On Feb. 13, a Tenn. House subcomittee passed Bill 141, known as the “guns-in-parking lots” legislation in an attempt to allow gun permit carriers to have their weapons in their vehicles on campus.

The legislation would allow permit holders to con-ceal their fi rearms in their cars at workplaces or on col-lege campuses without dis-crimination.

“I think it’s a good idea, because we have the right to bare arms and we shouldn’t have restrictions,” Rhen Hughey, freshmen commut-er said.

Other students have a different idea of how the law could affect their campus liv-ing.

“I think it was happen-ing anyway even before the law was passed,” Heather Howard, senior commuter, said. “I mean, let’s be hon-est with ourselves, we know enough people who have permits. Do we really think they never have their weap-ons with them?”

The bill passed the Sen-ate on Feb. 11, 28-5, with all 26 Republicans voting to pass, and two of seven Democrats, Ophelia Ford, Memphis Senate, and Lowe Finney, Jackson Senate.

The “guns-in-parking lots” legislation could make it a requirement for all em-ployers to allow guns in their

parking lots as long as weap-ons are locked in vehicles.

“I think it’s scary,” Cara Hughey, a freshman who lives on campus, said. “Yeah, it is good for protection pur-poses, but for shooters it will just be easier for them to bring the gun on to campus without questions.”

Bill 141 could allow the 371,800 Tennesseans who hold carry permits, and those from outside the state whose permits are recog-nized in Tennessee, to take their weapons to work or

campuses provided that they keep the weapon locked in a secure location in their ve-hicle. The bill also includes material meant to protect employers from lawsuits in the event of a workplace shooting or theft.

“I think that’s fi ne, but I came from a family that al-ways has had guns around,” Tiffany Milligan, a freshmen commuter said. “I don’t be-lieve guns hurt people just crazy people do, as long as they’re permitted and every-thing is done legally I don’t

see a problem.”While the rest of the

country is now considering tightening laws on gun con-trol, Tennessee has stirred controversy by passing this legislation to allow weapons on school grounds less than two months after the New-town, Conn. massacre.

The legislation will need to pass the full Tenn. House before being signed into law by Gov. Bill Haslam.

As of press time, a date for a full House vote had not been scheduled.

Tenn. Sen. Dolores Gresham pro-posed Senate Bill 664, which would require future teacher education program candi-dates to attain a composition score of 25 or higher on the ACT for pro-gram acceptance.

If passed, Sen-ate Bill 664 is projected to take effect statewide July 1.

Gresham was a leader in the 2010 Complete College Act that encourages

Tennessee citizens to pursue a post-secondary education and graduate within a reasonable amount of time.

However, her proposal for Senate Bill 664 limits students from teacher preparation programs by applying a requirement for an ACT score that is higher than the state and national av-erage.

“We already have requirements in place which assure that applicants are screened, not to mention, students are already required to make a minimum score of 22 on the ACT,” Julie Baker, interim assistant dean of education, said.

The college of education recently revised approximately 30 education courses to correspond with the newly

implemented Ready2Teach program.According to Tech trends, in fall

2012, 99 of 137 freshman that took the ACT, scored less than 25.

Since receiving the news last week, the college of education has worked hard to oppose the legilation.

“We have been calling and send-ing emails so we can try to put a stop to this. We want students to know this information so they can have a voice in the policymaking,” Baker said.

New changes to the college of education could affect Tech and other statewide universities if Senate Bill 664 passes.

For more information, contact Sen.Gresham by email at sen.dolores.gresham@capitol.tn.gov.

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Photo ServicesOldham addresses questions from Tech students at a similar forum last semester in the cafeteria.

Gresham

Students who received an email titled “LEGAL NO-TICE OF SETTLEMENT OF CLASS ACTION” may still

By CHANDLER PECORABeat Reporter

Students stand to gain from Facebook lawsuit

Legislation could allow guns on campusBy KATIE VAUGHNBeat Reporter

By SHELBEY ASHBURNBeat Reporter

Senator proposes to raise program admissions standards

Student steals, crashes roomate’s car

A Tech student was re-ported to Ed Boucher, dean of students, for stealing his roommate’s car and crashing it at Eighth Street and Willow Avenue Feb. 2.

