Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
Monday, April 27
The Indiana Daily Student

Region


The Indiana Daily Student

'Pirates' action-packed summer fun

·

It's about time a pirate flick wormed its way to the big screen again. What says adventure more than stingy, tooth-decayed scourges of the seas striving to snatch some booty? Needless to say, my expectations were high for this summer blockbuster, and happily, they were met.


The Indiana Daily Student

Nothing beats a bunch of nerdy kids in a spelling bee

·

"Spellbound" is a uniquely boring and uncritical look at the National Spelling Bee. Focusing on eight children and their quest for the championship, the movie pries ever so gently into the lives of these kids, barely unearthing their possibilities and disturbing elements. As one mother says, "someone told me this was another form of child abuse."


The Indiana Daily Student

More 'Songs' about barrios and food

·

Quetzal has the worst quality a rock en espanol band can have. It's not from a Spanish-speaking country. In fact, the group is from Los Angeles. That's too bad because while the new Cafe Tacuba album gets most of the attention among recently released rock en espanol albums, Quetzal's Worksongs is hardly far behind.


The Indiana Daily Student

('Phone Booth' -- R)

·

It had potential. "Phone Booth" could have been a good movie, possibly. The basic premise is a snotty, small-time publicist with a big head and basic disrespect for humanity is trapped inside a phone booth by a sniper wanting to either kill him or change his life forever. Kiefer Sutherland plays the "voice" on the phone -- the sniper -- and successfully comes across as a psychopath. Colin Farrell's performance is very intense and he displays his acting chops very well.

The Indiana Daily Student

'Space-cowboy' pretenders

·

Seriously, so much for the city. These guys sound so sick of the California stock that they feel the need to sonically reference old school retreatists the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers. It's kind of perplexing to find out that The Thrills are actually from Dublin.



The Indiana Daily Student

Apparently Oklahoma folks are a little different

·

Let's call this Pavement-based, weirdo rock by kids who listen to hip hop. The Starlight Mints second album, Built on Squares, is a transmission of desert space alien rock, with lyrics about girls and stories that give them a touch of earthiness. Even when they are ripping licks off the Kinks, this seven-person unit sounds tight in a cello, triangle, sound effects sort of way.


The Indiana Daily Student

Less 'Mary' is actually 'More'

·

"There's Something About Mary" was an undeniably special film upon its release some five years ago. It hearkened back to the gross-out genre established by such classics as "Animal House" and "Caddyshack," which had gone ignored by major Hollywood studios for the better part of two decades. Replete with potshots at the mentally handicapped, long, lingering shots of breasts (albeit sagging, wrinkly ones) and a variety of jokes revolving around Ben Stiller's penis, "Mary" was and still is a revelation. There really is something about "Mary" -- hence, the new DVD treatment.


The Indiana Daily Student

Luke Wilson, what the hell happened?

Luke Wilson comes across as a generally nice fellow onscreen. Usually, he portrays the affable everyman, and that's most assuredly part of his appeal. Dudes relate to him and chicks want to have relations with him.


The Indiana Daily Student

It's kind of like dinner with your mother

·

With a haze that recalls Yo La Tengo, hooks that resemble Pavement, song structures and vocals that evoke Elliott Smith and a producer who is duck-call player Jason Lytle from Grandaddy, Earlimart has the attention of the indie crowd which isn't obsessed with originality. And since the album title makes a statement for solidarity, Earlimart sounds like the house band for its forefathers.


Farrar's turn to experiment

·

Jay Farrar, founding member of Uncle Tupelo, has been around long enough to know his stuff. Whether or not you agree that Uncle Tupelo was the pioneering alternative country act, the power behind Farrar and co-founder Jeff Tweedy was undeniable.


The Indiana Daily Student

Guster musters to 'Keep It Together'

·

Boston-based rockers Guster have returned following a four-year hiatus with the intermittently entertaining and ultimately unchallenging Keep It Together. The trio, best known for its simplistic acoustic guitar and bongo-driven sound, has diversified by integrating pianos, banjos and the occasional flirtation with all instruments electric into the mix. This broader sonic palette makes Keep It Together a moderately more interesting listen than its predecessors, and yet, Guster seems unable to lift itself into the higher echelons of the pop pantheon.


The Indiana Daily Student

Streetball comes to Indy

·

Conseco Field House in Indianapolis throbbed with bass and hip-hop showmanship. Dizzying combinations of white spotlights and erratically swerving blue and amber lights punctuated a pair of rap artists on the basketball court exhorting the crowd to "bounce -- everybody bounce, bounce." The act was prelude to a game between the AND 1 company's traveling team of streetballers plus the "home" team, which consists of more AND 1 players as well as three young men from Indianapolis. The "home" team qualified to be a part of the spectacle by beating out 97 other players in an open run tournament in the parking lot of the Field House earlier in the day. The play was an extravagantly flashy modification of Harlem Globetrotters style tricks and entertainment, stripped of the comedic camp and infused with an over-the-top playground style. Players are christened with colorful superhero-esque names like Flash, Headache and Chisel for their streetball alter-egos.


The Indiana Daily Student

Funding will remain intact after attempts to block grants for Kinsey study, other sex research

·

The Kinsey Institute will retain funding for a study of mood and sexual behavior despite conservative efforts to block federal grants for the research. Last Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 212-210 to defeat an amendment proposed by Rep. Patrick J. Toomey, R-Pa., that would have prevented the National Institutes of Health from funding the Kinsey study and three other sex research projects.


The Indiana Daily Student

Berlin draws techno fans

·

BERLIN -- Hundreds of thousands of techno music fans -- many in costume, others in not much at all -- jammed into the German capital Saturday for the annual Love Parade.


The Indiana Daily Student

'Bangkok 8' a great read

·

Life with sex, innuendo and Buddhist sensibilities, "Bangkok 8," the latest novel from established writer John Burdett, is a gripping mystery set in the pulsating city of Krung Thep -- more commonly known as Bangkok to us. While focusing on the seedy underbelly of the city, Burdett is careful to note that the sex trade in Bangkok, while world famous, is actually smaller than that of Taiwan, the Phillipines or the United States.


The Indiana Daily Student

'Angels' is worth seeing

·

At first glance, "My Three Angels" might appear to have a less-than-ideal situation for comedy. It is set in French Guiana in 1910, the South American country was then a penal colony of the French government.


The Indiana Daily Student

Suspected pro-Hussein Iraqis target US plane

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Suspected pro-Saddam Hussein insurgents fired a surface-to-air missile at a U.S. military C-130 transport plane as it landed at Baghdad International Airport on Wednesday, but missed the target, a coalition military spokesman said.



The Indiana Daily Student

Pro-Hussein Iraqis target U.S. plane in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Suspected pro-Saddam Hussein insurgents fired a surface-to-air missile at a U.S. military C-130 transport plane as it landed at Baghdad International Airport on Wednesday, but missed the target, a coalition military spokesman said.