The bottom line: With an action-packed plot and jarringly human characters, The Dark Knight is the perfect summer blockbuster.

There have been a lot of superhero movies this year. Iron Man and Hell Boy II were both heartfelt and humanistic, but the setting and the characters were always sharp reminders that this was a fantasy world — not your own.

What has always set Batman apart as a superhero is that he is completely human. He isn’t a mutant, he doesn’t possess super-human strength, and he can’t shoot anything out of his hands. Perhaps that’s Batman’s attraction to his loyal fan base, the reason he so easily transitioned from comic-book hero to big-screen action star: Batman proves that superheroes are thoroughly people. The Dark Knight takes that quality and creates a movie few, if any, superhero movies have ever done. It is believable.

The Dark Knight is set in a very human world. In the opening scene guns, grenades and good, old-fashioned treachery is utilized in a bank robbery. And those who wield these weapons aren’t from Hell or another planet; they’re human, and they die with a good shot to the head. It helps that much of the film was shot in our backyard of Chicago, including stunning, panoramic shots of the bridges along the Chicago River when the city evacuates to escape the bombings threatened by the Joker (Heath Ledger).

The action isn’t too shabby either. Whether it’s chasing the Joker in an 18-wheeler through the tunnels of LeSalle Street or battling in hand-to-hand combat, the film has variety, and gorgeous explosions. The plot is more crime-thriller than superhero flick. Tight, well-wrought and with plenty of turns (albeit, a few too many diversions), it’s also intelligent. The film asks what is the nature of good, the nature of evil and the nature of people, but never gives a single, hokey answer.

The casting is near-perfect and the acting is pretty killer. Heath Ledger has already received rave reviews and Oscar hype for his final role as the Joker. He’s sadistic, haunting and psychotic. Even with ghoulish makeup and without a back story, you don’t ever doubt that he is a man who “just wants to see the world burn.” The villains are always the hardest characters to make appear real, but it’s the little things that make Ledger’s Joker a standout, even against the likes of Jack Nicholson, who played the role in Tim Burton’s 1989 version. After a police interrogation, his trademark makeup is grossly smeared — proving that he, too, is only human, and a disturbed one at that.

Though Ledger is a standout, the performances by Gary Oldman (Lt. James Gordon), Michael Caine (Alfred Pennyworth) and Aaron Eckhart (Harvey Dent), with his always likable mix of sleaze and charm, shouldn’t be overlooked. But, whileChristian Bale’s performance as Bruce Wayne gave Batman real heart, his voice in the suit is too cartoonish for a film trying to go beyond its kitsch genre.

In the end, the movie is more about Ledger’s Joker than Bale’s Batman: the Joker’s character, not his actions, are what the whole movie is based around, and what Batman (and the audience) has to battle. What is the nature of evil?

Six Flags Great Adventure already released a rollercoaster based and named after the film. The “one-of-a-kind dark ride experience,” according to Six Flag’s Web site, may best sum up the film: “Venturing through demented hallways of twists, turns and hallucinatory images, [audiences/riders] are tormented by The Joker himself.”

Though I have sheets to sleep between, (no confirmation about a bed to sleep on just yet), I still don’t have anything to use to transport my dirty laundry, organize my shoes or change the way I smell after an 8 mile run. But while my situation has yet to cause me any sleepless nights, up until yesterday afternoon it was becoming a growing concern.

Enter: the mailwoman; bounding down my street like Pheidippides, arms pumping wildly, miles of momentum driving her forward through the haze atop the hill and into view. The closer she got, the more clearly I could see the pained expression spreading quickly across her face; her bloodshot eyes, chapping lips and sun-burnt appearance reflecting the importance and urgency of the document that she carried.

After what seemed like an eternity, she collapsed at the base of my driveway, mumbling something in ancient Greek before handing me the Walmart “Off to College” brochure. Nearly in shock at the gravity of the information passed on to me, I commenced a short but jubilant sprint back to my air-conditioned house, finally assured that I wouldn’t smell like a lost and worn-out gym shoe during my first weeks of college, while the mailwoman gallantly finished off her historic journey at the base of my driveway.

I might be exaggerating.

