The riskiness stems from scenes that the filmmakers didn’t shy away from. For instance, there is a deadly tornado sequence that made the cut. Considering the nation just had a devastating series of tornadoes, generally, filmmakers remove those types of scenes from their films to be sensitive to the situation. But it’s time for filmmakers to stand behind the product they’ve made.

The film also contained the ultimate taboo in the post-9/11 world; an airplane was used as a weapon. It was shocking to see and it’s good that people are beginning to lose the “too soon” mentality.

Michael Shannon as General Zod in “Man of Steel.”

A newly rebooted origin story that takes place on the planet Krypton which shows the government being confronted with the knowledge that its planet is doomed, and the respected, but ruthless, General Zod starting a civil war against the government that failed its people.

The scenes on Krypton are amazing and Russell Crowe as Jor-El was an excellent choice. Crowe never disappoints with a performance.

The section on Krypton which show the beginning of Zod’s rebellion through Jor-El’s launching of his son, Kal-El, takes about 15-20 minutes. Once on Earth, the film has Clark Kent already as an adult, and as the film plays out, Kent has flashbacks of his childhood from being a boy to growing into the man he is. It’s worth noting that Kent is not a journalist at The Daily Planet in this film.

Russell Crowe as Jor-El in “Man of Steel.”

The character of Lois Lane, played very well by Amy Adams, is an investigative journalist. Although it’s quite possible that in the past, “Superman” writers intended on giving Lane the role of a serious journalist, it always seemed a bit hokey. “Man of Steel” successfully takes Lane seriously for a change.

Henry Cavill is Kal-El (Superman); an alien trying to find his place on Earth. The role is well played and is a darker version of the character than seen in previous films. He has the look of Superman and, more importantly, the heart of Superman. The movie demonstrates why Kent is the person that becomes, the hero of Earth. Cavill should be commended for his performance.

Henry Cavill as Kal-El in “Man of Steel.”

Michael Shannon as General Zod was a great casting choice. In previous “Superman” iterations, Zod always seemed like an evil dictator. In this film, although he was harsh in his methods, you never doubt his resolve that he is a patriot of Krypton and he is doing what he thinks is best for his people’s survival.

The film’s climax takes place in the city of Metropolis, and the destruction the filmmakers were willing to bring to a large city is awe-inspiring. Supporting cast members like Laurence Fishburne, and “Law and Order: SVU’s” Christopher Meloni round out this great comic book film.

The only criticisms for this film are that they stuck with the cheezy city name Metropolis, which should be updated, and that Laurence Fishburne’s character of Perry White, the editor-in-chief of The Daily Planet, was drastically underused; Fishburne is capable of so much more.

Grade: A

However, “The Hangover Part III” isn’t just the third installment of the comedy series, it changes the tone of the entire series. The whole group comes back, but after the backlash received from part two, there was a blanton effort to change the story for this movie.

It begins two years after the gang’s adventure through Bangkok. Everyone seems to be living uneventful lives, and they all seem to be somewhat happy, all except for Alan, again played by Zach Galifianakis. Who has become even crazier than he was before.

After the death of Alan’s father, they all agree that they need to get Alan some help. On the way to dropping Alan off at the mental hospital, they are ambushed by gangster Marshall, played by John Goodman who is looking for their friend Mr. Chow who is once again Ken Jeong. And from that point forward, insanity happens.

This is a difficult movie to judge, because when all of these guys are together it is hard not to want the same level of greatness that came from the original. Sadly, this movie does not come very close to matching it.

But on the contrary, it does not at all fall as flat as the second one did. It shockingly does not repeat the same storyline as the first two films, although there is a lot of talk about the events from the first two in this one, so refresh your memory before going to see it.

It may not be as good as the original, but it is not nearly as bad as part two.

C-

This causes many problems and introduces seemingly deliberate plot holes. The relationships that were born and developed on television in the 1960s, and then reexplored in the 1980s with six “Trek” films, is all washed away because they never happened in Abrams’ universe. Those relationships no longer exist, but Abrams is treating them as if they do and not bothering to develop them himself through good story telling.

