Scene

Summer Movie Wrap-up

"Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter"

Hamlet' Hits DPAC

The Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival (NDSF) closes this weekend with its production of Shakespeare's classic, "Hamlet."

Style 'n Stuff

Notre Dame is all about stereotypes. Don't let anybody tell you any differently. Everybody here is smart, so get used to that. Everybody is good at something, even you (possible title for a future best selling self-help book, I'm calling dibs on it right here and now). Everybody here had to work hard to get here, and they have to work hard to stay here, no matter what they might claim about never studying. Everyone here may have a different idea of what Notre Dame is and what it means to them, but there is a shared and unifying purpose, an ideal of greatness, that drives this University and all of its students, faculty and staff forward. And on Wednesdays, we wear pink. You're a stereotype from the moment you walk on campus, a positive stereotype reflective of the high standards of academic and personal excellence to which we are held. What does all of this have to do with fashion? The point is you're already a stereotype here; you already fit in. You don't have to carry that into your style. All of that said, there are some common themes on this campus. Just remember that just because everybody has one doesn't mean you have to get one. Everybody has a North Face jacket. Every single person. I have one. Brian Kelly has one. Fr. Hesburgh has one. Mary wears one on the dome when it rains. That's an exaggeration, of course. Don't freak out if you don't have one and don't want to get one. It's sort of an anti-status symbol. You see somebody wearing it and you think, judgmentally perhaps, "OMG, everybody has one of those, lol," and then you remember that you have one and you're currently wearing it because it's cold or raining or snowing here 90 percent of the time and you keep your mouth shut. Every girl has a pair of Uggs, a pair of gladiator sandals and a pair of those black things that pass for pants. Are they pants? Are they tights? Are they leggings? Should I find them attractive? Should I be repulsed by them? I don't know. I don't get it. They're an unclassifiable species. All I know is, they're about as common at Notre Dame as being from "just outside Chicago." Uggs are Uggs. They are what they are. Wear them in public at your own risk. Gladiator sandals are the Leonardo DiCaprio of women's fashion. They all look the same, and they're almost always irritating to look at. On the rare occasion they do work well all I can think about is the other times they don't, and no matter how much I rail against them they don't go out of style. Which leads me to believe I may be in the wrong on this one, but either way, every girl has them. Every guy has a pair of Sperrys. They may be brown, blue, orange or green, but every guy has at least one pair. Sperrys present a number of fashion questions. When are they appropriate to wear? When are they not? What clothes do you wear with them? How beat up is too beat up before you have to get a new pair? I don't know; I don't know the first thing about fashion. But I do know that everybody has a pair. Throw those together with a pair of khaki or pastel shorts and a semi-casual button down, and you've got the general party going style of just about every dude on campus. One other thing, for guys; don't wear shorts pants with bowties or crabs or lobsters or some other stupid logo imprinted all over them. Or if you do, don't act like the kind of person who would wear something like that. Those are the stereotypes of Notre Dame fashion that you'll see on campus on a daily basis. But remember, you're already the right kind of stereotype here. Let your style be you. Your style might be ratty gym shorts, wrinkled t-shirts and completely wrecked Sperry's, and you can still accomplish great things, like becoming the editor of the most fashionable section of the campus newspaper. Contact Kevin Noonan at knoonan2@nd.edu The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.  

Frosh-O Weekend Checklist

You meet someone with at least one Notre Dame alum parent

Scene's I Love The Class of 2012

Freshman move-in and orientation for the class of 2012 began on August 22, 2008. It was a different world back then. Lady Gaga's debut album, "The Fame," hit the stores just three days earlier, to disappointing early sales. George W. Bush sat in the oval office. Britney Spears was too crazy to be good anymore, and Charlie Sheen was just a wacky former 80s star on a television show that nobody really liked. Robert Pattinson was the kid who died in the fourth Harry Potter movie, and people hated vampire movies only because of the "Underworld" series. Larry King and Oprah both had television shows, and the Kardashians only had one. Nobody had ever heard of Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Ke$ha, Nicki Minaj, an iPad, Instagram, Pinterest or "Angry Birds." A lot can change in the span of four short years, and the last four did not disappoint.

