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(02/17/05 5:00am)
The three questions that zipped through my mind when I heard that A&E -- the basic cable channel most widely known for its somniferous series "Biography" -- had acquired HBO's hit mob drama "The Sopranos," were:\n1) When will it start?\n2) How much did they pay?\nAnd 3) Is it going to be shown unedited?\nAccording to a Feb. 1 article in The New York Times, the answer to my first question is fall 2006, around the time I'll be struggling to make on my own cable bill payments. \nQuestion two's answer is somewhere in the vicinity of "a lot." The Times reports A&E will pay roughly $2.5 million per episode, translating to more than $162.5 million for the 65 episodes that make up the first five seasons, purportedly the highest amount ever paid to bring a drama into syndication. (A&E will pony up at least $25 million more for the 10 episodes that HBO will make for the show's sixth and final season.)\nAs for my third question, as I wondered if the show -- continually hailed by critics as one of the best shows on television, as well as receiving 89 Emmys nominations and 17 wins over five years -- would be presented in its original format, I dug deep into the many possible puns I could use. I settled on "fahgeddaboutit." \nI'm reminded here of a surprisingly funny "MadTV" sketch that presents what might happen if "The Sopranos" played on the cable channel PAX. Cut from one hour to 2 minutes, Tony Soprano threatens a man in one scene, and after an abrupt cut, the man's body is being drug out of the room with blood all over Tony's shirt and face. Another sketch from "Mr. Show" had a send-up of an edited version of "GoodFellas" that involved the line, "Screw you, you mother-father!"\nIt's still too early to tell exactly how A&E will present "The Sopranos." As a cable network, it is not subject to the same federal decency requirements imposed on broadcast networks in prime time. Conceivably the network could show all the sex, drugs and violence it wants. \nBut will it? Unlike commercial-free HBO, A&E is a network dependent on advertising. Instead of intense government regulation, it's regulated by the power of the dollar, which dictates the channel to clean up the series for air if advertisers are too afraid to buy time during the show.\nThat might just be what TV needs.\nI groaned when TBS bought the syndication rights for HBO's "Sex and the City." As someone who took advantage of a crisscrossed wire that gave my home free HBO throughout high school, I couldn't imagine how TBS could make that show work. But, despite evident dubbing and manic editing, it really isn't that bad -- and more importantly, the show has become more accessible. (HBO airs in about 30 million homes, about one third of the homes reached by cable.)\nSyndication is typically a blessing for television. I won't deny how much I love being able to catch "Seinfeld" or "The Simpsons" two or three times a day. Bravo has "The West Wing," USA has "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," and other popular dramas such as Fox's "24" may soon be finding their way toward cable. Nick at Nite has turned into the equivalent of television preservation, and any classic show can be accessed like a book in a library or a dead lizard in a jar of formaldehyde. \nBut, like all things in entertainment, syndication is a money-driven business. I inevitably cringed when I read in The Times article that HBO stipulated actors on "The Sopranos" and "Sex in the City" record alternative dialogue in which some of the crudest parts are toned down, with their eyes possibly on expanding the show's horizon in the future to a more sensitive audience. \nYet it illustrates that networks are thinking ahead, which means the channels that salivate to buy the syndication rights to unedited programming must start thinking ahead as well. \nIt's appealing across the board to teleplay shows the way they were meant to be seen. One suggestion has been made that networks that buy reruns play them at 10 p.m. or later, which has become, as The Times called it, "the watershed hour for contentious content on basic cable," citing darker television series like "Nip/Tuck," "Rescue Me" and "The Shield."\nIt's unrealistic to believe A&E will show the series unedited -- at least in prime time. But it's not too much to ask that the network try to preserve the quality and character of the show as it is exposed to a greater audience by placing it in a later timeslot. This is the fairest tradeoff: A&E gets the show, more people get to watch the show, HBO gets the huge check for the show and can continue making quality programming and a good example is set for cable networks in the future that purchase syndication rights.\nPeople who have never seen the series want to know what "The Sopranos" is made of; the best way to do that is allowing the curious to stay up a bit later and catch what the buzz is about.
(02/17/05 5:00am)
After watching "P.S.," Dylan Kidd's romance, I think there are five sins every romance movie commits. \nFirst, find yourself a couple of attractive leading stars; then pull some heartstrings here and there to make the audience coo first, cry next and coo again at the end; recycle the same plot that was cliché even when Shakespeare wrote it; throw in some empty, meaningless comic relief side characters and finally rinse with some quirky angle which makes us believe this romance is the one that breaches the formula.\nAnd because of this I'm utterly convinced that a) anyone can make a romantic movie, and b) it apparently takes someone extremely talented to make a romantic movie worth watching. Kidd, I'm afraid, just ain't got what it takes.\nLouise Harrington (Laura Linney), an unfulfilled 30-something who works the admission's office at Columbia's School of Fine Arts, once loved an artist named F. Scott Feinstadt. When a young aspiring artist (Topher Grace) with the same name, same face and same talent applies for Columbia, Louise's passions are stirred and her love is rekindled, although Kidd makes an editorial decision not to be entirely clear if she's just loving the original or the reincarnation.\nIt's the worst decision the film makes. \nThe first four sins of romance movies are forgivable. But it's the fifth prong where "P.S." falls flat on its face. Its quirky angle has so much promise when the film decides to ignore it, it's simply unforgivable. Is this F. Scott her lost love? Who knows? I can't spoil it for you because the film never reaches a conclusion. It flirts with the metaphysical notion, but never decides. Oh well! \nLinney and Grace are actors whose presences I genuinely enjoy. Linney is brilliant and poignant, and this film, alongside her work in "Kinsey," makes her one of last year's best actresses. Grace is moving toward serious roles now, and is a charming actor. Their acting work in "P.S." is noteworthy, even if I don't believe their May-December romance for one second because the script gives me no reason to believe it. \nThe DVD has the film, and that's about it. So what's left is a film with rudimentary imagination and lackadaisical fantasy. I'd have loved to know where this film could have gone. It had its chance to be something more and something unique. Instead, it wildly misses its cue.