Regardless, the importance of the subject matter is what requires such a dramatic introductory anecdote. Being that we freshmen-to-be have been spending much of our summer stressing out about finding ways to pay for books and Chicago-based fun, acquiring student loans, and keeping up with the slew of forms and applications, it seems to me that buying supplies is the least stressful of all the necessary preparations. While for some it may be too early to begin stockpiling on extra underwear and Post-It notes, those of us required to arrive on campus early need a head start; besides, for everyone else, this just affords the opportunity to keep a steady eye on the sale racks.

That having been said, considering my need to be on campus early, I’ve been scouring over brochures, like the one I received yesterday, with an effort so resolute that I would be much better off spending it analyzing student loan forms. But that’s neither here nor there. The point is, my habitual procrastination has paid off; I have discovered, practiced and honed my dorm room shopping techniques all by looking through a few brochures. So I’ll lay it all out for you right here, right now:

STEP ONE: IF YOU CAN’T BE AT ‘EM, JOIN ‘EM
According to the catalogues and brochures, collegiate happiness stems from physical attractiveness- or, as Derek Zoolander puts it, “being really, really, ridiculously, good-looking.” With that established, immediately upon your arrival to campus — be it at the beginning of August or mid-September — I urge you all to find “good-looking” people and become friends with them; stalk them if you must. And, since attractive people tend to migrate towards other people of similar physical beauty, it will be easy to amass friends and be well on the way to a great four years of brochure-bliss. You do want to be happy, don’t you?

STEP TWO: DON’T HESITATE TO DECORATE
Since there still are a few weeks before anyone heads to Evanston to befriend the cream of Northwestern’s “good-looking” crop, and no one wants to start their required reading, we need something urgent and important with which to keep ourselves busy. So, what to do? Go shopping; I recommend hitting up the funky, “loud” bed comforters first, before all the “decorative” ones sell out. Once you have found one to suit your inner Christian Siriano, find three or twelve pillows to match. Don’t forget to grab some “Art XPRESS Wall-Decals” on your way out; I plan on buying the ones that resemble hard-core motorcycle-type tattoos, as advertised in Bed, Bath, and Beyond’s catalogue. After all, why use them to decorate your body when your dorm room walls will do the designs much more justice?

However, for those whose thinking is backwards on this matter, or for those who are simply less ambitious, may I point you in the direction of the “wash-cloth banner,” complements of Target. It is what it is, but I recommend that it be used to display only clean washcloths and I’m sure your roommate will agree with me on that.

STEP THREE: GET COOKING
Or not. Though I have yet to try the recipes for “Gushi Sushi” and “Hip Chex”, and probably never will unless one of you convinces me otherwise, their components leave me wondering how that marketing meeting at the Target headquarters went down, exactly . Perhaps their efforts will force me to stand corrected about my opinions; maybe I’ll find that Northwestern students gather together to snack on crushed up candy bars rolled sushi-style between chewing gum or exchange witty banter around a big bowl of microwaved Chex mix and Coke zero, garnished, of course, with cheese and beef jerky.
I mean, I could be wrong; and if I am, grab your most attractive friends, a few extra pillows, and hunt down that illegitimate microwave for some “hip” and “gushi” fun.

(On an honest note) Best of luck with all your dorm room preparations!

Next week: a not so sarcastic look at what freshmen don’t think to bring or absentmindedly forget.

Hallie

Though I was hoping that while opening the envelopes, in at least one of them I would find $50,799.00, an Ethernet cord, and tickets to a Flogging Molly concert, Northwestern let me down yet again. Rather, I pulled out and held in my hand one of the more peculiar forms that I have received since being admitted. While I have spent the past 9 months or so stressing about financial aid, student loans, and all the like, it was kind of strange to read about the quintessential details of bed-sheet shopping (because up to this point, I had no idea that there were any).

Granted, I had heard rumors that you needed longer sheets for college, but I presumed that they could be bought at Target, WalMart, or what have you. I was wrong. Whether it is true or not, the form I received pertaining to the size of bed sheets we need to purchase details that they are “Guaranteed to Fit. Guaranteed ’til Graduation”; much to my dismay, I’ve found that they are guaranteed to be the only ones available. I may sound picky, so don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with Aqua/Kiwi Waves or Pastel Stripe and I really like Tangerine, my problem was that I wanted to spend the least amount of money possible, which to me meant scouring the sales in my hometown.

To cut to the chase, the sheets that we need to buy should be, according to a sales representative at the company wanting to sell us their sheets, 39″ x 80″ x 8″, however, the sheets advertised as XL twin in my area (Target) measure out to be 39″ x 80″ x 12″. Will this small variation make a big difference? Let me know, because I’m not going to be the one to find out. I’ve already learned my lesson anyway. My mom was right, and I try not to let that happen very often.

