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'The Girlfriend That Didn't Exist': The story behind the legend

If you’re like me, you remember the 2013 BCS National Championship Game between Notre Dame and Alabama as the cementation of the SEC’s dominance over college football since the turn of the millennium. That season was the last time Notre Dame competed for a national title and the last time the team featured a Heisman Trophy finalist. Central to the mythos of the Fighting Irish’s undefeated campaign was the perseverance of said finalist, Manti Te’o, following the death of his grandmother and girlfriend on the same day in the middle of the season. In the aftermath of the title defeat, a bizarre truth emerged which grasped the sports world by storm: Te’o’s girlfriend was not a real person. Netflix’s two-part documentary released in August, “Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist,” narrates the story of the highest-profile catfishing scheme of all time.

Avril Lavigne’s ‘Let Go 20th Anniversary Edition’: Legacy and impact

On June 4, 2002, Canadian artist Avril Lavigne shocked the world with her debut album “Let Go.” Twenty years later, she returned to her roots with a 20th anniversary edition of the album. To commemorate this occasion, I am revisiting the album to reflect on what was so special about it and how it had such a profound impact in the music industry at large.

Don't ban books, celebrate their uniqueness

Let’s face it: nobody wants to hear that their book has been banned because of “controversial topics.” But the reality is that many of the classic novels that we were either forced to read in school or that we chose to read actually turned out to be either a challenged or banned book because of questionable content. 

‘Guess why I smile a lot. Uh, cause it’s worth it.’

Propelled seemingly by some mechanism inside its rubber body, a tennis ball rolls, turns and erratically bounces down the stairs, eventually coming to rest near the couch. 

The nuances of ‘Chip N’ Dale: Rescue Rangers’

Before reviewing Disney's “Chip N’ Dale: Rescue Rangers,” let’s take a look at one specific scene. At one point the titular duo gets cornered during an attempted locker room heist by a DJ, who also happens to be a snake. To distract from their theft, Chip and Dale freestyle rap about how they do not eat whales, what part of the whale they would hypothetically eat and how hard it is to break the pattern of rhyming “Dale” with “whale.” After laughing for five minutes straight, I asked myself, “how did the movie even get to this point?” 

Lady Gaga's Chromatica Ball celebrates the battle

“Have you ever had to battle for your life?” Chicago’s Wrigley Field, completely sold out and packed with 45,000 concert goers, erupted in passionate cries at Lady Gaga’s posed question. After fighting through the past few grueling years, the pop-star's highly anticipated Chromatica Ball was nothing short of a smashing celebration of life’s triumphs and its tribulations. Originally released in May of 2020, Gaga’s album “Chromatica”has waited two years to be performed live around the world. The tour had been previously postponed twice due to the worldwide pandemic, but was finally given the green light earlier this year, and it was well worth the wait. 

Lizzo's new album 'Special': All about love

When Lizzo’s album came out, I had to take a moment of silence because I knew the moment I listened to the album everything would change — and it did. “Special,” the new album by Lizzo is about loving yourself unequivocally and allowing others to love you as well. The 12 songs in the album are a gorgeous mix of pop, R&B and hip hop and invite the listeners on a journey of discovering yourself, and loving that self. With such a massive debut of “Truth Hurts,” Lizzo had a high bar to live up to and she did just that. 

‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’: Love vs. void

Hear me out: I’m late to the party. I know this.

‘The Sandman’: Dreams never really die

The first reviews I saw of Netflix’s “The Sandman”were vitriolic complaints that the series had “too many gay people.” Naturally, that made me want to watch it even more.

The chiaroscuro of ‘Elvis’

The fall of Saul: A Jimmy McGill character study

‘Hellfire’: Black Midi’s descent into madness

Netflix’s ‘Persuasion’: You cannot persuade me to like this

Holy Cross(Word): Test your knowledge of the tri-campus community

Commencement 2022: Four years in a review

Garth Brooks: One sweet cat

22 songs about being 22

‘The Northman’ is the best revenge film in years

Scene Selections: Summer reading

The masters (of fine arts): Graduate thesis exhibit reviewed