Just about everybody has heard of Mitt Romney: they know he was the governor of Massachusetts, that he ran for President in 2008, and that he is making a run for it again in 2012. But, not too many people really know Mitt, or Willard, which is his real name.

The son of Michigan Governor George W. Romney, Mitt Romney was born in Detroit, Michigan, raised in Bloomfield Hills, spent his undergraduate years at Brigham Young University in Utah and then went on to get a JD/MBA from Harvard. A devout Mormon, Romney spent 30 months at a Mormon missionary in France, allowing him to dodge the Vietnam draft during the 60s.

After graduation, Romney went into the management consulting business, eventually serving as CEO of Bain Capital, rescuing the company from bankruptcy, a position in which he must have hoped to help his future candidacy. Instead, because of it, he has come to symboli­­ze the most unscrupulous business executive.

“Romney’s leadership of Bain Capital was supposed to be the basis of his candidacy, something that would present him as an attractive alternative to a novice president struggling to right the economy. Instead, it has become a glaring liability,” Joshua Green writes in Businessweek.

In 1994 he ran in the U.S. Senate election, losing to a long-time incumbent, the legendary Ted Kennedy.

During his campaign for Senate, he stated that he “believed that abortion should be safe and legal. “In 2012, however, he is running under the guise of pro-life ideology.

“He’s not pro-choice or anti-choice,” said Senate opponent Ted Kennedy, “He’s multiple choice.”

When he ran for Governor of Massachusetts in 2003, Romney contributed over $6 million to his own campaign, a record at the time. He was elected and served from 2003-2007.

While Governor, Romney lowered the unemployment rate, which, considering Massachusetts had the third worst rate of job growth, is a bit misleading. Nonetheless, it is one of the many premises guiding Romney’s 2012 campaign.

In last week’s debate in Arizona, Romney again tried to mislead America by saying that he “balanced the state budget, “which, as it turns out, is saying very little. This is because, as Rick Santorum quickly pointed out, every Massachusetts governor, even Michael Dukakis, has been required to recommend a balanced budget, pursuant to Chapter 29, section 6E of the General Laws of the Commonwealth which states:

The governor shall recommend, the general court shall enact, and the governor shall approve a general appropriation bill which shall constitute a balanced budget for the commonwealth. No supplementary appropriation bill shall be approved by the governor which would cause the state budget for any fiscal year not to be balanced.
So, as Joe Readle sneered in an Esquire blog last week, “Romney was just doing his job!”

On April 12, 2006, Romney signed the health care insurance reform law, or RomneyCare as it is most commonly referred to as, which mandates that all Massachusetts residents obtain a state-regulated minimum level of healthcare insurance, and provides free healthcare insurance to those earning 150% less than the poverty level, or about $16,000.

At the beginning of the month, Santorum spoke to a group in Minnesota, saying that Romneycare was a reason to disqualify Mitt as a Republican candidate for president.

“Telling everybody how to run their life when it comes to health care is not the candidate we want to nominate,” he said.

In a political gaff that quickly went viral, Romney asserted that he “didn’t care about poor people.” A remark that cost him some of the forward momentum he had coming off of the win in Florida. Romney responded to the remark, saying “I misspoke. Plain and simple.”

“Well what I said was my focus, my primary focus, is helping people get into the middle class and grow the middle class,” he clarified.

So far in the primary, Romney has won four states: Iowa, New Hampshire, Florida and Maine, which ties him in that respect with Santorum. With 123 delegates, he is ahead of all candidates but still a far cry from the 1,144 needed to win. In total, Romney has almost 1.2 million votes, again putting him in first place, with Newt Gingrich closely trailing behind with 836, 885 votes.

All considering, it seems that only one thing is for sure: it is going to be a long and bumpy ride till Election Day, and that goes for all candidates.

by @font-face { font-family: “Cambria Math”; }@font-face { font-family: “Calibri”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; }.MsoChpDefault { font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; }.MsoPapDefault { text-align: right; line-height: 200%; }div.WordSection1 { page: WordSection1; }Andy Verma

Connector Staff

In the twelve years that passed since Newt Gingrich resigned as Speaker of the House amidst one of the darkest periods in history for the Republican Party as well as Congress as a whole, it would be reasonable to assume that he would be living a life of isolation and shelter from the smoldering public eye.

