Issue 01, Volume 77 (Life+Arts)

Monday, August 22, 2011

THE DA D ILY L COU LY OUG OU UGA GAR EDITOR Mary Baak E-MAIL arts@thedailycougar.com ONLINE thedailycougar.com/arts

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Monday, August 22, 2011

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Welcome back, let us learn from you The start of each semester is usually marked by a sense of newness, a bit of apprehension and, of course, excitement in the imaginings of what the coming year will bring.

Though the summer has ended and we’re all getting back Mary into the swing of Baak fast-paced classes and waking up earlier than we’d prefer, it’s still important to have a little fun once in a while.

Even if you find yourself with your nose in a book for the better part of the semester, you can expect me to keep you informed on exactly what the name implies — life and arts.

More often than not, this section will be here to lighten your mood when your day takes a turn for the worst. I’ve got a whole host of exciting things lined up for the coming semester. I certainly don’t wan to spoil any surprises for you so I can’t reveal all the secrets of the section, but I will give you a few hints.

I will strive to bring you more coverage on the School of Theatre & Dance, Moores School of Music, the Blaffer Gallery and other oncampus happenings. In addition to that, you’ll find articles that cater to your lifestyle as a college student and things that are going on around town.

Also making an appearance in Life & Arts will be articles about the latest fashion trends, how to save your love life from falling off the face of the Earth (I can’t make any promises, but I’ll do my best, anyway), snide comments about pop culture, restaurant, movie and concert reviews, as well as articles about health and fitness.

If you feel as though we’re missing something, speak up. Let me know how I can better the Life & Arts section, because after all, we wouldn’t exist without you.

So give us a read every now and then, you might be surprised that there’s more to the paper than just the crossword puzzles — don’t think I didn’t catch you.

Whether this is your first semester as a Cougar or your last, I promise we’ll be here to report on the things that matter in your life. Here’s to a top-notch semester, Coogs — I wish you only the best in the months ahead.

STAFF Section Editor Mary Baak

Copy Editors

Natasha Faircloth

713.718.7000 southeast.hccs.edu SE9504_Right Choice Flyer.indd 1

6/6/11 9:24 AM

Contributing Writers

John Brannen, Mary Baak, Daniel Renfrow

Life & Arts Desk Contact Information Email: arts@thedailycougar.com Phone: 713-743-5302

Cover Photo By Lana Flores

LIFE&ARTS

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Monday, August 22, 2011

Like the 2009 Halloween production of “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” this season features “Zombie Prom” in October at the Cullen Performance Hall. | Pin Lim/Forest Photography

FINE ARTS

Theatre season to be one for the playbooks Mary Baak

THE DAILY COUGAR The upcoming academic year promises a number of things for Cougars, one of which is a showstopping season for the School of Theatre & Dance. With a number of pieces lined up ranging from the off-broadway musical “Zombie Prom” to Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible,” expect sensational performances from all students involved.

Along with its lineup of performances, the School of Theatre & Dance is also bringing back a bit

of its history in the production of “Zombie Prom” under the direction of a guest director from the Alley Theatre. It is slated to go on in the Cullen Performance Hall in October — something the school hasn’t done since it moved from its original home in the Cullen building to the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center decades ago.

“We’re trying to help position the Cullen Performance Hall into part of the social activities on campus,” Steve Wallace, Director of the School of Theatre & Dance said. “I picked ‘Zombie Prom’ THEATRE continues on page 7

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Monday, August 22, 2011

LIFE&ARTS

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Welcome back

from the Univers

www.uh.edu/uc A.D. Bruce Religion Center Center for Leadership and Fraternity & Sorority Life (CLFSL) Center for Student Involvement (CSI) Children’s Learning Centers (CLC) University Center (UC) UC Satellite

UC Official Welcome The University Centers welcome all new and returning Cougars for the 2011-12 school year. As an ever growing community of services, leadership, and pride, we invite you to take advantage of the many programs, services, and facilities available to you. The University Centers provide everything you may need including food, student organizations, child care, leadership development, fraternity and sorority life, leisure services, graphic services, colleagues in faith, and much more.

Let the University Centers be the “center” of your campus experiences.

