How hard can writing a song be? As a composer, that is the question that frustrates me the most. Many other students in the College of Fine Arts often encounter the same frustration when asked by their family and friends to explain what they do. I would like to take this opportunity to write about the life of the typical student in the College of Fine Arts.
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This weekend, “XII: a Contemporary Dance Event” provides an opportunity for the department of modern dance’s graduating class to showcase its take on the genre. The performance features choreography from seniors—personal and often quirky self-expressions through dance.
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Leroy Robertson, one of the foremost composers in Utah’s history, will be honored at the Leroy Robertson Legacy Celebration Concert on Friday, presented by the School of Music.
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Michael McFall “Up” deserves Best Picture not only for its merit as an exceptional work or as an overdue nod to Pixar’s library, but also for an even riper victory for animation. A legitimate cinematic medium has been treated as a second-rate citizen with a separate category for almost 20 years—a wrong “Up” can right.
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Ivers—originally from the Bronx, New York—is the daughter of Irish immigrants. She has developed a deep connection with her heritage.
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Nearly everyone in the Western world has the same response when someone mentions “Fiddler on the Roof”—an index finger pointed at the sky with a hearty yell of “TRRRADITION!” in a Russian accent.
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And the nominees are…too many. The absurd expansion of candidates in the Best Picture category by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences devalues the award’s significance and diminishes the artistic achievement of the truly deserving.
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After a five-year hiatus, DanceBrazil is returning to perform at the U as part of its 2010 U.S. tour.
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‘Rocky Horror show’ immerses audiences in play
A raunchy group has arrived from the deep, dark and wet land of Transsexual Transylvania, and its devious plots are about to be revealed at the Babcock Theatre in the U theater department’s performance of “The Rocky Horror Show.”
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This weekend at the Studio 115 Theatre, U student and playwright Phil Smith will see two years of hard work and creativity realized in the production of his sidesplitting farcical play, “The Affair.”
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Going to a classical music concert at the U School of Music or Abravanel Hall is a lot like going to a rock concert at the EnergySolutions Arena. Talented musicians present dazzling performances of amazing music. That being said, it is very easy for the uninformed classical concertgoer to make a big faux pas at a concert. To make your next concert an enjoyable experience, here are some answers to common questions.
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In the history of American pop culture, there is little to equal the cult-like following of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” The movie is still in limited release 35 years after its premiere and is considered the longest running theatrical release in history. The play will come to Babcock Theatre starting Friday.
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Locked in a small room on the hottest day of 1957, 12 men make a decision that means life or death for a young boy accused of murder. “Twelve Angry Men,” a teleplay-turned-stage-play that provided Henry Fonda with one of his greatest roles in its film adaptation, is the latest offering from the Pioneer Theatre Company.
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The Associated Students of the University of Utah Presenter’s Club and the Middle East Center both offer free film series every other week.
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The University of Utah Lyric Opera Ensemble will perform excerpts from Mozart’s most celebrated work, “The Marriage of Figaro” this weekend.
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The U School of Music’s Sundays@7 free faculty recital series will feature a dazzling program of love songs, performed by School of Music faculty.
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Salt Lake Acting Company has recalled actor, writer and director Meg Gibson to Utah from New York City to direct two plays this season.
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Hybrid cars, ethanol-blended fuel and women’s T-shirts made from bamboo and organic cotton? Environmentally friendly products seem to be on everyone’s mind these days, augmented with the press coverage on climate change and global warming. Some concepts—such as more efficient vehicles and energy sources—are common sense. But are U students and citizens of Salt Lake City willing to pay more to be fashionably green, too?
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Pioneer Theatre’s first play in a new initiative focuses on impact of family
“Touch(ed)” is a new, darkly comedic and dramatic play, the third play written by Bess Wohl and her first performed by the Pioneer Theatre Company. The story revolves around two sisters, one of whom has spent years in a mental health institution after multiple suicide attempts. Retreating to a secluded cabin in the woods to get reacquainted, the other sister and her boyfriend attempt to comfort and support the mentally unstable sister through her healing process.
