The
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M. Night, Back Away From The Epic
But that dude from ‘Slumdog,’ he was good
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Helmsman Vol. 78 No. 001
Independent Student Newspaper of The University of Memphis
n see page 4 www.dailyhelmsman.com
News Briefs
Former University of Memphis student Devin Jefferson was denied a new trial Monday after the Mother’s Day conviction for the felony murder of fellow student and football player Taylor Bradford, committed in 2007. Jefferson, now 23, was automatically sentenced Jefferson to life in prison where he must serve 51 years before he can be considered for release. Victor Trezevant, the second of the four suspects linked to the case, will be tried in November.
Portland takes Williams, Tigers take the draft Following the lead of Derrick Rose in 2008 and Tyreke Evans in 2009, Tigers guard Elliot Williams became the third consecutive Memphis player to take first-round NBA draft pick status when the Portland Trailblazers Williams nabbed the him with the No. 22 pick overall. “To be able to come to a beautiful city with great fans, it feels like a dream come true,” Williams said. “I’m very excited.” Described by Blazers’ director of scouting Chad Buchanan as a “dynamic athlete” and an “aggressive on-the-ball defender,” Williams is expected to bring a multidimensional, fast-play style to the Portland team when he’s cleared to play this fall. Williams will present but benched during the summer league because of a right knee injury he suffered in a San Antonio workout in May. Despite much pleading and promises of full recovery from the award-winning former Tiger, team doctors shot him down as a precaution. “I feel 100 percent but I understand their decision. I want to be a player who can help other players around me be better too,” Williams said. “Whatever the team needs me to do, I’ll do. I’m just ready to get back on the court.” Williams will be with the team in Las Vegas and is expected to return for training camp later this year.
— by Megan Harris, Editor-In-Chief
by Beth Spencer
Devin Jefferson denied appeal for new trial
Construction crews took over the visitor parking lot this week at the corner Patterson Street and Mynders Avenue on the The University of Memphis’ east side, forbidding students to park and causing a swell in campus area traffic.
Officials promise, better parking coming soon BY BETH SPENCER News Reporter University of Memphis summer students might have noticed a new scarcity of parking spaces this week when three lots were closed for a $1,161,000 overhaul in parking renovations. The lots will reopen in September. Paid for by parking renewal and replacement funds, the now defunct areas include the visitor lot on Patterson Street and Mynders Avenue, a gener-
al permit lot on Southern Avenue and Patterson Street and a resident lot east of Richardson Towers, said vice president for Business and Finance David Zettergren in an email. Assistant manager of Parking Services Tanara Teal-Tate said revamping the three lots will add more spaces, increase safety, increase sustainability of trees and improve the quality of the pavement. Sophomore history major Ryan Fuess said he supported The University sparing no expense to
increase parking spaces. “It’s money well spent,” he said. “If I can find a place to park I may actually show up to class every once in awhile.” The renovations, while adding 245 new parking spaces to campus, will also facilitate traffic flow to and from campus, Teal-Tate said. “All lot layouts were redesigned to provide for more efficient vehicle circulation, more efficient parking, better
see
Parking, page 4
Technology
MCAN changes research in Memphis BY BETH SPENCER News Reporter A high-speed research network is now available in Memphis, thanks to The Memphis Coalition for Advanced Networking. MCAN, a nonprofit group consisting of The University of Memphis, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Memphis Bioworks Foundation, formed four years ago to pool resources and bring the computing network to the community. President and Executive Director of MCAN Russell Ingram said the stateof-the-art, optical broadband communi-
cations could enhance opportunities for local researchers, while opening educa-
“I t will allow collaboration
between Memphis research communities and top research firms in the nation.” — Russell Ingram President, MCAN tional doors in the community. “It is a resource, a tool for research-
ers,” he said. “It will allow collaboration between Memphis research communities and top research firms in the nation.” Faculty members in all departments at The U of M will have access to the high speed network, said Doug Hurley, vice president for information technology and chief information officer at The U of M. “It will be particularly great for recruiting faculty, especially for faculty who use computing technology in their teachings,” he said. “Virtually every professor uses technology in their teachings.”
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Optics, page 3
• Thursday, July 1, 2010
The
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Daily
Helmsman Volume 78 Number 001
Editor-In-Chief
Megan Harris
Technology
AARON KARO’S
Virtually washing Ruminations.com “Writing What You’re Thinking” your old records BY CRAIG CROSSMAN McClatchy-Tribune News
News Editor Brent Fisackerly Sports Editor Joseph Russell General Manager Candy Justice Advertising Manager Bob Willis Admin. Sales Sharon Whitaker Adv. Production Rachelle Pavelko Adv. Sales Robyn Nickell
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dailyhelmsman@gmail.com The University of Memphis The Daily Helmsman 113 Meeman Journalism Building Memphis, TN 38152 The Daily Helmsman is a “designated public forum.” Student editors have authority to make all content decisions without censorship or advance approval. The Daily Helmsman is pleased to make a maximum of 10 copies from each issue available to a reader for free, after which $1 will be charged per copy.
