Derrick Rossignol

Editor in Chief

We’re almost out of the window where it’s acceptable to publish a “best of 2013” list: Well, it’s probably come and gone by now. But I am going to crack it back open so I can highlight 10 of my favorite 2013 releases that may not have made their way to your iTunes. So, in no particular order:

Run The Jewels, “Run The Jewels”

Prior to last year, I had only a tentative interest in hip-hop. Then, something clicked, the floodgates opened and, although I’m still selective about my rap, I fell in love. If it wasn’t for Kanye, this collaborative album by Killer Mike and El-P would have been my favorite rap release of the year. Rapper Killer Mike and producer/rapper El-P have worked together extensively over the past couple years, and Killer Mike makes his admiration for his new go-to producer clear in a fantastic lyric from album highlight “Banana Clipper”: “Producer gave me a beat / said it’s the beat of the year / I said, ‘El-P didn’t do it / so get the f— out of here.’”

R.A. The Rugged Man, “Legends Never Die”

R.A. has been active since the late ’80s, although he’s flown largely under the radar and cannot emphasize that he’s unlike mainstream rappers and stays true to the underground. “Legends Never Die,” his third album since his first in 2004, boasts old-school-inspired beats and clever, funny and rapid-fire lyrics. For example, from lead single “The People’s Champ”: “You other rappers I’m obliterating / My flow is the Michelangelo Sistine Chapel / You ain’t even fingerpainting.”

Dan Croll, various songs

Although he has yet to release a proper album, English newcomer Dan Croll has been making noise: His song “Compliment Your Soul” was featured in the video game “FIFA 14” and a remix of the title track from his debut EP, “From Nowhere,” is on the soundtrack of “Grand Theft Auto V.” The original version of that song and newer single “In/Out” are gorgeous slices of summery, innocent indie pop that hopefully foreshadow a great debut full-length release, which has been recorded and Croll speculates will be out in mid-February.

Toro y Moi, “Anything In Return”

One of the torch-holders of hazy, groove-setting electronic music, Toro y Moi returned with a fantastic effort, headlined by “Rose Quartz,” a psychedelic chill-out that’s as easily to fall asleep to as it is to run a mile to. The music video for the song is also a must-see, made up of what appears to be individually-painted frames of impressionist beauty that’s a nice spin on the traditional show-the-band-performing-the-song video

Omar Souleyman, “Wenu Wenu”

How’s this for a back story: Since 1994, Syria-native Souleyman has been working primarily as a wedding-singer, but had gained enough popularity where bootleg recordings of his performances were widely traded across the country. American indie labels took notice in the 2000s and last year, the first compilation of professionally recorded hits made a splash in certain circles. His music, an modernized version of dabke, a traditional Syrian wedding music, is upbeat, electronic and frenetically kinetic.

Yung Lean, “Unknown Death 2002”

Speaking of oddball releases, here’s another bizarre origin tale: Yung Lean is a 16-year-old Swedish bedroom rapper who rhymes about Arizona Iced Tea, vintage Nintendo games, doing drugs and being sad over beats produced by his friends. The results can be initially off-putting, but if given a chance, are surprisingly addictive, sonically sound and filled with lazy rapping bookended by catchy hooks.

Lady GaGa, “ARTPOP”

This album may seem like it doesn’t belong on a list of obscurities, but it’s included here because while pop singles blow up, it seems like pop albums don’t always get the same attention. GaGa’s singles have always shown that she’s intensely creative, but her albums tracks expand on that point even further. Opening track “Aura” sets that tone early, opening with a Spaghetti Western-inspired intro before exploding into off-kilter pop that will impress readers of both Teen Vogue and Pitchfork.

Nathaniel Noton-Freeman, “Seabirds”

Maine has a strong, well-supported music scene, one of the best parts of which being Noton-Freeman. Most of his work is achingly beautiful instrumental acoustic guitar compositions, but he decided to get a little electric on “Seabirds” and what he ended up with is akin to a more ambient variety of pretty post-rock bands like Explosions in the Sky and Japancakes. A piece of good news for both us and Noton-Freeman is that he is currently working on a new album, which should be released at some point this year.

Julie’s Haircut, “Ashram Equinox”

This group has long been legendary in Italy, earning five-star review after five-star review since their debut in 1999. For the first time on “Ashram Equinox,” Julie’s Haircut decided to go completely instrumental for a psych trip that Roger Waters and David Gilmour would both be proud of.

