Martyrdom during the Reign of Terror

PSU Opera presents Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites

“Dialogues of the Carmelites is a very unusual and unconventional opera,” said David Edwards, stage director for Portland State University Opera. “It deals with a lot of serious issues, like death and religion. It’s a great crisis throughout.”

This infrequently staged opera, presented by PSU Opera, will open at Lincoln Performance Hall Friday, April 27. It will be conducted by PSU’s own Ken Selden.

An intimate look at Sudan

PSU student group to screen Korean documentary on the African nation

Father Tae-Suk Lee’s death in 2010 at age 48 brought two nations to tears.

The documentary released that same year about Lee’s altruistic life, Don’t Cry for Me, Sudan, pulls no punches in dealing with the emotional impact of Lee succumbing, finally, to cancer. The film, directed by Koo Soo-Hwan, depicts the medically trained priest’s tireless work in Sudan and the great show of mourning that followed his death.

Thrill ’em all

Local filmmaker Nick Wells talks metal and movies with the Vanguard

Portland filmmaker Nick Wells lives and breathes the metal head spirit, and he’s working hard to share it with local moviegoers. His latest film, Metal Messiah: Born Again Sage, premiered September 2010 at Laurelhurst Theater and ran for a weekend last term at Portland State’s 5th Avenue Cinema.

Leave it to Don Draper

Award-winning author Stephanie Coontz shows PSU the real world of desperate housewives

In 2007, Mad Men made the ’60s cool again. The show’s influence can be found everywhere from Banana Republic—which enlisted the show’s costume designer to create a special collection—to dive bars (Adrian Grenier from HBO’s Entourage recently partnered with a Nike designer to release beers in flattop cans).

New music takes the stage

Winning compositions of music competition to premiere at PSU

This Thursday and Friday, April 26 and 27, the Third Angle Music Ensemble will present its New Ideas in Music Concert at Lincoln Hall. The concert will feature the six winning compositions of the New Ideas in Music competition.

Apple goat cheese crisps

A tart and tasty spring appetizer

Goat milk makes some pretty killer cheese. Rich and creamy feta crumbles are the perfect partner for crisp red and green apples. With such a lovely medley of flavors, this appetizer is big in flavor and low on calories! Share these crunchy treats with your pals at a party or make them as a fancy appetizer to impress your date.

Beautiful squalor

Wong Kar Wai’s Happy Together makes Brokeback Mountain look like a Disney movie

Lai Yiu Fai and Ho Po Wing are like any other quarrelsome gay couple from Hong Kong. They have sex, and they fight. And when the petulant and precocious Ho has decided he’s had enough of slumming with the sincere, hardworking Lai, he leaves him. After all, he can always say, “Can we start over?” and he knows that Lai will take him back.

Green screen

One reporter’s top 10 favorite films about the environment

The genre of “environmentalist films” encompasses not only movies concerning the environment, such as those that touch on global warming, but those that focus on the many social manifestations of eco-mindedness, like cultural attitudes toward food consumption.

The Bob Dylan of Iran

Iranian musician Mohsen Namjoo to perform at PSU

Mohsen Namjoo—a.k.a. “Bob Dylan of Iran,” according to the The New York Times—will perform tomorrow evening at Portland State’s Lincoln Recital Hall.