Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896
April 25, 2024

Arts & Entertainment



New Black Mirror season explores relationships

Science-fiction/horror series Black Mirror made a splash with its debut five years ago, and recently its newest season premiered on Netflix as part of a new distribution deal. The third season excels in more ways than it falls short, but the real highlight of the season (and perhaps the 2015-2016 fall television season) is the fourth episode “San Junipero.”


 KENNYSUN/CC-BY-SA-3.0
Death Grips’ MC Ride is known for his visceral live performances.

Hip-hop Halloween: tricks, treats and 808s

It’s that time of year again. While college guys deliberate which skin tight costume most prominently shows their pecs, and rackety old men prepare their pile of toothbrushes for distribution, some of us look for albums and tracks to fill our Halloween playlists.


 COURTESY OF LEON SANTHAKUMAR
The Buttered Niblets competed against UMBC as part of the improv comedy show titled Quickdraw.

Buttered Niblets compete at Quickdraw show

The Buttered Niblets, the University’s only improvisational comedy group, recently performed as a part of Quickdraw, an improv competition with other local colleges sponsored by the Baltimore Improv Group. For the performance last Thursday night, the Buttered Niblets faced off against University of Maryland Baltimore County’s (UMBC) Dog-Collar Comedy Troupe. The two groups played to an enthusiastic crowd at the Baltimore Improv Group’s space at Single Carrot Theatre in Remington.


Let the Right One In revives horror genre

Let’s face it, vampire movies have become overrated. After the release of the Twilight Saga movie series the vampire genre has taken a turn from classic horror to cheap entertainment. Now, it is hard to take a vampire movie seriously unless it is meant to be laughed at (i.e. What We Do in the Shadows). Thankfully, we still have one vampire movie that can satisfy our thirst for something that’s chilling, creepy yet artistically profound: Let the Right One In.


 COURTESY OF KATHERINE LOGAN
The 7th annual Scary Stories Night showcased a Baltimore tradition.

Windup Space hosts annual night of scary stories

I walked into The Windup Space on Monday night to see a huge screen, several sparsely populated tables with Halloween-themed décor and little baskets of candy, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect at the 7th Annual Scary Stories Night. I felt like a foreigner among the crowd, who were talking and laughing amongst each other that  I got the sense that the majority of them had definitely been there before.


 COURTESY OF CATHERINE KEHOE
Catherine Kehoe tackles a number of themes in her work, which include techniques such as still life.

Painter Catherine Kehoe will speak at Hopkins

Next Thursday, Oct. 27, the Hopkins’ Center for Visual Arts will co-sponsor a talk by representational painter Catherine Kehoe about her work. The talk is free and open to all students, as well as the general public.



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Producer Knxwledge lays down the drum tracks for NxWorries.

Paak and Knxwledge strike beautiful gold

Smooth and sexy: These two words completely describe singer Anderson .Paak and quirky music producer Knxwledge’s collaborative project, Yes Lawd!, named for .Paak’s trademark adlib. Released a week early on Oct. 14, 2016, this project burst onto Apple Music unexpectedly. Working under the moniker NxWorries, the pair created a nearly perfect project with smooth, layered instrumentals, beautiful vocal performances and a thick layer of silky, confident charisma.


GAGE SKIDMORE/CC-BY-SA-2.0
Acclaimed actress Lupita Nyong’o, who portrays Phiona’s mother, spoke at the 2016 San Diego ComicCon.

Queen of Katwe refreshes familiar narrative

Queen of Katwe (2016) is a recent film based on the life of Phiona Mutesi (Madina Nalwanga), a young chess champion from Uganda who was raised in the slums of Kampala. The film features critically lauded actors Lupita Nyong’o and David Oyelowo and boasts a winning performance from newcomer Madina Nalwanga.


COURTESY OF ALYSSA WOODEN
The Pigtown festival spanned several blocks of Washington Boulevard and offered pig and non-pig foods.

Festival flaunts the best of historic Pigtown

Although it rained almost all afternoon on Saturday, Oct. 8, crowds filled the streets from noon to 7 p.m. at the 15th annual Pigtown Festival. Spanning several blocks of Washington Boulevard, the festival featured live music, booths set up by local businesses and artists and a smorgasbord of street food, both pig and non-pig related.


 COURTESY OF JACOB TOOK
 Participants of Alloverstreet gather at Gallery CA to view Bobby English, Jr.’s I AM You ARE installation.

Alloverstreet event highlights Baltimore’s art

Last Friday evening, Baltimore’s monthly artist-run art marathon, Alloverstreet, offered a wide range of exhibitions, galleries and artist talks in Station North to satiate art lovers and intrigue artistic novices.



Poe exhibit gives a look into his world

The name Edgar Allan Poe is one tied to the city of Baltimore, as this is both the city where he lived for some years and the city where he died and was buried. “The Enigmatic Edgar A. Poe in Baltimore & Beyond” at the George Peabody Library shines a spotlight on the talented writer, placing emphasis on both his life and the impact of his work after death.



You Can’t Touch My Hair intersects race, feminism

If you’re anything like me, the daily coverage of this presidential election has you feeling completely exhausted. Being subjected to rhetoric entrenched in bigotry, racism, homophobia and a disregard for women’s rights and values can feel flat-out depressing, and it’s easy to fall into a pit of helplessness and despair.



SACHYN MITAL/CC-SA-3.0
Robert Delong’s flashy equipment setup, face paint and use of superfluous props didn’t help his set.

JAM is hit and miss as performance, festival

Traveling in packs, students wandered past the FFC on their way to the Ralph S. O’Connor center, filtered past the security and entered JAM, the Johns Hopkins Annual Music Festival. There was a steady stream of roving students from 5 p.m. onwards. They were greeted by a gymnasium floor covered by a tarp with a raised platform and a big, curtained backstage.


 SUE LUKENBAUGH/CC BY-SA 2.0
Henry Cavill starred in the blockbuster hit Batman v Superman.

Films of 2016 lack plot and variety

Movies are a living, breathing, moving art, but they’re also a business. Not only that but movies require tens to hundreds to thousands of people working on a single project. As a result, movies can cost hundreds of millions of dollars to produce. In light of that, for the majority of the year, when you look up what movies are playing, you sigh and search for when the next Avengers movie is coming out.


 RACHEL SAMPLE/CC-BY-NC-ND-2.0
 The Walters Art Museum served as the collaborative venue for Art and Music Bring Us Together.

Show binds Walters Museum and Morgan State

Art and Music Bring Us Together was a concert at the Walters Art Museum focused on the sensory experience of art and music. The performers were Daniel Colin Xavier Rich, a baritone, and Samuel Springer, who played piano. The goal of the evening was to emphasize the broader connections between music and art. The concert was held in the sculpture garden at the museum. Visitors were encouraged to imagine walking through the galleries and listening to this music, as William and Henry Walters the museuem founders, and their guests might have done decades ago.


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