Heartland View Edge

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Painting Nothing

The work of art student Vladimir Younger

Volume 1 | Issue 1 | Week of October 25th, 2010

volume 1 | issue 1 | Oct. 25, 2010

Heartland View Edge

The

LAPEditor’s NoteWelcome to our first issue of the school year. We have at-tempted to make some big changes to the Heartland View, starting with our title, as we are now known as Heartland View Edge. We will offer you a glimpse into the world of arts and entertain-ment at Northwest and Maryville, as well as features on people and places that touch your lives. We hope you enjoy our insights, our information and our new look.

on the coverinside

music, sports, movie reviews

Fall Concert

Fred Mares

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Editor in ChiefCourtney EdwardsFeatures EditorBrian JohnsonDesign EditorBethany HonkompstaffMichael DuntzTy StevensJason LawrenceJenny LeeMomoko OtsukaMark KauffmanShaylee YountMichaela FernenAshley SpaldingBrett CannonKristina Maddox

Contact [email protected]

sTAFF

VICTOrY

Mark Anderson sings a cover of The Black-Eyed Peas’ hit “I Gotta Feeling” with his band The Victory Lap at the Outback. The band includes Northwest students as well as members from sur-rounding areas, and they have a work ethic that they believe will take them to the top, because they want it all or nothing. Page 10

Painting Nothing Get an in-depth look at the life and work of artist Vladi-mir Younger as he talks about what inspires him, why he is an artist and why he thinks art is meaningless.

Page 6

Check out the latest in the world of music, see what we thought about recent movies and get an inside look at everything sports. Pages 3-5

Didn’t get enough Sean Kingston? See more photos and what we thought of the performance. Page 10

Do you remember the man who greeted you when you last walked into Hy-Vee? Get to know Hy-Greeter Fred Mares. Page 12

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If you don't know John Lennon, you don't know music.

Saturday was what would have been John Lennon's 70th birthday. Sure-ly you've seen all the hubub around him in the media, from Yoko Ono's Youtube message, to a commemorative greatest hits CD just released.

Personally I think to release a CD at this time is just a motivation for monetary gain on people's emotions, but that's another story.

What I find most interesting about the life of John Len-non, is that 9 out of 10 people will only want to talk about Lennon's career with The Beatles. Certainly this is understandable, but I really think it takes a lot away from

Lennon himself.When The

Beatles broke up, it really allowed for Lennon to have his own voice. He

was a visionary, an emotional poet and a man of peace. He went from "I want

to hold your hand" to "give peace a chance" in under ten years.

I remember the first time I heard

John Lennon's work. I was in 8th grade in English class when my

teacher put on Len-non's Greatest Hits while we worked silently on a paper. The first song that came on was his

masterpiece "Imag-ine." A haunting piano-driven take on a utopian society

where there was nothing but peace.

It was absolutely beautiful, and I had an instant favorite song. It wasn't long before I owned my own copy of Lennon's Greatest Hits. From "Instant Karma" to "Give Peace A Chance" I had discovered timeless classics.

Every once in a while I still pull out Lennon's music and experience the same enjoyment I had in 8th grade English. Lennon was a man who died with a universal vi-sion: to unite people in peace through music. Through his vision and his music, we can see the world in simple terms: treat every-one with love, and give peace a chance.

In Rememberenceof John Lennon

By Brian Johnson

John Lennon was one of the greatest musical influences of all time. He will contine to be one of the top selling artists in history.

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capKU Football Chiefs Football

Helmet Hits

World Series

MU Football

Oregon Football

Texas Football

Florida Football

I really wish I knew anything about making websites because FireTurnerGill.com would be up ASAP. I can’t take it anymore. He switched our top recruit from wide receiver to safety and it failed. He moved our leading rusher from last year to linebacker and then redshirted him because he didn’t pick up the defensive playbook. Duh, he’s a running back. On top of that, in the teams’ three conference games, Kansas has been outscored 149-24. Really?Please fire this man. Bring back Mangino. DO SOMETHING! He had one good year at Buffalo. In the MAC. All that will vindicate his hiring now is if he somehow pulls off a win against Mizzou.

