Issue 15 of The Falcon

Volume 1.

Issue 15.

The Falcon

A Keen Eye For News

IN THIS

ISSUE

thefalconat.tumblr.com

Monday, December 10th, 2012

The 2012 in Review Issue

Campus

News

Agenda 21 The UM Theatre goes missing Department ‘s new student organization from the web page 6 page 2

The Fal c on Gui d e to the end of the worl d ?

CAMPUS

CROSS Final Exams December 10 Final Exams December 11 Final Exams December 12 Final Exams December 13

Final Exams December 14

Community School of Music Honors Recital December 14, 7pm – 8pm LeBaron Recital Hall

Commencement - TBA December 14, 5pm – 5pm

Submit announcements facebook.com/ thefalconmontevallo

by Andrew Meechum Associate Editor

Our first black president was reelected to a second term.

A man free fell from the edge of space and broke the sound barrier in the process. A bloody civil war in Syria raged on with little or no help from the West.

The Arab Spring turned into an Indian summer as revolutions in the Middle East soured in the face of extremism and turmoil. Our first ambassador since 1979 lost his life along with three others in Benghazi. Sandy came ashore in New Jersey and New York, unleashing its deadly fury on the East Coast.

This past year’s news cycle was dominated by the seemingly endless campaigning for

the presidency with minor interruptions from other news stories such as the ones listed above.

Looking forward to 2013 the future looks bleak at best. But let us not forget the inspirational tale of Malala Yousufzai who took a Taliban bullet to the head for the gall to in-

sist that women have a right to education.

Residents of Washington and Colorado voted this year to legalize recreational marijuana use and nine states now allow gay marriage.

So perhaps the future isn’t quite so dour.

These are but a few of the stories this

year that made headlines.

As we brace for Christmas and the New Year we also face a fiscal cliff and sequestration as Washington continues to bicker along party lines.

Regardless of what the future brings, we here at The Falcon will continue to make

it our mission to inform you of the world around us. And may we wish you a very special thank you for joining us on this inaugural semester of The Falcon. We look forward to sharing more news and entertainment with you in the coming years.

New organization at Ivy League school gets kinky

by Matt Lord Staff Writer

Harvard has approved a kinky sex club as an official school organization. The group, called Munch (Meeting and Lunch), meets weekly for discussions on Bondage, domination-submission, sadism and masochism, or BDSM for short. The group has existed for more than a year unofficially starting with a small group of students and has grown to 30 active members.

The clubs constitution states that it

“exists to promote a positive and accurate understanding of alternative sexualities and kink on campus, as well as to create a space where college-age adults may reach out to their peers and feel accepted in their sexuality.”

Harvard has joined the ranks of a number of other schools with BDSM clubs such as Columbia, Tufts, MIT, and Yale. Iowa State has had a kinky sex club since 2003 going by the name Cuffs.

The group’s members can now enjoy the benefits of being an official sanctioned group on campus. This allows them to meet on campus for meals, apply for DAPA (Drug and Alcohol Peer Advisors) food grant, a

grant which provides beverages and snacks.

The club also can promote itself on campus to recruit new members.

The club started out as informal gatherings of a few Harvard students with an interest in kinky sex.

The gatherings were used as a safe place to discuss their sexual fetishes without the fear of judgment. The head of the club only known as “Michael” has stated that being approved has given the group legitimacy so people will take

them more seriously.

Regarding the schools misgivings about the group Michael stated, “One of the big concerns that they had were issues of consent, and I’m proud to say we did a good job of representing ourselves

as a group that takes consent very seriously.”

He hopes to use the group as a way to discuss sexual abuse. The group has also started a safety team which helps students that have suffered various forms of continued page 3

The Falcon

Monday, December 10th, 2012

news

Page Two

“To look at the paper is to raise a seashell to one’s ear and to be overwhelmed by the roar of humanity.” ― Alain de Botton

Agenda 21 The Falcon guide to all goes missing things music in 2012 from the web

by Reed Strength Staff Writer

by Andrew Meechum Associate Editor

2012. Certainly, the events that have

For reasons un- tion about Agenda 21 happened in popular beknownst to The Fal- limited to the word of music culture can’t con, the UN has taken other writers and pundits compete with a monall links to Agenda 21 it wouldn’t be prudent ster hurricane and off the Internet.

We to share what may be bi- Presidential election. want to inform you the ased information about In fact, they won’t. But reader about Agenda this far reaching plan. as these events unfold, 21 as accurately as The hope is artists were there with possible, and with this that over the Christ- music to soundtrack these events. move by the UN we mas break enough re- to Music is a totally subwon’t be able to give search on Agenda 21 you the final article con- can be accumulated to jective thing. But as we cerning the funding of properly educate you can see from the extravAgenda 21 in this issue. the reader. Look to us agant trends in 2012, With informa- next semester for more. musicians are as funny and flawed as the rest of us. From break ups and reunions, to honesty and anarchy, here is the Falcon’s look at the year in music, 2012.

