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(11/02/06 5:00am)
Where do I even start? Well, how about this: Don't let the fact that "Nacho Libre" is written and directed by Jared Hess fool you. Hess is best known for writing and directing the hit "Napoleon Dynamite," but let me forewarn you that "Nacho" is nothing like the 2004 smash that got Hess recognized. It's as if "Nacho" tries too hard to outshine "Napoleon" with its humor. It ends up failing miserably. \nFunny man Jack Black plays Nacho, an orphan raised at a monastery in Mexico who now works there as the cook. After becoming fed up with the useless jobs he is constantly given, Nacho finds his true passion: wrestling. Since it goes against scripture to wrestle, Nacho finds himself donning a cape and mask to hide his true identity as he wrestles in effort to show off to the new nun, Sister Encarnación (Ana de la Reguera). At the same time, Nacho tries to prove that wrestling is not a sin, and if he wins the grand prize - a large amount of money - he will be able to benefit the orphans. \nUnlike watching "Napoleon Dynamite" which flew by, "Nacho" seems to drag on, and I found myself dreading the idea of sitting through it to the end. The sight of watching Jack Black prance around shirtless and in tights was probably the funniest thing in this movie. A majority of the scenes were shots of wrestling, and there was hardly any dialogue in the movie at all. \nI must say that Jack Black's choice in films has clearly gone downhill since his "Orange County" days. And it is no surprise that the supporting cast is almost entirely unknown; I bet female leads like Salma Hayek and Penélope Cruz wanted nothing to do with this movie. What was almost more painful than watching the movie was having to sit through the DVD's special features. The deleted scenes were dumb, the commentaries were boring and the only feature I somewhat appreciated was watching one of Black singing. "Nacho" was a huge disappointment to me, and I would not recommend it to anyone. I'm still upset about losing 90 minutes of time I know could have been better spent.
(11/02/06 5:00am)
"Tetris" on acid.\nThat's really the only way to describe "Lumines Live!" Like in a lot of other "Tetris"-inspired puzzle games, blocks of four squares drop down from the top of the screen to be matched with like colors and form ever larger squares of the same color, while another line moves from left to right to clear the new super blocks.\nIt's a simple concept that gets turned up to 11 with constantly changing thumping electronic beats and crazy pulsating background graphics called "skins."\nThe goal of "Lumines Live!" is not only to get the high score, but to become one with the game. Let go of any strategy, start moving your head to the music and get in touch with your amateur DJ as every time you do anything on screen, it mixes the music up a bit. Even if you can't get a basic combo going, you're guaranteed to have fun.\nWarning, though: If you despise electronic music, you will more than likely hate this game as well, but as a pretty big fan of the genre, I can vouch that the soundtrack is solid. Tetsuya Mizuguchi, who has served as producer for the "Lumines" games as well as other music-heavy games such as "Space Channel 5" and "REZ" again proves that he is the master of choosing the perfect songs to go with a game.\nWhile the game itself will keep you entertained for weeks, the pricing strategy flat out sucks.\nFor $15 (1200 Microsoft Points) you get a game with only a dozen skins in challenge mode. If you want the 22 more on Xbox Live that's another $6.50. Other modes are incomplete as well. Puzzle Mode has only five stages. The additional 35 won't be available until early 2007 for an additional fee. The vs. CPU mode is an even bigger rip off. There's one stage available at the start and the other nine won't be available until, you guessed it, early 2007 for more cash. A music/video pack featuring Madonna and other artists will also be up at some point in the future.\nIt's pretty shady that a company has tried to pass off a glorified demo as the full version of the game. The dark side of digital distribution has definitely arrived.\nBut like the junkie who needs his fix, the basic game is so addicting, it's going to be hard to turn away from the additional content, regardless of the price. (Yeah, I already downloaded the advance pack. Yeah, it's totally worth it.)\nStill, for shame for taking advantage of us poor addicted gamers! Good game, though.
(11/02/06 5:00am)
Some TV shows have a nasty habit of creating a medical emergency as an easy way out of a storyline. It's overdone, cheap and slightly insulting to the viewers' attention spans. While on the same fault line, some medical shows use cheap drama as an excuse to show overdone and boring medicine. Only the best shows know how to spin the victim angle to better the series. As you can tell, this is something that bothers me.\nExhibit one: "Entourage." When Johnny Drama wanted calf implants, the show teased. Drama would check out other guys' legs at parties, accusing them of lying about whether they were real or fake, like always, making a fool out of himself. You couldn't help but be happy for Drama when Vince celebrated his success by rewarding his bro with a leg-job. But the story never went anywhere. The writers dropped the calf gimmick like Vince cut off Ari, leaving Drama too ashamed to ever wear a pair of cut-offs. \nOn "Arrested Development" (RIP), however, cut-off wearing Tobias Fünke, the never-nude, endured multiple maladies for comic relief. He was run over by cars, got a concussion after being "blown and poked" in the ear and needed diamond dust vacuumed from his lungs. Tobias was more beat up than a Monday Night Football quarterback. The "AD" writers didn't know how to drop a storyline. They had inside jokes with a loyal audience by using allusions from episodes past. The writers went beyond milking a joke. They pasteurized it, added some cultures and turned it into yogurt. \nThe "AD" writers didn't just use and abuse Tobias. Buster Bluth, his brother-in-law, suffered an unfortunate incident involving a loose seal and the sea. There were some wild splashes, some screams and somebody lost a hand. When Buster became "all right" after losing his left hand to the seal, the writers didn't let the storyline float away. Almost every scene with Buster, post-amputation, subtly pays notice to his hand -- or lack thereof. \nAnother show that chops off their character's digits is "Weeds." After opening a Pandora's box of DEA collusion, explaining innovative ways to use bananas and a kinky Israeli in the mix, "Weeds" had a great few opening episodes. Then the writers cut off Andy's toe. \nObserve exhibit two: "Weeds" writers were bullied into a corner by a bisexual with a strap-on. They dipped into the community chest and brought along a stray dog from the neighborhood. Nipping off storylines like the dog nipped off a toe. With one swift move, the mongrel manages to solve all of Andy's problems. Losing a toe got Andy out of military service, fixed his love-life and put him back in the victim seat. \nIf series writers can desperately scrounge for surgeries to excuse their poor plot direction, at least medical dramas should give better ways to perform them. As this point into the new season, it is not the case. \nExhibit three: "Nip/Tuck." The McNamara/Troy duet used to be a hotbed of controversial surgeries. The ground-breaking operations normally form cohesive themes to connect what happens in the doctors' hot beds with the operating table. \nOn a show where patients can order a boob-job with a side of botox shots, the people who visit the Miami office exude vanity. Constantly questioning what they don't like about themselves, the doctors cater to quite a self-absorbed clientele. A standard episode uses blood and gore to compliment the innovative procedures. \nDespite the caricatures of the doctors' patients and themselves, the show never failed to offer seemingly impossible, medical miracles. Even prior to the real-life face transplant of last year, one plot-line thread attempted a similar landmark surgery.