The Wake Issue 3 Fall 2009

Garbage-Eating Bacteria

12

Local Film

16

MMA / Facebook / and more 30 september – 13 october 2009

NOW HIRING!

ALSO SEEKING: –Photos of Science Classroom Building –Poetry and Short Stories

YOUR AD HERE CHEAP RATES, THOUSANDS OF READERS CONTACT BALPERT@WAKEMAG.ORG

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Editorial Editor-in-Chief Ali Jaafar

Mind’s Eye Editor John Oen

Managing Editor Sage Dahlen

Sound & Vision Editor Eric Brew

Cities Editor Trey Mewes

Humanities Editor Ross Hernandez

Voices Editor Matt Miranda

Bastard Ol’ Dirty (Jonathan Knisely)

Another semester, etc., etc., etc.

I feel like the whole universe is in this obnoxious period of change. Maybe it’s astrological or something, but it’s totally annoying. As the oldest 21-year-old in the world, I feel that it’s my job to hold the line for any lost art or dead science that I can lay my palsied, trembling hands on.

Production Production Manager Ben Alpert

Photography Editor Ben Lansky

Graphic Designers Ben Alpert, Jonathan Knisely, Nathan Pasch

Art Director Keit Osadchuk

Distributors Eric Brew, Matt Miranda, John Oen, Pammy Ronnei, Scottie Tuska

Copy Editors Katie Green, Brady Nyhus

Business Business Manager Colleen Powers

This Issue Cover Artist Guy Wagner Illustrators Danielle Attinella, Angela Frisk, Meher Kahn, Rachel Mosey, Natalie Olbrantz, Daniel Rivard

So, who wants to work for a print media publication? More than your job, girlfriend or twenty-year-old car, The Wake needs you. We need writers, designers, editors, etc. because the Wake is alive too and, as such, not immune to the charms of astrological paradigm shift. Soon many of us will be gone and we’ll need you to replace us.

Multimedia Editor Scottie Tuska

Will you?

Advisory Board James DeLong, Kevin Dunn, Courtney Lewis, Eric Price, Morgan Mae Schultz, Gary Schwitzer, Kay Steiger, Mark Wisser

Ali Jaafar Editor-in-Chief

Contributing Writers Lukas Gohl, Michael Hessel-Mial, Sofiya Hupalo, Patrick Larkin, Raghav Mehta, Brady Nyhus, Jeremiah Oetting, Jenny Riegel, Pammy Ronnei, Trevor Scholl

Photographers Meredith Hart, Jonathan Knisely, Ben Lansky

8:1 ©2009 The Wake Student Magazine. All rights reserved.

Established in 2002, The Wake is a fortnightly independent magazine and registered student organization produced by and for the students of the University of Minnesota.

The Wake Student Magazine 1313 5th St. SE #331 Minneapolis, MN 55414 (612) 379-5952 • www.wakemag.org The Wake was founded by Chris Ruen and James DeLong.

The Wake is published with support from Campus Progress/Center for American Progress (online at www.campusprogress.org).

disclaimer The purpose of The Wake is to provide a forum in which students can voice their opinions. Opinions expressed in the magazine are not representative of the publication or university as a whole. To join the conversation email aJAAFAR@wakemag.org.

voices

online social life after death What Happens to Your Facebook When You Die?

By Brady Nyhus

Your life, your friendships, causes, groups and fan pages—even your death—all on a social network’s terms. Death is difficult enough. In America, there is an expectation that everyone has to have everything figured out when they die: finances, funeral arrangements, cancellation of magazines, etc.; faith, bills, insurance, the soul’s final resting place, and who will care for loved ones. To this, I submit to you, we now must add the obligations that web 2.0 bring us.

rachel mosey

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30 september – 13 october 2009

voices

I

n the summer of 2009, in Chippewa Falls, Wis., three young men lost their lives. One died in a fire, one drowned, and one died quite unexpectedly, according to a local paper, with no further explanation given. Aside from the obvious fact that these three knew one another and may have even been friends—they went to the same high school, after all—another commonality exists: at their respective times of death, June 13, June 20 and June 21, all had working Facebook and MySpace pages. Even now, more than four months after the last untimely summer death, these three men still have active social networking accounts. Some have more than one.

If Facebook catches wind of a death, or if a death is submitted to them, they will gladly “memorialize” that user’s account.

In their own words: “When a user passes away, we memorialize their account to protect their privacy. Memorializing an account removes certain sensitive information (e.g., status updates and contact information) and sets privacy so that only confirmed friends can see the profile or locate it in search. The Wall remains so that friends and family can leave posts in remembrance. Memorializing an account also prevents all login access to it.”

They also honor requests made by close family members of deceased users to deactivate accounts permanently.

Finding this information, however, took some effort: Facebook the corporation has none of the conventional contact information that one can usually uncover on the Internet.

On their site they list a physical address, and further searching offsite will yield a telephone number—but there is no readily available email address. Even reporting a death on Facebook can be a difficult matter. As someone who prides himself on his ability to navigate the Internet, this reporter had to turn to online forums and search engines just to see how it is done.

On its extensive “Help” site, the company provides answers to many frequently asked questions—along with a search blank for getting one’s own questions answered. A search for the term “death”—jarring no doubt to the parent or close family member now served with the task of reporting the recently deceased status of their loved one to Facebook—would eventually turn up a series of articles on the subject. There is even a hyperlink, leading to an online form, for reporting such member losses. But what Internet-savvy, now-distraught legal guardian is going to have time for this? And how responsible should Facebook be for seeking out more information on the mortality statuses of site users on its own? Doesn’t it already collect so much other personal information?

My “death crusade” also brought me to an interesting site called “MyDeathSpace.com.” While perhaps a bit too heavy on the coverage of deaths of higher-profile celebrities and other famous people, the Web page essentially functions as a clearinghouse, “containing news articles, online obituaries, and other publicly available information,” that allows users to “pay [their] respects and tributes to the recently deceased MySpace.com members via [their] comment system,” along with a warning to “Please be respectful.” MyDeathSpace.com did not respond to interview requests for this article.

Because the information MyDeathSpace uses for its online obituaries is publicly available, should other social networking sites actively evaluate the status of their own members to spare others the grief or the hassle of reporting a death on their own—or does this start to get at a seldom-talked-about issue regarding death, illness and privacy in a public sphere?

By its willingness to create for us a “digital cemetery” in what is otherwise a vicarious (online) social network of living people, is Facebook now influencing our concept of death?

In the United States, modern medicine, in all its splendor, has almost entirely removed death from the home front. Instead, fear of unknowing has emerged in our collective consciousness; death has become something we’re afraid of, more now than ever. It is a specific end for all at the terminus of a very long race called life. So, by its willingness to create for us a “digital cemetery” in what is otherwise a vicarious (online) social network of living people, is Facebook now influencing our concept of death? Absolutely.

But that’s not the whole story…

There is a big difference between the old-fashioned cemetery on the hill and the digital ones on Facebook; Ye-Olde Cemetery’s proprietors aren’t getting rich from advertising dollars generated by having social marketing messages on your memorial [grave]site! It’s sad, but true—absolutely true. All of the pages for the aforementioned individuals still had social advertisements on them. Even the still-existing MySpace pages linked to by MyDeathSpace had advertisements mediated by Google prominently featured. Unless close family members request that a page be taken off of Facebook, social networking sites and advertisers will continue to capitalize on death the same way they have capitalized on others’ lives.

Is Facebook’s founder, one of America’s richest men, and the leader of over 300 million people, doing enough to help the nation of his creation, especially when one considers that he’s now making money off of our deaths?

A better question would be, are institutions like our newspapers any better? Like Facebook, the Star Tribune and Pioneer Press both have a tendency to capitalize on death. A mourner, or any reader, for that matter, can find in the obituary section advertisements for funeral services, monument companies, grief counselors, even purveyors of death-themed knickknacks. Bigger ticket deaths bypass the obit section altogether, and jump to the front page, where they have the power to sell more newspaper.

In-house, media outlets also make money on “memorial classifieds,” which can run as often as a reader would care to pay for one—and space will permit. The analogue of this, however, can be found on sites like MySpace and Facebook, and, strangely, it’s free.

If a page is “memorialized,” friends and family can view it as often as they’d like. If the “wall” is still enabled, people can keep posting their tributes forever and ever, ad nauseam— and, looked at it this way, the “social advertisements” on the site go toward paying down the cost of keeping these constantly updating, dynamic obituaries on the servers. Viewed through this lens, even the Facebook motto of, “Giving people the power to share and make the world more open and connected” seems to make sense.

The moral of the story is: if you abhor the idea of having digital remnants of yourself floating out there in cyberspace, then perhaps it’s time to consider a little premature cremation— gut the thing while you’re still alive, or, at the very least, make provisions for it in your Last Will and Testament. (Rest assured, even if you do die an untimely death, no one will be able to read those compromising messages left in your Facebook inbox—unless you’ve left yourself logged in to your computer.) This approach can be applied to all things online in your sphere of influence, not just MySpace or Facebook profiles: think about email, dating sites, pornographic material. Start living the persona you espouse offline in your dayto-day vicarious interactions (it’s your legacy).

