The Spectrum Volume 61 Issue 45

Vol. 61 NO. 45

ubspectrum.com

Alumni Issue, Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Did President Tripathi Break the Rules? *OPINION*

LUKE HAMMILL Senior News Editor

President Tripathi may have violated SUNY policy when he accepted a seat on the Buffalo Niagara Partnership’s board of directors and $265,000 in private salary from the UB Foundation and SUNY Research Foundation.

SUNY regulations stipulate that university presidents can’t sit on not-for-profit boards of directors or accept private income over $4,000 without approval from the New York State Commission on Public Integrity.

UB officials on Tuesday couldn’t tell me whether Tripathi received that approval.

Like John Simpson before him, Tripathi serves on the board of directors for the Buffalo Niagara Partnership (BNP) because he is UB’s president. BNP is the not-for-profit local chamber of commerce.

If you’ve been following The Spectrum, you know that UB’s faculty union demanded that the university cut its nominal and financial ($47,994 per year) ties to BNP because it engages in political lobbying, fundraising, and endorsement of candidates (UB didn’t listen).

The New York State Commission on Public Integrity was replaced in August by the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE). I asked JCOPE if Tripathi had received the commission’s approval to serve on BNP and collect a six-figure private salary, as SUNY regulations stipulate he should have.

“Executive Law §94 explicitly exempts the Commission from the Freedom of Information Law…Accordingly, the Commission cannot respond to your information request,” said JCOPE’s Theresa Schillaci in an email.

Wait a second. The Joint Commission on Public Ethics, formerly known as the Commission on Public Integrity, isn’t subject to the Freedom of Information Law? The law that is supposed to help enforce the integrity of public officials and hold them to a high ethical standard?

Is that not a blatant contradiction?

We’ll leave that question for another day. Back to Tripathi.

Stymied by JCOPE, I took the question to university spokesman John Della Contrada, who I’d already asked a few days earlier, a little before 2 p.m. Tuesday. I cited the specific part of the SUNY regulations that require JCOPE approval for university presidents to sit on boards of directors and collect over $4,000 in private income. It’s in “Summary of Presidential Compensation, Benefits And Other Terms of Employment,” available on SUNY’s website.

Della Contrada couldn’t get me an answer by the end of the day. Now, from the conversations we had, I believe he made an honest attempt at getting the information. He even went so far as to visit The Spectrum’s office on his way out, explaining that he hoped to have the answers on Wednesday. He’s never done something like that before, at least while I’ve been here.

But shouldn’t something as simple as whether Tripathi did or did not receive required approval from a state commission be rather easy to find out?

Della Contrada said Director of Employee Relations Jeff Reed was working on finding the answer. I didn’t speak to him, but I spoke to an employee of his, Records Access Officer Brian Hines, who handles all of the university’s Freedom of Information Law requests. And he said he had no idea how he could find out the answer to my question.

People will likely say I’m stirring up trouble. I’d like to think I’m looking for the trouble that’s already been stirred up, if there is any. Of course, if we find out that Tripathi did indeed receive the approval he needed, we will surely print it.

But I have to ask: If the people at JCOPE did indeed give Tripathi the approval he needed, why would they hide behind their shady exemption from the Freedom of Information Law? And if Tripathi had gotten his approval, wouldn’t someone in the administration be able to quickly produce proof, or at least say something like, “Yes, he’s gotten the approval?”

Hopefully, I’ll be able to tell you on Friday.

Building Behind Battle Bulls alum making presence felt from the bench TYLER CADY Senior Sports Editor When Turner Battle stepped foot on campus for the first time, he had admittedly never heard of Buffalo or its basketball team. In fact, when he came on a recruiting visit, he asked the coaches whether it was a Division II or III program.

There was a reason the 18-year-old kid from North Carolina had no knowledge of the Western New York program – the Bulls were 4-24, and had little to no impact on the college basketball landscape.

Battle was the man who changed that. He led the team to the top tier of the Mid-American Conference.

At the time Battle arrived, head coach Reggie Witherspoon was told that the university was constantly evaluating the benefits of having intercollegiate athletic programs.

Battle and his freshman classmates were the ones who turned heads, and that ’05 class is one of the reasons Bulls basketball is still around.

“When they came in after the first semester, they had the second-highest GPA of any freshman class in the country,” Witherspoon said.

“They demonstrated themselves as people and they ended up having great careers, and I think it demonstrated to the campus community that intercollegiate athletics could be something that galvanized the campus as well as the community.

I just think in terms of significance it’s way up there.”

Buffalo athletics were struggling across the board when Battle arrived, and the men’s basketball team was no exception. Battle bulldozed the path toward greatness for the basketball program.

Wednesday: Mostly Cloudy- H: 33, L: 28 Thursday: Mostly Cloudy- H:42, L: 33 Friday: Flurries- H: 37, L: 29

“I think that if Turner is not the most important student athlete, he’s one of them in terms of credibility and viability of the Division-I athletic program,” Witherspoon said. “At the time that he decided to come here, we weren’t at that point that we could say we’ve established ourselves.”

That 2004-05 season, widely considered to be the best Buffalo team of all time, was the school’s first team to make it to the National Invitational Tournament. But that wasn’t enough for Battle.

He was so close to making it to the peak of his sport, only to be denied at the last second.

That was certainly not the case when Battle took off his jersey for the last time.

It’s part of the reason that Battle returned to Buffalo and took a job as an assistant coach under Witherspoon.

From when he took over as starting point guard – game one of his career – to his senior season, the Bulls climbed from 4-24 to 23-10, and were kept from advancing to the NCAA tournament by an overtime Akron tip-in.

The Flatow Files UB alum strays from degree to pursue reporting REBCCA BRATEK

Eccentric Moves, Smooth Flow BRIAN JOSEPHS Arts Editor Dance teams usually have a habit of sticking to one genre. Whether it’s hip-hop, dancehall, jazz, or swing, that team is going to specialize and perfect that one style because that’s who they are.

This team practices everything from the aggressive style of krumping to the visually aesthetic form of ballet. When it first came UB, this collage of a dance team – which was brought together by one freshman – captivated students.

Tear gas flooded Norton Hall as police officers tried to suppress anti-Vietnam War protests. Students were strewn across the buildings, and police shot their gases and birdshot into any building in sight.

It isn’t hip-hop, classical, or tribal, but rather crazy, absurd, and energetic.

Ira Flatow and his student colleagues bought tear gas masks at the local Army/Navy surplus store and continued to report on the night’s events – as a reporter for WBFO (UB’s arm of National Public Radio or NPR), Flatow was expected to be the eyes and ears for UB’s student population.

It’s Eccentric Flow, UB’s premier dance team.

The Jamaican from Suffolk Most dance teams were part of SA clubs before Eccentric Flow formed in 2007. Clubs such as the Caribbean SA and the now-defunct Hip-Hop SA had their own popular dance offshoots.

As an engineering major, the middle of political fire was the last place Flatow ever expected to be.

From science to reporting Flatow grew up on Long Island and came to UB expecting to pursue a degree in engineering. A self-proclaimed science “lover” and “nerd,” Flatow was a bit disappointed in what he chose to study.

“When I was an engineering student, engineering didn’t turn out to be what I thought it would to be,” Flatow said.

“So I wanted to continue to get my degree in engineering and finish up, but I didn’t think I was going to make a career out of it.”

Flatow took this opportunity to look for other interests to get involved in around campus. He was a part of theatre and a TV studio while in high school, and he hoped to continue these passions at UB. In 1969, Flatow found WBFO, the student-run radio station on campus.

He went to a meeting, and when the news director asked who was interested in working for the news department, Flatow raised his hand.

“Next thing I knew, he had handed me a tape recorder and told me to go

d dd

“I tell these [current Buffalo players] all the time that I have unfinished business,” Battle said. “I felt like we deserved to make the tournament Continued on page 9

This team is different.

News Editor

Email: luke.hammill@ubspectrum.com

Weather for the Week:

Alexa Strudler /// The Spectrum

Former Bulls player and current assistant coach is helping to get his team battle tested for Mid-American Conference tournament.

Courtesy of Ira Flatow Alumnus Ira Flatow started his reporting career at UB through WRUB. He now anchors Science Friday for NPR.

down to Niagara Square,” Flatow said.

“And so I learned how to cover anti-war demonstrations.”

UB in the 1970s The 1970s were a decade of political turmoil. The Vietnam War had students across the country protesting against their government, and much like the highly publicized Kent State massacre, UB became a hotbed for activism.

However, the team felt it was incomplete when it noticed the talents of a freshman who had just transferred from Suffolk Community College. He amazed the crowds with his dance moves at parties, and before long, he was approached by many clubs to join their dance teams.

But this freshman was by no

means a follower. Elijah Coleman was going to interpret dance in his own terms. So he decided to start a dance team of his own – one that didn’t follow just one genre.

“I always wanted something that I could call my own,” Coleman, a senior dance and theatre major, said.

“I wanted to train them and make them more than just a hip-hop team…I just walked around asking people on campus, and asking people [if they danced]. I always wanted certain people to be on the team because I wanted to make an impact. So I single-handedly picked people to be on my team.”

Coleman started recruiting from CSA, Hip-Hop SA, and multiple sources to start his own crew. The Long Island native barely had any experience doing anything of the sort, but he eventually came up with eight members.

