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Southland Tales 6 Isaac Katz Isaac’S Not Sure Southland Tales Was Worth the Near-Decade It Took to Come Out

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Southland Tales 6 Isaac Katz Isaac’S Not Sure Southland Tales Was Worth the Near-Decade It Took to Come Out MAGAZINE April 7, 2008 Volume 8, No. 11 8 DIGITAL AMNESIA FIRST VALERIA TSYGANKOVA Valeria tells us not to lament the LOOK loss of electronic memories. 10 WE WERE BORED ONE PENN DUDE One Penn Dude brings a whole new meaning to having too much free time on your hands. A KEYSTONE STATE? 4 CHRISTOPHER WARD Christopher takes a close look at the upcoming Pennsylvania Primaries. PHOTO SPOTLIGHT: OVERLOOKING 5 LINDA LI REVIEW: SOUTHLAND TALES 6 ISAAC KATZ Isaac’s not sure Southland Tales was worth the near-decade it took to come out. COMIC: GLASS HALF EMPTY 7 DAN MARKOWITZ PHOTO SPOTLIGHT: CANDLE 11 SARAH BOICE LETTING 12 CHARLIE ISAACS Poetry. PHOTO SPOTLIGHT: TWO TREES 15 MICHAEL SALL CROSSWORD: SNEAKING ALCOHOL INTO THE QUAD 16 THE EDITORS COVER: PASSAGE, BY JIN LEE CONTACT CONTRIBUTORS EDITOR -IN -CHIEF : Mi c h a e l Sa l l • EDITORS : T i M Po T e n S , er i c a T o b i n , Da n De u ts c h • CHIEF DESIGN EDITOR : ch a r l i e iS a a c S • CHIEF ART EDITOR : Da n Ma r k o w i T z • WEBMASTER : T i M Po T e n S • BUSINESS MANAGER : ANN A FIRST CALL, KELLY WRITER ’S HOUSE To l M a c h • DISTRIBUTION MANAGER : Va l e r i a T S y g a n k o V a • TREASURER : ra c h a e l hu T c h i n S o n • FEATURES MANAGER : KA THY 3805 LO C UST WALK , PHILADEL P HIA , PA 19104 wa n g • RE C RUITMENT MANAGER : ri V k a Fo g e l • MARKETING MANAGER : Ju n Pa r k • ARTISTS : DA N MA R K OWITZ , YUE WU www .FIRST C ALLMAGAZINE .C OM COLUMNISTS : Va l e r i a T S y g a n k o V a , on e Pe n n Du D e , ch a r l i e iS a a c S • WRITERS : CHRISTOPHER WA R D , IS aac KA TZ F cp A P ER @GMAIL .C OM PHOTOGRA P HERS : Ji n le e , Sa r a h bo i c e , li n D a li, Mi c h a e l Sa l l • LAYOUT ARTISTS : VA LERI A T SYG A N K O va 2 FIRST CALL AP ril 7, 2008 LETTER FROM THE EDITORS Dear First Call Readers, all, you might not be in the best state EDITORIAL to sit down and read our creative, lit- Spring is here! What is really erary, journalistic masterpieces after POLICY important about spring, though, is having played so hard. But it’s not Spring Fling. For those of you in the your fault, because we are telling you First C all is T HE UNDE R G ra DU at E Quad, 24-hour party. And email the to play hard. M A G A Z I NE O F T HE UN I VE rsit Y O F FC team with your room number. We So, in case you wait until this PENN S Y L V A N ia PUB lis HED EVE R Y are coming over. weekend to finally read this issue For those of you not in the Quad, (what is wrong with you, don’t you O T HE R MOND A Y . OU R M issi ON you have this whole week to relish the know how hot these articles are!), you is T O P R OV I DE MEMBE rs O F T HE fact that come this weekend, you can may need these notes to see through stop by the party and then retreat back your Spring Fling blur: C OMMUN it Y A N OPEN F O R UM F O R to your calm, quiet homestead. Christopher Ward writes about EXP R E ssi NG I DE as A ND OP I N I ON S . So seeing as we at First Call are the Pennsylvania Primary. Isaac Katz TO T H is END , WE , T HE ED it O rs O F amazingly intelligent, supercalifra- reviews the movie Southland Tales. gilisticly fun, and have access to print Charlie Isaacs composes a poem. Val- First Call , ar E C OMM itt ED T O A out our thoughts to the masses, we eria Tsygankova tells all about her PO lic Y O F NO T C EN S O ri NG OP I N - would like to give you some advice: computer difficulties and asks the I ON S . Articl E S ar E P R OV I DED BY Work hard, play hard, and read question: are memories still memo- First Call. ries if they are stored in a hard drive? R EGU lar C O L UMN ists A ND W rit - Working hard is the rule we are (The questions in this article may be E rs . THEY ar E C HO S EN F O R PUB - most flexible