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Knock Madness' nearly perfect

By The Observer · Monday, Dec. 2, 2013

I would like to start this off by saying that I am not an avid follower of rap and hip-hop. I can't even say that I know more than one song by Tupac or Biggie. Okay, I don't know any songs by either of them. Hate me. But I feel, in an industry saturated with painfully meaningless radio rap, Hopsin has made a name for himself as an artist truly passionate and serious about his craft.  

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#TeamPeeta

By The Observer · Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013

The days of Team Edward and Team Jacob have (thankfully) passed, but there is a new love triangle on the rise. Gone is the useless, melancholy character we had in Bella. Katniss, a headstrong, insurgent protagonist has taken over. (This also means we have ridded the red carpets of Kristen Stewart's grimace and replaced it with J-Law's hilarious banter - woopwoop!)

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Oh boy' wows international audiences

By The Observer · Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013

With his directorial debut, German filmmaker Jan Ole Gerster scored a huge success by making a small, personal film with "Oh Boy" (2012). The film, which is in German with English subtitles, was screened at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center's Browning Cinema this past Thursday, and featured an introduction and a question and answer session with Gerster afterwards.

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Q&A with German Director Jan Ole Gerster

By The Observer · Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013

The Observer had the chance to sit down with German director Jan Ole Gerster before he presented his debut film, "Oh Boy" (2012), at the Browning Cinema this past Thursday evening. The film nearly swept the German Film Awards, winning Best Film, Best Direction, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Score. Scene Editor Kevin Noonan talked to the director about his film, why he became a director and what he sees in his future.

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The Kickback - Lonerism

By The Observer · Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2013

There are several definitions of "new music." For the most part, "new" means the project was just released, as in "it just came out this past Tuesday and I had to refresh my browser at midnight because I couldn't go to sleep without listening to it."

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Please Go Away, Christmas Music

By The Observer · Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2013

I really don't want to hear any Christmas music yet, but it's not for the reasons you might think. It's not that I don't love turtle doves and partridges in pear trees as much as the next person (trust me, I do). It's not because most of the songs these days just remind me of how commercialized the season has become (even though it has). It's not even because Christmas music makes me anxious about everything I need to do before the holiday (although it does). Every other year of my life that I can remember, I've listened to Christmas music before Thanksgiving. Way before Thanksgiving. Sometimes even before Halloween. I never worried much about beckoning the holiday season too soon. How could it ever be too early for Christmas? But this year, I'm more hesitant to crank up the carols. Although I'm still itching to create an iTunes playlist consisting entirely of Josh Groban, Michael Bublé and Mannheim Steamroller, I'm doing my best to hold off for another week. It's hard, especially when my Pandora account insists on playing holiday-themed ads and I've already heard Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" blasting from a North Quad residence hall on a Friday afternoon. Christmas lights hang in the window of my friend's dorm room, and the University has been sneakily decorating trees around campus for weeks. I'm not even going to pretend I don't feel a slight twinge of joy every time I walk into Starbucks and see vibrant red bags of coffee grounds lining the shelves. The truth is, I'm a sucker for Christmas. I live and breathe for the holiday season. I find myself wishing in June that it were already Christmastime, and I count down the months until it arrives. My obsession with all things even marginally related to Christmas is almost embarrassing. This year, though, I'm not going to listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving. I just won't. And here's why: I'm trying to learn to recognize what's wonderful about the average days. You know which days I mean - the ones when its too cold and maybe raining, and the dining hall isn't serving anything good, and you have a paper due tomorrow, and you still haven't gathered up the courage to ask that person to the SYR and now that you think about it, nothing particularly exciting at all has happened for a while. In other words, the days that don't belong to Christmastime. During Christmastime, maybe it's too cold and it's raining and you're hungry and stressed and wishing there were more hours in the day - but there are twinkling white lights and nativity scenes and peppermint hot chocolates and Christmas music. And those things make everything just swell, regardless of whatever else is going on in your life. But I think we should be able to convince ourselves that everything is just swell on any given day, not just on the ones that fall between Thanksgiving and New Year's. There is something oddly beautiful about those standard, run-of-the-mill days that have nothing particularly special about them. They're completely blank slates on which joys and heartbreaks write themselves in unpredictable ways. The uncertainty of what will come from average days is humbling, and I'm attempting to appreciate them for what they are. On regular days, there is no Christmas music to automatically make the world brighter, which forces us to look a little deeper to find what makes each day meaningful. For me, holding off on Christmas music until Thanksgiving is a reminder to find beauty in ordinariness. I'm not going to tell you to follow my lead by stowing away your Andrea Bocelli Christmas album for the next week. I'm just suggesting we enjoy the present moment, instead of always jumping ahead to the next exciting thing. But when that next exciting thing arrives and Santa Claus's sleigh rolls into Herald Square at the end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, you'd better believe I'll be turning up the Christmas tunes. So, to the Christmas music playlist to which I haven't been showing any love, hang in there. I'm almost ready for you. Contact Marisa Iati at miati@nd.edu The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer. 

