Vol. 10, No. 17 by Maroon Weekly

01.15.14 - VOL. 10, NO. 17 - MAROONWEEKLY.COM

THE ACT OF KILLING Director Joshua Oppenheimer Talks About the Making of his Award-Winning Documentary, Its Message, and the Perils of History Repeating Itself

contents

01.16 - 01.22

meet the team PUBLISHER/EDITOR IN CHIEF Chris Shepperd BUSINESS MANAGER Leisha Shepperd MANAGING EDITOR Chris Zebo CREATIVE DIRECTOR Bekah Skinner ASST. CREATIVE DIRECTOR Kaitlin Vickers WRITERS

Sara Gilmore Katie Lea Cheyenne Mueller Luke Murray Amanda L. Reynolds INTERNS Haley Clark Katy DeLuna April Elkins Alex Gieger Brittany Holm Megan Ingram Avery Moore Kelly Porter Heydy Sanches Kyla Spaugh Camille Youngblood

Essentials: Listen Think Taste Play Look Etc.

4 8 10 16 18 21

DISTRIBUTION Chris Frank Randy Shepperd

Exclusive Interview:

Director Joshua Oppenheimer shares his inspiration for the making of The Act of Killing, a masterpiece documentary now on the shortlist for an Academy Award nomination Maroon Weekly is an independent, publication and is not affiliated with Texas A&M University. Maroon Weekly receives no student fees or university funding.

Road Trip 17 - In this week’s

Weekender, we take you on a tour of some of the Lone Star’s most challenging meals. Food coma is an understatement.

Listen 4 - Switchfoot has its

Look 19 - Cheyenne gives

a rundown of this share of haters, but our music reviewer rushes to week’s top 20 box defend the group’s latest office films. release, Fading West.

Opinions are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the editor, publisher or the newspaper staff. Maroon Weekly is not liable for omissions, misprints or typographical errors. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the express consent of the publisher. Maroon Weekly 707 Texas #207D College Station, TX 77840 ph: 979.574.3200 | @maroonweekly © Copyright 2013 Campus Press LP

1st copy is FREE, additional copies are $0.50 each

By Luke Murray

Switchfoot Album: Fading West

Release Date: January 14, 2014

Rating: Sounds Like: Leeland NEEDTOBREATHE Sanctus Real

Recommended Tracks

Despite being pigeonholed as a Christian rock group, Switchfoot elevated itself to become one of the most universally popular bands of the late 90s and early 2000s. Songs such as “Meant to Live” and “Dare You to Move” took them to new heights with copious amounts of radio play and sold out concerts— eventually leading to Grammy Awards.

Who We Are Love Alone is Worth the Fight Let it Out

Track Listing: Love Alone is Worth the Fight Who We Are When We Come Alive Say It Like You Mean It The World You Want Slipping Away BA55 Let It Out All or Nothing at All Saltwater Heart Back to the Beginning Again

Critics have slammed Switchfoot over the last few album releases, claiming them to be a band from yesterday merely fighting for relevance. Bandwagoners joined the critical ranks and suddenly they were losing fans. Why? Their music has always been consistently good and evolving. The real answer: social stigma. Switchfoot isn’t what most would even classify as a gospel group, but too much fascination with social stereotypes hit them in the pocketbook. This new release from the group further solidifies the falsehood of the media’s misrepresentation of what Christian rock is. You aren’t going to imagine yourself sitting in a church pew when you hit “play” on this record. Rather, you’ll be thrust into a mix of pop-rock melodies and lyricism that hails no comparison to Sunday morning hymns. Long-standing fans of Switchfoot will be ecstatic with this release—and with a little luck, maybe this album can rekindle the respect of some old fans who simply lost their way.

pg 4 • MAROON WEEKLY • January 15, 2014 • maroonweekly.com

Lorde

“Pure Heroine (Extended)”

Release Date: Dec. 13, 2013 There wasn’t a lot of music released over the winter break in the direction of originality, so we feel like Lorde deserves a shout out for the extended cut of her chart-climbing album. Ella YelichO’Connor, known worldwide as Lorde, released her debut full-length album to much acclaim. Pure Heroine embodies her trademarked electro-pop with flares of indie fusion. In the 10-track album, Lorde included her previous hit “Royals” from her 2012 EP. “Royals” hit number one on the charts in three countries, including the U.S, making her the first New Zealand solo artist to have a number one song in the States. Since the album’s initial release, she dropped “Team” as the album’s second single—equally achieving the acclaim “Royals” pulled off and smashing charts in grander fashion. The addition of 6 brand new tracks on the extended mix puts the record on an even higher plane with addictive beat-and-lyric combos to send your ear-buds into ecstasy.

Charlie Peacock

“Lemonade”

Release Date: Jan. 7, 2014 Peacock has been around the block more than once during his 30 plus years in the music industry. As a successful singer-songwriter, author, and highly-talented pianist, he’s been a part of many creative ensembles—including being a part of Switchfoot’s hit “Dare You to Move”. But his solo endeavors are the windows into his own world of creation. Lemonade is a different record from the norm in the sense that there’s an absence of lyrics. This album reminds us that music doesn’t have to contain words to tell a story, and it takes a special musician to convey a feeling without written language. Twelve tracks of piano ballads make this record a must-have for your easy-listening playlist. This is the type of record that you throw in the stereo and just let it play, no matter what you’re doing. The title itself reminds us of summer days and simpler times, and Peacock’s music does just the same.

