Game of the week

I have a confession to make: I’m not a fan of the Halo franchise. Despite a handful of fun online-play sessions with friends, I’ve never quite understood the appeal of spending countless hours with Master Chief (despite personally playing every entry in the series in an effort to get hooked).

Sometimes you have to give into the masses though, and that’s exactly the case with the game of the week: Halo 4. For the first time in the franchise’s history, development duties have shifted to a brand new studio – 343 Industries. There are sure to be skeptics due to the absence of former developer Bungie, but reviews seem to indicate yet another strong entry in the wildly popular first-person shooter series.

Master Chief makes his return as the main protagonist four years after the events of 2007’s Halo 3. Additions include a new enemy threat, new weapons and expanded multiplayer modes. Most notably, a story-driven “Spartan Ops” mode will replace the former co-op driven “Firefight” mode.

I imagine I’ll end up playing Halo 4 at some point, though I’m in no rush. But based on feedback so far, fans of the series will likely be satisfied.

This week in news

Remember The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the 2011 release that gamers poured hundreds of hours into? As if that wasn’t enough, developer Bethesda has announced new downloadable content (DLC) for the highly acclaimed RPG title.

Titled “Dragonborn,” the new DLC will feature dragon mounts. I can already imagine flying dragons over snowy terrains … there’s no way that won’t be awesome.

The plot involves an antagonist named Dragonbeast who attempts to retain his previous power as the first Dragonborn by consuming the souls of dragons. More importantly, the DLC will take place in a familiar environment — the island of Solthseim. This locale first appeared in the “Blood Moon” expansion for The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.

“Dragonborn” will be available on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace on December 4 for 1600 Microsoft Points. No plans for a PC or PlayStation 3 release have been revealed yet.

ANTHONY LABELLA can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

America bleeds the blues.

It is the music rooted in our country’s struggles and vindicated by our resolve. It is the encapsulation of hope and loss in three short chords, an art form that serves as the bedrock to our rich and ever-expanding musical history.

There are few men more formative to that art than B.B. King, who performed before a sold-out audience in the Mondavi Center on Sunday. A titan of his time, King revolutionized electric blues guitar with his lush vibrato, melodic phrasing and expansive library of classic songs. His work is a window to history, his influence present in every guitarist to have ever followed.

Well … they tell you not to meet your idols.

At the noble age of 87, King simply lacks the physical ability to perform on a level that such a large-scale show merits. While forgivable, the addition of shoddy production value on virtually every level  added insult to auditory injury in what unfolded as a night of bittersweet disappointment.

First and most surprisingly, a muddled house-mix in Jackson Hall destroyed any sense of harmony between King and the individual members of his talented ensemble. Trumpet tripped over tenor sax as keyboard strokes flooded over everyone else in an awkward orgy of sonic sadness.

In the most rookie mistake of the century, King’s amplifier was placed onstage without a sound check, too close to the drum kit. Subsequently, every time B.B. plucked a note in the middle and upper registers of his beloved ebony guitar Lucille, the snare drum rattled behind him involuntarily and dirtied his already indecipherable tone.

It might seem petty to gripe on the stagehands’ lack of inconspicuous apparel, but when a large man in a neon green T-shirt strolls down to the performers in the middle of “Every Day I Have The Blues” to distribute sweat towels, it’s difficult to determine whether or not you are capable of punching a baby seal in the face.

I’m also willing to bet good money the lighting technician for the evening was attempting to make the audience drop it like it’s hot. For whatever reason, he resolved to switch between dramatically dimmed colors to a full, illuminated house several times for each song without regard to the mood of the piece. Either way, it just made me sleepy and I’m sure some small child in the second row almost had a seizure. Statistically speaking, it’s possible.

King is a master minimalist, effortlessly expressing complex emotions with simple string bends and sparse, lyrical phrases. However, despite many of the evening’s classic tunes, including fast-paced boogies like “Rock Me Baby,” King continued to play as lethargically as ever, off the beat and often out of tune.

But in the most grievous of offenses, King continuously refused to do what his crowd of devoted fans came from far and wide to see him do — unleash a barrage of face-melting, gut-wrenching guitar solos like a motherfucking Mississippi boss.

Instead, King chose to use his solo time to dance in his seat, make several threats at his bandmates in what was hopefully a joking manner,  make sexual statements about his lost vitality and tell witty stories from his rich musical past. The latter might not have been so bad had the microphone been placed close enough to hear exactly what he was trying to say. Most of the time, all the audience managed to hear was, “Down … Missisp … used to … them girls … and sometimes … man didn’t come back.”

