Culture
Culture
‘Digging for Fire’ highlights authenticity
When you watch Joe Swanberg’s movies, you’re struck by the ostensible love interests. How can two people so starkly contrasted ever hope to forge a lasting relationship? In Swanberg’s earlier work (“Silver Bullets,” “Drinking Buddies”), the results often aren’t pretty. In his latest, the excellent “Digging for Fire” (co-written with Jake Johnson), Swanberg takes an […]
Culture
‘The End of the Tour’ adds humanity to an enigma
“The End of the Tour,” based on David Lipsky’s book “Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace,” illustrates Lipsky’s experience interviewing David Foster Wallace while on a five-day book tour for Wallace’s colossal, footnote-filled novel, “Infinite Jest.” The film begins with Lipsky in 2008, when he receives […]
Culture
The best music of summer 2015
Beach House, ‘Depression Cherry’: The Baltimore duo’s fifth album eschews the dramatic drums of their earlier efforts while retaining the theatricality of their sound. Victoria Legrand’s voice has never been stronger, and Alex Scally has been given some freedom to play with some aggression, a word rarely identified with Beach House. Everything is bolstered by […]
Culture
‘Rick and Morty’ returns
Animation can let thoughts and ideas get to some really strange places that would be otherwise restricted in a more realistic dramatic form, like live-action television or theater. When anything you want to do is visually possible, the scope of ways to approach a particular subject expands exponentially. That’s part of what makes Adult Swim’s […]
Culture
Bill Nye challenges students to ‘change the world’
The students started to chant his name before he entered the room, before the lights had begun to dim in the auditorium. He bounded out onto the stage from the wings, with a loose, spry gait and the boundless energy of a much younger Science Guy. He looks older now—60 years this November—but to the […]
Culture
‘From #Ferguson’ summons art from ashes
Now more than ever, America is grappling with its history of violence and oppression towards people of color. Last week, the Hartnett Gallery opened its first exhibition of the year, entitled “From #Ferguson,” featuring works by Bryce Olen Robinson. A native of Ferguson, Missouri, Robinson’s work speaks to the racism that he has seen and […]
Culture
2016 forecast: late-night surge
Late-night television owes much of its success to politics, experiencing a boom every four years during presidential campaign season. Why is this so? Satire gives political topics an oft-needed note of levity. We can laugh at the folly of the political process and at the figures that inhabit the political sphere. There’s a deep irony […]
Culture
The summer in music: in search of the essential jam
Maybe I am just out of touch with what’s popular, but it felt like this summer was lacking a song to call its own. In May Adam Levine released “This Summer’s Gonna Hurt...,” a slick dance-pop tune with modern-feeling production and a chorus that was super catchy. Shortly after Carly Rae Jepsen released a string […]
Culture
The movies to watch this fall
With the school year heating up, here are some of my most anticipated movies that will be released this semester. “The Martian” (October 2) Based on the Andy Weir novel of the same name, “The Martian” follows an astronaut (Matt Damon) who is abandoned by his crew on Mars after they believe him to have […]
Culture
Persistence pays in arts internships
“What are you doing this summer?” That is the question we are asked more and more as the school year comes to a close. For those of us interested in internships related to the arts, it can seem difficult at times to lock something down, and yet it is evermore crucial to highlight that hands-on […]
