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News

AU jazz ensemble pays tribute to dreams of King

By Madalyn Wasilczuk | January 22

On Friday, the American University Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Professor Will Smith, paid tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. through an annual concert called "Reflections of the Movement." The concert was part of a weeklong commemoration of the civil rights activist that began on Jan.

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News

Students pack Tavern for hip-hop's pied pipers

By Benjamin Lozovsky | January 22

It's no secret that independent hip-hop and the collegiate experience have been inexorably linked for some time now. Succulent scratches over soulful beats seem to always be heard cleverly dissecting the silence of residence hall corridors, emanating like a funky odor from grungy dorm rooms.

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News

Tech bits

January 22

Netflix shows movies online Online DVD rental store Netflix introduced a new feature for its subscribers: the ability to watch whole movies right on the Netflix Web site. Netflix customers will be able to stream over 1,000 movies on their PC without paying extra.

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News

Worst Movies of 2006

By Andrew Gardner | January 22

Every year, the Academy honors the best of the year in film. But every year, the worst movies of the year are swept up and thrown into the pile of proverbial Hollywood junk. Unless those lucky few are seen by the eyes of the folks over at the Razzie awards.

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News

'Emperor' has no groove

By Vanessa C. Mueller | January 18

Though the beginning of the semester marks the return of assigned reading promising little more pleasure than the knowledge they contain, books can actually be a viable source of entertainment and mirth. For those who find themselves with the leisure time to crack open a book or two, The Eagle offers up the following reviews of books for potential perusal.

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News

Swank-y teacher inspires teens

By Ali Goldstein | January 18

"Freedom Writers" doesn't just begin. Instead, as the fiery chaos of the Rodney King riots tears across the screen, the film explodes to a powerful start. Indeed, the movie's forceful beginning sets the tone for what becomes an overwhelmingly inspirational film.

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News

Success in the cards for Tarot Students of AU

By Ruben Luong | January 18

Want to know the future? This spring, the Tarot Students of American University aim to deliver what any ordinary student can't foresee about their future. The Tarot Students of AU started out as a Facebook group and became an official club last semester.

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News

Teaser tornado tears through Trailer Park in 2007

By Chris Patriquin | January 18

Welcome back! In addition to hangovers and a batch of quickly abandoned resolutions, a brand new year brings a completely new mess of trailers to whet the film lover's appetite. There is a pretty good crop of movies coming out in late spring/early summer that have just dropped their trailers, and it looks like we've got a pretty interesting movie season ahead of us.

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News

Teens found voice through '80s hardcore punk

By Hilary Crowe | January 18

By the late '70s, The Ramones in New York and The Sex Pistols in London helped propel punk into the limelight and the pages of Rolling Stone. A reaction to the failure of rock 'n' roll elitists to connect with disaffected youth - like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin's 15-minute guitar solos amid tired jam sessions-turned-Top 40 EPs - punk was a much needed grounding force for the bloated egos of the era's musicians.

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News

Owen, cinematography shine in dark thriller

By Drew Richardson | January 18

The unseasonably mild winter on the east coast of the United States is yet another reminder that the latest vogue term for worldwide self-annihilation, "global warming," could be closer to fruition than anyone cares to realize. Like the menace of nuclear destruction, the threat of global warming is centered on the basic principle that humanity's blatant disregard for the environment will have dire consequences for civilization.

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News

Busdrivers, Ponys on fast track to stardom

By Chris Moreno | January 18

It doesn't take long for the hype of a new year to start. Sometimes it even seems that the "next big thing" is right behind Santa Claus, coming down the chimney to offer up a new album in return for blind, unadulterated appreciation. It is often hard to separate the bands and artists that really will have an impact on the musical world from those musicians that are destined to end up in the bargain bin at Sam Goody.

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News

Cool steps 'Stomp' out clich? Hollywood plot

January 18

How entertaining moviegoers find a film often depends on their level of expectations. People are much less likely to enjoy a movie if they have high hopes for it than if they don't really know anything about it. It's harder to surpass the expectations that way.

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News

Trash cans, brooms make crowds 'Stomp'

By Chris Patriquin | January 18

At some point while sitting around waiting for a bus, doing a crossword at the kitchen table, or finishing some reading, everyone has tapped their feet, clicked their pen or used the pencil in their pocket as a drumstick. Now imagine that same phenomena, exploded in scale, and that will be something a lot like "Stomp.

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News

Hopes soar in new year

By Blair Bryant Nichols | January 18

Someone once told me that the way you spend your New Year's Eve is the way you will spend the rest of your year. For someone who goes out as frequently as I do, travels far and wide, and is constantly meeting new people, I find this concept more difficult to swallow than that $4 bottle of champagne your friend brought to the party.

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News

Grad student's film explores human rights

By Natalie Kirkpatrick | December 7

Jinwei Wang, a graduate student in the School of Communication, wants to bring Eastern culture to Western film techniques. Wang, who plans to graduate in 2008, is on her way with a new narrative film, "Shake the World." Wang wrote, produced, directed and edited the film, which although fictional tells the true story of the Falun Gong persecution currently going on in China.

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News

Indie rock, hip-hop ignite The Scene in 2006

December 7

2006 was better for music than 2005 for one reason and one reason alone: Meatloaf's "Bat Out of Hell III." At The Scene, we asked our writers to weigh in on the best albums of the year; sadly, Meatloaf didn't make the cut. 5. Wolf Eyes - "Human Animal" Wolf Eyes have done it again releasing another alarmingly distressing album that is slightly more disturbing than their 2004 release, "Burned Mind.

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News

Jam bands rock New York

By Madalyn Wasilczuk | December 7

The Jammys, what The New Yorker magazine called "The Grammys for the jamband music scene," come to DVD in "The Best of the Jammys: Volume One." Recorded live from the theater at Madison Square Garden, the show brought some of the best jam bands and artists to the stage in one-time artistic collaborations that any jam-band fan is bound to appreciate.

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