myNorthwest Demonstration

The new Northwest Web Portal, myNorthwest, will be demoed January 30, at 3 in the Student Union Ballroom.

The new portal will provide a customizable homepage you build and a personal notification system built around your major and school activities.

SAC Entertainers End Up On National TV

Last semester I had the pleasure of seeing two amazing stand-up comedian do their thing at Mary Linn, thanks to the advantageous SAC. Now, both of these fine comedians have had a special on Comedy Special.

Andrew Kennedy brings his comedy home, focusing on his life as the child of a Dominican mother and a British father. With citizenship in three countries and after living in many more, Kennedy really brings home the idea of ethnicity and culture. Funny from beginning to end, Kennedy is an up-and coming to keep an eye on.

Jeff Dunham is a man of many personalities. An award winning ventriloquist and funny man, Jeff brings a show with heaping portions of fun, and even a bit of insanity. From Walter, Peanut, Jose Jalepeno (on a stick), and the newly introduced Dead Terrorist, Jeff brings characters to life in ways that would impress Pinocchio. A riot (literally, there's enough characters on stage) beginning to end, I highly recommend attending his show, or taking a look at his DVD.

Under Review: Strangers With Candy

Starring: Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert, Paul Dinello, Dan Hedaya and Ian Holm

The Set-Up:

This is a movie based on a Comedy Central show of the same name. It also starred Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert, and Paul Dinello. Amy Sedaris stars as Jerri Blank. Jerri is returning to her childhood home after 32 years of living on the streets and in prison. When returning home, she discovers that her father, Dan Hedaya, has been in a coma for 32 years and is now remarried with a teenage son (Yes, I realize that the father could not have a son if he was in a coma… or could he?). Jerri decides to pick up her life right where she left off. At the age of 47, she’s returning to high school.

The Review:

This movie assaults you with hilarity from the very beginning. The movie opens with Jerri leaving prison and reflecting on the lessons she learned in prison. A monologue asking “Can I change?” is going in the background as images of Jerri surviving prison by brawling and stabbing fellow inmates plays on the screen. Amy Sedaris knows this character and knows all of the humor behind the character. The delivery of the monologue mixed with the physical humor on screen shows us this from the very beginning.

That is what this movie does. The comedy in this movie works because of the blend of over-the-top performances with the soft-spoken acting of the rest of the cast. This movie would not work as well as it does without each aspect. Certain characters present the crazy situations, and the comedy comes with the flat responses to these situations. It also works the opposite way. Characters overreact to situations.

So how well does the movie work? It works pretty well. The script gives us many memorable lines and the cast gives us great performances. The pacing is pretty good, but starts to lose it’s footing about three quarters of the way through. The film does pick up and gives us a good ending, though.

Favorite Quote: “I think I deserve better, don't you? Hey, I know this is hard on you. It would be hard on me, too, if I broke up with me. I know what you're losing.”

Rating: 8/10

Playing “God”

From our new columnist Jonathan Lowrey:

Yesterday on the cover of the St. Joe News Press, the paper covered the story of a severely brain damaged young girl who is to be kept in a child-like state by using hormone therapy and surgery to prevent her from aging. At my place of employment, I heard the gasps of many people as they appear to be horrified at the disfiguration of a helpless girl. The motives behind the parent’s decision for this radical treatment have been attacked as being selfish and dangerous. Specifically, I’m referring to persons claiming that to mess with the maturing of a person is to essentially play God. The act of keeping Ashley a little girl couldn’t have anything to do with the level of care that the parents could provide for her, right? The challenge I offer to God’s hall monitors is to stay consistent. What has not been discussed in the mainstream is the fact that Ashley is currently being kept alive through being fed by a tube, but maybe we can excuse that, right?

The church has not advocated for ceasing surgical removals of cancer, or treatment of allergies or even vitamin supplements for nutritional deficiencies. On the back of every good [insert protestant religion of choice]’s drivers license should be a “Do Not Resuscitate” clause. My point is that society plays God every day, and we welcome it with open arms. The unique cases such as Ashley are suddenly viewed differently because most church-goers don’t have to think about it.

There certainly are those in the world who stick by their good book at the destruction of those around them. Take for example the case of a preacher who refused to allow surgery to remove bone cancer from his daughter. She, as being a 12 year old girl, could not possibly understand the repercussions of “trusting God” to take care of her. Society has stepped in, and a Judge ordered treatment in spite of her father’s wishes. Why? Because life could be better if science stepped in. Keeping Ashley as a child will improve her life in the future. Playing “God” isn’t just okay when the ailment is common.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2124295.ece
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9804E1DC1138F93BA2575AC0A965948260

Bearcat Idol: The Finale

Tonight is the Bearcat Idol Finale, and they're planning on going out with a bang.

Starting tonight at 7, attendees can expect song and dance from the final 15 contestants, as well as special guests Towncrier and the Steppers. Make sure and stop by, make your vote heard, and enjoy yourself; this event is free.

Homeland defense money

Greetings Bearcats!

This is the first installment of a new column designed to discuss interesting events occurring around the country that could affect the lives of students at Northwest. It has recently come to my attention from my Campus Safety spy that the campus officers are seeking to get a hold of homeland defense money to protect Northwest Students from terrorist attacks. The grant in question is designed to attain a Mobile Command Unit, so in the event of a cataclysmic event, campus safety would have a safe place to dispatch the meter maids. [http://www.arinc.com/news/2005/08-23-05.html] Now, I can’t blame them for trying, I have yet to meet a law enforcer that didn’t absolutely get giddy with a new toy, but this should be a case in point of the wastefulness of current Homeland Security allocations.

