Culture

Culture

Pop culture courses add substance to material

David Lynch | March 24

The word “academics” usually conjures up images of math classes, chemistry labs, and literary analysis courses in the English Department. But UNM also offers several courses based on popular cultures that don’t seem to have educational value, at first glance. Yet instructors in these courses – like those focusing on hip hop, Harry Potter and fashion – do feature typical academic approaches and concepts that serve higher educational goals.

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Culture

Five & Why, what Lobos love to watch: With Anna Alfaro

Skylar Griego | March 24

Many people say the best movies are those that take the viewer to another world. Anna Alfaro, a senior pre-design for performance major and an employee for the Southwest Film Center, said that all of her favorite movies are “nerd movies” for this reason.

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Culture

Café hosts meals for people of all walks of life

Kevin Haaf | March 19

Every Thursday between noon and 3 p.m., the Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice is alive with conversation as a diverse crowd gathers to enjoy free food. Starting off with just a few people, the Peace Café now averages about 30 people at its food offerings, said Mollie Wilkie, coordinator at the café. It even draws as many as 50 people at times, she said.

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Culture

Food column: Spring means lamb season

Steve “Mo” Fye | March 19

It is nearing springtime, when a young cook’s fancy turns to lamb. Lamb is a traditional late winter and early spring protein. It is leaner than beef or pork, and often more flavorful. However, lamb must be handled with care or it becomes tough and gamy. Mutton, which is from adult sheep, has a strong, sometimes unpleasant flavor. Lamb, however, is far more delicate, with an earthy flavor reminiscent of farms and meadows.

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Culture

Geek Edition: Players, collectors keep Magic gathering

Imani Lambert | March 18

Magic: The Gathering is filling player’s pockets with a different type of paper. The tactical fantasy trading card game has seen a popularity boom in recent years, with growth of 20 percent in 2014 alone.

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Culture

Geek Edition: A sharp-dressed man is hard to find

Moriah Carty | March 18

Nate Gempesaw-Pangan changed his clothes four times before he sat down for an interview, trying to find the perfect outfit. Gempesaw-Pangan, a productions coordinator for Rip Williams Photography, said dress slacks would be too formal, so he opted for earthy tones, rolled up his sleeves, added a cravat and called it good.

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Culture

Play Review: First one-acts at CNM a hit and miss

Graham Gentz | March 17

CNM has a brand new theater and Madrid’s production is some of the first plays to be produced there. And the $5 ticket price is particularly enticing. It’s always nice to see the setting-as-character of New Mexico played to its strengths.

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Culture

Album review: Electronic duo offers vivid tunes

Moriah Carty | March 17

Canadian duo Purity Ring released its second album earlier this month. It seems the CD, titled “Another Eternity,” has racked up more plays than any other CD that is played through my stereo, at least 50 times.

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Culture

Five & Why, what Lobos love to read: With Regina Carlow

Culture , cmn_mailfeed and cmn_appfeed | March 17

Many people enjoy listening to songs that take them back to their childhood. Regina Carlow, associate dean for the college of fine arts, said her five favorite songs are ones that remind her of her time in Pennsylvania and the people in her life growing up.

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Culture

Column: Studying abroad bestows many benefits

Sophie Earle | March 5

Studying abroad is expensive and entails some culture shock. However, making the difficult decision to leave my family and friends for a year to live in New Mexico was the best decision I have ever made. While everyone else is back home in rainy England, I get to wake up to the best sunrises in the world, live an American lifestyle and experience every day the vibrant New Mexico culture. I highly encourage anyone to live abroad at one moment in their life.

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Culture

Review: 'Big Hero 6' a surprisingly fresh Disney effort

Graham Gentz | March 5

Disney is one of the six corporations who control 90 percent of American media. Disney owns ABC, ESPN, Pixar, Miramax, Lucasfilm and Marvel Entertainment. The main way this has changed American media is the shaping of the thunderously lucrative Marvel Cinematic Universe. “Big Hero 6,” which recently came out on DVD, is probably the most creative use of Disney’s ownership of everything Marvel. “Big Hero 6” was originally a 90s comic series failure. I’m a huge comic book nerd and even I hadn’t heard of it before — it is essentially the artistic dregs of the Marvel’s comic history. But since Disney purchased Marvel Entertainment in 2009, this provided an opportunity to deconstruct and reinvent.

