Women's Golf

O'Riley gets lost in Elliott Smith's world

By Alyson Brodsy and Ryan McLaughlin · Thursday, April 27,2006 12 a.m.

Christopher O'Riley is best known for his classical piano renditions of songs by the British alternative-art rock band Radiohead, which he first began playing during set breaks of "From the Top," a National Public Radio program which he hosts. The popularity of the songs led to the release of two albums; True Love Waits: Christopher O'Riley Plays Radiohead and Hold Me To This: Christopher O'Riley Plays Radiohead. Although many Radiohead fans praised his work, there have been some critics of O'Riley who claim he is only profiting from the use of the band's name. However, anyone who is remotely knowledgeable in the realm of music would be a fool to say that O'Riley is not an incredibly gifted pianist and meticulous in his arrangements.

Truckers lay down the blessing

By Alyson Brodsy and Ty Schrock · Thursday, April 27,2006 12 a.m.

The Drive-By Truckers might be the last true rock 'n' roll band. They still believe in the spirit and possibilities of a dying art, and do so without irony or excuses. A generation ago, they likely would have been huge rock stars, but in today's apathetic and splintered rock scene, they are just another great band that you'll never hear on the radio. A Blessing and a Curse, the band's seventh album, is essentially everything you'd come to expect from a DBT album, with its loud guitars, occasional twang and tales of the hard life.

A pocketfull of Italian new wave

By Alyson Brodsy and Will Hernandez · Thursday, April 27,2006 12 a.m.

"Fists in the Pocket" emerged during the 1960's New Wave era in Europe, which was heavily dominated by directors like Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard. Although this film might not be as popular as many of the other titles released during that time period, it's still highly subversive, groundbreaking and a remarkable debut by Italian filmmaker Marco Bellocchio. The film examines the lives of what seems like a typical Catholic middle class family in the Italian countryside. This is a family that, despite its quarrels and lack of communication, appears relatively normal at the surface. Augusto, the oldest brother and patriarch, is the only character in the family with any stability, but he fails to maintain any order or control.

'Silent' night, unholy night

By Alyson Brodsy and Chris Wisner · Thursday, April 27,2006 12 a.m.

When nighttime comes and little Sharon Da Silva (Jodelle Ferland, soon to be seen in Terry Gilliam's "Tideland") lays her head down to sleep, there are times when her parents awaken in horror as she is sleepwalking outside and shouting out "Silent Hill." Concerned for her daughter's well-being, Rose (Radha Mitchell, "Finding Neverland") goes against her husband Christopher's (Sean Bean) wishes, taking young Sharon to Silent Hill, the mysterious place she mutters about. As they race up the mountain drive, Rose swerves to avoid hitting a girl in the road, banging her head and leaving her knocked out until daylight when her worst fear returns: Sharon is missing. What happened to the town of Silent Hill? It was built on top of a coal mine where fires never stopped burning, resulting in catastrophe.

The darker, gorier side of European backpacking

By Alyson Brodsy and John Barnett · Thursday, April 27,2006 12 a.m.

Two young American men (Jay Hernandez and Derek Richardson) set out on a backpacking trip looking to hook up and trip out in the European countryside, only to find themselves held captive and tortured in a seedy, debaucherous youth hostel in Slovakia. Produced by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Eli Roth, "Hostel" is a warts-and-all gorefest whose Unrated DVD incarnation pulls even less punches in the torture department than the already blood-soaked theatrical cut.

IU's Straight No Chaser celebrates 10 years of being All-a-chord

By Alyson Brodsy and Molly Peters · Wednesday, April 26,2006 11:59 p.m.

For the past 10 years, IU's only men's a cappella singing group has been gracing venues across the nation with its harmonized sound. The student-run group was founded in 1996 by Dan Ponce. Since then, Straight No Chaser has molded itself into IU's premier men's singing group, said junior Tyler Trepp, Straight No Chaser member and music director. The current group consists of nine members, who have formed a steady fan base by performing twice a week at various fraternities, sororities and other groups on campus, in addition to performing at other universities and off-campus events. Straight No Chaser will perform its spring concert celebrating its ten-year anniversary 8 p.m. Saturday at the IU Auditorium.

Young not among Texans' top choices

By Alyson Brodsy and Kristie Rieken · Wednesday, April 26,2006 11:50 p.m.

