Author: cmo015

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Arts & Life Columns Movies Review

Skyfall deemed one of the best Bond installments, a possible Oscar contender

Carolyn Williams

Writer

As the Bond franchise celebrates its 50th anniversary, director Sam Mendes delivers a terrific reboot to the series with “Skyfall.” Engaging, modern and lovingly self-referential, “Skyfall” is a definite contender as one of the best 007 movies of all time.

“Skyfall” opens, in traditional Bond fashion, in an exotic locale (Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar) as our hero (Daniel Craig), in all his perfectly tailored glory, knocks over some fruit carts in his attempt to catch the “bad guy”–in this case, he’s stolen a flash drive loaded with valuable information. Rooftop chases and a fight on a train ensue (Bond stopping to adjust a cuff link before reentering the fray); it’s all in a day’s work for 007–until it’s not. When the villain in question uses Bond as a human shield and his fellow agent cannot get a clean shot, M (Judi Dench), via earpiece, commands she take the shot, and Bond apparently dies.

Shockingly, 007 does not die 20 minutes into this film. While he’s presumed dead, some serious dilemmas arise at MI6. M is subjected to her new, deeply bureaucratic boss (Ralph Fiennes), who thinks it is about time she stepped down, and is seriously questioning the role of secret agents in an increasingly digital world. Shortly after this dressing down, M is made the target of a terrorist attack on MI6 itself, and is told to “think on her sins.” All this, and she has to write Bond’s obituary, too?

Happily, Bond returns to London soon enough, but this is a tired and aging Bond. Forced to retake his physical and mental exams, he scrapes by and returns to active duty, gunning for the cyber terrorist targeting M. With the help of the latest Bond girl, he finds the perversely amiable Silva (a blonde Javier Bardem) living on a creepily abandoned island. It turns out that Silva’s an ex-MI6 agent who has major Oedipal beef with M. In an exciting and somewhat expected plot twist, Silva is not so well-caught as MI6 had hoped, and both Bond and M must run for cover until they are able to face Silva on Bond’s home turf.

“Skyfall” is hands down the best action movie of the year, which is already saying something unusual about a Bond movie of late. This film is the rightful sequel to 2006’s “Casino Royale,” and firmly sets up Bond movies for years to come. (Let’s just pass over the blip that was “Quantum of Solace,” shall we?) A super-creepy Bardem is a terrific baddie–always a good sign in the world of 007 successes. With the help of fresh, new cast members (Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw), this Bond screams 21st century, a place some weren’t sure he belonged. Specifically great is a sardonically nerdy Whishaw as the latest Q, who jokes, “What, were you expecting an exploding pen? We don’t really do that anymore.”

Although gone is Connery’s sarcastic, all-knowing Bond, Craig’s more realistically brutal performance is an easy second for best ever 007.

“A dynamic and vulnerable Daniel Craig comes of age in this action packed movie, making this Bond one of the best,” Ava Giuliano ’14 said.

The exuberant references to past adventures, witty script and the unexpected return of a certain Aston Martin DB5 make “Skyfall” one of the best Bond installments, and perhaps even a contender this Oscar season.

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Arts & Life Columns Humor Rees' Pieces

Rees’ Pieces: The Columnist Manifesto

Ben Rees

Writer

The Columnist Manifesto

 

A couple of weeks ago I did not get a column done–oops! Like everyone else, I was inescapably swamped with loads of schoolwork, and in the midst of my scholarly flurrying, I neglected to write. While entrenched in the intellectual firefight preceding Thanksgiving break, my creative spark was nowhere to be found. Not to say that I failed to attempt a column; in fact, I tried to come up with something halfway decent on more than one occasion. Regrettably, the ideas I came up with were nowhere close to pleasant and even further from endearing. I do not know whether rigorous intellectual pursuits necessarily stifle creativity, and as many of my scholarly endeavors are dedicated to English literature, I would assert that homework and creativity go hand in hand. For some reason, I just couldn’t get it together.

William Faulkner once said: “I only write when I am inspired. Fortunately, I am inspired at nine o’clock every morning.” I, on the other hand, seem only to write at a mildly successful level anywhere between six and 12 hours before my deadline. There are two possibilities for this: one, the increased need to produce stimulates whatever comedic abilities I may have, or two, I get stressed and bitter enough that my anger ends up sounding funny. Take a look back, and I think we can all agree that the latter is probably right on the money. All my columns either rant, tell people what not to do or make incomprehensibly juvenile jokes about body parts.

