Will Schmenner. Photo courtesy of Block Cinema.

Not only does The Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art offer exhibitions, workshops and lectures, they also play movies. Sure, their screenings tend towards the artsy but it’s an art museum. The museum’s current Berlin School Series (contemporary films from Germany) includes several Chicago premieres. But Block also plays plenty of oldies but goodies. During Reading Week they’re showing The Best Years of Our Lives and A Time to Love and a Time to Die.

The occasional early screenings of films also swings through their doors, most recently Gus Van Sant’s Milk starring Sean Penn, James Franco and Emile Hersh showed to a packed theater more than two weeks before its November 26, Chicago release.

Along with approximately 40 Northwestern student volunteers, film curator and director of Block Cinema Will Schmenner selects the films. We sat down Schmenner to pick his brain about objectifying Robert Redford, his killer chops and the pleasure of hating.

Go to their website for more information about Block Cinema.

What do you actually do at Block?
Mostly I talk on the phone and send emails. Last year, I curated a show for the Block Museum of drawings and things by Alfred Hitchcock and now it’s going to the Berlin Film Museum.

You’re not a Northwestern student, so what are you?
I’m very, very old. I’m 30 years old and I went to the University of Chicago.

Where are you from?
Indianapolis, Indiana

So you used to work part time as a mechanic, do you ever miss it?
Being a mechanic can be a fun job because you get to walk around and you’re mobile, and you get to get dirty.

What’s the biggest similarity between being a mechanic and a film curator?
What your customers think really matters. If you’re a bad mechanic, word gets around just like if you don’t program shows that attract people, they won’t come to the museum.

What makes a good show?
When you walk into a museum space and you see to objects of art next to each other and they help you see those objects from a new perspective. They mean more together than apart.

What have been some of your really successful screenings?
Every year we do something called Sonic Celluloid where we have silent experimental film and live musical accompaniment and that’s a really fun event to put on.

Who actually attends screenings at Block?
Mostly people though there are sometimes other forces at work. It’s probably 60 percent people from Northwestern and 40 percent people from Chicago. Depending on the film, we either get a lot of students or very few. I wish more students would come.

So how do you feel about A&O’s films?
I think A&O does a great job. They show a totally different kind of film. I saw Kung Fu Panda. I had fun.

What’s been the worst disaster on your call?
There are so many disasters it’s hard to choose. One summer we had an exhibition of hand crank projectors and we had a demonstration of one of those hand crank projects by the owner of the projector. He was using film from the Library of Congress and the projector ended up picking the film up and all the film ended up on the floor. I had to call up the Library of Congress and apologize.

Who’s the most famous person you’ve ever met?
I saw Robert Redford at the Art Institute of Chicago. I was walking with one of my friends, we were in the big gallery on the second floor with all the impressionist paintings and I look over and say, “Look who that is, it’s Robert Redford.” She says no way and so we retread our steps and not only does she see it’s Robert Redford, she squeals. So suddenly now, everybody realizes it’s Robert Redford.

As we’re leaving the gallery I see my other friend and say to him, “Albert, did you see that? It’s Robert Redford. Go over there and have a peek.”

And he says, “Will…” And then Robert Redford says, “I’m right behind you.”

Do you cook and what’s the best thing you make?
It’s fall so I’ll go with pork chops, candied apples on pork chops over a bed of greens.

Where do you get your news?
I’m addicted to magazines. I subscribe to The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, The Economist, Sports Illustrated, Esquire and I get outside magazines.

What’s the coolest place you’ve been?
One of my favorite places is the Wastach Mountains in Utah. I’ve also visited my brother in Senegal, that was a wonderful trip.

Would you say you’re outdoorsy?
Yeah. It’ll happen to you when you have a job where you talk on the phone a lot.

What do you hate about Northwestern?
The parking’s difficult. There are a lot of things that bother me but hatred, I can’t say. There’s this great book out called The Pleasure of Hating about there being a pleasure in hating but I like to hate on movies a lot more than I like to hate on Northwestern.

What do you hate about in movies then?
I love to hate on pretense. I hate on Jeff Koons a little bit.

What’s you favorite film?
My favorite movie changes all the time but if would you take the average over a long period of time, my favorite film would probably be The Searchers.

You screened Gus Van Sant’s Milk. What makes big films want to screen at Block?
It’s a small theater so it’s somewhere where a director, screenwriter or actor can really interact.

What’s the goal of Block Cinema?
To show films people didn’t know they were missing.

Most of the incoming Northwestern class was born in 1990, the year Brenda and Brandon Walsh first started their harrowing tale of fish on a gilded, gold platter. 18 years later, they’ve updated 90210 for a new generation. We’re supposed to relate to this shinier, sexier version more. Whether that’s true or not, oh, how times have changed.

