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(03/01/18 2:00pm)
Three weeks ago, I wrote an album review on Rhye’s album Blood for the Love Issue. Their ability to create love songs that are just as sexy as they are heart–wrenching is an ability I admire in singer Mike Milosh and his excellent band. On Feb. 27, I got the chance to see Rhye perform at Union Transfer, an evening which I was eager to experience. I was curious how Rhye translated their precision–cut riffs and falsetto portamentos into their live performances. After a nearly two–hour set that felt like a closed moment of transcendence, I became a mess of love–based emotions that I still carry with me as I write this article.
(03/14/18 1:00pm)
Louis I. Kahn: Penn alum, Penn professor, and, as so many often considered, “America’s foremost living architect.” But unlike the many Penn alum in the arts, whose legacies on campus are the mere facts that they attended the university, Kahn left a tangible, indelible mark in the form of his architectural designs for buildings on and off campus. Today, many of these plans can be found right here in metal drawers of the architectural archive at Fisher Fine Arts Library, depicting the inner workings of perhaps one of the most influential architects of the 20th century.
(03/13/18 1:00pm)
The Shrek movies have an odd cult following. Shrek has been memed, idolized, and ultimately cemented as a part of pop culture that’s here to stay. Shrek fandom, though, extends beyond the dark corners of the internet: Shrek was a national movement, and the franchise has the numbers to back it up. The series has received everything from Academy recognition to critical acclaim. To date, the series is the 14th highest grossing franchise of all time, only behind the likes of Ice Age, Toy Story, and Despicable Me. A Shrek 5 is even in the works, and is rumored to be released in 2019. Shrek was a phenomenon every millennial experienced and likely participated in.
(03/15/18 1:01pm)
Last fall, my friend showed me an album that had just come out called Red Burns by an NYC–based jazz collective called Standing On The Corner (SOTC) led by Gio Escobar. I was blown away by the complexity of the songs, the themes of uncertainty in the future as a minority in America, and the ability of the album to be so incoherent, yet flow like nothing else. The website for the album is layered with images spanning from famous Worldstar videos to Jim Crow signs. I was confused and amazed at the same time. I was hooked.
(03/15/18 1:00pm)
When I hear the words “American art,” I see a mental image of Thomas Cole’s The Oxbow; when I hear “European arts,” I see da Vinci’s Virgin of the Rocks; when I hear “Japanese art,” I see Hokusai’s The Great Wave. Clearly, where art derives from determines its character. In the same way, where Penn students go abroad for art shapes their individual creative processes.
(03/01/18 2:00pm)
The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) can be considered a landmark in this city. It’s the home of the Rocky Steps. It’s the place where the Eagles ended their victory parade. It’s the place where we (or at least most of us) dressed up for the gala that one night during NSO. But for me, the PMA was my reprieve. When I received a yearlong membership to the museum as a gift, I made it a goal to go twice a month and like most, I was first drawn to the museum’s extensive collection of impressionist artists, which soon expanded to the modern, the American, and the early religious arts. There was, of course, undeniably more than enough heavyweights from the late nineteenth to mid–twentieth centuries. Picasso, Dalí, Monet, Van Gogh, and Renoir adorn the walls of over half of the first–floor galleries.
(03/01/18 2:00pm)
Cracks in the stereo. Loud blaring. Sometimes listening to music is not a perfect experience. Listen to an old record and it's riddled with the remnants of mediocre audio equipment, weak masterings, and the occasional mic crack. There's a reason so much music from the 60s has been remastered. The quality in which these albums were recorded was under low–quality standards. Now, with the access to amazing studio equipment that the majority of artists have, they are able to remaster songs to make them sound perfect. Error–free music.
(03/03/18 2:00pm)
Jack White’s Latest Album, Boarding House Reach, is going to hit the market on Mar. 23. In a little less than a month, the album is forecasted to make waves in the alt–rock and grunge worlds. Boarding House Reach comes as a much needed break from White’s hiatus: his last studio album, Lazaretto, was released four years earlier, in June of 2014.
