Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896
September 11, 2025
September 11, 2025 | Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896

Arts & Entertainment



CC BY-SA 4.0/Beblackexcel

Activist Kwame Rose is one of the films principal subjects.

Black activists celebrated in HBO’s documentary "Baltimore Rising"

More than two years have passed since his death, but Freddie Gray still lives on in Baltimore. Just last week, one of the officers involved in Gray’s death, Lieutenant Brian Rice, was cleared of administrative charges. Rice, along with three other officers complicit in Gray’s death, beat the case against him, in what many Baltimoreans saw as a gross miscarriage of justice.


COURTESY OF DARIA RAMOS-IZQUIERDO
Student hip-hop dance group SLAM invited several other groups to join them at their showcase.

SLAM’s showcase dazzles audiences at the Rec Center

On Sunday afternoon SLAM hosted their 10th Annual Hip-Hop Showcase and Benefit. The showcase featured the group itself as well as 12 guests, including Hopkins’ Eclectics. The lineup brought together a variety of dance troupes from across the region to perform on the temporary Goldfarb auditorium stage setup in the Ralph S. O’Connor Recreation Center.




COURTESY OF DREW YORK/ CC BY 2.0
Yung Lean’s new album, Stranger, shows surprising depth and lyricism.

With the album Stranger, Yung Lean escapes his viral past

Yung Lean is one of hip-hop’s most unique characters. Try to think of a more unlikely success story: A teenage kid from Stockholm and his ragtag group of friends play around making spacey, atmospheric music. It goes viral almost instantly, and, within a few years, they’re touring globally.


U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT/PUBLIC DOMAIN
Teju Cole is a photographer, historian and artist, as well as an author.

Teju Cole reads selections of his poetry and prose

The President’s Reading Series and the Writing Seminars Department presented a reading by Chaffee Visiting Writer Teju Cole on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. in Mudd Auditorium. Cole read some of his lyrical, lilting prose from his books Blind Spot and Open City, which feature a combination of his essays and photographs.


GAGE SKIDMORE/CC BY-SA 2.0
Justice League features an ensemble cast that includes actors like Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot.

Justice League is a step in the right direction for DC films

Almost everyone our age grew up with Saturday morning cartoons. You remember, don’t you? You’d wake up (relatively) early, get your bowl of cereal and sit down to watch an episode of Batman or Superman on Kids’ WB. It was the thing you’d look forward to after a long week of school.



GABBOT/CC BY-SA 2.0
Taylor Swift’s new album Reputation dabbles unsuccessfully in hip-hop.

Swift fails to find unique sound in Reputation

Everyone has a guilty pleasure artist, and, for me, it has always been Taylor Swift. There’s a certain shame that comes with knowing that she doesn’t make what people would call “good” music, whatever that even means.





GAGE SKIDMORE/CC BY-SA 2.0
Thor: Ragnarok, which stars Chris Hemsworth, is the third in the Marvel series.

Thor: Ragnarok surprises audiences

Ever since Marvel Studios attached the post-credits scene of Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury talking to Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man at the end of Iron Man, fans have been treated to about 17 films, a few network TV shows and multiple mini-series on Netflix that have expanded the Avengers universe.






Students enjoy evening at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

On Friday night, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) held a special college night event following their regular weekly concert, offering Baltimore students free food, giveaways and the chance to mingle with members of the orchestra.


Suburbicon is a tepid take on a controversial topic

I did it for the fans. In a week when the biggest film being released was Jigsaw (because we need another Saw film) and when the film that I was looking forward to watching got critically panned (Suburbicon), I thought I’d have to watch Geostorm.


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