Before his set at the Houston Improv, we were able to talk with comedian Jo Koy, who has been on Comedy Central, “Chelsea Lately” and “The Tonight Show.” The California native gave us a ring and talked to us about his material, writing and his DJ mom.

The Daily Cougar: It’s a pleasure to talk to you  — lots of people wanted to do this interview, so I had to kill them all to get this.

Koy: Good, I am talking to a murderer. I love it.

TDC: You have been doing this for a number of years, so for your material do you sit down and write it or do you just come up with it on the spot?

Koy: It’s funny because when I first started comedy, I used to jot a lot of stuff down trying to figure out the structure of the joke until the point I was getting comfortable on stage and being more conversational. Then it was like, well, I am talking about my mom anyways, so how hard is that to write about anyway? Then I talk about my son, and how hard is that?

TDC: Most of your stuff then is more autobiographical.

Koy: Yeah. It’s kind of like the stories that my mom or son give me. I will just elaborate a little bit, and I’ll soup it up a bit, but for the most part it’s pretty much my life. It’s pretty much what happens, you know? It’s current and up to date on what’s going on in my family — as dysfunctional as it is.

TDC: In your sets you discuss how your parents were against you doing standup. Would you let your son try it out?

Koy: Oh yeah, in a heartbeat.

TDC: Or he could be a DJ like your mom.

Koy: Yeah. That is crazy that you even know that! Yeah, she is 66 and decided to become a DJ — so go for it, mom.

TDC: Will she be playing Kanye all day?

Koy: Oh, man! That would be hilarious, my mom just playing Kanye all day and some Jay-Z at the same time. (In his mother’s voice) “This is the new track from Kanye West.”

TDC: That would be great, so what’s your most memorable television appearance so far?

Koy: My most memorable one is “The Tonight Show” — that was the one that changed my life. I was already 15 years into standup when I got (it), and I was still working part time jobs everywhere, you know what I mean? I felt like I was going nowhere. Then I did “The Tonight Show” and it was over with. I got gigs on top of gigs; I was working the road; I got a commercial deal, you know? A lot of good things happened because of that. That’s my most memorable TV performance. It can never be topped, that was it.

TDC: Did that land you with Chelsea (Handler) or was that something else?

Koy: Oh, no, me and Chelsea were friends before that.  We met through Jon Lovitz. I met her six years ago and “The Tonight Show” was five years ago. I knew Chelsea back in the day when she knew nobody. Now she’s got all of Hollywood’s money, it’s crazy. She is so powerful now.

It’s great to see that, great to see your friend blow up like that right before your eyes. It felt like overnight, you know what I mean? And now, seeing what it is now, it’s like a well-oiled machine. She is the driver of this machine, and I am happy to be a part of it. I call her the new Johnny Carson and it helps you on the road.

TDC: Do you prefer that or do you still like being on the road doing the standup club gigs?

Koy: Oh, definitely standup. It’s my heart (and) my passion. I love the stool, I love the bottled water, I love the microphone, I love the clubs I get to go to in different cities. The different reactions from different crowds for different jokes you know. I love it man.

I love being creative and spontaneous and being vulnerable. You can only get that from being on stage, you know? I love being self-deprecating and talking about myself. I love it when people relate to my stuff, you know what I mean? I love it when people come up to me and talk about my mom — even though they are not Filipino, they can relate.

TDC: Yeah, my mom is Mexican, but I can relate a lot.

Koy: Yeah, exactly. Everyone gets it, so it doesn’t matter if your mom is Latina or my mom is Filipina, they are still moms and do crazy shit and everyone gets it. Just like my mom playing with the Wii, everyone just comes up to me and says, “Yeah my mom plays the Wii,” or, “My grandma plays the Wii.” It’s the same shit your mom does, and it’s cool to see that, you know?

TDC: So you started with Jon Lovitz. Oh, I heard your Lovitz impression by the way. It is dead on.

Koy: (In his Lovitz voice) “Jon Lovitz.” He made me impersonate him in front of (himself). It was the weirdest thing, like if one of his friends would come to the show, he would be like, (Lovitz voice) “Okay Danny, you have to see him do me. It’s hysterical.”

TDC: I had no idea anyone could do a Jon Lovitz impression.

Koy: Well, that’s my idol, which is so crazy because when I was a kid I used to impersonate him in school because all I used to watch was “Saturday Night Live” — and he was kind of the man (on there) at that time. I used to impersonate him all the time.

TDC: What are things you stay away from during your sets?

Koy: The only thing I never really enjoyed doing was political. I enjoy listening to it, but I never really got into talking about it. It was the craziest thing. When I was younger I would try it, but I never enjoyed it.

The stuff I really like to do is talk about my family. I was really into (Bill) Cosby and Eddie Murphy, and how they always talked about their aunts and their uncles and their children, and I just would sit there and laugh. It’s kind of cool because now I see like 15-year-old kids yell things to me, like “Ting Ting” and “Josep,” and I was like, “Wow, that was me when I was 15 talking about chocolate cake.” It’s kind of cool; it’s like seeing this whole cycle of life. you know?

