151 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(09/15/10 11:30pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>I know what you’re thinking — is The Pretty Reckless’ debut “Light Me Up” the product of “Gossip Girl” troublemaker Taylor Momsen, aka Little J? If so, you probably hate it already.The image of a sulking teen temptress/raccoon who just got kicked out of a bar upon being caught with a fake ID is too appealing.However, the music is actually not bad. Whether it authentically comes from Momsen’s wretched 17-year-old soul or not is up for debate. Even if Momsen is vamping it up a la poseur, I believe her like she’s Courtney Love’s messed-up little sister.Her voice shrieks, howls and sometimes gets vulnerable over vaguely familiar rock riffs to songs called “Make Me Wanna Die” and the opener, “My Medicine.”The standout track is the band’s current single, “Miss Nothing,” with its churn of hollow bells and road-trippin’ guitar licks. It seems to be about the death of a beauty queen, or “Miss Everything.”Whatever that means is up to you, the listener. But like everything scandalous Ms. Momsen does, take it with a grain of salt.
(09/01/10 11:50pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It is likely that season three American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino is going through the strangest public relations campaign ever for her third album, “Back to Me.”Just weeks ago, Fantasia allegedly attempted suicide after being caught in an affair with a married man. This comes after recent negative press for Fantasia’s weight gain and lackluster live performances.But the third time is definitely a charm.Fantasia seems unfazed by all the negativity, and not only is she still promoting her album with strong daytime television performances, but it is also being used as the best fuel for her fire.This album cruises by on an interesting crop of meaty songs inflected with Motown melodies and gospel turns of phrase. The standout is “The Thrill Is Gone,” a soul banger duet performed with Cee-Lo Green. Her vocals here show more confidence than her previous two efforts combined.“Back to Me” may suggest self-indulgence on Fantasia’s part; however, she selflessly — and effortlessly — returns the favor.
(09/01/10 10:22pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>If you’ve got a sweet-tooth for pop gems filled with diabetic hooks, Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” is sure to suck(er) you in. High fructose puns aside, it is a sure frontrunner for one of the top albums of the summer.“California Gurls,” the album’s lead single, kicks things off to a glittery start. YouTube videos mashing it up with Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok” have pointed out the similarities between the two monster jams. But what Ke$ha’s breakout single lacked in pomp, “California Gurls” makes up for in circumstance. Her girls are the hottest ones on the beach, “in the sand in their stilettos” makin’ the “boys break their necks to creep a little sneak peek.” What’s not to love? Perry plays the melancholy Lolita to fine effect by giving and taking away her treats.In Perry’s kitchen, she serves hefty doses of sauce with bleacher stompers like “Peacock.” Without saying a whole lot, we can understand exactly what a “peacock” is. And as much of an irresistible party as “Teenage Dream” is, it broods and gets deep on occasion as well.“Circle the Drain” laments the loss of a flame to prescription medication, (Travie McCoy, anyone?). As if that’s not enough, she spits venom with the stinger, “You fall asleep during foreplay.”“Who Am I Living For?” contemplates spiritual warfare in a world of doom and gloom, a well-crafted response to critics of her Christian upbringing.This schizophrenia represents the kind of tension that turns pop stars from rock salt to hard candy. Growth has always been measured by struggle — just ask Britney — and Perry chooses to do this in a way that makes us feel our own teenage angst while floating on cloud nine because that longtime crush finally asked us to the prom.
