A&E

Ripley's empire of the bizarre to expand

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, Nov. 7,2005 11:34 p.m.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The first thing you'll probably notice is the shark. At 17 feet long, it's the biggest ever caught on rod and reel. What's left of its two terrifying tons now hangs preserved above a dull warehouse floor.

Etch-A-Sketch used as art form

By Brian Baker · Monday, Nov. 7,2005 11:33 p.m.

Drawing crowds to look at well-done manipulations of magnetic dust on magic screens might be simpler than drawing diagonal lines on an Etch-A-Sketch. Senior Dan Gratz has been tweaking the knobs of Ohio Art's most prized invention since he was in high school, killing time in a peer tutoring program. Now Gratz is a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts student at IU whose preferred medium is painting, but he never gave up on what many would consider to be only a children's toy.

Yale makes graduate music school free

By Alyson Brodsy and Matt Apuzzo · Sunday, Nov. 6,2005 11:52 p.m.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- In most of America's top conservatories, the world's most promising musicians are often deep in debt and giving music lessons just to cover the rent and close the gap between their scholarships and graduate school tuition. But a $100 million donation is about to change that scenario at the Yale School of Music.

Annual event celebrates diversity of art forms

By Annysa LaMantia and Anyssa LaMantia · Sunday, Nov. 6,2005 11:51 p.m.

The Buskirk-Chumley Theater was home to a packed audience Saturday night as the African American Dance Company, African American Choral Ensemble and IU Soul Revue came together for their annual event, "A Potpourri of Arts." The African American Arts Institute created the collaborative event in 1993 and has performed it each year since then. The AAAI created the showcase to show the wide range of African American performance produced by the Institute.

IU Art Museum adds gift shop, café

By Adam Sedia · Thursday, Nov. 3,2005 11:26 p.m.

Museums are meant for nothing more than standing and viewing art. Right? Wrong. On Tuesday, the IU Art Museum expanded the concept of what can be done at a museum by opening Angles, a gift shop combined with a café. David Tanner, the Art Museum's associate director for administration, explained the move was made to strengthen the Art Museum's role in the IU educational community.

'Chicks with Dicks' explores tough side of women

By David A. Nosko · Thursday, Nov. 3,2005 11:25 p.m.

You won't hear a peep out of the chicks, but you might hear a scream, catcall, whistle, moan or groan tonight and throughout the month, claims the Bloomington Playwrights' Project. "Chicks with Dicks," written by Trista Baldwin and directed by Richard Perez, is billed by the BPP as a tongue-in-cheek B-movie-like play with a nuclear twist chronicling two rival biker-girl gangs that includes kung-fu fighting, hardcore hair-pulling, mud wrestling and leather bustiers. The play premiered at the Empty Space Theatre in Seattle, and the show ran for one year at the Planet Earth Theatre in Phoenix.

Ultra-short plays wanted for dramatic holiday 'Blizzard'

By David A. Nosko · Wednesday, Nov. 2,2005 10:47 p.m.

Forget the pumpkin pie and the turkey legs. Sleigh bells are ringing, and winter snow is falling, if only in the mind of the playwright. The Bloomington Playwrights' Project is seeking at least 30 ultra-short plays, three to five minutes or three to five pages in length, due by 5 p.m. Friday for the 2005 Ballot Box Blizzard production titled "Holidazed & Confused."

Persimmon recipes

By Alyson Brodsy · Wednesday, Nov. 2,2005 10:41 p.m.

Recipes

Persimmon Country

By Alyson Brodsy and Brittany Hite · Wednesday, Nov. 2,2005 10:39 p.m.

As the leaves change color with the arrival of autumn in southern Indiana, the choice of cuisine changes as well. Fall brings its share of seasonal dishes, and while pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce might be the dishes that come to mind, there are also more offerings: those made from persimmons, a fruit indigenous to the United States that grows wild throughout much of southern Indiana.

The 'mod' look receives new life

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Nov. 1,2005 11:37 p.m.

LOS ANGELES -- A banner reading "1966" hangs above DJ Rena Durrant and her turntables at Club Satisfaction in Hollywood. On the dance floor, doe-eyed girls in polyester A-line dresses and bobbed hair shimmy and shake alongside boys in three-button suits and Beatle boots. A 60s R&B tune fills the room. A film shoot for an "Austin Powers" prequel? Is "American Dreams" returning to prime-time?

Violent children's films raise fears

By Alyson Brodsy and Sandy Cohen · Tuesday, Nov. 1,2005 11:35 p.m.

LOS ANGELES -- A shotgun-wielding hunter mercilessly pursues his target. Angry space aliens vaporize a defenseless town. A bloodthirsty shark preys on the weak and tiny.