While their pockets, and carry- the Grammy awards

by Matt Lord ing large wooden stakes. are always disputed, Staff Writer The mayor, looking at the nomina Vampires have Miodrag Vujetic, stated tions for “Song of the become a staple of that, “People are wor- Year”, one can notice American pop culture ried, everybody knows a tune missing that with books like Twi- the legend of this vam- was a serious radio light, and shows like pire and the thought that and ITunes contender.

Vampire Diaries and he is now homeless and One artist in particular True Blood. The vam- looking for somewhere rode an invisible horse pire in popular culture else and possibly other into American mainis usually portrayed in victims is terrifying stream culture, his arms a positive, and roman- people. We are all fright- crossed in front of him. tic light, but in a small ened.” He also said that

P S Y, village in Serbia there is five villagers have re- a Korean music artnothing romantic about cently turned up dead, ist, released his posithem. The threat of a one of which commitvampire on the loose ted suicide by hanging.

Mico Matic, age has put the village of Zalezja in fits of terror. 56, who lives near the

The vampire be- mill spoke to the press lieved to be on the loose saying, “One should alis in the legendary Sava ways remain calm, it's Savanovic of local folk- important not to frighten lore. The tale of Sava him; you shouldn't make Savanovic is one of the fun of him”. Showing oldest vampire legends, the reporter the garlic in and is said to be Serbia’s his pockets he also said, first vampire. The Sava "He is just one of the legend states that he neighbors, you do your lived in a wooden shack best to be on friendused as a mill by the river. ly terms with him.”

The mill has Using the mill as a home he would suck the blood been used to attract tourof villagers that came to ist since it was bought mill grain. The mill has by the Jagodic family. recently collapsed caus- The family was the first ing fear in the village to advertise the mill as a that he has returned. tourist spot, but repairs The locals believe were never made to the that the recently made building. The family homeless vampire is claimed that they feared by Reed Strength roaming the area look- that if repairs were at- Staff Writer Das Racist, a ing for a new home, and tempted it would dis- possibly fresh victims. turb the old vampire. hip hop group out of Milka Prokic New York, is no more.

After the build- ing collapsed the local a local of the village At a scheduled Das counsel sent a public spoke to the press about Racist appearance durhealth warning. The her thoughts on the leg- ing the On3 Festival in announcement advised end. "The story of Sava Germany on Saturday citizens to safeguard Savanovic is a legend, night, Heems, an MC themselves against the but strange things did for the group, played an vampire. The coun- occur in these parts back unannounced solo set. cil advised people in in the old days," Milka The rapper stated that the village to put gar- Prokic age 55 stated. he would “play some lic around their doors, Prokic further stated Das Racist songs”, but and windows of their her opinion on the leg- said the group had split, homes. Along with the end saying, "We have and that they “weren’t band anymore”. garlic, people were re- inherited this legend a

T h e minded to put crosses in from our ancestors, and news was unexpected. each room of the house. we keep it alive for the Villagers also have tak- younger generations." As Pitchfork points out, in an interview with en to keeping garlic in

Dark shadows of Serbia

tive vibed “Gangnam Style” onto the viral world in August. The track quickly escalated as tributes and parodies erupted internationally.

On a visit to the United Nations in October, Psy led UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to copy the signature horse riding arm motions.

K i Moon called the song “a force for world peace”. While a straddling dance may not end economic woes and food shortages the collective globe faces, the song has earned over 918 million views on YouTube, breaking the world record over Justin Beiber’s “Baby”.

One of the biggest events of the year was Frank Ocean’s coming out. Days before his critically acclaimed, and now Grammy nominated album “channel ORANGE” was released, Ocean posted an open letter on his tumblr account. Ocean admitted to his first love being a man, something he alludes to within the lyrics of the album as well.

The announcement caused a

huge stir, most notably from critics praising Ocean’s honesty and openness. In the Pitchfork review of “channel ORANGE”, Ryan Dombal states that “hip hop and R&B can be woefully conservative when it comes to sexuality” and that “Ocean is helping it to change” stating that the letter will be one of “channel ORANGE’s finest legacies.”

Where one legacy began, another blooming legacy was cut short. Christopher Owens, the frontman and songwriter of the band Girls, announced a sudden departure from his band in July. Girls released the critically acclaimed “Father, Son, Holy Ghost” last year.

Owens posted two tweets in September, and announced a solo album titled “Lysandre” for 2013. “I am leaving girls. My reasons for this decision are personal”, the tweets read.

In a December interview with Pitchfork, Owens revealed more about the decision. Owens said that “the band was something I wanted

very badly”. Around the recording of “Father, Son, Holy Ghost”, Owens realized that “the band wouldn’t last forever” when his touring musicians kept leaving, and the other half of Girls, JR White, wanted to produce records for bands. “I wanted The Beatles, The Rolling Stones…but people just kept leaving”, Owens lamented.

Three artists released three albums each this year.

