Upcoming EWWD

Kind of a light week: only 4 smaller lectures, 2 M-shop shows, 1 Greek philanthropy, 1 Reiman Gardens event, and a handful of athletics. 2 new Varsity II movies though (did anyone make it to that French movie? doesn't seem like anything is staying very long there, other than Wall-E, which was there forever.)

Athletics is the big one this week, with the return of Cyclone Football and the Big 12 opener. Since we lost our road games, there won't be a lot of casual interest, but they were both very close losses, so I'm not writing the Cyclones off for this one. Then again, Kansas is ranked #16 in the country. Game time is 11:30, so tailgating will be starting at 5:30AM. The swim team also starts what I assume is their pre-season with an intrasquad meet on Friday; there's also volleyball after the football game.

Lectures are tonight at 8 on Amazonian languages (titled "Challenging Chomsky"); Wednesday at 8 on the Supreme Court; and Thursday there are 2, one at 7 on energy and politics, and one at 8 on "the definition of manhood". All are in the Sun Room except the Energy and Politics, which is in Howe.

The Thursday show at the m-shop is "hip-hop/psychedelic" and probably not that appealing to most of my readers, but the Friday show is jazz/roots, and after a listen on their Myspace page I'd say the Will Bernard band guys have the funk. More info on tickets at m-shop.com.

The Greek fundraiser is at Alpha Gamma Rho (201 Gray Ave) on Saturday morning - the food is waffles, the cause is the Lance Armstrong Foundation, and the cost is $5.

There's an artist reception Saturday at Reiman -- info including RSVP details at http://www.reimangardens.iastate.edu/index.cfm?nodeID=5693&action=detail&eventid=18393

The two movies are the new Woody Allen flick, and a road movie about returning Iraq veterans.

And this isn't entertainment, and it's not walking distance, but it sure as heck is having me doing a happy dance: S. 4th reopens Wednesday. The loss of this major artery has been an inconvenience to everyone in Ames, but especially those of us on the south side of Lincoln Way. I am especially looking forward to having one of my favorite bike trails back (a rails-to-trails that runs from Research Park all the way to 4th, connecting up with the one that runs along 4th and then along Elwood and on to Brookside)

Review: Sweeney Todd

I was warned before going that the movie version of Sweeney Todd was extremely gory. The gore was not so graphic in the stage version– just symbolic in the form of a giant coffin being reused as all the large furniture props and buckets of blood being poured into one another. So now I'm curious as to whether the symbolism was carried over to the movie or if it was all literal in its depiction of violence. The performers were all very impressive -- there's no separate pit for musicians; everyone is on stage all the time playing an instrument (and often switching between them) as well as a part. I wonder if when casting, the director is just looking to fill out the instrumentation and it doesn't matter who plays which, as long as you can play some something -- or if, for example, the woman playing the daughter has to be a talented bassist. If it comes back to central Iowa I would definitely recommend you see Sweeney Todd (assuming the darkness of the subject matter and the symbolic way it is portrayed is your cup of tea.)

Upcoming EWWD: September 22-27ish

This week's featured entertainment within walking distance is Sweeney Todd at the Iowa State Center. Yes, the actual musical. Not one for the kids, obviously. That's Wednesday at 7. $20 for students and $40+ depending on how nice you want your seats for everyone else. Do what I'm doing and go with a group of grad students. Students can get 2 tickets per student ID.

If you don't want to spend the cash, you can still get plenty of high-class culture at Music Hall Wednesday at 7:30, where there'll be a concert featuring Cantus, a nationally known men's choir, singing with ISU's own men's a capella group, The Statesmen. That's only $5, $3 for students. Since I'll be at Sweeney Todd I'd love to hear from anyone who make it to this. The Music department also has a big concert Friday at 7 with symphonic and concert bands, followed by the Wind Ensemble; it's at the City Auditorium so not actually in walking distance for SCAN people. $4 for students, $6 for the rest of us.

In food and fundraising, there's a Greek philanthropy shindig Thursday: Sigma Phi Epsilon Sausage Fest and BBQ; Cost: $3; Proceeds to benefit: Youth AIDS. Sig Eps are at 228 Gray Ave. That's from 4-8.

ISU Lectures has another full week, with feminist icon Adrienne Rich speaking tonight at 8 in the Great Hall and tomorrow morning at 10 in the Campanile room. Tomorrow evening is a lecture on immigration (part of Hispanic heritage month). Wednesday features a talk at the auditorium in the Design Building on architecture and reducing fossil fuel and greenhouse gas emissions. Thursday has two lectures, one at 8 at City Hall (seems to be a theme this week; it's being catered with local foods so I'm still tempted to go) on "Can capitalism save the planet?" and one closer to home at Howe Hall at 6pm, which is a roundtable on energy security. All lectures are of course, free.

