(02/10/09 5:00am)
Not an especially large man, wearing a neatly pressed sweater and dark slacks, author Murray Greenberg '77 seems just about as far removed from the muddy playing fields and bone-jarring hits of 1920s American football as a person could be. Yet it is the 1920s, when the National Football League teetered on the edge of existence and when men risked the very real possibility of grievous injury for one or two hundred dollars a game, that serves as the backdrop for Greenberg's book Passing Game: Benny Friedman and the Transformation of Football. Speaking in Rapaporte Treasure Hall last Wednesday before an audience of students, members of the Waltham community and several Brandeis alumni, Greenberg talked about Benny Friedman, a 1920s football player and former Brandeis football coach. Friedman is the subject of Greenberg's book, which was released in Nov. 2008. He committed suicide in 1982, a fact that Greenberg mentioned in the book but not the presentation.According to Greenberg, Friedman was a "one-of-a-kind player with the unprecedented skill to throw the forward pass and the audacity to do it time and again. . A sensation in the truest sense of the word."Greenberg quoted sportswriter Paul Gallico, who said that Friedman, the son of two orthodox Jewish immigrants, was "the greatest football player in the world." From 1924 to 1934 Friedman played with the University of Michigan and then in the fledgling NFL with the Cleveland Bulldogs, Detroit Wolverines, New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers. After his days as a football player, Friedman went on to become head football coach at City College of New York and then athletic director and head football coach at Brandeis University until the team was disbanded in 1959.Greenberg's fascination with Friedman's life stems from his own experiences as an athlete. He was the goalie on the Brandeis men's soccer team in 1976 when it won the National Championship and was inducted into the Brandeis University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997. After graduating from Brandeis, Greenberg studied at Hofstra University School of Law and worked as a practicing attorney for over 20 years. Recently, however, Greenberg became interested in writing and took courses at the Columbia School of Journalism, hoping to pursue a career as an author.Greenberg first learned of Benny Friedman at a Hall of Fame Tribute dinner. Many of Friedman's former players, known as "Benny's Boys," had been trying to resurrect Friedman's legacy after he had largely faded from the public eye and the football hierarchy. Inspired by these men's passion for Friedman, Greenberg made it his mission to shed light on this largely forgotten icon."I felt like I had been let in on some kind of secret, but it shouldn't have been a secret, and I felt like it was a story that really should be told," Greenberg said of Friedman's legacy.Friedman's story is "more than just a football story," Greenberg said. "It's really a human interest story. It's the story of rediscovery of a genuine American innovator and hero to the Jewish community who had fallen through the cracks of time."To emphasize Greenberg's significance in the American Jewish community, Greenberg quoted Hal Leibowitz, sports editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer in the 1920s and '30s, "'To American Jews, more than a savior of the New York Giants, or of the National Football League, more than a revolutionary forward passer, Benny Friedman was their hero.'"In Friedman, Greenberg, too, found a hero, impressed by his role as an athlete and a Jew. "This young man, this sensational, unique football player was the embodiment of the tough Jew; the living, breathing retort to the stereotype that Jews excelled only in the intellectual realm," he said.Friedman's story chipped away at the stereotypes of Jews in America and was an inspiration to young Jews all over the country. "He was celebrated by Jews throughout the nation," Greenberg said, adding that on road trips, Friedman frequently spoke at synagogues.Only recently, due in great part to the determined efforts of Benny's Boys and the influence of Passing Game, has Friedman begun to receive the recognition Greenberg believes he deserves. In 2005, he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in a ceremony attended by many of his former players and Greenberg.Just as Greenberg was largely unaware of Friedman's story until the 1998 Hall of Fame dinner, many Brandeis students present at Greenberg's lecture were in the dark about this figure in the University's history. Said Eric Frieman '12, "I never knew that someone that amazing coached the football team.
(02/03/09 5:00am)
In its mission statement, the American Repertory Theatre describes itself as a "vital cultural resource" for its community. But, the role of any cultural resource, as Brandeis is beginning to understand, must be battled for, as it cannot merely be proclaimed. So ART's mission, much like that of any public arts institution with ambitious scope, involves a constant struggle for relevance among the very community it hopes to serve. As the more traditional theatergoing community (wealthy, white and venerably aged) becomes busier and busier with kicking their own buckets, this has meant a deeper focus on the young, the trendy-and the typically-uninterested-in-plays. It means, in other words, that they are marketing to us. This newfound ploy is both unexpected and unavoidable upon entering ART's Loeb Drama Center. The Brattle Street Theater maintains a veneer of cultured worldliness in leather and glass, but its publicity banners look like indie album covers. The staff is consciously hip and wants to pointedly ask where you bought your skinny jeans. One is inundated with a newly printed scheme of posters, shouting in block text that this is "NOT YOUR PARENTS' THEATER."Which, indeed, it isn't. The ART's recent production of Anton Chekhov's masterpiece The Seagull, will not be accused of pandering to anyone's outdated mores nor of leaving any aging subscribers snoring -for one thing, the Guns 'n' Roses music blared into the audience tends to ward off sleepiness. Director János Szász introduces his audiences to a Chekhov who rips himself free of the preciousness of historicized staging, eschewing samovars and high collars for a gritty and surreal David Lynch atmosphere. Here, crumbling, frescoed ceilings leak rain onto the stage, fading velour seats are swung out of their rows into crazy diagonals, and skinny girls careen in five-inch heels through standing water and cigarette smoke. Szász has exploded the bourgeois sitting rooms of classical Chekhov staging for his production, leaving both the stage and characters constantly exposed. "Sometimes," Szász writes in his program notes, "Chekhov is like the Greeks- so much happens offstage and between the acts. We're trying to make everything visible and immediate in this production. We're trying to put everything on the table-the lies, the affairs, the betrayals, the shame, the compromises, the sex and the passion."And everything is visible. Szász is also a film director, notable as he builds his narrative into a series of haunting images: white feathered wings, enormous piles of luggage, real rainstorms, sex acts that are somehow architectural. One would be amiss, though, to call The Seagull filmic; the images have a depth and mobility in the space that can only be theatrical, as if an understanding of both media brings into focus the unique strengths of each. We wonder almost voyeuristically at the nature and immediacy of these strange people and the apocalyptic dreamscape in which they live. Karen MacDonald as Arkadina (the play's paradigmatically monstrous mother figure), throws herself into unglamorous sexual theatrics that are almost embarrassing to watch. Nina Kassa's Masha (who, according to the script, "always wears black") sulks around the edges of the stage in full goth, clutching a bottle of Stolichnaya, smoking too much. And Jeremy Geidt as Sorin (perhaps the most likable character onstage; also the most senile and immobile) is often covered in crumbs of something and keeps falling asleep with his mouth open. With no real exits, the characters have to sit around, bored and waiting, without any real regard for an emergent plot. But, for this play, it works. The poetics of real exposure that were Chekhov's concern find an outlet in the constant visibility that Szász allows his actors. The treatment of the play pushes on naturalism and makes it daring again.That notion of daring, though, is one that we have to acknowledge deeply when we talk about this play. ART-again, perhaps eager to attract a young and tech-savvy audience base-has set up a blog on its Web site, where audiences can post and discuss thoughts on the production. The reactions, if not uniform, have been uniformly strong. The production is, for some, "phenomenal"; it "creates a communal space, a collective spirit that exists only once, a social body that is immediately created and destroyed in a climactic two hours but whose life will remain in the eternal space of memory." For others, it is "like being in jail with waterboarding. So self-indulgent and nonengaging."And these reactions, to some extent, are both spot-on. Szász frames his production in the consciousness of Konstantin, a young writer with a tortured vision of the world who is eventually driven to suicide. The first act of The Seagull centers around a play he's written-a bleakly symbolist musing that's largely unintelligible. But Szász is fascinated by Konstantin and by the truth that comes through in his imperfect expression of the way he sees the world. "Konstantin's play is not a perfect play, but it is an honest play," he writes, "Everyone around him has developed routines in order to survive. And those routines involve a lot of lies. Lies in their relationships with each other. Lies about their art. Lies to themselves. ... They've all managed to survive by lying. But Konstantin can't lie."Ought we, then, to accept opacity and self-indulgence for the sake of artistic truth? The boundary-pushing production seems to raise the question with every free-form saxophone sound cue. And Szász, though perhaps identifying with Konstantin's plight, offers no answer. What he has offered in The Seagull is a space where that question can expand, and where we're forced to deal with the opacity of experimentation in a very immediate way. Indeed, as audience members left the theater, their responses were oddly aligned with what had happened onstage: wives complaining to husbands about how loud the music was, college students in trendy glasses talking ecstatically about the artful subtleties of the concept, thirty-somethings who just wondered where the female lead's shoes came from. The Seagull is, in some ways, a play about the strange relationship between art and life. And staged at ART this year, in an economic climate that makes us preoccupied with the relevance of art, among a community so necessarily concerned as its audience evaporates into the margins, that issue becomes deep-deep and awkwardly real.