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St. Petersburg String Quartet
Today
Master class: 2 p.m. Dumke Recital Hall
Concert: 7:30 p.m. Libby Gardner Hall
Student tickets: $5
Free shuttle from Rice-Eccles parking lot, starting at 6:30 p.m.
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In Pioneer Theatre Company’s third performance of the season, the 1983 classic holiday movie “A Christmas Story” is given a timely live theater treatment.
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Band of U alumni aims to make it big with originality
For an industrial painter, a Crown Burger manager, a medical device salesman and a an owner of a musical instrument small business, making it in rock ‘n’ roll was something they’d have to do on their own—and they wouldn’t have it any other way. The four career men—and U alumni—who comprise the local band Waltzing for Debbie understood the risks and heard the doubts but still felt there was never a better time to try.
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When Annie Boyer doesn’t know how to start a painting, she tries to get a color she likes on the canvas so she can figure out the rest later. She credits this carefree approach with helping her quell a “fear of the blank canvas” and allowing her to break away from a tight and controlled style that she found restricting. Wet paint does the rest.
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The Utah Museum of Fine Arts will host a public talk tonight titled “Historic Tribal Art and Cultural Continuity: Persistence of Belief and Ritual,” by visiting artist and educator Arthur Amiotte at 7 p.m. in UMFA’s Dumke Auditorium.
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On Friday and Saturday night, the annual School of Music Scholarship Concert will take place at Libby Gardner Hall.
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Maturity, thoughtful lyrics lift songs
Wrought with the familiar themes of love and religion that made his debut album a critical success, Joshua James’ follow-up, Build Me This, shows he’s more unrestrained than ever.
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After years of hard work and putting so much time into a project, it can certainly be rewarding to see the finished product. This Friday is the time when students who are enrolled in, or have recently completed their master’s degrees in film production get to show off their finished work.
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A poet, a mathematician and a composer walk into a library, engage in a heated debate concerning the relative merits of their chosen fields and in the process find they have more in common than any of them could have ever imagined.
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Dance is often a selfish art form—the purpose of movement as merely movement itself. Efren Corado, a second-year graduate student in the department of modern dance at the U defies this selfish tendency in an exciting and charitable way, by merging dance and community involvement.
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The opening credits montage for “Gentlemen Broncos,” the latest from “Napoleon Dynamite” director Jared Hess, might be the most successful part of the film. The credits and titles are placed on the covers of a rotating selection of science fiction and fantasy paperbacks while the Zager and Evans tune “In the Year 2525” provides the soundtrack.
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For U music professor and composer Miguel Chuaqui, a career in music once seemed an unrealistic choice. Such ambition no longer seems frivolous, as Chuaqui has been named one of 12 winners in a prestigious international composition contest.
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Bazan’s heartfelt lyrics lift album
Like a series of memoirs about struggles of faith and addiction, David Bazan’s Curse Your Branches, represents his most polished, yet personal release to date.
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Ever since the Utah Museum of Fine Arts acquired its long sought-after sarcophagus, it’s been trying to figure out a way to dust off its Egyptian collection and bring it back into the galleries after a three-year hiatus.
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Dead pioneers aren’t the only thing creeping in the shadows of Haunted Village at This is the Place Heritage
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The popular public radio show “Selected Shorts” and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Cunningham will visit the Salt Lake City Library this week to take part in the 12th annual Utah Humanities Book Festival.
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The Pioneer Memorial Theatre continues its run of the Tony Award-winning contemporary classic “A Chorus Line” until the end of this week.
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Preview focuses on Wyoming murder
Friday, Kingsbury Hall, along with Plan-B Theatre, will present a preview performance of a new play by Moisés Kaufman, titled “The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, An Epilogue.” In February 2000, Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project debuted “The Laramie Project,” which is about the reaction to the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student, in Laramie, Wyo.
