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Have you ever thought about beer and fitness being related in a positive way? I can’t believe I am saying this, but beer actually has some health benefits. Dustin Driver, a writer for askmen.com, has claimed that “the delicious brew is chock-full of natural antioxidants and vitamins that can prevent heart disease and even help rebuild muscle, and we’re going to let you in on precisely why beer and fitness belong together.”

Ounce-for-ounce, beer has one of the highest energy contents of any food or drink. Only pure fat can top it. This does not mean you need to drink several beers every day to energize yourself. So keep that in mind when you guzzle three or four at the local pub. Your average beer has about 120 calories and four have as many calories as a Big Mac. That many calories can have dire consequences if you’re trying to lose weight. One beer after work probably won’t tip the scales in either direction, though. However, binge drinking every weekend will do some damage. Drink beer in moderation and you won’t hold on to all those extra calories. Several diet/nutrition plans will tell you to totally eliminate alcohol from your diet. The key thing to remember is moderation!

Looking for some healthy choices when it comes to antioxidants? Try pomegranates, black berries, and beer? Driver claims that “the latest research has found that beer has almost as many antioxidants as red wine, which is saying something.” When it comes to health, Driver found that some beers are better than others. Generally, “dark beers pack more of an antioxidant punch than light beers (antioxidants help reverse the cellular damage caused by oxidizing compounds that naturally occur in your body).”

If you’re looking for an energy boost, beer is definitely not the answer. Try natural sugar like the kind found in fruits. “Alcohol is pure caloric fuel, but it does funny (and fun) things to your physiology. It’s a depressant — it makes you tired and sluggish. Beer and fitness do slightly complement one another — as long as you’re not trying to enjoy both at once.”

So how do beer and fitness go together at the recovery stage? A dark beer a few hours after a workout can deliver “a good dose of antioxidants.” Still, you’ll probably want to reach for water and a healthy snack — like fruit and yogurt — immediately following your routine at the gym. You can also reach for 1% chocolate milk which is an excellent recovery drinks that works as well as high dollar drinks.

Drink beer in moderation — too much of a good thing, even beer, can be very bad. Alcoholism can lead to liver problems, kidney disease, heart disease, and a shattered social life. However, it turns out that beer is good, even if you’re a fitness nut.

Driver, Dustin. http://www.askmen.com/sports/foodcourt_200/211b_eating_well.html

by Autumn Kushner

Around this time of year, when the sun is itching to break out of their hideous gray entrapment, the flowers are starting to sprout, and all around, there are hints of green. This season though, the green isn’t sprouting from the ground or growing on trees. Everyone would be a lot happier if that were the case. But unfortunately, the green of this year’s season is protected by robots, tellers, and locked drawers. With the slaughterhouse that the job market has become in recent years with the decline of the economy, those little slips of green have become much more prevalent.

Since the downturn in the economy, pressure seems to be steadily mounting. Many students are dropping out of school because many businesses are no longer hiring part time employees. With tuition hikes and food prices at a premium, even those with parental financial help need jobs. In the College Station market, this prospect, frankly, sucks. Everyone needs a job more than ever and even the best job hunter in the entire world would be hard pressed to find anything here. Those who are working are feeling the pressure as well. With businesses cutting back on their employment, the job loads seem to be doubling and tripling.

With all the added pressure from monetary concerns, it is easy to overlook the things that make people the happiest. Relationships with friends seem to dwindle as the pressure of the cost of a night out falls heavy on the shoulders of those hit hardest. Dating seems to go out the window as well. In the words of a friend, “I don’t have the time or the money to date. I don’t have time to work either but that one has to happen.” In the struggle with every day life, these things which become so hard to pursue and so easy to throw away, these friendships and potential relationships, are undeniably the only glimmer of light in all the pressure.

