Issue 112, Volume 76 by The Cougar

life+arts

Cougars slug their way into next round

UH alum debuts short film

sports

t h e o f f i c i a l s t u d e n t n e w s pa p e r o f t h e u n i v e r s i t y o f h o u s to n s i n c e 1 9 3 4

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Hilton restaurant manager receives company-wide honor University Hilton Restaurant Manager Juirl Benjamin was honored Feb. 18 with the Spirit of Hilton award for providing exceptional customer service. To be eligible for the award, members must be nominated by customers or fellow employees. The award was presented after a letter from a Hilton Honors member described how Benjamin fixed a member’s suit jacket by replacing a missing button with one of his own. “That’s how I try and treat all of our customers,” Benjamin said. “We try and take care of our customers the best that we can, and we try and put ourselves in their situation. I tell my team, ‘treat people how you would want to be treated’.” Benjamin received a plaque, a certificate and $350 reward for his service, and even took a call from the president of Hilton North America who called to personally thank him.

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John Brannen

THE DAILY COUGAR The SGA judicial branch voted 3-2 to convict presidential candidate Michael Harding and vice presidential candidate Craig Premjee of establishing an illegal polling location, but unanimously ruled 5-0 late Thursday night that the 24-hour campaigning suspension was time served; both candidates remain eligible for election. Earlier in the day, the SGA election committee ruled that Harding was disqualified for committing a class three violation — the most serious violation — by soliciting votes through Premjee’s iPhone at The Den on Wednesday.

Appointment made in spite of low senator turnout, which angered some David Gonzalez

THE DAILY COUGAR

Singh will discuss how technology has advanced marine research in a variety of subjects such as archeology, geology and biology. The discussion is part of the Rockwell Lecture series, and is free and open to the public. For more information about the lecture, visit www.egr.uh.edu/news/0311/files/rockwell.jpg. — Julian Jimenez/The Daily Cougar

75/60 /

76/60 6//6

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TUE TU UE

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EVENTS Lady Antebellum The unique grammy-winning group is headlining tonight’s show at RodeoHouston in Reliant Stadium. The show begins at 6:45 p.m., and ticket prices are ranging from $18 to $300. Parking starts at $10. Bob Schneider The talented musician will be playing at the House of Blues tonight at 10:30 p.m. Doors open at 9:30 p.m., and tickets are ranging from $22 to $50.

Engineering kicks off spring break

riangle fraternity members Andres Baez, Jonathan Silva and Majid Latif, above, served UH revelers during the 31st Annual Chili Cook Off on Thursday, hosted by UH’s Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The event took place outside the engineering buildings. | Nine Nguyen/The Daily Cougar

FOR MORE EVENTS, CHECK OUT thedailycougar.com/calendar

news@thedailycougar.com

Meeting aims to organize trip to Austin

The lecture will feature famed oceanographer Hanumant Singh, an expert on underwater robotics and imaging, who is a researcher with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

SUN

testify and were cross-examined, as were Harding and Premjee. Chief Election Commissioner Katie Kornahrens was also called to the stand and explained how the elections committee came to the original decision for disqualification. She stated that both candidates were aware of the election code before the campaign started, and this knowledge made the offense deliberate. Polls closed at midnight Thursday; the official runoff election results will be announced today. The elections code may be found at http://sga.uh.edu/index.php/election-center. html.

STUDENT GOVERNMENT

The UH College of Engineering will be hosting a lecture detailing Ocean Imaging and Exploration at 3 p.m. today in room 232 of Philip Guthrie Hoffman Hall.

SAT

March 11, 2011 Read. Recycle. Repeat daily.

Harding appealed the ruling, and it was taken to the judicial branch for deliberations. This was the inaugural case for the justices. Daily Cougar opinion editor Andrew Taylor filed a formal written complaint with the elections committee Thursday morning after witnessing Premjee use his iPhone to steer students to vote for his party. Joeanthony Leyva, economics senior, was the witness who used Premjee’s phone to cast his vote — a direct violation of Article 7, section 4, clause 1 of the elections code. The Daily Cougar’s editor-in-chief, Jack Wehman, previously conducted interviews with Leyva, Harding and Premjee, which were later used as evidence during the hearing. Both Taylor and Wehman were called to

Famed oceanographer to speak as part of Rockwell Lecture series

Final Friday before the break will be nice!