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The 28th annual Great American Beer Festival was held in Denver last weekend. The sold-out event centered around a competition among 495 commercial breweries from across the nation. This year, six were from Utah. A total of 3,362 different kinds of beer in 75 different categories were strictly judged according to their taste, aroma and appearance. Gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded to the winners, and 2,100 of these varieties were made available to the attending public.
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‘The Bakkai’ mixes modern elements — along with just about everything else
The annual Classical Greek Theatre Festival, now in its 39th year, is returning to Red Butte Gardens. The festival left Red Butte for financial reasons after an extended run in the 1990s, but artistic director Jim Svendsen said he always felt that Red Butte was the perfect setting for the outdoor production of a Greek play. This year, the Babcock Theatre presents Euripides’ play “The Bakkhai,” featuring the Greek god Dionysus.
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Each weekend, students go out to see what Salt Lake City has to offer for entertainment. For many students, money plays a major role in what they do. Since February, the department of physics and astronomy has made the decision easy for students and community members alike.
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On Sept. 10, filmmakers and representatives from Utah’s refugee and legal community will meet at the Park City Library for a free screening of “Mrs. Goundo’s Daughter.”
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A four-part exhibition put on by the U’s printmaking department will be housed in the Art Building’s Alvin Gittins Gallery for the next few weeks.
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Board designers mixed creative art, great ideas
Board games have spent thousands of years proving that they aren’t going anywhere. Flat surfaces with movable pieces and pictures have been found in caves and tombs that date back to 2500 B.C. Much of this enduring appeal might rest in the fact that they’ve never required electricity or leaving the house. But board games are also pieces of art, sometimes far more intricate in design than the games themselves.
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This weekend, the Youth Theatre’s spring production of “James and the Giant Peach” will be performed at Kingsbury Hall.
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Plan-B Theatre Company’s newest world premiere, “Wallace,” is a portrait of the lives of two literary men who called Salt Lake City home.
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The tension between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the gay community has escalated in the past year.
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In the world of ballet, the Youth America Grand Prix is essentially synonymous to the Junior Olympics. Known for drawing in rising ballet stars from around the world, YAGP is a competition in which participants under the age of 19 perform solos in both classical and contemporary ballet.
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There are always free film screenings on campus, and fans of both films and freebies have a plethora to choose from this week.
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Although the big band is the most common type of jazz ensemble, many jazz musicians often form a smaller combo for a gig or a recording. Combos are unique opportunities for jazz musicians because they give them a chance to improvise more freely and interact with one another on a more intimate level.
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The Latin phrase “creatio ex nihilo,” or creation out of nothing, finds a new expression as U students’ agility and creativity are put to the test through a collaboration with the Salt Lake City-based dance company Movement Forum.
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The UMFA’s exhibition of the lithography of Pablo O’Higgins seeks to introduce an artist born in Salt Lake City who is already well-known throughout Mexico.
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People are like films. An eye-catching cover might cue a worthy rental, but a great soundtrack can make it an instant favorite. We evaluate people like we scour a Blockbuster—like a movie cover, someone’s fashion might signal similarities in personality, but we bond over the music that defines us.
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Thursday, comedians sponsored by the website collegehumor.com will perform in the Union Ballroom at 7 p.m. College Humor, a comedy site that has more than 10 million readers per month, features a collection of amusing uploaded videos, written columns and pictures. Columns include confessionals about misdeeds done to roommates, complaints about ex-boyfriends and girlfriends, and mockery of non-technologically savvy parents.
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Modern dance company to perform annual concert
The modern dance department’s Performing Dance Company will perform its Spring Concert this weekend.
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The Film Front organization at the U is a student group that focuses on narrative and documentary films produced by independent filmmakers both in and outside of the United States. Its Spring Semester film screening series focuses on a diverse collection of films with respect to their style, form, and content. All of these films are shown free of charge and are open to both U students and the general public. Films are screened in their originally intended format—35mm prints—in the Waldemer P. Reed Auditorium in OSH.