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Dance Company Shows Off New Moves in Winter Showcase

By The Observer · Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2013

The Dance Company of Notre Dame is returning for its first major production of the year tonight, as the annual Winter Showcase show seeks to outdo their impressive and beautiful performance last year. After months of preparation and constant rehearsal and attention to detail, the Dance Company has assembled a new group of artists, performers who bring to life the music behind each of its choreographies. Under the direction of president Kelsey Richards, the Dance Company, this year's production is sure to make for another exciting, passionate exhibition of dance. "[With this year's performance], you'll see a lot of the same styles of dance," sophomore dancer Claire Magnuson said. "But I think with every new semester, the dancers get more and more creative with their choreography and take more risks with their music choices." An intriguing take from the returning performer, as last year's performance already seemed to make a point of strong song choices and powerful performances, as music choices such as "Give Me Love" by Ed Sheeran were strengthened and livened by the emotion and graceful force of last year's core of dancers. This year's core, however, seems stronger than ever, as the support and passion among the dancers seem to feed off of each other and enhance each others' abilities, something which Magnuson eludes to being the very nature of the Dance Company itself. As much as the members learn from the technique classes offered to them every week, the true power of the Dance Company lies in its ability to foster an environment where the dancers are supportive of each other. "Each year you see new people bringing forth their new choreography and I think we all inspire each other with lots ideas for new choreography or music choices or ideas for new pieces," Magnuson said. After seeing brief snippets at the beginning of the semester, the dances all come together for the showcase. "The choreographers' pieces mean a lot to them, and everybody's genuinely excited to watch all the routines at the showcase," she said. Despite the demand for such great attention to detail, and a natural necessity for immense dedication and faithful practice and precision, the Dance Company members are always looking forward to improving their technique and grow as dancers. Even more, to many the Dance Company provides a sanctuary for its members, a place of comfort away from the stresses of schoolwork and of their own personal forms of struggle and hardship. The Dance Company is a means for its performers to transcend daily living and truly make art on stage, an opportunity for each of the dancers to emphatically express themselves - often without even having to say a word. The Dance Company of Notre Dame's Winter Showcase will run tonight and tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. in Washington Hall. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the door. Contact Miko Malabute at mmalabute@nd.edu 

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A Real 90s Kid?

By The Observer · Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2013

One glance at any social media website and you can tell a few things about us college-age students - we love lists, we're incredibly nostalgic and we are absolutely obsessed with the 90s. Every other post on Buzzfeed is a list that inventories the toys we played with, the school supplies we couldn't live without, our horrible, horrible taste in fashion and the music we loved way back in the 1990s. But while I laugh and nod along to these articles while mourning the loss of my Tamagachi and Lisa Frank pencil case, I also can't help but wonder why we love these lists so much. The Internet has certainly helped, providing a forum in which we can collectively ruminate in our precious 90s memories, complete with accompanying GIFs of snap bracelets, YouTube videos of "Saved By The Bell" and mp3s of our favorite Britney Spears songs. It's not just the Internet making our childhood nostalgia easy, however - there's something else. My theory is that we aren't really 90s kids. I mean, in 1999, I was 6 years old, and I entered the new millennium with pretty much only fleeting memories of my Skip-It and an undying love for "Spongebob." I wasn't a fan of "Clarissa Explains It All" or "Daria," because I wasn't old enough. Still, so many of these "You Know You're a 90s Kid" posts include these references, and I eat them up (especially "Daria," because I found out later that "Daria" was awesome). So what is it that keeps us returning to 90s reflections even if we were just toddlers that decade? Probably a few things that can be crudely summed up with this: the late 90s felt awesome to us. We were young and carefree. The economy was pretty cool. We didn't understand the news, and even if we did, the biggest political scandal of the time had little to nothing to do with politics. People rocked overalls. Overalls! So even if they aren't our distinct memories, the love of the decade, the longing for our childhood and the world wide web on which we were raised has made 90s nostalgia a fun and ever-so-distracting hobby for us college kids. Never mind that we hardly had a grasp of the language back in '97 - we're going to post those Buzzfeed articles on Facebook all we want. Now that that's established, I hope we agree that there's nothing wrong with looking back on the 90s fondly. Still, just because we were fans of certain musicians when we were four-year-olds doesn't mean we have to half-ironically, half-nostalgically listen to them all the time. The decade also had some pretty awesome music that we never appreciated as tiny, tiny humans because we were too busy with Furbees and the Spice Girls (which, incidentally, was my very first concert). Now, we have the power not only to curate elaborate stills from 90s cartoons, but also to listen to music back then we never gave a chance. Here are some favorites from 90s that toddlers probably didn't love back then. Contact Allie Tollaksen at atollaks@nd.edi The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer. 

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The Killers look back

By The Observer · Monday, Nov. 18, 2013

Earlier this month, The Killers released their first greatest hits album, "Direct Hit," giving fans a chance to look back at one of the biggest alternative bands of the past decade and to reflect on what that band has done for the industry.

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Top 20 albums of 2013

By The Observer · Monday, Nov. 18, 2013

For us music lovers, early December is like March Madness of sorts - everyone's betting on which albums will ascend to the top of year-end lists from publications like Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Stereogum ... the list goes on. If you're crazy enough, you make your own, post it on the Internet and wait for your musical friends to tell you how wrong you are. But only one list really matters: The Observer's Top 20 Albums of 2013. Crafted by stalwart music nerds John Darr and Matt McMahon, this list brings together the best of the best of this year.

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Underappreciated animated television

By The Observer · Monday, Nov. 18, 2013

Brought on by my unreasonable inclinations to fervently discuss and dissect one of television's best series currently airing, "Bob's Burgers," and other underappreciated shows, I wanted to deliberate over "Bob's" and some lesser-known, but also stellar, animated comedy series.  

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A Capella Fest Hits All the Right Notes

By The Observer · Sunday, Nov. 17, 2013

Last Saturday night, eager students packed the Carey Auditorium in Hesburgh Library to see Notre Dame's various a capella groups perform. Students sat in the aisles and stood in the back rather than miss the A Capella Fest hosted by Halftime, Notre Dame's "premiere co-ed a capellagroup."

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