(09/01/10 3:37am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A mild-mannered tech guy and a feminist fashionista may seem like an odd couple in business, but the pair may be well on their way to striking fashion gold. Styleta.org, a student run nonprofit sample sales website, was the brainchild of IU senior Le Wang and recent Harvard graduate Yifan Zhang. The site offers discounted high-end designer wear from Armani, Chanel and others.The twosome first met at Carmel High School. Wang, as Zhang explained it, said he was looking for a new project where he could apply his technology skills. Zhang said she was looking for a new business partner.Out of their collaboration, Styleta was born. “I noticed that there are a lot of affluent women around me who didn’t have a place to donate their clothing,” Zhang said. Goodwill and the Salvation Army weren’t the best market for high-end clothes, and Zhang said she loves shopping for thrifty designer duds. “The thing is, a lot of these women are really busy,” she said. “Styleta is a way to make it easy for them to donate their clothes and easy for people like me, who love to shop for pricey clothes at affordable prices.”Styleta’s proceeds support charities, such as Dress For Success, which gives women interview attire for their first jobs to support their families. Proceeds also benefit the Indiana branch of Volunteers for America. Wang, who built Styleta.org from the ground up once the concept was hatched last December, said he admittedly was not a fashion guy. But this summer he said he acquired a taste for trends and threads when he and Zhang went to New York City to throw their idea around to major retailers and boutiques. He said he even got to meet fashion designer Vera Wang.Though Le Wang said he is interested in promoting women’s fashion, he is making sure Styleta turns a profit.Styleta recently had a competition for aspiring student designers under the theme “reuse.” From the 150 entries from the around the world, six winners were chosen. The winners won the opportunity to sell their clothes on the website, as well as exclusive features in hercampus.com, collegefashionista.com and ecocouture.com. Wang acts as the chief operations officer, and Zhang is the founder. With that clout, it was still challenging to present Styleta to designers in New York. “The idea is new, it’s rare for there to be a nonprofit in fashion,” Zhang said. “But people love an innovative idea, so I think the fact that we were students is appealing to people.”
(08/26/10 4:37am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Minivans, station wagons and pickup trucks were filled with Target blankets, Nesquik chocolate milk cartons and Healthy Choice Soup in bulk. Dollies were for heavier items – microwaves and mini-fridges. Everything cluttered the circular driveways and parking lots of Briscoe, McNutt and Foster Quads, which were in the Northwest neighborhood of IU residence halls.Parents embraced their children, who are ready to grow up and be adults at an age when most are unaware of their own life ambitions.But you knew this already.This is the scene that happens once the teary-eyed parents drive away from the dorms.Picture this: Three freshmen males were excited about the prospects of the high girl-to-guy ratios in their neighborhood.Max Smock just moved in to McNutt, and his buddies Jake Kovalsky and Jimmy Webb moved into Briscoe and Foster, respectively.They were clad in red, white and grey basketball shorts, respectively.As the largest dorm on campus, McNutt is known for its ‘nice rooms’ and crazy parties. In Foster, there are many girls who eventually join sororities. In “Briscoe Disco”, the women are casually referred to as “Brischoes,” whether the label fits or not. It doesn’t help that a flock of blonde and brunette girls were spread throughout the neighborhood wearing short-shorts to promote B-Town Menus, a website where students can order discounted food. The girls were handing out white plastic cups and neon pink and green T-shirts.A particularly perky brunette, trailed by a less perky blonde walked up to a concrete bench outside McNutt where Smock, Kovalsky and Webb were seated. The guys dragged on Marlboro Lights.“Are you hungry?” the brunette asked.The men murmured something incoherent and smiled at her. She offered them plastic cups.“There’s cheap food online,” she said. The men all watched in unison as she and her companion walked away. When she was out of earshot, Jimmy spoke first.“She’s got a small hickey on her neck,” he said. “Did you guys see that?"
(08/26/10 1:31am)
Freshmen Max Smock, Jake Kovalsky and Jimmy Webb chill outside the 15-minute loading zone of McNutt Quad. They were taking a smoke break and hanging out after moving into their dorms in IU's Northwest neighborhood.
(07/14/10 9:50pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The title of Kelis’s latest record since 2006’s “Kelis Was Here” might invoke disco and ballet slippers.But “Flesh Tone” literally describes the overall color of the record.The disc finds our typically funky Space&B diva chilled out for some dance floor tracks that ponder the meaning of life. Think Madonna’s coming-of-new-age opus “Ray of Light.”The mantra is stated best on “Scream”: “Been runnin’ in place for a long time / Stuck in a race in the wrong line.”That’s one theme.Another contrasting theme presented in that song is established with the lyrics: “It’s not enough to live so just dream / It’s not enough to sing, so just scream.”Kelis is meditating on the freedom that comes with realizing one’s life is in need of a change (see “Emancipate/Segue 5”). Following the birth of her son and divorce from rapper Nas, the change here is evident.While old fans may miss the screaming wild-haired I-hate-you-so-much chick, “Flesh Tone” invites them to taste Kelis’ new milkshake.It might not bring all the boys to the yard, but it will certainly bring them to her heart.
