The good kid is going back to school
This past week, news circulated that Georgia Regents University Professor Adam Diehl had chosen rapper Kendrick Lamar’s album good kid mAAd city (2012) as the subject of his English class Good Kids, Mad Cities.
J Dilla: A lasting presence
The Smithsonian Institution announced in July that equipment belonging to celebrated producer J Dilla (born James Dewitt Yancey) — a MIDI Production Center beat machine and a synthesizer custom-built for Dilla by Robert Moog himself — would be housed in the new National Museum of African American History and Culture, slated to open in 2016. The announcement came at the D.C. Loves Dilla Tribute Concert, courtesy of Ma Duke, who was there to see the crowd’s reaction to the memorialization of her late son’s legacy.
The story behind Boston Calling
Even though only in its fourth installment, the three-day Boston Calling Music Festival is already becoming a landmark of Boston’s entertainment scene. The lineup for this week’s shows includes The War on Drugs, Lorde, The National, Nas with The Roots, and Future Islands. The Tech recently interviewed Brian Appel, co-founder of Boston Calling, to find out how the festival was conceived and what happens behind the scenes during the show.
Understanding the power of art and architecture
Can art and architecture help heal cultural conflicts? Azra Akšamija PhD ’11 explores the power of art and architecture in resolving conflicts and identifying contexts in which these conflicts can be analyzed and explored. Akšamija is an Assistant Professor at the Art, Culture and Technology (ACT) program and MIT’s Department of Architecture, where she works as an artist and architectural historian in addition to teaching both undergraduate and graduate classes. She recently talked to The Tech about her origins, the ideas behind her projects, and her artistic vision of helping resolve the lingering conflicts in her native country, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Giver is just another dystopian movie
Like so many elementary school children, I read The Giver for the first time in fifth grade. In 11th grade, I picked up the book again, but I found myself reading through a much more intricate book than I had remembered. Its concise yet terrifyingly vivid portrait of a dystopian community left me wrestling with complex questions about society and modern culture.
Honesty drives Linklater’s Boyhood
I am unsure whether Boyhood is one of the greatest films ever made. I am certain Boyhood could be many times better. But I agree with film critic Joe Williams in saying Boyhood is “the closest thing to a lived life that fictional cinema has yet produced.”
A beginner’s guide to Restaurant Week
Sunday, Aug. 17 marks the start of my favorite biannual holiday: Restaurant Week (RW) in Boston! Starting then, restaurants in the area will offer special menus at a fixed price to entice new diners to enter their doors. Technically, the two-week event is now called “Dine Out Boston,” but it will always be RW to me. The name and format change occurred this past winter, and officially participating restaurants can now offer two- or three-course meals for $15, $20, or $25 for lunch. For dinner, restaurants can now choose between $28, $33, or $38. From my past experiences with Restaurant Week, I’ve picked up some general guidelines that help ensure your RW meal is worth it.
It takes Argentinian steak to ta
The quest for the perfect steak may take you places: you might have to go on a pilgrimage to unfamiliar faraway lands, cross a language barrier with the chef to find your favorite cut, or spend a late night at someone’s grandma’s kitchen. Tango was all of that to us — a virtual trip to Argentina, a mine of perfect cuts, and a table for home-cooked meals.
Sometimes titles are deceptive
Sometimes, contemporary art is inaccessible. It can be excessively abstract or seemingly absurd. Some of the art in the List Visual Arts Center’s current exhibition, 9 Artists, falls into this category. But on the whole, however, this exhibition brings together an interesting and diverse group of contemporary artists in a very powerful presentation.
Godzilla is great eye candy, but not much of a story
Feel free to call Godzilla (2014) — by far and without contention — the best Godzilla movie ever made after the 1950s. The reference to the 1950s should spare you the thorny task of comparing this new work with the first Gojira (1954), and its American remake, Godzilla, King of Monsters! (1956), which are now well-established classics. So, if you are a Godzilla groupie, this is a five-star movie for you.
Be brilliant
As if opening a treasure chest to discover a trove of precious stones, the audience oohed and aahed every time the curtains were raised to reveal dancers in glittering costumes, poised in front of sparkling backdrops of enormous gems. Boston Ballet’s 50th season concluded this year with George Balanchine’s Jewels.
Bringing the X-Men back to life
X-Men: Days of Future Past is one of the most satisfying fantasy action movies I’ve seen in years. Director Bryan Singer has managed to build upon the storylines of many previous X-Men movies and generally maintain narrative consistency (except where it would limit his artistic freedom) in order to create what many critics consider the best entry so far in the successful X-Men franchise.
Boston Calling
Only one year after its inception, Boston Calling is already making a name for itself as a top music festival for rock-lovers all along the East Coast. Fans of all ages, from enthusiastic high schoolers to parents, came together Memorial Day weekend to listen to some of their favorite artists while downing Sam Adams and dancing the night away.
Summer sparks are in the air
After finishing a tour with alt rockers New Politics and playing at a variety of music festivals this spring, Magic Man was ready to jump straight into their first performance at Boston Calling. The synth rock and pop band calls Boston home, having spent part of their college years performing at house parties and local live music venues. Joey, Magic Man’s drummer, even reminisces about visiting MIT for Bexley’s Beast Roast party during his time at Berklee.
Snowden’s revelations: the backstory
Leaking secrets in the public interest requires not only a ready and courageous whistleblower. It also demands an able and courageous deliverer to carry the precious message to the world. This year’s graduation week marks the one-year anniversary of the unveiling of Edward Snowden’s identity and the first wave of explosive NSA disclosures delivered by journalist Glenn Greenwald and filmmaker Laura Poitras.
Edgy and elegant
It’s finals time, even in the ballet world. Next week, advanced students of the Boston Ballet School will give their end-of-year performance, and in two weeks the company wraps up its 50th anniversary season with Balanchine’s Jewels. Dancers don’t revert to grunge-mode like college students during crunch time, however. The Boston Ballet was at its finest last Thursday in Pricked. They made the audience laugh, cringe, and marvel in awe during the edgy, fun, and technically demanding performance. They earned a well-deserved standing ovation from the audience at the finale. I’ll long remember the performance.
Clan in Da Front: A Better Tomorrow
“I smoke on the mic like smokin’ Joe Frazier, the hell-raiser, raising hell with the flavor,” Inspectah Deck growled over the rugged beat of “Protect Ya Neck,” Wu Tang Clan’s first single, which they self-produced and released. They were chaos contained, ready to explode.
Nearly perfect
One of the benefits of attending a concert by a new-ish band is that you get to hear their whole repertoire. For Foster the People, this included songs from their second album Supermodel, their first album Torches, B-sides from both albums, and everything in between.
Let’s talk about gender
How would you feel if you went to a concert where a performer dressed as an aerobics instructor with tights, a wig, and glittery shorts asked you to repeat, “I am not a woman, I am not a man, I am both, I am neither, if you don’t like it, take a breather?”
Pricked will showcase extremes of ballet
Patrick Yocum began dancing eleven years ago, in his hometown of Souderton, PA. After graduating high school, he trained for a year at the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School, and then joined the Boston Ballet II trainee program, working his way through to join the Corps de Ballet in 2011. He spoke to The Tech about life as a dancer, and Boston Ballet’s upcoming performance of Pricked.