The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 01, 2004, Page 6, Image 6
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By CAITLIN COKER
THE GAMECOCK
We are smack dab in the middle
of hurricane season. The National
Weather Service predicted a 45
percent chance of an above-normal
hurricane season this year, calling
for 12 to 15 tropical storms, with six
to eight of those becoming
hurricanes and two to four
becoming major hurricanes.
Officials haven’t predicted how
many of these will make landfall in a
populated area. Since weather
forecasters cannot forecast the
future, it is in residents’ best
interests to be prepared.
But, not right away.
“You don’t need to do any
strong preparations for a hurricane
until you get word from the
National Hurricane Center,”
hurricane expert and USC
geography professor Susan Cutter
said. “The center makes an
assessment of the tropical force
winds in the area and makes an
assessment for
I warning of a
potential hurricane
approach.”
Cutter
recommends
households keep a
disaster supply kit
with matches,
CUTTER candles, first aid kit,
battery-powered
radio, can opener,
canned food, duct tape, plastic,
flashlight and gallon water jugs.
“You have to be able to fend for
yourself for 72 hours with no water,
food, or electricity,” Cutter said.
Hurricane Charley, after leaving
many homeless in Florida, came
through the coastal Carolinas about
two weeks ago as a weakened storm.
The South Carolina coast suffered
flooding, broken tree limbs and
power outages.
“If Charley had made landfall on
the coast at full strength, a lot of
Charleston would be underwater,”
Cutter said. The fear of a possible
storm surge, basically a wall of
water, led to the evacuation of many
coastal cities.
Columbia is 120 miles inland,
and Cutter asserted the city would
probably not have to be evacuated in
the event of a hurricane because a
storm’s strength weakens as it moves
on land. While we don’t have to
worry about storm surges, powerful
gusts of wind and rain should still be
a concern.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re inland
or not, you can still be affected by
hurricane winds,” Cutter said.
Torrential winds can tear off roofs,
damage houses, break tree limbs and
cut off power lines. Also, major
storms can cause serious flooding,
especially in poorly drained areas.
Richard Chapman, a third-year
engineering student and RA for
Pinckney-Legare, was prepared
move-in weekend for the possible
damage of Hurricane Charley.
“Our three main concerns were
flooding in buildings, loss of power,
and tornadoes,” Chapman said.
“(Residence Hall Director) Shane
Hart directed us on what to do in
each event, and so we had a plan A,
B, and C.”
No major flooding happened in
the horseshoe because of
thunderstorms, although Maxcy
reportedly experienced some water
problems.
Hurricane Hugo, a category five
storm that hit in September 1989,
caused nearly $7 billion in damage
to South Carolina.
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc. edu
GASTON HITS HOME
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Top: Kenny Shelton walks through a flooded parking lot Monday in
Richmond, Va. Above: Tropical storm Gaston dropped a deluge on
lowcountry South Carolina this month. A larger, stronger storm
could spell disaster for coastal cities.
CD REVIEW
Head Automatica tries funky fusion of rock, hip-hop
“DECADENCE”
Head Automatica
★★★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆
BySHANATILL
THE GAMECOCK
Fans of Glassjaw beware: this is
not the angst-fueled torrent of
screaming and ugliness devotees have
been anticipating. Head Autom&tica,
the latest project of front man Daryl
Palumbo, is nothing of the sort. For
the production of “Decadence,”
Palumbo collaborated with beat
master Dan “The Automator”
Nakamura of Gorillaz and Handsome
Boy Modeling School fame.
In fact, zealous fans might
already know that Palumbo is not a
jack of merely one trade. This
debut album, released on Warner
Bros. Records, spins trashy rock-n
roll over a hip-hop pulse.
Impossible to pigeonhole,
“Decadence,” is much more than
today’s over-done rock/rap hybrids.
Elements of ’80s dance party add
enough spunk to get even your
grandmother on the dance floor.
In a separate vein from
“Cosmopolitan Bloodloss,”
Palumbo’s vocals are not only
decipherable but also easy on the
ear. In a modern rock world of self
pity and whining, Head Automatica
creates fun and contagious rhythms
even with an underlying tone of
hostility and love/lust lost.
A realization occurs while
listening to pretty much any song
on the album. On track six,
Palumbo laments, “I am the razor
in the hand of your heart,” and
people are dancing to it.
Moreover, the concoction of
dance, funk, rap and rock gives
“Decadence” an edge few fusion
acts can tout. The album’s first half
displays its primary intention: fun
and reckless, danceable rock-n-roll.
“At the Speed of a Yellow Bullet”
flaunts the animated Palumbo that
few have seen before. His vocals
ring clear, “I’m a soldier and a
poet, but I’m a dancer at best.”
The first single, “Beating Heart
Baby,” supplies infectious hooks
After 13 years with
Glassjaw, Daryl
Palumbo has had no
problem performing in
a style unfamiliar to
his audience.
while gently avoiding the brink of
syrupy pop. A far cry from what
listeners have come to expea,
Palumbo sings, “In spite of you / even
out of view / still I love all of
you.” Tracks such as
“Disco Hades H”
contain keyboard
instrumentation
straight out of the
best synth-pop bands’
playbooks. On the
10th cut, “Head
Automatica Soundsystem,” it is clear
the beats are master workings and
adds to Palumbo’s credibility as a hip
hop aficionado.
