By Andrew Slade, News Editor -

Among college students nationwide, the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) of 21 is perhaps the law most frequently broken. According to internal studies at Boston College, just 25 percent of incoming freshmen describe themselves as non-drinkers. While some point to numbers like these as evidence that current drinking laws are ineffective and drive students to drink behind closed doors, others argue that lowering the MLDA would lead to adolescents beginning to drink at younger ages. Continue Reading

By Robert Rossi, Assoc. Culture Editor -

Have you ever seen American Pie? Yes? Then you’ve also seen at least a third of She’s Out Of My League, the feature-length directorial debut of Jim Field Smith. Like American Pie, most of the film’s cast members will neither be household names nor recognizable faces to most audiences. The writers, likewise, lack much star power (unless you stayed through the credits of Sex Drive, you’ve probably never heard of Sean Anders or John Morris). The key difference between She’s Out Of My League and American Pie is that the former is, well, not that funny.

She’s Out Of My League centers on Kirk Kettner (Jay Baruchel), a security guard at Pittsburgh International Airport (why Pittsburgh? It’s cheap to film there). As you could probably deduce from the film’s trailer, poster, or even title, Kirk is not cool, smart, or attractive. He’s awkward, timid, and scrawny; he’s basically Jim from American Pie. He broke up with his girlfriend two years before the film’s start, but still wants to get back together with her. She treats him like crap, but he tells his friends that he “doesn’t think there’s anything better out there.” Of course, his outlook does a 180 when he meets a “10” at a security gate at the airport, and she inexplicably takes an interest in him.

The audience is supposed to think that Molly McCall (Alice Eve) is the perfect woman. She’s sexy, she’s smart, she’s nice to everybody, and she makes a ton of money. The characters all think so. After Kirk and Molly meet, scenes basically alternate between the couple’s dates and Kirk sitting around with his friends listening to them explain why she’s too hot for him. But this plot structure tanks the film for a whole load of reasons.

First of all, Molly lacks any sort of personality whatsoever. I don’t care how hot she is. I was not attracted to her because she is one of the most boring people I’ve encountered on the screen or in real life. Which brings me to the next problem with the movie: its attitude towards women. Whenever Molly enters a room, all the male characters lose self-control. Half the film’s jokes are simply guys’ reactions to her looks. Multiple times, the men in relationships even go as far as to insult their own wives or girlfriends, right in front of them, when comparing their looks to Molly’s. The guys all tell Kirk that he can’t ever let his relationship with Molly die, but only because she’s so much hotter than any other girl he could ever get. Sure, the film tries to tell the audience to love somebody for who they are, not what they look like. But the message is only aimed at girls.  The film seems to say that guys should go for the hottest girl they can get, regardless of personality (or lack thereof).

She’s Out Of My League fails because it is a chick flick that you would never bring a girl to. She’ll think you’re only interested in her because of how she looks, and maybe even start projecting some type of self-esteem issues onto you that you don’t have. Also, besides Burachel (who has proven his worth as an actor in Million Dollar Baby and as a comedian in Knocked Up and Tropic Thunder), none of the actors or their characters is very funny or likeable. Special recognition goes to Stainer (TJ Miller), who is some sort of terrible, obnoxious mix of Will Ferrell and Stifler, and Patty (Krysten Ritter) who I guess is supposed to be funny because she is very angry and curses a lot even though she is a woman. Her best line is when she tells someone to leave some feces in her hand, only instead of saying “leave some feces,” get this, she uses a four-letter word that starts with “s.”  That’s about as clever as this movie gets.

