Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896

March 31, 2025

RILEY STRAIT

COURTESY OF ARIANA MYGATT
Strait reflects on Dream State, a novel by Hopkins Professor Eric Puchner.

Dream State is a novel that leaves you with one question

By RILEY STRAIT | March 12, 2025

COURTESY OF RILEY STRAIT
Strait describes the decision to spend a Friday night at an entertainment park.

Pretend, pretend against the dying of the light!

By RILEY STRAIT | March 1, 2025

GAGE SKIDMORE / CC BY-SA 2.0
Drew Hancock’s Companion has been criticized for its trailer, which ostensibly spoils its main premise.

Companion tells us we're all living in a horror movie, even if it doesn't scare us

By RILEY STRAIT | February 25, 2025

STEVEN SIMPSON / PHOTO EDITOR
Miss Prism (Liesel Arauz Vallecillo; left) reunites with Jack (Jackson Robien; center) as his friend Algernon (Ryan Garza; right) struggles with the ridiculous turn of events.

The Barnstormers perform The Importance of Being Earnest

By RILEY STRAIT | February 19, 2025

COURTESY OF RILEY STRAIT
Strait tells the story of his first part-time job at a pretzel shop.

Do I have to get a "real job"?

By RILEY STRAIT | January 29, 2025

LUMINISH / CC BY-SA 4.0
Strait claims that Samantha Harvey's 2023 novel Orbital, newly awarded the Booker Prize this past month, is syntactically brilliant but thematically dull.

Cotton candy and the beautiful non-beauty: Samantha Harvey’s Booker Prize-winning novel, Orbital

By RILEY STRAIT | December 10, 2024

WORLD HISTORY ENCYLOPEDIA / CC BY-NC 4.0
The point of A24’s new film Heretic is not to question what religion is but to question how people interact with religion — specifically, the fine line between burning bridges and finding community.

Heretic is an answerless, equal-attention movie that you can’t bring yourself to hate

By RILEY STRAIT | December 6, 2024

COURTESY OF MICHAEL VINCENT
“Country Y-er” F (Finnigan Keane) vies for the attention of B (Qiushi (Chris) Tian).

Johns Hopkins Theatre's performance of Passage raises questions of anti-intellectualism

By RILEY STRAIT | November 23, 2024

STEVEN SIMPSON / PHOTO EDITOR
Students report mixed reactions to the placement of new security cameras on campus.

New security camera installations on campus raise concerns

By RILEY STRAIT and SARAH HUANG | November 21, 2024

Dominick D / CC BY-SA 2.0
Smile 2 borrows plot points and narrative strategies both from other established horror films and the original Smile, resulting in an obvious cash grab without artistic ambition.

Smile 2 is like an old, beloved dead dog

By RILEY STRAIT | November 10, 2024

RILEY STRAIT

Dream State is a novel that leaves you with one question

Pretend, pretend against the dying of the light!

Companion tells us we're all living in a horror movie, even if it doesn't scare us

The Barnstormers perform The Importance of Being Earnest

Do I have to get a "real job"?

Cotton candy and the beautiful non-beauty: Samantha Harvey’s Booker Prize-winning novel, Orbital

Heretic is an answerless, equal-attention movie that you can’t bring yourself to hate

Johns Hopkins Theatre's performance of Passage raises questions of anti-intellectualism

New security camera installations on campus raise concerns

Smile 2 is like an old, beloved dead dog

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