry—320 stores in the US, aes Page 14 http://www.otherpress.ca Hellsing: The Complete Collection Box Set one is British one person should not sound American for no good reason. As for the picture quality, this is where it becomes extremely appar- ent why you paid so much more for a Pioneer disc. The pic- ture is mastered exquis- itely. I doubt you could get it to look any cleaner or sharper than this, although with a slightly heftier price tag than-a normal anime, this should be expected. As for extras, it varies form disc to disc with no overlapping con- tent, which is nice to see. Most of the extras came in the form of concept-art weapon designs or character art, all of which were fairly impressive, which tends to be rare for the art included on DVDs. And just so no one feels bad, I'll mention that they do have clean open- and-close animations, because no anime DVD can legally be made without those requirements. The basics of this story is that a war is going on between the Hellsing Organization and pretty much every Vampire that sets foot in Britain. The odd twist comes in with Arucard, an ancient and pow- erful vampire who serves the DOUG Canada, Mexico, the UK, and Australia. The success of the company is even more startling when one con- siders that in 1990, after 53 years in business, there were still only 66 stores, none outside the US, and that in 2001, Krispy Kreme was still Hellsing family. One thing I should point out is that the Vampires in this anime are not the ones you're probably use to seeing. They don’t burn up in the sunlight, they don't die from a stake in the heart, but they do tend to carry large guns and have some amazing mystic powers. What makes the series interesting is two things—that the vampires are artificially made (which poses the odd question of why a human would make a vampire), and that there exists an ultra secret Vatican H N unknown outside the States. Canadians welcomed Krispy Kreme on December 11, 2001. When the first store outside the US opened in Mississauga Ontario, it set a one-day sales record for the chain. Until now, Vancouverites had to make clandestine pilgrimages to March 3, 2004 organization called Section 13 that hunts down demons, vampires, and abominations. The fan part comes in the apparent hatred between the two organizations. Despite their each having the same goal, this harkens back to my religion com- earlier—Catholics and Protestants have never really gotten along two well. And while the first goal is eliminating vampires, item ment two on that list seems to be getting rid of the Protestant organization Hellsing along with its pet vampire Arucard. Those are the two basic plot elements here, but with only 13 episodes they've packed quite a bit of story into four DVDs. I'd love to discuss more of the finer plot points, but the story moves so fast it’s hard to comment without giving stuff away. So I'll remain silent, but take my word that it’s an intricate story with lots of blood and gore. Basically if you like vampires, guns, blood, gore, religious-conflict parallels, stories that mess up your head, or any combination of the above—you should check out Hellsing. Even though it is pricier than most of the DVDs I usually review, it’s still very much worth the price of admission. UTS, Burlington, Washington, and smug- gle their glazed cargo home lest it be “confiscated” by alert or hungry Canada Customs officials. Now there’s a place for those addicted to doughnuts to get their fix without having to flash a pass- port. The Delta store, with the continued on page 15