The Daily Texan 2015-07-27

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FREE SUMMERTIME AUSTIN MULTIMEDIAMondayEl Cosmico Pop Up Shop and Marfa Party: Enjoy a cock-tail, live music and goods for sale from the West Texas hipster town of Marfa.

Where: Hotel San JoseWhen: 3–10 p.m.

WednesdayGreetings, From Queer Mountain: Lo-cal LGBT communi-ty members share personal stories on stage, following the theme “Just a Fling.”

Where: Cheer Up Charlie’sWhen: 8 p.m.

ThursdayThe Free Fringe: Get familiar with Austin’s improv scene and watch local comedians perform on stage.

Where: The Hidehout TheatreWhen: 10 p.m.

SundaySNESunday: At this 21+ event, gam-ers compete on consoles such as Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis and Nintendo 64.

Where: The MohawkWhen: 5–8 p.m.

See a full list of this weeks events online at dailytexanonline.com.

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CONTENTS

NEWSAfter a controversial arrest and death of Sandra Bland, a vigil was held at the Capitol. PAGE 5Conspirators worry about Jade Helm but citizens of Bastrop are not concerned. ONLINE

OPINIONUT as a model for gender equality in sports, a look at history and Title IX. PAGE 4

LIFE&ARTSUT alumni document their bike trip Pedal South, traveling from Alaska to Argentina. PAGE 8Adam Sandler’s “Pixels” fails to live up to classic video game legends. PAGE 8

SPORTSUT alumni and international students go to Zilker park every Saturday to play handball. PAGE 10

COVER STORYTask force gets ready to announce its Jefferson Davis statue recommendations. PAGE 6

2 NEWSMonday, July 27, 2015

A crowd of about 300 peo-ple gathered at the steps of the Capitol on July 23 to remem-ber Sandra Bland, 28, who was found dead in a Waller Creek County jail cell July 13.

The procession walked from 11th Street to the Capitol in silence. People held signs with various messages, such as “Black Lives Matter” and “No Justice, No Peace.”

Fatima Mann, founder of Austin Justice Coalition, helped organize the dem-onstration. She said Bland’s mother asked her and every-one else to use social media as a tool and spread the hashtag #SandyStillSpeaks.

“I personally spoke to San-dy’s mother,” Mann said. “She doesn’t want any rioting. She wants us to be peaceful. We need to be peaceful until we can let them hear Sandy.”

Bland was arrested July 10 on the charge of assaulting

Permanent StaffEditor-in-Chief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Claire SmithSenior Associate Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Noah M. HorwitzAssociate Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Davis ClarkManaging Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brett DonohoeAssociate Managing Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Danielle BrownNews Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Anderson BoydAssociate News Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Justin Atkinson, Lauren FlorenceSenior Reporters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Matthew Adams, Jackie WangCopy Desk Chief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Matthew KerrAssociate Copy Desk Chiefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ashley Dorris, Cameron PetersonDesign Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jack MittsSenior Designers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hirrah Barlas, Danny Goodwin, Michal Krikorian, Kailey ThompsonMultimedia Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bryce Seifert, Amy ZhangAssociate Photo Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Daulton VenglarSenior Photographer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tess Cagle, Marshall TidrickSenior Videographer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Michael ConwayLife&Arts Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Danielle LopezSenior Life&Arts Writers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Cat Cardenas, Emily GibsonSports Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Aaron TorresSenior Sports Writers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Reanna ZunigaComics Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lindsay RojasAssociate Comics Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Albert LeeSenior Comics Artists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Connor Murphy, Isabella Palacios, Amber PerrySocial Media Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sydney RubinEditorial Adviser. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peter Chen

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Issue StaffLife&Arts Writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charles LiuMultimedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jesús Nazario, Ellyn Snider

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Editor’s Note: This column is a part of a series exploring the Title IX amendment at UT.

When the U.S. won the Women’s World Cup final July 5, this country had plenty to celebrate. It was the U.S.’s first World Cup championship since 1999. Team star Carli Lloyd scored three goals, a Women’s World Cup final record. And, most significantly, the FOX broadcast aver-aged an enormous 25.4 million viewers, mak-ing it the most-viewed soccer game, men’s or women’s, in U.S. history.

