The mysterious Meow Wolf played host to a night of rock ‘n’ roll fun, with the indie rock band, Tigers Jaw. The band is currently touring its new album, “Spin,” and is joined by the female-led bands, Looming and Yowler. Looming proved to be a lot — like four electric guitars at once a lot.
Released on March 9, “The Strangers: Prey at Night” hit theaters 10 years after the original film, “The Strangers, ” which in all honesty is tremendously better. “The Strangers: Prey at Night” was still scary, don’t get me wrong, but it was also predictable and lacked a complex plot. Where “The Strangers” originally followed a couple's fight to survive in a secluded cabin in the woods, “The Strangers: Prey at Night” takes place at a trailer park and features a family of four.
Unlike what seems to be the majority, I was not at all impressed by director Alex Garland’s previous film, “Ex Machina.” It’s a trite, boring piece regurgitating the dangers of AI — and the humans that make it, ooh — for the umpteenth time. I just didn’t get it I suppose. Regardless, I went in giving “Annihilation” and Garland another fair chance. Natalie Portman leads as Lena — a cellular biologist who, after the mysterious reemergence and near-death of her missing husband Kane (Oscar Isaac), joins an investigative team to explore a spreading alien anomaly dubbed “the Shimmer” in hopes of curing him.
There’s an unsettling air of control hovering over Cory Finley’s directorial debut, “Thoroughbreds.” Lily’s (Anya Taylor-Joy) strict stepfather, Mark (Paul Sparks), lurks in the background of their enormous, empty mansion almost omnisciently. Her mentally unstable friend, Amanda (Olivia Cooke), effortlessly feigns emotion and can cry on command. Even the claustrophobic locations and camerawork are overbearingly oppressive. The film becomes a wonderfully tense ride of unpredictability when this control is lost as Lily and Amanda incapably hatch a plan to kill Mark.
Sister Bar hosted the tour kick-off party for local Albuquerque band Red Light Cameras and their guest performers, the Timewreckers and Jared and The Mill. Despite a disrespectfully low amount of monthly listens on Spotify, Red Light Cameras was able to gather a huge amount of fans for their opening tour performance. The opening band that stood out the most was, by far, the Arizona band, Jared and The Mill. Led by ultra-skinny-jean-wearing Jared Kolesar, Jared and The Mill ramped up the audience with a strong folk rock performance only topped by genre giants Mumford & Sons.
Editor’s Note: This is part of a series of five profiles on women associated with the University of New Mexico, who have been recognized by Albuquerque Business First as women of influence in New Mexico. Originally from Spain, Assistant Professor of Architecture Ane Gonzalez Lara has been teaching at the University of New Mexico for the past two years. Gonzalez Lara is passionate about teaching, designing buildings and understanding architecture as an interdisciplinary topic, she said.
No. 1 New York Times and USA Today Bestseller Marissa Meyer plunged me, along with many others, into a thrilling adventure when she published her first book in her “Lunar Chronicles” series, titled “Cinder” back in 2012. Then, she left her readers equally breathless when the series wrapped up with the book “Winter” in 2015. Meyer hasn’t left the world she meticulously set up in her “Lunar Chronicles” behind however. Readers were given another glimpse through “Wires and Nerves,” a graphic novel sequel series written by Meyer and illustrated by Douglas Holgate, the second part of which was released Jan. 30 of this year.
A course that began this semester at the University of New Mexico Honors College aims to present different feminist perspectives and encourage exploration and critique of these theories. “A Dialogue on Creating a Feminist Identity,” taught by Dr. Dawn Stracener, strives to enable learning through multidisciplinary experiences. Above all, the course provides its students with tools to explore their own identities, feminist or not, Stracener said.
The legendary novel, “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy, lives up to its reputation. Taking notes from Ernest Hemingway, McCarthy keeps things simplistic and vague. “The Road” follows the skeletal unnamed characters of a Man and a Boy who endlessly wander the roads of an ash-covered gray Earth. McCarthy makes “The Road” amazingly timeless. There are no mentions of technology or years, and the vagueness of information gives “The Road” only a time period in the minds of the readers.
Traciana Graves discussed inclusion, empowerment and being free Wednesday at the University of New Mexico Student Union Building Atrium. Voted as one of “America’s Most Fearless Women” by Huffington Post, Graves gave examples of heroes and sheroes, including Harriet Tubman, Mahalia Jackson, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Dave Chappelle and Rosa Parks. During the event, which was organized by the Associated Students of UNM Student Special Events, Graves gave students advice on the best practices to comfort and navigate through life.