Hayden, “Us Alone”

Often compared to Neil Young, the Canadian singer came out with “Us Alone” in 2013, a record that could not have been constructed any better. The slow-churned, head-bobbing opener “Motel” sets the tone perfectly for an album where the Young comparisons are often just, most evidently so in “Blurry Nights,” a male/female duet that lifts its grungy guitar sound directly from “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.”

It has come at last. Finals week. For a college student, this can be one of the most trying and stressful times of the year. Day by day the stress mounts and can seem unbearable at times. It is with this stress in mind that the UMaine Counseling Center along with the Touchstone Project have come up with a “brain-spa” to help students relax during finals week and the week leading up to it.
The brain-spa, as it is being called for the time being, is a small quiet space where students can partake in a number of therapies and relaxation techniques designed specifically to ease stress. The spa opened its doors for the first time on Monday, Dec.9, the week before finals. It is currently located in room 120 of the Memorial Union, which is the Touchstone Projects office.
The Touchstone Project is a campus help center that aims to engage students with their surroundings and help them to relax and center themselves. It also serves as an outreach and prevention center for students who are facing extremely difficult situations in their lives, offering counseling and friendship to students who need it most.
Kelly Shaw is the Touchstone resource coordinator and a resident psychologist at the Counseling Center. Her position as a one-on-one counsellor for students as well as being a figurehead of the Touchstone Project have allowed her to see the stress that students undergo firsthand. This is what led her to create the brain-spa.
“The Touchstone brain-spa as we’re calling it is our effort to raise awareness of the fact that this is a very stressful time for students,” Shaw said. “The week of finals and the week leading up to finals can be incredibly stressful so we offer several different ways students can de-stress.”
The brain-spa uses a number of techniques and tools to reduce stress. Therapy lights that simulate the sun’s peaceful rays as well as a biofeedback machine that measures a number of parameters in the body to indicate stress are a couple of the more popular items in the office.
“Many of the things that we have available are things that our clients benefit from,” Shaw said. “We just kind of, amongst our staff [thought of] what are students using, what are they benefitting from and what can we use.”
If you have not heard of the brain-spa, do not worry. The spa underwent a “soft launch” with no advertising of any kind.
“We wanted to just kind of launch it … and just test out what student response would be,” Shaw said. “We didn’t want to have a massive flood of students before we could support that.”
What Shaw and the team at the Counseling Center does next with the spa will be determined by how well received it is during this trail run. If it goes well, Shaw has some ideas for ways she would like to see the program expand.
“What I would like to see happen is that within a couple weeks of the start of next semester we implement regular hours,” Shaw said. “If students ask we can certainly push and ask around to see what other spaces we can take to make this on a bigger scale.
“I think students who are using it are finding it helpful,” Shaw said. “If we get the response that we would like we would definitely be able to alot more staff time to [the brain-spa].”
This is Shaw’s second year in her position at the university. This program represents something she has wanted to contribute since she arrived.
“I’m really excited,” Shaw said. “I came into the year with some long term plans and short term plans with things I wanted to accomplish with this position … This happened a lot faster than I was expecting. I’m just hoping students will take advantage of it.”
The brain spa is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Every day between 12:15 and 12:45 there is a workshop featuring Shaw or one of the other counselors who will be demonstrating different stress relieving techniques.

The University of Maine Police Department has posted an alert on FirstClass regarding two wallet thefts that have occured on campus.

The message in full:

“Friday, Dec. 13, the University of Maine Police Department responded to two reports of theft of wallets on campus — one in Deering Hall  and one in Chadbourne Hall. The wallets were reported stolen from a coat hanging outside a classroom and from a pocketbook in a desk drawer.

Police are looking for a young white male described as between the ages of 18 to 24, closely shaven with dirty blond hair, 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-9-inches tall, wearing blue jeans, white sneakers and a black wool peacoat, and carrying a gray and black backpack. Police request that anyone with information about this suspect call 581-4040 or provide information anonymously through CAMPUS EYES on the UMPD website.

Police advise campus community members to safely secure their belongings. Employees are advised to lock offices when unattended, even for a moment, and to secure valuables in a locked drawer or cabinet.

Police also advise students and staff to be extra-vigilant and to report any suspicious activity, including “casing,” to police by calling 581-4040 or 911.”

