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Willie Nelson and K.D. Lang added to Mondavi Season

Arts & Culture

Arts Editor

November 20, 2008

Grammy award-winning singer-songwriters Willie Nelson and K.D. Lang have recently been added to the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts‘ 2008-2009 season and are scheduled to perform early next year.

General admission tickets to the public go on sale today at the Mondavi Center box office and at mondaviarts.org. Tickets for each performance are $50 and $25 with a student ID.

Nelson is currently on tour and will perform in various venues throughout California in January. He is scheduled to play at the Mondavi Center on Jan. 11.

Lang will perform on March 27. Her most recent album, Watershed, was released in February.

The dates will mark the first time Nelson and Lang will visit the Mondavi Center.

“It’s an opportunity to see somebody who really is an icon, politically and musically,” said Jessica Kelly, senior writer for the Mondavi Center.

“I think young people can relate to Willie Nelson because of the fact that as he’s grown older he still has an open mind,” said Fera Dayani, a junior political science major. “You’d think that people would grow more conservative and out of touch with young people, [but] I would say that he’s really in touch with [them].“

Both artists are known for their work in the country and folk genres. Kelly sees the two concerts as an addition to the already-diverse mix of Mondavi Center performances.

“I think that one of the best things about the Mondavi Center is the fact that if you look at the schedule of the year, you’ll see many different genres represented,” Kelly said. “This pretty much just continues the tradition.“

“It’ll bring some new people across the threshold so people can discover the Mondavi Center,” said Camille Spaccavento, the center’s director of marketing. “We are trying to build an audience, and programming folks like Willie Nelson and KD Lang [can hopefully] bring new people in so they can discover what [we have] to offer year round.“

Spaccavento also said that advertising for the event has been kept to a relative minimum, despite each performer’s large fan base. Even so, tickets are expected to sell out relatively quickly.

For ticket pricing and more information, visit mondaviarts.org.

JUSTIN T. HO can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

Mexican Film Festival explores underrepresented culture

Arts & Culture

Arts Editor

November 20, 2008

Today’s politically charged world can often encourage us to overlook international cultures. This week’s Mexican Film Festival at UC Davis hopes to remind us of the significance of Mexican culture by examining it through the eyes of its people.

The film festival will continue today and Friday at 7 p.m. in Storer 1322. Tonight’s screening, Vámanos con Pancho Villa (1936), which translates to English as “Let’s Go with Pancho Villa,“ tells the story of six peasants who join the Mexican Revolution in order to better their communities.

Tomorrow night’s screening will be of Dos Abrazos, or “Two Embraces.“ This 2007 film tells the personal stories of four people whose lives intersect in different ways. Friday night’s screening is the only one that does not feature English subtitles.

Vámanos con Pancho Villa is especially relevant; the day marks 98 years since the beginning of the revolution to overthrow dictator Porfirio Díaz, said Hemispheric Institute on the Americas program coordinator Christina Siracusa in an e-mail interview.

“[The films] move from the very beginning of the conquest, when Cabeza de Vaca wandered from Florida to Central Mexico, to modern days,“ she said. “Students can expect to see a broad swath of Mexican culture and the Mexican film industry, from historical films to drama and comedy.“

The film festival began on Monday with a screening of Cabeza de Vaca, a 1991 film about the Spanish explorer who founded what is known today as the country of Mexico. This historical adventure was followed by Morirse en domingo (2006) and El Viaje de la Nonna (2007) on Tuesday and Wednesday nights respectively, which jumped ahead to present day setting and modern black humor.

Tuesday night’s screening of Morirse en domingo was preceded by a reception and a brief talk by the consul general of Sacramento’s Mexican Consulate, Alejandra Bologna.

Bologna began by mentioning that this is UC Davis‘ inaugural Mexican Film Festival and credited its existence to collaboration with HIA, said Siracusa, who translated the talk from Spanish to English. Bologna then delved into the film industry of Mexico, describing it as a rich art populated with talented directors. She said that she hopes the films continue to be internationally recognized.

HIA worked in conjunction with the consulate to include this festival as part of International Education Week, a series of diversity events held on college campuses across the nation, Siracusa said.

ClubHIA Assistant Program Coordinator and senior international relations major Ava Churchill described the important role this kind of event plays in maintaining and highlighting campus diversity.

“I personally find HIA to be a uniting force across campus because it brings non-Latinos (such as myself) into the sphere of Latino/a culture,” she said in an e-mail interview. “This is precisely why we have events like the Mexican Film Festival. HIA strives to inspire interest in Latin America, especially in those who are not already aware of the Latino/a history and culture.“

Churchill also emphasized the usefulness of film as a medium for communication.

“Cinema is a great tool to convey the richness and eccentricities of different cultures as an alternative to reading dry textbooks,” she said.

The Mexican Film Festival continues today and tomorrow. For more information about the films being screened, visit hia.ucdavis.edu.

LAURA KROEGER can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

Feats of Strength music festival carries bands into the area

Arts & Culture

Arts Editor

November 20, 2008

With a string of three shows – starting tonight and ending Saturday – the KDVS 90.3 FM organized Feats of Strength music festival returns to the Davis and Sacramento area. The show locations are as diverse as the bands: tonight’s show with headliner AIDS Wolf is on-campus in the Silo Union, Friday’s concert is inside Sacramento restaurant Luigi’s Fungarden, while Saturday’s bands will perform in the living room of the DAM house in Davis.

Rick Ele, a KDVS DJ and the primary organizer of the three shows, said Feats of Strength is less of a festival and more of an informal moniker for an unusually attractive set of concerts in the area.

