vol104issue19

OPINION

Say it to My Face, JuicyCampus.com - Page 4

Shady Glen Keeping it Old School

SPORTS

Paint Ballin’ at CCSU - Page 6

- Page 16

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

http://clubs.ccsu.edu/recorder/

Dean’s Comments Spark Investigation

Volume 104 No. 19

Melissa Traynor News Editor As a result of several incidents occurring at the Tuesday, Jan. 29 Middle East Lecture and following day, Professor Norton Mezvinsky has made formal allegations regarding the conduct of the Dean of the School of Business, Siameck Shojai, stating “the Dean deserves a reprimand from the administration.”

During the Feb. 29 lecture where guest speaker Dr. Trita Parsi came to deliver a lecture on his book, Treacherous Alliance—The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran and the US, Dean Siamack Shojai had questioned Parsi as to whether he was a lobbyist for Iran.

“I was somewhat surprised to see a Dean behave like that when he accused me of being a lobbyist for an Islamic Republic and telling students not to listen to what I was saying because it was propaganda,” Parsi said.

Parsi said that he had approached Dean Shojai in regards to his remarks during the question and answer portion after the lecture and he thought that they had a somewhat decent conversation before the scheduled dinner that night.

Mezvinsky said that he had asked Dean Shojai to sit next to Parsi for the dinner, but he refused.

Dr. Trita Parsi was criticized by Dean Shojai at a lecture on January 29.

Stephanie Bergeron / The Recorder

See Investigation Page 3

The eBay Headlines Provoke Prevention of Essays Amanda Ciccatelli Assistant News Editor

Melissa Traynor News Editor Imagine a network of writers, skilled in every field of study an assigned paper might require, able to pump their efforts into work as delicate as a four or five-page-essay or as demanding as full-length dissertation.

You don’t have to wear out the strength in your fingers or the creativity in your brain cells if you’ve got the cash to let this network get that paper written up and spiffy for you.

EssayBay.com, in association with Academic Answers Ltd. can grant students the access to such a network with writers from all over the world; for example, there are over 110 American writers and thousands more from around the world ranging in background educations from Yale University to “self-taught,” and some are professors.

The Web site is run like eBay. com, or an auction site where one student can post the assignment they would like to be written for by writers who can bid on them.

Once students have logged in whether to buy or write, they can then post assignments or start bidding.

“The process is very similar to eBay in the sense that it’s an auction.

The buyer registers with the Web site, lists their project—giving full details on length, schooling level,

See eBay of Essays Page 3

Recent shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University have created a domino effect in the way security operates across campuses, with CCSU installing mechanisms such as a warning system to mobilize the masses in case of an emergency.

“Campus safety is becoming more important unfortunately because of headlines,” Sergeant Jerry Irwin of the Central Connecticut State University Police stated.

The university and the police are working together to improve security on campus. Considering the location of CCSU, the large city of New Britain is an option for assistance as well. “We do have the resources of the city if something does happen,” Sergeant Irwin explained.

Ever since the fatal scare at Virginia Tech and even Columbine, CCSU has gone through a series of assessments and studies concerning the level of safety on campus. Mark McLaughlin, Assistant Vice President of the Marketing and Communications department explained a few effective prevention techniques used by the university. A risk and vulnerability assessment by the Threat Assessment Team is a critical piece to preventing problems at CCSU. The team assists the university when there is a concern and they discuss the level of threat. From there they attempt to act on that threat and stop it before any fatal action takes place.

Samantha Sullivan / The Recorder

Sergeant Erwin monitors security cameras on campus.

After the Feb. 15 shooting at Northern Illinois University, most colleges went into a state of panic after watching the fourth school shooting in the United States take place in only a weeks time. A 27-year-old student gunman walked into a NIU lecture hall on Thursday afternoon and opened fire on a geology class injuring 16 students and killing five.

Police arrived at the University when the gunman was reloading the shotgun in the midst of a five-minutelong shooting. Police arrived two minutes after the call for help, but they were too late to stop the gunman while he killed five others and himself.

Philip W. Kurze, an alumnus from the class of 1972, recently made a donation to CCSU in order to as-

See Prevention Page 3

Stephanie Bergeron / The Recorder

Provost Lovitt delivers the RG Committee report.

RG Council Presents Suggestions to Curb Poor Graduation Rate Aril Grain Staff Writer The CCSU Retention and Graduation Council released its interim report Monday to the Faculty Senate, outlining their findings over the past year as to why many students leave CCSU before graduation or fail to graduate at all.

Provost Carl Lovitt, Vice President of Academic Affairs and RG Council chair, spoke to the Senate on behalf of the Council and offered recommendations of potential practice and policy changes aimed at increasing the level of students’ academic success.

The Council, created in April 2007 and co-chaired by Margaret Toston, who is the Vice President for Student Affairs, is split into subcommittees that each focus on a different subgroup of students, such as residential, commuter, transfer and parttime.

Among the Council’s findings is the strong correlation between students’ first semester GPA and their likelihood of graduation within six years. According to the Council’s report, students who earn a 2.0 GPA or less in their first semester have a less than 10 percent chance of graduating in six years. Alternately, students who earn a 3.0 or higher have a 70 percent chance of receiving their degree within six years.

The Council’s report points to several factors of student dissatisfaction that may affect the likelihood of a student continuing to attend CCSU and of reaching graduation.

According to the report, one of the largest complaints from students was the feeling of getting the “run around” from faculty and advisors. Other factors include the lack of a sufficient number of courses in respective programs and the poor availability of general education classes.

In response, the Council has begun an advising training workshop for all new faculty members, established an Academic Advising Task Force and put together a separate subcommittee. The focus is developing an intervention plan for students who are struggling academically and has proposed the Senate withdraw the ban on offering online courses.

The Council has also developed numerous other recommendations for improving student retention and graduation. They include encouraging faculty members to add more reading and writing assignments to their curriculums, re-

See RG Council Page 3

News

2 THE RECORDER Wednesday, February 27, 2008

The Recorder

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Staff Editor-in-Chief Justin Kloczko Business Manager Christopher Boulay Art Director Jamie Paakkonen Associate Layout Editor Stephen Meszaros Copy Editor Samantha Sullivan Photo Editor Stephanie Bergeron Lifestyles Editor Karyn Danforth Sports Editor Peter Collin Entertainment Editor Edward Gaug Opinion Editor Dan Ivers News Editor Melissa Traynor Assistant News Editor Amanda Ciccatelli Web Editor John Vignali Illustrator Sean Kinne Comics Mike Golschneider

Staff Writers Marissa Blaszko Kyle Dorau Aril Grain Matthew Jurkiewicz Brian Morache Victoria Wall Jody Wiles Ryan Yeomans Peter Decoteau Rob Messer Marissa Mancini

About The Recorder is a studentproduced publication of Central Connecticut State University and does not necessarily represent, in whole or in part, the views of CCSU’s administrators, faculty, or students. The Recorder articles, photographs, and graphics are property of The Recorder and may not be reproduced or published without the written permission from the Editorin-Chief.

T he pur pose of T he Recorder is to approach and def ine issues of impor tance to the st udents

Carpool Connects Students Online Hannah Munoz The Poly Post (Cal Poly-Pomona) (U-WIRE) POMONA, Calif.

-- A company dedicated to making rideshares easy takes a step forward in connecting Facebook users through a new application called Carpool.

Although barely introduced during the summer, over 10,000 rides were posted within four months, according to a press release from the application creator, Zimride. “[Carpooling] is the smart thing to do for everybody,” said Donna Pearson, administrative support assistant for rideshare at Cal Poly Pomona. “We have to reduce dependency on foreign oil and the fastest way is to share the ride.”

The new Facebook application makes it convenient for students to find a carpool buddy. It allows users to carpool on a one-way trip, an everyday drive, or even a ride to a social event. With the utilization of Google maps, Carpool finds students traveling on the same path.

“Facebook is more visually appealing,” said Pearson, as she viewed the Carpool application Web page.

“We [Cal Poly] might have to add that feature [to our Web page].”

Students interested in carpooling must add the application to their Facebook account. Following this, users are able to search and request rides from others. However, if someone doesn’t have the application, they are still able to find a lift. When a user posts a ride on Carpool, it appears on the Facebook news feed and is viewable in that user’s network.

Some students are skeptical of hitching rides with strangers.

“It’s a good idea that will never work,” said Christopher Peers, a fourth-year business student.

Logan Green, the creator of the carpool application and a former student at UC Santa Barbara, had trouble finding rides to Los Angeles, where his girlfriend resided.

He used the carpool application on Craigslist.org, but felt uneasy about the rides because he took rides from complete strangers.

This is where Facebook came into play. Facebook began allowing other developers to create applications, so a group of students united to make carpooling more successful.

Some students were concerned about environmental factors, while others consider the expenses of transportation.

“Our mission is to reduce the barriers to a mainstream ride-sharing culture, so everyone can find ridesharing partners in an easy and safe way,” said the Facebook’s Carpool application Web site.

Therefore, with the help of Zimride.com and GoLoco.org, Facebook’s carpool application has become a success. Carpool creators believe this is a safe route to take because one is able to see another’s profile before carpooling with them.

People also have the option to accept or decline the ride, or users also have the option to take rides exclusively from people at their school. “[The Facebook application is] great but you have got to be cautious about what you’re doing on the Internet and who you’re interacting with,” said David Flores, rideshare coordinator for Cal Poly. “It’s a form of hitchhiking on the Internet.”

Sergeant Jerry’s Party Holds Fundraiser, Multiple Activities in Student Center Victoria Wall Staff Writer One of the coolest, most wellknown Central police officers decided to tape off Semesters and classified it as not a crime, but a party scene last Thursday night. Officer Jerry’s Big Pre-Spring Break party was a good time with an important mission: collecting donations for Homes for our Heroes, an organization that modifies homes for injured veterans.

“It’s about getting people together to have a good time, just because we can as a community,” said Sergeant Jerry Erwin, whom most on Central’s campus have nicknamed “OJ.” Jerry is a committed member of the CCSU community and, at any given moment, can be seen all over the campus, either talking to students or helping solve problems individuals are often faced with.

The party, which started at 8 p.m., ran right into Semester’s usual “Thursday night Devil’s Den 10 p.m.,” which is an event organized to give students a fun, alcohol-free alternative to going out and partying.

Dave Sauerbrunn, a member of Phi Delta Theta, a fraternity on CCSU’s campus, said, “The police department teamed up with Phi Delta Theta to collect donations for Homes for our Heroes.” Sauerbrunn and other members of Phi Delta Theta played music for the event, helping to serve as a transition into Devil’s Den. Kyle Buscheri, another member of Phi Delta Theta, explained that the organization aims to “help raise money for U.S troops coming back from overseas.” Another member, Jon Arpaia, added, “It assists with handicapped troops that come back if they’ve been wounded; if they need handicap access into their home, such as a ramp or widened doorways, this will enable them to do so.” To make OJ’s party possible, an endless amount of team effort was put forth in the planning. “A lot of different avenues were crossed to get here,” said OJ. He explained that IRC provided most of the food; the Design depart-

Samantha Sullivan / The Recorder

Sergeant Erwin organized a charity event last Thursday. ment made banners; Phi Delta Theta helped with donations; and many other organizations, such as Residence Life, Counseling and

Wellness and the Student Center itself, assisted in making the party successful.

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THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 27, 2008 / NEWS

Prevention

RG Council

Continued from page 1

Continued from page 1 quiring midterm grades for all first term students and 100 level courses, following up with students who don’t register for the next semester, requiring an interview whenever a student requests a transcript and designing a call center so callers have the opportunity to talk to a live person.

The Council also announced interest in increasing campus resources after 5 p.m. and the number of evening classes offered.

Lovitt admitted to the Senate that the efforts of the Council are still “a work in progress,” yet the Council has pledged a $ 5,000 grant to each of the subcommittees to aid in the implementation of their recommendations.