Counter to what may be believed, hanging out or even a night out does not have to cost much. Hanging out after work, just watching a movie can be a good way to keep people at least knowing that you want to see them, even if you are tired. If drinking needs to be involved, try going on a week night when drink prices are low. In regards to dating, try a picnic on a nice day. Picnics can be some of the most memorable dates and all you need is a loaf of bread, some cold cuts, lettuce and tomato.

So what if the days of Red Lobster and impressively shiny shoes over? Luckily, most girls these days are tired of the fancy food and would rather hit the trail in tennies than the dance floor in stilettos and friends like to talk more than to go to a show. The relationships will help you get through the money mess if you only let it. Putting off sleep or an oil change for an extra day in exchange for some quality time for some person to person contact will ultimately make you more relaxed and feel less like the world is completely against you.

By: Candi Young

Living with roommates can be quite the challenge, especially if you happen to be the neat and orderly type and your roommate(s) are the disheveled messy type.  Not only do you have to put up with your roommate’s quirks, but all of the sudden you look around and notice an extra TV here and strange clothes in the washer there.  You think to yourself, “this week James has been here 6 out of 7 days…. What is going on??”

Many agree the hardest thing to put up with is the “interference of personal space and use of community rooms.”  Not only are you sharing your TV and living room with someone who doesn’t help with the cable bill, but you are now paying their utilities when they wash their clothes/dishes.  When you need to do laundry only to find the washer and dryer are preoccupied by someone who isn’t supposed to be there in the first place—it’s highly irritating.

So, they’re aggravating for invading your personal space, but what to do if you genuinely don’t like them?  Although your roommate might think they are the greatest thing since the invention of ice cream, others may not see the fabulous side of this new home invader.  But your roommate does; so, in the interest of keeping the friendship, keep your opinions to yourself unless the roommate has passed the threshold of annoying you and moved onto a much graver platform.

The last thing you want is to pay for a home that you now feel uncomfortable living in.  When asked how they handled the situation, one suggestion was to “whine and whine and… [complain] until they figure out they don’t [technically] live there.”  For example, you could loudly exclaim, “Crap… I knew there was milk in here last night!!!” Or, “Who the CRAP parked in my spot but doesn’t pay rent for a spot!?!?”  You could very well take the less confrontational approach all the while trying to make the person feel uncomfortable for being there.”  In some situations, this may work and the interloper might get the hint.  But, if they are brave enough to nonchalantly move in, then it may take more then whining to make them feel uncomfortable; them being the person who allowed the unsolicited guest as well as the unsolicited.

So what is the best way to handle this situation?  While it may cause anxiety trying to figure out how to bring it up, talking to your roommates about any problem will likely go a long way and save lots of headaches if you are upfront and honest about how you feel in the beginning. Many people simply are not mind readers.  If you never speak up, everything they do will start to add to your dislike of the situation and could cause a big blowout.  Also, if you are the one who is allowing your “friend” to live there, why not talk to your roommate[s] about it before you actually help move your guest in?  Many times your roommate[s] will be understanding of the situation, you can work out a deal, split the bills up and most importantly the friendship will have a better chance to survive.  So if you find yourself in a sticky living situation and it makes you feel uncomfortable, don’t be afraid to speak up!   If they are truly a friend they will understand, listen to your concerns and be willing to work out a compromise.

Thanks to everyone who wished to remain anonymous for the input!  Any questions/comments?  E-mail me: cly.mweekly@gmail.com

The Love Consultant: Dating and Relationship Advice from Aggieland’s Love Doctor

Dear LC,

I’ve been in a relationship with my boyfriend for about a year now. In the beginning, we had an active lifestyle together. We never had to make an effort to go out and do things. We’d go to movies, exercise together, go out to dinner, and visit our families together on the weekends (we’re both from Houston). In the first 8 months of our relationship, we honestly spent all of our free time together. We had so much energy for each other back then. 

But now…things are not the same. In fact, I feel like he dumped me a couple of months ago and started dating his computer. When we hang out together lately, I can’t get him away from his laptop. And he’s not even doing anything worthwhile on it. He’s not writing papers or looking into jobs—and we’re both close to graduating! He’s just FBing, YouTubing, that sort of thing. Even when we go to Houston, he wants to stay in his parent’s house and be on his computer. For hours! All day! 

