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(01/30/18 11:00am)
On Jan. 28, the 60th annual Grammy Awards, held in New York City, continued the long and storied tradition of honoring the complete mediocrity that the Recording Academy strives for. Once again, the Grammys chose to elevate bland and predictable pop acts over cutting-edge hip-hop and rap artists. Bruno Mars’ milquetoast pop retread “24 Karat Magic” bested far more worthy contenders like Kendrick Lamar’s “DAMN.” and Childish Gambino’s “Awaken, My Love!” for album of the year, repeating the annual cycle of hip-hop being kept out of the top spot by any means necessary. Once again, the Grammys have marked themselves as the laughingstock of the award season, hopelessly out of touch with anything close to the cultural zeitgeist and seemingly clueless to music’s current form. Disturbingly, the Recording Academy seems to care less about artistic integrity or creativity and more about ensuring a basic standard of whiteness and complacency is maintained in its top honors. If the album of the year winner isn’t an accessible and inoffensive white pop album, it’s an oddball album from white industry veterans the Academy should have honored years ago, like Daft Punk’s “Random Access Memories” or Beck’s “Morning Phase.” The last album of the year that can be charitably described as anything close to a daring pick is Outkast’s 2004 LP “Speakerboxx/The Love Below,” a legitimately forward-thinking album that only won because of the runaway success of its lone traditional stab at pop songwriting, the smash hit single “Hey Ya.” Since then, no hip-hop album has ever won album of the year, despite the wealth of fantastic works in the genre and its meteoric rise as the dominant form of popular music. No matter the pick, the logic behind it is always the same. The Grammys are only capable of looking backward, clinging dearly to musical artifacts and outdated preconceptions. Mars’ “24 Karat Magic” is a hollow replica of classic R&B albums like Stevie Wonder’s “Songs in the Key of Life” and Janet Jackson’s “Control”, containing all their flair but none of their punch or immediacy. Traditionalist pop and rock acts always manage to find their way into the top spot, cultural relevance or critical acclaim be damned. Any remotely daring album put out by a Black artist is to be cast aside by the Grammys, regardless of artistic merit.
(01/30/18 11:00am)
I think Stephen Colbert said it best on The Late Show on Jan. 23, the night after the 90th annual Oscar nominations were announced: “There are no controversies over lack of diversity. …With no big Oscar snubs, who are we mad at?” While I don’t believe diversity is an indicator of quality, there are very few exceptions to this year’s nominees that I take issue with. It happens to be that the Oscars got most everything right this year. This growing inclusion is more a commentary on the industry than on the quality of the films released in 2017.
(01/24/18 12:18am)
The women’s basketball team lost both games it played this week, falling to Emory University on Friday night and the University of Rochester on Sunday afternoon.
(11/21/17 11:02am)
This past weekend was the conclusion of a fantastic cross country season. The men’s and women’s teams each sent their captain to compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III National Cross Country Championships. While the teams were not among the 32 teams that qualified to run in the national championships, captains Ryan Stender ’18 and Emily Bryson ’19 were among the 56 individual runners who qualified based on their times at regionals. Both runners returned as All-Americans. Before yesterday, the men’s and women’s teams hadn’t both had an All-American in the same season since 1995.
(11/14/17 11:00am)
Review — Sterile. Raw. Complex. “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” is not unlike heart surgery. It’s slow. It’s careful. It’s layered. Yorgos Lanthimos’ new film takes a deep look into the peaceful home life of a heart surgeon (Colin Farrell) and his ophthalmologist wife (Nicole Kidman) together with their older daughter and younger son. However, their peace is disrupted when a neighborhood boy (Barry Keoghan) begins tormenting them for an undisclosed reason, shaking up their mild and dull lives in the upper class. What proceeds is a tense drama and a countdown of unknown terrors the father must prevent.
(10/31/17 10:04am)
The men’s soccer team had a challenging slate of games this past week, facing off against two formidable opponents in Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Chicago. The squad opened the week with a nail-biter, narrowly edging WashU in a riveting golden-goal victory in double-overtime. The team, however, could not keep its good fortunes going into its contest against University Athletic Association rival UChicago. In a tight match between the two postseason regulars, UChicago was able to pull out a victory over a Brandeis squad that continues to struggle against elite opponents.