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maroonweekly.com • January 15, 2014 • MAROON WEEKLY • p 5

Grand Stafford Theater Packs a Punch with Weekend Lineup

By Haley Clark

January 16 – ELECTRIC ASTRONAUT W/ THE DOCS & DAMES Electric Astronaut is a hometown band straight outta good ole’ College Station. With Brandon Barnes on guitar and vox, Drew Meredith on bass, and Marty Chronister on drums, these young rockers have frequented the Stafford over the past few months and are coming back again to perform their local blend of alternative rock. The Docs, another band from College Station, infuses both classic rock with indie. The Dames are a garage rock trio, and they’ll open the show with high-energy rock. January 17 – NICK VERZOSA AND THE NOBLE UNION W/ JESS & THE ECHOES AND DANIEL GONZALES Nick Verzosa and the Noble Union are a Texas country/Americana band whose new EP will hit the digital and real shelves in March 2014. The 4-piece plays around 4 shows a week, and they’ll make a stop at the Stafford on Friday. Formed in Austin, Jess & the Echoes is a unique, fresh take on typical pop. The pop/rock/ soul group has an electrifying sound pulsing with energy. Daniel Gonzales is a Dallas-turned-College-Station resident who will be performing with a band for the very first time. The singer/songwriter is typically an acoustic performer, and he’ll be releasing an EP in late spring. January 18 – BEAUTIFUL EULOGY Beautiful Eulogy is a group out of Portland, Oregon made up of the trio Braille, Odd Thomas, and Courtland Urbano. Their purpose and direction is to worship God, and their worship is soundtracked by a clend of hip-hop, electronic music, folk, and old psalms. The Stafford is one stop on their tour of Texas.

pg 6 • MAROON WEEKLY • January 15, 2014 • maroonweekly.com

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maroonweekly.com • January 15, 2014 • MAROON WEEKLY • p 7

In this growing digital age where communications and interactions are becoming more and more focused on video calls, texting, and Facebook messaging, we often lose sight of where to draw the line between virtual and personal. Not only have these tools allowed us to connect with family and friends, both near and far, they have also given us whole new avenues for communicating with peers and colleagues, online-learning, and sharing our opinions with others. But have we fallen too far into our devices? Can we regain a balance between face-to-face connections and exchanges using technology? These are some of the questions Jeffrey Liew, an associate professor of education psychology here at A&M is trying to answer. He’s the principle investigator of a research project looking to create a “smart-device By Katie Lea system that detects and processes conversations to analyze social and emotional properties in the human voice or speech”. He’ll be working together with his team (which includes a sociologist, computer scientist, and engineer) to figure out the ways the internet affects us socially, both the good and the bad. This subject may seem like it’s already been beaten into the ground, but that isn’t necessarily true. Liew says “New What’s Helping and What’s Hurting Us research is important, because for generation Y and millennials, online communication and other technology have always been an integral part of their lives”. His research will prove especially useful for universities. Because their device will provide data on emotional feedback, they’ll be able to tell if students are stressed out or lonely based on day- to-day communications. Who knows, this could even dramatically change the way teaching institutions are run!

Dangers of Digital

One thing we must all remember, whether students or not, is that online interaction and communication via social media can be an amazing tool, but it can also limit us in our “offline” exchanges. Our personal interactions with other people shape and develop us in so many important ways, but we must remember not to lose ourselves in the bottomless chasm of the internet. It can be a powerful instrument in learning more about ourselves and the world around us, but we can’t forget to experience that world first hand.

pg 8 • MAROON WEEKLY • January 15, 2014 • maroonweekly.com

By Cheyenne Mueller

Stringer: A Reporter’s Journey in the Congo

By Anjan Sundaram

In the fall of 1944, an American bomber carrying eleven men vanished over the Pacific islands of Palau, leaving nothing but mystery. According to mission reports from Army Air Forces, the plane crashed in shallow water, but when investigators went to recover the aircraft, there wasn’t any wreckage. Witnesses saw the crew parachute to safety, but the airmen were never seen again. Whispered rumors were that the airmen had returned to the United States in secret and lived in hiding. For sixty years, the U.S. government, children of the missing airmen, and a maverick team of scientists and scuba divers scoured the reported islands for clues. They searched the water with side-scan sonar, conducted grid searches on the seafloor, crawled through thickets of mangroves and poison trees, and flew over the islands in small planes to shoot infrared photography. With every piece of evidence they discovered, the mystery only thickened. Wil S. Hylton piles together the true story of the missing men, their final mission, the families they left behind, and the real reason their disappearance remained shrouded in secrecy for so long, a story of the relentless hope among the families of the missing, and the unwavering determination of scientists, explorers, archaeologists, and deep-sea divers to solve one of the enduring mysteries of World War II.