The Tigers knocked off No. 1 Oklahoma and showed that the BCS wasn’t crazy for ranking MU at No. 11 despite the cupcake-esque schedule up to that point.Mizzou showed more balance than anyone thought it had and put on a show in College Gameday’s first-ever appearance in Columbia. It was a good showing -- I’m glad to see OU get knocked off because, let’s be honest, the Sooners weren’t worthy of that No. 1 ranking.

The Ducks have scored over 40 points in every game this season and are No.1 in the AP and Coaches polls, which should have led to a No. 1 BCS ranking. More proof that the BCS is messed up and needs to go.Oregon whipped up on a UCLA team that beat Texas, further proving that the computer messed up in letting OU jump ahead. The Ducks should move to No. 1 and stop the streak at three weeks of the No. 1 team losing. Oregon-Boise State National Championship? Yes, please.

The Longhorns got knocked off by Iowa State. I feel bad for Mack Brown because that is downright pathetic, but it makes me laugh. It also makes me laugh a little bit that Nebraska lost to the Longhorns. The Big XII is in array this season, fitting for the final year of the conference.

I love it. The Gators have lost three straight, but had an open week this week. Maybe Urban Meyer should have retired instead of dealing with the task of replacing Tim Tebow.

I wish the Chiefs could play a whole game like they did the fourth quarter. I know it was the Jaguars, but that was impressive and it puts the Chiefs at 4-2 and well in control of the AFC West. With the second easiest schedule, next to the Cardinals, the rest of the way I’m very optimistic about getting back to the postseason this year. Kansas City could do some damage in the postseason if they put it all together because every game has been close this year and that’s good experience come playoff time.I’m calling it now, the Chiefs will finish 10-6 and win the division. Yes, I know that’s lofty, but that is losses to San Diego in California, Denver in Denver and at Tennessee. Those are the only three teams that should realistically beat the Chiefs. The other loss I threw in there as a fluke, just in case.San Diego is terrible this year and puts up gaudy stats, but no scores. Oakland is, well Oakland. Bruce Gradkowski can’t get it done and Jason Campbell showed why he was shipped out of Washington. Denver is the only team with a shot at taking the division from the Chiefs and the Broncos are nowhere near balanced enough to be a consistent threat week to week.

I honestly feel bad for the players here because they’re being sent a double message by the NFL itself. They market the hits with The NFL’s Greatest Hits videos. Then with the video they made for the teams to show players how to hit, they show a hit that got an unsportsman-like conduct penalty called. No wonder James Harrison considered retirement.Now the players have to worry about getting flagged for hitting the right way. It just keeps getting harder and harder to play defense in the NFL. Before long, it’s going to look like the Pro Bowl or NBA All-Star Game every Sunday – all offense, no defense.

Giants-Rangers, who would’ve thought?This is why I love sports. Sometimes the underdog does pull it off, in this case both underdogs pulled it off. I have no idea who to root for in the Series because I don’t have the Yankees to root against and it’s the first appearance in franchise history for the Rangers.All I know is Linecum-Lee will be an amazing duel, especially if this series goes to seven games and that’s the matchup. I hope it makes it because nothing happens sports-wise on Thursdays, so all eyes would be on that game.Plus, Josh Hamilton is a feel good story after all he’s gone through to get to the biggest stage in his sport. I think I just figured out what team I’m rooting for.A World Series I’m actually excited about, now that’s weird.