(01/27/09 5:00am)
Finishing just shy of taking first place in three different events, Ali Sax '09 epitomized the women's indoor track team's afternoon at last Saturday's annual Reggie Poyau Memorial Invitational. Much like Sax, the women's team just missed winning its only home event of the season, finishing just three points behind first-place finisher Bowdoin College, which totaled 157 points. "I was so pleased with everyone's performances today," Sax said. "I don't think there was any outstanding difference between [Bowdoin] and us. I don't think anyone was disappointed."The men's team placed sixth of 10 teams while tallying 78 points. Worcester Polytechnic Institute won the men's meet with 158.5 points. Sax was caught up in a pair of very tight finishes. In the 55-meter hurdle event, Sax won the preliminary round in 8.92 seconds but came in second to rookie Bethany Dumas from the University of Southern Maine in the finals by just six-hundredths of a second. In the long jump event, Sax was second to Bowdoin rookie Laura Peterson, even though Sax matched Peterson's best jump of 5.16 meters. Normally, the winner is determined by the best jump, but in the event of a tie, the contestant that leaps the farthest in their other attempts is declared the winner. Peterson's other two attempts were greater than Sax's, allowing Peterson to edge Sax for the win. Lucia Capano '11 was third in the event, jumping at 4.95 meters, while Anat Ben Nun '09 was fifth at 4.90 meters.Ben Nun would win the triple jump, leaping 11.58 meters to once again pass the NCAA qualifying benchmark. Ben Nun had accomplished the feat Jan. 17 at the Bowdoin Invitational. Capano was fourth in the event at 10.64 meters."[Ben Nun] is phenomenal in the triple jump," Sax said. "If I'm going to lose to anybody in that event it might as well be her. She's great."The Judges had strong outings in other sprinting and jumping events as well. Michelle Gellman '11 won the 400-meter dash in 1 minute, 1 second, beating out Bowdoin senior Alison Pilon by 1.33 seconds. In the high jump, Suzanne Bernier '10 and Lily Parenteau '12 took first and second place with leaps of 1.60 meters and 1.55 meters respectively. "We were fantastic [in the sprints and jumps]," coach Mark Reytblat said. "We just did really really well."In distance events, Brandeis dominated the one-mile run, capturing the top three places in the event. Beth Pisarik '10 had the fastest time at 5:11.36, while Grayce Selig '11 and Hannah Lindholm '11 nearly crossed the line together, finishing the race 0.79 seconds apart to take second and third place, respectively. Pisarik, Lindholm, Marie Lemay '11 and Julia Alpaio '10 were members of the Judges' winning 800-meter relay team, which finished ahead of second-place Bowdoin by 7.05 seconds."This is an important finish for [the team]," Sax said. "It's our home meet and we're going to see these teams again in the postseason so performing well here is important. [It shows] we're going to be able to compete with anyone."Like the women, the men's team fared well in distance events. In the 1,000-meter run, Marc Boutin '12 was second to rookie Tim Even of Southern Maine, finishing in 2:36.31 to Even's 2:35.02. Mike Stone '09 also did well in the event, placing sixth in 2:38.38.Much like the women's team, the men's squad also crowded the top seeds in the one-mile run. Sam Donovan '11 took first place in 4:22.49, while teammate Matt Jennings '09 was right behind him in second place in 4:22.56. Chris Brown '12 was fifth in the event in 4:24.86.Brown and Donovan would later join Boutin and Stone to win the 800-meter relay in 8:07.78, beating Bowdoin just as the women's team did."I think everyone is progressing well as far as being in shape and understanding how to race. It was a good race for us," Stone said. "It's nice to pick up victories and top finishes at our home meet, but it's still early in the season so we're all looking to improve still."The Reggie Poyau Memorial Invitational is named after former Brandeis runner Reggie Poyau '04, who tragically drowned off the coast of Senegal while studying abroad in his junior year.Both the men's and women's teams are set to return to action this Saturday, Jan. 31 to compete at the Wheaton College Invitational at 9 a.m.
(01/20/09 5:00am)
Guard Kevin Olson's '09 performances in his last two games -- Jan. 11 against Carnegie Mellon University and last Saturday against New York University -- appear to be statistically similar. Olson scored 12 points and hit all three of his three-point attempts in a 69-57 win over Carnegie Mellon, and against NYU, he scored 15 points while hitting all five of his three-point attempts in a 65-35 blowout win. But the similarities end there. While Olson did not attempt his first shot until 28 minutes into the game against Carnegie Mellon, he hit four three-pointers in the first eight minutes of play against NYU, enabling the Judges to surge ahead in an eventual blowout victory. "[I'm] just trying to take it when it comes; I'm not going to force it," Olson said of his shot selection. Olson said he scored earlier against NYU because the Violets placed extra emphasis on limiting Brandeis' low-post offense. "They were really worried about our inside game and they just packed it in and I got a lot of open looks," Olson said.Against NYU, Olson hit three-point shots from both corners and both wings. Olson and forward Steve DeLuca (GRAD) traded three-pointers early on as Brandeis built a 20-8 edge. "If he's open, he's going to hit [the three-point] shot nine times out of 10," DeLuca said. "I just crashed the glass, and I see that shot go up, and I just know that it's going in."On the season, Olson has a team-leading 34 three-pointers, converting 54.8 percent of his shots from beyond the arc. Ironically, while Olson hit all his three-pointers against NYU, he missed both of his two-point field goal attempts. "I thought those were good looks," Olson joked. "They couldn't go down for me; I'll survive.
(01/13/09 5:00am)
The men's basketball team was able to shoot 51.7 percent from the field against the University of Rochester last Friday night at home, but found itself on the short end of a 73-69 decision in the team's University Athletic Association opener after allowing Rochester to hold a 16-to-1 edge in converted free throws, But against No. 14 Carnegie Mellon University last Sunday, the Judges reversed that trend. Brandeis held a 19-to-11 edge in converted free throws and held the Tartans to just 37.9 percent shooting from the field en route to a 69-57 victory last Sunday at home. "Defensively it seemed like we were all collectively working together, kind of limiting their shooters and [making] their other guys beat us," forward Terrell Hollins '10 said of the team's victory over Carnegie Mellon.With the loss to Rochester and the subsequent win over CMU, Brandeis stands at 7-5 on the season, including 1-1 in UAA play. Over winter break, the Judges upended Curry College 84-50 behind 24 points from guard Kevin Olson '09.Carnegie Mellon had been one of the UAA's surprise teams during the non-conference season. The Tartans were picked to finish fourth in the UAA coaches' preseason poll, but raced through the non-conference season with just one loss in 11 games. The Judges, who began the season ranked No. 9 in the country, held an 8-5 lead with 10 minutes and 26 seconds left in the first half of last Sunday's game after a layup from forward Rich Magee '10. From that point, forward Steve DeLuca (GRAD) took over the game, scoring 15 of the team's final 21 points to close out the half, giving Brandeis a 29-19 halftime lead. "[DeLuca] was on fire today. He could hit any shot he wanted," assistant coach Eric McKoy said. "He took what the defense gave him and he didn't try to force anything."In the second half, Olson found his jump shot and hit three three-pointers down the stretch to help the Judges increase their lead to as many as 16 points. "I was really just trying to stay within our offense; we were really trying to pound it in. . [I was] just waiting for my open looks." Olson said. Trailing by double digits for much of the second half, Carnegie Mellon cut the lead to nine on a lay-up from Tartan senior guard Corey O'Rourke with 3:11 left in the game. O'Rourke forced a steal on the ensuing Brandeis possession and passed the ball to junior guard Jack Anderson, who was open down the court. But Anderson could not secure the pass and kicked the ball in frustration toward the protective net past the baseline at the Carnegie Mellon end of the court, committing a technical foul in the process.Brandeis hit its free throw attempts in the waning minutes to hold on for the 12-point win."[Last Sunday] we were just a little more aggressive getting the ball into the low post," McKoy said. "We were a little more patient in what we did; we didn't take the first shot attempt that we got. We moved the ball around."DeLuca led the way with 28 points and 10 rebounds on 11-of-16 shooting, while guard Kenny Small '10 and Olson chipped in with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Against Rochester, the Judges trailed 35-29 at the half, but went on a 9-2 run, capped by a Hollins layup to gain a 38-37 lead with 16:50 left in the game. However, Rochester answered with a 9-0 run of its own, and Brandeis would never recover.Small, DeLuca, and guard Andre Roberson '10 all scored in double figures with 15, 12, and 11 points respectively. The Judges next play New York University at home Saturday at 3 p.m.
