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(02/02/24 2:45am)
If you’re a pop cultural obsessive like me, Christmas isn’t the most wonderful time of the year. That actually comes a few weeks earlier, usually from late November to early December, in the form of list season. You know what it is, if not by name: when every magazine, blog, and online publication throws down their takes on the best movies, music, television, trends, books, and unforgettable moments of the year. It’s a time to feel vindicated when our faves top the charts, and to discover everything we missed while boring stuff like jobs and school kept us busy.
(01/12/24 2:01am)
Banned from La Tao: “I’m a super sloppy hot–potter.”
(01/12/24 1:55am)
Wingwomen (2023) has so much promise and I thoroughly enjoy many parts of it. But it is difficult to look away from its glaring issues in terms of storytelling—especially a questionable, basic, and boring ending to what is supposed to be a thrilling and heart–warming action spectacular.
(02/16/24 6:09am)
Walking down the gravel sidewalks of the Seventh Ward, passersby are struck by what appears to be an inexplicable coalescence of past and present. At 538 Lombard Street, individuals marvel at the sight of Mrs. Doris Way passing by Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1973 and others swear to have seen Nat “King” Cole performing a piano jazz medley at 510 South Broad Street.
(12/03/23 11:09pm)
Good grief! As finals season approaches, so does the holiday season. Synonymous with this time of year is a certain franchise: Peanuts. With five feature films and 51 television specials under their belts, Charlie Brown and company are the epitome of consistent cultural presence. Though it seems there’s a 25–minute to hour–long short for every holiday—from Easter to Arbor Day—true Peanuts primetime arises as soon as East Coast temperatures hit the fifties. The best of the best cover the three major American events of the season: Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Millions have watched these specials air each year for decades (a fact that led to considerable backlash when Apple TV+ acquired them and it appeared the company wouldn’t allow the tradition to carry on). Aside from Charles Schulz’s instantly memorable characters, however, there’s another element that contributes to the Peanuts specials’ charm, and it’s all thanks to Vince Guaraldi.
(12/08/23 1:26pm)
2023 marks another year of my affectionate relationship with cinematic and televisual. I traveled around the globe chasing film festivals, producing more academic nonsense for my beloved Cinema & Media Studies classes, and inevitably falling in love with the many worlds behind the screen over and over again. I believe that film and television are all about worldmaking: They have an unparalleled capability to help us imagine strange people, unconventional lives, and alternative experiences that are by no means trivial to our existence on Earth. All film and television, for me, are realistic, because what is our perception of reality but the very boundary of our imagination?
(12/04/23 12:00pm)
As the years go by and we as a society have come to realize that, yes, the internet really is forever, it seems increasingly important to keep track of what we’re creating and consuming. From melting your brain with "Subway Surfers" gameplay over Family Guy clips and admiring Sabrina Brier’s on–screen adaption of the worst person you’ve ever met, to a never–ending pool of borg–related puns, or maybe the all encompassing, summer long event that was "Barbenheimer," 2023 was certainly a year of bizarre, albeit entertaining, internet trends. So, if you’re trying to think back on how you’ve managed an alarmingly high daily screen time, and coming up blank, Street’s got you covered. Without further ado, our official list of the best internet trends of 2023.
(12/11/23 2:00pm)
The year 2023 will always be remembered for music, at least for me. I’ve had personal stakes in many of the albums that have come out this year. The prodigal boys, i.e. boygenius, reunited after five years and put out the film, directed by none other than Kristen Stewart, and Lana saved lives and served (at Waffle House). If these past few years have proven the solid foundation of artists, 2023 is about those artists taking a sledgehammer on that base and reemerging brand new.
(11/29/23 2:24am)
Everyone says they want diversity. Exactly what this means is up for interpretation. While business says it means trying to hire minorities, and universities say they want economic diversity, the decision–makers and the incentives they operate under are the same as they’ve always been, leading us to little noticeable change.
(12/04/23 6:00am)
*Author’s note: The SAG–AFTRA strike ended with a tentative deal on Thursday, November 9. Already, actors have been flocking to do press appearances on late–night shows and promoting their work on social media, demonstrating the importance of press to a movie’s success and how the strike imposed on actors’ awards chances.
(11/17/23 2:00pm)
Search “things they don’t tell you about pregnancy” on TikTok and a slew of videos pop up. New parents, shock evident in their voices, and people on their second or third child hoping to educate others, describe unexpected bodily changes—everything from chronic nose bleeds to rapid hair and nail growth. How could no one tell them this would happen?