Seminal ‘90’s lo-fi band Guided By Voices reconvened with their “classic” lineup, and released a trio of albums.

While they weren’t the “Alien Lanes” or “Bee Thousand” quality fans hoped for, they were successful in recounting the scatterbrained glory that made the band’s original material so endearing.

Modern punk spearhead Ty Segall released three albums of hot and fresh San Francisco garage rock this year as well, with a little help from his friends. The psychedelic tinged “Hair” continued page 3

The most racist thing is breaking up

Rolling Stone, Heems had stated that the group was working on new material, and that a new album “should be done by the end of the year”.

A f ter Heems announced the breakup, Das Racist’s Kool A.D tweeted that he had “quit two months ago”, and that their manager had asked to hold off on the announcement.

D a p well, the hypeman for the group, talked to SPIN Magazine after the Munich announce-

ment. The rapper said he was “bummed” about the break up, lamenting that the group offered a way to “make money really easily”.

According to Dapwell, the group had planned to break up in May. “We had just signed this record deal and we were going to put out one proper album and then go on a farewell tour, release a proper breaking up statement that could have been really funny, maybe a weird, stupid video”, says the hypeman.

Dapwell revealed that the group stayed together because of “money”, adding “we’re not good at doing things we don’t want to do anymore”.

He concludes that the breakup was “a huge opportunity wasted”.

Das Racist released two mixtapes, and one proper album. Heems and Kool A.D. released two free solo mixtapes each this year. According to “SPIN”, Heems will go on a tour of China, and run Das Racist’s label, Greedhead.

Page Three

Monday, December 10th, 2012

The Falcon MUSIC continued

was made with White Fence leader Tim Presley while May’s rocket fueled “Slaughterhouse” was made with his touring band. Segall released “Twins” in October, his only true solo album of the bunch.

Segall certainly isn’t trying to redefine punk, his energy and enthusiasm helps to criticize the argument that “punk is dead”. His impressive body of work this year gave him his first TV appearances, including an in-studio performance for a bewildered Chicago news team.

Green Day, the ‘90’s pop punk outfit, ditched the opera house for bars and house parties. The band announced a trio of albums to be released from September to January. Before “Uno”, the first in the trilogy, could be released, singer Billie Joe Armstrong had a drunken freak-out at the iHeart Radio Music Festival in Las Vegas.

After lambasting the concert promoters and smashing his guitar on stage, the singer was admitted to rehab. Green Day’s cancelled their 2012 world tour so that Armstrong could recover, and pushed up the release of the last album in the trilogy to December.

While releasing three albums in a year is impressive, an arguably bigger stir was caused when ‘90’s post rock titans Godspeed You! Black Emperor announced a new album, their first in a decade.

While the post rock band had been touring since 2009, they had not confirmed or told anyone about any possible new studio material.

“Allelujah! Don’t Bend!

Ascend!” was released during the band’s 2012 tour, giving concert goers the exclusive opportunity to buy the album before it hit stores. Word spread after shows, with an official release date plotted fifteen days after the news broke.

As their label Constellation Re-

cords notes in the press release for the album, “’Allelujah!..’ is absolutely as vital, virulent, honest and heavy as anything in their discography”. The album currently holds an 84/100 score on review aggregate site Metacritic.

While GY!BE’s album was announced in an unorthodox way, hip hop collective Death Grips had a far more sinister idea for an album release that lead to their demise with a major label opportunity.

The California group was signed to major label Epic Records, a move that seemed strange given the group’s polarizing music. They released the”Money Store” to critical acclaim in April, and announced that another album would be released that year.

During the end of September, the band tweeted that after talks with their label, the company felt the record would be better if released “sometime next year”. Death Grips responded by telling their fans to check their site at midnight. In the wee hours of October 1st, Death Grips released their new album, “NO LOVE/DEEP WEB”, from their site for free.

W h e n the band’s website was shutdown, they blamed their label. Epic stated they had nothing to do with the shutdown. On Halloween, the band provoked their label further by releasing private emails between the head of Epic and the band’s manager on Death Grips’ Facebook. The emails detailed that the label asked the group’s manager to “immediately pull the album from all websites on which it is being distributed”, and was demanding the master tapes of “NO LOVE” from the band.

E p i c then announced the wish to sever ties with the band. In a later interview with Pitchfork, Death Grips stated that the moves they made

were “intentional”, so that Epic would want to drop the band.

“We don't regret the action of starting out with them, but it became apparent that it wasn't working out and we needed to put ourselves back where we had total control over what we were doing”, drummer Zach Hill told Pitchfork.

In keeping with offense, Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips pissed off fellow artist Erykah Badu when his band released a music video of their collaborative song “The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face” featuring Badu’s sister naked. The video was reportedly not supposed to be released, due to it being “unapproved and unedited”.

B a d u then wrote a lengthy string of Tweets to Coyne, saying that she was “disgusted with your what appears to be desperation and poor execution”. She finished by saying that Coyne could “KiSS MY Glittery ASS”. Coyne responded by tweeting a picture of himself puckering glitter covered lips, with "Hey @ fatbellybella I kissed it!!!!