(02/16/05 5:59am)
As IU adopts a consolidated student code of rights for next fall, the message to students seeking input is clear: speak now or hold your peace.\nThe Bloomington Faculty Council began discussion Tuesday on a streamlined IU Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities and Conduct, and one council member reiterated the importance of student input into the code's revision process as the council's vote draws nigh.\nCouncilman Herb Terry, a professor of telecommunications, said a number of concerns floating around the current campaign in the upcoming IU Student Association election -- including campus alcohol policies -- are concerns that can only be addressed and defined now in the code's revision process, not later when new student body executives take office this fall. \n"It could be a decade before the code is changed again," Terry said. "Much of what is going on and what is going to be accomplished will happen now. This thing is going to the (IU board of) trustees this summer. Students have to act now, or have no meaningful impact on the code."\nThe BFC will consider the revised code at its March 1 meeting. Terry said the council will have to vote on the code so it can be sent to the University Faculty Council for its March 8 meeting. From there it will go to the IU board of trustees, with the hope of having a finalized code for fall 2005. \n"The important thing is to make the code understandable," said Mary Popp, co-chair of the counsil's Student Affairs Committee. "It's not worth anything if it's not understandable."\nPopp said students are invited to submit concerns and ideas by e-mailing the student affairs committee co-chairs from the council's Web site, www.indiana.edu/~ufc.\n"We've had lots of participation so far," she said. "And more is better."\nThe first draft of the revised code was distributed to the council Tuesday. It will be subjected to edits and amendments as it moves through the finalization process. But at 14 printed pages, it's a far cry from current 66-page code, which Terry described as unreadable and an "impossible monster."\nBoth the current code and the first draft of the revised code are available, as well as a forum to comment publicly, at the IUSA Student Body Supreme Court's Web site, www.indiana.edu/~court.\nAdditionally, the BFC postponed a vote on continuing the web service TurnItIn.com on the Bloomington campus after a request by IUSA President Tyson Chastain.\nTurnItIn, an online service that has collected millions of student papers and scans the Internet daily for essays, articles, academic papers and documents to cross-reference, had been used by the University as a plagiarism deterrent in a pilot program. The BFC was being asked to evaluate whether, in principle, IU should continue using the service, said BFC Educational Policies Committee Chairman William Wheeler.\nIU has been using the service, which allows students to submit electronic copies of their papers and red-flags passages suspected of plagiarism, for 18 months. A subcommittee is being appointed to work with the College of Arts and Sciences and other interested schools to expand the program's use.\nBut Chastain and IUSA Vice President for Congress Scott Norman requested the BFC hold off on a final vote to support the continued service of Turnitin in order for the IUSA Congress to convene Thursday and adopt an official stance.\n"The Student Congress hasn't had adequate time to discuss the issue," Chastain said. \nStudents worry about a lack of central authority between the University's schools when it comes to plagiarism, Norman told the council.\nThere was also a concern on the language of the resolution, Norman said following the meeting. The resolution's original language supported the use of TurnItIn as an educational too, which Norman said was left out of the final version proposed to the council.\n"It said the educational component would be explored," he added. "And that's not good enough." \nStudent input to IUSA has also shown concern on whether professors articulate to students the proper way to paraphrase, which Chastain said could be inadvertently confused for plagiarism.\nIf approved, a three-year lease to TurnItIn, paid in yearly installments with discounts, would total roughly $74,300.\nThe council did not have the actual data on the number of students caught by TurnItIn, nor are approval ratings on the service from the faculty regarded as entirely accurate, because more faculty use the program than replied to a survey that asking about the service.\nSome council members were concerned the annual price for the TurnItIn lease was excessive if only a few students get caught for plagiarizing. Others contended having the service might be enough of a deterrent if a student feels he or she could get caught and be failed.\nThe BFC will consider suggesting a renewal of the service at their March 1 meeting, as well as consider amendments to an IU-authored academic integrity plan outlining recommended changes to NCAA bylaws. \n-- Contact Senior Writer Tony Sams at ajsams@indiana.edu.
(02/16/05 4:48am)
After watching "P.S.," Dylan Kidd's romance, I think there are five sins every romance movie commits. \nFirst, find yourself a couple of attractive leading stars; then pull some heartstrings here and there to make the audience coo first, cry next and coo again at the end; recycle the same plot that was cliché even when Shakespeare wrote it; throw in some empty, meaningless comic relief side characters and finally rinse with some quirky angle which makes us believe this romance is the one that breaches the formula.\nAnd because of this I'm utterly convinced that a) anyone can make a romantic movie, and b) it apparently takes someone extremely talented to make a romantic movie worth watching. Kidd, I'm afraid, just ain't got what it takes.\nLouise Harrington (Laura Linney), an unfulfilled 30-something who works the admission's office at Columbia's School of Fine Arts, once loved an artist named F. Scott Feinstadt. When a young aspiring artist (Topher Grace) with the same name, same face and same talent applies for Columbia, Louise's passions are stirred and her love is rekindled, although Kidd makes an editorial decision not to be entirely clear if she's just loving the original or the reincarnation.\nIt's the worst decision the film makes. \nThe first four sins of romance movies are forgivable. But it's the fifth prong where "P.S." falls flat on its face. Its quirky angle has so much promise when the film decides to ignore it, it's simply unforgivable. Is this F. Scott her lost love? Who knows? I can't spoil it for you because the film never reaches a conclusion. It flirts with the metaphysical notion, but never decides. Oh well! \nLinney and Grace are actors whose presences I genuinely enjoy. Linney is brilliant and poignant, and this film, alongside her work in "Kinsey," makes her one of last year's best actresses. Grace is moving toward serious roles now, and is a charming actor. Their acting work in "P.S." is noteworthy, even if I don't believe their May-December romance for one second because the script gives me no reason to believe it. \nThe DVD has the film, and that's about it. So what's left is a film with rudimentary imagination and lackadaisical fantasy. I'd have loved to know where this film could have gone. It had its chance to be something more and something unique. Instead, it wildly misses its cue.
(02/16/05 4:38am)
The three questions that zipped through my mind when I heard that A&E -- the basic cable channel most widely known for its somniferous series "Biography" -- had acquired HBO's hit mob drama "The Sopranos," were:\n1) When will it start?\n2) How much did they pay?\nAnd 3) Is it going to be shown unedited?\nAccording to a Feb. 1 article in The New York Times, the answer to my first question is fall 2006, around the time I'll be struggling to make on my own cable bill payments. \nQuestion two's answer is somewhere in the vicinity of "a lot." The Times reports A&E will pay roughly $2.5 million per episode, translating to more than $162.5 million for the 65 episodes that make up the first five seasons, purportedly the highest amount ever paid to bring a drama into syndication. (A&E will pony up at least $25 million more for the 10 episodes that HBO will make for the show's sixth and final season.)\nAs for my third question, as I wondered if the show -- continually hailed by critics as one of the best shows on television, as well as receiving 89 Emmys nominations and 17 wins over five years -- would be presented in its original format, I dug deep into the many possible puns I could use. I settled on "fahgeddaboutit." \nI'm reminded here of a surprisingly funny "MadTV" sketch that presents what might happen if "The Sopranos" played on the cable channel PAX. Cut from one hour to 2 minutes, Tony Soprano threatens a man in one scene, and after an abrupt cut, the man's body is being drug out of the room with blood all over Tony's shirt and face. Another sketch from "Mr. Show" had a send-up of an edited version of "GoodFellas" that involved the line, "Screw you, you mother-father!"\nIt's still too early to tell exactly how A&E will present "The Sopranos." As a cable network, it is not subject to the same federal decency requirements imposed on broadcast networks in prime time. Conceivably the network could show all the sex, drugs and violence it wants. \nBut will it? Unlike commercial-free HBO, A&E is a network dependent on advertising. Instead of intense government regulation, it's regulated by the power of the dollar, which dictates the channel to clean up the series for air if advertisers are too afraid to buy time during the show.\nThat might just be what TV needs.\nI groaned when TBS bought the syndication rights for HBO's "Sex and the City." As someone who took advantage of a crisscrossed wire that gave my home free HBO throughout high school, I couldn't imagine how TBS could make that show work. But, despite evident dubbing and manic editing, it really isn't that bad -- and more importantly, the show has become more accessible. (HBO airs in about 30 million homes, about one third of the homes reached by cable.)\nSyndication is typically a blessing for television. I won't deny how much I love being able to catch "Seinfeld" or "The Simpsons" two or three times a day. Bravo has "The West Wing," USA has "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," and other popular dramas such as Fox's "24" may soon be finding their way toward cable. Nick at Nite has turned into the equivalent of television preservation, and any classic show can be accessed like a book in a library or a dead lizard in a jar of formaldehyde. \nBut, like all things in entertainment, syndication is a money-driven business. I inevitably cringed when I read in The Times article that HBO stipulated actors on "The Sopranos" and "Sex in the City" record alternative dialogue in which some of the crudest parts are toned down, with their eyes possibly on expanding the show's horizon in the future to a more sensitive audience. \nYet it illustrates that networks are thinking ahead, which means the channels that salivate to buy the syndication rights to unedited programming must start thinking ahead as well. \nIt's appealing across the board to teleplay shows the way they were meant to be seen. One suggestion has been made that networks that buy reruns play them at 10 p.m. or later, which has become, as The Times called it, "the watershed hour for contentious content on basic cable," citing darker television series like "Nip/Tuck," "Rescue Me" and "The Shield."\nIt's unrealistic to believe A&E will show the series unedited -- at least in prime time. But it's not too much to ask that the network try to preserve the quality and character of the show as it is exposed to a greater audience by placing it in a later timeslot. This is the fairest tradeoff: A&E gets the show, more people get to watch the show, HBO gets the huge check for the show and can continue making quality programming and a good example is set for cable networks in the future that purchase syndication rights.\nPeople who have never seen the series want to know what "The Sopranos" is made of; the best way to do that is allowing the curious to stay up a bit later and catch what the buzz is about.
