A Keen Eye For News

The FalconMonday, September 24th, 2012

Volume 1. Issue 5.

thefalconat.tumblr.com

New Hero Falcon Fever

page 2 news page 6 sports

DC Launches a surprising new hero

The future of our campus sports show

CROSS CAMPUS

Submit announcementsfacebook.com/

thefalconmontevallo

OUTRAGE OF MUSLIMSSGA Elections on

BlackboardSeptember 24

thru 26th at 3 p.m

Neo Soul

September 26, 7pm – 9pm

Student Life CenterA casual night

of the arts!

Bongo Ball ManiaSeptember 25,

4pm-10pmIntramural Field

SGA Exec. MeetingSeptember 27

3:30pm–4:30pmSGA Conference Room

The 1 Dollar Record Review: Showdown

page 4 arts

IN THIS ISSUE

Zeta Phi Beta Unity Step Show

September 28, 7pm–10pm

Palmer Auditorium

Night Ranger vs. Eli

by Kyle JonesEditor-in-Chief

The film Inno-cence of Muslims has electrified the Mus-lim world the past two weeks with its anti-Is-lam message. This has sparked protest in over 20 countries last Friday, which is the Muslim holy day. The film di-rected by Alan Roberts, who is known for soft-core pornography and other low-budget films, depicts the Prophet Mu-hammad in lewd and violent situations; any depiction in any shape or form of the Prophet is strictly forbidden by the Islamic law.

Violent and non-violent protests have erupted from Asia to Africa. Since the pro-test 17 people were killed and dozens were injured in Pakistan,

protesters clashed with riot police in Greece, and numerous cities and countries have held demonstrations and protest denouncing the filmmakers and call-ing for the U.S. to hang the people involved with the film. In the Lebanese city of Tyre, thousands of people marched in the streets chanting “Oh, America, you are God’s enemy!”

To make mat-ters worse the provoca-tive French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo ran in their Wednesday issue multiple cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. The cover features the prophet be-ing pushed in a wheel-chair by an Orthodox Jew under the title Un-touchables 2, in ref-erence to a popular French movie featuring a friendship in France between a disabled white man and his black helper. Also, inside the newspaper a page was run depicting a naked Muhammad naked in

continued on page 3A censored example of the cartoon that poured fuel on the fire

by Reed StrengthStaff Writer

The Giants Finally Get Bigger ToysPhoto:Mike Messina

continued on page 3

Zip LineSeptember 29, 10am – 4pm

Intramural Fields

Searching “Gi-ants and Toys” on music streaming site Spotify won’t get you much. The Montevallo based band can’t be found under Artists or Albums. However, un-der the label for songs, they’re mysteriously featured in Auburn rap-per Larry Lank Lank’s victory tune, “Must Be (Champions)”.

“There is a long and funny story”, Gi-

ants and Toys’ lead singer Michael Mes-sina told me. Two and a half years ago, Mes-sina got a call from the rapper, telling him that he really liked his vo-cals. Messina traveled to the rapper’s studio-apartment, and was told to sing lines that they would incorporate into the track. “I didn’t hear any of the lyrics, I had no clue what it was about”, says Messina.

Long story short, the song was eventually put on You-Tube, and that’s when Messina finally heard the full track. “I had no clue it was gonna be this thing for Cam New-ton”, Messina admits. The singer thought his

contribution would be an un-credited “ghost vocal”, but instead, his band’s name was placed within the song’s title.

Giants and Toys have been around four years now; however, there current lineup has only existed as is for a year. John Nicholson was the newest addi-tion after multi-instru-mentalist Jake Finn left Montevallo to pursue a Graduate Degree in Auburn University’s engineering program. The band released a self-recorded, self-titled album before Finn’s de-parture. The collection is 20 tracks long, and marks the difference in G&T’s sound from the other Montevallo

The Falcon Page Two

news “Maybe some of today’s papers have too many ‘feel-good’ features,

but there is a lot of good news out there. “-Ben Bradlee

In issue zero of the new 52, a recent revamp of DC Comics major heroes, Green Lantern sent shock waves through the new world. What makes this issue so important is the new character introduced as a Green Lantern is Simon Baz, an Arab American. With this move DC Comics has made history, Simon is the first Arab Ameri-can superhero. Arabs have been in comics for a long time, but have usually been portrayed as villains and often stereotyped as terror-ist. Writer Geoff Johns drew inspiration for the character through his own Arab Ameri-can ancestry which makes this characters struggles very personal.

Simon is a fresh face in a title that has not seen a new character in years. Most of the char-acters that have been Green Lanterns share a military background, like Hal Jordan the clas-sic Green Lantern. Si-mon has a more mod-ern feel to him then the statuesque of the Green Lantern title, which makes the character standout from those who have come before.

by Matthew LordContributing Writer

In the course of Simon’s introduction is-sue he is accused of be-ing a terrorist during a car theft gone wrong. In fact, Simon is a car thief that stole the wrong car. The car he stole hap-pens to have a bomb in it, acting quickly Si-mon decides to crash it into an empty factory to save lives. This heroic act leads to him being accused of terrorism.

Geoff Johns bravely shows him go-ing through F.B.I in-terrogations as Simon is insulted and water boarded. As Simon is about to be water boarded his interroga-tor says “relax Muham-mad this is just rou-tine” this single panel speaks so profoundly against intolerance.

Simon then finds himself with a gun pointed at his head, that is when the green power ring chooses him as its host. As it goes on to his ring finger the phrase every Green Lantern fan knows appears, the acceptance words for every new lantern “Simon Baz of Earth you have the ability to overcome great fear”.

The differences between Simon and pre-vious lanterns do not end with his heritage. Simon with his fore-arm tattoo “courage” in Arabic adds even more to the character. Tat-toos being forbidden in Islam and superheroes generally do not sport tattoos. This small de-tail further sets him apart from the other DC characters. Which are traditionally rather clean cut characters but this may be something DC is trying to change.

Most of the comic focused on show-ing the persecution he has to live with. It is likely that this theme will follow the charac-ter. Though is the char-acter just a ploy to get people talking or will he be a permanent addition to DCs line up? Geoff Johns doesn’t think so; Simon will not only be a major character in the Green Lantern comic, but also a member of the Justice League of Amer-ica. It is hard to say how long he will last, but this major change reflects both how we as readers and Ameri-cans have changed.

