Over three years, R. Smith-Angel experienced the dissolution of a thirty-year marriage, a major surgery, the deaths of closely-loved relatives, the life-threatening illness of her mother, retirement and permanent relocation from Washington D.C. to Atlanta.

These experiences led her to what she describes as a “dark night,” a time wherein she felt like she lost control over her own life and lacked the self-awareness necessary for personal development due to the attention she needed to pay to her situation in order to survive that trying time.

However, as she began to move past her difficulties, she noticed the impedance they represented for her personal growth but also the clarity they provided her in terms of visualizing her potential.

This time also gave her a new perspective on her life; while she previously had goals for her professional future, she had never had such specific ambitions for her personal growth.

During the time of her struggles and the resulting realizations, Smith-Angel began writing poetry as a form of self-therapy, and these therapeutic poems formed the root of her poetry collection entitled Heart Vision, published by XLIBRIS last November.

Smith-Angel wrote this collection of poetry with the intent to explain to other people how to see with their hearts instead of their minds and thus create emotional and spiritual goals for themselves so as to further their personal growth.

Calling these works “poetic inspirational messages,” Smith-Angel’s book does not require sequential reading or intense interpretation; the messages of positivity and encouragement shine on surface. They strive to help the reader remember their spiritual origins, seek self-acceptance and embrace the love they require from others.

As Smith-Angel was writing these poems and pondering which would be included in this publication, she grouped them into four distinct sections (wisdom and growth, facing challenges, self-acceptance and renewal and love and honor).

After noticing the universality of their messages, she published them in this arrangement so that the reader can intuitively understand how the messages are intended to relate to their own lives.

Unlike many collections of poetry, this book also features periodic interruptions with food for thought and affirmations, which Smith-Angel intended to use in order to better focus the message of each section as well as give the reader a resting point at which to digest the implications of previous sections.

As the author says, the poems are written such that, regardless of the reader’s position, they can bring their own situation into the reading and gain insight from it. The poems are not so specific that the reader cannot relate it to their own journey.

While this work is described as spiritual, it does not rely on a particular religious tradition and Smith-Angel is emphatic in her recommendation of these messages to people of any spiritual affiliation; the ideas transcend the question of religion with their focus on the connectedness of all people and the struggle with understanding and handling a universe which is unimaginably larger than themselves.

These ideas, as well as those of focusing on one’s spiritual origin and uniqueness and accessing the power of oneself as the co-creator of one’s own destiny, will be further explored in her next work, tentatively entitled Heart Signature.

On Tuesday, February 18, 2014 the Undergraduate House of Representatives (UHR) approved UHR Bill 14U024 to change the Election Code of the Student Government Association (SGA). The bill will reduce the number of available seats from 72 to 51 for the Spring 2014 election.  The Bill was authored and proposed by the Co-Op Representative, UHR Secretary, and UHR Elections Committee Chair Andrew Block.

Under the current system the 72 Undergraduate House Representatives consist of 51 by Major, 16 by Class – 4 from each – and 5 “Special Reps,” which include the Co-Op Representative, Athlete Representative, and Representatives at Large.  The 51 Major seats are apportioned by granting one Representative for each block of 400 students.  For example, if a major has 5 students or 400 they are apportioned 1 Representative, while a major with 401 students would receive two Representatives because they fall in the 401-800 range.

The need to reduce the number of seats in the UHR has been under discussion for some months.  According to Rep. Block, “The bulk of the changes in the Elections Code were written and approved by UHR leadership and our Student Body President & VP back around November and the changes to representative distribution happened in mid-December.”  The impetus for change stemmed from SGAs leadership perceiving both a lack of student involvement in their governance and students feeling they were not, “truly represented by their Representatives,” says Rep. Block.  By reducing the number of available seats they hope to address both of these issues.

SGA leadership believes fewer seats will create more competition among candidates, incentivizing them to campaign while spreading the word about SGA and increasing student participation.  In the current system the larger majors, such as Biomedical Engineering (BME) with 1,369 students enrolled as of Fall 2013, have more seats available than candidates to fill them.  “It’s not unusual to see only two or three people running for majors like BME which has four total spots. This makes students feel like they didn’t get to choose who represented them because their vote doesn’t decide [anything.]”

