Australia is not currently recognized much internationally for its comedy, but comedian Chris Lilley is trying to change that. Known for his many outrageous and boundary-crossing characters, Lilley is quickly becoming one of Australia’s most in-demand talents across the globe.

Over the past decade, he has created and starred in multiple television shows that have garnered international acclaim. His newest show, Ja’mie: Private School Girl, is a co-production between the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and HBO and will air in the U.S. on Nov. 24.

Lilley began his career as a stand-up comedian and got his first television role in the early-2000s sketch series Big Bite. On this show, Lilley began his tradition of portraying multiple characters, including the flamboyant Mr. G, who Lilley would also play in the mockumentary series Summer Heights High, and who would become one of Lilley’s most popular characters.

After Big Bite ended, Lilley created and starred in We Can Be Heroes, where he again played multiple characters, including Ja’mie King, a spoiled and vulgar female teenager who would go on to appear in several of Lilley’s most popular shows. During this stage in his career, Lilley won numerous awards, including the prestigious Rose D’Or award in Switzerland for Best Male Comedy Performance.

Summer Heights High came next for Lilley, gaining him international recognition. The show premiered on HBO in late 2008 with Lilley doing a promotional tour around the country. His next show, Angry Boys, brought him even more success abroad, airing in over 100 countries.

Lilley’s latest venture, Ja’mie: Private School Girl, centers around one of his most popular characters, Ja’mie, from We Can Be Heroes and Summer Heights High. Unlike his previous shows, which were aired almost a year later abroad, it will premiere in the U.S. only a month after the Australian premiere.

All of Lilley’s shows are filmed in a satirical, mockumentary style similar to NBC’s The Office, which makes them feel more realistic, and, according to Lilley, “there’s something funny about these characters in a real environment.”

His characters also push the boundaries of what is normally seen on television. For instance, in Angry Boys, one of the characters he plays is a Japanese mother that is encouraging her son to be gay.

According to Lilley, “I like humour that is shocking to watch and uncomfortable to watch.”

The comedian has faced some backlash and negative press due to the homophobic nature of some of his characters. He is not bothered by this, however, and says that he is “pointing out the homophobic culture and sort of actually making fun of kids like that.”

Lilley’s shows are also very short when compared to American shows. Each one of his shows only lasted one season of six to twelve episodes, while most successful American shows last from five to ten seasons, each consisting of 22 episodes.

Lilley creates each show to tell a whole story; however, he uses characters in multiple shows to give them a loose connection to each other.

When speaking about his new show, Lilley said, “It’s kind of like I’m doing another season, but I’m calling it something different,” referencing the fact that the show will feature a returning character but in a different setting.

Overall, Lilley’s success is a big step for Australian television. Few Australian shows have made their way to the U.S., but as Lilley’s popularity increases across the globe, perhaps other shows from down under can follow in his footsteps towards international popularity.

A new Batman game has hit the shelves, and with Rocksteady Studios handing off the torch to newcomer WB Montréal, along with a whole new cast, how does Batman: Arkham Origins hold up against its predecessors in Batman’s most successful video game franchise?

Origins joins the dark knight near the start of his career, about two years after he first dons the cape and cowl. The game has a new setting, but anyone who kept the streets clean of crime in Arkham City will feel right at home with this new addition to the Arkham franchise. In fact, the similarities to 2011’s Arkham City are uncanny, with no citizens or cars occupying the streets, just the Bat and thugs as far as the eye can see. The explanation is that everyone in the city is staying indoors for Christmas Eve to honor a city-wide curfew. The decorations lining the rooftops are nice to look at, but with streets and rooftops only patrolled by thugs, Gotham is not really overflowing with Christmas spirit.

That is not to say that Origins does not have its fair share of features that make it stand out from the previous games. The map is much bigger than City’s, with new districts that add several new locales the Bat can roam around, like Dixon Docks, Blackgate Penitentiary and the Gotham City Police Department. The bat cave is also available for the first time in the Arkham series, and Batman can revisit the facility to complete certain tasks. This is made possible by a fast travel system that utilizes the Batwing: players can travel to various drop points around the city.

