Web Exclusives

New Media Wizards
Clark Duke ’06

Clark Duke’s online series “Clark and Michael” is helping to redefine the meaning of "Web hit."

By Christelyn D. Karazin '99

Clark Duke photo No doubt television creates mega-stars. Brad Pitt appeared in a soap opera before he became a famous movie actor. Former presidential hopeful Fred Thompson was a regular on NBC’s “Law & Order.” But television is so Generation X. Generation Y increasingly finds its stars online. Clark Duke ’06, for example, used the Internet to produce a quarter-hour, online serial that helped catapult him to a spot among Hollywood’s elite up-and-comers.

“Clark and Michael” stars Duke, 23, unassuming and bespectacled, and his short-fused best friend Michael, portrayed by Michael Cera. The show chronicles their attempts to shop a television series to various studios. What started as Duke’s senior thesis in LMU’s School of Film and Television became a respectable hit, ultimately backed by CBS. “Everything just snowballed from there,” says Duke, referring to his trek into stardom. He starred in the 2008 comedy “Sex Drive” and will appear in “A Thousand Words,” with Eddie Murphy in 2009. He also guest-stars on ABC Family’s “Greek” and is writing and directing his own projects.

With Duke’s success and rave reviews, a logical assumption is that other networks would clamor to sink more funds into more Web TV shows, and some of them are. But Duke has his doubts about the long-term success of online television viewing.

“Everybody thought it was going to be big, but I don’t think the audience is there yet,” he says. “The main problem is that nobody has figured out how to make money off of these shows on the Internet.”

Another challenge is quality. A makeshift film produced by amateurs may entertain only its creators. That aside, most videos online run with abrupt spurts and stops, as too much information clogs the connection. Because of that glitch, broadcast television still beats circles around online films. If people bypass the big screen TV and race to a computer to watch a show someday, Duke speculates it will only happen many years in the future. For now, it seems that shows produced online won’t be the endgame for Web-based producers, but a springboard to other opportunities — it’s a relatively cheap way to turn the heads of network bigwigs.

So, will we see more of Duke online? He’s not banking on it. “My interest lies much more in the movies,” he says.


Christelyn D. Karazin '99 is a freelance writer in Temecula, Calif. Her "Digital Learners: The Morphing of Education" appeared in Vistas (Summer 2008).

Clark Duke is co-creator, with Michael Cera, of “Clark and Michael,” a CBS Internet television show. Go to www.clarkandmichael.com to watch episodes.


The Great Call of China

Reflections on three LMU alumni who have studied in China, one of whom still lives and works there.

By Jeremy Rosenberg

In 2007, 128 Loyola Marymount undergraduates and graduate students studied abroad in China – up from the 29 who went there in 2003 via LMU. A focus of LMU’s presence in China is The Beijing Center, a 10-year old Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities program located on the campus of the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. TBC is populated by students from a consortium of 28 Jesuit institutions of higher learning. The school, administered by Loyola University Chicago, stresses language and culture curricula.

Here’s what three recent LMU Study Abroad participants say about the country and their experience.

Dan Sarafinas ’08 first visited China in fall ’06 via The Beijing Center. The next summer, he went to Wuhan University with an LMU grant. Now, thanks to a connection made via a scholar who visited LMU, Sarafinas is teaching English and studying Mandarin and Daoist philosophy in Changsha, in south-central China.

He notes: “The motto of Changsha that has been popping up all over the city [during the Olympic Games in August 2008] means ‘Open your mind,’ implying that Changsha is opening its mind up to other cultures. Some of the large Chinese cities are becoming more cosmopolitan, which reflects the boom of cultural exchange in many of these cities. But this exchange depends on more than just Chinese cities opening their minds to other cultures. It also depends on us opening our minds to the Chinese at a deeper level than merely [seeing its] eastern exoticism, as China is often presented in America.”

David Johnstone, who is majoring in Asian and Pacific Studies, was in China for the fall ’07 semester at The Beijing Center. He traveled to Shanghai, Xi’an, Gulin, Yangshuo, Urumqi, Lanzhou, Turpan, Dunhuang and elsewhere.

“I hoped to see China as it was, and I did – not as our media portrays it. It was unfiltered, beautiful, uncomfortable and completely, utterly worth it,” Johnstone says. “People hear ‘Asia’ and they think of dragons, ‘harmony,’ and martial arts. I have made it my mission to communicate a more comprehensive —and as a result — more rational and realistic description of Asia and its history.”