By Jason LawrenceEdge Staff

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Blog by Bethany honkompI hope you guys all enjoyed “The Social Network” after I recom-mended it to you last week! Sadly, this week’s movie doesn’t quite compare, but hey, that’s what my blog is all about. Letting you know about the must see movies and to tell you to stay away from the flops. But on the upside there are a few movies I’m really excited about that are coming up and I want to let you know about in case you haven’t heard of them. Well, let’s

get on with the blog then… The movie I went to see this week was called “Life as We Know It” starring Kather-ine Heigl and Josh Duhamel. I thought it was pretty interesting that rottentomatoes.com gave it a pretty poor rating, yet the major-ity of the audience really liked it. It just goes to show you that you don’t always have to agree with what the big critics think! I gave it about 2.5 stars because it was a cute, heartwarming story, but it’s definitely a chick flick. It’s a typical Katherine Heigl love story. So, as far as the plot of the movie goes I’m sure you could

guess the ending just by watching the trailer so I’m not really going to elaborate on it much. She plays the role well and watching Josh Duhamel on the big screen gave me my money’s worth. It has a wide spectrum of happy, sad, and hilarious moments. I definitely wouldn’t discourage anyone from seeing the movie, but maybe just leave your boyfriend at home. For now I’d rather spend my time tell-ing you about some movies that I think are going to be great.

Conviction: starring Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell and Minnie Driver. A true story about a woman who endures an emotional 18 year period by putting herself through high school, college and law school after her brother was wrongfully sentenced to life in prison. This story is about hope, belief, and the dedication of one woman and how far she’ll go to prove her brothers innocence. Two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank will far exceed expectations, in my opinion. After amazing perfor-mances in movies like “Million Dollar Baby”, “Freedom Writers”, and “Boys Don’t Cry” I would definitely say this is going to be a must-see movie! Hits a limited number of theaters October 15, 2010.

Due Date: starring Robert Downey Jr., Michelle Monaghan, Juliette Lewis and Zach Galifianakis. This movie is sure to have everyone rolling on the floor with laughter and being directed by Todd Phillips (director

of “The Hangover”) I wouldn’t expect anything different. When father-to-be, Robert Downey Jr., is stranded across the US on a ‘no fly list’ he has no choice but to hop into a car with an aspiring actor, which proves to be a crazy and hectic journey in order to reach the birth of his child. So far I think every thing Robert Downey Jr. has done since his comeback has been pretty great. Hits theaters Novem-ber 5, 2010.

Morning Glory: Starring Rachel McAdams, Diane Keaton, and Harrison Ford. After being fired as TV producer for a local station Becky Fuller feels as though she has run out of options. She soon lands a job at a less than popular rated TV station and takes the job in hopes of revitalizing it by bringing on a legendary anchor. Nothing happens how she wants it too and soon her life and TV show are unraveling at the seams. This movie has great potential be to be funny, uplifting, and heartfelt with an excellent cast. Hits theaters November 12, 2010.

Movie Review

October 15, 2010 November 5, 2010 November 12, 2010

Release Dates

All Pictures are courtsey of rottentomatoes.com

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A square tabletop was layered with mounds of thick, multi-colored, oil-based paints. They were smeared and mixed into each other. Wet globs of paint shined over crusted, cracking colors. Every so often a paintbrush would dip onto the palette as Vladimir Younger continued his work

Younger, a senior, is an Art major with a penchant for Canadian Indie music. He is a tall, thin young man who’s short, dark hair matches the black frames of his glasses. He walks from canvas to palette at a quick pace that is bordering on uncomfortable, but speaks and moves fluidly, not even watching where he is going.

“I remember back in high school, back when I was stupid, back when I didn’t realize art was meaningless in this day and age.” Younger paused to take a drink of tea from a plastic bottle. “I thought, ‘I’ll make these paintings and they’ll all say important things.’ It was the rock star dream for me. But no one cares about what you do. Mass commercialization, as much as I hate it, that’s what it is.”

Despite this nihilistic view of his craft, Younger still enjoys painting, and he gladly admitted that art is what takes up most of his time.

“There is no break for the artist. Period. The artist is simply not allowed to take a day off. Even if I don’t pick up a paintbrush that day I’m still thinking about it.”

This constant labor was visible in Younger’s studio. In addition to the works hanging on the walls, a stack of nearly ten of his finished paintings leaned against the door frame.

“I tend to work on a lot of paintings at the same time. Every painting I do influences every other painting I’m doing,” Younger said as he stood and began to pantomime. “I’ll try a technique on this one and say, ‘Hm, that’s good. What would it look like on that one?’ And I’ll try it and find a color I like and then I’ll bring that color back over to this one and try it. At times it gets a little difficult to find a linear point.”