A Study in SherlockDC Shakes the Comic World and Ours

by Reed StrengthStaff Writer

There’s been a recent Sherlock Holmes revival within our cul-ture. A hit BBC televi-sion series about the obtuse sleuth has gained a cult following, he is the direct inspiration for the difficult doctor that starred in the recent-ly finished television series “House”, and Robert Downey Jr. has starred in two movies portraying the detective as a lustful, ass-kicking genius who can see vi-sions of a slowed future.

The Sherlock Holmes Literary Soci-ety, the working title for a group of Montevallo students and professors interested in the literary figure, focus on where he originated: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s legend-ary books. Started by Professor Kenneth Lae-ger of the Theatre De-partment and new Eng-lish Department faculty

member Alex Beringer, what was a small meet-ing to discuss the fig-ure, has blossomed into a full blown club.

I sat in at their recent meeting in Hill House. The group had read the first novel in the series, “A Study in Scarlet”, and discussed the portrayal of Sher-lock within the story, versus his “Rambo meets Sherlock” per-sona via Downey Jr. Everyone chipped in observations and ideas, with nary a disagree-ment or argument.

Beringer lead the discussions with a PowerPoint presen-tation to share back-ground info and help bring up topics. Impor-tant passages within the story were brought up and read out loud, and Beringer asked the members for their

Monday, September 24th, 2012

thoughts on just what Dr. Watson, the narrator of the story, as well as Holmes’ valuable right hand man, saw and de-scribed. Some points of interest included a passage where Holmes, unsatisfied with his failed attempt to poison a small terrier, mixed up a stronger concoc-tion that left the animal dead within the first sip.

After an hour of discussion, a break was called, and Profes-sor Lager pointed us to the kitchen, where “Mormon Trail Bis-cuits” (he later admit-ted them to be as “dry as the Nevada desert”) were available along with Utah brand honey.

The combina-tion was used to coincide with a lengthy disserta-tion Doyle writes during “A Study in Scarlett” about the threat of Mor-

mons, despite garner-ing false information, and later apologizing to Mormon leaders about the passage in 1923.

The next meet-ing for the organization is scheduled to be on October 27, at 7 pm in Hill House. Member-ship is totally free and voluntary, with the only true requirement being to finish the next story in the series, “The Sign of Four”, for discussion.

In addition, the group plans to watch the American adaptation of the BBC series, “Ele-mentary” on September 27 when it premieres, with further details to appear on a future Facebook page. If any-one wishes to know the real Sherlock Holmes, and has a knack for literary discussion, this group of “Sher-lockians” welcomes you with open arms.

Photo:Reed Strength

front of a video camera.

France is home to Western Europe’s largest Muslim popu-lation, and due to the film and cartoon, France ordered that all embas-sies, cultural centers, schools and other of-ficial sites to be closed last Friday as well as the French school in Tu-nisia, where US ambas-sador Chris Stevens was killed during protest on September 11th.

Despite the of-fices of Charlie Hebdo

being firebombed by protestors last Novem-ber for running a simi-lar editorial cartoon and pleas from French government officials the editors decided to go forward and run the cartoon. Foreign Minis-ter Laurent Fabius said in regards to freedom of expression that it “must not be infringed,” but also had this to say, “Is it pertinent, intel-ligent, in this context to pour oil on the fire? The answer is no.”

The editors of Charlie Hebdo stood by

their decision, “We’re a newspaper that re-spects French law,” said Gérard Biard, the editor in chief. “Now, if there’s a law that is different in Kabul or Riyadh, we’re not go-ing to bother ourselves with respecting it.”

The unrest does not seem to be getting any better as the Muslim world continues to rage on. As the turmoil begins to rise or fizzle out we will keep you updated.

UNRESTcontinued

Five Day Weather Forecast

The Falcon Page Three

GIANTScontinued

Plenty of fuss is being made about the upcoming election. Some say it’s the most important election in decades, others say it’s a clear choice who you should vote for; insert party affiliation here.

Most recently however a big stink is being made about na-tional voting laws and how new laws may hin-der the voting process. We have the Republi-cans on the right say-ing these laws are good and wholesome and will insure an accurate vote and deter voter fraud. Valid points to be sure.

On the left we have the Democrats cry-ing foul because they say the laws will make it harder for certain people (read minorities, elderly and the disabled) to vote; also valid points.

So what is all the fuss about anyway? At the heart of the debate are the voter identifica-tion and proof of citizen-ship laws many states have adopted, Alabama being one of them. Here in Alabama these laws passed, but won’t take effect until after they receive preclear-ance approval from the Department of Justice.

The real ques-tion should be, why weren’t these laws in place a hundred years ago? When you buy alcohol you have to show your ID, and no one complains. Cor-rection, no one of legal age complains. When you go for your driv-er’s license you have to prove citizenship and residency, and be-sides the absurdly long lines, no one complains.

Yet, now that

we have to do the very same thing to cast a vote everyone is up in arms and taking sides. I for one applaud the laws. I have to show my ID to walk into establish-ments like bars or to prove I am who I say I am when writing checks.

Anyone can ar-gue the laws make it difficult for people to cast their vote, and I don’t intend to argue against that. But there has to be a better way to make sure every-one has the chance to vote. And it starts with your state issued I.D.

Whether you have a driver’s license or a non-driver ID, reach into your pock-et or purse and pull it out. On the back are two barcodes and a magnetic strip similar to what’s on your debit card. While the state certainly uses these strips to store informa-tion about you, are they using them effectively?

Here’s how you solve the whole voting law mess:

1. All citizens have to show a variety of combinations of docu-ments including so-cial security cards and birth certificates to re-ceive a state ID. This serves the purpose of determining your resi-dency and citizenship.

Once you’ve proven or disproven your citizenship it should be reflected on your ID. We don’t have to put a big letter or symbol on the ID to single out non-citizens, but for voting purposes a simple encoded yes or no on one of bar-codes would suffice.

2. Certain felonies void your right to vote. That too should be not-ed with a simple yes or no on the barcodes.

3. Have you regis-tered to vote? Again, annotating this on your state ID would save some headaches

come Election Day.

