Venturing into “The Third Man”

Noir films have ceased to exist since more or less since the 1950’s. Any recent attempt to rekindle the genre have been placed in the neo-noir category in part because they fail to capture to authentic feel of the 40’s or 50’s or because they touch upon noire themes without addressing yesteryear (think L.A. Confidential for the former and Mulholland Drive for the latter).

So it was refreshing to watch a film like Carol Reed’s “The Third Man” and see everything you would expect to see from a noir film even if it is a British version of it.

“The Third Man” stars an American writer, Holly Martins (Joseph Cotton), who comes into post-war Vienna to meet his old friend Harry Lime. Problem is his friend Lime is dead from a car accident. But it would be an incredibly unintersting film if it ended at that.

Instead the Martins begins to wonder if Lime’s death was really an accident. He finds the two confirmed people who moved Lime’s body out of the street who insist they alone moved his body. But a man living in Lime’s apartment complex swears that there was a third man there to help drag the body.

Martins comes across Lime’s girlfriend Anna (Allida Valli), who he discovers is in the Allied section of Vienna illegally and fears being taken by the Soviets. Lime had been working to get her documents when he died. As Martins became more and more entangled with Anna, whom he falls in love with, so too does he become more entangled with the mystery of the third man.

This films cast is a real strength as across the board Cotton and the British Major Calloway played by Trevor Howard provide witty banter and always manage to keep the film flowing. Cotton may not epitomize the noir genre like Humphry Bogart or Jack Nicholson, but he manages to carry the film all the way to the memorable end. That’s also forgetting to mention Orson Welles who steals the film when he in on camera and Citizen Kane included, could very well be his best performance.

All the while Vienna serves as an interesting backdrop for the film particularly at the end where the dark sewers serve for a fitting finale. The addition of the political component adds a unique wrinkle to the genre and provides for a lively plot.

“The Third Man” isn’t the best of the genre but it is a vital part of it because it tries many new things and it would be a mistake for film goers and fans of the genre to dismiss it. Its not for everyone as its zither music may turn you off from the get go but to stick with it will certainly result in a memorable experience.

A glimmer in the dark ages of education

It’s no secret that America is falling behind in math and sciences. Every recent study says that many Asian countries’ eighth grade students are continuously outpacing their American counterparts. According to The Christian Science Monitor, the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress suggests that U.S. students as a whole have only slight gains from the 1970’s.

But more distressing is the fact that Black and Hispanic students continue to lag behind their white and Asian peers, and although they have made significant gains since the 70’s to close the gap, since 2004 their test scores have stagnated.

Educators have for decades argued over the the “right” answer to this dilemma. Some have advocated for educational vouchers which would allow students in bad districts to go to private schools. However, this is strongly opposed by teacher’s unions and even by private schools which fear that the government may begin influencing their schools.

One of the better things to come about though in recent years is the rise of Teach for America. This group recruits talented college graduates to go and work in poor inner city schools for two years in exchange for $10,000 that is used to help pay off student loans in most instances. But tellingly most teachers stay beyond the two required years and some do become full-time teachers.

Two Teach for America alums are David Levin and Mike Feinberg. In 1997 they took a gamble and opened a new school called KIPP Academy in Southwest Houston. It didn’t take long for the school to literally reach the top of the state’s “exemplary school” lists.

This is where I come in. My mom made the decision to send me to a school in Houston on the advice of my older half-sister. So in February of 1999 I moved from L.A. to Houston and two months later my parents would follow.

I went into the place knowing nothing about KIPP, and even worse for me I entered more than half-way through the year. It was a small campus located off of Beechnut and Fondren at the very corner of HBU’s boundaries. There were perhaps 400 students and almost all of them were black of Hispanic.

My first few months their were disastrous. I couldn’t fathom the long hours I spent at school now– from 7:30 to 5. It left few hours for one to home to discharge and even more time was chewed up by the significant amount of homework each class provided and by Saturday classes three out of four weeks a month.

The initial returns on my grades fared just as badly because I knew nothing of negative numbers and even less about how to write well. The teachers considered moving me back to the 5th grade. I almost quit and went to another school but my sister had me stay and by the year’s end I survived.

The next two years I finally hit my strithe and was able to become one of the school’s best students. It turns out that such a structured and organized environment helped someone like me become focused and reach my potential.

