Paul Brady, the top-ranked handball player in the world, will be in Des Moines for the tournament.

Something that could have easily been started by a bored teenager grounded to his room has evolved into an intense competition. Handball is a simple game that requires only a ball and a wall, but once inside the court, players compete in a high-intensity game that never lets up until one side is defeated. Equipped with only their own appendages, these athletes must demonstrate speed, agility and strength along with deadly precision.

“Handball started in the early 1800s in Ireland and has blossom into a sport that is being played in 15 countries worldwide,” said avid local handball player Tony Heiting. “It is a game that requires great dexterity, eye-hand coordination and quickness in a 20-by-40-foot court.”

To reach the 21-point winning score, a player is required to master shots that are low to the floor (kill shots), shots that pass your opponent (pass shots), shots that go to the ceiling (defensive shots) as well as making points while serving the ball (roll outs) to your opponent. Handball is played by all ages.

“While the game is played worldwide, the majority of handball players live in the United States. The United States Handball Association (USHA) was formed in the ’50s to promote handball among the states, and sponsor major tournaments around the country,” Heiting said.

This year Des Moines was chosen by the USHA as the site for the 63rd U.S. Handball National Four-Wall Championships bringing some of the best handball players from around the world. More than 250 participants are expected to compete in different age divisions for national titles.

The highlight for most will be watching the Pro Handball players. Folks will want to get out early to catch some intense matches from both men and women as they compete for the Open Single and Doubles titles as well as their chunk of more than $20,000 in total prize money.

“The players will first of all be playing for bragging rights or the privilege to be called a National Champion,” said Ned Jorgensen of the Des Moines Hinder Club. “First and second place will receive a large plate trophy. Players in the Open or Pro events can also win cash.”

Twenty-five Iowans are expected to play in the National event. Stop by the Riverfront YMCA and cheer them on. CV

David Rowley is an Iowa native with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Iowa and a master’s in film journalism from the University of Glasgow in Scotland.

USHA National Four-Wall Handball Championships

Where: Riverfront YMCA, 101 Locust St., (515) 282-YMCA

When: June 25-30; Tuesday matches 8 a.m.-8 p.m., Wed.-Fri. 9 a.m.-7 p.m., Sat. 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Sun. 9 a.m.-3 p.m. (Length of matches will depend on the final player count and how many in each division.)

Price: Attendance is free, except for reserved seats for pro matches, which are $100 per seat.

For more information about handball, go to http://ushandball.org or http://iowahandball.org.

“Maniac”

2 stars

Not Rated

89 minutes

Horror

Starring: Elijah Wood, America Olivo, Liane Balaban

An irredeemable exploitation horror movie that overplays its subjective point-of-view conceit, “Maniac” will leave viewers cold. A by-committee screenplay, contributed to by Alexandre Aja (“High Tension”), updates William Lustig’s ’80s cult horror classic by the same title — about a serial killer with a palate for the severed scalps of women. Relative newcomer Franck Khalfoun (“P2”) directs.

The disquieting horror movie hooks its audience with a shocking preliminary knife murder and subsequent scalping seen through the eyes of Los Angeles serial killer Frank (Elijah Woods). From a shock value standpoint, the sequence does the trick. The woman’s bloody scalp slides off so easily — too easily — under Frank’s well-sharpened hunting knife. Wood is every bit as creepy as his malevolent killer in “Sin City,” albeit more misogynistic here. Stunt casting aside, Elijah Wood makes for a believable basket case midget consumed with hunting down and killing women on a seemingly daily basis. A lack of subplots, much less any development thereof, creates a claustrophobic narrative vacuum. What we get is gore for the sake of gore. This is filmmaking gone bad.

A childhood of abuse by his prostitute mother (America Olivo) has left deep scars on Frank’s warped psyche. Cheesy flashbacks provide abstract exposition that hardly convinces regarding the lost sanity of a killer whose face we barely glimpse during the film’s first hour. Frank’s heavy breathing and knotted voice tell the camera where to look. The effect is tedious.

As an adult, Frank restores old mannequins in his poorly lit storefront. He cuddles up with his favorite models in bed after using a staple gun to attach and reattach the freshly severed scalps of his recent female victims. Flies are a problem, and no amount of bug spray helps. Frank perseveres. The screenwriters borrow liberally from films such as “Psycho” and “Silence of the Lambs” but suffer a loss of suspense because there aren’t enough layers to the story.

