OC Pole Fitness owner Collette Kakuk teaches pole dancing to women of all backgrounds. The studio also teaches yoga, aerial hoop and aerial tissu, as shown above. Photo by Jeff Lambert.

Offering an array of alternative fitness classes, OC Pole Fitness has locations in both Huntington Beach and Aliso Viejo.

OC Pole Fitness is one of the world’s leading studios, according to its owner and one of the instructors, Collette Kakuk.

The classes range from beginner’s pole dance to aerial hoop and tissue.

“You can’t have a good woman without a proper balance of body and mind,” Kakuk said.

And this is why her studio takes on the “unapologetically sexy” attitude that promotes fitness and sensuality.

Her original inspiration to open up her studios was the Chinese acrobatic show at Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park.

She viewed the show as an art form and a different form of fitness.

Owning a gym at the time, she said she deemed it as a sort of environment that was too “neanderthal” for women.

Pole dancing differs from the usual weightlifting routines with its efficiency in working the body as a whole.

It consists of using full control of the body while engaging, isolating and working around the apparatus.

It requires strength and flexibility training, and women will often see changes in their bodies within three weeks.

“It’s truly one of the most comprehensive forms of exercise,” Kakuk said.

Kakuk’s studio attracts all sorts of clientele: teens and adults ranging from 18 to 74 in age, working women, empty-nesters, widows, stay-at-home moms, married and divorced women. Less than 1 percent of her students have ever touched a pole before coming to her class, Kakuk said.

Carrie Andrews, 48, a stay-at-home married mother from Irvine, has tried her hand at pole-dancing classes.

“Now that my kids are all grown up, and I rarely get to see them with their busy schedules, I wanted to broaden my horizons and try something new to fill my days,” Andrews said.

The class sparked something in Andrews’ spirit that made her feel young and sexy again. It even inspired her to invest in a stripper pole to be installed in her bedroom.

“I just hope my neighbors don’t see me spinning around my pole in the middle of the afternoon,” Andrews said while laughing.

Newport Beach massage therapist Lindsay Fletcher, 25, was taken to the pole-dancing class by her younger sister as a surprise birthday gift.

“I’m more reserved than my sister is, but I love trying new things,” Fletcher said. “It really brings out this new sexy confident feeling in you just after an hour and a half.”

Fletcher explained she would normally have been embarrassed to dance so sensually in front of other people because she doesn’t think of herself as “sexy,” but the supportive and open-minded environment allowed her to look past her inhibitions.

Not only do these newer forms of exercise benefit a woman physically, but there are profound changes in Kakuk’s students mentally as well as emotionally.

“The change comes from these women deep within. It’s this confidence, this energy and a light that just starts to surround that woman,” Kakuk said.

Although some people will never understand the sport behind pole-dancing and the training it requires, this hasn’t stopped Kakuk’s business from booming.

“Our goal is to provide a good workout, add something new to your bag of tricks, bring out a confident feeling, engage the sensual spirit, also while achieving fitness,” Kakuk said.

Instead of that new laptop or that really cute Coach bag for a birthday gift, surprise those close to you with a private pole-dancing party at the studio that will enlighten their body and mind by bringing out their inner stripper.

Alternative medicines such as acupuncture and chiropractic care are offered at Cal State Fullerton’s Student Health and Counseling Center. Photo courtesy MCT.

The SHCC is a fully-functional medical facility with a pharmacy, blood and testing lab and radiology and optometry services.

Doctor appointments, X-rays, EKGs, pregnancy tests and chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis tests are all free of charge.

Most services are included in the $45 health center fee which every student pays within their semester fees.

Still, there are some services that do cost a bit extra. These include full physicals, immunizations and several blood tests.

There are some services within the SHCC that are not as well known, such as chiropractor and acupuncture.

These are two of the most popular forms of alternative medicine, and both have been provided by the Southern California University of Health Sciences since October of 2007.

Harbor Eastern Medical Group, a local acupuncture practice on Harbor Boulevard near Brea Boulevard, charges $129 for an initial consultation with treatment. The school’s contracted acupuncturist will cost a patient just $5 per visit.

Perhaps this is the reason why Dr. Sivarama Prasad and his interns have been booked through the fall semester since the second week of school. Prasad also notes that the slots fill up fast because his team is only on campus Fridays.

Due to budget cuts and furloughs, two Fridays a month have been cut for the 2009-10 school year, leaving Prasad with only two working days at CSUF a month.

To battle the effects of the furloughs, Prasad has been approved to take even more interns with him, by January at the latest.

For less than the cost of a meal on campus, students can see the doctor and one of his interns for relief in a wide range of conditions.

Prasad said the $5 fee is “not used to pay anyone,” but rather pays for supplies like the needles used to puncture skin on key points of the body.

He is paid by his home school of SCU, so he considers his two Fridays per month at CSUF to be just another part of his job.

No one loses any money and both the interns and the CSUF students benefit, which Prasad called “a win-win for both schools.”

Prasad takes “only seniors at the highest level” for his CSUF internship program. These students are exceptional and about to graduate.

The SCUHS Web site states, “(Acupuncture) can enhance recuperative power and immunity, support physical and emotional health, and improve overall function and well-being.”

