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Animation Nation: ‘Seoul Station’

By Gabriel Zarazua · Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022

Halloween is upon us! While there are plenty of great animated Halloween movies like “Monster House” and “ A Nightmare before Christmas,” I wanted to find one that wasn’t entirely meant for kids. I wanted to try something new and see if there were any adult animated horror movies. However, it’s surprising to see that there aren’t that many adult animated horror movies out there in the world, which is pretty sad, since I’m sure there are plenty of stories to tell that would scare some people with the power animation holds. Then, I randomly saw one movie called “Seoul Station,” an animated zombie movie. Now, I am a gigantic sucker for zombie movies, though finding a good zombie these days is few and far between. I came to realize that it is an official prequel to the hit South Korean zombie movie “A Train to Busan.” (While it’s not animated, I still highly recommend it!) So, I decided to give this small budget animated film a shot. Here’s my review of “Seoul Station.”

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‘Dirt Femme’: A brave new world for Tove Lo

By Ayden Kowalski · Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022

You’ve probably already met Swedish pop provocateur Tove Lo (pronounced “too-veh loo”). Her artistic thesis statement, “Habits (Stay High),” is a classic for a generation, and she secured some other hits in the middle of the last decade, as both an artist with “Talking Body” and a songwriter, working on Ellie Goulding’s “Love Me Like You Do.” After this initial commercial success, however, she turned left off the road to pop superstardom, producing darker and more intimate explorations of substance abuse and relationships in her “Lady Wood” album series, which earned Lo this writer’s admiration, though, understandably, less Top 40 airtime. She followed these nocturnal odysseys with 2019’s “Sunshine Kitty,” an album that attempted to soften her narratives’ edges, thereby sacrificing their essential grit. She has since left her major recording label to release music independently, and fortunately, her newest work “Dirt Femme” demonstrates the frankness and songwriting mastery that makes her a unique talent. It also illustrates Lo as an evolving artist, whose increasing ambition doesn’t always bloom here.

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‘And a Movie’: The story of ‘Community’

By Andy Ottone · Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022

“Six seasons and a movie.” For one fandom, this was more than a quote. It was a goal — an aspiration for the show that they loved. This is the story of the show “Community” and how its fans were just so dedicated to harassing NBC employees that the show managed to get saved from cancellation. 

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Book Nook: ‘Witchcraft’ as self-care

By Caitlin Brannigan · Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022

To set the mood for Halloween, I read Patti Wigington’s “Witchcraft for Healing: Radical Self-care for your Mind, Body, and Spirit.” I have no experience with witchcraft and didn’t know what to expect. I failed to connect well with the spookier aspects of the book, but its emphasis on self-care resonated with me. Its focus on the transformative power of self-care is applicable to all readers, regardless of the reader’s interest in witchcraft.

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FTT’s “Pippin” does remarkably well

By Marcelle Couto · Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022

“Pippin” revolutionized Broadway at the time of its debut in 1972. With a daring structure and an innovation of metalanguage, the musical won five Tony Awards for telling the tale of Prince Pippin, the heir to the throne of King Charlemagne, which follows a troubled existential journey in search of the meaning of life. Told by a theatrical troupe, the saga is led by a Leading Player and the music of Stephen Schwartz, author of “Godspell” (1971), “Wicked” (2003) and winner of Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe awards. 

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AFTLS: Collaborating with Shakespeare through Macbeth

By Rose Androwich · Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022

Actors From the London Stage (AFTLS) performed Shakespeare’s tragedy of “Macbeth” at Washington Hall on Oct. 5, 6 and 7. During his life, Shakespeare knew the actors he was writing for and collaborated with them on the play’s performances. While actors cannot directly collaborate with Shakespeare anymore, AFTLS still aims to work with him.

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‘Utica: The Last Refuge’: A stunning commentary

By Rose Androwich · Monday, Oct. 10, 2022

Last Wednesday, Saint Mary’s College hosted a showing of the documentary “Utica: The Last Refuge.” The film showcased the many aspects of what it means to come to America, including the struggles and the hardships migrants face. The documentary looks back on the experiences of what it was like to be an immigrant three generations prior to now.

