vol105issue03

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

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

Stoner Movie of the Summer: Pineapple Express flies high under

the radar. Page 12

Volume 105 No. 3

Album Reviews: How do bands such as Ra Ra

Riot, The Cure (remixed), The Stills, Burst and Metallica measure up? Page 10

Energize Your Coffee Routine: The Recorder

staff picks eight great coffee shops to mix up your caffeine routine. Page 15

What the Election Means for the Environment

Birth Control Methods Explained JEANNE BUJALSKI Staff Writer

Edward Gaug / The Recorder

Rev. Tom Carr said human beings face a moral issue in caring for the environment.

Amanda Ciccatelli News Editor

A discussion on the presidential election’s influence on the environment focused on the demand for a real bipartisan climate change plan and commitment across the nation, Monday’s panel concluded.

President Jack Miller explained the concern of the environment for the 2008 election is timely and important. “We all want an improved

environment, but we have to deal with the sacrifices we make,” Miller said.

Rev. Tom Carr, co-founder of Interreligious Eco-Justice Network, explained that the environment is not just an issue aside from all those politically debated in the United States.

“The environment is the context in which everything happens. We are just as much a part of it as the polar ice caps.”

According to moderator Tom Condon, these environmental issues appear to be pushed aside from the rest. Carr emphasized that it’s human beings’ responsibility to Earth to do their part to help. “This is a deep and profound, moral and ethical and spiritual issue,” he said.

Yale professor Daniel Esty pointed out that stewardship is needed for environmental improvement, but the energy is failing. He explained that human beings are currently fac-

ing a significant and multidimensional challenge with the structural imbalance of fossil fuels and their costs. “The thought that we will drill our way out of this is beside the point,” Esty said.

As long as the United States is dependent on fossil fuels, it will be connected to dangerous places across the world. Esty believes we need economic logic to guide the country to a solution to a future power source as precious as oil. “This is where the See Elections Page 2

CCSU health services held an open session last Thursday aimed at informing women of the different forms of birth control on the market.

The session was held in the Women’s Center lounge, located in the Student Center. Jamie Beers, who works for the Hartford Gynecology Center, spoke about the positives and negatives of certain birth control methods.

According to Beers, the popular birth control pill YAZ can be 99.7 percent effective in preventing pregnancy, but can also cause an increase in potassium. Beers also discussed that taking antibiotics and not taking the pill at the same time everyday can reduce the pill’s effectiveness. Beers dispelled the myth that birth control pills cause weight gain, however, she explained, the pill may cause a spike in appetite.

Beers had a display of alternative birth control methods, including condoms, rings and patches. What many young women don’t know about condoms, said Beers, is that they are only 75 percent effective against preventing pregnancy; looking into an alternative method may be best for some women.

A newer product, called the Nueva Ring, is a substitute for the pill that inserted by a doctor and provides a small dose of hormones everyday. A lesser-known method called Implanon can be inserted into the underarm by a doctor and can prevent pregnancy for up to three years.

Several women at the session asked questions about the best method for them, and about how to prevent contracting sexually transmitted diseases as well.

“Chlamydia is the most common STD among young adults,” exSee Birth Control Page 2

CCSU Cancels December Commencement Devils Fall to Catamounts AMANDA CICCATELLI News Editor

On July 21, 2008 the CCSU student body received an official statement via e-mail from President Jack Miller and Provost Carl Lovitt stating that, after discussions with students, faculty, and staff, it was decided that fall commencement be cancelled and combined with the spring commencement.

The email argues that in the past few years, there were not enough students in attendance of the fall and spring commencements to balance out the extra cost.

“There appear to be no clear benefits of holding commencement in December, especially considering the additional cost, arrangements for speakers, event management, and demand on faculty and staff time,” it stated.

“There was no higher of a percentage of students who attended Commencement in December,” said Miller. “We were not facilitating more students to go.” CCSU was the

only university in the CSU system to add the fall commencement three years ago, and according to Central’s statistics, about 40 percent of students do not attend commencement each year.

In addition, due to guidelines designed by the CSU System Office, the winter commencement would have been scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 20, during finals week. Miller and Lovitt feel this date would cause problems for faculty, staff, students and their families.

Miller said that what prompted the discussion to get rid of winter commencement was a request from a group of graduate students who preferred to have their ceremony separate from undergraduates. Miller also explained that by holding a commencement ceremony during finals, CCSU was violating a rule that Miller came across when he and colleagues started looking at other options.

After several meetings with students, faculty and staff to discuss the issue, Miller found that a majority of participants admitted that they

would not want to attend a graduation ceremony held during the holiday season.

“The e-mail was news to me,” said Student Government Association President Alex Estrom. “Why now are we enforcing these rules?”

After contacting Sr. Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs Louise H. Feroe, Estrom said he received an e-mail explaining that the decision to cancel commencement was CCSU’s decision and the that university will still honor students who complete their degree in December.

Estrom also said that students were not fully involved in the decision making process. Students were included in the discussion of other options, but before a decision was made in collaboration with students, the email was sent out.

As stated in the email, “We recognize that some of you will be disappointed with the decision to return to the schedule that was the norm for many years at this institution.

Nevertheless, we think that, consid-

See December Page 3

Conrad Akier/ Special to The Recorder

See UVM Catamounts Page 8

2

News

THE RECORDER Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The Recorder

Student Center 1615 Stanley Street New Britain CT 06050 T 860.832.3744 F 860.832.3747 ccsurecorder@gmail.com http://clubs.ccsu.edu/ recorder/

Editor-in-Chief Melissa Traynor Managing Editor Peter Collin Art Director Steven Spencer Associate Layout Editor Edward Gaug Copy Editor Aril Grain Entertainment Editor Nick Viccione Lifestyles Editor Jane Natoli News Amanda Ciccatelli Sports Editor Kyle Dorau Opinion Editor Marissa Blaszko Editor-at-Large Karyn Danforth Web Editor John Vignali Illustrator Stefano Delli Carpini

Staff

Brad Cooper Ryan Yeomans Sarah Bogues Mallory Costa Caroline Dearborn Lindsay LeFort Tiffany Failla Steve Packnick Jeanne Bujalski Misbah Akbar P.J. Decoteau Sean Fenwick Michael Walsh

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 Editor-in-Chief.

The purpose of The Recorder is to approach and define issues of importance to the students of Central Connecticut State University.

Birth Control Methods Explained continued from page 1

plained Beers. “And 69.3 percent of people between the ages of 15 and 29 are diagnosed with Chlamydia every year.”

According to Beers, the best way to prevent an STD is communications and always using condoms since the pill, patch and ring do not protect against STDs. Since sex education is not offered in many schools around the country, so many young people are not aware of how to protect themselves from pregnancy and STDs. Every month the CCSU Women’s Center will be discussing a new topic aimed at informing women about their sexual, mental and physical health. Students are encouraged to visit the Women’s Lounge, located in room 215 on the second floor of the student center.

With a prescription, a CCSU student can get her birth control pill refills in the Health Services office on campus, or from the surrounding Planned Parenthood offices.

Misbah Akbar / The Recorder

uPhones: Colleges Distribute Technology to Students Meghan Pesch The Tufts Daily (Tufts University)

(U-WIRE) – As brand new college freshmen flooded university campuses earlier this month, some were greeted with more than just a Nalgene bottle and a class of 2012 shirt. In an effort to bring the latest technology into the classroom, several universities decided to give every student a new iPhone or iPod touch.

The University of Maryland, Abilene Christian University, Oklahoma Christian University and Freed-Hardeman University are among the schools that have chosen to give out the devices to some or all of their students this year. By doing so, schools hope that students will take advantage of the technology to connect to academia in the same way that they would connect with friends.

George Saltsman, director of educational technology at Abilene Christian, hopes that now students will be able to more easily immerse themselves in their academics.

“Students take their cell phones everywhere; it’s the way they interact with the world,” Saltsman said. “We want them to be that way in their academics. We want students to have the same opportunity to engage in academics as they do socially.”

The iPhones and iPods the students receive from their schools are the same as those available to the public, but include special applications that are specific to the students’ schools. The Abilene Christian University iPhones have an interactive map feature that can track the

phone and give directions to the student’s next class. The phones can also be used to poll the class, giving the professor instant feedback from the students.

“They are a way to interact with students,” Saltsman said. “Instead of everyone having a clicker, [the] phone is the clicker. It becomes a way to have a response system. It gives the professor a formative way of taking the pulse of the class.”

The phones also have a mobile form of a program similar to Blackboard, where professors can share documents with students.

“Teachers can also put documents and pretty much all other forms of media up on the server for students to access from their iPhones,” Saltsman said, “so the system is paperless and, for the most part, green.”

Although advanced technology in the classroom is by no means a new phenomenon, the introduction of the iPhone to the classroom meant that many teachers were forced into new ways of teaching. The faculty at Abilene Christian was required to attend several training sessions to familiarize themselves with the technologies. The school has introduced the program slowly, so teachers can adjust their syllabi and teaching style.

“We started with just the incoming freshmen this year, and since not all of our classes are ubiquitous – we don’t have any all-freshman classes – it gives the faculty time to get used to the technology,” Saltsman said. “The inaugural faculty agreed to two training courses, the first of which was basic iPhone use, like syncing it with your computer, and

Elections and the Environment Obama administration will be very different than the Bush administration,” he said.

Panelist Ned Lamont stated that congress needs to make improving the environment a part of peoples’ lives. He said that both Senators John McCain and Barack Obama should talk about environmental issues that are relevant to lives of American people. “You can make the environment an important, salient issue,” Lamont said. They should discuss expensive gas prices and the extra costs it will take for people to heat their homes in the winter, but also talk about efficient alternative options.

In order for a real change to happen in Washington D.C., not just in Connecticut, Conn. House Majority Leader Chris Donovan said, that American needs to elect a new

the second session was more about how to use it in a classroom setting.”

While Abilene Christian has decided to integrate the technology slowly, starting with only the incoming freshmen and roughly half the faculty, other schools have offered the phone to the entire student body.

At the University of Maryland, any student can receive the phone on the condition that they participate in a feedback seminar.

Stanford University also offers the iPhone to all students, but they must be willing to pay the costs of the phone.

Freshman Jory Hanselman feels that giving every student an iPhone is unnecessary. “I think that besides just wanting an iPhone, it’s a little extravagant,” Hanselman said.

“Students don’t really need that around a college campus.”

Senior Christina Kelly also feels that although technology is an important part of the modern education process, it is excessive to provide every student with an expensive phone. “Especially now, we expect technology to be that convenient and that accessible,” Kelly said. “But, my immediate reaction is that we don’t all need iPhones.”

While the iPhones students have received allow them to give instant feedback and have a tighter connection around campus, they also provide students with Internet access from any seat in the classroom, the ability to text friends around campus and the power to download hundreds of games.

“It would definitely be a distraction,” said Hanselman. “I would use it to check the weather all the time.”

apple.com

continued from page 1

type of president or more Democrats.

Donovan said a Republican president is against many of the bills and proposals about the environment and can veto any. “We can not get where we need to go on this issue if we are split into Republican and Democratic parties,” said Esty. Esty calls Obama “a bridge builder” emphasizing that the Democratic presidential candidate has what it takes in his nature to make an environmental change during his term.

According to Rep. Raymond Kilanowski of the 100 th District, Conn., New England is in good progress having passed a climate change action plan a few years ago in Connecticut. Lamont believes it is essential that the United States take the lead, not just Connecticut.

Lamont said n the long term, consumer demand for clean energy sources will happen and the government will do everything in their power to accommodate the environment and demand of the people who are paying high prices on efficient energy to run their car and their heat.

A bill passed legislation for a mass transit system to run from New Haven, Conn. to Springfield, Mass. according to Donovan. Three billion dollars has been set aside for an energy and money saving transportation system, but the money is slow. He said the Mass Transit system will be built because CT saved the money, but he said, “If you don’t have the resources, things are going to stay the same.” Donovan made a point that without hardworking people like himself and the panel, issues like en-

vironmental stability are not improved.

“If we fall in love with life again, if we fall in love with the Earth again, if we spend time on our rooftops looking at the stars, or go to the park,” Carr said, this should be the simple down-to-earth way for humans to become aware of their environment and want to be a part of the change.

All the panelists agreed that there are risks in making a change like this one. “There is risk to be taken, money to be made and money to be lost,” Esty said. He believes every person must work together and cooperate, while every country in the world plays a role as well.

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THE RECORDER / Wednesday, September 17, 2008 / NEWS

Binge Drinking: Is 21 the Real Barrier?

AMANDA CICCATELLI News Editor

Every year there is another discussion about the high instance binge drinking on college campuses with a different set of statistics.

Yet each year, the number of underage drinkers appears on the rise. Such evidence could cause one to wonder whether the legal drinking age of 21 is part of the problem.

