The Hoya: The Guide: October 23, 2015

the guide FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2015

On God, BEAU Biden And a Hilltop Dining Hall “I love the fact that the students call it ‘Leo’s.’

When I heard that that’s what students were calling it, I thought, ‘Well, wonderful.’ They probably think that, whoever he was, ‘Leo died in the last century...’”

– Fr. Leo O’Donovan, S.J. GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES

ROBERT DEPAOLO Hoya Staff Writer

Going for food day in and day out at O’Donovan Hall, or Leo’s, students might never have stopped to think of its namesake: former University President Fr. Leo O’Donovan, S.J. With current University President John J. DeGioia having completed his 14th year as president, current students are far removed from O’Donovan’s tenure from 1989 to 2001. At 81, O’Donovan is still living a busy and impactful life. He currently lives in New York City and has filled his time with a variety of projects: lecturing, teaching courses, writing art reviews, serving on a variety of boards and doing pastoral work, to name a few.

THE HOYA sat down with O’Donovan in July to discuss his namesake, his retirement and his experiences at Georgetown.

This interview will be presented in three parts. Parts two and three will appear in the News section of THE HOYA on Tuesday and Friday.

I would say most students on campus would probably know your name because of the dining hall.

I love the fact that the students call it “Leo’s.” When I heard that that’s what students were calling it I thought, “Well, wonderful.” They probably think that, whoever he was, “Leo died in the last century,” but I love the fact that it’s called just plain “Leo’s.”

What has retirement been like?

I have more freedom with my calendar now, and so I do more pastoral work, which I’ve always loved — explicit work as a priest … especially a lot of weddings, many for Georgetown grads, but others that are for the children of

friends that I grew up with, and most of them are in this country. … I have done weddings in France and Italy and Ireland and Austria, the Bahamas, and from the weddings come baptisms and connected with the families are deaths.

I had the great honor — it was a very painful day — but the great honor of celebrating Beau Biden’s funeral Mass and preaching at that Mass in early June.

And I give retreats and do spiritual direction, so when people ask me, “What’s retirement like?” I say, “Whose?” Because I don’t really feel very retired.

What are you most proud of in your term as president of the university?

I was very proud that we did significantly increase the endowment. I was proud — I think I concluded by saying we increased, we tripled the endowment, which is good. Not great. It was good. We had the big campaign. We

increased research very significantly.

We’ve added some new centers, new programs. We saved the medical school by selling the hospital, and I know the medical faculty was grateful to me for that. I’m also grateful that we did it without any argument with the Cardinal [James Hickey].

What do you think makes Georgetown special? What does it still need to improve upon? What do you think its role is in shaping public discourse, especially being a religious institution in the seat of the U.S. government?

What I said in my inauguration speech — which I never delivered because of Hurricane Hugo, though it was published — is still true, I think. Georgetown has not had to reinvent itself. It has been called to keep growing according See O’DONOVAN, B2

THIS WEEK FEATURE

LIFESTYLE

Compton Meets Classical Orchestra backs Kendrick Lamar in Kennedy Center show DANIEL SMITH Hoya Staff Writer

Spielberg Up Close

Director Steven Spielberg speaks about his latest film, “Bridge of Spies,” and his acclaimed career. B3

FOOD & DRINK

Sushi Burritos Hit DC

The quirky yet innovative Buredo in downtown D.C. is more than a fad, judging by its consistent popularity. thehoya.com

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Demi’s New Confidence

The former Disney star’s latest album, “Confident,” is every sense of the word. B5

THEHOYA.COM/ GUIDE @thehoyaguide

Kendrick Lamar does not have a winning track record when it comes to recognition from established, prestigious and predominantly white institutions.

At the 56th Grammy Awards in 2014, his modern day classic “Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City” was snubbed for Best Rap Album, in favor of Macklemore’s “The Heist,” drawing widespread allegations of institutional racism in the music industry.

To perform a sold-out concert accompanied by the National Symphony Orchestra is an honor for Kendrick in itself, but it is especially meaningful given the context of his success despite a lack of recognition.

In the Kennedy Center Concert Hall on Tuesday night, more than 2,000 spectators formed a racially diverse crowd of all ages in anticipation of the unprecedented show.

Kendrick strode across the stage with purpose, as if to assert the legitimacy of his presence at the esteemed venue. Clad in all black, he was joined by four bandmates and took his position at the front of the stage. The set kicked off with “For Free,” a cut from his most recent album “To Pimp a Butterfly.” Jazzy piano

COURTESY YASSINE EL MANSOURI

See KENDRICK, B6

Kendrick Lamar played a 15-song set and an encore at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday night, accompanied by the National Symphony Orchestra.

B2

the guide

THE HOYA

friday, October 23, 2015

FEATURE

Fr. Leo O’Donovan, S.J., on Religion, Beau Biden O’DONOVAN, from B1 to a pattern that was established in the city of Washington, which has kept growing, and it is growing true to its foundation, in a world that has increasingly complex and challenging issues. But the basic shape of the university, the basic character is very strong and is there to be nuanced and strengthened and adumbrated, and added to but not revised.

“

We have this immense honor and responsibility of a special connection with the government of our great country.”

A big change happened when we returned to being residential; a big change happened when we became the only Catholic institution in …

COFHE — The Consortium on Financing Higher Education.

I haven’t worried about this for several years. But the best for me, the best organization of schools was the Consortium on Financing Higher Education. The term of president was for one year. They asked me to do it for two years, and I changed some things. It was all the Ivies, Northwestern, Chicago and then the very best private colleges, and we swapped information remarkably widely in order to offer better educations. Even though we were competing with each other. …

So we have a strong tradition that doesn’t have to reinvent itself, but is open to wonderful new developments. And that makes the job of a president that much easier and more challenging because you could be tempted to be complacent to stay where you are, but that would not be true to the wonderful things that have happened.

Georgetown was a pioneer when it opened the LGBTQ Center in 2008.

What are your thoughts on the way Georgetown has been able to handle and provide resources for the LGBTQ community that, years and years ago, people viewed religion as being completely hostile toward?

Well, I think Georgetown is far from being alone among Catholic colleges and universities in being subject to criticism that it is not authentically Catholic. In almost all the particulars that I’m aware of, of that criticism, the supposition

is of a rigorous, overly self-assured, top-down understanding of the Church. And if the Church is really God’s people struggling through time with the guidance of its appointed pastors to make this world more human and just in the hopes of entering into God’s eternal life, then we should be a more forgiving and less denunciatory society.

I don’t have much patience for watchdogs keeping track of every instance of something that is purportedly non-Catholic. If a similar list of all the things that were done to support Catholicism were kept, I might pay more attention to the list of failures, but that’s not the way one successfully lives with other people. You encourage other people. You don’t say, “You’ve messed up there again.” That’s not the goal, and there are, as we well know, numerous organizations that keep lists and marshal evidence that is often extremely partial.

You mentioned having the privilege of presiding over the funeral mass for Vice President Joe Biden’s son.

I just wanted to ask you what that meant to you, to be able to do that.

Well, it was a very painful moment shared by a lot of people and instinctively — I don’t know how to put this without crying. Beau Biden was, by any measure, an extraordinary young man. He was 46 when he died, but he was nevertheless a young man so clearly at the beginning of what might be hoped for. He became the attorney general of [Delaware]; it was widely expected that he would run for governor — unless you really knew him and the immediate family well because the original diagnosis of the brain tumor was very severe.

And he was a man of extraordinary generosity, as his brother Hunter (COL ’92), who went to Georgetown (Beau went to Penn) but, as Hunter said, his first memory, Hunter’s first memory of life, was waking up in that hospital bed after the accident where his mother and his little baby sister were killed. And his brother Beau was leaning across from the bed next to his holding his hand and looking intently into his eyes and saying repeatedly, “I love you, I love you.”

And then Hunter said, “And that was the story of my brother’s life.

If you needed something, he took your hand.” And President Obama, in his beautiful and very personal eulogy, said of Beau, “He was the most popular politician in Delaware,” and then he looked down at Joe Biden and said, “Sorry, Joe.” And at the end of Hunter’s eulogy he said, “So that was my brother, and I’m proud — but what I’m most proud of is that he took my hand

NEWROCHELLETALK.COM

Fr. Leo O’Donovan, S.J., served as president of Georgetown University from 1989 to 2001. Today, he continues to work as a pastor and recently performed the funeral Mass for Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden. first.” I would never have been asked to preside at that funeral mass or give a homily if I hadn’t been at Georgetown all those years.

If I hadn’t come to know Joe as senator and more recently as the vice president. If I hadn’t gotten to know his sister, Valerie, who took care of the boys after their mother’s death. (Some of her children went to Georgetown.) There are young members of the family hoping now to go to Georgetown.

It had a lot to do with Georgetown and Washington, and it felt very much like being home, because there were so many people there from Congress, President Clinton was there with Hillary Clinton in the front pew next to the Obamas.

Mitch McConnell was there, Lindsey Graham I think was there; members of the Republican side of the House and Senate. I didn’t think of it then, but as I look back, I’m proud that that’s the kind of situation where Georgetown could make a contribution. Being a university in the nation’s capital and being in a position to respond to something really aching and painful beyond words, but something hopeful and faithful even more beyond words.

The night before the funeral I wrote to Hunter and said, “Tomorrow will be very hard, Hunter, but it will be still more full of grace and hope.” And I got off the computer and put that line into the homily,

because I hadn’t thought of it before. That was true; it was like dying with Jesus, but hoping you would be one with him forever. And so in the homily, whether people noticed this or not, I actually tried to draw an identification between Beau and Jesus, and in the first paragraph I described the loss that his death entailed by saying that, “We had hoped that he would be the one, we had put our trust in him,” or words to that effect, which are the words that the disciples on their way to Emmaus speak, when they speak to Jesus without recognizing him.