“The first time I declared a Feats of Strength fest was from July 26 through Aug. 6, 2007, when I had set up 10 shows during those 12 nights which were particularly outstanding enough to warrant some kind of special billing,” Ele said.

Last year’s FOS festival included up-and-coming acts Times New Viking and Mika Miko along with a number of other local and touring bands.

“Nearly all of the shows featured bands who play music that can be described as part of this new ‘weirdpunk‘ or ‘artpunk‘ movement that has been growing at the intersection of garage, punk and other more atavistic or experimental styles,” he said.

This year’s festival includes a Friday night show with two notable new bands – the indie rock group Love Is All from Sweden and the all-female Vivian Girls from New York City.

Both bands have received their fair share of favorable reviews. Blender Magazine called the Vivian Girls‘ debut self-titled album “admirably skuzzy” and described their sound as a “sassy guitar racket, with a bit of B-52‘s beach-party frolic in [the] beat.” Love Is All – on tour to promote their newly released second album A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night – were praised by Allmusicguide.com as “as good as indie rock gets in the late 2000s.“

Ele said that booking well-publicized bands like Love Is All and Vivian Girls wasn’t difficult because of their popularity on KDVS radio shows.

“Vivian Girls and Love Is All have been two of the top-played bands at KDVS for the last couple years and the last month or two especially, so it was really rather natural for them to seek us out for the booking,” he said.

Sean Ongley, a member of Death Worth Living – one of the opening bands tonight at the Silo for noise-rockers AIDS Wolf – said that his band’s role will be to give the audience a break from the intensity of the other acts.

“AIDS Wolf play noise songs. Mayyors are rockers, straight up. Our sound is, I think, a lot smoother and relaxed,” Ongley said in an e-mail. “I think our function for this show is to serve as a calm down, or to clean the ear-palette.“

Besides the Feats of Strength event itself, the use of the Silo as a venue for tonight’s concert also represents a recent development for KDVS. Until recently, the radio station had been using the on-campus theater rehearsal space known as the Firehouse to host shows, KDVS events coordinator Darach Miller said in an e-mail.

“The Silo arrangement comes out of the ruins of the Firehouse,” Miller said. “It turns out we were booking on a misunderstanding, as according to Campus Events and Visitor Services only the Entertainment Council is allowed to do shows on campus.“

Miller said that the philosophy of KDVS hosting cheap shows to expose people to new bands and ideas is in conflict with the university’s policy.

“We need to have zero overhead. That means cheap space and no mandates of paying for Aggie Hosts to baby-sit a crowd of 50,” he said. “Otherwise, you can’t make ends meet.“

In response, Miller said KDVS is now collaborating with Campus Unions to arrange shows at the Silo while also working with the EC to bring monthly shows to the ASUCD Coffee House, beginning the third week of February. On the other hand, Miller said that KDVS is also looking to examine university policy about on-campus events.

“We’d like to head up an effort to review and revise the policies that prevent shows from happening on campus,” he said. “On other UC campuses, you can get a show approved in a day. Not so at Davis.“

Ele said he sees the FOS shows as a statement about the strong music community in the Davis and Sacramento area.

“It’s the surest proof that ‘nothing fun ever happens in Sacramento and Davis‘ is a lie. I am guaranteeing that each show will be a great time.“

ZACK FREDERICK can be reached at arts@theaggie.org

Variations on a theme

Arts & Culture

Arts Editor

November 20, 2008

Maybe it’s the Thanksgiving season that’s making me all nostalgic for pre-college/childhood relics. Could it be the return of holiday foodstuffs at grocery stores or the change of the weather and its autumnal wardrobe changes?

Considering my upbringing and couch potato tendencies, the answer should be obvious: It’s television that is feeding my sentimentality. However, the main source of my reminiscing fit is not holiday-themed family commercials or even ads of Black Friday sales – it’s MTV! Even better!

So imagine my amusement when MTV said farewell to “Total Request Live,” better known as TRL. For anyone unfamiliar with the premise of the show, TRL – which premiered in September 1998 – featured a countdown of 10 music videos. Doing more than appealing to trend-seeking teenyboppers, the show’s creators also tugged on America’s democratic-loving heartstrings: Viewers would vote on their favorite music videos, and the popular vote would win out, earning a spot on the countdown. The show even incorporated its own version of electoral term limits – after 65 consecutive days on the countdown, the music video would be put into the retirement vault.

I can’t say that I didn’t see the end coming – in fact, I thought it was long overdue. In its “glory” days, a.k.a. back when I was in the seventh grade and Carson Daly was young and mildly attractive (keep in mind, I’m being generous here), TRL was the purveyor of all things cool. Fans would gather outside the TRL studio in Times Square, sporting their cutest band tee and holding up signs that proclaimed their undying love for timeless musicians like LFO or Vitamin C.

Then came the advent of YouTube. Thanks to this nifty little website, a music video wouldn’t have to be cut off a minute thirty into its playtime or interrupted by that shout-out feature that no one except for the shout-outer and the shout-outee cared for.

Another contributor to the fall of TRL was the rise of the vaguely defined yet all-encompassing “indie” subculture/music genre. The obscure became more popular, ironically enough.

MTV attempted to solve this problem with the relaunch of MTV2, a sister channel aimed at promoting the undiscovered and up-and-coming as well as showing full-length music videos. Besides an unfocused approach to marketing music, MTV2 also failed to capture a wider audience – in other words: Not everyone wants to pay extra to access the channels higher than 100, MTV!

