“Fashion isn’t as hugely represented, it's whitewashed. There's not a lot of interest in it at Tufts," graduating senior Kaitlynn Hong said over Zoom. "Before [The Lewkk] there weren’t a lot of events highlighting students of color and also people who were interested in fashion, together.”
Graduating senior Rachel Napoliello didn’t start her Tufts career knowing she wanted to pursue filmmaking.
This is it. We have made it to the end of the semester and the end of our careers at The Tufts Daily. What a way to go out. Thank you for indulging us as we write about what we love most: musicals. This week, to close out the column, we would like to share some of our favorite musical-related media that we have not yet discussed. We encourage all of you to use this time at home to check out these titles as they are sure to lift your spirits. So let’s get started!
A sign announcing the closure of Tufts Athletics fields due to social distancing guidelines is pictured on a fence near the Ellis Oval/Zimman Field on April 25. Nicole Garay / The Tufts DailyThe Pearson Chemistry Lab is pictured on April 25. Nicole Garay / The Tufts DailyTalbot Avenue is pictured on ...
The quality and quantity of residence halls are a subject of frequent controversy at Tufts. The chaotic housing placement system, the ongoinghousing crisis,therecent acquisition of former fraternity and sorority houses in a half-hearted response to said crisis, the conspicuous renovations of Miller ...
After weeks of quarantines and stay-at-home orders, things might seem (relatively) hopeful for the summer. There’s vaccineprogress, social distancinghas helped save lives and it seems that the coronavirushas peaked in various countries. And while it might seem like a great time to begin returning to normal — whatever that means — thepush for some states to reopen is certainly worrisome. What about future peaks? Shouldn’t we focus on containing the virus rather than starting to reopen businesses and exposing more people?
Love is far from one of the most famous bands from the late 1960s, but nevertheless, it is remembered as an important musical group of the era for multiple reasons. Not only did it push the boundaries of rock through its experimentalism and fusion of a variety of other genres, but Love also broke down barriers in having a racially diverse group, which was a rarity at the time.
Who is The Weeknd? I’ve always felt that this vowel-snubbing vocalist was somewhat of an enigma in modern music. This isn’t only because of his rare and almost unparalleled ability to blend hip-hop, R&B and pop (whatever that means) into an expressive finished product; it also comes from his unique capacity for self-awareness. This isn’t to say that The Weeknd is the only popular artist of our day to exhibit this quality. I think many SoundCloud-rappers-turned-breakout-stars like Lil Uzi Vert and NAV are actually quite self-aware, just not in the same way. I enjoy listening to the artists mentioned above from time to time (my housemates can attest), but eventually it gets to a point where it’s just too much for me, and I’m left having to forcefully resist the desire to yell, “enough already” at the moody picture on NAV’sSpotify page while I simultaneously queue up 10 more of his songs, hoping that somehow those droning, auto-tuned vocals and hypnotic trap beats will push me to finally finish the essay I’ve been putting off.
With recent developments requiring all of us to be forced to stay inside, it’s no surprise that the past month has brought us the cultural re-emergence of tons of beloved video games. Whether you're playing Minecraft, Animal Crossing or even whipping out Call of Duty and NBA 2K, now is the time to get back into the franchises that made you fall in love with gaming in the first place. Seeing people find joy in their individual games in ways they haven't in years is a much-needed beam of light right now.
Yeah, things haven’t improved much since last week — if anything, they’ve gotten worse. As I write from New York, where we have entered a state of full-blown panic, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep a cool and collected head. I’ve always relied on music to ground me, whether I’m making art or working on a paper that I’d much rather not be writing. Keeping in line with this mentality, I have curated a playlist that hopefully some of you can vibe with. Here are some past and current favorites:
We are back again with another musical recorded on stage. This time it is “Disney’s Newsies: The Broadway Musical!” (2017). Let’s start by answering the question that is on everyone’s mind: Did you two go out on a weeknight to see this in a movie theater one of the few days it was being shown a few years ago? Yes. We absolutely did that. That’s right, everyone. During our first year at Tufts, we saw this recorded Broadway musical in theaters, and now we’re watching it during our senior spring. “Newsies” takes us back to the end of the 19th century where Jack Kelly (played by our favorite and yours, Jeremy Jordan) and his fellow orphans-turned-newspaper sellers plan to go on strike in order to earn the pay they deserve. Ordinarily, this standoff between the newsies and Joseph Pulitzer (Steve Blanchard) would be incredibly boring to learn about, but this musical does a great job of making this story more exciting to watch. The Broadway musical is jam-packed with incredible dance numbers and inspiring songs, all performed on a grandiose set. If you’re lacking energy during this quarantine, try watching “Newsies” to hype yourself up.
