A first look at ‘Kami no Tou’
The long wait is over; ‘Tower of God’ finally has an anime, and even if it is not all what I hoped, I am still finding it enjoyable. We are thrown into a world with little explanation, and the sheer novelty and expanse of the Tower compels me to keep climbing.
A movie and a play and a graphic novel rolled into one
‘Plata Quemada’ is truly a living graphic novel, born somewhere between a film noir thriller and a theatrical play, and something worth experiencing.
Can idealists exist in Silicon Valley?
‘Silicon Valley’ is a series with a prickly heart, a satire that asks whether it’s possible to stay idealistic in a world that only speaks in dollar signs.
Living in a neverland where you never grow up
The anime begs you to ask the question: what is a Neverland? Growing up, facing the world, there’s something intriguing about a promised neverland, a kind of utopia where you aren’t able to grow up not because you chose not to, but because the choice was taken out of your hands.
The most important X-ray crystallography photo in history
From a metaphoric play of metaphoric ideas — “shapes within shapes,” as Dr. Franklin calls it — this production of Photograph 51 and the people whose stories it tells draws this race to discovery into and out of focus.
“Who will believe thee, Isabel?”
'Measure for Measure' is one of Shakespeare’s “problem plays” that, despite being categorized as a comedy, feels like anything but. This rendition by MIT Shakespeare Ensemble leaves us feeling as if we were helpless, as if we had witnessed a tragedy because, despite the comedic relief, despite her efforts, the fate of Isabella does not change.
‘Mob Psycho 100’ and the problem of being a hero
‘Mob Psycho 100’ and its general humanity and moralistic, pacifistic outlook are refreshing in a genre of anime that focuses on power-ups over real character growth, epic fight scenes over mundane, everyday life, and the supernatural instead of the real.
Rona Wang ’21 talks identity, art, and writing the heroes of your own story
“That was something that was really important to me,” said Wang. “To write stories in which Chinese people or Chinese American people could be the heroes of their own stories.”
Rona Wang’s debut story collection sings
'Cranesong' is a beautiful debut story collection, stringing together characters exploring their identities: what does it mean to be an artist, to be female, to be Asian, to be Asian American, to be queer?
Amusing-lee, this musical is a fun-filled romp through history
A political musical has never been so relevant. If all the dissatisfaction with Congress, the slow-moving turtle of politics, were condensed into a satirical look at the people who made our country, '1776' is that musical.
One designer’s trash is another’s treasure
The show, hosted by the UA Sustainability Committee, featured the creative styles of 17 designers, and 19 models strutted down Morss Hall wearing trash and various plastics, metals, paper, and recyclable materials not usually associated with high couture.
Professor Tod Machover talks Schoenberg, composing for opera, and the power of words
In an interview with The Tech, Machover discusses Schoenberg’s legacy, the challenges of adapting his life into an opera, and how it all came together.
Arnold Schoenberg brings his music to Hollywood
This opera’s Schoenberg is a creative player, but also a fighter; he cycles around and around before accepting Judaism, he hurtles forward into the future with his musical sensibilities, he falls in love and loses people and runs, but he eventually finds a home in himself.
Crime made glamorous
When Carlos forms a thieving alliance with Ramón Peralta, Luis Ortega directs our view to their bodies, their hedonism, and their temerity — exploring a homoerotic relationship in a homophobic world.
The flamboyant, complicated Freddie Mercury takes the stage
The trailer is more brilliant than the film itself, where dramatic snippets against foot-stomping Queen songs promise everything you could ever hope for. This is a film made by and for Queen fans, created with so much love for Freddie Mercury that it disguises the film’s less than stellar foundation.
Come to the Fun Home! The Bechdel Funeral Home, that is
The musical adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s memoir ‘Fun Home’ explores the death of Bechdel’s father and her coming out as lesbian, and how we try to distill truth from painful memories but can’t because we only have the leftovers and the emotions that still pour from them.
Rami Malek and co-stars talk Queen
The Tech interviews Rami Malek, Gwilym Lee, and Joseph Mazzello about upcoming ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’ The Freddie Mercury biopic hopes to bring a deeper context of the singer’s life and the British rock band Queen’s rise to stardom.
