BECCA PLESKOW '10 & ADINA JICK '10
The Last Night of Ballyhoo, an interesting play about a Jewish family living in the south, was the winter play at Beaver this year. The play centers on a family portrayed by, Dan Katz, Jesse Rosenberg, Lindsey Yudkoff, Sara Mooney, and Hannah Hutton that wrestles with its Jewish identity. The family members try to deny their Jewish roots until they meet Joe Farkas (played by Sophomore Gus Polstein). Joe’s love interest with Sunny, Hannah Hutton, inspires her to embrace her Jewish identity.
The Last Night of Ballyhoo directed by Ms.Yolles was perfectly cast and exquisitely performed. The audience was enthralled by the tension between the characters. Sunny (Hannah Hutton) and Lala’s (Jesse Rosenberg) fight over Joe Farcus (Gus Polstein) kept the audience on the edge of their seats. The love interests between Lala (Jesse Rosenberg) and Peachy (Zack Levandov) was particularly humorous and enjoyable for the audience. The humor in the play was well delivered, and also sent a message to the audience, urging them to accept their true identities.
The set’s positioning was realistic to the given circumstances. Although at times the actors’ backs faced the audience, the blocking did not detract from the quality of the performance. The location of the audience enabled the viewers to enter the world (and literal living room) of the characters. The costumes also added to the performance. They were extremely realistic for the time period and the woman’s dresses even reflected each of their personalities.
A job well-done to everyone involved in the play!
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Monday, March 31, 2008
The Last Night of Ballyhoo Was A Great Success!
Monday, March 24, 2008
Found in Lost: Thoughts on "Meet Kevin Johnson"
It’s now on break until April 27, but Lost went out with a bang this Thursday. Eh, sort of. Not really. Anyway, thoughts follow. SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS AHH DON’T CLICK if you haven’t seen the episode.
Hmm... OK, so no big surprises, Michael is the spy and Walt was just dropped off at home. (I was half-expecting him to be locked away on the freighter somewhere.)
This, for the most part, felt like it was just filling in a bunch of holes--a bunch of stuff that we just needed to know to keep going. We saw too little of the island itself for my tastes, but oh well. I was expecting an invasion or something, judging by the preview. So much for a midseason climax.
There were several moments when it seemed the concept of the island as purgatory/underworld were about to be introduced--for instance, when it seemed Michael had committed suicide. (Remember especially Locke's dad's highway accident.) But no, it was as if they were just teasing us. I think people (including me) are probably a little too quick to go to the supernatural for explanation of these things on this crazy crazy show.
Speaking of supernatural, though, the most interesting thing from tonight, from the Michael storyline anyway, was how the island wouldn't let him kill himself. It just wasn't supposed to happen. I think that explains a lot of why he was willing to go on the mission. (1) What else is he going to do? (2) I think ultimately he just wants to die, and he thinks the island will only let him die if he does this first. ("What are you doing here?" "I'm here to die.")
Oh, and regarding Walt: I didn't catch it, but Lostpedia says he was played by a double in that episode. Interesting. Does that mean they're going to have issues if they want to bring him back as a regular character, or are they going to explain it away with some little time travel excuse?
Image of double in Meet Kevin Johnson: http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Image:Fake_Walt.jpg
http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Walt#Trivia
Also: interesting how the Captain (working for Widmore) was implying that Ben planted the fake plane, while now Ben is saying that Widmore did it. And the captain seemed utterly nonplussed by Sayid’s revelation that Michael’s a traitor.
And also interesting: Miles. He's always been a little different than the rest of the freighter folks--more violent, confrontational, sneaky. "Another Sawyer," as Hurley put it. Apparently Locke took the grenade out.
BUT, OF COURSE, the most exciting part was the very end. Looks like Ben got his daughter's two best allies killed. Poor Danielle! And she had an interesting story, too. She was the one who was always talking about the illness and the whispers and what not, both of which remain mysteries. And she was always helpful to the Losties. And she was so sneaky, with her traps and everything. Of course, she may not be dead.
To whoever was manning the blowdarts--nice aim, it took you, what, like three shots to hit Carl? Actually, it almost seemed like an automated defense system, Indiana Jones-style. But no, you can't reason with a trap, which is what Alex was doing there at the end.
So presumably that was the Others, the Hostiles, Richard's people. Why would they kill Carl and Danielle? Did they not "belong" at the Temple? And what exactly IS the Temple???