The story of the Bat’s origins have been told again and again, but Origins is able to put its own spin on things, keeping the story entertaining and interesting, while also adding something to the dark knight mythos. The breakdown is that on Christmas Eve, the villainous Black Mask has placed a $50 million bounty on Batman, and eight of the world’s greatest assassins have come to claim the prize. So most of the fights in the game are decided for the player. However, the game spaces them out well, rising in difficulty evenly.

Branching off from the main story line, like the past Arkham games, there are plenty of side activities that Batman can pursue. One of the new additions in this game are the crime scenes. These CSI-esque sequences have the world’s greatest detective put on his thinking cap and piece together the events that lead to someone’s death. Assembling and finding clues in these side missions make the game consistently interesting and fun.

There are other side missions that are also enjoyable, with characters such as Shiva, Deadshot and the Mad Hatter having their own sub-plots and satisfying side-quests. The GCPD will also occasionally report Crimes in Progress which are good opportunities to gain some extra experience points. Simpler diversions are also present in the form of disabling the Penguin’s arms caches, deactivating Anarky’s bombs or blowing up Black Mask’s drug shipments.

The fluid and rhythmic combat the Arkham games are known for has not been changed much in this latest installment, but the addition of a few new enemy types, such as the martial artists which live to break the flow of combat, certainly add to the variety of ways Batman can beat up people. The combat still feels satisfying and really puts the player into the dark knight’s boots.

New gadgets are also given as the story progresses, such as the remote claw, which can be used to create tight ropes across a pair of points or, more amusingly, tie two targets together.

Along with the new toys, Batman can also upgrade his skills and his suit, and with over two hundred challenge maps and Crimes in Progress constantly being reported, there is no shortage of ways to gain experience points in Arkham Origins.

The multiplayer in Origins, Invisible Predator Online, offers a great challenge and is a fun addition to the series. The one and only game mode pits two gun-wielding teams of three against each other for control over different points on the map, while two players take control of Batman and Robin and stalk the thugs from above and below. Both teams of three work for either the Joker or Bane and start out with 25 Reinforcements, which constitute respawn tickets for either team that tick down as team members die or lose control points. During each round, however, one player on both teams has the chance to open a door and play as their leader, Bane or the Joker, doing some extra damage with their own special abilities.

Batman and Robin achieve victory by filling an intimidation meter that is done by stealth-killing enemies or other attacks. This intimidation meter also drops sharply if either of the Dynamic Duo fall. To play as Batman or Robin, if you had played as a generic thug the previous round, you can opt in for a random drawing for a chance to don the cape and mask.

This new mode feels like a good fit for the series. Although the standard 3v3 setup might seem old and played out, with the added element of Batman and Robin, it makes the player feel tense and self-conscious about where his next step is. Playing as Batman or Robin is also exhilarating, striking from the shadows on an unsuspecting victim is gratifying, but turning the tables on the caped crusaders is perhaps even more satisfying. With just two teams and four maps, there is not much room for variation, so that only points toward some DLC somewhere down the line.

Anyone who is nervous about Origins’s change of cast and developer can put their minds at ease knowing that WB Montréal has put the same level of care and respect as Rocksteady did with their installments. Although the absence of Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill as the voices of Batman and the Joker respectively is disappointing, their replacements, Roger Craig Smith and Troy Baker, completely own their roles and give impressive performances, especially with Baker as the Joker.

Origins lives up to the high expectations the Arkham series has created. It is a solid game, with fun gameplay, interesting characters and a unique multiplayer mode. However, the game does stick very close to the already established formula.

Game Day is the time to use the best of Tech school colors to show both student spirit and style equally.

Every Saturday (and some Thursdays), Bobby Dodd stadium is a sea of every creative combination of white and gold and the football game becomes a fashion show.

