February 6, 2014

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Blood drive to take place Monday SAM WILMES News Editor The Minnesota State University, Mankato intercollegiate volleyball team and Upward Bound are sponsoring a Red Cross Blood drive that will take place on Monday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Centennial Student Union.

All donors will receive a free tshirt. All donations will be appreciated, especially because of currently low blood supplies.

Health agencies say that someone needs a blood transfusion every two seconds in the United States, which means more than 41,000 blood donations are needed every day.

Sickle Cell disease is one illness that blood donations can help with. The Red Cross says Sickle Cell affects more than 70,000 people in the United States every year. About 1,000 babies are born with the disease every year.

Sickle Cell patients often require multiple blood transfusions throughout their lives, which

makes blood donations even more essential.

The average red blood cell transfusion is about 3 pints. A car accident victim may need as much as 100 pints of blood.

Many Americans aren’t helping save lives through blood donation.

Health officials say 38 percent of the U.S. population could donate, less than 10 percent actually do in a given year.

The American Red Cross blood program began in 1940 under the leadership of Dr. Charles Drew.

The organization provides blood for an astonishing 2,700 hospitals across the country.

The Red Cross provides about 40 percent of the nation’s blood supply.

The blood is available to anyone who needs it.

Mobile blood drives are by far the most successful in the dissemination of blood. Eighty percent of the blood donations received by the Red Cross are collected at mobile blood drives,

which are often set up at colleges, high schools, places of worship, community organizations, companies or military organizations.

The American Red Cross allies

with more than 50,000 blood drive sponsors every year, holding more than 200,000 blood drives and providing quality and convenient locations for the donation of blood.

Save a life and donate blood on Monday in the Centennial Student Union — a comfortable setting for doing something good for someone else.

Web Photo A Red Cross blood drive truck rests outside of Snell Motors.

RecycleMania hits campus RYAN BERNDT Staff Writer Minnesota State University, Mankato has joined the 2014 RecycleMania competition, joining 461 colleges and universities across the United States and Canada to promote green practices amongst the student population in a fun and lasting way.

The competition, which MSU officially started on February 2,

will last for eight weeks and end on March 29. Weekly updates will be posted every Friday online via the official website, which also shows the amount of material recycled and the school’s current ranking. The University of Missouri, Kansas City, held the title of Grand Champion last year, boasting a recycling rate of 86.02 percent.

RecycleMania was started back in 2001, when Ohio Uni-

versity and Miami University challenged each other to a friendly competition to see who could recycle the most. Now, with corporations such as CocaCola and the American Forest & Paper Association as official sponsors, the competition continues to grow rapidly across the continent.

Beginning in 2004, RecycleMania partnered with the US EPA WasteWise program to

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expand the tournament, which proved to bring a huge boost in numbers. In 2007, 210 schools participated in the program, with 400 schools participating the year after.

5.3 million students and more than 1.2 million faculty and staff are expected to be part of the 2014 RecycleMania contest, with 11 different categories being measured. Schools can pick and choose which categories they will focus on and are encouraged to hold events on campus to promote recycling.

“RecycleMania encourages students to recycle through friendly competition among universities,” Vice President of environment and sustainability at Coca-Cola Bruce Kara said.

“Through this program, we hope recycling becomes a long-term habit.”

MNSU’s effort is led by the university’s Green Campus initiative, which works to make

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our campus as environmentally friendly as possible. From guest speakers discussing sustainability, such as Dr. Deborah Swackhamer, to promoting green practices in the community, MNSU works towards being as environmentally conscious as possible.

The Green Transportation initiative, funded by student fees, is an example of a successful green program thanks to the help of the Minnesota State Student Association. Before fees were allocated to fund public transportation, students had to pay a $45 per semester fee or $16 every 30 days to ride the bus.

The winning campus will receive a trophy made out of recycled material and will gain national recognition for their efforts.

More information about MNSU’s Green Campus program and RecycleMania 2014 can be found at http://www.mnsu.edu/ greencampus/ ED/OP

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2 • MSU Reporter

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Thursday, February 6, 2014

Important program helps disadvantaged youth

EMMA DEPPA Staff Writer The Mankato Family YMCA is home to the Brother/Sister Program, where children ages six to fourteen have the opportunity to be paired up with an adult mentor. Youths and their mentors are matched based on mutual interests and potential compatibility.

In the last year there were 170 matches through the Mankato YMCA Brother/Sister Program.

The program shows results of positive change. 69% of youth in the program expressed having higher self-confidence and 62% exhibited better classroom behavior. 65% feel like they have an adult who cares about them and that they have support. Other positive results include optimism and making the youth feel like they have more options for the future. Overall, the children in the program feel more positive and encouraged.

Cheryl Hammond, director of the program said, “The Brother/ Sister program is to enrich children’s lives, help meet their need for positive adult contact, and provide one-on-one support and advocacy.”

“Most notably, positive mentoring experiences have proven to be an effective tool to help youths overcome the risk factors that can lead to problems such as educational failure, dropping out of school, and involvement in delinquent activities, including drug/alcohol abuse.”

