Page 5 - Issue 92

Issue 92/February 13, 2015

AUBG’s Super Mario Tournament Mock Story

By Jetmira Allushi
ou know you are a child of the nineties if you mutter, and roll their eyes whenever you draw a while working hard on that GPA, sweeter than Prin-
have played Super Mario, or Super Luiggi, loud breath. cess Peach. Just like for Mario, sometimes the road
Ydepending on your number of siblings and The next mushroom is the one that gives you may be deceiving. Instead of progressing to rescue
date of birth. Here at AUBG, students have (un)in- bombs. This particular one is identified as “answer- Peach, you will get the fake dragon lady who tells
tentionally created their own Super Mario Champi- ing to the obvious.” It’s a bit trickier than the first you all your hard work and power ups were in vain,
onship, and this all happens in our very classrooms one, since if your professor/fellow student loses it since your absences will cause you to lose partici-
in the Main Building or Balkanski Academic Center. and tells you to shut it, you also lose the first power pation points. One of the crazy sea octopuses will
The game starts in an arena where every class is a up. But it’s a lot easier to obtain. In math classes, give you a group project where mushrooms don’t
different world. Personally I find the Gen-Ed cours- for example, there will be someone who will nod count and you will fail nearly every time you try to
es the most challenging to navigate, but there are vigorously and yell enthusiastic words of approval dodge being burned by work. Other times, you will
exceptions. The first task for Mario is to collect a whenever the professor says, “Two times four is get me, who upgraded from being a little Luiggi to
mushroom and grow big. This mushroom here at eight, right?” When a question is so simplistic, that one of the big turtles who throw hammers and spit
AUBG is called “asking the obvious.” You obtain this it would suffice to give a collective nod from the sarcasm-saturated fireballs at whoever is nearby.
mushroom from the start, on add/drop week, by student body, that’s when the AUBG championship And to reward the winner of the Super Mario Tour-
asking the professor all the obvious questions that is on fire. Every little Mario out there will prevail nament, all must be warned: Peach might actually be
can be easily answered if you look at the syllabus. and give a thorough detailed explanation that lit- a disguise for a Dickie from the More Honors Acad-
*Blip-blip* you are now bigger. On your way to the erally nobody asked for. emy, crowning you the lick-a-fessor. I bet you didn’t
castle, you need to step on the turtles, which take On and on you go, crossing classes and facing see that one coming! *Ta-ta-tararara-tarara* (meant
the form of boring upper-classmen who will grunt, students oblivious to your important tournament, to be the noise when you lose in Mario)…

