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Aniston CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 marriage (and she certainly doesn’t need the money). The fact that babies have been penciled in to accommodate Aniston’s schedule means that profession al ambition’remains a high pri ority. If Aniston’s life were as smooth as her complexion, as untangled as her trend-setting hair, she might cut a boring fig ure. But her famous rift with her mother is intriguing because it adds a dark spot to Aniston’s otherwise perfect public per sona. She has been estranged for eight years from her mother, Nancy, a former model, ever since the latter mined their rela tionship for personal gain on tabloid TV and in a 1999 book, “From Mother to Daughter to Friends.” In a recent interview with Diane Sawyer, Aniston seemed nearly ready to dismantle her personal Berlin Wall. “Now we’re sort of all standing in our comers, just waiting for the oth er to approach,” she told Sawyer. f itt, apparenuy me easygomg half of the couple, has gotten Aniston to the point where she can imagine forgiving Mom. Yet that thought agitated her during the Sawyer interview. “I should have a shock thing around my neck like those dogs, when they start to bark. When I start to cry, I just get electrocut ed,” Aniston said. Aniston and Pitt are a rare couple in Hollywood in that they not only seem happy, stable and mutually supportive, but seldom prompt anyone to say anything negative about them. No one has ever claimed it’s a sham marriage to shield one par ty from gossip or to enhance the lesser light’s fame. There is no lesser light — Aniston and Pitt had each succeeded individually before they met. Their fame and creativity are not interdepen dent, which is a healthy state of affairs. When one half of a showbiz couple starts to become a bigger star than the other, it often breeds insecurity. Pitt hasn’t had a hit in a while and could start to feel sorry for himself if Aniston a. W&SxBsB&wSBs m wtVJ\ r 8 ftatry: j PHOTO BY COURTESY KRT CAMPUS Jennifer Aniston starred with Ben Stiller in “Along Came Polly.” becomes a Hollywood darling. Then again, he might welcome it. If all it took to be a contender for Roberts’ box-office throne were beauty and talent, then hun dreds of winsome waitresses would be throwing off their aprons and hiring agents. Aniston has unique qualities — not least her empathic nature — that position her to become one of those few actresses who can “open” movies on the strength of their name alone. Her early attempts to “carry” movies like “Picture Perfect” and “The Object of My Affection” failed. But Aniston holds her own opposite Ben Stiller in “Along Came Polly.” She has also judi ciously sprinkled her movie ca reer with the splashy (“Bruce Almighty”), the serious (“The Good Girl”), and the offbeat (“Office Space”), as if anticipat ing that one day she’d-need to cover many bases as a Hollywood leading lady. All her “Friends” co-stars have made movies, too, but they’ve mostly been hampered by their TV personas: Monica (Courteney Cox Arquette) is fas tidious. Ross (David Schwimmer) is neurotic. Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) is a ditz. Chandler (Matthew Perry) is a loser. Joey (Matt LeBlanc) is dumb. The movie parts they get tend to play on those qualities. AAniston also has what it takes in ways that no resume can convey. She has the girl next-door freshness of Sandra Bullock and the sophisticated comedy instincts of Carole Lombard. Plavino aoainct RupVjpI’q - vacity, Aniston was good as the depressed married store clerk who has an affair with a stock boy in “The Good Girl.” Director Miguel Arteta got Aniston to tone down her physi cal comedy (by carrying weights so she wouldn’t gesticulate) and deflate her hair (by not washing it). Aniston could find it a greater stretch to play a cynic, a bitch or a femme fatale. Even in the name of versatility, she may not want to squander the 10 years of good will Rachel has accrued. It is also hard to imagine Aniston stealing literary heroine roles from Nicole Kidman. Whatever she decides to do with her “Friends” momentum, at least she’ll never have