There is the “Prep Look,” in which gentlemen dress in button-down shirts, neatly tucked into a pair of slacks, topped with a Yellow Jacket-inspired tie.

There is the “Game Day Dress,” in which ladies don a dress of Tech colors, like white, yellow and black. This look is paired with cute sandals or a pair of boots.  The hunt for the perfect game day dress is always on. Fortunately for students, Tech has very versatile school colors.

There is the “Student Spirit,” a look for which students come to games dressed head to toe in Tech gear and their favorite player’s jersey. Here to show true spirit, these fans are all about representing the Jackets.

Each fan has his or her unique Game Day style, but the most exciting part of the day is just being at the stadium to watch another Jacket victory.

No matter what you choose to wear on Game Day, though, the most important accessory is still your wristband.

It’s Saturday night. With thumping electronic music in the background, three boys, arms crossed and hips cocked to one side, stand in the corner scrolling through a Powerpoint, while another boy and a girl take over the carpet-turned-dance-floor, throwing in a pull of the girl through the boys’ legs and ending with a grandiose dip.

At the back of Brittain Rec, the door opens and shuts as other people continuously stream in and out. Everyone is laid back, and all is hakuna matata. This is the breakdancer life.

Breakdancing, or b-boying/b-girling, is a style of dance that originated in the streets of New York. Nowadays, breakdancing has been commercialized for awestruck Hollywood audiences, and battles replayed on YouTube by idolizing teens, but the representation of b-boys on the Tech campus remains small.

“Breakdancing is something most find ‘cool’ but at the same time unapproachable. For that reason, many who are legitimately interested in the art that is breakdancing are almost scared to join that which they believe to have a high learning curve,” said Mahdi Al Husseini, a first-year BMED major and president of Howell, Harrison and Cloudman’s (HHC) hall council.

Because of his beliefs on students being tentative over breakdancing, Husseini invited the Tech Breakdancing group Tekstyles to teach HHC residents a little more about the art of dance.

“[Tekstyles’] goal is to promote Tech Hip-Hop by providing an environment to learn and develop dancing. This dancing includes all genres: breaking, house, crumping, etc.” said Clarence Chang, a third-year ISyE major and Vice President of Tekstyles.

To begin, the b-boys and single b-girl gave students a glimpse of the breakdancer atmosphere. Students who arrived promptly at 6 p.m. were met with 15 minutes of freestyling, during which spectators and new students looked confused and out of place.

Most of the b-boyers learned techniques from varied sources, and the breakdancing community is largely based on picking up skills by observation. As such, the dancers often know different moves under the same name, and vice versa. The “Indian step,” for one, means something entirely different from dancer to dancer.

This disparity, along with the facts that some students pick up footwork faster than others and that every dancer has his or her own flair, culminated in a breakdown of the traditional big-group teaching method, and students soon split off into one-on-one training.

To end a night of chaos and fun, Tekstyles led the students in one last breakdancing tradition: a cypher. A cypher is a circle of dancers who take turns stepping into the middle and freestyling, or a battle in which b-boys aim to out-compete the other in technique and flair.

By the end of the night, the HHC residents had passed the first and most difficult stage of breakdancing.

She takes the field and looks around—thousands of people look down in anticipation as the first notes escape the instruments on the field and begin to fill the stadium.

It’s finally here, the moment she’s been preparing and waiting for all week has finally arrived.

It’s game day on the Flats.

Game day, according to many of the band members, is an event unlike any other for the Tech Yellow Jacket Band. It is an event members spend hours throughout the week preparing and practicing for and one that adds uniqueness to the game day experience.

Sarah Smith, a first-year BA major, has been playing percussion since she began taking lessons in fourth grade. She joined her school band in sixth grade and knew immediately that it was something she wanted to commit a large portion of her life to.

Now part of the pit section in Tech’s marching band, Smith spends several hours throughout the week preparing for and playing at the school’s football game days.