The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 says that all states were required to raise their minimum purchase and public possession of alcohol to age to 21. It also prohibits alcohol purchase and public possession of any alcoholic beverages to minors or youths under 21 years old. Yet, those under-age continue to use alcohol knowing that is illegal.

According to drinkingamongteens.com, in the 1980s the average age that people started drinking was 18, but by the 1990s, the average age had dropped to 16. Statistics on this Web site also state that nearly 44 percent of eighth grade students, 63 percent of high school sophomores and 75 percent of high school seniors were reported to be consuming alcohol in the past year.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism’s national survey data concludes that approximately four in five college students drink regularly and half of these students engage in binge drinking.

Binge drinking is typically defined for men as consuming five or more drinks in a row and for women as four or more drinks in a row.

A moderate user of alcohol is considered someone who drinks once per week or once per month. According to NIAAA, approximately two out of every five college students, or 40 percent, participate in binge drinking at least once every two weeks.

The U.S. Department of Health Services and the Surgeon General consider binge drinking among college students to be a serious health risk. The U.S. public health website Healthypeople.gov also agrees that excessive alcohol consumption is a health risk and are therefore working to lower the rate of college binge drinking in the U.S. by 39 percent by 2010.

“Binge drinking is a national problem,” stated one National Center for Health Statistics report. “The perception that alcohol use is socially acceptable correlates with the fact that more than 80 percent of American youth consume alcohol before their 21st birthday.

Widespread societal expectations that young persons will engage in binge drinking may encourage this highly dangerous form of alcohol consumption.”

More extreme forms of drinking are also apparent at colleges. A study from NCHS claimed that college students who binge drink three times a week or more increased from 20 percent to 23 percent between 1993 and 1999.

On the other hand, the study also shows the number of college students who do not engage in drinking increased from 15 to 19 percent.

In the CCSU community, many students agree with the idea that binge drinking is a problem and that the drinking age is to blame for kids starting to drink alcohol earlier.

“I think that most teenagers equate being a ‘grown up’ to being able to drink,” said Teri Mastrianna, a 21-year-old senior at CCSU. “So by drinking at an early age they’re trying to act older than they are. If the drinking age were lowered, maybe they would feel like they have more responsibilities and drink less because they will become accustomed to it,” she said.

As a serious problem on many college campuses, binge drinking specifically affects 18 to 21-year-olds.

Dan Rovella, a Criminal Justice major at CCSU, explained that as a teenager, a person’s hormones are up and down and often causes the teen’s behavior to be irrational.

“The last thing they need is alcohol because it is a depressant,” he said. “Since young adults can act irrationally, this could lead them to get hurt and hurt others in the process.”

Emily Cowen, a 22-year-old student at Salve Regina University had a different point of view.

“I think that if the drinking age were lower than there would be a lot less cases of binge drinking and people getting hurt by the effects of alcohol,” she said.

When studying abroad in Rome for a semester, Cowen observed a difference in the drinking habits of Europeans versus Americans.

“Italians our age and even younger would not drink the amount that the Americans would,” she explained. “Drinking is something that Americans can’t do legally until they are 21 it causes them to go crazy when they can get their hands on it.”

Cowen observed that Europeans are more accustomed to alcohol because they are exposed at a much younger than their American counterparts. In contrast, after turning 21, many Americans are not as interested in binge drinking because they had been binge drinking for years and suddenly it is not so appealing to them.

“Once they are old enough to be legal to drink that feeling of risk and desire to drink has lost its appeal. I think that due to this reasoning the drinking age should be lowered,” said Cowen.

Students Wonder Why BYU Blocked YouTube Todd Holbrook

The Daily Universe (Brigham Young University)

(U-WIRE) - It could happen to you. A bright red stop sign-shaped image pops up on your screen, stopping you from going any further in your Internet search. As you frantically try to close the window without anyone thinking about what you may be up to, remember that at Brigham Young University, YouTube is not allowed.

In an effort to be more consistent with its mission statement, BYU limited Internet surfing in the fall of 2006 to exclude sites like YouTube from campus.

BYU implements many strategies to maintain the Honor Code. The offensiveness that can be found on YouTube is what qualifies it to be blocked from campus.

“YouTube relies on its users to report offensive videos, and unfortunately not all of them are removed promptly,” BYU spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said. “BYU’s network resources can’t be the means for these videos to be made available.”

BYU does allow some video-sharing sites on campus.

“Some other video-sharing sites, such as Google Video, use different internal filtering systems that do a better job of catching offensive content,” Jenkins said. “That’s why Google Video is available on the BYU network. Now that Google has acquired YouTube, we hope that someday those systems will also be applied to YouTube.”

The limitation makes an impact on students of all ages. Some incoming freshmen who have recently learned about YouTube being blocked on campus have questions about the rule, but are not entirely upset about it.

“Why is it blocked? The assumption that YouTube is entirely bad is wrong,” said Jenn Woodward, a freshman majoring in physical and developmental biology. “I have some issues with it, but YouTube is not a necessity. My life has gone on without it.”

Students, single and married, will also find that Internet restrictions also apply to oncampus housing. Older students said that while the reasons are understood, the YouTube restriction is inconvenient.

“I understand BYU’s argument that YouTube takes up too much space on campus computers that are for the sole purpose of education,” said Erik Agle, a senior majoring in music dance theatre. “For students like myself, who major in the performing arts, there is a wealth of valuable educational material on YouTube that our educational provider is preventing us from accessing.”

Agle’s wife, Darlene, suggested the policy is still fair.

“I’ve lived on campus for four years now, so I don’t know exactly what I’m missing, but I bet it’s a good lot,” she said. “We deal with a 24/7 block, not just a school day inconvenience.

However, our Internet connection is free here, so how much can one demand?”

Every department on campus has its own mission statement, including the Office of Information and Technology-the department that oversees open access computer labs and the on-campus Internet connection.

The mission statement of the Office of IT is “to enrich the BYU environment by making it inspiring, comforting, productive and safe,” according to its Web site.

“Once students know the university’s reason for not making YouTube available, they are generally quite accepting of the decision,” Jenkins said.

December Commencement Canceled continued from page 1

ering all of the information and listening to all of the opinions, this is the wisest decision.”

“I think it is money,” said Estrom.

“Governor Rell is leaning heavily on CCSU. She is looking to cut costs.”

He sympathized with Central’s upcoming seniors. “We don’t have the money to celebrate after we have spent thousands of dollars to graduate,” he said.

Estrom also stated that whether winter commencement is held or not, the SGA will hold a celebration for the upcoming December graduates. Although far from a graduation ceremony, the celebration has already gained the support of President Miller and the Vice President of Student Affairs, Laura Tordenti.

Estrom emphasized that students graduating this year will be receiving diplomas and will have a degree from Central when they have completed their classes in December. Students will also have the choice to either walk in the previous spring commencement or the one following their graduation date. Yet, there are many students who are disappointed that now they have to wait an extra semester to be in the graduation ceremony.

“I was planning on moving and now I have to stay here to graduate,” Keri Welch, a senior due to graduate in December explained. “I feel like if I don’t graduate in December and get my diploma, it won’t be final.”

“I understand completely where the students are coming from. I do understand their feelings,” said Miller. “I wish there wasn’t a rule, but there is.”

However, not everyone is upset by this change of plans.

“I think it would be nice to graduate in the spring,” said SGA Senator Megan Dwyer. “I was really frustrated when people said I couldn’t graduate one semester early or later, so when I got the email I was really happy.”

Also, now that the spring ceremony will be held at the XL Center in Hartford, some students are pleased to hear that they will be graduating somewhere other than the Welte Auditorium.

“I am happy that I will be graduating at an overall better ceremony and I get to be with my friends,” said Dwyer.

“We want to do what’s best for students so we are looking to have a celebration to bring people together,” said Miller.

The spring 2009 commencement will be broken into two ceremonies and held on Saturday, May 23, in the Hartford Civic Center.

4 THE RECORDER Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Editorial

Editorial/Opinion

As reluctant as this newspaper is to cover journalism-related events, let alone reporting on The Recorder itself, we’d be remiss if a certain Freedom of Information Act case went unnoticed by the larger CCSU community. It is a request that the paper was denied, but in the long run we hope to regard it as a victory.

In the afternoon of Nov. 5, a meeting called together by the Faculty Senate closed its doors to students including a few reporters and a photographer for The Recorder. It was the beginning of a climax of the controversies surrounding President Jack Miller and the faculty were encouraged to not only speak their views on a proposed vote of no-confidence, but to also stand atop a soap box to sway the votes.

To protect the privacy of un-tenured faculty while they may have opposed Miller, they claim, students were shut out as well as the press. As a collective voice, The Recorder filed an FOI complaint on the grounds that the meeting was in fact one by the Faculty Senate and we awaited a hearing date.

To student journalists, filing an FOI case can mean a few things: at first the idea of questioning some larger authority, or the Faculty Senate in our situation, was almost a rush of self-

Letter to the Editor I’m sure some of you have seen the signs around campus for the campus group “Youth for Socialist Action.” It portrays a tentacled businessman, gripping bombs and guns as he’s strangling the world.

Underneath it, it reads “we oppose all wars waged by the capitalist/imperialist system.

I can’t help but wonder if these people oppose or even care about all the wars waged by the socialist/communist system. Have they forgotten that France waged war in Algeria when it had communist and socialist presidents? Did they forget the Soviet Union’s invasion of Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan?

Did they forget that Vietnamese communists went to war with Cambodia and Laos even while it was fighting the US, and went to war with Cambodia again after its victory?

Did they forget Cuba’s interventions in Grenada and Africa, and their assistance to Socialist Ethiopia’s invasion of Somalia, which has permanently destabilized the Horn of Africa and has brought about war after war and famine after famine?

Have they forgotten all the “People’s Wars” waged by Marxist rebels in Latin America, which left tens of thousands of mutilated corpses strewn throughout the jungles and mountains of Colombia and Peru?

It would appear that the left’s opposition to war is selective on who’s waging that war.

Steven Bensics CCSU Student

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righteousness. When the Faculty Senate closed its doors to students while they entertained ideas of no confidence in Miller, a bold statement was made that The Recorder was forced to answer.

On a second level, challenging the Faculty Senate and those faculty who had taken pride in shoving out a few student journalists meant something more. It was not simply because the paper was deserving of entrance into a “town hall meeting” and the right to follow a campus controversy into Founders Hall, but that a group of students had the right to know where the lines should be drawn.

At the hearing, The Recorder presented its case that the meeting in question had all of the usual characteristics of a regular Faculty Senate meeting, and therefore, was a Faculty Senate meeting. Due to evidence that was either interpreted incorrectly by the FOIC or misconstrued, as we have found after reviewing and re-reviewing findings issued by the Conn. FOIC, we believe that the Faculty Senate has walked away with a distorted sense of victory.

Though the Commission didn’t rule in the paper’s favor, it was decided that the senate is in fact a public agency, which is an area that student journalists across the country have sought a definition for. It is determined that there are only a few select instances when the Faculty Senate can close its doors to anyone.

Looking into the future of Faculty Senate meetings, or gathering by any other public agency around this campus, we are comforted by the idea that such a meeting will be open to us and, in turn, the readers of this paper.

While the idea to “get back at” the university’s Faculty Senate was fancied, it was always an issue of clarity. We The Recorder believe, especially at a public university, that a transparency of operation must be upheld and students certainly have the right to demand a window into the inner workings of their school. And a meeting focused on the reputation and attacks on the university president is no exception.

In no way is The Recorder discouraged by any of June’s conclusions. Should a similar incident require some sunshine, the paper will not shy away, but instead stand up to expand the boundaries of public exposure.

McCain, Obama Distracted by Surface Skrimishes Marissa Blaszko Opinion Editor

Swiftboat season is officially in full swing. And with the world warming, the wage-gap growing, and two minorities with serious White House bids, the stakes have never been higher.

First there was Sen. Barack Obama’s connection to Islam; more recently, there was Gov. Sarah Palin’s affairs. But, now that both rumors have crawled back into the mudslinging holes from which they came, Obama’s latest comment has filled the void.

On Sept. 9, while giving a speech in Virginia, Obama tried to call out the McCain/Palin ticket for their attempts to distance themselves from the Bush administration.

“You can put lipstick on a pig.

It’s still a pig,” said the senator, as he instantly ignited both the press and the Republican Party.

Obama’s comment, like most things that have come out of either candidate’s mouth, has little substance. But this story is “Obamamania meets Palin-ology” – and both parties, as well as all forms of media, spent last week following it closer than any other story.

Still, one might want to examine the facts first.

First, McCain and Palin vary little in their platform from the last Republican presidential nominee.

Do offshore drilling, counterinsurgency strategies, overturning Roe v.

Wade, and upping border security

sound familiar to anyone? McCain and President George Bush may differ in appearance, but not in substance, hence Obama’s point.

