Over the break I certainly spent a lot of time eating, sleeping and generally trying to unwind while not thinking about my approaching finals. Although my time spent out of the house was sparse, I went to see a groundbreaking performance of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare’s birthplace, in Warwickshire, England.
If you’re like me, the first things that come to mind when you think of Queen Elizabeth might be her quirky hats, her beloved corgis or a dated, grandmotherly notion of tradition and formality. At first glance, the queen might not appear to be a particularly modern woman.
The JHU Film Society hosted The Royal Tenenbaums: A Live Reading, was hosted on Sunday night. As the Film Society’s second annual live reading, the event took place at Space 2460 and featured the participation of many local Baltimore artists.
An unassuming brick building, hardly distinguishable from those around it and tucked away in an unassuming corner of Baltimore is the Arena Players.
Most people recognize that art is pretty cool. Whether we’re talking about hyper-realistic portraits and still lives that one can often find on Facebook or about some priceless works in a museum, everyone enjoys art in some way. Something else people really enjoy in this age of the all-powerful internet is memes.
There’s a scene in Donald Glover’s new television show Atlanta that speaks to me as a black male specifically.
Wikipedia classifies Bon Iver’s newest album, 22, A Million, as Folktronica. That is one way to describe it I guess. I think calling it Bon Iver’s Yeezus is a more comprehensive portrayal. The cover of the album itself should reveal the reductionist, modernist step that lead singer Justin Vernon takes on this project, infusing his folk roots with a new, exciting electronic backing. The tracklist supports this view. It looks like an e. e. Cummings poem infested with inexplicable numbers and figures.
In the last few days, the nation has shown itself to be incredibly divided after the results of the recent presidential election. Many of Americans are in shock, while others are celebrating what they see as a return to the values that make America great.
Poetry
You might not know who Son of Nun is and, to be honest, neither did I until about a month ago. That is more likely a result of our personal failings as sheltered college students, though, because in both the Baltimore music scene and amongst the city’s revolutionary movements, his name carries some weight.
Bond St. District, a group made up of rapper DDm (aka Emmanuel Williams) and producer Paul Hutson, released their first full album, A Church on Vulcan, on Nov. 4. The launch party was held last Saturday at the Ottobar.
The 29th annual Culture Show, sponsored by the JHU Office of Multicultural Affairs, took place last Saturday in Shriver Hall. A celebration of the diverse roots and vibrant backgrounds of the students on the Homewood Campus, the show featured performances from many Hopkins dance and a cappella groups.
October has come and gone, with a host of great music releases left in its wake. Here’s a few that’ll be talked about for the rest of this (short) year.
1. Electron microscopes
1. Awaken, My Love! by Childish Gambino
As an English major, I’m often irked by people who assume I’m headed to med school to become a doctor as soon as they learn that I’m at Hopkins. Since making my final college decision during senior year, I’ve found myself in this situation all too often, and I’m sure my fellow students who make up the “arts” of Arts and Sciences would agree.
Throat Culture presented Sketchcom to a packed audience in Arellano Theater last Saturday night. The showcase was directed by junior Joshan Bajaj and sophomore Michael Feder and featured both the new and returning members of Hopkins’ only sketch comedy troupe. The 12 hilarious scenes entertained a full house of Hopkins students.
In a serendipitous, some might even say spooky, coincidence, the Hopkins Film Society’s screening of Beetlejuice took place on none other than starring actress Winona Ryder’s 45th birthday, Oct. 29.
I had to fight to get into the Compound’s Halloween Party. My group and I arrived shortly after it had sold out. They were prepared to close the gates on us, and we only managed to enter after pointing to a few people departing the event and convincing the bouncer that they were exiting permanently. And so we snuck in right as the chain link fences were closing behind us.