The CSUF SHCC Web site states: “Acupuncture is among the oldest healing practices in the world. A form of traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture aims to balance the body’s positive energy by restoring and maintaining health through the stimulation of specific points on the body.”

This is achieved by the careful and deliberate placement of needles along certain points of the body’s meridians to unblock energy flow.

Also, for $5 a visit, students can be seen and adjusted by the chiropractic team directed by Dr. Brad M. T. Smith on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Smith is the supervising clinician over the internship program’s training center at CSUF. Smith’s interns, all of whom are in their final year of study before completing the program, hail from SCUHS.

Because it is what Smith called “mutually beneficial,” the interns are able to put in their 30 to 40 weekly hours necessary to complete the final step before graduation, while at the same time, CSUF students are offered phenomenal pricing for chiropractic care.

Local chiropractors, like Brea-Fullerton Chiropractic on Associated Road, charge $45 per adjustment appointment.

WorldChiropracticAlliance.org states, “The goal of the chiropractic adjustment is to correct the spinal subluxations detected during the examination. To do that, the doctor applies pressure to the bone and ‘unlocks’ it from its improper position. The bone will then be free to align itself correctly.”

A subluxation is the misalignment of one vertebra to the next.

Because this is an educational forum for the interns, no detail goes unnoticed and Smith insists on giving patients the highest in quality care.

Shereen Manesh, 26, is a tenth-term intern and will be receiving a Doctor of Chiropractic degree in December. Students of the chiropractic field must complete five years of school before graduation.

Manesh said that because this is part of their schooling, Smith and all the interns are very thorough with every student patient.

Smith reinforced the fact that this is not your typical chiropractic visit because it is not a business; it is a school lab, essentially, and because of this difference, Manesh said students are not only paying less, but receiving much higher quality care.

“We’re not here to push numbers. A visit could take up to an hour and a half or could be as quick as 45 minutes,” Smith said, depending upon the person’s condition.

The most common complaint interns hear from student patients is neck and back pain, which can be attributed to heavy backpacks and prolonged sitting while studying or in class.

Chiropractic care can aid in easing tension, stress, headaches and even nausea.

Smith said because of unique pain mechanisms in the body, chiropractic care can relieve ailments that may seem unrelated, like nausea.

As the deadline draws closer and closer, you feel confident in your ability to complete the task on time. You’ll finish your task after you check your e-mail, eat and maybe floss your teeth. The time has come – your moment of glory.

Your mind goes blank. Your heart starts racing. Panic takes over. Moments away from your deadline, scrambling to find what you need to accomplish your task, you promise yourself you will never procrastinate again. You barely make it in time. The process starts all over again.

David Chen, professor of kinesiology at Cal State Fullerton, teaches his students that time and stress management skills all depend on identifying goals, creating a plan and exercising self discipline.

To define goals, Chen suggests identifying what your true values are. He said that if someone doesn’t have clear values, then they will have difficulty defining their goals. He recommends writing your goals down, or “thinking on paper.”

Time management can also be guided by long-term goals, like finances, career and family.

Once this is clear, take action to prioritize. What do you want to accomplish? What can you say “no” to? Chen suggests planning ahead by taking 10 minutes each day to plan out how you will spend your time.

“The more you plan in advance the more creative you will be,” Chen said. “Write a list of the things you need to do before you go to sleep and you will sleep better.”
Plan for the unexpected, Chen said.

Chen defines discipline as a person’s ability to make himself do the things he doesn’t want to do. He believes that stress and time management are a physical, mental, emotional and spiritual discipline.

Chen teaches KNES 342 – Stress Management. He recommends adding exercise to your daily routine, if one is not already in place. By practicing self-discipline, your muscles of willpower will strengthen, and you will gain emotional control which is character building, Chen said. “It is the hardest thing to do.”

Grad student Helman Lukite said time management is about efficiency. “Plan … accordingly, focus on what you do. Don’t let anything fall behind. If you do, catch up very quickly.”
Business major Jenise Espinosa struggles with time management because she constructs her own schedule now that she is in college, something she did not do in high school. She has learned to become more aware of her time management so that she can prevent becoming overwhelmed.

Currently, she must make time for homework, her sorority and her job, all while taking six classes.

To relax, Espinosa sets aside 30 minutes of quiet time.

“I give myself a grace period of relaxing before studying,” she said.

For more tips for success, the Student Leadership Institute offers a workshop on time management.

SLI Workshop Coordinator Kyle Herbertz explained the workshops provided by SLI help with time management and many other areas that prepare students for leadership roles. Students must apply and complete an orientation in advance in order to take workshops.

Herbertz encourages students to join even if they only take one workshop. The workshops typically run an hour and a half and are easier than taking a class, Herbertz said.
After completing ten workshops, students receive a certificate signed by President Milton Gordon.

“It’s a great resumé builder,” Herbertz said.

According to the SLI’s fall 2009 calendar, one time management workshop is still available this semester on Friday, Nov. 6 from 2:15 – 3:45 p.m. in the Titan Student Union.

For more information on SLI, go to Fullerton.edu/DeanOfStudents/sli.

The holiday focuses on honoring those who have died with altars compiled of items the deceased person enjoyed in life.

For more Dia de los Muertos events check out:

LOS ANGELES COUNTY

Photo by Shruti Patel.