The end of the semester arrives with the promise of three stress-free weeks sans schoolwork. After the grueling stress of finals, this is a welcome release. It seems that the ability to simply relax complements the holidays perfectly. But, are borderline Christmas sweet gluttony, marathon shopping trips and seemingly endless “Frosty the Snowman” repeats really the correct spirit of the holiday season?

Consumerism has already been vilified due to Black Friday sales which seem to promote utter boorishness in the service of bargain-shopping, but even this isn’t the real impetus besides the qualms most people have over Christmas. The necessity to find the perfect gift engenders stress amongst many. As a result, foul attitudes, and so does the pressure of throwing the perfect celebration. It seems these things have come to define holiday revelries. But, again, these things are not really what the holiday season is about.

Christmas, by far the most widely celebrated holiday, is foundationally about humanity. Whether or not one believes in Christianity, the holiday exists to celebrate the birth of mankind’s savior. Regardless of an individual’s religious preference, basic human compassion is something that, surely, even the most avid of secularists is something that is essential to civil society.

Department store melees, mass-produced toys and constant repeats of Christmas special have a tendency to strip the humanity from the holiday.

This is not because, with the exception of violence and general callousness, there’s not necessarily anything wrong with the trappings of holiday celebrations, but because they become the entirety of the season rather than just entertaining aspects of it.

Spending an evening in front of the television to watch Christmas specials and shopping trips are not antithetical to the spirit of the holiday in the right context. Frustrated necessity to uphold a certain standard of celebration merely because it’s a certain standard of tradition is not the proper context. This kind of attitude is perpetuates shallowness.

It is in the service of some emotion, whether it be personal enjoyment or desire to please another, when these activities become truly in the spirit of the holiday.

Joy of others, and equally important, joy of self, is something that serves humanity as it contributes to that happiness that is so highly prized in society. And it is prized because few things are more fulfilling than the knowledge that one has completed some task by pursuing their abilities to the fullest potential. Contributing to the happiness of the individual, whether family, friend, self, or even stranger, is very much in service of this ideal.

This can be as complex as spending as spending an evening participating in some activity that is tedious because it makes someone else happy, scouring the mall for the perfect gift for someone special or as simple as listening to a Christmas song that never fails to amuse.

In any of these cases, happiness to some actor is the end result. And a little personal happiness can contribute to a higher level of personal satisfaction, which can in turn get passed on, through kind interaction, to others. And this most certainly serves the humanity that Christmas’s foundation seeks to better.

Derrick Rossignol

Editor In Chief

It may feel a bit premature for this conversation, but New Year’s Eve is only a couple weeks away, so maybe it is time to talk about trying to better yourself by setting New Year’s resolutions that you promise you’ll stick with.

Go ahead and lose some weight, spend some more time at the library or start that novel you’ve been writing in your head. That’s all good, but this is also a great opportunity to expand your musical horizons in many ways.

What do I mean? More often than not, one of the main points of this column is to expose people to sounds they may not have heard otherwise. Experiencing new music is definitely part of what I mean, but it goes deeper than that.

I’ve taken the liberty of kickstarting your list of musical New Year’s resolutions with a few that I’ve either observed in the past of am going to in the future. First:

Don’t hate pop music just because it’s pop music

When I am not busy trying to provide the University of Maine student body with the best possible student newspaper — along with my great staff, of course — I work another job that involves working behind a desk, dealing with people and forcibly listening to the pop radio that plays over the speakers for the duration of my shift, every shift.

I’ve heard Demi Lovato’s “Heart Attack” more times that I can or would care to count. The experience has given me a more negative view of the state of pop music than I already had. Before, I was able to ignore it and be blissfully unaware of what One Direction’s new song is. Now, it’s pounded into my face on a near-daily basis… which isn’t an entirely bad thing.

As a fan of music more indie and alternative than Z107.3 tends to play, my taste doesn’t often coincide with what’s big at the moment. It sometimes does, though: “Applause” by Lady Gaga and Justin Timberlake’s “Suit and Tie” are a couple tunes from the past few months I really enjoyed, songs I would not have heard if I let my stigma against pop get in the way.

Pop is cheap, easily digestible and not enough to get by on, but every now and then, bits of it are worthwhile, so don’t phase it out completely.