Pair that with tennis star Serena Williams’ four straight major victories (dubbed the “Serena Slam”) and Becky Hammon, the first female full-time NBA assistant coach, leading the San Anto-nio Spurs to a summer league championship? It’s a good month for double X chromosomes.

Women’s intercollegiate athletics were virtu-ally nonexistent before 1972, when tcongress passed the Title IX amendments to pertinent education laws. The law prohibited all federally funded institutions from exclusion, discrimina-tion and unequal treatment on the basis of sex, and UT jumped on board immediately. The University opened a Department of Intercol-legiate Athletics for Women in 1973; hired its first women’s athletic director, Donna Lopiano, in 1975 (UT remains the only school nationally to source and define a women’s athletic direc-tor); and hired legendary coach Jody Conradt to oversee women’s basketball and volleyball in 1976. By the end of the 1980s, Texas had already claimed 17 women’s national championships.

“Without that leadership early, I don’t think you’d see what Texas has become,” Women’s Athletics Director Chris Plonsky says of the University’s early administrative support. “To be among the large public universities support-ing this … We were a model.”

Texas remained a model through the years. It went from developing infrastructure in the ’70s to managing its ratio of male-to-female athletic par-ticipants and scholarship offerings in the ’90s. By

the 2013–2014 academic year, the school support-ed 313 male and 283 female athletes. And since Title IX’s inception, Texas women’s sports have won 27 national championships to the men’s 16.

“Everything is evolutionary,” Plonsky says of the 43-year process. “But when you think about the coaches we had in that critical time of growth, they set a standard of excellence.”

It’s naïve to compare UT’s women’s sports to men’s in all measurements. Although their re-cords shine, women’s revenue and popularity lag far behind. In 2013–2014, men’s sports generated $74.38 million while women’s sports suffered a net loss of $16.12 million — however, volleyball’s seven sellouts in 2014 were each profitable. The men’s profits largely sustain female participation.

For this reason, the University’s athletics model has much to praise. Male sports provide women with opportunities for athletic, academic and personal growth. And in sustaining these opportunities, UT promotes a national climate of gender equity. Because Texas Athletics has es-tablished itself as a brand, it holds clout. By using its platform to encourage women to take promi-nent roles in society, Texas furthers the fight for egalitarian employment. And because athletics so often take a national spotlight, when athletics commit to equity, the rest of society follows.

In addition to the University’s macro effect on encouraging women in sports, Texas has supported a burgeoning women’s soccer team for 21 years. Finishing as high as No. 8 nation-

ally in 2006 and advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament last year, the team does more than just provide an opportunity for its players. It also supports women’s soccer more broadly, generating excitement and encouraging the growth of female athletic participation.

It may seem like a stretch to say Texas wom-en’s soccer fans translated to Women’s World Cup fans. But data suggest otherwise. Among the record 25.4 million viewers of the Women’s World Cup final, Austin viewers constituted the fifth largest market — and the third among cit-ies that don’t host multiple natives or local play-ers on the team. UT’s promotion of a top-tier women’s sports program can define the cultural landscape of our city, just as it created a local base of support for national female soccer pro-grams. It is clear that, in Plonsky’s words, UT has a “significant footprint in women’s soccer.”

The rise of women’s sports has been a joint ef-fort between numerous actors and institutions. But Texas’ choice to seize the moment in the 1970s claims some credit for today’s successes. It rose to the forefront of athletic equity and willed its female programs to succeed then. And the

University still commits to the fight now. Each milestone it reaches holds social implications beyond the athletic sphere. For that reason, UT must continue to use its platform.

“It’s going to be an incredible next decade for women’s sports,” Plonsky says.

Epstein is a journalism and Plan II senior from Dallas.

4-Opinion

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4CLAIRE SMITH, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF | @TexanEditorialMonday, July 27, 2015

By using its platform to encour-age women to take prominent roles in society, Texas furthers the fight for egalitarian em-ployment. And because ath-letics so often take a national spotlight, when athletics com-mit to equity, the rest of society follows.

Without that leadership early, I don’t think you’d see what Texas has become. To be among the large public universities support-ing [Title IX]... We were a model.

—Chris Plonsky Women’s Athletics Director

By Jori Epstein@JoriEpstein

COLUMN

Melanie Westfall | Daily Texan Staff

Rise of women’s athletics, gender equity in sports can thank UT

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5ANDERSON BOYD, NEWS EDITOR Monday, July 27, 2015

Jesús Nazario | Daily Texan Staff Fatima Mann, right, embraces a friend at the beginning of a silent march in honor of Sandra Bland that began at the Victory Grill on East 11th Street and ended at the Capitol on July 23.