Mentors play a significant part in the lives of their mentees.

They help the youth make life improvements through encour-

aging positive behaviors and giving them positive reinforcement. Some of the children in this program lack reliable and responsible role models in their lives, and their YMCA Brothers or Sisters provide that for them.

The Mankato Brother/Sister Program’s webpage states: “Mentors help youth increase their self-confidence, social and communication skills, positive behaviors and help improve relationships at home, school and within the community.”

As a mentor, I have seen the positive change that occurs in a child from this program. My little sister is nine and goes to elementary school here in town.

She is such a sweetheart; we have so much fun together. Her favorite things activities have been getting manicures, playing at the park, and making flower crowns.

However, my little sister deals with bullying problems at school, so sometimes we talk about how to deal with “mean girls” and what to say to bullies.

It is rewarding seeing how proud she is when she tells me about how she stood up for herself. I am not only helping this wonderful young girl to have fun and be her friend, I am also there as a confidant and mentor.

There is a waiting list of children at the YMCA looking for a responsible adult to make a difference in their life! Cheryl Hammond states: “The program is a community-based mentoring program that matches area youth (ages six-fourteen) with adult volunteer mentors who commit to a relationship of at least

Support The

BLOOD DRIVE

Monday, February 10th 9:00AM-3:00PM • CSU Ballroom

Sponsored by Upward Bound & Intercollegiate Volleyball Appointments can be made at 507-389-1211 or www.RedCrossBlood.org and enter Sponsor Code: 0175952 Walk-Ins Accepted!

All Donors will get a FREE t-shirt!

two-three hours a week for nine months. The goal is to provide a quality mentoring experience for both the mentor and mentee that fosters a positive, supportive and intergenerational relationship.

The program recruits, screens

and trains volunteer mentors and then provides ongoing support of the relationship match through regular contact with volunteers and youth/families.” Activities can be as simple as playing basketball at the YMCA or going on

a hike, or as extravagant as going to ValleyFair. I would encourage anyone even remotely interested to apply because it’s not only a wonderful experience for the child, but for the adult mentors as well.

Web Photo Reporter writer Emma Deppa has taken a YMCA little sister under her wing.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

MSU Reporter • 3

News

Hoops for hunger to take place on Saturday Proceeds to help benefit the Echo Food Shelf.

LUKE CARLSON Staff Writer The stock of non-perishable food items at the local Echo Food Shelf center in Mankato will be full after next Saturday’s Hoops for Hunger charity basketball tournament on the MSU campus. The Sport Management Association and its president, Tyler Slick, will be putting on a 3-on-3 tournament for any student who is interested in playing for a good cause.

Slick and the Association have been working hard during the last month to put on the event for MSU and now it is almost time for the first tossup. The tournament, which will be held February 15th at 11 am in the Schellburg Gymnasium, will be full of students from the Sport Management Association and elsewhere to battle it out on the court. Many students have volunteered their time to help Slick with the set up and promotion of the event, as well as the gathering of sponsors.

“The process to get the sponsors for this event took

me and the executive team a while,” said Slick. He explained that his team had to make sponsorship proposal sheets with everything about the event that they wanted to offer and then pitch those proposals to local businesses.

“Some said no but others said yes,” Slick said.

Among the companies that said yes include University Square eateries such as Jimmy Johns, who will bring delicious sandwich sample and Insomnia Cookies, who will bring their already famous cookies to the games. Other sponsors include Boomtown, Planet Beach, Noodles & Company and the Maverick Bookstore, many of whom will also bring their products to the event.

On game day there will be a lot of students helping out and getting event management experience at the same time. The Association has already recruited many students to help with the preparation for the event, but Slick says that more help is always welcome on the lead up to game day and at the event itself. “Putting this kind of

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event on can be a lot of work and I’m very blessed to have people next to me, helping me work on this event,” Slick said. “We need everybody to help out to make an event like this happen.”

As the Sport Management Association’s only charity event during the school year, the Hoops for Hunger tournament is a source of pride and joy for Slick and all that are involved in its preparation and process, from the volunteers to the players. Players will include Sport Manage-

ment Program students as well as any other student that wants to play ball and help to raise non-perishables for the Echo Food Shelf.

“Students who sign up can play, we take teams of up to four and are looking for teams to sign up now! We have a lot of great prizes to give away and free food there for everybody that participates!” Slick exclaimed.

Those who are interested in signing up to play or volunteer at the event are urged to contact the Sport Manage-

ment Association.

Beyond the fun of 3-on-3 hoops, prizes and free food, students who participate will gain the satisfaction of giving back to the community, an outcome Slick says he is most proud of. “The Hoops for Hunger tournament means a lot to me, I love putting on this event for the students here at MSU; It is a great cause because we give back to the community through the Echo Food Shelf and we get to have some fun playing basketball at the same time.”

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The captivating power of the word From the annals of history, the word can be used to move and enlighten an entire population.

PRATAKSHYA BHANDARI Staff Writer I am obsessed with words.

