Festival offers something for the multifaceted visitor

By: Adriana Rodriguez/Staff Writer Art fans would be hard-pressed to not find something to love at the Coconut Grove Arts Festival. The Festival, which takes place every year over President’s Day weekend, showcases artists from all over the world, each one bringing something different to the mix. Sculptures, paintings, photography, glass work and jewelry were all on display. All of it was for sale at the festival with some art being relatively affordable – others not so much. The main entrance on McFarlane Road is right across CocoWalk. This is where the bulk of the action was. Street artists were plucked off the sidewalks from around the country to show off their skills. Rod Tryon…

Film juxtaposes innocence, violence

By: Steve Mesa/Staff Writer Winner of the Palm d’ Or at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, *The White Ribbon* is Austrian writer-director Michael Heneke’s (*Cache*, *Funny Games*) latest film in which a number of unexplained “accidents” befall a pre-World War I German village; accidents that are actually malevolent acts of violence. The film is set in a German village where half of the inhabitants work for a baron (Ulrich Turkur) and the local Protestant pastor (Burghart Klaussner) maintains a strong influence. When the local doctor (Rainer Bock) is severely injured, it sparks a chain reaction of random acts of violence and accidents including the kidnapping and…

Series’ character development anything but mundane

By: Pablo Penton/Columnist Every month brings a new, short-lived comic series centered around a post-apocalyptic setting, involving either zombies, vampires, robots, werewolves or some other generic creatures. Amid a cesspool of mediocrity, Vertigo’s *Sweet Tooth* shines and offers a different take on a predictable setting. The world has been plagued by a disease that has killed almost the entire population, leaving a small group of stragglers left in an ungoverned and anarchistic world. There is no known cure for the plague, but there is a mysterious new breed of children that has sprung up since the disease’s introduction that are immune. Of course, their immunity can’t exist without gimmicks: these children are part animal. Gus…

Law students win civil trial against Liberian Commander

By: Meena Rupani / Staff Writer Two University law students were selected to represent five victims in a civil lawsuit against Chuckie Taylor, the son of former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor. Following the 2008 criminal court case, the College of Law Carlos A. Costa Immigration and Human Rights Clinic sought monetary compensation for the victims he had tortured in Liberia. Taylor’s father is currently being prosecuted in The Hague, Netherlands. In 1997, Chuckie Taylor was appointed by his father to the position of commander of an elite special forces group known as the Liberian Anti-Terrorism Unit, according to the press release. The civil trial seeking monetary damages for the victims lasted about five days in…

Heat partners with University

By: Melissa Caceres / Staff Writer With the pro basketball season in full session, students at FIU will be turning up the heat sooner and closer to campus than they think. In support of the first FIU Take-Over Night with the Miami Heat, the FIU Foundation is hosting a pep rally at both the Modesto Maidique Campus on Feb. 17 and Biscayne Bay Campus on Feb. 24, from 12 – 2 p.m. on both days. Students will be able to purchase discounted tickets for the game March 14 against the Philadelphia 76ers. “We’re just trying to get the students to go out there and see that this is a great opportunity to get together, to…

Competition is a non-issue at Bay Vista Housing pageant

During a Valentine’s Day-themed celebration, a new Mr. and Ms. Bay Vista was crowned on Feb. 12 in the Bay Vista Housing lounge at the Biscayne Bay Campus.