Spotting human tracks in the snow
As an animated children’s film, Smallfoot could have gone wrong. But it didn’t. Instead, ‘Smallfoot’ was an animated children film whose slapstick Tom-and-Jerry humor and catchy tunes mask its sensitive approach to criticizing censorship, discrimination, and the fear of the misunderstood.
‘We’ll walk this road together, through the storm / Whatever weather, cold or warm’
Boston Calling invites Boston and Cambridge to join a weekend music celebration with incredible headliners each night and numerous performing artists throughout the day. What's not to love?
The end is near
If anything, these three episodes are about shedding characters from the past four seasons and moving them around to where they can move the company forward. A great deal of plot occurs in these three episodes to place people where they want to be. As we close off this season, I cannot help but feel the end is near.
Three modes of George Balanchine
Ballet has never been the same since George Balanchine quickened, illuminated, and transformed the artform. Now experience an evening starting from one of his earliest choreographed works to one of his later performances.
Tech startup Pied Piper finally moves up in the world
Both Pied Piper’s crew and the Silicon Valley television show itself have evolved over the past four seasons, but this season so far feels more of a hit or miss.
Would you trade your identity for a bag of marbles?
Joseph, the precocious younger brother, lets us in on his thoughts of his developing philosophy on living and why he chooses to live. We watch him grow up in Nazi-occupied France from the “crybaby” (as his brother calls him) who lost his blue marble to one who refuses to let go of his life.
Watch this wild, heartfelt goose chase to cockblock teenagers
What could otherwise be a raunchy teen comedy becomes a feel-good film about parenting and the process of watching your children become adults. Yes, parents: young adults can have sex, try drugs, or move to college, or all three.
A curse hangs over the youngest of the Kennedys
While on Chappaquiddick island, Ted, with Ms. Kopechne seated beside him, drives his car over the bridge and into the water one night, setting off the infamous scandal of the 1970s.
‘Oh the shark, babe, has such teeth, dear’
Think of a modern, raunchy rom-com, or every time a novel was censored for mature content, or go to the past and think of Voltaire’s Candide. And now think about opera, the soprano’s voice echoing through the hall, the audience’s impeccable suits and dresses, and the richness of the orchestral music. Put the two together, plus an overt confrontation against capitalism, and we have 'The Threepenny Opera.'
14 things you missed from the 90th Academy Awards
Jimmy Kimmel turned the Oscars into a game show.
Lily and Amanda aren’t horsing around with murder
The two female leads are distinct from each other, but the chemistry between Cooke and Taylor-Joy makes their friendship work, and ultimately reveals that they are not as different as the film fools you into believing.
Imagine a world where mechanical pencils are advanced technology
Chris Babu ’97 graduated from MIT with a mathematics degree and worked on Wall Street as a bond trader for 19 years. But since then, despite being told he was crazy to not stay in finance, he’s changed his career to a novelist.
Apples to apples to better apples
They stared at it in stunned silence for a while. I fidgeted with my fingers. Did I mess up?
A Higgs Boson powered particle accelerator sent to space to solve our energy crisis but instead, rips the space-time continuum?
When a massive energy crisis plunges the world population into a hellish existence, the Cloverfield Station is the last hope for our humble planet. Now, if only solving the energy crisis was so simple.
The Poker Princess’s empire of wealth rises and falls
Twice, Molly Bloom falls from grace: first her Olympic skiing accident that puts her out of the contest; next, her arrest for running poker games that marks her as a felon. Brilliant law student turns criminal as she buries herself deeper into the world of the elite.
Entering the realm of fine dining
Around the corner from Eliot Hotel, Back Bay restaurant UNI opened in 2002 with contemporary twists on traditional Asian cuisine. From the outside, it seems like an unimpressive shabby nightclub; but through the wooden door was an upscale, classy restaurant, dimly lit and with an elegant atmosphere.
Christian McBride sets the baseline for bass
Joined by pianist Christian Sands and drummer Jerome Jennings, McBride promised a fun night even among the serious, erudite scholars of Harvard, and as he puts it, to help maintain the balance.
Have you ever been lost in a piano?
Occasionally, I would be lost in her music, drowning in dulcet notes that were simultaneously warm, strutting and fretting in such a way that did not feel frenetic.