But really, is it the quality of music and pop culture that has changed, or have my own preferences just matured? Can I truly argue that ‘N Sync is better than the JoBros (answer: Of course not – both are great!), or that TRL favorites such as Eminem or Juvenile had more to offer than the rappers of today? Does today’s Britney Spears compare to Britney Spears circa 1999?

After shedding light on issues of social significance and other important stuff like that, the underlying question still remains: how is John Norris still on MTV? Perhaps I haven’t been watching enough television – I mean, doing enough “research” on the subject, but I can’t see how the network can seriously utilize an educated man such as Norris to report newsworthy events in the midst of other informative programs such as “The Hills Aftershow.” Not to mention: Dude’s hella old and has funny hair.

Fun fact: John Norris is vegan! One more cool point for him. Check out his sweet ‘do and PSA on peta2.com, or send your thoughts to RACHEL FILIPINAS at arts@theaggie.org.

Emily Lacy: CD Review

Arts & Culture

Arts Editor

November 20, 2008

Emily Lacy

Newsworthy New York Tapes

Self-released

Rating: 5

In “Each Person is a Universe,” Emily Lacy describes herself as “relentless like the ocean … regardless like the word.” This cathartic moment is one of many on the home-recorded Newsworthy New York Tapes.

Though calling the bigger national cities (NYC, LA) home, the folk singer-songwriter will make an appearance in downtown Davis Saturday, performing with Blue Cranes (Portland) and Fine Steps (San Francisco).

Newsworthy is magical, romantic and woven with strings as delicate as silk – reminiscent of Mirah’s work with the Spectratone International. Lacy doesn’t sing stories about bugs, but the nerve-calming orchestration of certain tracks recall the essential manner of Mirah’s arrangements.

Just when the mountain folk lullabies begin to take you under, “Where Can I See” picks up the pace in a Kimya-style with basic acoustic progressions and first person narratives. “No Regrets,” homage to ’60s French singer Edith Piaf, also contributes to a steady rhythm in the 15 tracks of the album.

While becoming a dream state, a soothing blur – Newsworthy also serves as an invigorating story of diary entries. “I Just Wanna Be Sure” lists a series of Lacy’s introverted goals: to “love someone,” “rise like the sun” and “climb the mountain.” The album was recorded in the privacy of her Brooklyn dwelling as well in the Catskill Mountains, explaining why it feels like such a metaphorical and geographical travel narrative.

The live performance opens an enormous door of possibilities given Lacy’s unique biography: A filmmaker, writer, painter, teacher and lover of intimate shows in art spaces, living rooms and subways.

Give these tracks a listen: “Each Person is a Universe,” “Where Are All the Crystals“

For fans of: Mirah, Vashti Bunyan, The Finches

– Nicole L. Browner

Arts Week

Arts & Culture

Arts Editor

November 20, 2008

MUSIC

Los Lonely Boys

Today, 7:30 p.m., $25

Sacramento State University Union Ballroom

Texas-based band Los Lonely Boys has created a pleasant, non-confrontational wave in the adult contemporary charts with hits like 2004‘s “Heaven,” and the band is in its eighth year of making “Texican Rock ‘n‘ Roll” (they’re words, not mine). So what if they’re about as authentic as Chevy’s or Chipotle, they’re still pretty catchy.

AIDS Wolf, AH Kraken, Mayyors, Arrington of Old Time Religun, Death Worth Living

Today, 7 p.m., $5

Silo Union

A formula for you readers out there: AIDS Wolf will appeal to the masses if and only if (iff) the masses aren’t afraid to get a little experimental. Think within the same vein as fellow noise rockers An Albatross. This show kicks off the KDVS-presented Feats of Strength music festival. For more information, see page __!

Xyphl, Mistlefinger, The Impotent Ninja

Today, 7 p.m., $5

Beatnik Studios in Sacramento

Electro-pop duo Mistlefinger once likened their sound to “a big, fat, eclectic boner” and “Frank Sinatra – if he was really drunk and with the Ramones and had a keyboard.” Take their word for it, or judge for yourself. Either way, good times should be had by all.

Blue Cranes, Fine Steps, Emily Lacy

Friday, 8 p.m., $5

Second Street

Davis may already be familiar with basement jazz quintet Blue Cranes and Fine Steps, but what about Emily Lacy? For a review of Lacy’s latest musical endeavor, see page __.

Love is All, Vivian Girls, Nodzzz

Friday, 9 p.m., $7

Luigi’s Fun Garden in Sacramento

Oh, Sweden. I can always count on you to provide me with energetic indie pop ditties to get my feet moving. Case in point: Love Is All, a band that mixes lo-fi, punk and trippy beats in a Daft Punk-meets-Karen O fashion.

Blaak Lung, Arkangielle

Friday, 10 p.m., $6

Delta of Venus

The problem with a lot of socially conscious musicians is that they take themselves entirely too seriously. This might be the case with Bay Area artist Blaak Lung, but his cool and groovy reggae rhythms sound almost effortless as he sheds light on significant issues such as social injustice.

Walking Spanish, Olive Drive

Friday, 10 p.m., $3 to $5, 21

The G Street Pub

Sactown band Walking Spanish is the picture of diversity: a former punk band bass player, a jazz drummer and a singer with a predilection to folksy stylings makes for a strong statement for musical heterogeneity.

Night Wounds, The Hospitals, Ganglians

Saturday, 7 p.m.

DAM Haus

SoCal band Night Wounds is an example of some of the best and brightest (and by that, I mean the loudest and most chaotic) of the underground punk scene.