The teachers were accessible by phone at just about any time and you were expected to call if you needed help or if you needed an extension on an assignment. My favorite teacher was my 7th grade English teacher Mr. Whitney who actively encouraged me to read and write by keeping logs of what we had been reading.

When I graduated I was able to go to a great boarding school in New Hampshire. Away from the structure, I began to procrastinate and again my grades dropped off. I opted to leave at the end of my senior year and return to Houston, where my grades recovered enough so I could get into UH.

I owe much of what I am today to KIPP. Its teachers were always willing to challenge students and it provided opportunities that would otherwise be unheard of for minority students from lower-class backgrounds such as myself.

This is not to say I believe KIPP to be a fix-all solution to the education problem. It is simply a good option for many students and parents who are willing to put in the effort and hours, but obviously not every student is cut out to go to KIPP.

Even so as KIPP expands its name grows bigger and it gives hope to students that otherwise might become trapped by drugs, gang life, and other vices. Its work in the inner cities is admirable and it has gotten it to become sponsored by GAP and other corporations.

The good news here is that by thinking outside the box, other educators are coming around on trying new things like KIPP to help the bulk of students who can’t go to a KIPP school. For instance another Teach for America alum, Michelle Rhee has been sending shock waves through the education system in her role as Chancellor of the DC school district– notorious for its poor grades and violence.

She is trying to get teacher’s unions to agree to a performance based model for teachers which would have them get pay raises if they perform well and allows Rhee the ability to get rid of bad teachers, long a wedge issue between principals and teacher’s unions. If she succeeds, Rhee could start a chain reaction for other public schools systems to adopt the same model.

With a new adminstration and a new wave of educators who are willing to buck traditional and stagnant education models, there may yet prove to be a education leap for U.S. students in this new century. Take it from me that sometimes new things work even if they downright asinine at first.

For Rockets another shot to end slide

It may be to little news to even casual observers that the Rockets have not won a playoff series since 1997. Every year since then has brought the false promise of hope which has always ended with players, fans, and management alike scratching their heads for answers.

This year proves different– in spite of the loss of their 2nd most important player, Tracy McGrady, the Rockets have managed to rebrand themselves on the fly through the influx of youngsters like Aaron Brooks and Von Wafer, who have gained more playing time and more importantly confidence. Brooks, only in his 2nd year, broke out Saturday night for 27 points in a 108-81 route of the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Blazers for certain are not the Utah Jazz, a team long a thorn in the Rockets side having eliminated them in back to back years. The young Blazers team has been a trendy pick to win the series and possibly even beat the Lakers, a sentiment prodded on by The World Wide Leader. Yet Saturday, as in these team’s previous three matchups this year, the Blazers had no answers for Yao Ming who put on an impressive 9 for 9 performance through a mix of hook and mid-range shots.

As such though, the Rockets will live and die by Yao’s left foot, which he broke last year and forced him to sit out the Playoffs. There hadn’t been any problems since until April 10, when Yao sat out a game against the Warriors due to foot soreness. While he hardly looked hampered Saturday night, it is still a worrying sign for a player with a history of foot injuries, and particularly for one on whose a franchise and fan base’s hopes are pinned.

Yet the Rockets for the moment have the wind to their backs and cannot allow the Blazers to gain footing in Game 2. One can only hope for a nice home coming if they manage to come back to Houston with a 2-0 lead in the series.

This will take a dash of good luck and the continued excellence from Rick Adelman, the runner-up this year in the Coach of the Year award. Adelman took a risk in bringing in known locker room challenge, Ron Artest, and managed to keep him playing well on the court and out of commissioner David Stern’s office.

To a lesser degree, Adelman would certainly like to go on to round two and likely face the Lakers who in a bitterly contested series dispatched Adelman’s Sacramento Kings in the 2002 Western Conference Finals. Adelman also knows what’s at stake, given that his predecessor, Jeff Van Gundy was let go for failing to get the Rockets out of the first round.

The fun though will come through watching how the playoffs unfold and what stories we’ll remember years from now. So while it would be nice to have a parade in June for the first time in 14 years, if there isn’t most people will live (as long as they get out of the first round that is).

