The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Thursday, January 8, 2009 - 3B

A better way to
eat healthy

The University's recording studio is located on North Campus in the Duderstadt.

Showcasing a new
generation of talent

t' all light!" is the large
caption on the Everyday
Food magazine I recently
received. Light? I might have to
burn this issue.
If you love
food, then it's S
sacrilegious to
diet. But, just
as you've done
for the past
four New Years,
you've resolved KARA
to absolutely, MORRIS
positively lose
weight this year. So how long will
you be able to keep up with the
cabbage soup diet or the I0-day
Master Cleanse lemonade purge?
One of the greatest pitfalls
of dieting is that it's difficult to
stick with it. Primarily, restric-
tion causes food binging. Who
wouldn't want to eat an entire
carton of ice cream after throw-
ing back cayenne pepper-laced
lemonade for 10 days? And fad-
diet ingredients can be difficult
to obtain. Many are too expensive
or just plain revolting; try finding
milk thistle or acai berry at Meijer.
And who has the time - or the
perseverance - to write down and
tabulate every calorie consumed?
Dieting can also have unhealthy
effects on the body. Quick, "lose-X-
pounds-in-Y-days" diets promise
rapid weight loss, but eliminate
little besides water. Similarly,
"500-calories-a-day" diets will
mainly rid you of your energy.
Even if you have the gumption to
stick it out, restrictive diets can
lead to malntriion and an unsat-
isfying relationship with food.
Finally, forthe love of food,
dieting is not for the foodies. Many
diets and magazines try to offer
customized meal plans and recipes
that revolve around sugar substi-
tutes and low fat stand-ins. While
the effectiveness of fake sugars
like aspartame and saccharin is
debatable, incorporating a few
low-fat products into one's diet
won't cure an unhealthy eating
style. And, though some maga-
zines offer good recipe ideas, lock-
ing oneself into any magazine's
customized meal schedule allows
little room for culinary explora-
tion.
Are you willingto sacrifice
dairy, red meat, carbs or alcohol?
Save yourself the trouble and
adapt a lifestyle change. Because,
like Wendy Darling, one day you'll
have to grow up; you'll want to
adapt a lifestyle that will keep you
happy, healthy and at a reasonable
weight. Eventually you might also
have to cook for someone else -
and I wouldn't bet on that person
enjoying flax seed paste.
So here's a way to permanently
enjoy food without dieting.
First, and most importantly,
aim to achieve balance throughout
each meal, day and week by incor-
porating reasonable portions of
each food group. You don't have to
cover the entire food pyramid in
one meal, of course, but you should
work to achieve equilibrium by the
end of the day. If you ate too much

bread at lunch, eat more fruit and
vegetables for dinner.
If you eat or drink too much
one day, just cut back the next.
Try to listen to your body; if
you're still full from the previous
night, your stomach will tell you
to eat a smaller breakfast and
lunch the next day. Aim to eat for
pleasure and not for weight loss,
especially if you're trying to shed
a few post-holiday pounds. If you
can incorporate in moderation
those foods you enjoy the most,
you'll be less likely to overin-
dulge and feel guilty about your
food choices later. You don't have
to cut out your favorite foods -
just cut back.
It's also important to take on
good eating practices, like sitting
down while eating or eating at
regular meal times. By adapting
such practices, you will learn to
slowly savor your food, encour-
aging fullness and healthy diges-
tion. It may seem like common
sense, but our fas-paced Ameri-
can lifestyle often leads us tolose
touch with proper eating tech-
nique, causing us to focus on the
television or computer instead of
our meal.
Learning to cook for yourself
also helps you get acquainted
with your food and appreciate
the ingredients you put into your
body. The most successful way
I've taught myself how to cook is
The downside to
typical dieting.
by trying a new recipe every time
I go to the grocery store. Pick out
one recipe or meal and write the
ingredients on your shopping list.
By eating meals you've prepared,
you'll be taking in less junk and
fewer processed foods, which are
more easily broken down than
non-processed food and have the
undesirable effect of being more
easily stored as fat.
Finally, share food with
friends and family, and work
with those you live with to adapt
a more holistic eating style. One
of the reasons programs like
Weight Watchers are so suc-
cessful is because they teach
a new lifestyle and encourage
participants to share their expe-
riences with others. Whether or
not you're trying to lose a few
pounds, a great way to de-stress
and enjoy the company of others
is over a good meal.
Adapting these practices will
help you be happier about your
food choices and will serve you
for the rest of your life. Without
touching any flax seed paste,
you'll be able to keep at least one
of your New Year's resolutions.
Morris just wants your flax seed
paste. Tell her why she can't have
it at karamorrisdumich.edu.