Franck Khalfoun uses some flashy filmic techniques — an electronic-buzzing musical score and light-pulsing camera pans — but nothing to rival Gaspar Noé’s mind-boggling subjective camera work on “Irreversible” or “Enter the Void” — two far better films that clearly informed “Maniac.”

Some audiences will likely wonder at the entertainment value of being implicated in a litany of grotesque murders of young women by an anti-hero protagonist. Meanwhile, pimply-faced fanboys will celebrate the film’s graphic depiction of grotesque violence against scantily clad women.

There’s something to be said for filmmakers bending the rules of dramaturgy, but rules are rules for a reason, and misfires like this demonstrate why. Without an empathetic character to shepherd the viewer through its stomach-turning episodes of grisly violence, the story has nowhere to go. Creepy, gory and cold as the ocean’s floor, “Maniac” seems more like a how-to guide for would-be serial killers than a scary movie to take a date to see. If you do make the mistake of ignoring my advice, don’t be surprised if your date walks out. CV

Courtesy of Beaverdale Books

Review by Harriet Leitch

Random House

March 26, 2013

$30

576 pp.

Listening to the audio book of “Volume 3 of the Last Lion,” the biography of Winston Churchill during the war years, I was contemplating the reasons the United States didn’t enter the war when Britain’s need was so great. When we look at it today, it seems like a “slam-dunk.” I chose to read “Those Angry Days” hoping to more accurately fill out this time in our history. In large part, the answer is that this country had a large isolationist segment that did not want foreign entanglements of any sort. Our attitude was that Europe needed to settle its own disputes.

One of the leaders among the isolationists was Charles Lindbergh. He had lived in Europe in the ’30s with his family but moved back to the U.S. as the war heated up in Europe. America First was a premier isolationist organization started on the Yale campus. It was an America First rally in Des Moines in the fall of 1941 where Lindbergh gave the speech noted for its anti-Semitic tone. In the end he was anxious to serve the United States following Pearl Harbor, although FDR resisted Lindbergh’s request for reinstatement as a colonel in the Army Air Corps.

No matter what FDR wanted to do, taking the country to war was not solely his decision. He needed Congress to formally declare war. With anti-war sentiment running strong, he could not be openly pro-war lest he not be reelected. Also, the country was not prepared for war, and beefing up the military might of an isolationist nation was difficult.

The politics of that period provide some fascinating reading. Lynne Olson’s treatment of this time period made this book a delight. CV

Harriet Leitch retired a couple of years ago to enjoy her grandchildren, garden, train her dogs, play her flute and return to her love of books. An unrepentant history major, she especially enjoys biographies, history and the occasional mystery/detective story.

Crash “Wanted,” 1989.

This year marks Steven Vail’s 20th anniversary in the gallery business. His exhibitions here, of internationally renowned artists, have usually received more media coverage from New York, Germany and even Hong Kong than they have in Des Moines. How did he manage to survive?

“Luther Utterback (Des Moines artist) took me to New York City when I was 23. The first friend he introduced me to was Jan Frank. We hit it off really well, and I would end up moving into a part of his loft on Bond Street,” Vail began.

Frank has long been a legendary arts figure in Greenwich Village, connected to the scene much like Andy Warhol was a generation earlier. Chuck Close became Vail’s friendly neighbor. Vail also met Christo, Claes Oldenburg and Joseph Kosuth. All three were intrigued that he came from Iowa.

“They knew two things about Iowa — that it looked green from the air and the Des Moines Art Center,” Vail said.

Vail acknowledges that his timing was fortunate. “New York was the hub of the art world then. Now people split their time between there and Hong Kong or Berlin. That was also a time of ideas. No one was networking. We hung out at Il Buco, a gathering spot for artists. One regular I knew only as David — he always carried a bunch of notebooks tied in twine. Sometimes he would read a poem to us. Much later I learned he was David Byrne. We’d walk Jan’s dogs to a tiny dog park. One day he introduced me there to a guy named Keith and told me to talk to him. I took him for a vagrant. He was scraggly and mumbled so badly I couldn’t understand a word he said. I told Jan to never do that to me again. He stayed mad at me for days and finally told me that guy was Keith Richard,” Vail reminisced.

Vail also met famous collectors and gallery owners like Mary Boone and Barbara Gladstone. “Being from Iowa made me stand out, and I cultivated that identity.”

Then, 20 years ago, he realized he knew enough people to become a dealer. “So, lacking money, I audaciously asked Davis Sanders to build me a gallery in Des Moines.”

