Region
‘Hairspray,’ Bill Cosby among this year’s headliners
Barber knives, symphonies of strings and cans of hairspray will fill the auditorium this season for audiences to see.
Closing Pandora’s Box
Online radio giant Pandora.com has recently announced that it will likely go out of business. For any subscriber, this is unfortunate news. And for those who haven’t heard of it yet, Pandora is an online radio station. However, unlike what you would hear over FM or even satellite radio, Pandora is able to tailor its playlist to each user. Each song and artist has hundreds of musical attributes (such as “subtle use of vocals.”) So if you hear a song you like, or if you have a favorite artist, you can ask Pandora to play songs with similar attributes – all for free.
Defending Hillary
Before the start of the brutal Democratic primary earlier this year, I would hardly have called myself a Hillary Clinton supporter. Like many liberals, I found her political positions to be extremely self-serving, and her vote for the Iraqi invasion was unforgivable. So, it seems like a strange turn of events that I would offer a defense for the New York senator today.
Museum recruits tour guides
Navigating a three-story museum might seem like a daunting task but, the IU Art Museum’s new training program will give students the opportunity to become docents, or volunteer tour guide, and direct people through the mazes of art.
Bush’s fallacy
Twenty-three months. That’s a long time. Twenty-three months ago I was embarking on my college career, preparing to trade in the comforts of my spacious home for a 10-by-10 square with bunk beds and a gothic roommate. Twenty-three months ago people everywhere were awestruck to learn that Pluto is not a planet after all and that “my very elegant mother just served us nine pizzas” would never again have the same connotation for fourth graders. Twenty-three months is also the amount of time that George W. Bush’s approval rating has been less than 40 percent.
After-party mixes art, food
Even after CultureFest ends this evening, the party will go on at the IU Art Museum.
Sidetracked
In this week's Sidetracked, three WEEKEND reviews cuss and discuss the week's hottest tracks.
Blanket of darkness
Dark stories do make for good dramatic twists, but to make a blanket shift to dark movies would ignore what makes most of these stories worth watching, and what made “The Dark Knight” the success it was. The best we can hope for is that Hollywood will realize this so it can worry less about making perfect movies and more about making the right ones.
Covering the (future) classics
Country legend Glen Campbell has returned after a long hiatus and released Meet Glen Campbell. On the album, the country crooner covers songs from artists ranging from Green Day and the Foo Fighters to Tom Petty and U2. The heartfelt “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)” and “Times Like These” are standouts.
Out of this world awful
... Earth to the Dandy Warhols ... is a poorly conceived, terribly executed album that has none of the heart, soul or fun of the band’s previous work. The album seems to wrestle with its drug rock roots in an ill-informed attempt to sound like My Bloody Valentine.
Cyborg crazy
For a weekly television series based on five hours of film (the show thankfully ignores “T3”), “Chronicles” is a refreshing, honest addition to the “Terminator” mythos. In the first season the show covers a lot of ground, including stopping Skynet, Terminators with non-killing missions, and how John deals with his destiny.
No recount needed here
This being a crucial election year, movies like “Recount” strike a little closer to home than the average political fare, if only because there always looms the threat of such an electoral disaster happening again. Roach, Strong and an engaging cast manage to nail the prime characteristics of both sides (Republicans: ruthless, logical, calculating; and Democrats: determined, intellectual, fragile), to suggest that even in the most tempestuous of political climates, there’s still hope for our Constitution to prevail.
Gotta be buzzin' to like this
Shwayze’s tracks wouldn’t be a horrible addition to any summer beach mix tape, but listening to the entire album is a bit of a repetitive chore. It’s clear that having a TV show doesn’t necessarily equate to having much talent whatsoever, even if Shwayze would like you to think differently.
Walk and roll
Some of Bloomington’s hottest staple entertainment events and venues are less than a mile away from campus, and anyone any age can attend.
Not much progress
The Illusion of Progress finds the band completely eschewing the metal sound of their first two albums. This is good news to fans of their newer albums – those who likely haven’t even heard of Tormented and only remember “Mudshovel” from Staind’s second album Dysfunction. Almost all of the tunes are soft and radio-friendly, with gentle verses leading to predictable choruses. Although the album will likely garner Staind more enormous tours and success, one has to wonder how much longer this formula can provide the same results. Considering this, The Illusion of Progress seems to be the perfect name for this album.
Walkmen more than 'O.C.' band
You & Me is a complex album, but enjoyable. It’s a great album for a person who wants to chill out, but not get bored.
A light rock affair
Although Wilson and his co-stars seem like they care about their performances, nothing in “The Rocker” is remotely memorable. The plot is predictable and paper-thin; none of the jokes really hit; and clichés about the rock-n-roll lifestyle are everywhere. Just like many of his TV cohorts, Rainn Wilson’s first headlining film is a far fall from his work on television. It’s not that “The Rocker” is overly awful or that Wilson doesn’t have the chops to carry a film on his own, it’s just that we all know he can do much better.
Middle of the road action
Let’s take a prison movie, throw in some race cars, and strap machine guns to them; that’s how “Death Race” is born. A slammin’ action movie that doesn’t aspire to much, “Race” provides two hours of speed, sex and shooting. It holds no surprises; fans of this type of movie will be entertained, and critics will pan it mercilessly. Is it high art? No. Does it try to be? No. Besides, what were you expecting from a movie remaking a '70s movie that was based on a video game?
Not a funny bunny
And despite the early presence of a smart voice, the movie’s ultimate message is also disappointing. “The House Bunny” tries to make a point about accepting individuality, but the message that comes across a bit more strongly is this: As long as you’re not a frumpish loser and can change yourself enough to be conventionally pretty without becoming a valley-girl vamp, life will be peachy.
