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Culture

Silent Lights: A raving success

Liam Debonis | November 8

In a sea of red, blue and green headphones inside Johnson Center, students raved to seemingly inaudible sound and sang aloud to songs no onlooker could hear. Strobe lights pulsed to silent beats and a panel of DJs, all within feet of each other, spun records through the airwaves. The event, put on by the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico and aptly named “Silent Lights,” drew hundreds to the campus recreation center on Nov. 5 for the unique take on a homecoming dance. Control of the party was put in the hands of the partygoers, armed with wireless headphones featuring volume control and the ability to choose between three different music stations at a time.

Culture

REVIEW: ‘Spencer’ beautifully tells a story we already know

Matthew Salcido | November 5

This review contains spoilers The problems that I had with Pablo Larraín’s “Spencer,” the new Princess Diana biopic that was released today, walked into the theater with me. I suppose I was expecting a new vision of Diana Spencer or perhaps something that would comment more on the society that made her so beloved and so controversial. While I may have been disappointed by what Larraín chose not to do, what he does choose to do does fabulously well. This movie is the type of biopic that presents a short, highly consequential moment in the life of its subject, much like Larraín’s 2016 film “Jackie,” which chronicled a pivotal moment in Jackie Kennedy’s life.

Culture

REVIEW: Last Night in So-so: Edgar Wright’s new film proves underwhelming

Zara Roy | November 2

Edgar Wright’s latest film, “Last Night in Soho,'' has all of the glamorous edges of the 1960s London cultural scene it seeks to explore the underbelly of, but explores a hollow plot with half-baked themes slathered with Wright’s admittedly skillful knack for dazzling visual effects. The film follows the vintage London-obsessed Eloise “Ellie” Turner (Thomasin McKenzie) as her romanticization of the 1960s is tested. Feeling isolated from her peers at her new university, she moves into a boarding room where she is dragged from the modern day into ’60s London while she sleeps, forced to passively observe the downward spiral of struggling actress Alexandra “Sandie” Collins (Anya Taylor-Joy).

Culture

UNM grad student studies ancient Indigenous group

Emma Trevino | November 1

Jacque Kocer, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico, is working on a dissertation investigating ancient Indigenous peoples around Chaco Canyon in New Mexico. Kocer is a native New Mexican and got her bachelor’s degree at the University of California, Davis on an athletic scholarship playing soccer. She majored in international relations and Spanish, not completely knowing where that would take her. After graduating, Kocer experienced gender inequity in “male-dominated, money-driven industries” at a small financial advisory company in Northern California, which was part of why she left. “I left in 2011 and walked away from this really unfulfilling but high-salary career, and I wanted to pursue this academic career in archaeology,” Kocer said.

Culture

Silent Lights moves indoors due to weather concerns

Zara Roy | November 1

Due to weather concerns, the University of New Mexico’s Silent Lights — a twist on a traditional homecoming dance — will be held indoors at Johnson Gym on Nov. 5, despite it being at an outdoor venue since its inception in 2016. Attendees will not be required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination, but only current UNM students will be allowed entry to the event. Students must show either their UNM ID or a government-issued ID along with their UNM ID number to get in, according to Rudy Montoya, student activities specialist. Guests are not allowed in, according Ethan Rule, director of marketing at University Communication and Marketing.

Culture

‘Mass’ seeks to find grace amid tragedy

Matthew Salcido | November 1

“Mass” (2021) is the directorial debut of Fran Kranz, who also wrote it, and the film is one of the most effective feats of drama that I have ever experienced. Its reflections on the tragic outcomes of a school shooting left me feeling bare, and yet, remarkably, not for one second did it feel exploitative. The movie boasts four of the best performances I’ve ever seen and its screenplay makes its characters feel devastatingly real. This isn’t a movie to go to in order to learn something, but if you feel open to an honest rumination on grief, guilt and grace, “Mass” is worth a watch.

Culture

REVIEW: ‘The French Dispatch’ is the quintessential Wes Anderson film

John Scott | October 31

This review contains spoilers Immediately from the initial casting announcements of Wes Anderson’s latest feature, “The French Dispatch,” public expectations were high. With Anderson regulars like Owen Wilson and Bill Murray poised to go toe-to-toe with newcomers like Timothée Chalamet and Frances McDormand, the film was bound to be a success, which it mostly was. And while “The French Dispatch,” is, for the most part, a success, it still has its shortcomings. It’s Anderson’s most Anderson-like film to date, for better and for worse. The film follows the newspaper the French Dispatch and the publication of its final issue following the untimely death of its Editor-in-Chief Arthur Howitzer Jr., played by an exquisitely deadpan Murray.