Austinites march to Capitol in silent vigil for Sandra Bland

A crowd of about 300 peo-ple gathered at the steps of the Capitol on July 23 to remem-ber Sandra Bland, 28, who was found dead in a Waller Creek County jail cell July 13.

The procession walked from 11th Street to the Capitol in silence. People held signs with various messages, such as “Black Lives Matter” and “No Justice, No Peace.”

Fatima Mann, founder of Austin Justice Coalition, helped organize the dem-onstration. She said Bland’s mother asked her and every-one else to use social media as a tool and spread the hashtag #SandyStillSpeaks.

“I personally spoke to San-dy’s mother,” Mann said. “She doesn’t want any rioting. She wants us to be peaceful. We need to be peaceful until we can let them hear Sandy.”

Bland was arrested July 10 on the charge of assaulting

a police officer. Texas state trooper Brian Encinia, who ar-rested her, described Bland as “combative” in his affidavit.

Three days later, she was found with a plastic bag noose around her neck. Her death was ruled a suicide, and CNN reported the jail violated policy in Bland’s case, including not checking on her for two hours.

Mann said the narrative sur-rounding Bland’s death is inac-curate as she was stronger than a three-day incarceration.

“Sandy told her mother she had a purpose and knew what it was,” Mann said. “She was a walking wall of light. … Let’s stop saying it was suicide, and let’s call it murder. We are not going to be happy until the of-ficer is in handcuffs.”

Three police officers pre-ceded the marchers, clearing a path. Matt Fortes, Austin Po-lice Department sergeant, said the officers in attendance were there to assist.

“The organizer contacted the department, and we just

facilitate their movement to express their constitutional rights,” Fortes said. “[We] pro-tect them, yes. … As they walk, we follow along. As they pass one intersection, we open it up.”

UT alumna Demitra Mus-grove stood toward the front of the crowd with three friends.

“Her life mattered and all black women and men’s lives matter,” Musgrove said. “We have to stop the police brutality on black people. … We want to see justice for the young lady found dead in her cell and for everyone else in the country victimized by police.”

Mann organized the rally with 11 other black women in the Austin area, according to 32-year-old Amber Watts.

“If we wouldn’t, who would?” Akpan said.

By Jackie Wang@jcqlnwng

MultimediaCheck out a slideshow of photos from the vigil at dailytexanonline.com

6-Doubletruck

The task force assembled to re-view the Jefferson Davis statue and other Confederate statues is set to present its recommendations to UT President Greg-ory Fenves on August 1.

Following the shooting of nine black church members in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 17 that sparked na-tional debate about Confederate symbols, Student Government President Xavier Rotnofsky and Vice President Rohit Man-dalapu started a petition for the removal of the statue, calling renewed attention to the Confederate symbols on campus.

University officials took action after the statues of Davis, Robert E. Lee and Albert Sydney Johnson were vandalized June 23 — the third such vandalism this year. The next day, Fenves announced

the creation of a committee of stu-dent leaders, staff and alumni to

analyze and assess alternative options for the statues’ future

on campus.Gregory Vincent, chair of the task force and vice

president for Diver-sity and Community Engagement, said he believes Fenves will take the committee’s

recommendations seriously. However, in 2003, when a different

task force met to discuss the Davis statue, the University made no changes.

“President Faulkner [who was UT’s president at the time] gave it a serious con-sideration during his time,” Vincent said. “The task force … addressed a wide range of issues, [but] here our charge is much more limited. I have no doubt that Fenves will take our options more seriously.”

The national debate surrounding Con-federate iconography has caused many people and institutions to examine Civil War-era monuments more closely. Vincent said he understands why the presence of the statues are now a concern to students.

“Generally speaking, statues and flags do have meaning,” Vincent said. “They do represent ideas and a number of things that invoke feelings and emotions. That is a concern of a significant number of students. President Fenves takes [that] very seriously.”

When the statues were first proposed by George Littlefield during the early 1900s, they were to both symbolize the unification of the North and South and pay homage to Littlefield’s personal he-roes. However, for Angelica Allen, Afri-can and African diaspora studies gradu-ate student, the statues simply remind her of a racist past and honor racist men.