We only go out once a week these days, and even when I can get him out, he’s checking the score on his iPhone the whole time. I feel like he’s eager to rush home and make out with his computer. He seems nervous and anxious when he’s away from it.

What do I do to get him offline and outside with me again? Or even to be with me inside again? If something doesn’t change soon, I don’t know what I’m going to do when we graduate. Either he gets his act together or I might have to walk.

From Notta Computa

Notta, You’re right. Something has changed. And normally, at this stage in the relationship—after the honeymoon phase—it’s natural for some of the butterflies to die and for the relationship to lose some of its intensity. And that’s not a bad thing at all. By eight months, you should both be settling into a “comfortable” relationship. If that were the case—if this was just a post-honeymoon cool down—then I would normally advise you to relax into the relationship and to enjoy the trusting bond you’ve both earned. 

But that’s not the case. It’s not normal for a guy that was once so active to prefer his computer screen to going out with his girlfriend. There are two things you should think about. 

First, is he depressed? Did something devastating happen to him around the time he traded you in for his laptop? If so, and if he is depressed, then anti-social behavior and anxiety are tell-tale symptoms. He’ll need his depression to be confronted, and you’re still the closest thing to him, even if you’re not on is lap anymore. Be there for him. Be understanding and reach out to him. 

If he’s not depressed, then he might be suffering from an Internet addiction. And Internet addictions are becoming more and more prevalent, lately. In a study conducted two years ago by the University of California, scientists found that the average American is consuming a staggering 34 gigabytes of information per day. And that’s the average! Your boyfriend is consuming terabytes!
It sounds like he is addicted, especially when you write that he feels anxious when he’s away from his computer. He needs his fix. 

Internet addictions are sometimes brought on by depression (so don’t rule it out), but they can also develop in people that are stressed out. Surfing the web becomes a kind of procrastination, a way of putting real life situations that need attention on the back burner. You said that you’re both close to graduation? That he needs to find a job? How stressed does this make him? 

There are free exams online for gauging whether a person is addicted or not. Ask him, politely, to visit www.netaddiction.com and to take the free exam. (Question number three asks, “How often do you prefer the excitement of the Internet to intimacy with your partner?) But make sure you are there with him while he takes it. He might not see the depths of his webaholicism and he might not be able answer the questions truthfully. Give him a dose of reality if he needs it.

Dear LC,

I’m pretty sure I screwed up. I’ve been dating this girl in my program for 3 weeks. We’ve known each other since fall semester. We got close over time and it happened naturally because we have a lot in common. We both noticed there was something more between us recently, and one day I asked her on a date. So, after two weeks, things were going good. We were hanging out together a couple days a week, chatting online when we were not together. We haven’t done anything, no kissing and no sex. Not even holding hands.

On our last date, when I was walking her to her dorm, I turned and went in for the kiss. She backed away and blushed bright red. She said, “Whoa, horsey.” But she said it in a funny way to take edge away. Big blunder. I felt like crap. I really wanted to kiss her and I thought it was time. That was a week ago. Ever since then, when we hang out it feels really awkward. I still feel embarrassed and I think she can see that in me. I have no idea what to do now. I feel like we’re done already. It’s too awkward. But I really like her and I want be with her. What should I do?

The Kiss of Death

Kiss of Death, So you committed the first-kiss faux pas, huh? Great job, man! But you’re not alone. This is, as you say, a common blunder. And yes, you both should feel awkward now. You ruined the best thing about a new relationship: girls always remember the first kiss, and they especially remember when you screw it up. 

Stopping in the middle of your walk and just planting one on her lips out of nowhere startled her. She wasn’t ready for it. You don’t smack lips—especially the first time—when she’s not puckered. It’s like a sucker punch. And, ironically, she might have been ready to go to first base, but the moment for it was all wrong.