“Watchmen” leaves question of what could have been

When a movie is prominently as big budget, hyped, and long delayed as the Watchmen, its a safe assumption to make that it won’t satisfy everyone. But adding to the challenge is that the movie is based on the “best graphic novel of all-time,” or so Time magazine and the the trailer say. If everyone agreed with that sentiment, then the real question would be is the “Watchmen” by sticking as close to the graphic novel as possible merely a good adaptation or does it stand on its own as a film?

Therein lies the problem for “the visionary director of the 300,” Zach Snyder. He and writer David Hayter respect Alan Moore’s words and Dave Gibbons vision so much so that it feels like one is watching a Cliff-Notes for the graphic novel. That’s not to say its not an entertaining endeavor– the slick presentation and Matrix-esque fight scenes are sure to please the action aficionado.

The premise is complicated but in general involves a group of banned superheroes in 1985 who have learned one of their own, Edward Blake– the Comedian (Jeffery Dean Morgan), has been killed. Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), believes there’s someone killing masked heroes and sets out to find out the truth. On the way he tries to enlist the Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman), Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson), and the infamous blue man, Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup). But they are all loathe to help find out who killed a man as widely despised as the Comedian and Rorschach– who despite being violent, anti-social, sociopath is the character one comes out most attached to– continues alone. He and the others eventually find the truth and band together but it leads to a confrontation to end all confrontations.

While this is all fine, the real issue lies in that the movie is set in alternate 1985. Despite the physics-defying Dr. Manhattan being on the Americans side, the world is still on the verge of nuclear war– a far cry from today’s world. Audiences today simply cannot relate to the idea of nuclear war, a prevalent theme of the movie because many have grown up in a world without the USSR.

A truly visionary director would’ve stuck to the idea of fear but applied to to a modern concept like the “War on Terror.” A condemnation of that would’ve been far more interesting, though obviously more challenging. This would move it from merely being a good adaptation to possibly being a good film with something to say about society because as it stands by being a carbon copy of the book the film says nothing at all.

As a result of the film taking no real risks, fans of the graphic novel will be left longing for the intricacies the movie misses on and people who haven’t read it will feel engulfed in a sea of confusing information from a bygone era.

The “Watchmen,” will leave most confused and having fans of the book telling their friends to read it if they want to understand. So unless the goal of the director was to get folks to buy the graphic novel, it leaves open the question of why it was neccesary to adapt the book into a film. Yes its fun to see what the product looks like for fans of the book, but this three-hour shortcoming will have most going home all longing for the good old days when graphic novels were best left on paper.

Sudan sitation needs to include military option

Within hours of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to place a warrant on Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, the much beleaguered leader opted to expel international aid from his country making an already terrible situation into more rubbish. For much of this decade now, government backed militias have engaged in brutal attacks on largely innocent bystanders in the Darfur region of Sudan. According to allAfrica more than 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict which has and continues to be effectively genocide. The ICC’s decision was based on the fact that al-Bashir continues to sponsor the Janjaweed which carry out the bloodshed and the lack of will power within Sudan to stop him.

The easiest solution of course would be that the Sudanese people rid themselves of al-Bashir, yet given the protests and showing of support for the president following the warrant’s announcement this seems unlikely. The second thing that could be done would be to get African leaders to put pressure on al-Bashir to resign or to stop financing the genocide. Yet African leaders have been ineffective at stopping regional disputes– most recently and most notably in Zimbabwe where President Robert Mugabe could not be convinced to step down following a crooked presidential election.

So that leaves the international community. The only country that could immediately put pressure on Sudan is China which has been reluctant to do anything except “encourage dialogue.” This is because China has invested billions of dollars in Sudanese oil development. As a result it is no surprise that it only expressed regret and concern following the warrant. According to The New York Times, China has even been training Sudanese pilots to engage in bombing runs. Furthermore when confronted about Darfur as Steven Spielberg did last year by pulling out of his commitment to the Beijing Olympics, China has acted petty as seen when it cut Spielberg’s few moments on screen during the Academy Awards.

