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Aviation experts look for cause of Sudanese airliner crash

By Mohamed Osman · Wednesday, July 9,2003 8:48 p.m.

KHARTOUM, Sudan -- Aviation experts were examining a Sudanese airliner's black box and other evidence Wednesday to determine why the plane crashed shortly after takeoff, killing 116 people.

Laos releases prisoners

By Daniel Lovering · Wednesday, July 9,2003 8:47 p.m.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- After international pressure, Laos freed two European journalists and an American interpreter who had been sentenced to prison for the death of a rural guard Wednesday.

Pray this isn't 'For the Ride Home'

By Seth Forster · Wednesday, July 9,2003 7:55 p.m.

Looking at the album cover, I see Josh Kelley's drinking a cup of coffee. He must have been listening to this album. Of the two things that most offend me most in music, the completely, intentionally, sterilized, unoffensive manufacture of mainstream pop music ranks right up there with the hypocritical shock-value arrogance of pseudo-self-important modern art. Now that I've got that out in the open, I can go into detail on the music for the drones. The few hooks that exist seem borrowed and the writing is empty at best: "You've been bad / You've been good / Did you lose your mind / Like I knew you would?" In his sweater and unkempt hair, Josh Kelley is a hard guy not to like and the organ work and occasional banjo and steel help too.

Type O Negative a bloody mess

By -Val Tsoutsouris · Wednesday, July 9,2003 7:54 p.m.

Goth and metal don't mix. For evidence, listen to Type O Negative's Life Is Killing Me. Is frontman Peter Steele serious or joking? The more one listens, the more unsure one gets. For example, a song on Life Is Killing Me is called "(We Were) Electrocute." Sorry, but wordplay doesn't go with this music. While this reviewer might be missing the joke, there's no questioning the music: it's lethargic, restrained and bland. Guitar shredding is absent, leaving the listener to focus on Steele's overmodulated baritone. With repeated listenings, Steele's singing just gets annoying.

The political association

By Jessica Halverson · Wednesday, July 9,2003 7:53 p.m.

This album reminds me it's alright to be pissed off and say it and shrug it with a dance step at the same time. "We Don't Stop" is the best single I've heard yet this year, couched in an album of hip-hop dance that focuses on something true even if musically it's a bit repetitive. Michael Franti isn't afraid to have a sense of humor with his agenda, via the politically charged wit of Jurassic 5 or Living Colour (though invariably sounding much different).

I've fallen down the 'Well'

By -Val Tsoutsouris · Wednesday, July 9,2003 7:51 p.m.

Hardcore is the punk-metal hybrid that has a hard time getting a mainstream following since punks and metalheads disagree more often than "tastes great" and "less filling." The other problem is the larynx-shredding vocals. Even those with a hardy musical appetite have a hard time getting used to the hyperintense barking.

Once again the French appropriate

By Mia Partlow · Wednesday, July 9,2003 7:50 p.m.

In the most generalizing and stereotypical way possible, one can divide most indie-rock bands into two broad categories: the 'always building up to something' band, and the 'something important is happening right now' band. The French electronic band M83 belongs to the latter category. Its second full-length Dead Cities, Red Seas, & Lost Ghosts creates a sound that is as big as an ocean (or a sea?) and as depressingly ephemeral as, uh, a ghost.

Using good music to make good music

By Mia Partlow · Wednesday, July 9,2003 7:50 p.m.

Tindersticks, a six piece big band with an intimate sound, has created a beautiful album with Waiting for the Moon, its sixth studio LP. And it is enjoyable to listen to despite its lack of originality. Tindersticks play a sound derived, clearly, from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, but somehow it works. Cave, the reigning king of underground music (at least as far as this reviewer is concerned), specializes in morbid lounge ballads that are beyond astounding.

Oohs, Ahs, too many robes

By Jessica Halverson · Wednesday, July 9,2003 7:48 p.m.

The connection between the neo-psychadelia of The Polyphonic Spree and cult living is a little too easy to make; it's been done before. But for a band with 23 plus members, pop orchestral arrangements and vaguely alluring lyrics, ignoring the connections would be a fallacy.

Buddy Guy's 'Blues Singer'

By Michael Tapscott · Wednesday, July 9,2003 7:42 p.m.

Buddy Guy lives in my hometown. I'm not talking about Chicago, I'm talking about Flossmoor, a particularly white, southern suburb of the city. Flossmoor is an isolated place. Buried beneath cavernous oak trees, it is surrounded by mildly dangerous, lower-class black towns like Ford Heights, Hazel Crest, Country Club Hills and Middle America -- consumer culture riddled (you know, business parks and endless strip malls), asphalt suburbs. You can't park a pickup truck in your driveway in Flossmoor, or leave your lawn unmowed -- it's against the law. The town was built up around Western Ave. as a weekend and summer retreat for rich, city businessmen.

Buddy Hackett made me laugh

By -Val Tsoutsouris · Wednesday, July 9,2003 7:42 p.m.

