NU Scuba was started last April by Weinberg sophomore Cooper Carter. The club’s getting off to an active start this fall by offering scuba-diving lessons for all levels of experience, courtesy of Chicago Diving Schools. The club is also planning trips to Cozumel, Mexico and Key Largo, Florida (hello sunshine).

Take a look at NU Scuba’s first event of the year: a $10 beginner’s scuba class held this past week at the local YWCA.

Correction appended.

Grade: C
Bottom line: Dull as dishwater, but hairstylist Peter Tothpal nails Diane Lane’s dull Southern suburban ‘do.

I can’t say I’ve noticed a more appropriate haircut for any character or actress in a movie this year than the style Peter Tothpal crafted for Diane Lane in Nights in Rodanthe. It’s that short, shoulder-length cut with blonde highlights one finds on a lot of upper-middle-class Caucasian women in the suburban South, one that suggests yoga lessons after an anxious morning sending the kids to school.

Lane’s haircut is a sign that the actress is perfectly cast for the bland sentimentality of Nights in Rodanthe, based on a novel by The Notebook author Nicholas Sparks. Seeing her master a caricature that she’s played in other films might be the most entertaining aspect of the otherwise dull, perfunctory Rodanthe. In this film, like in Under the Tuscan Sun and Must Love Dogs, Lane is the kind of wronged, middle-aged woman whose constant revealing of self-history mixed with peppy humor and self-pity is squirm inducing.

Lane plays Adrienne Willis, a separated mother of two, whose husband (Christopher Meloni) announces that he wants to get back together. She takes the weekend to think it over, while she manages her best girrrrrrlfriend’s (Viola Davis, playing another variation on the stereotypical black best friend often used as a shortcut for “soul” in Hollywood romances) rarely-visited North Carolina beachside inn. Conveniently, the moody and attractive Paul Flannner (Richard Gere), a recently disgraced plastic surgeon, is the only guest, just as a huge hurricane hits the beach. The two find love, lessons are learned, and James Franco has some scenes as Gere’s surgeon son, but, as with any good romantic drama, the love affair can never truly last. To paraphrase Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, this is how these movies keep their own kind of authenticity: By having something prevent the characters from staying together, the movie both preserves the love affair as something pure (before the characters grow tired of one another), and at the same time, acknowledges that a movie romance can never last.

Rodanthe is the second feature-film from George C. Wolfe (his first, Lackawanna Blues, premiered on HBO), the acclaimed former director of the Public Theater in New York. Though the film doesn’t have much visual appeal, the actors bring occasional humanity and flare to an otherwise saccharine script.

After the hurricane hits the house, Lane, surveying the damage from the beach, picks up a skateboard on the ground and awkwardly twirls it as she talks about her kids; it’s pretty weird, yet the actress has conviction. And Gere amusingly drops character in one scene, or perhaps shows some genuine human reaction to Lane’s sentimental motor mouth, when, as she shows him a picture of her children, he gives a brusque, uninterested, “Yeah.” It’s something an average person might do when they’re bored - and it might be one of the more human moments in the movie.

In Rodanthe, like in some other romantic dramas, the film’s interest in the characters’ passion is matched by its interest in interior decorating. The interior of the beach inn has the look of a Southern Living spread: an aqua blue kitchen, strands of red peppers hanging from the walls and white French doors and windows. The interiors are pretty, but on the outside, the inn is creepy: Like the eponymous home in another slightly strange romantic drama, The Lake House, the house lacks a clean structure. The three ramshackle floors jut over each other, looking ready to fall at any moment. The movie doesn’t particularly use the location in an interesting way– in one wide shot before Lane and Gere realize they’re meant for each other, the two characters, who have rooms one floor apart, stand on their balconies, overlooking the ocean. Maybe that’s a metaphor. Maybe that’s shabby chic. Speaking of shabby chic, man, I really want a chipped, blue door as a coffee table. So maybe Nights in Rodanthe worked as wish fulfillment for me. While others may have admired Gere’s bland mug or Lane’s haircut, I wanted the furniture.

Correction, 11:46 a.m., Sept. 27: The original version of this article misstated what state the movie took place in.

Campus news knows no vacation. Without the majority of the student population around to pay attention, Northwestern’s athletes, teachers, administrators and Qataris plugged ahead and made news in the name of our university. Here’s the abridged version of what went on in NU circles while you were on vacation.