TDC: You just took credit for the next big comedian.

Koy: No, not at all. When I see those kids, I see myself. When I was 15, I was so into standup and it was cool because that style of standup was relatable at that age, you know? You aren’t really into politics at 15. You want to see a standup comic talk about 15-year-old shit.

TDC: Are you addicted to Twitter?

Koy: Yeah, I am more on Twitter than I am on Facebook. I can’t even remember the last time I opened my Facebook. All my Facebook is attached to my Twitter anyway, so if I use Twitter I link it to my Facebook. It’s kind of crazy, man.

TDC: Then it is you on the receiving end of Twitter?

Koy: Yeah, man, it’s all me. My sister helps me with my Facebook, but Twitter is all me. I do it through my phone, and I am always answering. When I am on the plane I just sit there and reply to people.

TDC: Do you have anything coming out soon?

Koy:  My DVD just came out ( the COMEDY CENTRAL original stand-up special, “Jo Koy: Lights Out”). You get the whole package—my first DVD (“Jo Koy: Don’t Make Him Angry”) and my second one, and a free shirt, and a bag and all kinds of shit.

TDC: Where can people get it at?

Koy: Just go to JoKoy.com

TDC: Thank you so much for your time.

Koy: Oh, dude. It was nice talking to you, man.

arts@thedailycougar.com

The Daily Cougar: How does it feel to be back in Texas?

Reddick: Well, we aren’t back quite yet, but we will be next week. We are in Delaware today but definitely excited to be back in Texas and doing a hometown show and Austin show and Houston show — always a good time to plug for the home state crowd.

TDC: You guys get more air time in the UK than here for some reason. Does that really affect you guys that much here?

Reddick: Not really, I mean the radio was an important part of who we were several years ago, but as of now we have our fan base and you sort of get yourself out there in other ways, like the Internet. You know it is what it is, and you just try to keep yourself out there and in front of people.

TDC: When I heard you guys for the first time it was the intro to (the Japanese anime TV series) “Knights of the Zodiac.” (BFS covered “I Ran (So Far Away)” by ’80s group A Flock of Seagulls, which was used as the intro to the series.)

Reddick: Oh yeah! We didn’t even realize we were on that show! I just found out about that recently. That just goes to show you how well I pay attention.

TDC: You guys have done a lot of things, like that cover of “I Ran (So Far Away)” and then a ’90s mix. With it being 2012 are you guys going to be doing an early 2000s mix?

Reddick: Well, we will think of something, actually I think we did. We did a cover of “Hit me Baby One More Time” for the movie “Freaky Friday,” so we are keeping it real all decades.

TDC: Well, you guys look like you are having fun. For your videos do you guys come up with the idea for humor or does it come spontaneously?

Reddick: No, for the videos we do a lot of planning and babysit it from start to finish. It’s a whole process, but we do have a lot of fun in nearly everything we do. That is the one aspect that we really like.

TDC: Do you have any guilty pleasures?

Reddick: I don’t really know, I like pretty much everything but I guess my guilty pleasure would be I like a lot of the pop stuff. Like I could listen to the band, “One Direction,” without wanting to throw up and that surprises people.

TDC: Since we are a college a paper, what did you listen to in your college days?

Reddick: Uhm, I guess at that point, I was just really getting into punk rock. I was really late to the party, and I was just discovering The Ramones and The Descendants and early Green Day. That is sort of where the idea for Bowling for Soup started.

TDC: With you guys being together for so long do you get tired of each other?

Reddick: Not really, we are still best friends, which is why I think we have been able to keep it together for 18 years. We definitely know when to press each other’s buttons and when to leave each other alone, when to get up in somebody’s face and tell them something. We have a pretty remarkable dynamic that other bands who tour with us are pretty surprised about. We have been going strong for 18 years and still having fun.

TDC: Is it still as fun even though you did your own release for your latest album?

Reddick: It wasn’t really harder, it’s just different. We have been self-supporting and self-sufficient pretty much our whole career anyway. The label has been sort of a source for distribution and obviously fun to make things happen. Luckily it was a successful album for us and we are looking forward to doing it again next year I think.

TDC: On this album you did a cover of “Stacy’s Mom” (by Fountains of Wayne). What is your favorite cover of one of your song?

Reddick: The band Allstar Weekend does a cover of “1985″ that is really good and play it at all of their shows. There is also a UK band that does some songs really well. It’s always cool to hear somebody else’s take on something that you do.

TDC: You have collaborated with a lot of band for vocals and lyrics but now who would you like to work with?

Reddick: I think it would be fun to work with Billy Joel Armstrong or David Grohl, you know somebody like that, that I listen to everyday. I think that would be a lot of fun. Those are my top two living  — dead, probably John Lennon.

arts@thedailycougar.com

Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine star as a dysfunctional couple in Richard Linklater's "Bernie."