An embittered columnist cannot produce comedy forever, as he is not on stage to make goofy faces and provide filler jokes bashing the ugly couple in front. Rather, from now on, I, Benjamin Rees, will try to be a little more optimistic in my writing. The glass is no longer half full of poison, it is just half full–maybe of Fanta or something else pleasant.

Now don’t forget, my goblet still overfloweth with bubbling scorn, and I rather dislike most things; however, in the spirit of the artistic process I will attempt to create some original, positive jokes in order to make everyone’s day shine a tad brighter. Call this column my metamorphosis: a once sour larvae blossoming into a beautiful, yet decently funny butterfly. With immense grace, as if erupting from its cocoon like the Alien from an unsuspecting abdomen, it spreads its wings and lightly flutters upon the generally confused synapses of those misfortunate enough to encounter this questionable transformation.

Disclaimer: If you have laughed at all during this column, you should be shamefully aware of your cynical chuckles. Every word espouses a delicate, personal transformation, and any humor this may have aroused in my audience is at the expense of my personal progress. Essentially, my happiness is a joke. Thanks, jerks.

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Arts & Life Campus Events Review

The Fall Dance Showcase keeps audience engaged with a variety of styles, music and dancers

Anna Jones
Writer

The University may be well known for its Engineering program, but the Arts program is rich with opportunity, and is growing in popularity and success. On Nov. 9 and 10, in Harvey M. Powers Theater, the University Department of Theater and Dance presented the Fall Dance Showcase.

The Showcase involved more than 60 dancers from all around campus. Anyone could audition for the show, and then, if selected, they could be cast in up to three pieces. Choreographers included students, faculty and guests.

“The student choreographers were really great. It was inspiring to see how passionate they were about dance,” Rachel Fernandes ’16, a dancer in the show, said.

Guest choreographers included alumna Kourtney Ginn ’12 and Erin Rehberg. Ginn is currently working for Dance/USA, Adventure Theatre-MTC and Dance 4 Peace in the Washington, D.C. area. Rehberg is founder and artistic director of Core Project Chicago, a performing arts collective.

The Showcase choreographers are experts in a vast variety of techniques and styles, so the show featured almost every type of dance. The music ranged widely too, including pieces from David Guetta to Tchaikovsky to Bon Iver.

“The show was really a mix of everything–jazz, tap, ballet, contemporary, modern and even Irish,” Fernandes said.

“I really enjoyed the dance showcase because it showed a large variety of dances,” Eileen Cook ’16 said.

The show also included dance groups like the Lewisburg Dance Conservatory and students from Jazz I, Ballet I, Watersleeves and Social Dance classes. Two dancers from the Bisonettes were featured as well. Each number varied in size; some dances including eight or more dancers and some only featuring three.

Including a pre-show installment, the show featured 21 different numbers. The show was about two hours long with a short intermission.

“Everyone was saying that it gets better every year,” Fernandes said in response to how this year’s show compared to the shows in past years.

“Everyone was really talented, so it was really cool to see all those people that I knew from my classes in their element, performing really well,” Cook said.

Dancers enjoyed being a part of something so creative on campus.

“It was so fun being in a showcase here and meeting all the dancers at Bucknell,” Fernandes said.

With many guests at both shows, the Fall Dance Showcase was a huge success. Fernandes urges everyone to come out and audition for the Spring Showcase in April.

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Arts & Life Columns Cooking Corner

Mini Pumpkin Pie Cheesecakes

Katie Mancino | The Bucknellian

Katie Mancino
Writer

per cheesecake: 25 calories, 0g fat, 5 carbs, 1g protein

This is one of the biggest hits among my friends, and they have all agreed that if it wasn’t for me making this dessert, they would have never realized cheesecake could be so healthy. You can easily use this cheesecake recipe to make other flavors by just swapping out the pumpkin. You could even make a few kinds by splitting the recipe into halves for an extra impressive Thanksgiving display!

I decorated these with cool whip frosting (found in the freezer section) and fun sprinkles. The frosting is 60 calories for two tablespoons, but I only used half a teaspoon on each, adding only five extra calories.

