Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896
November 21, 2024

Arts & Entertainment






This week’s picks include the highly-anticipated follow-up to the first Dune movie, a novel about generational trauma, Wandering Stars, by Tommy Orange and the comedic play, Chicken & Biscuits, by the Dunbar Baldwin Hughes Theater Company.

To watch and watch for: Week of Feb. 26

As the midterm season finally comes upon us (and probably won’t fade out until late April), we at the Arts & Entertainment section think that now is the best time to ignore all your responsibilities and spend a night at the theater or curled up with a good book!




ARUSA MALIK / DESIGN AND LAYOUT EDITOR
This week’s picks include Avatar: The Last Airbender (live-action TV series),  A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal, Loss of Life by MGMT and “In The Stacks,” a live performance by Opera Baltimore at George Peabody Library.

To watch and watch for: Week of Feb. 18

This week’s picks include Avatar: The Last Airbender (live-action TV series),  A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal, Loss of Life by MGMT and “In The Stacks,” a live performance by Opera Baltimore at George Peabody Library.


PATRICK AKA HERJOLF / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
In With a Little Luck, a high schooler finds a 20-sided die which magically grants him extra luck, letting him achieve all the things he thought he wanted.

The novel With a Little Luck is a lighthearted take on love and luck

Can you ever be too lucky? Is there such a thing as having too much luck? Before reading the novel With a Little Luck by Marissa Meyer, I probably would have answered “no.” Why wouldn’t you want to wake up on the right side of the bed every morning? Why wouldn’t you want to avoid stepping in a mound of dog poop on the sidewalk or splattering tomato sauce on a white shirt? Why wouldn’t you want to always be lucky?


PETER HUTCHINS / CC BY 2.0 
Following rapper-producer Ye’s year-long public fallout due to his spewing of antisemitic rhetoric, music critics are attacking his recent collaboration album VULTURES 1 with singer-producer Ty Dolla $ign while forgetting the importance of unbiased musical analysis.

Ye and Ty Dolla $ign's VULTURES 1 sparks a critical diatribe

Critics are talking about Kanye West (Ye) irresponsibly. After multiple listening parties, the announcement of two extra volumes, release dates that came and went, Ye and Ty Dolla $ign finally released their collaboration album VULTURES 1 on Feb. 9. The critical response, at least so far, has been singularly negative.



 ARUSA MALIK / DESIGN AND LAYOUT EDITOR 
This week's picks include the newest season of popular reality dating show Love is Blind, as well as the release of the newly translated Korean novel, Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop.

To watch and watch for: Week of Feb. 11

Love is in the air this week as we roll into Valentine’s Day. Whether you’re spending the evening with your partner, or just enjoying a Galentine’s Day with your best friends, be sure to check out this week’s recommendations for date night ideas.



HELENA GIFFORD / ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
In the first performance of Witness Theater’s 2024 I-Show, a pair of space pirates try to board a spaceship, only to realize that they never really liked being pirates in the first place.

Pirates, hijinks and murder abound in Witness Theater’s I-Show Performance

There’s one thing that makes everything cooler. Space. Why have a story about pirates when you could have a story about space pirates? Why watch a play about a normal old divorce attorney when you could watch a play about an intergalactic divorce attorney? And sure, stories about people going insane are cool and interesting, but what about people going insane on a spaceship?



COURTESY OF BEN JOHNSON
Peabody Opera Theatre adapts the classic 19th-century opera Hansel & Gretel with jazz instrumentation and Baltimore set pieces.

Peabody Opera Theatre’s adaptation of Hansel and Gretel takes on a Baltimore aesthetic

The Peabody Opera Theatre and Peabody Symphony Orchestra’s adaptation of Engelbert Humperdincku’s Hansel and Gretel, which was performed last Friday, Feb. 2, sets the original fairy tale in Baltimore. At times the setting feels half-baked and unfitting for the 19th-century romantic themes, but there are small moments of resonance between the fairy tale’s messaging and the current problems facing Baltimore. 



ARUSA MALIK / DESIGN AND LAYOUT EDITOR
This week's picks include the highly anticipated collaboration album between Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign Vultures as well as two new episodes of th Genius series, covering the lives of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X.

To watch and watch for: Week of Feb. 4

Here’s the Arts & Entertainment’s selections for this week’s “To watch and watch for.” If you feel anxious about classes, take time to unwind and maybe watch, read or listen to our suggestions!