The Wind is Not a River

By Brian Payton

Dana Goodyear’s anticipated debut, Anything That Moves, attempts to understand the implications of the way we eat by going behind-thescenes. In a universe populated by insect-eaters and blood-drinkers and others who serve endangered species and Schedule I drugs (which are considered the most dangerous class of drugs with potentially severe psychological dependence), Anything That Moves follows a conglomeration of characters that wholly embrace danger, taboo, and disgust in pursuit of something extraordinary to dish out. Their work is never a one-man show, comprised of an intricate network of scavengers, dealers, and pitchmen responsible for introducing the rare and exotic into the marketplace. The opposite of a burger and fries, the raucous entrees are far from typical but could reach family dinner tables before we realize it. Anything That Moves is a highly entertaining, revelatory look into the strange and complex world of contemporary American food culture, delving into the places where the extreme is trickling into the mainstream.

Open 11p-2am Thurs-Sun College ID/Dresscode suggested *Northgate* 111 College Main College St, TX

maroonweekly.com maroonweekly.com •• December November04, 27, 2013 • MAROON WEEKLY • p 9

Restaurant Review Country Café 14895 FM 2154 979.690.2555

Price - $$ Cuisine - American, Homestyle Parking - Private lot Patio - No Noise Level: Low Atmosphere: Rustic Signature Dishes - Chicken Fried Steak, Green Beans

$ ($5 - 10) ramen noodle budget $$ ($10-15) part-time job $$$ ($15-20) hard-earned cash $$$$ (Over $20) mommy and daddy are in town

Country Café in Wellborn By Amanda L. Reynolds Just a short drive south from Texas A&M on Wellborn Road sits the newly opened Country Café. The small restaurant technically sits in the small community of Wellborn, but from it can be reached in less than ten minutes from College Station. The former BBQ joint still boasts a rustic feel with wooden interiors and tables. With only having around ten tables, you’ll feel more like a guest at someone’s home than at a large informal restaurant. The menu boasts standard homecooked options: chicken fried steak, chicken fried chicken, fried fish, fried jalapenos, fried jalapenos… see the trend? As the name might allude, Country Café is not for those who fear seeing their cardiologist. The chicken fried steak is always a must try for any Texan. The chicken fried steak is easily in the top five in the greater Bryan/ College Station area. While Country Café’s chicken fried steak features a thinner meat than most, the batter to meat ratio was spot on. The homemade batter creates just the right amount of nooks and crannies to help the gravy nestle itself on the steak. We tend to prefer a thinner cut of meat because it generally yields a tender finished product; at Country Café, ours was tender enough to be cut with a fork, which is always a plus. We decided to rebuke the trend and try to the one of two grilled items on the menu; their pork chops (the other is a ribeye steak).

pg 10 • MAROON WEEKLY • December 2013 •• maroonweekly.com maroonweekly.com November 04, 27, 2013

Unfortunately, the outcome wasn’t as great as the chicken fried steak. The pork chops were also thin (approximately ¼” or thinner), but this time it wasn’t a plus for us. The meat was well seasoned with a basic salt, pepper, and probably a hint of garlic, but was slightly overdone for the thickness. Actually, we’re not sure if they could be tender being as thin as they were. With the perfect seasoning established, we’re sure if the pork chop was thicker, which would have resulted in a tender chop, we’re sure that we would have loved them a lot more. The sides were hit and miss as well. As surprising as it may sound, the stereotypical “boring” green beans were our favorite side sampled. Cooked with chunks of bacon and something else we couldn’t put our finger on are combined to make a nostalgic home-style green beans. The macaroni and cheese were homemade as well, however there was no zing to it. It wasn’t terribly cheesy or well seasoned, but just enough homemade to

taste familiar and likeable. The battered okra was not the stock fried okra, but have a thicker batter than most that gave it a nice body to feel substantial. The mashed potatoes were from scratch, with small lumps that missed the smasher still apparent, but nothing special to write home about. Besides the green beans, the other winner was the toast. Crazy, we know, but it was well buttered and garlicky. We maybe/definitely stole some of the plate adjacent to us. Country Café also bakes different dessert specials but we were entirely too full to sample any of those. On the menu when we went was german chocolate cake and pecan pie. All in all, Country Café is a decent place to grab a bite to eat, (but make sure you have enough time to spare, everything is made when ordered, so it might take a little longer than you might be used to experiencing). The short scenic drive mixed with the rustic ambiance provides a pleasant break from the monotony of the standard chain restaurant.