On this week’s afternoon special
OLD 90210: Racism, cheating and date rape are bad
NEW 90210: Letting pigs loose in a rival school’s hallway is okay as long as you’re good-looking and say you’re sorry

Pop culture reference
OLD 90210: The Love Boat
NEW 90210: The Hills

Token minority
OLD 90210: Geeky Jewish girl
NEW 90210: Adopted black guy

Saddest plea for attention
OLD 90210: Fans writing letters for advice to Brenda Walsh
NEW 90210: A blowjob scene within 10 minutes of the first episode

Live act
OLD 90210: Hello Day .
NEW 90210: Tilly and the Wall

Shannen Doherty’s bad girl act
OLD 90210: Getting into schoolgirl tiffs with southern belle Jennie Garth
NEW 90210: Lipsticking the cars of girls who kiss her man (Rick Soloman, co-star of One Night in Paris)

Sex ed
OLD 90210:Sex is bad until you love each other
“You actually do that to him, in real life?”

Incest vibe
OLD 90210: Brother and sister
NEW 90210: Son and father

Washed-up sitcom star
OLD 90210: Saved by the Bell’s Tiffani Theissen
NEW 90210: Beverley Hills, 90210’s Jason Preistly

Identity crisis
OLD 90210: Donna Martin or Donna Morgan?
NEW 90210: Gossip Girl or 7th Heaven?

Denim trend to master
OLD 90210: Acid-washed jeans
NEW 90210: High-waisted hot pants

Class to stay late for
OLD 90210: Algebra with Mr. Brody
NEW 90210: English with Mr. Matthews

His nearly black eyes looked up over a wooden bowl he had carved, and was now varnishing. The air of his carpentry studio reeked of turpentine and polyurethane. The rules required small masks which covered the nose and mouth, but Ruiz didn’t wear one.

Boys from the electrician class sat on boxes and tables, installing the wires necessary to operate the two new saws the carpentry studio received from a local Catholic church. All the while, they chatted loudly, frequently calling out, “Chino.” I thought they were talking to me, but it was the nickname of another student with slanted eyes.

Danika Young, Jenny An, Sarah Woener, one of the Guatemalan boys, and Maricio Ruiz gathered around a table in the carpentry studio. Photo courtesy of Jenny An / NBN

“I’m not in school right now but I have books and study in my free time,” Ruiz said. The 17-year-old’s nonchalant words turned into a laugh when I asked him what he was studying. “No entiendo,” the Guatemalan would jokingly repeat. Five years of Spanish class had not served me well; my Spanish was barely comprehensible.

After answering four or five other questions related to learning, he managed to answer that he was studying math, science and English.

“How are you?” I excitedly asked in English, glad to be back in my niche. He gave me a quizzical look, shook his head, shrugged his shoulders and went back to work.

Ruiz studies at the Don Bosco School, a vocational school in Guatemala city. Don Bosco is similar to the two-year, state-run programs which children from the Guatemalan middle and upper classes attend, although Ruiz’s school is subsidized by a Catholic charity and costs significantly less. The boys’ backgrounds are “simple,” said the school’s director, Brother Raúl.

I visited Guatemala for one week in August because the Alexander Hamilton Friends Association (AHFA) decided that I was a leader. According to its Web site, the AHFA finds “young Americans with a strong sense of integrity and a passion for service” and “aims to help them develop their goals to become the leaders of tomorrow.” To me, this translated to “free trip.”

AHFA sent a group of 20 teenagers, mostly female, to paint a doctor’s clinic, two walls around their soccer field (made of concrete, it doubled as a parking lot) and a row of benches at the Don Bosco School. The “voluntourists” came from across the country. Many of them were from small-town America and had never been outside the U.S.

In the same vein as Alternative Student Breaks (ASB), we were sent with the charge of exchanging culture and raising the self-esteem of the Don Bosco boys.

Voluntourism has been touted as an alternative to the traditional vacation of pure leisure. Participants go somewhere and do more than just lounge, shop and eat; they make a difference and then they go home feeling warm and fuzzy.

I went on my free trip with few expectations, background or goals. And I tried not to notice, when I left, that one of the walls we’d just painted had already begun to rust.

During our opening orientation, Virginia Burmester, the Guatemala director of Cross-Cultural Solutions (CCS), told us not to expect to “change the world.” To be honest, it was difficult to see even the small change our group could do.

“Can we actually help [the site]? That is one of the big questions we ask,” said Weinberg senior Nate West, co-chair of ASB.

When looking at international sites, Medill senior and ASB co-chair Mirielle Cailles said the group focuses on education. For most of its international sites, ASB organizes mandatory three-hour classes for which students get pass/fail credit. These meetings primarily deal with the issues that participants will be dealing with on-site, but also branch out to basic language skills and cultural understanding.

“Being a service learning organization, it’s really a two-way street between us and the site that we’re working at,” Cailles said. “You can’t just step in there and say, ‘We’re here to help.’”

Boys from the electrician class relax on a box in the carpentry studio. Photo by Jenny An / NBN

On the third day at the school, three girls from our group decided to start a game of Ride the Pony. The surprisingly sexual game was played as a camp icebreaker in the U.S. In Guatemala, we were told to wear skirts and shorts that fell past our knees.