It is often the status quo for fallen politicians to take up lives of extreme privacy and avoid the media like the plague, not wanting to relive those painful experiences in which their vulnerability was fully exposed and the downward fall from grace began.

However, if Newt Gingrich has proven anything over the course of his political career, it is that the status quo does not apply to him. A lifelong craving to be a notable historical figure has led to his continued involvement in national affairs, and even a presidential bid in this year’s coming election.

In order to understand this unorthodox behavior that makes up one of America’s most controversial-laden politicians, it is imperative to trace back the origins of his development.

Gingrich’s obsession with power was hard to detect in the early beginnings of his life. His was a tumultuous childhood, mostly spent alone and ridiculed by his counterparts, as well as his overbearing military stepfather, for being clumsy and bookish.

This harsh initiation into society left a young Gingrich feeling very insecure and unconfident with himself and his purpose in life. That would all change on a summer holiday to France during his teenage years, which was highlighted by a visit to Verdun, the site of one of the bloodiest battles in history.

It was at Verdun, where Gingrich learned the power of politics and its great influence over the happenings of the world. It was the field in politics in which he could carve his own legacy and finally have the opportunity to form a sense of confidence that he never possessed.

Gingrich was now revitalized and ready to grasp the national stage of American government, an arena in which this nonathletic, unintimidating figure could become a political gladiator.

His career did not show promise early on. However, Gingrich learned from each electoral defeat, and improved with each campaign he ran. In 1979, he won a seat in The House of Representatives as a representative from Georgia, a seat he would hold with a vice-like grip for over two decades.

During his times as a congressman, Gingrich would head several congressional committees and oversee several legislative bills be signed into law under two Republican administrations. However, it would be the presidency of Bill Clinton in which Gingrich would ascend to the role of Speaker of the House, and make his presence known to America.

Unfortunately, Gingrich’s zeal for political success did not follow through into his personal or social life. During his high school years, he fell in love with his geometry teacher and married her without the blessings of his parents or in-laws.

He would later divorce her after she discovered he was having an affair with another woman. This would not be the only time Gingrich would have a divorce due to infidelity. His marriage to his current and third wife Callista was the result of an affair during his second marriage, ironically around the same time he would preside over the House impeachment of Bill Clinton who was also in an extramarital affair.

His social skills have left a lot to be desired, often confrontational and stubborn to the point of madness. Colleagues either gritted their teeth in tolerance of him or ceased all communication with him.

Over the course of his tenure, he was charged with more than eighty-four ethics violations, a record for a Speaker of the House. It eventually came to a point where his insubordination could no longer be tolerated within the party, and he was forced out in 1999, due to his failure to prevent the government shutdowns as well as his eagerness to impeach President Clinton.

In his final address as Speaker, Gingrich said that he would not remain Speaker if he were to preside over a group of cannibals. To say that Gingrich left Congress on faulty ground would be putting it mildly.

Since then, Gingrich continued to play an active role in political affairs. He continued to head policy debates, and wrote several books regarding his tenure as Speaker as well as his political ideology.

Gingrich also had positions at several conservative “think-tanks” as well as some consulting work for financial firms which several media outlets have called lobbying. In the summer of 2011, Gingrich formally announced his presidential campaign.

Initially, he had several poor primary results, and was often overshadowed in debates. To his campaign staff’s dismay, he decided to ditch several important speaking events in order to go on a planned vacation in the Mediterranean.

When he came back from holiday, he found to his surprise that his campaign manager had quit as well as much of his staff. Unfazed, Gingrich reformed his staff and resurged in the national polls, doing particularly well in the South, an area he hails from and represented in Congress.

What happens to Gingrich during the race for the White House remains to be seen. He has promised to continue the fight up until the Republican National Convention this summer in Tampa, Florida.

He has soared and plummeted over the weeks, rising in the Southern states and flat-lining on a national level. His debate performances have been bold, for he backs down to no man and even targets the moderator if he finds his questions to be appalling, such as CNN’s John King, who asked about his marital history in a recent debate.