It wasn’t too long after its inception that Eccentric Flow started to gain notice. A dance team that could perform to both dancehall and soca music was rare in Buffalo.

“When they came about I remember people would get so excited to watch them perform because you never knew what you would get,” said Shanique Pierre, former president and current graduate advisor for the CSA. “It was the first time since I been in Buffalo that a group was actually dancing to soca. A lot of them were not even Caribbean, yet they would [get excited] when the soca or the reggae came on.”

On The Map Coleman says Eccentric Flow has had approximately 200 members

Continued on page 2

Flatow describes the UB riots and protest as “the night that the campus went mad.” He remembers police filling every inch of the Main Street campus (the “old” campus) with tear gas. He remembers students even being shot with birdshot – not quite as severe as the Kent State shootings, but no less tragic, according to Flatow. Students were just piling up in hallways and across the campus grounds.

“It’s very scary and it’s very educational,” Flatow said. “It’s scary because when there’s a riot going on, all of the news first reports about any source of tragedy.”

Continued on page 2

I N S I D E

Nyeri Moulterie /// The Spectrum

Eccentric Flow’s use of multiple dance styles and skill has left a lasting impression on UB.

Opinion * 3 Life * 4,5 Arts * 6,7 Classifieds / Daily Delights * 11 Sports * 12

ubspectrum.com

Page 2 Continued from page 1: The Flatow Files Flatow and his colleagues stayed on the air until 3 or 4 a.m., he remembers.

WBFO was one of the only reliable news sources on campus, solely because its Norton Hall office was located in the middle of the conflict. Flatow said he learned that night that news will always report tragedy, and the first reports may be wrong – a lesson learned because wire news services were being censored.

“The news didn’t get out of Buffalo,” Flatow said. “The wire services censored stories coming out. They only really gave the side of view of the police that night. We were there, and we watched it. We knew the reporter who filed the wire service story, and he wanted to update his story and tell them they had gotten it wrong. They refused to do it.”

Return to science In 1971, Flatow graduated from UB with a degree in engineering. He subsequently left WBFO and followed in Bill Siemering’s (WBFO’s station manager) footsteps to NPR. Here, he was able to reunite with one of his first loves – science – and he began to host “Science Friday.”

He even credits WBFO with his first science story – the first Earth Day was held in April 1970.

“I had taken a course in ecology, and I think that was the first ecology course that was ever given at UB,” Flatow said. “So I enrolled as a freshman, and I was very interested in it. Now I can do something beyond the radio and cover some science topic.”

This show is broadcasted each Friday, and is Flatow’s attempt to “make science and technology a topic for discussion around the dinner table.” He explained this means, in simple terms, he wants to replace “dinner” discussions of pop culture, sports, or business with discussions of stem cells, the environment, or black holes; he wants to make science intriguing.

Science Friday covers everything from nanotechnology and cosmology to health issues, the environment, global warming, and evolution – the “hot-button” issues and all of the little joyous scientific discoveries that happen along the way, according to Flatow. He’s even had the chance to interview Jane Goodall.

“She talked about her life and how she got involved with chimps and her whole career – a wonderful story,” Flatow said.

“At the end of the interview, she said that she believed in the abominable snowman, Yetis, and Sasquatch. That was really a shocker.”

Beyond WBFO, UB, and NPR In his spare time, Flatow enjoys sailing, raising his own orchid garden, and playing tennis. As a true scientist, he likes to spend time looking at the sky.

Flatow travels around the country, appearing at various public speaking events. He helped start The Science Friday Initiative – a nonprofit organization that creates educational outreach from Science Friday topics. He’s recently guest starred on The Big Bang Theory, and brought Science Friday to sitcom glory.

But, above all, Flatow looks upon his years at UB fondly, and he credits UB as the place where he found a love for reporting. He hopes current students will take advantage of everything offered at the university, and find a niche of their own.

“Students go to school to take courses, but they’re really going to school to grow up,” Flatow said. “And that’s what kids should do with their time – learn how to grow up. [Students] should take advantage of the independence and freedom that they’re never going to have again. Experiment with new things.

Take as much advantage of the extra stuff going on outside of the classroom that you can.”

Email: news@ubspectrum.com

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Continued from page 1: Eccentric Moves, Smooth Flow during its run. The team is not limited to UB students, since SA doesn’t fund it. Students from Buffalo State, Canisius College, as well as nonstudents, are also invited to make contributions to the team.

The help from its multiple members has allowed Eccentric Flow to maintain a strong rapport with the SA clubs. The team has performed as a part of Black Student Union, African Student Union, and CSA events.

Eccentric Flow has especially maintained close ties to the CSA. Denasha Callender, a senior biological sciences major and CSA’s current secretary, and Collin Read, a junior sociology major and current CSA King, are also members of Eccentric Flow’s executive board.

The dance team’s biggest contribution to the CSA, and perhaps the entire student body, was its performance at the 2010 International Fiesta. Eccentric Flow performed as an exhibition act for CSA at the competition, but nonetheless amazed the audience with its flashy performance.

two more of its most recognizable performances.

Ebbs and Flows of the Eccentric Dancing was an acquired skill for a lot of Eccentric Flow’s members.

Read, one of the team’s standout dancers, was extremely nervous when he first auditioned for the team. The dancer remembered that his performance was bad enough to almost get him cut. “[The audition video] is on Facebook and you can look at it and laugh at me,” Read said. “It was a mess.”

Read was accepted into the team partially because of his friends’ support. But Read and Callender found out that the auditions were only the beginning – dancing for Eccentric Flow would get much harder.

Sharp personalities accompanied the team’s wide range of talents. This led to arguments and altercations, or “throw downs” as Coleman calls them.

“It’s been so long since CSA performed on that stage,” Coleman said. “And when I say ‘We brought it,’ we brought it. I felt like we would’ve won that year if were allowed to compete.”

“Personalities clash on a regular basis, because we all are very strongminded and stubborn,” Callender said.

“We’re like a big happy dysfunctional family.”

The performance benefitted the CSA immensely. The club has been long building its reputation and Eccentric Flow’s performance cemented CSA as a top SA club.

Practice sessions also proved to be difficult at times. During the week of a big performance, Eccentric Flow starts “Hell Week.” The team practices every day during that week instead of its usual every other day schedule. The team then practices overnight right before the competition to meet the standard of perfection.

“Eccentric Flow has always helped us out when it came to performances and doing shows for CSA,” Pierre said.

“When CSA participated in International Fiesta two years ago, Coleman along with the rest of the team came up with an amazing showcase [and] we were able to perform and show everyone that CSA alongside it on the map.”

Eccentric Flow’s performance at the 2011 Black Explosion – BSU’s annual fashion show – and its first place performance at the UB Thinks You Can Dance competition in 2010 are

“That’s where your time and dedication comes into play,” Read said. “You got to be there, you got to work hard.

I’ve had some sweat, I’ve had some tears, I’ve had busted knees – both of them wide open, bleeding, with a show in a couple of hours.”

Future

money out of the member’s own pockets. Coleman said he usually gives the team some of his own money just so it can be able to travel to competitions or proudly wear its namesake on clothing.

Coleman looks fondly upon the fact that he was able to maintain his selffunded team for five years.

“It wasn’t until my fifth year of college that I actually looked back at all the videos of E-Flow and realized how much they’ve grown,” Coleman said.

“I was like ‘Wow, I really did five years of this.’ This team was strong for five years. We’re not in SA and we had a budget, we had uniforms, we traveled, and competed against other SAs and won.”

Coleman is looking forward to furthering his career in the arts. He recently auditioned for enrollment in Yale’s graduate theatre program.

But his self-focus is not without cost.

According to Coleman, Eccentric Flow seems to be slowly drifting apart since he’s not able to be as involved as he was due to his career pursuit. He said that the team is working on separating into different groups, including an all-girls team.

Coleman accepts that his creation is going its own path, but he hopes that the members will carry the one thing that allowed him to create the team in the first place.

“I stress confidence to the tee,” Coleman said. “If you don’t have confidence in life, you can’t do anything.

You really need confidence. I teach [the team] confidence, to be yourself, and to go full out.”

After all, that was what led to Eccentric Flow’s impact on UB in the first place.

Email: arts@ubspectrum.com

Eccentric Flow has funded itself off of fundraisers, pay from SA clubs, and

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Submit an entry form online at

wellness.buffalo.edu/essay Submission Deadline: February 27, 2012 | Winners’ Announcement: April 16, 2012

Opinion ubspectrum.com

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Catch 99

EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR IN CHIEF Matthew Parrino SENIOR MANAGING EDITOR James Twigg MANAGING EDITOR Edward Benoit

Being unemployed does not make you lazy According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national rate of unemployment dropped to 8.5 percent in December, the lowest it’s been since 2009. Of course that rate is still entirely too high, but it definitely shows economic progress is being made

EDITORIAL EDITOR James Bowe NEWS EDITORS Luke Hammill, senior Rebecca Bratek Sara DiNatale, asst.

Lisa Khoury, asst.

ARTS EDITORS Nick Pino, senior Vanessa Frith, senior Brian Josephs Elva Aguilar, asst.

Vilona Trachtenberg, asst.

Republican candidates are certainly not excited to see their bid for election become harder, but are still willing to completely blame President Obama for the abysmal economy.

LIFE EDITORS Aaron Mansfield, senior Keren Baruch Lyzi White Rachel Kramer, asst.

