The munchies can be a bitch. Especially if you’re even remotely concerned about what’s in your food.

In our culture of over-packaged, over-processed, big corporate food, the health-marketing gurus are convinced that people buy big grabs of potato chips and only eat ten chips. “About ten chips” is about a handful. “About ten chips” usually equals between 10-15 grams of fat and between 110-180 calories. “About ten chips” is about a half or a third of what most of us end up eating.

At least store-bought, packaged food tells you what you’re getting. Restaurants are a different story. Restaurants in the U.S. aren’t required to tell you anything about what’s in the brown paper sack or what’s on the stylish glassware. Most fast food restaurants keep their information posted or at least let you take a look at a nutrition information chart before you order. Burger King, for example, posts its info on a poster just behind the counter-kid. It’s tough to see, but it is there.

Most restaurants in Brookings can’t tell you much about the caloric and fat content of their products. Ask for nutritional information at Bagel Works. Chances are you’ll get a list of ingredients and a smile. For health-conscious hungry students, however, there are a few restaurants willing to help you out.

Subway

This is the big one just about anywhere. Subway’s selling point as a national franchise is its healthfulness, so this is no surprise. Jared the Subway porpoise touts the store’s “7 Sandwiches with 6 Grams of Fat or Less” catchphrase on television, in radio spots and in magazines. Jared’s story is featured in the health info brochure at the cash register of both Subway stores in Brookings, along with a complete chart of nutritional info on sandwiches, healthy eating tips and tips on how to get the most out of exercise.

It’s almost too much, actually. Those seven skinny sandwiches are listed on the napkins and the soda cups, for god’s sake.

Burger King

Who would’ve guessed this one? Of all the fast food restaurants in Brookings, though, Burger King is the most open with the info and offers the largest number of healthy choices. The info is available if you ask for it, and it is posted (even if it takes a strain to see it).

Burger King also offers the option of a “healthy” value meal. This means instead of fries and a soda, you get salad and a bottle of purified water. Some of BK’s baguette sandwiches have less than ten grams of fat, and they offer a veggie burger made of soy and various veggies.

And the winner is:

Mad Jack’s

Mad Jack’s is easily the best place to go if you’re watching the calorie intake. Even though they’re not required to by governmental or corporate directive, the folks at Mad Jack’s offer the nutritional information for all of their menu items in brochure form on the counter. Beyond the nutrition info, Mad Jack’s has another brochure which details the number of Weight Watcher’s points

2003 (depending on who you listen to) was either the year when everything was unspeakably awesome or the year when everything sucked.

I’m going to take the middle road and say most everything was really mediocre, though a few things were great and a few things were terrible. This is the way it is every year: one giant sea of crap from which a few pearls arise. When did I start sounding like an old man?

Herewith, then, are ten things that were great this year, five things I’m looking forward to in December and five things that really sucked (in the interest of Norman Vincent Peale-esque positive thinking).

Eight Things that Make Me Happy

1.) The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Conservatives say it’s too liberal. Liberals say it’s too conservative. That probably means it’s just right for me! Stewart and his happy journalism pranksters make a mockery of television news. In fact, various international tragedies and the Schwarzzengger campaign have made this a banner year for the show. Triple huzzahs!

2.) Mainstream music worth caring about. The White Stripes, Fountains of Wayne, Damien Rice and Outkast all provided albums I’ll listen to for years to come. Bonus points for “Crazy in Love,” a Beyonce Knowles song so annoying it actually stopped being annoying sometime in July!

3.) DBC Pierre’s Vernon God Little. In a rather dismal year for the publishing industry, Pierre wrote the only book I’ve thought about a few times after finishing it.

4.) Big studios start to care again. Between Mystic River, Master and Commander and a few others, it seems the big studios have returned to producing movies for audiences other than teenagers.

5.) Documentaries and (good) indie films score big. Capturing the Friedmans? American Splendor? Lost in Translation? Whale Rider? All good films.

6.) Arrested Development. The funniest new show in many a year arrives just in time to save the television sitcom from itself. There were few funnier moments this year than when narrator Ron Howard described how Tobias (David Cross) ended up with a boatload of gay pirates. Bonus points for reuniting Cross and Bob Odenkirk!

7.) Genre TV worth caring about. There are too many genre shows on TV right now, but there are too many Law and Order series too. 24, Alias and Angel all make my day in different ways and fill in the hole left by the dearly departed Buffy and Boomtown.

8.) The word “huzzah.” It’s making a comeback. Make sure to say it in class!

