Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
Indiana Daily Student
Monday, May 18
Subscribe Donate
E-paper
The Indiana Daily Student

Region

The Indiana Daily Student

One for 1,000?

By Alyson Brodsy and David A. Nosko · Thursday, July 20,2006 11:46 a.m.

Just when peace in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine seemed far-fetched and out of sight ... now life in the Gaza Strip has become an international humanitarian crisis. Bravo! The Hamas-led Palestinians are continuing international war crimes, while the Israelis are continuing their decades-long genocide of the Palestinian people. According to the international watch-dog organization Human Rights Watch, the Palestinians have resorted to using human beings as "bargaining chips," while Israel has continued acts of military intimidation and aggression -- all in violation of established international law.

The Indiana Daily Student

Hundreds attend job fair

By David A. Nosko · Thursday, July 20,2006 11:44 a.m.

Hundreds of southern Indiana job seekers flocked to the 2006 Bloomington Job Fair Monday in the hope of securing a living wage or the chance to climb the American socioeconomic ladder. Rep. Mike Sodrel, R-9th, and Rep. Steve Buyer, R-4th, co-sponsored the event with the WorkOne Bloomington office, a division of Indiana's workforce development program, the second such job fair in two years. About 1,000 Hoosiers browsed more than 70 local, regional, statewide and national employers stationed in the Bloomington High School North gymnasium to offer community members hundreds of jobs immediately, toward the end of summer or sometime in the fall.

The Indiana Daily Student

Mediation volunteers needed

By David A. Nosko · Thursday, July 20,2006 11:42 a.m.

In times of neighbor-to-neighbor dispute or community member conflict the human tendency sometimes is to draw a line in the sand that neither person can cross. Helping to bridge that interpersonal gap is the Bloomington-based Community Justice and Mediation Center, which promotes a civil and just community through mediation, education and restorative justice. "We would meet with both parties separately to determine the issues involved and to determine if mediation makes sense," said Amy Dowell, executive director of CJMC, 120 W. Seventh St, Suite 310. "We then sit down for a face-to-face mediation session and mediators would help discuss the situation and hopefully come up with some kind of agreement. We get a wide range of cases."

The Indiana Daily Student

Bowie's futuristic sound and vision

By C. Warner Sills and Alyson Brodsy · Thursday, July 20,2006 12 a.m.

David Bowie has always been somewhat of a chameleon in the rock and roll arena. He single-handedly jumpstarted the glam rock scene of the 1970's, paving the roads for other artists like Mott the Hoople, Iggy Pop and T-Rex, to name a few--and since then has moved from genre to genre, style to style with the comfort and ease of an artist determined to challenge himself and the world of music. Low was the first of three albums known as the Berlin Trilogy (the others being 1977s Heroes and 1979s Lodger) that Bowie recorded in Berlin with ex-Roxy Music member/ambient soundscape connoisseur Brian Eno.

The Indiana Daily Student

Roll out the Cannons

By Alyson Brodsy and Derek Kagemann · Thursday, July 20,2006 12 a.m.

In 1995, Renny Harlin sunk the pirate genre. His movie, "Cutthroat Island," was a valiant effort with little true merit. The $120 million production flopped at the box-office with a meager return of around $11 million dollars. Hollywood did the math, and expectations remained low for eight years until "Pirates of the Caribbean" sailed into harbor and blew every notions of the genre's demise out of the water. The truth is . . . bad movies can't kill a genre. This has been proven time and time again whenever talented writers and directors have taken the helm to resurrect a struggling franchise. Following the 1960 production of "Spartacus," Italian directors cranked out an endless stream of B-grade sword and sandal productions.

