Feb 10 | 12:00 am
Singer and songwriter Lana Del Rey, also known by her real name Lizzy Grant, has become one of this year’s breakout artists after her Jan. 31 release of “Born to Die.” Del Rey’s debut skyrocketed to the top of many international charts within days, debuting at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200 albums chart, and yet many music critics are still wondering what all of the Del Rey hype is about.
More»Feb 9 | 12:00 am
Instead of settling for cliche, elevator-worthy music and dull, lifeless art often seen in hospitals, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center hires volunteer musicians to perform live in the middle of the hospital’s main rotunda and features works by local and regional artists, whose pieces are displayed on a rotating basis. The center defies the stereotypical hospital setting through its creative arts programing, according to Bill Emerson, who has played the piano at DHMC for 19 years.
Feb 8 | 12:00 am
Delayed due to Tina Fey’s pregnancy, the highly anticipated return of the comedy “30 Rock,” now in the middle of its sixth season, has rewarded patient fans with five hilarious episodes so far this season. The show is picking up speed as it tackles themes ranging from homophobia to the cutthroat world of Manhattan kindergartens, all while upping Tracy Jordan’s (Tracy Morgan) insanity and Liz Lemon’s (Fey) quirkiness by the minute.
Feb 7 | 12:00 am
Students Teaching in the Arts, also known as START, has sent Dartmouth students into classrooms across the Upper Valley for more than a decade to encourage arts education by hosting music, poetry, crafts and theater workshops. Coordinated by the Hopkins Center Outreach program since 1999, START has started recruiting new members for spring 2012 after a stall in operations last fall, according to Mary Gaetz, outreach coordinator at the Hopkins Center. The program hopes to implement a new pilot system next term that builds on more than a decade’s worth of work, she said.
Feb 7 | 12:00 am
Like most Charlotte Bronte lovers, I was more than skeptical when I first heard about Margot Livesey’s latest novel, a modern retelling of “Jane Eyre” that was released this month. In writing “The Flight of Gemma Hardy,” Livesey took an enormous risk, creating a modern-day adaptation of one of the must beloved Victorian classics.
Feb 6 | 12:00 am
Spaulding Auditorium shook with the resounding opening notes of the medieval monastic song “O Fortuna” on Saturday as the Dartmouth College Glee Club performed Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” and Aaron Copland’s “Old American Songs,” which were accompanied by three professional soloists and a guest orchestra.
Feb 6 | 12:00 am
Bentley’s Nose, a new theater group formed by Dartmouth alumni, will come to the Hopkins Center this week to perform their play “The Reluctant Lesbian.” Throughout the week, Bentley’s Nose will work with senior theater majors in a series of workshops that aim to forge alumni and student connections while bridging the gap between graduation and a career in the professional theater world, according to Kate Mulley ’05 and Matt Cohn ’08, the founders of Bentley’s Nose.
Feb 6 | 12:00 am
Nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor, “The Descendants” is a comedy-drama based on a novel of the same name by Kaui Hart Hemmings. Set in Hawaii, the film is directed by Alexander Payne and follows the journey of Honolulu-based lawyer and land trustee Matt King (George Clooney) in the aftermath of an accident that renders his wife unconcious. At times comical and at others tragic, “The Descendants” follows King’s attempts to redefine and change his indifferent and distant relationship with his daughters, reconcile himself to his wife’s affair and reach a decision regarding ownership of 25,000 acres of family land in Kauai by reevaluating the past and embracing the future. —- Katie Tai
Feb 6 | 12:00 am
While British period drama “Downton Abbey” — currently in its second season — is at its height as the classiest show on television, a recent wave of Downton-inspired memes has satirized its original intents, or perhaps revealed its true nature. These internet videos infuse familiar plotlines of “Downton Abbey” with raunchy twists. Have you, for instance, ever thoughts Bates was just a bit creepy? “Abbey of Thrones” — which exchanges violent, foul-mouthed quotes from “Game of Thrones” with stately dialogue from “Downton Abbey” — thinks so, too. One of its memes is a characteristically humble picture of Bates with the line, “He’s a drunken little lecher, prone to all manner of perversions,” attached. Similarly, “Arrested Downton” juxtaposes the period piece aesthetic of “Downton Abbey” with quotes from “Arrested Development.” If you like your Downton humor lewd, you will also love “Telegrams from Downton,” which combines “Texts from Last Night” with choice “Downton Abbey” stills. “Telegrams from Downton” is akin to reading a Bored@Baker post, but about stiff-lipped aristocrats and their servants, not Dartmouth students. My personal favorite is “Hey Lady,” whose tagline pretty much sums it up: “Because Matthew Crawley is the Ryan Gosling of PBS.” It is hard to resist “Downton Abbey” heartthrobs with such cheesy, sometimes historically significant pick-up lines attached.
Feb 2 | 12:00 am
This summer, the Hopkins Center will introduce a new public art project called “Hands on Pianos,” which will kick off a celebration of the Hopkins Center’s 50th anniversary by placing dozens of hand-decorated, donated pianos in unexpected places around the College’s campus and the Upper Valley. The pianos will be on display, mostly in outdoor locations, throughout the month of July, according to Margaret Lawrence, director of programming at the Hopkins Center.