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(09/24/09 1:12am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>“Love Happens” is a chemistry-free romantic comedy about a self-help guru who needs to deal with the death of his wife, apparently by hooking up with Jennifer Aniston. Aaron Eckhart stars as Burke Ryan, a Dr. Phil-style charlatan who guides people through the grieving process without having ever dealt with his own. Aniston plays a florist who makes bad life choices and charms Ryan. The film follows these two as they go through the chick-flick motions in what is probably the worst romantic comedy of the year. The film’s only real bright spots are John Carroll Lynch – who plays Walter, a grieving father who frequently calls bullshit on Eckhart’s advice – and a hilarious (probably unintentionally so) scene where Eckhart releases his dead wife’s bird into the wild. Unfortunately for Lynch, his quality performance is gutted of any impact by the film’s awful writing and direction; the bird, on the other hand, seems to have found the perfect film to launch his career. “Love Happens” is the worst kind of movie. It is not only poorly made; it has no soul.
(09/24/09 12:56am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For BLK JKS – pronounced “black jacks” – this year’s Lotus Fest is a homecoming away from home. The band hails from Johannesburg, but when it came time to record their Secretly Canadian debut last winter, they packed up their things and headed to Russian Recording in Bloomington. “We really had to record in a place where we could really focus,” bassist Molefi Makananise said. “Bloomington offered that to us.” BLK JKS have drawn comparisons to bands like TV on the Radio and The Mars Volta. Songs like “Molalatladi” showcase the band’s fresh blend of African rhythms and rock ‘n’ roll. Lead singer Lindani Buthelezi’s voice is often backed up with a wall of gorgeous vocal harmonies or countered by discordant guitar shreddery. The band balances raucous rock and spacey ambient parts that fuse energy with serenity, and although they draw easy surface comparisons to other genre-bending bands, BLK JKS’s desire has always been originality. “When we started going out of our little space, all we focused on was making a song,” Makananise said. “We’ve tried to not sound like anybody else, even though the inspiration is there.” The band has spent six months touring the U.S. in support of “After Robots,” a record that’s been receiving rave reviews. Rolling Stone called BLK JKS one of Africa’s best new bands and gave “After Robots” three and a half stars, but none of the band’s success has changed how BLK JKS think about themselves. “We just want to deliver, whether we’re on a big stage or a small stage,” Molefi said. “I understand when people say good things come to those who wait, but it really comes to people who work.”
(09/17/09 12:34am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>At its heart, “Fringe” is a show about the unknown and the many different ways it can kill you.The show’s first episode carefully crafts the “Fringe” universe, but the show runs into problems with what does in that universe. Too often, episodes devolve into “monster of the week” affairs. Sometimes the show is scary, but rarely are the scares more than “gotcha” moments. “Fringe” hits its stride during the second half of season one, with increased focus on “The Pattern,” a series of incidents linked together by the appearance of Fringe science. “Fringe” works best when the science is at the center and the audience is given the chance to be amazed. It’s worth noting that while the special features are the typical behind-the-scenes fare, each disk is filled with them. For the diehard fan, each featurette offers an insight into a particular episode or special effect. Season one of “Fringe” delivers a solid thrill ride. Hopefully season two does more than just thrill us with empty scares.
(03/04/09 3:27am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After the summer of his sophomore year, junior and IU Police Department officer Ben Rupenthal completed the IUPD police academy, making him a sworn police officer and member of the law enforcement community. Splitting his time between being a student and working as a police officer has affected Rupenthal’s life in more ways than just limiting his free time.“When I get on an elevator, conversation stops,” Rupenthal said. “Even if they were talking about something completely over there, they stop.” While the officers live in the dorms like regular students, they can only room with other officers, and some students said they feel uncomfortable around them.“You walk by them and know they’re looking at you,” said freshman Christina Davies. “It makes me self-conscious.”Davies said she enjoyed talking with the officer who lived on her floor when she was out of uniform but found her intimidating when she was on duty.Freshman Dan Gower said he disliked the police presence in the dorms.“I would prefer they didn’t live in the dorms,” Gower said. “Part of college is drinking. There’s no call to arrest someone as they walk into their dorm room. If you’re learning how to drink responsibly and you make it back to your dorm safely, then they’re just busting you because they can.”This negative impression of police work can make it difficult for IUPD officers to feel like regular students.“Most of my friends are cops,” Rupenthal said. “When people find out you’re a cop, they think you’re going to get them in trouble for something in their past.”The IUPD deals predominantly with IU students, and the majority of its cases are drug- and alcohol-related, Rupenthal said. Though many students expressed concern over the police presence on campus, some said they liked having officers live in the dorms.“I think it makes me feel safer, to an extent,” freshman Amanda Travis said. “The fact that they’re nearby is comforting.”Rupenthal has learned to deal with the issues his profession causes him when he’s off duty. He said he tries to keep his lives separate in the classroom, although he said he has only ever had one professor who had a problem with him being a cop.“I try to keep it under wraps as long as possible,” Rupenthal said.Rupenthal had his own reason why police are seen in a more complicated light than other service professions.“Nobody calls the police when something good happens,” Rupenthal said.