The problem is, however, the striking similarity between Obama’s comment and Palin’s earlier quip at the GOP convention: “What’s the difference between a pit bull and a hockey mom?” (The answer is, apparently, lipstick—not foreign policy experience or ability to understand economic crisis.) Does this throwback make a difference? Voters seemed to initially think so, giving McCain a slight advantage.

But things get really sticky when one realizes, as thousands of Digg and YouTube users point out, that McCain made a number of similar comments about Hillary Clinton earlier on in the race.

There is no way this could tip Lipstick Gate in favor of Obama, since although it points out the fact that McCain probably can’t remember what he had for breakfast never mind what he said a few months ago, it also acts as another example of Obama’s lack of originality.

There is a difference between appearance and reality. Yes, it may appear as if McCain has women’s issues in mind because of his VP selection, and it also may appear as if Obama is a God-sent liberator of all minorities.

But if these petty, surface skirmishes prove anything about either candidate, it might be the possibility that they are less progressive than they would have hoped voters to believe.

Stefano Delli Carpini / The Recorder

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, September 17, 2008 / OPINION

5

Franken-cells: Potential Battle Won in the War between Creationism and Evolution Marissa Blaszko Opinion Editor

A team of scientists at the Harvard Medical School is doing the work of either God or Dr. Frankenstein, depending on your version of the story. The team, for the first time in human history, is reaching the apex of a project that would bring to life non-living matter. The study would be, undoubtedly, the hardest hitting blow to creation-based religions since Darwin’s published The Origin of Species, as well as one of the most monumental.

Secular science and Christian theologies have been at a more or less intellectual war since the former’s advent in the late Middle Ages, when the field began separating from natural philosophy – a more passive study of the natural world. Copernicus may have been the first to really separate his work from Church doctrines when he insisted that Earth was not the center of the universe.

Of course, the other side had their own victories too. Many scientists actually tried to cover up or deny the Big Bang Theory, as well as Einstein’s discovery that the universe was not static, in order appease to the religious right.

Still, these theories are now taught as a dominating idea in physics, just as evolution is taught in biology.

So why all the fuss over evolution? Clearly, we can see the evidence put forth by Darwin’s

finches, which, although the same bird, some of the species had larger wingspans while others and longer beaks. Scientists have also monitored apes because of their biological similarities to humans and have documented that some apes have begun using simple tools. Surely, this proves Darwin’s theory, right? Are the Creationists just blind, or refusing to see the truth?

As it turns out, they are neither. The common ground of Darwinism and most Creationism is that of microevolution, or small changes over time. Very few serious religious scholars deny that species adapt in small ways over reasonable expanses of time. Over tens of thousands of years, wild dogs have become domesticated poodles; likewise, humans have become taller and less muscular because of our artificial environment. But the two theories differ in a big, if not microscopic way.

Darwin claimed that all life originated from a single cell that came from some pool of chemicals on primordial Earth. In contrast, modern-day Creationists claim that a large invisible hand plunked plants, humans, and animals down here and set things into motion—after all, life cannot come from nonlife. It just simply doesn’t happen.

Enter molecular biologist Jack Szostak.

Szostak’s team, according to a recent Wired Science article, is working on making one of the simplest forms of life possible out of

Mainstream Media Ignores Major Scientific News Cory Barker

Indiana Daily Student (Indiana University)

(U-WIRE) - The world could have quite literally ended Wednesday morning, and chances are you had no idea anything deadly was even happening.

A doomsday situation involving a global catastrophe or the appearance of an enormous black hole was actually possible. But again, you more than likely had no clue about any of this.

It’s extremely disappointing that the majority of the mainstream media glossed over the fact that scientists flipped on the largest, most powerful particle-blaster in history 100 meters underground early Wednesday morning.

Sure, it’s a science story, and the general public doesn’t like or know much about science.

Heck, I normally couldn’t care less about it. But a lot of people legitimately feared this thing, the Large Hadron Collider, could have messed up our entire planet.

And although it didn’t rip the space-time continuum to pieces or cause an electromagnetic imbalance requiring a person to push a button every 108 minutes to save the world, the LHC story should have been covered more.

There was definitely major conflict to cover. The $8 billion project has been constructed and planned throughout the last 14 years by CERN underneath the French-Swiss border, and there have been different attempts to get it axed throughout. Most recently, one

group of individuals filed an injunction to get the startup pushed back due to safety concerns, while another filed a human rights suit due to the LHC’s possible effects on the world.

Controversies aside, this thing is obviously a crucial development in the physics field.

Once this bad boy reaches full power in the coming months, the protons in the LHC will be throttling at 99.999999 percent the speed of light. During its highest output, there will be 14 trillion electron volts pumping out. The people operating the LHC are honestly looking to recreate the Big Bang.

Why isn’t that appealing? The LHC is one of the coolest (and perhaps deadliest) scientific inventions to in recent memory.

Why weren’t any talking heads yelping out about how this could end the world or how it could change it? Couldn’t someone have covered the angle where some stringent religious people said it was worthless to re-create the Big Bang because it didn’t happen in the first place?

Either way, if there was ever a time for the media to pick up on a science story, it should have been now. The LHC was mentioned sparingly by the mainstream media until two days before it was turned on, but it really could have been a huge story. Maybe in October when it really fires up, it will get more coverage.

It’s clear how little we care about scientific advancements in this world. The whole place could have been ripped into a dark spacey abyss,

some bits of fatty molecules, that can trap small amounts of nucleic acids—the substance needed for replication. The most basic form of life, most researchers agree, would have had three basic components: a container, a way to harvest energy and an information carrier like nucleic acid. Although the cell wouldn’t be a sophisticated amoeba, it would be its direct ancestor, as well as our own.

“We’ve made more progress on how the membrane of a protocell could grow and divide,” Szostak said in a phone interview with Wired.

Once Szostak completes that phase of the project, he would have literally succeeded in transforming chemicals into a living and reproducing organism, while overturning Creation’s last solid argument. All he would need to do to seal the deal would be to prove the cells could change over time; thus, effectively proving evolution.

Sarah Palin, who may very well become our nation’s President should we be unlucky enough to elect McCain and then to have him croak in office, is part of the far right that believes that Creationism should be taught in school as a science next to Evolution. The main problem is that Creationism is not a science, but a philosophy based almost entirely on formal logic with almost no actual scientific process involved. It would be better suited being taught

in a philosophy department, alongside other ancient myths and religions.

Still, Christians are often eager to point out that the theory of evolution is still just a “theory,” although it is being taught as law in many biology classrooms.

Just recently, University of Connecticut scientist Ronald Mallett has been doing some of the most ground breaking and original work in history using an alternative theory that involves no attraction between objects, but slight curves in space. For now though, it is up to Szostak and his team to create his beta-version cells and finally bring closure to this conflict.

This fight is probably more relevant to our lives than we might guess. It’s not as if all CCSU students are bio majors, or that they even care about much more than paying their student loans off. What the battle over the origin of our species really decides is how public schools are to function.

There needs to be a separation of church and state in order to successfully run a government, but there also needs to the same separation in our education. Give Palin and Co. too much leeway, and we very well may begin seeing high school graduates that still believe the Earth is the center of the universe, or that if we dug a little too deep for oil, we might release a few vagabond demons from hell. Simply put, science can prove, and hopefully replicate, what all religions have left as moral speculation – and that’s something clearly worth teaching.

6 THE RECORDER Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Sports Fall Golf

Stay in the Pool, Phelps KYLE DORAU Sports Editor

Michael Phelps is the greatest Olympian of our generation. It’s not even up for debate. He’s a great ambassador for our country on the world stage, and does a lot of work in the community. The sad fact is, when it comes to comedy, Phelps couldn’t even qualify as anything remotely close to funny.

The record-setting Olympian had the honor (or in the show’s current form, dishonor) of hosting the season premier of Saturday Night Live. It’s amazing to imagine that someone as cool, calm and collected on the starting blocks in Beijing could be so awkward and meek in a different avenue. Forgive the simile, but he truly did seem like a fish out of water.

Phelps is one of many athletes to host Saturday Night Live, with many performances being lessthan-stellar. From The Rock to LeBron James to Tom Brady, athletes in this day and age seem to always want to be entertainers while entertainers wish they were athletes.

Right from the monologue, you could see he was stiff. While it addressed his extremely supportive and visible mother, he was overshadowed by a William Shatner

cameo. In retrospect, it seemed as if the writers were trying to hide him right from the start by limiting his lines.

A sickeningly obvious swimming sketch with a coach who inspires his troops through interpretive dance didn‘t help in that it was poorly written. Phelps’ most memorable line in the sketch, “I thought I fudged my Speedo,” was delivered without any emphasis and failed to get any significant laughs. Waiting for the Olympic hero to very predictably get up and dance (rather half-heartedly) was painful to watch.

His next sketch saw him play a borderline mentally handicapped child that he apparently chose to base off Napoleon Dynamite. He also played small roles as himself, a man on a date, and a teenager in a T-Mobile spoof.

What had the potential to be the best sketch of the night outside of a Sarah Palin/Hillary Clinton introduction was a spoof on Michael Phelps’ legendary diet of 12,000 calories a day. The premise was there, it was well written, but his multiple stammers and stutters in the bit made it a disappointing experience.

We live in a world where athletes become bloggers, rappers become actors, and celebrities

EDWARD GAUG

Associate Layout Editor

nbc.com

become politicians. There’s a reason my dentist isn’t my guidance counselor, and my travel agent isn’t my doctor. I’m sure hosting SNL is a fun thing to do and is incredibly tough to turn down, but sooner or later networks and movie studios might have to realize that quality entertainment is far better longterm than one quick ratings spike from the athlete of the moment.

I hate to play the Kazaam! card, but athletes plus acting can only equal trouble. I could cite any number of examples to hold up as a mistake; Darius Miles in The Perfect Score, Dan Marino in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, and any

Blue Devils Fall to Harvard, 3-1 CCSUBLUEDEVILS.COM

The Central Connecticut volleyball team lost their final match of the Harvard Invitational to the host Crimson on Saturday. It took four extremely close sets for the Blue Devils to be defeated 3-1 (25-21, 2523, 23-25, 25-23). CCSU is now 3-5 this season and will look to rebound as they travel to California next weekend to compete in the Fullerton Classic.

In a tightly contested first set, sophomore Lauren Snyder and freshman Danielle Gasser kept the Blue Devils in it with five kills and six digs, respectively. CCSU took the lead on

a kill by sophomore Tori Vaughan to make it 17-15, but Harvard then went on a 5-1 run and held onto the lead for the rest of the set. Central got off to a good start in the second set as they led 5-1 early on four straight points off of senior Amanda Olmstead serves. The two teams were tied 11 times in the set before the Crimson finished off CCSU 25-23 on a service ace by freshman Christine Wu. Junior Jamie Baumert led the Blue Devils with four kills and two blocks in the second set.

With 13 ties and five lead changes, the third set was again an exciting battle. After being knotted up at 19, the Blue Devils tallied four

straight points starting with a service ace by sophomore Amanda Bayer and never looked back. CCSU’s 25-23 third set victory was largely due to the strong performances by Bayer, with eight assists and five digs, as well as sophomore Kaitlin Petrella’s six digs.

The fourth set Central led 1713 before the Crimson scored eight points in a row including three straight kills by freshman Anne Carroll Ingersoll to take the lead for good. Petrella had 11 digs and Snyder recorded six kills in the closing set.

Snyder and Petrella finished with game highs of 18 kills and 22 digs, respectively. Bayer had another

film featuring Brian Bosworth.

The point is, athlete cameos are wholly unnecessary. Obviously there are exceptions to the rule.

Peyton Manning on SNL, Cam Neely as Seabass in Dumb and Dumber, and Kareem AbdulJabbar in Airplane!, but the bad far outweigh the good.

So I implore you, Michael Phelps, keep working hard in the pool so next Olympiad we all can see you do what you do better than anyone else on the planet. The next time I see you, I want it to be in London in 2012, not making a cameo on Entourage.

fantastic overall match, recording 35 assists, 11 digs, five kills, two blocks and three service aces. Baumert totaled a game high five blocks in the match. Snyder was named to the Invitational All-Tournament Team for her performance over the weekend.

The Blue Devils fall to 3-5 on the season and will be competing against California, Cal State Fullerton and San Francisco in the Fullerton Classic on September 19 and 20.

Most people golf to unwind after a stressful week of the nine to five grind, others golf to get away from the burdens of their wife and kids on weekends. I golf because I hate myself enough to pay money so I can chase a small white ball for two hours.

This past weekend resident Entertainment Editor Nick Viccione and I decided to drive down I-91 towards Middletown for a relaxing afternoon of golf at the Miner Hills Golf Course, a hill-covered nine hole course that comes off as inviting to the casual player, but proceeds to laugh at you as you hit ball after ball into the woods and brush.

The upside of Miner Hills is its proximity to campus (20 minutes by car) and price ($12 a round during the week and $14 on weekends), not to mention it can be played in less than two hours.