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sity Centers

A.D. Bruce Religion Center

H OUSTON

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Monday, August 22, 2011

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Monday, August 22, 2011

LIFE&ARTS

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Even though your apartment or dorm may feel like you’re living in a shoebox, there are ways to tastefully decorate your place that minimize the appearance of clutter and maximize space without spending more than you can afford on furniture and decorations. | Brianna Leigh Morrison/The Daily Cougar

DANIEL’S DISH

Decorating on a budget

Tips for making your space livable without emptying your bank account

Daniel Renfrow

THE DAILY COUGAR

F

urnishing a new apartment can be challenging to a student’s budget.

Fortunately, most students cannot afford a large apartment, which means there is less space to furnish and leaves a smaller dent in your pocketbook. This is generally positive, but living in a small space can be an issue in itself.

Here are tips on how to best liven up your apartment without emptying your bank account.

Find furniture for free You should begin your search for furniture at your parent’s house. Rummage through the garage, attic and closets. Ask

them how often they use certain items, and if they would consider donating them to the underprivileged.

After you have taken as much as they will give you, start calling up relatives, neighbors and then post a subtly manipulative status on Facebook about how much trouble you are having finding furniture.

People will respond with furniture donations, thinking it was all their idea.

You can find any remaining items at thrift stores, garage sales and IKEA. Give your four walls a makeover Before you move into your apartment it is essential that you paint if it’s permissible to do so.

Many people decide not to paint their apartments because they think it will be too much work. It is a lot of work, but it is worth it.

You will most likely sign a 12-month lease, so that will leave you with 364 days of painted-apartment enjoyment to make up for the one day you lost painting. Consider painting your room two different shades of the same color.

Paint an accent wall a dark color, then paint the rest of your room a color that is at least two shades lighter. The accent wall will help you define a certain area, while the lighter color will add cohesion to the space and make it feel When arranging decorations, try to place them in groups of three. more expansive.

You should select one short item, one tall item and an item of meFor curtains, just go to dium height. | Brianna Leigh Morrison/The Daily Cougar IKEA. They have the best prices in this area. Where else can you buy a set of curtains for less than $20?

Furnish the floors, too Rugs can help define certain areas of your apartment, but they tend to be expensive. Try finding an inexpensive rug at a thrift store before you start searching for one at department stores. If you simply cannot afford one, you can turn a blanket into a rug.

If you decide to do this, go for a blanket that is thick and of a solid color. However, this should only be a temporary solution. Consider stopping by a couple of thrift stores once a month until you find a rug you like with which to replace the blanket.

Placing bookends on your bookshelf or endtable draws attention to your books and allows them to be a part of the decoration of your apartment. | Brianna Leigh Morrison/The Daily Cougar

DECORATING continues on page 7

In an effort to save space and keep your favorite items on display, let them adorn the walls in frames. This is a creative way to keep them from looking out of place. | Brianna Leigh Morrison/The Daily Cougar

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THEATRE continued from page 3

because it’s going to appeal to a broad range and it’s kind of fun.

“We’re doing the full-length New York version of ‘Zombie Prom,’ which is the first time it’s been done in Houston.”

Another notable piece hitting the stage is “The Crucible,” guest-directed by award-winning artistic director and playwright Gus Kaikkonen, who also directed “Wild Oats” this spring. “‘The Crucible’ is part of the University Resident Theatre Association accreditation, which accredits our graduate program,” Wallace said. “It is the professional organization that is the crossing-over point between the professional training programs

DECORATING continued from page 6

Create your space Arranging furniture in a small space can be difficult.

Your goal is to create separate living areas without making your apartment look small or cluttered.

If you are in a studio apartment, this is especially difficult. If this is the case, consider opting out on a kitchen table.

You can eat at a coffee table instead, or get a bar stool and eat at your kitchen counter. This will free up a lot of space.

Use furniture groupings to define your space. However, in a small

and the profession itself — with a Tier One University, we should be an accredited professional training program.”

This season will also feature “Fragments,” written and directed by our own Pulitzer Prize-winning professor Edward Albee.

“We’re the only school in the country that has a piece that’s being directed by Edward Albee,” Wallace said. “He also has a new piece that’s opening in New York in February.”

