Dancing under the stars
The Boston Ballet opened its 50th season before an estimated audience of over 45,000 ballet aficionados, performing the dazzling Night of Stars in Boston Common last Saturday. The free one-night performance featured excerpts from Boston Ballet’s entire repertory of classical, neo-classical and contemporary ballets. Multiple giant screens, a velvety state-of-the-art sound system and the gigantic stage, which at times dwarved soloist and pas de deux performances, made for an enchanting evening of highbrow artistry.
Arts Events SEPt. 20 – SEPt. 26
Arts Events SEPt. 20 – SEPt. 26 Friday (7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.) MITOC and LSC present Radical Reels, short films about outdoor sports — 26-100 (All Week) RSVP for Fantasies from Verdi’s Operas by La Scala Chamber Orchestra performance on Oct. 6. Advanced online registration required, closes Sept. 27. The event is free and exclusive to MIT Community members. Saturday (12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.) Family Day at the List Visual Arts Center — E15, Upper Atrium (7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.) Chinese cultural performances — 50-Morss Hall (7:30 p.m. - 11:59 p.m.) Masquerade Ballroom Social — Sala de Puerto Rico, W20 Sunday (12:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.) Middle-East-Style Sukkah — Kresge Oval (2:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.) MIT Ballroom Dance Club Rumba and Samba Workshops — W20 (5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.) MITHAS presents Sandipan Samajpati, Khyal — Wong Auditorium (8:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.) Folk Dancing with live music by the Cambridge Folk Orchestra — Sala de Puerto Rico Monday (7:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.) Folk Music of the British Isles & N. America, Fall 2013 concert series — Killian Hall (7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.) MIT Ballroom Dance Club Foxtrot Workshops — Lobdell Tuesday (10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.) Media Lab Conversations Series: Daniel Suarez — E14-3rd Floor Atrium (8:00 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.) Contra Dance with live folk music — W20 Wednesday (12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.) Poetry Reading by Nina Olff — 14W-111 (7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.) Katsura Sunshine presents Japanese Rakugo comic story-telling — 32-123 Thursday (7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.) Urban Films: 5 Broken Cameras (2011) — 3-133 (8:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.) Ellipsis Trio — 14W-111 Send your arts events to arts@the-tech.mit.edu.
Too many bodies, not enough laughs
Near the beginning of The Family, Giovanni (Robert De Niro) narrates his life story. A former mafia boss who snitched on the mob, Giovanni is forced to become “Fred Blake” and enter witness protection in Normandy with his wife “Maggie” (Michele Pfeiffer), daughter “Belle” (Diana Agron) and son “Warren” (John D’Leo). Though he’s committed untold numbers of murders, tortures, and other devious schemes, he somehow sees himself as a misunderstood “good guy” living with his own moral code. And this absurd delusion seems like an apt metaphor for The Family, a movie convinced that gruesome murders and thin laughs can create a good gangster movie.
Ceci N’est Pas Une Déconstruction Artistique
In the introduction to Cannibals and Kings, the anthropologist Marvin Harris wrote that “cultures on the whole have evolved along parallel and convergent paths which are highly predictable from a knowledge of the processes of production.” This belief is the crux of his greatest contribution to anthropology, the theory of cultural materialism. Over the course of his career and many books (of which I own all), Harris applied this principle to explain many of the seemingly irrational practices and tenets of the world’s varied cultures, notably including cannibalism and prohibitions on consumption of pork. In a contemporary context, however, I think it can be equally well applied to the phenomenon of so-called modern art.
Janelle Monáe’s android-inspired saga continues with The Electric Lady
“Also, I wanna say The Droid Control can kiss the rust of the left and the right cheek of my black metal ass,” says the voice of a female caller during a radio call in Monáe’s interlude “Good Morning Midnight.” The radio station WDRD, led by DJ Crash Crash, receives comments and thoughts from various callers, who discuss their opinions on Monáe’s heroine alter-ego, android Cindi Mayweather.
Lessons from the good love stories
Hey, you. Yes, you, at MIT with the glasses and the projected science degree. Joseph Gordon-Levitt has relationship advice for you. And it is nerdy.
Ethics and Consequences
Perhaps the most terrifying thing about disaster is the idea that it can strike at any time. Prisoners, a harrowing tale of kidnapping, is about two average families in an eerily beautiful suburbia.
Culture Tap and the Street Experience
The walk from the Orange Line Back Bay station, down Clarendon Street, and to the intersection with Tremont Street, is a pleasant one. The street presents itself somewhat like you would expect it to in the North End. It feels old, solid, well-kept and welcoming. The atmosphere is curiously fascinating, marking the place as a distinct piece of Boston, made up of “neighborhoods” and the transitional moments between them. Culture Tap has been situated in a plaza-like wide sidewalk on one of the most delightful streets in Boston.
