7
    Movie Review
    Ichi The Killer
    Never before have I ever seen a movie so
    brilliantly chilling. Originally filmed in Japan and
    aired on IFC with subtitles, I was eager to watch
    it from the start simply because I love the imagi­
    nations of Asian filmmakers. Personally, I prefer
    subtitles over dubbing because with subtitles you
    may not be able to understand what they are say­
    ing and end up having to read the movie, but you
    get all the original emotion intended. Dubbed over,
    you don t know if that was how a certain line was
    supposed to be said or not. This movie is rated R
    for strong violence and various other unsettling
    things, so if you re of weak stomach or simply
    aren t allowed to see R rated films, please don t
    let this be the first film your parents let you see, or
    they will never let you watch another R rated
    movie again.
    With a torture scene that completely demol­
    ishes that shown in Quentin Tarantino s
    Reser­
    voir Dogs, Ichi the Killer
    is definitely not for the
    faint of heart. It is about a young boy named Ichi,
    who had a traumatizing experience as a child that
    makes him feel the need to murder anyone who s
    ever been a bully. The gore effects are not as good
    as they could be, but seeing that most Asian film­
    makers are just getting into using CG effects, I
    can understand this. I still say old­fashioned gore
    effects are the best. If you don t believe me, watch
    John Carpenter s
    The Thing
    .
    In the movie Ichi ends up killing a major
    crime boss, invoking the wrath of its members.
    Among those is the very creepy Kakihara, bril­
    liantly and flawlessly played by the incredible Japa­
    nese actor Tadanobu Asano (Pronounced Tah­
    dan­Oh­Boo Ah­San­Oh). The first thing I noticed
    about Kakihara were the scars extending from the
    corners of his lips. If you look closely in the ciga­
    rette scene, you can see smoke seeping out of the
    scars, briefly suggesting that the piercings also on
    the corners of his lips are for more than decora­
    tion. And they are, as we find out in one horrify­
    ing moment towards the end of the film some­
    thing I will only tell you if you don t plan on see­
    ing it; I don t want to ruin it for the others.
    Kakihara is a masochist, feeling that true love
    can only be expressed through agony and pain. He
    is also criminally insane and endlessly sadistic, as
    you will soon find out when that nasty torture scene
    comes around. This movie is somewhat hard to
    follow. I had to watch it twice, so I admit it is
    confusing in some parts. Kakihara spends most
    of the movie looking for the mysterious person
    who killed his boss and eventually runs into him
    and picks a fight. He feels that Ichi is the only
    person worthy of killing him. Needless to say,
    Kakihara has some issues. Along with this, you
    begin to find out more of Ichi s clouded past and
    why he is so keen on destroying all those who are
    evil to people.
    Ichi is a very confused and frightened boy.
    He cries as he does in his victims and states very
    clearly he does not want to kill people. It s inter­
    nal rage and horrible memories that drives him,
    and as the story progresses, you feel more sympa­
    thy than fear for him.
    All in all,
    Ichi The Killer
    is about ten times
    more violent than
    Kill Bill
     
    and infinitely more
    spine tingling than any other movie. I actually had
    to look away in one scene; something I have never
    done before.
    Brilliant film. From me, it gets a
    10 out of 10.
    MusicReview
    You ll Rebel to Anything
    Mindless Self Indulgence
    There is no correct way to describe the musi­
    cal genre that MSI fits into. Basically, they have
    none.
    You ll Rebel to Anything
    is one of the most
    tense, freakishly fun, and strident albums ever re­
    leased by this band. Their front man, Jimmy
    Euringer (AKA Little Jimmy Urine), can only be
    described as a helium voiced, speed singing ma­
    niac that s never met a swear word he didn t like;
    he isn t afraid to completely destroy a Rush song
    in an insane cover of
    Tom Sawyer
    and can pro­
    duce the most insane lyrics I ve ever listened to.
    This album features furiously twitchy songs that
    all seem to be put through a glitchy, stuttering
    techno­blender.
    MSI is the only band I know of that can com­
    bine the straight­fingered bar chords, so loved on
    the heavy metal scene, with ping­pong synth notes
    that are borderline plunderphonics style of editing
    things down to create one crazy album in which
    each track has a million things going on all at once.
    It would make even the fastest thrash band drop
    their jaws in awe. This CD is made for the rebel­
    lious teenager, but rarely does such irresponsibil­
    ity, irreverence, and ire come wrapped in an explo­
    sive little package that sounds so good. Even open­
    ing the CD booklet will plunge you into MSI s world
    before you can hear the actual album, for on the
    first page it simply says,
    All the censorship in
    the world can t make up for bad parenting.
