THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2012
THE UNIVERSITY BARRY-KANSAN
PAGE 5
opinion
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That awkward moment when you don't notice your friend because you're too busy staring at Kevin Young.
That feeling of dread when you're at the bottom of the hill and you realize your class is at the very top of the hill.
I can't tell if the girl next to me is pregnant or rockin' the beer gut.
You just saw two bugs mating? I just woke up to my roommate and his girlfriend mating. It's that time of year, all year.
To whomever has the "Koowhip" license plate: I love you.
That moment of panic when you actually think the floss tightly wound around your finger is going to lead to amputation.
The girl in the stands next to me is only standing and sitting when I do. I can't tell if she's trying to fit in or if she wants some of this.
Yesterday I went to a campus bathroom and passed out for an hour. College life.
Why yes, I do exfoliate.
Prepare yourselves, the April showers are coming.
It's raining. God must be mourning our loss of the national championship.
Yes, I'm the girl tearing up while walking and reading the UDK.
Can Project X please quit littering all over campus? It makes me not want to go.
Here at KU we can take out our anger on the teams we lose to by going to the street with the state's name and tearing down all the signs.
Cheer on your fellow wildcat? What about your fellow Kansan?
To the students who took down the Kentucky street signs, don't destroy our city! That's trashy!
Say any GOP candidate's name in a slo-mo voice. Do it again and try not to laugh.
On the plus side, there was plenty of parking, an ample supply of newspapers, and no lines at The Underground today.
It's funny how whenever stress kicks in, my fingernails magically start to grow only for me to bite them off again!
Baseball is here!
Speaking of muppets, my anatomy teacher sounds just like Kermit the Frog!
Ever tried laughing without smiling?
Oh man.
Thank you University of Kansas for informing me that I have destroyed .387% of a tree!
Be careful with unpaid internships
What's the next best thing to getting a summer job while you're in college? Getting an internship.
Internships are framed as an awesome way to build your résumé and get work experience before you graduate and actually enter the workforce.
In some cases that may be true. In some cases you may actually get paid for them, but in many cases, taking an unpaid internship may be required to break into your field of choice. All it takes is that one internship to get you noticed by a potential employer. Internships are so valued in the United States that nearly 75 percent of students will take an internship during their college career.
Hilary Duff has a baby?!
However, approximately 50 percent of internships in the United States are unpaid.
Unpaid internships typically ask the student to pay for credit at their college as a way to get around paying the student and avoid being accused of taking advantage of them.
Recently, Ross Eisenbrey.
vice-president of the Economic Policy Institute has been speaking out against, possibly illegal, unpaid internships.
By Angela Hawkins
ahawkins@kansan.com
He argues that the current system pushes lower middle class and poorer students out of the running for internships because they cannot afford to work for no pay. Besides paying for the credit hours at the university, the student would need to pay for gas and possibly housing and food in order to work. Instead of applying for internships, these candidates will go toward jobs.
Eisenbrey also notes that universities get a nice deal out of this system. They don't have to pay teachers to teach the students. They don't have to provide facilities or facilitate the student's learning. But they do receive money from that student.
In a way, it's a partnership. The university receives tuition, the employer receives a free employee and the bill is footed by an intern in search of work
But not all internships will provide the same amount of knowledge as a class. Some may consist of making copies or filing papers. Unless you're majoring in organization, that may not be the most productive use of tuition money.
experience.
Eisenbrey argues that the current system teaches employers that they don't need to pay someone to do entry-level work, like making copies. They can hire an intern to do it for them.
The government realizes this, at least to an extent. Internships are addressed in the Fair Labor Standards Act.
In the act, it specifies six criteria that a for-profit company must meet in order for them to legally offer an unpaid internship.
One of the criteria is that the work must be beneficial to the intern. Can the employer defend how making copies is beneficial to you as an intern?
every single one, and students just want to get accepted into a program regardless. So is it the government or the employer who polices this?
Whose job it is to check the legality of an internship has been called into question? University career centers have too many postings to possibly investigate
What difference does it make anyways?
According to a study by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the average salary of a student with an unpaid internship is $13,000 less than a student with a paid internship and even $3,700 less than a student with no internship at all.
In other words, unpaid internships don't put students at an advantage in the workforce, and as Eisenbrey puts it in his blog, "Unpaid work is exploitation."
Students should think twice about accepting that unpaid internship and employers should think twice about not paying their interns. If they value the goals of their interns and the law, they should offer paid internships.
SIX CRITERIA FOR INTERNSHIPS UNDER THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT:
1. The internship, even
though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment;
2. The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern;
3. The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff;
4. The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded;
5. The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship; and
6. The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship.
Hawkins is a sophomore in journalism from Scranton.
FILM
'Anchorman' sequel sure to impress with returning cast
With the news that Will Ferrell dropped on TBS "Conan," the Internet was going crazy with happiness. Yes, the highly anticipated sequel to the comedy classic "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" has finally been green lit, with all of the original cast returning.
Since the release of "Anchorman" in the summer of 2004, three of the four members of Channel Four news went on to find themselves with a very solid career in Hollywood. Will Ferrell has done several classic comedy films, University of Kansas Alum Paul Rudd has found success as a main role and a supporting actor in many other comedy films, and Steve Carell found himself in one of the most famous TV sit-com roles in the past decade as Michael Scott of NBC's "The Office."