Candidates skate by court

— Jesus Acevedo/The Daily Cougar

74 LO 55

Friday

Benjamin has been the manager at the Hilton for the past 15 years and said this has been his greatest achievement while being manager.

today

Issue 112, Volume 76

» Gallery: More photos at thedailycougar.com/photo

UH’s Student Government Association created a new position Wednesday night that will help organize their trip to the state capital over the spring break holiday in their efforts to soften inevitable budget cuts. Markley Rogers was appointed to be associate director of government relations shortly after the position was created because of his past experience and his successful efforts in creating sources within the Legislature. “We have all been working hard trying to organize this trip to make it as effective as possible,” Rogers said. “We’ve talked to the representatives at the state level setting up meetings for the next week. Today, I was able to get eight appointments.” J SGA President The trip to Austin will be led by Prince Wilson SGA President Prince Wilson, who has had past experiences dealing with the politicians in the State Capitol. Last month, he spent a day educating lawmakers in similar efforts to stop budget cuts. Next week, with a 16-to-20-person team, he will have a different strategy. The group will be divided into pairs that will have thirty-minute sessions with 14 representatives each day. “For the senators not attending, we will give you 10 offices to call,” Wilson said while addressing the SGA senate. “Each of you has a responsibility to bat for the students as elected officials.” But Wilson’s war cry at the SGA meeting fell on deaf ears. MEETING continues on page 3

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Friday, March 11, 2011

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WIN PRIZES. TALK SMACK. Sign up to play the March Madness Bracket Challenge! Log on and fill out your bracket on March 14 and compete against your fellow students! Form groups and talk smack! The contestant with the most accurate bracket prediction will win an autographed Rockets basketball!

The best stuff from our website, comments and blogs. See what you’re missing: thedailycougar.com

TOP READS

Re: Republican bill enslaves illegals

1. Space shuttle launch marks the end of an era 2. US should play fair or not at all 3. Somali pirates make a blood-red sea 4. UH beats Rice in all-around value 5. NFL lockout will hurt economically

“The reasoning behind the bill is sound. If they didn’t make such exceptions to the rule then you would probably have more people put behind bars than illegals deported. Hiring a housekeeper does not really justify a 2-year prison sentence. The issue being attacked is that such employers knowingly hire illegal immigrants and ergo that takes jobs away from legal citizens who are able to work those jobs.”

FEATURED COMMENTS Re: Candidate’s iPhone used as polling location

“Hope this IS grounds for disqualification. The rules are clearly stated and clearly broken. But if SGA doesn’t enforce their own rules, then the system is broken and they need to come up with a way to fix it. The people in question admit to doing it (and to doing it more than once). Hopefully the right thing is done here.” — user “Law Abiding Citizen”

TODAY Don’t forget to follow Cougar sports at thedailycougar.com/sports

Re: Wasteful programs should be TOSSed

“We (as a school) could be helping surrounding communities with by giving them ‘other schools’ shirts’. That is one of the reasons I don’t trade in my shirts — it’s going to get ruined and I would much rather have someone else wear it. Whether it means something to them or not, at least they would have a ‘’new’’ shirt, right?”

— user “Zed” Re: Republican bill enslaves illegals

“We should push congress to have all business owners and hiring managers in the U.S jailed & fined if they knowingly hire an illegal alien. Our U.S government corporations and business owners have figured out how to enslave, rob us and kill us without even using a gun.” — user “Jail Hiring Mgrs” Re: Debate focuses on cuts, guns

“Save the day and stop the “bad guys” without considering the practical implications of allowing a paranoid cow college to take daddy’s pistol to class.”

— user “D.D.E.”