HOUSTON -- Sorry, Vince, but you won't be playing for your hometown team. The Houston Texans will take Southern Cal running back Reggie Bush or North Carolina State defensive end Mario Williams with the first pick in Saturday's draft, general manager Charley Casserly said Wednesday. The Texans dashed the hopes of fans who have been clamoring for the team to pick Vince Young, a Houston native who led the Longhorns to a Rose Bowl win and the national championship over Bush and USC.

Technology, sport and the fan

By Alyson Brodsy and Andrew Shaffer · Wednesday, April 26,2006 11:48 p.m.

It's tough to imagine yourself in a time period as you are living through it. I'm sure Americans in the 1850s were saying to themselves, "Wow, can you believe we're living in the Industrial Revolution?" And while I am sure the devastation was all around them, Americans in the 1920s and '30s were not saying to each other, "So how about this Great Depression? At least we'll be in the history books, huh?" Believe it or not, we live in the Age of Technology. Just open your eyes. Laptops, cell phones, iPods and the Internet have launched our entire being into another stratosphere.

Pacers possibly lose 2 starters for Game 3

By Alyson Brodsy and Cliff Brunt · Wednesday, April 26,2006 11:47 p.m.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Any hopes the Indiana Pacers had of getting through the playoffs relatively healthy vanished by the end of their Game 2 loss at New Jersey. The Pacers enter Game 3 today with starters Peja Stojakovic and Stephen Jackson and reserve Jamaal Tinsley nursing injuries. The situation is all too familiar for a team that has used 32 different starting lineups this season while player after player has gone down.

Hoosiers top Sycamores in 11 innings; Huddleston doubles home winner

By Chris Sauer · Wednesday, April 26,2006 11:44 p.m.

Twenty-two strikeouts. Eleven innings. One run. After the IU softball team's game against instate rival Indiana State last night, these were all the numbers you needed to know. Thankfully for the Hoosiers, the one run belonged to them as they scored in the top of the eleventh inning to take the 1-0 victory. With the win, the Hoosiers move to 26-22-1 on the season. The 22 strikeouts were from senior Mariangee Bogado, who was one strikeout shy of tying the team record she set earlier this season on Feb. 24. Bogando also one-hit the Sycamores. "I was just going out there trying to get outs to continue to keep my team in the game," Bogado said. "I wasn't thinking about the strikeouts at all."

Hoosiers head to nationally televised Penn Relays

By Rick Harker · Wednesday, April 26,2006 11:43 p.m.

As they have for most of the season, the IU women's track and field team will participate in a meet this weekend. There is just one difference: this weekend's meet will be nationally televised on NBC. The Hoosiers will compete in the 112th annual Penn Relays in Philadelphia, which starts today and goes through Saturday. The nationally televised meet has IU pumped to compete this weekend. "The best teams in the nation compete every year at this meet, including North Carolina, Duke, Arkansas and Tennessee," said senior distance runner Larra Overton.

Not my muffins

By Alyson Brodsy and Joanna Borns · Wednesday, April 26,2006 11:41 p.m.

I came into work earlier this week, and I noticed something strange sitting on my desk: muffins. Old muffins were on my desk. The presence of these muffins caused coworkers and passers-by to ask me: "Are those your muffins?" No. I would like to set the record straight. I want the entire community and world at large to know that while those muffins were in fact on my desk, they were not mine. I did not put them there. I had no plans to consume them. Not my muffins. While some sort of desk easement by estoppel might have transferred the rights of the old muffins to me, I hereby reject any ownership or claims to the muffins.

Will I stay or will I go

By Alyson Brodsy and Amy Obermeyer · Wednesday, April 26,2006 11:39 p.m.

At graduation this year, they might as well have a big, green interstate sign that says, "You are now leaving Indiana." Because, if on May 5 you find yourself in Assembly Hall wearing a creepy black gown, chances are, you probably are. Granted, many of you probably want to leave this state, and I can't blame you. The weather is inhumanely erratic, we are close to neither mountain nor beach and it's darned near impossible to find a nonstop flight to anywhere (even Chicago).

Tales from a happy warrior

By Alyson Brodsy and Brian Stewart · Wednesday, April 26,2006 11:38 p.m.

When I became an Indiana Daily Student columnist, a friend suggested "Fighting Words" as my nom de plume. And although I didn't take her advice, experience has proven my friend's judgment right. The ideas I've promoted most assiduously since joining the IDS -- manly self-confidence, a muscular and idealistic foreign policy, the march of globalization and moral absolutism -- have not exactly won me broad support on what is often a soft and relativist campus.

