Author: Anna Jones

Anna Jones

Arts & Life Editor

If you like Disney music, you should have been at Uptown on Friday, Sep. 13. The club hosted a karaoke night, the first of many that will be held throughout the semester.

Participants sang a wide range of songs, from Disney soundtracks to more popular music. All were welcomed to sing and everyone could sing whatever he or she pleased. 

In addition to good music, participants were treated to candy, bread, and the campus favorite bison dip. Friday’s event had almost 15 students in attendance.

“Karaoke has always been an event that has struggled at Uptown, unless it is paired with a Pub Night,” Uptown Assistant Manager Emilie Ratajczak ’15 said

Everyone who came and participated in the karaoke night really enjoyed it.

“We hope to ramp up karaoke nights in the future,” Ratajczak said.

Uptown will host many more karaoke and pub nights in the future, so any student that has an interest in singing should stop by and check it out.

Anna Jones

Arts & Life Editor

Fall Fest is always a successful event for the University, but this year’s occasion went above and beyond. Sponsored by Activities and Campus Events (ACE), the event featured many activities designed to entertain students.

Dining services provided a free feast of barbeque, salad, fruit, macaroni and cheese, and many of their famous desserts. There was also a Ferris wheel—a perfect opportunity for students to take a new Facebook profile picture—and a giant slide. Students could also dress up and take pictures with their friends as well as tie-dye hats in school colors.

Fall Fest also featured good music all day. When no one was on stage, popular songs provided entertainment through the speakers. The event concluded with Kingsfoil and 3OH!3 performing some of their most popular songs. Kingsfoil, Frankie Muniz’s band, played at the University during the spring concert in April 2013. They seemed to enjoy being back on campus and played a fantastic show.

After Kingsfoil finished, 3OH!3 set up and played for almost an hour. Nathaniel Motte and Sean Foreman, the band’s front men, entertained by joking with the crowd and performing multiple songs. They concluded Fall Fest with a strong rendition of “Don’t Trust Me,” the band’s most popular tune. These exceptional performances along with the activities and food provided created the perfect kick-off for the fall season.

Layout person: I was thinking we could put this blurb with a headline and then some pictures with captions of fall fest below.  Raffi should be posting them on smugmug soon.

Jen Lassen

Director of Public Relations

Sezi Seskir, visiting associate professor of music, performed an inaugural concert on the restored grand piano in the Weis Center Lobby on Sept. 15.

Two alumni donated the piano, a Steinway & Sons 1920 Model Long A Grand Piano. Robert S. Neumann ’63 and Sara Neumann ’63 contributed the piano in honor of their 50th Reunion and their 50th wedding anniversary.

Nate Baldwin renovated the piano shortly after the donation.

“What is key in these kinds of donations is that the piano gets a proper renovation, and that person knows what he or she is doing. You can kind of see from the outside that it looks like an old piano; that’s because the frame was one of the things that was not touched, and the iron frame inside the piano was not touched either. But everything else-the soundboard, the strings, the hammers-every single thing actually was replaced because it was pretty old,” Seskir said.

Seskir performed works composed in the beginning of the 18th century through the middle of the 19th century. She played works from composers Bach, Chopin, Beethoven, and Scarlatti.

Prior to the concert, Seskir and Baldwin handcrafted the piano’s sound together.

“[Renovations] are very, very costly actually, because it’s not like you put all of these new parts in there, but you actually have to work with them. First you put them in there, but they are like raw material basically. So you take all these hammers and put lacquer on them so they harden, and then you kind of knead them so they become somewhat fluffy … there is much fine-tuning there. We needed to find what exactly was the sound that we wanted to get out of the piano. And I think we got to a good place; it sounded quite good at the end,” Seskir said.

Seskir, originally from Turkey, studied piano in her homeland where she received her B.A. from Ankara State Conservatory, Turkey. She then traveled to Germany to continue her studies.

