Region

Famed Shanghai Museum opens first U.S. exhibit in decades in California

By Gillian Flaccus · Thursday, Feb. 22,2007 12 a.m.

SANTA ANA, Calif. – The bronze bowl seems unremarkable until you study it from above. Then, the shallow basin suddenly seems to teem with life: etchings of tiny tadpoles, turtles and fish wriggle across the bottom and up the sides, as if trapped in a real-life pond.

Funny Capote flick flops

By Michael Mellini · Thursday, Feb. 22,2007 12 a.m.

I didn't want to make the "Infamous" vs. "Capote" decision until the end of this review, but since "Capote" was far superior in its style and execution, I can't help but make the comparison up front. "Infamous" is more concerned with author Truman Capote's (Toby Jones) life as part of the New York social scene than his deep psychological relationship and struggle to write his nonfiction novel-style book, "In Cold Blood." Capote's flamboyance is played up so much that he seems like an even more cartoonish version of Beverly Leslie from "Will and Grace." However, this helps emphasize just how out of place Capote was in the small Kansas town where the murders his book investigates took place (there's an amusing scene where Capote discovers the only cheese available in a supermarket is Velveeta).

Presidential hopefuls field questions about Iraq at forum

By Beth Fouhy · Thursday, Feb. 22,2007 12 a.m.

CARSON CITY, Nev. – Democratic presidential hopefuls launched serial attacks against President Bush’s Iraq war policy on Wednesday and generally steered clear of criticizing one another in the first joint appearance of the young 2008 campaign for the White House.

First couple married in Beck Chapel celebrates 50 year anniversary

By Erica J. Nourse · Thursday, Feb. 22,2007 12 a.m.

Imagine an empty Beck Chapel without stained-glass windows or pews. Fifty years ago the chapel was exactly that. Today, William and Mary Crandall are celebrating 50 years together. Feb. 22, 1957, marks the date the Beck Chapel, located east of the Indiana Memorial Union and north of Ballantine Hall, held its first wedding service.

Arts Week '07

By Michelle Manchir · Thursday, Feb. 22,2007 12 a.m.

Live organisms will be manipulated by the click of a mouse, printers will produce hand-drawn 3-D images and violinists will be accompanied by a computer-generated orchestra. The theme for the 23rd annual ArtsWeek, a collaboration of the IU Office of the Provost and various community and campus arts organizations, is “Technology and the Arts.” With more than 50 events during the 11-day schedule, which officially began Wednesday and concludes March 3, ArtsWeek leaves little to be desired.

NHL: Need Help League

By Mike Abrams · Thursday, Feb. 22,2007 12 a.m.

Every year around late February, signs of spring appear around Bloomington. The Big Ten Tournament is one of these signs for the IU women’s basketball team.

3+1=degradation

By Edward Delp · Thursday, Feb. 22,2007 12 a.m.

When I came to this campus for a visit with my father, I saw great potential. I saw a chance to get out from under my parents’ direct control. I saw a chance to study serious issues at a world-class university. I saw a campus loaded with attractive females.

Let them eat DVD

By Michael Mellini , Abdullah AlShihri and Noor Khan · Thursday, Feb. 22,2007 12 a.m.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present the most underappreciated film of 2006: "Marie Antoinette." Those supposed people who booed the film during its Cannes premiere are idiots. "Marie Antoinette" (played by Kirsten Dunst) is a great relief from the overdramatic crop of biopics that come along these days. It's even hard to call it a biopic. "Antoinette" doesn't focus on the political ups and downs of France's most notorious queen, rather it uses the character as a device to tell the story of an imprisoned young girl struggling to live in her trapped world (cough, a young Sofia Coppola in Hollywood after being slammed for "The Godfather: Part III," cough). This technique does something most biopics fail to achieve. Because there aren't constant meltdowns, it feels as if we're actually peering into a day in the life of Antoinette. And what an interesting life it is. At age 14, young Marie is married off to Louis XVI (a perfectly awkward Jason Schwartzman) and expected to immediately produce an heir. When she constantly feels out of place and is ignored by her husband, Marie does the smart thing by going numb and becoming France's biggest socialite. This is the best issue of US Weekly you'll ever read.

Live from the Beehive

By Zach Pollakoff and Teri Rosenbaum · Thursday, Feb. 22,2007 12 a.m.

As drum machines replace drum sets, keyboards replace voices and my new laptop replaces my old Tascam 4-track, electronic music is in full swing. Whether it's an '80s revival or a Web 2.0 reflex, WIUX DJs have come to embrace the vocoder and love the robots. More and more electronic music has been filling 100.3 FM recently. Promoters have been sending us new electronic bands and our DJs have been finding many themselves. What is the new fascination with electronic music? I'm not entirely sure, but I've jumped on the bandwagon and have been enjoying the ride.

More Van 'At the Movies'

By Wes Jakacki · Thursday, Feb. 22,2007 12 a.m.

