Category: Reviews

  • Camp Flog Gnaw Recap

    The iconic music festival, Camp Flog Gnaw, drew in people from all across the globe to join Tyler, The Creator. They celebrated their 6th annual music festival  at the Exposition Park in Los Angeles.  Myself and a few other lucky Jackrabbits had the honor of attending this world renowned festival. Many look forward to this year’s event, and not only for the astounding live performances, but also its carnival aspect that features all sorts of fun games and prizes.

    The various performances catered to many different genres including Lana Del Rey, Kid Cudi, and many more. The boy band Brockhampton brought to life the main stage performing one of his many great hits, “Queer,” off their latest album SATURATION. Saturday night ended with Lana Del Rey. Many of the audience’s inner 2012 fangirl spirit came screaming out, singing along to all her oldies from the Born To Die album.

    Go big or go home, am I right? That’s how Sunday felt. The energy everyone brought to the carnival radiated through the festival from the fashion and the people, to the weather and the food. Some people were dressed head to toe in all colors of the rainbow and some people were dressed in hardly nothing. Each person had their own voice that projected itself either through the exotic food they were eating  or the vibrant outfits they were wearing.

    It was gloomy, sunny, and cold, but all I could think of was that it beat walking around in 100 degrees and dwelling in my own sweat.

    Another exciting part of the festival was when Playboi Carti’s set had multiple mosh pits, people climbing trees, and  all sorts of people jumpin’ & bumpin’.

    Throughout the weekend, there were several special guests  that made an appearance: YG, Ty Dolla Sign, Mac DeMarco, ASAP Mob, G-Eazy, etc.

    But the set everyone truly looked forward to was ASAP Rocky’s. Known for his amazing performances, all anyone had to say was, it was wild, you just had to be there. 11/10 recommend, it is definitely worth your time and money. Until next year, Camp Flog Gnaw, thank you Tyler!

  • A Catwalk Dedicated to the Runway

    From September 26 to October 3, 2017, high end designers and brand names are showcasing their collection for the upcoming seasons. This is the week that has the potential to make or break a designers career. But often, the most critical fashion of the week is streetwear. Fashion photographer Phil Oh is world renowned for his striking street style photos for capturing the effortless lifestyle of a model.

    Off-White’s high-heeled boots covered in clear plastic. A modern day Diana is perfectly captured through Abloh’s chic catwalk design. Photo courtesy of Google Photos.

    Virgil Abloh, French designer of the Off-White Spring/Summer 2018 collection, revealed his inspiration for this season was the iconic Princess of Wales, Diana. Marking her 20 year anniversary of passing, he searched through the archives to surround the whole collection based off the personality of such a resilient woman. Abloh closely examined key moments in her life and captured them through his designs.

    Anthony Vaccarello, French designer behind Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) Spring 2018 collection, captivated Saint Laurent’s life from the beginning of his Moroccan garden to his self-named, unique, and individualistic brand. The show had such a large audience, some attendees were forced to stand in observation.

    Many spectators of the YSL show marveled in the glistening sparkles of the Eiffel Tower’s evening lights in the background, as well as the contemporary pieces of fashion featured in front of the monument.

    There were five cliques (or featured collection groups) throughout the YSL show. Opening up, was The Nouveau Bohemians. The Softboys, Victorian Bad Girls, Vixens, and Couture Clients With a Penchant for Clubbing continued thereafter. Closing the show were the Women With Drivers. Each portion represented the growth and surroundings Laurent experienced leading up to his designs that eventually took over the fashion world one thread at a time.

    As the hectic week came to a close, all the French designers had successfully accomplished yet another Fashion Week.

  • Up the Down Staircase

    Recently, I had the pleasure of seeing the Poly Drama Department’s Sunday matinee performance of Up the Down Staircase in the Poly Playhouse.
    The story opens with Ms. Sylvia Barrett (played by senior Emma Gressett), a new teacher starting her first day at Calvin Coolidge High School. Although her students are rough around the edges — such as the insecure José Rodriguez (junior Justin Jacildo), the rowdy Lennie Neumark (senior Adan Gonzalez), the boy crazy Linda Rosen (sophomore Isabella Garcia), and the juvenile Joe Ferone (junior Donte Owens) —Ms. Barrett learns that the needs of the children aren’t being met by strict principle J.J. McHabe (senior Patrice Berry), who believes that colorful posters are the answer to every problem. Her encounters at Coolidge create both hilarity and intense emotion as she strives to improve the school.
    While each actor gave a spectacular performance, Emma Gressett should be especially noted for the number of lines she memorized as the main character. Her part seemed to have taken up 3/4 of the show, which is extremely impressive. She delivered each line with emotion and passion.
    Playing the role of Mr. Barringer, senior Donge Tucker should also be commended for his believable act as the flirty and charming, yet insensitive teacher and school heartthrob. Senior Jasmine Sim should be applauded as well for her performance as the lovesick Alice Blake, hopelessly in love and completely devoted to Mr. Barringer. In addition, she played a dual role, transitioning seamlessly from the role of naive, girly Alice to the tough, hardcore Carol Blanc.
    All cast members portrayed their characters with sincerity and heart. They clearly conveyed their understanding of the story’s themes of patience, love, and perseverance. Mrs. Hubbard has given us yet another wonderful production, and her gifted students continue to wow us with this play. Up the Down Staircase will have an extended run of limited showings the week of Jan. 5 of next year.

