10 17 13 entire issue lo res

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

Four New Professors Will Join Cornell Tech Faculty

Hires include engineer, entrepreneur

By ANNIE BUI and ASHLEY CHU Sun Staff Wr ters

Cornell NYC Tech’s fall class of graduate students began classes alongside four n e w p r o

s o r s : Se r g e B e l o n g i e , Mo r Naaman, Rafael Pass and Ramin Zabih have joined Cornell Tech’s fledgling facult y, Un

Tuesday

The new professors an engineer, an entrepreneur, a cr yptographer and a comp

strengthen Cornell Tech’s mission to create a graduate tech education model that combines both academic excellence with real-world applications, according to a University press release Additionally, they

research and teaching model pioneered by

Admissions Likely Unaffected

By Glitches in Common App

Stress levels of high school seniors applying to colleges hit a new high over the weekend when the Common Application website was afflicted with login issues and website malfunctions, impeding students from accessing their applications and setting Cornell admissions back by almost a month

According to Jason Locke, interim associate vice provost for enrollment, as of Wednesday night, Cornell has not been able to download freshman applications from the Common Application’s website Locke said, however, that the University’s Early Decision deadline on Nov 1 will likely not be affected

“We anticipate that we will be able to download and begin processing applications within the next few days,” Locke said in an email “Although this is about a month later than we would normally begin downloading applications, it is my sense that the early decision admissions process should not be affected by these delays ”

He added that in the last few months, the glitches with the

Common Application website have resulted in more prospective students calling the admissions office than in past years

“In August and September we experienced double-digit increases in telephone calls to the Undergraduate Admissions Office,” he said “We attribute the increased telephone traffic to students, parents and guidance counselors having problems with the Common Application ” The Common Application’s issues arose from a new system, CA4, that the company issued for the 2013-14 application cycle, Locke said According to remarks from Thyra Briggs, president of the board of directors for the Common Application, the new system which will help “streamline the application process and features additional tools in the home center ” is intended to accommodate the anticipated growth in applications

“The CA4 system is an incredible system –– intuitive, flexible and agile,” Briggs said in a Common Application Membership Meeting Sept 19 “We are exceedingly proud

Entrepreneurial Officer Greg Pass, the release said Prof Serge Belongie, who specializes in computer vision and machine learning, came to Cornell Tech by way of the computer science and engineering department at the University of California, San Diego In addition to being named one of the top 100 young tech innovators in the world by the MIT Technology Review in 2004, Belongie is the co-founder of Digital Persona, Inc , one of the world’s leading biometrics companies Belongie taught a class about machine learning, data mining and time series analysis to Cornell Tech’s beta class of students in the spring

“I enjoyed that experience and found myself ver y impressed with the team at Cornell Tech,” Belongie said Prof Mor Naaman, a social media expert and entrepreneur, was the first faculty member hired at the Joan and Ir win Ja c o b s Te c h n i o n

In

Institute a component of Cornell Tech that offers interdisciplinar y dual degree p

based sciences He is founder of the startup Seen, which summarizes and organizes

Cornell Tech from Rutgers University Naaman said there were multiple factors that attracted him to Cornell Tech

This stor y continues on cornellsun com

Housing Comm. Mulls Rental Law

By SARAH CUTLER Sun Senior Writer

Faced with the failure of recent legislation to significantly relieve the fall Collegetown housing rush, the Ithaca Rental Housing Advisor y Commission a city committee that aims to improve the the state of rental housing discussed means of bolstering the legislation as well as educational remedies at a meeting Wednesday In April, the Common Council passed an amendment to city code that required landlords to

provide 60 days written notice to current tenants of a residential unit before showing the unit to other prospective tenants, entering into an agreement with new tenants or renewing the agreement

However, students looking to sign leases for next year ’ s housing have been “bombarding” landlords this fall, according to Larry Beck, a Collegetown landlord and co-chair of the Ithaca Rental Housing Advisory Commission Because the law is up against a culture of racing to sign leases early in the fall, the ordinance has had mixed results, according to members of the Commission

“It’s hard to legislate a cultural problem,” said Monica Moll, who owns Moll Properties Though her website states that she doesn’t begin showing units until Oct 4, she said she received calls long before that date

“I would like to wait, but when people are banging on your door to

Chobani Partners With C.U. for Dair y Research

By HELEN DONNELLY

Sun Contributor

Cornell and Chobani, Inc are joining forces in a partnership that will promote innovative research in dair y and food science

Chobani and Cornell announced the partnership Friday, sayingit was made possible by a $1 5-million gift from Chobani to the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences According to Chobani’s communication manager, Lindsay Kos, Cornell was a “ top ” choice for the partnership

“ This donation is incredibly important to us as innovation is

o u r l i f e b l o o d a t Chobani In addition

t o o u r r o b u s t

[ re s e a rc h a n d d e ve lopment] and innovation teams, we seek out the best partners

are leaders in their respective fields “ Today is an exciting day for Chobani as we formalize and bolster our commitment to food innovation and quality,” Denholm said “Cornell’s Department of Food Science is one of the leading programs of its kind globally a match to Chobani’s leading role in Greek yogurt and our mission to bring better food options to ever yone ”

According to Prof Martin Wiedmann, food science, the donation will be used in four areas: teaching, outreach and extension, workforce development and research

“This donation is incredibly important to us ”

“Chobani’s gift gives us the flexibility to further develop comprehensive program to improve the quality of d a i r y p r o d u c t s , ”

A round

Cornell as a top example,” Kos said in an email “As the market leader, we see this partnership raising the bar for the industr y building new knowledge and developing innovative solutions that will take dair y science to the next level ”

Chobani has more than 2,000 employees globally and grossed more than $1 billion in sales annually, according to a University press release

According to Kos, one of the reasons why Chobani and Cornell teamed up was because of their previous ties to each other

“Our partnership with Cornell formalizes, and takes to the next level, longs t a n d i n g r e l a t i o n s h i p s Fo r y e a r s , t h e Chobani [Research and Development] team has leaned on the advice of Cornell experts, and vice versa, ” she said

In a press release, David Denholm, president and chief operating officer of Chobani, said another reason for the partnership is that both Chobani and Cornell

Wiedmann said In addition to suppor ting research, the donation will also be used to create a training and development program to bolster graduate student research, according to a University press release

According to Kos, the exact research projects to be conducted have not been decided yet

“ The research endeavors in food and dair y science that we will undertake are still to be defined But we are confident that we will find innovative solutions to any challenge with the top minds on the job those at Chobani, matched with those at Cornell,” Kos said “ While we are still defining our research focus areas, we are certainly considering innovation in the dair y industr y holistically and exploring ever y angle from cow to cup ”

The donation was given as part of the “Cornell Now” campaign, which is an effort to raise $4 75 billion dollars by the University’s sesquicentennial in 2015

Helen Donnelly can be reached at hkd27@cornell edu

T he i vies

At Harvard University, cultural student organizations organized a celebration of “Indigenous People’s Day” in order to encourage Harvard University to rename Columbus Day Harvard University is the only Ivy League school to recognize the holiday, The Harvard Crimson reported

Yale University has welcomed a new LGBTQ organization to its group of 16 with “Queer+Asian,” a LGBTQ group focused on issues that pertain to Asian and Asian Americans, according to The Yale Daily News

Columbia University students created an online petition asking the university to be more transparent with cases of sexual assault on campus, their prevalence, reasoning and consequences According to The Columbia Spectator, the petition has already reached 400 signatures

Dartmouth College’s ban on freshmen students entering Greek houses ended at noon Monday The Class of 2017 previously had the option to attend Greek Leadership Council-sponsored events and each other’s dorms, according to The Dartmouth

According to The Daily Princetonian, a proposal to hire sharpshooters to exterminate the growing population of coyotes in the town of Princeton and around Princeton University has been shut down –– Compiled by Kevin Milian

‘ The Potter’s Room’ Fills Ceramics Void in Ithaca

By SLOANE GRINSPOON Sun Contributor

a n d w o rk o n c e r a m i c a r t s ” Pre v i o u s l y, m e m b e r s o f t h e

It h a c a c o m m u n i t y c o u l d

c h h e s

h i s i n t h e d ow n t ow n a re a i s re a l l y d i ff e r e n t b e c a u s e e v e r y t h i n g i s re t a i l d ow n h e re , ” Bl a c k s a i d A l t h o u g h T h e Po t t e r ’ s Ro o m h a s a re t a i l e l e m e n t t o i t , t h e m a i n f o c u s o f t h e s h o p i s t h e t e a c h i n g s t u d i o Bl a c k s a i d t h e a i m o f t h e s t u d i o i s “ c re a t i n g [ a n d ] f o s t e r i n g a g ro u p o f p e op l e t h a t w a n t t o c o m e t o g e t h e r