The Indiana Daily Student

Don't go back to 'Basic'

By Alyson Brodsy and K. A. MacDonald · Thursday, July 20,2006 12 a.m.

ixteen minutes, ten deleted scenes and not a single good upskirt. However, Michael Caton-Jones, the director of this travesty was nice enough to address that in his commentary. He knows we want it and that is exactly why he doesn't give it to us. Apparently he thought we all watched "Basic Instinct" for the fine acting and the lighting. At least that is what he focuses on as being the finest points of "Basic Instinct 2." Caton-Jones considers "Basic Instinct 2" to be a "good old film noir melodrama." As he walks the viewer through the film pointing out how the lighting and the color palette are reminiscent of film noir, it is possible to imagine that he is correct. The problem is that what he points out as art sounds more like an excuse as to why the film lacks everything I expect in a sequel to a fun, seductive movie. For some reason, Caton-Jones thinks that we all watched "Basic Instinct" for its dialogue and fine acting. No. We watched "Basic Instinct" for the sex. The seduction scenes were hot and I would have loved to be Michael Douglas. In the sequel, during one of the few, very short sex scenes, Caton-Jones explains why the scene that involves Sharon Stone reaching under the bed for a (icepick? No) belt to put around her lover's neck was toned down to something not even worthy of the worst Cinemax Friday night movie. He states, "It's a mild sex game for some people, but for people in the Midwest it's a little strange." That's right. He was concerned with what people in the Midwest would think and so he left out the hot sex and everything that made the first "Basic Instinct" a great date movie. So the movie is not very good and the extra features on the DVD are disappointing but the commentary does prove to have at least one thing going for it. When you listen to the commentary you don't have to listen to the weak dialogue of the movie. And the director makes it very clear how he feels about people who criticize the movie when he says, "If you don't like it I'm not going to cry. If you do like it, I think you're a very clever individual." This is one time I would be embarrassed to be called clever.

A cock and bull movie

By Alyson Brodsy and Chris Wisner · Thursday, July 20,2006 12 a.m.

Before "Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story" even came out, people knew it was a huge joke. Who in their right mind would be crazy enough to attempt adapting nine novels of "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" anyways? Michael Winterbottom ("24 Hour Party People") is that lunatic, but his movie is just a hoax that takes a period piece setting, equal dashes of Federico Fellini's "8 ½" and Olivier Assayas' "Irma Vep," and relies on the sarcastically dry comedic talents of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon to carry it home.

Better than 'Cars'

By Alyson Brodsy and Rob O'Connor · Thursday, July 20,2006 12 a.m.

"Monster House" is great. It is probably the best animated film to come out since "The Incredibles." There is only one real problem with "Monster House," and I feel that I should address it at the top so that I can spend the rest of this review showering this movie with some much deserved praise. The problem is that it is July and this is very clearly a Halloween movie. It takes place on Halloween, and is about a haunted house with kids going trick or treating in costumes. Obviously they were so proud of this film (and rightfully so) that they felt it deserved summer blockbuster status, but watching kids running around on a crisp fall day talking about trick or treating is quite simply out of place when it is 95 degrees outside.

How to 'deal' with the suburbs

By Alyson Brodsky and Alyson Brodsy · Thursday, July 20,2006 12 a.m.

Where do I begin? Writer and creator Jenji Kohan (writer of "Tracey Takes On") has scored big time with this Showtime series that has become an instant hit. Both hilarious and delightfully entertaining, "Weeds" is like no other show out there. After unexpectedly becoming a widow, Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) is suddenly stricken with a series of financial woes as she struggles to support her two sons, Silas, the oldest, who is a teenager with raging hormones (Hunter Parrish) and the younger Shane (Alexander Gould), a misfit who doesn't quite fit in with his peers. Nancy finds herself desperate for money and is willing to do anything to keep up with the lush life she's used to living, even if that has her resorting to becoming the neighborhood pot dealer.

The long and Winey road

By Alyson Brodsy and Zack Teibloom · Thursday, July 20,2006 12 a.m.

Agigantic bottle filled with red wine, equivalent to over 300 regular sized bottles is the ultimate party starter. Unfortunately it costs over $3,000 and is more of a novelty, but it shows a side of the creativity that has Oliver and Butler Winery squeezing new life into the booming wine business. With free daily wine tasting, and home kits to make your own wine, Bloomington's wineries are appeasing wine lovers and creating new ones every day. Customers aren't getting drunk, but visitors to Bloomington's two wineries, Oliver and Butler, are provided with half a dozen samples of homegrown Indiana wines with expert help to guide them to their new favorite wine and a nice afternoon buzz.

