By McKenzie Wall

Image by Mara Hileman

Lena Weinstein was nearing desperation. As her last resort, a final plea for sanctuary, she posted a video blog on YouTube, expecting one or two comments of support from her closest friends. Within seconds of her post, hundreds of comments appeared, offering support, advice and even phone numbers 

of people wanting to help. Lena was overwhelmed. Over the next week, she received hundreds of hats, scarves, letters, CDs, books, motivational cards – all from people she had never even met. Most of these mysterious good Samaritans didn’t know her, but they were all Wizard Rockers.

She had been suffering for weeks at the hands of a disease that 

had plagued her since the age of 11: tricoellomenia, or a compulsive need to rip your own hair out. It would develop quickly, charging her into weeks of obsessive hair pulling — she even felt forced to hurt herself. The urge would become so uncontrollable she was forced to wear scarves or hats, hiding the bald spots from her family and peers. Because of the rarity of this condition, she was ashamed, even secretive, of her issues and afraid to reach out for support and understanding.

That was until she found a community in Wizard Rock, music of any genre that is written about the stories of the pop culture juggernaut Harry Potter, the character developed by author J.K. Rowling. Wizard Rockers offered the type of support she hadn’t been able to find elsewhere. Lena went on to tell her story about the overwhelming response to her YouTube blog at a Wizard Rock event. The reaction was overwhelming: the audience was moved to tears and others with this disease came forward for support. Lena says, “The only thing that tied me to them was their love of Harry Potter and their love for the music that I wrote. That is what the Wizard Wrock community means to me, that people would go out on a limb for somebody who they don’t know at all because of this genre of music.”

There are over 350 known Wrock bands, and most of those groups have gained some level of fame in the Wrock community. Lena herself is no exception: she is the lead singer and pianist for The Butterbeer Experience, has released three well-known Wrock albums (Accio Hot Guy, The Tales of Beedle the Bard and Non-Alcoholic) and participated in several Wrock mash-up albums. These bands range in ages — including kids — and the fans range in age and interests as well, creating a unique community that revolves around Wizard Rock.

Since the day of the post, Lena has met six other Wrockers with the same condition. She talks to them regularly and can depend on them when her condition returns in full force. And she is not the only Wrocker who has reached out for help. Sometime after Lena posted her cry for help, another person battling serious thoughts of suicide came forward. People from the Wrock community responded immediately, telling her not to do it and that she could make it through. These are just two examples of the exemplary support the Wrock culture encourages.

According to Lena, the Wizard Rock fan base is comprised of “people that care. Every person matters in this community.” A community centered around a love for Harry Potter isn’t a norm for most of us, but for Wrockers, it’s their extended family. One of the most important elements of this community is the sense of equality that brings these people together: “there isn’t a distinguishing difference between a Wizard Rocker and Wizard Rock ‘fan’ – wizard wrockers and fans are on an even playing field.”

From their love of Wrock music to discussions of Harry Potter literature, Wrockers young and old can bond and grow as individuals. These common interests “lead you to talk about so many different things.” According to Lena, Wrock is a “springboard that makes people a lot less intimidated to meet new people. Shy people in normal life become a lot less shy when they are surrounded by groups of wiz rock people.”

Kids and adults alike are welcomed openly into the family of Potter fandom. Events like “Wrockstock” and Azkatraz host hundreds of Potter-crazy families to a weekend of concerts and talks. Listeners range from 4-40 years old, all who flock to wiz rock events for entertainment and fellowship. Lena says, “people bring their babies, people bring their 2-year-olds and everybody just has so much fun!” The conferences feature Wrock Concerts, open panels of famous Wrockers and celebrities that are as Potter crazy as the Wrockers. These meetings are a platform for discussion about the books, movies, and future of the “wizarding” world. You could say it’s the “mother ship” of all Harry Potter lovers, just a huge family reunion with more than a few eccentric aunts and uncles.