to go back to waitressing or selling Poconos timeshares, as she did before she became famous. She can, of course, decide to sit back and do nothing. More like ly, she’ll decide to try and have it ah. Fifth season will be last for WB’s drama ‘Angel’ BY KATE O’HARE. KHT CAMPUS LOS ANGELES — An announce ment was made to the cast and crew Friday at The WB’s “Angel” that this season, the show’s fifth, would be its last. “It’s official enough to know it’s real,” David Green wait, who co created the series with Joss Whedon, tells Zap2it.com, “but I haven’t talked to anybody at the network or the studio. I can tell you that it’s real, that it makes Mr. Whedon and myself very sad, that we wish it had kept going and we thought it was only getting bet ter.” This news comes on the heels of airing the 100th episode of the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” spin off, the taping of which was marked by a party on the show’s sets last November. At that time, the WB’s enter tainment chief, Jordan Levin, said, “The work that you all do, I cannot thank you enough. This is something that will last. You can see it in the DVD sales. You see it in the fans. They give an incredi ble amount of attention to almost everything. “You’ve created a cult here, and it’s pretty wonderful to be a part of it. So thank you and congratu lations.” Next week, on Wednesday, “Angel” airs one of its most inno vative episodes, called “Smile Time.” Written and directed by Ben Edlund (“The Tick”), and based on an idea by Whedon, it sees the show’s title character, a crusading vampire with a soul, forced to fight evil after being transformed into a walking pup pet (with voice by series star David Boreanaz). “It’s so brilliant,” Greenwalt says. “I just love it. It’s one of the finest pieces of filmmaking I’ve ever seen. It just cracked me up. It’s so ridiculous and silly, and yet there’s all this heartfelt stuff in it. It’s just quintessential Whedon. “But wait until you see the episode that follows it in terms of abject heartbreak. It’s just searing.” Greenwalt stepped away from “Angel” a few years ago but has remained a consulting producer. Since then, he’s worked on two short-lived but critically ac claimed series, ABC’s “Miracles” and UPN’s “Jake 2.0.” But he’s contemplating a possible return to his old stomping ground. “I might just go direct episode 20 (of‘Angel’),” he says, “so I can say my farewell to everybody. That’s something that might happen.” As of press time, The WB had made no official announcement. Death by chocolate not a risk BY AMY BERTRAND KRTCAMPUS Feeling guilty about that box of chocolates you have just sitting there on your kitchen table? Chocolate has long been seen as an indulgence for most of us, a guilty secret for others and a com plete addiction for some. It can seem to hold a special power over us. A bite is never enough; a box is a nice start. “People just love chocolate,” says Jean R. Caton, who has a master’s degree in nutrition and owns My Food Ccach, a nutrition company in St. Louis. “It’s deli cious. It’s the food of the gods. It symbolizes indulgence, and it’s re ally a comfort food.” Americans consume about 3 bil lion pounds of chocolate a year, ac cording to the Chocolate Manufacturers of America, a Virginia-based trade group. Recent research has shown that chocolate may not be all that bad for us. But let’s start with what we know. Chocolate has a consider able amount of fat and calories. A regular-size (1.55 ounces) Hershey’s milk chocolate bar, for example, has 230 calories, 13 grams of fat, 9 grams of saturated fat, 25 grams of carbs and 22 grams of sugar. “It’s the sugar in the chocolate bar that isn’t good for you (and it I — ■,, . . can cause tooth decay),” says Caton. “And a small piece goes a long way toward your calories and fat for the day.” That said, “All foods can fit into a healthy diet. Just have small por tion sizes, recognizing that the calories are there. If you get some health benefits out of it, you get a bonus.” Recent research has shown that chocolate is rich in polyphenols and flavonoids, which act as an tioxidants. These plant-based com pounds limit the effects