If, on the other hand, you don’t mind the concept of being given a lasting, free, although ad-supported, tribute, do at least take some pride in the things you write there—that “it’s” mistakenly spelled as “its,” for example—because, god knows: this may be the last time you ever get to fix things. Still not satisfied? You can take the issue up with Mark Zuckerberg when you see him in the afterlife.

www.wakemag.org

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voices

Congress on Tobacco Control: Just Blowing Smoke

by Lukas Gohl On September 22, 2009, your life went on as it always has. You woke up, followed through with your dreary daily routine, and fell asleep only to start the monotony all over again the next day. The only difference on that fateful Tuesday was this: thanks to the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act passed by Congress, you weren’t able to hasten the sweet release of death with the aid of flavored cigarettes.

But what, specifically, is a flavored cigarette? According to the act, they are any cigarette containing an “additive, an artificial or natural flavor (other than tobacco or menthol) or an herb or spice, including strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry, or coffee, that is a characterizing flavor of the to-

bacco product or tobacco smoke.” The most common flavored cigarettes are Djarum, a clove cigarette brand sold by Kretek International, Inc.

do.” Zizo estimates that his sales will fall by 25 percent when the ban is enacted. Royal Cigar & Tobacco is just one of a myriad of local stores that will lose money due to the new law.

On the surface, this legislation concerning tobacco additives appears to be solid. It is unarguable that in America, children should be protected from the alluring taste of these products.

However, if one digs deeper, a number of glaring questions start to surface: If we care so much about kids purchasing candy-flavored vices, why aren’t liquors such as UV Blue or Bacardi Apple banned? Why are mentholated cigarettes still on store shelves?

The upshot is, at least more brands of tobacco are off the shelves, right? Not exactly. The wording of the bill specifically states that only cigarettes can be administered by the FDA. Wise to the obvious loophole, Kretek International has already started developing a flavored cigar. What’s the difference? Cigarettes are rolled with thin paper and cigars are rolled with tobacco leaves. This is proof alone that the bill is ineffective and incomplete.

It’s clear that lawmakers aren’t truly concerned about the real culprits for minors choosing to smoke. The objective is not public health- it’s profit. Not surprisingly, one of the biggest backers of this bill was Phillip-Morris, whose brands will not be affected. Though flavored cigarette sales only constitute 1 percent of the U.S. tobacco market, the $125 million annual gross was enticing enough for the corporate giant to get its slimy hands in to the mix.

Are we, as a society, going to allow the government to pass legislation like this until it micromanages every aspect of our lives? If something as frivolous and insignificant as tobacco flavoring can be banned, when will Congress pen a bill banning soda, or ice cream? If the government wants to make a real impact on the health of its citizens, it should outlaw high fructose corn syrup, the infamous food additive that has crept its way into the majority of snack foods and increased obesity and diabetes across the country.

The new law looks even more suspect when one takes in to account the findings of a survey of over 54,000 underage student smokers done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 52 percent of high school smokers preferred Marlboro, while 21 percent smoked Newport, followed by 13 percent patronization of Camel These percentages are similar in middle school-aged smokers. Three-quarters of black high school smokers smoked Newports, which contain the additive menthol (conveniently excluded from the ban).

As usual, the small businessperson is the one who gets the shaft. “I’m going to lose a huge amount of business,” says Zizo El-Sayed, the proprietor of Royal Cigar & Tobacco in Dinkytown. “No place in Minneapolis sells clove cigarettes like we

QUIZ TIME:

06

Our government was created to protect the rights of the people. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act is just one of the many examples of how every day, citizens are having their freedom of choice slowly eroded by exhaustive bureaucracy. It is our duty as private citizens to be good stewards of our personal liberties; otherwise, the incalculable amount of blood shed in their name would have been spilled in vain.

Health Care

The Economy

CAN YOU DISCUSS CURRENT POLITICAL ISSUES?

Do you believe paying for other people’s health care is stupid?

It’s political debate season and everyone is feeling the urge to let everyone else know exactly what they think. Not everyone has the brains or tact to actually engage in intelligent political discussion, though, and we at The Wake recognize this inconvenient truth.

Thus, we’ve created a little quiz for anyone who is unsure of whether or not they should mouth off the next time ma and pa are discussing outsourcing at the watercooler. Just answer the questions honestly and keep track of whether you end up on a “yes” or a “no.”

Even if you get health care too and won’t have to go into debt paying hundreds of dollars just to have a doctor tell you to go home and sleep?

30 september – 13 october 2009

With the economic downturn, sluggish healthcare reform, and ever-increasing national debt, our patience ought to be wearing thin with elected officials who choose to spend the taxpayer’s money pushing phony and abortive legislation rather than fixing the critical issues the future of our nation hinges on.

NO

Do you think that the recession was caused by poor people being stupid?

NO

YES YES

NO

Even if we know for a fact that it was rapacious banks giving out bad loans?

NO

YES YES Seriously?

NO

Do you just have a complex or something?

YES

Issue I

YES

Issue II

NO

voices

Out of Work, Out of Time

When you consider the amount and qualifications of people in the job market, getting hired while being a full-time student becomes less realistic. The rigor of my current schedule would only allow me to work full shifts over the weekend.

Competition from people able to work full schedules leaves few options.

One student’s frantic quest for employment

by Jerimiah Oetting

A University job is one of those options. Laura Negrini is the Payroll Services and Job Center Manager for the University of Minnesota. While large fluctuations have occurred in job availability around the state, student employment has been consistent with previous years, according to Negrini.

“I have no money, no resources, no hopes. I am the happiest man alive.” –Henry Miller September is finished. The excitement of starting another year of school has been met with sick reality—the sobering outlook of nine months under the imperial shadows of Coffman and Northrop. After four years, it still hasn’t gotten easier. Simple living has again been besieged by stressful responsibility—homework, forms, finances—the ghosts of the summertime shadows that all at once materialize and attack.

“Hiring student employees is very flexible…if a student is struggling to find employment and they contact us, we work together with them in connecting him/her to departments that are hiring,” Negrini says.

After applying to the standard array of restaurants, bars, and coffee shops, my voice mail is still devoid of any returned calls. A student job seems like the last option - while tipbased jobs generally pay more, the service industry seems hopelessly overrun with applicants.

I’m broke.

After a month of searching, I am still unemployed. Rent approaches. Stress swells. My financial system looms menacingly over all of my daily activities. Meanwhile, I have a resume dripping with experience and recommendations, I’m young and responsible, I’m persistent, and, sadly, I’ll do almost anything for money. How have I not been hired?

At this point, getting hired won’t even begin to solve all of my problems. With rent approaching, tuition due, a large collection of lingering debts, and nearly all of my summer savings gone, the only option remaining is to take out more money in student loans. People are shocked to hear I’m almost $50,000 in debt, but without the cushion of borrowed money, my living situation is constantly on the brink of disaster.

It seems the recession has finally trickled down to my level. Obviously, I’m not the only one having troubles.

Minnesota is currently weathering the highest unemployment rate it has experienced in decades. According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics, Minnesota has an unemployment rate of 7.8 percent, down from a peak of 8.9 percent over the summer. With school harder to afford and work harder to find, being devoted to receiving an education has become extremely difficult.

I can only hope that finding a job will be easier once I graduate. Hah. Jerimiah Oetting is a hardworking student at the University of Minnesota who is currently unemployed. He is the best employee you’ve never hired. For résumé and work history, please request at joetting@wakemag.org. meredith hart

Got an Opinion?

Media Do you think that the media has a liberal bias even though the most popular news network is basically an ultra-christian-conservative propaganda machine hell-bent on rallying the masses of stupid bigots to some as-yet-unkown but undoubtedly sinister purpose?

Issue III

IF YOU GOT NO’S

Tell us!

You might posses the ability to discuss socio-political issues in public. You might want to hedge your bets and keep it to yourself, though.

The Wake’s OPINION SECTION!

RESULTS: NO

YES

IF YOU GOT YES’S

I’m done with you.

Congratulations! You’re a moron.

Write for Voices,

Now accepting everybody’s

wacko views ... even YOURS

www.wakemag.org

07

cities

Mediums of Media Believe it or not, some of the esteemed professors at the University of Minnesota spend a lot of time on Facebook. And Myspace. And Twitter. And Second Life. In spite of the obvious reasons why these professors are wasting their time on social networking sites, they aren’t griping about how silly their students are. In fact, they’re studying how their students and other people interact with each other online, and analyzing how we use various communication functions like forums, instant messaging, video and audio clips, posts, blogs and other common tools associated with today’s cutting edge technology. Yet social media studies is only one aspect of a broad range of interdisciplinary research going on in tandem with the Institute for New Media Studies, the U of M’s off-thewall research tank that studies useful and beneficial components of society, like videogames, in order to understand how we communicate with one another.

