MOVIE REVIEW Everyone should have a pet dragon
Dreamworks has finally taken its stance against Pixar in animated films. <i>How to Train Your Dragon</i> took the top spot at the box office on its debut weekend on March 26, and has grossed over $158,251,066 since then. Like your usual fairy tales, <i>How to Train Your Dragon</i> has the formulaic plot of an unlikely hero saving the entire city from probable destruction and finally getting the girl of his dreams.
CONCERT REVIEW Francophile!
Of the languages that are most frequently performed in the Western canon (Latin, Italian, French, German and sometimes Russian and Spanish), French is most often eschewed, most usually because of the difficulty in its diction. At least in English speaking countries, it seems there are as many schools of pronunciation as there are people willing to subscribe to them. And this is in modern French; how many different ways to pronounce Medieval French? franco-Latin? Least of all to mention the difficulties of twentieth-century French music which, after the daring harmonic advancements of Claude Debussy and Francis Poulenc, became some unholy amalgam of jazz imbued with traditional choral forms.
DOUBLE SOY LATTE, PLEASE! Muffins and mochi, turkey and tofu
Three things from recent memory come to mind when I think of the phrase “pleasant surprise”: Modern Family, for restoring my faith in the family sitcom; the Saferide tracking screen outside W20, for preserving our sanity; and Dado Tea, for being like no other café in the Greater Boston area.
MOVIE REVIEW Dragon Tattoo brings back the art of moviemaking
When I walked into the theater to see <i>The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo</i>, all I knew about the film was that it was Swedish and that its general buzz was very positive. In retrospect, I’m convinced that my initial lack of exposure was a good thing; a two-and-a-half hour Swedish mystery film based on a book whose title translates literally to <i>Men who Hate Women</i> and whose poster highlights a creepy looking Goth girl is not exactly my idea of a fun Friday night.
ALBUM REVIEW Pretty confections for the ears
Zooey Deschanel is the pinup girl of the indie scene. Her porcelain doll features and piercing blue eyes, framed in a mass of raven waves, are her trademarks. She shows up on the red carpet in divine vintage pieces. Oh, did I mention that her husband is Ben Gibbard, the frontman of Death Cab for Cutie? All she has to do as the indie sweetheart is continue her role as a vivacious sprite in cult-indie films and maybe dabble in an album or two. Her music duo with M. Ward, She and Him, released their sophomore album <i>Volume Two</i>, much to the rejoicing of her devoted followers.
ALBUM REVIEW Sotti defies the jazz musician stereotype
Those of you who follow what I write might know of my interest in the interplay between a country’s inherent culture and the music it produces. Italian guitarist Fabrizio Sotti is an apt example. Since the death of Marcus Aurelius, the Italians haven’t quite been renowned for their sense of urgency. While the higher-browed and straighter-lipped of their European brethren may poke fun at the sloth of this Mediterranean cradle of the West (here’s looking at you Berlusconi), you have to give them credit. After all, while you’re criticizing Italy for its mafia-style government and easy-going lifestyle, an Italian man is probably sleeping with your girlfriend. Italy may be the degenerate skeleton of the Roman Empire, but damn they’re smooth. Their plethora of Lotharios only adds to the stereotypical image of the tall, dark, and handsome Italian.
BALLET REVIEW Girl plays doll plays girl
If you would not exactly describe yourself as a balletomane, but rather the can-handle-seeing-the-Nutcracker-once-every-holiday-season type, then consider challenging yourself with Saint-León’s <i>Coppélia</i>,<i> </i>choreographed by George Balanchine and Alexandra Danilova, performed by the Boston Ballet Company from now until April 18. It includes all the entertaining elements of <i>The Nutcracker </i>— a bit of fairy-tale magic, toys coming to life, the impressive array of costumes — plus an extra act!
CONCERT REVIEW Changing perceptions, changing the rules
For as beautifully and thoughtfully as Saturday evening’s performance was conceived, programmed and performed, the third concert of Musica Sacra’s 50th anniversary season also managed to present significant challenges to both audience and performer. In a program entitled <i>The Spirit is Still Speaking: Sacred Choral Music of the Modern Era</i>, Musica Sacra performed five works; wo were world premieres, and all were written within the last forty years.
CONCERT REVIEW Batting .500
My main issue with Vampire Weekend has always been that 30 seconds out of every minute of their music is pure genius. Doesn’t even matter which album, song, or minute.
MUSEUM REVIEW Through the window-glass
It seems as if Tim Burton’s most recent project has sparked a resurgence of Alice in Wonderland. Certainly Alice is all the rage in London, with the movie’s recent Leicester Square premier and Selfridges’ Alice-themed tearoom (although second to Harrods in posh-ness and size, Selfridges can still boast unrivalled bumblebee-yellow bags and equally eye-catching, face-against-glass window displays, displays that for a time matched the said tearoom).
MOVIE REVIEW Madness, genius, feast for the eyes!
I have long been a fan of anything Tim Burton-related. He is the epitome of weirdness. He’s kooky, bizarre, batty, brimming with a creativity that only a madman or a true genius could possess (I think that he is a bit of both). So no, I was not surprised at all that Tim Burton chose to remake <i>Alice in Wonderland</i>. Honestly, I could not imagine it any other way. A world set in between nightmare and whimsical dreamland? Check. A slew of odd characters with ungainly physical traits or fantastical talking beasts? Check. A fabulous array of costume designs that rival the runway of Betty Johnson and John Galliano? Check.