\nLately, "Nip/Tuck" has fallen into the same patterns as the aforementioned. The medicine has taken a backseat to the soap opera drama, and the surgeries are becoming blander. Instead of trying to one-up what they have already done, the surgeons take the easy way out and sell their practice. \nWhat happened to pulling morbidly obese people out of a sofa molded to their bodies? Where are the druglords who need new facial structures? Why don't Sean and Christian seem interested in revolutionizing plastic surgery? Maybe the Carver immunized the drive for fame and fortune from the career-oriented doctors, but at least he kept the viewers on edge. \nLast week's episode showed the end of a character that was vanity embodied as a recurring patient at McNamara/Troy. Their plastic surgery-addicted Mrs. Grubman, lost everyone close to her while on her quest for the fountain of youth. Her dying wish was to conclude the journey. Offering Christian her corpse as a blank canvas to reach perfection seems like a muse smacking an artist on the head with a masterpiece. This was his chance to create his greatest work with no repercussions or emotional ties. Did we see anything Mrs. Grubman hadn't had worked on before? No, it was just another face-lift, a little lipo and some lift around the top - and we were stuck watching an asexual ghost singing on top of a piano. Even a tummy tuck without anesthesia couldn't be this painful; it would probably be more entertaining. \nIt's too early for mid-season doldrums, but alas, they are here. None of these shows make me hold my breath when they show the patients on the operating table, anymore. Even the college-girl favorite -- "Grey's Anatomy" -- is dulling the scalpel blade. \n"Grey's" has laid out a buffet of outlandish cases for the surgical interns to fight over assisting. Few things can create a deeper repulsion than seeing the decapitated heads of familiar dolls from childhood swimming in the bowels of some twisted guy. That wasn't even the strangest object found inside one of the Seattle Grace patients. One man had an active bomb in his chest. There has even been a human shish kabob roll in on the gurney. Not anymore. \nThe medical story lines in this season of "GA" are muted next to a love triangle or hexagon or octagon. The only medical story to maintain a sense of excitement on the show, so far, is a man lighting his own face on fire. \nThen again, boring surgeries are a sacrifice I'm willing to make if it makes time to put Patrick Dempsey and Chris O'Donnell on screen, at the same time ... naked. I'll just wait until the show's over, then put on Discovery Health for a quick surgery fix.
(11/02/06 5:00am)
They file in one by one, congregating in a cluster in a corner of the waxy gym floor. Vigorously scuffing the suede underside of their elegant ballroom shoes with a wire brush and unrolling their toned legs, they chat about travel arrangements for next week's trip to Purdue University. The only other sound besides the side whisperings is the clickety-clack of high-heels worn by a loner waltzing across the floor. \n"Can you put on Samba?" asks a flowy-skirted girl of someone sitting near the CD player. \nWith a touch of the play button, the idle students burst out of their cocoons and metamorphose into a fluttering of butterflies, swishing their hips to the beat and gliding across the room effortlessly to the sound of the blaring Brazilian music. With their fervent dancing, the students transform the gymnasium into a ballroom. Soon the ballroom will double as a training facility for these dancers who mean business. \n"Right now they are just warming up, doing drills from each of the different dances," says senior Jasmin Quasniczka, captain of the competitive ballroom dancing team. "Some people practice by themselves, and others work with their partner." \nThe dancers are part of IU's competitive ballroom dance team, Dancesport. The team, open to any student regardless of experience, practices three times a week and spends weekends traveling to competitions across the country. Two weeks ago, the team competed in Champaign, Ill., and are now heading to West Lafayette on Saturday for the Purdue Ballroom Classic. \nIU's Dancesport team saw immense success last year when Quasniczka and Joe Ehlers paired up to win the national championship. \n"The first time we ever danced together was actually at a competition, and it worked so well, we decided to stick together," Quasniczka says. \nAfter dominating the Gold level of competition, they are working toward winning the national title at the next level, Pre-Champ. In competitive ballroom dance, there are six skill levels in which participants may compete. Novices compete in the New-Comer category, elites dance at the Champion level.\nLike other Dancesport couples, Quasniczka and Ehlers specialize in one area of dance and dedicate the majority of their time on the dance floor to perfecting it for competitions. During practice, however, Dancesport members do a range of dances that are under the umbrella of International style of dance. \nThere are two categories in International, Standard and Latin. The Cha Cha, Rumba, Samba, Jive and Pasa Doble are Latin dances, while the Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango, Quickstep, and Vienese Waltz fall under the Standard category. \nBut before mastering the dances, students must find partners with whom they work well. Because of the 2-to-1, female-to-male ratio within the Dancesport team, Quasniczka and other leaders encourage male dancers to have more than one partner. They are trying to recruit more men to the sport, but Quasniczka says it will probably be a long time before the ratio is even.\nStudents don't need a partner when they first come to Dancesport. Dancers of similar skill level and height will be paired up by team leaders, but these factors alone don't necessarily make a good partnership. \n"The most important thing to have in a partner is a compatible personality," says Ehlers. "You have to get along well because you are with them a lot. You also have to have similar ideas about the type of involvement you want to have, you have to have the same motivation and same goals." \nWhile some dancers like Quasniczka and Ehlers are in it to win it, others find that the opportunity to participate in Dancesport affords them an outlet to escape the stress of school work and daily life. \n"While I do take it seriously, and I want to do well at competitions, it's very relaxing," says graduate student Kevin Li. "I was scared when I walked in there for the first time and was like, 'Oh my gosh, these people can really dance.' But everyone was really nice, and I got hooked." \nOne drawback of Dancesport is the high expense it incurs, Ehlers says. In order to allow the opportunity for anyone interested to participate regardless of ability to pay, Dancesport receives some funding from IU and holds fundraisers throughout the year to subsidize some of the costs.\n"Shoes can cost anywhere between 60 and 130 dollars, and you have two pairs, one for Standard and one for Latin dance, and then you have travel fees and entrance fees," Ehlers says. "Ballroom dresses can cost anywhere between a few hundred dollars to 10,000 dollars, and you really do need more than one." \nBecause Dancesport is without a professional coach this year, Quasniczka and Ehlers are giving their own dancing the backseat to coaching. Because the majority of last year's Dancesport members graduated, Quasniczka says their focus will be on rebuilding the team.\nAfter getting the young team on their feet, Quasniczka and Ehlers plan on returning to the highly competitive level of ballroom dance they lived and breathed last year. At times, they devoted 20 hours a week to perfecting their choreography. This year they aspire to become "10-dancers", meaning they will be judged on all 10 International style dances rather than just one or two.\n"I like helping coach the team and watching them improve, but when you are focusing on something of your own advancement, it is really rewarding, and I am excited to get back into that," Quasniczka says.