AT THE MOVIES

Mexican Film Festival

Today and tomorrow at 1322 Storer

Tonight’s screening features the classic 1936 film Vámanos con Pancho Villa, a story that takes place during the Mexican Revolution. For more information, see page __.

The Dark Knight

Today, 8:30 p.m.

123 Science Lecture Hall

Two words: Christian Bale. Need I say more?

Twilight

Opens today at the Regal Davis Stadium 5 on G Street

As I’ve never actually read any books from the insanely popular Twilight series, I would feel bad jumping on the bandwagon without an educated background. But I do hear Edward is quite the dreamboat. Oh, well!

THEATER / MONDAVI

#5 The Angry Red Drum

Today through Saturday, 8 p.m. and Sunday, 2 p.m., $16 general admission, $11 with a student ID

Main Theatre

Granada Artist-in-Residence Philip Kan Gotanda brings attention to larger social issues through use of text, sound and movement. For more information on the play, see page __.

COMEDY / READING

Birdstrike Theater

Friday, 7 p.m.

126 Wellman

Proving that I’m not just cut out for improv: I just spent five minutes trying to come up with something funny. Nevertheless, the show’s free – maybe I’ll finally be able to learn a thing or two about comedy.

Expression Redefined

Tuesday, 7 p.m.

Griffin Lounge

Independent student-run publication Nameless Magazine presents Expression Redefined, which takes the art of writing from page to stage. The event will also feature musicians and artists.

RACHEL FILIPINAS can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

Editor’s Picks:

Love is All, Vivian Girls, Nodzzz

#5 The Angry Red Drum

The Writing’s on the Wall

Arts & Culture

Arts Editor

November 20, 2008

Hanging sandbags and TV screens are just a part of what makes up the strange and dream-like world of End Times, where every important decision is centered on a red drum.

The theatre and dance department’s #5 The Angry Red Drum opens tomorrow at 8 p.m. at the Main Theatre, and runs until Dec. 6. Tickets are $16 general admission and $11 with a student ID. Tickets can be purchased online at theatredance.ucdavis.edu.

It is an abstract play which tells the story of two strangers who find each other within a post-apocalyptic world and upon meeting other characters, manage to piece together their forgotten pasts.

The play was written and directed by Granada Artist-in-Residence Philip Kan Gotanda, who is internationally acclaimed for his influential work in bringing stories of Asians in the U.S. to mainstream American theatre.

The title of #5 The Angry Red Drum refers to the fifth installation in what Gotanda refers to as his “Garage Band Series” –plays that were inspired by Red Rum Burger in downtown Davis.

Gotanda said the play was “inspired by [his] frustration with the Bush administration, the wars going on and the way I felt their particular group was basically ripping off the American public.”

He worked intensively with the cast of the play to collectively discover the best way to present the story.

“The cast has been up for the journey and has been able to try different things,” Gotanda said.

First-year dramatic arts major Michael Lutheran, who portrays the character of Truman in the show, said working with Gotanda has been valuable and helpful. He said that the playwright has been immediately available to help the actors better understand and develop their characters.

Junior dramatic arts and psychology major Jazz Trise plays the role of Backwards Soldier, a character who clearly comments on the destructive effects of war. He said that the themes of the play would resonate with the audience.

“[The play] is relevant to our time and the wars and economic troubles we’ve been having,” Trise said.

In addition to touching on wider social issues, the play delves into intrapersonal obstacles. For example, Gotanda used the development between one character, Pick, and another character, Gorom, as a metaphor for the way people evolve into adulthood.

Dealing with the abstract material of the play was a learning experience for some of the cast members. Junior dramatic arts and psychology major Bryan Marcus Pham, who plays the role of Pick, said he has never worked with such challenging material like that of #5 The Angry Red Drum, but that he found it to be incredibly rewarding and meaningful.

With its highly stylized choreography and use of props, stage and sound design also play a big role within the play. Atypical of most onstage productions, the play required dramatic arts graduate student Dylan Bowls, the sound designer, to perform all the sounds within the show live.

“Both the movement and the sound play important characters in the storytelling and the look of the play, more so than a traditional narrative,” Gotanda said.

The play’s quick movement between emotional states was a challenge Bowls said he had to face. However, this complexity ultimately helped fuel his inspiration for designing the sound within the show.

“Cruelty, love, anger, insecurity, hope [and] betrayal all occur – sometimes right next to each other,” Bowls said.

Gotanda said he hopes that the audience will be stimulated as a result of this collaboration of music, choreography, set design and text.

“[I hope] their minds will travel places they wouldn’t normally travel and see some things from a vantage point they wouldn’t have seen and just be entertained,” he said. “This is one small moment in people’s lives and if I can in that one small moment add a particular idea or a different way to look at something, then that’s good.“

JULIA McCANDLESS can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.

Inside the Game with…

Sports

Sports Editor

November 19, 2008

Quincy Amarikwa has experienced a lot in his four years at UC Davis.

When Amarikwa first came to the school, the Aggies were a Division II program. Now, they’re one of the top teams in the country – and Amarikwa has become one of the most dangerous scorers in the nation in the process.

After learning of his team’s bid to the NCAA Tournament, Amarikwa sat down with Aggie Staff Writer Max Rosenblum to discuss the tournament selection, his team’s offensive success and his first-born child.

What it is like for this program to make the NCAA Tournament two years in a row and get to host a playoff game on Saturday?

Being able to host a game this year was our No. 1 goal. Last year it was to make the tournament. This year it was to host the first playoff game here. This is the first step we needed to take to achieve our goal of getting a national championship. But we still have to recognize that we have to take it one game at time. Just because we have got to this point doesn’t mean anything is going to be given to us. We still have to work for it.