By the end of the break period, one-third of the boys were playing with us, while many more surrounded the circle, looking on cautiously. While the American girls’ movements were filled with gyrating hip swirls, the Guatemalan boys’ swirling-arm motions were much more toned down. Most of them were laughing.

That evening in a wrap-up session, University of North Carolina junior Sarah Woerner, who led the game — and who had to have “Como estás” translated to her during the week — gleamed at the game’s success. “It was the happiest those boys had ever been in their lives,” she said.

Not everyone agreed, but nobody said anything.

When not at the school, our group hit the tourist destinations of Atnigua and Mount Pacaya, an active volcano.

Stepping off the vans at Pacaya, we were swarmed by nearly 10 skinny children sporting dirt-smudged faces. “Es necesitario!” they pleaded as they hit bundles of stripped sticks to the ground in front of us. I asked our tour guide if I could give them some candy; he violently shook his head and told me that I’d get swarmed by them.

Two blocks away from the house, we’d drive past a small market in our middle-class area every morning. The same women who sold sweets and children who walked up and down the street offering shoe shines during the day slept underneath the tables they sold their goods on at night.

Guatemala is poor by any measure. More than 75 percent of the population lives in poverty while 29 percent of those people live in extreme poverty (meaning they live on two quetzals or 25 U.S. cents a day).

An entire community lives around the city dump. The children go into the city’s trash fill looking for anything usable from food to ardboard, aluminum cans or plastic bottles to recycle for money. They live in one-room houses in shanty towns with ridged aluminum fooves tied on with rope to keep dry during Guatemala’s six-month rainy period. “These are the poorest people in Guatemala City,” said Sonía Tello, the CCS placements coordinator, “but if you go just outside the city limits, they make their homes of only cardboard.”

We had only seen that community from within a school bus as the area’s residents stared. They were used to us Tello told me: CCS frequently brings groups here to help them understand the poverty. Tain pounded outside our yellow cocoon that day as the native women ran down the narrow, steep streets with bags over their heads. Men looked on, frozen in the rain, as a day’s collection of cardboard was ruined by the downpour.

Trapped in the yellow school bus, I felt like a complete tourist.

It’s hard to stay helpless in a bus or unable to give a granola bar that I wasn’t even planning on eating to a starving girl with dirt on her face. I snuck a piece of bubble gun to that little girl and all the other children around her saw it and surrounded the van. It was dark and one was nearly hit, but managed to scamper off with just a bump, I hope.

On our final afternoon at the school, our group led a short presentation. We all sat in the concrete courtyard. The Guatemalan boys sat on the left and the Americans sat on the right. Both sides offered presents. We gave them a wall hanging and pillows bought in Antigua. Brother Raúl sad he wanted us to bring back to America the fact that what they need in Guatemala is jobs.

The boy they called “Chino” carves a wooden bowl. Photo by Jenny An / NBN

The boys in the mechanics class made little medallions out of quetzel coins. While most of the boys sat back joking amongst each other, many of the girls on the trip began crying.

As we parted, a few of the boys asked for our contact information. A boy maned Josef asked for my phone number. I told him “no” because it’d cost too much for both of us to dial international, but offered my e-mail.

“I don’t have an e-mail,” he said. “But my brother does and he can help me write the e-mails.”

Then he asked if we’d come back next year. “Of course not,” I wanted to say, but instead I offered, “Maybe.”

I asked Ruiz what he thought about the Americans’ visit. He laughed like usual at my shoddy Spanish and nodded. When I pressed him he said it was nice because the boys got to do less work than usual. He later gave me a bowl he had made.

When I asked a few of the other boys what they had expected before we arrived, many of them said they didn’t know, or nothing. A couple said they didn’t expect nearly so many girls to visit their school composed entirely of males.

What I did know was that there was no culture that needed to be exchanged, at least not on our end. On my first afternoon, walking around a carnival-like festival with food, fames and small shops, booths were selling Avril Lavigne posters and pirated Brad Pitt movies.

On my final bus ride back from school, Karla Franco, a chaperone and our translator, told me that Ruiz had been living in an orphanage since he was four. And that, according to Ruiz, he still kept in touch with relatives outside Guatemala, including uncles in the U.S. and Europe, and hoped to leave one day.

“He says he’s good at English,” she said.

On the plane down to Guatemala City, I met a pair of Canadian girls who were headed to volunteer as well. “We wanted the experience of being in a Third World country,” said Melanie Jamison, 20, who works in a halfway house in Milton, Ontario. She was tired of small, Canadian towns where all she could do was work in a soup kitchen, and she saw Guatemala as a chance to do something bigger.

The girls spent most of their summer vacations raising $2000 each for the trip by holding garage sales and working odd jobs. However, they didn’t know much about the situation in Guatemala. “It if has to do with geography or politics, I know absolutely nothing,” said Marla Armstrong, 19, a student at Brock University. Neither could speak Spanish either–a fact that made them apprehensive because the program they went with instructed them to find their own housing for the first night.

