Longform

Peels offer up a refined debut

By Mike Ley · Wednesday, Feb. 16,2005 12:02 a.m.

Rock 'n' roll came back with the Strokes and has been stuck in a Stooges rut ever since. This is only acceptable since I can't have that signature Ron Asheton crunch outside of their catalog. Meanwhile, new rock bands have been keeping the hipsters happy with repetitive riffs and slurred speech. In picking up this record, the Peels looked like another '70s throwback, but it turns out that's not all they've been listening to.

Strictly for the grown and sexy

By Sana Jafrani · Tuesday, Feb. 15,2005 11:57 p.m.

With Gemini, Brian McKnight is attempting to show off the more risqué, edgy side of his personality. Listeners are used to the romantic side of McKnight, which produced hits like "Back at One," but now the songs are more sexual in nature. Since this is a more personal album for McKnight, it is appropriately titled with the name of his astrological sign.

Video conference focuses on global politics

By Ryne Shadday · Tuesday, Feb. 15,2005 11:56 p.m.

Despite the lack of attendance on the Bloomington end, the first of four video conferences on service civic engagement was held Tuesday in the Office of International Programs. The conference began with introductions of the 12-member team from IU-South Bend and then moved on to the IUB contingent consisting of five members.

Tickets face off at IUSA debate tonight

By Colleen Corley · Tuesday, Feb. 15,2005 11:55 p.m.

For the tickets looking to take over the IU Student Association offices in April, tonight can make or break a campaign. Four out of the five tickets running for IUSA plan to debate at 8 p.m. in the Oak Room in the Indiana Memorial Union.

'Seventeen Days' not enough to write album

By John Barnett · Tuesday, Feb. 15,2005 11:55 p.m.

With three hit songs and multiple music award nominations under their belt thanks to their last two radio-friendly LPs, Escatawpa, Miss. quartet 3 Doors Down continues to record rock for the working man on their latest release, Seventeen Days; an album as pedestrian as it is superficially earnest.

'P.S.' ... this movie's mediocre

By Tony Sams · Tuesday, Feb. 15,2005 11:48 p.m.

After watching "P.S.," Dylan Kidd's romance, I think there are five sins every romance movie commits. First, find yourself a couple of attractive leading stars; then pull some heartstrings here and there to make the audience coo first, cry next and coo again at the end; recycle the same plot that was cliché even when Shakespeare wrote it; throw in some empty, meaningless comic relief side characters and finally rinse with some quirky angle which makes us believe this romance is the one that breaches the formula.

'Notebook' a noteworthy tearjerker

By Mallory Simon · Tuesday, Feb. 15,2005 11:47 p.m.

Every couple months a director feels the need to force a little love into our lives in one way or another. The love story is often a reproduced, clichéd attempt at a box office hit. And while many of them may indeed become acclaimed (if not critically than with women as a whole), it's not often a movie has actually moved me to find the Kleenex, until now.

Scorsese gem finally gets released

By Chris Wisner and compiled by Chris Wisner · Tuesday, Feb. 15,2005 11:44 p.m.

It's widely considered the greatest film of the '80s. It gathered eight Academy Award nominations including Robert De Niro's second Oscar win. It stands alongside other Scorsese masterworks such as "Goodfellas," "Taxi Driver" and most recently "The Aviator." And finally, after years of being out of print, "Raging Bull" has finally been rereleased as a two-disc collector's edition set.

Escaping into the '90s

By Karen Green · Tuesday, Feb. 15,2005 11:39 p.m.

Let me start this by saying that I truly love the '90s. When the first installment of the series, appropriately titled "I Love the '90s," premiered on VH1 last summer, I ate it up. Through the extensive reruns aired daily, I'm pretty sure I prematurely reminisced about every year in the glorious decade with the well selected panel of comedians.

Exhibit focuses on the experience of travel

By Alyson Brodsy and Tara Burghart · Tuesday, Feb. 15,2005 11:39 p.m.

CHICAGO -- The world's first tourists were pilgrims and sages, traveling to sacred and important sites in search of enlightenment.

Syndicating 'The Sopranos' to help TV

By Tony Sams · Tuesday, Feb. 15,2005 11:38 p.m.