of lipopro tein components in the harmful kind of cholesterol (so-called “bad cholesterol”). Antioxidants are known for mopping up free radi cals that damage the body, in re cent studies they have been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease and certain types of cancer. Recently, a German study pub lished in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggested that eating dark choco late can even lower your blood pressure. Caton and Camilla Kotrba, a registered dietitian in private practice in Richmond Heights and a lecturer at' Washington University, say the fat in choco late does not appear to affect cholesterol levels. “There is absolutely no health problem with chocolate,” says Kotrba. “There is fat in chocolate, but the type of fat does not appear to raise blood fats, so it’s really not that bad for you.” Chocolate does contain caf feine, but not much. One ounce of milk chocolate usually con tains 5 mg of caffeine, 1 ounce of semi-sweet usually has 5 to 10 mg, and a 6-ounce cup of cocoa usual ly has 10 mg. For comparison, a 6-ounce cup of coffee contains 100 to 150 mg. There’s a belief, especially in preteen circles, that chocolate causes acne. “That’s just a myth,” says Caton. “I don’t think there’s any research to support that.” So once you’ve decided the fats aren’t bad, the caffeine isn’t too much, and it doesn’t cause acne, what kind of chocolate should you indulge in? Dark chocolate has more an tioxidants than milk chocolate, and white chocolate doesn’t have any, says Caton. “A colorful diet is healthy eating,” she says. “It’s „ like sweet potatoes (which are full of nutrients) and white potatoes (not so full of nutrients).” Oh, and get the expensive stuff, says Caton. “The higher-quality chocolate tends to be higher in an tioxidants; it has less additives.” Kotrba agrees: “Chocolate is a wonderful food with a very rich history, and it’s a much-loved food. You should enjoy it because it tastes delicious.” -TT— ' ~] ' STERLING UNIVERSITY Riverside ~W l I wjs NEED EXTRA CASH?!? Sign a Lease within 24 hrs from you first visit and receive $ 100 •Some Restriction May Apply. See Management For Details. 215 Spencer Place Cayce, SC 739-0899 .. www.sterlinghousing.com World Faiths... What would Buddha say about morality? How would a Muslim see Jesus? What do Christians think about the afterlife? What’s the Jewish perspective on "salvation ”? t Take a look at these kinds of topics and how the faiths of the world answer them. Bring lunch and join us: Wednesdays Russell House 301 12-1:30 p.m. Questions? Call Amanda (467-8501) Sponsored by. or Jack (843-893-7318)Baptist Collegiate Ministry www.dailygamecock.com Nobody covers USC better. Now five days a week. ____ » Guaranteed SCORE Monday, Feb. 16 Tuesday, F«*. 17 Carolina Unity Week Opening Celebration “Who Do You Think You Sponsored by Carolina Unity Are?” Week Committee A candid discussion with ; African American students ua.m. to 2 pjn., Davis Field concerning the status of African American student life Love Actually at a predominantly White Sponsored by Carolina Institution Productions and Carolina Sponsored by AAAS and Unity Week Committee Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity 8 p.m.RusseD House Theater 7 pjn. Russell House Ballroom_ -------1 1- —1 f. '1 -1 . ... 1 Wednesday, Feb. 18 Thursday, Feb. 19 Friday, Feb. 20 uaturoay,Feb.28 Saturday, Feb. 21 Carolina Unity Week Unity Week Food Festival Dance Marathon ADJUST Social Justice Performances by: Sponsored by Carolina Unity Summit Touch of Faith, Chosen Week Committee A 24-hour dance-a-thon to Higher Harmony and Cock- raise money for Palmetto Addressing Diversity, Justice, ta*k 12-2 pan. Greene Street Health Children's Hospital Understanding and Social Sponsored by Carolina Unity Tolerance Week Committee Radio Starts at 7 pan. Strom Sponsored by Carolina Thurmond Wellness and na.m-4p.m.GambreHi53 8pm’RoomeUmPUS Productions and Carolina Fitness Center Lunch is included Unity Week Committee 8 p.m. Russell House Theater . . , , _. , . . For more info Sponsored by Student Government, University Housing, and the Division of Student Affairs • can 777.! 407