It’s going to feel awkward as long as you think about it when you’re around her. Now she’s watching you closely. She’s studying you to see if you’ve lost your mojo; and if she feels like you have, then you won’t get a second chance with her. Here’s what you do: Forget she has lips. Forget that you’re attracted to her. Hang out with her as you did before you went in for the kill. Just as friends. She’s worried you’re going to try to kiss her again, so you have to take that fear out of her by being colder than an iceberg. But don’t be cold in the sense that you’re distant. I just mean put some ice cubes in your underwear, pal. 

She really wants to see that you have self-control. Just strip all elements of sexuality from your relations with her and be the fun guy that she hung out with before. Believe it or not, that will be attractive to her. She’ll not only think that you’re over it but also that you’re ready to move on. Before you go in for the next one, do this: hold hands first! PG-rated touch will open the doors to feeling comfortable on a physical level. And when the time is right, the kiss will happen. That’s it. It just happens. And she’ll remember it forever.

Have a question for the Love Consultant? Email LC at aggieloveconsultant@gmail.com. Your question may be edited for length and content and all names will be changed to protect all real identities.

By Turner Dawson

The Texas A&M basketball team was able to get the split in two tough games this past week as they traveled to Waco to take on the Baylor Bears and then returned home to face the Texas Longhorns at Reed Arena. The Aggies came up just short against the Bears but put a beating on the Longhorns.

The game against Baylor was marked by comebacks. Baylor would get out to a sizable lead and A&M would cut into before Baylor would stretch it out again. Late in the second half, the Aggies cut the Baylor lead to 1 point three different times but couldn’t get over the top and finish it off.

Donald Sloan led the way for the Aggies as he finished with 22 points with 3 assists and no turnovers. Donald is such a valuable player for this team because of his ability to create his own shot. He is really the only player on the team capable of doing that and that will be greatly missed nest year. It will be interesting to see who steps up into that role next season.

Bryan Davis also had a solid game in this one as he finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds. He did have three turnovers but you just have to take the good with the bad at times with Davis. I thought he played well overall in this game. David Loubeau really hurt the Aggies by having one of his worst performances of the season. Loubeau had just 4 points on 2 for 8 shooting and eventually fouled out.

Loubeau’s lack of production was countered by 10 points from Josh Lomers for Baylor. Lomers has had a career full of awful performances against the Aggies but he got one good one to end his career as he also added 7 rebounds and his customary 5 fouls. I’m not sure there has ever been a dirtier player than Lomers in the history of college basketball. He got hard foul calls in both games against the Aggies this year and throws more elbows than anyone I have ever seen. As much as the Aggies have been helped over the years by how awkward and uncoordinated that guy is, I for one will be glad to never see him again.

It was also disappointing to see the complete lack of class on the part of the Baylor fans. One group had a sign saying “Hey Aggies, break a leg.” The sign, obviously referencing Aggie senior guard Derrick Roland’s gruesome broken leg earlier in the year, was in very bad taste. I wonder how Baylor fans would have felt if we had made signs poking fun at their star quarterback having a serious season ending knee surgery. I’m all for rivalries and poking fun at each other, but making a joke out of something as horrific as what Roland went through is embarrassing.

If that weren’t enough, many of the Aggie fans that made the trip were cursed at as they were leaving the arena, even though the Baylor fans were completely unprovoked. I think most people have come to expect this sort of thing from Texas Tech fans, but in general most wouldn’t expect it from a school like Baylor. But from this game and the game two years ago when their fans threw everything in sight from the stands at our players, they are beginning to show they might be the most classless group of fans in the entire Big 12.

Against Texas, the Aggies were clicking on all cylinders. Donald Sloan finished with 19 points and hit some very timely shots late in the shot clock. He also added four assists and played some pretty good defense throughout the game, including helping to shut down star guard Avery Bradley of the Longhorns.