(10/24/17 10:00am)
Review — Last weekend, the Undergraduate Theatre Collective presented Noel Coward’s play “Blithe Spirit,” which was directed by Marek Haar ’20 and produced by Becca Lozinsky ’20.
(10/24/17 10:04am)
The Judges took a leap forward in their pursuit of postseason play this past Wednesday, drop-kicking the Clark University Cougars 5-1 in their sole action of the week.
(10/17/17 10:00am)
Students took a hands-on approach to fine art last week, helping the 2017 to 2018 Ruth Ann and Nathan Perlmutter Artist-in-Residence recipient install his latest creation, “Plunder.”
(10/17/17 10:02am)
The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams continued the early portion of the 2017 to 2018 season on the road at Wheaton College this past Saturday. The men’s side picked up the victory with a score of 156-138, while the women fell short of the win, 191-104.
(10/10/17 10:00am)
“Pay with your face,” declared the Sept. 12 release video for the new iPhone X. With that one statement, Apple Inc. has forced me to step away from the cutting edge.
(10/10/17 10:04am)
The men’s soccer team continued to steamroll its way to the postseason this past week, picking up two big wins against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Carnegie Mellon University. The squad opened its week with a 3-1 beat-down of cross-town rival MIT and followed that impressive victory with a Homecoming triumph against No. 11 Carnegie Mellon.
(10/10/17 10:00am)
REVIEW — The original “Blade Runner” from 1982 is controversial yet unanimously accepted as a modern sci-fi classic. The film has been modified into several different cuts over many decades to satisfy either the production executives or director Ridley Scott but never both. Fans detest the narration-riddled theatrical cuts and praise the subtler final cut.
(09/19/17 10:00am)
According to a Sept. 13 article from CNN, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) proposed a new health care bill that would give Americans free access to doctor visits, hospital stays, reproductive care and other comprehensive health services. It would also eliminate premiums on private insurance, deductibles and copays; however, some may still have to pay up to $250 on prescription medication. The plan would cost nearly $1.4 trillion annually, resulting in a 2.2 percent tax increase on Americans. What do you think of Sanders's plan, and is it feasible?
(09/12/17 10:00am)
According to a recent study from Pew Research Center, 67 percent of Americans revealed that they get at least some of their news from social media. Of this 67 percent, 74 percent of individuals receive their news from Twitter — a value that has significantly increased since the election of President Donald Trump. In the era of "fake news," does there need to be more scrutiny on what news sources are trusted, or is social media just a convenient way to receive updates?
(09/12/17 10:00am)
There never seems to be a lack of intriguing superhero movies. So it was no surprise that when “Wonder Woman” came out on June 2, 2017, it was an instant hit. With a 92 percent rating in Rotten Tomatoes and a box office of $813.2 million, “Wonder Woman” has been in over 4,165 theatres for 100 days. Being such a big hit, Warner Bros. has already announced the return of Gal Gadot in the sequel being released in 2019.
(09/12/17 10:00am)
The men’s soccer team’s sole action of the week came Saturday in a cross-town rivalry showdown with Babson College. As usual, the rivalry match did not disappoint, as the Judges and Beavers went back and forth in what proved to be Brandeis’ most significant win of the young 2017 season. After dropping their season opener, the Judges seem to have regained their footing and are living up to their No. 4 ranking.
(09/04/17 8:33pm)
The Brandeis women’s soccer team began the season with two games this past week. They lost the first match to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Engineers, but won the second against the Lasell College Lasers. After a disappointing Final Four loss at the end of last season, the squad is looking to set themselves up for success this fall. However, with the first two games in the books, the Judges are beginning to get a sense of the work they must put in to meet such a goal.
(05/01/17 11:53pm)
The Brandeis track and field teams completed their final regular season meet at the Brown Springtime Invitational hosted by Brown University this past weekend.
(05/01/17 11:50pm)
The opening round of the National Basketball Association playoffs consisted of many exciting matchups that nearly became upsets at times, but ultimately finished with top teams as victors. Most dominant were the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors, who were able to sweep the first four games versus the Indiana Pacers and Portland Trailblazers, respectively. Additionally, the Houston Rockets coasted to a five-game series win versus the Oklahoma City Thunder, knocking out MVP candidate Russell Westbrook. However, other top teams struggled at times in games, like the San Antonio Spurs, Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards and Boston Celtics, who all won the round 4-2.
