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(09/27/07 4:00am)
SEASON 2 PREMIERE: 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 4, on NBC \nSUMMARY: "TGS with Tracy Jordan" is back from hiatus! When we last left Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) and the sketch show's crew, the star had escaped the unofficial witness protection program and returned to save the season finale. Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) suffered a heart attack, lost his small appliances division and admitted that he didn't love his avian bone-afflicted fiance. Scott Adsit (Pete Hornberger) still doesn't have a vasectomy and Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) still has a muffintop. Also, the show won an Emmy Award for Best New Comedy.\nPREDICTION: Will the Black Crusaders find Tracy before he makes "Fat Bitch: 2"? Will Tina find love with somebody who lives in New York, likes food and isn't her cousin (she's not picky)? Will Jack regain his beloved microwave division? Will Kenneth (Jack McBrayer) grow out of his NBC-emblazoned blazer? Will Brian Williams find more creative uses for tube socks and pizza pies? Only time (and season two) will tell.
(09/18/07 3:46am)
WEST LAFAYETTE – Sophomore Elizabeth Gutierrez sometimes felt out of place at Purdue University. That was before she became active in its Latino Cultural Center and the school hired its first Hispanic president, France Cordova.\n“It helps us look forward to the future and know that we can make it,” said Gutierrez, a Mexican-American and the first person in her family to attend college.\nGutierrez and a few hundred other students attended the Latino center’s open house Friday, where Cordova met with students and encouraged them to continue embracing their diversity.\nThe open house allowed the center and about 15 other Latino-based organizations to show students what they offer.\nThe event also served as a prelude to National Hispanic Heritage Month, which began Saturday. A number of conferences and other activities celebrating cultural diversity are planned for the coming weeks.\n“I think it’s really wonderful that our students decided (the Latino center) is part of being successful,” Cordova said. “This is their creation, and I congratulate them for it.”\nShe said she felt it was important for her to visit the center.\n“A lot of the students look at me as a role model,” Cordova said. “I think role models are important.”\nLatino center Director Maricela Alvarado said the center’s attendance rises every year, and she hopes Cordova’s presence at Purdue will further the trend.\n“It was wonderful to have her here finally,” Alvarado said. “I think it’s (beneficial) for us in terms of being able to recruit with a role model in that position.”\nStudents mingled outside the Latino center during the open house, talking with friends and eating churros handed out by the center.\nSome of those present said they noticed a difference between this year and previous ones now that Cordova is on campus.\n“It feels like we’re finally adding more diversity,” said junior Christina Giles, “not only with our students, but also (in the administration).”\nJunior Alejandra Roman said she became active at the Latino Cultural Center because she wanted to relate to more people on campus.\n“I’ve seen a lot of nice people today,” she said. “I just hope they come continuously ... not just today.”
(09/16/07 11:35pm)
LOS ANGELES – Carol Channing’s signature dress – a shimmery number she wore in the stage production of “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” – was recovered Friday night after being stolen from a Hollywood hotel.\nA man found an abandoned bag containing the dress at a Hollywood park and turned it over to authorities, said Officer Jason Lee, a police spokesman. The man was not identified.\nThe dress was in police custody and would be returned to Channing once the investigation was completed, Lee said.\nNo further details were immediately available.\nThe 86-year-old actress and her husband were checking into the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel on Thursday when a man swiped one of her bags from a bell cart in the lobby. Channing told police it was valued at $150,000.\nHer representative told celebrity Web site TMZ.com the dress was on its way to the Smithsonian museum for an exhibit.