“This family is unique, differing greatly from the community at Ithaca College,” Lena explains. “It’s a lot more accepting. You can go up to anyone at a Harry Potter event and say ‘Hi, I’m…’ and instantly they like you. At IC, they won’t immediately feel a sense of bestfriendom…If I’m having a problem, I turn to these friends that I’ve met in the wizard wrock community, and they turn to me with their issues.” She stresses that she leads two completely separate lives: one at school and with her family and the other with her Wrock family. “I can really be myself around other people that understand that part of me,” Lena said. This sense of openness and understanding is the most interesting and endearing aspect of the Wrock culture. This group of people, who only share one commonality – Harry Potter – managed to create a safe haven where they can share their interests and thrive off of each others’ enthusiasm.

An older Wrocker, Quinn Rossi, explained that the “Wizard Rock community is only a subdivision of the Harry Potter community as a whole. I think that that’s where you really see the family. The Harry Potter community combines everything – you have people from every walk of life, every age range, who do any little thing that can be merged into something that they really love. Any way you express yourself is completely okay.” He also added, “Everyone is lauded for just simply doing their best. It’s not about talent, it’s about passion.

His first Wizard Wrock experience was telling of this open attitude. “I went to a show alone and instantly made friends with someone who recognized me from another event,” Quinn explained. “He took me to a table of his buddies and we hit it off instantly. This is why this community is a family: it’s an incredibly inclusive group of people that truly accept each other.” Quinn went on to describe how the conferences and concerts are a supportive platform for new performing artists. “Yet another reason we’re a family,” he explained, is because all Wrockers “respect and support each other.”

The Wrock movement is spreading. More and more people are learning about this genre, participating in it’s growing culture and promoting its message of family. All are welcome. All are accepted. All are important. Isn’t that what family is all about? Lena is one of many individuals that have been helped and supported by the growing family of Wrockers, and she certainly won’t be the last. WROCK ON!

McKenzie Wall is a freshman integrated marketing communications. Email her at mwall1@ithaca.edu.

The birds were chirping, the sun was shining, and children’s playful laughter could be heard over the breeze. Freshly cut grass wafted over the air. This was the weather that launched a thousand grills.

The Collins family was world famous for their annual family cookout at the end of every summer. According to Bill Collins, every family member had a designated food item that they bestowed upon the family that day.

“Auntie Shelby always brought the pasta salad, Grandma made brownies, and Uncle George always skillfully grilled the burgers,” Bill said. “Those burgers were like magic; that’s how we always thought it would be.”

Well, that was how it had always been until Aunt Jen and Uncle George’s recent divorce this past spring. A nasty court case and a few hundred thousand dollars later, Aunt Jen remains living in their house. She has possession of their vacation lodge in New Hampshire and she was also able to keep their dog, Bruno.

Now, three months later, the Collins family is really feeling the absence of their beloved Uncle George, especially with the appearance of sub-par, undercooked meat from Aunt Jen.

“Since Aunt Jen took over the grilling,” Jen’s cousin Josh said, “my stomach has never been the same.”

Various family members were seen stashing half-eaten burgers everywhere. Potted plants have wilted and died from the burgers that were left there.

“Even Bruno vomited after eating one of the burgers,” Jen’s brother-in-law Bill said morosely.

“I can’t believe it,” said Aunt Shelby, who in the past could be seen at every cookout wolfing down two juicy cheeseburgers stacked on top of each other. “I don’t know what we’re going to do, I’m really at a loss for words. I mean, I know the guy lost 30,000 dollars in a poker game last year, but his burgers were to die for.”

“I know that Uncle George had that fetish for Vietnamese whores,” Aunt Sima said. ”But man could he grill.”

Other family members even lamented the absence of George’s personality at the barbeque.

“He was a lot of fun and knew how to have a good time,” Bill said. “Not like Jen at all. She’s really emotional and cries all the time.”

Uncle George is presently living in the basement of one of his high school friends.

Had the Collins family realized this would result in George’s absence from all future family cookouts, they would have gladly volunteered to take him in.

Alex, Bill’s second cousin twice removed, voiced his concerns on how the Collins family cookout would turn out without George. “We’re going to have to make do without him. I don’t know how we’re going to do it, but we will. We’ll pull through and survive this horrible, horrible event.”