These people do not deserve to go to Aruba
In retrospect, there wasn’t much of a point in the end. The people who died died of their own callous mistakes (and deserved it). There wasn’t much heroism to root for so all one can do is hate the perpetrators.
Face-to-face with ‘The Enemy’
Walking by the MIT Museum is intriguing this fall — a quick peek through its Mass Ave windows shows patrons decked out in heavy goggles and backpacks meandering through a mostly empty space. They’re participating in The Enemy, a virtual reality (VR) experience intended to inform people about perspectives of war. We are about to join them.
Mitch Rapp is no James Bond, but he’s entertaining enough
Mitch lacks Bond’s class — “Rapp, Mitch Rapp” doesn’t roll off the tongue — but he certainly makes up for it in kill count and his entertainment factor.
“Stranger Things” plus clowns gets you “It”
Muschietti’s vision for King’s novel is remarkable: long enough for us to love these heroes, and well-written enough so that even its more maudlin moments don’t detract from the plot.
Netflix’s Death Note, a rant; or, please don’t make a sequel
The film loves using the Dutch angle so often that it’s a fantastic opportunity for a drinking game. You might need it when you watch this.
What do you do with a B.A. in English?
Avenue Q embraces the living, because no one is special, nothing is permanent, and regardless of the good and bad, you should stop worrying for now.
Seeking your fortune out west never grows old
Aubrey Plaza plays a sympathetic character who can get us to laugh both at her and with her.
Are you looking for a Good Time?
The film wisely pivots between the believable and the ludicrous, leaving a high-strung and comedic wild goose chase that is thrilling to watch.
Get it right: a gunslinger shoots with his gun, not his heart
The film version of The Dark Tower is a solid narrative that I enjoyed as a stand alone film and, at times, impressed me with its quick pacing and cohesive writing, but it was too riddled with mediocre writing to watch favorably.
The Only Living Boy in New York is a serviceable film
The Only Living Boy in New York is a misnomer, because within this film, no one is truly living, let alone a single boy.
Revisiting the calamitous story of Dunkirk
Deeply humane, Dunkirk is a powerfully wrought film of men who, under the torrent of bullets, fight for their lives as the world around them falls apart.
Making the world a better place, one startup at a time
College editors speak with Big Head actor Josh Brener as HBO’s Silicon Valley comes back for season four.
Sweet dreams are made of this: wonder
From Einstein’s Dreams, I took away less of an understanding of time and more of a mutual recognition, less of Einstein’s biography and more of his fiction.
What to do when you cannot mend Every Piece of Me?
Every Piece of Me explores cultural clashes and the moments when communication collapses in a heartwarming drama.
Bildungsroman from the brink
If you have walked through Stata and seen the chalk lettering of “Brink”, then you might have heard of Kollin Wasserlein ’19, who spent IAP producing his music album.
Tinseltown isn’t all glamor, but we knew that
Like the crew behind the film Hidden Figures, Harvey too writes a rarely told story: the point of view of the noir femme fatale.
The artistry of the Malambo is stunning
Che Malambo delivers a dramatic, energetic performance of a traditional Argentinian dance style.
Cue the music — Broadway’s The Illusionists have come to Boston
If you seek two hours of escapism, The Illusionists will give you that, and if you are anything like me — a child who has never grown up — you might receive a nostalgic reminder of wonder at the impossible made possible.
When all along, you’ve been telling the truth
Aptly subtitled as a “trivial comedy for serious people,” The Importance of Being Earnest is a satirical exploration of Victorian courtship and mistaken identity, a lighthearted play without the gravitas of Dorian Gray but with the same biting wit as Wilde’s other writings.
A return to the classics
Philharmonia Quartett Berlin Presented by the Celebrity Series of Boston NEC’s Jordan Hall Mar. 3, 2017
Jelly and George brings two composers together for one evening
Two guys walk into a bar. They might even be frenemies, as pianist Aaron Diehl joked to the audience, but they would have something in common—jazz-imbued music. If Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton and George Gershwin had met in history, the result would be spectacular.
An invigorating and stunning performance of strings
The Danish String Quartet has drawn critical praise for its performances since its 2002 debut at the Copenhagen Summer Festival. Its four members--violinists Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen and Frederik Øland, violist Asbjørn Nørgaard, and cellist Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin--are renowned for their wonderful balance in their performances, a difficult feat to pull off. I confess that I am indifferent to string quartets but the Saturday evening performance warmed me up to the sound and timbre of strings.