No football game whatsoever this week (the last two were away games). Athletics does have a couple of home matchups though: Soccer against Missouri at 7 on Friday and Volleyball against Nebraska at 6:30 on Saturday. Volleyball is only $1 as part of the "cram the coliseum" promotion -- and don't forget to wear gold (not cardinal, don't want to be confused with fans of the evil Big Red) if you go. If I do anything Friday night it'll probably be the concert, and I have a wedding to go to on Saturday, so this week in sports is another area where I'd appreciate my dear readers' reviews.

Wall-E is approaching a status as a permanent feature at the Varsity, and the other screen is still turning over at a weekly rate. Right now it's a French movie, Roman de Gare. Must be in their contract as an indie/foreign movie house to show 1 French film per semester. The initial plot summary -- it's about a novelist -- on IMDB made me think that it's a stereotypical French movie that only an NPR reviewer could love, but the full summary makes it sound like more of a murder mystery, which could be fun. I'll never convince Chris to go unless it's dubbed though. Can't find any information on whether it's subtitled or dubbed unfortunately.

The M-Shop has indie music on Tuesday and Friday, hip-hop on Saturday, and sketch comedy (Grandma Mojo's of course) Wednesday night late (a person could probably pull off both that and either Sweeney Todd or the men's chorus, if they were up for a full evening out.)

That's it for now -- I'll be back Thursday with my review of Sweeney Todd and hopefully a better preview for the weekend.

Review: Constitution Day at the MU

Banned Books Jeopardy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir were the events Wednesday night at the Union. The lecture on the electoral college at the beginning of the Jeopardy event seemed a little tangential, but once the game got going it was a lot of fun. I had initially thought that the 8:00 show was just the movie, but it was in fact the live performance. I'd never heard the first amendment sung gospel-style before; it was a very unique experience.

Upcoming EWWD: September 15-19

I gotta remember to do these on Thursdays -- the Varsity doesn't post the movie that starts Friday until Wednesday, so I only know that Wall-E is still there, and American Teen (a documentary on high school students) started this past Friday; no clue whether they'll still be there this weekend, and if not what's starting. High school is still a pretty recent memory for me, and nothing I'm interested in reliving. Reviews I've seen of American Teen have been somewhat neutral, with the biggest minus being that they tend to pigeonhole the kids into stereotypes, showing more of what reinforces the idea that one kid is a geek, another a queen bee, another a jock, etc. than what might be interesting about them.

In Greek philanthropies, Beta Theta Pi (on Lincoln Way) is hosting "Beta Burgers and Bands" on Friday from 5:30 till 9 -- for $4 in advance or $5 at the door, get burgers and local music and benefit the 10000 Hours Show, a concert for which the admission price is proof you've done a certain amount of community service.

The M-shop has shows tonight, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, all around $10 for the general public (cheaper for students). They all look like current pop acts, varying from electronica/hip hop to alternative/folk/indie. Check out their website for more details.

It's a full week of lectures at the Union, with "What Would Jesus Buy" (a movie on materialism in America) tonight at 7, Carly Fiorina (former CEO of HP and the first woman to hold that post in a Fortune 20 company) tomorrow at 7:30, and Banned Book Jeopardy on Wednesday at 7, featuring SCAN's own Fern Kupfer. Competing for that timeslot over at the Design College is an artist, chemist, and industrial hygienist lecturing on the topic "Danger! Artist at Work". Also on Wednesday competing for the 8:00 hour (assuming the 7:00s are only an hour long, you could do two) are an encore of What Would Jesus Buy, and the opening of a gallery exhibit on the subject of assisted reproductive technology. Thursday features Henry Rollins doing a spoken word show at Stephens at 8, and a lecture titled "Civic Professionalism and the Pursuit of Sustainability in the Arts and Humanities" in the Sun Room of the MU, also at 8. And even though I hope to do another Upcoming EWWD yet this week, I want to mention now that a member of the Mythbusters team is going to be at Stephens on Saturday. All ISU lectures are free.

Also somewhat outside of the scope is Sweeney Todd (yes, the actual musical) at Stephens on Wednesday the 24th (next week). Buy your tickets now! $20 for students, $43+ for the rest of us. Students can buy 2 each, so I'm hoping to go with some of my HCI colleagues who are taking their time graduating.

