8 MATTI SCANNELL ae@technewsiit.com Clash of the Coffee Houses: Jackalope vs. Bridge By Matti Scannell A&E EDITOR With finals just around the corner, the search for new study locations begins. The following is a comparison of two local Bridgeport coffee shops. Jackalope Coflee and Tea House: The new kid on the block, Jackalope opened this past fall. Tucked near the end a cul—de—sac on 32nd street, east of Halsted, Iackalope’s decor is as playful as its mythical namesake. The walls are bright, the art furniture decorated with squirrels in ties. There are two tip jars that have varying labels. They may give you the option of laws and Jurassic Park or possibly Rolling Stones and The Beatles. Given the friendliness of their staff and their moderate prices, you may even feel motivated to support both tip jars. The coffee served at Jackalope is Metropolis, a Chicago—based coffee company and the pastries and donuts are from Bridgeport Bakery While in many cases supporting local businesses can often mean paying more, in the case of Jackalope a coffee and a donut will cost you about what it would cost at Dunkin Donuts. An added benefit of getting a donut and coffee from Jackalope as opposed to Dunkin Donuts, is that Metropolis and Bridgeport Bakery have never burned orangutans alive in the process of procuring palm oil for their products (look it up, kids!) In short, you should go here if: you are meeting friends, you like donuts with sprinkles and drinking out of tiki glasses, Movie Review: or you can study in a room with neon green walls while My Bloody Valentine is playing. Bridgeport Coflee: Located at 31st and Morgan, Bridgeport Coffee was opened in 2004. Should these two coffee shops ever be incarnated I imagine that Bridgeport Coffee would be the Birkenstock—wearing, farmer’s market— shopping neighbor to a Converse—wearing, candy—for—breakfast Jackalope. Bridgeport Coffee baristas are friendly, if less outgoing, than those at Jackalope. If you are not of the “if it tastes ok, I’ll drink it” variety of coffee drinkers you may find the coffee philosophy of Bridgeport Coffee more to your liking as they have eleven different single-origin coffees in addition to their five artisanal blends. There is a coffee club that meets at Bridgeport Coffee on a regular basis which leads to the assumption that Bridgeport Coffee must be somewhat persnickety in their coffee preparation unless this coffee club just wanted access to several of Bridgeport Coffee’s limited tables. In addition to your standard pastries, Bridgeport Coffee also serves oatmeal and sandwiches, which makes studying there for long periods of time more feasible. You should go here if: you want to study someplace quiet but with more background noise than the Galvin but less background noise than the MTCC, you don’t mind paying more money for coffee as it is fair trade, you are planning on studying for a long time or are hungry for something more substantial than a pastry ‘Skyfall' stays true to classic Bond By Ashish Zachariah TECHNEWS WRITER After five decades of the Bond legacy, Ian Fleming’s latest novel to hit screens to complete another revolution, directed by Sam Mendes who brings a tailored View, to celebrate half a century of the Bond—world is “Skyfall.” The plot takes you through a lot of twists and turns comprising of action and emotions along the way and the main story revolves on Bond getting to know himself. The entrant scene of the film begins with a hard— drive containing the lists of all special agents of the Mi6 being taken by a terrorist organization to take revenge on the head of the secret service Agent M playedby (Dame Judi Dench) and James Bond played by (Daniel Craig) who faces near death and then resurrects to finish the mission. Bond takes a fall into a surreal after being shot by fellow agent Eve (Naomie Harris) after a pace of real rustic punches packed along the train chase, which makes the audience clenched to their seats shown cleverly by the cinematographer Roger Deakins. The opening credits show a macabre sequence and synced with the Adele song (“Skyfall”), which is sure to be a hit with everyone considering the rustic tone and constant catchy words. I have totally fallen in love with the song and you tend to sing with it it every time. The antagonist in this is the mystery man Silva who has schemed a revenge plot on M and releases the list of the special agents on the hard—drive on the public network to threaten them and seek vengeance by blowing up the Mi6 HQ. Going into details of the action scenes are impeccable which starts from Turkey market considering many more being shot there recently like “Taken 2” and “Argo.” 007’s past haunts him as he has a lot of questions, which go unanswered, and this revolves along with the story towards the end as he goes to his ancestral home to finish off the final part of the movie. Not that many of the gadgets are shown, compared to the other Bond flicks but the slick Aston Martin comes up in a swankier manner. The picturesque location from London to Shanghai, goes back and forth, but blends well with the story as it goes. Craig’s tenure as James Bond is impressive from the start of “Casino Royale,” but had given a slag in performance in “Quantum of Solace.” and has matured well with “Skyfall.” Berenice Marlohe’s as the “woman of mystery” has a few good scenes with the usual dialogue, i.e. “shaken not stirred,” but the main Bond girl here is M who is harassed by bureaucrats and politicians who want her to retire, but has to stay in office to cope with her own nightmare legacy. Iavier Bardem’s Silva, the villain, makes a grand entrance, walking slowly from the back of the frame to the foreground while delivering a parable about rats in a barrel, then gets deeper under Bond’s skin, prodding him into reflections about his drink and pill dependency, and sexual identity which would have made Sean Connery twitch a bit. Fleming’s dark Silva, is a character with a hidden deformity, but adds in a little dictator vibe (especially in a sequence set under London Metro) and even becomes a horror movie slasher for a surprising climax towards the end. M’s political rival Gareth Mallory (Ralph Fiennes) plays it ambiguously, but gets some good scenes later half, and there’s a reinvention of the role of Q, played by Ben Whishaw, who is now the spooks’ the computer whizz. Albert Finney brings warmth and gravitas to a key role in the home stretch showing that age doesn’t matter for action. Skyfall is pretty much all you could want from a new era of the Bond collection: respectful of tradition, but apt to the moment, contains all the elements of a classy bond film, serious in its thrills and relatively complex in its characters but with the tinge of fun that hasn’t always been evident lately. But after all, James Bond will return. . . TechNews | Tuesday, November 13, 2012 port Coffee CAPPUCCIN“ .5- . Bridgeport Coffee Company (top) & jackalope Coffee & Tea House (bottom) Images courtesy of thecofieetyrant.blogspot.com & redeyechicago.com What's 0.“ Molli Scannellss playlist? iF'u-::'?"El:-1F.' ."I."'.i A Change is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke I’ll Try Anything Once - The Strokes It’s Raining - Irma Thomas Come Wander With Me - Jeff Alexander Where is My Mind (Pixies Cover) - Maxence Cyrin More Than This - Roxy Music Over The World - French Kicks You Don’t Own Me - Lesley Gore Pain In My Heart - Otis Redding Sad Eyed Lady of The Lowlands (Bob Dylan cover) - Phoenix Don’t Watch Me Dancing - Little Joy Love Theme from Kiss - KISS Happy Birthday - Ryan Adams & The Cardinals I Had to Tell You- The 13 Floor Elevators —' H! II ”I playlist b particularly -Getnmoredili1§li‘@ What’s on your playlist? Email ae@technewsiit.com to submit your own.