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Oh please

I don’t like criticizing The Associated Press. Normally, I think the AP does a laudable job. While cable networks, for example, obsess over Hollywood starlets and minutiae from the presidential campaign, the global network of AP stringers seems to cover everything and anything – one has only to check, say, Google or Yahoo News for loads of substantive stories. All that said, this week the AP published a story that was simply stunning in its wrong-headedness – an extraordinary combination of a bizarre concept, poorly supported speculation and even disservice to the public. And while such things might have their place (say, in some of my columns), they really shouldn’t be labeled as hard news.

Real public financing

I guess this is what happens when you try to run a political campaign on the premise that lying is bad – you don’t get to change course due to circumstances without looking bad.

No-date zones

Summer is the time for lovin’. This is obvious to all. The docile summer winds have carried with them innumerable girls in lightweight cotton dresses and guys in aviators, walking alongside each other and looking like they are in some sort of Tampax commercial: Girls – you don’t want to miss out on this, do you? Of course not. Now toss that bulky pad and get livin’!

The love song of A. Arnold Gore

An ace of an album

It’s a shame that The Early November didn’t make it, but it’s clear that Ace Enders will be fine. He can pump out three-minute emo/indie pop gems at such an efficient rate that he’ll have a career for a long time. Yet it’s the tracks where he expands on his standard songwriting that really work; if he pursues those avenues a bit more, he won’t need a million different people to help him out.

Epic metal

On Nostradamus, Judas Priest seems to have focused on writing lengthy, more artistically creative songs, rather than the radio-friendly singles like they’ve done with past hits such as “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming.”  And they’ve succeeded.

Not so fly

While Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace has plenty of The Offspring’s trademark kicking, confrontational music, it’s more full of cliched melodrama. The only saving grace is that the band sounds the same as it did in the ‘90s, but this isn’t the ‘90s, and this album is not worth listening to.

The art of derivation

It is the perfect family film filled with innocent, good humor. Gondry’s script is a little too exaggerated and his attempts at emotional impact a little too superfluous. He is an incredibly talented director, but his script falls a bit short in this movie.

Viva Coldplay

The sound that Viva La Vida carries is purposefully not like the band’s past releases. There is no star-gazing pop-punk riff here. Tracks “Yes,” “Lost!” and “Violent Hill” overshadow the rest of the band’s work: past, present and possibly future. Even the most delicate ballads that are carefully crafted by Martin himself express words and feeling with a whole new meaning.

Country-folk royalty

Though the music isn’t innovative, Harris sticks to what she knows best: steel-pedal guitar, twangy riffs and lilting harmonies. She's made a folk album that tries – and succeeds – to be everything the genre was intended to be: a storytelling medium that can both break your heart and pick up the pieces.

Monster mash-up

Even though the album is more intricately layered than any of his previous works, Gillis tries his best to remove the feeling of ADD that you get from Night Ripper and replaces it with one that reminds us that these songs, though they are mash-ups of many different legendary tracks, are more than able to standout as individual art on their own.  

Get real, Steve Carell

What’s surprising about the movie is how it manages to waste such an impressive array of potential strengths. At its core, it simply isn’t funny. Despite a cast of noteworthy actors, great scenery and all the gadgets one would expect from a spy movie, “Get Smart” isn’t likely illicit even the occasional chuckle.

Russian exchange students to visit IU this week

A group of students from the Southern Federal University in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, will visit IU this week through an IU exchange program.

Neuroanatomy professor to appear on “Fresh Air”

IU neuroanatomy professor Jill Bolte Taylor will appear Wednesday on NPR’s “Fresh Air,” according to NPR media relations.

Flight School

Although IU doesn’t offer aviation classes, some students and staff members pay about $6,000 for pilot lessons.

Tutto Bene hosts fund raiser for advocacy organization

Citizen Advocacy of South-Central Indiana hosted a benefit at Tutto Bene Wine Café to raise money for a full time coordinator Sunday.

Comedian George Carlin dies at 71

George Carlin, the dean of counterculture comedians whose biting insights on life and language were immortalized in his "Seven Words You Can Never Say On TV" routine, died of heart failure Sunday. He was 71.

IU student faces assault charges after Sunday incident

An IU student was arrested early Sunday morning for assaulting a man near the intersection of Eighth and Dunn streets.

A call from the mountaintops

Have you ever noticed how, in the humdrum of casual, college-kid conversation, the topic of politics is regarded with aversion and distaste? I fully understand the ominous feeling that overtakes you when you really aren’t ready to reveal some of your most personal convictions, especially to someone who gets a kick out of finding some superficial basis for argument.

3 Hoosiers earn All-American honors

Three Hoosiers have earned All-American honors for a season that came to a stop after a Cinderella run in the Big Ten Tournament.