Students were given a chance to showcase their writing abilities at the ninth annual Celebration of Student Writing event at the University of New Mexico Thursday. The event showcased displays that included interactive writing games, digital projects and displays of students’ favorite pieces of literature. Undergraduate students enrolled in English 110, 120 and 220 classes, along with students from various other writing classes at UNM, presented versions of their coursework from the first half of the semester in the Student Union Building.
So, you’re stuck in Albuquerque for spring break, whiling away the hours, while your friends are on some beach somewhere. What is there to do in Albuquerque? This list should have you covered on low-budget spring break options in the 505. Outside: Albuquerque is full of outdoor excursions on the cheap. If your idea of going out means lacing up your hiking boots, grabbing your bike helmet or snagging your crash pads, then you’re in the right place.
This Friday marks the second Friday of the month — and that means it’s time for Coffee and Code at Centennial Library. Jonathan Wheeler, a data curation librarian, and Karl Benedict, director of research data services, put the program together. “It's a combination of business and introduction and information about what the technology is, why you may or may not want to use it and how it gets used, but then also a hands-on chance for folks to experiment with it and get their feet wet,” Benedict said.
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of five profiles on women associated with the University of New Mexico, who have been recognized by Albuquerque Business First as women of influence in New Mexico. Sonia M. Gipson Rankin is an Africana Studies senior lecturer, the Associate Dean of University College and the director of first-year success projects at the University of New Mexico. She teaches a course at UNM’s School of Law and is also a wife and mother of three. She never fails to find inspiration from her students, she said.
The University of New Mexico hosted the fifth annual Lobothon Saturday. Organized and run by UNM students, this fundraiser aimed to support UNM Children’s Hospital, the only Children’s Miracle Network Hospital in New Mexico. LoboTHON is a 13.1 hour dance marathon created to support children who have or have had cancer, said Jessica Marrello, LoboTHON committee member. According to Marrello, LoboTHON is UNM's chapter of Dance Marathon, an organization with chapters across the country in over 300 colleges and universities.
“Red Sparrow” had me totally breathless in its opening scenes. The seamless interflow between a prima ballerina’s beautifully tragic final performance and the thrilling intrigue of a CIA spy exchange had me going well into the first chunk of the film as the situations diffused into what would become the central plot. Unfortunately this initial momentum progressively fizzles out throughout the film’s girthy 120-minute runtime. Sabotaged and permanently crippled by her fellow ballerinas, Dominika Egorova (Jennifer Lawrence) is coerced by her uncle, a high-ranking member of Russian intelligence, to serve as bait for a politician. Following problematic outcomes, Dominika is sent to a secret Russian facility training spies — known as “sparrows” — for the state.
Jon Hunner, Ph.D. presented “Driven by History: A Road Trip through our Nation's Past” Thursday as part of a spring lecture series, “People and Places” through the University of New Mexico Southwest Research and Special Collections hosted. In his lecture, Hunner, a UNM alum and professor of U.S. history and public history at New Mexico State University, discussed a 2016 road trip across the United States, in which he visited over 100 national parks and drove 20,000 miles. According to Hunner, the national parks are an excellent place to learn about the nation’s history.
Tony Award-winning director, actress, choreographer and author Baayork Lee brings Michael Bennett’s original production of “A Chorus Line” back to life with a 33-city national tour stopping at Popejoy Hall for three nights, beginning Thursday, according to broadwayworld.com. Lee portrayed Connie Wong in the original 1975 Broadway play, and now she is taking the musical across the Pacific to Tokyo, Japan after the national tour. Since her outbreak performance on “A Chorus Line,” Lee has gone on to direct and choreograph 35 international productions of the musical, according to broadwayworld.com.
2017 had plenty of ups accompanying its many downs. Marked mostly by a lacking summer blockbuster season, there were a few surprise hits that kicked off early in the year, along with some later prestige films reliably packing in its conclusion. Perhaps most notable of 2017 was the diminishing returns yielded from franchise film tickets at the box office, indicating at least a moderate degree of audience fatigue toward sequels. In preparation for the Oscars, here are some of my top picks for 2017 in film.
A lot can be said about Jaden Smith — but, in a much more real sense, not much can be said about him either. He’s the son of one of the most famous celebrities to ever grace this planet, he wore a white Batman costume to Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s wedding, his sister had that one song a while back called “I Whip My Hair” and he somehow caused a stir when he cut off his dread-locks and carried them around. Seemingly following in the steps of his father and sister, Jaden decided to dip his toes into the world of music. On Nov. 16, 2017 Jaden Smith released his first attempt at an album, “SYRE.”
Solutions by The State News
