165 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(04/27/01 5:41am)
About 30 activists smoked marijuana in Dunn Meadow late yesterday afternoon to promote the legalization of the drug.\nAs a guitarist and singer performed the line, "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose," from the song "Me and Bobby McGee," nonstudent Cogi Haggerty smoked a joint. Haggerty said the protest was not planned far in advance and that more people gradually joined the protest.\n"We're sending the message to legalize marijuana," Haggerty said. "It's a beautiful day. Ten people got together and just decided to go smoke in a park."\nThe IU Police Department patrols the area regularly, but didn't notice any illegal activity around Dunn Meadow Thursday, IUPD Lt. Jerry Minger said.\n"If we knew that somebody was involved in any kind of illegal activity, they would've been arrested. Period," Minger said.\nHaggerty said marijuana shouldn't be illegal because of the high number of people who already use the drug.\nNonstudent Damion Crowley said he had planned what to do if the police showed up at the scene.\n"Sit here," he said. \nRobert DiLauro, a nonstudent, said he also wasn't afraid of legal repercussions.\n"I don't care what happens," he said. "I'm not doing anything wrong.\n"If people smoked weed more often, there would be a lot less violence in the world."\nAll three protesters agreed marijuana should be legalized in part because of its use in medical situations.\n"There are so many medicinal things it can help, and it kills less people than either alcohol or tobacco," Crowley said.
(04/26/01 5:20am)
Environmentalism crept up on senior Sarah Smith. As a sophomore, Smith volunteered to take charge of the musical portion of the annual Earth and Music Festival, a culmination of the events surrounding Earth Week. At the time, Smith was mainly involved for the music.\n"I thought, 'Yeah, the environment is cool and all,' but (music) is what I wanted to do," Smith says. \nTwo years later, things are a little different. Smith, treasurer of Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC), has gone from being "in it for the music" to coordinator of all Earth Day events. Her work has its finale Saturday, with the Earth and Music Festival from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Dunn Meadow.\nFrom expanding interest from musical acts to adding a second stage for bands to making fliers and teaching others to take over next year, Smith's involvement in Earth Day has turned into something more varied and meaningful than her initial reason.\n"My personal philosophy has changed a lot (in the past two years)," she says. "I've grown a lot, like I wasn't a vegan when I first got involved and now it's something I feel really strong about as far as the environmental impact."\nSmith describes the change as "going more lightly on the Earth" or looking at her actions and how they will effect the environment.\n"It's not just about recycling but about reducing everything you consume, like the water you use to cook food in or take showers in," she says. "I self-examine how can I have a better impact or less of a negative impact."\nOn top of that, Smith wants to get other people involved, something she thinks can only be done and done well without preachiness or an "in your face" mentality.\n"I wouldn't want to be told what I'm doing is wrong or what I'm doing is isn't good for the environment," she says. "I've tried to learn to be proactive and to show by being a living example."\nWith bands, speakers, plays and pamphlets available to entertain, educate or both the goal of the Earth and Music Festival is its own "living example," reaching out to people who aren't aware of issues facing the environment. While students or community members might come to Dunn Meadow as fans of a musical act or a friend of a speaker, Smith hopes they leave Dunn Meadow with something more.\n"The goal of the festival is to get people there that wouldn't normally come to an environment-centered event," Smith says. "Maybe someone comes as a groupie from a band, hears a speaker and says, 'Oh cool, I want to get involved in that.'"\nSaturday's Earth and Music Festival encompasses 12 bands, eight speakers, three plays, two separate stages for performing, a kids corner for younger attendees and a number of community and student group information tables lining Dunn Meadow. \nTwelve bands, two stages\nVariety is the name of the game for the musical acts playing at the festival this year. Graduate student Jenn Hanink says finding bands with different sounds wasn't stressed when searching for acts in the past. Acoustic acts were also hard to come by, as organizers discovered they got drowned out by louder activities.\n"This year, I wanted to try and get them reinstated, and so we're having an acoustic on one stage and a jazz band on the other," Hanink says. "They really won't be competing for air space." \nBands were invited to submit demo tapes to be considered to play Saturday. Smith says SEAC did ask one group, Danagas, to play both this year's and last year's festival.\nDanagas drummer Ryan Fitch, an IU alumnus, has played three of the last four Earth Day festivals and couldn't refuse another chance to play for the event.\n"Plus, I just love playing outdoors." Fitch says. "It's a good cause, and people are so involved."\nSmith says most of the submissions that come in each year lean more toward punk, pop-rock and country-bluegrass sounds, with a few jam bands covering Phish or the Grateful Dead thrown in. Hanink says the group tried to pick the best from four or five similar sounding entries.\nThis year, SEAC received 26 demos for consideration. Undertow, a band based out of Lowell, Ind., will headline the first stage, while the other groups performing are Danagas, The Water Company, Indiana Trip Factory, baked goods, Pedigo, Serendipity, The Abercrombie Skins, Underground Charmin, Mode Street, A-GRAV Lab and Very Old Special Pale.\nVery Old Special Pale is based out of Indianapolis, and Hanink describes it as a jazz band.\nHeadlining the second stage will be the Abercrombie Skins, who Hanink calls "energetic" with a funk or punk-based sound. Serendipity is a female acoustic duet with a mellow sound. Pedigo consists of guitars, drums and saxophone with an upbeat sound, who Hanink expects to play covers of some current popular songs. The Water Company describes its sound as a mixture between bluegrass, jazz, progressive, rock and country.\nMike Meadows, lead singer for headlining band Undertow, was a little surprised when he got the call from SEAC saying his group would be the top act. Undertow's sound, what Meadows calls "a cross between Pantera and Godsmack," is a little heaver than what he though the organizers of an Earth Day Festival would be looking for. \n"When they called and said we're headlining, I was very surprised and very honored at the same time," Meadows says. "Being a metal band, I hope we don't scare anybody. When we got the fliers, they said there was a kids corner and three plays, and we were just very concerned we were a little too heavy. One of the first things I said was did they hear the CD or did they just like the name of the band. But it's all going to be good. We're coming with our full stage show and hopefully to do well as we do everywhere else."\nThe band is based out of Lowell, Ind., a "little hovel of a town" where Meadows owns a guitar store, Lowell Guitar and Sound. Besides Meadows, the group consists of Jim Shepard on guitar, Eamon Skube on bass and Noah Edmaiston on drums. The band's sound, heavy guitars with melodic vocals, came about during a conversation between Meadows and friend Jason Grebash. The two decided to combine Grebash's admiration of death metal with Meadows' own for the sound of 1980s vocalists such as Sebastian Bach. Meadows says he and the rest of the band plan to enjoy their first trip to Bloomington.