“

Georgetown is far from being alone among Catholic colleges and universities in being subject to criticism that is not authentically Catholic.”

So I was consciously trying to speak of our hopes for this young man the way people had hoped in Jesus and then faced his death, and then hoped nevertheless.

That’s part of our university’s tradition. John Carroll, our founder, was an ardent republican in the sense of supporting the new republic. He wrote the prayer that was used at George Washington’s inauguration. We have this immense honor and responsibility of a special connection with the government of our great country, and I was given that trust, the trust of that institution for a time, and from the very beginning I thought, “This is a great trust, and I will do the best I can with it, and then hand it on because it’s only for a time,” which was actually a great relief. It was not something I had to do so there is a freedom in that.

That’s a rather philosophical answer to your question, but it’s the deeper truth. We’ll always be in Washington. No matter how international and global, increasingly international and global. …

That’s our heart and the heart of its students because of whom the faculty comes together, for whom the money is raised to support the teaching and the housing of the students and their activities, and because of whom, students and the faculty, all the facilities are built.

But it starts with the students around whom a faculty gathers in the hopes that these will be young women and men, as Jesuits say, “for others,” responsible for a better world. What better thing could you be about?

center stage

The Search for New Sounds in Studio D The four-person band Faces for Radio discusses the scarcity of art at Georgetown University

Anna Shuster Hoya Staff Writer

A new jazz-inspired alt-rock band, Faces for Radio, is quickly gaining recognition on campus. The band’s jazzy covers and original tunes along with their recent appearances at Kickback and Phoebe Ryan’s show last month at the Healey Family Student Center are helping them grow in popularity. Following this string of successful shows, The Hoya sat down with the band members — Peter Laughlin (COL ’16) (guitar,

vocals), Ethan Beaman (COL ’16) (guitar), Dillon Denehy (MSB ’17) (drums) and Gabe Spadaccini (COL ’17) (bass) – to talk about their influences, the story behind their name and their thoughts on the Georgetown music scene.

So, what’s the Faces for Radio origin story?

PL: Ethan and I were in the same NSO group. We lived across the hall from each other freshman year. Nobody knew anybody, and we were like, “Hey, you play guitar? I play guitar!” So we

naaz modaN/THE HOYA

Gabe Spadaccini (COL ’17), Dillon Denehy (MSB ’17), Peter Laughlin (COL ’16) and Ethan Beaman (COL ’16) of band Faces for Radio.

played guitar together. And then sophomore year we got a little bit more formal about it. We kept in touch through the years. And we’ve been in various groups and in various forms.

DD: I transferred from the University of Richmond, and I’d always played in bands. And I got to Georgetown ...

There’s not a big arts scene at Georgetown. I just did whatever I could; I went to every open mic trying to recruit guys to make a band. I had a huge list of people. .. and then I saw these guys.

I honestly didn’t really care about your music at all, I was like, “You know what, these guys play guitar — I’ll just take advantage of it.” And then I was like, “We should join Guild of Bands,” and they were like “We’re already in Guild of Bands” and I was like “Sweet, I get access to a drum set”— that’s all I wanted.

Turns out, when we practiced for the first time that these guys are actually really good, and I was like “Awesome, that’s perfect.”

So what are the rest of your musical backgrounds?

PL: I played sports in high school ...

I’m not kidding. I grew up always really liking music; my dad was huge into classic [rock]. The first music I ever listened to wasn’t rap or anything like that. By the time I was 3 years old, I knew every word to “Stop Making Sense,” the Talking Heads album. He was a huge Grateful Dead, Talking Heads, The Band [fan] ... He liked Dylan a little bit, but huge into the Allman Brothers. He was a big southern rock / folk kind of guy.

GS: I feel like the dads are very important.

PL: I remember the first album my dad ever bought me was “Dark Side of the Moon.” And he bought my brother “Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal” by Lou Reed.

DD: What was the first album you

bought yourself?

DD: Mine was NSync, so … But yeah, my dad had a huge role too. Blasting AC/ DC in the car, just all the good stuff. Led Zeppelin. I’ve been in bands since third grade. Whether it’s good or bad, I’ve been in bands since third grade. Always drumming. At one point in third grade, no, fourth grade, I was the backup drummer in like a nine-person band.

Where are you guys hoping to take Faces for Radio?

PL: Straight to the top.

DD: Yep. As far as we can.

PL: Yeah, I don’t know. That’s an openended question. More original stuff.

We’re gonna get some studio time for ourselves and record like a five-track demo as soon as we can.

DD: I don’t even think we saw ourselves playing at a party when we first started jamming. We were just jamming to have fun with it, and now we’re getting recognition on campus. People are noticing the potential that we have, and I think that’s such a huge step for us.

We have no idea where we’re going to be next semester or anything like that.

What does the name mean?

DD: Well we looked at Peter, and we thought “He is one ugly-looking dude.

How can we relate that to our band name?” and then Peter was like “Faces for Radio.”

PL: I don’t mean to shoot down the question, but do we want people to know what it’s all about? Or do we want to just leave it up to interpretation?

That’s one of the other things: We have to decide. This is a real decision point for our band.

PL: We don’t take ourselves too seriously — musically we take ourselves seriously, but we like to have fun, guys.

Do you guys have anything to say about the Georgetown arts scene?

DD: It’s underground here. You have all your artsy kids at other schools. You know where to go. There’s buildings for the arts; you can just go there and be like “Hey, you! Let’s go play in the band room.” Here, how the hell are you going to find Studio D? And how do you find artsy people?

DD: Actually a bunch of people approached me about the music scene here. They were prospective kids, and I told them there was a music scene.

They get into the school, and they’re like, “There’s no music kids here. How do I find them?” Go to all the open mics, sign yourself up for open mics, talk to these kids, get their numbers and jam.

That’s literally the only way.

PL: Self-advocacy is really the way to get into it. What I would say to those who read this article: If you play music, be a self-advocate. Get involved. I heard a quote the other day, I don’t know who said it, but it was something like, “Art is the way we decorate space; music is the way we decorate time.” Think about it for a little while. If you look at any great music scene like Seattle in the ’90s or Nashville or Detroit in the ’70s ... all these bands that people think about that grew up together: They all knew each other, and they all were playing at the same clubs and kind of bouncing ideas off of one another. There’s not enough of that here at Georgetown.

DD: If you’re a guitarist, just go to these open mics and really reach out to other people. Make a band. It’s not that hard.

PL: Why not? Just get out there. Do something. I would just like to see people step outside their comfort zones a little more often. I want more music here at Georgetown.

the guide

friday, october 23, 2015

letters from abroad

THE HOYA

B3

FEATURE

A Conversation With Steven Spielberg Jeff Naft

Kshithij Shrinath

Paris,Where Spray Paint Spells Change

I

noticed the graffiti before anything else. As the Eurostar entered Paris, I was expecting a city of delicate architecture and scenic views, so seeing the spray paint against austere, industrial buildings was jarring. Travelling on the metro the next couple of days emphasized the prevalence of this trend: every spare inch of the tunnels was covered in graffiti. Really, an impressive feat of dedication.

In the weeks since, Paris has strayed from my initial impression. I’ve seen quite a few more elegant buildings and less street art, but that initial impression still lingers in the back of my mind. Perhaps it’s because every European city I’ve passed through (London, Munich, Barcelona) features the same surprising situation. In cities steeped in history, formality and etiquette, graffiti feels like a conscious act of rebellion, a declaration that the city is still alive and that there is no singular narrative of Paris, of London, of Munich.

The tension between the new and the old is part of Europe’s story. The refugee crisis that has headlined every newspaper for the past three months is but the latest example of that struggle to understand what, if anything at all, comprises the European identity.

France has faced this issue for decades. It resisted immigrants from Algeria, its colonial holding that gained independence in a brutal war, which culminated in the massacre of more than 60 Algerians. The immigrants were thrown off a bridge into the Seine — an atrocity covered up for years by the French government.

The city has also self-segregated into de facto immigrant zones in the banlieue, or the suburbs, of Paris. When I got off the metro in Montreuil, one of the suburbs, I was shocked by how all the architecture and storefronts were less pristine and how there were essentially no white people on the streets. It was nearly incomprehensible: the Bastille was only three or four stops away on the Metro and it felt like another world.

While tensions haven’t flared since the riots that overtook Paris in 2005, recent events haven’t necessarily helped immigrants feel more at home.

Nicolas Sarkozy’s government passed a law that prevented any object covering the face to be worn in public; although under the guise of security and the separation of church and state, the law disproportionately affects Muslim women.

Most notable, though, is the rise of the Front National, an extreme-right, anti-immigrant political party that had lingered on the fringes for years before gaining surprising popularity in the past few years. Think Donald Trump without the selfaggrandizing buffoonery and with an extra dose of cold xenophobia; a poster near my house reads “100 percent Front National, 0 percent Migrants.”

Students at Sciences Po, the university where I’m taking classes, created an association for the Front National this year and received enough members to be recognized by the university, essentially a similar process to being recognized as a club at Georgetown. Yet, despite the minor benchmark, the new group became a national news story, a purported sign that the party was now recognized by the French intellectual elite.

