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(09/26/14 1:00am)
When I showed up at the Crescent Ballroom for Foxygen’s set Wednesday, I was already expecting a great show. I’d seen the self-proclaimed “psych ward folk” group earlier this year at the first weekend of Coachella, and it was easily the highlight of my weekend.
(09/25/14 10:51pm)
I have been reading classic after classic, and I’m beginning to think it has negative effects on my psyche. After finishing each one, I want to curl up into a ball and start crying. “Why?” you may ask. Well, it seems that many books on my reading list throw me into a world much better than our own. Therefore, when the story is over and I have to get back to real life, I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got all of his toys taken away.
Let me explain myself to those of you who may be wondering, “How on earth is Katniss-land better than modern America?” or “Would you rather live in Oceania and have Big Brother hovering over you?” My answers are, of course, "It’s not," and "No." I’m thankful I live in America in 2014 where we have wonderful gadgets like iWatches and whatnot. I enjoy not having to worry about my safety every second of every day. But I don’t really read too many new books these days; I can’t handle it. The books I’m referring to are the oldies, the classics — gems from the 1920s or 1950s.
Many books published today — the ones that become mega-popular anyway — I can’t wait to finish, to get back to my life. The worlds all feel the same. I no longer want to read about a bombed-out earth, and I don’t really care to skim through another dime-a-dozen mystery. It seems as though books that I’d love, ones that can almost teeter-totter on the edge of creative nonfiction, aren’t being published these days, or at least not being marketed to a large crowd.
Helping none of this is the fact that very few schools offer a nonfiction concentration for students pursuing a bachelor's in creative writing. I think writing about the real world, as we live in it today, is very difficult; many writers try to escape it. But then what books will be the classics from our generation? Which of them will be the commentaries on our lot? We need more writers trained in nonfiction; they would be better equipped to create “real,” intriguing fictional characters that resemble modern humanity.
I’m asked what my favorite book is about once a week, and I always cringe. It’s never any easy choice. I tend to bounce between “The Sun Also Rises” and “The Catcher in the Rye”; I think they are examples of the finest first person narratives ever written. When I’m asked for a more modern favorite, I jump directly to "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" — again, a wonderful narration; I’d never wondered what it would be like to read a novel made up solely of letters.
Yes, all of these stories are sad, so what makes their “world” better? A better writer.
Sure, authors can create fantastic, futuristic worlds for which we can lust, but how deeply can we really connect with the story? Sometimes, like with George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels for example, I feel as if I’m standing next to my favorite character, which is a wonderful feeling, but when I put the book down, I can’t go to Westeros; I can’t ride Daenerys’s dragons.
On the other hand, I can walk around New York like Holden Caulfield; I can go enjoy the Bullfights in Pamplona like Jake Barnes and his companions in “The Sun Also Rises.” This fact changes the way I read; the idea that I could one day experience the places written about in these books captivates me. But as I stated already, my experience wouldn’t be nearly as meaningful or interesting as that of my dear narrators. Cue my disappointment. But this type of disappointment is good! It means that someone has created a story that is better than reality in the eye of the reader — something that doesn’t happen very often.
Calling all colleges and universities: Give aspiring writers a chance to pursue a bachelor's in nonfiction; it could save literature. Writing about what is happening in front of our faces is difficult and often left to journalists. Let students learn how to write about reality, and they may also write some of the best fiction.Reach the columnist at William.Ruof@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @willruofEditor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.Want to join the conversation? Send an email to opiniondesk.statepress@gmail.com. Keep letters under 300 words and be sure to include your university affiliation. Anonymity will not be granted.Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on Twitter.
(09/22/14 10:00pm)
In a recent interview with Refinery29, Christopher Owens said that while recording his debut solo album “Lysandre” in 2012, he distinctly remembered thinking of his fans, “This one they’re gonna have a hard time with, but the next one, I’m really gonna punch ‘em in the face.”
(09/22/14 8:00pm)
(09/16/14 12:00am)
If one thing can be said of Interpol, it is that it never strays far from the beaten path. In the case of many bands, this would annoy me, but like some of favorite groups, Beach House or Fleet Foxes for example, Interpol is a band that does its thing and does it well every time.