What may most affect your life (besides NU jumping two spots in US News rankings) is the Be Aware You’re Uploading (BAYU) system, Northwestern’s attempt to stem the number of RIAA complaints about illegal downloading. The university will be hooked into computers on its network and shoot e-mails to bogeys informing them of their potential transgressions. Before you camp outside 1800 Sherman Avenue with anti-Big Brother slogans tattooed on your foreheads, do know the university won’t be enforcing anything. It’ll simply be making you aware that it “does not condone unlawful P2P file sharing.”

Speaking of trouble-making, remember that story in The Weekly about the intense hazing at Lambda Phi Epsilon? The University Hearing and Appeals system did, suspending the fraternity “after the chapter was found responsible for hazing, freshmen freeze, and other violations,” according to an e-mail from the Office for Fraternity and Sorority Life. “All appeals have been exhausted, and the suspension takes place immediately,” the e-mailed stated. “The fraternity may not conduct any further activities whatsoever either on or off-campus.”

Far away from American copyright law, Northwestern’s inaugural Qatar freshman class and its 3:1 female-to-male ratio began school while we were still halfway through summer. But don’t worry: Just because they’re on the other side of the world doesn’t mean they’re spared the fun of Essential NU. In the words of Gulf newspaper The Peninsula, “Yesterday’s opening of classes were preceded by a Dean’s Convocation on August 10 and an intense four-day orientation programme known as ‘Wildcat Welcome.’”

In an equally faraway land, Matt Grevers did Northwestern swimming enthusiasts proud, winning two swimming silver medals in Beijing. But despite reaching the pinnacle of world sports, Grevers still managed to regain some sense of our sporting inferiority complex: After comprising one-fourth of an Olympic-record-setting 4×100 relay team in the preliminary round, Grevers got to sit on the sidelines to watch now-legendary University of Michigan alum Michael Phelps nab one of his eight gold medals.

The happy sports stories don’t end there: The football team has roared to a 3-0 start, beating Syracuse, Duke and Southern Illinois. Granted, Syracuse and Duke combined for a 3-21 record last year, and Southern Illinois isn’t in the NCAA’s top division, but hey, at least we avenged last year’s heartbreaking loss to the Blue Devils, which snapped their 22-game losing streak.

But the most productive group of Wildcats in the past weeks has been our professors. Without the shackles of noisy lecture halls and mountains of five-page papers, our teaching core created an interactive Web site for preserving fertility for cancer patients, informed America of poor treatment for colon cancer at hospitals, constructed an “informal forum” for high school science enthusiasts, were named second-most-impactful in HIV/AIDS research, and found out that teens are feeling an information-overload about the election.

In much sadder news, Northwestern recently lost two of its own professors. McCormick associate professor Alexander Golovin succumbed to cancer at the age of 45. He was “an outstanding applied mathematician with an international reputation,” according to a statement by Michael Miksis, chairman of the engineering sciences and applied mathematics department. This summer also saw the loss of law professor Richard Speidel, age 75.

Members of the chess group 64 Squares painted today’s Rock. On its Web site, the group says: “we are dedicated to promoting chess in the Northwestern community by providing a comfortable chess-playing environment. We also present students with the opportunity to play in a chess league and in intercollegiate matches.”

Sociology Professor Charles Moskos died Saturday at age 74 in Santa Monica, Calif., the university announced Monday, after a long fight with cancer.

Famous for his Introduction to Sociology class, Moskos taught at Northwestern for more than 40 years and was beloved by students.

He was also deeply influential for his expertise on the armed forces, widely cited by journalists and scholars and known for crafting the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that governs homosexuals serving in the military.

“Charlie was a great teacher, scholar, public policy influential and friend. He was great for Northwestern and will be missed,” President Henry Bienen said in a statement. A memorial service at Northwestern will be held soon, Bienen said.

Northwestern Provost Daniel Linzer called Moskos’s teaching “legendary,” while Mary Pattillo, chair of the sociology department, said Moskos would be “irreplaceable.”

He “died peacefully in his sleep after a valiant struggle with cancer,” according to an e-mail from his wife, sent to journalist James Fallows.

Moskos was diagnosed with a relapse of prostate cancer in August 2006, and took time off for treatment. He returned to teach classes again this past fall, but announced at the end of this year that he would not return, because of health reasons.

He wrote numerous books and research articles, and was given the Distinguished Service Award, which is the Army’s top honor for a civilian.

Moskos was “a remarkable man” and a “renowned scholar,” said Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commanding general in Iraq, in a statement.