(03/01/18 2:00pm)
August’s mother is dead at the end. We find this out in the opening line of Jacqueline Woodson’s Another Brooklyn. “For a long time, my mother wasn’t dead yet.” There it is, the tragic plot twist, given away by the candid retrospective voice of the narrator. But this novel isn’t another one about death or grief or any of the common themes typically associated with tragedy. It’s about youth, friendship, healing, learning. Above all, it’s about memory.
(02/27/18 2:00pm)
(03/02/18 2:00pm)
An outspoken voice, yet an enigma. A genius, yet often the source of highly questionable statements and opinions. Kanye West is like no other—starting from his humble beginnings in Chicago and continuing through his winding career path to becoming one of the most famous and critically acclaimed artists of all time, the man has been a major influence on the music industry. His impact is palpable in the works of countless performers over the last two decades—it’s most impressive. Let’s take a closer look and trace Mr. West’s path to becoming a living legend:
(02/27/18 2:00pm)
Punk rock as a genre has always been anti–establishment, with many songs offering commentary on political and social issues. However, bands of the '80s and '90s would never be able to produce some of the offensive songs they did in the political climate of today.
(03/02/18 2:00pm)
Carmen Maria Machado is just like us. She binge watches Law and Order: SVU, she plays video games, and she didn’t get the job as a Starbucks barista. But unlike us, she received the Bard Fiction Prize, won the John Leonard Award for best first book, and was a finalist for the National Book Award and the Kirkus Prize: all for her first collection of short stories, Her Body and Other Parties.
(02/28/18 2:00pm)
Walking into the launch party for the latest edition of The F–Word, it seems impossible that Penn’s only feminist arts and literary magazine was relaunched just three years ago. The gathering was held on Feb. 22 to celebrate the release of the inaugural fall mini–issue. The event featured an array of snacks and beverages as well as attendees who were eager to have important conversations about gender and equality.
(03/02/18 2:00pm)
Whether you want to spend time with a bookstore cat, go to poetry readings with friends, or see the places famous authors lived, you can do it all and make it back to Van Pelt to finish the readings you were actually assigned.
(02/27/18 2:00pm)
These days, seeing a movie can be expensive. The average price of movie theater tickets in the U.S. hit an all time high last year, and the costs of DVDs, subscription services, and on–demand movies on platforms like YouTube can add up. Even for the film lovers who avoid costs using less legal means, in today’s busy world, there’s still the time commitment of sitting down to watch.
(02/28/18 7:16pm)
It should come as no surprise that history is a great storyteller. Bringing historical moments to life on screen can illuminate the triumphs and pitfalls of people across space and time. Revisiting stories with contemporary significance through film ensures that the lessons of the past remain within the public psyche. Black History Month serves as a moment for the celebration of Black excellence, a reflection on the experiences of African Americans (both today and through history), and a deepening consideration for the people and events that will forever shape the political, social, and cultural landscape of the United States.
(02/26/18 2:00pm)
The Great British Bake Off, a BAFTA Award–winning television series, exemplifies the best of what reality television has to offer: sweets, critiques, and layers of British humor. The UK show has propelled 24 different international spin–offs, along with similarly structured series such as The Great Pottery Throw Down and The Great British Sewing Bee.
(02/27/18 2:00pm)
On Valentine's Day, Frank Ocean released a gorgeous cover of "Moon River," as made famous by Audrey Hepburn in the iconic Breakfast at Tiffany’s and, boy, did it floor me. Not only was it a highly creative and interesting spin on a classic, but it definitely has taken on a form totally outside of the context of the original—a crucial piece of criteria for a good cover. Frank’s version was so good that it inspired this series, “Under the Covers," where each week I will review three covers and give a verdict on whether I prefer the original or the cover. So without further ado ...
(03/02/18 2:00pm)
She's been described as a cross between Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and Courtney Marie Andrews. Record–producer and musician Ryan Adams heard one of her original songs and then invited her to produce a 7–inch at his studio the next day. She's about to open up for Bon Iver in London, and has played with legendary bands like the Violent Femmes and The War On Drugs. Everyone, it's Phoebe Bridgers.