(06/02/10 8:45pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Leela James is the latest in the crop of artists (see Corinne Bailey Rae and Norah Jones) to release a soul-baring album with a revealing title. Unfortunately, people sleep on such wonderful talent.Since she hit the scene in 2005 with her debut, “A Change Is Gonna Come,” James has received critical acclaim for her sultry vocals and emotive lyrics, reminiscent of soul legends like Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner.Her third and current album, “My Soul,” finds James turning out her most diverse crop of tunes yet, of course to represent the diversity of the depths of her inner self.Her confidence as a vocalist comes through on tracks with contemporary R&B flourishes, such as “So Cold.” She radiates when she sings “I want you in the worst way.”Other tracks follow the tradition of classic soul, such as “Tell Me You Love Me,” which is the most elegant and understated track on the album. “I unpacked my chest for you / Do everything you want me to,” James coos. It sounds like butter.Listen to James’ “My Soul” not just because it’s familiar in the vein of soul music, but because her voice is so refreshing throughout that you might enter a very happy, feel-good place when you do.
(05/07/10 12:51am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Let me explain that headline. We all know “The Hills” is famous for its glamorous portrayals of girls with fake PR-ish jobs at top-notch companies (Lauren at Teen Vogue, Audrina at Epic Records). Rather than working, these girls are shown at dinner not eating lots of food in front of them at the swankiest restaurants in El Lay, then going out to a bar with staged drama. Ah, scripted television.What sets apart the first episode of the sixth and final season of “The Hills” is that for once, the girls are not being polite, but being real. The producers, in an entertaining twist to keep things interesting since Lauren’s departure (she has since written two sixth-grade reading level New York Times bestselling novels), have the new head honcho, Kristin, hanging with Audrina, Lo, Stephanie Pratt and Heidi Doll like they are BFFs.In real life, we’ve heard tabloid reports of Kristin doing coke and seen pictures of Heidi being injected in the face numerous times. The first episode’s plot line brilliantly aligns with the aforementioned “real life” stuff. Half the episode is dedicated to Heidi Doll’s mama ragging on her new face when she goes home to Colorado to visit.(Momma Heidi: “You need me to put that burger in a blender for you?”)The other half shows the new BFFs chilling in a Miami for a little vaca. They confront Kristin on her “drug problem.” (Lo: “People are, like, talking about you. It, like, smells in here. They say you’re doing crack.”)These girls have gotten officially gotten hood. I can only hope the rest of the season follows the same formula that this premiere episode set up so perfectly.
(04/28/10 8:18pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Kate Nash is the best pal you’ll ever have. Just don’t get between her and a man, call her crazy or lie to her face, and you’ll be gravy.On Nash’s sophomore effort, “My Best Friend Is You,” the London-bred ivory tickler brings the cuteness and laces it with arsenic.On the lead single, “Do-Wah-Doo,” she declares about a sideline hoe, “Well, I think she’s a bitch!”The disc is decidedly ironic in that way. The titles of songs such as “Kiss That Grrrl,” “Early Christmas Present” and “Mansion Song” lead one to believe they have something to do with a first kiss, Santa Claus and doll houses, respectively. Instead, each of these tunes deal with jealousy, contempt and sexual abuse. In that respect, the album possesses a much darker tone than her less explicit debut, “Made of Bricks.”This album’s sound is a refreshingly clever concoction of 1950s girl-group sass, ‘70s garage punk and new-age Riot Grrrl pop.But I guess that’s why we are Kate’s BFFs. She confides in us what she wouldn’t dare tell her mother.
(04/21/10 7:06pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Murs and 9th Wonder suffer from the Common complex. All three artists were at their peak without the trappings of major labels with a bevy of mixtapes, conceptual work and collaborative albums. “Fornever” is their fourth release together, and though this album is a departure from the fire fans are used to, it is their most accessible effort to date. “Fornever” boasts crossover appeal, such as the fetish hilarity of “Asian Girls” and an awesome cover of Common’s classic, “I Used to Love H.E.R.” This success, combined with watered-down lyrics that have a hint of the Murs’ typical social consciousness, make for a dull album in theory. However, if you consider Murs’ ambition, this seems excusable. It has been rumored that “Fornever” is one of 10 planned releases from Murs this year, so in that perspective, the album isn’t half bad. Check out this zing from the opener: “We do it for the love, what the fuck you making music for?”If only there were more lines like these to capture the overall badasserie of both artists.