I enjoy the inexplicable joy of watching an empty page fill up word by word as I write. I cherish the knowledge that someone else has experienced the same joy when I read something.

Words come to a life of their own when spoken. When a great speaker delivers a speech with poise, the result can move hearts, if not mountains. As the world has witnessed time and again, when the words are right, great speeches can change the course of history. Words from Mahatma Ghandi to John F. Kennedy have made the world momentarily pause in reflection.

Some spoken words have been so powerful, they continue to resonate beyond the constraints of time and space; Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech will instill a spirit of freedom to anyone who will listen, today and in the future, regardless of nationality.

I look forward to the State of the Union address every year, not for the political statements but for the simple pleasure of

hearing a great leader speak.

If you listened to President Obama’s address last week for its true purpose, to be updated on the current state of this nation, you probably didn’t notice the eloquence. The speech had a soul of its own that was largely undermined by its political polishing. If you listened carefully, it wasn’t simply a layering of agendas, it was an intricate pattern of chosen words, each in place to make a difference.

According to a website that analyzes State of the Union addresses in detail for word choice and frequency, the word “help” appeared 31 times in the 2014 address, even more than the words “America” and “Americans,” which appeared 28 and 27 times each. What does a powerful leader’s speech riddled with “help” tell us about the state of this nation, or the world in general?

Does it tell us that we are a generation in dire need of help?

Do we need help or are we more willing to help than we have ever been? It is a fundamental shift in focus either way, because a quick glance through the cloud generating website wordle.com suggests that “help” has never

been a part of word clusters of previous speeches.

I will leave the interpretation to the experts, I am neither qualified, nor am I a political enthusiast. I am a word enthusiast.

I love the State of the Union address for its broad promises, for the integrated stories between its lines. Every year I look for-

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ward to the power of words, the surge of hope and the glorified vision of future; take the politics out and it becomes a wonderful hour of listening to a great leader speak of a utopian future.

Regardless of our nationality, it is all that we strive for, even if sometimes in the constraints of our imagination.

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POLICIES & INFORMATION • If you have a complaint, suggestion or would like to point out an error made in the Reporter, call Editor in Chief Reece Hemmesch at 507-3895454. The Reporter will correct any errors of fact or misspelled names in this space. Formal grievances against the Reporter are handled by the Newspaper Board.

• The Minnesota State University Mankato Reporter is a studentrun newspaper published twice a week, coming out on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Reporter generates 78 percent of its own income through advertising and receives approximately 22 percent from Student Activities fees. The Reporter is free to all students and faculty, but to start a subscription, please call us at 507-3891776. Subscriptions for the academic school year are $55.00 and subscribers will receive the paper within three to five days after publishing.

Web Photo President Obama during the State of the Union Speech.

“Have you ever donated blood?”

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“Yes i have donated blood before.”

“No i have not.”

“Yes, sophomore year for the American Red Cross.”

“I think I did in high school.”

• Letters exceeding 400 words may not be accepted. The Reporter reserves the right to edit letters to fit space or correct punctuation. The Reporter reserves the right to publish, or not publish, at its discretion. Letters must contain year, major or affiliation with the university, or lack thereof. All letters must contain phone numbers for verification purposes.

Compiled by Yohanes Ashenafi

EMON ABDUR RAHMAN, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY “In Bangladesh I donated blood two times.”

Thursday, February 6, 2014

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Super bowl ad highlights the basic elements of US Reaction among some leaves our theory of acceptance in question.

MIKELL MELIUS Staff Writer Every year, millions of people take time out of their busy lives to watch one of the biggest events of the year, The Super Bowl. This year, 111.5 million viewers tuned in to watch the Seattle Seahawks pummel the Denver Broncos and while this year’s game was about as thrilling as an episode of Keeping up with the Kardashians, there is always the halftime show to look forward to and the infamous super bowl commercials.

Super Bowl commercials have been a staple of the game for years. Companies pay tons of money every year to support their brand. The average 30second commercial this year was $4 million, according to the Washington Post.

While some take a humorous route, like Doritos did with their time machine commercial, and RadioShack with their kick back to the 80s, other companies tried a different approach. This year’s Super Bowl commercials seemed to be more sentimental than humorous. There was an underlying theme of embracing diversity. Axe body spray

was one commercial that went against humor and promoted the message “Make Love, Not War.” The Cheerios commercial took a humorous angle with the content, but their use of an interracial couple sent a strong message in a subtle way. However, one Super Bowl commercial in particular has created uproar on social media, Coca-Cola’s “America is Beautiful.”

The commercial features unique aspects of our diverse society; it has many Americans from different ethnicities singing America the Beautiful in a handful of different languages.

It shows the diverse group of people who call America home.

The hashtag, AmericaisBeautiful, was displayed at the end ofthe commercial and immediately started a frenzy on Twitter. There were the appreciative tweets including, “What a beautiful representation of America.

Way to go Coca-Cola!” There were also tweets saying, “This is America! Speak English!”

The commercial struck such a negative note with some viewers started #hashtaging, #boycottcoke.