Stephanie Bergeron / The Recorder

Secretary Abigail Adams discusses graduation rates.

Investigation

Continued from page 1 Professor Mezvinsky, who is the planner and coordinator of the lecture series, said that if these incidents stopped at the night of the lecture and had not continued onto the next day, Shojai’s behavior would have passed. He then received calls the next day from four IranianAmerican individuals with whom he is in contact from around the country and had been informed that Shojai had discussed Parsi at length on air.

The day after the lecture, Jan. 30, Dean Shojai made an appearance for an interview on the Persian Pars TV & KRSI radio in Los Angeles, Ca. Parsi said that Shojai made accusations of him and that the Dean had found reason to discuss the color of his skin, his overall intelligence and implied that it was lower due to the origin of his parents.

“The radio station had an agenda, hoping that [Shojai] would be saying the same thing,” Parsi said of the KRSI interview.

3

He was also disappointed that the Shojai would present himself as the Dean of the School of Business at CCSU during the interview.

“I will admit that I was shocked that the school would tolerate things of that nature,” Parsi said of Shojai’s conduct during the lecture and the subsequent radio interview.

Mezvinsky also said that Dean Shojai lied on air when he was recounting some of the events of the lecture the night before. Shojai had told the interviewer on KRSI that Mezvinsky had apologized to him for Parsi’s lecture, however this was not true.

Parsi wants to keep his legal options open. In a letter to President Jack Miller, he said that he would retain his right to pursue legal action while waiting for the university’s reaction to Shojai’s defamation and violation of his integrity and character.

“I’m disappointed to say that I’m not sure the university would

have behaved this way were the conversation about another race,” Parsi said. “This reflects poorly on the school and CCSU doesn’t understand the implications of these events.”

Currently there is an investigation opened by Provost Carl Lovitt, Vice President of Academic Affairs, which will review transcripts of the alleged inappropriate comments, audio and videotapes of the lecture itself and interviews with those who attended the dinner after the lecture.

“Following the conclusion of the investigation, President Miller and Provost Lovitt will meet with all concerned parties to present their conclusions and proposed actions,” the provost wrote in a statement to The Recorder.

Dean Shojai could not be reached for comment.

sure his campus’ safety. Kurze is both an alumni and a proud father of a student attending CCSU. He donated a Whelen Mass Notification Warning System that is used to warn and give direction to people worldwide who are in danger of natural or man-made disasters.

Kurze’s donation includes two omni-directional, non-rotating electronic voice warning systems. There are radio controls and cables, as well as complete installation and shipping by a trained professional.

“They can also be used to alert and inform colleges and university campuses in the event of emergency situations,” Kurze said. This warning system is efficient in alerting a large number of people because individuals don’t need to have a personal form of communication to be alerted.

The Cleary Act is another preventative action taken by the university and is simply a contract that both the Police Department and CCSU are bound to in order to alert people of potential problems. Not too long ago, a man was robbing Credit Union banks, so the police prepared an alert with pictures and descriptions of the alleged robber.

Currently, CCSU Police Department and staff are practicing prevention

for potential threats. There are approximately 200 surveillance cameras to keep track of any suspicious behavior that could happen anywhere on campus. The university has a full time police staff consisting of 23 officers with a veteran officer command staff. These officers have all received Active Shooter training.

“In view of heightened personal security concerns in the post-9/11 world, we welcome the arrival of this new state-of-the-art system to add further measure of public safety to our campus,” President Jack Miller said in a CCSU press release.

Aside from the instrumental part of a college campus prevention process against violence, the key aspect to the security on campus is having an effective communication system to transfer any emergency messages.

Updates of all student and staff emergency contact information will help notify the CCSU community of any threats on campus via email or as an announcement on the university Web site. Along with email access, a campus-wide speaker announcement system is currently being developed to be implemented first in the library and the Student Center to alert the campus of any emergencies.

eBay of Essays Continued from page 1

grade standard, desired sources— and then writers who have registered are free to bid on the work,” said Barclay Littlewood, the owner of the site and Academic Answers Ltd. He said that the buyer can then select a writer with full knowledge of their academic background, so if they would like an Oxford educated writer to complete their work, they can select that certain writer. In the same way, a writer with a less prestigious education can bid much lower and therefore provide an opportunity cost situation for the buyer.

Also like eBay, the Web site features a list of feedback, both negative and positive comments, for each writer and a certain percentage of buyer satisfaction for all potential buyers to see.

“Because EssayBay operates as a transparent community, if a writer receives poor feedback, they jeopardize their chances of receiving further projects,” Littlewood said. “Also, writers are encouraged to offer a full range of guarantees, such as no plagiarism guarantees, guaranteed standards, copyright sale etc, and many writers offer full money-back guarantees if any aspect of the work is plagiarized.”

EssayBay also has a private server where completed essay can be uploaded to or downloaded from for

writers and buyers. The essays are only accessible for a short amount of time so as to provide protection.

Littlewood said that there are no set prices for an essay, but the process and cost does depend on how the writers bid and whether his or her credentials are desirable to the buyer.

He did say that the cost has been anywhere from $20 to $40,000 for certain, depending on the assignment.

The payments are made by Escrow, which means the buyer has much more control over the transaction.

Academic Answers Ltd. is based in Nottingham, England and is the umbrella organization for EssayBay. com, as well as UKEssays.com and it prides itself on holding the reputation of being the UK’s leading custom essay Web site, according to Littlewood.

In terms of plagiarism and, Little wood said that EssayBay is in no way liable for legal action due to the fact that it has no control over how the papers are used, only in that it proves a service.

For those who are not interested in purchasing an essay, but would like to see his or her own improved, sister-site UKEssays.com offers a feature where students can send in their papers and have them marked by professionals in that field and can seek advice if needed.

4 THE RECORDER Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Editorial

Opinion/Editorial

The February 14 shooting at Northern Illinois University was immediately followed by reports on the gunman’s mental health. It was reported that he had been prescribed medication, which he stopped taking shortly before that day. Coupled with last year’s shooting at Virginia Tech, mental health services at colleges and universities have been forced into the spotlight.

A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education shows that most large public universities still have “inadequate mental-health resources.” According to the piece, more and more students are arriving at colleges with mental health problems, and lots of schools have responded by enlarging the services available to treat them. These expansions include adding staff members, hiring psychiatrists to complement counselors and allocation of more funds to mental health services.

Central’s Counseling and Wellness Center has experienced no such growth. The Center currently claims only six staff members, three of whom their Web site identifies as counselors. There is no psychiatrist involved with the center, as any recommended psychiatric treatment is referred outside of the university. The

International Association of Counseling Services advises colleges to have one counselor for every 1,500 full-time students, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education article. Central, with its three counselors and a full-time student population of about 7,000, has one counselor for about every 2,333 students.

This ratio is well below the national average. The current counselors undoubtedly do everything they can to assist students in need of help, but inadequacies often go unnoticed until it is too late.

After the Virginia Tech shooting, Sen. Joe Lieberman visited campus to speak about student safety. At that point, he assessed the school’s security as “impressive.” He also expressed hope that legislators would invest more money in counseling services for schools. Indeed, the state has reached out to help improve our school, just not to improve mental health services.

Effective July 1, Central will receive over $16 million in state funds to improve infrastructure. All of this money has been allocated to go to renovations and constructing new buildings,

rather than upgrade or allow more money for existing programs such as the Wellness Center.

Recently, Central has endured incidents of attempted suicide, as well as an attack on one of its own counselors. Incidents like these reinforce the need for counseling and mental health services on campus, not only to help students deal with their impact, but to help prevent things like this in the future.

It only takes one alienated and mentally disturbed person to wreak the kind of havoc seen at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois. Most schools have taken steps to minimize and prevent such tragedies, but more often than not this has involved improvement in security and response time by authorities.

Regarding this issue, prevention starts with schools reaching out to students with psychological issues. The state of Connecticut should have been more attentive to this when allocating funds to its state universities. Surely some of those millions of dollars could have been used to help some of our students, and to make us all feel a bit safer.

Letters to the Editor In response to Matthew Jurkiewicz’s “My Week with Hannah Montana,” I think that most of it was a total load of crap. He wrote his article from the point of view of an employee who had to deal with customers, stupid questions, and little kids, as opposed to rating the movie itself.

He made it sound like Disney, who did a great thing by filming the concert that so many little girls didn’t get to see, was somehow doing the cinema’s a disservice by getting them all of this business. Anyone who actually went to see the movie/concert walked out having had a very enjoyable experience. I myself, and my best friend, both 21-year-old girls, who could have been out doing a number of other things went to see the movie. In addition to being able to see a show that we had already seen (we had been lucky enough to get tickets to the concert itself) we got to see it in a 3d movie form. The night we went, it was sold out, but more then half of the theater was there for the explicit purpose of seeing the Jonas Brothers. The experience for the little girls, who were told by the employees that they could stand, sing, and scream as much as they wanted, was more then I think most of them expected. Everyone, parents included, left with big smiles on their faces for an enjoyable experience. Hannah Montana is a wildly popular figure for young girls to look up to, she is the daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus, whom was also in the movie, which gave parents something to enjoy, seeing as he was wildly popular in the early 90s.

Kristen Prescott PrescottKr@ccsu.edu To Whom It May Concern, Everytime I decide to give The Recorder another chance, I begin reading and am reminded why I never read it to begin with. The article regarding Tyra Banks is very unprofessional.

First of all, commenting on Tyra Banks is old considering that the Soup on E! makes fun of her all the time. Way to go on originality. Also, for someone who doesn’t know Tyra Banks personally, I think it’s funny you can consider her a “lunatic”, and “ugly” without makeup. Of course she will be overdramatic during her show; it’s called entertainment. Makeup can enhance beauty. If you don’t find her attractive, that’s your own opinion. But, to bash someone for going on national television without make up, just to sit there and call it a “disaster” is contradictory to what you’re trying to say about her. If Tyra Banks was such a hypocrit, she would not go on national TV, without makeup, in a bathing suit, or openly admit to personal insecurities and issues. Tyra Banks has a show involving the modeling industry, but she has said on many of her Top Model shows that eating disorders are not the answer. It’s also amusing to me that you say she doesn’t support plus sizes when she’s had plus size models competing on her show.

Tyra Banks has helped many young girls with her youth group and even with the models that don’t win on her show. Tyra Banks is an entertainer. Obviously, she is not on the level of Dr. Maya Angelou. So, instead of trying to get your point across by critquing someone whose profession is to entertain... why not focus on your respect for Dr. Maya Angelou and make an article highlighting her accomplishments?

Kayliegh Ingram

I would like to respond to the editorial in the 2/13/08 edition of The Recorder that used the words “suspicious and unprofessional” to describe the planning of the Robert Jensen visit to CCSU. The editorial complains that members of The Recorder were only invited to the event approximately a week ahead of time. This is true. However, no one from The Recorder ever responded to my invitation or bothered to call me to ask any follow-up questions. If they had I could have explained that this event came together at the last minute when a previous event that was being planned fell through. Both the Recorder staff and Journalism faculty at CCSU were invited as soon as possible considering the last minute planning that was involved. It is also true that publicity for the event said that staff of the Recorder were invited to the first talk. But this is exactly how it was phrased “invited staff of the Recorder.” That was the only option, again, since no one from The Recorder ever responded to me or bothered to contact me after I invited them to attend. Since I had no way of knowing whether the staff were present or not, Jensen was then unable to invite them to participate in the discussion as we had originally hoped. If anyone from the paper had contacted me after I reached out to them all of this “suspicion” could have been avoided.

JuicyCampus.com

Bill Yousman Department of Communication “Advocacy groups for the mentally ill have decried institutionalization as largely inhumane and insist that they can function in society if provided with the right treatment.”

So... your words say you believe in a “the” mentally ill. Previous generations, mine, believed in a “the” Jews, a “the” Blacks. The metaphor appears regularly in history, the results are uniformly terrifying. To the victims.