(11/02/06 5:00am)
Submachine gun in hand, Hamstar walks slowly so the terrorists will not hear his footsteps. Suddenly, he launches a flash grenade into an enemy hideout. His foes blinded, Hamstar rushes in to disarm a terrorist bomb. \nMission accomplished. \nHamstar will advance to the next level in the computer game "Counter-Strike: Source." But come Saturday, Hamstar and his real-world alter ego, sophomore Chris Roberts, will emerge from their respective lairs to face new competition.\nRoberts is the vice president of the IU Gaming Club, which will host its 11th biannual LANWar. About 160 computer game enthusiasts will pack up their processors and bring them to crowd into a Briscoe dining hall. There they will vie for expensive prizes — including five high-powered graphics cards worth hundreds of dollars — and the glory of a tournament victory.\nDifferent tournaments will take place throughout the marathon event, which will last from noon Saturday until 4 p.m. Sunday. \n"It is pretty hectic with people walking around, checking out what new games there are," graduate student Evan Schwamb -- a.k.a. "shred." -- says.\nIn "Counter-Strike: Source," which will be a tournament competition, up to 64 people may play at a time, though Roberts does not expect so many to play at once. Those not competing in tournaments may play casual games with others or just hang around and socialize, he says.\nAttendees range from the hard core gamers to the much less serious, Roberts says. And some competitors are more intense than others. \n"You'll hear people yelling and screaming and cussing across the room," recent graduate Evan Julian says. \nOf course, snack food enthusiasts might also find a place at the event. Sarazan brought home the silver in the last Twinkie-eating contest, a LANWar tradition.\n"I amazed even myself," Sarazan says, boasting that he finished about a dozen. "I was proud. Pretty sick, but proud." \nAside from the sugar-high tradition, nicknames are also a must. Gamers choose a moniker for themselves, which they go by for the entire 29-hour event.\n"Mine is Locdonan, but everybody just calls me Loc," Julian says. "It's always just been that way as long as I can remember."\nExcept for those who know each other outside of gaming — such as groups (or "clans") of friends that come to compete — gamers generally do not bother with their real names, sophomore Matt "Chambz" Chambers says.\n"Sometimes people who know each other will use them interchangeably, but at the LANWar, you usually go by gaming names," he says. "They'll have a name tag with just their gaming name." \nBut people in the club do see each other in the real world, Chambers says, especially many of the officers, who hang out for activities that are not related to gaming. Last weekend they attended the "Rocky Horror Picture Show."\nExperience levels of competitors vary. For some games, constant practice is necessary to improve your skills, Roberts says. \n"I don't consider myself to be particularly hard core," Roberts says. "I don't have the time or patience to put into the endeavor."\nOthers, on the other hand, do. \n"I play a lot more than I should," says Brad McMullen, who may attend his first LANWar party this weekend. \nThat translates into about six hours a day, McMullen says. He says that he is not the best player but is continually trying to improve. \n"I like it because I can be with friends online, and I go through missions and become a better player," he says. "I have friends (who) play sometimes, but since it is a massive multi-player game, then I can meet and play with people."\nGamers do not need to have quite as much experience to come play in a tournament, however, Roberts says. \n"Not everyone has to be really competitive," he says. "We encourage people to come out for casual gaming and social interactions." \nAnd social interaction is the name of the game for the LANWars, Sarazan says. Back in the day, people had to physically hook up their computers to play against each other. But now that modern technology allows students to play against others through the Internet any time no matter where they are, the parties are more about getting together and having fun. \n"For the most part, it can be considered more of a gathering than a competition," Sarazan says. "As somebody that's never done well in tournaments, the best part is getting to socialize and meet other gamers to get to know them." \nAnd it probably doesn't hurt to quash a misconception in the meantime.\n"There is a kind of stereotype of gamers not being the most social of creatures," he says. "But LANWars bring a lot of people together to have a good time, and focuses on the party aspect of it"
(11/02/06 5:00am)
There's a puddle of blood with footprints tracked through it outside of Jake's on Walnut Street. On any other night, this sight would raise several questions, but tonight it just means someone has dropped a bottle of fake blood. The creative minds behind Axis of Evil, Bloomington's premier gothic industrial dance night, are putting on their first Halloween event. The Zombie Prom has descended upon the nightclub. With live performances by Turn Pale and Wyldfyre, a costume contest with prizes from local businesses and hordes of dancers dressed in their best zombie finery, tonight promises to be perfectly suited for Halloween. As the club begins to fill in response to the relentless beat, Axis of Evil's motto seems to be on everyone's mind: You Will Dance.
(11/02/06 4:16am)
There's a puddle of blood with footprints tracked through it outside of Jake's on Walnut Street. On any other night, this sight would raise several questions, but tonight it just means someone has dropped a bottle of fake blood. The creative minds behind Axis of Evil, Bloomington's premier gothic industrial dance night, are putting on their first Halloween event. The Zombie Prom has descended upon the nightclub. With live performances by Turn Pale and Wyldfyre, a costume contest with prizes from local businesses and hordes of dancers dressed in their best zombie finery, tonight promises to be perfectly suited for Halloween. As the club begins to fill in response to the relentless beat, Axis of Evil's motto seems to be on everyone's mind: You Will Dance.