“They symbolize the history of

Confederate history and intent of centu-ries of racial injustice,” she said.

Davis was the president of the Con-federate States of America from 1861 to 1865, during the Civil War. His statue was installed in the Main Mall in 1933, but controversy did not arise about the monument until nearly six decades later.

In 1989, the statue was bleached in an act of vandalism, resulting in permanent damage. A year later, after a fraternity was accused of vandalizing cars with ra-cial slurs and committing other racist acts during Round Up, students gathered around the Davis statue to protest “insti-tutionalized racism.”

The current controversy surrounding the Davis statue was reignited this year when Rotnofsky and Mandalapu made the removal of the statue part of their campaign platform.

“We [wrote] for the Texas Travesty, and it’s been a running joke amongst the organization about how it’s absurd that we still have Confederate statues,” Rot-nofsky said. “So when we were running, we knew no one would be talking about the Confederate statue. That’s why we mentioned Jefferson Davis in particular because he was the leader of the Confed-eracy and he is prominently honored on the South Mall.”

From the time Rotnofsky and Man-dalapu brought renewed attention to it,

the Davis statue was vandalized on three separate occasions.

The first vandalism took place March 2, when the word “Chump” with an ar-row pointing toward Davis appeared on the statue in blue chalk.

One day later, Rotnofsky and Man-dalapu drafted a resolution to remove the statue and submitted it to SG, which nearly unanimously approved.

“It goes without saying that [Davis’] legacy continues to affect us today,” Man-dalapu said after the resolution passed. “This statue serves as a permanent re-minder of the atrocities committed against fellow humans.”

The second incident occurred April 16, with the phrases “Davis must fall” and “Emancipate UT” written in red and yel-low spray paint.

The third and latest incident happened June 23, when Davis and statues of Con-federate generals Robert E. Lee and Al-bert Sidney Johnson were marked with the phrase “Black Lives Matter” in red spray paint.

One day later, the University an-nounced the formation of the task force. Vincent announced the University would hold two public forums in July to open the discussion up to the public.

A majority of speakers at the first fo-rum, held July 7, were more supportive of removing the statues, whereas the

members of the second forum, held July 15, were more divided between those asking for the Davis statue to be left in place and supporters of its removal.

As the deadline for the commit-tee’s recommendation approaches, the task force will need to compile options regarding the future of the statue for Fenves. Rotnofsky said the commit-tee is considering recommending the relocation of the statues to the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, which Rotnofsky said would keep them on campus while preserving them for educational purposes.

“The Briscoe Center has a large col-lection of Confederate and Civil War documents, along with a huge collection of the University’s early history,” Rotnof-sky said. “It is fitting these statues fit into their collection. This is an interesting point because [the statues] would still be on campus but they would be contextual-ized like we want.”

To follow this developing story, check dailytexanonline.com.

1933 — The Jefferson Davis statue was installed on the Main Mall.

In February, Davis’ statue was defaced with bleach, resulting in permanent damage. A second incident of vandal-ism occurred September 4, when “Roots (of the KKK)” and “fight racism now” were spray-painted on the base.

1985 1995 2000 2005 2010

1989 1990

The Black Student Association protested the “institutionalized racism” on campus and fought for the removal of the Jefferson Davis statue after several racially charged events from fraternities on campus.

Then-President Larry Faulkner convened a Task Force on Racial Respect and Fairness, which produced a report on the Jefferson Davis statue and other race-related controversies on campus. No changes were made to the statue.

2003

The Davis statue was temporar-ily defaced with “Chump” written with blue chalk and an arrow pointing up to the statue.

Monday, July 27, 2015 76 COVER STORY Monday, July 27, 2015

March 2, 2015

Then-Student Government President-elect Xavier Rotnofsky and then-Vice President-elect Rohit Man-dalapu passed a resolution calling for the removal of the Jefferson Davis statue. “We still see the unrest and the negative campus cli-mate [the statue] causes,” Rotnofsky said. “As Larry Faulkner, former president, suggested, let’s put him the in Bob Bullock Museum, where history is preserved.”

March 23, 2015

The Davis statue was vandalized for a second time with red spray paint and the writing “Davis must fall” and “Emancipate UT.”