All this of course does not bode well for the Darfur victims, 2.5 million of which are in refugee camps according to Amnesty International, and lack basic supplies. This combined with the expulsion of the international aid should send signals to western leaders that a stronger option needs to be utilized. Sudan has already been hit with some economic sanctions but clearly this is not enough. If NATO were to threaten the use of its military muscle against Sudan, no doubt this would cause Sudan to rethink its position on Darfur. Obviously NATO is already stretched out as is in Afghanistan not to mention the U.S. and the U.K. are still in Iraq. But if nothing is done, it sends the signal to other brutal leaders like Kim Jong Il that the international community is powerless to help people in need. War should always be the last option and after six years it appears that it needs to be seriously discussed in order to prevent furthur bloodshed.

Economic crisis hits UH and its students

this economic crisis has put a serious strain into our country– one need not look further than President Obama’s op-ed piece in the Washington Post earlier this month in which he pointed out the dangers of not passing the stimulus plan: “This recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.” But the crisis has also sunk its claws into Houston’s economy as well and yes even into the University of Houston.

In last weeks Daily Cougar, the UH System Board of Regents Endowment Management Committee slashed its spending for 2010 to 4 percent of its endowment equating to a cut of $900,000. This of course is in large part because UH like many universities has much of its endowment tied in stocks and given the significant drop in the markets, so goes the endowment. For now the impact won’t be too harsh on the UH as cuts will be mainly in administration and travel.But scholarship funds will remain in tact.

Perhaps UH will largely escape too much damage from the crisis but in some cases its students can’t. A tight job market means students have to compete hard for the few jobs that are out there. many students are changing majors, not least of which Business majors who are  fearful given the collapse of the nation’s financial sector.

Shayla Lamott a Political Science and Broadcast Journalism senior, has seen first hand the strength of the crisis. She said that she and her family had been hit by the crisis long before the nation felt it and currently her two parents are unemployed and are finding it difficult to find jobs. She also believes students, herself included will find it more difficult to find jobs once they graduate. ” I do think it will be hard for a lot of students to find jobs after graduation” Lamott said, “which is why I decided to attend law school instead of getting a Masters. I think a more concrete field will be more beneficial in years to come,”

If there is a consolation prize, it’s that President Obama’s stimulus plan will provide more money for higher education. According to the Associate Press, Pell Grants “would increase from $4,731 currently to $5,350 starting July 1 and $5,550 in 2010-2011.” That translates to covering 75 percent of the average cost of one year at a university.There is also money for improving facilities and coveted research money.

Despite the stimulus though, Lamott is not convinced that it will work. “I have mixed feeling towards the plan, I think the overall idea has good intention but there are some things included that don’t seem to benefit the country’s interest at this time,” she said. what happens but in the mean time some students and graduates will suffer more than others.

People and the guns who love them

The fundamental question in Bowling For Columbine was why, despite having similar number of guns percentage-wise, do Americans kill each other more than Canadians? After all Canadians watch just as much violent TV, games, and movies as their friends south of the border. In the end Michael Moore comes somewhat to a conclusion that our culture of fear has rather than turn us away from violence, made us “cling to our guns,” so to speak. Of course nothing is that simple but the reality is that when someone is killed in this city its impossible for it not to be the lead story on the nightly news. Does the media intentionally try to scare us? No– but more often than not they do (see: 9/11, Columbine shooting,etc)

As a result it’s not surprising that following the murder of a homeless man outside the Hofheinz Pavilion Saturday morning that UH would step up it’s security measures. The problem is that it’s too reactionary. In other words after a few weeks when this is all forgotten, things will go back to normal until someone else gets hurt which in turn will start the cycle over again. The goal of keeping everyone safe is sadly impossible, but if a manageable goal of keeping students feeling safe particularly late at evenings could be accomplished, this would no doubt reduce the amount of emails we get from campus police.

That said from the position of someone who’s never been mugged its easy to say this campus is safe. Going back to the homeless murder, obviously the fact that it seemed like a random attack is frightening. But lets face the other reality which is that an attack like this is unlikely to occur again and lets also not forget that (not to play down the murder of anyone) this wasn’t a student being attacked. Usually the motive behind these attacks is theft which did not occur.

Furthermore the idea that we could be safer by having more guns on campus does not add up. Even if we were to assume that it would be a deterrent against would-be criminals, the reality is that many people would likely be hurt putting their gun into their bags, pockets, or even in the waistband of their sweatpants. A more reasonable solution lies in making sure that students updated immediately of any serious situation on campus which is only somewhat implemented. But also the best resource to any student lies in common sense. If you’re going to your car late at night try bringing someone with you or if possible get an escort and staying in well lit areas. This isn’t always feasible but neither is the idea that campus security can protect everyone at every moment.

