Community Arts

New tap dance club seeks members

Students with "any inkling to tap dance" are encouraged to join a tap dance club being developed by senior Kyle Daley and IU tap dance instructor Allana Radecki. Daley said she has created flyers to post and promote the club, which she hopes will begin meeting in the next couple of weeks. She said "all different types of people with all different levels of tap dance skill" are invited to attend club meetings, where students have an opportunity to practice tap dance.

SIDEWALK RUNWAY

Historic deal signed to return looted treasures to the Met

ROME -- New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art will return 21 looted artifacts to Italy in exchange for loans of other treasures in a deal signed Tuesday that the Italians called a model for other museums with stolen goods in their collections. Met chief Philippe de Montebello said the agreement with officials from the Italian Culture Ministry "corrects a number of improprieties and errors committed in the past" and would encourage museums to put in place new legal and ethical measures.

Talent in our town

The Bloomington community and IU are proud to collaborate once again on ArtsWeek, an annual two-week arts festival. After 22 years, the festival has continually expanded to include dance, exhibit, film, music, talk and theater events. Mike Wilkerson, ArtsWeek coordinator and director, explained that the festival was originally ArtsWeekend and was mainly a venue for art programs on campus to showcase their talents. "However, as the festival evolved, we started getting more involvement from community organizations," Wilkerson said. "The biggest change that has occurred for this festival is that the community has now come to feel that they are full partners in this and really want to contribute significantly."

IU to host Big Ten Championships

The No. 11 IU men's swimming and diving team welcomes some top-ranked teams to the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center today as they play host to the 2006 Big Ten Championships. The Big Ten currently boasts seven teams in the top 25. "This is a very emotional atmosphere," IU coach Ray Looze said. "I expect it to be charged and electric." Senior Kevin Swander said "electric" would be an understatement when describing the mood inside IU's home facility.

IU seeks top-5 conference finish

Coming off an overtime thriller against nationally ranked Purdue last weekend, the IU women's basketball team will take the court tonight versus No. 22 Minnesota with hopes of claiming a top-five spot in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers (15-10 overall, 9-5 in conference) traveled to West Lafayette for Sunday's conference matchup with their in-state rivals. A deep Cyndi Valentin 3-pointer sent the game into overtime, where the senior guard hit two free throws with seconds remaining to ice the victory for IU.

Strick-ly speaking

Take a deep breath Hoosier fans, the bleeding has finally stopped. After losing five straight games and falling out of contention in the Big Ten race, the Hoosiers earned a home victory against Penn State last night, 69-65. IU was able to secure the win because they had a huge rebounding margin (plus 12), played hard throughout and senior guard Marshall Strickland was simply on fire.

Win raises tourney hopes

Senior guard Marshall Strickland cemented his place in IU lore Wednesday -- in more ways than one. On the night, Strickland became IU's 40th 1,000-point scorer, led the Hoosiers to a 69-65 win over Penn State and kept the team's NCAA Tournament hopes alive. The senior wingman scored nothing but 3-pointers, shooting 7-for-11 from deep, including an NBA-range three that put IU ahead for good. "We can exhale now," Strickland said. "It feels like we got a little monkey off our back and we can gear up for Sunday."

So cold it's hot

Ah, the magic of a fresh winter's snow. Upon viewing the world, all quiet and soft, blanketed in white, there's nothing I'd rather do than pick up a .22-caliber rifle. I have a theory that winter makes people go mad. Why should anyone act rationally when it's 27 degrees? Cold weather seems to bring out the wacky side in everyone, be they students or Olympic athletes. I saw a student the other day -- she looked cold, so cold. The temperature was below freezing and she was crossing the street wearing a denim mini skirt. Sure, there were furry boots involved, but the most striking feature of this fashion statement was the eerily pallid tone of the exposed skin. I pray, for the sake of your skin tissue and mine, that frostbite-chic is not the next big thing.

White Faces

When I was younger, I had a mental issue that is commonly referred to as "the awkward years," only mine were, well, weird. I didn't like the way I looked, but not because of acne or the 10 strands of hair growing in on my upper lip. I actually wanted a bigger nose, more defined cheekbones and dark brown skin. Basically I wanted to look like this statuette of an Aztec Indian that sat on my dresser. Lame, I know, but it's true. I just wanted to look more Mexican. My dad looked really Mexican, there is no mistaking him, but me, not so much.

Winning the race

Talk about "race relations" in America at the moment, and the images that spring to mind are rank populists preaching cheap separatism at the expense of national unity. As a rule, I don't abide demagogues. And so, as "Black History Month" finally draws to a close, I'd like to suggest a return to an older, higher vision of race in America. Long gone are the days when Americans aimed to eradicate the sin of racism by arguing against inequitable group entitlement. This healthy response to a grave injustice has given way to an overt defense of entitlement.