Four Things I’m Looking Forward To:

1.) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Oh, come on. Like you’re not. Even people who hate this film series can’t wait to see this one so they can hate it even more. Go, zeitgeist!

2.) HBO’s Angels in America. I don’t have HBO. I don’t really like this play. But the reviews have been amazing and the cast looks great. And there are few phrases more promising than “a gay fantasia on national themes.” Well, maybe “Free sundae with any dinner purchase,” but that’s just me.

3.) The next Ben Folds EP. The man is cranking out some of his best work ever in short-form EPs available only on his website.

4.) Christmas. If only because I’m tired of school.

Four Things That Sucked:

1.) Most books. Okay, so they didn’t suck, per se, but they did disappoint. Highly touted new novels from Jhumpa Lahiri, Toni Morrison and Zadie Smith left us saying “meh.” In addition, there was no “The Corrections” style breakout sensation.

2.) The new TV shows. Outside of Arrested Development and a few passable dramas like Joan of Arcadia, network TV couldn’t come up with anything new worth watching this year.

3.) The Last Samurai. Stupid self-righteous Tom Cruise …

4.) Reality TV. Constantly finding new ways to scrape the bottom of the barrel since 2002.

-Todd VanDerWerff

Who rules?

Outkast! Andre 3000′s Love Below and Big Boi’s Speakerboxxx knock the snot out of nearly every record this year. Jet’s Get Born is a decent debut with one really stellar song (“Are You Gonna Be My Girl”), Iggy Pop’s Skull Ring is spectacular, Atmosphere’s Seven’s Travels is predictably fantastic, but for my money, Outkast are bending the music world over backwards with their double album.

Special mention should also go to the Neptunes. Pharell Williams is better known as a singer, but he and partner Chad Hugo have the most magic fingers in pop music today. They even made Justin Timberlake sound good. Their album this summer, Clones, features tracks with Jay-Z, Nelly, Kelis, Busta Rhymes, Snoop Dogg, Ludacris and Dirt McGirt (Ol’ Dirty Bastard). If you haven’t heard this stuff yet, you may need therapy to get your mojo back. What? You didn’t know it was gone? Lawdy, lawdy! I’m afraid you’re a lost cause.

As far as the movies go, the movie that had me the most excited turned out to be the most disappointing so far: Bad Santa. Sure, I want to see The Return of the King as badly as anyone, but chances are you know what that’s about already.

Bad Santa was supposed to be great. It’s a drunk Santa movie, for chrissakes! A drunk Santa movie with Billy Bob Thornton as Santa and the ass-kicking black dwarf from Friday (Tony Cox) as an elf with white ears.

Beyond that, director Terry Zwigoff just came from Ghost World-my favorite movie of 2000-and Joel and Ethan Coen (Fargo, The Big Lebowski) produced it. All three of these guys know how to make dark tragi-comedy into high art. Unfortunately, there isn’t much going on with Bad Santa beyond the cheap laughs.

There is hope, however: Anthony Minghella (The Talented Mr. Ripley) directs Jude Law, Renee Zellweger and Nicole Kidman in Cold Mountain at the end of the month. Cross your fingers, film fans.

-John Hult

What’s Rockin’ My Winter

KABOOM!!!!! The stage right bass drum exploded with the force of a hand-grenade, says the Who vocalist Rodger Daltrey. This is how the Who made their appearance on The Smothers Brother’s Comedy Hour in 1967. Guitarist Pete Townsend’s hearing problems might have something to do with the fact that his head was directly in front of the drum when the explosion went off, seriously.

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Professor Robert Lacher shakes his head in disbelief.

“Think of all the Universities that exist in the country” he said, trailing off as he holds a copy of the nine-page form he must now fill out for his Statistics course. “We’re talking hundreds of thousands of man hours.”

Lacher is referring to the STEP Alignment tool, a set of forms that intend to match objectives from college-level courses taught to future teachers to the objectives the South Dakota Board of Education has set for K-12 students in the state.

The alignment tool is one level removed from the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the Bush Administration’s sweeping 2001 education reform package.

Among the objectives of the Act is a goal to guarantee a “highly qualified” teacher for each K-12 student in the U.S.

The STEP Alignment tool is not a requirement of the NCLB Act, but the Board of Education and the Board of Regents approved the funding of a grant to allow for the alignment tool to be phased in.

Timing is apt to align college and high school education programs.

According to Brookings High School Principal Doug Beste, the South Dakota content standards test (Dakota Step) his school gives juniors after they complete the SATs is the most important test he’s ever given.