According to Tony Nel-son, Tech police offi cer, the student drove his room-mate’s 2013 Volkswagen to class without permission.

The student then drove around Cookeville where he later crashed the stolen car at Eighth Street and Willow Avenue. According to the report, the Cookeville Police Department worked the acci-dent and notifi ed Tech police

By APRIL GILBERTBeat Reporter

when they learned the driverwas a Tech student.

Donna White, adminis-trative associate for the Tech police, said the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has labeled the incident as a sto-len vehicle case.

White also said, “The city may arrest him for stealing avehicle or for joyriding.”

According to the report,the owner of the vehiclehas chosen not to press anycharges against his room-mate at this time.

Tech police has releasedno names. There is no wordfrom the Cookeville policeregarding the potential arrestof the student.

Oldham to host open discussion

President Phil Oldham will host an open forum for discussion Feb. 19 at 11 a.m. in the Tech Pride Room of the RUC.

The forum is open to stu-dents, faculty, staff and mem-bers of the community. There is no agenda set for the meet-ing.

“Something I started this last semester were the open meeting opportunities dur-ing dead hour, either in the cafeteria or around campus,” Oldham said.

Last month, Oldham re-leased Flight Plan, his strate-gic plan for developing Tech. The president plans to con-tinue open forums through-out the semester to address questions, concerns or sug-gestions about Flight Plan.

By SARAH REESEBeat Reporter

Oldham hopes these conver-sations will help the campusunderstand and adjust to theforthcoming changes.

“There is no agenda to themeeting but these would begood times to bring any con-cerns or questions forward. Iwant to hear what everyoneelse has to say,” Oldham said.

Kayla Blouin, a fi rst-yeargraduate student, is interest-ed in Oldham’s open forumbecause of its potential.

“It’s very different to fi nda president that will sit downand talk about anything stu-dents have concerns about,”Blouin said. “I have questionsas a graduate student abouthow Flight Plan will affect meand I will be sure to get thoseanswered Tuesday.”

The scheduled discus-sion is open to all and is thefi rst of several forums to beheld this semester.

Hayley Greenhouse

Student William Mckean shoots a semi-automatic AR-15 rifl e at River Bend Shooting Range in Cookeville Feb. 12.

receive their share of the Facebook settlement.

The email is one result of a lawsuit fi led against Facebook involving its sponsored story ads in 2011, in which many users were used to promote prod-ucts based on things they “liked.”

The class action lawsuit

claimed that users’ informa-tion, including names and pictures, were used unlaw-fully to advertise and sell products.

The lawsuit was re-solved in December 2012, leading to a $20 million set-tlement made by Facebook, which aims to divide that number for each class mem-

ber involved and pay those individuals up to $10 each.

However, just because students sign on does not mean they’ll get any money.

The settlement states that if the number of class members becomes too great, and if the amount paid out would end up totaling less than $5 each, the settlement

will instead be distributed to 14 nonprofi t organizations.

Using information on Facebook provided by social media statistics website So-cial Baker, news site Forbes determined that if 3 million of the 125 million users who received the email apply, the settlement will go to the nonprofi ts.

If that is not too muchof a deterrent, students cansubmit a claim form by fol-lowing instructions in theemail they received.

With the deadline forsubmitting claims set forMay 12, and the fairnesshearing scheduled for June28, only time will tell who or what the settlement goes to.

“Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will listen to their cries and comfort them,” Psalm 10:17 (New Living Translation).

Feb. 5 was International House of Pancake’s National Pancake Day. The Cookeville IHOP location donated pro-ceeds from the day to Teen Challenge in the Upper Cumberland.

“IHOP, for years was supporting the Cookeville Pregnancy Clinic (CPC) and the GM of this IHOP, her daugh-ter and step-daughter, I helped both of them get into the Teen Challenge Pro-gram. They were strung out on drugs. Both have graduated from Teen Chal-lenge. So last year, the director from CPC, told the GM, ‘listen that is where your heart is, why not let Teen Chal-lenge do this?’ So last year (2012) we came in and they let us do what we are doing here and they probably had one of the most profi table National Pancake Days they ever had, from the numbers of people who came in and believe in this program,” Pastor Tim McLauchlin, executive director of Teen Challenge of the Upper Cumberland, said.