Thanks!!!!!!”.

Another video was made featuring a naked Amanda Palmer singing Badu’s parts.

The legalization of marijuana in three states after the 2012 election is predicted to have a slew of Supreme Court cases in the next year to make a final call on America’s hash habits. Musciains may rejoice if weed is their herb of creative choice.

However, the laws came too late for some.

While singer songwriter Fiona Apple made a triumphant comeback with her lengthy titled fourth album, her year was thrown into a troubled spotlight with a Texas drug arrest. The singer was stopped at the Sierra Blanco border, the same border that busted other high profile music stars such as Snoop Dog and

Willie Nelson, where police found 0.1 ounces of both marijuana and hash in her tour bus.

A p ple was booked, and then release from jail on$20,000 bond. After her release, Apple went on a tirade at a show in Houston. Apple complained that certain members at the jail treated her with “inappropriate and probably illegal” behavior, and promised to make them “f*cking famous” if they ever “asked”.

Texas officer Rusty Flemming countered in a statement telling Apple that she should “just shut up and sing”.

Apple then lamented that the case seemed to overshadow the success of her triumphant year.

While current alternarock gods Radiohead released the “King Of Limbs” last year to lukewarm appeal, they did the majority of their touring this year. Tragedy struck at a Toronto show in June when in the midst of setting up their stage for an outside performance, a collapse ensued, killing drum technician Scott Walker.

Phil Selway, the drummer for Radiohead, issued a statement after the collapse, saying that Walker was a “lovely man” and “a highly skilled and valued member of our great road crew”. An investigation was launched by the Canadian Ministry of Labor to reveal the malfunction in the stage structure.

In keeping with the current season, two mad brained box sets for Christmas have been announced.

Sufjan Stevens “Silver & Gold: Songs for Christmas Vols. 6-10” is a five disc box set of Christmas themed joy.

The discs contain fiftyeight songs, all Christmas in theme that range from classic, to mad brained Stevens' originals. In addition to music, the box set also contains an apocalyptic poster with stickers and tattoos, a chords

one who joins this club always thought they were alone.”

Though not everyone is happy about the clubs official status.

Devi Nair, the vice president of the Harvard Republicans Club is one of them. Nair states “Allowing for such a group tacitly ignores the fact that...modern society still promotes certain boundaries.” Going on to say that he believes that “allowing for a kinky sex group will

only foster similar, if not more extreme clubs within our community.”

James McGlone, the President of Anscombe Society a pro-abstinence group at Harvard, had this to say about the group “I don’t think they are healthy or beneficial for any students and to legitimize this student group is irresponsible for the administration.”

Others have shown support for the group, such as Dr. Justin

Lehmiller, a psychology Lecturer at Harvard, and sex columnist. He spoke to ABC news about the club saying, “The impact on campus will be that students who feel outside of the sexual mainstream will now have a safe space to talk about their interests, to feel socially validated, and to build a community.”

Harvard has stated that it does not endorse the activities of any independent group.

and lyrics book, and a do it yourself ornament.

Stevens is currently on tour for the collection. A series of seven infomercial style videos attempt to madly explain the album and tour. Stevens is currently touring with Sheila Saputo, the alter ego of comic Rose Thomas.

Recently, 1970’s weirdo band The Residents have thrown their Christmas top hat into the ring.

The band’s “Ultimate Box Set” contains all of the Resident’s albums on CD and vinyl as well as DVDs of music videos and live performances. The Residents’ famous top hat wearing eye ball mask is included in the box set. The “box” that holds the set is a twenty eight cubic foot, double door refrigerator. The entire set goes on sale Christmas Day for $100,000, and is limited to ten sets.

In addition to the “Ultimate Box Set”, a one-of-akind “Mystery Box” is available for$1 million, the contents of which Resident leader Randy won’t reveal.

H o w ever, despite the Christmas box sets and naked videos, one event in music this year stands out in particular. If there was any artist that Obama or Romney should’ve name checked, Russian punk band Pussy Riot would be at the top of the list.

Three band members were arrested and put on public trial for their performance of a “Punk Prayer” at Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral. The band’s incarceration sparked worldwide protest when major media websites began to cover the case.

T h e “prayer” was performed in February to protest Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reelection, and to call on the Virgin Mary to “become a feminist”. Three members were later arrested in connection to the incident and put on

trial in a barred cage.

They were charged with “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred”, as decreed by the Church.

Word spread, and coverage of the trial grew. Everyone from Madonna, to Bjork, to Green Day spoke out on the band’s trial. The mayor of Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, donned the Pussy Riot uniform of a bright colored balaclava and tights in the town’s Gay Pride parade with a sign that read “Free Pussy Riot”.

The three women on trial were Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Yekaterina Samutsevich. Samutsevich had her two year prison sentence suspended on reports that she never played her instrument in the church. Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova were sent to prison camps in Siberia and Mordovia respectively.

