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) 9 i few people understand a ' ^ Cont3Ct US really good sandwich.” Story ideas? Questions? Comments? S55fLdc«icooKiN E-mail us at gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu ■v Creating the right concoction needs more than just 2 slices of bread BY REBECCA WILSON THE GAMECOCK Crafting the perfect sandwich is a science — one with roots in the other side of the ^ Atlantic. ^ The common name “sandwich,” was first used in England at London’s Beef and Steak Club. One of the Club’s patrons, John Montague, the Earl of Sandwich, was a diehard gambler known to skip meals in order to keep playing. One day he ordered a waitress to give him a slice of meat set between two slices of bread so that he could consume the meal with one hand, leaving the other free to roll the dice. This seemed like a brilliant idea to the others frequenting the club, and they be gan to regularly ask for “the same as Sandwich.” The name stuck. The sandwich has come a long way since its beginnings as a gambling snack. Quizno’s boasts 130,000,000 sub sandwiches served yearly worldwide. ^kSubway operates 20,680 stores in 72 "countries. ' First-year pharmacy stu dent Robert Garrett defined a sandwich as “bread, veg etables, condiments and meat.” The exact definition, however, is open-ended: the term “bread,” for example, doesn’t take into account tortillas, croissants, pitas or biscuits. Garrett, upon considering such op tions, decided that “flour product” should just about cover all the bases. Even that definition, however, leaves room for interpretation. First-year me dia arts student Sam Stokes argued that a pizza could be considered a sandwich by that definition, since it includes all the necessities: bread, veggies, cheese and meat. He and Garrett concluded that the “flour product” needs to be around the other in gredients for a meal to be consid ered a sandwich. This, however, invites wraps, calzones, burritos, hamburgers and even hot dogs into the mix. Definitions aside, there are many pos sibilities available to the creative sandwich artist. Not only can you pile on the meat and cheese, but fish, chicken, tuna’, salad, assorted vegetables and, of course," good old peanut butter and jelly are all tasty options. Combinations with peanut butter are* endless. Stokes said he prefers “peanut, butter and honey,” and first-year mathe matics student Chris Jones said peanut butter with bananas is the strangest amalgamation he’s ever seen. Sandwich-making explores the deep er questions behind your favorite^ lunchtime snack. How much to put on the sandwich, for example. To go further, how many slices of cheese or meat should you pile on? How much peanut butter is; too much? (> How much mustard can you throw on before it overpowers the taste? Perhaps it depends on the person.^. t Stokes likes a “simple sandwich with a thin layer of mayonnaise and a little bit* of turkey and cheese,” while Jones said a > “warm ham and cheese sandwich, plain, is always nice.” A grilled cheese sandwich is Johnson’s favorite, but she eats a deli sandwich “almost every day” and prefers the Deli to Sub Connection' because it offers the choice of sliced bread instead of a sub roll. Ultimately, the difference between a superb sandwich and a merely edible one of ten comes down to the small1 > things: Swiss cheese or pro- ( volone? Crunchy peanut butter or creamy? 1 Even the experienced sandwich mak-j - er is left wondering at the end of the bread-buttering day: is a taco considered a sandwich? After all, the ingredients^ are snugly contained within the “flour product.” Comments on this story?E-mail - ‘ gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu i L PBook. Review A.L.T.: A Memoir’ offers stylish read “A.L.T.: A MEMOIR" By Andre Leon Talley ★★★★ out of BY MEG MOORE THE GAMECOCK Andre Leon Talley knows a thing or two about being en vogue. In fact, he is in Vogue ev ery month via his StyleFax col umn, detailing the latest trends •pnd keeping readers up to date on behind-the-seams fashion news. With his descriptive writing style and larger-than-life ap pearance, Talley has become one of the mythical figures he spent his young life revering, emerg ing as an unlikely giant amid the exclusive world of the rich and stylish. However, unlike many of tasnion s Drignt est stars, Talley was not born into wealth and privilege. In his autobiography, “A.L.T.: A Memoir”, he re lates a genuine ly impressive iags-io-ricnes taie •of his journey from Southern ^on to jet-setting fashion writer. The reader is invited not into a life of frivolity but one of deter mination, built around sound values and personal bonds. As a result of his journalistic training, Talley does not write with the linguistic flourish of a novelist or poet, but he tries. He leads the reader through descrip tive accounts of the who, what, where, when and why, attempt ing to capture both beauty and the basic facts within his writing. Achieving an awkward sort of eloquence, Talley manifests the most important things in his life through his obvious passion on page. He often revisits im portant moments and influential people, reiterating their impact on his life. Not surprisingly, “A.L.T.” is riddled with references to the rich, famous and fabulously fashionable. Yet, Talley does not unmask any dark secrets or dwell on the superficiality he re alizes is a fault of the fashion world. He mentions famous ac quaintances only in apprecia tion —for what they have taught him and for the friendship he has shared with them. Readers are shown the human sid§ of otherwise commercialized fig ures. Most intriguing are Talley’s profiles of his grandmother, who raised him in Durham, N.C., and his mentor, former Vogue editor Diana Vreerland. He is able to draw parallels between the two, describing their similar appre ciation for quality and elegance despite the fact that they came from divergent worlds. Talley’s reverence for both women re mains undeniable — he clearly cherishes their respective strengths, quirks and contribu tions to his life and the lives of others. While Talley could have eas ily written a gossipy work, dig ging through the trenches of the fashion world, he instead has chosen to highlight the kind hearted people he has met and me awe-in spiring ex periences he has had I^S while cov ering every twist and trend. Thlley ar sues max style is not uounu Dy class, race or financial means — he considers both his working class grandmother and the ex travagantly wealthy Vreerland as equally elegant. Talley’s obvious appreciation for the finer things in life, no mat ter how simple they are or how off-kilter, makes “A.L.T.” an up lifting chronicle of one fashion lover’s journey to the top. Instead of being inundated with superfi cial tales, readers are invited into a world that is as surreal as it is rooted in family values. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockfeaiures@gwm.sc.edu Fashion guru Talley’s new autobiography shares a Southern bo; journey to top of the chic Vogue world. Fun in the sun requires planning BY CANDYCE JEFFERSON THE GAMECOCK Dig through your storage trunks and pull out your bathing suits. Pack your shorts and tanks and slip on your favorite flip-flops. Spring break is almost here. The best spring break excur sions are those that are well planned. You need to know what to bring and how much spending money you’ll require for your va cation. Location, location, location is also crucial. Choosing a place to visit is an essential first step in mapping out a spring break plan of action. Nigel Wallace, a second-year ac counting student said he’s headed to West Palm Beach, Fla. Justin Bogue, a first-year music compo sition student, has opted for Myrtle Beach. “I’ll be there for five days,” Bogue said. Others have elected to visit more unconventional locations. Jordan Smith, a second-year phi losophy student, will be spending his time off in Pittsboro, N.C. And instead of venturing south for her vacation, Jamie Rogers, a second year print journalism student will be road-tripping with friends to Pittsburgh, Pa. Many students will, of course, have to shell out cash during their vacations. But exactly how much money will you need to bring? Bogue said, “I’ll probably need about $150 dollars.” For his Pittsboro, N.C. excur sion, Smith replied that he will probably need “around $1,000.” Rogers will “be bringing along about $100 in cash and a credit cardjustincase.” Man cannot live by bread alone, and neither can college students during spring break. Most stu dents will be gone for around four to five days, so food remains an other survival essential. “Because we’ll be driving for about nine-10 hours, my friends and I have planned to pack small snacks to tide us over for the long road trip. Then we will dine out for the rest of the vacation.” Rogers said. Smith and Wallace both claim to need just alcohol and cigarettes for their adventure diet. To make the best of time away from school, students should re member to pack select travel es sentials. If headed north, Rogers advised, “Make sure you bring proper clothing for the climate. I will be packing lots of warm cloth ing and hats to protect myself from the cold Pennsylvania weather.” “I’ll just be bringing basic lug gage and my girlfriend,” Bogue said. i And as for those who plan on , living up to the wild spring break* cliche, Wallace advised students to “bring the number of a good ; lawyer.” Smith added, “Bring the num-'1 ber of two good lawyers, just injj case you can’t get in touch with the first one.” %i Comments on this story?E-mail y gamecocHfeatures@gwm.sc.edu PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Many USC students will head to the beach this Spring Break. Linkin Park’s live shows display band in element BY WALTER TUNIS KIIT CAM PCS It was a sound as big as its sur roundings. For two nights last August, Linkin Park slammed together met al-heavy guitar rock, alert hip-hop verses and splashes of electronica on stadium stops of Metallica’s Summer Sanitarium Tour. Just be fore Christmas, a DVD and CD com pilation of those shows was re leased as “Live in Texas.” Last week, with Linkin Park in the midst of its own tour, drum mer Rob Bourdon acknowledged an unintentional coincidence. In less than an hour, he would take the stage for a sold-out concert in Dallas. “That’s rigfjt,” he said. “We’re live in Texas again.” A favored attraction of Lone Star audiences? Perhaps. But the California-bred band is hardly be ing exclusive. Linkin Park’s mon strous touring schedule can’t help but dictate that some regions, like the heart of Texas, get a repeat dose of the band’s rap-and-rock performances. “We definitely take a lot of pride in our live show,” Bourdon said. “We work in the studio writing and perfecting songs. There, you get all the time you need to get ev erything right. But when that’s done, we devote our energies to getting the stuff we created in the studio to translate to what we do live. Live has always been the best medium for us. Albums are great, but I think everyone should have a chance to see whatever band they are into play live.” Onstage, much of Linkin Park’s ferocity is engineered by Bourdon. He has two expert vocalists, singer Chester Bennington and rapper Mike Shinoda, to work off of. Then there is the question of groove. Bourdon might slam out rhythms on an acoustic drum kit, mesh his playing with pre-recorded samples or embellish the turntable sounds created onstage by Joseph Hahn. Also figuring into the pace and drive of such Linkin Park hits as “One Step Closer” (from the band’s multi-platinum debut al bum, “Hybrid Theory”) and “Somewhere I Belong” (from last year’s “Meteora”) is the tag team of guitarist Brad Delson and bassist Dave “Phoenix” Farrell. “There are all kinds of things going on,” Bourdon s?id. “Sometimes, we’re using a ton of effects. I’ll have electronic drum pads on an acoustic kit so we can perform this music. But I really need to make sure what I do fits in with everything else, that I set a good foundation. We understand there is a fine line between play ing the right part and making things too confusing. So all six of us are focused on writing really good songs and finding the parts that make a good song a better song.” Setting up music that rumi nates with bittersweet tension be fore bursting into voluminous flames might be a challenge, but Bourdon thinks Linkin Park has already met the demands of such high intensity tunes. “We’re blessed to be able to play music. That’s our job. But it’s als<j an incredible, amazing thing.”