For starters, I should have known that anything addressed “To the parents of: [your name here]” must not travel past the kitchen and certainly has no right to seek refuge in my bedroom, no matter how scared it is of the electric bill. Though I had not intended to open it once I noticed the real addressee, the score still stood at Mom: 1 Hallie: 0.

So, down one right from the get go, I opted to dive into the heat of the battle rather quickly. The following night, I gathered my logistics and prepared to protest the need to order from the brochure; a professional penny-pincher myself, I felt that I would be better off shopping locally. Mom: 2 Hallie: -1.

Because at this point I was still “right” with the information that I had accumulated, I thought I’d one-up her and prove victorious (aka: save $10.00). So, I did a little research and found out the measurements of the sheets that Target was advertising as XL Twin length bed sheets. Mom: 3, Hallie: needs to decide between Kiwi Summer and Lavender Stripe.

My point here is, that though preparing for college is often portrayed as a trouble-free endeavor, I have quickly found that, though exciting, it is not. With financial situations to asses, supplies to be bought, forms to be filled out, and all the like, this experience can be overwhelming and consequently draw out our inner anxieties only to allow them to masquerade as totally different emotions. It seems to me that this situation exists both with me as a student and my parents; I mean it’s not this crazy house full of hate and animosity, not at all, so don’t get me wrong there. I just found it funny that a little thing like an order form for the right size bed sheets can spark such a heated debate. There I was, so set on scrimping and saving my way through college that I let my stubbornness take over before accumulating all the information, then there was my mom, still being my protector, even though at 17-years-old I am a little reluctant to accept her advice.

It came out clear that my apprehension to have enough money to support myself and be as financially independent as possible (buy my own sheets) clashed with her own fear of me being short-sheeted. Fair enough. This stubborn desire for independence, my parents also felt, could easily highlight my natural naivety as a young woman in a completely new environment. Once again, I realized that they had hit the nail on the head, as they have done so many times these past 17 years.

Nevertheless, I haven’t thrown in the towel on figuring things out for myself, and I encourage the rest of you not to do so either. Our parents/guardians want us to have the most rewarding experience that $50,799.00 a year can buy, so to get our money’s worth, these arguments/discussions are a necessity. Having gone through many of these experiences before us, their insight is golden to the fate of our desired successes; sure, they may be a little overbearing but, at least in my case, it’s only because come September, they won’t be there to see that everything is all right at the end of the day.

Well, that’s all for now. Happy bed sheet shopping!

Other Chicago fan conventions this summer

GREEN PARTY NATIONAL CONVENTION

July 10-13

Sort of like a Ralph Nader fan convention, the official party of tree-huggers will congregate at the Palmer House Hilton to decide which of their members will receive less than 1 percent of the November vote this time.

TERMINUS (HARRY POTTER)

August 7-11

They couldn’t get J.K. Rowling, but they did get her editor, Cheryl Klein. And, for some reason, kids author Tamora Pierce. The magic will invade the Hilton Chicago in August.

STARGATE SG-1/STARGATE ATLANTIS

August 22-24

The most popular “Star-___” series since Star Wars. And Star Trek. And possibly Star Jones. Guests at the O’Hare Wyndam will include Michael Shanks and Ben Browder.

A decade ago, when Anthony Zucconi met Andrea Ivanovs, they weren’t exactly themselves. He was dressed as sleazy mob boss Tony Dracon; she was dressed as the gargoyle form of New York City policewoman Elisa Maza. Their personas were rivals, but they must have looked cute together — enough to be awarded the title of “Cutest Couple” from Greg Weisman, one of the very men who created both characters.

Exactly one year later, Zucconi and Ivanovs were in costume again. This time, he was a self-serving, pony-tailed CEO named David Xanatos; she was the same Elisa Maza, but in the character’s human form. On the masquerade floor, he asked her to marry him. “I knew I wanted to propose at the ‘Gathering,’” he says. “Because without it, we wouldn’t be together.”