Comparing the three careers since the film has been released, it's hard to tell who has had the most success. But by bringing them all back together, it doesn't really matter. I suggest you go back and watch "Anchorman" and notice how truly amazing the film really is. It's possibly the best comedy film in the past 20 years. That is not an exaggeration. To me, it is without a doubt, the greatest comedy film in my lifetime.
Don't believe me? Go watch it. Right now. Do it. After that, come back and tell me how
many of the lines from the film you remembered while watching it. I'm going to go ahead and guess you remember almost 95% of them, if not all.
I don't have any real statistics, but while watching the film, it seems that I'm laughing, literally, the whole time the film plays. The joke per minute ratio has to
be through the roof. "Anchorman" is a comedy classic that will live on forever.
And now were getting a second one.
There is a possible prob-
significance as the original.
lem, though. "The Hangover" and its sequel—cleverly named "The Hangover 2"—was in the exact same situation a year ago. When "The Hangover 2" came out, many went to go see it, but many were also upset that the plot to the sequel was almost identical to the original. In the long run, "The Hangover 2" will not have as much historical
So, will the unnamed "Anchorman" sequel suffer the same fate, or will the three high profile comedic actors be able to save it from damnation?
As long as the film stays away from "The Hangover 2" formula, and creates a completely different plot to the sequel (which should not be hard at all) then the sequel will be able to make us all laugh again. And a lot.
My guess is that the "Anchorman" sequel will be just as hilarious as the first. With Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd and Steve Carell at the helm, I can't see how this film could possibly be a letdown.
"With Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd and Steve Carell at the helm, I can't see how this film could possibly be a letdown."
The sequel will probably not
be as historically significant as it's original, but by the reaction the Internet saw from Will Ferrell's announcement on "Conan", it's hard to believe that this film
won't have some sort of cultural significance.
The only thing left to say 10,
"news team, assemble!"
Lysen is a junior in journalism from Andover.
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Going Bovine a dark and humorous book
By Josh Moreland jmoreland@kansan.com
My main job here at the UDK is to expose you, the student body, to new and interesting books that you might not otherwise read—one keyword being new. So, only after rilling through three-hundred of the nearly five-hundred pages of "Going Bovine" by Libba Bray did I realize the book was published over three years ago. (Thank you to my favorite bookstore and your supposed "best new releases" stand!)
Luckily, another of my goals as a columnist is to introduce authors to a more diverse audience. Going Bovine author Libba Bray is relatively unknown despite having multiple New York Times bestselling-novels, though she has a cult following on Tumblr and other blog sites—and for good reason.
Going Bovine is a dark comedy filled with veiled pop-culture references, sneering humor, and good old-fashioned craziness. The story follows Cameron Smith, a Texas high school junior, as he transitions from a typical slacker and loner to a demented victim of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, better known as "mad cow disease." Cameron quickly begins to hallucinate and loses control of his body at the most inopportune times. Once Cameron is hospitalized, the story becomes very weird—very fast.
He is soon visited by a punkrock-angel messenger named Dulcie who tasks him with a cryptic mission to find his cure and save the world. Oh, and the cure for his illness is held secret by a mysterious Dr. X, a trans-dimensional, time-traveling genius, who is guarded by fire giants, spontaneous black holes, and a gigantic, sword-wielding knight named "The Wizard of Reckoning." Yeah—and that's only where things begin to get strange.
Cameron must also take his fellow classmate Gonzo with him on his journey. Gonzo is a little
person with severe hypochondria and an addiction to violent video games. Much of the story follows a sort of "buddy film" script, in which Cameron is the level-headed adventurer and Gonzo is the agitated worrywart looking to bail at the slightest drop of danger. Their constant bickering and improvised schemes make for quite a comedic duo.
As Cameron and Gonzo escape and make their journey across America, Dulcie drops in from time to time to give them obscure clues as to where they can find Dr. X. Throughout their journey the two meet a diverse and interesting cast of characters including a demon-fighting jazz musician, a happiness cult, and a talking garden gnome. All the while, Cameron goes in and out of consciousness in his hospital bed, making him (and the reader) unsure whether his hallucinations are real or not.
Going Bovine has the most bizarre plot I've ever read (and I I've read some weird stuff), and if you're not willing to follow author Libba Bray through all the unexpected brays and turns you may end up feeling annoyed.
At times, I felt the constant mayhem and breakneck pace were irritating and repetitive, and I think the book is about one hundred pages longer than necessary. Nonetheless, I can't accuse Going Bovine of being slow or unimaginative. The wacky characters and fantasy-driven imagery will keep you along for a wild ride, whether you like it or not.
I would describe the novel as "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"—meets "Scott Pilgrim" with a modern pinch of Holden Caulfield-esque cynicism, though not as good as any of the aforementioned references.
Still, Going Bovine is smartly written and laced with references to pop culture, mythology, philosophy and a lot more. Bray does not go a single paragraph without smirk-inducing humor. Overall, Going Bovine is a good and original read, just a little long and disjointed. I think it's one of those polarizing books people will either love or hate. Check it out and tell me what you think.
Moreland is a junior in accounting from Lee's Summit, Mo.
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