(11/25/08 5:00am)
Saber Anna Hanley '11 couldn't help but admit that the last of the women's fencing team's six opponents at last Saturday's Northeast Conference Meet was more significant than the rest for her. Hanley is a transfer student, and the Judges' final opponent was none other than Sacred Heart University, her former school."It was so nerve-racking, since we weren't fencing them until the last round," Hanley said. "I was on edge for the entire day, saving my energy for the last round."Facing Sacred Heart junior Krista Bacci, her former teammate, Hanley fell behind 4-2 but rallied to win three straight points and take the bout 5-4. The victory culminated a 13-2 bout record for Hanley as the women's fencing team defeated Sacred Heart 17-10 for their sixth win on the day."I remember thinking 'I am going to be so unhappy if I lose to [Bacci],'" Hanley said. "I thought I was going to have an awful bus ride back and it would ruin my week if [I lost to her]." The women's team also defeated the University of New Hampshire 19-8, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst 21-6, Boston University 23-4, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 14-13 and Wellesley College 18-9.The men's squad went 5-0 on the day, defeating New Hampshire 25-2, Boston University 23-4, MIT 14-13, Sacred Heart 17-10 and UMass-Amherst 20-7. Saber Adam Austin '11 led the way with a 12-0 bout record.Hanley's performance came after she won the gold medal in the saber division at the New England Fall Collegiate Nov. 1. She struggled at times last Saturday, falling behind a New Hampshire fencer 4-0, but was able to rally to win that bout 5-4. "[Hanley's] one of the best saber fencers in New England, I think," coach Bill Shipman said.Besides Hanley, Shipman credited the epée squad's performance. Caitlin Kozel '09, a two-time NCAA Championships participant, went 9-3 to lead the club, which also included Emma Larkin '10 and Emily Mandel '12. The epées struggled against Wellesley, however, losing six of the nine bouts in that weapon.Still, Kozel said she was encouraged by the epée squad's performance, considering its past struggles."We had a great record all day, and that hasn't happened in years," Kozel said.The men's epée squad, led by Will Bedor '10 and Alex Clos '10, helped carry the men's team, but the saber team, led by Austin, proved to be the difference in the tight win over MIT. During the match, Shipman called in a substitute, saber Naveen George '10, to hold off the Engineers. George fell behind 4-0 in his bout, but rallied to win 5-4. "That was probably the highlight of the meet, [because] we ended up winning by one bout [over MIT]," Austin said.Despite the wins, Shipman said he hopes to see improvement in the foil squad. Will Friedman '09, the seventh-place finisher in the foil division at last year's NCAA Championships, still remains in the starting lineup, but the Judges are currently competing without two key performers from last year's squad. Eugene Vortsman '08, a two-time NCAA Championships qualifier, graduated, and Shipman said Jimmy Fruchterman '09, a starter last year, is sidelined due to injury for the rest of the semester. "We don't have the experience [in men's foil]," Shipman said. "We miss Vortsman a lot."The teams next compete at the Boston Beanpot Fencing Championship at Boston College Dec. 3.
(11/11/08 5:00am)
As Film Studies becomes Brandeis' newest major, some students may be noticing the Film department's plethora of events as well. Last week, actor Richard Jenkins made an appearance at Brandeis for a question-and-answer session following a screening of his Oscar-nominated film The Visitor. And, this Thursday, actress Melissa Leo is coming to Brandeis to talk about her recent film, Frozen River, while actor Mark Ruffalo will speak on Saturday night about his upcoming film, What Doesn't Kill You.Where are all these events coming from?Professor Alice Kelikian, chair of the Film Studies department, has been organizing high-profile film events for some time now. Some may remember last month's screening of the documentary The Terror's Advocate with the filmmaker, Barbet Schroeder, or the screenings of both Errol Morris' Standard Operating Procedure and Werner Herzog's Encounters at the End of the World; all of these happenings were organized by Prof. Kelikian.Says Kelikian, "My whole role in all of this is to encourage a variegated and rich film culture at Brandeis.""I don't just want to do art house cinema. I don't want to just do indie film. I want to also include Hollywood," she said.Recent alumnus Scott Feinberg is helping Kelikian add Hollywood players to her equation. Feinberg, who began blogging about the Oscar race a few years ago, now blogs about film for the Los Angeles Times, which often features taped question-and-answer sessions between its bloggers and high-profile actors. Said Kelikian, "I thought, what better opportunity to have some of these encounters happen at Brandeis? We're taking advantage of Scott's availability to include actors and actresses [in our program of events].""Brandeis, I knew, was looking to do exciting things with film and was welcome to having exciting things going on," Feinberg said. "The invitation is from Brandeis to these Oscar contenders, and I'm the middle man. . We videotape the Q&A that follows the screening, and that goes on my blog."The two screenings taking place this weekend may not be quite the household names that The Dark Knight and Iron Man may have been this year, but they certainly aren't lacking in pedigree. Frozen River, which follows the stories of two working-class women who smuggle illegal immigrants across the border between New York and Canada in order to make money, won the Grand Jury Prize at the recent Sundance Film Festival and was the first DVD screener mailed to Academy members this year. What Doesn't Kill You, a film about two childhood friends from South Boston who get caught up in crime, garnered a lot of praise after its appearance at the Toronto Film Festival in September. According to Feinberg, it's a suspenseful Boston crime drama in the vein of The Departed and Gone Baby Gone. "It's not a slow drama; it's going to keep people on the edge of their seats," he says.Next semester, the Film department plans to continue its slew of high-profile events with a premiere of Stories on Human Rights, a documentary put together by the non-governmental organization Art for the World, to take place on the 60th anniversary of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. "We're doing a bit of everything," says Kelikian.Some students may wonder where the Film Department comes up with the resources to plan such elaborate events. The Edie and Lew Wasserman Fund, which paid for the creation of the Wasserman Cinematheque, where these events take place, is sponsoring all the events. "Lew Wasserman was basically the biggest agent in Hollywood history," says Feinberg. The Wasserman Fund sponsors a variety of programs across the United States as well as Brandeis' film events. According to Kelikian, the Wasserman Cinematheque, located in the Sachar International Center, is the largest university cinematheque in the Northeast outside of New York City. At 240 seats, the auditorium, which boasts a 35mm projector, is larger than the Harvard Film Archive and Boston University's screening rooms."I'm very hopeful that students will come out and attend and take advantage of these really exciting screenings and Q&As," Feinberg said. "If they do, I'm convinced that it will make it much easier for us to appeal to other filmmakers to come in the future.
(11/04/08 5:00am)
Donning a black suit with a silver medal hanging around his neck, Tim Morehouse '00 admitted he threw off many Brandesians last Friday in his first visit to his alma mater since winning a silver medal as a member of the U.S. Fencing Team at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing."All day, I've been walking around campus, and so many people have congratulated me on my Halloween costume," he joked at the start of his speech. "Maybe it wasn't the best day to walk around with my Olympic medal."The ensemble was merely Morehouse's choice of attire for his visit, which coincidentally occurred on Halloween. After mingling with students in the Usdan Student Center during lunch hours and taking pictures with University President Jehuda Reinhartz, Morehouse spoke about his childhood, Brandeis, pre-Olympic preparations and Olympic experiences to an audience of about 40 people in the Napoli Room of the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center."This is like coming home," Morehouse said in an interview after the speech. "I have such fond memories of fencing here."Morehouse was the first Brandeis alumnus to compete in the Olympics. He won his silver medal in the team saber competition, helping the U.S. defeat Hungary and Russia by one point each before falling to France in the gold medal match. He competed for the Judges from 1997 to 2000, making three NCAA Championship appearances and finishing fourth in the nation in the saber division in 2000. Morehouse began his speech by talking about his childhood. When he was in ninth grade, he won a key New York City tournament, but coach Bill Shipman was the only coach that saw him that day. "If I knew he was going to make the Olympic team, I would have come after him even harder," Shipman joked in a phone interview.Morehouse then spoke of his Brandeis experience, which included finishing in the top 10 in the nation in saber three times and leading the Judges to the No. 1 ranking in Division III as a senior. After graduating, Morehouse decided he would aim to become an Olympic fencer, even though he said he was mostly anonymous on the national scene.Morehouse eventually improved enough to qualify for the 2004 Olympics as an alternate, but he never got the chance to compete. After his progress stagnated soon after the Olympics, Morehouse said he decided to change his fencing style. Morehouse said he was known for his uncommon defensive moves, such as rising on one leg to lunge for a touch and flicking his blade while leaning backward to touch attacking opponents on their wrists. Instead of working to become more conventional, Morehouse decided to stick with his style."I had this battle between myself," he said in the speech. "This weird stuff was working, and the way I should be fencing, . I was losing doing that. I just decided that, 'you know what, I'm just going to be myself.'"After showing video clips of his moves, Morehouse spoke about his 2008 Olympic experience. Morehouse showed a video clip of him fainting and falling on the floor for five seconds after the squad's victory over Russia and talked about Team U.S.A.'s strategy to finish points at the edges of the strip, where it is easier for the referee to see the action. He then discussed the importance of setting goals before finishing the speech by playing a slideshow of pictures from Beijing."It's scary to say you want to do things that are so far away from you. It's even scary [for me] to say [to myself] that I want to win a gold medal, because who am I to set that goal [for myself]?" he said in the speech. "But if you don't set those kinds of goals, they just aren't going to happen."Many members of the current fencing teams were at the speech, and Morehouse later practiced with some of them."A lot of fencers who get to his level have been [fencing] since they were 10 years old and are constantly in the circuit . but for him to go from college fencing to that level, even on an international level, is very, very unusual," foil Alexandra Dalrymple '11 said. "I really want to go to the Olympics [after hearing Morehouse's speech]," foil JD Carroll '09 said. "Why wouldn't you? It would be really amazing.