David Loubeau got off to a pretty rough start, having issues holding onto the ball and he couldn’t seem to finish around the basket. But he eventually got it together and was able to finish with 15 points and 7 rebounds. Bryan Davis only had 4 points but he also had 8 rebounds and 4 blocks. He was a force on the inside even without scoring points.

My favorite part of this game was the production provided by Ray Turner. Both teams were really struggling to get any sort of scoring going early on but Turner came into the game and scored six consecutive points and got the team and the crowd going. The energy and boost he provides off the bench have been huge in a number of games in conference play. He is going to be one heck of a player. He has so much talent that once he starts to figure out some of the small things, the sky will be the limit for him.

The win against Texas pushed the Aggies to 9-5 in conference play. This next week the Aggies will play host to the Oklahoma State Cowboys at Reed Arena on Wednesday night and will close out the conference slate by traveling to Norman to take on the Oklahoma Sooners.

The Aggies currently sit at fifth place in the conference and would be in pretty good shape to get one of the top 4 seeds in the Big 12 tournament and a first round bye. If they don’t get the bye it wouldn’t be the worst thing, it might even be good for their resume to get an extra win against an Iowa State or Colorado. The Aggies are guaranteed a spot in the NCAA tournament at this point, now they are playing for seeding.

A lot still at stake for two Sydneys and rest of Aggie Women’s Basketball team

By Chelsea Reber

photos by Glen Johnson/Texas A&M Athletics

In the last few years, Gary Blair has created a promising tradition of winning women’s basketball teams. With four straight appearances in the NCAA tournament, Blair and his girls are looking for another shot at the big show.

The rest of the Big 12 conference teams are not making it an easy road. Five out of the Aggies’ six losses in conference have been a difference of less than 10 points, and three of those have been a difference of less than five points.

“We’ve had some really close games where we have been challenged and tested and we haven’t necessarily come out on the winning side,” Sydney Colson, the junior sociology major said. “I think these are good games to be in because it shows that we still have that fight in us when we are down; even if we do get a loss, at least we get it with some dignity.”

The Aggies are tired of being “so close” and hanging onto the saying, “there is always the next time.” Sooner than later, that next time will turn into the Big 12 Tournament and then the NCAA Tournament where there is not another next time.

Even though the Aggies have slipped a little during season, Colson believes they are still reasonable contenders for a Big 12 Tournament Championship and a very high finish in the NCAA Tournament.

“There were some people at the beginning of the season who predicted us to be in the final four and I think that is still possible. I think we can do it if we go out in our last few games and play hard and get some momentum,” Colson said.

One big slip came on Big Monday against Baylor, when the Aggies lost an upsetting 65-63 game at home. Brittney Griner, the 6’8’’ freshman for the Bears, proved to be all she is hyped up to be, unstoppable. But Colson and the Aggies new she would play great defense and rack up some points; it was the other players they didn’t handle well.

“When you are going up against someone like Griner, you expect her to get points. Our job in games like that is to contain the other players and when we played at Baylor and here at home, we let that get away from us,” Colson said.

“We just want to beat them so bad, and it is almost like we were playing not to lose instead of playing to win,” Sydney Carter, sophomore guard from DeSoto, said.

The Aggies know they have to move past their losses and really focus on the remaining conference games. A lot is still at stake and in their minds; it is never too late to turn things around.

“We need to have more intensity throughout the whole game, we need to lose the negative attitudes, and we just really need to get on the same page,” Colson said.

Even though only a sophomore, Carter has strived all season to take on that leadership role and help her teammates to buy into her “never surrender” mentality.

“It gets frustrating when you lose games that you shouldn’t and it gets hard to stay motivated and positive,” Carter said. “It is just my personality to not give up, and I think if we can get everybody on that same page, we can really go far.”

One thing that the Aggies have not necessarily had much control on this season is injuries. Colson, a team captain for the past two years, has only been about 60 percent during the last few games with an injured leg. She has been getting treatment everyday and is even wearing a support boot when she is not practicing or playing.