(04/21/10 6:08pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>This album is so much fun. It’s just too bad the fun wears off once you get past Foxy Shazam’s Freddie Mercury-aping stadium rock shtick. The Cincinnati band’s sound on their third album is immediately refreshing and ultimately deadening. How does this happen?You can only go so far with music that is dark with a wink, and they’ve got that black cabaret thing down pat. Hear “Wanna-be Angel” with this lyric: “I want my friends to think I’m awesome. / I want my friends to think I’m so punk rock,” lead vocalist Eric Nally warbles. By the way, amid all the cacophony of sliding piano scales, horns and guitars that buzz like Hot 100 success, Nally’s voice shines. I love that he is unafraid to sound ugly and super unnatural. It’s cute if you like character voices. He sounds at times like Mika and at others like Michael Jackson and sometimes even like that dude from The All-American Rejects. The whole record is dramatic as hell, glamourous and filled with prog-pop weirdness. But, unless you appreciate the “thea-TAH,” you might be left feeling a little less shazam and a lot more shaDAMN.
(04/14/10 9:33pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Soul superstar Sharon Jones emotes, “I’m back in the ring with my boxing gloves” on the opener to her (“The Game Gets Old”) and the Dap Kings’ latest, “I Learned the Hard Way.”It sets the tone for the rest of the album. She confronts an unfaithful lover on the title track and first single, with the typical line, “I heard you answer your phone with a gasp and a click.” The funny thing is, unlike her much younger contemporaries, she doesn’t raise hood hell, lettin’ all the girls know and planning a very public R&Beatdown of said philanderer. In “Window Shopping,” also about a man’s wandering eyes, she lets him know that he can keep doing so, while inserting the stinger, “I no longer need you.”The Georgia born, New York bred Jones is 53 years old. So, when she tells you that she’s learned the hard way, you’d better believe her. She spent years working as a correction officer just got this successful, after years of trying for industry acknowledgment. The song, “Money” perfectly captures the irony of this paradigm. “I work like a dog for year after year, but when I need you most, you always disappear,” Jones practically shouts. Ain’t that the truth?
(04/14/10 9:24pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Dr. Dog’s latest, “Shame, Shame” comes just in time for summer breezes, mimosas on porches and barbecue potlucks. It pretty much sizzles. The Philly natives, while having a distinctive psychedelic rock/Beach Boys pop sound, have always been consistently hit and miss. Their last album, “Fate,” made me wonder if their fate was to fade into indie rock purgatory. “Shame, Shame” works for several reasons – big hooks, clever lyricism, obnoxiously catchy rhythms and otherwise depressing, heart-on-your-sleeve tunes that come off like a rollicking good time. Also, the album is a labor of love – tracks like the contemplative romp, “Where’d All the Time Go?” is eight years old.“20 years of schoolin’/ I never learned the math,” croons co-frontman Scott McMicken on the opener, “Stranger.” “Shadow People” is spliced with pie in the sky “ahs” and the cry, “Here we go again.”I don’t know why the album seems like it’s mourning something. There is no shame in a (well-produced) good time, which is exactly what Dr. Dog provides here.