Oct. 30 – Nov. 1
Day of the Dead “Fiesta Muertos” at Olvera Street
Noon – 6 p.m. Processions happen nightly starting at 7 p.m. until Nov. 2.
125 Paseo de la Plaza in Downtown Los Angeles, across from Union Station.
LACity.org/elp
Free admission

Nov. 1
Day of the Dead Celebration at the Museum of Latin American Art
11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
628 Alamitos Ave., Long Beach
MOLAA.org
Free admission to the event and museum

Nov. 2
36th Annual Dia de los Muertos with Self Help Graphics
5 – 11 p.m. Procession at 4 p.m. at Cesar Chavez and Mednik avenues.
East LA Civic Center located at 4801 E. 3rd St., Los Angeles
SelfHelpGraphics.com
Free admission

Through Nov. 7
26th Annual Day of the Dead Altars and Ephemera at The Folk Tree
Gallery is open from 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. Monday – Wednesday, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Thursday – Saturday and noon – 5 p.m. Sunday.
217 South Fair Oaks, Pasadena
Folktree.com
Free admission

Photo by Christine Amarantus

ORANGE COUNTY

Nov. 1
Mexican Day of the Dead Festival at Bowers Museum in Santa Ana
Noon – 4 p.m.
2002 N Main St. in Santa Ana
Bowers.org
Free admission to the festival. Free admission into the museum starting at 10 a.m.

Nov. 2
Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA)’s Dia de los Muertos presentation
11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Humanities patio at Cal State Fullerton.
Free admission

Nov. 7
El Centro Cultural de Mexico & Calacas’ Noche de Altares
2 – 10 p.m.
Fiesta Marketplace (Corner of Bush and 3rd) in Santa Ana.
NocheDeAltares.org
Free admission

Through Nov. 8
“Spooky Science: Skeletons” exhibit at Discovery Science Center
The center is open 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday – Saturday and 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Sunday.
2500 North Main Street, Santa Ana
DiscoveryCube.org
$12.95 adult admission, $9.95 for ages 3 – 17, children 2 and under get in for free.

List compiled by Features Editor Christine Amarantus

What will you be for Halloween? Karlo Sy Su reports.

San Diego Comic-Con ended three months ago but has already sold out of its four-day Preview Night pass after raising the price from $75 to $100 for adults and $50 for juniors and seniors.

They also decided to separate the four-day passes into having or not having Preview Night access without a difference in the prices.

Comic-Con is a four-day convention held at the San Diego Convention Center in late July.

Attendees can buy single-day passes which generally range from $20 to $30 for adults and $10 to $20 for juniors and seniors, depending on what day they attend.

Those who buy passes for all four days are granted access to Preview Night, when they can walk the convention hall the night before the convention.

Over the past couple of years, Preview Night has hosted special viewings of upcoming shows.

This year Warner Brothers brought the pilots of “Vampire Diaries,” “V” and “Human Target” and showed them to a packed ballroom 20 months before any of these pilots aired. Producer J.J. Abrams premiered “Fringe” during Comic-Con 2008’s Preview Night.

Non-preview passes have not sold out and the single-day passes have not gone on sale.

Last year, the four-day passes sold out around March, a little after the single-day passes had gone on sale.

This year fans criticized Preview Night, which is generally light in crowds, as being over-packed.

“We were finding that Preview Night was very crowded, and we only have a finite amount of space,” said David Glanzer, Comic-Con International’s director of marketing and public relations.

Four-day badges giving access to Preview Night sold out in September, Glanzer said.

Regarding the price increase on entry, Glanzer said the problems the convention is facing is flat income. “While our expenses begin to rise, our income does not. We’ve reached out to sponsors,” Glanzer said.

Director of the new Long Beach Comic Con, Martha Donato, believes the price change is an adjustment to the current economic environment.

“We have great respect for the SDCC organization, and knowing how much it costs to run a show the size and scope of Comic-Con, we understand their position,” Donato said. “They’re giving the attendees time to prepare for the price increase, and the 2010 show will doubtless be as much fun as ever.”

San Diego Comic-Con has already come under fire from long-time fans who feel the convention neglects comics and now caters to movies, television shows and holding panels for fandoms such as “Twilight.”

At this year’s convention, thousands of screaming girls and their mothers filled Hall H for the “New Moon” panel held Thursday after waiting in line since Tuesday night. Questions like, “Boxers, briefs or nothing?” were asked of stars Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner by women who a Comic-Con regular dubbed “TwiMoms.”

“It’s become very apparent that comics have become a side note to all the big glamour brought in by Hollywood and general big businesses,” said Matthew Meylikhov, the editor-in-chief of Multiversity Comics, a blog site that covers all things comic-related.

Senior Editor of Collider.com Matt Goldberg sees the price increase as a raising cost of staying at the San Diego Convention Center.

“What this means is that when it comes time for Comic-Con International to renew their contract with the San Diego Convention Center, CCI is probably going to look somewhere else,” Goldberg said.

Goldberg believes that the biggest candidates are Los Angeles, for its proximity to the studios, or Las Vegas because it can handle more people.

Goldberg doesn’t think the price raise will have any effect on the other conventions but said, “Tickets are going to sell out faster and likely cost more” as time goes on.