“The Dakota Step test-that’s a pretty high stakes test now, compared to any type of testing we’ve historically done in our district or in most S.D. districts,” Beste said.

The NCLB Act requires all states to set content standards for K-12 students.

Any school receiving federal funds must test their students and evaluate the results based on the state standards. Schools which fail to make the grade are eligible for assistance, and schools failing repeatedly to meet the standards may lose students and funding to other, higher scoring schools.

According to Education Professor and alignment tool organizer Kathryn Penrod, the tool’s forms will hit the desks of instructors in the Biology and Family and Consumer Sciences departments in the Spring and the English Department next fall.

Though the idea behind the tool is to make sure that future teachers get the instruction they’ll need, Penrod is quick to point out that only some of the class objectives will be expressly for those future teachers.

“It doesn’t mean that a person with a math major will not get a great deal more, but we need to make sure that they’re learning at least minimally what they’ll be teaching at the high school level,” Penrod said.

One of the courses involved is Math 102, otherwise known as College Algebra.

Professor Chris Larson teaches this and five other courses that require her to fill out the step alignment tool.

The tool takes between three and five hours to complete. Larson, along with every instructor who fills out the forms, will receive a stipend for each course.

But that stipend may not last forever.

According to Penrod, the grant for the program runs out in two years. Penrod is unsure what the ultimate goal of the program is, but she knows what she would like to see.

“I believe a dream would be that all programs that prepare teachers are aligned because the federal government wants to assure that our students are graduating well-prepared to teach high school,” she said. “In some universities, you could get a history major and study mostly Asian or Ancient History. That does not prepare you to be a high school history teacher.”

Q: Please state your name for the record.

A: Todd Justin VanDerWerff

Q: And your position is?

A: I am the editor-in-chief of the Collegian.

Q: What’s your major?

A: I’m a journalism/theatre/English major. Most people change their majors. I just kept adding them.

Q: Hometown?

A: I’m from Armour, S.D. I’m part of the secret Armour cabal that runs the school, along with student regent (and fellow native) Tony Venhuizen.

Q: What made you want to be an editor?

A: Don’t ask me this now. Deadline is but hours away and that (of course) is when everything decides to go wrong.

To tell you the truth, though, I love the pressure. I don’t know that I would have it any other way.

Any job where everything can go cataclysmically wrong at a second’s notice is the job for me, I guess. I also really like working with writing.

While I enjoy writing stories of my own, I like to improve other people’s writing as well.

Q: What is the best part of your job?

A: I still love seeing the finished product. I know it’s kind of nerdy to say so, but I like to flip through the paper and see all the great work my staff did and all the mediocre work I did. I also really like writing stories that people find interesting to read.

Q: What is the worst part of your job?

A: When everything goes wrong, that’s the worst part of my job. Actually, though, those are the moments when you build real camaraderie with your staff.

I’ve made a lot of the best friends I’ll ever have on crazy Monday nights when nothing’s done and the network crashes.

Q: Where do you see the Collegian in the next five years?

A: Honestly, I think the Collegian needs to move towards being a daily newspaper.

As SDSU gets bigger and bigger with the influx of students we’ll get after the move to DI, more news will happen and students will deserve a newspaper that covers that news in a timely manner.

In five years, I think we will be printing two times a week, probably Tuesday and Thursday. I think we’re making a step in that direction by printing Juice, which could easily spin off and be its own publication if it wasn’t so dependent on us for strength. (laugh)

Q: Why should students read the Collegian?

A: We are the best place to get campus news. “The Brookings Register” and “The Argus Leader” cover the big campus stories in a more timely fashion than we do because they’re dailies, but we like to think we cover the stories more in-depth than they can because we can take the time to really explore the issues.

For example, we placed in the prestigious Hearst competition last year with our DI reporting, which was second to none. “The Argus” might have told you we were going DI first, but we told you what that would mean for students.

Each week when Maria Chona Mendoza walks up the stairs and through the big blue door leading to Daktronics’ Electronic Assembly department, she’s greeted with a “hey, Maria, how are you” from almost all of her coworkers.

But her name, Maria, isn’t actually her proper first name.

Maria is a Catholic name referring to the Virgin Mary, much like nuns in the U.S. are called “Sister Mary so-and-so.” In the Philippines, her name is “Chona.”

But being called “Maria” doesn’t bother her. She understands.

Mendoza carries this attitude-searching for understanding-with her when she encounters what many would call blatant racism.

