Category: Arts

REVIEW: Dave

Lucy Leave a comment

Although it certainly had its flaws, Dave was one of the funniest shows I have have seen in quite a while. I don’t think I have laughed out loud this much at a show since watching The Office!

One of my favorite things about the show was the acting (or real personality) of Dave, the main character. As the show is meant to be based on his real life, I think he was mostly just acting as himself, which was a hilarious, obnoxious narcissist with big ambitions. While the supporting characters were also very well rounded and funny, he definitely stole the show. My favorite part was the episode where he met all of the different producers, and presented his future plans and view of his own brand. While he was totally confident, the presentations were absolutely ludicrous and hilarious, which follows with most of his other shenanigans during the show. However silly and inappropriate he was, when he actually freestyle rapped during the show I was very impressed. I (and I think others) tend to forget that although his main genre is satire and dumb songs, he is actually quite a good rapper and can show up when challenged.

I also was impressed by the relationships between different characters, as they were well developed even between side characters. I really felt invested in almost every character we met on the show. The lewdness and ridiculousness of the acting or writing style made it easy for the characters to seem incredibly real. It also felt more relatable than most shows I watch about teens, which feature actors way over the age of the people they are supposed to be playing, as well as ridiculously high stakes and serious drama. This show just felt more casual and realistic.

Dave also did a great job of addressing several societal and personal issues throughout the different episodes. The show dealt with the struggles of someone with bipolar disorder, relationship problems, issues in the music industry, and even lightly brushed on racial issues towards the end of the season. But they weren’t in a fake or overdone way, they were more gently dealt with in the way that they really should be in real life.

The one thing that did bother me about this show is the way they ended the season. It seemed as if the writers did not know what to do with a lot of the loose ends, and when the show ended I sort of sat there like “What? That’s the end? That doesn’t make any sense.” In fact, I assumed there would be something after the credits because it just seemed like the show cut off. It ended before resolving the many problems Dave was having in his personal life, and it did not even resolve what was going on in that particular episode. I also wish they hadn’t tried to make Dave look like a decent guy after what he had done to his girlfriend, as well as the racial issues he had stirred up and not really absolved for. Hopefully he will get his punishment or backlash in the next season.

Overall, I would definitely recommend Dave to anyone who enjoys modern rap, lewd comedy, and interesting, real characters. I really liked this show, and I can’t wait for the next season to be released!

PREVIEW: The Dutch House

JM Leave a comment

Looking for something to read? New York Times bestseller The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, released in 2019, tells the story of a brother, sister, and a house in Elkins Park, PA over the course of five decades. It has garnered its fair share of critical acclaim, including as a New York Times bestseller, a New York Times Book Review notable book, and one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Must-Read Books of 2019.

The Dutch House is available from Literati Bookstore online (https://www.literatibookstore.com/), as well as in eBook format from Barnes & Noble or Amazon. Also check to see if your local library offers eBook borrowing services through OverDrive or a similar platform!

PREVIEW: Normal People

Kellie M. Beck Leave a comment

Based on Sally Rooney’s award-winning novel, “Normal People” is set to premiere as a limited television series April 29th on Hulu. “Normal People” follows Connell and Marianne’s intrinsic attraction towards each other through their high school and college careers. Rooney’s novel is fueled by passion, trauma, and the most unusual power struggle between the will-they-won’t-they couple. Daisy Edgar Jones plays the Marianne to Paul Mescal’s Connell. The entire series, comprised of twelve episodes, will be available to watch on Hulu Wednesday, April 29th.

PREVIEW: Dave

Lucy Leave a comment

This Hulu show is based on the life of 20-something-year-old Dave Burd, a semi-famous youtube rapper (aka Lil Dicky). Dave is constantly trying to get big in the rap world, but finds a lot of derailments and problems in his personal life. The show is inappropriate and pretty embarrassing, but absolutely hilarious, with lots of famous guest stars including Justin Bieber and Macklemore. The show began on March 4th, and the season finale is April 29th. Recommended for fans of Big Mouth, Sex Education, and, of course, Lil Dicky himself.  Watch here:

https://www.hulu.com/series/dave-ac3a96f0-9614-46af-b524-f59c7d281946

 

REVIEW: New Waves

Kellie M. Beck Leave a comment

Lucas, the main character in Kevin Nguyen’s novel that released early last month, “New Waves”, is a twenty-something, unambitious, mess. Working as the sole customer support representative at tech start-up Nimbus, Lucas and his closest friend Margo, an engineer at the firm, spend the majority of their time outside of working drinking at mediocre bars and complaining about work. When Margo is fired from the company for her lack of “team morale”, Lucas and her hatch a plan to get back at the company by stealing all of their username information.

