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This film has been rated: Not so good

By C. Warner Sills and Benny Goldman · Thursday, Feb. 1,2007 12 a.m.

What makes a movie G, PG, PG-13, R or, most controversially, NC-17? Is gay sex more explicit than straight sex? Why is violence more acceptable than sex in American cinema? Is it all a giant government conspiracy? Documentarian Kirby Dick attempts to answer these questions and more in his independently released feature on the ratings board of the Motion Picture Association of America, "This Film is Not Yet Rated."

'Road' goes nowhere

By C. Warner Sills and Wes Jakacki · Thursday, Feb. 1,2007 12 a.m.

In the past year, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and Bob Dylan have all released albums to much critical acclaim. Now Indiana legend John Mellencamp follows suit with his first album since his 2003 cover album, Trouble No More. This album is standard Mellencamp in that it sounds like what he is, a Midwest baby-boomer singing in the name of America's heartland.

Oscar Season: Little Miss Overrated!

By C. Warner Sills and Michael Mellini · Thursday, Feb. 1,2007 12 a.m.

For a movie-goer, Oscar season is like bulimia: There's so much great cinema, glamorous movie stars and Billy Crystal to gorge on, but when your favorites are overlooked and the ceremony is overexposed, Oscar, too, can leave you drained, feeling empty and crying in a bathroom stall.

The Indiana Daily Student

Smokin' dat chronic Wii

By C. Warner Sills and Joanna Borns · Thursday, Feb. 1,2007 12 a.m.

Ever since Nintendo came out with the Wii, marijuana connoisseurs everywhere are a little more confused than usual. Maybe this is just because I'm on a college campus, but I've heard many complaints that "Wii" sounds almost exactly like "weed." Thus, there are many misunderstandings to be had. Where's the best place to score some Wii? Should they legalize Wii? Blaze the Wii out there. Psychoactive drugs aside, my first Wii experience was captivating. It was Wii Sports at a friend's house. I made a digital character that looked just like me and I named it Ramrod. I was brand new to the concept of Wii, and the idea of people accidentally flinging their remotes into their televisions in the heat of the moment was both hilarious and exhilarating. God bless wrist straps.

Live Arcade 'assault'

By C. Warner Sills and Chris Freiberg · Thursday, Feb. 1,2007 12 a.m.

While the weekly retreads of '80s arcade classics are a fun diversion on Xbox Live Arcade, it's nice to see that the service encourages developers to pump out some good, cheap original games too. While "Assault Heroes" has some of the best graphics yet for an Arcade game (this could easily be mistaken for an early Xbox 1 title), its gameplay is straight up old school. The left analogue stick controls your vehicle or Rambo-style mercenary. The right analogue stick shoots. And you shoot a lot in this game--from green guys with guns to uh, crazy screaming red guys with guns. And the occasional giant mechanical spider (which might also require a grenade or a nuke).

Legendary Zelda Game excedes expectations

By C. Warner Sills and John Barnett · Thursday, Feb. 1,2007 12 a.m.

Most long-time Nintendo supporters live by their own special calendar, punctuated not by days, weeks and months, but by the release of producer Shigeru Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma's "Legend of Zelda" games. The three milestones on this calendar, all designed as flagship games for their respective consoles, are 1992's "A Link to the Past" for the Super Nintendo, 1998's "Ocarina of Time" for the Nintendo 64, and now "Twilight Princess" for the Nintendo Wii.

Where's the commentary?

By C. Warner Sills and John Barnett · Thursday, Feb. 1,2007 12 a.m.

If the initial media reaction to Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain" was any indication, you'd think homosexuality was as foreign a concept in 2005 Los Angeles as it was in early-1960s Wyoming. Tune out the faux-horror gasps at the story of two part-time cowboys finding unspoken affection on the range and what you get is an essential human drama where the oft-clichéd concept of forbidden love is updated for a new era.

Nintendo's latest gaming system a BIG HIT

By Zack Teibloom and Zack Teibloom and David Cross · Thursday, Feb. 1,2007 12 a.m.

One of my earliest memories is looking for fun on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Seeking guidance, I went up to the master of fun and said, "Daddy, what's the funnest thing in the whole wide world?" Without hesitation he said "sex," and walked away. Well, he was right, but if you were to ask me the funnest video game in the whole wide world, I wouldn't have to hesitate either. I would hand you a Wii-mote and say "Wii Sports." Let's bowl and then maybe some home-run derby and a boxing match.

