Arts & Events

Puget Sound professor Hans Ostrom will soon break into Hollywood with Napa, the film adaptation of his mystery novel Three to Get Ready, which begins filming this week. Napa stars Rose McGowan (best known for her roles in Grindhouse and Charmed) as Scarlett Harding, a Napa, Calif. native who begins work as county sheriff after returning from three tours in Afghanistan. McGowan will be joined by Kevin Pollack, of The Usual Suspects fame, Taryn Manning of  Hustle and Flow and Sean Astin, the inimitable Samwise Gamgee, in the role of...

Following the wake of an enormous, international success with his first book, Eragon, fantasy author Christopher Paolini has struggled to maintain the hype for the remaining three books of his series. Having written the first draft of Eragon at the tender age of 15, Paolini’s genius seems irreproachable, although many fans had already abandoned the series by the time his second book, Eldest, was released in 2005. As for the series’ third installment released in 2008, Brisingr, I had abstained from reading it after a friend told me that he...

It’s that time of year again! Crunchy piles of leaves speckle the ground, jack-o-lanterns leer menacingly out of windows, and college students everywhere are gorging themselves on candy corn. Then there’s the absolute best part of October: Halloween. An excuse to feast on sugar and dress like a prostitute, Halloweekend is a celebration anticipated by Puget Sound students like none other. But aside from consuming mountains of Skittles and spilling jungle juice down your “slutty nun” costume, what else is there to do? The answer, my friends, is to cast...

On Oct. 4, 2011, Sacramento native Scott Hansen released his second Tycho LP, “Dive.” Now 36 years old, Hansen has worked primarily as an independent graphic designer who runs a blog called ISO50, and since 2004 has occasionally released and performed music as Tycho. Those who followed Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign might remember Hansen for the piece he submitted to the “Artists for Obama” series, which featured ten artists’ works in an effort to support Obama’s presidential race, with all proceeds from the art going toward his campaign fund....

After a five-year absence, the Bard once again graces the Puget Sound stage. William Shakespeare’s romantic comedy “As You Like It” arrives on campus Oct. 28, 29, Nov. 2 and 4 at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 3 at 4 p.m., and Nov. 5 at 2 and 7:30 p.m. in the Norton Clapp Theatre. Tickets are now on sale at the Wheelock Information Center at $7 for students and $11 for general admission. Directed by Theatre Arts professor Geoff Proehl, this semester’s main stage performance promises to create a world of Shakespeare’s...

We made it through the first wave of testing for the year and round two is just around the corner! Caffeine was probably your go-to study buddy to give you that extra ounce of energy at 3 a.m. as you finished writing your final CSOC paper or lab report. But, what if I told you there are other foods besides caffeine that can provide brain-boosting benefits and help you ace your next paper? Would you replace your third double shot latte or Red Bull with one of these suggestions if...

On his latest EP, “Enough Thunder,” James Blake steps further away from dubstep’s seemingly quintessential sound, the “womp.” Blake brings complexity to a genre whose creativity seems to be diminishing by the second. His specialty has always been minimalistic bass lines and delicately crafted beats, and he pushes the definition of dubstep even further on these new tracks. Blake leans more towards the emotive nature of dubstep. He is careful to not stray the line between his own personal brand of dubstep and dance music. It is entirely possible that...

At a convention in Las Vegas on Nov. 18 or 19, a Swedish game developer will announce the “release” of a game that has already sold nearly 4 million copies, earned a “big pile of awards” (developer’s words) and assembled a devout fanbase as dedicated to the game’s growth as its creators—Mojang’s “Minecraft.” “Minecraft” is an indie, open-ended sandbox game that, in the humble words of the minecraft.net homepage, is “about placing blocks to build anything you can imagine.” Judging from the game’s astronomical success—in its cultural impact (particularly among...