Moive Review: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull             4/5 stars

Starring: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Shia LaBeouf and Karen Allen

Summary: A new addition to a classic adventure film series with archaeologist and professor Indiana Jones

Rated: PG-13 for death, violence, and frightening images

Available at: Dordt College Library for one week rental

When I first asked people about “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” I got back some fairly negative feedback on it and simply refrained from watching it for some time.

However when I watched the movie myself I came to realize something. The movie is marginally different from other films in the series, but it proved to be a decent film.

Like other films in the series, “The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” was directed by Steven Spielberg and written by George Lucas

The film starts a number of years after the conclusion of “Indiana Jones the Last Crusade.” Rather than facing off against allies of the Nazi regime as he did in the first and third films, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) finds himself racing against Soviet agent Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) to find the crystal skull of Akator.

Along the way he is aided by a rebellious youth and biker Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) and his mother Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), Indy’s love interest in the first movie, as they try to find the secret of the skull before their communist foes.

The film itself stayed fairly true to the tone set by the previous films. Indy is still the archaeologist figuring things out as he goes, delving into ancient dungeons and the like, meeting a love interest on one level or another on the way, getting involved in multiple chase scenes and so on.

Like in the other films, Indiana has a talent for cheating death at the last moment. This film takes that to another level that seemingly defies realism. (If the reader wishes to know details on that, watch the movie. I’m not spoiling it.)

 The music was well placed. Music in action scenes played quickly to fit the pace of the action. Scenes where Indy was looking for clues or other slow-moving scenes often had softer, slower music in the background. A new twist to the music selection was the addition of music that was written in the 1950s and 1960s to fit the culture of the film’s 1957 setting.

My main criticism of the film was a divergence from the normal genre of the series. When the film was made it they tried making somewhat different. That in itself is fine as the films need to have some degree of difference between each other. The problem is that this action film strays into the realm of the Sci-fi genre. The genre of the film is somewhat out of character in comparison with the other three films. This is the likely reason that those I spoke to prior to viewing the film did not care for it.

As the fourth part of a classic film series, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” was a good film that demonstrated that it may be time to let the franchise go before it strays further from its original genre.

Aside from that, the film was well done, flowed well and for the most part stayed true to the action, mystery, fun and adventure one expects of Indiana Jones.

Column: Dordt College schedule

Bryan C. Visser

            Last semester, I occasionally found myself running out of the commons trying to get to class because I used most of the 10 minute break between classes getting lunch.

Ten minutes is usually not enough time to go to the commons, wait in line, and eat. Even the lines at the Defender Grille can take too long.

Either something needs to change, or students will need to cope.

My initial thought was that this issue could be easily solved by altering the schedule on Tuesdays and Thursdays to move the 20 minute break to a time that allowed students a little more time to eat.

When I asked Jim Bos the registrar I learned it wasn’t that simple.

“The break is where it is so that we could have labs in the morning. With the Core program now requiring all students to take a lab class there simply weren’t enough lab periods if we just went from two to five. That was to accommodate a three hour lab in the morning on Tuesdays and Thursdays,” Bos said.

Bos also explained that an additional 20 minute break had been considered, but would have conflicted with the time for coaches as the last class of the day would have ended that much later.

To change the position of the 20 minute break, the labs would need to let out earlier, which would be doable if labs did not need the full three hours they are scheduled for.

In the year he’s been here, Chris Schultz has taken five labs. He explained that only one of those labs has regularly run the full three hours.

If not all labs need the full three hours to do what they need to, the shorter labs could be put in the mornings while the ones that still require that time could be put in the older afternoon slot.

Localized Story: Spring Break gas Prices

Bryan C. Visser

            Despite the recent rise of gas prices, a number of Dordt students have demonstrated little anxiety over the matter.

According to an article on examiner.com, during the past three weeks the average cost for a gallon of gasoline in the United States has gone from $3.14 to the current average of $3.50.
            Every spring break, dozens of Dordt students attend service trips as part of a project known as PLIA (Putting Love Into Action).

Most sites for these service trips require extended time driving to get to them; some of them being more that 1,000 miles away from campus.

When asked, members of college maintenance said that most vans likely to be used on PLIA get roughly 12-14mpg.This would mean a cost of around $250 simply to reach the site.

Bjorn Vaagensmith, one of the PLIA group leaders heading to Las Vegas, Nev. explained that every group gets a card from the college to pay for gas and that amount has increased since last year.

Dordt junior Emil Talen is one of the students traveling over 1,150 miles on a PLIA trip to New Orleans, La. Talen raised concerns that the increase in price may affect future students going on PLIA.