Courtesy of Millenium Entertainment

Director Richard Linklater brings the story of one of the most peculiar murder stories ever to befall the small Texas town of Carthage to the big screen with “Bernie.”

Linklater (“Dazed and Confused,” “School of Rock”) teams up once again with Matthew McConaughey and Jack Black along with the addition of Academy Award winner Shirley MacLaine (“Terms of Endearment”) for this dark comedy, which is told through interviews with the actual townsfolk who knew the people involved, but still manages to dramatize the events that occurred.

The story takes place in the 1990s with Black in the title role as Bernhardt “Bernie” Tiede. Black gives one of the best performances of his career as a social and incredibly nice town mortician or “assistant funeral director.” Bernie has an extreme admiration for older women and he soon falls in love with his polar opposite – the rude and possessive Marjorie Nugent (MacLaine).

Tiede’s life becomes a metaphoric imprisonment at the hands of Marjorie, and once it gets to an uncontrollable height, he explodes in the form of four gunshots to the back of his imprisoner, killing her. Bernie, in an effort to make it seem as though Marjorie is still alive, continues to spend Nugent’s money.

McConaughey plays the suspicious district attorney Danny Buck Davidson, who, once Nugent’s body is found, stands in opposition to the townsfolk’s uncertainties about the exact details of the murder.

Nugent was incredibly unpopular, which leads people to think that Tiede did a good thing for the community, especially since he continues to improve it through generous donations.

“Bernie” is a Texan’s movie, being more easily comedic to people from the Lone Star State. Linklater, a native Houstonian, made the film at a modest estimate of $6 million. How that will translate in terms of box office and critical success may not be stellar over all, but Texans will enjoy it thoroughly – especially with the fantastic screenplay, interesting characters, and hilarious performances.

“Only Jack Black could spin this somewhat dark story into a quirky, small town comedy,” Amanda Hughes, a UH painting junior, said. “It’s a great flick for fans of Black’s humor.”

This small independent film from veterans of the craft of filmmaking is a gem. It is also one of the seemingly few films that remain loyal to the “based on a true story” line.

Having actual footage of the people who knew the story first hand talk about it adds a special aspect of truth and comedy. Linklater shows life in small town Texas in the best way possible with an accurate dramatization that turns the tragic into comedy. The cast also includes Richard Robichaux and Larry Jack Dotson, also from Texas.

Also, for the hardcore Richard Linklater fans – be sure to keep an eye out for an uncredited cameo appearance.

“Bernie” is now playing in Houston at Landmark River Oaks Theatre, 2009 W. Gray St., and AMC Studio 30, 2949 Dunvale.

arts@thedailycougar.com

“Kinesthetic Symphony: Ensemble Annual Dance Concert” opened to a large audience on Friday inside the Lyndall Finley Wortham Theatre with works choreographed by faculty members of the University of Houston School of Theatre & Dance and performed by members of the UH Dance Ensemble.

The first piece, “On a Circus Theme”, choreographed by Jennifer Sommers, was a quirky and somewhat haunting routine with a circus clown personality.

The second movement, however, was rather poignant—a single dancer was encouraged, forced, and assisted in dancing by a group and individuals from this group. She teetered around initially, unsure on her feet, but with every guiding gesture from the group, she became steadier and more graceful.

This movement appeared to be a commentary on the effects that an individual can have in someone’s development as well as recognition of all the behind-the-scenes people who push and teach an individual, dancer or otherwise.

Several pieces stood out for their use of costumes, including “Tiny Bones in my Hand” by Catalina Molnari, which featured flowing and seemingly hand-dyed clothing in shades of blue on each dancer. This piece also utilized a series of fugues in movement across both the space of the stage and time.

Another work that used vivid costuming was “Dangle”, choreographed by Becky Valls, which used traditional Klezmar music and bright orange-red costumes with chiffon scarves pinned in different places on each dancer’s clothing.

This dance was flirtatious and playfully chaotic, with the dancers exhibiting frivolous mechanical and doll-like qualities. The audience burst into tickled laughter at a few points during the performance because of the lightheartedness and quirkiness of the piece.

“Cancao do Mar” stood out for its music sung in foreign tongues and use of projections behind the dancers; scenes of ships at sea, waves, and dancers on a beach accompanied the movements on stage.

The choreography itself, by Jacqueline Nalett, was a more classical ballet style of modern, and even included a brief pas-de-deux in this traditional style. It was very well danced, and the motions were well suited to the theme and presented a cohesive idea throughout the piece.

Another work that exhibited a true masterpiece of choreography was Karen Stokes’ “Midnight,” a contemporary routine that called to mind some of the dilemma of the fantastical Cinderella, although this was probably accidental.

The dancers were continually checking their imaginary watches and the final movement was rather fittingly a waltz, which seemed to emulate Cinderella’s dance at the ball with her Prince Charming. It was a beautiful medley of blue costumes and unobtrusive sound that captured the imagination and allowed the viewer to create his or her own story while still showing a complete narrative that flowed from scene to scene smoothly.

arts@thedailycougar.com

Fox 26′s Mark Berman reports that UH has received a verbal commitment from Southlake Carroll kicker Ty Cummings.

