November 13, 2012| Volume 111 | Edition 2B Faculty Profile pg. 2 Campus Updates pg. 3 Campus Life pgs. 4-5

Beyond Kettering pg. 6 Entertainment pg. 7

Commencing Commencement Changeby Matthew Gessler, Editor-in-Chief

The Kettering Class of 2014 is in for a pretty large commence-ment ceremony change. Starting next year, Kettering will hold only one commencement per year in June. As many already know, up until this change, the university has held two com-mencement ceremonies per year, one in June and one in December.

Betsy Homsher, Vice Presi-dent of Student Life and Dean of Students, gave several rea-sons for the change. First off, she mentioned that the school would like to turn commence-ment into a more festive event. She described a larger weekend celebration, which may include events such as a showcase of student achievements and a dinner reception. One of the main goals of this change is to en-courage attendance, especially for families from distant states who may have not attended in the past due to having trouble justifying the large amount of travel for the two-hour ceremony.

In addition to encouraging the attendance of more students and families, the change will also lead to an increase in faculty presence. Cur-rently, faculty are required to attend only one

commencement per year. This generally leads to approximately half of the faculty attending each of the ceremonies. Holding only one cer-emony per year will make it easier for faculty members to plan for the ceremony and will ensure that they are all there to celebrate with the graduating students. Homsher also noted that the change will save the University valu-able resources, including both money and staff time required to setup the ceremonies, though she stressed that this was a secondary concern.

There will most likely be some controversy involved with this decision and change. With only one ceremony, more stu-dents will be required to come back to Kettering to walk in the ceremony, even though they of-ficially graduated months before. A-section students seem to get the worst of it, with some stu-dents having to wait up to nine months for their ceremony.

Homsher recognized this unfortunate circumstance. At the same time, she made the point that even with two ceremonies, some students have still had to wait several months before their

commencement. The Kettering Administration, including Homsher, believes that the benefits of this change will outweigh the negatives relating to longer wait times.

Photo courtesy of Kettering Communications

Editor’s Note: This is what the Technician knows thus far regarding the change. If you have any questions or comments, let us know by sending an email to btechnician@kettering.edu, and we’ll address them in our next edition!

The evening of Saturday, November 3rd saw the International Room full of nine wonder-ful women and their guests as Kettering held its 16th annual Woman of the Year Banquet. The accomplishments of these women were honored with good food, good speeches, and a pretty awesome looking trophy.

After enjoying a wonderful meal, keynote speaker Maria Matthews-Shaw, Kettering Class of 1999 and Woman of the Year 1999, encour-aged the women present to always pursue suc-cess and to never back down. Her track list of inspirational songs, including Kelly Clarkston’s “Stronger” and “Hero” by Mariah Carey, played throughout the evening and influenced her speech. Opening with a beautiful rendition of “The Climb,” Mrs. Matthews-Shaw then used personal experiences and lessons learned throughout her life to list her keys to success: courage, leadership influence, intentional about steps, motivation, and being bold.

“Find out what motivates you and hold on to it when in times of trouble,” she said. Her

mother is what propelled her to be not only a successful engineer at General Motors, but also a top selling Mary Kay salesperson and a businessperson at GE Hardware who saved the company over one million dollars.

Mrs. Matthews-Shaw’s presentation was then followed by the presentation of awards to the honorable mentions, finalists, and winners of the Woman of the Year award. Each received a certificate of recognition and, in the case of the winners, a small trophy.

It was a great night full of special senior women who made a difference at Kettering, at their places of employment, and in their home communities.

by Rebeccah MacKinnnon,, Copy EditorWoman of the Year Banquet

Meredith Brassell, A-Section Woman of the Year

Ayse Buke Hiziroglu, B-Section Woman of the Year

For the full list of awardees, see page 3

Check out page 6 for our coverage of this election cycle, from nominations

to the re-election of Barack Obama as President of the United States

of America.