My week with the Don Bosco boys changed me profoundly, no doubt, but I doubt it meant the same to them. It has been two months since I’ve left and I haven’t received an e-mail from any of the boys. It’s hard to gauge the self-esteem we were supposed to suddenly bestow upon these kids that referred to us as the “gringos.”

Not that no good could be done, but my group and I were a bunch of mostly affluent kids who hadn’t bothered to learn what was going on beforehand. We’d been plopped into Central America after too much ego-stroking that we were leaders, movers and shakers or whatever other terminology people use to describe a young person who’s involved in their community.

We could barely communicate with the boys and had little tangible change to offer. My carpentry skills were limited to having used a table saw once to build theater sets in high school and we didn’t know Spanish “Hola” and “Adiós,” let alone the impact Chiquita banana and the Cold War made in Guatemala.

The Taco Bell we drove by twice every day didn’t make sense in Guatemala. We were no different.

This week: Communication junior Erica Hart, the writer and director of Developer and president of Studio 22, tells us about her adventures with expensive lobsters, a dog named Barack and Elly Lachman’s (Communication ‘09) natural glow.

Awarded a $1500 grant from Northwestern University Women Filmmaker’s Alliance (NUWFA), it will open at the Studio 22 premiere in June 2009.

Erica Hart and Jason Chiu. Photo by Travis LaBella.

What is Developer?

The story follows the main character, Isabelle, played by the beautiful Elly Lachman. Isabelle falls asleep in her darkroom and travels through this dream sequence where she meets a couple kooky characters. At the end of the dream she finds her true love, Edward, and what may be her and Edward’s future daughter. When Isabelle awakes, the audience gets a glimpse of her reality, seeing she is in a homosexual relationship.

The story really centers around the idea of non-conformity especially at this young 20-something age. Isabelle is unhappy in her relationship and is realizing she may have decided she was a lesbian for the sake of being different rather than for her own happiness. Of course, the movie deals with the idea of sexuality, but I don’t want anyone to be offended by it. I don’t mean to suggest that my homosexual peers have chosen their sexuality just to be different nor do I mean to suggest that homosexuality leads to unhappiness.

As the director, what did you do?

A director’s role can differ between projects, especially when looking at the industry versus student film. I really tried to balance all the elements of directing. It was important to me that this project be a collaboration, so as a director I did a lot of delegating. I gave a general idea of what I wanted for the production design. For example, I wanted two bull masks. They had to be big enough to be worn by actors. That’s about all I said and the production designers and art crew made these two fabulous paper-mache bull heads, although one of them looked more like an elephant or a sad donkey or something.

The same collaboration style went for me and my Director of Photography, Jason Chiu. I did as much pre-production work with him as possible but when it came to the weekend of the shoot, I really put it into his hands.

Cast from the dream: Top left to right: Micah Gardner, Mark Underhill, Jen D’Angelo, Grayson Vreeland, Connor White, Janelle Kroll Bottom left to right: Ariela Emery, Mitch Lerner, Elly Lachman, Laila Alj. Photo by Jason Chiu.

How long did it take to shoot?

We shot Developer over one weekend. The first two days we were at the location by 5 or 5:30 in the morning, but it wasn’t a terribly time-intensive shoot.

What was the biggest disaster on set?

We had 12 live lobsters on set. They have to stay on ice to stay alive. They were donated by the Davis Street Fishmarket so we really wanted to keep them alive, but we ended up killing three of them. Goddamn, lobsters are expensive! No wonder we never eat lobsters back home… in good ol’ Nebraska. We ended up having to pay $80 for the three lobsters we killed. No other animals were harmed in the making of the film though… to my knowledge.

Which park in Evanston that you shot at was your favorite?

Well, we shot in two parks. We shot at Lawson Park which is just north of campus on Sheridan by the big lighthouse. That place is amazing! During pre-production we took footage there a couple times which we then projected onto a white wall during the climax scene. And then we shot there twice at sunrise during the actual shooting weekend. There are Evanston regulars at the park that bring their cute little dogs and children and things every morning to play on the beach or what not. I met a dog named Barack! Once when we went to the park at sunrise there was a little group of women having a Ya-Ya Sisterhood or something. I wanted to join and we could all get a pair of traveling pants!

What’s the worst job on set?

Hey now, every job on a film set is great! There is definitely a hierarchy of jobs and there are certain things you really only do when you’re a freshman. Still, the lower jobs, like grip or Production Assistant, are really good learning experiences. I mean, I have gripped so much in my life and I still love doing it.

Now Assistant Director is a crew head, but Assistant to the Director is just my bitch. This role was filled by this awesome freshman, Ursula Ellis. I didn’t really make her do things, except give me foot rubs and sponge baths. She also helped me get into my pleather pants each morning. Thank God for Ursula.

What’s the weirdest dream you’ve ever had?

