Can chess make good TV? The surprising answer, as Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit proves, is unequivocally yes. Perhaps only when it’s a drama as well-executed as this one, though.
Blood of Zeus is Netflix’s newest original anime series. Released in late October, the series combines anime-style animation with themes and characters from Greek mythology.
On the night of Oct. 30, the Hopkins Stand-Up Comedy Club (fondly known as SUCC) held its third annual Halloween comedy show, entitled, “Stand-Up Comedy Halloween Show III (This Time It's Personal).” Needless to say, this show took place virtually for the first time ever via YouTube livestream with the performers and a few audience members present on a Zoom call. Some of the members of the club continued their tradition of dressing up for the show, with costumes including a baby Yoda, a blue wig and a colorful unicorn hood.
Most of us, myself included, have surrendered to the monotony of an exclusive fall/winter pajama collection. It could very much be that the connective energy of the current digital space allows us to remain creatively engaged from home.
Of all the cooking shows in the world, the one I was the most excited to see was The Great British Baking Show, which released its newest season last month on Netflix (with new episodes out every week). It’s one of my favorites; there’s something about its blend of warmth, camaraderie and relative lack of competitiveness (and tons of sugar) that sets it apart from the fiery spirit and tense drama of other cooking shows. Considering that it’s become an international phenomenon, currently in its 11th season, there appear to be a lot of people who share my fascination.
If there are any positives to the rollercoaster called 2020, it’s the way we reconsider humanity. From the celebrations held for graduating seniors to restaurants offering free meals for health-care workers, Americans have generally stepped up to support each other during the COVID-19 pandemic.
At first glance, Netflix’s Rebecca looks promising. It has extravagant settings, enticing suspense and a sweeping romance. Surely, the colorful French Riviera and rugged English countryside seem like welcome escapes from quarantine life. The movie has a stylish, modern look, not to mention star power. Starring as the titular characters Mrs. de Winter and Maxim de Winter are Lily James and Armie Hammer, and brought in to direct is Ben Wheatley (High-Rise, Kill List).
This October, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) decided to sell Andy Warhol’s The Last Supper, Brice Marden’s 3 and Clyfford Still’s 1957-G. The selling process, known as deaccessioning, is part of a growing trend among art museums to diversify their collections.
Performing arts groups are a staple of student life at Hopkins. It’s hard to imagine what life on campus would be like without weekend plans to attend The Rocky Horror Picture Show, laughter-filled nights in Arellano Theater with the Stand Up Comedy Club or plays produced by the Witness Theater and Barnstormers.
Emily in Paris is Netflix’s latest top 10 easy watch. At just 10 episodes, each under half an hour long, you would be far from alone if you watched the whole series in under a day. The show focuses on Emily Cooper (Lily Collins) who is sent by her marketing firm in Chicago to be the “American perspective” at the company’s office in Paris after her boss discovers that she’s pregnant and can’t go herself.
Hoptoberfest — what all of us freshmen have heard was a relaxing, fun-filled way to welcome autumn, get free T-shirts and meet new people — looked a little different this year. Instead of the usual in-person experience, we had a week of virtual events to look forward to, culminating in the annual Hoptoberfest concert on Friday.
Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy is undeniably a timeless classic. Its grand adventure through the nine gates of hell sparks readers with life and interest. It seems like an out-of-place work for a description of our chaotic times, but I believe it is a lot more relatable to us than we might think in the most unlikely of ways. So what can readers take from this classic besides grand allusions to the past?
Last week, HBO released the movie Charm City Kings, directed by Angel Manuel Soto, on their streaming service HBO Max. Based on the 2013 documentary 12 O’Clock Boys, the film deals with the experiences of young teenager Mouse (played by Jahi Di’Allo Winston) growing up around the dirt bike riding scene in Baltimore. Playing along the lines of a classic coming-of-age story, it follows how he deals with the loneliness, romance and familial clashes but with the nuance that comes with being an impoverished Black kid negotiating adulthood in one of the most segregated cities in America.
Amazon Prime Video’s The Boys doesn’t translate well to written text. The show, based on the graphic novel, relies heavily on spectacle. There are consciously obscene amounts of gore and nudity as a direct satire of the romanticized way that many modern superhero movies and shows portray violence, and the show doesn’t hesitate to use sex and blood to grab your attention.
Last weekend, Creative Alliance held its fourth Made in Baltimore Short Film Festival, a showcase of 11 outstanding movies that were made by, for or about Baltimoreans and the city they live in. The event, held online and hosted by drag queen Betty O’Hellno, was a great way of reminding us that there is more to watch than just Netflix, even if we’re stuck at home.
The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) has finally reopened. After long months of inactivity and being shut down due to COVID-19, a phased opening began on Sept. 16, which allowed for nearly every exhibit to be fully reopened by the end of that month. That’s right, the BMA is officially back.
Boys State, a week-long summer camp hosted in every American state by the American Legion, is a mock government with upwards of 1,000 17-year-old high school boys. At first glance Boys State looks like a mob of conservative white boys, which might make you think that the camp is nothing more than a failed attempt to organize adolescent chaos. But I can assure you — as a former participant myself — that it is something much more.
It’s 1884. Enola Holmes lives happily with her eccentric mother, far from society and its norms for women, but on the morning of her 16th birthday, she discovers that her mother is gone. The disappearance of her mother reunites Enola with her older brothers, Sherlock (yes, the detective) and Mycroft, who have both been long absent from her life. They barely recognize her.
The teaser trailer for Nomadland opens with its protagonist, Fern (Frances McDormand), walking languidly through a trailer park. The camera follows her, and we see diverse assortments of people gathered together in front of varying vehicular living set-ups. These are the nomads of our modern world. Fern continues on her path as it fades to black, and though we’re left wondering where she’s going, her slow stride could not be mistaken for aimlessness. She is going somewhere that only she knows, and effectively, the mood of the film has been set.
The Billie Holiday Project for Liberation Arts (BHPLA) and Hopkins at Home hosted “Baltimore's Billie Holiday: A Musical Tribute to Lady Day” on Saturday, Sept. 19. The online concert honored the Baltimore native legendary jazz vocalist Billie Holiday. Though BHPLA hosted its inaugural tribute concert in West Baltimore’s Lafayette Square last year, this year’s concert was adapted to an online format as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