Tennessee is the second most drugged state in the U.S. We are proba-bly the Meth capital of the world in this area of middle Tenn. I am disturbed by this, to see people turn to drugs because something seems to be missing from their lives and the government won’t help programs like Teen Challenge, be-cause they try to give teens and even

some adults Jesus to fi ll that gaping hole they formerly fi lled with drugs.

“Clinicians, doctors have studied and they understand that it takes 120-days for the endorphins in your body to quit craving drugs. So you’re paying $30,000 for a 90-day program, all that’s doing is getting you sober but not kick-ing the drug addiction. They have not even fi gured it out,” McLauchlin com-mented.

People who leave these programs end up back on the drugs and back in jail quicker than you can blink. No wonder we are in such a defi cit. In light of this fact, I believe our government does a disservice to teens just needing help that can only come from the light offered by Jesus Christ.

“Teen Challenge is a 12-month to 14-month program. We lay the founda-tion of Jesus Christ. We help you under-stand why you got on drugs to begin with, how to give all those things over to the Lord, and then how to start liv-ing according to his word,” McLauch-lin said. “I can get anybody into any Challenge, any where around the coun-try for less than $2,000 for a year, when it costs secular programs $30,000. The government won’t give us money be-cause we are a Christ-based program.”

“Teen Challenge has an 87 percent success rate. Secular programs have less than 5 percent,“ McLauchlin said.

I do not believe we can cut God out of the government, because we were founded under God, “one nation under

God, indivisible, with liberty and jus-tice for all.” Where is the justice and lib-erty if the people of this country can’t get this God given help?

“I will say this, I will speak very highly of the courts systems in Putnam, Overton, White, DeKalb, they believe in Teen Challenge. We get a lot of people into Teen Challenge. The good news is that the courts support us for people who are willing and serious about go-ing, but the downside is that person looks at us and says ‘I don’t have any money, I don’t have the resources to get in Teen Challenge,” which most of them don’t. There’s no funds for us that they can get,” McLauchlin said.

If people really want change, they don’t have to look too far. Teen Chal-lenge is one of the best opportunities for change. They do not treat people who come in as another statistic. They treat them as lost children of God who have fi nally come home and just need help to kick the addiction of things that fi lled God’s place in their lives.

“IHOP National Pancake Day does a lot of things for us: one it helps us raise funds for our campus up in Liv-ingston. Two, I can’t tell you the num-ber of people I’ve had the opportunity to pray with today and help lead them to the Lord,” McLauchlin said.

I opened this editorial with Psalm 10:17. These people are hopeless and our government has turned a deaf ear to their cry and tries to get them sober through programs that cost our gov-ernment even more money- aka you. I propose this: our government needs to get off their lazy behinds and start put-ting money into something that works, Teen Challenge. Along with getting our national defi cit under control, we would also be cleaning up the streets of drugs and habitual criminals.

What if a select group of Americans had the ability to decide whether you lived or were mur-dered, all unbeknownst to you? Further, there’s no proof of you committing any crime. Would you be OK with that?

The reason I ask is, because the idea of a secret court to determine this very question was discussed as a means to rein in control of drone use.

Don’t believe me?Fox News reported Monday,

“U.S. senators are now fl oating the idea of an assassination court as a way to rein in the ever-expanding drone program -- a secretive opera-tion that, as it is, sounds like thriller fi ction, but isn’t.”

The purpose of the court is to decide whether or not to approve fl y-by killings of suspected terror-ists, and the fate of the “terrorist” lies solely in the hands of a select few. If those few deem him guilty, he is executed via drone immediately.

If he’s found innocent in their eyes, he lives.

Some of you reading this may be thinking, “Okay that doesn’t sound so bad. We kill off terrorists so that they can’t hurt me or anyone I know and love. What’s the big deal?”

Perhaps the big deal is in the details of the leaked drone memo posted on Business Insider Feb. 5. In their report, Business Insider out-lines seven key points to the drone policy that, when examined, will most likely spawn a fear the likes of which has not been evidenced since Orson Welles’ famous 1938 ra-dio broadcast. The only difference is that this isn’t a sci-fi story written long ago; it’s real, and it’s happening right under our naïve little noses.