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‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’: A call for diversity and equality

By Caitlin Brannigan · Monday, Oct. 10, 2022

“Extraordinary Attorney Woo” is a Korean legal drama focusing on Woo Young-woo, an autistic law school grad beginning her career as an attorney at Hanbada, one of the most respected law firms in Seoul. Almost every episode focuses on investigating a different court case. In addition to the court drama, the show has a strong focus on emotional relationships between family and friends. The show’s greatest feat is the awareness it has raised for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in South Korea.

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‘Hot Mess’ : An EP for when your emotions are everywhere

By Claire McKenna · Friday, Oct. 7, 2022

Dodie is back. Releasing music for the first time since her debut album last year, the singer-songwriter is giving us a look at how the last couple of years have been for her. (Spoiler: a bit all over the place.) Filled with her signature whispering voice, layered vocals and relatable lyrics, we are once again able to find ourselves within Dodie’s songs.

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‘One D&D’ makes things more complicated

By Nicole Bilyak · Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022

With the new movie “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” coming out in March 2023, those who love playing the tabletop role-playing game were thrilled to see new material that would soon be released. One thing that players of “Dungeons & Dragons” were waiting on was a new edition of the game, since the fifth edition was published in 2014. 

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20 songs about age 20

By Maggie Eastland · Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022

I may not be a teenager anymore, but I refuse to enter the “twenty-something-I-don’t-know-what-I’m-doing-with-my-life” genre just yet. Please reference Evan McKenna’s “22 songs about being 22” for such musings. Twenty is an age still ripe for blissful ignorance, and these songs are doing their best to tap into that.

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‘When Harry Met Sally…’: The heartwarming origin of the ‘Meg Ryan Fall’ trend

By Maggie Clark · Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022

As we enter autumn, TikTok has taken a turn from focusing on the “coastal grandmother” summer aesthetic, to one more fitting of the current season: “Meg Ryan Fall.” This trend is inspired by the namesake’s hit movies of the 80s and 90s. Because of the popularity of the aesthetic, many of Ryan’s movies have faced a resurgence in popularity. Among her most well-known works is the iconic “When Harry Met Sally...,” a 1989 romantic comedy written by Nora Ephron. In this film, Ryan’s character decorates herself in warm colors, tweed jackets, baggy jeans and thick sweaters: all essentials of the TikTok aesthetic. Even greater than Ryan’s outfits in the film are the memorable story and its characters.

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J.D. Vance: Hillbilly for Congress

By Peter Breen · Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022

I’ve always identified as a Democrat. Maybe it’s because of my mother. Maybe it’s because I was raised to love my progressive hometown suburb: Shaker Heights, Ohio. Maybe it’s because I just like the color blue.

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Let's go to a concert

By Willoughby Thom · Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022

Concerts not only make life better but did you know that they also help you live longer? Now, before you roll your eyes and sarcastically express your surprise, you must listen to my reasoning. It is no surprise that concerts make life better, as they are the essence of fun, but there is scientific evidence that shows that regularly attending concerts can increase your lifespan by nine years… almost a whole decade.

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Thankful for Big Bird and Doraemon

By Andy Ottone · Monday, Oct. 3, 2022

I come from a fifth-generation immigrant family, meaning my great-great-great grandparents immigrated from Japan to America. Putting it that way, I sound fairly detached from my Japanese roots, but I am still half-Japanese. Despite growing up in the United States, my parents, especially my mom, always made a point to help me learn about my cultural heritage and traditions. 

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Hanif Abdurraqib: Someone we can all learn from

By Claire Lyons · Monday, Oct. 3, 2022

The difficulty in discussing Hanif Abdurraqib’s work lies in the fact that I cannot describe his artistic mission as eloquently as he can. He is the type of writer that I think everybody strives to be: ambitious but not pretentious, emotional but objective, disarming but doesn’t leave too much of himself on the page, etc. He writes about the “emotional impulse” behind works of art, stemming from his obsession with certain cultural phenomena (i.e. anything and everything from music, basketball, sneakers and his dog Wendy).

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