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Live album bridges Waters and Stones

By Alyson Brodsy and Sam Nissen · Wednesday, Aug. 23,2006 10:45 p.m.

Whoever said rock music's supergroups never reach their potential missed The Yardbirds. The rough and sloppy blues of their Five Live Yardbirds connects the dots between Muddy Waters and the Rolling Stones. The group earns the term "super" with one-time members Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck, though all three were never in the band at the same time. Clapton would soon be replaced by Beck (who would later invite and be fired by Page), but not before recording Five Live. He wasn't "slow hands" yet, thankfully; his later song-writing tendencies had yet to take full shape. With Clapton romping through the set, the band tears through mostly short songs for a long, frenetic album. The band plays like bees trapped in a glass box filling with smoke -- no one has any idea where they are going, but they are sure as shit going to knock themselves out trying. Is this pop? Blues? Rock? Folk? Who cares? They are burning down the walls of traditional music, exploring instrumentation that would become Led Zeppelin and so many others.

Trice's sophomore album leaves potential untapped

By Alyson Brodsy and Matt Dollinger · Wednesday, Aug. 23,2006 10:42 p.m.

Apparently, the general public just doesn't understand Obie Trice. Obie is quoted on his official Web site as saying, "I just want them to get an idea of the things that go on in Obie Trice's head and see who I am ..." Well, his fans get a chance to see just that on his sophomore album, Second Round's on Me. The second album continues Obie's "bar theme" and follows up his platinum debut, Cheers. Simply put, the thing that makes Obie's rap style effective is when he goes against the grain. He has several songs on his new album that are so generically gangsta it's painful. For example, you know how you'll see "Scarface" memorabilia in every rapper's homes while watching MTV's 'Cribs'? Obie takes it a step further when he samples a "Scarface" quote in his appropriately titled song, "Kill Me a Mutha". The sample has so much swearing it would make Richard Pryor blush.

Aguilera impresses in return to form

By Alyson Brodsy and Michael Mellini · Wednesday, Aug. 23,2006 10:34 p.m.

Full disclosure: I've been saying Christina should do the whole 1940s-Betty Boop-swing thing for years. She's got the perfect voice for this kind of stuff and she's the one who should be releasing albums of American standards, not Rod Stewart. Aguilera starts out by thanking all the musicians of that era who have inspired and influenced her, yet she does it more literally than musically. While she sings "I've waited some time/to get inside the minds/of every legend I've wanted to stand beside," she doesn't quite get "back to basics." Instead, the first part of the album has more of a contemporary R&B sound.

Coppola's war

By Alyson Brodsy and John Barnett · Wednesday, Aug. 23,2006 10:30 p.m.

Encompassing over a calendar year of principal photography in the Philippines and nearly two years of post-production in director Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope labs, 1979's "Apocalypse Now" remains one of the few greatest cinematic achievements of all time. Based on Joseph Conrad's 1902 story "Heart of Darkness," "Apocalypse" delves into the dark heart of man versus man and the ugly, subversive politics of war. It succeeds better than any film before or since.

Spike gets 'inside' Hollywood

By Alyson Brodsy and Chris Wisner · Wednesday, Aug. 23,2006 10:20 p.m.

Spike Lee directing a heist thriller? It's hard to imagine the same man who made "Do the Right Thing" and "Malcolm X" tackling such a genre. Rest easy; within the first 10 minutes my skepticism had subsided entirely. Meet Dalton Russell (played by the ever cool Clive Owen, "Sin City"), a man who never repeats himself and speaks as if every word out of his mouth has been memorized and planned for more than a year. He swears he is about to conduct the perfect bank heist and by the end of his to-the-point introduction, you'd dare not even doubt him for a second. With the bank held-up and every hostage suited up in outfits and masks to make everyone look like the robbers, the frenzy stirs Detective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) into action and it is clear from the start if anyone is going to play Russell's game, Frazier is the man to do it.

"Dead" rises to gory occasion

By Alyson Brodsy and Chris Freiberg · Wednesday, Aug. 23,2006 10:17 p.m.

Admit it: You've sat around at least once with your friends and had a discussion about how to survive when the zombies come. It's OK; we've all done it. Really.And if you haven't, then they'll just eat your brains first. Zombie apocalypse planning is just as important as preparing for a tornado, flood or terrorist attack.For those of us who know it's not a matter of if, but when the undead attack, there's perhaps no better survival simulator available today than "Dead Rising."

'Descent' intelligent, horrifying

By Alyson Brodsy and Michael Mellini · Wednesday, Aug. 23,2006 10:15 p.m.