“Every time I step out onto the field,” Smith said, “I know I made the right decision both in joining band and in coming to [Tech].”

Game day starts early for Smith, who wakes up with the sun the morning before games and immediately begins getting ready for the day’s events. Like other band members, she must don an all-white uniform underneath her actual uniform. After getting dressed and grabbing breakfast, she heads to Fowler Street to behind unloading instruments for the percussion section and then carries them to the stadium.

“The truck area looks crazy to anyone looking on,” Smith said, “but in reality it’s very productive chaos. Everyone is running with a purpose.”

Photo by John Nakano

Amidst the sea of white uniformed members running back and forth, the members of the drum line begin to warm up for their performance on Yellow Jacket Alley. The paradiddles and notes echo across campus and hype up both the members and the spectators.

The line leads the football players down the alley and then goes to join the pep band for the fight songs.

Smith and other members of the Pit get ready to perform their pregame performance, at the plaza in front of the stadium. This performance takes place two hours before kickoff.

The band plays current songs, including hits like “It’s Time” by Imagine Dragons and “Little Talks” by Monsters and Men. The crowd grows and grows as the performance goes on and so too does the morale of the spectators. After the applause, Smith heads into the stadium and begins to prepare for pregame.

Smith spends the game actively following every play, playing whatever song is cued. What little downtime the band has between songs is spend yelling at the crowd and getting into the game.

“You can’t hear anything,” Smith said. “Everything is just so loud.”

As halftime approaches, she begins to get the jitters, worrying that the tempo will tear or something will go wrong. Their show is played and things go off without a hitch. The crowd cheers and the band returns to the stands energized and relieved.

“Home game atmospheres are great,” said Ryan Alain, a first-year ME major who plays bass drum in the band. “Away games are so different. We don’t wear full uniforms, we don’t march and there aren’t as many fans to feed off of our energy.”

The third quarter marks break time for the band members, who flock to the concession stand to spend their meal ticket. Smith goes for the nachos and returns back to the stands in time to for Tech’s signature “Budweiser Song.”

As the game nears the end, the band once again prepares for a show. The horse and the fight song are staple post-game traditions; post-game is especially exciting if the team wins.

After a Tech victory, the football team makes their way to the North End zone, where the band and loyal members of The Swarm are waiting patiently. The band belts out the fight song as the team raises their helmets in the air and sings along.

“It’s unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced,” Smith said. “It shows all of the spirit coming together as everyone celebrates together in the moment.”

As the final notes of “Horse” are played, Smith and other band members prepare to leave. Exhausted, she files out of the stadium alongside the rest of the fans. Once she’s home free, she heads to the dining hall, ready to eat and sleep. Until the next game, that is.

The Tech Yellow Jackets men’s tennis team sent freshmen Carlos Benito and Cole Fiegel as well as sophomore Nathan Rakitt to compete last weekend in the USTA Clay Court Invitational, which took place at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex. All three players were entered into the singles field of 64, and Rakitt and Fiegel also formed a team for the 32 team doubles bracket.

Benito, a freshman from Madrid, Spain, was the only Jacket to advance out of the first round of the singles bracket on Thursday. He defeated South Alabama’s Manuel Beida, 7-6 (9-7), 7-5. Benito barely eked out the first set in the tiebreaker, and it was a back and forth match all the way. Fiegel and Rakitt were not as successful and neither managed to advance past the round of 64.

Cole Fiegel lost to Florida State’s Cristian Gonzalez despite winning the first set. Fiegel had trouble holding serve and Gonzalez was able to finish off the match 6-4, 2-6, 3-6. Nathan Rakitt lost in a nailbiter to Tulsa’s Carlos Bautista 4-6, 6-7 (6-8). Bautista claimed the first set, but Rakitt battled back to force a tiebreaker in the second set that he narrowly lost.

