Shopaholic and Sister, Sophie Kinsella’s fifth novel and fourth installation in her Shopaholic series, showcases her ability to write enjoyable, humorous chick-lit.

The novel features Kinsella’s lovable heroine, Becky Brandon (formerly Bloomwood), a young English woman with a penchant for spending. The reader first meets Becky on a blissful tour-of-the-world honeymoon on which she has amassed an incredible array of souvenirs. Although she has enjoyed her honeymoon, Becky finds she yearns for home as she receives an invitation to the christening of her best friend Suze’s second child.

Becky finds her London life in disarray after her long honeymoon: Suze has a new best friend, her marriage is imperiled after her husband Luke discovers her haphazard spending on their honeymoon, and her father has discovered a long-lost daughter, Jessica, a fuddy-duddy geology freak who dare I say, “hates shopping!”

Fresh problems continue to arise for Becky, who must learn to face her problems-while looking fabulous with her Stila lipgloss and coveted Angel bag in tow, of course.

The real problem is this: Shopaholic and Sister is not Kinsella’s best writing. The plotline smells suspiciously of a soap opera and seems to have the same dashed-off quality of Shopaholic Ties the Knot, the worst of the series. For those who have never read Kinsella, stick to Confessions of a Shopaholic, Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, and her next-most-recent novel, Can You Keep a Secret? Those seeking substance needn’t pick up Shopaholic and Sister at all. However, Shopaholic-faithfuls will agree Kinsella has delivered a novel that glitters in a sea of poorly-written girlie trash that litters contemporary fiction shelves.

Hannah Bae can be contact at h.bae@umiami.edu.

The Statue

Oscar Nominations came out Tuesday and both Kinsey and Sideways got nods. Question is: Do we think busy boy Jamie Foxx will come out with a statue?

Births

A new club is opening its doors and this time, it’s to people not just of legal drinking age. Miami’s new club River opening up next to riverside restaurant Big Fish will cater to everyone ages 18 and up, promising a good vibe and good music.

Twin to downtown electro resident CLUB SPACE, CLUB Spin will open during the Winter Music Conference in what was once the Liquid Lounge.

COLD

For those of you who left the cold to flock to the warm sands and tropical beaches of Miami, be glad you’re not in a blizzard. Yet, tell any friends to stop by NYC’s Basta Pasta in Chelsea. Chef Toshi Suzuki has built an authentic igloo with seating for four, if anyone dares to brave the weather.

Expansion

American Apparel has finally expanded. Check out their new stores in Miami Beach for some classic tees, undies and polo shirts at reasonable prices. By the way, it’s neutral territory; they have great stuff for both guys and girls.

840 Ocean Dr. or 720 Lincoln Road www.americanapparel.net

Begun in 1997 with “I’ll Be Missing You,” a remake by Puff Daddy of the Police’s 1993 hit, “Every Breath You Take,” remixes took over the airwaves. Our generation has mastered the art of making what is old, new again. Apparently, this is not just in music but also in art.

The CUT/Film as Found Object exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art, located conveniently only 24 minutes away from campus, is the “I’ll be Missing You” of art works in a sense.

The artists of the exhibit have manipulated familiar films by editing, playing with lighting or adding sound (one of the exhibits played “Leaving on a Jet Plane” and I could not get the scene of Liv Tyler and Ben Affleck in Armageddon out of my head). I appreciate that the artists evoke a new and different emotional response by reworking the medium; I even support that the viewer is compelled to reconsider his or her knowledge or memory of particular movies or experiences with new and often disruptive representations of the same visual period.

Yet, I long for invention. Let’s create something really new, entirely exhaust the creative resources of the minds of artists in our generation and not merely recycle old material by having it resurface in new or manipulated form.

Omer Fast in his “CNN Concatenated” piece, however, makes a strong statement by manipulating CNN live news coverage. He takes single words from the mouths of newscasters and arranges them into dizzyingly fast fragments so that the news they deliver is far from the information found in the original newscast. Instead, the sentences the anchors form roll into paragraphs and speeches that plead with the viewer and justify their role in creating the American citizens’ current dependence upon news.

“Video Quartet” by Christian Marclay was also a valuable work of art appreciating music, as well as being a commentary on music’s transcendent effect on the musician. The piece involved the biggest television screen I have ever seen complete with four panels displaying four different video motifs. I watched as strangely enough all four screens had action and sounds, crescendo and decrescendo at corresponding times. Each screen displayed, if not standard music movies, example Amadeus or Mr. Holland’s Opus, then music scenes from classic movies (even Jimi Hendrix makes a brief appearance). The various scenes and sounds from the piece were reworked to compose “an original musical score.”