But I know you do not believe what you wrote, that it is a linguistic convenience not yet purged from your vocabulary, not yet fully recognized, repeated rotely, not mindlessly. But passed on, nonetheless. I know further, that the educators who surround you will also not notice, and not respond, so fully internalized in our psyches is this particular incarnation of this prejudice.

It is my hope you will not carry this prejudice with you with your sheepskin, as I carried those others with me.

Harold A. Maio American Journal of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Board Member

You stand alone with your bad review of The New Frontiers. They have had many reviews of their new album Mending and they all…again I said ALL, have been consistently strong and positive. All I’ve read have been 4 or 5 out of 5. Seems you may have missed the mark on this one.

Bob Henry

Got Something to Say? Write a 200-300 word letter to the editor and send it to ccsurecorder@gmail.com.

Sean Kinne

Dan Ivers Opinion Editor The latest online fever spreading across college campuses nationwide is a site called JuicyCampus.com. The site is geared toward gossip, allowing users to anonymously post anything “juicy” they may hear, or make up, about their peers on-campus. The site boasts that it is “Always Anonymous…Always Juicy.”

It is geared to specific campuses and is spreading to include more and more; its arrival at campuses such as Duke and Cornell has sparked controversy, and movements have arisen trying to ban the site.

Gossip being gossip, it’s pretty safe to assume that at least half of the posts are pure fabrications. A quick look at the site will give you a good impression as to what the main topics of discussion are. Typical posts include “Sluttiest girl at Baylor?” and “MP gives good head.” I imagine not all the posters are familiar with defamation laws, but what they are doing could easily be called libel, a federal offense punishable with jail time. However, since it’s anonymous, malicious gossipers have nothing to lose.

The site makes its privacy and tracking policy easily accessible from the homepage, and what you will find there is frightening. It begins by stating, “It is not possible for anyone to use this website to find out who you are or where you are located.” It also lets users know that the site does not track any activity whatsoever. It goes on to provide “tips for the extra-cautious,” giving them advice on how to hide your IP address… you know, just in case you’re worried your post might result in a police investigation or whatever.

Imagine how you might feel if someone was to post something untrue about you on the

Internet, for the entire world to see. In the mind of many a college student, where social life is of the utmost importance, this could be incredibly damaging. Everyone gossips and everyone is the subject of gossip, but JuicyCampus.com has taken it to an entirely new level. They aim to capitalize from one of the most despicable facets of human nature, and neither they nor their users are held accountable. Whoever created this site is absolutely morally bankrupt and grossly irresponsible.

The latter is especially true, in light of recent issues in the news dealing with “cyber bullying.” Most schools now deal with bullying at school with programs that teach children how to deal with and report bullies. However, with the emergence of MySpace and Facebook, as well as the ubiquitous use of instant message programs, the phrase “cyber bullying” emerged, and it has even led to suicides, mostly among high school students. However, it’s not hard to imagine rumors having the same effect on young college students.

The Internet grants people more anonymity than has ever been achieved before.

Unfortunately, this can be used to do others harm and is nearly impossible to regulate.

JuicyCampus.com is a time bomb with regard to ruining people’s lives, and I challenge anyone to make the argument that it could be in any way positive.

Gossip is sneaky and dishonest and can be extremely harmful. Yes, everyone does it, but anyone who has ever heard the phrase “Say it to my face” can attest to the outrage it causes. So, to the cowards who run JuicyCampus.com: you are the scum of the earth. My name is Dan Ivers and I live in Meriden, Connecticut. I don’t have to hide behind anonymity because that is not gossip, it’s the truth.

5

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 27, 2008 / OPINION

Time for Scientology to be Treated like Any Other Religion Dan Ivers Opinion Editor You may have seen the posters around campus lately decrying the Church of Scientology. An organized group of hackers who call themselves “Anonymous” has declared war on the new and controversial religion after it tried to eliminate a video of Tom Cruise from the Internet. This attack has included campaigns at colleges to recruit young people looking to join their fight.

Most of the talk about Scientology is focused on celebrities who subscribe to the religion, such as Cruise, John Travolta and Beck.

Through this, the church has gained a bigger profile and its basic tenets have become more widely acknowledged. However, this has also resulted in attacks on its legitimacy, and it is often criticized as no more than a financial endeavor for creator and former science fiction writer, L. Ron Hubbard.

In the United States, we supposedly pride ourselves on granting all citizens basic rights, such as freedom of religion. Besides some exceptions, a plethora of faiths and factions coexist here without much friction.

Attacks on Scientology are often founded on the basis that it is a “cult,” or that its creation story or moral

doctrines “don’t make sense.” Those who make such assertions need to take a closer look, not at Scientology, but at other, more accepted religions.

Scientology’s origin myth goes something like this: an intergalactic being named Xenu gathered up people from various overcrowded planets and brought them to Earth. He then blew them all up using hydrogen bombs, and their souls spread over the planet and stuck to all who were still living. I will admit that this seems outlandish. But given a closer look, is it that much stranger than God creating Adam and then fashioning a woman out of one of his ribs? The latter story has become so embedded in our minds that it seems beyond questioning. If Scientology was to become a more widespread and accepted religion, the story of Xenu wouldn’t raise nearly as many eyebrows.

Groups like “Anonymous” also claim that the Church of Scientology ruthlessly sucks money away from its adherents. They complain about the fees and donations that it requires, like the $300 annual fee for membership. However, nearly all religions rely on donations to survive. If you put five dollars in the collection basket every week at church, you would spend somewhere in the range of $260 for your parish’s upkeep. While this is not mandatory, many consider

it their duty, and a good deed in the eyes of God. Televangelists are all over the television on Sundays literally begging you to give money so that they can carry out God’s will. For many, such as Kenneth Copeland (who is currently under investigation by the government), God’s will includes a private jet, island vacations and a Rolls Royce, all tax-exempt for business purposes. While there has been some outcry over this, no one calls the people who gave to Copeland “brainwashed” or “cult members” like they do Scientologists.

Another common point of contention from Scientology critics is the church’s mandate that none of its members use drugs that affect their state of mind, such as antidepressants. Critics seem to hold the view that the church is denying its members happiness. A more mainstream faith, the Christian Church of Science, denies its members any medical treatment that might interfere with God’s will. Imagine contracting something easily managed, such as diabetes and being denied the opportunity to live a longer life.

Despite this, the Christian Church of Science has largely avoided criticism over the years.

I am not advertising or endorsing Scientology, as it does contain as-

pects that could be potentially harmful to some of its members.

However, the idea that it is something that needs to be “fought” is based solely on intolerance. Religious groups with seemingly strange practices like the Amish or the Mormons have carved out small societies for themselves because of a lack of understanding from mainstream society. While they are considered oddities, they are allowed to do as they please. Even illegal customs like bigamy, where one enters into a marriage while still legally in another, are for the most part tolerated in these places.

Scientologists have as much a right to believe what they believe as Christians, Jews, Buddhists or any other faith. They choose their religion on their own accord, and can leave whenever they would like.

While it may seem strange, our country allows people to worship whatever or whomever they want. Religion is something that helps people find meaning in their daily lives, and we cannot deny anyone the right to find the faith that suits them best. What deserves criticism is when its virtues turn to righteousness and intolerance.

Kosovo Independence Dangerous for Eastern Europe Christopher Boulay Business Manager When Kosovo declared independence on February 17, it was the beginning of a laborious standoff in an area of the world that has been in crisis since Josip Broz Tito, former leader of Yugoslavia, died in 1980, escalating after the fall of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact in 1991.

With the burning of the United States Embassy, attacks on other embassies by nationalist Serbs and attacks on United Nations Police occurring only days after Kosovar independence, a preview of what lies ahead for Southeastern Europe is now staring the world in the face.

Kosovo’s independence is the beginning of what could be a domino effect throughout Europe. There are many areas that, like Kosovo, are extremely unstable and could break away, which would have worldwide political implications. At this point we can only imagine what this might include, but much of the world would fear the worst. Many of the following examples may be unheard of for the reader, but if Kosovar independence becomes a reality, these areas may pop up in the news much more in the recent future.

Transnistria, a breakaway Moldovan republic, is a very hostile area of eastern Moldova that claims independence from the recognized Moldovan government. According to the Embassy of the United States in Moldova, a travel warning has been in effect for United States citizens in the area since August 2006. A bus bombing in 2006 as well as rogue authority in the area are a constant hazard for travelers and citizens in the area.

South Ossetia is a breakaway region of Georgia that, in recent years, has been riddled with crimes, shootouts and overall violence.

Ossetians and Georgians have been at odds since the breakup of the

Soviet Union, and conflict there has been escalating since 2004.

Abkhazia is another region of Georgia that claims autonomy and has been continually fighting with the Georgian government for years.

Both areas have caused great hardship for the Georgian population and government.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a region inside of Azerbaijan that is almost entirely made up of Armenians.

Though the region does not touch the Armenian border, it is supported by the Armenian government.

According to an article on the International Crisis Group’s website, “Today Armenia and Azerbaijan remain divided on vital points.

Azerbaijan does not accept any compromise of its territorial integrity, nor does it agree that NagornoKarabakh’s population alone can vote on determining its final status.

Armenia is not willing to support withdrawal from the seven occupied districts around Nagorno-Karabakh, or allow the return of Azerbaijan internally displaced persons to Nagorno-Karabakh, until the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh is a reality.”

Chechnya is an extremely volatile area of Russia that has been the center of disruption since the early 1990s. Chechen rebels have wreaked havoc in the area battling against the Russian military for years.

These are just a few areas in the world that may become an international problem if Kosovo is recognized as fully independent. It will be a grave mistake if an area as unstable as Kosovo is granted independence because it will set a very dangerous precedent for the birth of new nations.

All of this may be averted if Serbia ends up taking some sort of action against Kosovo. It would not be a surprise if Serbia imposed sanctions and/or invaded Kosovo because of their declaration of independence.

Kosovo’s history has much greater ties to ethnic Serbians than ethnic Albanians. Of course, this is a topic that is fiercely debated by both sides, but before the influence of the Ottoman Empire, the area was populated with Serbians.

The next few months in the Balkans may be very telling regarding what direction our world is heading in, but it is up to Serbia to make the right decisions in this case and make this situation as painless as possible for all sides.

Sadly, all signs point to this not going the way everyone hopes.

Experience Equals Bad Tradition in Washington

Brian Morache Staff Writer Much has been made in the presidential race about experience, specifically that Senators John McCain and Hillary Clinton have it and Senator Barack Obama does not.

But just how much value does experience have? You have to wonder about the kind that comes from time in Washington D.C. During the Civil War, Confederate General James Longstreet would boast that one of his best commanders, General George Pickett, finished dead last in his West Point class. Pickett would often quip early in the war, “The Yankees got all the smart ones and look where it got them!” It really wasn’t until General Grant, another from the bottom third of his West Point class, took over that the Union began having success.

Our most experienced presidents had served for 10 years in the House of Representatives; been the ambassador to Russia; served 10 years in the Senate, then four years as Secretary of State; and then ambassador to Britain. If there was any president who was ready to be “Commander in Chief on day one,” as Clinton claims, it was James Buchanan in 1856, who completed the aforementioned accomplishments. For those who don’t know the history of American presidents, Buchanan can lay claim to being one of the worst presidents in our nation’s history who made his successor, an inexperienced, one-term senator from Illinois, look pretty good. That man was Abraham Lincoln.

McCain also touts his knowhow. Should we remind him of his experience in supporting the war in Iraq and other Bush policies?

Certainly his familiarity in the savings and loans scandal of the late ’80s really helps him understand the current banking mortgage crisis. As a member of the “Keating Five,” McCain pressured investigators not to look into banks that were ripping thousands of people off. When McCain was investigated by the Ethics Committee, he was let off easily with a reprimand for showing “poor judgment.” Experience in Washington has taught McCain to rage against lobbying, yet also court these same people and intercede on their behalf.

The question we have to ask ourselves when it comes to experience is, “Does this experience isolate these people from the rest of us?”