“This will drive the people who really want to go and hear their favorite comic creators talk and enjoy comic nerdery in all its finest to go to (smaller conventions) instead of San Diego Comic-Con,” Meylikhov said. “That makes me really happy. It’s without a doubt that you’ll see me at places like New York Comic Con but never at San Diego Comic-Con for that exact reason.”

Glanzer addressed the rumors of Comic-Con moving from San Diego to Los Angeles or Las Vegas.
“We have a contract (in San Diego) until 2012,” Glanzer said. We’re hoping the city would move forward with its expansions (of the convention center).”

He further said that some of the ideas for expanding the space in which the convention could be held would be erect tents, which Glanzer said would increase costs.

“We want to make this pleasurable … We want to try to stay in San Diego as long as we can,” Glanzer said.

Features Editor Christine Amarantus contributed to this article.

Pictured, an orphaned orangutan is one of the inhabitants of the Orangutan Care Center in Borneo, Indonesia. Palm plantations are taking a toll on forests and native species, such as orangutans. Cal State Fullerton’s Primatology Student Association is collecting old cell phones and ink cartridges for the Happy Hollow Park and Zoo in San Jose, Calif. The zoo runs recycles the items with ECO-CELL, generating funds for the Orangutan Conservancy. Photo courtesy MCT.

The profits from this fundraiser will go toward the preservation of orangutans, said Julie Cash, the club president.

The phones and ink cartridges the club collects will be given to the Happy Hollow Park and Zoo, which recycles the collections with ECO-CELL, a cell phone recycling program.

The zoo then donates all of the funds generated from the program to the Orangutan Conservancy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the “conservation of orangutans and their habitat,” according to its Web site.

The Conservancy channels this money into a general fund to be used by conservation groups centered on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, the only places on Earth where orangutans still live in the wild, said Raffaella Commitante, a Cal State Fullerton lecturer and one of the vice presidents of the Orangutan Conservancy.

ECO-CELL does not simply recycle all of the phones.

Phones that are still in working condition are donated to developing countries, many of them in Africa, where people can purchase them inexpensively, said Peter Fashing, faculty advisor for the PSA.

“The drive is a multi-tiered project,” Cash said. “It helps the environment and (people in) developing countries, as well as primates.”

Orangutans are the most at risk of the great apes.

“Studies believe that if the destruction to their habitat continues at the same rate, then they could be extinct in as little as 20 years,” Cash said.

The orangutans are in danger from logging, hunting, forest fires and the destruction of forests for the purposes of collecting palm oil, Fashing said.

A series of bad years regarding forest fires caused by small fires burning out of control, due to the fuel of underground coal has been a great concern, Commitante said.

“The fires have become a yearly problem,” she said.

Commitante also said that young orangutans are often taken from their parents for the pet trade.

In some countries, they are thought to indicate positions of power and it is seen as prestigious to own an orangutan. There are centers full of formerly captive orangutans that have grown too large to handle, Commitante said.

“They have very human faces, so they are seen as a human child substitute,” Commitante added.
She also said that orangutans are less protected than other endangered primates.

“Gorillas have a much more romanticized image,” Commitante said. “Of the great apes, orangutans always seem to come in last.”

One of the main reasons orangutans are endangered, Fashing said, is that they reproduce very slowly.

“They have the longest mother-child bond (of any primate),” Commitante said. “The mother will stay around the child anywhere from five to eight years.”

She added that female orangutans only have an average of three offspring throughout their lives and almost always one at a time.

The drive is an ongoing project.

A collection box has been set up in the anthropology office in McCarthy Hall room 426.

The club meets every other Thursday at 4 p.m. in MH room 420.

“I force myself to be hopeful (for the orangutans), even though it doesn’t always seem like things are going well,” Commitante said. “I think there’s so much to learn from them.”

Communications major Courtney Force poses with her first trophy from a national competition, held in Seattle, Wash. Force is participating in the Fiesta Movement, from May until December, in which 100 people each drive their own 2010 Ford Fiesta. Photo courtesy Ford Motor Company.

There aren’t many experiences that satisfy Cal State Fullerton student Courtney Force more than speeding down the track in a dragster going 270 miles an hour.

Yet earlier this year, Force, the 21-year-old daughter of legendary drag racer John Force, discovered that she could also derive satisfaction from a totally different automotive experience.

In May, Force was one of 100 individuals nationwide participating in the Ford Fiesta Movement, a marketing campaign by the Ford Motor Company to promote the launching of the 2010 Ford Fiesta to a young Web-savvy generation by using popular social networking sites such as YouTube, Facebook, Flickr and Twitter.

“Being part of the Fiesta Movement is all about getting the word out,” said Force, a communications major with an emphasis in entertainment studies.

Force said she submitted a video via YouTube and that she was surprised when she received a call from Ford management.

Ford’s Experiential Marketing Manager, Jeff Eggen, said Force was selected from among more than 4,000 people who applied to test drive the car before its launching next year.

“We selected people who already had an established presence online,” Eggen said. “These are people who already had a network and who have visibility online through social media.”

The participants, which are called “agents,” had the opportunity to spend six months behind the wheel of a European-spec Ford Fiesta. During this period, they completed monthly missions and shared their experiences with their followers on the Web, Eggen said.