“ t h r ow ” o r u s e a p o t t e r y w h e e l a t t h e C o r n e l l c e r a m i c s s t u d i o i n t h e b a s e m e n t o f Wi l l a rd St r a i g h t Ha l l , d u b b e d t h e Po t Sh o p T h e Po t Sh o p c l o s e d i t s d o o r s i n 2 0 1 1 Mu c h l i k e t h e Po t Sh o p, T h e Po t t e r ’ s Ro o m o f f e r s a r a n g e o f l e s s o n s f o r c u s t o m e r s o f d i f f e re n t a g e s t o l e a r n h ow t o w o rk w i t h c l a y a t t h e w h e e l It a l s o o f f e r s w h a t Bl a c k c a l l s “ s h e l f s p a c e ” f o r i n d i v i d u a l s w i t h m o re e x p e r i e n c e w h o w o u l d l i k e t o u s e t h e f a c i l i t i e s i n a m o re s e l fd i re c t e d m a n n e r, Bl a c k s a i d T h e Po t t e r ’ s R o o m h a s a l r e a d y a t t r a c t e d c u s t o m e r s f r o m C o r n e l l a n d It h a c a C o l l e g e , a s we l l a s It h a c a re s id e n t s Ad d y C o o p e r Da v i d o f f ’ 1 5 , w h o h a s c o m e t o u s e t h e w h e e l a t t h e c e r a m i c s s t u d i o m a n y t i m e s s i n c e i t o p e n e d , s a i d t h e s t u d i o i s a p p e a l i n g f o r va r i o u s re a s o n s , i n c l u d i n g i t s p rox i m i t y t o C o r n e l l “ To m i s re a l l y g e n e ro u s w i t h a d v i c e , s o I s i m u l t a n e o u s l y c a n d o m y ow n t h i n g a n d g e t a d v i c e f ro m a n e x p e r t p o t t e r, ” s h e s a i d T h e a b i l i t y t o g i v e a d v i c e m a y s t e m f ro m Bl a c k’s e x t e n s i ve c e r a m i c s

can be reached at sig32@cornell edu

Common A pp Glitches D elay P rocessing, Pay ments

COMMON APP

Continued from page 1

of what we know it can do and how it can help all of us do our work better and improve the application process for students and counselors There have been many successes since August 1st, and the finished product will be extraordinary ”

Instead of being “intuitive, flexible and agile,” however, the Common Application has been experiencing “significant challenges” with its new system since the application launched in August, Locke said More than 500 member schools have been affected by the glitches, he added

“Many aspects of the system simply weren ’ t thoroughly tested and should not have been launched,” he said

Locke said these issues included guidance counselors and teachers being unable to submit recommendations online and people encountering complications with the application fee payment system

Briggs noted at the Sept 19 meeting that the new Common Application system has experienced difficulties

“For many of you, the launch has gone relatively smoothly with only the bumps and glitches that are expected in the launch of an entirely new system, ” she said “But we also know that some of you have experienced issues that go far beyond what can be expected and, in fact, tolerated ”

On Facebook, the Common Application kept students updated on the status of its website, claiming the issues stemmed from a “spike in activity among recommenders” that affected all users Other issues, such as problems with the PDF preview function, are being investigated, according to a post on the Common Application’s Facebook page

Students and others expressed their frustration with the Common Application glitches

Priscilla Osorio commented on the Common Application Facebook page, saying her recommenders were having difficulty submitting their letters

“My professors have tried using three different web browsers, and they cannot submit the letter of recommendation,” she wrote “I have decided to have my professors email the letters to those schools which require ‘[zero]’ letters to be sent, so I may submit my application, but the recommender status says ‘incomplete ’”

Summer Courts wrote on the Common Application Facebook page that she has been unable to log in, despite having the correct login information

“I've been trying to log in for three days and the site will not work Every time I try it takes me straight back to the homepage My username and password are correct I have no idea what's going on, ” she wrote in a post “Please help!!!”

Janene Cashmer noted the impact of the website’s issues on students’ application process

“How about you address the fact that no colleges have received any of the applications that have been submitted thus far?” she wrote “These kids get their apps done in a timely manner to alleviate stress, yet now are facing colleges that don't have them because Common App website is total disaster!”

Locke said that, to combat these issues, Cornell has created an online resource to help students navigate the Common Application He also said that it did not affect the Oct 1 deadline for spring transfer students and that the Early Decision deadline of Nov 1 will be moved if necessary

“We are quite hopeful that many of the issues will be resolved before the Early Decision deadline, but we absolutely encourage prospective early decision applicants to start the process well before the deadline,” he said “This is good advice regardless of the problems with the Common Application ”

Caroline Flax can be reached at cflax@cornellsun com

Face Woes

HOUSING

Continued from page 1

get in, to not open up shop is bad business,” she said

The penalty for violating the ordinance is a civil penalty of up to $500 for the landlord, which is assessed at the discretion of the city prosecutor ’ s office Beck proposed extending that fine to tenants as a way to change the renting culture in Collegetown

“Right now, you have upperclassmen telling freshmen to get their housing as soon as possible,” he said “What if the culture was seniors and juniors telling freshmen, ‘don’t do it now –– you’ll get a $500 fine ’ Wouldn’t that change the culture quickly?”

But other members of the Commission opposed the idea, noting that most students looking to sign leases are unfamiliar with the process and may not know about the waiting period

“These tenants are new residents to the town, and maybe they don’t keep abreast of the city, or they’re very focused on their own little worlds,” said Commission member Carole Fisher, consumer outreach educator for the Cornell Cooperative Extension “I don’t understand why they would be fined ”

Graham Kerslick (D-4th Ward) also said many potential tenants are unaware of the waiting period and advocated against fining them

“Students don’t sign the lease unless the landlord lets them,” he said

The new rental legislation was not intended as a cure-all for the troubles caused by the Collegetown housing rush, Kerslick told the Sun in September For instance, the ordinance allows the 60 days notice to begin the day a lease begins If a lease begins in the early summer many leases begin June 1 or June 15 then by the time a student moves in in late August, the landlord can, legally, have already begun showing the property Additionally, because a landlord and tenant can mutually decide to waive the 60 days notice requirement, a landlord could potentially write the waiver directly into the lease

While Kerslick acknowledged some of the law’s shortcomings, he said the legislation wasn ’ t intended to and could not, on its own eliminate housing pressures Instead, he said, the law attempts to give current tenants some time to live in their new housing before they have to make a decision about re-signing

Beck also suggested that Cornell require its students to recieve permission to live off-campus, something that is already in place at Ithaca College, where students must complete an online tutorial before they can live offcampus, according to Denise Thompson, administrative assistant in the Office for Fraternity, Sorority and Independent Living

The rest of this story can be found at cornellsun com

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Editorial

Unquali ed Legacie s Need Not Apply

LEGACY STUDENTS defined as having parents, grandparents or older ancestors who hold a Cornell degree are often stereotyped as being under-qualified or having been accepted primarily on the basis of their legacy status If legacy were a primary criteria for admission, the fact that these students apparently constitute 15 percent of Cornell’s undergraduate population would be cause for alarm But if, as the University contends, legacy is limited to consideration in candidates who already qualify on merit, we do not find it particularly objectionable We of course expect that, first and foremost, all Cornell students will be academically qualified But once this threshold has been met, it seems reasonable when comparing two genuinely equal applicants to choose the one who can confer the greatest benefit to the institution

There are numerous competing criteria that universities introduce into the decisionmaking process when weighing two similarly qualified candidates against one another Theoretically, no discernible indicators of individual merit that would convince an admissions committee that one of the prospective students would fare better academically than the other At that point, should employing tiebreakers that serve the interests of the University itself be considered invalid? Many such criteria are non-meritocratic in nature, but would further some goal of the institution: to increase racial diversity, cast a wider net of geographic distribution or otherwise craft a class that can improve the school’s national rankings in some way

Cornell has an obvious interest in admitting legacy students They come from households with parents who hold prestigious degrees, perhaps leading admissions officers to gamble that such students will be more likely able to pay full tuition a major draw for a need-blind school Although creating multi-generational Cornell legacies reasonably elicits accusations of elitism, it has both a romantic historic appeal and the practical effect of producing alumni who are more likely to be active, financially and otherwise The University relies on alumni generosity and the ability of some families to pay tuition in full in order to fund a robust financial aid program to bring in those qualified students who would otherwise be unable to afford to attend Cornell Universities are businesses, and they sometimes need to function as such For those who will counter that this self-interest poses a detriment to deserving students, that argument has its limitations A college’s admissions process will, by necessity, correspond to a desire to admit the highest number of individually qualified applicants possible Accepting an exorbitant percentage of students based on non-academic characteristics like legacy or race alone would directly and negatively affect a school’s place in the rankings and thus their ability to compete for top applicants down the line If most of Cornell’s 15-percent legacy population were not qualified for admission in their own rites, we would see it reflected in the numbers This crucial balancing act serves as a natural check on universities’ use of non-meritocratic factors for admissions

t t e d h i m o n e d a y

o n C o l l e g e Av e n u e , I p o i n t e d h i m o u t t r i u m p h a n t l y El l i e f o l l ow e d m y g a z e a c r o s s t h e s t re e t t o w h e re h e w a s s i t t i n g u n a s s u m i n g l y a t C T B a n d e r u p t e d i n u n c o n t r o l l a b l e l a u g h t e r “ H e ’ s s o s c r a w n y, ” s h e s a i d t h r o u g h a f i t o f g i gg l e s “ Fr o m t h e w a y y o u t a l k a b o u t h i m , I w a s e x p e c t i n g a g o d ! ”

