No Christmas tune is a musical masterpiece
I recently found all of these songs on numerous “Worst Christmas Songs” lists all over the Internet. I really don’t blame people for finding some of the following tunes a bit ineffectual, but I myself cannot help but get into the Christmas spirit after I hear these ditties.
Maybe ‘loathe’ is a better word
Actor. Philanthropist. Lover. Activist. George Clooney’s accolades read like a deity’s résumé. His grinning, rugged visage, accented by meticulously coiffed salt-and-pepper hair, beams out from every magazine stand, grocery store checkout, and silver screen in the country (and other countries, presumably).
Slate Magazine journalist Ron Rosenbaum talks to The College Reporter
One of the most difficult casual challenges I’ve ever faced was when a fellow student asked me to explain what it’s like to read the work of novelist Vladimir Nabokov. I quickly found that words like “brilliant” and “audacious” sound curiously inadequate.
During a late-night, long-distance phone interview, Aly gives perspective on a variety of issues
What would you say if I told you that there’s an Australian-born Muslim professor/lawyer/political commentator who, in his spare time away from lecturing on global terrorism or appearing on Australian television, is also the lead guitarist/songwriter for a funk-rock outfit called Robot Child (with gig proceeds going to the construction of a school for girls in war-torn Afghanistan)? To most, this would probably ring of bizarre fiction, like I just described a painfully loveable character out of a Persian New Age version of Family Matters.
Talented, young artist Taylor Mitchell tragically killed while hiking in a Novia Scotia national par
A promising Canadian folk singer-songwriter, Taylor Mitchell, age 19, was viciously mauled by two coyotes while hiking alone in Cape Breton Highlands National Park last Tuesday. Mitchell died the following morning due to her injuries, which consisted of many bite wounds over her body, causing her to loose considerable amounts of blood.
ABC failed to make this masterpiece the hit it deserved
As someone who has never (and I do mean never) consistently watched any current non-sports-related TV show (drama, sitcom, reality, etc.), I was skeptical when Sports Night was recommended to me. Sure, it has the word “sports” in the title, but couldn’t that just be a ploy to get unsuspecting viewers like me to watch it because it sounds like it’s about sports? As it turns out, the answer is: yes, it is absolutely a ploy.
Nostalgia for the classic characters of Toy Story draws audiences back to the theaters
As an avid Toy Story fan since the 1995 debut, I was excited to go see the recently released Toy Story 3D. With my favorite characters from the original, the voices of Tom Hanks (Woody) and Tim Allen (Buzz Lightyear) were just as exciting this time around.
Where the Wild Things Are takes us back to our own nine-year-old imaginary worlds
Watch the trailer: Inside each of us, there is a wild thing. So says the trailer for director Spike Jonze’s adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are. The trailer also boasts that the film comes from one of the most beloved children’s books of all time, written by Maurice Sendack.
Shake your groove thing to these favorite disco tunes
Disco is one of those genres you either love or hate—glistening lights and dance-floor crotch grabs are often received with open arms or outright disgust. But one of disco’s unarguable upsides is its use of unconventional instruments.
Comedy duo disappoints their avid cult following with new album
Spunky and sometimes a little inappropriate, Flight of the Conchords returns this month with their fifth album, I Told You I Was Freaky. The album was released last Friday, and is now number 10 on the iTunes charts. Sticking with what they know, the folk parody duo Jemaine Clement & Bret McKenzie use their sense of sarcasm and humor in an attempt to create more songs in the vein of their last four albums, Folk the World Tour, The BBC Radio Series: Flight of the Conchords, The Distant Future, and Flight of the Conchords.
This film keeps getting better with every delicious layer
Daniel Craig emerged as a household name in American film culture back in 2006 with his outstanding performance as James Bond in the twenty-first Bond film, Casino Royale. However, Craig was one of British theater’s most famous faces before Americans were exposed to his dreamy blue eyes, blonde hair, perfectly chiseled features, and a badass action-hero attitude that would make any good girl go mad.
Get in touch with your wild side via these tunes
What’s more fun than getting down and dirty with our animalistic wild sides? Let’s face it, college students love nothing more than partying hard and doin’ it like they do on the Discovery Channel. So here’s a mixtape for getting back to the place all you Tarzans and Janes came from, dedicated to all you party animals out there.
What would you do if stuck in a post-apocalyptic world full of flesh-eating zombies?
by Kevin Zawacki ’10 Ruben Fleicher’s Zombieland is a romp through an undead-ravaged Sun Belt and contemporary macabre-comedy. Like its luridly jocular counterparts (Sorority Row, Shaun of the Dead), Zombieland relies on a ghoul-infatuated fan base and clever self-awareness to turn a campy production into pop-culture fodder.