Cummings helped Southlake Carroll take home the 5A state title this season.

The Black Keys and Arctic Monkeys performed in Houston on Tuesday at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion.

As the sun was still out, the Arctic Monkeys opened the concert by playing “Brainstorm” — the track that put them on the charts and defined them as a band.

The song was riveting and so was the adrenaline and rock sound that a band of this caliber is known to deliver to its audience.

Fans of the band were touched by the intensity and power that the Arctic Monkeys delivered with the tracks “Don’t Sit Down Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair” and “If You Were There Beware.”

There were many parts of their performance that were similar to their set seen at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival this year.

As their one-hour set came to a close, they played their newly released single “R U Mine?” — which was promoted on this year’s Record Store Day.

The lights dimmed in preparation for the main event of the night — The Black Keys — and the audience snapped into attention as soon as they heard the guitar riff and keyboards introduce the song “Howlin’ for You.”

The set predominately consisted of music from the band’s mainstream career.

The Black Keys performed songs from their Grammy award-winning album “Brothers” as well as tracks from their new album, “El Camino,” which was not a surprise since this is the duos first stadium sized tour.

Though they had to appease their new fans, there were also tracks that only longtime listeners of the band knew such as “I’ll Be Your Man,” which was on the band’s first full-length album.

They also played the singles that made them popular among the blues and rock crowds during the growth of the band.

“Thickfreakness” and “Your Touch” lacked nothing and sounded rugged and formidable in comparison to their album counterparts.

Guitarist and vocalist Dan Auerbach of the duo started singing “Everlasting Light” — a fan favorite from “Brothers”— as a giant disco ball propelled down from the rafters.

Finally, the track from their 2008 album “Attack and Release” that propelled The Black Keys to become more of a household name — “I Got Mine” — was performed.

There was a mellow rhythm after the second verse that was dismissed during this live jam session that was a masterfully crafted build.

As Auerbach strung his guitar, the drums kicked in exploding the sounds through the mounted speakers and onto the audience.

The wailing guitars ended the night perfectly.

arts@thedailycougar.com

The audience was primarily composed of enthusiastic graduate and undergraduate creative writing students and faculty members.

Wary of the incessant marketing and limitations of publishing through a large press, Almond explained how he chose to start self-publishing his work beginning with “This Won’t Take but a Minute, Honey,” a collection of short stories and mini essays on the nature of writing.

“I was tired of having to deal with the corporate parenting of my publisher and with the availability of technology that’s made the means of book production easier than ever before, it felt like the right decision to do it on my own,” Almond said.

He described the amazement he felt as he watched his first self-published book pop out of the Harvard Book Store’s Espresso Book Machine.

“I was used to the whole 18 month process of putting a book out, with this machine it took 5 minutes. The ink on the book was still wet; it was amazing.”

Since that day, Almond has self-published two other books, “Bad Poetry” and “Letters from People Who Hate Me.”

His distribution model with his self-published books, he said, “is pretty much the same as a drug dealer’s.”

Rather than sell his books through various outlets like Amazon or Barnes and Noble, he prefers to directly distribute his self-published work at readings and at a price even financially struggling college students can afford.

He encouraged listeners to view self-published books as ever-evolving “artifacts” of creativity that can be altered over time rather than as static objects.

After his talk he fielded questions and read a few entertaining pieces from Bad Poetry” and “Letters from People Who Hate Me.”

Though it only lasted an hour, the event was a convincing argument for all artists and writers to focus on creating and sharing their work, and to not worry so much about securing whatever “legitimacy” a large publishing house may offer.

arts@thedailycougar.com

Perched high in the top of the Fine Arts building, the UH Painting Department’s Open Studios and Graduation Party on Friday was a sight to behold.

Nearly 40 artists displayed a semester’s worth of hard work in the show.

Recent graduate and musical guest Jamie Woody’s soulful melodies set a perfect mood for the evening

All ages and backgrounds were represented, as friends and families came out to support their favorite artists.

It was interesting to see such a wide variety of styles and techniques expressed in the paintings.

Andria Nguyen’s incredibly smooth, religious and Gothic-inspired grotesques incorporated beads, crosses and other sculptural elements.

Stacy Smith’s bright, colorful figures and scenes resembled high-definition photographs, while Hillaree Hamblin made novel use of dyed cloth, sequins and twigs.

Artists Voltaire Paredes and David Anderson continued to cover their large canvases in paint throughout the show, much to the delight of passers-by.

Paredes even welcomed those who were interested to pick up a brush and join in.

“If there’s anything to save of the art world, we’ll save it,” he said.

Each studio space offered a completely different environment and provided insight into each artist’s vision.

Bec Cook’s impeccably clean forest creatures and tasty-looking desserts hung not 10 feet away from abstract and process-oriented artists who mixed, poured and smeared other materials with their paint, which resulted in very delicately layered organic shapes.