This Bill was opened for discussion at the end of a three hour meeting, the first since Tech was closed due to winter advisory last week.  At the prior meeting on February 5, 2014, Rep. Andrew Block presented preliminary proposals from the Election Committee to the UHR with several options for reallocation.  This week those options had been narrowed to two.

The first was that of Rep. Block and Rep. Laura Burbach, who was instrumental in deciding the specifics of the changes along with Rep. Graham Goldberg who rewrote most of the changes to the Election Code.  Under this proposal seats are apportioned by School rather than Major, and the apportionment is increased from 400 to 1000. The 16 Class Representatives remain unchanged, but one of the Members at Large is cut, reducing the Special Reps to four.

The second, proposed by UHR Treasurer Alex Bandes, distributes seats according to College, rather than School or Major, reduces the number of Class Representatives to three per Class for a total of 12, and reduces the Special Reps to 3 for a total of 37 Representatives.

The floor was opened to discussion among the 39 voting Representatives that were present, just one more than necessary to maintain quorum.  It was established early that all were in favor of adopting one of the two proposals, the debate focused on determining which of the two would be carried forward.  The Block/Burbach proposal was dubbed Plan A, while Bandes proposal was dubbed Plan B.  Lively discussion ensued between proponents of each method.

A drawback of the Block/Burbach proposal that was mentioned repeatedly is apportionment by School gives a disproportionate number of seats to the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts (IAC) and College of Science (CoS), which have only 404 and 1,110 students enrolled respectively, but would have 6 seats each – a reduction of one from the CoS over what the two colleges have under the old system – while the Scheller College of Business (CoB) and the College of Computing (CoC), with 1,301 and 1,192 students respectively, only have two seats each, and the College of Engineering (CoE), by far the largest with 9,219 students, would be reduced to 13 seats among its eight schools, down from 28 previously.

The Bandes proposal was meant to address this imbalance.  Since the IAC and CoS are broken into six schools each, with as few as 45 in the CoS School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, and each of those schools would be apportioned one seat, apportionment by college would remove that imbalance.  Under this system IAC would have only one Representative while the CoE would have 14, as the apportionment is one seat for every 600 students.  While this addressed the imbalance between colleges, opposition felt this reduced the quality of representation of students as, “Aerospace does not represent the same interests of Biomedical or Electrical Engineering,” as one representative stated.

Those in favor of Plan B touted the fact that 37 seats accurately reflect the number of representatives that consistently attend meetings every week which would further incentivize those to campaign for elections and be active in the UHR.  With 39 representatives in the room at the time and repeated difficulty meeting quorum over the last few years this idea resonated with several of those present.  Senior Class Rep. Andy Looper, who was appointed by vote of the UHR only weeks ago, professed his intention to campaign strongly in the upcoming election for next year, admonishing the House that, “Every single person in here should be afraid they’re not going to have their seat next year,” which was answered with general applause by wrapping on the tables, a show of approval particular to UHR meetings.

Representatives in favor of Plan A pointed out the undergraduate population at Tech is growing every year making 37 seats even more competitive, and that with only 39 of 72 currently present, they worry how few would attend meetings under Plan B, which sparked more applause.  Rep. Burbach cautioned against reducing the number of seats so drastically, “I don’t want UHR to become an exclusive club that hands out money,” while Rep. Brian Shin, in favor of Plan A and in response to Rep. Looper’s comment, professed, “Our role is to represent the people, not to be concerned about getting reelected.”

One of the last to speak was SGA President Nicholas Picon.  As a member of the Executive Branch he is invited to speak at UHR meetings, though he has no voting privileges. He stated he thought either of the proposals would be an improvement over the current system, but was in favor of the School apportionment over the College system.  “The School plan maintains the spirit of the Major plan in a more manageable method.”  He went on to assure the UHR that he, and Speaker of the Undergraduate House Gregory Jones, would do everything in their power to have strong elections to try to fill all seats in the UHR finishing with, “We should be working to make this the kind of room people want to be in.”

The vote to approve Plan A passed with 37 in favor, 2 against, and zero abstentions bringing the changes into effect.

The next Bill was 14U030 which was a constitutional amendment to remove the number three from Article 2, Section 2 that states the number of Representatives at Large, leaving it under the Election Code alone making it easier to adjust in the future.

The final business of the evening was the unanimous approval of a bill to appoint eight more representatives, of which only six were present to be sworn in.  According to a survey of the UHR conducted by Dillon Roseen, soon to be appointed to the executive position of Director of Internal Development, 24 of the 45 representatives that responded were appointed by vote of the UHR while only 21 ran in elections.