Now that we have all your informa-tion on your ID card we can simplify the voting process at ballot loca-tions. When you ar-rive, you show election officials your ID, they swipe it in a card reader and all your pertinent in-formation is displayed.

This allows the officials a quick, easy way to process potential voters.

With each vot-er swiping their cards before they cast their ballot, the chances of someone going to an-other polling site and doubling down on their vote are diminished. Having election offi-cials also keep a written tally of who has voted would serve as a redun-dancy to the computer verification system.

More to the point, elections are a state and federal affair. While I don’t believe the federal government should meddle in state affairs, and the constitu-tion does a bang up job of insuring that, this is an area where the feds need to take charge.

With 50 differ-ent states, and even more variations on voting laws, it would behoove both the states and the federal government to come up with one uni-fying set of voting laws. But, before they do that they need to eschew all the red tape and adhere to the acronym KISS (keep it simple stupid).

A new set of clear, easily defined and nationally univer-sal laws that prevent rampant voter fraud and decrease voting er-rors would ultimately help the democratic process. To paraphrase Ben Stein’s comment on the health care debate, fathom the hypocrisy of a government that requires every citizen to prove they are of age to buy alcohol…but not everyone must prove they are a citizen to vote.

Editorial: You Must Be Born Before Today’s Date

byAndrew MeechumAssociate Editor

Monday, September 24th, 2012Follow me at @amechum

your ad here.It’s free too,contact us at

thefalconeditor@gmail.com

music acts: Messina’s voice and lyrics are up front and the instru-mentation, from Chris Estes’ busy drumming to the bit of trombone that Finn added, show-cases each musician’s personality and talent.

While the songs on the self-recorded col-lection are still a part of the band’s repertoire, according to Messina: “We weren’t happy with what we got, it just wasn’t a good rep-resentation of what we sound like live”. G&T looked to seriously re-cord, and sought the advice of some of their favorite bands for guidance in just where and how to start.

Messina sent an e-mail to one of his “Top Ten Favorite” bands: Athens, Georgia’s the Whigs. Drummer Julian Dorio sent Messina “a 2 page spiel on how they recorded their first re-cord”. The band initial-ly tried to gather studio materials themselves, but scrapped the idea after adding up the cost.

Instead, the band opted to look for a professional studio. Another e-mail was sent to Dorio, who pointed them to Chase Park Transduction in Athens. After contacting the stu-dio owner David Barbie and engineer Alex Crow, the band spent 3 days in the studio recording an EP. The band was able to stay in the top floor of the studio, and would record from 10 am to 10 pm every day.

The group’s three day effort, “The Strand EP”, was avail-able for streaming on Grooveshark and Band-camp June 10. The EP features two rerecorded songs from the original self-recorded collection, “Disco (For Love)” and “Eileen”, and three newer tunes. The mas-ter was done by Brian Lucey who mixed The Black Key’s Grammy winning album Brothers

The mix on the EP is stellar: every in-strument sounds warm and crisp. Messina’s voice goes from clear and bright in “Blue Cars”, to a Paul McCart-ney-like screech in “Ei-leen”. Estes and bass-ist James Vance keep a locked, head bobbing groove throughout “Disco (Only Love). The band sounds pro-fessional. So profes-sional, that a copy of the EP was sent to Birming-ham’s Southbound Ra-dio. The station liked the EP, and invited G&T to chat and play on the air.

The space that the band played in was tiny, “about the size of [a] dorm room”, accord-ing to Messina. “It was kind of strange. What it felt like was that we weren’t playing to hun-dreds of people. [It felt like] we were playing to, y’know, two or three people.” Messina com-pared it to “sitting on a porch and playing mu-sic”, calling the atmo-sphere “pretty natural”.

And what bet-ter to go with a profes-sional sounding EP and a professional radio session, then a profes-sional show? A curious Messina noticed that the Whigs upcoming show in Birmingham needed a supporting act. An email was sent, and af-ter a solo Zydeco show was put on to showcase the amount of crowd the band could bring in (“We texted all of our friends ‘Get Over Here!!’”), Giants and Toys were added to the bill, along with Gringo Starr.

Giants and Toys are holding an EP re-lease party at Eclipse on Thursday, the night before the big show with the Whigs. The group Facebook page stated that “neat stuff” would happen during the show; while Mes-sina kept some details under wraps, he did discuss rhythm guitar-ist Jack Kish break-

ing out his homemade silver confetti cannon, for some “Flaming Lips inspired antics”.

“It’s important for us, not just the mu-sic, but like, the expe-rience of a live show and the style, and ev-erything [that] kinda goes into account. Some people think that’s re-ally corny…but when you go to see a band, and they’re just sitting there in shorts and a t-shirt, and their just like, ‘Here’s my music’, there’s no expressive-ness…the music can be great, but you’re like ‘Well I can just listen to this’”, explains Messina.

The EP Release Party at Eclipse starts at 9 PM, with Younger Siblings opening up for Giants & Toys. While the show itself is free, the band encourages you to buy their EP, and take cash, checks, and cards. The EP is in CD format, and features a screen printed design, and t-shirts will also be avail-able to purchase. The link can be found here.

We here at the Falcon encourage the student body within The University of Monte-vallo to listen to the lo-cal artists around. With the Falcon Playlist via Spotify, we hope to in-troduce you to the art-ists we write about, so that you can form your own opinions about them. To take a small town band’s music, and spread it to your friends in other cities or coun-tries, literally places you at the heart of the band’s promotion and success.

“If you’re a fan of music, and lo-cal music, it’s an ef-fort. Y’know, it’s not something that’s effort-less”, Messina states. “Just listen to and sup-port local music; not even us, if you don’t like us. Just go to oth-er shows…I’m trying to keep [Montevallo’s music scene] alive”.

arts&culturePage FourThe Falcon

Dharma House Records Presents:The $1 Record Review Showdown

by Matt SanderlinArts & Culture Editor

Kyle and I went to Montevallo’s own Dharma House Re-cords and picked

out two of the most random $1 records we could find. Both albums will get a re-view, and then we’ll

see who would win in a fight to the finish.

