| Directors' paired pop-culture collage is a joy ride
It's tempting to call what Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez achieve with "Grindhouse" the equivalent of nailing a backward pike with 2½ somersaults in Dumpster diving. For those unfamiliar with the term, to Dumpster dive means plunging into a huge garbage receptacle so you can recycle another man's trash as your own personal treasure. Yes, the source material for this high-concept/ low-art supernova of a film event comes from the exploitation cinema of the late '60s and early '70s. Yet the back-to-back features "Planet Terror" and "Death Proof" actually are more akin to thrift shopping. Separated by a few years, but fed on the same diet of junk and serious cinema, Rodriguez and .
The discomfort of strangers
I cannot try to explain that tragedy beyond the tragic confluence of two truths: guns are too readily available in the United States and some people are severely mentally ill. But there is an aspect of the response to the murders of thirty-two people in Virginia Tech on 16 April 2007 that is in my purview. Seung-Hui Cho, the 23-year old killer was an immigrant to the United States. He was a young man in a sort of stateless limbo: his family immigrated to America from South Korea in September 1992 when their son was 8, but retained their South Korean nationality, although they would have been eligible to apply for US citizenship after five years of permanent residency. Whether they applied and were turned down or chose not to apply has not been revealed. In any case, a close reading of the coverage and the thousands of comments to the website of the New York Times and other weblogs suggest that the question of Cho's "status" in his adopted country may be a significant ramification of this tragedy.
AOL Announces Slate of Five New Online Shows
Dulles, Va. - As part of a major strategy push toward online video, AOL on Tuesday announced five new Web-based programs that it will produce in partnership with production companies such as Mark Burnett, DreamWorks Animation and Telepictures.The shows, which will launch on AOL in the fall of 2007 and early 2008, will provide another vehicle for the company to sell online ads. "Of the Big Four online networks, AOL is the only one that is doing this kind of major-scale programming," said Randy Falco, AOL's chairman and CEO. The programs include a tie-in with "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," a game show based on serial numbers of U.S. dollar bills, a show featuring online games based on the new "Shrek" movie, a pop culture trivia game and a game show on which contestants vie to win a tropical island.
Will Freud finally slip?
It would have been disappointing to leave the annual meetings of the American Psychological Association, Division 39 (Psychoanalysis), in Toronto this week without hearing a Freudian slip. Luckily, in a panel on the sorry state of psychoanalytic research in universities, Joel Weinberger, a professor at Adelphi University on Long Island, N.Y., observed that, by failing to adequately mentor the students who will take their place, "we are shooting ourselves in the groin." It was rich, because psychoanalysis is indeed gravely wounded, unable to attract new talent because of its financial impotence, and dying a slow death on the margins of academia, where it is maligned by mainstream psychologists as unscientific, sex-obsessed, postmodern witchcraft. So where else would the mortal blow be struck against this century- old talk therapy? Achilles had his heel.
Briefly: Dance theater to present ‘Fairytales’
A repertory dance theater production of Modern Fairytales will be presented at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday on the Center Stage of the Performing Arts Center at St. Cloud State University. Modern Fairytales will feature two new epic fairy tales, Beauty White and Alices Parts. Beauty White is a modern dance about a young girl and temptation, complete with apples and falling snow. Alices Parts takes a pop culture view of a classic tale, emphasizing the coy aspects in Alices encounters. Artistic directors are April Sellers and Tracy Vacura. The universitys department of theater, film studies and dance is sponsor for the event. The performances are free. For information, contact Adam Raine at 282-0349 or raad0402@stcloudstate.edu. .
Local Students React to Virginia Tech Murders
In the wake of last Monday's deadly shootings at Virgina Tech, many local college students are discussing campus security and the implications for their schools. In addition to holding a slew of vigils and showing support for their peers in Blacksburg, collegians wonder how such a tragedy could occur on American campuses and what university officials are doing to protect their students. American University administrators are taking a second look at their emergency response plan, which was revised this March. In addition, student leaders support a proposal for a text messaging alert system, saying it's a more rapid, efficient way to reach the maximum amount of students. In College Park, the University of Maryland paper challenges the administration not only to invest in equipment, but learn to use it effectively.
ROBOTECH COMING TO MOBILE PHONES
For over 20 years, science-fiction and anime fans have watched from the sidelines as the battle for Earth raged in the skies above. Now, Airborne Entertainment opens the cockpit and offers up the controls for the ultimate ROBOTECH gaming experience in Robotech: The New Generation, coming to mobile phones this May in the best shoot-em-up game ever to be available throughout the U.S. carrier galaxy. The long-awaited mobile iteration of the perennial favorite anime series combines strategic behavior and character selection with classic top scrolling gameplay. Featuring 20 distinct levels, five environments and three playable VERITECH ALPHA fighter ships, Robotech: The New Generation is sure to engage the hard-core fan as well as the casual gamer. For over 20 years, ROBOTECH has helped to lay the groundwork for animes acceptance outside its native Japan, earning a distinction as one of the greatest science fiction epics of all time.
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