Each agent received a different mission that coincided with an overall theme for a specific month.
The six themes were travel, adventure, social activism, technology, style and design, and entertainment.

“We’re trying to build awareness of the Fiesta far in advance to the vehicle’s release in the U.S.,” Eggen said. “It’s about building awareness in a different way, a way that breaks through our target customers who are young. These are people who are in their teens, twenties and thirties.”

Eggen said a lot of people who are the target customers do not spend a great deal of time with traditional media such as newspapers, radio and television, so it’s essential to reach them through the Internet.

The Fiesta, which is part of Ford’s line of subcompact vehicles, is being launched to compete with other subcompact cars in the market.

Force, who has been drag racing since she was 16 years old, said she had to learn to drive stick shift before jumping into the driver seat of the car.

Once she learned to drive standard vehicles during an unveiling and training in Venice Beach, Force said she had an incredible time driving the black Fiesta that was issued to her.

“I’ve taken the Fiesta all the way to Sonoma and down to Santa Monica,” she said. “It has great gas mileage.”

She said she likes the interior of the car but the features are even better because it has voice command capabilities.

“You can hit a button and tell it to turn the air up or turn the heat up,” Force said.

Although she enjoyed all the missions, she said her favorite mission came in July during the style and design theme.

For the mission, she had to decorate a friend’s apartment or office in a Feng Shui theme in an attempt to see if it brought that person good fortune.

Force decided to decorate a teammate’s race car trailer in order to bring him good luck.

After the mission, Force was the one who received the good fortune. She picked up her first national event win in a competition held in Seattle, Wash., and was then interviewed on ESPN regarding the victory and her involvement with the Fiesta Movement.

“The Ford Fiesta had definitely brought me good luck,” Force said.

Elise Miller, the Global Cars communication coordinator for Ford, said Force’s personality has made her one of the better participants.

“We’re very happy,” she said. “Courtney has been a great Fiesta Movement agent.”

She said the agents will return the vehicles to Ford at the beginning of the LA Auto Show, which will be held from Dec. 4 – 13.

At the moment, Miller believes the marketing campaign has been successful at getting the word out about the car to people on the Web.

“We’re really hoping that more things like this could be done in the future,” she said.

All up-to-date videos that document the agents’ adventures can be seen on YouTube or at FiestaMovement.com.

Where are some of your fees going? Check out the student recreation center! Katarina Hong reports.

Some of the biggest stars on Broadway come together in a charity concert for the Make-A-Wish Foundation Orange County/Inland Empire chapter. Performers include: Eden Espinosa, Megan Hilty, Tim Howar, Norm Lewis, Laura Osnes, Seth Rudetsky, Kate Shindle, Laura Bell Bundy and Paul Canaan

Pi Kappa Phi held its fifth annual Miss Push America Pageant in the Titan Pavilion Thursday, Oct. 21.
With a $10 ticket fee, the proceeds went to the fraternity’s charity of choice, Push America, which helps support children with disabilities.

The pageant is held every fall and last year the fraternity surpassed its earnings goal of $5,000, ending the night with a total of $6,500.

Pi Kappa Phi provided the entertainment, food and raffle prizes out of their own pockets and chapter fund.

The money they received from ticket sales, raffle tickets and auctioning off fraternity brothers for dates, go to different camps sponsored by Push America for kids with disabilities.

The money also goes to renovation projects, such as more wheelchair accessible ramps.

Sorority sisters from six of Cal State Fullerton’s sororities were contestants in the pageant: Alpha Delta Pi, Delta Zeta, Gamma Phi Beta, Sigma Kappa, Zeta Tau Alpha and Alpha Chi Omega.

“I’m trying not to be nervous because it’s not an actual pageant. If I mess up, whatever.

The kids are still getting money,” said Suzanne Skirvin, a child and adolescence major from Delta Zeta.

The pageant was split up into five events: spirit, sports wear, talent, evening wear and the question and answer portion, which was more fact than opinion as contestants expressed their knowledge of the fraternity and different disabilities such as multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy.

The only open question asked focused on how the women plan to help the disabled community in the future.

Eric Niu, a business major and member of Pi Kappa Phi, said, “Even though there’s competition, sororities and fraternities support each other. Just saying ‘It’s at seven, show up’ doesn’t seem like we care.”

In between each of the events were raffles and auctions where members of the fraternity were auctioned off for dates.

Bids were in abundance and bidding ended with earnings of $40, $60 and $85.

Pi Kappa Phi will also be giving this money to Push America.

While the judges tallied up each woman’s score, the fraternity’s president, Nick Cobb, had his moments of “humiliation.”

The hosts of the evening called him up to the stage with a member from one of the sororities in the audience to play “Pin the Tail on Nick Cobb” and another game that involved trying to grab balls stuck on Cobb’s clothes while he was blindfolded.

The judges that were overseeing the events were members of five other fraternities on campus.

Judges scored contestants from one to 10 on multiple categories and compared their scores.

At the end of the night, in third place was Kimberly Fragola from Gamma Phi Beta, second place was Ashley Markanson from Alpha Chi Omega and in first was Kate Strachan from Alpha Delta Pi.

Winners in the pageant received a bouquet of flowers, with the first place winner receiving a sash hand-made by members of the fraternity.

