Friday, October 22, 2004 Screen Visions shows political concern By Aaron J. Amendola staff writer The Screen Visions Film Club has always been around to provide an artistic look at what’s going on in the world around us. With an election year nearly under America’s belt, tempers are flaring more than ever and the public is always wanting to be better informed. That’s where Screen Vi sions comes in. They will be showing a slew of films ready to whet your appetite for political docu-drama and issues alike. Political films like Michael Moore’s “Farenheit 9/11” and John Sayles’s lesser-known, less sug gestive “Silver City” are just two examples of the floodgates being opened to political directors wishing to persuade voters to swing a certain way in the coming election. Filmmakers like Moore have serious clout in America after producing award-winning documentaries like “Bowling for Columbine” and “Roger and Me,” which revealed truths that astonished Americans, but now it’s taken an extreme political turn. Screen Visions hopes to present more films that will inform Americans. One of the films being shown is Nonny de la Portraits that glow Dr. Vu Nguyen of Lexington, Ky. is shown carving a portrait into a pumpkin By Beverly Fortune Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT) LEXINGTON, Ky. - Pumpkins for pies. Pumpkins for plain old jack-o'-lantems. We're all familiar with those. But Dr. Vu Nguyen takes one of those big orange orbs dotting the fields and turns it into an art form. He carves portraits out of his pumpkins. "Origami is my first love. I do more origami than any thing else, but this is fiin," said Nguyen, 39, a psychia trist Nguyen (pronounced Win), a native of Vietnam whose family came to Louisville, Ky. in 1975, said he never carved pumpkins as a child. It was not part of Vietnam ese culture. In Kentucky, he said, "maybe once my dad carved a pumpkin for us, with triangles for the eyes and Five years ago, Nguyen became interested in carving "just for the heck of it" he said. "I used a knife - it didn't work very well to carve different faces like a cat's face and lots of designs." His carvings became more elaborate, and Nguyen searched the Internet for new ideas; he found directions for doing photographic portraits. Each pumpkin portrait takes about three hours from start to finish. "Like with anything, the more you do it the faster you get and you begin to develop your techniques," he said The keys to success are choosing a large pumpkin and sturdy tools. Nguyen doesn't use pumpkin carving kits because the tools aren't big enough, strong enough or sharp enough. He buys tools designed for wood carving and making pottery. Instead of using a knife, he bought a scroll-saw blade from the hardware store and a small handle for it "Once you start cutting away the mid-tones, achiev ing different shades of gray, is when I have to use a lot of artistry," he said The Michelangelo of the pumpkin patch will start the week before Halloween, carving one or two every night he said. Some will be portraits, and others will be what Nguyen calls extreme pumpkins: boldly carved with a pyrotechnic aspect as flames shoot out the top. All will be used as decorations for the Halloween party he and his sister, Trang, are giving Halloween weekend STUDKNT UfZ Pena’s “Unconstitutional.” It is a look at the Pa triot Act and how certain rights have been in fringed upon by it and other events. The film is “a solidly founded, partisanly neu tral look at the real problems of the Patriot Act” said Chris Hvizdak, president of Screen Visions. “It’s a call to action for all Americans, no matter where they stand.” Possibly the most important word Hvizdak said was “neutral,” aiming to reach out to all students here at Behrend, rather than just a political party group. “Unconstitutional” fits in this semester with the rest of our offerings very nicely as we’ve primarily concentrated on political documentaries this fall. I find it important that there be balance in this new frontier of the ‘political documentary’ so to speak.” At the time of this story, “Farhenheit 9/11” has grossed over $ll5 million dollars. It’s no secret what the power of film may do politically these days, but thanks to Hvizdak and the rest of Screen Visions Film Club, Behrend can get their fair share of unbiased information. Screen Visions will also be showing “Hijacking Catastrophe” on Oct. 25, “The End of Suburbia” on Oct. 26 (both at 7 p.m. in Reed 117) as well as “The Jesus Factor” at 5:30 p.m. in Reed 117 on Oct. 28. To demonstrate how to do a pumpkin portrait Vu Nguyen carved a likeness of his sister, Trang, a graphic designer in the Lexington Herald-Leader