While some artists listed the titles and sale prices for each piece, others chose to let their work speak for itself.

Stacy Smith’s studio advertised a free charcoal drawing for the winner of a raffle.

Junior Maryam Sohail described her use of dark, sprawling environments interspersed with “Alice in Wonderland” characters as being inspired by surrealism and graphic art, but admitted she had not yet decided on a niche.

“I’d like to continue doing this,” Smith said.

“It was a great night for the arts, patrons, and university students alike; such a talented group of artists is hard to come by. We can expect big things from the 2012 graduating class in the months and years to come.”

arts@thedailycougar.com

Sammy Brown is like a lot of students at UH. He transferred from another school, got his act together and is now one step closer to realizing his professional dreams.

After leading the nation in tackles-for-a-loss as a senior, Brown signed with the St. Louis Rams on Saturday.

“I never doubted myself,” Brown said. “I knew I wanted to go pro since Pee Wee football.”

Brown’s road to the NFL has not always been the smoothest, but he has overcome all of the obstacles and now has a chance to win a spot on the Rams’ roster.

In high school, Brown lost his mother and lived with his aunt, who he credits as one of his major inspirations.

Brown didn’t take the SAT or ACT in high school and opted to go to junior college at Mississippi Gulf Coast.

He excelled there on the football field and drew offers from several schools. UH was his first recruiting visit and his first time to fly on a plane.

“For my first football visit here, that was my first plane trip,” Brown said in November. “I was like, ‘I’m not going on any more football visits.’

“I’m still scared.”

Brown admits that he didn’t come to UH in shape and that he broke a lot of plays in his first season, but in the season leading up to his senior season, Brown grew by leaps and bounds.

“When I first came up, the coaches said I wasn’t lifting hard or wasn’t lifting properly, so they used to always get onto me,” he said. “This year I got a different workout partner. This year I started working out with George (Bamfo) and Phillip (Steward), and they pushed me and I got stronger and faster.”

Brown’s change in attitude and maturity was noticable in senior year.

“I wish I could take credit for it,” former UH defensive coordinator Brian Stewart said in November. “He just came in this summer and pushed himself. He finally got past that wall, that wall where he’d say, ‘I’m tired.’ When you can push yourself past that wall, he finally got past that. And then, now busts his tail so much now that he gets on other people for not running to the ball. He wouldn’t have said anything last year.

“It looked like sometimes last year, he was so undisciplined that if the play broke out that way, he might as well have just grabbed a Coke and sat down because he wasn’t going to chase the ball unless he thought he could get the guy.”

Brown’s work ethic carried over beyond the football field as well.

“Once he realized that, he really started pushing himself past that wall,” Stewart said. “He was even doing better in class — he was actually going to class. It’s funny how a lot of times that doesn’t happen — better in the classroom and on the football field — usually that doesn’t correlate. But I think he’s at that point where he feels good about his plan and himself where he’s comfortable in the classroom and going to class.”

Brown finished his senior season earning All-Conference USA First Team honors and playing a major role in UH’s 13-1 season.

Brown wasn’t drafted this weekend, but for him it’s just another obstacle to overcome.

“It feels good, but I still have to prove myself,” Brown said. “I still feel like an underdog no matter what I do.”

The event displayed the works of eleven graduating Master’s of Fine Arts students, spanning all five departments of the program.

Chuck Ivy, the first graduate of the Interdisciplinary Practice and Emerging Forms program, utilized reactive installation and code to create an audio and visual projection.

Ivy’s technological display, “Identified, Detained & Inspected,” included a cartoon of Inspector Clouseau graphically affected by live Houston Police dispatch radios.

Graphic communications student Danilo Bojic’s “Passage,” made of birch plywood, digital print and vinyl, led the viewer through a curling passageway of panels featuring words like “compassion,” “joy” and, going deeper, “challenge” and “independence.”

His work also consisted of jutting color-treated images of well-known local buildings as well along the wall.

Sculptor Natali Leduc’s created a large wooden structure accompanied by other components such as a bike and caution tape titled “Giant Multitron,” made of “wood, more wood, metal, mistakes and time.”

Dressed in a lab coat, Leduc presented her contraption by explaining that the structure was indeed a mechanism intended to launch termites into outer space.

Abi Semter’s work included usage of materials such as a book page, cardboard, cotton thread and a paper bag.

Semter’s work tapped into the elegance and simplicity of raw material, with small punctures and twining.

Sculptor M’kina Tapscott’s displays involved a more colorful presentation that featured draping adoring ornaments and gold chains.

Tapscott’s work with mixed media in “M Theory” was composed of a mysterious mixture of hair and colorful jelly-like substances in a container with a gold top.

Graphic artist Ted Closson put together a miniature comic book convention featuring twelve Texas artists.

“The key of it is to think of comics as cultural objects,” said Closson on the convention he organized for the art space.

Photographer Rosine Kouamen featured pictures of first generation immigrants from Africa in their American living spaces.

