For the average college football fan, a big play is merely something to cheer about on Saturday. It is the ultimate form of instant gratification, which is true for any aficionado and certainly is the case for those who follow Portland State with a watchful eye. And the Vikings have enjoyed their fair share of game-changing plays this season.
2008 is the year of the remix album. This might have something to do with the resurgence of DJ culture. Or Radiohead. Or both. (Or maybe the ubiquity of Diplo-infused dance tracks is just tricking me.)
Dance is a negotiation. As with any translation, the adaptation of a story into dance is based on compromise. In ballet, this results in a negotiation between technique and the conveyance of emotion. A director will attempt to strike a balance between the two that results in a happy audience. In some forms of dance, this may weigh heavier upon the emotive end of the scale. In classical ballet, the scales tend to be weighted toward technique.
“We may be through with the past, but the past ain’t through with us.” That quote from Magnolia fits perfectly with the message at the heart of Boy A. The film, which has already received critical success after it premiered on British television last year, hits the Clinton Street Theater today, and forces us to confront the questions that some of us may not want to know the answers to.
In recent years, Portland State has gained a reputation as an up-and-coming university, focusing on specialized programs and diverse opportunities to enhance the educational and research value of the university. In the last month, that reputation was upped again. No, we’re not talking about the university’s much-ballyhooed $25 million sustainability grant–we’re talking about comic books.
If you grew up as a fan of comics in the Portland area, chances are you grew up with Things From Another World, the local chain of small comic shops where your talented artist friend’s work always got displayed at the register, the dice selection was always impressive and the guys behind the counter always had time to chat about any nerdy topic under the sun. What you may not have realized about Things From Another World–formerly known as Pegasus Books–is that it was created in Bend, Ore., of all places, by PSU alum Mike Richardson, six years before he went on to start a scrappy little independent comics label he called Dark Horse.
“Only electrons from here to your eardrum,” is a line from local duo Dat’r’s new LP, Turn Up the Ghosts. While there may be only electrons from here to your eardrum (we can argue physics and chemistry later), Dat’r likes to fill each of those electrons with danceable, looping, pounding beats, bleeps, blips, percussion slams, joystick toggles and keyboard wails that all become a direct extension of the willing dancer’s shaking booty.
The Educational Stipend Review Committee will gather later this month to revisit the issue of whether or not student stipend positions at Portland State will be increased by 5 percent immediately or for the 2009-10 academic year. Since the Student Fee Committee voted to increase individual stipend positions 5 percent across the board on Oct. 3, the decision has come into question from several members of the stipend committee, forcing the group to meet again to make a decision regarding the stipend increases Friday, Oct. 24.
Portland State associate professor of sociology Heather Hartley died on Oct. 4. According to the Portland State Web site, a private memorial service is planned for Hartley. Hartley, who is survived by her daughter Maya and husband, Jeff Gersh, began working as a member of the Portland State faculty in 1999. During her nine-year stint at PSU, she introduced six new courses, and specialized in gender, health and medicine.