Take a deep breath. Feel that stuff going in and out of your lungs? It's air, enjoy it because during "The Descent" you're going to need lots of it. OK, OK, so you're probably thinking, "Hey, this movie came out last year; it was called 'The Cave.'" Well, that movie sucked. Fine, I never saw it. But I'm assuming it sucked, and this one is, well, pretty awesome and scary. Director Neil Marshall ("Dog Soldiers") made this horror hit with almost no budget and it shows, but in a good way. The film follows a group of female cave-exploring adventure seekers who head out on a weekend spelunking trip. Hoping to discover a new location, one of them decides to bring her friends to uncharted territory. But things don't go as planned. A landslide seals shut the opening of the cave and the women become trapped hundreds of feet below the earth. The first half of the film works in the same manner as "Open Water" and "The Blair Witch Project," dealing with the fear of claustrophobia and knowing your life is about to end. The camera movements and minimal lighting excellently create the feeling that the audience is stuck inside as well. Several times throughout the movie I reached out in front of me to remind myself I was safely in a movie theater.

Madly in love with 'Sunshine'

By Alyson Brodsy and Chris Wisner · Wednesday, Aug. 23,2006 10:12 p.m.

Stop whatever you're doing this second -- even if it means not finishing this review -- and just go see "Little Miss Sunshine." This has been my advice to anyone who's asked me about it. Stirring up one of the fiercest bidding wars in Sundance Film Festival history, "Sunshine" sold for a cool $10.5 million earlier this year to Fox Searchlight. It was worth every penny. The story is rather simple. Young Olive (Abigail Breslin) loves beauty pageants and it just so happens that the winner of a regional competition lost her crown, allowing the once second-place Olive a shot at the top prize at the Little Miss Sunshine competition. The problem is her family lives in Albuquerque, N.M. and the competition is all the way out in Redondo Beach, Calif.

Dumb yourself down and enjoy 'Talladega'

By Alyson Brodsy and Matt Dollinger · Wednesday, Aug. 23,2006 10:10 p.m.

You know when events in your life have such a ridiculously high build-up that you're going to be disappointed no matter what? Ladies and gentleman, "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby." "Talladega Nights" is Will Ferrell's latest comedic blockbuster featuring him in the role as NASCAR's best and dumbest driver, Ricky Bobby. Much of Bobby's fame in the movie stems from his trademark phrase "shake and bake," which he shares with his teammate Cal Naughton Jr., played by John C. Reilly. Arguably the movie's funniest actor, Sacha Baron Cohen, plays Jean Girard, the homosexual French Formula 1 driver. Cohen, who is best known as Ali G, perfects an exaggerated French accent in the movie and brings new flavor to the Ferrell comedies.

'Accept' this movie

By Alyson Brodsky and Alyson Brodsy · Wednesday, Aug. 23,2006 10:09 p.m.

I must say I definitely underestimated this movie. Knowing that it was written by Adam Cooper and Bill Collage, the writers of the Olsen twins' "New York Minute," I expected nothing from this movie and went in with the attitude that it would suck. To my surprise, this teen flick was nothing but hilarious. "Accepted" is a college version of the 1994 hit "Camp Nowhere". Bartleby "B" Gaines ("Dodgeball's" Justin Long) is a high school senior who's always able to find excuses out of every problem he gets himself into. The only problem Bartleby can't seem to fix is that he has been rejected from every college he has applied to. Upon telling the news to his parents, who are disappointed and insistent he attend college, Bartleby comes up with a master plan to get his parents off his back: getting accepted into the South Harmon Institute of Technology, a college he created himself.

'Trade Center' honorable, horrific

By Alyson Brodsy and Doug Evans · Wednesday, Aug. 23,2006 10:06 p.m.

It is not an easy thing to review a film based on an awfully recent tragedy that affected so many people to such a great magnitude. Likewise, it was certainly no simple task for Oliver Stone to direct such material. The director does a masterful job, holding back like never before in making a film that pays much honor and respect to those directly involved or affected by the events of Sept. 11. "World Trade Center" focuses on two real life Port Authority police officers, John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) and Will Jimeno (Michael Peña, "Crash"), who were trapped under wreckage from the collapse of the towers for nearly 24 hours before finally being rescued. Stone tracks the officers through the beginning of their work day when they are called to the Trade Center. A majority of the story takes place as the men lie trapped some 20 feet under the rubble. Their conversations drive these scenes of entrapment as the men struggle to stay awake and help each other survive. A parallel storyline revolves around the families of the two officers. Their wives and children wait in agonizing emotional pain, following the television closely, not knowing if their husbands and fathers are even alive.

Terror at 40,000 feet

By Alyson Brodsy and John Barnett · Wednesday, Aug. 23,2006 10:04 p.m.

