Culture

Step teams face off in 16th annual show

Xclusive Step Team, clad in leather jackets and black berets, played boisterous hosts to UR’s “Stomping Through Dimensions” local middle-and-high-school step competition in a packed Strong auditorium on Saturday afternoon. The self-proclaimed “best, most powerful, and only step team on campus,” as one member of Xclusive put it, asserted “attitude, arms, power, and precision,” while […]

The amazing Spider-Verse: A review

Spider-Man is one of the most complex, nuanced, and effective characters in comics. I’m a pretty serious Marvel fan, and (along with Iron Man) Spidey is probably the figure who has, since his creation in “Amazing Fantasy #15” back in 1962, best expressed the key characteristic that makes Marvel heroes work — they’re humans. No […]

Impressive. . . Most Impressive: Rochester Philharmonic and ‘The Empire Strikes Back’

Reflect on the first time you saw “Star Wars.” The hum of a lightsaber, the epic laser battles, the intricate ships, and different planets each with their unique cultures — and most importantly, the swell of the strings and brass as they serenade you. Think of the wonder, magic, and excitement that comes alongside those […]

A radical education: University activism exhibit in Rush Rhees

The exhibit moves through the activism from 1962 to 1973 and displays the general trend of students’ and faculty powerful voice during this radical decade. Read More

Not Vanilla: The dark side of our media

Hello, reader! I spent my winter break delving into new series. I started the anime “Death Note” and completed HBO’s “Sharp Objects.” Both shows are known for their particularly dark content and some nights, they significantly affected my mood. I haven’t finished “Death Note” yet, but the premise is that an exceptionally conniving teenage boy […]

Bio-Doc: ‘The Life and Art of David Bowie’

Overwhelming aesthetic power was the focus of “The Life and Art of David Bowie,” a semi-biographical documentary shown at the Memorial Art Gallery. Read More

Closing this graphic novel made me sad to the ‘Bone’

The books are just as funny, sweeping, and touching as when I was a lad. Read More

Not Vanilla: The cultural cues of year’s end

Reader, you already know that 2018 is coming to a close. I hope your year has been wonderful, despite the world’s current turmoil. I’ve noticed a lot of cultural cues that surface at the end of every year. The obvious ones are the holidays, like New Years, Hanukkah, or Christmas. But there are other cultural […]

BSU celebrates unity and culture through Kwanzaa

Over the past week Black Students’ Union hosted their annual weeklong celebration of Kwanzaa, a Pan-African celebration that honors African unity and culture by focusing on seven core principles: Umoja (unity), Ujima (collaboration), Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujamaa (cooperative economics), Nia (purpose), Kuumba (creativity), Imani (faith). The first event of BSU’s “For The Culture Week,” began on […]

The joyous unity of “Mr. Brightside”

Many tracks have come and gone over the years as frat house staples — “Mo Bamba” is probably the latest — but few, if any, could ever command the nostalgic value, and  staying power of the iconic “Mr. Brightside.” By far the most popular number ever put out by The Killers, a post-punk foursome from […]