2019 Oscars yields few surprises, ignoring the changing tide of cinema today
(03/04/19 5:00am)
“It all begins with Viggo Mortensen.”
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“It all begins with Viggo Mortensen.”
Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
The ceremony had been engineered to yield optimal levels of inoffensive fun.
This awards season has been an excruciating roller coaster ride, zigging past worthwhile contenders in favor of zagging into Bryan Singer’s trophy shelf. If the Golden Globes marks the start of a slow climb up the hill of anticipation, the announcement of the Academy Awards nominees marks the summit. This peak, reached this morning, punctured all those weeks of cautious excitement and sent the riders down an anticlimactic slope of mediocrity and unsurprising snubs.
For those in low spirits due to the wintry weather and the renewed drudgery of classwork, fear not — Duke’s own Hoof n’ Horn is making spring come early this year.
“Name one fun fact about yourself.”
For the most part, my family’s taste in Christmas entertainment is laughably generic. We listen to the holiday radio station and soldier through a thousand wincingly pitchy covers of “Jingle Bell Rock” in the hopes of catching Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s rendition of “Carol of the Bells.” Our Christmas Day activities invariably involve an evening viewing of “Love Actually” and “Christmas Vacation,” which we’ve watched enough times to quote entire scenes with chilling accuracy. The only addition we’ve made to these proceedings over the past few years is the wonderfully weird film “Krampus,” a yuletide romp for those who like their Christmas movies more naughty than nice. It’s bizarre, it’s campy and it’s the perfect movie for the holiday season.
When I was young, I was obsessed with my dad’s action figures.
When Netflix abruptly cancelled its award-winning original program “American Vandals” shortly after its well-received second season, there was understandable confusion. After all, Netflix is a streaming service with a theoretically infinite capacity for shows and films, not a primetime network that might have to axe a successful show to free up its slot for something more ratings-friendly. Fans of the charmingly disgusting series were offered no explanation for its sudden cancellation: Netflix merely announced it would not be returning for a third season and offered a broad word of thanks to its committed cast and crew.
The theater has no fourth wall. Although meta humor and fourth wall smashing have become staples of movies, television and other mediums in an attempt to refresh otherwise hackneyed tropes by pointing them out to the audience, theater has been making use of these devices for decades. With no fourth wall — quite literally — and no certainty a performance will run smoothly due to the hundreds of variables being juggled by cast and crew alike, the medium is perfectly suited for the in-jokes and nods to the live audience watching that remind them that what they’re watching isn’t real — it’s just a show.
Adult-oriented animated programing is rarely praised for its tastefulness and maturity. In fact, the genre has garnered a reputation for baseless vulgarity due to the popularity of shows like “South Park” and Seth MacFarlane’s television trifecta, which are notoriously crude and violent. While Nick Kroll’s entry into the genre — “Big Mouth” — is often just as crass as its cable counterparts, its second season is one of the most shockingly progressive, grounded pieces of television released this year. This might come as a surprise to those who have caught a glimpse of the proudly uncensored subject matter, but if there is anything to take away from this refreshingly funny and honest series, it’s to not judge a book by its cover.
I hate asking for help.
Consuming art takes time.
Sophomores get little fanfare.
When my best friend Gwen suddenly died just two months into our last semester of high school, I felt disconnected from everything. I was totally shattered, so completely broken by the loss that I was unable to engage meaningfully with anyone or even summon the energy to be mentally present in my own life. My mind felt like a shaken snow globe, my thoughts thrown into cloudy tumult. Nothing was able to slice through the haze.
When the Rubenstein Arts Center opened last spring, the student body was promised that the new building would be a place for artistic exploration, a hub for interdisciplinary discovery and collaboration.
Within the crystalline opening notes of “Geyser” — the first track on Mitski’s fifth and arguably best album “Be The Cowboy” — it is already apparent that Mitski Miyawaki has greatly matured since her second puberty. The song’s punchy, icy hook eventually gushes forward and soars to triumphant heights that mark a new level of quality for a musician who is constantly outdoing herself. While nothing on the album resonates with such uniquely magnificent power as “Geyser”, “Be The Cowboy” still delivers on its title and charts a transformative experience with heartbreaking, finger-snapping clarity.
The recent influx of prospective students on campus for Blue Devil Days has brought to the attention of the current first-years just how close they are to surviving their first year at Duke. It seems like only yesterday they were the high school seniors being whisked around campus for Blue Devil Days, trying to figure out the layout of West Campus and wondering which dorm they would be assigned to come August. Now those same high schoolers are spending hours in Perkins studying for their upcoming finals and beginning the arduous process of sorting through the mountains of free T-shirts they’ve accrued over the past few months. Their first year is coming to an end, which is stirring feelings of excitement and dismay as they pack their bags and prepare to bid East Campus farewell.
The sensationalism and showmanship of the press are nothing new, even if conversations about journalistic merit appear to dominate current news. The media has always been pumping out juicy content, devoting attention to eye-catching headlines that would sell more papers — even if there is nothing of substance to report on. This notion is perhaps why the 1975 musical “Chicago” has never lost its relevance and is the longest-running American musical in Broadway history, continuing to play in sold-out theaters across the country and never failing to entertain with its biting commentary on media’s ability to manipulate. Duke’s own Hoof ‘n’ Horn is the next company to tackle the timeless story, bringing the show to the Rubenstein Arts Center for their spring season.
My alarm goes off at 7:45 a.m., 50 minutes before my first class of the day begins. Even though the lecture is just across the quad, I give myself nearly an hour to prepare myself for the day ahead. After drowsily scrolling through my social media notifications for a minute, I roll out of bed and begin my morning routine of picking out an outfit and applying a full face of makeup. While I blend my contour and decide which shoes pair best with my sweater, I listen to biology lectures and look over my developmental psychology flashcards. It might be a strange sight to some, but this has been my morning since I was 13 years old, and college has done little to discourage me from getting up early to primp.