Documentary explores legend of 'Ballets Russes'

By Alyson Brodsy and Claudia La Rocco · Tuesday, Nov. 1,2005 11:34 p.m.

NEW YORK -- Agnes de Mille was in London in the summer of 1933 when the new Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo came to town. For the young American choreographer, seeing a Leonide Massine ballet became one of the season's "great erotic pleasures."

Web guides set scene for perfect stays on cross-country trips

By Alyson Brodsy and Roger Petterson · Monday, Oct. 31,2005 11:29 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- Sometimes it's not so much where you go as the character of the place you stay in when you get there that makes a trip a success. The Internet makes it much easier to find one of those perfect spots for your weekend or longer vacation. One of the handiest resources for finding a room with character is Historic Hotels of America -- http://www.historichotels.org/ -- started by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It only lists quality hotels that are least 50 years old and have historic significance.

Contemporary art museum in Chicago features 'Tropicalia'

By Alyson Brodsy and Tara Burghart · Monday, Oct. 31,2005 11:28 p.m.

CHICAGO -- Visitors to the Museum of Contemporary Art's newest exhibit will leave with sand in their shoes. "Tropicalia: A Revolution in Brazilian Culture" is the first major exhibit to examine a nearly 40-year-old cultural movement that affected Brazilian theater, film, architecture, music, fashion, advertising, television and the visual arts.

Getty Museum accused of purchasing stolen goods

By Alyson Brodsy · Sunday, Oct. 30,2005 11:05 p.m.

LOS ANGELES -- The board of the J. Paul Getty Trust has formed a special committee to investigate claims that its world-renowned museum purchased looted art and its chief executive spent lavishly with tax-exempt funds. The committee announced Saturday will include five members of the board but not the trust's chief executive, Barry Munitz, who pledged "full support for this effort," the Getty said in a statement.

'Frankenstein' to be brought alive at pub

By Meghan Lucas · Sunday, Oct. 30,2005 11:04 p.m.

The days of trick-or-treating might have come and gone for most IU students, but this Halloween season, there's more than scantily clad nurses and candy corn in Bloomington. Out of the eerie shadows of the Irish Lion comes a play of monstrous proportions, filled with murder, intrigue, rage and maybe even a misunderstood creature or two. "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein," performed by the Monroe County Civic Theater, takes the stage at 8 p.m. tonight and Tuesday at the Irish Lion. Adapted from Mary Shelley's classic novel, the script of "Frankenstein" is a close adaptation of the literary work. The play closely follows the novel's plotline, veering from the book only in instances where director and playwright Russell McGeesaid he feels the casting and dramatic action need a jolt.

Rocky Horror comes to Bloomington

By Jamie Ward · Sunday, Oct. 30,2005 11:01 p.m.

Halloween arrived early and hundreds lost their "virginity" Saturday night at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater's screening of the 1970s cult classic "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Not having appeared on the big screen in Bloomington in many years, the film's return offered patrons the chance to don their costumes for Halloween while also honoring the traditions of "Rocky Horror" screenings. The event also was a fund-raiser for event sponsor Cardinal Stage Company, a new Bloomington theater group. The group will make its stage debut in January with four performances of Thornton Wilder's classic play, "Our Town," also to be performed at the Buskirk-Chumley. Randy White, a Bloomington resident originally from Canada, acts as the producing artistic director of the company. Having successfully launched a professional theater group in Canada 15 years ago that still continues today, White wants exactly that in Bloomington.

Miss Gay Bloomington gets face-lift

By David A. Nosko · Friday, Oct. 28,2005 12:28 a.m.

Despite a new venue, a new scoring system, an increased purse and the first out-of-state winner in the event's history, one thing remained constant during the 2005 Miss Gay Bloomington pageant Wednesday night at Axis Night Club: the crowning of a citywide champion.

Bluegrass family attains early success

By Alyson Brodsy and John Gerome · Thursday, Oct. 27,2005 12:22 a.m.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The family bluegrass group Cherryholmes was tearing through a song last summer at the Ryman Auditorium when a guitar string snapped. The lanky young picker in a white cowboy hat began working furiously to replace it on the fly. In just a few moments, the new string was in place and the group never missed a beat. Things happen fast for the Cherryholmes clan of Los Angeles.

Directors get creepy on Showtime's 'Masters of Horror' anthology series

By Alyson Brodsy · Thursday, Oct. 27,2005 12:22 a.m.

LOS ANGELES -- In Don Coscarelli's "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road," a seemingly defenseless woman gets to practice her survival skills against a serial killer. In Mick Garris' "Chocolate," a man experiences life through the eyes of a mysterious lady. And in Joe Dante's "Homecoming," deceased U.S. soldiers in Iraq rise from the grave to vote out the politicians who sent them there.