FIELD WORK: CCC Space

If someone were to wish for a taste the essential Columbia College space, they should be sent to the building at 623 S Wabash. This place is home to the Art & Design community and also most essential liberal arts classes. Aside from more specific majors, this place is where much of the heart of Columbia takes place. Not only does it have a few large lecture and gathering spaces, but it contains many galleries and workspaces unique to the school.

Some would argue that to find the life of the school, it’s in the students and their choice of gathering. For this building, it’s important to consider the people outside before stepping in. Columbia has a large population of smokers, and they congregate outside this building before and after class, and especially during the designated break times. They can be seen from the street any day of the week and any time of day. These people, with their Chrome bags and skinny jeans, often carrying portfolio cases and a coffee mug, represent the life of the school. Sometimes they chat about their upcoming critique or complain about their heavy workload. Others sit alone and tend to keep to themselves.

This alone says so much about the school. People attend to further their careers and are enrolled for themselves. It’s definitely a collaborative effort, but most make it solely on their own. But once they’ve entered the inside, they can get the full experience when they see people working hands-on in the woodshop. The visitor isn’t given the full effect unless they visit every floor, including the ninth floor computer lab and see the exciting things people are working with on their computers. This building encapsulates the life and heart of Columbia.

If not the other location, one could see the more freelanced side of the institution, and what people do in their free time at the 916 S Wabash building.  The fourth floor loft is a large room that has a lounge space with many couches and many rows of chairs set up in front of a screen. This is where the outside life happens. Posting here for an hour, one can see people in their respective habitats. One student is passed out on the loungy couch, backpack still on with a black hoodie over his head. He’ll be there for a while. A meeting is about to start and people are starting to gather at the other end of the room, probably an extra-curricular. Someone in a distant cubicle is playing music of an acoustic variety.

This is where a bit more of the culture comes alive at Columbia. Seeing people in their down-time is one of the more raw pieces of the sentiment of the school, some meeting to snack between classes or to arrange a special conversation. There is great significance in the love of art bringing people together not for any academic sake, but for friendship’s sake, which this school has succeeded in doing. Somewhere, the founder of the school must be proud.

(The essential CCC.)

REVIEW: Dave Chappelle's Block Party (2005)

The Fill-In-The-Blank Concert Documentary

Understandably, the people in the crowd at Dave Chappelle’s 2005 Block Party were having a great time. Even the small-town people and classical music fans Chappelle introduced to the audience were shown having a great time from the crowd. But how well can a live performance be reproduced in syndication, as it is in the self-titled documentary published later that year? Ninety percent of the time, live music exceeds anything pre-recorded. Although it was beyond imagination to see such hip-hop and rap feats take the stage, sometimes unexpectedly in collaboration, it’s true that the people there in Brooklyn were having a much better time than any viewer on their sofa was. The act was intended for a live audience, but it seems that the documentary was intended for a specific type. Those unfamiliar to the works of Common, Erykah Badu and Talib Kwali aren’t guaranteed a great time in their home cinemas. In fact, they could very well find themselves overwhelmed and bored by all the concert footage. There was certainly a lot of it.

If not that “who”, the documentary might have others asking, “What was this made for?” Dave Chappelle, in the height of his career, brought a bunch of R&B artists together in a sad Brooklyn neighborhood to perform for a few thousand people on a last-minute notice. It’s true that it was a pretty groundbreaking list of musicians at the time. Chappelle scored Kanye just as he was making it big (and before he became a classified douchebag), Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli, common, Jill Scott, surprise John Legend, among others. We also can’t forget about the highly unanticipated reunion of the Fugees, which included the virtually unreachable lead singer Lauryn Hill.

Yes, it was an incredible lineup of huge msuical acts, which delivered unforgettable music, but what was their purpose? Bonnaroo is an annual festival. LiveAid offers a charity donation with every concert ticket. Block Party was a one-time free show under Chappelle’s name, which offered no reprise. The show happened once and will never happen again. Viewers never even see a real purpose to the documentary at any point. Perhaps Chappelle was capitalizing on his fame under the façade of artistic collaboration.

Further, such a big production didn’t even offer much of the man himself. Dave Chappelle is shown gathering people together to come see his show, stopping in at his hometown barber shop and driving through the streets of Brooklyn with a megaphone out of his window announcing his show, and other promotional activities. But comparing this to comedic works of Chappelle’s in the past, this is far from his best. Maybe the jokes were toned down in order to focus on the music, but let’s be serious: if Dave Chappelle’s name is slapped onto the title of any production, it’s expected to be funny.

Very rarely is Block Party actually funny, and it’s noted right fom the beginning. Some playful credits in the film’s opening dance across the screen as Chappelle watches next to a couple of men trying to jump-start a car. There is comedy here, but it falls quite short of funny. It’s mostly awkward. From start to finish, won’t find themselves laughing, aside from the snide commentary here and there. The film’s comedic peak hits as Chappelle takes the stage to introduce another act as he plays with the band’s cues at the flick of his wrist. Later, it’s revealed in behind-the-scenes footage that this skit was rehearsed. And suddenly the funniest few minutes aren’t as funny anymore.