(03/02/09 5:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Cardinal Stage Company presented Thursday and Friday a reading of “The Exonerated,” a play that tells the story of five men and one woman who are wrongly imprisoned on death row. On Friday, Cardinal followed the reading with an audience talk. The audience discussed the issues the play raised with professors and Christoper Hitz-Bradley, a representative from the Indiana Coalition for the Abolition of the Death Penalty.The dialogue was culled from interviews the playwrights conducted with the falsely accused. The play touches on issues of race, gender and the problems that exist in the criminal justice system.“The racism was so pervasive you could cut it with a knife,” said Delbert Tibbs, played by retired professor James Mumford. Mumford echoed many of the statements his character made, and said the play helped further racial understanding. “I think it’s a good way to highlight the differences between the races in the death penalty,” he said.Mumford went on to say that the play exposes the racism that permeates the justice system. “The black community has historically had problems with the justice system and policemen,” he said. “The justice system has always been thumbs-down on blacks.”Cardinal Stage Artistic Director Randy White said he was pleased with the performance. “I thought it went great,” he said. “It engendered a great conversation with the audience. It allowed people to talk about the issues in the open.”Following the play Hitz-Bradley, Indiana State professor Mark Hamm and IU professor Marla Sandys answered questions. Hitz-Bradley praised the play for showing some of the problems with the justice system.“The play is disturbing in that some of the things in the play still go on,” he said.All three of the panelists discussed the problems with convictions based on fingerprint evidence and the problems with DNA evidence.“It is disturbing, but it’s one of the only ways people hear about what goes on in our justice system,” Sandys said.The panel said opinions on the death penalty are not split evenly down political lines. In the 1960s and ’70s, polled Americans were 70 percent against the death penalty and 30 percent for it, Hamm said, but during the Reagan administration the numbers switched. Hitz said many people who support the death penalty are anti-abortion. “Many people think abortion is the taking of an innocent life, and someone who has committed murder isn’t innocent,” Hitz-Bradley said.The panel also brought up Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall’s famous “Marshall Hypothesis.”“If people really knew what was going on with the system of capital punishment, they’d all be against it,” Sandys said, quoting Marshall.
(02/11/09 11:54pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>“Coraline” isn’t really a children’s movie.
Written and directed by “Nightmare Before Christmas” director Henry
Selick and based on the comic book by Neil Gaiman, the film portrays a
modern day “Alice in Wonderland.” When Coraline Jones finds a strange door in her family’s new house, she discovers an alternate reality. The world she finds is perfect – it is everything she could ever want. But Coraline soon finds that perfect isn’t necessarily good for her health. The story serves as a compelling metaphor for the pitfalls of a life devoted to selfish satisfaction. Selick’s beautiful claymation serves as the perfect medium to tell the story. The puppets are equally endearing and off-putting. After the recent onslaught of machine-made CGI films, “Coraline”’s claymation is a welcome relief. The puppets seem more alive than many of the CGI creations found today, perhaps because each puppet was handmade and manipulated. Selick had originally intended to alternate between full CGI and claymation but found the CGI cold and sterile. As a film, “Coraline” is neither of those things. Its characters are flawed; the parents ignore their child because she is annoying, and Coraline has a tendency to be rude and unlikable, just like a real 10-year-old girl. The voice acting in the film is superb as well. Terri Hatcher and Dakota Fanning do excellent jobs voicing their roles. Unlike most animated films, the characters look nothing like the actors who play them. You never once catch yourself thinking Coraline is Dakota Fanning. As a film, “Coraline” works wonderfully; its flawed characters and bizarre imagery grab hold of you in a way few animated films have in recent memory. “Coraline” isn’t a happy film, nor does it have a storybook ending – but it doesn’t need one. It has something storybook endings can’t offer: substance.