As posted on Business Insider, the leaked memo cites the following:

1. The executive branch is under no obligation to show evidence, be-fore or after Jameel Jaffer, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, writes:

According to the white paper, the government has the author-ity to carry out targeted killings of U.S. citizens without presenting evi-dence to a judge before the fact or after, and indeed without even ac-knowledging to the courts or to the public that the authority has been exercised. Without saying so explic-itly, the government claims the au-thority to kill American terrorism suspects in secret.

This means if the administration murders someone, it cannot possi-bly be prosecuted.

2. The administration uses an “elastic” defi nition of “imminent.”

Jaffer also describes the Justice Department’s use of the word ‘im-minent’ — as in “imminent attack” — as so loose that the criterion could be applied to almost anything ... 5 days? Minutes? Months?

Jaffer says that it has been so redefi ned that it’s lost all relevant meaning — “It’s the language of limits—but without any real restrictions.”

By widening out imminent in terms of time, it means that the ad-ministration can strike targets while they’re in the shower, cutting toe nails or taking a nap.

3. The loose use of language turns the War on Terror into a

Forever WarThe memo describes Al Qaeda

as a “terrorist organization engaged in constant plotting” against the U.S. So as long as they perceive Al Qaeda exists, the executive branch can conduct extrajudicial killings.

This means the next president can conduct the same exercise of power. The authority to kill with-out transparency continues so long as any executive branch perceives a threat, possibly (and probably) forever.

4. Language sets precedent for foreign strikes inside U.S. borders.

The following justifi cation for crossing borders of countries with which the U.S. is not currently at war — countries “unwilling or un-able” to mitigate “terrorist threats” themselves — potentially gives oth-er nations a foot in the door, under the Constitution, to target their own defi nitions of terrorist threats inside U.S. borders.

From Jaffer: “The white paper also suggests, incorrectly that the courts have endorsed the view that there is no geographic limitation on the government’s exercise of war powers.”

In short, a foreign nation can claim the right to strike inside the U.S. border against anyone they

consider a terrorist.5. There is zero check on author-

ity to conduct extrajudicial killings.Much like the lack of necessity

to show evidence before or after a strike, the Obama administrationhas also tipped power precipitous-ly into the hands of the executivebranch.

In grade school, every Americanlearns that each branch of gov-ernment has checks and balancesagainst the power of the others. In this case, presently, no such check exists — the executive branch acts unilaterally (and until a law is enact-ed requiring transparency to some degree, in perpetuity).

Obama, who OKs thesedeath penalties as summarily as Judge Dredd, is judge, jury and executioner.

6. The memo blurs the line of “armed” and “violent.”

There is never a proper, strin-gent defi nition of either “armed” or“violent” — as in “armed” terrorists committing “violent,” “imminent”attacks.

Can a terrorist be armed with acomputer keyboard, a microphone, a computer? And can his commu-nication be considered a “violent” attack?

In response to the edito-rial, “Lack of God in schools leaves families, communities suffering,” I would like to in-form the author of the article that God is not some naughty pet humans can throw out of anywhere. God is every-where. We, mere mortals, do not dictate to our Creator where he can and cannot be. The idea that God was not present at Sandy Hook is ex-traordinarily small minded.

To answer the charge of “where was God during Sandy Hook,” I offer the fol-lowing into evidence. God was there in the form of the principal, Dawn Hochsprung and guidance counselor, Mary Sherlach, who rushed the gunman unarmed.

God was there in the form of Rachel D’Avino, Lauren Rousseau, Anne Murphy and Victoria Soto who used their bodies to shield their students from gunfi re.

God was there in the form of the quick response of the fi rst responders.

One could even argue

God’s hand was present inthe guilt that made the shoot-er, Adam Lanza, take his ownlife.

God is still there in thatschool that community, all theothers where children whoare scared and suffering butare being comforted. I feel theauthor of the piece and oth-ers, who are espousing theopinion that this happenedbecause God was taken outof schools, need to pray andknow God. The opinion thatany mere judge could dictatewhere our God can and can-not go is sadly misinformed.Sandy Hook happened be-cause a person who shouldn’thave had access to fi rearmsdid. Sandy Hook happenedbecause one person made thedecision to do evil. I do notbelieve that God would pun-ish innocent children. He isnot that petty.