Give metal and hardcore music a chance

Speaking of branching out and defeating stigmas, the past few months, I’ve become increasingly interested in metal and hardcore music, two genres I had previously deemed unlistenable. They’re just fast-paced noise with testosterone-fueled men shouting over them, right?

Nah, that’s not quite the case. My roommate is into hardcore music, bands like Confide and Of Mice and Men. He’s also into playing music loudly in the apartment, more often than not opting to blast some hardcore jams. I put up with it at first, then there was one day when I was looking for something more intense and it fit the bill. I got past the “ridiculous” screaming and saw it for what it is: just another form of singing.

This newfound acceptance allowed me to revisit metal bands like Baroness and Mastodon that had previously been recommended to me by my cousin, which I liked a lot more this time around.

Whatever genre serves as your hardcore, try to branch out into it. You might be pleasantly surprised and make yourself a more informed music consumer.

Buy more music

It’s insanely easy to get almost whatever album or song you want for free via torrents or other illegitimate means, or to stream them with services like Spotify. Both of these methods are not great for the financial well-being of the artists, however, so do your part and help these people remain financially viable and able to stay in the business.

I’ve downloaded and will likely continue to download my share of free music, but over the past couple years, I’ve started to buy more CDs. I made an iTunes playlist the other day consisting of the music I legally own, and it constituted about a fifth of my library, a tremendous step up for the zero fifths it was at a few years ago. Plus, it’s nice to have a physical copy of an album, so you can flip through the liner notes and play it in the car.

Make music, even if you don’t know how

Music is art, and art can be made by anybody. Therefore, anybody can make music. Not anybody can make good music, but the act of making music of any quality is easy. It can be as simple as layering synths on top of each other in GarageBand and making an ambient song, then working up to songs with rhythm and different sections once you get more comfortable.

I’m not a musician, but that’s exactly what I did and now, I make a bunch structured experimental electronic music. I don’t know if it’s any good — well, I think it’s OK — but I have a lot of fun making it. Don’t be intimidated and you can, too.

Watch all of R. Kelly’s “Trapped in the Closet”

I’ll give him a pass because of “Ignition,” but the series of “Trapped in the Closet” songs and accompanying videos is one of the worst things made by a talented artist. And it’s an absolute must-watch. Most of them are available on YouTube, so blow an afternoon on an extremely entertaining and awful audiovisual experience.

Kyle Hadyniak

For The Maine Campus

While far from the orthodox music scene, British playwright Tom Stoppard’s radio dramatization of Pink Floyd’s 1973 “The Dark Side of the Moon” is a deeply thoughtful, intellectual telling of the classic album.

Billed as a celebration of the album’s 40th anniversary, “Darkside” accomplishes this in fine form. It may be too confusing for some, but those who power through this hour-long drama will find that “Darkside” is every bit as thoughtful, psychedelic and creative as Pink Floyd’s classic album.

“Darkside,” like the album, begins with the song “Breathe.” In this opening piece, Stoppard sets the morally-philosophical scene with a dilemma: a train is about to derail, so the figurative “Ethics Man” saves the passengers. Afterwards, a little boy is stuck on the tracks, but Ethics Man does not save him. The narrator then poses the question, “Did Ethics Man do the right thing?” The opening chords of “Breathe” then play to a chilling effect. So begins the hour-long morality-focused drama.

Appropriately, “The Dark Side of the Moon” is the perfect album to base such a theme on. Roger Waters’ lyrics deal with greed, mortality, humanity and conflict, and the script of “Darkside” reflects these timeless themes. Between the spoken segments of the play, voiced by Bill Nighy, Amaka Okafor and Peter Marinker, among others, Pink Floyd’s music plays as an accompaniment to the drama.

Most of David Gilmour’s solos are placed at vital moments in the script, creating a powerful musical interlude, and Roger Waters’ everlasting lyrics seemingly correspond to the drama. Overall, the two forces mesh well, and the story they tell is fascinating.

The actors themselves do an admirable job telling Stoppard’s story. Characters in “Darkside” symbolize different themes and stereotypes that mirror the album, and references to “The Wizard of Oz,” “Terminator 2,” “Casablanca” and “Spartacus” demonstrates the play’s referential, even comedic, aspects. Like Pink Floyd, Stoppard’s writing does an excellent job of holding a mirror up to certain themes and facets of humanity; “Darkside” certainly is an album one must pay close attention to.