NIGHT RANGER: MIDNIGHT MAD-NESS (1983)

Night Ranger, gifted to the world in 1982 A.D., is our first, five-member band. Originally active for only 7 years, Night Ranger is well-known for precisely one song - “Sister Christian,” a piano-led power-ballad used in 1997’s “Boogie Nights.” While the band’s signature 80’s style undeniably dates their music, the band’s work on Midnight Madness proves that corni-ness is not always in complete contrast with musical com-petency.

Lead guitarist Brad Gillis is re-ally the key player in Night Ranger’s legitimacy - His tasty electric guitar licks are actually remarkably well-tracked and notably polished. When the cheesy factor begins to arise in any given situation (namely, keyboard and synth sounds borrowed straight from the MS-DOS MIDI collection

bank), Gillis’s hairy, glam-based electric guitar shredding and shrieking just dares you to diss the music.

And honestly, even with the handful of unbearably corny lyrics (ex: “Take off your rocket shoes” in “Let Him Run,” “Chipping away at my heart every day! / You got me hang-ing by my window!” in “Chippin’ Away,” and my personal fa-vorite - “We learned about love in the back of a Chevro-let...” in “When You Close Your Eyes”), the songs them-selves are actually respectable (at a distance), overall. Their composi-tion formulas are logical and fitting, and the band plays cohesively and energetically. And while they may take themselves pretty seriously at times, that doesn’t mean they can’t still have fun playing these ridiculous songs.

ELI: ELI (no year giv-en, though I’m guessing mid/late 80’s)

While finding back-ground information on Night Ranger was a breeze, all I could find on our second band was an outdated website. ELI’s discography page was completely blank, giving absolutely no in-formation on the band’s releases or upcoming studio plans. All that the LP jacket revealed was that the main songwriter on this self-titled album goes solely by the name “Cookie” - which is terrible, strange, and intriguing, all at once.

Immediately, I could tell that this album was going to be a perfect competitor for Night Ranger’s Midnight Madness. Chugging, arena-rock power-chords rapidly build the sonic foundation in opener “Crazy Over You.” Spacey synths accent the arrangement in a fitting fashion, and their funky bass player methodically adds his parts in a competent and lively fashion. The melody and song progression were re-spectable as well, but the creepy whispering throughout the song and Pink Floyd-at-the-end-of-”Speak to Me”-esque laughing at the end was slightly frightening.

Disappointingly, “Cra-zy Over You” ends up

being the only decent song on the album. The rest are either terrible by nature, or plagiaris-tic by design. Hoards of classic rock hits are musically stolen from throughout the record - “Kathleen” borrows unabashedly from every major power-ballad written by bands from Kansas to the Zom-bies, “I’m So Sorry” is a blatant Boston rip-off (not to mention a complete disaster in the lyric department), and the inadvertently creepy “I’ll Never Let You Out of My Sight” owes every melody line to one Journey song or another.

The band even has a song called “Hello, Goodbye” (yes.. exactly like the Beatles track), which sounds nothing like the song whose title this was ripped from, but instead like the most generic piece of “rock ‘n’ roll” music possibly ever written. (Yes, “Cookie” wrote this one.)

These guys probably re-ally tried, but it’s clear why ELI’s music isn’t available on iTunes or even YouTube. “Cook-ie” and his crew just didn’t have the right ingredients to become rock stars, or even to put together a decent album - This self-titled release is barely worth listening to once.

THE VERDICTWhile the members of Night Ranger are clearly better musicians than that of “Cookie’s” gang, I would have to say that the ELI crew would likely win in a fight be-tween the two. The Night Ranger dudes definitely know how to strut the 80’s garb, but ELI’s “Cookie” really believes himself to be a legitimate “rock” star, and so he could probably take the whole Night Ranger gang himself. From ELI’s offi-cial website - “[Cookie’s] MARITAL STATUS: Di-vorced with no children, but I’m optimistic. I’ve always got a look-out for my future X-wife!!!” I mean, the guy is clearly overcome with reckless abandon - He’s got noth-ing to lose and every-thing to prove. “Cookie” is the kind of guy you’d want on your team dur-ing a 5-v-5 fight, and so I name him victor in this imaginary battle!

Monday, September 24th, 2012

Photos:Matt Sanderlin

Once-dissolved bands must all be drinking from the same cistern these days. Retired bands from the Beach Boys to the Darkness to Blink-182 have recently found a new life in reviving their old band. The Ben Folds Five are now one of them, thanks to a fan-funded project on Kickstarter.com, a website allowing fans to financially contribute to a variety of ongoing proposals.

Instead of just giving you guys my opinion on the new Ben Folds Five album, Kyle and I hit the streets of UM to see what you guys think of the reunion record, The Sound of the Life of the Mind.

“This is hook-less, gutless, groove-less, shapeless drivel for college children who still wet Mom’s bed. ‘Doo Wop’ my ass”. This is what Vil-lage Voice contributor and music critic great Chuck Eddy had to say about Grizzly Bear’s indie hit “Two Weeks”. While the band’s 2009 stand-out album “Veck-atimest” was a critical darling, some detrac-tors complained that the band piled on one too many doses of harmony lavished, lush instru-mentation for there to be anything substantial un-der the sonic make up.

Those com-plaints are rendered in-valid on the band’s new album, “Shields”, once the winding guitar lead for first single “Sleep-ing Ute” is called to ac-tion. Where “Veckatim-est” and 2006’s “Yellow House” felt labored over and delicately crafted, Shields fines the band using raw vocal takes and more angular, dense instrumentation. The excess found in the band’s previous efforts has been petrified with-in dense, heavy song structures. This is an album to be studied and picked apart; a “grower” if there ever was one.

That’s not to say that the band’s old tricks have been com-pletely thrown out: the vocal trade-off between singers Daniel Rossen and Ed Droste is still present, with Droste’s confident calls and calm statements contrasting with Rossen’s pleads and shaken insights. Bassist Chris Taylor keeps things as ground-ed as he always as, es-pecially with the pulse he gives “gun-shy” and “Speak In Rounds”, his bass ringing out more audibly with less strings to choke his rhythm.

Chris Bear is

On September 22, there were many high hopes and intrigue when the movie, The Master, premiered in select theaters. Many were excited about see-ing a story on the be-ginning of Scientology, a very unique form of belief system. Oth-ers were excited about learning about the man who created Scientol-ogy. This movie did none of these things.