Throughout Block Party, there are no skits, no gimmicks and very little funny business. It’s mostly about the music and the making of the music. Unless you count the crew’s trip to a nearby Salvation Army store to fill their green room with used furniture for their backstage viewing, complete with Chapelle’s impromptu performance of an old blues song on an old piano. Or the company’s trip inside the neighborhood home of an old hippie couple. Well then, maybe it wasn’t all about the music. There was distraction and entertainment, but still, there was no message or thesis. American viewers have grown to expect either funny, shocking or heartwarming. This movie falls short of all three, and it’s somewhat disappointing.

At certain moments, we see a soft Chappelle in awe of his experience, shown humbly in the crowd spitting every lyric as fast as the performer, or telling the camera it’s “the best moment of his career.” This is understandable, too. He single-handedly pulled together a brilliant team of musical acts for a once-in-a-lifetime concert. It just seems his downfall happened when he signed people to his documentary team, because the motivation fell flat somewhere in the production of it all.

This clip features a special moment with Dave at the piano in the background.

Aside from this sort of emptiness, there is one divine moment that people might miss if they find themselves tuning out for even a minute. Seated at an angle on this donated piano bench following a hushed performance of “Round Midnight” by Thelonius Monk, Chappelle explains how he knows the song. Of the two tunes he can play on the piano, he says that he admires Thelonius because of his comedic talent in conjunction with his muscianship. “Every comic wants to be a musician. Every musician thinks they're funny,” he explains as he joins his fingers together for a visual. “It's a very strange relationship that we have.”

This gives way to a bit of wisdom that frames the documentary as a whole. Chapelle’s words draw a connection between his passion for comedy and his desire for togetherness that ultimately join together in making this documentary worthwile. There’s no denying that he does achieve success by bringing together people for a cultural epiphany. It’s just a shame that it doesn’t go further in becoming woven into the work of the film.

Ultimately Dave Chappelle’s Block Party is, unfortunately, somewhat short of original. Nearly every concert documentary shows the musican putting together the show, performing and being interviewed in the meantime. Though directed by the exceptional conceptual director Michael Gondry, the documentary still falls in line with most other musical documentaries. It doesn’t stretch to an audience at large, but rather feeds to the larger fans that were already there. Neither Gondry nor Chappelle make an avid effort in connecting this piece, which had the potential of creating change, but instead follows every template already set for a picture about a musical event. It’s a true shame, because every element was available but its execution was disconnected.

REVIEW: Dead Space 2 (Video Game)

            When I saw this advertisement for Dead Space 2 last spring, I was appalled. Though the ad doesn’t show a whole lot of gore or violence, it accomplishes a number of horrible things in its 30-second run. Most obviously, it glorifies violence. After it claims to be the most violent game of its generation, it tells us that it’s “everything we want in a game.” Kids watching this are told that what they desire in their entertainment is the most revolting and cruel scenarios. On top of that, we are shown images of our mothers gasping and crying in front of this video game, only to be told that it should only increase our interest in the game. Our mothers’ intentions are no longer even considered. The people who birthed us and raised us are made into some sort of joke as an amplifier for our toxic desires.

            Thus, it was a struggle to get myself to play this game. I don’t support violence, am a cuddly non-videogaming homosexual and I never go against my mother’s intentions. This was a challenge for me. I knew my friend Jackson would have a copy of the game and he was kind enough to invite me over to try it out.

            The game is a high-intensity walkthrough-type shooting game that offers a multiplayer option. Much of it involves walking, picking up things, a sort of adventure toward an ultimate goal. Already, I was surprised by its calmness. From the advertisement, I was expecting blood and guts everywhere. This came later, but it wasn’t overwhelmingly present. Jackson skipped ahead to a fight scene where we were supposed to battle a few aliens on a spaceship. This was really scary. The figures are horrific and the gore is unnecessarily damaging. 

Your mom hates this. So do I.

            Reviews of the game were highly positive. This baffles me. Apparently, the graphics were beyond exceptional and the storywork was one of a kind. The only criticism I could find was about the timing. Supposedly the zombies could pop out at better times that were less expected. I mean, I was still scared, so this isn’t an argument I would support. There should be no reason for such graphic images to be displayed to people to see. It isn’t reality and it isn’t acceptable. I was entertained, but only because it was like watching a car crash. No viewer could look away.

If the game weren’t rated M, I’d be really worried for our younger generation. At least there is an eighteen-year-old requirement for purchasing the game. The censorship is decent, but at any rate, a child could certainly become exposed to this if it were in the next room. A parent could buy this for their kid. This isn’t okay for an adult to view. I really hope people are really careful about wheir the game ends up. Nothing should be this scarring. Though it promises an adventure, Dead Space 2 offers one that isn’t worth experiencing.

Perhaps it's called Dead Space because it eventually
leads to dead space in your brain.