It’s the price Abrams must pay for changing the timeline. Sure, “Star Trek 2009,” as it has come to be known in the Trek community, was a spectacle of what “Star Trek” could be as an action film, but since Abrams has admitted to not being a fan of the series on more than one occasion, he lazily piggybacked on emotional ties that he himself destroyed when he changed the timeline in favor of his new, more “hip” film in 2009.

“Star Trek Into Darkness” begins with James T. Kirk, played by Chris Pine, getting his ship, the Enterprise, taken away from him for violating Starfleet’s Prime Directive regarding non-interference to alien cultures. Kirk is directed to return back to Starfleet Academy, while his first officer Mr. Spock, played by Zachary Quinto, is transferred to another ship.

Amid all of this drama, a top secret Starfleet installation, code named Section 31, is bombed. The man who orchestrated the bombing is going by a fake name. It was a poor attempt to build up the twist that the adversary is actually Khan Noonien Singh, a villain made famous in the original “Star Trek” series, and brought back for the now-famous “Wrath of Khan” film in 1982.

In a way that seems to have taken little effort or thought, Kirk is immediately repromoted to first officer of the Enterprise by his predecessor Admiral Christopher Pike, played by Bruce Greenwood, who has taken over command of the ship.

After a short series of events, 10 minutes later, of course, Kirk has command of the Enterprise once again.

Although Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays the role of Khan, does an amazing job, the film ends up a watered down version of 1982’s “Wrath of Khan.”

Not only does Abrams bank on emotional attachments that aren’t really there, he manages to belittle “Wrath of Khan’s” epic ending with a copout version of his own.

Spoiler alert: Spock yells out “Khan.” End of spoiler.

The film is filled with epic space sequences which Abrams introduced in 2009, but the film is overflowing with Abrams’ signature lens flares everyone expects from his films. However, they are so overused, at times there doesn’t even seem to be a light source that is making them, so it appears that people have lens flares flowing out of their bodies and is a major distraction.

Casting was well done. Cumberbatch played his role very well, at times it almost seemed like there was an effect placed on his voice to make him sound as evil as he did. Alice Eve was a nice addition as a character that Trek fans of old know will go far. Peter Weller, who rose to fame in the 1980s playing the lead role in “Robocop,” has always proven to be a good casting choice, and his role as Admiral Alexander Marcus was very well done.

The best part of the film takes place on the Klingon homeworld, Kronos, where we finally get to see Abrams’ version of Klingon warriors in action.

The film is upbeat and fun, but it is really hard to see how anyone that doesn’t know the long history of the franchise can come in and have the faintest idea why they should care about any of these people.

It was a good attempt, but it may be best that this is Abrams’ last “Trek” film.  Good luck “Star Wars” fans.

C+

Regardless of the violence seen, it is nothing compared to what happens in the real world. Nothing in games has the power to manipulate and create violence among people.

Game titles that use violent images do so for various reasons. Some use them as a form of light entertainment but most have purpose, a story told with worlds of realities built by creative writers. Some imagining bleak worlds, characters are pushed to the edge of their insanity or unavoidable wars.

The upcoming title “The Last of Us” tells of a ruthless post-apocalyptic United States years after a fungal virus kills millions. Main character Joel, who has seen both worlds, has lost friends and family, and this has hardened him into a “violent thug, a brutal killer, and a torturer.”

Supporting character Ellie was born into this world and has only witnessed steel walls and violent martial law of quarantine zones. Outside are the infected that are ready to tear you apart and survivors only wanting to live to see the next day.

Games that include these dreaded details are crafted as thoughtfully as books would be, and never encourage anything other than attention to the story.

When it comes to children, many researches conclude that aggression in children do increase. But it’s all without context. Scientists debating on websites like NPR.org the results of their studies just shows children processing violence have varying aggression.

The same can be said about late adolescents.

Nothing ever mentions murderous intent, like those planned events such as the Virginia Tech shooting or Sandy Hook. Tragedies such as these are started by those who from childhood had disturbed emotions or troubled past. While games were their hobbies, they are not the sole reason behind their plans.