(11/04/08 5:00am)
The word "gourmet" carries an outdated, elitist connotation. It implies that there are certain articles of aristocratic finery not meant for the commoner. Gourmets seek out the best of the best while foodies like myself hope to learn everything about the culinary realm, from the refined and cutting-edge to the ordinary or obscure. In both subcultures, gastronomy studies the art, science and culture of food. The world of gastronomy is open to all people, commoner or not. Even if "gastronomical" isn't exactly a word used on a regular basis, food is universal, and, frankly, a lot of people really like it. There are a few people, however, for whom food is a true passion, and the newly formed Gastronomical Society is a haven for such enthusiasts who reside at Brandeis. The Gastronomical Society is, of course, open to everyone: gourmets, foodies and anyone who simply enjoys food on occasion. Joseph Harari '11, one of the founders, said, "I've always loved food. . A lot of people don't get the chance to try fine dining, [so we're] about food appreciation, trying different things and learning." Each meeting will have a different food topic where all of the members can taste, learn about and enjoy the flavors "in hand." Any common person can become a foodie or gourmet with a little help. Something special happened at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 29 as groups of upperclassmen and freshmen mingled in the Shapiro Lounge in Massell Quad. According to Brad Mahlof '11, "Food is a good way to get people together," and campuswide interest in the Gastronomical Society proved him right-there were well over 50 people seated around the room in addition to a few dozen floaters who came in and out of the inaugural meeting of the Gastronomical Society. Perhaps the crowd was drawn by the alluring topic of the first meeting: chocolate. Advertisements of free chocolate apparently do not go unnoticed by Brandeis University students. The meeting began with a movie about the process of making chocolate, including the cultivation of cacao, from which the food is made. The club founders then proceeded to pass out small plates, cups and informational packets about chocolate. Participants were given very specific instructions regarding how to fully taste chocolate. We were told to take a sip of a "palate cleanser" prior to each bite. The club leaders passed around bottles of sparkling and still water to be sipped. Then, we took small bites of chocolate, allowed it to melt in our mouths and spread the liquid across our tongues. A few simple instructions, and the Gastronomical Society turned us all into experienced gourmets. Over the course of about an hour, we tried eight different fine chocolates ranging from white, which has 0 percent cacao solids, to extra dark, which has 82 percent cacao solids. Our journey through Callebaut White Chocolate, Caro Milk Chocolate, Callebaut Milk Chocolate, Green and Black's Maya Gold, Callebaut Bittersweet Chocolate, Valrhona Bittersweet, Yves Thurier Dark Chocolate with Nibs and Scharffen Berger Extra Dark sent our taste buds along a complex and interesting path. These are some of the best chocolate brands in the world and are used by chocolatiers and pastry chefs to make heavenly chocolate creations. Chocolate, we learned, can be extremely varied, and our tongues can sense everything from caramel and vanilla to florals, tobacco and figs in the assorted varieties of this sweet treat. It appears that Harari's goal to educate was achieved. After the meeting, Kaamila Mohamed '11 mentioned, "When I think chocolate, I normally think of a Hershey's bar. It was cool to take it to a deeper level." Each of the four board members of the Gastronomical Society takes time before each meeting to fully educate themselves on the topic of the week. They were all very well-versed in chocolate flavors and how to maximize tasting. Their knowledge was then passed onto the entire group as we explored the diverse flavors of chocolate. The next meeting will be held on Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. in the Shapiro dorm lounge. The Gastronomical Society will be exploring international cheeses and encourages anyone who loves to eat to stop by.
(10/28/08 4:00am)
As I walked into the Embassy Cinema to see a screening of the film W., I thought to myself, "Self, you're a Politics minor, and you go to Brandeis. Haven't you had enough Bush-bashing to last a lifetime?"I had, and apparently, so had director Oliver Stone. It would have been very easy for Stone to make a film that was composed entirely of negative portrayals of the 43rd president, but instead, W. is unexpectedly defensive of Bush. While Stone certainly doesn't absolve George W. Bush (Josh Brolin) of his political sins, he does depict him as someone who doesn't know any better and who should probably be wearing a bicycle helmet 24/7 rather than running the country. In order to achieve this less-than-insightful portrayal, we are frequently shown shots of Bush running through his inner field of dreams with a dazed expression on his face and from first-person perspectives in times of stress, during which faces and images get blurred by W.'s apparent inability to handle all the gosh-darn hardships of Washington, D.C. Instead, the villain of the film is Dick Cheney, by Richard Dreyfuss portrayed understatedly and well, until he begins playing Cheney as a deranged psychopath obsessed with oil. But Dreyfuss isn't alone in his acting gaffes; the majority of the cast-particularly Thandie Newton and Jeffrey Wright in their roles as Condoleezza Rice and General Colin Powell, respectively-is guilty of horrendous overacting. Portions of the film feel more like an Saturday Night Live skit than a drama, as the actors perform lackluster impersonations of their characters rather than thoughtful interpretations. The film also falters due to a lack of authenticity in its present-day scenes, a deficit that comes from personal meetings between Bush and his advisers including lines directly from Bush's campaign speeches and public foibles. However, while the movie fails in its depiction of the present, it succeeds in its retelling of the past: scenes containing the looming disapproval of a formidable James Cromwell as George Herbert Walker Bush are often poignant and offer insight into the reasons why W. is the way he is today.But, these few worthwhile moments (that are occasionally a mixed bag themselves) aren't enough to salvage the film from Stone's attempts to create his own Citizen Kane through the inclusion of obscure, out-of-place symbols that include, but are not limited to, a foot stepping in slow motion on a corn-cob, close-ups of belt buckles and a praying W. bedecked with a halo of fluorescent lights. The film also suffers on account of a severe misuse of time and an odd release date. In regards to the former, the movie devotes time to random events that are never elaborated upon (e.g., W. becoming engaged to a woman who is not Laura Bush and is subsequently never seen again) and overly dramatic reenactments of W. choking on a pretzel. However, it skips over more worthwhile subjects like W.'s struggles with cocaine. In regard to the latter, the film comes too early for those who were part of the Bush administration to comfortably impart their true dealings with W. and at a time when he is not a particularly noteworthy figure; we are more concerned with those political contenders battling for the presidency than the figure currently filling the position. One may also conclude that the actors struggle, in part, because the characters they portray are still living. In essence, W. is not for those seeking a film with teeth or the controversial depictions that Stone is typically known for. Rather, it is best suited to political junkies who enjoy frequent bursts of jargon regarding the Iraq War. The rest of us, unfortunately, will only find that W. is as rough around the edges as its namesake.
(10/28/08 4:00am)
After Springfield College junior goalkeeper Kevin Leahy dropped the ball on the edge of the 18-foot goal box, men's soccer team forward Ben Premo '09 took the ball and pivoted among the defenders to situate himself into shooting position. He then fired the ball into the side of the net, breaking a scoreless tie in the 28th minute of last Wednesday night's home game. Premo's goal gave Brandeis a 1-0 lead, one they would not relinquish en route to a 2-0 victory. The win snapped a seven-game winless streak for the Judges, a stretch in which they only scored four goals total. The Judges are now 7-6-2 with four games remaining."It looked like it was really easy, but in that situation, to be surrounded by the goalkeeper and defenders, [Premo] had the composure to keep possession and turn perfectly to place the ball into the side of the net," coach Mike Coven said. "A lot of other players would have shot that ball wide and high, so [Premo] did a nice job."Premo's ninth goal of the season put him in sole possession of fifth place on the Judges' all-time scoring list with 37 goals and 95 points. "Most of those numbers came in my first two seasons, and right now I feel I'll appreciate this all more when I'm older," Premo said. "I guess it's nice to see your name listed there, but I haven't been to an NCAA tournament in my career, and that's something that would have been more important."Brandeis added its second goal of the game in the 52nd minute when midfielder Jaime Batista '10 won a ball in the midfield and gave midfielder Patrick Metelus '10 a lead pass up the sideline. Metelus fed the ball back across the goal area to a cutting Batista, who finished the play for his second goal in as many games. Goalie Matt Lynch '11, starting his fourth game of the season, made all five saves that came his way. Coven said that the team will continue to alternate goalkeepers between Lynch and Sean O'Hare '12, who originally won the job earlier in the season. Last year's starter, Taylor Bracken '10, is no longer on the roster."We're fortunate to have two very good goalkeepers," Coven said. "Sometimes both of them can look better than the other, but they're both playing very well. I have confidence in both of them, so we'll just keep alternating them until one of them proves to step up over the other." The team hopes to qualify for the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament and regain the championship the squad won in 2006. The ECAC selection committee only considers teams with records of .500 or better, making the final stretch of the Judges' season critical for their postseason hopes."This game and our next one against Lasell are must-wins for us," defender Kevin Murphy '09 said. "We have three tough [University Athletic Association] games after Lasell, so we need to pick up wins where we can in order to get a spot in the ECACs." The Judges travel to Lasell College today for a 3 p.m. game and then play two of the remaining three University Athletic Association games at home next weekend. The first game is against Emory University Oct. 31 at 7:30 p.m., and the second is against Carnegie Mellon University Nov. 2 at 1:30 p.m. The Judges end the season at New York University Nov. 8.Murphy said he believes the team will, in fact, reach the ECAC tournament for the second time in three years."This is the most confident I've been in the UAA since I've been here," he said. "I don't think there's been a game in the UAA, with the exception of the one against Rochester, where we weren't in the game. This is one of the most competitive teams in the UAA we've had since I've been here. We've played everybody tough, so I'd say we're real confident going into the final games.