The INMS, headed by Professor Nora Paul, is part of the New Media Initiative within the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Although funding for the institute was approved by the State Legislature in 1998, it was not until Paul was hired as INMS Director in 2000 that the institute began its work. Since its inception it has helped create and support a multitude of projects designed to examine new media and content, connecting researchers with vastly different backgrounds in the process. Nowhere was this more apparent than the recent New Media Research conference held at the U of M on Friday, September 18. About a dozen experts in fields ranging from graphic design to computer programming gave presentations on their compelling research.

“I got more and more intrigued about how technology was impacting the packaging and delivery end of the [media] process,” Paul says of how she ended up at the U of M. “So coming up here was a chance to really focus more on how technology is changing the ways that information and storytelling is being created.” Take Facebook for example. Dr. Christine Greenhow, a Learning Technologies researcher at the U of M, knows Facebook. She just finished one of several studies on how Facebook can be used as an educational tool for younger users. With funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Greenhow created the HotDish application with the creative team behind NewsCloud, a social media software provider and Grist, an online environmental magazine.

HotDish is an environmentally-themed community app designed “to see if we could get young people coalescing around an issue…get them engaged in an issue,” Greenhow told the audience during her presentation. HotDish, which was built in about two months, allows users to post environmental stories, create application profiles, vote on stories posted, play games and organize environmental activities.

“It’s not just about content,” Greenhow says. “Social media is about the people.” Greenhow’s research focused specifically on how information flows through social networks, and whether a social network could engage younger users, increase users’ knowledge about an issue, build community and generate real world impact while promoting reading and writing practices.

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30 september – 13 october 2009

Although about 2,000 people signed up for the application during the time the study was conducted (March 4-April 10), only 346 users fit the 16-to-24 year old qualification for the study. The site mined these users’ data, including how much time users spent on the application, how many stories they wrote, posted and read, the various environmental activities done and how often, and how many outside activities they planned or participated in. Despite the mass amounts of data, Greenhow found users had contributed about two-thirds of the content available on HotDish, and while a statistical increase of environmental knowledge couldn’t be measured among users, anecdotal evidence increased. To be fair, the users who joined HotDish already knew more about environmental studies than what could be measured nationally, according to Greenhow. Best of all, users claimed the site helped stir up activism, with less frequent users increasing interest in a variety of topics over a short period of time than more active users.

It appears the U of M must continuously play catch-up with making policy as new social networking opportunities surface, as the rules and boundaries of social networking constantly and consistently evolve.

Of course, new media raises a variety of concerns over data privacy. How much information is too much? Jennie Lijewski, an information technology manager from University Relations shed light on the U of M’s continuing struggle to define the boundaries of data protection and privacy in social mediums. Comparing the impact of social networking to a dog yard, she challenged conference attendees to define the boundaries of how much presence the University could have online. Raising intriguing questions like whether a third-party social networking site can claim ownership over University-related logos and content, Lijewski did not elaborate on the U of M’s specific policies over social networking but rather focused on the decision-making process behind University policy, describing it as a series of never ending questions whose answers give way to more questions, from the definition of social networking on.

“It really becomes very, very clear this is not a cut and dried issue,” Lijewski says. Of course, the U of M isn’t the only public university struggling with this issue. According to Lijewski, Big Ten schools are still coming to terms with the same questions: Should university administration, staff and faculty have two separate accounts on social network sites, one for work and one for personal use? What constitutes appropriate behavior on these sites? What’s safe to disclose and what’s not? Should multiple units within a University department use multiple social sites, or should they all use one?

What are the legal ramifications of using third-party sites?

What protection do they offer? Who is held accountable? With all the questions, it appears the U of M must continuously play catch-up with making policy as new social networking

by Trey Mewes

opportunities surface, as the rules and boundaries of social networking constantly and consistently evolve.

INMS doesn’t focus entirely on social networking, however.

Paul likes computer games, too. Not Street Fighter or Halo, per se, but the applicability of computer games and other virtual environments to education. In other words, how games can be used to teach people. Starting with the well-publicized “Harperville Gazette” simulation she helped create with SJMC Professor Kathleen Hansen, Paul’s work in simulation may reap great rewards for the U of M in the near future.

The original idea for the so-called Journalism Game came from a technology and education conference where she heard Kurt Squire, a professor from the University of WisconsinMadison, speak about a simulation of the American Revolution he had built using the engine that powers the popular PC role-playing game Neverwinter Nights. From there, Paul and Hansen wrote the scenario and script for a simulation tool using the same Neverwinter Nights engine designed to educate journalism students on basic information gathering techniques by having them cover a train derailment and chemical spill in Harperville, USA. “We were really excited about the possibilities of it,” Paul says. “The reality of it, the logistics…it was clunky with some of the graphics…so we just couldn’t sustain it as a learning object. But we remained really interested in that kind of simulation space as a possible way to engage students, let them try it out and see what it feels like.” Paul also said the server space needed for the game would have presented problems in the Digital Media Lab as well. Paul may have found a solution in having the Neverwinter Nights model ported into online software called Thinking Worlds.

Thinking Worlds is a flexible game engine, game build and tool kit that appears to be a higher graphic, better mapped version of Second Life. What’s more, it can be more easily controlled and scripted, allowing instructors to fine tune a student’s educational experience. Once the Thinking Worlds build is complete, the real research begins.

“There’ll be very rich opportunities for doing some comparative effects research,” says Paul. Of course, enjoyment and immersion will also be researched in order to see how effective a simulation can be in teaching students journalism skills.

Another component of Paul’s game research studies involves a Knight Foundation-funded project that allowed Paul and Hansen to explore the effects of making a general tool kit for an interactive web game that media outlets could post with current issues, hopefully engaging viewers of the web site.

“A lot of journalism-type games have been created, but they’re one-off,” Paul says. “The trouble with those was they were only good for that [particular subject].” Therefore, Paul and Hansen set out to make a “game template” that administrators could update with information on current issues. Out of five proposals submitted to the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the proposal they found funding for involved making two separate games. One,

cities

ben lansky

which allowed players to assume the role of a staff assistant to a Senator in researching ethanol, was more of an interactive dialogue with different non-playable characters instead of a real game. The other game, “Explore a Topic” was more of a board and card game where players found the answers to different informational questions.

After designing a web site and online survey, Paul and Hansen found participants to view five ways information on ethanol could be obtained, including the two games, a traditional news story, a shortened news story, and a topic-organized page. Unfortunately, respondents found the topic-organized page the best of the information methods. According to Paul, although the board game was preferred over the interactive dialogue game, respondents basically said they didn’t want to work so hard to get the information they wanted. Despite the setback, Paul says she and Hansen are currently working with a company to make application software for mobile devices based on the board game which media administrators could update at their leisure. “You can do it about ethanol this

week, you could do it about the state legislature next week, you could do it about fun places to go downtown the following week,” Paul says.

the image then became a 3D model of a driving Toyota sedan.

The model, textured and shiny, could also be broken down into parts which were also in shiny 3D bitmapping.

The next research project Paul wants to tackle may be the most ambitious yet. If nothing else, planning a virtual reality tour of the U of M would require much interdisciplinary cooperation from other University departments. Among the various topics of discussion, the Virtual Worlds and Video Games discussion panel bore discussion on mixed reality teaching tools. Greg Daigle, a teaching specialist from the College of Design, suggested an augmented reality tour for the U of M where prospective students could download a program onto their cell phones or other mobile devices and walk around campus finding markers that would send 3D models to a cell phone along with whatever other information University officials would want to appear. To demonstrate the technology, Paul had downloaded a similar program from Toyota that worked with pictures of Toyota-related images she had printed out. Once she held it up to a basic computer camera,

“That’s augmented reality,” Paul says. “If you could imagine, with a cell phone…if you were walking around and you see a symbol…it would take in the symbol” and create a 3D model of University maps, or perhaps an avatar of a University official.

What happens next lies with innovative researchers like Paul and Daigle.

Although the New Media Research conference happened earlier this semester, another half-day conference will occur some time in February, in order to accommodate more University researchers and visiting scholars. That most likely won’t slow down progress on any of the research projects the INMS supports and creates. Innovation, like progress, won’t slow down so easily.

www.wakemag.org

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MMA in MN

What is this Mixed Martial Arts thing?

by Trey Mewes

images courtesy capcom co., ltd.

If you haven’t already noticed, there’s a new sport rapidly becoming more and more popular. It involves two men, some padding, an eight-sided cage and years of practice. It’s called Mixed Martial Arts, and it’s much more complex than two men simply punching each other’s privates for 15 minutes. That’s why The Wake is covering MMA in Minnesota this semester: MMA is a rising mainstream trend, and if you don’t already know about it, you will soon.

MMA is a sanctioned, regulated fight between two competitors skilled in a variety of disciplines. To win, a fighter must knock his opponent out, inflict enough punishment to make his opponent not intelligently able to continue fighting, submit his opponent using a hold, or last through all the rounds scheduled in a fight and be declared winner by judges’ decision. Although it sounds simple, it’s much more difficult to perform, evident since Royce Gracie, a 175 lb fighter, proved to the world that a variety of martial arts skills could master any one fighting style at the first Ultimate Fighting Competition in 1993.

