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Show WeekendDtwnlons Friday, Sept. 14, 2007 Hand hitting Students get a workout in handball aass BY AMANDA MEANS staff writer USU students who are looking for a unique sport that is both challenging and fun should give handball a try, said Herm Olsen, handball instructor and A division state champion. "Handball basically follows the same rules and regulations as racquetball," Jackson Olsen, junior in journalism, said. "But the difference is you are not using a racket and you use a smaller, tougher ball." "It is literally the oldest game in the world," Herm said. "All you need is a ball and a wall." Herm, who began playing handball in 1971, said he started teaching the handball class at USU six years ago in order to introduce the sport to students. The idea for the class came into existence when a group of handball players that Herm has been a part of for more than 20 years began talking about how they were getting older and there were no future handball players. "It would be tragic if we had a generation who didn't know the game," he said. Despite being confused for racquetball, the handball class has come a long way since its start. "The first semester it began, the class was listed as racquetball, with handball just in quotes, " Herm said. "We had five or six kids that thought they had come to play racquetball; a few of them stuck it out though and became lifelong players." From beginning students to veterans, Herm said there is something for everyone. "It's like a brotherhood or a sisterhood," Herm said. "You are really just there to challenge Hamilton: Out to entertain students [J continuedfrompage 6 of happened that it worked out for me to do it as a career. So I'm lucky that way." Now, after being on NBC's "Last Comic Standing," Hamilton is bringing his act to the big stage of the TSC ballroom on Saturday. For Hamilton, northern Utah is a very familiar place. He has lived in Salt Lake City and Utah County for 10 years, and graduated from Brigham Young University in public relations. He also has roots fairly close to Cache Valley - Hamilton was born in Ashton, Idaho, a town of about 1,000 people 30 miles north of Rexburg. Likewise, Hamilton's act has roots in Utah. He said much of his act was developed in Utah and Seattle, Wash., so Utahns should be able to relate. But he is also trying to reach a broader audience, so jokes with references that may not be commonplace outside of Utah aren't very common in his act, Hamilton said. Hamilton's act is influenced by some of his favorite comedi-" ans, Bill Cosby, Brian Regan, Jim Gaffigan, David Letterman and other late show hosts. Early on, he said he also read a lot of humor columnist Dave Berry. Although he is influenced by these other stand-ups, Hamilton wants to be different. "I'm always reaching for try- ing to be unique and original and true to myself, and clever - 1 want to be smart," he said. No matter what the influence is, or the things behind his act, there is one goal - laughter and fun. "I want people to leave feeling good about their life, and having a good time," Hamilton said."... I am usually trying to have fun and I hope the audience is leaving, smiting, and having a good time." Hamilton will be joined by Bengt Washburn, and the show starts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the TSC Ballroom. Tickets are $5 and are on a first-come, first-serve basis. -Da.Bake(3)aggiemaiL usu.edu lk\l Photo I Took All Summer Z A C H B A T E M A N SERVES in a handball game. He has been playing for four years and is in the USU class. TYLER LARSON photo yourself." Kalecia Helm, sophomore in family, consumer and human development, said someone told her to take the class because it was fun and worth taking for more than one semester. "The adrenaline rush from playing is the best part," Helm said. Jackson said he had never played handball before but decided to take the class after hearing about it from friends. "It kicks my butt," Jackson said. "I get a really good workout and there is a high level of intensity, but it's fun." "We're teaching them a sport that will last for a lifetime, or at least until you are 70," said Ron Bachman, who co-teaches the handball class. Many students who take the handball class also compete in [1 See HANDBALL, page 14 Aaron Peck staff writer Reel Reviews Grade A"Shoot'em Up" when I say the plot involves a senator who needs the bone marrow of infants to keep himself alive. In any other movie, this plot would kill it. But, here is a movie so self-aware that it makes fun of its own plot. Mr. Smith figures everything out without even thinking, almost as if the movie itself is winking at all the other action movies saying, "Come on. The only reason you • made this film was so you could shoot guns and blow stuff up." And that's exactly what they do. The action is fast and relentless. All the while, Mr. Smith never seems to break a sweat. Along the way, he also dispenses his own forms of justice on people who discipline their children in public, change lanes without signaling and slurp their drinks too loudly (for some reason 1 think Michael Davis, the director, really hates all of those things too). The gun fight scenes are original and creative. The humor is dark. The violence exits the world of reality and enters the land of the cartoonish, almost reminding us of a Bugs Bunny/Elmer Fudd cartoon except with a lot more blood. But above all, the acting is superb. Owen and Giamatti play their overthe-top characters with such seriousness that we actually believe them. This movie is not for the squeamish. But, let me just say this. For anyone who goes to this movie and walks out disgusted, I ask you: Did you not read the title? -Aaron.Peck@aggiemail.usu. ,-- edit DO YOU WANT TH^-CHANCE TO HAVE DINNER FOR TWO WITH PROMINENT USU ALUMNI AT THE HOMECOMINQ BANQUET? Contest Rules: _.