So many questions left unanswered! So long to wait! This episode had lots of Michael, not enough island. Oh well. It was still great, of course. Any Lost is great, from my undiscerning point of view. :)
Oh, and apparently Aaron is the last of the Oceanic 6. Eh. Not a huge fan of that, but whatever. It has some interesting implications, now that that's locked down:
1. Michael doesn't make it back again.
2. People still don't know about Michael.
3. Either people still don't know about Walt, or he somehow ends up back on the island.
4. But there's no easy way for him to get back, soo...
5. He seems like an interesting ally in Jack's inevitable quest to get back.
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Sunday, March 16, 2008
Found in Lost: Thoughts on "Ji Yeon"
Another interesting episode. Only one left before the break! :( Read our thoughts here, and leave your own in the comments. As usual, beware of spoilers! Only continue if you're up-to-date!
Hmm... OK, so nothing has really matched the splendor of The Constant yet. But next week will be a sort of mini-finale, so that ought to be very interesting.
The main plot dealt with Sun and Jin. I was originally unsure of whether Jin's scenes were flashbacks, but I'm now almost certain. The old-fashioned cell phone was the first tip-off...
It was pretty terrible of Juliet to reveal Sun's affair like that... she has an "ends justify the means" philosophy that I really dislike...
What was up with Hurley's ultra-creepy "good"???
HURLEY: Is anyone else coming?
SUN: No.
HURLEY: Good.
The tombstone is interesting. It lists the date of death as September 22, 2004--the day Oceanic 815 crashed. My guess is that the Oceanic 6 are just telling the world that Jin was one of the many who died in the crash, so clearly Jin hasn't made it off, but I'm not so sure he's dead. He could very well be one of those to whom Jack thinks "we have to go back!"
There was also some interesting stuff going on on the freighter. First of all, where's the helicopter??? Apparently Frank has taken it somewhere, and Ray-the-doctor implied that he was heading back to the island, but managed to dodge the question. Judging by next week's preview, maybe he's, y'know, getting ready to storm the beaches or something... or maybe there's something else out there, something he could land on other than the island, that the doc doesn't want Sayid knowing about.
Regina was weird. First with reading her book upside-down, and then with her suicide. And no one seemed surprised by that stuff. Clearly there's something maddening about the island, or at least there's something maddening about the snowglobe barrier.
And the captain didn't seem that bad. He implied that Ben was in on the faking of 815, which is interesting. The black box was also interesting. But was it the box of the real 815, or the planted 815? Here's the dialogue:
GAULT: That's exactly what it is. Now here's the funny thing. This black box comes from Oceanic Flight 815. A salvage vessel recovered it from the bottom of the ocean. It took a considerable amount of Mr. Widmore's resources to procure it. It was found with the wreckage of the plane, along with all 324 dead passengers. (to Sayid) That's not the complete story, as you are well aware, Mr. Jarrah, given the fact that you're standing here, breathing... The wreckage was obviously staged. Now can you imagine what kind of resources and manpower go into pulling off a feat of that magnitude? Faking the recovery of a plane crash? Putting 324 families through a grieving process based on a lie? But what's even more disturbing... where exactly does one come across 324 dead bodies? And that, Mr. Jarrah, Mr. Hume, is just one of the many reasons we want Benjamin Linus.
So it seems it's from the fake 815. But then what good is it? It's not like you're going to track it back to Ben's secret off-island HQ landing strip. It would be much more useful if it were from the real plane, and it would help explain how the freighter had found the island. But then how in the world would anyone have recovered it? Recovering it would presumably mean finding the plane, unless it had somehow escaped and floated off to Fiji or something. And we don't know of anyone finding the plane, the real plane. So, what, did Ben find it and sell it to Widmore? Seems unlikely, given how much he hates the guy. Did he find it and give it to Michael to take it to Widmore and lead him into a trap or something? Haha, nah. If Ben was the one who planted the fake, then maybe he took the real black box and planted it with it, but that'd just be stupid. Doesn't make any sense.
Also, it seems like one of the Oceanic Six remains unknown. Could it be the one in the newspaper clipping? It's odd--you'd think it'd be the funeral of someone Jack & Kate knew from the island, right? But if it was one of the Six, they'd be a celebrity, and of course their death would be a big deal and lots of people would go. So, non-Sixies who they knew from the island who made it off... um, Ben? I'm not sure anyone would go to his funeral, and he's sort of been operating in secret. We know it's a man, don't we? For Sixies, that leaves Hurley, Sayid, or the one yet to be revealed. Hm. Out of those choices, and knowing nothing about the sixth Sixie, I'd have to say Ben, however sad it would be to admit that the man we love to hate is mortal. Hey, he could always be faking it.
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Friday, March 7, 2008
Found in Lost: Thoughts on "The Other Woman"
What’d you think of the latest episode of Lost? Where do you stand on America’s favorite love quadrangle? Read on for some of our thoughts, and leave yours in the comments. Spoiler alert: stop reading now if you’re not up-to-date!
First of all: The Tempest plot felt a little rushed. I'm really gonna miss the 9 episodes we're missing this season....
