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I • 0 THE GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, August 25,2003 p Co™™ % TTTT MTY ™Eimr Story ideas? Questions? Comments? I I I J I V I I / keys into a river of molten lava, let ‘em E-mailusatgamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com —B ■ ■—* —B 1—A— _m_ go because, man, they’re gone.” THE GMP GETS SUMMER MAKEOVER, SURPRISES RETURNING STUDENTS .... ' 'i_.-._. m PHOTO BY TRISHA SHADWELL/THE GAMECOCK Sanette Campbell, who has worked in the Grand Marketplace for a week, makes desserts. BY BRIAN RAY TI1K (iAMECOCK If you walked into the Grand Marketplace last week and won dered if you were on the right planet, you weren’t alone. Just about everyone there was floored by the recent renovations and shuffling of the dining deck. The GMP offers sushi now, a wider se lection of pastas, better tables, booths and tiled floors. And it has replaced the metal slab we grew to love so much with a real grill that’ll bum real black stripes onto your hamburger. You can’t help but push through the door and feel like the Earl of Sandwich for about 10 seconds — until it dawns on you that you’ve got about half an hour to wade through a long line and wolf down that royal spaghetti. Second-year art studio student Sarah Insley especially liked the added space. “Everything’s real sharp,” she said. “There’s a better setup, so that should help with the traffic.” While waiting for a friend in line she took the first bite of her pasta with white sauce. “It’s real good,” she said. Third-year history student Dustin Lee said having a real grill makes a bigger difference than you might think. “I think they’re a lot better. There’s a lot less grease, and there’s a char-grilled taste,” Lee said. “Last year I probably came here once a week, but now I’m probably eating here two or three times a week.” Believe it or not, Lee said he once would completely bypass the Grand Marketplace 90 percent of the time. “I walked all the way to Gibbes Court just to get something decent to eat,” Lee said. The best and probably most ex otic addition to the lineup is the sushi bar, which serves the full spectrum from the popular California rolls to salmon rolls and such seemingly odd combinations as shrimp and avocado. They also serve such specialties as the tsuna mi roll, dragon roll, tempura roll and party trays. everyone s been shocked,” said chef Winston Lou as he sliced and diced behind the bar. He’s been working at the sushi bar seven days. “People come up and say, ‘Wow, I didn’t know we had sushi here.’” “The sushi is a vast improve ment,” said fourth-year experi mental psychology student Nicholas Perez. He’s been eating sushi just about every day for lunch. But, he said, “Last year I would have laughed at the concept of sushi in the GMP and stayed far, far away from it.” So the ren ovations seem to give an added level of security. Perez said even though the mar ket place looked better, he still missed the quaint, slightly dark environment of last year. “You just can’t call this place the GMP,” Perez said. And despite the new look, said mathematics graduate studeB acou jonnsun, there seem to be a few bugs the staff needs to work out. “There’s a lot of traffic problems right now,” Johnson said, “probably be cause people don’t know where they’re going yet.” To be honest, it’s quite a tap dancing trick to navigate the new dining hall. The soup line has moved across the room, and the drink machines no longer sepa rate the dining area from the line. The open space seems like an in vitation for chaos because no physical obstructions or velvet ropes direct the traffic. ^ “I’m a junior, and here I am w;^ dering around like a freshman, ♦ GMP, SEE PAGE 7 “I’m a junior, and here I am wandering around like a freshman.” BETHANY KESSELL THIRD-YEAR ENGLISH STUDENT ALSO NEW FROM DINING SERVICES: ♦ Einstein Bagles ♦ Mein Bowl ♦ Burger King All are located on the second floor of the Russell House. Avant-garde jazz trio to play at Gambrell Hall BY GABRIELLE SINCLAIR THE GAMECOCK The Creative Music and Film Society, a student organization headed by USC alumnus Kevin Green, will sponsor a concert this Friday featuring the avant-garde jazz trio Numinous Opossum. The trio is comprised of Andrew Voigt on wind instruments ranging from the alto saxophone to the bass flute, Morgan Guberman on bass and vocals, and Ian Davis on drums. All are career musicians — Voigt was cofounder of the ROVA saxo phone quartet, an experimental group that began playing in 1977; Guberman is a multi-instrument performer and composer; and Davis works with an improvisational or chestra. Their new self-titled CD is virtually all improvisation. “It’s adventurous music,” Green said. “People should come out, take a chance, see something different.” Green described the music as be ing for people who “have an open mind and want to listen to a differ ent kind of jazz. It’s not traditional, straight-ahead jazz, it’s pretty ex perimental stuff.” There is little structure and much improvisation. “They com municate by listening to each other, not playing for themselves,” Green said. “They’re working as a whole, instead of just making noise.” The organization will sponsor five or six other concerts sporadi cally throughout the year, but plans to focus mainly on film. Green has directed the organiza tion for about seven years and has held events such as a Stanley Kubrick film festival to honor the late director. “We showed all 13 of his films in three weeks,” Green said. The Colossal Film Crawl will also be at Gambrell Hall, co-spon sored by the film society and the ' Nickelodeon Theatre. Green is a television director at the Distance Education and Instructional Support Services