November 13, 2012

Faculty ProfileKettering University - The TechnicianPage 2

Technician Staff Editor-in-Chief:Matt Gessler

Assistant Editor:Laura Correa

Copy Editor:Rebeccah MacKinnon

Advisors:Betsy HomsherChristine Levecq

Submission PolicyThe Technician welcomes submissions from Kettering

University students, faculty, and staff as long as writers identify themselves and their affiliation with the University and provide contact information. No anonymous submissions will be accepted. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the Technician staff or of Kettering University. We reserve the right to edit for length. Kettering University is a private institution; as such, it need not extend freedom of speech protection as described in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

S u b m i s s i o n s m u s t b e s e n t e l e c t r o n i c a l l y t o btechnician@kettering.edu.

ColophonThe Technician is published triweekly by the students of

Kettering University and financed, in part, by the Kettering University Student Activities Fee.

Meetings are Thursdays at 12:20pm in the Technician Office

Submission DeadlinesThird Edition - 9th Wednesday

Layout Editor:Ryan Dontje

Staff:JD BiggerMykhailo BoikoAshwin ChackoJackson ColoskeNicholas KoprowiczNickolas JenningsCara NorwoodJose Schwengber

Dr. Giuseppe Turini is Kettering Univer-sity’s newest addition to the Computer Science department as the primary instructor for the computer graphics and gaming concentration. The Technician sat down with Dr. Turini for an interview to find out more about Kettering’s newest professor:

Q: Where are you from?

A: I am from Tuscany. I lived in Pisa and Florence and attended the University of Pisa. Then, I started working for a research lab focusing in computer graphics and geometry processing at the CNR, the research consul-ate in Pisa. After a year, I switched to another research lab that was a joint venture between computer graphics experts, robotics experts, and surgeons. We started collaborating and created prototypes for the medical field.

Q: What was your field of study?

A: My research activities included soft-body simulation and interactive simulation applied to the medical field. This means we used virtual simulation of soft bodies and implemented interactions with these virtual bodies, letting the user cut tissue, build virtual bones, and other things like this. We had to make a lot of approximations and calculations to ensure maximum performance.

Q: What led to you coming to Kettering University?

A: A few other colleagues from Kettering came to visit my research lab in Pisa and they were looking for someone with an expertise in computer graphics and also something similar to game programming and at the same time, they wanted somebody with a background in the medical field. I like the place, I like the change, and I like to teach also. This means that now I have to do a lot of stuff. In Italy, the research activity is a little more independent than the teaching, so you teach, but it’s not a part of your evaluation, so the opinion of the students isn’t considered as much.

Q: Is that one of the biggest differences between a university such as Kettering and universities in Italy?

A: This is a big difference between the Italian education system and the US educa-tion system. Here, you care a lot about your students and you want to keep the quality of the teaching high. You want a good teaching and learning experience, so you need these student evaluations. You want to understand how students feel about the course and this is something that is missing in the Italian system. Here at Kettering, this is very evident because the classes are small, so you can address every single issue of every single student.

Q: How do you approach teaching? What’s your method in the classroom?

A: I like to push critical thinking and pro-vide an interactive course. I like to provide a lot of practical examples for the students and get their hands dirty. At the same time you cannot teach everything. My main focus is to let you learn, to teach you to be independent and exploit your critical thinking so at the end of the course, you are able to explore and learn advanced material by yourself.

Q: From being here so far, what do you like about Kettering? What do you think can be improved?

A: I like that we care a lot about the students. The classes are well designed and the number of students is small, so you can really follow the learning experience of each student every day.

What can be improved? Everything can be improved. I guess for my classes, I want to pro-vide even more interactive lessons. I want, for example, to try to design a project that can be developed by an entire class, by a single group of students. This would be a little bit more chal-lenging, because you have to collaborate with more people and the final result has to be big-ger, like a bigger game rather than a prototype.

Q: You’ve had a lot of experience with re-search in computer graphics and simulation. How much experience have you had with game development?

A: That’s a standard question. The field is the same because the techniques used are the same. When we talk about interactive computer graphics, we are talking about computer graph-ics with constraints for real time performance, and this is the same for every field you apply this to. So if you apply these techniques to the surgical field, you develop surgical simula-tors, but at the same time, if you apply these techniques to the entertainment field, you have game programming.

Q: If Kettering had an unlimited budget for the program and you could get whatever tools you wanted for the program, what would you like to see?

A: Ummm, we would probably still use Unity. It’s not a matter of budget. It’s the most popular game engine and has received a lot of wonderful reviews from developers. It is designed for both small companies and big companies and it allows small teams to develop games. At the same time, it provides advanced techniques needed to develop bigger games.