DOUBLE SOY LATTE, PLEASE! Good drinks, wi-fi, ambiance: Choose two
Last week, the hard drive in my clunky Dell whirred its final breath. So today, I present you with the first café review written on my shiny new netbook. Its lightweight portability inspired me to kill a flock of birds with one stone, something I couldn’t have done before without getting scoliosis. In one trip, I returned a sweater from Copley Place (buyer’s remorse), bought tortillas at Trader Joe’s (huevos rancheros for brunch tomorrow), and investigated a café I’d never been to on Newbury Street.
MOVIE REVIEW ‘Bourne’ meets politics
Despite what its trailers will lead you to believe, <i>Green Zone </i>has far less action and far more substance than the Bourne movies that have made Matt Damon so famous. <i>Green Zone</i> focuses just as much on conveying its controversial message as it does on delivering thrills. The film offers a fictionalized and biting critique of the American military’s efforts to locate Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction in 2003.
CONCERT REVIEW The hidden life of strings
The string section is a staple of any orchestra: The largest of the instrumental sections, the strings are the most prominently displayed. Strings are usually the most constant factor in any orchestral score, while woodwinds, brass, percussion are the variables. Perhaps it is ironic that the fate of the string section is to play some of the least sonically interesting parts. Strings are often consigned to betraying their vast range of timbre and tone color to complement and support more strident colors of other sections of the orchestra.
THEATER REVIEW Capturing the English crown, and our attention
The MIT Shakespeare Ensemble is putting on <i>Richard III </i>by — you guessed it — William Shakespeare. <i>Richard III</i> is classified among Shakespeare’s history plays, which many of you might remember as the ones that are not taught in the average high school curriculum. Regardless, it is still performed with regularity, and its success is often contingent on the strength of the actor portraying the eponymous lead. In this particular production, the increasingly ubiquitous Ensemble member Christopher D. Smith ’12 delivered impressively.
CONCERT REVIEW An American classical music fest
Last weekend was truly delightful for classical music fans. A substantial portion of the music-making community came together to deliver two entertaining concerts, which included world premieres, surprises, awards, experiments and of course, great music. Last Friday, MIT Symphony Orchestra conducted by Adam Boyles, premiered the Symphony No. 2 by MIT music lecturer Charles Shadle and then joined forces with Aardvark Jazz Ensemble for an exquisite tour of the jazz world. A day later, the MIT Wind Ensemble led by Frederick Harris, featured the chamber chorus to premier the vocal suite <i>Spring Rituals</i> by MIT music lecturer William Cutter, after which it explored the unusual music of Charles Ives. Both conductors went to great lengths to dispel the traditional stuffiness of classical music concerts, by introducing funny anecdotes with the music to be played and demonstrating how the music works. Given these educational elements, the concerts were particularly engaging for the audience, constituting the perfect antidote to the gloomy, incessant rain that plagued the whole weekend.
ALBUM REVIEW Gorillaz comes back with Plastic Beach
More than a decade has passed since Blur’s lead singer Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlitt spun Gorillaz out of nothing more than a growing appreciation for electronic music and four punk-ass cartoon characters. Since 1998, the band has fused dance, African, gospel, electronic, rap, and rock music into three hypnotically good albums, long since eclipsing the popularity of Blur here in the United States. Albarn has collaborated with a huge number of varied artists over the last ten years, but is the sole music visionary behind Gorillaz, composing all the lyrics, setting all the orchestration, and writing all the music. Like <i>Gorillaz</i> (2001) and <i>Demon Days</i> (2005), his newest effort <i>Plastic Beach</i> (2010) features a range of musical guests that spans both decades and genres. These cameos, far from obscuring Albarn’s artistic voice, serve only to highlight his distinctive musical voice that eludes categorization but is easily identifiable.
MOVIE REVIEW The raw side of love
By the end of the <i>Remember Me</i>, Robert Pattinson proves, through a nuanced portrayal of the enigmatic protagonist Tyler Hawkins, that his acting career will outlive <i>Twilight</i>.
CONCERT REVIEW Surfer Blood packs Great Scott to the rafters
When was the last time you witnessed a teenaged Floridian play a guitar with his mouth? Those attending Surfer Blood’s most recent show saw that and other wonders: two drum kits and five musicians squeezing onto a stage designed for flea circuses, and the re-emergence of the cowbell as a rock instrument. Simply constructed, tightly orchestrated, and featuring two prominent, over-amplified guitars that reject the “lead/rhythm” stereotype, Surfer Blood songs — specifically “Swim” and “Fast Jabroni” — evoke the Pixies at their very best on <i>Doolittle</i> (1989). Whether this influence is direct or inherited through their unabashed Weezer-worship is hard to say. Driving their similarities with Weezer home, Surfer Blood strummed the first 4 bars of “Sweater Song” during the encore, only to stop abruptly and mock the crowd for its gullibility.
STORE REVIEW Central Bottle excites the palate
Just up Massachusetts Avenue, past Albany Street and across from IS&T Headquarters sits the recently opened Central Bottle Wine & Provisions. Central Bottle is a delightful shop opened by a team of four — including three veterans from the Cambridge restaurant scene — seeking to recreate the atmosphere of an Italian enoteca, an intimate wine storehouse where people can gather to taste wines and small plates of food. The shop’s wine selection is focused on small production, handcrafted, organic and biodynamic wines from around the world, so their offerings differ significantly from that of other Cambridge stores such as Trader Joe’s or the Harvard Wine Company. With its hefty wine racks that double as tables and its beautifully designed glass front, Central Bottle offers an exciting escape from the otherwise dreary and unremarkable walk up Mass Ave.