Kiley Tahara, who also is a major in Asian and Pacific Studies, attended The Beijing Center in spring 2008. She  traveled to four provinces and two municipalities, including Shanghai, Changzhou, Guillin, Xian, Yangshuo, Kunming, Xishuangbanna, Lijiang, Dali, Shaochong, and Yuanyang.

“I have always believed that the education of the whole person extends beyond the classroom walls,” Tahara says. “For this reason, I journeyed across the Pacific Ocean to use China as my classroom and learn firsthand about the oldest continuous civilization and one of the most vibrant economies in the world.”


Jeremy Rosenberg is a Los Angeles-based writer. His “Admissions 2.0” appeared in Vistas (Fall 2008).


Advent: Waiting, Preparing

We asked several members of the LMU community to share their reflections on Advent, as a way of helping us to appreciate the path to Christmas and draw wisdom from the waiting.

Grace Breaks In
By Brendan Busse '99

“Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appear’d and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.”

How often have we heard the tune of a familiar Christmas carol and failed to fully appreciate the significance of the words and events that inspired the song?

In my mind the lines above from “O Holy Night” get right at the heart of what the season of Advent is about. Too long have we lived in pain and confusion; too long have we waited with desire for true joy and lasting goodness. But sometimes, in the midst of despair, grace enters and the presence of God allows us to see and feel, perhaps for the first time, the fullness of our worth and dignity.

The true beauty of the season of Advent lies in the way in which it sanctifies that which is most human in us: our desire to love and call ourselves beloved, the desire for that which is eternal to break into our mortal lives, for that which is light to break into our darkness, for God’s loving presence to become a felt reality in our all too frail human condition.

This Advent I pray that we might let God’s incarnate presence renew our sense of human dignity and give us the courage (however weary!) to rejoice; for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!

Brendan Busse ’99 is former director of community service and social justice in the LMU Office of Campus Ministry. He became a Jesuit novice, the first step toward ordination in the Society of Jesus, this past August.



A Search for Family
By Michael McNaught

I grew up in a small house in San Juan Capistrano, a suburb on the southern outskirts of Los Angeles. I never experienced a “token winter,” but, like any seasoned Californian, I knew the signs of winter nonetheless. The sycamores would loose their leaves, the air would grow cold and wet and the days darkened, and I would wake up each morning to frost on the barren hills outside my window. And, as if to acknowledge the signs of nature, my parish would light that first Advent candle in the sanctuary of the church. But what did it all mean?

I have always looked to the empty manger that rests in the corner of that church, where statuettes of Mary and Joseph sit idly beside an empty cradle. Much like the manger, my family house in Capistrano is only home to a few now, with most of my immediate family being dispersed across the country. My parents would tell you that, from time to time, it would be nice to see their children in the old beds once more. And, for that one season in late-December, they will get their wish. Just like Mary and Joseph’s family one Christmas Day, my family too will become whole.

I think we all long for the wholeness of family, in whatever form that family may come. Perhaps Advent is nothing more than a journey in search for that sense of family? A longing for community and connection with others? To know and love others, after all, is to know and love God. I often muse that Advent is as much God’s search for us, as it is our search for him. And come Christmas, we will all come together once more. The days will grow warm, the winter will thaw into spring, and our family will be whole.

Michael McNaught, formerly head sacristan of Sacred Heart Chapel, is assistant director of the Center for Religion and Spirituality.



A Tradition of Anticipation
By Mary K. McCullough

Holidays are reasons to prepare and celebrate. This is particularly true during the season of Advent, as we prepare for the birth of Jesus into our hearts and our world.

Advent also represents seasons and celebrations in my own life. As a child growing up in an Irish Catholic family, I remember Advent as a time of anticipation, and as a time to get our hearts ready to welcome Jesus and renew our relationship with God. During the Advent season, we would make small sacrifices, perform acts of kindness and set aside time to pray each day for Jesus’ coming. Even though sacrifice was a part of the season, Advent was a joyful time full of expectation and gratitude for the birth of Jesus.

Later, as a mother, I carried on the tradition of preparation with my own children by using Advent calendars to share the sense of anticipation, and prayers in the evening using the Advent wreath to share gratitude for the day and the season. These visible signs of the inward Advent journey help to create great joy at Christmas. As a grandmother, I give keepsake Advent calendars and wreaths to my sons so they can carry on these traditions with their own children as we join in prayer in the spirit of anticipation and gratitude.

Mary K. McCullough is professor of education and chairperson of Educational Leadership in the School of Education and associate dean for faculty development.