“I think it will concern the whole group of PLIA because PLIA prices are $65-85 depending on when you turn in your application. That price may go up next year if the prices stay the same as they are now or if they even go higher. It will definitely affect PLIA because students may not want to go anymore if it’s say $95-105,” Talen said.

By contrast, sophomore Abby Helder remains confident that the cost of students to attend PLIA will not go up by much if they do.

“I think it’s all taken care of. I think possibly it could go up maybe not by too much. People donate funds, so it won’t affect us too much,” Helder said.

            Those not going on PLIA in favor of going home or on trips of their own tend to favor carpooling as a means of dividing the cost of gas.

            Dordt freshman Tyler Ten Pass plans make the 500 mile trip home during spring break by carpooling. However he did raise a minor concern about the cost split up for those going.

            “Usually its $40 per trip, but now that gas is going up I don’t know if they’re gonna keep it that way or make it higher,” said Ten Pass.

            Ten Pass also raised concerns of how rising gas prices could result in higher prices at stores due to an increase in the cost of transport.

            “One thing that has always been brought up to me when the gas prices go up is how far can they go up until our society can’t work anymore?” said Ten Pass

Dordt senior Eric Tudor plans to spend his spring break with friends backpacking in Arizona and Utah. According to him, the round trip will be roughly 3,000 miles and each person going will be paying $170 for gas.

“It’s not affecting it too much even though it should. I guess we all recognize we’re already in debt and another couple hundred dollars is not going to make that any worse or better,” Tudor said.

Trend Story: Facebook at Dordt

Bryan C. Visser

           

            Professor Nick Breems was ready to give his normal 8 a.m. lesson, but not all of his students were ready to hear it.

And he knew why.

He had seen that they had submitted their assignments at 2a.m. the previous night and updated their Facebook status at 2:30 a.m.

“If you were tired and wanted to go to bed and wanted to go to bed and you finished your assignment at two in the morning, then why did you stay up another half an hour on Facebook?” said Breems

            This scenario points to what an Ohio researcher believes is a larger trend of Facebook use affecting the studies of college-going students. 

            Aryn Karpinski at Ohio State University did a study on the connection between college students using Facebook and poor academic performance. 

            In this study, Karpinski found that the average time Facebook users spent studying averaged from one to five hours a week, while they earned a 3.0 to 3.5 GPA.

            Those who did not use Facebook were found to study roughly 11 to 15 hours a week and earned a 3.5 to 4.0 GPA.

            “We can't say that use of Facebook leads to lower grades and less studying – but we did find a relationship there," Karpinski said in an online publication by Ohio State University.

            After talking about the times he had seen students stay up late to use Facebook after homework, Professor Breems explained scenarios in which he had seen the reverse take place.

 “I have also seen it where a student turns in an assignment at two in the morning and their Facebook status was updated at 1:30 a.m. So they’re doing Facebook instead of their assignment. It’s not my place to say what they should be doing when, but most people would agree with me that that’s probably not optimal,” said Breems.

Like Karpinski, Breems was fairly quick to clarify that the procrastination he had seen was not necessarily the result of Facebook.

“The computer enables that. I wouldn’t say it causes it. It enables students to react to boredom in a way that isn’t all that helpful,” said Breems.

            Mark Volkers, professor of digital media at Dordt College, shared that while he thought Facebook is a useful social tool that he uses for promotional reasons, it can also be a distraction from what needs to be done.

“I have less sympathy for students who do poorly on tests or papers because it’s easy to assume now that they haven’t prepared properly because they spent too much time doing something else. And it probably had something to do with media,” Volkers said.

A closer look revealed Dordt students did not entirely fit into the norm Karpinski gave.

Not counting papers or other assignments, Dordt sophomore Chris Schultz spends anywhere from five to 10 hours studying during a typical school week.

During that same Monday to Friday period, he spends 15 to 25 hours on Facebook; much of that time is spent just chatting with other people.

“I spend more time on Facebook than I should,” Schultz said.

He said that if he were to cut back on some of his Facebook time he would work on homework a little bit more and do more activities in the campus center game room.

He had not noticed any significant impact his time on Facebook had affected his grades and has made sure that he gets to bed at a decent hour to avoid a lack of sleep.

“I think there are other factors that figure into grades more than just time spent on places like Facebook,” Schultz said.

Dordt students Emil Talen and Karisa Vander Groef both spend 25 hours a week on studies and four to six hours a week using Facebook.

“I talk to a lot of people back home with it. There are a lot of events that are planned through Facebook,” Vander Greof said.

“It’s something I use to contact people from home because I come from Canada and I can’t just drive home for the weekend,” Talen said.

The two agreed that if they were to cut back on Facebook time, they would likely use that time to get more sleep.

Marissa Rieckhoff spends roughly 10 hours a week on Facebook, but as a nursing major, that time does not cut into the weekly 30 to 40 hours she spends in her studies.