That “Gathering” was, and is, the Gathering of the Gargoyles, a convention held by hardcore fans of the animated Disney television series “Gargoyles.” From June 27 to 30, the 12th annual Gathering will host about 200 devotees at the Hotel Orrington, a block from the Northwestern campus. Fans and friends will arrive from California, New York and even overseas to discuss Gargoyles semantics, browse “Gargoyles” artwork, participate in a “Gargoyles” radio play and “mug” (interrogate) a member of the show’s original production team.

What about this semi-old cartoon is so inspiring for them? The Gathering’s Web site tells a poignant truth: for its followers, in unexpected ways, the show “brought us together and in some way, small or large, changed each of us.”

“We were making something special”

In 1991, then-28-year-old Greg Weisman was a Disney executive heading a team to develop new shows for the Disney Afternoon programming block when the idea for “Gargoyles” came to him. “I was always fascinated with this idea of gargoyles,” he says, “that you put up something ugly on your wall to scare away something worse.” His team originally pitched it as a comedy series, but Disney CEO Michael Eisner didn’t bite. So Weisman revamped the concept with less-cute critters and a darker, semi-Gothic tone.

His timing was right. With the recent success of Beauty and the Beast, Disney felt ugly was hot. In 1994, the show made its debut on Disney Afternoon, and quickly gained a following. As part of a syndicated block, free from network censorship, Weisman was able to push the envelope a little further, exploring themes as complex as genocide and inter-species romance. Consequently, even parents could enjoy the adventures of animated, speaking gargoyles transplanted from 10th-century Scotland to the rooftops of modern-day Manhattan. In their new home, the intelligent beasts wake from stone each night to fight foes like Xanatos, the anger-filled gargoyle Demona and reality-TV stars “The Pack.”

“It wasn’t dumbed down,” says Jennifer Anderson, known as “CrzyDemona” in the community, who began watching Gargoyles in 1994. “It was enough that me and my husband could watch it, and my four kids loved it as well. It’s got a little something for everyone.”

Fourteen years later, Anderson is the volunteer president of Gathering of the Gargoyles, Inc., the non-profit organization that manages the convention. She has attended 10 conventions to date.

Weisman said that, while he knew from its conception that Gargoyles was something special, “I never could have imagined that years later we would have any conventions, let alone 12.”

Salvaging a series

Few animated shows are as long-lived as “The Simpsons”; most are lucky to last more than a season or two. “Gargoyles” met an ignoble demise: Disney assigned a completely different production staff to the third season, retitled the show “The Goliath Chronicles” after the main character, and released 13 episodes so reviled by the community that they still refuse to acknowledge the third season’s existence. The show was quickly canceled in 1997.

That could have been the end for “Gargoyles.” Instead, with the help of the then-new Internet, word began to circulate through mailing lists. People began to talk of a convention, and a woman named Mae Li offered to host it in New York. Patrick Toman, a college junior at the time, learned of the event through Station 8, a pioneer online forum centered around “Gargoyles.” “In the fall of ’96, I first got the Internet,” he says, and instantly “started looking for ‘Gargoyles’ sites.” Today, Toman is one of only three fans to have attended every single Gathering.

After the second convention, also in New York, the Gathering went on tour across North America. In 1999, it was in Dallas; in 2000, Orlando. The convention left the States for the first time in 2004 to be hosted in Montreal. Members of the tight-knit community greet each iteration as a focal point in their year — a chance to make new friends and reunite with the old.

“It’s like a family reunion for us,” Zucconi says (and Anderson uses the exact same words). “We all live so far away that it’s the only time we can see each other. I’ve become close friends with people from every walk of life.”

Bringing friends and family together for the Gatherings, however, is no easy task. Susan Leonard, 41, of Lincolnshire had to begin planning this year’s convention in Evanston almost two years ago. The annual conventions survive, she says, thanks only to the dedication of fans.

More intimate than Star Trek

At Gathering 2008, the four days of festivities will be jam-packed with constant “Gargoyles”-related activity. Panels have names like “Combat & Weapons” and “Gargoyles Biology & Culture.” Attendees audition for and perform a radio play based on the show. The highlight event, the masquerade ball, takes place on Sunday night. Participants are encouraged to dress as a favorite character (called “cosplay,” short for “costume-playing”) and dance until midnight.

Comparisons to Star Trek conventions, long infamous for their oft-crazed “Trekkie” attendees, are inevitable. The two series even share a number of actors: John Rhys-Davies, Jonathan Frakes and a dozen others have both lent their voices to “Gargoyles” and appeared on a version of Star Trek. But Patrick Toman, a member of both fandoms, says there’s a core difference at the conventions: intimacy. At the much smaller Gatherings, “you’re not in awe looking up at [special guests] — you get to talk with them person-to-person,” Toman says. “I think if I had to choose between a big Star Trek con and a Gathering, I’d choose the Gathering.”