Newt Gingrich, on the other hand, is wholeheartedly spreading the blame around. Instead of the typical “liberals are burning down this country,” he’s turned on the unemployed.

SPORTS EDITORS Tyler Cady, senior Brian Feller Nathaniel Smith, asst.

In an interview with WFLA, a Florida Fox News Radio station, he said that the nation shouldn’t be giving the 13 million unemployed “99 weeks to do nothing,” referring to the extended unemployment benefits that a bill passed in 2009 gives out.

PHOTO EDITORS Meg Kinsley, senior Alexa Strudler Satsuki Aoi WEB EDITOR Matthew Parrino James Twigg

PROFESSIONAL STAFF OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR Helene Polley ADVERTISING MANAGER Mark Kurtz

This has been a common theme before. When the original bill, called the American Recovery and Reinvestment act, slowly dragged through Congress, conservative commentators had a field day ripping apart American workers down on their luck.

CREATIVE DESIGNERS Nicole Manzo Aline Kobayashi

Take for instance Rush Limbaugh’s comments that extending unemployment benefits would only “incentivize people not to look for work.” In the twisted neo-con landscape, the obvious solution to businesses not hiring and creating new jobs is to punish the unemployed.

is advocating is that a parent who was laid off and struggling to stay above water without drowning in debt should spend their money on job training rather than put food on the table. Quite an interesting solution, when you consider those same companies aren’t hiring anyway.

So what is Gingrich’s grand plan to get those lazy unemployed people to pull themselves up by their proverbial bootstraps?

Time and time again conservatives look for ways to make villains out of the poor. They think people on welfare need to get drug tests, while the banks that get bailed out and anyone else with government subsidies don’t have to do anything. Now, anyone laid off from a job is a lazy bum.

Make it a requirement for everyone receiving benefits to sign up for some sort of training program run by a business and, according to Gingrich, at least those bums will be showing a little effort to get hired.

Wonderful idea there, Newt, and how do you expect people to pay for that?

Are we going to force companies to provide that service for free? Forcing companies to do things for the state certainly doesn’t fall under the Republican mantra of “small government.”

So would the Government pay for this program? Well that doesn’t exactly fit under the guise of “small government” spending.

The obvious solution that Gingrich

Completely ignored are the hardworking, blue collar Americans who have worked in their field for years and would rather be working than waiting and hoping for jobs to show up.

Thrown out are the hard-working college grads that work their asses off to find work in one of the worst economic climates since the great depression.

Mr. Gingrich, it may have been a very long time since you’ve had to experience a struggle to have food on your table or money to pay the electricity bill, but Americans work harder than anyone else. That includes our unemployed.

We Finally Win Something!

ADVERTISING DESIGNER Aline Kobayashi Liam Gangloff, asst.

The views expressed – both written and graphic – in the Feedback, Opinion, and Perspectives sections of The Spectrum do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board. Submit contributions for these pages to The Spectrum office at Suite 132 Student Union or news@ubspectrum.com. The Spectrum reserves the right to edit these pieces for style and length. If a letter is not meant for publication please mark it as such. All submissions must include the author’s name, daytime phone number, and email address.

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Buffalo has 5th most sensitive men in the nation

Buffalo has seen its share of hard times, and right now we are in the middle of some. The Sabres are playing like mice and the Bills…well, let’s just not talk about that right now.

We do, however, have a brand new feather in our cap to flaunt around the nation.

With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching people around the nation are looking for a special someone to make the sappiest day of the year at least somewhat tolerable, without eating ice cream and Cheetos naked on your beanbag chair.

According to the online dating website Chemistry.com, the way for ladies to do that is to find themselves a sensitive man. Just our luck, a survey compiled by the website says that Buffalo is number five on its list of cities with the most sensitive men.

The top spot went to Pompano Beach, Fla., but we can finally put those big foam hands to use, albeit with each finger extended.

Copyright 2011 Buffalo, N.Y. The Spectrum is printed by The Buffalo News 1 News Plaza Buffalo, N.Y. 14240 email any submissions to info@ubspectrum.com

To determine how soft and tender a city is Chemistry.com used one of the most detailed, powerful systems ever

YouTube Channels and the GOP Race JAMES GIBBONS Special to The Spectrum

Behind the mainstream media, political maneuvers manifest themselves in astonishing ways, especially when it comes to the official YouTube account pages of the remaining candidates for the Republican presidential nomination.

As a political junkie, I have watched a bunch of YouTube videos about the GOP race. From candidate speeches, appearances, commentators, and supporters, there are hundreds of new videos each day.

There are two observations that I will share: the theme of the comments, and the fact that some of the candidates disable the posting of comments on their YouTube channels.

devised to gauge the level of a man’s sensitivity. Its dating survey includes a question about how sensitive you think you are. If you answered “very sensitive,” you were grouped together by city and voila! A wild list appears.

Helen Fisher, chief scientific advisor for the website, designed the 56 question personality test that Chemistry. com uses, told The Huffington Post that the people who answered tended also to be more traditional.

So what makes Buffalo so mushy?

Maybe it has something to do with the unending series of failures that we experience. It’s possibly whittled us down from strong, burly, northern lumberjacks to feeble hipsters in touch with our feminine side.

Possibly we have a kind of Robert Frost pessimism brought about by the crippling cold weather that makes us more sensitive to the feelings of others. It’s commonly known that cold, snowy weather causes something called Seasonal Affective Depression, and that might have an effect on how touchy-feely we are.

What’s most probable, however, is a

I have watched some videos that cover Congressman Ron Paul of Texas; in these videos, it is fascinating how the commenters go on diatribes about how Ron Paul is the only candidate worth voting for. Some say they would even die so that the congressman could be elected president.

How many supporters of Rick Santorum would sacrifice their lives so that the former senator could become president? It is humorous but also strangely revealing about the race.

When I was reading the comments, I wanted to compare the Paul videos to those of other candidates and their supporters.

For each of the remaining candidates’ YouTube accounts – places where they can upload TV ads, online ads, speeches, or anything that they want – one would think that the candidates would want to not censor comments. But unfortunately, comments are disabled on the channels.

For example, Newt Gingrich recently won the South Carolina Republican primary. On his official YouTube channel, “ngingrich,” the video of him giving his victory speech has comments disabled.

Even the main page of the channel had no place for comments – a standard feature of any home page of a YouTube channel.

combination of all of the above and something a little more nefarious.

Guys are just lying to seem more appealing to the modern lady.

Does that mean that we are the number five best liars in the nation?

Not really. Men are going to assume that women want a man who is mature and honest about their feelings, especially the kind that are cruising for babes on dating websites.

Anybody desperate enough to jump on Chemistry.com is probably already desperate enough to say anything that sounds good to get a piece of action.

Page 3

An Open Letter to Attractive Classmates AARON MANSFIELD Senior Life Editor

Hey there.

You’re looking pretty damn good.

But you know what? I’ve met people like you before. In fact, you’re pretty ordinary.

We’ve all had this experience: step foot in class the first day, sit down, scan the room, and boom! Attractive classmate spotted. And as soon as I spot you, I see you’ve spotted me.

I guess you could say I’m “noticing you, noticing me.” It’s going to be a fun semester.

Stop right there. Glance down at your notes and think about what we’re about to get into. This is an adventure unlike any other. This kind of love affair – the continuous glances, the furious eye contact, and the intermittent smile – lasts all semester. It’s a relationship that can’t be taken too lightly.

But as soon as I think through the whole situation and decide it’s a bad idea, your audacious blue eyes have met mine yet again.

It’s been determined. This impervious “I look at you/you look at me” practice will repeat itself three times a week until the final exam – except those days you skip class. Those are the worst days.

I’m not one of those guys who’ll just walk up after class and say “how you doin’?” while unleashing a flawless white smile, unveiling irresistible dimples, and sending a chorus of angels into a rousing rendition of “You Make My Dreams Come True” as you swoon over my charisma.

At the same time, I’m not the kind of guy who’ll just sit across from you in class and stare at you the whole time.

Nah, that’s just weird. So I’ll take meticulous notes, pay attention in class (for the most part), and just ever so rarely pretend to look at the window and happen to see you.

Unfortunately, that’s how it works on the Internet. You can say anything you want to get attention without actually meaning it.

Pick-up lines just aren’t my style, but you understand. Whatever my style is, you like it, and I like yours. You hate getting hit on by the random guys in our class anyway.

If you’re on the lookout for a nice and sensitive Buffalo man head down to the city and go to a hipster coffee shop with a dude playing acoustic guitar.

Does that mean I don’t have balls?

Maybe it does. Does it make me creepy?

No, solely because this admiration is mutual.

At least then you’ll be able to meet the person before discovering that they’re a terrifying creeper with a past history of sexual abuse.

You forgive my timidity and I forgive yours. Like my blue sweater? I thought of you as I picked it out this morning.

What’s that? Yeah, I like your shoes.

On Rick Santorum’s YouTube channel, “RickSantorum,” video after video had comments disabled.

Again, the homepage of the YouTube channel had comments disabled.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s YouTube channel, “mittromney,” had no standard comment section on the main page. There was a feed from Twitter visible, where people could view tweets about the candidate. As for the videos, there were not many that had comments disabled. However, most of the videos were filled with negative criticisms of Romney.