Much content has been written recently reviewing and discussing films like “Outbreak” (1995) and “Contagion” (2011). In times like these, it is intriguing to hypothetically compare and contrast pop culture’s depictions of our environment to our actual situation. Seeing if artists had the foresight to predict what was coming, not just culturally, but also politically and technologically, has this large cultural appeal. We prop up these works of art for their ability to capture the future, praising them for their accuracy. The articles we currently see are just a mutation of a long-running trend about “How x is the thing that properly describes our time now.” These films typically take strong stances on grand topics such as race, technology, wealth and constructs of division and power in the United States. If a film is able to depict our time, it's equally comforting and discomforting, giving us relief because we can tell ourselves that we, the viewer, saw this coming, but at the same time, it's terrifying because it makes the fictional suddenly very real.
It’s remarkable how little “Animal Crossing” has changed since the first installment dropped in the U.S. in 2002. In the 18 years since, its relaxing, wholesome, open-ended, short-daily-play-sessions formula has stood the test of time — everything from paying off your debt to Tom Nook to the ability to decorate your own home to the fishing and bug-catching into which any longtime “Animal Crossing” player has probably sunk a borderline-worrying number of hours. The somehow both addicting and soothing gameplay of maintaining and improving your town — a welcome return to a sense of normalcy given the current circumstances — clearly has worked and will continue to work for “Animal Crossing.”
In these strange and unfamiliar times of pre-recorded classes and structureless days, we call all fall prey to losing track of time and getting into very weird sleep schedules. But, whether you are going to bed at 4 p.m. or 5 a.m., there is still one common thread. At some point, you probably need to put clothes on (at least from the waist up). So, today we will discuss how we have adapted our outfits and relationship with clothes during this quarantine.
“Animal Crossing: New Horizons” (2020) released on the Nintendo Switch on March 20. Two weeks before then, I wasn’t sure if I was going to get it. One week beforehand, I decided to order it on Amazon, feeling like I wanted any new game to play while stuck at home. A few days beforehand, I canceled my Amazon order… and purchased the game digitally on my Switch so I could play it right at 12:00 a.m. on the Friday morning it was released. Why did I do that? I’ve never been into the “Animal Crossing” series, only having experienced it through brief gameplay of the 3DS version “Animal Crossing: New Leaf” (2012) and trying the mobile game “Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp” (2017). Needless to say, neither really hooked me. Yet the love and excitement for this game all over the internet really drew me in. The memes and serious discussions about Tom Nook, the raccoon landlord who builds your house, made me interested in seeing just what he was like. Fans of “Animal Crossing” games had been patiently awaiting a Switch version for years, and I was also curious whether this game would live up to their expectations. It seems like it has, and it’s certainly exceeded whatever vague expectations I had.
The world has gone off the rails, and so have we. This week we are switching it up and discussing a filmed musical theatre production instead of a traditional movie musical. Omigod you guys, it’s a free recording of a musical and it’s “Legally Blonde” (2007). Now, the story of Elle Woods can be quite misleading. A fashion merchandising major and sorority president decides in her senior spring that, after her boyfriend breaks up with her, she will just get into Harvard Law School. And the admissions officers will let her in because love is just that strong. While we love that the message is about a strong woman finding her voice and proving her ability to be an independent force of nature, the idea that love can get you into Harvard Law is just not how real life works, and it is important that everyone understands that. Anyway, we would like to thank MTV for blessing us with a recording of this musical that is never taken off YouTube. It makes the world a better place.
Welcome back, gang. Living in the age of the coronavirus can be tricky and, despite it all, we at The Tufts Daily remain dedicated to bringing you content that will inform and entertain you during this turbulent time. With that in mind, I’m proud to announce the return of my first-year passion project, “Hidden Panels: The Best Comics You Aren’t Reading” as a semi-regular fixture in the arts department. Without any further pomp or circumstance, let’s dive headfirst into the book de jour: Volume 1 of Donny Cates’ 2018 ongoing series from Marvel Comics, "Venom."
With the coronavirus moving rapidly around the world, it feels both eerie and well-timed to be reviewing Emily St. John Mandel’s work. Of the author’s past four books, her last was “Station Eleven” (2014), a novel about the devastation of the world following a flu pandemic (Mandel herself hasadvocated to wait a few months before picking it up). Her most recent work is also relevant, given this country’s current economic outlook: “The Glass Hotel” (2020) shifts gears to a story about financial collapse during the 2008 financial crisis.
In June of 2001, Wilco presented its newly finished album to its record company, Reprise Records, and was promptly dropped from the label. Time Warner had recently merged with America Online and wanted to cut costs with its record companies, which included Reprise Records. As a result, all it took was for one important person in the company to dislike the album, and that person happened to be interim President David Kahne.
“There is no sex in Georgian dance,” a stern instructor tells protagonist Merab (Levan Gelbakhiani) in an early scene of “And Then We Danced” (2019). This directive, barked out when the young dancer imbues his movements with a bit too much personality for the rigid strictures of masculinity ...
