Stakes are low, but fun is high at guys' poker night

Whether it's three-, five- or seven-card, stud, draw or Texas hold 'em, guys like to get together to play cards, drink beer and watch sports.

That's what a few people were doing one night when I stopped by to see this small, albeit important, tradition.

The game was five-card. No wild cards. I would later be told that wild cards are "for pansies." The drink was Miller or straight bourbon, and it would not be long before all the players were talking loosely about the world, work and women. [Read article]

Four friends, four games and three systems equal high-tech fun

Four guys, a television and an apartment. Great idea for a sitcom?

More like the scene setting for a night that shows how far video games have come since their meager Pong beginnings.

Sixteen bits used to sound like it was pretty powerful back when "Duck Hunt" reigned on the original Nintendo. Nowadays, there are more bits on a cell phone that plays "Falling Numbers." [Read article]

When the temperature starts to drop, it's time to start thinking about having fun indoors. Here are some places offering old-school and new-school games:

Going on around Tucson & Campus

Today

Life Drawing Class - WomanKraft Art Gallery, 388 S. Stone Ave. Hone your skills at drawing the human form in this class with Gallery Director Gayle Swanbeck. 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. $15; $10 if you bring your own supplies. 629-9976.

"Bull In A China Shop" - Welsh Little Theatre, Canyon del Oro High School, 25 W. Calle Concordia. In this play, a gaggle of seemingly harmless old ladies tries to catch an attractive homicide detective's attention with - what else - a little homicide of their own. 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. $2. 696-5692. [Read article]

The sounds of the holiday season will ring out from St. Augustine Cathedral Sunday as the UA choral department presents its annual holiday concert. The Holiday Card to Tucson is a free concert (donations will be accepted) that will benefit the choral department and further the restoration of the cathedral.

Holiday music brings to mind "the uplifting message of hope, love and compassion for all people" for Lee Nelson, assistant conductor of the University-Community Chorus. Nelson is a choral conducting graduate student at the UA. "The music associated with the holidays conjures up this message in all of our minds, and the joy that it brings to all of our hearts," Nelson said. [Read article]

Seems like every time you flip on a local hip-hop radio station, they tell you how they play "the real hip-hop" right before a Color Me Badd song.

Which is exactly why UA Education graduate student and founder of 12 OX'N productions Solomon Freed will be presenting an East meets West underground hip-hop extravaganza. It will feature the Cali Agents alongside the much-hyped Jean Grae from New York City tonight in the Student Union Memorial Center. [Read article]

Exhibit displays semester of art work

The advanced photography class' "Coalesce" exhibit is the culmination of work for the student artists as they prepare to graduate.

The class is the senior photography capstone, and all students are fine arts majors.

Each student is exhibiting a project produced for the class. The artists were allowed to choose his or her media. The students produced work using traditional color and black and white photography, as well as silver-based photography, digital photos and 3-D installations. [Read article]

The UA student body may think it knows greek life, but if anyone in this town knows Greek life, it's Andreas Delfakis, executive chef and owner of Athens on Fourth Avenue.

The menu offers authentic dishes with recipes from different Greek regions and generations of Delfakis' family and friends. The main dining room offers a warm, elegant ambience. Simple white tablecloths drape each of the 10 or so candle-lit tables, effectively contrasting with the colorful photographs of Greece hanging on the walls and the eclectic vases and carafes accenting high shelves. [Read article]

Films about journalism get an unfair advantage because they are much easier to market.

You'll see commercials with great quotes from every critic in the country because, of course, journalists are going to love these movies, just like astronauts loved "Apollo 13." I mean, every astronaut I've talked to loves that movie.

Movies like "Almost Famous" and "The Paper" got great reviews, and now we have "Shattered Glass." [Read article]

Like many girls, I am a closet Sylvia Plath fan. She's one of those ubiquitous authors that precocious high school girls adore, just like J.D. Salinger and Jack Kerouac. Girls like me wore lots of black vintage clothing in high school. We talked about literature, and thought high school boys were immature. We read "The Bell Jar" and had dark thoughts about suicide and it's existentialist consequences. We recited Ginsberg poetry from memory and joined the young socialists of America. Well, some of us did. [Read article]

Blink-182
Self-titled
(Geffen Records)

"I've been here before a few times, and I'm quite aware we're dying," sings blink-182's Tom Delonge on "Always," a track from their new self-titled LP.

And blink-182 had been around the MTV block a few times, seeing what pop punk had to offer. But their comedy schtick was dead; even my 11-year-old brother didn't like them anymore because they were too "immature." [Read article]