(09/05/07 1:49am)
VENICE, Italy – Oscar-winning director Woody Allen does not believe he has influenced other filmmakers.\nAsked Sunday if his decades of work had left a mark, the 71-year-old New Yorker insisted that as far as he could tell, they have not.\n“Oddly enough, over the years I’ve never felt that I have influenced anyone,” he said.\n“I don’t mean that to sound like false modesty, but I could always feel the influence of my contemporaries – Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Altman, Steven Spielberg – but I have never seen my influence on anyone.”\nComedians Groucho Marx and Bob Hope also had some influence on him, Allen said at the Venice Film Festival, where his latest movie, “Cassandra’s Dream,” premiered Sunday.\nStarring Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell, the film tells the story of two brothers – one a chronic gambler and the other in love with a beautiful actress – who try to improve their lives but instead get entangled in a nasty situation.\nAllen likened life to “quite a tragic experience,” saying he has a “bleak, pessimistic view on life and man’s faith, the human condition.”\n“But I do feel there are some extremely amusing oases in that mirage,” he hastened to add.\n“Cassandra’s Dream” is Allen’s third film set in London, after the dark “Match Point” and the zany “Scoop,” both co-starring Scarlett Johansson. He called London an “extremely seductive” place to work.
(09/05/07 1:45am)
STOCKHOLM, Sweden – The Swedish government will give $3 million to promote and preserve the works of Ingmar Bergman.\nThe money will be used to help the Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm set up an international theater festival in the late filmmaker’s honor and buy the rights for scripts to his stage performances.\nIt will also enable new copies to be made of his films, which include “The Seventh Seal,” “Through a Glass Darkly” and “Fanny and Alexander,” Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said in a joint statement Monday with Culture Minister Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth.\n“Bergman has given Swedish stage art a unique position in the world. It deserves to be recognized both for a Swedish and international audience,” Reinfeldt and Liljeroth said in the statement.\nConsidered one of the great masters of 20th century cinema, 89-year-old Bergman died July 30 at his home on the Baltic Sea islet of Faro.
(08/23/07 4:00am)
Attention friends: You need this one. \nOkkervil River is a six-man outfit led by singer-songwriter Will Sheff that merges rock's energy with both lo-fi acoustic and grand operatic sounds. But the band members distinguish themselves by not merely wearing their hearts on their sleeves, but by virtually plucking them out and flinging them into the audience -- no abstract images or quirky stories here, just Sheff's howl of pain toward the heavens. This is, of course, rather melodramatic -- but Okkervil River shows just enough restraint to keep it convincing, achieving emo-like emotional release without resorting to its shopworn musical and lyrical tricks.\nThe Stage Names manages to surpass even 2005's excellent Black Sheep Boy in aesthetics and ambition -- making it one of this year's best indie-rock records. \nThis is, to no small extent, due to Sheff's extraordinary lyrics, which tell vivid stories by blurring the line between his characters and the media in their lives -- most strikingly, in "Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe" and "A Hand to Take Hold of the Scene," which express a wish to control life like it was a film or TV show (respectively), and in "Plus Ones" and "John Allyn Smith Sails," which incorporate familiar songs into their larger narratives. But all this eggheadery would mean little were it not for Okkervil River's stunning instrumentation, which takes everything from the ringing anthem of "Our Life" to the shuffling, downcast beauty of "A Girl in Port," and sends it vibrating down your spine. \nIf Okkervil River suffered from success before, now it's truly doomed.
(08/23/07 4:00am)
Poor Chris Rock. The guy's hilarious, but like most comedians, his movies never quite match up to his stand-up. (Note: this does not include his tragically underappreciated TV show "Everybody Hates Chris.") \nRock plays Richard Cooper, a man who's been married for seven years and as he puts it is "fucking bored" with married life. The father of two loves his wife (Gina Torres) but can no longer stand the married life of Saturday afternoon shopping trips, dinner with other married couples and his biggest complaint, no sex. When an old friend, Nikki Tru (Kerry Washington), re-enters his life, the two form a bond that ends up being not so innocent and causes him to think, as the title says (…all together now), "I think I love my wife."\nYou've got to hand it to Rock. With "I Think I Love My Wife" -- his second film in the director's chair -- he ditches the gimmicky premises of most his films to create an adult comedy about marriage and infidelity (even if the results are far from perfect). The problem is the film, similar to "Knocked Up," isn't able to balance its raunchiness with the mature themes. So much bickering and complaining goes on -- just another reason to fear getting older -- that there isn't much room for any comedy. Instead the jokes usually come in between scenes and rely too much on mediocre race jokes and the F-word. The script also relies too heavily on Rock's narration, often pointing out the most obvious things. \nSpecial features include Rock's amusing director's commentary, some deleted and alternate scenes (nothing too special), bloopers and a feature about casting the movie. Come on, Chris, as director, writer and producer, did you actually think that anyone other than you would get the lead?