Buddy Hackett made me laugh. That's probably something that the marketing staff at any entertainment-producing organization would want to hear. After all, I am not in Buddy Hackett's target demographic. That's also probably irrelevant now after Hackett's death at age 78 last Monday. But now's a good time to make another point.

Historical epic comes home

By -Alec Toombs · Wednesday, July 9,2003 7:38 p.m.

Martin Scorsese is perpetually being robbed. After having directed such classics as "Mean Streets," "Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull" and "Goodfellas," it's mind-boggling to think the man's never won an Oscar. And so the story goes again with Scorsese's latest effort -- his dream project -- "Gangs of New York." Hailed by critics and abandoned by audiences, "Gangs" is a near-masterpiece that should have taken home a slew of golden boys, including Best Costumes, Best Set Design, Best Actor and Best Director, but alas, didn't.

Henry Rollins saves the world

By Abhi Kumar · Wednesday, July 9,2003 7:37 p.m.

This game has such potential it makes me want to cry. It is the distant future, you are Mace Griffin, a "Ranger;" a galactic cop. Framed, by the political fat cats, for a crime you didn't commit, you get sent to prison and when you come out, the universe is a different place. The Rangers are disbanded and the galaxy is rife with crime and chaos. So what do you do? It's simple: you vow revenge on the politico punks who threw you in the slammer and become… a bounty hunter. Sound like fun? Wait, there's more. This is also the first game to seamlessly combine the action of first-person shooters with the excitement of flight simulation, and to top it all off, you get Henry Rollins voicing Mace Griffin. I mean come on! What else does a game need, right?

There's nothing 'Broken' about this 'Social Scene'

By Jessica Smith · Wednesday, July 9,2003 7:29 p.m.

Once in a while, a band breaks through the dull pop-culture scene and tears the norm to shreds. Toronto-based Broken Social Scene brings solo artists like Jason Collett and members of bands such as Metric and Stars together in a beautiful culmination of musical knowledge and experimental personality. You Forgot it in People is the second CD from this indie collective and is unlike anything I have ever heard. The first song, "Capture the Flag", lulls you into mellow anticipation and abruptly ends in a climactic explosion of guitar, cymbals and a drum beat so hypnotic that you can't help but love it. Innovative transitions between songs are jolting but entertaining.

Sailing not so smooth with 'Sinbad'

By Laurinda Lee · Wednesday, July 9,2003 7:29 p.m.

The theater was deserted save for four young children who ran raucously down the aisles while their parents looked silently on. I wondered briefly about the emptiness as I sat down, but it didn't take me long to realize why. "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas" tells the tale of the great Arabian pirate and adventurer, Sinbad (voiced by Brad Pitt), who after being falsely accused of stealing the Book of Peace, is condemned to die. He is, however, given ten days to prove his innocence, and thus embarks on an extraordinary adventure to recover the stolen book. Sounds like the plan for a great movie, but for some reason, "Sinbad" fails to rise above mediocrity.

Bigger and blonder equals dumber

By -Paul Straw · Wednesday, July 9,2003 7:29 p.m.

Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde" is definitely blonder, but that doesn't necessarily make it better. The original was silly, lighthearted fun. The sequel is a rehash, and though the stakes are higher, the premise seems even more unlikely than in the first. Elle (Reese Witherspoon) is about to be married to Emmett (Luke Wilson, collecting a paycheck). Though, when she discovers that one of her firm's clients uses animal testing and wants to protest, she is fired.

'Terminator' flick anything but robotic

By -Alec Toombs · Wednesday, July 9,2003 7:28 p.m.

After the cinematic maelstrom that was "Jingle All the Way," "Batman and Robin," "End of Days," "The 6th Day" and "Collateral Damage," it's amazing that Arnold Schwarzenegger still has a career. His last certifiable hit was "Eraser," all the way back in 1996, and even that flick was proceeded by the half-assed turd of a movie, "Junior."

Bloomington: Not just for drunks anymore

By Robert Mixner · Wednesday, July 9,2003 7:28 p.m.

Bloomington is home to entertainment of all kinds. This town regularly features various kinds of movies and musical acts, both local bands and those known nationwide. If none of that is what you consider fun -- honestly, you're probably not one of our readers. But say you're tired of that sort of thing, and are looking for something else to do. Of course, Indiana University has been named the Princeton Review's No. 1 party school of 2002, so there's always getting drunk. Though, maybe that isn't what you want either.

Hackers knock out obscure Web sites

By Ted Bridis · Sunday, July 6,2003 9:54 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- A battle among hackers erupted Sunday on the Internet as some factions disrupted a loosely coordinated "contest" among other groups trying to vandalize thousands of Web sites around the world. Unknown attackers for hours knocked offline an independent security Web site, zone-h.org, that was verifying reports of online vandalism and being used by hackers to tally points for the competition. U.S. government and private technology experts warned last week that such vandalism was likely.

Professor tests effect of climate change on crops

By Alyson Brodsy and Jim Paul · Sunday, July 6,2003 9:35 p.m.

SAVOY, Ill. -- The gizmos and gadgets that rise above a soybean field south of Champaign are helping scientists predict what changes in the Earth's atmosphere are likely to do to crop yields.