FILM REVIEW The truth behind the housing bubble
The documentary Inside Job by former MIT graduate Charles Ferguson ’89 explains the background of the global financial crisis. It features profound background research and several interviews with insiders of the financial world, academics and politicians. Matt Damon supported the documentary as narrator.
THEATRE REVIEW A grab bag of 30 bite-size treats
The MIT Dramashop’s production of Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind opened and closed this past weekend. If the title of the show strikes you as suspiciously familiar, it’s because Dramashop also put forward a production of Too Much Light in 2009.
FILM REVIEW Magic is still alive
Potter fanatics had been counting down to the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for months; the anticipation was almost too much to bear. On the opening night, throngs of Muggles queued up in theaters, even along sides of streets, in creatively Potter-fied costumes waiting for the clock to strike midnight. Thanks to MIT’s student body class organizers, many MIT students were able to view the pre-midnight premiere at Boston Commons Loews theater, making them the envy of the crowds.
FILM REVIEW Making awkward ‘cool’
Our generation has become used to the slapstick SNL teen comedies. At first glance,<i> Easy A </i>is not dissimilar to its predecessors like<i> Mean Girls</i>. However, unlike other attempts at teenage comedy following <i>Mean Girls</i>, <i>Easy A</i> is fresh, cheeky and actually on the mark.
FILM REVIEW Working with your mind
<i>It’s Kind of a Funny Story </i>is exactly that: kind of funny.
ON CLASSIC CINEMA The original portrayal of the confused youth
<i>Mr. Braddock: What is it, Ben?</i>
CONCERT REVIEW Uninspired but familiar
I found the remnants of Gen X last Wednesday. They were stoned at the Dandy Warhols concert at the Royale on Tremont St. This must have been their last bastion of sanctify from the crippling recession, overdue payments on the BMW, and the fact that mom and dad borrowed away their future for that house on Nantucket.
ARTS IN THE SPOTLIGHT Small revolutions
On Wednesday, October 27, the Berklee College of Music celebrated its seventh annual Evening with an Entrepreneur with one of the premier agents of the indie scene: Tom Windish. Though the name may be unfamiliar to the most, the names of the bands that he represents are not. Since its founding in 2004, the Windish Agency has amassed a roster of over 400 bands, including Animal Collective, the XX, Royksopp, and Crystal Castles. As of now, Windish’s agency is still expanding.
FILM REVIEW Is greed still good?
Wall Street. The two word phrase has been the bane of Main Street for the last two years. We have vilified bankers due to the likes of Bernie Madoff, Citi’s ex-execs and in general shunned and publicly denigrated those who have been tainted with the four word acronym TARP. Well, unfortunately, Oliver Stone’s <i>Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps </i>does nothing to dispel the negative public sentiments associated with the Street. The sequel to the famed 1987 film about greed and deception, it has all the bells and whistles but ultimately falls short of its full potential. The platform was set to address the recent financial calamity and really delve beyond the surface greed but ultimately, shies away from the ugly truths behind the downfall.
RESTAURANT REVIEW Affordable Food du Français
<i>For those of us hoping to take a date out to a nice restaurant over the weekend, the options for affordable fare can be few and far between in Boston. Many of the fine dining establishments serve delicious and unique chow, but unfortunately for the average college student, there are few that do not break the bank. I will be eating my way through these options, and, hopefully, finding an economical, date-worthy restaurant for other MIT couples to try. </i>
ON CLASSIC CINEMA It’s alive!
Nothing screams Halloween like a good old-fashioned monster movie.
ALBUM REVIEW Tunstall plays dress-up
If “Suddenly I See” conjures up the lipstick-and-heels world of <i>The Devil Wears Prada</i>, then “Uummannaq Song” invokes a different kind of fierce. KT Tunstall’s new album <i>Tiger Suit</i> opens with the rattling and echoes of mysterious campfire rituals. Then an unmistakable voice breaks in: “Hold your fire / I’m coming out and I’ll tell you the truth.”
CONCERT REVIEW Performance or Performer?