This isn’t the first time that Coca-Cola has promoted diver-

sity. In the 70s, Coca-Cola ran a commercial with people from various ethnic groups standing together and singing, with the slogan, “I’d like to buy the World a Coke.” Morgan Losure, a recent graduate, said of the 2014 Super Bowl commercial, “It was a great representation of what has been forgotten. We all have different beliefs, values and stories. We aren’t one language.”

While this response consumes the majority of responses, as always the most intolerant and hateful are having their voices heard the loudest.

What is so aggravating about this commercial? It can’t be the song ‘America the Beautiful’, everyone loves a good, patriotic tune. It certainly can’t be the children shown in the commercial, everyone loves kids. It

appears that many Americans are confused about the negative responses to Coca-Cola’s ad and don’t know how people can say it doesn’t represent the “real” America. And that is exactly it.

It’s aggravating to some because we don’t like the unknown. So maybe it’s time we all start to know more. About the different cultures that form us all together.

Web Photo The Coca-Cola company is getting heat over their Super Bowl ad with different cultures.

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Thursday, February 6, 2014

Award-winning play to hit campus this weekend The Vagina Monologues to highlight struggles, perseverance of women.

EMMA DEPPA Staff Writer Next Thursday and Friday at 7pm, Minnesota State University, Mankato will be hosting the award-winning play The Vagina Monologues.

The event will be held in Ostrander Auditorium and is open to the public. Tickets are available in the Women’s Center as well as at the door, the cost is $5 for students and $8 for nonstudents.

The show, written in 1994, is based on over 200 interviews with women regarding experiences with their vaginas. The feminine experience is illustrated through monologues touching on subjects such as love, sex, masturbation, orgasm, birth, as well as rape and female genital mutilation. Everything is covered by a different monologue, from comical experiences such as first menstrual cycles and visits to the OB/GYN, to traumatic situations including assault and rape.

This event is not just for women, it is also open to men interested in attending. It provides a blunt and honest depiction about what women go through around the world, not only providing a look into what strength woman have to endure the unfathomable pain of childbirth (as well as the unfathomable pleasure of a female orgasm). The Vagina Monologues will give men the opportunity to understand how women understand, express and relate to their bodies and even

provide them with ideas of what to say and what not to say to a woman. So even if you don’t have one, come to campus to see The Vagina Monologues.

Eve Ensler, the playwright of The Vagina Monologues, is also the founder of V-Day. V-Day takes place on Valentines Day, February 14th and is set aside for awareness and prevention of violence against women and the celebration of women everywhere.

According to the V-day website, the mission of this project is to be an organized response against violence towards women and the vision to see a world where women live safely and freely.

This day started in 1998 after a performance of The Vagina Monologues and has lead to over 5,800 V-Day celebrations annually. The goal is to end up changing social attitudes about violence towards women.

The Violence Awareness and Response Program, the Women’s Center and The Gender and Women’s Studies Department, as well as community supporters including the YWCA of Mankato, Cactus Tattoo and Pub 500 are sponsoring the show.

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February music marathon Diverse, talented lineup on the way from MSU’s Performance Series JAMES HOUTSMA A & E Editor Mark your calendars, music lovers. February promises to be a knockout for the Mankato concert scene, with the next six days consisting of a stacked lineup of renowned artists.

“It’s a good way to experience some very talented musicians and it’s a wide variety of genres,” said Performance Series Director Dale Haefner.

Kicking things off tonight is Twin Cities vocalist Mary Jane Alm, an alumna of MSU, who has been serenading audiences all across the world for more than 25 years. Alm has been the recipient of several Minnesota Music Awards and just recently released her latest album, Me and the Wild Blue. Together with guitarist and songwriter Boyd Lee, Alm will take the stage tonight at 7:30 in the Elias J. Halling Recital Hall. Tickets are $11

for current MSU students, $12 regular admission.

Things will get bluesy on Saturday with a performance from the Sena Ehrhardt Band. Coming off her second album release with Blind Pig Records, All In, Ehrhardt and her band will be taking the stage at Hooligans Neighborhood Pub Saturday evening. The evening’s festivities will open with a performance from Lisa Wenger and Her Mean Men at 8 p.m., followed by The Sena Ehrhardt Band at 9:30 p.m.

This concert will be off-campus at Hooligans, located at 1400 East Madison Ave. Tickets will be $10 in advance; $12 at the door. This event is co-sponsored

by KMSU – The Maverick.

Bringing home a taste of gospel, jazz, roots and soul is Chastity Brown, a Tennessee-raised, Minnesota-based performer, who has been building steam recently with her unique, soulful sound, featured on the likes

of The Current, the film Mary & Martha, and several non-profit events around the Twin Cities.

Her new, featured track “After You” can be found on her newly released CD, Back-Road Highway. Brown will be performing at 7:30 Sunday at the E.J. Halling Recital Hall. Tickets are $15 for regular admission; $13 for MSU students with a valid MavCard.