Pirates' not perfect, but still funny

In the interest of full disclosure, I must attach a caveat to this review - I am blessed with both the maturity and sense of humor of an eight-year old. With that out of the way, Aardman Animation's latest adventure, "Pirates: Band of Misfits," rides the high seas of childish entertainment for a rollickingly fun experience. "Pirates" follows the pirate captain known simply as Pirate Captain and his crew of similarly-obviously-named buccaneers on their quest for treasure and fame. Pirate Captain, expertly voiced by Hugh Grant, is determined to win the notorious "Pirate of the Year" award, and thus prove his worth. His competition for the award (including the voices of Jeremy Piven and Selma Hayek) makes it clear that the Pirate Captain, despite the way in which in he presents himself, is in fact not much of a pirate, and goads him incessantly. The plot is a little ridiculous, but humorously so. The crew's ensuing misadventures lead them to raid a plague boat, a ghost ship and, finally, Charles Darwin's boat. Darwin informs the Captain that his beloved "parrot" is in fact a dodo, a bird that had been believed extinct for two hundred years. Darwin is also on a quest for an award, the "Scientist of the Year," and believes this bird could do it for him, leading to a struggle for the bird that encapsulates the rest of the movie. The film comes from Aardman Animation, a studio known for a unique "claymation" style of production, as well as fantastic storytelling and humor that often transcends generations. The studio is most famous for "Wallace and Gromit," as the founders of the studio, Peter Lord (who directed "Pirates") and David Sproxton, created the beloved characters. The studio is also responsible for the recent "Arthur Christmas," "Flushed Away" and one of the greatest animated films of the previous decade, "Chicken Run." The previous success that Aardman has enjoyed creates a very standard for its films, but not every movie they make can be "Chicken Run." In this case, "Pirates: Band of Misfits" doesn't quite measure up to the bar set by Aardman's past. The film is clever, but not memorably so. The moments of age-transcendent wit are a little too few, and far between. The message behind the story - always remember that friends and family are what's important in life - isn't quite as poignant as their previous work. But, as Voltaire once said, the perfect is the enemy of the good. The film is still entertaining throughout, and the celebrity voice acting is brilliant. Hugh Grant sells the Pirate Captain and all of his arrogant buffoonery perfectly. And the film's visuals may be unmatched by any of Aardman's previous films. The studio is known for its stop-motion claymation, but in its previous film, "Arthur Christmas," the studio used exclusively computer-animation for the first time. In "Pirates," Aardman used a hybrid of stop-motion and computer animation that makes for a beautifully illustrated world for the pirates to sail and plunder, without losing the trademark clay look that makes the characters feel so unique and enjoyable. "Pirates" might not be perfect, but it makes for fun, lighthearted entertainment, not to mention a spectacularly-illustrated film.

