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(03/07/18 5:05am)
The midterms have been taken, the rivalry game has been played and the weather has taken a turn for the better — spring break is nearly here. Arriving just when students need it most, spring break is a week-long respite from the unremitting stress of class and commitments. Some use their vacation to travel to exotic locations, others as an opportunity to go home and catch up on some much-needed sleep and still others as a chance to stay on campus and get some work done. What sets this break apart from its first semester counterparts is the culture attached to it: Spring break is a cornerstone of the traditional college experience. Students across the country will doubtlessly use the brief liberation from responsibilities as an excuse to party the week away or at the very least cut loose and enjoy themselves — and Duke students are no exception.
(02/28/18 5:05am)
When I was 12 years old, the only thing I wanted was the opportunity to read a book written by Stephen King. Any book would have done, although I was especially interested in his horror novels after having deliberately disobeyed my father’s instructions and read a detailed summary of each of King’s major works online.
(02/21/18 5:05am)
Valentine’s Day at Duke University is like viewing a typical Wednesday through rose-colored glasses. Students still trudge dutifully to class, but a handful hold shiny balloon bouquets or walk arm in arm with their significant other. The tables lining the Plaza distribute heart-shaped cookies along with pamphlets and petitions. West Union serves the usual fare with the option of booking a romantic dinner for two at The Commons Steakhouse. Even those who don’t have a date for the holiday seem to enjoy the free candy and the themed desserts available at Marketplace. For a campus so diverse and so widely varied in its celebration of holidays, everyone appears to at least have something to enjoy on this sweetest of days.
(02/14/18 5:05am)
“Good Country People” is the furthest thing from a pleasant read. Flannery O’Connor’s 1955 short story has few truly likable characters and ends on a sour, dismal note that leaves the reader discontented. The tale of Joy Hopewell — who takes issue with her sunny name and changes it to “Hulga” in an act of defiance against her mother — and her life on a Georgia farm is relatively straightforward and not particularly emotionally dense or politically charged. This raises the question of why the Duke Players chose to adapt this particular story for their spring lab production.
(01/31/18 5:05am)
Classic Broadway shows are difficult to modernize. A vast majority of the shows that took twentieth-century stages are cut from the same humdrum, homogeneous cloth, offering little diversity in any sense of the word. They are stories about the same upper-middle-class people living average upper-middle-class lives, set to interminable ballads and show tunes with only a handful of true stand-outs. In a world as tumultuous and terrifying as our own, it can be difficult to retreat into a universe that contains no reflection of reality and instead focuses on presenting an artificial, polished facsimile.
(01/24/18 5:00am)
It might be difficult to imagine an artist with such fondness for the twee and absurd as Tune-Yards tackling pressing issues like race and white fragility on their latest album, but recent events have wrung politically-charged work from even the most neutral of artists. With the political climate growing stormier by the day and injustices coming to light with distressing frequency, it is nearly impossible to create art in a vacuum anymore. Merrill Garbus, frontwoman of Tune-Yards, has not only punctured the vacuum that her more light-hearted records were conceived within; she has actively sought out enlightenment and incorporated current events into her boppy, upbeat music.
(01/22/18 5:00am)
In a time when apocalypse and destruction have evolved from speculative notions to frightening realities, it has become necessary to view modern works on the subject through a new lens. The stories of thermonuclear warfare and unending war have gained a distressing degree of relevance, affecting the manner in which these stories must be told in order for them to have the same impact on a dually jaded and terrified contemporary audience. Presenting these topics through computers and technology — entities that are equally feared for their ability to automate so much of our natural world — might seem like a counterintuitive decision, but there are no two artists as well-equipped to succeed with this vision as John Supko and Bill Seaman. These Duke professors and renowned artists have partnered together to create “THE_OPER&,” an opera about apocalypse and renewal generated by a sophisticated computer system.
(12/27/17 5:00am)
My favorite album of 2017 has no garnishing, no extraneous material — it is a modest record. Seven tracks, packaged digitally under a black-and-white cover of a young boy expressing disappointment in a botched throw at the bowling alley. After a year of flashy releases, which saw near-constant airplay and endless hype, Will Connolly’s “Freddie Won the Toss” is a much-needed respite from not only the extravagance and chaos of the music world, but the current state of affairs. It feels almost like a secret, a quiet break from reality that still manages to retain its emotional power and sonic beauty in spite of the lack of fanfare. We could all use a breather after the unceasing shock of 2017, and “Freddie Won the Toss” is the refreshing, recharging record to ease our nerves and clear our minds before entering the new year.
(12/06/17 5:00am)
Humanity is at the core of every Pixar film. Whether the company is encouraging audiences to sympathize with the monsters living under their beds or assigning rich inner lives to the contents of a child’s toy box, Pixar has a reputation for finding the humanity in the inhuman. Even the anthropomorphized emotions of “Inside Out” had feelings of their own.
(11/29/17 5:04am)
As the trees shed their autumn leaves and the students shed their tears of stress over finals, Duke University offers one last reprieve before the unrelenting grind of exams and essays and group projects — Thanksgiving break. A teaser for the longer and much more appreciated winter break that promises relaxation and recovery for another challenging semester, Thanksgiving break is the calm before the academic storm. It is incredibly easy to forget about looming deadlines while carving turkey with loved ones or scoring deals on Black Friday.
(11/15/17 5:00am)
A decade ago, a Phoenix band by the scandalous name of Andrew Jackson Jihad released their second full-length album “People Who Can Eat People Are the Luckiest People in the World.” It was a shocking stab of folk-punk sound, angry and fast while still maintaining an introspective, melodic undertone that made it totally unique and instantly addictive. Nobody was spared from lead guitarist and vocalist Sean Bonnette’s sharp, scathingly accusatory lyrics, from his own stepfather to the Mrs. Robinson of Simon & Garfunkel’s track of the same name.