April 17, 2015

Rotnofsky and Mandalpu started a petition to remove the statue from the Main Mall. By the follow-ing evening, it received more than 1,700 signatures.

June 21, 2015

Marshall Tidrick | Daily Texan file photo

The third vandalism inci-dent occurred with the Da-vis statue and the statues of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Albert Sidney Johnson being vandalized with “Black Lives Matter” in red spray paint, and Davis also had “Bump the Chumps” writ-ten on it. The next day, UT President Gregory Fenves announced the creation of a task force to analyze and assess the statues.

June 23–24, 2015

Jesus Nazario | Daily Texan file photo

The first of two public forums was held by Gregory Vincent, chair of the task force, and other committee members to receive comments and sug-gestions from the University and Austin community. The forum consisted mostly of those who supported removing the statue.

July 7, 2015

July 15, 2015

August 1, 2015

Tess Cagle | Daily Texan file photo

The second forum was held and received a much larger turnout of those who supported keeping the statue.

The task force will submit its opinion of what the future holds for the Jefferson Davis statue. President Fenves, however, will review the deci-sion and will have the final say as to what happens to the statue.

The Davis debate: an overview The University task force prepares to present its recommendations on Confederate statues on campus to President Fenves.

Multimedia

Check out our video timeline of the Jefferson Davis Statue at dailytexanonline.com.

By Matthew Adams & Jackie Wang@thedailytexan

2015 — Tensions reignite around the statue.

The Davis statue through the ages:

This year’s controversy:

After cycling 4,000 miles to Alaska five years ago, UT alumnus Dyar Bentz chal-lenged himself to go fur-ther — bike the 18,000-mile Pan-American Highway and document it along the way.

Bentz began planning his project, Pedal South, after completing his trip with Texas 4000, a charity bicycle ride. He assembled a team in 2013, recruiting UT alumni Ricardo Palo-mares, Riley Engemoen and Thomas Allison to film and

photograph their route as they travel from Alaska to Argentina. In June 2014, the group set out for their first stop in Deadhorse, Alaska.

Along the way, the group has been collecting stories from the locals they meet, taking pictures and video, and writing short stories they publish to their site. The members plan to release a documentary film of their trip once they return.

Although they originally planned to focus on non-profits, Palomares said they eventually began writing stories about topics ranging

from strangers they encoun-ter to local businesses.

“At the beginning we had many discussions about what was going to be the main goal of the trip,” Palomares said. “Once we started the trip and truly experienced and under-stood what we were doing it changed into telling raw and honest stories of everyday life.”

Throughout the journey, Palomares said, the group has often come across peo-ple who opened their mind to new ways of thinking. With the documentary, he said he hopes to open peo-ple’s minds up to be more

understanding of others.“I hope we get to inspire

people to get out of their comfort zone and explore more,” Palomares said. “I want to make people curi-ous about the world, and more compassionate too — more open to other cultures and ways of thinking.”

Currently, the group has been traveling for more than a year, arriving in Ec-uador last week. Engemoen said he knew disagreements between the team members were bound to happen but

While many modern video games are arguably works of art, Adam Sandler’s movie about video games is inargu-ably trash.

It’s no surprise that Sandler’s latest fails to hit the mark. His roster of recent films, from “Grown Ups” to “Blended,” consists entirely of flubs, and “Pixels” is no different. The movie features a lame-brained story that botches an interest-ing concept, with few laughs and blatant sexism.

In “Pixels,” Adam Sandler plays a down-on-his-luck, un-derachieving schmuck who gets a shot at greatness and a chance to win the love of an at-tractive woman with his sensi-tive personality. His character’s essentially the same character from “Happy Gilmore,” “Mr. Deeds,” “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan,” and several others. Really, the only difference is the character’s name — in this film, the guy is called Sam Brenner.

As a kid in 1982, Brenner played in a video game com-petition and suffered a crip-pling defeat during the final round. At the same competi-tion, NASA recorded videos of the games that were played, stored them in a time capsule containing other pieces of Earth culture and launched the capsule into space to make contact with aliens.

When aliens find the capsule, they misinterpret the video game recordings as a declara-tion of war and attack Earth by mimicking arcade games, such as “Centipede,” “Pac-Man,” and “Donkey Kong.” The U.S. President (Kevin James), a

childhood friend of Brenner, calls upon him to coordinate a defense strategy that involves defeating the challenges posed by each game.