Best Worst Movies

For my farewell Best Worst column, I had to go back to the very beginning of my obsessive love for fantastically terrible movies - Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen's straight-to-video guides for a lifetime of disappointment. I've been to London, Paris, Rome and the Bahamas, just like in their movies. While they were amazing trips, they did not live up to the MK&A promise. There's always this nagging feeling, even if you're in the middle of an amazing trip, that somehow the Olsen twins would be doing it better. My friends and I were not chased through foreign cities by an adorable group of guys, one for each of us of course, with accents and mopeds. We did not unearth a large Bohemian antiquities smuggling ring or produce a multi-million dollar fashion line while bringing down a Roman fashion thief (I'm beginning to question if those even exist). We didn't solve issues of national diplomacy while preaching the gospel of a McDonald's hamburger. No worries Olsen fans, I won't be ragging on "Winning London" because as we all know, that is a legitimately awesome movie. I'm still waiting to fall in love with a young Lord while in a competition with my Model UN team. I embarked on this journey back through the Olsen repertoire after my friend ran into Tom Amandes, aka Billboard Dad, at a bar in Chicago. She was the coolest girl at the lunch table with that story for at least a week. I mean, the man knew the Olsens in the 90s for goodness' sake. "Billboard Dad," the first of their movies (not counting the "Adventures" or "Sleepover" series) immediately went to the top of the Netflix queue. Good news: it totally holds up, but not the way your seven-year-old self remembers. First off, when you're that age it seems totally plausible that you could sneak out in the middle of the night and somehow paint a legitimate looking billboard over Sunset Boulevard - without the police and child services being called. You begin to wonder why your parents don't let you surf and rollerblade alone through Venice Beach. This is only the beginning of the unsettling feeling that your life is unfair. For those poor souls who haven't seen "Billboard Dad," the premise is this: two twin girls, Tess and Taylor, are living in Venice Beach, Calif., with their widowed, famous artist father. In between sad scenes where Dad suddenly trails sadly off while talking about the girls' mother, they can be seen wandering around Venice, specifically the local pool where they are a part of the local diving team. A mysterious bad boy comes onto the scene, recognizable by his cutoff jean shorts and peroxide hair - and he totally splashes them with a cannonball. Not cool. Oh yeah, and he skateboards on the pool deck which is totally against the rules. The girls decide that a year is long enough for their father to mourn their mother, and put up the billboard which reads: "He's single, he's handsome. He's cool to the Max! Interested? Write to Max Tyler at 10 Surf, St. Venice." So, putting their home address down doesn't have any scary side effects, except for several bad dates. After these, Max decides he is finished indulging his daughters - not after they climbed scaled a billboard on Sunset above the Chateau Marmont. Fate, however, sends him on one last date. Max begins dating Brooke, a single mother who owns a glasses shop. Her dream is to put an end to the idea that, "boys don't make passes at girls who wear glasses." After they fall in love, Tess and Taylor find out that her son is the bad boy from the pool! It's all good, though, because the kids are soon working together to bring down Nigel, Max's evil British manager who is trying to break him and Brooke up. Also, he's selling knock offs of Max's art. After that's done, the only thing left to do is land the high dive at the local diving competition. So ends the straight-to-video adventure that started it all. The moral of this Olsen tirade is that best worst movies can change your life. If it hadn't been for the unrealistic expectations those movies instilled in me, I wouldn't be retracing their global footsteps. I wouldn't be planning on Mexico, the winter Olympics and Australia for the future and hoping that one or all of those trips will be while I'm in the witness protection program or competing on a reality show. True to form in my Olsen tour of the world, I will still fully expect everything they promised me out of life. Fingers crossed, in this future my name will be something like Charlie or Riley. I will accomplish the Briana Wallace/Megan Fox "Holiday in the Sun" walk through a bar: "What's up?" some poor dude in a Hawaiian t-shirt and frosted tips will say to me. "Um, not my temperature," I will haughtily reply through overly glossed lips. That's the stuff all best worst dreams are made of.

New to Your Queue

Summer is almost upon us, so what are you going to do with all that free time? Jobs and internships may take up some of it, but history proves that the best use of your time in those warm summer months is binge-watching entire TV series in one pop. Catch up with a show on its summer hiatus or digest a completed series - the possibilities are endless. Since the funds are not, Netflix has you covered with a vast collection of some of TV's best.

Baking with Brenna

Decisions are hard. Some days you really want a cookie. Other days, you crave a brownie. Today, I'm giving you a chance to have both. With finals looming, you need a quick, easy, Huddle-friendly treat to fuel your study sessions and late night paper-writing. Luckily, our friends at Betty Crocker understand our plight as college students, and have come up with the wonderful recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies. Like I said, this recipe is Huddle-friendly, using things that are easily found and bought with your dwindling Flex Points or, for those of us off campus, able to be found on a five-minute midnight grocery run.