Photographs of family memorabilia and personal objects — connecting Kouamen to her birthplace of Cameroon — such as necklaces, sandals and food hung grid-like on the wall.

Sebastian Forray took an unorthodox approach by commissioning five different artists to create works for him.

Each artist’s contribution was titled “Seven Years Luck” with five respective parts.

Along with these works, Forray had a display case of his own called “The Vitrine of Ancillary Failures,” filled with books, buttons, a brochure, a television monitor and vinyl records

The Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition will be on display through May 12 at the DiverseWorks Art Space.

arts@thedailycougar.com

Held by UH’s Honor’s College Center for Creative Work, the Ekphrastic Art Competition and Agora Festival showcased artwork, dance, music and poetry.

The lounge-like venue started in 2010 and has garnered more competing students each year.

However, these students were not just performing and showcasing their talents for the spirit of competition. They were asked to compose works that coincide with great pieces of literature.

“Ekphrastic means art that responds to art and, in this case, we wanted to honor the Human Situation Great Books course that we teach here at UH,” human situation professor and co-host Gabriella Maya said.

“We’ve asked students to interpret, respond to or against certain pieces of literature or an aspect of that literature.”

The competition was divided into three different categories based on what students brought to the table: dance performances, poetry readings and musical performances.

Each competitor also had to keep in mind the “Travels to the Underworld” theme that tied into the festival.

This theme consisted of images taken from epics such as “The Odyssey” and Dante’s “Inferno” and compounded with deep, vividly gothic scenery that creates successfully executed pieces of ekphrastic work.

Each competitor kept true to the theme.

Senior Tijana Zdravic whose poem, “Hades Visit,” told a story of how her encounter with Hades from the underworld would be like the dance and violin number from freshmen  Thu-Mai Nguyen and Lydia Velasquez portrayed the character of Odysseus’ wife Penelope.

The venue itself, while small in attendance and somewhat limited in space, plays well to the laid back at-home vibe.

Spectators at the event had the choice to sit on the floor, chairs or even on comfortable couches that conveniently had art placed around them.

However, the ambient and tranquil feel that kept for a good hour seemed to turn into a room that is used for meetings and the feeling was lost in the midst of this.

Despite that, the audience was well receptive to what was displayed.

In the end, junior Chad Maydwell took first place for his artwork, “Sirens”.

Seniors Archie Parks and Emilie Catlett took first place for the musical number “Love Knell” and finally Nguyen and Velasquez took home first place for “Penelope’s Lament”.

While each winner may have walked away with $50, co-host Kimberly Meyer noted that the real winners were the old Great Books that were brought back to life to connect with today’s generation.

arts@thedailycougar.com

The festival opens at 2 p.m. May 19 at the Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park, near the Galleria.

International award winning artist Stephan Koplowitz presents “TaskForce – Natural Acts in Artificial Water,” a water-themed, site-specific performance that features professional dancers, including some UH students, composer Aaron Hermes and the music of Space City Gamelan. A second performance will take place at 4 p.m. on May 20.

The “Scoot-In,” a greener take on the old school drive-in theaters, takes over downtown’s Sesquicentennial Park, at 8 p.m. May 19.

The festival closes at Project Row Houses, 2505 – 2521 Holman St., with two performances of “Seven in the Third.” Composer Travis Weller created this site-specific chamber music performance to spread across the seven historic row houses.

Performances are at noon and 3 p.m.

All events are free and open to the public.

For more information, visit www.mitchellcenterforarts.org/insightout/.

arts@thedailycougar.com

All joking aside, the entire Daily Cougar staff spends countless hours every week making sure we fulfill our mission to bring quality journalism to the University of Houston.

However, all of the hours we put in would be for naught if we didn’t have a great university to report on. We may be the ones who write the stories, but we depend on stellar UH students, faculty and staff for the topics of those stories.

UH offers us a colorful mélange of characters every day, characters that inspire us and provide us with ample material to include within the pages of our paper. We are fortunate that we attend such diverse and innovative university.

The editorial board of the Cougar would like to thank UH for being such an excellent training ground for student journalists. We have the unique privilege of writing about a university that is on the rise. From Tier One researchers to nationally ranked athletes, there is never a shortage of quality topics for us to cover.

We are excited about the future of UH, just as we are excited about the future of the Cougar. It is no secret that our campus is under construction. Well, we are always under construction at the Cougar as well.

Co-news Editor Joshua Mann has been elected as the new editor in chief of the Cougar. He will take the reins of the paper starting this summer. He will continue to build our staff, just as the university will continue building its reputation as a stellar Texas university.

We always have room for Tier One students here at The Daily Cougar, students who will help us continue our assent along with that of the university. We have to say good-bye for now, but we’ll be back as soon as classes begin this summer. Even if we wanted to, we couldn’t stay away.

opinion@thedailycougar.com

The University of Houston was the only school to finish in the top 25 and not have a player drafted —  six other Conference USA schools had players selected. The NFL Draft came and went quietly for the Cougars’ outgoing seniors.

