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Ad Astra review: The space movie that could not

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Official movie poster by Disney.

Coming in with the hopes of another futuristic space epic similar to 2014’s “Interstellar,” “Ad Astra” did little to advance the genre.

This movie focuses too strongly on all the glitz and glam while missing the soul of any well-regarded movie.

This is a slow, treacherous and beautiful film that was at times a spectacle you rarely see in the theater but mostly had me wanting more from the plot.

I’d argue this is an all-time carry by Brad Pitt, similar to LeBron James in the 2018 NBA Finals.

Like James, Pitt was putting on one of his best performances but ultimately lost in the end.

“Ad Astra” sees Roy McBride (Pitt) being sent on a top-secret mission to look for his famous astronaut father, H. Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones).

I honestly can’t remember a scene that Pitt isn’t in, keeping consistent with the movies handsome over heart strategy.

I did however really enjoy Pitt in this film.

He did a great job of playing a cool, calm and collected space-veteran who has a deep-rooted conflict that he chooses to bury.

Outside of Pitt, no one else’s performances really stuck out to me, but I don’t think it is the actors’ faults. Jones and Liv Tyler’s character, Eve, were inexplicably underused when it seemed like their relationships with Roy were going to be the heart of the movie.

The director, James Gray, and his team were lazy when it came to the plot of the movie and put too much effort into the special effects and fantastical moments.

It felt as though they thought just haphazardly throwing in some classic relationship problem tropes would be good enough to keep our interest.

However, spoiler warning, it wasn’t. If you’re expecting a movie similar to “Interstellar” or 2015’s “The Martian,” you’re going to have to keep looking.

While the visual effects and artistry are top notch and may be worth the price of admission for some people, this movie lacks the creative story lines and emotion that made the two previously mentioned films successful space adventures.

An Experiment in Metal: King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard ’s Infest the Rats’ Nest Album Review

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King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard performing at Brookyln Steel. Photo by Andrew Blackstein.

Australian rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard released their fifteenth studio album, “Infest the Rats’ Nest,” on Aug. 16 as an experimental look back upon old school metal and psychedelic rock.

The album’s style is pleasantly cluttered.

There is a lot going on in the sound space, and not a single instrument is left unattended to.

Effects are used tastefully to create a balance of clarity and distortion.

Some of the more refined sounds call back to psychedelic rock, adding a trippy flair to familiar metal roots.

Official album art by ATO.

Powerful bass lines from Joey Walker blend with full, thrash-inspired guitars, driven by consistent all-out drumming from Michael Cavanagh.

The second track, “Mars For The Rich,” is a standout.

For four and a half minutes, it is impossible not to at least nod along to the groove, and the last minute or so of the track is likely to get you drumming on the nearest surface.

Though the album is categorized as metal on iTunes and other music platforms, there are many genres providing influence.

While metal fans will undoubtedly enjoy thrashing guitar tracks and frontman Stu Mackenzie’s gritty vocals, there are experimental elements at play that could certainly draw in fans of psychedelic rock, punk, surf rock and experimental music as a whole.

Each guitar track calls back to metal bands like Motörhead and Black Sabbath, with guitar credited to Mackenzie, Walker and Cook Craig in the album notes.

The metal mentality of this album shines through on tracks like “Organ Farmer” and “Perihelion,” that sound is contrasted by the slower pace of “Superbug.”

This lengthy track provides a rest in the middle of the album; there are frequent instrumental breaks, with an outstanding one coming in at 2:20.

“Superbug” is a perfectly timed change of pace from fast-paced vocals and driving instrumentals, readying the listener’s palette to dive right back into five more tight tracks.

It is followed up with “Venusian 1,” a heavy metal blitz with a quick enough pace and feeling to give any ‘70s punk track a run for its money.

“Perihelion” feels like a natural continuation from “Venusian 1.” Its intro might lead you to believe that the song is not going to impress, but it is saved by some interesting backing vocals that come in right in time to save the song and push things forward into the closing tracks.

“Infest the Rats’ Nest” serves as a tribute to the metal of yesteryear, but with crystal clear production and experimental influences from a range of genres.

