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(12/01/05 5:00am)
Artists rarely get the biographical films they deserve. Ed Harris splattered the story of Jackson Pollock; Christine Jeffs' attempt at Sylvia Plath's career was suicidal; and while Jamie Foxx shone as Ray Charles, the faltering film "Ray" couldn't find its way out from its star's spotlight. \nFortunately, music legend Johnny Cash gets his due in "Walk the Line." On the surface, it's a simple tale of the artist known as the Man in Black. But a surface film this is not; rather, it's a deeply lyrical and finely crafted film from director James Mangold. It's captivating and unabashedly romantic, and it's one of the best movies I've seen this year.\n"Walk the Line" examines the early, pivotal years of Cash's life, from his early days on a New Deal farm to when he broke into the music scene with Sun Records in 1950s Memphis and toured with fellow artists Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison and Jerry Lee Lewis. \nCash is portrayed in a dead-on performance by Joaquin Phoenix. At first Phoenix comes off as a little too pretty and a little less weathered to play the baritone-voiced Cash -- but then again, so did Cash at first. When Cash auditions as a gospel singer for Sun Records producer Sam Phillips (Dallas Roberts), it's painfully embarrassing. "If you was hit a truck, and you was lying out in that gutter dying, and you had time to sing one song," Phillips tells Cash, "it better be the one song that would let God know what you felt about your time here on Earth." The effect on Cash was profound, and from then until the end, Phoenix slides into the role of Cash startlingly well.\nCash's early years on the road is just a fraction of the story in "Walk the Line." Perhaps the most influential person for Cash was June Carter, played by Reese Witherspoon in the film's second knock-out performance. She radiates energy as Cash's personal angel, the woman he falls in love with even when she initially wouldn't return the affection. Skillfully, the film weaves Cash's music career with his love for Carter. After all, she had such a profound effect on him that either story would be incomplete without the other.\nFor their source material, the screenwriters took from Cash's two autobiographies. It's the same biopic formula audiences have become accustomed to: a poor childhood with an oppressive parent, then huge success followed a troubled marriage and problems with drugs and alcohol. While those can seem like mere plot points in other films, they resonate in "Walk the Line" through the high-caliber performances.\nWith the Oscar buzz flying around the film -- particularly with the lead performances and the soundtrack, sung convincingly by Phoenix and Witherspoon -- it will be impossible for people not to draw comparisons to the buzz "Ray" had at this time last year. But beyond that, the comparison is flimsy. While "Ray" came off as a big-budget episode of "Behind the Music," "Walk the Line" packs an emotional punch. It's a movie Academy members will appreciate, and it's the movie Cash deserved.
(11/09/05 4:33am)
Although many students encounter the Indiana Daily Student frequently and regularly throughout their college careers, there are still many unanswered questions and misconceptions about our newspaper. This week, I'd like to hold a crash course in the history of the IDS and how we operate today.\nThe IDS has been in existence, in one form or another, since 1867. In 1969, student journalists fought to give the IDS self-governance outside the University. That year, the IU board of trustees approved a charter for our newspaper that classifies us as an auxiliary enterprise -- editorially independent from the University and financially self-supporting. \nThis much should be made abundantly clear: Student managers make the judgment calls at IDS and it does not cost you anything.\nOn our news department side, the final say-so for anything printed in the newspaper is the responsibility of the editor in chief. Our editor in chief is elected by a student media board comprised of representatives from the IDS, the faculty, the administration, the IU Student Association and several professional journalists.\nOur editorial independence empowers us to print the stories we believe are important without the fear of retribution. Neither IU President Adam Herbert nor the trustees can legally tell us that we cannot publish a story.\nWe are financially self-supporting, and I cannot stress that enough. The IDS does not receive any student fees to put out our newspaper. We have 26 student advertising representatives who, on average, bring in $50,000 apiece to help run the IDS. Last year, IDS representatives brought in about $2.15 million for all of our budgetary needs. \nIt is true that we run advertisements from student organizations who receive student fees. Those organizations who choose to advertise with us are under no obligation to do so. Once a group such as Union Board or IUSA receives student fees, it can spend its advertising money however it pleases; but many of them realize there isn't a more effective way to reach the student body as a whole than in the IDS, and we do give discounted advertising rates to students and student groups.\nIt is also true we are housed inside a campus building, Ernie Pyle Hall. Last year we paid more than $60,000 in administrative fees to have the privilege of being located on campus. We purchase all of our office supplies, including every computer we use in the newsroom. We pay for our utilities. \nBut it would be infeasible for students do to everything by ourselves, which is why we have professional staff members to assist us in day-to-day operations. We employ 10 full-time, professional staff members, whose salaries and benefits are covered exclusively by the IDS. \nOur 11th professional staff member, Director of Student Media David Adams, receives 65 percent of his salary from the IDS and 10 percent from the Arbutus yearbook, which is also editorially independent and financially self-supporting. The remaining 25 percent of his salary comes from the School of Journalism, which has appointed him as a 12-month adjunct professor.\nAs always, if you have any questions or comments about how the IDS operates on a day-to-day basis, feel free to contact me, Editor in Chief Adam Aasen, or Managing Editor Mallory Simon. Letters to the editor can also be e-mailed to us at letters@indiana.edu.
(10/12/05 5:18am)
We treat the front page of the Indiana Daily Student as a coveted spot for which editors and writers must compete. The front page stories are the first stories you see, and subsequently we consider them the most immediate and most interesting stories in the newspaper. And without fail, every semester one of the most hotly contested issues among IDS staff members is the appropriateness of putting national and world news on the front page of a college newspaper.\nOur newsroom has opinions about this issue ranging across the spectrum. We have the purists, who believe no story outside Indiana deserves to be featured prominently on the front page without some centralized local tie-in. We also have internationalists, who believe big national and global news can stand by itself and trump even big campus news for the front page. And then there's everyone in between.\nThere is no question in the minds of the most senior editors that the IDS should include global news in our newspaper. We provide an inside Nation & World section specifically tailored to address these concerns. \nAs a team, Editor in Chief Adam Aasen, Managing Editor Mallory Simon and I have advocated a straightforward middle ground. And during a semester where the largest breaking news so far has been national and global stories, we believe we have pursued the best strategy in delivering that big news to the readers.\nFor global stories, we push our writers to discover local angles. We found and told the stories of students who have families displaced from the thrashing Katrina gave the Gulf Coast. We profiled the students who have transferred to IU for a semester after their Louisiana universities were submersed and ruined. Craig Bradley and Joseph Hoffmann, two IU law professors, have been valuable sources for us during the transition of the Supreme Court. These stories are often accompanied by reports we receive from The Associated Press.\nAlso, we do not wish to ignore the news interests of our campus's large international population. We pursued stories in which students responded to Israel's historic withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Joanna Borns, the assistant opinion editor, wrote a localization in Monday's newspaper of the earthquake that struck Pakistan and India. We attempt to balance these stories with local coverage that affects our readership on this campus.\nOur coverage of global issues also helps fulfill our mission as a learning lab for aspiring journalists. During the fall of 2004, editors and writers agreed the local and national elections deserved not only prominent placement in our newspaper, but warranted the opportunity to give student-journalists the chance to gain real-world experience at large news events, such as the national Party conventions in New York City and Boston.\nWe are continually asking ourselves the two essential questions of news judgment: Is this something our readers want to know, and is this something our readers need to know? For many students, the IDS remains their only consistent source of news, a responsibility we do not take for granted. We believe strongly in our duty to report the news, on any level, that affects your lives and the world you live in.
