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(05/01/18 5:59am)
By Thomas Infante
Editor-in-Chief
This past year has without a doubt been the busiest time of my life. Leading the production of a newspaper, with the support of an amazing, award-winning staff, has presented dozens of conflicts and situations that I never could have predicted. Though the time has flown by, it has been a remarkable experience that has taught me volumes about life and reminded me that wisdom can be found in the most unlikely places.
“Sometimes I go about in pity for myself, and all the while, a great wind carries me across the sky.”
This is a saying attributed to the Ojibwe Native American tribe. It is also a quotation that has ceased to leave my mind since the first time I heard it.
I’ll be honest — I don’t know anything about the origin of the saying, or about the Ojibwe, other than that they lived around what is now southeastern Canada.
I heard this phrase from an episode of “The Sopranos.” To give some relatively spoiler-free context, mafia boss Tony Soprano is recovering in the hospital after a near fatal injury, and finds that quote pinned to the wall of his room.
At first, Tony thinks it’s bullshit, and I know people who have expressed a similar opinion. One of my roommates said it sounded “depressing,” like someone was just getting miserably pushed through their existence, but I think he missed the point.
Despite our constant efforts toward the contrary, life can be lousy sometimes. Whether due to things totally out of our control, repercussions from our own mistakes or just plain old bad luck, many of us do indeed go about in pity for ourselves.
Our student’s body’s rate of depression matches the national average for college students at nearly 39 percent, and the rate of anxiety is even higher, at 56 percent. Although it’s not the most fun or common topic of conversation, it’s safe to say that there is no shortage of negative feelings on the average college campus.
That’s where the “great wind” part comes in. I would be lying if I said I haven’t felt depressed once in a while during my time at the College, but the biggest lie that I ever tried to convince myself of — and one that I have found to be unexpectedly common — is that I am alone in dealing with my problems.
Simply put, there is no one who is completely unloved. Even some of the worst people in history still had friends and companions who cared about and supported them. We all have friends, family, coworkers and others who have nothing but support to offer when we need it. It could be your real family, an organization like The Signal in my case, your community or the world at large, but we’re all part of something bigger than us.
Perspective is a wonderful thing, and it can be tough in the midst of misfortune to recognize and acknowledge the multitude of ways in which the people we care about support us. Sometimes while ranting to friends at length about my own problems, I realize that I’m fortunate just to have people that care enough to listen.
Tony eventually came to admire the quotation, and would often repeat it in moments when he wanted to sound profound, but I don’t think he ever really got it either. He did peyote in Las Vegas with his nephew’s mistress and thought he got it, but he was never able to appreciate the true source of the wind carrying him. He continued to neglect his wife, and betrays his close friends for petty and selfish reasons.
Though I’ll rarely say it out loud, I love my friends and my family very much. I always try my best to be a good friend and person, but they are often much kinder and more generous toward me than I am to them.
So thank you, to all the people who have helped me be a good friend, editor and leader. It’s because of you all that I know whenever I’m in doubt, all I have to do is lean back and let the wind carry me.
(05/01/18 5:25am)
By Thomas Infante
Editor-in-Chief
Kendall Hall Room 133, once a neglected teleconferencing room in desperate need of renovation, is now equipped with brand new Apple desktop computers, audio mixers and 60-inch monitors on each wall that can display images from any of the computers in the room.
While communication studies students will have a much easier time learning about editing and production techniques, they can hardly escape the architectural flaws that plague the building with inconsistent temperatures and outside noise.
Despite the addition of the state-of-the-art lab, longtime faculty of the communication studies department say that there are still many aspects of the building that need improvement.
The Kendall Hall teaching and learning lab was conceived as a modern model of Room 133, which was originally designed to be a distance learning conference room. Unfortunately, it became largely unused once video chatting platforms like Skype became widely available, according to Paul D’Angelo, department chair of communication studies.
“The room always had a technological purpose, but it was never equipped for the purposes of teaching RTF (radio, television and film specialization) students until now,” D’Angelo said.
With computers arranged in groups of four, the new lab is optimal for teaching video and sound editing to students on the radio, television and film track of the communication studies major. Previously, editing classes were taught in a row of small “suites” in the basement, which could fit about three students per room.