I had a dream last night that I stumbled on to someone’s wedding and I had the hots for the Best Man and I kept trying to get him into this elevator so we could mack on each other. But that’s kind of like my reality, I suppose. I’m notorious for accosting men in small spaces. I don’t have too many sex dreams. I had one once and, yes, it was a lesbian sex dream and it was real dirty, like disgustingly dirty. The kind of thing I would click out of immediately if it was porn. That really wasn’t the inspiration for Developer.

What do you hate about Northwestern?

Gosh, I wonder if my professors are reading this! The film department has some major glitches that I know will only be fixed with time, but since you asked, let me climb on my soap box.

First of all, everything that I have learned about film that was not theory based was outside of class. I believe the faculty really needs to recognize the work the students are doing outside of class. I would love to see more faculty support. I am the president of Studio 22 and we hold the big premiere at the end of the year and I only ever see three or four professors there. Where’s the Dean? Where’s the alumni support?

Now don’t get me wrong, there are some amazing RTVF professors, but most of the ones people will talk about are theory professors, like Jeffrey Sconce and Scott Curtis. They are amazing professors, but not production instructors.

It’s really like in that one Harry Potter book when they stop teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts so Harry has secret lessons in that magical room that appears only if you want it bad enough. It’s like all the RTVFers get together on the weekends to learn everything. We spend our weekends not sleeping or studying, but getting our hands dirty on a film set. It may be seen as an easy major, you know, the classes aren’t terribly difficult and there aren’t too many requirements to graduate, but we have got to be one of the majors with the most self-motivated group of students.

What’s your worst addiction?

Cocaine and crystal meth. And also diet soda and hulu.com!

Favorite pick-up line?

“Let’s have sex!”

How often do you go out?

Only when we need milk.

Who’s the most famous person you’ve ever met?

I worked on set with Martin Sheen this summer, which was great because now I’m only two degrees away from everyone in Mighty Ducks.

What’s your favorite recipe?

The one for disaster.

One thing you couldn’t live without?

My appendix.

What’s the ugliest part of the human body?

Whatever little area of the brain it is that encourages girls to wear Uggs with mini-skirts and blouses that make them look pregnant. Also the penis vein.

If you had $50,000 and couldn’t keep it for yourself or spend it, what would you do with it?

I would probably buy a DVD of Brewster’s Millions for every orphan in the world!

How do you feel about nudity?

I’m naked right now. How do you feel about that?

What’s something that’s overrated?

Waa-Mu. Political correctness. Shaving your armpits.

What is the best thing about Developer?

Well, there is some nice girl on girl action. And there are people in bull masks and a sexy matador and some lobsters. The best part though, besides for all the majesty that went on behind the scenes, is probably the fact that Elly Lachman is in every single scene. Her face just glows on camera.

Find out more about Developer at developermovie.com

Just like NU Decides, the College Republicans and the College Democrats, Allison Putnam, Weinberg junior majoring in both Art History as well as in Art Theory and Practice, wants to see more students involved — but the Weinberg junior wants that involvement to be with art.

As Art Director of the Dittmar Gallery in Norris, she’s planning a student workshop with artist Sarah Ross that will be held on Oct. 18 from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Gallery.

Allison Putnam / Photo by Calyn Guberman.

What is this student workshop you’re running and what would participants be doing there?
Sarah Ross is an incredible artist. At the workshop we will be taking the objects currently on display in the gallery and activated them in the community. I believe Sarah is bringing another artist to talk about contemporary problems that Sarah’s work addresses.

Why did you organize it?
To make contemporary art available and fun for NU students, people who are interested in the arts and people who are just curious about the problems that face contemporary culture.

You do art too. What do you do?
I’m in an installation class right now, but I do large oil paintings also.

If you couldn’t do art ever again, what would you do?
I’d probably be pre-med like everyone else.

If you had to take someone in a fight, who would it be and why?
My roommate, Drew. He’s pretty hard-core.

What’s one thing you couldn’t live without?
Water.

What do you eat late at night?
Cereal

Where are you from?
Nashville, Tennessee.

What is the best thing about it?
The music scene is pretty awesome, but there is this popsicle stand on 12th Avenue that changed my life.

What’s the best sex or dating tip you’ve received?
While you’re on top of someone you should probably cover their face with your hands and scream, “Don’t look at me!”

What’s your worst addiction?
Magazines. I spend far too much money on art magazines. It’s becoming a problem.

How often do you go out?
What? like out of my apartment? Everyday.

What do you hate about Northwestern?
The Rock, and fliers.

What’s the weirdest thing about your body?
I feel like you shouldn’t ask a 20-year-old that question, especially a chick.

Favorite pick up line?
You got a purdy mouth.

What’s the last thing you did that you regret?
Spending $30 at Whole Foods

What’s been your luckiest moment?
When there isn’t a line at the laundry machines.

Which MTV reality show would you be on?
I don’t really watch MTV. What reality shows are there? I’d love to be on the Cosby Show.