(11/02/06 4:14am)
Submachine gun in hand, Hamstar walks slowly so the terrorists will not hear his footsteps. Suddenly, he launches a flash grenade into an enemy hideout. His foes blinded, Hamstar rushes in to disarm a terrorist bomb. \nMission accomplished. \nHamstar will advance to the next level in the computer game "Counter-Strike: Source." But come Saturday, Hamstar and his real-world alter ego, sophomore Chris Roberts, will emerge from their respective lairs to face new competition.\nRoberts is the vice president of the IU Gaming Club, which will host its 11th biannual LANWar. About 160 computer game enthusiasts will pack up their processors and bring them to crowd into a Briscoe dining hall. There they will vie for expensive prizes — including five high-powered graphics cards worth hundreds of dollars — and the glory of a tournament victory.\nDifferent tournaments will take place throughout the marathon event, which will last from noon Saturday until 4 p.m. Sunday. \n"It is pretty hectic with people walking around, checking out what new games there are," graduate student Evan Schwamb -- a.k.a. "shred." -- says.\nIn "Counter-Strike: Source," which will be a tournament competition, up to 64 people may play at a time, though Roberts does not expect so many to play at once. Those not competing in tournaments may play casual games with others or just hang around and socialize, he says.\nAttendees range from the hard core gamers to the much less serious, Roberts says. And some competitors are more intense than others. \n"You'll hear people yelling and screaming and cussing across the room," recent graduate Evan Julian says. \nOf course, snack food enthusiasts might also find a place at the event. Sarazan brought home the silver in the last Twinkie-eating contest, a LANWar tradition.\n"I amazed even myself," Sarazan says, boasting that he finished about a dozen. "I was proud. Pretty sick, but proud." \nAside from the sugar-high tradition, nicknames are also a must. Gamers choose a moniker for themselves, which they go by for the entire 29-hour event.\n"Mine is Locdonan, but everybody just calls me Loc," Julian says. "It's always just been that way as long as I can remember."\nExcept for those who know each other outside of gaming — such as groups (or "clans") of friends that come to compete — gamers generally do not bother with their real names, sophomore Matt "Chambz" Chambers says.\n"Sometimes people who know each other will use them interchangeably, but at the LANWar, you usually go by gaming names," he says. "They'll have a name tag with just their gaming name." \nBut people in the club do see each other in the real world, Chambers says, especially many of the officers, who hang out for activities that are not related to gaming. Last weekend they attended the "Rocky Horror Picture Show."\nExperience levels of competitors vary. For some games, constant practice is necessary to improve your skills, Roberts says. \n"I don't consider myself to be particularly hard core," Roberts says. "I don't have the time or patience to put into the endeavor."\nOthers, on the other hand, do. \n"I play a lot more than I should," says Brad McMullen, who may attend his first LANWar party this weekend. \nThat translates into about six hours a day, McMullen says. He says that he is not the best player but is continually trying to improve. \n"I like it because I can be with friends online, and I go through missions and become a better player," he says. "I have friends (who) play sometimes, but since it is a massive multi-player game, then I can meet and play with people."\nGamers do not need to have quite as much experience to come play in a tournament, however, Roberts says. \n"Not everyone has to be really competitive," he says. "We encourage people to come out for casual gaming and social interactions." \nAnd social interaction is the name of the game for the LANWars, Sarazan says. Back in the day, people had to physically hook up their computers to play against each other. But now that modern technology allows students to play against others through the Internet any time no matter where they are, the parties are more about getting together and having fun. \n"For the most part, it can be considered more of a gathering than a competition," Sarazan says. "As somebody that's never done well in tournaments, the best part is getting to socialize and meet other gamers to get to know them." \nAnd it probably doesn't hurt to quash a misconception in the meantime.\n"There is a kind of stereotype of gamers not being the most social of creatures," he says. "But LANWars bring a lot of people together to have a good time, and focuses on the party aspect of it"
(11/02/06 4:11am)
They file in one by one, congregating in a cluster in a corner of the waxy gym floor. Vigorously scuffing the suede underside of their elegant ballroom shoes with a wire brush and unrolling their toned legs, they chat about travel arrangements for next week's trip to Purdue University. The only other sound besides the side whisperings is the clickety-clack of high-heels worn by a loner waltzing across the floor. \n"Can you put on Samba?" asks a flowy-skirted girl of someone sitting near the CD player. \nWith a touch of the play button, the idle students burst out of their cocoons and metamorphose into a fluttering of butterflies, swishing their hips to the beat and gliding across the room effortlessly to the sound of the blaring Brazilian music. With their fervent dancing, the students transform the gymnasium into a ballroom. Soon the ballroom will double as a training facility for these dancers who mean business. \n"Right now they are just warming up, doing drills from each of the different dances," says senior Jasmin Quasniczka, captain of the competitive ballroom dancing team. "Some people practice by themselves, and others work with their partner." \nThe dancers are part of IU's competitive ballroom dance team, Dancesport. The team, open to any student regardless of experience, practices three times a week and spends weekends traveling to competitions across the country. Two weeks ago, the team competed in Champaign, Ill., and are now heading to West Lafayette on Saturday for the Purdue Ballroom Classic. \nIU's Dancesport team saw immense success last year when Quasniczka and Joe Ehlers paired up to win the national championship. \n"The first time we ever danced together was actually at a competition, and it worked so well, we decided to stick together," Quasniczka says. \nAfter dominating the Gold level of competition, they are working toward winning the national title at the next level, Pre-Champ. In competitive ballroom dance, there are six skill levels in which participants may compete. Novices compete in the New-Comer category, elites dance at the Champion level.\nLike other Dancesport couples, Quasniczka and Ehlers specialize in one area of dance and dedicate the majority of their time on the dance floor to perfecting it for competitions. During practice, however, Dancesport members do a range of dances that are under the umbrella of International style of dance. \nThere are two categories in International, Standard and Latin. The Cha Cha, Rumba, Samba, Jive and Pasa Doble are Latin dances, while the Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango, Quickstep, and Vienese Waltz fall under the Standard category. \nBut before mastering the dances, students must find partners with whom they work well. Because of the 2-to-1, female-to-male ratio within the Dancesport team, Quasniczka and other leaders encourage male dancers to have more than one partner. They are trying to recruit more men to the sport, but Quasniczka says it will probably be a long time before the ratio is even.\nStudents don't need a partner when they first come to Dancesport. Dancers of similar skill level and height will be paired up by team leaders, but these factors alone don't necessarily make a good partnership. \n"The most important thing to have in a partner is a compatible personality," says Ehlers. "You have to get along well because you are with them a lot. You also have to have similar ideas about the type of involvement you want to have, you have to have the same motivation and same goals." \nWhile some dancers like Quasniczka and Ehlers are in it to win it, others find that the opportunity to participate in Dancesport affords them an outlet to escape the stress of school work and daily life. \n"While I do take it seriously, and I want to do well at competitions, it's very relaxing," says graduate student Kevin Li. "I was scared when I walked in there for the first time and was like, 'Oh my gosh, these people can really dance.' But everyone was really nice, and I got hooked." \nOne drawback of Dancesport is the high expense it incurs, Ehlers says. In order to allow the opportunity for anyone interested to participate regardless of ability to pay, Dancesport receives some funding from IU and holds fundraisers throughout the year to subsidize some of the costs.\n"Shoes can cost anywhere between 60 and 130 dollars, and you have two pairs, one for Standard and one for Latin dance, and then you have travel fees and entrance fees," Ehlers says. "Ballroom dresses can cost anywhere between a few hundred dollars to 10,000 dollars, and you really do need more than one." \nBecause Dancesport is without a professional coach this year, Quasniczka and Ehlers are giving their own dancing the backseat to coaching. Because the majority of last year's Dancesport members graduated, Quasniczka says their focus will be on rebuilding the team.\nAfter getting the young team on their feet, Quasniczka and Ehlers plan on returning to the highly competitive level of ballroom dance they lived and breathed last year. At times, they devoted 20 hours a week to perfecting their choreography. This year they aspire to become "10-dancers", meaning they will be judged on all 10 International style dances rather than just one or two.\n"I like helping coach the team and watching them improve, but when you are focusing on something of your own advancement, it is really rewarding, and I am excited to get back into that," Quasniczka says.
