Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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The 13th Annual Muzzle Awards

A look at the dishonorable enemies of free speech and personal liberty in New England
A year and a half into the Age of Obama, we are learning a lesson we should have figured out long ago — that repression, once in place, is rarely rolled back all the way, and that liberals no less than conservatives are reluctant to give up power.
By DAN KENNEDY | July 05, 2010

Unholy contraptions

Tavares Strachan's rockets, plus 'The Boat Show' at Drive By, and 'Sensed, Unseen' at GASP
In Tavares Strachan's video The Rocket Launch (2009), two black men in white chemical suits load sugar cane into the back of a three-wheeled mini-truck, then drive down a palm-tree-lined road to a run-down building labeled Bahamas Aerospace and Sea Exploration Center.
By GREG COOK | June 23, 2010

Freaks, Geeks, and Faux Bono

Boston-area subcultures keep the Bay State comfortably kooky this summer
As Bay Staters, we recognize that our European ancestors sure knew how to roll: scarlet letters, sticks up asses, if-she-drowns-she's-not-a-witch-if-she-floats-she's-a-witch-so-let's-kill-her legal applications.
By ALEXIS HAUK | June 20, 2010

Bang Ganger

The explosive lives of pyrotechnical professionals
Fireworks in summer — gazing to a blazing sky, mouth wide, sparkle-eyed, the "ahh"s and "oh man"s passing your lips unbidden.
By NINA MACLAUGHLIN | June 16, 2010

This is your summer . . . on drugs

Nine ways to take the high way out of Dullsville
Ah, those weird Lazy Summer Days (LSDs) in Boston. What to do on them, so as not to go out of your head with boredom?
By VALERIE VANDE PANNE | June 26, 2010

BU offers the class of 1970 a second chance at complacency

After School Special
Boston University’s class of 2010 celebrates its commencement this weekend, and BU has invited the class of 1970 to tag along.
By CLIF GARBODEN | May 12, 2010

Hearing voices

Dave Tompkins chases the Vocoder in his book How To Wreck a Nice Beach
Don’t be fooled by its textbook appearance — How To Wreck a Nice Beach (Melville House/Stop Smiling) is hardly a dry anthropological study of “The Vocoder from World War II to Hip-Hop,” as the subtitle suggests.
By CHRIS FARAONE | May 14, 2010

Moneybags Menino

The mayor cuts services, but sits on a stash of cash.
Inside Boston’s political back rooms, there is a growing suspicion that Mayor Thomas Menino is sitting on millions of dollars — tens of millions, maybe as much as $400 million — that could be used to save vital city services, such as, among many examples, four branch libraries and eight community centers that are slated to be shuttered.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | May 17, 2010

Meme police

MIT’s ROFLcon, a gathering of the Web’s biggest names, decides what will make you laugh and cry.
I just woke up from some sort of bizarre dream. I was at MIT. There was a weirdo painting nudes of President Obama on a unicorn. Several adults were dressed like domestic animals.
By CHRIS FARAONE | May 05, 2010

Review: Iron Man 2

Stark alternatives
Maybe I’m just relieved that it wasn’t in 3-D, or maybe actor Justin Theroux (frequent David Lynch collaborator and co-scripter of Tropic Thunder ) is just a better writer than the law firm of scribes that pasted together the original, but Jon Favreau’s sequel to his creaky adaptation of the rusty Marvel standby Iron Man restores my lack of faith in superheroes.
By PETER KEOUGH | May 07, 2010

Is genius immortal?

Tech god Ray Kurzweil is a modern-day Edison. Now he's battling to stay alive — forever
No disrespect to the man who let there be electric light, but Ray Kurzweil is Thomas Alva Edison on steroids.
By CHRIS FARAONE | May 03, 2010

Photos: N.E.R.D. and Super Mash Bros at MIT

Spring Concert featuring N.E.R.D. with openers Super Mash Bros at MIT | April 23, 2010
Spring Concert featuring N.E.R.D. with special guest Super Mash Bros at MIT | April 23, 2010
By DEREK KOUYOUMJIAN | April 28, 2010

Ledge Lessons

We love you, stressed-out college kids! So relax, and remember how good you have it.
As advocates of higher education and living as long as medically possible, we were sad to read that, according to new-media-powerhouse Web site the Daily Beast, Greater Boston is home to not one but five of the most stressful colleges in the United States.
By CHRIS FARAONE | April 28, 2010

Play by play: April 16, 2010

Theater listings for the week of April 16, 2010
Theater listings for the week of April 16, 2010
By JEFFREY GANTZ | April 15, 2010

Newton shooter aims to please

Run and gun
If a Jamaican bobsled team can qualify for the Winter Olympics, then certainly a gunslinger from liberal Newton has a fighting chance in a rigorous shootout below the Mason-Dixon Line.
By CHRIS FARAONE | April 14, 2010

Conductor karaoke

Xavier Le Roy at the ICA
Surrealists who work with movement have to manage a demanding slight-of-hand.
By DEBRA CASH | April 06, 2010

Play by play: April 9, 2010

Theater listings, April 9, 2010
Theater listings, April 9, 2010
By JEFFREY GANTZ | April 06, 2010

For richer, for poorer

Romanian polenta with sheep’s milk feta
Laura Coroi saw my “Immigrant Kitchens” poster at the YMCA and introduced herself.
By LINDSAY STERLING | April 08, 2010

Play by play: April 2, 2010

Theater listings, week of April 2, 2010
Boston's weekly theater schedule
By JEFFREY GANTZ | April 01, 2010

Play by play: March 26, 2010

Theater listings, March 26, 2010
Boston's weekly theater schedule
By JEFFREY GANTZ | March 25, 2010

High stepping

Dancing with the stars
The heavy-hitter repertory shows this season come from ALVIN AILEY and GEORGE BALANCHINE . But why not welcome spring by taking a chance on fresh experiences as well?
By DEBRA CASH | March 11, 2010

Hot spots in an instant

Real-Time Clubbing
Cologne on, dress pants clean, and IDs ready — your Friday night is in full swing. But before you take a step behind the bouncer-guarded pearly gates, check your cell phone. It may just save you the cover charge.
By MARIANNA FAYNSHTEYN | February 24, 2010

Now playing — RISD: The Musical!

Revues
We all know RISD students like to paint and draw, but can they hoof it? Or belt out a show tune and carry a giant pencil at the same time? Well, yes, it turns out.
By ELIZABETH RAU | February 17, 2010

A walk on the wild side

The Combat Zone, plus burlesque, drag, cross-dressing, and the avant-garde
Everyone looks so weary in Howard Yezerski Gallery's gritty documentary photos of Boston's dear departed Combat Zone from 1969 to 1978. The year's still young, but this glimpse into our past from Roswell Angier, Jerry Berndt, and John Goodman may be one of the best shows of 2010.
By GREG COOK | February 16, 2010

Crossword: ''From Milk''

We deserve these phrases
We deserve these phrases
By MATT JONES | February 10, 2010

Flickers

'11+1' at Outpost 186
The hour's worth of film and dance that followed my absurdist journey offered flashbacks, edges, mysterious messages, and a thunderstorm. In 1924, Tristan Tzara described Dada as a resistance to the pretensions of art, "a snow of butterflies released from the head of a prestidigitator." I left Inman Square feeling energized.
By MARCIA B. SIEGEL | February 09, 2010

Stopping time

The BSO, Peter Maxwell Davies, BCMS, BMOP, Mark Morris, and Christian Tetzlaff
BSO music director James Levine has returned to Symphony Hall for the first time since October, when back surgery put him out of commission.
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | February 02, 2010

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