According to a Northwestern statement, Moskos is survived by his wife of 41 years, Ilca; son Andrew, daughter-in-law Saskia and grandchildren Finn and Aidan, of Amsterdam, the Netherlands; and son Peter and daughter-in-law Zora O’Neill, of Astoria, N.Y.

A wake will be held Thursday from 4 to 9 p.m. at the Smith-Corcoran Funeral Home, 6150 N. Cicero Ave. The funeral will begin at 10 a.m. the following day at St. Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Church, 5649 N. Sheridan Road.

Read NU’s statement about Moskos.

Alex Campbell contributed reporting. More to come.

Professor Charlie Moskos, who died Saturday, was widely cited by journalists and scholars for his expertise on the sociology of the armed forces, and was an influential figure within the military itself. Here’s how people at Northwestern and across the country are remembering him:

Charlie excelled as a scholar, teacher, mentor and in the quality of his friendships. While I treasure all Charlie’s gifts, it is his friendship and loyalty I will miss most.

– Aldon Morris, interim chair of Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences

Charlie had the kind of career at Northwestern that legends are made of, except in his case the stories of having taught tens of thousands of students with that perfect mix of rhythm and rigor are no exaggeration! The sociology department will miss him dearly. He is irreplaceable.

– Mary Pattillo, Professor of Sociology and African American Studies

Despite his success and notoriety, Charlie remained a patriotic, humble man who deeply believed in the virtue of public service for its own sake. He frequently lunched with four-star generals and members of Congress, but never let that swell his head.

– Phillip Carter, Washington Post military affairs writer and U.S. veteran

He had a very generous spirit and was always ready to laugh at himself. The one subject, in my experience, that he considered No Laughing Matter was the excellence of Greek-Americans, as compared with any other subset of humanity. As Ilca Hohn Moskos said in her message, “He was an academic, but not pretentious, funny, but not silly.” A very good man.

– James Fallows, reporter for The Atlantic

For those of us who served, there was simply no one else like him. He was analytical but personal, dispassionate but caring, and above all, a respected, thoughtful friend to so many of us in the military. I first met him at a conference at West Point in the early 1970’s, read almost everything he wrote, and I continued to see him periodically and correspond occasionally for over three decades. He truly had an impact on the military, and he gave many of us the reassurance that someone out there knew us, cared about us, and could help see our best interests as a nation and a military were looked after.

– Gen. Wesley Clark

Charles was a remarkable man, a renowned scholar who repeatedly offered thoughtful advice and thought-provoking ideas on the challenges with which we have grappled over the year.

– Gen. David H. Petraeus, commanding general in Iraq

We asked you what your favorite moment of the year was. Here’s what you drew for us:

Dillo Day 2008 featured musicians Third Eye Blind and Common, and a whole lot of mud. The day in pictures:

Will it rain on Dillo Day? Trusty meteorologist Tom Skilling of Chicago’s WGN television says it’s unlikely. He predicts 80 degrees and little chance of precipitation, as they say in the weather business. If it does rain, though, concerts will be moved to Patten Gym and a WildCARD will be required for entry.

We now know who DM will give the bulk of its available money to next year, but what of the pesky perennial secondary beneficiary, the Evanston Community Foundation? Well, they just handed out $172,000 in grants to various Evanston groups, according to this Evanston Now article, which says that’s 7.6 percent more than last year.

Ever wonder how far-reaching our professors’ research is? Well, readers of India’s Business Standard may stumble upon a story called “Boys ‘not born better at maths’ than girls,” citing the result of a 2003 Kellogg study. Better late than never?

May has been a great month for gay rights. New York Governor David Paterson’s spokewoman announced yesterday that the governor sent a memo on May 14 ordering New York state agencies to recognize same-sex marriages performed in states and countries where they are legal. The memo was sent the day before the California Supreme Court struck down a ban on gay marriage.

The governor’s decision came after a New York state appeals court found in February that failing to recognize such legal marriages is a violation of the New York human rights law. The issue of gay marriage has had a long and convoluted history in New York; the state was one of the first testing grounds of legislation brought about by proponents of same-sex marriage back in 2004. Courts have ruled, stayed and struck down various rulings going every which way. In 2006 the New York Court of Appeals ruled that there is no constitutional right to same-sex marriage under the New York Constitution. But in February, 2008, a panel of judges ruled that because New York legally recognizes out-of-state marriages of opposite-sex couples, it must do the same for same-sex couples.