The real world

By Alyson Brodsy and Felipe Maya · Wednesday, April 26,2006 11:37 p.m.

My mom is a custodian, my dad is a landlord and I recently bought a pair of Emporio Armani glasses. In a little more than a week, I will be a college graduate, a feat neither of my parents ever accomplished. My mom never attended high school because of economic reasons, and my dad was a suave rebel who didn't think college was for him. In grade school, I stayed after school emptying out classroom trash cans as my mom cleaned the bathrooms on the first floor. She always said, "Do better than me."

Slogan slugging

By Alyson Brodsy · Wednesday, April 26,2006 11:36 p.m.

Last Wednesday, the state of Indiana launched a new slogan to try to draw in the tourists. Are you ready? Here it is: "Restart Your Engines." Hmm, yeah -- that's what we thought too. Tying it to the Indianapolis 500 wasn't a bad idea -- at least it's something out-of-staters will recognize (and we do have a racecar on our state quarter). But the slogan is kind of limited in focus. Not to mention that it sends a mixed message. The Indianapolis Star quoted Tom Schuman, a spokesman for the Indiana Chamber of Commerce as saying: "Potentially, it carries a lot of different meanings when you hear it ... What we like about it is that it also can apply to business efforts -- hopefully, it's going to encourage the entrepreneurial climate Indiana has struggled to achieve so far" (April 23, 2006). So, not only does it carry a message of Indiana as a place to feel rejuvenated -- and get your car fixed -- it also comes with an aura of economic desperation. Because, you know, if there's one thing we've learned from the downtown bar scene, it's that desperation's always attractive.

Senate diverts $1.9 billion in Iraq war budget bill

By Alyson Brodsy and Andrew Taylor · Wednesday, April 26,2006 11:31 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- The Senate voted Wednesday to divert some of the money President George W. Bush requested for the war in Iraq to instead increase patrols against illegal immigrants on the nation's borders and provide the Coast Guard with new boats and helicopters. An amendment was adopted, 59-39, to cut Bush's Iraq request by $1.9 billion to pay for new aircraft, patrol boats and other vehicles, as well as border checkpoints and a fence along the Mexico border crossing near San Diego. Later, the Senate voted by a veto-proof 72-26 margin to kill an attempt by conservatives to cut the overall bill back to Bush's request -- just a day after the White House issued a toughly worded promise to veto the $106.5 billion bill unless it is cut back to below $95 billion.

Rice, Rumsfeld visit Baghdad

By Alyson Brodsy and Anne Gearan · Wednesday, April 26,2006 11:30 p.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Success in forming a new Iraqi government may let some U.S. troops leave the war zone within months, the top American military commander in Iraq said Wednesday. Paying a surprise visit, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld embraced the country's fledgling leaders as independent and focused on the future. "I came away most encouraged," Rumsfeld said after he and Rice spent a day meeting with Iraqi politicians and U.S. military and diplomatic advisers in the capital city.

SENIOR Salute

By Alyson Brodsy and Bryan Lufkin · Wednesday, April 26,2006 7:09 p.m.

For many members of IU's class of 2006, the past four years have been the party of a lifetime. Coming to Bloomington with your parents and a car full of "dorm room essentials" might seem like only yesterday. Soon you'll be getting ready to walk into Assembly Hall to receive your diploma. Most seniors will attest to the fact that their time at IU went by way too quickly, and now they're ready to move on to the next chapters of their lives. They're ready to get jobs, go to graduate school or -- for some -- move back home into their parents' basement, Xbox and Doritos in hand.

A South African cinematic triumph

By C. Warner Sills and Alyson Brodsy · Wednesday, April 26,2006 7:06 p.m.

The Afrikaan word "tsotsi" roughly translates to "thug." On the surface, the film "Tsotsi" is about the life of a young street-raised gangster named Tsotsi, in the same vein as 2001's "City of God." However, below its skin the film is more a stark look at redemption and one man's desire to break away from the harsh innate life of the slums is South Africa. "Tsotsi" chronicles a group of South African hoods as they reap mayhem throughout their run down shantytowns and the upper class, bourgeois sectors of the city of Johannesburg. Tsotsi (newcomer Presely Chweneyagae in a daunting and brilliant debut) is the leader of the small gang of thugs who spend their days robbing business men on the subway, getting into bar fights and have little or no concern for the social struggles around them.