Toward the beginning of the event, a representative from Disabled Student Services on campus was presented with a check for $750.

This was the fifth time a check was given to Disabled Student Services from the fraternity.

Disabled Student Services hold their annual Special Games for children with disabilities with student volunteers from various schools in Orange County coming together to play games for a day.

The money Student Services receives from Pi Kappa Phi helps support the event which has been happening for the past 24 years.

Last year the event had volunteers from more than 50 schools participate, and they are hoping for the same this year.

Paul Miller, director of Disabled Student Services and the Athlete Assistance Program said, “(It’s) a wonderful example of students not only contributing their time but their money for this special event. They really are a focused group of young men.”

Jacqueline Nguyen (who plays Kim) and Jesse Abeel (Chris) star in “Miss Saigon” which is presented in the Little Theatre at Cal State Fullerton through Nov. 8. Photo courtesy Jim Volz.

“Miss Saigon” follows the story of a young, orphaned Vietnamese bar girl named Kim.
When she is sold for the night to an American soldier named Chris, they fall in love and Chris promises to bring her back to America with him.

When complications about her negotiated husband and the rise of the Viet Cong arise, the bond of the two lovers is tested in a horrifyingly tragic manner.

Director Jon Lawrence Rivera’s revamped and minimalistic version of “Miss Saigon” brought the audience to a standing ovation by the end of the night.

Although I enjoyed most of the show, I found a deep disconnection in the story and many times I couldn’t understand what was happening.

Odd things occur without explanation, and although there may have been messages behind them, I couldn’t find any. It all just seemed so anti-climactic.

Some choices were powerful, and the interpretation of the helicopter landing was actually quite brilliant as long as you weren’t relying on seeing a helicopter.

The story simply needed to take more of a precedence over the spectacle of the show. It is a powerful story, there was no reason to hide it behind the lights and effects.

That isn’t to say it was a bad show. Quite the contrary, the performance of the principle roles were absolutely spectacular.

Jacqueline Nguyen offered a quiet and powerfully submissive Kim who broke my heart. I found a deep connection to Nguyen’s Kim, and although it is easy to fall into the traps that the role offers, Nguyen stepped over those pitfalls and gave Kim a silent strength that packs a powerful punch in the dramatic ending. I honestly cannot say enough about Nguyen and her co-star, Jesse Abeel.

Abeel’s solo of “Why God Why?” won me over in the first 20 seconds, and his fantastically honest portrayal brought me to my feet when he came out for his curtain call.

Chris Duir brought much needed laughter to the heavy show with his fiendish engineer. His final number, “The American Dream,” had the audience in an absolute uproar of laughter, and I found myself loving his character despite his slimy and rat-like ambitions. I just wish that the ensemble had been given the opportunity to shine as well.

Although the ensemble pieces were well-choreographed and the actors in the ensemble itself were quite good, they felt very under-directed.

Scenes that relied on communicating the brutality of war (or maybe the absurdity of war, the message was unclear) came across as sloppy and under-rehearsed. It just needed to be tightened up a bit.

Speaking of the music, have I mentioned yet that the show contains non-stop music and singing? It is one of the few musicals like “Rent” and “Phantom of the Opera” that contain little to no spoken words throughout. If there was one area that the cast and director absolutely pulled through on, it was creating an absolutely stunning auditory experience.

Every vocalist was absolutely fabulous, and the music coming from the pit was just heavenly. From beginning to end, the music was perfect.

Although “Miss Saigon” needs some polishing, it has a great story, fantastic performances and a musical score to die for. The play will be running until Nov. 8 in the Little Theatre on campus. Tickets are $20 for general admission and $18 for CSUF students.

In the front row, dancer Chris Clark, right, leads others in a practice run before the live world-wide reenactment of the "Thriller" music video. Photo by Todd Barnes.

Zombies and Michael Jackson fans alike gathered to celebrate “the funk of forty-thousand years” at the American Sports Center in Anaheim Saturday.

It wasn’t close to midnight and they weren’t under the moonlight, but in an attempt to break the Record Holder’s Republic and World Records Academy’s “Largest, Simultaneous ‘Thriller’ Dance” record. Thrill the World OC attracted 230 people of all ages who came together dressed in their best monster attire to partake in Jackson’s iconic dance.

In the beginning, Oct. 26, 2006, “Thrill Toronto” set the first Guinness record for having the largest simultaneous “Thriller” dance in one area, with 62 people participating. The event was started by Ines Markeljevic.

In 2007, the event became world-wide. Markeljevic traveled around the world to teach people the dance, and a DVD was released to enable prospective participants to learn it in the comfort of their own home.

In October of that year, 1,722 people in 80 cities from 17 different countries set the record for the largest simultaneous “Thriller” dance in more than one location. In 2008, the 25th anniversary of the “Thriller” video, 4,179 zombies thrilled the world.

“Thrill the World OC” was one of the original groups that started in the world-wide project in 2007. Tom Nguyen, who has organized the event the past couple of years, said he discovered Thrill the World while looking on YouTube.com for instructional videos on how to do the “Thriller” dance.

“I thought this was something that should come to Orange County,” Nguyen, who is from Irvine, said.
The first event was held at the Atomic Ballroom in Irvine.

