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Byte Reviews


THIS AND THAT: Star show takes viewers to final frontier

Space - the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Ball State University Planetarium. Its three-weekend mission: to show a live presentation of stars, to talk about the history of Mars and show pictures of possible life and terrain features - to boldly go where no planetarium has gone before.



'Red, White + U' sets attendance record

Ball State University experienced record crowds during Homecoming not only for the Sept. 27 football game, but also for the week of events. Michelle Johnson, adviser to the Homecoming Steering Committee, said Ball State's undefeated season, the earlier week of Homecoming during the football season and the weather contributed to the records.


BSU football, 'Boom goes the dynamite' gain national attention on CBS, ESPN2

In the days following Ball State University football team's first ever appearance in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll, the university continued to receive national attention on television. Defensive end Brandon Crawford made an appearance on Tuesday's episode of the ESPN2 morning show "First Take.


THE REEL REVIEW: Modern teen movie sweet, predictable

"Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" brings the John Hughes' teen comedy/romance into 2008. Like the classic films, "The Breakfast Club" and "Sixteen Candles," awkward teenage love is established during a single wild day, and the characters learn a hell of a lot about themselves along the way with the obligatory indie-rock soundtrack playing throughout the whole ride.


OUR VIEW: Commence the carryout

Flash back to Sunday night's football lineup on either the local broadcast stations or ESPN. Your friends begin to arrive for what looks to be the second chance the Colts have at winning a game this season, an obvious cause for celebration. As the last guests arrive and the barbecued chicken wings and chips are consumed, one of the guests requests a frosty, domestic beer.



Author reads book to crowd

Bill Barich's rhythmic voice filled a conference room in Bracken Library on Monday night as the audience enjoyed cookies, punch and a reading from Barich's novel "Carson Valley." The book, published in 1998, follows the stories of workers of the Torelli vineyard.


GREAT WHITE HYPE: Players' good stats surprise fans of Cards

Ball State University is 6-0 and ranked in the Associated Press national poll for the first time in school history. Many Cardinal supporters saw this coming, but did anyone see it going this smoothly? Sure, everyone knew Ball State's offense would be able to score, but how easily it has come to Ball State has been a bit surprising.


Middletown Idol showcases vocal, dancing talent

Cornerstone Center for the Arts will be hosting Middletown Idol, a local contest similar to American Idol. The dance preliminaries will be held today, and the solo and group vocal preliminaries on Thursday. The final competition for both categories will be held on Saturday.


Bicyclist hit on University Ave.

A Ball State University student remains with a twisted bicycle and a sprained ankle after being struck by a driver at the intersection of McKinley and University avenues Friday. Sophomore Dakota Smith was riding his bicycle west on University Avenue when Nancy Cunnington turned left onto McKinley, and she hit him.



Group presents findings from Sri Lanka trip

Senior urban planning major Marino Solorio went to Sri Lanka expecting to help villagers cope with the wreckage left by a 2004 tsunami. Instead he found them to be self-sufficient when given the proper equipment and gained a new perspective from the experience.


FIELD HOCKEY: Ball State freshmen excel

Opposing teams are starting to take notice of Ball State University's talented freshman class and the players are starting to hear about it. "People will say stuff to me after the game, like, 'You know they were looking at this person or this person,'" freshman forward Brittany Hammer said.


Launching Pad venue to close

The Launching Pad is closing its doors, making it the second business in a week to announce it was leaving the Village. Alan Maugherman, The Launching Pad founder, said the music venue was closing Nov. 1 after a unanimous decision by the Full Circle Arts Co-op, the group that runs the business.


High wages mean fewer jobs

The minimum wage increase that resulted in padded pocketbooks for some Ball State University students inadvertently cost others their jobs. According to a study released Sept. 24 by Ball State's Bureau of Business Research, July's minimum wage increase was responsible for the loss of about 160,000 jobs in the U.



Drinking age forum tonight at Emens

The communications department will host an Open Forum debate regarding the legal drinking age in the U.S. at 7 p.m. today in John R. Emens Auditorium. Admission is free to for "Responsible Drinking Redefined." Derek Brey, a student organizer for the event, said the issue was chosen as part of an immersive learning program for a good reason.


Indiana legislation attempts to allow alcohol sales on Sundays

As a senior at Ball State University, Brad Buhle said he understands the trouble Hoosiers encounter when trying to purchase alcohol. Indiana is one of 15 states that still has the prohibition-era blue laws in place that prohibit the carryout sale of alcohol on Sunday.


Enrollment increases at Ball State

Ball State University's total fall enrollment increased to 20,243, up by 394, after decreasing for the past three school years. Tom Taylor, vice president for enrollment, marketing and communications, said Ball State was turning a corner and would continue to grow in coming years because the smaller classes of past years were graduating and being replaced by larger freshman classes.


More than 2,000 register to vote in county on final day

Delaware County Democratic chairwoman Marge Landers didn't think the last day of voter registration would be like this. Lines of last-minute registrants formed outside the county voter registration office all day. Monday's walk-in crowd became more than 500 registration forms waiting to be processed.


FOOTBALL: Crawford to appear on ESPN at 11:40 a.m.

Defensive end and co-captain Brandon Crawford will appear and be interviewed on ESPN's "First Take" at about 11:40 a.m. "First Take" is a sports morning show that airs Monday through Friday on ESPN2 from 10 a.m. to noon and is hosted by Jay Crawford and Dana Jacobson.


THINK TO EXIST: One thing I have learned...

...is the importance to communicate well. In a world where face-to-face communication is a lost art, society electronically communicates through e-mail, text messaging and Web sites such as Facebook. I am not ridiculing those students who prefer to speak through electronic means.


SOCCER: Cards dominate weekend

The Ball State University soccer team proved this weekend it does not want to play in close games. The Cardinals (7-5, 3-1 Mid-American Conference) won both of their games this weekend by three goals. They beat the University at Buffalo (4-5-2, 0-4 MAC) 4-1 Friday and then beat Kent State University (5-6, 2-2 MAC) 3-0 Sunday at the Ball State Soccer Field.