Arts & Culture

SOLAR FLARE | Warmer Days Ahead

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This assortment of songs remind me of summer and the weeks leading up to summer. I put these songs together because I wanted to capture the warmer, freer, more exciting days ahead. Some songs remind me of a luxurious summer nap with the windows open, and others sound like a techno beach-side dance club. 

Justin Bieber, Daniel Caesar and Giveon: Peaches

This song brings me right back to my high school senior spring. A lot was still closed down because of the pandemic, but whenever the weather hit 60 degrees I would head to the beach after school. Plus, Giveon’s verse in this song really scratches my brain in the right way.

Arts & Culture

“Immaculate”: Not Your Average Scream Queen Story

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I thought I was done with horror movies, but Immaculate had me hooked from the first scene. The viewer is lifted over the rolling pastures of the Italian countryside and plopped within the iron fences of a Roman Catholic convent. Right from the beginning, I felt a sense of entrapment and dread. After Sister Mary’s (Simona Tabasco) attempted escape rife with emotional agony, the viewer is literally pulled right back into the convent. The scene cuts to black, and we meet Sister Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney), a wide-eyed American nun invited to join the convent.  From there, I elected to watch the rest of the movie through my fingers.

Arts & Culture

‘Dune: Part Two’: Lacks Plot Lines as Arresting as its Visuals

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I walked into Dune: Part Two with extremely high hopes. I envisioned a sequel with masterful cinematography, bubbling with conflicts and tensions and romance. Instead, I left feeling like Dune: Part Two hardly pushed the plot forward or dove deeper into characters. This film, like the first movie, is very aesthetically appealing. Everything from the chalky coloration of Giedi Prime to the glowing blue eyes of the Fremen is artfully done.

Arts & Culture

Substance in the Small Details of ‘Saltburn’

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Many dismissed Emerald Fennell’s second film Saltburn as being “boring” and “empty.” My response to these comments: If this was your take on Saltburn, I don’t think you were paying close enough attention. Saltburn is filled with precise details, many of which I didn’t even appreciate until I had watched the movie a second time. Fennell first takes us to Oxford University in the early 2000s. Oliver Quick (played by Barry Keoghan) is a new student at Oxford at the time, struggling to fit in with his peers. Felix Catton (played by Jacob Elordi) becomes the object of Oliver’s attention, and the object of the film’s eye.

Arts & Culture

“Left Behind” Recap: The Last of Us

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Last Sunday’s episode of The Last of Us titled “Left Behind” served mainly to give the viewer insight into Ellie’s mysterious past. The viewer knows Ellie is different, not just because of the antibodies coursing through her blood, but because of her ability to find joy amidst the surrounding shrapnel. “Left Behind” takes us to the quarantine zone, where some normal aspects of life like school take place — albeit more militantly than normal — even with the threat of impending infection. The viewer finds Ellie to be almost as bold in the past as she is in the show’s main timeline. 

Her classmate Bethany learns this when she berates Ellie for her slow running pace and reminds her that her missing best friend Riley (Storm Reid) is no longer around to fight for her. Upon mention of her bestie, Ellie clocks Bethany squarely in the face without much thought.