Category: Arts & Culture

Marcy’s Diner, located at the corner of Oak and Free Streets, is a quaint, out of the way oasis for any breakfast or lunch starved businessperson, sleep-deprived student, or passer-by.

September 11, 2002 at 8:46 am, the bell in Corthell Tower rang for one minute. Following the bell was a chorus of students, faculty and members of the community as they joined in a worldwide effort in singing Mozart’s Requiem at 8:47. The same song was sung in every state and throughout many countries.

Very loosely based on a 1997 Esquire article by Pulitzer Prize winner Mike McAlary, “City by the Sea” creates a nice leisurely pace in establishing its characters, conflicts and location. Aided by the skilled hands of director Michael Caton-Jones, the film escapes both the frazzle of the slicker cop pictures and the boredom of the more melancholic.

Name: Don Wholey

Age: 21

Major: Math

What do you want to do with your degree? Teach high school.

Where are you from? Arundel, Maine

Why are you here at USM? Because I can commute to it.

What’s your favorite thing about classes? Learning something new.

After Sept. 11 Americans were left with many questions unanswered. How could this happen? Who did this to us? This led to even more difficult questions of our reaction. Should we take revenge? Go to war? In finding the answers one must look from all different angles to find a just answer.

Students who watch USA Network’s new hit television series Monk have something in common with the show’s leading man: matriculation at USM.

Tony Shalhoub played Antonio Scarpacci, the cab driver on NBC’s television series Wings, from 1991-1997. Now, Shalhoub stars as Adrian Monk, the obsessive-compulsive private detective solving San Francisco’s toughest crimes by noticing the smallest overlooked details.

On my first official endeavor into the wonderful world of food criticism, my companion and I partook of an interesting dining experience.

Only a short walk from the Peaks Island launch, we casually walked into Happy Cooking. The inside is quite different from its “general store” outside appearance.

“The Good Girl” plays off that nagging feeling we all have about the direction our lives have taken, and the regrets of opportunities missed. It examines the unfulfilled life, but refuses to offer a solution. The film’s depiction of life, including the lack of easy answers and outcomes, that it is perhaps one of the most truthful pieces of filmmaking in recent years.

Monday, April 29

The Fourth Annual Ten-Minute Play Festival, a performance of 10 ten-minute student productions, through Student Performing Artists, 8 p.m., the Main Stage at Russell Hall, Gorham campus (subject to change to the Lab Theater, downstairs in Russell Hall) $1.

When you are walking around the Gorham campus these last weeks of the semester, be sure to take a break and sit out on the grass behind Corthell Hall and take in the gigantic spiral sculpture.

The 31-foot tall, 15-foot wide sculpture was created by senior art education major Barry Pitchfortch for his senior exhibition.

Each year the beginning of the summer movie season comes a little earlier as the studios try to get the jump on each other for the huge profits the hottest months of the year bring. If this trend continues, the summer movie season will begin around Groundhog’s Day in a few years.

Tuesday, April 23

Lecture, “From African to African American: The Atlantic Slave Trade and the Black Diaspora,” by Maureen Elgersman Lee, presented in conjunction with the Gloria S. Duclos Convocation “Diaspora: Meanings of Home” exhibit, “Exodus and Exile: The Spaces of Diaspora,” 6 p.

What are your plans after graduation? Get a job, go to grad school, pay some bills? Senior theater majors Matt Cary and Matt Curtis probably have a better answer than most grads. The two plan to drive cross-country to Los Angeles to start their careers in the film industry.

Thanks to the talent of its filmmakers, “Changing Lanes” avoids triteness and finds itself in a unique category: The gutsy studio movie. It delves deep into the human soul and finds some truth about us all. And like any true exploration of humanity, the film finds both dark and redeeming characteristics.

The Department of Theatre presents the final production of the 2001-02 season-multi-medi@tion- a student-created performance piece directed by faculty member Assunta Kent.

“multi-medi@tion” is an original work created by students in Assunta Kent’s theater class, THE 399-Devised Theater.

Monday, April 15

USM Jazz Combos in concert, 7:30 p.m., Corthell Concert Hall, Gorham, $5 public, $3 seniors/staff/students, 780-5555.

Tuesday, April 16

USM Chorale conducted by Robert Russell, 7:30 p.m., Corthell Concert Hall, Gorham, $5 public, $3 seniors/staff/students, 780-5555.

Why did junior English major Gregory Bates submit a story for the 2002 edition of Words & Images?

“It was a logical step,” he said. “A little affirmation of your creative work is always good.”

Words & Images is an annual collection of writings and art by USM students, faculty and regional artists.

There is a tiny pizza shop on India Street with unique style. Portland Pie Company’s goal is right on the back of their menu: To stand out from the thousands of other pizza shops in town, written by owners Steve Freese and Nat Getchell.

They offer specialty pizzas that in my opinion top the rest.

“High Crimes” is the best film of the year, if one had never seen a movie before. However, if this were one’s second movie, he or she would dismiss it as riddled with cliches.

The film has some ambition to rid itself of those cliches, but ultimately succumbs to the easier route of the thriller genre.

Monday, April 8

Lecture, “The Enigma of Diversity & Understanding Race,” Elaine Pinderhughes, author of “Understanding Race,” 7 to 8 p.m., Luther Bonney Auditorium, Portland, free and open to the public, 228-8024.

Tuesday, April 9

USM Jazz Combos in concert, 7:30 p.

“Panic Room” is a suspenseful thriller with all the potential of slipping into banality, but keeps its footing because of the talented filmmaking behind it.

In the film, Meg Altman, played wonderfully by Jodie Foster, is a recently divorced woman who moves into a Manhattan townhouse with her teenage daughter Sarah (Kristen Stewart).

Another opportunity for USM to be in the national spotlight has passed.

Student organizers of Spring Fling 2002 had hoped to close a deal with entertainment giant Clear Channel to bring MTV’s Campus Invasion to the Gorham campus on Monday, April 29.

The Free Press learned late Friday afternoon that all dates for MTV’s campus tour are booked and the popular program would not be added to the Spring Fling event schedule.

Braden Chapman may be the busiest man in Portland. His days are spent sewing 150 cubits of fabric for the stage on which he will perform a one-man version of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.” He’s also going to need props, costumes, and a set.

Don’t worry-he’s got that covered too.

An Old Port landmark, Three Dollar Deweys has been in Portland for 22 years. With 36 beers on tap and free popcorn, this stop is a haven for the after-work crowd. Located on the corner of Commercial and Union Streets, the pub is a convenient place to unwind at day’s end.