“It was a challenge to teach about technology in areas that were not designed for success,” said Judy Cook, director of the College’s Office of Instructional Design and a professor of communication studies. “We couldn’t do group work in that environment. Now, it’s much more collaborative since we can integrate video and software into the lesson.”
The lab also features 60-inch wall monitors on each of the room’s four walls, which the instructor can use to mirror the displays of the other computers. This makes it easy for students to follow along with the occasionally complicated lessons involving editing and production software like Avid Media Composer.
“Having the equipment available really takes the burden off the student to have the right computer or software to use,” Cook said. “Technology should not be an obstacle or a headache in the classroom.”
Cook feels that the lab will be a tremendous asset to students in the department.
“This is a flexible, modern learning space that is better designed to fit the changing instructional needs of today’s students,” Cook said. “Here they can have active learning experiences and real opportunities for quality teamwork.”
Plans for the lab began in 2015, when the School of Arts and Communication allocated $85,000 for the project, but it was not enough to realize faculty’s vision for the space.
“We had to argue for having a lockdown computer-based lab in light of the changing IT policy of the College, which increasingly supports each student bringing their own computer,” D’Angelo said. “There is a notion now that everything is portable, and the lab didn’t conform with that ideology. We needed a physical space where students and faculty can learn and work together.”
In March of 2017, the department submitted a proposal for the lab to the Committee of Strategic Planning and Priorities, which allocated $250,000 to fund “innovative, collaborative projects” as part of the “TCNJ 2021: Bolder, Better, Brighter” initiative. The department was overjoyed to receive an additional $42,500 from the CSPP toward the lab, which officially opened in February 2018.
Terry Byrne, an associate professor of communication studies, likened the opening of the new lab to the opening of the College’s library in 2005.
“The library opening filled a need that students had and the lab was the same,” Byrne said. “Students would always ask, ‘when is it going to open?’ And now it’s open and they’re always there.”
He credits the popularity of the room partially to the design, which facilitates conversation and collaboration among students who use it.
“The layout is ingenious — there’s no rows of computer stations like in many other computer labs,” Byrne said. “We’re finding the little clusters of four really works well — the structure of the room is all about collaboration.”
While faculty and students alike seem to love the new lab, they are not blind to the problems that persist in Kendall Hall. The building was last renovated in 1992, and longtime faculty say that most of the building has remained unchanged since then.
“As time goes on the landmark buildings of campus — Kendall, Green Hall and Roscoe West Hall — have become the most dilapidated,” Byrne said.
Professor Gary Woodward, who has taught at the College for over 45 years and described Kendall Hall as his “second home,” attested to some of the problems in the building as a whole, such as the leaky windows and high temperatures in many classrooms.
“Most of the first floor classrooms are noisy and sometimes hot. The noise problem stems from a problem long neglected by the College,” Woodward said. “The many windows in Kendall Hall are wood, single-pane glass and nearly 90 years old. They are falling apart.”
The hot temperatures stem mostly from a heating pipe that runs under the first floor classrooms in Kendall Hall, according to D’Angelo. This makes the temperatures unpleasantly inconsistent, as the first floor rooms are often too hot while second-floor rooms get cold and drafty because of the leaky windows.
“Like all old buildings that have been partly but not completely updated, there are things that remain maddening,” Woodward said. “My office is cold because of the leaky windows. On a windy day I get a breeze.”
According to Woodward, there is also an excess of outside noise that detracts from the learning environment. Most of the noise comes from a mechanical room that sits directly outside Kendall Hall on the side of the Social Sciences Building.
“Sealed, insulated and double-glazed windows would cut down on noise coming from the mechanical room well directly outside the windows of Kendall Hall,” Woodward said. “They would also help us better live up to the idea of a campus that is energy-efficient. Few businesses or organizations would try to manage a physical plant with such decrepit windows.”
Woodward acknowledged that Kendall Hall does also have its advantages. Besides the lab, the Main Stage and Black Box Theaters are comfortable and the offices in the building are generally larger than those in other buildings on campus. However, the building’s shortcomings continue to hinder the learning process for many.
“I think the College invests too little on existing and failing infrastructure,” Woodward said. “Those of us who teach in the building pay the price.”