(10/06/05 4:00am)
Adventures in music work in one of two ways: pass or fail. Sometimes they pass, like when Bob Dylan went electric or when Green Day made a rock opera. But most of the time they fail, which is the verdict that must be delivered for Sheryl Crow's latest album, Wildflower; a disappointedly ballad-laden effort that is too flowery and simply not wild enough.\nFor her fifth studio release, we're given a collection of quickly forgettable tracks laced with a muffled string section, and Crow's reedy voice scratching to reach impossibly high notes. While I always say never judge an album by its radio single, the radio-friendly song "Good Is Good" is a good starting point for Wildflower. If you've heard the single permeating the airwaves and do not want to shove cotton into your ear canals, you might possibly enjoy the rest of Wildflower. If you're like me and can't change the station quick enough, it's a harbinger for things to come on the album. \nThe main problem with Wildflower is its catatonic state. The liveliest Crow gets is on the quasi-techno track "Live It Up," even though it's about as lively as John Kerry ever was on the campaign trail. The album's only endearing track, "Where Has All the Love Gone," is reminiscent of George Harrison -- and it happens to be the last track. Needless to say, there's little point in listening that far.\nAll of this is of course a shame, because Crow used to be a rocker of high caliber in the 1990s. With her self-titled album and The Globe Sessions, both of which won Grammys for Best Rock Album, she proved she could pen smart lyrics and play a sharp guitar. Once the new millennium came about though, I'm not sure what happened to her. (I think it'd be unfair to lay blame on her beau, Lance Armstrong. But, hey, she does dedicate the record to him in the liner notes.)\nAfter the momentous pop-flop that was Crow's 2002 album C'mon, C'mon -- with the utterly annoying single "Soak Up The Sun" -- you'd think she wouldn't be so eager to cross genres again. From the way she's been singing lately, you almost wouldn't know she's an established queen of women rockers. \nWhen she ventures back into the studio after she's done licking her wounds, here's hoping she remembers her albums are historically better when they rock a little harder.
(10/06/05 2:11am)
Adventures in music work in one of two ways: pass or fail. Sometimes they pass, like when Bob Dylan went electric or when Green Day made a rock opera. But most of the time they fail, which is the verdict that must be delivered for Sheryl Crow's latest album, Wildflower; a disappointedly ballad-laden effort that is too flowery and simply not wild enough.\nFor her fifth studio release, we're given a collection of quickly forgettable tracks laced with a muffled string section, and Crow's reedy voice scratching to reach impossibly high notes. While I always say never judge an album by its radio single, the radio-friendly song "Good Is Good" is a good starting point for Wildflower. If you've heard the single permeating the airwaves and do not want to shove cotton into your ear canals, you might possibly enjoy the rest of Wildflower. If you're like me and can't change the station quick enough, it's a harbinger for things to come on the album. \nThe main problem with Wildflower is its catatonic state. The liveliest Crow gets is on the quasi-techno track "Live It Up," even though it's about as lively as John Kerry ever was on the campaign trail. The album's only endearing track, "Where Has All the Love Gone," is reminiscent of George Harrison -- and it happens to be the last track. Needless to say, there's little point in listening that far.\nAll of this is of course a shame, because Crow used to be a rocker of high caliber in the 1990s. With her self-titled album and The Globe Sessions, both of which won Grammys for Best Rock Album, she proved she could pen smart lyrics and play a sharp guitar. Once the new millennium came about though, I'm not sure what happened to her. (I think it'd be unfair to lay blame on her beau, Lance Armstrong. But, hey, she does dedicate the record to him in the liner notes.)\nAfter the momentous pop-flop that was Crow's 2002 album C'mon, C'mon -- with the utterly annoying single "Soak Up The Sun" -- you'd think she wouldn't be so eager to cross genres again. From the way she's been singing lately, you almost wouldn't know she's an established queen of women rockers. \nWhen she ventures back into the studio after she's done licking her wounds, here's hoping she remembers her albums are historically better when they rock a little harder.
(09/14/05 4:50am)
The Indiana Daily Student has devoted much space and ink during the last few weeks to this season's IU football program. We have had front page stories, large photographs, numerous "see inside" promotions and our 2005 Fall Sports Guide, all devoted to the Hoosier gridiron. \nDoes all this coverage mean we're trying to turn coach Hep into coach Hype? Are we sacrificing our objectivity and root-root-rooting for the home team by placing football stories so prominently on our pages?\nNot at all. \nAs editors, we must make unenviable judgment calls regarding the placement of any story. The decision is not always easy. We don't always have the material we'd like to have. To help guide us, we ask ourselves some basic questions: What is the big news our audience will want to read? What is the news our audience will be talking about? What is the news our audience needs?\nUndoubtedly, the fallout of Hurricane Katrina has been the largest news story since classes began and we have followed it on nearly every level. We've devoted energy to the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist and the confirmation hearings of John Roberts, the IU board of trustees' new members, the IU Student Association's goals, the beginning of IU President Adam Herbert's third year, and we've barely touched the iceberg on an emerging debate to raise admissions standards. \nI think it is important to stress that much of the big local news this school year has been about our football program. IU has a new head coach, again, whose face is plastered all over Bloomington. The athletics department is attempting to instate a new regulatory policy for tailgating outside Memorial Stadium. We're 2-0 after two games. And let's not forget, we are a newspaper of students, for students and about students, and IU's athletes are students, too.\nSome would argue the IDS is overexposing the team, but if you look at most major papers, you'll see sports on the front page all the time, especially in college towns. Look at papers in Ann Arbor, Mich., Champaign-Urbana, Ill., or Bloomington's hometown paper, and you'll see sports played up for the readers. We strive to give readers both what they want and what they need. The board of trustees might be what students need to read, but they'd rather check out a story about who won the game during the weekend.\nBy including sports on our front page when appropriate, we don't aim to be lowbrow. We push our sports reporters to write outside of exhaustive clichés and traditional fare. We hold them to the same high standards of objectivity as any of our reporters, and they play within our company ethics policy. Reporters never cheer at the games or go on public record with any opinions on the team which might compromise their objectivity. We provide sports columnists for the explicit reason of differentiating opinions from news.\nSince we should be reflecting our audience, the student newspaper should be a fan of the team. Fans talk about the game, both positively and critically. Right now, it's too early to be critical of the football team, but we won't shy away from it if we must. We want to be a paper that spurs student conversations. Right now, it seems like people are talking about coach Hep, and we'll keep giving you more to talk about.
