June 5, 2003 · VOL. 12, NO. 38

FRONT OF BOOK Letters: Perhaps with no snide retorts available to him this week, Dan Savage has decided to keep the letters section at a mere half page.... Last Days: Once again: brilliant!... NEWS Apparently, Josh Feit & Co. managed to finagle themselves a bit of a scoop this week, as Amy Jenniges was allowed to enter some sort of "nefarious" secretive law enforcement conference. And while the resulting article is not of the highest caliber, it still makes for better reading than the usual dull tripe found printed in the section... FEATURE In a shocking development, a good--dare I say great?--feature!... THEATER Two pleasant reviews, and an excessively mean one.... BOOKS Impenetrable.... ART Also impenetrable.... FOOD Didn't read.... MUSIC A mammoth section this week, which, if I hadn't skipped it, may have made for a pleasant read.... FILM Though I have in the past bemoaned Bradley Steinbacher being made film editor, as long as he keeps printing the words of far more competent critics (in this case, Shannon Gee), the paper's film section may, indeed, survive his tenure after all.... ETC. Nightstand: Christopher Frizzelle writes about the opening of a new library and attempts to (a) draw witty comparisons between it and a gay drinking establishment, and (b) pass himself off as a scribbler better suited for the New Yorker than for an insipid publication such as The Stranger. He fails on both fronts.... It's My Party: Didn't read.... Live Wire: Also didn't read.... Erasing Hours: The curse of Sean Nelson continues.... Savage Love: More on what is/is not rape. My advice: Don't read.... I Love TV: Didn't read.... Control Tower: Didn't read.... Celebrity I Saw U: Too gay....