Entertainment

Jay Katsir ’04, Colbert comedy writer, wants to make some noise post-pandemic

Features Staff Writer Anna Salvatore sat down with Jay Katsir ’04, a head writer for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, to talk about writing amidst chaos and trying to elicit laughs on a muted Zoom, and to discuss his hopes for a return to in-person ‘explosion[s] of joy.’

Features Writer Anna Salvatore sat down with Jay Katsir ’04, a head writer for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, to talk about writing amidst chaos and trying to elicit laughs on a muted Zoom, and to discuss his hopes for a return to in-person ‘explosion[s] of joy.’

Cultural resilience amidst diasporic fragmentation in the music of System of A Down

Officially formed in 1994, System of a Down is an Armenian-American heavy metal band founded in Yerevan’s (unofficial) twin-city capital of Glendale, California. With their international success, the group has bolstered a distinct Armenian musical heritage that has seeped into the ears of billions of foreign fans worldwide.

Why are we all on Le Creuset TikTok? A personal investigation

However, I am also a curious man, and I did want answers. Mainly, I wanted to know why Le Creuset had such great appeal on an app like TikTok.

‘Blade Runner 2049’: The struggle to be real

Even though the movie is promising at the start, it does not reach the level of profundity of the original. Much like its characters, “Blade Runner 2049” tries — and fails — to be real.

USG Movie review: ‘Black Panther’

Unlike many of its predecessors, “Black Panther” succeeds not only as an entertaining installment in the vast interconnected MCU, but also as a sophisticated stand-alone film with depth and cultural impact.

Watching ‘The Hunger Games’ on election night

On election night, while incessantly checking my phone for poll updates that I knew would never arrive, I started to flip through channels randomly on the TV and stumbled across “The Hunger Games.”

How ‘The Big Sick’ gets the grand romantic gesture right

The grand romantic gesture is a mainstay of the rom-com genre, and not undeservedly. But, as “The Big Sick” proves, it’s a trope worth looking at with a more critical eye. 

Stolen lullabies, illicit affairs: sound and storytelling in Taylor Swift’s ‘folklore’

Perhaps more surprising was not the fact that Swift wrote such a successful album in such a short amount of time, but that the album radically departed from her original upbeat sound.

Still wish you were Heather? Sam Spector ’24 just released a fresh take on the viral song.

Composer and performer Sam Spector ’24 has released a new single covering the internet sensation with a punk rock twist.

The surprising poignancy of futuristic football: Jon Bois’ ‘17776’ and ‘20020’

What will football look like in the future? Jon Bois explores this question and much more in his long-form multimedia speculative fiction narratives “17776” and “20020.” Staff writer Molly Cutler ’23 reviews these works and reflects on their surprising power, even for those who aren’t sports enthusiasts.

TTYL Rex Orange County: Why people stop listening to musical artists

Do people make a conscious effort to stop listening to musical artists? If so, why? Over the past few weeks, I asked students from three different universities about their experiences with music and dropping artists.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is not the stress reliever I thought it would be

When Animal Crossing: New Horizons came out this past March, I thought the game would be a perfect counterbalance to the stresses of a wildly uncertain year. I cannot stress this enough: I absolutely love this game. But instead of becoming an outlet for my stress, I found that the New Horizons allowed me to repackage it under the facade of playing a video game. 

USG Movie Review: ‘Dunkirk’ (2017)

With a star-studded cast of Oscar winners and talented newcomers, impeccable craftsmanship, and an inspiring narrative based on historical events, “Dunkirk” is one of the greatest war films in recent memory. 

From folk to hip-hop: protest music through the years

Increasingly political content in entertainment is quickly becoming an epochal, cultural trend. But despite its increasing frequency, it continues to be accompanied by staunch, resolute objection: people continue to dislike the invasive nature of today’s politics, and especially its invasion into entertainment and media. But perhaps those voices are forgetting that entertainment has always been political and nowhere is this more clearly seen than in the rich history of protest music in the United States of America.

What Netflix’s ‘Indian Matchmaking’ gets right — and wrong

The tradition of arranged marriages, its toxic ideologies, and its regressive trends still exist in Indian society, putting pressure on women to compromise, instructing young adults to prioritize societal expectations, and preaching class divisions. These burdens are real and still unapologetically true, as depicted in “Indian Matchmaking.” However, they are certainly not representative of all of South Asian culture.

How Disney’s “Mulan” (2020) fell short of both Western and Eastern audiences’ expectations

The live-action remake of “Mulan” tries to incorporate many new elements with good intentions, but ultimately, the movie is poorly executed. It doesn’t work as a film that elicits nostalgia, it doesn’t work as a historical drama that explores Chinese culture, and it doesn’t even work well as a standalone film considered completely separate from the original. 

USG Movie Review: The Harrowing Beauty of “If Beale Street Could Talk” (2018)

Based on the seminal James Baldwin novel of the same name, Barry Jenkins’ “If Beale Street Could Talk” (2018) mesmerizes viewers with Jenkins’ Academy Award-winning directing, the actors’ poignant performances, and composer Nicholas Britells’ rich, melancholy score.

USG Movie Review: Damien Chazelle’s La La Land and the Art of Making Art

“La La Land” is more than just its plot — Chazelle tells Mia and Sebastian’s story, with its themes of dreams, reality, relationships, facades, and sacrifice, by manipulating colors, lighting, camera direction, and music. 

USG Movie Review: BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Thanks to Spike Lee’s masterful directing, a bold screenplay, and an all-star cast, “BlacKkKlansman” combines absurdity, dark humor, and horror into a nuanced commentary on social issues through the true story of a Black police officer leading an undercover mission to infiltrate the country’s most notorious white supremacist organization.

Queueing Up Some Quarantunes: Prospect Recommendations, Week Three [Spotify Playlists]

Living in a global pandemic leaves you with little to do to keep yourself entertained. To help combat impending boredom, Prospect has launched a series in which our Staff recommend content and creative outlets to keep you occupied while you’re stuck in your home. This week, our writers and editors curated some fabulous playlists for you to jam out to during studying. Here are the songs we recommend that you listen to during quarantine.