— user “Cakewalk”

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NEWS

The Daily Cougar

MEETING

CONFERENCE

Graduate students to present on multicultural literature Mormon, Muslim, Latino and Asian works some of subjects to be discussed Darlene Campos

THE DAILY COUGAR A first-of-its-kind graduate conference will bring students together from various universities to focus on a variety of literature. On March 19, UH English graduate students will be hosting a literary conference entitled “The American Tapestry — Multicultural Influences in Late American Literature.” Guest speakers will include Bridget K. Gorman, sociology professor from Rice, and Robert Donahoo, English professor from Sam Houston State. Graduate students from various universities such as UH, Rice, New Mexico State and Stephen F. Austin will be presenting their essays on multicultural inspirations in American literature. “My paper is about young adult literature,” said UH grad student Bruce J. Martin, who will

Friday, March 11, 2011

be presenting “Hearing Their Own Voice: Multicultural Young Adult Literature in the College Core.” “Young adult literature is an important genre for young college students because they can interact more with literature written by people their own age versus literature written by some dead guy from last century,” Martin said. “I’ve been teaching composition for a while, and I’ve been lucky to have minority students in my classes. I feel that these young minority students need to have a literature they can relate with.” According to Martin, this is the first English graduate student conference to be held at UH. Topics to be discussed will include issues on Muslim, African-American, religious and women’s literatures. The history, Martin said, is that the UH Graduate English Society wanted to showcase graduate work. “Publication is very competitive, so we decided to hold our own conference,” Martin said. The society had a call for submissions last November and received over 20 essays. “We’re going to publish the

papers as well. We’re going to create a digital journal for all the papers. We’ll do this again next year and we anticipate even more submissions,” Martin said. A Vietnamese student from Houston Community College inspired Marting to write his essay. “( The student) struggled with composition because he struggled with the English language,” Martin said. After transferring to UH, the student took Gothic Literature and it just didn’t work for him, Martin said. “I feel that if he had a choice to take young adult literature, he would have succeeded more because he would have been able to connect with that kind of work instead of Gothic.” The conference will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Roy G. Cullen building. The conference is free to those who register, and a free lunch will also be provided. For more information on the conference and to register for admission, visit http://sites.google. com/site/uhconf/home.

continued from page 1

Fifteen senators showed up for the meeting. Some senators left during recess of the session. Only 12 senators were present for the final roll call. The absences forced SGA to hold off in voting on important bills regarding a new sign-in policy for the Welcome Center. “This is goddamn ridiculous that

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no one showed up,” chief justice Taylor Kilroy said while addressing the senate. “It is sad that I have to thank the few of you who came for coming.” Despite the poor attendance, SGA was able to accomplish some key business in making their trip to Austin effective. The meetings in Austin will take place on Monday and Tuesday. news@thedailycougar.com

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THE DAILY COUGAR

Missed a print edition? Browse recent publications in our virtual newsstand. THE DAILY COUGAR.COM /print-edition

Midweek celebration

embers of UH’s Zeta Zeta chapter of the Phi Beta Sigmal Fraternity host “Hump Day” once a month outside of the University Center. Each month, 10 to 12 fraternities and sororities take part in the festivities, which include live music. The different Greek organizations are encouraged to take the “Greek Stroll,” as Zeta Zeta members are doing above, to the beat of the music. | Marie Munoz/The Daily Cougar

www.thedailycougar.com Stay in touch.

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Friday, March 11, 2011

The Daily Cougar

opinion THE DAILY COUGAR

EDITOR Andrew Taylor E-MAIL opinion@thedailycougar.com ONLINE www.thedailycougar.com/opinion

JOINING THE UNION Courtesy of USBICEF

EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR IN CHIEF MANAGING EDITORS NEWS EDITORS SPORTS EDITORS LIFE

& ARTS EDITOR

OPINION EDITOR

Jack Wehman Newton Liu, Christopher Losee Jose Aguilar, Cristi Guerra John Brannen, Joshua Siegel Mary Baak Andrew Taylor

