Arts

Arts

Students in SMFA show potential, but stick to traditional art

February 25

For most people, art shows are about famous artists and iconic images, but what about the artists who have yet to attain stardom or even graduate from art school? While it may be easy to disregard students as lacking the talent of more seasoned veterans, these are the artists of the future, and their works hint at the direction contemporary art will take in the next few years.

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Arts

African arts festival honors the life of Ghanaian drummer

February 25

On Saturday, March 7, the Tufts campus will draw audiences from across Boston interested in the beats and rhythms of a distant continent. The sixth consecutive Africa Fest, a daylong celebration of African music and dance, will be held in the Granoff Music Center and Jackson Dance Lab. While this year's festival will celebrate African art as it has in past years, the festivities will be tinged with sadness due to the unexpected passing of Alhaji Abubakari Lunna, the Ghanaian master drummer who taught at Tufts as an artist-in-residence.

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Arts

Blackbird' play examines a forbidden and destructive relationship

February 24

The word "shock" begins David Harrower's play, "Blackbird," at the Speakeasy Stage in Boston. Though "Blackbird" does shock, it is much more complex than a simple shake-up of the audience's expectations.

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Arts

Student's band might win $25,000 record deal

February 24

Tufts senior Rahul Kulkarni started the band a Life of Riley during his last year of high school. Since then, the band has been signed by and dropped an indie label, independently released two CDs, gone on tour twice, and performed at venues across the Northeast. Now a Life of Riley is the front runner in a competition sponsored by Gorilla Productions, a management company. Last summer, they won two live battles and are currently leading the fourth round of an online voting competition which ends on Feb. 28. The first place prize is a $25,000 record deal, which Kulkarni, who plays lead guitar and helps write songs, believes will change his life.

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Arts

Egg and Nest' exhibit examines science through photography

February 24

The Harvard Museum of Natural History might seem like an atypical place for an art exhibit. Filled with a world-renowned collection of glass flowers, giant African mammals and incredible clusters of rocks and gems, the museum is a haven for science lovers. Surprisingly, however, it is among these artifacts that renowned photographer Rosamond Purcell chose to exhibit her latest work. "Egg and Nest: Photographs by Rosamond Purcell" is now on display at the museum. All of the photographs in the exhibit were taken from Purcell's latest book by the same name (2008).

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Arts

Deaf poetry jam

February 24

Ilya Kaminsky, poet and author, reads poetry in Barnum Hall last night as part of a program sponsored by the Department of English. Kaminsky, deaf since the age of four, was born in Odessa, in the former Soviet Union, in 1977. He wrote the acclaimed book "Dancing In Odessa" (2004).

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Arts

Fanboys' almost too geeky for its own good

February 24

A decade ago, in a small town not so far away, fanboys were eagerly anticipating the 1999 release of "Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace." Accurately capturing the excitement leading up to opening night of the prequel, "Fanboys" (2008) is a great spoof and tribute to both the Star Wars films and their fans.