God is everywhere andpresent in the actions of thosewho stand up, speak out anddefend the innocent.

Page 2 | February 15, 2013 tntechoracle.com

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Twelve teams of seven players will be fl ying around Tech’s Sherlock Park and chasing four balls on broom-sticks on Feb. 16.

If the game sounds familiar, it is. Tech’s quidditch team, the Golden Hippogriffs, is hosting a tournament based on the game made famous by J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels.

“We really love quidditch and want the chance to see some of the teams we will be competing against at the World Cup,” said team co-captain Landon Smith, a biol-ogy major from Crossville. “We want to show the public what quidditch is and how much entertainment it holds.”

In Rowling’s books, quidditch is played by witchesand wizards who fl y on broomsticks. The game has beenadapted, mostly by college students, for the non-magicalworld and is increasingly popular. There are more than800 teams registered with the International QuidditchAssocation, which is based in New York City and spon-sors the Quidditch World Cup every year.

Twelve teams from eight states will be at Tech for theday-long tournament, which will begin at 8:30 a.m. andgo until sunset.

Admission to the tournament is free, but the team willsell concessions, T-shirts and other merchandise to raisemoney to travel to the World Cup in April in Florida.

The Golden Eagle’s softball team went 2-2 in its opening weekend play at the Georgia Southern Classic.

Despite losing their fi rst game of the season 9-2 against Akron on Feb. 9, Tech was able to come back and get a win later in the day over St. John’s. Coach Bonnie Bynum said, “I think we came out a little nervous the fi rst game and it showed, but once we relaxed we played with every-body on the fi eld.”

The team was able to keep its momen-tum going into Sunday’s games, starting the day off versus Akron again, and earn-ing a 3-1 victory behind sophomore Tay-lor Ketchum’s one-hitter.

“The difference was that we had that fi rst game behind us,” Bynum said. “I think we defi nitely got better as the week-end went on and people started getting comfortable and just playing.”

Ketchum pitched all seven innings and faced just 28 batters, only allowing one hit and one run to earn the win.

“We need to work on never giving up, staying strong and positive throughout the whole game,” Ketchum said. “Our hitting and defense was very strong and when we were playing together we were solid.”

Picking up the Adidas Ohio Valley Conference pitcher of the week, Ketchum said the team is still working on trying to become one unit on the fi eld.

Heading into the afternoon, the Gold-en Eagles fell short to Georgia Southern from a solo home run, 1-0.

The team is working hard preparing for the upcoming weekend with a tourna-ment at Kennesaw State.

“For this weekend we’re going to work on being aggressive at the plate so we can have opportunities to hit the best pitch we can,” Kendall Hooper, junior catcher said. “We are a great team, so we need to make sure we come prepared to play like the great team we can be every game.”

The team will play Liberty and Mercer on Saturday and will end the weekend on Sunday against Ball State and host, Ken-nesaw State.

The Golden Eagle baseball team will open up their s¬eason with a home weekend series against Big Ten opponent Illinois start-ing Feb. 15.

“They are talented,” Head Coach Matt Bragga said. “If you’re out of the Big Ten, you’re going to have some good players.”

The Fighting Illini come into the opening series projected by Baseball America to fi nish seventh in the Big Ten.

Baseball America has them projected to go 29-27 this season. Last season, the Illini went 28-25.

“They love to run,” Bragga said. “They are very profi cient at bunting. The small game is something they really enjoy to focus on.”

Last season, Illinois stole 78 bases as a team, but last year’s stolen base leader, out-fi elder Willie Argo, was drafted in the 22nd round of the MLB draft by the Tampa Bay Rays.

Key players for the Fighting Illini include senior right-fi elder Jordan Parr and senior pitcher Kevin Johnson.

Parr was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 26th round of the draft, but

chose to come back to Illinois. He led the team in every major offensive category, having a batting average of .348 while hitting 15 home runs and 45 RBI.

Johnson came back to Illinois after being selected in the 31st round of the draft by the New York Yankees. He had a solid season last year with a 7-5 record and a team leading ERA of 3.97.

Tech matches up with the Illini very well on the position side of things, as they outhit them last season by 16 points.

Tech also had six men hit over .300 with a minimum of 125 plate appearances. The Illini had only two.