The music refuses to pull at your emotions or sympathize with you at all, but that is not its purpose; it is an energetic, down-and-dirty collection ready for you to lock your door, pile on your darkest makeup or most studded clothing and rock out for a little over 34 minutes

Staff member exploring motorcycle leasing possibility

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Faculty members at Florida Tech have recently looked into motorcycle dealerships around town that offer leases for students in need of transportation.

The main vehicles they looked into were electronic and gas-powered scooters, as well as motorcycles.

The discussion occurred about a month back according to David Beavers, an electronic lab manager.

Beavers wanted to find an affordable solution for students without personal transportation on campus.

“There are at least five companies in town that offer gas and electric scooters and bikes at relatively low cost to students,” Beavers said. “This is something the sustainability folks would be interested in, especially the electronic motorcycles.”

However, since this would not be a program run by the school, students would still be responsible for getting their own motorcycle’s license and corresponding insurance.

Students around campus such as Diego Gonzalez, a junior in mechanical engineering, agrees on this idea being brought to light.

“If I knew about this when I was a freshman, I could’ve saved a lot of money by not having to buy a car,” Gonzalez said. “I definitely recommend any incoming freshman or student without a vehicle to make the investment if they have the money to do so.”

Gonzalez also mentioned how motorcycles are much better on gas, as the insurance is usually lower.

Additionally, it is easier to find parking spots around campus.

However, students such as Jake Gaier, a senior in business, said this could potentially turn into a bad idea for an inexperienced motorist.

“I’ve been riding dirt bikes and motorcycles for most of my life, and in my experience, I’ve met unlicensed motorist who ride better than people with motorcycle licenses,” Gaier said. “I think if students who have little to no experience on these bikes start leasing them to use, it could result in a lot of accidents around campus if they’re not careful.”

Gaier suggests that students who don’t have the experience of riding motorcycles should first start out on scooters, due to them being cheaper, having less power and being a little safer.

If you’re interested in leasing a motorcycle or scooter, places such as Space Coast Harley Davidson, Suzuki Motors and Honda of Melbourne are a few places to start.

Professor iterates research integrity amidst anti-vaccination controversy

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The controversy surrounding the anti-vaccination movement on social media has some students expressing the importance of peer-reviewed journals.

An Ohio teen, using Reddit— an American news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website—and scientific journals, went against the views of his mother and got himself vaccinated.

The teen testified against his mother before at a Senate hearing alongside experts, according to the Washington Post, which has caused an increase in the discussion of the topic.

Dzmitry Yuran, assistant professor in the school of arts and communication, believes that the popularization of peer-reviewed journals does more harm than good in the spread of misinformation in media.

“[Peer-reviewed journals] are crucial,” Yuran said. “But they’re not all powerful.”

Yuran said one such problematic journal was the anti-vaccination research.

He said the anti-vaccination movement was popularized with a scientific journal that has since been retracted because the co-authors revealed the data collection was unethical.

Yuran said peer-reviewed journals never give a 100 percent course of action; it’s the second level of interpretation that does that, which is usually in the realm of the media.

He said new research gets into places like a morning talk show or in the pages of the BBC.

The discussion usually surrounds understanding research that’s been done on a small animal, usually a mouse, but is interpreted as a course of action for human beings.

“Once it’s out of the journals, there is no control over it,” Yuran said. “It goes into the realm of misinterpretation, speculation and everything else.”

Yuran said this misinterpretation is caused by the simplification of information based on what people want to get out of them.

He said they’re often read by people who don’t necessarily “understand [the journals] fully, crawls down to [the] conclusion section and fishes for that one useful tidbit of information that they can turn into [a] course of action.”[sic]

Zachary Eckert, a graduate physics student, also shares the same beliefs as Yuran Eckert said science can easily be used to prove personal bias.

“With nearly any set of data you can get pretty much any outcome you want,” Eckert said, “depending on how you look at the data.”

Eckert said there are multiple ways of looking at numbers. He said it’s imperative to try and find the most true results from any set of numbers.

“The simple solution to every ailment in life is what we’re after,” Yuran said. “We want a simple shortcut and hope that science will give it to us.”

Yuran said that there’s no one solution to the spread of misinterpreted research, but education plays a big role.

Many scientific journals are published by people who have a very specific educational background and are difficult to read.