The Master was not what anyone would expect after watching the previews. It is a com-plete disappointment. It had so much potential to be a great movie, but that potential was de-stroyed in the script, the

Grizzly Bear- Shields

by Reed StrengthStaff Writer

still the group’s secret drumming weapon, bringing beats that range from distant rum-bles (“What’s Wrong” and “The Hunt”),to pelting rain (“A Simple Answer” and “Speak In Rounds” ) to full blown thunder storms (“Sun In Your Eyes”), often all within the same song (“Sleeping Ute” and “Half Gate”).

An unfortunate link runs through Griz-zly Bear’s discogra-phy, however, and this album fails to correct it: the band’s albums are often front and back loaded. Shields starts off with “Sleep-ing Ute” and is closely followed by “Speak In Rounds” and the stellar “Yet Again”. However “The Hunt”, “A Simple Answer”, and “What’s Wrong” are subtler af-fairs, with Droste and Rossen showcasing their strong voices, and not much else.

The three songs plod and lounge about for 15 minutes of the album, never growing, and slowing the chug-ging pace that Shields starts on. It begins to pick up with the emo-tive “gun-shy” and closes with the muscu-lar and epic “Half Gate” and “Sun In Your Eyes”.

While Shields dares to rough up the beauty that critics were skeptical of, it fails to keep a consistent flow that great albums showcase. While Griz-zly Bear has now built enough material for a stellar Greatest Hits collection, it has yet to make the masterpiece that defines their place in Indie Rock’s Finest. I predict it will hap-pen eventually, but not when the band contin-ues to leave the middle half of their albums as steep valleys between monolith mountains of great songs. The Falcon scores this album 7/10.

The Master at Work

by Mandy SteadmanStaff Writer

staging, and the music.

The movie is about a Navy veter-an, Eddie Quell, who comes home feeling uncertain about his life. He is drowned in his alcohol addiction and his sexual desires to the point of unemployment. Then he meets Lancast-er Dodd and his family, who shows him a new belief system. They called it The Cause.

This movie un-doubtedly had an amaz-ing cast. Joaquin Phoe-nix, who played Quell, absolutely created an unusual and unique character. He adjusted the way he normally spoke; he curled his lips in a weird way and even had a certain way of carrying himself as he walked. His talent shines through this movie.

Amy Adams, who played Peggy Dodd, was the jewel of the film. She be-

came her character and showcased her ability of personifying many different types of char-acters throughout her work. It was impressive how she moved and reacted to the events around her in the film.

The true master in this film was Philip Seymour Hoffman, who played Lancaster Dodd. He was fear-some, crazy, and witty throughout this movie. He portrayed his char-acter so well it is hard to picture Lancaster Dodd as anyone but Hoffman. He also was the ac-tor that kept the movie somewhat intriguing.

The performanc-es by Adams, Phoe-nix, and Hoffman were what kept this movie from complete and ut-ter disappointment. From the beginning to the end, the movie had practically noth-ing mildly exciting nor was it worth watching.

The storyline, itself, was choppy and uninteresting. It was an interesting idea to tell the story from the point of view of a follower of The Cause, but it would have been more eye catching and more connectable if the story was told from the point of view of Lancaster Dodd and his family. Nothing was explained about his family strug-gles or when his beliefs all started to form into The Cause and gained so many followers.

The Master is an interesting film with amazing actors, but lacked in entertainment and class. It is being shown in select the-aters across the state. If you would like to see this film, go to www.movietickets.com to find out which theaters it is being shown in.

The Falcon gives it 3.5 of 5.

The Falcon Page Five

The U ReviewBen Folds Five:The Sound of the Life of the Mindby Matt Sanderlin & Kyle JonesArts & Culture Editor & Editor-In-Chief

Mike Messina of Giants & Toys – “Michael Prater, Five Years Later”

“It’s refreshing; the best Ben Folds stuff I’ve heard in awhile. It’s uniquely Ben Folds, but also un-Ben Folds-y. The composition was more attractive to someone who may not know Ben Folds’ music.”

Would you recommend it to someone else? YES.

Emily HoeKenga & Maggie Millican – “Sky High”

Emily says, “I like the way they blended stringy sounds with the words. I didn’t listen as much to the words, but I was drawn to the keyboard.”

Maggie says, “It’s good and relaxing. I thought it had a religious feeling to it, and that it might help struggling people to calm down and help them solve their problems.”

Would you recommend it to someone else? Emily and Maggie both say YES.

Josh Robertson – “Do it Anyway”

“The music was a little frantic, but the lyrics seem to be talking about wanting to do something but not knowing whether or not you’ll regret it.”

Recommend: YES

Monday, September 24th, 2012

Photos:Kyle Jones

Photo:Reed Strength

Follow me at @ReedStrength

The Falcon Page Six

sports

The University of Montevallo may not exactly be known for its athletic prowess, but the popular Mass Communications sports show Falcon Fever, which is run primar-ily by the department’s students, is looking to expand its audience by mixing things up on the show this com-ing season. Falcon Fe-ver was initially cre-ated back in 2008 by Dr. Jay Cofield of the Mass Communications department. Cofield would nurture the show in its infancy before handing off responsi-bilities to Dr. Chandra Clarke, who assisted with the show until her departure a year ago.

Since then the responsibility has fallen on the shoulders of new Montevallo teacher Bruce Finklea, another Mass Com-munications profes-sor. Finklea describes his role on the show as “just someone who oversees the action, an advisor or consultant.”

The students are the ones who have al-most complete control of the program, which Finklea believes is a good thing. “I’ve just been really proud of the students who have shown a lot of initia-tive and make the show their own, it’s not about me, it’s about them.”

The show, ac-cording to Finklea, has become “a great suc-cess,” because of its rising popularity on todays social media. This includes you-tube, facebook, twitter and a partnership with Fox 6, which allows the show to be posted on a website for south Shelby County. Due to the show’s ambitious nature, it is now plau-sible to believe that Falcon Fever will be

Falcon Fever Takes a New Flight Pattern

by Joey AntonioSports Editor

able to reach beyond the friendly confines of the brick streets of Montevallo and to a much broader audience of fans and students.