Jeremy Heckman, an independent dance instructor from Westminster, has been helping teach the dance since the first year, and said that the event is about bringing the joy of dance and just having fun.

“Michael Jackson is the King of Pop, and everyone knows him and his dance,” Heckman said. “I can’t explain why I get so much pleasure out of doing it, I just like doing it.”

Although this year’s numbers were not yet released at press time, Thrill the World expected to draw a crowd of 270,000 people to the world-wide event, with 34 nations and 215 cities registered to dance this year on Oct. 24 and 25 (the day depends on each city’s time zone, as the event is simultaneous).

Thrill the World OC has also seen exponential growth. The previous year drew 64 people, and this year 230 people danced, nearly tripling the event in size.

The event’s manager Jeff Allen said that he felt the growth was largely in part due to Jackson’s death, as it made him relevant again.

“People are looking into his music and dance again,” he said. “He had the biggest impact on dance and music in the century, and in his death, people are starting to realize that again.”

“His death was sad,” said Denise McEuen of Lake Forest. “He died too young, too soon but he left us with a lot of really great music.”

Aaron Al-Imam, 26, right, gets into his role at the “Thrill the World” event in Anaheim on Saturday, Oct. 24. People all over the world danced to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” at the exact same moment. Photo by Todd Barnes.

McEuen attended the event for the first time this year with children Katie McEuen, Rachel McEuen and Adam Mikolajczyk after hearing about it through the Atomic Ballroom, where they regularly attend classes. They said they enjoyed it because it was a fun way to exercise.

Some attended the event not only in the spirit of Michael Jackson, but also in the spirit of a friend.
Valarie Cardinal of Costa Mesa has attended the event every year because of her love of dance, but was unable to attend this year because of her recent battle with lung cancer.

In her spirit, a group of her friends came together to take part in the event of which Cardinal is so passionate. All who were there dancing for Cardinal wore pink tulle to signify her battle with cancer.

Cardinal contracted lymphoma in 2003, and after it went into remission, her doctors said it may come back. It returned in the form of lung cancer, but friends say that Cardinal is strong and believe she will beat it.

Thrill the World OC also supports their own cause. In coordination with the 24 Hour Cancer Dance-A-Thon, which takes place every year at the Atomic Ballroom. They take donations during the event and online for the City of Hope.

“There are a lot of different purposes for the event, but the main one is just to get people to dance,” Allen said.

Despite a few glitches in the system (the group could not connect to the conference call from Markeljevic and had a problem with the sound in the beginning of their performance) and distractions from basketball games going on right beside the dance, the event went on as planned and the crowd cheered as the zombie dancers completed the six minute routine.

Nguyen added that what made the event so successful was simply the impact it has on those who participate.

“Look around. You see people of all ages enjoying the dance,” he said. “People who have never danced before have come up to me and told me that they began to take dance lessons because they loved it so much.”

Last year, Nguyen said that participants who were affected by the fires came to him and told him that the event was a good way for them to get their minds off of what was going on around them.

“It’s just a really fun event,” said zombie bride Laura Greenlumd of Redondo Beach, who has participated in the event the past three years. “There’s something exciting about doing a routine, and the choreography is really easy to do. It’s just a really neat thing to be a part of.”

Tears filled the 74-year-old’s brown eyes as he described his online research of Paget’s Breast Nipple Cancer, a rare form of the disease.

“When something pops out and starts leaking, you ‘discover’ it,” Lucier said of the green liquid resembling anti-freeze that oozed from his right nipple.

The American Cancer Society estimates that 1,910 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. Lucier said he wants to share his story because he wants men to know that they are not immune.

“It’s not about men or women,” he said, “it’s about breasts. If something looks odd, challenge it.”

Lucier is in famous company with his campaign: both Peter Criss, a drummer with the rock band KISS, and actor Richard Roundtree, who gained fame starring in the 1970s “Shaft” movies, have given interviews about fighting the disease.

“There is no stigma,” said Lucier, a retired strategic planner, U.S. Air Force veteran and writer on condo and homeowner association issues. “You’re not a sissy.”

A month before seeing a doctor, he noticed his breast had developed a horizontal crease and itched around the areola. It would be three more days before it was confirmed. But he knew. And though he shares everything with Doris, his wife of 53 years, he kept the news of his new adversary to himself.

“When your family knows, they pat you on the back and say, ‘It’s OK,’” Lucier said. “But at the end of three days, I told death, ‘I ain’t ready for you. And when I am, that’s when we’ll talk.’”

Though the diagnosis shocked her, Doris Lucier forgave her husband for not sharing his burden right away. After all, he helped her survive a year battling colon cancer in 1990.

“When you get cancer you’re on a journey by yourself and have to face it every day, even if you’re cured,” Doris Lucier said. “I suspected something was wrong because he was spending a lot of time on the patio, looking into the distance.”

Val Lucier’s risk factors included his age and family history: his mother had a double mastectomy. But he wasn’t obese. And although he enjoyed three cigars a week prior to his diagnosis, he said he didn’t inhale and only burned them outdoors.

He decided to figuratively put his opponent “away in a drawer” and stayed focused on the procedures as they came — 12 in all — that removed his diseased breast with its Stage IIIb cancer and 22 lymph nodes.