At this point two states — Massachusetts (in 2004) and California (earlier this month) — have legalized gay marriage. When the Massachusetts law was passed in 2004, it stated that gay couples need not be state residents to wed; however, then-Governor Mitt Romney resurrected a 1913 law banning non-resident marriages in the state if the marriage would be prohibited in the partners’ home state. (That law was originally passed in order to thwart interracial marriage.) Subsequent court and agency decisions determined that only residents of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Mexico could marry in Massachusetts, unless the parties said they planned on moving there after the marriage.

According to the directive, New York will also begin recognizing gay marriages that were performed outside the country, such as in Canada.

Marriage licenses for gay couples in California could be available as soon as June 17. Four states — New Hampshire, Vermont, New Jersey and Connecticut — currently permit civil unions. A number of other states recognize some rights for gay couples. The debate about the right of same-sex couples to marry is partially hinged on the benefits of such unions: family health care plans, tax breaks, stronger adoption rights and property inheritance, among others. Proponents argue that to limit gay marriage is to restrict basic rights of a group of citizens, while defenders of the “one man, one woman” idea argue that marriage is an institution based in a religion that considers homosexuality “unnatural” and sinful.

Dillo Day is so close that you can almost taste it. But before you spend Saturday in various states of foolishness, get your dose of classical culture by attending Lovers and Madmen’s production of Pericles by none other than Billy Shakespeare. The first show takes place at the Rock at 7 p.m.

You can also listen to Evanston Running Club member Nancy Rollins talk about how she became an elite runner. This is the last Running Club seminar this quarter, and it will take place at 7 p.m. in the Lake Room in Norris.

On an entirely different note, NU’s financial software is apparently asking for a budget increase of almost $10 million just for consulting. That sounds like a lot of money for people when we don’t know what they’re doing.

It’s never too early to start your own business. Well, maybe that’s not true, but at the Undergraduate Entrepreneur Panel, you can find out how students make some dough outside of class. Speaking at 5 p.m. at the ITW Auditorium in Ford will be Institute for Student Business Education leader and ASG President Neal Sales-Griffin and helicopter photographer Bill Pulte, among others.

Members of the student theater group Lovers and Madmen painted the Rock as part of the backdrop for Pericles, their Spring Show at the Rock. Pericles, Prince of Tyre is a Shakespeare play about a prince and his daughter.

The group will be performing at the Rock this Thursday, Friday and Sunday. More information can be found at the Facebook event page.

Food is best when it’s free, but coupons ain’t bad either. Bar Louie, Prairie Moon, J.K. Sweet, BLU Lounge, Nevin’s and Bat-17 are all giving discounted burgers (Bar Louie), wings (Prairie Moon) and everything in between (J.K. Sweet) today. Mayfest is sponsoring, and offers potential prizes for attendees.

Can democracy exist in the Middle East? You probably don’t have an answer to that question either, but you might get a better idea if you spend your early evening (7 p.m.) at Fisk 217 learning about the “balance between democracy and Islam” from a Dr. Jane El-Yacoubi, a political science professor and Muslim convert, according to the e-flier.

If your looking for a less conciliatory tone from your speaker, why not hear from conservative commentator Jonah Goldberg? You’ll probably come away with an opinion about him — his recent book is called Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning.

If your heart wasn’t warmed enough by lacrosse’s fourth consecutive national title, read this story about a young superfan who happens to be a brain tumor survivor. “It’s become a tradition for the team to get her on the field each time they win, this year in front of a Northwestern crowd sporting ‘Friends of Jaclyn’ t-shirts along with their Northwestern purple,” the article reads. And you said nobody cares about lacrosse.

Loved Dirty Dancing? Learn to salsa from BLAST! Tickets to their Spring Fling go on sale today, but get ‘em soon because they’re only on sale until Wednesday. Get them at the Norris Box Office, right next to Starbucks, and don’t forget your semi-formal attire (to the event, not the box office).

It’s business time for ASG this week. The Campus Public Relations Committee (aka the people who tell you what ASG is doing) are having a meeting that is open to the public tomorrow night at 8 p.m. in the ASG office.

If you just can’t stand to stay on campus tomorrow, venture into Chicago to support School of Music performers play at Millennium Park. At 6 p.m. in the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, multiple NU ensembles will play Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and Strauss’s “Alpine Symphony,” among others.

The lacrosse team may be dancing in Maryland, but sad news for followers of NU’s softball team: They’ve been knocked out of the NCAA tournament. There’s always next year, right?