(09/16/14 12:00am)
I haven’t gotten around to reading Bret Easton Ellis’s “American Psycho.” I’ve meant to for a couple of years, but other books just seem to get in the way. I’ve also wanted to see the movie; I’d heard how crazy it was, and I was already a huge Christian Bale fan, so I gave in and watched the movie before reading the book. I know, I know — the book is so much better. I bet it is, but that doesn’t change the fact that this film is insane.
(09/11/14 11:00pm)
In light of a recent event at a Florida high school where a student was forced to wear a “shame suit” after violating the dress code, it is imperative to discuss the immorality of school administrations shaming their students into obeying the rules.
On the third day of classes at Oakleaf High School, a teacher in the hall told Miranda Larkin that her dress was too short. After being sent to the nurse’s office, Larkin was told to put on the “dress-code-violation outfit,” which consists of a giant baggy t-shirt with the words “DRESS CODE VIOLATOR” written in all caps across the front and huge sweat pants with the same phrase written on the side.
Now, this is an extreme example, but still something that goes on everyday in schools across the country. Teachers and administrators send students, usually young women, to the office for dress code violations all the time, and often they are given the choice of wearing something from the school, like a giant shirt that wouldn’t even fit Chewbacca, or some ratty, old thing from the lost and found, or taking an in-school suspension or detention. Sometimes students are allowed to arrange for parents to bring them a change of clothes, but that is often very difficult if both parents have full-time jobs.
So basically, these students are left with two choices: Take the school's nasty clothes and be embarrassed all day — because everyone will know you violated the dress code — or receive a punishment that could go on your record. Naturally, some students will be pressured into enduring the embarrassment.
Students in high school don’t need to be pressured or harassed any more than they are on a daily basis, and they definitely don’t need to deal with that from their administration. Students know if a peer has violated the dress code because the borrowed clothes are usually oversized or grungy. This allows them to easily point out, and make fun of, those who break the rule. In Larkin's case, she broke out in hives due to this embarrassment. Is this what schools consider a proactive punishment? Students who are made fun of will sometimes do anything it takes to be “cool;” they are peer pressured much more easily. Isn’t this something schools should be trying to prevent? But still, society mandates that dress codes are necessary, so what is one potential way to fix the problem?
Don’t give the students a choice between punishments.
Instead of forcing students to choose between social embarrassment and a demerit in their school records, give them no option. Give them the suspension or detention. Send them home and mark them absent for the day, if they choose not to obey. Just don’t give the whole school a reason to gossip and make fun of a student. A punishment with the goal of shaming students cannot be accepted. Let’s have academic institutions deal with this problem in the form of an academic punishment.Reach the columnist at William.Ruof@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @willruofEditor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.Want to join the conversation? Send an email to opiniondesk.statepress@gmail.com. Keep letters under 300 words and be sure to include your university affiliation. Anonymity will not be granted.
(09/08/14 11:00pm)
Avi Buffalo has been pretty quiet over the last four years. Its 2010 eponymous debut received rave reviews on many websites and in many magazines, but then it kind of dropped off the map.
(09/08/14 12:00am)
Woozy — that is how I felt after watching Terry Gilliam’s drug-fueled adaption of Hunter S. Thompson’s most notable work, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” The 1998 comedy stars Johnny Depp as the Raoul Duke, a character based on Thompson, and Benicio del Toro as Dr. Gonzo, the Duke’s friend and crazed Samoan lawyer. These men on screen were masterfully manipulated by the drug-inspired cinematography. The production of the film has a rather long history, but I will try to keep it brief.
(09/03/14 12:43am)
It'd be hard to find a student who doesn't write his papers on a laptop. Most papers are due online, the editing is expedited, and you have quick, easy access. However, you do have other options, and one of these is a typewriter. Unfortunately, this option is rarely given these days, especially in college. In fact, it's rare that we even have to hand in a paper in person now; everything is done online, through Blackboard or what have you. So why, you ask, when given the choice between word processors or typewriters, would I ever choose the latter?