The three questions that zipped through my mind when I heard that A&E -- the basic cable channel most widely known for its somniferous series "Biography" -- had acquired HBO's hit mob drama "The Sopranos," were: 1) When will it start? 2) How much did they pay? And 3) Is it going to be shown unedited?

Happy birthday, Mr. President

By Amy Obermeyer · Tuesday, Feb. 15,2005 11:36 p.m.

What do you do when you can't afford to give out birthday gifts? How about a private office, an A permit and résumé-building contacts? If you have a friend whose birthday falls on Feb. 22 or 23, this could be your lucky day.

Around The State

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Feb. 15,2005 11:34 p.m.

b>Democrats say local governments to bear costs of GOP Plan INDIANAPOLIS -- House Republicans advanced their version of a two-year state budget to the full chamber Tuesday, where it could win passage next week and be sent to the GOP-controlled Senate. Republicans on the budget-writing House Ways and Means Committee endorsed the proposal on a party-line vote, and it will be eligible for amendments on the House floor Thursday. Republicans have a 52-48 majority in the House.

Free to learn and teach

By Brian McFillen and Brain J. McFillen · Tuesday, Feb. 15,2005 11:34 p.m.

Humanities professors might be more "liberal" than the general public, but we don't need affirmative action for conservative professors. As long as professors don't bully students, they have the right to lead their classes unassailed by political crusades supported by a "bill of rights" that lets students whine if they are taught about ideas they disagree with.

New move to daylight-saving time remains in the dark

By Alyson Brodsy and Mike Smith · Tuesday, Feb. 15,2005 11:31 p.m.

INDIANAPOLIS -- GOP Gov. Mitch Daniels and businesses are making the biggest legislative push for daylight-saving time in years, but decades of resistance and partisan politics might block the time change once again. The issue got its most serious consideration in years at the General Assembly Monday. But after a hearing before the House Commerce Committee, the panel's chairman, Republican Rep. Randy Borror of Fort Wayne, postponed a vote.

Former priest sentenced to 12 to 15 years for rape

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Feb. 15,2005 11:28 p.m.

BOSTON -- Defrocked priest Paul Shanley, a central figure in the Boston Archdiocese clergy sex abuse scandal, was sentenced Tuesday to 12 to 15 years in prison for raping a boy repeatedly in the 1980s, sometimes in a church confessional.

Ambassador to Syria withdrawn

By Alyson Brodsy and Barry Schweid · Tuesday, Feb. 15,2005 11:26 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- The United States has recalled its ambassador to Syria amid rising tensions over the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri of Lebanon.

The Sex Clash

By Maura Halpern · Tuesday, Feb. 15,2005 1:20 a.m.

Just three. It takes only three letters, S-E-X, to start conversations and stir controversies. And when it comes to controversy, IU's influential sex researcher Alfred Kinsey sets the already hot topic on fire. Many people consider Kinsey a pioneering scientist and researcher who blazed the path toward understanding human sexual behavior. Others say his legacy sent the country spiraling into moral decline, causing crisis rates of sexually transmitted diseases and lighter penalties for sex crimes, including rape.

The Aceh province -- and future plans

By Rick Newkirk · Tuesday, Feb. 15,2005 1:17 a.m.

Indiana Daily Student reporter Rick Newkirk conducted several interviews with IU-Purdue University Indianapolis Director of the Center on Southeast Asia Dave Jones, who recently returned from a trip to Thailand and Indonesia. *** During the first full week of January, Dave's colleague Patrick O'Meara received an honorary degree from Princess Sirindhorn of Thailand, and Dave visited a tiny, poor neighborhood in Bangkok. He departed Thailand Jan. 9 and spent the rest of the week in Indonesia, the country hit hardest by the tsunami.

Vaden, White 'take a shot' at IUSA offices

By John Rodgers · Tuesday, Feb. 15,2005 1:17 a.m.

Two influential IU freshmen are hoping to expand their game from the hardwood to student government. Freshmen basketball players Robert Vaden and D.J. White are running for IU Student Association Congress in the University Division for the Kirkwood ticket. Adding more intrigue is Maggie Daniels, Gov. Mitch Daniels' daughter and IU freshman, who also is running for University Division representative for Kirkwood. There are six University Division representatives; Vaden, White and Daniels are three of Kirkwood's six candidates.