    I could only smile and praise Little Jimmy
    Urine for being so intelligent because he couldn t
    be more right. His intellect shows even more in
    the track named after the CD:
    You ll Rebel to
    Anything (As long as It s not Challenging) .
    The opening lines:
    Hey you in the uniform/so you won t be
    ignored/you are affected/and so you accept
    it
    This song pertains to every modern punk
    and goth in the US. In the words of Paul
    Gilmartin,
    The average American wouldn t
    know how to question authority if it was at the
    other end of a knock­knock joke.
    Both the comedian and the song are right. The
    average teen rebels at their own convenience. Very
    rarely will you see one that will go out of their way
    to stand for their beliefs. And that, my friends, is
    the high point of this CD. After this track the rest
    of the songs seem to die down a bit and become a
    tad less interesting, but overall
    You ll Rebel to
    Anything
    gets a 9 out of 10 from me.
    By the way:
    Plunderphonics
    is a term origi­
    nally coined by John Oswald in 1985 for an essay
    entitled
    Plunderphonics, or Audio Piracy as a Composi­
    tional Prerogative
    . Although the concept of
    plunderphonics is seemingly broad, in practice
    there are many common themes used in what is
    normally called plunderphonic music. This includes
    heavy sampling of educational videos of the
    1950 s, news reports, radio shows, or anything with
    trained vocal announcers. It should be noted that
    Oswald rarely used these contributions to this genre,
    the exception being his rap­like 1975 track
    Power.
    Credit to Wikipedia.org for the definition.
    Danielle Mammano, Junior
    Lyons Welcomes
    Conrad Birdie to
    the Stage
    By: Christian Gardner
    Bye Bye Birdie,
    this year s spring musi­
    cal, is about a young singer, Conrad Birdie, who s
    been drafted into the army. Conrad Birdie, who
    can be referred to as the Elvis Presley of the story,
    is to have a nationally televised goodbye kiss.
    Birdie s boss, Albert Peterson has arranged him to
    kiss one lucky average teenage girl. The kiss is to
    take place on the famous Ed Sullivan show. Paral­
    lel to Conrad getting ready to be drafted and his
    final TV appearance before the induction, Albert
    Peterson, Conrad s agent, has his own problems
    with his longtime girlfriend/secretary Rose Alvarez,
    who is waiting for the long expected wedding ring.
    Albert s mother, who thinks Rosie is some siren,
    causes problems for them. With Rosie trying to
    launch off her own career, and Conrad getting to
    know the kids of the town, this musical is bound
    to be full of laughter.
    Ms Irene Brown, a second grade teacher
    here in Lyons, is the director and choreographer
    of the show. Ms Brown directed and choreo­
    graphed 2005 s production of
    Leader of the Pack
    .
    Leader of the Pack
    s vocal and pit Orchestra di­
    rectors, Danielle Ellis and Mrs. C. Clark are also
    returning.
    Audition Dates for this year s musical are
    November 28
    th
    and 29
    th
    , and callbacks are the 30
    th
    if needed. Show dates are March 17
    th
    through 19
    th
    .
    Everyone is welcome to do the musical,
    as there are plenty of parts. Singers and actors are
    needed as well as musicians for the Pit Orchestra.
    Also, anyone willing to take part in the Stage/Tech
    Crew is welcome, and painters are needed. Stage/
    Tech crew involves working with lights, sound and
    lots of other stuff, including building the set and
    moving stuff during the show. Practices take place
    after school and on Saturdays. More information
    about the show will be released shortly.
    Underground Movie
    Corner
    Tiffany Graham, Sophomore
    This section in the newspaper will be dedicated
    to the movies you most likely don t get to hear about
    by watching T.V. and listening to the radio. You will be
    introduced to movies that are available to you in Pick­
    a­Flick and on channel 800, the Movie­On­Demand
    channel.
    This past month I have watched a movie filmed
    in Rochester, N.Y. This Rated R suspense/murder
    mystery is called
    After Image
    directed by Robert
    Manganelli. Starring in this film are Louise Fletcher, play­
    ing the role of Aunt Cora, and John Mellencamp, who
    plays Joe, a crime scene photographer obsessed with
    death.
    After Image
    is a movie about a deaf woman
    and a man named Joe that try to unravel the deaf
    woman s images of murder. They join together and
    begin searching for the man that is killing all of these
    innocent people. As the movie rolled along, it became
    more interesting to guess what was going to happen
    next. This movie doesn t make a whole lot of sense,
    but it kept me at the edge of my seat, as I was trying to
    figure out what was going on the whole time.
    I recommend this movie to anyone who loves
    movies that you have to really think about.
    Entertainment For All!!!
    Danielle Mammano, Junior
    Your Mane Event

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