In the round of 32, Benito faced off against the tournament’s fourth seed Florent Diep from the University of Florida who is ranked No. 52 nationally. Diep took the match, 6-3, 6-4, but Benito kept his composure and remained competitive throughout the match. Meanwhile, both Fiegel and Rakitt managed to win their first matches in the consolation bracket with Rakitt winning handily in straight sets.

On the doubles side, hopes were high as Rakitt and Fiegel entered the draw as a top-8 seed. Unfortunately, they were upset in the first round 8-6 in a loss to Kenny Sabacinski and Nico Montoya of Notre Dame.

The Jackets then entered Saturday with all competitors in the consolation bracket. The team managed to shake off the rough start to the tournament and finish strong, winning all three of their singles matches along with their doubles match to go 4-0 on the day. Rakitt easily took care of Tennessee’s Sunay Bhat in straight sets, 6-3, 6-0, and Cole Fiegel hung on to beat Tulsa’s Dylan McCloskey, 6-1, 3-6, 1-0 (10-8).

Playing his first match in the consolation bracket, Benito bested Michael Rinaldi of Florida State, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5). All three Jackets bolstered their records to a respectable 2-1 for the trip, although each would have liked to have gone farther in the tournament. The doubles team bounced back to even their record for the weekend by beating Florida State’s Grayson Golding and Michael Rinaldi, coming fresh off his singles loss to Benito.

The Jackets men’s tennis will be back in action next weekend from Nov. 8-10 as they will compete in the Bulldog Scramble in Athens, Ga.

David Cummings, the Founder of Atlanta Tech Village, also known as the Village, recently announced his plan to start a $1 million fund specifically for Tech student startups. This fund, otherwise known as the Atlanta Student Fund, allows Tech student startups to not only receive memberships and desks at the Village, but to also receive investments of $5,000 to $10,000.

“We are willing to give each individual startup between $5,000 and $10,000. We chose this amount because the idea is to give them enough to do some marketing and get a little bit of traction. Once they show us they can make it, they can come back for more,” said Johnson Cook, Managing Director of the Village.

The Atlanta Student Fund was geared towards Tech student startups because of Tech’s emphasis on innovative technology.

“First of all, the startups that we’ve already invested in come from Georgia Tech. So we want to go upstream and get to them sooner. We really like technology and want companies to be tech-focused,” Cook said.

The Atlanta Student Fund is geared towards Tech students already interested in building startups.

“The main goal of the Atlanta Student Fund is not to encourage people that aren’t planning on starting a company already. We want the people who are already thinking of starting a company while in school to have a better chance of starting a company,” Cook said.

Although the Atlanta Student Fund has no formal connections to Tech’s on-campus startup resources, such as Venture Lab or Startup Competition, Tech students are still encouraged to use the resources.

“There are no formal agreements with Tech’s on-campus resources other than we will try to make sure that any student startup understands that they have those resources available. Ultimately, we want the best for the companies and we want them to know about the resources,” Cook said.

By taking advantage of Tech’s on-campus resources and the Atlanta Student Fund, students can easily get involved with startups.

“I see the Atlanta Student Fund greatly helping those Tech students who are looking into creating a startup. The fund along with Tech’s vast on-campus startup resources make student startups that much more achievable and that fact has definitely influenced my decision to get more involved in potential startups,” said Eric Xu, a first-year CE major.

Over time, the fund may expand to other metro Atlanta schools.

“We will probably expand the fund to other metro Atlanta schools like Emory, Georgia State University and Kennesaw State University because we are all about the metro Atlanta area,” Cook said.

Before beginning a new startup, Cook recommends that students work with existing startups to gain experience.

“If you are really thinking about startups, the best thing is to join a startup and work as an intern. Get some mentors and see how it operates before you try to do it yourself,” Cook said.

The Village also hosts lunch chow-downs where members can meet with one another to discuss startups and upcoming projects.

“Every Friday, there is a startup lunch chow-down which is $10 for non-villagers and free for all villagers. Also Friday, Nov. 8, there is a student day lunch chow-down where students can come meet startup workers for free,” Cook said.