And so, fitting my initial impression of graffiti as outspoken rebellion, the front doors of the university were tagged. Bright red spray paint condemning fascism and the Front National’s ideology glowed angrily against the beige doors and the asphalt on the ground, and despite the rush to paint over it, tinges of the red paint remained as a reminder. In the incredibly proper neighborhood of St. Germain-des-Près, where Sciences Po is located and which is not unlike Georgetown, the message felt like flagrant revolution.

France is certainly not alone in this struggle to welcome newcomers, as the past few months have shown that similar resistance exists in nearly every country in Europe. While one popular response is to cut off all ties with Europe and the outside world, pretending that strategy will fix the real struggle that exists inside each of these countries is silly.

Hostility to cultural difference is never the acceptable solution: European countries are losing their homogeneity quickly, and figuring out what values — rather than ancestry — truly define each nation must be an immediate priority.

What does it mean to be French? German?

European? These questions can’t be answered by any individual; there needs to be a national and transnational reckoning, an honest and open discussion about the values that will guide the future of each country.

Maybe that’s why, in a time when it’s in vogue to ridicule the European experiment (often for good reason: the less said about Greece, the better), I feel cautiously optimistic about the European Union.

At the surface level, the cities feel similar; yes, each has its own quirks, but they all feature a luxury of green space, meager skylines compensated by intricate ground-level architecture and gloriously efficient public transportation. More seriously, the problems the countries face often cross borders, so the solutions are necessarily continental as well.

And in spite of a column that talks entirely about Europe, my biggest takeaway is that it is impossible to ignore these questions of nationhood and acceptance in the United States as well. Even with America’s relative heterogeneity, the Republican presidential campaign has demonstrated that the divide between old and new, outside and inside, animates a large part of the U.S. population. Our national reckoning about what it means to be American looms more imminent each day.

Maybe, to release some of the building pressure, it’s time to start investing in some spray paint.

Kshithij Shrinath is a junior in the School of Foreign Service. letters from abroad appears every other Friday.

Special to The Hoya

Given his extensive body of work, it is no question that Steven Spielberg is often referred to as the greatest filmmaker of the modern age. Having challenged filmic cliches and pioneered special effects at the vanguard of Hollywood over the past 40 years, Spielberg films have very little in common, often ranging from blockbusters to historical dramas and most everything in between.

Spielberg’s latest film, “Bridge of Spies,” which premiered last Friday, follows James Donovan (Tom Hanks) as he acts as the lawyer for a captured Soviet spy at the height of the Cold War. Last week, the hoya participated in a conference call with 36 other reporters and Spielberg, who discussed the film and his career. Twenty-four reporters asked questions, including The Hoya.

How much of a role do you play as an educator when directing historical fiction?

Well, to begin with, my imagination has always been my best friend, especially when I was younger and making all those early movies, and then when I became a father science fiction is something I love and it’s something I completely and periodically return to. But when I became a dad for the first time, life took a very sort of serious turn and I just became concerned about something I was never concerned about, which was the future of my children because I didn’t have any children to be concerned about their future. When I started having kids it made me look ahead and then that forced me to look back ’cause I’ve always loved history. I excelled in history at school, probably not much else. I was a good history student.

I’ve always said to my kids that you can’t go forward unless you know where all of us collectively have been and so I’ve always had this interest in historical subjects, in biographies. I never really turned to that until I got serious about being a parent.

How do you define the balance between creative license and accurate portrayal when we make films like this?

At the beginning of our movie, we don’t say the true story, “Bridge of Spies.” We say inspired by true events. I make a distinction between a story like “Schindler’s List,” which is virtually true from cover to cover and even a film like “Lincoln,” which is virtually true from cover to cover to a film like “Bridge of Spies,” where every single event is true and it actually happened. In order to make it more tense and more suspenseful, I needed to take license with the order of sequences in order to truncate or to condense a five year story into something that only feels like it’s taking place over six or seven months. And it’s very obvious that the audiences that know the law that the Supreme Court doesn’t just take a case and put it on its docket and give you an audience or allow you to argue your case in the Supreme Court a couple of weeks after the lower court has ruled. That never happens and I just hope the audience understands and goes along with the fact that I do take license in scenes like that and also there were other things that happened that didn’t exactly happen the way they did but everything really happened. The Supreme Court speech he gives in the end is word-for-word in many regards what he actually said and Donovan actually had a terrible cold. He caught it the second he got to East Germany and was deadly ill throughout all the negotiations. So little details like that, that actually happened and their house was shot at. The Donovan house was shot at and these things all happened but nobody had tape recorders and we had pretty much to make up a lot of the dialogue because there wasn’t a record of what people said around the dinner table, for instance.

How is directing historical films different from directing pure fiction?

Well, it’s a lot easier telling stories that are pure fiction because I can just let my imagination run away with me and I’ll just follow my imagination to the end of the project. But when I’m making movies about history or about real people in that history it, it limits my imagination and my imagination turns

COURTESY WALT DISNEY PICTURES

In Spielberg’s “Bridge of Spies,” Tom Hanks stars as James Donovan, an American lawyer who must help free a pilot captured by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. more toward where I should put the camera to make the scenes cinematic. But the content of the scene itself I need to leave closer to the way history has told us things actually happened.

What do you think has changed about the types of stories and characters that draw you in?

Well, in the early part of my career I was always drawn in by characters. Everything I ever did was character-based. Maybe my first movie about the truck chasing the car, it’s called “Duel,” even though it’s a big scary truck and a little red car … there would be no story if there was a human being we cared about driving the little red valiant. And so all of my movies have really been about the characters. Throughout my earlier concepts or big notions for movies in the ’70s and ’80s sometimes upstage the characters that were really making those stories believable and yet a lot of credit was going just for the concept.

Dinosaurs and aliens landing in Wyoming, sharks hunting the waters off Amenity Island; I mean those were big broad movie concepts, but none of those films would have succeeded without the characters that populated them and my feeling today as I’ve gotten older and the concepts have maybe gotten smaller. They’ve only gotten smaller because the characters have gotten bigger and I’m much more interested in focusing my attention on really interesting people, like the character of Rudolf Abel and the character of James Donovan played by Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance. Those are the kinds of stories that really interest me today.

Has the nature of the craft changed so that you’ve done something that you’ve never done before?

Every once in a while I do a film– not every once in a while. Quite often I do a movie like I’ve never [done before]. I do a movie, the genre of which I’ve never done before. I never did anything like “Saving Private Ryan” before. I never did anything like “Schindler’s List” before. I never made a movie like “Jaws” before or “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” There were so many movies that for me were complete firsts. There were other movies like the sequels to the adventure movies or the sequels to the dinosaur movies that are no less challenging but the originality and concept is not as exciting as or as dangerous as the

first ones were. So I’m more challenged by a genre like “Bridge of Spies” because I’ve never done anything about spies before. I’m [more] challenged by something like that than I am by something that I’ve done versions of several times in my career.

Your films often have motifs of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.

What draws you to these characters?

What draws me to the characters are the fact that they are all of them unaccustomed to the jobs they’re doing. Even Abraham Lincoln had never run into such a divided Congress as we are all experiencing … In our current events, the mission that Captain Miller was given to go find some kid whose brothers were killed and send them home … that was something he had never experienced before. This insurance lawyer suddenly being invited to defend the most unpopular person of his time in this country, Rudolph Abel, and subjecting his family to tremendous scrutiny and criticism and even danger. All of these stories about characters experiencing something profound and dangerous for the first time really hooks me as a filmmaker and makes me want to tell those stories.

What makes a director want to work with an actor on multiple movies? Are there hurdles you have to overcome so as not to repeat yourself?

Look, I just feel lucky that Tom wants to work with me so many times. He’s clearly and arguably one of our greatest actors of this or any generation. He is a staple of the people working together. He’s trustworthy.

Audiences trust him and audiences want to hear how he tells a story. And also Tom is a bit of a chameleon as Daniel Day­Lewis is and I had the honor of working with him on “Lincoln” and that is they’re able to completely step out of their own personalities and into the personality of someone … called together by one or two writers or by a piece of history. And so Tom has so much versatility from the experiences I’ve had with Tom from Captain Miller to Viktor Navorski in “The Terminal” and then from Carl Hanratty in “Catch Me If You Can” to the bulldog, negotiator of James See SPIELBERG, B4

COURTESY WALT DISNEY PICTURES

Mark Rylance, left, stars as Rudolf Abel, a Soviet spy whom James Donovan, played by Tom Hanks, is tasked with defending in court. “Bridge of Spies,” Steven Spielberg’s latest directorial feature, premiered last Friday, collecting $15.4 million its first weekend.

B4

the guide

THE HOYA

Friday, october 23, 2015

movie review

life in art

Room

 Starring: Brie Larson, Jacob Tremblay Directed by: Lenny Abrahmson Eleanor Tolf

Special to The Hoya

Lenny Abrahamson’s new film, “Room,” based on Emma Donoghue’s novel of the same title, tells the story of 25-year-old Joy, or “Ma,” who was kidnapped at age 13 and held hostage for 12 years in a 100-square- foot room. While Joy, played by Brie Larson, spent enough time growing up in the outside world that she holds faint memories of reality, her five-year-old son Jack, a product of rape, believes that the room he was born in is the whole world. Joy has created an entire universe of games, learning and immense maternal love in their small room. Jack lives with a free mind while Joy is burdened with the grim reality that they are trapped in a shed in

their captor’s backyard.

Ambrahamson makes a concerted effort to balance the film between these starkly different perspectives, focusing on Jack’s unique point of view while recognizing the dire situation of which Joy and the audience are very aware.