Sh a k e s p e a re w a s t h e f i r s t t o s a y i t :

L ov e i s b l i n d Pe o p l e i n l ov e ov e r l o o k f l a w s i n t h e o b j e c t s o f t h e i r a f f e c t i o n It

c a n b e a n y w h e re f r o m a m u s i n g t o d i s -

c o n c e r t i n g t o w a t c h a f r i e n d g e t a l l f l u st e re d ov e r s o m e o n e w h o , i n o u r m i n d s , c a l l s i n t o q u e s t i o n t h e e x t i n c t i o n o f t h e

Ne a n d e r t h a l s Bu t w h a t a b o u t w h e n i t

h a p p e n s t o u s ? We h a v e a l l b e e n g u i l t y o f i d e a l i z i n g o u r r o m a n t i c i n t e re s t s L e t ’ s f a c e i t : I f y o u c a n re c a l l s o m e o f t h e p e o p l e y o u c h a s e d a f t e r i n h i g h s c h o o l w i t h o u t c r i n g i n g , y o u ’ re i n t h e m i n o r i t y Ba c k t h e n , t h e s e p e o p l e s e e m e d l i k e t h e b e - a l l a n d e n d - a l l It i s o n l y y e a r s l a t e r t h a t w e s a y t o o u r s e l v e s , “ W h a t w a s I t h i n k i n g ? W h y d i d I e v e r t h i n k i t w a s c u t e t h a t

B o b b y h a d h i s ow n n a m e t a t t o o e d o n t h e b a c k o f h i s n e c k ? ” W h e n w e i d e a l i z e s o m e o n e , w e c re a t e a n e m o t i o n a l a t t a c h m e n t b a s e d o n a f a nt a s y o f w h o w e t h i n k t h a t p e r s o n i s We l e t o u r i m a g i n a t i o n s r u n w i l d a n d i n d u l g e i n d a y d re a m s o f d a t e s w e m a y n e v e r g o o n a n d p a re n t s w e m a y n e v e r m e e t Bu t t h i s f a n t a s i z i n g , t h o u g h s e e mi n g l y h a r m l e s s , a l s o h a s a d a n g e r o u s d a r k

h

a n g o o d T h e d a n g e r i s n o t l i m i t e d t o f a n t a s i zi n g a b o u t a f u t u re w i t h a m y s t e r i o u s s t r a n g e r We c a n a l s o f a n t a s i z e re t r o a ct i v e l y, o r a b o u t p e o p l e w e o n c e k n e w w e l l ( i e p r e v i o u s r e l a t i o n s h i p s ) W h o e v e r s a i d h i n d s i g h t i s 2 0 / 2 0 c l e a r l y d i d n o t t a k e i n t o a c c o u n t t h e f a l l i b i l i t y o f o u r m e m o r y, o r t h e s n e a k y t e n d e n c y o f t h e p a s t t o a p p e a r b e t t e r i n re t r o s p e c t t h a n i t a c t u a l l y w a s T h e t r u t h i s , h i n ds i g h t i s o f t e n i r r a t i o n a l a n d s e l e c t i v e w e m a y c r a v e t h e f e e l i n g s w e h a d f o r s o m e o n e i n t h e p a s t b u t f o r g e t a l l t h e c o m p l i c a t i o n s a n d re a s o n s i t d i d n ’ t w o r k o u t w i t h t h a t p e r s o n T h e d i s a s t r o u s re s u l t : B e f o re w e k n ow i t , a n i d e a l i z e d m e m o r y o f a p a s t f l a m e i s g e t t i n g i n t h e w a y o f o u r f u t u re o n e s It i s n a t u r a l t o w a n t t o t re a t p e o p l e l i k e m a d - l i b s , j u s t i f y f l a w s i n o u r l ov e d o n e s a n d re m e m b e r t h i n g s a s b e t t e r

s i d e e s p e c i a l l y w h e n w e i d e a l i z e s o m e o n e w e d o n ’ t k n ow v e r y w e l l T h e m o re s p a c e t h a t o u r m i n d s h a v e t o f i l l i n t h e b l a n k s , t h e m o re u n re a l i s t i c o u r f a n t a s i e s c a n b e c o m e I ’ v e d e f i n i t e l y d o n e i t Du r i n g m y s t u d y a b r o a d i n It a l y, I f e l l v e r y h a rd f o r a g u y I b a re l y k n e w T h e l a n g u a g e b a r r ie r h e l p e d m e r a t i o n a l i z e a w a y a l l h i s f l a w s : I m i s t o o k h i s a p a t h y f o r c o n t e mp l a t i v e s i l e n c e , a n d w h a t m y f r i e n d s ( a c c u r a t e l y ) r e c o g n i z e d a s h i s c r a s s b e h a v i o r, I s a w a s h i m b e i n g c o m f o r t a b l e w i t h h i m s e l f A l re a d y c o n v i n c e d t h a t h e w a s p e r f e c t , I w a l k e d i n t o o u r f i r s t d a t e w i t h a l e v e l o f e m o t i o n a l i n v e s t m e n t s o i n a p p r o p r i a t e t h a t I w a s b o u n d t o b e d i s a p p o i n t e d I k n ow I ’ m n o t t h e o n l y o n e w h o h a s b u i l t s o m e o n e u p i n m y m i n d l i k e t h i s T h e re a s

e f o re t h e re w a s s n a p c h a t ( Fu n f a c t : d i d yo u k n ow i t w a s o r i g i n a l l y

c a l l e d p e n i s - a - b o o l i k e p e e k - a - b o o ?

We i rd ) a n d l o n g a f t e r l a n d l i n e s we re

u s e d f o r p h o n e s e x ( w a i t , d i d p e o p l e e ve r a c t u a l l y d o t h a t ? ) t h e re w a s t h e g o o d o l d s e x t Se x t i n g , t h e p h e n o m e n o n t h a t g o t m a n y a t e e n a g e r i n t ro u b l e , i s a c o m m o n

The Ar t of Se xtin g

o c c u r r e n c e i n o u r g e n e r a t i o n We l l , m a y b e t h a t ’ s a g e n e r a l i z a t i o n m a y b e i t ’ s j u s t a c o m m o n o c c u r re n c e i n m y e ve r yd a y l i f e Ye s , I ’ v e d o n e i t a l l Sn a p c h a t i n g n a k e d p i c s , s e x t i n g , p h o n e s e x , s k y p e s e x ( m y b oy f r i e n d a t t h e t i m e w a s a b ro a d a n d b e f o re t h a t we d i d l o n g d i s t a n c e , w h a t d o yo u w a n t f ro m m e ? ) I e ve n re c e n t l y h a d d r u n k e n f a c e t i m e s e x ( i t w a s n ’ t m y t h i n g ) Se r i o u s l y t h o u g h , i f i t e x i s t s i n t h e c y b e r w o r l d , c h a n c e s a re I h a ve d o n e i t o n c e , p ro b a b l y t w i c e , p e rh a p s m a n y m o re t i m e s I w o u l d s a y i t ’ s a g o o d w a y t o k e e p u p w i t h a c q u a i n t a n c e s ( i t ’ s n o t ) b u t h o n e s t l y i t ’ s j u s t f u n t h a t i s ( m a y b e ? ) s a f e r t h a n s e n d i n g n u d e p i c s v i a e m a i l o r t e x t ( t h o s e h a v e g o t t e n m e i n t r o u b

w o rk u p t o p h o n e s e x It’s a l o t e a s i e r t o h a v e f u n i f yo u c a n t a k e a c o u p l e o f s e c o n d s t o t h i n k o f yo u r re s p o n s e 5 B E K I N

w i l l i n e v i t a b l y g e t b a c k t o t h e o t h e r p e r -

s o n Ju s t d e l e t e yo u r m e s s a g e s Yo u’l l t h a n k m e f o r t h i s o n e 3 B E S PE C I F I C . “ I w a n t t o s u c k o n yo u r c o c k” i s n ’ t re a l l y s o m e t h i n g yo u w a n t t o d o It’s k i n d o f j u s t a n a c t i o n How h a rd a re yo u s u c k i n g ? Ha rd a n d f a s t

o r l o n g a n d s l ow ? A re yo u a t t e m p t i n g

I would say start with sexting and work up to phone sex It’s a lot easier to have fun if you can take a couple of seconds to think of your response

s o m e d e e p t h ro a t a c t i o n ? Sp e c i f i c i t y h e l p s p e o p l e v i s u a li ze t h i n g s i n t h e i r m i n d a n d b r i n g s a c t i o n t o l i f e I k n o w i t m i g h t s o u n d a l i t t l e a w kw a r d t o g o i n t o g o r y

d e t a i l b u t I p ro m i s e yo u a n d yo u r s e x t i n g

b u d d y w i l l b o t h b e m o re f u l f i l l e d i f yo u

h e r, I ’

