Arts & Entertainment
As a musician, it is very difficult to come to terms with what a great album is. Which album propelled me into a constant obsession with music? The most obvious answer would be one of The Beatles albums, but that was when I was still in high school and discovering music.
In 1978, Patti Smith, performing a spoken word rendition of her song Babelogue, boldly declared, “In heart I’m an American artist, and I have no guilt.” Thirty-three years and two fallen towers later, a text by Smith in her current exhibition at the Leubsdorf Art Gallery confesses, “Now I am an American artist and I feel guilty about everything.”
It’s no mystery why Hunter’s Zabar Art Library remains a widely untapped resource. Located on the 16th floor of Hunter North, the library is unseen by most students. With its crisp glass-walled entrance and enticing display of books, the Zabar Library looks unlike any other space at Hunter.
Far removed from the rest of Hunter’s Art Department, located on the eleventh floor of Hunter North, is the school’s ceramics studio, a sculptor’s haven. A fine film of dust covers everything: tables, stools, plastic-wrapped creations, and students’ clothes that can be seen draped over the artwork. Just past this tableau, nestled snuggly in the back of the room, exists a hidden jewel in Hunter College: The Project Room.
In the midst of this summer's megastar solo exhibits, the New Museum is hosting a smartly curated group show. Comprised of works from over fifty artists from twenty countries, Ostalgia offers a compelling survey of Communist Bloc-inspired art.
With the Harry Potter franchise coming to a slow end, the hunt for the next mystical hero has already begun. However, to find a new source of magic, one should not look to the future, but rather the past. In 2000, Jim Butcher wrote Storm Front, the first novel of The Dresden Files series. The series follows the life of Harry Dresden, a professional wizard and private investigator from Chicago who frequently protects his city and the world from...
Hunter’s auditorium was abuzz on Wednesday, August 24th, with a group of almost 300 Macaulay Honors students chatting in eager anticipation of the arrival of Jonathan Safran Foer. When he first stepped on-stage, everyone broke out in applause. “I’m just shocked that anyone cares about books anymore,” said Foer.
For the past year, fans wondered where Beyonce was and whether she would ever release another album. In a rare occurrence of personal exposure, MTV aired an hour-long documentary revealing Beyonce's whereabouts during the past year and how traveling, her relationship with her family and spending time as a spectator at shows led to an eclectic album of reggae beats, love songs, and dance mixes.
Alexander McQueen was an iconic visionary with a career spanning two decades and a slew of reputable credentials and awards. He knew he had wanted to be a fashion designer since his youth, unaware of the potential social consequences. With an unwavering perseverance, his fashion career would ultimately be launched when he began an apprenticeship at Savile Row in London. Under the guidance of Anderson & Sheppard, he honed his tailoring skills—skills that would eventually become his trademark. McQueen...
Anyone passionate about education reform or teaching will have something to say about Waiting for Superman. The documentary received countless nominations from alliances like the Broadcast Film Critics Association, Gotham Awards and the Director’s Guild of America (DGA). The film presents shockingly awful data on the American education system that would convince any person, regardless of whether you share filmmaker Davis Guggenheim’s opinions and concerns or not, that the film is potent and powerful.
This spring's Hunter College production of Stephen Adley Guirgis's modern urban tragedy, Jesus Hopped the "A" Train, is set at the notorious Rikers Island Prison in the present, and opens with a rude reminder to extinguish any doubts in the house about who's in charge.
On May 1, composer and director Amir Shpilman, with support from Grammy-winning pianist Ursula Oppens, Queens College percussion professor Michael Lipsey and renowned composer Jason Eckardt, presented two 90-minute concerts at the Engelman Recital Hall at Baruch College for the second edition of the CUNY New Music Festival.
Late last year, The Roar, a small-time band from Phoenix, Ariz., released their debut EP, I Can't Handle Change, for free download through Quote Unquote Records (quoteunquoterecords.com). An array of terms can be used to describe it: "Indie-pop," "art-pop," even "neo-soul" (according to the band's MySpace). But none of these oft-slung terms do The Roar proper justice.
On Jul. 29, Joan Valent presented five new pieces of classical music at the CUNY Graduate Center’s Proshansky Auditorium. The large recital hall was sadly empty with only about fifty people in attendance, but this proved to be at the loss of those not there as Valent’s pieces were ultimately successful.
After watching director David Gordon Green’s Your Highness, I came to the conclusion that the movie is just a combination of Gulliver’s Travels, Lord of the Rings, “Magic: The Gathering,” and a washed up comedian.