i n s i d e

NTERMISSIONREVIEWS

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PRODUCEDPLAYONQUEERRIGHTSANDHOLOCAUSTPERSECUTION

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A L S O I N S I D E

5.08.09

FRIDAY

stanford’s weekly guide to campus culture

VOLUME

235 .

ISSUE

a publication of the stanford daily

Meet B.J. Novak of “The Office”fame and relax at a boba cafe this weekend...page 3“Star Trek” blazes a new trail in the genre of space movies...pages 4-5 A look back at last weekend’s CharityFashion Show...page 8 A recap of the New Orleans Jazz Festival...page 9Cantor presents its new exhibit, “Pop to Present”...page 10 Advice on which airline to choose for this summer’s travels...page 12

Beam me up, “StarTrek!” Intermission ravesabout the franchisereinvention

...pages 4-5

Photo courtesy Paramount Pictures

intermission

Michael Rooney google images

Happy Mothers’ Day!

intermission

PAGE 2

MANAGING EDITOR

Joanna Xu

LAYOUTEDITOR

Jin Yu

COPYEDITOR

Samantha Lasarow

DESKEDITORS

Annika HeinleKyle Evaldez

PHOTOEDITOR

Amanda Zhang

5.08.09

well then, email us!intermission@daily.stanford.edu

FRIDAY

BONETOPICK?

HOWTOBEA

RECESSIONISTA

photos by joanna xu

Like most people,you probably don’t have a ton ofextrapocket money to go out and spend on new clothes.That’sall right—frugal fashion does exist,and Intermission isabout to introduce some ways to make the old clothes that you’d long ago discounted new and fresh again!

— joanna Xucontact joanna: joannaxu@stanford.edu

BLEACH YOUR JEANS

We all own those jeans that we wore to death three years ago but now sit untouched inthe back ofthe closet,or those cheap Target jeans we regret buying.Now’s the time to putthem back into use! All you need is some bleach,water and a spoon/towel/toothbrush.• Mix 2/3 water,1/3 bleach.• Take everything outside.Use a toothbrush to scrub the bleach onto the denim for adetailed effect,or use a towel to rub it down ifyou want to cover bigger areas.Or just usea spoon to splash it on.Put a newspaper in between the front and the back ifyou only want to bleach one side.• Alternatively you can also do this in the bathtub ifyou want your jeans to really change shades.Fill your bathtub with the bleach mix,and soak those pants for 30 min-utes to an hour.• Then throw the jeans into the washer!

...THEN GO AT THEM WITH SCISSORS

Instead ofshelling money on some new shorts,why not just hack at jeansthat you already own? There are actually a lot ofways you can transform apair ofjeans into shorts (for girls anyway),and here are some ofthem!

The Sydney Cut

Pretty simple:instead ofcutting your jeans evenly,cut in a diagonal sothat the shorts will be shorter at the outer sides—kind oflike booty-shorts but not quite.Ifyou want a frayed effect,use a pocket knife or just your hands to pick at the loose threads as much as possible.

Add some decoration! Here are some ideas

• Add studs to the belt-loops.1/4 Standard Pyramid Studs fromwww.crustpunks.com would be perfect.• Use a hole-puncher to punch holes into the denim,and loop chainsor old necklaces through the holes.• Sharpie away! Ifyou’re good at illustrations,why not doodle on your jeans?

Photo courtesy jakandjil.com

ubble Tea.Pearls.Tapioca.Boba.Terms like these getStanford students primed for a delightful study breakto one ofthe area’s several pearl milk tea establish-ments.For the initiated,pearl milk tea is a sweet tea ofsortsusually made with milk and various flavorings ranging fromfruit to root.The pearls,referred to as boba,are the mostrecognizable part ofthe drink.These thick,chewy balls arecommonly made ofsweet potatoes,tapioca (cassava root)and brown sugar.About 15 minutes from campus,on downtownMountain View’s happening Castro Street,students are pre-sented with a delicious dilemma regarding boba tea—there are two cafes serving the stuff on opposite sides ofthe street.Where should you go?