The Book of Mormon, winner of nine Tony Awards, follows the story of Elder Price, a dashing, confident and daring model of a perfect Mormon, and the a compulsively lying, awkward, insecure and yet somehow endearing Elder Cunningham as they travel to Uganda to baptize a village ruled by a violent warlord.

Relatively accurate and entertaining retellings of Joseph Smith appear as snippets throughout the show and remain a gripping sub-plot for the audience. More importantly, the production’s 16 songs, ranging from whimsically amusing to tribally offensive, threw the entire audience into raucous laughter and immersion. The cast brought their powerful voices and aptly appropriate over-the-top Broadway acting, failing to disappoint anyone.

Comedy is a fickle subject and the humor in The Book of Mormon walks a fine line between crude and ingenious, using both slapstick and verbal wit, but that is expected from the writers of South Park.

In fact, Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Robert Lopez took that line and played jump rope with it. The actors chosen for the touring group did a fantastic job of bringing out the full potential of the show, both with their music and acting.

Mark Evans and his portrayal of Elder Price’s hubris interacts almost painfully well with the insecure and lonely performance of  Christopher John O’Neil as Elder Cunningham. Both actors complemented each other to produce comical genius as the musical progressed.

The comical timing of AIDS jokes and colorful language got their fair share, too, having both exaggerated and casual presentation which mocked the style of classic musical theatre.

The entire cast had fantastic voices. Elder Mckinley, played by Grey Henson, has one of the most innocently violent voices. During the piece “Turn It Off,” Mckinley reflects upon repressing the dark and literally gay desires of his body, snapping between a twisted, dark humor of death and abuse to happy, capricious energy with the simple motion of flipping a switch.

The only cringing moment within the whole show took place in one of the most iconic songs, “I Believe,” where Elder Price sings about his conflicting emotions, finally coming to the conclusion that he must completely put his faith in God and carry out his mission. Although the realization that Mark Evans was British and had carried an American accent throughout the entire show came a bit too late, every time he sang the word “believe” sounded like an awkward honk.

The tricks The Book of Mormon employed are simply stunning. The Fox, which has notoriously small backstage space, has done a fantastic job with the scene transitions and backdrops.

A clever transition occurred after Elder Price, discouraged from scary warlords and cultural shock, dreams of going to Orlando, his biggest dream, only to be pulled into the Mormon community shared “Spooky Mormon Hell Dream.” With a flash of lightning, the over-the-top painting of Disney and SeaWorld crumbled to the ground, revealing a cavernous, violent yet beautiful backdrop of the underworld.

However, there were other contenders throughout the show that were equally impressive. One such moment was the dance break in “Turn it Off,” where the Elders clap their hands twice to literally turn off the lights in the entire theatre, only to return the lights with bright, pink vests strapped onto their chests while they continued to dance.

Which leads to the choreography. From the heavily tribal music to the sappy jumpy and excessive show-tune jazz/tap routines, these numbers challenged whether or not the actors and actresses would burn out. Glen Kelly did an absolutely astonishing and fabulous job.

In “Two by Two,” an exciting and delightful song where the newly-trained Mormons partnered up and got shipped away to different countries to fulfill their mission, the chorus line involved not only amazing music but also vigorous, large but precise show-tune sequences.

Not only did the dance breaks require a lot of energy, but they also lasted a long time and consistently entertained the audience.

Even though The Book of Mormon does not necessarily reveal the truth in being a Mormon, anyone will find themselves learning much more about Mormonism than they actually expected from the musical.

After all, who can resist such an engaging, hilarious and intoxicatingly endearing musical?

Two years after the finale of Sherlock’s Season Two aired, the much-anticipated Season Three has broadcast in the U.S. as part of PBS’s Masterpiece series.

Created by Mark Gatiss and Doctor Who’s Stephen Moffat, the show follows a modern-day version of the great detective Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch, Star Trek: Into Darkness) and his companion Dr. John Watson (Martin Freeman, The Hobbit) as they solve crimes in London.

The first two seasons chronicle the meeting of Holmes and Watson and several of their most famous cases featured in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original stories, including “The Hound of the Baskervilles” and “A Scandal in Bohemia.”