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Arts

Beastie Boys reissue worth buying for old reasons

February 23

    First issued in July of 1989, "Paul's Boutique" by Beastie Boys is older than many college students who will read this review. Despite its age, though, it still feels startlingly fresh and better than nearly everything it influenced over the past two decades. The album has been digitally re-mastered and re-released nearly 20 years after it first hit store shelves.     The year 1989 saw N.W.A.'s then-terrifying and now-seminal "Straight Outta Compton." In '89, EMPD had some "Unfinished Business," and Big Daddy Kane let the world know that "Pimpin' Ain't Easy." Only a year before, in '88, Public Enemy issued their declaration with "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back," and a year later, Ice Cube would dub himself "AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted." Hip hop was angry, violent and scary, but all Beastie Boys wanted to do was have a good time, crack some jokes and get girls.     Produced by the Dust Brothers, "Paul's Boutique" is an incredible work in the art of sampling. Grabbing sound clips from P-Funk to Led Zeppelin, from Kurtis Blow to the Eagles, Beastie Boys were out-girl talking Girl Talk while Gregg Gillis was still in grade school.     The samples can seem obtrusive upon first listen, with the most blatant ones completely interrupting the song's flow. But, after hearing the album a few times, the listener realizes that the samples serve as stylistic punch lines. In "High Plains Drifter," for example, when the Boys tell of stealing a car, rather than simply stating which song was playing in the car, they include a sample of the song "Suzy is a Headbanger" (1977) by the Ramones. Other times, the samples are incorporated into the beats. For example, a bass line from Curtis Mayfield's "Superfly" (1972) is borrowed for "Eggman," and a guitar sample from a Beatles song is used in "The Sounds of Science," making the beats into something familiar and comfortable, over which Michael "Mike D" Diamond, Adam "MCA" Yauch and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz can bust their ridiculous rhymes.     Beastie Boys are not known for heady metaphors or clever lyrics, but for the interplay between band members. One will start a bar and someone else will quickly jump in to finish it. The three have different sounds and styles, so in "The Sounds of Science," the line "Peace is a word I've heard before/ So move and move and move up on the dance floor" is a potentially weak rhyme, but sounds great as each rapper says "and move" in quick succession. Following Beastie Boys' flow is a challenge and a thrill for the ears.     Upon its initial release, "Paul's Boutique" was not exactly a hit. It more or less tanked. But it went on to be certified double platinum, meaning that it sold more than 2 million copies. This means that nearly all hip-hop fans already own the album, which raises the question of whether this reissue has any right to exist or if it's just a double-dip in consumers' pockets.     The answer is somewhat ambiguous. Audiophile fans will be pleased with the 24-bit remastering, but to most fans, this won't be the deciding factor in whether or not to buy the album. It only means that the sound quality will be slightly higher than the old, 16-bit mix. Everything is slightly crisper and the stereo mixing is a bit changed, but most listeners who rip the album to their iTunes and listen on low-quality earbuds will remain unaffected by the improvements.     That said, the album is a classic, and no one can take issue with wanting to celebrate such an important milestone in hip-hop history. The reissue is available on CDs or vinyl and in .mp3 form. A $129.99 collector's edition, which most definitely feels like a double-dip, comes with all formats and includes a poster and a t-shirt is also available.     The only major change on the reissue is the splitting of the album's final track, "B-Boy Bouillabaisse," into nine component sections. The album feels different without the 12-minute rap stew that acted as its closer. The split helps listeners pinpoint particular sections of the song and skip parts with ease. It ends up helping rather than hindering the album.     Any fan of hip hop or music in general who refuses to give "Paul's Boutique" a shot is, as the Beasties rap on "Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun," "A sucker free basin/ Looking for a fist to put [their] face in."

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Arts

A.R.T. revives bleak 'Endgame'

February 23

    There are no painkillers left. There is no light pouring in from the windows. There is no horizon and no sugar plums. The sky is grey. The temperature is zero. There is nothing to distract the audience from the grim view of life presented on the stage.     "Endgame," written by Samuel Beckett, is being revived by the American Repertory Theatre in Harvard Square where it is now playing. The play centers around four characters in a single room. The windows are covered in planks, the walls are a yellowing plaster and death is imminent, evidenced by the characters' browning clothes and dismal, fragmented conversations.     Hamm (played by Will LeBow) sits in his chair, blind and unable to walk, begging his servant Clov (Thomas Derrah) for painkillers. Hamm's parents, Nagg (Remo Airaldi) and Nell (Karen MacDonald), live in garbage cans half-submerged in the floor, appearing periodically to ask for biscuits. They all dream of yesterday.     Lighting is used to isolate the stage so that it appears to be floating in a sea of blackness. It's a world unto itself, and dialogue draws parallels between the stage's appearance and the human existence. When Clov walks into the kitchen, Hamm chillingly warns that "outside of here, it's death." The audience gets completely caught up in the stage as if nothing outside the room exists. The scene is ironic, however: Except for Hamm's wheelchair, Clov's stepladder and a stuffed dog, little exists in the room, either.     The images and scenes in the play are presented abstractly and disjointedly, hinting at pieces of the truth behind the plot without fully revealing it. Everyone gives in to ritual: Clov slides his feet down the sides of the ladder every time he comes onstage; Nagg tells a story, and the audience is led to believe that he tells it every day, and every day it gets less funny; Hamm demands that his wheelchair always be placed in the exact center of the room.     A natural curiosity to uncover the set of circumstances that brought these characters together draws the audience into the play. It's the cast, however, that keeps the audience's attention. The paradoxically deadened and passionate delivery of the lines suggests that the most important truths are the ones left unspoken. Hamm posits, "Imagine if a rational being came back to earth. Wouldn't he be liable to get ideas into his head if he observed us long enough? To think perhaps it won't all have been for nothing!"     None of the characters are especially likeable, which is exactly what Beckett intended. Nagg licks his corpulent lips and asks for sweets, Nell's sardonic laugh gives way to a hacking cough, and Hamm manipulates and alienates everyone around him. The actors successfully bring to life this strange world of cynicism and bleakness, delivering their dialogue skillfully with reverence for the past and pessimism for the future, but with no urgency to fully address either.     Despite the show's bleakness, the audience is often able to laugh. For example, when Clov pushes blind Hamm in front of the boarded-up window and tells him there's light coming in, Hamm smiles and says he feels the sunlight on his face. At this, Clov simply stares out at the audience with his lips pursed, as if to suggest that the lie is safer than the truth.     With a play like "Endgame," the audience needs to laugh in order to make the show's tension bearable. Though not outwardly comedic, the characters give the audience numerous opportunities to laugh through the sheer absurdity their situations as well as subtle references to the play itself. While laughing in the face of death may seem strange, Nell puts it best: "Nothing is funnier than unhappiness."