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Culture

PBS puts spotlight on childhood literacy

Khadijah Jacobs | March 5

Getting kids to read can be an obstacle, but New Mexico PBS is tackling the challenge through writing workshops. The PBS Kids writing workshops, offered through the month of March, feature an appearance by a local children’s book author and teach the basic elements of creating and organizing a story. Hollie Lovely, PBS early childhood outreach coordinator, said she organizes the workshops to address literacy and reading proficiency in New Mexico.

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Culture

Five and why: What Lobos love to hear

Skylar Griego | March 5

Facing an unusual challenge, choral director Maxine Thévenot said she did not expect it to be so hard to pick her five favorite musicians. “This list is most certainly not an exhaustive one, but I will be taking these to my desert island, when that day comes,” she said.

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Culture

Women slowly gaining in music industry

Skylar Griego | March 3

Slowly, the involvement of women in the music industry – both as artists and executives – are on the rise, yet some argue more needs to be done. The most recent Billboard Power Player list ranked the top 100 executives who have a large influence over the music industry, a list that includes individuals and partners. Out of 127 names, women make up 11 percent of the most influential leaders in the music industry, as opposed to making up 7.9 percent in Billboard’s 2012 list.

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Culture

Sol de la Noche on top in band battle

Fin Martinez | February 27

At ASUNM Student Special Events’ “Fight for Fiestas,” Latin/reggae crossover band Sol de la Noche battled against four other musical acts and came out on top, securing their spot as a headliner at this spring’s Fiestas. Sol de la Noche consists of percussionist Oscar Gamboa, drummer Ryan Rael, bassist Diego Flores, guitarist and vocalist Diego Manrique, and trumpet player Jose Chicas, all of whom are music majors at UNM.

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Culture

'Spin' dance show features diversity

Lauren Marvin and Moriah Carty | February 26

Six choreographers and 32 dancers are bringing a diverse set of flamenco and contemporary pieces to the stage during the annual faculty dance show. Donna Jewell, artistic director for SPIN, said out of the 12 years she has taught dance at UNM, this year’s show is the most diverse. This is in part because of the diversity within the dance department, she said. “The dance program at UNM is very unique because it has a flamenco concentration and a contemporary dance concentration,” Jewell said.

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Culture

Review: Best picture winner flaunts industry's vanity

Graham Gentz | February 26

On Sunday, the 87th Academy Awards rained down their judgment on all moviedom for 2014. The Oscars have long been criticized as being out of touch for everything from the masturbatory glitz to the selection of each actual award. None receive more attention and examination than the politically-driven selection of the highly coveted Best Picture. I was fairly excited to see “Birdman,” which stars Michael Keaton, take the top spot. It seemed surreal and cerebral and looked to be filled with many long takes, but I failed to anticipate the rather shallow message the movie expounded, which explains its political selection by the voters of the Academy Awards.

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Culture

Q&A: 'Voice' singer rolls into town

Lauren Marvin | February 26

Luke Wade’s story is not terribly unique: growing up in a small town, dreaming of a life on the stage and struggling through injuries and setbacks, but the viewers of singing competition “The Voice” seemed to think his singing was unique. After battling his way to the top eight contenders, Wade continues his passion, touring with his band No Civilians. The Daily Lobo asked Wade about his childhood, what he learned from his time during “The Voice” and living on the road.

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Culture

Staged stunts by Black Student Union discuss racism

Lauren Marvin | February 25

Often times social norms prevent discussions about controversial issues, but one UNM student organization is pulling back the veil and talking about racism through social experiments. The Black Student Union staged experimentsmodeled after popular TV show “What Would You Do?” by creating a scenario where actors of different genders and races argued in a public place about race.

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Culture

Five & Why: What Lobos love with Monica Daniels

Skylar Griego | February 25

One of the great things about movies is the memories tied with them. Viewers are never too old to go back and reminisce about a favorite childhood movie. Monica Daniels is a freshman in psychology, and she said she enjoys keeping in touch with her inner child – which is why her five favorite movies are children’s movies. Daniels said all of these movies have taught her to be as nice as possible, because people never know what’s going to happen.