Technician
wednesday september
8
2010
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
Life is ‘Suite’ on student TV show
The cast of The Suite (from left to right): Kirby Howe, Tyler Helms, Wes Boyles, Haynes Brotherton, Adam Baxter, Alex Keener and jacob Gray. Season Two premieres tonight on WolfTV and YouTube.
Student produced comedy show The Suite brings NC State dorm life to the masses Story By Rich Lepore | photo illustration By Luis Zapata
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onight on Wolf TV is the premiere of the second season of The Suite, a sitcom about a group of suitemates that is written, produced and acted entirely by NC State students. The show revolves around the lives of eight unique individuals, each of which is an embodiment of a different stereotype about college life. Tyler Helms, a sophomore in Civil Engineering, is the writer, director and mastermind behind the project. Helms also plays the main character, Richard Siemens, who is the selfappointed leader of the suite. The character is actually based on fitness mogul Richard Simmons, as he is annoyingly chipper and energetic, often dancing when no one is looking. Siemens also has another inspira-
tion, however, and it is one that underlies the entire show. “When I had the idea for The Suite, I was watching seasons 1-5 of The Office straight through,” Helms said. “I was really inspired by Steve Carell’s character.” Helms was inspired by Carell’s sarcastic sense of humor, as well as The Office’s use of non-conventional camera angles. The Suite employs the same concept as The Office in that the show is filmed in documentary style, with characters looking directly at the camera at times, and giving interviews about how they’re feeling about certain people and events. Haynes Brotherton, a sophomore in history, plays Xbox 360 addict Jeffy Madison on the show, a sort of adopted suitemate who plays Call of
Duty: Modern Warfare 2 non-stop throughout every episode. He said that The Suite was developed as a response to a perceived lack of funny shows on Wolf TV. “We were randomly watching Wolf TV, and saw what people were doing” Brotherton said. “And we just thought, ‘We can do it better.’” Although the show only began filming near the end of last year, the true genesis of the show took place far earlier, when three groups of friends met in high school. When Helms came to State with Jacob Gray, his best friend from high school, they didn’t know anyone.
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Spencer Shell, a junior in political science, is put in an ambulance following his collapse on Dan Allen Drive Thursday. Shell went into cardiac arrest while jogging due to acute respiratory distress syndrome. Shell is in critical condition at Rex Hospital, but has been taken off a ventilator.
Student jogger remains in critical condition Spencer Shell, the jogger who collapsed near Harris Field Thursday evening, remained in intensive care at Rex Hospital Tuesday afternoon. Chelsey Francis Deputy News Editor
The student jogger who collapsed on Harris Field Thursday after going into cardiac arrest remained in critical condition as of Tuesday afternoon. Spencer Shell, a junior in politi-
cal science, fell near a Campus Recreation booth set up for a Students Today, Alumni Tomorrow event. Jon Smetana, a junior in sports management and employee with Campus Recreation, saw Shell collapse and was able to begin CPR, along with another runner, Robert Olsen. According to the website set up for Spencer Shell, the EMS used paddles to revive him. Paramedics took him to Rex Hospital where, as of Tuesday afternoon, he remained in the inten-
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Chancellor’s eco-friendly residence under construction The new, environmentallyfriendly house will be a place for fundraising and gaining support for the University. Allison Saito Staff Writer
Chancellor Woodson’s new residence, The Point, is being constructed on Centennial Campus. The house will have living space for the chancellor and his family, and it will serve as a venue for the chancellor to host donors and friends of the University. Chancellor Woodson said The Point will help him to be a more effective fundraiser for the University. “The chancellor’s job is increasing fundraising for the University. The house will be a great asset to host more events and keep people connected to N.C. State,” Woodson said. Marvin Malecha, the dean of the design school and designer for the residence, said the house will be large, but it functions as more than a residence.
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“It will be a little more than 8,500 [square feet], closer to 9,000,” said Malecha. “Upstairs, where the chancellor will live, is right around 3,000 feet. This is a place where you will have two hundred people over for a reception regularly, and between fourteen and sixty people for a dinner regularly.” An effort has been made to reduce the environmental effect of the residence. Kevin MacNaughton, associate chancellor for facilities and the house’s project manager, said sustainability systems are being used to reduce the impact of the house. “The runoff from the roof goes down to a holding pond. We will take this water and use it for irrigation,” MacNaughton said. “Heating and air conditioning on the house will be a geothermal system, which is about forty percent more efficient than a heat pump system. The predominant number of lights in the house will be
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Story headline story. See page #.
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Mason Hornbuckle, a freshman in chemical engineering, enjoys his smoothie with friends at the grand opening of Freshen’s in Talley Student Center on Tuesday. “Oh yeah, I’m going to use this...like every single day,” Hornbuckle said. “I’m really glad it opened. We have been waiting for it.”
New Freshens opens in Talley The smoothie and yogurt shop is continuing its three-day grand opening through Sept. 9, offering a variety of samplings and giveaways. Nithya Kote Staff Writer
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Freshens Smoothie and Yogurt Company is continuing a threeday grand opening through Sept. 9 at the Talley Student Center.
Jennifer Gilmore, marketing and communications manager for University Dining, said there would be a lot of free treats available during the opening. “The first 100 visitors who RSVP’d on our Freshens Facebook fan page will get a free smoothie,” Gilmore said. “We will also do some sampling and pass out coupons on Wednesday and Thursday.” Freshens relocated from the Atrium food court to the Talley Student Center food court.
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“When we determined that Freshens was not a good fit for the new Atrium, we chose to relocate it to Talley instead of removing it from the University Dining lineup,” Gilmore said. “The back corner of Talley was the perfect place for it, as we used to have an eatery called The Cutting Board in that very same spot many years ago.” According to Gilmore, Freshens is already becoming popular among the
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