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Arts

He's Just Not That Into You' lacks depth

February 23

    It's snappy. It's emotional. It sheds some light on the mysterious male mind. It delves into the dating scene of the late '20s and early '30s. And it has nine protagonists.     "He's Just Not That Into You" is "Crash" (2004) meets "Sex and the City" (2008). It delivers the goods in a funny and moving romantic comedy, revolving around nine (again, nine) characters, each in the midst of romantic turmoil. A star-studded cast, including the likes of Ben Affleck, Jennifer Connelly, Jennifer Aniston, Scarlett Johansson and Drew Barrymore, portrays unhappy souls living in and around Baltimore, most of whom paired into couples. There are loose connections between all of the characters, but, unfortunately, not in any witty or satisfying way     Comparisons can certainly be drawn to "Love Actually" (2003). The audience follows several serious couples and a few seriously single people as their relationships and personal lives fall apart over the course of the movie. In the end, some of these relationships are rekindled and some of these characters find new love. But, surprisingly for a romantic comedy, not everyone winds up with a happy ending.     Ginnifer Goodwin plays the lead among leads as Gigi, a hopelessly romantic young woman with somehow-endearing, stalker-like qualities. Drew Barrymore holds the least amount of screen time and importance as Mary, a single magazine editor.     Adapted from former "Sex and the City" story editor Liz Tuccillo and Greg Behrendt's best-selling self-help book for women of the same name, the movie is unsurprisingly filled with advice about men for single girls. There are tips for single guys, too, but fewer of them. This guidance can be drawn not only from dialogue between characters, but from interesting and unexpected cuts to tiny confessional vignettes that act similarly to chapter markers. In these peculiar moments, short quotes such as "if she's not sleeping with you…" are taken from the film and displayed as text, followed by comedic, direct-to-the-audience commentary by bitter and presumably single characters who are unrelated to the plot of the film and never appear again. These are similar to moments in numerous "Sex and the City" episodes and in "When Harry Met Sally" (1989).     "He's Just Not That Into You" is funny, bordering on really funny, especially if one is surrounded by the contagious laughter of giggling females. Men in the audience will laugh as well, perhaps in spite of their supposedly predisposed disdain for chick flicks. But the film has its flaws. Its biggest downside is that there are simply too many characters to be portrayed with equal complexity. Many of them and their relationships are severely underdeveloped. Drew Barrymore's character, for example, seems only to serve as a vehicle for social commentary as she laments the digital age and its negative impact on romance. With Facebook.com, Myspace.com and e-mail readily available, when do we ever meet people face to face anymore?     Many of the men's relationships are poorly crafted. The friendships between Affleck and Bradley Cooper's characters and between those of Kevin Connolly and Justin Long are superficial and barely given any screen time     But these faults can be forgiven, as the film is funny and manages to tell the stories of so many characters.     Perhaps even more than on its humor, the film relies on outstanding and emotionally evocative performances by Aniston, Affleck and most of all by Connelly, who far and away provides the finest performance as a 30-something wife struggling to keep her marriage together in the midst of her husband's infidelity. She undergoes the most emotional drama, at times taking the film out of the romantic comedy genre and into something more serious.     "He's Just Not That Into You" is a solid rom-com and an enjoyable watch. And guys: Don't take a date to see it if you're not that into her… it could get awkward.