Finally, on Ron Paul’s official YouTube channel, “ronpaul,” there is an open comment section on the main page, and I have not seen one video that has comments disabled. Unlike Romney, the top-rated comments were all positive.

This YouTube phenomenon has largely been unreported, but it provides much awareness into the campaigns as well as their online supporters. Often times, the comments on a political YouTube video are coherent and insightful. I urge any politico to hop on the Web and explore each of the remaining candidates’ online presence for themselves.

Email: gibbons7@buffalo.edu

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We may never speak. In fact, we probably never will. Maybe along the line one of us will work up the courage to add the other on Facebook. (Okay, we’ve all checked Facebook for a goodlooking classmate before. Most of us have even listened for that person’s name during attendance. Stop judging me.) I wouldn’t bank on it, though.

We’ll probably never have serious contact outside of class.

Time goes by pretty quickly when you’re seeing someone. Ever started dating someone, and then before you know it, you two have been dating for six months? It feels our affair only lasted a week as I see you walk up and hand in your final exam.

What the hell? This isn’t fair. It’ll be a long, difficult summer without you around. I’ll see you walking around campus with your friends from time to time in the future.

You’ll look happy. You know, I’m glad you moved on. You deserve the best, and I’ll bet there’s a new guy in one of your classes now.

I’m just not sure I’ll ever get over you.

That is, until I step into my first class of fall semester, sit down, scan the room, and boom! A new set of eyes connects with mine.

Hey there.

Email: aaron.mansfield@ubspectrum.com

Life ubspectrum.com

Page 4

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Designing a Better Buffalo Gwen Howard: Architect LYZI WHITE Life Editor

Monkeys jump from tree to tree, anacondas slither across the ground, and visitors take a deep breath to prepare for their walk through the 25-foot-tall cascading waterfall, only to enter the dark caves that are home to the vampire bats.

Gwen Howard, UB alumna, stands within the Rainforest Falls exhibit at the Buffalo Zoo with other visitors, but her trip is distinctly different from theirs. She does not just travel through the indoor exhibit to see the animals – Howard goes to see the building that she designed.

Howard graduated from UB’s School of Architecture and Planning in March 1995. As a graduate student, a city official, and currently as a senior project manager at Foit-Albert Associates, she has been improving the city of Buffalo one building at a time.

One of her most well known projects is Rainforest Falls.

Instead of thinking about how just humans were going to enjoy the building, Howard had to get into the mindset of an animal.

“The goal is to have this really open animal enclosure,” Howard said. “How do you make it monkey proof, or lizard proof, or bird proof? Otters can get out of anything so there’s no cage, but you have to design it so they [still] can’t get out.”

Howard’s success has given some of the current UB architects something to look forward to after they get out of the studio.

Aaron Salva, a junior architecture major, has been to Rainforest Falls and seen firsthand what a graduate from UB is capable of.

“It lets you know that people from UB have had success and your work can actually be built,” Salva said. “So a lot of people are always saying other schools have bigger names but it just shows you if you work hard anyone can succeed.”

Salva went to Rainforest Falls when he was a kid, walked under the waterfall and through the fully enclosed environment, and felt like he was one with nature. “[My favorite part of the Rainforest Falls is] seeing the kids come in, and just

looking at them smiling and the awe at their faces and not realizing where the public area ends and the exhibit begins,” Howard said. “The planet isn’t ours.

We’re just borrowing it, and we need to take care of it.”

Emotional Sex: Screw the Heart, Show Me the Penis KEREN BARUCH Life Editor

Since Howard was 8 years old, she knew she wanted to be an architect.

Chick-flicks and love songs often make girls seem like they are into mushy and romantic boys. These misguiding messages lead ignorant boys to spend their money on chocolate, flowers, and movie tickets.

During a trip to Plymouth, Mass., Howard and her family went to the Plimoth Plantation, a living history museum.

The entire village and its community captivated her – especially the historic architecture.

“That’s when I knew what I wanted to do: fix old buildings,” Howard said.

Howard spend most of her toddler days living all over the country – from the rural south to Washington, D.C. – until her family finally settled in Lockport, NY. After finishing her undergraduate work in Georgia at the Savannah College of Art and Design, Howard decided to come back to Buffalo and attend UB’s graduate school.

Her successful career started with her favorite class, taught by Robert Shibley, the current Dean of Architecture and Planning. The class was Urban Design and Studio, and students worked on reallife problems. “[The class] was a real community urban design problem and we had to solve it,” Howard said.

From working in the lower west side of Buffalo to a project housing implementation plan for downtown, Howard and her classmates were able to work in a professional setting, rather than stuck in a studio room.

It was in those studio rooms that Howard made some of her closest friends at UB, many of whom she has remained close with to this day.

Howard paid for school through random jobs. At one point she was a Dean’s Assistant, but her favorite job was being a Teacher’s Assistant for a photography course. Eventually the course’s dark room became her favorite place to hang out when she wasn’t in the architecture studio.

“I think [UB’s] architecture education made me a critical thinker, a thorough

I say save your money and cut the bulls***.

Courtesy of Douglas Levere Alumna Gwen Howard has found vast success in the architecture world after studying the topic at UB.

thinker, but [gave me a] kind of a holistic global approach to things,” Howard said.

If Howard could go back to her college days, she would have tried to have “a little more fun.”

“There were sports?” Howard said. “We never left those [studio] buildings. The athletics, various events, I would have tried to integrate myself in that more – into the broader university experience.”

Even after graduation and travelling to many different places, Howard chose to stay in Buffalo. She wanted to help make the Queen City better.

“I love Buffalo. I love the people, I love the look of the community, the architecture, the neighborhoods, the culture, the museums,” Howard said.

Buffalo is a city already known for its architecture, and Howard has only amplified its popularity. She has advice for the current UB architecture students as well: remember that there is a world outside of UB – a competitive world that they need to integrate themselves into.

“It really is as much who you know and what you know,” Howard said. “It’s those connections as much as your academic performances that will help you move past your college life into your career.”

Not every girl wants her life to play out like The Notebook (at least not yet). Contrary to what many stereotypes portray, we do not all want to come home to find a teddy bear holding a box of chocolates on our bed. Some girls really are only interested in having sex.

How to find out if a girl is into your heart or your penis: Does she only text you after 11 p.m.?

Is she confused when you text her the morning after a night of hooking up?

Does she seem hesitant when you ask her to go to dinner or meet up for coffee?

Does she openly tell you she’s only interested in sex?

I know some of you may be laughing at number four – when somebody openly tells you they’re not interested, isn’t it obvious? Well, no. Maybe the first time she tells you she doesn’t care if you call or text her, she’s playing a trick on you – because that’s how our crazy female minds work – so I understand where you’re coming from if you don’t take that as a hint.

“I love sex more than anyone,” said DanIf she has told you several times that she iel Behar, a senior history major. “But doesn’t want anything more than clitoral when it’s with someone you care about pleasure, though, she’s not fibbing. and it’s good, nothing beats it.”

Key words: someone you care about.

If you’re in a relationship and you want to do something sweet for your girl, then by all means, go for it. Get emotional and enjoy spending time gazing into each other’s eyes, and doing all those things that make single people nauseous.

However, if a girl is simply looking to enjoy one (or several) nights of your creamy filling inside of her Twinkie, you should not attempt to bring feelings into the mix.

What should you do if you’re into the emotions and she’s only into your male organ?

Stop with the constant text messages and the discussions about your girl’s personal life. Do not get too deep into your life either, because that’s just as weird.

Never inform her that you’re “trying to break her out of her shell,” because there really isn’t a shell blocking her heart from yours. She’s just not interested in anything but sex or she’s not ready to emotionally dedicate herself.

There’s a difference between emotional sex and purely physical sex.

Make sure you note that this doesn’t describe every girl, because there are some that are waiting to put a ring on I know you’re all thinking: “Say whaaaa? it faster than Beyoncé. The purpose of There are different types of sex? I always this column is to inform boys nationwide thought stuffing you like Nutella inside that not every girl walking this earth is of a croissant and making you moan was looking for an emotional fling, and it is all that sex is about!” crucial to figure out what she actually wants before you waste your precious time.

Well here I am, the bearer of bad news, telling you yes – there is a difference.

And if you take the emotional route into Most importantly, be safe, be smart, and a vagina, when it’s expecting a purely be sexual. physical sensation, you’re going to ruin the experience.

Email: keren.baruch@ubspectrum.com

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

ubspectrum.com

Jay-Z in the Making

KEREN BARUCH

“I write about my life,” Thomassini said. “My relationships with people in my everyday life…I get my inspiration from everything. I have songs that make stories, and I have songs that say what I feel flat out…[songs] wouldn’t be good if they weren’t telling a story.”

Life Editor It’s all there. In his head. Waiting to burst from his lips.

He’s shy and private – he won’t tell you what’s going on inside.

Thomassini receives a lot of support from his mother, 16-year-old brother, and 22-year-old sister.

He isn’t able to tell his story in conversation, but Jameson Thomassini has another way to get his message out to the world.

Rap. When Thomassini – junior business administration major, but “Sini” when he’s on the microphone – was in his early years, he listened to his father Courtesy of Jameson Thomassini sing a Haitian genre of music known Jameson Thomassini (left) has aspirations to become a famous rapper, and he believes he as “Kompa.” He does not consider his has what it takes. father to be an inspiration, yet his passion for music and lyrics sparked he always takes pride in his lyrics. A emanate through the air.

