In the End It Always Does by The Japanese House – Izzi Holmes It’s time to give Amber Bain her flowers for In the End It Always Does. The Japanese House’s 2023 album opens with the pop synths of “Touching Yourself” and closes with the melancholic melodies of “One for[Read More…]
Books
Childhood through the ages
Aesop’s Fables (1571) is the oldest book in McGill’s Rare Children’s Book Collection. Written in Latin, with interpretive notes in Greek, it’s now housed in a collection of children’s literature—despite predating the Victorian conception of childhood itself. But this story also begins later, in the 1930s, with Sheila R. Bourke.[Read More…]
‘American Fiction’: A movie about movies about books
Spoilers for American Fiction “Nuance doesn’t put asses in theater seats.” At least, that’s what fictional movie director Wiley Valdespino (Adam Brody) says in the final scene of Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction. In the Cineplex that I trekked out to on a Tuesday after class, the audience let out a[Read More…]
What we liked this winter break
Amid a well-deserved break from classes and assignments, here is what the Arts & Entertainment section was reading, watching, and listening to over winter break. Lust for Life by Lana Del Rey – Lily As a fan of Lana Del Rey, I have every single one of her songs memorized.[Read More…]
‘A Haunted Girl’ is a soul-stirring take on mental health and a hero’s journey
Mentions of suicidal ideation and mental illness Four years ago, in a hospital cafeteria, Ethan Sacks (BA ‘94) sat waiting for visiting hours to start in the pediatric psychiatric ward. As his mind turned over, he wrote down, “The fate of all life on Earth depends on a girl who[Read More…]
Goodreads Choice Awards prioritizes sameness over diversity
Most people have heard of the Grammys and the Oscars, but unless you’re an avid reader, the Goodreads Choice Awards may be less well-known. Goodreads is a social media platform dedicated to books and those who read them. Since 2009, the website has hosted its annual Choice Awards, allowing users[Read More…]
The metamorphosis of Coriolanus Snow
Spoilers for The Hunger Games: A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes; mentions of violence. A villain is made from an innocent soul shattered to the point their humanity is forgotten. An enraptured audience feels compelled to watch this slow descent into madness, the arc of a villain so brutally destroyed.[Read More…]
Bonding over books
The McConnell Buildings on McGill University’s and Concordia University’s downtown campuses appear inconspicuous, their exteriors giving no sign of what dwells within. This proves true with the one at McGill (did you know there’s a bar in the basement?), but was especially apparent at Concordia’s McConnell Building on Nov. 3[Read More…]
The luck of receiving Voltaire’s archive
Elegant script, frayed edges, the occasional hole, and sketches of the man himself. Letters signed Voltaire, V, or—occasionally—Volt. Université de Sherbrooke professor Peter Lambert-David Southam has gifted McGill a stunning manuscript collection of 290 documents including handwritten letters, correspondences, and fragments of Voltaire’s work. Curated by Ann-Marie Holland in collaboration[Read More…]
‘Roaming’ dives into self-discovery on an enchanting trip to New York
NEW YORK CITY, 2009—Two Asian Canadian best friends, Dani and Zoe, have been planning this trip for ages. They seize the opportunity during their first winter break in university. Dani studies Fine Arts at Concordia; Zoe studies Life Sciences at Queen’s (she wants to study Neuroscience, but that’s just a[Read More…]