The pitching matchups will be interesting as Illinois brings in Johnson and sophomore John Kravetz to matchup against Tech’s se-nior ace Tristan Archer and redshirt sopho-more Jacob Honea.

“Just because they like to run doesn’t mean they don’t have some hitters, because they do,” Bragga said. “If I were to give you a brief synopsis over what Illinois likes to do traditionally, they like to run.”

The Golden Eagles open up a three game weekend series against Illinois at the Averitt Baseball Complex Friday at 3 p.m.

The women’s Golden Eagle basket-ball teams picked up their third straight win Feb. 9 against Jacksonville State; as they head into the home stretch of their season.

Tech took control of the game early on and never faltered after. The Golden Eagles were up 13 to 11 with 8:13 re-maining in the fi rst half, before a bar-rage three pointers from Senior Guard LaShay Davis led to the team to a 14-1 run.

Davis fi nished the game with a career high 19 points, shooting 5 for 7 from behind the arc.

Strong performances from Dia-

mond Henderson, junior guard and T’Keyah Williams, sophomore forward, helped keep the Gamecocks from com-ing back in the contest.

Henderson scored in double dig-its for the seventh consecutive game, scoring 19 in the game along with a team-high-fi ve assists and adding three steals. Williams was perfect from both the fi eld and free throw line fi nishing with 14 points.

Tech’s bench was one of the main factors in the blowout against the Gamecocks. Williams and Davis helped the Golden Eagle’s bench outscore Jack-sonville State University’s 44 to 11.

“It is very important four our bench to stay ready to play,” Williams says. “Around this time of the season, play-

ing back to back games can be very tir-ing for the team. It’s always good that we can come off the bench and bring positive energy.”

The women’s team goes on an im-portant three game road trip starting Feb. 16 against Morehead State Univer-sity; before closing out the season with two home games Feb. 28 and March 2.

“It is very important that we keep our streak going the last few games,” Diamond Henderson says. “We need to win in order to secure our number one seed in the OVC Tournament.”

Tech has improved to 14-10 on the season and 9-3 in conference play. They have now passed Eastern Kentucky as the number two team in the Eastern di-vision of the Ohio Valley Conference.

Page 3 | February 15, 2013tntechoracle.com

SPORTS

By SAM OMACHONUBeat Reporter

Sophmore center Candace Parson grabs an offensive rebound as the Golden Eagles go on to win 79-52 over Jacksonville State.Jim Dillon

The Golden Eagles men’s basketball team got back on track after their 78-64 win over Jacksonville State University Saturday night.

The victory improves the Golden Eagles’ OVC record to

By CALLEN HARRELLBeat Reporter

Baseball to open the season with weekend series against Illinois

By EMILY HOMANBeat Reporter

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Sophmore guard Javon Mckay fi nishes a thunderous dunk in the 78-64 defeat of JSU.

Jim Dillon

3-8 and splits the season match-ups with JSU after losing to theGamecocks Dec. 29.

“These are the kind of winsthat a team needs late in theseason to make a push for thetournament,” David Seaton, ju-nior wildlife management ma-jor, said.

Tech took at 25-24 lead intothe locker room at halftime butproved to be too much for theGamecocks to handle in the sec-ond half, outscoring JSU 53-40.

Senior guard, Judd Dillard got his ninth double-double of the season scoring 18 pointsand pulling down 10 rebounds.

Junior guard DennisOgbe also knocked down 18points and pulled down four rebounds helping the GoldenEagles dominate JSU on theboards 36-19.

Dillard was 14 for 14 at thestripe doing exactly what coach Steve Payne asked of his men at practice earlier in the week.

“We’ve got to get to therim, draw some contact andknock down our free throws,”said Payne.

Dillard and Ogbe lead theGolden Eagles in scoring withtheir 18 points each while ju-nior Brian Williams lead theGamecocks with 22 points and4 assists.

The Golden Eagles will be visiting Morehead State Uni-versity Feb. 16 before returningfor Academic Excellence Nightat The Hoop to host the Univer-sity of Tennessee at Martin Feb.21 at 7 p.m.