Clinton constantly pushes her “35 years of experience.” Given that she is 60 and graduated from law school at 25, it seems she considers everything she ever did since then as presidential experience. Does Obama’s experience working with the poor in Chicago mean more than spending time in Washington?

Experience is not enough to solve our problems if it translates into the same old thoughts. Maybe what this country needs is a candidate with less experience and more new idea.

Certainly the old ideas and all that “experience” are what have gotten us into the mess we are in now.

6 THE RECORDER Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Sports

Paintballin’ At CCSU Peter Collin Sports Editor It’s not hard to conjure up the image of what a paintballer player might be. The first thing people will often envision is the image of some backwoods hillbillies decked out in full camouflage running through the woods pretending to be in the Army.

But paintballing goes far beyond the simple stereotype. You can find out for yourself as the answer lies right on CCSU campus. The CCSU Paintball Club has existed at Central since 2000, when a group paintball enthusiasts finally found each other and made an effort to establish paintabll as a true Blue Devil sport.

Ever since then the Paintball Club has grown along with the popularity of the sport. The current incarnation of the Paintball team stands at roughly 20 total members with 12-15 active members.

Far from disorganized enthusiaists, the Paintball Club boasts three tournament ready teams: gold, silver and bronze, which actively attempt to participate in NCPA events in the surrounding area while competing against surrounding schools.

“It used to be a club, actually, where it was maybe once a week, playing once a month in the woods,” said Club President Christian Ayala. “We play on a whole different level called tournament paintball; speed ball.”

Playing paintball in the woods is much different from that of speed ball. Woods play tends to be more methodical with players often taking great pains to maneuver and stalk opponents through dense wooded areas, the speed ball style of paintball is fast paced and physically demanding, using high volumes of fire to suppress and maneuver around adversaries.

While woods ball events take place in their namesake, events for speedball teams take place on large open fields that can accommodate inflatable barriers and bunkers that each side can use as cover in order to out-maneuver the opposition.

“It’s very quick (speed ball),” said Club Secretary Andrew Mann.

“If you have acres and acres of woods, you’re stalking the other guy, [but] you don’t know where he is, you don’t

know if he knows where you are. It’s two different fields of thought, but at the same time, it all boils down to you’re trying to have fun.”

Paintball can be much more physically demanding than it is generally believed to be. Physical fitness is a priority for the team, but it is not always easy to find work out space. It often ends up being whatever areas are free to run drills.

Not only do they struggle to find practice areas, but their home field is far from around the corner.

Matt’s Outback, a 17 acre paintball facility in Coventry, CT, serves as their home away from home as they take on various collegiate opponents from around the state and as the occasional practice area.

The competition is thin at the moment; it is hard for the Paintball team to participate in every tournament without the proper funding.

The club does manage to find adversaries locally, competing against neighboring schools like UConn and the University of Hartford.

But for both Ayala and Mann, bringing paintball to the forefront of campus life has been a goal. They both developed their interests in paintball during their high school years.

“I started off in the woods, started seeing tournament ball and I’m like, ‘oh man that looks like fun,’” said Mann. “When I applied for colleges, [a] couple of colleges I applied to was ‘cause they had a paintball club.”

Beyond excitement, the club enjoys finding members who are good at working with others to develope a sense of comraderie on each team.

Using a careful selection process, the club chooses three different, three-man teams, the gold, silver and bronze. Chemistry is an important part of being a successful team and teamwork is a heavily promoted idea within club ranks.

“It is hard to find a chemistry because not everyone plays that way,” said Ayala. “Some people want to do that show boating and we usually try to deter people away from that aspect and say, ‘this is a team effort.’”

Meetings for the club often take on the responsibility of developing ideas to promote awareness about the club and paintball in general.

It is a goal for the club to expand their efforts beyond just competing and to contribute to campus life in a positive manner. Discussions are in the works to reach out to other clubs about paintball exhibitions and getting more involved with the Central community.

“I’d like to see more people involved,” said Mann. “Helping, doing things for the campus. Get more involved with the school and more involved with people.”

“I just want to get our name out there and let it be known, hey, it’s not just in the woods. We do have that aspect, but we also have this and this is what we do.”

The Paintball Club meets on Monday nights at 7:00 p.m. in the Student Center’s Clock Tower room. They can also be contacted through email at: centralpaintball2004@yahoo.com Photos by Nicole Horelika

Wade Leads Blue Devils with 12 Points in Northeast Conference Loss at Fairleigh Dickinson CCSUBlueDevils.com

Blue Devils 44 Fairleigh Dickinson

65

Sophomore P.J. Wade had 12 points to lead Central Connecticut (4-23, 3-13) in a 65-44 Northeast Conference road loss versus Fairleigh Dickinson (11-16, 7-9). Freshman Kerrianne Dugan added eight points, 10 rebounds and three steals for the Blue Devils The two teams played even over the opening 6:45. Fairleigh Dickinson, however, used a 9-2 run to stake an 18-9 lead. The Blue Devils cut the Knight advantage to three with back-to-back three-pointers from sophomore Kanita Boone and Dugan. The Knights lead stretched to eight with under three

minutes to play, but Central Connecticut cut it to 27-22 by the end of the half.

Wade led CCSU with seven points and five rebounds over the opening 20 minutes. Dugan added six rebounds. Senior Jennifer Walkling had eight points and five rebounds to pace Fairleigh Dickinson.

The Blue Devils stayed within five points until a three by senior Megan Kirkland gave FDU a 34-26 lead with just over 16 minutes remaining in the game. A Walkling triple moments later pushed the margin to 13, the Knights largest to that point.

Central Connecticut drew back to within eight points, 39-31, before a Jenna Strich three-pointer gave Fairleigh Dickinson a doubledigit lead for good.

CCSU trailed 49-38 at the 7:27 mark, but a Strich basket capped a 16-2 Fairleigh Dickinson run. The

Blue Devils were held scoreless for 5:33 during the stretch.

In addition to the efforts of Wade and Dugan, sophomore LaTisha Hatcher had six points and four rebounds in just 14 minutes off the bench. Walkling finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds to lead Fairleigh Dickinson. She also had four steals and three assists. Sophomore Christy Altamirano and Strich, a freshman, each added 13 points for FDU. Altamirano also had eight rebounds.

The Knights out-scored Central Connecticut 32-14 in the paint and capitalized on 23 Blue Devil turnovers, scoring 28 points off the miscues.

Central Connecticut will be on the road for its next contest, a 2 p.m. match-up versus Sacred Heart on Saturday, March 1.

Photos by Stephanie Bergeron / The Recorder

7

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 27, 2008 / SPORTS

Thompson’s Career-High 21 Leads Blue Devils to 73-60 Victory on Thursday CCSUBluedevils.com Freshman Shemik Thompson scored a career-high 21 points and grabbed six rebounds and Central Connecticut held Fairleigh Dickinson to three field goals in the final 14:55 leading to a 73-60 victory for the Blue Devils on Thursday night.

Blue Devils 73 Fairleigh Dickinson

60

CCSU outscored FDU 22-4 in the final 9:59 to improve to 13-14 overall and 9-7 in Northeast Conference play. Freshman Ken Horton posted his third career dou-

ble-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds in the victory.

CCSU is off until next Thursday night when they host Quinnipiac beginning at 7 p.m. Before the game the Blue Devils will honor seniors Tristan Blackwood and Dannie Powell.

Fairleigh Dickinson led 56-51 with 10:21 on the clock before the Blue Devils began to put their offensive and defensive games together.

The Blue Devils would scored 11 straight and 20 of the next 22 points to open up a 71-58 lead with 2:11 on the clock.

The Knights, who hit eight field goals in the first five minutes of the second half, would manage only three more in the final 15 minutes of the game.

After trailing by eight, 50-42, with 14:55 on the clock, CCSU outscored the home team 31-10 in the final 14:55 of the game.

CCSU led by one at the half but by as many as 10 in the first half. They opened the game with a 14-4 lead and had five steals in the first five minutes of the game while using a 12-0 run to take the 10 point lead.

FDU responded with a 9-0 run of its own to cut the lead to 14-13 and would lead 28-27 with 4:32 to play before the half.

The Blue Devils led 32-31 at the break but shot just 13-of-37, 35.1 percent, from the field before halftime. In the second half they would hit on 17-of-31 shots, good for 54.8 percent, including 4-of-10 from three-point land.

CCSU outrebounded the Knights 46-33 in the game and committed only 11 turnovers while dishing out 17 assists. They had nine steals in the game, their second-highest total of the season.

Thompson led the offense with his career-high 21 points, he also added six rebounds in 37 minutes of action. Horton’s 14 points and 11 rebounds were good for the third double-double of his career. He also

Photos by Stephanie Bergeron / The Recorder

added five assists and four blocks in the victory.

Junior Marcus Palmer had 14 points and nine rebounds, including seven straight in the second half to cut the eight point FDU lead to one with 12:48 to play.

Senior guard Tristan Blackwood had 12 points and four assists in the game. He shot just 5-of-19 from the field and 2-of-11 from three. In the game Blackwood made his 116th career start at CCSU, a new school record, passing former Blue Devil Corsley Edwards. He has started all 116 games played in his career with the Blue Devils.

Freshman Aaron Hall added five points, a game-high six assists and 10 rebounds in the winning effort for CCSU. He played key defense in the second half to help fuel the Blue Devil comeback.

CCSU returns to action next Thursday night at home vs. Quinnipiac at 7 p.m. The game will be televised by Cox Sports Television. It is the final regular season home game in the career of Blue Devil seniors Tristan Blackwood and Dannie Powell. They will be honored prior to tip.

8

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 27, 2008 / SPORTS

Devils Send BC Back to Stone Age Kyle Dorau Staff Writer The CCSU Hockey team overcame repeated trips to the sin bin to defeat #9 Boston College 6-4 at the Newington Skating Center on Saturday. With the victory, Central achieved the 20 win plateau for the first time since the 2000-01 season, and extended their win streak to eight.

The Blue Devils prevailed behind multi-goal games from sophomore forward Joe Dabkowski and junior forward Mike DiClemente.

Both teams were heavily penalized in what was a very physical contest, with CCSU spending 25 minutes in the penalty box.

“Our guys get fired up. We like to be physical, but it takes us a little bit to get physical,” said CCSU head coach Jim Mallia.

BC struck first, on an unassisted power play goal by Steven Osipow.

Central answered right back just 23 seconds later, as sophomore forward Kevin McConnell tallied his eighth goal of the season with assists from senior defenseman Todd Healey and senior forward Chris Manemeit.

The Eagles took a 2-1 lead on an Andrew McFarlane goal, but CCSU once again answered, this time on the power play. Dabkowski found the back of the net with less

“We like to be physical, but it takes us a little bit to get physical.” than a minute remaining in the first period to send both teams to the locker room, tied at two.

Central picked up where they left off at the start of the second period, as Dabkowski scored his second

Top: Sophomore forward Kevin McConnell jukes one by a Boston College player. McConnell scored his eighth goal of the season.

Top Left, Top Right, Bottom Right: A.J. Maulucci, sophomore forward, collides with a Boston College player.

Super East League Tournament (Albany NY)

Date

Opponent

Time

Mar 1

#2 CCSU vs. winner of #3Marist / #6 NYU ­– Semi-Final

6:30 p.m.

Mar 2

TBA – Final

12:00 p.m.

Mar 12-16

ACHA National Tournament (Fort Myers FL)

goal of the game just 41 seconds into the frame.

The Blue Devils continued to rally in the third, as sophomore forward Ryan Paglinco scored on the power play to give CCSU a two-goal cushion.

Blue Devils Boston College

6 4

BC skated rather poorly as the game wore on, unable to carve out real estate in front of Blue Devils net minder Carmine Vetrano.

The CCSU goalkeeper had an impressive sequence of saves midway through the period, making a blocker stop, then absorbing a slap shot from the top of the face-off circles to hold down the fort. Vetrano made 32 saves on the night.