Expecting people to be desensitized from gaming violence is really the biggest stretched claim I’ve heard. As a proud invested gamer, if I ever heard the horrid cracking sound of gunfire, I would shutter and cry. When the shootings stopped, you can bet I would not stand up and promise vengeance like in the video games. Reactions like that like that do not happen.

The one option everyone is always forgetting is that gaming is a choice. The amount of hours invested in games are a person’s decision, as is the violence consumed. As parents, that decision also fall on your hands. Children not behaving normally or playing too much falls on your actions. Labels, descriptions and websites all tell of the game title’s contents. If you don’t feel right about what’s seen or read, please return the game. You don’t have to play or let your children play that game.

Taking aggressive actions against an item you do not like is some weird form of entitlement; entitlement to have something that was made for many, be changed or destroyed for yourself. That’s the type of reaction against video games that needs to disappear.

One of the problems Hartman is looking to tackle is the updating of the outdated website that students and faculty must use when looking for information on the police call logs and incident reports. Hartman says he is working with the I.T. department to upgrade the website and improve the tool for the use of the public.

“We want to refigure and redo the entire police webpage. And that way we can start updating and keeping information correct, ” Hartman said. “I’m looking to do it where it’s updated daily, and hoping to take it to the point of where it is even by shift to the point where it is within a couple of hours.”

The police log works as a tool for keeping track of crime statistics and a hard copy of the document  is available at the district police station for students.

Also in the category of new technology Hartman is looking to start a program that allows students to install the LoJack theft recovery program on their computers. Hartman looks to start this program in the fall 2014 semester and informing students of it at the beginning of the upcoming school year.

“I’m trying to get that at a cut rate where we can get it over in the bookstore or make it available to students. If somebody steals your laptop then  you notify them, all of your serial numbers are identified through them, we write a warrant and we go and get it,”  Hartman said. “We’re going to probably start it up over the summer”

Hartman also looks to improve the transparency of the police department. This includes working with the press and trying to get more people involved in any new programs that the police will be putting into action.

FCC student Kevin Sa says a major issue that  he has seen with the police force on campus is their visibility and personality in dealing with people.

Hartman looks to tackle this issue in the coming semesters by dispatching more officers on foot and implementing a bike patrol.

“You are going to see us on foot. You are going to see a lot more officers on foot especially on the mall way,” said Hartman. “We have bicycles. We’re going to put bicycles in place we just need to buy the emergency equipment and get a few [officers] into bike training.”

Hartman is also looking to make jobs available for students in the police office. These jobs would include opportunities in parking control, dispatch and the informational center. These jobs would be available to full-time students and would pay anywhere from $9 to $11 per hour.

“We’re going to be looking for dispatchers to train as a dispatcher to where they’ll actually be on the air. [They’ll] learn the alarm system both fire and theft, talking on the radio, dispatching officers just like a real police dispatcher,”  Hartman said.  “All these things will be experiences that they can take out into the real world with them.”

Making jobs available for students will be a step toward realizing Hartman’s idea of connecting the campus police to the students and the faculty. Another aspect of this plan is the idea to refer troublesome students to the psychological services office.

“We need to be on  top of what is happening to make this the safest place possible,” Hartman said, “and when someone is acting out of character it’s taken care of immediately rather than ‘oh we’ll just throw him off the campus and the problem’s over with.’”

Is it the fault of educators, uninvolved parents, lack of funding at the state level or simply the apathy of students who feel they may be doomed to a lifetime of job-hopping and unemployment as a result of a crumbling economy?

It would be simple to place blame on high school teachers, but would it be fair? These people have more to contend with than teenagers with surging hormones and gamer’s-brain. High school teachers have a multitude of hurdles to scale in order to prepare their students for graduation. These can include school and district administrators who are out of touch with the classroom and, therefore, do not supply the teachers with adequate supplies, tools or even authority to do their job properly.

Funding for education has long been a standing issue in the state of California dating back to the 1970s. A series of court cases called Serrano v. Priest ruled that, due to the differences in district wealth, using property taxes as a basis for educational funding was creating a system of inequality and called for the state to make funding more equal among districts.

Not long after these cases, Proposition 13 was passed, limiting property taxes to 1 percent, thus causing the state to rely on income and sales taxes to fund education.