(10/21/08 4:00am)
For some filmmakers, reinventing oneself with a radical new direction seems to come naturally. Steven Soderbergh, for one, has made a career of it, jumping between mainstream big-budget fare like the Ocean's Eleven series and Out of Sight and independent and even experimental works like Sex, Lies, and Videotape and Bubble. For others, attempts at reinvention only lead to massive failures. After making a name for himself in the '70s with hard-hitting, brilliant dramas like The Godfather, The Conversation and Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola tried to reinvent himself with the romantic musical One From the Heart, a film which famously lost nearly all of its massive $26 million budget. While the former director has thrived by constantly changing his filmmaking style, the latter failed miserably trying to do the same.I am happy to say that Jonathan Demme's latest film, Rachel Getting Married, places the acclaimed filmmaker firmly into the Soderbergh category of directors. Film buffs have been singing Demme's praises as far back as the 1980s due to films like his seminal music documentary Stop Making Sense and the comedy/drama Melvin and Howard, but Demme didn't truly enter the mainstream until he created his Oscar-winning blockbuster hit The Silence of the Lambs. Released in 1991, the film grossed upwards of $100 million and was widely acclaimed as a landmark work by critics, who heaped praise on the film and on Demme in spite of the violent and controversial subject matter. Demme followed this up with Philadelphia, one of the first Hollywood movies to deal frankly with the issue of HIV/AIDS. Again, Demme was revered and hailed for his bold direction.But, then a funny thing happened on the way to Demme's becoming the next great director; while he directed some music videos and documentaries during the latter half of the 1990s, his work in feature films became poor as well as rare. He directed a stale adaptation of a Toni Morrison novel, Beloved, and then went on to direct two ill-conceived remakes of classic films, The Truth About Charlie and The Manchurian Candidate. While in the early '90s Demme looked to be one of the best directors working in Hollywood, by the turn of the century his films already seemed out of date and out of touch.That is, until his newly released family drama Rachel Getting Married. Starring Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt and Debra Winger, Rachel is a transformation in every way for Demme. Gone is the classic Hollywood style that he had used throughout his career, replaced instead with an intimate and natural style more akin to a documentary. The film is shot almost entirely with hand-held cameras, uses editing techniques such as jump cuts rarely seen in Hollywood pictures and even lacks any non-diegetic music (that is, music that does not play within the world of the film). In other words, Jonathan Demme has decided to reinvent himself as an independent film director with Rachel Getting Married.Of course, all these attempts at a type of realism on Demme's part would be inconsequential if there were not a script equally up to the task. Thankfully, Jenny Lumet, daughter of the great veteran director Sidney Lumet, provided such a script. Lumet created a work which has such an organic feel to it: you could almost swear there was no script at all, but that rather the film was entirely improvised. The characters feel real and immediate, nothing like the packaged archetypes that Hollywood trots out year after year. The story itself is simple; Rachel (DeWitt) is getting married, and her sister Kym (Hathaway) has just gotten out of rehab and is coming home for the wedding. The film is primarily concerned with lies, both the kind we tell knowingly and the kind we tell ourselves over and over until they become truth. The film is somewhat close thematically to Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, though thankfully the nasty cynicism of that brilliant play is balanced with a warmth that the characters naturally exude. As the film goes on and old scars are reopened and new ones are formed, the pain these characters feel shines through in a way that is equally moving and depressing.Incredibly enough, with Rachel Getting Married Demme has managed to create an anti-Oscar film in that it lacks the showiness and smooth edges that characterize most Oscar favorites. It should nonetheless receive strong awards attention. The characters you empathize with can be cruel one minute and loving the next, giving them the feel of real people you might know rather than movie characters. There are no simple answers in Rachel, as problems are not magically solved and old wounds are not healed overnight. However, there is a hope within the film that nevertheless provides warmth to the characters even in the harshest situations. If Rachel Getting Married may put off some viewers with its naturalistic style and script, it will win over just as many fans with its brilliant and immediate performances. Simply put, Rachel Getting Married is a masterpiece, one of the most uncompromising and best pieces of filmmaking of this or any year.
(09/23/08 4:00am)
Behind 7-6 with their opponents serving for fifth place in the No. 2 doubles flight last Saturday at the Northeast Intercollegiate Tournament, men's tennis players Steven Nieman '11 and Mike Tatarsky '12 were running out of chances to win the match.But they broke Bucknell College's senior Daniel Bednarek and rookie Clark Bogle to tie the score and stay in the match. One hold and one more break later, Nieman and Tatarsky had closed out the match en route to a 9-7 win and a fifth-place finish out of the 16 teams in their bracket."[Coach Ben Lamanna] always tells us, 'A late show's a great show,'" Nieman said. "That's one of his major slogans, meaning that when the going gets tough, when people get tight, when it gets very, very close and late in the match, you have to be the one to really execute. We did that." The men's team also defeated Bentley College 8-1 last Tuesday in its first match of the season. A day later, the women's team also defeated Bentley, winning 5-4. Nieman and Tatarsky were one of two Brandeis doubles pairs to pull out a fifth-place finish at last weekend's tournament, which took place last Friday through Sunday at Brown University. Simon Miller '11 and captain Scott Schulman '09 also captured fifth place in the No. 1 doubles flight, defeating Brown juniors Nathaniel Gorham and rookie Andrew Yazmer 8-5 in the fifth-place match.Lamanna praised his team's mental attitude against their Division I competition. "I was really proud of the guys over the weekend, how they acted. In terms of dealing with the ups and downs and dealing with the adversity mentally, I thought we did a really good job," he said.In singles, Nieman, Schulman, Tatarsky, and David Silver '11 all won their first-round matches before falling in the quarterfinal round. Nieman and Schulman both won the first sets of their quarterfinal matches in the No. 2 and No. 3 singles flights, respectively, before dropping the final two sets. Tatarsky fell in two sets in the No. 3 singles flight to Fairleigh Dickinson University sophomore Alex Jorne, while Silver lost in the No. 6 singles flight to FDU's rookie Stephan Muller.In last Tuesday's win over Bentley, the men's team led 2-1 after doubles play before winning all six singles matches. Five out of the six Judges singles players won their matches in straight sets."We proved that we're a real good singles team, but doubles and depth makes a good overall team, so we're focusing now on [doubles] details," Lamanna said.The women's team also defeated Bentley last Wednesday, edging the visitors by just one match. Brandeis fell behind 2-1 at the end of doubles play with losses at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles, but Judges victories in the first four singles spots led to the win. At No. 1 singles, Rachel Rosman '11 lost just one game in two sets against junior Kelly Fleszar, while Mackenzie Gallegos '11 dropped just two games in her No. 3 singles victory against senior Marcia Gilbride. Captain Gabrielle Helfgott '09 and Sarah Richman '12 also won in straight sets at No. 2 and No. 4 singles, respectively, to round out the singles wins.Helfgott fell behind 1-4 in the first set of her victory but said her composed attitude helped her complete the 7-5, 6-1 win over senior Heather Haggerty."I got myself in a bit of a rut, but I came back," Helfgott said. "You just have to be calm, that's the biggest thing."Both teams will travel to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regional Championships next Friday through Sunday, with the men's tournament taking place at Williams College and the women's tournament at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
(09/23/08 4:00am)
Fran Forman '67 still recalls joining a demonstration against parietal hours within the first two months of her first year at Brandeis. Students were protesting against the University policy that prohibited anyone from hosting a member of the opposite sex in their dormitory room with the doors closed."It was my first demonstration," she remembers. "It seems so ridiculous and silly now."Now a Visiting Scholar at the Women's Studies Research Center, Forman focuses primarily on artistic expression. Her career since graduation, however, has been a combination of diverse experiences connected by the political activist spirit she adopted while a Brandeis student.Although Forman is currently a graphic design artist, she graduated from Brandeis with a bachelor's degree in sociology. Coming out of the politically active sociology department, Forman says there was pressure to have a social good attached to one's potential job or career. Immediately after graduation, Forman took her first job at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis, where she was involved in the first epidemiological study of child abuse in Massachusetts. The study focused on obtaining accurate data on the occurrence of abuse; Forman helped tally instances of child abuse recorded in all Massachusetts social services and police departments.Forman began searching for new job opportunities after working on the study for a year but found that it was difficult to find work as a young woman. Ultimately, she found employment as a secretary for the director of psychiatry at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center in downtown Boston, where she was responsible for tasks like typing notes and making tea.Yet secretarial work proved to be insufficient to satisfy Forman's feeling that she had some greater responsibility toward society."I was very limited in the work I could do," she says. "I was a woman, and I had few skills, so I worked as a secretary . where I had to make the perfect cup of tea for my boss."Three years after graduating from Brandeis, Forman enrolled at Simmons College, where she recieved a master's degree in social work. She then spent two years working alongside a social worker in a methadone treatment center at a Cambridge hospital. Though she had a job that seemed to fit the Brandeis social activist model, Forman couldn't deny that her dabbling in different forms of art had become more than just a hobby. She'd never before thought that she could participate in social activism as an