“It more takes away from doing things with people in the present,” Rieckhoff said.

“I like socializing and Facebook is one way I can keep up with friends,” Schultz said.

Profile Story: Duane Mulder

My Communication 242 Professor requested my classmates and I to write profile stories on various persons of our chosing. Ever the proponent of good, honest work, I chose to write my personality profile on Duane Mulder, one of Dordt's maintenance staff. After a week or so of interviews, shadowing and asking around, I came up with this...

Bryan Visser

            A man of 59 years in jeans and a work shirt sits at his desk. He sits in his office as he considers when to plow the snow on the college.

            But his eyes aren’t on the snow. They’re on a computer screen. He checks the weather reports online as he quietly considers when the snowfall will let up enough to properly plow the driveways and walkways.

            He then turns his attention to charts on cleaning supplies the school has been using as he waits for his 2:00 pm appointment with a work-study student.

            Duane Mulder has been working at Dordt College for the past 26 years ensuring things are kept clean, orderly, and running smoothly.

Before coming to work at Dordt, Duane worked as a carpenter for William Rens Construction but left to work for Dordt in 1984.

“Back in the mid 80’s even in the early 80’s things got really slow. We went into a recession. Building houses went downhill quite a bit. The guy I was working for said a few of us would have to go. He didn’t care who of the four but whoever could find jobs could leave. I happened to apply for this one,” said Duane.

Since then he’s been doing maintenance work at one level or another at Dordt in places such as the gym, the library, the old student union building and the campus center that replaced the student union building.

He usually starts work at about six in the morning. He checks his emails and writes down notes as he plans what needs doing for the day.

Some days he arrives at 4:30-5:00 a.m. to help plow snow in a relatively small Ford tractor that blows snow off to the side.

After that he heads over to the campus center to check on his two fulltime supervisees, Larry Van Gelder and Lyle Vanden Berg.

“He usually checks up on me. Actually he checks up on Lyle, cause I’m ok,” Larry joked before continuing, “I only see him for half an hour a day, maybe an hour. It depends if we’re behind schedule. He’s pretty patient I’ll say that.”

If he has time before morning break, Duane heads downstairs to the game room.

He goes in, turns on the lights and checks the main desk for any notes left by the work studies that work the game room.

Then he opens the register to count up the money the game room made since he was last there to ensure the money adds up to the right amount. He then takes the money to a back room to lock away most of those funds until the time comes to turn those funds into the business office.

All the while, he barely speaks a word as he focuses on his work, constantly paying attention to detail.

“In relation to all the other guys I look at the small things. I’m watching for how things are set where someone else would walk through and say, ‘Ahh that’s ok.’ I’m just a little fussy.”

Duane then turns his attention to a few things for the game room’s bowling alley.

He reboots the system as Brunswick told him to when they set it up.

He dusts the four lanes before oiling them to keep them slick enough for bowling balls to glide down smoothly.

In the back he changes pads to help keep the balls clean.

He checks the machine that sets up the pins for anything wrong and does what he can to get it working properly if there are any problems.

If he doesn’t have the time that morning, he heads to break and works on the game room afterwards. He sits down with his coworkers: Larry, Doug, Brian and a number of others.

The group seems to have a good time joking around while Duane only contributes on occasion.

On one occasion he approached the table when Larry joked around again saying, “You owe me 20 bucks already.”

His response was simply to smile at the humor and continue to his seat.

While others joke around he sits there silently smiling and enjoying their humor.

Even the jokes at his expense.

“He takes a lot of crap from everybody else,” said Doug Bonestroo

            While they talk, he listens.

            Once he’s had his break and hi morning routine is finished, Duane’s schedule becomes more flexible.

            Duane emails his 14 work studies to coordinate efforts and see to it that work gets done while making sure that the means to do it is there.

“I might get emails from the women that they need some supplies brought to them. I usually let the work study people take care of that. I keep track of inventory. I know I’m low on some supplies, so I got to reorder. I keep a supply here so whatever they need we have right on hand.”

Aside from that he simply does things as needed. He delegates some tasks he wrote down early in the morning to people while taking care of others on his own.

At times Duane can be found fixing the vacuums of Covenant or cleaning up in the game room.

Students may find him replacing light bulbs near the mail room or being the butt of jokes in the commons.

He straightens chairs in the former Humble Bean room or sets up for some campus event in the grill area.  

He will work with work study students to help them work out schedules and figure out what they will be doing on the job or checking inventory to make sure people have what they need to work with.

He may cover for a coworker that recently had neck surgery, or simply check his computer’s weather reports on snow.

Whatever he may be found doing, Duane Mulder does his part to keep Dordt College in good order and looking good.