(04/14/10 3:59am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It’s nearly 3 p.m. The sunlight beams in through the quiet City Hall Atrium windows overhead, shining like hope on a rainy day, illuminating the smiles and frowns of children living with cancer.The 4-by-6-foot, black-and-white portraits line the foyer of the atrium and the stairwell leading to the first floor.Upon entering, in a photo to the left, Devin rests on her father’s shoulder. In another, Sean licks his lips as if it will be lunchtime soon.These photos represent more than 200 children whose journeys are documented in Flashes of Hope, a non-profit, volunteer-run organization that strives to empower kids and their families affected by cancer through professional photography. The photographers associated with Flashes of Hope are members of the American Society of Media Photographers, which sponsors exhibits of these photographs nationwide.Each time a camera clicks, it is capturing the children’s personalities, their hearts. Each time a photographer captures a portrait of a child, it changes the way they view the world for the better.TYLERAnn Schertz, a Bloomington resident and member of ASMP, got involved with Flashes of Hope to contribute something to society, to give back. What she discovered was something so much more.She sits at a yellow bench, the wind blowing her hair on a breezy spring day. She looks off into the distance when she speaks, her voice soft and low.She, and other photographers who shoot for Flashes of Hope, have different experiences but they have the same goal for all the children they shoot: to make them stars for the day, as though they are magazine cover models.Schertz goes for the Hollywood approach, an Austin Powers thing. The kids, who have been pampered with hair and makeup and are posed under natural, ambient lighting, love it.“Lookin’ good, baby,” she is known to say on set to her subjects.She shot Tyler, a James Dean-esque teenage football player, who wore his class ring around his neck. He hardly smiled, but he always engaged with the camera. That sort of engagement makes her job easier. And, Schertz says, he just knew he was cute, too.Flash. She found out on the evening news he died last July. A bone marrow transplant could have saved him. As part of her job, Schertz can’t lose it. She looks off into the distance again.“You don’t know how cancer feels,” she says. “One kid I shot found out she had cancer just three days before the shoot. I shot kids from their hospital beds when they were too sick to come out. They were always strong. I had to be strong.”CORY Cory’s smile is a testament to his strength. He exceeded the expectations of his doctors and lived until he was 5 years old. He was diagnosed with brain cancer at age 1 and given an average survival time of 11 months, with a 10 percent chance of living overall.His mother, Kim Blue, remembers February 28, 2003. IV poles and monitor blips and the family’s tears were a norm of that day. That’s the day the nightmare began. But, Blue says, it was so much easier for the family to endure Cory’s fight because of his spirit — he loved to laugh and to make others laugh. Cory also loved firefighters. They were heroes to him, because they fight fires.Blue remembers a moment that occurred a few weeks before Cory died. She was holding him. He looked up into her eyes and swung his fist in the air.“He goes, ‘Hey mom, I fight cancer,’” she says. “‘Firemen fight fires, I fight cancer.’ I told him, ‘You sure do, honey.’”Blue is not sure if Cory ever knew what that moment meant to her. But, on July 27, 2007, she found out. It was 10:34 p.m.Cory lay in his hospital bed, depleted of energy. He was unable to open his eyes. But, he seemed to be at peace.Blue sat on the bed and held him. She leaned into him and said, “I love you.” To her surprise, he responded, “I love you too.” Cory died at 6:20 the following morning.FLASH FORWARDFlashes of Hope sent Blue six photos of Cory. One of them shows Cory smiling at the camera, his left fist resting on his cheek, exposing a hospital bracelet on his wrist. He is wearing a bandanna. This was one of the pictures at Cory’s funeral, which Amy Robertson, the current Indianapolis chapter director of Flashes of Hope, attended. She is a friend of Blue’s and knew Cory well.“Those pictures touched my heart,” Robertson says. “When you look at these photographs, you don’t see sick children, you see the spirit they have and the wonderful children they are.”Those very pictures inspired her to participate in Flashes of Hope, she says.Jim Barnett, another photographer for Flashes of Hope, knows his best work comes from emotion.Barnett remembers photographing one girl at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital. She had severe acne and her hair was messy. She had a palsy on one side of her face that prevented her from smiling straight. She was going to die soon of a terminal brain tumor. The photos had to be taken immediately.Yet, she was gracious. She thanked him constantly. Barnett positioned her under softbox lighting. Very simple, but elegant enough to capture what he was going for. A large group of people gathered behind him. Barnett decided then that this would be his best work because it just had to be.The girl’s eyes twinkled, baring her teeth, showing her pride.Flash.
(04/07/10 5:34pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Erykah Badu’s America is a cipher of emotions and politics.Badu is the so-called Queen of Neo-Soul, though she adamantly rejects that title.With politics (mostly) set aside from part one of this series, her latest, “New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh),” focuses on complicated matters of the heart.This album represents a return to the love-ology of her debut “Baduizm.” But she’s on to something much deeper than that album’s song, “Next Lifetime,” about the temptation to be with a best friend when she is “already someone’s girl.”Part Two’s first single, “Window Seat,” is already garnering controversy for its music video, which shows Badu stripping nude on the streets of Dallas as a protest of groupthink. The song itself is a masterpiece, complete with delicate harmonies and Sunday morning pace.The 10-minute “Out My Mind, Just in Time” covers a rollercoaster relationship with a toxic fella and is mixed with Angelou-esque sentiments.“Twenty feet out of ashes I can rise / Just like birds and children / I can fly,” reads one lyric in the song.On this album, Badu — and her heart — soar.