(09/02/14 12:00am)
Lenny Abrahamson’s new comedy, “Frank,” is a film about testing the limits of creativity, the push for stardom and the struggles of those who don’t want to be a part of the norm. We follow Jon Burroughs (Domhnall Gleeson), an aspiring musician who tries to come up with ditties on his walk home from work in his British town. His problem seems to come from his inability to tap into the creativity he knows is within him, but this all begins to change when he stumbles upon a group of people trying to stop a man from drowning himself in the ocean.
(09/01/14 9:47pm)
Like a lot of people, I love to watch movies. Over the summer, when I wasn’t working, you would most likely find me up in my room watching a Woody Allen film. I tried to watch every movie in which he was involved, but that list is incredibly long and keeps growing yearly.
(08/27/14 2:54am)
Brooklyn-based band The Drums is back with a new album titled “Encyclopedia,” which will be released Sept. 23.
(08/27/14 12:20am)
Before going into Harkins Valley Art on Monday to see “Es El Chapo?” I knew very little about Mexican drug lord Joaquín Guzmán Loera, often referred to as "El Chapo." I was aware that both the U.S. and Mexican governments considered him to be the most dangerous drug trafficker in the world, and that he was arrested at the end of February this year. As to the details of his capture, his background and the world in which he lived, I remained uneducated.
(08/27/14 12:00am)
I was aware that a bachelor’s degree in English was consistently on many lists of the top ten useless degrees a college student could pursue long before I began applying for colleges. I’ve always thought the list-makers were wrong. I still do. I’m a sophomore studying English with a concentration in creative writing, and here, on the Tempe campus, just like all over the world, when English majors reveal their course of study to others on campus, we often have to deal with strings of dumb questions like, “Oh, so you want to be unemployed?” or are treated to constructive input such as, “You should reconsider. Do something that involves computers.”
(08/20/14 10:50pm)
(08/20/14 9:32pm)
This weekend, "Sin City: A Dame To Kill For" will bring Frank Miller’s graphic novel series to the screen again, nearly a decade after the release of 2005’s prequel, "Sin City." This earlier film, which Frank Miller co-directed with Robert Rodriguez, was engrossing to watch because it created by the original "Sin City" creator. This chance is not one that many graphic novelists get throughout their career; very often we are treated to unfortunate Hollywood adaptions our favorite books and comics. Many times, a quick cameo of Stan Lee in a Marvel film is the closest connection to the creator of the original story. With a system like that in place, the resulting films are sometimes lame, blockbuster-aimed, love-interest focused movies that disappoint fans. A prime example of this is the Sam Raimi "Spider-Man" films — the movies Toby Maguire stars in. Bad crying and acting aside, the films lacked a certain type of humor and playfulness presented in the comics. These issues were improved upon in the newer films, possibly because Kirsten Dunst doesn’t appear for a single second.
Frank Miller’s involvement in the "Sin City" films kind of puts a stop to that whole thing. The world presented on the screen is the world of novels. The “neo-noir” contrast of the black and white illustrations, which have become a trademark of the series, are so accurately recreated and the use of partial color. Red for blood, yellow for the skin of Roark Jr. and blues and greens for the eyes of certain characters, etc., which are also used in the novels, adds to the fun and originality of the story. The writing remains similar as well; the movie sounds like the book reads, so to say. Choppy dialogue, in which it seems that every word weighs a ton, gives drama to the film. Dramatic monologues are used throughout, sometimes with the frame focused on a single image, like a frame of a comic strip. Other tools have been used recently to help maintain the comic-style narrative. The 2009 adaption of the "Scott Pilgrim" series incorporated animated onomatopoeias during fight scenes, retaining the action-based narrative of the novels. That being said, much of the story had to be cut in order to pack the events of six graphic novels into one movie — the classic dilemma. Now, I’m not against change or artistic license, or anything like that; I just think that the original creators of the work should have a bit of say in the process. After all, the story came from their heads. I think that if more writers were involved in the adaption of their works, most people would be impressed by the outcomes. Frank Miller is bringing his own work into a new medium, and keeping huge parts of it intact. The Sin City films may not be huge hits that are loved by all — I can’t even say I would choose it over "The Dark Knight" or "Iron Man," both of which were twisted to fit the standards of the silver screen — but I fully admire the fact that Frank Miller’s films are his own.Reach the reporter at wruof@asu.edu or follow him Twitter @willruof