Making their third appearance at MSU is folk/bluegrass quartet The Barley Jacks. A favorite among students, The Barley Jacks’ blend of bluegrass, folk, roots and Celtic played on fiddle, guitar, bass and percussion has found resonance as the quartet always conveys a sense of joy on stage. Their latest album, The Lighthouse, has found great success with critics. The Barley Jacks take the stage Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in Halling Recital Hall.

Tickets are $15; $13 for students with a valid MavCard.

Web Photos and courtesy of Dale Haefner

Mary Jane Alm (top left), Sena Ehrhardt (top right), Chastity Brown (bottom left) and The Barley Jacks (bottom right).

Further down the line...

But that’s only the first half of what this month holds for musical performances as the latter half of February promises to be just as powerhouse.

The ball keeps rolling on Sunday February 16 with a performance from The New Standards.

A unique trio if there ever was one, The New Standards takes new hits and performs them in the smooth, jazzy styling of yesteryear. Think of hits by The Beatles or OutKast performed like Frank Sinatra or Johnny Mathis. With members Chan Poling, John Munson and Steve Roehm all coming from illustrious Twin Cities bands, The New Standards promises to be a listening experience like no other.

The New Standards performs Sunday, February 16 at 7:30 p.m. in Haling Recital Hall. Tickets are $15; $13 for students with a valid MavCard.

Helping celebrate the Bunny Just Piano Festival that week is

blues pianist Victor Wainwright.

Described as a raucous, highoctane, dynamic performer and a crowd pleaser, Wainwright has received high praise for his rough-and-tumble showing on the ivories, as well as his vocal presence. Victor Wainwright will take the stage Thursday, February 20 at 7:30 in the Halling Recital Hall. Tickets are $12; $11 for students with a valid MavCard.

Breaking from the overall trend of jazz and blues, Gregory Partain will be bringing his acclaimed and varied concert repertoire to the stage in February.

Having performed all across the world in a variety of different roles, Partain’s consistent bravado has impressed many. Gregory Partain will take the spotlight Sunday, February 23 at 7:30 at Halling Recital Hall as part of the Bunny Just Piano Festival.

Tickets will be $12; $11 for students with a valid MavCard.

While it may lie just outside

the month, the 2014 Jazzfest will feature a performance from JazzMN. Describes as the finest big band in the Upper Midwest, the JazzMN orchestra will be featured alongside the Jazz Mavericks Big Band. Having played with notable artists such as Prince, Buddy Rich and Michael Buble, JazzMN’s presence in the region is rare. JazzFest, an all-day event featuring local high school groups performing at attending clinics that traditionally concludes with an evening concert featuring a guest artist, will take place March 1 with the evening concert taking place at 7:30 p.m. in Halling Recital Hall.

Tickets will be $15; $13 for students with a valid MavCard.

As always, advance purchase on tickets is recommended and can be purchased at www.mnsu. edu/music. Any further questions can be answered by calling the Performance Series office at 507389-5549.

Web Photos and courtesy of Dale Haefner The New Standards (top left), Victor Wainwright (top right), Gregory Partain (bottom left) and JazzMN (bottom right).

8 • MSU Reporter

A&E

Thursday, February 6, 2014

That Awkward Effort Despite charming leads, That Awkward Moment makes a hot mess of itself.

ANDREW SIMON Staff Writer Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching, and with it comes the typical onslaught of romantic dramas and comedies to make couples smile and singles weep.

To commemorate the fateful holiday, That Awkward Moment bangs into theaters as a bothsexes-friendly romcom with the mouth of a Judd Apatow flick and the romanticism of a blunt object impersonating John Hughes. To say That Awkward Moment is a mess would be generous, but it’s a fun mess with laughs, genuine cringe-worthy moments of badness, shallow characters, and a surprisingly accurate reflection of contemporary society (for good, and for bad).

Mikey (Michael B. Jordan) has just been dumped by his wife (Jessica Lucas). In comradery, his friends Jason (Zac Efron) and Daniel (Miles Teller), who are quite skilled at being lady killers, vow to stay single with him.

Naturally, as soon as one makes a pact negating something, that’s precisely when that something enters one’s life and messes everything up. For Jason, he meets aspiring writer Ellie (Imogen Poots), and Daniel starts a relationship with long-time friend Chelsea (Mackenzie Davis) while Mikey tries to understand why the breakup happened in the first place. Secrets are revealed, pacts are broken, and friendships are tested.

That Awkward Moment works

on some levels, but misfires in many others; what does work is the friendship between the three guys. Thanks in large part to their intense chemistry, Efron, Teller and Jordan feel like they’ve been friends for ages, one of the few authentic elements about the film. Leaping on that wave of authenticity, the dialogue feels crisp and realistic -- the conversations they have, the one-liners, and the melodramatic declarations of love that call back to the films of Hughes, all have a ring of realism that’s refreshing for this genre. The female cast, Poots and Davis specifically, are spectacularly interesting and scene stealing against their co-stars. It’s only regrettable their characters weren’t as well defined, or their roles reversed, to make the film a superior product. The laughs, surprisingly few as they are for a romcom, hit their mark, especially the quick-witted wise-cracks from Teller.