He has been controversial at times, such as calling President Obama the nation’s first “Food Stamp President”, as well as claiming that as Republican nominee, he will challenge Obama to seven Lincoln-Douglas debates without the use of a teleprompter, ridiculing the President’s use of the speech aid. One thing is for certain, Gingrich has forced his way back into the spotlight, and it looks like he will be leaving on his terms this time.

by Kirsti Isokungas

Connector Contributor

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The lot watches. Cigarette butts, papers, and empty bottles litter the ground. Pieces of gum fossilize and rot between the cracks. Gravel and rock scatter throughout the world, carried on the bottom of a pair of Converse sneakers, swept away by a blustery wind, and eroded and then paved over again with the passing of time. After a hard rain, sticks, leaves–perhaps a child’s shoe or a candy wrapper- clog the drains. The lot is one of the many receptacles of a consumer’s world, and most people come and go without a second thought. But from August to November, this derelict patch of pavement becomes our sanctuary. And to us few, crazy, dedicated bunch of kids, it’s one of the only places where we can be ourselves.

It is mid-August on the Riverview Parking Lot on South Campus, and it is the week of band camp for the UMass Lowell Marching Band. I can already feel the sun baking my skin as I stand at attention, back straight, chin up, elbows out, waiting for the next bark of a command. Most of us haven’t marched since the end of last November, and some never before in their lives as performing musicians. Within a few moments, postures diminish, horn angles sag, and the beginnings of the week-long burden of fatigue begin to set in. The weight of my tenor saxophone pulls against the back of my neck and my muscles stiffen. In ten minutes, they will go numb. My right thumb aches beneath the thumb rest and my forearm muscles spasm, shaking with the weight my neck isn’t already supporting. On the evening of the first day, our band director, Dan Lutz, pulls us together, speaking to our accomplishments and the work ahead. Our eyelids droop and our muscles scream for the soothing relief of a bed, but before we are set free, Dan leaves us with four simple parting words: “This too shall pass.” And with that, we retire for the night.

In the midst of this heavy summer heat, the lot watches. Its abandoned black face becomes masked with a new composition, a make-shift diagram of the many football fields on which we will someday perform. Yard lines and tick marks are spray-painted a bright, dandelion yellow down the gullies and against the curvature of the pavement. They are perfectly calculated guidelines, a map for the heel-toeing folk who, for this week at least, know nothing but the rhythmic crunch of gravel beneath their feet and the weight of weak muscles, entirely out of practice.

The lot watches as hundreds of tiny chalk-triangles are tattooed upon its visage, each one familiar to us marchers as markers for our places on the field. They blur together in passing, but serve as a lifeline for the first few rehearsals, a map for our feet. They are the blue triangles run over with sap amidst a smoky, pine-laden trail. They are our guides, leading us through the unyielding fissures of Everest. And in a single, solitary moment, they will be washed away in one sweep of summer rain. The memories will flow far, and the sweat of hard labor will trickle through the cracks, down through the sewers towards an unknown end.

By the end of band camp, the week Dan calls “a massive cram session”, we are hardened to the nagging effects of exhaustion. Our feet, though blistered and calloused, have become directly connected to our ears and hearts. We are disciplined. Our instruments have become extensions of ourselves. We are all still out of practice, and we are all in pain, but we never show it. No matter how awful we feel, physically or emotionally, our faces show nothing. We are featureless statues, servants to the drum major’s tempo and to the music we perform. As the quote goes, “Pain is weakness leaving the body.” And quietly, confidently, I return to the parking lot for the last rehearsal of the week, embracing the aches of pulled muscles, the sting of swollen lips, and the burn of the sun radiating up from the dark, black lot.

