Archive: Arts & Entertainment

Smart Talk: Open Up

: By Jim Evans; Entertainment; | Jul 31, 2008 |

Smart TalkSMART TALK
by Dr. Viva Palaver

OPEN UP: Here's the kind of discussion that interests therapists at the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired. As staff psychologist, I'm working on a paper about this.

At a recent staff meeting in Strunk Hall, we wondered why "up" can appear after so many verbs when the speaker intends no feeling of direction, and sometimes not even a sense of increase. I'd better explain.

We classify fill up, rise up, stack up, and swell up as impairments because each is redundant. Up adds nothing to the meaning of each verb. It serves only to reinforce to idea of increase already inherent in each verb's meaning. Like running the water during tooth brushing, it makes a scintilla of sense, no more.

But open up? Why open up anything? How does up help here? Sign up, wrap up, clean up, and wash up also puzzle us.

Please don't shut up. If any readers have theories about the origin or reason for the superfluous use of up, please write to the Institute, care of this publication. I'll add your theory to my paper.

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Youngest Ithacan Playwrights Shine at Hangar

: By Simrat Applebaum; Entertainment; | Jul 31, 2008 |

July 30, 2008 (ITHACA, NY) For young people in the Hangar Theatre’s Next Generation School of Theatre, playwriting was not something they learned in their English class. After a series of intense workshops with a local playwright at their summer theatre program, these elementary and middle school students put their pencils to the paper and didn’t lift them until their stories were down. The experience didn’t stop there for these young playwrights. Their plays will be showcased in Kiddplay! premiering at the Hangar Theatre on Saturday, August 2nd at 10 am and 12 noon.

Five plays were selected to be performed and their pre-teen playwrights were whisked into rehearsals with talented actors and directors from the Hangar’s nationally recognized Lab Company. Through this artistic partnership of two different Hangar education programs, these Next Generation students further discovered their voices and refined their plays.

Sudoku v4i29

: By Staff; Entertainment; | Jul 31, 2008 |

Sudoku

You need Java enabled to view the crossword applet.

If you do not have Java installed you can obtain it from java.com. If do have Java you may need to check your security settings to make sure that applets are enabled, especially if you are viewing the puzzle from your hard disk. In Windows XP you may be able to enable the applet by clicking on the yellow bar at the top of the window and selecting "Allow blocked content".

Smart Talk: One Less Person

: By Jim Evans; Entertainment; | Jul 24, 2008 |

Smart TalkSMART TALK
by by Dr. Clark Chousie

ONE LESS PERSON: The Institute for the Linguistically Impaired runs its outreach program through field therapists Tom and Ray Magliozzi, who teach English as a First Language (EFL), using as cover a National Public Radio call-in show about cars.

One of their tasks is to teach the difference between less and fewer. They're careful to say less gas and fewer cars.

Less refers to quantity. You wouldn't say fewer milk, because you're not counting it. You're talking about the size of just one amount, so you'd say more milk. Please.

Fewer refers to number. You wouldn't say less people; you'd say fewer people, because you're counting them, or at least referring to some number.

Each week, Tom and Ray hope there's one person fewer - NOT one less person - who confuses these words.

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Comic: Lansing Cafe

: By Ben Veaner; Entertainment; | Jul 24, 2008 |

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Sweet Charity in Dryden

: By -Staff; Entertainment; | Jul 24, 2008 |

Tompkins County's non-profit youth theatre company, Running to Places Productions , presents Sweet Charity July 25 - August 3 in the Dryden Central School Auditorium. With favorites "Big Spender," "If My Friends Could See Me Now," and "Rhythm of Life," this Neil Simon musical comedy is sure to please all ages with a powerhouse cast of young people from Dryden, Newfield, Trumansburg, Candor, Lansing, Groton, and Ithaca.

The show is directed by Joey Steinhagen with choreography by Todd Peterson, and Musical Direction by Mike Wade and Erica Steinhagen.

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Playboy of the Western World Opens at Hangar

: By Hangar Theatre; Entertainment; | Jul 24, 2008 |

The Hangar Theatre will breathe new energy into the classic Irish play The Playboy of the Western World, performing July 30th through August 9th. The play, inspired by John Millington Synge's observations of the citizens of the Aran Islands on the west coast of Ireland, is a masterful, poetic comedy. The Playboy of the Western World is built around a historical incident that unravels the complexities of the manners of Irish life in the face of difficult circumstances.

Today, The Playboy of Western World is one of the most celebrated works in theatrical history and the most famous play ever produced by the Irish National Theatre. However, when it debuted at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1907, The Playboy of the Western World sent shock waves through the audience. Riots ensued as protestors criticized the portrait he paints of the rural Irish-Catholic morality.

Sudoku v4i28

: By Staff; Entertainment; | Jul 24, 2008 |

Sudoku

Smart Talk: Nucular

: By Jim Evans; Entertainment; | Jul 17, 2008 |

Smart TalkSMART TALK
by Dr. Will S. Sert

NUCULAR: Please try to look up this word. Like alot, it doesn't exist. Please note the spelling: NUCLEAR. The last five letters spell CLEAR, and the pronunciation isn't far from "new-clear."

Many patients entering the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired say nucular. They don't realize that doing this makes questionable anything they have to say on the subject. After all, if they never bothered to learn to pronounce even their topic, how careless might they be with their facts about it?

For years, we've been trying to get a certain politician to seek treatment, but he has stated publicly that he hasn't made mistakes and regrets none of his decisions. One who is always right misunderestimates his need for treatment and is virtually incurable.

Too bad. After treatments, our patients think more about what they say and often stop saying realitor and athalete on their own.

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Reeling Gives Fresh Energy to Silent Films

: By Simrat Applebaum; Entertainment; | Jul 17, 2008 |

Hangar TheatreFrom Thursday July 17th through Saturday, July 19th and again from Thursday, July 24th through Saturday July 26th, families will travel back in time to the silent film era complete with slapstick comedy, daredevil stunts, and live music on Hangar Theatre stage.

The Hangar’s KIDDSTUFF season continues with Barry Kornhauser’s hilarious production of Reeling, showing all six days at 10 am and Noon. Families will laugh along as the Keystone cop-type hero faces a lion’s share of predicaments. Reeling is made possible at the Hangar Theatre with the support of Warren Real Estate and Purity Ice Cream. The KIDDSTUFF season is made possible by season sponsors Wegmans, Ithacamoms.com, and Ithaca Child Newspapers.

Oklahoma at Hangar Through July 26

: By Simrat Applebaum; Entertainment; | Jul 17, 2008 |

The Hangar Theatre continues its 2008 Mainstage Season with the beloved American musical Oklahoma!, from July 10 through 26. Oklahoma! was the first of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s many musical masterpieces (South Pacific, The King and I, The Sound of Music) and played a pivotal role in defining musical theatre. Since opening on Broadway in 1943 with a record-setting run of more than 2,000 performances, Oklahoma! has won a Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award, an honorary Grammy, and an Academy Award for the 1955 film adaptation.

Broadway choreographer/director Dan Knechtges will set the stage ablaze as he brings fresh energy to this time-honored classic. Interim Artistic Director Robert Moss promises to “bring imaginative new insights…that will make it seem as if you have never seen Oklahoma! before.” Moss said that the production will be not only joyous but also “meaty and thoughtful.”

Sudoku v4i27

: By Staff; Entertainment; | Jul 17, 2008 |

Sudoku

Comic: Lansing Cafe

: By Ben Veaner; Entertainment; | Jul 17, 2008 |

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