“I don’t like the word ‘racism,’” Mendoza said. “I look for the reasons why they are doing this to me or saying this to me. I don’t use the word ‘racist.’”

It took her a long time to adapt to life in the U.S. Eleven years ago, Mendoza moved to Watertown with her (now ex) husband.

“He was very controlling,” she said. “He didn’t want me to be who I am.”

This meant very little socializing, not going to college (which she had always hoped to do in the U.S.) and no driving. Driving became a neccessity after a while, however.

Mendoza met Ira Davis, her current fianc

Homecomings are always about tradition. the pom pom, rah-rah facade of an older, supposedly simpler time is long gone, yet the ripples of that facade are apparent in the adapted homecoming celebrations of today.

The language changes. ‘Swell’ becomes ‘groovy’ becomes ‘bitchin’ becomes ‘cool.’ The romantic notions of collegiate life change, too. sanitized visions of milkshakes with candy-striped twin straws attached on one side to the star quarterback and on the other side to the head cheerleader become Fat Tire Ales raised in celebration by two rowdy revelers.

OK, so Hobo Day was probably never about milkshakes.

Things change, times change, people change, but there are a few constants throughout the Hobo homecoming’s 91 storied years: among them parades, football and parties. New friends and old friends coming together is a constant, as well.

‘There’s people I haven’t seen for a while that live out of state taht come back [for Hobo Days],” said Brad Tofflemeyer, a bartender at Skinner’s Pub in downtown Brookings.

This year’s Hobo Days theme aims to bring back a few of the commonalities that gave away over the years.

“Traditions” is the theme to guide students, alumni, and Brookings residents through the homecoming’s six days. The week’s events will culminate with Hobo Day itself on Sat., Nov. 1, when the Jackrabbit football team takes on St. Cloud State Huskies at 2 p.m. in Coughlin Alumni Stadium.

“We’re really trying to bring [old Hobo Day traditions] back this year,” said Mark Jobman, this year’s Grand Pooba.

One comeback tradition is Hobo Jeopardy, which was popular during the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Hobo Fest includes the Jeopardy game to test the Hobo Day knowledge of bum competitors.

Another Hobo tradition is the Beards, Pigtails and Hairy Legs Contest, which boasts increased participation this year. Jobman himself hates his beard, but he likes the idea of Hobos giving up a month of shaving for school spirit and believes a Pooba ought to lead the way. The total number of Hairy Legs, Pigtails and Beards contestants is 40-at least double last year’s total.

“That was a real confidence booster for us to have so many people decide to grow their beards out,” Jobman said.

Also look for Hobo Mobiles, which Jobman describes as “Bum Winnebagos.” Lambda Chi and Delta Chi both plan to roll their Hobo Mobiles through the Parade this year.

The point is to celebrate activities that bring us together as students, faculty and alumni for a common cause. Even if that common cause is a party. Especially if the common cause is a party.

The political arena is not a new one for Emily Hauge. Last year, she was a Political Science major at SDSU and worked for Sen. Tim Johnson’s re-election campaign.

This year the political bug bit harder. It bit hard enough to lure her away from SDSU for a semester to work for North Carolina Senator John Edwards, who is campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Hauge, who is the field organizer for Blackhawk and Grundy counties working out of the campaign’s Waterloo, Iowa office, had every intention to return to SDSU in the fall. She was invited by Regional Director Jackie Lee-another former Johnson campaign worker-to help gather supporters on the senator’s Iowa bus tour in August.

After a week back in South Dakota telling friends and relatives about the campaigning experience and the senator’s charisma, Hauge was back in Waterloo.

“During the bus tour, I saw him at three different events,” Hauge said from the Waterloo office. “I was completely and totally impressed. I definitely became a believer that he is the man who can beat Bush.”

Hauge said the moderate senator’s chances of unseating President Bush played as large a role in her decision to work for his campaign as his positions. Edwards did vote for the Iraq War in March, and he supports the death penalty-positions that run contrary to Hauge’s.

“Despite certain elements of my idealistic, liberal, college outlook, I realize that as a Democrat, it’s not a time to be idealistic; it’s a time to be realistic,” Hauge said. “But in comparison with the other candidates, I agree with him more on the issues.”

Though Hauge worked for Senator Tim Johnson’s re-election campaign last year, the run up to the primary election is a new experience for Hauge.

“It’s not Republicans versus Democrats-it’s Democrats versus Democrats,” Hauge said. “So my job is to organize this area to the best of my ability, to make sure that I have the number of supporters we need to caucus for [Senator Edwards] on Jan. 19.”

