The News-Letter's contributors and staff offer some of their thoughts on the 2018 Oscars.
This past week, Yiyun Li, a MacArthur fellow and recipient of numerous awards for both her fiction and nonfiction pieces, gave the first reading of the spring installment of the President’s Reading Series.
I really don’t think that you can capture the feeling of standing under an array of 417 light bulbs, perfectly placed and descending over your head. I think that there’s something intrinsically magical and romantic about the piece, inherent in the fact that it’s depicting moon dust and the oxymoronic nature of using light bulbs to depict the moon.
We are in a new phase of R&B, where experimentalism and innovation are in vogue. A great example of this is Lando Chill’s collaboration with producer Lasso, māyā. maia. mayu — one of the smoothest records I’ve heard this year.
Overall, I’d say the food’s nothing to rave about, but the events and the pinball make this place worth checking out if you’re in the area. If I’m in Hampden and want to get my stomach full while also keeping my wallet full, I’d definitely drop by again.
While the characters are not entirely likeable as people, the strong skills of the three actors, all with extensive acting experience, create an undeniable atmosphere of empathy. We may not want these characters as our friends, but we do care about their lives and what will become of them.
Annihilation is one of the most beautifully terrifying science fiction films I’ve seen in the past eight years. It’s wonderfully acted and benefits from the deft hand of someone that has directed more than one film.
I prided myself for a long time on never watching The Bachelor. For some reason, not watching that show made me feel like a better person, like I didn’t need to sink down to the level of trashy TV and getting involved in the lives of people I didn’t know.
It is deeply compelling to observe Aldridge as he grapples with a role previously reserved for white men and the implications that come with it: critics who utilize explicit racial terminology to discuss his performance, fatal fissures in his longtime friendship with the flawed LaPorte, and his fellow cast members who awkwardly and haltingly attempt to understand Aldridge’s experiences.
I’m just going to get this out of the way right now: Black Panther is a really good movie — incredibly good. You should definitely go see it. It is a thought-provoking essay on racial issues with a wonderful cast. It is a philosophical tale about the ways that we interact with our culture and our past and whether or not those traditions should be preserved moving into the future.
The muted bass that introduces “My Boy” is slow, delicate and groovy. Within two minutes, there is a flood of biting guitars and Will Toledo, the lead singer, is wailing into the microphone. This is the prototype for the usual Car Seat Headrest song.
Witness Theater presented their Intersession showcase, Welcome to Our House — produced by junior Sarah Linton and stage managed by freshman Dominique Dickey — in the Mattin Center’s Swirnow Theater this weekend. The show featured a diverse collection of four student-directed and written one-act plays.
If you’re a fan of superhero movies, odds are you’ve noticed that the villains are often not particularly interesting or challenging to the hero’s way of thought. They are kinda just there to kick start the plot and be a punching bag.
The Shape of Water is the most original movie I have seen this year, possibly ever. The film is a mélange of romance, drama, comedy and horror, perfectly blending all its elements into something truly mystical.
The four-city fashion week marathon just ended its first leg in New York City, where designers debuted their upcoming collections at this year’s New York Fashion Week (NYFW), which ran from Feb. 8-16.
The rhythmic beats of Alsarah & the Nubatones echoed through the basement of St. Matthews Church on Thursday, Feb. 15. The East African retro-pop group, currently based in Brooklyn, performed for a small yet engaged crowd as part of their tour of Baltimore sponsored by the Creative Alliance.
I was very late to the Hamilton party. I’m not going to lie to you, as a Brit, I wasn’t that interested in a musical about America, America’s Founding Fathers and animosity for Britain. That doesn’t by any means suggest that I wasn’t beyond excited to see the show in London just a week after it opened.
My only New Year’s Resolution was to watch more documentaries. As much as I love movies — getting lost for two hours and escaping from the overwhelming feeling of panic that comes from the news — watching a documentary is something different.
For those who go to the movies only to be swept up by fantastical images and dramatic character arcs, Lover for a Day may not be the movie for you. It’s small and contained, at times presenting more like a play.
“It’s a Small World” has never been creepier. A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About The Death of Walt Disney at the Single Carrot Theatre is playing from Feb. 2 to Feb. 25, and it’s everything your childhood nightmares are made of — maybe your current nightmares too.
