“UNH students sound off on president Steven Kaplan’s support of the Amethyst Initiative.”

Check out “The Kids Are Alright” in today’s copy of the New Haven Advocate!

Read the article online here! http://www.newhavenadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=9394

LOS ANGELES–Playboy model and one of Hugh Hefner’s live-in girlfriends, Kendra Wilkinson, has recently stirred up trouble by declaring her fondness for the Olive Garden restaurant. Whether it be on her MySpace page or on her reality TV series, The Girls Next Door, Wilkinson openly boasts about her love for Olive Garden delicacies such as the breadsticks and chicken parmesan.

The Olive Garden marketers, however, are not pleased with the free publicity. The family-friendly chain feels that Wilkinson’s controversial lifestyle is contradictory to the values the restaurant continually strives to embody.

Wilkinson’s admiration for the Olive Garden extends far beyond the good food and familial atmosphere. She has currently embarked on a search for the sexiest Olive Garden employees. Wilkinson reasons that the people working at these establishments are “usually really hot.”

In an attempt to distance themselves from the problem, Olive Garden officials have declined the invitation to discuss their unwanted spokesperson. However, the restaurant’s lack of attention has done little to dissuade the playboy bunny from speaking her mind. Wilkinson claims that unless the Olive Garden pays her to stop saying she loves the restaurant, she has no intention of withholding her opinion.

SOUTH EASTON, Mass.–The University of New Haven women’s soccer team has been picked to finish sixth in their first-ever Northeast-10 Conference Preseason Coaches’ Poll.

The Chargers finished with 128 points, just 13 points out of fifth place. The women’s soccer team finished last season 12-7-2 overall and 8-2-0 in the East Coast Conference. Franklin Pierce headlined the women’s soccer preseason poll with 218 points and eight first-place votes, one more then the College of Saint Rose.

“I think the Northeast-10 is the best women’s soccer conference in the country,” said head women’s soccer coach Brendan Faherty. “We’re excited to be a member and placing sixth in the preseason poll is very respectful to the program.”

The Charger women’s soccer team opens their NE-10 schedule on Tuesday, Sept. 9 against the preseason fifth-ranked Saint Anselm at 4 p.m. on Kayo Field.

The Chargers start their schedule officially on Thursday, Aug. 28 at home against non-conference opponent Adelphi at 4 p.m.

For a full NE-10 Women’s Soccer Preseason Coaches’ Poll log on to www.northeast10.org.

SOUTH EASTON, Mass.–The University of New Haven women’s volleyball team has been picked to finish second according to the 2008 Northeast-10 Conference Preseason Coaches’ Poll.

The Chargers, who lost in the East Coast Conference (ECC) Championship game last year, finished with 201 total points, 20 behind preseason favorites Bentley. The Chargers received two first-place votes, while the Falcons received 12 first-place votes.

UNH enters their first season as a member of the Northeast-10, but have regularly played a number of their NE-10 opponents in previous seasons. The Chargers went 9-0 against NE-10 opponents last season, including two four-game victories over the preseason favorite Falcons.
“We’re excited to begin our inaugural season in the Northeast-10,” said head women’s volleyball coach Robin Salters.

The Chargers first NE-10 match comes on Wednesday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. when they travel to Southern New Hampshire. The chargers open their NE-10 home schedule on Friday Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. against Le Moyne.

The volleyball team will open their regular season with a trip to the Bentley College Invitational from Sept. 5-6. The team opens their home schedule at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 10 when they host Post University.

What was probably the biggest sports story over the summer months was the Brett Favre situation. The whole Favre saga in fact started on Mar. 4 when Favre announced his retirement.

A very emotional Favre gave a press conference and through many tears announced he was done playing in the NFL. There were however some people that believed that Favre was not really done and that he would have a change of heart and be back playing by the time the first kickoff had begun to start the new NFL season. What got some people to believe this is that Favre said himself that he had been willing to play another year, but he felt that another season would only be successful if he led his team to another Super Bowl victory. Favre said the chances of that happening were very small. 

Close to four months later on July 2, Favre made contact with the Packers regarding a possible return to Green Bay. The Packers had informed Favre that they were ready to move on without Favre and give long time backup quarterback Aaron Rodgers a shot at starting. The Packers said if Favre would like he could come back, but he would not be guaranteed the starting role. He would have to compete for the job against Aaron Rodgers.

Many fans in Green Bay felt this was a slap in the face to the Packer legend. On July 11 Favre contacted the Packers asking for his release from the Packers so he could go play for another franchise.

