Issues

Independent Senator to Run for ASUC President
After a semester filled with rumors and speculation, independent two-term ASUC Senator Misha Leybovich revealed Tuesday that he will join major party Student Action's slate to run for the ASUC presidency.

Momentum Meeting in Seattle
For the Cal men's basketball team, the bits of momentum garnered this year have been as sporadic as the hairdos of senior Gabriel Hughes.

Noisepop Rocks the Indie Scene-Complete Coverage
Within this desolate Scenesterwelt in which the Coachella Valley Music Festival is little more than a far-off, overpriced desert mirage and Pixies tickets sell out in roughly half the time it takes Frank Black to record and release solo albums (read: 3.7 seconds), San Francisco's annual Noisepop festival is the only readily-available source of nourishment for impoverished Bay Area hipsters, and it does a pretty damn fine job of it.

Thanks Mom and Dad
On an early fall evening, my sister, roommate and I trolled for skank on Piedmont Avenue. Since it was Berkeley, pickings were slim, so for a cheap thrill I tripped my sister then ran in front to laugh in her face. But she regained her balance quicker than I thought. With all her might, she swung her purse-dropping me with one leather swoop.

Independent Senator to Run for ASUC President
After a semester filled with rumors and speculation, independent two-term ASUC Senator Misha Leybovich revealed Tuesday that he will join major party Student Action's slate to run for the ASUC presidency.

Students Rally to Show Support for U.S. Troops Home and Abroad
A group of about 30 UC Berkeley students donning yellow ribbons and waving U.S. flags took time from their lunch breaks to rally for U.S. troops at home and abroad yesterday on Sproul Plaza.

Voters Face Technical Glitches at Polls Tuesday
Voters across Alameda County trying to cast their ballots Tuesday were met with frozen touch screens and missing ballots, when at least 43 of the county's 1,096 precincts encountered problems with their electronic voting machines.

Campus Officials Float Draft of Guiding Principles
In an effort to overcome the campus's fragmented culture, UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl unveiled a draft of community principles Tuesday night, raising alarm from student activists and leaders who fear the new code could be abused.

$12.3 Billion Education Bond Barely Squeaks By
After hovering in deadlock for hours after the polls closed Tuesday, Proposition 55 squeezed by with a winning margin of just more than 1 percent.

Bush Staffer Tells of Start in Government
Co-chair of President Bush's California re-election campaign and welfare reform pioneer Eloise Anderson spoke candidly about the disconnect between real people and policy-makers to about 700 students yesterday in Political Science 179.

Momentum Meeting in Seattle
For the Cal men's basketball team, the bits of momentum garnered this year have been as sporadic as the hairdos of senior Gabriel Hughes.

Athlete of the Week
Hilary Lynch
Lacrosse

Facing a Stanford Empire
The Cal men's swimming team has proved it can break school records, American records-even world records.

Cal Finishes Spartan Invite Third
After leading the first round of the Spartan Invitational-hosted by San Jose State at the 6,010-yard, par-71 Corral de Tierra Country Club in Salinas, Calif.-the No. 4 Cal women's golf team finished the tourney yesterday in third place at 18-over par. The two-day event featured a field of 17 teams, five ranked in the top 25.

Scrabble and Fondue- ‘Starsky & Hutch' Stars Get Down
Here, on the top floor of the Marina Del Rey Ritz-Carlton, amongst the free fondue pots and "Huggy's Place" iron-ons that make up the junket for the new film version of ‘70s TV staple "Starsky & Hutch," we appear to be witnessing the birth of a conspiracy that may trump even the Roswell cover-up and what went down in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. When asked about working with stars Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson-or Starsky and Hutch, respectively-their fellow filmmakers all have suspiciously similar answers.

Filmfest Celebrates Asians in America
My first reaction after flipping through the program for this year's San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival was an unexpected one: where are all the Asian American films? Of the 39 features, only 14 are new films from the US and Canada while the rest are from countries as far away as Thailand, Korea, Bhutan, and even Germany and the Netherlands. Even this year's opening night showcase, usually reserved for future seminal American works like "First Person Plural" or "Better Luck Tomorrow," is a foreign film-in this case Zhang Yimou's hugely popular "Hero," which plays tonight at the AMC Kabuki Theater in San Francisco.

Noisepop Rocks the Indie Scene-Complete Coverage
Within this desolate Scenesterwelt in which the Coachella Valley Music Festival is little more than a far-off, overpriced desert mirage and Pixies tickets sell out in roughly half the time it takes Frank Black to record and release solo albums (read: 3.7 seconds), San Francisco's annual Noisepop festival is the only readily-available source of nourishment for impoverished Bay Area hipsters, and it does a pretty damn fine job of it.

Viggo Trades Reign for Reins
"Do you wanna go out there? We could do it out there," whispers Viggo Mortensen as soon as his press manager leaves, with no hint that he is kidding. Four reporters nervously look at each other. Is Viggo Mortensen, star of "The Lord of the Rings" and "Hidalgo," really asking us to climb out the eighth-storey window of the Ritz-Carlton? I suppose it doesn't seem all that unlikely, given his reputation. As my $10 imitation suede boots stomp all over the (undoubtedly very expensive) couch in Mortensen's suite in an attempt to climb out the window, I hear Mortensen warn, "Be careful, don't get hurt. You'll get me in trouble."

Down-to-Earth Director Contemplates Horsing Around
"Is that a Heineken?" Joe Johnston asks as he enters the room. "That sure looks good."

‘Hidalgo' Is a Horse Flick of a Different Color
Horse movies aren't very good. The horses usually have cheesy, uncannily human characteristics, while the riders usually go through some life-altering sob-fest where they realize that their horse is their best friend and all they need to do is just keep trying. Thankfully, "Hidalgo" wasn't this type of horse movie. It still wasn't a great movie, but it was good enough to avoid the stigma that follows "The Horse Whisperer," "Black Beauty," and "Seabiscuit."

Lots to Enjoy in ‘Starsky & Hutch'-Just Don't Expect Too Much
Expectations can do a lot to shape the way one views various aspects of the world-in this case, motion pictures. You go into "Mystic River" expecting a light-hearted romp (or, as Jon Stewart joked on a recent episode of "The Daily Show," the sequel to "Mystic Pizza") and you're going to be unpleasantly surprised. By the same reasoning, if you head to "Starsky & Hutch" expecting a serious, gritty cop drama ... well, you'll probably spend the first hour of the film gaping like a fish, but yeah, besides that: your viewing experience will be decidedly skewed.