Well, the acrobatic people and the jugglers and the rest of the circus, minus the animals, have gathered up their fire and rope and other toys, escaped the tent and climbed onto the stage. [Read article]

You never got a chance to kiss the pretty girl or the hunky guy, you never streaked at a sporting event, and you never hurled yourself out of an airplane. [Read article]

Think globally, protest locally

War protestors (including the liberal Tucson media): please stop complaining about the impending war in Iraq and the global war on terrorism. We have to fight, or the fighting will come to us. [Read article]

In this fourth installment of the ever-popular video-board game Mario Party, Nintendo surprises us with awesome graphics and four-player fun. Sitting down with a group of people is hard enough to do when you are in

college, especially when it's coming down to the end of the semester, but when you do, try this game out. [Read article]

Grade: C
It is a common misconception among Americans that films in any foreign language must be good. And if we don't like them, it's because we just don't understand them.

Americans also have short attention spans, which would explain why Mexico's new "El Crimen del Padre Amaro," or, in English, "The Crime of Father Amaro," is so boring here. [Read article]

Grade: D & D
Betancourt: What would happen if you took the most pretentious, self-absorbed director in Hollywood and let him direct an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation?"

Utz: You'd get a couple of sexy and disoriented Hollywood actors wandering around a tin space vessel in silver latex jumpsuits wondering why everything is so strange. Every so often, they'll glance out the window at the pink planet pulsing in space, and then they'll turn and stare into the camera, with a really long what-the-hell-is-going-on-here gaze. [Read article]

He is watching. Well, only between classes. Remember the young Mexican guy with the good head of hair, Jesus Christ? Students have not seen him in awhile, but he used to stand on his cement podium in the middle of the UA mall. Dressed in khaki pants and a tucked-in button dress shirt, this blue-collar messiah is one of the many campus preachers who randomly appear. However, this one claims to be the one and only J.C. I have not run into Jesus Christ since the interview. Perhaps he landed a holiday job posing as Santa Claus at the mall, or maybe, just possibly, he is busy working miracles in peoples' lives on a daily basis. The day I met Jesus Christ, he was standing alone searching for his flock. [Read article]

Piebald is not just another band. They are the fun feeling that you get when you hear a new song on the radio and it rubs you just the right way. Piebald is full of pop music and strange lyrics that will leave you dancing and guessing at the same time.

I was able to speak with Piebald's lead singer and guitarist, Travis Shettel, who recently had throat surgery. The band has now regrouped and is embarking on a new tour that will bring them to Tucson on Saturday at the Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St. [Read article]

Grade: A
This is one man's hand I would like to shake. The author of "Fight Club" and "Choke," Chuck Palahniuk has written another daring novel with a plot that could never take place. However, just because the storyline is radically unreal, Palahniuk's "Lullaby" is believable.

"Lullaby" follows the life of Carl Streator, a middle-aged newspaper journalist. He is actually an interesting guy. Assigned to investigate a recent series of crib deaths in the community, he discovers that at every crime scene is a book of "Poems and Rhymes From Around the World," open to page 27. [Read article]