On July 15, in an interview with Fox News, Favre said he did in fact have intentions of playing in the NFL in 2008. On July 29, Favre officially filed for reinstatement with the NFL. The petition was granted by Commissioner Rodger Goodell which would become effective as of Aug. 4. Favre then went to the Green Bay Packers training camp where he held a meeting with Packers head coach Mike McCarthy and Packers general manager Ted Thompson. All three came to an agreement that it was time for Favre to move on to another team. After talks with both the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New York Jets, the Packers traded Favre to the Jets on Aug. 7.
Favre will now come into the 2008 season still wearing green, but for a different NFL franchise. It still remains unclear how well Favre will do in an offensive system under the bright lights of New York.

NEW HAVEN–Who knew that freshman orientation would foster not only a friendship but a band headed for success? University of New Haven junior Graham Hartmann and former student Miguel Alexandro Jones von Schroeder II surely didn’t expect that their experiences at SOAR would lead to bigger things. Now, as their band Diseased Princess looks forward to a string of shows, SOAR has proved to do much more than intended.

When Hartmann (lead vocals/guitar) and von Schroeder (backup vocals/guitar) teamed up with Rob “The Janitor” Trieschmann (backup vocals/bass) and Washington D.C. native Yancey Guthrie (drums), Diseased Princess became complete. Guthrie joined the group after the band’s former drummer dropped out right before a tour by deleting himself from the band’s MySpace and Facebook accounts. Luckily, the switch turned out to be the best move.

“Yancey fits in great and there’s a very good creative energy between us,” Hartmann said.
All four members combine their influences from a wide spectrum from The Ramones and Modest Mouse to folk music and organ music at hockey games. Due to the variety of influences, it is hard to categorize the band’s sound.

“We’ve been changing a lot lately but the core of [our music] is free-form punk,” Hartmann said, “We’re experimenting with a lot of noise.”

Experimenting seems to work for Diseased Princess. The band’s rap song “Asian Girl Tongue Ring” blew up with hits in their MySpace page. They also plan on recording a full-length album, which will have a “dueling realities theme.”

“I want it to feel like the line between fantasy and reality is very thin,” said Hartmann, “like a horror movie.”

Before they think about recording that album, Diseased Princess needs to make it through a busy month of shows. They are performing at The Space in Hamden on Sept. 18 and then they are celebrating Hartmann’s 21st birthday with a show at the Amity Teen Center on Sept. 26. The next day, they are headed to Club 645 in South Windsor to support the Murder Junkies with The AIDS.

“It’s going to be a bang-up of a time,” said Trieschmann.

The band just recently performed in Wallingford, at their “best show ever” and at the 1Loud Street Live Music Festival in Southbridge, Mass. The festival was sponsored by Ground Control, a drunk driving prevention campaign. Diseased Princess was one of over 40 bands that helped support the cause while playing great music.

With such a busy schedule, it’s clear that Diseased Princess is bound to find more great opportunities.

“We want to reach the kids,” said Hartmann.

To learn more about the band, check out their MySpace at www.myspace.com/diseasedprincess.

To all the avid readers of the Charger Bulletin, I welcome you back to another exciting year here at the University of New Haven! In addition, a special welcome to the hordes of new freshman on campus, may the next fours years be fun-filled.

Anyway, back to the important matter at hand: the movies! As most of you know, the film industry continues to make movies throughout the year. If you didn’t know that, please remove your head from the hole in the ground and pay attention! Most of you know that the movies that were presented to us this summer were, well…awesome. As a self-proclaimed nerd, you would know it if you knew me, I have the need (nay, the right!) to put my two cents in on the summer movie titles. Especially because a lot of them were right up my alley!

As we all know, Hollywood was smitten with the superhero/comic movie concept this summer. It seems like an up-and-coming fad as well, with multiple flicks in the making relating around comic book superheroes. For the most part, DC Comics, the makers of Superman and Batman, have been the creators of the typical juggernaght movies in this field. However, Marvel Comics, those that made Spiderman and the Fantastic Four, truly took the field in most respects.

Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk were great films. Both Robert Downey Jr. and Edward Norton’s respective performances were very well done. Norton, who seems to be great in every film he’s involved with, scored big points with his handling as Bruce, the man behind the big green mean. Meanwhile Downey took the Tony Stark character to another level…being the best man for that job by far, easily bringing the character to life. The action in both movies was spectacular, and the multiple references to Nick Fury and the Avengers really excite those who understand the true comic book origins…like me.

Other comic book movies like Hellboy 2 and Wanted (didn’t know it was based off a comic did you?) also did well. I never saw the original Hellboy, so the majority of this film was spent making jokes about innuendos and other possibly “that’s what she said” moments. Although I will give it the fact the graphics and CGI were amazing…it seemed a little too Pan’s Labrynth-ey.