(03/31/10 5:23pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Ouch. Reading that headline’s gotta make your head hurt the same way mine hurt when I listened to the recycled confusion of Goldfrapp’s latest “Head First.”The melodies are catchy, the music coy and seductively icy and the lyrics evoke something very 1985 in a very strange way. Think DayGlo body suits, Jane Fonda workout tapes and glorious scarf advertisements.OK, Goldfrapp, we get it — disco is dead, and you are mourning. That shtick was done superbly on their 2005 electro-glam raunchfest, “Supernature.” What happened between then and their last effort, the deeply weird, folky, “Seventh Tree” was a creative leap for the better. The return to traditional form doesn’t work on this album when fake-sexy cuts like “Dreaming” feature the lyric, “I’m only dreaming” a billion times for five minutes over pads and throbbing synthesizers. “Voicething” works as background music.“Head First” hits its emotional depth with “Rocket,” the album’s first track and first single. Everything else on the album feels like diving head first into the kiddie pool.
(03/31/10 4:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A mix shuffled from Vampire Weekend’s “A-Punk” to Vanessa Carlton’s “White Houses” as a crowd of about 50 gathered and chatted among themselves.The music preceded the entrance of Brian Kiley, a comedy writer who worked for Conan O’Brien for 16 years during his “Late Night” run. Kiley’s appearance was sponsored by Union Board Comedy and consisted of a question-and-answer session about Kiley’s rise to prominence, the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike and the battle between NBC and O’Brien.After a brief introduction, a red curtain swung open for Kiley. He joked that as a former stand-up opener for Jerry Seinfeld, he was used to a crowd of 4,000.Kiley earned a spot as a comedy writer for O’Brien’s “Late Night” show after another writer was fired. The two comics met while attending the same Catholic Sunday school near Kiley’s hometown in Newton, Mass.“When working for Conan, people assume because he went to Harvard, I went to Harvard,” he said. It was not so, Kiley claimed. He said his job of writing 40 or 50 jokes daily functions similarly to a daily newspaper, where there is no time to worry about quality because of deadlines. The added perks of working with O’Brien involved silly moments where he pretended to light himself on fire with a glass of scotch and drapery.Kiley sketches such as the Gaseous Weiner character and O’Brien shooting at NBC executives around the time his show was under re-negotiations, earned him 12 Emmy nominations. But he only won one.“We stopped going,” Kiley joked. “It was overwhelming to fly halfway across the country to L.A., lose, take the red eye back to the office and write more jokes.” He won the 2007 Emmy Award for Writing in a Comedy/Variety Series.The Writer’s Strike was well underway by this point, and Kiley was one of many affected.“You don’t get paid when you’re on strike,” he said. “Paychecks are important. It’s stressful when you’re on strike because you don’t know how long you’re working unpaid.”Last year, O’Brien took his writers with him as he continued his version of the “Tonight Show.” But after NBC wanted to re-negotiate times, O’Brien called it quits this January.Kiley said at the time this was happening he was unemotional. Reality didn’t set in until his wife’s birthday dinner.“I didn’t speak for like an hour and 15 minutes,” he said. “And of course, I love ruining my wife’s birthdays.”Freshman Anastasia Halajcsik said she misses O’Brien’s show for his “incomparable physical humor” and came to see Kiley not knowing what to expect.“I liked hearing the admiration in his voice when he speaks of Conan and his intelligence,” Halajcsik said.Sophomore Anthony Smith, a performer for IU’s Awkward Silence Comedy Troupe, said he enjoys the innovative and wacky character-driven routines that O’Brien performs and applies it to his own interest in comedy writing.“I’m learning a lot about how being a professional and comedy writer works,” he said.