Cooking on autopilot Crockpot Cookery: New Tricks for the Old Slow Cooker

Cheap Eats Easy to Make and Easy on Your Green By Cheyenne Mueller

Beef Stew What’s not to love about crock pots? They’re efficient, low-effort, and can provide a delicious meal that you didn’t have to slave over for hours (or waste ten minutes in the Whataburger drive-thru). You can prep the entire meal in the evening and pop it in the slow cooker in the morning before you leave in the morning for work. Even better (YES THERE’S MORE), meals are really hard to screw up and the low-maintenance cookers are perfect for flu season. What makes someone feel better than soup? Nothing. Ingredients: • 2 pounds stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes • ¼ cup all purpose flour • ½ teaspoon salt • ½ teaspoon pepper • seasoning salt to taste • 1 clove minced garlic • 1 teaspoon paprika • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce • ½ small onion, chopped • 1 ½ cups beef broth • 3 potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes • ½ small bag of baby carrots • 3 celery stalks, chopped

Directions: 1. Place meat in slow cooker (CrockPot) and sprinkle with seasoning salt. 2. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, salt and pepper, pour over meat and stir to coat all of the meat. 3. Add the garlic, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, onion, beef broth, potatoes, carrots and celery and give a good stir. 4. Cover and cook on low for 10-12 hours OR high for 4-6.

This meal is great because it’s so easily customizable to what you and your family/roommates prefer. Beef can be substituted with venison, potatoes can be added, substituted, etcetera. maroonweekly.com • January 15, 2014 • MAROON WEEKLY • p 11

THE ACT OF KILLING

Director Joshua Oppenheimer Talks About the Making of his Award-Winning Documentary, Its Message, and the Perils of History Repeating Itself By Chris Zebo

pg 12 • MAROON WEEKLY • January 15, 2014 • maroonweekly.com

In an early scene in The Act of Killing, a documentary directed by Texas-born Joshua Oppenheimer, we are introduced to Anwar Congo cha cha dancing jovially on the roof of a building with a terrible history. An affable, grandfatherly septuagenarian, Anwar is hardly a menacing presence. Had you met him on the street, you might have never known he was responsible for brutally killing an estimated 1,000 people—many of them killed on the very roof he is filmed dancing. After the Indonesian government was toppled in 1965, death squads run by gangsters like Anwar, in tandem with paramilitaries, collectively killed more than one million alleged communists, sympathizers, and ethnic Chinese in less than a year. Since the killings, Anwar and his death squad cronies have lived lives of impunity for nearly 50 years. They are, to this day, considered cultural heroes, at least among the reigning regime. For survivors and their children and grandchildren, who are forbidden to speak openly about the terrors of the past, a cloud of fear and trauma still looms over them. Oppenheimer, like a mole in the mob, gained the trust of the aging killers and infiltrated their inner circle. It wasn't hard to do; they are proud and seemingly unrepentant, and they love to speak openly and boastfully about their acts. They even offered to reenact them for Oppenheimer, this time fictionally. Anwar and his friends were given a film production unit and told to portray their killings in any way they imagined. Oppenheimer then trained his camera on their cameras and characterizations as they re-invented the killings based upon films and film genres they admired from American culture, such as the Western, the musical, and, of course, the mob film. As their fictionalized dramas unfold, another real drama unravels as Anwar and his fellow gangsters begin to question a past they've repressed and deluded. The Act of Killing has won over 50 awards internationally and is currently on the short list for an Academy Award nomination. We spoke with Oppenheimer on the phone from Alaska, where he was taking his first vacation after several months of support for the film. The Act of Killing is still showing at select theaters and is now available to stream on Amazon Instant Video, iTunes, and Google Play. It has also been released as a special 2-disk deluxe DVD and Blu-ray available for purchase at actofkilling.com. MW: Many have yet to see The Act of Killing, and many who have seen it may not know of your work in Indonesia prior to making the documentary. Let's start by introducing people to the background of the film. Shed some light on how it came into being. Oppenheimer: I went to Indonesia in 2001-02 with [Producer] Christine Cynn to make a film that would be called The Globalization Tapes. We were facilitating a community of plantation workers on a Belgian-owned oil palm plantation to document their struggle to organize a union in the aftermath of the Suharto dictatorship. They desperately needed a union because the women workers were being forced to spray pesticide—herbicide that was dissolving their livers because they weren't given any protective clothing by the Belgian multinational. They were dying from this in their forties. But they were afraid to organize a union because their parents and grandparents had been in a strong plantation workers union until 1965 and had been killed for it.

So after we made that film—this was my first encounter with Indonesia, my first encounter with the genocide— they said, “Come back and let's make another film about why we're all so afraid.” That is to say, what it's like for the survivors to live with the perpetrators all around them, still in positions of power. I came back immediately in early 2003. Word got out that we were interested in what happened in 1965, and the army would no longer allow the survivors to participate in the film. The survivors weren't allowed to tell their stories, they weren't allowed to speak about what had happened.

anything the survivors could have told me—I felt as if I'd wandered into Germany 40 years after the Holocaust only to find the Nazis still in power. I knew that I would give as many years of my life to address the situation of impunity as it would take. I took that material back to the survivors, who wanted to see it—not all of them did, but most of them did—and back to the human rights community in Jakarta. And everybody who saw it said, “You're on to something terribly important. Keep filming with the perpetrators, because you're finding out what happened. But even more importantly, anybody who sees this—any Indonesian who sees this—will be forced finally to acknowledge the rotten nature of this whole regime.”

So the survivors said, “Before you give up, before you quit, why don't you try to speak with the aging death squad leaders who are living around us in this village and see if they might tell you why they killed our relatives.”