As you stroll up to the first tee box, you get a decent idea of what Miner Hills has in store for you. The pin is straightaway and less than 200 yards to the green from the white tees. There are no obstacles to get in the way and the greens are pretty flat and easy to read.

This course really is geared towards beginners (a group behind us had brought their two small children along to play) and casual players. At first you will be confident that you will have no problem taming this course and ending the day somewhere near par. That is until you reach holes number two, four and seven. These are Miner Hill’s longest and toughest set of links.

As the course progresses, you will encounter a mix of easy “hit-theball” straight holes where you should be able to par the hole blindfolded.

There are other holes like number seven that are 50 degrees straight up and 250 yards to a two-tiered green.

The course is a decent place, but kicked my ass with a mix of fast greens and soggy fairways. Oh, and that occasional tree that I couldn’t seem to miss. The course is decent overall, but definitely fun if you only want to play nine.

Blue Devils Play to 1-1 Fall Golf: Kill Some Time, Hit the Links Draw With Hartford KYLE DORAU Sports Editor

CCSUBLUEDEVILS.COM

The Central Connecticut men’s soccer team played to a 1-1 tie with Hartford after losing senior captain Yan Klukowski to a red card with 28 minutes left in the second half.

Sophomore Christopher Borwn scored the lone goal for the Blue Devils.

Early in the eighth minute Hartford junior Carlos Villa received a ball down the left side. The forward played the ball over CCSU goalkeeper Paul Armstrong’s head and into the side panel.

With seven minutes remaining in the first half, junior defender Mersad Sahanic played a long through ball from half field to Brown up the right side. The sophomore forward fired the ball in the left side netting past the outstretched hands of Hartford goalkeeper Nenad Cudic.

In the first half, CCSU out shot Hartford four to two, but the Hawks recorded three corner kicks to the Blue Devils’ one.

With 36 minutes left in the game, Central got a great opportunity to take the lead when Armstrong’s punt was collected by Junior Hadji Diop. The forward beat a defender and played a cross into the box. Klukowski headed it right past the keeper but it hit off the cross bar and out of bounds.

No more than eight minutes later Klukowski, CCSU’s leading goal scorer at this point, was given a red card. The Blue Devils had to then play the rest of the match a man down. Playing 10 on 11, Central Connecticut had many opportunities to score but came up short and finished with a 1-1 tie.

The Blue Devils ended with eight shots to Hartford’s 10. Armstrong made six saves to keep Central alive. The Hawks finished with 10 corner kicks while CCSU only had five.

Central Connecticut is now 2-0-1 on the season and will next host the University of Vermont on Friday Sept. 12 at noon.

With the air turning crisp and a few weeks before the leaves start to hit the ground, summer is coming to an end and fall will officially make its presence known. What better way to enjoy the comfortable weather than grabbing your golf clubs and heading out for a round?

There are a number of great public golf courses not too far from CCSU. We here at the recorder don’t condone cutting class, but I for one would understand it if you chose to explore a couple of them on a sunny fall afternoon. There are four courses within a couple miles of the campus.

There’s an executive course in West Hartford with a yardage of roughly 1800 yards depending whether you play the short course or the long course. It’s geared more towards inexperienced players and those who struggle hitting for distance. They do not have any fall specials or student rates, but they do have discounts for juniors 18 and under.

Tunxis Plantation off Exit 39 of I-84 in Farmington boasts 45 championship holes on its expansive facil-

ity. There are two 18-hole tracks, and a 9-hole course. There are no college student discounts, and fall rates do not take effect until October 14. Still, you can pay less than 40 dollars for 18 holes during the week.

For those interested in higherend courses, there are two places of note less than half an hour away.

Gillette Ridge and Wintonbury Hills, each in Bloomfield, are the best public golf that central Connecticut has to offer. Both places are rather pricey, but are worth the expense if you have the extra cash to throw around. The carts at Wintonbury (the more expensive of the two, unless you’re a Bloomfield Resident) are equipped with GPS, which is a cool feature when determining your club selection, as the yardage is right there for you to see. The courses both have twilight rates, where after a certain hour (2 or 3 p.m., depending on the course) the prices decrease.

Two local courses do have fall specials that are currently underway.

Rockledge in West Hartford has a non resident deal that includes greens fees, half a cart fee, and a three dollar credit at the snack bar for 41 dollars.

The course, less than six miles away from campus and right off exit 41 on

I-84 has plenty of areas to practice before teeing off. It offers two putting greens as well as a driving range.

The course that is closest to Central also has the best fall special.

From 10:30-1:30 during the week, you can play 18 holes with a cart, plus a hotdog and soda for just 31.50. In order to do so, you must print out an online coupon from the course’s website. With twenty-seven holes to play as well as the proximity to campus, Stanley is a great option for those who want to play a round of golf without draining your gas tank or your wallet.

The one sad common thread amongst all these courses is the lack of a college student discount. The stereotypical college student is short on cash, and 18 holes would provide a nice respite from the academic rigors here at CCSU. For those of you who are still 18 years of age, take advantage of the junior discounts you’re eligible for while you still can.

There’s not much time left before the leaves start to change color and the snow begins to fall. Take advantage of it while you still can and hit the links.

7

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, September 17, 2008 / SPORTS

Pick Your Poison

NFL Predictions for Week 3 Each week the following four editors will put their pick prowess on display against fellow CCSU students. Think you can do better? Send us YOUR picks before the start of the games each week and we’ll print the results. A top-10 leader board will be published and the leader at the end of the semester goes off to Christmas break with all the bragging rights and a prize to be announced.

Send comments or questions regarding this weekly feature to ccsurecorder@gmail.com

Pete Collin

Kyle Dorau Sports Editor

Assoicate Layout Editor

Entertainment Editor

Atlanta

Atlanta

Atlanta

Atlanta

Managing Editor

Kansas City at Atlanta Oakland at Buffalo Tampa Bay at Chicago

Edward Gaug

Nick Viccione

Buffalo

Buffalo

Buffalo

Buffalo

Tampa Bay

Chicago

Tampa Bay

Chicago

Houston at Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennesse

Tennessee

Tennessee

Carolina at Minnesota

Minnesota

Carolina

Minnesota

Minnesota

Miami at New England

New England

New England

New England

New England

N.Y. Giants

N.Y. Giants

N.Y. Giants

N.Y. Giants

Cincinnati at New York Giants Arizona at Washington

Washington

Arizona

Arizona

Washington

Detroit at San Francisco

San Francisco

San Francisco

San Francisco

Detroit

St. Louis at Seattle

Seattle

Seattle

Seattle

Seattle

New Orleans at Denver

Denver

Denver

Denver

New Orleans

Pittsburg at Philadelphia

Philadelphia

Philadelphia

Pittsburgh

Philadelphia

Jacksonville at Indianapolis

Indianapolis

Indianapolis

Jacksonville

Indianapolis

Cleveland at Baltimore

Cleveland

Cleveland

Baltimore

Cleveland

Dallas at Green Bay

Green Bay

Dallas

Dallas

Dallas

New York Jets at San Diego

San Diego

San Diego

N.Y. Jets

San Diego

Eagles def. Steelers

Cowboys def. Packers Aaron Rodgers will get picked apart when he faces a halfway decent pass defense for the first time as a starter. Packer fans will turn on him faster than you can say “cheeseheads”.

Cowboys def. Packers

Pick of the Week

This game will be tight as these intra-state rivals battle for bragging rights of the Keystone State.

Hopefully last week’s collapse will spark some motivation in McNabb and Reid to think at some point during the game.

The Cowboys are going to be the toughest team to beat in the NFC this season. Aaron Rodgers and company will try and fail in week 3.

Falcons def. Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs could probably get beat by the CCSU football team. That is how bad they are. Michael Turner is going to run all over their pathetic asses. Hell, my uncle lost his leg in ‘Nam and would still be able to gain 100+ yards on them.

This Week’s NFL Prediction Leader Board Total Points

Current Week

Rank

Name

1

Anthony Gonsalves

19

7

1

Kevin Petruzielo

19

10

3

Carey Brimmer

18

8

3

Gary Berman

18

9

5

Kyle Dorau

17

10

5

Ed Gaug

17

10

7

Marc Chouinard

16

7

8

Jason Beaumier

15

8

8

Nick Viccione

15

8

10

Melissa Traynor

9

0

10

Edward Homick

9

7

10

Ryan Kennedy

9

9

13

Alex Waters

7

7

14

Peter Collin

6

6

8

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, September 17, 2008 / SPORTS

The

Final Days

Peter Collin / The Recorder

Peter Collin Managing Editor

In just a few days the sporting world will be saying goodbye to one of its most hallowed pieces of earth.

For the past 85 years Yankee Stadium has been the home of baseball and American legends. It has housed one of the most successful sports franchises in the world, hosted legendary musical performances, holy men and even some of the greatest football games of all-time.

I have only been a Yankee fan for the past 22 years so I haven’t seen all of the great things that the stadium has hosted, but I have developed a love for The House that Ruth Built and the team that plays within in.

This Saturday I said goodbye to the stadium that has nurtured my love of the great American pastime.

It has been a long time since the first time I traveled to Yankee Stadium. I was ten when I finally made the two-hour journey to what has been dubbed the Cathedral of

Baseball. That game was rained out and I was forced to see the Will Smith blockbuster Independence Day instead.

It wasn’t until later that summer that I saw an actual game in the stadium and to be honest the details of that game are hazy at best. But I had a taste for the game and that year the Yankees won the World Series and I was hooked.

Over the years I have witnessed a lot of Yankee baseball. Yankee Stadium has shown me great Yankee victories and crushing defeats. I have seen the game up close from the box seats and from a distance in the right field upper deck.

Every time I walked out from the promenade and saw the field, a sense of history washed over me. It was a great thing to share the same building as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and countless other baseball legends.

As this season approached I decided that I would do everything I

could to attend as many games as possible.

Each game I attended felt different. Upon our arrival in the Bronx we were now greeted by two stadiums. The old distinguished stadium now had a dazzling new neighbor that sat with an ominous tone of succession.

Ironically enough my last game at Yankee Stadium would follow much the same path as my first.

Though there was no Will Smith blockbuster to ease my pain of having my last trip to Yankee Stadium rained out, there was a make-up game the next day.

It was my fifth trip to the stadium this year. I had been a good year for me and my baseball excursions.

The last four times I had attended a game the Yankees had won and I was hoping for one final victory.

It’s not an easy trek to make it to the Bronx. It usually begins with an hour-long drive down to Darien to catch a train down to New York City.

After about an hour on the train you

get off in Harlem and follow the crowd of Yankee fans heading to the number four train on the Lexington Ave Line to get up to 161st St. After entering the stadium I followed the escalators up for three levels until I reached the Tier Box MVP seating. These seats keep you close to the action while giving you a bird’s a view of the field.

The Yankees are a franchise that takes tremendous pride in their history and throughout the course of the game you are reminded of that. I was lucky enough that this game saw the Yankees bring out three great players from the teams past.

Don Larsen, David Wells and David Cone all came out for the ceremonial countdown to the final game. Each of the three is famous for having thrown a perfect game in Yankee Stadium.

Throughout the game I wondered about the future of the franchise and about all the history they were leaving behind.

The seats had seen the days of World Series champions and the field had been trodden on by some the greatest players to play the game.

How could they leave it all behind?

Sure the new Yankee Stadium will have more amenities and more comfortable seating, but every fan knows why the Yankees are moving.

Money.

Though that might be better for the team, it is little consolation to me as I leave the stadium for the final time. Most fans are happy with the victory that they gave their hard earned money to see, but almost all of them linger after the game.

They wait for the ushers to push them out and towards the subways and the parking lots while they snap a steady stream of photos for their scrapbooks. I do the same and I’m glad to say that I saw Yankee Stadium one last time. I saw the home of Ruth, Gehrig and DiMaggio. I saw the home of champions. I saw the most famous stadium in American sports.

UVM Catamounts Maul Blue Devils Karyn Danforth Editor-at-Large

The Central Connecticut Blue Devils (2-1-1) succumbed to their first loss of the season against the undefeated University of Vermont Catamounts (3-0-2) 2-0 on Friday afternoon in New Britain.

The loss came three days after senior captain Yan Klukowski received a red card in the last 28 minutes of Central’s game against University of Hartford, which resulted in a 1-1 tie.

Klukowski was unable to participate in Friday’s match, and without his crucial presence on the field, the Blue Devils had a difficult time dueling with the tactically prepared Catamounts.

Nine minutes into the game, Vermont was awarded a free kick right outside of the box. While Central goalkeeper Paul Armstrong

initially blocked sophomore Ryan White’s direct shot, it was quickly rebounded by Vermont sophomore Connor O’Brien for his second goal of the season.

The Blue Devils held off the Catamounts for the rest of the first half. They were awarded two corner kicks, but were unable to capitalize on either, keeping the score set at 1-0 going into halftime.