Cut it ... off?

An 8-year-old Chicago boy is in the middle of a legal battle between his divorced parents. You might say, "This happens all the time." Not exactly like it's happening now. Specifically, his parents are standing in front of a judge, arguing as to whether or not he should be circumcised. To add insult to injury, his parents aren't allowed, by judicial order, to talk to him about it. This is not about a post-breakup culture clash. The boy's mother claims two separate doctors recommended the procedure simply for health reasons. Meanwhile, the father says the surgery is akin to "unnecessary amputation" and could cause his son physical and emotional harm.

Access is everything

Recently, we have criticized the triviality of this year's IU Student Association campaign platform issues. Much of what the campaigns are advocating this year are the resurrected issues that previous IUSA campaigns have proposed, and these old ideas never really took off under previous administrations. Because we recognize IUSA is limited in its power, we have proposed the candidates tackle more feasible issues and make real strides to accomplish what is within their abilities. We have advocated both tickets make campaign pledges to invest more money and student time in sexual assault prevention programs, a cause which neither ticket has so far accepted. Earlier this week, we asked the campaigns to start strongly pushing for student governance.

Nine women, nine stories

"Nine Lives," the new feature from Rodrigo Garcia, breaks new ground by using a familiar idea. It's nine vignettes are reminiscent of past ensemble works like "Magnolia" and the recent "Crash." But "Crash" and "Magnolia" involve story lines that are told in a kind of rotation, "Nine Lives" is linear and straightforward, leading from one story into the next, without looking back. Most films get two hours to say something and don't say nearly as much as Garcia does in the 12-minute sub-sects of this film.

Now presenting, the human body

"Mrs. Henderson Presents" has everything: great acting, a great story and innumerable naked breasts. I tried to count at first, but I lost track after two. Strangely, even though this movie has more nudity than your average girlie magazine, an R-rating almost seems harsh. It is not sexual in the least; rather it is a celebration of the aesthetics of the female form. It raises an interesting point: should a film be rated R simply because it shows a multitude of breasts, while a film that has much stronger sexual content and no nudity gets rated PG-13? I think as a culture our priorities may be a little out of whack.

Family film defies logic

The first time I saw the trailer for the film "Zathura: A Space Adventure," I dismissed it as a "Jumanji" knock-off. The concepts are similar; two siblings that don't get along and are alone for the day find a mysterious board game that generates its own reality and hurls them into a spectacular adventure. They can't get back to their own reality either until they finish the game, but more significantly, the end of the game is the catharsis that results after the characters resolve their personal conflicts.

No need to chill out to this film

Despite many failing elements, "Eight Below" is a better than bad Disney movie that lends for a fun watch. The movie begins with the last Antarctic expedition before the dreaded winter strikes. Gerry Shepard (Paul Walker) is a guide for the National Science Research Base. We see early on that he loves his eight sled canines and they have a very close relationship. Davis McClaren (Bruce Greenwood) is a scientist searching for meteorites from Mercury in a dangerous section of the continent.

All About Me

She's a woman of the world. Leslie Elson, a senior double majoring in journalism and Spanish, began taking Spanish her first year at IU. But what she thought was just fulfilling her foreign language requirement eventually led to a once in a lifetime experiences she won't ever forget. When it comes to studying abroad, Elson has seen it all, or at least a lot of it. She's studied in Madrid, Spain and Cuernavaca, Mexico, which is about 50 miles directly south of Mexico City. "My first inspiration to study abroad was to fulfill the credit hours. But I enjoyed Mexico so much that I decided to go to Spain."

A 'Date' to be stood up

It's bad enough that the movie starts out in a slump as Alyson Hannigan dances around seductively in a fat suit to the song "Milkshake," but what's even worse is that from that point on, the movie doesn't get any better. If you saw the commercials for this movie, you might remember that it's from two of the six writers of "Scary Movie." Well, that doesn't necessarily make it funny. The movie is a parody of date movies, mocking films like "My Best Friend's Wedding" and "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" to "Meet the Parents" and "Meet the Fockers." Julia Jones (Hannigan) is a lot like Bridget Jones; she's a young woman who is, I'll put it nicely, a bit heavy and looking for love. Jones seeks the help of Lil' Hitch (played by "Bad Santa's" Tony Cox) to find her match.

Film examines the Middle East

Ask your average American just what in the hell the Palestinian/Israeli conflict is all about. No. It's not about Iraq. And for something as dreadfully relevant and reported as the fireworks over the West Bank and the Gaza strip, we are horribly uninformed. "Paradise Now," from director Hany Abu-Assad, covers something most of the western world is only familiar with from the occasional 30 second clip on the evening news and could stand to know more about: suicide bombing. It's not easy to discuss something that a lot of the world identifies as rationalized murder without offending someone.