MW: How did Anwar become a character in the film? What qualities about him stood out to you as a character who could carry the film from start to finish?

So I went and approached these men, unsure if it was safe, to ask them about what happened in 1965. And to my horror and astonishment, every single one of them would open up immediately with grisly, detailed accounts of the

Oppenheimer: I spent two years filming every perpetrator I could find. Anwar was the 41st. I met him two years after I started. I wasn't looking for the right character; I was filming every perpetrator I could find. I lingered on Anwar because I

“I felt as though I had walked into Germany 40 years after the Holocaust and the Nazis were still in power.” - JOSHUA OPPENHEIMER mass killings, which they would tell often with a smile on their face in front of their wives, their children, and even their grandchildren. MW: What was your reaction? Oppenheimer: I was astonished, disturbed, horrified. I felt—in the contrast between survivors who were not allowed to speak and perpetrators who were boastfully recounting stories that were far more incriminating than

felt his pain was somehow close to the surface when I first met him. The first day I met him was the scene on the roof when he dances the cha cha cha. I had this feeling that the boasting I'd spent two years filming was not really a sign of pride but a sign of remorse. I filmed with Anwar for five years, trying to explore exactly what had happened. MW: In the beginning when you were filming the perpetrators, were you ever worried that the film might add further to the lionization them?

maroonweekly.com • January 15, 2014 • MAROON WEEKLY • p 13

Oppenheimer: No, absolutely not. I didn't worry about that for a second. Because, first of all, the film is not a podium. A podium is a thing you walk up to say what you have to say and you leave. The perpetrators never controlled the material we were shooting. And they never wanted to. It's not that they were deceived into relinquishing control, or that they thought they were making a different film than what we were making. After filming 10 to 15 perpetrators, all of whom would take

away thinking, “What these men have done is awful.” And not a single viewer has seen The Act of Killing and come away feeling that these men looked heroic or glorious. MW: Later in the film, there's a scene where you're riding in a car with Adi [a perpetrator], and you're talking with him about the Geneva Conventions and how his acts would be considered war crimes internationally. Defensively, he begins rationalizing the context of the killings. He makes

“War crimes are defined by the winners. I’m a winner.” - ADI ZULKADRY, INDONESIAN DEATH SQUAD LEADER me to the places where they had killed and boastfully demonstrated how they killed, I proposed to them, “Look, you've participated in one of the biggest killings in human history. Your whole society is built on it; your lives are shaped by it. I want to know what it means to you and to your society. You want to show me what you've done, so go ahead and show me what you've done in whatever way you wish. I will film your reenactments, but I'll also film you and your fellow death squad veterans planning your reenactments, talking about what you want to show and what you want to leave out—and in that way, show what this means to you, what this means to your society, how you want to be seen and how you want to see yourself.”

the comment, “When Bush was in power, Guantanamo was right. That was something right, according to Bush. But now he's wrong.” And he later says, “War crimes are defined by the winners. I'm a winner.”

I started with low and middle-ranking level executioners. These are men who are haunted by cutting off people's heads and strangling hundreds of people to death, really horrible, ugly images that they need to somehow live with. And to do that, they wrapped them in a candy coating of patriotic, heroic rhetoric. They borrowed from the official history, which doesn't go into the details of the killings at all but talks about the extermination of the communists as something heroic, as a heroic chapter in Indonesian history. And when these men boast, by combining in a single account the horrible details of killing—which is obviously wrong to anybody who hears it—it gives a lie to the official history and the whole facade of the genocide as something heroic, and “patriotic” starts to crumble.

Oppenheimer: I don't think he's rationalizing the context. I think what he's doing is making a pretty direct and lucid point about the relationship between truth and power—that if you have power, you can create truth; you can say, “This was right. This is true.”

And so it was obvious to me that, on the contrary, not only would these men not be lionized but they would be indicted. It was obvious because in every single shoot with any single one of them, a viewer of the film comes

An uncomfortable moral gray area creeps into the film here unexpectedly, because you can almost—and I mean almost—see where he's coming from; you can see where he finds justification. But at the same time, there's an overriding sense that what he has done is wrong outside of the context he's painted.

He's not saying, “We believe this was right during the time.” He's comparing it to Bush and weapons of mass destruction. But we should remember that we, in America, were told that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq when, in fact, there weren't. And, in fact, shortly after the war in Iraq began, we were also told that the government knew that there weren't weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; they were planning the case to go to war. It was in the media for everybody to see that the intelligence facts were being fixed around policy. There was a policy to go to war, and the intelligence about weapons of

mass destruction was politicized and fixed around it. And anyone who cared to listen to that, in America, was able to hear that. Which means that the Iraq War was prosecuted because the people with power wanted to prosecute it, not because they necessarily thought it was right or the reasons they were giving to the public were true. And that's certainly a point that people looking at the Iraq War from all over the world, and Adi, understand. And it's also a point that Adi's making about the context in Indonesia. So what I think that he's saying is that morality is not universal but is determined by the winners, determined by people with power. And that's really the point he's making there; it's not to justify what he's done. So I don't think he takes us into a moral gray area unless we agree that the morality of the powerful is in fact genuine, is in fact moral. MW: If there was one thing you would want people to take away from the film, what would it be? What is the takeaway? Because there is so much for each viewer to process, so many angles to assess the film from. What, from your perspective, would you wish viewers take away?