Makes 36 mini cheesecakes

Ingredients

  • 5 Honey Maid Low Fat Cinnamon Graham Crackers
  • 1 Tbsp Land O’Lakes Light Butter
  • 2 fresh egg whites
  • 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
  • 2 Tbsp packed brown sugar
  • 2 Tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp ginger
  • 1/4 cup fat free sour cream
  • 8 oz (1 pack) fat free cream cheese
  • 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
  • Mini cupcake liners

Directions

  1. Heat oven to 350 F.
  2. Crush graham crackers until fine and melt butter.
  3. Combine butter and crushed crackers. Press 1/2 teaspoon into the bottom of each mini cupcake liner.
  4. Whip egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form (this is much easier with a mixer).
  5. Beat together pumpkin, sour cream, cream cheese, sugars and spices until smooth.
  6. Gently mix egg whites into pumpkin mixture.
  7. Add 1/2 tablespoon of batter to each mini cupcake tin.
  8. Bake 15-20 minutes until solid at the top but still jiggly.
  9. Refrigerate for 1 hour to set.
  10. Decorate and enjoy!

 

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Arts & Life Campus Events

Feinstein and Young share their poetry and experiences

Molly Ford
Writer

The Stadler Center for Poetry hosted a joint reading with Sascha Feinstein and C. Dale Young on the evening of Nov. 13 in Bucknell Hall. Both poets took turns reading a selection of their poetry for University faculty, students and guests. Earlier that day in Willard Smith Library, Feinstein spoke on jazz and memory, while Young talked about balancing artistic pursuits with a professional life in Walls Lounge. Their readings that night reflected these topics.

Feinstein’s work incorporates jazz in its patterns and form, and refers to other artists and their work. Through his poetry, Feinstein hopes to “express the lasting qualities of art.” Feinstein’s work puts the arts of jazz and poetry in conversation.

Young is an oncologist, as well as a poet and editor. During his faculty introduction, Young’s measured stanzas were described as “immaculate, well-structured rooms in which the reader walks.” He combines his experiences as a full time physician and his life as an artist in most of his poems. Young offers a unique point of view as he reveals the emotion and art behind a professional job in medicine.

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Arts & Life Movies Review

Based on a true story,”Argo” proves to be a successfully suspenseful off-season opener

Carolyn Williams
Writer

Ben Affleck’s latest directorial effort, “Argo,” tells the recently declassified story of a little known escape during the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. Heavily hyped as being based on a true story, the actual events make for some pretty nail biting cinema.

The film opens on the hostile takeover of the United States Embassy in Tehran. As fear mounts and American employees hasten to destroy government records and batten down the embassy’s hatches, a group of six covertly escapes through the back door, taking refuge at the Canadian ambassador’s residence a few streets away.

As their fellow countrymen live as hostages, these six hide out in relative comfort for several months. The Canadians don’t want the responsibility anymore, and the Americans fear that if the Iranians find them, the escapees will be made into examples by public execution.

Enter Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck), a CIA staffer who specializes in “exfiltration;” basically he gets people out of dangerous situations. He immediately rejects the original escape plan: give the group six bikes, maps to the border and best wishes for their survival. As he’s brainstorming, Mendez chats with his son over the phone (he and his wife are estranged, another reason for the audience to sympathize) and has an epiphany–what if they were a film crew?

Given the late-70s trend for science fiction movies, Mendez decides that one of the most far-fetched (and therefore least suspicious) ways of exfiltrating these citizens is to pass them off as a Canadian film crew looking for an exotic location to film the next Star Wars rip-off. What’s even more unbelievable than this plan is the fact that the CIA okayed it.

To make the film seem legit, Mendez goes to Hollywood where he contacts John Chambers (John Goodman), a prosthetics designer who has worked with the CIA in the past. They begin spreading the buzz about their upcoming film–they choose a film called “Argo”–but things don’t really get going until they have their producer, played hilariously by Alan Arkin, who proclaims that if he’s going to make a fake movie, “it’s going to be a fake hit.” Once all the groundwork has been laid in stateside, there’s nothing left for Mendez to do but carry it out.

Once again, Affleck proves that as a director, he’s got chops. The real-life story is so outlandish that it’s automatically the stuff of good cinema. Kendall Woods ’14 called the film “better than I anticipated.” Affleck does slip into some bad Hollywood habits by exaggerating some of the escape sequences, and perhaps the denouement is overly indulgent, but most of the movie is interesting, tense and emotionally involved. Though probably not much of a contender come Oscar time, “Argo” is not too shabby for an off-season opener.

