Region

What do Americans think?

By Nick Wallace · Wednesday, Oct. 28,2009 8:38 p.m.

It’s a question I hear at least once a day, and after nearly three months in Peru, I can’t say that answering it has become much easier. Calling on the token foreign student sitting in the front row of the classroom is an easy way for a professor to add a little international flair to classroom discussion while encouraging participation from a demographic often disposed to quiet note-taking and non-participation.

A haunting and a pizza

By Alex Benson and Mickey Woods · Wednesday, Oct. 28,2009 8:33 p.m.

Hype of paranormal activity may dominate during Halloween, but for the Hoosier Paranormal Researchers, the unknown never rests.

Rethinking race

By Jarrod Lowery · Wednesday, Oct. 28,2009 8:27 p.m.

I am not white. Yes, you read that correctly, and no, I don’t say so in order to announce my membership in a racial minority. Although many race-conscious people – including college admissions officers – would label me as white, and although I concede that the hue of my skin is closer to looking white than it is to looking black, brown or any other commonly cited color that crudely denotes race and/or ethnicity, I stand by my assertion.

Films that frighten

By Doug Evans , Brian Welk , Adam Lukach and Brad Sanders · Wednesday, Oct. 28,2009 7:47 p.m.

At WEEKEND we love three things: Halloween, lists and creepy children. And anytime we can combine those three things, we just have to do it. Thankfully, a list of the best horror/scary/Halloween/whatever else you want to call them films does the trick. Below, WEEKEND staffers give their two cents on cinema’s scariest.

'Amelia' fails to fly

By Brian Welk · Wednesday, Oct. 28,2009 5:33 p.m.

After her solo trip over the Atlantic, Amelia Earhart became more than just one of the women and almost one of the men, striking a powerful blow for women’s rights all before World War II. But in “Amelia,” Earhart (Hilary Swank) comes across less as one of the men and more as one of the boys, filled with an obnoxious pluck and paper-thin charm.

‘Saw’ cuts into politics

By Tyler James Perry · Wednesday, Oct. 28,2009 4:51 p.m.

One of the most successful horror film franchises has etched a new chapter.This time, the devious machines of torture are utilized by Jigsaw and company on the evil bastards of the health care industry. With the exception of the opening scene, “Saw VI” picks up just a few seconds after the conclusion of “Saw V.”

IU men's basketball chat set for 8 p.m. today

Wednesday, Oct. 28,2009 4:39 p.m.

Join us for a conversation about the IU men's basketball scene today at 8 p.m. Click here to join the conversation.

Dick Vitale: Bob Knight will not return for induction

Wednesday, Oct. 28,2009 4:35 p.m.

Dick Vitale, current ESPN analyst, tweeted earlier today that Bob Knight will not be in attendance at the IU Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremony slated for Nov. 6.

A departure from southern style

Wednesday, Oct. 28,2009 4:27 p.m.

Although Tim McGraw’s newest album, “Southern Voice,” seems to suggest that he has compiled an assortment of lyrical ballads that touch on his southern roots, this album focuses more on human identity than regional affiliation.

Doing Kerouac justice

By Kevin Kearney · Wednesday, Oct. 28,2009 4:21 p.m.

The mad-cap, frantically-kicking-and-dodging imagery of Jack Kerouac’s writings inspired some of the greatest literary/lyrical minds of the last half-century (from Alan Ginsberg and Tom Wolfe to Bob Dylan and Conor Oberst), testing them to constantly reconsider their own self-imposed boundaries of written creativity.

Melody, noise converge

By Thomas Miller · Wednesday, Oct. 28,2009 4:14 p.m.

After 20 years, Converge is still pissed off. Few bands in the current metal scene have been as influential as Converge or as consistently unflinching in their sound. Converge’s newest, “Axe to Fall,” is 11 songs of discordant, noisy hardcore driven by speed-metal drums and two songs of spacey atmospherics.

Conchords get ‘Freaky’ for sophomore album

By Adam Lukach · Wednesday, Oct. 28,2009 4:09 p.m.

After Season 1 of their television series catapulted them into the spotlight, Flight of the Conchords’ Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement had to sit down and grind out new material for the first time in years. They had spent almost the last 10 trying to break onto the scene.

Cycling back toward quality

By Cory Barker · Wednesday, Oct. 28,2009 4:04 p.m.

Music fans are damn fickle. On top of the pop-punk world with its widely respected debut, “Chroma,” Cartel saw fans turn away when the band recorded 2007’s follow-up in a bubble sponsored by Dr Pepper and broadcast on MTV.

The bizarrely quixotic eccentric

By Mickey Woods · Wednesday, Oct. 28,2009 3:58 p.m.

From the working-class hero that made us “feel the Illinoise” in 2005 comes another musical time capsule fit for the soundtrack of our dreams – that is, if you have the dreams of a Disney princess.

Freaks are main feature in ‘Cirque’

By Megan Clayton · Wednesday, Oct. 28,2009 3:53 p.m.

If you can’t already guess, this movie, based on the first three books in the “Saga of Darren Shan” series, is about a boy (Chris Massoglia) who becomes a vampire’s assistant.

Star-studded cast can’t make ‘Astro’ interesting

By Brent Williamson · Wednesday, Oct. 28,2009 3:46 p.m.

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing bad about the latest animated actioneer “Astro Boy.” There just isn’t anything great about it, either.

TV Surveillance

By Cory Barker · Wednesday, Oct. 28,2009 3:39 p.m.

Since a tiny version of my face is found next to the word “TV” once a week, the first thing random people ask me is, “What shows should I be watching?” Seriously – this isn’t just me posturing or creating a false sense of importance. People ask! Thus, the following paragraphs discuss the three shows you should absolutely be watching, even if it means going back and catching up on DVD immediately. Plus: a must-see newbie hits the airwaves this week.

University Eats

By Megan Clayton · Wednesday, Oct. 28,2009 3:32 p.m.

I might think pumpkin is great now, but I didn’t always like it. In fact, my first encounter with pumpkin as a food and not as a candle-lit holiday decoration came when I was six, and the end result was a lot of vomiting.

Cin'e'cism

By Brian Welk · Wednesday, Oct. 28,2009 3:26 p.m.

I must concede that discussion on “Where the Wild Things Are” is above me. It is a film that has been met with such high praise as well as ambivalence, and in that vein, its criticism has transcended film and become a daunting Freudian psychoanalysis of which I understand little.

Lotus dazzles Bluebird with color and melody

Wednesday, Oct. 28,2009 12:54 p.m.

The band Lotus played to an enthusiastic crowd at the Bluebird Nightclub this Tuesday. Lotus, a band that formed while attending Goshen College in Indiana, played their usual instrumental mix of funk, jazz and rock. Accompanying them was Oxford, England’s own “The Egg.”