(07/07/05 4:22am)
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement announcement Friday triggers the first high court vacancy in 11 years. She was the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and proved to be the linchpin in a string of major 5-4 decisions involving federalism, abortion and a host of controversial social issues.\nReplacing her will be daunting. The White House might struggle to pick another historic choice to fill her shoes while satisfying the country.\nI have a suggestion: Nominate me.\nBefore you sling mud, let me defend myself. It is true, as my detractors will protest, that I have never presided as a judge outside a few dessert-tasting competitions and technically do not hold a "law degree." But I believe these facts will serve to my advantage, considering the president's low approval of judges. \nThen there is the issue of my age. While there are limitations on the other government branches, if you take a close look at Article III of the Constitution you will notice no limitations on who can become a Supreme Court justice. (See, I'm already interpreting the Constitution. I'm so ready for this job.)\nIf confirmed, I will be the youngest member ever on the Court. Since the average age of the current justices is 71, I believe I will serve as the judicial equivalent of a bar of Lever 2000, bringing a fresh, invigorating feeling to the bench. I will push to open the Court to televised hearings to increase public awareness of our actions, and I will write decisions in clear language, such as, "The majority's opinion sucks. I respectfully dissent."\nConservatives and liberals will no doubt want to know where I stand on today's hot issues. I vow to examine every argument, as O'Connor did, on a case-by-case basis. I have always kept an open mind. Those who know me are aware sometimes I will belabor over a CD for 20 minutes before deciding if I should buy it. What toppings do I want on my pizza? Don't even ask!\nWill I be an activist judge? I will stare down the Senate Judiciary Committee and declare, "That is a meaningless slur concocted for the greedy purpose of political one-upmanship, and I refuse to answer it." Once everyone is done laughing, the tension will be broken and the confirmation hearings can continue.\nMy detractors will undoubtedly accuse me of opportunism. I will not deny the job has perks -- I have 60 years left to serve a lifetime appointment, plus a six-figure annual salary, national stardom and the chance to hire hot law clerks. \nBut what matters most is appointing a levelheaded, pragmatic judge into the world of Washington hardliners. This is the independent spirit O'Connor famously embodied and I would be honored to follow in her footsteps.\nBefore the president considers someone like J. Harvie Wilkinson III, whose name just sounds like it belongs on the Court, he should consider me. Justice Anthony J. Sams has such a nice ring to it.
(06/09/05 4:00am)
To me, James Dean has always been as American as an apple pie drinking Coca-Cola at a baseball game. His career was devastatingly brief -- only three films -- but the image he conveyed on the silver screen has had a remarkable staying power: he's how Americans have defined "rebel" and "cool" for the last 50 years. \nIn fact, it could be argued, and I'd agree, it was Dean's premature death in a violent car accident in 1955 that made him the icon he is today. Now, with those 50 years gone by, Warner Bros. is re-releasing special editions of Dean's three movies, for preferential consumption or wrapped together in a collector's box set.\nEach of Dean's movies has a life and spirit of its own, and if you've never been exposed to a Dean film, the perfect place to start is Nicholas Ray's "Rebel Without A Cause." When we think of Dean today, we're thinking Dean as Jim Stark in "Rebel." This is the Dean who reached out to the angst and isolation of thousands of middle class postwar teenagers. Stark comes across two other misfit teens (Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo, in breakout performances as well), the three embark on a confusing world knowing they at least have each other.\n"Rebel" has been available on DVD for a couple of years, but this new two-disc special issue is worth the investment. As with most classic films, when the cast is either elderly or passed on, the DVD provides commentary by a scholar, in this case Douglas L. Rathgeb, the author of the book "The Making of 'Rebel Without a Cause.'" The second disc includes two documentaries about Dean and the film. Bonus footage includes screen and wardrobe tests and a darkly ironic television spot of Dean before his death emphasizing safe driving.\nIt's sad that "Rebel" probably doesn't mean as much today as it did when it was released. While it profoundly affected me when I saw it as a 15-year-old, the 1950's dialogue and slang seems almost a bit hokey and contrived. Dean's performance is undeservingly seen as overacting today, and the wildly stylized and well-made film is more frequently associated with the impact it left on cinematic formulas and the culture as a whole instead of being remembered as the strong film it actually is.\nI don't know if "Rebel" would be the classic it is today if Dean hadn't died, but there's no reason to ponder it. The fact is the film is a classic, and there's no more appropriate time for its revival.
(06/09/05 1:17am)
To me, James Dean has always been as American as an apple pie drinking Coca-Cola at a baseball game. His career was devastatingly brief -- only three films -- but the image he conveyed on the silver screen has had a remarkable staying power: he's how Americans have defined "rebel" and "cool" for the last 50 years. \nIn fact, it could be argued, and I'd agree, it was Dean's premature death in a violent car accident in 1955 that made him the icon he is today. Now, with those 50 years gone by, Warner Bros. is re-releasing special editions of Dean's three movies, for preferential consumption or wrapped together in a collector's box set.\nEach of Dean's movies has a life and spirit of its own, and if you've never been exposed to a Dean film, the perfect place to start is Nicholas Ray's "Rebel Without A Cause." When we think of Dean today, we're thinking Dean as Jim Stark in "Rebel." This is the Dean who reached out to the angst and isolation of thousands of middle class postwar teenagers. Stark comes across two other misfit teens (Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo, in breakout performances as well), the three embark on a confusing world knowing they at least have each other.\n"Rebel" has been available on DVD for a couple of years, but this new two-disc special issue is worth the investment. As with most classic films, when the cast is either elderly or passed on, the DVD provides commentary by a scholar, in this case Douglas L. Rathgeb, the author of the book "The Making of 'Rebel Without a Cause.'" The second disc includes two documentaries about Dean and the film. Bonus footage includes screen and wardrobe tests and a darkly ironic television spot of Dean before his death emphasizing safe driving.\nIt's sad that "Rebel" probably doesn't mean as much today as it did when it was released. While it profoundly affected me when I saw it as a 15-year-old, the 1950's dialogue and slang seems almost a bit hokey and contrived. Dean's performance is undeservingly seen as overacting today, and the wildly stylized and well-made film is more frequently associated with the impact it left on cinematic formulas and the culture as a whole instead of being remembered as the strong film it actually is.\nI don't know if "Rebel" would be the classic it is today if Dean hadn't died, but there's no reason to ponder it. The fact is the film is a classic, and there's no more appropriate time for its revival.
