by LeBron Hill | Mar 12, 2019 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider, Opinion
Transitions can be hard — moving out of your parents’ house and actually paying bills, or when your university changes from Pepsi to Coke. #neverforget With Marvel’s highly anticipated “Avengers: Endgame” premiering late next month, “Captain Marvel” sneaks in as the last superhero introduced in Phase Three, Marvel’s timeline of character storylines, thus transitioning into the next chapter of the Marvel Universe. The movie isn’t anything too spectacular; it doesn’t help that it’s placed in the middle of “Infinity War” and “Endgame,” acting as an appetizer before we devour the main course. Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) finds herself right in the middle of the war between the warmongering Kree and the shapeshifting Skrulls. With her mind swiped of her memories, Carol Danvers must hone her newly-found radioactive powers and regain who she is. The storyline is solid, but the overall ideas and themes are overdone. You enter into “Total Recall“ territory with the lost memory premise and then combine that with an intergalactic war of “Star Wars” proportions and sprinkle in “Star Trek”-like cosmetics. Larson’s supporting cast is a bright spot of the film, which is led by Jude Law (Sherlock Holmes) and Ben Mendelsohn (Rogue One), and you can’t have a Marvel movie without the Kangol-wearing king of box office blockbusters, Samuel L. Jackson. It makes sense that casting for this film would be so strong, considering how importantly the storytelling in this film will lead into more to come. In the comics, Captain Marvel becomes the new leader of the Avengers with Iron Man passing the torch to her. It seems to be the way the movies...
by Spencer Boehme | Mar 11, 2019 | News Slider, Opinion, Sports
The stage was set for the ASUN men’s basketball championship game on Sunday afternoon. After a stormy Saturday, the sun came out and fans began filling Allen Arena to watch the No. 1 Lipscomb Bisons (25-7) take on the No. 2 Liberty Flames (28-6). And then Lipscomb lost a heart-wrenching, back-and-forth contest, 74-68. “It was an unbelievable day,” Lipscomb coach Casey Alexander said. “And I’m proud of our team for being in a position to host this game, and I love the Lipscomb people who showed up and made it a great day for us.” 5,607 fans showed up to the sellout game, setting a new Allen Arena record. It was difficult to find an empty seat, and the raucous crowd made itself seen and heard. Instead, Sunday’s game featured towel-waving fans in a nationally televised game that lived up to its expectations. “I think the ASUN won tonight,” Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay said. “That crowd was terrific. That was a great atmosphere.” The big question is: can Lipscomb continue to fill its arena? First, we have to acknowledge the fact that Sunday’s game was special and doesn’t happen every day. That makes my answer an immediate ‘no.’ Second is the fact that Lipscomb lost on Sunday. That’s not to diminish the novelty of Sunday, especially when you look at the Bisons’ recent attendance boosts. Starters Kenny Cooper and Michael Buckland will be seniors next season. Redshirt freshman Ahsan Asadullah played some solid basketball on Sunday with eight points, nine rebounds and two steals. The fans loved watching him. Overall, there are a lot of bench players who...
by Konnor Gottfred | Mar 9, 2019 | News Slider, Opinion
DISCLAIMER: This article is the opinion of the author and is not intended to reflect the opinions of Lumination Network. Moderation is disappearing in the American political landscape. Over the past twenty years, there has been a continual shift or reoccurring trend in the politics of the everyday citizen where viewpoints across the partisan spectrum have started to become less and less varied. In turn, many citizens are slowly pulling away from the opposing side and becoming more self-contained within their preferred party. The middle ground we used to find between the parties is being swallowed up by a more radical wave stemming from both sides of the issue. This trend, often referred to as political polarization, paints a potentially bleak future of American politics as both parties continue to become more and more enveloped in their own views. The rise of polarization has had an inverse effect on compromise as these like-minded bubbles often breed little criticism, which opens the way for more extreme views to be adopted. The ideas put out by politicians keep getting more and more radical because we as a society allow them to. In many instances, polarization is furthered by the everyday people you associate with. A majority of people say that their friends and family share similar if not identical viewpoints to theirs. The Overton Window is a political theory that defines the boundaries for what stances a politician can take and still be elected. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy states that “The [Overton] window shifts to include different policy options not when ideas change among politicians, but when ideas change in...