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Arts & Life Campus Events Movies Review

Professors Goodale and Andersson help audience understand the life of Elizabeth I

Laura Crowley
Senior Writer

Associate Professor of History James Goodale and Professor of Art History Christiane Andersson presented the Hollywood portrayals of Queen Elizabeth I in Tudor England on Nov. 13 at the Campus Theatre. Goodale discussed the beginning of Elizabeth’s life in “The Other Boleyn Girl” and “Elizabeth” (1998), while Andersson presented the later half of Elizabeth’s life in the mini-series version of “Elizabeth” (2005).

Throughout the event, they showed clips from the period films and analyzed their historical veracity. They also analyzed the accuracy of the plot itself and the ways in which Hollywood used lighting and music to often make the films more dramatic than Elizabeth’s life may have actually been. Goodale pointed out that the lighting used in “Elizabeth” (1998) is especially dark in the beginning of her life to contrast the brightness and purity of when she officially became “The Virgin Queen.”

Both professors helped audience members gain a more holistic and accurate view of Queen Elizabeth’s life story than the movies and series provided by themselves. They particularly noted her use of humor to get her way with Parliament when it continuously urged her to get married. As the head of her country, Elizabeth’s duties led her to be a “rational, coldblooded and deliberate woman and Protestant,” Goodale said. Queen Elizabeth I felt she wouldn’t be able to lead England as well if she were married, and cut her hair like a man to deliberately strip herself of her femininity.

The professors felt the films were fairly accurate. In the mini-series, “Elizabeth” (2005), Andersson pointed out that the producers even reconstructed White Hall from the original blueprint for the film.

They also stressed how, in Tudor England, love was a political entity rather than a romantic one. It seems that gender was also more of a “performative act,” Goodale said. Both Elizabeth and one of her suitors Henry III of France were both known to possess and project qualities of both genders for a number of motives.

The event was part of the Film/Media Series and was open to the community. There is an event every Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Campus Theatre.

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Arts & Life Columns

Trend Report: Black Friday

Black Friday

Kate Jansen

Writer

In one week’s time, we will be stuffing ourselves with Thanksgiving leftovers and deliberating whether or not we are fit enough to join Black Friday’s shopping extravaganza.

For the past few years after Thanksgiving, my mom and I have ventured to New York City to join the anxious mobs of other mother-daughter pairs in search of the best bargain. For those who have not participated in Black Friday, allow me to put things into perspective. Black Friday is a survival of the fittest game of sorts. Women of all ages fight for the cheapest overall haul of garments. My mom and I have witnessed this on several occasions while shopping at Bloomingdale’s. Small mountains of last season’s sweaters litter the department store floor. Mothers go through piles in the dressing room, willing to snag the cheapest cardigan, even if it means they will lose an earring in the process.

I have found that the best way to cure any Turkey Day hangover is to beat the mad rush and shop online. Personally, I think that major department stores like Bloomingdale’s and Saks Fifth Avenue offer better deals online than they do in stores. Other popular retail stores offer major blowout sales the Friday, Saturday and Monday after Thanksgiving. I’d pay close attention to sales that are exclusive to Cyber Monday; these could be the best deals of the season. And so, next weekend, channel your inner shopaholic and grab your laptop.

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Campus Events News

Ghost hunter spooks campus

Christina Oddo
Arts & Life Editor

On Nov. 6, Rich Robbins, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, spoke of the supernatural, the evidence supporting and dismissing the existence of ghosts and the presence of other related phenomena. He also spoke of ghost hunting. His annual talk, “Ghosts and Hauntings: Decide for Yourself” had been rescheduled due to Hurricane Sandy.

Robbins attended the University of Nevada, Reno, and holds a master’s degree in experimental psychology, as well as a doctorate degree in social psychology. Robbins has had more than 80 professional presentations at academic conferences, and has been published on several occasions.

Robbins is also a certified parapsychologist, has participated in many ghost hunts and has been interviewed by the media regarding his work with supernatural phenomena. 

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Arts & Life

Taking A Stroll Through Lewisburg

Molly Ford
Writer

Nov. 2 and 3 marked the 14th annual Stroll Through the Arts Weekend. Thanks to the Lewisburg Arts Council, visual and performing arts were on display in Downtown Lewisburg. Nov. 2’s festivities included displays from artists from all over the central Susquehanna Valley region. A Silent Art Auction, featuring judged pieces from the Spring Arts Festival, was a highlight of the night. While visual art lined the streets on Nov. 2, music was the focus on Nov. 3. From 7 p.m. to midnight, bands played in four local venues. All venues in this Dance to the Music Event were free and open to the public. Events such as this promote local artists and musicians and bring a vibrant big city feel to our town.