(06/08/05 11:54pm)
If you think last week's assassination of a Lebanese columnist and last week's unmasking of the world's most famous anonymous source have nothing in common, you're right.\nIn fact, the two events are so unrelated that, when considered together, they emphasize the tragically cavernous gulf that remains between a real free press and the flimsy excuse for what passes as a free press halfway around the world.\nSamir Kassir, a leading columnist for the daily An-Nahar newspaper and a staunch critic of the authoritarian Syrian government, died last week when a bomb was detonated under the driver's seat of his car in Beirut, Lebanon. He was well known for his anti-Syria positions and his criticism of the "Lebanese police state," and while no one knows for sure, his murder seems politically motivated.\nOn the flip side, W. Mark Felt, the former No. 2 man at the FBI, exposed himself to the world as "Deep Throat," the anonymous source who directed Bob Woodward and The Washington Post to the unraveling of the Nixon presidency.\nA man is praised on this side of the globe, and a man is mourned on the other. Kassir's unfortunate death should hit closer to home than you'd like. What it really means is what we've always known: you cannot have a free government without a free press.\nImagine if the tables were turned. Imagine our government, or radical loyalists with alleged government connections, killed Woodward in 1974 for daring to expose corruption and criminal activity. Imagine our justice system shrugging.\nAccording to a May 2005 report from the Committee to Protect Journalists, the majority of journalists -- more than 60 percent -- who died on duty worldwide since 2000 weren't in battle or on dangerous assignments. They were murdered in retaliation for their reporting.\nIn the Philippines, for example, 18 journalists have been killed for their work in the last five years. (Coincidentally, all had reported on some form of government corruption or crime syndicates.)\nCPJ also found the majority of these murders go unpunished. CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said by failing to investigate and punish killers, governments "embolden all those who seek to silence the press through violence." Cooper calls the problem self-perpetuating but not intractable, adding "what's at stake is not only justice for those murdered but also the collective right of society to be informed."\nThe American press has its own difficulties to overcome. There are unrepentant hurdles here at home, including possible jail time for two reporters who have refused to divulge their confidential sources to federal investigators.\nYet reporters in Duluth, Minn., don't have to fear drive-by assassinations by fringe extremists. Our system of law and order, while occasionally fast and loose, is intact. We can't imagine Woodward in peril because the idea that it would happen here is so foreign to us it seems ridiculous.\nJournalism is often considered a cushy profession, and for a lot of reporters -- including this one now -- the most dangerous on-the-job hazard is a nasty paper cut. But there are hellholes where journalists risk their lives to report facts, reveal lies and espouse unpopular opinions. And whenever one of them is cut down, bit-by-bit another piece of the bedrock of journalism is chipped away.
(05/26/05 2:36am)
A bit of disclosure is necessary before I begin: my favorite newspaper is the New York Times.\nThe Times has long been at the cornerstone of American journalism, with mendacious reporting and unparalleled reach. Many other newspapers excel in various departments, and many papers consistently outrun the Times. But for overall content, style, breadth and analysis, I prefer the Times.\nThis fondness for the Times, however, is not without a realization of the paper's troubling faults. The Times' prominence has magnified the hardest damages it has incurred -- namely make-believe reporter Jayson Blair helming a ship of shoddy journalism that includes a less-than probing analysis of the claims which lead to the Iraq war. And then there's always the persistent (and frequently undefended) charge of liberal bias.\nTo counter these recent snafus, the Times ordered a committee to investigate how the paper can preserve readers' trust. The committee filed its 14-page report -- entitled, not surprisingly, "Preserving Our Readers' Trust" -- earlier this month. Among the committee's recommendations: hold online Q&A forums with readers; increase efforts across the board to avoid plagiarism and reduce factual errors; create a blog; reduce anonymous sources; and -- something the IDS has done for years -- provide e-mail addresses with reporters' bylines to increase contact with readers.\nThe report seems to be as much of an attempt to bridge the Times' gap with the right as with the left. Both liberals and conservatives have their respective beefs with the paper, each claiming in its own ironic way the Times is "too soft" on the other side. For these critics, little will ever be done, short of stopping the press permanently, to convince them the Times will ever be a credible paper.\nBy and large, I believe the recommendations are a solid step forward in the evolving field of journalism. Some of the Times' problems are regrettably bush-league. But it is in understanding these problems that a newspaper can perform optimally. Having this report may not be trailblazing, but it shows a desire to improve and not ignore shortcomings and critics.\nAnother change at the Times is less embraceable. By September 2005, the paper will charge online readers $49.95 per year to read its columnists and select writers. (The Web site's news, less sexy than Maureen Dowd, will remain free to online readers.)\nMy gut reaction to this move was anxiety. First, I don't have an extra $50 lying around. But with the changing landscape of journalism, newspapers might find financial trouble down the road without at least considering charging for aspects of their online content.\n"If you believe, as I do, that basically there is going to come a time when people are not going to read print newspapers anymore, someone has to figure out a way to get income for news gathering," Times columnist Frank Rich told Salon.com. "Because who's going to pay for that bureau in Iraq?" \nWhile Rich might be premature in his prognostication, and while I'll fight for free news online to the end, the vicious cycle might nevertheless emerge: when newspapers lose revenue, they lose content; when they lose \ncontent, they lose readers; when they lose readers, they lose advertising, which loses more revenue. Burn-out follows. It's a problem worth examining. The makeover report and charging-for-columnists are undoubtedly hefty decisions for the 154-year-old paper. But any way you slice it, these steps show a paper that's not only thinking about its future, but the future of journalism.
