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The typical routine of a Penn student likely looks like this: an endless rotation of classes, extracurriculars, social events, and mediocre dining hall meals. For Jason Xu, this was also the case—until he decided to leave Penn a quarter of the way through his sophomore year.
We love to flirt with death—at least behind the barrier of the silver screen. Maybe it’s morbid curiosity, maybe it’s catharsis, maybe it’s just good storytelling, but audiences have always been obsessed with the spectacle of survival. “Death game” movies—stories where contestants compete until only one walks out alive—feel aggressively modern, but the instinct behind their success is ancient. The arenas may change, but our fixation doesn’t.
This season, we watched fashion’s most storied maisons get handed over like relay batons—Demna at Gucci, Jonathan Anderson at Dior, Blazy at Chanel, Jack and Lazaro at Loewe, PPP at Balenciaga, and a wave of lesser–known but just–as–high–stakes appointments. It was a game of musical chairs so dizzying it felt like the end of an era—and the start of a new one. But in a landscape increasingly driven by quarterly earnings, social media virality, and sheer aesthetic fatigue, the real question is: does anything actually matter anymore?
It’s 4 p.m. and I’m running around Rittenhouse Square, looking for someone interesting to talk to. Arts beat Beatrice Han is by my side when we spot Sylvia and Effie, donned head–to–toe in goth couture.
It becomes increasingly difficult to romanticize autumn as the colorful leaves slowly turn brittle, a constant reminder that winter is approaching. But the changing scenery also hints that winter break is inching ever closer, and the anticipation of relaxing, reuniting with friends from home, and reconnecting with family members radiates all across campus. The holiday season is thrilling, but it can also be a stressful time: while bringing everyone together over a delicious meal can be meaningful, it can also unintentionally bring up family tensions and uncomfortable conversations. While it may feel easier to shy away from these uncomfortable interactions, the lighthearted romantic comedy Nobody Wants This reminds us that sometimes it's best to approach them head–on.
When I first met Dr. Katie Schuler, I immediately felt a sense of comfort. Her presence radiated genuine warmth and friendliness. I could easily imagine Schuler’s classroom being full of the same energy, creating a welcoming space where even intimidated or overwhelmed freshmen could feel at ease.
It’s hard to maintain critical distance from a film when you keep bumping into its director on the street, but Urchin (2025) made that impossible anyway. I immediately saw it a second time while at Cannes, partly because the film was so good and partly because the universe kept throwing Harris Dickinson directly into my path. I ran into him on the Croisette three separate times like some sort of strangely tailored omen, and then capped off the week by getting a photo with Frank Dillane right after he won Best Actor at the Un Certain Regard closing ceremony.
In Shih–Ching Tsou’s Left–Handed Girl, Taipei glows like a fever dream. It’s a city that never stops selling—night–market snacks, secondhand kitchenware, wholesale jewelry, you name it—but it also trades in the lives of its people. The film’s neon–lit streets and humid night markets form the backdrop for a portrait of working–class womanhood that’s both romantic and devastating.
I’m falling asleep in the back of the dark lecture hall when suddenly, plaster bodies wrapped in plastic packaging fill the screen, instantly snapping me awake.
Obsessive–compulsive disorder, which affects 3.8% of young Americans, is often misrepresented throughout our culture, from movies that show repetitive handwashing as the end–all be–all of compulsions to that one girl in your class who swears she’s “so OCD” because she likes her room clean. Today, a new generation of therapists and creators alike are flocking to TikTok and Instagram to call attention to what really goes on in the brain of someone who has OCD, while also showing audiences that those pesky four–hour rumination sessions and perfectionist tendencies have a clinical diagnosis. Significantly, they extoll the virtues of exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), a powerful tool for new and returning patients.
Olivia Dean is en route to being the ninth woman in a row to win Best New Artist at the Grammys. Like many previous winners, she’s been releasing music for almost a decade and—by virtue of TikTok’s algorithm—appears to have blown up overnight, boasting over 51 million monthly Spotify listeners as of December. This experience can be jarring—see Chappell Roan’s cynical take on celebrity life—but as she rises in fame, Dean continues to release music, bringing love and soul to the stage.
Every year, new moments enter the cultural zeitgeist—new slang becomes ingrained in our vocabulary and political figures become our little dolls to jerk around. With the increasing pace of online trend cycles, it can be difficult for anyone not chronically online to catch up. Luckily, Street has alarmingly high screen times and endless burner accounts. On the off chance you somehow missed whatever six–seven is, or the momentous Zohran Mamdani win in the New York mayoral race, Street’s got you covered.
We’ve all heard the saying “survive ’til ’25.” And while the entertainment industry may still be asking for more time to heal, there was certainly no shortage of output this year. Whether you prefer the cozy, C418–backed gameplay of Minecraft, you’re a fan of the high–tension lovable ragebait of the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise, or you adore The Last of Us but find yourself too scared to pick up a controller and play it (though I would encourage you to put on a brave face and try), there is an adaptation for you. Originals also have their moments, with A24 indie darlings putting their stars on the map, family dramas winning the Cannes Grand Prix, and animated musicals about a K–pop girl group topping the film and music charts for months on end. Whatever your preferences, this year had something for everybody—and some of Street’s most chronic Letterboxd users are here to tell you their favorites.
It is possibly the single most windy afternoon of the year when Wei–An Jin (C ’26) and I take our seats at Tea–Do in University City. One would think being indoors would allow us to avoid the sounds of the harsh winds muddying our conversation, but alas this afternoon must also be the busiest in Tea–Do history. Thus, Wei–An and I reminisce on her time at Penn while conversing over the blaring pop music and an overworked boba–shaker machine.
Content warning: This article contains mentions of violence towards children that can be disturbing and/or triggering for some readers.
Earlier this year, The New Yorker pondered whether music criticism has lost its edge. Gone are the days of musicians throwing sandwiches at reporters who diss their lengthy songs. Have art and culture magazines become all bark and no bite for fear of repudiation?
I walked into 2025 convinced I had already seen the musical roadmap. After last year’s cowboy couture and brief national flirtation with “simpler times,” paired with the hot–girl, indie–pop momentum (Addison Rae’s spiritual jurisdiction), I expected the year to bestow some polite sense of continuity—the next step felt predetermined, if not exactly obvious.
If you’re sitting at Penn Commons, there is a good chance you'll hear the sounds of skateboarding all around you—plastic wheels rolling against the paved ground or wooden tails snapping against ledges. But across campus, you’ll find signs prohibiting skateboarding, echoing the city’s larger discontent with the sport.
Most politically active students like myself spent election night reminiscing on the simpler, more hopeful times of the early 2000s—I spent my night reliving them.
There was a point this summer when it felt like every weekend belonged to the same studio. Warner Bros. kept dropping films that opened at No. 1, stacking one hit on top of the next until the run became the biggest win streak in recent memory. At the same time, streaming settled into its own rhythm: Apple TV+ pushed itself into the mainstream for the first time. HBO Max reminded everyone why its brand still defines prestige. And almost every major platform, from Netflix to Disney+, exposed the widening gap between streaming ecosystems and the theatrical market they once tried to absorb. The year didn't yield a single victor so much as a set of overlapping successes—one for theaters, one for television, and one for the industry’s sense of identity.
Solutions by The State News