In the immediate hours following the draft, that changed. Seven UH players were signed to NFL teams as free agents.

Quarterback Case Keenum and defensive lineman David Hunter signed with the Houston Texans. Receiver Patrick Edwards signed with the Detroit Lions. Linebackers Sammy Brown and Marcus McGraw signed with NFC West teams, the St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals. Running backs Michael Hayes and Bryce Beall signed with the San Diego Chargers and the Dallas Cowboys, respectively.

Getting calls from teams was a relief after waiting out the draft.

“It was a weight off my shoulders,” Hayes said.

“It feels great just to get the call. It was a lot of worries gone. You really don’t know what’s going to happen and what team is going to call.”

Being drafted carries a certain prestige with it, but most of the players shrugged it off.

“I think it’s good for us just to pick the best situation possible for us to make the team,” Hayes said.

“We’ll go in with a chip on our shoulder to show that we’re those guys that should have been drafted, we just have to show that.”

Carrier on the mend

Receiver Tyron Carrier did not sign with a team yesterday, but he is ahead of schedule recovering from surgery for a torn ACL.

After tying the NCAA record for kickoff returns, Carrier should get some attention as a return specialist.

In front of a crowd of thousands, presidential hopeful Ron Paul said if elected, he would make it legal for Americans to once again drink raw milk.

The GOP candiate came to Hofheinz Pavilion Friday to tell his supporters he was in the race for the long haul.

“Every once and a while, we’ll notice the media will come out and say, ‘when are you going to quit?’ And, I say, ‘we are only getting going,’” he said.

“They say, ‘everyone else is dropping out,’ and I say, ‘yeah, they ran out of money, and they ran out of supporters, and nobody comes to their rallies.’”

Paul took to the podium dressed in a red polo and jeans that juxtaposed with the men in suits that introduced him and greeted the crowd with a thank you and “go coogs.”

His main talking points including decreasing the control of the federal government, ending the Federal Reserve Bank, his plan to fix the deficit in three years, ending the war on drugs and pulling out of wars.

“The message is of course the key issue and we can be very pleased that it is well received and of course we know that it’s well received by young people, but there are a lot of other people now, and all age groups and all kinds diversity that are enthusiastic about the liberty message,” he said.

Each point Paul made was met with chants from the crowd. One of the few comments met with “boos” was before Paul came to the podium when the CEO of UH’s Students for Ron Paul, who introduced the candidate, confessed he voted for Barack Obama in 2008.

The crowd went wild when Paul talked about ending the wars the U.S. is involved in and ,brining the troops home. An extra burst of applause came when a marine in the front row stood up to support his candidate.

“Accusations that have been thrown at me over the years, and probably at you as well, have been that if you don’t support the wars, somehow or another you don’t support the troops,” Paul said. “The question, if anybody asks about that, is ask them if that’s the truth, then why do the troops support Ron Paul more than any other candidate?”

John Beall, a mechanical engineering technology sophomore, said he was impressed by the rally.

“I wanted to see Ron Paul talk. I wanted to hear him defend his policies, and hopefully be inspired by his speech,” he said.

“He sounds like the only voice of reason amongst the presidential candidates.”

news@thedailycougar.com

Let’s consider a more realistic scenario for low-income women: Imagine that a baby girl is born into a family with few resources. This girl attends a public elementary school in a low-income neighborhood, where property taxes are low and the schools are failing.

Teachers at her school have no time to give her the attention and support she needs to thrive, because they are already stretched thin by overcrowded classrooms and under-supervised pupils.

When she goes home in the afternoons, she is left to her own devices, as her parents are working multiple jobs to make ends meet. A boy in her class asks her to hang out, and thanks to a variety of factors – including culture, lack of parental involvement and abstinence-only sex education – this young woman ends up pregnant.

Flash-forward to age 23: Our girl is single and raising two young children on her own. The Texas Legislature has again cut the budget for the Texas Women’s Program she relies on for free breast cancer screenings, birth control and pap smears, and the local women’s clinic she frequented was forced to close.

Now, the Planned Parenthood clinic she switched to is being threatened. In order to receive care and the birth control she relies on for endometriosis and pregnancy prevention, she is facing the prospect of losing valuable paying hours at work in order to travel 10 miles by bus after waiting three weeks, maybe more, for an appointment.

This vignette is not far from the true story of many Texas women’s lives. Access to the most basic gynecological care is being made more and more inconvenient by those who claim to be fighting for the lives of unborn children.

We believe these people, though they mostly have good intentions, are ignorant of the reality of what happens to women like the one described in the story above. More abortions, not less, will result from making it harder to get contraceptives and reproductive care.

Changes in culture and morality cannot come about from worsening the conditions of the lives of those in need, no matter how hard portions of the privileged population wish it to be so. Culture is not that simple because people are not that simple.

We want to help women get the health care they need from the provider they trust and choose. We want to put a stop to the political games. Republicans supposedly want the elderly to get quality health care from providers they feel comfortable with, so why not women?