artist, but it was then that Forman recognized that artists did have the potential to enact social change."It was the mid-70s, and I realized that it was possible to move into the arts and not feel like I was betraying the larger community," Forman says.Eager to develop her artistic talent into a professional career, Forman enrolled in different types of art classes to narrow her focus, eventually coming across "commercial art," now known as graphic design. Commercial art involves using art as a way to communicate new ideas or advertise a product."I'd always been interested in the larger picture of communication and psychology and sociology," Forman explains. "And [commercial art] involved art, so it was the perfect melding of everything I'd been interested in as a discipline."After submitting a portfolio of her work, Forman was accepted to the Boston University School of Fine Arts, where she received a Master of Fine Arts in photography and graphic design in 1977. Jokingly, Forman says that "they took me not because I had a great portfolio, which I didn't, but because I had an interesting background."Forman has held many full-time and freelance graphic design positions since then. Up until her arrival at Brandeis, Forman served as senior designer with AOL Time Warner, working specifically on Africana.com, a Web site centered on African American culture.In 2006, Forman attended a lecture co-sponsored by the WSRC, where she met WSRC director Shulamit Reinharz and several other researchers who encouraged her to continue her work at Brandeis."Things fell into place," Forman says of her return to Brandeis. "Life is just serendipitous." Forman's art style is a novel combination of old-fashioned artwork and cutting-edge technology that proposes new ways of viewing the environments created in antique art.Drawing inspiration from 19th-century tin types-small portrait photographs made on a sheet or iron that she often finds at junk shops-Forman scans the small portraits and uses modern technology to create dreamy-looking landscapes for the 19th-century figures in the portraits. "I try to create, for myself anyways, a different way of viewing," Forman explains, adding that her computer tablet acts like her canvas and her stylus acts like her brush.Forman's art has been displayed in many galleries in the Greater Boston area. Earlier this year, she had a solo exhibition at the Griffin Photography Museum in Winchester. Some of her work has also been displayed in the Iris Gallery in Boston and the Left Bank Gallery in Wellfleet.Forman's work recently hit the national art scene; in June, she had a solo exhibition at 23 Sandy Gallery in Portland, Ore. Her artwork is currently on temporary display at the James Pierce Gallery in her hometown of Baltimore, Md.Forman also teaches private workshops in digital images and Photoshop, teaching students from a wide range of levels. Even in her current artwork, Forman explains that she utilizes the worldly perspective she adopted while a student at Brandeis. A student during the radical and politically charged 1960s, Forman says she "did not have the typical college experience."She emphasized the significance of being at Brandeis during the beginning of the feminist movement, the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War. Throughout her college stint, Forman witnessed the campus becoming more diverse and more aware of social issues that had hardly existed on campus in the past.Her worldview altered drastically based on her experiences in sociology and anthropology classes led by professors who had survived World War II and the Holocaust. Forman says she realized that it is the "responsibility of everybody . to take a stand politically, no matter how insignificant or how tiny." Today, Forman says she enjoys finding the nuances in life and continually discovering how the world "is not linear [or] black and white."Though she says "it was not on [her] radar" to return to Brandeis after college graduation, she says it's exciting for her to come back and witness the impact of a historic presidential election on campus.She stresses how important it is for the youngest generation of American voters to voice their opinion and get involved in the discussions about main issues in the upcoming election. Now is a "great time to be a student," she says."I find [this time] so exciting and so vital," she says. "This generation could make a huge difference if they would just get out and vote.
(09/16/08 4:00am)
The Brandeis Office of Communications tapped into its creative resources this past summer developing a self-promoting Brandeis YouTube channel that will be released publicly within the next few months, Executive Director of Media and Public Affairs Dennis Nealon said. Nealon described the project as a "tapping of a major media resource in order to tell the true stories of Brandeis University."Nealon is working on the project with a team of media specialists including Senior Vice President for Communications Lorna Miles, Communications Specialist Marsha MacEachern and University and Media Relations Specialist Max Pearlstein '01.The project started last spring when Nealon and his team put together their own video news department through a new initiative from the Office of Communications called BrandeisNOW, a series of videos that will be displayed on the YouTube channel. BrandeisNOW gives outsiders insight into everyday life at Brandeis and features events on campus through videos of performances and speeches, as well as interviews with members of the Brandeis community, Nealon explained. A handful of these videos can currently be seen on Brandeis' main Web site. One video highlights an exhibit on display in the Goldfarb Library that highlights Brandeis' performing arts history. Another BrandeisNOW video interviews students around campus about John McCain's vice presidential choice. Forbes magazine recently named Brandeis one of the top 15 research universities in the country, and Nealon explained that in order to compete with the larger institutions on the list, the Office of Communications must come up with new and innovative ways to showcase Brandeis to the public and improve the institution's name. "While we are smaller," Nealon said, "we are also feistier and smarter at tailoring stories for particular markets." Nealon stressed the importance of Brandeis making a name for itself. "The key is to tell the stories of our own," Nealon said. "We are writers, storytellers, journalists, and thinkers. ... That's what's keeping us ahead of the curve."The project is "very cutting-edge, in higher education and beyond," Nealon said. The quality will be the same as one would view on the evening news, and with the freedom of the Internet, the viewership could be huge. He predicts a potential audience in the millions, likely from people who view the Brandeis Web site. Nealon's team has gained a reputation in the New England area as an effective and rising media group.Karyn Moar, media sales manager for New England Cable News viewed the videos from Nealon and said, "The videos they're creating are excellent. They are of high quality, . and it is clear that the college is making use of their Web site," she said. Brandeis is not the first university to broadcast videos on YouTube. The University of California at Berkeley created the first major university channel and now hosts over 300 hours of video. Berkeley's channel is geared more toward those already associated with the university, Nealon explained. A unique feature of Berkley's page is availability of videotaped courses and lectures. Vassar College's YouTube page is strictly for admissions purposes, according to an article on oculture.com. Marc Eder '12 said he is excited to see the finished product but doubts high school seniors will turn to YouTube to research the University, saying, "People go onto YouTube to watch mindless entertainment, not serious videos," he said.
(09/09/08 4:00am)
With her team trailing 2-0 in the final minute of last Saturday's game against the Brandeis women's soccer team, University of Massachusetts at Boston rookie midfielder Taylor Sarsfield sent a shot wide of the goal. It was the first shot the Judges' defense surrendered in the entire game. By that point, Brandeis had already scored twice en route to a win over the visiting Beacons, the seventh straight game in which the Judges have not allowed a goal dating back to last season. Brandeis is now 3-0 on the season, having defeated Gordon College 1-0 last Wednesday. "To have left off last season [without] allowing any goals scored on us, I think it kind of got us started on a higher note this year," defender and captain Meredith Milstein '09 said, "And I think [with coach] Denise [Dallamora] ... stressing defense at practice, we've really kind of gotten our act together and noticed what we usually do as mistakes and have been able to change in the game." The victory came at a cost. In the 26th minute, midfielder Sofia Vallone '11 fractured her fibula while going for a rebound off forward Melissa Gorenkoff's '10 foot in front of the net. According to Dallamora, a UMass-Boston player kicked Vallone in the ankle while going for the ball. Vallone's shot went in to give the Judges a 1-0 lead, but she remained on the ground for several minutes before being carted off the field. Vallone said she will miss four to six weeks of play (see sidebar). The injury to Vallone put a damper on another strong performance by the defense. Goalie Hillary Rosenzweig '10 did not record a single save as defenders Taryn Martiniello '11, Allison Maresca '12 and Milstein teamed up in preventing UMass-Boston from creating any scoring opportunities. The Judges maintained the one-goal lead at halftime and added a second goal in the 62nd minute when forward Tiffany Pacheco '11 headed Martinello's corner kick into the net for her team-leading third goal of the season. "That's where my coach has me on corner kicks," Pacheco said of her position on the goal. "That just happened to be where the ball landed." Brandeis spent much of the afternoon on the attack, outshooting UMass-Boston 20-1 and holding an 8-3 edge on corner kicks. Gorenkoff and midfielder Alanna Torre '12 had four shots each, while Vallone had three before her injury. In the win over Gordon, Brandeis had a scoring opportunity early in the game when Gorenkoff's shot in the 23rd minute just hit the goal post. The Judges eventually broke through as midfielder Kaitlin Oldfield '12 chipped a ball over the defense to Pacheco, who then beat junior goalie Abby Ytzen to the ball and knocked it in. Pacheco's goal would be all the Judges needed. They outshot Gordon 18-6, including 10-2 in the second half. Pacheco attempted two more shots on goal in the second half, but Ytzen stopped them both to keep Gordon within one of the Judges. Rosenzweig maintained the one-goal lead, collecting three saves to preserve the shutout. Pacheco said the Judges still have room to improve but was confident in the team achieving stronger results. "I think that we need to play a little bit more physical, but I think that we can keep up with [University Athletic Association] competition," Pacheco said. "I think we're going to make NCAAs this year." The Judges continue their home stand tomorrow at 5 p.m. against Babson College before facing Springfield College Saturday at 1 p.m.