Younger described how he layers his paintings. He said he works and re-works them constantly. Sometimes he even does an entirely new painting over an old one. He said he puts layers on top of one another until he, “hates it totally.”

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artBy Mark Kauffman

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“

The layers of paint were apparent in the texture of Younger’s older works. Multitudes of thick, black lines streaked across Younger’s canvases in sharp movements. The paths of these lines converged to create groups of discordant, unbalanced and wildly colored shapes. Due to color and light contrast,

texture, and Younger’s erratic angles, some of the shapes in his paintings seemed to be trying to fill a third dimension. Ac-cording to Younger, the closest technical term to his style is

Abstract Expressionism.

Younger cited Max Beckmann, Philip Guston and German Expressionism in general as strong

influences on his work. He specifically referred to the idea of pure painting.

“The one thing I’ve always tried to be adamant

about is that I’m trying not to depict anything.

There’s absolutely no point. If I have to be painting

something it might as well be nothing,” Younger said

smiling. “Romantically, I am trying to find the pure painting and this is why I drink.”

How does one approach painting nothing? Younger himself consistently uses

one word when describing his style: violent.

“Art does nothing anymore,” he said again, “the angrier I get, the bleaker I try to

make my palette, the more violent my ap-proach is to painting.”

However, not all of his paintings are so violent. One of Younger’s newer paint-

ings, hanging in the corner, had much calmer angles, harmonious colors and fewer, thinner lines. Like

all Younger’s newer work, the painting focused less on color and texture and more on shape. It was painted right over one of

Younger’s older works.

Younger attributed this change in style to the fact that he has calmed down in recent days. He said he is trying to keep the emotional value

without all the bleakness.

“I just didn’t want violence to the be the only message. Everyone’s life affects their art. My regular life is a bit less angry. I try to, in a way, keep the two separate. If I have life in my art, it’s like I’m

still trying to say something.”

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Art is masturbation, it hurts me to say it, but that’s the truth of it“

By Mark Kauffman

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VICTORYLAP

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It’s Thursday evening on Buchanan Street. It’s before the night gets too old, the drinks and vomit have fallen to the ground, but not too late for the remnants of the day to be scattered everywhere. Worn and torn Wal-Mart coupons, wet bank receipts and an old McDonald’s bag; it’s enough to encourage feelings of disgust, making one want to go to more familiar and better lighted areas like Main Street. That is until a grabbing noise from the old Rose Theater gives you the instinct to follow. It’s a sound of throat-wrenching vocals, harmonic-filled guitars, chest-pounding drums, and that high disdaining white noise that only amplifiers can make. This is the practice area of The Vic-tory Lap, a band that wants it all or nothing. Walking into the Rose, the band performs a fun and unexpected rendition of Black Eyed Peas’ iTunes darling, “I Gotta Feeling.” Of course the band has added their twist on the song, by giving it a rock edge, with an alterna-tive voice more like Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy than Will.I.Am. and in their case, this may be a good thing. “Yeah we’re not playing that tomorrow,” lead vocalist Mark Anderson says with a scoff, quickly turning back to all business with “we all need to invest into some new cables.” They would end up performing the song the next night.Anderson has every quality a music fan would look for in a frontman. He has a dark complex-ion, tattoos across his chest and arm and his seemingly endless confidence as a showman. He easily takes the wheel of the band while the rest of the band is relatively quiet. There’s Matt Leimkuehler, the laid back bassist who is never shy to add a quick witty remark. The two guitarists, Zach Pannel and Michael White, and the drummer Jimmy Rector are relatively quiet, but not from a lack of confi-dence. They would much rather choose to let their instruments do the talking, especially White, who barely puts down his guitar, always practicing. While the band was first put together as something to do to kill time, it was not long before they became serious about their craft. “We decided to spend all our well-earned cash on this,” said Anderson in a laugh that tells he really means all of their cash. “We’re not a bar band anymore,” said Leim-kuehler. “We don’t play covers for four hours.” When asked to describe their sound, Ander-son quickly replied, “Green Day and Lady Gaga had a baby.”