Then it is a frigid, windy October night, and the lot watches. Our dark and weathered cases line the rusted, vine-ensnared chain-link fence, and the now-seasoned marching band stands in an arc, ready to begin another mid-season rehearsal. The chalk marks have long since been washed away and the dandelion yellow has faded into a rustic, mountainside beige. T-shirts and shorts have been replaced with sweatshirts and hats, sunburns with the first stages of frostbite. I stand next to the sousaphones, among my fellow tenors, and I am freezing. My mouthpiece can never be warm enough, and I swear to myself that if I have to stand here for one more second, surely my fingers will fall off. We all think back to the oppressive heat of band camp and wish it would return. But unlike the time during camp, my muscles do not complain. A thick callous has formed on my right thumb, and the pain in my neck and my feet are nothing but distant irritations, familiars. Before long, the usual endless line of freight cars roars slowly past on the train tracks just beyond trees. The train is made up of thousands of tiny parts that, without one another, could never function. And as I stand there, my breath condensing into a small puff of air, I realize that we have become that train. We are all merely parts of a finely-tuned machine, and this worn, black pavement on which we gather, the enabler of our performing, will slowly fuse us together into one band, one sound. As the train passes, the lot growls and shudders among the heavy vibrations, sympathetic to its consistent rumbling, and we continue to rehearse.

Throughout the season, the lot watches. This man-made earth has no sympathy towards the mortal kind, yet it has become a palette for the immeasurable: tears, blood, rain, and sweat. Outside of this sanctuary, we, the band members, are mere faces within the sea of college life, which rolls and sways with trends and seasons alike. To most others, we are the stereotype: the awkward, clumsy, sexually-active geeks, bearing heavy instrument cases like pack mules. But the lot knows of our struggles of life, our struggles of self.

And all across the country, we as band kids are seen as second-best. We’re the faint buzz at the edges of consciousness during football games, where we accompany what most see as the much-more important task of getting concessions during half-time. We know ridicule, disrespect, and loneliness, but we also know strength and belonging. We know pain, and we know joy. Most of all, we know pride. And on those chilly October nights when most are doing homework, hanging out with friends, or sleeping, only that cracked imperfect fraction of pavement bears witness to the essences that destroy and rebuild the heart of our marching band.

]]> http://www.umlconnector.com/?feed=rss2&p=2599 http://www.umlconnector.com/?p=2599 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/umlconnector/fuHj/~3/2WxVsw23uxw/ http://www.umlconnector.com/?p=2597#comments Mon, 05 Mar 2012 22:37:59 +0000 admin http://www.umlconnector.com/?p=2597 @font-face { font-family: “ＭＳ 明朝”; }@font-face { font-family: “Cambria Math”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }.MsoChpDefault { font-size: 10pt; }div.WordSection1 { page: WordSection1; } by Madeline Koufogazos
Connector Staff

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There is something about the middle of the semester that is so mind numbingly methodical. When I am not drowning in the amount of homework I have to do, I am going to the CRC, or eating at Fox. My days are pretty much set in stone. I put off any work as long as possible. You know, I have more important things to do, like check my Facebook newsfeed every five seconds. Take this article, for example, I’ve had ample time to write it, but it seems like I always send it in right before the deadline goes whooshing by.

With midterms around the corner, how is it possible to break out of this mid-semester slump? I’m going to take the time-management approach, I guess. Although, the term time-management just seems like a phrase that was made up to give people a false sense of hope, the hope that you can actually manage time effectively. I suppose I can give it a good old college try.

When it comes to stress, I lose all ability to think logically. There is only so much that I can plan out and map out. At some point in time, you’ve just got to let things happen. Rolling with the punches is a lot easier said than done (and it sounds painful, too). Stress becomes tangible when I see my hands shake and my thoughts become unintelligible. One of the best things that I have done for myself this year is allowing myself time to participate in yoga classes at the CRC.

Yoga not only affect my physical health, but my emotional health as well. After yoga, I feel like I am better equipped to take on the world and all the things it is trying to throw at me. For those who believe that they could never participate in yoga because you aren’t flexible, give it a try. The worst thing that can happen is you won’t master the downward dog. Challenge yourself. Give yourself a mental break and attend a yoga class at the CRC on Thursdays at 5:30 PM.

I have discovered that the best place, thus far, to study has been the first floor of the O’Leary Library located on South Campus. I have found that the atmosphere of the library is very laid back. For those of you who are coffee drinkers, you can grab a quick drink at Starbucks and settle down into a study frenzy in one of the designated study-rooms or by the windows facing Durgin hall. There is also room on the second and fourth floor to study. Typically, any library is a great place to study. If you are planning to study with friends, make sure that you are on the same page about how much you want to study and how much you want to socialize.