\n"We're coming for the party," he says. "The cause had an impact because I am a little into preservation of the landscape as we know it instead of watching it degrade."\nHanink hopes the addition of Undertow and the others will attract as many different kinds of people as possible.\n"We are hoping to reach a wide listening audience," she says. "Some people think of Earth Day celebrations as being acoustic Grateful Dead jam bands, but that just reaches one arm of the public; it doesn't attract a wide audience, which is sort of our logic."\nThree plays\nAbout a dozen students will take part in presenting three plays at the Earth and Music Festival. Junior Lance Thurner organized the play portion of the event this and last year. He says all three plays are targeted toward elementary school students. A version of the Dr. Seuss story "The Lorax" about the destruction of trees in a fantastical environment will be presented again this year. A puppet show called "An Earth Day Story," written by senior Laura Hartman, deals with "someone realizing how their daily life affects the environment," Thurners says. The third play is a five-minute performance called "The Kid in the Commercial" and deals with advertising and consumerism.\n"A lot of the people who come to Earth Day have children, a lot are families that come, and there needs to be some big events for the kids," Thurner says. "They learn about how to appreciate that natural world around them."\nThurner and the other students involved spent all semester building puppets, painting sets, building a stage, making costumes, writing scripts and rehearsing. \n \nEight speakers\nCurrent events and key environmental issues are what drives the selection of speakers for the Earth and Music Festival. Smith says she and the other organizers look to see what people in the community and on the news are talking about and what kinds of opportunities for environmentalism they might not realize are available to Bloomington residents. In the past the group has had speakers discuss the World Trade Organization and the proposed expansion of Interstate 69 into Bloomington.\nThis year's speakers will discuss a little bit of everything from tree sits to grocery shopping to urban sprawl.\n"We try to schedule speakers on some of the bigger topics around some of the bands we thought would draw more people," Smith says. "It's all really important and really diverse."\nFor those who don't know anything about environmentalism, Smith suggest coming to hear Mike Englert talk about Bloominghours, a local currency system that encourages bartering for goods.\n"(Bloominghours) is how to keep money in the community," she says, "and to support the community by not having money going to Kroger or Marsh or Mr. D's by helping us rely more on each other."\nSome other speakers include Dan Willard, a former School of Public and Environmental Affairs professor, speaking about wetlands; Melissa Kreiger from the Monroe County Solid Waste District speaking about recycling and the "Green Business" program; and other speakers covering topics such as urban sprawl and veganism.\nLucille Bertuccio, an instructor in the department of recreation and park administration from the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, will participate in a panel discussion and is also speaking about an initiative to have Bloomington declared a Wild City, a project being coordinated through the Center for Sustainable Living, which operates out of the Bloomington Environmental Center.\n"Wild City" is a distinction given by the National Wildlife Foundation to cities who have registered 20 percent of homeowners, 10 percent of apartments, schools and a demonstration area as having set aside a portions of yards or green areas for nesting, food and shelter for the creatures living in the area. Only three cities in the United States are registered as wildlife habitats, including Zionsville, Ind. \n"It makes your yard more beautiful, gives it more variety and makes the yard more attractive," Bertuccio says. "It increases biodiversity. Biodiversity tells you how healthy a city is. If a city's only animals are mice, rats and sparrows, you know you live in a city that is not healthy."\nWhile the "Wild City" speech will concentrate on Bloomington's outside locations, Susan Bright, store coordinator for Bloomingfoods, will speak about environmentally sound ways to do an inside activity -- grocery shopping.\nBloomingfoods is a cooperative grocery store started by a group of 30 naturalists 25 years ago. The 2,000 members of Bloomingfoods are all "part owners" of the business with the option of working for a discount on food. If Bloomingfoods makes profit, members are given their share based on how much they purchased at the store.\n"Since people are part owners of the business, they feel like they have a say on what they want and they feel good because they have a say on what they want us to carry," Bright says. "We have a lot of alternative lifestyle people shopping at our store, and I guess with those alternative lifestyles, we have people that are more concerned about (environmental issues)."\nIn her speech, Bright plans to talk about buying habits that encourage environmentalism, such as buying things purchase in bulk instead of prepackaged products or buying locally produced goods to save on the exhaust produced from long-distance shipping.
(04/26/01 4:24am)
It's over! This semester of IDS Weekend has come to an end! While those of us working on the magazine might want to change that last sentence to "finally over," we have truly enjoyed serving you a weekly dose of fun and entertainment. \nSince its inception in the fall of 1999, IDS Weekend has steadily evolved into a reliable source of weekend information. There has been no exception to that rule this semester, as we have profiled and reviewed the places, faces and products that make the weekend great.\nOur reviews have expanded, with the addition of weekly DVD reviews and interesting concepts such as the "He Said/She Said" movie reviews. TV coverage was expanded as a few other reviewers joined Jeff Schogol in the weekly quest to find worthwhile and diverse programming. The weekly Eight Tracks column has been outstanding at highlighting local bands appearing at basements, dorms, bars and other buildings near you. Features on local personalities and places of entertainment have -- I hope -- given you, our audience, an answer to the eternal question: What should I do today?\nPersonally, I've had a great time. Obviously it's great to be in charge and to see your ideas and concepts make other people happy. But it's also been wonderful to watch my editorial staff, designers and writers come up with their own creative concepts and to take on ideas I had never even considered. Next fall's IDS Weekend EIC Liz Beltramini will continue to improve the magazine, defining a clear format for content and design. \nTo sum up this column, I'd like to go the Academy Award route and start the thank-yous. First thanks to our Art Director Beth Trujillo for saving my sanity several times and making the Weekend look great every week. Thanks to Copy Chief Steve Kress for catching the (many) mistakes I missed. I thank Reviews Editor Jason Gaddis for always providing us with plenty of articles, even when we didn't need it and Features Editor Katie Cierniak for doing her best to get things in well-written and on time. Thank you to the IDS new media staff for putting us online and to the IDS photo staff for helping have pictures for our stories. \nThank you and goodbye to Steve, Beth, Jeff, Sally O'Brien, Kara Berryman, Leslie Hankins, Laura Berger, Jodi Miskell, Kate Lewis, Rob Pongsajapan and Peggy Trytko, all contributors who are graduating in a week. Thank you to all the reviewers, feature writers and designers who contributed to this semester. Last but not least, thanks to you, our readers for picking up the Weekend each week and reading and enjoying it.