By Colleen Cunha

This past Tuesday, a freshman here at Ithaca College, who prefers to remain anonymous, uncovered an alarming website while browsing the Internet. The student was searching for instructions on how to send a letter in the mail, but came upon a page that seemed to have instructions on how to send an email, intended for parents who are technologically incompetent. On this page, the student found a link to a website that translates emails from college students to their parents. This well-hidden translator is simple, easy to use, and disturbingly accurate. Although its origins are unclear and the way it works perplexing, we are attempting to get to the bottom of this and plan to somehow shut down the abominable site. Here is an example email, sent by another anonymous student to his mother just last week. The translation is shockingly precise.

Original email-

“My schedule is great! My Thursday classes are my favorite. I’m struggling a bit with architecture, chemical reactions, and geography, but my advisor told me it’ll start to come more naturally once I get used to the classes. I’m probably going to talk to my French teacher, I feel like I should be at a higher language level. I can’t wait to come home and see you and dad for the first time since I left, I’ve been a bit homesick. Well I have to go help my roommate with his homework, love you mom!”

Translation-

“My schedule is great! The best parties are on Thursdays. It’s really hard to walk home at night after a party at the Circles. The upper class men told me I’ll begin to build up tolerance, and the hazing shouldn’t last much longer. The girl I hooked up with at the party was a good kisser, but my roommate says I could have done better. Please don’t come down for parents weekend, I’ll probably be hung over. Well my roommate just broke out a collection of Playboy mags, stop emailing mom!”

Carol Blanche, mother of 14 year-old Justin, was shocked upon the discovery of her son’s extensive collection of Playboy, Penthouse and Skanky Stan’s porn paraphernalia.  “I’ve really never seen this much of it, I mean, there were piles of it that just kept coming out of his closet when I went to his room to pick up his dirty laundry.”  Carol called her husband, Dan, to preview the plethora of porn.  Dan wanted to congratulate his son and stated, “He’s finally becoming a man.”

Carol is very upset with her son and his collection habits, but Dan defends his son.

“He’s taking advantage of a market, that during my childhood, was never this huge,” he said. “And I envy him for that.  I would have done the same thing.”

When asked how Justin acquired the magazines, he replied in a nonchalant manner, ”Santa.”  Justin’s friends refer to him as the “go-to” guy for evening entertainment among the freshman boys at Hillsboro High.  Justin is in charge of the Monday morning announcements at the High School and as such, uses his position to promote his Thursday night literary club, where intense critiques of the articles from Playboy take place.

A plan of action is up for debate between the feuding parents and there seems to be no reconciling on the issue.  Carol wants him to throw out the “disgraceful reading material” while Dan wants to take over the collection, claiming it will help his and Carol’s marriage.

Despite his parents’ possible punishment, Justin is extremely proud of his collection and how he has the most culturally diverse collection of porn (hailing from countries such as Brazil, France and Ethiopia) among 14-year-olds in the world.  When asked what he would do with the collection, Justin merely shrugged and said, “Sell ‘em and buy more?”

Justin plans to point out this honor in the “personal achievements” section of his resume when he begins applying for jobs in a couple years.

“It was one of those things where you felt like you were watching from the outside, like it wasn’t really happening to you.” These are the words of Stevie Marshall upon discussing his traumatizing experience at the Ithaca Mall last week. Stevie was unfortunate enough to be confronted by every teen’s worst nightmare: his mother in Victoria’s Secret. “I think he’s going to be okay,” said Stevie’s friend Ben Lee, who was also present during the difficult events of the day.  “Times like these are tough, but Stevie’s a strong guy and he’ll get through this. But damn, I wish I could’ve seen Mrs. Marshall in some of that lingerie. What a milf.”

The boys explained the innocent moments leading up to what Stevie claims to be “the most humiliating moment” of his life. “We were just killing time at the mall, and we always walk by Victoria’s Secret,” Ben explained. “I mean, we’re teenage dudes, there’s stuff to see, you know what I mean?” But what the boys clearly did not expect to see was Mrs. Marshall strolling out of the establishment carrying multiple bags filled with her mysterious purchases. “I don’t even want to know what was in the bags,” Stevie said.

