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Arts & Life

Cooking Corner: Almond Trail Mix

Cooper Josephs

Contributing Writer

Almonds are high in protein and fiber, but some find them difficult to eat by themselves due to their chalky texture. This recipe masks the chalky flavor of the almonds with the sweetness of Life cereal and craisins. You don’t have to worry about the coconut shreds falling to the bottom of your bag because they stick to the craisins! This is a healthy, crunchy, delicious on-the-go snack that can be stored and consumed throughout the day.

Ingredients:

  • 2 Tbsp unsweetened, shredded coconut

  • ¼ cup Life cereal

  • ⅛ cup craisins

  • ¼ cup almonds

Servings: 4

Directions:

1.  Combine all ingredients, mix it all together, and enjoy!

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Arts & Life

Family Weekend offers events for all

Anna Jones

Arts & Life Editor

With Family Weekend right around the corner, students may be looking for something to do or somewhere to go with their parents. Beginning on Friday, Sep. 27, the University will provide many opportunities for families to get a glimpse into campus life.

The weekend kicks off with campus tours at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m. The tours are open to all and are a good opportunity for younger siblings to take a look around campus.

Later in the day, there are several events for active families. The Family Weekend Golf Tournament starts at 1 p.m. at the Golf Club; pre-registration is required and there is a fee to play. Next, at 1:30 p.m., the University is hosting a family bike ride.

For families more interested in the academic aspect of the University, Associate Professor of Biology DeeAnn Reeder and Associate Professor of Dance Kelly Knox will discuss their research around the globe. The event will be hosted from 3-4 p.m. in Trout Auditorium in the Vaughn Literature Building and pre-registration is required. Immediately following these talks, families have an opportunity to meet the dean of students and other faculty at a reception in the Terrace Room.

In the early evening, the University’s outdoor clubs are hosting a bike ride as well as a canoe and kayak excursion. Both are a great chance to see some of the school’s clubs in action.

As for artistic entertainment, the Weis Center is hosting singer-songwriter Josh Ritter from 7:30-9 p.m. Ritter has been regarded as one of the most exciting new artists, so be sure to purchase tickets from the Weis Center box office.

At 8 p.m., theater students will be performing “All the Great Books (abridged)” in Tustin Studio Theatre. This play is a 60-minute version of over 100 great novels and will feature the class of 2017’s theater students. The show is directed by Logan Kauffeld ’15 (I’m pretty sure that this is the right person–the Family Weekend flyer thing says Logan Connors but he’s a professor of French soooo I’m assuming it’s not him), and promises to be a refreshing take on an old topic. The play will also show at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturday, Sep. 28.

Finally, from 9-11 p.m., Rooke Chapel will host Christy’s A Capella Concert, a Family Weekend tradition. The show will feature student a cappella groups, such as the Bison Chips, the Silhouettes, and Beyond Unison. The a cappella groups will perform again on Saturday night from 9-11 p.m. Christy’s A Capella concert almost always sells out, so be sure to grab your tickets early.

On Saturday, the Family Weekend fun continues with a breakfast reception in the Terrace Room from 8-10 a.m. After this reception, the day is filled with international education information sessions, Career Development Center introductions, high school student information sessions, and outdoor pursuits.

At 10:30 a.m., University President John Bravman will host a question and answer session in the Weis Center. After the Q&A, Bravman will join families for a reception in the Weis Center lobby. All students and family members are encouraged to go and get to know the University’s president.

From 1-2 p.m. in the Gallery Theatre, Housing Services will have an information session regarding changes in the housing policies. This session is extremely important to sophomores and their parents because the changes will affect their housing options in the upcoming years.

After, families can experience Lewisburg in a new way through the Poetry Path Tour, featuring Yoga with Cheri Orndorf. Visitors will read and hear poetry throughout their walk around downtown Lewisburg.

Next, be sure to join families from all over campus at the Family Weekend Tailgate, starting at 3:30 pm. Dining Services will provide upscale tailgate food and faculty will be in attendance to discuss their research projects. After the tailgate, the football team will take on Sacred Heart at 6 p.m. in Christy Mathewson Memorial Stadium.

To finish off the day, the University will host a WE DO Family Party in a tent on the football practice field. There will be desserts, beverages, music, and dancing from 8-11 p.m.

On Sunday morning, in conclusion to Family Weekend, Colleges Against Cancer will host a 5K walk/run. The race starts at 9 a.m. and registration costs $20; all the proceeds go to the American Cancer Society.

Lastly, the Terrace Room will host a jazz brunch from 9 a.m.-noon. Adults pay $18 and children under 12 only pay $10.

