What’s wrong with this picture?

Film critic Warren Etheredge to shatter egos, incite laughter, teach filmmaking through criticism

Warren Etheredge is a prolific media critic, writer, director, teacher and interviewer. He’s hosted the Seattle International Film Festival and curated the 1 Reel Film Festival at Bumbershoot. “The High Bar” is Etheredge’s gin-fueled, humorous interview show in which he’s hosted the likes of Moon director Duncan Jones and actress Jodie Foster. The show airs on Tacoma public television.

Artist at work: Gerhard Richter imposes order on the chaos of his canvas.

A Sisyphean painter

Minimalist documentary Gerhard Richter Painting indescribably alluring

Corinna Belz’s 2011 documentary Gerhard Richter Painting is as remarkable for what it doesn’t portray as for what it does. The film focuses on Richter and the people surrounding his art—to the blessed exclusion of talking heads and miscellaneous hangers-on.

Alain Delon stars as Rocco.

Filial piety and moral decay

Luchino Visconti’s panoramic drama Rocco and His Brothers raises the pitch, rends the heart

Imagine celebrating your recent engagement to the classy and beautiful daughter (Claudia Cardinale) of Milanese bourgeoisie in their small but tasteful apartment in their home city. Wine, appetizers and boisterous conversation flow freely, and you look singularly handsome and promising in your Italian suit.

Monica Vitti plays Giuliana.

Look, but don’t touch

Michelangelo Antonioni’s Red Desert is as fascinating as attractive people who don’t like you

How does a modernist-existentialist Italian film, replete with long, uncomfortable silences, odd hyper-long shots, an industrial aesthetic and a complete lack of narrative arc sound as a way to kill two hours over spring break?

Tweetup event encourages social networking at PSU

Office of University Communications throws a party

Chelsea Pfund is a graduate student in the master’s of writing and book publishing program, which runs the university’s publishing house. Portland State’s Ooligan Press publishes print books and has a website and blog. It also has a Twitter account and a Facebook page. But Pfund was at the university’s latest social media event, the Tweetup on Feb. 29, to promote another university social media site, the College of Liberal Arts and Science’s Facebook page.

An ode to joy

PSU Music Department performs Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony tomorrow evening

The music of Ludwig Van Beethoven is “a force of nature,” according to Portland State Symphony Orchestra conductor Ken Selden.

Choral director Ethan Sperry calls the composer’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor “one of the most important pieces of music that’s ever been written,” adding that “it’s not something that would normally be handled by students.”

Patricia Kirsch, graphic design senior, browses the Autzen Gallery.

Interstate art show

Autzen Gallery’s Exchange exhibition unites Portland State and the University of Montana

Autzen Gallery’s ongoing exhibition, Exchange: PSU & U of M—The University of Montana MFA Exchange Exhibition at Portland State University, showcases not only the creative talent of another Pacific Northwestern university; it explores a new dimension in graduate-level art programs.

Love stories for adults

Portland Story Theater keeps oral traditions alive with Valentine’s Day production, Kiss & Tell

Lynne Duddy and Lawrence Howard want to make it clear that they tell stories not just for entertainment, but to foster deeper human connections as well. The goal of Portland Story Theater is, in Duddy’s words, to “give people an opportunity to break down barriers and be completely real with each other.”