Season Two’s finale, “The Riechenbach Fall,” ended with a cliffhanger that caused an immense stir with the show’s fans, resembling the reaction to Doyle’s “The Final Problem” in which Sherlock and Moriarty allegedly plummet to their deaths over the eponymous Reichenbach Falls.

The dramatic ending left the world wondering how Sherlock would return. The two-year hiatus from the show was excruciatingly painful for fans and set the Internet atwitter with a wide variety of fan theories.

On Sunday, Jan. 19, the Season 3 premier “The Empty Hearse” aired on PBS, more than two weeks after the episode aired in the U.K., with almost four million viewers watching.

The episode begins with Sherlock’s return to London after spending two years dismantling Moriarty’s network. Most significantly, John now has a girlfriend named Mary Morstan, played by Amanda Abbington, who is Martin Freeman’s partner in real life. Sherlock interrupts John’s proposal to Mary.

This new season of Sherlock is exceptional. The writers have creatively incorporated nods to its dedicated fans to the extent of lightly making fun of their fanaticism.

For example, “The Empty Hearse” features several outlandish and extreme theories of Season Two’s ending, mocking the elaborate theories discussed in YouTube videos and lengthy blog posts by fans.

The addition of Abbington’s Mary to the series incorporates a quaint, adorable commentator on Sherlock’s and John’s relationship. At the same time, Mary holds her own with the guys. Mary and Sherlock get along rather well; both appreciate the other’s love for John.

Abbington and Freeman’s relationship in the show is rooted in their off-screen partnership, providing a natural feel to their onscreen dynamic.

Overall, one cannot help but love Mary and it will be interesting to watch her relationship with Watson and Sherlock develop in the finale, “His Last Vow,” and possibly in the unconfirmed fourth season.

The finale, airing Sunday night on PBS at 10 pm, features Lars Mikkleson (The Killing) as Charles Augustus Magnusson, a despicable newspaper owner who appears to know compromising information about the most important people in the world.

Last season’s Moriarty left big shoes to fill as a suitable, and insanely well-acted, counterpart to Sherlock. Hopefully Magnusson will be comparably evil and mentally challenging to the world’s greatest detective.

This finale is guaranteed to be as surprising as the second season’s cliffhanger and is sure to have viewers reaching for their shock blankets.

Though Tech is not well known for granting free time to its students, it is not uncommon, this early in the semester at least, for students to find themselves lacking the obligations of homework and studying. However, when a student comes by the precious commodity called “free time,” he or she will more than likely spend it one of two ways: sleeping or having fun.

Though sleep will be chosen more frequently as Tech nears midterms and finals, it is not a particularly alluring topic and is best left to the exhausted students who require it. Having fun, however, is by definition exciting. The trouble comes when a student does not have a vehicle. This leaves him or her stranded on campus with little to do, or so it would appear. The stranded status, unfortunately for the pedestrian, is unchanged, but there is plenty to do around campus. Most of the entertainment around Tech even has the bonus of being free of charge.

Perhaps the most obvious example of this is Tech Rec. This is a campus-sanctioned, convenient place for students to relax and have fun. With the daily discounts and a monthly Lady’s Night, where women get to play for free, this is an ideal place to go bowling or play billiards.

The Campus Recreation Center (CRC) also offers several entertaining activities such as rock climbing, swimming and racquetball. On the weekends, students without cars can visit Atlantic Station where there is a movie theatre and plenty of places to shop. Although valid entertainment options, students will soon grow weary of choosing between the same three options to spend their free time. Traveling off the beaten path will solve this problem.

As previously mentioned, Tech has plenty to offer in the way of entertainment, but these might not be immediately obvious to outsiders. Take, for example, the third floor of the College of Computing. There are several gaming systems, as well as a ukulele and several stuffed toys in case Computer Science majors find themselves in need of companionship. This is a great idea, but no one seems to know this exists. The third floor is often sparsely populated; the few people who do go there are often upperclassmen in need of desk space.

In addition to providing spaces dedicated to having fun, Tech has places to go and just enjoy the view. Clough’s rooftop garden, for example, provides a phenomenal view of Atlanta, especially at night. Exploring campus is one of the more rewarding pastimes a student can do at Tech. While finding new hangouts and neat views, a wanderer could stumble upon interesting alcoves, such as the ping pong table in Klaus. Of course, anyone wishing to play must bring their own paddles.