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Several dancers from the U’s ballet department have been given a rare opportunity to perform in Ballet West’s new rendition of “Swan Lake.”
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One of the prestigious yet underrepresented music events at the U is the Virtuoso Series hosted by the School of Music. This series, according to the School of Music website, brings “intimate recital concerts by the established concert artists of our day and stars of the future.”
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This week, German-born Tini Miura, a world-renowned bookbinder, will give a free lecture on the use of color and shapes in bookbinding.
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The tragic earthquake in Haiti not only changed the lives of thousands of Haitians, it also deeply affected many Utahns who were inspired to reach out and help the relief effort. One way Utahns are reaching out is through the Haiti Relief Art Show tonight at the Hive Gallery in Trolley Square. Part gallery stroll and part music festival, the show costs $2 to attend and is donating all proceeds from art sales and admissions to the Red Cross for use in Haiti.
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V-Day is here. No, not Valentine’s Day. V-Day is the time of year when many women’s rights and activist groups unite in their efforts to empower women and put an end to sexual discrimination and violence. A group of women at the U is doing its part to aid in those causes by performing “The Vagina Monologues,” a play that expresses women’s issues and is allowed royalty-free performances during this time of year.
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Los Angeles-based band Diamonds Under Fire is headed to Salt Lake City as part of its 2010 West-Coast tour.
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Sometimes it’s easy to forget that there’s a burgeoning music scene rife with diverse, nationally recognized acts within our city limits. Luckily, we have reminders such as the City Weekly Music Awards and its associated events to inform, entertain and include us.
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offer something for everyone
1. M. Ward - Hold Time Following a foray into nostalgic ’50s pop with actress and songstress Zooey Deschanel, M. Ward returned to his raspy-voiced story-telling ways. And return he did, crafting perhaps the most complete album of the year. Ward’s familiar folk tinge is heard on “Jailbird” and the upbeat “Stars of Leo,” and his traditional tales of travel are on “Shangri-La.
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The Sundance Film Festival 2010
Where: Multiple Utah locations including Salt Lake City, Park City and Sundance Ski Resort
When: Jan. 21 to Jan. 31
Visit www.festival.sundance.org/2010 or the main ticket office in Trolley Square
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Clara Drosselmeyer and the Sugar Plum Fairy visited the U in 1955, and they’ve been dancing around Salt Lake City ever since. Ballet West’s “The Nutcracker” premiered at Kingsbury Hall more than half a century ago, and though the venue for the production has since changed, the choreography and music are as much a tradition as the pirouetting characters from the Ballet West that Utah fans have grown to love.
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What: Student Composition Recital
When: Friday at 4 p.m.
Where: 1375 E. Presidents Circle
204 David Gardner Hall
Dumke Recital Hall
Fourth Floor
Free Admission
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Ballet department displays 4 works
Students in the ballet department are working like elves, busily preparing their Christmas present for the U. This weekend, Ballet Ensemble will showcase four choreographic works—three new pieces and one dating from the late 19th century—in the Hayes-Christensen Theatre at the Marriott Center for Dance.
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After already making it big once, Kenneth Vasoli started anew with hopes of making it big a second time. Person L’s second full-length album, The Positives, further distinguishes the band from Vasoli’s former band, The Starting Line. Unfortunately, it does little to distinguish them from everyone else.
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During this past year’s Sundance Film Festival, no film shocked the mountain west audience as much as “Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire.”
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“Time and the Conways,” written by British novelist and playwright J.B. Priestley, tells the story of a seemingly contented family with high aspirations for the future.
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Classical music can come from any instrument, even a computer, according to a band of laptop musicians here at the U.
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The department of modern dance is providing the perfect opportunity to stray from the ordinary with its graduate concert “The Odds.” Through dance, choreographers Nancy Carter, Erin Empey, Juliana Hane, I-Fen Lin, and Shannon Vance beckon the audience to travel with them into fantastical new worlds and deep into the psyche to discover what lies in their artistic ventures.