Te s t l y, k i n d o f r u d e 4 D E L E T E YO U R M E S S AG E S A F T E RWA R D I d o n ’ t t h i n k a n e x p l a n a t i o n i s n e c e s s a r y h e re , b u t i n c a s e i t i s : Sh ow i n g t h i s k i n d o f s t u f f t o yo u r f r i e n d s i s n ’ t c o o l It m a k e s yo u l o o k l i k e a t o o l a n d

g o t h e e x t r a m i l e 2 S U S PE N D D I S B E L I E F Ha l f t h e s h i t yo u s a y yo u w a n t t o d o t o s o m e o n e i s s o m e t h i n g yo u w o u l d n e ve r re a l i s t i c a l l y

d o i n p e r s o n Or m a y b e yo u w o u l d , w h o a m I t o j u d g e ? I o n c e h a d a g u y a s k m e , “ U h h h h h ow d i d we g e t t o t h a t p o s it i o n ? ” a n d m y ( e x a s p e r a t e d ) re s p o n s e w a s , “ Do e s i t m a t t e r ? We’re n o t e ve n re a ll y h a v i n g s e x ! ” Tr u e

Donny J. | Headshakes and High Fives

Mo re T h a n J u st P h y si c a l

o d a y I t h o u g h t I ’d s h a k e t h i n g s u p f ro m m y u s u a l s t y l e o f w r i t i n g a n d t a l k a b o u t s o m e t h i n g o n a m o re e m o t i o n a l l e ve l T h i s i s a t o p i c t h a t p e r h a p s we a l l t h i n k a b o u t , b u t t h a t we n e ve r re a l l y s p e a k o u t

l o u d b e c a u s e we ’ re a f r a i d o f s o u n d i n g s a p p y t o o u r f r i e n d s A f e w we e k e n d s a g o , I h a d t h e p l e a s u re o f g o i n g t o s e e t h e m ov i e , Do n Jo n ( h o l y s h i t I j u s t re a l i ze d t h a t

we s h a re t h e s a m e n a m e t h a t w a s n o t i n t e n t i o n a l b u t I w i l l ow n i t n o n e t h e l e s s ) Wa l k i n g o u t o f t h e t h ea t re , I s t a r t e d t o t h i n k a b o u t t h e d i f f e re n t k i n d s o f s e x we a l l h a ve , a n d I ’ m n o t t a l ki n g a b o u t p o s i t i o n s a n d k i n k y f e t i s h e s h e re I ’ m re f e r r i n g t o s o m e t h i n g i n f i n i t e l y m o re i m p o r t a n t : t h e d i f f e re n c e b e t we e n m e a n i n g f u l a n d p o i n t l e s s s e x Pe o p l e s a y t h a t f o r g i r l s , a h u g e p a r t o f s e x i s t h e p s yc h o l o g i c a l a s p e c t a g i r l w i l l n o t b e a b l e t o e n j oy s e x i f s h e c a n n o t g e t e m o t i o n a l l y i n vo l ve d T h e s a m e p e op l e s a y t h a t g u y s d o n o t n e e d e m o t i o n s t o e n j oy s e x t h a t a s l o n g a s yo u r D i s g e t t i n g we t , e ve r y t h i n g i s a l l g o o d We l l , I c a l l b u l l s h i t If a g u y e ve r t e l l s yo u t h a t h e c o n s i s t e n t l y h a s t h e b e s t s e x e ve r f ro m a s l e w o f d r u n k e n , h o r n y o n e - n i g h t s t a n d s , t h e n h e ’ s e i t h e r l y i n g t o yo u o r h a s n o t s e e n t h e o t h e r s i d e If yo u ’ re a s e x u a l l y a c t i ve p e r s o n , t h e n t a k e a m o m e n t a n d a s k t h e s e q u e s t i o n s t o yo u r s e l f A re yo u d a t i n g s o m e o n e o r d o yo u t a k e e a c h we e k e n d a s i t c o m e s ? Do yo u g o i n t o a h o o k u p l o o k i n g f o r s e x o r d o yo u s e e h ow t h i n g s p l a y o u t ? T h i s n e x t o n e i s i m p o r t a n t : W h e n yo u s e e s o m e o n e t h a t yo u ’ re i n t e re s t e d i n , a re yo u t h e o n e t o t a k e c o m m a n d o r d o yo u l e t h i m o r h e r c o m e t o yo u ? A n d i f yo u d o t a k e c o mm a n d , i s i t b e c a u s e yo u j u s t w a n t t o g e t s o m e a c t i o n , o r d i d yo u s e e s o m e t h i n g s p e c i a l i n t h a t p e r s o n ? Me a n i n g f u l s e x d o e s n o t n e c e s s a r i l y m e a n s e x w i t h s o m e o n e yo u ’ re d a t i n g o r i n l ove w i t h If yo u f i n d yo u r s e l f i n t h e l u c k y p o s i t i o n o f b e i n g a b l e t o m a k e l ove i n t h e t r u e s t m e a n i n g o f t h e p h r a s e , t h e n yo u k n ow t h e s e x u a l p i n n a c l e t o w h i c h I ’ m re f e r r i n g T h e re a re m a n y s t o p s u p t h a t m o u n t a i n , h owe ve r, t h a t s t i l l p u t a l l t h o s e e m p t y ro m p s t o s h a m e It’s

i m p o s s i b l e t o s a y w h i c h s c e n a r i o s w i l l l e a d t o t h a t d e e p e r f e e l i n g a s s o c i a t e d w i t h p a s s i o n a t e s e x , s o d o n ’ t l e t t h e f a c t t h a t yo u ’ re d a t i n g s o m e o n e o r h a v i n g a

If your heart was racing the whole time, even when you were motionless, then you were there If you can’t forget the experience, no matter how much you try, then you were there

s e r i e s o f o n e n i g h t s t a n d s b e t h e d e c i d i n g f a c t o r Yo u c o u l d m e e t s o m e o n e a t a p a r t y o n e n i g h t a n d j u s t h a ve t h i s a m a z i n g c o n n e c t i o n w h e re e ve r y t h i n g c l i c k s a n d g o e s r i g h t f o r a c o u p l e h o u r s , c re a t i n g a e u p h o r i a t h a t m a k e s yo u f e e l l i k e yo u ’ re f l y i n g a n d n e ve r w a n t t o c o m e d ow n Yo u c o u l d a l s o b e d a t i n g s o m e o n e w h o yo u re g u l a r l y h a ve e n j oy a b l e s e x w i t h , b u t a t t h e s a m e t i m e t h e re ’ s j u s t s o m e t h i n g i n t h e w a y e m o t i o n a l l y t h a t p re ve n t s t h a t s a m e e u p h o r i a Ta k e i t f r o m s o m e o n e w h o ’ s b e e n u p a n d d ow n t h e m o u n t a i n s i d e : I f y o u w a l k a w a y t h e n e x t m o r ni n g t h i n k i n g , “ So w h y d i d I d o t h a t ? ” , t h e n y o u p r o b a b l y h a d a n i g h t w h e re g e n i t a l i a c o l l i d e d a n d t h a t ’ s a b o u t i t Ne i t h e r o f y o u p r o b a b l y s a i d m u c h t h e e n t i re t i m e , y o u j u s t s o r t o f w e n t t h r o u g h t h e m o t i o n s b e c a u s e e v e r y t h i n g f e l t k i n d o f g o o d A l l i n a l l a v e r y f o r g e t t a b l e n i g h t Bu t i f y o u r h e a r t w a s r a c i n g t h e w h o l e t i m e , e v e n w h e n y o u w e re m o t i o nl e s s , t h e n y o u w e re t h e re I f y o u c a n n o t f o r g e t t h e e x p e r i e n c e , n o m a t t e r h ow m u c h y o u t r y, t h e n y o u w e re t h e re I f y o u f i n d y o u r s e l f s m i l i n g a n d t h i n k i n g a b o u t t h e o t h e r p e r s o n a n d t h e s e x , a n d n o t j u s t t h e s e x , t h e n y o u w e re t h e re T h a t i s w h a t w e s h o u l d a l l s t r i v e f o r i n t h e l o n g r u n It’s n o t a l w a y s a b o u t s c o ri n g t h e h o t t e s t g u y o r g i r l , o r h o o k i n g u p w i t h a s m a n y p e o p l e a s y o u c a n T h e re w i l l c o m e a p o i n t w h e n y o u h a v e t h a t h e a r t - a n d - m i n d - b l ow i n g s e x , a n d i t m a y h a p p e n w h e n y o u l e a s t e x p e c t i t I n t r y i n g t o t e a c h Jo n w h y h e i s n ’ t e n j o y i n g s e x n e a r l y a s m u c h a s h e e n j o y s p o r n , Ju l i a n n e Mo o r e ’ s c h a r a c t e r i n D o n Jo n t e l l s h i m t h a t " I f y o u w a n t t o l o s e y o u r s e l f, y o u h a v e t o l o s e y o u r s e l f i n a n o t h e r p e r s o n It ' s a t w o - w a y t h i n g " Yo u c a n n o t f o r c e t h a t f e e l i n g , y o u h a v e t o l e t i t h a p p e n It’s w h y s o m e r e l a t i o ns h i p s d o n o t w o r k o u t , d e s p i t e a p p e a r i n g f i n e o n t h e s u r f a c e It’s a l s o w h y a p a r t i c u l a r o n en i g h t s t a n d m a y b e t h e b e s t s e x y o u ’ v e e v e r h a d It j u s t h a p p e n s , a n d i t e n t i r e l y d e p e n d s o n t h e c o nn e c t i o n b e t w e e n b o t h p e o p l e o n a l e v e l t h a t ’ s n o t j u s t “ He y y o u ’ r e h o t , I ’ m d e