Wait, you mean it’s not “Hack, Pun, Tool?”
Listen to Story Jack tell the tale of the greatest, most elaborate inside joke of the world: MIT’s hacker culture.
The space between this film and perfection is quite vast
Watching The Space Between Us is akin to the sitting through an unintelligible lecture. Not quite sure where the logical jumps were, you merely nod and move on, understanding that it would take some work to decipher the mess of notes you scrawled.
Meet Augustine Early, your resident journalist sleazebag
The Atheist is a snide reminder about integrity and moral responsibility to journalists who are granted the power to control the flow of information.
Two lives intersect through empathy
The film I, Daniel Blake is a declaration. These words, spray-painted across the walls of the job centre, capture the compelling story of 59-year-old carpenter Daniel Blake (Dave Johns) who is forced to fight for his welfare rights after a heart attack.
It’s all fun and games... unless you’re George and Martha
The script has held up well. With its raunchy humor and intensely flawed characters, Virginia Woolf? is reminiscent of modern television dramedies like You’re the Worst. Dysfunctional families and tragic marriages seem like modern staples, but for a play performed in the 1960s, it generated controversy for its language and portrayal of such flawed, unlikeable characters.
Technology and music intertwine in a stellar performance
His homemade YouTube videos reflect one of the great things about MIT: the boldness to innovate and a humane compassion for the world.
Brace yourselves, The Coldest Winter is coming
In the midst of all of this secrecy, Johnston paces the reveals remarkably, leaving enough information for the reader to piece together this narrative without too much exposition.
Revenge is a dish best served cold and with magical rain
It’s not the first time that Prospero’s gender was switched in an adaptation. In 2010, Julie Taymor’s film The Tempest cast Helen Mirren as the protagonist Prospero (known in the film as Prospera), a role traditionally acted by a man in Shakespeare’s original play of the same title. Here, the Actors’ Shakespeare Project has cast Marya Lowry, who juggles the various sides of our protagonist seamlessly and fits naturally into the script.
Dutilleux’s 'Tout un monde lointain…' transports its audience to a new world
Thursday’s concert opened to the quaint charms of Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune. The prelude conjured the image of a forest in the natural, rural world and the flutes carried this atmosphere well. The main themes of the clarinet and flute parts were dreamlike and serene, a strange juxtaposition with Zander’s animated conducting during the more invigorating passages.
A painting sets into motion a disturbing tale of eternal youth
Quite a bit of thought was put into the libretto and the performance itself — for such a philosophical novel, this adaptation is palatable for audience members who have not read the source material. In the lecture prior to the performance, Liebermann commented that he was particularly cautious while writing because he wanted the opera to be self-sufficient, not even requiring the program notes to understand the story.
Wiesner Student Art Gallery revitalizes MIT’s art scene
The Wiesner Gallery reopened this past Wednesday to the public, featuring over 70 pieces from 18 of the Arts Scholars. The gallery’s organization was spearheaded by curator and manager of MIT Student Arts Programs Sam Magee and student curator and Arts Scholar Carmen Castaños G.
A neo-Luddite manifesto?
The ambitious title of Anti-Tech Revolution: Why and How would suggest that Theodore Kaczynski (the "Unabomber"), after years of deliberating in prison, has found and published the solution to the uncertainty of a technological future. The solution he proposes in this work, however, is not so clear-cut.
Humorous yet poignant, Imogen Cooper delivers a charming performance
An evening listening to a solo piano recital by internationally renowned pianist Imogen Cooper is therapeutic for the soul. Cooper stepped out onto the stage, greeted warmly by applause. Her first piece, “The Virgin of Frydek” by Leoš Janáček, was performed with sublime tenderness, a sensitivity that is carried through her performance.
Paper Lanterns: an awe-inspiring tale of compassion across cultures
Among the twelve victims, Paper Lanterns centers around Normand Brissette and Ralph Neal, two American POW victims, including interviews with members of their families, who shared their gratitude to Mori for his compassion and dedication.
A look at FredFest
An eclectic mix of band performances ranging from avant-garde to punk rock, East Campus’s annual concert FredFest is a reflection of the dorm community itself: idiosyncratic yet inclusive.