Arts

Arts

‘Renegades: Born in the USA’ balances tough conversation with undeniable chemistry

By Kate Seklir | April 7

In their latest pandemic ventures, former President Barack Obama and rock star Bruce Springsteen commandeered the podcast space, sitting down for “Renegades: Born in the USA” to unpack their shared understanding of family, work, race and America itself. Their chemistry is palpable throughout each episode, giving readers an exclusive look into their off-camera personas. The duo provides insight into the present condition of the country, assessing how it came to be so divided.

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Arts

Why streaming services need to evolve

By Drew Weisberg | April 7

The key lies in the main appeal of a streaming service: convenience. This explains the proliferation of streaming services, as more and more media conglomerates see the success of Netflix (with its more than 73 million users in the United States alone) and decide they can cut out the middleman and release their content on their own services.

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Columns

Comfort Cartoons: Mature and electrifying 'Static Shock'

By Christopher Panella | April 7

This week, we’re looking at “Static Shock” (2000–04), an influential animated series following Virgil Hawkins, a 14-year-old boy who fights crime as “Static,” a superhero with electromagnetic powers. The show is another installment in the DC Animated Universe, premiering before the culminations of the DCAU, “Justice League” (2001–04) and “Justice League Unlimited” (2004–06).

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Arts

Mugler Spring RTW literally dazzles the runway

By Phoebe Wong | April 6

The star-studded runway of Mugler’s latest show thus comes as no surprise, but it also is notable for its relative diversity in both body type and race. Mugler specifically released the video on March 31 as well, which is International Transgender Day of Visibility. Schafer and Jackson, who are both transgender women, wore many of the standout looks. 

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Column

A Fantastic Voyage: ‘Fantastic Four’ #575–578 or 'The City Saga'

By Drew Weisberg | April 6

"The City Saga" really is a breath of fresh air for a superhero comic, allowing for moments of calm reflection and study. The climate feels less like our heroes are spoiling for a fight; rather they’re acting as anthropologists attempting to understand a unique pocket of their strange and wondrous world.

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Arts

Michael Blanding discusses Shakespeare, the world’s most prominent (presumed?) plagiarist

By Ellie Lester | April 5

Blanding’s book challenges the integrity of Shakespeare’s work, tackling the question: Where exactly did Shakespeare get his stories? The author chalked his research up to the words of author Bill Bryson, who remarked that “Shakespeare was a wonderful teller of stories so long as someone else has told them first.”

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Arts

‘KG0516’ is Karol G’s reclamation of reggaeton

By Maeve Hagerty | April 5

“KG0516” begins with a pop-reggaeton fusion in “Déjalos Que Miren,” a love ballad presumably directed at her ex-fiancée Anuel AA, another famous Reggaeton musician. From there, the album quickly evolves into one characterized by female empowerment, which seemingly reflects Karol G’s own journey to the top of the music world.

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Column

Hot Take: 'Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood' should've won Best Picture

By Derin Savasan | April 5

This is where "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood" comes in. Was it the most critically acclaimed film of the year? No. A lot of people liked the film, but not as much as other nominees. But like I said, universal likeability doesn’t matter here because, at the end of the day, it’s Hollywood people who get to pick the winner — not average Joes. Considering that the title of this movie has “Hollywood” in it, I was pretty confident that it would take home the Oscar.

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Arts

Independent bookstores file class-action suit against Amazon, 'Big Five' publishers

By Devina Bhalla | April 2

Independent booksellers are suing Amazon and the "Big Five" publishing companies — Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, HarperCollins and Macmillan Publishers — with a class-action lawsuit citing "a massive price-fixing scheme to intentionally constrain the bookselling market and inflate the wholesale price of print books,” according to Hagens Berman, one of the law firms representing the prosecutors. 

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Columns

Soundtrack to the end of the world: Ambitious and on my way to start some stuff

By Jessica Blough and Stephanie Hoechst | April 2

Hot girl music is for when you’re done feeling the feels for the day and want to walk around, mask on, like a total badass. Hot girl music makes you sweat. This is powerful lady music, this is sexy music, music for dancing in front of the mirror, music for putting on your headphones and absolutely strutting to Pax et Lox to pick up a salmon bagel.