Sanders agreed, to Vail’s astonishment. The result was Vail-Giesler Contemporary Art on Fifth Street by the railroad tracks. Their first sale was CRASH print. Vail had tracked the artist down after the New York Times wrote about his graffiti.

The Des Moines gallery also held an exhibition from the estate of the legendary collector Harold Rosenberg. It included original works of Philip Guston, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, etc. Only six locals showed up for the opening. Insurance and other overhead costs there persuaded Vail to move to a more secure space in the Financial Center. Then the ease of doing business over the Internet convinced him to close that space. Four years ago, architect Kirk Blunck talked him into reopening in East Village.

“That was not a business decision but a cultural one. East Village reminded me of Greenwich Village decades ago. We only did $30,000 business in 2009. That steadily increased to $1.3 million last year. Less than 10 percent of our sales are local, yet we attract some amazing things. We mounted the first-ever exhibition of Chuck Close self portraits. I called him to interest him in a photography show. He seceded from that and gave himself his own show. I didn’t argue,” Vail explained.

Vail’s latest move, with the Moen Group, is to open a new gallery in the Packing and Provision Building in downtown Iowa City.

“Marc Moen’s partner Bobby Jett made just one request — that we have a CRASH exhibition. I love that symmetry,” Vail said. CV

Jim Duncan is a freelance writer who has penned nine different columns for Cityview and its sister publications beginning in 1987.

Published arrest charges are obtained from official law enforcement records, which are available to the public. All who are charged are innocent until proven guilty.

ARMED AND THIRSTY

Owners of Tequilas Liquor reported a burglary at their store at the 1400 block of Des Moines on June 10. The security alarm went off at 12:52 a.m. Police believe the suspects gained entrance through a broken window. Various liquor and food appeared to be stolen from the business. After reviewing the surveillance tape, the suspects appeared to be four males carrying semi-automatic handguns and pellet guns. No suspects have been named.

THE DUDE ABIDES

A man was reportedly assaulted with a knife on June 9 at the 1700 block of Washington Avenue. The report was called in at 6:30 p.m. after the victim was allegedly attacked by three men. The victim said that the suspects recognized him as “the dude from the club.” The victim tried to explain it was mistaken identity but was stabbed in the hand before the suspects fled in a Pontiac Bonneville, according to reports.

SCHOOL’S OUT FOR SUMMER

Oak Park Elementary experienced a case of trespass and damage to property after a male minor was reportedly on the roof top and breaking windows at 11:05 a.m. on June 9. Police promptly arrested the suspect and charged him with second-degree criminal mischief. The elementary located on 3000 block of Gave luckily had a school board member driving by to report the crime after seeing the suspect on the roof. CV

Most people have already seen these little wonders and probably don’t know what to make of them. That weird guy with the aparatus strapped to his forehead? That’s his action camera. That Subaru driving down I-235 with a device mounted on the hood? That another action camera (also that was me). While everyday users are starting to adopt these gadgets, over the last few years action cameras have completely revolutionized the way thrill-seekers film and share their adventures. Through the use of high-powered, compact cameras, mountain bikers, skydivers and other adventurists can now film their experiences from a first-person perspective. For less than $300, these gadgets can film for hours on a single battery, fit inside your pocket, film in HD and for a few extra bucks, some can film in 3D and 4K.

While companies such as Sony, Polaroid, Contour and Drift have made a respectable name for themselves in the action camera market, GoPro is by far the dominant brand and is responsible for kicking off the action camera craze. Remember Felix Baumgartner’s intense, world record-setting skydive last year? That was filmed with a GoPro. Did you see Michael Bay’s latest film “Pain and Gain?” GoPros were used to film parts of that, too. Not only is GoPro popular, but if you film your extreme lifestyle with a GoPro and upload it to YouTube, chances are you’ll rack up thousands of views, possibly making yourself the next “sensation” invited onto talk shows. A quick YouTube search of the term GoPro turns up page after page of action sports videos, most with more than a million views.

So if your summer plans include rock climbing, whitewater rafting, base jumping or any activity where you risk your life, mount an action camera to your head and share the rush with the rest of us. CV

Patrick Boberg is a central Iowa creative media specialist. For more tech insights, follow him on Twitter @ResponsiblyWild.                 

Think you’re funny?

Send us your best caption…Email to: celeste@dmcityview.com

This week’s winner:

“Look out y’all! RAGBRAI just got real!”

–Diane Crooks

Runners-up:

“When little Billy complained about snow and ice in May, his dad came up with an all-terrain solution.”

–Eric Riche

“Nobody messed with Jimmy in pre-school!”