With infinite budget, Blender is not the best choice, because it’s not the standard in the market. The standard is Autodesk Maya, so probably with infinite budget, I would stick with Maya. It’s not a big issue though. We have the right tools to provide an introduction to the necessary techniques for the course.

Q: Moving away from academics, is this your first experience in America? What do you think?

A: Working, yes. I’ve been here for several conferences and as a tourist and I have some relatives on the east coast, so I’ve been here probably five or six times, but not working.

Q: What do you like to do in your free time when you’re not teaching?

A: Well, I was a soccer player for a lot of years in Italy, but I stopped when I started working. In my spare time, I like to travel. I play tennis twice per week with a colleague at the recreation center. I like to run. I like sports. At the same time, I like movies and noir novels for sure and I like the food. I’m Italian, so food and wine are my best ways to enjoy life.

Q: Where would you say the best food you’ve found around here is?

A: Gosh, I like the Mexican food. Let’s say this. This is a big difference between the US and Italy. In Italy, the Mexican food is poor, gosh. Here it is good. I haven’t had a chance to try any traditional Michigan food, but the meat here is very good, so steaks and barbecue are fantastic. I’ve eaten a lot of nice food being here so far, so I’m not worried about that at all.

Q: Is there anything else that you’d like people to know about yourself? Any closing comments?

A: I think the last thing I want to say is that I try to help the student as much as I can, so my office is always open. I usually encourage the student to use the office hours to fix issues or to ask questions, even if they are not attending my class. I’ve met a few students just discussing other projects and they are not in my class. It’s our job, right? I love a collaborative environ-ment, both with colleagues and with students.

Dr. Giuseppe Turini

Editor’s Note: For a full copy of the interview, visit bulldogs.kettering.edu/technician

by Ryan Dontje, Layout Editor

photo courtesy of Kettering University

November 13, 2012

Campus UpdatesKettering University - The Technician Page 3

Sigma Chi UpdateHello everyone and happy midterms! The

cold weather is here, the Halloween candy is all eaten, and now it’s time for all night study sessions in true Kettering fashion! Indeed, mid-terms are horrible. However The brothers of Sigma Chi do have some reason to celebrate, as we raised over $1,100 during our 2-day haunted house! We would like to thank everyone who pitched in and helped us raise money for the Huntsman Cancer Institute, as well as anyone who donated and took a walk through. As mentioned it was our 40th year of hosting our haunted house and we were proud to continue the tradition, my favorite part of the night was hearing a woman bringing her children say how she used to love coming here when she was young, and that she was glad she could bring her children today.

by Anthony Davis

Dance the Night Away

by Rebeccah MacKinnon, Copy EditorDance Club and WKUF will be co-hosting

a dance party on 7th Saturday evening from 7:30pm to 11:30pm in the International Room. The night will open with an hour West Coast Swing lesson from Dance Club’s instructor, Terri Sweet Herrick. Following this will be three hours of ballroom, Latin, and swing dancing to awesome tunes provided by WKUF. Light refreshments will be served. All are welcome!

Guests are strongly encouraged to bring either a canned good or a dollar to donate to-wards the College Town Food Drive.

continued from page 1...Awardees:A-Section Woman of the Year: Meredith BrassellA-Section Finalist: Andrea ThompsonB-Section Woman of the Year: Ayse Buke HizirogluB-Section Finalist: Katherine DaleHonorable Mentions: Toni Rose Arceno, Amber Coe, Sharna Kay Dobney, Infane Lowe, Xiomara Rodriguez

The awardees gather for a picture after the event. Photo courtesy of Rebeccah MacKinnon.

Discovering Ketteringby Mykhailo Boiko, staff

As students, we all have our own story, and part of that story is how we came to find and know Kettering University. Students come from many backgrounds and may have found Kettering through rankings. Others still might have heard of Kettering through family. No-vember 10th, students from all different back-grounds came to learn more about Kettering, regardless of the way they had come to know about it.

