Finding adventure and challenging himself are the goals of Bill Bryson, played by Robert Redford, in the movie “A Walk in the Woods.” However, the film itself does little to challenge typical “buddy movie” conventions.
Picture a naked blue woman with fiery red and black hair flowing behind her sitting on a faceless white horse with freakishly long legs. They may say, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” but no one ever says, “Don’t judge a CD by its cover.” CD covers are made for judging. Combined with the first track, they give you an impression of what the disc inside will hold. First impressions aren’t everything. Lara Ruggles sneakily tricks listeners into expecting another simplistic, cookie-cutter indie rock album with the first impression of her newest release, “Cynics & Saints.”
Grandma is putting down the pruning shears and taking up the shovel. “All the Growing Things” is graphic novel about an elderly woman named Maude that begins with her fighting off the tentacle monsters invading her back garden. In the space of a moment, a sweet old lady with a green thumb turns into a shovel-wielding huntress. Jen and John Myers, UNM art school alumni, used the skills they developed to create “All the Growing Things,” as well as “Terra Farmers,” “Era of Great Wonders” and other comics.
The beautiful thing about music is the variety of emotions and urges it's able to evoke in listeners. It can serve as a cry for help, a call for action or just a way to vent. Music can soothe a restless soul, and sometimes, all one can do is lie back and get lost in it. The newest release from dream pop/indie rock duo Beach House, “Depression Cherry,” is an album made to quiet the beast within.
This week will be filled with various types of performances for Albuquerque residents. From solo vocalists to live bands to a “rag tag circus,” there is something for everyone seeking entertainment this week.
Jonathan Swinger, a junior astrophysics major, describes his top five favorite objects in the universe. From nebulae, comets, stars and a planet very similar to ours, here they are and why:
Ring Around the Rosie, Pocket Full of Posies, Ashes, Ashes, we all went to Bubonicon. Caci Cooper, co-chair for Bubonicon, said Bubonicon is a place for people to express their passions. Now in its 47th year, the convention has become a haven for local and regional science fiction fans and authors.
"Güeros" brings a frenzied drama to adolescence in a film that follows Tomas (Sebastián Aguirre), a young boy, who has a series of adventures when he is sent to Mexico City to stay with his older brother Sombra (Tenoch Huerta). Tomas’ stay in Mexico City begins after his accidentally dropping a water balloon on a baby, which is only the first of several events that set a tone of understated surrealism in the film. Tomas’ visit serves to shake his older brother, who is in a rut because of the shutdown of his school due to student strikes.
James Stone, an associate professor of cinematic arts, teaches international horror film, the cinema of Alfred Hitchcock and silent films. His expertise on these subjects grants him a way of looking at film that many viewers may not be familiar with. Here are the top five movies that appeal to Stone’s unique perspective
Why have a picnic by the beach when you can have a picnic by the waterslides instead? On Saturday and Sunday, Blue River Productions will host the first Princess & Pirate Water slide Picnic at Balloon Fiesta Park.
This is a slow week for concert-goers in Albuquerque. There are only a few venues with shows booked this week.
“No Epitaphs,” the upcoming release from heavy metal punk band Ramming Speed, is an interesting blend of traditional heavy metal and epic guitar riffs that actually consist of more than fast-paced power chords. The first track, “No Forgiveness in Death,” gives off an impression of energetic epicness. The fun riffs mixed with the perfect head-banging beat will make fans want to get up and move with the music.
Mason Knight, a junior business major, travels the South West attending several Comic Cons and even being a vendor at a handful of them.
It was 95 years ago that American women secured their right to vote. Today, another battle has begun: a campaign for topless equality. About 50 people gathered near the UNM Duck Pond on Sunday to celebrate Go Topless Day, an event that advocates a revision to Albuquerque’s nudity ordinance, which allows men to walk about the city without wearing a shirt, but outlaws the same act for women. Event organizer Andrea Runyan said the demonstrators had one simple goal, which was to promote equality in public toplessness.
Small-town American angst meets ultra violence in “American Ultra.” At least, that’s supposed to be the joke in the new stoner comedy. Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart are cute and convincing as characters Mike and Phoebe, a slacker couple whose mundane lives are upturned when Mike finds he might be something more than he thought. Mike is a nervous, unambitious guy who works nights at a convenience store and smokes heavily with his girlfriend, who is the best thing in his life. In one of the funnier recurring jokes, he tries to find the perfect time to propose to Phoebe.
Laci Green, 25-year-old sex education activist and YouTube vlogger, is taking down rape culture one college campus at a time. Green, who recently received her degree from UC Berkeley on rape nature and causes, filled the SUB Ballroom with over a thousand students, staff, and interested persons Thursday night.
It’s about time sitting around watching cartoons all day paid off. Netflix bingers, closet cartoon watchers and artists alike now have the opportunity to tap into their inner children and receive a $25,000 award to advance their education thanks to the inaugural “What’s Your Nickfluence?” Animation Challenge. Kids' TV network Nickelodeon is teaming up with nonprofit organization Get Schooled to host an animation film competition for college students aged 17-24.
The problem with some music is one can’t tell whether the musicians are satirical performers, which typically consists of musicians performing badly on purpose for some unfathomable reason, or if some insane person actually thinks what they’re producing is good music. This is the bewilderment listeners may experience while listening to Mike Krol’s newest release, “Turkey.” Named after the term used for a third consecutive bowling strike, “Turkey” is supposedly the mark of Krol “making it.” If this is making it, then music standards have fallen even farther than I thought.
This past spring semester, I had the opportunity to study abroad in Costa Rica at Universidad Veritas in San Jose. I was excited to find that there was a program like this offering courses in environmental studies that I could use for my major. I heard about these course options at the UNM Study Abroad Fair, where I discovered through a study abroad program called International Studies Abroad. Not only did I get to practice my Spanish and live in a Latin culture, but I was able to do this while taking classes in English. I took classes in ecology and environmental studies, Latin American studies and tropical architecture and design. Exploring nature was one of my favorite things to do during my study abroad. Class field trips and most excursions were included in the cost of the program. We got to visit ecological sites where we did species monitoring and observed exotic plants and animals. Costa Rica is home to a variety of frogs like the colorful red-eyed tree frog and some of the smallest frogs that can be found there are even smaller than a fingernail.
With boxy German cars and stark, grey walls topped with barbed wire, the first 15 seconds of “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” thrusts viewers directly into 1960s Berlin, the Cold War era, as Napoleon Solo, played by Henry Cavill, crosses from West to East. The opening images of the film tease with the aesthetic of the time, complete with grainy, hand-held images. But this spy thriller never fully embraces ‘60s kitsch: it chooses instead to transpose the imagery onto a glossy Hollywood star vehicle, with the occasional zoom, rainbow sun flare or split screen shot to keep the audience visually in the time period.
Solutions by The State News