(04/26/01 4:00am)
It's over! This semester of IDS Weekend has come to an end! While those of us working on the magazine might want to change that last sentence to "finally over," we have truly enjoyed serving you a weekly dose of fun and entertainment. \nSince its inception in the fall of 1999, IDS Weekend has steadily evolved into a reliable source of weekend information. There has been no exception to that rule this semester, as we have profiled and reviewed the places, faces and products that make the weekend great.\nOur reviews have expanded, with the addition of weekly DVD reviews and interesting concepts such as the "He Said/She Said" movie reviews. TV coverage was expanded as a few other reviewers joined Jeff Schogol in the weekly quest to find worthwhile and diverse programming. The weekly Eight Tracks column has been outstanding at highlighting local bands appearing at basements, dorms, bars and other buildings near you. Features on local personalities and places of entertainment have -- I hope -- given you, our audience, an answer to the eternal question: What should I do today?\nPersonally, I've had a great time. Obviously it's great to be in charge and to see your ideas and concepts make other people happy. But it's also been wonderful to watch my editorial staff, designers and writers come up with their own creative concepts and to take on ideas I had never even considered. Next fall's IDS Weekend EIC Liz Beltramini will continue to improve the magazine, defining a clear format for content and design. \nTo sum up this column, I'd like to go the Academy Award route and start the thank-yous. First thanks to our Art Director Beth Trujillo for saving my sanity several times and making the Weekend look great every week. Thanks to Copy Chief Steve Kress for catching the (many) mistakes I missed. I thank Reviews Editor Jason Gaddis for always providing us with plenty of articles, even when we didn't need it and Features Editor Katie Cierniak for doing her best to get things in well-written and on time. Thank you to the IDS new media staff for putting us online and to the IDS photo staff for helping have pictures for our stories. \nThank you and goodbye to Steve, Beth, Jeff, Sally O'Brien, Kara Berryman, Leslie Hankins, Laura Berger, Jodi Miskell, Kate Lewis, Rob Pongsajapan and Peggy Trytko, all contributors who are graduating in a week. Thank you to all the reviewers, feature writers and designers who contributed to this semester. Last but not least, thanks to you, our readers for picking up the Weekend each week and reading and enjoying it.
(04/26/01 4:00am)
With the release of its self-titled first album in 1998, Train showed all the makings of a one-hit wonder. In the past few years it seems as though any all-male band playing the same kind of mellow, adult contemporary rock and turning one high-selling single into a hit album only crashed and burned on any future efforts. The style of music and the trend of its success has become something of a joke -- so much so that I fully expected all the songs on Train's second effort, Drops of Jupiter, to be lazy, sound-alike duds save for the title track, which is enjoying heavy radio airplay.\nThe first two songs, "She's On Fire" and "I Wish You Would," support that prediction. Both begin with essentially identical, bland instrumentals. Said instrumentals and pedestrian lyrics are made worse because it's obvious the band itself thinks its attempt at being upbeat is succeeding. \nWrong.\nNext up is "Drops of Jupiter," the track that's supposed to be good. And it is good, with melancholy lyrics accompanied by a relaxed, lulling sound. I didn't pay too much attention the first time (or the second or third) time I heard the song, but somewhere along the line, it grew on me. Maybe because lead singer Patrick Monahan's voice is perfectly suited to this kind of song.\nFrom there on, a quasi-miracle occurs. Instead of repeating the mistakes of tracks one and two, Train actually takes some queues from "Drops of Jupiter" and keeps the rest of the album relaxing and mellow. With catchy choruses and low-key guitar riffs, the rest of Drops of Jupiter is listenable. The acoustic-based "Hopeless" is a standout track, presenting an example of quality songwriting by the band members and perfectly showcasing Monahan's vocal strength. Skipping past the hackneyed "Respect," "Let it Roll" manages to make good use of acoustic guitars and the mandolin.\nTrain is not likely to win strong critical praise for any of its efforts. Despite successes on "Drops of Jupiter," the band will never "blow your mind" (as it says on the title song). But for something airplay-friendly, this is the best there is from bands stranded in the middle of the road.
(04/26/01 4:00am)
Environmentalism crept up on senior Sarah Smith. As a sophomore, Smith volunteered to take charge of the musical portion of the annual Earth and Music Festival, a culmination of the events surrounding Earth Week. At the time, Smith was mainly involved for the music.\n"I thought, 'Yeah, the environment is cool and all,' but (music) is what I wanted to do," Smith says. \nTwo years later, things are a little different. Smith, treasurer of Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC), has gone from being "in it for the music" to coordinator of all Earth Day events. Her work has its finale Saturday, with the Earth and Music Festival from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Dunn Meadow.\nFrom expanding interest from musical acts to adding a second stage for bands to making fliers and teaching others to take over next year, Smith's involvement in Earth Day has turned into something more varied and meaningful than her initial reason.\n"My personal philosophy has changed a lot (in the past two years)," she says. "I've grown a lot, like I wasn't a vegan when I first got involved and now it's something I feel really strong about as far as the environmental impact."\nSmith describes the change as "going more lightly on the Earth" or looking at her actions and how they will effect the environment.\n"It's not just about recycling but about reducing everything you consume, like the water you use to cook food in or take showers in," she says. "I self-examine how can I have a better impact or less of a negative impact."\nOn top of that, Smith wants to get other people involved, something she thinks can only be done and done well without preachiness or an "in your face" mentality.\n"I wouldn't want to be told what I'm doing is wrong or what I'm doing is isn't good for the environment," she says. "I've tried to learn to be proactive and to show by being a living example."\nWith bands, speakers, plays and pamphlets available to entertain, educate or both the goal of the Earth and Music Festival is its own "living example," reaching out to people who aren't aware of issues facing the environment. While students or community members might come to Dunn Meadow as fans of a musical act or a friend of a speaker, Smith hopes they leave Dunn Meadow with something more.\n"The goal of the festival is to get people there that wouldn't normally come to an environment-centered event," Smith says. "Maybe someone comes as a groupie from a band, hears a speaker and says, 'Oh cool, I want to get involved in that.'"\nSaturday's Earth and Music Festival encompasses 12 bands, eight speakers, three plays, two separate stages for performing, a kids corner for younger attendees and a number of community and student group information tables lining Dunn Meadow. \nTwelve bands, two stages\nVariety is the name of the game for the musical acts playing at the festival this year. Graduate student Jenn Hanink says finding bands with different sounds wasn't stressed when searching for acts in the past. Acoustic acts were also hard to come by, as organizers discovered they got drowned out by louder activities.\n"This year, I wanted to try and get them reinstated, and so we're having an acoustic on one stage and a jazz band on the other," Hanink says. "They really won't be competing for air space." \nBands were invited to submit demo tapes to be considered to play Saturday. Smith says SEAC did ask one group, Danagas, to play both this year's and last year's festival.