(02/14/05 6:05am)
Facing opposition from state colleges and state legislators, a proposed bill that would impose a cap on public university tuition every two years is likely to fail again this year, the bill's author said.\nState Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, said Senate bill 369 would require Indiana universities to give students and parents some notice through public hearings on tuition. It would also require tuition to be set for two-year periods, after the bi-yearly state budget is adopted, and set a maximum increase, which would consider income growth rate and cost of living increases plus 1 percent. \nIf universities want to exceed that increase, the bill says, they would have to petition the Indiana Commission for Higher Education -- a provision that has drawn ire from public universities that insist they, not the state government, should be setting what they feel is appropriate tuition. \nFor the 2004-05 academic year the IU board of trustees approved a 4 percent tuition increase -- following a request by former Gov. Joe Kernan for universities to hold tuition increases at a voluntary 4 percent.\nThe intention of the control bill is to be pro-student, not anti-university, Kenley said.\n"The reason I'm bringing the bill in Indiana is tuition increases in public schools over the past 10 years have been some of the highest in the nation, and that concerns me," he added.\nBut Kenley doesn't believe State Sen. Teresa Lubbers, the Republican chairwoman of the Senate education committee, would give the bill a hearing, and a similar bill died last year before reaching the Senate floor. \nAt this time, Lubbers has not scheduled a hearing on the bill -- much to the delight of IU officials who oppose the bill.\nIU Spokesman Larry MacIntyre said President Adam Herbert and the University believe the board of trustees is the proper entity to set tuition and fees, and that they would oppose any legislation that might limit or remove that power from the trustees.\nJ.T. Forbes, IU's executive director of state relations, said former Gov. Joe Kernan's College Affordability Task Force, of which Kenley was a member, could not reach a consensus on the issue. Gov. Mitch Daniels has expressed his own skepticism about price control measures like these, Forbes added.\nDaniels' spokeswoman did not return a phone call last week to provide a statement on the governor's stance regarding Kenley's bill.\nForbes said the bill is silent on the state's responsibility for higher education funding, and could conceivably hurt public universities in Indiana.\n"Students should be concerned about anything that limits the universities' financial flexibility, especially during times when state funding is tight," Forbes said. "This measure is particularly problematic because it does not take state funding into account. If the state cuts funding, then IU has to either cut expenses or raise revenues to fill the gap." \nState Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, said he thinks the bill could possibly hurt students when they graduate and start looking for a job.\n"If the General Assembly is going to insist on a tuition cap, then it must also fund higher education institutions at an adequate level," Pierce said. "While a tuition cap might sound good, it would likely result in a lower-quality education and could harm IU's reputation across the country."\nState Sen. Vi Simpson, D-Bloomington, told the Indiana Daily Student Wednesday she was opposed to the bill because she doesn't believe the government should micromanage the University and how it's funded.\nTuition cap bills have encountered strong bipartisan support and also fierce bipartisan opposition.\nOhio Gov. Bob Taft and Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich, both Republicans, have had tuition cap legislation afoot in their respective states. Taft proposed a 6 percent annual tuition cap on Ohio's public universities in his 2005 State of the State address. \nEhrlich, however, vetoed a bill that would have reigned in public university tuition by raising the state's corporate income tax. The Democrat-controlled Maryland House of Delegates failed to override that veto last month, and has introduced new legislation without a tax increase to cap tuition at 4 percent. \nSimilar legislation is on the move by Republican state legislators in Wisconsin, where Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle has offered more tax deductions in lieu of imposing a tuition cap.\nForbes said there could be repercussions if the bill is passed, especially if it is approved while the state simultaneously requests a freeze for educational funding in the budget.\n"A key legislator said it best when asked about enacting a tuition cap this year," Forbes said. "He said, 'You can't cap universities on both ends.'"\n-- Contact Senior Writer Tony Sams at ajsams@indiana.edu.
(02/10/05 5:00am)
Here's the lesson to be learned from "Ray": great performances alone don't necessarily make great movies.\nIn fact, I can't imagine where "Ray," Taylor Hackford's Oscar-nominated biopic of the late rock and soul singer Ray Charles, would be without its star, Jamie Foxx, in what amounts to basically a perfect performance. His acting alone doesn't carry the movie; but there wouldn't be much of a reason to see the movie if it weren't for his acting.\nFoxx has been underrated for some time now. I have no doubt Foxx's early career on the sketch comedy show "In Living Color" helped him prepare for the flawless mimicry he inflects in Charles' voice and signature swaying in front of his piano. (It helps that whenever Foxx opens his mouth to sing, we hear the actual Ray crooning, which highlights the film's other alluring aspect, a wonderfully vivid soundtrack that plays like a "best of" collection.) \nIt's not so much that he's doing an impression of Charles, but that he is sincerely channeling Charles in the most complex ways possible. With "Ray," and Foxx's work in "Collateral" last year, he has positioned himself to win the Best Actor Oscar -- so go ahead and bet your apartment, your student loans, your kids, any major organs in your body, etc. -- and he deserves it.\nYet even with Foxx, "Ray" is still just an average movie. Overall, it doesn't hold up to other biopics this year such as "The Aviator" or "Kinsey." Those films' lead performances, by Leonardo DiCaprio and Liam Neeson respectively, might not be as bull's-eye as Foxx's, but those films were fully surrounded by an engaging screenplay and mindful directors. \nPerhaps the screenplay for "Ray" wouldn't have rung with such a flat tone if there hadn't been so much of it. The film's length -- a little over two and a half hours -- is excessive, and it only reaches 1966.\nThe DVD, no doubt ferociously churned out from its October theatrical release date in time to build up more momentum for this month's Academy Awards, contains the original theatrical version of "Ray" plus an extended version of film with 14 deleted scenes -- although why you'd want to make this movie longer than it already is would be a mystery to me. \nFor the curious, there's also a running director's commentary by Hackford (I would have liked Foxx to be included as well), and two complete musical performances. Also available are a "Walking in His Shoes" featurette and a "Ray Remembered" featurette. \n"Ray" is a DVD that could have used a little more. Ironic enough, it seems, for a movie that could have used a little less.