What doesn’t work is sadly a long list. From a screenwriting standpoint, there’s very little consistency in this pact, which is essentially the big selling point of the movie – three attractive Manhattan males make a pact to stay single – yet by the time the movie comes back to that plot point, it felt like a foreign object in a different movie entirely. In the first act the pact is made, and the second act is spent entirely with all three characters rekindling or igniting some romance -- the pact completely forgotten -- until the third act turn where this McGuf-

Web Photo Miles Teller, Zac Efron and Michael B. Jordan in That Awkward Moment.

fin (storytelling device) comes back into play after being an absent marker fifty minutes ago.

The three leads would be despicable characters if they weren’t so charming. They live by the asinine rules of dating where circumstances get in the way of romance. Sadly, That Awkward Moment seems to accurately reflect the contemporary dating scene in this regard, showing that there is something seri-

ously wrong with it all.

Jason is self-centered and, possibly, self-destructive, and while Mikey isn’t nearly as narcissistic, he does have a tendency to overlook his own flaws and transpose them on Vera (Lucas).

Teller’s Daniel is the best of the lot, in large part to the charismatic performance, but also because Daniel is a good guy who’s simply told what to do and how to think from his friends.

The rub is, That Awkward Moment could have been an absolutely terrific romcom with likable characters, a more intelligent outlook at the dating scene and its female characters, and a tighter, smarter script to work with. As it is, it’s a film with several glaring flaws that are hard to overlook, but the highlights are enough to make the viewer forget about them until long after the movie’s over.

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MSU Reporter • 9

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Mystery surrounds stolen, priceless violin

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Violin virtuoso Frank Almond was walking to his car after an evening performance at the Wisconsin Lutheran College when someone jumped out of a van, shocked him with a stun gun and seized the rare and extremely valuable Stradivarius on loan to him.

The robber got back into the waiting vehicle, which sped off.

Almond, who’d been knocked to the ground, wasn’t seriously hurt. But he was devastated by the loss of the violin, which was crafted in 1715 and has been appraised for insurance purposes at $5 million.

The brazen Jan. 27 crime set off a frantic search and raised questions about why someone would steal an item that would be nearly impossible to sell. Wouldbe buyers in the tiny market for rare violins would certainly know it was stolen, and keeping it in hiding would mean never getting to show it off.

The case in which Almond kept the instrument was found, and the Milwaukee Symphony oOrchestra announced someone was offering $100,000 for the instrument’s safe return. But there weren’t any breaks in the robbery duntil this week, when prosecutors -confirmed Wednesday that three -people had been arrested in contnection with the theft. s , t g , h t s

However, Police Chief Ed Flynn said at an afternoon news conference that authorities haven’t recovered the violin, and he hoped the reward would induce the public to come forward with tips.

“It’s a reasonable supposition that it’s still in our jurisdiction,” Flynn said. He declined to go into detail.

Kent Lovern, a Milwaukee County assistant district attorney, said he didn’t expect a charging decision would be made before Thursday.

Flynn said the suspects were two men, ages 41 and 36, and a 32-year-old woman. He wouldn’t say how police tracked them down, but he said there was physical evidence linking them to the crime.

Flynn also wouldn’t speculate on a motive, although he said the suspects seemed to be working for themselves, not on behalf of a larger art-theft ring. He also said one had a previous association with art crime.

The violin is known in musical circles as the “Lipinski” Stradivarius. Its previous owners include virtuoso Giuseppe Tartini, who was known for his “Devil’s Trill” Sonata, and Polish violinist Karol Lipinski.

It was passed down through generations, eventually landing

with the heirs of Estonian violinist Evi Liivak, according to Stefan Hersh a Chicago-based violin curator who helped restore it to playing condition after it was removed from storage in a bank vault in 2008. The current owner’s name has not been revealed publicly.

Hersh, a friend of Almond’s, said he used to watch how carefully Almond would care for the violin. While some musicians see their instruments as objects or tools, Almond understood the historical significance of the Lipinski, Hersh said.

“He had a special case made for it, he kept it highly protected in his car, he never let it out of his sight,” Hersh said. “As a performer nothing shakes him, but after the theft he was highly shaken.

I’ve never known him like that.”

A message left for Almond through the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra wasn’t immediately returned Wednesday. Police have asked that he not speak to the media while the investigation was going on.

Hersh said Almond had scars on his wrist and chest from the stun gun but otherwise wasn’t seriously hurt.

Hersh said he couldn’t sleep after he heard about the theft. He was worried the violin would be damaged, but the more he thought

Photo Courtesy of Associated Press

about it the more he suspected the thieves would take pains to protect their spoils.

“You’d have to think someone who thought this through with such meticulous planning would take good care of it,” he said.

Flynn said he couldn’t specu-

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late on the condition of the violin.

Estimates vary for the number of Stradivarius violins that still exist, said Lisbeth Butler, the secretary of the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers.

Most experts believe that 600 to 650 remain, she said.

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Mavericks jump to no. 21 after weekend sweep LUCAS RYAN Staff Writer The Minnesota State University men’s basketball team shot past both opponents over the weekend and is now tied for first place in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

The Mavericks earned an 8867 win Friday against University of Mary before Saturday night’s 106-95 win over Minot State.