This new legislation created an unstable and volatile revenue stream for funding education in California due to the fact that income and sales taxes are directly linked to the economy.

In 1988, voters passed Proposition 98 which was designed to stabilize and ensure funding for schools, even in hard economic times. This proposition allowed 40 percent of state revenue to go directly to the schools, but, it could also be frozen. In 2004-2005, with the budget upset, they froze the funds.

In addition to this is the sad truth that many parents are unable to be completely involved in their student’s education. As we know, most families, in order to survive, require more than one income, and so both parents must work. Single parents may end up having to take more than one job. As such, most students are home alone after school while their parents are working. Left to their own devices, most kids will choose to hit the power button on the game console rather than the books.

I can see no solution to the budget crises, parents’ requirement to work or lack of support for teachers. However, students have many options available to them if they wish to succeed.

• Should I risk suggesting that you push that button on the game console one more time to turn it off and then go open a textbook?

• Create a good organizational system for studying.

• An organized, quiet work environment is always beneficial.

• Dedicate at least 2-3 hours to each subject.

• Before studying, eat a good meal and have some healthy snacks on hand while you are studying. An empty stomach is not conducive to learning.

• If you find that you are having trouble with any given subject, there is free tutoring available in the tutoring center. If you learn better one-on-one, there are also private low cost tutors who can help you out.

A frustrated FCC instructor said, “Getting a tutor–paying a professional wordsmith for help in organizing thoughts, finding transitions between ideas and combing through grammar–strikes my students as beyond the pale of exorbitant demands.”

There is nothing wrong with asking for help. Students in California have a tough hill to climb because of all the barriers stacked against them. If you want to succeed with your education, you must remember: No one is going to hand you a degree if you don’t put in the work and no one is going to do the work for you. Rather than trying to place the blame for a shoddy education, look within yourself and decide to be your own advocate.

In an effort to improve academic performance of athletes and balance athletics with academics, the California Community College Athletics Association has made changes to existing rules, effective July 1, 2013.

The new rules regulate how much time coaches can meet with their teams as well as the nature of physical training that can go on during the offseason. Athletic coaches can only meet with their team for a maximum of 175 hours and no more than 12 hours per week during the offseason, according to the new rule.

“We sometimes forget we are at a community college and our challenge is to get these student-athletes into a mindset that getting a degree will have long lasting benefits throughout their life,” said Brian Tessler, Fresno City College’s women’s basketball coach.

The intent of the new legislation, as described in the 2012-2013 CCCAA Final Legislation Report, is to standardize the number of hours that CCCAA student athletes are allowed to participate in countable athletically related activities outside of the traditional season of sport.

This new regulation is expected to benefit students and athletic programs.  Presently, coaches can only meet with their team in the confines of a class during the offseason.  This has meant that student-athletes who did not have a team class with their coaches could not meet with their coaches during

the offseason. It also meant that colleges sought ways to sidestep the rule.

“Some colleges would make all kinds of classes so they can legally meet with their team,” said Susan Yates, athletic director at FCC. “Some would meet so much, students couldn’t possibly have enough time to study while taking the units they need in their other courses. And the students would end up with a lot of [physical education] units that they don’t need.”

Under the present rule, reduction of summer classes at some schools also meant that coaches are unable to meet with athletes during the summer, creating a “disparity in a student athlete’s opportunity to participate in these needed activities because they are solely dependent upon an institution’s ability to offer these classes,” according to the legislation.

Under the new legislation, inequities will be erased.  Teams can meet with their coaches outside of the confines of a class, but they cannot exceed the maximum number of hours allowed.

The legislation further states that classes designed as offseason conditioning or skill development for intercollegiate athletics, which are conducted outside of the normal season of competition, must be credit courses and the class must be listed in the current college catalog. Additionally, no intercollegiate competition is allowed, including field trips.

The athletic activities that count towards the hours permitted include meetings and instruction with more than one student athlete which is supervised by any employee or representative of the college. Other countable athletically related activities also include field or floor activities, chalk talks, lectures, demonstrations and showing of game training films.

Administrative activities such as compliance meetings and academic meetings including but not limited to study halls and tutorials are not considered as countable athletically related activities.