Oppenheimer: I would want people to see—and this is indeed what people see—that we are all much closer to perpetrators than we like to think. And unless we look at how we human beings are capable—how we human beings commit evil, how we live with the effects of evil—we have no chance of understanding how evil is perpetrated, how it persists, and therefore we have how no chance of preventing these things from happening again.

Design | Branding | Web

3 APPS YOU WON’T REGRET DOWNLOADING

By Luke Murray

NO TIME TO COOK? We’ve rung in the New Year; it’s been two weeks and chances are that most people have already ditched those same ole resolutions—most of which revolve around personal health and fitness. A crucial part of overall health is your diet, and you only get out of your body what you put into it. But with the modern work week being stretched past the typical nine-to-fiver, who has time to sit down and plan meals ahead of time—much less add any concern to actual nutrition? No Time To Cook? is perfect for those who are always on the move. The app helps with meal prep from start to finish, based on what ingredients you have and the amount of time you can spare. No more hassle over figuring the best meal for the situation: let this app do the work for you.—FREE EIDETIC - REMEMBER ANYTHING In this fast-faced world we speak of, another problem folks have is retaining the plethora of information being thrown at us on a daily basis. Sure, you could attempt to write everything down or try that old string around the finger trick (does anyone even use that anymore?). Or you could tap into the terabytes of available space within your own brain. Eidetic is the newest tool in brain-training exercises. With new approaches to aiding memory, particularly using a concept called the “spacing effect”—this app gradually stretches your brain’s ability to remember details over time and aids in transferring that information into long-term memory. Whether you’re cramming for exams or simply trying to remember facts or phone numbers, this app has the ability to help you make better use of your mental hard drive.—FREE GROUPON In a budget-conscious world, most people don’t have loads of dispensable income to blow on whatever they want. Value is crucial, and so sites such as Groupon and Living Social have benefited from providing a win-win scenario between companies and consumers. Giving you the best bang for your buck, Groupon allows you to scour postings from vendors and businesses that offer generous discounts in an effort to drum up interest and bring in customers. Whether you’re traveling and planning a budget-vacation or simply wanting to do more for less locally, Groupon allows you to search by area and also by the type of deal you’re looking for. Offering everything from phone repair services to heavy discounts on resort-stays, Groupon is arguably the leader of the value-driven consumer sites—and they’ve made it even easier to snag a deal with their free mobile app.—FREE

pg 16 • MAROON WEEKLY • January 15, 2014 • maroonweekly.com

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We Hereby Challenge You.... By Cheyenne Mueller

“Everything is bigger in Texas.” Every woman with big hair lives by the unofficial state motto. After all, the bigger the hair, the closer to God. That’s not the only thing. Texas has some Paul Bunyan-sized boots right outside of San Antonio’s North Star mall, and you can’t forget Big Tex, may the giant rest in peace. Hair and wooden carvings aren’t the only things in Texas that get a second look; the food challenges are all pretty massive. Fans of Man v. Food rejoice--here’s a composite of some of the most extreme food challenges Texas has to offer. A local favorite, the Hullabaloo Diner in Wellborn has a breakfast challenge consisting a 12-egg omelet with your choice of bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, jalapenos, cheddar, American, and/or Swiss cheese; ham, bacon, and sausage. The omelet is then smothered with green chili, pepper gravy, or sausage gravy. The wholesome Aggie meal normally goes around $20, but if you can manage to eat the omelet faster than the current record holder, your meal becomes free and you receive a free Hullabaloo Diner t-shirt… plus some heartburn. If omelets aren’t really your speed, the Ol South Pancake House in Fort Worth has a breakfast challenge consisting of 8 pancakes. Eight pancakes? No problem! Wrong. Each pancake is a whopping three times the normal size of a regular flapjack, and are stacked on top of each other, standing around 7 inches tall, and weighing in at 10-15 pounds… and that’s before the butter and syrup. If you can finish your pancake skyscraper in under an hour, your meal is free; you get a free t-shirt, a picture on the wall of fame, and a commemorative mug. Do it for the mug. The challenge isn’t valid on Sat-Sun from 6am-2pm. At the Cowtown Diner in Fort Worth, if you can finish the 64-ounce, gravy-smothered chicken-fried steak, affectionately known as the Full O’ Bull, plus 6 pounds of mashed potatoes and 10 slices of Texas toast-with no time limit--you’ll get a free meal (or a week’s worth), your picture on the wall of fame, and a commemorative T-shirt. Branded as the world’s largest chicken-fried steak by the Guinness Book of World Records, the deep-fried beef behemoth has to be rolled up like a carpet to flip and is served on an extralarge pizza pan. Generously served with Cowtown’s white gravy made with butter and bacon drippings, the steak has defeated all eight challengers. Cholesterol isn’t that big of a deal. If you’re going to the Houston area and find yourself starved, Kenny and Ziggy’s New York Delicatessen serves what they call The Zellagabetsky; a 3.5-to 4-pound sandwich layered with six deli meats: housemade corned beef, pastrami, roast turkey, roast beef, salami, and tongue (yes--tongue), layered with coleslaw, Russian dressing, and sweet red pepper on special-cut rye. Try to say that five times fast. There’s no time limit, yet the challenge has only had three victors in its 15 years, one of them being Shaquille O’Neal. If you win, your reward comes as the price of the sandwich, plus a free piece of cheesecake… got room for dessert?