Dining Guide

The Best (Foodie) Reasons to Venture Onto the Commons and Beyond

By KAY XIAO Sun Staff Writer

The restaurants on the Commons and the rest of downtown Ithaca represent charming quirky Ithaca in the best light as a true haven for the hungr y Cornellian to relax and make memories all while enjoying quality food While the Commons is a little out of the way, making a trip beyond the bounds of Collegetown can be a refreshing change from mundane delivery orders, on-campus dining and Collegetown eateries The variety of food in greater Ithaca never disappoints, and the local small town atmosphere of many foodie places provides a great way to get to know the real Ithaca outside of Cornell By foot, car or bus, nothing in Ithaca is too far to get to Besides, the scrumptious experience that awaits more than makes up for the extra mile or two MATÉ FACTOR

Maté Factor, with its uncanny likeness to Bag End in Lord of the Rings, sits snuggly in the heart of the Commons The log benches and woodsy decor create a mellow environment perfect for sipping slightly bitter maté lattes or refreshing smoothies while nibbling on a fresh salad or wrap The beef chili sprinkled with cheddar and chives with a side of jalapeno bread is also a prime choice

However, Maté Factor’s fluffy buttery Belgian waffles drizzled with a slightly tart raspberry blueberry sauce and covered in whipped cream is what really gets me out of bed in the morning and onto the Commons The sauce is delicious enough to drink by itself, and every bite of the sweet confection is perfection

JUST A TASTE

Classic and well known in the Ithaca community, Just a Taste on the Commons lives up to the hype This classy establishment is perfect for the everyday moocher that steals a bite out of everyone else’s plate because tapas are made for sharing From a range of seafood options to the selection of heavier meat tapas, cheeses and fruits to herbed potatoes, the tapas bar offers an unbeatable variety The spicy shrimp sauté with garlic, jalapeno, caramelized onions, zesty lime and cilantro serves up a peppery kick to the taste buds and is one of my favorites

THE PIGGERY

T

p offers a lot for the meat lover

Although the deli was shut down about six months ago in order to undergo renovations to expand the butcher shop, the Pigger y, located en route to the Ithaca Farmer’s Market, is still so worth the trip Stocked with every cut of meat perfect to bring back for a home cooked meal and cured cooked meats, the little shop, serving pork, chicken and beef from sustainable pastured farms, i s e ve r y c a r n i vo re ’ s

course, bacon make for quite the s o p h i s t i c a t e d s a n d w i c h T h e Piggery also offers an impressive selection of specialty sausages

ITHACA ALE HOUSE

When you ’ re starving and in the mood for a quality thick and hearty burger to sink your teeth into, Ithaca Ale House is the place to go Ithaca Ale House does the ultimate bar food right Not only do they have some crazy flavor filled burgers like the Fat Kid

two grilled cheeses sandwiching black angus beef, lettuce, tomato, onion and pickles or the Kobe Brie Burger topped with caramelized apple and brie cheese they also serve a selection of flat bread pizzas and sides of big fat onion rings The rings alone are enough to lure me downtown, but the burgers reign supreme

SAIGON KITCHEN

For a long time, phô was my go-to dish at Vietnamese restaurants, and while it remains one of my favorites, Vermicelli has taken its place as my go to order The Vermicelli dish at Saigon Kitchen strikes the perfect balance between salty and sour, intense flavor and a light consistency The slippery rice noodles mixed with cucumber, lettuce, carrots, bean sprouts and daikon tossed in a tangy tamarind dressing is served room temperature and comes in different variations I prefer it topped with the fried imperial meat rolls (bun cha

gio), but grilled pork and chicken are also popular options Because the dish has a salad like quality to it, the freshness of the ingredients is especially essential to its execution Saigon Kitchen doesn’t disappoint

PURITY ICE CREAM

“ The Ice Cream of the Finglerlakes since 1936,” Purity Ice Cream hasn’t lost its appeal Bringing out the little kid in all of us, the staple Ithacan ice cream parlor dazzles customers with its wide selection of awesome ice cream flavors, Bulldog Crunch praline ice cream with caramel and chocolate covered pecans and Madigan Mint a rich and creamy chocolatey mintiness mixed in with Oreo bits just to name a couple Old seasonal favorite likes Pumpkin Praline with gingersnap cookies and cinnamon ice cream have also made it to the yearlong menu It’s too delicious to pass up

ITHACA FARMERS MARKET

The Ithaca Farmers Market at Steamboat Landing (open through Oct 27 and from Nov 2 through Dec 21) represents Ithaca at its finest, showcasing its dedication to sustainability, community and locally grown food Wandering down aisles of colorful fresh produce, delicious pastries, tart ciders and much more, the farmers market is a foodie’s heaven With so many different vendors, more often than not you’ll find something that you weren ’ t even looking for like Cambodian food Digging into Khmer Angkor’s Cambodian noodle-stuffed pork pancakes drenched in lime sauce for the first time is definitely a productive way to spend a Saturday or Sunday afternoon The best part is sampling all of my food overlooking Cayuga Lake The scenery is as excellent as the food What more could one ask for?

Kay Xiao can be reached at kxiao@cornellsun com

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

As the heroes of indie rock hit the reunion circuit (and The Pixies basically become The Eagles), basement bands across the country have been resembling their classic rock forebears more and more every year Rather than pulling from the same tired post-punk influences, bands are succumbing to the allure of shimmery guitar tones, extended instrumental solos and rambling song structures Not since Pavement stopped desperately trying to sound like The Fall has indie rock been more on its Neil Young game

But what separates cutesy pastiche from legitimate reinvention? Foxygen s charming enough debut We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic had all the right organ sounds, but lacked a distinct personality (save the killer

You don’t need to be an asshole, you ’ re not in Brooklyn anymore ” line from “No Destruction”) to shield themselves from “retro-revival” designations All the Dylan and Velvets comparisons in the world do you no good if that’s all anyone is noticing Melbourne, Australia’s Courtney Barnett, on the other hand, takes the classicist palette of old school AOR and filters it through her own stark, twisted perspective On The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas, we ’ re introduced to a songwriter who finds inspiration in botanical anxiety attacks and awkward masturbation materials Her band, The Courtney Barnetts (yes, actually), plays things fast and loose The slacker tag on her BandCamp page is acute: The band sounds ragged and weed-addled, like a version of The Band per-

forming “The Night They Drove This Chick Dixie Down to Taco Bell ”

Lead single “Avant Gardener” is the instant classic Led in by a lazy groove and the squeal of country-fried guitars, its tale of failed pro-activity is chock-full of pointed observations (“Halfway down High Street, Andy looks ambivalent / He’s probably wondering what I’m doing getting in an ambulance”) and deadpan one-liners (“I guess the neighbors must think we run a meth lab / We should amend that”) Free of a real chorus, save some “oohs and “ahhs, it highlights Barnett s singular narrative and internal rhyme schemes She has a half-spoken half-sung delivery reminiscent of Lou Reed or Stephen Malkmus, and, when she spits out a line like The paramedic thinks I’m clever cause I play guitar / I think she’s clever ‘ cause she stops people dying, ” you feel like she’s earned the chance to be mentioned in that lineage

The rest of the Double EP and it’s pretty shocking that something this fully formed is not a bona fide full-length finds Barnett fleshing out an identity as a refreshingly direct singer, on par with Los Campesinos!’s Gareth David or Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker for her self-deprecating honesty On the buzzy millennial beat poetry jam “History Eraser, she revels us with a story about a night out (“We drifted to a party: cool / The people went to arty school”) and her own romantic frustrations (“Just then a song comes on / “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” / The Rolling Stones, oh woe is me / The irony”) over a stomping, Nirvana-biting groove “Lance Jr ”