(04/25/18 3:23am)
By Thomas Infante
Editor-in-Chief
The spotlights above the Don Evans Black Box Theatre stage illuminated four student writers and directors on Friday, April 20. As they described the themes of their plays, spectators anticipated a compelling show for All College Theatre’s Evening of One Act Shorts.
Each short play was entirely student written, directed and acted. The audience saw a mixture of seriousness and comedy, with many convincing and passionate performances.
The first short of the night, titled “This is a Play (And Someone Dies at the End),” was directed by junior technology education major Evan Noone. The story centered on five stereotypical characters.
The play began with otherworldly music. Suddenly, it stopped as a spotlight cut through the darkness and shone upon sophomore history and secondary education dual major Casey O’Neill.
“Oh! This is a play!” O’Neill exclaimed after looking around confusedly in the dark for a while. He soon donned himself the story’s Protagonist.
He was joined by his friend Comic Relief, played by senior chemistry major Eric Schreiber. His character was essentially a walking cliché, whose antics included silliness like sweeping while singing “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.”
In the most stereotypical way possible, Protagonist met Love Interest, played by sophomore music education major Angie Francese.
“Hi, I’m nerdy, but with a certain eclectic charm you can’t resist,” Love Interest said.
She is betrothed to Antagonist, played by sophomore marketing major Gail Cevallos.
When Love Interest confronts Antagonist about her role, Antagonist reveals that she never wanted to be a villain, but was robbed of the chance to be the hero of the play.
Meanwhile, Comic Relief stumbles upon the script. Once he realizes that the dialogue within corresponds to what is going on in the play, the title spurs him to show the script to his friends, worried that one of them will soon die. He brings it to the confrontation between Protagonist and Antagonist, hoping that it will resolve the conflict peacefully.
Protagonist takes the script, insisting that they must fight because fate demands it, while Antagonist pleads with him to let it go. She attempts to take it from him by force, and after a brief struggle, Protagonist is killed.
With the script, Comic Relief recites the final lines of the other characters with them, and concludes the play by reading the stage directions to exit.
The second play, “Dating Cigarettes,” was directed by senior interactive multimedia major Haley Witko.
The story began with the main character Alex, played by senior communication studies major Kirsten Gassler, sitting on a bench smoking a cigarette. Alex is a college upperclassman that struggles with feeling isolated and unfulfilled from her life at college.
Alex’s best friend Emma, played by sophomore English and secondary education dual major Joely Torres, calls Alex. The two live far apart, and Emma obviously cares about her and is concerned about her friend’s smoking habit and feelings of depression.
After hanging up, Alex runs into her friend Matt, played by sophomore management major Anthony Sofia.
Matt starts a conversation and eventually tells her that he is transferring. Alex is resentful, and Matt gets argumentative, saying that she should understand how it feels to be lonely at college.
As the conversation progresses, things get stranger until it is revealed that Matt is a figment of Alex’s imagination. Alex admits that she smokes to remind herself of him.
She throws her cigarette on the ground, proclaiming “no more,” and walks off stage. Matt stomps on the cigarette which cuts the lights, ending the play.
Witko, who made her collegiate directorial debut with “Dating Cigarettes,” said that is was a challenge to convey abstract ideas and concepts through her script.
“It can be a huge challenge when it comes to letting people go,” Witko said. “It was tough to get the right pattern in the dialogue, and to establish that pattern for the audience. It had to be done in a way that felt very natural.”
The third play, “Room 216,” was directed by senior interdisciplinary business major Natalia Byrdak, who said that the short focuses on ”what is unsaid rather than what is said.”
The story revolves around two college freshman roommates. Cassie, played by freshman English major Cali Blanchard, is a shy biology major, whereas Alex, played by freshman art education major Megan Scarborough, is an outgoing journalism major.
Cassie and Alex bond quickly despite their differences. Cassie is studious and focused, foiling Alex, who said she is “not really a writer,” despite studying journalism.
At first, Alex went out of her way to include Cassie, but as time progressed, Alex started disappearing for days at a time to go get high with her new boyfriend.
One night, Alex comes home late, nearly blacked out. The two share a heart-to-heart, and Alex reveals inner feelings of bitterness and cynicism that seem to be eating away at her. They talk about the stars, which Alex hates along with everything else, but Cassie does her best to convince her of their inherent beauty and majesty.