With the two wins, MSU moves to 19-3 overall and is now tied with Winona State with a 13-3 record in the NSIC. MSU moved up one spot on the rankings to 21st in the NABC Poll released Tuesday. The Mavericks are the only team in the NSIC ranked on the NABC poll.

Junior guard Zach Monaghan and junior forward Assem Marei continue to be main contributors for the Mavericks. Monaghan leads all of NCAA Division II men’s basketball with 184 total-

assists (eight per game) this season while Marei has shot 61.5 percent from the field, which is 26th in the nation.

A Record Setting Weekend The duo were main contributors over the weekend as well: Monaghan averaged 24 points and 11 assists per game of the weekend while Junior Assem Marei averaged 19.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game.

Friday night the MSU’s starters scored 80 of the Mavericks 86 points in the win. MSU’s offense was led by Marei, who tallied 21 points finishing the night 9-of9 from the field matching Tim Scharfenberg’s mark set in 1985.

The Mavericks built a 32-14 lead at the 8:13 mark of the first half and led by at least 18 points from that point on in the game.

Saturday night the Mavericks set a school record with 17 three-

BASKETBALL • Page 11

David Bassey • MSU Reporter Senior guard Gage Wooten (pictured) has been very consistents this season in regards to getting rebounds, playing defense and scoring the basketball. In the team’s win over U of Mary on Friday, he scored 13 points and brought down five rebounds.

Minnesota hockey players ready for Sochi

Web Photo Sochi will have three former Maverick hockey players competing in the 2014 Winter Olympics. Be on the look for David Backes (pictured) for USA, Emilia Andersson for Sweden and Nina Tikkinen for Finland.

The state of Minnesota will be represented well with the group of players from the state of hockey heading to Russia, including three former Mavericks.

LUKE CARLSON Staff Writer With only 23 games left to play in the regular season after tonight’s home game against the Nashville Predators, the Minnesota Wild head into the Olympic break with some steam as well as an impressive cast of players to represent the State of Hockey at the games in Sochi, Russia. Several of those representatives have shown their A-game this season, especially in the last few weeks, to put the Wild in the thick of the playoff hunt.

One Wild player, who represents both his home state and our home country, is forward Zach Parise. The Wild missed Parise desperately throughout most of January as the winger recovered from a fractured foot which he aggravated near the end of December. But even without Parise’s scoring touch to help out, the Wild pulled off a miraculous

turnaround of their season in January, going 9-4-1 after a dismal 4-9-1 performance in the month of December.

And since returning to the lineup, Parise has caught fire.

The forward has eight points in six games, including three goals and five assists, while the Wild has gone 3-1-2 in that stretch.

Parise will enter Sochi leading team USA as its captain and one of its premier forwards; leading a squad that, besides himself, includes Minnesotans David Backes, T.J. Oshie, Derek Stepan, and Blake Wheeler.

Joining Parise on team USA is Wild star defenseman Ryan Suter, who will come into the Olympics as one of the game’s best blue liners with 33 points in 58 games and is a +5 on the season so far, one year after being the Norris Trophy runner up for best defenseman in the NHL. Suter looks to headline a solid cast of defensemen for team USA that also include Minnesotans Justin

Faulk, Paul Martin, and Ryan McDonagh.

Another captain who will get a chance to prove himself at the Olympics after coming back from injury will be Wild captain and Finland’s own Mikko Koivu. On January 4th, in a win at home against the Washington Capitals, Koivu limped off the ice after being hit in the ankle by a slap shot. The diagnosis was a broken ankle, which has kept the Wild’s first line center sidelined since the occurrence of the injury.

Due to the broken ankle, it is still up in the air whether Koivu will indeed suit up for his home country alongside fellow Fin and Wild center Mikael Granlund; but if he gets the go-ahead to play, he will be an offensive boon for Finland with his terrific playmaking ability.

As the other stand-out Fin on the Wild, Granlund is looking to write his first story in the Olym-

OLYMPICS • Page 11

Thursday, February 6, 2014

r

MSU basketball looking sharp heading into final stretch continued from 10 pointers in a high scoring contest in front of 1608 onlookers in the Taylor Center. Monaghan had finished with a career-high 31 points and 14 assists earning his sixth career double-double. Senior Tanner Adler and Monaghan combined for 12 of the Mavericks record-setting 17 three point field goals, and both teams put on a show from long range as Minnesota State and Minot State combined for 31 baskets from behind the arc.

“We came out shooting and everyone was one fire we just kept hitting shots. Minot was hitting shots too, but we just came back and in the end we won,” Adler said, “It was just one of those days. You start to feel good once you hit your first two and then they just tumble. We have great passers on the team and that just gets the shooters open.”

MSU never trailed after Adler gave the Mavericks a 6-5 lead just 2:41 into the contest. However, MSU was never able to completely put the game away and allowed the Beavers to pull within one point with less than

n o -

10 minutes remaining; The Mavericks responded with a 12-4 run of their own and went on to secure a 106-95 win.