It doesn’t speak highly of Lightning Bolt that, at a certain point, I stopped paying attention to the album’s songs and instead tried to count the sonic touchstones Pearl Jam were referencing Once I realized in the first few listens to the band’s tenth album that they were offering nothing ne w or interesting musically, I thought a better use of my time would be to parse out the sounds that brought them to this point I decided to challenge myself, seeing as Pearl Jam certainly wasn ’ t doing it for me

The obvious touchstones for Lightning Bolt are the

s o u n d s o f Pe a r l Ja m p a s t Pa r t i c u l a r l y 2 0 0 9 ’ s Backspacer, an album of measured tones that clearly indicated the group was entering its complacency period Lightning Bolt follows the flow of Backspacer almost exactly, with mid-tempo rockers taking up most of its runtime and the occasional raw (but richly scrubbed over thanks to Brendan O’Brien’s production) track and acoustic ballad thrown in for variability In Lightning Bolt’s case, that “ raw ” track is first single “Mind Your Manners,” which apes 1997’s Vitalogy’s “Spin the Black Circle” nearly part-for-part Because there’s nothing about Lightning Bolt that makes it stick out from any of Pearl Jam’s past releases, it can be comfortably filed as a low-stakes late-career production

This isn’t necessarily bad Although the Pearl Jam on

is the aforementioned masturbation song, drums loping and guitars twanging as Barnett excuses her wanking as a mere sleeping aide rather than an indication of romantic interest

The deadbeat vibe of A Sea of Split Peas is its bread and butter see “Scotty Says” for some dead-end desert-town slide guitars but more melancholic tracks like “Ode to Odetta” and “Anonymous Club” indicate an emotional depth to Barnett’s rampant sarcasm that signals that her matter-of-fact snark is not a façade Whether she’s detailing her pre-bedtime rituals on “Lance Jr or responding to an ex s complaints on “Don t Apply Compression Gently (“I take pieces of myself from everyone around me / I m not individual enough for you / I replicate the people I admire / but at least I’m not bitter and sad”), she’s candid about everything

A reliable narrator is one thing A reliable narrator with the charm and lyrical candor of Courtney Barnett is hard to come by Seemingly effortless, A Sea of Split Peas is entrancing and a worthwhile trip for anyone who’s aimlessly kicked it with their feet in a kiddie pool while digging some classic rock radio Never mind that Barnett was “ never good at smoking bongs”: her willingness to shirk hospital bills, air out her anxieties and add definite character to a tried and true sound makes her 2013’s undisputed ascendant slacker queen

Backspacer was ver y comfortable with itself, the group still managed to write songs filled with wall-to-wall fun and memorable tunes the kind of dad rock romps that one might expect from the recent output of Wilco What makes Lightning Bolt so many steps below Backspacer is not only that it’s a dilution of the latter, but that it also yields some disconcerting comparisons Sher yl Crow Lifehouse Matchbox Twenty any bland, innocuous act playing a chiropractor’s office waiting room near you, assured a permanent placement on a radio playlist next to Mumford & Sons and Imagine Dragons in the near future As a result, much of Lightning Bolt presents Pearl Jam as the antithesis of what they stood for just twenty years ago You could say that the band has sold out, but that would imply a broader audience would be particularly interested in what Lightning Bolt has to offer

It’s in Lightning Bolt’ s second half where the quality really takes this dive Eddie Vedder speaks in dull platitudes on ballads “Yellow Moon” and “Future Days ” “Swallowed Whole” has the kind of generic riffing that Goo Goo Dolls could write in their sleep The worst is “Let the Records Play,” a song that covers the tired guywho-listens-to-records-alone lyrical trope, one of the few things that has gladly gone away with the musical format Its half-assed, bloozy bloat sounds uncomfort-

able in the hands of some of the best musicians of the past 20 years, and O’Brien does no favors by prioritizing them far below the vocals, like he’s unfortunately done on Springsteen’s recent albums As a result, a lot of Lightning Bolt just sounds like The Eddie Vedder Show Judging by the considerable strain he goes through to hit the high notes on songs like “Sirens,” that’s hardly a dynamic that plays to the group ’ s strengths

Written by any of the aforementioned D-list bands, Lightning Bolt would probably pass a few uninterested but unoffended ears Within a catalogue that features what I believe to be the best album of the ’90s and plenty of other gems, the album seems to ser ve little purpose other than bathroom break fodder for live shows Such judgement within the context of an artist’s catalogue might seem unfair, but Lightning Bolt’ s blandness leaves little else to talk about but the great band that made it Such is the case with bands that hit autopilot as they enter their Golden Years Backspacer showed that Pearl Jam could do that with style, but Lightning Bolt compromises that optimism

Paul Blank is a senior in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences He can be reached at pblank@cornellsun com

Kaitlyn Tiffany

Once described by The San Francisco Chronicle as possessing “the heavy sadness of Townes Van Zandt, the light pop concision of Buddy Holly, the tuneful jangle of the Beatles, the raw energy of the Ramones,” the North Carolina-raised brothers Scott and Steve Avett are known for having the proficiency of artists and the productivity of pop stars Their new release, Magpie and the Dandelion, is their eighth full-length album since their debut in 2003

The band announced earlier this year that Magpie, the brothers’ third album under super-producer/horrifying-hillperson Rick Rubin, would focus on “youthful wonder ” Under this banner, and recorded in the same sessions as 2012 LP The Carpenter, Magpie’ s crime is that it retroactively drains the honesty from its predecessor, which is easily the Brothers’ best album since Emotionalism Carpenter was the logical progression for a band that has already produced their album of foot-stompers, their album of gritty back-porch philosophizing and their album of love going right and/or wrong plus or minus bitterness The insecurities and vulnerabilities that were inherent in songs like “The Ballad of Love and Hate” and “The Perfect Space” were largely resolved in The Carpenter’ s homage to family and the later stages of life

In fact, “The Once and Future Carpenter” and “Life,” tracks which book-ended that album, collaboratively wrote a clear thesis of the Brother’s progression “if I live the life I’m given, I won ’ t be scared to die ” So if that was the reso-

lution of a decade of spelunking around, sometimes hitting magic and sometimes hitting hillbilly nonsense, then what is the reasonable response to the thorough reneging of this in Magpie? I’m not saying that a band of thirty-somethings needs to pound the nails into their own coffin after offering a few finalities, but they’re not kids anymore, and they’ve said so “when I’m in the sweet daughter’s eye, my heart is now ruined for the rest of all time, there’s no part of it left to give The opening track of Magpie, “Open Ended Life is a fiddle-intensive wailer that hammers in a refrain of “I was taught to lead an open ended life, never trap myself in nothin’ ” You don’t even want to be “trapped” by the wife/newborn daughter/life purpose you spent the entire last album talking about, Avett Brothers?

The Brothers’ first venture was the short-lived rock band Nemo, which, when you listen to their music, explains some of the stunning combinations of steel guitar and cello that they’ve maneuvered in the past There are hints of that kind of sound on this record as well, like on the genuinely interesting, mid-album track “Vanity ” “Apart from Me,” despite being one in a handful of songs on this album with the “Faithfully”/”Please Come to Boston” strained love-life of a musician morosity, is almost as pretty as the band’s love ballads of yore And the live-version of “Souls Like Wheels,” a throwback to the 2008 EP The Second Gleam, is a grand gesture to a time when the Brother’s lyrics were the money and Rubin’s pop polish/Artist Vs Poet cover art were unin-

volved

It’s exactly that big-label spin on the Brothers’ greatest selling points that makes them crash and burn on Magpie

Known for sparse and honest lyrics, the Brothers are far off from their usual poetry on this album, and deep in the realm of sap, notably in the ballad “Bring Your Love to Me” which entreats, “bring your love to me, I will hold it like a dandelion ” Chord progressions that sold big in the past are recycled here, e g the stunner from “I and Love and You cropping up in the mid-section of “Morning Song ” Joe Kwon’s cello, which made a new place for the instrument in folk-rock on tracks like “Hand-Me-Down-Tune,” and “If It’s the Beaches,” is heavy and annoying in Magpie, mostly because the middle six tracks sound as if they could be one continuous piece of monotony God bless the poor soul who tries to break boredom with string accompaniment

The Avett Brothers are stuck, now rewriting the same music but with none of their familiar sharp style or lyrical wit

There are few things to love about this album, and they make the listening all the more painful hearkening fans back to the days before Scott and Seth were so much as a gleam in American Recording’s eye, a stray crumb in Rick Rubin’s steel-wool facial cape

Kaitlyn Tiffany is a junior in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences She can be reached at ktiffany@cornellsun com

Any Monster,Any StudyII

An inter view with Pixar’s Scott Clifford ’96

BY MARK DISTEFANO Sun Staff Writer

Recently, Sun staff writer Mark DiStefano 16 interviewed Claire Faggioli 06 and Scott Clifford ’96, two employees at Pixar Animation Studios The digital animation powerhouse has produced films such as the Toy Story saga Finding Nemo, Ratatouille and Up DiStefano spoke with Faggioli and Clifford about their experiences at Pixar working on the studio’s newest release, the summer blockbuster Monsters University Yesterday we presented his conversation with Faggioli; today we present his conversation with Clifford

THE CORNELL SUN: Please talk about what your job was on Monsters University

SCOT T CLIFFORD ’96: On Monsters University, I was would be called a lighting technical director, which is someone who is responsible for pretty much the same job that a director of photography would be responsible for on a live action film We need to go in the shots and set up the lights so that they reflect the appropriate mood, the setting, whether it’s sunny or overcast, the textures of all the shadows, the colors of all the lights[and] the qualities of all the lights

THE SUN: What was your year/major at Cornell and your general background here?