Sandler phones in his por-trayal of Brenner, recycling bits of his prior roles. He plays the straight man of the story, rarely drawing laughs himself and reacts to the ri-diculous actions of others.

On the other hand, it’s re-freshing to see James play someone who is mostly com-petent. There’s irony inher-ent in casting Paul Blart as the commander in chief, and James uses that to fuel a sub-tly funny performance.

The standout of the movie is Peter Dinklage, who plays Eddie Plant, a tough-guy gamer who beat Brenner in the 1982 competition and re-turns to help fight the aliens. Dinklage imbues Plant with an egotistical personality, which, combined with his short stature, is used to a genuinely humorous effect.

For a story based on a clever concept, “Pixels” is terribly rote. There’s nothing dramatic about Sandler overcoming his naysayers with ease and never truly failing, and there’s nothing interesting about the

8

DANIELLE LOPEZ, LIFE&ARTS EDITOR | @thedailytexan 8Monday, July 27, 2015

ALUMNI

UT alumni document bike trip south from Alaska to Argentina

By Cat Cardenas@crcardenas8

MOVIE REVIEW | ‘PIXELS’

Save your quarters: ‘Pixels’ disappoints

Photo courtesy of Thomas Allison UT alumni Thomas Allison, Riley Engemoen, Dyar Bentz and Ricardo Palomares are biking the 18,000-mile Pan-American Highway, documenting their travels along the way.

PIXELS

Running Time: 105 minutesDirector: Chris ColumbusScore: 3/10

By Charles Liu@charlieindahaus

PEDAL page 9 PIXELS page 9

said the project has helped them understand each other better as well.

“Being part of a team, you move and adapt to circum-stances as they come up,” Engemoen said. “You are not always right; your style may not be the best fit. Collabo-rating keeps you humble and always growing.”

Unlike other modes of transportation, the team said biking helps them get to know the city they’re ex-ploring. Allison said they have the chance to run into people they would have never

met otherwise.“We just try to be flexible

and follow a story wherever it takes us,” Allison said. “In Northwestern British Co-lumbia, we followed up on a story about a group of First Nations people. One thing led to another, and, before we knew it, we were the only non-natives in atten-dance at the annual Tahltan Country Music Jam.”

While the year-and-a-half-long journey has provided the group with once-in-a-lifetime experiences, Bentz said it still comes with drawbacks.

“I don’t know if I was ready for all of the aspects of being on the road for such

a long time,” Bentz said. “I’ve been surprised by how frustratingly common it oc-curs that I allow myself to become close with some-one and then have to leave right away.”

Despite this, Bentz said the honest connections they make with people, however brief, are what keep them going.

“Being affected by people we meet on the ride is the reason we’re doing this,” Bentz said. “Each individu-al we spend time with rubs off on us in a unique way, and the overall effect is an awareness that there are in-numerable walks of life in the world.”

formulaic romance which blossoms between Brenner and Lt. Col Violet van Patten (Michelle Monaghan).

Director Chris Columbus fails to imaginatively stage the action sequences. The “Cen-tipede” sequence is a brief shoot-em up battle and the “Pac-Man” fight is a tensionless car chase. The “Donkey Kong” climax fares a little better at

challenging the heroes, but it’s still overcome far too easily.

Although “Pixels” is entirely innocuous, its blatant sex-ism is hard to ignore. The fe-male characters in the film are treated as rewards for the good guys’ — emphasis on the guys — hard work. One character, a video game superheroine, clad in a skimpy red outfit that defects from the aliens’ side, literally has no personality and is dubbed a “trophy” for Josh Gad’s character, Ludlow

Lamonsoff, a walking conspir-acy theorist cliché.

“Pixels” boasts some impressive special effects and provokes some laughs, mostly from Dinklage and its numerous celebrity cam-eos. But there’s an underly-ing laziness to the whole production, and it ends on a whimper rather than a bang. Unlike the groundbreaking arcade games of the 1980s, “Pixels” is content to play it safe.

9LIFE&ARTS Monday, July 27, 2015 9

Photo courtesy of Happy Madison Productions Adam Sandler’s boring execution of “Pixels” continues his streak of bad movies.