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maroonweekly.com••January January15, 15,2014 2014•• MAROON WEEKLY • p 17 maroonweekly.com

By Cheyenne Mueller

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The Secret Life of Walter Mitty has received mixed reviews. In some ways, the negative reviews are understandable; but the film is deeper than what critics are giving it discredit for. The Walter Mitty character was originally introduced to the public as a daydreaming suburban husband in a short story by author James Thurber in 1939. The story was later adapted for the big screen by director Danny Kaye in 1947. In the recent re-adaptation, Stiller portrays Mitty as a citydwelling compulsive daydreamer who escapes reality the duration of the film. Mitty envisions himself, for example, winning the object of his affections, his coworker Cheryl (Kristen Wiig), imaginatively winning her over through acts of fantastical bravery and adventure. Mitty’s imagination is colorful and relentless, but his job is monotonous and his life beyond the office is boring. His eHarmony profile is virtually blank, simply because he hasn’t done anything. It isn’t his fault, though--he became the sole provider for his family after his father died. Walter’s excruciating tally of his finances and the OCD routinization of his job prevent him from actually pursuing his daydreams. He is exactly what college students fear for their futures: college-educated, employed, and yet living lives of quiet desperation.

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Through a misunderstanding about a missing photo negative at his job, Mitty is forced to search for answers to the pic’s disappearance. Initially, he starts searching in the stultifying confines of his workspace, hounded by his egotistic, narcissistic boss, played by beard-clad Adam Scott. But he eventually escapes the office and travels across the globe in search of the negative. However, it’s uncertain if this is just another of Walter’s wild daydreams, which adds real suspense to the film. For example, in a few places, he receives phone calls where cell service shouldn’t exist, making the viewer question what’s real and what’s fantasy. But that’s not Stiller’s focus. Walter’s journey is a message to the multitude of “average” people, maybe to college students afraid of life after exams, that a fulfilling life takes both imagination and real action working in tandem. If Mitty was a boring man in the beginning of the film, after he chased after a fiction of himself, he later embodies it, taking a leap of faith and courage, becoming the real person of his dreams.

pg 18 • MAROON WEEKLY • January 15, 2014 • maroonweekly.com

1. Lone Survivor

Based on the failed 2005 mission “Operation Red Wings”, four members of SEAL Team 10 were tasked with a mission to capture or kill notorious Taliban leader Ahmad Shahd.

2. Frozen

In a kingdom cursed to endure permanent winter, a young girl voiced by Kristen Bell teams up with a mountain man to rescue her sister and stop the curse in the latest Disney animated adventure.

3. The Wolf of Wall Street Based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, from his rise to a wealthy stockbroker living the high life to his fall from gold-plated grace, this Scorsese film is like The Godfather for investment bankers.

4. American Hustle

A con man, Irving Rosenfeld, along with his seductive British partner, Sydney Prosser, is forced to work for a wild FBI agent, Richie DiMaso. DiMaso pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and the mafia.

5. The Legend of Hercules

Betrayed by his stepfather, the King, and exiled and sold into slavery because of forbidden love, Hercules must use his formidable powers to fight his way back to his rightful kingdom.

6. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

The dwarves, along with Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf the Grey, continue their quest to reclaim Erebor, their homeland, from Smaug. Bilbo Baggins is in possession of a mysterious and magical ring.

7. August: Osage County A look at the lives of the strongwilled women of the Weston family,

whose paths have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the Oklahoma house they grew up in, and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them.

8. Saving Mr. Banks

Author P.L. Travers reflects on her difficult childhood while meeting with filmmaker Walt Disney during production for the adaptation of her novel, Mary Poppins.

9. Paranormal Activity

Jessie begins experiencing a number of disturbing and unexplainable things after the death of his neighbor. As he investigates, it isn’t long before he finds he’s been marked for possession by a malevolent demonic entity, and it’s only a matter of time before he is completely under its control.

10. Anchorman 2 The Legend Continues

With the 70s behind him, San Diego’s top rated newsman, Ron Burgundy, returns to take New York’s first 24hour news channel by storm.

11. Her

A lonely writer develops an unlikely relationship with his newly purchased operating system, one that’s designed to meet his every need.

12. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Katniss and Peeta are thrown into an all-star season of the hunger games, but something’s different this time around. Revolution is in the air. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, and Amanda Plummer join the cast.

13. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

A day-dreamer escapes his anonymous life by disappearing into a world of fantasies filled with heroism and romance. When his job, along with his co-worker’s, are threatened, he takes action in the real world,

embarking on a global journey that turns into an adventure more extraordinary than anything he could have ever imagined.

