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DMX cancels IU benefit concert

The concert featuring Grammy-nominated rapper DMX was canceled, said Jonathan Potts, a spokesperson for the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.

Academia's fastest computer IU-bound

IU will soon be home to the country's fastest university-owned supercomputer and disk-based storage facility, making IU one of the most well-equipped colleges in terms of research and technology in the world. The computer, made by IBM, will be one of the world's 20 fastest.

Digital Images

Digital Images --Children look at drawings from Bug's Life on a huge screen called 'Artscape' which shows how artists are inspired to moving images from the 2D art process, at the Science Museum, London, Thursday March 30, 2006.

Local live music highlights Union Board's Annual Club Night at Rhino's Youth Center

Live music seems to come with a high price. It is not unheard of for students to spend at least $50 on concert tickets to hear their favorite band. Luckily, IU students have a chance to hear 10 local bands live Thursday night, spend no more than $5 and help feed the hungry.

Foster Student Government invites students to block party with food, music

If a break from studying from exams is necessary this weekend, the Foster/McNutt Spring Block Party can be a scapegoat.

Nice girls don't wear little black dresses

Where's the artist in the art?

A urinal with Marcel Duchamp's signature painted on the side started it all. He wanted to challenge the assumption that art required an artist, so in 1917, Duchamp submitted the otherwise untouched bathroom fixture for exhibition and revolutionized art.

Booked solid

Throughout his career, the English poet W.H. Auden held the belief that "some books are undeservedly forgotten; none are undeservedly remembered."

Shaolin's finest returns

As one-tenth of Wu-Tang Clan, Ghostface Killah's latest solo release Fishscale is undoubtedly going to draw comparisons to the hip-hop super group. But where many have failed, Ghostface has succeeded, creating a name for himself outside of the gig that forever immortalized his unique lyricism. Ghostface's talent speaks for itself, and with the release of Fishscale, he continues to prove that he is one of hip-hop's premier musicians with or without Wu-Tang at his back. Beginning with a rather customary affirmation of how real his shit is, "Shakey Dog," kicks off the album in appropriate fashion.

Where everybody knows your name

Almost everyone is familiar with the classic NBC sitcom, "Cheers." Back in the '80s, audiences related to the show's colorful cast: a group of Boston locals who frequented a bar (the show's primary setting) to indulge in bubbly libations, shoot the breeze and have some fun. If the fictitious bar were an actual place, it would be hard to visit and not find the same customers drinking the same thing every time you dropped by -- and in some cases, they'd be sitting in the same seats.

Scares, laughs, a fleet of alien slugs

How refreshing it is to see a horror film that isn't about sexy hip teens being hip and having sexy teen sex. Instead the makers of "Slither" thought that they could cover their lack of teen sexiness with intelligent, if slightly dark, humor. People have attempted the comedy horror before, usually they are parodies of the horror genre like "Shaun of the Dead" or "Scream," but "Slither" is different. It doesn't parody anything. It is just funny.

Indie rock band a true phenomena

Many of the New York based indie rock pioneers of the last five years, such as The Strokes and Interpol, broke ground with their debut releases, which were then followed by extensive hiatuses and sophomore albums that fans, for the most part, believed hardly compared to their debuts. However, comparing debuts with follow up albums is never a good thing, and the disappointment that fans face after expecting another, Is This It leads to a cautious approach whenever their favorite band releases a new album.

Hunting with a stylus

One of the longest awaited Nintendo DS titles, "Metroid Prime: Hunters" dates back to an early tech demo shown when the DS handheld debuted in 2004. Improved substantially from that early version, the game still serves to demonstrate the capacity of the DS, boasting some of the best 3-D graphics and online capabilities of any title on the system. "Hunters" utilizes the DS touch screen to ape the popular and precise mouse aiming control configuration of PC first-person shooters, as opposed to the more sluggish "dual analog" controls most console shooters employ. While this precision aiming signifies a departure from the classic "Metroid" recipe, it truly works well in "Hunters'" fast paced multiplayer bouts, which feel more in the vein of "Quake 3: Arena" or "Unreal Tournament" than anything "Metroid" related.