“I ended up in the north of Germany in Lubeck. That was a great, great opportunity for me because there I feel like I became a real, independent musician and really learned how this job is actually done. I owned it a little bit more,” Seskir said.

After receiving her music education degree in Lubeck Musikhochschule, Germany, Seskir studied at Cornell University where she received her doctoral degree. Her current research focuses on historical keyboards and piano performance in the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as the use of tempo rubato in Robert Schumann’s keyboard music.

Seskir currently teaches piano lessons and music history classes at the University.

“I think there’s actually a parallel between being on stage and being in front of a classroom. Since I enjoy the first one, it’s actually a nice thing for me to do the classroom teaching, too,” Seskir said.

Will Luckey

Columnist

It was the first day of first grade–a pretty big deal in a kid’s life. I got to ride the bus with the older kids, school lasted the whole day, girls started developing sets of adult teeth, and we got to use the big playground at recess. I was feeling really legit with my new pencil case packed tight with fresh number twos and a couple of glue sticks. I was pumped to learn subtraction, get high on paste in art class, run train on four square, and maybe chat up some second grade chicks on the bus ride home.

Well, it did not go down like that. Instead, I threw up all over my desk like a moron. I was sitting right next to Halle, who was a total 10. She looked at me as if I had just thrown a box of puppies off a bridge or something. I ran out of the room but I still had time to hear the entire class dying of laughter. I thought it was complete social suicide. That’s the first memory I have of being truly humiliated. I wanted to run away and never come back, but in the end it wasn’t that bad. Some jerks obviously made jokes the next day, but they were, what, like six years old? That basically meant just calling me “puke-boy” or something. On the whole, people just thought it was funny and moved on.

Fun fact: my first few days at college were also tainted with an oddly similar incident, but I got over that one too.

The trick is to learn to laugh at yourself and take your humiliations gracefully. You just have to acknowledge that everyone does stupid things sometimes and is going to look like an idiot. St. Francis had a theory that everyone needs to experience three daily humiliations as a way of keeping their ego in check.

For example, this morning when I left my dorm, the ground was wet, and I slipped right next to a bunch of football players. Later in class, I spilled my coffee everywhere, and then in the library my headphones came unplugged so everyone in the East Reading Room knew I had been blasting Katy Perry. Whatever, she’s catchy.

By looking out for little moments throughout the day, when you slip up and make a fool of yourself, it becomes much easier to stay grounded. You will realize you’re not all that, but neither is anyone else. More significantly, it becomes much easier to reserve judgment for other people’s humiliations and to actually feel empathy for them. Our society loves to gossip about those who embarrass themselves, but I think if we paid more attention to our own embarrassments it would be harder to mock the shame of others.

Anna Jones

Arts & Life Editor

These are the easiest cookies in the world to make and they taste amazing. They’re also gluten-free, so everyone can enjoy them. This recipe makes about 30 cookies.

1 cup smooth peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

Chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.

2. Combine smooth peanut butter and sugar in a large bowl and mix well.

3. Stir in one egg and mix well.

4. Roll the mixture into small, bite-size balls and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet.

5. Place a few chocolate chips on each ball and bake them in the oven for seven minutes until they flatten, start to crack, and brown.

6. Let the cookies cool and enjoy!

Andrew Marvin

Contributing Writer

“You’re Next” has been billed as a horror-comedy. I watched it with an open mind, and at no point did I feel that it fell under this category. It is a simple movie with a simple premise: men break into an isolated house and slowly kill off each of its occupants. Much of the movie ventures into rip-off territory. The dramatic beats are telegraphed well in advance, and most of the characters are stereotypes. Within the first five minutes you will know who is good, who is bad, and who will be killed. At first glance, it is entirely unremarkable, but there is a saving grace.

