Archive for September, 2011

• Hollywood Keeps Churning Out Stylized Updates That Miss the Mark

  Editorials September 19, 2011 at 5:59 pm Comments are Disabled

  In 1903, one of the first films to actually feature a narrative, “The Great Train Robbery,” was released and became a huge success. It was so popular that one year later it spawned a remake that wasn’t nearly as well-received. Looks like Hollywood still hasn’t learned its lesson. I wouldn’t say orginial ideas in Tinseltwon have finally died off; there were a few original concepts released this year that I found particularly interesting. “Insidious,” “Hall Pass” and “Drive Angry” were all original stories that proved writers still had some juice left in them. The problem is that for every one original movie, we get a dozen remakes and sequels. “Arthur,” “Fright Night,” “Straw Dogs” and “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” are all remakes of classic films released this year. If they were financially successful maybe I’d understand why studios continue releasing these movies. But none of them are. Not to say that no remake has done well. “Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Friday the 13th” both had very successful opening weekends, but then plummeted after people realized they weren’t good at all. Don’t get me wrong, though. I actually enjoy some of these — but I don’t need them. I […]

   

• Crowd at Republican Debate Could Stand a Lesson in Compassion

  Editorials September 19, 2011 at 5:59 pm Comments are Disabled

  A typical post on Facebook for me gets five, maybe six likes. This one last night had 15: “I hate to be overtly political all of the time, but the crowd at this debate just cheered “yes!” when Wolf Blitzer asked if a 30 year old man with no health insurance should be allowed to die because he can’t afford treatment. That is disgusting and fundamentally wrong and if you believe it, you should be ashamed. What’s wrong with America?” The saying goes “obvious troll is obvious,” but I don’t think that was a troll. And though I’m terrified by it, I truly think that there are people out there who believe that someone who cannot afford health care, as a result of having not purchased health insurance, should be allowed to die. I believe the question posed to Ron Paul —“If an uninsured 30-year-old man has an accident, under your health care plan, who would pay for it?” — was intended to tease out a reasonable response from the arguably moderate (if die-hard libertarian counts as moderate) statesman. Here is the truly staggering part: While I hate false promises, the ethical principles that we as a developed democracy generally […]

   

• FROM THE VAULT: Gilmore Girls

  Lifestyle September 19, 2011 at 5:58 pm Comments are Disabled

  Even before entering high school, most pre-teens had experienced elite college life, read countless literary classics and had regular outings with their eccentric, single mother. Though they never actually lived these events, they experienced them through, and with, Rory and Lorelai Gilmore, two strong and independent women who transcended television. “Gilmore Girls” was nothing short of a moral education. It was an experience above that of a television show — a collection of life lessons. As college students, most Patriots can now relate to Rory’s bewildered feelings and timid attitude during her stressful times both in high school and her first year at Yale University. Bumping through corridors and showing up to class forty minutes early are just a few of the things that we’ve endured, like Rory, as freshmen. Perhaps it was the relatable college atmosphere that garnered an average of 4 million viewers per episode. Years after the series finale, “Gilmore Girls” is still a mainstay in college dorms across the country. DVD sales have stayed consistent over the past 10 years thanks to each and every unique adventure the girls encountered. Remembering each episode as if it were an entirely new experience is something that will live […]

   
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  Straw Dogs: Not a Classic But Worth Your Dollars

  Lifestyle September 19, 2011 at 5:57 pm Comments are Disabled

  When a screenwriter from Los Angeles returns to his wife’s hometown in Mississippi to get away from it all and start writing again, things take a twisted turn when locals make his life a living nightmare. If you turn to the opinion section you’ll see my little rant about Hollywood remakes lately. My question being, what’s the point? Sam Peckinpah’s 1971 “Straw Dogs” was an intense film about what happens when a man finally reaches his breaking point. The new remake follows suit, but like most remakes, it breaks no new ground. It’s not a terrible film, though. The biggest obstacle facing the movie is the fact that the original exists and thus invites comparisons. THe leap from Dustin Hoffman to James Marsden is probably the biggest comparison I found myself making. How many times have we seen Dustin Hoffman kick ass on film? I’m kind of drawing a blank. James Marsden, though, I mean the dude played Cyclops. Much of what made the first one so impactful was watching an everyman snap. Seeing someone who’s shot lasers out of his eyes do it just made me nod my head in approval. Alexander Skarsgard of “True Blood” fame turns in […]

   