  • A Mix of Rock and Ireland: Hozier

    . Hozier (full name Andrew Hozier-Byrne) just released his instantly popular debut studio album, self-titled “Hozier.”
    You may have already heard his hit single “Take Me To Church” from his previous EP, which is a perfect blend of deep soul and dangerous lure that attracts us and pleases our eardrums.
    Born in Ireland as the son of a musician, Hozier grew up to study music at Trinity College in Dublin. He later dropped out to record demos with the label Universal Music and became a part of other musical groups.
    Hozier then went on to record some of his music in his own attic, and released his breakthrough single on Youtube (“Take Me To Church”) that went viral and is now popular on the radio.
    This 24-year old’s album has already hit #14 on the iTunes top album charts, and has “Take Me To Church” sitting at #7 on iTunes top song charts. “Take Me To Church” is brilliantly composed, but it is only one of many.
    Other numerous tracks, such as “Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene,” “Like Real People Do”, and “From Eden” are more treasures amongst the rest of this singer-songwriter’s debut album.
    “I just wanted to make music that I could be proud of, and hoped that I could make music that people would enjoy as much as I have enjoyed music,” said Hozier in an interview with our local LA radio station KROQ.
    He went on to talk about how enriching it is to create music he is proud of and that other people appreciate. His rapidly increasing popularity has turned his dream into reality, and his music is now praised amongst thousands of people.
    Hozier’s show, scheduled in Los Angeles at the Fonda Theater for this upcoming February, is already sold out.
    A unique sound inspired by soothing soul and blues with an indie twist is the perfect music for relaxing in your room, staring up at the stars, or snuggling up with the new gloomy weather headed our way.
    So if you’re in the mood to listen to some soulful music filled with feeling, listen to Hozier’s new album and get ready to be enlightened. From an attic in Dublin to the Los Angeles KROQ studio, Hozier’s music legacy is only just beginning.

  • Back to 1989

    When Taylor Swift dropped the lead single from her fifth studio album entitled 1989 on a late-August afternoon in 2014, it was not simply a song release—it was a global event.
    This may sound like hyperbole to many, but it is hard to deny that Swift (love or loathe her) stands unrivaled in terms of mass musical appeal while she maintains a deeply personal lyrical method to her work. So when Swift announced during her livestream that 1989 would be her “first documented, official pop album,” she did so with exuberant confidence.
    Swift knew that she had the power to goose those dog days of summer back into a fever pitch merely by exhibiting pictures of accidental Polaroids and gushing about red lipstick. To be candid, her elopement to pop should not have come as a surprise; in her 2012 blockbuster, Red, she had already been flirting with Swedish hitmakers Max Martin and Shellback in a crossover effort to distance herself from her humble country roots while making for the canopy of the charts where she always seemed to have been destined. This time with 1989, Swift boldly doubles down on her investment and, to her credit and the delight of her listeners, she earns it back thirteenfold.
    The album opens with “Welcome to New York,” an immaculately polished synthpop number in which Swift declares, “it’s a new soundtrack / I could dance to this beat forevermore.” It is a song that the gals from Sex and the City would have on their iPods, you know, if they had those back in the eighties.
    On that note, Swift and her producers do a superb job in bringing that decade’s sonic palette to the album, but they still manage to keep the proceedings distinctly modern. “Out of the Woods” and “I Wish You Would,” two tracks that Swift co-penned with fun. frontman Jack Antonoff, most triumphantly accomplish this endeavor.
    Elsewhere, it is clear that Swift borrows from the best of her contemporaries: with her clipped vocal delivery, “Blank Space” screams Lorde while “Wildest Dreams” is completely à la Lana Del Rey.

    All the while, Swift still manages to make those songs her own. Even the most seemingly impersonal song on 1989, “Shake It Off” has all the trademarks of a Swift number: an inimitable girlish effervescence, a subtly sublime spoken-word section, and sly ex-boyfriend bashing. And least we forget those hooks—catchy is indeed a gross understatement.

    1989 is not a perfect album (“How You Get the Girl” and “This Love” are relatively unremarkable), but it comes pretty darn close. The album closer, “Clean,” in which Swift describes the sobering recovery from a past romance as “a wine-stained dress I can’t wear anymore” is the most mature track that she has ever recorded.
    Perhaps the biggest concern Swift’s fans had with the new album is that the intimate songstress would lose herself in pop and become as faceless as her contemporaries: Katy, Miley, et al.
    On the contrary, they can shake those worries off because 1989 is not only Swift’s best work to date and an excellent album in general, but also the one in which she finally found herself.

  • His Opinion on “Her”

    His Opinion on “Her”

    Spike Jonze uses technology and its seemingly infinite possibilities to reveal poignant truths about love and intimacy in his new film “Her.”