\nDanagas drummer Ryan Fitch, an IU alumnus, has played three of the last four Earth Day festivals and couldn't refuse another chance to play for the event.\n"Plus, I just love playing outdoors." Fitch says. "It's a good cause, and people are so involved."\nSmith says most of the submissions that come in each year lean more toward punk, pop-rock and country-bluegrass sounds, with a few jam bands covering Phish or the Grateful Dead thrown in. Hanink says the group tried to pick the best from four or five similar sounding entries.\nThis year, SEAC received 26 demos for consideration. Undertow, a band based out of Lowell, Ind., will headline the first stage, while the other groups performing are Danagas, The Water Company, Indiana Trip Factory, baked goods, Pedigo, Serendipity, The Abercrombie Skins, Underground Charmin, Mode Street, A-GRAV Lab and Very Old Special Pale.\nVery Old Special Pale is based out of Indianapolis, and Hanink describes it as a jazz band.\nHeadlining the second stage will be the Abercrombie Skins, who Hanink calls "energetic" with a funk or punk-based sound. Serendipity is a female acoustic duet with a mellow sound. Pedigo consists of guitars, drums and saxophone with an upbeat sound, who Hanink expects to play covers of some current popular songs. The Water Company describes its sound as a mixture between bluegrass, jazz, progressive, rock and country.\nMike Meadows, lead singer for headlining band Undertow, was a little surprised when he got the call from SEAC saying his group would be the top act. Undertow's sound, what Meadows calls "a cross between Pantera and Godsmack," is a little heaver than what he though the organizers of an Earth Day Festival would be looking for. \n"When they called and said we're headlining, I was very surprised and very honored at the same time," Meadows says. "Being a metal band, I hope we don't scare anybody. When we got the fliers, they said there was a kids corner and three plays, and we were just very concerned we were a little too heavy. One of the first things I said was did they hear the CD or did they just like the name of the band. But it's all going to be good. We're coming with our full stage show and hopefully to do well as we do everywhere else."\nThe band is based out of Lowell, Ind., a "little hovel of a town" where Meadows owns a guitar store, Lowell Guitar and Sound. Besides Meadows, the group consists of Jim Shepard on guitar, Eamon Skube on bass and Noah Edmaiston on drums. The band's sound, heavy guitars with melodic vocals, came about during a conversation between Meadows and friend Jason Grebash. The two decided to combine Grebash's admiration of death metal with Meadows' own for the sound of 1980s vocalists such as Sebastian Bach. Meadows says he and the rest of the band plan to enjoy their first trip to Bloomington.\n"We're coming for the party," he says. "The cause had an impact because I am a little into preservation of the landscape as we know it instead of watching it degrade."\nHanink hopes the addition of Undertow and the others will attract as many different kinds of people as possible.\n"We are hoping to reach a wide listening audience," she says. "Some people think of Earth Day celebrations as being acoustic Grateful Dead jam bands, but that just reaches one arm of the public; it doesn't attract a wide audience, which is sort of our logic."\nThree plays\nAbout a dozen students will take part in presenting three plays at the Earth and Music Festival. Junior Lance Thurner organized the play portion of the event this and last year. He says all three plays are targeted toward elementary school students. A version of the Dr. Seuss story "The Lorax" about the destruction of trees in a fantastical environment will be presented again this year. A puppet show called "An Earth Day Story," written by senior Laura Hartman, deals with "someone realizing how their daily life affects the environment," Thurners says. The third play is a five-minute performance called "The Kid in the Commercial" and deals with advertising and consumerism.\n"A lot of the people who come to Earth Day have children, a lot are families that come, and there needs to be some big events for the kids," Thurner says. "They learn about how to appreciate that natural world around them."\nThurner and the other students involved spent all semester building puppets, painting sets, building a stage, making costumes, writing scripts and rehearsing. \n \nEight speakers\nCurrent events and key environmental issues are what drives the selection of speakers for the Earth and Music Festival. Smith says she and the other organizers look to see what people in the community and on the news are talking about and what kinds of opportunities for environmentalism they might not realize are available to Bloomington residents. In the past the group has had speakers discuss the World Trade Organization and the proposed expansion of Interstate 69 into Bloomington.\nThis year's speakers will discuss a little bit of everything from tree sits to grocery shopping to urban sprawl.\n"We try to schedule speakers on some of the bigger topics around some of the bands we thought would draw more people," Smith says. "It's all really important and really diverse."\nFor those who don't know anything about environmentalism, Smith suggest coming to hear Mike Englert talk about Bloominghours, a local currency system that encourages bartering for goods.\n"(Bloominghours) is how to keep money in the community," she says, "and to support the community by not having money going to Kroger or Marsh or Mr. D's by helping us rely more on each other."\nSome other speakers include Dan Willard, a former School of Public and Environmental Affairs professor, speaking about wetlands; Melissa Kreiger from the Monroe County Solid Waste District speaking about recycling and the "Green Business" program; and other speakers covering topics such as urban sprawl and veganism.\nLucille Bertuccio, an instructor in the department of recreation and park administration from the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, will participate in a panel discussion and is also speaking about an initiative to have Bloomington declared a Wild City, a project being coordinated through the Center for Sustainable Living, which operates out of the Bloomington Environmental Center.\n"Wild City" is a distinction given by the National Wildlife Foundation to cities who have registered 20 percent of homeowners, 10 percent of apartments, schools and a demonstration area as having set aside a portions of yards or green areas for nesting, food and shelter for the creatures living in the area. Only three cities in the United States are registered as wildlife habitats, including Zionsville, Ind. \n"It makes your yard more beautiful, gives it more variety and makes the yard more attractive," Bertuccio says. "It increases biodiversity. Biodiversity tells you how healthy a city is. If a city's only animals are mice, rats and sparrows, you know you live in a city that is not healthy."\nWhile the "Wild City" speech will concentrate on Bloomington's outside locations, Susan Bright, store coordinator for Bloomingfoods, will speak about environmentally sound ways to do an inside activity -- grocery shopping.\nBloomingfoods is a cooperative grocery store started by a group of 30 naturalists 25 years ago. The 2,000 members of Bloomingfoods are all "part owners" of the business with the option of working for a discount on food. If Bloomingfoods makes profit, members are given their share based on how much they purchased at the store.\n"Since people are part owners of the business, they feel like they have a say on what they want and they feel good because they have a say on what they want us to carry," Bright says. "We have a lot of alternative lifestyle people shopping at our store, and I guess with those alternative lifestyles, we have people that are more concerned about (environmental issues)."\nIn her speech, Bright plans to talk about buying habits that encourage environmentalism, such as buying things purchase in bulk instead of prepackaged products or buying locally produced goods to save on the exhaust produced from long-distance shipping.