Most Mixed Martial Artists learn a variety of different styles and techniques in order to compete in the ring, some specializing in sports in which they previously competed such as amateur wrestling, kickboxing or Muay Thai. Grappling, wrestling and striking abilities are a must for the mixed martial artist looking to compete at any level. The rules of MMA allow for all types of fighting styles to be used in the ring, although basic skills in martial arts like Brazilian jiujutsu, boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, taekwondo and wrestling are generally agreed upon as being most effective.

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30 september – 13 october 2009

There are rules to MMA depending on which promotion a fighter is participating in, contrary to the popular mythology only encourages violence. Common rules, such as no biting, striking the neck, or striking the genitals (told you so) are generally followed throughout every promotion.

In Minnesota, MMA is regulated by the state Combative Sports Commission, which took over state MMA regulations in 2007. State regulations include stipulations like promoters’ licenses and testing for communicable diseases before MMA events and ophthalmology exams as well.

Although there are a multitude of gyms that teach MMA, there are only a few promotions in Minnesota that put on fights. Myth Nightclub still puts on MMA events despite its current legal troubles. Savage Entertainment, out of Savage, Minn., has put on MMA bouts about once every couple of months since 2006.

Interested yet? The closest MMA gym to the University of Minnesota is Cellar Kickboxing and Martial Arts on 2715 Fourth Street SE, owned and run by Chris Cichon, current IFK Light Middleweight World Champion and his brother Jon, a specialist in Muay Thai and Third Degree Black Belt in American Karate. Having recently come back to Minneapolis, Cellar offers classes in kickboxing, jiujutsu and MMA, along with promoting a large stable of kick boxers and Mixed Martial Artists. Their grand opening event on Oct. 13 will included free classes and seminars in cross-training as well as specific martial arts.

For more information on Cellar Kickboxing and Martial Arts, go to www.cellarkickboxing.com.

cities Man Charged with Attempted Murder

Humphrey Center Bomb Threat Solved?

Timothy John Murray is charged with, among other things, alleged attempted murder by the Hennepin County District Attorney’s office over an incident that happened on April 8, 2009.

When someone called in a bomb threat at the Hubert H. Humphrey Center on March 25 last semester, they may not have been a college kid trying to get out of classes. Instead, the Hennepin County District Attorney’s office has filed terrorist threat charges against Denis John Opsal, 63, of Minneapolis.

Minneapolis police responded to an assault-related call from a home on the 1500 block of LaSalle Ave. Once there, they found the victim bleeding from a head wound. After receiving emergency treatment, she was able to tell police where Murray was.

Wake up to Police Stories

by Trevor Scholl If you’ve ever biked home only to see someone held at gunpoint in the middle of the street, you are very aware of the outlandish crimes committed in and around the Downtown area. The Minneapolis Police Force makes arrests and responds to calls every day.

The general public does not generally hear about most of these stories, though they are readily available as police blotter. These are some of the most recent and preposterous stories that occurred in recent weeks.

Can She “Reed” the Sixth District?

Former Board of Regents Member is taking on Rep. Michelle Bachmann in the 2010 election

by Raghav Mehta While the 2010 election may still be well over a year away, Sixth District House of Representatives DFL runner Maureen Reed has hit the ground running while raising a little over $200,000 this last summer campaigning for Minnesota’s sixth congressional district. Reed, a native Minnesotan and graduate of University of Minnesota’s medical school, is an unknown in the political world but has been notably active in the Health Care field. Reed was inspired to run for office when President Obama opted to put Health Care reform at the front of the national agenda. Currently, very few members of Congress have experience in the field and Reed believes in order to provide real reform for Americans, experts like herself need to draft legislation. After being defeated in the 2006 lieutenant governor race she participated in Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s Health Care Transformation Task Force. She is also a member of the Medical Reserve Corps and lent a hand in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the 2007 35W bridge collapse. The Reed campaign has directed much of its attention towards health reform and believes the issues within our healthcare system are caus-

According to the criminal complaint filed by the Hennepin County Attorney’s office, Murray allegedly beat the victim on the head with the end of a hammer after he became drunk during a visit at his house and the victim refused to have sex with him when asked. The victim told police Murray refused to let her leave and became enraged when she threatened to call 911 and started hitting her during the call.

Police found part of the handle of the hammer had broken off, allegedly during the attack. The victim sustained lacerations on her chest, head and hands.

When questioned, Murray told police he did not remember beating the victim but did remember wanting to have sex. He also admitted he was the only one who could have beaten her.

Murray allegedly told the victim he was going to kill her during the attack as well.

Murray faces two counts of first degree attempted murder, one count of first degree attempted criminal sexual conduct and one count of kidnapping. If convicted, he could face up to one-half of a life term for each count of attempted murder, up to 15 years in jail, $20,000 in fines and conditional release for attempted criminal sexual conduct and up to 40 years in prison and $50,000 in fines for kidnapping.

ing myriad problems for our society. The campaign states, “Health care affects education as it begins to swallow up more of the budget for schools and universities. It affects jobs because so many people’s insurance is tied to their employment.” The skyrocketing costs of health care has made it difficult for small businesses to expand and buried average citizens in unprecedented debt. Reed believes once we succeed in reducing costs by resorting a more preventionbased approach, money can be redirected back to areas that need it the most.

Reed’s Republican opponent, House incumbent Michelle Bachmann, has shocked and stunned audiences over the years and came under the national spotlight last October when she accused then-senator Barack Obama and other, unnamed government officials of holding anti-American views in an interview on MSNBC’s Hardball. While Bachmann has repeatedly been labeled outlandish for her behavior by both sides of the political spectrum, she’s proven to be a formidable opponent in the realm of state politics. The 6th District includes Anoka and Benton county, covering the St. Cloud area and ending at the Wisconsin border with Washington County.

Considering the overwhelmingly conservative mentality of the district, Reed’s stance on abortion may also be a barrier to success. In a recent interview with MinnPost, Reed stated although she does not seek to overturn Roe v. Wade she does not label herself as pro-choice but rather “pro-health and pro-prevention.” Michelle Bachmann has outwardly spoken against abortion rights and repeatedly voted against expanding embryonic stem cell research.

Police believe Opsal had made similar calls several days prior to calling 911 on March 25. According to a criminal compliant filed by the Hennepin County District Attorney’s office, Opsal allegedly made two calls to emergency services on March 21 from a pay phone in the 800 block of Nicollet Mall claiming a bomb was placed at the State Capitol building.

Opsal called 911 again on March 25 from the same pay phone around 4 p.m., according to police, where he told police he had placed a nuclear bomb inside the Humphrey Center and it would blow up.

Police responded to a call Opsal made on March 27 from another pay phone, finding him at a transit garage. He told police over the phone about an encounter he had with a bus driver he believed was drunk and admitted to calling the police that day when asked.

After Opsal was taken into custody, Police reviewed several papers in Opsal’s possession, which contained words and phrases from the threatening 911 calls. Since Opsal’s voice and speech pattern is similar to the voice on the 911 calls, police believe Opsal made the calls.

Opsal faces one count of making terrostic threats, a felony. If convicted, he could face up to three years in jail and $3,000 in fines. illustration by danielle attinella

to run for office, Bachmann defeated DFL Patty Wetterling for the house seat. The 2008 election, however, she proved to be more vulnerable but still triumphed, defeating Elwyn Tinklenberg by a 3 percent difference. Campaign Manager Jason Isaacson says, “We cannot run another DFL campaign that relies on calling Michelle Bachmann crazy” and that “Reed is the right candidate at the right time in the district.” In addition to her aforementioned experience in the medical field, Reed has experience in running businesses, was the chair of the Board of Regents here at the U of M and a practicing physician working with under or uninsured patients for over a decade.

