A&E

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.

Why 'Brokeback' lost

NEW YORK -- We chatted about it, joked about it, argued about it, spoofed it. "Brokeback Mountain" was everywhere in our popular culture -- yet it lost the big Oscar it was supposed to win. Was there a "Brokeback Backlash," or was "Crash" just the worthy contender that came on strong in the final Best Picture stretch? There were as many theories offered Monday as there are "Brokeback" parodies on the Internet. One theory was that despite the hoopla, the endless late-night monologues and the clever imitations, people (Academy voters, that is) didn't really love the soulful saga of two gay cowboys -- and perhaps even felt uncomfortable with its themes.

Vintage cars inspire fashion collection

TV Review: Jon Stewart was disappointing host of bland Oscarcast

NEW YORK - You would have been more amused Sunday night if you'd revved up your TiVo and played back an evening's worth of "Daily Show with Jon Stewart" reruns while you tracked Oscar winners on the Web. Stewart, usually a very funny guy, displayed a lack of beginner's luck as first-time host of "The 78th Annual Academy Awards," which ABC aired live from Hollywood's Kodak Theatre.

Lee earns best-director honor for cowboy love story `Brokeback Mountain'

LOS ANGELES - Ang Lee won the Academy Award as best director Sunday for the cowboy romance "Brokeback Mountain," becoming the first Asian to win Hollywood's top honor for filmmakers. Adept at genres from Westerns to historical romance to martial-arts pageants, Lee won his Oscar for a purely American story about two men tragically swept up in a gay romance that they conceal from their families for two decades.

`Crash' pulls off Oscar upset with best-picture win

LOS ANGELES - The ensemble drama "Crash" pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Academy Awards history, winning best picture Sunday over the cowboy romance "Brokeback Mountain," which had been the front-runner. "Crash," featuring a huge cast in crisscrossing story lines over a chaotic 36-hour period in Los Angeles, rode a late surge of praise that lifted it past "Brokeback Mountain," a film that had won most other key Hollywood honors.

Students sculpt peanut butter in Art Olympics

The athletic action in Turin, Italy, ended last week, but the IU School of Fine Arts held its own version of the Olympics Saturday.

Thumbs up

Jake Gyllenhaal, nominated for an Oscar for best actor in a supporting role for his work in "Brokeback Mountain," arrives for the 78th Academy Awards Sunday in Los Angeles. Check out idsnews.com for more Oscar coverage.

Backstage at the Oscars: Nervous stars, controlled chaos

LOS ANGELES -- Despite the glamour and glitz that comes with being a movie star, backstage at the Oscars even the biggest luminaries are human. Prior to going before an audience of their peers -- and potentially hundreds of millions of television viewers -- some of Hollywood's most polished professionals look more like anxious children getting ready for a school play, nervously pacing, mouthing lines and inhaling deeply before heading into the bright lights.

Mathers exhibit celebrates once-lost film

"Silvia the Zulu" was once thought to be completely lost. But the historic film inspired filmmaker and historian Peter Davis, and he refurbished it for modern audiences.

Keira Knightley and Michelle Williams move into fashion's big leagues on Oscar red carpet

There's a new young fashion star in Hollywood. Keira Knightley wore a striking wine-colored, one-shoulder gown by Vera Wang to the Oscars Sunday night that hit the right balance between youthful funkiness and movie-star glamour. Knightley wore her strawberry blond hair in a loose ponytail, and she complemented the dress with a one-of-a-kind necklace with emeralds, rubies and diamonds from the Bulgari archives and gold sandals with multiple ankle straps by Jimmy Choo.

Clooney, Weisz win supporting-performer Oscars

LOS ANGELES - George Clooney won the supporting-actor Academy Award on Sunday for the oil-industry thriller "Syriana," and Rachel Weisz took the supporting-actress prize for another corporate thriller, "The Constant Gardener." The win capped a remarkable year for Clooney, who made Oscar history by becoming the first person nominated for acting in one movie and directing another.

Hoffman wins best-actor Oscar for `Capote'

LOS ANGELES - Philip Seymour Hoffman won the best-actor Academy Award on Sunday for "Capote," in which he gives a remarkable embodiment of "In Cold Blood" author Truman Capote. "Wow, I'm in a category with some great, great, great actors, fantastic actors, and I'm overwhelmed. Really overwhelmed," said Hoffman, whose performance nimbly straddles the magnetic qualities of raconteur Capote and the effete, off-putting egoism of the gay author.

ONE OF A KIND

Student and opera star plans to perform in New York City

A spotlight shot down from the ceiling to the back of the IU Musical Arts Center and the entire audience turned. Figaro, the self-confident and self-loving Barber of Seville, strutted down the aisle distributing fliers and proclaiming his fortune in a booming baritone voice. He literally sang his own praises as he told of his wealth and assured the crowd that he was the most loved citizen of the town.

(Don't) show us your udders, ladies!

"Girls Gone Wild" has been taken over by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Actually, no, it hasn't. But PETA's new anti-dairy campaign, "Milk Gone Wild," is comparable to the videos of young women flashing their breasts on spring break. The ad features a bar, where women lift up their shirts to reveal udders, rather than human breasts, and spray milk out of them to the delight of the male patrons.

Alumna explores eating disorders, body image

March is not just the month of basketball madness, it's also National Women's History Month, a proposed time to appreciate the dedication and perseverance of strong women. In honor of the month, IU alumna Amy Fortoul will perform a one-woman show at 8 p.m. tonight at Rose Firebay in the John Waldron Arts Center. Her performance will expose the harsh realities that many woman face everyday. The piece, "This Is My Body," is a spoken-word performance, which she wrote, directs and performs in.