Oddly, there are some original musical moments in “The Dark Side of the Moon” that take a backseat to the drama. Gilmour’s famous “Money” solo is overshadowed by the plot, an odd decision considering that other solos, such as those in “Time” and “The Great Gig in the Sky,” are front and center. However, considering that Stoppard received David Gilmour’s blessing to do this, this oddity is easily forgiven.

While the play itself is enjoyable throughout, there are particular stand-out moments. The intro to “Us and Them” is superimposed with one of the characters echoing “Sleep now” — a relaxing, somewhat chilling effect that fits perfectly with the song.

Likewise, the moments leading up to the vocal solo in “The Great Gig in the Sky” see a character pondering the idea of “thought games,” a mental representation of morality and humanity. This song’s sudden burst of vocal improvisation fits perfectly with this theme.

In the end, “Darkside” is an album wildly different than other modern albums. The radio play format may be uninteresting to some, opting instead for the straightforward musical nature of “The Dark Side of the Moon.” Therefore, those who listen to “Darkside” must know what to expect. This is not a reimagining of “The Dark Side of the Moon,” per se. The original music is still intact, merely accompanied by a stimulating, conceptually-similar script.

One must dedicate time and thought when listening to “Darkside” in order to fully understand Stoppard’s message. While this album certainly fits in with a niche crowd, the time and effort analyzing and enjoying “Darkside” is worth it.

Grade: A-

Kyle Hadyniak

For The Maine Campus

“Thor: The Dark World” had a lot to live up to following the enormous success of “The Avengers.” Unfortunately, Thor’s second outing is lacking in several key areas that prevent it from being a great superhero movie. While “The Dark World” does some things right, its cons hamper the movie, ultimately disappointing audience members who expected Avengers-like quality.

One could argue it isn’t fair to judge “The Dark World” against the merits of “The Avengers,” but even a comparison to the first “Thor” movie shows this sequel is lacking. There are two main flaws to “The Dark World”: acting and writing. However, fans will be pleased to know that “The Dark World” does succeed in offering a visual feast, along with offering a couple of fanservice moments sure to leave the audience satisfied.

Firstly, “The Dark World” is void of any standout acting. Specifically, Natalie Portman simply lacks any charisma, believability or chemistry with her opposite. Her delivery is flat, even in action scenes, and there is no emotion in poignant sections. It is hard to engross yourself in one of “Thor”’s excellent action scenes when suddenly the tension is taken away by lackluster delivery.

Chris Hemsworth as the title character is only slightly better, but his constantly macho delivery wears out its welcome during romantic or emotional scenes. Other actors, such as Anthony Hopkins and Christopher Eccleston, put on decent performances, but nothing to write home about.

The other major flaw is the screenplay. Like the acting, “The Dark World” has a serviceable script, at best. The brotherly banter between Thor and Loki is cliché, and lacks the intended comedic effect. Likewise, opponent banter lacks wit or creativity, making each such encounter a brief, groan-worthy prelude to the excellent action scenes. To the script’s credit, the story moves along quickly, preventing the movie from dragging. Also, the editing is good enough to highlight the few well-written moments.

Comedically, “The Dark World” does include some effective moments. Some of these come in fan-service instants, such as a cameo by Stan Lee and Captain America. Others, like Thor getting on a subway to return to battle, or the impromptu love story between Darcy and her intern, are not forced and integrated well in the action, creating a quick, effective break in the otherwise dark plot.

Unexpectedly, “The Dark World” features some amazing CGI work. Thor’s home of Asgard is rendered beautifully, and large-scale battle scenes feature crisp and flashy weapon effects and explosions. Particularly, the Dark Elves designs are fully-realized and lifelike, lending credibility to the threat they pose. Asgardian ships are equally impressive in detail, further realizing this particular section of Marvel’s universe.

However, it should be noted that when viewed in 3D, some of the backgrounds look disjointed from the foreground, a distracting effect that is likely remedied by viewing the movie in 2D. Otherwise, 3D doesn’t lend any notable “wow” moments, making its addition feel unnecessary. Save yourself some money and see this movie in 2D.

“The Dark World” is a decent superhero movie and nothing more. As a side-story to “The Avengers” storyline, it is effective in creating a shared sense of continuity, which is always nice to see. Several references to the climactic battle in New York from “The Avengers” and the aforementioned appearance of Captain America solidifies this point.