The Reed campaign will have to take a unique approach to ensure success where other Democratic leaders have fallen short. In 2006, after claiming she was summoned by God www.wakemag.org

11

ro us B a c teria W (a n d th e Plas tic vo

by John Oen

h o Lo ve T h e m

ies . “Eas t”— cl two se pa rate entit M idw ay Isl and, a and bounded by sa nd m ile s from ou roug hly one th st of Hawa ii. Th i di rect ly northea Pacific Gy re , o tated by the North rldwide , fa ll wo cu rre nt “basin s” of the great s de itu bile ce nter lat rth's ther mod th at are vit al to Ea er, the North Pa bution. Altoge th to cont ain 10 08 es tim ated in 20 a tota l area r er ov ad tra sh , spre ou s Un ited S size as the cont igu of the patches The composition re of the tra sh ba sed on the natu intain a ba se ma there, but they mposition . co s ou ne ly-homoge pla stics floa of ever-deg rading ce level, th rfa feet below and su soup” b ge ba ar “g desc ribed as and. Resear witnessed it fir sth compositio back sa mples of its ar s of sa ye n tee year, and in fif celer at ac s ha ion at sea degr ad e of th Patch ing rate. Sa mples -to -one rat found to have a six e world' Th n. to lates to pla nk ate dumpi been used as ult im cit y, and the volume and capa ailable av gly in as re open ocea inc of a g medi spread alter in With a plethor a of for table and m co me pening to co e-o be ey s ha en , it tion ha s be th wi around the world e nc rie pe ex ent person al x” in th e P ctnormal to supplem Th e “t ra sh vo rte ring at glowing re sta of e ur as ple s ns ar ou nd the vicar iou that re lar ag glo me ra tio locat ion s globa lly few e ar e er Th ca n be ad s. angle environ ment. so me th in g wh ich rapid ly- changing to ne mu in st ant im of d in an ns ma willf ul ly Mod er n no tio ift is hidden both th pr wi t e. lif lic of nf The scale of th is sh le co ro co me into y-to- day rig ma da e th by sly iou ga re rd e subcon sc n impact su e. “C lea nup” is t sy mbols of huma ten po st mo e r volu m th ee of One over th is de po ss ibl e. Th e sh slowly uncovered mo te n re . me tch on Ea rth ha s been tre rbage Pa with its ex d Great Pacific Ga unpa l up an cade: the so -ca lle cle es ity, m ak rame glo ag is th ve n s, Gi ar te s for ye me nt s co nc er ne d.

Invisible to sate lli all ov er a di me iss u l of ta ion en nt nm e at te ot he r en vi ro tion ha s caug ht th is a m isnomer, Ga lar ic gu cif sin Pa e t th ea in Gr ” th at th e the world . “P atch is pa rtitioned into ld fie is br de c since the Pacifi

of the world if me the denizens It's di fficult to bla ue of climate wh iplash on the iss they inc ur mental roar over the ha s long been in up change. The world burdened er ov ture of a sy stem un susta in able na of everme na e th in ry dema nds with cont radic to liz na at ion tiv ity and the ex ter ex pa nd ing produc ing way sh ni etoric ha s an asto of costs. Med ia rh investiy, er ov sc cle th rough di of coming full- cir prec isely in in and resolut ion gation, popular sp sensat ion al e ebb and flow of sequence with th e, adaptive all ns are, above els ne ws cycles. Huma ec ies to sp ly on e th nt. We are to their environ me d dr amat ica lly. so deliber ately an shape the pla net adaptabil ity is imate irony of th is Of cour se, the ult rbitr ar y line g-a lon e rvey ing of th our consta nt resu nt. ing the environ me in the sa nd rega rd

th Pacific Altogether, the Nor in 2008 to Gyre was estimated tons of trash, contain 100 million l area roughly spread over a tota e contiguous the same size as th United States.

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30 september – 13 october 2009

m)

for huma ns to rely t be unprecedented no uld wo ra nge It , op en -lo op dirty work. A huge na te to ex ce ss ive obial life to do its cr tio of or mi op ics on pr ist g ter in ac ow ar . gr ze the un ique ch er n He m isphe re loser to Japa n , of processes ut ili ion at pt ion in th e No rth nt um me ns fer co l ho cteria . Alco and “Wes t”— or reuse th is a wide ra nge of ba oduc tion are e way to degr ade phar maceut ica l pr d an po t, x There is no effec tiv m Ca lifor ni a and as wa ye g To e. kin ba tim ma nin int at th is po int roduct ion of hu is patte rn is dicdispar ate pla stic on examples. The presents re mm tch co ment Pa on e vir ag en rb r Ga de cific res into the wi et ic, the Great Pa one of fiv e m ajor ver. st that ha s been engineered cultu we co ho , ed ry liz da na an ter qu ex al enor mous leg s assert the sum of ever y lin g at the im mo an ist se tiv po t y Ac . ec ma ys eff e wa th rld's water to deter mine defer red to the wo t ocea n cu rre nt s tually impossible allenges the vir ch cir is g It tch in ry Pa e va th lyof ence ve with in wide that the very ex ist dy na m ic di st riy orga nism will ha e incon sequenely an ar lik es uld iti tiv wo ac ns n er ma liabil ity conc old ax iom that hu ac ific Gy re wa s issue of wa ste cumsta nces, and e unproposed viron s. So far, the en of n ns ma to for any heretofor hu t e ion to ho ill l On of m tia em 00 me -It ga ne a Li e lik be en be s ter s ha in inter nationa l wa roug hly the sa me t been pa rcleanup effor t. l commerce ha s no na tio na se to ter In o. e or potat ign St ates . to sy ea n that it is ne ver wi ry history ha s show ered , and it's ve le mb hi een cu W es en for ly ar un ul s of tic on the inception on of the ocea ns ha s va ries some what ich ba se pred ict ion s wh that the compositi t ist in” fac ex “y e m e th tiv riu ec lates with no eff s, ind ividual bacte cu gie h that is dumped rti olo pa hn by tec ed ion at er ad been alt ingrm ing the biodegr eline and inc reas are capable of perfo eir “y ang.” qualities are e th es to Th . cs ed sti os pla mp tic Pr imar ily co process on sy nt he in bacteria l irt y nt or compet itive at ing between th not widely prev ale underpin s ende, howe ver, wh ich he Patch ha s been cultures worldwi ncer ns about the long-sta nd ing co by those who have viron mentalists ' In all , it seem s s. ght e natura l proces th of h gt rchers have brou len t ea gr ken until it ha s y ac tion will be ta on , ch ronicled by clear that no costl further wildly of set the prospect of ampling , the rate been judged to off no longit ut, al cost. As of ye ted at an astonish cont rolled collater un eat Pacific e Gr er e th th s, at re ma ssive problem s deter mined wh e ha ar e dy er h ta ken in 2008 we stu th l e na er di wh d.

Howe ver, om iscus direct ly impacte One of the most pr tio of pla stic pa rti Ga rbage Patch ha bit ious solut ion s. am de e ar bio nno h of g s to the issue soup” by local fis 's ocea ns have lon life g proposed solut ion upta ke of “plastic ial in ry ob ta cr die ite d mi e an fin of , Th g in ed rin th nt the enginee ing zones wi s ha s been docume gr adable wa ste is at ion . de and bird populat ion e Patch enta l in biodegr ad um str e fundamenta l, wi in be ny local spec ies. Th uld ma wh ich wo the effor t to proven fatal to s in s ilizaha on sible ne civ sp to m re les y fro mi lel far w so t so an er 2009 saw ne cific Gy re is no t, mm Pa ec Su eff rth In No . e s. gs o th nt ba in me ls ne t polyethyle hetic chem ica int o world govern effec tively compos roduct ion of sy nt ed and int lat e th iso ms, e for ter ar ic lls om dfi s from lan iIn str ict ly econ bacteria l culture Pa cif ic— an d sim wider food supply. e e tiv th r. uc be od am pr ch st ed lat no t re not the mo contained in an iso d th e wo rld— ar e d e area s affec ted we th rte se as ve ha as cs tle iti as lit ght. , and so cr ting process took dd re ss ed ov er ni for huma n ac tiv ity into the sy sIn all , the compos very lit tle up d ay ire m in toler ance bu ilt n qu rta re tio ce d a ca an is ifi g, e at er ba r th t gr pe at th hs nt d, any future mo . e lve nt re th e polit ics invo nd ish equipme ro gr es s on th e is. Rega rd less of th ex pensive or outla tem no d will be t an ou lem ep ob ied ke pr rr im to curb th is riment wa s ca ed to be vi rt ua lly effor ts by huma ns ly- circulated ex pe de wi . ail e gr ted On ly en ho ed e ec . Th upled d unpr old kid in Ca nada me of ga rb ag e, co widely fol lowed an by a six teen year an orga nism that bi gu of am n al tio leg ea d cr e an th ss ne onof these effor ts is rn of the open envir lat able to all go ve ive the pressures rv su uld al co ter lla e to g un foreseen co publ ic in di ffe re nc without inc ur rin — nt me y sa to ign .” ue s, it se em s sa fe da mage in its “des ke ep ll wi h tc Pa ge ba ar

tch taken in Samples of the Pa have a six2008 were found to tic particuto-one ratio of plas lates to plankton.

www.wakemag.org

13

cities

FOR HERE OR TO GO?

An ode to the swiftly disappearing local coffee shop

Coffee shops, it seems, were the first against the wall when the recession-panic hit. In the past few years, coffee shops and other small-scale eateries have been closing left and right. It’s particularly tragic because of the nature of these establishments; locally owned and operated businesses not only provide a homegrown alternative to obnoxious/rapacious chains and provide the sort of character that makes a city a city, they also serve as neighborhood community centers.

Their closure marks not just the loss of another coffee joint but, rather, the changing of a community’s landscape.

Supporting local businesses, then, becomes more important than it ever was. As community members, the simplest contribution we can make is to support local businesses and ensure that our communities aren’t overrun by chains who have no interest in investing in our communities.