(02/10/05 5:00am)
Daniel Kirkwood was the last guy you'd expect to run into at a bar.\nYet ironically enough, Kirkwood -- a world-class astronomer once described as the "(Johannes) Kepler of America" by one admirer, and the "dean of American astronomers" by another -- is now the name synonymous with Bloomington's hot spots, wild weekends and seemingly endless taps of beer. \nDaniel Kirkwood, whose achievements include discovering spatial gaps that affect the orbit of asteroids, chaired the IU mathematics department for nearly 30 years in the mid-to-late 1800s. A pious and mild-mannered man who devoted his life to mathematical astronomy, he was admired by students and reached celebrity status during his tenure -- so much so that IU named its observatory after him and made Kirkwood Hall the first building on campus named after a living man.\nStill, Kirkwood's most recognizable honor came in 1885, when a portion of East Fifth Street (running from the west edge of campus to the now-abandoned railroad tracks near Morton Street) was renamed Kirkwood Avenue, serving as the melting pot of culture in Bloomington and functioning as the chief portal connecting (or separating, depending on your point of view) the campus and the community.\nIn one of the earliest accounts of strained town-gown relations, the renaming move was initially unpopular with city residents, and remained unpopular for many decades afterward. In 1938, IU President Emeritus William Lowe Bryan defended the renaming of the street in a column for the Bloomington Evening World. Kirkwood, he wrote, was widely respected in the community and "strode with a gold-headed cane in hand and a tall silk hat on his head, and people spoke to him as if he was the president of the United States."\nNow drunken students trying to get home accidentally throw up on the street named after this man, who was once spoken to as if he were the president of the United States.
(02/09/05 6:30am)
Daniel Kirkwood was the last guy you'd expect to run into at a bar.\nYet ironically enough, Kirkwood -- a world-class astronomer once described as the "(Johannes) Kepler of America" by one admirer, and the "dean of American astronomers" by another -- is now the name synonymous with Bloomington's hot spots, wild weekends and seemingly endless taps of beer. \nDaniel Kirkwood, whose achievements include discovering spatial gaps that affect the orbit of asteroids, chaired the IU mathematics department for nearly 30 years in the mid-to-late 1800s. A pious and mild-mannered man who devoted his life to mathematical astronomy, he was admired by students and reached celebrity status during his tenure -- so much so that IU named its observatory after him and made Kirkwood Hall the first building on campus named after a living man.\nStill, Kirkwood's most recognizable honor came in 1885, when a portion of East Fifth Street (running from the west edge of campus to the now-abandoned railroad tracks near Morton Street) was renamed Kirkwood Avenue, serving as the melting pot of culture in Bloomington and functioning as the chief portal connecting (or separating, depending on your point of view) the campus and the community.\nIn one of the earliest accounts of strained town-gown relations, the renaming move was initially unpopular with city residents, and remained unpopular for many decades afterward. In 1938, IU President Emeritus William Lowe Bryan defended the renaming of the street in a column for the Bloomington Evening World. Kirkwood, he wrote, was widely respected in the community and "strode with a gold-headed cane in hand and a tall silk hat on his head, and people spoke to him as if he was the president of the United States."\nNow drunken students trying to get home accidentally throw up on the street named after this man, who was once spoken to as if he were the president of the United States.
(02/09/05 5:21am)
Here's the lesson to be learned from "Ray": great performances alone don't necessarily make great movies.\nIn fact, I can't imagine where "Ray," Taylor Hackford's Oscar-nominated biopic of the late rock and soul singer Ray Charles, would be without its star, Jamie Foxx, in what amounts to basically a perfect performance. His acting alone doesn't carry the movie; but there wouldn't be much of a reason to see the movie if it weren't for his acting.\nFoxx has been underrated for some time now. I have no doubt Foxx's early career on the sketch comedy show "In Living Color" helped him prepare for the flawless mimicry he inflects in Charles' voice and signature swaying in front of his piano. (It helps that whenever Foxx opens his mouth to sing, we hear the actual Ray crooning, which highlights the film's other alluring aspect, a wonderfully vivid soundtrack that plays like a "best of" collection.) \nIt's not so much that he's doing an impression of Charles, but that he is sincerely channeling Charles in the most complex ways possible. With "Ray," and Foxx's work in "Collateral" last year, he has positioned himself to win the Best Actor Oscar -- so go ahead and bet your apartment, your student loans, your kids, any major organs in your body, etc. -- and he deserves it.\nYet even with Foxx, "Ray" is still just an average movie. Overall, it doesn't hold up to other biopics this year such as "The Aviator" or "Kinsey." Those films' lead performances, by Leonardo DiCaprio and Liam Neeson respectively, might not be as bull's-eye as Foxx's, but those films were fully surrounded by an engaging screenplay and mindful directors. \nPerhaps the screenplay for "Ray" wouldn't have rung with such a flat tone if there hadn't been so much of it. The film's length -- a little over two and a half hours -- is excessive, and it only reaches 1966.\nThe DVD, no doubt ferociously churned out from its October theatrical release date in time to build up more momentum for this month's Academy Awards, contains the original theatrical version of "Ray" plus an extended version of film with 14 deleted scenes -- although why you'd want to make this movie longer than it already is would be a mystery to me. \nFor the curious, there's also a running director's commentary by Hackford (I would have liked Foxx to be included as well), and two complete musical performances. Also available are a "Walking in His Shoes" featurette and a "Ray Remembered" featurette. \n"Ray" is a DVD that could have used a little more. Ironic enough, it seems, for a movie that could have used a little less.
