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Urban Dreams produces first hair, fashion show
Campus dance team Urban Dreams is putting on its first annual hair and fashion show at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
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'Call of Duty 2' should please fans of first-person shooting
"Call of Duty 2: Big Red One" hits its mark for the Xbox system. Activision had a successful game with the original "Call of Duty" and took a chance on the second one and made it even better. The gameplay is relatively smooth and keeps the gamer involved throughout the game as the player progresses through the stages of war. Some of the better aspects of "Duty" are the various types of guns that are presented.
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'Rent' a disappointment
The Chinese philosopher Confucius once said "Everything has beauty but not everyone sees it." The film version of the Broadway musical "Rent" is corny, predictable and rather boring to sit through.
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Riverwalk's 'Beauty' takes 'Shrek'-esque turn
The Brothers Grimm don't want you to know every embarrassing detail about Prince Charming. In the brothers' new careers in their public relations firm, they edit fairy tales to show the prince in the best light in the original children's production "Sleeping Beauty" at Riverwalk Theatre, which opened this weekend. The combination play and musical is a comical adaptation of the traditional fairy tale.
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The Living Blue brings indie-rock stylings to Mac's tonight
The Living Blue has been through a lot since Stephen Ucherek helped found the band in 1998 — two name changes, new band members, a new label, performing at the South by Southwest music festival, being featured on a show on The WB and touring with bands such as The Strokes and the New York Dolls.
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WEB EXTRA: "Rent" as a movie doesn't quite compare to musical, but still worth a look
I was giddy when I heard that Jonathan Larson's Broadway musical "Rent" was being made into a film.
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'Friends' full of laughs
"Just Friends" won't change your life or surprise you with any plot twists, but it will make you laugh. The film does what is aims to do: Create as many hysterical moments as possible.
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Album evokes typical garage rock-style sounds
The Living Blue is a little bit of The Shins, a little bit of The Strokes and a whole lot of rock 'n' roll.
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Flute rockers to visit MSU, tickets on sale
Jethro Tull will perform at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the MSU Auditorium. Tickets are on sale now through the Wharton Center Box Office or www.whartoncenter.com. Ticket prices are $37.50 and $44.50.
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'Rent' actors provide voices on soundtrack
Fans of "Rent" will not be disappointed. All but two of the original lead characters are back for the movie version, so most of the voices will be familiar to longtime fans of the 9-year-old original Broadway soundtrack.
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Professor chats on plays-turned-films
"Rent" seems to be the latest in theatrical works turned into movies, following "Chicago" in 2002 and "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" earlier this year.
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Five favorites
The State News presents five things going on in the world of pop culture that might make your life a little bit better. 1.
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Pay it fashion-forward
One aspect that defines "Rent" — both the Broadway musical and the movie — are the characters' Bohemian style. Since the characters slum in New York City, it's easy to adapt their style and not worry about the weather at the same time, since both New York and Michigan similar climates. For a Bohemian look that'll keep you warm as the weather turns nasty, you need to get creative.
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"Rent" opens today in theaters nationwide
The film version of the Broadway musical "Rent" premieres in theaters nationwide today. This is the first movie adaptation of the groundbreaking 1996 musical, which many say began a social dialogue of then-taboo issues such as AIDS, drug addiction and homosexuality. Set in New York City's East Village, "Rent" explores the lives of eight bohemian, artistic friends who fall in love, struggle to survive in poverty and battle illness. "It tries to provoke the greater tolerance in general for all groups in society, especially those that have been looked on in disfavor in the past, simply by offering a powerful dramatization through music of attitudes that were already in circulation," said Sam Goldstein, an English professor at Daytona Beach Community College. Goldstein has acted in or directed about 70 off-Broadway adaptations. "The musical is powerful and humanistic.
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'The Life' pushes limits with portrayals of struggle, prostitution
"The Life" is unlike any other musical ever made. On Thursday, the MSU Department of Theatre and MSU School of Music presented the production at Fairchild Theatre in the Auditorium. The musical followed the story of Queen, a prostitute in New York City in 1981, who moved from Savannah with her boyfriend Fleetwood.
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(SCENE) exhibit brings circus, carnival to life
A visit to (SCENE) Metrospace could trigger patrons' childhood memories of a circus or carnival, complete with a cotton candy machine, dangling balloons and fanciful music. "Cir·cus/Car·ni·val" opened Friday at the gallery, 303 Abbott Road, to a full crowd of eager art lovers and will run through Jan.
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Boost to arts programs enhances Everett High School's curriculum
Lansing's Everett High School is feeling the pull toward the arts. After receiving a federal magnet grant in August to make its visual and performing arts programs more attractive, Everett is capitalizing on the opportunity.
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WEB EXTRA: Use of Cash's real voice could have made "Line" memorable
He shot a man in Reno — just to watch him die — and director James Mangold has shot a piece of Johnny Cash's life on film. "Walk the Line" captures a slice of the legendary country singer's saga.
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Special effects define 'Goblet'
"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" was exceptional and to criticize it is just nitpicking.
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Drag king performance raises funds for MSU student
The lights dimmed down as the last lyrics played in the Boyz II Men song "End of the Road," but the applause for Drag King Rebellion kept going. Five members of Drag King Rebellion, or DKR, a group that calls itself a gender performance troupe, bowed as they finished their "Greatest Hits" show Friday night at Club 505, 505 E.