Moving on, umm, I can't stand Juliet. However lost she may have been upon arriving on the island, Ben has gotten to her, by which I mean that she has been infected by his sneaky schemingness. Except when Ben does it it's great, and when Juliet does it it's annoying. She has adopted the "ends justify the means" mentality. Whatever she’s doing—saving them all, killing them all, whatever, it’s hard to tell sometimes—she is not afraid to completely betray her allies (many times over) in the process.
Regarding Ben & Juliet's relationship: whoah, crazy. I think there needs to be Lost-brand Valentine's Day cards with that great line—“Why? You're asking me why? After everything I did to get you here, after everything I've done to keep you here, how can you possibly not understand THAT YOU'RE MINE? …Take as much time as you need.”And it could be one of those talking Hallmark cards, for extra creepiness.
HARPER: So, Juliet, what do you think of Ben?
JULIET: He's great. Uh, very smart... and intense. Challenging. He's been really good to me.
HARPER: Of course he has. You look just like her.
It’s unclear who Harper was referring to—Annie is one possibility, but Liz suggested Emily, his mom, which would be oh-so-Oedipal. Anyway, the Annie reference is intriguing--if she's still around, and I'm still convinced she is, then Ben's relationship with Juliet seems a little... dishonest. And it’s further proof that Harper is very close to Ben (professionally, naturally), and probably has been for a long time. Also, it's dangerous for Ben to be forming attachments like that. I've mentioned how I think so much of what he does is motivated by his guilt over killing his mom, and that has probably caused him to make some unwise decisions. Any sort of romantic relationship jeapardizes his ability to be a cold, calculating, removed, infinitely patient, oh-so-creepy mastermind.
What was going on in the present with Ben and Locke was pretty interesting. I think Ben was lying when he said the Widmore info was his last bargaining chip--hello, how's he contacting Harper and Juliet???--but may have been telling the truth when he said his people don't want him any more (which isn't to say that most of them aren't still loyal to him). I've thought for a little while that it's possible that the failed attack on the Losties last season was actually orchestrated by Ben to cull the weak and disloyal from his group. Or it may just have been a big stumble. Speaking of stumbles, it would seem he stumbled by failing to stop Daniel and Charlotte. But who knows. His new allegiance with Locke ought to be interesting.
I'm hoping that the relationships are only so messed up now (e.g. Jack w/ Juliet) so that it will be that much more satisfying when, ultimately, everyone ends up with the person with whom they are SUPPOSED to be. The universe has a way of course correcting, and Jack is way off-course. I hope.
Regarding the Widmore revelation—I’m pretty sure Penny isn't manipulating/using Desmond. I'm pretty sure that, if anything, her dad is just secretly piggybacking on her work. But of course, he's been looking for longer than she has. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Desmond is on the island in part *because* Mr. Widmore was looking for it. That race around the world? What if he had a vague idea of where the island was, so he decided to send hundreds (?) of sailboats streaming past it under the pretense of a "race"? What if he was tracking every boat in the race (you'd think he would) via GPS, and Desmond actually led the freighter to the island?
I LOVED the Red Sox bit. But after Ben's tape of Widmore, instead of going to static it should have gone back to the game. That'd have been awesome.
And finally, did anyone else notice the "hostiles" talk?!? Completely reinforcing the concept that the Island's power progression is cyclical.
JACK: That woman--what was her name?
JULIET: Harper.
JACK: The two of you friends?
JULIET: Not exactly. She was my therapist.
JACK: You people had therapists?
JULIET: It's very stressful being an Other, Jack.
JACK: Seemed kinda hostile, even for a therapist.
---
CLAIRE: John, we have to find out who these people are and where they came from and why they're not interested in rescuing us.
JOHN: And you don't think I'm gonna get that out of him?
CLAIRE: No, I... I just think we might be taking the wrong approach. I mean, you killed one, Ben shot one, and now we're holding one prisoner. You know, it's not hard to understand why they might think we're hostile. I might be just a little less intimidating.
See?!? Damon & Carlton (the writers) made a good point in some interview: when the Losties arrived, there were already cliches and power struggles going on, but the Losties didn't have a sufficiently nuanced view of the situation to call them all anything but "others." And now the Boaties have arrived, and they're not all sure who to trust, and they sort of see the Losties/Others as being hostile. Look at how they killed Naomi! Of course, *we* know that that was just Locke, but how are the Boaties supposed to realize that Locke is fundamentally different than the rest??? The Losties ARE the Others.