(02/03/05 6:05am)
The actual West Wing preempted the television drama "The West Wing" Wednesday night, as President Bush delivered his State of the Union address, drawing mixed responses from the IU community looking for domestic policies from the wartime president.\nBush's 53-minute speech -- the first of his second term and his fifth overall -- proposed an ambitious agenda balancing a continued presence in the war on terrorism while focusing on American concerns at home. That agenda included what the president called "building the prosperity of future generations" and "updating institutions that were created to meet the needs of an earlier time," such as Social Security reform, tax reform and immigration reform. \nStudent political leaders praised the speech but took note of the clear differences within the House of Representatives chamber where Bush spoke.\n"It flowed well," said IU College Republicans Chairman Andrew Lauck. "This was one of the smoothest speeches he's delivered, and I was impressed to see he gave so much attention to domestic issues, too." \nAlex Sharp, communications director for the IU College Democrats, said he thought it was a well-delivered speech. He conceded, however, that he thought everyone could have guessed what the speech was going to be about and that it won't disarm the Democrats going into debate on reform.\n"I noticed that for most of the domestic issues, the room was divided as to who was standing and who was not," Sharp said. "Social Security will be definitely be divided. Most of the domestic agenda is going to be a pretty heated, divided battle. And it'll be Bush's big battle."\nLauck said he wasn't surprised by the president's agenda because he really wouldn't expect anything less.\n"He's always been known for his boldness, and that's why I have more respect for him than a lot of people," Lauck said. "His ambition hasn't stopped him before. His agenda for the last four years was ambitious and will be ambitious for the next four years." \nIU professors were also paying attention Wednesday night, following the political issues that might affect the subjects they teach.\n"There are a lot of things that the president would like to accomplish," said William Henderson, an associate professor at the IU School of Law. "It's definitely a very ambitious agenda, and this is probably the first time I've heard Social Security brought up in the State of the Union." \nHenderson said he got the impression that the president's tort reform initiative -- reshuffling the legal system to avoid lawsuit abuses -- might be one of the first proposals to go through Congress in Bush's second term because of the presumed pack mentality against lawyers.\n"I get the impression that some of this stuff is tested with focus groups," Henderson said. "Everyone kind of likes to beats up on 'junk lawsuits' and 'frivolous lawsuits.' It might be one of the first things to go through because, in an ambitious agenda, it's the least controversial." \nHenderson said he believes that as the president attempts to build momentum for his domestic agenda, "he needs some victories under your belt." \nGeraldo Gonzalez, dean of the IU School of Education, said he believes the president recognizes education is critical for the future of the 21st century economy.\n"It was implied, but not said, that in order for students to be able to take advantage of higher education and participate fully in the 21st economy, they must have a strong preparation at the elementary and secondary level," Gonzalez said. "I think accountability is important, but what is also important is to provide the support that the schools need to ensure that all children have access to quality education."\nGonzalez said it's regrettable that the education community is confronting cuts at the same time that it is being asked to raise expectations for students.\n"It's really impossible to archive the goals of quality education in case we also make the commit to provide the support necessary," he said.\nNeither Lauck nor Sharp saw the speech as too vague or general, and both were hesitant about allowing for more intricate policy details within the speech at the expense of time.\n"I think the State of the Union is not the venue for the details on the agenda," Lauck said. "The president only has an hour to tell the entire American population what he's going to do. If you go back in history, traditionally you'd be hard-pressed to find a president who talks a lot about details in the State of the Union. It's more important to convey purpose and message."\nSharp agreed, noting that constitutionally all the State of the Union has to be is the equivalent of a "How's the country doing?"\n"I'm not really sure if it's the forum for details. It's the State of the Union, not the 'Share My Details of My Legislative Agenda,'" Sharp said. "Obviously it'd be nice, and it's often hard to get a hold of those details, especially for the average person, but I don't think it'd really be feasible, and I don't think most people have the patience for that." \n-- Contact Senior Writer Tony Sams at ajsams@indiana.edu.
(02/03/05 5:00am)
The problem with reviewing Clint Eastwood's dark and powerful film, "Million Dollar Baby," is that I'd have to talk a lot about its ending for you to understand how I really feel about the movie.\nDon't worry; I'm not going to do that. I'll simply say this is a deep and high-quality film that should be seen as a virginal experience. The less you know about this movie, the more you're probably going like it, or at least appreciate what it's trying to do. \nEastwood, in addition to his role as director ("Baby" feels and looks similar to Eastwood's last work, the outstanding "Mystic River"), stars as Frankie, a weathered boxing trainer and manager who owns a small, seedy gym in Los Angeles. Scrap (Morgan Freeman), an old boxer Frankie managed, works in the gym as an assistant to Frankie and serves as our narrator of the film.\nScrap sees heart and determination in Maggie Fitzgerald (played with heart-shattering grace by Hilary Swank), a starry-eyed, poor girl from rural Missouri. The only thing Maggie wants more than to become a boxer is to have Frankie train her. Of course, being the old-timer Frankie is, he's hesitant ("I don't train girls," Eastwood blurts out constantly, in a more gravelly voice than usual, even for him). But once he agrees, he forges a bond with her and looks after her like the daughter he has lost contact with long ago. \nThis isn't a sports movie; it's a threefold character study. Its triumphs and failures are not emphasized within the four corners of a boxing ring. We come to know Frankie, Maggie and Scrap, we care for them and we want to know more.\nBut our attachment makes it a difficult film to walk away from. The thing I struggled to convince myself of at the end of "Baby" is that this is a film that needs to be judged for what it is; for the world it creates and for what its characters do. Don't judge it for what you want the film to be or what you wish its characters would do. It's a tough thing to reconcile, especially if it causes you to feel troubled or at odds with the director or screenwriter. \nIt bears mentioning, I suppose, that when the Oscar nominations were announced last Tuesday, "Million Dollar Baby" picked up a more-than-deserving handful. It's a best picture and best director nominee, and all three actors have nods. And if Morgan Freeman doesn't win an Oscar for this flawless performance, I will shun the Academy forever.
(02/02/05 5:04am)
The problem with reviewing Clint Eastwood's dark and powerful film, "Million Dollar Baby," is that I'd have to talk a lot about its ending for you to understand how I really feel about the movie.\nDon't worry; I'm not going to do that. I'll simply say this is a deep and high-quality film that should be seen as a virginal experience. The less you know about this movie, the more you're probably going like it, or at least appreciate what it's trying to do. \nEastwood, in addition to his role as director ("Baby" feels and looks similar to Eastwood's last work, the outstanding "Mystic River"), stars as Frankie, a weathered boxing trainer and manager who owns a small, seedy gym in Los Angeles. Scrap (Morgan Freeman), an old boxer Frankie managed, works in the gym as an assistant to Frankie and serves as our narrator of the film.\nScrap sees heart and determination in Maggie Fitzgerald (played with heart-shattering grace by Hilary Swank), a starry-eyed, poor girl from rural Missouri. The only thing Maggie wants more than to become a boxer is to have Frankie train her. Of course, being the old-timer Frankie is, he's hesitant ("I don't train girls," Eastwood blurts out constantly, in a more gravelly voice than usual, even for him). But once he agrees, he forges a bond with her and looks after her like the daughter he has lost contact with long ago. \nThis isn't a sports movie; it's a threefold character study. Its triumphs and failures are not emphasized within the four corners of a boxing ring. We come to know Frankie, Maggie and Scrap, we care for them and we want to know more.\nBut our attachment makes it a difficult film to walk away from. The thing I struggled to convince myself of at the end of "Baby" is that this is a film that needs to be judged for what it is; for the world it creates and for what its characters do. Don't judge it for what you want the film to be or what you wish its characters would do. It's a tough thing to reconcile, especially if it causes you to feel troubled or at odds with the director or screenwriter. \nIt bears mentioning, I suppose, that when the Oscar nominations were announced last Tuesday, "Million Dollar Baby" picked up a more-than-deserving handful. It's a best picture and best director nominee, and all three actors have nods. And if Morgan Freeman doesn't win an Oscar for this flawless performance, I will shun the Academy forever.
