Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896
April 20, 2024

Arts & Entertainment



ARANTZA GARCIA / DESIGN AND LAYOUT EDITOR
This week’s picks include Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated new album The Tortured Poets Department, a memoir about a woman’s relationship with her dead mother and a literary festival at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.

To watch and watch for: Week of April 15

As the weather starts to get warmer, the end of the semester is finally in sight! This week, there’s a wide range of arts and entertainment to enjoy — from the highly anticipated new Taylor Swift album to a movie about a family of Sasquatches living in the woods.


THE COME UP SHOW / CC BY-ND 2.0
Drake retaliates against Kendrick Lamar in a leaked song, attacking Lamar’s reputation, claiming both extortion and a decrease in commercial success.

Hip hop civil war

Answering Kendrick Lamar’s viral diss on producer Metro Boomin and rapper Future’s collaboration album, We Don’t Trust You, Drake throws another bomb in a leaked diss track, which accuses Lamar’s past record label Top Dawg Entertainment of extortion. 


COURTESY OF KAORI TAYLOR
Students and hired actors involved in making Lin’s film Red Prior smile for a group photo while working on the film set. 

Studio North: A creative haven for student filmmakers at Hopkins

Hopkins is often, unfairly, considered a STEM-focused school. And yet, on an almost weekly basis, I have witnessed and been deeply impressed by students on this campus engaging in art that is endlessly creative, thoughtful and even experimental. Studio North is an organization on campus that I think very few have heard of. But for those in the know, it is a deeply passionate and close-knit organization of students who devote themselves to film and the craft of filmmaking.



WALT DISNEY TELEVISION / CC BY-ND 2.0
A native Texan, Beyoncé first entered the world of country music at the 50th Country Music Awards, where she performed her song “Daddy’s Lessons” with The Chicks.

COWBOY CARTER: Beyoncé’s country masterpiece

From becoming the first Black woman to reach number one on the Hot Country Singles Billboard Chart to having 2024’s most streamed album on Spotify in one day, Beyoncé’s COWBOY CARTER has had nothing short of a fiery debut. Her reintroduction to the country genre in the second of her three-act album project came from a long, thoughtful journey — but the effort was well worth the wait. 



GAGE SKIDMORE / CC BY-SA 2.0
Kristin Stewart stars as Lou, a reclusive young woman who becomes absorbed in an all-consuming relationship with a bodybuilder and goes to great lengths for her.

Love Lies Bleeding is fast fun but is only superficially subversive

In Love Lies Bleeding, Kristen Stewart embodies Lou, an exhausted but competent part-time gym manager, part-time crime scene disrupter. Lou is a reclusive lesbian and estranged daughter of a crime lord in her New Mexico hometown. In the midst of the grunt work of her daily life, she falls in love with Jackie, a bodybuilder new to ‌town, who frequents the gym Lou manages. Before long, the two find themselves entangled in an all-consuming relationship that begins to fracture as the two enter a world of unbelievable violence.


ARUSA MALIK / DESIGN AND LAYOUT EDITOR
This week’s picks include Sweet Dreams by Lije Sarki, The Age of Magical Overthinking by Amanda Montell, Maggie Rogers’ newest studio album, Don’t Forget Me and a JHU Barnstormer’s production of Be More Chill in Arellano Theater. 

To watch and watch for: Week of April 7

Looking for new media to consume this week besides reels and more reels? I know I am. As we enter the next week (eclipse week!), the Arts & Entertainment section is here to give you a list of things to fill your eyes and ears. Hopefully, these will leave you feeling inspired, excited or even the good kind of sad — whatever it is, it promises to be a break from the brain rot.



ARUSA MALIK / DESIGN AND LAYOUT EDITOR
This week’s picks include the action-thriller Monkey Man from Dev Patel, a new album release from Conan Gray and a production of Galileo from the Theatre department.

To watch and watch for: Week of April 1

Do you hear that wooshing noise? That’s the sound of this semester positively flying by! As we get into the final weeks of the semester, there’s guaranteed to be more and more live events happening on campus as students come show off what they’ve been working on these past months. The live events this week are all super cool, so definitely go check them out!


ARUSA MALIK / DESIGN AND LAYOUT EDITOR
Beyoncé‘s venture into country music debuts this weekend with Act II: Cowboy Carter.

To watch and watch for: Week of March 24

This week’s picks include Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Ursula Villarreal-Mourau’s new novel Like Happiness, Beyoncé‘s newest LP Act II: Cowboy Carter and a talk given by Emily Wilson on her new translation of Homer’s The Iliad in Room 110, Maryland Hall. 




ARUSA MALIK / DESIGN AND LAYOUT EDITOR
This week’s picks include a posthumously released novel by Gabriel García Márquez and an opera performance at the Peabody Institute.

To watch and watch for: Week of March 11

It’s the last stretch before spring break! Are you as tired as I am? I am definitely looking forward to going home and relaxing (or at least, pretending to relax while inwardly stressing about how quickly the semester is going by). 



ASTRONIMATION / CC BY 3.0
Dune: Part Two follows Frank Herbert's 1965 novel Dune, on planet Arrakis, which is in a perpetual drought, riddled with gigantic sandworms.

The Dune: Part Two hype is justified despite the film’s imperfections

Dune: Part Two lives up to its astronomical expectations with stunning cinematography and interesting side characters. Although Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), the main character, doesn’t seem to be challenged and is hard to relate to, the acting performances of the full cast are incredibly intriguing, and each character seems to have a full storyline.


LUKAS RAICH / CC BY-SA 4.0
Ferreira contends that Formula 1: Drive to Survive Season 6 overly dramatizes Formula 1 racing. 

Formula 1: Drive to Survive Season 6 is far from a smooth operation

If you ever sit in your bed and get the sudden urge to watch a group of some of the world’s cockiest men drive around in circles with super fast cars, Formula 1: Drive to Survive might just be the thing for you. The sixth season of Formula 1: Drive to Survive came out on Feb. 23 on Netflix with ten brand-new episodes. This sports docuseries portrays the ten Formula 1 (F1) teams along with their 20 drivers. 


ARUSA MALIK / DESIGN AND LAYOUT EDITOR
This week’s picks include Pokémon Horizons: The Series, released by TV Tokyo, The House of Hidden Meanings by Rupaul, Eternal Sunshine by Ariana Grande and a VR Exhibit, titled “War Up Close” at the JHU-MICA Film Centre. 

To watch and watch for: Week of March 3

This week’s picks include Pokémon Horizons: The Series, released by TV Tokyo, The House of Hidden Meanings by Rupaul, Eternal Sunshine by Ariana Grande and a VR Exhibit, titled “War Up Close” at the JHU-MICA Film Centre. 



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