(02/02/09 1:17am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>If Bessie Delany was still alive, she would likely be shocked. More than 100 years old when she died, Delany never saw Barack Obama get elected – an event she once said wouldn’t happen for a thousand years. Even though Delany died in 1995, she and her sisters’ story lives on in theaters around the country in the play “Having Our Say.” The Cardinal Stage Company chose “Having Our Say” to kick off the new year long before Obama was elected president. “We thought it would be a great coincidence and a lovely bit of serendipity if the stars aligned on this,” Artistic Director Randy White said. “Having Our Say” is set as an intimate conversation between the audience and Bessie and Sadie Delany during their elderly years. Based on their autobiography, the play serves as an oral history of women’s involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, all the way from the post-Civil War era to the 1990s.Former IU professor Gladys DeVane portrayed Bessie Delany in the production. DeVane said the play retold history from a perspective not usually found in textbooks. “This is a part of our history that history doesn’t teach us about,” DeVane said. “There were strong, viable families with strong black men that taught their children values and morals. This isn’t our history as in black history; it’s our history as in American history.” DeVane’s character is outgoing, vocal and sometimes a little brash, she said, but she said she doesn’t worry about some of Bessie’s more colorful lines.DeVane said the balance between Sadie Delany, played by Mijiza Soyini, who is originally from Indianapolis, and Bessie Delany gave the audience a real perspective between two people. While Bessie is aggressive, Sadie is more inclined to use the system. DeVane said Obama’s election broke the ceiling that many felt was over black americans. “I think – no, I know – that this is a signal that anyone can be whatever they want to be in this country,” DeVane said.The presence of a predominantly white audience also shows how things have changed since the Delany sisters’ youth. “You don’t learn unless you make yourself uncomfortable,” DeVane said, referencing the sometimes awkward process of getting to know someone else’s culture.In some ways, it’s more important for people who are not black to see plays like this because it breaks the stereotypes they might have about black families, DeVane said.“I think if the Delany sisters were alive today, they would shout with happiness,” DeVane said. “But they would temper it by saying we still have a long way to go.”
(12/10/08 6:57pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In the years since Ludacris’s last record, 2006’s Release Therapy, the man has done almost everything except rap. He has guest-starred on “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” and “The Simpsons,” starred in a couple of movies and created a charity. But no singles were anywhere to be found. Unlike genre titan Lil’ Wayne, Luda has kept his musical output to a minimum and his screen time to a maximum. It’s the not first time a rapper has had aspirations of acting success, but it’s rare for a rapper to make the career jump and keep their cred in the music world. Case in point: Ice-T and Ice Cube. Filled with aggressive beats and Ludacris’ trademark southern drawl, Theater of Mind is brimming with witty word play. The album’s lead single and video “Everybody Hates Chris” has a great hook with the line “Fuck you Luda” and a guest spot by Chris Rock. While it’s nothing new, the execution makes the album a fun listen. Like most rap albums these days, Theater of Mind has a ton of guest artists: Lil’ Wayne, Jay-Z, Nas, The Game, Jamie Foxx, Chris Rock, T.I. and T-Pain all appear here. You could easily be fooled into thinking Theater of Mind was a movie by looking at the personnel. Like the movies he’s been making his name with, the album is long on style and short on anything else. Its humor comes from the fact that Ludacris is totally self-aware about his role in the music biz. He’s an entertainer. He sums it up with a great line from “Wish You Would”: “Of course they hatin’ cause they still ridin’ tha murda train / Re-name the yacht, put the plane in my daughter’s name / Now that’s karma so call me Daddy Warbucks / If you got money, I got mo’ bucks.” He knows what he is, and he doesn’t care. His flows are laced with humor, ridiculous amounts of ego-boosting and a great taste for word play. If you’re looking for something to impress your friends with, this ain’t it. If you want a good time and don’t want to think about it, stop by Ludacris' Theater of Mind.