(11/02/06 4:08am)
Some TV shows have a nasty habit of creating a medical emergency as an easy way out of a storyline. It's overdone, cheap and slightly insulting to the viewers' attention spans. While on the same fault line, some medical shows use cheap drama as an excuse to show overdone and boring medicine. Only the best shows know how to spin the victim angle to better the series. As you can tell, this is something that bothers me.\nExhibit one: "Entourage." When Johnny Drama wanted calf implants, the show teased. Drama would check out other guys' legs at parties, accusing them of lying about whether they were real or fake, like always, making a fool out of himself. You couldn't help but be happy for Drama when Vince celebrated his success by rewarding his bro with a leg-job. But the story never went anywhere. The writers dropped the calf gimmick like Vince cut off Ari, leaving Drama too ashamed to ever wear a pair of cut-offs. \nOn "Arrested Development" (RIP), however, cut-off wearing Tobias Fünke, the never-nude, endured multiple maladies for comic relief. He was run over by cars, got a concussion after being "blown and poked" in the ear and needed diamond dust vacuumed from his lungs. Tobias was more beat up than a Monday Night Football quarterback. The "AD" writers didn't know how to drop a storyline. They had inside jokes with a loyal audience by using allusions from episodes past. The writers went beyond milking a joke. They pasteurized it, added some cultures and turned it into yogurt. \nThe "AD" writers didn't just use and abuse Tobias. Buster Bluth, his brother-in-law, suffered an unfortunate incident involving a loose seal and the sea. There were some wild splashes, some screams and somebody lost a hand. When Buster became "all right" after losing his left hand to the seal, the writers didn't let the storyline float away. Almost every scene with Buster, post-amputation, subtly pays notice to his hand -- or lack thereof. \nAnother show that chops off their character's digits is "Weeds." After opening a Pandora's box of DEA collusion, explaining innovative ways to use bananas and a kinky Israeli in the mix, "Weeds" had a great few opening episodes. Then the writers cut off Andy's toe. \nObserve exhibit two: "Weeds" writers were bullied into a corner by a bisexual with a strap-on. They dipped into the community chest and brought along a stray dog from the neighborhood. Nipping off storylines like the dog nipped off a toe. With one swift move, the mongrel manages to solve all of Andy's problems. Losing a toe got Andy out of military service, fixed his love-life and put him back in the victim seat. \nIf series writers can desperately scrounge for surgeries to excuse their poor plot direction, at least medical dramas should give better ways to perform them. As this point into the new season, it is not the case. \nExhibit three: "Nip/Tuck." The McNamara/Troy duet used to be a hotbed of controversial surgeries. The ground-breaking operations normally form cohesive themes to connect what happens in the doctors' hot beds with the operating table. \nOn a show where patients can order a boob-job with a side of botox shots, the people who visit the Miami office exude vanity. Constantly questioning what they don't like about themselves, the doctors cater to quite a self-absorbed clientele. A standard episode uses blood and gore to compliment the innovative procedures. \nDespite the caricatures of the doctors' patients and themselves, the show never failed to offer seemingly impossible, medical miracles. Even prior to the real-life face transplant of last year, one plot-line thread attempted a similar landmark surgery.\nLately, "Nip/Tuck" has fallen into the same patterns as the aforementioned. The medicine has taken a backseat to the soap opera drama, and the surgeries are becoming blander. Instead of trying to one-up what they have already done, the surgeons take the easy way out and sell their practice. \nWhat happened to pulling morbidly obese people out of a sofa molded to their bodies? Where are the druglords who need new facial structures? Why don't Sean and Christian seem interested in revolutionizing plastic surgery? Maybe the Carver immunized the drive for fame and fortune from the career-oriented doctors, but at least he kept the viewers on edge. \nLast week's episode showed the end of a character that was vanity embodied as a recurring patient at McNamara/Troy. Their plastic surgery-addicted Mrs. Grubman, lost everyone close to her while on her quest for the fountain of youth. Her dying wish was to conclude the journey. Offering Christian her corpse as a blank canvas to reach perfection seems like a muse smacking an artist on the head with a masterpiece. This was his chance to create his greatest work with no repercussions or emotional ties. Did we see anything Mrs. Grubman hadn't had worked on before? No, it was just another face-lift, a little lipo and some lift around the top - and we were stuck watching an asexual ghost singing on top of a piano. Even a tummy tuck without anesthesia couldn't be this painful; it would probably be more entertaining. \nIt's too early for mid-season doldrums, but alas, they are here. None of these shows make me hold my breath when they show the patients on the operating table, anymore. Even the college-girl favorite -- "Grey's Anatomy" -- is dulling the scalpel blade. \n"Grey's" has laid out a buffet of outlandish cases for the surgical interns to fight over assisting. Few things can create a deeper repulsion than seeing the decapitated heads of familiar dolls from childhood swimming in the bowels of some twisted guy. That wasn't even the strangest object found inside one of the Seattle Grace patients. One man had an active bomb in his chest. There has even been a human shish kabob roll in on the gurney. Not anymore. \nThe medical story lines in this season of "GA" are muted next to a love triangle or hexagon or octagon. The only medical story to maintain a sense of excitement on the show, so far, is a man lighting his own face on fire. \nThen again, boring surgeries are a sacrifice I'm willing to make if it makes time to put Patrick Dempsey and Chris O'Donnell on screen, at the same time ... naked. I'll just wait until the show's over, then put on Discovery Health for a quick surgery fix.
(11/02/06 4:05am)
"Tetris" on acid.\nThat's really the only way to describe "Lumines Live!" Like in a lot of other "Tetris"-inspired puzzle games, blocks of four squares drop down from the top of the screen to be matched with like colors and form ever larger squares of the same color, while another line moves from left to right to clear the new super blocks.\nIt's a simple concept that gets turned up to 11 with constantly changing thumping electronic beats and crazy pulsating background graphics called "skins."\nThe goal of "Lumines Live!" is not only to get the high score, but to become one with the game. Let go of any strategy, start moving your head to the music and get in touch with your amateur DJ as every time you do anything on screen, it mixes the music up a bit. Even if you can't get a basic combo going, you're guaranteed to have fun.\nWarning, though: If you despise electronic music, you will more than likely hate this game as well, but as a pretty big fan of the genre, I can vouch that the soundtrack is solid. Tetsuya Mizuguchi, who has served as producer for the "Lumines" games as well as other music-heavy games such as "Space Channel 5" and "REZ" again proves that he is the master of choosing the perfect songs to go with a game.\nWhile the game itself will keep you entertained for weeks, the pricing strategy flat out sucks.\nFor $15 (1200 Microsoft Points) you get a game with only a dozen skins in challenge mode. If you want the 22 more on Xbox Live that's another $6.50. Other modes are incomplete as well. Puzzle Mode has only five stages. The additional 35 won't be available until early 2007 for an additional fee. The vs. CPU mode is an even bigger rip off. There's one stage available at the start and the other nine won't be available until, you guessed it, early 2007 for more cash. A music/video pack featuring Madonna and other artists will also be up at some point in the future.\nIt's pretty shady that a company has tried to pass off a glorified demo as the full version of the game. The dark side of digital distribution has definitely arrived.\nBut like the junkie who needs his fix, the basic game is so addicting, it's going to be hard to turn away from the additional content, regardless of the price. (Yeah, I already downloaded the advance pack. Yeah, it's totally worth it.)\nStill, for shame for taking advantage of us poor addicted gamers! Good game, though.