Vermont was awarded a corner kick in the 64th minute, and while senior Jordan Crasilneck’s attempt was successfully cleared from the box, he retaliated back another cross into the box. Catamount senior defender Connor Tobin caught up to the ball, and with one tap, was able to get it past Armstrong, marking Tobin’s first of the season.

Central held Vermont off fairly well for the last half; junior Eddie Floyd saved the Blue Devils from the one man army consisting of

Catamount senior Crasilneck, when around the 83rd minute of the game, he charged towards the goal unchecked. Floyd swooped in under his radar and kicked it out just as Crasilneck was about to challenge Armstrong.

“We lost our composure a bit,” said Coach Shaun Green. “We were very pedestrian up front.”

Green didn’t expect to go undefeated all season. “We’re still two or three weeks away from having a great team; still filling our positions.” he said.

Vermont’s strength was evident in the statistics of Friday’s game, outshining Central in shots on goal, 17-6, and corner kicks, 8-5.

Central Connecticut will hold their third conference game of the season against Marist on Wednesday, September 17th at 4 p.m.

Conrad Akier/ Special to The Recorder

Junior midfielder Raphael Guimaraes avoids a slide tackle.

Pineapple Express Flies High - Page 12

Also Inside: Album Reviews - Page 10 NHL 09 Review - Page 12 Energize Your Coffee Routine - Page 15

10 THE RECORDER Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Entertainment Consider me biased. Sure, hearing that your sister’s ex-boyfriend is the new drummer for a new band with a new release sounds like a stupid reason to like a group, and I’m sure it is. Fortunately for me, as I was prepared to throw away all of my credibility as a music critic and use this one ridiculous excuse to dig some music, I realized something: the CD is actually really good.

Ra Ra Riot’s debut album, The Rhumb Line, mixes together jumpy pop melodies with seemingly contradictory melancholic violins and lyrics to create a release that sounds like the over-hyped Vampire Weekend CD except, you know, good. It is, perhaps, Vampire Weekends’ more contemplative and intelligent brother, which is not to say that it’s heavy-handed or serious, but simply more worthy of serious and repeat listenings.

Instead of annoyingly bubbly and predictable melodies Ra Ra Riot frequently shifts gears

to minor notes that give their songs a tinge of sadness (which is appropriate, as the recording directly followed former drummer John Ryan Pike’s untimely death), but the tracks are always able to maintain an air of optimism.

The first and best track “Ghost Under Rocks” exemplifies everything the group does well. The lone bass line that starts things off seems like it could be the beginning of a dance track until the rest of the band joins in and it fleshes out into a deep and unpredictable slowboiler. Lead singer Wesley Miles’ voice is high without being syrupy and he constantly takes the melody to unexpected places, while a punchy drum beat and some well-timed strings add flair. This track, like most on the album, is deceptively complex in structure and one of the highlights of the release as a whole is in that deception; you can enjoy the songs without putting too much thought into them or listen seriously and still walk away satisfied.

Only a few tracks (“Winter ‘05” and “Dying is Fine”), come off as slightly more predictable, but they remain good songs in a batch

of great ones. In the end, The Rhumb Line achieves an impressive balance of danceability and gravity, fun and despair, which lends to it an adaptability that can have it playing in the car on the way to the beach or at home during a blizzard. Or maybe I’m just partial because I used to watch “Simpsons” reruns with their new drummer.

With previous efforts, Burst has stuck to what they knew they did best, and that was progressive song writing, in depth song structures, vicarious guitar and drum work.

Lazarus Bird hits the listener strong from the beginning and then quickly transitions into a much more harmonic adventure, a style seen throughout the record. It is not only pleasing on the ears, but it plays heavily on the listener’s emotions. At times I pictured myself in a movie, and Lazarus Bird was the official soundtrack. Of course, I was only sitting at my computer checking my e-mail and talking with friends, but that would be a great score.

There will be many fans and critics that may claim that Burst went a little too experimental with some of the song traits they tried out on this album, but I would strongly argue against this.

The freshness of this album is the reason why it will be constantly on my iPod and I can already tell it will be in the top five for my favorite releases of 2008.

If you are a fan of progressive rock in the vein of Mastodon that shows mature song writing and fearless execution of effort and ideas, do yourself a favor and buy Lazarus Bird. When you find yourself loving it, buy the rest of Burst’s discography.

Nick Viccione / Entertainment Editor

consistency, not sound, that’s the problem (if there is one).

While Oceans Will Rise remains a solid outing for a group who obviously has no intention of keeping with just one sound, a little more consistency could’ve made Oceans Will Rise one of the year’s best.

P.J. Decoteau / Staff Writer Over reMetallica cent years, Death Magnetic Metallica has struggled to Warner Bros. reclaim the September 10, 2008 glory they once held in the thrash metal scene. With their new album Death Magnetic they finally achieve this goal.

Metallica has brought back the sound they once had while merging it with 30 years of metal experience to give fans a great album that they have been waiting for. Death Magnetic is filled with the blistering guitar solos, relentless riffs and pure metal that Metallica has been lacking as of late.

With the help of acclaimed producer Rick Rubin, Metallica embraces seven-minute-long tracks, and when they end, you find yourself still wanting more. In the track “The End of The Line,” Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield battle it out in an epic guitar duel that just helps to set the tone for their awesome comeback.

Before this album was released there were a lot of rumors when Metallica announced that they were working on a new album for ‘08.

One rumor claimed they were shifting genres and going for a blues album, and even country was mentioned. This put almost every Metallica fan into a panic. Most feared that they would end their metal career on Some Kind Of Monster.

It would be a lie to say I wasn’t relieved when Metallica put a stop to these rumors and announced Rubin was producing their new album. Many fans were concerned that Metallica would not be able to contend with the type of metal that is popular now, full of screaming vocals, insanely fast double-bass drums and shredding guitar solos, but people forget that Metallica created modern metal and now with this new album they sit right where they belong, right on top.

Simply put, Metallica is back and they will stick around just as long as their fans will listen.

Sean Fenwick / Staff Writer

diately fell in love. Clayton Stroope, the lead singer of the quintet, has a voice similar to that of Alter Bridge, but a lyric style like no other.

With words like “I wanna sunburn just to know that I’m alive” and “Don’t tell me if I’m dying cause I don’t wanna know/ if I can’t see the sun, maybe I should go/ don’t wake me if I’m dreaming of angels on the moon/ where everyone we know never leaves to soon.” Stroope does a great job of putting topics into unique perspectives.

Thriving Ivory’s sound is akin to pop rock with emotional and passionate orchestration. Track five, titled “Twilight,” has great lyrics as well.

“I recall driving home, this ain’t gonna hit me ‘til God knows when/ I can feel it in my bones and I wear it on my skin.” Song lyrics alluding to a bad breakup are inevitable.

This album is great for the fact that any listener can relate to it in some way. All aspects of love and life are portrayed on this album. Thriving Ivory is the kind of album that is ideal for headphones. The listener can then hear full ornamentations of the climatic rhythm and bass. The lyrics, as I mentioned before, offer comfort and hope.

So, pop on the headphones and rock out to Thriving Ivory, a band that you should already know.

Ra Ra Riot The Rhumb Line Barsuk Records August 19, 2008

Doron Gild

With the release of their latest album, Shudder, Bayside has managed a truly momentous feat – they have singlehandedly erased every single positive contribution made to popular music over the previous four decades. If popular music today could be described as a precarious tower of artists stacked to the sky and teetering on the sharp cliff of good taste, Bayside would be that band to finally push everyone over the edge into the oblivion of mediocrity.

Listening to the record in its entirety constitutes a particularly cruel kind of torture, akin to listening to “Kokomo” on repeat while the undead hand of Jim Henson dressed as Kermit brutally performs sodomy on you for eternity. But of course, at least some people may derive some pleasure from the latter.

The entire record is evocative of bands you’ve heard before, but can’t quite put your finger on. That dull, “samey” sort of sound indicative of bands whose musical influence began and ended with artists from the past decade permeates this record. It is a congealed mass of derivative tripe whose only hope is the potential ironic value associated with owning the album after the band ideally makes their brief career still more mercifully short, possibly with another accident of some sort.

Truly the only thought which enters the listener’s head after a complete listen is the question, “Which circle of Hell is reserved for these individuals who have assaulted my ears with such a monstrosity?”

From cutesy spelling bees masquerading as songs to the apathetic and tedious vocals of marble-mouthed singer Anthony Raneri, Shudder forces the listener to do just that, with disgust. I guess after the untimely passing of drummer John Holohan, this band really took a turn for the worst. Forget about this album, it will only waste your time.

Bayside Shudder Victory Records September 30, 2008

The Stills Oceans Will Rise Arts & Crafts Records August 19, 2008

On the Stills’ first release, Logic Will Break Your Heart, the group sounded like post-punk revivalists with a chip on their collective shoulder. It was brash and gloomy and surprisingly complex, and the few that actually gave it more than one listen have probably found that it ages much better than expected.

Their second release, the criminally underrated Without Feathers, found the group struggling to shed whatever tag had been attached to them, and although the songs were well-written they were also melodramatic. Most listeners simply didn’t know what to do with them. The band had Joe Zajac / Staff Writer ditched their dirty, sardonic tendencies for production and beauty, and was subsequently written off.

The Burst With their third release, Oceans Will Rise, Swedes win Lazerus Bird again.

This the Stills seem to have found a happy medium, time, it is pro- combining their love of gloom and post punk Relapse Records gressive rock with an obvious want for deeper production and September 16, 2008 moguls Burst more symphonic and layered instrumentals. The opener “Don’t Talk Down” features thumping spearheading the attack.

Lazarus Bird, Burst’s fifth full-length stu- pianos and heavy bass, a sign that the band could dio album, starts strong, comes to a distinct cli- be rehashing their melodramatic ways, but it remax and ends strong. The album is an hour long, turns to the more bluntly fashioned melodies but it keeps you hooked and you find yourself at presented in LWBYH. Highlight “Snake the end of the album before you realize it: a sign Charming the Masses” throws down an almost tribal, primal drumbeat that slowly builds to an of a great record.

Relapse Records electrifying climax, and “Rooibos/Palm Wine will forever be one of Drinkard” sees the band most closely returning the better record labels to the superb form of their first album.

Some critics and fans have naively asserted out there today, and that the album’s shortcomings are a result of the with the release of Lazarus Bird, they can group not willing to return to their original confidently etch anoth- sound, but the good tracks on this one (most of er notch in their which sound nothing like their original sound) happen to be very, very good. Simply put, it is bedpost.

Thriving Ivory Thriving Ivory Wind Up Records August 26, 2008

On August 26, the release date of Thriving Ivory’s selftitled debut album, I went to six different stores, yet it seemed no one knew who they were.

Target in New Britain asked me if they were “main stream.” And the only thing I could think was: they should be! Thriving Ivory do have their first single, “Angels on the Moon” on VH1.

The next day I found it on the shelves of Best Buy for a reasonable ten dollars. I imme-

P.J. Decoteau / Staff Writer

Tiffany Failla / Staff Writer

The Cure Remixed Hypnagogic States Geffin Records September 13, 2008

This five-track remix EP is owed some legitimate credit for packing in as much as you’d expect from a mediocre full-length album that is pretty standard for popular music these days.

The hyped “The Only One” track from both the EP and expected album makes debuts on this recording with the help of a hazy and echoing synthetic drum remix by Jared Leto. It’s true to whatever quintessential figures The Cure have become in the 80s and I imagine that a spot on a lover’s mixtape is owed to this emotional and dramatic track.

Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump and Pete Wentz put their own spin on “The Perfect Boy”, hinting at a potential for high-schoolquality syrupy pop. A simple guitar riff is layered over quick and easy with splashes of synth too high for Justice to touch, but it breaks into a more serious progression for the chorus.

Mixing in bits of static, dance hall beats and the occasional piano breakdown, various artists starring on Hynagogic States provide a nice little preview for The Cure’s upcoming 4:13 Dream, perhaps in an overly optimistic fashion.

MELISSA Traynor / Editor-in-Chief

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THE RECORDER / Wednesday, September 17, 2008 / ENTERTAINMENT

Burn After Reading: When Idiots Collide

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On Scale of Originality and Action, Bangkok Doesn’t Compare popmatters.com

MIChAEL WALSh Staff Writer

When you win four Academy Awards, one for best picture, you are given the tough task of following this up next year with another successful film. Joel and Ethan Coen are the latest receivers of this inevitable task after their 2007 film No Country for Old Men became an instant classic. To answer this call, the Coens did a complete 180 and menacingly drove a star-studded vehicle with George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton, John Malkovich, and Frances McDormand and created a completely original, clever, and unique black comedy/spy thriller with Burn After Reading.

Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich) is a CIA analyst who just quit his job after being demoted. His wife, Katie Cox (Tilda Swinton), is cheating on Osbourne with a Treasury agent, played

by George Clooney, and decides to look into divorce. Katie copies all of Osbourne’s personal information, including his memoirs, at the discretion of her divorce lawyer. When this disk of personal and classified information winds up in

the hands of Hardbodies employees Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) and Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt), they decide to blackmail Osbourne and hold the disk for ransom.

The Coen brothers have been known to be able to sublimely integrate comedy into both ridiculous situations and dark, serious material, as seen in their most well known films The Big Lebowski and Fargo. Burn, however, takes the cake in the ridiculous department of Coen brother films. This winding, intricate and almost meaningless plot of blackmail and spy play all comes together in the most hilarious and remarkable way.

In true Coen fashion, each character is as unique and memorable as the next. Clooney and Pitt lead the way with their dueling boneheaded and idiotic performances that truly let them exercise their comedic talents. Malkovich is thunderous while Swinton is stern, yet funny and McDormand is as likeable as a stupid person can be.

What the Coen brothers accomplished here deserves to be recognized. They took some of the biggest stars in Hollywood and put them into an insane screwball comedy as goofy as one

Through The Eyes of a Terrorist, Traitor Prevails STEVE PACKNICK Staff Writer

There are so many movies nowadays that, after watching the viewer can’t really decide whether or not they actually enjoyed the movie. Traitor, is one such movie.

Traitor offers up some very complex and interesting characters and has a twisting plot, but at the same time is better described as action-lacking and slow moving.

Based around an underground terrorist group’s operations as seen through the eyes of a Muslim-American ex-Army bomb maker, Traitor takes the viewer to many places throughout the world and shows the frightening reality of what some terrorists are capable of doing. At the same time, however, it also shows how effective some American government agencies are at trying to stop such attacks.

could find. Burn goes to the extremes in both comedy and violence and may end up surprising many viewers. The actors let loose and do a brilliant job as they make fun of their personas on screen. The Coens also tap into American issues and fads such as online dating, plastic surgery, self-image, obsessive workouts, and paranoia and sardonically mocks each and every one of them.

Only the Coen brothers could direct and create this lunacy and do it so well. The two of them have such a knack for being able to write and create these unique, stylish and memorable films like no one else. For many fans of the Coen brothers this film will be a delight. It’s a laugh out loud, sarcastic, smart, and brutally witty film.

On the other hand, this offbeat style of filmmaking may disappoint the average moviegoer. Where this film ranks among the Coen’s films boils down to personal taste. I had a blast getting wrapped up in this idiotic intelligence tale that almost has no intelligence at all. Burn After Reading is the most brilliant film about idiots you’ll see for some time.

traitor-themovie.com

Don Cheadle plays Muslim-American Samir Horn. Horn, who was originally born in Sudan, grows up in Chicago, joins the Army and is stationed in Afghanistan, where he disappears off the radar. All the while, Horn is selling bombs to terrorists and showing them how to use them. Hot on his tail is FBI agent Roy Clayton, played by Guy Pierce. The movie is a showing of the two characters back and forth attempts to outwit each other.

Cheadle shows some terrific acting as his character goes through such a wide variety of emotion and pain. He really shows just how complicated his character is. Cheadle effectively expresses the contradiction between his character’s strong Muslim belief of non-violence and the violent terrorist mentality in such a powerful way that it really makes the viewer wonder what this character will do next.

Pierce also does a good job of playing his FBI counter-terrorism character Roy Clayton. Pierce very successfully shows the intuitiveness of his character and also, despite his hatred for terrorists, shows great restraint and understanding for Cheadle’s character.

The only thing that bothered me about Pierce’s portrayal was the fact that Pierce was faking an accent for the role, which caused him to never fully open his mouth.

Pierce seems to do this whenever he uses a different accent, like in The Count Of Monte Cristo. This unfortunate affectation made the character seem tired and reduced the amount of passion and sincerity behind his acting.

Although Traitor had a very interesting plotline, the movie did drag for some parts.

Also, I’ve heard this movie called the “Bourne” movie of this year and I think that

SEAN FENWICK Staff Writer

This summer was great for the big screen. Audiences enjoyed solid flicks like Iron Man, Wanted, Pineapple Express and the unforgettable The Dark Knight.

With that said, it’s a shame the summer was ushered out by Bangkok Dangerous.

Nicholas Cage has become famous for being in horrible movies in the past few years (Ghost Rider) and now it’s safe to say Bangkok Dangerous will be added to that list.

This film is supposed to be an action flick or “the greatest action movie of the summer” as said by the commercials. To the contrary, there is very little action in this movie. There is the occasional, cliché chase scene and a few shots fired here and there but, if you want a good action movie, again, look to The Dark Knight.

Cage drags this movie along as an assassin who is on his last job before he is going to retire. As if that market hasn’t already been tapped out, something goes wrong with the job and Cage finds himself hesitant about the man he has been hired to kill.

As well as poor dialogue this movie suffers horribly from predictability since everything that happens in this movie has all been done in action movies. A remake of an Asian film of the same name, the director who made the original decided to bring this mess to the United States. The only thing the original had going for it was that Cage wasn’t in it.

As the film progresses, Cage finds himself attracted to a deaf pharmacist and takes her out to dinner and the scene is a drawn-out struggle to watch. Like the pharmacist, Cage’s lucky protégé also likes to hear him ramble through as he teaches the ways of being an assassin.

Bangkok Dangerous was written poorly, as well as directed poorly and one of the first things I picked up about this movie was that it was overly trying. This movie unsuccessfully attempts to make something better of what it is. This movie is filled with clichés of the action genre, bad acting and scenes that provide no real purpose except to waste your time and rob you of your money. Skip it.

that is way off. Traitor lacked a lot of the action that was insinuated from the trailers shown and lacked much of the more realistic camera work that the Bourne movies offered. And the driving scene in Traitor could not stand up to the Bourne reputation.

Over all, Traitor was an all right movie with some very interesting, complex characters from a very different world than that of which we live. Not since 2005’s Munich has a movie done such a good job of portraying a terrorist’s point of view. But just like Munich, Traitor is more of a character study than a real action-packed adventure.

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, September 17, 2008 / ENTERTAINMENT

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Future Rock Hall of Famers Red Hot Chili Peppers Jeanne Bujalski Staff Writer

ign.com

NHL 09 Opens Up A New World Michael Walsh Staff Writer

One year after winning seven awards for Sports Game of the Year, EA Sports is back on the ice with their latest hockey installment, NHL 09.

In a day and age where annual sports games are simply thought as being “roster updates,” EA Canada has completely outdone themselves. While most development teams tend to introduce one new feature, two large and revolutionary upgrades were introduced here.

The first of these significant features is the EA Sports Hockey League. For the first time ever the console sports genre has been mixed with massive multiplayer online games – think World of Warcraft. The concept behind the EASHL is to allow players to play as themselves on teams of two to six players online against other teams in the worldwide league. It will be your name on the jersey and your name

on the leader boards. The players are customizable to a degree in areas ranging from facial hair to stick type.

The first thing I chose to do after I created my character was to start playing league games with my team –LUElinks Hockey. Not even half way through the first period and the verdict was in for me. Starting a breakout with teammates Greg Goodfellow and Allen Talent and planting the sweet one timer pass in the back of the net to give my team the lead was the most redeeming feat I’ve ever accomplished in a sports video game. If EA’s main goal was to make the player feel like a part of the team and truly feel in the game, they’ve achieved it. This mode is revolutionary and should only continue to grow.

The next huge addition to NHL 09 is the “Be A Pro” mode. This mode is similar to ones already introduced in baseball and football games. After the user creates a player they will be placed into the minor leagues. The idea in “Be A Pro” is to move your player from the mi-

nor league system of the AHL to the NHL and become a legend. After every shift your player is graded on position play, team play and statistics in order to help you improve. This mode has been built to last and is very redeeming.

NHL 09 also boasts some of the most intuitive and fluid controls in its genre. While NHL 08 focused on the offensive skill stick, this year’s game has tightened up the defensive controls with revamped pole-checking and the new stick-lift ability to help stop the annoying one timer.

With the new additions of the EASHL and the “Be A Pro” mode, the return of dynasties and online leagues, and extremely solid controls, NHL 09 becomes a must-play game even if you are new to the sport.

Simply put, NHL 09 tops NHL 08 and becomes the best sports game I’ve ever played. It’s deep, addicting and downright fun. If you are tired of other sports games giving you the yearly shaft, step onto the ice with NHL 09.

Pineapple Express Flies High Under the Radar Misbah Akbar Staff Writer

Pineapple Express, released August of 2008, is the should-be stoner-hit classic that has mysteriously flown under the radar. Producer Judd Apatow, also credited with such classics as Heavyweights and The 40-Year-Old Virgin, usually does a much better job of marketing his movies, so there doesn’t seem to be a good explanation for why he did a half-baked job with Pineapple Express.

Or is there? Rated R for profanity, drug use, sexual content and violence, Pineapple Express has all the elements for badass status and fortunately, makes it worthwhile.

The story begins with our lead Dale Denton, played by Seth Rogen, a 25-year-old process server (the guy who hands out court orders and subpoenas), sucking his high school girlfriend’s face during her break between classes. After meeting his girlfriend’s hot male high

Since 1986, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has been inducting artists, bands and non-performers who have displayed a major influence on the music industry. Musicians are qualified for induction twenty-five years after the release of their first album. The artists must also have portrayed a lasting impression on the rock and roll community.

The 2009 nominations are determined by a 32-member committee and are finalized in mid-September. This year’s eligible artists include The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Bon Jovi, Beastie Boys and Stevie Ray Vaughn.

Metallica were snubbed at last year’s nominations but stand a good chance of being inducted this year with the release of their new album, Death Magnetic.

The one band that should have no problem being inducted next year, however, is Red Hot Chili Peppers. The Chili Peppers’ originality and explosive stage show have spawned many imitators, yet they still managed to be the leaders of the 90s.

The Chili Peppers, consisting of vocalist Anthony Kiedis, guitarist John Frusciante, bassist Flea and drummer Chad Smith, gained notoriety with their fifth album Blood Sugar Sex Magik in 1991. Yet their biggest success to date was the album Californication, released in 1999, which sold 15 million copies and produced hits like “Scar Tissue,” “Californication” and “Around the World.” The Chili Peppers’ latest album, Stadium Arcadium, was released in 2006 and went on to win six Grammys.

Over the span of two decades the Chili Peppers have given us creative and original songs, everything from rap to psychedelic rock, making their innovative music significant in the rock and roll community.

iwatchstuff.com

school mates, Denton and his damaged ego head for the reefer to cure his woes.

Denton buys his weed from Saul (James Franco), a hipped-out dealer trying to keep his grandma, referred to as “Bubby,” in her retirement home. The weed he sells to Denton is called, what else? Pineapple Express. Its rareness is a product of tropical wind, sand, and who knows what, but the point is, it’s one of the rarest strands of cannabis. Saul, with his multicolored MC Hammer style pants and half-opened eyes sells Denton the quarter of weed that gets them both into the mess to come.

After the transaction, Denton heads to the last house he has a subpoena to drop off to.

It happens to be the house of one of the biggest drug lords in the area, Ted Jones. Unknowingly, Dale decides to get in one more puff before making the delivery and accidentally witnesses Jones and his partner, the crooked cop Carol (Rosie Perez), murder an Asian man. Stoned and bewildered, Denton drops his roach and

books it, making a huge commotion that brings Jones and Officer Carol down to investigate.

The drug lord, with his studly side burns and silk robe picks up the discarded doobie, puffs once, and ID’s it as Pineapple Express. Being the man at the top of the drug chain, he easily traces the joint back to Saul and Denton, marking them both for death.

Our two unlikely heroes, Saul and Dale run into one bad situation after another. On their way, they encounter a furious father ready to “bear arms,” a back-stabbing homoerotic drug dealer named Red who wears a kimono and boils eggs for snacks (Danny McBride), and a fat student resource officer who uses pepper spray as her weapon of choice. The duo’s comic chemistry is matched only by Ted Jones’ hitmen, Budlofsky and Matheson, played by Kevin Corrigan (Grounded for Life) and Craig Robinson, respectively.

Rogen and Goldberg do a dynamite job with the script, not only for the leading roles but the supporting roles as well. They play into every stereotype

possible without making the movie a clump of cliché crap.

Did I mention the drug war between Jones’ men and an ambiguous group of Asians?

Just wait for the brawl that takes place in the ganja factory at the end. Ass kicking and explosions galore. From car chases to excessive firepower, the movie has intense action sequences and a surprising amount of gore. And although the comedy is top notch, other elements such as finding one’s self and male bonding don’t lag in delivery. As long as one isn’t so confined to logic, the film is likely to hit the spot for most college students. Just remember, Pineapple Express, if you haven’t already guessed is promarijuana. That means it’s probably better if you don’t take your 12-year-old brother or your own “Bubby” to see this film.