Ice Age 2: The environment strikes back

A family film should be good for the family (and maybe for a date, as well), and "Ice Age: The Meltdown" is certainly that. Very impressive animation is presented in this film, which will impress the older viewer and dazzle the younger viewer. However, as a legitimate, enjoyable movie, "Ice Age 2" unfortunately falls short of the standards that the first "Ice Age" set. The first film is filled with funny, often hilarious moments and the characters are all incredibly differentiated and fun. In the sequel, the three new major characters are missing the complexity of the three original main characters. There is Ellie (voiced by Queen Latifah), the female mammoth who is convinced she is a possum, and her two brothers, Eddie and Crash (actual possums).

Mr. Ford on Mr. Lincoln

John Ford made several undeniable masterpieces during his half-century of directing from 1917 to 1966. "Young Mr. Lincoln" is not one of those masterpieces, but it is a great film in its own right. Concerning the life of Abraham Lincoln during his tenure as a lawyer in mid-1830s Illinois, Ford's film is based much less on historical fact than on a mythologized view of the man who would come to be one of our greatest presidents.

It's not so hard out here to get pimped

Bloomington car lovers don't need Xzibit to pimp their rides. They do it themselves. Ten-switch hydraulics, custom paint and window designs, crushed velvet interior and enough bass to wake up Martinsville are featured in rides pimped right here in Bloomington. For more than 10 years, members of Bloomington car club, "The Player$," have been traveling to car shows to show off their rides. Many of them have been obsessed with cars their whole lives, buying their first show car at age 16. The love of bikes started at age five for Doug Smith, 26, manager of Ackerman Auto Detail who rode dirt bikes before he could get a street bike.

King of what?

"And the prophecy read, that one day, like the phoenix that rose from the ashes, that a boy would be born unto a family in the slums. This boy would go on to use the knowledge he gained, while fighting for survival in the streets, to become a great leader. And in time that boy would grow to become king!" This is the first thing you hear on Tip "T.I." Harris' new album, King. Apparently in T.I.'s opinion he's reached the pinnacle of rap. With 18 new tracks producing over 70 minutes of music, it's clear that T.I. definitely put a lot into the project. And with his starring role in the new film "ATL," it's clear T.I. had a busy year.

'Memoirs' is a memorable experience

If "King Kong" was the greatest visual spectacle in the digital world last year, then "Memoirs of a Geisha" would be its non-digital counterpart -- a wonderful creation that takes the viewer into a long forgotten world of absolute beauty and artistic splendor. Based on the best-selling fiction novel by Arthur Golden, "Geisha" tells of Sayuri, a fisherman's daughter sold to a geisha house after her parents can no longer support her. At first known to us as Chiyo (a promising debut by 12-year-old Suzuka Ohgo), her struggles with this new lifestyle seem an impossible task to achieve.

IDS CLASSIC ALBUMS:

I hate listening to 40-year-olds constantly tell me that there is no such thing as good music anymore. Part of the reason is, unfortunately, I kind of agree with them. Although modern music still shows glimmers of hope, more often than not, every time I turn on the radio (which is increasingly rare) all I hear is generic rip-offs and cookie-cutter bands that completely lack any artistic creativity or integrity. But there is still hope. There are still a select group of bands today that are "artists" in the true sense of the word. And one band that is leading the charge is Radiohead.

Fagen 'Morphs,' buys a thrill

Donald Fagen's first solo release in 13 years plays like several stories. The former Steely Dan member does not disappoint in Morph the Cat. The album leads off with its self-titled track whose reprise closes the album as well. Fagen incorporates some good old muted trumpet and sax as part of the solos on Morph. The album's first single, "H Gang," tells the story of a band trying to make it in showbiz. The rise and fall of the band eventually resorts to becoming associated with a movie in production that you may recognize.