This year, those guests will include Weisman, Adcox and Keith David, who voiced the gargoyle Goliath. They are flown in and accommodated at the hotel for a weekend, then sit for free at “Mug-A-Guest” sessions where almost any question can be put forth. While guests are treated like celebrities, their fans are often also their close friends. Weisman is more like a friendly patriarch than a looming superstar, though fans like Leonard aren’t shy about calling him “absolutely brilliant.”

“I work in what, emotionally, can be a pretty tough business,” Weisman says. “I go to this ‘Gargoyles’ convention once a year, and I get an ego-boost that just carries me through into the next summer.”

Married with children?

Groups like the Gargoyles fanatics often fall into a category of “wispy communities” — groups that interact little outside of their respective conventions, says Northwestern University sociology professor Gary Fine. In these groups, Fine says, “you’re not likely to find many men and women who have children. When you get engaged [or] married, each of those are forces that push you out of these voluntary subcultures.”

But Fine might be surprised at the Gathering. The convention-goers do return to ordinary lives and jobs after the event: Leonard is a dog-breeder, Toman a structural engineer, Morgan a residential counselor. And the immediacy of the Internet lets them stay in touch through fan work and forums.

In addition, many members of the community do indeed have kids. Leonard is a mother of two, and Jennifer Anderson’s kids range from 11 to 18. One, Stephanie Scoggins, 18, says that “Gargoyles” has been a part of her life for as long as she can remember, and she passed it along to her younger siblings. “They were exposed to it as soon as they were able to focus on a TV,” Scoggins says.

And most fans find their friends and relatives supporting of their unique interest. “My family think it’s great that I found someone with a similar interest,” says Andrea Zucconi. “They don’t have a problem with it. But my grandmother’s still kind of scared.”

Of her husband?

“No!” she laughs. “Of the gargoyles!”

Geeky and proud of it

For many “Gargoyles” fans, the 2008 Evanston Gathering will be the central four days of their year. They’ll be doing what they love, with the people they consider both inspirations and friends.

They will create memories, as with last year’s Gathering in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., when Tony Zucconi and a group of friends all got tattooed with the show’s “Phoenix Gate” symbol. “If that doesn’t show the love for the show, then nothing will,” Zucconi says. “The Navy has given me the power to protect people all over the world, but Gargoyles was what kept me going through the hardest times.”

Andrea liked the tattoo; she provided the drawing. “We’re all terrible geeks,” she says cheerfully. “But we’re proud geeks.”

Proud geeks, indeed, and ones with no intention of renouncing their geekhood. Plans for the 2009 Gathering are already in place. And so just as the series’ gargoyles live in clans, so does the clan of Gargoyles fly onward in their noble—geeky—quest.

I was the girl who would read the same Beverly Cleary books over and over again, ran laps around the outside of the playground during recess, and wore black and neon green, plastic, Wayfarer sunglasses at school for about a month in the third grade for lack of the glasses that I wanted but didn’t actually need.

I may have been strange, but sometime between then and now, I grew up – just like we all did. Maybe it was because I actually came to need some real glasses, decided to run cross-country, or took a liking to my English classes. And somehow, someone here at Northwestern was convinced of this transformation as well…

Which puts me here: an incoming freshman and a proud member of the class of 2012, without a clue as to what to bring, what classes to take, or even where to live/eat once I get to campus. Sure, I’m nervous, really stressed out, and a little scared about what will happen come September, but more importantly, I’m excited about the challenges and adventures that await me throughout the rest of this summer and into the fall.

I’ve already faced a few of them from 300 miles away. Though I have grown out of the nerdy-freaky kid that I once was, the part of me that has always been overly eager and anxious still remains. This time, instead of doing a face plant on my way down the driveway to catch the school bus – as frequently happened during grade school – my excitement did, among other things, cause me to write the wrong information in the wrong blank spaces on both my housing and tuition deposit forms. I called the Admissions office in a panic, asking, basically, if I could still attend Northwestern. I think that got me bumped to some kind of special list, or something.