There is a scene in She’s Out Of My League where Kirk and Molly are getting a bit intimate, but Kirk gets a bit too excited and the fun ends prematurely. His friends rip on him about it for the next ten minutes of the film. What the filmmakers don’t quite understand is that when you use a cliched joke, you have to make it funnier and more elaborate in order for it to be justified. I don’t want to say that this movie was neither funny nor elaborate, because I did laugh out loud exactly one time. The film cuts from the end of one scene (I won’t say which or it would ruin the surprise) to Kirk spilling coffee on his shirt and reacting only with a halfhearted “Goddamnit!” I was caught so off guard that I couldn’t help but laugh. If Smith, Anders, and Morris understood that unpredictability is key for humor, they would have made a genuinely funny film. Unfortunately, they did not, and when the credits rolled, I could not help but feel the same disappointment as Kirk with his spilled coffee. This movie could have been something good, but instead it was just a waste. 4.0/10

By Karen Kovaka, Gavel Columnist -

“I see you.”

That’s my favorite line from Avatar. Sure, as I think about it now, a couple weeks after seeing the movie, it seems a little corny.

But more important than my retrospective analysis is my first reaction to “I see you” — the reaction I had while I was still immersed in the reality created by Avatar.

Continue Reading

By Robert Rossi, Assoc. Culture Editor -

Damon Albarn just might be the most underappreciated pop musician in the United States. Everyone who’s ever been to a sporting event and/or turned on a radio knows the guy’s music, but I’d bet my Blur album collection that if you ask the next four people you see to tell you why I’d start a review of a Gorillaz CD with his name, at least three wouldn’t know. Damon Albarn, for the uninformed, is the lead singer of the Britpop band Blur (of “Song 2” AKA “Woohoo!” fame) and the musical mastermind behind, you guessed it, Gorillaz.

Gorillaz is a collaboration between Albarn, comic book artist/designer Jamie Hewlett, and whatever guest musicians Albarn invites into the recording studio for each track. The band’s listed members are 2D (vocals and keyboard), Murdoc Niccals (bass), Russel Hobbs (drums), and Noodle (guitar and vocals), but really Albarn is doing all the work except for the drums, which are typically outsourced to a machine, and the countless guest appearances. The band has a long and intricate back story that can be found on their web site and is very entertaining for anyone looking for distractions from their English essay (www.Gorillaz.com), but none of it is really necessary for appreciating the music.

Plastic Beach is somewhat of a concept album about the environment, but you wouldn’t know it without having the lyrics printed in front of you or reading it somewhere else because Albarn’s lyrics are, for the most part, unintelligible. Ignorance of the subject matter of each song is often bliss, however, as most of these tracks are dance tunes that are so well structured that they can be enjoyed even without understanding whatever eco-message Albarn is trying to send.

The album starts off with an orchestral intro, followed by a “welcome to the plastic beach” from my personal favorite guest artist on the album, solely because his appearance is so unexpected. If you haven’t already looked at the track listing, don’t ruin the surprise. “White Flag” follows, and serves as the first full-fledged song on the album. It definitely sounds as though it belongs on the beach, melding a Mario Kart-ish beat with Jamaican-accented raps. The presence of the Lebanese National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music would therefore seem strange, but trust me, it’s not. That being said, the track is uninspired by Albarn’s standards.

Plastic Beach hits its stride with tracks four and five. Fans of “19-2000” and “DARE” will definitely love “Rhinestone Eyes”, a synth-driven love song that you need to dance to for your own well-being. The main synth line grabs your head and shakes it until the rest of your body follows suit. Props go to Albarn as well for the great imagery in the title. “Rhinestone Eyes” battles it out with the next song, “Stylo”, for best track on the album. What “Rhinestone” is to dancing, “Stylo” is to swagger. The bass line is violently direct and the synths are icy metallic cool. The vocals tattoo the word “overload” onto the brain, and if this is the last song you listen to before turning off your iPod, good luck getting it out of your head. Even though it isn’t included with purchase of the CD, the “Stylo” video, starring Bruce Willis, may be the best of 2010 so far.

