Arts

Columns

Confessions of a Cooking Fanatic: Habits of a soccer mom

By Elizabeth Foster | March 13

I spent my Saturday afternoon baking three batches of chocolate chip cookies, totaling 42 little treats that I could bring to the CS TA soccer game (yes, an entire six-team soccer league consisting exclusively of teaching assistants for the Tufts Computer Science Department). I’ve (mentally) committed to bringing cookies to make up for my lack of skill on the field.

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News

Jordin Sparks to headline Spring Fling 2024, Iyaz and Tkay Maidza to open

By Matthew Sage and Nate Hall | March 11

Jordin Sparks, Iyaz and Tkay Maidza will perform at this year’s Spring Fling, as announced by the Tufts University Social Collective on Monday. The concert will be held on April 20 from 12–5 p.m. on the Academic Quad. “We are excited to say that we have a headliner that is a woman,” TUSC co-concert coordinators Gus Tringale and Thomas Grant wrote in a message to the Daily. “From last year’s all male lineup, we looked forward to pivoting more female representation not only for diversity’s sake but to cover a wider base of musical taste at Tufts.”

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Arts

When the past isn’t past: Celine Song’s ‘Past Lives’

By Estelle Anderson | March 8

Is it possible to have multiple soulmates? To ever truly move on from the past? To accept one’s life choices without wondering “what-if?”These questions course throughout “Past Lives,” a tender, often heart-wrenching tale of destiny, human connection and the bittersweetness of change. In a year that brought “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer” and “Poor Things,” “Past Lives” feels like a breath of fresh air.

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Arts

‘Love is Blind’: Experiment or entertainment?

By Annika Pillai | March 8

Hit reality TV show “Love is Blind” released its first season in February 2020. Like most reality television, the show is predominantly known for its intense drama, messy breakups and overall entertainment factor. Marketed as a “social experiment,” the show’s purpose lies in ...

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Arts

The Bookmark: ‘The Glass Castle’ by Jeannette Walls

By Natalie Bricker | March 8

Welcome back to “The Bookmark,” your go-to column for book reviews! Last week, I featured “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.” This week, we’re switching up genres and taking a look at a beautiful and heartbreaking memoir.

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Arts

WEEKENDER: Emerging Boston-based artist Analise releases new single

By Shannon Murphy | March 7

Analise Marin, local sophomore songwriting student at the Berklee College of Music and emerging singer-songwriter, known professionally by the mononym Analise, released her newest single “All Alone Again” on Feb. 24. The song, which is now available on streaming platforms, stands out for its emotional lucidity and mesmerizing production as it captures the cyclical nature of love, yearning and loneliness.

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Arts

‘Dune: Part Two’ lives up to expectations

By Natalie Bricker | March 7

“Dune: Part Two” has it all: There’s romance; there’s violence; there are undertones of religion as a great force of power; there are huge CGI worms; there’s Zendaya — truly, what more could you ask for in a film?

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Arts

Desert chic: The iconic fashion looks of the ‘Dune: Part Two’ press tour

By Isabella Teubal | March 7

Warner Bros.’ sci-fi success “Dune: Part Two” (2024) was finally released this past week on March 1. The movie, directed by Denis Villeneuve, is the sequel to “Dune: Part One” (2021), based on the 1965 epic novel by American author Frank Herbert. Due to its incredible cast, featuring superstars Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, Florence Pugh and Austin Butler, it is no wonder that the film has been a box office success, grossing $81.5 million domestically in its opening weekend.

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Columns

For the Culture: Hip-hop evolves through experimentation

By Paul Osmond | March 7

Hip-hop is dying. Well, ‘traditional’ or ‘real’ hip-hop — at least, to many hip-hop critics, media outlets and fans — is dying. Yet, Killer Mike won the 2024 Grammy Awards for Best Rap Album, Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song over artists like Travis Scott and Metro Boomin, pioneers of melodic, modern trap rap.