(09/09/08 4:00am)
Tied two sets apiece and trailing 9-4 in the fifth and final set in a road match against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology last Saturday, the volleyball team was only six points away from suffering its first loss of the season. But Brandeis fought back, reducing the deficit to three at 12-9 before going on a decisive 6-1 run to take the set 15-13, winning the match 3-2 against a team that ended the regular season last year as the top-ranked squad in the NCAA New England regional rankings. "We did a great job of picking up on our defense," coach Michelle Kim said. "At that point . it was all about keeping the ball in play and reducing our errors."With the comeback, Brandeis now holds a 3-0 record after defeating Johnson and Wales University in four sets earlier in the day at MIT. Against MIT, Brandeis dropped the first set 25-19, but the team remained confident it could compete with the Engineers, a NCAA Tournament participant in each of the last two seasons."The game was close and we definitely needed to make some tweaks here and there, but we were playing well," Kim said. Brandeis took the next two sets 25-20 and 25-23, respectively, to gain a 2-1 edge in the match."We knew we had a very good chance to win against MIT," captain and right setter Piera Carfagno '10 said. "I think our first set was a good set to get us aware of what we needed to do and how to do it efficiently."MIT went on to score 34 of the next 52 points, winning the fourth set 25-14 and jumping out to a 9-4 lead in the final set. With Carfagno set to serve, Brandeis trailed 12-10, but rallied for the next four points to take a 14-12 lead. Setter Abby Blasco '11 said the five-set victory over MIT would boost the team's "mental toughness.""It definitely pushes us to do what we can and it gives us the endurance if we had to go that long in any other [match]," she said.Outside hitter Lorraine Wingenbach '09 paced the team against MIT with 20 digs to go along with 12 kills and two aces. Carfagno, who switched positions to right setter after playing as a middle blocker last season, contributed 10 kills, nine digs and four blocks in the win. Kim said she is pleased with Carfagno's progression after changing positions."It's a little bit of a transition for her, but she's actually done a really good job adjusting to [right setter]," Kim said. "She's been working hard to get better and better." Earlier in the day, the Judges split the first two sets with Johnson and Wales, with each team winning by a 25-18 margin, before closing out with 25-16 and 25-18 wins in the third and fourth sets, respectively. After recording only 12 digs last season, libero Lauren Polinsky '11 has 29 this season, including 10 against Johnson and Wales. Carfagno had nine kills and seven digs, while Wingenbach tallied eight kills and 12 digs in the win."I think it was a really good, strong start and a good game to have before our bigger game against MIT," Carfagno said. "I think if we had any kinks, we worked them out [against Johnson and Wales], so we were prepared for MIT."Kim continued to praise the efforts of the Blasco twins-Abby and Paige '11. Abby combined for 68 assists-including 42 against MIT-and 27 digs in the two matches, while Paige combined for 22 kills and 20 digs."Those two just understand each other pretty well and sort of can see each other's next move before it happens," Kim said.The Judges will play Wellesley College at home tonight at 7 p.m. before hosting the Brandeis Invitational this weekend. Brandeis plays Smith College at 4 p.m. and Williams College at 8 p.m. Friday and will face Trinity College at noon and Rhode Island College at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
(08/26/08 4:00am)
Every summer audience across America is treated to an endless run of big-budget Hollywood blockbusters, and, as a result, many decent films get overlooked. Now, I'm not one of those film snobs who puts down every major Hollywood release to come our way; after all, my favorite movies of the summer include the likes of Iron Man, Wall-E and The Dark Knight. That said, there are tons of great movies from this summer that didn't get the attention they rightfully deserved, as well as many that most viewers probably dismissed without seeing. Here are the five movies this summer that you might have missed but that are worth checking out (assuming you can still find them, of course)."Speed Racer"The Wachowski brothers' Speed Racer is by no means a perfect movie, but given its abysmal box-office showing (just $44 million domestically) and critical drubbing (36% on Rotten Tomatoes), it actually is quite an enjoyable ride. The film's biggest flaw is its unusual subject matter - a $120 million remake of a long-forgotten Japanese anime show isn't exactly the safest bet for a summer blockbuster. If that weren't enough, the flick's abysmal marketing campaign failed to show that Speed Racer is in fact a family film that resembles the Wachowski's Matrix films only in their shared visual audacity. The movie boasts a star-studded cast, headlined by up-and-comer Emile Hirsch as the eponymous hero of Speed Racer, along with an interesting, if a bit simplistic story involving an evil global corporation trying to fix the sport of racing. The acting and story are fine enough in the film, but no one goes to see a Wachowski production for the dialogue. It is the action that is the driving force of the film, and in this regard the movie does not disappoint. If The Matrix drew inspiration from Japanese anime, here the Wachowski brothers go one step further, creating a film that is a living, breathing live-action anime. Admittedly, the movie suffers from a bloated running time, but overall Speed Racer is a drive worth taking."Tell No One"It's no surprise Tell No One failed to make much noise at the box office; after all it is a French film, and American audiences are notoriously lazy about the little difficulty of having to read subtitles. But those who bravely put in the great effort of actually reading at the movies likely found one of the smartest, most suspenseful thrillers to come around in years. Tell No One chronicles the mysterious death and subsequent reemergence of the wife of the wealthy Dr. Alex Beck. Supposedly killed eight years prior to the beginning of the story, Margot Beck's possible reappearance sparks a mystery that manages to keep audiences on the edge of their seats throughout the movie. It is the sort of film Hollywood has seemingly forgotten how to make, with only the Bourne series halfway resembling the mystery thriller genre that was popularized by Hitchcock years ago. In fact, with its suspenseful story and brilliant but muted characters, Tell No One is like a slice of Hitchcock mixed into the modern world. Thrilling, thoughtful and with a twist ending that will leave your head spinning, Tell No One is a brilliant piece of modern noir and should not be missed. "Transsiberian"Directed by Brad Anderson, who also helmed the equally underappreciated Christian Bale vehicle The Machinist, the film is the story of a couple, played beautifully by Emily Mortimer and Woody Harrelson, who decide to go on a vacation on the Transsiberian Railroad. Deep in the cold of Russia, trouble arises when a mysterious couple joins the train mid-trip amidst swirling rumors of drug trade aboard the Transsiberian. With a terrific supporting role for Ben Kingsley as a Russian drug enforcement official, Transsiberian manages to combine equal-part suspense with a brilliant character piece centering on Mortimer's character. Though Mortimer has proven her acting chops before in films like Lars and the Real Girl and Match Point, she has never before been given a role so perfectly suited to her talents. Mortimer is simply brilliant in the role, giving the character a subtle depth which is fascinating to watch. All in all, Transsiberian is a terrific film you won't want to miss. "The Visitor"The Visitor is the second feature from writer-director Thomas McCarthy and stars Richard Jenkins as the film's protagonist, Professor Walter Vale. Walter sleepwalks through his work, unable to recover from the loss of his wife to illness years earlier. He lives in a small town in Connecticut but is called back to New York for a conference at which he has been asked to give a talk. Upon entering his long-abandoned New York City apartment, Walter finds two illegal immigrants squatting there. What follows from this point is a powerful condemnation of our country's immigration policy, a celebration of the power of music and finally, a brilliant and funny exploration of a character. With a wonderfully subdued performance by Jenkins supported by a smart and funny script, The Visitor is an absolute treat, one that deserves (but likely won't receive) significant year-end award attention. Simply put, this is one of the best films of the year thus far."The Wackness"When I went to see The Wackness, I was disheartened to find I was practically the only person under the age of 30 at the theater. If ever there was a movie meant for those younger than 30, it's this one. The film is on the one hand a typical coming-of-age story, but it also is an ode to New York City in the summer of 1994 and the music that shaped it. Simply put, if you are at all a fan of old-school hip hop, from A Tribe Called Quest to Notorious B.I.G., you owe it to yourself to see this movie. That's not to say you need to be a hip hop fan to enjoy this movie, as the film features a stellar cast, highlighted by Josh Peck as the lead character Luke, who pays his shrink and only friend Dr. Squires (Ben Kingsley) for therapy with the marijuana Luke deals as a summer job. Also featuring Olivia Thirlby, Mary Kate Olson and Method Man, The Wackness is a fun (if at times a bit conventional) coming-of-age story that more than makes up for any of its shortcomings with tons of style.