STAFF EDITORIAL

Judicial branch tries, fails to serve fair ruling

landmark moment in SGA history happened late Thursday night. The judicial branch, in its inaugural hearing, found presidential candidate Michael Harding and vice presidential candidate Craig Premjee guilty of setting up an illegal polling location with a 3-2 vote. However, the second verdict — reached by a unanimous vote — found the 24-hour campaigning ban given by the election commission a sufficient punishment. The ruling treats only symptoms, not the problem. The problem here is not that an illegal polling location was used — the problem is the candidates displayed a lack of character that is simply not acceptable from people who are supposed to be representing the entire student body. The candidates were clear frontrunners in the runoff election, yet they violated election codes anyway. One of the main reasons why the election commission ruled so harshly was that Premjee had stated he had a clear knowledge of election codes before the campaigning began, according to testimony given by Chief Election Commissioner Katy Kornahrens. Premjee’s statement to The Daily Cougar on Wednesday night stated that as well. “Whenever someone asks me if they can use my phone to vote, I’m not going to say, ‘No, you can’t use my phone.’ I’m just going to give them my phone and walk away. I think that’s perfectly fine,” Premjee said in Wednesday’s interview. “It may be explicitly stated like that in the election code, but when it comes down to it, an iPhone is just an electronic device that’s able to do these things.” Harding said that while his interview was truthful, he was intoxicated when his statement was given. When asked under oath if he had lied in the interview given to The Daily Cougar, he replied it was all true. It’s unclear why the judges overturned the commission’s decision; that will come when the official written statement is made available. What is clear, though, is our SGA candidates need to act in a manner that befits a public figure. There is no excuse for running a dirty campaign — especially not at the college level.

E D I TO R I A L P O L I C I E S STAFF EDITORIAL The Staff Editorial reflects the opinions of The Daily Cougar Editorial Board (the members of which are listed above the editorial). All other opinions, commentaries and cartoons reflect only the opinion of the author. Opinions expressed in The Daily Cougar do not necessarily reflect those of the University of Houston or the students as a whole. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The Daily Cougar welcomes letters to the editor from any member of the UH community. Letters should be no more than 250 words and signed, including the author’s full name, phone number or e-mail address and affiliation with the University, including classification and major. Anonymous letters will not be published. Deliver letters to Room 7, University Center Satellite; e-mail them to letters@thedailycougar.com; send them via campus mail to STP 4015; or fax them to (713) 743-5384. Letters are subject to editing. ADVERTISEMENTS Advertisements published in The Daily Cougar do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the University or the students as a whole. GUEST COMMENTARY Submissions are accepted from any member of the UH community and must be signed with the author’s name, phone number or e-mail address and affiliation with the University, including classification and major. Commentary should be kept to less than 500 words. Guest commentaries should not be written as replies to material already printed in the Cougar, but rather should present independent points of view. Rebuttals should be sent as letters. Deliver submissions to Room 7, University Center Satellite; e-mail them to letters@thedailycougar.com; or fax them to (713) 743-5384. All submissions are subject to editing.

Bust tax breaks, not public unions

he struggle for collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin has spilled into other states. The governor of Wisconsin and other supporters of this anti-union worker movement portray government workers as far too Brendan cushioned for having Laws the benefits they are given. While state workers actually make less than those in the private sector and make some of the difference with good benefits. The hypocrisy of the governor runs deeper. Reports keep surfacing about how many tax breaks the government of Wisconsin has granted to major international corporations, and in general, corporations are getting more and more profitable while paying a smaller percent of their earnings in taxes. A report came out Monday about how Wisconsin legislators received hundreds of thousands in agricultural subsidies. The United States has spent over a trillion dollars in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq over the last ten and a half years. The country also spends billions every year in foreign military aid, most of

which goes to countries with bad human rights records, like apartheid in Israel and Mubarak’s Egypt. The federal government granted hundreds of billions in bailouts to private banks and other companies, some of which have recorded record profits since. The Wisconsin budget could use some tweaking, but why is the governor only suggesting that it be taken out of the pockets of state workers? Why is this trend taking off across the country? Why are public workers being demonized as the problem of the economy when there are so many other problems? The decision to take away collective bargaining rights is a move to extinguish democracy in the workplace for Wisconsin workers and taking the problems of a government out on its most vulnerable and least influential members. The federal government keeps pouring money into militarism instead of helping states pay their workers, and states are looking after private businesses more then resident and state workers. When did teachers become less valuable than bombs?

The decisions to build bombs and to give bailouts, to give tax breaks and to provide government subsidies to major corporations were generally made very undemocratically. These decisions were made by a small group of people, looking out for the interests of a small group of very wealthy and privileged associates. The decision to pay for pension, provide healthcare, and to provide good wages for state workers were decided by collective bargaining by the body of state workers. These decisions were made to improve conditions of the whole population of state workers and are far more democratic in their nature and their results. This is a pivotal moment for workers and citizens, and the issue is about fair living conditions and democracy, or autocracy and corporate rule. It is time to stand in solidarity with Wisconsin, and work to maintain and build off of the democracy we still have in this country. If we don’t, things will get much worse before they get better. Brendan Laws is a sociology junior and may be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com.

