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The Clarion | Nov. 13, 2009
Opinion
Duke basl(etball video mis-titled
Great moments in cinematic history? Try shameful moments in Duke
basketball history
by Travis Wireback
Editor-in-chief
A year after winning the ACC
championship and making it to the Sweet
Sixteen, Duke
has been
looking for
that extra spark
which could
send them to
the National
Championship
game and
give them an
advantage over
their rivals, To view the video, piease visit littp://deadspin.
the University of com/5384442/duie-is-bacl-and-tliey-are-meiodramatic
North Carolina
Tar Heels.
Perhaps Coach K felt that team building which re-imagined a number of scenes from
through drama exercises was the way to do memorable movies, with Duke basketball
this, seeing as the Duke team has very few
famihar faces on it. Perhaps he just didn’t
think at all.
Regardless of whether the Blue Devils
were made up of players who were well-
known prior
to this season,
following a
video produced
by the Duke
Improvisation
group, they will
be well-known
before they even
play a game
in Blue Devil
attire.
The Duke
Improv group
created a film
players playing the key parts. Such movies
as The Godfather, Austin Powers, and
Gladiator were effectively ruined by poor
acting and basically just embarrassing their
school’s theatre troupe and team.
However, one reenacted scene really
stands out from the rest. I’m sure we all
remember the scene from Titanic where
Jack draws Rose while they are on the boat.
Duke Improv recreates this scene, almost
exactly. The only difference was that they
use an overexposed Nolan Smith to play
Rose’s role.
What the effects of this video were
intended to be, outside of ridicule by every
team that is a member of NCAA Basketball
who plays Duke this year, we will never
know. There is an old saying which
that the road to Hell is paved with good
intentions, however we all know that Hell
sure isn’t a stop on the road to a National
Championship.
Have a happy/merry HallowThanXmas
by John Climer
IVIanaging Editor
It appears that
tough economic
times have
prompted retailers
to adopt the old
Army moniker, “If
you’re 10 minutes
early, you’re
early; if you’re
five minutes early,
you’re on time; if
you’re on time,
you’re late” and
apply it to the
weeks leading up to
this year’s holiday
shopping season.
I’ve been under the impression that Black
Friday was the official “starting-gun” to the
holiday shopping season, so I was rather
perplexed when I visited Wal-Mart halfway
through October and stumbled upon an
entire warehouse
already devoted
to Christmas
merchandise.
It’s somewhat
confusing as a
shopper to see
Jason masks, fake
blood and vampire
accoutrement being
sold an aisle over
from tinsel, candy
canes and artificial
greenery.
I know it seems
that the holiday
season starts a little
earher every year,
but this year retailers seem to be abusing
the privilege. There’s nothing wrong with
a little holiday cheer, but shouldn’t we wait
for the hohday (or at least the month it falls
in) to arrive?
Theoretically, if we’re going to turn
Thanksgiving and Christmas into ThanX-
mas, shouldn’t we merge the months the
holidays occur in together as well? I think
Octember has a nice ring to it. Or, Febtober
for the SNL celebrity Jeopardy fans out
there.
Think of all the amazing plants we
could genetically engineer for the month of
Octember; we could hybridize a pumpkin
with a form of evergreen tree to make a
ThanX-mas pumpkin-tree.
Or, we could step back, take a breath, and
realize that the hohday s are on their way and
that despite catchy advertising techniques
and alluring sales, the hohdays are more
about being with the people we care about
than they are about getting the last Tickle-
Me Elmo on the shelf.