If you’re a freshman or new to dinkytown, you might want to pay a visit to Bordertown at 16th and University, Espresso Royale at 14th and 4th, or Muddsuckers at Como and 15th. Over in Seward, there’s Hard Times Cafe at 19th and Riverside, Seward Community Cafe at 21st and Franklin and 2nd moon Cafe at 22nd and Franklin. Just, please, whatever you do, don’t just go to Starbucks or McDonalds. To paraphrase Tupac, they don’t give a fuck about us.

With that in mind, we present a visual salute to the disappearing institution of the neighborhood coffee shop.

Photos By Meredith Hart

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30 september – 13 october 2009

mind’s eye

Methuselah’s Calamari Special: The “Immortal” Jellyfish

by Jenny Riegel Turritopsis nutricula, a type of jellyfish, is gaining notoriety for its uncanny and unprecedented capacity to de-evolve instead of dying. These jellyfish are the first evidenced metazoan, or multi-celled creature, to demonstrate the ability to revert back to a colonial stage after reaching sexual maturity. After sexually reproducing, most animals inevitably die.

Turritopis nutrricula, however, undergo a transformation in which they return to a stage of sexual immaturity after reproducing, only to mature and reproduce again, then return to sexual immaturity, and so on. What does this mean? Turritopis nutricula do not die, by nature, and are believed to have an indefinite potential lifespan.

When sexually mature, these jellyfish are about 5 mm in diameter, or about as big as a human pinky nail. They have anywhere from eight to twenty-four tentacles when they are young and up to 90 tentacles as mature adults. Shaped like a bell, their external walls are transparent and their stomachs are large and have a distinctive red color.

Turritopsis revert from sexually mature to colonial though two processes: cell transformation and cell transdifferentiation, or the ability of one cell to transform into a completely different type of cell. By transdifferentiating, these cells are

Hubble Space Telescope Back in Business The Hubble Space Telescope was in sad shape, facing both obsolescence, a lack of public awareness and a failing backup unit that would have turned it into a very complicated piece of space debris. NASA’s Service Mission Four, however, has changed all that, rejuvenating the Hubble’s existing instruments and outfitting it with six new operating instruments.

Topping the list of new views are colorful pictures of far-flung galaxies, a densely packed star cluster, a “pillar of creation,”

able to change their entire make-up, much like the much-publicized stem cells. After sexually reproducing, the jellyfish reabsorbs all of its external parts and turns into a cyst, which looks like an ameba-esque blob. The cyst then attaches to the ground and grows into a stalk-shaped polyp colony. These polyps begin a new cycle, where they form into mature jellyfish - all genetically identical. They then break away to perpetuate this cycle again and again, ad infinitum.

The application of a study of the Turritopsis nutricula could be boundless, as stem-cell research appears at the forefront of many medical studies on organ reproduction, cancer treatments, and brain injury treatments to name a few. By using the cells of the jellyfish, which transdifferentiate, scientists can continue to research solutions for these problems without mucking about in the moral dilemmas that come with researching embryonic stem cells. The jellyfish’s cells are also similar in make to cancer cells, which are able to affect the order and process of genetic systems. By studying these cells, scientists may be able to gain insight in the never-ending search for a cure for cancer. These jellyfish, rumored to be plotting world-domination, are in fact spreading in droves.

What some scientists now refer to as a “widespread invasion” could affect the structure and functionality of the oceanic ecosystem. It is believed that they spread when the jellyfish stow away in the ballast tanks of large ships and are carried from place to place. This is a major pathway for the global spread of “invasive” species. Native to the Caribbean, these jellyfish are now being found in waters surrounding Italy and Spain, Japan, Panama, and even Florida. It's anyone's guess where they end up next.

a “butterfly” nebula, and other super-metal formations in space, which is already super metal. Hubble’s suite of new instruments allows it to study the universe across a wide light spectrum, from ultraviolet all the way to near-infrared. In addition, scientists released spectroscopic observations that slice across billions of light-years to probe the cosmic-web structure of the universe and map the distribution of elements that are fundamental to life as we know it.

“This marks a new beginning for Hubble,” said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The telescope (...) is significantly more powerful than ever, well-equipped to last into the next decade.”

Meher Kahn

“I fought for the Hubble repair mission because Hubble is the people’s telescope,” said Mikulski, chairwoman of the Commerce, Justice and Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that funds NASA. “I also fought for Hubble because it constantly rewrites the science textbooks. It has more discoveries than any other science mission.”

Regardless of your scientific interest, the new Hubble means, first and foremost, awesome images to admire. Enjoy.

For more, check out hubblesite.org.

www.wakemag.org

15

sound & vision

W

hen discussing the state of the film industry, one can easily become overwhelmed by the seeming evergrowing number of questions one might confront. However, by venturing to answer these questions we can envision an aura of potentialities for the future of cinema. In an effort to promote transparency in the future of film, here are a few questions or issues begging to be given attention today.

One evening not long ago, I found myself in some of the most luxurious and accommodating seating I had ever encountered in a cinema. Where one might expect an armrest, I found a small table with recesses – one to hold the Spanish coffee drink set ablaze by a barista wearing a sport coat just moments earlier. This was the new movie-going experience: the comfort of a living room in a theater. It was an intimate setting yet the room was filled with strangers and an unparalleled selection of food and drink. I fumbled a large pair of sturdy 3D glasses in my hand and continued avoiding conversation with a small group of recent acquaintances. I found myself instead thinking of what the oak table at my side and the pristine screen before my eyes actually meant.

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Did the quality of the film I was about to view even matter at this point? For some the answer is simple: “Of course.”

However when introducing the question from the perspective of the average moviegoer – an individual who may go to the movies for social or entertainment value – did the film still matter? Does the public care about quality cinema when there’s a light show from their drink order beforehand? Were these comforts attempts to dissuade and divert from alternatives like video on demand services, renting or simple piracy?

What are the repercussions for production companies if viewers start emphasizing experience over quality cinema?

Will this mean less quality films and more lucrative endeavors? Is the theater actually killing film?

Indiscernible Truth Most of these questions cannot be answered. It is either too early to foresee or there are simply too many factors to account for. The film industry is a powerful machine with a great deal of momentum. The films that spill from its gears are the product of many minds, hands and, sometimes, a portion of undirected disorder (i.e. luck). None of these ques-

tions can be boiled down to the simplicity of cause and effect that we could use to determine and predict outcomes.

Especially with the subjectivity of film viewing, where each film must be taken in multitude of contexts – was the movie streamed over a bad connection to a mediocre television, was it relived by its’ viewer in a comfortable atmosphere, what was the viewer’s state of mind?

Nevertheless, the current state of film seems to be one at a threshold of potentialities. The film industry has endured, and at times celebrated, the coexistence of television, VCR and DVD. But now it battles – perchance – the likes of home theaters, file sharing, steadfast rental systems, video on demand and a multitude of viewing platforms.

Where good films are made Ultimately, marketing and reviews drive how successful many movies will become. In the ‘90s many production companies began to create divisions for bringing middle-level films from independent auteurs to the public. The coincidence of the birth of these divisions and a demand for DVDs

sound & vision

yielded great profits for production companies. These same divisions today are becoming financial burdens and are consequently being eliminated.

This absorption of previous studio departures by production studios further nurtures the objectives of the multiplex cinema. The number of feature films produced in the United States has been in decline for several years, with the most significant loss occurring from 2007 to 2008. The Motion Picture Academy of America’s (MPAA) “Theatrical Marketing Statistics” found a 20 percent drop in number of films produced domestically between these years. By allocating more money to acquire popular acting talent for fewer films, production companies can afford to put these middle-road independent films into mega and multiplex cinemas.

blockbusters and survive the relative successes or failures of individual films while retaining relatively cheap ticket prices.

Single screen cinemas are subject to a greater possibility for losses or collapse.

The Oak Street Cinema, for example, has been under the threat of closure for several years, only being kept afloat by the efforts of Minnesota Film Arts (MFA). However the initial successes of the new Trylon Microcinema in showing classic cinema and their support of this year’s coming Sound Unseen Festival helps retain optimism for the future of small-cinema and independent film despite diminishing budgets on the national level.

How film moves

When a film is illegally downloaded or streamed—there is little incentive to go to a movie theatre and repeat the same stimuli in a new environment with a price tag.

Can we really say that fewer films are being produced? The prevalence of inexpensive HD cameras has resulted in a spike in independent filmmaking. Everyone seems to know someone who is making a film. The reality is that while most of these films will never meet a large audience, many independent filmmakers are becoming increasingly creative in their production and distribution methods. Sometimes these modest productions are shown be the small cinemas that remain outside the scope of MPAA data compilations. Many filmmakers proclaim that how an audience comes upon their film isn’t as important as the commitment a viewer makes to dedicate his or herself to viewing the film. It seems that certain mediums may be overlooked. This could mean new distribution methods for the small independent films.

