campus life
October 29, 2009
movie review
Haunted nightmares abound Ross M. Benincasa Assistant Campus Life Editor
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hat do you get when you take a tired idea for a horror movie, a handheld camera and young, no-name actors? If you answered “The Blair Witch Project” you’d be correct. Now what if I told you that it was so scary it could keep you clutching your sheets through the entirety of the night? Stumped? Well, then say hello to this year’s Halloween blockbuster, “Paranormal Activity.” The movie, written and directed by Oren Peli, was filmed entirely in less than a week on Peli’s personal budget of under $15,000. It follows Micah (Micah Sloat) and Katie (Katie Featherston), a couple in their 20s, as they attempt to cope with the haunting of demons inside their new, southern California home. Katie, always speculative about the mysterious occurrences in her life, becomes increasingly worried as she moves in with Micah and odd, paranormal events begin to happen during the night. However, Katie’s curiosity is equally matched by Micah’s witty sarcasm and his realistic, technology-centered viewpoints. He decides to film their daily routine, therefore bringing us “Paranormal Activity.” The aftermath of this decision brings more than they bargained for in a fight for survival against demonic forces. Coming into the movie, viewers can be skeptical, due to the low budget, or overwhelmed by the amount of positive reviews. Many viewers claim they experienced sheer terror as a result of it. I was impressed by the film’s apparent immediate growth. For example, the first week the film was released, it was only viewed in 12 theaters nationwide, but still took in over $60,000 more than its production value. By week five, the movie was in nearly 2,000 theaters
across the country and had taken in a total of $62.4 million, or about 4,165 times the amount used to produce it. Although “Paranormal Activity” may not make it on the same list as top horror movies such as “The Shining” and “Silence of the Lambs,” it certainly impressed, and did its job by making for an unsettled night’s sleep. Unlike “The Blair Witch Project, where the film style simply made viewers nauseous, the use of a personal camcorder is what gave this “Paranormal Activity” its eerie feeling. From beginning to end, you feel like you are watching someone’s home movie, and not an actual film production. The only sense of opening credit is a short blurb, thanking both the police department as well as their families. It then cuts immediately into the camcorder’s video. It also simply fades to black, with no ending credits or any mention of a production company. In addition, to enhance the true story vibe, the filmmakers decided not to change the characters’ names from the actors’ own names, making the film feel more like the actors’ own home movie. When a film like this comes along, it is hard to commend the director on a job well done when most of the movie’s quality attributes were brought about by the actors. However, this film is certainly one of the most brilliantly marketed movies I have ever seen. The film’s executives chose to stick to the Internet and word of mouth, and produced a trailer that only consisted of audience reactions. It left a lot of mystery surrounding the movie but also created plenty of buzz. It is certainly a one-of-a-kind film and is definitely worth checking out in theaters; a movie like this wouldn’t have the same effect on the small screen.
the Etownian
7
• Sunday, two opposing intramural football players collided during a game on Wolf Field. Although an ambulance was not called, both players were brought to the hospital, one sustaining a head injury, and the other a facial injury. • There have been many mechanical problems lately, especially among the residence halls, stemming from the heating and cooling systems. This is often due to the lack of air conditioning within buildings now. • Fire alarms were set off this week within Myer Residence Hall due to a student cooking in the first floor kitchen. No fire was found. • A student called Campus Security due to scratching sounds at her door. Originally, it was thought to be an animal in the ducts, but it was simply a poster swinging in the hallway. • Environmental Services cleaned vomit from two locations within Ober Residence Hall this week, one in a first floor bathroom, and the other on the back porch. • A noise complaint was filed against Schreiber Quads D1-D4 this past week. All students were cooperative and simply headed back inside. • Oct. 23, Campus Security was called to Founders to investigate a possible stench of marijuana within the building. No marijuana was found, and it was believed to simply be a resident’s air freshener. • So far this year, Campus Security has made 26 transports to the Penn State Hershey Medical Group on Chestnut Street by many of which are due to flulike symptoms.
beauty column
Buyer beware: look out for these in future purchases Lindsay D. Goldsmith Staff Writer
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any companies advertise their products, such as L’Oreal’s new EverPure collection, to be free of chemicals such as parabens, sodium lauryl sulfate and a whole slew of others that are equally unpronounceable. Unfortunately, this leads many of us to ask: what the heck is propylene gylcol, and why should I care if it’s in my shampoo? The scary thing is that you should. To start off we’ve got parabens. You can find them in basically any beauty product from concealer to conditioner. They are used as a preservative so that the product you are using lasts longer. At this point you are probably thinking, “Hurray for parabens! Can I give some to my boyfriend?” What most companies don’t tell you is that parabens mimic the natural hormone estrogen. So why is that a problem? Aside from the possibility of allergic reactions, giving your body more estrogen than it needs can cause mood swings, weight gain and, worst of all, higher risk for breast cancer. That’s right, your favorite moisturizer that makes your skin so soft and smells so good can give you cancer. Is it really worth it? I don’t think so — and neither do a lot of companies.
Victoria’s Secret recognized the harm of parabens, and its PINK line started making lotions that are completely paraben-free. To top it off, the products are made with natural, organic,and 100 percent vegan (no animal by-products) ingredients ,and they smell amazing! The line includes body lotion, sugar scrubs, hand cream, refresher spray (great for those mornings after late-night partying when you don’t feel like showering before breakfast), soap, body lotion, shave cream and all-over body mist. As if this wasn’t great enough, the products are also affordable for college students ranging from $5-15. So go ahead, ladies — think PINK! The next bad guy in the lineup? Sodium lauryl sulfate. It’s usually one of the first things you see in the ingredient list on your shampoo (which, by the way, means that it is the largest ingredient. As you go down the list of ingredients on beauty products, the amount in the product decreases). Sodium lauryl sulfate, also known as SLS, is used in shampoos as a cleanser and to make them foam up and get sudsy, bringing to mind glamorous images of Mitzi Gaynor in 1958’s South Pacific with an inchthick layer of bubbly shampoo on her head, washing that man right out of her hair. SLS is used because it is inexpensive, but I’ll leave it up to you to decide if the lower price point is worth the drawbacks. First off, SLS was originally intended to remove
grease and oil from surfaces, so when you put in on your hair, it strips out all the natural leaving it dry and fragile. Aren’t shampoos and conditioners supposed to moisturize and help hair? Not if they have SLS in them, which almost every shampoo you find on the shelves at Giant or CVS does. Second, when you use a facial cleanser with SLS in it, which is true of most, what do you think it’s doing to your face? It’s not only removing the natural oils that your body makes to protect your skin, but it’s also causing an imbalance in moisture levels in your skin, making it susceptible to any other negative ingredients that might be in anything you put on your face. What’s worse? All that imbalance and damage to your skin causes breakouts — the last thing any girl wants. So how does it make sense that something supposed to help clear your skin of breakouts is causing them? The answer is simple: companies want to save money, and SLS is cheap. Thankfully, L’Oreal Paris’ EverPure line is sulfate-free and very affordable, and many more companies are realizing the harmful effects of parabens and SLS and removing them from their products. Burt’s Bees makes all of its products this way, and, although they are slightly more expensive (about $8 for a bottle of shampoo and about $9 for a facial cleanser), isn’t your health worth it?