On Saturday Brandeis' television station, BTV, celebrated a new season of programming with the first annual "Yellow Snow" festival. The event, which featured live music, dancing and the premier of some all-new student films, took place in Carl J. Shapiro Theater and lasted until the wee hours of the night. Although only sparsely attended, those who took the time to come to "Yellow Snow" got to witness the notable talent coming out of BTV and have a great time listening to some live tunes as well.Aaron Quint '05, who took charge of the turntables, provided ambient music for the evening. Occasionally, he offered the audience an impressive scratching interlude with the assistance of fellow DJ and musician Avi Renfeld '05. Renfeld also opened the proceedings with an substantial, yet short three song set on acoustic guitar. Not only did he perform a well-wrought set of original songs on guitar, he also accompanied DJ Quint with a fluent rhyming routine that was liable to stun.

And Renfeld was also involved in more than one of the projects that were premiered on Saturday. Renfeld's multitalented offerings prove him no dilettante and portray just a small sampling of the type of brilliance on staff at BTV.

Renfeld's act was also preceded by the first film of the evening, a Behind-the-Music-esque cartoon detailing life in a shape-populated world. The humorous production was well-received by the audience, which just goes to show someone can make something enduring and creative by simply using Flash to animate their ideas. The next production shown was a short parody on skating videos that involved hilarious Jackass-like self-inflicted harm.

Next up on the bill was Red Shift. Consisting of Phil Selesnick '05 on keys and vocals, Tom Pernikoff'05 on guitar, Mike Park '05 on bass and Mark Record on drums, the group played several epic jam-band numbers. The audience was stunned by the performance, especially with guitarist Pernikoff's original solos. Red Shift's set included such numbers as "Four Soft Corners," "Reduced to a Picture" and "Kool and Knaave."

Red Shift was followed by an all new, yet dated, episode of "Resident Strife" hosted by Seth Bernstein '06. Well-known as a mock-magazine show, this installment of "Resident Strife" follows the crew as they barrage Aramark workers with questions about Sept. 27 -- the day of infamous fouled chicken -- and harass guests in the newly opened Shapiro center. Although the segment contained events from first semester, the "Resident Strife" people ensure that there are more exciting segments on their way for the BTV viewing audience's pleasure.

After a short-lived and raucous entry of the "Waltham Band," the Socials took the stage to rock the audience with their brand of Fugazi-like indie rock. Comprised of Nick Bergwell '06 on vocals and guitar, his brother John Bergwell on bass, guitarist Stephanie Smiszek and drummer Tim Bracken, the group was halted after only one and a half songs by sound problems. The Socials then made an unfortunate, unrehearsed early departure as Quint made a quick plug for BTV and started up the hip-hop once again.

The last film shown was an incredible short titled "One More Robot" (after the Flaming Lips music that adorns the soundtrack). Comprised of a combination of animated sequences and filmed interviews with intellectual musings about the possibilities of artificial intelligence, the film was an amazing close to the evening of original programming. The combination of live action and animation was beautiful and thoughtful, successfully messing a tone of erudite skepticism and playful possibility. "One More Robot" seemed like a student-made PBS children's program-meets -Saturday morning animated interlude and was a triumph in its ambition.

Although this year's fledgling presentation "Yellow Snow" was not a largely attended event, those who chose to miss the festivities missed a funky low-key affair. Throughout the evening various BTV members took the stage to solicit the audience to come join BTV or pledge support so that in the future they can produce more exciting fare and stage bigger and better events in the same vein as "Yellow Snow.