(05/12/05 4:00am)
Woody Allen's "Melinda and Melinda" is perhaps the most ambitious and interesting thing the director-writer has done since the 1990s -- but what does that mean, exactly? Saying it's better than "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion" or "Hollywood Ending" isn't exactly a ringing endorsement, since watching a ham sandwich fall to mold would be better than watching those movies again. Neither should it be interpreted to mean it's particularly good, since the 1990s were still a rather haphazard period for the quality of Allen's films.\nI guess, in the end, it means we've lost the Allen of "Annie Hall," "Manhattan," "Sleeper" and "Hannah and Her Sisters," and we've got to settle with the Allen we have now. And as far as that's concerned, "Melinda" is better than some of the other duds he's turned in, but it's still a dud on its own.\nThe movie begins with an interesting premise: at a restaurant, two playwrights are debating whether life is intrinsically comic or tragic after hearing the tale of a woman named Melinda. We're given both versions of the story, according to each playwright, with Radha Mitchell playing Melinda in both halves, crisscrossing between the two stories in a Manhattan where everyone majored in liberal arts and owns breathtaking lofts on an unemployed actor's salary. \nIn the tragic half, Melinda stumbles in on a dinner party of some old friends, Laurel (Chloë Sevigny) and her out-of-work actor husband Lee (Jonny Lee Miller). This incarnation of Melinda is fresh off a rocky past, and despite her pill-popping depression, manages to get romantically involved with a pianist named Ellis (Chiwetel Ejiofor), which due to the tragedy, will inevitably cause strife.\nThe comedy half is more Allen-esque, due in part to the presence of Will Ferrell, who is obviously mimicking the only screen version of Allen that exists: a neurotic, sex-obsessed misanthrope. Ferrell plays Hobie, another struggling actor who married to an ice queen named Susan (Amanda Peet), an independent filmmaker. Melinda in this version is the distraught beautiful woman in the apartment downstairs, who Hobie falls madly in love with.\nFor its fascinating premise alone, I admire the hell out of "Melinda and Melinda" -- no matter how hard it falls on its face. But with the exception of Ferrell and the comic Melinda, Allen has managed to present a cast of characters that is wholly unlikable. They're pretentious and self-absorbed, but not in a cute way; and most likely, any given character is an alcoholic or an adulterer. Despite all the dinner parties the characters are having, I felt like I wouldn't want to be in a room with any of them. And there's nothing funny about that.
(05/12/05 12:55am)
Woody Allen's "Melinda and Melinda" is perhaps the most ambitious and interesting thing the director-writer has done since the 1990s -- but what does that mean, exactly? Saying it's better than "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion" or "Hollywood Ending" isn't exactly a ringing endorsement, since watching a ham sandwich fall to mold would be better than watching those movies again. Neither should it be interpreted to mean it's particularly good, since the 1990s were still a rather haphazard period for the quality of Allen's films.\nI guess, in the end, it means we've lost the Allen of "Annie Hall," "Manhattan," "Sleeper" and "Hannah and Her Sisters," and we've got to settle with the Allen we have now. And as far as that's concerned, "Melinda" is better than some of the other duds he's turned in, but it's still a dud on its own.\nThe movie begins with an interesting premise: at a restaurant, two playwrights are debating whether life is intrinsically comic or tragic after hearing the tale of a woman named Melinda. We're given both versions of the story, according to each playwright, with Radha Mitchell playing Melinda in both halves, crisscrossing between the two stories in a Manhattan where everyone majored in liberal arts and owns breathtaking lofts on an unemployed actor's salary. \nIn the tragic half, Melinda stumbles in on a dinner party of some old friends, Laurel (Chloë Sevigny) and her out-of-work actor husband Lee (Jonny Lee Miller). This incarnation of Melinda is fresh off a rocky past, and despite her pill-popping depression, manages to get romantically involved with a pianist named Ellis (Chiwetel Ejiofor), which due to the tragedy, will inevitably cause strife.\nThe comedy half is more Allen-esque, due in part to the presence of Will Ferrell, who is obviously mimicking the only screen version of Allen that exists: a neurotic, sex-obsessed misanthrope. Ferrell plays Hobie, another struggling actor who married to an ice queen named Susan (Amanda Peet), an independent filmmaker. Melinda in this version is the distraught beautiful woman in the apartment downstairs, who Hobie falls madly in love with.\nFor its fascinating premise alone, I admire the hell out of "Melinda and Melinda" -- no matter how hard it falls on its face. But with the exception of Ferrell and the comic Melinda, Allen has managed to present a cast of characters that is wholly unlikable. They're pretentious and self-absorbed, but not in a cute way; and most likely, any given character is an alcoholic or an adulterer. Despite all the dinner parties the characters are having, I felt like I wouldn't want to be in a room with any of them. And there's nothing funny about that.
(05/12/05 12:13am)
A few weeks after my 21st birthday, I thought it'd be nice to serve a bottle of wine with the Italian dinner I had intended to make that evening for some friends. I picked out a red wine and proceeded to a check-out lane, where I promptly had the bottle confiscated.\n"I'm sorry, sir," the cashier said. "You can't buy this today. It's Sunday."\nWhich apparently is true: Indiana is one of the dozen or so states left that still abides by some form of "blue laws" -- laws dating back to colonial America that require the mandatory observance, under penalty of law, of the Christian Sabbath as a day of rest. \nTraditionally, these laws were as far-reaching as forcing nearly every business in town to close on Sundays. Today, they just commonly prohibit the sale of packaged alcohol on Sundays. (You can still typically order an alcoholic beverage in a restaurant.)\nBut the blue law trend, as prevalent as it once was, is now on the decline, and states are taking measures to black out the blue laws from their books. In the past three years, more than ten states have reversed their bans on Sunday liquor sales, including Kansas, whose state legislature voted on May 1 (a Sunday, nonetheless) to allow local municipalities to vote by resolution or referendum and opt out of the ban.\nThe Indiana General Assembly should follow other states and act to reverse the arcane Sunday prohibition. (In the end, I'm not particularly optimistic they will, since they had a lot of trouble this last legislative session approving things that constitutionally required approval.)\nMy objection to blue laws is not that of inconvenience. Neither does my objection lie in economic interests. Some opponents of blue laws, such as the food and beverage lobby, seem to think not being able to sell liquor on one day of the week is a regressive economic factor. As a free market supporter, I think they should be able to sell liquor any day of the week they want. But I'm under no illusions that it's somehow harming their abilities to make profits.\nAnd still, my objection is not with the idea of a day of rest. I love the nature of a Sunday, particularly of a lovely-weather Sunday. In addition to being a day of worship for many, it's a wonderful recuperation day, a day of super-size newspapers, of lunch with family and friends, of watching trick-shot bowling competitions on ESPN. \nMy objection instead is with the clear religious entanglement issues revolving around state-sanctioned blue laws. In 1961, the Supreme Court rejected a First Amendment challenge to blue laws. The Court agreed the laws had a historical religious motivation, but found Sunday was an arbitrary day -- that just happens to be the Christian Sabbath -- that assures easy enforcement and guarantees a common day for rest and leisure.\nBut Justice William O. Douglas' dissent in that case is as practical today as it was 40 years ago. "Refraining from work or recreation in deference to the majority's religious feelings about Sunday is within every person's choice. By what authority can government compel it?" the justice wrote, adding, "If a religious leaven is to be worked into the affairs of our people, it is to be done by individuals and groups, not by the Government."\nAnd that's the issue. Observe the appropriate Sabbath to your religion, if you wish. But blue laws should be abolished because the true meaning of a "day of rest" can't help but be lost when it's forced upon everyone by their government.
