Welcome Week Concert

The Welcome Week Concert rocked the South Oval and kicked off Fall Quarter all in one evening. The show offered a wide variety of music with acts such as Billy Currington, Circa Survive, and We the Living. Crowds grew larger as the night grew darker with students littering the lawn by sundown. Headlining the show, The Roots entered the stage late in the evening and jammed until they were forced off stage.

Warhol lines Wexner walls

Art from the 'Andy Warhol: Other Voices, Other Rooms' exhibit at the Wexner Center showcase the famous artist's life work. The images paint a biography of Warhol's life spanning decades and runs through February. Photo by Kelly Wright.KELLY WRIGHT/THE LANTERNArt from the ‘Andy Warhol: Other Voices, Other Rooms’ exhibit at the Wexner Center showcase the famous artist’s life work. The images paint a biography of Warhol’s life spanning decades and runs through February.
“If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface of my paintings and films and me, and there I am. There’s nothing behind it.”

This Warhol quote and many others lined the walls of the Wexner Center for the Arts all quarter. Students could get in for free to view Warhol’s work from all points in his life. The first 42 images of the exhibit served as a biography briefly describing Warhol’s life. They revolved around his passion: art. The exhibit explains how Warhol’s artistic ability came from his mother, who lived with him for about 20 years before she died.

The exhibit captured not only Warhol’s work as an artist, but also as a well-known producer, photographer, filmmaker, author and pop icon. Through the years, he managed to create photographs, Polaroid’s, audiotapes, films, drawings, magazines, a time capsule and many other masterpieces.

Zach Braff talks career

Actor Zach Braff sat down with a capacity-filled crowd of students at Mershon Auditorium to discuss his personal career as an actor, writer and director in the TV show “Scrubs” and the 2004 movie “Garden State.” Braff began the event speaking about the importance of perseverance before moving on to a question-and-answer session.

While soaking in the serious message, the crowd roared with laughter every time Braff would get sidetracked and divulged the audience in a comical story regarding their favorite TV show. “‘Scrubs’ is like cranking the dorky, nerdy, idiot side of myself,” Braff said. “‘Gardent State’ was the insecure, quiet part of myself.”

OSU’s secret treasures

Much like a secret treasure trove, Ohio State has some of the most extraordinary and inimitable items stowed away in its closets and attics. Many of these items from OSU’s collection are now on display at the “Objects of Wonder from The Ohio State University” exhibit at the Columbus Museum of Art.

The display is divided into six themes: progress and protest; discover and explore; reveal and document; analyze and work; invent and inspire; and excel and define. Some of the more notable items on show are unpublished photographs of Marilyn Monroe taken by OSU graduate Earl Wilson, a 150 million-year-old fossilized horseshoe crab, Woody Hayes’ whistle and projector, an iron meteorite estimated to be 4.5 billion years old, an original Charles Schulz “Peanuts” comic strip, and an authentic “Star Trek” manuscript.

Although they are on exhibit at CMA, all of these items are available for students to see on campus, by appointment. “Objects of Wonder” will be on display through Jan 11.

Musicians stump for Obama

Musicians and icons set out in droves this fall to support their presidential candidate. There was no shortage of big names attending Ohio State’s campus this quarter to wave the colors of President-elect Barack Obama. Students had the opportunity to see Cornell West, Cynthia Nixon, John Legend and the boss himself, Bruce Springsteen. All of the shows were free to the public.

But it wasn’t just the big-name musicians out campaigning for the Democratic candidate; many local bands came together to form the “First Annual Obama Music Showcase.” The lineup included Columbus hip-hop group The 3rd, Breez the Producer, and Ohio State’s jazz group, Dan White 5ive. The duo that formed the event, Nehemiah Marcus and Cedric Turner, plan on having similar events throughout the year.

See more: Video: Bruce Springsteen Highlights

Metallica comes to town

Metallica rocked the Schottenstein Center this November as the band played in Columbus for the first time in four years. The heavy metal group opened their show with “Ecstasy of Gold” before playing popular classics and songs from their new album, “Death Magnetic.” The set list included fan-favorites like “Enter Sandman,” “Sad but True,” “One,” “Master of Puppets” and “Nothing Else Matters.”

The band fed off the crowd’s energy all night and delivered a stunning performance with lasers, pyrotechnics and theatrics. Hetfield’s voice sounded as good as ever and lead guitarist Kirk Hammett delivered face-melting solos in almost every song. Drummer Lars Ulrich and bassist Rob Trujillo both gave virtuoso performances.

Dave Dalessandro, an electrical engineering major, said he was blown away by the show. “I [have] never seen anything like it,” Dalessandro said. “I could [not] have asked for anything more.”

Nation’s best dance crews ‘Step it Up and Dance’

Dance crews from around the country came to Ohio State for 'Step it Up and Dance.' The show included the OSU Dance Team, Live in Color and Boogie Bots. Photo by Abigail Miner.ABIGAIL MINER/THE LANTERNDance crews from around the country came to Ohio State for ‘Step it Up and Dance.’ The show included the OSU Dance Team, Live in Color and Boogie Bots.
Students got the chance to witness some of the best dance teams at Ohio State and in America at “Step it Up and Dance.” The teams from OSU were joined on stage by Live in Color and Boogie Bots, two dance groups who competed on MTV’s series, “America’s Best Dance Crew.” The five men and three women of Live in Color competed in season one, and the five men of Boogie Bots competed in season two of the MTV series.

The 23 women and one man of the OSU Dance Team went on stage sporting OSU gear and performed a hip-hop routine wearing football jerseys. The OSU Dance Team placed third overall and won the Most Innovative Choreography Award at the 2008 National Dance Alliance College Dance Team National Championships. They also won a full-paid bid to the 2009 College Dance Team National Championships.

See more: Step it Up and Dance Slideshow

Film season filled with surprises, disappointments

Just like every fall, movie studios loaded up on their heavy hitters to vie for the Academy Awards. Unfortunately, this year many of the big names failed to live up to hype. The season didn’t start well when “Body of Lies,” Ridley Scott’s thriller starring Russel Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio, got wrapped up in itself. Then Spike Lee’s World War II effort “Miracle at St. Anna” fell flat and Oliver Stone’s “W.” co
uldn’t capitalize on the controversy surrounding the current president.

Nonetheless, many comedy and lower-budget films kept audiences entertained while the leaves changed, and it was all done in pairs. “Nick and Norah” and “Zach and Miri” both produced hits by making a playlist and a porno, respectively. Shia Leboef’s “Eagle Eye” also offered an edge-of-your-seat thriller and Angelina Jolie packed an emotional wallop in “Changeling.” Fortunately for the Academy, there’s hope on the horizon with Will Smith’s “Seven Pounds” and Tom Cruise’s “Valkyrie.”