COMMENTS FROM THE WEBSITE Leave your own at thedailycougar.com Updated: Candidate’s iphone used as polling location They can call it what they want - As candidates, they should know the rules, and the rules ban this. He ought to be disqualified. — UH Coogs It will be easy to find people that will give a different account of Premjee’s solicitation of votes than his own, which claims people “asked” to use his phone. Honestly, who would ask to use someone’s phone to cast a vote instead of putting it off until later? Think about it. It doesn’t make sense. It is obvious that Premjee offered his phone to be used as a polling station.

Once the lie is exposed, then it’s gameover. You cheat, you lose. No one wants a dishonorable leader, we have enough of those already in this world. What does the future hold for our generation, if this is how we are grooming our generation’s leaders to be? No more cheats, no more liars. —Yavuz

Republicans look to arm students Since we already know that criminal justice professionals recommend that students not carry fire-arms on campus I would think the argument should be about to run out of gas.

But more importantly UH’s efforts to join the short list of Tier #1 research universities in the U.S. could be crippled. Allowing guns on campus is not a strong reason for Tier # 1 inclusion and possibly not a particularly negative reason either. But it could be a reason for other universities to become indifferent to UH and the very last thing we need here in Houston is for the rest of the nation to become indifferent to our University (of Houston). That would be a crippling scenario that we just couldn’t overcome. Keep checking with the UH Chief of Police for guidance on this issue, in my opinion. —Gpackwood

Friday, March 11, 2011

The Daily Cougar

sports

BASEBALL

UH in for first road series of season Cougars discovering that correct preparation leads to success on field

FILE PHOTO/THE DAILY COUGAR

FOOTBALL

Athletics unveils new ticket campaign

Fans will be able to renew their spots from last season and add additional seats until May 13. The Athletics Department will be rewarding renewals with a program called “15 Prizes in 15 Days”. Each Friday during the season, there will be a drawing for prizes including signed footballs and airplane tickets among other prizes. — Cougar Sports Services

Gilbert Requena

THE DAILY COUGAR

On its homecourt, UTEP was able to challenge UH late in the second half, but with Jasmine Johnson’s two made free throws, the Cougars were able to survive with a four-point win at Memorial Gym in El Paso. | Aaron Cisneros/The Daily Cougar

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Lady Coogs live to fight another day UH advances; Mason, Taylor push UH past feisty UTEP

VOLLEYBALL

UH starts second season The Cougars will get to show off the skills they have been sharpening when they begin their spring schedule today against Lee College and Rice at the Athletics/Alumni Center. The matches are free and open to the public. Competition will kick off against Lee College at 3 p.m. and UH will face the Owls at 5:45 p.m. The Cougars will also participate in the Texas Pride Collegiate Invite on March 27 at the Slater Sports Zone in Richmond. In addition to UH, the tournament will feature Baylor, Houston Baptist, Lamar Louisiana, LSU, Mississippi St., Oklahoma, Rice, TCU, UTSA, Texas A&M, Tulane, Tulsa and Wichita State. The Cougars will wrap up their spring season with matches against Lamar at 2 p.m. on April 9 and at SMU on April 16. The Cougars are coming off a big bounce-back season, finishing 19-13 overall, with a 13-7 record in Conference USA after going 9-23, and 6-10 in C-USA in 2009. — Cougar Sports Services

SWIMMING & DIVING

Duo set for NCAA competition The standout diving pair Lacey Truelove and Julia Lonnegren will begin the first round of the NCAA Zone Diving Championships in Austin today. The meet will last through Sunday, with divers aiming to qualify for the NCAA Championships from March 17-19.