But what happens when the friend you commit a federal crime against your previous employer with is hit by a car? Lucas is left to pick up the pieces, and as he takes on a job at a competing tech firm, Phantom, curiosity gets the better of him. But diving into Margo’s history and search history leaves Lucas with more questions than answers about the person he thought was his best friend. Nguyen navigates with dexterity Lucas’ grief and the fallout of loss while leading readers down a mysterious trail into Margo’s past.

Lucas is not exactly the kind of character a reader is used to rooting for. He is lazy, messy, and at times cruel. He has no real dreams he is pursuing. He only moved to New York City to escape working at his parents’ bed and breakfast back home in Oregon. His only real friend is Margo, and even the details and seriousness of their relationship is shrouded with a certain apathy. It’s unclear whether or not their friendship continues because of genuine connection, or pure convenience. After her passing, and a handful of discoveries, Lucas admits he was in love with Margo, “but what if I could love someone and not want to f*** them?”. This is where Nguyen falters.

The admittance comes a little over halfway through the novel. In some ways, it’s incredibly satisfying. From the beginning of my reading of the novel, I wondered if the matter would be addressed. While I was glad to get an answer, the minute I had it I realized I would’ve been better off without it. Lucas’ love for Margo is most interesting when it exists as a Schrodinger’s cat; it both exists and does not exist until this moment, and the novel is better off without Nguyen’s direct address of it. By doing so, Nguyen reveals the primary issue with his novel; it lacks any form of internal engine. Anything interesting in the novel conveniently happens to the characters, as opposed to any action happening based on the choices the characters make. And while it is engrossing initially to see Lucas flounder after the death of his beloved friend, it is apparent fairly early on that the character is aimlessly wandering through life, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. While Lucas does grow somewhat of a spine through the course of the book, it misses the mark for me. My desire for Lucas to grow, to change, to try is never fully met, despite what appears to be Nguyen’s careful cultivation of this feeling in readers.

“New Waves” is far from bad. Nguyen’s writing is admirable, and his form and integration of technology hit a mark that many “modern” books fail to do.  But at the end of the day, “New Waves” is a story about a whole lot of things happening to someone who doesn’t care enough to let it alter their outlook on life.

REVIEW: Before Love Came to Kill Us

Shannon Z Leave a comment

If Jessie Reyez’s Before Love Came to Kill Us was a quarantine essential, it would be a serrated knife used to saw through a loaf of thick-crusted, homemade bread. Released this year on March 27, Reyez’s debut studio album wastes no time ripping into the artist’s grittiest emotions and slicing away with expansive, genre-bending gusto. The versatility of Reyez’s vocals and unapologetically blunt lyricism are present throughout the album, with sounds ranging from the swaggering, synth-infused “Ankles” to the reproachful Spanish ballad “La Memoria”. Though colored by a multitude of musical genres, each song seems to inflect different emotional responses to the messiness of love and the realization of one’s own mortality.

Reyez introduces her work with a distinctive vulgarity, declaring “I should’ve fucked your friends/It would’ve been the best revenge/For the fire that you started”, before continuing to saw away with impassioned remorse at the memory of her ex-lover. Reyez’s raspy declarations are accompanied by the almost ironically soft tones of a piano and string quartet, reflective of how the song’s mood glides through extremes. The singer slips between the fiery indignation of being “sick with feeling like I deserved better” and the quiet jealousy of “if I blow your brains out, I could guarantee that you’ll forget her” – delivering unforgettable lines with no semblance of mercy.

Before Love Came to Kill Us includes several of Reyez’s previous releases – like raw 2017 single “Figures”, and”Imported”, a slinky R&B collaboration with 6LACK. Though the tracks fit in thematically, with “Figures” cracking down on post-breakup hurt and “Imported” commenting on immigration and casual love, something about each seems to disrupt the album’s emotional flow. Perhaps the two singles flavor differently in emotional maturity – while the rest of Before Love Came to Kill Us exudes loud confidence even while tackling great insecurity, “Figures” and “Imported” display vulnerability more blatantly.

One of my favorites from this album is “Ankles”, a gloriously self-assertive production drawing upon both choir and trap sounds that make the listener feel as if they were curling their lip at their own unsavory ex. Reyez chants along with the instrumentals by continuously bearing a disparaging truth about her ex’s future: that regardless of who he finds, “these bitches can’t measure up/To my ankles/Levels? (Nah)”. She does this while bearing the truth of her own realizations – that the ex and their relationship, in all its cheating toxicity, had managed to string her along with guilt – not once, but twice. Reyez finishes her masterful rampage surrounded in ticking drum beats and the last strains of a choir, asserting that like her ex’s future prospects, he is “backwards, 2 feet/Shallow, too real”.