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Arts

Zach Drucker and Chris Poldoian | Bad Samaritans

February 23

On Sunday, we gathered around our televisions to watch actors, directors and many others honored for their achievements in film at the 81st Annual Academy Awards. Now, we don't want to beat a dead horse here, but we want to congratulate Heath Ledger on becoming the second person to win a posthumous Oscar in an acting category, Sean Penn for joining an elite group of eight others who have won for Best Actor twice and both Penelope Cruz and Kate Winslet for winning their first Oscars. Although we relished the opportunity to watch the ceremonies, especially when James Franco and Seth Rogen reprised their roles as stoner buddies from "Pineapple Express" (2008), the fact of the matter remains that the presentation of the Oscars —  in its purest form — is not meant for television.     The Academy tries to market the Oscars by shoehorning the actual award presentations into a more concise program; however, these oft-derided efforts barely impact ratings and do more to detract from the nominees' achievements than to attract viewers. Every year, someone is forced to cram a sea of emotions that arises after reaching the pinnacle of one's respective profession into a 45-second rambling. If they overshoot, they are promptly droned out by sweeping orchestral scores and ushered offstage. Time constraints also prevented Peter Gabriel from performing his song "Down To Earth" from "WALL-E" (2008) that was nominated for Best Original Song.     Instead of accentuating the awards and the nominees, the Oscars try to garner viewers through the host. Trying to pull a Justin Timberlake and "bring sexy back," the Academy bypassed the need for biting satire this year and dubbed Hugh Jackman master of ceremonies. Now, we love Jackman and think he is a true talent. But just because he is the sexiest man alive and he has an accent does not give him the creative control to turn the Oscars into the Tonys! Give us Will Ferrell or Tina Fey. Heck, we would even let Billy Crystal have his 87th go around, but Hugh Jackman?     Besides the host, the Oscars also place emphasis on the stars' outfits. We swear, if we hear Tim Gunn call one more person's gown "ravishing," we are going to lose it.     We think the Academy needs to decide what it wants. Does it want to purge itself of tradition and become the American public's lap dog? If so, why not eliminate "unnecessary awards" like production design and sound mixing and only nominate films that top the box office and whose actors appear in "Us Weekly" and "People?" Alternatively, does the Academy wish to recognize individuals for winning the Super Bowl of the film industry? Does it truly want to honor cinematic talent?     Come on, Academy. You try to preserve your dignity and professionalism by refusing to nominate a billion-dollar summer blockbuster like "The Dark Knight" (2008) for Best Picture. Yet you dress up Ben Stiller as a bearded rapper to present Best Achievement in Cinematography.     Even though the Academy made some attempts to improve the awards show, it was carried by individual performances by Steve Martin, Jack Black and that Asian guy who said "Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto." We are looking for the perfect balance of comedy and seriousness, goofiness and veneration. So we're sure that next year, we will be right back at square one, complaining about who was nominated, who was snubbed and how frustratingly broken the Academy Awards are.

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Arts

Fired Up' fails to bring it on

February 22

Like most of the cheerleading movies released in the past few years, "Fired Up!" fails to measure up to the subgenre's virtuoso: "Bring It On" (2000). Unlike the flagship self-aware cheerleading movie, "Fired Up!" fluctuates between owning its cheesy premise and acting superior to it. Along the way, it demeans some of its audience -- namely women and the gay community -- and strictly adheres to the teen B-movie pattern.

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Arts

Dollhouse' doesn't disappoint or thrill

February 22

Writer and director Joss Whedon, the cult favorite behind hit shows like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Angel" and "Firefly," has returned to television once again, this time with a new mid-season drama, "Dollhouse." Starring Eliza Dushku as Echo, the new series revolves around the underground workings of the mysterious Dollhouse, a corporation that has wiped the memories of its "actives" and can reprogram their personalities to fit any mission or "engagement," depending on its clients' needs.

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Arts

The Fray's second album comes apart at the seams

February 19

The Fray represents almost everything that's wrong with popular rock in this day and age. With a mediocre (and self-titled) sophomore album, this Top-40-targeting band confirms its musical ineptitude and its inability to write engaging lyrics.