How do you feel about nudity?
I’m for it.

In a haiku, why should people go to the student workshop?
Yeah, so I don’t write poetry, but come to the workshop on Saturday. It’s an opportunity to meet some really interesting people and activate some really interesting work.

The Facts Are These: ABC’s delightful fantasy Pushing Daisies is back in action after having its freshman season cut short by the writer’s strike. I quickly fell in love with the show last season and am very much looking forward to watching what creator Bryan Fuller and company can do over a full season.

The Case: Dusty Fitz hires Emerson to look into his wife’s death, believing that she was having an affair and about to leave either him or the other man. It turns out that Kentucky Fitz, the Number 1 Bee Girl at Betty’s Bees, was in the process of sabotaging the company’s bee colony and wound up stung to death. Chuck goes undercover as a bee girl and discovers that Woolsey Nicholls, Betty’s biggest competitor, had recently completed a takeover of the company. Woolsey had planned on making Kentucky the new face of the company, angering Betty Bee and thus giving her a motive. After Chuck had her own encounter with a colony of bees in Betty’s office, the trio realize that Woolsey discovered that Kentucky was sabotaging his bees and he confesses his crime in the face of DNA evidence.

The Pie Maker and his Lonely Tourist: When we last visited Coeur d’Coeurs, Ned (the Emmy-nominated and just plain adorable Lee Pace) and Chuck (Anna Friel) were dealing with his confession that he had caused her father’s death by bringing his mother back to life 20 years earlier. The two had developed their own domestic habits aimed at preventing them from accidentally touching (and thus causing Chuck’s permanent death) and Ned felt happy with his home life for the first time since his mother’s death. Chuck, however, began to realize all the things she had missed out on while taking care of her aunts (job interviews, living on her own, etc.), prompting her to move into Olive’s vacant apartment next door. A conversation with Chuck’s Aunt Vivian (Ellen Greene) caused Ned to realize how in faking her death, Chuck had been forced to leave behind the place she had called home for so long. He was able to put aside his own fears and help make her new home all the more special by filling it with her former belongings, including the pillow that once belonged to her father.

Olive: Forced to keep the fact that Chuck was alive hidden from the aunts and that Lily was actually Chuck’s mother from Chuck, Olive (portrayed by Kristin Chenoweth, who also received an Emmy nomination for her role) finally reached her breaking point in this episode. Realizing that she never had a chance for romance with Ned, she tendered her resignation from The Pie Hole and wound up in the same nunnery where Lily had gone while pregnant with Chuck. Lily decided to stay and keep an eye on Olive, dropping yet another bombshell: She hid the fact that Chuck was her daughter because she had had an affair with Vivian’s fiancé

Emerson: After confessing that he had a daughter in last season’s finale, Emerson (Chi McBride) continued to work on his pop-up book — a “fictional” story of a young girl searching for her father.

Quotes of the Week:

Ned: “I could have been swarmed in my underwear.”
Emerson: “Hey! You don’t just get to put them pictures into my head! That’s an assault on my imagination!”

Ned: “I told you this was dangerous. Just because you’re alive again doesn’t mean you can’t be dead again. There’s a reason I don’t let Digby play in traffic.”

Vivian: “Lily was very tenacious. She tried to get me to come home in 6 consecutive stops.”

I could go on about this wonderful show for hours (I can’t believe I haven’t even touched upon the appearance of Ned’s father) but I don’t want this blog to become longer than my Russian Lit assignment for tonight. I’ll be back next week but in the meantime, I leave you with this question to ponder: “Who will run the Pie Hole with Olive gone and Ned spending all his time solving murder mysteries?”

Bottom Line: Predictable but usually entertaining Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist relies too much on regurgitated characters (that have seen their wittier, more endearing days) to be memorable.

Courtesy of Clevver.com

This romantic comedy, shamelessly aimed at Juno fans, is about indie music and people who like it. The names of bands like Bishop Allen (who also make a cameo), Vampire Weekend and Devendra Banhart appear in the opening credits, making sure it’s clear that the producers, directors and writers are really hip. And, really, it never rises above that.

The film is about a chase around the Big Apple for Norah’s (Kat Dennings) friend, Caroline (Ari Graynor), who wanders away drunk after a show. Along the way, they hit all the requisite hipster spots like Williamsburg, Brooklyn and The Bowery Ballroom. Naturally, zany adventures follow (including to a gay-oriented revue of The Christmas Story and being threatened by homeless people). While they search for Caroline, Norah and Nick (Michael Cera) pursue their favorite band. It all ends with Nick and Norah realizing they are perfect for each other… because they have the same taste in music.

The plot is contrived but more so are the characters. The actors fall into the same roles we’ve seen before. Cera, bass player in an alt-rock band, is a pretty oblivious guy who’s nursing a broken heart. In a post-screening interview, he said his acting and comedic styles have been the same since Arrested Development. Like her roles in The House Bunny and The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Dennings has a tough exterior and snappy tongue; but, deep down, she is vulnerable and just wants to be loved. All the while, Nick’s bandmates bring us back to a time before Ellen DeGenerers by embodying every gay stereotype out there. The characters are summed up perfectly in the film when an angry Dennings says to Cera, “They make action figures out of you.”