(11/02/06 4:04am)
Where do I even start? Well, how about this: Don't let the fact that "Nacho Libre" is written and directed by Jared Hess fool you. Hess is best known for writing and directing the hit "Napoleon Dynamite," but let me forewarn you that "Nacho" is nothing like the 2004 smash that got Hess recognized. It's as if "Nacho" tries too hard to outshine "Napoleon" with its humor. It ends up failing miserably. \nFunny man Jack Black plays Nacho, an orphan raised at a monastery in Mexico who now works there as the cook. After becoming fed up with the useless jobs he is constantly given, Nacho finds his true passion: wrestling. Since it goes against scripture to wrestle, Nacho finds himself donning a cape and mask to hide his true identity as he wrestles in effort to show off to the new nun, Sister Encarnación (Ana de la Reguera). At the same time, Nacho tries to prove that wrestling is not a sin, and if he wins the grand prize - a large amount of money - he will be able to benefit the orphans. \nUnlike watching "Napoleon Dynamite" which flew by, "Nacho" seems to drag on, and I found myself dreading the idea of sitting through it to the end. The sight of watching Jack Black prance around shirtless and in tights was probably the funniest thing in this movie. A majority of the scenes were shots of wrestling, and there was hardly any dialogue in the movie at all. \nI must say that Jack Black's choice in films has clearly gone downhill since his "Orange County" days. And it is no surprise that the supporting cast is almost entirely unknown; I bet female leads like Salma Hayek and Penélope Cruz wanted nothing to do with this movie. What was almost more painful than watching the movie was having to sit through the DVD's special features. The deleted scenes were dumb, the commentaries were boring and the only feature I somewhat appreciated was watching one of Black singing. "Nacho" was a huge disappointment to me, and I would not recommend it to anyone. I'm still upset about losing 90 minutes of time I know could have been better spent.
(11/02/06 4:02am)
Stubbornness can be a rabbit hole. You take a stand to start with, and then, without realizing it, you're so far stuck in your own mess, you can't get out.\nVince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston -- making the most out of two shallow characters -- can relate. \nAlthough she turns him down the first time, they meet at a Cubs game, the two end up dating and after an excessively long montage of pictures of the two together, the movie picks up with the two in a serious relationship, sharing a condo together. Within the first 15 minutes of the film, Brooke, frustrated that Gary can never recognize her needs, calls things off. However, the two fail to discuss their living situation, and as Brooke claims the bedroom to herself, Gary turns the living room into his domain; the two go head on as they each argue to keep the condo themselves. \nThe real-life couple lacks strong screen chemistry and even their acting fails to make it believable. The movie failed to be the romantic comedy it was advertised to be. I feel duped.\nI know that many were disappointed with the ending, but to me it was refreshing. Still, the DVD contains an alternate ending that, although some may find it more satisfying, I found it to be ridiculously stupid, and I'm glad that Reed decided against using it as the movie's actual ending, because that would have really ruined everything. The DVD also contains special features such as commentaries with Reed, Vaughn and Aniston, as well as deleted scenes, cast interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. Mostly filmed in Chicago, the scenery and set was one of the movie's best qualities.\nIt may be a non-traditional rom-com, but a touch of that realism that affects the ending would have been nice. Instead, we get a cookie cutter relationship, formed quickly in pictures and destroyed haphazardly on the movie screen.
(11/02/06 4:00am)
I'll start with the positives because there's only one: John Legend can carry one hell of a tune.\nNow, to the negatives. The first: song-writing. The first song, "Save Room," is repetitive to say the least (the word "save" is sung over 25 times. I mean come on, grab a thesaurus). It's also his inability to mask his themes, even just slightly, behind metaphors that are detrimental to his lyrics. He named a song "P.D.A." for God's sake. Along with his repetition, he seems to love writing the cliché love songs full of obvious rhyme schemes. While good song-writing can sometimes go unnoticed; oftentimes, the bad will glare at you and smack you in the face.\nI'm surprised the music world even has a place for John Legend. He's neither a member of the east/west coast rap club, nor does he use synthetic beats, while still maintaining the genre heading, "R&B." He seems no less out of place on this album. \nThe best track on the album is "Maxine." Again, the lyrics are pretty awful, with lines like, "She looked as sweet as honeydew." Thankfully, the instrumentation offers up an island feeling combined with a jazziness that I enjoy.\nJohn Legend is a performer, not a musician. He belongs behind the grand piano at a jazz bar in New Orleans, perhaps performing Billy Joel and Elton John tunes, or even some Motown stuff. The problem is, the guy just cannot write songs. I also greatly fault his producer, who obviously doesn't subscribe to the belief that less is more. He must feel like more is more, but still not quite enough. \nIt's hard not to fill this review with clichés and poor writing after what I've been hearing. This is not an album that I'll recommend, unless of course, it's to my worst enemy. No offense Mr. Legend -- you can really sing -- but find yourself a writer and a new producer.
(11/02/06 3:58am)
Noise Floor is a collection of non-album singles, B-sides and covers -- conveniently gathered up for you Conor Oberst completists out there. And that is, indeed, who should get it -- folks who adore Mr. Bright Eyes and can't get enough. Folks who have not only embraced all the things that divide music fans over Oberst -- the quavering, slightly nasal voice; the sincere (or contrived) lyrics; the minimalism -- but who are content to listen to him unleash one very similar-sounding song after another. Because, for a collection of odds and sods, Noise Floor gets surprisingly repetitive -- formulaic, even.\nThings start off relatively well, though. While introductory track "Mirrors and Fevers" leaves you sitting through annoying filler noise (people chattering in the background) for what seems like an absurdly long time, it eventually cuts to a brief, raw acappella piece by Oberst -- then drops into the heavy drum sample beginning, "I Will Be Grateful for This Day." The effect is striking -- a slap in the face that demands your attention. And "I Will Be Grateful..." merits it -- not only is it the best song on the album, it's also a deviation from the tedious uniformity that dominates much of Noise Floor. As fans might've guessed from the words "drum sample," this song takes after 2005's Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, Bright Eyes' electronic holiday from lo-fi folk -- and besides employing samples and a dru m machine, it teams Oberst's voice with a droning electronic organ melody to beautiful effect, sounding a bit like Yo La Tengo's "Autumn Sweater."\nThe next few tracks never quite reach the same high -- but, then again, they're more interesting than the monotony that is to come. "Trees Get Wheeled Away" is a countrified bit of singer-songwriter venom whose political ambition leads to unwieldy lyrics. "Drunk Kid Catholic" is a pissed-off piano sing-along slightly reminiscent of Modest Mouse. The Spoon cover, "Spent on Rainy Days," swings and rages nicely. And with its galloping guitar, "The Vanishing Act" has nice momentum even though, like a hamster on its wheel, it doesn't get anywhere.\nBut when "Soon You Will Be Leaving Your Man" comes around, I hope you really like its quiet, slow, sad-boy vocals and meandering guitar -- 'cause all the rest of the album sounds just the same (excepting "Blue Angels Air Show," an electronic piece that never really takes off). We're talking about nine tracks out of 16. Some artists can get away with track after track of very similar songs -- but Conor Oberst is no Motörhead.