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ampus studio some musical chops.
The University offers another
'fers students a option, though. It may be a little-
known fact outside of the School of
ince to cut their Music, but North Campus is home
to a state-of-the-art recording stu-
own record dio, fully stocked with the latest
equipment and a recording label
By WHITNEY POW called Block M Records.
Senior Arts Editor Every year since its inception
in 2005, the label asks aspiring
irding music in a state-of- musicians to submit their home-
recording studio can cost made tracks to what's called the
ds of $500 a day, if youtalk to "New Music on the Block" com-
ht people. A typical package petition. Artists are judged by a
include a know-it-all sound panel of innovative, creative and
er, a soundboard filled with highly acclaimed judges, includ-
ds of color-coded knobs and ing Sid Meier of Firaxis Games,
ding room installed with the which developed games like "Civi-
p-to-date microphones and lization" and "Pirates!" and John
quipment. M. Storyk of the Walters-Storyk
amount of money a person Design Group, which designed
to pour into recording a few recording studios for Bob Marley,
racks seems counter-intui- Stevie Wonder and Alicia Keys,
nsidering the fact that most among others. The winners receive
ans aren't, well, affluent. But a recording contract with the Uni-
are options for musicians versity to record in the studio, as
to make headway in terms well as the opportunity to have
ording music: free audio their music distributed on iTunes.
ng software like Audacity, According to Mary Simoni, asso-
rophone that comes built in ciate dean of the School of Music,
eens of most Apple laptops, Theatre and Dance and supervisor
ly-empty dorm room and for Block M Records, "The term

'new music' in 'New Music on the
Block' does not imply a musical
genre, instrumentation or produc-
tion technique," she said. "'New
music' means that the music is
newly composed, created and per-
formed by University of Michigan
students." The broad definition
allows more creative space for
students, she said, allowing them
to follow their instincts when it
comes to music composition.
Unsurprisingly, the 2008 "New
Music on the Block" contest win-
ners' music varies as much as the
song selections from grab-bag AM
college radio stations, where blues
music, classical composition, hip
hop, electronica and prog rock all
come together in one evening's
worth of air time. All of the win-
ners will be performingstheir music
in one night as well, at the Duder-
stadt Digital Media Studio in an
iTunes release concert this Friday
at 7 p.m.
The musieal styles in these piec-
es are representative of the musical
influences and histories of the art-
ists themselves, whose experiences
as University students are diverse.
School of MT&D sophomore
William Zuckerman's piece "Cur-

rent, Deep, and Cool" showcases
a saxophone quartet playing dis-
cordant notes reminiscent of the
brass wind "cars" imitated in
George Gershwin's "An American
in Paris".
"It sounds like if John Coltrane
were to meet 'West Side Story,' "
Zuckerman said. "I was looking to
integrate different genres in the
most subtle of ways into my piece."
His piece also attempts to stretch
the idea of genre. "Modern acoustic
music is often typecast into a 'con-
temporary classical' genre, but my
music strives to embrace elements
of popular genres," he said.
Similarly, School of MT&D
freshman Vicki Huang mixes musi-
cal styles by integrating elements of
acoustic music with electronica in
her prog-electronica hybrid piece,
"Long Term Effects of Familiar-
ity."
The composition of this atmo-
spheric piece was the result off
circumstance, improvisation and
a last-minute fever. "I was ... sick,
but I wanted to get the song done. I
couldn't put in the electronic parts
until I recorded the guitar part,
so in my delirium, I made up the
See AWARDS, Page 4B