The only thing that distinguishes this movie from all of those other thrillers is the heroine, Erin (Sharni Vinson). As the attackers pick off the occupants, Erin picks off the attackers. When she kills, she does so swiftly and without remorse. Though she seems less human for these acts, it is refreshing to see a protagonist who doesn’t spend the entire movie whimpering in a corner as the killer skulks around. Adam Wingard directs these scenes well, lending every brutality a sense of balletic motion. Vinson will probably find herself catapulted to stardom by this quiet little horror movie. Without an actress as physically involved and naturally charismatic as Vinson, Erin’s character would have failed, and if she had failed, the entire movie would have failed. Unfortunately, one character, no matter how strong, cannot support an entire movie.

In horror, the unknown is often times scarier than the obvious. Without the possibility of surprise there is no tension, and without tension there is no horror. Usually when a supposed thriller takes careful steps to explain the characters and their motives, it ceases to become a horror movie. Home invasion movies are especially devoted to this premise. The characters do not need a reason to do the things they do so long as the end result frightens the audience. Those marked “expendable” will march into dark rooms alone when the plot dictates it, because that is the kind of thing that needs to happen in this type of movie. In contrast, “You’re Next” tries to explain everything, giving every character a back story and motive even when it’s not necessary, making the characters’ urges to throw themselves upon the invaders’ arsenal even more ridiculous.

Surprising the audience is what makes good horror effective, but there’s nothing shocking about this movie aside from how strangely satisfying it is. It fails as a horror-comedy, yet it succeeds as something else, though I am having trouble defining exactly what that is. Perhaps it would fit best under the category of a thriller, but that is a genre so broad that most movies can claim to be one in their own right.

I think that “You’re Next” is an action movie above all else–a small-scale “Die Hard.” Erin, the female equivalent of John McClane, uses her wits to fight through a bunch of intruders with ulterior motives in an attempt to save her loved ones. Like “Die Hard,” I suppose that the point of this movie was to start a fun, exciting franchise with a likable hero. While “You’re Next” stands on its own, I can’t help but feel like the idea of making a movie based solely around the idea of churning out more like it, no matter the quality, is a little cynical. Hopefully when the inevitable sequel is released, this burgeoning franchise will find an identity of its own. How much you enjoy it will depend on what you are looking for. This is not great horror, but it is good action. The question still stands: is good action enough?

Anna Jones

Arts & Life Editor

In his campus-wide email about the new social policy, University President John Bravman stressed that Uptown would have a larger presence on campus, and Uptown is definitely starting off strong with two events this past weekend.

Uptown hosted Jeopardy on Sept. 6. Despite having had many trivia nights in the past, they were not hosted Jeopardy before, so this was a new event. The event was extremely successful; at least 40 people participated in Jeopardy, and many others played pool or watched football at Uptown. One team won a $100 cash prize for answering the most number of questions correctly.

“They were the best group of the night. This group had great strategy for the game, and they definitely used it to their advantage, beating the other groups by a significant amount,” Uptown’s assistant manager, Greta Savickaite ’15, said.

Since the event was so successful, Uptown plans to host many more Jeopardy nights.

“The event is still pretty new, [so] we are definitely working to make it even better,” Savickaite said.

The second event at Uptown, hosted on Sept. 7, was the first Pub Night of the year. Whereas Jeopardy was open to the whole school, Pub Nights are only for students 21 and older.

“The numbers for the first one are usually lower, but we still had a great crowd,” Savickaite said.

Pub Nights are designed to give students a relaxing space to hang out with their friends.  Upon arrival at Uptown, students receive a bracelet that entitles them to three free drinks of beer or wine. They also offers snack foods to their guests.

At Pub Night people can play pool, watch sports games on TV, dance, and sing karaoke.

“[Karaoke] allows people to get on stage and sing their favorite songs while other people dance on the dance floor,” Savickaite said.

Uptown has several upcoming events, including karaoke tonight, as well as another Pub Night and a Poetry Slam on the weekend of Sept. 20. We Brake for Nobody, the University’s improv comedy troupe, will also perform at least once this semester.