(11/21/23 5:00am)
It’s easy to forget erasure. It’s easy to get blinded by the popularity of films like Everything Everywhere All At Once and Minari sweeping awards, K–dramas adorning the Netflix front page, and K–pop topping the Billboard charts. Why harp on past racism when we can move forward without turning back?
(11/20/23 5:00am)
Policy regarding disability inclusivity has long been a roaring debate in the United States. In the midst of polarized discourse, Amy Lutz has dedicated her academic and personal life to championing the implementation of support systems for the cognitively impaired. Through her literary journey as a current Penn faculty member and a medical historian, Lutz advocates for an approach to disability policy and practice that recognizes the intense and lifelong needs of profoundly autistic people.
(11/30/23 3:46pm)
When Sharon Chepnego (W '26) strolled down Locust Walk's Student Activities Council Fair at the start of her freshman year, a particular table caught her attention. Its poster contained the word “KENYA” in big, bold lettering. Sharon, an international student, had just arrived at Penn from Nairobi, Kenya, and was only beginning to get accustomed to her new life at an American university. She only recently received her SIM card from T–Mobile and had just been taught how to use Amazon.
(11/17/23 1:58am)
Erika Acosta’s every pursuit unfolds like a series of nesting dolls, each layer revealing a new facet of her vibrant and dynamic personality. At the outermost layer is her role as the Political Chair of the United Minorities Council (UMC), where she ardently advocates for the representation of minority groups on campus. Beyond this, Erika delves into the complex histories and narratives of the Asian American experience as an Asian American Studies minor. Her involvement with the Penn Philippines Association (PPA) brings together her passions with Filipino advocacy.
(01/12/24 1:54am)
MJ Lenderman has had a busy two years. When I first saw him perform in Feb. 2022, he was playing in the loading dock of a bar in North Philadelphia to a crowd of, generously, a couple hundred people. Sharing the stage with three local Philly bands, Lendermen lent his guitar heroics to Florry’s rendition of “Dead Flowers” and watched Hooky and Snoozer alongside the beanie and cargo pants–clad masses with whom he blended in well enough not to draw any attention. He was promoting the forthcoming release of his album Boat Songs, via Philly’s own Dear Life records, itself home to 2nd Grade, Friendship, and other local indie stalwarts.
(11/29/23 5:00am)
You might’ve heard some rumbling about a new Beatles song that came out a few weeks ago. Billed as the “last Beatles song,” “Now and Then” features the voices of all four Beatles members, a curious product given the disbanded group had tragically lost two of their members within the last 50 years. However, with the help of artificial intelligence, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were able to isolate George Harrison and John Lennon’s vocals from demo versions of the tracks. Adding some additional production and a 2023 revamp, the group decided to release the song, to the shock of their fans, in tandem with a documentary film Now and Then – The Last Beatles Song that describes the process of how the song was made.
(11/17/23 5:00am)
If I want to get back to my hometown, Buffalo, NY from Philly, I have three bad options.
(12/01/23 12:00pm)
R&B singer Mariah the Scientist’s latest album "To Be Eaten Alive," is a testament to her growth and pen as an artist as she tackles her fame, life, and artistry. Released Oct. 27 off of independent label Buckles Laboratories, much of the record’s lyrical content is relevant to Mariah’s experience surrounding her boyfriend Young Thug’s incarceration on May 9, 2022, when Thug and other artists associated with music label and collective YSL were arrested on gang–related Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act charges, as well as her struggles handling womanhood and the music industry. This album is a step in the right direction, proving that her art can perhaps hold its own alongside generational contemporaries by the likes of SZA and Summer Walker. However, Mariah's work tends to reflect the tried and true motifs first developed by the genre’s predecessors, incorporating a love–letter style of writing and airy production.
(11/27/23 8:00am)
There are some who complain that America has gone woke—but when has it not been? The woke mob (Puritans) have been canceling (executing) innocent Americans (“witches”) since our nation’s founding. The original colonizers of New England were among the first to promote a “politically correct” culture in the U.S., rigidly enforcing Puritanical codes of morality and behavior under threat of exile or even death. This unique founding spirit has never really gone away—from the Hays Code to the Satanic Panic to Tipper Gore’s Parents Music Resource Center, the instinct to censor runs deep in American culture. But in recent years, a new outgrowth of this horrifying urge has manifested itself in an entity so cloaked in pizazz and saccharine pop sweetness that it almost defies recognition for the beast that it is. I speak, of course, of that devil Kidz Bop.