Arts & Events

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...

On Wednesday, Oct. 5 the University of Puget Sound’s String Orchestra gave their first performance of the year, clocking in at just under 90 minutes. Led by conductor Christophe Chagnard, the orchestra worked its way through three pieces by 20th century composers, and no two sounded alike. The first was Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings,” a shorter piece worked around a melodic ascending melody. The second was Chagnard’s own “Roma,” a piece composed in 2010 which Chagnard dedicated to his guitar teacher Neil Andersson. The piece is heavily influenced by...

If there was a musical response to Tacoma’s sunless winter weather, it would be gothic-pop princess Zola Jesus’ latest EP, “Conatus”. Zola Jesus, also known as Nika Roza Danilova, was originally trained as an opera singer; however, these days her voice sounds like a fiercer version of Lykke Li…in mourning. Danilova’s tracks drip with lovely string instrumentals meticulously laced into hearty synthetic beats. Despite the heavy emphasis on electronic noises and deep bass, this is not a dance record. Danilova has woven an aura of solemnity throughout the tracks and...