–Ben Taylor

Send your “What The…?” caption and image entries to celeste@dmcityview.com

Deadline for entries is every noon, Mondays

CBS’s new series “Under the Dome” (Monday, 9 p.m.) is premised on a beautifully simple “what if” scenario: What if an invisible dome descended on a small town, cutting it off from the outside world?

In this Stephen King adaptation, the residents of Chester’s Mill are in the midst of a normal day when the dome drops — a spectacular special effect involving fire, earthquakes and debris. The town’s population is immediately divided into those on the outside and those on the inside. Then there’s the unlucky cow that happened to be standing right where a part of the dome’s edge hit the ground. It simply splits in two, lengthwise.

Is this an act of terror? An act of God? Or does it have something to do with the propane recently stockpiled by city officials? A journalist (Rachelle Lefevre) investigates, a city councilman (Dean Norris) struggles to restore order and a shady character (Mike Vogel) proves his humanity by ministering to victims. The pilot is a thrill a minute, skillfully introducing the large cast of characters. It also sets up multiple mysteries that will require solving over the 13-week season.

One thing is for sure: Nothing will ever be the same in Chester’s Mill. In other words, there’s no way to glue that cow back together.

“Copper”

Sunday, 9 p.m. (BBC America)

The second-season premiere takes us back to rough-and-tumble New York City in the Civil War era. “Home sweet bloody home,” in the words of one roguish inhabitant.

Indeed, almost all the inhabitants are rogues of one sort or another, whether upper or lower class, natives or immigrants. This week, a mustachioed scoundrel has wreaked violence on a madam who’s muscling in on his prostitution business. It’s up to our hero, Irish cop and Civil War veteran Kevin Corcoran (Tom Weston-Jones), to hunt down the villain and bring him to justice. Or at least a close approximation of justice, given the Wild West setting.

Yes, this is the frontier version of New York City, with rowdy saloons and trigger-happy lawmen. Copper does a great job of evoking the setting from the dank interiors to the dirty streets. This is a town where life is cheap, cops are corrupt and sex is anything but sacred.

It’s a horrible place to be — though certainly a fascinating place to visit for an hour a week.

“Perception”

Tuesday, 9 p.m. (TNT)

Last year I slammed the pilot of this crime series. The premise seemed absurd: Neuroscience professor Daniel Pierce (Eric McCormack) is a paranoid schizophrenic who sometimes forgets to take his meds, resulting in hallucinations that help him solve crimes with a pretty FBI agent (Rachael Leigh Cook). The series took itself too seriously, making it not only preposterous but pretentious.

But the second-season premiere turns out to be perfectly watchable. Daniel is called in as an expert witness in the trial of a vicious killer who appears to have changed his personality by shooting himself in the brain. The defense argues that he must be found not guilty because, with the new personality, he’s not really the same man who committed the crime. True, it’s farfetched, but the episode finds the right tone between dramatic and droll that allows you to suspend disbelief and enjoy yourself.

I find my positive response puzzling after last year’s scathing review. Perhaps I had forgotten to take my own meds before viewing last year’s pilot and hallucinated an episode much worse than the one that actually aired. CV

Dean Robbins is a syndicated TV columnist from Madison, Wis.

Last fall the interpersonal strife within the band — most notably between vocalist Lucas Brighton and keyboardist Joey Vice — reached a breaking point, and September split.

“I quit,” Brighton confessed. “We had six people in the band, all with their own personalities. It was basically a band of six front men. We all had our own things going on, and we were all at a boiling point. One day, I just said, ‘I’m out.’ ”

But September was an idea that proved difficult to keep down.

“(I) was considering moving to Las Vegas,” Brighton said. “(And) we’ve got a really big fan named Mike Perkins here in town who was determined to have one more September show before I left. I was getting the itch again, so I said I would do it. Then one day I got a text from (guitarist Kyle Christensen) that said, ‘If we do this, do you want to do one show, or do you really want to go for it?’ and I was like, ‘I want to go for it.’ And that’s all it took.”

Flood waters destroyed their equipment, but September will be back to play a show at House of Bricks next month.

Heady with the excitement of coming back, the band’s past squabbles were put aside, and September began rehearsing for its comeback show slated for June 15 at House of Bricks.

“We had a good running start until my basement destroyed our dreams,” said drummer Nate Anderson.

A scant 10 days before the band’s scheduled return last weekend, the heavy rains in the area backed up sewage lines around the city and flooded basements everywhere, including Anderson’s, where September’s instruments were being stored.