As a standalone movie, one would think one of the Avengers deserves a better outing. With that said, “The Dark World” offers a mostly enjoyable 2-hour romp thanks to excellent visuals and comedically-sprinkled script. If the next “Thor” movie can improve the leads’ acting and the script, Thor could finally get the movie worthy of an “Avengers” character.

Grade: C

Danielle Walczak

Staff Writer

Community and local food systems were the focus at the first Maine Food Summit at Wells Conference Center on Friday. In a state where 24.1 percent of children under the age of 16 live in a food insecure household, obtaining sustainable food security in the aging state of Maine was an important topic for speakers at the summit.

The event, which was conceptualized at the New England Food Summit at University of Southern Maine last year and put on by UMaine Cooperative Extension, was a gathering of farmers, policy makers, students, professors, Cooperative Extension members and more food enthusiasts. With two keynote speakers and two breakout discussion sessions, each break in the action was filled with loud chatter and excitement regarding the speakers’ topics.

New England is a bull’s-eye for a local food model throughout the country.

“The level of interest from a whole group of different audiences is just incredible,” said Timothy Griffin, associate professor and director of the Agriculture, Food and Environmental program at Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and the first keynote speaker.

For Griffin, who previously worked for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, New England is a wealth for the local food system.

“There’s a lot of capacity here and we need to recognize that,” he said in his talk “Maine’s Role in Creating a Sustainable, More Regional Food System.”

UMaine President Paul Ferguson opened the day presenting the responsibility he feels UMaine has as a Land Grant university to “embrace a core value of sustainability” and instill this value in its students. He said if graduates of UMaine don’t come out with an idea of sustainability, “I think we’ve missed our mark.”

For Griffin, collaboration between sources, such as local, industrial and regional, is important for the future of Maine’s food. He cited the example of incorporating local food into school lunches as a good start to cooperation.

Griffin is excited about the opportunity to make local food accessible to all people from different economic backgrounds.

Mark Lapping of University of Southern Maine, spoke with two other speakers about the New England Food Vision, a report offering three options for a more sustainable and locally sourced New England food system. The plan would produce 50 percent of clean, fair, just, accessible food in New England for all New Englanders by 2060 while leaving 70 percent of New England forested, according to Lapping.

“This is a possible thing for us to do if we embrace what we have in front of us,” Lapping said.

In the same discussion, Molly Anderson of College of the Atlantic said the New England Food Vision would only be possible with a cultural shift toward more healthy eating: less meat and more vegetables.

The Maine Food Strategy presented the beginnings of their project, which differs from the New England Food Vision, as it is more of a plan and open forum for Maine food producers, much like Vermont’s Farm to Plate program. The group was met with many questions and comments from audience members regarding entities such as dairy farms, financial institutions and GMO labeling.

Unanswered questions were addressed after lunch in the two sessions of group discussions. Which covered issues such as climate change, food policy, marine fisheries and more.

Second keynote speaker Patrick Keliher, the commissioner of the Department of Marine Resources, spoke on Maine’s Role in Creating a Sustainable Fishery.

Maine imports 90 percent of the food its citizens consume according to Amanda Beal of University of New Hampshire and Maine Food Strategy.

Lapping believes Maine is ready to get back to what was once, “a very rich, very agricultural past.”

During breaks attendees circulated the conference center, connecting and chatting with many organizations with tables such as Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, Maine’s Own Organic Milk and Maine Farmland Trust pushing forward the introductory goal of John Rebar, executive director of Cooperative Extension: “collaboration, community, passion and commitment to a healthy state.”

Molly Ayotte

For The Maine Campus

Sara Wintz and Megan Kaminski, both longform poets, were welcomed to Soderberg Auditorium on Thursday, Dec. 5. English department faculty Jennifer Moxley gave a brief introduction of the two writers, having handpicked them herself to speak at the final New Writing Series of the fall semester.

Wintz, a California native, was described by Moxley as “magic.” Wintz’s work evokes questions about “self, loneliness and love.” The author of recent publication “Walking Across a Field We Are Focused On At This Time Now” received her bachelor’s degree from Mills College, studied at Oxford and received her master’s degree from Bard College.