Coupling low-angle shots with narration from Jack allows the audience to see the world as the boy does--- vast and frightening and mesmerizing. We are given the gift of eyes virgin to the world we often take for granted. Ambrahamson often stumbles, however, trying to transition smoothly back and forth between the adult and child perspectives. The magnitude of the subject makes both points of view so dramatic and harshly different that simple switches back and forth make the film feel unstable at times.

To the credit of both Abrahamson and

ELEMENT PICTURES

Brie Larson as Joy and Jacob Tremblay as Jack in Element Pictures’ “Room,” based on the best-selling novel by Emma Donoghue.

Gwen Lockman

ELEMENT PICTURES

Donoghue, the film does not fall into the trap of simply pulling at the heartstrings of the audience. With subjects like abduction and rape, it is easy for a story to rely on melodramatics to produce a tear-jerker that ultimately has little value or takeaway. The subtlety of the script and filming allows the movie’s true value, the actors and the underlying message, to shine through. Larson once again delivers the rich and multilayered performance that we have come to expect from her, after her diverse resume including “Trainwreck,” “The Gambler” and “Short Term 12.” If nothing else, this film will hopefully act as a wake-up call to Hollywood that Larson is one of this generation’s most talented rising actresses. Her performance is only strengthened by eightyear-old Jacob Tremblay, who plays Jack as his first starring role. He masterfully portrays the innocence and naivete of all childhood, somehow making his unique experience relatable.

“I don’t think there would have been a film if we didn’t find Jake,” Ambrahamson said. “He entices you into his narrative and forces you to envision the magical ‘outside’ that he is experiencing for the first time.”

Through the director’s resistance to push our emotional buttons and through the enticing acting, the subtexts of “Room” shine throughout the film. The story questions what it means to be a parent. The deep chemistry between Larson and Tremblay is palpable and touching, but we see how the selflessness of motherhood can lead to forgetting ones’ own needs and mental health. Jack’s unique childhood, mixed with his initial satisfaction of his circumstance, challenges modern debates about parenting.

Spielberg Up Close Director sheds light on working with Tom Hanks, career Spielberg , from B3 Donovan in “Bridge of Spies.” Those are four very different people and I’m very lucky that I know an actor that can play so many different parts and I would love all those different parts to be in my movies.

What makes Tom Hanks a uniquely talented individual to work with?

SS: Well, you know, Tom’s one, certainly I’ve been blessed with some great actors in my long career and I’ve never really had to work with an actor who I was friends with first and there was jeopardy for me in getting into the professional world with somebody who I was very close to in the personal world. And Tom and I and his family and my family were very close because I actually had — my company had produced several of Tom’s movies in the 1980s and then Tom and I met but we stopped doing business together. We just became good friends.

So when I first made my first movie with Tom, as a director, “Saving Private Ryan,” we were both a little bit nervous but we worked together almost like we were sharing a brain and it’s been that way on the next three films following “Saving Private Ryan.” And one of the happiest experiences I’ve ever had was with Tom was on this last film, “Bridge of Spies,” and it’s simply because Tom is an honest actor, which means that he doesn’t have to act.

If he understands the character, he exists in clothing and in the persona of that character without having to work very hard. It doesn’t mean he’s not a hard worker. It just means when Tom knows a character he becomes that person the same way Daniel Day-Lewis became Abraham Lincoln and I’m just blessed to work with actors like that, that can completely

COURTESY WALT DISNEY PICTURES

Hanks, left, with Spielberg on the set of the film “Bridge of Spies.” The Cold War-era film marks the pair’s fourth collaboration with Spielberg as director. drop who we think they are and become totally different people.

How do you manage to keep people’s attention without conforming to cookie cutterstyle movies that are becoming big?

SS: Sometimes I will conform to it like when I produced a movie like “Jurassic World.” We’ll conform, for instance to the first “Jurassic Park” and design a film which is tonally very much like the movie I directed in 1993 and sort of trade up on the nostalgic factor. It’s sort of strange the way my process is — I think — a little bit unique in that if a story speaks to me, even if it doesn’t speak to any of my collaborators or any of my partners who look at me and scratch their heads and say, “Gee, are

you sure you want to get into that trench for a year and a half?” My litmus test what really, the more I hear people saying, “Are you sure want to get into that genre and tell that story?” I love people challenging me that way because it’s a real test about my own convictions.

The more I can stand up, the more I can be the standing man of my own life and take a stand on a subject that may not be popular but I see it in a certain way that I would be proud to add that to the body of my work. That’s pretty much the litmus test that gets me to say “Yeah, I’ll direct that one.”

This interview has been edited for clarity and condensed for print.

BEST BETS

How I Was Swept Away

By Cabaret M

y 1965 Vito tenor saxophone has taken me more places than I ever imagined. I shipped it across the country freshman year so I could play in pep band. I’d expected tagging along with the basketball teams, but Georgetown had other plans for me.

I was in Fur Nightclub on a cold Thursday night in February 2013. My friends had told me about this great concert, Cabaret, a Georgetown tradition that included some pep band members. For three hours we screamed, we sang and we danced.

It was guitar-shredding, drum-pummeling, hornwailing, song-belting ecstasy. I wanted in.

Cabaret started in 1976 in Darnall Hall with a variety talent show, hence the name, and quickly grew into one of Georgetown’s most anticipated events of the year. Cabaret has always been a fundraiser for charity. It transformed Copley Formal Lounge into a cabaret club and Walsh Black Box Theater into Northwest’s hottest club. It evolved into a concert and moved off campus, but the flight of available and affordable clubs in Northwest D.C. pushed Cabaret away from campus and left its popularity in decline. Cabaret started as and remains an independent event. It is not a part of the Council of Advisory Boards or the department of performing arts. It is simply a handful of kids covering the best music of the last 60 years and producing a few -thousand-dollar benefit concert.

Despite all the challenges it brought, learning to manage a band and maturing as a musician was one of the most fulfilling things that has happened to me as a human being, let alone a Hoya.

Sophomore year, I traded in my spring semester weekends for 10 hours of rehearsal a week, carting my tenor from the Verizon Center to campus and, finally, the Rock and Roll Hotel. My first Cabaret on stage went so fast I can barely remember it, but by the end of the night I was addicted.

In what is now a blur, lead guitarist Dan McCusker (COL ’16) and I took Cabaret’s life into our hands as juniors when it came time to take the reins. Dan took the helm as general manager, despite a fall abroad in Scotland, and I became assistant manager. My tenor sat out in exchange for a baritone sax and hours of budgeting, meetings, scheduling, marketing and planning were added onto the 10 hours of rehearsal. I’d never been so frustrated or overwhelmed, but I wanted to succeed more than anything.

Last February, I stood on the stage at Black Cat, covered in sweat, my neck sore thanks to the bari, my body in overdrive from lack of sleep, my ears ringing. The screaming crowd made it all worth it. We did a ticket count before the show and I nearly cried when I looked up at Dan and told him we’d sold 500 tickets. We had hoped for 300.

Despite all the challenges it brought, learning to manage a band and maturing as a musician was one of the most fulfilling things that has happened to me as a human being, let alone a Hoya. Cabaret brings together diverse musical interests and honors the old while searching for something new. Last year, we worked out our own arrangement for Joanie Abbott’s (SFS ’16) cover of “Black and Gold,” and one rehearsal we just got it. It was in the middle of another five-hour day, but I could have played forever if it could feel like that. I’d never enjoyed working in a group until I spent late nights talking about production problems with Dan, style from each and every vocalist’s perspective and composition with fellow musicians.

Cabaret turns 40 this year. People are talking about it again — how it’s vital to Georgetown’s music scene and how much fun it was last year, telling their friends to audition this weekend. I don’t know where Cabaret is taking me or my sax, but you’re going to want to be there.

Gwen Lockman is a senior in the College.

Life in Art is a rotating column, appearing every other Friday.

ON CAMPUS

What’s a hoya?

tedx at georgetown: risk takers

Afterlife: a ghost story

bling mida$

Join Nomadic Theater in its latest production which is perfect for the Halloween season. “Afterlife” follows the story of a married couple preparing their beachfront home for an incoming storm. However, when the storm arrives earlier than expected, will the couple be able to escape in time or have to face a world of unsent letters, unfinished sand castles and a painful loss that could mar their lives forever?

Join the Georgetown University Children’s Theater for the only campus presentation of their newest production: “Bling Midas.” The Children’s Theater will take on the age-old classic tale of King Midas, the greedy monarch, including an interesting twist you’ve never seen before. The troupe will perform for children across the city the next weeks.

WHERE: HSFC Social Room When: Sunday, Oct. 25, 4 to 5:30 p.m.

INFO: hoyalink.georgetown.edu Price: Free

WHERE: Gaston Hall When: Saturday, Oct. 24, 10 a.m. info: www.tedxgeorgetown.com price: Free with GOCard

WHERE: Devine Studio Theater WHEN: Friday, Oct. 23 to Saturday, Oct. 31 INFO: guevents.georgetown.edu Price: $8 for students; $12 general

WHERE: McNeir Auditorium WHEN: Friday, Oct. 23, 7 p.m.

INFO: guevents.georgetown.edu PRICE: Free

Attention freshmen! Come out to the first of many “What’s a Hoya” events of the year this Sunday. This session will focus on mentorship — specifically academic, peer, professional and spiritual guidance. Attending this event will give you a serious boost in your housing points for sophomore year, so be sure to sign up if you want to get that Village A apartment!