Oh, and a tip from someone who’s watched the movie tons of time already: munchies are essential. Trust me.

13

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, September 17, 2008 / ENTERTAINMENT

CALENDAR WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 17

MUSIC

8-bit video game-influenced sound, a reason behind their tongue-in-cheek labeling of “Nintendocore.”

9.17 Built to Spill/Meat Puppets @ Toad’s Place New Haven, Conn.

9.20 Ice Cube @Webster Theater Hartford, Conn.

8 p.m.

9.22-24 My Winnipeg @ Real Art Ways Hartford, Conn.

5:30 & 7:30 p.m. $6.25

7:30 p.m./ $20 9.17 The Blue Pages @ The Space Hamden, Conn.

7 p.m. / $10 9.18 Nas @ Toad’s Place New Haven, Conn.

8 p.m. / $30

It’s been 40 years since audiences first heard Charlton Heston scream, “Take your paws off me you damn dirty ape!” and the significance of the film has grown richer every year. Now it seems like an allegory about race relations, doomsday environmentalism, totalitarianism, even the Bush regime’s denial of good science.

Its screenwriters were Rod Serling, host of “The Twilight Zone” and a noted writer of science fiction stories and of television screenplays, paired with the formerly black-listed Michael Wilson. Together they wrote some of the best dialogue ever in s science fiction film. Jerry Goldsmith, usually a stalwart studio composer, took a lot of chances with a futuristic often atonal score. Heston is the chest beater and the chimps are the quiet and thoughtful ones, most notably played by Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter.

9.24 Danger Radio @ The Space Hamden, Conn.

7 p.m. / $10

Through 11.9 Pop to the Present @ Wadsworth Atheneum Featuring major works from the Atheneum’s extensive collections, this exhibition examines the multiple avenues of artistic exploration from the 1960s to the present. With the explosion of new modes of representation and new artistic, social, and political concerns that became central to the language of art during this time, Pop to the Present will celebrate the amazing varieties of form that proliferated during the last third of the twentieth century and that continue into our own time.

MISCELLANEOUS 9.18-9.21 Ralphie May @ Hartford Funny Bone Comedy Club Manchester, Conn.

With the incorporation of influences like Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake and Stevie Wonder into the mix, Danger Radio’s sound transformed over time from a typical rock band into an upbeat blend of rock, pop, funk and jazz that was highlighted by youthful exuberance and the emotional lyrics that many young, socalled pop-punk bands were known for in the early 2000s.

FILM 9.19 Soldiers of Conscience @ Real Art Ways Hartford, Conn.

5:30 & 7:30 p.m $6.25

9.19 Toby Goodshank (of The Moldy Peaches) @ Heirloom Arts Theatre Danbury, Conn.

9 p.m. / $5 Toby Goodshank is a musician and visual artist based out of New York City. In addition to his solo work, he performs regularly with New York City-based bands Double Deuce, the TriLambs, and the Christian Pirate Puppets.

9.20 Horse the Band @ Heirloom Arts Theatre Danbury, Conn.

7 p.m. / $12

Horse the band (often typeset as HORSE the band) is an experimental metalcore band from Lake Forest, CA. Their current keyboardist uses a Game Boy cartridge to achieve an

An incredibly moving documentary about the most unlikely of the Iraq War’s conscientious objectors. Co-director’s Catherine Ryan and Gary Weimberg never preach but succeed in showing how much this war and any war destroys even the most patriotic and gung ho soldiers. In fact, in the first half hour as we’re introduced to various young men and women, it’s hard to tell who is the CO and who isn’t. It’s this fairness and conscious objectivity that makes the film unique.

9.19 Planet of the Apes @ Real Art Ways Hartford, Conn.

9:30 p.m. $6.25

My Winnipeg is a multi-layered journey through the imagined hometown of celebrated and whimsical Canadian director Guy Maddin.

Employing the filmmaker’s fusion of silent film technique and self-mocking melodrama, he has made what he calls a “docu-fantasia”, with hokey dialogue. In telling his own story and the Manitoba city’s, we are never sure what is fact and what is fiction. The film’s central notion is that after living in this isolated city all his life Maddin (played by actor Darcy Fehr) is desperately trying to escape Winnipeg’s wintry grasp.

To do so, he has to take a half-real, half-imaginary dream train through his own past, revisiting the people, places and events that meant the most to him. The 1940’s B-movie icon Ann Savage (Detour) is wonderful as his domineering mom. If you’ve never seen a Maddin film, this is the one to see.

ART Through 10.2 43rd Annual Art Department Faculty Exhibition @ The William Benton Museum of Art Painting, sculpture, illustration, graphic design, printmaking, photography and installation art will all share the East Gallery in this autumn’s 43rd annual Art Department exhibition. Much has changed in the art world since the first exhibition in 1967, but the technical excellence, the modernity and the artistic quality of this exhibition remain consistently engaging. The faculty works represent the diversity of themes and styles of the modern art world while highlighting the singularity of each of their visions. This year’s featured artists, both of whom work on a large scale, are Professors Deborah (Muirhead) Dancy and Ray DiCapua.

Most recently on the third season of NBC’s hit reality series, Last Comic Standing, Ralphie May’s popularity exploded after the success of the first season when America though he was robbed of the winner’s title. But, coming in second place has not stopped him from becoming one of the hottest comedians in the country. His first CD and DVD, appropriately titled “Just Correct”, have recently gone Platinum!

9.20 Flea Market @ The Space Hamden, Conn.

9-3 p.m.

There is something for everyone here.

Everything from antiques to electronics to the kitchen sink ...a vendor actually had a kitchen sink last time. There will be records, CDs crazy stuff of all kinds. Vendors sell your stuff here (we give you the space you need). There will be live acoustic music, food, good vibes and shop-

Did we miss something?

E-mail us with your weekly campus event listings at ccsurecorder@gmail.com.

14 THE RECORDER Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Lifestyles

The Therapy of Touch

F­ ive Miscellaneous Must-Haves for Your Fridge

Caroline Dearborn

Staff Writer

Caroline Dearborn

Staff Writer

When the convenience of living at home has ceased to exist, whether in a dorm or an off campus apartment, you suddenly must take on tasks such as stocking a refrigerator with at least the bare necessities. If you are asking yourself, “Where do I begin?” here is your answer. Listed below are five essential provisions for all-sized refrigerators and for all types of consumers.

These items may seem random; however, their value will be noted once they become a fixture of your fridge.

Baking soda

For some, hands-on learning begins with massage therapy classes and ends with a certificate and a career.

Collette Annillo, a massage therapy student at the Connecticut Center for Massage Therapy, sought something beyond classroom academia in order to achieve a career goal. The New Jersey native attended two different colleges and switched her major twice before deciding on CCMT. “I felt like it was time to do something that I really loved, and would be able to do for a long time,” said Annillo, who’s goal is to one day work in a resort or day spa.

Right now, Annillo is in the full-time student program at CCMT, where she attends

courses for close to nine hours a day, twice each week from September through August.

Although Annillo and her fellow classmates practice massages on one another during classes, book study is certainly involved in this field as well.

Annillo is taking the first of three courses on anatomy and physiology. Each class contains a one-hour bone lab during which students study the human skeleton.

“We get to see where [the bones] go, and how they fit,” said Annillo. “You have to know what bones are what so you don’t hurt somebody. You need to know where things are situated, in order to massage correctly,” she explained.

And of course, the program includes classes on the practice of message therapy.

Annillo is in Massage Therapy 1 this semester, and during the four-hour class, there is book-

work, discussion, and time to perfect massages.

Annillo says courses such as Personal and Professional Potentia contain practical instruction for succeeding in the massage therapy field.

As part of the program, Annillo had to purchase her own massage table. This is where she practices massages outside of class – 15 hours of practice massage time by the end of the first term in December.

According to its Web site, www.ccmt.edu, CCMT is accredited by the Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation. At the end of her program, Annillo will take the National Certification Exam for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. Annillo says she is happy with the program and feels that it is a good fit for her.

She believes that there are many prospective job opportunities that lie ahead.

This is a necessity since your dorm fridge probably has a wide variety of foods, which in turn have a plethora of smells. A small box, of any brand, will help to eliminate odd odors lurking around. Baking soda does run its course, however, so make sure you replace the box according to the directions on the package or at least dump out the top portion of the box every once in a while. And if you happen to have a recipe that calls for baking soda, always use a brand new box – you don’t want any soaked up smells to end up in your homemade cookies.

Ketchup

Whether re-heating leftover take-out or cooking up some frozen chicken fingers, using the dorm microwave may cause your food to become dry. But not to worry, a little ketchup is a nice touch of hydration to a once-juicy meal.

Furthermore, after you get back from Burger King and realize that two ketchup packets is nowhere near enough for all of your french fries, you are guaranteed to be satisfied with your choice of stocking this product in your fridge.

Margarine or butter

This is a must-have for your fridge. It keeps well and you can buy bagels or other bread products for an easy and tasty snack, right in your dorm. Heating up a muffin in the microwave and adding some margarine or butter to it makes for a delectable treat. Don’t think you’ll use it that often? You can buy small tubs of margarine or split a package of sticks of butter with friends who are also looking to stock their refrigerators!

Kraft Snackable Cracker Cuts

These precut cheese slices are perfect for making mini cracker sandwiches or to just be eaten alone. Since they are precut, they are virtually mess-free. This product boasts both an excellent source of calcium and of protein.

You’ll have already cut cheese ready for crackers when you have unexpected guests or when you are looking for a late night snack while you are studying and you don’t want to interrupt your concentration by fixing up something to eat.

A bar of Hershey’s chocolate

It’s great to break off a piece for a snack, have several pieces for a dessert, or just to indulge in the whole bar after a long day. Whether a pick-me-up in between classes for a jolt of sugar, a reward for sticking to your study plan, or a treat when a friend stops by, there are a million excuses why you could indulge with a small piece of chocolate. This will be one necessity you’ll find yourself replacing more often than the others!

Veteran Devotes Time to Education, VAO Causes Jane Natoli

Lifestyles Editor

After returning to the United States, Specialist JoelPatrick Leger was stationed at Fort Campbell with the 160 th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. In the beginning of 2003, Leger was deployed to Iraq with the101st Airborne Division. For a year Leger lived and worked in Iraq, flying missions for the Army as the crew chief of a Blackhawk helicopter.

As that year came to an end, Leger thought ahead to college. He applied to CCSU by mail and, just a few days after his last day in service on Aug. 19, 2004, Leger began classes. He says that going straight from the army to college partially helped him adjust to civilian life again because his days were occupied and he was able to keep busy. But, Leger explained, there was not a huge support structure at CCSU to lean on throughout his transition, which made some parts of readjusting difficult.

Many returning veterans find themselves facing the same struggles to adjust. Fortunately, they are able to find support on campus from other student veterans.

Leger enlisted in the Army in December 1997 while still in high school.

“I joined the military to serve my country as a way to earn all of the freedoms and advantages I had living in United States,” explains Leger.

Highlights of Leger’s time in the military include basic training during August 1998 at Fort Jackson, S.C., where Leger graduated as Soldier of the Cycle for his battalion, and participating in Counter Narcotics Operations with the DEA, Coast Guard and other government agencies when stationed at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Ga., with the 3rd Infantry Division.

In March 2001, Leger went to Korea with the 2nd Infantry Division. During the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, Leger was in a training exercise near a de-militarized zone in Korea. Because of the approximate 12-hour time difference, Leger and the rest of his division didn’t hear about the tragic events until the next day. After the details unfolded, Leger’s unit remained in complete lockdown for three to four weeks while the military, and the world, waited to see what would happen next.

Leger regards the anniversary of 9/11 as an incredibly important event each year.

“Whether you were in New York City or South Korea, it significantly changed the way we look at the world, said Leger. “September 11 woke a lot of people up to what was going on outside the United States. Advantages we have that we get by purely living in the United States are hard to appreciate until you see first hand people who don’t have those privileges,” he adds.

Returning home, Leger says he has been heavily involved in the Veterans Appreciation Organization (VAO) at CCSU, serving as the Treasurer from 2005 to 2008 and as the President for the year in between. According to Leger, the goal of the VAO is to bring attention to veteran issues on and off campus and to provide a peer support network for CCSU veterans.

The VAO was formed by a group of student veterans from the 1991 Gulf War and has supported campus veterans since its creation.

One of the on-going efforts of the VAO is to erect a monument on campus to honor veterans.

“Since I’ve been at Central there’s been talk of a monument for CCSU student veterans going up on campus,” said Leger. “The plan has changed many times. As I understand it, the current plan is for it to go near the Student Center.”

Even without a monument, the VAO works to honor veterans in other ways. Each year, the VAO holds a Veterans’ Day dinner to recognize veteran students and faculty on campus. According to Leger, each year the VAO invites every known veteran on campus, as well as various community veteran organizations each year to let them know that the CCSU community appreciates their sacrifices and services to our country.

