Alex Garland is arguably one of the most divisive directors working in Hollywood today. Whether “Annihilation” or “Men,” his directorial efforts typically see very drastic differences amongst critics and audiences. Well Garland continues that streak with his latest film “Civil War” starring Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny and Stephen McKinley Henderson.
Taylor Swift released her 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” on Friday, April 19 – a reflection of what Swift calls a “fleeting and fatalistic moment in time – one that was both sensational and sorrowful in equal measure.”
Local Natives, an indie/folk rock band out of Southern California, released their sixth studio album this past Friday, “But I’ll Wait for You.” The record is a sister album to their last release, “Time Will Wait for No One,” and consists of tracks recorded in the same sessions as that album. The result is a beautiful 10-track record that tells a compelling story.
Shippensburg University’s Jazz Ensemble hosted its yearly concert in the Luhrs Performing Arts Center on Monday, April 15. The SU Department of Music presented the concert, which featured a variety of different jazz scores and plenty of soloists, all of which was put together by the hard work of the ensemble’s members and director Trever Famulare.
Society is obsessed with the dating lives of women in the music industry. Fans of female pop stars have been accused of being parasocial and crazy, but in recent years, their haters take the cake. The obsession with these women’s personal lives has reached an all-time high. Because of this, women like Sabrina Carpenter, Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift are routinely defined by their dating lives, rather than their talent.
Netflix has a long list of adaptations of popular media under its belt and shows like “Cowboy Bebop” have had terrible receptions. The series “3 Body Problem” has avoided some of the negative reviews, but it cannot be called a faithful adaptation. “3 Body Problem” adapts the “Remembrance of Earth’s Past” trilogy taking the name of the first book. The book series is one of my favorite stories. When I heard the series would receive a show, I was ecstatic. To my disappointment, the Netflix series takes so many creative liberties that the original plot gets lost.
Drake’s most recent tour, “Big as the What?” was an unbeatable experience for many. Throughout the nine months of the tour, Drake has had many additional performers for his concerts that people have enjoyed. On March 31, Drake brought Lil Wayne on the stage. Both rappers have had an enormous impact from generation to generation, as they have been around for decades. Their lyricism is inspirational and they encompass rare entertainment skills. The ability to watch them do what they love is special.
Maggie Rogers released her third studio album, “Don’t Forget Me,” on Friday, April 12. At just about 36 minutes, “Don’t Forget Me” is short and sweet — and the perfect album for a spring drive.
For 364 days of the year, the Ceddia Union Building is closed by midnight. For one night, however, SU’s student-run radio station, WSYC, breaks all the rules and stays up all night.
After a hiatus in 2023, the Shippensburg University Percussion Ensemble performed for an excited audience on Tuesday, April 9, in the Luhrs Performing Arts Center.
JoJo Siwa released her new song “Karma” on April 5. The internet was surprised by her new look as we have known the teen sensation to be colorful with a big bow in her hair. Users on TikTok have a negative outlook on her music video and have been making fun of both the video and clips of her from interviews talking about her new look and song.
Shippensburg University’s art and design faculty hosted the second spring senior art exhibit on Saturday, April 6, which featured six student artists who presented their artwork in the Kauffman Gallery.
The biggest spectacle in all of sports entertainment was live from the City of Brotherly Love on April 6 and 7 at Lincoln Financial Field. On a frigid weekend, Philadelphia still showed out and packed over 72,000 screaming fans each night -- including my father and I. This was the first WrestleMania in the Paul “Triple H” Levesque era. Paul took over and brought that spark back to professional wrestling that WWE lost many moons ago.
Ariana Grande’s seventh studio album, “Eternal Sunshine,” offers a translucent view to who Grande is as an artist and an individual.
Over the past few months, I have been seeing many promotional materials for “Small Island, Big Song.” Not just from the Luhrs Performing Arts Center, but professors from across several different departments have been encouraging their classes to attend the performance on Monday.
The opening ceremony for the Senior Art exhibit took place at the Huber Arts Center’s Kauffman Gallery on Saturday, March 23. Each student talked about their artwork and the meanings behind them.
It is astounding how, five films in, no sequel or reboot has succeeded in capturing the magic of the original 1984 masterpiece that is “Ghostbusters.” A true lightning-in-a-bottle film, everything came together to create one of the all-time great film comedies with one of the all-time great casts. Unfortunately, Sony will not let the series rest, and they are once again trying to make “Ghostbusters” their new MCU with the new “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.”
Shippensburg University has talent, and it was on display at the Luhrs Performing Arts Center Thursday night.
My favorite show is called “Abbott Elementary.” It was released in 2021 and is a mockumentary about four teachers, Janine Teagues (Quinta Brunson), Gregory Eddie (Tyler James Williams), Melissa Schemmenti (Lisa Ann Walter) and Barbara Howard (Sheryl Lee Ralph). These hard-working teachers work under their not so hardworking boss, Ava Coleman (Janelle James) in a low funding Philadelphia public school.
30 million monthly listeners. This seems like a statistic for a newly released album; however, this album is nearly 10 years old. This statistic just reinforces the timelessness of the album “Blonde” by Frank Ocean. “Blond” or “Blonde,” which are the masculine and feminine versions of blonde in French, are what Frank Ocean uses to represent his duality in masculinity and femininity through his world-renowned album that was released on Aug. 20, 2016. This album surrounds Ocean’s struggle with masculinity and emotions inspired by sexual experiences, heartbreak, loss, duality and trauma through introspective lyrics and unconventional and progressive sounds.