On the other end, Mike DiClemente took a nice cross-ice saucer pass from Dabkowski and roofed it high blocker side to make it 5-2 in favor of Central.

The physical tone of the game boiled over late in the third, as Central forwards Erich Stoneman and Shawn Nutcher drove hard to the net and got tangled up with the BC goalie, causing a ruckus behind the net with Boston College players eager to protect their goaltender.

The end result was Nutcher’s night ending prematurely and a 5-minute power play for the Eagles.

“It was definitely just a little lapse of focus,” said Mallia. “That’s something that we need to iron out.

Come next weekend, it’s one and done in postseason play.”

The Eagles cut the lead to two at the 14:21 mark on a Ryan O’Leary power play goal, then came within one on a Ben Rawlings marker to make it 5-4.

CCSU was able to regroup after a timeout, keeping tremendous pressure on the Eagles, who couldn’t get it out of their own zone. During a chaotic scrum in front of the BC net, Mike DiClemente was able to put

the biscuit in the basket to ice the game and make it a 6-4 final.

After the contest, Mallia was quick to praise BC for giving Central a great game to build off of heading into post-season play. “They’re an up and coming program,” he said. “It was a great game. It was a high tempo, up and down, physical postseason-type game.”

Central will head into the Super East Semifinals this weekend in Albany, where they will face the winner of #3 Marist vs. #6 NYU on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. The Super East Championship will take place Sunday at Noon.

In other postseason news, the Blue Devils found out their opposition at the ACHA Divison II National Tournament in Fort Myers, FL. They will enter round robin play with the University of Colorado, Indiana University and the University of Michigan.

“Starting Saturday into the Super East, it’s going to be battles, bumps, bruises, possible blood,” said Mallia. “It’s going to be postseason at its best the next few weeks, but we’re ready for it.”

Photos by Stephanie Bergeron / The Recorder

ALSO INSIDE: Music Reviews - Page 10

- Page 12

American Letdown - Page 11

10 THE RECORDER Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Entertainment

To say it in a few words, Andrew Bird is a god. When Soldier On began to play and the first few sounds of “The Trees Were Mistaken” hit my eardrums, I was drifted away, wondering if the Mrs. Fields cookie I had earlier was “special.”

Bird layers different programmed sounds and instruments on top of each other, like the violin and electric guitar, along with his voice and his distinct whistle to create musical masterpieces. I never thought I could find someone that I could compare the musical talents of Jose Gonzales to, but Bird is extraordinary.

As a first time listener, I was taken back when reading his bio on his Web site. The man can play anything from Hungarian gypsy music to classical, which he was trained in at a young age and picked up completely by ear. He is able to play a multitude of instruments, which I find bares comparison to the likes of musical extraordinaire Sufjan Stevens.

Soldier On is relaxing, beautiful, intense and psychedelic at times. Bird’s whistling during certain tracks is haunting, but unique. It is an unconventional whistle that sounds more like the song of a rare, exotic bird than that of a man, but it works and adds to the layering effect in his songs.

In his bio, his voice is compared to Thom Yorke’s and Rufus Wainwright’s. Much like those two gentlemen, his voice has “a quality all its own.” Soldier On shows off the range and control he is capable of, and it makes me want to explore his other nine albums.

One of my favorite tracks on the album is “Sic of Elephants.” Not only does it showcase his talent, but the lyrics and the sound of his voice bring shivers to my spine. Another song I love is “The Water Jet Cilice,” which is complete with his eerie whistle and sounds Egyptian/Spanish.

“Tales of ritual self-torture / She’s making you abort your / Carefully laid plans / To make a final stand / Rest the world to hand / Scoreless victory for serendipity.”

I really can’t wait to check out more of his albums.

Stephanie Bergeron / Photo Editor

Andrew Bird Soldier On

When I first discovered The Helio Sequence a few months back, all I knew was that they were signed to Sub-Pop Records and they were considered to be indie-rock.

With those two things in mind, I decided to give them a chance because both of those aspects tend to make for amazing music.

The Oregonbased duo isn’t new to the scene by any means; drummer-slash-keyboardist Benjamin Weikel is the ex-drummer of Modest Mouse, and his expertise really shines through on Keep Your Eyes Ahead. This isn’t just the Benajmin Weikel show, though—lead singer and guitarist Brandon Summer’s vocals are top notch and have better range than most people in the same genre.

The Helio Sequence isn’t afraid to change it up, either; their songs on Keep Your Eyes Ahead range from straight rock songs and folk ballads to country-tinged pop, and none of the tracks seem out of place. “Lately,” the album’s leadoff track, starts off with a smooth keyboard build-up, which slowly leads to Summer’s vocals coming out sounding larger than life. This might be one of the few times where vocal chord problems have helped a singer. His vocals are much richer after retraining his voice because of problems on a previous tour.

The album’s third track, “The Captive Mind,” has a more raw sound than the first track, but it works well due to the up-tempo drumming and sped-up vocals. The epitome of this track is the guitar riff about halfway through the song, which brings it from good to great. This single part really shows off what The Helio Sequence is fully capable of. This track also displays small hints to the more popy side, which is rarely seen.

The band packs in a large arrangement of sounds that can please anyone. Despite their unfamiliar name, The Helio Sequence is for real, and I wouldn’t be surprised to start hearing them referred to as “this year’s Band of Horses.” Edward Gaug / Entertainment Editor

The Helio Sequence Keep Your Eyes Ahead

MGMT Oracular Spectacular

Brooklyn-based MGMT, previously known as The Management, has finally seen the fruit of its labor after a two-year run to build up the band’s name since its members graduated from Wesleyan University in 2005. The acronym or abbreviation for the name of the band aside, there is really nothing cut-down or restrained in this album, or in MGMT itself.

Originally, Andrew Vanwyngarden and Ben Goldwasser teamed up to do electronic 15-minute shows on the Wesleyan campus, where they would go out of their way to write a new song to not only wow the audience but to perform the most obnoxious sounds they could think of. Now, they’ve grown up a little.

Oracular Spectacular is a very extravagant compilation of material, especially because each track makes its own splash in a very psychedelic, pop-rock way. It’s something familiar but re-invented, thanks to the touch of music producer David Fridmann (best known for his work with The Flaming Lips, Weezer, and Café Tacuba).

One of my favorite tracks on Oracular Spectacular, “Of Moons, Birds & Monsters,” cleverly blends a lazy tone with faster-paced segments and eventually sinks into a fantastical wallowing in a fashion that reminds me of Pink Floyd. A vibrating and shaky guitar solo around two minutes in marks the climax of the song, and from there the song dips into a stretch of guitar-moaning.

MGMT’s 2005 single, which was originally “Time to Pretend,” seems to have evolved into a upbeat song about reminiscing and moving on, with lyrics like “We are fated to pretend.”

It has one four-note repeating melody only translated into heavy synth-pop base and a flittering high-pitched noise. It’s nostalgic and definitely the kind of song I wouldn’t mind revisiting more than a few times.

I love that even with the aforementioned song, or tracks like “Weekend Wars” that are predominantly modern guitar-driven, MGMT opens the album with “Electric Feel,” a boogie, disco-inspired love song. They really pull out the shag carpeting and a smooth bass line to back up the ’70s-tinged vocals. Save for the lack of a cheesy, dramatic orchestra in spikes and dips, the song could fit easily into a roller-disco playlist.

The album should be available in stores around the United States, and to be honest, I’d consider buying it if it the Internet wasn’t already littered with it.

Edward Gaug / Entertainment Editor I am sad to say that I have never heard of the band Panther before this album, but I know now what I’ve been missing.

This is exactly the type of music I love to hear, although it sometimes puzzles me.

Throughout middle and high school I was trained in music; in fact, I almost came to Central to major in music performance, although I changed my mind. Being trained in music, both the theoretical and technical aspects of it, much of the music that is produced on an album like 14 Kt. God perplexes me because there often is no measurable beat. While it is hard to follow at times, it provides for an amazing, intriguing, intricately-woven masterpiece of an album.

Thirteen tracks complete this album, beginning with the jam “Puerto Rican Jukebox” and finishing with “What You Hear.” The first song is a weird mix of Charlie Salas-Humara, the lead singer, cellist and keyboardist, chanting and singing high-pitched lyrics to a groovy bass line and simple, continued, one-chord guitar riff. The latter song starts off with a quick drum beat and simple guitar line, while SalasHumara sings “When you’re talking on the phone / What you hear is not your own.” He carries on an effortless melody throughout the song, varying in pitch only slightly.

Song titles on 14 Kt. God are as creative as the music, as they should be. They range from “On The Lam” and “Violence, Diamonds,” to “Take Yr Cane” and “Total Sexy Church.”

Panther must have been influenced by nature, as two of the songs’ titles include the word

Panther 14 Kt. Gold

“trees”—“Her Past Are The Trees” and “These Two Trees.”

It’s hard to pick a favorite because each song is uniquely appealing. The band comes across almost as this generation’s adaptation of The Police (one of my all-time favorite bands), with hints of Bob Marley. Ultimately, though, this band is incomparable because they create very much their own sound; it is very difficult to think of another band that sounds like Panther, and that’s the way I like it.

Samantha Sullivan / Copy Editor The Mountain Goats have been a steady force over the last ten years, turning out poetic lyrics that frontman John Darnielle manages to weave into quite a few catchy melodies.

Heretic Pride is their latest since 2006’s Get Lonely, a decidedly hushed and understated album.

This album is not that. Darnielle and company incorporate more instruments around his guitar and lyrics than ever before, possibly risking alienating quite a few purists. The band’s earliest work is nothing more than one man with a guitar and a trembling voice, recorded at home, and you can actually hear the cassette rolling on most of the songs. The Mountain Goats have come to embody a lot of this lo-fi aesthetic, but this album doesn’t get that treatment.

Varying styles spice each track. “San Bernandino” uses slow strings for its dramatic feel, and “Sept. 15, 1983” employs reggae-type upstrokes to give it a pleasant bounce. There is urgent guitar strumming on the opener “Sax Rohmer, Pt. 1,” and “Lovecraft in Brooklyn” might rock harder than anything the band has done before. One of the album’s best effects is the magic-wand twinkles on “How to Embrace a Swamp Creature,” which sound like you just got your kitchen really spic-and-span.

While this album shows the Mountain Goats experimenting with instrumentation more than ever, the lyrics are still the kicker.

Darnielle is a master at juxtaposing innocence with rage, and his attention to detail paints vivid pictures of seedy situations. On the title track, he envisions a blasphemer being dragged through the dirt and tortured by an angry mob.

All the while, he is thinking of the smell of “honeysuckle in the air” and the triumph he believes the reckoning will bring.

Once again, John Darnielle proves himself to be one of the finest troubadours in modern music.

Shedding the straight singer-songwriter approach and expanding their sound benefits him here. This is possibly their best record yet, and The Mountain Goats sound more like a band than ever.

Dan Ivers / Opinion Editor

The Mountain Goats Heretic Pride

The Magnetic Fields Distortion

It’s not often that a band can be around for nearly a decade, release over a half-dozen albums and go relatively unnoticed by most people who are not deeply rooted inside the music scene. The Magnetic Fields have managed to release numerous outstanding albums without ever really catching popularity from any large group of people. I wonder what it was that made them fly under the radar for so long.

Stephen Merritt’s vocals lead the way in every aspect of Distortion, whether it’s his deep, gravely tones on “Old Fools” or his duet with percussionist/pianist Claudia Gonson on “California Girls”—an overall up-tempo single that executes dual vocalists and has almost a ’60s surf-rock vibe to it that feels like a deeper, darker Beach Boys tune.

Distortion is a fitting name for The Magnetic Fields’ most recent release, due to the fact there are numerous spots on the album that remain lo-fi and static-y, though I feel it is there on purpose. It gives the album an older, classic feel, despite that it was recorded in 2007 and not 1977.