(04/12/01 6:13am)
Gwen Paulk only had two children. But, in the past week, hundreds of cards, many with the message "I love you, Mom," have come to the home she shared with her husband and two children, said daughter Darci, 21.\nPaulk, who was director of the African American Culture Center and had worked in some capacity at IU for 20 years, died of cancer Wednesday morning.\nShe graduated from IU with a bachelor's degree in 1987 and a master's degree in 1997.\n"She separated you from everything else when you needed her and she made you the focus. She really touched people just because of her spirit. Her spirit was loving and it was kind and just available. And it still is. I can feel her presence," Darci said. "She was like everybody's mother in a way, a surrogate mother…She adopted the students and they became like her kids." \nWhen Darci would call from college to her home in Bloomington at night, her mother would often still be at the cultural center working.\n "She'd be there 10 hours a day, sometimes more. She was always just trying to find something to build upon, to improve in some way, to encourage or enlighten someone," Darci said. \nPaulk's husband, Kim, said hundreds of students, professors and community members visited Paulk between last Thursday and Saturday at Bloomington Hospital. So many people came, Kim said the family had to put a sign on the door saying there couldn't be any more visitors. One visitor gave the family a guest book for people to sign; the book is three-fourths full.\n"The nurses said they'd never seen anyone who had this many guests, and they'd never had a patient who had a guest book," Kim said. "Her mother came out and spent the weekend. (Paulk) has been here in Indiana for 20 years and her mom had been away from her. But I think she got a very, very sharp picture of her daughter's impact at IU. She went away and she just said 'I just didn't know what kind of woman she was.'"\nBefore taking the position at the African American Cultural Center, Paulk was associate director of the Minority Achievers Program. Her husband said some of his strongest impressions of his wife's professional impact come through in the speech she would give to the program's freshman classes. Standing in front of the group of 150-200 students, Paulk would tell them their hard work wouldn't stop because they now had the freedom that comes with being in college.\n "(She'd tell them) 'You've got a new mother now,'" Kim said. \nCharlie Nelms, vice president for student development and diversity, has known Paulk for about 10 years and appointed her as director of the cultural center. Nelms said Paulk collaborated with many different campus organizations to serve the needs of her students.\n"She was just a tremendous person," Nelms said. "She cared deeply about her students and about her work and was an extremely good ambassador for IU and for equity and excellence."\nNelms said one of Paulk's greatest accomplishments was restoring the idea that the center was a place of action by holding workshops, discussions and other programs for students, faculty and community members. \n"The mission statement (for the AACC) was ASCEND, which stand for advocating social, cultural and educational excellence to nurture development and diversity," Nelms said. "I think that is a wonderful way to think about her work. It is about the business of ascending to another level of responsiveness, and that's what she brought to the needs of minority and majority students."\nIU President Myles Brand said Paulk was an advocate for diversity, understanding and increased opportunity.\n"She brought a personal touch to all of her endeavors, always insisting the University measure the success of our diversity efforts one student at a time," Brand said. "She was right, of course. We are very grateful that she shared her talents and her life with us."\nMaking the AACC a "home away from home" for students was one of Paulk's contributions to IU, said Gloria Gibson, associate vice chancellor for multicultural affairs.\n"She wanted to make it a welcoming environment for all students," Gibson said. "She wanted the cultural center to be a place where students went for a variety of activities: educational activities, cultural activities, social activities. That really improved the ambience (of) the center."\nGibson said Paulk would go out of her way to help people who came to her for assistance.\n"IU greatly benefitted from the years of service that she gave," she said.\nRyon Cobb, a sophomore, first met Paulk during his freshman year when he went to the cultural center looking for a job. He said Paulk brought him in for an interview and asked "about 50" questions and asked him to react to different scenarios. Although Cobb didn't get the job that day, but instead later on, he found someone he said "kept me on my toes when I need to be kept on my toes."\n"She was a friend, a mother, a kick in the butt when you needed it," he said. "If she couldn't help you, she would put you in touch with someone who could and she would follow up."\nWhile Paulk was in the hospital, Cobb said she would receive all her visitors as just as she would if they were coming to see her socially.\n"I'll always remember her because of her faith, she was a very faithful person," Cobb said. "She was truly just a mother to everybody and she'll be missed and never forgotten"
(04/12/01 4:03am)
Maya Angelou is the reason I decided to become a journalist. No, I didn't appear on an edition of Oprah's Book Club to become enlightened by the author herself. Actually, Angelou became a part of my life for the exact opposite reason.\nWhen I was in 11th grade, my high school banned Angelou's autobiography, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." The book was taught as part of the 10th grade English curriculum. A few irate parents read aloud the part of the book where Angelou describes being raped as a child in front of the school board at their monthly meeting. After that reading, the situation exploded as Angelou's book and the whole process by which my school chose literature for the curriculum was questioned. One of the more charming school board members suggested the book should be taken out of the classroom because the passage about the rape would titillate impressionable 15-year-old boys.\nTo be honest, I never finished the book when I was supposed to read it for 10th grade English class. It was a busy few weeks, and I got about halfway through. But the next year, as associate news editor for the high school news magazine, I volunteered to cover what we then thought was just some wacko, outspoken parents who wouldn't receive much attention.\nBut they did get the attention of the school board, who, like many school boards, was mostly composed of individuals who agreed with the angry parents: that the book was too mature for tenth graders. Outbursts about that one book became a way for the students, the faculty, the board and the community to divide themselves based on politics, religion and values. \nI interviewed 32 people, most of whom ended up in our magazine's first story about the debacle about the book. It was the first time I ever saw how one event can affect so many people and mean so many things. \nIt was the first time I knew I could write something with the strength to inform people, and therefore affect them. And it wasn't over. \nAlthough the board ultimately decided to change the policy teachers used to introduce books into their lesson plans, the book's future still wasn't decided. A month later, a special school board meeting was held to determine whether or not to keep the book in the classroom. Interestingly enough, the day of the meeting was the same day drug dogs swept the high school for paraphernalia for the first time. My journalism adviser had taken the day off, anticipating having to stay up late while we prepared a special edition about the board's decision. Needless to say, he ended up coming in. \nTwo hundred people filled the high school library that night. About 60 or 70 parents stood up to share their opinions on the situation. One woman brought popcorn for the district superintendent and school board members as a snack to consume while reading the book. Right before the vote was taken, the school board president (who opposed banning the book) took a dictionary off the library shelf and read the definition of the word "censor." Then she said "that is exactly what we will be doing." And that's exactly what they did as the president's vote of "no" was in the minority.\nThe rest of the newsmagazine staff and I stayed up until 3 a.m. producing a special edition about the book banning and the drug dogs. I had never stayed up that late in my entire life (I know; I'm such a dork.) But the mix of the emotion and the excitement of that night stayed with me. \nBy pursuing journalism, I'm pursuing that feeling.\nAnd, in a way, I'm pursuing Maya Angelou. We tried to call her back in 11th grade to get her opinions on the situation; unfortunately, she was on a book tour. Ever since, I've always wanted to meet her and to give her a copy of the things we did that year. I saw her speak at another university last May; I sat in the back, but the power in her voice probably carried throughout the entire campus, much less the entire lecture hall. Although I know our coverage was objective, that we didn't take sides in print, I still feel like our work was in part about doing something for her, doing her work the justice it deserves. \nIn her speech Wednesday night, Angelou told the audience "memorize some poetry and keep it in your memory. Pull it up when you need it. And you will need it." Well, since I was 17, I've had that poetry. It's Angelou's poetry.
