STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SINCE 1912 I VOL. 160, NO 58 I WWW.DAILYTROJAN.COM
{♦.DAILY TROT
FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2007
« HIGH NOTE
10 TEAMS VIE FOR THE SONGFEST TITLE AT BOVARD AUDITORIUM TONIGHT AT 7:30, WITH PROCEEDS GOING TO TROY CAMP	/
RIVALRY RENEWED »
THE TROJANS AND BRUINS SQUARE OFF IN A THREE-GAME SERIES BEGINNING TONIGHT AT DEDEAUX FIELD	12
Gusty winds create a stir on campus
Crash! | Amanda Herman, left, a freshman majoring in broadcast journalism, and Ashley Stesan, a freshman majoring in international relations, inspect the damage caused by a fallen tree outside New/North Residential college Thursday.
50 to 60 mph winds knock down a tree outside New/North Thursday afternoon.
By DAN LOETERMAN
Daily Troian
Huge wind gusts knocked over bicycles and littered campus with debris Thursday, but the damage became more than just superficial when an enormous tree was knocked over in front of New/North Residential College.
The tree, whose trunk had been surrounded by a short brick wall, did not actually cause any damage, and there were no injuries. Facilities had already begun to chop up the tree by the late afternoon.
"There’s this big crack, and then a big whoosh. It was unbelievable,” said Michael Robles, a freshman majoring in business administration whose room is on the first floor of New/North, where the tree fell.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, the winds couldn't have been that bad,"' he said.
The tree is only about 20 feet from dorm rooms in New/North, and Christopher Ponsfglione, senior associate director ofTrojanllousing, said the situation easily could have been much worse.
"That’s the most important part, were very fortunate that there was no damage whatsoever," Ponsi-glione said.
Winds reached as a high as 50 and 60 mph in some parts of Southern California, and more than
150,000	residents lost power, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Down the corner»
Human billboards are a demeaning way to bring in customers, writes columnist Shazia Haq. OPINION, PAGE 4
Student films reach finals in mtvU contest
Special K »
Three USC students’ short films make the final 25 in mtvU’s annual Best Film on Campus contest.
By ARIN MIKAILIAN
Daily Troian
Three USC film students are one step closer to landing their own movie deals.
Josh Greenbaum, Alison Teal Blehert-Koehn and Kyle Mooney arc among the 25 finalists for mtvU’s annual Best Film on Campus contest.
Five future finalists will have their short films screened at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, and mtvU will give the grand prizewinner a chance to work with MTV Films on a film project
“We’re very excited and not surprised to find three USC filmmakers competing in the top 25," said Ross Martin, head of programming for mtvU
This is the first time the contest is being run entirely online, at www.bcstfilmoncampus.com.
In past years, thc contest ran only five weeks out of thc year, but Martin said the goal of the website was to give continuous opportunities to student filmmakers.
"It's evolved into a year-round national incubator for the next generation of great directors," he said.
The five filmmakers who will move on to Tribeca will be announced next Monday.
The grand prizewinner will be revealed during MTV's annual Movie Awards on June 3.
A LONG ROAD HOME
Unlike most of today’s aspiring filmmakers, Josh Greenbaum, a master's candidate in cincma-tclc-vision production, found his desire to go into the movie business after his undergraduate career.
After graduating from Cornell with a bachelor of science in psychology in 2001, Greenbaum and a friend hit thc road on a cross-country journey
It was during their month-long trek across America that Greenbaum and his friend pieced together what would be their first feature-length screenplay
“I was caught in that end of college angst of what I wanted to with my life," Greenbaum said
Greenbaum then took an unusual step to launch his film career He moved to Park City, a small town in Utah.
In 2005, Greenbaum moved from Park City There, he took on a directing stint at a local television station. Later that year, he moved to the heart of the film industry, Los Angeles, to begin pursuing his master’s at USC.
“Seeing your words and creation come to life and becoming something more than things that were in your head was probably when I got hooked,” he said
With some real-world practice and a little inspiration from one of his favorite directors, John I lughes, Greenbaum said he found a life calling and passion in filmmaking.
“I want to make comedies with heart and characters you care about," he said. “I think we’ve lost that with comedies of that late ' With slice-of-life films like “This is Howie Rowle" and “Border Patrol,' Greenbaum won the attention of both college viewers and mtvU judges and was placed in the top 25
He said he hopes the contest will help him reach his dream a
I see MTVU page S I
Kyi* Mooney
LIFESTYLE, PAGE 7
Relient K lends a new twist to the average pop-punfe sound with thetr devout Christian leanings