We stand for policies that treat Texas women respectfully. We ask the Texas Legislature to stand with Texas women, too.

 opinion@thedailycougar.com

The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act is a bill that was passed in hopes of changing the unfair practices within the consumer credit plans.

What interested UH Law Center Assistant Professor Jim Hawkins was a revision to the 1970 Fair Credit Reporting Act, which said credit card marketing companies could not get information on anyone under 21 from organizations providing credit reports to offer credit cards. The bill also encourages limits on the promoting done by the companies on college campuses.

Based on Hawkins’ survey of over 500 students, 68 percent of students said they had received credit card offers in the mail within the past year, and 40 percent said they witnessed credit card marketing companies promoting gifts to students since the bill was put in effect in 2010.

“I was surprised that so many students reported they were getting so many offers in the mail,” said Hawkins.

The purpose of the bill was to make it harder for credit card companies to obtain people’s addresses, Hawkins said. He soon found out that wasn’t completely the case.

During his study, Hawkins also examined 300 credit card agreements between college students and credit card issuers. He discovered that about 64% of all the agreements evaluated had not changed since the bill was passed.

“In only two cases in all of the 300 agreements that I reviewed did I observe any mention of regulation as influencing the decision to end the agreement,” said Hawkins in a press release.

Despite his findings, Hawkins said the act is slowly having a bigger impact on credit card marketing companies.

If a student is interested in retrieving a credit card, Hawkins says they should know what they’re getting into.

“Credit cards can be really useful and really dangerous,” said Hawkins.

“It’s really easy to spend money on a credit card, so it’s important to be disciplined and not affect yourself and even your family members.”

news@thedailycougar.com

“I’m sure glad the revolution is alive and well in Houston,” Ron Paul said to thousands of supporters as cheers echoed off the walls of Hofheinz Pavilion.

Hours before Paul’s speech, a line of supporters sporting their favorite Ron Paul T-shirts and buttons snaked around the block, eagerly waiting to hear the man of the hour make his case for liberty. People of all sorts and ages were in attendance, and the mood was lively to say the least.

As you may have expected, throughout his speech Paul carried the same tune he’s been singing since the start, and it seems like nothing is ever going to change that.

His consistency is truly impressive, and as far as I’m concerned, Paul demands and deserves respect, no matter what ideology you have.

It’s a shame that he doesn’t get the proper amount of attention, because while some of his ideas may be out there, a lot of what he says makes sense.

Thanks to a neglectful media, one of Paul’s biggest setbacks has been his inability to connect with undecided crowds that are already skeptical of him. The delivery of his speeches unfortunately doesn’t seem to match the power of his ideas, and for that reason, crowds that aren’t immediately moved by a rehearsed speech sprinkled with key persuasive words refuse to give Paul a shot.

However, Friday, Paul was in his element and moved the crowd with point after point pertaining to a number of his famous issues ranging from “Ending the Fed” to The War on Drugs without changing his stances. He also had a few things to say about The Patriot Act.

“The names of a bill are exactly the opposite of what the bill does,” Paul advised to the crowd, “if (The Patriot Act) had been called the ‘Repeal the Fourth Amendment’ Act, maybe it wouldn’t have gotten so many votes.”

Although his chances of becoming president were never promising, he continues to stay in the race, which some people find foolish. Paul has said he continues to run because there is continued support, and that was undoubtedly proven on-campus last week.

After hearing Paul speak, it seems that he is just as concerned with spreading his message than he is with winning office, and from that perspective, his campaign has been successful.

He continues to bring attention to issues the other candidates avoid and has garnered a strong, committed following on the Internet and among young people.

If lack of recognition has frustrates Paul, he does not show it.

There is something about Paul that emits authenticity and genuineness, and it is evident there is nothing fabricated in what he says. Whether you agree with his policies or not, Paul is a man who stays uncommonly consistent and trustworthy, and at this point in our nation’s politics, those traits are rare and merit more respect than he’s been given.

Lucas Sepulveda is a creative writing and media production junior and may be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com.

The vast majority of the funds raised by the event will go towards engineering scholarships for UH students, said UH alumnus and Adjunct Professor Benton Baugh, who was the vice-chair and treasurer for the event.

“Raising scholarship funds is a very important way to get kids through school,” Baugh said.

In addition to raising money for scholarships, the event brought about 6000 professionals on the UH campus, Baugh said.

“It’s a very good public relations event,” he said.

news@thedailycougar.com

The third and fourth levels of the garage are for students, the second is for faculty and staff, and the first floor will be open to visitors for an hourly rate.

Any UH students, faculty or staff with a current parking permit may park in the garage until the end of the summer semester.

The garage is located on the corner of Cullen and Holman, and will feature 2273 parking spaces and, eventually, retail space on the first floor.

The retail is still under construction, but will open by fall 2012, the release said.

Students, faculty and staff can register for a Stadium Garage permit online at www.uh.edu/parking.

news@thedailycougar.com