Discover Kettering is a complete pro-gram designed to introduce Kettering Univer-sity to visitors of all ages and backgrounds. “This is, first of all, a family event”, said Angry Breed, a tour guide. The event targets high school students of all ages, managing to be rel-evant and interesting both to the H.S. Freshman who is only starting to develop, to the Senior who has decided on a career path. The latter of the two groups comprised the largest part to a total of 160 participants this term. Many also had family members in attendance.

The day is structured such that the university can address many of the questions a prospective students faces - is there financial aid? How does co-operative education work? What sort of recreational activities exist on and around campus? Prospective students and their families had a chance to talk and interact with current students as well as professors, both of whom were happy to answer any questions that came their way.

The Department of Business aims to increase department enrollment by 11% and so took a unique and real-experience-oriented approach to promote Kettering University this term. Kettering business students organized

all events and activities within the department during Discover Kettering, demonstrating the concepts learned in the classroom as well as re-inforcing such skills as management and event organization. Their efforts included the design of hand-outs and information stands and of-fering 1 minute “innovator projects” over such topics as accounting and monopolies.

Says Kathryn Shaefer: “Kettering stu-dents obtain a great opportunity to combine technical knowledge with business. It lets them [use the two] side by side and gain the best from collaboration of these two worlds”.

Albert Einstein believed that imagi-nation is more important than knowledge. Discover Kettering takes a different approach, seeking to find the union of the two. It offers a taste of the future. Potential students can imag-ine their futures here. Discover Kettering is the start of the story for many students at Kettering, and likely for many of the visitors that came on the 10th. It was the start of the career paths of successful engineers, businessmen and women,

realService Calendar

●Friday, November 16th at 4:30am - Food Drive Kick-Off at Mott College●Monday, November 19th at 8pm - realSer-vice meeting●Tuesday, November 20th - Campus Cause Day (Equality Day)●Monday, November 26th at 8pm - realSer-vice meeting●Monday, December 3rd at 8pm- realSer-vice meeting●Tuesday, December 4th at 5:30pm - Holi-day walk at Applewood

courtesy of realService

Women of the YearPerspective students discovering Kettering. Photos courtesy of Kettering Communications

November 13, 2012

Campus LifeKettering University - The TechnicianPage 4

“Driving Diversity forward to the future: We are all connected at the root”

TIME MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY 12:20 pm AAA

Bubble Tea International

Club Smoothies

6:00 pm NSBE Café NSBE

Multi-Cultural Reps

Caribbean Night

Destination Diversity

ALL EVENTS WILL BE HELD IN THE GREAT COURT

DESTINATION DIVERSITY WILL BE HELD IN THE CC: INTERNATIONAL ROOM (5TH FLOOR)

*FOOD WILL BE SERVED AT 5:30 PM.

Residence Hall Association: Why

Residents Should Careby Jackson Coloske, staff

RHA, or Thompson Hall’s Residence Hall Association, is the group of individuals who coordinate the various events that happen in the hall, taking into consideration the views of the residents. Consisting of an elected executive board and representatives from each of the units, they also decide on what games or movies should be added to the hall’s vast collection.

This year, RHA has decided to hold the House Cup Challenge. Modeled after the Hogwarts houses, with the first floor being Hufflepuff, second floor as Ravenclaw, third floor as Gryffindor, and the fourth floor as Slytherin. House Points will be collected as residents compete in many dif-ferent tournaments during the term. Many great activities have been planned and it should be interesting to see who the winner will be.

Open Mic Nightby Ryan Dontje, Layout Editor

With BJ’s Lounge currently closed for renovation, there’s been some confusion as to whether WKUF’s Open Mic Night is happening this term or not. Well, never fear Kettering community, as WKUF Open Mic Night is definitely still on and is happening 7th week Friday, from 9pm to 12am in the Sunset Room! If you’ve got a talent, whether it be singing, dancing, jokes, or anything else, feel free to take the stage and share it with everyone else! Food will be provided and we’ll be raffling off prizes throughout the night, so even those that may not be comfortable taking the spotlight are still welcome to join us for a night of fun entertainment. If you have any questions about the event, or would like special arrangements to be made for an act, please contact the WKUF staff at wkuf@kettering.edu. Hope to see you all Friday!