(05/02/05 5:56am)
IU academic units will pay up to an estimated $750,000 a year for tutorial services exclusively for student athletes, making IU the only school in the Big Ten whose academic units -- and not athletics department -- are monetarily responsible for such services.\nThe new source of funding is part of a twofold reform advocated by IU President Adam Herbert regarding academic support services for athletes. In addition to relieving the athletics department of advising costs, the reform calls for the primary athletes' academic advisers to report to the Vice President for Academic Affairs or a designee of his office. The athletics department will continue to tutor and provide the academic support.\nIn a prepared statement, Herbert rebuffed complaints that IU will be the only Big Ten school whose academic units will fund tutorial services for athletes, saying IU "does not simply copy the practices of other universities when matters of core principles or values are involved."\n"IU has a long tradition of national leadership in standing up for matters of academic principle," the statement reads. "This policy is a continuation of that tradition. It reinforces the principle that student guidance, counseling and tutorial services are academic, not athletic, responsibilities." \nOther institutions have switched their reporting lines for academic support services from athletics departments to the academic wings following a scandal at the University of Minnesota. Investigators there found systematic academic misconduct in the men's basketball program from 1993 to 1998, and concluded the men's basketball coach knew academic counseling staff members were producing the course work turned in by at least 18 players.\nBob Eno, an IU professor and co-chairman of the national Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics, praised the IU athletic advising office as "exceptionally good," but said a reporting line change was necessary to safeguard against any possible academic fraud. \n"I think all of us on the faculty would agree that having a reporting line to the academic side is a wise thing to do," Eno said. "It's a good idea to have the chief academic officer of the University lying awake at night worrying what happens in athletics." \nEno's coalition, an alliance of faculty senates promoting reform in collegiate sports, pushed strongly for a shift in the reporting line, but did not back a shift in the funding for athletes' academic support services, which has proven a contentious aspect of the IU reform.\n"(The coalition) has never advocated that the financial burden be shifted from academics to athletics," Eno said. "We maintain that any decisions about allocating money should be taken openly in consultation with the faculty." \nThe implication would have been a proposal of the shift in financial responsibility rather than an announcement, Eno said. \nIU Spokesman Larry MacIntyre said the decision to have academic units provide the funding was made in "extensive" discussions between Herbert, IU-Bloomington Interim Chancellor Ken Gros Louis, Vice President for Student Development and Diversity Charlie Nelms and representatives of the athletics department.\nGros Louis said the feeling of their meetings was that "athletes deserve the same advantages other students did in terms of what they could benefit in the support to their academic work."\nIU academics paid $250,000 this year for the tutorial services and will pay $500,000 next year for the services. By the third year, the amount will be an estimated $750,000 per year, or whatever level is needed to maintain the service. \nInternal reports have shown the IU Athletics Department has been running a deficit since 1998.\nMacIntyre dismissed the suggestion that academic units will be "subsidizing" the athletic department. He said academic units will not be paying money to the athletics department for tutorial services, but that the athletics department will simply be no longer responsible for the services.\n"This is not a funding thing, this is leadership," he said. \nIn his prepared statement, Herbert said the athletics department could supplement the academic services, but the "provision of basic academic support is not the financial responsibility of an administrative auxiliary unit."\nBut subsidies and a lack of transparency are exactly the concern some faculty members have, especially a newly approved state budget that reduces support for IU operating funding by $4.7 million over the next two years.\n"We have to sharpen our pencils on the academic side. We've been very clever (in getting by with cutback resources), but it's getting tougher and tougher, and we can't go on any longer without cutting programs," said SPEA professor Bob Kravchuk, the co-chairman of the Bloomington Faculty Council's Budgetary Affairs Committee.\nKravchuk said the threat of faculty reducing resources while students continue to pay a $30 athletics fee has left a "very bitter taste in the faculty council's mouth."\nTelecommunications professor Herb Terry, the other co-chairman of the Budgetary Affairs Committee, said while he is not opposed to campus providing academic support for athletes, he was opposed to the way the decision was reached. \nTerry echoed some resentment among faculty that the decision to fund these athletic tutorial services was announced to the BFC, rather than discussed with them.\n"It wasn't very transparent," Terry said. "The historical relationship between the chancellor and the Budgetary Affairs Committee of the BFC was not followed here. The historical understanding is that for an expenditure of this magnitude, the BAC should have been consulted."\nTerry added he hoped the money to provide these services would come out of new things the campus won't do now rather than cutting back previously expenditures to pay for it.\n"We've had so many lean years," he said. "There's not a lot of fat to cut."\n-- Contact Senior Writer Tony Sams at ajsams@indiana.edu.