White said that all the members were in typical pop-punk and metal bands in high school, and when he and Leimkuehler came together, they “channeled their junior high selves” playing New Found Glory and The Starting Line songs, but eventually their sound took on a more pop feel. The band calls it “dance punk.” “I would have stabbed myself in the forehead if I listened to anything that wasn’t pop punk back in the day,” Anderson said reflecting on his high school days. “Now the only thing I can say that I’d stab myself in the forehead for listening to is radio rock.” The Victory Lap loves playing together, but they will not lie to themselves. They know that getting to the top will take a lot of work, but they want to make it to the top, or they will not be a band anymore. “Basically we said we were going to do this for four years,” Anderson said. “And if it’s not one step away from the right direction, then it’s not going to be worth it.” While the band is realistic about their goals, one must realize they are doing everything they can to get there. This is evident after spending only a few minutes on their MySpace profile. They have such professional looking produced photoshoots, merchandise, recordings and videos, a fan would think they were signed to a professional label. One thing that cannot be questioned about The Victory Lap is their dedication. Pannel has to drive over three hours just to get to the practices. Leimkuhler talks about leaving his apartment at 8 a.m. and not coming back until 10 p.m. and then doing homework until 4 a.m. Over the summer, they played 30 shows, but what the audience did not see was the work that went into it. They would drive anywhere from three to eight hours to get to shows, balance jobs and school, hold practices and even hold business meetings. “We talk about merchandise, talk about our record, talk about what’s on the Internet we need to check out. We talk about all that every week,” Anderson said in a playful but annoyed tone. “It’s monotonous, but it makes us tight and makes us set the difference from any other band at our level right now.” When it comes to the business side of the mu-sic industry, The Victory Lap claim that it’s one of the most important parts of being a band. “Matt will top off his hat and say ‘time to poli-tic’,” Anderson said, referring to Leimkuehler’s post-show tradition. “We learned that ironically from Tech N9ne. It was one of the most motiva-tional and true things we ever heard.”

The band knows they have to “shake hands and kiss babies” and that being in a band means to invest into a business. They operate under the realistic assump-tion that a band is 70 percent business and 30 percent music. The Victory Lap may break down their enterprise like a business, but they are confident that people who come to their shows will want to invest in them.

By Brian JohnsonFeatures Editor

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By Michael Duntz Image if you will: your insides rattling, a

loud buzzing noise emitting from the stage, the wonderful smell of body odor, awkwardly comedic dancing and finally being crammed into a tiny theatre like pickles. These are the sights and sounds of the 2010 Fall Concert featuring the Ying Yang Twins and Sean Kingston.

This concert sold out in record time, five hours and five minutes, which brought along with it a heightened sense of urgency and importance, mainly because it has been since the fall of 2008 since an act like this graced the Northwest stage, but some audience members felt that the concert was a let down.

There were three sections to the evening: the pre-show entertainment, the Ying Yang Twins and then Sean Kingston.

The pre-show was filled with people filling in, anxious chatter and the SAC officials demanding the audience squeeze together. The fans were becoming impatient and anxious for the show to start, since the wave went through the crowd four times, people randomly screamed or started a slow clap forcing the pop music to be cranked up. The actual pre-show entertainment started after everyone quieted down. There was a dance off competition between five audience members for the chance to win an iPad. The dancing was worth the admittance fee (either free or $10) because nobody was scared to show off their moves. In the end it came down to two larger guys who both lost their shirts during their 20 second routine. After the votes were counted, the winner was the one

who showed off his moves with the assistance of one of the female contestants.

After the exciting pre-show, the Ying Yang Twins came out on stage to a roaring crowd and started right in. Though it was difficult to understand exactly what the Twins were saying, their dancing and lighting kept the crowd going. Another issue with the Twins’ performance was trying to determine when a new song started since it felt like the Twins hadn’t been on stage in a while because they didn’t have a clue of what they were supposed to be doing. They would talk with the DJ more than actually facing the audience. One exciting point was when the Twins brought out fresh white towels to be thrown into the audience after sweat was drained into them.