Veterans at CCSU, and every state school in Connecticut, will soon have a permanent spot on campus to go to relax, hang out and find other veterans. Last year, CCSU veterans learned that Southern Connecticut State University had a veteran drop-in center, where veterans can go to get help or to just hang out with fellow veterans. After visiting the center at SCSU, veterans at CCSU began talking about finding a space for their own drop-in center.

CCSU administrators also became involved with the effort and as a result, all Connecticut state schools will establish a drop-in center for their student veterans.

According to Leger, a drop-in center is an extremely helpful tool for a veteran to have in order to be successful in college. “There are so many issues that veterans go through that are unique to vets that the only people who can help you with them are people who already have done it,” he explained. Such issues include adjusting to campus life and financing their school with the GI Bill.

Leger is currently student teaching in ninth grade classes during what will be his last semester at CCSU. He is studying to become a high school social studies teacher – an occupation that will allow him to spread the knowledge of his first-hand experience serving in the Army and overseas.

15

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, September 17, 2008 / LIFESTYLES

Energize Your Coffee Routine Karyn Danforth Editor-at-Large

Marissa Blaszko Opinion Editor

Last Sunday, The Recorder drove around in a quest to find some of the best coffee shops in the area. After being mislead for a while by a befuddled GPS system, the editors finally stumbled upon some choices that surpass the cheap, factory-churned Dunkin Donuts and the corporate giant Starbucks.

It’s a Grind 51 Memorial Road West Hartford

As seen in Showtime’s rising dramedy “Weeds”, this low-key chain resembles a smaller, darker version of Starbucks, yet doesn’t function like an assembly line. With original coffee flavors like the Road Warrior (ice blended mocha with pureed chocolate covered espresso beans), It’s A Grind has a small but clearly marked non-coffee section for those of us who do not suffer from a caffeine addiction.

Set in the comfortable streets of Blue Back Square, one may sit outside and read any paper from the selection of newsstands—if any money is left over after the bill is paid.

Editors’ Pick: Wild Berry Green Tea smoothie La Paloma Sabanera 405 Capital Avenue Hartford

Having recently re-opened, La Paloma is probably the hipster’s pick as far as Connecticut coffee houses are concerned. With half of the building decorated with an anti-establishment mural, a payphone-gone-sculpture installation at its door and a Frida Kalo themed table, the

fair-trade promoter has some of the best tasting coffee for some of the best prices. The only drawback is the fact that the café is located in a part of Hartford that is not only a pain to get to from Central, but parking is at least a couple of blocks away in a part of the city that you might want to triple-check your door locks.

Editors’ Pick: Fresh Brewed Iced Tea Klekolo World Coffee 181 Court Street Middletown

Overlooking the barrage of teenagers typically strewn about this small hole in the wall café, Klekolo encourages customers to relax and hang out with a selection of board games and reading materials while they sip their large array of exceptional coffee flavors and munch on their delectable desserts. If you’re in the mood for tea, the shop keeps a couple dozen varieties on their menu, even if they only have a couple in stock.

Editors’ Pick: any of the steamed milk lattes Gloria Jean’s Westfarms Mall West Hartford

While Gloria Jean’s now must compete with the Starbucks a couple doors down, they offer more non-coffee choices as well as seasonal favorites like pumpkin or peppermint flavored mochas, hot or cold. While not exactly a spot to sit and relax, it is perfect for a quick pick-me-up during an intense shopping excursion.

Editors’ Pick: Oreo Chiller

Call for Entries

Helix Magazine

DEADLINE

October 20, 2008 Art, essay, poetry, fiction, non-fiction and plays.

Helix Magazine CCSU 1516 Stanley Street P.O. Box 4574 New Britain, CT 06050

Leaves and Pages 55 West Main Street New Britain

Caffeine’s 1085 Farmington Avenue Farmington

Dan Collin, a special writer to The Recorder, visited the shop last fall for a different review: “The food and drink selection is pretty no-nonsense. There is not an espresso machine or milk steaming apparatus on the premises. However, there is a daily offering of up to ten varieties of Green Mountain Coffee including any standard flavors one might expect such as French Vanilla and Hazelnut plus seasonal selections. Many of these coffees are also fair trade- not bad for the conscience.

Although Green Mountain can be purchased at many convenience stores as well, it’s quality stuff. If you’re a frequent customer you can get a drink card that allows you to get a free hot beverage after the purchase of six. Other drink choices include any kind of tea you might imagine in addition to hot chocolate and locally made soda from Avery’s in New Britain.”

Caffeine’s takes pride in their handmade coffee, purposely diverting their production style from the more modern machinery typically used by a number of large companies.

Although their prices are about the same the café, located in what used to be a small house, offers everything from local pastries to beans bought from smaller distributors. They also have semi-regular open mic nights for Farmington residents and organized their first comedy night earlier this year. The mom-andpop is located between 12-15 minutes off of campus, depending on traffic.

Editors’ Pick: Hot Apple Cider (even in summer)

Euro Café 113 Broad Street New Britain

While Cosi is known for its deli-styled dining, it also features a fairly extensive coffee bar, with a variety of frozen “arctic” drinks sprinkled in between the menu’s classic coffee options. Located in downtown West Hartford, it’s a two-minute walk from Blue Back Square and thirty seconds from dozens of other interesting shops. Unfortunately, between the six dollars patrons can expect to pay for lackluster sandwiches and three dollars per small coffee, there might not be much left in the budget for shopping.

Editors’ Pick: Iced Chai Tea Latte

This cozy and homey establishment is more on the smaller scale than most coffee stops, but has a customized European feel with its well-roasted coffees served in a cup and saucer. This little shop is perfect for leisurely sipping and chatting with others on the eclectic furniture from dining room tables to couches.

Best to go to after classes or pre-movie dates, the space ranks higher than any other café visited by The Recorder. The shop also carries Mighty Leaf Tea, a strong organic brand that comes in enticing flavors that each taste unique.

Editors’ Pick: Organic Mint Melange Tea

Cosi 970 Farmington Avenue West Hartford

Are you an impressionable incoming freshman? A sophomore who has recently given up a time consuming bad habit? A junior or senior who has finally decided to stop being lazy?

The Recorder is looking for staff writers, illustrators and comic artists for the fall semester.

Working with The Recorder is a great way to build your resume, hone your skills and network.

helixmagazine@gmail.com

If you are interested please e-mail us at ccsurecorder@gmail.com.

No prior experience is necessary.

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, September 17, 2008 / LIFESTYLES

Choose your scene at

FRESKOS

Jane Natoli

Lifestyles Editor

One of the main problems with Connecticut restaurants is their inability to stay open later than 10 p.m. – it’s not uncommon to walk in as restaurants clean up for the night.

Most of the time, the weary waitresses send us away. When we are lucky, they allow us to sit at one table left open for stragglers and we are fed a sub-par meal of what are most likely leftovers from the earlier dinner crowd.

This is not the case at Freskos Grill and Wine Bar in Avon, CT – located near the intersection of Routes 44 and 10. Freskos’ menu and Web site claim to specialize in unique Mediterranean cuisine, and it offers an array of dinners, pasta, food from the grill and pizza.

Last Friday, after a less than pleasant ride in the rain and fog, we arrived at Freskos a little after 9 p.m. Inside offered a warm atmosphere and pretty décor – exposed brick with brown and maroon wall hangings with scattered booths and tables in the dinning room – that just begs you to sit and relax. The noise level, however, told us that we entered a party that was just beginning to get going for the night.

The live band, The Rockets, had just started playing for the night, and although they didn’t sound anywhere nearly as good as the classic rock bands they were covering, it was as good as you could expect for small restaurant/ bar in Connecticut. Freskos hosts different live bands every Thursday, Friday and Saturday beginning at 8 or 9 p.m. The best part: there’s never a cover charge.

By the end of the evening, I realized that the bar and live bands were the more attractive part of the Freskos, at least for the weekend. The bar side of the restaurant is an L shape: one side, opposite the bar, contains a wall lined with booth seats with chairs on the other side of the tables, the other holds an arrangement of couches to relax with a drink after your meal, or if you want to stop in to hear a band. The bands set up

in the corner of the L on a raised platform separated from the room with railings.

Hoping for a conversation during our meal without shouting across the table, we opted to sit on the dining room side, and for most of our stay, shared the space with only one other table of people. But we watched a steady stream of people of all ages come in and crossed straight to the bar side to have a drink and hear the band.

Freskos definitely seems to be a place where you can dress nicely, hear some music, meet other people and have a good night. One woman danced through the door way and into the party; when we sat in to hear the band play a number before we left after our meal, there was one couple dancing in front of the band and singing along: “Aaaah-Ooooo, werewolves of London…”

For a restaurant that boasts Mediterranean cuisine, our meal was somewhat disappointing; the quality of our food choices was hit or miss.

Our appetizer, the Mediterranean platter, consisted of generous portions of hummus and babganoush which, after a little bit of quick Googling when I got home, I found out was supposed to be eggplant and tahini sauce with spices, but I don’t think Freskos hit the mark on this one – I couldn’t recognize the taste of eggplant or really good tahini sauce, even now that I know what it was supposed to be.

The tabouli part of the platter wasn’t bad, and although I am used to the kind from Stop and Shop, the added bulgur wheat in Freskos’ recipe grew on me by the time the large portion of tomatoes, scallions and herbs disappeared from the platter. The stuffed grape leaves, of which I am not usually a fan, were quite tasty, and were smaller than I’ve eaten before which made them more manageable.

The Mediterranean platter came with pita bread triangles, which were fun to eat with the various dips and sauces, but we ran out of pita before we finished half of the food. Our waitress was more than happy to order us another plate of the flat bread, and the second batch

Photos: Edward Gaug/The Recorder

came toasted and was more than enough to finish off the appetizer. However, after paying $9.99 for the Mediterranean platter, I was not so pleased to find out that extra pitas were another dollar on the bill.

Despite the pita annoyance, the appetizer was my favorite part of the meal. Wanting to sample their Mediterranean dishes, I ordered lamb kabobs, which came with assorted vegetables, long rice and, like many of the entrées, lentil salad. With a price of $14.99, it was one of the lowest priced entrees on the menu.

However, the quality of the dish didn’t make it quite so good of a deal. I’ve always loved lentil soup, but was unprepared for the cold, greenish, crunchy lentils that were laid out in a line under my kabob. Unfortunately, I was not pleasantly surprised with the lentil salad, or with the meat on my lamb kabob. I asked for the lamb cooked medium-well, even though I was confused at the degree of perfection this could be achieved for lamb on the same stick as vegetables. My doubts were confirmed when the meat I was served ranged from fully cooked to almost bloody depending on its position on the kabob.

To make it worse, as I chewed my first bite of meat, I discovered it to be very tough and instead of being able to swallow easily, I found a ball of fatty meat forming in my mouth. The meat had ribbons of fat running through I, the kind that dissolves when meat is fully cooked, making the meat tender. The well-cooked pieces of lamb did not have this problem, so I did enjoy some of it. However, unless you absolutely love lamb, I would stick with the chicken choice of kabob if you try this dish.

The vegetables were fine; I was disappointed with the tahini sauce that was plopped on the middle of the kabob – over the vegetables but completely missing the meat. It was runny and not so tasty, (which explains the lack of taste in the babganoush part of the appetizer) and there wasn’t even enough to dip the lamb.

The rice, fluffy and soft, saved the meal for me. It tasted as if it had been cooked in some

kind of stock, which is always a favorite at home.

About the time our entrees came, around 10 p.m., the band took a long break so we were actually able to put together a conversation without waiting for a song to end. My guest’s choice of Delmonico steak pleased him well enough. He was served a good-sized piece of steak, smothered in Gorgonzola sauce. The mashed potatoes were passable, and I enjoyed trying the crunchy baby asparagus that came with it. Be warned however, that everything tastes like the cheese sauce, so if you don’t like that, the meal could quickly be ruined. At $24.99, you want to make sure you are going to like what you order.

Tiramisu was the dessert of choice for the night, although they brought out a tray of samples including cheesecakes, a peanut butter pie, fruit tarts and other goodies. The tiramisu had multiple layers of cake and cream and was a nice light desert after our heavy meals.

On the other hand, the loud party of people who gathered at the table directly behind us (even though the whole dining room was practically empty) was not such a great way to end dinner. At one point, I didn’t know which was louder – the shrieking laughter behind us, or the band in the other room.

Freskos is not the place to go for a quiet romantic dinner – at least not on Thursday, Friday or Saturday nights. During the week, I definitely see the potential for a cozy meal in a nice atmosphere for a date or a girl’s night out.

On the weekends, if you are looking for a place to hang out, catch the game at the bar, hear a live band without a cover charge and want to get a full meal, Freskos is a decent choice. Watch out for the prices, though, if you are going for dinner. Most of the appetizers hit at least $9.99 and the entrees fluctuate around the $20 mark.

Edward Gaug / The Recorder