(04/22/05 4:28am)
The committee charged to find a new chancellor for the IU-Bloomington campus wrapped up its public forum series Thursday with a number of students and faculty citing the University's reputation, academic concerns and advocacy as key issues the next chancellor will have to handle.\nTrevor Brown, the dean of the IU School of Journalism and the search committee's chairman, said the committee held a public forum Wednesday at the IU-Purdue University Indianapolis campus. He said few people attended the forum, despite being electronically hooked up to all of IU branch campuses, but the showing Thursday involved more faculty members and students.\nJunior John Connell told the committee he hoped the new chancellor, while understandably busy, will remain an advocate for students and have an open-door policy when it comes to student concerns. \n"Any student on this campus should be a concern of the chancellor," Connell said, suggesting the committee should look into how any final nominee is viewed by students at his or her perspective university home.\nFaculty members insisted the next chancellor not lose sight of the second part of the job, being IU's senior vice president of academic affairs in addition to Bloomington's chancellor.\n"As you search for an administrator, a manager and a fund-raiser, I urge you also to give high priority to teaching and learning," said journalism professor Claude Cookman. \nCookman said he hoped the next chancellor would believe strongly in fostering "the growth of students," adding that IU "cannot be equated to turning out employees."\n"Education is more than economics, and IU is more than a corporation," Cookman said.\nSPEA professor Ted Miller added that Indiana deserves at least one "extremely high quality public institution" and hoped the next chancellor would push IU in a similar direction, possibly emulating the relationship the University of Illinois has with its state.\n"U of I is a more important resource to Illinois than is IU to the state of Indiana," Miller said. "We're going to have to provide the services to the state of Indiana that it deserves from us."\nAnother concern for the next chancellor, pointed out by search committee member and Dean of International Programs Patrick O'Meara, is mending and preserving the international programs and reputation IU has as a global educator.\n"It is crucial to recognize we are operating in a global environment and participating on an international plane," O'Meara said. With significant declines in international student enrollment, O'Meara said it will be the next chancellor's duty "to take serious steps to make it clear how serious this situation is."\nKen Gros Louis, who served as IU chancellor from 1980 to 2001, has been serving as the campus's interim chancellor. He stepped in after Sharon Brehm -- who became chancellor after Gros Louis retired -- resigned in 2003 after two years in the position. \nBrown said the committee will begin to review applications June 15. Finalists will appear on campus for more public forums in the fall, and the committee will aim to deliver three names to IU President Adam Herbert by the end of December.\nThe committee has contracted Baker Parker and Associates, an Atlanta-based search firm that has helped other universities hire provosts and presidents, to help hunt for candidates nationally, Brown said.\n"The most interesting candidates we would be the most eager to speak with are people who are successful and happy where they are," Brown said. "We have to persuade them to apply." \n-- Contact Senior Writer Tony Sams at ajsams@indiana.edu.
(04/22/05 4:16am)
If asked to nominate the greatest Americans ever, who would you pick? \nWould you choose Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King Jr. and Susan B. Anthony? I certainly would.\nOr would you choose failed vice presidential candidate John Edwards, quarterback Brett Favre, accused child molester Michael Jackson and TV marriage counselor Dr. Phil McGraw? I wouldn't, but some people -- specifically half a million people who helped pick the nominees for a "100 Greatest Americans" series this summer on The Discovery Channel -- think these people deserve to go down in history as the finest our country has to offer.\nCue manic scream.\n"The 100 nominees are comprised of Americans from all walks of life with one thing in common -- their impact on the way we all live," says The Discovery Channel's Web site, which lists all the nominees from George Washington to Martha Stewart. These people, it says, "ultimately helped define what it means to be an American."\nI used to be able to stomach these so-called "greatest" lists. They're eternally subjective, but it never hurt to see what a bunch of film critics think the 100 greatest movies are, or see what Rolling Stone considers the 100 greatest guitar solos or even learn who VH1 considers the 40 greatest rock star girlfriends (still, I'm sure I couldn't name one to save my life).\nThese are all inconsequential lists that I couldn't care less about. But when you venture into something like choosing the people who most greatly influenced the United States since its 1776 inception, I can't help but take it a bit personally when Mel Gibson, Michael Moore, Rush Limbaugh and Sen. Barack Obama (who's been a senator for all of 12 minutes) are on the list.\nIn fact, the nominees speak volumes about how pop-centric our culture has become. Actors outnumber presidents. There are five first ladies on the list, although of them, only Eleanor Roosevelt used the position to push forward any serious domestic agenda.\nA handful of the nominees weren't actually born in America -- which I guess is fine, except I think English-born Thomas Paine has had more of an impact on America than Austrian-born nominee Arnold Schwarzenegger. \nForty-three of the nominees are still alive, and another seven have only passed away in the last two years. It's apparently becoming harder and harder for us to remember much before 1950.\nThe most disappointing part of this is that there's really no excuse for it. The media have such an opportunity to be a tool of education that can offer explanations to the little-known historical figures that have markedly impacted America. \nWhere's music pioneer Louie Armstrong? Where are Lewis and Clark? Where's business giant John D. Rockefeller? Where's Margaret Chase Smith, the first woman elected to the U.S. House and Senate, who stood firm against McCarthyism? Where's James Madison, considered the father of the U.S. Constitution, without whom we wouldn't have much of a basis for what it means to be an American? \nWhere are Chief Justice John Marshall, the principle founder of American constitutional law, and Thurgood Marshall, the ground-breaking civil rights attorney and prominent jurist? \nAs cliché as this might sound, where are the unknown soldiers? Where are the everyday doctors, firefighters, journalists, teachers and public defenders who keep the gears of America turning? Where is the single mother who works two jobs, or the parents who put their daughter through college because they didn't get that chance?\nFame does not always equal greatness. Sadly, the end of that sentence has to be that greatness does not always equal fame.
(04/14/05 6:02am)
IU administration officials rolled out next year's proposed tuition increases Wednesday, with hope that the Indiana General Assembly will soon approve a two-year budget and allow the University to finalize tuition increases accordingly.\nThe proposal, submitted during a statewide trustee forum in the Indiana Memorial Union, calls for any increase in tuition and mandatory fees for all undergraduates not to exceed 4.9 percent for the 2005-06 school year.\nFor graduate and professional students, the proposed increase will be 6 percent, with some program-specific increases ranging from 3.9 percent to 12 percent, depending on a student's state of residency.\nAs a public university, IU receives a large portion of its financial resources from the state. Because the state legislature has not yet approved a budget, administration officials are unsure at what level state support for higher education will be -- and they are largely pessimistic.\n"A number of significant challenges confront our state's leaders as they work to craft a budget for the next biennium," IU President Adam Herbert said in the forum's opening remarks. "We hope state leaders recognize the vital role higher educational must play in building a 21st century economy, and we're hopeful our legislators will rise to the formidable challenge."\nIU raised tuition by 4 percent for the 2004-05 school year -- less than the national average tuition increase -- and adhered to then-Gov. Joe Kernan's request to voluntarily cap tuition hikes at 4 percent.\nJudy Palmer, IU vice president and chief financial officer, said securing the proper financing for the University will probably not be done through more state funding, nor is IU willing to raise tuition extraordinarily.\n"We don't have that definite answer from the state, but we know that the state's fiscal environment and slow economic growth will impact the ultimate outcome," Palmer said.\nIn lieu of state appropriations, Palmer said, the funding will have to be found in moderate tuition increases and "cutting costs and becoming more efficient" as an institution.\nPalmer said to scale back costs IU is participating in "buying partnerships" with other Big Ten schools, several energy saving projects to trim utility bills, enacting preferred airline and car rental discounts for traveling staff and restructuring student loan collection services.\nThe legislature is expected to finish its work on the state budget in the next week or two. The trustees are not expected to act on tuition and mandatory fees until their May 4 meeting in Bloomington, but already a tuition increase is creating unrest.\n"As we look at not exceeding a 4.9 percent tuition increase, I certainly hope that if we don't have to increase all the way to 4.9 percent, we don't," said trustee Cora Smith Breckinridge, who participated in the forum via teleconference in South Bend.\nIncoming IU Student Association President Alex Shortle said he was pleasantly surprised that the University declared its intention not to exceed 4.9 percent in tuition and mandatory fee increases. He said he thought the number would be much higher, but was still disappointed he left the meeting without learning more about the tuition proposal because the forum's topic was dominated by talk of increasing last year's $30 athletics fee. \n"The biggest disappointment of this meeting was that it was on fees and not on tuition," Shortle said. "We have to get the students' voices heard."\nShortle, whose Vote For Pedro ticket narrowly won the IUSA election in February, added that he anticipates his administration will continue the work and student lobbying already in progress by the outgoing Crimson administration on the topics of tuition increases and mandatory fees. \n-- Contact Senior Writer Tony Sams at ajsams@indiana.edu.
