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Friday, May 1
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The Indiana Daily Student

A mediocre 'Beginning'

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"Texas Chainsaw: The Beginning" naturally garners low expectations with its credentials -- it is the latest in a series of films spawned from a popular horror movie and a comparatively lackluster cinematic offering put foreword to take advantage of interest in the "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" stirred up by the recent, fairly high-quality remake of the original. It is also directed by Jonathan Liebesman, who was responsible for "Darkness Falls" (remember, it was the one with "the tooth fairy?").


Whitaker takes the crown in 'Scotland'

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Living in Scotland in the 1970s, a new young doctor decides to spin a globe with his eyes closed and make a new life for himself wherever his finger happens to point when the globe stops spinning. "The Last King of Scotland" is partly about choice and partly about fate. It is fate we witness when Dr. Nicholas Garrigan's finger lands on Uganda, and it is the choices he makes that concern the rest of the film.


Solid as a rock

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Critics labeled "Gridiron Gang" cliché and predictable. I can't say I disagree. More and more sports movies are released every year following similar plotlines saddled with the frequent tagline, "based on a true story." I've begun to doubt these types of movies. Yet, there is something that stands out about "Gridiron Gang." Without much directing experience to his name, Phil Joanou did a great job with this film and making it stand out from other sports films.


All hail the Good Queen

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Blur's Damon Albarn has created a new side project, and unlike the surprisingly transcendent experiment that was the Gorillaz, this new group may only be around for one shining moment. The Good, the Bad and the Queen is the improbable combination of vocalist/pianist Albarn, the Verve guitarist Simon Tong, the Clash bassist Paul Simonon and afrobeat legend Tony Allen on drums.

Model 'Employee'

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There's a certain genre of comedy that few people actually know exists titled: "Work Sucks but Isn't It Funny?" Many hit comedies through the years have fallen into this category, like "Caddyshack" and, of course, "Office Space," the 1999 cult favorite about working in a cubicle typing at a computer. "Employee of the Month" falls right into this category of films and actually turns out to be a pretty entertaining one. Although it wasn't a major success in theaters, the movie has many high points and is much more highbrow than might be expected of a film of this caliber.


The Indiana Daily Student

'24' - Jack Bauer is a vampire, Kumar a terrorist and L.A. is toast

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The first five seasons of "24" were pretty formulaic: Meet the new terrorists, watch them successfully unleash a couple attacks and threaten massively bigger ones. See Jack find out, through awesomely graphic interrogations, which of the supposedly good guys are actually traitors and kill whoever stands in his way from stopping the BIG attack and save the world as the season ends.


Clap your hands say 'meh'

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If there's one lesson to take away from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's second album, Some Loud Thunder (out Jan. 30), it's this: Ambition is a fine thing, but ambition alone is not enough. Indeed, for those of us who love out-of-the-mainstream music, it could serve as an aesthetic test: Can we distinguish complexity from quality? Can we tell the difference between something that's difficult-but-rewarding and something that's simply difficult?


A piece of Indiana

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As a young man, Bob Nellis didn't just go to the theater to see the latest flick to hit the big screen. In fact, because of a curfew, he rarely saw a whole movie start-to-finish. He really went to "The Indiana" -- now the Buskirk-Chumley Theater -- in downtown Bloomington to see his friends and pass the time. Sometimes he would go just to hear stories from Roy Hays, the theater's projectionist. Nellis' father worked with Hays in the theater, and between the two men, Nellis heard many stories over the years about life at the theater.



The Indiana Daily Student

Federer serves Roddick another loss in Aussie Open semis

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MELBOURNE -- Even top-ranked Roger Federer was stunned by his domination of Andy Roddick. After looking vulnerable in some of his earlier matches, Federer was virtually untouchable as he beat sixth-seeded Roddick 6-4, 6-0, 6-2 Thursday at the Australian Open to reach his seventh consecutive Grand Slam final, tying a record set by Jack Crawford in 1934.


The Indiana Daily Student

Hoosiers hope to make splash at first tournament

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The good news for water polo coach Barry King and his team is that after finishing last season with a 24-11 record, they start this season ranked No. 20 in the country. The better news for the Hoosiers is that their season finally gets under way this weekend at the Michigan Kick-Off tournament in Ann Arbor, Mich.




The Indiana Daily Student

IU travels to Purdue for rivalry meet prior to conference meet

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IU sophomore swimmer Heath Tameris swam in his first IU-Purdue meet last year. Growing up in Ohio, Tameris wasn't aware of the intensity of the in-state rivalry. After swimming in last year's meet, however, Tameris recognizes that there is more on the line than usual when these two teams compete.


The Indiana Daily Student

Hoosiers host Saturday doubleheader

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The IU women's tennis team looks to improve on its unblemished spring record Saturday with a doubleheader. But while one win is almost assured in the team's second match against Butler, many uncertainties surround the Hoosiers' first foe, DePaul.



The Indiana Daily Student

These are the mid-season awards

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Usually in this column space, I try to write some breathy prose about the men's basketball team. You know, relating each game to the big picture of the season and telling you what it all means, man. Let's ditch that for a day. Here are your mid-season awards and accolades 66 percent of the way through the regular season. Whoops.


The Indiana Daily Student

Can the Hoosiers rebound?

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The IU men's basketball team hopes to rebound Saturday afternoon against the Michigan Wolverines, and in more ways than one. Besides chasing down missed shots and crashing the offensive glass, the Hoosiers will also look to rebound from their recent loss to Illinois. The Hoosiers lost 51-43 to the Fighting Illini on Tuesday night in Champaign, Ill., which ended IU's five-game winning streak. IU coach Kelvin Sampson has stressed all year the importance of his players being able to hang their hats on something. That something, he hoped, would be the Hoosiers' defense and rebounding.


The Indiana Daily Student

Shuttle offered for staff

Starting Monday, a new shuttle bus service will be available to all IU faculty and staff members.