Endlessly wandering campus might also get old, or perhaps a student simply wants a change of scenery. Tech is within walking distance of other venues such as the High Museum, World of Coke and the Fox Theatre.

Perhaps the students lacking transportation are actually getting more out of Tech life than those who can come and go as they please. Having cars makes people more likely to go to a familiar haunt than to find something new to occupy their time.

Those without cars, on the other hand, are forced to find new entertainment, which means that they can thoroughly enjoy all that Tech has to offer. At least, until they find their new niche in the entertainment world.

“Proceed to the highlighted route, then follow the road for three miles.”

“Can we turn off the sound?” My friend asked. “I just watched a movie about this guy who fell in love with his operating system—it was really creepy. I’ve had enough of listening to computers talk for awhile.”

Being a CM major, I’m programmed to get irrationally excited whenever a technology-heavy movie hits theaters, so I was surprised I hadn’t heard of the film before. However, despite the lack of public anticipation surrounding Her, at least in my social circles, my curiosity was nonetheless piqued, and I prodded my friend for more info about it.

After he told me a little more about the movie, I was under the impression that Her was a contrived social commentary about the fact that technology makes people lazy, and that perhaps in the future, people would enjoy manufactured interactions, as opposed to real-life social interactions.

When I finally had some downtime this weekend, I decided to watch the film, and it was not social commentary at all. Rather, it was a soft-spoken tale depicting loneliness, connection and happiness. In my opinion, the film actually had a sad beauty about it, not because of the technology in the movie, but because of the people.

However, even though the purpose of the movie was not to make some overarching commentary, the film was able to successfully depict a world in which this kind of superior AI existed without making the AI seem out of place.

In fact, the technology of the future, as depicted in this movie, seemed almost a natural progression. The technology is used for work, checking e-mails and for things such as automatically dimming or turning on lights. In short, technology used in this movie is to help the user be more productive and are in line with the vision of a productivity future.

These types of films that are set in the future can be classified as design fictions, a mix of design and science fiction that shows what technology might look like in the future.

For example, in 2002, Minority Report gave large audiences a context in which they could imagine how gestural and multi-touch interfaces could be used and integrated into technology. In 1993, a series of “You Will” ads by AT&T envisioned a multitude future technologies and their functions and created ads in which these technologies were integrated into daily life.

The power of design fictions stems from the ability to allow a designer to think of all the aspects of a certain technology that need to be implemented in order for it to be fully embedded into society. Movies such as Her and Minority Report, which incorporate realistic fictional technologies in them, allow product and interface designers to be inspired those working, seemingly real technologies to create something both useful, usable and desirable in modern day society.

Last week saw the release of I, Frankenstein on Jan. 24. The film stars Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight), Yvonne Strahovski (Chuck), Miranda Otto (Lord of the Rings) and Bill Nighy (Love Actually). A re-imagining of Mary Shelley’s gothic novel, does I, Frankenstein break the bad movie trend that is the month of January?

The movie begins in 1795 with Victor Frankenstein (Aden Young) and the creation of his monster (Eckhart). Frankenstein rejects his creation, which causes the monster to kill Frankenstein’s wife in a fit of rage. Victor then chases the being into the Arctic but eventually freezes to death in the snow. The monster finds his creator and buries him in his family cemetery.

Frankenstein’s monster then encounters an order of gargoyles and learns about an ongoing war between gargoyles and demons, who are led by their demon prince Naberius (Nighy).

For some reason, Naberius has an interest in Frankenstein’s monster, who is named Adam by the gargoyle queen Lenore (Otto). Now involved in a centuries-old war, Adam has to fight whether he wants to or not.

There are many problems with this movie, but first, a look at the positives. Eckhart’s performance was a definite plus; with films such as The Dark Knight, Erin Brokovich and Thank You For Not Smoking under his belt, he has a lot of experience in acting.

Every scene felt like Eckhart was really trying to bring this character to life. Unfortunately, his efforts in the movie are marred with a poorly-written role in a poorly-written movie, but more on that later.

Another good point was the cinematography. Action scenes were shot wide and with minimal use of shaky cam or quick cutting. Bill Nighy’s performance was also entertaining to watch; his on-screen presence is noticeable and interesting, reminiscent of his portrayal of the monstrous Davy Jones in the Pirates of the Caribbean series.

However, these positives do absolutely nothing to lift this film from the cinematic quagmire it has made for itself.