Join your peers this Saturday morning at the TEDx Risk Takers event at Georgetown University. This event will feature influential speakers both live and over videoconference to discuss and learn what it means to be a risk taker in everyday life. The conference will take place in three sections: Inspiration for the Uninspired, Fail Forward and High Risk High Reward.

the guide

friday, OCTOBER 23, 2015

THE HOYA

album Review

MUSIC

Confident

Demi Lovato Sean Davey

Hoya Staff Writer

Products of the Disney Channel star-manufacturing machine always seem to have a tough time transitioning into full-blown adult celebrities, much less respectable artists.

Rather than shy away from this inevitable transition, the Mouse House alumnae who have paved the way, including Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and most recently Miley Cyrus, have celebrated their respective journeys from girl to woman as publically as possible, whether by donning see-through bodysuits, posing nude on magazine covers or even grinding on Robin Thicke at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Simply put, if there is one quality these women exude in brazenly declaring the end of their adolescence, it’s confidence.

There may be no better title for the newly released album of

New Releases

 Demi Lovato, the latest in a long line of Disney girls gone grownups, than “Confident.”

Arriving Oct. 16, only a week after the most recent effort of fellow Disney graduate Selena Gomez, the album offers a sophisticated take on the increasingly tired trope of pop star empowerment.

However, this is not to say that “Confident” is an acoustically or thematically perfect album. A certain sheen permeates the record that renders Lovato a strange hybrid of Sia and Kelly Clarkson, creating an unbridled vocal performance at the price of a somewhat generic sonic aesthetic. She borrows rather unapologetically from other artists, with references to bi-curiosity and merry insubordination that mimic the persona of post-”We Can’t Stop” Miley Cyrus. Yet, the fact that these aspects of the work cannot be entirely credited to Lovato doesn’t diminish the various successes of the album. It also goes to show that if there is one major career hurdle Lovato has

HOLLYWOOD RECORDS

The former Disney star shows a never-before-seen mature and sexy side of herself in her new album “Confident,” released Oct. 16.

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yet to clear, it is finding an artistic persona that is distinctly her own.

“Confident” opens with the brassy, unmistakable horns of the titular track, heralding the take-no-prisoners attitude that dominates the rest of the album. Lovato proves most adept here at tailoring a radio trend like brass horns to suit her own voice, and songs like this make a listener want to hear more of what Lovato alone (except if Christina Aguilera makes a comeback) can offer. This is also true of the album’s second track and lead single, “Cool for the Summer,” which appropriates the trademark blaring chorus of its producer, Max Martin, with an electronic dance music tinge unseen in the work of his other collaborators, Taylor Swift and Katy Perry. Unfortunately, these first two songs set a precedent for musical ingenuity, at least by Lovato’s standards, that the remainder of the album proves unable to maintain.

Lovato aims for the dance floor with trap-influenced midtempo tracks including the catchy but forgettable “Old Ways” and a disappointing collaboration with her friend Iggy Azalea on “Kingdom Come.”

The latter track is almost definitely awaiting single treatment, at which point either Katy Perry or Rita Ora (or both) should seek compensation for the blatant ripping off of their respective hits, “Dark Horse” and “Black Widow.” The album’s other collaboration, “Waiting for You” featuring rapper Sirah, shows initial lyrical promise but soon devolves into a sleepy attempt at rhythm and bluesinfused pop. Even “Wildfire,” co-written by Ryan Tedder, fails to pick up the pace, and Lovato’s irrepressible vocals are left out of sync with the monotonous, yet admittedly more creative, synth-heavy production.

Unfaltering intensity proves Lovato’s greatest feature on “Confident,” as she refuses to commit anything less

one direction “perfect”  ISLAND RECORDS

than 100 percent to each vocal performance. In some instances, like the aforementioned downtempo tracks, the production is unable to capture the same level of unrestrained ferocity.

In others, however, Lovato’s voice soars with dramatic melodic swells that make for a truly great pop song.

“Lionheart,” a standout track that is unfortunately more of an exception than the rule on “Confident,” puts Lovato in a league vocally far and above the majority of her peers. Instead of surrendering to the far less groundbreaking mainstream declarations of bi-curiosity, rebellious style transformations and scandalous apparel, perhaps Lovato would better benefit from sticking to what makes her unique among the current pop lineup — her voice.

Never having been a fully cooperative member of the Disney machine due to battles with bipolar disorder, substance abuse and bulimia, Lovato’s success has been rooted in a talent for slipping the nuances of her own personality through the cracks of juvenile production. On “Confident,” the bold, grownup electro-pop undercurrents of the record render this talent unnecessary, and Lovato is able to express her own ups and downs with fame and self-worth unimpeded by the expectations of her audience.

If anything, the fan base of Lovato and her peers has matured with them, turning to their childhood idols after likewise shedding their affiliation with all things Disney. On “Confident,” Lovato proves that she is more than capable of delivering a more mature image.

“Bubblegum pop” is what comes to mind when listening to One Direction’s new single, “Perfect.”

From the vague techno beats playing behind the Auto-Tuned chorus to the cheesy lyrics, it is exactly what you would expect from the famous boy band. The song opens with the heartwrenching yet painfully unoriginal line “I might never be your knight in shining armor,” and that theme continues throughout the song with little variation or surprise. If you’ve ever heard a One Direction song, you’ve heard this one — but we all know it’ll be your guilty pleasure when you need a little pop song pick-me-up.

ben haenow ft. kelly clarkson “secondhand heart” 

album Review

Dopamine BØRNS

Marina Tian

Special to The Hoya

Hot off the media blaze from his November 2014 EP “Candy,” Garrett Borns, better known by his stage name BØRNS, released his debut album “Dopamine” on Oct. 16.

With high-profile fans like Taylor Swift promoting his EP, critics and the public alike were clamoring for the new album. While it certainly did not disappoint, many aspects of the album felt rushed, perhaps in the effort to meet the hype.

The album begins with “10,000 Emerald Pools,” one of three singles from “Candy” that were repackaged for “Dopamine.” The bass intro coupled with BØRNS’ harmonies and high falsetto wail set the tone for the album, colored with the same retro vibes that characterize his musical style.

“10,000 Emerald Pools” is followed by the guitar arpeggios that open “Dug My Heart.” Paired with BØRNS’ dreamy croon of “I hope the cracks in the pavement lead back to you, baby,” the harderhitting drums and bass are a keen production choice that lends the song more grit.

After that is “Electric Love,” the second single from “Candy” that made it onto “Dopamine.” Taylor Swift deemed it “an instant classic” on Twitter, and it was later snatched up by Hulu for a commercial. Indeed, as Swift said, the drum-synth intro and the great guitar riff make the song catchy and instantly recognizable with



BØRNS’ signature warble.

The light pop “Electric Love” is succeeded by the darker “American Money,” which features BØRNS’ lower vocal range. The chord progressions are more melancholic as BØRNS sings, “Paradise in your eyes, green like American money / You taste just right, sweet like Tennessee honey.” The song fades out hazily with rolling drums.

The next song, “The Emotion,” is a slow ballad, with soft bass and drums. The guitar arpeggiates through chords while longing, swaying vocals are overlaid atop the instruments. Following is “Holy Ghost,” which picks up the pace with a dynamic bass riff and a cheery, disco tempo. BØRNS plays the part of “a lover in need of confession” while telling a lover, “Baby, you’re my holy ghost.”

“Past Lives” is the seventh track, the last of the repurposed singles from the EP. The song begins with a seemingly a cappella portion of wonderful harmonies before a slight lull springboards into pounding drums and bass.

The transition feels disjointed, as if the listener were hearing two separate tracks rather than one single song.

“Clouds,” a sleepy song, follows. The slow-paced track feels influenced by jazz chords and maintains a smoky pace and tone throughout, although the listener may wish it were more dynamic.

The title track of the album, “Dopamine,” is next and opens

with synth and disco rhythms.

The bass riff is undeniably groovy as BØRNS asks, “Wanna feel that stream of dopamine?” The 10th track is “Overnight Sensation,” which is unique with playful marimbas in the background. The lyrics are similarly flirtatious as BØRNS lauds a lover as an “immaculate creation, overnight sensation.”

The album closes with “Fool,” featuring jangly percussion, folksy clapping and a killer bass line. The upbeat song and soulful backing vocals match well with BØRNS’ lamenting vocal: “got me acting like a fool.”

“Dopamine” continues in much the same vein as BØRNS’ previous work. His eccentric lilting tenor voice complements his psychedelic pop style perfectly. The retro tracks hearken back to the music of the Beach Boys with a modern indiepop vibe like that of MGMT or Passion Pit. It was a pleasant surprise to see that BØRNS stayed true to his sound; much of the album was the joint effort from BØRNS and his “Candy” producer Tommy English. However, neither shied away from calling in big guns for musical producing: Emile Haynie (Lana del Rey’s “Born to Die”) and Jeff Bhasker (Kanye West’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”) both contributed.

In fact, the album is very slickly produced, with clever drum samples and complex bass and guitar riffs that never overpower BØRNS’ stunning vocals, which are the

INTERSCOPE RECORDS

star of the album. His voice possesses an immense range and a smooth, strong falsetto that never sounds out of control; he has a sound that easily becomes iconic and is instantly identifiable. The lyrics themselves, already vivid and expressive, seem all the more sincere and emotional when carried by his voice.

Unfortunately, the album is not without its faults. Indeed, “Dopamine” feels rushed and more like a second or third draft of an album rather than the final product. The pacing of the album seems awkward, with similar tracks placed in consecutive order. As a result, some of the songs seem interchangeable or, worse, are forgotten by the listener.