Kettering Terminologyby Alexis Siegel, Guest Contributor AB: Academic BuildingCC: Campus CenterMC: Mott BuildingErnie’s: The cafeteria The Great Court: The area outside of Ernie’s where clubs advertise and people hang out during common hoursThe Dungeon: The first floor of the ABRA: Resident Advisors AKA the people you avoid when being loud during quiet hoursKSG: Kettering Student GovernmentCribs: Old notes or tests to study fromCRIB-A-THON: Room 222-5AB Diff-Eq: Differential EquationsThe Beach: Lawn that houses the bulldogPool: Paved area north of the CC near Bell Tower

November 13, 2012

Campus LifeKettering University - The Technician Page 5

Bosch Big Bandby Jackson Coloske, staff

Photos courtesy of Kettering Communications

Pi Kappa Alpha and Alpha Gamma Delta

hosted Bowling for a Cure on Saturday, Novem-ber 10. All proceeds from the event went to the Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation. The mission of the Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation is to impact and enrich communities by providing essential support for education, philanthropy and leadership. The current focus of the foun-dation is diabetes research. Each year, grants are awarded to organizations and individuals for diabetes research, care, and education. The foundation also supports sisters in need by awarding scholarships and grants.

Bowling For A Cureby Laura Correa, Assistant Editor

International student Interviewsby Jose Henrique, staff

Shawn Rolle:Q: Tell us something about yourself.A: I’m from the Bahamas. I like to play bas-

ketball and softball. I like chemistry and hang-ing out with my friends. My major is Electrical Engineering.

Q:How did you end up coming here to the United States? Why did you choose Kettering?

A: I was in a program called AIM (Academic Interested Minds). What that programs does is allow junior high school students to participate in freshman classes at Kettering for a month. It was because of that program that I was intro-duced to Kettering.

Q: How is your experience [with AIM]?A: I had an awesome time. I met a lot of

other AIM students from various countries and regions, from Jamaica and the Bahamas to Texas and New York. With that program, we not only took freshman classes. We also had weekly activities, like visiting different com-panies or going to Cedar Point. I had actually never been on a roller coaster before, and that thing was enormous.

Q: What made you choose to come back to Kettering?

A: I like Kettering’s co-op program. And here, differently from some huge schools, I’m not just a number. I’m Shawn. The professors would know who I am. I’m not just another random individual who sits in a class. I’m also very fond of Kettering’s small campus, because I don’t have to travel a lot to get from one class to another. I’ve heard that in some schools you need to ride a bus just to get to class.

Q: How are you liking your courses so far?A: To be honest I think it is a lot of hard

work. I’m constantly studying for every class.

Can You Spare Some Good Will?

by Kate Ibbotson, Student Life Coordinator

The Food Bank of Eastern Michigan & Col-lege Town food drive competition is back! From Oct. 29 to Dec. 19, you can help Kettering win the trophy again by donating non-perishable food. Donation boxes can be found in the Great Court, AB 3rd Floor and Thompson Hall. Mon-etary donations are also accepted and will be collected in the Student Life Office, 3rd floor CC ($1= 9 lbs of food= 6 meals). In the past five years, four colleges have donated over 500,000 lbs of food combined. Look for events in the Great Court throughout the competition for your chance to participate and donate. This is a great opportunity to help those in need locally. If you have any questions, please contact Kate Ibbitson at kibbotso@kettering.edu.

This is great because it is teaching me a lot about time management. Being able to study that hard makes the tests seem less stressful, This is great because it is teaching me a lot about time management. Being able to study that hard makes the tests seem less stressful, which makes getting good grades easier.

Q: Anything else you might want to add?A: I like people here. At Kettering, they are a

lot more friendly than in the Bahamas. You can just sit down and talk with anyone that is idle.

Todor Popov:Q: Tell us something about yourself.A: I am Bulgarian. I was president of a Lo-

cal BEST Group - where BEST means “Border of European Students of Technology”. I am twenty-two years old, am an open-minded adventurer, like walks in the sunset, and am keen on physics.

Q: What [has been] the biggest difference between America and home?

A: Biggest difference for me is that there is 900 people a term, while back home my univer-sity has about 17000 people. Classes are really small with like just 5 or 6 people attending to some of them, which provides me with a greater closeness to the professors.

Q: What do you think about cafeteria food?A: Contrary to popular opinion, I find the

cafeteria food to be good. My favorite food there is the sandwich wrap.

Q: What do you like most about America so far?