The rest of the album can for the most part be divided into songs resembling “White Flag,” “Rhinestone Eyes,” or “Stylo.” Those in the vein of “White Flag”, while not necessarily as suited to a Nintendo game, are bouncy, energetic and cheery. The next two slated singles (“Stylo” being the first) both fall into this category. They are the less-than-spectacular “Superfast Jellyfish” and the ironically-smile-inducing “On Melancholy Hill.” “Empire Ants,” superior to both forthcoming singles, most nearly matches the danceability of “Rhinestone Eyes,” while still capturing some of the swagger of “Stylo.”

“Sweepstakes” deserves special mention. It features Mos Def flowing over a beat made up of beeps and bloops, only to be joined halfway through by the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, completely altering the feel of the track and building to a satisfying, if somewhat bizarre climax. Next is the title track, the last great track on the album. “Plastic Beach” features Mick Jones and Paul Simonon of seminal British punk band The Clash (one of whom, Simonon, worked with Albarn on The Good, The Bad & The Queen). Don’t expect a foray into distorted guitars and fast drums, as “Plastic Beach” continues the dance grooves put forth on the first twelve tracks.

Sadly, Plastic Beach loses steam on the last three tracks. “To Binge” sounds like something that was left off Blur’s Parklife back in 1994, and “Cloud of Unknowing” is a bit of a snoozer; some may find it beautiful, I didn’t. “Pirate Jet” has the potential to be a great track, but it ends too soon, ending the album on a bit of an anticlimactic note. Regardless, the album as a whole still stands as a diverse, satisfying, and noteworthy disc. It is not Albarn’s finest (that would be either Parklife or Demon Days), but it still deserves to garner him the American attention that he probably won’t get. 8.0/10

Column by Lorna Greene, Gavel Writer -

I left school uniforms behind the day I graduated from my Catholic secondary school. I hoped I would never have to come across one again, unless I happened to pass children on their way home from school. Imagine my surprise when I arrived on Boston College’s campus only to soon realize that I had once again been thrown back into the world of the school uniform. Continue Reading

By Andrew Schofield, Special Projects Editor -

Every year, the Oscars celebrate accomplishments in film. While it’s great to be even nomnated, it’s even better to win. The following are the films and actors The Gavel believes should take home the trophy:

Best Picture

Nominees: Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglorious Basterds, Precious, A Serious Man, Up, Up in the Air

Our Pick: The Hurt Locker

In the largest field of Best Picture nominees in recent memory, The Hurt Locker sepa¬rates itself from the rest of the pack as the best film of the year with its stunning storyline and great script. The Hurt Locker, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, tells the story of a US Army bomb squad and its trials during the Iraq War. With strong performances by Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie, the film illustrates the full impact of the Iraq War on the American solider. Up in the Air and Inglorious Basterds deserve honorable mentions, but in the end, The Hurt Locker wins out.

Best Actor

Nominees: Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), George Clooney (Up in the Air), Colin Firth (A Single Man), Morgan Freeman(Invictus), Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker)

Our Pick: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart

Jeff Bridges has been nominated five times for an Academy Award, yet has zero Oscars to show for it. His role in Crazy Heart gives him his best chance so far for the honor. In the film, based on a novel by Thomas Cobb, Jeff Bridges plays Bad Blake, a down-and-out country singer who tries to turn his life around after meeting a young journalist (Maggie Gyllenhall). Jeff Bridges shines in his role, which is based on a combination of several country singers including Merle Haggard. Honorable mention goes out to George Clooney for his striking portrayal of a corporate downsizer.

Best Actress

Nominees: Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side), Helen Mirren (The Last Station), Carey Mulligan (An Education), Gabourey Sidibe (Precious), Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia)

Our Pick: Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

Having been nominated a record sixteen times and having won two Oscars earlier in her career, Meryl Streep is no stranger to the Academy Award limelight. Julia & Julia contrasts the life of Julia Child and her rise to stardom, and the life of Julie Powell and her attempt to cook all 524 recipes from Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Meryl Streep shines as Julia Child, balancing the hilarious, yet dramatic portions of Child’s life as portrayed in the film. Honorable mention goes to Sandra Bullock who impressed with her role as Leigh Anne Tuohy in The Blind Side, which follows the turbulent life of football star Michael Oher and his relationship with the Tuohy family.