As if that didn’t have me feeling undeserving enough, I spent a good three hours trying to download the NU Symantec Security system for my laptop; in actuality it takes all of 30 minutes, maybe even less. It turns out that while I will be living “on-campus” in the fall, when commanded during the installation process, I should have chosen “off-campus” because the Panera Bread Co. wireless Internet in North Canton, Ohio is not the Elder residence hall in Evanston, Illinois (oh, but how I wish it was). I really do owe my first-born, or at least a pint of blood, to the guys in the technical support center.

Once all that was up and running and life was pure bliss and happiness, they sent out the housing information. Fantastic, right, but they didn’t send it to me. You see, since I am on the aforementioned special list, Northwestern no longer communicates with me. Not a problem though. I got it off of the Internet, filled it out, sent it in, and then began to worry. You see, for me, worrying is not just a speciality, it’s an art. I’m absolutely fantastic at it. I rock the worrying world. Some little, plaid-jumper-and-sunglasses wearing, 8-year-old voice inside my head told me that there was a reason, and probably not a good one, and probably related to my messing up the housing deposit form, that I did not receive the housing registration packet. Even though after a week or so, I realized that it probably wasn’t that big of a deal, I still put a very concerned call in to the Housing Department to make sure that they weren’t scamming all the kids whose inner 8-year-old was too hopped up on pixie sticks and green Kool-Aid to read the directions. Turns out, despite the confusion, they didn’t kick me out.

While I may not be the best at filling out forms, downloading software, or keeping calm, I’m sure to be one of many in the struggle to break out of the controlled high school environment and into the spontaneous, faced-paced almost-real world of college. Maybe you all think I’m crazy (I probably shouldn’t have mentioned the sunglasses), or that I have bigger problems than can be solved by a degree from Northwestern.

Even if that is the case, we are all headed down the same road, with the same destination in mind. For the time being, during the longest summer of all of our lives, I will be your guide as we prepare to stumble blindly toward our futures.

Hallie Busta
Class of 2012

Matthew S. Sunshine, a SESP freshman from Cold Spring Harbor, NY, passed away due to currently undetermined causes, Vice President for Student Affairs William J. Banis said in the statement, which the university has sent to “students, faculty and staff on Evanston campus.”

“We extend our condolences to all of Matthew’s family and friends,” Banis said. “We join with them in this time of sorrow.”

Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) staff and members of the University Chaplain’s office will be in Foster House this evening.

Banis said the Evanston Police Department, assisted by University Police, is investigating the matter.

Thanks to the footage from Carrie St. Michel, you can see where this site’s most prolific writer’s passions developed. He cringes at a cup of foul drink like he cringes at the sounds of Mika. In search of cute animals, he yells out for a doggy. His singing amounts to the experimental noise that One Click Wonders always pimps out. He starts reppin’ The Simpsons at age four. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any video evidence of the Mr. Lister he’d become, but he does gurgle something at his father that sounds vaguely like “Top ten food-centric music videos.”

NBN will miss you, Patrick, and we wish you a Happy Hanukkah.

The episode left hints about that post-collegiate fear throughout the episode: the middle-aged hotel receptionist seemed downright miserable, entertained only by Who Wants to be a Millionaire at an otherwise drab career. Conversations about majors and the inevitable return to school were underlined with fear and anxiety. Near the end, the adult world interrupted the festivities via a Congressional scandal (no, seriously) that directly affected three characters. The most morbid line came, oddly enough, from a character who hasn’t said anything intelligent all season (and wouldn’t say another non-cringe-worthy word the rest of the episode). Before the title sequence even flashed by, Ashleigh said, in reference to appropriate beach music, “No Jimmy Buffet, we have plenty of time to listen to him when we are sad and old.” And yet “Spring Broke” hinted at the fact that the characters on this show may not have much more time before “Cheeseburger in Paradise” becomes a sonic staple.

And I’m glad Greek finally spent a lot of time touching on one of the central themes of the show. After tonight’s season finale, the future of the series seems a bit better off — sure, plenty of rehash, but the conflict of the characters trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives offers a whole slew of new possibilities in coming seasons. Tonight’s episode wasn’t the best episode, but it did an excellent job setting the next season up.