A: I am very fond of the clubs. I find that they bring diversity to my days.

Q: Which clubs are you a part of?A: Cliffhangers, Aquanears, swimming club

and international club.

On October 30th, the night was made for dancing as the Bosch Big Band came through town. Reminiscent of the old night club style Big Bands, the Bosch band played with passion to ignite the souls of the brave to dance the night away. The band, complete with keys, brass, percussion, and woodwinds, captured the hearts of the audience with the help of trombone soloist Jiggs Wigham. Performing from a repertoire of over 150 songs in countless styles, it is safe to say that it was truly an amazing night to see. Members of Kettering’s students, faculty, and the Flint community joined in the festivities. Off to the side, dancers of every style were ensnared by the music and whisked their partners on a journey through some of the most, quite literally, moving music the entire night.

Kettering’s Dance Club members had a very large presence during the festivities as Swing lessons were going on before and during the concert.

November 13, 2012

Beyond KetteringKettering University - The TechnicianPage 6

A Look Back on The 2012 Election

The Newest Taste In Town

by Nicholas Koprowicz, staffOver the last three years, downtown Flint

has experienced a progressive revitalization and diversity. Slowly but surely, new establish-ments have come about to add to the college life experience. The newest addition to this is a Mexican eatery, El Potrero.

Located at the comer of Court and Sagi-naw, El Potrero is welcoming upon entry with dim, inviting lights, and the familiar savory smells of Mexican cuisine. There is ample seat-ing with both booths and tables, and there was

no issue with service. Drinks, appetizers, and meals were all delivered promptly.

Prices vary, but most entrees were in the $10 range and were quite a value for the price. Among meals that were sampled, Chicken Ta-cos, Chimichangas, Burritos Verdes, and Taco Salad were all excellent. Most entree combos come with Mexican Rice and an excellent bean paste on the side.

Perhaps the only thing left to be desired in the establishment was the music. The ambi-ent music was truly the most eclectic mixture of pop and mariachi, and at times detracted from the overall experience.

At the end of the day, El Potrero is an excellent place to go with a small group of friends and enjoy a quiet, wallet-friendly, and ultimately satisfying meal. Make sure to stop by at least once this term, if not many more times afterwards.

by Nicholas Koprowicz, staff

On November 6th, 2012, the nation once again voted in Barack Hussein Obama as Presi-dent of the United States.

The Republican National Convention began the year with over eight candidates, including Rick Perry, Michelle Bachman, and, of course, Mitt Romney. Such a spread of candidates made the selection process for the nomination more difficult and prolonged than it needed be.

Additionally, each of the candidates chose to attack one another. As a result, each candi-date’s flaws were highlighted multiple times over during debates or rallies. One cannot help but wonder if the solidarity of the Republican Party would have been bettered served by fewer candidates. Fewer candidates would have meant a front runner would have been immediately apparent, and more focused early campaigning could have commenced.

By contrast, the Democratic National Con-vention had no hardships in selecting a candi-date, and the Obama administration was able to begin focused campaigning far in advance of the Republican party. Whereas Republican vot-ers were split between candidates, Democratic voters had no such decision to ponder.

The theme, though, of the election cycle was attack, and nowhere was this more evident than in the presidential debates Throughout the month of October, little to no substantial

discussion or rhetoric occurred during these debates. Rather, Governor Romney and Presi-dent Obama chose instead to attack one another with vague accusations. In media, attack ads

were frequent and well-funded.The Romney campaign had many hard-

ships to deal with during the course of the cam-paign. Multiple unpopular viewpoints from other figures in the Republican party (recall Todd Akin’s comments on “legitimate rape”) caused the Romney campaign difficulty. Gov. Romney also did himself disservices with com-ments he made. At a private GOP fundraiser, Gov. Romney made remarks that he could not hope to garner forty-seven percent of the votes, as these voters relied on free support from the government and would oppose his ideals. He

also received criticism for declaring that despite his appreciation for Big Bird, a character on the popular children’s show, Sesame Street, he would still cut funding to public broadcasting.

That is not to say that the Obama adminis-tration did not have its fair share of hardships. In 2008, President Obama was elected on a platform of hope and change. However, he has received continued criticism for his inability to create significant change in politics. Some have said he was naive in estimating his ability to change the nation (such as his inability to close Guantanamo Bay).

