No more teachers, no more books
Down the road from Lawrence, old schoolhouses find a second life as an artists' retreat
Take the lunch lady, for starters. That's one way Harveyville Junior High has been thrown askew since the kids shipped out three years ago. The lunch lady is a tattooed, pierced dude in a blue bandanna and white apron-half punk, half domestic. He's also a savvy chef who once owned a few hip St. Louis restaurants with names like Tangerine, Hungry Buddha, The Chocolate Bar and Lo.
Acres of suspense
Filmmaker Patrick Rea clears out his own 'Empty Acre'
For a film lumped into the horror genre, "The Empty Acre" is refreshingly devoid of cheap thrills-no gore, no fakeout "gotcha" moments, and not even the slightest tease of a nudie shot.
Hurly Burly
Etta Vendetta keeps the burlesque torch burning
"We'll say someone wronged me and leave it at that," says Etta Vendetta of her name's shadowy origin. It's an appropriately dramatic tease from this burlesque vixen, whose stage presence and very art form is predicated upon titillation. And much like the artifice of burlesque, that answer is a complete put-on.
'Mission' Conditions
Craig Comstock and Dan Kozak unveil clamorous collaboration
As collaborations go, the pairing of Craig Comstock and Dan Kozak is a bit like treating an LSD overdose with hallucinogenic mushrooms-shit just keeps getting crazier

Review: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii)
I believe that Metroid Prime 3: Corruption might just be the best game on the Wii, but I hesitate to recommend it to everyone. It's a very challenging title, and will certainly cause the Wii's target audience (casual gamers) quite a bit of trouble.
'The Da Vinci Code' a dreary hunt with no treasure
In the novel, when Brown digresses into one of many far-out yet fascinating, history-rebuking theories, there is time to go deeper and explain useful background information. A film that's already two and a half hours long (and feels like it) simply doesn't have that luxury. Howard and Oscar-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman are stymied by the prospect of letting loose with enough historical detail to give the actions of Langdon and police cryptologist Sophie Neveu (a reserved Audrey Tautou) more personal weight. Instead, they offer quick montages and cheesy soundbites to clue us into their quest's importance. Too many of these flashback sequences resemble the scores of "Unlocking the Da Vinci Code" TV re-enactments that are currently smeared all over the TV like a wad of brie cheese.