Carter has also suffered some more minor injuries this year, but realizes there is a difference between injury and pain.

“I came in the day after a hip pointer and played against Oklahoma, and two days after a sprained ankle and played in the Tech game. It is just a matter of pain tolerance and whether it is actually pain or injury,” Carter said.

“Sydney’s is an injury and she just has to take it day by day; I applaud her for the effort she has given. She gave me 12 great minutes against Texas and that is just someone who wants the best for their team and willing to give themselves up no matter what it takes,” said Carter about Colson.

“I’d rather not be out there and let someone do a better job who is 100 percent healthy,” said Colson.

Even with all the obstacles the Aggies have fought against this season, they are definitely not ready to throw the towel in yet. Their hopes are still high for an epic finish in the 2009-2010 season.

“It is almost over, but I’m not going to let it be over sooner than it should be,” Carter said.

If you’ve already seen everything worth seeing at Premiere and Cinemark, this week provides an excellent opportunity to branch out, just in time for Spring Break.  MSC Aggie Cinema presents The Blind Side, and if you can swing a quick drive, you can also catch The White Ribbon and Last Year at Marienbad.  Let’s take them one by one.

The Blind Side

The Blind Side is exactly what you expect, a hackneyed cliché-athon with one charismatic lead performance.  Future star left tackle Michael Oher is a poor giant without a home who is taken in by the warm, white arms of the Tuohy family, led by their spitfire matriarch, and the film centers on the give-and-take between the magical Negro and the superheroine. Yes, the characterizations are that shallow, especially in the supporting arena with the precocious kid and the close-minded socialites. Sandra Bullock is undeniably charismatic as Mrs. Tuohy, the year’s most mesmerizing Mary Sue and The Blind Side’s greatest asset.

The Blind Side plays at Rudder Auditorium on March 5 at 7:00 and 9:30.

The White Ribbon

Like most of Michael Haneke films, The White Ribbon dominates us with all manner of domestic depravity, a riveting arty whodunit that plays its cards close to the vest like a distant father’s approval. But in a good way.

Set in a small German village in 1913, the film opens with a narrator who, after allowing that the story has been pieced together from memory and hearsay, a nod to the subjectivity of truth, explains the film’s intention: to “clarify some things that happened in this country.”  Thus we are thrust into the sprawling cast of families that comprise a village surrounding a baron’s estate during a period of strange incidents of violence: the doctor’s horse trips over a line, the farmer’s wife is killed in a machine accident, children are beaten, and more, while the camera holds back, silently witnessing without poking or exploiting.  Haneke patiently introduces us to the various villagers, floating from house to house as the tension mounts. With a rich black and white palette and a wealth of diverse characters, it’s like an August Sander volume come to life.

But The White Ribbon is no Steinbeck ballad of community. It’s a thorough account of how patriarchal abuse cultivated a society where repression and submission allowed the rise of the Nazi party. This thesis is accomplished by the mysterious attacks and the disgusting depiction of the village fathers—not coincidentally in roles of authority like baron, doctor, and priest. They’re physically abusive, emotionally manipulative, and altogether domineering figures, even in scenes with adult subordinates.

Spending much of its time with the town’s children, Haneke’s argument is a convincingly colored study of learned behavior.  At one point the villagers gather in the church, and, mistaking the baron’s absence as a sign of his displeasure, they grow uneasy, like children internalizing a parent’s passive aggressions. But Haneke fails to illustrate how early 20th century German society was uniquely repressed. I suspect there’s an argument about the psychological consequences of imperial government, but Haneke’s mind is elsewhere. Besides, he announces from the start that the truth is unknowable.

Formally accomplished in every respect—from the sumptuous black-and-white camerawork of Christian Berger to the screenplay by Haneke, which evokes a child’s quaking fear of parental punishment, to the sound editing which punishes us with the cry of a baby and the wail of a retarded child—The White Ribbon is a strong statement from Michael Haneke, winning the Palme D’or at the Cannes Film Festival. But the true marvel is that, even apart from its case against the patriarchy, The White Ribbon is so brimming with life and stories, yet, like Haneke himself, it still has some cards in its pocket.