Image by Leah Tatro

Upon further investigation, it has been discovered that Mrs. Marshall has very few friends or family that would use products from a store such as Victoria’s Secret, therefore drawing us to the conclusion that all her purchases were, in fact, for her own use. According to next-door neighbor John Wood, this doesn’t come as a complete shock.

“She’s a nice lady, in great shape and everything,” he said. “I mean, I could see why she would want to buy some stuff from there. There’s nothing wrong with that, nothing wrong with that at all.” Wood can be seen each day staring lustfully at Mrs. Marshall through holes in his picket fence.

So, is it wrong for middle-aged women to embrace the products that Victoria’s Secret is well known for? For Stevie, there is no question.

“Dude, she’s my mom,” he said. “She shouldn’t even be in a place like that. I mean, she’s not that old, but when you have a kid my age, you shouldn’t be in that kind of store and you definitely shouldn’t be buying their stuff.”

By Celia David

Written by and starring Charlyne Yi, a young Hollywood actress and stand-up comic, Paper Heart is a documentary/mocumentary about that all too elusive word: Love. Yi, who plays a caricature of herself in the film, doesn’t believe in love and is making a documentary about the subject in order to better grasp its concept.

She sets off on a journey around the US in which she interviews people from all walks of life (married high school sweethearts, a divorcee, Las Vegas vacationers, a gay couple and a group of Atlanta middle school children, to name a few) and asks them how they define love.

In a separate story that parallels the interviews, Charlyne meets and begins to form a relationship with awkward indie regular, Michael Cera. Their relationship begins to blossom, and Charlyne clearly develops feelings for Michael. The film shifts from pure documentary to a reality TV-style capture of their budding romance.

However, the catch is that none of it’s real. Although it is rumored Michael Cera and Charlyne Yi did date in real life, they definitely did not meet on the set of Paper Heart. While they use their real names the on-screen romance is entirely fictional and mostly serves as a plot device to transition between the true stories provided by the interviewees.

Paper Heart is not the hard-hitting “serious” type of journalism we often come to expect of a documentary. Although the interviews are not fictionalized, they are mainly anecdotal. And while the stories are real, Yi continues to blur the lines between fiction and reality by recreating the most interesting tales of romance with homemade puppets and miniature paper cut-out sets.

The stories range from amusing (a young girl suggests that eating hot wings at Applebee’s would be the ideal first date), to heartbreaking (a man recalls how his former partner “broke his heart” by dying prematurely) but don’t expect to have a better understanding of the meaning of love by the end of the movie. These stories are for entertainment purposes only.

As the interviewer, Yi is sometimes hilarious and always engaging. Yet, she doesn’t ask many “difficult” questions about the meaning of love or challenge the people she interviews to reconsider their ideas about it. There is no agenda in this film when it comes to love.

What is perhaps more thought-provoking about this movie is it’s creative approach to filmmaking. There is a sense of disregard for the separation of the real and the fictional, and Yi makes no apologies for this lack of distinction. Although Cera takes on the same shy, socially awkward George-Michael persona we have seen in everything from Arrested Development to Superbad to Juno, Yi creates almost no disparity between her fictional and interviewer personalities. And though most of the interviews with strangers are unscripted, some of the interviews Yi holds with her comedian friends are clearly manipulated, if perhaps mostly improvised.

In a “reality” TV world, Paper Heart questions the validity of documentary as an accurate representation of the truth. However, it does so in a lighthearted, enjoyable way that never feels forced for the viewer. Paper Heart borrows from the genre of young, quirky indie comedy that seems to be so popular right now.

Despite some clichés in style, the stars of the film (mainly Yi) are fun to watch. There is something very genuine about the characters, even when they’re fictional. If you’re looking for a fun, slightly off-beat, docu-comedy, then this film is worth a look.

By Bryan Cipolla

The Tundra Toes have been a staple, better yet, a jagged piece of rusting metal lodged within the local Ithaca music scene for the past year. Upon their recent extraction from the town, due to the inevitable graduation of several of their members, a unique scar was left unlike any other. This was a mark that the Tundra Toes were happy to remedy with their debut album, In It To Win It, released independently this past summer.

