Though I would usually hesitate to spend an entire review comparing one movie to another, in the case of “City of Men” it is completely necessary to set the record straight. The reason this movie is even showing in the States is due to the monumental success of its claimed predecessor, “City of God.” Unfortunately, these films have little in common besides setting and title.

Following the critical acclaim and box office success of the 2002 masterpiece “City of God,” a television series aired in Brazil which followed the lives of two boys growing up in the “favelas” (slums) of Rio de Janeiro. The series, titled “City of Men,” earned rave reviews and was praised as a worthy spin-off of the popular film, which explored similar issues of poverty, drug abuse and crime, as well as the difficulty people face when attempting to break the cycle.

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Adding yet further evidence to the notion that the extreme always leaves an impression, on Saturday, March 8, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee played host to “A Milwaukee Tribute to the Cosmic Spirit of Allen Ginsberg.”

In a nostalgic echoing of the legendary “Howl” penman’s notorious visit to the UWM Union Ballroom in March of 1982, an all-star cast of local poets and musicians turned out to pay their own unique respects to Ginsberg’s life, work and his subsequent inspiration and influence.

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Be warned: This review is written by someone who would buy “Lost” bed sheets if they existed.

When one form of entertainment becomes successful enough, it’s a given that it’ll make the jump towards other forms of media in hopes of milking out a profit.

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On Feb. 26, Beach House, the talented guy-girl duo of multi-instrumentalist Alex Scally and vocalists/keyboard-wizard Victoria Legrand collaborate to produce a sophomore release of poignant elegance and continuity titled “Devotion,” (Carpark; 2008).

Hailing from Baltimore, Md., the indie duo formed in 2005. With the irresistible simplicity of their 2006 self-titled debut, Beach House has laid the ground work for a bright career of musical exploration.

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I’ll feel like nothing short of an ass when the day comes that I re-buy my first movie in high definition.

Over the past seven years or so, I’ve accumulated quite a large collection of DVDs. I guess I was fortunate, because getting my first job coincided with the summer that my parents bought our first DVD player. Since then, I’ve spent a vast majority of the money that I’ve made on movies.

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"Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy."

-“The Lord of the Flies” William Golding

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For the moment there is calm. The whirlwind storm between the pre-collection, pre-collection sales campaign and preparation for the show itself has given way to the tranquility of the main collection sales campaign.

The designers are relishing leaving the show room while the sun is still up, having weekends free and working pretty regular hours. For me, it means coming in to work later and getting to leave earlier.

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I really don’t know how to say this so I’m just going to blurt it out. At Mayura Indian Restaurant I found hair in almost all of my food. I’ll spare you the graphic details about how I came to figure this health code violation and potential felony out, but I did.

However, I did not leave. But I couldn’t help wondering, “Why me?” My dining partner’s food was sans hair, as far as he knew.

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There was a point when cheating in video games was harmless. The Konami code was a great tool to have to beat the ever-impossible “Contra” and its too-many-bullets-flying-at-you-so-have-no-chance-of-dodging-them-all levels.

I was never really good at “Contra;” all of my friends were better than I ever was. Most of them are still likely now. I guess one could say that I started late in the game as far as Contra went. My parents steered me more toward the sword-and-dagger type games rather than those of bullets and grenades. I was a dork at heart and always loved dragons and spells. They were also something that my parents could get my sisters to play, so it didn’t look like they were just buying games that I wanted.

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Paper crafting has long been a popular art form in many cultures, from Japanese origami to Mexican papel picado. Swiss and German papercutting, known as Scherenschnitte, typically features a white cutout overlaying black paper. Many of these designs are extremely intricate life or nature scenes. Today this art is still quite popular with artists in the Pennsylvania Dutch community.

When starting out, it is important to choose simple, symmetrical designs and have a lot of patience. Many professionals use expensive papers and an X-Acto knife, but here we will use tissue paper or another thin substitute, and a normal pair of scissors in order to create simple patterns to decorate dinner plates.

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