(08/26/08 4:00am)
After viewing "Pineapple Express," I'm not really sure who should be responsible for reviewing movies from the stoner genre or for whom such films are intended. Are they solely for those who regularly board the Banana Boat, so to speak, or are they for all of us, marijuana- users or not?As someone who doesn't use pot (I'm hungry enough as it is, thanks), I found "Pineapple Express" to be, overall, very funny and well-shot. However, there were points in the film that were obviously intended to be funny, but that I felt fell flat. Was this because I didn't understand the stoner side to the film, or simply because the scene wasn't funny?If the lack of humor can be attributed to the latter, then "Pineapple Express" can simply be described as somewhat uneven in hilarity. However, though it has its lifeless moments, "Pineapple Express" has just as many scenes which might be described as hysterical. The interactions between drug- dealer Saul (an incredibly endearing, consistently baked James Franco) and process server Dale Denton (an amusingly indignant Seth Rogen) make for some great scenes, particularly when Saul goes off on a pot-induced tangent composed of lines like "the monkey's out of the bottle." (Dale: "That's not even an expression.") The standout actor in "Pineapple Express," though, was Danny R. McBride, who played the effeminate Red to perfection and provided some of the film's best scenes. The everyman likeability of the main characters was definitely "Pineapple Express'" best attribute; the characters don't pick up a gun and instinctively know how to look cool while using it. Instead, they do what any regular Joe would do-they practice posing with said firearms to ensure looking awesome during gunfights. The only portion of the film that truly dragged down "Pineapple Express" was the excessive violence of the film's closing scenes. The winning innocence that the characters spent the film accruing is demolished by an explosive body-count and unappealing splatter. However, the previous hour and 30 minutes of the movie certainly make up for those bloody 15. Viewing "Pineapple Express" also requires an above-average suspension of disbelief (unless you're high, which isn't unlikely)-certain characters refuse to die, survive on account of very conveniently located barriers and occasionally pass out for no reason. Also, although Amber Heard plays the role of Denton's high school girlfriend moderately well, her part was almost entirely unnecessary and her performance, ultimately, didn't merit the inclusion of her character. By the film's end, I had entirely forgotten about Angie and am pretty sure she was only included so that Rogen's character could showcase his immaturity in a greater number of scenes. Regardless, despite its rough edges, "Pineapple Express" is definitely a film worth seeing, even if the subject matter isn't particularly relevant to your interests.
(05/20/08 4:00am)
The Spingold Theater Center was filled with the energetic bustle of hundreds of visitors at the opening of the Senior Studio Show April 29. Twenty Brandeis senior artists-five sculptors and 15 painters and printmakers-had their best works from the year on display. The pieces were clean and purposeful with strong lines, sharp color divides and grounding perspectives which left me with feelings of warmth and comfort. Though seemingly unintentional, the works played off one another to create a show that caused the viewer to consider the human, physically and emotionally, in relation to the environment. When asked about this continuous theme, artist Brian Price '08 said, "You rub off on one another and use classmates as inspiration. It's pretty cool." It was pretty cool. In my opinion, this was one of the strongest senior studio shows seen at Brandeis in recent years. Sculptor Lily Olsen's '08 work was a conglomeration of birdhouses that grew upwards from a series of platforms and ladders. When asked about her motivation, Olsen recalled the emotions and ideas of the kindergarten and preschool self. The proximity of the hard birdhouses created a cold, geometric form, but she masterfully softened her work through the use of Ping-Pong balls, which add a spherical element between her structures. Her art is interactive and sophisticated, yet full of whimsical touches that bring a smile to the viewer's face.Rachel Pfeffer '08 reuses her chair and ottoman suite made of dismembered stuffed animals in her latest work, entitled A Room of Their Own. Since her studio is located on Prospect Street, Pfeffer took multiple pictures of her space and compiled a book showing the room's development. The book rests on top of her sculpture of a peep-hole mailbox. Pfeffer said her installation led to this mailbox creation, a piece which relates to people, houses and the suburbs. Her colorful mailbox was filled with rich visual elements like backlighting, giving it a heightened sense of depth. By inviting the viewer to peer into the mailbox within the larger space, themes of voyeurism come into play. While Pfeffer and Olsen both toyed with suburban elements, Price and Adie Sprague '08 let their works speak for the city and society. Price combined his architectural model of the new World Trade Center in New York with drawings and photography. This is a personal work for Price, who is from New York and marvels that "all these years later, there is still nothing there." His skyscraper sat on top of an acrylic case containing the remnants of Ground Zero, serving as a continual reminder of what sat in the space originally and creates a haunting memorial. Starting with the ivy at the top of the building, there are three levels of vegetation. The second level rests on top of Ground Zero, and the base platform contains a surrounding landscape with live sod and plants, of which no two are alike. Price said he used different plants to reflect New York's diversity. Sprague continued to use her string sculptures as seen in last semester's show, but combined these with a series of boxes situated above and below the sculptures. The strings undulate in a variety of colors, each corresponding to a specific race. The densities of these colors relate to the respective high school graduation rates by race, with the boxes falling through the string-a metaphor for students falling through the cracks. Jonathan Zornow's '08 machine, Robotticelli, is a printer that has been adapted to print on wet plaster, creating frescos. After studying abroad in England and traveling through Italy and France, he said he desired to one day have a fresco in his home but believed it would be too expensive to hire someone to paint it. That motivated him to modify an ink-jet printer to produce such works. There are still a few kinks in the system (such as an inability to print in yellow), but this only adds to the nature of the piece; even when art is done by a computer, there are still mistakes.The painters in this show pushed themselves as well. Eileen Ani '08 based her series of paintings on her travels abroad, combining many locations in a single canvas. Made up mostly of scenes from Montreal, Amsterdam and the Prospect Street Studio, her art dealt as much with the cultural context and inspiration of a piece as it did with the act of painting. Artists Naomi Safran-Hon '08 and Adrienne Johnson '08 also used the memory of location within their art. Safran-Hon, a native Israeli, created photographic transfers of her pictures, many of which are personal and relate to Israeli politics, and combined them with political maps of the area and oil painting. Johnson, in addition to her two soapbox derby coffins, painted Like Two Lives Bound for Separate Coasts. The 73-by-60-inch canvas is based on an unfinished poem about growing up. Her boyfriend was a train-hopper, and this is represented in the work. The work also symbolized two people from her life that have passed away in drug-related deaths The surrealist work also servse as a memorial.Pieces by other artists such as Jacqueline Fox '08, Tanya Fredman '08 and Shira Espo '08 also emphasize portraiture. Fox's self-portrait, Behind the Looking Glass, is based on a picture of her as a little girl, taken two days before her grandmother's death. This painting was one of two self-portraits in the show for Fox. Fredman painted four portraits of individuals important to her personal growth. Her work Reebs is of her friend lying on her bed, surrounded by symbols of her personality that made it easy for the audience to understand her. In her painting of Gabe Gaskins '08, the subject stares directly out at the viewer, meeting the viewer's gaze with his own. In this way, Fredman expresses the subject's true nature. Artists Jennifer Kwak '08 and Laura Francis '08 also produced portraits. Kwak used her friends as models in her accordion-shaped work, gluing slices of canvas on top of plywood rectangles in two angles. By adding mirrors, Kwak defines the viewer as the victim while adding shock appeal. Francis started experimenting with oil stick during a "painting roadblock," and it led to a fantastic growth in her work. Her impasto adds depth and volume to her odd figural compositions, and her canvases trap the viewers' gaze. Olsen's work represents childhood, while Francis' painting Nephin, is of a child who looks strangely grown up.Rachel Silverman '08 and Scott Moerdler '08 used strong colors to delineate their canvases. This semester, Moerdler has been working on a series of paintings of "nerbuls" which he defines as things related biology but evolved from our organs. In Nerbul 1, the large pink nerbul sat on a thick green platform in the bottom half of the canvas. The colors are fresh, but there is something disturbing and almost sickly in his work as well. Silverman's most notable work is The Art of Dance, which showed multiple figures in various positions.Daniele Kohn's '08 work makes one think of the human thought process and progression of ideas. What started off as still lives of fruit and Christmas tree ornaments led to her hanging objects in a grid to eliminate the inclusion of a table. This eventually resulted in hanging Hershey's Kisses and painting their reflections from the light that entered a nearby window. The last four artists in the show created works about nature. Nina Rogowsky's '08 painting of a fish has an intriguing luminosity to it. At first glance, it seems to be in black and white, but raw umber tones are visible and give the work an earthy quality. Stephanie Leighton '08 painted birds, but her works screamed through vibrant colors. Her piece, titled Kias, measures 60 by 73-inches, making the birds seem larger than life. Their knowing gazes gave them an element of humanity, yet their foreign colors made them seem otherworldly. Jill Edinburg's '08 series of prints of trees and forests all portray similar scenes. She said the works had strong organic quality and loved trees because of their distinctive shape. The art of Aiko Nishioka '08 also focuses on trees and forests. In Untitled, two large trees in differing shades of brown hug the edges of the canvas. Within the landscape, the browns, whites and grays are overshadowed by hints of blues and greens that make the painting come to life. Nishioka paints primarily in local Mt. Feake Cemetery, and this somber locale seems to be reflected in the overcast background of her works, although she states the location was not important. She sees trees as possessing a power and energy that relate to the sizes of her canvases. This show, which ended May 18, represented the wealth of artistic talent within the Brandeis community. Congratulations are in order for these graduating students. I'm sure they all have great futures ahead of them.