(08/23/07 3:49am)
A brush fire burns on a hill above the Sicilian town of Cefalu, southern Italy, on Wednesday. Firefighters were battling a wind-whipped blaze Wednesday in the hills above the Sicilian seaside resort town of Cefalu that prompted a local hospital to suspend surgeries as a precaution.
(08/23/07 1:38am)
NEW YORK – Amy Winehouse has put her North American tour on hold, raising more concerns about her health.\n“Due to the rigors involved in touring, Amy Winehouse has been advised to postpone her upcoming September U.S. and Canadian tour dates,” the British singer’s publicist, Tracy Miller, said in a statement Tuesday.\n“Amy’s European and U.K. tour dates in October and November remain in place. Plans are being made to reschedule her U.S. tour for early 2008. Until then, Amy has been ordered to rest and is working with medical professionals to address her health.”\nLast week, it was announced that the 23-year-old was canceling all her August performances due to “severe exhaustion.” While British tabloids have claimed the retro-soul singer has been in rehab due to drug abuse, her spokeswoman has denied such claims.\nWinehouse made her U.S. debut this year with the acclaimed album “Back to Black,” but her celebrity has been fueled by her tabloid image as much as her talent. She’s spoken openly about her past battles with drugs and her penchant for alcohol and marijuana, and her hit single “Rehab” is an autobiographical tale of her resistance to being pushed to go to rehab: “They tried to make me go to rehab, but I said no, no, no.”\nWinehouse was scheduled to appear at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sept. 9 in Las Vegas, but it is unclear if she will be on hand for the event.
(08/22/07 4:57am)
Firefighter Lt. Larry Delk,\nleft, hands off a cat rescued from an apartment fire to Kyle Charlton Tuesday morning in Muncie, Ind. The fire displaced 16 families, all of which were evacuated safely from the building.
(08/22/07 4:26am)
A visitor looks at the work of art “le peintre et son modele” (the painter and his model, 1963) by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) in the Fondation Beyeler in Riehen, Switzerland, on Aug. 16. “The other collection – a tribute to Hildy and Ernst Beyeler”, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Fondation Beyeler, is open to the public from Aug. 19 through Jan. 6, 2008.
(07/02/07 12:33am)
WEST LAFAYETTE – A former Purdue linebacker has been sentenced to 37 years in prison for attacking two women on campus.\nKyle Darnell Williams, 21, of Bolingbrook, Ill., is still awaiting trial in Illinois for a third attack.\nHe was sentenced Thursday on one count of attempted rape and two counts each of battery and confinement. A jury convicted him in April.\n“The elements of the attacks are so similar that it appears to be ritualistic in some way,” Judge Thomas Busch of Tippecanoe Superior Court 2 said.\nWilliams wore similar homemade masks in both Nov. 29, 2005 incidents and attacked the victims from behind, according to court records.\nWhile Williams was free on bond awaiting trial, DuPage County, Ill., authorities say he carried out a similar attack on another woman in a parking garage there. He still is awaiting trial on those charges.\nHe also pleaded guilty Thursday to charges he broke into a teammate’s dorm room 19 days before the attacks and stole his laptop computer.\nWilliams’ father, Steve Williams, said the crimes were “totally out of character” for his son, who apologized for the attacks in court Thursday.\nKyle Williams had suffered two concussions during the previous football season and Purdue officials said he had been released from the team at his own request days before the attacks.\nHis father attributed Williams’ behavior to the brain injuries.\nHowever, his son’s attorneys did not raise the injuries as a defense. Attorney Kent Moore said the brain injuries did not rise to the level of a legal defense but the best explanation was that “something organic happened to him.”\nBut Busch discounted Williams’ claims that the attacks were out of character.\n“There’s clearly a strong element of denial, of evasion, of dishonesty in these statements,” Busch said. “I think you need to come to terms with your own mind and try to find out how this happened.”\nWilliams was one of the nation’s top high school prospects as a senior and was named a first team All-American by Parade, Rivals.com and Insiders.com, according to the Purdue 2005 football media guide.