(01/26/05 5:16am)
As of 3 p.m., Ivy Tech students in Bloomington acquiring an associate's degree in kinesiology can pursue a full bachelor's degree at IU-Bloomington.\nIvy Tech State College-Bloomington Chancellor John Whikehart and Interim IU-Bloomington Chancellor Ken Gros Louis will sign an articulation agreement today, their third such agreement in 14 months between the two institutions, which will allow students who have completed a two-year associate's degree at Ivy Tech to transfer their credits and work toward a full bachelor's degree at IUB in three different kinesiology fields.\n"Articulation is a more elaborate version of transferring," IU-Bloomington Associate Dean of the Faculties David Nordloh said. "If you've taken a program, we'll accept the results of that program. In turn, we make it possible for you to go on to proceed to a further degree."\nIvy Tech kinesiology students will be able to pursue a bachelor's degree in sports marketing and management, fitness specialty or exercise science, which according to a press release are the most rapidly growing majors in IU's Department of Kinesiology, a division of the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation.\nThe two schools have previous articulation agreements that allow for the transfer of credits toward IUB bachelor's degrees in general studies and biotechnology.\n"I think this particular agreement and each agreement before it has been an important step between Ivy Tech and the University," Whikehart said. "As we prepare to ask the higher education commission for approval, (the commission) requires a four-year articulation partner. IU is putting its name on the line in advance of the commission's actions saying, 'We are already here as a partner for these degrees.'"\nThe kinesiology articulation will be another way students will have the chance to benefit from more opportunities to acquire a bachelor's degree, Gros Louis said.\n"I think in the past Bloomington has been very slow to cooperate with Ivy Tech, much slower than IUPUI and Ivy Tech in Indianapolis, and that's a shame," Gros Louis said. "It's good and appropriate for students who want a four-year degree to come to Bloomington if they wish."\nNordloh said while IU is geared to be an institution where students attend and go to school full time, Ivy Tech, as a community college, allows students more flexibility to plan classes for the evenings or on weekends to accommodate with their schedules.\nGros Louis added he was unsure whether Ivy Tech and IU have any more articulation agreements in the works, but said he thought an articulation agreement with criminal justice may be among the next to be considered.\n-- Contact Senior Writer Tony Sams at ajsams@indiana.edu.
(01/25/05 5:44am)
IU President Adam Herbert and Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels don't exactly see eye to eye on the state's funding for IU.\nHerbert would like $80 million more for the University in the 2005-2007 Indiana state budget.\nDaniels would like IU and other public state universities to hold steady and receive the same amount of state funding they received two years ago.\nA slight difference of opinion, so to speak.\nThe incoming battle over Indiana's two-year state budget, which will fund everything from the Department of Corrections to Medicaid, from social services to transportation, will become a battle over funding for Indiana's public universities. As the state tries to slow spending in an attempt to balance the budget and lacerate the state deficit, IU officials are working to ensure what they consider to be adequate funding for the next few years.\nHerbert has twice asked the Indiana General Assembly to allocate $1 billion for the University, representing an $80 million increase from the current budget in state funds. But such an increase could meet resistance given Daniels' Jan. 18 state of the state address, when he proposed an across-the-board freeze on state finances, including all levels of public education.\n"Education, both K-12 and postsecondary, must play essential roles in fiscal recovery by managing temporarily with current levels of state funding, no less but no more," Daniels said in his address.\nIU spokesman Larry MacIntyre said Herbert will meet with Daniels sometime this week to discuss funding concerns for the University.\n"President Herbert recognizes that the state is facing serious fiscal problems," MacIntyre said, adding Herbert "appreciates that Gov. Daniels is trying to minimize the impact on both K-12 schools and higher education."\nAbout one quarter of IU's $2.1 billion operating budget is provided by state government. Although he is not seeking money for new or expanded programs, Herbert is asking for the additional funding to support continued research activities and repair and renovation projects. \n"IU's research activities, especially in the life sciences, are helping to spark economic growth in Indiana," MacIntyre said. "As for repair and renovation projects ... the longer these projects are delayed, the more critical -- and expensive -- they become."\nJ.T. Forbes, IU's executive director of state relations, said it was his understanding that the IU campuses currently are working to identify options that will allow them to maintain quality in the face of both potential stagnation and marginally higher funding levels.\n"A sluggish state economy, combined with a tight state financial situation, makes for a very difficult environment for higher education," Forbes said. "While universities are recognized as part of the solution to Indiana's economic woes, it will be difficult for elected officials to balance the budget and increase funding for the state's many needs and priorities." \nInterim IU-Bloomington Chancellor Ken Gros Louis expressed similarly gloomy expectations.\n"It's a year where, given the state's financial situation, we're hoping we can pull our own because it isn't there," Gros Louis said. "If the state has no money, there's no money."\nWhile not constituting an explicit cut in funds, Daniels' proposed freeze at current levels shakes out weaker buying power. \n"A freeze of university funding really means a cut for the University because energy, health care and other costs are rising and beyond the control of IU," state Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, said. "The General Assembly should try harder to better fund higher education because it is one of the keys to Indiana's economic development and long-term prosperity."\nBut House Ways and Means Budget Chairman Larry Buell, R-Indianapolis, previously told the Indiana Daily Student (Jan. 12, 2004) that the state budget is stretched too tight to comply fully with Herbert's request. He said his committee probably will not approve the proposal "to the extent that (Herbert) made the request, but not because of an inadequacy of his proposal, but a shortage of funds at the state level."\nPierce said he believes the University's budget request recognizes the state's difficult fiscal condition and has very modest goals for the next two years, but nonetheless he said the General Assembly should do all it can to meet this budget request.\nAt this point, IU officials are quick to dismiss as premature any talk of tuition increases or additional student fees.\nMacIntyre said it is too early to make any predictions regarding possible student fees or increases in tuition for the next year. \n"First, we must determine the level of state support that will be provided next year," he said.\nGros Louis said he expects the IU board of trustees to vote on tuition and fees for the next academic year in March. \nBut Forbes said a flat-line higher education budget will create a gap between current state-funding levels and the level of resources required to meet increases and other uncontrollable costs.\n"If higher education funding cannot be increased beyond the levels recommended by the governor, we will have to fill the funding gap by cutting our costs, increasing revenues or some combination of these," Forbes said. "It is still too early in the legislative process to predict the final outcome on state funding. The governor's budget gets the conversation started, but it takes months of deliberation and debate to arrive at a state budget."\n-- Contact Senior Writer Tony Sams at ajsams@indiana.edu.