The Landmark Theatres-owned Lagoon Cinema and Uptown Theatre serve the Twin Cities with a large portion of the major independents while smaller cinemas like Oak Street and the recent Trylon Microcinema display local and more obscure films. The trend for single screen cinemas continues to be unpopular - The MPAA has observed a stable number of single screen cinemas for several years while cinemas featuring eight to fifteen screens continue to multiply. These larger multiplexes can spread their investments over several

File sharing systems and the piracy occurring through them has long been labeled as disruptive and destructive by the film industry. A movie shared online does not furnish the same kind of spur as a music album. Musicians can use rapport generated from an album freely distributed to strengthen a touring rapport and the consequent selling of merchandise. When a film is illegally downloaded or streamed—there is little incentive to go to a movie theatre and repeat the same stimuli in a new environment with a

This does not necessarily mean the death of the fund-deficient independent film. While studios continue to load other films with big names and heavy advertising to fill seats it also forces a renovation of low-budget independent filmmaking.

This is where smaller theaters and major circuits that specialize in independent film can help fill the gap.

price tag. Repeat viewings, with exception to exceptional films, remain unpopular because film is an experience-driven trade. Individuals are constantly playing catch-up with just the major productions of over 600 films released per year in the United States.

If the public knew how easy it is to obtain or stream movies for free, we would likely see another change. Piracy operates worldwide with relatively little regulation as is - but it could be even more prevalent and rampant. Most of the general public simply does not know how to access the vast world of illegally free information.

The public’s impending knowledge of the free supply of films could mean yet another demand for quality (or simply a greater call for regulation). Potentially, audiences could have more choice than ever in what comes to their eyes - barring heavy advertising for theatrical blockbusters. With pricy distribution out of the picture, the making of a film would be more feasible than ever for new writers and directors. If people begin to go to the Internet for these films, the same hype that drives an album release could potentially drive a small film. With a considerable amount speculation, a free distribution model would not necessarily mean the collapse of the movie infrastructure.

Going nowhere Experts in the film business believe we will always have cinemas. Even with VOD for home theatres, cell phones, iPods and laptops, there will always be a demand to watch a movie on a 30-foot screen without interruption and in the company of strangers. Theaters themselves may undergo changes. Just as drive-in theatres were transformed to indoor multiplexes, they may again transform to small living room-esque theaters, where the seats are large and the drinks plentiful. Perhaps theaters will send dedicated servers before the feature to bring your flamed coffee and a mint on a dish.

But this is just one possible direction for cinema.

daniel rivard

www.wakemag.org

17

sound & vision

Mason Jennings Blood of Man

by Sofiya Hupalo

Movie Review The Informant

By Raghav Mehta

The Chambermaids Down in the Berries

by Edward Lorey

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30 september – 13 october 2009

Mason Jennings’ Sept. 15 release Blood of Man delivers a shift from the acoustic sound that dominated his earlier albums to more amplified, pulsing compositions. Although Jennings picks up the acoustic guitar only a few times, most of the record still carries a resemblance of calm intonations periodically culminating in raw crescendos and fretful callings.

I initially feared that this album would not be full of the earnest folk that Jennings usually weaves. But even though various reviews have highly proclaimed it as a rock and roll record, Blood of Man is crafted to resonate as a mixture of both. His new direction is depicted by electrified, upbeat, songs that lack excessive instrumentals but coalesce to form beautiful sounds. Frantic drums gyrate in the background as everything else ebbs and flows on “City of Ghosts.” However,

One thing is for sure about The Informant! and it’s that Matt Damon is definitely not the same crisis-ridden amnesiac America fell in love with. Based on Kurt Eichenwald’s 2000 book, Damon stars as Mark Whitacre, a seemingly inept and neurotic biochemist who blows the whistle on his company’s global price-fixing scheme only to become a victim of his own head-scratching recklessness. The story begins in the early ‘90s where Whitacre’s employer, Archer Daniels Midland, a highly recognized agricultural conglomerate, has been working in collusion with their competitors to fix the price of lysine, a ubiquitous food additive. When two FBI agents arrive at ADM to investigate a possible industrial sabotage, Whitacre, posing as an honest man, confides in the FBI agents and reveals the details of the scheme. Whitacre is then thrust headlong into a quirky yet consistently hilarious journey, op-

The Chambermaids are the kind of band whose music sounds a hell of a lot simpler than it really is on the first few listens.

To wit: their new EP, Down in the Berries, sounds like 17 minutes of Sonic Youth-lovin’, 90s-rock revivalism on first blush.

Repeated listens reveal a bit more nuance, though. Once you get past dual-channel guitar solos and garage-rock riffs, you’ll find a talented rhythm section that knows how to flip the switch instantly from dub-inflected groove to straightahead pounding and a Futureheads-like use of vocal harmonies to add an ethereal layer to otherwise straightforward songs. The Chambermaids are interesting because, like all the best post-punk acts, they’ve got a bass-heavy sound and

Jennings eventually reverts to reminiscing about childhood memories. “Mama, we’re in love with a memory,” he hums lightly, and means heavily.

Choruses of Jennings’ harmonica emerge on “Black Wind Blowing,” a bloodthirsty ballad of gory episodes - “I put my gun up under your chin, my hand was shaking so I dug it in.”

A searching, hopeless voice peaks with a quivering, distraught solitude.

Jennings also produced this album, allowing listeners a bigger taste of his unprocessed artifact. The unpolished tunes, along with his nostalgic voice and hymnal poetry are among the major accents that define Blood of Man, giving it the edge that plain old rock and roll can’t quite compete with.

erating as an informant in the investigation while continuing to work at ADM. Almost everything about Soderbergh’s film is off-kilter. From the dimly lit meeting rooms to the cheery lounge jazz that plays in between scenes, The Informant! is disorienting at times. However, Damon’s impeccable performance and Scott Z. Burns’ (The Bourne Ultimatum) sharp writing compensate for its eccentricity. The film’s ongoing voiceovers are a definite highlight and reveal Whitacre’s utter detachment from reality, most notably the scene where he contemplates polarbear hunting techniques while speaking to the FBI agents.

While The Informant! isn’t flawless, it is a solid and well-executed departure from Soderbergh’s and Damon’s typical standbys.

a penchant for wildly noisy interludes tempered by a respect for old-school rock. It just so happens that the garage rock side wins out more often than on the records that undoubtedly inspired these cats (Joy Division never put that “Louie Louie” cover on an album while Down in the Berries is lousy with the old E-G-E rock ‘n’ rollin’. Not lousy in the bad way, though). At the end of the day, there’s no escaping those comparisons to Pixies, Sonic Youth, The Breeders, etc., whose collective influence looms large and gives the record a slightly disconcerting feeling of deja vu. Still, though, it’s an enjoyable record, and you can’t really ask for more than that.

sound & vision

Brandon Scott Gorrell: Blogoshere Poet

by Michael Hessel-Mial Dear Poetry: Welcome to the 21st Century. Brandon Scott Gorrell, among the first writers to make his name entirely through Internet publication, has made the leap to publishing with his first book of poems, care of Muumuu House. Gorrell’s first book of poems, “During My Nervous Breakdown I Want to Have a Biographer Present,” compiles 37 poems published across the blogosphere into something incredibly current.

If Gorrell’s poems come across sounding, well, apathetic, it’s because apathy (and a healthy dose of existential despair) is his muse. If you’ve ever spent a listless hour checking the same four Web sites over and over again, you will probably find something in this poetry that feels familiar. Like the pangs of love that have led many a tortured soul to the pen, Gorrell’s poetry is anchored throughout by something genuine and real.

Unlike conventional bards, the author is driven by heavy sarcasm, self-loathing, brooding fantasies of senseless violence, and the glue that holds melodrama together: a sense of humor.

The book begins with “A List of Potential Poem Titles,” which essentially cobbles together lines from throughout the book into one fractured non-poem. This gives you the Brandon Scott Gorrell style with two barrels, while also poking fun at his own pathos:

i’m going to take a bath in 13 gallons of warm coffee i wish my face was a giant floating emoticon you will sleep with a pillow between your legs and i will

remember that while stabbing an entire continent

i want to close my eyes and disappear forever completely From here, the reader can take it or leave it, and whoever chooses to read on will be rewarded. One of the best poems in the book, “Face Annihilation,” underscores the political and personal side of his position in the world, reaching a ringing fever pitch comparable only to the frenzy of Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl.” It’s the type of poem that you get caught up in, reading so fast that you don’t think about anything but the blunt force of the lines.

What makes Gorrell stand out from others is his range - working in areas as diverse as narrative poems, haiku (sans temple bells and plum blossoms) and science fiction. These poems are placed into a sequence that well captures the range of his ennui, while still making it part of the gimmick. “Anxiety!”

“Low Self-Confidence!” “Alienation!” are promised on the back of the book, and the reader gets their money’s worth.

In poetry, we’ve come to expect that poets are only original if they experiment with language, convey the reality of city streets, or any other cliché. Brandon Scott Gorrell offers very little of that, which is refreshing. Though his best work is likely still in front of him, if he can continue to make despondency this surprising and funny, I can sleep well about how the Internet and literature will fare in the next few years or so.

