Benefit concert blows roof off UC

Sunday's concert in the University Center's Chesapeake room was loud. Really loud. However, all of the acts maintained a high quality standard from start to finish.



Woman with a mission

French filmmaker Luc Besson, whose directing credits include "La Femme Nikita," "The Professional" and "The Fifth Element," works in a style that is so purely visual, dialogue is hardly necessary. The first 30 minutes of his newest film, "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc" convey an impressive amount of information with scarcely a word.



Cranky after all these years

On Fiona Apple's second album, "When the Pawn," she creates a work which traces events of a relationship through each song, presenting the linear pattern of a flip-flop of feelings, insecurities and bitterness towards her "Baby."



'Night:' Minor victories

If there was ever any question that a play is only as good as its supporting cast, Shakespeare in the Dark's production of "Twelfth Night" laid the dispute to rest. The show belonged to the secondary characters, led by the marvelous Patrick Censoplano, sophmore as Feste in addition to freshman Dave Lackey as Sir Toby, freshman Scott Johnson as Sir Andrew Aguecheek and junior Margaret Riley as Maria.



Consumer friendly "hours"

David Bowie's 22nd solo studio album, "hours ..." is also the thin white duke's first in nearly three years. Produced by Bowie and long-time accomplice, Reeves Gabrels, the album is a return to more traditional methods of recording.



Lynch, Disney collaborate for 'Straight'

The story is too crazy to be imagined. In 1994, Alvin Straight drove his John Deer lawn mower 300-plus miles, from Laurens, Iowa, to Mt. Zion, Wisc., to visit his brother, who had recently had a stroke. Straight was 73 years old, partially blind and had bad hips.



Sacreligious comedy

Kevin Smith is back with perhaps his most controversial film to date: "Dogma." The fourth in his so-called New Jersey series (after the cult classics "Clerks," "Mallrats" and "Chasing Amy"), features many of the same actors but with even more amusing twists and turns as it makes endless jabs at the Catholic Church.