Cougar Sports Services

Faced with their toughest challenge yet, the Cougars came out on top 68-64 against the Miners on Thursday, moving one step closer to conquering Conference USA for the second time. The Miners made the Cougars sweat it out until the very end. The Miners had the edge at halftime, 30-26, in what turned into a grind-it-out affair that saw both teams shoot poorly from the field in the first half. The scoring picked up in the second half, but neither team laid a strong claim to it as the game continued to go back and forth in the second half until two Jasmine Johnson free throws with four seconds remaining gave the Cougars a decisive four-point lead. The Cougars frontcourt carried them. Both Courtney Taylor and Lesslee Mason finished with double-doubles. Taylor scored 22 points and grabbed 10 boards. She also blocked two shots and had one steal. Mason scored an efficient 19 points 3-of-5 FG, 13-of-14 from the free throw line. She also pulled down 14 rebounds. Porsche Landry was on the floor for the near entirety of the game by playing for 39 minutes. Landry scored 13 points and handed

The Cougars are set to open play at the Seminole Intercollegiate today at the Southwood Country Club in Tallahassee, Fla. UH is among 17 teams competing at the tournament. Play will begin at 6:30 a.m. from Friday to Sunday. The tournament can be followed at www.golfstat.com. — Cougar Sports Services

sports@thedailycougar.com

AT A GLANCE SCOREBOARD

UTEP .................30 34 Houston .......... 26 42

64 68

KEY STAT

2,841

Announced attendance at Memorial Gym

WHAT’S NEXT?

The Cougars face No. 4-seed Tulane at 12:30 p.m. today

sports@thedailycougar.com

Cougars begin conference schedule with UAB Edgar Veliz

UH bound for Sunshine State

out six assists. Erika Warren scored 18 points in 21 minutes off the bench for the Miners. Deitra Caldwell also had 18 points. The Cougar’s success at the free-throw line might have been what gave them the edge. UH connected on 26 of its 33 attempts from the line for 79 percent while the Miners managed to shoot 62 percent on 26 attempts. The Cougars survived a scare against UTEP back in January when they pulled out a 70-62 nail-biter at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso. The Cougars will take on Tulane at 12:30 p.m. today in their final fight before the C-USA Tournament championship game.

The Cougars will look to build off of Wednesday’s offensive outburst and create a streak going into a weekend series against Texas State. Success for the Cougars (7-6) is directly linked to how they perform during practice. “We may not have as much talent as other teams in the country, but we can outwork everybody,” head coach Todd Whitting said. “That means practice, we just have to keep working.” The offense hopes to continue producing as it did against in the last game, recording 17 hits and scoring 13 runs. “We have to come with good approaches at the plate,” catcher John Cannon said. “We just have to fight.” Texas State (9-3) has won seven of its last eight contests. Two of the Bobcat’s three losses have come against ranked competition in No. 18 Rice and No. 17 Baylor. Before dropping their previous game against Baylor, the Bobcats had reeled off seven straight wins. The Cougars will face a proven pitcher today as Carson Smith takes the mound for Texas State. Smith is 1-1 with a 2.63 ERA. “Smith is as good as anybody in the country,” Whitting said. “We’ll have to be ready to play because they’ll be outstanding. They are very talented and very well-coached. The UH starting pitcher for Friday has not been announced. The series begins today at 6:30 p.m. at Bobcat Ballpark in San Marcos. Game two is at 2 p.m. Saturday, and the series finale is at 1 p.m. Sunday.

SOFTBALL

— Cougar Sports Services

GOLF

EDITORS John Brannen, Joshua Siegel E-MAIL sports@thedailycougar.com ONLINE www.thedailycougar.com/sports

overtime

Last season the Cougars had the largest increase in season-ticket holders from the previous season thanks in part to their promotional campaign “Seat Em Up Coogs”. UH hopes to retain those fans and grow its fanbase even more this offseason.

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THE DAILY COUGAR The No. 25-ranked Cougars will open the Conference USA schedule against UAB in a three-game series this weekend at Cougar Softball Stadium. The Cougars will need to have a short memory after falling 4-1 to Texas on Thursday. Head coach Kyla Holas said that the team has been emphasizing the progression of defense and pitching throughout

the week in practice. “Pitching and defense are something we’ve worked really hard on,” Holas said. “You’re starting to see it show up in strikeouts and less errors per game.” Senior Katy Beth Sherman, who is currently leading the team with a .333 batting average, said she is looking at this series as an opportunity to bring the team together and learn from each other. The non-conference schedule gave UH some much-needed experience that it hopes to use during C-USA play.