What are your expectations going into this NCAA Tournament match with Denver? How do you match up with them?

I expect us to dominate this game offensively. I expect us to impose our will on this team and make a statement in the tournament that if you match up against us, we are going to come to play. Us making it two years in a row isn’t a fluke. We can advance out of the first round.

Speaking of imposing your will offensively, where has the offense been as of late? Your team hasn’t scored a goal in its past three games.

I think we got a little bit comfortable with where we were at. You can’t do that in soccer. Any team can win on any day. A big part of college soccer is which team comes out and works harder that day. You win 90 percent of your games if you work harder than the other team. We just lost sight of that. We are being given an opportunity to play soccer another day so we need to take advantage of this opportunity and the gift of having a home game.

Talk about the affect the injury to your co-captain Ahmad Hatifie has had on the team.

He was the captain, a leader on the team. He was the center of our midfield, the center of our attack and the center of our defense.… Losing him was a blow to the team in the sense of a senior role leadership position – someone who a lot of the younger guys look up to as a player. He was a loss but the thing that is good about our team is that we go so deep into the bench that any reserve player can come on and talent-wise replace him. But what we seem to have lacked isn’t so much the talent, but the intensity and competitive spirit that Ahmad brought.

What was it like for you to score two goals against UC Santa Barbara team, one of which by way of a bicycle kick?

My role on the team is to do whatever is necessary of me that game. Some games it’s for me to score and other games it’s for me to take pressure off of other players so that they can get in behind. That game, Paul Marcoux set me up for the first goal with a very good through ball and I capitalized on my opportunity. Ian [Conklin] did the same.

Everybody loves to watch you play. From your perspective, who is the player on your team that you enjoy watching and that never ceases to amaze you?

I just love to play. I play as hard as I can, and it’s nice if people enjoy watching that. But Sule [Anibaba] is a player that when he has the ball, I will put all my money and my first-born child that he won’t lose it because his strength on the ball is unmatched, especially within our conference or anyone I have seen us play against. His ability to shield a player and overall strength on the ball is unmatched in my eyes and that has always amazed me. I have never seen a player complement themselves so much with so much power and strength but also play the finesse game.

Coach Dwayne Shaffer has talked about the fact that this may be one of the best teams he has ever had. How does that make you feel? Is it something that you won’t fully comprehend till 10 years down the road?

I guess I don’t like to look at things until we’re finished and we see where we’re at, at the end, as opposed to settling with where we are now. When you do that you get comfortable and you don’t play as hard and I don’t like that. A big part of my game is playing as hard as I can and never giving up. I guess we will have to wait 10 years down the road to see how UC Davis soccer continues to establish itself. I know a lot of new recruits and good players are coming up, and a lot of the guys on team right now are going to be really good caliber players.

What do you plan to do after you graduate?

I have no idea. If the opportunity is presented to me to play soccer somewhere and make a living out of it, I will definitely take that as my first option. If it doesn’t happen to work out that way, I will still have my degree [in biological sciences] and experience here at Davis to fall back on. Hopefully, soccer works out, but if not, I will always have that degree.

MAX ROSENBLUM can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

UC Davis research proves the brain’s to blame for bad calls in tennis

Science & Technology

Science Editor

November 19, 2008

If you ever wanted to stop your tennis match and challenge the referee’s last call, you probably should, said UC Davis associate professor David Whitney.

Published in the Oct. 28 issue of the journal Current Biology, UC Davis researchers, led by Whitney, have shown that humans – even professional tennis referees – are hard-wired to misjudge balls when they are hit close to the line.

Also known as perceptual bias, this error occurs because our brain’s perception of reality lags a few milliseconds behind what is actually happening.

“It takes visual information in the eyes to reach consciousness in 100 milliseconds,” said Whitney, associate professor at the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain and the Development of Psychology.

In order to compensate for this lag in reality, the brain anticipates the object’s location, based on the speed and direction of the object. Most of the time, these guesses are accurate but as in the case of tennis, a bouncing ball is moving too fast and changes direction too quickly to precisely predict where the ball will land.

“The ball can travel 10 to 15 feet before we can be aware of [its] position,” Whitney said.

Whitney and his team studied 4,457 random sets of points from the 2007 Wimbledon championship and focused on cases where the ball landed on or near the out-of-bounds line. Three trained observers watched each play to determine if balls were in or out. Instant replays were also included in the study.

Whitney predicted because of the rapid speed of the ball that the Wimbledon referees would more likely assume the ball went out of bounds than in when close to the line. His prediction was correct, as 83 out of the 4,457 calls were wrong. Seventy of those bad calls, 84 percent, were made because the referee had called the ball out when it was actually in.

An additional analysis of the 2008 Wimbledon championship showed similar results – 69 percent of the balls were called out when they were on the line or in.

In order to combat bad calls, the International Tennis Federation put in place the Hawk-Eye ball tracking system in March 2006. The technology uses cameras from different angles to determine the trajectory and ultimately, the exact ball bounce area, according to Hawk-Eye Innovation’s website.

However, Whitney pointed out that Hawk-Eye is still in its testing phase and that technology still had to improve before scoring could be perfected in tennis.

The problem with Hawk-Eye is that its manufacturer, Hawk-Eye Innovations, reports that the average error of the machine is 3.6 mm. This essentially means that it could be wrong by more than 3.6 mm, which could possibly be the difference between in and out, according to a Cardiff University study.

If we care about complete accuracy and objectivity in the game, then human judgment should be completely taken out of the equation with a system like Hawk-Eye, Whitney said.