Uptown plans to host its first register at the end of September.

“The register events allow various student groups and organizations to hold parties at Uptown,” Savickaite said.

Uptown will be hosting weekend events all semester long, so be sure to check the IN Network or Uptown’s Facebook page to see what’s going on.

Anna Jones

Arts & Life Editor

Fall is the season of pumpkin lattes, cozy sweaters, scarves, and falling leaves. It’s also the season when schoolwork picks up and everyone is stressed about tests, papers, and every activity on campus. Here are a few ideas of things to do around Lewisburg that can help you forget about stressful schoolwork so you can embrace the season.

Things to do: 

Ard’s Farm Market

Everyone knows the fall food at Ard’s is to die for, but not everyone knows that they also have fun things to do every fall. They have a five-acre corn maze that is now open every Saturday from noon-9 p.m. and every Sunday from noon-6 p.m. Admission is only $9 for adults. Ard’s also sells pumpkins and has hayrides to the pumpkin patch, which opens in late September.

Football Games

Football games are another fantastic fall attraction, and it’s always great to go out and support your fellow classmates on the field. Homecoming Weekend is always a fun opportunity to reconnect with alumni, as well as cheer on the Bison. This year, homecoming is Oct. 25-27, and the football game is at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 26 against Lehigh. Make sure you head out to Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium for some football before it gets too cold!

Campus Theater

The Campus Theatre downtown usually has several special showings around Halloween.  Last year, they played “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” a few days before the holiday.  Creepy movies at the theatre can help get you into the spirit of Halloween!

Halloween Parade

The Lewisburg Area Recreation Authority sponsors a Halloween parade every year. Local Lewisburg kids dress up and parade through Hufnagle Park. The park is decorated for Halloween and the costumed children are absolutely adorable.

Fall Fest

Tomorrow is the University’s annual Fall Fest. There will be a giant slide, ferris wheel, games, photos, and giveaways. There will also be turkey legs and plenty of other free food. Kingsfoil, Frankie Muniz’s Pennsylvania-based band, will be returning to campus along with 3OH!3, the band that sang the popular song “Don’t Trust Me.”

Food:

The Freez

The Lewisburg Freez is not exactly a fall staple, but it is a campus-wide favorite. The last day of this year’s ice cream season is Sept. 22, just one week away. Make sure to stop in and enjoy your last trip to The Freez…that is, until March 2014.

Dunkin Donuts

Another campus favorite, Dunkin Donuts, has started serving pumpkin donuts, pumpkin muffins, and a slew of pumpkin coffee drinks. These fall foods are perfect for a Saturday or Sunday morning, and Dunkin is less than a mile from campus, so be sure to stop by and fill up on pumpkin food.

Starbucks

Starbucks has also begun to serve their famous Pumpkin Spice Latte, along with their Salted Caramel Mocha and Chocolate Chai Tea Latte. The Starbucks in the bookstore has all three drinks available. It’s well worth the walk downtown.

Elizabeth’s

Although Elizabeth’s is a more expensive option, it is well worth the money. Each season, Elizabeth’s has a new menu and the fall menu is coming soon. This downtown bistro is a perfect place to go with your parents during Family Weekend. Since the food is so good, the restaurant tends to be busy, so be sure to make a reservation if you want to try it out.

Anna Jones

Arts & Life Editor

Most students know the Campus Theatre as the one place in Lewisburg that plays some relatively current movies. What they are unaware of is that the Campus Theatre has capabilities that very few other current movie theaters have—the ability to play movies on 35-millimeter film.

On Sept. 10, the theatre used this capability to show “Paths of Glory,” a 1957 Stanley Kubrick film about World War I soldiers.

This type of film is the actual, physical filmstrip that has been used to record every movie ever created from 1895 until recently. Many film scholars regard this medium of film as the best means of film creation. Nowadays, few movies are created or shown on 35-mm film. This format is extremely expensive to ship and the filmstrips tend to wear out after many uses. Most theaters now show digital films, since they can be easily and inexpensively shipped around the world.