Wanted was fun and action-packed, but seemed at a lot of points repetitive. Again, the CGI and bullet effects were stunning, but some of the sequences were long and some points of the movie seemed like it was trying too hard to grab your attention.

Another superhero movie that seemed like a surefire hit was Hancock. Will Smith performed well once again in a role we normally aren’t used to seeing in him: a boozed-up immortal superhero…right. Either way, it was funny, but not nearly as humorous as I thought it would be. It also had some good action scenes and tense moments. All in all a decent movie, it just might not win an Oscar this year.

Did you think I forgot about it? You did, didn’t you! Why so serious? Ok, I’m going to admit…I had been waiting for The Dark Knight since I saw the Joker’s card at the end of Batman Begins. By far, Christopher Nolan has done it again, and DK is easily the best movie of the summer…in sales, in acting (despite batman’s serious case of a hoarse throat), and in action. Besides all that, it almost perfectly followed the comic line, and brought the Batman franchise back to its darker roots. I’m sorry, but the upbeat George Clooney/Adam West Batmans are hopefully a thing of the past. With that said…Heath Ledger was freaking amazing! He kept us guessing and played the part perfectly. You can disagree, but I swear I will find you and pencil trick you…yeah that pencil trick. Don’t be messing with this Joker. Ledger’s performance was funny, real, and scary as hell. He should be winning an Oscar this year, and it is truly a tragedy to have lost such a true talent.

Indiana Jones holds a special place in my heart, as does the entire Star Wars chapter. George Lucas, in his infinite wisdom, has created both an Indy and a Star Wars flick for the summer season, and both were disappointing on various levels. Don’t get me wrong, I watched them multiple times, but they still lacked some of the magic the old ones had.
Indiana Jones had some great action, and Harrison Ford can still really play the part well, and the flip to Russian bad guys in the 1950s worked out well. However, Shia Labeouf, in my opinion, ruined that movie. There were multiple parts where his mannerisms and acting seemed very similar to Transformers, and I was really hoping for something more from him. Either way, the movie played on classic jokes, and created some great new touches to the Indiana Jones legacy.

For the legacy of the stories from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…more disappointment followed. The thing that really made me dislike this movie a bit was the unorthodox way of going about the introduction, and the changing of all the character’s voices. Almost none of the voices for the major characters are from Episodes I, II, and III, but are from the new animated series coming out. While the action scenes were fun and the battles are always exciting, The Clone Wars left much to be desired.

Disney and Pixar always put out the quality movies that are fun for all ages. They did it again with Wall-E. Despite having literally less than 20 minutes of human dialogue in the movie, I loved every second of it, from Wall-E’s hum as he made garbage cubes to the noise of a Mac booting up when he recharges his solar batteries. I think the best part of the movie was the big issues it brought forth, without putting them in to your face. The issues of our over dependence on technology, how we are destroying the planet, and our ever-increasing sedentary lifestyle, are all big selling points, and they really hit home. All in all, this movie is something that is getting bought on DVD when it comes out, because it is sure to be another classic.

Those are all the movies I have deemed worthy of you to see this summer, with the exception of the Mummy sequel and Death Race. Have a great first week back!

With all of the political ho-humming going around (is that a real phrase!?), it can sometimes be hard to determine what the plans of various presidential candidates precisely entail.

Because I’m an Obama fan, I’m going to be going over a small chunk of Obama’s energy policy. But I do want to make the point that on John McCain’s website, his energy policy is defined by six primary goals: expand domestic oil, break dependency on foreign oil, invest in alternative sources of energy, protect our environment, promote energy efficiency, and address speculative pricing of oil. Very oily goals; I feel like we need to get him some Neutrogena!

Barack Obama’s plan, however, entails providing relief to American families facing pain at the pump. Additionally, he plans to create five million new jobs by investing in a clean energy future, work on saving oil so that there will be more oil in reservations than the amount we currently import from the Middle East, put one million cars on the road that can get up to 150 miles per gallon (in the next seven years!), ensure 10% of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050. Yes, let me spell that out for you. Eighty percent.

Obama recently suggested a tiny way that Americans could help with energy costs: be sure that your tires are inflated! Sounds simply effective enough, huh? John McCain didn’t think so, and immediately attacked that suggestion.

“Unfortunately, Senator Obama continues to oppose offshore drilling. He continues to oppose the use of nuclear power. These misguided policies would result in higher energy costs to American families and businesses and increase dependence on foreign oil. We’re not gonna achieve energy independence by inflating our tires.”

That may not seem like anything at first, until you see what NASCAR had to say about tire pressure: “[...] the time is now for drivers to focus on simple things like proper tire pressure to maximize tire performance and increase fuel economy.”

But wait, there’s more!