Yates says the new legislation will bring more work for coaches as they have to monitor their hours more, but that it will work out in the end.

“You’re measuring each athlete, each sport, each year,” said Yates. “But the whole basis is to make sure we are educating and bringing the best of the athletes with the best academics.”

As with all legislation in the CCCAA, this new rule went through the constitution committee, the policy committee and the competition committee before it was approved on March 28. The process took about a year and a half.

Tessler says the policy is not a problem because it’s in the best interest of the student athletes and eliminates the need for some coaches to cheat by going over the allowed hours.

“The desire to cheat is much greater at the Division I level because of the outside pressure to win,” Tessler said.  “As coaches, we have to remember these are students first.”

The four college employees include music instructor Mike Dana, business instructor Marianne Dunkin, geography instructor Peter Meserve and journalism instructor Dympna Ugwu-Oju.

Sabbaticals are an opportunity for instructors to receive most or all of their full-time pay and benefits during their approved leave of absence. It is designed to allow select faculty to pursue subjects that improve their administrative skills or course curriculums.

The privilege of taking a six month or one year sabbatical leave is built into SCCCD full-time contracts.

The 2011 contract states that, “Sabbatical leaves shall be granted to unit members, under provisions of the Education Code, for the purpose of carrying out an approved program which will enable the unit member to provide improved service to the District and its students.

Consideration will be given to programs which involve an appropriate program of organized study, research, or travel.”

The service is reserved to instructors who fulfill certain criteria including consecutive full-time service at the college for at least six years, serve the college for a minimum of two years following their leave of absence. Upon return, faculty members are required to submit a report to the Committee for Sabbatical Leaves within six months.

Those on a six-month leave of absence will continue to build their retirement, receive 100 percent of their pay and various other full-time benefits. Those taking a full-year leave of absence receive 65 percent of their salary. Faculty members have the option of seeking additional employment to recoup the 35 percent cut from their salary, so long as the additional revenue so long as the total between the two revenue sources does not exceed the equivalent of 100 percent SCCCD salary pay.

In recently opting to move forward with several faculty sabbaticals, committee chairperson and vice president of instruction Dr. Tim Woods stated that, “a total of 7 sabbaticals had been approved by the Board: 4 – FCC, 2- Reedley, 1 – Willow International.”

For many, the approval of sabbaticals represents a return to budgetary stability. Due to financial cuts following the national and state revenue crisis, and prior to the passage of Proposition 30, sabbatical leave approvals were suspended.

“Sabbaticals were put on hold by the Board of Trustees back when the economy and State funding were beginning to take a turn for the worse,” Woods said.

Since that time, with the help of the passage of Proposition 30, federal and state budgets have stabilized. As a result, SCCCD campuses can once again balance their budgets.

“The economy and potential State funding appear to be improving,” said Woods. “Although it is still uncertain as to how much improvement will occur, the Board has approved a few sabbaticals to move forward.”

The decision to put sabbaticals on hold affected the pace of progress for many instructors who have requested approval for several semesters.

Music instructor Mike Dana was among the four FCC faculty members approved in this latest round. During his sabbatical leave, Dana plans to hopefully complete his doctorate in music education from Boston University.

Although the temporary suspension of sabbaticals pushed back the potential completion of his doctorate, Dana is thankful to finally receive the opportunity.

“I’m definitely elated that Woods approved the sabbaticals. I’m grateful to be included,” he said. “But there are other worthy candidates out there, too. And I look forward to seeing their sabbaticals approved as well.”

Opening for Chacon was Michael Medrano, instructor of English.  Medrano read two selections from his iPhone.  He explained that he did not know he would performing that evening.

From his first selection, “The Man Who Hated Endings,” Medrano read a section that described a man who never finished whatever he read because “he lusted for the fever of the read.”

“The moral of the story,” Medrano said of his work, “is to finish what you read.”

The other work that Medrano read was “I Am the Substitute Teacher.”

After Medrano’s reading, FCC English instructor Kenneth Chacon introduced his brother.

Kenneth chose two different introductions. The first introduction was the standard introduction of who the reader was, the awards he had won and all of his accomplishments thus far. The second introduction was more heartfelt and revealed the bond the two brothers shared.