Yesterday, the new majority in the United States Senate passed a bill that potentially exponentially increased the expense of Homeland Security. The Democrats took office with the promise to cut back the out of control defense spending by Republicans. While the Iraq Conflict continues to break the wallets of taxpayers, this trend in increasing the ever watching eye of our law enforcers should be a troubling sign. Not only has the creation of an even larger government agency added to the cost of government, we have given the law man more ways to take away liberties. Communities without the need of extensive terrorism protection mechanisms are suddenly given the means to spend “other” people’s money, in an expensive game of keeping up with the Jones’s.

In closing, I wish Campus Safety the best in grabbing a piece of the pie for Bearcats in the name of life, liberty, and the American way…

http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=203&aid=65792

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_009170354.html


From on of our new team members, Jonathan Lowrey

Feel free to leave your opinion about this subject.

Welcome back Bearcats

First off all we would like to wish all of you a Happy New Year from the Bearcat Underground Team. In this first post of the new year we will introduce the changes we have made over break.

The biggest change will be on the team itself. We now have four people on our staff instead of two. During the course of this semester all four staff members will introduce themselves to you.

We also changed some items around. The old Items are all back:

• Local Gas Prices
• Movie Showtimes at the Hangar
• Drink Specials at the Bars
• Weekly Organizational Meetings
• Weekly Releases at The Station

We also have a new item in store for you guys, it's called "The Voices of the Bearcats". Each single one of you can contribute to this item. If something bothering you on campus or you want to get peoples attention about something then let us know and we will post your opinion article. You can send your articles by emailing us at bearcatunderground@gmail.com

Beside our regular items we will also have our daily news updates again just like last semester, so make sure you add us to your favorites list and check back each day!

From the Underground to You

From all of us at The Underground, good luck on finals and have a great Festivus.

We'll be back in January with some new writers and a new sense of dedication.

Underground staffers needed

We're still under going some growth issues, i.e. we have two editors and too much content, and now we'd like to put out the first opportunity to get your brain stuffs flowing. So here it is.

There's been a recent debate on capital hill. Click here for the article

Write a short synopsis, make sure it pertains to the college lifestyle and NOT plagiarized. Put it in Word, include hyperlinks, and AP references. Have fun. We want this to be something you enjoy doing.

This article is meant to be an engaging, college-themed piece, and if we don't feel like it fits your style, we won't ask you to cover it.

New releases at The Station

Superman Returns
After eliminating General Zod & the other Kryptonian arch-villains, Ursa & Non, Superman leaves Earth to try to find his former home world of Krypton after astronomers have supposedly found it. When he finds nothing but remnants, he returns home to Earth - to find out that Lois Lane is engaged to a relative of his boss, and that Lex Luthor is at it again - after swindling an elderly, terminally ill woman. The psychopathic Luthor, whose plans to destroy California failed because of Superman's heroics, vows vengeance against the Man of Steel and contrives a new sinister plot - using the crystals of Krypton to build a continent that will wipe out most of North America! Embedded in the continent's structure is Kryptonite - the lethal substance that is Superman's only weakness. Upon learning of Luthro's sinister scheme, Superman must again race against time to stop the psychopathic Luthor before millions - possibly billions - are killed.
IMDB Rating: 7.0/10

Clerks II
The sequel picks up 10 years later. "It's about what happens when that lazy, 20-something malaise lasts into your 30s. Those dudes are kind of still mired, not in that same exact situation, but in a place where it's time to actually grow up and do something more than just sit around and dissect pop culture and talk about sex," Smith said during an interview at his Hollywood office. "It's: What happened to these dudes?"

IMDB Rating: 8.0/10

Late Night at The SRC

Late night at the student recreation center will take place coming Thursday, Nov. 30. It will take place from 10 p.m. till 12 a.m. There will be games, prices, and refreshments.

Group Photos for the Tower Yearbook

The Tower Yearbooks wants all the groups on the Northwest campus to be represented in the book this year, so be sure to get your group photo taken!

They will be taking pictures Monday 27th throughout Thursday 30th. You can go each day between 5pm and 9pm and they will be taking the pictures on the 2nd floor of the Union

Happy thanksgiving

The Bearcat Underground team wants to wish you all a happy Thanksgiving.

Enjoy your break!

Want to know the drink specials at the bars?

We now have drink specials here at Bearcat Underground, you can access it through the navigation menu on the right. We are still working on completing the list, but so far you can already see the drink specials for The Palms and for Molly's.

Cheers!

Mr. Northwest

Come watch the sexy men of Northwest compete for the title! The event will take place today at the Mary Linn Performing Arts Center and it will start at 7:30 PM. It's organized by Alpha Sigma Alpha.

Tickets are $2 if you bring a canned good, and $3 without. All the proceeds go to Special Olympics.

This year's contestants are:
Doug Siers
Kyle Aaron
Jared Nauser
Adam Glidewell
Steven Wilson
Derick Cunigan
Clay Bolinger
Logan Galloway
Roth Mallen
Sean Paddock