Monday, March 27, 2006 00*~ Science 5A Opinion 4A Wind turbines spin renewable energy into Michigan homes Emily Beam resents Barbies T~r C ' lSFALL -1,- ?T Y'CDTT } ; Arts 8A Video-game thriller more routine horror 40 One-hundred-sixteen years of editorialfreedom " ,r www.mchigandaziy.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXVI, No. 99 @2006 The Michigan Daily 2 Film Festival caters to eclectics 'U' won't list median grades Last Tuesday night, live salsa music filled the faux-gold glitz of the Michigan Theater lobby. Silver-coated Ding Dongs dotted the grand staircase, a buffet table of mer- chandise stood sentry by the door, and no one was abashed in storming the tables of free food and beer. A dozen people in gowns and powdered wigs milled through the packed crowd with silver trays - and why not? This was, after all, the open- ing of the 44th annual Ann Arbor Film Festival, the most proudly eclectic show in town.' It's a film festival for the indie set. Renowned for its emphasis on exper- imental film, the festival KR features a large number of cash-prize awards spon- MACD sored by such film com- munity notables as Michael Moore ("Fahrenheit 9/11"), Gus Van Sant ("Elephant") and the University's own Lawrence Kasdan ("Mumford"). This year, the festival attracted about 2,000 entries from all over the world, a high number because of the festival's fairly recent decision to accept video and digital submissions in addition to 16mm. An impressive 118 entries made it to the screen over the past six days, and the selection was diverse. Ranging in length from one minute to 90, the featured films included docu- mentaries and dramas, animations and collages, political commentaries and experiments with time. With such breadth available, each night's program could afford to mix freely the witty, the unapologetically artsy, the angry and the sad. But mostly it was invention that lay at the heart of the festival's entries, in terms of both technical ingenuity and clever subject matter. "Afraid So," a three-minute short based on a poem, featured the famous voice of radio per- sonality Garrison Keillorintoning ques- tions of classic anxiety: "Are there side effects? Was the car totaled? Are you still smoking?" Another resourceful short, "Ringo," starred Roy Rogers and John Wayne, mish-mashing old movie footage around the country ballad of an outlaw and sheriff. And "The Mechan- icals," a Festival Audience Award win- ner from Australia, wryly depicted the electricity of a man's morning routine as the secret work of a team of harried workers hiding in the walls. The most winning pieces generally made the most of their brief length. The short film can be a powerful little medium, especially in our com- mercial-accustomed culture, where a quick punch usually makes the sharp- est point. Not every entry was so wise. "Busi- ness as Usual," a short film from Can- ada, needed only about a third of its 10 minutes to depict robotic, suited busi- nessmen at various stock exchanges around the world. A documentary collage from Russia about Mexican artist Frida Kahlo swirled the drama of her life into a kaleidoscopic jumble that, at 40 minutes, long overstayed its welcome. Some entries, however, suffered for .I' their brevity. "Psychic Driving," in particular, felt unsatisfactorily explored - despite Hollywood-quality production, its protagonist, an unknowing victim of a government-mind-control experiment, ended up hard to root for, and the film's disappointing ending underscored the necessary trick of determining when to add exposition. In 20 minutes, emotional attachments are decid- edly difficult to develop. Except in the case of documentaries. The festival's most moving pieces proved to be its documentaries, and the diversity of their topics rendered it a crash SSTIN course in subcultures as enlightening as it was DONALD unexpected. One doc following a group of poor Louisiana brothers opened with the striking image of a boy in a bathtub combing a live roost- er with an afro pick. "I'd fight anything just to see it get killed," the boy's voiceover later intoned as he casually dangled two cats above an eager dog. Another piece explored the late'60s rumor of Paul McCartney's death. One bespectacled interviewee, a for- mer staffer at The Michigan Daily, boasted happily of his contribution to the rumor, which was allegedly start- ed in the Daily's pages. He reminisced fondly about his questionable article as if unaware of the glaring tackiness of his giant cowboy hat and neon-cac- tus tie. The festival's longest entry, "B.I.K.E.," admirably furthered the celebration of the unexpected by fol- lowing one man's attempt to join, of all things, the exclusive Black Label Bike Club, a group passionate about riding bikes (deeming car drivers "gasholes"), building bikes (out of found scrap metal) and jousting pain- fully on bikes. At one point early in the film, Tony, the protagonist and co-director, finds himself beneath a Brooklyn underpass preparing to board a double-decker bike, lift a jousting pole and awkwardly charge a slightly drunk man named Stinky. Now there's a scene you simply couldn't make up. The festival may enjoy a good deal of indie and international acclaim, but it ultimately rang with the warmly laidback character of a true commu- nity event, including local sponsors, panel discussions, open seminars, cash-prize audience awards and a whole string of evening after parties around Ann Arbor. Just consider Tuesday's opening screening, which commenced with a presentation from Ann Arbor residents Davy and Peter Rothbart, founders of FOUND Maga- zine. While I haven't been to Sundance or Cannes, I'm willing to bet their audiences would never be treated to an act