However, since bad calls are typically equally allocated to both players, their effects are limited.

Bad calls sometimes can have an inadvertent outcome on the match, however.

“My mental game gets really thrown off by [bad calls] and sometimes can affect me until the next game,” said Lauren Guerdat, a past member of the UC Davis club tennis team and longtime tennis player. “It puts a damper on my game.“

What should players do then? Whitney suggests that players challenge more of the “out“ calls than the “in“ calls to maximize their challenges and the chance to be vindicated.

These results could also be applied to other sports such as football, basketball, soccer or baseball.

“It’s very possible that these kinds of effects or very similar effects [can] occur in any sport where the referee, umpire or judge is making a perceptual decision [because] that decision is going to be limited by the visual system and the brain,” Whitney said.

Even outside the world of sports, the results of this research shed light on the visual system and how humans perceive the world. This knowledge could lend itself to other applications such as medicine and computer science where the visual system’s limitations are important.

NICK MARKWITH can be reached at campus@theaggie.org

Upcoming seminars

Science & Technology

Science Editor

November 19, 2008

Today

“Infectious Diseases: Think Locally and Globally“

Campus Community Book Project

Freeborn Hall, 10 a.m. to noon

Sponsored by Campus Community Relations, UC Davis School of Medicine, Student Health Services, International Education Week Resources Faire

“Extinction Hotspot: How Wildlife Vanishes in California“

Hartmut S. Walter, Professor – Department of Geography, UCLA

1150 Hart, 5:10 to 6:30 p.m.

Science Scene

Science & Technology

Science Editor

November 19, 2008

Heart transplants more successful when donor and recipient are same sex

A Johns Hopkins University study found that heart transplant patients are 25 percent more likely to live if the donor and the recipient are of the same sex.

The results of the study were surprising, as differences in sex among organ donors and recipients are usually irrelevant as long as there is a good immunocompatibility.

According to the study, the transplant results that were most unsuccessful were in men who received hearts from smaller women, which suggests that the pumping capacity of the heart is critical to the success of the transplant.

The study also found that women were somewhat more likely to reject heart transplants from males, possibly because of lingering immune stimulation from past pregnancies, experts speculate.

The results of the study may not greatly impact transplant procedures, however, because transplant hearts are so scarce that surgeons must take what they can use, and the heart can stay outside of the body for less than six hours.

(Source: latimes.com)

Ancient belief of soul and body as separate entities discovered in Turkey

The ancient inhabitants of the area that is now southeastern Turkey believed in the religious idea that the soul and body were separate, according to a recent excavation.

In the ruins of a city near the Syrian border, archeologists from the University of Chicago discovered what they believe to be the first written acknowledgement of this concept in this region, dating back to the eighth century B.C.

This is a contrast to Semitic contemporaries, including the Israelites, who believed that body and soul were one, which as the Bible notes, makes cremation forbidden.

There is evidence that inhabitants of the ancient city, now known as Zincirli cremated the dead, archeologists say.

The find, some experts say, could lead to further insight on the dynamics of borderland cultural exchange between the Indo-European and Semitic cultures at that time period.

(Source: nytimes.com)

HIV patients at higher risk for non-AIDS related cancer

HIV-positive individuals are approximately twice as likely to develop non-AIDS cancer as the general population, researchers say.

Men with HIV are 2.3 times more likely, while women with HIV are about 1.5 times more likely, according to the study. The findings will be presented at the American Association for Cancer Research annual conference.

Not much is known about why the link occurs, but researchers say the potential cancer risk should be noted when doctors treat HIV patients.

As people with HIV are now living longer because of improved medical treatments, they face a higher risk of cancer, which increases with age.

Several cancers are associated with the AIDS virus, including Kaposi’s sarcoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and cervical cancer.

(Source: Healthday.com)

ANNA OPALKA compiled SCIENCE SCENE. She can be reached at features@theaggie.org.

UC Davis teams up with Aldagen to develop stem cell therapies

Science & Technology

Science Editor

November 19, 2008

UC Davis and Aldagen, a North Carolina biotechnology company specializing in regenerative medicine, will investigate the potential of Aldagen’s stem cell technology for the treatment of stroke.

The collaboration was formalized in a memorandum of understanding earlier this month and represents the first time that researchers in the stem cell program at UC Davis will work with Aldagen.

According to the American Stroke Association, strokes affect nearly 800,000 people a year and are caused by clots (ischemic) or bursts (hemorrhage) in blood vessels that cut off the supply of oxygen to the brain. The resulting brain damage frequently leads to disability or death. Clot busting drugs are currently used to treat the more common ischemic stroke. They are effective if administered within three hours of onset, which is often too late for 95 to 97 percent of stroke patients.

Stem cells in adults that retain the ability to replenish specialized cells show promise in preclinical studies as a novel therapeutic approach to regenerate and repair damaged tissues including nerves and blood vessels.

Aldagen has developed a system that rapidly and effectively collects adult stem cells from patients‘ bone marrow and blood in sufficient quantities for therapeutic testing, according to the company‘s website. The system isolates active stem cells based on their high levels of a key marker called aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH).

Jan Nolta, a professor of hematology and oncology and director of the stem cell program at UC Davis, has worked with stem cells containing high levels of ALDH in her research for several years.

“They are a fascinating cell population that rapidly migrates to areas of [oxygen deprived] tissue damage and causes a dramatic enhancement of revascularization [new blood vessel formation] to the injured site,” she said.

