A&E

Hollywood's next Kevin Smith

Making a movie is easy. All you need to do is max out all of your credit cards, take out a bank loan and fit the first day of shooting in while your wife is giving birth to twins. OK, none of that is easy, but it's only part of what writer/director Chris Folino went through to bring his long-standing dream to fruition.

Classical guitar major finds healing in music

A native of Detroit, home to rock legends KISS and more recent rock star Kid Rock, Matthew Douglas Smith wanted to play guitar his whole life. Detroit had established itself as a city infatuated with rock 'n roll, and it was the perfect laboratory for up-and-coming rock stars. But Smith wasn't really interested in any of it. Ever since he began to play guitar seriously as a freshman in high school, Smith has known his talents were better suited for the Metropolitan Opera than they were for the Mets' Tigers' stadium, which hosts occasional rock concerts.

"Piss Christ:" a controversial crucifix

Andres Serrano mixed blood, urine and a crucifix in a vat and concocted a controversy. In 1987, he photographed his creation, called it "Piss Christ" and was given a $15,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. At a Senate meeting in 1989, Alfonse M. D'Amato, R-N.Y., and Jesse Helms R-N.D., expressed their outrage.

College prodigy is first woman tuba player in top orchestra

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- It was 9:30 on a Saturday night, and Carol Jantsch was at an ultimate frisbee tournament when her cell phone rang with an audition invitation from the Philadelphia Orchestra, one of America's finest symphonies.

ARTifacts

What: Venus de Milo where to find it: A duplicate is in the hotel lobby at the Indiana Memorial Union. The original is in the Louvre Museum in Paris. Why you should care: The IU class of 1897 donated this statue depicting Venus, the Roman goddess of love. The unknown sculptor created the piece in the second century B.C. Source: www.sculpture.com

ARTiFACT

WHAT: Showalter Fountain WHERE YOU CAN FIND IT: In the Fine Arts Plaza in front of the IU Auditorium

ARMED AND READY

Taiko drumming masters of Japanese group TAO perform on stage, during their spectacular percussion-dance show in Zurich, Switzerland, Thursday. The show is part of the "TAO - Art of the Drum" world tour.

Live music, food to be offered at fundraiser

Beer brews and kazoo music will be offered at the first annual 4th and Walnut Block Party. The celebration will run from 5:30 to 10 p.m. Friday and is a fundraiser for the Bloomington Area Arts Council and WFHB, a local volunteer radio station.

Cartoonist to receive cancer treatment in Bloomington

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A cartoonist with a rare tumor threatening his vision is getting some help from artists who draw rival strips.

Union Board: 'Show Me the Funny'

Friday is the deadline for submitting entries to the Union Board's "Show Me the Funny" contest. Competitors must submit a five- to seven-minute stand-up routine, sketch or improvisational bit containing either one or two performers. This competition is open to all IU students. The Union Board expects a very diverse group of entrants, ranging from amateur comedians to those who have acting experience or are already performing in a group.

JOHN HANCOCK

JOHN HANCOCK -- GZA "the Genius" signs a pair of chucks brought in by a fan. The owner of the shoes, actually named Charles, or Chuck, Taylor prompted laughter among the veteran |rappers.

Bob Dylan, Lyle Lovett offer insight in Van Zandt documentary

Besides being prominent musicians in their respective fields, what do artists Bob Dylan, Lyle Lovett, Willie Nelson, Sonic Youth, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris and Kris Kristofferson have in common? They all make up the growing cult fan base of singer songwriter Townes Van Zandt and play a part in a new documentary based on the late artist's music and life.

African-American art on display at Art Museum

This month, the IU Art Museum will feature works depicting 60 years of "Black Spirit" conceptualized by one person, displayed in one place and portrayed in many ways.

Writing through the trenches

It was June 6, 1944, a date that would soon be known as D-Day. War reporter Ernie Pyle walked across the blood-soaked beach in Normandy, France, watching as the waves from the English Channel brushed against the cheeks of dead men gently floating in the shallow waters. His fingers weren't itching for his pad of paper or a pen to write down the details quickly, to help him remember the images later when he sat in front of his typewriter. There was no way he could forget.

Young talent

Young talent -- Phylip Woelmer, a student at Binford Elementary School, searches for his artwork with his mother after a reception for Youth Art Month at the IU Art Museum Saturday afternoon.

IU alumnus making music videos in Hollywood

In the spring of 2004, Brent Woodall walked away from IU with a degree in fine arts and stepped into what many college students nervously refer to as "the real world." Two years later, he is well on the way to living his dream of directing and producing music videos.

Computer games ate my brain

It's rare to watch television without seeing an advertisement for Game Tap anymore. For a monthly fee, subscribers can access the hundreds of classic games stored within Game Tap's "game vault." It's a service honed for casual computer gamers who don't have the time or inclination to obtain software by way of emulator programs or tedious Internet searches. Still, for all of Game Tap's target demographic, there are plenty of free alternatives for online entertainment.

BREAKING DOWN BROKEBACK

Though the Oscar buzz for "Brokeback Mountain" may have fizzled, IU professors and researchers have weighed in about the meaning of the movie in light of some critics' eagerness to write it off as just a "gay cowboy" movie. Though the film starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger had been slated by many as the "it" movie of this year's awards season, it went into the Oscars as a favorite for best picture, but lost that as well as best actor and best supporting actor. It did come away with three Oscars - best director, best adapted screenplay and best score.

HIGH STRUNG

IU Theatre and Drama announces 2006-07 season

The IU Department of Theatre and Drama recently announced in a press release the shows for the upcoming 2006-2007 season. Included in this lineup are a variety of plays and musicals. As the season opener, IU will stage Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter's "The Dinner Party." Set in the 1950s, this drama challenges the socially conformist society of the times. Also slated to run next year is "Urinetown: The Musical," Greg Kotis and Mark Hollman's tale of one city's struggle against a large corporation that controls its water supply, including each citizen's "privilege to pee," according to the release. IU will bring to the stage Arthur Miller's "The Crucible," a politically-charged allegorical drama set in Puritan Salem during the notorious witch hunts of the late 1600s.