P e r haps the most enduring thing about Pussy Riot is that the women involved were not professional musicians.

They were, above all else, normal people protesting what they felt their government was denying their people.

In her closing statements, Samutsevich expressed that though the band would ultimately be found guilty, she viewed the trail as a victory. ”The whole world now sees that the criminal case against us has been fabricated. The system cannot conceal the repressive nature of this trial”, Samutsevich expressed.

As Bikini Kill member and “Riot Grrl” creator Kathleen Hanna notes in her blog: “Who knows this could be the start of a whole new thing, a whole new motivating source for a globally connected unapologetic punk feminist art and music scene.

A catalyst, no matter what it gets called.

Anything is possible, if anything, this band has reminded us of that.”

BDSM continued

abuse to reach the right resources on campus.

Mea, another member of the group, spoke to the Harvard Crimson using her middle name only “I didn’t think that anyone was even remotely interested [in kink] on campus.” She continued by saying “It’s a community where you can feel safe, and you can feel comfortable talking about [kink].”

Michael stated that “Pretty much every-

got an idea?

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The Falcon

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Page Four

Monday, December 10th, 2012

2012 in music, staff picks

by Matt Sanderlin Arts & Culture Editor

by Reed Strength Staff Writer

by Kyle Jones Editor-in-Chief

This year has been a very fruitful year for music. A few highlyanticipated releases revealed themselves to either critical acclaim or general discontent, and other lesser-known projects surprised and wowed us out of the blue.

There are many other releases that could have easily made this list, but for the sake of being concise, here are ten of my favorites from this year.

10. Alex Chilton - Free Again: The 1970 Sessions 9. Martha Wainwright - Come Home to Mama 8. Kelly Hogan - I Like to Keep Myself in Pain 7. Beach House - Bloom 6. Wild Nothing - Nocturne 5. Nada Surf - The Stars are Indifferent to Astronomy 4. Beachwood Sparks - The Tarnished Gold 3. Metric - Synthetica 2. Rufus Wainwright - Out of the Game 1. Tame Impala - Lonerism

While I keep up and read about several albums and new releases each year, I rarely ever listen to them. This seems silly and stupid I know. However, most of my music listening is on stuff from years past.

Each year, I gain a bigger piece of this puzzle we call modern music in going back and meditating on various artists that have influenced other artists. While my knowledge of all things indie rock continues to expand, I’m proud to say that I have gained an appetite for rap/hip

hop and electronic music, something I could never commit to saying a year ago. One of my favorites of 2012 is an R&B album!! Hooray for progression!!! With that said, while I love the albums I have listed, I realize that it may not be the most experience educated. I’ve also included my “Favorite Albums I Have Discovered in 2012 List”. It includes several great albums that EVERYONE should listen to. Here’s to my “Year End” Lists becoming more educated in the future:

BEST OF 2012 1. The Walkmen-“Heaven” 2. Divine Fits-“A Thing Called Divine Fits” 3. Frank Ocean-“channel ORANGE” 4. Jack White-“Blunderbuss” 5. Screaming Females-“Ugly”

When I began this project back in May I had quite the task laid out before me. Outside of designing everything from scratch and coming up with story ideas, I had to find a staff. When it came to arts and culture, particularly music, no other name besides Matt Sanderlin came into my mind, and thus far he’s never disappointed me with how accurately

and elegantly he describes music in words.

I was also lucky enough to have the freshmen phenom Reed Strength dropped in my lap. Their top selections of the year were good but your all knowing Editor-In-Chief has to input his two cents. Here is the “If you didn’t know, you better ask somebody” albums of the year in no particular order.

-Wolf & Cub-Science and Scorcery -Diamond Rugs-Self Titled -FIDLAR-No Waves EP -Die Antwoord-Ten$ion -Frank Ocean-channel ORANGE -The xx-coexist -Purity Ring-Shrines -Alabama Shakes-Boys & Girls -Sweet Valley-Stay Calm -Schoolboy Q-Habits & Contradictions

DISCOVERED AND LOVED IN 2012: 1. Radiohead-“Kid A” 2. R.E.M.-“Fables of the Reconstruction” 3. Unknown Mortal Orchestra-“Unknown Mortal Orchestra” 4. Animal Collective-“Strawberry Jam” 5. Sleater-Kinney-“Dig Me Out”

The top 5 best and worst movies of 2012

by Mandy Steadman Staff Writer

Well, the Christmas season is upon us and it is almost a brand new year. This year has got to be one of the most topsy-turvy years for films. There have been horrible movies, movies that moved you and movies that are just there for entertainment. This is also a year for art in filmography for there are movies that were released this past year that are masterpieces.

This list of my top ten movies of 2012 do not include movies that are being released after Dec. 9. It pains my heart to say that Les Miserables, The Hobbit, and Cirque

Worst Movies of 2012: du Soleil World of Dreams are not included, unfortunately.

