When you choose a movie, there are a variety of factors that lead to a final decision. Is it a lead actor? If so, how do you narrow it down?

The sound of women’s voices working in concert is like nothing else in music – ghostly and transcendent in the hands of the right composer.

Satan, I think it is fair to say, has something of a bad rap. He can steal your soul through a bum contract, condemn you to an eternity of hellfire for a set of shakily defined indiscretions, and, worst of all, is mostly played by aging character-actors on TV. So worshipping our Southern Lord, understandably, is a little looked down upon.

In its ninth consecutive year, Eastman School of Music's Women in Music Festival celebrated its first visit to Geneseo on Wednesday March 27 with a night of music by female composers and performers.

The Geneseo Wind and Jazz Ensembles came together for a concert in Wadsworth Auditorium on March 8, and while the differences in style could have been uneven, thematically they each played bouncy tunes you could hum along to.

Political art, at its very least, should seek to put across its message without scrambling it. This doesn't mean it can't be complex, oblique or obfuscated; however, it fails when it undermines its own message.

Listening to a good lyricist reminds you of just how many bad, platitude-littered albums there are out there, the same way that a good songwriter can make you wonder why everyone else is so damn lazy. It's lucky for anyone checking out Waxahatchee's Cerulean Salt, then, because mastermind and sole true member Katie Crutchfield can be both of these things in droves.

“What Was Scattered Gathers, What Was Gathered Blows Apart,” the title of a new exhibition running in the Kinetic Gallery until April 1, is evocative, despite its ambiguity.

The billing of Sunday Feb. 24’s symphony orchestra concert, “A Young Person’s Concert,” took on a double meaning with pieces chosen to appeal to both college students and younger.

There is a terrifying word in pop culture that sends fingers to delete buttons and hands to typing, “Who is this again?” That word is “old.”

If you're not watching NBC's “Parks & Recreation,” well, why not? That's a serious question; you've been missing the best character-based comedy since “King of the Hill.”

Are you a miserable person? Do you enjoy being miserable? Do you like music aimed at horrible, miserable people like yourself? Well then hey, we should probably hang out. But barring that, you should give Pedestrian Verse, the newest album from Scottish miserabilists Frightened Rabbit, a listen.

Geneseo’s dance studies minor, offered through the department of theatre and dance, is small, but has an incredibly dedicated core of students and faculty. This weekend in the Alice S. Austin Theatre, Geneseo Dance Ensemble is putting on its first of two annual performances, titled “Rising to New Heights.”

The tired thought about two-piece bands is that “less is more,” but the truth is, for most stripped-down rock bands, the goal is do as much or more than groups with many members at its disposal.

Judging from their high-energy performance, it’s clear that the members of Geneseo Musical Theatre Club love to perform, whether that means spitting rapid-fire jokes during a skit or dancing pantsless across the stage.

So much of music is composed of doing more with less, of making a few notes into a symphony, or a small group into an orchestra.

The last time I saw Slingshot Dakota was in a crowded Brooklyn, N.Y. basement, so packed full of people there was condensation on the walls. The band, obscured by a mass of people, mixed its upbeat power pop with heartfelt, inspirational speeches.

How far can you stretch a premise? And how far will the audience go with you? Geneseo improvisational comedy troupe No Laugh Track Required tested these questions during its free performance in Sturges Auditorium on Saturday Oct. 27.

Central Presbyterian Church on Center Street in Geneseo is a beautiful building, its inside filling with sound when need be, or standing silent otherwise.