Friday, April 26, 2013
It's springtime — get out and have some fun!
The weekend is upon us in Northern Virginia and it's time to start making plans for some fun. Patch has compiled a list of events that the whole family can enjoy. Have a great weekend! All About Bats Campfire Several species of bats flit in the late summer sky. Look for them Saturday from 7:15 to 8:15 p.m. at Hidden Oaks Nature Center at a campfire where you learn fun bat facts and lore plus enjoy an American Indian story of how bats got their wings. Toast marshmallows over the embers. The cost is $6 per person. Register online. For information, call 703-941-1065. 'The Drowsy Chaperone' at West Springfield High School West Springfield’s annual spring musical! A frothy, fun send-up of musical comedies and their inherent silliness. …
Saturday, April 20, 2013
PG-13 film starring Tom Cruise opens Friday in theaters.
In director Joseph Kosinski's Oblivion, you can see a love for and desire to expand on the great classics of science fiction on film. With the most impressive use of IMAX for a feature film to date, in that respect he has created something new and exciting, with what is essentially a 3-D movie where you don't need the glasses. Production esigner Darren Gilford (of TRON: Legacy) and cinematographer Claudio Miranda (Oscar winner for Life of Pi) make, to quote the movie, "an effective team." The visual landscapes of the film and the meticulousness taken in the action sequences are extraordinary. Here, the integration of CGI (computer-generated imagery) and live filming is another indication of the rapid advancements happening in moviemaking…
Friday, April 19, 2013
What are you doing this weekend?
The weekend is here and it's time to have a little springtime fun. We've compiled a list of Northern Virginia events for all ages. Enjoy! Feel free to add an event not included here in the Comments box below! (Events compiled from Fairfax County and Fairfax County Visitors Guide.)
Coulter's educational propaganda series will be on display in New York City.
West Potomac High School senior Wake Coulter was raised in an artistic household and learned to draw before he learned to walk. Coulter was recently awarded with the National Silver Award with Distinction for his Digital Art Portfolio for his Educational Propaganda Series. Wake worked on his series of eight posters over the course of his junior year. The series was inspired by his thoughts on modern school policies. "I wanted to try to show that modern school policies are usually good in theory, but they have a lot of negative impacts," Coulter said. His artist statement reads: "I hope that these pieces will bring light to the many mindless policies that complicate the modern school system, and make people realize how archaic those …
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Rated R for language, violence, nudity.
Director Danny Boyle, fresh off being dubbed a national hero for his triumph directing the Olympic ceremonies in London, took another big directorial risk with his new release Trance. It is a frenetic, haunting genre-bender that grabs hold of and keeps your attention from its first moments to its last with such force you'll feel like you're falling through Alice's rabbit hole after being hurled into it by two burly six-foot bunnies in kilts. This cinematic journey is one filled with confusion, illusions, violence and moral ambiguities, and not a head trip everyone will be willing to surrender to or appreciate. Much like the somewhat similarly convoluted Inception, it is a love it or hate it kind of flick. Whether it will be enjoyable for…
Friday, April 12, 2013
Emma Feddo, Elena Pipkin and Sydney Webster will perform in the American Ballet Theatre's production of Le Corsaire.
(Editor's Note: This article was contributed by Sally Tierney, owner of Just Dance.) Emma Feddo, Elena Pipkin and Sydney Webster will perform in the American Ballet Theatre’s (ABT) Le Corsaire at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., April 11 - 14. Le Corsaire is an "exotic fable of captive maidens, rich sultans, suspenseful abductions, and dramatic rescues," culminating in a shipwreck that’s "one of the most breathtaking spectacles in all of the ballet,” according to the Kennedy Center website's description. The girls auditioned with approximately 50 other children and were cast as supernumeraries, or "supers," which are background roles similar to extras on a movie set. The girls, who have been rehearsing since January, will dance in …
Sunday, April 7, 2013
The 3D enhancements make it worth seeing again on the big screen.
Once again we are at an old vs. new and purist vs. innovator crossroads. Why in the world would anyone go out to see Jurassic Park in the theatre for $12+ when they can snuggle at home and watch it on their own 40-inch HDTV? What could make this release worth the time of movie fans out there when my own Siren spouse couldn't be cajoled into seeing it with me at the multiplex? It all comes down to the experience. We haven't seen Jurassic Park in the movie theaters since its release in 1993. They could have rereleased it without the new bells and whistles and I'd have been halfway there. With all the mediocre new 3D releases depending on the new technology to fill the gap of good story, I really wanted to see one of the favorites of my…
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Vito in Canto will perform works by contemporary composers.
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Saturday, April 6
(Editor's Note: This news item was submitted by Adriana Meeks, West Potomac High School Media Liaision.) West Potomac High School's Choral Department is hosting a Russian women's choir during their visit to the United States. The choir, Vito in Canto, will perform a free concert to the public on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in West Potomac's Springbank Auditorium, 6500 Quander Rd., Alexandria. The 27 members choir, ages 20-23, along with their conductor Yuly Kopkin, assistant conductor Olga Malakhova, and accompanist Stanislav Sitnikov are in the United States as part of a cultural exchange between Radford University and the Ural State University of Economics,Yekaterinburg Russia. Choral exchanges between the two universities started in 1999. …
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Mount Vernon Unitarian Church will host three events.
Three free activities this weekend — a tour, a film, and a lecture — sponsored by the Mount Vernon Unitarian Church (MVUC) in Alexandria will commemorate Holocaust remembrance week, April 7 to 14. The theme for the 2013 observance is “Never Again: Heeding the Warning.” A special Saturday morning tour of the Holocaust Museum and a Monday evening lecture at the church will be given by Dr. Daniel L. Cohen, an MVUC member, a docent for executive tours at the Museum, a medical doctor, and senior partner with Martin, Blanck & Associates a health care consulting firm in Alexandria. Dr. Cohen has given presentations on Nazi eugenics programs at universities on both sides of the Atlantic and to the Academy of Medicine of Washington, DC. He will …
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Elvis, Fred Astaire, Judy Garland and Alfred Hitchcock fill this Easter collection.
Last month, I got a chance to meet Ben Mankeiwitcz, the Turner Classic Movies host and curator, who is actually from the DC area, and was here promoting this year's TCM Classic Film Festival, running from April 25-28 in Hollywood. If you haven't heard, they have a festival, and Cinema Siren can attest to the fact that they feature both great movies and great guest stars. This year, they'll include Polly Bergen, Ann Blyth, Mel Brooks, Jane Fonda, Mitzi Gaynor, Tippi Hedren, Max Von Sydow, Eva Marie Saint and Mickey Rooney, just to name some of my favorites. When I talked to Mankeiwitcz, he said those who attend are some of the most knowledgeable movie fans in the world, but surprisingly diverse in age. He said one fan who expertly …
Laura Douglas
9:37 am on Friday, April 26, 2013
The Cranford youth are hosting a car wash at the Lorton Fire Station on Armisted Rd. raising money for the 30 hour famine. Stop by and find out what that means...and get your car washed at the same time! more ›