Archive: Arts & Entertainment

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Smart TalkSMART TALK
by Dr. Will S. Sert

YOU CAN'T HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT, TOO:  The Institute for the Linguistically Impaired held a staff meeting after a note on this phrase came from astute reader Jerry Davis, of La Crosse, Wisconsin.  We left Strunk Hall with a resolution to advise everyone to stop using it.

While the cake saying makes sense, it causes awkwardness, because it confuses the logical, so the hearer may have to think it out, during which time he or she doesn't hear you.

So it impedes clear communication.  Besides, we've released patients with Logical Systems Transplants (LSTs), and they already have great trouble understanding those who say I could care less. 

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v4i31

Beginning August 14th, the boundary-breaking rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch will explode onto the Hangar stage.  Get out your glitter and prepare to take a walk on the wild side with our outrageous leading lady Hedwig Schmidt. Hard rock and hard politics unite in this potent, OBIE-winning off-Broadway hit. 

Written by John Cameron Mitchell, Hedwig and the Angry Inch is an in-your-face, thought-provoking exploration of personal and cultural identity. A recent victim of a botched sex change operation, Hedwig escapes communist East Berlin to America where she ultimately pursues a life of rock & roll stardom. She creates the rock band “The Angry Inch”, plays nightly gigs in rundown venues and now makes a stop in Ithaca.

Smart TalkSMART TALK
by Dr. Manda Rynne

THE REASON WHY:  We have no British staff members at the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired.  Their version of English has become too different.  For all our slang and world dominance, American English has remained rather conservative, while the Mother Tongue has evolved a bewildering variety of dialects and slang vocabularies, and, most important here, has rather looser and less consistent rules of grammar and usage.

For instance, the English regarded try and with a lazy wave of the hand perhaps a century ago, and it has gradually supplanted the proper try to, even in this country.

Eats, Shoots, and Leaves provides another handful of instances.  In this best-selling grammar and usage guide of a few years ago, the British author not only lays down rules plainly wrong by our standards, but she also doesn't consistently follow some of her own rules.

This brings us to the reason why.  What is so unclear about, say, "And here's the reason"?  Think about what the reason means: the root cause; the why, so to speak.  The reason why is redundant, like future plans, and using redundancies is the mark of a careless, sloppy writer or speaker. 

By saying this, I indict some great writers, first British, such as Rudyard Kipling, and later Americans who affected British usage, such as Hemingway and Fitzgerald.  So be it.  They could make mistakes like the rest of us.  Shakespeare occasionally used double negatives.  Pointing to them as models is like using at Danica Patrick as a guide to normal hughway driving.

The same goes for the reason is because.  This is as redundant as toxic pollution, and certainly pollutes clear language.




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v4i30

When a little pig named Wilbur is destined for the butcher's block, some unlikely friends step in to save his life. In adventure after adventure, the animals, insects and children in E.B. White's classic story, Charlotte's Web, prove that a healthy dose of imagination and determination make anything possible. Charlotte's Web performs at the Hangar Theatre as part of the KIDDSTUFF Season from August 6th through the 9th at 10 am and 12-noon each day. Joseph Robinette's adaptation for the stage is a must-see production the entire family will fall in love with.

Wilbur realizes what great friends he has when his barnyard companions, especially one living high in the barn's pillars, spin a plan to save Wilbur's life and make him famous over night. Charlotte's Web is a remarkable story about true friendship, loyalty, and the cycle of life.

The CRS Barn Studio will present Moving Landscapes: An Evening of Dance and Music on Saturday, a captivating original choreography and live music in a magical setting., on August 16 at 8:00PM. The single performance takes place at the CRS Barn Studio, 2622 North Triphammer Road in Ithaca.

ITHACA, NY - The Sciencenter will open more than a dozen new hands-on exhibits in the museum's outdoor Emerson Science Park on Saturday, August 16.

On "Outdoor Galore" opening day, the Sciencenter will unveil the "Sciencenter Falls," an interactive waterfall with a stream bed. At 2 p.m., Sciencenter educator John Alvarez del Castillo will share techniques for growing miniature water gardens. Kids can take home a water plant to start their own garden.

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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".

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