Even the victories he seemed to have were marred. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, colloquially known as “Obamacare”, is still highly contested even after being signed in, and the nation is still feeling the pains of the economic downturn. Many voters were disheartened that the change they voted for had not yet arrived.

While the popular vote was highly con-tested, President Obama swept the Electoral College with 332 votes (270 are needed to win the presidency). Early November 7th, Pres. Obama delivered his victory speech, stating that the new key to success in his administra-tion would depend on the ability to work across political party lines.

Blending Classical and Contemporaryby John Britt, Guest Contributor

Lindsey Stirling is a rising violinist who, at age 26, has had many discouraging moments during her musical career, such as being told she wasn’t good enough on America’s Got Talent. Despite this and other instances, she’s clung fast to her own unique personality and style, becoming an enormous success through YouTube and iTunes. Stirling’s music combines her classical violin sound with today’s pop and dubstep genres, making for an interesting blend. She recently released her first original album to comple-ment her numerous cov-ers on iTunes. The album, self-titled Lindsey Stirling, features songs ranging from smooth and inspiring to sinister and unsettling. It is a gem, attractive to listeners who enjoy wonky dubstep or to those who prefer disci-plined classical violin.

Despite the fact that her music has no lyrics, it seems to have extra depth due to that same fact. Stirling’s life can be heard in vari-ous melodies and titles. For example, the title “Crystallize” leads us to consider crystals, which seems relatively basic, but then we con-sider how they form. Crystalline structures depend on their surrounding and environment for how the take shape. Snow is crystallized water and the general public acknowledges that no two snowflakes (crystals) are ever the same. When applied to Stirling, these emphasize that her individual style of music was created by her upbringing, failures, and successes. In the actual music of “Transcendence,” the constant, thumping bass seems oppressing, trying to smother the violin. The treble, however, rings out loud and clear through the entire piece, building into vibrant strings, running up and down scales with the joy one might feel after achieving a difficult goal.

Listening to “Song of the Caged Bird,” one can almost see an image while hearing chirps in the violin melody. The image we see is of a bird singing inside its cage, hoping and wishing for release. The bass and clap back-

ground rhythm implies the owner walking around and applauding for the beautiful sound, unable to discern the sorrow in the bird’s song. As the violin changes from lower, longer notes to higher pitched chains, we can almost see the bird straining, trying to convey its desires to the

owner. Then the melody lowers again, as if the bird is getting tired of trying. This ebb and flow occurs a few times within the song. As with all hope, it doesn’t die, even if discouraged again and again.

One of the dark-er pieces in the album is “Moon Trance.” The inclu-sion of off tempo clanks, heavy breathing, and the word trance implies that someone is off balance, not in full control of himself, almost like a broken clock or piece of machinery. This

whole song seems to be putting the listener off balance, trying to bring a sense of unease. Violins are mainly played with a bow, but some notes are plucked within the piece. This combines with heartbeat sound effects, minor scale runs, phasing between left and right channels, and synthesized voices to create the feeling of standing in a graveyard during the full moon while listening to the wind, watching the shadows, and jumping at every little sound. Yet behind this confusion, there is an unmistakable drive, like the will to survive whatever could conceivably emerge from the darkness.

The last song on the album, “Stars Align,” addresses the concept of fate. The idea that the stars have aligned implies that, when applied to the artist, Stirling has the direction in life that she’s been searching for. At several points in the song, the melody is muddy, but fades into a crisp, clear violin. These show the transition from unruly stars to ones that have pattern and purpose. The dubstep bridge and a single note raising in pitch toward the end help convey the feeling of anticipation and uncertainty for what will come. The song ends abruptly, as if the moment is here and that’s all there is.

photo courtesy of mlive.com

photo courtesy of http://www.songonlyrics.com

November 13, 2012

EntertainmentKettering University - The Technician Page 7

A Farmer’s Final Moment with his Tractor

by Rebeccah MacKinnon, Copy Editor

Bunchy, the Rabid Squirrel, walked through the corn stalks to the scene of a gruesome accident. Frank the Farmer was crushed under his tractor in his back field. Seeing that Allaya was busy with the medical examiner near the body, he turned to the sobbing form of Frank’s wife.