(04/11/01 4:58am)
In her poem "Phenomenal Woman," Maya Angelou begins by stating "Pretty Women wonder where my secret lies/ I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size." Throughout the rest of the poem, Angelou explains just what makes her a "phenomenal woman" to those she meets.\nStudents will get the chance to make this discovery today when poet, actress and fiction writer Angelou speaks at 7 p.m. at the IU Auditorium. The lecture is sponsored by Union Board and is part of the Indiana Lecture Series through the Office of the President. Doors open at 6 p.m. Nick Hillman, a sophomore and the Union Board lectures director, said tickets for the speech had all been given away by Tuesday morning.\nWhen the tickets were made available last Thursday, Hillman said 500 tickets were taken in the first 15 minutes they were available at the Indiana Memorial Union activities desk.\n"I expected it to sell out," Hillman said. "But it's always nice to know there is a demand; you always worry if something is going to sell out as fast as you think it will."\nAngelou was born April 4, 1928 as Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis. She was raised by her grandmother in segregated rural Arkansas. Her childhood experiences are chronicled in one of her most well-known books, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." Angelou has published 10 best-selling books, the most recent of which is "Even the Stars Look Lonesome." She is also a poet, historian, actress, playwright, civil-rights activist, producer and director. At the request of former President Bill Clinton, she wrote and delivered a poem, "On the Pulse of Morning," at his 1993 inauguration.\nUnion Board and the Indiana Lecture Series, created by IU President Myles Brand to bring influential speakers to campus, started talking about coordinating a lecture about a year ago, said Angela Scott, special projects assistant.\n"We both bring in prominent lecturers or people of interest so we're sort of competing for the same individuals," Scott said. "We're finally getting a chance to (sponsor a lecture together)." \nIn the past, the Indiana Lecture Series has been responsible for bringing speakers such as former secretary of state Warren Christopher, Microsoft head Bill Gates and the Dalai Lama to speak.\nMark Guthier, assistant director of the IMU, said ticket distribution for Angelou's speech has been similar to interest in past Union Board lecturers Mikhail Gorbechav and Colin Powell.\nHillman said Angelou has been on the list of speakers desired by the Union Board lectures committee for the last 12 years. This was the first year Angelou's schedule could be coordinated with the venue dates available at IU. Union Board is spending $17,500 to bring Angelou to IU.\n"She won't be talking about any specific topic," Hillman said. "She'll probably talk about motivation and tell some of her personal stories. She is such a phenomenal woman who has accomplished so much that she's going to be sharing some great stories"
(04/05/01 4:07am)
This CD should be called Live in New York City ... twice. Recorded June 29 and July 1, 2000, in Madison Square Garden, these two performances marked the finale of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's world tour, which began in Spain in 1999.\nFans of Springsteen and the E Street Band can view this double CD as an appetizer for Saturday's HBO premiere of "Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band," a compilation of the performances that make up the first disc. The second disc includes six additional performances, including Springsteen's signature song, "Born in the U.S.A." \nBut fans of live albums will find something suspect about the newest offering from the Boss. A good concert album uses the unique energy and personality from an artist pushing him or herself to create an outstanding spectacle. Not only do fans get to hear their favorite songs on one CD instead of several, it's a great way to dream their way into a show they can't attend. A great example is Pearl Jam's official bootlegs. But the Springsteen CD was recorded over two nights, with songs from each performance interspersed throughout the first disc. Worst of all: It's glaringly obvious, which gives the album a sort of start-stop momentum.\nBut the music is top-quality, and it's obvious from the recording that he has great stage presence. Other than classic songs, there were several lesser-known songs. But all have a sound that makes them seem familiar. Two highlights are "Prove it all Night" and "Murder Incorporated." \nAlso included are two previously recorded songs, and each fits the New York City setting perfectly. "Land of Hope and Dreams" is the personification of immigrants for whom the city was the first taste of freedom and hope of a new life. "American Skin (41 Shots)" portrays the dark side of the city and promise of that freedom. The song was written to remember Amadou Diallo, a West African immigrant who was shot 41 times by New York City police officers when they mistook the street peddler for a serial rapist and the wallet he was removing from his pocket for a gun.\nLive in New York City is a good portrait of the city and a pretty good portrait of Springsteen.
(04/05/01 4:00am)
This CD should be called Live in New York City ... twice. Recorded June 29 and July 1, 2000, in Madison Square Garden, these two performances marked the finale of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's world tour, which began in Spain in 1999.\nFans of Springsteen and the E Street Band can view this double CD as an appetizer for Saturday's HBO premiere of "Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band," a compilation of the performances that make up the first disc. The second disc includes six additional performances, including Springsteen's signature song, "Born in the U.S.A." \nBut fans of live albums will find something suspect about the newest offering from the Boss. A good concert album uses the unique energy and personality from an artist pushing him or herself to create an outstanding spectacle. Not only do fans get to hear their favorite songs on one CD instead of several, it's a great way to dream their way into a show they can't attend. A great example is Pearl Jam's official bootlegs. But the Springsteen CD was recorded over two nights, with songs from each performance interspersed throughout the first disc. Worst of all: It's glaringly obvious, which gives the album a sort of start-stop momentum.\nBut the music is top-quality, and it's obvious from the recording that he has great stage presence. Other than classic songs, there were several lesser-known songs. But all have a sound that makes them seem familiar. Two highlights are "Prove it all Night" and "Murder Incorporated." \nAlso included are two previously recorded songs, and each fits the New York City setting perfectly. "Land of Hope and Dreams" is the personification of immigrants for whom the city was the first taste of freedom and hope of a new life. "American Skin (41 Shots)" portrays the dark side of the city and promise of that freedom. The song was written to remember Amadou Diallo, a West African immigrant who was shot 41 times by New York City police officers when they mistook the street peddler for a serial rapist and the wallet he was removing from his pocket for a gun.\nLive in New York City is a good portrait of the city and a pretty good portrait of Springsteen.
(03/29/01 5:01am)
I do my best studying with musical accompaniment. I've found it's a lot easier for me to cram one semester's worth of information into a few hours if I have good music playing in the background. One problem: I can't listen to anything with English lyrics because my notes and the song lyrics tend to mesh together. Therefore, I choose something instrumental or in a foreign language.\nCanto, the second album from Latin American group Los Super Seven, is the perfect study music. No two songs sound the same, all sound great and I can't understand one word, although the English lyrics are in the liner notes. On each of the 12 songs, a different member of Los Super Seven tackled lead vocals with the rest backing up on guitar, piano, bass, percussion and flute. Every song sounds as if it were created by the same people, yet each sounds different. This CD is full of real Latin music (sorry J. Lo) from people who didn't just learn Spanish because Ricky Martin made it popular.\nThe CD starts of slowly with "Siboney," a slow, haunting song dominated by the vocals of Raul Malo, the official lead vocalist. In the liner notes, each song is followed by a story or anecdote from a band member explaining why the song was chosen or something interesting that happened during recording. Malo modeled his singing in this song after the operatic voice of his grandfather.\nAlthough the first track is beautiful, Canto thankfully speeds up a little. The best is track three, "El Que Siembra Su Maiz." It's upbeat, and the chorus is easy to learn and sing along to. The song is the story of a Havana street vendor named Mayor who mysteriously disappears.\nPick up Canto the next time you have to spend an evening cramming facts into your brain. The rhythm will help your memorization skills, and you can take five-minute dancing breaks when the music becomes too irresistible. Afterward go back and read the liner notes to find out what all the great music was really about. It's worth the time and the extra history lesson.