Not only has the show become quite popular, but it gives aspiring news anchors, writers and behind the scenes tech special-ists invaluable hands on experience outside of class, which they may not get anywhere else. Not to mention, it also looks pretty good on a resume as well. So, why tamper with what seems like a good thing? Well, because Finklea believes they can make it even better.

He desires to shift away from the mundane of just reading information to the viewer, in part because by the time the show has aired, fans and followers could have already looked up the stats online and have the game’s basic rundown. This would make the point of the broadcast pretty moot. So what Finklea wants is for “Falcon Fever to become a show where we have stories that they are not going to get anywhere else.”

The producers plan to do this by in-terviewing players and coaches, which they hope will give a more personal, broader focus to the show, rather than just names and stats. In other words, the format will now be more like ESPN’s SportsCenter, rather than just a quick fix sports segment.

For those who are interested in viewing Falcon Fe-ver, it is normally re-corded on Wednesday afternoons and is posted on youtube and its vari-ous other social media sites that same night. Finklea also says that there will also be a live show once or twice a semester, which can be watched on Ustream. For more information on how to get involved with Falcon Fever contact Mr. Bruce Fin-klea in the Mass Com-munications building.

Ultimate Frisbee Standings

Team W-L-T Win% PTS-AVG PF PA TOT PTS1 Alpha Kappa Lambda 2-0-0 0/0 1 1 28 13 102 Highland House 1-0-0 0/0 1 1 12 2 53 Lambda Chi Alpha 1-1-0 0/0 0.5 0.5 17 15 54 Alpha Tau Omega 1-1-0 0/0 0.5 0.5 18 24 55 Swag 0-1-0 0 0 2 12 06 Flint Tropics 0-2-0 0 0 11 22 0

Men’s Standings

Team W-L-T Win% PTS-AVG PF PA TOT PTS1 TNN 1-0-0 1 1 10 0 52 Phi Mu 1-0-0 1 1 7 4 53 Delta Gamma 1-0-0 1 1 0 0 54 TBA 1-0-0 1 1 0 0 55 Alpha Delta Pi 1-1-0 0.5 0.5 11 1 5 6 Alpha Gam 0-0-0 0 0 0 0 07 TieDye 0-2-0 0 0 4 7 08 Chi Omega 0-2-0 0 0 1 21 0

Women’s Standings

Mon. 9/24/2012Lambda Chi ..(4) V Alpha Tau O..(3)Flint Tropics(5) V Alpha Kappa..(2)Highland Ho..(1) V Swag(6)Tue. 9/25/2012Swag(6) V Alpha Tau O..(3)Alpha Kappa..(2) V Flint Tropics(5)Lambda Chi ..(4) V Highland Ho..(1)Wed. 9/26/2012Alpha Kappa..(2) V Swag(6)Lambda Chi ..(4) V Flint Tropics(5)Thu. 9/27/2012Swag(6) V Flint Tropics(5)Lambda Chi ..(4) V Alpha Kappa..(2)Highland Ho..(1) V Alpha Tau O..(3)

Mon. 9/24/2012TNN(4) V Alpha Delta..(5)Delta Gamma(3) V TieDye(8)TBA(2) V Phi Mu(1)Tue. 9/25/2012Alpha Gamma..(7) V Chi Omega(6)Delta Gamma(3) V Phi Mu(1)TNN(4) V TBA(2)Wed. 9/26/2012Alpha Gamma..(7) V Alpha Delta..(5)TieDye(8) V Chi Omega(6)Delta Gamma(3) V TBA(2)Thu. 9/27/2012TNN(4) V Alpha Gamma..(7)Chi Omega(6) V Phi Mu(1)TieDye(8) V Alpha Delta..(5)

Upcoming Games

Women’s GamesMen’s Games

Monday, September 24th, 2012

Photo Courtesy of Bruce Finklea

got an idea?E-mail us at

thefalconeditor@gmail.com

The Falcon Page Seven

lifestyle “The day you write to please everyone you no lon-ger are in journalism. You are in show business.”

-Frank Miller

The sequel to Gearbox’s 2009 smash hit Borderlands arrived on store shelves after it’s announcement nearly a year ago. For fans of the original, last Tuesday was a very happy day.

With Border-lands 2 the folks at 2K Games and Gearbox Software set the stan-dard for making video game sequels. They brought back every-thing people loved about the first install-ment; irreverent humor, obscure pop culture references, tons of loot, guns a plenty, wacky bad guys, and awe-some character abilities.

But Gearbox didn’t stop there. The character menu has been updated and pro-vides a much more ac-cessible playing ex-perience. With three character trees for each of the four characters in the game it is possible to play the game over and over and experi-ence a different game each time depending

It’s out in the open now. At the Dem-ocratic National Con-vention two weeks ago, the delegates shouted to keep Jerusalem and God off of the party platform. Despite the uproar, the chairman decided to go against the delegates and allow for the is-sues to be added to the platform. I’m not sur-prised. I’m concerned, but not surprised.

This country may have been founded on Christian principles, but we haven’t been living like Christ for a long time now. So the decision by DNC del-egates to keep God and Jerusalem off the plat-form isn’t surprising. They’re just affirming what I knew was true all along: The Ameri-

God and The DNC

by Neal EmbryStaff Writer

can people couldn’t care less about God.

There’s a dif-ference between Chris-tian morals and ethics and being a Christian country. A Christian country would uphold the gospel as the most important message, as the single most impor-tant doctrine and I can’t see any mention of the gospel in our Constitu-tion. We may believe in Christian morals, such as loving other people and going to church. We think being a Chris-tian and a good, God-fearing American means we say we love God, go to church and love America. We’re a coun-try of patriotic, religious people that think put-ting something on Face-book is enough to make us right before God.

And that’s on a good day. From what I can tell, my generation doesn’t even believe in going to church or saying the name God. We’ve moved from le-galists to a people that are not just unaware

of God, but indeed, as we see at the DNC, an-tagonistic towards him. We’ve created phrases like “YOLO,” which has to be the most ab-surd, unintelligent phrase I’ve ever heard. We listen to music by artists that tells us that since life is short, we should seek our pleasure in the things that are here. According to Wiz Khalifa, “we’re young, wild, and free.” We read that Christianity is becoming “old-fash-ioned,” and we need to catch up with the times.