--**' Write a paragraph (max. 200 words) about why you want to sit with a USU Alumnus at the Homecoming Banquet. Entries due to the David B. Haight Alumni Center by Monday, September 17 at 5:00 p.m. Winners will be notified September 19 and will receive two tickets to the Homecoming Banquet and Dance. Dinner begins at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, September 21 in the TSC Ballroom. Dancing will follow. : " ! : ' ' '""' 1 ., CcCe&rate ,V^;'TRADITION Entries must include: Name, Email, Phone, Year ija Schoql and Major . :i Questions? Call Alumni Relations at 797-2055 P R E C I S I O N • BEAUTY • h HOMtCOMINO 2OO? FOREVER "3:10 to Yuma" is right on time "3:10 to Yuma" takes a broken-down genre, hitches it to the back of a stagecoach and takes off running. "3:10" is the story of a poor rancher named Dan Evans, played by Christian Bale ("Batman Begins"). Dan is down on his luck. It seems that God has stacked the deck against him. Having lost his leg in the Civil War (where he was a sharpshooter for the Northern Army), he now has to live in a bone-dry climate because his youngest son has tuberculosis. And to top it all off, the local debt collector burns down Dan's barn to try to scare him off his land because the railroad is coming through, and he obviously wants to take Dan's land away from him. The other main character is a blood-thirsty, but oddly civil, outlaw named Ben Wade, played by Russell Crowe ("Gladiator"). Ben and his gang rob stagecoach after stagecoach and become somewhat TT E-mail your entry to statesman@cc.usu.edu "Shoot 'em) Up" hits the bull's-eye Deadly carrots, gun fights in midair and a birth where the umbilical cord is severed by a bullet are just a few things you can look forward to i f you go and see "Shoot 'Em Up." "Shoot'Em Up" stars Clive Owen (''Children of Men") and Paul Ciamatti ("Lady in the Water"). Owen plays a mysterious man, Mr. Smith, who's amazing with a gun and loves his carrots. Giamatti plays Mr. Hertz (no doubt named for all the pain he's caused), an insanely evil hitman trying to kill Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith is flung into the action as he helps a woman give birth under a hail of gunfire. We don't know why everyone is trying to kill the woman; we just know that they are. When the woman dies just after giving birth, Mr. Smitn is forced to look after the child as he tries to piece together a conspiracy that reaches to the highest levels of the government. I'm not making this up Page 7 is following them? But, in this movie (and any other Western for that matter), the plot really doesn't mean anything. Westerns have always been a tale of morality. They show how even in a lawless land, there can be values and morals. And even against the greatGrade A est of odds, those morals and "3:10 to Yuma" values will always conquer. Crowe and Bale pull off the of a legend. His gun, "The dialogue in this movie with sucHand o f God," is as infamous cess. Their conversations with as he is. Even Dan's son reads one another are alone worth dime novels written about the price of admission. Throw Wade and his exploits. in a great performance by Ben When Wade is caught, a Foster ("Hostage") as Charlie series of circumstances throws Prince, Ben Wade's right hand Dan into the mix of men that man, and this movie is one to are obligated, by money of see. course, to take Mr. Wade to a When you go, because city called Contention. There you definitely should go, pay they will put Wade on the 3:10 attention to every conversatrain to Yuma Prison. tion had between Dan and The plot itself doesn't make Ben. Because you will find much sense. I mean, where's out that "3:10" is a fantastic the sense in taking America's ride through the human conmost wanted criminal across science. the desert with only five men, 'Aaron.Peck@aggiemail.usu. while Ben Wade's entire gang edu Aaron Peck staff writer Reel Reviews The Needham Brilliant is known for precision, beauty and lasting value. There is no other diamond like it. These diamonds come with a special diamond grading report, a precise cut to assure maximum light return and a laser inscribed identification number for security purposes. You may also personalize your diamond with a laser inscription seen only under magnification. The Needham Brilliant...Precision...Beauty...Forever. 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