He also said they’re costly for the general consumer who may not understand the technical writing.

These factors lead to an over reliance on someone to interpret the information for the general public.

However, Eckert believes social media platforms play a big role in the spread of misinformation.

He said that most things that are shared are those which have polarizing opinions in the titles and is typically not based on either the content of the article or whether the article has evidence for it.

Most people decide whether they agree or disagree with shared articles from the title and share it without properly reading.

“If it supports your worldview, you’re going to share it with everybody else,” Eckert said. “And then your social media circle becomes an echo chamber of everybody who agrees with you.”

Eckert said memes– humorous images, videos or pieces of text that are copied and spread rapidly by internet users–may be helpful in dispelling misinformation.

He believes the simplicity and relatable nature of memes can easily be shared than an article explaining complicated science.

“They’re more likely to be able to permeate certain circles,” Eckert said. “And it can get some of the more centrist people to rethink their ideas.”

Yuran believes that society has a very long way to go in it’s relationship with science, but personal research and cognitive understanding on an individual level is a huge step in the right direction.

New Gleason policy “aims for fairness” across campus

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A year ago, Florida Tech implemented a policy that requires all groups on campus to pay for use of the Gleason Performing Arts Center auditorium.

According to Jeffrey Richardson, the assistant manager of Gleason, the payment is used to compensate workers.

“It isn’t a charge for the building,” Richardson said. “It’s a charge for our student workers, or our workers in general, to be present to take care of the equipment and to take care of the building for whatever that may need.”

During regular Gleason operating hours, Richardson said the use of the auditorium is free.

After hours, those using the auditorium are required to pay $20 per worker per hour.

William O’Steen, the manager of Gleason, said the cost is dependent on how many workers are needed for an event.

Some events will cost groups far less than others.

For example, an event where one person is giving a speech takes fewer workers than a concert.

“Depending on the event is how many support staff we’ll have in the building at the time, which will fluctuate the cost,” O’Steen said.

Both O’Steen and Richardson began working at Gleason a little more than six months ago.

William “Billy” O’Steen and Jeffery Richardson are the managers of the Gleason Performing Arts Center. Photo by Emily Walker.

The policy was implemented about six months prior to their arrival, Richardson said.

However, he said at a student-leader luncheon soon after he began working at Gleason, President McKay brought up the policy.

“The president himself stood up and said, ‘This is how it is, period,’” Richardson said.

As time has passed since the policy was put into place, Richardson said he has noticed a misconception surrounding it during his time at Gleason.

“There’s a lot of kind of gray area where people talk behind people’s backs and say, ‘Oh, we have to rent the Gleason now,’” Richardson said. “And that’s kind of a weird misnomer that isn’t true. It’s not renting the building, it’s just paying for the students’ time after hours.”

While off-campus groups or companies requesting the use of the Gleason auditorium are required to rent it, Richardson said all groups on campus simply pay for the workers’ time.

One group that uses Gleason on a regular basis is College Players, Florida Tech’s student-run performing arts group.

According to Richardson, they use Gleason multiple nights a week and are Gleason’s number-one patron.

Harris Halabi, a junior in civil engineering, was the treasurer for College Players last year.

He is still a member of the organization, as well as an audio-visual technician at Gleason.

According to Halabi, College Players heard about the policy through the Conference Services Bureau.

“We heard about it pretty quickly because we had spaced lined up, and then we got some emails about it,” Halabi said.

According to Halabi, the Conference Services Bureau told College Players they had to pay for Gleason technicians when they held events, and the technicians could not be members of College Players.

These rules, according to Halabi, are not specific to College Players.

All organizations must pay for technicians to be present during events, and the technicians working cannot be a part of the organization using the auditorium.

However, Richardson said College Players has adapted to the policy change well.

Additionally, the Gleason team has worked with them to make the change as smooth as possible.

“They were very understanding of the policy once it was explained to them what the policy was,” Richardson said. “One of the things that is so nice about College Players is they’re very self-managed, so we don’t need to support their events very much other than having a student representative here in case there are any issues.”

According to O’Steen, people have been concerned about how the policy affects College Players, but he said it aims to be fairer to every group on campus than past policies.