Is it across the board? No, certainly not. There are some great, fruitful church-es in this country that are making the gos-pel known, and I see a new generation of be-lievers making much of Jesus and little of themselves. Unfortu-nately, we are the mi-nority, not the norm.

So what hap-pened at the DNC is a verbal expression, a confirmation of what the majority of this country

has believed for the past several years: We’re okay without God.

So, what should Christians do about this? Does this affect how we vote? Well, the obvious factor in this argument is that the majority of evan-gelical Christians will vote for Governor Rom-ney. But for those who are on the shelf, what’s the proper response?

I can’t tell you who to vote for. I don’t want to. If I’m being honest, I don’t like ei-ther of the two major candidates. Neither one of them reminds me much of Jesus. Nei-ther one of them seems overly concerned with others, the gospel or fol-lowing biblical values.

Do I believe that voting for a party that denied God is tanta-mount to denying God himself? No, I do not. President Obama is the candidate, not the Dem-ocratic delegates. And to his credit, President Obama has not denied God. So if you wish

to vote for President Obama, vote for him.

Am I concerned? Yes, but not because I believe our economy is going to be better if we pray about it. God is not a magician. God is not an entertainer. God is not here to fix Amer-ica. God is God, and he’s doing what he’s do-ing to receive the glory he deserves. We are not God, and we don’t get to tell God what to do. The bigger con-cern is that America is becoming increasingly turned off to the gospel.

I believe it’s more important to rec-ognize God than to put him in a party plat-form. The Republicans may recognize God in their platform, but I’m afraid the lives of a cor-rupt government more concerned with money than people shows little fruit of a true faith. Per-haps I’m just cynical.

Jesus is God. Denying Christ is de-nying God. That’s not me, that’s Jesus him-self in John 14:6. He

tells us we don’t come to God without going to Jesus. The good news of the gospel is that we can know God through Jesus. The bad news is that there is no other way. So recognizing God in a party platform without recognizing the Lordship of Christ in our lives is meaningless.

So more than I want to see God in a party platform, I want to see a repentant people. I want to see people, from both parties, turn to Jesus for forgive-ness and grace. I want to see people trusting in Jesus for salvation. I’d rather see people boast in Christ’s name and cross than boast in their political parties. I long for the day where we see God as God, and not a political platform.

Until that day, putting three letters and a city on a sheet of paper or screen won’t mean anything more than just that: a sheet of paper with letters on it.

Borderlands 2 Picks up Where it Left off; Doesn’t DisappointbyAndrew MeechumAssociate Editor

on your character build.

Shopping at vendors for new equip-ment and selling over-stock loot has been im-proved as well. With the click of a button you can identify and sell all the equipment you don’t want or need.

Familiar faces like the original vault hunters, Scooter, Mad Moxxi and many more are all back to give play-ers plenty of missions, money and loot. Using characters from the orig-inal game Gearbox filled in plot holes and made the anticlimactic ending of the first game seem a little less horrible.

Many games on the market nowadays put a heavy premium on the online multiplayer portion of the game ex-perience, leaving solo players with a some-times short, sometimes half cooked single play-er campaign. However, co-op play as opposed to online multiplayer is where the Border-

lands franchise sets it-self apart from the pack.

The co-op sys-tem that fans loved from the first game is back and better than ever. Whether with friends or random people on-line, playing the co-op campaign adds a level

of difficulty and more importantly increases the chances of finding those rare items. A new feature that shows you how good a potential co-op match will be im-proves the match mak-ing system so you don’t get stuck with someone trudging along in the

early stages of the game.

While graphics are limited by the cur-rent (and aging) con-sole generation, the textures and colors of each location pop out and make you want to stop and enjoy the scen-ery for a moment. The wide variety of bad-dies roaming the wastes will quickly correct you if you stop to smell the flowers however.

B o r d e r l a n d s 2 also offers you the chance to customize your character. There are dozens of options for changing the look of your characters face and body. Even chang-ing your weapon and equipment load out changes small fea-tures on your character.

Overall, Border-lands 2 delivers, then gives you a little extra just in case. Though mi-nor issues with getting stuck on small ledges and rocks detract from the experience, it should be noted that most

games suffer from this issue. Most games save the first Borderlands, making this issue stand out all that much more.

Borderlands 2 combines the best ele-ments of the first person shooter, role-playing and adventure genres. If you haven’t picked up the first one yet jumping into the sequel will be easy. Regardless of your gaming preferences you are sure to enjoy this game if you go and pick it up. The game retails for $59.99 for the stan-dard edition and $99.99 for the special edition.

The replay val-ue of this game is very high, so if you’re wait-ing for a used copy to buy, you may have to wait a little longer than normal because it could be awhile before anyone puts this game down.

So save your money, dip into your couch cushions or hold a carwash be-cause this game is a must have. 10/10

Monday, September 24th, 2012

Photo:Andrew Mechum

Follow me at @nealembry

Julie McEntee (Office Manager Department of Music) – “Away When You Were Here”

“It’s very nice, and very easy to listen to. I liked the vocal quality of the singer’s voice, and it interested me enough to want to sit and listen to it again.

Recommend: YES

The Falcon Page Eight

Amanda Fox (Associate Registrar/Coordinator of Veteran Affairs) –

“Hold That Thought”

“I like it - It’s very Snow Patrol-ish. It’s a very happy tune, and there’s nothing particular I don’t like about it.”

Recommend: YES

Caroline Ponder and Garrett Sims – “Erase Me”

Garrett says, “It reminded me of Panic! At the Disco in the beginning - I like it! I could see it being on my iPod.”

Caroline says, “I like beginning, but after that, I thought it was stupid. I did like the beat, though.”

Both said that they would recommend it to someone else.

TOTAL SCORE: 8/8 would recommend it - A must-own!

The U Reviewcontinued

Monday, September 24th, 2012

The Falcon

presents a featured essay

Page Nine

Cookie vs. Fitz: A Ballad of Fists by Matt SanderlinArts & Culture Editor

Light pours over the weather, grey mat in the center of the stadium. Around the outside of the mat and its tethers - The crowd is loud, but ever-ner-vous, like cautious old machines in a poorly-lit boiler room. The two zebra-suited referees are heavily distracted - One is carefully penning notes in a note-pad, and the other is adjusting his personal pager.