Men back on winning track

Womens basketball on three game hot streak headed into end of regular season

Softball splits opening weekend tournament games

The Golden Hippogriffs to host all-day tournament Saturday

Jim DillonTech quidditch club will be hosting a tournment saturday from 8 a.m. to sunset.

tntechoracle.comPage 4 | February 15, 2013

ENTERTAINMENT

‘The Big Bang Theory’ kills competion with humor, ratingsBy JAKE THREETEntertainment Editor

By HANNAHBENJAMINEntertainment Critic

By LINDSEY GOREEntertainment Critic

‘Side Effects’ the right dose of thriller

Fall Out Boy returns, Grammy Awards provide plenty of gossip

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When “The Big Bang Theory” started six years ago, I completely blew it off and thought I would never like it.

Over Christmas break, I happened to catch the pilot episode and a few more episodes during its syndication on TBS. I fell in love with this show. I was mad at myself for never watching it, but I quickly got over that. I immediately went to my Amazon account and purchased seasons 1-5 and had them expedited to my house to catch up on what all I had missed.

I had missed fi ve seasons of belly laughs and the wittiest and smartest writing on television. Many nights I stayed up until three or four o’clock in the morning catching up on the series. I tried to go to bed earlier, but I simply could not stop watching it. I love the characters of this show. They are all so relatable and the chemistry between the entire cast is one of the best, if not the best, on television right now.

Each episode is fi lled with constant laughter. The show started out with fi ve main characters: Sheldon (Jim Parsons), Leonard (Johnny Galecki), Penny (Kaley Cuoco), Raj (Kunal Nayyar), and Howard (Simon Helberg). Each different in their personalities, the cast blends together so well.

The breakout star of the show is Sheldon. He is my favorite character because I connect with him most, seeing a few of his traits in my own behavior. I do not think I am as funny with my actions, but Parson’s portrayal of Sheldon is outstanding.

The rest of the cast is hilarious as well. Kaley Cuoco portrays the dim witted Penny who develops a relationship with nerdy Leonard. Their relationship has been on and off

throughout the years. The pair together is simply undeniable and both characters are extremely lovable.

Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar make out the rest of the cast. They are best friends with Sheldon and Leonard and make the funny cast dynamic complete. Howard is the only one of the guys who does not have a doctorate and he is one horny little bastard, although that is what makes him so funny. On the contrary, Raj is very shy and quite around girls and can never speak to them unless he is drunk. Raj may just be the most lovable character on the show. Who doesn’t root for Raj?

During seasons three and four, new cast members were brought into the mix to spice up the show. Melissa Rauch as Bernadette Rostenkowski, a love interest for Howard who he would later marry

at the conclusion of the sixth season. Also brought in was Mayim Bialik as Amy Farrah Fowler, who would be the love interest of Sheldon. Bialik’s portrayal of Amy Farrah Fowler is hilarious. I love how she is unintentionally dirty in her humor. She is Sheldon’s match.

The show has continued to evolve over the six years it has been on and beginning its current season it feels like a new life has been brought into the show.

In the beginning, it was not the biggest ratings juggernaut and it took it some time to fi nd its audience. Six years later; however, it is the number two-ranked television show on TV right behind “NCIS.” Each year the ratings for the show have continued to grow and grow.

This season it is averaging a series best 18.6 million viewers per episode and averaging over 20 million viewers after DVR numbers are added in.

The shows popularity is almost at the level that “Friends” was when it was airing. I refuse to say that it’s more popular or a better show, because nothing was or is better than “Friends.” I will say, though that it is close to that level and the reason why is because it continues to get better as it goes on. “The Big Bang Tpheory” airs Thursday nights at 8/7 central on CBS.

“Side Effects” builds a story that exposes all sides of mental health that is as intricate as it intriguing.

“Side Effects” is a new take on thriller genres that follows Emily (Rooney Mara) after she is prescribed a new medication by her psychiatrist (Jude Law) to treat anxiety when her husband (Channing Tatum) is released from prison. The drug seems to be working at fi rst, but Emily’s entire life begins to fall apart when the drug has unexpected and dangerous side effects.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh, the fi lm successfully morphs itself and changes direction just when it seems as if it can be fi gured out. While this is often diffi cult to pull off, “Side Effects” is structured in a way that the fi lm can be fi lled with twists and turns without getting too confusing or ridiculous.