(11/02/06 3:56am)
My Chemical Romance's newest effort, The Black Parade, oozes with theatrics. From its loose concept theme about a cancer patient -- effectively named "The Patient" -- in a hospital to its rock opera-esque sound reminiscent of Queen and David Bowie, lead singer Gerard Way directs his band mates through the 14-track disc like a modern day Music Man.\nAlthough some cuts such as "The Sharpest Lives" and "House of Wolves" harken back to MCR's in-your-face screamo roots prevalent on 2004's Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, or 2002's I Brought You Bullets My Bullets You Brought Me Your Love, The Black Parade jumps around the musical spectrum, splicing in different styles and genres. Sometimes, it's acoustic guitar and piano. Other times, its vaudeville, with the aforementioned hint of Queen and Bowie.\nIn the album's lead track, incongruously titled "The End," Way welcomes you into his theater. "Come one come all to this tragic affair," he sings. The single, "Welcome to the Black Parade," starts out subtly with a hint of piano and a marching band tom drum beat. MCR has the listener at this parade -- with Way twirling his microphone as a baton stick -- before we get into its rather melodic chorus and Mark Hoppus/Tom Delonge-ish outro.\nIf there's one thing MCR does well on The Black Parade and on their previous efforts, it's the ability to write some insane hooks. "Teenagers" sounds like a bit like T. Rex's "Bang a Gong (Get it On)" with its muted guitar and its gentle -- dare I say sexy - singing style. Some are heralding MCR's lastest disc as the "Sgt. Pepper's" of screamo, with its grandiose thematic elements and new, dynamic, adventurous sounds.\nThough that's probably a bit presumptuous (it is the freakin' Beatles, after all) MCR deserves applause for stepping out of the whiney, scream-y bounds of their emo counterparts and building something of universal substance.
(11/02/06 3:54am)
By the third time around, you're going to know whether you'll like "Saw III," based on your opinions of the previous two. You'll be able to look past the implausibility of a near-death old man (Tobin Bell) and his sole assistant's (Shawnee Smith) miraculous ability to kidnap so many people and create such elaborate torture devices within a horror warehouse. And how this man happens to know everything that has happened to his victims in the past few years... and how he can somehow plan out every action that will unfold over the next weeks... because damnit, who cares -- you just want to see some good old-fashioned torture scenes. You sick bastard, you. \nThe film starts right where the last one left off; with Donnie Wahlberg chained to a sink, getting ready to "play a game." After the gruesome splatter that is him reducing his foot to merely a nub with a giant rock, we return to villain Jigsaw. Now nearly on his deathbed, he's called in (kidnapped) a top-notch doctor (Bahar Soomekh, "Crash") to keep him alive while he tests his latest victim. A little catch, though; if he dies, she dies.\nIt should probably be noted that I wasn't a huge fan of the first two films, but they had their entertaining moments. This one doesn't, though. Unlike the last "Saw," there's no group of people working together. The focus is primarily on a victim-by-victim basis. With the loss of any interaction, the film drags. To have nothing but torture scenes would be too much, even for the most sadistic of audiences. Yet the stories that lie in between, what with their overblown themes of redemption, self-appreciation and forgiveness, are boring and laughable. \nYou've got to hand it to the writers (actually it's kind of disturbing), to keep thinking up various ways to physically torment the victims. There's everything from freezing to death, drowning in pig guts, ripping chains out of body parts... well, you get the picture. All of these are emphasized by lots of flashes and choppy camera work, to create an annoying, dizzying effect. In all fairness, these crappy visual tactics were probably done to avoid an NC-17 rating, rather than artistic merit.\nThe film ends with a twist ending for the sake of having a twist ending. And then another twist... and then another, then another and finally one more. The company that made the film is called Twisted Pictures, but not even the most fitting nom de plume validates this much pointlessness.
(10/26/06 7:31pm)
One Week! In one week's time, I shall finally bask in the comedic glory that will be "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan." As a college student, you're probably familiar with Borat, the character from comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's HBO show "Da Ali G Show." For those of you who somehow managed to live in the dorms and never had a 2 a.m. viewing, Borat is a fake professional journalist from Kazakhstan sent to America to learn about our culture. Oh, and he's extremely anti-Semitic, chauvinistic and will violate any social norm we have in our society. Telling people how he keeps his wife in a cage, searching for a place to buy slaves in the south and butchering the National Anthem are among some of the stunts he's pulled. \nNow Cohen has brought the character to the big screen, in a mostly improvised film that's causing quite a controversy. But for all the Borat haters out there, come on, this shit is funny. Relax, learn how to laugh at yourself and enjoy it.\nUnderstandably, the Kazakh government is fuming over the film. They are disgusted with the way Cohen portrays the country as a people who value prostitution, despise Jews and haven't advanced technologically past 1983. The government removed the official Borat site from its Internet-based domain and recently placed a four page ad in The New York Times denouncing the film. OK, OK, so it might actually be something of a big deal to depict a country to Americans in such a manner because -- big surprise here -- we're ignorant when it comes to the rest of the world. For example: Am I intrigued about Madonna's recent involvement in Malawi? Of course. Is it because she's trying to make a difference in Africa? Of course not. I'd much rather hear about her newly adopted baby and fantasize about the eventual "Celebrity Boxing" match-up that will be Maddox Pitt-Jolie vs. Madonna Malawian Baby. It's for reasons like that I can admit to being an ugly American who knew nothing of Kazakhstan before seeing Borat. But am I dumb enough to actually think that the country's citizens act in such disturbing ways? No. \nThe audience, as well as the film's detractors, need to recognize the subject matter as comedy. What I don't understand is if Kazakhstan's such a great country, wouldn't it be smart to realize that getting pissed off and creating such ads only generates more press for the movie? But if that wasn't enough, the country decided to try and get President George W. Bush involved, pressing him to break the First Amendment by banning the film. This makes sense, because obviously the one thing that will make people want to see something more is telling them they can't. Clearly the country doesn't understand the PR business, so to help them out, I'll put in a good work for the Kazakhs. It's the ninth largest country in the world (and we Americans all know size matters), they celebrate International Women's Day (insert Borat joke here about women being kept in cages) and they were nice enough to elect a president with a funny name, Nursultan.\nAmericans have always been fascinated with the ethnic "other" and been just as concerned with their assimilation into our way of life. While we may have diversity in the country, Borat would still never be the typical American. Because it's unusual to hear someone stand for things we find so outrageous and unacceptable, we laugh instead of being appalled. What truly makes the sketch funny though aren't just Borat's inappropriate actions, it's the reactions of ignorant Americans typically using Borat's unacceptable attitudes as a license to expose their own. To say that the way Americans react to Borat is the sole reason the sketches are funny would be to excuse the hurtful stereotyping of foreigners and their alleged views, but there's still logic in the thought. \nWhile it's funny to see how people react in awkward situations (that's nothing new, TV has been doing the hidden camera shtick since "Candid Camera") the funniest reactions come when Americans let their guard down and express their true, offensive beliefs. In one famous sketch, Borat visits country music fans and performs a song he wrote called "Throw the Jew Down the Well." Within minutes Borat has a roomful of people signing along, "Throw the Jew down the well/So my country can be free." Normally this would seem like a miniature Nazi Germany in the works, yet because the people are being influenced by what they view to be a naïve foreigner, who doesn't know any better, nobody is going to storm out in protest. And if you ask me, that's funny. Frightening and despicable, but funny.\nAfter hearing that song, it's understandable many Jewish people aren't thrilled about the film either. The excuse that Cohen himself is Jewish probably isn't enough to fend off all critics, but once again, people need to be able to laugh at themselves. This is easy to say as a non-Jewish person who isn't having his religion slammed, yet everyone's ethnicity, religion and any other personal belief is at sometime going to be lampooned. And the more you get upset, the more it's going to happen. Case in point: the "South Park" "Trapped in the Closet" episode that ridiculed Scientology. Had Tom Cruise left the matter alone, audiences would have laughed at the episode and eventually forgotten about it, but after throwing a fit and trying to ban the episode, Trey Parker and Matt Stone have even more of an excuse to stick it to the group. I've got to give props to the Anti-Defamation League, who recently issued a statement saying they get Cohen's joke. They're not thrilled about it, but they understand that because everything is so exaggerated, it's not meant to be taken as factual representation. Once again, people: comedy.\nUnfortunately, this will likely be the end of Borat. After the film hits, it will be impossible for Cohen to tour the country again without people recognizing the gag. He could move on to other countries like the "Jackass" guys did for their films, but to lose the idealism that is associated with American culture is to lose the point of the film. Cohen's a smart guy, and probably has more ideas about how to make me piss myself with laughter in the future. If this Halloween weekend you see a goofy foreigner on Kirkwood asking for "sexytime," just tell me I'm doing a good Borat impression. It'll make my day. High Five!