(04/14/05 5:29am)
Despite a recommendation from the student-run Committee for Fee Review not to renew last year's $30 athletics fee, IU President Adam Herbert and most of the IU board of trustees are willing to sign-off on the fee for at least another year.\nThe fee took center stage Wednesday during a statewide forum in the Indiana Memorial Union intended to examine tuition proposals for the next school year. During the proposal, the administration announced its inclination to support the fee, despite the CFR decision.\nThe CFR decision not to renew the fee was appealed through Dean of Students Richard McKaig and IUB Interim Chancellor Ken Gros Louis, who sustained the committee's recommendation. Gros Louis then forwarded the CFR recommendation to Herbert.\nHerbert received that recommendation, along with a conflicting recommendation from the University Athletics Committee, which supports the renewal of the fee. After weighing the suggestions, Herbert currently is inclined to support renewing the fee, said Judy Palmer, IU vice president and chief financial officer.\nIf approved, the fee -- charged to all Bloomington campus students -- will provide more than $1 million to the athletics department to help fund the 22 non-revenue IU sports and dig the department out of its fiscal deficit.\nFinal proposals will be made at the trustees' May 6 meeting, but many trustees seemed ready to re-approve the fee.\nTrustee Sue Talbot said it's necessary to "reframe our thinking on the athletics fee." Instead of thinking of the fee as something to bring fiscal responsibility, she said, students should consider the enhancements the campus receives because of sports. \n"We haven't gone to a Final Four in a while, but we will. And we haven't gone to a bowl game again, but we will. All of these things are part of what makes this campus so special," Talbot said. "If sports are only one particle of our institution, then a $30 fee per semester is a very minor thing to ask."\nTrustee Stephen Ferguson's endorsement for the fee was not without reservation. He said though he's opposed to the fee in principle, he'll support it again while waiting for Athletics Director Rick Greenspan to turn the program around.\n"You've got a deficit in the athletics department, and as a Big Ten institution, we need to have an athletics program that we're proud of," Ferguson said. "I hear the students' point, but as a trustee, I've got a responsibility too that I have to step up to."\nTrustee Jeffrey Cohen said he favors the fee if the athletics department can prove the fee's revenue will aid the indebted department.\n"I'm uncomfortable supporting the athletics fee against the students' wishes without a more formal plan from the administration that outlines exactly what our strategy is to increase revenues or reduce expenses," Cohen said. "I want to see something to show things are being done to create revenue. If part of it is going against the students' wishes, I'm all for it if that's going to do it."\nThe only dissenter on the fee was trustee Patrick Shoulders. \n"Let me say this: last year I made my feelings known," said Shoulders. "I believe that vote was eight to one, and I was the lone wolf."\nShoulders said his position regarding the fee was not a slight against sports, but a defense of the review committee.\n"Across the board they don't think it's fair," Shoulders said. "I don't see any reason to have that process if we're not going to allow it and engage it and listen to it."\nOutgoing IU Student Association President Tyson Chastain expressed concern about using fees to balance budgets.\n"Fees are not for deficits and not for improving the atmosphere," Chastain said.\nFive IU campuses -- all but IU-East and IU-Kokomo -- have an athletics fee of some sort. But Chastain the Bloomington campus is the only campus with a student review committee. He also echoed the continued student defense of rejecting the fee: once it's there, it's hard to erase.\n"No one in this world wants to give up revenue," he said.\n-- Contact Senior Writer Tony Sams at ajsams@indiana.edu.
(04/14/05 4:00am)
Defying my critic brethren, I could not love Alexander Payne's "Sideways," a buddy road trip filtered through California's wine country for the midlife crisis crowd's palette. I liked it well enough; I wrote in this very newspaper a few months ago that it was "a good movie that wasn't THAT good." If you haven't seen it previously, don't take a chance and buy it. But it's still worth -- in this case -- the rental price. \nIf you haven't seen it, you should. Unfortunately, if you haven't, there's probably no way to escape the hype surrounding the film -- at one point this so-called art house film played in over 1,700 theaters and has cumulatively grossed a cold $70 million at the box office. It picked up a string of Oscar nods (winning Best Adapted Screenplay, which it deserved), landed on a majority of critics' top 10 lists and made such a splash that it actually affected the sales of wine. (Sorry, Merlot.) If these realities alter the way you see the movie, consider me not surprised.\nAs I said, plot-wise, "Sideways" is a grown-up road trip movie. Ambling writer Miles Raymond (Paul Giamatti in a strong performance) takes his best friend Jack (Thomas Haden Church), whose wedding is a week away, on a journey through California's wine country. There they meet Stephanie (Sandra Oh) and Maya (Virginia Madsen -- bestill my heart), who help the two men explore the delicacies of life, love and friendship. The film is essentially a four-fold character study infused with wine, and the audience is exposed to extremely potent metaphors along the way (for God's sake, I get it: Miles is a bottle of pinot noir). \nThe bonus features on the DVD aren't persuasive enough for me to insist you rush out and rent or buy. There's some commentary by Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church that sounds as if they had a few glasses of wine before showing up to record it. (You might as well enjoy a few glasses yourself while they're at it.) There's also a behind-the-scenes featurette with the director and his cast, as well as a couple deleted scenes. \nFor all the hype and praise that followed the film, don't expect a knockout DVD. At least in this venue, all you're really getting the movie -- a movie that was not among my top 10 films of last year, but certainly among the top 20.