The mid-semester slump is only temporary. Soon enough, there will be blue-skies again and warm weather. You only have to get through the next week. Keep telling yourself that.

Spawn of Possession are an incredible band only just now coming into light. On Friday, at around 6:00 p.m., their new album “Incurso” leaked. One of the most anticipated albums in the metal community, many fans have been waiting for this album since teasers were released for it in the earlier half of 2010.

Hailing from Kalmar, Sweden, originally formed in 1997 with most of the original members still present. Two demos later and it is 2003, and they are releasing their first full length “Cabinet” on Unique Leader records.

Huge success reigns and three years later they are on Neurotic records and they drop the groundbreaking “Noctambulent.”

So, tensions are high, Spawn of Possession gets sign to Relapse record, a juggernaut, but oft considered a stepping stones for the downfall of a band into the mainstream.

With its actual released on March 13^th, it is still not possible to know what critics think but most blogs are reacting extremely positively, and with good reason.

The band has a relatively new line-up this time around, with the unfortunate removal of Jonas Karlsson being one of the negative changes. The two most major additions are Erlend Caspersen, essentially a titan among metal bass players, and the famous/infamous Christian Meunzer.

Both have been in countless bands, Erlend having taken up the role for Deeds of Flesh, Blood Red Throne, Emeth, Vile, Decrepit Birth, and at least five more.

Meunzer is much more famous, having been in Necrophagist and later becoming the driving force in Obscura.

Together with their original vocalist Dennis Rondum, main songwriter Jonas Bryssling, and drummer Henrik Schonstrom, the five are unstoppable.

“Incurso” is really solid in every area where it counts. Obviously the musicianship is top notch.

Bryssling has taken his songwriting from the jejune flash of “Dead and Grotesque” to the epic and melodically strange “The Evangelist,” clocking in over nine minutes to make it their longest song.

Each song stands strong, yet is melodically cohesive enough to make it worthwhile to listen to the album all the way through.

Caspersen’s bass playing is a really great addition to the team, probably some of the bass playing this reporter has ever heard. The album definitely has some problems, maybe some poor choices.

These include the songs “Abodement” and “Apparition.” For some reason Spawno decided they need to added horrible sounding synth orchestras behind these perfectly good songs.

Besides those though, the album has Album of the Year potential, with its competition being the eagerly await “Koloss,” by Meshuggah.

Fighting games have been making a recent resurgence, in part due to online play replacing the dead zone that arcade competition has become. This in turn has led to old franchises being revived from states of varying stagnation: King of Fighters, Marvel vs. Capcom, even Virtua Fighter have been rescued from franchise shortening by their invigorated online communities.

Soul Calibur was something of an odd duck in this regard. Held in high esteem from without (that is to say, by casual and not hardcore players) but with lackluster numbers and showing from their last two outings, the series had fallen into a sort of disrepair. Overshadowed by the Street Fighter and Tekken scenes, a new outing seemed unlikely. Many wondered, like fellow weapons fighter Samurai Shodown, {Note: Misspelling intentional} if it had become part of the old guard.

Soul Calibur V’s fine-tuned mechanics and new-school approach demonstrate how timely the series has become. New mechanics such as the just guard evoke the parry mechanism of Street Fighter III, while the critical edge maneuver is a super move in all but name. (Half of the genre’s inaccessibility lies with the nomenclature.) The lack of a real training mode to explain these moves – as well as such tertiary but significant techniques such as the quick roll – is perhaps the game’s greatest misstep.

“So, basically,” you may say, “this game is ripping off Street Fighter.” Quite right. Fighting games ape their contemporaries to the degree where their shared existence is akin to a symbiotic relationship. That’s not new. Frankly, not a whole lot about this game is fresh, no matter what may have been tweaked. The developer’s claim that “Half the cast will be new” is supported by replacing half of them with younger protégés. The two actually new characters, Viola and Z.W.E.I. (don’t ask) are tonally off-kilter with the old cast, but hold the same depth.

That said, the game is a marked improvement gameplay-wise over its predecessor. The slow-paced swordfighting of IV is dispatched for a higher octane experience. The super moves, much like the X-ray moves of Mortal Kombat, lend an added intensity that can turn around desperate situations. Online play is similarly white-knuckle but unless the player has a decent knowledge of the system they won’t be able to compete. The netcode makes all this soul-crushing loss smooth as marble.