“It wasn’t anything against College Players,” O’Steen said. “From what we were told, we were charging every group on campus to use our space as far as support tech goes, and it just became an issue of other groups not understanding why not all groups were paying.”

As College Players has worked with the changes, Halabi said it has been a learning curve.

“It’s been tricky, but we’ve made it work,” Halabi said. “I think personally there might be more work to be done, but that’s no longer up to me.”

Shelley Mitchell, the president of College Players, declined for an interview.

She stated in an email, “We have been working with this situation for a year now and have moved past any difficulties that came with it.”

College Players isn’t the only group Gleason works with.

O’Steen said he and the other staff members at Gleason work with every group to keep costs to a minimum.

“We cut costs as much as we can,” O’Steen said. “We have an event tonight—it’s a lacrosse documentary viewing. We’re doing all our setup while we’re all still in the building on the clock so they don’t have to pay for setup later. It cuts their costs down.”

While a lot of work is done during the time a group is using the auditorium, prep is done before a group arrives, and cleanup is done after they leave.

O’Steen said the staff at Gleason does what they can to get that work done during regular operating hours to help keep costs low for groups using the auditorium.

He said their main concern is working in a way that is beneficial to clubs with limited resources and helping make events great.

Halabi said despite the challenges College Players have faced, Richardson and O’Steen have worked with them to make the process less difficult.

“They have been super supportive in not just supporting College Players, but also all organizations and all events,” Halabi said. “They really want to make Gleason a central hub on campus, which is pretty great.”

New bike rack location receives criticism

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A bike rack was recently installed in the lower level of the Colombia Village parking garage, taking up two parking spaces.

The new bike racks have taken up two parking spaces at the Columbia Village parking garage. Photo by Marc Kenneh.

“We’re going to have to tear those out of the ground, I mean, it’s just dumb,” SGA president, Jace Petrowski said.

Mitchell Spalding, the chairman in charge of the Signature Programs Committee, said there was no consultation or discussion with students before the racks were placed.

Vinai Balroop, a freshman that lives in Roberts Hall, said, “It’s stupid, there’s already I high demand for parking in the garage and a lot of the freshmen that live around there have cars so I don’t know why they would take way two spaces.”

The only communication came in the form of a PSA from SGA Vice President Baylee Keener after the installation.

In the email PSA, Keener stated, “We have received many questions about the new bike racks in the lower level of the Columbia Village parking garage. Those bike racks are where the new bikes will be kept in order to keep them looking new and safe from any rust so that we can continue our bike program without having to keep buying new bikes.”

Petrowski, said that he is trying to see where the miscommunication was and that the racks weren’t supposed to be in a parking spot.

Spalding was responsible for the bike rental program.

“I didn’t advertise enough to students about the placement of the bike racks and I apologize,” Spalding said. “Hopefully in the future, should they be moved or should there be a petition for them to be moved, I’ll be willing to hear ideas from students about where to move them.”

Spalding said that it was cheaper and easier on the SGA’s budget to put the new bikes under the garage, rather than buy an awning for the old uncovered racks.

Rayne Parker, a transfer student also living in Colombia Village, said, “I feel like they were unnecessary. They could have definitely found better placement.”

Aside from the controversial placement of the bike rack, the program seems to be doing well otherwise.

“They are available for students to rent for free. We’ve actually rented out about half already in the first two days of its creation,” Spalding said. “In our agreement with Infinity Bike Shop, the bike shop will come out and maintain the bikes and give us discounts on replacement parts.”

The bikes are available to rent for free through a form on Panther Prowl.

Venezuela Asylum: Escaping Maduro

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Nicolos Maduro (above) has served as Venezuala’s 46th president since 2013. Juan Guaido is now recognized as the interim president of Venezuala by multiple countries. Photo from Flickr.

In the fall semester of 2014, 18 Florida Tech undergraduate students claimed Venezuelan citizenship.

As of 2018, only one remains. Numerous organizations, such as the Council on Foreign Affairs, have declared the South American country’s economic and political landscape as rapidly deteriorating.

As a result Florida Tech has taken a heavy hit in regards to Venezuelan enrollments.

Current president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, has been in power for six years, and his reign has been criticized by many.

Amnesty International, a London based human rights organization, has labeled Maduro’s actions as destructive towards the economy, and marked his military legitimacy as abusive wrongdoings against the opposition lead by Juan Guaido.