PEDALcontinues from page 8

PIXELScontinues from page 8

10

10AARON TORRES, SPORTS EDITOR | @texansportsMonday, July 27, 2015

HANDBALL

Athletes gather at Zilker to play handball

Football, basketball, base-ball and, recently, soccer are at the forefront of American sports. But, outside of the states, another sport cap-tures the hearts of fans and players alike — handball.

Usually set up with goals 40 meters apart, two teams of seven take the court to throw or bounce the ball past the goalie. It’s described as soccer but played with hands instead of feet.

In Austin, there is one team that gets together on Satur-days in Zilker Park to play an outdoor version of the game. The players range from former professionals to newbies and come from Bolivia and France to Houston and California.

Jennie Choi, former USA Team Handball member, put the team together a couple years ago.

Choi said she always loved sports growing up but didn’t learn handball until she ar-rived at West Point military academy. Choi eventually joined the USA national handball team.

“It was a dream to be able to put on a USA jersey and play for your country. It’s awesome, and I will always love that and miss that to an extent,” she said. “But I also love playing sports for fun. I don’t have to get so intense about it when we’re just having fun out there.”

Over the first year of the group really kicking-off, peo-ple from all over the world who live in Austin have joined.

“Austin is such a diverse city, and I think that’s reflect-ed in our team,” Choi said. “We have people from all over the U.S. and all over the world

— we have people who have been playing since they were a little kid to new joiners.”

Helene Ipas, a graduate student from France, grew up playing handball and now plays with the team.

“When I first arrived from France, my first thing was will I find some people play-ing handball. And so I tried and I found this group and its cool,” Ipas said. “In France, it’s really popular, especially for girls. Basically, guys will play soccer or rugby, and girls will play handball or basketball. I played handball because I sucked at putting the ball in the basket.

For some, such as Ipas, handball represents a familiar

pastime, but for others, such as UT grad David Vargas, it’s a whole new world. A former swimmer for the Bolivian national swim team, Vargas said he loves the diversity and “fun” mentality of the group.

“In a way [handball is] like what the United States is — a melting pot. This sport is kind of like a melting pot, where we have all these different na-tionalities,” Vargas said. “The part that I like the most is the informality. Once it becomes formal and you have a team, you have to go for the win. I already do that at work, and I want to just chill and relax.”

But the team isn’t just made up of international players. Taylor Coffee, a

native of California and UT graduate, said he’s been playing with the group on and off since 2009.

“I had seen it on TV dur-ing the Olympics, and I just kind of up and Googled it one time and found we had a team in Austin, and I went out and played with them. Six years later, and I’m still here,” Cof-fee said. “It’s fast-paced and contact — it’s not just letting people go by you; you still have to hit them. And it’s with your hands — almost all American sports are with your hands — so it translates pretty easily.”

Despite having the ele-ments of a sports that Amer-icans love, handball contin-ues to have a small following.

All the team members said they’d love to see the sport grow in popularity.

Choi sits on the Board of Directors for the USA Hand-ball Federation. Although her competitive playing days are over, she still tries to do as much as she can to sup-port the sport.

“I try to pitch it to some schools here in the Austin School District because I know parents are worried about kids, especially with football,” she said. “It’s semi-physical but still high intensity, fast-paced sport, and so I think kids really like it; they’re just not exposed to it. I think if we get kids play-ing, then we’ll have more peo-ple playing in the future.”

Tess Cagle | Daily Texan StaffEvery Saturday, handball enthusiasts gather in Zilker Park to play handball. Described as similar to soccer, but played with hands instead of feet, handball has gained popularity across the world.

By Reanna Zuniga@ReannaSioux

This Week in Sports

vs.

The Angels head to Houston to begin a three-game series with the Astros. The series will be key in determin-ing who wins the AL West as Los Angeles holds a one game lead over the Astros in the AL West.

Tuesday, July 28Los Angeles Angels vs. Houston Astros

The Bronx Bombers start a four-game series with the Rangers on Monday in Arlington. The first pitch is sched-uled for 7:05 p.m.

vs.

Monday, July 27 New York Yankees vs. Texas Rangers

vs.

The Austin Aztex season kicks off in Austin when they take on the Port-land Timbers 2. USA soccer legend Landon Donovan will be a spe-cial guest at the game.

Saturday, August 1Austin Aztex vs. Portland Timbers 2

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