Ari Graynor is the only standout of the film. She’s the driving force of the plot, keeping the film from lagging in pools of teen self-pity and self-doubt poured on heavy by the main characters. Whether she’s bumming a sandwich off a stranger, running around a parking lot thinking she’s been kidnapped or seeing the messiah, she brings surprising depth and believability to material that gives her little to work with. Unlike Dennings, Graynor’s vulnerability is shown rather than spoken.

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist will have a following because its characters are a rehash of Juno — the house Nick lives in even looks like the one from Juno. Sadly, the less-interesting plot gives the actors nowhere to hide. Whereas Ellen Page’s performance in Juno gave the film heart, Kat Dennings’s performance fails to rise above disaffected, high-school youth.

It’s hard to carry off a character-driven romance with boring characters. The end product is fast-paced enough to be enjoyable but bland, with a hella awkward sex scene.

Michael Cera and Kat Dennings are two actors on the rise. They come together in Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, opening today, a movie about one night in New York City filled with indie rock and haphazard adventure while the duo look for a band and a drunk friend. When interviewed, they show they’re more than just actors. They’re writers, wise guys — and possibly demonic too (just read on).

If you had to make playlists for each other, what would be the first song on them?
Cera: I would say “Get Out of My Life.”
Dennings: I’ll give you “Move Bitch” by Ludacris.

In the film you follow around the fictional band Where’s Fluffy. Who would you follow around in real life?
Dennings: David Bowie. I’d follow him around in the street.

Would you ever consider writing screenplays?
Dennings: Yeah, my brother and I wrote our first screenplay together. You know, we’re moving forward with it. It’s exciting.
Cera: I write for myself so I don’t think I’d ever want to make it into something. I like making it a personal thing. Once you give it to people they just judge it.

Any weird rituals you guys have or pet peeves?
Cera: I can’t really think of anything, you seem pretty normal.
Dennings: You mean when I was in the corner trying to be a tree that didn’t bother you? We were pretty lucky with our cast, nobody really had weird rituals. I’ve worked with this guy who’d say this mantra before every shot.
Cera: Maybe it’s to throw everybody off their game. I’ve heard that Donald Trump, if he’s going into a power meeting with some kind of enemy, he’ll tell them, “excuse me, you have very bad breath” just so he’ll have an advantage.

What are some similarities between you and your characters?
Cera: Nothing really. There are personality traits that anybody can identify with but nothing specifically, nothing everybody can’t relate to. I’m sure everybody has been broken up with.
Dennings: I guess I relate to Norah’s mothering aspect of her personality. I can get like that. The farther I get from the shoot, I realize how different we are which is good! I’m glad I’m not playing myself, I wouldn’t be a very good actress.

Do you ever feel type-cast?
Cera: If people write parts for you, I guess you can feel type-cast but this was a book so it had nothing to do with us before we were involved.
Dennings: I have a theory about this. Mike and I look the same in all our roles – our faces, our hair, our general being human – I think people think we play the same person because we always look the same.
Cera: I don’t really think about it much. I’m not trying to be Jeremy Irons or anything.
Dennings: And when you’re a certain age, there’s only so many things for 18-year-old girls and boys…
Cera: As long as it seems authentic. I just don’t want to play someone that would seem bogus.
Dennings: If I played an anorexic Ethiopian, it would seem like a stretch. It wouldn’t seem honest.
Cera: Are you saying Ethiopians are dishonest people?
Dennings: Don’t spin me!

What is the weirdest script you’ve ever gotten?
Cera: I’ve auditioned for a werewolf movie. I don’t even know if it ever got made but the audition was really painful. Your heart can’t be in it at all, so it was a really awful audition.
Dennings: I had to audition for the remake of The Exorcist when I was ten. I had to do the scene where she gets possessed and my mom was like “You can’t watch the Exorcist. You’re ten; you’ll ruin your life.” So I didn’t know what I was doing. So I did this voice that was kind of like a drag queen and was like “Oh, I love you! I’m possessing you!” I was horrified and they were all laughing. Just this little girl with frizzy hair and huge teeth trying to touch herself and all “Oh yeah! I’m getting possessed!”

This week: Libertad, Weinberg senior Lauren Redding’s show, exhibited for a week from Sept. 19 to 26 at the prestigious Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Art. The show took a year and a half to put together, according to Redding, and reflects her Cuban-American heritage from the art to the food at the opening reception. The art major, Spanish minor answered our questions about art and pig brains.

How would you describe the style of your art?
Cuban classical.

Artwork by artist Lauren Redding, pictured above.

When did you start painting?
I’ve dabbled a bit for a while, but I really seriously started about a year ago.

What’s your favorite tool?
A maul stick—a long, sturdy dowel I use to keep my hand steady when I paint.

