entertainment HOROSCOPES
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17. 2012
HOROSCOPES
Because we know things we don't
Aries (Mar. 21-April 19)
Today is a 5
Work with a powerful team, and listen with intent. Don't act like you already know the answer or you'll miss a great opportunity. Creative work has a bittersweet flavor. Every little bit counts.
Gain experience and mastery.
Share the load today and tomorrow,
but hold on to the responsibility. And leave time in your schedule for romance. A bit of glamour won't hurt.
Taurus (April 20-May 20)
Today is a 7
Gemini (May 21-June 20)
Today is a 6
Today and tomorrow, delive into the details. Hot soaks relax stressed muscles. Don't squander your resources, even if you think you have plenty. Learn from an expert.
Reserve the next two days for fun that's balanced with creative productivity. Extend your psychic antennae. Don't believe everything you've learned. Put in the work to reap rewards.
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
Today is an 8
Stick close to home for the next two days. Clean up and discover a treasure. Make room for love. Friends can help you find the perfect expert.
Leo (July 23-Aug. 22)
Today is an 8
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)
Today is a 7
Practicing something you love goes very well now. Make sure you get all you earned. People know they can trust you to get down to the truth. Waste not, want not.
Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
Today is a 6
The air is filled with romance.
Postpone travel for a few days. Start computing expenses. It'll be easier to make household changes soon, but don't obsess about it.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)
Today is an 8
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)
Today is a 5
Your power is intense over the next few days. Handle it as well as you can. It's best to have a plan in place, even if you don't follow it. Everyone benefits at the end.
You're under pressure to complete a project that you've been avoiding. Roll up your sleeves and procrastinate no more (at least until later). Find out what rules apply. You win again.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)
Today is a 7
You can find the right balance between work and friends. Listen to those who support you, and let your self-esteem rise. Don't forget to support others.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)
Today is a 7
Help comes from far away, possibly financial. Time to refinance? Do the homework and provide necessary information. Bring your quest for truth and social justice to work.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
Today is a 7
Adopt rules you can keep and let go of the ones you know won't. New opportunities arise. A private conversation soothes. Acceptance is key (and humor.)
PAGE 4
Short films, big scares
ALEX LAMB
alamb@kansan.com
In a horror anthology, there's no time to mess around. "V/H/S" fully understands this, quickly developing its unnerving atmosphere as a group of degenerates breaks into a creepy old house searching for a valuable, mysterious videotape. This begins one of the most varied and unique entries in found-footage horror as they watch five tapes play out, each one featuring a different brand of horror story.
The first follows several 20-something guys out to pick up chicks at a bar. One of the women they take home, however, is not who she seems, and it doesn't take long before she starts taking advantage of them in the most frightening way imaginable.
This turns into the most terrifying piece of cinema I've seen all year and one of the most effective short films I've ever witnessed. While it perfectly sets the stage for the twisted violence, in-your-face intensity and anything-can-happen style of these stories, none of
the remaining four come close to reaching the heights of the first.
Not to say the others aren't worthwhile; only the middle segment about an otherworldly killer hunting four college kids in the woods feels disposable, mostly because of poor acting and rushed execution.
The final tape provides the most genre fun as a car-full of college guys go to a house for a Halloween night party. Upon arriving, however, they realize the home is both empty and haunted as they explore it. This one achieves a balance between legitimate scares and throwback enjoyment to old-school haunted house movies, with great implementation of CGI effects into aged VHS picture quality.
The second and fourth segments stand out for their simplistic approaches, eerie moods and buildings to disturbing conclusions. The second shows a married couple enjoying a road trip before discovering a young vagabond girl stalking them at their motel; the short film slowly ramps up from kind of creepy to full-on shocking.
Whereas the others are all found-footage from cameras, the fourth story is made up of a series of Skype conversations between a long-distance couple, in which the girl calls her boyfriend with her fear that something is haunting her apartment each night. The lo-fi sensibility makes it work, but the strange places the story goes make it stick.
With only 15-20 minutes for each short film to build its atmosphere, develop its characters and deliver plenty of scares, every second counts. The fact that each story holds several surprises too is only a bonus. So for those who like their thrills fast, furious and refreshingly efficient, "V/H/S" offers a hell of a lot more entertainment than any standard horror flick.