“We’ve gone through our ups and downs,” Sherman said. “We learned so much from each other, which will make us a stronger team.” Last season UAB swept the Cougars in a three-game series at UAB. Currently the Cougars (16-6) are 8-1 at home. UH will play a double-header on Saturday with the first game starting at 1 p.m. and the second at 3 p.m. The series concludes at noon on Sunday. sports@thedailycougar.com

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LIFE&ARTS

Friday, March 11, 2011

The Daily Cougar

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Spring break is finally here

tâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s that time of the year again â&#x20AC;&#x201D; where an entire week is spent in the sun with good friends. Maybe youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re taking a roadtrip to a distant island or youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re flying out to do something exciting. Hey, maybe youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re even staying at home to catch up on TV shows and homework that youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been neglecting for the last few weeks (we canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t blame you there). Here are ten tunes to make your spring break terrific. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Mary Baak

The world premiere of UH alum Lucas Mirelesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; short film, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Love Analysis,â&#x20AC;? is tonight at the SXSW film festival. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I always thought if I could do anything, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d love to get into SXSW,â&#x20AC;? Mireles said. | Courtesy of Lucas Mireles

Island The Starting Line

Weekend Warriors A Change of Pace

Shots LMFAO

Hawaii The Strokes

Dani California Red Hot Chili Peppers

Walcott Vampire Weekend

Bad Reputation Joan Jett

Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Go Surfing The Drums

Feelinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; This Blink 182

Take it Off Ke$ha

FILM

Alum premieres film at SXSW film fest Daniel Renfrow

THE DAILY COUGAR UH alum Lucas Mireles will have the world premiere of his short film, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Love Analysis,â&#x20AC;? this weekend at South by Southwest. Mireles describes the one minute long short film as a punch line and joked that the trailer was longer than the actual film. The entire film was shot 3 times in one afternoon using 3 different films. It was originally shot as a research project for one of his classes, but Mireles said that he always took it seriously. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Going into the film, I thought,

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going to do everything I can to make it as good as I can,â&#x20AC;? Mireles said. And now that the short film is premiering at the festival, he believes that his hard work has paid off. Mireles is no stranger to film festivals. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hijo de mi madre,â&#x20AC;? his first feature length drama, had its world premier this year at the Slamdance film festival. He was also a co-host at Sundance for the 20th anniversary of SLACKER. However, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Love Analysisâ&#x20AC;? is the first film Mireles has been able to get into SXSW. Mireles said that this makes him a â&#x20AC;&#x153;SXSW virgin.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Getting into SXSW was amazing.â&#x20AC;? Mireles said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Growing up

in Texas, I always thought that if I could do anything, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d love to get into SXSW.â&#x20AC;? Mireles received his BA in media production from UH in 2006 and his MA in communication studies from the University in 2010. He is now a student in UCLAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s MFA directing program. Mireles said that he fell in love with the cinema as a child when his father would check him out of class so they could watch movies together. But it was not until Mireles took a digital cinematography class at UH that he discovered that he had more than a trifling interest in film. MIRELES continues on page 8

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COMICS & MORE

The Daily Cougar

Friday, March 11, 2011

comics

crossword

LIMBO by Paolo Aninag

ACROSS 1 Pie a la — 5 Yellowish-green pears 10 Ledger aces 14 Holly tree 15 Column type 16 Bison feature 17 Dragon’s breath 18 What push comes to 19 Ontario neighbor 20 Ant acid 22 Spent a season 24 Wave cutter 26 Polygraph flunker 27 Ape or parrot 30 Latch sounds 34 “Maggie May” singer 35 Expensive 38 Deep pink 39 Garden-pond fish 40 Flirtation 42 Galleon cargo 43 Blow away 46 City near Inchon 48 Quipster 49 Objects 51 Hooky players 53 Door sound 55 Nature’s bandaid 56 Fervid (hyph.) 60 Space telescope 64 Wicket 65 Nintendo forerunner 67 Joie de vivre 68 Film terrier 69 Spy mission 70 Sherpa’s sighting 71 Intend 72 There for the ride 73 Litigated

The Fishbowl by Thomas Hernandez

sudoku How to play

Each row must contain the numbers 1 to 9; each column must contain the numbers 1 to 9; and each set of 3-by-3 boxes must also contain the numbers 1 to 9.