But, given BØRNS’ strong background in the music and the arts (he won a prestigious art scholarship at 13 and was labeled a prodigy), listeners can be certain his creative spark will keep fueling new music. True to its name, “Dopamine” is a satisfying listen, a pleasurable rush of sound.

BØRNS’sdebut album is less about his past work in “Candy,” or even his current music, but more a promise of greater things to come.

After his “X Factor” win in December 2014, Ben Haenow has released the lead single off his upcoming debut album. Despite the earworm quality that’s sure to make the song popular with radio stations, not even featured vocalist Kelly Clarkson and Haenow’s folksy twang can save cliched, platitudinous lyrics.

gwen stefani “used to love you” 

No Doubt frontwoman Gwen Stefani’s latest single details the painful aftermath of her divorce from fellow singer Gavin Rossdale. A dynamic pop ballad, the song’s lyrics are unexceptional, but Stefani imparts a sincerity and a genuine feeling of pain in one of her strongest vocal performances to date.

OFF CAMPUS 2015 metropolitan cooking & entertaining show

Enjoy savory cuisine prepared by more than 400 exhibitors, including a number of celebrity chefs as well as award-winning local and national chefs.

Where: Washington Convention Center When: October 24 to 25, 2015 Saturday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Sunday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Info: dc.about.com Price: $18 in advance, $24.50 on-site

fAIRFAX COUNTY FALL FESTIVAL

Smithsonian food history festival

taste of downtown crown

Where: Lake Accotink Park When: Saturday, Oct. 24, 4 to 9 p.m.

Info: washingtonpost.com Price: $10 for three or more at a time; $13

Where: National Museum of American History When: Saturday, Oct, 24, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Info: americanhistory.si.edu Price: Free

Where: Crown Park in Downtown Crown When: Saturday, Oct. 24, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Info: yelp.com/events Price: Two tickets for $5; seven tickets and one beer for $15

Get in the Halloween spirit with this fun event at scenic Lake Accotink Park. Come for the Howl-O-Ween Dog Costume Contest, and stay for the mini-golf, ghostly carousel rides, pumpkin-painting, face-painting and haunted wagon rides. Fun for two- and four-legged family members of all ages, this is a great chance to see the fall colors.

Join the National Museum of American History in this all-ages event that allows attendees to take a trip through the history of food in America. Part of the Smithsonian’s Food History Weekend, the program will include live cooking demonstrations, hands-on lessons, movie screenings, tours, culinary star meet-andgreets and activities in the Victory Garden.

Downtown Crown Restaurant is hosting a tasting featuring some of its signature dishes, live music, a beer garden, a photo booth and more. All proceeds from this event will go to Manna Food Center, an organization dedicated to ending hunger in Montgomery County.

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the guide

THE HOYA

Kendrick at Kennedy KENDRICK, from B1 and drums backed his delivery, rattling with the confidence of a slam poet.

The crowd seemed unsure whether or not to stand, given the seemingly conflicting natures of the music and the venue. It wasn’t until the set’s fourth song, “Backseat Freestyle,” that this ambivalence was crushed by the overwhelming desire to get up and dance. Those who knew the words (as many did) sang along, while the older members of the audience swayed with the cocky rhythm and aggressive lyrics: “All my life I want money and power / Respect my mind or die from lead shower / I pray my dick get big as the Eiffel Tower / So I can fuck the world for 72 hours.”

If concertgoers were uncomfortable with the brash lyrics, they failed to show it. The climax proved to be “Backstreet Freestyle,” effectively ridding the audience of all reservations and opening the doors to full audience participation for the remainder of the concert.

After the brief interlude of “Swimming Pools,” Kendrick’s breakout single from “Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City,” came “These Walls.” One of his more low-key tracks, it mellowed the atmosphere as Kendrick soothed the crowd with his soft-spoken cadence and powerful verse. After, NSO conductor Steven Reineke turned around at his podium and applauded the performance.

The pace picked up again with “Hood Politics,” a critique of present politics and the hypocrisy of the United States’ leaders. “Streets don’t fail me now / They tell me it’s a new gang in town / From Compton to Congress / Set trip-

COURTESY YASSINE EL MANSOUR

Kendrick Lamar performed with the National Symphony Orchestra this week.

pin’ all around,” he rapped, gesturing at the stage he stood on to highlight the concert hall’s proximity to the leaders of which he spoke.

If Kendrick sought to spread one message through his performance, it was that of self love.

On “Complexion (A Zulu Love),” he sang, “Dark as the midnight hour or bright as the morning sun” and “I came to where you reside / And looked around to see more sights for sore eyes.”

Kendrick urged the audience to cast aside their doubts and to “love yourself.” One audience member professed, “I love you, too, Kendrick,” and was met with a cool a laugh and head shake.

The energy picked up with “M.A.A.D. City,” one of Kendrick’s most upbeat and confident tracks, and was maintained throughout “To Pimp a Butterfly,” “King Kunta” and “i.” The latter two songs received the most audience participation, with the crowd drowning out Kendrick on the choruses and flailing their limbs to the spirited rhythm. Such a lively audience, combined with the enthusiasm of Kendrick and his band, stood in sharp contrast to the reserved orchestra The last song of the 15-song set was “Mortal Man,” which took the pace down a notch and showcased Kendrick’s poetic delivery. The crowd was mostly seated, while a few remained standing in awe, as the orchestra built up in intensity for the finish. The crowd gave a standing ovation, and Reineke applauded again from the podium.

The applause would not stop. The audience chanted Kendrick’s name, and he unsurprisingly returned to the stage for an encore performance of “Alright,” a song whose chorus has been coopted by protest movements around the country in a show of positive solidarity.

Kendrick left once more to a rousing standing ovation while the NSO tied up the performance with an elaborate outro.

“This is your National Symphony Orchestra,” Reineke shouted over the applause.

And it truly felt like our orchestra. Where the concert shone brightest was the way it evoked a feeling of convergence, with people from many walks of life coming together to appreciate a common art form.

On the outer wall of the Kennedy Center reads a quote from President John F. Kennedy: “I look forward to an America which will not be afraid of grace and beauty.” The founders of the Kennedy Center might not have appreciated the talent Kendrick demonstrated had he performed 50 years ago, but the concert demonstrated immense progress in recognizing the merits of modern rap music.

“To Pimp a Butterfly” will likely be the favorite in the running for Best Rap Album at the Grammy Awards next year. Regardless of his success there, Kendrick has nothing left to prove; his influence on modern rap goes almost unmatched.

Feature

Dinosaurs on the Hill JINwoo Chong Hoya Staff Writer

This Thanksgiving, Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Pictures’ latest film “The Good Dinosaur” will premier in theaters. The film, which comes on the heels of the partnership’s acclaimed “Inside Out,” which grossed a total of $831 million, imagines a world in which the asteroid that led to the extinction of the planet’s dinosaur population never hit.

“We like to ask a lot of ‘what if’ questions at Pixar,” Jonathan Pytko, a lighting technical director for the film, said. “What if dinosaurs never went extinct? What if a rat could cook? And so on.”

It is “The Good Dinosaur” that brought Pytko, whose 12-year career at Pixar Animation includes lighting the sets of the Disney animated films “Ratatouille,” “Brave” and “The Incredibles,” to the Walsh Building’s art department, where he gave a short presentation on the new film, which finished post-production only a few weeks ago. The event — part of a publicity tour by Disney of East Coast colleges — visited Georgetown this past Monday.

The film follows Arlo, a juvenile Apatosaurus who, washed away from his family by a river, meets a human child named Spot and attempts to find his way home. The film, which takes place entirely outdoors, is rendered completely by computer graphics like the Pixar animated films before it.

Lighting, in the context of a computer animated film, is therefore an especially abstract concept. Mainly, it involves using Pixar’s stateof-the-art proprietary software to change the color balance of each rendered shot, or more specifically, placing light sources, arranging shadows, drawing detail and configuring color palettes to suit a scene’s mood.

The intricate process of treating the film for lighting, Pytko said, is made up of two components: master lighting and shot lighting.

“With master lighting, we’re really trying to

VALERIA BALZA/THE HOYA

Jonathan Pytko, lighting lead for “The Good Dinosaur,” visited D.C. this week.

get about 60 to 70 percent of the look of a shot in master lighting, so that an entire chunk of shots has a similar feel,” Pytko said. “Shot lighting, then, is the individual treatment of the shots in the image. Those are what are assigned to individual shot lighters.”

Most of the work of lighting shots go to technicians on Pytko’s team, though it is a common practice for directors like Pytko to reserve a shot or two for themselves.

Nevertheless, Pytko, who graduated from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale with a degree in computer animation, does not see himself as particularly computer-savvy.

“I don’t do a lot of coding. We try to add a bit of an artistic interface into our programs to make it more than just typing numbers all day. Even then, we’re constantly balancing render times with how we want things to look,” Pytko said.

Such a delicate balance in each shot is only a piece of the extensive editing process into which each storyboarded image enters. Each scene moves from a hand-drawn image to a photoshop-rendered color study to a three-dimensional graphic rendering, which then undergoes coloring, spatial rendering and the addition of special effects.

“Lighting is one of the last things that go into a given scene, though the lighting team is on board for most of the production of the film,” Pytko said. “We started work on ‘The Good Dinosaur’ two and a half years ago.”

Despite the lengthy amounts of time devoted to animating shots, some of which can reach upwards of 100 hours, Pixar’s technology is constantly changing. In his talk, Pytko explained an especially new technique of spatially rendering clouds in a shot so that light projected from the sky is broken into shadows automatically.