Best Director

Nominees: Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker), James Cameron (Avatar), Lee Daniels (Precious), Jason Reitman (Up in the Air), Quentin Tarantino (Inglorious Basterds)

Our Pick: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

Historically, Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director tend to be given together and don’t expect that trend to be broken here. As one of only four women to ever be nominated for Best Director by the Academy, Kathryn Bigelow could potentially become the first woman to ever win the highest individual prize for a director. Described by New York Times’s film critic A.O. Scott as the best American film on the war in Iraq yet, The Hurt Locker benefits from Bigelow’s fantastic direction as the story flows seamlessly and clearly. Surprisingly enough, her main competition may be from her ex-husband, James Cameron, director of the box office hit Avatar, who is looking to follow up on his success at the Golden Globes where he won Best Director and Best Picture. However, despite the success of Avatar at the box office, no director is more deserving of the Oscar than Kathryn Bigelow.

By Blair Thill, Gavel Blogger – (Photo courtesy of fanpop.com)

This week in pop culture, as always, there were hits and misses. What was strange, however, was the idea that many of the same players or circumstances showed up in both categories. It was as if people saw how Sandra Bullock could possibly win a Razzie and Oscar in the same year and thought, “Wow. I should do that in one week!” Here are the specific examples to illustrate my abstract point:

Robert Pattinson’s Publicity Tour

I have no clue what to expect from RPatz’s new movie, Remember Me, other than the knowledge that he and costar Emilie DeRavin may or may not have dated because of their intense chemistry and that the Twilight hunk may or may not be half-naked at some point during the film. Why is this? Oh yeah, it’s because Pattinson has done nothing but giggle like a little school girl during his talk show interviews.

“What’s it like to be an international sex symbol, Robert?” Giggles. “What was it like to try and break out of your role as a sexy vampire?” Chuckles. “Why are you unable to answer any questions without laughing?” Chortles. This was the case for almost every single interview, and none worse than Rob’s visit to The Daily Show. Watch the show on Hulu (before Viacom removes Jon Stewart’s work from the World Wide Web, that is) and try to prove me wrong. I’ll save you the trouble, you can’t.

HOWEVER, Pattinson showed the world, for once, that he doesn’t take himself too seriously with a stellar turn on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Jimmy has an inane yet hilarious bit that involves him being Robert Pattinson (complete with crazy hair piece), sitting in a tree, and complaining about fame. The real life Edward Cullen joined in on the fun by getting up in a tree with his impersonator. The result? An instant classic Late Night moment:

(http://www.hulu.com/watch/131346/late-night-with-jimmy-fallon-robert-pattinson-is-double-bothered)

Parenthood Casting

If you’ve read this blog before, it shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone that I was majorly excited about the debut of Parenthood Tuesday night on NBC, and the resulting return of Lauren Graham to primetime. Let me tell you, she did not disappoint. Graham brought the same wit and charm to the NBC skein as she did to Gilmore Girls, only this time she’s adding a layer of complex emotions relating to her character’s general penchant for screwing up. Just as Death Cab for Cutie originally purported, I will follow Graham into the dark. (Photo courtesy of zap2it.com)

Luckily enough, I’ll also get to watch the brilliant Peter Krause in the dark of Parenthood. The Six Feet Under alum was woefully miscast in the ABC dud Dirty Sexy Money after his star-making turn in the HBO series, so it is a relief seeing him stretch his acting chops around the role of a father dealing with a son that isn’t just eccentric, but probably suffering from Asperger’s Syndrome. He and Monica Potter will tug your heart strings as they try to wrap their brain around the impossibilities of their son’s condition.