If someone offered you $50,000, would you quit?
No, are you kidding? But I’d still take the money to reinvest it when the market gets stronger.

Who’s the most famous person you’ve ever met?
No one, really—I did pass by Moby on the street in New York, though.

What’s your favorite word in the English language?
Cookie.

What’s the coolest place you’ve traveled to?
New York City.

Where do you like to go alone?
To my bed to take a nap.

Are you a lover or a fighter?
A fighter! You’ve gotta be aggressive to get ahead in the world.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve eaten?
Pig brains.

What do you think of people born rich?
Most are pretty nice—but it’s hard to have a normal world view when the lifestyle is so distanced from reality.

What’s your worst addiction?
I was into cigarillos for a while … but Facebook by far.

What do you hate about Northwestern?
I wish it were in DOWNTOWN Chicago and not in a suburb.

What’s the weirdest thing about your body?
My feet. I don’t get how one of the most useful parts of my
body can look so awkward.

How do you feel about pick-up lines?
They provide much better entertainment than attention.
And what attention they provide sometimes isn’t too good.

What are you embarrassed about?
My ability to rush, especially when talking.

What Food Channel TV show would you be on?
Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.

Who’s your hero?
My grandmother, who came to the U.S., a widow from Cuba with three children to support.

What is art?
Art is a knowledge base and skill set, solidified during the Renaissance, and expressed through representational drawing, painting, and sculpture.

What was the last thing you did that you regret?
Not buy a bag of Sunchips with my lunch.

Director Jen D’Angelo. Photo by Jenny An / NBN.

Each week, 20 Questions features a Northwestern student artist in a Q&A format.

This week: Communication junior Jen D’Angelo, the director of Not a Chance in Newark, fills us in about how bad Shanley Pavilion is, how great Chili’s is and why mother knows best.

If you’re wondering what to do this weekend and the prospect of being in a plane crash sounds appealing, check out Not a Chance in Newark. This show is part scripted, part improv and, perhaps most impressive of all, it was directed, written and produced by non-theater majors. It’s also interactive, though I’ve been told by cast member Chris Wade, a Communication senior, the worst thing that might happen to an unwitting audience member is being approached by Communication junior Tim McGovern in a fat suit.

It’s premiering this Thursday in Shanley Pavilion at 8 p.m., running through the weekend with a special “red-eye” show on Friday at midnight and two shows (8 p.m. and 11 p.m.) on Saturday. The flights cost $3, and, in about an hour, you’ll be back home in good old Evanston again.

What is Not a Chance in Newark?
It’s a hilarious, partially interactive comedy about a doomed flight to Newark.

What do you do in it?
I’m the director. I direct things.

Who’s the most annoying person on the cast?
I’ve been trying to think of a funny way to answer this question for about two minutes now, and I’ve got to tell you… I got nothing.

Who’s your favorite comedian?
I’m a big fan of Kristen Schaal, she’s so awkward and hilarious.

How depressing is Shanley Shack?
I actually love Shanley. I love that it’s small and dirty and quite possibly the worst place to do theater ever. I think it’s great because it gives you nothing, and people fill it with so much. I love seeing what people do with it, and how they put a terrible space to great use.

If you had to take someone in a fight, who would it be and why?
Probably no one. I am very small, and would most likely lose no matter who I was matched up against.

What’s your favorite restaurant in Evanston?
Chili’s. Seriously.

What do you think of classic rock?
It’s classic!

Would you rather get walked in on (having sex) by your mother or father?
I guess my Mom? She’d probably be really funny about it. She might not even notice what she walked in on.

What’s your worst addiction?
Coke. But, like, Coca-Cola Coke, not like “should we do something about this answer?” coke

Drink of choice?
I’d have to say margaritas. Which is why I like Chili’s! See? It all makes sense.

What do you hate about Northwestern?
I wish our football games were bigger news. I love tailgating and getting pumped up for football games. I wish we got more into it here.

What’s the weirdest thing about your body?
On one foot, my second toe is a little bit longer than my big toe. Ew.

Favorite pick-up line?
I can’t really think of any. Let me go hang out at Hundo for a bit and get back to you.

What’s your favorite form of facial hair?
Come see Not a Chance in Newark and you might see a little Foo-Man-Choo action.

Do you like to fly?
Sometimes.

What’s your weirdest phobia?
I have actually the most irrational fear of sharks. I will get scared of sharks in pools. I hate water-skiing, because I think I will be eaten by a shark even in a three-foot-deep bay in New Jersey. I watched Shark Week this summer though and I think it’s starting to desensitize me.

Which MTV reality show should you be on?
Can I expand this question to VH1 reality shows? I should be on I Love Money, because I could teach everyone what the word “alliance” means and then win.

How do you feel about nudity?
Depends. Whose nudity?

In a couplet, why should people go see Not a Chance?
I got a C+ in Reading and Writing Poetry. Just come see the show… it’s student-written, so it’s brand new and really funny!