Relive the Illinoise

By Alyson Brodsy and John Barnett · Thursday, July 20,2006 12 a.m.

Sufjan Stevens' Illinois was an unassuming masterpiece. It was also an unlikely one, with 12-word song titles, extended instrumental flourishes and clocking in at nearly 80 minutes with 22 tracks on a single disc. The good news is, there's more. Nearly reaching 80 minutes, and crammed with 21 tracks itself, The Avalanche lives up to its namesake, inundating the Sufjan faithful with a substantive shower of outtakes, extras, faux b-sides and alternate takes leftover from his 2005 breakthrough.

Women on Wheels

By Alyson Brodsy and Michael Reschke · Thursday, July 20,2006 12 a.m.

The dusty ground is being turned into mud by a truck designed for such a purpose. Strings of spit turned brown from chewing tobacco shoot from the mouths of several spectators. Methanol fumes fill the nostrils of everyone in the area. Wrenches clank and crank on cars. Engines crack and pop so loud you can feel it in your chest. This is what it's like in the pits at the Bloomington Speedway on a Friday night. This is also a place where two teenage girls prepare their sprint cars to race. Miranda Throckmorton, 14, races sprint cars against competition that is often more than twice her age. The age requirement for sprint cars is 16, but teenage drivers can be emancipated from their parents by a judge as young as 14. Throckmorton began racing when she was four and a half years old. She first raced quarter midgets, which is a racecar that is one fourth the size of a midget, with a midget being slightly smaller than a sprint car. Throckmorton has racing in her blood and began to race close to the time her father stopped racing. July 7 was her sixth sprint car race overall and first at the Bloomington Speedway. She felt nervous before her first race at Bloomington. "Bloomington is going to be a lot different for me," she said. "I think it's going to be a little bit faster and different to get used to," Throckmorton said. The Speedway continually wets down its quarter mile dirt track.

Matt Gold Rush

By Alyson Brodsy and Michael Reschke · Thursday, July 20,2006 12 a.m.

Local musician Matt Gold has blended the styles of mainstream musicians and combined that sound with lyrics inspired by human emotion and feelings. Beginning his music career when he was 17, his style has grown with him. He's created his own coffee shop style niche. "It's not the top 40 and not the mainstream," Gold said. Friday, July 21, the singer, songwriter, and pianist is be performing at the John Waldron Art Center Auditorium.

Thom might be wrong

By Alyson Brodsy and Josh Millrod · Thursday, July 20,2006 12 a.m.

There are two types of Radiohead fans: Those who yearn for the days of Pablo Honey and The Bends and those who saw the future in Kid A and Amnesiac. The old guard versus the avant-garde. Alternative rock versus some strange incarnation of rock and modern classical. Thom Yorke's new solo album, The Eraser, is guaranteed to please neither. The Eraser represents an attempt to appease two rival camps. Rather than pick a direction to head, the album inhabits a grey area between the simple song structures and driving rock grooves of Radiohead's earlier albums and their more recent futuristic noise experiments.

Blah... Shrug...

By Alyson Brodsy and Michael Mellini · Thursday, July 20,2006 12 a.m.

Meh. That's the only word I can think of to describe "You, Me and Dupree." What? I need another 400 words? Crap, ok …It's not that the jokes in "You, Me and Dupree" aren't funny; there just aren't many of them. A few comments may evoke a smirk, but there's really nothing laugh-out-loud funny like most Owen Wilson films. The movie's plot is basically a sitcom premise. Unemployed party boy Dupree loses his job and moves in with his best friend Carl (Matt Dillon) much to the dismay of his new bride Molly (Kate Hudson). The first hour is the same scene repeated several times. Carl and Molly wake up in the morning to go to work and find Dupree passed out on the couch. Throughout the day Dupree makes some attempt at finding a job but gives up to play with the neighborhood kids. Then right as Molly and Carl are about to return home (uh-oh) Dupree pulls some asinine stunt.

