A&E odds and ends: Heartland, Palladium, and...zombies

Some odds and ends from my A&E files.

--The Heartland Film Festival reports a 10.4% uptick in screening attendance this year, with 36 sold-out shows. The winners this year include "The Space Between," (Best Dramatic Feature) and "Freedom Riders" (Best Documentary Feature), both of which made my recommended list. Here's wishing both films future success reaching audiences.

--The Palladium isn't opening in Carmel until 2011, but music will be heard there soon as performers begin to help tune the hall. The American Pianists Association will be hosting an invite-only event in November to help tweak the acoustics. This and other tune up programs--by groups including the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, the Carmel Symphony Orchestra, and more--are being treated as rehearsals. The groups are allowed to invite or not invite patrons as they wish--with the understanding that tickets cannot be sold. Throughout the process, the acoustics will be adjusted to bring the hall up to its ideal by the official opening.

--In a books-by-Indiana-authors round-up a few months back, I mentioned Sam Stall's book "Night of the Living Trekkies," which concerns the siege of a science fiction convention by an army of the living dead. In a pulling-all-the-stops-out marketing move, the publisher has created a video trailer for the book that rivals the production quality on the coming attractions shorts for major films. For a Halloween kick, check it out here. (Warning: It's a bit bloody.)

--Congratulations to the Fine Arts Society/WICR, who proved last night what arts and education can do--the team won Indy Reads' Spelling Bee, narrowly beating a crew from the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library.

--I'll be hosting a screening of "Bride of Frankenstein" at the Indianapolis Museum of Art this Friday. Come out to see what I'd argue is one of the best three sequels ever made. Care to guess my other favorites?

Your thoughts on any of the above?