by Quinn Gorte | Mar 1, 2019 | News Slider, Opinion
Every restaurant has pros and cons. For The Dotted Lime, the con is that the restaurant is located one hour from Lipscomb, but thankfully the pros are…everything else. Friends, The Dotted Lime is where gluten-free dreams come true. I’m half-convinced Willy Wonka actually works there. Not because they have a chocolate river in the restaurant (honestly, I believe they can do anything), but because their gluten and dairy-free cinnamon rolls are on the Wonka-level of being unbelievably good. (It’s a real level…look it up.) I’ll admit that Columbia, Tennessee, the cute small town in which Lime is located, may not be the tourist destination of the year. My hope, however, is that reading this will encourage you to think of it instead as a gluten-free pilgrimage, with The Dotted Lime as the ultimate destination. A journey, to be sure, but worth it, in my humble opinion. One of the most noteworthy elements of The Dotted Lime is that the entire restaurant is gluten-free, so you don’t have to worry about cross-contamination. It’s also lovely to be able to choose from 100% of the menu items, instead of 10%-50% of choices on a typical restaurant’s menu. What a win-win for my gluten-free people! My second Lime spotlight shines on its “world famous” cinnamon rolls. If you ate one without knowing it was gluten-free and dairy-free, you’d probably never guess it was. Yes, the cinnamon rolls are that good. Mysteriously gluten-like in their chewy texture, perfect to pull apart/unroll (the only correct way to eat a cinnamon roll, by the way), and comforting, with an addicting flavor and sweetness, Lime’s cinnamon...
by Konnor Gottfred | Feb 24, 2019 | News Slider, Opinion
This week, I sat down with Dr. Marc Schwerdt, a professor of political science here at Lipscomb to discuss and go over the potential successes and shortcomings of The Green New Deal. Before we get into the some of the points made within the interview, I would like to go over just what exactly the Green New Deal is and what it entails. The Green New Deal is a sweeping and newly-proposed resolution that is being championed by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey. While it was mentioned all the way back in November after AOC won her congressional race in New York, the actual document containing the details and provisions behind a new ten-year plan was first introduced to Congress on Feb. 7 of this year. The Green New Deal declares that “because the United States has historically been responsible for a disproportionate amount of greenhouse gas emissions, having emitted 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions through 2014, and has a high technological capacity, the United States must take a leading role in reducing emissions through economic transformation.” Therefore, there are many domestically-centered projects and objectives outlined within the resolution that revolve around a global concern for our environment. AOC looks for America to move to a system of 100 percent clean, renewable energy by around 2030, and the deal also looks for the world to be able to have net-zero emissions by 2050. Not only would we be moving away from greenhouse gases and fossil fuels, but this also includes the decommissioning of all nuclear plants. According to the document, if we do nothing to reverse...
by Maria Morales | Feb 23, 2019 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider, Opinion
If you are a fan of DreamWorks Animation, you will definitely like the “How to Train Your Dragon” trilogy. Based on one of the book series written by Cressida Cowell, “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” was directed by Dean DeBlois. In this installment, Hiccup and his loyal dragon Toothless continue to rescue dragons that have been captured and bring them back to Berk, which is the island where Hiccup and his people live. We also see Astrid, Hiccup’s love interest, helping Hiccup save more dragons in order to create their own sort of dragon paradise. At some point, Hiccup is faced with overpopulation of dragons in the Island. Hiccup remembers that his late father Stoick told him about the ‘Hidden World,’ which could be a safer place to keep all of the rescued dragons. Meanwhile, warlords and an infamous dragon hunter named Grimmel the Grisly wants to capture Toothless to make him the alpha. Grimmel uses a white female dragon, “Light Fury,” to try to get Toothless’s attention and capture him. Hiccup must find a way to protect Toothless and his people from Grimmel’s threats. For starters, the action scenes are impeccable, and the dragons’ being different even in their smallest detail should give the film the attention it deserves. The storyline delivers two different love stories between Hiccup with Astrid and Toothless with Light Fury. It shows a whole different side of Toothless while he is falling for Light Fury, something that was unexpected yet still charming. While the story keeps its humorous scenes, surprisingly, it has parts that might be considered more for a...