(11/19/08 5:06pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>If I ever get into a bar fight, I can only hope The Bronx will be blaring from the jukebox. The Bronx’s third album The Bronx (III) fits somewhere between AC/DC’s rock 'n’ roll stomp and the riff-tastic guitar heroics of bands like Rage Against the Machine and Led Zeppelin. III comes during an interesting time for The Bronx. This release is the sister piece to a mariachi (yes mariachi) record due out next year. For some reason they decided it would be a good idea to release two records back to back, one a punk-rock record and the other a mariachi record. Sometimes bands do things that defy all logic. This might be one of those times. All Mexican folk music aside, this is a solid record.The focus here is groove. Extensive guitar solos and other metal cliches are nowhere to be found, which is certainly a welcome thing in a year that hasn’t seen much originality. III borrows a lot from the classic punk-rock playbook, but it does so in such an exciting fashion that it never comes across as stale or bland. The songs are short and simple. Even with such simple tracks, each manages to have its memorable moment. Whether it’s the sing-along chorus of the opener “Knifeman” or the mosh-pit-inducing groove of “Six Days A Week,” the Bronx proves on each track that simple rock ’n’ roll never goes out of style. The only issue really holding this album back from greatness is the production. It’s sufficiently dirty, and there’s no trace of any studio wizardry, but the band sounds perpetually flat. Clearly the band is aspiring for a classic recording style, but the production actually keeps the songs from their true potential. The drums are the biggest offender, sounding more like a collection of thumps on cardboard boxes than anything else. With only minor complaints, The Bronx III is certainly worth checking out. If the production were more powerful, the band might have had a breakthrough release on their hands. Regardless, this is a welcome relief from the onslaught of generic music that’s dominated the year.
(11/12/08 8:50pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>One thing becomes instantly clear the second you hit play on Thursday’s new release: The era of the band’s 2006 album A City By The Light Divided is finally over. After messy splits with two separate labels, Thursday are in a unique position for the release of their next album. Thursday’s latest release, a split release with Japanese post-hardcore band Envy, isn’t quite the new album fans have been clamoring for, but it certainly makes for a quality holdover until the release of their new album, which is expected to come out next year.The split starts with four Thursday songs and ends with three Envy songs. Although the fourth Thursday song is a remix, the three proper new songs are pitch-perfect. The opening track “As He Climbed the Dark Mountain” has elements of the chaos that made City By The Light Divided such a refreshing listen, but the production is much closer to the cleaner work of War All the Time.“As He Climbed the Dark Mountain” and “An Absurd and Unrealistic Dream” both feature great anthemic choruses, while “In Silence” is a spacey and atmospheric counter to the energy of the other two. With these songs Thursday continue to prove they are one of the most innovative bands around. While the Thursday tracks have the perfect balance of energy and ambience, the Envy tracks lack the balance that make the Thursday songs so exciting. Envy’s biggest problem is their vocals. There isn’t a single moment when singer Tetsuya Fukagawa really belts a note or screams something that actually connects with the listener. Maybe it’s the language the barrier, but the delivery certainly seems lacking. Outside of the lackluster vocals, Envy certainly have their musical moments. The back half of “Pure Birth and Loneliness,” especially, sticks out among the rest. Thursday’s contributions to the split alone are enough to warrant buying it, but with its wide availability on the Internet there is no reason not to check it out.
(10/22/08 10:30pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Sometimes having an influential album is the worst thing that can happen to a band. Unearth’s latest release shows what happens when a band fails to meet their own standards. After 2004’s genre defining The Oncoming Storm and 2006’s equally impressive III: In the Eye’s of Fire comes The March, a record that tries desperately to capture the spirit of Storm. Here we see Unearth move away from the livelier, dirtier sound of III and back towards the machine like precision of Storm. Although it may sound the same production wise, outside of a few highlights, the record sounds more like a collection of left over riffs than the ground breaking mixture of metal guitar heroics and hardcore mentality that made previous efforts so influential.The record starts at its high point with opener “My Will Be Done.” Quite possibly the best song on the entire album, the track starts off with crushing guitar chunk and sweep-arpeggios, culminating with a great shout along chorus. Other highlights include “Grave of Opportunities” and “We Are Not Anonymous.” Both songs make great use of guitar harmonies, shredding solos, and mosh-inducing breakdowns, all the things you expect from an Unearth song, but these songs are the exceptions. This album contains at least five average songs, and two songs that are possibly the worst songs Unearth have ever written: “The Chosen” and “Letting Go.” The main riff from the former sounds like something from a Whitesnake song and vocalist Trevor Phipps’ straight delivery of clichés like “We are the pulse of the world,” just adds to the mess. “Letting Go” suffers from being way to slow and having an opening riff that sounds exactly like the Killswitch Engage song “Prelude.” Unearth’s new album The March needs more of the urgency and creativity that made III and The Oncoming Storm so exciting, and less of the computerized production and bland riffs that make up the majority of this junk.