Many say old habits are hard to
break, and Palurtibo is an apparent
exception. After 13 years with
Glassjaw, the vocalist has had no
problem performing in a style
unfamiliar to his audience.
On the bill for this year’s Curiosa
Tour, Head Automatica fits perfectly
among intangible bands such as The
Rapture.
“Decadence” is also an
exception to the rule. It
delivers the originality
fusion bands seek —
not the garbage
hybrid bands have
come to personify.
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu
MOVIE REVIEW
Green director’s ‘Garden’ blooms
"GARDEN STATE”
Directed by Zach Braff
★★★★★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆
By LESLIE DENNIS
THE GAMECOCK
Moving from the small screen to
the silver screen, Zach Braff
transitions from the daydreaming
comedic J.D. on NBC’s sitcom
“Scrubs” to the over-medicated
introvert Andrew Largeman in
“Garden State." Braff’s directorial
and screenwriting debut, “Garden
State” solidifies Braff as an under
the-radar talent at a time when
cinema desperately needs a new
generation of gifted filmmakers.
“Garden State,” one of the most
talked about directorial/screenwriting
debuts since Sophia Coppola’s
adaptation of Jeffrey Eugenides’ “The
Virgin Suicides,” has become referred
to as “The Graduate” of our
generation. This honor puts pressure
upon Braff to deliver a film
ingeniously funny and painfully real.
He does.
simplicity and quirkiness weave
together in “Garden State” to
create an understatedly elegant
portrait of an emotionally stunted
young man and the characters who
surround him.
Along with Braff, young talents
Natalie Portman and Peter
Sarsgaard shine at their finest as
Sam and Mark, respectively, two
equally lost individuals who drift
into Andrew’s life.
Beginning with a dream, in
which Andrew emotionlessly sits
among hysterical passengers on a
doomed airplane and then
switching to Andrew lying in a
completely white room, the
opening scenes of the movie
establish the impassive atmosphere
of Andrew’s present lifestyle.
Braff beautifully sets up the
movie and defines Andrew as a
character through the use of color
and visuals, adeptly separating
Andrew from the rest of his peers.
When Andrew gets an
unexpected phone call from his
father about his paraplegic
mother’s death by drowning in the
bathtub, Andrew flies to his
hometown for the funeral.
There, Andrew sees his old
buddy Mark is the gravedigger for
his mother and is invited to a party
that night with him.
The party scene is another
amazing example of Braff s genius in
filmmaking. As the other partygoers
are sped up to be frantically and
hurriedly flip-flopping from one
person to another, Andrew sits,
almost comatose, on the couch just
watching the action unfold.
Once Andrew is forced into the
game of “Spin the Bottle,”
however, a close-up of him is
followed by a span of the other
people in the room.
Braff’s shots show Andrew’s
“otherness” at the party and afford
the audience a voyeuristic view into
Andrew’s life.
As the movie progresses,
Andrew meets Sam, a pathological
liar and epileptic, at a neurologist’s
office, and the two social oddballs
form a friendship that inevitably
leads to romance.
To keep talking about the plot of
“Garden State” would ruin the
beauty of it. The film exacts a
profound effect on the viewer that
remains difficult to fully describe.
“Garden State” quietly enters the
subconscious and makes sense
through its natural absurdity,
leaving the viewer with a sense of
neither happiness nor sadness, just
simply a feeling of rightness and
completeness.
The end of the movie shows
Andrew and Sam with a door of
light opening behind them. And
that explains it all.
-?
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecockfeatres@gwm.sc. edit
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK
‘Garden State’ director, screenwriter and star Zach Braff makes
the jump from TV to the big screen with this buzzworthy film.
New Publix
offers next
convenient
food stop
By CARRIE GIVENS
THE GAMECOCK
Publix has opened on
Gervais Street, giving USC
students another option in
walking distance for grocery
shopping.
While students can choose
between super Wal-Marts and
a Bi-Lo and Piggly Wiggly, the
only store that’s within walking
“We hire people
who have an
outgoing
personality and a
big smile.”
JOHN EASTERBROOK
STORE MANAGER
distance of campus has been
the Food Lion in Five Points.
But when Publix opened on
Aug. 25 in the old confederate
Printing Pres on the corner of
Gervais and Huger streets.
Store manager John
Easterbrook said Publix is
dedicated to customer service.
“We hire people who have
an outgoing personality and a
big smile,” he said. Some of
these new employees happen to
be USC students.
If the Publix’s opening week
is any indication of future
success, the store will be a Vista
staple within a month. The
parking lot has been full and
the aisles crowded. Grand *
Opening deals attracted many
USC students.
Second-year business
student Katie Hageman said
Publix “had a very nice
atmosphere and the people
were really helpful.”
“What really impressed me
is that one of the workers
♦ Please see PUBLIX, page 7