(01/24/05 6:30am)
The committee hunting for someone to fill the shoes of retiring IU School of Journalism Dean Trevor Brown has narrowed its search down to three.\nAgain.\nAfter a committee failed to reach a consensus on a single candidate in the spring of 2004, a new committee, chaired by Associate Dean of Journalism Graduate Studies Dan Drew, announced its three new finalists Friday.\n"I'm very confident that we have excellent candidates this year, balanced candidates that have professional experience, academic experience and administrative experience," Drew said. "It's very important that the candidates have a great deal of respect for (journalism) theory and practice."\nDrew said the 16-member committee unanimously approved the selections and was enthusiastic about the backgrounds of finalists Christine Martin, Bradley Hamm and Sandra Braman.\nAll three candidates expressed a mixed sense of excitement and honor at being named a contender for a position that each described as one of the most outstanding in the country.\n"It has a sterling reputation and incredible graduates," Martin said. "Dean Brown has established it as a truly extraordinary institution in education."\nMartin, currently the vice president for institutional advancement at West Virginia University, said she has spent the last 20 years in education as a journalism professor, writing coach, working with the Poynter Institute and as the dean of the Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism at WVU.\nEarly in her career, she worked as an education reporter and editor for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and the Uniontown Herald-Standard in Pennsylvania. Martin won the National Education Writers Association Award for investigative journalism and an American Cancer Society Award for health reporting, according to her biography provided by WVU. \nHamm, an assistant professor of communications at Elon University School of Communications in Elon, N.C., said the accomplishments of IU's journalism program drew him to apply for the job.\n"I think the (IU journalism) program has such a history, such a legacy," said Hamm. "Anyone would love to be the dean." \nHamm, who served as interim dean for one year and has served as associate dean, said Elon's School of Communications -- which includes journalism, broadcasting, film, advertising and public relations -- has an undergraduate program and faculty numbers that are about as large at the undergraduate journalism level as IU. \nBefore coming to Elon -- which after Duke and Wake Forest is the third largest private university in North Carolina -- Hamm worked as a sports writer for The Salisbury Post in North Carolina. After completing graduate school, he worked for The Associated Press in South Carolina, and changed paths toward journalism education after acquiring his master's degree.\n"I think if you look at what we've done at Elon, we've taken a program that was not well known five years ago and have made it into one of the fastest growing programs in the nation," Hamm said.\nBraman, a professor of journalism and mass communications at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said she was excited to be in contention for the position because of the opportunity to help chart the direction of journalism in the 21st century.\n"(The IU Journalism School's) faculty has already chosen to build upon that tradition by directly confronting the challenges presented by new technologies and the changing media environment," Braman wrote in an e-mail. \nBraman has worked in print reporting, freelance writing and public relations. She has also written a number of articles for scholarly journals on the interactions between journalism and society, and sits on the editorial boards of nine journals. She previously served as the chairwoman of the communication law and policy division of the International Communication Association.\nAfter interviewing the three finalists again, Drew said he would like to assemble a panel of journalism students with different concentrations to give written feedback on each of the candidates. After the candidates meet with alumni and faculty, the committee will select one and send her or him to be approved by Interim IU-Bloomington Chancellor Ken Gros Louis. \nTrevor Brown has served as journalism school dean since 1985, making his term the longest of any dean currently on campus. A member of the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame and a member of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies' board of trustees, Brown has been an IU faculty member since 1972.\nDrew said the search to replace Brown had been grueling, but is something that must be done.\n"We understand we have to have a new dean this year," Drew said with a smile. "We cannot clone Trevor, unfortunately."\n-- Contact Senior Writer Tony Sams at ajsams@indiana.edu.
(01/20/05 6:22am)
The family of a Bedford man who died in 2003 while in police custody will receive a total of $500,000 from Monroe and Lawrence counties, the lawyer for the family confirmed.\nRichard Waples, attorney for James L. Borden Sr.'s family, said he was "pleased with the settlement."\n"We think it shows that what Monroe and Lawrence counties did to Borden was wrong," Waples said.\nBorden, 47, died the evening of Nov. 6, 2003, while being booked into the Monroe County Jail after he was arrested for violating his probation by Lawrence County Police Department training officer John Potter. \nAccording to police and Emergency Medical Services reports, Borden was incoherent and disoriented when he was taken into custody at the Monroe County Jail after the arresting officers spoke with the Lawrence County Probation Department and ambulance personnel -- against advice from EMS, who urged officers to seek medical attention for him.\nBorden was shocked multiple times with a taser by Monroe County Officer David Shaw for being uncooperative, according to police reports.\nAfter lying unresponsive on the floor, Borden received medical attention from a jail nurse. Ten minutes later a Bloomington Hospital team arrived, and shortly thereafter, Borden's body was carried out of the jail on a stretcher.\nMonroe County Coroner David W. Toumey previously told the Indiana Daily Student in a Dec. 15, 2003, story that Borden died of a heart attack, drug intoxication and electrical shock.\nThe lawsuit, brought by James' brother Steve Borden, was seeking compensation for what it alleged was "the wrongful death of James Borden, who died as a direct result of being deprived emergency medical attention and the defendants' use of excessive force against him."\nThe agencies that will pay the Borden family in the settlement are not admitting guilt or liability in the case, according to the settlement motion filed in Lawrence County Court.\n"Settlement negotiations among all the parties except for TASER International, Inc., presided over by federal Magistrate William Lawrence, resulted in a proposed settlement," the motion reads. "That settlement includes a total payment of $500,000 to the Plaintiff's (Borden family)."\nThe insurance company that represents both Monroe and Lawrence County will provide the money for the settlement, and in his capacity as the family's attorney, Waples will receive 40 percent of the settlement, the Bedford Times-Mail reported Jan. 19 on its Web site. \nDorothy Borden, James Borden's mother, will receive half of a $275,000 portion of the settlement. Borden's five children will receive the other half.\nThe remaining $25,000 will go toward the Borden family's wrongful death lawsuit pending against TASER International, Inc. -- the manufacturer of the M26 taser gun used against Borden. Waples said that suit is in its discovery phases currently, with a trial scheduled for November at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, located in Indianapolis. \n"We've still got TASER in the case," Waples said. "And they shouldn't be selling these devices with serious circumstances or death."\nA taser is a gun used to send up to 50,000 volts in each electrical shock throughout the region of the body where the taser probes make contact. A shock from a taser results in an instant loss of control and coordination, and is often used by law enforcement to subdue unruly inmates. \nSteve Tuttle, vice president of communications for TASER, said since the matters regarding the Borden case are the subject of a lawsuit, TASER could not comment.\nThe Borden family was unavailable for comment at press time.\n-- Contact Senior Writer Tony Sams at ajsams@indiana.edu.
