Weekly Update 4/30/2014

Here is a short list of PGSA activities and other social events for the week of April 9-April 15.  If you would like an activity to be included in future PGSA weekly updates, email them to huemill2@illinois.edu by tuesday night at 9 pm for inclusion in the wednesday update.

Wed April 30

8:00 - 9:30 Weekly Movie night in the Interaction Room: The Old Man and the Sea Edition

All is Lost. 105 minutes. 8 PM. Pizza. Interaction Room.

        "Friends, if there's an elder statesman of American acting, it's probably 77 year-old Robert Redford, most recently seen as Alexander Pierce in the new (and phenomenal) Captain America movie. With a lengthy career in acting, directing, and producing, including the founding of the Sundance Film Festival, Redford has gone from the dashing blonde all-American leading man of his youth to the bespectacled avuncular suited man of today. And so, to celebrate Redford's continued excellence, tonight, we'll be screening All is Lost, the 2013 drama directed by J. C. Chandor and starring Redford as a a lone sailor who struggles to survive both his damaged boat and a tropical storm. Redford is the only cast member and has almost no dialogue, carrying the film with his physicality and the rugged crevasses of his face like an older, nautical version of his titular role in Jeremiah Johnson. All is Lost is Chandor's sophomore feature following his debut in Margin Call, a dialogue-heavy, flawed and complicated movie; here, Chandor pulls back, tells a much simpler tale, and tells it ably."

The Wild Bohrs have a bye this week. They will still be at mug night tonight at The Blind Pig Brewery if you'd care to join them.

Thur May 1

5:30 - sunset  Game 2 of the playoffs for the Majorana Meatballs
Games are at the corner of Florida and Lincoln in Urbana, just off the Teal bus line.
What to bring:

• Red Shirt
• A Great Attitude   

Now that the Playoffs have started, we cant accept new members, but you are welcome to watch us duke it out in the semifinals of the league championship.

Fri May 2

6:00 - bar close  PGSA-Chemistry Happy Hour at the White Horse Inn location just south of Green Street in campus town.  Pull out your pokedex, and get ready to drink, dance, dingle, or Run (really? why would we do that?) with the Chemistry graduate students.   The word on the street is that they have been hyping this happy hour for a month, so it should be a good time.

Tues May 6

5:30 - sunset  Game 3 of the playoffs for the Majorana Meatballs
Games are at the corner of Florida and Lincoln in Urbana, just off the Teal bus line.
What to bring:

• Red Shirt
• A Great Attitude   

Now that the Playoffs have started, we cant accept new members, but you are welcome to watch us duke it out in the third place game or the league championship pending Thursday's Results.

PGSA Weekly Update April 16, 2014

Here is a short list of PGSA activities and other social events for the week of April 9-April 15.  If you would like an activity to be included in future PGSA weekly updates, email them to huemill2@illinois.edu by tuesday night at 9 pm for inclusion in the wednesday update.

Wed April 16

8:00 - 10:00 First two Wild Bohr's Games of the summer season at Dodds park near Parkland College.

        Feel Free to stop by to watch and/or stick around for the post game reception in downtown champaign.

8:00 - 9:30 Weekly Movie night in the Interaction Room: The W(h)ishing on a Star Edition
Bright Star. 119 minutes. 8 PM. Pizza. Interaction Room.

        "Friends, with the new Spider-Man sequel coming out and Andrew Garfield's continual rise up the star-rankings, I think it's important to step back and consider the career trajectory of another talented floppy-haired Brit, that of Ben Whishaw. Indeed, if you were to describe Andrew Garfield's appearance to a caricature artist, you would probably end up with a sketch of Whishaw - thin, soft-eyed, and sporting the kind of voluminous messy hair that only exists in Hollywood and salon windows. His quiet performance in the messy-but-intriguing Cloud Atlas as Robert Frobisher shined, at least for me, as the most memorable performance of the lot, a soulful meditation on art and love that relied on the small, musical flourishes in his movement and his silent, doleful gazes. If Andrew Garfield is the charming, accessible one, the Whishaw is the mysterious, reluctant wingman, as compelling through his aloofness as Garfield is through his bright-eyed wit. And so tonight, we will screen the 2009 John Keats biopic Bright Star, which stars Whishaw in the role of Keats. Bright Star follows the last few years of Keats' life and his romance with Fanny Brawne (a wonderful Abbie Cornish), his next-door neighbor - the title is taken from a Keats sonnet of the same name, written specifically for her. A quiet and richly satisfying film on love and poetry,Bright Star ebbs and flows with the performances of Whishaw and Cornish, both of whom give great, full performances under the direction of one of the finest talents in film today, the illustrious Jane Campion. Though the film never gained traction, it did garner some festival buzz, and even managed to eke out an Oscar nod for costume design. It's a fine period piece to be sure, informed by the courtship rituals and expectations of its setting, but it's the chemistry between Whishaw and Cornish that really bring Bright Star to life. A gem of a movie."

Thur April 17

5:15 - sunset  Games 4 and 5 for the Majorana Meatballs
Games are at the corner of Florida and Lincoln in Urbana, just off the Teal bus line.
What to bring:

• Red Shirt
• Water
• Soccer or Football Cleats (optional)
• A Great Attitude   

Everyone is welcome no matter the level of experience.  We can teach you everything you need to know to be a contributing member of the Majorana Meatballs.

Tues April 22

5:15 pm - sunset Games 6 and 7 for the Majorana Meatballs
Games are at the corner of Florida and Lincoln in Urbana, just off the Teal bus line.
What to bring:

• Red Shirt 
• Water 
• Soccer or Football Cleats (optional) 
• A Great Attitude 

Everyone is welcome no matter the level of experience. We can teach you everything you need to know to be a contributing member of the Majorana Meatballs.