    Set in future Los Angeles, Joaquin Phoenix takes on the role of Theodore Twombley, a bespectacled, lonely man emotionally distraught from his recently failed marriage. His coping mechanisms include video games and salacious phone conversations, none of which provide the affection and happiness he so actively craves.

    He finds newfound hope through Samantha, a super intelligent operating system who serves as his trusted confidant and adventurous friend. Voiced by Scarlett Johansson, Samantha has a profound presence in the movie, despite her disembodied nature. What she lacks in physicality is made up for by her undying intellectual curiosity, more specifically her interest in learning and adopting human ways.

    It is this trait that sparks an instant attraction between the two, and leads to the formation of a relationship deemed slightly idiosyncratic but socially acceptable by his peers. Inevitably, they encounter issues stemming from her virtual nature and resort to various options as an attempt to solve them, such as hiring a surrogate to act as Samantha, but to no avail.

    Though extremely unconventional, Theodore’s relationship is still at the mercy of love and its complications– the passionate sentiments, constant sexual tensions, and unfortunately, the possibility of discovering irreconcilable differences. Samantha’s limitless capacity to learn entails her constant evolution into something more advanced and developed than ever seen before, with abilities unable to be comprehended and accepted by Theodore.

    This is one of the few movies where I can wholeheartedly say that the roles were perfectly cast. Phoenix plays the role of Theodore with such emotion that I couldn’t help but feel his pain and anguish and relish in his excitement. Johansson does what few can do: entice and captivate in a disembodied state. Even the minor characters have their distinct personalities to them, from the eccentric and crazed best friend Amy (Amy Adams) to the self-deprecating, almost ethereal ex-wife Catherine (Rooney Mara).

    Jonze masterfully portrays a future dominated by technology, where social interaction is an alien concept and mental absence from reality is considered normal. People are so enveloped in their virtual conversations that public spaces are obsolete, merely serving as passageways for the absentminded. It comes to a point where gadgetry is so advanced that it crosses into the realms of humanity and takes personification to a literal level, as manifested through Samantha. Though at times slightly unsettling, the film does not fail to provide an eye-opening perspective on our increasingly growing dependency on technology.

    It also exposes the unified nature about love, contrary to society’s beliefs. Everyone has this perception of love being one-of-a-kind and relative to the individual, but upon further analysis, this movie proves that the majority long for the same things, like physical attraction, compatibility, and acceptance.

    One of the truly noteworthy aspects of the film was its cinematography. Hoyte Van Hoytema creates a cold, distant backdrop of glass and steel, juxtaposed with pops of reds and blues, conveying a sense of warmth amid the futuristic. In addition, the movie’s use of familiar sites, like Santa Monica Pier and the Walt Disney Concert Hall, elicit visual familiarity, and consequently, conceived presence.

    A refreshing take on the romantic comedy/drama, “Her” lives up to its numerous accolades and honors. Provocative yet endearing, it will surely be an emotionally appealing watch.

    Grade: A

  • Movie Review: This is Us

    Movie Review: This is Us

    One Direction may raise eyebrows, but thanks to their new movie “One Direction: This is Us” (featuring the ever adorable Niall, Liam, Harry, Zayn, and Louis), I no longer have a gag-reflex response upon hearing their names. Sure, their music is shallow. Sure their floppy hair drives some girls to do maniacal, obsessive things. It may seem silly, but after watching two hours of smoldering smiles, I get it. So now, fully aware that I have submitted to the charming ploys of five calculating boys, I’ve given up up chucking at the sound of “That’s What Makes You Beautiful.” Instead I can only smile a knowing smile and shake my head. Silly, silly One Direction.

    By now you’ve gathered I am not a Directioner. I can’t even spell the word. But, unlike most movies, One Direction caters to a specific audience. And since I’ve never found myself in the position to actually take One Direction seriously, I brought along my 9-year-old friend Ruby as a trail guide. Ruby is the epitomy of what a Directioner should be. In our brief before the movie, she listed off the items she had that were One Direction themed, which included One Direction socks, duct tape and a calendar. And yes, when I went to pick her up, she sported a One Direction manicure. Somehow, having her by my side gave me a renewed confidence, and as the movie time drew closer I even felt slight anticipation.

    But unfortunately, the movie wasn’t that great. The thing about the One Direction movie is I knew exactly what I was getting myself into because the trailer spoiled everything, and the movie’s repetitive structure got old quickly. We followed the boys as they went on tour, watching them as they basked in the glow of a thousand screaming fans over and over again. For Ruby, this is exactly what she paid $10.35 for. But for me, the movie felt very one-dimensional. It was easy to like this movie because their lives seemed so fun; the biggest problem of the day was what outfit to wear. But I found it hard to accept that five boys becoming adults would want their lives to be so consumed by a shallow pop band.

    Regardless of the factuality that this is a so-called documentary, here’s what to take out of this review: this movie really just affirms everyone’s pre-conceived notions about One Direction. If you are a die-hard fan, then the movie will cater to your every fantasy. If you turn your nose up, then you will find more reason to do so after watching this movie.   Honestly, I’m glad I used up two hours of my life to go watch this movie. Now One Direction will forever remain in the crevice of my heart, to be indulged only at midnight with the volume turned down really, really low.