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sound & vision

music

film

oct 02. the cedar. tortoise, prefuse 73. 8 p.m. $18 adv, $20 door.

sep 30 - oct 04. sound unseen film festival. various locations. see

oct 03. turf club. tapes ‘n tapes, red pens, chooglin’. $10. 21+

soundunseen.org for detail.

oct 04. first ave. brand new, manchester orchestra, sybris. 5 p.m. $25

oct 02. walker cinema. fargo by coen brothers. 7:30 p.m. $8

adv, $29 door.

oct 03. walker cinema. no country for old men by coen brothers. 9:45 p.m. $8

oct 04. the entry. these united states, or, the whale.

8 p.m. $8

oct 08 - 10. coffman theater. public enemies. 7 p.m. free

oct 05. clown lounge. jazz implosion. 10 p.m. $5

oct 09. trylon microcinema. videodrome by cronenberg. 7 p.m., 8:50 p.m. $8

oct 06. the ghost is dancing, rubrik (canadian!) 9 p.m. $5 oct 07. turf club. teenage moods, dirty colors 9 p.m. $3 oct 07. triple rock. why?, au, dark dark dark. 6 p.m. $15 oct 08. the entry. city on the make, aaron & the sea, history books. 8 p.m. $5 oct 08. the whole. larry ochs sax & drumming core.

7 p.m., 9:15 p.m. $34

oct 10. trylon microcinema. videodrome by cronenberg. 7 p.m., 8:50 p.m. $8 oct 10. walker cinema. the man who wasn’t there by coen brothers. 7:30 p.m. $8

theatre oct 01 - 04. mcguire theater. dance: ragamala dance. various times. $18 - $25 oct 01- nov 01. illusion theater. bill w. & dr. bob. various.

by Jeremiah Oetting Smooth—that’s the way the Jazzman drives. The only thing smoother than his driving is the music, always streaming from his trusty stereo. And that’s what’s so cool about it, man. Gliding around corners, slipping between lanes, the Jazzman is Jazz. His bus has a pulse, riding the rhythm of the city to a backdrop of blue notes. When you take a ride with the Jazzman, you don’t just listen to jazz, you become a part of it.

On the bus, the streets streak by to a beat. Off the bus, the world slows to a halt. It doesn’t have to stop. Jazzman Presents is a list of a few recommendations from the Miles Davis of Drivers, our friend the Jazzman.

Miles Davis Kind of Blue The well-known Miles Davis classic is perfect for newcomers to jazz. With memorable riffs and beautiful improvisation, it’s the album that will keep you coming back to jazz for more.

“This one is for first time jazz cats comin’ into the University. Maybe they’re from a rural area that didn’t even have a jazz radio station, or maybe their parents played ‘em bluegrass their whole lives.”

Kind of Blue has been hailed by many as the definitive jazz album and it’s the best selling jazz album of all time, according to the RIAA. Despite this, it is interesting to note that Miles Davis created the concepts for the album only hours before recording. The group never practiced as a whole.

What results is, according to Bill Evans’ description in the liner notes “something close to pure spontaneity.”

oct 09. red sea bar. veritas, uzza, tabatha predovich, the phonenix

illusiontheater.org for details. $15 - $30.

philo. 10:30 p.m.

exhibits/galleries

oct 09. big v’s. red own, verigo sway, the oh eeks, naked alien. 10 p.m. $5

sept 18 - jan 09. mpls central library, cargill hall. artmn 2009: the

For those looking for something a bit deeper in the jazz sphere:

oct 09. triple rock. high on stress. 9 p.m. $6

previous object. walkerart.org

Tokyo Grooves

oct 10. the cedar. over the rhine, vienne teng. 7 p.m. $25 adv, $28 door.

sept 24 - feb 28. medtronic gallery. haegue yang: integrity of the insider.

oct 12. triple rock. story of the sea, traindodge, roma 79, kill to

oct 03. franklin art works. sara woster & rob fisher opening reception

kill. 8 p.m.

7 p.m. franklinartworks.org

oct 13. acadia cafe. the epilogues, the photo atlas.

8 p.m.

oct 08 - 10. st. paul art crawl. see stpaulartcrawl. org for details.

oct 13. the entry. school of seven bells, depreciation guild, warpaint. 8 p.m. $10 adv, $12 door.

The Horace Silver Quintet “If you don’t have this one in your collection, you gotta add it.”

Inspired by the distinct melodies he experienced in Tokyo, the tunes on Tokyo Grooves were Silver’s recollection of his time abroad.

“One night, Horace got out late at a club, and the cab driver on the way back to the hotel looked back in the mirror, and the only thing he could say was ‘Too much sake.’ That’s how he got the name for the first track! It’s a great track...”

Tokyo Grooves, like many of Silver’s works, relies on the pairing of Latin beats and blues. Due to its Eastern influence, it has a touch of Asian melodies worked into its style. Groovy.

The Jazzman can be found cruising through campus on a doublewide bus five days a week. Cool.

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30 september – 13 october 2009

humanities

like a tongue spat copper sparrows onto a t-shirt breast

by Michael Hessel-Mial i jabbed your tongue on a stuck-pin for punish like a pink stuffed-animal turtle cracked between glass plates i called some nazis from a call-in nazi service they came and stuffed a roast beef in my ass-crack like an ass was a place-can the roast beef ran reeled in by the kissing-line my nose was filled with creamy, fluffy, puffy fluffy clouds if you pulled they would squirt hibiscus sweetness and jet wriggling blooms behind them after 40 years in the lunch-room (jammed with produce, random product sunglasses powder, pickled lipstick, glass only your face that could curdle enemy rain that could blow up picnic tables that could look straight now looking askance your wrists riveted to a plastic juice punctured organic, green sweet and sharp) you stood up again in different clothing than you sat in full of yourself crying of upside smiley-face cloud beautiful, stuffed in sweated cotton green-stained white dress

Man in White

by Sofiya Hupalo Day after night he saunters via Main Street dead cigarette butt, hair hanging loose shedding strands of mane A white slip covering his knees, breasts.

Swelling with disturbance, yet plump with proud flesh He waits for real people to talk, and we wait for him to leave Only to clean our streets with dirt itself He does not speak, you see, a meandering pace of unease is what he knows best And perhaps some wisdom, but nobody is really certain.

“OUGHT TO�

by Eric Brew i thought ten months ago i/d no more /n somedays thought for my death by morning once /til i think i/d not wrote a decent poem in weeks

empty glove smeared with wiped-off face from teaching leather how to behave hand in heart stuck to a frozen iron throb between windows

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21

humanities

Patrick Larkin Conversational-Like Through Windows Shared two bits, that was a great movie, the level 70 purple best pair of underwear level the first time you rang me, I was already late, I had to go pee. I am sorry. There are a bunch of crazy-ass broomsticks in your scattered green backyard, looks nice in rectangular what with the sequined curtains, you motherfucking hummingbirds. The window, you must realize, is how I wasted most of my high school career losing my plaid shirt buttons unheroically. It is a strange place you find yourself in, all too suddenly shirtless in a red barn, bats, bad smelling yellows, panic, and I have got to get a hold of that woman, we have got to get one bedroom, is how I wasted the time between my grandparents’ and parents’ funerals.

Grandpa gave me fishing lures, my mom a sofa, brother took a car, my sister is in Andalusia, my dad is a sofa. Nobody is nearly as soft, not even a soap commercial, ten dead gooses unless you stuff them full of

Sandwiches: An Epistemology

by Pammy Ronnei Is this sandwich my enemy or Are all sandwiches the enemy?

Is this sandwich in front of me right now staging a lone attack, or Is this one hostile confrontation in this sandwich war of attrition?

If I eat the sandwich, it wins, but if I don’t eat the sandwich, is it a draw?

Is there any way for me to win?

If I pulverize the sandwich beyond recognition, does it win because I have acknowledged its existence, the existence of all sandwiches, and therefore my own position in this conflict?

When I un-sandwich a sandwich, am I committing a hate crime against sandwiches?

Or is it just self-defense?

22

30 september – 13 october 2009

fluff, a goofeyeballed angel hovering close by though always when you are watching your feet. My father was a shoe salesman. Please marry me and die. 3.12 The King of Burger Cheesecake between those butts, you know, the lemonade TV rappers drink, Wednesday afternoon JC Penny’s parking lot hook-ups missed on Craig’s List. I could jab a french fry in my eye, but my eye is not barbecue sauce and not even the register girl is watching a baseball hat eat a bacon chicken sandwich. In the stall the boobs have been ripped off and the pages smell like failed leopard cologne. In the backseat under the to go box a one dollar bill. Your kid can eat a styrofoam mini-bitch for all I care. Gunk up the computer screen with self-discovery. The first woman in outer space was made of Jello and all man needed was a straw. 4.2

So You Don’t Have To

by Lye Room service here, To refill all your shit, And make your bed, And wipe up the Pizza grease of your chin Bus driver here, To take care of your crazies, And deal with you cheapskates And translate what Your drunk ass is saying

to the women wadling the other way

by Jay Dee i am glad that nothing wakes you up like a mountain dew and that everyday is an arbys day and everynight md’s I am glad that you scooter around wal-mart and you park handicap close and crater the sofa but stay the hell away from my healthcare

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