After 135 appointments that included chemotherapy and radiation, he’ll be more than happy to never see another doctor. And after enduring hair loss, fatigue, sometime numbness in his right arm where the lymph nodes were removed and fuzzy “chemo brain,” Lucier said he’s totally cured.

He is in the midst of a five-year estrogen inhibitor regimen that many female breast cancer survivors also follow.

Lucier said there is a 38 percent chance cancer could return by 2013. Over the next decade, there is a 52 percent chance of recurrence.

About his unrelenting adversary, death? It’s still in that drawer, put away for another day.

“You’ve only got the present,” said Lucier, who power washed his roof last month. It took him six days, two hours at a time. But, he said, “It’s a great feeling I get, doing the little things.

“This guy is alive.”

Freddie Highmore is the voice of Toby/Astro Boy in the new animated feature from Summit Entertainment and Imagi Studios, "Astro Boy." Photo courtesy MCT.

Like a lot of kids bordering on adolescence, he feels different. A bit alien, perhaps. His father doesn’t understand him. He wants to be accepted. He wants to be normal. And he has rockets shooting out his legs.

Based on the celebrated Japanese manga and anime TV series, the big-budget, 3-D “Astro Boy,” being released Friday in theaters by Summit Entertainment, revisits the iconic ’60s character, with a topical ‘09 spin.

He may be “Peter Pan,” “Pinocchio” and “Oliver Twist” all rolled into one super-powered android, but in his jet wake trails a plume of topical issues, cosmic questions and metaphysical disorientation. If anyone still thinks animation is only for children, this first Astro Boy film will happily disabuse them.

Directed by David Bowers (“Flushed Away”), the action-adventure (and comedy) is set in the futuristic Metro City, which floats above an Earth not unlike the one in “WALL-E” – used up, polluted and, in this case, inhabited only by a vagabond population scrounging for survival. When the famous Metro City robotics scientist Dr. Tenma (voiced by Nicolas Cage) loses his son, he replaces him with a robot boy – and then rejects his creation as an unsuitable substitute. Bewildered and wounded, the soon-to-be-dubbed Astro Boy ends up on Earth and has to deal with a culture taught to hate his kind.

If anyone wants to read anything into this, be the director’s guest.

“If people don’t get it,” Bowers said from London, “that’s OK – it still plays as a movie. But if they do get it, that’s great.”

He said at the time he was writing the movie (with “Kindergarten Cop’s” Timothy Harris), the world was slightly different, “and I can’t help but reflect what’s going on in the world in my work. I want people to be stimulated by the movie. You can unplug your brain if you want and you’ll still enjoy it. If you leave it plugged in, you’ll enjoy it more.”

Which is not to say “Astro Boy” isn’t an action film with a lovable central character, one to whom museums are dedicated in Japan. But in addition to the epic battles between good and evil – and between Astro Boy and some very impressive monster robots – there’s a pervasive subtext about the nature of humanity, and a lesson in tolerance. Just for the kids, of course.

“If you’re taught to hate someone or something, and then find out they’re not so bad, it’s hard to deal with,” said actress Kristen Bell, who voices Cora, leader of the Dickensian pack of wild children who work for the Fagin-esque Hamegg (Nathan Lane) and who initially accept Astro Boy as just another human. “She definitely has to struggle with the idea that this kid she likes is a robot.”

“I think that it’s nice to have that undercurrent in the film,” said Freddie Highmore, whose face is known to audiences for “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “August Rush” and whose voice has been heard in films such as “Arthur and the Invisibles.” “It’s about things everyone can relate to, the feeling of being slightly different for whatever reason and wanting to be like everyone else. But there are issues you don’t expect to be raised in this film, the biggest one being about rejection and trying to fit into society. Astro Boy thinks he’s the same as everybody else, but he’s a robot, and that’s the obstacle he has to overcome. Apart from saving the world.”

In the original series by “godfather of anime” Osamu Tezuka, Astro Boy was conjured up by a scientist to replace his dead son, but as Bowers points out, Tezuka’s scientist wasn’t as directly responsible for the death as he is in the new film.

“Also, in the movie,” said Bowers, “he gives the robot boy his son’s memories, so we get into the question of what is it that makes us human, and what is it that makes a person a person, which aren’t in the original.”

The old Astro Boy, he said, “knows he’s a robot from the get-go. He just looks like the man’s son.”

Bowers admitted to a certain apprehension about taking on a story and character so beloved, at least in Japan, and about whom the Japanese, not surprisingly, feel a bit proprietary.

“At the same time,” he said, “the Tezuka estate encouraged me to expand on the universe of the story and make a movie that would play globally. ‘Astro Boy’ has been very big in Asia and Latin America but hasn’t really made an enormous impact on Europe or the United States. They’re hoping this might be the movie to introduce him.

“I think it’s easy to underestimate a family audience,” he added. “Kids are able to deal with a lot more drama than we give them credit for. The classic Disney films like ‘Snow White,’ ‘Bambi’ and ‘Pinocchio’ are pretty devastating at times. But I think kids appreciate drama and with drama here have to be peaks and valleys, so the lower you go, the higher you can climb. And then everything works out happily. And ‘Astro Boy’ does have a very happy ending. He just has to go through a lot to get there.”