Month: October 2013

Ben Kaufman

Editor-in-Chief

The phrase “so much to do, so little time” had never felt as true as it did this summer while interning at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe takes place in the month of August, and it is the largest arts festival in the world. It started in 1947, just after World War II, as a way to revitalize the culture in Europe and lift everyone’s spirits. What started out as less than 50 shows has now turned into a festival with over 2,500 shows and over 4,000 performances that occur at almost all times of the day. Many famous actors, including Mike Myers, Hugh Laurie, Caroline Rhea, and Alan Cumming, have performed at the Fringe.

I was in Edinburgh as part of the Business of the Arts Program, which is organized by the University of Edinburgh. It is an eight-week program with four weeks of business courses and then four weeks of an internship at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

The first month was jam-packed with my attempts to see all of the main tourist attractions. The two adventures that stand out the most were exploring Edinburgh Castle and climbing to the top of Arthur’s Seat, the largest mountain in Edinburgh. The castle is filled with rich Scottish history and culture that one can experience first hand by walking around the museums of the castle. The castle, built on top of a hill, gives great views of the entire city. I found my experience at Arthur’s Seat significant, because it was the first time I had been hiking in the longest time. Those who know me well know that I am the opposite of an outdoorsy person, so climbing Arthur’s Seat was a completely different experience for me; I will never forget the beautiful views. Being able to say that I was the tallest person in Edinburgh at one point is also pretty cool.

The second month was the internship at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. I was placed at a medium sized venue called Sweet Venues, which is a company based out of Dundee (about two hours away from Edinburgh). The venue was located in one of the highest traffic areas for visitors. I was doing press and marketing for them, helping out with their Facebook and Twitter pages, hanging up posters and flyers for the various shows at the venue, looking over press releases, and taking pictures for events. While the venue is medium sized, in terms of the number of shows they perform and the number of production companies that perform in their venue, the staff size is very small, with only 15 people employees.

With this tiny staff, one can imagine how chaotic the start of the internship was, especially setting up and bringing everything together in time for the festival’s start. While it was hectic, this internship was one of the most rewarding experiences that I have ever been a part of. It gave me an opportunity to meet many interesting people who I never would have met otherwise. The people who performed at Sweet Venues were not only from Scotland, but from places around the world, like Dallas, Texas, and Sydney, Australia. My position allowed me to be a part of really cool events, like a charity event that was held at a Bowling Club in Edinburgh.

From my fellow students in the program, to the people I worked with at Sweet Venues, everyone was incredibly welcoming to me and helped make my time in Edinburgh incredibly unique. Hopefully I can go back some day to expand on my experience abroad.

Will Luckey

Writer

Why I Want to Study Abroad Down Under: A Statement of Intent

Dear Study Abroad Program,

I can’t think of another place I would want to spend my semester abroad other than Australia. In my mind, it is the only place for me. Ever since I was young, I dreamed of visiting the Oprah House in Sydney. I understand that it was built to look like the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina hit, or maybe they just never finished it—I am not sure.

Secondly, I would like to visit the place where “Finding Nemo” was filmed. I plan on retracing the journey the whiny, sourpuss fish did with that mentally handicapped one.

I will top off that day with a visit to an authentic Outback Steakhouse. I only hope my coupon for pepper-jack sliders does not expire before then!

I am a big fan of football, but I sometimes find all of the rules confusing. Plus, the uniforms seem a bit too baggy and constraining. I have done some research, and Aussie football rules seems much more up my alley. They wear tight short shorts and poorly cut tank tops. The game is basically running around with no organization, throwing the ball to other players until the game just kind of ends. There are goal posts, but they never seem to use them, and teams are awarded arbitrary amounts of points whenever they make the other team bleed.

Next, I will make a pilgrimage to the birthplace of my favorite actor, Russell Crowe. He has starred in some timeless classics such as “Mystery Alaska,” “3:10 To Yuma,” and the second season of “L.A. Confidential.” He is also featured on Australia’s $5 bill.