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Arts

‘Raymonda’ premieres at the Boston Ballet

By Sarah Firth | March 6

The Boston Ballet premiered Mikko Nissenen’s reimagined one-act version of “Raymonda” as part of their Winter Experience this February. “Raymonda” stands alongside “The Sleeping Beauty” and “Swan Lake” as one of the great classical ballets. It originally premiered in 1898 at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. The ballet is known for its Hungarian character dancing and Alexander Glazunov’s unique, almost modern, score. Nissenen, the artistic director of the Boston Ballet, has consolidated the three-act ballet into a shorter one-act production.

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Columns

Confessions of a Cooking Fanatic: Navigating Neighborhood Produce

By Elizabeth Foster | March 6

Ball Square’s Neighborhood Produce is Tufts’ best-kept secret. A block away from 574 Boston Ave., Neighborhood Produce somehow has exactly what you need for a week of meals. To allow you to repeat my grocery shopping process for the week, I’ve documented my approach.

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Arts

‘Stop Making Sense’ hasn’t lost its luster

By Ethan Essner | March 5

David Byrne walking to the tip of a stage with a six-string and fashioning a world of the utmost rhythm and beauty is one of the most perfect sights. His band, Talking Heads, steadily crafted one of the most organically listenable catalogs in American music history.

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Columns

Tok the Talk: The emergence of tradwives

By Annika Pillai | March 5

“I chose the trad lifestyle because I believe that women have drifted far from our roots,” Estee Williams, a Tiktok creator and self-described “tradwife,” recently stated. Taken from the name “traditional wives,” “tradwives” are the latest Western aesthetic involving a subculture of women who believe in advocating for ‘traditional values.’

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Columns

Brown and (Usually) Blue: The power of ‘Lagaan’

By Ishaan Rajiv Rajabali | March 5

Since the institution of the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, only three Indian movies have ever received nominations. The first, “Mother India” (1957), is a classic, interweaving political commentary with a narrative of a determined farmer. The film follows a rural woman named Radha and her struggle to nurture her family, village and land. The piece uses her resilience as a marked metaphor for an Indian nation in the aftermath of independence. 

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Arts

2024 Oscars predictions: Who will win in all 23 categories

By Nate Hall | March 4

With the Oscars coming up this weekend, the pressure is on to find out who will take home the gold this year. Will box office juggernauts “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” emerge victorious, or are we underestimating critical favorites like “Poor Things,” “The Holdovers” and “Killers of the Flower Moon?” Read on to see the Daily’s predictions in all 23 categories ahead of the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday.

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Theater

Tufts theatre puts a joyful spin on ‘Twelfth Night’

By Odessa Gaines | March 4

This weekend, Tufts’ Department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies opened their spring production of “Twelfth Night.” The 2018 musical adaptation of the Shakespearean classic, with music by Shaina Taub, is a tale of love, mistaken identity and grief.

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Arts

Public Cinemy No. 1: The problem with ‘Poor Things’

By Sacha Waters | March 4

Amidst a backdrop of gothic production design, fisheye lenses and vibrant color grades, Director Yorgos Lanthimos boldly poses the question: What if Frankenstein’s monster was a manic pixie dream girl?

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Arts

Tufts musical theater prepares for the opening of ‘Twelfth Night’

By Jennifer May | March 1

Tufts Department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies’ production of “Twelfth Night” opens Friday in Balch Arena Theater. The production is not your typical Shakespeare, though. “Twelfth Night” is a musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s original romantic comedy and ...

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Columns

Harmonies in the Limelight: The waltz, the tragedy and the craze of ‘Annette’

By Ethan Essner | March 1

There’s a satisfying exhale one makes when they experience something that differs from the artistically cliché. With musical cinema, the accepted, and rather trite, notion of what such a film should look like has developed and transformed immensely in the 21st century. Nowadays, there is an infinite ...

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Arts

WEEKENDER: Boston Science Fiction Film Festival returns to Davis Square

By Julieta Grané | February 29

One year away from its 50th anniversary, the longest-running genre fest in the U.S. put on a display of aliens, artistry and amusement. The 49th Boston Science Fiction Film Festival, which ran from Feb. 14–25 at the Somerville Theater, featured a hybrid of in-person and online events, including screenings, panels and parties.

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