Classic rock nostalgia, stacked cast buoys ‘Pirate Radio'

Courtesy of citylife.co.uk.com The speaker-busting dance montage that accompanies the opening credits of "Pirate Radio" (2009) is a rousing tribute to the joy and liberation that rock and roll music brought to a generation in the 1960s. That "Pirate Radio" can entertain an audience for a full two hours on the sheer force of that jubilance is a testament to the strength of the cast and the staying power of rock and roll. In this retooled version of the British film "The Boat That Rocked" (2009), a group of bohemian DJs pump round-the-clock rock music from the basement of a rusty tanker just off the northern shore of Great Britain in 1966.

HEAR AND NOW: Hip-hop's next superstar

Courtesy of GQ.com When Wale performed at Dartmouth two months ago, I lost count of how many people I heard pronouncing his name like the marine mammal rather than the correct "WAH-lay." The truth is, despite his relative obscurity on this campus, Wale has been hip-hop's all-but-anointed "next big thing" for years.

Dartmouth's ‘Rocky Horror Show' is campy delight

SAM PURCELL / The Dartmouth "The Rocky Horror Show" has a long tradition of audience participation, with audience members throwing props onto the stage and shouting out lines not written in the script.

Play breaks theatrical conventions

TILMAN DETTE / The Dartmouth Senior Staff Written to be performed in art galleries, Tim Crouch's award-winning play "England" blurs the line between theater and performance art.

AS SEEN ON: A promising start for ABC's sci-fi show "V"

Courtesy of examiner.com Over the past decade, science-fiction programming has declined rapidly in quality. Sure, there is an entire cable network dedicated to the genre (SyFy, formerly the Sci Fi Channel), but unless you feel like paying for cable programming, network TV has very little to offer. Recent science-fiction series on the networks have all been disappointments, and many have seen quick cancellation: Shows including ABC's "Invasion" (2005), CBS's "Threshold" (2005) and NBC's "Bionic Woman" (2007), for example, all come to mind. The few relative hits in the sci-fi genre, NBC's "Heroes" and "The Sarah Connor Chronicles," meanwhile, are pretty much circling the drain. When the track record is this poor, fans have a legitimate reason to be skeptical whenever the networks market a new project as the next sci-fi hit. Based on the pilot of ABC's much-anticipated action-drama "V," however, sci-fi fans may have reason to celebrate. "V" is already critically acclaimed, and appears to be a ratings hit: The series premiere, which aired last Tuesday at 8 p.m., garnered 13.9 million viewers, ranking first in its time slot and first for all new series premieres this season. A reimagining of a 1984 miniseries, "V," which recounts the story of technologically advanced aliens invading Earth, provides an imaginative spin on the cliche of the alien invasion. The series does recall some previous incarnations of this theme: The show's pilot features a scene eerily reminiscent of "Independence Day" (1996), in which the visiting mothership fleet appears in over 29 major cities around the globe.

Film professor Ehrlich ends 18-year tenure at the College

ANDY MAI / The Dartmouth Staff Beloved animation professor David Ehrlich, an 18-year veteran of the film and media department, announced earlier this year that he plans to leave Dartmouth at the end of the Fall term in order to pursue a teaching opportunity at an art and design college on Gulangyu, a tropical island off the coast of South China. "I love Dartmouth and its students, and am ambivalent about leaving, but after 18 years, it's time to move on," Ehrlich said in an interview with The Dartmouth this week. Ehrlich is a world-renowned animator credited with making the first animal sculptural hologram, which he titled "Oedipus at Colomus," in 1978.

Sit-Down Tragedy fills stand-up comedy niche on campus

ALICE ZHAO / The Dartmouth Staff Few groups on campus can claim to have once considered going by names like "The Half-Eaten Cookies," or "The Tim Goldberg." But Sit-Down Tragedy, a student comedy troupe that appears to have found its own niche on campus less than two years after it was established, is not exactly your typical club. "Because the other performance groups on campus had whimsical, witty names like Casual Thursday and Dog Day Players, we decided we needed one too." Angel Castillo '10 said. From a wit standpoint, at least, the current name is an upgrade: Originally called the Dartmouth Stand-Up Comedy Group, the troupe was founded by Fred Meyer '08, and first met at India Queen to practice stand-up.

Rising opera star Roberts '00 lands lead role in ‘La Boheme'

Courtesy of VAopera.com Since graduating over nine years ago, opera singer Elizabeth Roberts '00 has studied under opera greats and performed on stages nationwide.

Graduate students experiment with digital arrangements

SUJIN LIM / The Dartmouth Hovey's Lounge in the basement of Thayer Dining Hall played host last Thursday to performances of original digital music compositions by faculty and graduate students.

‘Panda Toes' blog won Dona '10 international attention

New novel pays homage to ‘Lolita'

Courtesy of JoshuaGaylord.com A Nabokovian "Gossip Girl" that is refreshingly smart in how it is less about the labels and more about the lust exhibited by students and teachers, Joshua Gaylord's debut novel "Hummingbirds," which was released on Oct.

HEAR AND NOW: Our furry friend, Devendra Banhart

Courtesy of last.fm The middle of the Green is slowly recovering from its hearty 113 rounds of trampling.

Clusterfunk brings new take on classics to College

AKIKAZU ONDA / The Dartmouth Staff No sooner had the five members of Clusterfunk, campus' self-proclaimed "supergroup," strolled into The Dartmouth's offices than drummer Hyoung Yoon '10 cracked a joke. "Can we get a handle of whiskey?" As the musicians shared stories about friends and laughed over the details of their nights out drinking, the dynamic of their friendship was slowly unveiled.

Ying Quartet to premiere new work

Courtesy of ying4.com In his new work "Addio," renowned composer Richard Danielpour explores the relationships that exist within families and how they change over time.

AS SEEN ON: Hulu considers charging for content