The White Ribbon plays daily at the Angelika Film Center in Houston.

Last Year at Marienbad

If you love Memento or Lost or anything by David Lynch or Charlie Kaufman, you’ve got to see the original head-scratcher, Alain Resnais’ 1961 masterpiece Last Year at Marienbad, a captivating look at memory and truth.  Technically about a man who runs into a woman he swears he had an affair with last year—she doesn’t remember, but endures his pleading a little too easily—the couple are soon joined by a gun and a jealous third party and, well, you know.  The film is a postmodern landmark, the riddle of a narrative darting down empty corridors and looping back on itself, investigating hypothetical branches of a timeline that may in fact be real, or not, because what’s real anyway? Each of its formal elements—the needlessly baroque architecture, the haunting organ score, the dreamily gliding camerawork, everything—reflects the film’s riveting exploration of narrative and memory.  If you thought Pulp Fiction was innovative in its storytelling, just wait till you get a hold of Last Year at Marienbad.

Last Year at Marienbad plays at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston on March 7 at 5:00.

By Robert McElligott

Martin Scorcese is well known for making movies that can be loosely described as intense, and Shutter Island delivers on Scorcese’s long standing tradition of making the audience gasp. The film has all the right ingredients for intensity; it’s set on insane asylum island and it features Leonardo DiCaprio’s ever-deepening forehead fissure. However, this is worlds apart from Scorcese’s Goodfellas or Raging Bull; there are no suave gangsters or shoot-outs.

Scorcese did something very different with Shutter Island; it is intensely psychological– if you don’t give it serious thought you won’t understand it until the very last scene. The plot is about two detectives searching for an inmate that supposedly escaped the asylum, but as the story drives on, you begin wondering what is real and what is imaginary, who’s insane and who isn’t.

Even if you completely fail at figuring the movie out, it’s still really enjoyable. Scorcese made a film that is purposefully baffling but fun to watch regardless, and he provides the perfect ending that answers every question raised throughout the movie.

By Robert McElligott

Platitudes, by Trey Ellis, is a daunting novel to review; finding the words to describe a body of work so important and meaningful is not an easy charge. Platitudes is the embodiment of a post-modern novel, both in form and function; it features dual narratives perforated by pictures, an aptitude test, a restaurant menu, etc., and the novel’s function is almost too complex to epitomize here. Regardless, the novel reaches almost unfathomable depths in respect to literature and social politics; Ellis deconstructs many popular notions, like machismo and “authentic blackness,” that are so embedded in American culture.

The novel’s function may be somewhat confrontational but the novel itself is not; Ellis created something so light-hearted and humorous it almost demands affection. The story is split between two narratives; one narrative is a story-in-progress about poor, pubescent Earle Tyner and his quest for love and manhood. The second narrative is of the writer of Earle’s story, Dewayne Wellington, and his troubles with writing about Earle.

The novel deals heavily with what it means to be both African and American; Ellis pits stereotype vs. anti-stereotype to reveal how damaging the idea of “authentic blackness” can be to African-American culture. The novel accomplishes so much with two parallel narratives, but, remarkably, it remains very accessible to most anyone.

The novels accessibility can be attributed to Ellis’ style of writing; it’s so smooth and fluid the reader can breeze through half the novel without realizing it. Beyond the style, the story of Earle is fiercely humorous; there is nothing quite as awkward or comical as a boy going through puberty, and Ellis gives us front row seats to the gritty humanity of Earle Tyner’s inner most thoughts as he tries pick up girls out his league, out of his sport even. But the novel isn’t all comical anguish; the ending is warm and loving, providing the answers to all the social problems it approaches.

All things considered, Platitudes is an interesting, fun-loving novel that is worth reading at least twice.