Also on the roster are “Hot L Baltimore,” “The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge” and “The Cripple of Inishmaan.” With the talent and work the directors and students of the School of Theatre and Dance put into their productions, this season is shaping up to be solid. arts@thedailycougar.com

space, you want to make sure these groupings open up into the center of the room.

This will reduce any feelings of claustrophobia, and it will help you avoid creating little mini-hallways out of your furniture.

Don’t break the bank on decór Consider purchasing most of your decorations at thrift stores. You should be able to provide a good foundation of decorations for your apartment for no more than $50.

Make sure you take full advantage of how wallet-friendly Goodwill is before you head over to Target or IKEA for more cheap decorations. arts@thedailycougar.com

Monday, August 22, 2011

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COMMENTARY

Jay-Z, Kanye take ‘Throne’ in sales John Brannen

THE DAILY COUGAR Everything about the promotion of Jay-Z and Kanye West’s collaborative album “Watch the Throne” has been eventful.

Whether it be the blockbuster lineup of performers, or the method through which the artists chose to distribute it, the album will undoubtedly be a trendsetter musically and in a business sense.

Lyrically, “Watch the Throne” is mostly Jay and Kanye flaunting their excessive millionaire lifestyles. Boasts of driving a Rolls Royce, flying in private jets and owning paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol may not appeal to everyone.

If you see no entertainment value in two pivotal pop culture figures of the 21st century celebrating their love for materialism, it will not be an enjoyable listen.

However, it is not entirely devoted to braggadocio and maximum opulence. In “New Day” Jay and Kanye show their reflective sides, contemplating their roles as fathers to their unborn sons.

Under this guise they reveal some of their flaws and mistakes.

West shows some acceptance in what his public image has become,“Just want him to be someone people like/Don’t want him to be hated, all the time judged/Don’t be like your daddy that would never budge.”

On the non-deluxe version,

the finale is “Why I Love You.” In this track, Jay shows he has not completely ignored disparaging remarks from competitors and former associates.

Jay’s usual response to critics is shrugging them off, but without mentioning anyone by name he and Kanye show some outrage at the audacity of their naysayers.

The modern sound of the production is what makes “Watch the Throne“ special. The Neptunes, Pete Rock, Q-Tip formerly of A Tribe Called Quest and RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan were all recruited to bring their talents to the project.

Jay and Kanye show reverence to their roots by sampling soul legends James Brown, Curtis Mayfield and Otis Redding.

The sound becomes futuristic on “Who Gon’ Stop Me,” arguably the climax of “Watch the Throne.”

It samples dubstep DJ Flux Pavilion.

Kanye is not the first to mix the two genres, but he is the most notable artist to do it thus far. If Kanye did it, others are sure to follow.

Featured extensively is producer and engineer Mike Dean.

He spent the majority of his career in Houston at Rap-A-Lot Records.

He has worked with most local rappers, but has emerged as one of West’s go-to guys on “Watch the Throne” and his previous solo album, “My Beautiful Dark

Twisted Fantasy.”

The handling of the release was near-perfect. In this era, online bootlegging has declined music sales.

But Jay and Kanye prevented a leak as long as possible while simultaneously pressuring fans to purchase the album.

It was eventually available for free about two hours before the album’s official release, but usually retail versions of albums leak months to weeks before being legally available.

Jay and Kanye released “Watch the Throne”exclusively on iTunes at 12:01 a.m. on Aug. 8. Physical copies and other digital retailers did not have access to it until three days later.

“Watch the Throne” shattered the iTunes Store’s record for the most albums sold in a one-week period with 292,000 downloads.

They dethroned Coldplay, who sold 282,000 with their 2008 album “Viva La Vida Or Death and All His Friends.”

They did not invent this concept of exclusively partnering with iTunes prior to the in-store release, but given their success, expect other acts to mimic the blueprint.

The “Watch the Throne” Tour begins Oct. 29 in Atlanta. Jay and Kanye will make their visit to Houston on Dec. 5 for a performance at the Toyota Center. arts@thedailycougar.com

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Monday, August 22, 2011

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