Culture

Culture

'X-Files' fun for fans but fails to captivate

Rhian Hibner | July 28

"The X-Files: I Want To Believe" is not a waste of 100 minutes, nor is it a waste of $10. But it isn't a compelling use of time or money either. The movie is not particularly outstanding, but it's not a bottom-dwelling waste either. It's worth watching for any fan of the series, but it is exactly what series creator Chris Carter billed it as: a long episode of the "Monster of the Week" variety.

---

Culture

The Lobo Threesome

Patrick Lonz | July 21

10 Years Division Available Now 4.5/5 Shame on the person who says he likes music and doesn't own this album. Since its May 13 release, Division has sold less than 100,000 copies. In other words, less than 100,000 people know what an awesome album everyone else is missing.

---

Culture

'Dark Knight' among the best

Rhian Hibner | July 21

Christopher Nolan has completely surpassed "Batman Begins" with his latest outing of the masked vigilante. This is no mean feat, as "Batman Begins" was widely hailed as the best Batman movie ever made when it came out in 2005. Now, the torch has been passed to "The Dark Knight.

---

Culture

'Mamma Mia!' a musical disaster

Brandon Call | July 21

The modern musical takes yet another hit in the form of "Mamma Mia!" - a hideous adaptation of the wildly successful Abba-inspired stage show about a bride-to-be on a Greek island trying to work out which of three men knocked up her "reckless little slut" of a mother 20 years earlier.

---

Culture

Sequel makes for a good time in 'Hell'

Rhian Hibner | July 14

Director Guillermo del Toro has been working on his imagery since "Pan's Labyrinth," and his latest work, "Hellboy II: The Golden Army," has an impressive collection of his signature creepy crawlers. But rather than inspiring nightmares, the creatures stir up a mixture of amusement and awe.

---

Culture

The Lobo Threesome

Brandon Call | July 14

Danity Kane Welcome to the Dollhouse Available Now 1/5 Call it the sophomore slump. Call it the reality TV curse. There is no other way to put it: Danity Kane's newly released sophomore album stinks. As documented on the latest season of "Making the Band," executive producer Sean "P.

---

Culture

The many uses of lavender

Brandon Call | July 14

In July, lavender fields sprinkle the desert landscape against the backdrop of the Sandia Mountains. It's lavender picking time for Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, and what better way to celebrate than the Lavender in the Village Festival? What started five years ago as a small celebration of the summer harvest quickly turned into Los Ranchos' premier community event, organizer Kelly Kuchar said.

---

Culture

The Lobo Threesome

Brandon Call | July 7

Julianne Hough Julianne Hough Available Now 3/5 We all know she can dance, as displayed on the ABC hit show "Dancing with the Stars." But can she sing? This up-and-coming country starlet known for her bubbly personality on television has a leg up on the competition as she debuts her self-titled country album to adoring fans.

---

Culture

Thrill-seekers engage in geocaching sport

Brandon Call | July 7

It's a modern-day treasure hunt, minus the treasure. There are no pirates, eye patches or X's on a map. Instead, thrill-seekers use Global Positioning Systems to find small trinkets left behind by others who have found the items, called caches, and logged their experience on the Internet.

---

Culture

Paint, water fight colors Holi festival

June 30

Four tents, a dozen squirt guns and more than 50 students chasing each other with paint and water balloons - the India Students Association celebrated Holi in style Saturday. "It's the Festival of Colors," said Krishna Chaitanya, president of the ISA. "There's no festival quite like it in the United States.

---

Culture

Column: Just down the highway

Brandon Call | June 30

At the northern apex of the Rail Runner, I was faced with two options: get off the train and spend a few hours looking around Bernalillo, or keep riding it south, back to civilization. Luckily, my explorer's instincts took over, and I found myself setting off into the sunset.

---

Culture

The Lobo Threesome

Rhian Hibner | June 23

Coldplay Viva La Vida, or Death and All His Friends Available Now Coldplay's latest album is a return to formula for the London band. Producer Brian Eno seems to have held back some of the excesses of Colplay's previous effort, X&Y, and allowed the band to put together an album that has a sound much closer to its first two albums.

---

Culture

Column: Just down the highway

Brandon Call | June 23

Madrid, N.M., is a unique destination, to say the least. The town, originally founded in the 1800s as a coal mining town, is now an artist's haven - a hippie enclave of sorts. And that's an interesting mix. Rediscovered in the 1960s and '70s, the town provided artists an escape from the "touristy and overpopulated" Santa Fe and Taos, one gallery owner said.

---

Culture

New 'Hulk' smashes previous movie flop

Rhian Hibner | June 16

Hulk smash? In the pseudo-sequel to the 2003 super-flop "Hulk," he most definitely does. That's a good thing. It's rare enough that a movie gets a second chance, and the Hulk franchise most definitely was not going to get a third try. It's not quite a direct sequel to the aforementioned flop - in fact, the only real plot point that carries over is Bruce Banner fleeing to Brazil.

---

Culture

Column: Just down the highway

Brandon Call | June 16

El agua es la vida - "water is life." For the community of San Antonio, N.M., there isn't a more apt saying. In the 1800s, the village served as a small farming and ranching community. People kept goats - one of the only animals suited to graze the area's rocky climate - and grew small fields of squash, corn and chile.

---

Culture

Festival celebrates flamenco

Brandon Call | June 9

UNM student Victoria Otero practices flamenco in front of a plain mirror in an unassuming dance studio in Johnson Center. Otero's ornate dress creates a fury of scarlet and gold as it flows with grace and precision. Her feet make a loud, clinking sound perfectly in unison with the echo of Spanish maracas in the background.

---

Culture

This Father's Day, think bowhunting

June 9

Why buy a Father's Day card when your dad could shoot an elk with a bow and arrow? While the elk, along with a few other animals, will be artificial targets, they will be 3-D at the Sandia Crest Bowhunters Association Father's Day Shoot on June 15. The group is hosting the event at its archery range near Tijeras Canyon.

---

Culture

Play takes look at desperate women

Carrie Leonard | May 12

"Cowboys Are My Weakness" is a play about women who are dying for marriage proposals. The audience follows four women whose identities are blurred into a composite female of the '90s who is educated, opinionated and vulnerable. To make a play about women dying for a proposal that never comes is to tread on dangerous ground.

---

Culture

The Console Wars

Rhian Hibner | May 12

It has been a glorious return to the days of yore, when a young man could steal a car, drive it down a city street at 150 mph, slam it into a bus, shoot the bus driver, and then steal the bus. This refers, of course, to "Grand Theft Auto IV". In this installment of the series, the player controls Nico Bellic, a Serbian immigrant with a penchant for violent crime, as he roams around Liberty City - Rockstar Games' stand-in for New York.

---

Culture

Store offers goods from Asia

Marcella Ortega | May 12

Earth Treasures Us owner Thomas Huber said the items in his store reflect his wife's heritage. "My wife is actually Indian," he said. "She is East Indian, grown up in Thailand. So, to bring in things from India is very natural." The store at, 3025 Central Ave.