One day I walked into a record store and there were no more records. I remember that day quite clearly. When I asked some mp3-generation teenage clerk behind the store counter where I could find any 45s or long-playing albums, I got a strange blank stare. Welcome to the 21st century. So the end of the 20th century was also the end of vinyl records and tape recorders. But there are still a lot of us who own vinyl record collections, audio cassettes and yes, even 8-track tapes. But with the everincreasing difficulty of obtaining phonograph needles and the like to play any sort of record these days, it’s probably in one’s best interest to convert them into a digital format. Converting them will preserve them for at least until the next storage device technology becomes available. The same holds true with any old movies and photographs you may
possess. Digital preservation will make them last so much longer. We use digital cameras, scanners and software to convert our conventional photographic images into digital memories. Converting old vinyl records requires some hardware and software as well. Connecting a record player to your computer is fairly straight forward. If your turntable is hooked to a stereo amplifier, just take the output from the amplifier to your computer’s stereo sound input. Depending on your make, model and platform, that’s located on either the sound card or the computer’s back panel. Once the physical connection is made, you’ll need some kind of recording software. There are many titles to choose from and you can find many free, shareware and commercial titles. Since you really won’t need to do any editing or special processing, transferring
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Records, page 3
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Across 1 A.L. East team 4 1960 Olimpiadi host 8 Padlocked, perhaps 14 Glob suffix 15 Receptive 16 More gray 17 2006 farce involving a drinking contest 19 “Magic Hour” author 20 Swiss poultry dish? 22 Memo abbr. 23 Move beyond 27 Korean menu listing? 32 Frost 33 Fast horse 34 Frayed 35 Indian lunch fare? 40 Certain net user 41 ‘60s Mod staple 42 Letters that come at the end of the week 43 Moroccan hearty meal? 48 Fare that’s filled and baked 51 Race 52 Meccan omelet ingredient? 57 All one had 60 Transfers again, as computer files 61 Hungary neighbor 62 Barrie Newfoundland 63 Fruitcake 64 Is out there 65 African antelope 66 Rte. finder Down 1 Good ol’ boys 2 Fatty acid salt 3 Handles 4 Texter’s response to a hilarious joke 5 Crude org. 6 Interlock 7 Boycotting, perhaps 8 Basho’s forte
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9 Black listing? 10 City near the Yangtze River 11 Emmy-winning news anchor Lindström 12 Common Mkt. 13 “ER” extras 18 Contact lens solution brand 21 Cape __ 24 VMI program 25 Bit of irreverence 26 Twisted 28 Lionized actor? 29 It can be casual: Abbr. 30 Treaty gp. since 1948 31 President with two Grammys 34 Fool 35 Old Venetian judge 36 “The Praise of ChimneySweepers” essayist
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37 Right crosses may follow them 38 Point 39 Stranded material 40 20s provider, for short 43 Bench, once 44 Dance move 45 Elevating, in a way 46 Relax 47 Takes by force 49 __ four 50 Bean products? 53 Cartoonist Peter 54 When repeated, word of agreement 55 Manhattan sch. 56 Piltdown man, e.g. 57 Language suffix 58 Bio datum 59 Head of state?
“Oh campfire smoke.. why must you follow me everywhere I sit?” — by jayjo202
“I wish the undo button could also undo accidentally closing a browser tab.” — by maxpowers “It’s not that I don’t like video games, but my motor skills can’t keep up with the advancements in controllers. A three-button combo with some joystick action just to move forward? Sorry, I stopped listening when it started to vibrate.” — by letsfindout “Some co-workers tried and failed at brewing beer, so they came to me for advice. Look, just cause I was hammered at the last company event doesn’t mean I know everything about beer. That being said, I’ve done this before, and I know what’s wrong.” — isavedtheday “If people’s last name refer to what their ancestors did, then what did the ancestors of Dickinson do?” — by clientnumber9
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Complete the grid so that each row, column and 3—by—3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit 1 to 9.