A few last things I want to do are find and devour the stingray that killed the Aussie version of Popeye, Jeff Corwin, hang out with Crocodile Dundee (who I believe is the current Prime Minister), get in a fight with a Tasmanian devil, panic the first time I see a toilet flush backwards, order shrimp on the barbie wherever I go, get filmed being attacked by a shark for “Shark Week,” make a rug out of a kangaroo (Kangarug), tell everyone how average of a beer Foster’s is, and that I still blame them for killing Jack’s dad in “Lost.”

I really love America, and I hate all people and things foreign to me. Similar to America, Australia values kicking natives off of their ancestral land and building sprawling metropolises in places with no sources of fresh water. I am looking forward to studying in a country founded by criminals whose national sport is swimming. In short, I just cannot wait to live on a desert island with less culture than Canada.

Please consider me for a spot in your program,

Will Luckey

Carolyn Williams

Senior Writer

Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut, “Don Jon,” is the story of a bridge-and-tunnel Lothario whose lady-killing routine is turned on its head when he meets his match in the bossy “dime” Barbara Sugarman, (played by a perfectly cast Scarlett Johansson).

Jon’s (Gordon-Levitt) prowess with women is legendary-his friends call him “the don.” He’s got a different girl each night, church on Sunday, and dinner after with his hilariously stereotyped New Jersey-Italian family. And this is the way Jon likes it. His mother bemoans his single status, but Jon’s list of priorities, repeated throughout the film as a mantra, is “my body, my ride, my pad, my church, my family, my boys, my girls, my porn.” And this is Jon’s problem: he likes the ladies (and they certainly like him), but unfortunately none of these real-life women have come close to the caricatured porn stars whom Jon has devoted years to enjoying. The moment he locks eyes with Barbara Sugarman, he finds himself to be the hunted instead of the hunter.

Jon and Barbara’s relationship progresses slowly—Barbara is the kind of girl who wants to meet the parents before she puts out—but when they eventually settle into a rhythm, the differences in their personalities quickly become evident. If Jon represents the classic, egotistical, male persona, reducing women to numerical scores and unable to understand the fundamental disconnect between porn and sex in real life, then Barbara embodies a complementary female character. Obsessed with romantic comedies and expecting her own life to resemble one, she sets about playing a parallel game to Jon’s: he’s trying to get into her pants; she’s trying to make him fit the mold of a Disney prince. Jon still can’t quit the porn, and this becomes the fundamental issue in their outwardly happy relationship.

Gordon-Levitt has amassed an all-star cast, and the movie has the feel of a project that was very fun to work on. Tony Danza and Glenne Headly typify the traditional husband/wife dynamic in their fits of exasperated screaming, momentarily contrasted with memories of their original romance. Brie Larson is hilarious as Jon’s detached younger sister, eyes glued to her smartphone, only speaking up once during the course of the whole film. Julianne Moore’s performance is equal parts fragile and comic, and interestingly, it’s only through this dichotomy that her character is able to see through Jon’s shellacked Guido persona to access the real person underneath.

“Don Jon” was originally titled “Don Jon’s Addiction” when it premiered at Sundance in January, but the more serious title was dumped for wide release. Similarly, audience members might miss Gordon-Levitt’s more subtle points behind its wickedly comic surface. It’s a smart and highly enjoyable movie, addressing issues of perception, persona, and real versus imagined desire. And if Gordon-Levitt capitulates with a Hollywood ending, well, it’s his first movie after all. “Don Jon” promises an interesting career for Gordon-Levitt on both sides of the camera.

Andrew Marvin

Contributing Writer

Looking back on a tragedy, we often find ourselves struggling to piece things back together to figure out how and why fate had engineered that moment. “Zero Dark Thirty” opened with an important, engaging piece of the puzzle: audio recordings of people inside the World Trade Center phoning their loved ones. “Fruitvale Station” takes that one step further with actual video footage of a man being brought down, restrained, and shot on the platform of the Fruitvale Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Station.