Family Weekend is an annual tradition and there are all sorts of events for everyone, so make sure to take advantage of all the opportunities.

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Arts & Life

Uptown Karaoke night provides quality entertainment

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.

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Arts & Life

Kingsfoil, 3OH!3, and ferris wheel make Fall Fest a hit

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.

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Arts & Life

Visiting professor performs on restored piano

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.

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Arts & Life

Luckey Charms: It Ain’t Easy Being Perfect

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.

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Arts & Life

Cooking Corner: Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Cookies

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!

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Arts & Life

“You’re Next” falls flat as horror film

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?

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Arts & Life

Breaking Bad wows audience with stellar episode

Ken Gorab

Presentation Director

“Breaking Bad” never ceases to amaze me. “Ozymandias” is a shining example of a production team and cast at the very top of their game, and even Executive Producer Vince Gilligan stated himself that he considers this to be the best episode of the entire series.

The emotional tour de force begins with a flashback to one of Walter and Jesse’s first times cooking together, their bickering gently pulling on the nostalgic heartstrings of the audience. As Walt calls Skyler to feed her one of his very first lies, we catch a glimpse of the long-lost innocence as he struggles to find the words. With smiles on their faces they plan a vacation, and Jesse pretends to sword-fight in the background. No matter what happens in the coming conclusion, I’d always like to remember the characters like this.

The moment fades into the opening theme, and the reminiscence is bittersweet. As viewers of the previous episode know, Walt and Jesse’s first cook site shares a place with the far more grisly events of the present day, and as the gunshots subside we get our first glimpse of the aftermath. Within the first minute we see Hank wounded and Gomez dead, and as Jack and the rest of his gang move in to kill Hank, Walt desperately pleads that they let him go. We see one outstanding final performance from Dean Norris before he is executed mid-sentence. The audio cuts to silent as Walt falls to the ground, and despite the cloud of desert sand kicked up, the scene leaves the audience feeling ice cold.

It is important to note the excellence in the writers’ use of symbolism in coordination with the episode’s title and theme. “Ozymandias,” a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, speaks to the foolish hubris of a once-mighty ruler who, despite his arrogant pride, leaves nothing in his wake but a vast, dead desert. In many ways, Walt is this proverbial king who is witnessing the decay of his empire, loss of the riches he’d gained, and death and alienation of those around him.

As the events in the desert unfold, we are presented with one of the most difficult scenes to watch; Marie forces Skyler to tell Walt Jr. about his father’s arrest and the meth business that led him there. Ordinarily, I am not the biggest fan of RJ Mitte or the character he portrays; I always feel Walt Jr. is an unnecessary distraction from the true story. Seeing the bewildered and hurt expression of a son who idolized his father confirmed the character’s importance to the story. Walt has always lied to and manipulated everybody except his son, and to see Walt Jr. turn against his father was devastating for Walt.

This is particularly evident in one of the most stressful scenes in the series. Skyler and Walt Jr. come home to a frantic Walt, who insists they must pack everything they have and get ready to leave. At this point, Skyler must know something happened to Hank, because he would never let Walt walk free after chasing him for so long. When she realizes that he is dead, she draws a knife and defends herself and her son against Walt, slashing him across the hand as he approaches her. They wrestle with the knife, knocking frames off the wall and furniture aside, all while Walt Jr. desperately begs them to stop. The audience watches in horror, wondering who will accidentally catch the blade. The tension subsides as much as it possibly can in this episode, when Junior calls the police and Walt flees the house, taking Holly with him.

Jesse always gets the short end of the stick. We see him for the first time since Jack’s gang kidnapped him, the slices and bruises of torture marring his face. Jesse is one of my favorite characters, and I think Aaron Paul has been doing a superb job portraying a man who has literally nothing left to live for. Todd takes Jesse to a warehouse where I thought he would kill him, but instead he chains him to an overhead track and forces him to cook meth for Jack, his uncle.

The crowning achievement of this episode is the phone call from Walt to Skyler. Having taken Holly, Walt knew the police would be listening in to the call, which is exactly what he wanted. Speaking like a heartless murderer and stereotypical abusive husband, he makes it known that he cooked meth and killed Hank, all while choking back tears because he knows the end is nearing. It is a truly heartbreaking display of acting by Bryan Cranston that serves as a goodbye to his family while simultaneously absolving Skyler of any involvement in his business. The police are solely after him now, and he breaks down as he destroys his phone.