At once, the lights fall to complete darkness. As if on cue, the crowd releases its ferocious lust for battle into the air - Screams, yells, whistling - All rush toward the center of the room at the speed of sound.

A stream of papercut-pink light pierces the darkness, focusing intently and hotly on the west corner of the mat. A small group of shadows bleed from the dark, outer ring - Over the ropes and into the ring. The shadows assume rehearsed positions with unchallenged rapidity.

An icy blue counter-light shoots through the vacuum on the east side of the ring - Contesting the dominant pink glow, and giving a second group of shadows their silent call to the battle ring.

“PLEEEEEASSEE WELLLLCOMMMME, TONIGHT’S CHALLLENNNGERRRRRS....

NIGHT RANGERRRR …. AND ….. EEEEELLLLIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!”

Unfathomable, unintelligible resonance from the crowd follows the announcer’s fiery lines, and every member of the audience slides forward to the slightest degree to catch a glimpse of the brewing brawl.

“REEEEEEADDDYYYYY???? …........... FIIIIIIIIGHT!!!!!!” The buzzer sounds loudly, apathetically.

The Night Ranger crew - Electric guitars, microphones, drumsticks and bass picks in hand, and dressed entirely in decadent leather uniforms - launch their primary attack on their opponents with a set of gritty powerchords.

Cookie, Eli’s feral leader, leaving no time for a measured plan, reacts defensively with a reflexive strand of hastily-penned lyrics - “Oh, beautiful girls - So many girls in the rock ‘n’ roll world!”

The Night Ranger crew receive the passage with nary a blinking eye, and continue palm-muting through their powerchord progression. Cookie scans his opponents’ faces with visible uncertainty, seeking a weakness or a hint of fear. Instead, he finds stone eyes and concrete cheekbones.

“I need a touch, I need a touch of madness!” Night Ranger’s lead vocalist Jack Blades suddenly exclaims. Night Ranger guitarists Jeff Watson and Brad Gillis concur musically thereafter, adding musical legitimacy to their growing defense. Kelly Keagy, Night Ranger’s drummer, slams his drumsticks downward with a mighty force, sending a wave of contagious rhythm out from his kit in a 360-degree wave.

Eli’s Cookie, now feeling pressured and bullied, begins firing and hiring band members at free-will! The Rangers have him running scared!

“CRUSH HIM!!” “FINISH THEM!!!!!” - The crowd’s cries for blood are relentless! “YYEAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!”

To appease the crowd, Night Ranger’s keyboardist Alan “Fitz” Fitzgerald makes his first (and last) forward gamble. “Fitz” hurls a handful of key-board notes at Eli’s ---, not realizing how corny and ridiculous his keyboard effects are. The cheesy keyboard sounds have no damaging effect, but instead reveal Night Ranger’s lack of adaptation-abilities.

Cookie realizes this is his opportunity to drive his oppressors back to the ropes. He changes keys, recklessly bobbing and weaving between the keys of C and F Major. All at once, his fingers find their correct grooves between the frets and Cookie charges ahead - “Old fashion girls - They like to tease you! If you’re willing to wait, in the end, they’ll please you!”

Night Ranger’s Gillis and Watson take the brunt of the lyrical catastrophe, and Watson loses his footing - Cookie has sent him sprawling to canvas! Gillis attempts to continue the chord progression without his guitarist sidekick, but Cookie leaves him no time to catch his breath. “Hello, Goodbye!” Cookie taunts, his blatant disrespect for the Beatles effortlessly knocking aside Night Ranger’s keyboardist “Fitz” and lead vocalist Jack Blades.

Ranger Gillis still stands square, one eye twitching from the unbearable lyrical bombardment that has powerpacked his crew. Ranger Keagy attempts to continue keeping tempo, but stray whispers from Cookie’s crew plague his inner metronome with rhythmic inconsistency. Cookie knows it, but the Rang-ers don’t yet - The match is nearly over.

Cookie, after hiring and firing a few more ELI members for good measure, cues the band to cut the music. The distorted crowd sounds are all that remain, vibrations muddied by pure, dark noise - Until Cookie pridefully discloses his secret weapon.

“Ha... HAhahHAhHAhhahahhaAHHAAHahahAHHAHA,” Cookie’s unnerving laughter rises methodically in speed and in velocity. “HaHHAHHA-HAAHAHAAHAAHAHAA!”

The surviving Rangers try to clog their ear canals with anything within reach - Gillis finds his guitar picks scattered about the mat below; but they are too little, too late. Drummer Keagy passes out from the attacker’s sheer lack of creativity - Keagy is finished for the night!

Cookie approaches Night Ranger’s Gillis, towers victoriously over him. Gillis is still on one knee, scavenging for anything to assist the blockage of sound.

Cookie unfurls his lips for once last winging right - “HAHHAAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!”

Gillis goes sailing through the ropes - Cookie and his crew have won! An earthquake of applause erupts from the audience - lights flashing, spinning in every direction.

“THHHHE WINNERRRRR IIIIIIIS …. EEEEEEELLIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!”

The Falcon PlaylistCheck out our playlist only available on Spotify to listen to what we’re talking about.

The Falcon Page 10

the staffnext weeks issue-A Female in the Fantasy Football World.-U Review “Gangnam Style”-Giants and Toys Open for The Whigs-Montevallo Mayoral Race Results

and more...October 1st, 2012

is accepting articles and applications for staff positionscontact us at thefalconeditor@gmail.com

Webwww.facebook.com/thefalconmontevallo@theumfalconwww.thefalconat.tumblr.com

EditorsEditor-In-Chief:

Kyle Jones

Associate Editor:Andrew Mechum

Art & Culture Editor:Matt Sanderlin

Sports Editor:Joseph Antonio

Campus & Local Editor:Joseph Thornton

Staff WritersRosemary Maguire

Mandy SteadmanNeal Embry

Reed Strength

ColumnistDavis Hayden

PhotographerDillon Owens

Monday, September 24th, 2012