Noah is a deputy arts editor for the Daily. Noah is a sophomore studying cognitive brain science and can be reached at Noah.Goldstein673986@tufts.edu.
In the eyes of many, attending a rave is one of the ultimate forms of escapism. After all, few settings seem better suited to forgetting oneself than a haze of hallucinogens and EDM. Yet, as most ravers will tell you, the experience is less about losing their consciousness than discovering it.
When Baby Keem’s first studio album, “The Melodic Blue,” dropped in September 2021, a future of chart-topping superstardom seemed almost inevitable for the Las Vegas-raised rapper. Similar to the reception of his first hit single, “Orange Soda,” the album’s release was followed by near-universal praise, and for a while it looked as if Keem’s arrival as a mainstay of modern hip-hop had come ahead of schedule. The summer following the release of “The Melodic Blue” saw Keem playing to the world’s biggest crowds — four nights at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena, two at London’s O2 Arena and a particularly memorable livestreamed stop in Paris — as a central presence on his cousin Kendrick Lamar’s Big Steppers Tour. He dropped seven fresh tracks as a deluxe album in October of the following year. Then he disappeared.
Rooting for the United States, whether it be in the Olympics, the World Cup or any other sporting event, almost always leads me to some degree of internal confusion. Sure, I’m as much of a red-blooded American as the next guy, but it’s often difficult to reconcile the instinct to root for the home team with the knowledge that its banner — so often touted as that of the ‘good guys’ — is emblematic of a nation flawed at its core.
If you need proof that time flies, consider that it’s already been 11 months since Nico Harrison dealt Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers in what was, for my money, the biggest trade in NBA history.
At this point, Chinese filmmaker Bi Gan’s career can largely be described as an anomaly. He’s 36, yet his films display a maturity that most fail to reach even in their later years. He comes from mainland China, infamous for its artistic censorship, but his work is some of the most innovative and expressive in world cinema today. His first two feature films, “Kaili Blues” (2015) and “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” (2018), were hypnotic in style and personal in philosophy, following protagonists as they ventured through Gan’s native Guizhou province in southwest China.
In many ways, the artistic milieu that characterized 1970s New York is still being replicated today. Walk long enough around any neighborhood with hipsters, and you’re bound to find the likes of Patti Smith, Andy Warhol and Fran Leibowitz on a coffee shop table or bookstore display.
Making an appearance on the “Hot Ones” YouTube series back in October 2024, Jaylen Brown elucidated one of the best insights on the game of basketball I’ve ever heard. “I look at basketball as like poetry in motion, which is music, and everybody is playing their own song,” Brown commented to host Sean Evans. “Everybody samples from different artists, and they’re playing their own song and if you wanna stop them you gotta study their rhythm.”
Sometime in the spring of 2025, Ray Feinleib found himself in a tough situation. Needing only one more course to complete a bachelor’s degree in film and media studies at Tufts in the twilight of his academic career, Feinleib had chosen to take “Advanced Documentary.” Yet, on the weekend before spring break, with the class’ final project’s due date set for the first week back, he found himself with nothing.
It’s fitting that the last lyric of Bad Bunny’s record-breaking 2025 album “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS” is “¡Viva!” — or in English, “Long live!” It’s the resounding final exclamation of “LA MuDANZA,” a track that begins as an intimate ballad — a retelling of the tender love story from global superstar Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio of his parents — and then, in a heartbeat, erupts into a raucous, full-throated anthem. Piano, bass, congas, bongos and horns collide, igniting a sound that, as with the 16 tracks before it, channels the soul of Puerto Rico and its people.
Baseball is a truly evil sport. I have chosen to open my column with this sentence for many reasons, which I will try to sum up here in terms of my horrific experience with the 2025 MLB season.