In order to fully understand the Tundra Toes particular concoction of chaotic, bluesy folk rock music, one must be aware of what their live shows are like. They are the driving force behind the band. Onstage, plates were smashed, boards were cut, electric drills spun and saws bent and played; all orchestrated to create an intimate yet anarchic experience. Sawdust, shards of porcelain, and blood could be found strewn across the stage after their sets were completed—remnants of a frenzied folk dance party.

It would be no surprise to see members of the band, who adorned the NBA jerseys of their favorite players from the ‘90s, “crowd surfing with a megaphone while people screamed the choruses to [their] songs,” as CJ Knowles describes. CJ, an Ithaca College graduate of 2008 and former Buzzsaw editor, is the main songwriter and creator of the group, along with five other former and current IC students.

In It To Win It attempts to capture the spirit of these live shows while incorporating further instrumentation and orchestration. The album’s ghostly opening track, “Never Hard,” is led by a steady beat accompanied by haunting, muted vocals. The howling of a saw is heard in the background, adding to the song’s eerie tone.

The album continues in this vain of strange folk but becomes much more chaotic and polarized in one of the album’s standout tracks, “Local Meat.” The track embodies the band’s goal for the project—creating music that is “insane but composed,” says Knowles. A strumming guitar is accompanied by high pitched, wiry tones as the rough vocals of a madman blurts out sloppy yet organized sounds. Strings build up until they are cut off by the sound of grizzly laughter, and the chaos collapses with the tones that the track began with.

“Coal Mines” blends a bluesy guitar riff with breaking plates and brass instruments, then brings in a breakdown reminiscent of a demented carnival spinning out of control. “St. James Infirmary,” the album’s only cover, takes on an old school blues song, incorporating a unique exchange between a saxophone and a harmonica. The album takes a more melodic turn with “Sober Moon” and “Fish Hooks.”

A variety of imagery is evoked throughout In It to Win It, including pirates, cemeteries, bars, heartbreak, mortality and insanity. The album also incorporates Christian imagery, yet not in a laudable sense, including the lyrics, “I threw fish hooks at the mountain tops to search for a higher power/ But you don’t fish for God when you are kneeling like a coward.”

The album concludes with “The Admiral,” a six-minute track that can be described as the only “pretty” song on the album, including strings, female vocals, echoing, and tapping guitars. Its tonal contrast to the other tracks makes it an obvious and appropriate closer.

“Our ‘goodbye’ show [my] senior year at Castaway’s included two piñatas, one filled with Army men and mini marshmallows and the other filled with potpourri and paprika,” Knowles says. “We also had two jugglers, Nick Carr in a bear suit and all the makings of Hell’s birthday jamboree.”

Currently, the band is spread out along the East Coast and has not played together since this last show. Two of the band’s members, Reece Lazarus and Steve Burton, currently attend Ithaca College and are part of another up-and-coming Ithaca-based group, Caution Children.

Despite all of this, CJ is still writing songs for the project, and the band plans on playing again this coming year. In It To Win It can be downloaded for free at thetundratoes.com.

By Dana McCall

Imogen Heap’s new album evokes such a variety of emotions in her listeners that pushing the pause button seems impossible. This multitalented musician from London has certainly created a place for herself around the world. From her name to her look to her music, this 31-year-old songstress is the prime example of an individual.

Imogen Heap’s music integrates the styles of electronic, indie, ambient, rock, and pop. Imogen Heap was successful in cultivating all these genres into a rhythmical and distinctive third album Ellipse, which was released on Aug. 25, 2009. Her first album since 2005, it ranked within the top five albums on five different global music charts, including a number five spot on the Billboard Top 200 album chart. It surpassed her two previous albums in musical caliber and fan reception.

Her highly popular 2005 hit single, “Hide and Seek,” won her much success, not to mention fame. I automatically gravitated toward similar songs on the new album like “Canvas,” in which Imogen Heap’s voice is recorded over a chorus of lower-key singers creating a melody and harmony that is perfectly synchronized. Her expansive vocal range is showcased in songs like these.