Although I agree that the artists were able to use pre-existing films to create new narratives, different emotional content and new musical scores, isn’t it time that we create something really new and stop remixing?

Melanie Klesse may be reached at m.klesse@umiami.edu

1. STYROFOAM

Nothing’s Lost

2. MATES OF STATE

All Day [EP]

“Once again, the awesome couple of Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel bring us a super-cute indie-pop release. i hope those two stay together forever. Beautiful EP.”

3. MONSTERS OF MORR MUSIC

Various Artists

4. BRIGHT EYES

I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning

“Two simultaneously released albums from Bright Eyes: I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning and Digital Ash Urn. Bright Eyes will be in Miami on Feb. 3. Listen to WVUM for ticket giveaways.”

5. LOW

The Great Destroyer

“Amazing upbeat LP from Low. if you like them, you won’t be disappointed at all; if you hate them, you might like this CD, because it actually sounds a bit different from their old stuff.”

6. MF DOOM

MM..Food

7. ULRICH SCHNAUSS

A Strangely Isolated Place

“Formerly of Morr Music, now on Domino, he keeps his experimental, leftfield electronics.”

8. PUFFY AMIYUMI

Hi Hi Puffy Amiyumi

“Straight from Japan the awesome girls from Puffy Amiyumi (Ami and Yumi) bring us their soundtrack to their own show on Cartoon Network. If you like their music, check their show Fridays at 7:30 p.m.; it’s great! ”

9. YOURCODENAMEIS:MILO

All Roads To Fault [EP]

10. JUNIOR BOYS

Last Exit

Ever since the iPod exploded onto the consumer market, the world has not stop falling in love with its sleek lines, tiny headphones and incredible capability to carry music, hold games and organize photos. To add to the phenomenon is LoadPod, a company that will load a customer’s entire CD collection onto their iPod, if it will fit.

According to the specs, LoadPod will pick up your whole CD collection, transfer it to iPod readable format, load it onto your iPod and return your collection and your newly musically loaded Pod to you in five days. To add to the allure, all of the transferring and loading is done locally, so customers don’t have to worry about shipping or possibly having CDs, CD cases or even their precious iPod damaged by rough handling.

While other services are similar, most ask customers to ship CD collections to a specific location, often times across the country. Unlike any other service provider, LoadPod does all their services locally, no matter where you live. Once they receive a service request, customers are contacted within 48 hours and the process begins.

The downfalls to passing along the laborious task of loading music onto an iPod are cost and preparation. While LoadPod does the work for you, it’s for a price. Divided into three different categories, prices range by the amount of CDs in the collection. In addition, all CDs must be in a sleeve, a case or a wallet. Reading the fine print, customers are also told that any CDs that are unreadable will still be accountable, regardless if they are able to load the music onto the iPod or not. Word of advice, check all CDs for scratches.

For more information check out www.loadpod.com. On the website you can find the service request form, an online store, if you don’t already have the technological phenomenon, and additional contact information.

Joanna Davila can be contacted at j.davila1@umiami.edu.

Tired of never seeing any actual music videos on MTV? Sick of hearing the same, over-played annoying pop songs again and again? Try A3-Alternative TV, “America’s first dance and progressive lifestyle channel.” It’s basically MTV-South Beach-style (and without all the crappy, yet blissfully addictive, reality shows). In fact, A3 doesn’t just have the style of South Beach-it’s about South Beach. A3 features programs on the hottest new DJs and world-famous dance music artists, music videos never before seen in the United States, as well as the best clubs on the South Beach scene.

A3 has dubbed itself “NightlifeTV” not just for the programs it features; but also for one fundamental element of the channel-it only airs at night. All night that is-from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. on channel 8. It also airs free from the annoying infomercials on practically all other stations and essentially free from commercials altogether. The only advertising you’ll see here is promotions for South Beach clubs, hotels and magazines centered on this same subject matter.

This far-from-ordinary channel was created by Justin “Buster” Altshuler, a rather un-orthodox guy himself. Buster gets his nickname from his time spent on the competitive jet-skiing circuit. Living his college years in the clubs of Boston, he became regionally famous for the freestyle dance he created and taught, even being named one of Boston Magazine’s “Fifty Most Stylish People.” Buster brought his knowledge of nightlife with him to the Miami area, and along with executive producer David Mardini, created A3 to spotlight Miami’s unique “after-hours” life.