advertising cre ative services department We've also included tips from a Web site, www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joystuff/ macolantemshowto.html. - The tools: You’ll need a scroll-saw blade and handle, small paring knife, scoop, wood carving tools, face-paint crayon and projector. -The pumpkin: Start with a large pumpkin. If the pump kin is too small, you’ll go crazy trying to carve the intri cate details. - The guts: Cut a generous-size lid that extends part-way down the back of the pumpkin. Remove seeds and in sides. Wash the pumpkin inside and out with dishwasher soap and water. Dry. Using a scraper, scrape away part ofthe inside to thin out the rind so light will shine through. - The photo: Select a photograph with a clean back ground and sharp black-and-white contrasts. "If you don’t have a good picture to start with, your pumpkin won’t turn out good," Nguyen said. He used Photoshop software to remove the color from the picture and to boost the contrast between black and white tones. Leave gray tones because that is what will distinguish the portrait from the usual jack-o’-lantem carv ings. - The transfer With a small tracer projector bought at a crafts store, Nguyen projected the photo onto the side of the pumpkin. He then traced the features, including the nose and mouth, with face-paint crayon. He also out lined areas on the nose, cheeks and forehead that were white tones.- The cuts: With an X-acto knife, cut around the crayon tracings. Next, cut out the white highlights on the nose, cheeks and forehead. Keep the photograph close by to refer to. - The shave: Before shaving away rind from the gray areas to create different tones, Nguyen put a white Christ mas light inside the pumpkin to shine through the rind. The light helps when you shave away layers of pumpkin pulp, creating a three-dimensional affect - Wash and rinse: When finished, put the pumpkin in the sink, and wash away the remaining crayon lines with soap and a sponge. - The secret to aging: Rub Vaseline to seal the surface and hold in moisture. WD-40 also works. DAVID STEPHENSON/KRT ROTC places sixth at Ranger Challenge KJ MARGRAFF/BEHREND BEACON Jeff Peterson GAS 05, Brian Forfa HIS 03, and David Gruginski MET 01, participated in the Ranger Challenge. By Emily Hannah staff writer The Army Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) participated in the annual Ranger Challenge Oct. 16 and Oct. 17, where Behrend, Mercyhurst College and Gannon University placed sixth in their division, led by Master Seigeant Steven Kurlowicz. University Park placed first in their division, beating out many well known colleges and universities. Cadets from Behrend, Gannon University, and Mercyhurst College worked together to win sixth place in their division at the event. The students from the colleges above that took part in the Ranger Challenge were the following: Marcus Fisher, Matt Lembright, Sara Santilli, Dean Johnson, James Kissler, Jeff Peterson, Anthony (TJ) Fera, Will Shields, Brian Forfa and David Grugmski. The team captain is Anthony (TJ) Fera from Mercyhurst College. In order to participate in the Ranger Challenge, the participants must be physically fit and are chosen based on their military knowledge. All of the men and women above met the criteria. University Park won first in their division out of seven colleges. This shows that Penn State is strong enough to concur all of their opponents. Some of the colleges Tables not moved for Greeks, says Brunos By Leah Burfield contributing writer Of all things, who would have thought that Bruno’s would be getting complaints about the seat ing arrangements? That is what is currently happening between Bruno’s and the students who flock there in between class time. Or at least that is what is happening be tween Bruno’s and certain groups of people. After the semester began, there were rumors going around campus that the main reason that the tables were switched in the cafd were due to the Greeks and other organizations. Apparently, there was a con cern that made certain students feeling isolated from certain sections of Bruno’s. As soon as you would enter Bruno’s, the whole section near the windows would be filled by members of the organizations leaving no room for anyone else. “I always thought that sitting over there meant that you had to be in one of the groups. If that was the case, then I did not agree with it” said a student who asked that his name not be mentioned. I have a group of people that I like to hang out with but we never usually sit in the same area. I don’t have anything against the students who sat there but I always thought that in order to be there you had to be part