I’ll bet they did, B.B. I’ll bet they did.

I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy watching a childhood idol make masturbatory motions on stage from the grand tier. I’m more upset with the fact that, as I sat listening to my long-time musical inspiration complain about his inability to engage in deep and meaningful coitus, he didn’t at least provide a tissue.

Also, I totally don’t enjoy watching a childhood idol make masturbatory motions on stage from the grand tier.

It was some time between counting the number of people in my tier reading their programs mid-performance or leaving to the restroom (six and five, respectively) that I completely lost faith in the show.

Yet for one brilliant moment, in his penultimate song of the night, something unusual happened. The ensemble turned down their instruments to optimal levels. The snare drum ceased to rattle. The lights dimmed down to an appropriate blue hue and stayed that way. And suddenly, B.B. started to do his thing.

It was the most beautiful four minutes of my life. His notes soared gracefully over the chord changes, brilliantly executing jazzy, soulful licks that both delighted and surprised. He told a story with his sound, a story that everyone in the audience could relate to. In his sonic expressions was the pain of a man unemployed, the remembrance of a forgotten lover and the struggle of the American people.

There was B.B. King, in his magical way putting my worst childhood memories, romantic frustrations, and shit grades in a sound that both mourned and understood. This was sadness and hope.

This was the blues.

Couples embraced, heads nodded and the small child seated next to me sat hushed and full of wonder.

But nothing gold can stay. Soon, the strobe lights returned, the band blasted away at each other, and King resumed his pining to some woman in the front row.

Yes, the evening didn’t go as planned. Yes, my roommate turned to me in a look of betrayal three times throughout the night. Yes, a personal idol played “just the tip” with my childhood memories.

Yet as I stumbled out into the cold, mourning my loss and listening to the little boy next to me ask for his first guitar, I realized something.

B.B. King had given us the blues.

Not in the way we anticipated, surely. But we could feel it in our bones, nonetheless.

Maybe the master still has a few tricks up his sleeve after all.

ADAM KHAN can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

I’m squirming in my seat in anticipation of one of my favorite exchanges in all of Hamlet — the scene where Hamlet greets his old friends Guildenstern and Rosencrantz. I pause to look around and observe the faces of my fellow audience members. Given that the lights are still on inside the theater in an effort to replicate the Globe Theater’s Shakespearean tradition of open-air performances, I can see everything going on around me: the elderly couple in front of me is enraptured by Michael Benz’s (Hamlet’s) beautiful, talented face. A few of the high school students across the aisle giggle to each other as they translate Shakespeare’s dirty jokes into modern English. My friend nudges me to turn around and pay attention.

“Then you live about her waist, or in the middle of her favors?” Hamlet queries his friends about their relationship with Fortune. “Faith, her privates we,” Guildenstern snickers conspiratorially. “In the secret parts of Fortune? Oh, most true. She is a strumpet!” Hamlet shouts, before he, Guildenstern and Rosencrantz begin dancing and bust out some pelvic thrusts worthy of the elevator scene in the “Gangnam Style” music video.
Trust me — if you had been in the audience with me, you wouldn’t have needed a “No Fear Shakespeare” SparkNotes translation of the script in order to find scenes like these — with their snippy little add-ins and provocative gestures — utterly hilarious.

Of course, Hamlet is largely known as a serious drama filled with madness, incest, royal intrigue and brooding university students suffering from extreme indecision,  but that didn’t stop the cast from adding in pithy little one-liners here and there (such as when Polonius wandered off set to find the “Memorial Union Bar” to find some strong aqua vitae) to liven the mood and steal a laugh from the audience when appropriate.

Every element of the production was pared down and streamlined in order to speed the production along to a brisk two-and-a-half hour running time. The minimalist wooden set resembled an overgrown treehouse — a whirling tornado of planks, curtains and benches that rearranged themselves ever so slightly to fit the mood of each different scene. While waiting for their cues, various actors would wait partially out of sight within the shadowy cubbies built into the interior of the set, singing softly and playing various instruments to accompany the action on stage. Each act seamlessly segued into the next, yet it was always clear to the audience what exactly was taking place.

This sense of extreme efficiency even extended to the cast; each actor, save for Benz, who played Hamlet, multi-tasked and inhabited several different characters. Benz’s performance, to my delight, not only captured the obsessive and maniacal elements of Hamlet’s character, but also provided the audience a sense of what the Prince of Denmark must have been like before his father was murdered and his life was turned upside down. These glimpses into Hamlet’s previous characterization were most evident in his interactions with his former friends Guildenstern and Rosencrantz and his former flame Ophelia. The other actors also offered exceptional performances. Miranda Foster, who plays Queen Gertrude, among other roles, stole the show with her crudely hilarious performance as the queen in the play-within-a-play scene.