At the Movies is a collection of Van Morrison songs that have been put on to movie soundtracks. So how does a musician find his way onto 19 different soundtracks throughout his career? Well, it may be Van Morrison's timeless voice or the various emotions that are on display in his songs, but no matter the case, Van Morrison's music is fit for movies. The collection spans Van's entire career, from the early Them classic "Gloria" (from 1983's "The Outsiders") to his biggest hit, "Brown-Eyed Girl" (from "Born on the Fourth of July") to the recent rendition of "Comfortably Numb" that can be found on "The Departed." The collection starts with his early work, opening with the high-energy "Gloria" followed by the rockabilly of "Baby Please Don't Go," and then sliding into the charming "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)."

Givin’ us Pell

By Alyson Brodsy · Thursday, Feb. 22,2007 12 a.m.

Congress has really done it this time. Its recently proposed government spending bill for the rest of the 2007 fiscal year is nothing short of disturbing. These new budget allocations will affect students across the nation and have strong implications for government funding of higher education.

Disgusted by Dow

By Aparna Venkatraman and Harini Gopalakrishnan · Thursday, Feb. 22,2007 12 a.m.

It is nothing but ironic that a conference hosted in the name of energy and environment has one of the invitees to be a person who has many allegations against mistreating the same. Dow Chemical, one of the largest chemical companies in the world has a strong repute for being notorious against the environment by its reckless negligent activities. Right from the days of Vietnam war, when the American population rose against the corporate giant for their aid in manufacturing napalm, to the failure to rise up to the occasion and clean up the still contaminated site at Bhopal where one of the worst industrial disasters of the century happened 23 years ago, or to the polluting of the river in Midland Michigan – Dow has continued to unleash its toxic emitants on the environment without respite. Their failure to clean up the mess and havoc created by them on the surroundings where fellow humans live have given rise to numerous cases of activism and strong show of dissent in many locations across the globe. In spite of the fact, that they be called upon to grace a conference hosted by IU would be nothing but an insult added to the already mental agony suffered by the millions of victims across the world and those who continue to suffer so, in the name of growing economy and corporate culpability.

Williams gets gritty out 'West'

By Grace Low · Thursday, Feb. 22,2007 12 a.m.

Lucinda Williams' 2003 release World Without Tears, with its jaw-dropping, bitter musings of a scorned woman, is a hard album to follow, but the old-soul, rode-hard lyricist's newest album succeeds in punching the listener in the gut and leaving very little to be desired. The gritty, honest and raw sounds that die-hard fans have come to expect play out in spades in her latest album, West. From the first track crying out from the vantage point of a concerned best friend to the last track of nonreciprocal long-distance longing, the master wordsmith weaves the stories of an intelligent, passionate human being carrying on under the weight of universal truths.

Young drivers with cell phones might cause harm

By Aparna Venkatraman and Emily Vincent · Thursday, Feb. 22,2007 12 a.m.

I’d like to comment on the dissenting opinion given in the “Dropped call collision” editorial in the Feb. 21 issue. If irresponsible drivers only caused themselves harm for their bad choices, perhaps the “formative power of trial and error” would be more acceptable.

Poet, you know it

By Brian Hettmansperger · Thursday, Feb. 22,2007 12 a.m.

In the first round of the poetry slam, Indianapolis resident Tasha Jones brought the house down with the performance of her first poem. The poem was so intimidating that the next man competing forfeited his time and a chance to win $100. “Man, I am not a poet,” he muttered before wandering off the stage, looking like a toddler lost at the supermarket.

Late run leads to Hoosier victory

By Matt Mattucci · Thursday, Feb. 22,2007 12 a.m.

The IU men’s basketball needed something to go its way during Wednesday night’s game against Minnesota. Shots fell and rebounds bounced their way, but the Hoosiers clung to a small lead that they could not increase.

Oncourse and sex machines

By Colin Dugdale · Thursday, Feb. 22,2007 12 a.m.

Pimples, tumors and testicle sweat: These are now the only attributes that distinguish human beings from robots. Our imperfections.

Radio host, humorist Garrison Keillor tells Lake Wobegon stories

By Whitney Wyckoff · Thursday, Feb. 22,2007 12 a.m.

Garrison Keillor, host of the live variety radio show “A Prairie Home Companion,” walked on stage wearing red shoes with matching socks and a tie Wednesday evening at the IU Auditorium for a sold-out show that kicked off Arts Week.

Student presents play about coping with heroin addiction

By Annysa LaMantia and Anyssa LaMantia · Thursday, Feb. 22,2007 12 a.m.

Garlia Jones never got to say goodbye to a close friend who died of a heroin overdose last year. Jones, finishing her master’s degree in African American and African Diaspora Studies, is the writer and director of the play “Against the Grain,” which debuts at 8 p.m. today at the John Waldron Arts Center, 122 S. Walnut St. “When he died, the best thing for me to do was to write,” said Jones, who wrote the play for her master’s thesis production.

Event to promote Asian culture

By Rorye O'Connor and Rorye O'Conner · Thursday, Feb. 22,2007 12 a.m.

The Asian American Association is putting a spin on MTV’s “Diary” TV series this Friday at its annual fashion show. The IU show, titled “The Diary of an Asian American,” will feature several types of dancing and runway modeling from different Asian organizations on campus.