In early January Guaido officially became head of the opposition-held parliament, the National Assembly.

Since then, the U.S., Brazil, Canada, Chile, Peru, Colombia and several European countries have all recognized Guaido as interim president of Venezuela.

With no food, no money and no definite sign of improvement under Maduro’s regime, Venezuela has currently been deemed as the worst humanitarian crisis in the western hemisphere according to the U.N.

In 2017, The New York Times interviewed 21 Venezuelan doctors who encountered nearly 2,800 cases of child malnutrition due to the food shortage and hunger crisis in the nation.

By the end of the year, The International Monetary Fund IMF has projected Venezuela’s inflation rate to reach 10 million percent, forecasting one of the worst hyperinflationary crises in modern history.

Jose Coiman, a junior in chemical engineering, is a native from Caracas, Venezuela.

He describes Maduro as a force that has lead his home country into complete ruin.

Coiman came to Florida Tech in the fall of 2016 while his father left Venezuela nearly four months later.

His mother and sister soon followed in the summer of 2018, fleeing the nation in hopes of a better life in Manaus, Brazil.

In 2015, during his third year of high school, Coiman started to notice just how bad the situation had gotten.

“I didn’t go to school for almost three months,” Coilman said. “I couldn’t even get to school because of the protests, it was so dangerous to leave home. The national guard and protesters were constantly occupying the streets.”

Coiman believes that with support from the U.S. and other European countries, Guaido and the opposition offer a sign of hope for the people of Venezuela.

However, he does not think the country will reach stability for the next 10-15 years.

Freshman Antonella Merola is studying chemical engineering as well, but her journey from Venezuela to Florida Tech is a bit different than Coiman’s.

Merola was born and raised in Caracas until her family relocated to Panama just under two years ago.

When she found herself in the process of applying to colleges in the U.S., Merola worried it would be very challenging to obtain a Venezuelan student Visa.

Merola took advantage of her dual Italian nationality and is attending Florida Tech under an Italian student visa.

Marivi Walker, the assistant director for International Admissions at Florida Tech, said that she has had plenty of experience working with students like Coiman and Merola.

“Four to five years ago it was very different with the Venezuelan students,” Walker said.

Four to five years ago, the Venezuelan government had an agency that administered legal currency exchange in the country called Comisión de Administración de Divisas (CADIVI).

CADIVI essentially determined what money got to leave the country and at what exchange rate you could buy U.S. dollars.

Therefore, they were also in charge of granting or denying applications for students to send tuition payments abroad to the U.S.

“I started to notice two years ago [during fall 2016 applications] little by little, that CADIVI had started to disappear,” Walker said. “The agency simply ran out of money.”

Towards the end of CADIVI’s downfall, the situation reached a turning point for Venezuelan undergraduate seniors in the spring of 2017 as they were trying to finish their degree programs.

“During the collapse of CADIVI, we had Venezuelan students who were graduating but could not get funds from Venezuelan banks to pay for their remaining spring semester,” Walker said. “The university literally had to grant them emergency funds stating that those individuals could graduate, but must eventually pay their tuition back.”

With students no longer able to pay their tuition using money from Venezuelan banks, it put a significant taint on being able to attend a college in the U.S. at all.

All Venezuelan students now have to rely on money they have already managed to send over to the U.S.

Moving forward, Walker has faith that the opposition led by Guaido could turn things around for the country which in return could boost Venezuelan enrollment at Florida Tech to what they once used to be.

“I truly think that we are at a make-or-break point,” Walker said. “When you hear Guaido speak, it will bring tears to your eyes because you will think, ‘Where did this man come from?’ He shows more of a genuine concern for finding peace within the country rather than trying to seize its leadership, and that is what signifies hope for the people of Venezuela.”

Merola, as well, vocalized her opinion in regards to Guaido’s intentions as leader of the opposition.

“When people hear about what is happening in my country I don’t want them to think the opposition is an invading power-hungry force,” she said. “Their sole purpose is to put the countries best interests before corruption and self-interest.”

A universal theme amongst Merola, Walker and Coiman is that the people of Venezuela are not going down without a fight and they will receive the justice and humanitarian rights they deserve one day.