Matt Gold Rush

By Alyson Brodsy and Michael Reschke · Thursday, July 20,2006 12 a.m.

Local musician Matt Gold has blended the styles of mainstream musicians and combined that sound with lyrics inspired by human emotion and feelings. Beginning his music career when he was 17, his style has grown with him. He's created his own coffee shop style niche. "It's not the top 40 and not the mainstream," Gold said. Friday, July 21, the singer, songwriter, and pianist is be performing at the John Waldron Art Center Auditorium.

The Indiana Daily Student

Splat!

By Alyson Brodsy and Fryburg84 · Thursday, July 20,2006 12 a.m.

George Costanzas of the world rejoice! The classic game "Frogger" is now on Xbox Live Arcade, so the entire world can see your high score with no worries of ever having it reset. This latest incarnation of the 1981 arcade classic features the option to update the graphics, but this update merely improves the graphics from God-awful to crap. In fact, if you've never heard of "Frogger" before, the first time you watch someone play this game with the updated graphics, you'll probably wonder why a game about a half-melted down RC racing car crossing the street is named after an amphibian. Sure the original game is no looker, but I can't quite understand why Konami felt the need to include such a half-assed graphics engine when porting the game to a console where there is virtually no limit to what can be done graphically. And to top it all off, the collision detection is still horribly off. You'll be alternately scratching your head and cursing the designers at how easy it is to bungle a move to what appears to be a perfectly safe spot only to be run over by a truck or eaten by an alligator.

The Indiana Daily Student

Revelatory musings

By Alyson Brodsy and Chris Green · Thursday, July 20,2006 12 a.m.

I'm sensing a reoccurring theme here: England tends to put out some damn good music. This summer has seen some great Brit-rock releases. First Keane, and now Muse, who hit it massive in the US in 2004 with their epic, hugely successful album Absolution, accompanied by hundreds of major performances across America. Muse is back in action with Black Holes and Revelations, a more politically-driven, harder rocking and varied album than their previous three efforts have seen. If you're not familiar with Muse, they can roughly be described as Radiohead, Queen, Rufus Wainwright and Black Sabbath rolling down a hill, fighting to the death. Regardless of their influences, Muse has a sound of their own; and this sound is very hard to channel into one coherent label, so I'll spare you that.

200,000 Facebook Friends Can't Be Wrong

By Alyson Brodsy and Zack Teibloom · Thursday, July 20,2006 12 a.m.

Steve Hofstetter said Paris Hilton being famous shows us that nothing is truly important anymore. He has a reoccurring dream in which a press conference is being held and the human race is being rounded up, and someone will say, "oh, shiny!" The head writer for college humor.com who hosts a show, "4 Quotas," on Sirius Satellite Radio, in addition to writing for ESPN and Maxim is hitting it big. His comedy album, "Cure for the Cable Guy," is enjoying 14 straight weeks on the comedy charts. And he has way more facebook friends than you.

The Indiana Daily Student

Arcades, back from the dead

By Alyson Brodsy and Chris Freiberg · Thursday, July 20,2006 12 a.m.

The surest sign you're addicted to something is when, even when you stop truly enjoying it, you can't stop doing it. I've been playing a lot of "Frogger" lately. I don't particularly enjoy it, being that it's a game that's needlessly difficult because of sloppy programming that still hasn't been cleaned up in 25 years of technological achievement. I can get brand spanking new free porn on my computer in 10 seconds, but Frogger is still getting run over by cars that are already long past him. But I still go back to "Frogger." Am I masochist? The vast collection of pornography on my hard drive points to a solid "maybe." But the real reason I play "Frogger" is for points. Achievement points, more precisely, the newest form of crack the CIA… er, I mean, Microsoft has unleashed on an unsuspecting public to keep them glued to their gaming systems. Achievements are the "points" you earn for performing certain feats in a game.

Trending