Thursday evening’s BSO performance found it hard to separate artist from opus: Marcelo Lehninger’s performance with the orchestra marked the 31-year-old conductor’s premiere as assistant conductor of the ensemble. Not a daring program, the performance somehow begged a divination of the young maestro’s future career than a complete synthesis of the evening’s works.
THEATER REVIEW Swords, storms, and (bloody) eyeballs!
The MIT Shakespeare Ensemble’s production of King Lear opened last weekend. <i>King Lear</i>, considered one of Shakespeare’s finest tragedies, starts with an ill-conceived brownnosing competition and ends, unsurprisingly, in death. Lots and lots of death.
OPERA REVIEW Balinese paradise
A night at the opera transfiguring into a trip to the tropical paradise of Bali sounds like an excellent selling point to all the weather-ridden Bostonians. Yet, Evan Ziporyn’s recent opera “A House in Bali” has only now been staged in our beloved city after more than a year since its American premiere, which took place in San Francisco last fall.
FILM REVIEW The boy who doesn’t get the girl
Maybe you didn’t get the girl, and just can’t move on. Or the project you poured your soul into didn’t go as well as you had hoped. All the deadlines and pressures are winding up that knot of anxiety in the pit of your stomach, and you just can’t find any release. As MIT students, we’ve all been there. But what happens when it all becomes too much?
CONCERT REVIEW Turn of the century glory
Mahler’s second symphony, the “Resurrection,” holds its place among a handful of symphonic works that will necessarily end in a standing ovation. This is no mystery: Mahler’s symphony is the logical extension of Beethoven’s gargantuan Ninth, the<i> “</i>Ode to Joy,” in scope, Mahler’s second symphony more than doubles the number of performers in Beethoven’s work in both orchestra and choir; Mahler’s work extends the choral sections across two independent movements and the use of orchestral recitative far beyond Beethoven’s work. In content, while Beethoven text is an exhortation to brotherhood and peace, Mahler’s text is somehow more personal, more aligned with modern aesthetics — a call for personal growth and achievement, a prayer for personal actualization, a spiritual resurrection.
FILM REVIEW The birth of Facebook
In the week and a half it has been since the release of <i>The Social Network</i>, I have raved about the movie to everyone I know, yet I hesitate to say anything too substantial about the movie itself. It is best seen with fresh eyes and no expectations — except, of course, the expectation to be entertained by a movie about one of the defining developments of our generation. Most people who haven’t seen it yet refer to it as “the Facebook movie,” and while it is indeed about Facebook (which, let’s be honest, provides a good enough reason to go watch it), it is, above anything else, an excellent film, already dubbed “the best movie of the year” by numerous critics.
IN MEMORY OF Joan Alston Sutherland
It’s difficult not to dwell in mid-century American nostalgia in remembering Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, who almost single-handedly ushered in a revival of bel canto opera. But so much more; the Australian dramatic coloratura soprano, dubbed as La Stupenda after her 1960 performance of Händel’s Alcina, was known for her magnificent flexibility and technique, her incredible range and her devotion to the performance as an organic whole. Dame Sutherland passed near her home in Montrieux, Switzerland on the evening of Sunday, October 10, at the age of 84. She is survived by a husband, son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren.
CONCERT REVIEW Electrifying performance of contempo-music
Artistically, October is often a busy month at MIT, and this year is no exception. Vicky Chow’s recital, as part of the Bang on a Can Residency (sponsored by MIT Music and Theatre Arts department) was the first notable musical event of October. This concert was highly anticipated, given the artist’s strong ties with Bang on a Can All-Stars, a chamber ensemble renowned for its free and experimental approaches aimed at blurring the distinction between all forms of music. Chow’s recital was a vivid demonstration of piano contemporary music, showcasing the possibilities of the instrument extended with the aid of computer generated effects. While this contemporary music might initially sound inaccessible and strange, the showmanship of Chow and her feisty technique kept the audience engaged and thoroughly entertained. In many ways, this recital was a veritable eye-opener, offering a glimpse of the distant future of classical music (and music in general), and highlighting the enormous range of the expressive possibilities of the piano, most of them still untapped today.