“You can play [a digital file] a thousand times and it’s going to look as good the thousandth time as it did the first time,” Academic Film Programmer Rebecca Meyers said.

Unfortunatly, there are disadvantages to the current digital format. First, many historical movies, including “Paths of Glory,” were created to be shown on 35-mm film. Directors realized that 35-mm film gives a specific texture to a movie and also enriches certain colors, so they specifically used these features to give their movie a certain feel.

“Blacks, for example, are very rich and beautiful on 35-mm film in a way that they’re not in digital cinema,” Meyers said.

There’s also an issue with storing movies in a digital format. Since technology evolves so quickly, there is no guarantee that a movie made today will be watchable in 50 years. Often, computer disks break down in storage or the technology changes so that old films just aren’t compatible with newer projection systems.

Film is one medium that has been used, watched, and rewatched for the entirety of movie history.

“Film prints, if they’re stored carefully, will just last and last and last,” Meyers said.

If theaters have the ability to show 35-mm film, they can show just about any film ever created, which opens audiences up to many new titles and genres that would otherwise have been forgotten.

“If you show a 35-mm film in a digital format … you’re not showing it the way it was meant to be seen,” Meyers said.

The Campus Theatre uses time and money to keep their 35-mm projector in good shape so that they can show historical films the way they were intended.

“Paths of Glory” was shown as part of the BU film series, a group of movies selected and sponsored by professors in the English, philosophy, and other departments. Many of the movies shown throughout this series are 35-mm film, and therefore offer a unique experience. The movies are free and open to the public, so any student can attend any showing.

“I want to offer a place where people can learn about and experience cinema in a way that goes beyond the boundaries of the local multiplex,” Meyers said.

The movies shown give students a deeper insight into a genre that is broad, and Meyers urges students to attend any showing possible.

For more information about the BU film series and upcoming showings, visit the Campus Theater’s website.

Ben Rees

Columnist

This summer the word “twerk” was added to the Oxford Dictionaries Online. It falls in between “twentyfold” and “tweak,” as it probably should due to its popularity among the many tweakers gyrating at astounding velocities. Perhaps if I could whip my hips like a bowl of Jell-O on a tilt-a-whirl I would feel differently about this dance, but in the grand scheme of things, I feel that popular dances have become less impressive over time.

Consider this for a second: at some point, square dancing was the bee’s knees. People would gather in barns and compete in what seemed to be the dance of an era. Now all that we have left of what was once a cultural phenomenon is learning the Cotton-Eyed Joe in elementary P.E. This is no anecdote. This is a warning. What we hold on high today as the be-all-end-all of dancing will not last. It simply cannot.

A quick set of examples will suffice to prove this point. Tchaikovsky did not write his waltzes because he thought that they would be replaced by Victorian ballroom dancing. Throughout time, hegemonies of dance appeared to be everlasting. Unfortunately for those of us who cannot pick up a routine within minutes, with ever-changing fads, we will always be left in the kicked-up dust.

I cannot assert that the twerk has no purpose. Clearly there is an element of showing off latent in how aggressively one can make their ass-cheeks resemble rogue cantaloupes. I can contend that dances have become much lazier. Cherokee war dances had a very distinct purpose, as do traditional religious dances in most every faith. Even dances where fun is the sole goal, like the Charleston and the tango, require a great deal of effort and coordination.

Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t a new thing. Jazz hands are about as lazy as it gets. Nobody looks good flailing their digits to “When the Saints Go Marching In.” I’m not saying that all dancers today lack talent. I’m just suggesting that Cat Daddying takes a little less coordination than swing.

Whether or not I make a point is up to the reader. Perhaps my indifference towards twerking stems from my inability to shake what my mother gave me in any meaningful manner—no matter how much I practice in the mirror.