RPInsider

We’ve been looking forward to these two events since the calendar was published in January! Looks like EMPAC’s potential is slowly being unleashed. Both events use space differently, in real life, and with animation.

+ EXHBITION
Dancing on the Ceiling: Art + Zero Gravity
Thursday, March 18 – Saturday, April 10, noon to 6 PM
Free

Dancing on the Ceiling: Art & Zero Gravity is a major group exhibition in which contemporary artists explore the condition of weightlessness on earth by deploying techniques such as parabolic flight, rigging, and digital effects. The exhibition presents the work of multiple national and international artists, including three newly commissioned pieces for the exhibition.  Distributed throughout the public spaces at EMPAC the exhibition is itself un-tethered from the confines of the traditional gallery exhibition paradigm.

Exhibition opening: March 18, 6 – 10 PM
6 PM: Reception with commissioned artists – visitors to the opening reception receive a free exhibition catalog! (while supplies last)
7 PM:  Talk by special effects legend Douglas Trumbull (2001: A Space Odyssey,  Close Encounters, Star Trek, Blade Runner), followed by a screening of Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece of science fiction cinema, 2001: A Space Odyssey on EMPAC’s massive 56′ concert hall screen.

http://www.empac.rpi.edu/events/2010/spring/zerogravity/

+ PERFORMANCE
The OpenEnded Group: Upending
Thursday, March 25, 2010, 7 PM
Friday, March 26, 2010, 7 PM
Saturday, March 27, 2010, 2 PM
with music by Morton Feldman, recorded at EMPAC by the FLUX Quartet
Followed by the making of Upending with The OpenEnded Group
$5 for Students

Upending is revelatory work of 3D animation: an actor-less drama of disorientation and reorientation that compels viewers to rethink their relationship with the material world. The play of images is accompanied by a gutsy, EMPAC-produced spatial recording of Morton Feldman’s first String Quartet by the FLUX Quartet.  Following a short break, each evening will conclude with a talk and q&a that traces this EMPAC-commissioned work over two years, from inception to completion.

http://www.empac.rpi.edu/events/2010/spring/oeg/index.html

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This is a new perspective on the world...

News out of the Office of Undergraduate Education:
While having all students study abroad is still apparently a goal of the Institute, REACH an “initiative that ultimately will require all of its students to have an international experience as a requirement for graduation,” it seems that they have recently closed off some opportunities. Now students that go abroad on an unaffiliated program will NOT be able to transfer their earned credits back to RPI, according to the Study Abroad FAQ’s. Why would the school do this? Your guess is as good as mine. ($$$?) It’s ironic, as they just recently changed the name of REACH from “Rensselaer Engineering Across Cultural Horizons” to “Rensselaer Education Across Cultural Horizons.” I guess RPI just wants it to be their horizons.

News out of an awesome blog (All Over Albany):
Little Italy is hosting a stickball tournament on September 26th. For more details, click here. (We’ve heard these tournaments are pretty fun!)

News out of the Times Union:
No, Angelina Jolie isn’t back to baby snatching in the area, but Will Ferrell’s new movie will be in town soon. They’re casting for extras this Saturday at the Crowne Plaza. More info here.

News out of the trees:
Alby is definitely still alive.

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If only it was the case every time...

There isn’t too much going on this weekend! A few good events, but it might be a good opportunity to spend time outside or get to know your roommate better. Maybe catch up on some reading in the sun or toss the frisbee around with friends.

Friday 9/4 and all weekend

Get ready for the new book by catching up on the film version of the first book. (UPAC’s showing Angels and Demons at 7, 9:30, and midnight for $2.50 in DCC 308.)

Enjoy the Theater! The Delta Xi cast of Alpha Psi Omega, the National Theater Honor Society at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, presents Tom Stoppard’s comedy about the relationship between past and present and between order and disorder and the certainty of knowledge. Friday and Saturday at 8pm.

More the Fair Type? The Columbia County Fair is ongoing through Monday. Check out the schedule here.

Cirque du Soleil is at the Times Union Center through Sunday with their touring show “Alegria“.

Head up to Saratoga for the many events they have at the Saratoga Race Course. Friday is College Day, which means free admission, prizes, and $1000 scholarships! (Click here, and scroll all the way to the bottom.)

Rest of the weekend after the jump.
Read more…

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This looks promising...

All Over Albany pointed out that the notorious baby snatcher Angelina Jolie might be in the Capital District in the coming weeks, filming scenes from the upcoming spy movie Salt. Filming will center on the ramps around the Empire State Plaza in downtown Albany, presumably being used for a car chase. Due to there being tons of production equipment, famous people, and those gigantic trailer parks for said famous people, they are closing down various roads during these times for most days between April 23rd- May 4th. Field trip anyone?

The Times Union has an article about it here.

Specific dates and closures below.
Read more…

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So last year, we were some of the first people to see Forgetting Sarah Marshall when UberDuzi.com and UPAC Cinema brought us a free advance screening of it. Body of Lies followed as our next advance screening.

This Thursday 3/19 at 8pm in DCC 308, UberDuzi.com and UPAC Cinema again bring us another free advance screening. (I hope they keep it up!) The movie is called Adventureland. “A comedy set in the summer of 1987 and centered around a recent college grad who takes a nowhere job at his local amusement park, only to find it’s the perfect course to get him prepared for the real world” (IMDB).

By the director of Superbad, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart (that girl who likes vampires), and Ryan Reynold, this looks like a movie you don’t want to miss. You can print your screening pass here. But be aware, it does not guarantee admission. Check it out, otherwise you’ll have to wait till April 3rd.

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