Fall in love with The Sticks

‘The Sticks review

By Sophie Isbister,
Contributor

eleased on September

18, a mere year and a
half after 2011’s Eureka,
local indie darlings Mother
Mother leap out of the gate
with The Sticks.

Their fourth full-length
album has the same brain-
blasting pop-rock sound as
their third, as can be heard

on the first single, “Let’s
Fall In Love.” “Let's Fall
in Love” is a fantastically
loud lampooning of love,
parodying the Cole Porter
classic “Let’s Do It (Let’s
Fall in Love),” stating those
that dare to fall into it are
both everyone and unlucky.
I can’t think of any
other band that utilizes
their backup singers as well
as Mother Mother. Lead
singer Ryan Guldemond’s
voice cuts clean, but it’s
the mocking, sassy chorus
of Molly Guldemond and
Jasmin Parkin that really

amps up the dimensions
in this otherwise ordinary
band. All three voices
harmonize masterfully on
tracks like “Waiting for
the World to End” and
“Little Pistol.” The clever,
sarcastic and sometimes
self-effacing lyrics on tracks
like “Infinitesimal” and
“Happy” prove that Mother
Mother are the full package.
Keep those albums
coming guys, because The
Sticks proves that, at least
for this band, quality and
quantity go hand in hand.

 

MOTHER
ma OUR is

 

By Lauren Paulsen,
Contributor

OOO

he Mob Doctor, an

American series that
premiered last Sunday
night on Fox, as the name
implies, is about a surgeon
who works for the mob—
not by choice, mind you.
Dr. Grace Devlin Jordana

 

Spiro) is paying off a debt
to the mob to prevent them
from killing her brother,
Nate Jesse Lee Soffer),

due to Nate’s own series

of debts. Unfortunately for
Grace, she lives on-call at a
hospital for 24-hour shifts,
providing her with a nice
full plate of work.

Usually her
“moonlight” jobs entail
simple things, for example,
pulling a screwdriver out

of someone’s head. She
basically performs on
whatever the mob doesn’t
want authorities finding
out about. But when it
comes time for Grace to
eliminate a survivor who
insists on going to the FBI,
how far is she willing to go
to keep her brother safe?
When I first heard
about The Mob Doctor, all
I could think was, “Really?
Are they serious?” I found

out later, however, that this
show is actually based on
a book, entitled II Dottore:
The Double Life of a Mafia
Doctor (2005) by Ron
Felber, a story based on an
actual surgeon’s real-life
dealings with the mob in
the ‘70s and ‘80s. That bit
of information certainly
grabbed my attention, so I
decided to give the show a
shot.

Despite several clichés

The professional dilemmas of The Mob Doctor

in storytelling, the basic
plot has a nice backbone.

It tests our sense of morals
and shows us a grey, rather
than black and white. This
show has potential, as it is
arguably a fresh idea, but
we ll just have to see if The
Mob Doctor can survive on
its own.

 

Taking the LAAAW’ into your own hands

By Angela Espinoza,
Arts Editor

i the midst of its recent

remake, it’s been

impossible not to try and

compare the 1995 Stallone

so-bad-it’s-good version

of Judge Dredd and
2012’s Dredd (3D).
What most are
finding though is

that despite the fact

Urban). The city houses
eight million people, and

is essentially a shit hole in
the middle of a dessert. The
judges operate as “judge,
jury, and executioner” on
those that commit crimes.
On this particular day,
Dredd is partnered up with

200 floors of the apartment

complex Peach Trees. Once
Ma-Ma puts the complex on

lockdown, it’s two against
dozens for Dredd and his
rookie.

With Nolan’s Batman
movies being what they
are, it wasn’t so difficult to

that they’re both
based on the British

oe
comic 2000 AD and

TAM... THE LAWYER!!!
wear similar uniforms,

the two films really have
nothing in common—plot,
characters, or otherwise.

It all begins with a
Christian Bale Batman-like

 

¢ ¢ Once Ma-Ma puts the complex on

lockdown, its two against dozens
for Dredd and his rookie.

psychic rookie Cassandra

Anderson (Olivia Thirlby)

imagine a man with a gruff
voice putting the law into
for her training exercise.

his own hands. Even better

 

narration about the
colony of Mega-City
One, courtesy of Judge
Dredd himself (Karl

This also happens to be the
day they cross the path of
insatiably violent drug lord
“Ma-Ma’ (Lena Headey),
who essentially rules all

though is that Urban plays
his character for laughs;
Dredd is so dedicated to
his job, not once does he

change his tone, the way he

performs his actions—he
essentially has no character
arc, and it’s intentional
(and amazing). It is instead
Thirlby’s character we get
to see learn the ways of
ajudge, and grow into a
badass.

The film utilizes its use
of 3-D in glamourizing the
fictional drug “Slo-Mo,”
which apparently slows
the brain down to one per
cent of its regular speed.

In terms of technicality,
these are without question
some of the best parts of the
movie.

Dredd is heavy on the
violence and plays it for
laughs, and I can’t wait to
see it again.