“Usually what happens is that we would do effects in the past that would take a lot of work, like getting cloud shadows to fall on the set, but now that it’s in 3D space we are able to do it more naturally. It wasn’t something we were unable to do before, but it opens up possibilities for us to experiment and play with it,” Pytko said, “There are very few happy accidents because most everything in our process is intentional, but they’re always rewarding.”

Constantly balancing on animation technology’s “bleeding edge,” as Pytko said, also means constantly retiring outdated animation methods from as recent as a few years back.

“The nature of the technology that we have to work with is that it gets better and better,” Pytko said.

Constantly changing methods, therefore, make for inevitable retrospection for any film’s lighting team.

“We’re never done until we run out of time, and even then, we always want to do more,” Pytko said. “But we’re still really proud of how the movie came out and how it looks. I actually love going to opening night, sitting in the back, and watching for what people laugh at, what they cry at. It’s a rewarding experience, even if we’d all love to go back and keep tinkering and working on it to make it better. But that’s what the next movie’s for.”

Friday, october 23, 2015

APPS Amp Me Free While loud music is a must-have for any successful campus party, quality sound equipment can be expensive and hard to come by. With Amp Me, however, you can have the music blasting without spending a dime. This app allows you to sync multiple devices to create one loud, powerful sound, creating the effect of a speaker system. With Amp Me, the dancing at your next rager will never end.

Google keep Free Are you an organization freak? Is the simple “Notes” app that comes with the iPhone not detailed enough to keep up with your busy life? Then Google Keep is the new iPhone app for you. Organize your to-dos, your notes, your reminders, your photos, or even your voice memos through this new and aesthetically pleasing app.

Color code your notes, share them with your family and friends and even set location-based reminders to ensure that tasks are completed in the right place at the right time.

Chubble Free Lovers of Snapchat, rejoice! New app release Chubble provides yet another method of communicating with your friends in the 21st century. Once you share a 90-second clip with your friends, you can watch their reactions live as if they’re in the moment with you. Interact even further with comments on your videos.

HOYA HISTORY S.E.C. Loses $10,000 at Tina Turner Concert Friday, Oct. 20, 1972

After the Homecoming concert, featuring performers Ike and Tina Turner, the Student Entertainment Commission suffered a loss of nearly $10,000. The concert used more than 70 percent of the $16,000 budget of the SEC. Only around 1,800 students attended the concert even though McDonough Arena could hold nearly twice that amount. “We’re tightening up literally everything in SEC now,” said Chairman Neil Shankman (CAS ’74). A Livingston Taylor concert, which had been scheduled for Nov. 12, was cancelled immediately after.

HERCAMPUS COLLEGE FASHION WEEK | WASHINGTON, DC

Naaz Modan/THE HOYA

NEWS

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2015

THE HOYA

B7

Chinese Threaten Startup Offers New Take on Local Dining Trade Stability SPOTLUCK, from B8

HOCHBERG, from B8 violence — for now. The resources and power of the U.S. Navy are absolutely unmatched, and Chinese officials would be extremely unwise to issue a specific threat.

However, the Chinese did tell us to stay out of their waters, and even though they left us little choice but to disobey, this conflict could affect the global economy.

Even without regard to specific relations between the two countries, the South China Sea is an important economic location. The Council on Foreign Relations predicts that a clash in the region would detrimentally affect the $5 trillion worth of trade that travels through the South China Sea yearly.

Furthermore, the economic relationship between the two countries is at stake. China is our primary source of imports and our third-largest source of exports, according to the Library of Congress. In the past, many economists have accused China of undervaluing its currency in order to boost exports. This policy may have been a crucial factor in the development of the huge U.S. trade deficit within the last few decades.

If keeping the value of the Chinese renminbi low could affect the U.S. economy so strongly, actual naval conflict between the two nations could be catastrophic.

Not only would both nations be funnelling immense quantities of money into fighting one another, but also their codependent economies could fall into recession or worse if trade decreases greatly.

Fortunately, a war is unlikely to occur, at least for now, but China is putting considerable resources into bolstering its navy and militarizing the South China Sea. World trade and the Chinese-American relationship will likely not escape completely unscathed.

Consequently, the U.S. government should tread

carefully in making policy decisions from this point on. In the longterm, the country can focus on diversifying trade options and forging connections with smaller nations. However, due to the largely free and open nature of U.S. trade, the government has relatively limited control over the countries with which its firms and consumers interact.

China has most of the power in this situation.

Hopefully, it will realize that it has little to gain from picking fights with the world’s strongest navy. However, its increasing militarization of the South China Sea appears to be leading somewhere, and surrounding nations — Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam all lay claim to parts of the region — are concerned.

The oil and natural gas reserves in the South China Sea make it extremely valuable, so it makes sense that several countries are trying to claim it. However, if China tries to force other nations away, they will all have an incentive to band together with the United States against that aggression.

China probably recognizes this factor and will hopefully end militarization when it sees that it is not scaring away its neighbors and the United States.

Overall, the continued openness of Chinese trade routes is crucial. If China goes to war with a nation that has invaded its claimed territory, world trade could decrease drastically. This result benefits no one and will decrease the size of many countries’ individual economies. Exchange and inflation rates would fluctuate unreliably, and the damage would increase irreparably.

The devastating effects that could come from China’s recent militarization are limitless.

Gracie Hochberg is a sophomore in the College. BY THE NUMBERS appears every Friday.

to Thomas. The app’s restaurants are organized into various “hubs” in neighborhoods stretching from Frederick, Md., through the District and into parts of Virginia. Georgetown comprises one of these hubs and includes restaurants such as Paulo’s Ristorante, Martin’s Tavern and Clyde’s of Georgetown. Thomas said Spotluck is also attempting to add The Tombs as a partner restaurant.

As Spotluck continues to roll out new hubs and restaurant partners in D.C., Thomas said that the platform hopes to expand into other markets in the future.

“We’ve been written up in Philadelphia,” Thomas said. “We also have Chicago and New York on our short list.”

In addition to promoting local businesses, Spotluck has a strong commitment to community service, according to Thomas.

“Every couple of months in one of our hubs, all of the restaurants donate a tray of food,” Thomas said. “All of these local restaurants [give] back to create a true potluck for those who suffer from food inefficiencies, or to support a great cause.”

Past beneficiaries of Spotluck’s communi-

ty service include the Children’s Inn at the National Institute of Health and the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Dean Cibel, a manager of Tony and Joe’s Seafood Place in Georgetown, which contracted with Spotluck about two months ago, said that even a well-established local business can benefit from appearing on the app.

“We’ve been here for 28 years, so we’re pretty well-known, but it still helps for people, especially in the modern world with the tech age … to look at something as they’re on the go,” Cibel said. “It’s another chance to penetrate that market.”

Cibel also said that Spotluck’s discounts do not necessarily impact a restaurant’s profit margin.

“Well, as far as we’re concerned, it would go down as a promotional expense,” Cibel said. “We see it as an opportunity to get a new customer that becomes a loyal customer for the future because once they’ve tried us, we feel that most people would love to come back because it’s a great experience.”

David Del Bene (COL ’93) the general manager of Clyde’s of Georgetown, which contracted with Spotluck early this past sum-

mer, said that the app seems to be slowly becoming more popular among customers.

“They seem to think that it’s a pretty neat idea,” Del Bene said. “It is kind of slow to start because it’s one of those things where they introduce it and they have to sort of do the leg work of promoting it, so it’s getting better. We’re getting more business, I think.”

Emily Brown (COL ’17), who occasionally goes out to eat in Georgetown with friends or visiting family members, said that Spotluck’s discounts would be beneficial for college students in particular.

“I think that Georgetown restaurants can obviously be quite pricey, and so a discount, especially for a group of college students ,would be helpful,” Brown said.

Segelstein said that Spotluck might encourage Georgetown students who download the app to try new restaurants.

“I’m sure a lot of kids at Georgetown eat at a couple of places, really like them and then just keep going to those same places,” Segelstein said. “But it seems like Spotluck can kind of help people to branch out.”

Hoya Staff Writer Andrew Wallender contributed reporting for this story.

GU, Carnegie Mellon Trace Famous Connections BACON, from B8 Shore and Warren have overseen the development of the project since 2011 with a team of around a dozen statisticians and undergraduate students at Carnegie Mellon who data-mined information from 450,000 entries in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Since the website’s launch in beta in mid-September, Six Degrees of Francis Bacon nets 50 to 100 unique users every day who are invited to contribute to the website by adding or correcting connections in the network.

Already, 200 people have created accounts through the website and contributed to its crowd-sourcing of information.

Shore said the existing information from the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography provides the basis of the project which scholars and students can refine through collaborative usage of the website.

“We knew that scholars weren’t going to contribute to a blank page,” Shore said.

“It’s too daunting to start from scratch in building up a network of an entire country for 200 years, so what we realized is that there is existing data on the way people are related that we could data-mine and create a preliminary network that scholars could then curate and add to. It’s sort of like the way people are more likely to dance when others are already dancing.”

Shore said the network-based structure of the project is indicative of an evolution over the past 50 years in the way historians, humanists and literary scholars approach

the study of knowledge.

Carnegie Mellon postdoctoral fellow Jessica Otis, who worked on Six Degrees of Francis Bacon since 2012, said one of the goals of the project is to expand its usability.

“The study of social networks is partially a reflection ... of how every aspect of culture is based on the way that we are connected.”