Culture

Way OUT West Film Fest celebrates queer stories

Shelby Kleinhans | October 29

The 19th annual Way OUT West Film Fest ran completely virtually from Oct. 15-24, marking the second year in a row it has done so because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike other film festivals that relegate LGBTQ+ content to a specific film genre, Way OUT West only features LGBTQ+ stories told and created by LGBTQ+ filmmakers. More people than last year were able to “watch queer-flix and chill virtually” as the program for the festival suggests, since streaming access to most of the 88 feature length and short films expanded beyond New Mexico to reach attendees in Colorado, Arizona and Texas this year.

Culture

REVIEW: Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Dune’ is a grand but dull sci-fi epic

John Scott | October 26

When it was announced that a third version of “Dune” was in the works, it’s safe to say most moviegoers were skeptical to say the least, and while Denis Villeneuve’s take on “Dune” is still far from perfect, it’s probably the closest we’ve gotten to truly seeing Frank Herbert’s original vision fully realized for the big screen. Herbert’s 1965 novel “Dune” has widely been regarded as unfilmable. David Lynch’s 1984 film adaptation received mixed reactions from critics and fans alike, and cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky’s 14-hour-long version, which would’ve starred Salvador Dalí and Mick Jagger, ultimately never saw the light of day due to budgetary reasons.

Culture

UNM professor Lee Drake plays role in aiding Afghan refugees

Maddie Pukite | October 25

Lee Drake, an adjunct anthropology professor at the University of New Mexico, recently received national attention for the work he’s done in aiding Afghan refugees, specifically for the role he played in helping 9-year-old Asma’s family get help. Asma and her family, who had already lost their father after he received threats from the Taliban for the assistance he gave to the American military, were trying to leave Afghanistan. They had been waiting outside of the entrance to an airport in Kabul, Afghanistan when Asma was struck by a tear gas container. This put her in grave need of medical attention and forced the family to leave the airport before they could depart.

Culture

Scientists predict New Mexico slated for another dry winter

Rebecca Hobart | October 24

La Niña, an event characterized by below-average temperatures and cooling of the Pacific Ocean surface, brought an unusually warm and dry winter to the Southwest last year and is likely to worsen drought in New Mexico for a second consecutive year. Cold water on the equator influences the subtropical jet streams, which are air currents in the atmosphere, and shifts colder weather conditions northward, according to University of New Mexico Professor Emeritus of Earth and Planetary Sciences David Gutzler. The effect is warm, dry air rising in the Southwest.

Culture

UNM alumna analyzes impact of COVID-19 through epidemiology

Megan Gleason | October 24

Sarah Shrum Davis had a winding path to discover her love of epidemiology but now works as a coordinator for the New Mexico Emerging Infections Program. Working hand in hand with the CDC to survey infectious diseases, Shrum Davis has been working with a team of people to research more information on the coronavirus. After graduating from the University of Georgia, Shrum Davis moved to New Mexico and worked in a wide variety of fields, from zookeeping to mental health to education. However, once she discovered the field of epidemiology, she never looked back.

Culture

REVIEW: ‘You’ season 3 somehow got crazier

Emma Trevino | October 24

This review contains spoilers for seasons two and three of “You” October brought us the third season of “You,” an insane series following sociopathic serial killer Joe Goldberg (played by Penn Badgley). This season was filled with twists and turns, lust and jealousy, and a litany of murders that would make Michael Myers squirm — it was fantastic. The show has been heavily reliant on the perspective of unreliable narrator Joe in the past, but season three showed his wife Love Quinn-Goldberg’s (played by Victoria Pedretti) perspective more in-depth. Love is a killer too, and while I still maintain Love and Joe deserve one another, Joe’s infatuation with Love came to a halt when he found out about her murderous tendencies. At the end of the last season, we learned Love was pregnant just as Joe was about to kill her, and the pair left city life behind to raise their son in the sleepy California suburb of Madre Linda.