Thomassini’s musical interest. professor allowed him to create a rap and perform it for the class instead “He raps at a fast pace and it comes of writing a paper, and Thomassini Since then, he has found the motivaat you and hits you hard, and a lot of pulled through. tion to compose rap everywhere and rappers don’t do that now days,” said anywhere he goes. It’s his ability to Khalif Osson, a junior pharmacology create smooth rhymes that sets him “His lyrics were very well thought major. “Rap has changed a lot from apart from other rappers, famous or out,” said Kwasi Adusei, a junior nurs- the ’90s and I feel like he brings it not. ing major and classmate of Thomasback to where it used to be.” sini. “From line to line they were really great but as an entire piece, you His favorite lyrics are from his song According to Osson, Thomassini has could see connections through differtitled “The Answer.” The lines read: the lyrical ability to make it far in ent parts that were deliberate. The the music industry. Osson compares general theme [of his rap for the class] Thomassini’s skill to Jay-Z’s and be“They look at me and ask how many was the four seasons. For example, lieves that eventually Thomassini will bars do you make? I just look at them he’d say winter, and then he would stand in the same spotlight. and ask how many breaths do you rap about things in his life that cortake?” related to winter.”

Thomassini’s lyrics are big on double meanings. He breaks down his songs Thomassini won’t hesitate to spit out Thomassini’s disposition transforms in a way that people understand what a song anywhere he goes. Whether when he starts rapping. He proudly he’s rapping about, but they can also it’s in the middle of Starbucks, at a sits upright, the volume of his voice interpret his words on their own. friend’s house, or simply to himself, increases drastically, and his words

“I’m a person that strives off doubt,” Thomassini said. “I would love if anybody doubted me; that would push me more if anything. My family knows that about me so they all support anything I do.”

The support Thomassini received from his family helped him grow as a person and an artist. So did those who chose not to be a part of his life.

His father left his family when he was only a little boy. He just tried to survive, as he grew up on the unforgiving streets of Flatbush, Brooklyn.

Thomassini records his songs in a studio provided by his manager. He has the ability to record a song in about an hour with just one take. He can rap to an entire beat ad lib style without messing up, because he practices so much outside of the studio.

Just as much as basketball or football, Thomassini believes rap is just like a sport.

“If you know anybody that knows me, they’ll just tell you how competitive I am,” Thomassini said. “I hate when people say that they’re better than me. I keep a mental note when people

Page 5

think they’re better than me. Rap is a sport [where] everyone thinks they’re better than you.”

It is the desire to be on top that Thomassini uses to write many of his lyrics.

Thomassini said that he has never received negative feedback. While he is performing at open mic nights in downtown Buffalo, he truly feels he is the best rapper in the world.

Behind the scenes, Thomassini doesn’t feel that he has reached his peak just yet.

“I put so much pressure on myself to be the best,” Thomassini said. “I always think I can write better. I am my own competition. Every time I write something I think it’s whack five minutes later.”

He blushes and laughs when he thinks back to his first recorded song. “[It] was just terrible,” Thomassini said. “I will never bring it up again.

I was just playing around; it’s too embarrassing.”

According to Thomassini, Brooklyn needs a rapper right now. Everyone from Brooklyn is instilled with Brooklyn pride, and it somehow needs to be portrayed to the rest of the world.

Thomassini wants to be the one that shares Brooklyn’s stories with society.

With more than 15 songs already recorded, Thomassini is looking forward to creating a YouTube page and sharing his music for free while he starts putting his name out for the public to hear.

Email: features@ubspectrum.com

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Arts ubspectrum.com

Page 6

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

A Week in Ink: Issue No. 41 NICOLAS PINO Senior Arts Editor

Red Hood and The Outlaws No. 5

Thunderbolts No. 169

After five rounds of issues it’s safe to say that DC’s wildly successful relaunch has taken hold and, of the many series that flew under the radar of readers initially, Scott Lobdell’s Red Hood and The Outlaws is one of the few that has only gotten better with age.

Very few series can claim an equivalent rich and illustrious history that the Marvel staple Thunderbolts has. With names like Andy Diggle, Christos Gage, Warren Ellis, and others giving a piece of themselves to the series, there’s little left for the band of vile villains turned staunch heroes to do.

Lobdell’s attempts to sexualize Starfire have been toned down immensely over the past few issues, which works to the series’ advantage.

It’s kept rabid fans more focused on the plot than the Tamaranian’s extremely disproportionate…leggings.

Writer Jeff Parker, however, is not lacking any sort of creative juices, so the series’ startling exploration of medieval warfare is far from unexpected. The team’s auspicious arrival and early conflict with the Arthurian period’s peoples makes for an absolutely exceptional read.

Though the series began with the consensual sexual pairing of Arsenal and Starfire, the issue refrains from acknowledging the controversial act, but instead works to flesh out the emotional repercussions that have began to ripple across Jason Todd’s band of vagabonds.

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Parker makes his team slightly susceptible to the realm of witchcraft and wizardry, and while the conflict is cut short – due in part to some sorcery from the Arthurian mage – it’s light-hearted and fun-felt even though the combat doesn’t look it.

With the former Robin caught fighting demons both in the mental and physical realms, it’s all he can do to keep the group afloat amongst the rapid current of brutal ancient warfare. Lobdell not only understands the pain his characters face, but also has the incredible literary vision to make his characters embrace their tumultuous circumstances and shortcomings.

Artists Kev Walker and Frank Martin synchronize in an incredible way, placing form and attention in all the right places that keeps the audience begging for more of the issue’s ink-laden panels. While many pages in the comic are standout pieces, there are none more beautiful than the splash-page of the Arthurian court directly facing their information-age assailants, a sight almost too ironic for words.

Lobdell may have briefly stumbled into the realm of fan-fic eroticism, but his recovery to hard-hitting plot and character development is just beginning to shine through despite his character’s pneumatic exterior.

While the series has only just begun to escape the mediocrity of prior issues, this band of outcasts may still have a chance to make it into comic’s center-stage.

Parker and his crew give long-time readers something new and new readers something a bit more digestible than the series’ sometimes heavier works, providing a balance that is hard to come by in this comic book day and age.

Courtesy of DC Comics

Courtesy of Marvel

Ghostbusters No. 5 Believe it or not, there was a time before Bieber, Backstreet, and Bush (Jr.). A time where rock ‘n’ roll was king; Priest, Maiden, and Metallica tore music a new one; and a group of three doctors with a dream decided to take on the spirit world. Because, in the ’80s, if there was something strange in your neighborhood, you knew who to call – Ghostbusters.

Erik Burnham’s take on the iconic warriors of the ghost-world is so close to the movies, that even Aykroyd himself couldn’t tell the difference between the two. This intense and almost complete similarity works to the comic’s advantage placing readers in a state of complete comatose nostalgia.

The series takes place after the events that shook the city in the original Ghostbusters. Walter Peck, unhappy about the marshmellow-y mess left behind after the ghost-wranglers confrontation of the Sumerian shape-changer Gozer, has benched the paranormal investigators

until further notice. As luck would have it, that notice comes sooner rather than later for the comedic team of doctoral graduates.

While the series’ story and dialogue is almost identical with its source, the artwork, drawn by IDW’s spiritual standby and artistic liaison Dan Schoening, is worlds apart. Cartoonish and comical, Schoening’s art is beautiful in the most elementary of ways, placing more emphasis on the team’s iconic expressions than the irrelevant environments he often places them in.

For fans of the series torn too far from their youth and movie buffs tired of waiting for Bill Murray to sign-off on the threequel, IDW’s Ghostbusters is both an interesting read and effervescent fare for those willing to believe.

Email: arts@ubspectrum.com Courtesy of IDW

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

In Arts’ Perspective

On Megaupload’s Shutdown ...

ELVA AGUILAR Asst. Arts Editor

A New Voice For an Unforeseen Profession Alexa Strudler /// The Spectrum

Until last May, Steve Tripi used to have a sports show at WRUB. Since graduation, he has found a home at 97 Rock.

JAKE KNOTT Staff Writer Few college grads manage to score their dream job. Steve Tripi is one of the lucky few who has, and he did it by losing a contest for a talent he didn’t even know he had.

Tripi, a 24-year-old alumnus and political science major, is a regular morning sports talk show producer for 97 Rock.

Being a political science major, Tripi didn’t know of his distinctive vocal talents. The Kenmore West graduate is an ideal example of a college graduate finding a job not pertaining to his or her major. It is possible. Treat Steve Tripi’s story as evidence.

Almost immediately after completing high school, Tripi and his band, Speakerfire, toured on the road nonstop. It was this that caused him to save college for a few years. Ironically, it was touring on the road with his band that transformed Tripi’s scholarly experience.

Amidst the chaos of Megaupload’s 50 million daily visitors having to look elsewhere for the latest episode of Modern “I just started developing my own thing, Family, the Internet was also buzzing and since I had such a huge music backwith advocacy against the PIPA/SOPA ground I wanted to do like a music show,” bills. Luckily, the Internet is a multi-facTripi said. “But I kind of evolved into this eted tool, and while folks had tabs open all-around variety talk show. And it was a lot of fun because I had a lot of contacts with a blank Megaupload page and an with musicians, so a lot of local bands online petition on another, I can almost would come on and we would do a local guarantee other tabs were open with show.” sites like The Pirate Bay or Rapidshare, which worked perfectly fine during the Eventually, Tripi progressively widened cyber-melee. broadcasting colleagues, Tripi got off to a worthy start.

his angle to sports, covering the Bulls football and basketball games for WRUB. His scene soon changed once again in the summer of 2010. Tripi was offered a part-time position at the station that started it all: WRG. While there, Tripi quickly became an important figure on the staff. From covering Sabres practices to producing a ‘Best-Of ’ piece.