The U.S. Department of Energy issued a statement saying, “Keep tires properly inflated and aligned to improve your gasoline mileage by around 3.3%.”

That’s right; the United States’ very own Department of Energy agrees with Barack Obama.
Also according to the Department of Energy, keeping your tires properly inflated can save you up to 12 cents per gallon. Compare that, Senator McCain, to immediate savings from your coastal and Arctic National Wildlife Refuge drilling plan: instead of an immediate savings of 12 cents per gallon, you would only get half of that with your plan.

Stop lyin’ and keep tryin’, gramps.

Whether you are a superhero movie fan or not, I think everyone can agree that The Dark Knight was mind-blowingly awesome. But besides the acting, action, deaths, promotion, and comic book history, the film holds a clear theme that has consistently appealed to Americans: the idea of the super hero.

We have always flocked to heroes- those people that will come and save us in a time of need. While there are plenty of different kinds of heroes (from those as simple as parents to those as complicated as martyrs), the comic book superhero has always been one of the most admired. Maybe it’s due to the fact that they are extraordinary: they can only die if their authors want them to, they always show up in the knick of time, and they have powers that no normal human could possess (yes, I understand Batman doesn’t actually have powers, but few human beings could do what he does and live to tell about it).

The marriage between superheroes and cinema was a match made in heaven. Both rescue us- superheroes from the bad guys and movies from reality. Once the superheroes are put into movies, they are allowed to rescue us from the bad guys and reality. It’s no surprise then, that this summer has been the summer for superhero movies. Now more than ever, Americans need to be saved from reality- economic crisis, staggering unemployment rates, booming health care costs, a burst in foreclosures, and an important and intense presidential election.

Sure, superhero movies have been around for a while, but this year’s boom stands out against other superhero movies. Spiderman blew up the box office, but it was one of the only superhero movies released at the time.

On the contrary, this summer threatened to destroy the superhero movie industry because seriously, do we really love superheroes enough to go and see four of them during a three-month period? Apparently we do. Iron Man set a high standard, but why wouldn’t it? It was the perfect choice to open out the summer, because Tony Stark is the perfect hero for a troubled America- a rich playboy that doesn’t mind a party.

Hancock had a huge opening weekend due to his flaws. He was a lazy alcoholic that didn’t feel like using his powers for good. Ultimately, most Americans are the same way. We have the ability to be good people, but we often ignore opportunities to help others in order to help ourselves.

Of course, The Incredible Hulk came next and while it wasn’t that incredible at the box office, it still managed to capture a decent audience. The love of the Hulk comes from seeing similarities within ourselves as well- when he gets mad, he turns into a monster. Who doesn’t?

Blowing all of the above out of the water was The Dark Knight (as expected). Superhero factor aside, it was a fabulous film. But it still offered us insight into ourselves. The issues of morality and corruption surround us everyday, and sometimes we feel like it’s our job to fight for morality and against corruption. And ultimately, what attracts us to Batman more than anyone else is the fact that he is the dark knight. He’s not our knight in shining armor (America has grown up enough to know that he doesn’t exist). He’s a rich orphan that doesn’t hide in his depression- instead, he runs around in a black suit almost bragging about it.

Each hero is an individual, despite their similarities. But the ones portrayed in films this year made a trio that clearly illustrated our hard times, insecurities, and inadequacies more than ever. We will have to wait in anticipation for next spring, with the release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine and The Watchmen, and then later for the already-buzzed-about Iron Man and The Dark Knight sequels, to see if our heroes continue to cater to our needs or come to push us away. But for now, heroes can prevail because we all just need to be saved.

Hello, and welcome to UNH! My name is Louis Eswood III and I am your Undergraduate Student Government Association (USGA) President. The USGA is a student run organization designed to allow students to voice issues or concerns regarding the university and have them addressed accordingly. Every undergraduate student is a member of the USGA and is strongly encouraged to attend our meetings held every Tuesday in the Alumni Lounge (located in Bartels Hall) at 1:45pm.

As I mentioned earlier, the USGA is a student-run organization, and like you, I am also a student. This year I will be a senior, studying Fire Science. In the past two years, I have been involved in several different organizations, which represent just a small portion of the clubs/organizations we have here on campus. There are over 50 clubs and organizations on campus, including sororities, fraternities, special interest groups, cultural, professional, and even religious organizations. I can assure you that you will find something on campus that interests you.

The USGA has a budget of over 1.1 million dollars of your money and if you want to have a say in how that money gets spent, I urge you to get involved. Please feel free to stop and say hello if you see me around campus. You can also contact me via e-mail at USGAPresident@newhaven.edu, by phone at x7300, or in my office, which is located on the third floor of Bartel’s Hall.