“We’d planned this big thing for (that) weekend where we’d get all our families together, practice, cook out; it was a big weekend. It started raining (Friday night), and I get up to go see how wet the floor is, and it’s damn near hip high. My fucking couch is floating by. I couldn’t even speak. I just kept thinking: All of our shit is under water.”

On the cusp of coming home to the local music scene, September’s whole voice had been silenced.

“Two sets of drums completely underwater,” Anderson lamented. “Three half stacks are destroyed.”

“Our whole worlds were centered around this show,” added Brighton. “We tried like hell to come up with a way to have the stuff be workable.”

It would have been easy to say, “That’s it, it wasn’t meant to be,” and pack it in. Nobody would’ve blamed them. But that’s not how these guys roll. And, thanks to a strong showing of support from the local music community, they’re well on their way to recovery.

“We’ve had an incredible amount of support,” said Brighton. “We set up a donation site (www.septembercircle.com), where people can donate. (As For You bassist Harpo Dunaway) got Guitar Center involved, and they’ve been incredibly generous, helping us try to recoup what we’ve lost. Kyle put together a remix EP which people can download and name their own price for (http://september7k.bandcamp.com). The outpouring of support from our fans and the people who believed in us has helped us rebound much quicker than expected.”

So now the band’s comeback date is scheduled for the Marcato CD-release party at House of Bricks on July 26, and it’s a date the band is determined to make — hopefully with new music of its own in tow. Now that everyone is rowing in the same direction, the focus is on putting September’s best foot forward.

“We want to take our time and put out a CD that we’re all happy with,” said Brighton. “We really want to showcase what September is really about.” CV

Chad Taylor is an award-winning news journalist and music writer from Des Moines.

To: Barco Municipal Products Inc. (Ottawa, Kan.)

For: Purchase of 24 angle iron-leg barricades at about $40 each and $112.35 in shipping fees for the Highway Department.

Amount: $671.50

To: Central Iowa Hospital Corp.

For: Payment for services conducting 39 on-site hearing tests at $17 each, with otoscopic exams and a full report for the Public Works employees on May 1, including $8.50 in mileage reimbursement.

Amount: $2,065

To: Central Iowa Hospital Corp.

For: Payment for services conducting 59 HeartReach Mobile Lab screening measuring heart rates at Polk County Senior Services on May 15 ($35 per test).

Amount: $1,279.26

To: Cook’s Correctional (Chicago, Ill.)

For: Purchase of kitchen supplies for the Polk County Jail, including two spring-action Whips by Best Manufacturing ($149.99 each), six Vollrath Dishers (at $15.99 each), two Bunn coffee filters ($14.49 each), plus other items such as knives ($27.99 each), can openers ($131.99 each), four-quart pitchers ($16.79 each), squeegees ($27.79 each), a $121.29 mop and $88 in shipping and handling.

Amount: $473.62

To: Fareway Grocery Store

For: Purchase of caramels, candy, mint patties, Jello and other food items for the volunteer breakfast at the Altoona congregate meal site on April 18 through the Senior Services Administration ($25.46), other food and drink items for senior parties ($112.80) and a volunteer breakfast in Altoona ($121.60).

Amount: $865.95

To: Jeffrey G. Foster

For: Payment for workers’ compensation disability claim.

Amount: $17,101.46

To: Insight Public Sector (Dallas, Texas)

For: Payment for contracted software including $13,200 for 11 units of Microsoft Windows Azure, each with a one-month subscription, plus technical support ($3,600).

Amount: $127,893.20

To: Integraph Corp. (Chicago, Ill.)

For: Payment for information technology equipment maintenance as well as other repairs and maintenance at the jail.

Amount: $1,374.14

To: International City/County Management Association

For: Payment for 2013 membership dues for County Administrator David A. Jones.

Amount: $1,145.44

To: Iowa Prison Industry

For: Purchase of street, railroad crossing and speed limit and advisory signs for the county engineer’s office.

Salaries and Such

Name: Maya Steinitz

Title: Associate professor of law

Department: University of Iowa College of Law

Years of service: Since fall of 2011

Annual salary: $164,101.64

Travel

The Des Moines City Council recently approved economic development coordinator Erin Olson to travel to Denver, Colo., from June 19-23, to attend a conference sponsored by the American Institute of Architects. The conference is said to provide training sessions and tours, offer opportunities to observe and learn about examples of urban retail, transit and associated development/redevelopment, urban infill and mixed use residential districts and public art. This comes at a $2,339 cost to local tax payers. CV