Jack White goes solo on 'Blunderbuss'

Yes, this is the Jack White (born John Anthony Gillis) - Jack White of the White Stripes, the Raconteurs, the Dead Weather and about two dozen other collaborations. While technically his debut solo album, White's music has been a part of the public consciousness for over a decade, at least since that animated video for "Fell in Love with a Girl" starring Lego figures in 2001. This is also, perhaps more importantly, the first piece of music we've heard from White since he and sister/wife/ex-wife (depending on whose story you believe) Meg White, whose surname he now bears, dissolved the White Stripes a little over a year ago. The thirteen songs that comprise "Blunderbuss" came out of recording sessions with various guest and session musicians in late 2011 in his Nashville studio. According to Rolling Stone, White said in a statement that the record is "an album I couldn't have released until now. I've put off making records under my own name for a long time but these songs feel like they could only be presented under my name. These songs were written from scratch, had nothing to do with anyone or anything else but my own expression, my own colors on my own canvas." While Jack has also said that Meg White "completely controlled the White Stripes," he wrote and composed all of their songs; so naturally, the obvious starting point when talking about "Blunderbuss" is the White Stripes' music. As far as the sound of this record goes, it probably sounds the most like "Get Behind Me Satan," the band's second-to-last album which featured rock radio hit "My Doorbell." The keys, the guitar sound on most songs, the tinkling bells in the background - all of these things recall "Get Behind Me Satan." The new album's first single, "Love Interruption" is especially reminiscent of that record. However, some tracks, such as second single "Sixteen Saltines" - also the album's high point - or "I'm Shakin'," sound more like the thrashing garage rock of the Stripes' second album "De Stijl," or the Raconteurs' debut. This kind of back-and-forth between tracks with lush, sometimes acoustic instrumentation and straightforward riff-driven blues or garage rock is typical of White's style in recent years. His signature guitar sound is unmistakable, but at times he gives the listener a break from it. This only makes it all the more thunderous when he returns to it, such as on the aforementioned "I'm Shakin'" halfway through the record. "Blunderbuss," for the most part, sounds great. White's voice has never sounded better, the arrangements are peerless, and when he does cut loose like on "Sixteen Saltines," it's very difficult to sit still when listening. White's lyrics on this record focus primarily on love lost, and the utter confusion that follows from it. Opener "Missing Pieces" sums it up perfectly: "Sometimes someone controls everything about you / And when they tell you that they just can't live without you / They ain't lyin', they'll take pieces of you." On first single "Love Interruption," he sings, "I want love to: / change my friends to enemies, / change my friends to enemies, / and show me how it's all my fault." This kind of morose introspection is everywhere on the album, more often than not in juxtaposition with the album's bouncy, often sunny arrangements. Usually it works, and on the few occasions when it doesn't, such as on closer "Take Me with You When You Go" - which feels more like a cut-and-paste collage of three different songs than one coherent one - it's still a lot of fun. Elsewhere, on "Freedom at 21," he explores "freedom in the 21st century," describing a character who has "Two black gadgets in her hands / All she thinks about / No responsibility no guilt or morals / Cloud her judgment," before erupting into one of his now-famous squelching, cry-out-to-the-heavens guitar solos. "Blunderbuss," if nothing else, serves as a closing statement on the White Stripes era of White's musical career, as well as a closing statement on the confusing relationship (whether romantic, familial or otherwise) with his ex-White Stripes band mate. To that end, it accomplishes its purpose masterfully. With "Blunderbuss," Jack White has created a record that first of all sounds really, really good; secondly, is a ton of fun to listen to and third, has the ability to make the listener stop and think on repeated listen. It is not a high water mark of his career - in other words, he has created better pieces of music in the past, and probably will again in the future. Any fan of White's previous work is sure to enjoy this record, even if they don't count it among their favorites in his expansive catalog. White will be doing a lot of touring in the coming year, including two shows at Lollapalooza in Chicago this fall. Check out his complete touring schedule at http://jackwhiteiii.com/tour-dates/