The channel is certainly something only to be found in Miami and is perfect for the plethora of young, hot bodies residing in the area. A3’s show Wildlife is definitely informative in terms of bringing the masses (the channel reaches over one million viewers) into openings, parties and events they weren’t cool enough to be invited to. The music videos are certainly not that which would be found on MTV. The songs lean towards techno in genre, and feature very trance-y, club-y beats. The videos themselves give the feeling of mini-movies for those of an altered state of mind. It seems as though A3 would be the perfect channel to leave on in the background of a successful party. Think of it this way: not able to go to Bed or Joia tonight? Then let the SoBe clubs come to you.

Dani McNally can be contacted at d.mcnally@umiami.edu.

Despite recent exceptions like Fahrenheit 9/11 and Super Size Me, documentaries remain a very distant second to narrative films in the category of mass appeal. The public seems to think documentaries are all slow and boring, with little entertainment value. If this is the case, it should only take one viewing of a film like DIG! to change minds.

DIG! spans seven years in the lives of two up-and-coming indie rock bands, The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre [BJM]. Their story is a fascinating one, and director Ondi Timoner captures every juicy moment on camera.

“I started off with 10 bands, doing a story about art meets industry,” Timoner explains. “I heard the music of the Brian Jonestown Massacre and it was unlike any music I had ever heard at the time. I thought they were some band from the 60s I had missed.”

Timoner went to Portland, Ore., to meet the BJM’s wildly eccentric lead singer, Anton Newcombe, who announced that his band would soon be taking over her film. He introduced her to Courtney Taylor, a friend, inspiration and lead singer of another Portland rock band, The Dandy Warhols.

From there, Timoner and a small crew followed the two bands everywhere, filming, as she puts it, “Everything that makes up a life.” Her goal was to avoid making a documentary that looked back on the action it covered, instead hoping to move along with it, like a narrative film would. She succeeded brilliantly, and the result netted her the Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, arguably the top honor for an independent documentary in the world.

The reason DIG! is able to be both entertaining and thorough at the same time is a credit not only to Timoner, whose editing is top notch, but also to the stories of the two bands. Newcombe makes good on his promise to take over the film by being as self-destructive as possible, ruining concerts and friendships with little remorse. Taylor, on the other hand, is a smart businessman, and while the BJM are still playing in front of a few dozen people, The Dandy Warhols are signing with Capitol Records and are seemingly on their way to stardom. The success of the Dandys angers Newcombe, especially given his disapproval of their first semi-hit, the fairly mainstream “I Never Thought You’d Be a Junkie.”

Given a general description, Newcombe could seem like any other spoiled rock star, but he’s not, and that’s what makes DIG! more than just another fun and trashy rock doc. Newcombe is deeply troubled, but not entirely unlikable, and this causes sympathy for him instead of outright hatred. Taylor, an egotist in his own right, looks like a saint next to Newcombe, and as a result, he cooperated fully with the film, helping Timoner to promote it and lending his voice to the narration. Newcombe, on the other hand, posted a tirade on his website, calling the film a “misrepresentation,” and saying he felt “ripped off.”

Timoner was not surprised when Newcombe responded negatively to the film. “I would expect it to be hard for him to look in the mirror,” she says, also mentioning his tendency to “rewrite history instantly.”

For all his mistakes and bad behavior, Newcombe is considered by most to be nothing short of a musical genius. He plays a seemingly endless amount of instruments, sings, writes and mixes-tracks himself. Taylor, himself a unique talent, readily admits that Newcombe is better than him, even after their friendship has fallen apart. An observer notes that they both wanted to be each other, but whether Newcombe really wants to change is debatable.

DIG! is one of the best documentaries of the year, and one of the best stories about rock music ever put on film. Part of the credit belongs to Newcombe for screwing up so badly so many times, but the 2000 hours of footage would have been useless in less-capable hands. Timoner spent the better part of a decade on DIG!, and finished editing the same week her first child was born.

Asked for her advice to up-and-coming documentary filmmakers, Timoner says, “Finish what you start. If you believed in it at one point, don’t give up.”

Looking back, Timoner realizes that DIG! has done much more good for its subjects than bad, even if Newcombe won’t admit it. “Generally, I think they were grateful for the attention,” she says. “They weren’t really that well known before this. I think Anton is probably very pleased to be acknowledged.”

>> DIG! celebrates its Miami premiere at the Bill Cosford Cinema on Friday, Jan. 28. Director Ondi Timoner will answer questions after the first showing at 8 p.m. Other screenings are scheduled throughout the weekend. Contact the Cosford for showtimes.

Shawn Wines can be contacted at s.wines@umiami.edu.