S C : I graduated in the Class of ’96; I was a computer science major in the engineering school When I first came to Cornell, I wanted to be a mechanical engineer but as a kid I’d always been involved with computers I was sort of in that first wave of VIC-20s and programming in high school where no one really knew what was going on, so I taught myself a lot of it By time I got to college I realized I had this wealth of skills already that sat around computer science, and it just was a natural fit for me, even though in my dream I was a mechanical engineer I just realized that my

skills were so well equipped for computer science, [that] I decided to go for that program

THE SUN: What your career path like from graduating Cornell to working at Pixar?

S C : I graduated [from] Cornell and I had two jobs that were very computer science oriented, and neither of them really fit for me because it was only exercising the one side of the brain that was very technical, and I didn’t really feel rewarded by that [When] Toy Story came out in 1995, I was so buried in college that I didn’t see it in the theater, I didn’t actually know that this job existed, that people were actually being paid to be a digital cinematographer [Similarly], a lot of the skills I [had were] half creative and aesthetic, and half technical, and I had no idea that job was out there I managed to get into Blue Sky at the time before they were owned by Fox, before they had done Ice Age, and I got brought in as a programmer [while] there were only 60 people in that company and I looked around and I saw these people who were called technical directors And I saw that their job was to do a lot of the technical piece, but they also got to pick the colors and do the shot compositions, and work with the clients, and a lot of the aesthetic stuff that I always felt like I should be doing It wasn ’ t until 2000 that I started [at Pixar] and Monsters Inc was the first film that

I’d ever worked on I came in as a lighter, and my first shot on that film was when Sully is trying to hide the stuff that Boo sticks to him when he runs into her room, and he’s trying to flush those things down the toilet

THE SUN: That is one of the most difficult things to simulate, isn’t it? The toilet water flushing?

S.C.: It is I spent my first couple of months at Pixar looking at a lot of toilets Make that water just the right shade of blue, make the toilet look nice and shiny and clean [laughs]

THE SUN: What do you find sets Pixar movies at such an exceptional quality level? How is it that they manage to keep producing such masterpieces?

S C : What it always comes down to here is that story is king, and we follow that lead at any chance that we can If the story isn’t right, we’ll wait and we’ll fix it, and we’ll find the right vehicle to express it through lighting, and animation, and effects Every single department that we have answers the question of How is this helping the story?’ When we keep ourselves in that mindset, that’s the only way we can make sure that what we produce is something that’s going to be worth seeing not just because it’s pretty, or because it looks cool,

but because it actually says something and makes people feel something

THE SUN: As a filmmaker myself here at Cornell, my love of movies began at age seven when I was inspired by the original Monsters Inc What sorts of films inspired you to want to work in film, and specifically to work at Pixar?

S C : Some of the ones that really affected me were the Darren Aronofsky films, Pi and Requiem for a Dream His whole canon pretty much is an inspiration to me When I was at Cornell they would do [an] animation festival every year, and I went to see that and that’s where I first saw some of the Pixar shorts that were coming out, between ’92 and ’96 I saw them and I was like, “Wow, how cool is this?” It was kind of this theme of the happy accident where I found myself in a place where [film and technology] collided and it really started to spark my interest in films I started to watch movies like Brazil, and Solaris, Blade Runner all these films that started to inform the visual effects business

THE SUN: What advice would you give to other aspiring filmmakers at Cornell, whether they want to work in animation or live action?

S C : You’ve just got to do it If you just decide you ’ re going to do something and you give yourself a goal, and you say, “I’m going to make this film, and I’m gonna do it [in] whatever way, [even if ] I have to beg, borrow, and steal to do it, I’m going to do it ” You’re going to end up with something that you can point to, and something that will teach you volumes as you do it If you just say, “Look, this is what I love, and this is what I’ve [set] my heart to and you do it, I guarantee that you will get something positive out of it and it will move you further down the road that [you] want to be on

Mark DiStefano is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences He can be reached at mdistefano@cornellsun com

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1

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The Corne¬ Daily Sun

s T h e S u n

Red Returns to Action With Head of the Charles Regatta

First

By ELANI COHEN Sun Contributor

After last year ’ s successful finish, the men ’ s and women ’ s crew teams return for the start of the new season, kicking off league competition on Oct 20 on the banks of the Charles River in Cambridge, Mass for a two-day rowing competition at the prestigious Head of the Charles Regatta In past seasons, Cornell has done extremely well at this tournament; the Red won the women ’ s champion fours in 2010, as well as many individual titles in the club singles portion of the races

This year, the heavyweight men ’ s rowing team has added 22 new athletes to its roster The team, led by head coach Todd Kennett and associate head coach Matthew Smith, also announced the addition of new assistant head coach David Burke Kennett said the relatively young team will face tough competition in the upcoming tournament

“In this boat, there are four sophomores

y Match-Up

F HOCKEY

Continued from page 16

This weekend’s results will set the tone for the rest of the season

The squad has the opportunity to establish a huge winning streak

The Red has been practicing hard in anticipation of the doubleheader, polishing skills and strategy while targeting weaknesses to optimize results

“As we enter the last third of our season, we have been trying to eliminate the weaknesses that have cost us games this season, ” said sophomore defender Stephanie Eggertson “Some of these are not taking opportunities in the offensive D and our short corner conversion rate The team is really focusing on preventing these mistakes going into our double-header this weekend ”

Hornibrook is excited for this weekend of competitive play and confident the Red will perform up to its potential She accounts much of the squad’s recent success to consistency and hard work; she also fine-tuned the Red’s game-play by emphasizing strong starts and early goals which gave the team the necessary edge in recent contests

“All season we ’ ve been right there If you look at the results, we ’ ve been competitive in pretty much every game, ” she said “But we ’ ve also been starting games much stronger by making some adjustments in terms of pre-game prep and the results are going our way We have been getting on top of our game mentally which has allowed us to come out strong ”

Sydney Altschuler can be reached at saltschuler@cornellsun com

and one junior, so it’s not a very ‘senior’ boat,” he said “In the category that they are racing against is a guy like Alex Karwoski [who graduated in 2012 and was on the U S Senior Men’s team last year] and so it’s a really deep field ”

The heavyweight men ’ s team also did very well at the IRA Championship last June, with two boats that competed in the Grand Final and a freshmen eight boat that finished in fourth place The Red aims to carry that momentum into the upcoming races and to put out a strong effort

“I’m hoping that they win and that they get really competitive,” Kennett said “They should be driving the whole way, and that after the race, they can honestly say it was their best performance ”

Last year ’ s lightweight men ’ s crew team posted a successful season as well, winning the Baggeley Cup on Cayuga Lake in May and performing well at the annual IRA Regatta in California At the IRA Championships, the team placed two boats in the Grand Final and earned a bronze

while the lightweight men’s team added eight The women’s team has 10 freshman

medal Like the heavyweight team, the lightweight team added a substantial amount of players this season

After two trips to the NCAA Women’s Rowing Championship, the Cornell women ’ s rowing team hopes to continue its strong finishes The team lost five members who graduated last May, but head coach Hilary Gehman added 10 freshman to the team in the offseason as well as assistant coach Steven Dani

“The rowers are excited to test their speed against collegiate crews from across

the countr y, as well as the US and Canadian National Teams,” Gehman said “Out of the 39 entries, Cornell is starting with bow number 14 right behind Michigan and in front of Penn In a race against the clock and with one of the most challenging courses to steer, the goal is to execute a clean race and come away with a top 10 finish ”

Runners Split Squads for Separate Contests

CROSS COUNTRY

Continued from page 16

will be held

“This race will give the younger guys the opportunity to solidify a spot for the conference meet, ” Lang said “12 of our athletes will race in the conference meet, so some of the athletes competing in this race will also compete here again later on Princeton is a nice flat course, which gives us opportunity to run on a fast course and have great races ”

For the women, the top 10 runners will be going to the University of Wisconsin to compete in the most competitive race in the country this weekend, while the next 12 athletes will race in

Princeton

“Going into Wisconsin, I am really pleased with how team has responded since our last meet, ” assistant coach Artie Smith said “We have had a tremendous two weeks of training People are hitting their stride at the right time of the year Focus and commitment has been really terrific in the last two weeks renewed focus is extremely important to the team right now The team feels great about where we are ” Smith added that confidence is critical to the team at this point in the season