HOWEVER, why, oh why, did the casting team of Parenthood decide it was a great idea to round out the Braverman siblings with … wait for it … Dax Shepard. Dax Shepard. Really? The guy who got his start in Ashton Kutcher’s Punk’d? The guy who played Amy Poehler’s hick husband in Baby Mama? I’m not sure how it happened, but I’m fairly confident it shouldn’t have.

Spring Rom-com Trailers

Summertime is blockbuster season, autumn is the time for Oscar contenders, and spring is … a dumping ground for bad romantic comedies. Good romantic comedies are hard to come by these days, but this spring seems to have brought an inordinate amount of duds. Leap Year with Amy Adams? Epic critical and box office failure. Valentine’s Day? Marketing genius brought a sizable holiday profit, but critics blasted the 840 big-named celebrities who signed on to the project to receive a big pay-day for 10 minutes of work.

The next projected bomb, at least by Blair standards, judging solely on the trailer? The Bounty Hunter, starring Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler. Why does Jennifer continue to do these movies? Did The Break Up teach her nothing? Did the success of Marley and Me teach her nothing? And don’t even get me started on Butler’s chosen follow-up to the disaster that was The Ugly Truth. His film choices seem to scream that he’s the good-looking actor version of Geico’s Caveman commercials.

HOWEVER, a possible sleeper rom-com hit could come out of J Lo’s return to film in The Back-up Plan, co-starring TV poison but all-around Australian cutie Alex O’Loughlin. If J Lo’s above average turn on SNL taught us anything, it’s that she’s itching for a comeback. Could this be the movie? Decide for yourself, but I know I laughed at least once during this trailer:

By Andrew Slade, News Editor -

For many college students with Facebook profiles, recent weeks have brought a new and unfamiliar sort of information into news feeds. This is the result of the virally popular Web site www.formspring.me, which allows users to create question boxes in which site visitors can anonymously post questions directed at the page’s owner. The owner may then opt to either answer or ignore the questions with which they are presented. Should they choose the former, the question and answer will appear below the question box for all to see.

In browsing the FormSprings of friends, one is likely to come upon assurances from the page creators that they know the concept is a bit odd and borderline creepy, but that it is a new and intriguing way to waste time through Facebook or other social networking Web sites. FormSpring has set up its site so that users are able to link their question pages to their Facebook accounts and have their responses automatically shared with friends through status updates. This is in addition to users’ manually posted statuses that often state something to the effect of, “formspring.me … ask me anything!!!”

By connecting their Web site to Facebook without simply making themselves another application, FormSpring seems to have latched onto the all too common concept of “Facebook stalking,” positioning itself well for expansion of its user base.

The general idea of anonymous correspondence, however, is not entirely new to Facebook. Formspring.me expands upon the idea of Honesty Box, a well-established application that allows one to send others with the Honesty Box app secret questions or com¬ments, and this application has nearly 2.5 million monthly active users. What sets FormSpring apart is the idea of allowing anyone to see the dialogue — albeit partially the work of an unknown party — between the two others involved, and that one not need have a Facebook account to use the site.

On whether the site concept is too invasive to prompt most people to create FormSprings, the jury is out. “I think it’s cool, but I would never do it. I just read other people’s answers,” Khushboo Pelia, A&S ’13, says.

Laura Ahn, LSOE ’13, says that the site has potential, but that people aren’t necessarily using it the right way.

“My friends have it, and some use it to make comments as a joke,” Ahn says. “I like the concept, but I wouldn’t make one given how I’ve seen it used.”

Nicholas Schaufelberger -

For the past few months, we have watched Democrats and Republicans duke it out on Capitol Hill over the biggest political question of the year: health care reform. Continue Reading

By Lauren Costello, Gavel Writer -

Imagine living under a roof occupied by a soldier 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This soldier stands idly by as your house is attacked, as the steel rods over your windows are hit with large rocks, trash is thrown into your yard, and even when your house is invaded by illegal settlers who believe that God is on their side. Imagine this soldier intimidating visitors, listening in with his machine gun clearly visible and reporting their conversations.