First, the special effects in the film were atrocious. The models and animations for the gargoyles in the film were so ridiculous that they bordered on cartoonish, taking the viewer straight out of the movie every time they appeared. The makeup was so cheesy that it was laughable, especially for the demons themselves.

Next is the writing. The characters in this film seem to take these situations so seriously, but by the end of it, there has been no character development and everything that transpired in the film meant nothing to the viewer. This made it extremely difficult to care for any of the characters or the plot.

The pacing was another issue as well. Scenes that are supposed to feel epic or big just fail because the direction and writing do not bring any emotion or thrill to the screen.

Stuart Beattie, who directed and wrote this film, has written good films before, such as Collateral and the successful Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. However, for I, Frankenstein, Beattie has managed to create a complete train wreck of a movie comparable to the Resident Evil or Underworld series: cheesy sci-fi action films that are quickly forgotten.

Whereas Pirates of the Caribbean managed to be a quirky character study, partly thanks to Johnny Depp, this film lacks any memorable characters with concrete goals or personalities. They fall under the general category of bad guys and good guys.

Hopefully now that the wasteland of movies known as January is finally ending, some enjoyable ones might finally be released in theaters.

Our Take: 1/5

Wherever students go around Tech, it is likely they will see signs that Tech students are embracing the connected age.

Students holding massive tablets up to their ears in lieu of phones is now commonplace.  Even Google Glass adorns the faces of more than just a handful of students.

But at Tech, students are not just consuming the fruits of the information age—they are creating new gadgets and software to take advantage of them.

Even a quick investigation can unearth several cool apps created by Tech students.

According to Alex Bettadapur, VP of GT Mobile Application Development (MAD) and second-year CS major, one of the many challenges facing app developers today is coming up with a new, fresh idea.

“Basically what it needs to be is it needs to be original. Doesn’t have to be completely original, but it definitely needs to have some, you know, ‘I do this different than everyone else.’ You can’t just make a me-too app, that doesn’t work. … That’s getting a lot harder.”

While it’s clear that thousands of good ideas have already been taken, at least two groups of student developers at Tech have turned out apps with more “unique” concepts.

“Nerdherder,” which lists itself as having been created by the “Augmented Reality Game Studio” at Tech, is actually an augmented reality game with a twist.

While some have reviewed it as “buggy” on some devices, the basic concept was present. This can also be seen from the demo videos on “Nerdherders” website.

Basically, the player looks into his or her phone just like looking through a window, and controls a “boom” which extends through the screen of the phone just like it would if it existed in the physical world.

Instead of prodding at the screen to activate buttons and other features like in real games, the primary control in “Nerdherder” is simply swinging around the boom in the virtual world using a phone’s motion sensors.

At the end of the boom hangs a delicious donut with which the player, the deft manager of a corporate office, can manipulate his or her employees, better known as nerds, into their cubicles to maximize the success of their business.

Another game made by students, for which fliers have gone up all around the College of Computing, is “MiniVolt,” which also has a unique spin.

MiniVolt is set “in the year 2400,” when the player, a human, is tasked with overcoming the machine singularity to restore order and balance to the world.

The basic gameplay is to use a variety of controls to take control of “enemy bases,” and the game forces the player to use strategy to optimize their attacks.

Bettadapur noted that many apps are made under the auspices of his club, but only a few actually get published.

He explained that there was a significant barrier between creating a cool demo and crafting a published app like the two above.

“Once you have your idea and you think your idea’s really good, it’s a matter of making it look really good. Which I find hard. You have to design it, you have to make it look, like a good app. If it doesn’t look good, if the animations aren’t smooth, it’s buggy, people aren’t going to use it regardless of how cool your idea is,” Bettadapur said.

He explained that the publication barrier did stop people in MAD from making all sorts of cool apps—treasure-hunt apps, podcast apps, an app which lets a phone control an online puppet and an app which displays statistics about a music library.

Despite the creative barrier that remains, students can continue to expect unique and innovative apps from their peers.

Starting in 2014, Tech’s Highland Bakery is offering a new, advance online ordering system. By going to the Highland Bakery website, Tech students, faculty and staff members can now order their food in advance and pick it up in a timely manner at the Highland location under Tech Tower.

“The Georgia Tech location is the only one that offers the online ordering. Ultimately, our goal on campus is to make dining a very pleasant, enjoyable and efficient process,” said Rich Steele, Senior Director of Auxiliary Services. Although the online ordering system is a new feature beginning this year, GT Dining and Highland Bakery have been planning to start this system somewhere on campus for some time.

