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Will Ferrell has been in the funny business long enoughto polarize audiences. He blows up every professionhe parodies like a balloon and lets his movies deflatethem, from news anchors (“Anchorman”) to NASCARdrivers (“Talladega Nights”). With “Semi-Pro,” Ferrelltargets a pre-NBA American Basketball Association inthe ‘70s. Cue the funky soundtrack, jive talk and retrofashions. His bumbling showman character Jackie Moonis advertised as the main character, but in actuality thecomedy is passed between over a dozen comedians on theensemble team. Moon owns the Tropics, an ABA team based in Flint, Michigan, that he bought with the money from being aone-hit wonder on the radio. When the ABA and NBA announce a merger, the Tropics’ only chance for survivalas a team lies in proving they can win enough gamesand ﬁll enough seats to be taken seriously. Moon inventsplenty of giggle-worthy gimmicks, from a tropical half-time dance to wrestling a bear, but how will the Tropics win games? Training the team falls to Monix (Woody Harrelson), achampionship benchwarmer from the Celtics. Harrelson’shalf of the story is dramatic, as he tries to reclaim someof his lost glory from years past, as well as the heart of hisformer lover (Maura Tierney). He and Ferrell take turnsleading the movie as dark-comedy coach and light-heartedmascot, respectively, with cameos from across the humorbusiness. A partial list of the scene-stealers includes Will Arnett, Rob Corddry, Tim Meadows, Andy Richterand Matt Walsh. Their scenes will generate as many college-oriented T-shirts as any involving Ferrell. Thecombination would be genius if not for the sketch-comedy and dramatic legs of the movie tripping each other. The funny parts occur on sets that could have beenused for “Saturday Night Live” skits, which means thelaughs are delivered in a line of small bites, compared tothe more elaborate or fantastical set-ups of Ferrell’s past works. Harrelson’s subplot lends the movie heart, but notenough in its limited run time. Andre Benjamin’s “Black Coffee” character deserves more screen time instead, butit feels tacked on due to underexposure. What do three stars say? Two or less would condemna comedy, and four or more would mean it was a gut-buster—three looks like a “meh” by comparison. Badcomedies are often funnier as self-torture than one that isonly “kind of” funny. Make no mistake: “Semi-Pro” would be as strong acomedy as past Ferrell movies, except it’s not his to own.He’s happy to let his name draw an audience, but themovie (like the Tropics) scores based on team effort.

PAGE 5TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 2008

Dr. Ruth Westheimer will be in the Russell House Ballroomtoday at 8 p.m. to talk about sex.For over 25 years, Dr. Ruth has been defying all socialnorms with her self-titled show and many books. She is knownpredominately for her all-around bluntness as well as for her jokes and good advice.Dr. Ruth now an 80-year-old psychosexual therapist, beganto lead the way in media psychology with a short 15-minutesegment that aired at midnight in 1980 on WYNY-FM (NBC)in New York. It then graduated to an hour-long show wherepeople would call in to Dr. Ruth, as she became known. The show proved to be successful, and from there thedoctor became available in all sorts of ways: books, television,newspapers, a Web site and even games all around the world.Listeners are encouraged to ask questions in order to get theinformation they are looking for. In return, Dr. Ruth willinform you of all you need to know as respectfully as onecan. The presentation, “Sexually Speaking with Dr. Ruth Westheimer,” is anticipated to be informative, interesting andeventful. All are free to ask questions, sit back and just take inthe information or come by after the show and purchase all you need to know in her book, “Sex for Dummies.” The eventis free to USC students, faculty and staff, and no tickets arerequired. Be ready to “ask Dr. Ruth.” When Liz Enthusiasm was asked to join Freezepop in 1999, she was coolto the idea, and a bit suspicious.“I had never been in a seriousband,” said the singer-lyricist born Jussi Gamache from her home inBoston. “I wondered, `Why is thisguy getting in touch with me? I’m agraphic designer, not a musician.’ ““This guy” was KassonCrooker, Freezepop producer- vocalist-programmer The Duke of Pannekoenen, and he was part of afairly well-known Boston alt-rock trio called Splashdown. And though Enthusiasm, a 1994Boston University grad, was “happy”doing graphic design for her almamater’s alumni publication while working on a master’s degree (whichshe got in 2000), she eventually signed on with the Duke’s electro-pop outfit. What helped Enthusiasm overcomeher standoffishness?First, she found out that Crooker’scall was arranged by her roommate,Sean T. Drinkwater, Freezepopsynthesizer player-programmer- vocalist The Other Sean T.Drinkwater.“He and The Duke knew eachother from the Boston music scene,”said Enthusiasm. “He answered thephone when Duke was trying to reachme. That was back in the days when we didn’t have cell phones.” Though Enthusiasm claimed“joining a band is something I neveraspired to,” she admitted, “I alwayshad fun on stage in the [hobby] bandsI was in, especially a cheesy `60s-style girl group that played originalmusic.” At first, Freezepop was just “a funlittle side project” that was run out of the Duke’s Yamaha QY-70 battery-powered sequencer. “Then, we werekinda like, `Let’s see what happens.Let’s do this and this and see how big we can grow,’” said Enthusiasm. Two self-released albums — 2000’s“Freezepop Forever” and 2004’s“Fancy Ultra-Fresh” — helpedturn Freezepop into a major playerin video-game soundtrack circles.Since 2001, Freezepop’s music hasbeen included on such hit music-heavy games as “FreQuency” and“Karaoke Revolution” (both used“Science Genius Girl”); “DanceDance Revolution ULTRAMIX3” (“Stakeout”); “Rock Band”(“Brainpower,” “Super-Sprøde”);“Guitar Hero” (“Get Ready 2 Rokk”)and “Guitar Hero II” (“Less Talk More Rokk”).Now Freezepop is trying toconnect to a wider audience with anew album of catchy, `80s-tingedsynth-pop, “Future Future FuturePerfect,” which was released on Sept.25 on a label, Cordless, distributed by Rykodisc.“So far, video games are themain way people hear of us,” saysEnthusiasm. “But we’ve gone way beyond initial expectations.” And, no doubt, it hasn’t hurtthat Crooker is audio director atHarmonix, which makes “FreQuency”and the “Guitar Hero” series.“We’ve been told by some people, `You guys don’t even play guitar. What are you doing in this game?”said Enthusiasm. “I don’t know if wereally have a good answer to that. Onthe first [“Guitar Hero” soundtrack], we added a guitar part to our song.Until they make a `Keyboard Hero’game, we are limited in our options.” Although she doesn’t writemusic, Enthusiasm pens almost allof the lyrics. “I try to keep themlighthearted, but not overtly jokey. Then I give them to the boys andthey move things around and makethings fit...We walk a line. We want itto be fun, but not novelty music.”Freezepop succeeds brilliantly on “Pop Music Is Not a Crime,” which calls to mind the infectiousconfections of M (“Pop Muzik”),Lipps Inc. (“Funkytown”) and TheBuggles (“Video Killed the RadioStar”).Enthusiasm denies Freezepopintended to echo those `80s synth acts. And for the lyrics, “I was thinking, `What do I write a song about now? Where do I go from here?’ I’ve alwaysstruggled with [writing]. I’m not oneof those super-prolific people. I waspoking fun at the fact that most of oursongs are not about heavy subjects.” Maybe heft isn’t Enthusiasm’sstrong suit. But the synth-pulsed“Less Talk More Rokk” and therevved-up “Brainpower” are surely worth 100 intellectual exercises. The former, sung in an inviting yet insistent coo, was inspired by asweltering summer basement party in Boston.On “Brainpower,” Freezepopsounds like The Donnas gone disco.“We jokingly refer to it as our punk-rock song,” says Enthusiasm. “It’s atrue story. I did get drunk and say that Brainpower would be a really funny name for a band!... It’s also acool thing to shout at shows.”“Thought Balloon” is a decidedchange of pace, a positively charmingtune about a tongue-tied singlepining for another, while “Do YouLike Boys?” is provocative in itssexual ambiguity.“It’s a cover song,” said Enthusiasmof “Boys.” “It was written by friendsof ours in the Danish band Si Senor. They have a guy singer, but the song works with either gender.”