The director of Sorority Row talks movies, money, and Morgan Freeman
He’s only 30 years old, and yet he has already driven a tire iron through the solar plexus of an original cast member of The Hills, burned down a sorority domicile, shot a flare gun through a college girl's jaw, wasted a morally bankrupt therapist, and impaled Princess Leia.
Album review of Vertical Horizon’s newest album and interview with band frontman Matt Scannell
Vertical Horizon has produced outstanding music in the past. Their single, “Everything You Want,” reached #1 on Billboard charts in 2000, and the song was played on every radio station at least a few times a day for months. Even before “Everything You Want” came out, albums such as Running On Ice showcased founders’ Matt Scannell and Keith Kane’s raw talent as musicians and singer/songwriters.
While he desires fame, Mika battles his insecurities in new album
Mika released his special edition album, The Boy Who Knew Too Much, on Sept. 22. This double-sided disc includes videos for several of Mika’s hit songs, including “Grace Kelly” from his first album. (You may recognize “Grace Kelly” from the Chessmens’ repetoire).
The brand new Brand New album Daisy is making an impact on old and new fans alike
Brand New formed in 2000 in the wake of dissolving hardcore bands from the suburbs of New York City. For the most part, you wouldn’t be able to guess this when sampling their repertoire. Your Favorite Weapon, released in 2001, was a delightful pop/punk extravaganza that still managed to differentiate Brand New from similar bands at the time.
Chong’s new book, Egg on Mao, tells the true story of an ordinary man up against authoritarianism
Governance built on steel helmets and iron fists is never too far from the fatal turning point—the moment when courageous individuals risk everything to try to make the tyrannical system crack and fold. These moments often yield exceptional rewards (Nelson Mandela in South Africa and Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo in East Timor, to name just a couple).
Putting these next three quotes back-to-back creates the perfect synopsis for Sorority Row: “Lay her in the earth,/
And from her fair and unpolluted flesh
/May violets spring!/... A ministering angel shall my sister be/When, thou liest howling.” —William Shakespeare “I would like more sisters, that the taking out of one, might not leave such stillness.
If you hear the name of the band A Fine Frenzy and think of “Almost Lover,” the hit single from their 2007 album One Cell in the Sea, think again. The new album Bomb in a Birdcage by the female fronted pop/folk/indie band expounds a truly different, optimistic, even happy persona.
Our favorite jam band has released a reunion album
Phish, the renowned jam band that has been playing for over 25 years, just released their eleventh studio album, Joy. After they went on a hiatus in 2004, fans were devastated that the quartet would never be on stage again. However, their spirits were lifted when Phish announced they were going on a short tour in the spring and summer 2009.
Author Peter Richardson discusses his new book about the (in)famous New Left magazine
The covers of Ramparts magazine easily spoke for themselves—think the cover art of New York magazine fused with whatever went on inside of a young Iggy Pop’s head. Whether the design had JFK rendered into jigsaw puzzle pieces or the First Lady of South Vietnam in a Michigan State University cheerleader outfit, the cartoons themselves were enough to make any ’60s American radical all giddy.
America's best televised time-killers this side of Home Improvement re-runs
Ten minutes until class: get up, get dressed, brush teeth, brush hair. You're ready in record time, prepared to slink in the back of BOS250 twenty minutes late, notebook hidden under your shirt like you were there all along and had just stepped out for a drink.
Techno-action movie is as ordinary and robotic as most video games
Who needs World of Warcraft? Gamer, released Friday, Sept. 4, takes the violence of video games and pushes it a step further, asking several questions that gamers tend to avoid. What if... the people in video games were not animations, but real people? What if… death row inmates could avoid death by participating in real life battles in a simulated world? What if… we could take actors like Gerard Butler and Alison Lohman and pretend that they no longer have any talent? The story follows two MMORPGs, their players, the world that watches them, and the characters that inhabit it.
A compilation of reviews from five editors
Kevin Zawacki, Editor in Chief When previews for the feature film include Ninja Assassin and Whiteout, the outlook is bleak. And previews are apt augurs indeed—The Final Destination has all the appeal of a Denny’s Grand Slam. Once the fun of the 3D experience wears off, the movie limps to a jaded close.
Imogen Heap does not live up to her potential new album
Imogen Jennifer Jane Heap is a British electronica artist known for her solo work as well as her collaboration in the band Frou Frou. Imogen Heap gained notable popularity after getting her music played in The O.C. in 2004. Her recently released third album, Ellipse, can easily be recognized as an Imogen Heap album.
"Driving Like Crazy": A Review and an Interview Excerpt
Author P.J. O’Rourke has always embodied an unusual sort of libertine libertarianism. Just as he could ramble on all day about the sage virtue of Milton Friedman and a frat-boy gist of unbridled economic liberty, he could also spend all hours debating the constitutional merit of a claret ’64 Lotus Elan fit with a built-in three-martini lunch counter vs.
and 