“Mr. Misteltoe” brings out Merritt’s deep voice in a dark Christmas tune that was released a few weeks too late for the season for those people who needed a soundtrack to go along with their miserable holiday. The thing that

will seem odd to older listeners of The Magnetic Fields is that their pop sound has all but disappeared in Distortion, giving way to a mature vibe that will make new listeners weary of picking up the album in the first place. Don’t let the sound deter you from listening—Distortion remains an amazing album.

While I wish I knew more about the history of The Magnetic Fields, being a new listener to both their older albums along with their most recent, they seem to draw you in for different reasons with each listen. This can’t be said for most bands that usually stick to a formula and try not to stray from it. The Magnetic Fields’ ability to do this successfully is a gift that should be treasured.

Edward Gaug / Entertainment Editor I am usually all for the weird shit that music can throw at me on a weekly basis, but I think Xiu Xiu might have finally done it and made something that is so weird I can’t listen to it. It was no surprise that this band has ties to Mr. Bungle, the biggest clusterfuck of noise you could find that is still considered listenable music, according to their record label’s (KillRockStars) Web site.

While I have a hard time listening to Women as Lovers, this is by no means a bad review for it. I feel that the music itself is very good, but I just can’t decipher what exactly is going on, and that makes it really hard to review. I guess I’m just not educated enough in the avant-garde music genre.

With a massive explosion of blips and beeps in a track like “F.T.W.,” it is odd to have it followed with such mellow and content lyrics where I am used to having an up-tempo dance tune coinciding. The odd thing is you can still dance to Xiu Xiu even though it might not seem so initially.

With so much going on in every song, the tracks seem to fly by, despite their average three-minute run times. Jamie Stewart’s vocals hit each track in a different way, but there is never an instance where they feel wrong or out of place because the band does a great job of adapting to the surroundings. At points the vocals seem chaotic, and other times they are soft and spoken slowly. Xiu Xiu is chaotic organization.

As much as I would like to call Women as Lovers flawless, I can’t; this is because of the track “Puff and Bunny,” the lyrics of which consist of “hot pepper” throughout 60 percent of the song. You almost had me, but you snuck in this gem in the third-to-last track. So close, so close.

If you are a fan of the weird, Xiu Xiu does it better than most, while maintaining actual talent along with it. Women as Lovers is out in stores already, so go track it down and give it a listen—your life can only get better.

Edward Gaug / Entertainment Editor

Xiu Xiu Women as Lovers

Sia Some People Have Real Problems

With her sophomore album release, on a new and different record label, Hear Music, Sia is at it again with her new record Some People Have Real Problems and boy, is it good.

Having previously worked with artists, Zero 7 on tracks like “Destiny” from their debut album Simple Things, and “Throw It All Away” from the album The Garden, Sia is a veteran to a music genre called “downtempo electronica.”

With each of the albums she has released, Sia has done a great job representing this genre of music.

The track listing on Some People Have Real Problems has a variety of sounds, most of the tracks including underlying piano, brass and strings. They also include many serene, quirky, sad, and sanguine lyrics in the many love songs that make this record so great.

All in all, Some People Have Real Problems is a melting pot of instruments and sounds, along with her down-tempo electronica sound, bringing the album to a very good end, and leaves you wanting more.

Sia is a great artist with a phenomenal new album, and listeners should expect to keep hearing more from her soon.

Eunice Rivera / Staff Writer

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THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 27, 2008 / ENTERTAINMENT

Jumper: Tolerable at Best Chris Demorro Staff Writer

Jumper is a frustrating experience, wrought with potential and vivid imagery that should have been this season’s sleeper hit. Instead, the movie delivers only a glimpse of what it could have been, as a campy and unromantic love plot steals the stage from an otherwise engrossing narrative.

Jumper follows David Rice, played by Hayden Christensen, a troubled teen who accidentally discovers his power of teleportation through a near-death experience.

“Jump” ahead eight years and Dave is living the high life, robbing banks and living in opulent luxury and everyday adventure; teleporting to woo an English lover before hitting the surf off of the Fiji islands; then zapping over Egypt for a late lunch. The first forty-five minutes of the movie are engaging, and as you watch Dave zip all over the planet, admiring majestic vistas, the movie makes you consider where you would go with such an incredible gift.

Naturally, there is a group of Buzz Killingtons that seek to put an end to David’s fun. Headed by the ineffable Samuel L. Jackson, these paladins have high technology in their war against the Jumpers, as we soon learn that David is not the only one with these powers. This is where the movie should have focused its energy and discernable eye for fetching locations on the two Jedi alumni duking it out. But for some reason never fully explained, David decides the best

place in the world to hide would be his former hometown. Here he runs into the movie’s ruin, an annoying and nosy former flame named Millie, played by Rachel Bilson.

Millie is perhaps the worst character conceived for the kind of plot that would have made this a great movie. Instead of being an exciting, adventurous warrior woman, she is whiny and nagging, dragging down the demeanor of the rest of the cast.

The romantic subplot becomes central to the story, and nothing David does seems to be good enough for Millie. The epic war between paladins and Jumpers takes a backseat, and a far more interesting plot involving David’s estranged paladin mother is all but ignored up until the unsatisfying conclusion.

This movie very well could have been 2008’s 300, and all the makings of a masterpiece were there: a brutal war between opposing forces of freedom and oppression; conflict between family and duty; and an odd but effective camaraderie between Dave and Griffin, a fellow Jumper, that was more believable than the forced relationship with Millie.

While a tolerable and interesting movie, Jumper leaves one disappointed and longing for what it could have been. I’d be hard-pressed to recommend this movie to any of my guy friends, though it would be a more appealing option to take a lady friend to see than any of the other Valentine’s Day offerings. Now that the movie has been out for a week, however, there is little else reason to go see it.

Be Kind to Your Movies Matthew Jurkiewicz Staff Writer Be Kind Rewind is the kind of movie you watch when you want to feel good and chuckle a bit. It’s not an Oscar attempt, generic Hollywood comedy or attempt to push a message on its audience—it’s simply a warm, funny movie.

If Be Kind Rewind were a food, it would be a gooey cinnamon bun— warm, rich and satisfying. Okay, so it doesn’t have all the healthiest ingredients within it, and it’s nothing groundbreaking or surprising, which we’ve all had before. But the thing is: sometimes we want a comfort movie just as much as we want comfort food.

It doesn’t need to be five-star quality or have the greatest elements; it just has to appreciate us as much as we appreciate it.

In a story that is quite ludicrous, Mr. Fletcher, played by Danny Glover, leaves the operation of his quaint video store to his adopted son Mike, played by Mos Def, while the elder is away on a trip. While Mike is in charge, his dimwitted buddy Jerry, played by Jack Black, accidentally erases every tape in the store. In order to satisfy the viewing desires of the store’s most loyal customers, Mike and Jerry set out to remake every video in the store—from The Lion King to Robocop.

It’s a ridiculous story, with an ending that can almost be considered a cop-out, but it’s rather enjoyable.

Def plays his innocent and bumbling character down to the mark—he’s rather adorable, actually. Black is as silly as always, and even for someone who despised most of his other works, I thought he was pretty funny. Each character came with their own set of idiosyncrasies, and both actors defined those characteristics poignantly. They make a great duo on-screen, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see more Black/Def titles in the future.

Writer and Director Michel Gondry, maker of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, uses a wealth of experimental shooting techniques, along with a cute story, to bring out some major laughs and make us really

care along the way. Through unique camera angles, sound tricks and creative lighting, Gondry makes the movie a pleasure for the eyes. A couple times he did go overboard with the creativity to the ill effect of the movie, but it was an experiment, and you learn the most from your failures.

The highlights of the film have to be the remade movies. Gondry took the spoof-film, a genre that has been so diluted over the past decade, and made it fresh again. Rather than mocking the films themselves, Gondry spoofs in order to make us see how much these films have affected our lives. The choices Mike and Jerry make when deciding what to put in their films reminds the audience that every person takes away

something very special when they enjoy a movie. Gondry reminds us why we love Ghostbusters and Men in Black—it’s not because the stories are that great, it’s because we relate to and invest in the characters.

When we sit back and attempt to remember a movie we love, we recreate that movie in our heads; we take our favorite bits, pieces and moments and knit them together into something we love and cherish. Gondry reminds us of that process and how important it is—how significant to our lives. Be kind to your movies; you won’t realize how much they mean to you until they disappear.

At just over 90 minutes, Gondry left it to the point. Some critics are going to tell you that the story was not full enough for a feature-length film, but I disagree. Yes, there were a few points where the jokes flopped and the lack of laughs made the movie drag a little, but on the whole, it kept moving. When the picture ended, I knew I liked the film because I felt like I had only been there for half-anhour. The best movies are the ones that seem to fly by.

This is a movie that you can wait until the DVD to see. In fact, waiting to see it until you can rent it would the most poignant way to view the film. Destined to become a cult classic, Be Kind Rewind is definitely the funniest comedy to be released so far this year.

American Letdown

Samantha Sullivan Copy Editor When I was younger, watching American Gladiators, even the reruns, meant watching the making of an American hero on national television. Brave men and women struggled against the body builders who ruled the obstacle courses, which included crossing large gaps by swinging from metal rings while a gladiator tried to pull them down with his or her massive legs and crossing a narrow walkway with a giant Q-tip in hand while trying to knock down the opponent, among other events.

Remembering the excitement of the original show, I was thrilled when I heard it was coming back, revamped and better than ever. The most exciting news was that my favorite childhood wrestler—and yes, I did actually have a favorite wrestler— was set to be the show’s host. Of course, I’m talking about Hulk Hogan, brother! What could be better than one of my favorite shows, hosted by one of my favorite “celebrities”?

Apparently, a lot. The new season of American Gladiators has so far been a great disappointment. In fact, I’m sorry to say that it is the combination of a great show with host Hogan that makes it so ridiculous. The obstacles are equally as difficult as they previously were, and the gladiators are just as intimidating, but the show just doesn’t measure up—and size does matter.

The build-up that came before the show’s first airing did not accurately depict the failure the show would come to be.

Not only is the host lame—often referring to a contestant’s effort as being like a member of the ape family and asking the same stupid questions—but the people on the show are also incredibly dull and cliché. The competitors use predictable and ridiculous lines to express how hard they plan on trying, like “I’m just going to give it 110 percent,” and “I have overcome so much to be here.”

Oh shit, why don’t you just pull out a book of the most commonly used and re-used inspirational and emotional lines and read directly from it?

Someone in this sad world has got to be able to think of something genuine to say.

The build-up that came before the show’s first airing did not accurately depict the failure the show would come to be. While it is bearable and still somewhat exciting, it cannot compare to the original show and will never mean what it meant some 10 years ago. If there is one enjoyable part of the new show, it is the new gladiators, particularly male gladiator Wolf, who is a crazy son of a bitch, and female gladiator (although it is questionable) Helga, whom I think is actually three or more men in a huge, ugly woman’s suit.

12

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 27, 2008 / ENTERTAINMENT

The Chinese Stars ways had us in very interesting venues when we have worked with him.

There is always some kind of strange hall and stuff like that and places like that. I can’t remember what towns they were in, but they have always been very unique. We figured this one would be equally as unique.

Edward Gaug Entertainment Editor This week I was able to sit down and talk with the lead singer of Providence-based The Chinese Stars’ Eric Paul. With a cross-country tour ahead of him and a book release behind him, he shared his thoughts on moving on after the break up of a popular band, how great it is to be playing at unique venues and how writing a book has given him the freedom to use all the abandoned lyrics that just didn’t work. Chinese Stars will be in the area on March 16, when they play the People’s Center in New Haven.

Gaug: That’s one thing Mark and the guys at Manic Productions do so well. They put together these great shows and put them in the weirdest places.

Paul: It just adds a flavor. It’s not like the some old thing. It builds up the excitement, and it builds up the anticipation, and people react more positively.

Edward Gaug: All right Eric, for the readers who might not be familiar with Chinese Stars, can we have a quick idea on who you are, what you do in the band and what the band is all about?

