ARTS

DINOSAURS
City College's hallways may soon display a chronicle of prehistoric life

BY DAVID WHISLER
Contributing Writer

Jurassic College of San Francisco? It could be a reality if City College's Earth Sciences Department gets its wish for dinosaur fossils on loan from the California Academy of Sciences.

The life-sized T-Rex skeleton was one of the Academy of Sciences' more popular exhibits.

City College is in the running to receive pieces from the Academy's defunct "Life Through Time" exhibit. Other candidates include Chico State and CSU Humboldt.

The Academy, located in Golden Gate Park, will be closed through 2008 when a new facility will open in the park. Many of its current exhibits, including the Steinhart Aquarium, were moved to an interim location. This academy opens at 875 Howard St. in May and will remain until its new home in the park is ready.

The exhibits in "Life Through Time", however, will not have a place there.

The "vision for the new academy does not include them," City College earth science instructor Katryn Wiese said.

"Life Through Time" consists of large flat panel art pieces depicting the development of the Earth for the last 3.5 billion years, many large flat panel fossils and several full scale fossilized dinosaur skeletons.

City College is set to receive as many of the displays andl fossils as it can accommodate, Wiese said.

This finned dinosaur is an example of the panel fossils that City College might obtain.

The panels would be installed on the walls in the corridors throughout the Science Building, and the fossils will either be encased for display or integrated among the wall pieces.

"Every single department from engineering through to biology, chemistry, physics and astronomy wants to be a part of this," Wiese said.

She is cautiously optimistic because the loan is still pending approval from the Academy Board of Trustees, and she is hesitant to count her dinosaur eggs before they hatch.

"It's definitely a project in the making. There are no guarantees about anything at this point," she said.

Her long-term vision is to construct a new building at City College that would house a natural history museum and could accommodate the entire "Life Through Time" collection.

"This is meant to be something that the citizens of San Francisco can come to our campus to see," she said. "We would like to host it in partnership with the Academy of Sciences and have it be a place where education of the community can continue."

The exhibit also includes a flying dinosaur known as a pterosaur, whose skeleton has a wingspan of 30 feet. It is another piece that City College may obtain, and Wiese thinks it would look perfect hanging above the staircases in the Rosenberg Library.

Pat Kilduff, the Academy's marketing and communications manager, confirmed that City College is one of the institutions being considered. "We are pleased to be in preliminary discussions," she said.

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Brews and Smokes
Jim Jarmusch's latest film serves up comedic minutia comedy of trivialities

BY GENNADY SHEYNER
Editor

Wu-Tang Clan's RZA, aka Bobby Digital, is one of the musical stars in Jarmusch's latest indie film.

Looking for a break from the latest slew of high-budget epics? Jim Jarmusch's "Coffee and Cigarettes" will give you the buzz you're seeking.

Like Jarmusch's earlier films "Stranger than Paradise" and "Down by Law," this compilation of short comedic scenes operates largely in the realm of minutia, exploring everyday details that are both common and strange.

The film's bizarre conversations tackle a wide range of arbitrary subjects from International House of Pancakes' coffee to physics to alternative medicine. All these black-and-white vignettes have in common are brews, smokes and checkered tablecloths.

The film's cast is an all-star ensemble of actors and musicians, who perform with mixed results. The scene in which the White Stripes' Jack and Meg White discuss the work of Polish inventor Nikola Tesla is amusing for about a minute, but ultimately feels like a wasted opportunity. The uncomfortable conversation between rock legends Tom Waits and Iggy Pop at a jukebox bar succeeds all too well at involving the audience in its awkwardness. And while Cate Blanchett shines as both a posh snob and her jealous cousin, the act turns stale once the novelty of her dual performance wears off.

Other sketches, however, are pure pleasure. In a brilliant satire of Hollywood life, an arrogant Steven Coogan gives Alfred Molina (each playing himself) the cold shoulder, only to regret it once he overhears the amiable Molina receiving a phone call from a certain Hollywood "Spike." In another memorable scene, a coffee-gulping Roberto Begnini (perhaps the last person who needs caffeine) stutters through a conversation with the morbidly sluggish Steven Wright.

The film reaches its comedic zenith with "Delirium," a scene featuring Wu Tang Clan's RZA and GZA discussing music, medicine and blunt-smoking with a hyper waiter who just happens to be Bill Murray (or "Bill Mutha @!;*ing Murray," as GZA eloquently puts it). With its subtle humor, its exploration of cross-cultural dynamics and its fascination with the mundane, the scene in many ways epitomizes both the entire film and Jarmusch's body of work as a whole.

Like the products in its title, "Coffee and Cigarettes" is not for everyone. Fans of mainstream cinema may be put off by its fragmented structure and lack of plot, while Jarmusch loyalists expecting the depth and intensity of "Dead Man" and "Ghost Dog" might be disappointed by the film's light, improvisational approach. Overall, the film is fresh, fun and insightful, offering enough great acting and humorous writing to make most film-watchers thirsty for more.

Warning: If you are wrestling a caffeine or a nicotine addiction, this film will most certainly leave you fumbling for your thermos or lighter.

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THE RUNWAY

BY KHIAECIA KEY
Contributing Writer

ROSALIND KWAN / GUARDSMAN

It's not often that fashionistas get caught cooking, but students of City College's fashion coordination class served hefty helpings of eye candy to all in attendance at their "Sexy Vibrant Fashion" show at the Ocean campus cafeteria on April 27.

Less was definitely less and skin was in as the show opened with bikinis and short-shorts practically painted on the models. Also provoctively featured were micro-mini skirts, low-cut tops and ultra-sexy dresses.

One silver-speckled lurex dress had me considering a trip to Sin City just to have an excuse to wear something so... sinful. The plunging neckline evoked memories of the infamous dress J-Lo wore to the Grammys.

But the devil was in the details with show-stopping shoes. Black stilettos with ankle straps and

pink leather mesh pumps with a white athletic stripe were so hot they should have been labeled "wear if you dare."

All items featured in the "Sexy Vibrant Fashion" show are available at Buffalo Exchange in San Francisco at 1800 Polk St. and 1555 Haight St.