Solutions on page 4
The University of Memphis
Thursday, July 1, 010 • 3
recOrds from page 2
music from a recorded source is pretty straight forward so you shouldn’t spend very much money. What you will need is something to help clean up the older recordings. After all, vinyl records have things like hiss, clicks and pops. These are little distortion noises that begin to appear after you play a record over and over again. Needles made tiny scratches, dropping the needle makes little pits that result in popping sounds, plus dirt and dust add their own distinctive distortions as well. Some say those sounds add character to the recording, like scratches on a movie film. Still, you want to have the best possible sound and that was how it sounded when it was played the first time. One of the easiest ways to digitally “wash� your old record recordings is to use special software designed to clean things back to their original
pristine condition. One such program is SoundSoap 2 from Bias. SoundSoap 2 lets you instantly reduce most any of the common types of noise and distortion found on old vinyl recordings. This includes tape hiss (from those old cassettes and 8-Track tapes), clicks, pops, scratches along with hum, rumble and buzzing. Running SoundSoap 2 first displays an easy to understand control panel with two large knobs and a Wash Window that displays before and after results. By turning the big Noise Tuner and Noise Reduction knobs, you can tune in any offensive noises you want removed. A Learn Noise button lets SoundSoap 2 automatically profile any noise in your recording and adjusts the Noise Tuner and Noise Reduction knobs to their ideal settings for you. The Wash Window display lets you see how much noise is being removed. Its split before and after image lets you see just how much your sounds have been washed. Other but-
tons let you remove rumble, remove hum and let you select the frequency range of the distortions to be removed. A Mode selection lets you listen to the original sound, how it sounds with the distortions removed, or just listen to the distortions themselves. These features can be a real ear opener. You can also use SoundSoap 2 to clean up your current digital recordings as well. For example, if you had an air conditioner running in the background while you were making your digital movie or recording, you can use SoundSoap 2 to remove the offending air conditioner sound while preserving everything else. Photographs have products like PhotoShop to make images look better. Now your audio tracks have SoundSoap 2 to help clean up everything you want to hear and preserve for yourself, the next generation, or anyone from the 20th Century. SoundSoap 2 runs on both Windows and Macintosh OS X. $129.
Sports Briefs
Athletic Dept. raises record $7.3 million The Tiger Scholarship Fund, monies used to offset the cost of scholarships for the over 350 Tiger student-athletes, received $7.3 million in donations for 2009-2010 seasons, marking the twelfth consecutive increase since 1998 and the largest in school history. University of Memphis athlet-
ic director R.C. Johnson spoke to press Monday about the increase at the State of Tiger Athletics luncheon. “This is probably the most difficult year we faced just because of the economy,� Johnson said. “Across the country, donations are down four percent. We’ve set records every year.�
Former University of Memphis guard Roburt Sallie will don Cardinal red next season in his final year of eligibility. Sallie must meet academic qualifications to be admitted as a Sallie graduate student at Louisville, including completing his bachelor’s degree at Memphis this summer, Louisville
coach Rick Pitino said Monday. The mutual split between Memphis coach Josh Pastner and the 6’5 player came to a close in May when incoming Tiger talent made it clear Sallie’s role on the court could change. He averaged 10.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists last year for the Tigers and will leave behind a school record as the top 3-point shooter at 43.8 percent.
OPtics
attracting great professors and students who are engaged in research is a spinoff of the project,� he said. Access to the network, Hurley said, will be restricted to educational uses only and protected by special login codes. “The network is not for commercial internet purposes,� he said. “If you’re going to download Netflix movies, you won’t be able to use it for that.� Brandon Wellford, a director of the Memphis Bioworks Foundation, said boosting Memphis’ economy was also on the agenda while planning the network launch. “Our interest is to use this to drive economic development into the community,� he said. “Companies will want to have access to that kind of technology.� In the past, Memphis has been left out of major internet network research, when compared with other cities’ involvements, Wellford said. “There was a huge gap,� he said. “Our interest and desire was to put Memphis on the map and have us connected to major research networks.�
Sallie transfers to Louisville
— by Megan Harris, Editor-In-Chief
A Weekly Devotional For You from page 1
The Bleeding Lamb I have a friend who is a sincere Christian. He tries to be obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ in his daily life. He has walked with the Lord for many years. Several years ago he went through some trying times and became disillusioned. He decided to return to the sinful lifestyle he had pursued before he became a Christian. He decided to excessively indulge in alcohol and to drown his troubles. He went to a bar, started to lift the glass, and suddenly in his imagination, he saw a bleeding lamb. He immediately put the glass down and left the place. He had remembered that Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, had died to save him from eternal wrath. He could not dishonor such a precious Savior by indulging in defiant sin. I pray that many Christians who read this may also see the “bleeding lamb� and resist temptation. May your experience parallel that of the songwriter who wrote, “Worldly pleasures once my dream, tempted by their gloss, till I saw the scarlet stream, dripping from the cross.� Another Christian, William Cowper, wrote, “E’er since by faith I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply, redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.� Christian, what is the theme of your life? Is it appreciation for the bleeding lamb? Does your life show thanksgiving for the gift of His life for you?