If there are wonderful movies that I am missing in this list I do apologize. I do my very best to go and see every movie that I can, but I am very sorry to say I failed at seeing every single one.

I have included a list of, what I feel, is five of the worst movies and five of the best movies of 2012. I hope you enjoyed this film season as much as I have. I cannot wait to see what the new year in cinema brings us!

Resident Evil The Master Lawless John Carter Snow White and the Huntsman Best Movies of 2012: Argo Cloud Atlas Skyfall The Amazing Spiderman The Dark Knight Rises

Page Five

Monday, December 10th, 2012

The Falcon

The Sterner the Beard, the better the sound

by Reed Strength Staff Writer

At Eclipse last Tuesday, Professor Michael Sterner and Keith Beard played a classical guitar concert. I sat and waited for Sterner & Beard to set up and play, the fresh taste and caffeinated snap of Finergrind Coffee Roasters’ coffee settling in my belly. Sat seems an important word, as most concerts at the coffee shop include standing and moving along to the fast rhythms the bands normally put out.

From the setup, quality was an obvious and important part of the music we would hear. The P.A. system Eclipse normally uses was forgone for a slim, tall Bose speaker.

Sterner used a nylon string acoustic throughout most of the set, which based a snippet of conversation heard between the two players, was apparently custom made for him.

Sterner placed the guitar’s curved body on his left thigh, and played it upright. His right hand was draped over the strings, his fingernails long and sharp for plucking. The clean shaven Beard

was a younger fellow.

He used an acoustic electric steel string, and was plugged to an amp.

It became evident throughout the set that Beard was the lead player. The man was astounding to watch. Everything he did, from light harmonic flicks, to rushing tremolo leads was done with strength and precision. When Beard was in the middle of a particularly fast and complex passage, his hands would sometimes move too fast for the strings and he would lose the song’s tempo.

U l t i mately, it didn’t matter.

Whatever small misstep occurred, Beard was sure to come back into the song at full force. Sterner’s guitar had a richer and deeper sound to it, and his playing was reserved for earthy strums and slight flourishes.

The pair played everything from Christmas classics like “Silent Night” to excerpts of compositions by jazz great Vince Gauraldi. They would occasionally glance over at each other as they

played, trying to assess when the other would change tempo. Some of what the pair played was totally improvised.

Whether the tempo of the music was fast or slow, my jaw was hanging open for most of the showcase. The pair played for a solid two hours, never slowing or showing signs of wear. One would sometimes get a small break while the other would play a small solo composition, such

as a beautiful rendition of “Over the Rainbow” done by Sterner.

The pair also took requests…sort of. Michael Patton, the owner of Eclipse, acted as both the pair’s promoter and main heckler of the night. He would “mock” challenge them to play something “difficult”, but then give them a huge round of applause and series of “Yes’s” and “Yeahs!” throughout.

At one

Playing for Keeps fails to commit

by Mandy Steadman Staff Writer

There are many ways to describe a film.

You can describe it as good, bad, horrible, intriguing, or even chaotic. How about describing a movie as in between? That is how I feel about the new film: Playing for Keeps.

Playing for Keeps is about a man named George, played

by Gerard Butler, who decides to coach his son’s soccer team. During this experience, he tries to become a better father and has to fight obstacles to achieve this. He even comes to terms with the fact that he still loves his ex-wife, Stacie, played by Jessica Biel.

This film has a star-studded cast including Dennis Quaid, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Uma Thurman and Judy Greer. You would think that with this allstar cast it would be either a powerful and heart-wrenching drama, or a hilariously entertaining comedy. This film goes neither way.

This is not the actors’ fault at all. They are all incredible with their craft and it is a treat to watch them perform together. It is the

director, Gabriele Muccino, that is supposed to lead the actors and tell them what he wants.

Unfortunately, Muccino does not seem to know the exact route he wants to take with this film.

Muccino could have taken this film in two different directions. The first option he could have taken would be a tear-jerking, heartwrenching dramatic/ family movie with little dashes of comedic relief here and there. The second option would be a full-on classic comedy family film that audiences would watch on channels such as ABC Family and TBS.

The film has its comedic moments and it has its serious moments, but it fails to commit to either drama or comedy. It has a plethora of different scenes and dialogues that can be assigned as serious or comedic. It didn’t blend well at all and it all just seemed very random. I will even say it is hard to fit a specific genre to this film because of how up and down it is.

Even dramedy doesn’t quite do the trick.

There are moments that have the opportunity to build up to a serious or comedic mo-

ment, but the moment ends up happening too soon. Such as, during the soccer games there is no rise in climatic or suspenseful victory or defeat. The kids would kick, the crowd would cheer, and then the team would win within just a couple of minutes.

There are also some technical flaws that Muccino should have been aware of and fixed. The first flaw is that the camera work is extremely shaky. It is hard to fully focus on an important or emotional scene when the shaky screen blurs your vision.

The second flaw kind of touches on another thing Muccino fails to commit to.

There is a scene where George parks in front of Stacie’s house to say goodbye to his son.