(06/25/07 12:08am)
INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana All-Star Eric Gordon made quite an impression on Kentucky All-Star coach Ron Bevars.\nGordon, the 2007 Indiana Mr. Basketball, had a game-high 20 points to lead the Indiana All-Stars to a 104-87 victory over the Kentucky All-Stars in Saturday’s annual matchup of the states’ top high school seniors.\nIn last week’s opening game of the home-and-home series, Gordon scored 32 as Indiana beat Kentucky 97-79 in Bowling Green, Ky.\n“In the state of Indiana, he’s Michael Jordan,” Bevars said following Saturday’s game at Conseco Fieldhouse. “He might be making a living (in professional basketball) if it wasn’t for the fact he has to go to college.”\nGordon’s effort helped Indiana win its seventh consecutive game against Kentucky and improve its all-time series lead to 79-41.\n“It’s a big thing for Indiana and it takes a lot of pride,” said Gordon, who will play for IU next season. “I know I take a lot of pride in it.”\nScott Martin was named the Most Valuable Player after finishing with 12 points and 10 rebounds for Indiana, which turned an eight-point deficit into a commanding 47-31 halftime lead.\n“Some baskets went down and we got on a roll,” said Martin, who’s headed to Purdue. “We started knocking down shots and that’s what helped us.”\nAustin Hill had 19 points, Steffphon Pettigrew scored 14 and Matt Walls chipped in 13 for Kentucky, which shot 38 percent from the field and committed 18 turnovers.\n“I think we got beat by a better basketball team,” Bevars said. “It would have been a whole lot of fun to watch the Indiana team play if I hadn’t been coaching on the side.”\nAfter falling behind early in the first half, Indiana tied the score at 19 on Ben Botts’ 3-pointer, and minutes later, Gordon’s triple gave Indiana a 32-21 advantage with 6 minutes left.\nIndiana extended its lead to 75-48 following Nate Blank’s 3-pointer with 11:37 remaining in the second half.\n“This wasn’t the prettiest win, but we fought back hard to gain control,” Indiana coach Mike Miller said. “This is a group of very talented guys and they know how to play hard against a physical team like Kentucky.”\nIndiana got a balanced scoring attack with five players finishing in double figures. Matt Howard had 12 points, Botts 11 and Blank 10.\n“It’s good because it’s easier for everybody to contribute,” Gordon said. “It wasn’t just one guy trying to take over.”
(06/21/07 4:00am)
Nicolas Cage sold his soul all right. But it wasn't in exchange for a good movie.\n"Ghost Rider" is based on the story of Marvel comic character Johnny Blaze (Cage), who strikes a deal with the devil in order to save his dying father. But when the the devil doublecrosses Johnny, and his father dies in a motorcycle exhibition accident, Johnny devotes his efforts to young sweetheart Roxanne Simpson (Eva Mendes). With the help of the Caretaker (Sam Elliott), Blaze tries to win his soul back so he can spend he rest of his life with Roxanne.\nIt's a shame that such an undeniably interesting story was turned into a butchered movie. "Ghost Rider" was too long (about 2 hours) and the plot didn't unfold fast enough. It took over an hour for Cage to realize he was the ghost rider, and Mendes didn't have nearly a big enough role. She appeared in scattered scenes throughout the movie, which is not enough for someone of her caliber. The movie also lacked enough good action sequences.\nWhat saved "Ghost Rider" from being a complete waste were the Caretaker and the overall message of the story. Sam Elliott gave a beautiful performance, playing the insightful cowboy who occasionally throws in a good joke or two. And you can't knock Blaze for trying to save his dad. Selling a soul for love instead of greed is different from the norm, and and the ending put the story together beautifully. But it was way too dragged out, and keeping the movie playing until the end is a challenge.\nAlso, you would think that a DVD with a second disc devoted entirely to extras would be worth checking out -- but don't waste your time. There are three "making of the movie" segments, but one of them is just the animation with music and no insight from the director or producer. The director's commentary was fairly insightful, but watching the movie once was painful enough, let alone watching it again with a discussion of how the ideas came about.\nDon't waste your time on this Marvel mistake.
