Updated June 22, 2006


By Eli Flasher
As the official start of summer slowly approaches,
please turn off MTV and listen up, as these albums
are sure to make the soundtrack of your life a little
bit better.

Tapes ‘N Tapes- “The Loon”
Rockers from New Brighton are
about to blow up big time due to
their recent appearance at SXSW, a
write up in Rolling Stone magazine
and a headlining tour of the UK.
This album could easily contest any
of the indie heroes from our neighbor
to the north like the Arcade
Fire, Broken Social Scene and Wolf
Parade. Available now.

The Raconteurs- “Broken Boy
Soldiers”
This new super group featuring
Jack White, Brendon Benson and
members of the Greenhornes is a
little more pop than heard from White’s other project
The White Stripes, but still contains enough rock
‘n roll to keep your head banging. Available May 16.

Gnarls Barkley- “St. Elsewhere”
After much success with his two previous projects,
(“The Grey Album,” “The Mouse and the Mask“), DJ
Danger Mouse teamed up with Cee-lo for some soul
for the 21st century. Insane beats, beautiful harmonies
and a cover of the Violent Femmes “Gone Daddy
Gone” make this one of the best releases of the summer.
Available May 9.

Soul Position- “Things Go Better With RJ
and AL”
Featuring the beat producing master
RJD2 and rhymesayer MC Blueprint, these
two let loose on 13 tracks that are both
lyrically intellectual and rhythmically incredible.
It is time to take the Kanye out
and put the Soul Position in. Available now.

DFA Remixes-“Chapter 1”
Death From Above is the side project
from LCD Soundsystemers Tim Goldsworthy
and James Murphy who remix and extend
nine tracks from artists such as Gorillaz
and The Chemical Brothers. Simply put,
this is music to shake that ass to, and unless you’re a
zombie, you will,
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-----------------------------217519405831472641884586258 Content-Disposition: form-data; name="userfile"; filename="snakesonplanes.htm" Content-Type: text/html 'Snakes on a Plane' creates early online summer buzz

Updated June 22, 2006
By David Hiltbrand
KRT Campus

It’s the movie with the silly name that
swallowed the Internet. Or maybe it’s the
movie that swallowed the Internet because
of its silly name.
Despite the enormous promotional
campaigns being lavished on “Mission:
Impossible III,” “The Da Vinci Code,”
“Superman” and other summer Hollywood
behemoths, the film that has Digital Nation
buzzing is a low-budget thriller that
won’t hit theaters until Aug. 18.
“Snakes on a Plane” stars Samuel L.
Jackson as an FBI agent escorting a witness
from Hawaii to Los Angeles to testify
in a mob trial. To prevent that from happening,
a hit man releases a crate full of
deadly snakes on their flight.
Whether you consider it goofy or genius
(or both), the movie’s evocative title
has struck a resounding chord with teens
and young adults. Spread entirely by
word of keyboard, “SoaP” (as it is shorthanded
on the keystroke-stingy Internet)
has unleashed a spoofy tsunami of poster
art, mock movie trailers, music videos,
gags, games and T-shirts. (Our favorite
fan-suggested tagline: “Coffee, tea or
antivenin?”)
There’s even a British rock band
named Snakes on a Plane. On their
MySpace page, they describe their style
as “equal parts abrasive math, improv,
kraut and psyche-rock with added melodic
relief.”
The Web site TagWorld.com is sponsor-
‘Snakes on a Plane’ creates early online summer buzz
ing a contest for bands to submit songs
for the film. So far they’ve received more
than 400 legitimate entries, from folk to
speed metal. The winning song, which
will be announced June 1, will be included
in the “SoaP” soundtrack.
The larger question is why this B
movie, sight unseen, has generated such
overwhelming interest months before its
release.
“It’s the combination of an unforgettable
title, a reliable action star, and a
killer trailer that has been creating huge
buzz on the Internet,” says Harry Medved,
of the ticketing service Fandango. “It’s
a movie that has to be seen to be disbelieved.”
But younger fans insist “SoaP’s” popularity
is simpler: It’s the title, stupid. “I
think the whole appeal is that it’s the
most honest movie title ever,” says Stephanie
Wasek, a 26-year-old from Pottstown,
Pa., who started a rapidly growing
“Snakes on a Plane” community on
LiveJournal.com. “When you think about
how cynical my generation is, we’re used
to the studios pumping up movies to
sound like more than what they are. But
`Snakes on a Plane’ is so refreshing. It’s
all there and yet it leaves something to
the imagination.”
The film’s star clearly understands the
value of the title. After Jackson signed up
for “SoaP,” the name was briefly changed
to “Pacific Air Flight 121,” because the
studio, New Line, felt that a less campy
title would attract a higher-quality supporting
cast. (The film features Julianna
Margulies, David Koechner and “Saturday
Night Live’s” Kenan Thompson.)
When Jackson found out about the
switch, he hit the roof, grousing to the
entertainment Web site Collider.com,
“We’re totally changing that back. That’s
the only reason I took the job: I read the
title ... You either want to see that or you
don’t.”
The virtual drums starting beating for
“SoaP” last year when screenwriter Josh
Friedman, who’s been contacted but
not retained to doctor the script, began
trumpeting “Snakes” on his blog.
“It’s a title,” he wrote. “It’s a concept.
It’s a poster and a logline and whatever
else you need it to be. It’s perfect.
Perfect. It’s the Everlasting Gobstopper of
movie titles.”
Some of the fan spoofs have taken on
legendary status. Chris Rohan, a 19-yearold
from Germantown, Md., recorded an
audio trailer of “SoaP” as a goof that has
become an iPod favorite.
“During my lunch break, I wrote up
a skit and I recorded the voices in like
15 minutes,” he says. “I wasn’t going to
even attempt to do Samuel Jackson so I
pulled in my friend Nathaniel (Perry) who
is very, very white. It sounded fantastic.
I had to do so many takes because we
kept breaking into tears from laughing so
hard.”
In the trailer (www.subatomic-warp.
com/Snakes_On_A_Plane.mp3) Perry
imitates Jackson, screaming, “I want
these (expletive) snakes off the (expletive)
plane!” As the spoof spread around
the Internet, Rohan found himself getting
interview requests from NPR and The Hollywood
Reporter. He received a job offer
from a major advertising agency. “It really
got out of hand,” he says.
All this online hype ended up influencing
the final product. The film was crafted
for a PG-13 rating, but the fanboys complained
that this would defang “SoaP.”
So last month, six months after principal
photography had wrapped, New Line arranged
for six days of additional shooting
to give “SoaP” a sexier and bloodier edge
and with it, an R rating.
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