Her lab, along with researchers at other universities and institutes, found that this homing and blood vessel regenerating process can restore blood flow to help repair damaged tissue in animal models of peripheral vascular disease and heart attack. Other research showed that ALDH-high stem cells can restore functioning nerves in mouse models of inherited human nervous system diseases.

Under the new collaboration with Aldagen, Nolta and Martha O’Donnell, a professor of physiology and membrane biology at UC Davis, will now lead a research effort to determine if ALDH-high cells will similarly restore blood supply to the brain in a rat model of ischemic stroke.

“Our work with Aldagen is just beginning, and it will take at least a couple more months for us to get some data for this very new project,” said O’Donnell in an e-mail interview, who established the stroke model.

“This is basic research so we can’t yet predict if it might lead to a future [human] trial,” Nolta said.

Aldagen has several early-stage clinical trials underway using isolated ALDH-high stem cells to improve function of damaged heart tissue in patients with chronic heart failure and to restore blood flow in the legs of patients with severe vascular disease.

“We do hope to work with them to bring their technologies to our patients when our facility in the new Institute for Regenerative Cures is completed,” Nolta said.

With support from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, construction of the new state of the art research facility at the UC Davis Medical Center campus in Sacramento will be completed in late 2009. Plans for clinical trials at the new facility include using stem cells to treat cardiovascular diseases, Huntington’s disease and retinal occlusion.

ELAINE HSIA can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

DNA of UCD

Science & Technology

Science Editor

November 19, 2008

Marion Wittmann knows Lake Tahoe. From the invasive species that live in the basin of Lake Tahoe to the effects of the boats on the surface, this ecologist takes to the lake like a boat to water. Wittmann is known at UC Davis for her research and presentations on the Asian Clam Invasion, a particularly damaging species to environments like Lake Tahoe.

How would you describe your research?

I research the spread of aquatic invasive species and their ecological impacts to freshwater systems such as lakes, rivers and reservoirs.

How has UC Davis helped in your research?

I was a graduate student at UC Santa Barbara, and carried out my dissertation research at Lake Tahoe, studying the spread of Eurasian watermilfoil by recreational boaters. UC Davis helped to provide lab space, scientific support and community for me through the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center. I am currently a post-doctoral researcher with Geoff Schladow at the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center. UC Davis has completely enabled me to get where I am today.

Do you ever teach? If so, what do you teach?

I don’t teach now, but at UC Santa Barbara I was a TA for statistics, invertebrate zoology and environmental economics.

What inspired you to do your research at Lake Tahoe?

It’s beauty. And it’s susceptibility to ecological change as a result of its exposure to aquatic invasive species through recreational boating, and also its exposure to climate change.

What is so bad about non-native species in certain environments?

Non-native species can dramatically change native ecologies, they can out-compete species that are native to a system, creating a very homogenous environment – sort of like if your garden were to be over grown by weeds. They also provide a lot of problems for users of lakes, rivers and reservoir systems; they can clog water intakes, slow water conveyance, decrease water quality, tangle swimmers and damage boats.

Where is your favorite place in California and why?

Morro Bay. It’s extremely beautiful there and very quintessentially Californian in its landscape. It is also home to the world’s most difficult miniature golf course.

What is one thing people could do to preserve the planet’s ecology?

Don’t use so much stuff! Conserve everything. Use less water, less packaging, less electronics, less gas, less, less, less!

Where did you go to school?

UC Berkeley for undergrad, UC Santa Barbara for graduate school.

Does studying clams ever make you crave a nice seafood dinner?

No. After working with these clams, I can’t eat shellfish anymore. I still love sushi, however.

What do you like to do when you aren’t studying non-native species?

Study native species! I also love to read, watch movies, hike, play indoor soccer and drinking wines from Santa Barbara’s Santa Ynez valley.

If you weren’t in ecology, what would you do as your career and why?

Probably something also related to the environment, possibly alternative energy development like wind or solar power. I would do this because I believe that natural resources must be preserved and more efficiently utilized than they are today.

LAUREN STEUSSY can be reached at campus@theaggie.org

That’s what she said

Opinion

Opinion

November 19, 2008

It‘s past three o‘clock in the morning. A combination of caffeine, prescription drugs and sheer willpower has kept me up until now. I have this creepy voice on my Mac that announces the time every hour on the hour. It‘s like Steven Hawking sneaks up on me every 60 minutes and, for lack of a better term, whispers in my ear. I shudder.

I have thoroughly analyzed the shit out of the opportunities available for freed slaves during the post-Civil War era and compared it to Jewish mobility as America‘s most successful minority group. I have quoted things, drawn parallels, and have made love with my thesaurus tonight. I just pumped out 2,000 words distributed among 14 paragraphs. I have said another man‘s name, Stephen Steinberg, out loud so many times tonight I could have offended a certain someone. I have listened to hours on end of Pandora. For some ungodly reason T-Pain, Lil Wayne, and Ne-Yo seriously spark some sort of analytical fire in my brain. I like to think the little version of me running on the treadmill in my head is sprinting to get away from Lil Wayne‘s incoherent voice and towards my education and merits.

How many of us, the college students, have been in this situation? To my left, a rock. On my right, a hard place. As hard as we try, we end up chugging Redbulls the night before a paper, an o-chem midterm, or a big project in an attempt to stay awake. But we are left to wonder whether we should sleep now and attempt to wake up early and finish whatever work is left, or should we duke it out, stay up and just buy a triple mocha in the morning? Usually it‘s the former, but on the unfortunate occasion that I find myself still awake at 5:30 in the morning, it‘s good to know the Coho will put any number of espresso shots I deem necessary in my drink. And besides, this is the last time.

