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The week in music

Tax-free books lofty goal for IUSA

Every politician makes campaign promises to get elected and some wind up being enacted, but for the most part, a lot never make it past the beginning stages. This unfortunately seems to be the case with the IU Student Association. For the third consecutive year, IUSA is promising to tax-free textbooks. During the election season this past winter, several IUSA tickets made this issue a campaign promise and pledged to enact it in the near future. But this is not a new concept. Of course everyone would be ecstatic about the possibility of tax- free textbooks. But before we start counting our extra money, we have to ask ourselves: Is this ever going to become a reality?

Gore more conservative than he shows

Lately I've discovered that some Republicans are unhappy with their party's Presidential candidate, George W. Bush. Although I am a Nader supporter, I sympathize with their frustration and would like to offer a solution: Vote for Al Gore.

High schoolers need guidance

Raise your hand if you've shown up to school drunk, lied to a teacher or cheated on a test. Accomplishing all of these might fall into the realm of impossible, but a study shows that most high school kids are giving it the old college try.

Ameritech and me

For the two and a quarter years that I have lived in Bloomington, I have restrained myself from complaining about Ameritech.

Scaring up the perfect costume

It's the one night of the year you can let your inner princess out. Or hip-swiveling Elvis or kinky french maid. Whether you choose to be a sword-wielding, swashbuckling pirate or wear nothing but a loin cloth, it\'s up to you to decide who gets your business this Halloween. Read on to make up your mind about where to shop this Halloween.

Chicago film festival highlights world\'s finest

Chicago -- One hundred five feature films from 31 countries screened in two weeks. This is the insane reality of the oldest competitive international film festival in North America -- the Chicago International Film Festival. Its 36th incarnation began with a jam-packed Chicago Theatre applauding the American premiere of Robert Altman's "Dr. T & the Women, " starring Richard Gere, Oct. 6 and concluded Oct. 8.

'Souls' lost

Remember the bookend scenes of "Edward Scissorhands" where Winona Ryder, then 19 years old, attempted a falsetto accent underneath mounds of latex? Her voice still had a youthful vigor that made this portrayal seem awkward. 10 years later, she stars in "Lost Souls" as a teacher who battles Satan's human host. This time her tone of voice suits the wary dimensions of the role, even if it does not validate her choice of scripts.

Surreal message comes through in \'Los Olvidados\'

Also known as "The Young and the Damned," this film's canvas is filled with the depressing brushstrokes of a juvenile named Pedro, who transforms from delinquent into an accessory for murder in an impoverished hell in Mexico. A far cry from Luis Bunuel's famed comedies, "Los Olvidados" earned Bunuel the best director prize at Cannes.

Richard Gere stands out in 'Dr. T and the Women'

At 75 years young, Robert Altman has been a Hollywood maverick for three decades and counting, which is still apparent in his latest effort, "Dr. T & the Women," a heartfelt and amusing parable about the absurd existence of a gynecologist.

Variety the spice of Portuguese band's style

Cut in with moving bass line. Then layer vocals and drums with syncopated rhythm, and Primitive Reason breaks into the U.S. airwaves for the first time. Primitive Reason's domestic debut, Some of Us, marks the band's third sum effort.

Scaring up the perfect costume

It's the one night of the year you can let your inner princess out. Or hip-swiveling Elvis or kinky french maid. Whether you choose to be a sword-wielding, swashbuckling pirate or wear nothing but a loin cloth, it\'s up to you to decide who gets your business this Halloween. Read on to make up your mind about where to shop this Halloween.

\'The Tao of Steve\' satisfying

So guys, are you a Steve or a Stu? This is the question that Jenniphr Goodman's hilarious "The Tao of Steve" asks the male viewers to answer. Do you want to be a smoothie with the ladies (a la Steve McQueen), or do you want to be horribly awkward and never get the girl (a la Stuart Smalley)?

'ER' still provides suspense

The season premiere of "ER" tried hard to recapture the show's pressure-cooker aura, showing how people's lives can come unglued. But in order to compete with ABC's \"Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,\" the show now has to be more optimistic, undermining its edginess.

Local band fights red tape, continues to rock

An experiment almost three years in the making, Drowse has been around Bloomington for a long time. But its growth into recognition as one of the town's established acts has been slow and painful.

Shades of Mellencamp

He could have just as easily been Johnny Indiana. How about Johnny Puma, Impala or Mustang? It really didn't matter. Introduced to the nation in 1976, Johnny Cougar, a commercial product, was destined to bomb. As a youth, Mellencamp had an unmistakable identity, one he'd chosen for himself. He was the rebel every mother warned her children about. Every small town had one, and Seymour, Ind., was no different.

The week in music

The 'Secret' is out

"Joe Gould's Secret" is a surprisingly intimate, moving and profound recount of the friendship between two literary legends of mid-1900s New York City. There's Joe Gould, an eccentric panhandler who claimed to have written a million-word account of "The Oral History of Our Time." Then there's Joseph Mitchell, the brilliant New Yorker reporter who profiled Gould.

Tim Meadows fights the ladies off with a bat in 'Ladies Man'

"The Ladies Man" has broken a stigma among many a Saturday Night Live movie (excluding "Wayne's World") because it doesn't completely and utterly suck.

Good 'Soul'

Yes, it's official, Collective Soul has finally reached the point in its career where it can perform with Elton John. But is Collective Soul worthy of such an honor? Considering the band is one of the most successful modern rock acts of the '90s with three platinum albums and countless radio hits, it most certainly is. With Blender, Collective Soul continues to do the same thing it's always done; make great rock tracks in many different ways. Blender is much more enthralled in rhythm guitar beats and the occasional sampling than any other Collective Soul album to date. While it is a far cry from the group's traditional rock debut, Hints, Allegations and Things Left Unsaid, it is the next logical step from 1998's Dosage.