DANIEL SHORE Co-Founder, Six Degrees Project

“One of the main things we would love to do is make our project compatible with the linked-open data world — so basically computer standards that you can put in place that let anyone come in and grab all your data, and immediately incorporate it into other websites,” Otis said. “What we’re trying to do is remove barriers for using our information in their own website by allowing sites to talk to each other. This allows you to move across multiple websites and create a more focused data set.”

Carnegie Mellon master’s student Aly-

LOVE LOCKS submit your ess ays

Love comes in m any forms — plato nic, familial, rom love story cente rs on a partner, antic. Whether a your fa mily member, a a place, a song, pet, a one-night or some abstract stand, notion, we want to hear your sto ries.

Inspired by the New York Time s’ “Modern Love Hoya’s “Love L ” essay series, T ocks” project w he ill publish subm pieces from stud itted creative no ents, professors nfiction and alumni.

The selected pie ces will address love in a deeply in the form of a pers true story — and explore predicam onal, honest way — have dealt with in ents that their w their own lives. riters Stories will be ac cepted in both w ritten prose and images and mult visual forms, incl imedia, and sele uding ct pieces will be special issue of published in a N the paper. Addit ov. 6 ional pieces will Hoya’s website. be published on The Send submissio ns (a 30 at midnight. nd questions) to lovelocks@th ehoya.com by O Written submis sions should be ct. words, video su between 600 to bmissions canno 1,000 t exceed five min be submitted in utes and images .jpeg form. We should will n barring extenuat ing circumstance ot accept anonymous submissi ons, s.

son Goldsmith, who is specializing in literary and cultural studies, initially heard about the project while working as a research assistant for its co-founder Chris Warren. Though she commends Six Degrees for the variety of ways it encourages users to contribute and visualize data, she said there is still room for improvement in some of the site’s features.

“One difficulty is user-friendliness,” Goldsmith said. “Researching using the Six Degrees platform is very intuitive, but it took me a few hours to feel confident as a contributor of new people and relationships. Researchers working on the project are studying even more data than is currently being represented on the site, and hopefully there will be a way to integrate this research soon for public use.”

Despite the site’s limitations, Shore said the earlier version of the tool was warmly received when he introduced it to his students during a digital humanities master’s class last spring.

“I think it’s a great teaching tool both as a way of introducing students to complex questions of the way people worked back then, but also it’s a great teaching tool in that undergraduates can contribute to it just on the basis of finding a particular figure in early modern history and investing in and learning about them,” Shore said. “They’re in a position very quickly where they can make a contribution to knowledge that becomes shared and contributes to the wider understanding of the topic.”

Business & Tech FRIDAY, october 23, 2015

Study Maps 88M Historical Relationships business bits

Lisa Burgoa

Special to The Hoya

mcdonough Surges Ahead in Business Week Rankings The Georgetown MBA Evening Program jumped 34 spots to fourth place in the Bloomberg Business Week Best Business Schools 2015 ranking. The full-time MBA program fell two spots in the rankings to the 26th position, still qualifying both programs as the best in the Washington, D.C.. area. This year, Bloomberg Business Week changed its criteria for evaluating programs. It has added an alumni satisfaction survey and removed school-reported academic quality information.

Secretary of Energy Discusses Climate Change U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz spoke at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business on Wednesday as part of the two-day Secretary’s Climate and Clean Energy Investment Forum.

Moniz used his talk to explore solutions to reverse climate change through clean energy investments, specifically calling for support from all sectors, including technology, policy, regulation and finance.

Gift Expands Initiatives for Undergraduates The Georgetown McDonough School of Business Center for Financial Markets and Policy and Undergraduate Programs will add to its lineup of global initiatives thanks to a gift from Jonathan Lynch (MSB ’88). The MSB did not disclose the amount of the donation. Lynch currently serves as the managing director of CCMP Capital Advisors and previously served on Georgetown’s Board of Advisors for 11 years. The gift comes amid a larger push by the

MSB to increase global initiatives and will give undergraduate business students more chances to study abroad.

According to legend, Isaac Newton emerged as a colossus in modern physics in 1666 after a legendary bonk to the head by a falling apple triggered his Universal Law of Gravitation. John Milton penned his epic poem “Paradise Lost” less than a year later. Though they occupied radically different intellectual spheres, is it possible the renowned physicist and poet were … friends?

Well, sort of. The newly released Six Degrees of Francis Bacon website — built in a partnership with Georgetown University and Carnegie Mellon University — posits that the two were linked by a mutual acquaintance, theologian Henry Oldenberg. This relationship is among the 88 million relationships presented through the project, which provides an ever-expanding, interactive social network of 13,000 of early modern England’s leading historical figures.

“The study of social networks is partially a reflection of our increasing awareness of how every aspect of culture is based on the way that we are connected to other people,” project co-founder and Georgetown English professor Daniel Shore said.

“What we’re trying to do is remove barriers for using our information in their own website.”

Jessica Otis Researcher, Six Degrees Project

The title of the website plays on the name of the popular parlor game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,” which challenges movie buffs to find the shortest path of connections between actor Kevin Bacon

sixdegreesoffrancisbacon.com

Researchers Daniel Shore of Georgetown University and Chris Warren of Carnegie Mellon University mapped more than 88 million relationships of England’s leading historical figures on an interactive website. and any individual involved in Hollywood. The broader six degrees of separation theory — that any two people on earth are connected by fewer than six friends or acquaintances — was originally proposed in 1929 by Frigyes Karinthy.

Spearheaded by Shore and Carnegie Mellon University English professor Chris Warren, Six Degrees of Francis Bacon aims to reconstruct the connections between key English figures from the 16th to the 18th centuries. The site includes William Shakespeare, King James I,

Anne Boleyn and Oliver Cromwell, so that scholars and students can trace the formation of key intellectual English developments.

“Who we are and what we believe and the things that we do are largely functions of the way we are connected to others,” Shore said. “We no longer think of, for example, [of] Shakespeare as a lone genius who produced plays on his own, but we now understand that he was connected to others in all kinds of complicated ways that allowed him to write the plays that he did.”

The project illustrates the connections between people through up to two degrees of separation based on relationships with family, friends, lovers, employers and enemies, among other relationships. The color of a person’s icon on the website signals how many people he knew.

On the left side of the screen, information about the individual’s birth and death dates, contributions to society and organizational affiliations are listed.

See BACON, B7

BY THE NUMBERS

Gracie Hochberg

Intimidation Game Threatens US Trade A dark possibility lurks in the shadows of the United States and China’s mutually beneficial trade relationship. As China’s militarization of the South China Sea continues to create tension with the United States and its allies, including Japan and the Philippines, a potential showdown looms. The conflict is still in its early stages, but if the precarious relationship between the United States and China falters even slightly, the economies of both countries could change irreparably.

Several weeks ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned American of-

ficials to stay away from the islands China has been building and arming in an area of the South China Sea. U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter publicly refused, asserting that China does not have sovereignty over the water. Now, the United States has plans to send several Navy warships to the zone in question, solely for the purpose of exercising its legal right to do so and flexing its military muscle.

The Economist predicts that America’s direct refusal to respect China’s orders will not lead to mass See HOCHBERG, B7

Courtesy Cherian Thomas

Spotluck co-founders Cherian Thomas (GRD ’14) and Brad Sayler hope to promote business at local restaurants by offering discounts to customers based on a special algorithm that changes based on demand.

Spotluck Offers Discounted Eats Owen Eagan Hoya Staff Writer

ILLUSTRATION: Isabel Binamira/THE HOYA

China’s island building in the contested South China Sea includes a military base on the Fiery Cross Reef, claimed by three other countries.

When Jack Segelstein (COL ’18) goes out to eat with friends in Georgetown, his group sometimes encounters a dilemma.

“A lot of the time we just can’t agree on what we want to eat,” Segelstein said.

To help solve this problem, Cherian Thomas (GRD ’14) and Brad Sayler created Spotluck, a dining app that allows users to spin a virtual wheel of local Washington, D.C., restaurants and then receive a discount at partner restaurants.

Thomas initially thought up Spotluck while working on a project at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business and then developed the idea into a full-fledged dining platform.

“It just was an idea when I was at McDonough, and it didn’t really become a product or transform into what it is today until we got the right people involved,” Thomas said.

Thomas and Sayler started running their startup from Thomas’ basement, filing for a patent in late 2013 and launching the company in June 2014. Spotluck now em-

ploys 12 people in three offices and celebrated its first birthday June 10. Spotluck is currently the most popular free dining app on Apple’s App Store, beating such established players as GrubHub and OpenTable.

“Georgetown restaurants can obviously be quite pricey, and so a discount ... would be helpful.”

Emily Brown (COL ’17)

Within the app, when a user spins the virtual wheel, the restaurant that the wheel selects offers the largest discount — sometimes up to 35 percent off the price of a meal — while all the other featured restaurants on the wheel offer discounts of at least 10 percent. The app’s discounts do not apply to some special offers at restaurants, and a group’s

savings are capped at $50 per table.

Users can spin the virtual wheel once a day.

In turn, the user supports one of the 250 and counting local businesse that are featured on the app and earns in-app points for spinning the wheel, dining or posting a review of over 100 characters about their experience on the app. The points can be used to earn additional spins over the one that the app allows each day.

According to Thomas, the app uses an algorithm to calculate the exact discount that a user receives.

“There’s actually software that we created that constantly changes prices based on day, time, weather and consumer behavior,” Thomas said.

Using the algorithm, the app awards greater discounts to users at times when restaurants are typically not extremely crowded, for instance, offering a greater discount on a rainy Tuesday afternoon than on a warm Saturday night.

Spotluck users currently generate 50,000 spins per month, according See SPOTLUCK, B7