Gaug: Going back to you personally, your Web site said you were going to be releasing a book of poetry and lyrics [I Offered Myself As The Sea] later on this month—how is that going?

Eric Paul: [Long pause] Oh Jesus.

We’re four guys that used to be in other bands that we were in for a really long time. Craig and me were in Arab on Radar for about eight years; Paul [Vieira] was in another band here in Providence and Josh [a.k.a. V. vonRICCI] was in a band, or is actually still in a band called Mahi Mahi.

We basically just write records and tour a lot. I don’t know what else to say about us beside that.

Paul: It was actually released on Monday [February 18]. It came out on Heartworm Press. I have been writing for a while now, and I think it was one of the reasons why I became a singer, so I could actually write those words. I have one other book out that came out in 2000, and I’ve been busy with writing music lately; but this year was pretty relaxed for us, so I really buckled down and collected a lot of my work and wrote some new work.

Gaug: You just mentioned you were in a band called Arab on Radar for a long time. As a musician, how is the transition of playing with one band to playing with another? Is it kind of a touchy subject, where you don’t really want to talk about the old band and try to do everything the way they did it?

Paul: The best way to compare it is to say it’s like being in a relationship with a boy or girl, a boyfriend/girlfriend or husband/wife and when you break up and meet the next person.

It’s just a totally new experience. It somewhat relates because you are what you are from your past band and past experiences. It’s not really touchy because we’re all pretty much of the same mindset, from the start of what Chinese Stars wanted to do as a band and what we wanted to sound like. I think when we first started it was kind of tough because everyone was comparing us to the old band a lot, and it got frustrating because we didn’t intend to make another band the same way. We wanted to do a new thing and for a while, we had some trouble with acceptance, but for now, we have our own solid fan base. We have some of the old fans, and some of the old fans hate it. We just kind of moved on.

Gaug: With Chinese Stars, some might consider you punk; but there is this definite dance-feel to your songs. Have you come across any groups of fans who were expecting something like your older band’s stuff and were blown away by the differences?

Paul: In all honesty, the first record that Arab on Radar put out was very influenced by a few particular records that were of that nature—the dance oriented punk, or whatever it’s called. We were really into those records, and then it just happened that we lost our bass player in Arab on Radar and it didn’t make much sense to play that kind of music anymore.

When this band started, we’ve always really, really liked that sound and feel of that music. So when this band

Gaug: You don’t really sit down and write a book like this. How does writing for a book differ from writing for the band?

Paul: The lyrics are very restrictive, and to have them actually work, there is a lot of work you can’t actually sing because they sound kind of stupid when you sing them. You have to tone down a lot in the lyrics, and they all have to accommodate or adhere to the structure of the song and what everyone else is doing. Whereas when you’re writing for yourself, there are no rules; you just kind of put it down and it becomes a lot of fun.

We like to play more unique places— they tend to have a cooler vibe and people tend to loosen up a lot more. started, with a bass player, we re-visited that again. I think what happened was people ended up knowing Arab on Radar from us as a four-piece, where it was more abstract. When this band came out, we went back to our roots and started making the stuff we made when we were in our early 20s. I think a lot of people were just really bummed about it because it wasn’t as abstract and it wasn’t as noisy. It’s still what we like and the same records still influence us, but it’s just a little different now. As this band has matured, there have been plenty of people who have preferred this band to the last band. You really can’t tell; it’s just a matter of personal taste.

Gaug: Time is going to help that, too, as you keep playing on as Chinese Stars rather than Arab on Radar.

Paul: The comparisons will go away the more we continue to play as a band and stand on our own. It really

has each year this band has gone on.

The last record we put out did really well for us and I think that it’s us solidifying our spot on the map, sort of.

Gaug: Right. You guys are about to go on a nationwide tour in a couple days. What gets you excited when you go out on tour? I know you do it a lot, but is there anything that really gets you excited to go back out on the road, and is there any rhyme or reason to the places that you pick to play? Because it seems like you are playing a bunch of smaller venues.

Paul: We definitely like smaller venues, and we like venues that are sort of, not really club or bar, the whole rock and roll setting. We like to play more unique places—they tend to have a cooler vibe and people tend to loosen up a lot more. In some weird way, like a rock and roll club or bar, they feel conditioned to act in a certain way, where in raw spaces and

stranger venues, people act more impulsively than they would when there are 800 bouncers around and shit like that. Shows end up being a lot of fun and you deal with people who want your band there and appreciate the band and that stuff. When you get into other venues it just becomes a business, and that’s very discouraging. You have to be on guard; you have to worry about things that will happen and stuff like that. It’s just so much easier to keep it simple and as fun as possible.

Gaug: The place you’re playing in Connecticut at the end of your tour on March 16 is the People’s Center in New Haven. That is a quirky type of place. It’s small and gives the whole local, D.I.Y.-scene feel to it because it’s so small and the crowd is so close together.

Paul: I actually haven’t been to that venue yet, but I have worked with Mark [Nussbaum of Manic Productions] before, and he has al-

Gaug: You have so much more freedom when you are writing like that.

Paul: It’s just something that is nice.

A lot of time it is lyrics that were abandoned and poems. Most of the time when I have something in my head, I try to jot it down, which is something I enjoy doing.

Gaug: And it is something you are successful at, considering you are on your second book now.

Paul: My last book [Pussy Pow Wow] did pretty well, and hopefully this one will do equally as well. I feel really good about the people I am working with—the publisher and stuff like that. So far, I have gotten some pretty positive feedback from the people who have bought it and the press.

We’ll see what happens.

Gaug: Is there anything that you want to get out there that we haven’t touched on yet?

Paul: Not really, if you can just mention the new record [Listen to Your Left Brain on Three One G Records] that was released back in March, but we haven’t been able to tour and support that until now.

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 27, 2008

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13

14 THE RECORDER Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Lifestyles

Marie’s Choice

Marissa Blaszko Staff Writer

timeexpo.com

Back in Time: The Timex Museum Angela Beth Macala Staff Writer If you live on-campus and you aren’t controlled by where you’ll get your drinks on the weekend, you probably experience a fair share of boredom. Why not check out an interesting, historical and innovative location, where any curiosity about time and time pieces can be satisfied?

The tour at Timexpo begins on the third floor, where you’re surrounded by a vast array of chronometers and several tastefully decorated panels. While Captain Hook would suffer from a panic attack, I actually found the ticking sounds rather soothing.

Sadly, a few clocks had fallen out of commission; however, bear in mind that I think many of the thirdfloor timepieces date back to the 1800s. Time keeping was a luxury back then—nowadays it’s hard for most people to imagine how they’d manage to get to work or school on time without some type of clock. The third floor shows you the mechanics and evolution of early American time pieces.

The second floor lacked the previous floor’s impressive clock collection, yet it made up for that with a rich display of historical information, facts, figures and photographs, and even a torture test you can do to a wristwatch yourself. You can reach the second half of this floor by walking through the “Time Tunnel,” which leads you to a room that must have been decorated with the help of the History Channel. Despite the lack of chronometer-related material, I found this floor to be engaging. It encouraged me to continue to further investigate the mysteries of the ancient world Timex presented, with the help of almighty Google. A sign of a good museum is one that encourages its visitors to learn more.

The first floor is split between the reception desk, gift shop and the final leg the museum has to offer: the future of clocks, as well as one last tidbit on ancient civilizations. I found the ingenuity of chronometer inventors particularly fascinating. Timex is 150 years old, but these people are still trying to find newer, cooler ways to tell you if it’s time for lunch. Even though it was a runner-up, my favorite innovation was by the person who wants to use biotechnology to give

the palm of your hand touch functions like an iPod, as well as tell you some vital information about your body. Go visit the museum to see what I’m talking about.

I recommend the Timex Museum for people ages 13 and up.

Younger children will struggle to get into the history this place has to offer, despite the interactive attractions on the top two floors. I also recommend doing the “quiz” while touring so it doesn’t feel like you’re just reading a bunch of panels and taking a quick glance at the multitude of timepieces.

It definitely helps you leave with a few more pieces of knowledge in your head. Timexpo’s brochure advertises its availability as a meeting, lecture or party location, and the receptionist also informed me that a yoga group gathers on the second floor every week, so this is really a multi-purpose museum.

If you or someone you know is looking for a relaxing afternoon out of the house, I suggest a trip to the Timex Museum. It’s an easy place to find, just off of I-84’s Exit 22 in Waterbury, and even a broke college student can afford admission (especially if you have AAA).

“So I’ve decided I’m going to use sarcasm to get through this.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah,” my childhood best friend said over the phone. “From now on, it’s just going to be dead babies and fat jokes.”

I smiled. “Like a really bitter Juno?”

“Sort of,” she laughed.

I leaned back in my chair, finally finding the ability to relax. The week before this oddly light-hearted phone call, the girl I’ve known since I was nine (and who, for anonymity reasons, we’ll call ‘Marie’), called me to tell me that she was pregnant.

Marie’s pregnancy wasn’t the one she dreamt of when we were little girls; there was no white wedding, no Paris honeymoon and no suburban nursery. Instead, Marie got a boyfriend that had barely made it through high school, a mother who threw up upon hearing the news and a sticky note with the time of her Planned Parenthood appointment. The girl didn’t even have her driver’s license.

The news had hit me almost as hard as it had hit her. What do you say when a friend calls you crying because she’s a full-time student and doesn’t have the money for an abortion? Do you offer to bring her to a women’s help center, or make a mental note to ignore her next phone call?

Do you listen to her cry, or do you offer some words of wisdom?

The day she told me, I drove over to her house. We talked, we listened, we cried, and we watched I (Heart) Huckabees to get our minds off of things. A week later I found myself on the phone again, listening to her tell stories about how her boyfriend’s pregnant aunt had become a food-eating juggernaut, and how she was just thankful that she wasn’t getting to that point.

So while we sat on the phone (now arguing the theory that abor-

tion was more like amputation than murder, of course), I felt a secret sort of pride for my long-time best friend.

Every day, young women are faced with religious propaganda that claims to be ‘pro-life’ and laws challenging their very basic rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The other half of this problem: Marie’s deadbeat boyfriend and baby’s daddy offers no help, except for advising her that she would be, in fact, committing murder.

The simple truth is this: when the Supreme Court decided on Roe v.

Wade, they saved countless lives.

Although that sentence isn’t one often written or spoken, it is reality.

Life isn’t the juxtaposition of a few stem cells on a woman’s uterus—it’s the children that a young girl plans on having once she’s ‘grown up’ and married; it’s having the freedom to choose what happens with your body; it’s Marie’s choice to go to college next year, childless.

Marie sighed through the receiver. “Do you think I’m making the right choice? I mean, Ted’s still telling me that—” “Don’t listen to a thing that deadbeat has to say. This is your problem, your choice and your child.”

She sighed again. In that single breath of air—that minute, tiny pause—I knew just how hard this was going to be not only for her, but for everyone that knew her. She was like a 5’6” Atlas then, carrying the world not on her back but on her stomach. Her life, the life of a child, her boyfriend’s life, her mother’s life and her friends’ lives—all changed forever, no matter what she did. I was surprised the sheer weight of it all hadn’t snapped her tiny frame in two.

“My choice, huh?”

“Yes Marie, your choice.”

After another pause, I could finally sense the relief in her voice that I so desperately wanted to hear.

“Thank God.”

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 27, 2008 / LIFESTYLES

15

Fly to New Heights Via Songbirds

Stephanie Bergeron / The Recorder

Fear and Loathing in Laser Quest Stephanie Bergeron / The Recorder

Karyn Danforth Lifestyles Editor There is a place for individuals who would rather shop for jewelry with more character than what can be found in overpriced department stores or fine jewelers. For tobacco enthusiasts, the avid smoker would be equally as thrilled to know that this specific shop also carries

Connecticut’s largest collection of glass pipes, hookahs, vaporizers and more.