“Our goal was to run and compete better as the season progresses and that’s where we are right now, ” he said “We need to be confident and know we belong in very good field Wisconsin is a pre-

view of the national championships Learning how to not be distracted and confident are extremely important for the team this weekend ”

The second 12 athletes competing at Princeton are also important to the team, he said “We are a remarkably deep squad we have great athletes going to Princeton as well,” Smith said “We have a unique opportunity to run on the Ivy championship course This opportunity is important for the team and the individual athletes can learn an important course Learning this course will help the team have better success later on in the season ”

John McGrorty can be reached at jmcgrorty@cornellsun com

Spor ts

Red Posts Third Straight V ictor y With Win O ver SJU

By SYDNEY ALTSCHULER Sun Staff Wr ter

The Cornell field hockey team topped St Joseph’s University, 4-2, in Philadelphia this past weekend to win its third consecutive contest The Red jumped out to an early four-goal lead, then held off a late surge by SJU at the end of the second half to secure the win

The Red will host Harvard Saturday at noon and Lehigh the following day at 1 p m for its next contests The squad hopes to extend its three-goal winning streak this weekend and improve its record in the Ivy and Patriot conferences

In the SJU game, senior forward Elly Plappert got the Red on the board just four minutes into play when she converted a penalty stroke to give the Red an early lead She continued her outstanding play with an assist to freshman Georgia Lord, extending the lead to 2-0 Lord skillfully intercepted Plappert’s shot on goal and redirected it into the net The Red continued to capitalize on the positive momentum as freshman forward Katy Weeks netted a rebound save to cap the first half The Red came out in the second half refusing to relinquish its impressive lead Senior midfielder Hannah Balleza scored just under five minutes in to extend the lead 4-0

The Hawks hustled late in the game to pick up two goals but could not make up the deficit Junior forward Jordan Martin and junior midfielder Tori Popinko got the Hawks on the board, but the Red held the two-goal lead to snag the win Senior goalie Carolyn Horner made three saves for the

O L L E Y B A L L

Red in her first game back from injury The victory put Horner in 13th place for career victories, moving her into a tie for 10th place with Karen Kuhn (1975-77) for the most wins by a single goalie in Cornell history

After the away game at SJU, the Red returns home for the game against the Crimson Harvard leads the series record, 24-11-4, but Cornell dominated the Crimson 4-0 the last time the two squads met in 2012 Cornell also has a better overall record than Harvard this season with 6-5, while the Crimson holds 4-5 Both teams

are 1-2 in the Ivy League

The series with Harvard represents one of Cornell’s longest on-going rivalries, dating back to 1976 when the Crimson crushed the Red, 3-0, and set in motion a decade long winning streak, with exception to a lone Red victor y in 1978 Head Coach Donna Hornibrook is 4-5 versus the Crimson, but since 2008, neither team has clinched on a win on home turf On Saturday, the Red looks to change the tide and take a win on Marsha Dodsen field

The game against the Crimson will be challenging Last week, the Ivy opponent

C.U. Drops Matches to Har vard, Dartmouth

By BEN HOROWITZ Sun Staff Writer

After winning two of its first three Ivy League games, the women ’ s volleyball team had a setback this past weekend, falling in matches to Harvard (8-6, 3-2) and Dartmouth (8-9, 1-4) Against Harvard, Cornell (5-9, 2-3) dropped the first two sets and won the third, but the Crimson took the fourth set for the win

The Red jumped out to a two-set lead against the Big Green, but Dartmouth stormed back for the five set win, with the Red dropping the final set, 13-15

According to sophomore right side Breanna Wong, the Red was sluggish at the start of the Harvard game and failed to gain momentum early enough to win the match

“We just started off really slow, and it took longer than it should have for us to pick up our game for the rest of the match,” she said

Senior outside hitter Kelly Marble said the Red struggled with being able to finish sets strongly and secure set wins

“I think throughout this match, we struggled to be consistent and take care of our business, which affected our ability to close out all the sets we dropped,” she said

The Red improved its play in the second set against Harvard, but couldn’t secure the win According to Wong, Har vard’s grit made it difficult for Cornell to come back after falling behind

“We definitely improved and started playing a lot better in the second set, but

they’re a really scrappy team, ” she said “It’s hard to come back after falling behind and just all of a sudden decide that we ’ re going to play and be able to be successful ”

The Red had a much better start in the match with the Green, winning the first two sets However, Dartmouth captured the momentum and rode it all the way to a five-set win According to Marble, Cornell lost some of the intensity that it had in the first two sets and failed to adequately adjust to

Dartmouth’s attack

“We struggled to be consistent.”

K e l l y M a r b l e

“I don’t think we came out with the same intensity after the second set, ” she said “We needed to take care of the easy plays and also step up our passing game after Dartmouth came out and started serving more aggressively ” According to Wong, the Dartmouth attack threw the Red off its game and turned the tide

“Dartmouth started playing better than they had been previously, then we made a couple of mistakes,” Wong said “It started getting hectic, and it took us a while to calm ourselves down and to be able to play composed again ”

Wong said the Red will look to improve its passing and defensive play for the upcoming games “We’re definitely working on passing and on pursuing balls on defense,” she said

With the two losses, Cornell fell into a three-way tie for fourth place in the Ivy League After taking a 3-2 win on Tuesday in its final non-conference game against Binghamton, the Red will continue its Ivy League schedule with two home contests against Yale and Brown this coming weekend

According to Wong, the Red is confident that it has the potential to play winning volleyball on a more consistent basis

“There have been times this season when we ’ ve played very well, and in the first two sets against Dartmouth, we looked like a very confident and composed team, ” she said “I know that as much as it stinks that we lost and didn’t play well consistently, we know we can play at that high level, and we’ll keep that in mind over the next few games ”

According to Marble, the key for the Red is to maintain confidence and use the past games as motivation to succeed in the upcoming ones

“Staying confident is important and is exactly what we are going to do,” she said “This past weekend will definitely fuel us to play better tomorrow and our upcoming matches this weekend ”

snatched two wins, conquering UMassLowell and Fairfield Marissa Balleza, younger sister of Cornell senior Hannah Balleza, will certainly pose a threat in the contest; she leads the Crimson with four goals and is tied for a team-high nine points along with freshman Noel Painter

“I am extremely excited to play my sister this weekend It should be a good game especially because she and I get pretty competitive when it comes to hockey I refuse to lose to them, especially since my younger sister is on the team, ” Hannah Balleza said The Crimson’s goalie, Jenn Hatfield, will be difficult to overcome She has started in all nine games and boasts a 1 77 goals-against average coupled with a 750 save percentage

The Red will face the Lehigh Mountain Hawks the following day to cap the weekend of play The Red leads the series record, 19-1-1, and holds the superior season record at 6-5 the rival squad falls short with a record of 3-11 The Red has won 17 straight in the series and Hornibrook is a perfect 8-0 against the opponent

The Red only won last year ’ s match by a small margin, however, capturing a 4-3 win

The Mountain Hawks ended an eight-game losing streak last week with a win against Lock Haven and may come out this weekend brimming with newfound confidence

The Hawks’ Marissa Glatt, a freshman midfielder, is a player to watch, registering 10 of the team ’ s 24 total goals this season

Freshman goalie Julia Ward is also a threat with a 2 96 goals-against average to go along with a 764 save percentage

15

By JOHN MCGRORTY Sun Staff Writer

m p e t e i n t w o d i f f e r e n t l o c at i o n s Fo r t h e m e n , t h e t o p t e n m e m b e r s o f t h e t e a m w i l l t r a v e l t o I n d i a n a S t a t e Un iv e r s i t y t o c o m p e t e i n t h e p re - n a t i o n a l m e e t ; f o r t h e w o m e n , t h e t o p m e m b e r s o f t h e t e a m w i l l t r a v e l t o t h e W i s c o n s i n I n v i t at i o n a l a t t h e Un iv e r s i t y o f Wi s c o n s i n , a c o m p e t i t i v e r a c e i n v o l v i n g 2 0 o f t h e t o p 3 0 r a n k e d s c h o o l s i n t h e c o u n t r y T h e n e x t g r o u p o f a t h l e t e s f o r b o t h t h e w o m e n a n d m e n ’ s t e a m s , c o mp r o m i s e d m o s t l y o f t h e y o u n g e r m e m b e r s , w i l l t r a ve l t o Pr i n c e t o n Un i ve r s i t y t o c o m p e t e i n t h e Pr i n c e t o n In v it a t i o n a l “ T h i s m e e t g i ve s u s a c h a n g e t o c o m p e t e a g a i n s t s o m e o f t h e n a t i o n ’ s b e s t , ” a s s i s t a n t c o a c h Ze b L a n g s a i d o f t h e c o m p e t i t i o n a t In d i a n a “ Ha l f o f t h e Iv y L e a g u e , a s we l l a s t h e b e s t i n o u r re g i o n , w i l l b e c o m p e t i n g i n t h i s r a c e ”