Grace Chapel Primitive Baptist Church – Zack Guess, Pastor 828 Berclair Rd. • Memphis, TN, 38122 • 683-8014 • e-mail: zguess@juno.com
The optical network, which is faster than electronic or digital, could allow a chemist at The U of M to send data another researcher at ultra-fast speeds, Hurley said. “They’ll have instantaneous kinds of speeds,� he said. “A professor could also use it to connect a colleague to their classroom for a teaching session.� Hurley said having access to the network could enhance The University’s reputation as a research school, increasing research graduate enrollment. “We certainly hope that
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4 • Thursday, July 1, 010
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Film Review
security lighting and emergency phone and camera installations,” she said. Although parking often prooves troublesome for students at The U of M at the beginning of every semester, Teal-Tate said her office anticipates potential delays. “It’s scheduled to be completed in September,” she said. “But it’s contingent on setbacks or situations beyond the control of the contractor or The University.” Fuess said generating more parking spots could alleviate the hostility he faces while rushing to find a space before class, while eliminating future parking violations. “Now I won’t have to fight to the death for a parking space,” he said. “I was getting sick of getting tickets every other day.” Drew Fleming, senior film major at The U of M, said he wished University officials would create a walkway over the railroad tracks next to Southern Avenue, instead of focusing on creating more parking spaces in that lot. “Basically, I want to know why there isn’t a walking bridge over the train tracks,” he said. “Missing a quiz because my class is on the south side of campus and I’m close to the spaces by the (Campus Recreation and Intramural Services) building is insane.”
‘Airbender’ hopefully the last Shyamalan film BY RENE RODRIGUEZ McClatchy Newspapers In “The Last Airbender,” writer-director M. Night Shyamalan takes the beloved Nickelodeon anime series _ the full title was “Avatar: The Last Airbender” _ and turns it into 103 minutes of overproduced, stilted nonsense. Fans of the TV show, who are already well-versed in the complex mythology of this story about a war between the realms of the four elements, could conceivably enjoy seeing the series re-enacted in high-tech live-action. Early in the movie comes a brief battle between fire and earth benders -people with the gift to control their respective elements -- that suggests all that exposition you’ve endured thus far may eventually build into something pretty cool. But the setup never stops -- characters are constantly explaining themselves and what they need to accomplish, instead of actually speaking to each other -- and the plot doesn’t so much build as prattle. The chief reason “The Last Airbender” doesn’t work is that this is the first chapter in a threevolume tale (the movie is subtitled “Book I: Water”), and once you realize the film is only going to take you to a preordained point in
C
MCT
Parking from page 1
Dev Patel (left) plays Prince Zuko and Shaun Toub (right) plays Uncle Iroh in the Paramount Pictures/Nickelodeon Movies adventure, “The Last Airbender.” the story and end with a cliffhanger, the picture becomes an endurance test. Peter Jackson filmed all three “Lord of the Rings” movies back-to-back, so while watching “The Fellowship of the Ring,” you knew you weren’t going to get a complete ending, but you’d eventually see the entire epic. Shyamalan has only directed one “Airbender” movie -- he’s signed on for two sequels, but their fate rests with the box office grosses of this $150 million production -- and this situation feels awfully reminiscent of “The Golden Compass,” the first
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(and open-ended) installment in an intended franchise that was abandoned after audiences didn’t turn out in enough numbers. In compressing what took 10 hours to unfold on TV into one choppy, CGI-laden film, “The Last Airbender” retains its basic narrative but loses its soul. The eponymous hero Aang, a boy with great powers who must learn to bend water, fire and earth before bringing peace to the four realms, is played by Noah Ringer, a young actor who fares well with the elaborate action and interpretative-dance movements benders
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make while doing their magic. But Ringer has zero personality or charm, he’s a pleasant but generic screen presence, and the characters surrounding him, such as his guardians Katara (Nicola Peltz) and Sokka (“Twilight’s” Jackson Rathbone), fare even worse. Shyamalan (“The Sixth Sense,” “The Village,” “The Happening”) has never directed this sort of gargantuan epic before, and he seems overwhelmed by the technical demands of the job, leaving the actors to fend for themselves, which they mostly do poorly. The only character who makes any sort of impression is the Fire Prince Zuko (“Slumdog Millionaire’s” Dev Patel), who wants to kidnap Aang in order to win back his father’s love and respect. He’s a familiar but engaging archetype, the disgraced son on a quest to regain his family honor, and “The Last Airbender’s” best scenes all involve him. The rest of the movie is comprised of a giant flying buffalo, a wise dragon that talks in an old man’s voice and battle scenes that once again resort to the bullet-time photography “The Matrix” invented. “The Last Airbender” may please children, who enjoy watching heroic kids kicking grown-up butts. But despite the originality and depth of the scenario, this feels like awfully silly, overblown nonsense (“Water teaches us acceptance. Let your emotions flow like water!”), saddled by a fuzzy 3D conversion that distracts more than it adds. The best movie fantasies are light and fast and transporting: If “The Last Airbender” were an element, it would be slushy, heavy mud.