Carlyss Peer’s Ophelia was just as beautiful as she was tragic. In her final scene, she enchanted the entire audience with her sweetly sirenic voice as she wandered about the stage in the throes of a passionate fit of madness. At the end of the show, I was fortunate enough to have some time with Ms. Peer to talk a bit about the performance, the Globe’s world tour and her future plans as an actress. Although the Globe Theatre troupe left the Mondavi Center last Friday night, they will continue to perform in Southern California for the rest of November. If you know anyone in the area who would enjoy a quick, witty and streamlined rendition of Hamlet done in the traditional style of Shakespeare’s original Globe Theater, don’t get them to a nunnery ­— get them to their nearest theater!

Interview with Carlyss Peer:

The Aggie: How has the tour been going for you so far?

Carlyss Peer: It’s been absolutely amazing; we’ve had a wonderful time. We did three months in the UK before we started, and then we’ve come over to America in September, which has been amazing, and the reception over here has been great — everyone’s really enthusiastic, so we’ve been having a wonderful time. Here in Davis, we’ve been looked after particularly well. We’ve got wonderful food and lovely people so we’ve been having a great time; I wish we were here for longer.

Just out of curiosity, do you or the other cast members have any particular rituals like before you go on stage or after?

Well, not rituals per se, but I suppose everybody has their own warm-up. So people do different things to get into the zone, as you say. Vocal warm-ups are really important in particular in a place like this because it’s massive. About articulation and diction and all of that stuff — so, lots of connecting with your breath and warming up your mouth and all of that. Other than that — rituals, I don’t think so. I guess because with this production, we’re changing characters quite quickly. There’s not the world of the play as with that of putting on a plan. It’s not the same intense preparation if you were in a Presidium Arts theatre where you were only playing one character.

I’ve noticed this play is very different from a lot plays I’ve seen. For one thing, the lights were kept on in the theater, and that was very interesting for me because I’m used to seeing plays where it’s dark but the stage is lit up. How does that affect you and the other actors on stage — when you can see the audience just as well as they can see you?

I think it’s brilliant; it’s really fun — because when you’re acting in complete darkness, you have to pretend that there’s someone to talk to, but whereas with this, there’s people, there’s faces. I think particularly when you have a soliloquy or monologue, it becomes about communicating still, which is much nicer than just speaking to black. And I think it’s really nice because it becomes a collaborative experience that the audience generally feels a bit more involved and sit back in the same way, like “Oh, we can see everyone, and you can see us.” And it’s part of the story which I think is great and makes it a lot more fun for us. Because people’s reactions form how you do the next bit of the play. Because some people sort of squirm and other people are doing it with you. And you know, it’s very different, so I think it’s really good.

Yeah, your company did give us that warning in the beginning: “You can see us, just as well as we can see you.”

I think it’s unusual, but it’s really fun, and it’s in the manner of the Globe. Because obviously it’s an open air theatre in London so you can see everyone. There’s natural light and we’re sort of trying to take that with us on tour.

What are your future plans after Hamlet is finished touring?

Well, I hope to continue acting. I don’t really know what that would be, I guess. The tour is so intense. I’d love to work love to work at the Globe again. I’d love to do more theater. I’d love to do film. I’d love to do TV. I’d love to work in the U.S. again. I just want to keep acting, and keep doing this stuff that we do.

How’s it like traveling with such a small company?

It’s quite — what’s the word? Like a little family. Because you get to know everyone.

Have you worked with any of the actors previously?

I worked with Peter Brae, who plays Rosencrantz and Fortinbras [in addition to] doing A Midsummer Night’s Dream earlier this year with the Globe. And we toured in the Middle East. We went to Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Dubai, which was amazing too. So thank you, Globe, who traveled with us around the world this year. It was very cool; I liked it!

EMMA LUK can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

The UC Davis department of theatre and dance’s ITDP (Institute for Exploration in Theatre, Dance and Performance) program presents Nectare, a prelude to the choreographers’ Master of Fine Arts theses, to be presented in spring.

Nectare aims to address things like touch and rhythm, visual perception and the immigrant experience. It is also a series of dance vignettes and can be categorized as experimental, given that the first 25 minutes require the audience to stand.

Christine Germain and Jarrell Iu-Hui Chua, MFA students in UC Davis’ department of theatre and dance, choreographed the vignettes with the dancers, who include Nicole Casado, Deidre Morris, Veronica Haro and Andrea del Moral.