As the episode ends, Walt leaves Holly in a firehouse, his home address pinned to her shirt, and enters a van with his belongings and the remainder of his money. This was the van that Jesse turned away from, the van that would take him to a new home and a new identity. We know from the flash-forwards that Walt has a New Hampshire driver’s license, and since the next episode is called “Granite State,” we can be assured that’s where he’s heading.

With only two episodes left, Gilligan and his incredible team of writers have little time left to toy with our emotions, but I for one know that I will love every second of it.

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Arts & Life Review Television

“Breaking Bad” leaves audience in anticipation

Ben Kaufman

Editor-in-Chief

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT. If you are not up to date on Breaking Bad, you should stop reading this piece now.

Just when you think that Breaking Bad was reaching points of no return and complete ridiculousness, Vince Gilligan takes your mind and plays with it just a little bit more.

It’s hard to say if is the most exciting episode of Breaking Bad this season, considering that every episode since its return a few weeks ago has kept me on edge more so than any other TV show. However, this episode brought along a new twist that I was not expecting. Before I get to the most important part of the episode (the ending), I want to touch on a few things that led us to that part.

First of all, Dean Norris as Hank has been outdoing himself this return. Hank started out beginning of the series as the classic jock character. He was the guy who was overly confident in everything he did. He was succeeding in his job at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and he had a solid group of friends and a strong family bond. He had all the right to be cocky, and therefore one of the more annoying characters on the show. Especially when the viewer’s focus is meant to be on their sympathy for Walt, then Hank looks particularly worse in the beginning of the show because he comes off as an unlikeable guy. Now, however, Hank has been on his game. As much as I want to root for Walt as the protagonist of the story, the moral and ethical part of me wants Hank to succeed.

Now on to Jesse. He has been on an emotional roller coaster for this entire season. He essentially has nothing at this point. He lost Jane; he has no contact with his parents. He has Andrea and Brock to a certain extent. He has them in the sense that it is clear he still has some connection to them, but on screen that is very rare. But now, Jesse has been using any intelligence he can think of to try to outsmart Walt. Again, even though we are meant to root for Walt as the protagonist of the story, Jesse is a more appealing character. The fact that he has teamed up with Hank helps with our moral compass in that Jesse is prepared to do the right thing despite Walt’s approval.

Hank and Jesse had a great plan to get Walt too. Not surprising that they had such a smart plan, but still worth acknowledging on the writers part for their ability to create this story line. The part where Huell was shown the picture of Jesse was an incredible addition and well done on every part. It was a simple idea that brought together Walt’s biggest failure.

Walt fell into the trap. As unexpected as it is that Walt fell for it, Hank and Jesse’s plan was very well thought out and it makes sense that Walt would fall for it. It is unfortunate to see a character we loved so much in the beginning fall to such a level. His main redeeming quality of the episode was when he tried to call off Todd’s uncle from coming to kill Jesse. That was the Walt we once knew and loved. The Walt that we understood in the beginning of the series for getting into the cooking business in the first place.

Bryan Cranston, as usual, is phenomenal in this entire episode. Especially at the end, when you can truly see how torn Walt is between his personal safety and victory as opposed to that of his family. You can see how difficult that decision was for Walt to hang up the phone on Todd’s cousin. For the audience, this seemed like a redeeming quality for Walt. It reminds us that at his very core, Walt is a good human being. He wants what is best for his family, and did not want to destroy the family that he had already caused so much harm to.

After some minor banter between Walt, Jesse, Hank, and Agent Gomez, guess who comes to join the party? Todd, his uncle, and the entire gang of hitmen come as Walt had originally intended. At this point, Jesse and Walt are in their respective cars, and there is nothing that Walt can do because he is handcuffed in a car from which he cannot escape.

Naturally, the shooting begins. After a solid two minutes of just hearing gunfire, we are left to wonder about what will come next. Who is dead and who is alive? I think it’s obvious that Agent Gomez is dead. He didn’t serve much substance as a character, and it was be an easy cop out for the writers if he was killed off. Considering Gilligan and the rest of the writers really don’t like when people have a happy ending, it would be logical that Hank also ends up dead from the shooting. Also, in the event that Hank does die, the amount of drama to pursue from that is going to be ridiculous. How will Marie react? Will she try to console in Skyler, or flea away?

Assuming that, all that is left is Walt and Jesse. Walt is obviously alive, as we know from the moments they show us in the future. But is Jesse dead? On a personal level, I really hope not, because Jesse is one of my favorite characters. On a level that will create a lot of story and drama for the show, it is hard to tell what will come of Jesse’s character.

All I have to say is that Vince Gilligan continues to win at creating one of the best shows on TV, and I am excited to see what happens next week.