Every once and a while, a film comes out that attempts to recreate the worst events in human history - events that cannot ever be adequately described, because words and pictures can never do justice to real experiences.
So, you've made a New Year's resolution to get back in shape, right? Yeah, just like the rest of us.
I'm struggling, y'all. I keep hearing all these stories about finding the love of your life in college.
In case the snow's kept you away from your local music shop, here's a roundup of new releases. Pop/Rock/R&B Artist: Esthero Album: We R in Need of a Musical Revolution (EP) Label: Warner Brothers Artist: Doobie Brothers Album: Minute By Minute Label: Audio Fidelity Artist: Destiny's Child Album: Destiny Fulfilled (Bonus Tracks) Label: Sony International Jazz Artist: Grant Green Album: His Majesty, King Funk Label: Universal Japan Blues Artist: Etta James Album: Best of the Modern Years Label: Blue Note And for a head's up - here are next Tuesday's releases. Country Artist: Bill Anderson Album: Gospel Gold: Softly and Tenderly Label: Brentwood Artist: Patsy Cline Album: Duets Label: Brentwood Latin Artist: Alea Album: Alea Label: WEA International Artist: Antonio Vega Album: Autorretratos: Lo Mejor De Label: Universal International Rock Artist: The Coke Dares Album: Here We Go With ... Label: S.A. Artist: The Detroit Cobras Album: Baby Label: Rough Trade
In the music world, time is pretty relative. Few pop bands stick around for more than the given 15 minutes of fame; most never even make it past one-minute wonder status.
From the beginning of the first song, Shivaree's new album, "Who's Got Trouble?," appears to be just another band with a funky lead singer like Gwen Stefani.
"Parallel Lives," a play about race, sexuality and gender differences, will be playing at 8 p.m., today, at The Temple Club, 500 E.
John Spillman wasn't quite sure if it was a real roll of toilet paper. The 28-year-old East Lansing resident squinted and got as close as he could to the plastic box that enclosed what appeared to be the fluffy white roll. "Is it real?" Spillman asked. Well, it's no Charmin, that's for sure. The roll of toilet paper is actually made from Italian marble, and it has such precise details - quilted cotton designs and dotted lines - that it looks lifelike. "This is amazing how soft it looks when it's really not," Spillman said. The toilet paper roll is artist Jud Nelson's piece simply titled "Toilet Paper VIII," and it will be on display at the Kresge Art Museum as part of the "Masters of Illusion: 150 Years of Trompe l'Oeil in America" exhibit. "Trompe l'Oeil" is French for "to fool the eye," said museum curator April Kingsley. And the 45 pieces on display do just that to curious eyes. A bulletin board in one room has letters, business cards and a folded dollar bill thumb-tacked to it.
Whether students use it to chat with friends, get the scoop on the class they skipped or talk to cute girls and guys, there is no question that Thefacebook, the Internet college directory, has taken MSU by storm. Rachel Ainslie, a Lyman Briggs sophomore, uses Thefacebook to keep in touch with acquaintances from high school and check in with people at MSU.
If there is one thing to be learned from the film "White Noise," it's that wandering around a dark city on tips from ambiguous ghosts is not always a good idea. This is something you wish you could tell Michael Keaton's character, Jonathan Rivers, whose interest in receiving messages from his recently deceased wife spirals into an obsessive disaster. At first, it's easy to empathize with Jonathan's grief - we meet him while his beautiful wife Anna, played by Chandra West, is still living, and catch a glimpse of their happy, almost idyllic relationship.
In a blast from the past, more than 30 concert posters from the late 1960s and '70s hang in colorful combinations on the cold, neutral walls of Creole Gallery, 1218 Turner St., in Lansing.
Director Alejandro Amenábar must have a thing for death. He is well-versed in the thriller genre, having written and directed such films as "Tesis," about a young student's research on the human obsession with death and violence; "Abre los ojos," loosely based on Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo" (later remade by Cameron Crowe as "Vanilla Sky"); and "The Others," a psychological ghost story and his first English-language film. It might seem as no surprise, then, that Amenábar's latest film, "The Sea Inside," follows a man's lifelong quest for death.
On one of these dark January nights, you could keep cozy by slipping into your favorite fuzzy slippers, wrapping yourself in a homemade quilt and sipping hot cocoa near a crackling fireplace. Or you could pop Matthew Carlson & The Pantones' "Memory Is All" into your home stereo system and get the same effect. With their feet firmly planted in a foundation of folk and roots music, singer/songwriter Carlson and multi-instrumentalists The Pantones have crafted an album flooded with warmth.
In addition to the usual second-run flicks screening at Wells Hall this weekend, filmgoers can sneak a peek at one buzzed-about film not yet in theaters. "Hotel Rwanda," the true-life war drama starring Don Cheadle, is screening tonight at the Campus Center Cinemas in Wells Hall - more than a week in advance of its limited theater release on Dec.
Give Insomniac Games a lot of credit. At a time when many video game companies use the success of past titles to produce shoddy, disappointing sequels, they have done just the opposite. Despite the fact it is the third title in the franchise, everything about the company's recent release, "Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal," is a testament to the hard work and creativity that went into the game. The graphics are immaculate, the storyline is fresh and, many times, hilarious, and the game play is diverse and well thought out.
How do you incorporate Adolf Hitler, a couple of flamboyantly gay men, a fat crook and a skinny accountant into a Broadway hit?
How many "Need for Speed" titles will EA Games release before it finally retires the series?
There was a herd of them. They were all walking down Grand River Avenue with cell phones in hand and a mist of cologne floating around them. Those five college boys heading into The Landshark, 101 E.
"Blade" was a campy fantasy flick about the underground world of vampires and their superslayer nemesis.
It's hard to hate "A Christmas Carol." Aside from being an all-time classic, people generally know what to expect.