Notre Dame Opera chills with 'Sweeney Todd'

This past weekend, the Music Department and the Notre Dame Opera joined forces to put on a production of "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street." Although not an opera, this show is a challenging and thought-provoking piece of musical drama that pushes audiences past traditional comfort zones. For those who don't know the show, it tells the tale of a barber named Benjamin Barker. After the local judge lusts after his wife and deports him far away for a crime he didn't commit, Barker finally returns to civilization as Sweeney Todd, bent on seeking his revenge. As he waits and conspires ways to kill the judge, he ends up killing multitudes of others, deciding everybody deserves to die because "the lives of the wicked should be made brief; for the rest of us, death will be a relief." This musical is neither focused on love nor tap dancing. The feelings onstage are dark throughout, angry, and even murderous -- a fact creator Stephen Sondheim addresses with bits of humor and even a bit of a twisted love story. It's hard to put it any other way when Sweeney Todd enters into a somewhat romantic relationship with one ditzy London widow named Mrs. Lovett, who makes and sells "the worst meat pies" in the British capital. Audiences watch in horror as Mrs. Lovett's meat pies become the best and most popular around, thanks to the abundance of extremely fresh meat Sweeney Todd accumulates in his barber shop. The story is full of suspense and plot twists, and no shortage of spilled blood - hopefully of the fake stage variety. As Sweeney focuses on the ongoing plot to kill the judge when he comes in for a shave, he gets caught up in the dementia first of his progress and then of his postponed success in the only mission that really matters to him. Todd grows even angrier as his proto-serial killer personality starts to come apart at the seams. As they say: you always hurt the ones you love. The Music Department and Opera made a gutsy choice in this show. It is a difficult piece in terms of subtext and general dark themes, many of which interact and interplay in ways that are hard to grasp. It is never certain how a show like this - far removed from what's normally considered "entertainment" - will be received. However, Notre Dame has done justice to the piece, adhering to Sondheim's conditions and adding its own innovative flares. For instance, in the song "A Little Priest" - which discusses the types of people they can bake into pies because "everybody shaves" - the company performers come onto the stage dressed as recognizable character types and join the rest of the future pie fillings in a background dance. Although this innovative addition to the style of the show added a comedic break from the darkness and tension, it distracted from the heart of the piece that comes from the playd on words that keep coming line after line. Filled with such gems as "This might be a little bit stringy, but then, of course, it's fiddle player!" and "We'll serve anyone - and to anyone - at all," this is definitely a time when the strength of the scene lies within the lyrics. Sondheim has been a master of literate, unexpected lyrics show after show since his earliest lyricism penning the words to "West Side Story." In any Sondheim musical, song lyrics are not something you want to lose to attentions focused elsewhere. Another significant change made by this production was to have Sweeney kill himself at the end -- as opposed to having the young boy Toby kill him. This is likely intended to show how desperate Sweeney Todd is and perhaps has been through the whole show. After seeing how his revenge-seeking behavior and grotesque destruction of his own humanity has killed the person he cared about most and for whom he went through this ordeal, he despises himself and meets his end the same way his victims did - slitting his own throat. This was a powerful moment in the show, with the audience left both to watch as Sweeney's madness literally kills him and to contemplate their own vendettas and how they could be affecting both themselves and those around them. Anthony (Mike Clark) really stood out as a powerhouse. Clark's voice was clear and strong, and fit well with Anthony's character. The actors playing Sweeney Todd (alternately Zach Angus and Sean McGee), however, have the biggest challenge. Not only is the character the most complex and demented in the show, but also, with predecessors like Len Cariou in the original Broadway cast and Johnny Depp in the movie version, they have a lot to live up to. Taking into account that Angus (Sweeney in the performance I attended) is not an actor with 30-plus years of experience, he fit the shoes of his predecessors well, and did justice to the role. The orchestra for the show did a fantastic job handling Sondheim's chilling and breathtakingly beautiful music; the composer is famous for writing rather difficult pieces for musicians to play. The real power of this show comes from the music: the swift changes in mood, the suspenseful dissonant chords, the rising crescendos and the eerie combinations of notes. In this sense, thanks to the orchestra, the intent of "Sweeney Todd" as off-kilter musical drama was heard loud and clear. Overall, I hope Notre Dame continues to make gutsy choices such as this: shows that are thought-provoking and deep are great for students to broaden their minds and consider possibilities previously not considered. Open minds and greater cultural literacy should be goals for every Notre Dame student, and this weekend, the Music Department and Opera brought them one step closer. Contact Tessa Demers at tdemers@nd.edu  