with. Maybe we can al- more fun to contemplate after some licati ON B as ED ON T HE QU alit Y low hard work to equal waking up and hard core flinging.) And One Penn going to class for the first half of the Dude entertains us with some fiction. O F WritiNG, A ND , IN T HE cas E O F week. Then fling harder… and do our C OMMEN tari E S , T HE QU alit Y O F Play hard during Fling… need we crossword to prove it! say more? ar GUMEN tati ON . OU tsi DE O F T HE And read First Call. Phone Home, EDitOrial A ND O T HE R EDitOrial There may be a few problems that ET (Erica Tobin, Editor) C ON T EN T , NO articl E R EP R E S EN ts arise as a result of this system. After T HE OP I N I ON O F First Call , its EDitOrial BO ar D , O R I ND I V I DU al MEMBE rs O F First Call O T HE R T H A N T HE A U T HO R . NO C ON T EN T IN First Call UN L E ss O T HE R W is E stat ED R EP R E S EN ts T HE O fficial firstcallism PO siti ON O F T HE A DM I N istra - ti ON , fac U lt Y , O R st UDEN T BODY at lar GE O F T HE UN I VE rsit Y O F Oreos are unhealthy. PENN S Y L V A N ia . You should deep-fry SUPPORTE D BY THE KELLY celery instead. W RITERS HOUSE FIRST CALL AP ril 7, 2008 3 A KEYSTONE STATE? THE IMPORTANCE OF PENNSYLVANIA PRIMARIES CHRISTOPHER WARD t seems funny, at least to this na- cast towards this state, both by the double-digit lead for Hillary Clinton, tive Pennsylvanian, that after media and the candidates themselves. support from in-state politicos has Imonths of political maneuver- Both sides have made numerous vis- not been nearly as consistent. While ing, hours of media pandering, and its, and many pundits whose creden- Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell miles of jet-setting across the nation tials tell us they are to be trusted are and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nut- in an attitude not unlike the frenzied certain that Pennsylvania’s outcome ter have both pinned their support prospector in search of hidden bits of could mean the end of one candidate’s for the New York Senator, Senator gold (in this case, replace “gold” with campaign. As a Pennsylvania Demo- Robert Casey, generally considered a “elderly retirees” and “fence-sitting in- crat with every intention to vote in conservative democrat for certain so- dependents”), this race for the White the primary, I feel both a considerable cial stances, has recently come out in House would hinge support of Senator Ba- so greatly on the out- rack Obama. This latter come of April’s Penn- endorsement could be sylvania Primaries. more significant, given Much of the main- the demographics of stream media (of Pennsylvanians. What is course discounting interesting to consider that crazy old uncle is the geographic—and known as Fox News therefore political—set- Channel) is pretty up of the state. On both much determined, the extreme west and with zero percent of east of the state are its the precincts report- two largest cities, Pitts- ing, that whoever is burgh and Philadelphia. the Democratic can- Both have significant didate for President populations of union will ultimately take workers and racial mi- the White House in norities, which are often November. With this cited as leading demo- it seems very likely graphics in the Demo- that the results of cratic Party. Yet the Pennsylvania’s pri- middle of the state, be- mary just might be, sides the State capital of pardon the pun, Harrisburg, is primarily the keystone upon rural country, sparsely which the victor will populated yet generally gallivant all the way different in political af- to Pennsylvania Av- filiation with each end of enue. the state. In a sense, this A look at the configuration is not too current delegate tal- different from the Unit- lies between the two ed States at large, since candidates shows both the West and East a lead for Barack Coasts in recent history Obama over Hillary have been considered Clinton, though the “blue states” while much totals are not too far off.
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