Every time is the last time. Every time we have learned our lesson: start your shit early. Be responsible and adult-like. And yet, here I am nearing four in the morning listening to R&B singer Genuwine ask if there‘s any more room for him in my jeans. No.

Just to keep you updated, Stephen Hawking just whispered in my ear again. Apparently it is officially four in the morning. I was in this same situation last week. It was really unlucky that my column was due on a holiday – Veteran‘s day. The day after my roommates surprised me with a keg in the kitchen downstairs. Monday was the new Friday that week; you all know what I‘m talking about. I‘d like to think more people would agree I had no choice.

There is something about procrastination that is initially so gratifying. Sure it‘s harder when you put things off until later, but how much better do you feel at that exact moment when you have made the decision not to work on something? Be honest. The second there‘s that switch in your head from worrying about finishing any given project to knowing it‘s as far away from your concerns as possible for the moment. I wonder what kind of chemical reactions are going on in our brains? All of a sudden your head is cleared. The world is your oyster and you can do whatever you please! Backpack through Europe! Start a business! Learn a foreign language! Actually, we‘re more likely watching “The Office,“ downloading more T-Pain or cruising the infamous Facebook. I guess we can learn to do our shit on time. But how? How! I‘m always busy, but I still find time to put things off even more.

I think instead of wasting their time on trying to defer kids from smoking weed (it‘s useless you fools!), parents should have a serious talk with their children about the negative affects of procrastination. The euphoric and ambitious feelings mentioned earlier are short-lived. Sooner than later, reality pistol-whips you but instead of a welt on your head, you have a crappy grade on your transcript. That was an unnecessarily graphic analogy. I guess it‘s not that serious. But it still sucks.

In any case, starting things sooner rather than later will prove to be successful. Learn from my mistakes and if you have anything due even in a couple days, for the love of Buddha, do it now!

If like SARA KOHGADAI you find yourself up too late to go to sleep, but too early to stop working, shoot her an e-mail at sbkohgadai@ucdavis.edu. P.S: Much love to the cute Irishman with a lucky ear for helping edit my paper at 3 a.m.

A view from the soapbox

Opinion

Opinion

November 19, 2008

To anyone who has ever doubted the rationality and humanity of the American political system, I give your suspicions credence: Prop 8. On Nov. 5, California law began enforcing discriminatory marriage practices; a second class of citizens was selected for institutionalized prejudice by a slim margin of the electorate.

Ongoing protests crackle with righteous indignation and indomitable energy against Prop 8‘s de facto encroachment of the state government into matters of love. LGBT groups declared last Saturday and Sunday nationwide days of protest and tens of thousands spoke out in San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, united in the common purpose of restoring equality and providing our gay brothers and sisters with the fundamental right of marriage which we heteros take for granted. Considering both canons of democracy and morality, there is no debate: Prop 8 must be stricken from the state constitution.

For the gravity Prop 8 carries, the legal verbiage it entails is succinct. The addition of a single sentence to the California constitution deprives an entire demographic of legal tolerance and deprives us all of a functional democracy: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.“

This artless sentence crept onto the ballot as a last-ditch holdout for homophobes. It has successfully overturned a California Supreme Court ruling that tore up Prop 22, a replica gay marriage ban passed in 2000. Although Prop 8 cut and pasted 22‘s wording, it smeared them onto the constitution, thus stripping the judiciary of the ability to overturn it. Theoretically, at least.

Our constitution must be moderated by all legal bodies to ensure fairness and equality and to represent minority interests. Balances are foundational to procedural democracy – it’s the role of the judiciary and, of course, voters to ensure that the majority not oppress smaller groups by numerical superiority. Prop 8 is a cheap shot. It’s just a dipstick reading of “are there still less gays than Protestants?” which enables intolerant agendas to rob minorities of their status as equal American citizens.

If this is allowed to stand, majorities could open the floodgates of regressive petty hatred and vote away black voting rights, vote away women’s property rights, vote away legal protections of communists, vote away child custody for vegetarians, vote away citizenship of Ron Paul supporters. Courts ruled marriage to be an “inalienable right” for all citizens, not an “inalienable right until we hear otherwise.” Marriage is as fundamental now as it was in 2000 and as such should be protected. Concerned groups petitioned the judiciary to remove Prop 8 from the ballot, but courts declined without comment. Remind them of their jobs.

Seventy-two percent of Californian voters turned out to vote on Prop 8 and a 2.2 percent majority swayed the vote to “yes.“ A “yes“ to the abuse of democracy. A “yes“ to perpetuating closed-mindedness and social division. A “yes“ to the validation of puritanical conceit. A “yes“ to the continued mistreatment of people, just people, who want the opportunity to find love and companionship in an unsettled, lonely world.

How would the tolerance of love bring hurt to anyone? Arguments for a ban on gay marriage are, wholesale, nonsecular and absurd. First is the notion that Christian moral scientists cracked the universal code of ethics and saw that gayness will result in fire, brimstone, festering boils, AIG’s collapse, etc. I ask of them: Where have gone the values of a compassionate Christ? Grow up and realize that homosexuality is love and to obsess over the sexual behavior of others may not have been your God’s intention. Many others are uncertain or uncommitted.

To them, I ask: Would you settle for anything less than equal treatment? Look past the ephemeral and realize the common humanity we all share. Aren’t we past ready for the next step in the journey toward human community? See truth.

CHEYA CARY wants to say hi to Jameela and Jasmine and encourages all of you to contribute some time or energy in the ongoing fight for equality. Reach him at cheya.cary@gmail.com.

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