Why we loved the Royal Wedding

Electric Guest: unique electronic music

Vanessa Carlton performs at Legends

Notre Dame Style Spotter

Name: Priscilla Nyankson Spotted: Grace Hall Priscilla definitely knows how to combine classic red, white and blue items, creating a chic ensemble for the day. Her white pencil skirt and stripped navy blue shirt look great paired with a skinny bright red belt. Her brown booties perfectly complete the outfit. Priscilla looks cool, trendy and ready to take on these last few weeks of school in style.  

Margin Call Walks Through Wall Street

In 2011, a drama finally attempted to address the convoluted back woods of the finance industry that caused the economic crisis in 2008. More relevant than ever, the sharp and shrewd "Margin Call" cuts like a scalpel into an often ethically opaque industry few Americans are privy to but are all affected by. Unfortunately, most people missed "Margin Call" and with it, a genuinely fair but decidedly uncompassionate look into an uncompassionate industry. This could be due to the film lacking a real leading star or perhaps its "too close to home" subject matter; but for whatever reason, it is one of the year's most overlooked films. "Margin Call" remains overlooked despite being nominated for an Oscar for best screenplay. Since 2008 it has become popular to demonize Wall-Streeters. Seeing them as nothing but conniving and money-hungry, we are quick to direct our anger towards them. People protest in the streets, seeking restitution from the individuals that managed, gambled and eventually lost their money. Luckily, "Margin Call" is not a battle cry attempting to galvanize such a movement. Instead it humanizes the events of 2008 so many of us hear about but so little of us truly understand. The film takes place over the course of day, as a firm realizes that their holdings of mortgage-backed securities are about to go sour. The bottom is about to drop out of the subprime market and in approximately 24 hours the company will be of no value. The company decides to get out of the market, salvaging what they can while selling their worthless assets to uninformed buyers. The crisis is first discovered by an analyst on the bottom of the financial totem pole. Over the course of the film, we watch as this piece of information moves its way up to the top and leaves destruction in its wake. The script, by writer/director J.C  Chandor, is an original written with a truncated eloquence. His father, a former employee at Merrill Lynch, gives Chandor a background to intelligently write about the subject. The dialogue, quick and constant, fascinates the viewer. Its meticulous word choice allows the average non-Wall Street insider a lucid window in without compromising the film's authenticity. For the characters, every conversation is a chess match, and it's a business deal. The characters enter into a precarious juggling act in which participants must completely protect their interests while practicing rabid opportunism. Luckily, the cast in "Margin Call" is stacked with talent. It's an ensemble with the ability to take such an impressive creation off the page and run with it. Jeremy Irons, Kevin Spacey, Demi Moore and Paul Bettany are all present, giving performances that are all busting with restrained energy. Jeremy Irons shines slightly brighter than most, playing the firm's duplicitous CEO. His scenes are an immense pleasure to watch as he orchestrates his character's pragmatism and hubris brilliantly. Like Jeremy Irons, those at the top rarely get hurt when it hits the fan. Their position often protects their incompetence, and as we see in "Margin Call," it is almost always their professional inferiors that are sacrificed and the public that suffers. People have growing disdain for the "one percent" who often feel their stature and affluence elevates their value over others. However, "Margin Call" neither disputes nor proves these sentiments. It is not here to play the blame game or be any sort of arbiter of people's characters. The system and the story is what Chandor keeps the spotlight on - and both are replete with intrigue.  