and plays percussion, keyboards and amplified objects in various solo and duet projects in the state. The organization will also show films on the 14-foot screen every Sunday, beginning Sept. 7 with the unedited version of “Last Tango in Paris,” with Marlon Brando. Green said the society will show a variety of films. “I’ll go from old American classics to foreign films, to art house films, to documentary, to goofy cult classics,” Green said. The films are free and open to the public. Green said the Sunday night films not only support the Nickelodeon Theatre and inde pendent film crowd, but they also give USC students a cost-efficient opportunity to broaden their hori zons. “It exposes a lot of people to films they haven’t seen, and it doesn’t conflict with other sched ules.” Admission is $5, and Dapper Don’s will provide free food. The refreshments will be Served at 7 p.m., and the music starts upA 7:30 p.m. The concert takes plaW in the Gambrell Hall auditorium, room 153. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor(ujhotmail.com BOOK REVIEWS Summer book selections go uptown in two posh novels * the i devil I vveare I pradal i \...I i, \t iu:\ w t;ism-;n<;KH The NaNnY D i A R i E S \—.— ^ “THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA” Lauren Weisberger out of BY MEG MOORE TUB IMMBCOCK r Summer 2003 was the season of high-class literature. Bookshelves and bestseller lists were populated with tales of the social elite, the upper crust, the Prada-clad crowd. Readers waltzed vicariously through the apartments of New York’s Upper East Side in “The Nanny Diaries”; they stole a glimpse into the life of an illustri ous fashion editor in “The Devil Wears Prada.” America — most ly female America — could not “THE NANNY DIARIES” Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus ★★★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆ get enough of such literary looks into the lifestyles of the rich and well-heeled. Still a mainstay on the best sellers’ list months after its debut, “The Nanny Diaries,” by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus en dured as one of the summer’s feel good must-reads. Based on the au thors’ actual experiences as Manhattan nannies, the novel de tails the frustrations and follies of a young caretaker simply referred to as Nanny and her well-to-do charge. Grayer, the book’s young star, lacks the callous haughtiness of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. X, and he earns the nanny’s sympathy rather than her scorn, The X’s keep their emotional — and phys ical — distance from him, prefer ring to keep their cashmeres clean rather than recognize Grayer’s childhood right to be cherished. The book does not attack priv ileged society but rather pokes fun at their world of parents leagues and private schools. It is more crit ical of the characters’ inherent lack of humanity than their loaded bank accounts. The tale is an amusing read, full of witty observations, hu morous experiences and plenty of brand-name dropping — Chanel ballet flats and Manolo Blahniks are noted Upper East Side shoe closet staples. “The Nanny Diaries” might not maintain long-lasting appeal, but it has deservedly earned its season in the sun. The authors have created a likeable, light summer read that allows the av erage reader to take pride in his or her family values and the af fluent to chuckle at their social set’s absurdities. With similar style and even more name-dropping, “The Devil Wears Prada” explores the world of an eponymous fashion editor. ♦ REVIEWS, SEE PAGE 8 CD REVIEW Guster delivers latest album with sun-streaked melodies “KEEP IT TOGETHER” Guster outof#***-* BY MEG MOORE TUB (IAMBCOCK Shimmering with a summery ease, Guster’s latest release, “Keep it Together,” exemplifies the term “pop gem.” Simplified, accessible and straightforward, the album references Beatles-era melodies without neglecting mod em wit. Delivering witty lines with comfortable malaise, singer Ben Kweller sends his vocals floating across the backing track. He uses his voice to continue the melody rather than to compete with it, adding to the sun-streaked feel of many of the tunes. Chiming through the CD’s bouncy bass lines, Kweller’s delivery sounds comfortably carefree, as if he’s kicking back right along with the listener. While decidedly pop-rock, “Keep It Together” evidences bluegrass influences with the in clusion of a banjo on some tracks — notably the jangly “Jesus on the Radio.” The album is also heavily laden with pop-culture references. From the sly “From your red balloon you were/ A su per-high-tech jet fighter” to the obvious “turn on MTV,” the CD embraces the modern world d^. spite its vintage feel. 0 On tracks such as the wistfia “Come Downstairs and Say Hello,” Guster trades its generally jovial sound for more melancholy melodies. The band has mastered the downtrodden as effectively as it has embraced the upbeat. Refreshingly clean-sounding, the music never hides behind dis torting effects or obscure lyrics — Guster has turned out a precise pop-rock collection and is proud of it. Neither commercialized enough for TRL nor controversial enough to incite media frenzy, “Keep It Together” likely will not receive widespread attention. Regardless, it remains a solid, Sunday drive-worthy record. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.ay0 Carolina Productions Fall Carolina Productioi e addition of a Saturday-night showing. Wednesday-Frid a _ _ _ Head ofSfate Angerjfanagement X-I^n United f Ice Almighty Terminator III *^ 22-25 29-Nov. 1 .5-8 Nov. 12-15 __„„vs,. Dumb and Dumberer Hulk Pirates of the Caribbean Legally Blonde: Red, White and ^ Blonde American Wedding gadBojffll jgi % 2 _ ap5«f ! HjHHHHBaHHDBiHHHHHHHMlMi