Finally, Reiman Gardens is doing Butterfly Docent Training on Saturday -- I'm thinking about doing this one as a way to schedule my day up a little better while I continue the full-time job hunt. Shifts look pretty flexible. If you want to do it you'll have to RSVP, more info at http://www.reimangardens.iastate.edu/index.cfm?nodeID=5693&action=detail&eventid=17975

EWWD: A Snack and a Movie

Last Tuesday (gosh, I've gotten behind) was the ice cream social at the new Alumni Center on Beach. As I mentioned on my post on the Kent State game, when I first got a good look at the inside, it's very nice. I got a chance to chat with Jeff Johnson, president of the Alumni Association, who's an all-around great guy, and the staff was on hand to explain various architectural details, such as the pitches in the ceiling designed to remind you of the campanile. I also got a chance to look closely at the university mace, which I believe was introduced at my first graduation ceremony in May '04, so that was pretty cool. Turns out the little gold plates are the names and dates served of all the university presidents. The interesting thing to me was the couple of guys who got stuck doing the interim president thing again and again, and wound up serving longer that at least one regular president. The root beer floats were tasty, too. I wasn't able to stick around for a tour as I had a dinner in Des Moines to get to.

Wednesday Chris and I went to Clone Wars at the Varsity II. As I mentioned in my last "upcoming EWWD" post, we enjoyed the cartoon series, but something was off from the series -- the animation wasn't quite the same, and the darkness that should have been present in Anakin was so toned down that it just didn't seem to fit in the chronology of the prequel trilogy. It also bothered me that they introduced and developed a likable (almost to the point of being a Mary Sue) character that gets killed in Epsiode III as just another Jedi . However, it's not like we paid dodecaplex prices for it, and it is always nice to just walk to a movie, and then just walk home.

Ok, that review was pretty flamboyantly geeky, so I'll move on to researching for Upcoming EWWD for this week.

Neighborhood Business: meeting and letter

So, attendance was pretty good at the meeting. I'm especially pleased with the signups I got for the welcome committee. At this point I only know of a couple of houses for sale -- none sale pending -- so if you know of any let me know. I know Barbara and Leslie didn't get what they were hoping for with signups for the home tour (they need people to check tickets at the door of each home). You get to do the tour free, assuming there are enough volunteers to relieve you from your duties for half the time. It's October 12, a Sunday of a weekend with no home football game.

From the APD reports, it sounds like the Crime-Free Housing initiative is going fairly well, although it's still just getting started. We also heard about the Campustown Safety Walk tentatively set for the evening of October 6 -- if you'd like to walk around the neighborhood one of 8 or so groups consisting of APD officers, city council members, Greek community members and other relevant individuals, they'd love to have more residents volunteer -- just email Adi Johnson, ajohnson@city.ames.ia.us.

Finally, my letter was published by the Daily -- 2 days after they published a similar one (although in my opinion more intrusive in its advice on students' personal lives), giving them nearly identical titles. The previous one has already gotten some negative online feedback, and shows up on the sidebar on every page of the Daily's website as one of the most read stories; I'll have to keep an eye on mine to see if there's any either in print or online. I worry that with 2 letters on similar topics, as well as feedback on people not picking up after their dogs, there will be backlash against all of it. Speaking of which, it appears I have my first comment -- and it's my first flame. I don't see any need to respond to it: if the person who left it is as apathetic about our organization as they claim they won't be back to benefit from a reasoned response. Then again if they were as truly apathetic as they claim they wouldn't have bothered to go online to complain about us in the first place.

EWWD: Upcoming

This promises to be a pretty busy week, despite the lack of a home football game to cap it off. I won't be going to Iowa City, although many people I know are; I have a wedding (which also means I'll be missing any events Friday and Saturday nights.)

There appear to be several Greek philanthropy dinner events beginning tonight; thanks to the meeting tonight I'll be missing the Chi Omega chili supper, and I've got a supper invitations out of town Tuesday and Thursday and will have to miss Farmhouses' burritos and Alpha Gamma Delta' Pajama Jam, but I'll try to make it to DTD's grilling on Wednesday. If you make it to any of them, or would like to, this is the entry to comment on. There all around $6 each.

In lectures, Kal Penn, an actor in a number of college-student-oriented comedies will be on campus campaigning for Obama. On Tuesday there's a more serious Obama-oriented lecture about racism, and Wednesday is the weekly Globalization series, this one about financial markets. Thursday features a colloquium on sustainable agriculture. As I mentioned I'm busy Tuesday and Thursday so I'd love to hear from anyone who makes it to those two lectures.

Wall-E continues to grace the Varsity II, and will be joined by another sci-fi animated movie: Star Wars Clone Wars. I liked the animated Clone Wars series that was on Cartoon Network, and have been planning to go to Clone Wars and the fact that it's at the Varsity II means it's less expensive than at the dodecaplex on South Duff (well what do you call a theater with 12 screens?) Don't know whether I'll try to make it Monday or Wednesday, or hope that it sticks around through next week (since Tuesdays are yet less expensive).