The entire fi lm has been carefully thought out and woven together so that it can fl ow without skipping a beat when it takes off in a new direction.

It is often hard to point out who the bad guy is, who’s the victim and who’s the crazy one. This rapid pace and constantly changing story does not make the plot sloppy or hard to follow.

Cinematography has special attention paid to it throughout and complements the entire fi lm. Creative angles, colors and a crisp starkness all contribute to the overall atmosphere and helps draw attention to important aspects of scenes. The cinematography itself makes the fi lm worth seeing.

Tatum, although not in the fi lm for long, is

performing a bit out of his comfort zone, and it is obvious at times. The relationship between Tatum and Mara comes across as forced and awkward during certain scenes, and Mara often steals the scene.

Mara portrays the array of emotions that her character is experiencing with an amazing amount of confi dence and conviction. She perfects her role down to her facial expressions and tone. Law and Mara have a chemistry that is apparent on screen, and Law’s performance is up to par with Mara’s exceptional acting. Catherine Zeta-Jones plays

Emily’s former psychiatristand performs solidly as well.

The fi lm’s only downfallis if it is looked at from a moreanalytical standpoint. Someof the scenes are far-fetched,and the fi lm’s entire premiseseems highly unlikely if it is applied to the real world. Onthe other hand, is that not thepoint of watching a movie?

“Side Effects” is asprovocative as it is thrillingwith beautiful, creative cinematography and a talented cast to complementthe fi lm’s constantly twistingplot.

“Side Effects” is rated Rfor sexuality, nudity, violenceand language.

It has been an eventful past few weeks for the music business. In case you missed it, here are a few headlines to keep up to date.

Ready for a blast from the recent past? Pop punk band Fall Out Boy famous for hits like “Thnks fr th Mmrs” and “Sugar We’re Going Down” announced last Monday morning that they would be ending their three year hiatus.

A single was debuted as well, called “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light ‘Em Up),” that reached the top ten iTunes top singles just hours after the announcement. The band will release a fi fth studio album (Save Rock and Roll) on May 6 and will tour nationwide this spring.

On Feb. 17, the 55th annual Grammy Awards aired with surprises across the board.

Taylor Swift wasted no time digging at ex- boyfriends when she performed “We Are Never Getting Back Together.” Swift seemed to have mocked recent ex Harry Styles of OneDirection in the speaking section of her song by saying, “So he calls me up and he’s like, ‘I still love you (in a British accent),’ and I’m like, ‘I’m sorry, I’m busy opening up the Grammys.” Come on, Taylor! The 23-year-old is known for dissing exes in songs, not in public.

John Mayer and Katy Perry seem to be getting pretty cozy. The two were seen looking absolutely smitten with each other during a pre-Grammy party Feb. 16.

Perry had ditched Mayer as her date for the awards in favor of bringing “Girls” star Allison Williams, but the couple appears to still be going strong and are rumored to be moving in together.

In news that isn’t surprising at all, Chris Brown is still a jerk. FrankOcean received a standingovation after beating outBrown for Best UrbanContemporary Album, butBrown didn’t participate.

Just two weeks earlier,the two had a brawl over aparking lot space requiringpolice involvement. Brownmay have been bitter,because no one cheered when his name was announced for the category,but he could have been civilfor appearances. Ocean also won Best Rap/SungCollaboration.

Mumford and Sons’“Babel” won Album of the Year, despite The Black Keyspredicted win.

fun., beat Frank Ocean for Best New Artist.Performances includedan “Alice in Wonderland”infl uenced opening fromTaylor Swift and JustinTimberlake‘s new song“Suit & Tie” broadcast inold school sepia tone.

With some interestingcollaborations, Rihanna andthe extended Marley familypaid tribute to Bob Marley,Bruno Mars and Stingperformed together, andElton John and Ed Sheeransang “The A Team.” Gotye’s“Somebody That I Usedto Know” took Record ofthe Year proving that evenwithout radio play, thatsong will never really goaway.

‘Side Effects’ opened at No. 3 at the box offi ce with over $9 million.

ImpaAwardsPerezHilton

After being one of the lowest rated shows on television in its fi rst season, ‘The Big Bang Theory’ is now a ratings smash.

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