“I think my brother is a genius,” said Ken Chacon. “I think he is an artist in the truest sense of the word.”

Then, he brought his brother Daniel up to read. In a discussion before he started, Daniel Chacon discussed his way of life and how his work influences the motion of his daily actions.

“I strive to live a life that is non-fragmented,” Chacon said. “I strive to live my life the way I live my art.”

Daniel Chacon also discussed the cover photo on his book, “Hotel Juarez.” In the photo, there is the hotel in Juarez, but he makes note of the sandbags at the forefront of the picture. He explained to his audience that behind those sandbags was a soldier with a gun whose only job was to watch the streets throughout the day.

“You think Fresno is bad,” Chacon said. “In Juarez, even the police are afraid.”

In his selected readings, Chacon’s voice flowed melodically over the words and the paragraphs of each page. From a selection called “Bird,” he read a line that seemed to echo his opinion of books.

“‘Sometimes a book can find you, seek you out,’” read Chacon.

From the same selection and through a female character, Chacon says, “every paragraph is like a room or hallway in the same house.”

This section was particularly interesting because the female character was reading different passages from different books at the same time. She marveled at the way each paragraph from each book seemed to be a continuation from the last.

Chacon echoes his characters’ marvel to his audience, stating that like most events in life, a lot of his stories are connected in some way or another. It is, according to Chacon, in the multiverse of writing that this happens. The true marvel is not in the stories flowing smoothly together but the fact that due to this multiverse possibility, any story is true somewhere.

Chacon said, “Any story we create really does exist somewhere.”

An internship is a program in which students can work for a company as a paid or as an unpaid employee. Students in this program also receive college credits.

To take advantage of the internship program, students must be enrolled in the work experience class in order to be put in a work experience job and get college credit.

Summer internships usually have deadlines within which to apply so students need to start looking into programs early, such as the end of fall or early spring.

One of the biggest programs that works through Fresno City College, says Cindy Dunn, coordinator in the Career and Employment Center at FCC, is the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. Anyone can get involved in this program, not just Hispanic students.

“So, if somebody is majoring in politics or health sciences, and they get accepted into the program,” Dunn said, “they’re actually flown to Washington, D.C. for an orientation and then wherever the internship is.”

HACU’s internships are throughout the United States with federal organizations and major corporations.

Interns through HACU are paid and out-of-pocket expenses such as travel, housing and living expenses are reimbursed. HACU will also help the interns find reasonably priced housing accommodations.

“The students actually come home with money in their pocket, if they’re not just out there spending it all,” Dunn said.

HACU will place interns out of state as well as locally. Many Fresno students, Dunn said, prefer to stay in Fresno.

The Small Business Association in Fresno is currently hiring 10 interns for the summer. They are unpaid positions in which students would be shuffling papers, filing and organizing.

“They just need some bodies to help them with some of their work,” said Dunn. “It’s short-term and just for the summer, but it’s going to be a great experience working with the SBA. It’s a federal agency so to put that on your resume, that’s a plus all by itself, even if all you did was shuffle papers.”

The basic skills an intern will learn in a job such as those offered by the SBA are very important to any employment a student may seek in the future.

“Students really need to get those transferable skills, such as filing, typing [and] using a computer … something that in any business, the business [needs] from anyone,” said Dunn.

Another reason working in an internship is beneficial is that most interns get hired if the employer likes his or her work. And even if an intern is not hired, the contacts they would make in the company can also prove to be greatly beneficial later in their careers.

Dunn encourages students to look into internships early in the school year as there is a process involved in securing the internship position. Documents need to be filed and there is always a deadline. Make sure to know when the deadlines are.

“If you’re interested and you’re available to go and do an internship out of state, it’s a great experience,” said Dunn. “I think it’s really important for people to expose themselves to different things in life and different locations and different kinds of people and different experiences while they’re young. That’s a good time to do it.”

Dunn added, however, that it is important to be realistic. If you’re going to take an internship out of state, make sure to know how your housing, transportation and food costs are going to be covered while you’re there.

Students interested in the positions available at the SBA need only to contact them and apply immediately.