Culture

REVIEW: ‘Halloween Kills’ is a disappointing, boring mess

Emma Trevino | October 24

This review contains spoilers for “Halloween” (2018) and “Halloween Kills” “Halloween Kills” was released mid-October as the second film in the rebooted “Halloween” trilogy. The first film in this reboot, “Halloween” (2018), left me with soaring expectations for this movie, but a boring anti-plot and ever-so-predictable ending made me wish I hadn’t seen “Halloween Kills” at all. The timeline for the “Halloween” movies is complicated and stuffed full of remakes by different directors from the last 40 years so, for clarity purposes, everything discussed in this review will be limited to 2018 and beyond. At the end of the last movie, main antagonist Michael Myers was trapped in a burning building, and it looked like he died. However, little clues revealed he would probably live to kill another day. This ending was predictable, but the movie itself was exciting and filled with thrills.

Culture

LoboRESPECT director works to give students a safe space

Emma Trevino | October 18

Since its inception in 2015, Lisa Lindquist has been helming the University of New Mexico’s LoboRESPECT Advocacy Center as director with a drive to give every student a place to tell their story. The idea for the LoboRESPECT Advocacy Center began in 2013, Lindquist said, when UNM was starting to think about its response to sexual misconduct. The University ultimately decided to form the center in order to create a space that could be a single point of entry for students dealing with this issue. “We were among the first to be considered confidential advocates in specific title,” Lindquist said.

Culture

5 and Why: Top 5 ways to de-stress

Emma Trevino | October 18

The semester is moving along swiftly, and with assignments piling on top of one another, it can be easy to work yourself up and majorly stress out. University of New Mexico alumnus Justin Spueic, who graduated in 2008 as a psychology and biology double major, is currently studying hard to get into the Masters of Science in Information Systems and Assurance (MSISA) program at UNM, but decided to clue Daily Lobo readers in on his best ways to beat school-induced stress. Walking To de-stress amid all the studying, Spueic said walking is one of the biggest ways that he relaxes.

Culture

REVIEW: Marvel’s new animated series "What If ...?" expertly explores the multiverse

Elizabeth Secor | October 18

This review contains spoilers “What If …?” is an expertly crafted animated series by Disney that delves into separate alternate timelines in the multiverse, where even a small difference changed the stories we know and love. The multiverse is a more recently broached topic in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it’s shaping up to be the main topic of phase four of the MCU. After very few Marvel cinematic productions in 2020, Marvel Studios decided to feed its fan base this year with new releases monthly, starting phase four of the MCU with the release of Disney+ series “WandaVision,” which eventually lead Marvel’s new trend of featuring superheroes and villains in TV series.

Culture

LGBTQ Resource Center tailgates Lobos football game

Shelby Kleinhans | October 17

The Howl Zone was clamoring with students from the University of New Mexico’s LGBTQ Resource Center as they gathered under a colorfully decorated tent in the tailgate section next to University Stadium on Oct. 16 to celebrate National Coming Out Day, which was on Oct. 11. “Part of the reason that we chose today (for the tailgate) is that Oct. 11 is National Coming Out Day and so we’re doing this kind of as our ending party,” Frankie Flores, the director of the LGBTQ Resource Center, said. “We’re coming out for sports.”

Culture

OPINION: ‘Squid Game’ ponders how far people will go to escape poverty

Dan Pennington | October 12

This review contains spoilers “Squid Game,” a nine-episode South Korean fantasy-survival drama released by Netflix last month, raises the question: “How much would I have to earn to risk my life?” In “Squid Game,” we see 456 contestants — mostly people with a lot of debt and financial issues — compete in children’s games, like red light, green light or tug-of-war, for the chance to win 45.6 billion South Korean won ($38 million). If a player loses, they are killed. Further into the show, it is revealed that the games are run by a rich upper-class who bet on the outcomes. Ultimately, the deaths of these players are meant to be entertainment for an audience and nothing more.

Culture

REVIEW: ‘No Time to Die’ bids farewell to Daniel Craig with heart and sacrifice

Rebecca Hobart | October 12

This review contains spoilers If you have been excitedly and cautiously awaiting Daniel Craig’s latest and concluding return as James Bond, aka 007, which was delayed multiple times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, you are in for a treat. “No Time to Die,” directed by Cary Joij Fukunaga, is the fifth and final Bond installment with Craig at the helm, and it doesn’t disappoint. “No Time to Die” is a direct sequel to “Spectre,” Craig’s fourth film with the franchise. Both films feature complex plotlines and Dr. Madeleine Swann (played by Léa Seydoux) serves as Bond’s love interest once again.