“First Train Home” is a catchy tune with an ambient tempo and includes a desire to escape. She writes, “I want to run in fields, paint the kitchen and love someone/ no I can’t do any of that here can I?” The speak-singing and ridicule used in her unshakeable “Bad Body Double” are displays of Imogen Heap’s sarcasm and striking sense of humor.

The album reaches its crest with the song “Earth,” which trademarks Imogen Heap’s vocal and musical style. As in many of her songs, she utilizes ‘human instruments’ to create a complication of diverse sounds.

With talent, musical variety and brazen wit that gives this album a wonderful uniqueness, Ellipse is hailing great success. Would I say that Imogen Heap is a household name? Maybe not yet, but this album is paving the way toward a comfy place in stardom.

By  Amelia Blevins

Set in an unnamed dystopia, 9 is made up of all the usual suspects found in post-apocalypse thrillers, except for one unique addition: animate rag dolls known as “stitchpunks.” The film opens with the awakening of 9 (Elijah Wood), the last in a series of nine stitchpunks created by a genius scientist whose invention of an artificially intelligent brain led to the destruction of the nation after extended warfare against intelligent machines.

While 9 is based off of Shane Acker’s Oscar-nominated short film of the same name, the feature film loses all of the uniquely haunting subtlety and mystery of the original, and instead follows in the same post-apocalyptic vein as The Matrix or Fall Out 3, complete with animalistic machines, barren industrial wastelands and the need to save the day.

The protagonist 9, after coming into contact with fellow stitchpunks 1 through 8, hopes to find answers to the mystery of the end of the world and the mysterious beasts set on killing them. In the spirit of reprising his role as Frodo Baggins, Elijah Wood’s earnest sincerity as 9, while well acted, only emphasizes the cliché adventure plot that even producer Tim Burton’s input did little to reinvent.

On the other hand, the animation is exceptional and the detailed steampunk-esque, Victorian sci-fi designs for both the stitchpunks and the anthropomorphist machines, whose use of candles and hot-air balloons in combination with artificial intelligence give the film’s environment an other-worldly ambiance.

Overall, a lack of originality and ingenuity keep this film from truly shining, even if it the animation is excellent.

By Bryant Francis

This summer saw plenty of big-budget sci-fi extravaganzas. Lots of giant robots, explosions, more giant robots (it was a pretty big theme). So in all the noise and grinding of metallic limbs, it’s fairly easy to let a small, quiet film like Moon slip under the radar.

Moon, directed by first-timer Duncan Jones, is about a man named Sam Bell (played by Sam Rockwell) as he is about to finish up his three-year contract serving on an isolated mining base that provides Earth with enough Helium-3 to power most of its energy needs.

There’s some real science as to how that works out, but the movie doesn’t bog you down with details. Sam just runs the computers, performs maintenance on the machines and has hallucinatory visions about a young woman around the base.

Actually the last bit isn’t surprising considering the only entity keeping him company is a computer named GERDY, voiced by Kevin Spacey. For all of you genre-savvy readers out there, he is very reminiscent of HAL of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Trouble ensues when Sam crashes a lunar rover after having one of these hallucinations and wakes up in the base infirmary only to go back out and find a clone of himself in the crashed vehicle.

This is the film’s twist. By delivering it in the first 30 minutes, Moon does something different than other movies—it examines the twist. The film follows the two Sams (both played by Rockwell, who does a great job of talking to himself) as they both try and grapple with the knowledge that at least one of them is a clone and try to out figure just what exactly is going on.

It’s these examinations, not the actual discovery of the plot points, which make Moon great. The major plot moments are presented nonchalantly, with more focus being on how Sam one and Sam two deal with the revelations, rather than the revelations themselves. There are some great moments, ranging from gut-wrenching to hilarious, as the two Sams, who actually have very different personalities, react to the new information and try to propose solutions.

There are other moments that contribute to the success of Moon. GERDY is hilarious at points, and manages to play with your expectations regarding his actions. The visual effects of the moon’s surface are stunning, and the ending doesn’t confuse you like 2001 did. Overall, Moon follows in the footsteps of Clarke and Asimov, taking a small scientific twist and examining how it affects individuals rather than having them be slaves to the twist.