“Supporters” are Democrats who pledge their support and vote on Caucus Night, which is Jan. 19 in Iowa.

Iowa is an important state for any candidate as the first to hold primary elections.

Hauge has high hopes for Edwards, pointing to the inaccuracy of early polls and a growing number of influential supporters in Iowa.

“It’s not wise to pay attention to the polls this early in the race,” she said. “We run into a lot of undecided voters, but we’re excited because we have some major people in Blackhawk and Waterloo supporting Sen. Edwards now.”

The excitement level is high, to be sure, but Hauge is once again committed to returning to SDSU (this time in the spring).

And this time she means it.

“I think about that every day, because it’s going to be really hard for me to go back after all this,” Hauge said. “But I have to go back to school. I can’t be in school for the rest of my life.”

Q: Please state your name for the record.

A: Tim Johnson.

Q: And you are from?

A: Vermillion, SD.

Q: What is the most important piece of legislation this year that affects college students?

A: Well, we’re working on the re-authorization of the Higher Education Act.

It might not be completely done until next year, but we have begun at least a debate on higher education and that involves Pell Grants, work study pograms, emergency student loans, and I think it’s very important that we put as much emphasis onto that program to make sure that every college student has an opportunity to get his or her degree without graduating with crushing debt when they are done.

Q: You have a child in the military, what is your opinion on the war in Iraq?

A: We can be immensely proud of our military.

Our troops in active duty have done an extraordinary job and we have the greatest military in the world.

But I think it was a mistake for Bush not to secure a broader international coalition.

We’ve alienated many of our allies and now we are faced with dealing with the financial costs of this war.

Most of the debts are U.S. debts and I am very troubled by the unilateral role the U.S. plays in terms of what it does with our budget.

An $87 billion supplemental appropriations the president has asked for is equivalent to three times what our nation pays on K-12 education a year and we’re told that we can’t come up with the $8 billion needed to fund No Child Left Behind.

Q: What is your favorite part of your job?

A: My favorite part of my job is making a difference for South Dakota.

To be able to know each day that there are things I can do to create opportunities for our economy and create a better way of life for all South Dakotans.

Q: What is your least favorite part of your job?

A: My least favorite part is probably the raising of money for campaigns and the activities that running a campaign entail.

These campaigns cost too much and take too long and I voted for campaign finance reform, which is a small step in the right direction.

Q: Who do you favor for a Democratic presidential nominee?

A: I haven’t endorsed anybody on the presidential side.

There are a number of good people there, … whoever gets the nomination. … I think we’ll have a very competitive race in 2004 and I’m waiting to make up my own mind on the Democratic side.

There are several people who would be potentially good presidents.

My primary focus has been getting the job done in the Senate and I’m not going to spend too much time going over presidential politics.

Outside of the music, there seem to be two defining characteristics of a musical: action and exaggeration.

Whether the action and exaggeration happens onstage, on the screen or in the bathroom mirror when you think your roommates can’t hear you, these elements are the guiding force of storied singsong showmanship.

The trick, it seems, is to create a world where song and dance is as natural a public activity as falling in line at the grocery store.

It’s a tough job. Acting is tough, anyway, but a musical like State University Theatre’s season opener West Side Story requires a different approach to storytelling.

“Because a lot of the show is underscored [music plays during spoken dialogue], J.D. Ackman [WSS director] told us to think of the whole thing as a dance,” senior theater major J.D. Henrikson said.

Henrikson plays Bernardo-the West Side Story equivalent to Juliet’s cousin Tybalt in Romeo & Juliet. West Side’s Juliet is a young Puerto Rican immigrant named Maria, who falls for a white guy on the mean streets of New York City in the 1950s.

Most high school students are familiar with West Side Story as an add-on to studies about Shakespeare, because the musical and film are Romeo & Juliet update tales.

Many of those same students watched the Puerto Rican Sharks gang feud with the white Jets in class or at home for extra credit in sophomore lit.

So what does the cast do to put their own stamp on a musical as well-known as West Side Story?

Well, don’t watch the movie, for one thing.

“I really encouraged my actors not to watch the movie,” Professor Ackman said. “Especially with younger actors, they’ll really try and recreate what they see a person do on film, when in fact, it’s an entirely different situation. If they watch the movie, they may try to act only with their face. And here you’ve got to act with your whole body.”