This is exactly what life is like for the Palestinian family that I met in the contested city of Hebron/Al Khalil in the occupied West Bank. I was among a group of Boston College students that visited the area at the beginning of January. I was shocked and disturbed by the horrendous conditions in which Palestinians are forced to live.

No amount of reading in class could have prepared me for the experience of going through a checkpoint in the West Bank, for hearing anti-Arab racism casually, unselfconsciously expressed, or for seeing the daily injustices of life in “the world’s largest open air prison,” as one woman described her society.

One night we were abruptly awakened by an Israeli soldier yelling outside, demanding that the family car be moved to accomadate road closings. Seeing the silent exasperation on their faces quickly let me know that this was just another inconvenience that they had to accept.

Before my trip, I could have explained to you the history of the conflict and how the map of Palestine has been steadily decreasing since 1967 due to the checkpoints and the separation wall. I would have been able to argue which sociological framing of the conflict (apartheid, sociocide) made the most sense to me, and I could have made a convincing argument as to why I believe a one-state solution is the only just possibility for the region at this point. While this ‘conflict’ may appear to be a war between people – a war shaped by different religious and cultural beliefs – it is actually about power and control shaped by political interests that use racist ideology to breed hatred among its citizens.

Imagine, however, what it’s like to be a Palestinian child walking to school daily past graffiti that says: “What’s the difference between an Arab and a trampoline? You take off your shoes to jump on a tram¬poline.” Additionally, less than five minutes away a Palestinian market functions as usual, except for the steel mesh overhead designed to protect shoppers from the bricks, trash and sewage-filled plastic bags that Israeli settlers throw down on the market.

I could not have foreseen what we would learn during our home¬stays in the Dheisheh refugee camp in the holy city of Bethlehem. We met families who could not feed their children and had lived in Dheisheh for three generations but still managed to hope that one day their lives would be different.

In my host family, the parents now have two different identification cards, and the father will not be able to see the birth of his third child because he is banned from entering Jerusalem to go to the hospital ten minutes away from his house.

Along with the horror, we also saw enterprise and hope embodied in the Palestinian Fair Trade As¬sociation that brings organic olive oil to a Whole Foods near you. We saw the amazing persistence of a Prisoners’ Rights NGO (Adda¬meer) that continues to fight injustice despite the fact that they are working within a prejudiced court system and 70 percent of Palestinian men will spend time in jail.

Mostly, there is an incredible gallantry of daily non-violent resistance. The attempt to live an ordinary Palestinian life amid the checkpoints, land seizures, road closures, and daily insults is truly admirable. While Palestinians nev¬er get used to the daily assaults on their lives, large or small, they meet these difficulties with “sumud.” This means a mix of forbearance and steadfastness that my host family explained in this way: “You have to just do it and move on with your day, because if you let it get to you all the time, you’d go insane. You can’t stop living.”

In some ways our trip can be viewed much like every other service or immersion trip; we saw poverty, resilience, and the requi¬site number of cute, photogenic children. And like most service trips, we are now challenging ourselves to find ways to put our knowledge and our experience to work in service to the world.

This trip is distinguished by the fact that the injustices we saw were not produced by a natural disaster or the slowly unfolding consequences of our capitalist system. The gross injustice we witnessed is produced by an illegal occupation that is crucially supported by American foreign aid, your tax dollars and mine.

We also found that as Americans of conscience, we have strong partners in both Palestine and Israel. A broad array of Palestinian organizations (representing rural and urban, secular and religious groups, academics, professionals, craftspeople, folks in the West Bank, Gaza and the refugee camps of the diaspora) invite us to join with them in a program of boycotts, sanctions and divestments against Israel that would impose non-violent but real costs on the illegal occupation (with the full support and encouragement of Israeli NGOs and human rights organizations, such as Who Profits and Zochrot). We all left Palestine with a clear message: time is running out, and this issue could not be more urgent. The question now is this: how do we, at BC, take up this call to action?