(03/09/10 4:54am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Taylor Russell has no desire to grow up.The 26-year-old from Cleveland has a job in Bloomington that covers the rent of her one-bedroom apartment, and she can eat food from Denny’s — her favorite restaurant — ’til her heart’s content. Having kids is an abstract concept and having a partner to share her life with is likely too large a responsibility.Play is her reality.To overcome a stifling unrequited love situation and her hippie personality, she dyed her naturally red tresses orange and adopted a love of performance art and rough sex. She recently dropped from 386 to 220 pounds by following the Atkins Diet. The reinvented Taylor calls herself Tayng.Tayng has spent most of her life collecting childhood and adult dolls. From childhood, there is an assortment of mangled, Mohawked blond Barbies.Then there are Clarissa and Belladonna, which Tayng calls “extensions of herself.”The Barbies got destroyed by virtue of being too boring. Clarissa and Belladonna were dolls she didn’t destroy. Clarissa was an anonymous Christmas present to Tayng at age 1.“My mom told me Clarissa was a princess,” Tayng says. “She had fair skin and light eyes like mine. I always looked up to her like any girl would a princess.”Clarissa is a foot-and-a-half tall. She wears brown Amish petticoats with a matching bonnet and Mary Jane shoes. Her face is ghostly porcelain. The only color in her face is a pair of vacant blue eyes and pink lips painted geisha.Conversely, Belladonna, a 5-foot tall inflatable sex doll, is modeled after Tayng’s favorite porn star of the same name. Her look is decidedly modern, with a black- and gold-sequined tube top cinching the waist of an angular-cut, red lace dress resembling salsa dancer attire. She has tattoos matching the real Belladonna’s: a flying heart on the left breast and a green-and-black insignia on her left wrist. Her puckered lips are painted to invite sex. The real Belladonna stands at 5-feet-4-inches, weighs 127 pounds and is nearly two years older than Tayng.Tayng can control Belladonna the doll. Belladonna listens to dirty talk. She’s always patient. Tayng never has to wear makeup around her so-called “rubber girlfriend.” Sometimes she watches TV with the doll, embracing her tightly. All Tayng has to do is play. She projects her admiration of the porn star onto Belladonna the doll.Tayng clicks her DVD remote and sits down on her sofa with Belladonna. They don’t get physical. She looks over at her doll, whose almond-shaped, hologram eyes are staring toward the ceiling, awkwardly positioned on the cushion next to her. Tayng removes the tension by grabbing her with a free hand and wrapping her arms around Belladonna’s waist. Tayng smiles.A PERFECT WOMANTayng, like any complex being, copes with dualities — the difference between Clarissa and Belladonna, a life of real versus play, of Taylor becoming Tayng. Chris, a nearly perfect woman, is the missing link who reconciles these dualities.Chris was Tayng’s mother. To Tayng, she was nearly perfect. She made giant sugar cookies and sometimes told Tayng and her four-years-younger sister, Hannah, that if they ever misbehaved, the police would come take them away. Chris wished for the good health of all around her, while Tayng dreamed of picking strawberries and magic carpet rides.There are pictures of Tayng’s mother on the back of her apartment door, wearing large round sunglasses, barefoot on the beach and laughing. She was tall and had a sarcastic sense of humor. She grew daffodils in her garden. Chris died when Tayng was 14. A May 12, 2008, blog titled “Mother’s day bullshit” elaborates:“She never was able to get out of bed after that night. I remember them telling me it was going to kill her. I didn’t care. I was just a kid, kids aren’t supposed to worry about things like that. She died VERY slowly. She hated her chemo. She was always sick. She slept with that grey bucket by the bed. She turned into a skeleton. Her skin turned grey and yellow. Her hair fell out completely. Her eyes sunk into her head. She couldn’t seem to think or talk or move. My mother died well before she actually passed away.”Tayng helped raise her sister when their mother died. She was insecure about her own body. She grappled with God, learning to drive and high school cliques. As the glue of their once-perfect nuclear family began to fall apart, Tayng retreated to her dolls.“The dolls were definitely her friends,” Tayng’s best friend, Kid Gabriel Crimson, says. “In a way, they were memories of her mother.”Dr. Nancy Stockton, director of IU’s Counseling and Psychological Services, doesn’t know Tayng but says her reaction to her mother’s death was not uncommon. “If an adolescent loses a parent, especially at a time where the relationship may have been difficult, some people cope by playing,” she says.Doll destruction can be used as one coping mechanism. Dolls are easy to project ideas and emotions onto.