(06/18/07 5:14am)
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Indiana Mr. Basketball Eric Gordon scored 32 points as the Indiana boys’ All-Stars beat the Kentucky All-Stars 97-79 Saturday night.\nThe Indiana-bound guard was 10-of-18 from the field, including three 3-pointers, and 9-of-10 from the free-throw line.\nPurdue-bound E’Twaun Moore added 15 points and 10 rebounds as Indiana outrebounded Kentucky 63-36.\n“It’s hard to teach size,” Indiana coach Mike Miller said. “Rebounding is a big part of any game, a big part of any stat. They weren’t big, but Kentucky hustled on the boards, but size can really help in these types of games.”\nThe win was the Indiana All-Stars’ sixth in a row over the Kentucky boys. The teams play again next Saturday in Indianapolis.\nBoth teams played a fast-paced game early on as Indiana settled into a man-to-man defense and held Kentucky to 40 percent shooting from the field. Kentucky Mr. Basketball Steffphon Pettigrew was held to six points and five rebounds in 25 minutes.\nKentucky pulled as close as 39-33 late in the first half, but Indiana then went on a run to close the half with a 47-33 lead. Indiana led by as much as 25 with 12 minutes left in the game.\nMatt Walls led Kentucky with 21 points and 11 rebounds, shooting 6-of-12 from 3-point range and setting a record for 3-pointers.\n“We just stopped rebounding and running the floor, period,” Walls said. “... My teammates got me some open looks, and it’s pretty easy to hit open looks.”\nAustin Hill scored 13, Greg Rice came off the bench to chip in 12, and Thomas Coleman had 11 for Kentucky.\n“It was tough,” Pettigrew said. “We just tried to go in there with the mindset to play with them, and hopefully we’ll play better next week.”
(05/24/07 4:00am)
The line:\n"I'll take anything you can fit in my box before 2:30." -- anonymous professor
(04/27/07 4:00am)
CHICAGO – Bidding is certain to be fiercely competitive when the Chicago Cubs go up for sale at the end of the season, but baseball’s commissioner stressed Thursday that all offers will have to go through Major League Baseball first.\n“We have very stringent rules,” commissioner Bud Selig said Thursday at a meeting of the Associated Press Sports Editors. “I’ve had meetings with the Cubs and we will set the rules up, and everybody has to come through Major League Baseball before they do anything with them.”\nThe team is a “month or two away” from getting any prospective buyers, Selig said.\n“They’re in the process of setting up a procedure.... There will be a significant number of prospective buyers,” Selig said.\nCubs parent company Tribune Co. earlier this month accepted an $8.2 billion buyout offer from billionaire investor Sam Zell, who said he will sell the team and storied Wrigley Field at the end of the season and use the proceeds to pay down debt.\nThe announcement puts one of sports’ most storied and star-crossed franchises on the block, a year shy of the 100th anniversary of its last World Series title. Analysts have estimated the Cubs could fetch $600 million or more.\nBillionaire entrepreneur and IU alumni Mark Cuban, Phoenix sports executive Jerry Colangelo and actor Bill Murray are among those reported or rumored to have interest, along with numerous Chicago business figures.\nSelig touted local ownership Thursday.\n“I believe in local ownership wherever possible,” Selig said. “There will be Chicago groups, there’s no question in my mind about that. Will they be the only groups? No. But there will be some very good Chicago groups.”