My friends and I got into an argument the other day.  As huge college football fans, we were planted right next to the television when the first BCS standings of the season were released.  Like many sports fans, we all lot to say when the Florida State Seminoles —not Oregon—were revealed to have earned the number two ranking.

The night before, we, along with the rest of football America, watched Florida State give the Clemson Tigers a thorough beat down in a matchup that everyone had been calling “Game of the Year.”  Freshman phenom Jameis Winston cemented himself as one of the Heisman frontrunners and the ‘Noles defense made Tajh Boyd look like Josh Freeman looked the other night. Okay, maybe not that bad. The point is, nobody could have predicted Florida State would curb stomp the number three overall team, the way that they did, yet they did.

A few hours later Oregon completed an almost equally dominating win, 62-38 over Washington State.  So we are not exactly talking about a national powerhouse with the Cougars, but Oregon did their job: win.

Flash forward to Sunday when the rankings came out. Either scenario, with Oregon saying at number two, or getting jumped, seemed reasonable considering the above. Debate ensued nonetheless the next day. We were throwing out all kinds of reasons why we thought we were correct: Florida State has the most impressive win this year, Oregon plays in a tougher conference, Oregon did nothing to deserve being jumped, before landing on a very intriguing question that sparked the most discussion. Which team would better challenge number one Alabama if they were to meet in the title game?

I argued for Oregon, because Alabama has struggled with teams that employ a mobile quarterback in the past.  In the past four years, Alabama has lost just four games.  Three years ago, they lost to bitter rival Auburn who of course were led by the ever scrambling, Cam Newton. They also lost their only game last year to Texas A&M and Johnny Manziel, a quarterback who has already set quarterback rushing records in one season, and were tested to the final whistle this season against the Aggies.  The evidence was not super strong, but it was the best argument I felt there was between two teams that on paper, are just as good as Alabama if not better.

Some of my friends argued that you cannot look at past seasons to support something in the present.  I countered that many of the players from those teams are still on the Alabama roster today, as are as coaches who many have specific tendencies that could hinder teams against certain styles.

This continued on and on before we decided to just agree to disagree. In doing so, I realized something much more significant.  Ranking teams is impossible. It is absolutely, 100% impossible for college football rankings to be an accurate process. There are simply too many variables.  Consider injuries, strength of schedule, margin of victory, team tendencies, momentum, the brevity of a college football season and intangibles just for starters. How do we know who is best? The answer is we really do not.

In sports, I would like to think we strive to be as fair as possible.  With that in mind, it finally made sense to me why playoff systems work in sports.

They are a fair method for deciding a champion while still keeping the drama in play that sports fans live for. They aren’t a perfect system, but there is no such thing. They work, and they work especially well in college football where teams play entirely different schedules. So as we draw closer and closer to the end of the BCS era, even though I am secretly hoping for some BCS drama this year, I know that when it comes to the great sport of college football, it is about to get even better.

Last Thursday, Oct. 17, Tech’s Student Center Programs Council showed the chilling horror film The Conjuring at the Student Center Theater. While this sounds like an ordinary event where friends would go, see a movie, and return home, it was in fact much more due to the great atmosphere that the SCPC provided; seeing The Conjuring at a movie theater would have made for a far worse experience.

The movie itself was mediocre at best. It was a typical horror story; an unwitting family, in this case, the Perron’s, moves from a hectic urban life to the country only to find that their new house, more specifically the house’s deceased previous owners, are trying to kill them. While this particular movie is apparently “based on real events,” it is so similar to other generic horror flicks that are entirely fictitious that the viewers are left with the impression that The Conjuring is also fabricated.

However, though the plot is nothing new, the actors do a fine job of portraying their characters; even the Perron children are convincing. It is not unusual to be watching a movie only to have it spoiled by a child actor who has not yet mastered his or her art. Fortunately, this is not the case when watching The Conjuring. Throughout the movie, the Perron children are shown playing, being terrified by the demonic presence or otherwise going about their daily lives, and the audience is easily drawn into film by these performances.