“Tere are people who exist in this world not like entities but like the speckles or spots on something.” – Nikolai Gogol

Sex doctor visits USC

Dr. Ruth Westheimer comes to Russell House,answers questions, gives tips on how to ‘do it’

Sarah Bartoletta

THE DAILY GAMECOCK

Courtesy of

MCT Campus

Dr. Ruth, a.k.a. sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer, is back with an updated edition of“Sex for Dummies.”

Comments on this story? E-mail sagcketc@mailbox.sc.edu

Courtesy of

MCT Campus

Will Ferrell steps into some short shorts for his role as ABA basketball player Jackie Moon in “Semi-Pro.”

‘

Semi-Pro’ hit-or-miss

comedy

Ferrell advertised as star in latest ﬁlm, fails to outshine equally talented ensemble

Thomas Maluck

MOVIE REVIEWER

"Semi-Pro"

★★★

out of

✩✩✩✩✩

Freezepop enthusiastic about new album

Indie band connects to audience with ‘80s-tinged synth-pop’ CD

Len Righi

MC Campus

SAN JOSE, Calif. — What’s a movie withoutpopcorn? According to a neweconomic analysis, it wouldbe a lot more expensive. As one price goes up, theother comes down. So ratherthan cursing the cost of yournext bag of buttered popcorn,take comfort in the fact thatit subsidizes your ticket— and helps fill seats, say researchers at the University of California-Santa Cruz andStanford University. Moviegoers aren’t beinggouged at concession stands,the researchers conclude.Rather, the high cost of snacks helps keep ticketprices down, which allowsmore people to attend. The researchers’ analysis— based on data fromthousands of showings at 43multiplex theaters in 30 citiesin a ﬁve-year period — shows why a couple of hours in thedark with Daniel Day-Lewiscosts only twice as much as abox of Milk Duds. They say that some die-hard film buffs will watchmovies — and eat popcorn— no matter what the cost.But for many of us, theticket price matters. We’llskip the snacks, thank you.“The theater owner hastwo choices. He can makemoney through admissiontickets or he can make money through concessions,” saidUCSC economist RicardGil. “If he wants to makemoney on the ticket, thatmay deter a lot of peoplefrom coming in.“So instead he charges ahigher total price on people who are willing to pay forthe whole movie experience,”said Gil, an enthusiasticconsumer of both moviesand snacks. “And he’s able tocharge a lower price for theguy who can barely affordit.”If movie popcorn werefree, Gil estimated, eachticket could cost at least 25percent more — boostingthe price of a $10 show to$12.50. At that price, familiesmight stay home with theirDVDs and Jiffy Pop.

Courtesy of

MCT Campus

Boston synth-pop band Freezepop, from left, The Other Sean T. Drinkwater,Liz Enthusiasm and The Duke of Pannekoeken, releases new album.

Popcorn’s cost helps keepmovie ticket prices down

Cinema lovers pay fair charge for night out at theater

Lisa M. Krieger

MC Campus

Diane Bondareff

Associated Press

Actor Steve Zahn uses hiscredit card to buy popcorn.

Comments on this story? E-mail sagcketc@mailbox.sc.edu