PS3 Superbowl Shuffle

By C. Warner Sills and Zack Teibloom · Thursday, Feb. 1,2007 12 a.m.

Bloomington is a town divided. Even at Assembly Hall, as Hoosiers unite in a common goal of winning a basketball game, the war of words between the navy and orange and the blue and white gets ugly. With a fortnight between the Colts and Bears clinching their spots in the Superbowl and the playing out of the epic game, we're getting antsy for some action. We turned to Madden and a four-man PS3 battle for supremacy. Chris Freiberg and I "beared down" with sexy Rexy and the Bears while Chris Wisner and Michael Mellini tried to prove Peyton could win the big one.

A 'Veil' of gray

By Chris Wisner and compiled by Chris Wisner · Thursday, Feb. 1,2007 12 a.m.

Much like 2005's "The White Countess," "The Painted Veil" takes an excellent cast of actors and places them in tumultuous China during the late 1920s, somehow managing to make the story as bland and boring as possible. Edward Norton and Naomi Watts star as Walter and Kitty Fane, a doctor and his wife who leave their London setting to battle a cholera epidemic that breaks out in Shanghai. Upon their arrival, Kitty, bored to tears and disappointed with her marriage, has an affair with local diplomat Charlie Townsend (Liev Schreiber), which Walter is all too aware of. And so Walter declares a proposition to his wife: Come with him to a cholera colony deep in the Yangtze Valley in an attempt to redeem herself or suffer a painful divorce that will leave her in ruins. Obviously, she takes the first offer.

Pick this Lily

By C. Warner Sills and Brian J. McFillen · Thursday, Feb. 1,2007 12 a.m.

Pop stars don't have a reputation for possessing much in the way of brains. This might be somewhat unfair -- Madonna, for example, has a reputation for savvy-ness (at least, before she started getting weird). I suspect most of us think of Britney Spears' and Jessica Simpson's profound dimness. Or the "American Idol" formula, where folks with vocal talent get ahead by singing others' songs -- where they're automatons shaped and controlled by producers and Svengalis. "Who cares what they're singing," the thinking seems to go, "as long as they sigh on the beat?"

Not dead yet

By C. Warner Sills and Ryan McLaughlin · Thursday, Feb. 1,2007 12 a.m.

Built in 1941, the Cow Palace, originally known as the California State Livestock Pavilion, functioned as a home for cattle before becoming a popular indoor arena. The venue has seen numerous legendary musical acts, including The Beatles, The Doors, Pink Floyd and Nirvana, and developed a lustrous history for hosting legendary shows. (Neil Young's 1978 Live Rust album was recorded at the Cow Palace). Rhino Records' official release of the Grateful Dead's 1976 performance at the Cow Palace shows the Dead playing one of the best New Year's shows of their career.

Colonization through gunfire

By Chris Wisner and compiled by Chris Wisner · Thursday, Feb. 1,2007 12 a.m.

Shortly after the Xbox 360 launched in late 2005, Capcom released a trailer that quickly became one of the most anticipated titles for the system: "Lost Planet: Extreme Condition." There we watched as a man ripped holes into alien scum with a machine gun only before hopping into a giant mech equipped with Gatling guns and rocket launchers. Yeah, it was pretty sweet.

Jonesin' for Norah?

By C. Warner Sills and Andy Shore · Thursday, Feb. 1,2007 12 a.m.

Not Too Late, the third release from Norah Jones, which hit shelves Tuesday, is everything one would expect from the sweet-singing Jones. The album is once again centered on Jones' beautiful voice. The combination of jazz, blues, country and pop overtones in her voice provide for an incredible sound that these tracks put on showcase. The album has a more mature, full sound than Jones' two previous albums, 2004's Feels Like Home and 2002's Come Away With Me.

I love my box: The 360 monologues

By C. Warner Sills and Chris Freiberg · Thursday, Feb. 1,2007 12 a.m.

Spending time with all three next-gen systems only further convinced me that I made the right decision in purchasing an Xbox 360. Frankly, it seems like the best bang for your buck. Admittedly, the PS3 version of "Madden 07" did look a tad bit better, but not worth shelling out an additional $100-$200 for the system. Bring out a true killer-app PS3-exclusive in a couple years though that really shows the graphical difference between the two. Still, nothing on the PS3 looks as good "Gears of War" on the 360. And for some weird reason the new Dualshake controller feels kind of flimsy compared to the weightier Xbox 360 wireless controller.

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