Intense percussion, frank and breathy lyrics, dog barks. Wispy lyrics spoken into silence with no soundtrack to support them. Hoarse growls full of energy and instruments that fall into hysteria, then pick up a new beat and begin once again. This is how Fiona Apple clangs into view on her fifth album Fetch the Bolt Cutters, a powerhouse of intricate rhythm, rising anger and joy.
When Hopkins announced that classes were moving online for the rest of the semester, professors in all departments were forced to think of ways to keep students engaged while still being able to effectively teach material. Perhaps this transition was most difficult for instructors in the Hopkins Center for Visual Arts (CVA). Students, some used to working with a variety of mediums from oil painting to charcoal, suddenly had to leave many of their art supplies behind.
Amid the storm of delayed releases to movies and albums, I found myself quite lucky that my most anticipated release of the spring was still on time. On April 17, 24-year-old artist, Jeremy Zucker, released his debut album, love is not dying.
In the April 20, 2020 edition of The New Yorker, Ben Lerner’s short story “The Media,” appeared under “fiction.” A writer from Topeka, Kan., Lerner is a distinguished poet, writer and editor (though this list is not exhaustive). Lerner has also been a Fulbright Scholar, National Book Award finalist, Guggenheim Fellow and MacArthur Fellow (again, this list is not exhaustive).
I’m not an obsessive for many TV shows, with one exception: the Eurovision Song Contest. Criminally underrated in the U.S., Eurovision is an annual arcade of countries and songs. Set up like a combination of the Olympics and American Idol, Eurovision is my annual fairytale. Each year, various European (and guest) nations toy with songs and artists until they come up with a perfect performance.
Last week saw the launch of Quibi, a new streaming service. Quibi seeks to differentiate itself through mobile-only, short-form content; the episodes of each series on the app are all under 10 minutes, which is seemingly ideal for our generation’s ever diminishing attention span.
I have a weird obsession with German television and movies. In my humble opinion, the actors, production and motivations behind them are incredibly refreshing in comparison to the U.S. market, where shows are renewed season after season until their wonderfully original premise gets stale and formulaic, just to make a little more money.
Forget Tiger King. If you’re social distancing and want to see a pet get screwed over, we recommend that you watch Disney+’s Togo (which is about the eponymous sled dog, not the country in West Africa).
I’m five, sitting in the passenger seat of my dad’s old, silver Volvo. It’s that time in your life when you’re still very whole, very undecided and unhurried about who you are.
I entered my senior year of college with several misgivings. I had just spent my junior spring semester abroad at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, and everyone had warned me of what tends to be a difficult transition back to life at Hopkins after months of reckless fun in a foreign continent.
If there’s one thing the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic hasn’t completely destructed, it’s the spirit of the arts. We’ve seen it all: viral TikTok snippets, Instagram livestreams, apartment windowsill jam sessions, art-making and concerts brought to you on what has become the most loved and hated platform of our time — Zoom.
In this temporary era of social distancing and quarantine, most of us find ourselves with more time on our hands. Of course, we can fill this time interacting with our families in-person or over the phone, group facetiming (or group zooming) our friends, but there’s definitely a limit to how much time we want to spend interacting with others.
Last week, my journey in quarantine-watching began with the Netflix show Self Made, a miniseries released on March 20. The show explores the life of Madam C.J. Walker, who is considered to be the first self-made female millionaire in the United States.
Childish Gambino live-streamed music from his latest and last album on donaldgloverpresents.com for a few hours on March 15. While I unfortunately missed those hours, I was aware that an album was coming soon. Finally, after four years since the release of the phenomenal “Awaken, My Love!”, Gambino finally put out 3.15.20 (on March 22 — or 3.22.20).
For the first time in nearly 40 years, the St. Francis Missal has its own dedicated exhibition at the Walters Art Museum. Though the museum is currently closed to the public due to the coronavirus pandemic, the exhibition will be on display until May 31.
Unfortunately, this past “spring break,” I wasn’t able to watch my usual batch of five movies at my local theater’s discount Tuesdays. However, fortunately, I was still able to watch the new movie release, Stargirl, from the comfort and safety of my own home through Disney+.
Ever since I saw this mysterious title, Love is Blind, appear on Netflix several weeks ago, I was intrigued. The show seeks to answer that very question, “Is love blind?” by having 15 men and 15 women try to form a love connection without ever seeing each other.
The Inter-Asian Council (IAC) and the South Asian Students at Hopkins (SASH) hosted the Asian Pacific Islander Desi Americans (APIDA) Stand-Up Comedy show at the Arellano Theater on Saturday evening.
The Peabody Institute held a wonderful recital this weekend by pianist and Peabody student Tomasz Robak and his colleagues Mateusz Strzelecki, a violinist, and Christopher Hartung, a baritone singer at Peabody.
Every Monday morning, before I wake up for my first class, I hear the sound of soft footsteps shuffling and the creak of the apartment front door — this is when I know my roommate, Nita Nair, is up bright and early for her shift at the Hopkins Hospital for the Art Cart, an organization on campus that allows volunteers to deliver arts and crafts to admitted patients and their families.