In athletics the women of the volleyball team take on two intrastate rivals: UNI on Wednesday and Iowa Friday.

At the m-shop there's open mic night Tuesday, sketch comedy Wednesday (only $1) and indie bands both on Thursday (supposed to be like the Rolling Stones) and Saturday (which is more modern and angry sounding) both at $9 in advance, $10 day of the show.

See you at the meeting, and don't forget to comment here on anything you make it to that I don't!

Football: ISU vs. Kent State

As I predicted in my last football-related post, Kent State did present a bit more of a challenge than SDSU, but the Cyclones pulled it off, and then pulled ahead in the end for a 20 point lead over the other guys. We checked out the new alumni center as part of our afternoon of tailgating -- we contribute to a friend who has a bus to help cover gas, parking permit, and propane for the grill. It's respectable tailgate, thanks to the numerous babies born to its participants in the last 2 years (including the bus owner), but we wanted to wander around a bit. The place itself is very swanky with leather chairs and high ceilings. They're having an ice cream social Tuesday so I'll be discussing that here then.

Since it was a Saturday game, the parking situation should be closer to what we'll be seeing in the future, although overall attendance will be impacted by the Cyclones' record going into the next home game -- if we're on a 2-game losing streak there won't be as many casual fans, and conversely if the team beats Iowa and UNLV while away, there will be a great deal more excitement, especially since we'll be starting the "conference" portion of the season (games more important to determining whether we get a post-season game.) Additionally, it will be family weekend, and students' parents will be in town for the game and other events.

Next week's game in Iowa City should be very close -- I think this is one of the years when we go in truly nearly evenly matched. Beat the Hawks! The next home game isn't until October 4th, and will be against Kansas.

Entertainment within walking distance: The Onion

This is a little late, and I've got a couple more coming up but I wanted to get the backlog out before tonight's meeting. ISU Lectures hosted two writers from The Onion, "America's Finest News Source" Wednesday night. It was a fun way to spend an evening; as a regular reader of the Onion the retrospective on the articles was mostly a nostalgia trip -- a lot of the humor of the Onion loses its punch the second time around, especially since it is news satire, and funniest when it's fresh. For someone unfamiliar with the Onion itself, it's the newspaper equivalent to The Daily Show's take on the nightly news; and if you're completely unfamiliar with news satire, the lecture probably wouldn't have been for you. In my opinion the media benefits from being skewered in this fashion (and it makes for great entertainment) and The Onion does a great job of stepping outside of and then capturing the national zeitgeist.

There's no print edition for central Iowa, although I imagine we'd have enough readers to support one; I get physical copies whenever I visit family in Boulder CO so I have seen it in print. Occasionally I run into people who are faithful readers of the online edition and have no idea it started as a college humor newspaper (sort of like the Green Gander was here 50 years ago) in Madison in 1988 and print editions can be found in dozens of cities, serving not only to deliver headlines such as "Kitten thinks of nothing but murder all day" but also the "AV Club", a serious look at local entertainment with reviews and listings for live acts, comedy, and movies.

For the lecture itself: as I said, the retrospective was good for some laughs but all quite familiar territory for me. The Q&A covered some pretty generic topics, and the answers I was largely familiar with thanks to an episode of "This American Life" (weekends on NPR) which covered their creative process. There was a book signing afterward but we didn't stick around.

Neighborhood Business: The Upcoming Meeting

Now that I and some board members have distributed several hundred fliers with this blog's address, there are probably new readers interested in the association itself, as well as this meeting that the flier was advertising. Well, here's an article I originally wrote up for the member newsletter, which won't be ready until after the meeting (it'll make it easier to figure out who's a member anyway).


The board of directors of the South Campus Area Neighborhood invite you to the annual meeting, to be held Sunday, September 7, 2008 at 7:00 PM at the Crawford School.

Officer Harry Samms, our Community Resource Officer from the Ames Police Department will be speaking on the Certified Crime-Free Housing initiative that his department has been working on, as well as general policing and crime prevention in our area.

We encourage all residents and interested parties to attend, including owner-occupants, renters, landlords, and business owners.

As at all our annual meetings, we will enroll members for the 08-09 year and elect people to our board of directors. Voting and holding office are the only meeting activities limited to our paid members.

Gloria Betcher of the Historic Preservation Committee will update us on all of their activities. We will also have reports from our president, Fern Kupfer; treasurer, Steve Ringlee; and new public relations director, Helen Colvin.


Yep, that's me there at the end. For more about SCAN check out this blog's very first post.