El Caimán
Friends mourn the loss of UF graduate student
By CHELSEA KEENAN | Feb. 18, 2009Friends and classmates are mourning the loss of UF graduate student Shannon Kane, 22, who died in a car accident on Monday.
Gainesville escapes the worst of economic troubles
By HUNTER SIZEMORE | Feb. 18, 2009Gainesville has dodged the worst of the economic downturn so far, aided by the stability that Shands and UF provide, according to Jenny DuRant, a chamber of commerce spokeswoman.
Embrace your neighbor’s squeaky sex with laughter
By ASHLEY ROSS | Feb. 18, 2009Oh yeah, baby. Harder! Yes, yes, yes!
Album Review: Loney, Dear – “Dear John”
By ROBERT HILSON | Feb. 18, 2009Emil Svanängen is moving on up, literally. Having recorded his first album on a laptop microphone and CD-Rs in his mother's cellar, the Swedish popsmith now makes a big enough name for himself to afford real studio equipment, a high-end computer, and presumably, his own home. In keeping with the little-guy theme, "Dear John" comes off like techno-fied Belle and Sebastian - Svanängen sings in breathless, hushed tones, as if trying to carry on a conversation in a library after running a marathon. Most of these songs flirt with electronic chamber pop, veering at alternate forks into "Phantom of the Opera"-esque theatrics ("Harm") and somber, Postal Service dance tunes ("Summers," which would fit snuggly on "Give Up"). If there's a turnoff, it's that a lot of these tracks are too prettily twee for their own good, like a good-looking guy who never makes the first move. And winds up living in his parents' basement.
Local activists speak about Venezuela trip at CMC
By YVONNE AYALA | Feb. 18, 2009Nescafe, El Mundo and Pepsi labels dominate the Caracas skyline. Multi-colored homes form haphazard piles in the barrios climb up the city's hillsides.
Chemistry key against Alabama
Feb. 18, 2009Gators fans may be in for a treat tonight at 7 at the O'Connell Center when UF hosts No. 8 Alabama.
Gators back on track with win
Feb. 18, 2009The Gators are tired of chasing the past.
SG candidates discuss transparency, responsibility
By CHELSEA KEENAN | Feb. 18, 2009Three of the students running for Student Body president had their say Wednesday in the third and final debate hosted by The Independent Florida Alligator and UF's College Republicans. Candidates were publicly questioned in Turlington Plaza with the aim of educating students before the Feb. 24 and Feb. 25 Student Government elections.
Column overlooks Chavez’s positives
By Joe Richard | Feb. 18, 2009As a close observer of the massive social transformation currently taking place in Venezuela right now, I take issue with Eric Chianese's column Wednesday. Media pundits love to paint Hugo Chavez as a dictator, but look at the facts.
Brooks, Dotson to wrap up home careers this week
Feb. 18, 2009Home will be a welcome sight for Sha Brooks and Marshae Dotson.
Parties sling mud at elections complaints meeting
By CHELSEA KEENAN | Feb. 18, 2009Eight elections complaints were presented and voted on Wednesday night during a two-hour Student Government Elections Commission meeting.
UF looks to rebound in South Carolina tournament
By ANTHONY CHIANG | Feb. 18, 2009Much like a baby learning how to walk, the inexperienced UF women's golf team stumbled to the ground in its first event of the season.
Album Review: Dalek – “Gutter Tactics”
By ROBERT HILSON | Feb. 18, 2009If the election of President Barack Obama was a big can't-we-all-just-get-along inquiry to the good people of America, then "Gutter Tactics" is a scathing, unqualified "Hell no!" Or "not yet," anyway. Atop corrosive grooves tangled in haywire electronic beats, this Garden State duo spits tales of torture, war, civil rights abuses and the like, exposing every closeted sin, protesting all the wrongs that still need be righted. "Armed with Krylon" and "Who Medgar Evers Was" make up a suite of continuously devolving ambient rap that taps a well of run-for-your-life paranoia. The latter track works off a big, beefy drumbeat, spiraling feedback and lyrics about assassination. Indeed, this is dark stuff that takes nerve to slog through, and that's speaking nothing of the introductory monologue - a caustic, hell, fire and brimstone throwdown from the Rev. Wright himself. Or as Dalek likes to call it, "feel-good music."
SG’s inefficiency mirrors Capitol Hill
By JONATHAN LOTT | Feb. 18, 2009Ah, Student Government election season.
Festival showcases avant–garde films
By MARY MANCHESS | Feb. 18, 2009Random blurs of colors and images. There is static. The screen goes blank. The audience is confused.
Voters have big decisions to make before March election
By EMILY FUGGETTA | Feb. 18, 2009With two open commission seats and two proposed charter amendments on the ballot for the upcoming city election, voters have a lot to wade through on their way to the polls.
Personal vendettas reason enough to oppose candidates
By ERIK VOSS | Feb. 18, 2009It's funny how you're never really "done" with people in college.
Album Review: The Bird and The Bee – “Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future”
By ROBERT HILSON | Feb. 18, 2009Aside from an obvious flair for album titling (makes you want to shout, "'Ray Guns' are now, bitch!" doesn't it?), vocalist Inara George and soundboard extraordinaire Greg Kurstin also have a way with swinging '60s pop music set to fantastically modernized, yet still retro, production. Does this make sense? If not, think of "Ray Guns" as the aural equivalent to Disney's Tomorrowland - both create a future that will never exist by looking to tail-finned Cadillacs and moon landings as points of reference. This record awaits the mythical Year 2000, and in so doing, delivers groovy neo-psychedelia ("Ray Gun"), doo-wop era Motown complete with seductress spoken word bits ("Baby"), and breathy cocktail lounge balladeering ("Meteor"), all in a sleek electronic shell. "Diamond Dave," George's irresistible tribute to the great David Lee Roth, is not only the most catchy song here, but the only appropriate evidence by which to date this offering. It's Van Halen hero worship dressed in spacey beats and a plat-blond 'do, and as such, cooler than Judy Jetson in a discotheque.
Adams, McArthur lead versatile infield into new season
By CALLOVI< | Feb. 18, 2009Josh Adams had little idea what position he would play for most of last season, as he split time between six positions.