When he leaves, however, his car is amazingly teleported on the driveway. Continuity is extremely important to keep the realism of this, or any, film together.

Playing for Keeps is an entertaining film, but it lacks a direction. Muccino fails to commit to continuity of scenes, building-up important moments, and having a stable genre.

It is not a bad movie, but it is also not a great

one. You can rent this film or watch it on Netflix, if you like. I just suggest not seeing it in theaters. It’s really not worth the 10 dollars you would spend on a ticket.

point, Patton stated that somebody wanted to hear Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train”. Without missing a beat, Beard began to play the intro to the song perfectly.

When the ceremonious “Free Bird” was called for, again Beard took the idea realistically and began to play a few chords.

As the night wound down, and Sterner & Beard played their last number, the audience gave them a warm round of ap-

plause. Patton thanked the duo for playing,, noting that they had either “boundless generosity, or a poor sense of capitalism” for playing such a quality show for free.

The Falcon

Page Six

Monday, December 10th, 2012

campus

All for the glory of God—Profile of Madison Howard

Christ with his campus, but these efforts aren’t without struggles.

“It’s ironic, because I’m a very shy person and that’s where God is growing me the most, getby Neal Embry ting me to talk to other Staff Writer people,” Howard said.

In October, the For someone BCM participated in that just “ended up” Engage 24, an evanhere in Montevallo, gelism effort across Madison Howard knows the country. Howard that God has a purpose wasn’t able to be on for him here. After ap- campus the week of plying to 20 different Engage 24 due to food schools, he received the poisoning.

However, best scholarship from he led prayer efforts Montevallo and came and challenged his felto the university. Now, low BCM members to as a Christian student, pray and share the goshe sees that his being on pel with the campus. campus isn’t only about “I have an outgetting an education. reach team that works “I believe that with me and they went being here on cam- to WOW and shared the pus is my ministry,” gospel through SolarHoward, 19, said. ium. I was very proud Howard, a of them,” said Howard . sophomore art major, Howard grew with a concentration in up in church, like many printmaking, currently here in the South. He serves on the BCM lead- was baptized at eight ership team and heads years old, joining others the ministry’s outreach in the church. However, efforts. He also serves after thinking he was a on the discipleship Christian for a while, his team and worship team. stepfather challenged “My job is to him to examine himmake sure that the self, to “test himself.”

BCM and Christians are “Just because reaching out to other you say you’re saved groups and getting out doesn’t mean you are. of the little cliques. We Being a Christian is want to show the world more than going to Christ and we can’t do church. The more I that if we’re all sitting in thought about that, the a building amongst our- more I realized I didn’t selves,” Howard said. have the evidence of be Howard is pas- ing a Christian,” he said. sionate about sharing After hearing

his pastor preach, Howard came to Christ and became a Christian. His faith impacts the way he handles everything in life, from classes and work to relationships.

“Being a Christian has given me more respect for authority and I glorify God in my work. It’s not just going to work to make money or going to class to make good grades, it’s to glorify God and be an example,” Howard said.

“I value the person more (in relationships) and it’s not just what I can get out of the relationship. I have more motivation to repair a relationship rather than let it fall by the wayside.”

Howard believes that every person needs to know Christ, and that there is no real purpose outside of Him. “We, as people, are sinners. Everyone that’s honest with themselves will say they’ve messed up. There’s no way to be right in the sight of God without His son Christ, who died for us to redeem us. Life is about giving God glory and sharing His work and His son with others. I think if you don’t do that, you won’t ever be happy and you won’t find purpose,” Howard said.

In his spare time, Howard enjoys reading and trivia. His biggest hobby, outside of art, is music. He plays several different

instruments and can often be found playing on the BCM worship team on Tuesday nights.

So why did he choose art over music?

“I’ve grown up with art. My dad was an artist. I started music my last year of high school,” Howard said.

A drunk driver killed Howard’s biological father when he was eight years old. This is a big part of his story, Howard says, and he credits much of his growth to his family, and in particular, his stepfather.

“I was blessed with a great stepfather.

He’s pretty much raised me. I have two younger brothers, and I want to be an example for them.

I’m very close to my family,” Howard said.

He’s about to get a few more siblings, as well. Howard’s parents have been approved to adopt children. They’re currently in the process of choosing children.

“They have a heart for adopting older teenagers and siblings because a lot of people don’t want to adopt them,” Howard said.

“Their heart breaks for teenagers who age out of the system and suddenly have to go out into the world on their own with no family of any kind.

I’m excited that we’re able to contribute to other people. We have so much blessings and excess, why would we not share that with some-

body else that needs it?”

Howard plans to graduate in the Spring of 2015. After that, he said he wants to do some kind of art within the music industry, but he’s “not real specific yet.” As for how he’ll be remembered here at Montevallo, he couldn’t care less about his name. He just wants the gospel to be carried on.

“I don’t really care if anybody remembers my name, but I want a gospel legacy to be left. Maybe if I can reach somebody and a line can continue, and people can be saved through something I started, that would be great.”