Summary

Everyone is going to Myrtle Beach, S.C., for spring break. Rusty ends up having a miserable time, and opts to head home early. As does Calvin, who misses his boyfriend. The two end up on the same bus home, and much re-connecting happens (eventually). Evan goes on a tear, meeting tons of new girls after the Casey episode, but eventually gets closer to Frannie. Casey and Ashleigh just want to have a good time and meet some boys. But things change when Casey and Cappie start getting close again, and Ashleigh finds a super hot guy she “wants to molest.” She calls him the “Hot-ness Monster,” by the way. Cringe.

Representations of College

- I think it’s hard to mess up a spring break episode of a college show — just show lots of partying and some live music (from a band called American Bang, a group I initially confused with Kings of Leon) and you pretty much cover everything that needs to be covered.

- One of the wacky things on Casey’s “spring break to-do list”? Play a drinking game. Uhhh, that doesn’t seem that out of the ordinary to me. Shouldn’t she have played one at some point at college? Weird.

- Casey freaks out when Rebecca starts doing stupid stuff while wearing her letters. I’ve been told by some of my sorority pals this is a policy, that letters can’t be displayed in photos or videos featuring alcohol.

- As much as the title “Hot-ness Monster” makes me ill, I’m starting to see that girls really do dub certain boys with equally idiotic titles. Maybe the writers of this show are really geniuses, and I’m the idiot. Why not?

Examples of Greek’s Bad Writing in Action

- Hidden geniuses or not, I’m still pointing out “Hot-ness Monster” as stupid.

- “I just met the man I’m going to molest!” Sad face goes here.

- “You’re putting my tray table into its upright position.” Cappie to Rebecca. Suprisingly, I don’t hate this because it is a bad erection joke. Rather, it’s dumb because Cappie uses an airplane metaphor for no reason. They weren’t talking about planes or commercial airflights or anything. There has to be stuff at the beach he can compare his boner to.

- Also, Ashleigh named her credit card Teresa Visa. Just… poor Ashleigh.

Closing Question - Why can’t September come sooner? Also, why is Ashleigh so stupid? The actor who plays her seems coherent enough, if the below video proves anything.

Jogging backwards to the bucket boys’ beat, a tipsy Cubs fan nearly bowled over a small child. Lenard Richardson, seated in his wheelchair next to three other busy drummers, pointed his drumstick and chastised the man.

“Ey, ey, ey!”

Richardson lost his legs when he was 16. “I got shot up,” he said, when trouble erupted at a party. Now 19, he continues to play with Chicago’s bucket boys, as he has for nearly a decade. During almost every Cubs game, ten to twenty boys saunter from corner to corner of the streets outside Wrigley Field. They split up, choose spots, and sit down on crates, beating out intense, repetitive, tribal-sounding rhythms on plastic utility buckets.

The traveling bucket boys of the South Side are just a few of the city’s street-performing individuals — 357 as of last year, to be exact. But that’s only counting the “licensed” performers who possess $100 city permits.

Most of the bucket boys don’t have these permits. Richardson reluctantly displayed his license, which reads “Bobby L. Davis III.” It shows a boy with dreads; Richardson’s hair is short.

In 2006, the price of a permit jumped from $50 to $75, and it has since been raised to $100. While Chicago’s permits cost less than in other places, such as the $500 that the San Francisco Port Authority charges, some feel ambivalent about its effects.

Tim Nutt founded streetnote.org, a Web site devoted to publicizing the music of street performers around the country. He has mixed feelings about the permit. “By having a licensing system, it legitimizes the street musicians and actually gives them credit for what they do.” On the other hand, he said, it can push out the poorer musicians and favor the more professional ones who come with high-quality equipment and work experience.

Street musicians are important, Nutt said, because “there’s a triangulation that happens between the city, the street musician, and the passerby, and that triangulation actually develops a sense of community where otherwise it wouldn’t exist.”

“The ultimate goal of a city is to put everything in its place,” he said, “and street music adds a little bit to that otherwise isolating environment.”

When Nutt worked in recording studios, he said he witnessed awful bands spend tens of thousands of dollars on CD production while talented musicians on the street went unrecorded.

“I just realized that they were the musicians that needed the most help in terms of marketing and public relations,” said Nutt.

If a tourist with a videocamera approaches the bucket boys, they immediately hope for YouTube fame. “We gonna be on YouTube?” several asked. They are already featured in many videos uploaded by impressed tourists and city residents.

As some bucket boys leave and others arrive with their crates, buckets, and sticks in hand, the lineup changes over the course of the day — and over the years. They first played on Michigan Avenue fifteen years ago, and they began to play at sports events around 2000. They started playing at Cubs games five years ago.

