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'Stranger' predictable, riddled with genre clichés
Jill is in trouble long before a stranger starts calling. She's 800 minutes over on her cell phone bill — gasp.
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'New World' beautiful; too much focus on scenery
By Justin Kroll For The State News It is rare today in movies that we see directors take the gamble of slowing a film down and making it into a piece of thought-provoking art, instead of a fast-paced, action-packed epic.
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'Waiting Room's' all-female cast works
The message that the female body is mistreated in MSU Department of Theatre's "The Waiting Room" is as loud as the piercing screams in Act 1.
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Beatles tribute band, public sing-alongs highlight festival
Curtis Remington might look like your average businessman by day. But by nightfall, khakis are traded for bright colors, keyboards for guitars and short haircuts for wispy wigs. A graphic artist by day and a Beatle by night, Remington is the rhythm guitar and harmonica player for the Beatles tribute band Yellowsub Marines, and he loves every minute of it. "This isn't a full-time job, this is a full-time passion," Remington said.
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'Feast' on new food-themed (SCENE) exhibit
The Oreos on display don't twist or crumble, and you definitely can't bite into them. The popular cookies are just a sampling of the smorgasbord of art in the victual-themed "Feast Your Eyes" exhibit at (SCENE) Metrospace, 303 Abbott Road.
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Iranian girl's memoir impresses
Imagine a world where you can be arrested for speaking out against your government, dancing at a concert or painting your fingernails.
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Securing the 360
The Xbox 360 is the current pinnacle of gaming experience. And — as is appropriate for a pinnacle — it's proved quite hard to reach.
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New MSU theater chair plans to renovate Auditorium
Newly appointed chair of the Department of Theatre, George Peters hopes his strong administrative background will help put MSU theater in the spotlight.
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'90s TV shows now abundant on DVD
When I browse through the DVDs at Best Buy or FYE, the last emotion I expect to feel is nostalgia. Yet that yearning for yesterday hits me time after time when I see the shows I grew up watching available to the masses again. The biggest shock has to come from learning that "Beakman's World" — the science-experiment show that featured Beakman, the dour Lester the Rat and Josie — has "The Best of Beakman's World" on DVD for the low, low price of $5.97 at Amazon.com. As a kid, I loved watching Beakman perform experiments to answer questions about rainbows and why the sky is blue.
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Skilled acting, soundtrack help 'Match Point' amaze, stand out
Woody Allen could be a philosopher, but it's a good thing he opted for a directing career. "Match Point" weaves the story of four young people's lives into an example of how luck can dictate our paths.
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Locally filmed movie debuts in Lansing
"Last Night Out" describes the night before Brandon's wedding as Joshua takes a reluctant Brandon out on the town. The characters are played by Brandon Bautista and Joshua Ortman, whose first names correspond with their characters'. Ortman begins the night by flaunting his bad boy persona — he hits on girls, drinks excessively and enthusiastically takes Brandon to a strip club against his wishes.
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Five favorites
Every week, The State News presents five things going on in the world of pop culture that might make your life a little bit better.
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'Bad Dates' hilarious
A miniskirt? Too provocative. Toss it to the ground. An ankle-length gray number looks too matronly.
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Queen tribute band resembles real thing
The Union Ballroom hosted an almost contradictory event Friday — an arena rock show in an intimate environment. Contradiction or not, it was definitely a hand-clapping good time for audience members when Almost Queen — a Queen tribute band — hit the stage with screaming guitar solos, monstrous drum beats and heavenly vocal range. "Really, we started the band when we found a guy that looked exactly like Freddie Mercury," said Tom Cavanagh, guitar player for the tribute band, before the show. Cavanagh, who has a striking resemblance to Queen's guitar player Brian May, was right about his band mate Joseph Russo looking like Queen's late great lead singer Mercury. Russo wore the trademark white tank top with white jeans and, of course, sported the Mercury mustache.
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Lewis strays from genre
By Erik Adams Special for The State News As you can read in any rock magazine of note (Spin and Harp, for instance), Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis set out to make her solo debut, a soul album in the vein of 1971's "Gonna Take a Miracle" by Laura Nyro and LaBelle.
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Game parties in Detroit still accessible
The biggest sports game of the year is just down I-96, and you want to party with the big name celebs in Detroit.
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Marsalis delivers outstanding performance with band's help
Wynton Marsalis & the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra didn't just perform at the MSU Auditorium Wednesday night — they generated a mind-blowing event. The show was over before the audience had a chance to grasp the virtuosity of jazz brilliance on stage.
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MSU grads produce short indie film that pokes fun at dieting
MSU alumni Marty Shea and Ian Bonner are making names for themselves in the film business. Their recent short film "21 Carbs," which Shea and Bonner wrote and directed, has won two awards and been accepted to eight film festivals.
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Online dating won't work; Internet sites provide daters with false sense of status
A sick feeling hit my stomach all of a sudden. While sitting at my desk in my dorm room surfing the Web and eating an evening sandwich, I couldn't help but feel rather repulsed. The fact that I blew off studying for a test — MacGyver marathons get me every time — did not have an overall effect in deterring my appetite. I had just received a pop-up from www.AdultFriendFinder.com, the popular Web site with its home page indicating that it is in fact "the world's largest sex & swinger personals site." After nearly regurgitating the sandwich, I was caught off guard by the (ahem) revealing shots in the member profiles. Being a self-described rugged bachelor, I curiously decided to take a gander at what the site had to offer. Filled with thousands upon thousands of "sexually liberated members" with such names as "2HoT4u" or "BuTtErCup420," these swingers were more than willing to "hook up" or allow access to their "sexy webcam videos." Long walks on the beach need not apply.
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Jazz redefined
When you hear the word "jazz," what comes to mind? Smoky clubs in Chicago in the '50s?