“It has been a part of our conversations since we decided to place them in the building. Highland originally had some complications with their service provider, but now the system is running. It took about a year to develop but we understand that’s the future of [the dining] industry. That’s the way our customers need to be served,” Steele said.

In the future, Tech students may see the online ordering approach implemented at other eateries on campus. Students should keep in mind, however, that the model might not be applicable to all on-campus dining options. Tech is also trying to cater to the stereotypical college student by making late night delivery a viable option.

“My guess is that, over the next year, we will try to roll [the online ordering system] out to other locations. We are also working on the delivery side. We are trying to make it efficient for students to order late night food,” Steele said.

Along with the novel online approach, Highland Bakery also plans to place a smaller-run operation in Tech’s library. The Highland Bakery Express pilot, which ran from Dec. 2 to Dec. 12 last year, proved to be a hit among Tech students. The Highland Bakery Express allowed students to purchase an array of sandwiches, pastries and drinks at the Tech Library East Commons Café, which was formerly Jazzman’s cafe.

“The Highland Bakery Express library pilot was very successful and that is another great opportunity to meet the needs of students. Yes, the pilot program was not a long-term operation but now we are going through a final design process and adding some sneeze guards and maybe a hand sink along with some other elements to help the execution,” Steele said.

Steele also mentioned several other fascinating concepts. One thought revolved around the idea of delivering the Highland Bakery Express orders to students throughout the library and the Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons (CULC).  Another involved a new approach on dining-in.

Online ordering at Highland Bakery is currently available at highlandbakery.com. The website currently accepts major credit cards and limits orders to be placed by 4:30 p.m. if they are to be picked up the same day.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit opened this past weekend on Jan. 17 after being delayed from its initial release date on Christmas.

The Jack Ryan movies are based on the best-selling military novels by the late Tom Clancy. His Jack Ryan series boasts nine books, so there remains a wealth of material for sequels, pending box office sales.

Now 12 years after the last Jack Ryan film, The Sum of All Fears, which was not exactly critically acclaimed, the question remains the same. Does Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit deliver?

The film starts off with a young Jack Ryan (Chris Pine, Star Trek) who, after being injured while doing a tour in Afghanistan, is recruited into the CIA by Second Lieutenant Thomas Harper (Kevin Costner, Man of Steel) for his skills as an analyst. While injured and in rehabilitation, he also meets Cathy Muller (Kiera Knightley, Pirates of the Caribbean), with whom he sparks a romance.

Then enters Viktor Cherevin (Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn), a Russian with an extreme sense of patriotism who harbors a grudge against the U.S. Cherevin plans to ruin the U.S. economically by destroying the value of the dollar, thus initiating the Second Great Depression.

Initially, the release date gave reason for worry, since most movies that are pushed into the upcoming year are not usually good, especially if the prior release was set for Christmas.

But Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit was surprisingly entertaining.

It covers all the bases for an action film and delivers solid performances from each member of the cast. Chris Pine does an excellent job filling in the shoes left by the previous Jack Ryans played by Harrison Ford and Alec Baldwin.

Pine captures the character’s naiveté as an inexperienced field operator with realistic accuracy and portrays a likeable protagonist.

Kenneth Branagh also gave a stellar performance as the villain, although his accent in the film is somewhat questionable. Branagh was able to present a menacing and dangerous adversary to Jack Ryan. Sometimes when a director plays such a large role in his own film, it spells trouble, but Branagh gave a well-balanced performance, which really made the viewer root for Jack.

Keira Knightley did well in her role as Jack Ryan’s girlfriend, and it was interesting to see her using an American accent—her first time doing so. Kevin Costner is not new to acting, so of course he was spot-on in his performance as Harper, a gruff and by-the-books CIA officer, who also acts as a mentor-of-sorts to Jack.

For the first 25-30 minutes, where it goes into the origins of Jack’s character, the film seemed to lack a sense of direction, but during the second act, after the plot kicks in, the movie finds its pace and finishes strongly.

Some parts of the movie seem a little cheesy or hokey, but for the most part, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit was an enjoyable and entertaining film to watch and is a welcome addition to the Jack Ryan films. Hopefully for the sequel, the series can come into its own with all the exposition out of the way.

Our Take: 3/5