This was Tripi’s favorite employment opportunity yet, and still remains so today.

“We would be in the van a lot on the road,” explained Tripi. “I started listening to WGR because it was the cool thing to do because the Sabres were winning every week. [WGR] had a rookie contest.

It was like an American Idol for sports talk radio guys. Everyone was like ‘Steve, you should do this.’ And I had no experience whatsoever on the radio. I was so raw I literally had no experience.”

“I miss WGR, to be perfectly honest,” Tripi said. “I was working part-time at WGR, my favorite radio station. I listened to it everyday, then I started working there; it was so weird. So I just kept on getting better and better and so all of a sudden I was in this broadcasting thing. I never took a class in broadcasting, I had no experience in [broadcasting], but I got thrown to the wolves and I took to it.”

That rawness might have been an advantage. Tripi surprised even himself by passing a few rounds in the contest.

Although he wasn’t victorious, that didn’t stop the wheels from turning.

He recognized his knack for conversing about a topic, and this ability did not go unnoticed.

That’s why Tripi’s case is so special: he boldly decided to stick with his band instead of attending college, and through all of the struggle managed to earn a legitimate job not even pertaining to his major. He now works at Cumulus, which carries radio stations like The Edge, 97 Rock, and 104.1.

“I didn’t win,” said Tripi. “But the program director of the station Andy Roth told me that I had a raw talent, but just to hone it and get back to him in a little while to see what happens.”

“That’s the gig, it’s a about knowing people,” Tripi said. “You have to find your niche, what you like to do, and go for it and you’ll get there. For me, I graduated and I already had work. I feel like people amongst our generation feel this pressure to have it all figured out. It can happen, I guess my story is an example of that.”

This lit the fuse for Tripi’s future. In the fall of 2008, he discovered WRUB, a typical place for any new broadcasting talent to start out. The spring of 2009 was the launch of his work. With the aid from

Last Thursday, popular media sharing website Megaupload was shut down. Its sister sites such as Megavideo were also taken off the web as a result of a crackdown by the Department of Justice against media piracy.

Email: arts@ubspectrum.com

I initially wondered what Swizz Beatz – the rumored CEO of Megaupload – was doing after the shutdown. Eventually, I became less worried about the future of “illegal” media. There are too many loopholes in law and the Internet is a vast land ready for the next fad. I don’t recommend illegally downloading on campus (stream instead), but all the Department of Justice did by taking down Megaupload was help increase site statistics somewhere else.

NICOLAS PINO Senior Arts Editor To pirate, or not to pirate: that is the question.

With money a sparse commodity in the typical student’s life, it’s understandable that many of us turn to piracy to satisfy our media needs. Admittedly, the U.S. pursued the correct and legal means to close down the site and, in more than one case, the site figuratively spit in the face of the Recording Industry Association of America. Since SOPA and PIPA are tabled for the time being we (as an information age society) can focus our attention to better benefit both the consumers and the producers of these great works.

On the Sundance Film Festival JAKE KNOTT Staff Writer

For those who solely have a dying passion for cinema and all of the directions it can travel, The Sundance Film Festival is the place to be. As opposed to watching the dreary repetitiveness that some theatrical released movies tend to have, the Sundance Institute gives even the most amateur filmmaker an opportunity to run the gauntlet.

One of the more outlandish films of 2011’s festival was Rubber, the tale of a homicidal car tire slaughtering the residents of a small-time town. Though the plot was downright preposterous, the film received a positive response from the Sundance crowd. Rubber’s director Quentin Dupieux has now entered the film Wrong, a simplistic story of a man in a desperate search for his missing dog, in the 2012 festival in hopes of a second praise. That’s the beauty of Sundance films: giving commendable filmmakers the acknowledgment they deserve.

EDWARD BENOIT Managing Editor Coverage of the ongoing Sundance Film Festival has been overshadowed by the announcement of the Academy Award nominations. Now, I’m no fan of the Oscars – to quote the late great David Foster Wallace, I too am disillusioned by “the grotesquerie of watching an industry congratulate itself on its pretense that it’s still an art form” – so, like usual, I won’t be tuning in. If anything, though, this lack of Sundance coverage only demonstrates how vital things like Sundance are: in a year when even the extended Oscar roster of Best Picture nominees includes just one film (The Artist) that isn’t a wholesale product of the Hollywood industry, Sundance and other independent festivals are more important than ever in allowing the cinematic voices of people who aren’t millionaire Hollywood hacks to be heard.

Chiddy Bang Reactions VILONA TRACHTENBERG Asst. Arts Editor Too many musical acts stick to their specific established genre when producing music. Even though Chiddy Bang is recognized as a hip-hop group, they are innovative and sample songs from alternative rock bands. They stay true to the hip-hop genre by providing catchy, danceable beats, with interesting lyrics, and rev it up by the addition of the alternative rock song base. As college-aged students, they will please the crowd when they perform, and make it feel like the students are at a college party.

BRIAN JOSEPHS Arts Editor I’m pretty sure UB students will accept any artists as an improvement over the acts featured in last Semester’s Fall Fest. Chiddy Bang is a perfect example of that. The duo is another unfortunate member of the genre that I like to call “Cool Kids Rap,” a category that the equally horrible Childish Gambino is a part of. Chiddy Bang is unbearable because they’ve developed this eschewed idea that they’re actually good. The rapper Chidera is known for breaking the record for longest freestyle, but if you actually listen to it, you’d know that it’s an unfortunate violation of the English language. His raps are terrible and Xaphoon Jones’ obnoxious sampling of indie favorites only serves to mask the disgrace. I know Fall Fest was a letdown, but that doesn’t mean UB students should lower their expectations.

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012 Continued from page 1: Building Behind Battle and we were close and I think that we’re building a program to try to get there and that’s one of the main reasons that keeps me motivated.”

Battle always thought of coaching someday, but he had no idea how soon that day would come.

Following his impressive senior season where he was named an Associated Press All-American, Mid-American Conference Player of the Year, and ESPN Academic All-American, Battle went overseas to continue his playing career.

He spent his first season out of college playing across Europe, a season that Battle himself would describe as “up and down.” But he was determined to make it back.

He returned stateside and spent the offseason working on his game. That’s when it all came crashing down.

“I was about to sign a contract in second division Italy and went up for a blocked shot and tore my elbow up,” Battle said. “I dislocated it and tore all the ligaments, and that put everything in perspective.”

The injury signaled an end to his playing career, but it also opened a door. He was given the chance to spend the 2006-07 campaign close to his beloved Bulls.

He was less than a mile from campus, working at Witherspoon’s alma matter, Sweet Home High School, as an assistant coach.

Battle made his coaching debut in solid fashion, helping the Sweet Home Panthers to a sectional title with a stunning upset

of a Niagara Falls powerhouse team that featured Houston Rockets point guard Jonny Flynn.

That was all Witherspoon needed to see to bring Battle back to his bench immediately.

“I always wanted to be a coach, but didn’t think I’d be doing it at the age of 23,” Battle said.

“But [coaching] was something I wanted to do and I’m happy. [The injury] was kind of a blessing in disguise – that’s what I’d call it.”

Battle now gets to bring his expertise to the bench where he coaches the Bulls’ young point guard, sophomore Jarod Oldham.

Oldham is in the midst of his first year at the helm, and credits Battle’s tutelage as a big reason for his success.

“He’s kind of a big brother to me,” Oldham said. “He recruited me in here and he’s helped me out a lot with my progress. It’s great to have someone who played the same position as you and who has had a lot of success here.”

Having the respect of his players is something that has always comes easy for Battle. It’s something that started as a player when he came to Buffalo just a decade ago.

“As a post-player, the coaches sold me on UB with the idea that I would be able to play four years with the same point guard and develop a special relationship,” said Mark Bortz, one of Battle’s former teammates. “That was an understatement. Turner is a great leader in every sense of the word. Most importantly, he is a great man and a person. I am honored to call my friend and my brother.”

Page 9 continued from page 12: Where are they now

Battle’s legacy as a player speaks for itself, but his impact as a coach is what now separates himself from the rest of the players in the program. He’s fully embraced his new role.

“I’m settled in,” Battle said.

“Playing is over. It doesn’t even cross my mind anymore. I get my fix in on scout team and working these guys and watching [the team] improve everyday.”

It certainly doesn’t mean the former star of the Bulls has lost his competitive spirit, though.

Battle has turned his attention to building the program as a coach on the foundation that he built as a player.

The goal is to get the team to an NCAA tournament, and to do so multiple times. And Witherspoon believes having a guy like Battle on the pine for the Bulls is the way they are going to get there.

Drew Willy, quarterback, football, 2009 Accolades at Buffalo: Buffalo’s all-time leader in touchdowns, passing yards, total offense, completions, attempts, and completion percentage.

Four-year starter.

Led Buffalo to two MAC East Division Titles.

Won 2008 MAC Championship by beating undefeated #12 Ball State in the title game.