(04/26/07 4:00am)
JASPER, Ind. – A college class using toy guys as props for a skit chose models so authentic that passers-by called the police, who responded with their real guns drawn.\nNursing students alerted their teacher that they saw armed students in a classroom Monday at Vincennes University’s Jasper campus after they spotted several members of a sociology class preparing for a skit with a toy rifle and a broken BB gun. Someone from the college called police.\n“It was a case of students not really thinking about the consequences of their actions,” said Alan Johnson, dean of the campus in Jasper located about 60 miles northeast of Evansville.\nJohnson said he alerted Jasper police that the weapons were inoperable toys after receiving a note from the sociology professor. Officers had been there less than a minute.\nJohnson said university policy prohibits weapons, including replicas and toys, on campus.\n“The students didn’t think things through,” Johnson said. “It appears to be an innocent error.”
(04/25/07 4:00am)
UPLAND, Ind.– Taylor University officials are urging students to mark the one-year anniversary of a crash that killed four students by attending a campus memorial, and to avoid visiting the highway crash site.\nTaylor’s director of campus safety, Jeff Wallace, cited safety concerns in asking students not to add to a five-cross memorial along Interstate 69 where four students and a staff member died on April 26, 2006.\nIn an e-mail sent Monday, Wallace said a memorial site will be erected on Taylor’s campus near its Zondervan Library to “serve as a place for all of us to visit and leave flowers, cards, notes or just spend time in remembrance and prayer.”\nTaylor will hold a memorial service Thursday at 7 p.m. to remember the five victims killed when a truck driver who police say fell asleep at the wheel collided with a university van returning to campus after preparing for a banquet at the school’s Fort Wayne campus.\nThe crash killed students Laura VanRyn , 22, of Caledonia, Mich.; Bradley J. Larson, 22, of Elm Grove, Wis., Elizabeth A. Smith, 22, of Mount Zion, Ill. , and Laurel E. Erb, 20, St. Charles, Ill. University employee Monica Felver, 53, of Hartford City, Ind. was also killed.\nThe case drew national attention five weeks after the crash when authorities announced they had mixed up the identifications of two of the victims – VanRyn and 19-year-old Whitney Cerak of Gaylord, Mich.\nCerak had initially been reported as killed in the crash, while VanRyn was listed as a survivor. But it turned out that Cerak had been severely injured but had survived and that VanRyn had died in the crash.\nCerak, who bore a resemblance to VanRyn, returned to Taylor as a full-time student in August and is now living on the Taylor campus.\nTaylor spokesman Jim Garringer said members of the Cerak and VanRyn families were planning to attend Thursday evening’s memorial service.\nBoth families have declined to speak publicly about the tragedy, but Garringer said representatives from several families would speak at the service.\nThe truck driver accused of causing last year’s crash, Robert F. Spencer, of Canton Township, Mich., was charged in September with five counts of reckless homicide and four counts of criminal recklessness. He is scheduled to stand trial in August.\nProsecutors said Spencer had driven at least nine hours more than allowed under federal rules before he fell asleep and his truck slammed into the Taylor van on I-69 midway between Fort Wayne and Indianapolis.
(04/25/07 4:00am)
INDIANAPOLIS – A man with a history of mental illness who is accused of shooting four co-workers is competent to stand trial, a magistrate ruled Tuesday.\nJason J. Burnam, 24, faces four counts of felony aggravated battery and a misdemeanor count of carrying a handgun without a permit in the Jan. 11 shootings at Crossroads Industrial Services.\nBurnam’s attorney and a deputy prosecutor agreed that he could understand court proceedings. Magistrate Amy Barber said two court-appointed psychologists who examined Burnam determined him to be competent.\nA hearing on Thursday will decide whether Burnam’s bond will be reduced from $100,000.\nDeputy prosecutor Barbara Trathen said he is still a danger to the community and she would oppose any reduction.\nBurnam’s mother, Judy Burnam, said after the shootings that her son had complained that some co-workers teased him about his size.\nBurnam, who weighs more than 300 pounds, told officers he fired the shots over issues of “respect,” police said.\nHis mother also said he suffered from bipolar disorder and was diagnosed with schizophrenia, but he was taking medication and seeing a counselor.\nThe four workers shot at the factory, which employs mostly disabled people, did not suffer life-threatening injuries.