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TV

Hollywood can’t break the male gaze

By Emmy Wenstrup | March 31

The “male gaze” is a term that was first used in the context of cinema by feminist thinker Laura Mulvey to describe the depiction of women in media as seen through a heterosexual male lens. Film has often relegated female characters to mere side pieces or love interests for leading men — the women of the James Bond franchise are an obvious example of the male gaze at work. However, even the most independent, ambitious and authoritative female characters can still be portrayed by the male gaze.

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Column

Hot Take: Seth Cohen was the true protagonist of ‘The O.C.’

By Derin Savasan | March 31

I revisited the show during my one-day spring break (thanks, Tufts!) by binging all four seasons of it on Hulu. Needless to say, I have a few questions, the biggest of which is: Who was the true protagonist of the show? And after many years of beating around the bush, I’ve come to decide that it’s Seth Cohen — contrary to popular belief. 

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Arts

'Life Support' resuscitated by its singles, wounded by the rest

By Jack Clohisy | March 30

"Life Support," released on Feb. 26, was Madison Beer's album introduction into the pop soundscape. Unfortunately, Beer’s newness to a full-length project is evident; her songs reflect all that is prominent in trending songs today: mediocre songwriting, catchy-but-generic instrumentals and a lack of artistic direction.

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Arts

‘The Bachelor’ finale exposes a show struggling to maintain relevance

By Gillian Rooney | March 30

When "The Bachelor" (2002–) producers tapped Emmanuel Acho, former NFL linebacker and author of "Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man" (2020), to replace "After the Final Rose" host Chris Harrison in the wake of racial controversy, audiences were quick to notice that Harrison’s ghost still loomed large, as he still provided the show’s voiceover.

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Columns

A Fantastic Voyage: 'Fantastic Four' #574

By Drew Weisberg | March 30

With the semester winding down and my number of columns growing slim, we’ll be accelerating the pace somewhat and running through a few issues in rapid succession. But first, here is one more single-issue week to transition us into a speed run of the rest of Hickman’s saga.

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Music

Weekender: 10 years later, analyzing 'Femme Fatale' as Britney Spears' zenith

By Christopher Panella | March 25

“Femme Fatale” came at a significant moment in both American music and Spears’ career. Riding on the early rise of electronic dance music, the singer’s seventh album had one overarching desire: to commemorate Spears’ new era after her rise, fall and comeback in popular culture. Of course, that’s a simplification of what might be her greatest work to date. But at the time, “Femme Fatale” acted as a turning point.

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Column

Beyond the Underneath: Some thoughts on being a video jockey

By Ramona Meng Xi | March 25

VJs are visual artists who create and improvise videos for performances and live music events. My VJ project was abandoned, but I started to pay more attention to visuals during music events. Some of them were sublime in terms of design, composition, meaning and even beat-matching; some of them raised questions in my head. 

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Arts

Lana Del Rey doesn't capture brilliance in 'Chemtrails Over the Country Club'

By Maeve Hagerty | March 24

With her voice softer and instrumentation simpler than ever, Lana Del Rey has returned. On March 19, the Los Angeles indie rock singer cast off the weight of numerous controversies before and after the making of her Grammy-nominated album “Norman F***ing Rockwell!” (2019) and released “Chemtrails Over the Country Club” (2021).

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Arts

Keanu Reeves' ‘Brzrkr’ #1 is more boring than it ought to be

By Drew Weisberg | March 24

The first issue of “Brzrkr” is the comic book equivalent of a Rorschach test. To some, the Keanu Reeves-penned book (yes, that Keanu Reeves) will read as a charming attempt by a celebrity to break into a new medium. Others will see the Kickstarter-funded venture as Sal of comic review channel “ComicPop” put it on his Instagram, “the most blatant movie series pitch in comic book form I've ever seen." 

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Columns

Comfort Cartoons: Campy classic 'Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!'

By Christopher Panella | March 24

The “Scooby-Doo” franchise is possibly the prime example of an intergenerational cultural touchstone. The Mystery Gang,their iconic outfits and their groovy Mystery Machine have remained something most audiences can connect with in some way. That’s partially thanks to the various installations of “Scooby-Doo,” which have spanned a handful of animated films, video games, television shows, merchandise and live-action movies.

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