Led Buffalo to its first Bowl Game invitation in 50 years.

Where is he now?

He was invited to the NFL combine in 2009 and was signed by the Ravens only to be waived. Later in 2009, he signed with the Colts after an injury to be a backup quarterback, then signed a contract but was released the following July. He then played one game for the Las Vegas Locomovtives in the UFL and threw a TD and 191 yards in his only action. He was signed by the Jets in January 2011 and released in September. Two days later he was signed to the Chargers practice squad and is currently still with the team.

“When you can have [someone like Battle] in your program it’s great not only for us as coaches but for players as well,” Witherspoon said. “I think it’s great for recruiting because when guys come into your program and they see that one of your former players, and one of the great players in your program, is living close to your program I think it just gives it a meaning and a perspective for your recruits.”

Bobby Shuttleworth, goalkeeper, soccer, 2009

The Bulls have now established themselves as a perennial contender in the MAC and much of the credit goes to Battle. He’s the man who put this program on the map, despite falling just short in his playing days. Battle is a man on a mission; teaming up with Witherspoon to capture what was once snatched away from him.

Where is he now?

Email: sports@ubspectrum.com

Accolades at Buffalo: Played three years at Buffalo after playing at Loyola (MD) for a season.

In 2006 was a backup to Daniel Bell.

He became the starter in 2007 as he started 12 games.

In 2008 he started all 20 games for the Bulls and was named to the second All-MAC team.

After Buffalo, he played with Buffalo City in the National Premiere Soccer League. In 2009, he was signed by the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer. He became the first soccer player from Buffalo to play in an MLS game. Since 2009 he has played in 13 games, starting 12 of them. He has a career 1.91 goals against average and .593 save percentage with the Revolution. He also has one career shutout.

Trevor Scott, defensive end, football, 2008 Accolades at Buffalo: Played in all 12 games as a senior en route to winning Buffalo’s first MAC East Division Title.

Was selected to the 2007 First All-MAC Team.

As a junior he led the team with 9 sacks.

Where is he now?

He just finished his fourth year with the Raiders after being their sixth round pick in 2008. He has 97 tackles and 13.5 sacks in his NFL career. After suffering a season-ending knee injury last year, he was given the Raiders’ Ed Block Courage Award. The award is given to the player on every NFL team who has overcome adversity and it was voted upon by his teammates.

Trevor Scott along with Jamey Richard, who just spent the last four years as an offensive lineman with the Indianapolis Colts, were at the Buffalo Basketball game Tuesday night.

Both shared the same sentiment when it came to their time at Buffalo.

“I had a great time at UB, couldn’t ask for anything more,” Scott said. “Love the school, the community, the athletic program, and made the best friends in my life here.”

Richard agreed and added that he made an even deeper connection; Richard met his wife while attending the university.

Personal relationships aside, Richards summed up his highlights by what they were able to achieve on the field in his time here, culminating in the 2008 MAC Championship.

Both players have now exhausted their rookie contracts and head into free agency.

When asked what it’d be like to sign with the same team again, Scott summed it up: “That’d be fantastic.”

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Page 10

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Crossword of the Day STEVEN WROBEL Life Editor It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s a…weather balloon.

While many students spend their weekends partying, studying, and hanging out with their friends, one club at UB spent its weekend studying the outer realms of Earth’s atmosphere.

UB Students for the Exploration and Development Space (UB-SEDS) is a club that sets its ambitions skyward to generate interest and activism in the community for any and all space-related topics, according to Sean Lyons, a senior aerospace engineering major.

Lyons was theEdited projectby manager TimothyofE.the Parker January 25, 2012 club’s High-Altitude Weather Balloon By Joel Portman HUE-ITFUL PLACES Project (HAWB). The project’s goal ACROSS

48 Go downhill was1to a weather Atsend a remote point balloon into

50 "Yay, home team!" the 5sky to measure temperature and Swiss mountains

52 In-flight guesstimate, for short atmospheric pressure. In addition, the 9 Stalk of asparagus

53 Colorful location in California team capture pictures 14 wanted Name ontomany jeans' labelsand

and 57 Accommodate video footage to document the trip 15 Waikiki party

60 Low part of a high top measure thehappy atmospheric boundary 16 Make

61 Soft palate attachment layers.

17 Object of blind devotion

62 Monetary unit ofEthiopia 18 Gave energy to

63 Half brother of Athena 20 Colorful in Kentucky “This project islocation one of the most chal 64 Miss America judges, e.g.

22 Tax shelter, for short lenging yet rewarding feats of my

65 Stuck-up person 23 Formerly, on the wedding page undergraduate career,” Lyons said.

66 Yard segments

24 Bring into existence “The lessons I have learned and [the]

28 Tossed success of thisserving project have given me

DOWN

30 Rug feature an inspiration no course offered at this 1 Courtroom defenses

32 Nonecould what ever soever university provide.”

2 Indiana Jones topper

33 Small explosive

3 Affirmation

36 Agenda entry

4 Small brook

The37launching of the balloon Colorful location in Newlast York

5 Dress with some flare Saturday, Oct. the culmina39 "Aren't we22, thewas comedian?"

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7 Feeling of hunger group had to not only raise the funds 42 ___ Wan Kenobi 8 Litigant to take on this project, but it also had 43 Bohemian 9 Harshly extreme to develop means by which to 44 Bookthe of maps perform all the desirable functions.

UB-SEDS procured $1,100 in funding from sponsorships from local companies and from Sub Board I Inc. “The idea for this came about in either October or November of last year, when we saw a video of a father-andson team that sent an iPhone aboard a balloon and recovered it, becom-

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25 FROM UNIVERSAL UCLICK

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) -- What you do for another today will benefit you far more than anything you do solely for yourself -- but then, that shouldn't surprise you.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) -- You can have what you want, but you must be willing to share it with others. Do what you are asked during afternoon hours.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) -- You'll benefit almost immediately from the adoption of a new point of view. Someone may call it stealing, but it's within the rules.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) -- It shouldn't take long for you to notice improvement from a change in strategy that you make today.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) -- You may be challenged by someone who is doing nothing unusual. So why is it that you were not prepared for this?

CANCER (June 21-July 22) -- Express yourself freely today and you'll not only feel as though a burden has been lifted, but you'll enjoy a tangible reward as well.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -- You will have to trust the experts to see things accurately, as you will not be able to make the right calls in the thick of things.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- You can learn much from what another has done before you -- though you mustn't think that you have to imitate his or her every move.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) -- You may not be uncovering the facts in the right order today, but with another's help you can rearrange things properly when the time comes.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) -- The emotional depth of a situation today may not be fully understood by anyone but you.

It's a good day to come clean in some way.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) -- It will only take one small obstacle to trip you up, so you'll want to keep your eyes open -- and beware the obvious.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- You may want to take a day off from your current endeavors, but you'll be compelled to do a little extra work on your own time.

Sudoku

10 Leveling tool

11 Snack or nosh

12 Past tense of 11-Down 13 Unpopular ink color

19 Wash again

21 Large lemur

25 Echidna's edibles

26 No-winsituation

27 Popular tree type

29 Turkish chief

30 Father, to Li'l Abner

31 Word with "gossip" or "chatter" 34 Without beginning or end

35 At the front of the line 36 "Meet Me ___ Louis" 37 Blender noise 38 Kind of potato 39 Questioning word

40 Blood classification syst.

43 Kind of photography 45 "Doubly dead" Poe title girl 46 British Prime Minister Clement 47 Utter,Biblically 49 Architectural column support 50 Fashionably nostalgic 51 Acid-tongued 54 Bird beaks 55 "No pain, no ___" 56 Amer. military fliers 57 Eight fluid ounces 58 Anatomical eggs 59 Sister wearing a habit

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Sports ubspectrum.com

Page 12

#PostLockOutProblems: An NBA fan’s rant NATHANIEL SMITH Asst. Sports Editor

I’m just going to go ahead and say it.

This NBA season sucks.

It has been so dreadful to watch, and it isn’t just because of the struggles of my beloved New York Knicks. (I mean seriously, what the hell?)

For example, on Monday night, as I sat on my favorite comfy chair in my PJs to watch some hoops, my interest drew me to the Celtics/Magic game. That turned out to be a big mistake, as I was “treated” to one lousy performance by the Magic, as they only managed to score 56 points – in the whole game.

I mean are you kidding me? Fifty-six freaking points?

For comparison’s sake, 42 college basketball teams scored more than the Magic did that night, and that includes the likes of powerhouse, 2-18 Arkansas Pine-Bluff.

Across the board, scoring is down. Last year, the league averaged 99.6 points per game. So far this year, it’s down to 94.4 points per game, which if it keeps up for the whole year is the lowest points per game average since that terrible 2003-04 season that was only remembered for… actually I don’t remember it at all.

In addition, 11 teams finished with a scoring average over 100 points last year, and not one team finished with under 91 points per game. This year? Only two teams are over the 100 – point barrier – the Miami Heat and the Denver Nuggets.

And five teams are averaging less than 90 points per game.

But scoring isn’t the only problem. I can’t ever recall seeing games in which there was so many sloppy plays being made on a daily basis. There have been so many missed layups, and not only from the benchwarmers. Guys like Lebron James and Carmelo Anthony have missed easy layups and dunks in the early part of the season.