“What happened?” he asked the distraught woman.

“It’s so horrible!” she wailed. “Frank was just going out to plow some of the field while he was feeling up to it, since his knees have been bothering him lately. Then, all of a sudden, I heard this loud crash and came out to find him trapped under the tractor! I called for help, since I couldn’t move the blasted thing, but he was dead before help could come. We were set to have the best harvest in decades next week. Frank and I were going to have a second honeymoon with the spare money after we sold all of the corn. But now, there’s nothing left.”

Giving her a pat on the shoulder, Bunchy turned and walked over to Allaya.

“This wasn’t an accident,” they said at the same time.

“How did you know?” asked Bunchy.

“Bruises around the victim’s neck. He was strangled, not crushed,” said the squirrel’s part-ner. “How did you know?”

“The wife did it,” Bunchy said.

How did the squirrel know?

Movie Review - Skyfall by Ryan Dontje, Layout Editor

Memes

Cryptoquote!by Rebeccah MacKinnon, Copy Editor

by Nicholas Koprowicz, Staff

Skyfall can be considered one of the best movies of the year and is a strong contender for best James Bond movie of all time. It keeps audi-ences on their feet with a deeply engaging and personal narrative touching on the background and relationship between Bond (Daniel Craig) and the head of MI6, M (Judi Dench), while at the same time offering an insightful commen-tary on the changing nature of espionage in the digital era. While unexpected, this embrace of contemporary ideas is done in a very smart and thought provoking way, and does a lot to give the film meaningful context for it’s narrative.

It is fortunate, then, that the story in Skyfall is so strong. It’s gripping from the begin-ning until the moment it ends and it kept me on the edge of the seat up until the credits rolled. The film revolves around the reemergence of someone from M’s past, played by the talented Javier Bardem, also known for his performance in the Coen brothers’ No Country for Old Men. Bardem’s performance here is almost the polar opposite of his previous appearance, how-ever; instead of the quiet, intimidating villain we’ve known before, we are treated to a new type of adversary, one that is charismatic and charming, much like Bond himself. In fact, the similarities between the two men are used to great effect when setting up their adversarial relationship which becomes even deeper once their connection to each other and to M is fully revealed. Bardem has to be commended for his performance in Skyfall, as he is easily one of the best, most memorable Bond villains to date.

The rest of the cast performs just as admirably throughout the film’s 143 minute runtime. Daniel Craig is once again excellent as James Bond, offering the same cold and calcu-lating, yet warm take on the character that he’s

done so well since Casino Royale. Judi Dench is excellent as ever as M, yet brings an emotional element to the character that has not really been seen before. M is a central figure to the plot and thematic elements of the movie. Dench knows this, as her performance evolves the character into one that is more tragic and flawed, more human. It’s a powerful element and makes the film much more dramatically powerful. The rest

of the cast performs admirably as well. Naomie Harris and Ben Whishaw are great as Eve and Q respectively and I look forward to seeing them in the James Bond films to come.

The performances are only part of the film, however, and are expertly counterbal-anced with incredible action set pieces that will probably go down as some of the best of the year. Many of Skyfall’s larger moments are extremely memorable, from an exciting chase spanning city streets, rooftops, and even the top of a train, to the harrowing siege of Bond’s childhood home on the desolate moors of rural Scotland. The action is all supremely choreographed, with Craig’s Bond being even more brutal and efficient than in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. In addition to this, the film also manages to be surprisingly witty and fun, with plenty of great throwbacks to previ-ous Bond films, including an unexpected one about two-thirds of the way in that is better left unspoiled, but is definitely smart and will put a smile on the faces of fans of the classic Bond films.

Skyfall is available in both standard and Imax formats, although Imax is definitely the way to go if you have the option. This is defi-nitely a film that benefits from the high defini-tion and larger than life experience that the Imax format offers. The extra money spent on the experience is well worth it, especially dur-ing the breathtaking title sequence. Speaking of which, the theme song for Skyfall, performed by Adele, is hands down one of the best Bond themes. It’s beautiful, haunting, and will stick with you long after the movie is over.

Go see this film. It’s thought provoking, exciting, and probably the best James Bond film to date. You will not be disappointed.

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photo courtesy of IMDB

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