(10/26/06 7:29pm)
It's not every day a grown man can wear leather underwear and flash his genitalia in public. Even on Halloween, that stunt might not fly. But at the Buskirk Chumley's showing of the cult classic "Rocky Horror Picture Show," people just laugh. \nOf course, that is probably because the rest of the audience is dressed just as outrageously. \nOnce a play in London -- called the "Rocky Horror Show" -- the show was turned into a movie in 1975, says Randy White, artistic director for the Bloomington performance group Cardinal Stage Company. The movie's story follows a couple stranded in an unfamiliar place and forced to take refuge in a freak house run by transvestites. But as a mainstream film, the movie was a flop. \n"It opened and closed almost immediately," White says. "It was a disaster. It's a terrible movie; there's no way around it."\n"Rocky Horror" will be starting at about 9:00 p.m., then again at 11:30 p.m. next Saturday with a "de-virginization ceremony" for newcomers at the Buskirk Chumley. Tickets are $12, or $8 with a costume.\nFor newcomers, the sexy or disturbing costumes might seem intimidating, but seasoned enthusiasts offer advice to "Rocky Horror" virgins.\nFirst and foremost, says Lindsey Charles, a "Rocky Horror" enthusiast and the emcee of the show, is that you cannot appreciate the movie by watching it alone. \n"I know a lot of people who have seen the movie by themselves," Charles says. "That's just not how you watch it. You have to watch it in this environment or it's worthless."
(10/26/06 7:25pm)
One of the strangest phone calls George Noory has ever received on his radio program was from a doctor who claimed he once delivered a fully formed 10-pound clown.\nBut right up there is the woman who says she makes love to reptiles. And the guy who every now and then gets picked up by aliens and taken for a quick joyride to Saturn.\nNoory, 56, is the week night host of the nationally syndicated late-night radio show "Coast to Coast AM," a program that regularly deals with tales of the paranormal, conspiracy theories and the occasional story of clown pregnancy.\n"I can't say I blanketly believe everything," Noory says. "I used to be a skeptic. I think some of it is true, and some of it is pretty far-fetched. The magic of 'Coast to Coast' is you don't know which is real and which is not."\nNoory started his career in broadcasting at the age of 19 as a production assistant for a TV station in Detroit before moving into radio reporting two years later. From the very start, he says, he was interested in the more unusual stories.\nHis interest in the paranormal was piqued as a child when he had a brief out-of-body experience.\n"I didn't understand it at the start, but it evolved later on into investigating weird experiences," he says.\nNoory doesn't claim to be psychic or possess paranormal powers like some of his guests, but he says he is very "intuitive" in some situations.\n"I'm very tuned in," he says. "In the old days, I wouldn't listen to it. There was one time I stopped at a four way intersection and the light turned green, but I didn't go because I felt something was wrong. Then some car went screeching through. It's been happening all my life."\nNoory recently co-authored a book with William J. Birnes titled "Worker in the Light," which is part memoir, part self-help book on how people can unlock their psychic potential.\n"There's something in the universe I think we're able to tap into, and once you incorporate it, you can use your mind power to do things you never thought possible," he says. "It's a message to help people."\nIn the late '90s, Noory took his interest into the paranormal to the airwaves for the first time with a show out of St. Louis for which he was known as "The Nighthawk." From time to time, he would guest host " Coast to Coast" until January 2003. That was when he took it over full-time from legendary broadcaster Art Bell, who still hosts on the weekends, according to www.coasttocoastam.com.\n"I decided you can't do anything to replace Art Bell," Noory says. "You have to be who you are."\nMillions of people from around the world tune into the program each night either on one of more than 500 U.S. affiliates, XM radio or the Internet. The fan base is especially rabid, Noory says.\n"It's a huge, almost cult-like following," he says. "They need their fix every night. \n"I love it. I need the fix as much as they do."\nShows typically open with Noory reading the news of the day and then taking a few calls from listeners before talking to a guest on such topics as UFOs, ghosts, the Illuminati, chemtrails, shadow people, Sept. 11 conspiracy theories, ancient prophecies, the Antichrist or a myriad of other topics. Noory says listeners are a mix of people looking to be entertained and informed.\n"The core listens for entertainment," he says. "They like the unusual, the strange theories. Others like the conspiracy theories... I try to give everyone a little bit of everything to whet their appetite."\nNoory doesn't think the world is getting stranger, but he has noticed an increase in the number of odd stories people have called in with over the years.\n"I would say it's more deliberate," he says. "There's more of them than there used to be. \n"There's something going on on this planet affecting people in such a way that people are tuning into something."\nOne theory often presented on "Coast to Coast" is that a day of apocalyptic change will take place on or about Dec. 21, 2012, which is the day the Mayan calendar comes to an end. Noory has stated many times on the air that he will stay as host of the show at least until then, and will be on the air live with what, if anything, happens that day. But now he says he will probably remain on even longer.\n"I'll keep going until they cart me out of here," he says. "I think it's a day of enlightenment. I don't think the world will perish. I think it will be a new day for all of us. I think it's something to look forward to"