Jason Mraz takes polaroids of his hard-working crew, led by Howard Hopkins.

MRAZ Pre and Post Show
By Misha Chellam
Staff Writer

On paper, it seems like Howard Hopkins leads the life of an investment banker. He works 15-hour days. He rarely leaves his workplace and certainly never escapes the mindset of the job. He often works on the weekends.

But Hopkins is practically the antithesis of an I-banker; he’s in the business of rock n’ roll. As the production manager for Jason Mraz’s U.S. fall 2003 tour, he is working a job that will keep him on the road for ten weeks. Every day he wakes up in a new city, unpacks the building blocks of a show, assembles them, and afterward puts them all away again. The only thing that changes is the venue.

MILF & Pomona Senior/Freshman Sex Relationships
By Emily Field
Staff Writer

Lately, I’ve started to feel old. Granted, I still can’t legally buy or consume alcohol in this country—although anyone who knows me at all knows that I don’t let silly little things like state law stop me. But consider this: The Olsen twins are sixteen. Sixteen! They have matching SUVs, a small media empire, and could probably buy a small country. Scarlett Johannsen is eighteen. She has already starred in two wonderful movies, Ghost World and Lost in Translation, which, if you have not seen yet, you should do so immediately. Hilary Duff. Lil’ Bow-Wow. What do these people all have in common? It’s not talent, I can tell you that much.

Basically, they are all rich and successful beyond my wildest dreams, but most importantly: they are all younger than me. I don’t think this is quite fair. I know life is not supposed to be fair, but when did the Olsen twins become sex symbols? Sixteen year-olds are supposed to be forging their parents’ signatures on report cards, not signing record deals.

New Matrix Movie Hardly Revolutionary
By Tim Anderegg
A&F Associate

The South Austin Jug Band’s website says, “Call the South Austin Jug Band whatever you like: bluegrass or newgrass, acoustic country-folk, Texas Roots unplugged, swinging Lone Star beatnik country, or anything else that strikes you.” This sums up the variety, good-naturedness, and originality of the band quite well.

Lee Bontecou Reenters Art World with a New UCLA Hammer Exhibit
By Jay Antenen
Staff Writer

Pinning down where The Shins are going with their sound is like trying to understand the cover art on their new album Chutes Too Narrow. Opening up each new fold of the album cover reveals more details of a dreamscape golf course on a coast gone completely wrong. Ice cubes float in the pond while a bright pink alien blob with four hands and a foot shouts out “The Shins.” An alien with an eye on its tentacle looks at a sign with the album name. In the background, three radio towers pulsate yellow waves. Underneath all of this is lined paper with scribbles of song lyrics. Fold the album cover out and you get the complete disjointed picture it still won’t make sense.

Love Actually Stinks
By Kate Brokaw
A&F Associate

The gag reflex sets in early on during Richard Curtis’ new Love Actually, a film that is so overflowing with Christmasttime love that it just ends up feeling like an overstuffed and inedible Thanksgiving turkey. Following over a dozen romantically smitten individuals and their occasionally intercrossing subplots, the film wastes its top-notch cast in increasingly outlandish, often truly insipid feel-good situations. Writer Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill) makes his directorial debut here, and although he wrings the occasional nice moment from his accomplished actors, none of his frantic heartstring-pulling is given enough focus to go beyond a one-note surface level.

Ever been to Karlovy Vary? The Mafia Can Cure You There
By Michael Owen
Contributing Writer

Karlovy Vary is the Czech name for Carlsbad, a resort town in Western Bohemia where people go to enjoy the restorative powers of ancient hot springs. Its patrons included the late Goethe and also the Russian mafia. I went there on Saturday with my program, when they finally recognized that we were all sorely in need of the sustenance provided by hot springs, as Prague’s climate is presently the precise opposite of hot.

Dick On Food: Village Cheesemonger
By Eddie Dick
Staff Writer

Nestled in the Claremont Village, Full of Life is a baking establishment that preaches the basics when it comes to food. And when I say preach, I mean it in the Bible-thumping, evangelical kind of way. Everything at Full of Life is touted as organic this or healthy that. This type of pandering to the health-conscious crowd usually turns off a dude like me, but in Full of Life’s case I am willing to make an exception, because the food is seriously tasty.

Wheee!

$5 Review