Vanessa Carlton Comes to Notre Dame

She's making her way downtown, walking fast while the faces pass on Saturday night. So stop holding onto your secrets in white houses and head to Legends for what promises to be a fun and nostalgic Vanessa Carlton performance. The 31-year-old singer and songwriter may have disappeared from the mainstream in recent years, but her tunes are still staples at both dorm and off-campus parties alike. You would think her whimsical piano ballads draw primarily female audiences, but the number of Notre Dame men who can proudly belt out "White Houses" is astounding. Carlton's career took off as a young girl, first in the world of ballet and then in front of the microphone. She attended Columbia University, was a waitress in Hell's Kitchen and performed in bars and clubs in Manhattan while still a college kid. And we Domers thought we were overachievers. Her 2002 Grammy-nominated debut album "Be Not Nobody" went platinum and featured Carlton's first hit single "A Thousand Miles." Both "Ordinary Day" and "Pretty Baby" also came from the successful release and set Carlton's career on a promising path. "Be Not Nobody's" follow-up record "Harmonium" debuted in 2004 and brought with it a powerful tune about losing one's innocence. "White Houses," the first single off the album, became somewhat of a cult classic. Co-written by Stephan Jenkins, the lead singer of Third Eye Blind, it took off amongst teens but didn't fare as well in the mainstream. In fact, MTV censored it for its controversial lyrics about losing one's virginity - yes, you read that right. MTV censored a piano ballad for its non-descript lyrics about sex. The ties between Carlton and Third Eye Blind didn't end there. The singer opened for the band on tour and dated Jenkins for four years, according to Slate Magazine. Coincidence that Notre Dame brought both to campus this year? Probably. Carlton's recent hit, 2007's "Nolita Fairytale" off the album "Heroes & Thieves," harkens back to her past successes and challenges, depicting a singer who has matured. The lyrics speak to conquering tough times, living a real life and finding the fairytale within. These days, Carlton is promoting her 2011 album "Rabbits on the Run." She also performed with Gavin DeGraw earlier this month at the third annual Origins Rocks Earth Month Concert to promote environmental awareness. As the cherry atop AnTostal's event-filled sundae, Carlton's concert is sure to bring in a mass of devoted fans. And to make the draw even more enticing, Hip-Hop Night will follow the show, hosted by DJ 3J and senior Eugene Staples. Seniors, remember those underage days when Legends was as hip as our hop got on a Saturday night? Let's bring it back, just one last time. On a cloudy day, it's more common than you think to head to Legends for a little nostalgia and a lot of fun. Reminisce with Carlton about all the journeys we've been through and anticipate the learning still to come.  

Scene Top Five: Baseball Movies

It's the most wonderful time of the year. The smell of pine tar and freshly landscaped grass is in the air. The Yankees just purchased a small country in order to secure the rights to a single prospect. My Kansas City Royals have already decided that they'll be darned if the future is going to be this year. It's baseball season, a six-month-long Christmas season for all fans of the country's pastime.

Hoodie Stays Strong in Sophomore Effort

In an interview the night before the release of his new EP "All American," rapper Hoodie Allen promised to personally call every fan that purchased the album in its entirety.

TV Rewind

As part of AnTostal 2012, the Student Union Board will sponsor a screening of five favorite '90s Nicktoons tonight at 8 p.m. The Third Eye Blind concert and the continuing popularity of Fruit Roll-Ups as a topic of conversation prove that Notre Dame students still love the '90s, and Nickelodeon's cartoons remain one of the best parts of the decade.