Intermission

is here to help you out.At the junction ofVilla & Castro,turning left will take you to Tapioca Express (TapEx),a franchise ofan interna-tional string ofboba cafes.The menu is abundant with sev-eral snacks as well as light meals,including chicken,porkribs and chicken steak.But don’t come here for the food.After trying the pasta primavera at another boba café andsampling some snacks from others in the area,my recom-mendation is to get your eats on somewhere else,especially since downtown Mountain View has a lot ofedible optionsto explore.While the food isn’t a good draw,TapEx has agreat feel to it—there’s abundant seating,full tables andpumping Asian music.The drink menu is huge,withoptions including flavored milks,juices,tea,thesnow bubble,yogurt,shaved ice and coffee.TapExdefinitely has the edge over Verde in terms ofcreativeboba flavors,with offerings including the familiarThai,strawberry and taro,but also Okinawa,Green Lei and chocolate milk teas.For theboba beginner,a good introduction to thedrink is taro or hot hazelnut.While TapExdelivers strong drinks,I tend to go for twoother reasons:(1) to study or talk withfriends,as TapEx is more spacious than Verde;or(2) ifVerde happens to be closed.Needing no introduction to the Stanford student pop-ulation,Verde Tea & Espresso Bar is the gold standard forStanford area boba.While sometimes crowded and oftenloud,the quality ofthe drinks here more than compensatefor the ambient noise ofthe cramped café.Having triedmost ofthe menu here,I’ve learned to stay away from theirsnack menu,where items are always drenched in grease.With that said,the Taiwan Thick Toast is really delicious,whether it is served plain,with peanut butter or with my favorite—coconut cream.As for the drinks,stay away fromsome ofthe more exotic sounding milk teas,such as roseand dark brick.Instead,experiment with other options,such as adding fruit,jelly or pudding instead ofboba pearlsto your favorite tea.When I go with friends,I recommendthe peach or hot taro,both with pearls.In downtown Mountain View,parking is plentiful andCastro Street is an excellent place to take an afternoon stroll.I encourage you to at least try the milk tea at both establish-ments,especially as these boba cafes are open nearly all day —both cafes open until 11:30 p.m.on weekdays andapproximately 1 a.m.on weekends.Also,it’s important tonote that TapEx is usually cash only,while Verde acceptscards but has a $5 minimum purchase limit.

— tommy TOBINcontact tommy: ttobin@stanford.edu

friday

may 08 2009

HAT

’

S WHAT

B.J. N

OVAK SAID

rowdedinto asmallauditorium,anaudience waitedin ravenousanticipation forthe comedic tal-ents ofB.J.Novak,a writer,producer andactor ofNBC’s hitshow “The Office.”The line outside forstudents sans ticketsstretched 50 bodieslong,while studentslucky enough to scoretickets during theweek filed into Annenberg Auditorium.The air was hum-ming with expectation when the ASSU Speakers Bureaufinally opened the show and introduced the two warm-upacts,both ofwhom are close friends ofNovak from college.Steve Jabson served as the MC and started a round ofbawdy humor.Dan Mintz,a writer for Comedy Central’s “ImportantThings With Demetri Martin,”had an amusingly deadpanmanner.His jokes,however,sounded like rejects fromCollegehumor.com.Fortunately,the opening acts were brief,and whenNovak walked out on stage the crowd erupted with applause.His first joke,a “That’s what she said,”won laughs from theaudience as a Pavlovian response.Later jokes about BenFranklin also recalled the TV show and the memorableepisode when Jim hires a Franklin impersonator.Novak sur-prised the audience by pulling an adorable frog hand puppetout ofhis briefcase for a sketch called “shy puppet.”The awk-ward humor in the puppet too hesitant to deliver a joke waspart entertaining and part uncomfortable,not unlike theatmosphere in “The Office.”Novak pulled offcountless one-liners with gusto.Twomemorable ones were:“I bet a crack house starts out as areally good party,”and “My girlfriend’s body is like poetry—it bores me.”Among clever witticisms about sleeping,flying,pandas and Wikipedia,Novak’s Spring Cleaning—a clear-ing-out ofjokes from years past that were written on notecards—stole the show.Ifthe audience didn’t respond to a joke,Novak would literally toss it into a garbage can on thestage.Yet he wasn’t tossing many,as nearly all his quips elicit-ed roars oflaughter from the crowd.With jokes about topics like Trident,Novak’s comedy stings like a bee and then sticks with you.Mr.Novak’spositive interactions with the crowd were showcasedwhen he handed his cards out to fans,notably when anaudience member was the only one in the room to giggleat a particular joke.“Mr.Novak was really funny,a true professional,incommand ofevery second on stage,”says Michael Brandt‘11,president ofSpiked PunchLine,Stanford’s stand-up troupe.Brandt wasespecially keen on Mr.Novak’s on-stage jokes about “The Office”as calling it “theelephant in the room.”Similarly,BjornRoach ‘11,who is a big fan oftheshow,thought Novak’s performancewas “funny,and he was a lot differentfrom his character in ‘The Office.’”Keeping with the animal theme,bears were the real winner ofthenight,according to Jeremy Keeshin ‘12,one ofthe founders of the Stanford Flipside,whose favorite jokes were those thatrevolved around polar bears and pandas.After the show,Novak took time to meet people fromvarious on-campus groups.Signing autographs and takingpictures before he left to go hang out at Blue Chalk in PaloAlto,Novak commented that he was quick to dye his hairback from the bleach-blonde featured on “The Office.”

— Meghan BERMANcontact meghan:meghanb@stanford.edu

photosby michael rooney