Wintz read excerpts from “Walking Across a Field,” which is “rooted in year by year searches of the 20th century through Wikipedia.” Her long poems were dotted with significant events in history, starting in 1901. She described the inspiration behind poem as “a moment where I was locating myself.” Events she incorporated in her poem include the birth of Gertrude Stein, Haley’s Comet and the birth of Frank Sinatra.

Kaminski read from “Desiring Map,” her collection of four long poems. She also read excerpts from her chapbook “Favored Daughter,” published in 2012. She concluded her readings of urbanity with a quote from Young Jeezy, “I put on for my city, on, on, for my city.” Kaminski described her poetry as “a way of thinking about the world.”

Kaminski is the author of “Desiring Map” and six other chapbooks. Her work has been compared to that of Willa Cather, giving a “haunting portrait of self through landscape.” Kaminski teaches creative writing at the University of Kansas.

A big question that came up during the Q-and-A session was what role researched played into the formation of their poems. Wintz’s answer spoke for all writers when she explained how “we are always reading and listening, that is the research that fuels us.” Currently working on a piece about fashion, Wintz finds herself researching a lot of avant garde and conceptual inspirations, mostly because it is a “space for reflection and ongoing narrative.”

Another question put forward was, “why long poems and not novels?” Both being long poem writers, as well as having other types of publications, both ladies had unique answers. Kaminski described her poems as her “letters to the world.” Whether or not anyone reads them, she uses them as an embodiment of herself. Wintz’s answer was a little broader in saying, “there are so many reasons to write a poem.” Long poetry allows a “creation of an entire environment,” without the difficulty that novels present.

The NWS will continue to feature many exciting new writers, as the spring semester is already in the works. You can also “like” UMaine New Writing Series page on Facebook or join the group for details on upcoming events next semester.

All NWS events are free and open to the public to enjoy.

Josh Deakin

For The Maine Campus

It is not uncommon for rappers to appear in films. Snoop Dogg has been in many, such as “Soul Plane” and “Starsky and Hutch.” Eminem starred in the Academy Award winning film “8 Mile.” None of these movies compare to the ridiculousness that is “Big Money Rustlas.”

“Big Money Rustlas” features the talents of rappers found on the Psychopathic Records label. This includes Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope of Insane Clown Posse as well as Monoxide, Jamie Madrox, Boondox and Blaze Ya Dead Homie. Oddly enough, it also features the acting talents of Jason Mewes, who played the iconic Jay of “Jay and Silent Bob.”

The film is a Western and is about a man named Sugar Wolf, played by Shaggy 2 Dope, who returns home after being away only to see that the town is now under the control of Big Baby Chips, played by Violent J. Big Baby Chips is essentially an Old West mob boss. He’s the crime kingpin of the area.

This just won’t do for Sugar Wolf, so he decides to clean up the town himself. The first step in taking the town back is taking over as acting sheriff. The current sheriff is perfectly OK with this and willingly hands over his badge. The sheriff in turn becomes Sugar Wolf’s deputy and is sent on an errand for chili. This is not just any chili, however: this chili is in New York City. The sheriff-turned-deputy departs the town and is shown throughout the film searching for the chili.

Meanwhile, Sugar Wolf takes on a jailhouse guard, a man named Bucky played by Jason Mewes. Bucky is constantly in fear of getting shot and even has a catchphrase: “Oh crap.” Sugar Wolf also enters into a relationship with a little person named Tink.

Throughout the film, Big Baby Chips sends various assassins to take out Sugar Wolf and end the take-over. These assassins include The Ghost, played by Boondox, and The Foot, played by wrestler 2 Tuff Tony. The Ghost can shoot laser beams from his eyes while The Foot has a very powerful odor. The assassin that does the most damage to Sugar Wolf ends up being Tink who is actually a man named Tank in disguise. Before Sugar Wolf can defeat Tank, he is shot in the hand. While this is going on, Bucky meets his end by a hail of gunfire.

The film does have a way about it that will keep you entertained. The acting is absolutely horrible and the dopey camera cuts and angles prove that there was not much of a budget involved. One thing that sticks out as being unnecessary is that the members of the Insane Clown Posse keep their makeup on. It is out of place and does not make any sense.

Another thing that does not make any sense is when the deputy reaches New York City, it is a modern version of New York City. The movie is not supposed to be serious in any way, so these out of place things are forgivable. “Big Money Rustlas” is worth a watch for anyone looking for a laugh.