Take Control of Your Academic Career: Self-Design Major Insight

By Anna Zahorodnyuk

UBG has introduced a self- present and defend a degree program as her second major. partment, whether he would be able
designed major – many are in- for institutional approval. Her academic advisor Robert Phil- to acquire decent knowledge in the
Atrigued by the idea of tailoring It seems to be exhausting and time- lips offered Gouhary a completely field of his interest. The response was
a major to correspond with their ulti- consuming. However, a lot of students different option – a self-designed rather negative, because AUBG offers
mate experience at university. A few have become interested in opportuni- major which would combine all the mostly introductory courses. Malikov
students have applied for the program ty. A few students have started work- courses that she had already taken. was disappointed, but saw no other
and share their experiences. ing on the process already. For some The official name for her program – option but to have JMC as a major.
“Choose a job you love, and you of them the process goes smoothly, Cross Cultural and Political Commu- When a self-designed major program
will never have to work a day in your for others – not so much. nication. In the process of getting it was introduced, he was determined to
life,” Confucius said. The path begins Zora Gouhary was among the AUB- approved, she showed the idea to Lu- apply. Film Studies was exactly what
with choosing the right major at a Gers who are having troubles with cia Miree, Dean of Faculty. Gouhary’s he craved for. Just as he started work-
university. It is not an easy start, choosing a major. Coming to AUBG, next steps are to prepare a proposal ing on the possible schedule, Ma-
though. A lot of students find it hard she was positive about Business Ad- and make a schedule for the upcom- likov’s dream was crushed once again
to make the choice, and AUBGers are ministration as well as the Econom- ing semesters. She said that the pro- because AUBG does not offer senior
not an exception. ics majors. She chose them over the cess is not difficult as long as she re- year courses in this field of study. Try-
Currently, AUBG has offered a solu- intensive writing courses of Political ceives sufficient advice. ing to tackle this problem, he came up
tion - the self-designed major, a way Science (POS) and Journalism and For an other student, Said Malikov, with a possible solution – ISEP – tak-
to create an individualized learning Mass Communications (JMC) majors. it was not easy. He has been dream- ing the right courses in the USA and
program to comply with one’s per- Soon, she discovered that she hates ing of a future connected with film transferring them here. However, it is
sonal, educational and professional Economics and switched to Anthro- production. He said that in Russia the not that easy. ISEP suggested Malikov
goals. The customized course plan will pology. However, Anthropology pro- education in this field is not of good to search and contact a proper uni-
allow students to take classes that in- voked the same feelings as Econom- academic standards, suggesting the versity by himself, and, what is even
trigue them the most. However, with ics. So, she made a radical change and reason behind choosing this par- worse, senior year courses in filmmak-
the freedom to plan an academic ca- took those two writing intensive sub- ticular university. Therefore, Malikov ing require a decent background. “It
reer comes responsibility. The process jects she avoided at the beginning, said he expected that the JMC major is a lot of work, and I am still not sure
of designing a major requires more concluding POS as her major and JMC would enhance his filmmaking skills. whether it is doable. I am looking for
than just signing up, but working with as her minor. Continuing in the fash- On the contrary, during his second a university right now, particularly in
an advisor and a suitable education ion of being a confused college stu- week at AUBG, Malikov asked Melo- California. Hopefully, some solution
program. Additionally, students must dent, Gouhary made a switch to JMC dy Gilbert, the Chair of the JMC De- will come up,” Malikov said.
Internships at Nu Boyana Film Studios News

By Nikola Toshev
his Spring semester AUBG students were given quality cameras that Nu Boyana uses capture a lot of The interns are provided with equipment: cameras,
a chance to do an internship at the Nu Boyana details, the sets have to be as accurate, as possible. lenses and microphones. They receive a list of land-
TFilm Studios in Sofia. The formerly state-owned “Now that they are making a new set for high-def- marks they need to film and are also responsible for
studio was privatized in 2007 and is now one of the inition cameras, they need to make real details. So, editing their material after shooting.
biggest European film studios. They have worked on I was going around the walls, and they actually age The internship is still in the experimental phase.
movies such as 300: Rise of an Empire, and the three the rocks so that it looks genuine. And the posters, It is uncertain if it will be offered again. “We expect
installments of The Expendables. if there are posters on the wall, they are like torn- it will work for the students and for the folks at Nu
In 2013 Melody Gilbert, the Chair of Journalism and off a little bit, or they’re like yellowish from time, it’s Boyana. We want it to be a success so that we can
Mass Communication (JMC) Department, organized a pretty nice,” Petrov added. continue this every semester from now on. But
field trip for JMC students to Nu Boyana Film Studios. The studio also has an in-house cinema. “It’s right now we just started, so it remains to be seen,”
“Immediately I thought we should have an internship actually pretty impressive. It is 58 seats, I think, said Gilbert.
program with the studio,” Gilbert said. After several only. They are really
meetings with the studio, the internship was born. spaced out, all made out
Sixteen AUBG students go to Nu Boyana Film Stu- of leather. It’s a place
dios every Friday during the semester. Their travel where you bring Arnold
costs to Sofia and back are fully covered. They can Schwarzenegger to show
also order anything from the café or the canteen at him his own movie, it has
Nu Boyana for free. “We have to realize this actually to be fancy,” Petrov said.
costs money, because I don’t think I’ve heard of a free AUBG students are cur-
internship. I mean, unpaid, but expenses covered in- rently working on a real
ternship,” said Sorin Petrov, one of the interns. project Sofia World Film-
During the first week at Nu Boyana, students were making Destination, or-
given a complete tour around the studio: the sets, ganized in collaboration
the wardrobe, and the post-production studios re- with the Ministry of Tour-
sponsible for everything from special effects to ism of Bulgaria. The idea http://nuboyana.com
sound editing. “They have different sets on the terri- of the project is to show
tory. They have sets for New York, for Ancient Rome, Sofia as the place-to-
Egypt,” Petrov said. He added that since the high- go for different movies.