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Arts

Disappointing 'The International' won't be going anywhere

February 19

Banks aren't action-packed places. Unless one is thrilled by small candies, lots of numbers and elevator music, a bank is an unlikely place to look for thrills. "The International," which opened last weekend, tries its hand at making the banking world exciting, but ends up offering nothing more than a boring and confusing take on economic problems caused by a bank's quest for power and control. The film is about as exciting as balancing a checkbook.

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Arts

Declare' keeps audience laughing with fast-paced comedic timing

February 18

    People join communities for many reasons. They band together to solve problems, right wrongs or provide support. But that's not all that communities are good for. In the world of theater, the audience and cast alike can join together for nothing more than a good laugh.     Laughter is the aim of the Tufts drama department's French farce, "Anything to Declare?" written by Maurice Hennequin and Pierre Veber, opening tonight in the Balch Arena Theatre. The play is a "bedroom farce," a style of openly sexual humor that was popular in France at the end of the 19th century.     "The show is sort of cartoony," Director and drama professor Laurence Senelick said. "It's one of those shows with no ulterior motive but to be a good time, and I thought these days we all needed a good laugh."     The play follows the trials of the recently wed aristocrat Robert de Trevlin, who is informed by his wife's parents that he has three days to "make her happy," or else she will be given to another suitor. He frantically attempts to fulfill their wishes, but a series of unfortunate circumstances blocks his success at every step of the way.     Like any farce, the show is rife with rapid and unannounced entrances and exits, mistaken identities, schemes gone awry and ridiculous disguises. It is a very bawdy and physical show, and the small cast, comprised mostly of undergraduates with two graduate students, has worked tirelessly to bring an energetic, fast-paced and visual spectacle to the audience. There is a lot of slapstick humor, overseen by a fight captain in the cast. Many cast members have also taken stage combat courses here at Tufts. For many of the cast members, this is their first time doing a farce.     "Before now I've always been in more serious roles," senior Sean Hefferon, who plays Robert de Trevlin, said. "Playing in a comedy has been really difficult. It's all about speed and timing. Our goal is to get the audience laughing because it's so ridiculous and happening so quickly."     The entire ensemble has been extremely dedicated to their goal of giving the audience a good time. Members described the process of running scenes over and over again, working toward whipping the situations up into frenzied hilarity.     "This show is really just laugh after laugh," sophomore Joanna Hausmann said, who plays ZéZé, "a woman of affairs." "I've had a hard time keeping a straight face in rehearsals."     And, as always is the case in bedroom farces, double entendres and puns abound in this production. For example, when faced with the statement, "You will end up a patron of the arts yet!" a character responds, "Well, I've always wanted to be patronizing to someone." When feeling pestered by his wife about his impotence, another character yells, "I am not acting queer!" The show's abundance of one-liners, phallic symbols and suggestive gestures ensures that there is never a moment without comedy.     The script may have been written a hundred years ago, but the jokes are still fresh. Senelick originally translated the show twelve years ago and is taking the opportunity to direct it for the first time here. His familiarity with the work is evident in the final result. Every line is fully understood and utilized by the director to its full potential.     But why this play? Why bring in a parade of drunken camel dealers, cuckolds and whores to the Balch Arena Theatre? To bring together a community of people who want to laugh.     "People watch movies by themselves these days, and entertainment is becoming a more solitary activity," said Senelick. "This is an experience I want to share. I love farce because it is instant gratification — either the audience laughs or it doesn't. And that can lead to a wonderful kind of communion."