• Mason Hires New Director of Classroom and Lab Tech

  News1 September 19, 2011 at 5:51 pm Comments are Disabled

  George Mason University’s Instructional Technology Program has hired a new director of Classroom and Lab Technologies, Tim Murphy, who will oversee the implementation of new learning technology in Mason’s classrooms. “Most of our work is done behind the scenes, in that students are our primary audience, they’re our customers, and indirectly our customers are faculty,” Murphy said. “So what we do is we try to aid and support the faculty’s need for instruction who ultimately are the ones who are dealing day-to-day with the students.” Murphy was a business owner and served three universities before arriving at Mason in July from Phoenix, Ariz. His job involves overseeing learning technologies in all classrooms on the three Mason campuses. CaLT helps manage seven public computer labs, provides support for faculty and students with classroom technology and keeps classroom software up-to-date. In addition, CaLT also helps manage the implementation of learning technologies in all Mason buildings that are being renovated or newly constructed, with University Hall being the latest addition to the Fairfax campus. “University Hall has some of the most state-of-the-art classrooms in the nation,” Murphy said. “University Hall [room] 1201 is called a ‘collaborative classroom’ and is a flagship property that […]

   
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  Grammy-Winning Tenor Joins School of Music

  News1 September 19, 2011 at 5:51 pm Comments are Disabled

  Four-time Grammy Award winner and respected lyric tenor John Aler can now add associate professor of voice at George Mason University’s School of Music to his impressive repertoire. Aler will be joining the College of Visual and Performance Arts in teaching applied voice. He will educate students in various styles of singing and aid them in developing skills for the performance of opera and musical theater pieces. He received both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in vocal performance from the Catholic University of America. He also attended the Julliard School in New York and studied with the late and celebrated vocal instructor Oren Brown. In addition, Aler has taught at numerous institutions including the Maryland Opera Society, Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music and Atlantic Union College. Performances with professional institutions including the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras and the Los Angeles Philharmonic are also notable. In Europe he accompanied such names as the Berlin Harmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Orchestre National de France. The Royal Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the New York City Opera, the Washington National Opera and numerous others around North America and Europe also stand out on his […]

   

• Stability of Old Blackboard Cited as Primary Reason for Upgrade

  News1 September 19, 2011 at 5:49 pm Comments are Disabled

  Recently George Mason University has upgraded its Blackboard learning management system. This system allows faculty to organize and post class-related data for student access. As of Aug. 15 the older program, Blackboard 8, was no longer in use. The switch to Blackboard 9.1 was decided by the campus administrators. This project has been underway for over a year and became a major concern for administrators when Blackboard crashed at an inopportune time. “The biggest reason for the change was that the old Blackboard started to become unstable, Director of Learning Support Services Joy Taylor said. “The university wanted to have a system that would be more stable.” With the new system came a completely different interface that professors were not accustomed to using. “It has taken some time getting used to,” social psychology Professor John H. Riskind said. “At fist I didn’t like it because it kept saying ‘unavailable’ and I could not post my syllabus, but now I think it’s okay.” Among the advantages of the new system are that it has greater functionality and is more convenient for professors. They now have more options with the grade book and can pull content from websites such as YouTube by […]

   

• Study Could Help in Fight Against HIV

  News1 September 19, 2011 at 5:49 pm Comments are Disabled

  A George Mason University researcher studying the HIV virus has made a promising find. Yuntao Wu, a professor in the Department of Molecular and Microbiology, was named a “young star in science” by Genome Technology Magazine in 2007 for his HIV/AIDS research. In April he and his team of researchers published a study in The Journal of Biological Chemistry that could change the way scientists understand the infection process, and possibly guide treatment in a new direction. HIV is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system, specifically white blood cells. The resulting condition, AIDS, has caused a pandemic that has killed over 25 million people since it was first recognized 30 years ago. What makes HIV different, and more deadly, is how successful it is at destroying a person’s natural defenses against infection, despite having lower rates of transmission than other STDs like HPV. What they found was a protein called LIMK, or LIM domain kinase, which is present at the initial breaking of the cell wall by the HIV virus. Although another protein called cofilin allows the virus to get through the cytoskeleton, LIMK actually prompts the cell to move in a way that is crucial to the infection […]

   

• Mason Professor Heads Intelligence Research Team

  News1 September 19, 2011 at 5:48 pm Comments are Disabled

  George Mason University is leading a team of researchers in the search for a way to harness the “wisdom of the crowd” in order to allow the U.S. government to better predict and prepare for future world events.

   
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  Earthquake Reveals Small Amount of Asbestos in Fenwick

  News1 September 19, 2011 at 5:47 pm Comments are Disabled

  The earthquake that occurred on Aug. 23 knocked loose a few tiles in the roofing of Fenwick Library, releasing asbestos into the air.