(11/08/17 5:00am)
The headlines come rolling, a tidal wave of buzz words and quotes and half-hearted condolences that ring hollow in the echo chamber of media news, in which the same stories — “celebrity comes forward with sexual assault story” — are produced without any action ever taken against the perpetrator of the assault. Victims are maligned and dismissed, while perpetrators go on to win Oscars and make millions. This dichotomy only amplifies the blasé reaction to sexual assaults on smaller scales; the media’s reluctance to dole out consequences for sexual predators impresses upon the public the belief that sexual violence is a petty crime for which the repercussions are minimal and that victims are self-absorbed and attention-seeking.
(11/01/17 4:00am)
In a world that often seems devoid of meaning, science and religion are often the most reliable means of assigning definition and validity to an unpredictable, chaotic universe. While the ideas can peacefully coexist and even overlap in intriguing ways, most people typically subscribe to one of the two institutions in their search for meaning. For some, religion is too subjective and narrative-dependent to hold veracity or relevance; for others, science is a deeply flawed, aggrandized school of thought that cannot explain certain phenomena.
(10/25/17 4:01am)
In 1945, John H. Johnson founded the magazine Ebony and the fashion world underwent a massive change. The monthly publication — which featured predominantly black models, a rarity for the time — spawned the Ebony Fashion Fair, a traveling annual fashion show that showcased garments from top European designers and featured African-American models in breathtaking couture gowns. Although primarily a charitable endeavor, the Ebony Fashion Fair was also a platform for African-American women who had previously been shut out of modeling and acting jobs due to the Eurocentric, Twiggy-esque beauty standards held at the time.
(10/11/17 4:00am)
In a perfect world, every sitcom — no matter how jaw-clenchingly cheesy or overdone — would be like “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” There would be no more relying on stereotypes, no more characters acting needlessly cruel to one another for the sake of a cheap laugh, no more reducing characters of color to poorly-written tokens. Unlike most network comedies, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” makes a noticeable and often fruitful effort to improve upon the sitcom format and provide an entertaining half-hour program without stooping to raunchy lows. “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” is today’s answer to recent sitcom legends like “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation,” taking a simple concept — a New York City police precinct detective team deals with workplace and personal issues, most of which are uniformly lighthearted — and elevating it with a deft blend of sharp writing and brilliant characterization. By avoiding tired sitcom tropes and tackling the more problematic aspects of police work, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” stands out in the modern comedy lineup. Its fifth season promises to continue delivering clever, introspective laughs.
(10/04/17 4:22am)
Nobody walked in the Sheafer Lab Theater on Thursday. As the cast and crew of Hoof ‘n’ Horn arrived for rehearsals of its upcoming show “The Producers,” people dashed across the level platform that serves as the stage or practiced dance steps in the corner or thundered down the stairs of the seating area. Even when the cast and ensemble gathered around the piano to warm up, they remained in motion — bouncing lightly on their heels and playfully pushing one another. Their energy never flagged, not even after running the choreographically demanding opening number and rushing around to construct the minimalist set for one of the show’s funniest songs, “Keep It Gay.” How does this student-run theater company find the time and spirit for rehearsal after a long day of classes and other extracurriculars?
(09/27/17 4:09am)
There is no easy way to discuss death. Even when couched in pleasant language or harmless euphemisms, the topic is universally repulsive for its uncomfortable connotations, its alarming inevitability, its dreadful uncertainty. People do not want to talk about death, especially their own. However, in a world where medical advances have extended the arduous task of dying from a matter of days to years, death and the end of one’s life have become subjects that demand conversation. Fortunately for the students of Duke University, this is not an endeavor that has to be undertaken alone — three professionals are preparing to facilitate this difficult discussion in an interactive workshop that will likely be more enlightening than depressing.
(09/20/17 4:00am)
“The Mindy Project” is all grown up. After four years of workplace romance and pleasantly predictable hijinks, the show has finally reached its sixth and final season, which promises to find a happy ending for each of its characters. Of course, it will likely be a bumpy, wacky road until then, but with a romantic protagonist like Mindy at the helm, everyone will end up riding off into the sunset with their significant other before the finale credits roll.
(09/20/17 1:09pm)
It is human nature to obsess. Our obsessions distinguish us, drive us, destroy us. Countless stories have been told about the subject of obsession and its pernicious nature, depicting humans as manic creatures who will sacrifice their well being and relationships in the name of the all-consuming fixations that govern their lives. Perhaps most famous are the stories told by Darren Aronofsky, whose body of work centers around the passions that can so easily bloom into raging obsessions. From his sophomore effort “Requiem for a Dream” about the perils of drug addiction to the ballet thriller “Black Swan,” Aronofsky has been building narratives around the journey of a crazed protagonist toward that unattainable goal. His latest film “mother!” aims to deconstruct this theme of obsession by depicting in vivid detail just how catastrophic it can be when an innocent is caught in the crossfire between the obsessed and their point of fixation.
(09/13/17 4:01am)
When Taylor Swift took the stage at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards and Kanye West snatched her microphone away to praise Beyoncé’s work, the media became obsessed with their feud. The bizarre moment rapidly evolved into a cultural touchstone, producing a slew of “Imma let you finish” jokes and prompting reporters to hound both artists about their plans for retaliation. West was consternated for his interruption, even after issuing both public and private apologies to the artist. Swift was the victim, a young girl whose moment to shine had been eclipsed by a crazed egomaniac. The fascination with this feud eventually waned, but the die was already cast: Taylor Swift was officially the victim.