“Nectare refers to a physical web that connects things and brings them together,” Chua said.

The performance is comprised of a series of vignettes which Chua and Germain created independently of each other.

The audience is invited to walk around the dancers, becoming active spectators.

“The performances will start in the gallery, move to the hallway, then to the University Gallery kitchen and then back to the start,” Germain said.

Chua explains that though the work represents a collective project, each piece maintains its own sense of individualism and meaning.

“We created these pieces separately,” Chua said. “They only share a similar space and time. We also wanted to see how people working on several completely different things could bring them together.”

Their sole collaborative effort consists of a short video named “Nexus.”

“It’s about moving from sedentary life and accepted social structures into discovering oneself in the world,” Germain said.

Germain, who was born in Quebec, was inspired by her experiences as an immigrant.

“I am interested in the Other, how we perceive the Other and how we are perceived. I’m also interested in transformation, how the Other becomes ourselves in cases such as when we move, learn a new language or have to adapt a new identity,” Germain said.

Several of her vignettes also force an unconventional perception on the audience, such as a piece which is viewed from above.

“I want the audience to embody and experience the adaptation to a new theater experience,” Germain said.

Chua likes to explore touch and rhythm and how an emotional narrative can be formed out of those, as well as cultural expectations based on gender and race.

“Eighty percent of my work depends on who I’m collaborating with. I ask my dancers how they can work on the theme and then work in their contributions,” Chua said.

Germain and Chua are currently working on their thesis performances, which will premiere in February 2013.

“We wanted to get feedback on our work,” Germain said. “We also wanted to do it in a different environment than what we’re used to in the dance world.”

Chua was excited about the reception of Nectare.

“I don’t know how it will be received or what it will look like. I like the sense of unknowing,” Chua said.

The performance will take place at the Nelson Gallery and the University Club.

“We’re really excited to have them perform here,” said Katrina Wong, the assistant to the director of the Nelson Gallery. “We’re proud to bring art and dance together.”

Nectare will be held at the Nelson Gallery and the University Club on Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. This is a free event.

JOHN KESLER can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

One Direction has done it again. They’ve already fostered such an obsession in my heart for them, but no. They release another heart-stopping and swoon-worthy music video for me and the rest of the 13-year-olds out there to cry over.

I mean, sure, the three-minute and 38-second black-and-white video is set in a recording studio and is just of the boys sitting and singing, but it’s already a masterpiece in my head. I forgive them for never truly putting much thought into their music video ideas; they’re beautiful enough to sit around and be filmed. Just like Adele.

These beautiful men will be able to get away with pointless videos for the rest of their careers — they’ll have the Kids Choice Award for Best Video as long as they keep their hair high and their faces fresh.

As for the rest of the entertainment industry, it unfortunately doesn’t work that way. Perhaps it was Lady Gaga who set the standard in terms of having complex storylines and costume changes in music videos. Every video she produces seems to be a short film, and we’re not complaining.

It’s nice to see that artists put in some thought (or money to pay for these thoughts) toward music video ideas. Even though they’re not required to have a successful career, there are a few legends who realized that if done right, videos can define an artist.

Beyoncé will forever be known as the best “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)” dancer, Michael Jackson influenced the music industry like no other with his video for “Thriller” and Madonna was just Madonna with “Express Yourself.”

Artists can also get away with absolutely pointless videos that have no direction or purpose besides entertaining an audience. OK Go trended online with “Here It Goes Again.” Nicki

Minaj is entertaining enough to look at in a picture, but in video form? Nothing else I’d rather watch.

And then we have the music videos that are a huge waste of money. Like, after watching three minutes you realize that you could’ve come up with ANY other idea and it would’ve been better than what you just watched.

I mean, I love me some T-Swift videos every once in awhile … but seriously? A whole video while you walk around in Paris when the song had nothing to do with Paris? Dressing in expensive dresses to dance upon a rooftop? How about her recent video for “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”? Conceptually pointless.

But I have to commend one video of this year that I’m absolutely in love with. “Some Nights” by Fun. is the most inspiring and smart music video I’ve seen in a while — that is, besides Beyonce’s “I Was Here” United Nations Humanitarian Day performance video. That video will make you cry, sign up for the Peace Corps and cry some more.

Perhaps I should go into the entertainment industry and shake some sense into popular musical artists. You have the money. You have access to genius brains. Make a difference, inspire and fascinate your audience. Don’t just look pretty and run around for three minutes.

Want to join ELIZABETH ORPINA in making her own rendition of Rebecca Black’s “Friday” music video? Email her at arts@theaggie.org.