Longform

Museum: art, coffee nights

Coffee, art and music come together for the first three Thursday evenings in September as the IU Art Museum introduces its "Coffeehouse Nights at the Art Museum." From 7-9 p.m. Sept. 7, 14 and 21, guests can stroll through a featured gallery enjoy live music related to the evening's theme - from Turkish melodies to coffeehouse jazz to African beats.

'Plucky' harpist has won competitions worldwide

Fourteen-year-old Jane Yoon strode confidently across the stage at the 2001 USA International Harp Competition in her yellow silk dress. She was not competing; however, she was a guest performer. The previous year she won the Japanese International Harp Competition in Tokyo, making her the youngest participant and the only Korean to win. She had also begun her studies under Susann MacDonald at IU.

'Four Square' displays angles of graphic design

Each square is made up of four sides. The four professors of graphic design in IU's Hope School of Fine Arts have collaborated in a new exhibit entitled "Four Square" that will have its opening reception 7-9 p.m. tomorrow at the SoFA gallery.

Around the Arts

Ben Folds tickets on sale tomorrow WHEN: 10 a.m. Friday WHERE: IU Auditorium box office and all Ticketmaster locations MORE INFORMATION: Tickets cost $25 for IUB students and $35 for non-students. IUB students may charge tickets to their bursar account if purchased at the IU Auditorium box office. Student ticket holders will be required to show a valid IUB student ID when entering this event. Ben Folds will play at 8 p.m., Nov. 9 at the IU Auditorium.

I NEED HELP

Research group Student Monitor conducted a recent study among America's college students which revealed that 73% of students surveyed rated iPods as more "in" than drinking beer. Congratulations, Apple. You have officially conquered the college demographic. Because of the portable MP3 player's intimidating popularity, the iPod has become a household name with other brands like Ford and McDonald's. The gadget has become engrained into our culture.

THE DISH

Israeli blockade of Lebanese air and sea ports to be lifted

JERUSALEM -- Israel said it will lift its sea and air blockade of Lebanon today as it faced widespread international pressure more than three weeks after a cease-fire took effect, ending a bloody month-long conflict with Hezbollah guerrillas.

Revamped, retro-style theaters allow residents to drive in, drive out

If you ask your grandparents (and some of your parents) what it meant to "go to the movies," their answer may be significantly different than yours. Fifty years ago, few were the posh theaters with 20 screens, stadium seating, air conditioning and a smorgasbord of overpriced candy. And reserving tickets ahead of time online was not even a fathomable luxury. Back in the good ol' days, "catching a movie" suggested one thing; a nearly obsolete practice that's usually seen only in movies themselves: pulling up in your car to a drive-in theater.

Welcome back, primetime

For the first time in a couple of years, my DVR is being used to its fullest capacity. In the past five years the networks faltered and primetime programming fell into a deep reality TV abyss, one I thought we would never navigate our way out of. Don't get me wrong, for the first couple of years it was mildly entertaining to see how far people would go to win an exorbitant amount of money.

Seriously, Entourage: Be more like Weeds

What if I were to tell you that Entourage became formulaic and stale in its third season with lame characters like Dom, and Weeds is getting more chronic every episode. Is that something you might be interested in? The pace of Weeds flies by even though they start each episode the second the last episode ends. While Entourage meanders through finding Vince a new project week after week, Weeds' plot lines weave in and out.

Italian reissue skewers family's hypocrisy

"We're not millionaires or barons. Our only treasure is our good name", says patriarch Don Vincenso (Saro Urzi) in "Seduced and Abandoned". It's a philosophy most people live by, but to him, it's more of a duty. As a result, he and his family are thrown into a series of emotionally distressing yet comedic events, sparked by the affair between his daughter Matilde's fiancé, Peppino (Aldo Puglisi) and his other daughter, Agnese (Stefania Sandrelli). Pietro Germi, who also wrote and directed "Divorce-Italian Style", offers another clever and amusing satire which provides a glimpse into the idiosyncrasies of Italian family values and traditions during the 1960's in small-town Sicily.

Bush admits to secret CIA prisons

WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Wednesday acknowledged the existence of previously secret CIA prisons around the world and said 14 high-value terrorism suspects -- including the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks -- have been transferred from the system to Guantanamo Bay for trials.

Carving up a third season

When season two of "Nip/Tuck" came to a close, the mysterious murderer "The Carver" had just paralyzed Dr. Christian Troy (Julian McMahon) and taken a fine slash to his handsome features. Commence season three. Who could the Carver be? Who has the sick and twisted mentality to run around Miami slashing open the faces of all the beautiful people while leaving a simple note stating, "Beauty is a curse upon the world?"

Hip-hop H20

He's cool. He's crunk. And now he spreads the word about the world's impending water crisis. Jigga, what?

Pizza delivery driver robbed at gunpoint

A delivery worker for Domino's Pizza was robbed at gunpoint Tuesday night when he was called to deliver a pizza to a vacant house.

The best in bathroom writing

The United States of America:land of the free, home of the brave, cesspool for the non-sensical and abstract.

A treatise to coexist

A Jew, a Catholic and a Muslim meet on the square. But instead of being the beginning of a bad joke, it is the embodiment of something profoundly beautiful. A few weeks before students arrived, when the recent conflict between Israel and Lebanon was at its height, about 100 Bloomington citizens representing the aforementioned faiths, along with many others, met on the square (the area surrounding the Monroe County Courthouse).

Homeowner wounds one teen and kills another during an apparent robbery

KOKOMO — A man who took a gun when he answered a knock on his door shot two would-be teenage robbers early Tuesday, killing one and wounding another, police said.

No tuition without representation

In the great American tradition of decision-making, IU has formed a committee to fill the monumental role of University president. The committee has been working furiously to find the brightest, most qualified individual to lead this great institution into a new generation of high-tech higher education. Its task is not an easy one. The president is not only the face of the University, but also an administrator, a fund-raiser, a spokesman and lobbyist. He or she must be personable but business oriented; if he or she stands seven-feet-tall and shoots lightning from his eyes, all the better.

Federal Appeals court to hear Indiana House prayer case

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana House leaders will seek private donations in their efforts to overturn a federal judge's ruling restricting opening prayers in the body's Statehouse chambers, House Speaker Brian Bosma said Tuesday.