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Studio 115 is an experimental and creative division of the U’s theater department. The department stages seven productions a year and chooses each one carefully. “Alaska” is a play written by young, obscure playwright DC Moore. It’s the story of a 24-year-old named Frank who works at a movie theater. He dropped out of college, loves history, sells pot and reads the Bible. He’s also filled with hate.
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On Saturday, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts will hold a free public screening of filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Zabriskie Point.”
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The famed Silk Road refers to massive network of trade routes that stretched from China to eastern Europe during a 1,500-year period.
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Utah ballet and modern dancers proved themselves to be mature artists in the Utah Ballet Special Event Performance, which ended last Saturday. But it was the out-of-towners—aka Germans—that provided the most excitement. Their piece, “Troy Games,” startled the audience with a sensual and beautifully masculine performance.
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U students hope to bring fellow filmmakers together with those across the nation by establishing a student-affiliate chapter of the David Lynch Foundation on campus.
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Mark Twain isn’t known for playwriting, but in 1898, he wrote three acts titled “Is He Dead?” The project never got off the ground. At the time, no one was interested in it. But the manuscripts were recently published and adapted for the stage by the American playwright David Ives.
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As we plunge into the season of traditions—jack-o’-lanterns giving way to turkey and stuffing, and supermarkets playing Christmas carols on repeat—the Eastern Arts student club is hosting “WorldDance 2009” to celebrate the ancient cultural traditions of Iran.
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Going to college can be expensive—really expensive. But that doesn’t mean extra-curricular activities are sitting around in the dark doing nothing. Here are a few tips to make life affordably more entertaining.
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Halloween isn’t just about the free candy anymore. That might be enough to satisfy the kid in you, but for the hungry adult, there is food—free food—to be found as well if you know where to look. That’s where we’ve got your back.
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This year alone, the U Singers have sung in 13th-century churches, enormous underground caverns in Slovenia and the third-largest cathedral in Europe.
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One of the most popular ways to write a screenplay for a film is to adapt the material from a book.
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Halloween makes me feel jealous—like how I feel at parties when people are dancing. I can’t dance. I understand both concepts though. It’s about letting loose, not taking yourself too seriously, right? See, both my parents were great dancers, so I can’t really blame genetics for that. But I do think my mom had something to do with my anxiety about Halloween.
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Halloween is just around the corner, which means horror movie time! There are so many to choose from, where does one start? Consider the following for your viewing:
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Before autumn thoughts turn to turkeys, pumpkin pies and Thanksgiving, students at the U have October to get scared silly.
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Urban Lounge is under ambitious new ownership and will play host Oct. 9 to a band synonymous with equally ambitious musicality.
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Magician Paul Draper is returning to the U for his first public performance in seven years. For three consecutive nights, he will give local audiences a chance to witness his unique abilities. But the show is also a rare opportunity to see the combination of entertainment by way of a specific education.
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When it comes to alcohol, the U might be a dry campus, but that won’t stop the Union Programming Council from throwing an Oktoberfest party.
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Unfortunate news struck the Tower Theatre when it was discovered that its digital projector shorted out during a screening of “Afghan Star.”
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U alumna and author Zoe Murdock read and discussed her new fictional book about fundamentalist Mormon polygamists, Torn by God, Saturday at the King’s English Bookshop in Salt Lake City.
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Showcase incorporated original choreography, designs
The showcase, which has been in the works since before school started, included pieces designed and choreographed by students for students.
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Every January, film enthusiasts and Hollywood stars come to Utah from all over the world to discover the next great indie film that the Sundance Film Festival is famous for offering.
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The U’s chess club recently split the 2009 Chess College of the Year award with the Miami University of Ohio. In a rare tie between the two schools, the award recognizes the university club that most contributes to the promotion of chess—both in its community and throughout the country.
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