CRIME
- Edited by Sarah McCabe
FINAL SCORE:
Man swindles $15 million
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y.-Mark Hotton appeared on the high-stakes Broadway theater scene out of nowhere this year, offering to come to the financial rescue of a fledgling Broadway adaptation of the psychological thriller "Rebecca."
Although the musical's producers had never heard of Hotton, he successfully sold himself as a globe-trotting moneyman with connections to a wealthy Australian named Paul Abrams. That was before Hotton claimed that Abrams had suddenly dropped dead.
Hotton, 46, also was charged in two other swindles — one targeting a Connecticut-based real estate company and another that investigators say involved his wife and sister on Long Island.
Federal prosecutors charged Hotton on Monday with concocting a tale of phantom investors and an untimely death as imaginative as the classic Alfred Hitchcock film about a man haunted by the memory of his dead first wife.
A judge in federal court in Long Island ordered Hotton held without bail on Monday after prosecutors argued he was a flight risk.
In court papers, the government accused Hotton of creating a web of shell companies they likened to a Ponzi scheme that victimized people across the country to the tune of $15 million.
Hotton, a former stockbroker who lost his license last year, managed to "lull some investors into a temporary sense of security by allowing them to realize small returns on investments, while the remainder funded the Hottons' lifestyle," the papers say.
U. S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.
He was to appear at another proceeding later in the week to face other charges he "perpetrated stranger-than-fiction frauds both on and off Broadway." Manhattan
In the "Rebecca" case, he "faked lives, faked companies and even staged a fake death," the prosecutor said.
Hotton's attorney declined to comment.
The planned $12 million production collapsed earlier this month amid questions about its financial backing.
Lead producer Ben Sprecher "is extremely gratified that Mr. Hotton has been taken into custody," said his attorney, Ronald Russo, adding that Sprecher has "cooperated completely with the investigation."
CRYPTOQUIP
U W O T F C K B C Z N ADD Q K JWRWMEWR B EWMN RAWQOBY ZWBCN CMWBC,OCKOTS O'YY FOEW KOZ B JDF UMORSWC. Today's Cryptoquip Clue: Y equals L
CROSSWORD
ACROSS
27 Exist
28 Persistent attack
30 Bashful
33 Cabal member
36 Mexican entree
37 Neighborhoods
38 Rind-removing tool
39 Tale-teller
40 Trawler need
41 Young fellow
DOWN
1 Florida
city
21 Many Christ- mas trees
23 Porto
bello
alterna-
tive
2 Start of a play
3 Roof component
4 Bulb measures
5 End abruptly, NASA-style
6 Actress Rowlands
7 Fashion
8 Foundation
9 Put down roots
10 Western st.
12 Wooden peg
14 Annoys
15 Ply oars
25 Actor Gregory
26 Volcanic outflow
CHECK OUT
THE ANSWERS
http://bit.ly/SYXqav
19 Squid squirt
20 Underwear with underwire
21 1990s presidential candidate
22 Polar feature
23 Creche trio
24 Generally
25 Campaign fundraising grp.
26 Shunned one
28 Trap
29 Archipelago component
30 Lieu
31 Frost
32 Decade parts (Abbr.)
34 Muscat's land
35 Met melody
| | | 1 | 2 | 3 | | | 4 | 5 | 6 | | | |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| | 7 | | | | | 8 | | | | 9 | | |
| 10 | | | | | | 11 | | | | | 12 | |
| 13 | | | | | 14 | | | | | | | 15 |
| 16 | | | | 17 | | | | | | 18 | | |
| | | | 19 | | | | | | 20 | | | |
| | 21 | 22 | | | | | 23 | 24 | | | | |
| 25 | | | | | | 26 | | | | | | |
| 27 | | | | 28 | 29 | | | | | 30 | 31 | 32 |
| 33 | | | 34 | | | | | | 35 | | | |
| | 36 | | | | | | | 37 | | | | |
| | | 38 | | | | | 39 | | | | |
| | | | 40 | | | | 41 | | | | | |
SUDOKU
Difficulty Level ★★★
10/17