Tourists and sportsgoers are usually fans of the bucket boys. “I think street musicians are fantastic!” said John Douglas after the Cubs game. “It gives musicians an opportunity to perform before of a mass amount of people that they wouldn’t usually have an opportunity to perform before.”

Local residents and employees, who must endure the drumming every day, are not as enthusiastic.

“We get a lot of complaints about the noise from the bucket boys,” said Jeff Riley, policy director of Ward 42, which includes the tourist stretch of Michigan Avenue.

“The noise travels upwards through the buildings, so the noise gets louder as it goes up,” he said. “Now that people are opening their windows and enjoying the air, they’re hearing it.”

Mark Cotton has worked at Wrigley Field for three years. “I’ve got a quote for you: Change your song,” he said.

Shirt vendor Mark Kolbusz agreed:  “The bucket boys suck.”

“It’s the same beating for hours on end. It’s real irritating,” said Bill O’Brien, the security manager for Murphy’s Bleachers, a bar and grill next to the Cubs stadium. He has worked there for 25 years.

“A lot of times they approach the customers with a bucket in their hand and try to get them to give them money. They look intimidating, give ‘em the look and whatnot.”

“What can you do?” he asked as the bucket boys drummed a few feet away from Murphy’s Bleacher’s patrons. “I mean, I guess the city council says if they get licenses, they can pretty much do whatever they want.”

Efrat Stein, a spokesperson for Chicago’s Department of Business Affairs and Licensing, explained the reasoning behind the permit. “It ensures that traffic is not impeded, it creates rules that address safety and welfare issues, and it also addresses quality of life issues such as noise.”

According to Nutt, the permit system rewards street musicians who are professional performers. This breed of street musician is, contrary to public opinion, quite common, if not the majority.

“The biggest misconception about street musicians is that they are homeless or untalented,” Nutt said.

Mike Hudson, who plays saxophone professionally at clubs and commercial venues, takes his alto and tenor saxophones and an amplifier to Michigan Avenue a few days a week.

“Playing on the street is a business to me. I usually go on the street when gigs are slow. And jobs are slow for me right now,” he said. 

Hudson can make as much as $200 in four hours. He held the day’s earnings between his palms, and they fanned out like sheets in a thick paperback book.

He said he supports the idea of a license because it ensures that the music is good and that the musicians interact fairly.

“You ever see the kids playing the drumsticks on the buckets?” Hudson asked, referring to the bucket boys. “Sometimes they can get a little disrespectful.” He said they recently set up just 50 feet from his spot.

“They set up next to you trying to run you away, and they don’t have licenses. Most of them are not old enough to have licenses. They’re supposed to be in school!”

The bucket boys range in age from twenty-somethings to teens to even younger tagalongs. With a smile, Richardson recalled skipping school and slyly leaving his house several years ago.

“I used to sneak out of the house ‘cuz I was young,” he said. But now, “my mom, she’s cool with it.”

Richardson doesn’t want to be a bucket boy forever: He hopes to become a drum teacher when he’s older.

He says he has mentally recovered from the shooting. “I got a daughter to live for now. I’m happy now.” His daughter, Lanaya, is two years old.

“You see me downtown, I was smilin’ right? It’s cool.”

At Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco, Steve Jobs introduced a brand-new iPhone: the iPhone 3G.

Features include:

• 3G speed ( 3x faster internet connection)

• Built-in GPS (with live tracking, no turn by turn)

• Thinner design

• Cheaper ($199 for 8GB, $299 for 16GB)

• Microsoft Exchange support (push e-mail, contacts, etc. with ActiveSync)

• Available July 11

Jobs also introduced MobileMe, a service that syncs any change you make on one device with all your other devices. For example, if you change a contact or a calendar date on your iPhone, that change will be immediately reflected on your two other laptops.

Finally, Jobs said that they will be showing some new features of 10.6 Snow Leopard, a new version of Apple’s operating system that is in the works. Developers will get a peak later today at WWDC.

Personally, I think the new iPhone looks pretty slick. However, I was hoping there would be some more significant features than just 3G and GPS. If you are as nerdy as me, you know that the internet predicted those features in the next iPhone long ago. Will the new iPhone cause me to purchase a new one right away? Probably not. Will it help Apple sell more iPhones? With the cheaper price, definitely.

[image via Apple]