like Peter Rothbart's acoustic ren- dition of the undeniably catchy "The Booty Don't Stop." The audience not only roared - it eventually joined in. S Gra -try vgishj Ollt ( Caku6. a.Awe, f -..,,fi' i- 3 1 1 a F,,. i ' 3 CI ;., w s. Registrar says adding median grades to LSA transcripts would make it inconsistent with other schools, colleges By Molly Bowen Daily StaffReporter Despite the wishes of many chemistry, calculus and physics student, LSA won't be adding niedian course grades to transcripts anytime soon. As a way to combat grade inflation and to con- textualize low scores in difficult classes, the LSA faculty passed a resolution in December 2004 requiring that transcripts display a class's median grade next to the student's grade. However, the proposal will not be implemented in the near future. After the LSA faculty passed the resolution, the Office of the Registrar recommend- ed to the Office of the Provost that the proposal would violate a University policy that requires transcripts from each of the 19 schools and col- leges to-have the same format. Currently, none list median grades. The ultimate decision on whether to implement the change does not lie with the LSA faculty, but rather with the provost's office. According to several administrators, there are no current plans to enact the proposal. Robinson said it would set a precedent if the See TRANSCRIPT, page 7A ILLUSTRATION BY JACLYN HORNSTEIN AND MIKE HULSEBUS Dance Marathon nets $300k for kids Inspired by children recovering from grave illnesses and injuries, dancers stand for 30 hours straight By Molly Bowen Daily Staff Reporter Briggs Parry, 12, is a Dance Marathon veteran. Therapy subsidized by Dance Marathon over the last nine years has been vital for Parry, a brain trauma sur- vivor. "He was deprived of the oxygen (as an infant)," said his mother, Julia Parry. "When he came out of this, he had no skills whatsoever. His eyes couldn't track a flashlight." But yesterday morning at the marathon, Briggs Parry was onstage, tapping a xylophone in front of the thick crowd of student marathoners. Success stories like Parry's make more than a whole day of standing without sitting down worthwhile for the hundreds of volunteers. For the marathon, dancers pledge to stand for 30 hours, and each dancer must raise at least $250. Last year, the marathon raised more than $300,000. From 10 a.m. Saturday morning to 4 p.m. yes- terday, Dance Marathon's yearlong fundraising efforts for two local hospitals' pediatric rehabilita- tion programs paid off. The $326,716.47 raised this year will go to the Uni- versity's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor and Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oaks. "It's a physical challenge," Alison Hardin, Dance Mar- athon's executive director said of the 30-hour ordeal. Hardin, an LSA senior, said it represents the physical challenge of the children the marathon supports. "What we're doing really pales in comparison to what they're doing every day," she said. For organizers and dancers alike, the best part of the event was seeing their efforts come to life through patient's onstage performances. "We're not just raising money and giving it somewhere where we never see what it does," Hardin said. "Our cause is very tangible." In the event's nine years, dancers have raised well over a million dollars. Kelly Riegel-Green, the mother of twins with hearing- induced speech impediments, credited Dance Marathon ANGELA CESERE/Daily LSA senior Steve Selinsky leads dancers at Dance Marathon yesterday. The event raised $326,000 for pediatric rehabilitation. with making speech therapy an affordable option. "You'd be hard-pressed to find insurance companies to pick up tabs for a lot of this stuff," she said. Riegel-Green said weekly speech therapy sessions at Beaumont Hos- pital can cost more than $80 for each child, effectively costing their family $160 a week to improve the children's speech. "What are you supposed to do?" she said. Riegel-Green said she wants her children to have the same opportunities as any others to be able to apply to a school like the University of Michigan or Harvard Uni- versity. "I have to give my kids a fighting chance," she said. Dance Marathon may have done just that. Pow wow fills Crisler Arena More than 10,000 gather to celebrate Native American heritage, history with drums, legends By Dhruv Menawat For the Daily If it weren't for the Three Fires - a confedera- tion of the Ojibwe, Odawa and Bodewadimi tribes - the University might still be located in Detroit. On Sept. 29, 1817, the Natice American tribes gave large tracts of land to the corporation of the HAIL CINDERELLA Parties strike deal on election violations EIf prosecuted, complaints could have turned assembly over to DAAP By Dave Mekelburg Daily Staff Reporter To some in the Michigan Student Assembly, last week's elections are turning into a never- ending saga of scandal. It all almost resulted in the Defend Affir- mative Action Party taking control of the assembly. Angry representatives from three parties bombarded the MSA Election Board with said Justin Pfeiffer, an election board member and MSA Law School representative. Students 4 Michigan filed 25 of the 27, but said they would not press the charges if none of the other parties filed complaints against the party. "We had no intention of filing (the charges) unless another party filed first," said S4M Party Chair Robbie O'Brien. When the Student Conservative Party and the Michigan Progressive Party separately filed charges against S4M, the cogs started to turn and the complaint frenzy nearly disquali- fied the top three parties' candidates from the election. If that had happened, SCP, S4M and MPP - .'A q