Something awful occured on our campus, this is certain. But overreacting will not make things safer and neither will bringing guns to campus. Lets hope that cool heads prevail and that we can find a practical solution to contain the number of incidents on campus.

Whiffing on Wall-E

On February 22nd, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science will announce among other awards, what the best picture of 2008 was. But it will be a farce. They failed to consider a movie that stood out and pleased both critics and audiences alike. No, not The Dark Knight though it was arguably better than some of the other movies nominated. This is about Wall-E or more specifically why the Academy continues to place a second class status on animated movies.

In 1991 the Academy nominated the first and to date only animated movie for Best Picture– Beauty and the Beast. Maybe this rubbed someone at the Academy the wrong way and ten years later the Best Animated Feature category was made. This award may as well be called the “Pixar Award” given that it has won four times and now Wall-E, barring some surprise, will win Pixar it’s 5th.

But this is no consolation prize. Just because animated movies have their own category does not mean they should be blocked out of the discussion for Best Picture. For instance, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was nominated (and won) Best Foreign Film, but that did not prevent the film from being nominated from Best Picture.

Perhaps memebers of the Academy have pre-conceived notions that because a film is animated then lacks the things proper films have– namely acting. But the award isn’t best acting– they have awards for that for both male and female leads. Secondly the notion that its simply a kids cartoon; something silly to be laughed at. True Wall-E has some silly laughs but it’s also a film that has a serious message about our society and the direction we’re going in.

Set in a desolate and empty Earth, Wall-E, is the last robot on the planet, placed with the burdensome task of cleaning up a heavilly polluted Earth so that humans can someday return. It pokes fun at our consumer driven society and our wastefulness. It also makes fun of our society’s increasingly reliance on technology to the extent where we’re detached from other people. Yes, in spite of being marketed primarily as a kids film, Wall-E manages to hit home on key points that adults can understand and appreciate.

“Best Picture” should simply mean what it says. By overlooking Wall-E over less deserving films like The Reader and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the Academy has done an egregious disservice to anyone interested in films as an art. Wall-E won’t go home empty handed at the Oscars but it still will have been robbed.

Fear Not Texans

A chief concern among many Texans aftering seeing W leave office was that there wouldn’t be one of their own running the show. Yes if some of you were concerned about the lack of an arrogant, anti-intelectual man who is fond of quareling with John McCain, well don’t because Big Bad John is here. See John Cornyn, he’s looking out for you and me. While President Obama is preaching bipartisanship to Congress (with some success as seen with the new stimulus bill), Cornyn was busy delaying Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s approval and keeping our safety in mind by saying of Guantanamo’s closure: “A dangerous step in the wrong direction.”As head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee he has to. Someone has to clean up the mess left after Bush and thankfully ol’ Johnny Boy is up to the task. So when in two years time when folks think back to who was the first to publicly challenge President Obama during a time of crisis, yes they’ll think of Cornyn and then vote Republican. So dry those tears, and smile; everything will be okay thanks to our Texan hero. Oh and if you’re not a fan of the new economic stimulus bill, don’t worry, neither does ol’ Johnny.

NPR: Cornyn

On the New President

A New Day Begins Amid Old Challenges

When Barack Obama was finally sworn in the only thing I could really think was that we had (thankfully) gotten the right man for the job. A part of me realizes that his being the first black president is of huge historical importance and may very well usher in an era where people might actually try to vote based on the candidate’s character rather than skin color. But the other part of me realizes that today no one (try as the might) can exactly put his inauguration into proper context because there simply isn’t the time to do so. I had read a “joke” recently that suggested that a black man was finally being allowed to be president as the country was falling into ruin. Cynical, yes but the fact that the country is in so much turmoil does present our new president with an enormous challenge not unlike the one FDR had received from President Hoover and if things worsen, fair or unfair, Obama may be placed with the blame. Yet I remain upbeat in spite of all the challenges this country faces. Obama yesterday said that they would be met. I suspect he will because he realizes that it is in these hard times that resilience will be tested, and he, having fought hard to become our first black president, is more than up to the task. -Salomon Fuentes