Songbirds, located at 2551 Berlin Turnpike, has an eclectic range of handcrafted goods from all over the world. “The majority of our selection comes from overseas,” said Datura Damiano, who has worked at the shop for half of its two-year existence.

Hypermilling: Getting the Most Out of Your MPG Chris Demorro Staff Writer Like the summertime temperatures, gas prices are once again set to rise to record levels in the upcoming season. And while automakers are competing to make a whole lot of vapor-ware a four-wheeled reality, many of us are still stuck with daily drivers that get, at best, average gas mileage. So how do you make the most of mom’s hand-me-down Grand Am, or that Pathfinder you bought for a bargain back in high school?

According to a CNN report by Peter Valdes-Dapena, a driving technique called hypermilling can help the operator of any car get up to 35 percent better fuel economy—that is, if you’re willing to adopt a number of stringent policies, like shutting the car off at stoplights and using the cruise control paddles to accelerate.

There are more reasonable suggestions as well, some as simple as obeying the speed limit and accelerating gently, as opposed to goosing the gas at every stop light.

The sad reality is most of us don’t have the patience or desire to restart our vehicles at lights, or to come to a coasting stop rather than using the brakes. Anyone who has driven on our state’s highways can tell you how hairy the high speed thoroughfares can be and how fast many people feel the need to go.

Truthfully, most of us could stand to take our speed down a notch or two.

The cars chosen are cars likely to be driven by college students— hand-me-down vehicles or holdover high school classics, like a 1992 Mercury Sable driven by Central student Pat Hutton. Hutton’s sixteen-

year-old car pulled in a base mileage of about 26 mpg on the highway and 18 in the city. Hutton, who has a girlfriend attending school in North Carolina, makes the 650-mile journey once a month. He estimates his speed between 75 and 80 mph throughout the entirety of his trip.

Driving this way, he managed to get 380 miles out of his 15-gallon tank on his descent, or about 24 miles per gallon. Hutton reported that on his return, by driving the speed limit of 65mph, he got 450 miles out of the same 15 gallon tank, or about 30 miles per gallon on the long highway drive.

I applied the same principles to my own 1992 Jeep Wrangler, which averages about 15 miles per gallon around the city and 20 on the highway. However, I most often use my vehicle for short hops between my apartment and campus, or for a 45-minute highway jaunt in any direction. The week I drove faster than the speed limit, I managed only 200 miles out of a tank, scoring 14 miles per gallon (although I did manage to stretch those miles out over the course of five days). By begrudgingly obeying the posted speed limits around campus and throughout New Britain, my mileage leapt up to about 18 miles per gallon, netting me about 250 miles before I had to fill up.

So what does all of this boil down to? It depends on how you look at it, really. Hypermilling is, for some people, a very serious principle they follow in practicing what they preach.

For the rest of us, just lightening up our lead foot could stretch our mileage out quite a bit, especially on long journeys.

Privately owned by a couple who has traveled all over the world, the establishment is an eye-opener for true cosmopolitans. As a selection of music from different countries and time periods satiate the eardrums, your sense of smell is flooded with the fruity, musky scent of incense.

Sterling silver rings, bracelets and necklaces are on display in the glass cases, each embedded with varying gemstones such as moonstone, tiger’s eye, turquoise, amber and others. Gemstones have more personality than your typical 18K white platinum diamond ring, and Songbirds’ jewelry is reasonably priced and affordable. “We have jewelry sales every weekend,” Damiano said.

“Our stock is constantly new,” she explained while pointing out some particular pieces. Wooden drawers shaped like tree stumps are displayed throughout, which would be perfect to hold one’s newly-purchased gemstone jewels. These drawers were specially handcrafted and shipped by an artisan from Costa Rica. Near the drawers are handcrafted wooden layered puzzles, in shapes ranging from puppies to guitars.

Local artists’ paintings adorn the walls, from oil-based to prints, and elegant yet funky bells and wind chimes hang from the ceiling.

Sculptures of ethnic faces stare up at you from display tables, balanced out with treasures from all over the globe.

There are even some cute odds and ends in the store, such as bowls made out of old records, bongos, tiedye shirts, hand puppets and natural soy wax candles made in Connecticut.

Smoking objects are in a room adjacent to the main section of the store, which is off-limits to minors under 18 years of age; individuals are carded as they enter. Songbirds represents the Illadelph Glass Company, which is a manufacturer of innovative hand-blown glass water pipes, sent here all the way from Hollywood, California.

Supporting small businesses and artists is crucial, and Songbirds understands this often forgotten fact.

It’s beneficial to the consumer because of the quality, not quantity, and it can open up a world of insight to adventurous souls. Heck, it might even compel you to do a little exploration of your own.

Stephanie Bergeron Photo Editor There is nothing more fulfilling than chasing around a chubby, 13-year-old kid wearing Jnco jeans with a mouth full of metal fencing, and shooting his lights out. Only one place can fulfill such a craving: Laser Quest.

It was hard for me to assemble a team so fierce that, in their 20’s, did not blink an eye to the thought of reverting back to their childhood. I needed agile, fast, fearless warriors that would not think twice about popping a laser into a pig-tailed-9year-old’s chest. Once that team was assembled, and after being denied by those too afraid at the possibility of losing to a group of Hannah Montana fans, my team was ready.

Walking in at 9:30 on a Saturday night, we immediately walked out, across the parking lot, to the Chili’s bar and downed four Presidente Margaritas. It is only then, rocking a slight buzz that you are truly ready for the war that is to come.

That’s what Laser Tag is—war.

It is war against the young and the old, your family, friends, strangers, brats or your own fear of the dark.

But, whatever you go in ready to battle, you have to remember: it’s lurking behind every corner, waiting to annihilate you.

Upon reentering, I noticed a lot more than just the Lollipop Guild running around drugged up on sugar and Coke. There were college-aged kids—some even older—provoked by purer substances from God’s good earth. Waiting in line to proclaim my codename, Mrs. K, I noticed members on my own team, eyes beating red, already succumbing to “The Fear.” Being surrounded by children running around like wild animals, ready to pounce on anyone who even dare look at their last Airhead is terrifying, especially when they look up at you and simply stare.

Phase three comes at you fast, and soon enough you hear yourself muttering the player’s code like robots only thinking of their prey, and not the words they speak. “I will not run, climb or jump. I will not use offensive language.” The brace face to my right looks at his friend—both without parental supervision—and whispers, “fuck that,” as the other kid commands a low five.

A door slides open in the far, right-hand corner, and a stampede ensues. At this point, there is no time to stay by whom you came with, and no time to hold your girlfriend’s

hand. You keep your eyes focused on the door, and you pray to God that you don’t get the vest that is 1. broken or 2. coated in snot from the pickand-flick kid who came before you.

As you assemble your vest and activate your gun with a neon-yellow strip handed to you at Phase 1, you begin to sweat. The instructors warn you every God forsaken two minutes that the game is about to start, and suddenly everything goes wrong. You panic and realize you are wearing white pants with a white thong—sure to glorify your assets in the ultrablack light; not to mention, making you a glow-in-the-dark, moving target.

Next, you finally move into the lair that will be your combat zone for the next 30 minutes of unadulterated adrenaline and fear. You run to be the first on top of the tower; but no sooner are you up there that you realize everyone had the same idea. A siren goes off. The game begins, and the player’s code has long been forgotten.

Running at warp speed to find the best hideout for you and your team, you find it—the perfect corner, centrally located with constant foot traffic. Here you devise a plan: you aim high, while I go low. It works until that one kid, the kid who has a stick-on tattoo of laser, finds you everywhere, no matter what you do.

This kid was as fast as a cheetah, and wore all black, complete with cap. There was no one angle where you could see his face in pure light.

He was a ghost. He moved a la Snake from Mortal Kombat and would fire at you in complete silence and leave as fast as he appeared. If you sought revenge, you couldn’t find him, and then, suddenly, he was above you, firing. You scream and curse at him and demand to end the creep show, but it is go big or go home for him.

Even if you show up uninterested in giving the game a valiant effort, you get completely engulfed in the rush. You realize you aren’t the oldest person inside, and, in actuality, you are right in between. Suddenly, the munchkins aren’t your sole target, but everyone—even your friends.

You lose your mind in the game and forget that’s what it is. Unexpectedly, you feel like your life is at stake and the game becomes something…it becomes your mission, your Quest.

Laser Quest is located at 3005 Berlin Turnpike in Newington. Hours are Tuesday-Wednesday 4-9 p.m., Thursday 4-10 p.m., Friday 4-midnight, Saturday 10-midnight and Sunday 10-7 p.m.

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THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 27, 2008 / LIFESTYLES

Shady Glen: Keeping it Old School

Karyn Danforth Lifestyles Editor Sixty years ago, one man created the world’s first lactic attack of a cheeseburger that has become a historical, yet delectable monument to the city of Manchester.

As of today, customers at Shady Glen, located at 840 Middle Turnpike, frequently order this well-known burger, having been aptly named after its creator, Bernice Reig.

For newcomers, coming faceto-face with this edible masterpiece of art can solicit an odd reaction; to describe it in words isn’t doing it enough justice. To really tell its tale is to explain the preparation process.

With an ordinary slab of meat and three to four pieces of your everyday American cheese, both are combined to make something extraordinary. The slices of cheese are carefully placed as a mosaic on top of the meat patty as it sizzles, so that the edges untouched by the meat melt directly onto the grill. Contact with the hot surface allows the edges to turn chewy and crispy, and when dolled up with a bun, curves around the sandwich as if a clam was sticking its tongue out at someone.

A rather fun aspect of Shady Glen is the customers’ experience of getting to watch everything being prepared right in the middle of the old dairy bar. That’s because the booths and tables rest around the restaurant’s cooking area; waitresses adorned in 1950s garb of pine-green dresses with aprons take orders, while cooks and bus boys saunter around in white button down shirts, bow ties and hats.

Shady Glen Dairy Bar is accustomed to their old-fashioned appeal, because it is what keeps customers coming back, that and their delicious burgers and homemade ice cream.

A common favorite platter amongst visitors would be the Bernice Special. For nine dollars, a decent sized platter of French fries and homemade coleslaw comes alongside your cheese-nificent burger. The waitress then sets a caddy full of ketchup, mustard, onions and relish

down so that the customer can decorate his/her burger however they wish. For just a small additional cost, tomatoes and lettuce can be added as well.

Once seated, little paper cups of water are served, but what drink complements the burger the best? An old-fashioned milkshake of course, filled to the brim in a tall silver cup.

The waitress gives you the entire beaker, so that you may help yourself to a couple chilly refills. Milkshakes are available in every flavor; some are rather eclectic, and range from vanilla, to grape-nuts or even chocolate Almond Joy ice cream.

For desserts, Shady Glen offers sundaes and fruit ice creams, which are crammed with fresh fruit from local and regional farms. “From the ice cream to the burgers, everything is fresh,” says William Hoch, the executive manager of Shady Glen.

Hoch goes to work at the crack of dawn everyday, and is very dedicated to the business. “The cleanliness, product and service are what counts, even down to the 1950s atmosphere.”

Let me describe one process in hopes of making your mouth water.

Some of the ice creams are topped with a rich, gooey chocolate sauce that hardens upon impact with the chilly treat, causing an explosion of rich, fudgy chunks.

Six dollars can take home your very own selection of hand-packed ice cream, and around the holidays, a half-gallon of Christmas ice cream (with red and green cherries) or some Thanksgiving pumpkin ice cream.

Amidst the shiny, stainless steel communal counters and colorful murals adorning the walls, lay booths full of amazingly satisfied customers.

“It has been a great business,” Hoch said as he spoke about the 60 year annivesary. The food is the same as it was in 1948, and won’t be changing anytime soon.

The art of Shady Glen’s cheeseburger has made this roadside restaurant a must, and even if Bernice made his signature burger mistakenly, it proves that good always comes out of the bad.

Photos by Stephanie Bergeron / The Recorder