of the organization.” Greek row is the name that began floating around the halls here at Behrend. Due to the number of people that sat in the one section of Bruno’s, the majority were Greeks. This was nothing more then a rumor, yet students took it to the heart. All of the organizations agree that there was never any reason for other students to not to sit in the area. Students just sat where they thought it to be the most comfortable. It was also a good spot to find friends when walking in. The area seemed more open and nothing felt cramped. “We sat there because it was a nice spot and it was a good in and out location,” said a member of one of the sororities at Behrend. Her name will not be mentioned as she speaks on behalf of the whole sorority. “We also sat there because there was more than enough room to sit with our friends when all we wanted to do was eat lunch and converse with one another.” “It was just a place to sit. I don’t think the seat ing arrangements make any difference to prevent people from sitting somewhere. However, the cur rent set up is more cramped, I feel,” spoke a mem The Behrend Beacon | include Princeton University, Bucknell University, Sen ate Hall University, University of Fordum University as well as others. Their team won a trophy and silver coins for coming in first place. The events at the Ranger Challenge include a gre nade assault course, weapons assembly and weapons disassembly, a 10K ruck run, a physical fitness test, an obstacle course, a patrolling exam, land navigation and a rope bridge. Two years ago, Behrend College. Mercyhurst Col lege and Gannon University ranked 17th place with in their division. A year ago, they received 12th place. This year they received sixth place in their division. The team has really come a long way in the past couple years. Training for the Ranger Challenge started at the be ginning of August. The participants trained from 5 a.m. till 7 a.m. everyday. They had six to seven weeks worth of training for the event. Jeff Peterson, a Ranger Challenge participant, said, “In the past we have trained just as hard but our leader this year brought us closer together to lead us to divi sional champions.” The next Ranger Challenge that ROTC from Behrend, Gannon and Mercyhurst College will be com - peting in will be held next year. ber of Behrend’s hockey team. The reason for moving the tables was to obtain more space and that is exactly what happened. Tables always looked cluttered and now there are more seats available whether students think so or not. Mike Lindner manages Bruno’s and told the Beacon that moving the tables had nothing to do with the Greeks or any other organization that sat there. “In the past, there had been an inefficient use of the tables. There was not enough access and every one had to fight between the clutters of chairs to get to one end of a table to the next." said Lindner. There is now easier access throughout Bruno's along with 60 extra seats availa 1 !<\ Lindner did mention that he had attended an SGA meeting on Oct. 6 and the topic of the seating ar rangements did occur. However, when the situa tion of why Bruno’s made the move was raised, no one had much to say or argue about. “I attended the meeting, told everyone what they needed to hear and there was minimal response. No one seemed upset and questions were unasked.” All the past commotion on the table situation was false and nothing more than a rumor. For now. the tables will stay the same. Lindner says that as a member of University Parks’ Alpha Phi Delta, he would never go against the Greeks here at Behrend or anyone else. “There never used to be any seats available and that was the complaint in the past. Now. you can find a seat and still sit with friends." Along with there being a past issue with space, Lindner also wanted to help out the Lion Enter tainment Board. “Before, there were about 98 seats available in front of the stage. Since moving the tables, Bruno’s can easily seat about 135 in front of the stage with out having to move tables around during events.” The final outcome is that Bruno’s does have more room. The targeting of Bruno's table change was and stays false. There used to be eight long tables on the one side put together to make one big table area. If you look now, there are still the same amount of long tables. “Bruno’s is small, I won’t deny it. However, mov ing the tables has been a huge success,’’ Lindner. “Usually groups of 4-8 come in to sit to gether and they still can. Before, it may have been an issue on finding a seat but now, there is always a spot. I guess it just comes down to location.”
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