14. Grudge Match

A pair of aging boxing rivals are coaxed out of retirement to fight one final bout -- 30 years after their last match.

15. Inside Llewyn Davis

A week in the life of a young singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961. Critically regarded as one of the best films the Coen brothers have ever made.

16. 47 Ronin

A band of samurai set out to avenge the death and dishonor of their master at the hands of a ruthless shogun.

17. Philomena

Steve Coogan plays a serious journalist who decides to write a human interest piece, the story of Philomena, who is trying to track down the son she put up for adoption years ago.

18. Walking with Dinosaurs See and feel what it was like when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, in a story where an underdog dino triumphs to become a hero for the ages.

19. Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas

Madea dispenses her unique holiday spirit on rural a town when she’s coaxed into helping a friend pay her daughter a surprise visit in the country for Christmas.

20. Nebraska

Bruce Dern plays an old man who believes he won a million-dollar sweepstakes, and Will Forte plays his son, who knows there is no money... but accompanies his father to Lincoln, Nebraska anyway.

maroonweekly.com • January 15, 2014 • MAROON WEEKLY • p 19

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pg 20 • MAROON WEEKLY • January 15, 2014 • maroonweekly.com

“A PX upon you”

- the same from start to finish by Matt Jones

Across 1 Salon cut? 5 More crafty 11 “Batman” fight scene word 14 1995 role for Kenneth Branagh 15 Jumpsuit hue 16 Chapter of history 17 House funding? 19 “Excitebike” gaming platform 20 Put some muscle into cleaning 21 No-wheel-drive vehicle 22 It may be used in a pinch 23 Occupation with its own category of jokes 25 Disloyal 26 Smoothie ingredient, often 29 On the agenda 30 Winter exclamation 31 Barely make it 35 Compete like Ted Ligety 36 “Her” star Joaquin 37 Meadow murmur 40 Stuffed animal of the ‘80s 42 Dix or Knox 43 First game 45 “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” author Sherman 47 Like pickle juice 48 Moved like a crowd, with “about” 51 “___ of Anarchy” 52 Strip in the news 53 Anthony Edwards, in “Top Gun” 57 Pet Shop Boys song “West ___ Girls” 58 Cause of subzero temperatures in the US in 2014 60 Fr. holy title 61 Cheese in some bagels 62 “Take ___ from me...” 63 “Red” or “White” team 64 Bond’s martini preference 65 Just meh Down 1 Doesn’t throw back 2 Traffic cop? 3 “Frankenstein” assistant 4 Well-liked

5 “___ blimey!” 6 Quirkily creative 7 “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue” singer Crystal 8 Latin for “between” 9 Posh exclamation 10 Harrison of “My Fair Lady” 11 The sin bin 12 “Otherwise, I might do something you’ll regret!” 13 Trashed 18 “Electronics, Cars, Fashion, Collectibles, Coupons and More” website 22 Swedish car brand founded in 1945 24 Laundromat fixture 25 Show off “these bad boys” 26 “Frontline” network 27 Early boat 28 Economist’s average 29 Quarterback’s pass, hopefully 32 Corn-centric zone? 33 “Riddle-me-___” (line in a children’s rhyme) 34 Gasteyer of “Suburgatory” 36 The hunted 38 Onassis’ nickname 39 Took in take-out, e.g. 41 Curry and Wilson 42 Hipsters’ hats 43 Get way too into, with “over” 44 Now if not sooner 46 Block you don’t want to step on in bare feet 48 Radiance, to the Secret Service 49 “The Compleat Angler” author Walton 50 Onion rings option 52 “Heavens!” 54 “The Simpsons” character always shown wearing a walkman 55 Six of Juan? 56 Former Montreal baseball player 58 Faux ___ 59 Actor Max ___ Sydow �2014 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@ jonesincrosswords.com)

maroonweekly.com • December 04, 2013 • MAROON WEEKLY • p 21

The Floating World @ J. Wayne Stark Galleries By Kelly Porter Tired of standing on the ground, two feet planted on the Texas soil? Ever wondered what it would be like to entertain yourself in a different, say floating, world? Look no further than The Floating World exhibit at Texas A&M’s Stark Galleries, on display until March 23. Enter into a different world via Ukiyo-e prints, books, and drawings. The works featured in the exhibit date back as far as the seventeenth century and display the history and unlikely success story behind Ukiyo-e art. Originally developed in Tokyo, the art of Ukiyo-e was initially for the common people, a kind of early popular art which allowed them an escape from their daily lives through visual imagination. Even though it was first considered a lower art form, it eventually captured everyone’s attention with its elegance and portrayal of whimsical fantasy. The Floating World exhibit can be found on the first floor of the MSC. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Friday 9am-8pm and Saturday-Sunday 12pm-6pm. Admission is free; so don’t worry if your wallet is empty. If it’s a change of pace you’re looking for, or you’re yearning to immerse yourself imaginatively in a different culture, The Floating World exhibit will lift you off your feet.

maroonweekly.com • January 15, 2014 • MAROON WEEKLY • p 23

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