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Wednesday, Novkmbek 17, agio | Tag Rbd a Black
Indie sci-fi film offers skeleton, treasure hunt
By ELAINK KELCH
Thi Rid & Black
Lee Fanning is not Steven Spielberg or
George Lucas.
However, his indie fllm, “A Genesis
Found,” may Just remind Athens of another
indie hero: Indiana Jones.
“The best compliment I ever got was that
the film is a do-it-yourself ‘Raiders of the
Lost Ark,’” said the filmmaker via e-mail. “So
maybe that gives some folks a frame of refer
ence.”
An Independent feature fllm, “A Genesis
Found” deals with the purported discovery of
an anomalous skeleton at the Moundville
archaeological site.
“The idea first came while [I was] a senior
at the University of Alabama,” Fanning said.
“I initially wanted to do a period treasure
hunt story.... When we decided to do a fea
ture we obviously couldn’t afford to make the
entire film period, so we decided to use some
period flashbacks.”
The setting of Moundville, an important
archaeological site in central Alabama, was
decided upon early.
But “A Genesis Found” is not simply a his
torical-themed feature. What distinguishes it
is its cross-genre motif that other genre
being science Action.
“I integrated the ‘ancient astronaut’ sub
plot because of my dad,” Fanning said. “I
thought it would be a good tool to use to
explore what we wanted to explore.”
What Fanning and partner Ben Stark do
explore is the fictional journey of Civilian
Conservation Corps cadet John Patton Jr.,
who discovered and subsequently hid a skel
eton in 1938 that was anomalous neither
man nor animal.
Patton’s grandson, Gardner, becomes fas
cinated with his grandfather’s discovery 70
years later and is joined by a documentarian,
Bart Thompson, and his girlfriend, Kelsey.
Together they attempt to understand the
nature of the skeleton and perhaps some-
Libraries debut Apple iPad rental program today
By LINDSEY COOK
The Red & Black
Today, Apple’s iPad will be
available for use in libraries
across campus. Although Apple
has declared the product magical
and revolutionary, students may
not agree.
The library purchased 10 iPads
to be distributed among the Main
and Science Libraries and the
Miller Learning Center. Library
leaders said the upgrade, which
will allow students and staff to
check out iPads for three-hour
intervals free of charge with their
UGA ID, will benefit the campus.
“This program is intended to
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private bedrooms and bathrooms, resort-style amenities, townhome floor plans available.
When: Tonight at 6
Where: Baldwin Hall
Price: Free
More Information: First SO in attendance receive a
complimentary DVD of "A Genesis Fourid."
Additional copies will be available for purchase.
thing other-worldly.
“I think what’s so vital about (“A Genesis
Found”] being told as a film is that, ultimate
ly, the major theme explored is story,”
Fanning said. “How stories and myth can
both educate and manipulate, be both bene
ficial and detract and inform and mislead."
Even if a serious discussion of “big ques
tions” is not a priority of audiences, Fanning
assures “A Genesis Found” offers something
for the general public.
“I think first and foremost, ‘A Genesis
Found’ is an adventure drama with a sci-fi
edge. The approach is fairly traditional,
though I do think there are elements where
we’re definitely trying new things,” Fanning
said. “Don’t expect something bizarre or
shocking or irritating.”
What is shocking to Fanning is the warm
reception the film has garnered from audi
ences and the media.
“Overall, I think the response has been
overwhelmingly positive. We’ve gotten a lot
of press interest solely on the distribution
infrastructure,” Fanning said. “We’re certain
ly not the first to do it, but it's still not a
common type of approach for distributing
films, indie or not.”
That “infrastructure” involves point-of
purchase sales of “A Genesis Pound" on DVD
at screenings, as well as mail-order copies
and the ability to stream the film via the
Internet.
Innovative distribution models aside, “A
Genesis Pound” owes its success thus far to
its content, heart and passion more than its
packaging.
provide students with the oppor
tunity to try out anew techno
logical tool and see how they like
working on it,” said Caroline
Barratt, director of Miller
Learning Center Library
Commons.
The iPads will be equipped
with relevant apps such as
Google Mobile, Facebook and
eventually such staples as
Microsoft Word and Excel.
University staff plans to incor
porate student opinions and
evaluate the decision via research
gained from user questionnaires.
“We will have a short survey
for users to tell us what apps
they used, what they would like
_NEWSj& VARIETY
“A GENESIS FOUND"
to see and any other comments
and suggestions they may have
about the program," Barratt
said.
Some technologically-minded
students, such as first year
English major Katherine Arnold,
are excited about the upgrade
and plan to check out an iPad.