Sean Kingston had more of a crowd cheer when he walked out on stage and literally just started to sing. He kept the crowd’s attention with numerous sing-alongs. It felt like Kingston had a better concert, stage presence and knew how to play with the crowd. He even challenged his DJ to a ‘DJ-off ’ because he believed that he could do better. The three songs that were selected were popular songs with a scratching flair.

The thing that was annoying, was two of the stage lights, that were supposed to rotate, stayed still and projected the previous song’s color blinding the audience it was focused on. There were some feedback issues but those were solved quickly.

The show ended abruptly and had the audience heading towards an exit. Overall, the show was a great way to relax from a tough mid-term week and let our inner gangster out to play.

a packed house and two hours of rapping lead students to a greater feeling of being gangster

solitude singing

A light euphoria drifts over the crowd as Sean Kingston rocks out during the 2010 Fall Concert. The concert sold out in five and a half hours, setting a new events record. | kari kolts

Grinding to win an iPad, five fans were selected from the audience for the pre-show entertainment. The dancing including doing the worm, break dancing and ‘dropping it like it’s hot’ 15 minutes before the show. | kari kolts

Hailing from Jamaica, Sean Kingston performed in the Ron Houston Performing Arts Center on Oct. 15. Kingston’s performance had the entire audience rocking out the and on their feet the whole night. | kari kolts

Alone at last, Yang of the Ying Yang Twins raps and dances his heart out. The concert had some technical difficulties like a stationary stage light and feedback along with issues with the actual singers like not truly knowing what to do, but the concert was worth the wait. | kari kolts

Q&A:By Shaylee Yount

Shaylee: What is your job description?

Fred: I am a greeter. It’s not a simple

hello though. I try to keep the store clean and

customers happy. I am constantly moving

around to help people find items in the store. I

am like a reference librarian or a gps system.

S: What do you enjoy about this job?

F: I would say putting a smile on the face

of every person in here is what I enjoy most. I

may be the only smile a person sees all day. I

try to relate to each person on a personal level.

S: What is one of your favorite

memories here?

F: A man in his late 50s named Larry once

asked me for an old apron. He collected GI

Joe’s. He needed the apron to turn the GI Joe

into a “greeter” doll to look like me. He later

brought it up to the store for everyone to see.

It makes me wonder why he wanted to do that

for me of all people.

S: How often do you work?

F: I work 40 hours a week. I come in at 9

a.m. and clock out at 6 p.m. I have Sunday and

Mondays off. I come to work at 5:30 a.m. and

read every single newspaper in here and every

inch of them. I do this to be able to converse

with every man, woman, and child that comes

in this store.

S: If you could change one thing about

this job, would you? And what?

F: Life is all about change. I would like to

improve my knowledge of every man, woman,

and child’s name who walks in here so I can

call each of them by name. I want to be able to

treat everyone like family.

S: How long have you worked here? How

long do you plan on staying?

F: I have worked here for 12 years and

about 10 years as a greeter. I want to retire at

Hy-Vee well past the age of 65. I published my

first book here.

S: Do you have another job? What do

you do in your free time?

F: My other “job” is that I am a writer. I’m

not being paid, but putting in blood, sweat and

tears into my life story. I want to include a CD

to serenade each person that reads my book.

In my free time I play piano and guitar in

churches. I serenade people for their birthday

and volunteer in three nursing homes. Music is

a powerful tool for people.

S: What does this award (Hy-Vee’s

Legendary Customer Service Award) entail?

F: This award is for someone who goes

beyond the call of duty to do their job. This

includes inside and outside of the store.

“I want to leave you with 2 main points,”

Fred said. “This award is simply going to

make me work harder everyday. And, my

mom used to say this prayer everyday: Lord,

help me to fulfill the purpose for which I have

been created and share abilities that have been

given to me not only to help myself but to help

others too.”

Fred Mareswith

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