There is more to it, of course. As his winded actors wound down in Doner’s powder-blue peach fuzz fold-outs after Sunday’s dress rehearsal, Ackman again reminded them about “dancing their moves.” For a musical, he said, this is essential.

“You’re movement can’t be realistic, your line delivery can’t be absolutely realistic, everything that you do has to be almost expressionist in its scope, size, power,” he said later that evening as his actors drove home for the night. “I think by and large, we’re being very successful with it.”

Exaggerating movements and avoiding the movie were just a few pieces of the West Side Story puzzle for the student thespians.

The set includes steel fire escapes, painted-on bricks and two stage-framing 23-foot walls to create the NYC streets on which the Jet/Shark squabbles take place. But there was another thing: the Sharks are Puerto Rican.

This could’ve presented a problem on a campus as overwhelmingly Caucasian as SDSU. The Sharks have purple and red outfits, and the gang members use Puerto Rican accents with varying degrees of conviction, but the issue was a small one, Ackman said.

“If an accent is absolutely realistic, you can’t understand it,” Ackman said. “If your acting is good enough, the audience, within this world of the play will buy that you’re a Puerto Rican.”

Ackman said a few cast members darkened their hair, but most don’t even wear make-up to play the Sharks. Henrikson does, but he has his own reasons.

“Well, I wear a little make-up, but that’s mostly because I’m pasty,” he said with a laugh.

Henrikson, a tall, goateed guy who buckled swash as Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet in the spring of 2002, appreciated the opportunity West Side Story’s rumble scene provided to show off his stage fighting chops.

According to Henrikson, he’s happy to be consistently cast as the tough.

“It’s one of the best parts about theater-musical theater, anyway,” Henrikson said. “The more physical you can be on stage the better. It’s a really choreographed dance fight, so that make it even more fun.”

Steph Meyer, who plays Maria, appreciates the show on a more musical level. It’s only natural. She’s a vocal-focused music education major who talks technical music jargon in adoring tones to iterate her admiration for West Side Story’s jumpy, jarring song craft.

Sensing the confusion her descriptions were bringing, she breaks out in song in the Admin hallway. She bounces through a few bars of “Maria” to demonstrate how play’s use of extreme intervals unifies the music from song to song and theme to theme. It sounds great.

“You don’t hear that in Beethoven or Bach,” Meyer said. “You don’t hear that until the 20th Century stuff.”

The music was coming along during the dress rehersal Sunday. “Gee, Officer Krupke” is funny as hell. “Someday” was a little shakey-looking, but its tones lilted lovely through the auditorium.

With any luck, the songs will find a full house of ears when West Side Story opens Wednesday night. The show runs through Saturday, with a 2 p.m. matinee that day.

OutKast is like the Radiohead of the Hip-Hop world: an inventive, virtuosic outfit that releases virtuosic, inventive material that pushes genre boundaries that still outsells half of the directly commercial acts on the rack. Compared to Nelly’s “Hot in Herre,” Outkast’s “The Whole World” may as well be “Knives Out.”

OutKast is still an anomaly. The Atlanta duo’s fifth album of all original material, The Love Below/Speakerboxx could be the last straw. Southern pimp archetype Big Boi and freaksack genius Andre 3000 each offer full-length discs-Speakerboxx and The Love Below, respectively-that stray further from explicable Hip-Hop than the group ever has, with The Love Below straining to fit the moniker at all.This is the point, actually. Artists of any genre rely on people with the talent and balls of an OutKast or a Frank Zappa or a John Coltrane to open up the creative floodgates for them. The Love Below, in particular, busts the gates wide open.

Much of Dre’s disc merely resembles Hip-Hop. Dre does more singing than rapping as he searches his soul by way of his loins for some Innervisions-era Stevie Wonder without the catchy hooks or limber vocal chords. He overproduces himself to make up the difference with splotchy results. “Dracula’s Wedding,” “Hey Ya!” and “Happy Valentine’s Day” are incredible and accessible at once. “Vibrate” and the Mrs. Robinson story “Pink & Blue” are interesting, but they won’t get any party started.

Big Boi fares offers up Speakerboxx as an extension of 2000′s Stankonia without the teeth. “Church,” “Ghettomusik” and “Bowtie” are the standouts here. Killer Mike, Jay-Z and Konkrete help out on several tracks, as well.

OutKast is still an anomaly, sure.

But they’re also so much better than most of their contemporaries that even the irregularity of Love Below/Speakerboxx won’t stop it from being one of the best albums you’ll hear this year.

3 1/2 Stars out of 5