(03/29/01 5:00am)
I do my best studying with musical accompaniment. I've found it's a lot easier for me to cram one semester's worth of information into a few hours if I have good music playing in the background. One problem: I can't listen to anything with English lyrics because my notes and the song lyrics tend to mesh together. Therefore, I choose something instrumental or in a foreign language.\nCanto, the second album from Latin American group Los Super Seven, is the perfect study music. No two songs sound the same, all sound great and I can't understand one word, although the English lyrics are in the liner notes. On each of the 12 songs, a different member of Los Super Seven tackled lead vocals with the rest backing up on guitar, piano, bass, percussion and flute. Every song sounds as if it were created by the same people, yet each sounds different. This CD is full of real Latin music (sorry J. Lo) from people who didn't just learn Spanish because Ricky Martin made it popular.\nThe CD starts of slowly with "Siboney," a slow, haunting song dominated by the vocals of Raul Malo, the official lead vocalist. In the liner notes, each song is followed by a story or anecdote from a band member explaining why the song was chosen or something interesting that happened during recording. Malo modeled his singing in this song after the operatic voice of his grandfather.\nAlthough the first track is beautiful, Canto thankfully speeds up a little. The best is track three, "El Que Siembra Su Maiz." It's upbeat, and the chorus is easy to learn and sing along to. The song is the story of a Havana street vendor named Mayor who mysteriously disappears.\nPick up Canto the next time you have to spend an evening cramming facts into your brain. The rhythm will help your memorization skills, and you can take five-minute dancing breaks when the music becomes too irresistible. Afterward go back and read the liner notes to find out what all the great music was really about. It's worth the time and the extra history lesson.
(03/27/01 5:53am)
A 1,000-year-old redwood tree named Luna was home to activist Julia Butterfly Hill for 738 days, 1997 through 1999. Hill lived in the tree for two years to protest the Pacific Lumber Company's plans to cut down a section of northern California's famous redwood forests. While 180 feet in the air in Luna, Hill founded the Circle of Life Foundation to work for solutions to environmental and social problems. \nAfter descending Luna, Hill began traveling around the country to speak to schoolchildren, college students, labor unions and others. \nHer current six-week tour brings her to Bloomington at 7 p.m. today to speak in the Whittenberger Auditorium of the Indiana Memorial Union. A reception and book signing will follow the speech. The speech's sponsors include the School of Environmental the Public Affairs, Indiana Public Interest Research Group, the Student Environmental Action Coalition and the department of religious studies.\nJunior Nalini Ravindranath, an INPIRG board chair, said her group was involved in obtaining the funding for and advertising of the speech because of its relation to INPIRG's mission.\n"We work on mostly public interest issues, and one of the main issues is obviously the environment," Ravindranath said. "This will definitely raise the profile on how important it is to have ordinary people be active in what goes on in the environment." \nDavid Haberman, associate professor of religious studies, was directly involved in bringing Hill to IU. Haberman said his concern over the state of forests globally and in Southern Indiana led him to read about Hill's experience.\n"I've heard tapes of her talking and seen videos," Haberman said. "I was just very moved by her message of all-inclusive love."\nHill's perspective on the environment supports a connection between ecology and religion, Haberman said.\n"She's a person who says environmental problems are also spiritual problems," he said. "Someone who believes any solution to our environmental problems involves addressing our spiritual problems of the day, which in short could be represented by the fact we are amazingly out of touch with life and life processes."\nBloomington resident Tracy McNeely is spending her fifth day sitting in a tree in Brown's Woods to protect the area from development. Haberman said he has visited McNeely twice and that she said Hill is one of her heroes.\nBesides speaking to the audience at the auditorium, Hill will also make a presentation in Haberman's class on religion and ecology and get together with small groups of SPEA and religious studies majors.\n"I think her action was an inspiration for everyone," said Joshua Martin, a SPEA graduate student. "It inspired me to want to protect the old growth forests. I think she brings something to the University atmosphere we don't necessarily always get to see."\nHaberman agreed with Martin.\n"I think part of an education today means facing what's going on in the world and being clear about the real future college students are facing," Haberman said. "In some ways, the educational process is failing in helping students to do that. To a large degree, education is based on the fact of the future being even more rosy and materialistically luxurious. Anyone who looks at the life support systems on the planet knows this is not the case. Julia Butterfly is part of an educational experience students on this campus deserve"
(03/22/01 5:00am)
Although the CD doesn't hit stores until Tuesday, audience members at G. Love & Special Sauce's March 2000 concert at Mars Night Club (now called Axis) got a sample of songs from the group's new album, The Electric Mile. While the preview in a smoky club got fans used to the rhythm and sound of the new album, listening to Electric Mile is the only way to truly get into the groove.\nWith G. Love (real name Garrett Dutton) contributing lead vocals, guitar and harmonica, Jeff Clemens on drums and Jimmy Prescott on upright bass, the band provides an album full of its distinctive hip-hop blues sound -- and that's not all.\nThe Electric Mile contains elements of rap, soul, ska, reggae and just about every other style of music you can think of. It has all the best elements of any G. Love album -- G. Love's unique "is he singing or is he rapping" vocal delivery, interesting and dance-inducing sounds from a variety of instruments and songs with creative lyrics. But The Electric Mile also shows how the group has matured and altered its sound, taking the band into new territory. G. Love & Special Sauce isn't afraid to try new things on this album, and the willingness to evolve is just one reason to enjoy listening to the CD.\nA good example is the third track, "Night of the Living Dead." The song begins with quick, severe sounds from Prescott's bass that transition into to upbeat rhythms from Clemens on drums, finally settling into a mellow guitar melody. While this song is kind of a combination platter of musical styles, other tracks stick more to a particular genre. A few of the best are "Sarah's Song," where G. Love goes country, relying heavily on twangy guitar and harmonica. "Shy Girl" has a background rhythm that sounds like smooth jazz or certain old Motown songs.\nAll of these songs are unmistakably G. Love. But all of The Electric Mile has a smoother, more polished sound. This could be because of more sophisticated production values, but I like to think it's because the band continues to improve and experiment.