Physics Phriday: Career Seminar and Pizza!

We have a lot going on this morning for Physics Phriday - don't miss out! All events will be held in the Interaction Room.

10:30 - 11:00 Snacks and meet and greet with Joel Strand

11:00 - 12:00 Career Seminar in the Interaction Room:

"Academic Research on an Industrial Scale: Working in an R&D Lab at a Defense Contractor"

        -by Joel Strand

"Working for a government contractor can be a great way to work on exciting large-scale projects that are still definitely cutting-edge research. I will talk about my research in the superconducting electronics group at Northrop Grumman, how I got there, what it’s like to work at a large defense corporation, and whatever advice I can give to current students."

1:00-2:00 PGSA Pizza Social in the Interaction Room:
Come take a break from research and teaching to hang out with fellow grad students while taking advantage of the best deal on campus: 2 slices of pizza and a can of Soda for $1. 

See you there!

PGSA Weekly Update April 9, 2014

Here is a short list of PGSA activities and other social events for the week of April 9-April 15.  If you would like an activity to be included in future PGSA weekly updates, email them to huemill2@illinois.edu.

Wed April 9

8:00 - 9:30 Weekly Movie night in the Interaction Room
Inside Llewyn Davis. 105 minutes. Pizza. Interaction Room.
        "Friends, tonight we'll be screening Inside Llewyn Davis, the 2013 Coen brothers production about a week in the life of the titular Llewyn Davis, a folk singer in 1961 New York. Davis, played by Oscar Isaac, is a capital-A-artist, an uncompromising auteur whose latest album bombs, leaving the itinerant Davis to couch-surf his way through the Village with nothing but his guitar, some clothes, and a newfound feline hanger-on. Along the way, we run into the likes of Justin Timberlake, Carey Mulligan, Adam Driver, and John Goodman, with John Goodman hamming it up in full-on "John Goodman in a Coen brothers film" style. A languid and melancholy film, Llewyn Davis is an uncannily accurate depiction of 1960's New York, complete with period-appropriate music and a lovingly desaturated glimpse of the dingy Gotham streets. The Coens have an unusual, sometimes disjointed expressiveness to their films, and Llewyn Davis is yet another idiosyncratic addition to their repertoire, a rich, meandering look at the sadsack folk singer's life the way James Joyce's prose might wander through a sad Irish slice-of-life tale (hell, the cat inLlewyn Davis is even named Ulysses)."

Thur April 10

5:15 - sunset  Games 2 and 3 for the Majorana Meatballs
Games are at the corner of Florida and Lincoln in Urbana, just off the Teal bus line.
What to bring:

• Red Shirt
• Water
• Soccer or Football Cleats (optional)
• A Great Attitude   

Everyone is welcome no matter the level of experience.  We can teach you everything you need to know to be a contributing member of the Majorana Meatballs.

Friday April 11

10:30 - 11:00 Snacks and meet and greet with Joel Strand

11:00 - 12:00 Career Seminar in the Interaction Room:
"Academic Research on an Industrial Scale: Working in an R&D Lab at a Defense Contractor"
        -by Joel Strand
"Working for a government contractor can be a great way to work on exciting large-scale projects that are still definitely cutting-edge research. I will talk about my research in the superconducting electronics group at Northrop Grumman, how I got there, what it’s like to work at a large defense corporation, and whatever advice I can give to current students."

12:00 -12:45 1:00-2:00 PGSA Pizza Social in the Interaction Room:
Come take a break from research and teaching to hang out with fellow grad students while taking advantage of the best deal on campus: 2 slices of pizza and a can of Soda for $1.

Tues April 15

12:30 - 4:00 am Viewing of the Total Lunar Eclipse with the Astronomy Department
"The Astronomy Department and UIAS will be hosting a viewing of a total lunar eclipse at the Observatory in the very early morning hours of April 15th. The eclipse starts just before 1 am, with the total eclipse phase starting just after 2 am and mid-eclipse occurring at 2:46 am. There will be telescopes set up on the lawn of the Observatory to view the the eclipse, as well as the historic 12" telescope in the Observatory dome (weather permitting)."

5:15 pm - sunset Games 4 and 5 for the Majorana Meatballs
Games are at the corner of Florida and Lincoln in Urbana, just off the Teal bus line.
What to bring:

• Red Shirt 
• Water 
• Soccer or Football Cleats (optional) 
• A Great Attitude 

Everyone is welcome no matter the level of experience. We can teach you everything you need to know to be a contributing member of the Majorana Meatballs.

Majorana Meatballs Season 2 is Gearing up to Start April 8

The snow on the ground is all gone, and there are frisbees being thrown around on the quad.  That can only mean one thing, Its Champaign/Urbana Rec League Season Again!

The details are below, but the short of the long is as follows

-Games are Tues and Thurs from 515-dark at the corner of Florida and Lincoln

-Games will start April 8th until (including) May 6th

-The season will cost $6 per person to cover the league entry fee ($75)

-Tell your friends, and convince them to play

NO PRIOR EXPERIENCE IS NEEDED TO PLAY ON THE MEATBALLS!!!!  We have a wide variety of athletic backgrounds.  All you need to be a part of the Meatballs is a positive attitude, and an open mind.  We are looking forward to teaching you everything you need to know to be part of the Physics Department Ultimate Team

Send me an email to huemill2@illinois.edu if you are interested in playing this year and we will get you on the email list.