Each of the five Perron daughters is played by a rather talented actress. While all the daughters are represented superbly, the script is written in such a way as to let the audience see the five children as a whole, not really developing each as an individual. This might be why their acting is far better than the children in other, similar horror movies, though this explanation in no way belittles their individual performances.

Once everyone was seated and the movie started, the real fun began

As mentioned before, The Conjuring itself was not the highlight of Thursday’s event. The movie started an hour before midnight, a sufficiently spooky time for showing a horror film. However, in order to get a seat, people started gathering outside the theater early. Even coming early and waiting in line did not guarantee a place in the theatre; many prospective moviegoers were turned away once all the seats were claimed.

For the lucky ones who did get a seat, however, the night’s revelries started even before the movie began. SCPC provided milkshakes and popcorn, and while the milkshake making was a slow process, and they did eventually run out, those who received one greatly enjoyed the unique treat. Popcorn, on the other hand, is a staple at any movie theater. The popcorn was no better or worse than any other popcorn, which translates to being extremely good, and everyone had their fill.

Once everyone was seated and the movie started, the real fun began. In a normal movie theater, people are normally quiet, respectful and keep to themselves. At Tech’s Student Center Theater, no such norms are enforced. Throughout the movie, people voiced their own opinions with gusto. Some were just annoying, such as people asking their friends about tomorrow’s plans and other such trivialities, but other comments actually improved the quality of movie experience.

At one point in the film, Carolyn Perron, the mother (played by Lili Taylor, Say Anything…), is playing a game with her youngest daughter, April. Carolyn is blindfolded and trying to find April, who claps occasionally to help. The mother follows the wall into a bedroom with an antique wardrobe in it where the demonic presence in the house is seen (by the audience, not the blindfolded mother) to reach its hands out of the wardrobe and clap. Carolyn Perron, believing this to be her daughter, makes her way towards the wardrobe, ready to embrace April. Just as the mother reaches the wardrobe with the demon in it, someone in the audience cried out “Hello, Mr. Tumnus!” This perfectly timed Narnia reference cause the audience to burst into laughter during one of the movie’s most suspenseful scenes. While other commentary also improved the movie, this was by far the most memorable and the best fitting.

Once the end credits started, there was a mass exodus. No one seemed keen to stay until the very last name scrolled passed. This was no particular loss, as The Conjuring has no extra footage after the credits (but it does show pictures of the real people that the movie portrays). All in all, this SCPC event was a success but not because of the movie choice. Without the running commentary from the audience, the film would not have been worth watching. So, many thanks to whoever proclaimed: “Hello, Mr. Tumnus!”

As part of Tech’s Strategic Plan, a new Campus Information Technology Master Plan is being designed and implemented to help maintain Tech’s technological edge.

For the first time in the school’s history, the administration is creating a consolidated plan to integrate all of the IT services from across campus and develop a strategy to guide the many short and long term IT-related decisions that will be made in the future.

“We’re currently taking a broad look at the entire technological ecosystem here, not simply IT. All of the systems underlying the teaching, research, operations and administration are being examined,” said Robert Gerhart, Director of Facilities and IT for the College of Architecture.

The initiative will be overseen by a committee consisting of administrators from academic departments across campus. The committee was assembled this past summer, and the administration has been working to collect input from students and faculty.

“Through a sequence of campus interviews and town halls, we’ve talked to approximately 200 people so far,” Gerhart said.

Members of the committee are taking a broad scan of Tech’s environment to assess OIT’s current strengths as well as areas in need of improvement. Everything from campus Wi-Fi and computing clusters, to software licensing and student portal access is under discussion.

As part of the school’s wish to gather as much quality community input as possible, there will be several town hall meetings held during the course of the semester, including two which have taken place within the past two weeks.

Students can also suggest feedback by going to itmasterplan.gatech.edu.