by Aaron Schmelzer | Jan 13, 2011 | Opinion
I like to catch up with friends at the end of the Christmas holidays. I often ask them, “What did you do over the holidays? ” With that question, my friends most often respond with the same answer. “Nothing much. Just spent time with family, you know.” They then follow up with the same question I asked them. I respond by telling them: “You know, I did the same thing. Oh, but I did do something a little different this year. I went to Peru on a mission trip.” I had been to Peru before– last June on vacation with a fellow Lipscomb student and great friend Joel Collao, who is also from Peru. I was privileged to be able to return on January 2nd with a group from Lipscomb on a mission trip to Lima, the capital of Peru that I had visited before. While the heart of Lima, the Plaza de Armas, retains its colonial architecture and is quite beautiful, outside of the colonial center is also outside “tourist country.” However, outside is where the real heart and culture of Lima lie. That is from where the real Peruvians come, but the real Peruvians are also often the people that need the most help both spiritually and physically. We went to Lima to create a VBS for the children and families that attend or live near the Iglesia de Cristo de Lucyana (Lucyana Church of Christ). Several members of the church welcomed our arrival with a large homemade sign and songs. The same members helped us throughout the week in breaking through the language and culture barriers....
by Jadrienne Myhre | Nov 11, 2010 | Opinion
Connecting with the dead may have some appeal, but as far as movies are concerned, it is important to connect to the audience. And in this department, Hereafter is dead on arrival. Why? Because there is no climax or storyline, and no character development. Each of the characters is troubled, but instead of developing the characters or offering a moral lesson, after 129 minutes the movie simply, well, ends. There is nothing. The characters stay confused and simply leave once they get a psychic reading from Matt Damon’s character, George Lonegan. The three characters – Marcus, Marie, Malorie – are troubled by events from their pasts. Marcus’ older brother dies, Marie has a near-death experience, Malorie, who has unresolved conflict with her father in her past, drops out of the story half-way through the film and never surfaces again. Damon’s character is a middle-aged psychic who no longer wants his job, but seems to have no development and no resolution. In the beginning of the film, he is frustrated with his brother for exploiting his psychic ability, and confused about what to do. At the end, he leaves for England, still frustrated and confused. The movie as a whole lacked resolution. It felt more like a snapshot than a story. None of the characters get resolution, just readings. For George Lonegan, there is no indication that his struggle is ever resolved or even justified. Perhaps there was some subtle closure in George getting the “normal relationship” he wanted at the end of the film, but for the average audience member, this is hardly satisfying. Directed by Clint Eastwood, this film is rated...
by Hunter Patterson | Nov 2, 2010 | News Slider, Opinion
On a night during which many voters expressed disapproval for the Obama administration and the Democrats, Tennessee became one of many states from around the country to elect a Republican governor. And voters in the Volunteer State didn’t have to wait long to find out all the pre-election prognostications were correct: By 7:28 p.m. the Associated Press declared Bill Haslam the winner. Republican Haslam, mayor of Knoxville, and Democrat Mike McWherter, a Jackson businessman and the son of former Gov. Ned McWherter, sought to succeed outgoing Gov. Phil Bredesen. With nearly half of the precincts having reported, Haslam controlled about 70 percent of the vote. During his victory speech Haslam — who had spent a part of the evening chairing the Knoxville City Council, one of his mayoral duties — expressed excitement about the tasks at hand. “I am looking forward to working with Gov. Bredesen–we are starting as early as (Wednesday),” Haslam said. “It is my duty to make certain that Tennessee continues to move forward. While it’s time to celebrate the victory, we must not forget that we face some major social issues.” It also appears that Tennessee has approved a constitutional guarantee to hunt and fish. Much like what other Southern states have done — South Carolina, Alabama and Arkansas — Tennessee will now have the right to hunt and fish implanted into the state’s constitution. While it does not change the law, it prevents from hunting and fishing from being outlawed without changing the constitution. Several participants from COMMA volunteered at the News Channel 4 studios Tuesday night. The COMMA students (members of the Communication Majors and Minors Association) answered phone calls from all around the state to...
by Kara Philpot | Oct 27, 2010 | Opinion
Glee is sweeping over the Lipscomb campus. The Emmy award-winning television show has captured hearts around the nation and at Lipscomb. “Glee is so random and crazy and I love it,” Kayleigh Butterfield, a sophomore law, justice and society major from Vernon, Vt. “The characters all have very distinct personalities and are great to watch.” In case you don’t watch, here are some basic details. The glee club students at the fictitious William McKinley High School are part of the show choir group called “New Directions,” directed by the Spanish teacher Will Schuester. The students in the show choir have a set topic every week and try to find songs that go along with the topic. Song selections have ranged from the likes of Kanye West, Carrie Underwood, Brittney Spears and Journey. Students at Lipscomb gather at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays to watch the show on Fox. “All the songs are great and really catchy,” Butterfield said. “But I have to say my favorite song so far [was] in season one. I really like when the cast did ‘Golddigger’ with Schuester. That has to be my favorite. It just makes me smile every time I see the clip.” Each characters is in a different stage of life, and each has discovered that both music and the support of their fellow glee club members provide a comforting atmosphere that allows them to get through any life crisis. “The epic music is great, but the best part is how they handle the tough issues,” said Page DeVere, a sophomore psychology and social work major from Ft. Meyers, Fla. “They don’t mince words...
by Tyler Lallathin | Oct 20, 2010 | Opinion
More than 500 million people have Facebook accounts, so it seems the new movie “The Social Network” would have a built-in audience. But even if you don’t do Facebook, you will probably still enjoy what I consider to be a great movie. The film focuses on the story behind the creation of facebook.com. I would not consider this a “based-on-a true-story” film as much as a “loosely-based-on-a-true-story-but-greatly-dramatized-for-Hollywood” film. The film tells the story of Mark Zuckerburg and his inspiration for the Facebook website. It follows the story from Zuckerburg, the site’s founder, sitting in his dorm room in college writing the code for the site, to moving its offices to California and growing it into the multi-billion dollar website it is today. The plot is not really about the website itself, but the confrontation between Zuckerburg and his colleagues. In the film, Zuckerburg is presenting his case in two separate lawsuits, and describes how the website came to be and how it grew. The film made an estimated $23 million on its opening weekend, despite much criticism about its factuality. While a Facebook account is not needed to appreciate the film, users would understand some jokes and references in the movie that others would not. Anybody can relate to the drama that the characters go through in this film. The film is 120 minutes long and is rated PG-13 for language, sexual content and drug and alcohol...