(03/22/01 4:41am)
Although the CD doesn't hit stores until Tuesday, audience members at G. Love & Special Sauce's March 2000 concert at Mars Night Club (now called Axis) got a sample of songs from the group's new album, The Electric Mile. While the preview in a smoky club got fans used to the rhythm and sound of the new album, listening to Electric Mile is the only way to truly get into the groove.\nWith G. Love (real name Garrett Dutton) contributing lead vocals, guitar and harmonica, Jeff Clemens on drums and Jimmy Prescott on upright bass, the band provides an album full of its distinctive hip-hop blues sound -- and that's not all.\nThe Electric Mile contains elements of rap, soul, ska, reggae and just about every other style of music you can think of. It has all the best elements of any G. Love album -- G. Love's unique "is he singing or is he rapping" vocal delivery, interesting and dance-inducing sounds from a variety of instruments and songs with creative lyrics. But The Electric Mile also shows how the group has matured and altered its sound, taking the band into new territory. G. Love & Special Sauce isn't afraid to try new things on this album, and the willingness to evolve is just one reason to enjoy listening to the CD.\nA good example is the third track, "Night of the Living Dead." The song begins with quick, severe sounds from Prescott's bass that transition into to upbeat rhythms from Clemens on drums, finally settling into a mellow guitar melody. While this song is kind of a combination platter of musical styles, other tracks stick more to a particular genre. A few of the best are "Sarah's Song," where G. Love goes country, relying heavily on twangy guitar and harmonica. "Shy Girl" has a background rhythm that sounds like smooth jazz or certain old Motown songs.\nAll of these songs are unmistakably G. Love. But all of The Electric Mile has a smoother, more polished sound. This could be because of more sophisticated production values, but I like to think it's because the band continues to improve and experiment.
(02/15/01 5:00am)
By considering how much I loathe classic movies about Rome such as "Spartacus" and "Ben Hur," you can see how good this movie had to be in order to make the top ten. Despite the similar plot and setting, "Gladiator" made the list thanks to the acting skill of Russell Crowe, high quality art direction and cinematography. Plus, the fight scenes are explosive, and not simply because of the power to destroy scenery.
(02/15/01 5:00am)
In a move that was great for marketers but potential murder for television fans, those wonderful executives at CBS decided to broadcast the second incarnation of summer ratings powerhouse "Survivor" at 8 p.m. Thursdays. This time slot was purposely chosen to compete with NBC's "Must-See TV Thursday Night," more specifically the lead-off program "Friends." NBC responded to CBS' attempt to grab ratings glory by giving viewers four 40-minute editions of "Friends" during February.\n Thanks to the hoopla, executives from all companies involved are most likely rolling in newly acquired money. But what about humble television viewers now forced to choose between the pre-marriage exploits of Chandler and Monica and the petty feuds of all those "Survivor" people? Several factors weigh heavily in deciding how to spend one precious hour of Thursday night.\n The first of these factors, program quality, gives "Friends" the obvious advantage. "Survivor" like similar reality shows is blatantly exploitative of its unwitting contestants, combining the cheesiness of host Jeff Probst with the manufactured antagonistic interaction of Jeff, Kimmi and all the rest. Roving cameras and pounding tiki drum music is hardly a good substitute for quality writing and sophisticated humor, two things "Friends" possesses in spades. \n Although the sitcom's quality fell from early seasons a few years back, "Friends" rebounded a few seasons ago. From Courtney Cox-Arquette to David Schwimmer, the cast members prove themselves to be great comedic actors, particularly within the ensemble.\n Unfortunately for "Friends," the show does not come out on top of the next consideration, guilty pleasure entertainment value. Reality show craziness has proven the majority of Americans (or at least those connected with the Nielsen ratings) to be Peeping Toms at heart. There is something dowGnright enjoyable about seeing the backstabbing ensue among the survivors, particularly because the audience knows these are real people and all the rat-eating wackiness is actually taking place. Why tune into "Friends" and "spy" on Joey's ill-fated fictional stints on "Days of Our Lives" when you can tune into "Survivor" and really and truly spy on what's going on in the Australian Outback?\n In the end, the best solution of how to spend Thursdays between 8-9 p.m. for the next few weeks is to spend the first 40 minutes watching a high-quality, first-run episode of "Friends." When that's over, skip whatever filler NBC uses to take up space this week and flip to "Survivor," just in time to see the seediest, most irresistible part of the whole show: when all the contestants are forced to cold-bloodedly vote someone off the show. \n Then, you the viewer, can have the best of both worlds.
(02/15/01 4:50am)
By considering how much I loathe classic movies about Rome such as "Spartacus" and "Ben Hur," you can see how good this movie had to be in order to make the top ten. Despite the similar plot and setting, "Gladiator" made the list thanks to the acting skill of Russell Crowe, high quality art direction and cinematography. Plus, the fight scenes are explosive, and not simply because of the power to destroy scenery.
(02/15/01 4:33am)
In a move that was great for marketers but potential murder for television fans, those wonderful executives at CBS decided to broadcast the second incarnation of summer ratings powerhouse "Survivor" at 8 p.m. Thursdays. This time slot was purposely chosen to compete with NBC's "Must-See TV Thursday Night," more specifically the lead-off program "Friends." NBC responded to CBS' attempt to grab ratings glory by giving viewers four 40-minute editions of "Friends" during February.\n Thanks to the hoopla, executives from all companies involved are most likely rolling in newly acquired money. But what about humble television viewers now forced to choose between the pre-marriage exploits of Chandler and Monica and the petty feuds of all those "Survivor" people? Several factors weigh heavily in deciding how to spend one precious hour of Thursday night.\n The first of these factors, program quality, gives "Friends" the obvious advantage. "Survivor" like similar reality shows is blatantly exploitative of its unwitting contestants, combining the cheesiness of host Jeff Probst with the manufactured antagonistic interaction of Jeff, Kimmi and all the rest. Roving cameras and pounding tiki drum music is hardly a good substitute for quality writing and sophisticated humor, two things "Friends" possesses in spades. \n Although the sitcom's quality fell from early seasons a few years back, "Friends" rebounded a few seasons ago. From Courtney Cox-Arquette to David Schwimmer, the cast members prove themselves to be great comedic actors, particularly within the ensemble.\n Unfortunately for "Friends," the show does not come out on top of the next consideration, guilty pleasure entertainment value. Reality show craziness has proven the majority of Americans (or at least those connected with the Nielsen ratings) to be Peeping Toms at heart. There is something dowGnright enjoyable about seeing the backstabbing ensue among the survivors, particularly because the audience knows these are real people and all the rat-eating wackiness is actually taking place. Why tune into "Friends" and "spy" on Joey's ill-fated fictional stints on "Days of Our Lives" when you can tune into "Survivor" and really and truly spy on what's going on in the Australian Outback?\n In the end, the best solution of how to spend Thursdays between 8-9 p.m. for the next few weeks is to spend the first 40 minutes watching a high-quality, first-run episode of "Friends." When that's over, skip whatever filler NBC uses to take up space this week and flip to "Survivor," just in time to see the seediest, most irresistible part of the whole show: when all the contestants are forced to cold-bloodedly vote someone off the show. \n Then, you the viewer, can have the best of both worlds.