Strangely this game spends a lot of time on its story. It is not good. Yet it must be slogged through to unlock the game’s secret characters and stages. This smacks of developer narcissism, and should be murdered. Overall the game is worth your time. If you enjoyed the series before you will enjoy it here. On a final note the game is exploitative of its female characters to a shameless degree, so if you can’t get around that steer clear.

by Harrison Shulik
Connector Contributor

With all the goings on these days on the subject of sexuality, Republican Presidential candidates and radio show hosts chastising women and gays left and right, it seems like a good time to dive into the subject of sexuality. You need to watch Humpday, available on Netflix Instantwatch.

You may recognize co-lead Mark Duplass from the FX show The League (also currently available on instantwatch.) He plays the straight laced soon-to-be family man with the house and the white picket fence opposite Joshua Leonard, who you will not recognize at all, playing the good natured, wandering, and bearded hipster.  The non-spoiler gist of the story is as follows. Leonard brings Duplass along to a party full of new age “pansexual” folk where they plan to celebrate Dionysus, the Greek god of alcohol and sex and the like. Drunk, stoned, and lying in bed with a gaggle of bisexual men and women, the pair decides to endeavor on an art project, that is, they decide, as straight men, it would be very artistic to make a gay porno.  The ridiculous idea turns into a dare, a competition of who can be manly enough to be gay, and then turns into something else entirely, something very poignant, heartfelt, and maybe mildly tear enducing as the Humpday approaches.

I should tell you right now, if you’re uncomfortable with seeing gayness, don’t worry, there’s not much to be seen in this movie. But I should also tell you, if you are uncomfortable with gayness, you should see this movie. You should see it regardless of your ideas on the subject.  It humanizes what being unsure of your sexuality does to people, how never trying something you maybe kind of sort of had the tiniest little inkling in your head to try, can almost entirely unravel your life later on. Not to mention, the movie is hilarious. You need to see Humpday.

When I was young, I wanted to be my own person. My parents had no problem with that because they encouraged me to do whatever I wanted. However, if one or both of my parents had a career in Hollywood, I am not so sure if that was something I would walk away from.

Several kids have fallen into acting as their parents did. Some have conquered, others are mid-way, and a couple ended up in the parent’s shadow. To make that big of a decision just like their folks did makes you curious as to if the child’s name will soon be the new face of the family and in Hollywood.

Jerry + Ben Stiller

Jerry first started out on TV in 1956, and started working his way up to bigger names. One of his memorable screen appearances was in the original 1974 “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three”, but his treasured character of all-time is cranky, loud-mouth Arthur Spooner on “King of Queens” (1998-2007). He is also one of four actors who have appeared in both the original and remake of “Hairspray”.

Ben on the other hand has been climbing that ladder of comedy going from goofball to serious, family laughter. If it is one thing that Ben has that Jerry doesn’t it is box-office hits like the “Meet the Parents” and “Night at the Museum” movies.

Thus far, they have worked on 11 movies together. A couple of them were father and son roles and the rest were big and small roles going both ways.

Donald + Kiefer Sutherland

Donald started in TV in 1962 and five years later he hit huge with the war movie “The Dirty Dozen” and bigger things. Throughout his 50 years in Hollywood, he has made over 150 appearances in TV and movies playing either alarming, unsettling villains or descent, respectable characters of his age.

Born: Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland started with other members of the “brat-pack” with roles in “Stand by Me” and “Young Guns”. Years later, his raspy voice became his trade mark on his hit show “24”, earning him a Golden Globe Award for best performance in a Drama series. Stay tuned for a full-length “24” movie that is coming out sometime next year.

The both of them have worked together in two movies: “Max Dugan Returns” and “A Time to Kill” where they played enemies. “Max Dugan Returns” was also Kiefer’s film debut in 1983.

Martin Sheen, Charlie Sheen, and Emilio Estevez

If you want to talk family time in Hollywood, here is one that has a father-son or brother-brother bond on and off the camera.