Will this become a trend in movies that label themselves “based on a true story?” I hope not, because that gives the impression that the events portrayed are factual. “Zero Dark Thirty” was certainly not entirely factual, and neither is “Fruitvale Station.” Writer and director Ryan Coogler has stretched the truth so far that only the faint outline of Oscar Grant III’s final day alive remains. Grant was, by all accounts, not a bad man. He is portrayed here as a martyr, a modern Christ figure murdered in cold blood by a racist, gun-waving stereotype of a psychopathic policeman.

If who you are is determined by how you act and what you have done, then Coogler has replaced Grant with a kinder, less-flawed man, and left Grant himself out of the movie. If Coogler had mentioned Grant’s conviction for possession of a handgun and evading arrest, instead of just the drug-dealing charges that his character arc is based off of, would audiences be less inclined to sympathize with him? I doubt it. He was still a defenseless man who was unfairly shot and killed at a young age. Was it necessary to add scenes of him caring for a dying dog or throwing his package of weed into the ocean? As far as anybody knows, he did neither. The proceedings have been drowned in artificial cinematic sweetener.

Likewise, the film also neglects to mention that Johannes Mehserle, the officer who shot Grant, was by no account racist or fascist. He is only on screen for five minutes or so, but his actions are what gave this movie cause to exist, which makes him an important character. It’s worth mentioning that he was not necessarily a bad person. He had never been the subject of a sustained complaint in his time serving as a BART police officer, and he became a father the day after the shooting. Yes, Mehserle shot Grant, but the man on screen who beats and berates Grant is not him. The title cards at the end of the film do not mention any of this, instead focusing on the riots that followed the killing, painting them as an outcry for social justice. There’s even a brief shot of Grant’s real daughter crying at a protest rally.

After the shooting, Mehserle’s family received a number of death threats–his parents, girlfriend, and infant child had to relocate. Where is the social justice there? This is left out of the film. “Fruitvale Station” only portrays the black and white, skipping over all of the shades of gray in between. According to Coogler, Grant is good, Mehserle is bad, and the riots that followed were wholly justified. There is a disturbing lack of both subtlety and intricacy in what he has to say.

“Fruitvale Station” doesn’t portray facts. It’s saccharine-sweet, tear-jerking, heartstring-tugging fiction. It wants to be a victim’s-eye-view of a true crime (complete with a shaky, handheld camera following Grant throughout his day), but is too false to sell itself as such. Though the award-bait performances are all very touching (especially Michael B. Jordan as Grant) none of it feels real. Coogler is a young director, as old as Grant would be now if he were alive. He is filled with potential and doubtlessly talented at emotional manipulation, as demonstrated by this movie. If his next feature is as dishonest as this one, all of that potential will go to waste. “Fruitvale Station” hits the heart, but completely misses the brain.

Cooper Josephs

Contributing Writer

Fresh Tomato and Mozzarella Antipasto

This is a great recipe that can be used as a light snack or as an appetizer for a meal. I personally enjoy the stronger flavor of extra virgin olive oil, but if you find the flavor to be too overwhelming, try mixing it with light olive oil. The salt and pepper helps bring out the flavor of the tomatoes. If you are looking to make this antipasta even more healthy, try adding avocado! To add more color to this dish, try supplementing large tomatoes with orange or red cherry tomatoes.

Ingredients:

• 2-4 Tbsp olive oil

• 3 ripe tomatoes

• ½ lb of fresh mozerella cheese

• Basil

• Avocado (optional)

• 2 pinches of salt

• Cracked pepper

Directions:

1. Rinse the tomatoes and with a small knife, cut out the stem from the tomatoes. Using a serrated knife, cut the tomato in ¼ inch thick slices.

2. Cut ¼ inch thick mozzarella slices.

3. With a chef’s knife (non-serrated), cut longitudinally down to the core the entire way around the avocado.

4. Twist the two halves open, and with a spoon, separate the pit and the avocado meat as well as the skin.

5. Cut 1/4 inch thick slices of avocado.

6. Lay the avocado and tomato slices alternatively on a plate and lightly salt the tomatoes.

7. Lay the mozzarella slices on top and drizzle the olive oil on top of everything.

8. Add basil leaves to the top of the mozzarella slices and enjoy!

Servings: 4