Casting the spell of a good story
When I sat down to write this review, I wasn’t sure how to begin. Do I expound on how Kvothe, the protagonist of Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind, is one of the deepest and truest characters I have ever seen brought to life with words? Do I extol the plots and subplots that naturally and compellingly guide Kvothe through the story?
arts Events SEPT. 13 – SEPT. 19
arts Events SEPT. 13 – SEPT. 19 Friday (9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Personal Space Exhibit by Posterlerferguson. Continues through Saturday — Keller Gallery, 7-408 (12:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Student Art Loan Program Exhibition. Continues through Sunday — List Visual Arts Center, E15 1st Floor (5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.) Unveiling of Mending Boston Collage — MIT Museum (7:00 p.m. & 10:00 p.m.) LSC Presents Fast & Furious 6 — 26-100 (8:00 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.) The Musical Theater Guild’s Avenue Q — Kresge Little Theater Saturday (7:00 p.m. & 10:00 p.m.) LSC Presents Fast & Furious 6 — 26-100 (8:00 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.) The Musical Theater Guild’s Avenue Q — Kresge Little Theater Sunday (2:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.) MIT Ballroom Dance Club Rumba and Samba Workshops — La Sala, 2nd floor W20 (8:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.) Folk Club Dancing — La Sala, 2nd floor W20 Monday (7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.) MIT Ballroom Dance Club Foxtrot Workshop — Lobdell (7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.) Music and Theater Arts Dept. Presents Singer-Storyteller Norman Kennedy — 14W-111 Tuesday (2:30 p.m.) Campus Art Tour — Meet at Lobby 10 Thursday (4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.) Opening Reception for Sidewalk City: Mapping the Unmapped — 7-338 Send your arts events to arts@the-tech.mit.edu.
A charming romp through the troubles of adult life
The beloved theme song of the Internet, “The Internet is for Porn,” comes to MIT in the Musical Theater Guild’s production of Avenue Q. With a story about a group of friends with real-life problems, such as closeted homosexuality, porn addiction, and graduating with a liberal arts degree, the show mixes puppets, actors, and even a shadow theater in a hilarious pastiche of Sesame Street for adults.
An ethereal silken globe
The Silk Pavilion is a gauzy hemisphere of sparse silk threads, with apertures arranged in an asymmetric but balanced pattern and many small, dense, circular patches of silk filaments that were spun directly onto it by live silkworms. The scaffold is composed of several panels with irregular patterns of silk thread to support the silk spun by Bombyx mori, the most widely cultivated species of silkworm.
What your MITID can do for you
Your MIT ID can get you free or heavily discounted admission to nearby arts venues. The Council for the Arts at MIT gifts these memberships and discounts as a way to greaten students’ exposure to and appreciation for the arts. The following is a list of the places where you can flash your card. In addition, you can use it to check out museum passes from Hayden Library for guests in town.
Architecture highlights at MIT
Course 4, the Architecture Department at MIT, offers many, varied classes in visual arts, and art and architectural history, many of which fulfill HASS (humanities, art, social science) requirements. These Course 4 classes feature both hands-on experience, as well as historical and literary analysis of art and architecture, and focus more on the experimentalist nature of art. By offering the Art, Culture, and Technology (ACT) program, the History of Art and Architecture program, and specialized architecture classes, MIT’s Course 4 allows a range of study on artistic expression and its history.
Experiencing and learning about theater at MIT
Despite their strong penchant for science and engineering, many students come to MIT with extensive previous experience in theater and film. And, while it seems that a school like MIT might be the last place on Earth to find interesting theater classes, the Institute offers various and eclectic courses for students who want to continue exploring their interests in this field, and for students who had no prior exposure to theater and film.
A bloody brilliant sci-fi comedy
The World’s End, directed by Edgar Wright and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, is the third British comedy in the “Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy,” along with Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007). Aside from the creative team and similar themes, each film in the trilogy stands on its own. Shaun of the Dead was a romantic comedy and a zombie horror flick mashup; Hot Fuzz was a cop action comedey; and finally, The World’s End is science fiction, by way of a brilliant and dark comedy about the balance between growing up and fears of conformity.
Classes and opportunities to explore music
It can come as a surprise to learn that MIT has a world-class music department. Many MIT students are involved with music in some capacity. Whether you are interested in performing, taking random classes, a full major/double major/minor, or just attending excellent concerts on campus, MIT is a terrific place to be. Students often find that music offers an ideal counterbalance to a schedule of p-sets and labs.
Studio art at MIT
Studio Art? MIT doesn’t offer studio art classes for credit (except 4.301 Intro to Visual Arts), but the Student Art Association (SAA) offers non-credit classes, including ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, and photography. Most meet once a week in the evening or over the weekend, in a studio on the fourth floor of the student center, so it’s possible to fit in even a busy academic schedule.
Interview with singer-songwriter Kae Sun
Born and raised in Ghana, Kae Sun moved to Canada when he was just a teen. Entering the music scene as a student in Hamilton was never an intentional decision for him, but that initial spontaneity has evolved into a promising music career, with two full-length albums released and an ongoing tour.
Portrait of the master as a young man
Ip Man, the legendary martial arts master that popularized the wing chun style of kung fu and mentored Bruce Lee as a child, has been the subject of several biopics before. The two directed by Herman Yau, Ip Man: The Legend is Born (2010), didn’t make much noise on this side of the world; its continuation, Ip Man: The Final Fight (2013), will be released next month. The two directed by Wilson Yip, with a serene and solid Donnie Yen in the main role, Ip Man (2010) and Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster (2011), were warmly received by the public and critics alike. With these still warm from the oven, we are presented with yet another take on the life of the master. Written, directed and produced by Wong Kar Wai, The Grandmaster (2013) is an artistic retelling of the already familiar story, with familiar faces in the main roles: Tony Leung (Hero; Lust, Caution; Red Cliff) plays Ip Man, and Ziyi Zhang, (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; House of Flying Daggers; Hero) plays Gong Er, his fierce antagonist and platonic love interest.