From the ashes of one organization comes another

by Mandy Steadman Staff Writer

With the end of one chapter, another begins. This is how the theatre department at the university came to form the Theatre Student Organization (TSO). The theatre honor society, Alpha Psi Omega (APO), had not generated enough interest to continue, but in its place rose the TSO. Professor Tammy Killian, faculty advisor to the group, said that the APO excluded people who were energetic and passionate to work for the department by having hour requirements and being an honorary organization. The TSO takes

anybody and is more accessible to students.

TSO member Jalen Brown said he joined because there was no longer an APO chapter and the group gives the same sense of unity to the department.

The TSO began a year ago and has started to come together and is becoming a more active group on campus.

The organization began as an effort to rebuild and revamp the theatre student lounge according to Tavi Juarez, president and cofounder of the TSO. “That just blossomed into the TSO, because I saw real need,” Juarez said, “and I think other people did too. They saw a need in a department for an organization to help support things that need to get done.”

The best part of the society is that students wanted a group like this and took the initia-

tive to create one, said Amber Chapman, TSO historian. “It’s all about student initiative.”

The organization hasn’t been a group too long but has already become a large part of the theatre department.

Juarez said they have hosted many events.

One event is The Pammy Ball, the theatre department’s annual award show, which takes place

every spring semester.

The name is taken from the departments’ secretary, Pam Lucas, and the awards given out are gold Barbie dolls.

Chi Tea is one of the groups other events and is a cabaret style night in Reynolds theatre. This year was the first year and Juarez said she hopes it will continue and become an annual event, just

Photo:Mandy Steadman like The Pammy Ball. pand to the community, “It [the TSO] gives me Killian said. The group another place to ex- is working on differpress my art creative- ent outreach programs ly and gives us all a and thinking of doing chance to collaborate a drama camp with the and work with people boys and girls club, in our field and in our and other involvement major in a way that we in community events. might not just during shows,” Chapman said.

The TSO wants to become more than just an organization on campus and plans to ex-

The Falcon

presents the

Page Seven

a semester in review

A Letter From the Editor

“One of the few ways I can almost be certain I'll understand something is by sitting down and writing about it. Because by forcing yourself to write about it and putting it down in words, you can't avoid having to come to grips with it. You might be wrong, but you have to think about it very intensely to write about it. So I use writing as a learning tool.“-Hunter S. Thompson.

This is it. The last full issue of 2012. An effort that has been in production and publication for eight months now. Like with anything new, when I first started this, it was received with quite a lot of backlash and criticism. I’d hear things like “You’ll never make it a month”, after a month I let out of sigh of relief, we were still going, somehow.

“No one reads it, its never going to last”, this can't be true! We’ve worked so hard. I then checked the facebook and issuu data, and was pleasantly surprised, we were reaching hundreds of people a week and in multiple countries at that. Another relief.

Thats not to say we haven't made our mistakes or been lackluster at times. At the core we are still students, teaching ourselves and applying what we learn in our daily classes, always striving to figure this whole thing out. One of my largest criticisms was, why? Why do this when we already have a newspaper on campus? The answer is as simple as I can put it, because we want to get better and we love to do it. So who can fault a man for trying?

Now, here we are, issue 15, with plenty of ideas and passion to continue tearing into the new year and potentially an entirely new world. Though, my efforts have not been accomplished alone. A big part of it falls on the wonderful staff we have, because without this handful of people who share the same idea and tenacity to let their voices be heard, and the want and desire to practice and master their craft, I’d be sitting here with nothing.

The other half of this success is you. The people who support us and read our work, week in and week out, for that we are all truly grateful.

We will be taking a break until our school semester returns. Which could not come any sooner.

During this time we will be recharging our batteries, sharpening our minds and trying to figure out what we can do to make this online newspaper the best we possibly can.

The Falcon is always looking for writers, journalist, photographers, graphic designers, online media managers and editors. Contact us via facebook or by email at thefalconeditor@gmail.com. We have big things planned for 2013 and we’re going to need all the help we can get to realize our goals.

Kyle Jones Editor-in-Chief

Seasons Greetings from

The Falcon Staff

see you in 2013!

The Falcon

next year’s issue

Monday, December 10th, 2012

the staff

Page Eight

Editors Editor-In-Chief: Kyle Jones Associate Editor: Andrew Mechum

-The Falcon guide to happiness part 1 -12 hours with Sufjan -The Oscars -More on Agenda 21 -News -Music -Sports

Art & Culture Editor: Matt Sanderlin

and everything else suitable for print...

Web www.facebook.com/thefalconmontevallo @theumfalcon www.thefalconat.tumblr.com

is accepting articles and applications for staff positions contact us at thefalconeditor@gmail.com

Sports Editor: Joseph Antonio

Staff Writers

Rosemary Maguire Mandy Steadman Neal Embry Reed Strength Matthew Lord Clarke Stackhouse