“It would be interesting to try
out the iPads and see the differ
ence,” Arnold said.
Some students question the
use of their technology fees
which are sll4 per student per
semester for buying iPads.
Sophomores Claire Goldsmith
and Andrew Ac kali said they
think their fees could be allocat
▲ Lae Fanning’s independent film will
be screening tonight at Baldwin Hali.
“It’s a challenging fllm. but I think tit’s]
generally pretty appealing, and it’s also a
special treat for Southern audiences,”
Fanning said. “That’s something Wonder Mill,
my and Ben’s company, is pretty committed
to: to telling Southern stories for Southern
audiences, highlighting parts of the Southern
experience and Southern mythology that
aren’t translated outside of the region.”
For early comers, 50 copies of the DVD will
be given out free of charge. Additional copies
will be available for purchase.
AAAAIRPORmPRESSJNg
(800) 354-7874
Call for Reservations
ed more efficiently to have the
greatest effect on campus.
Ackall suggested using the fees
to buy more buses, though, given
the recent complications with
eLearning Commons, Goldsmith
feels the fees should be used to
aid programs already in place.
“They should use the money
to fix eLC,” said Goldsmith, a
biology major from Lilbum.
And some students don’t
approve of the new technology at
all.
“I don't approve of Apple
products,” said junior Nina
Williams, an Arabic major from
Lawrenceville. “I have never had
one that I liked."
eLC outage
causes
problems
for some
By KATIE VALENTINE
The Rid & Buck
Grades went unchecked.
Assignments went uncom
pleted. Power Point notes
went un-reviewed.
On Thursday afternoon,
eLearning Commons
became inaccessible to
University students and
faculty.
According to Greg
Ashley, technology officer
for Enterprise Information
Technology Services, prob
lems with the program
began in October, but BITS
professionals were able to
restart the system and get
eLC back online.
The program experi
enced problems through
out last week, and on
Thursday, the site crashed
and was offline until early
Sunday morning.
Ashley said the failure
was caused by a problem in
eLC’s file system.
• “It’s a pretty complex
issue, and it took some
time to diagnose it,” he
said. “We ultimately
replaced that file system
with another file system
over the weekend and
restored data back to that
new file system.”
Ashley said he can’t
remember an outage of the
previous program, WebCT,
or eLC that lasted as long
as the recent eLC failure.
“When we architect
these systems, we know
how extremely critical they
are to the mission of the
University,” he said.
“Historically, WebCT and
then eLC have been up
over 99.9 percent of the
time, so we’ve had very few
issues or failures around
the systems.”
Ashley said the problem
was not preventable, but
he is confident the new file
system will prevent similar
problems from occurring in
the near future.
“We’re confident that
we’ve fixed that issue,” he
said. “Moving forward,
we’re always looking for
ways to strengthen our sys
tems and increase their
availability.”
Paula Lemons, an assis
tant professor of biology,
said the eLC outage caused
her to postpone a test for
her introductory biology
class that was originally
scheduled for last
Thursday.
When eLC was experi
encing sporadic outages
last week, Lemons said her
students were unable to
access the materials need
ed to study for the test.
“I had uploaded all my
lecture outlines and clicker
questions and feedback
that I give to students
about work they turned
into eLC —and all that is
pertinent to their study
ing,” she said.
Lemons said the outage
affected the lecture sched
ule for her class. She did
not have enough time to
develop a lecture for
Thursday in place of the
test, so the lecture she
gives on the final day of
class, which is usually a
review of all the material
covered over the course of
the semester; will be cut.
Some students said the
crash wasn’t a problem for
them.
John Daubenmire, a
freshman from Watkinsville,
said the eLC shortages
didn't cause a major incon
venience for him.
“I mean if I had four
classes that all relied on
eLC, then I could see how
that could be a problem,”
Daubenmire said. “But
since I only have one that
really uses eLC, it wasn’t
really that big of a deal.”
Michelle Cheng, a senior
from Dunwoody, however,
had a test last Thursday in
her chocolate chemistry
class, and said she was
affected by the eLC short
ages that occurred on
Wednesday.
“It was really frustrating
not to be able to access
eLC on Wednesday,” she
said. “I couldn’t access it
until late at night maybe
nine or 10. Almost all the
notes were there, and it
was just really frustrating
that I couldn’t get on.”
Despite the shortages,
Cheng’s chocolate chemis
try test was still held on
Thursday. She said the fact
that she could not access
eLC on Wednesday could
have affected her perfor
mance on the test, but she
doesn’t know for sure.
“I’m just glad it’s back,”
she said.