Mar 9 | 12:00 am
English Professor Donald Pease’s new book “Theodor SEUSS Geisel” relates Geisel’s work under the name Dr. Seuss to many of his experiences at Dartmouth. Pease’s book was published on March 2, the birthday of Geisel, a member of the Class of 1925.
More»Mar 9 | 12:00 am
“Shadow Tag” — the latest novel by award-winning Native American author Louise Erdrich ’76 — traces the story of a crumbling relationship behind a picture-perfect facade. In typical Erdrich fashion, the prose is beautifully tragic, depicting the demise of a marriage and family with a masterful combination of stark realism and grace. The result of such contradictory forces — of beautiful language depicting the supremely ugly, from marital enmity to depression to child abuse — is a mounting tension that pervades the entire work.
More»Mar 8 | 12:00 am
Featuring powerful ballads, multiple group numbers and a Michael Jackson medley that included an appearance by College President Jim Yong Kim, this year’s “Dartmouth Idol” finals succeeded in presenting an evening packed with great entertainment.
Mar 8 | 12:00 am
**Correction appended** This weekend, the Dartmouth theater department brought the Hopkins Center’s Bentley Theater to life with its production of the charming and lively musical, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” “Spelling Bee” was directed, choreographed, designed and managed entirely by Dartmouth students.
Mar 8 | 12:00 am
Visiting SnacksAndShit.com is not just another way to put off studying for finals. A visit to SnacksAndShit.com — a site devoted solely to making fun of real lyrics from hip-hop and rap songs — is an enlightening experience. “No Room Service Just Snacks and Shit” reads the tagline at the top of the page, which is the Jay-Z line that first inspired Los Angeles-based writers Chris Macho and Chris D’Elia to create the site. Take a look at lyric No. 466, from “Me, You, Him, and Her” by Beanie Sigel: “I f*ck around and have you sleepin’ underneath somethin’.” Macho and D’Elia’s response to that profound statement: “This is by far the VAGUEST way to threaten somebody.” They continue to list the top three other vaguest ways to threaten someone. The post carries the tag “So vague, so insecure about maybe getting his ass kicked.” Brilliant.
Mar 4 | 12:00 am
**Correction appended***Editor’s note: Thanks to the storm of industry politics surrounding the Academy Awards, it often seems that the winners are decided even before the nominees are announced. This year, we’re sick of the politics. Here’s what would happen if staff members Allie Bosch, Jackie Donohoe and Alec Brodsky could choose the winners — along with the general consensus of critics nation-wide, just in case you need some advice for your Oscar pool.*
Mar 4 | 12:00 am
$2,527,491,501. That’s the difference in worldwide box office gross between “Avatar” and “The Hurt Locker,” the two favorites for this year’s Best Picture Oscar.
Mar 4 | 12:00 am
Following three rounds of elimination spanning five weeks, this year’s edition of the Hopkins Center-sponsored singing competition “Dartmouth Idol” will culminate in a concert Friday night in Spaulding Auditorium. Since the field of 70 auditioning singers was narrowed to 18 semifinalists, then six contestants following the semifinal round on Feb. 9, the finalists — Katie Horner ’11, Jamie Hwang ’10, Michael Tree ’13, Dan van Deusen ’11, Kevin Oh ’12 and Andrew Purpura ’11 — have been hard at work with vocal coaches and production crews in preparation for the finals.
Mar 4 | 12:00 am
**Correction appended** During Wednesday night’s performance of Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues,” one cast member loudly and convincingly demonstrated what a “triple orgasm” might sound like. The rendition, which elicited nervous laughter from much of the audience, is representative of the overall goal of the V-Day program at Dartmouth — to raise awareness and encourage open conversations about female sexuality.
Mar 4 | 12:00 am
To a casual fan of ABC’s “Lost,” the first few episodes of the sixth and final season might have felt a little bit slow in comparison with 2003’s explosion-filled, casualty-loaded, what-is-that-polar-bear-doing-on-an-island pilot. Sure, there were some action-driven sequences with impressive special effects, including a scene where a John Locke-smoke monster hybrid crushed a few nameless characters — but not a single person was sucked into a jet propeller. Clearly the show has lost some of the spectacle it once had.
Mar 3 | 12:00 am
With Tuesday’s launch of “Far,” Filligar — the indie/folk rock band comprised of Pete Mathias ’09, Teddy Mathias ’09, Johnny Mathias ’11 and Casey Gibson — intends to redefine the music video as a collaborative art form.
Mar 3 | 12:00 am
As the 25-minute sneak peak at NBC’s new Jerry Seinfeld-produced reality show/talk show fusion “The Marriage Ref” started to load on Hulu, I found myself thanking the network for not making me sit through the full hour that the show will occupy once it officially airs its pilot this Thursday. I was not impressed by the previews, which depicted a celebrity panel debating whether or not Mrs. Smith should be allowed to keep her pet iguana even though Mr. Smith hates reptiles. I had low expectations for the show, despite NBC’s obvious attempts to lure me in with frequent previews flashing Seinfeld’s name during the Olympics’ commercial breaks.
Mar 2 | 12:00 am
In 1986, while browsing through a bookstore in Naples, Italy, author and former Dartmouth professor Jay Parini stumbled upon the diaries of Valentin Bulgakov, the man who served as Leo Tolstoy’s secretary towards the end of the literary giant’s life. According to Parini, the diary led to his novel “The Last Station” (1990), a partly fictional, historically-based account of the last year of Tolstoy’s life. Now, Parini’s novel has been adapted into a film of the same name released in January.
Mar 2 | 12:00 am
Any time a band breaks up, I imagine its fans experience something similar to what children go through when their parents are getting a divorce. They feel confused and hurt and wonder what they did wrong to make this happen. It’s hard knowing that the members of your favorite band are still out there, but have decided not to make music together anymore. Why couldn’t they stay together for the kids?
Mar 1 | 12:00 am
Dartmouth’s Class of 2013 has brought a surprising number of new dance performance options to the College. Sugarplum, XS Crew and For Your Glory are all dance troupes recognized by the Committee on Student Organizations that are new to campus this year, and each one of them was started by a ’13.
Mar 1 | 12:00 am
Ke$ha’s debut album “Animal,” released on Jan. 5, should probably add the word “House” to the end of its title. The perpetually drunk singer’s debut album often depicts the lifestyle and activities that take place in many Greek houses across the Dartmouth campus (although admittedly in a slightly trashier way).
Mar 1 | 12:00 am
“Techno Chicken” is the ultimate culmination of the mash-up and auto-tune cultures. We’ve taken something pure and natural (bird sounds) and transmogrified it into a glossy, produced techno track complete with a video and neon lights. It’s wonderful. The page itself is nothing all that special, essentially a background for the YouTube video, but the red and blue on black aesthetic really does invoke that rave feeling. Once the clucking begins, you’ll be transfixed by the power of this rhythmic fowl. It has a studio sheen to it that makes you do a double-take before you realize that a chicken is providing the melody. A true and cutting commentary on the current popular music scene. Check it.