“We as humans tend to relate to objects,” Stockton says. “When we imbue them with certain qualities, they allow us to test out our ideas about the world. Children, especially, have many opportunities to invest objects with things that help us see the world.”There are no formal studies on sex dolls, nor any linking them to the psychology of individuals using them, because they are still widely deemed a novelty.The blond, boring Barbies were novelties to Tayng. In fact, the only one she kept around was a special edition Native American Barbie in a glass case. Clarissa was a princess, and once, so was Tayng. Was this harder for her to believe when her mother died? Who else could make her feel like a princess quite like her mother?AN IMPERFECT WOMANBelladonna is a porn star that Tayng believes defies norms.“Contrary to what people tend to think about porn stars, she’s actually in control during her sex scenes,” she explains.The difference between real and rubber love is the element of control, Tayng says. She couldn’t control the death of her mother, her father’s response in the aftermath or her first boyfriend from breaking her heart. Tayng’s explanation for why she owns Belladonna is simple: “Females are better in bed,” she claims, although she’s never actually been with a woman.However, Kid senses a real emotional connection from Tayng to the doll.“In a way, she doesn’t have to (be with a woman) because she has Belladonna,” Kid says.Tayng has used Belladonna for sex play with male partners.Perhaps to understand Tayng’s progression from Clarissa to Belladonna, one would need to understand her love life.Tayng’s first real boyfriend of several months, Stu, just broke up with her the week before Valentine’s Day. He now moves in what Tayng calls “lesbian time,” having moved in with a new girlfriend only days after knowing her. Tayng’s vanity has been bruised. These days, she applies sheer Victoria’s Secret lip gloss so often it comes off like a nervous twitch.What Tayng wanted most through all of this was her mother’s advice, her support. “I know if she were still around, I wouldn’t get wrapped up in these situations,” she says.She tears up on a Saturday morning in a Denny’s booth and picks at her glittering nail polish that is the color of nude ballet slippers.“I’ve been so naive. I know she wouldn’t let me get into the stuff I’ve gotten into,” she says. “But you live and learn. I’ve got no regrets.”A DOLL’S HOUSETayng’s apartment is filled with the dualities that drive her.There is a photograph of her at 5 years old on Santa’s lap in the prim and proper dress her mother forced her to wear. Tayng’s face is twisted up in the mischievous grin she inherited from her mother, as if to say, “I can’t wait to play in the mud.”In her kitchen, shelves of clown figurines plastered in pop art designs and smeared paint are juxtaposed with crucifixes from days long gone as a young church girl. Do you remember when your parents forced you to go to every mass or every funeral?Did you ever escape it?Play.Tayng’s memories of her mother are also all over her apartment — in the pictures taped to her back door, in a family portrait behind her entertainment center, in a scrapbook with snapshots of her in ballet costumes, in Clarissa’s face.After putting on a soundtrack called “Pure Moods,” she sits cross-legged by the marble-top coffee table in her living room. Vaguely Middle Eastern and Celtic rhythms fill the room. Tayng, dressed in a floor-length black gypsy skirt and pink blouse, sways to and fro and gets comfortable, placing her laptop on the edge of the coffee table. Her icy-warm hazel eyes, underlined by a streak of mint-green glitter, survey the space. There is a knock on the door. Tayng lights four of six 75-cent, vanilla-scented Glade candles. Clarissa sits on the table, her pale, empty eyes reflecting the glow of the flickering candlelight. Tayng brushes strands of orange bangs behind her ears and greets her friends, Rachel and Larry, with a wan half-smile.They enter, bringing raucous cheer to the otherwise somber setting. Tayng is handed a pack of Camel Wide Lights. Her friends plop down on the sunken sofa across from Tayng. The two begin to chat about “Barbie tampons” and Tenacious D.Tayng occasionally chimes in. Her laughter is half-hearted. Tayng occasionally glances at Clarissa, who seems to be observing her every move. Discomfort causes her to shift around again. Another friend, Melissa, enters the apartment and begins crocheting a square inch of black patchwork quilt.Tayng lights a cigarette, takes a puff. Her friends appear unaware of her anti-social behavior. Maybe they are respecting her space. She needs a moment before she can fully participate in the conversation. She twiddles the cigarette between her fingers before tapping the ashes in a white skull tray.Tayng fixes her gaze on a picture of her mother on the computer screen, as if to block out Clarissa the princess, her chatty friends, the world. Her mother is wearing a blue V-neck T-shirt, tilting her head coyly and flashing that mischievous grin of hers. It’s a candid portrait of a woman who once told her daughter that she, too, could be a princess.Tayng smiles, puts out her cigarette and joins in the conversation.
(03/04/10 1:18am)
The curtain was down for the New York City Ballet dancers. Ballerina Zippora Karz was 21 and had been working professionally for the prestigious company since age 18. Clive Barnes of The New York Post hailed her performance as the Sugar Plum Fairy in “The Nutcracker” as one of a “potential star.”