COMING TO REED ARENA * TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY COLL E G E S T A T I O N • TEXAS Don't Miss the Fun at the 2002 Texas BEST Championship! November 22-23, Reed Arena Friday KBTX-TV 3 Distinguished Speaker Program Fred Haise, Apollo 13 Astronaut "Failure is Not an Option" 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Presentation will include video clips of the mission Autograph session to follow Apollo 13 by James Lovell available for purchase Free admission Millennium Saturday 60 robots from top-placing high school and middle school teams in Texas and 6 other states will compete to see who is best-of-BEST at this year's Championship! Robot competition 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Morning and afternoon matches Special exhibits from Texas A&M University and Texas BEST teams open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free admission Sponsors: Accenture The Boeing Company Texas Instruments Texas A&M University www.texasbest.org Friday, November 22. 2002 ACCIU THE 'Friday After Next Ice Cube's newest 'Friday' movie opens tok Courtesy of KRT - Me. Cube. Just chillin’ in a Jewish delicatessen in West Hollywood. Ice Cube has built up a serious appetite dur ing a hectic morning that began early wdth an appearance with an overstimulated happy news crew at a local television station — one of the anchors rightfully said Cube was too cool for the room — and ended with a stop at a popular radio station. The rapper-actor-writer- producer-director, whose new holiday-themed movie, Friday After Next, opens this Friday (not next Friday or the Friday after next), orders two lunches. His burly bodyguard, sitting across the aisle at his own table, orders the same. Cube (that’s what friends and reporters are asked to call him) is promoting his movie in every way imaginable. He’s doing newspaper interviews, magazine interviews, television interviews, radio interviews, personal appear ances on hip TV shows and even personal appearances on not-so- hip TV shows. The Friday franchise is a lucrative one — the first two. Friday and Next Friday, have generat ed about $200 million in revenue — but there are even higher expectations for the third installment, and the reason is Barbershop. That film, which Cube starred in and pro duced. came out of nowhere a few months ago to make about $80 million at the box office, or nearly seven times what it cost to make. It also sparked a Hurry of negative publicity when civil rights leaders attacked a scene in the movie in which a barber (played by Cedric the Entertainer) makes fun of the Rev. Martin Luther King. Rosa Parks and other icons of the civil rights movement. “It was a non-issue." an unsmiling Cube said between bites of a chicken finger dipped in bar becue sauce. "It was much ado about nothing. It was a fictional character in a fictional movie. I think some people are taking themselves too seriously. I learned that if you take yourself too seriously, nobody else will.” Although Cube began his acting career on a serious note and has continued wdth dramatic work (Three Kings, Anaconda, Trespass), he is better known for his comedies, which include the two Friday movies and The Flayers Club, his directorial debut. He also produces many of his films through his production company, Cube Vision I he rapper-mogul said he has nopref* 1 as to w hat kinds of movies he will pi. f duvet, write or star in after Frida? •1 like to watch comedies,dramasaJ nun .es, so I want to do those kinds of J Nobody wants to hear me talkingaboniJ m - to be a serious dramatic actor. TlieyS want to like my movies when theyconi After the tremendous success of the U Friday mov ies, a third was inevitable. Since " was supposed tocomeoetaj the holidays. Cube (mured a Christma^l might be appropriate. 1 " 1 here has never been a Christmas®, about the hood.” he said. "All Iveever^ l ast Coast Christmas movies with little ns kids playing in the snow. That hasnothir, w ith w hat I remember about Christma> ”1 thought we could kill two birdsrt* stone by giving people a different view if Christmas and. at the same time,givetk Friday franchise a paint job.” In hriday After Next, which Cubew® produced, he and his cousin (played by fie Fpps) get jobs as security guards inabrcte dow n mall after a thief dressed as SantaCa breaks into their apartment and robs their. Along the way. they meet upwiththei Friday assortment of strange characters* inhabit the 'hood. In fact. Cubes comedies often poke fa members of his ow n ethnic group. “Nobody really escapes the humor,"tie\ "That’s w hat makes it OK: it’s not one-sided! make fun of everyone. All I worn about is it’s fimny. Fm not try ing to do social comrEr "As for why I do so many jokes aboti pie in the hood, 1 think it s easier forst to make jokes about his own communitu out it being considered offensive. "Jewish comedians can make jokes ah:: Jewish people without someone thinking anti-Semitic. Italian comedians candotks w ith Italian people. And people whoma):- of their own do it the best because they! their own people the best. Stereotypes be;: stereotypes because there is anelemenu in them. "What we laugh about in these movie, same stuff that usually makes us cry. | A&M gc Tha Mike Epps, left, and Ice Cube star in the newest Friday movie, Friday After Next, I’HOTO COCRTBVOlf which hits theaters^ GOOD. BOOK FOR* A vBUCK! jf/c/ire/'se selection oj slightly dcttnagecl hooks from $1.00 to ■ plus discounts from 20 to f)l5°/o while supplies hist Texas A&M University Press Warehouse Book Sale November 22 and 23 Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. No further discounts apply. All sales final. Once again we’re opening our warehouse to the public to offer wide variety of books for everyone o your holiday list. Bring check, credi card, or cold cash to the warehouse entrance of the John H. Lindsey Building, one block off George us Drive between the Texas A&M go course and the alumni center. Texas A&M University Press www.tamu.edu/upress eds. Av Persons witli disabilities, please call 845-1436 in advance to inform us of you