(01/20/05 5:00am)
"My wife left me, and today is the anniversary of our first date, and I found the idea of going home to be so depressing that I kind of leeched onto your dad and invited myself over for dinner," 26-year-old corporate hot shot Carter Duryea tells Alex, the daughter of 51-year-old family man Dan Foreman, as he joins the Foreman family for dinner one night in Paul Weitz's charming film "In Good Company."\n"Wow," Alex replies. "You're sort of a bizarrely honest guy, huh?"\nWell, Weitz's movie is sort of bizarrely honest itself, and a really good movie at that. It's a movie about men, about the sharkish and cutthroat world of corporate America and the egos you may step on as you go about your way. It's also an honest movie concerning its idealistic and noble view of what it takes to make a happy man and the duties of nurturing, loving and providing for your family. \nDennis Quaid embodies these qualities effortlessly in his portrayal of Dan, the veteran ad exec bumped down a few rungs on the office ladder by a media conglomerate purchase. Dan is dedicated to his work and to his friends, and takes pride in providing for his family, including getting his daughter Alex (Scarlett Johansson) into NYU, even when it takes a second mortgage. \nTopher Grace doesn't embody the noble qualities at all in Carter, but he earnestly wants to and that's the only reason the audience doesn't hate him. Carter is as devoted to work as much as Dan, but he doesn't quite seem to understand why. Carter wisely allows Dan to retain a job while giving himself an obvious father figure to admire and learn from. Grace's performance is without a doubt on par with Quaid's, and it's nice to see him get a movie that allows him to explore the dynamics of his character.\nWeitz strikes me as a writer and director who knows how to pay attention to detail. He and his brother Chris Weitz previously directed in the high-quality "About a Boy," a toothier film that had more of a humanistic bite. The films share similar themes of resisting responsibility and adulthood, though, while futilely pursuing some unfulfilling notion of happiness. Weitz smartly knows how to crack open his characters to get to their emotional and most realistic core.\nEven if the story falters a little bit (which I think it does, especially as a flat romance develops between Carter and Alex), Weitz's clever writing and unpredictable narrative as well as the stellar performances by Quaid and Grace make "In Good Company" a sharp and funny comedy and a sweet and charming drama, which together should be difficult to pass up and more difficult to dislike.
(01/19/05 5:54am)
"My wife left me, and today is the anniversary of our first date, and I found the idea of going home to be so depressing that I kind of leeched onto your dad and invited myself over for dinner," 26-year-old corporate hot shot Carter Duryea tells Alex, the daughter of 51-year-old family man Dan Foreman, as he joins the Foreman family for dinner one night in Paul Weitz's charming film "In Good Company."\n"Wow," Alex replies. "You're sort of a bizarrely honest guy, huh?"\nWell, Weitz's movie is sort of bizarrely honest itself, and a really good movie at that. It's a movie about men, about the sharkish and cutthroat world of corporate America and the egos you may step on as you go about your way. It's also an honest movie concerning its idealistic and noble view of what it takes to make a happy man and the duties of nurturing, loving and providing for your family. \nDennis Quaid embodies these qualities effortlessly in his portrayal of Dan, the veteran ad exec bumped down a few rungs on the office ladder by a media conglomerate purchase. Dan is dedicated to his work and to his friends, and takes pride in providing for his family, including getting his daughter Alex (Scarlett Johansson) into NYU, even when it takes a second mortgage. \nTopher Grace doesn't embody the noble qualities at all in Carter, but he earnestly wants to and that's the only reason the audience doesn't hate him. Carter is as devoted to work as much as Dan, but he doesn't quite seem to understand why. Carter wisely allows Dan to retain a job while giving himself an obvious father figure to admire and learn from. Grace's performance is without a doubt on par with Quaid's, and it's nice to see him get a movie that allows him to explore the dynamics of his character.\nWeitz strikes me as a writer and director who knows how to pay attention to detail. He and his brother Chris Weitz previously directed in the high-quality "About a Boy," a toothier film that had more of a humanistic bite. The films share similar themes of resisting responsibility and adulthood, though, while futilely pursuing some unfulfilling notion of happiness. Weitz smartly knows how to crack open his characters to get to their emotional and most realistic core.\nEven if the story falters a little bit (which I think it does, especially as a flat romance develops between Carter and Alex), Weitz's clever writing and unpredictable narrative as well as the stellar performances by Quaid and Grace make "In Good Company" a sharp and funny comedy and a sweet and charming drama, which together should be difficult to pass up and more difficult to dislike.
(01/13/05 6:19am)
Freshman Alyssa Reed received a $1,300 Pell Grant by simply filling out her annual FAFSA form.\nJust like that.\nUnder a new reconfiguration of the Pell formula slipped into a congressional bill two days before Christmas and passed into law shortly thereafter, Reed's grant now could decrease.\nJust like that.\nReed is one of 4,626 -- equaling nearly one in six IU-Bloomington undergraduates -- who currently receive a federal Pell Grant, which does not have to be repaid to the government at the culmination of the college. She is again filling out a FAFSA form, this year with that money on her mind, after the Department of Education announced the new formula that could cause an estimated 80,000 to 90,000 students to feel a cutback or to sustain complete elimination from the Pell program nationwide.\n"It is a concern since I am paying my way through school, and my parents cannot really help me very much," Reed said. "I could always go to loans (if the Pell Grant isn't renewed), but I'd rather not."\nThe government awarded nearly $12 billion to 5.3 million students nationwide in Pell Grants for the 2004-2005 academic year. IUB received roughly $12.8 million of that, with the average student obtaining $2,700, according to numbers released from the IU Office of Financial Aid.\nVice Chancellor of Enrollment Services Don Hossler said the cuts are disappointing and a symptom of an overall problem with funding the Pell Grant program.\n"Although the cuts are not as serious for IU students as has been suggested in the larger media, this remains a step backward," Hossler said. "It's bad public policy. Period. At a time when college costs continue to increase, this is one more instance where Congress and the president have really failed over many years in an effort to keep up funding with the cost of living let alone the cost of college."\nPell Grants, created in 1973 by former U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell, D-R.I., range in value of $400 to $4,050. They are intended for use by undergraduate students pursuing their first degree. \nThe grants are determined by calculating a student's estimated family contribution to help pay for college costs. The old formula for calculating a student's EFC uses data on income and state and local taxes from 1990. An update is required by law, and the recalculated version will use data on income and on state and local taxes from 2002 -- generally lower than 1990's numbers -- to figure a family's expected disposable income \navailable for college tuition.\nBush administration officials told The Washington Post that the poorest students, who receive the maximum Pell amount of $4,050, will remain unaffected from the reconfiguration. They also said the new formula will save the government at least $300 million in the 2005-2006 academic year.\nSusan Aspey, spokeswoman for the Department of Education, also told the Post that most of those expected to lose eligibility next year are students at the upper margin who receive the smallest grant possible.\nIn theory, although those who receive Pell Grants at the higher end of the bracket could be ineligible next year, more lower-income graduates should be able to apply and offset the difference. Actual results and news informing students who and who has not been affected by the reconfiguration will not be available until FAFSA forms are considered for the next academic year.\nHossler said he didn't know when IU students will see the impact or how many students could possibly be affected by the new decision.\nTerry Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education, told the Post the new formula would have a modest but noticeable impact on a very large number of low- and middle-income students.\n"I don't think it means they won't go to school," Hartle said. "But they will borrow more money on credit cards, work longer hours or take fewer classes."\n-- Contact Senior Writer Tony Sams at ajsams@indiana.edu