Previous puzzle solved

DOWN 1 Vex 2 Hodgepodge 3 Earl — Biggers 4 Not obliged 5 Upscale cookies 6 — and aah 7 Natural crystals 8 Courteous

24 27

51 54

27 28 29 31 32 33 36 37 41 44 45 47 50

55 59

52 54 56 57 58 59 61 62 63 66

Like some routes London toast Feline response Yves’ girl Went fast Pension accts. Face-powder base Dandelions, to some Peeved Lone Ranger portrayer Figure of speech Diadem The “k” in 24-k Plugs away Hurricane center Draws a graph Swaying Broom closet item Perry’s penner Occasion for leis Vast desert

9 10 11 12 13 21 23

42 47

53 56

26 30

Monk habitats Exit ramp sight Kapow! Water supplier Theta follower Kind of salad Roquefort hue After midnight City west of Tulsa Howard or Perlman

2010 UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE INC.

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B A T H E

I S V OR E D E S R E K E L R E A K E A D E N S F U S I A B ON N E C I E R E N I A N A N Y N

C R I S P Y M O A T O N O

H EW M A T A A L E S O T H E R S AW I OWE H U A R A O K Y K N A I MA L T O L L A R U S E U S GU T S E R S E L

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LIFE&ARTS

Friday, March 11, 2011

The Daily Cougar

Now, Now is comprised of Bradley Hale, Cacie Dalger and Jess Abbott. Together, they form the indie pop-punk phenomenon that’s sweeping the underground music scene. | Big Hassle Media

MUSIC

Check this band out Now, not later Julian Jimenez

THE DAILY COUGAR The band Now, Now has been making waves in the underground music scene with their darker, mellower, indie pop/rock infused sound. The brainchild of Bradley Hale and Cacie Dalager, the duo started producing music eight years ago after meeting in band class back in high school. With the addition of guitarist Jess Abbott into the mix a year and a half ago, their music has been shaped in interesting ways as they experiment and evolve as artists. “The band has definitely matured. In that year off we had between labels, we reanalyzed our writing process and our sound,” Abbott said. “We were kind of rushed before — we were pushed into a studio and told that we had 8 days to come up with something. Now, we have a better grasp of how we make music.

Everything has just become more developed.” That creative freedom shines through in their work, as numerous critics have praised their composition and technique. Interview magazine noted how their music conjures “epic pop throwdowns full of shoegazery guitars” and “anthemic melodies.” Yahoo! Music applauded the band’s “delicate vocals and hypnotic guitar riffs.” But don’t pigeonhole the group into a single genre — Abbott said that it’s difficult to define them as anything specific. “Genre is definitely tough for us to answer,” Abbott said. “Stylistically, the three of us have such different writing styles. It’s a ton of trial and error, and we rerecord over and over until we get it right.” That persistence and drive behind their songwriting speaks to how passionate the band is about music. With so much heart

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behind every song, it’s easy for many to see why fans love the group. The energy and enthusiasm with which they craft their music translates directly to the stage. “There’s nothing that makes me happier than making music and performing for people. It’s all about the experience and meeting all kinds of really nice people. Being a part of music now is a real privilege,” Abbott said. The band is on tour now, and they’re making a stop in Houston for a show at 7 p.m. on Thursday at The Mink Backroom, located at 3718 Main Street. Tickets for the show are $10, with a discount to $8 for patrons who are 21 or older. For more information about the band or to listen to samples of their music, visit their website at http://www.myspace.com/ nownowmusic. arts@thedailycougar.com

MIRELES continued from page 6

He credits this class with igniting a passion in him for the movie making progress and giving him some valuable hands on training. In addition to the other films Mireles has written and directed, he also has a film currently in postproduction called “Range Junkies,” a piece he describes as “a love story on a gun range.” Mireles said that in the future he wants to continue to be involved in multiple aspects of the filmmaking process as both a writer and director. “I want to tell stories.” Mireles said. “That is my ultimate goal.” arts@thedailycougar.com

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