Images from http://www.lost-media.com/ (beware of spoilers, including for upcoming episodes)
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Thursday, March 6, 2008
Advanced Drama Play Advances to Semi-finals of Festival
DANIEL KATZ '08 and JESSICA PENZIAS '08
The High School Drama Festival is the Drama Guild's largest event of the year, with over 100 schools competing from across the state. The festival is now in its seventh decade, and is open to every secondary school in Massachusettes. Sponsored by The Boston Globe and John Hancock Hall, the festival includes three levels: preliminary, semi-final and state finals. Individual awards are given out at each level, and two schools are chosen at the State Finals to represent the state at the New England Drama Festival.
Announced before each performance, the most important rules are as follows:
-No entry may exceed 40 minutes running time.
-A school is given 5 minutes to set up and 5 minutes to strike
-The director, cast, and crew must attend all levels of Festival in which they participate.
Beaver has a tradition of competing in the festival, and has done quite well in the past under the direction of Jen Yolles. Seven plays have made it to the semi-finals, and one play, “Volpone,” moved onto the state finals in 2004. Next time you walk from the main building to the lobby of the arts building, look at the wall to your left and notice the plaques from past festivals. In a school that sometimes lacks competitive success, the Drama Festival is often full of refreshing victories.
This year’s preliminary round was, once again, quite successful. After a strong performance at Sharon High School, Beaver was one of three schools from the site who moved onto the semi-finals. Beaver, Sharon High School, and Cambridge Rindge & Latin beat out five other schools for the three coveted spots. At the award ceremony, Beaver also picked up nine individual awards. Hannah Hutton, Dan Katz, Chi-Chi Ibili, and Vivek Pai received acting awards. Tech awards went to Micah Telegen for stage-managing, Nat Harrington for sound production, and Jeremy Karpf, Evan Leventhal, and Emily Salfity for on-stage technical work. The semi-finals will occur on March 15 at Marblehead Veterans' Middle School at 9:30 am.
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The schedule of plays for the Semi Finals are as follows:
Host: Marblehead Veterans' Middle School,217 Pleasant Street, Marblehead
9:30 am Beaver Country Day School- Episode in the Life of an Author
10:30 am Cohasset Middle/ High School- A Whole New You
12:30 am Leominster High School- Wind in the Willows
1:30 pm Westford Academy- Dancing at Lughnasa
3:00 pm St. John's Preparatory School- The Odyssey
4:00 pm Saugus High School- Servant of Two Masters
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Monday, March 3, 2008
NY Fashion Week
SARAH MINK '08
Despite fashion’s frivolous nature, the tents in Bryant Park fill to capacity twice a year with hordes of magazine editors, upscale department store buyers, celebrities, socialites, and those who fall under no labels or too many to count. Also in attendance are people who have once graced the halls of Beaver with their noteworthy presence—namely Eliza Dushku, a Beaver mystery herself. All sharing the prerequisite of being well dressed, these people fly into New York or walk across the street to be part of the extravaganza that is Fashion Week, specifically, the semi-annual Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. First held in 1943 during the Second World War, its goal was to take the attention away from French fashion when traveling to France wasn’t possible for fashion journalists.
New York Fashion Week is very much like an art festival backed by German automotive sponsors. The designers are the artists, and the runways are the galleries on which the art is displayed for the world to see. As art is illegal to forge, the designer’s guild has worked hard to copyright their designs, but clothing and accessories are still copied and mass-produced in such stores as Century 21. The designs that came down on the runways on top models such as Coca Rocha and Agyness Deyn, however, were completely original creations.
Fall MMVIII (2008) fashion week began on February 1st and finished on February 8th. Over 100,000 guests were expected to attend, which included 3,000 of the worldwide press and fashion industry. Some lucky college students worked on the shows behind the scenes and as seat-fillers. One NYU student who volunteered at the Y-3 show described it as: “Great! I got stuck in the second row (VIP section), which was both terrifying and the coolest moment of my life!”
Whether or not you approve of the models’ weight, or even the consumer culture that the week represents, the spectacle of Fashion Week has become a tradition in cities worldwide. However, the Internet has made the exhibition of designs available to those who cannot make it to the tents in Bryant Park, which were decorated this year as Greco Roman “Temples of Fashion.” All the collections are available for your viewing pleasure on http://www.style.com/, as are front row and backstage pictures, including an appearance by the not-so-well-dressed Ms. Dushku. Stay tuned for collection highlights and the aftermath.
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Sunday, March 2, 2008
Shoe Review: The Adidas ‘Olympic’ Conductor Hi
MARCO FABRIZIO ‘09
The Adidas Olympic Conductor Hi, first released in 1987, was recently re-released. It pays homage to the 1988 Olympic Basketball final between the USSR and Yugoslavia. The shoe has a very basic color scheme; white is the main color, accompanied by smaller amounts of black, grey and red. The multicolored patch located on the side of the shoe is the 1988 Olympic Logo and information on the final game is located on the inside of the shoe. This shoe can cost anywhere from $150-$210.
SOURCES: http://www.crookedtongues.com/
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