The worst part is the freak injuries that are having an impact on this season. It’s hard to imagine how much better teams like the Memphis Grizzlies would be if they hadn’t lost star forward Zach Randolph and fellow forward Darrell Arthur for a significant chunk of the season.

Also, the absence of guys like Atlanta big man Al Horford and the L.A. Clippers’ new point guard Chris Paul for extended periods of time have made this season hard to watch.

Obviously, this all traces back to the lockout. With the shortened, jam-packed 66 game season, only a few days of teams rushing to sign new players, training camps lasting less than a week, and only two preseason games, there has been some bad basketball.

Oldham Soars as Bulls Clip Eagles NATHANIEL SMITH Asst. Sports Editor

Sophomore forward Javon McCrea once again led the Bulls in scoring, dropping 17 points.

Both players consistently frustrated the Eagles star forward Jamell Harris, as he eventually fouled out of the game, finishing with only seven points and one rebound.

The Bulls (11-6, 4-2 MAC) overcame a cold shooting first half and eventually pulled away on the MAC West leaders, defeating the Eastern Michigan Eagles (9-11, 4-2 MAC), 65-47 at Alumni Arena Tuesday night for their third straight win.

“I think they have the best front court in the conference,” said Eagles head coach Rob Murphy. “They showed us that tonight. [McCrea and Watt] did a good job of imposing their will in the paint, and did a good job executing on both ends of the floor.”

Oldham, despite not making a field goal, made a lasting impact on the game. He finished with 10 assists on the night, and added four rebounds.

Buffalo as a team dominated the Eagles on the boards, as they enjoyed a 36-26 rebounding edge.

Every player on the Bulls that saw playing time was able to grab a least a rebound tonight.

“He is getting better,” said head coach Reggie Witherspoon. “He’s learning the floor game, he’s learning to be patient, slow down and making the easy pass first.”

As a team, the Bulls shook off a dreadful first half shooting-wise. The Eagles were able to use their length to frustrate the Bulls early. The home team shot 8-of-27 in the first half, good for only 29 percent.

Senior guard Zach Filzen had even loftier praise for the young guard.

“He’s done a great job.” Filzen said. “It’s hard being a sophomore and trying to pick up things on the run. He had [former Bulls guard] Byron Mulkey to learn from, and also [assistant coach Turner] Battle, who was a heck of a player here. He’s continuing to learn, he’s getting better and better, and I think its pretty scary how good he could be in the future.”

His passing prowess was infectious on this Bulls squad, as they tallied up 20 assists on 22 shots, an impressive feat for a team trying to establish itself as the best in the MAC. “I think we moved the ball pretty well, but at times we could have moved the ball better,” Filzen said.

“That’s the type team that we are, we love playing with each other, we love to hit the open man so I’m not surprised by it. It’s an pretty impressive number.”

Alexa Strudler /// The Spectrum

Jarod Oldham drives and dishes. Oldham had ten assists on the night.

Filzen shook off an ugly shooting night on Saturday in Bowling Green, scoring 16 points in the game. All five of his field goals came from three-point range, and it seems as if he feels comfortable with the friendly confines of Alumni Arena.

The Bulls’ bigs dominated against one of the biggest teams in the MAC. Senior forward Mitchell Watt played through a knee injury, nearly finishing with a double-double, scoring 14 points and adding nine

The second half was a completely different story, as the Bulls were able to quicken the pace of the game; keeping Eastern Michigan off balance on defense.

They missed only seven shots in the second half, going 14-of-21 from the field.

That, combined with the fact that the Eagles shot an awful 2-of-14 from three, proved to be the difference as the Bulls pulled away late.

The Bulls continue their MAC West portion of the schedule as they take on the Northern Illinois Huskies (2-15, 1-4 MAC) at the Convocation Center in Dekalb, Ill. Tipoff for the game on Saturday is scheduled for 1 p.m.

Email: sports@ubspectrum.com

Smith and Waste Lead Wrestling at State Championships BEN TARHAN Staff Reporter

Walton (3rd), Justin Heiserman (5th) and Wally Maziarz (6th) contributed impressive performances as well.

The 2011-12 season has been a test of patience for the wrestling team. The Bulls (5-11, 0-1 Mid American Conference) started the year with six straight dual meet losses and a tenth place finish at the Body Bar Invitational in Ithaca.

Sophomore Justin Farmer finished 5th, rounding out the top seven Bulls’ performances of the weekend.

However, the Bulls looked to be getting hot at just the right time after finishing fourth at the New York State Collegiate Championships last weekend.

Despite sending a group of mostly young and inexperienced wrestlers to Cornell to wrestle against New York State’s best, the Bulls were able to place seven wrestlers in the top six of their weight classes. Senior Kevin Smith and freshman Jake Waste, who won their respective weight classes, highlighted the Bulls’ efforts.

Coming into the weekend, head coach Jim Beichner was looking for his team to “wrestle hard” and to “do everything that they could to win”.

With these expectations some of the younger members of Buffalo’s squad blossomed.

Waste led the talented underclassmen, winning his weight class, while fellow freshmen Blake Roulo (2nd), Sean

Beichner was impressed with the squad even though they were without some of their top wrestlers. Regardless, he saw things that needed to be improved, mainly that some of the wrestlers needed to gain more experience.

Smith’s performance was one of the most impressive of the tournament.

His championship was the third of his career. That makes him just the second Buffalo wrestler ever to win the title three times. Smith was also named the tournaments most outstanding wrestler for his performance.

Smith’s victory was no surprise to Beichner, who cited Smith’s résumé of over 100 match wins as one of the reasons he has earned the nickname “Mr. Steady.”

The Bulls’ jump to fourth place was an encouraging improvement coming down the stretch especially for this young team, after finishing eighth last year.

“Everything we do is a learning experience, and the more experience these young guys have the better they are

Alexa Strudler /// The Spectrum The Wrestling team had a solid weekend showing at the New York State Championships.

The underclassmen on the squad had strong showings.

going to be,” Beichner said. “The way it looks to me, we just keep getting better every week.”

be this senior classes last home meet.

Beichner had nothing but praise for his three seniors.

The Bulls have five tough dual meets remaining on their schedule – four of them against MAC opponents – before the MAC championships on March 3 and 4 in Athens, Ohio.

“They’ve worked hard and they’ve been loyal,” Beichner said. “Those guys are good people. They may not have been the most productive wrestling wise, but that’s not everything.”

The Bulls’ next meet against Ohio will

Email: sports@ubspectrum.com

Where Are They Now?

2010, as well as goals in 2010 and assists in 2009.

BRYAN FEILER Sports Editor Kourtney Brown, forward, women’s basketball, 2011

Will this trend last the whole season?

Accolades at Buffalo:

Named to regional all-star team in all three years and to the all-region team twice.

Named to the first team all-tournament at the national championships twice.

2011 – All-American honorable mention, All-Region Team, Mid-American Conference Player of the Year.

Hopefully not.

It would seem that as players get used to each other and teams gear up for the postseason, the caliber of basketball will increase. But after one of the most exciting regular seasons in recent memory, this one so far has been a complete dud.

So instead of watching millionaire superstars sulk around and miss easy, point blank layups, I will gladly spend my time checking out the Buffalo Bulls do their thing on the basketball court.

Email: nathaniel.smith@ubspectrum.com

rebounds. He also added two blocks just for good measure.

With each game that passes, sophomore guard Jarod Oldham has continued to establish himself as one of the Mid-American Conference’s rising stars at the point. He’s becoming that missing link for a spot that seemed to be some sort of a mystery at the start of the season.

It is tough to build trust, to learn the tendencies of a new player, or a new coaching system in such a small amount of time.

Hey, it beats watching the Knicks.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Led Buffalo to its only two Division 1 regional championships and both national final four appearances.

2011 – Led the MAC in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage, and blocked shots.

Where is he now?

Buffalo’s all-time leader in scoring, rebounding, and shot blocking.

MAC’s all-time leader with 260 blocks.

Two-time All-MAC team.

Two-time Defensive Player of the Year.

Where is she now?

Brown is currently playing for the Femenino Caceres in the second tier of Spanish professional basketball.

She currently leads her team with

Courtesy of Tyler Walser, Trevor Scott, Drew Willy, Clinton Hodnett, and Paul Hokanson

Some of Buffalo’s athletic legends in action. Various athletes in Buffalo history have gone on to perform at the next level of their various careers.

20.4 points per game and 10 rebounds per game. She is also second in the league in scoring and tied for third in rebounds.

january 28

TAKEDOWN CANCER

2 pm

sunday

january 29

alum arenani

ub women’s basketball

ub wrestling

vs toledo

vs ohio

1 pm alum arenani

Chinese auction, t-shirts, & raffle tickets for sale.

water bottle

Proceeds are divided between Carlys Club of WNY, a family affected by cancer, and the Jeff Parker fund.

to the first 200 fans

Pink Bulls Shirt decorating station Massage station Hair flairs by D’art moda Raffle items including a two night stay at the Hotel Indigo

Accolades at Buffalo: Led the nation in points in 2009 and

Go pink game saturday

Tyler Walser, center, roller hockey club team, 2010

Walser won the scoring title in the American Inline Hockey League, which is considered to be the top inline hockey league in North America. He made both the Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports and International Ice Hockey Federation United States inline hockey team. He won a bronze medal with the FIRS team and silver with the IIHF team at the world championships this past summer. He is close to signing a permanent contract with a European team. continued on page 9

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