Martin first played father to Charlie Sheen’s character in “Wall Street” and a couple of episodes in “Spin City”. He then again played the dad character in Emilio’s “The War at Home” and “The Way”; Emilio wrote and directed both pictures. Martin also guest-starred in Charlie’s former hit show “Two and a Half Men” playing Rose’s father.

Both Emilio and Charlie starred together in “Men at Work” and the TV movie “Rated X”; both films were also directed by Emilio Estevez. Emilio also appeared on “Two and a Half Men” as a friend of Charlie’s who then dies after the first few minutes of the episode.

Now, Martin will be playing Ben Parker in “The Amazing Spider-Man coming out this summer; Emilio is currently away from directing and acting; and Charlie will soon be returning to the small-screen in the new FX comedy show “Anger Management”.

The convention as been rising in attendance since beginning, reaching over 17,000 members last year and gathering over 19,000 members this year according to the last official count from Sunday. It’s wild and diverse mix of events, industry guests, and happenings makes for one of the most interesting events of the year.

This year featured the cast of the new Evangelion 2.0 movie’s english release at the convention, where they held a panel and answered questions from eager fans looking to pick their brains on various experiences. Some eager members of the audience asked the voice actors to recite memorable lines from the event they were featured in. These actors are renowned for work across multiple works and forms of multimedia, leading to each being a part of multiple panels from directing to voice acting and even sharing industry experience.

Alongside the cast members were famous director/voice actors Sean Schemmel, Richard Epcar, Tom Wayland and the brothers Chris and Greg Ayers. They each held panels where their unique perspectives were given along with insights into the current and previous workings of their craft.

However, the guests weren’t the only attraction at the convention. Also featured were panels where knowledgeable individuals had a discussion style event to those eager to learn more about subjects and other activities. Among the panels were the workings in psychology and how the anime of certain eras reflected the mindset of the generation watching it, Evangelion noticeably was featured during the economic recessions in Japan in the 90’s for it’s sense of hopelessness.

Similarly among the events were such things as Karaoke and Video Game tournaments. In colorful costumes people played and sang their hearts out to thunderous applause. At one point the mascots of the convention played up a small round of fun where they took on guest Tom Wayland in the game Rock Band, which the guest and his young son won.

The theme of the event this year ended up being music, referencing it being 2011 with the popular quote from the movie “Spinal Tap” which had the quote “This amp goes to 11.” In that spirit many musical guests were invited, including singer-songwriter Mari Ijima, rock band Stereopony, and the metal band Girugamesh whom each performed a set of their respective musics. The nightly rave was hosted by guest MC Frontalot, dubstep artist.

For the weekend many anime fans were in their own personal paradise. With so much to do and see, along with a notable amount of merchandise to buy, many members of the community left the event satisfied. Indeed it was one of the best nerd gatherings of 2011.

“Listen, I’m a player. But I shut down my playerness from New Years to St. Patty’s Day just so I can avoid this day” (Valentine’s Day Movie). There are some like Kelvin Moore from The Valentine’s Day movie who dread this day and those who cherish it. Either way, we know it is creeping up on us sooner or later.

Don’t go moping around because you are single ladies and gentlemen. Boys, don’t rush anything. Asking a girl on a first date on Valentine’s Day is a big no-no! It would most likely scare a girl away. She may think it would be too serious after the date. If anything, let it be casual. Why not buy her chocolates if you’re both interested in each other. If you need to buy her something last minute, the Pod in Fox Hall has a few gifts or bake her cookies. I would mostly recommend being cliché with the flowers. Face it, almost every lady loves receiving red roses.

“Most people think Valentine’s Day is just for love…but it’s for everybody, it’s not just for couples” (Anonymous).

You don’t have to be a fool in love to enjoy Valentine’s Day. It’s meant to be a day to celebrate love. This holiday should remind us of the love we receive and should spread. If you still cannot bare the thought of the day to come, plan a night out with close friends. Valentine’s Day falls on a Tuesday so go out for a six dollar movie night at the Showcase in Lowell. You can even treat yourself out for a manicure, get your hair done, or play a board game with friends.

Don’t get too caught up on this day but also, don’t overplay it. You can treat it as a special day but don’t allow this holiday to get the best of you. If you cannot be happy on this day, try making someone else smile. Sincerely have a Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!