Playing the proper deck

By JAMIE BLOCK
SeniorArts Editor
Let me start off with a simple truth: "Magic:
the Gathering" is the greatest trading card game
(or TCG) of all time. You know why? Because
it's the original TCG - practically the first of its
kind. Even though not every new trading card
game around these days is an exact replica of
"Magic"(I'm looking at you here, "Duel Mas-
ters"), they all follow the original "Magic" for-
mula in some way or another. But that doesn't
mean these new TCGs are any good.
There. have been some impostors that have
managed to make a good case for themselves.
"Pokemon" and "Yu-Gi-Oh!" cards both took
some innovative steps - "Pokemon" had the
energy card system, and "Yu-Gi-oh!" had cards
that could be played face-down to mystify oppo-
nents. But at this point, the new games are made
up entirely of elements from preexisting TCGs.
"Duel Masters," for example, even stole the idea
behind "summoning sickness" directly from
"Magic" without even trying to mask it as their
own invention. Worst of all, the general qual-
ity and content of the new games are tarnishing
the reputation of the classics, like my precious
"Magic."
2007 saw tragic entrances to the TCG world
like the "Kingdom Hearts" card game (yes, the
video game where Disney teams up with Square
Enix, the "Final Fantasy" developers) and agame
based off of the television series "24," where, in
an attempt to be unique, players build 24-card
decks and try to be the first to get 24 points.
Overkill, anyone?
Last year's offerings don't look any better,

with the release of a professional wrestling'TCG
called "WWE Face Off" and a surprisingly late-
arriving "Power Eangers" card game.
It's a mystery to me how all these games get
enough players to survive. You have to be a spe-
cial brand of nerd to enjoy the papery goodness
of a TCG in the first place, and with so many
games out there, each gamer would need to be
playing three or four different card games at a
time for all the different games to be successful.
And let's be honest here: You can probably count
all the "Magic" players who watch "WWE Wres-
"Magic" still beats
Squirtle.
tling" on one hand. In order to just break even,
these games have to pull their consumers from
somewhere. Could it be that these awkwardly-
unfitting games are actually creating new TCG
geeks? Should I be embracing these franchises'
attempts at nerd-pandering as a sign that my cul-
ture is now being encouraged by those who were
once so foreign to it?
No, I shouldn't. Sure, "WWE Face Off" might
make a nerd out of a bulked-up bro or two, but
that's not goingto change the TCG world for the
better. It creates a dichotomy similar to what's
already emnerging in video games, where all the
first-person shooter fans think the strategy and
RPG ganrers are wimps, while the latter group
thinks the shooter-players are essentially the
dumb jocks of gaming. And honestly, if you're

playing a TCG about glorified bullies, that's
probably a decent indicator. But then again, I'm
playing one about magical faeries.
Upon further inspection, the list of trading
card games released in the last few years makes
it seem like these games were never meant to
be lumped with TCG culture at all. I just can't
imagine a "Yu-Gi-Oh!" player who isn't a fan of
the British sci-fi comedy "Doctor Who" buying a
booster pack of "Doctor Who - Battles in Time"
just to see what it's like. The same goes for the
games based off "Avatar: the Last Airbender,"
"Battlestar Galactica," "Naruto" and "Pirates of
the Carribbean."
So it looks like we have two sects of card gan-
ers: Those who are fans of TCGs in general,
and those who can't get enough of their favor-
ite respective franchises. It also seems that, for
better or worse, these two sects aren't going to
overlap much. The franchises don't have to make
strategic or original games because the fans are
going to swarm to them anyway, regardless of
how terrible they may be (and they're usually
pretty awful).
I, for one, am going to stick to "Magic" for a
while. There's a reason so many other games
imitate it: It's really well-designed, the flavor-
ful worlds depicted in the cards are beautiful
and developed and the game is just a whole lot
of fun. So when you see me or someone else play-
ing "Magic" (which is rare, as we usually do it
in dark, secluded rooms and/or dungeons), feel
free to consider us nerds. We are. But when and
if you walk past a frit house and hear someone
shouting "Where'd you get a mint-condition
Stone Cold card?" please don't put them in our
category.

Hmou