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Arts

Mikey Goralnik | Paint The Town Brown

February 18

Seeing as today is two days before the show that I'm writing about, I don't think I have to tell you that I haven't gone to this event. And here's the thing: I'm not going to. Seeing a decrepit Dan Aykroyd try to resurrect his Blues Brothers schtick that wasn't that cool in the first place isn't something I want to do while I still have all my hair and a normal height to weight ratio, and am still welcome at the sperm bank.     While there are only a handful of activities I'd want to be doing less on a Saturday night than seeing the Blues Brothers, this may very well be the most important event that I write about all year. This show marks the official grand re-opening of Boston's very own House of Blues (HOB), the nationwide chain of concert hall/restaurants and the holder of the dubious trademarked motto "inspiration of music for the soul."     Aside from its horribly trite trademark, people take issue with a great deal of the HOB operating model. HOB is owned and operated by the dreaded Live Nation, owners of more than 70 of the country's best venues and several of the world's highest-grossing musicians. Currently in a battle with Congress to merge with the leading ticketing business in the United States, Ticketmaster, many rightly claim that HOB is part of a greedy, profit-hungry monopoly more interested in ripping people off than putting on good shows.     With the Boston-area return of HOB, whose flagship complex opened in Harvard Square in 1992, many fans expect to pay asinine ticketing fees and high prices at the bar, but will still attend shows. My roommates are all gearing up to stand in big, anonymous, alienating crowds to see Bloc Party, The National and Tom Jones in a faceless room, and I'm limbering up to wrestle the aggressive Cro-Magnon bouncers at The Disco Biscuits show later this month. In many ways, it objectively sucks that if we want to see our favorite bands in our home city, we're going to have to learn to negotiate HOB's pitfalls.     Nonetheless, as a Bostonian concertgoer, I am ecstatic that HOB is coming to Lansdowne Street. Being a monopoly means having a lot of money, but HOB and Live Nation overall have a pretty impressive national record of investing their staggering profits in the production end of their venues — something which greatly benefits the consumer.     While high prices, big, awkward crowds and 'roid-raging security personnel are part-and-parcel of the HOB empire, so too are some of the best sight lines and sound systems in the country. HOBs in places like Cleveland, Chicago and New Orleans consistently pull in rave reviews from people like me who hate supporting monopolies, who like the community of small crowds and who look forward to appropriately priced drinks at concerts.     All of these things are important, and I wouldn't be writing a live music column if I didn't derive some pretty lofty metaphysical or phenomenological benefits from seeing shows in environments diametrically opposed to the corporate one that HOB epitomizes. Ultimately though, beyond the ethical concerns I have with supporting Live Nation and the House of Blues, as a fan of music, I want to be able to clearly see the band and I want them to sound as good as they possibly can. I haven't been to the Boston HOB yet, but based on the Cleveland, Chicago and NOLA incarnations, I'm confident that our newest venue will be able to meet these needs in ways that cozy, independent places like The Middle East can't. As long as I don't have to read their motto, color me excited.

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Arts

From the Office of the Tufts Daily

February 18

Dear Disney XD network,     Last Friday (the 13th) was unlucky in every way except one: you! We, the Daily Arts Department, are so glad that Disney finally took the time to create a cable TV channel that specifically addresses the needs of boys aged 6 to 14. No more Barbie. No more pink. Finally, American boys will be able to tune in 24/7 to watch shows that will turn them into brave, consumption-oriented men. So what if they become pale and obese in the process?     Boy-oriented programming may also impede the growing popularity of girlie-man celebrities like The Jonas Brothers. If Joe Jonas had slightly longer hair, highlights and breasts, he could be a Hannah Montana stunt double. And we're not judging a book by its cover, here. The Jonas Brothers wear promise rings. Not manly. Each one probably spends more time getting his hair and nails done than Paris Hilton. Not manly. They routinely wear pink and have a fashion stylist. Not manly.     Our boys need heroes that do manly things like beat the crap out of each other, eat red meat and rescue damsels in distress. It is our fervent hope that Disney XD will bring fart jokes, slapstick humor and bodily function mishaps back to their rightful place on television. A healthy dose of violence and objectification of women won't hurt, either. Then again, maybe girls should be banned from this channel completely. Everyone knows the X chromosome is contagious. It makes your brain shrink.     Finally, on a more personal level, we are excited to share the pleasures of shows like "Kid Knievel" and "Even Stevens" with our younger male friends. What better excuse for a sleepover than "Aaron Stone"? We can eat candy and build a fort with blankets! And — oh yeah: No girls allowed. Sincerely, The Daily Arts Department

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Arts

Theater Review | Williams' play 'Cat' lands on its feet in Lyric Stage Company of Boston production

February 17

Cats are thought to possess many famous qualities, such as always landing on their feet and being sneaky and curious. From the word "cat" we get colloquialisms like "catty" for gossipy or "catlike" for nimble. Tennessee Williams' classic American play, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," uses the qualities we associate with cats to give more depth to the characters in this Southern familial drama. The show is presented in all of its feline grace and subtlety by the Lyric Stage Company of Boston.

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Arts

Jason Voorhees returns in same, slashing style

February 17

Friday the 13th is supposedly an unlucky day, and the latest addition to the Jason Voorhees slasher series is something of an unlucky movie. While the film has all the elements of a classic horror flick, from nudity to drug use to bloody chase scenes, it's neither memorable nor particularly creative.

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