When the Internet buzz over "Snakes on a Plane" started this past spring, most everyone assumed the film would either be so totally over-the-top it would rival "Bad Boys II" for pure popcorn ridiculousness, or be just another formula horror flick that somehow managed to grab a big-name actor to generate box-office revenue. David R. Ellis' much-hyped "Snakes" actually manages to be a little bit of both, with a healthy dose of "Scream"-style self-deprecation thrown in for good measure. Think Jules Winnfield meets "Anaconda" at 40,000 feet.

RAs warn students of asbestos risk

By Chris Freiberg and Warren Christopher Freiberg · Wednesday, Aug. 23,2006 6:09 p.m.

Resident assistants across campus will warn students this week that they are living with asbestos. Under a new Residential Programs and Services policy, staff members will give students warnings about the potential carcinogen in their dorm rooms and apartments. The scripted warning that RAs will read at floor meetings describes the asbestos plaster present in the ceilings of Briscoe, McNutt and Forest quads as "the least hazardous of the three types" and reminds students that the plaster is only 1 to 10 percent asbestos.

UPDATE: 5:34 p.m. Beach Boys 'catch a wave' to the IU Auditorium

Wednesday, Aug. 23,2006 6:08 p.m.

If you love picking up 'Good Vibrations' while driving in your 'Little Deuce Coupe,' then you'll have 'Fun, Fun, Fun' celebrating Homecoming at the IU Auditorium with the Beach Boys, featuring original members Bruce Johnston and Mike Love with six members who have joined the group since Brian Wilson left in the 1960s.

UPDATE: 5:39 IUPD Police Academy graduate identified as charity crash victim

By Audrie Garrison · Wednesday, Aug. 23,2006 5:40 p.m.

The Indiana State Police Department identified the two officers killed in a crash during a charity bicycle ride Tuesday as Gary Martin, a retired Lake County Sheriff's Department chief and Lt. Gary Dudley, commander of the Indiana State Police Recruit Academy and a graduate of the IU Police Department Police Academy.

Officers killed in charity ride accident

By Audrie Garrison · Wednesday, Aug. 23,2006 5:40 p.m.

A traffic accident during a charity bicycle ride killed two police officers Tuesday afternoon and injured three others. The charity, Concerns of Police Survivors, exists to help rebuild the lives of families of officers killed in the line of duty. The officers were riding to raise money for the families, said Indiana State Police Lt. Scott Beamon.

More than 4,000 students set to descend on dorms

By Kristi Oloffson · Wednesday, Aug. 23,2006 5:38 p.m.

Today is the official annual -- and notoriously frenzied -- move-in day when thousands of students will pile their belongings into IU residence halls. Tuesday's early move-in day attracted approximately 3,500 students and conditions were already hectic, but approximately 4,500 students and their families will flood the halls today. Dana Wilson, a freshman who moved in to Briscoe Quad on Tuesday afternoon, said her move-in experience was very stressful. "There were too many people to check in and (Tuesday's) not even the bad day," her father John said. Both her parents said they thought the early move-in day would prove to alleviate stress but found it was not as easy as they expected. With more than 4,000 students moving into residence halls within 24 hours, the IU Police Department and Residential Programs and Services are working around the clock to make the day run smoothly. And a smooth move-in will include approximately 50 extra IUPD officers on duty, IUPD Lt. Jerry Minger said.

Gatlin agrees to 8-year ban after failing 2 drug tests

By Alyson Brodsy and Eddie Pells · Wednesday, Aug. 23,2006 12:15 a.m.

Sprinter Justin Gatlin agreed to an eight-year ban from track and field Tuesday, avoiding a lifetime penalty in exchange for his cooperation with doping authorities and because his first positive drug test was deemed an honest mistake.

Photographer who shot Iwo Jima flag-raising dies

Wednesday, Aug. 23,2006 12:10 a.m.

SAN FRANCISCO - Photographer Joe Rosenthal, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his immortal image of six World War II servicemen raising an American flag over battle-scarred Iwo Jima, died Sunday. He was 94.

Full House:

By Carrie Ritchie · Wednesday, Aug. 23,2006 12:08 a.m.

When two girls wandered into sophomore Greg Gier's new room in Briscoe Monday night, he was taken aback rather than flattered. Instead of looking for a guy, the girls were looking for a comfy couch and a TV. That's because Gier's new home happens to be a lounge, not a dorm room. "We'll just be chilling in the room and people keep coming in thinking it's a regular lounge," he said. "Every time I say I live in a lounge, people are like 'What?'" But Gier is not alone. This year about 100 students will temporarily live in lounges in Briscoe, Forest and Teter quads, Residential Programs and Services Executive Director Pat Connor said.