There’s No Place like Home MSU will complete their regular season home schedule this weekend when they host the Southwest Minnesota State (24-8, 11-5 in the NSIC) Friday and Sioux Falls (11-9, 8-8 in the NSIC) Saturday. The Mavericks have posted a 12-1 record at home this season.

Southwest Minnesota State enters the weekend tied for fourth place in the NSIC after going 1-1 over the weekend. The Mustangs are led by senior center Nick Smith who is averaging 12.2 points and 6.9 rebounds per game, followed by senior guard Vinard Birch with 11.8 points and a team-high 96 assists.

SMSU is averaging 74.7 points and 33.9 rebounds per game and is shooting and 50.3% from the field which is second best in the NSIC. The Mavericks will matchup against a potential dangerous Sioux Falls team Saturday to conclude MSU’s regular season home schedule. The Cougars

have won five of the last six games. During that streak Souix Falls has knocked off both NSIC Division leaders (Winona State and Bemiji State). The Cougars have proven recently that they can play with the best in the NSIC and will look to knock off another NSIC Divison leader Saturday night.

The Cougars offense is led by their backcourt with senior guard Derek Brown averaging 12.5 points per game while junior guard Charles Ward has scored 12.4 points per game. The Cougars can make you pay from behind the arc if allow them to.

USF has made the third most three-point field goals in the NSIC (172), making them tough to beat when they are shooting well even for the best teams in the NSIC. With six games remaining in the regular season, each game will be important for every team including the Mavericks. MSU knows what they need to do to be successful down the final stretch of the season and that means focusing on the fundamentals.

“We are going to focus on defense and rebounding, when we do that our offense explodes,

USA First Weekend Schedule Friday

Opening Ceremony

6:30 p.m.

Women’s Hockey vs. Finland Figure Skating

Biathlon Figure Skating/ freestyle skiing/ Snowboarding

2 a.m.

8:30 a.m.

1:30 p.m.

7 p.m.

Saturday

Sunday

Figure Skating/ Luge 11 p.m.

Cross Country/ Speed Skating 4:30 a.m.

Luge 7:30 a.m.

Figure Skating 9 a.m.

Ski Jumping 12 p.m.

Biathlon 1 p.m.

Women’s Hockey vs. Switzerland 4 p.m.

Alpine Skiing/ Figure Skating/ 6 p.m.

Ski Jumping/ Snowboarding Figure Skating 10:30 p.m. and that’s when we can get open shots,” Adler said. “We can tire out our opponent because we

got good a deep bench too. You know, we just got to keep working.”

NHL heads to Sochi for 2014 Winter Olympics continued from 10

pics after recording a so far impressive second season in the NHL as the Wild’s go-to second line center. The 21 year old, who turns 22 on February 26th at the conclusion of the games, has notched 28 points in 45 games and has been hot of late with eight points in his last seven contests.

As far as the Olympics are conn cerned, Granlund will be a part of Finland’s new wave of youth who t will play alongside seasoned NHL e veterans such as Anaheim Ducks m winger Teemu Selanne and Winnid n e , r p n s e

s u e d t e g

MSU Reporter • 11

Sports

peg Jets center Olli Jokinen.

One other player who hopes to guide a less-renowned but dangerous Swiss hockey team at Sochi is Wild winger Nino Niederreiter.

The big Swiss playmaker has impressed in his first year with the Wild, tallying 27 points and a +9 differential, playing in all 58 games so far, and like Granlund, it will be the first Olympics appearance for “El Nino”.

At the games themselves, even though Men’s Hockey does not start initial round robin play until the 12th, hockey players and athletes from around the world will get to take part in a beauti-

ful opening ceremony that always seems to be one of the most magical moments of the Olympics and capture the hearts of all those who witness it.

On the women’s side, the Mavericks have two former women’s hockey players heading to Olympics for the second time. Defenseman Emilia Andersson competed in 136 games as a Maverick and finished with 50 points on 11 goals and 39 assists. Statistically, the Sweden native was the best defenseman in Mavericks history with her 50 points being the most points by a defenseman. She will be playing for Sweden in this

year’s games with their first contest on Feb. 9 against Japan.

Nina Tikkinen, who played for the Mavericks from 2007-11, will be a forward for the Finland team.

She finished 14th on the list of career points at MSU with 50 (21 goals and 29 assists). Back in 2010, the former Maverick won a bronze medal with Team Finland and scored two goals in five games.

Tomorrow night the Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi will host the opening event, the details of which are being kept under serious wraps; but reportedly, will be as many as 15 buildings, six trains and six bridges being built on the

stage of the stadium for the event.

Those in Mankato and the rest of the nation will be able to watch the ceremonies via live broadcast by NBC tomorrow night.

However the ceremonies turn out, the Sochi games will surely prove to be an entertaining and competitive spectacle by athletes from all around the world, including the men dressed in hockey sweaters bearing the colors of their respective home countries. And with the five players representing the green, red and white of the Minnesota Wild, these Olympics will surely be a fun one for the state of hockey.

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