The next day, Alex buys Cassie cling-on glow-in-the-dark stars, telling her that now she can always look at the stars. She then leaves to take a call from her mom, and is not seen again.
The final scene features Cassie by herself in her dorm room, accompanied only by a note left on Alex’s bed. She explains that Alex has committed suicide, depriving Cassie of the chance to tell her that she had fallen in love with her. She laments on her lost opportunity, with an impassioned monologue that she ends by wishing she had gotten to tell Alex that all stars are beautiful, even though “some burn brighter than others.”
The final short, “Lox,” was directed by senior graphic design major Rob Birnbohm.
The story centers on Dan, played by sophomore communication studies major Jason Monto. Dan is a recent college graduate who earns good money at a job that he hates. He lives alone, accompanied by the imaginary friend he swears exists named Lox, played by freshman interactive multimedia Dylan Jonas. Lox is an orange ghost with a blue puff atop his head that resembled a Truffula Tree from Dr. Seuss’ “The Lorax.”
Dan’s only real friend is his ex-girlfriend Cheryl, played by sophomore elementary education and psychology double major Kate Augustin, who comes over every Thursday for take out and conversation. Cheryl is dismayed by the childlike regressions Dan has made since their graduation.
She tries to push Dan toward pursuing his college dreams of writing and acting, but Dan dismisses these as pipe dreams. After Cheryl storms out in frustration, Lox helps Dan realize that his personal relationships are more important than his current lifestyle. Lox bids Dan a final farewell, leaving Dan truly alone to call Cheryl.
After “Lox” concluded, the audience responded with thunderous applause as the entire cast came back out and took a bow. More than anything, the directors of the plays credited their acting and production staff with the amazing outcome.
“I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out,” said Noone, whose first time it was directing a production. “I’m so proud of everyone, it was a daunting task, but I’m very grateful to have the support of the entire cast.”
(04/10/18 5:02am)
By Thomas Infante
Editor-in-Chief
Professor Janet Morrison’s collaborative research with students, titled “Nine Years in the Woods: Measuring and Mentoring in the Forests of New Jersey,” was showcased to an eager audience of students and faculty members at the Barbara Meyers Pelson ’59 Annual Lecture on Friday, April 6 in the Education Building Room 212.
Morrison was the inaugural recipient of the Barbara Meyers Pelson ’59 Chair in Faculty-Student Engagement, a three-year endowed position dedicated to collaborative work between faculty and students. As Pelson chair, Morrison helped students in the School of Science conduct extensive ecological fieldwork to study New Jersey’s various plant and animal species.
Morrison previously served as the chair of the Department of Biology at the College, a department that she has been a part of since 1997. She began the presentation by expressing gratitude for the opportunity to have additional resources and funding for student mentoring through her position.
“There’s at least two decades worth of very extensive research about the benefits of doing closely-mentored research with faculty members, particularly in the sciences,” Morrison said.
According to Morrison, science students benefit from the practical experience of doing lab work and field research, which reaffirms their confidence in their field of study.
“It helps to build what we call ‘science identity’ among our students,” Morrison said. “And we know that this is particularly important for students who come from underserved groups.”
Morrison went on to present statistics showing that this type of close mentoring had a positive correlation with students going on to achieve graduate degrees, both in the sciences as well as in other fields. She shared recent statistics of the College’s chemistry department, which showed that 20 percent of graduates go on to obtain a Ph.D. — a statistic that tops schools like Cornell, Harvard and Princeton.
As the Pelson Chair, Morrison integrated the faculty-student collaboration model into a large ecological project called “Deer x Invasives².” As the name implies, the project is centered on the white-tailed deer, commonly found throughout New Jersey. Deer are herbivores, but according to Morrison, they can be quite picky eaters.
“They have plants that they prefer and plants that they don’t prefer, and that changes over time as the plant tissues change,” Morrison said. “So something that’s preferred earlier in the spring might not be preferred in the fall.”
Other factors, such as abundance and availability, also contribute to the deer’s food preferences. These preferences have tremendous impact on the surrounding plant community, according to Morrison.
This effect has been compounded by the increase in the nationwide deer population in recent years, which Morrison described as “extraordinary.”
“In the most recent survey of Hopewell Township, there were 32 deer per square kilometer,” Morrison said as the crowd murmured in disbelief.
The massive deer population has made it easier to observe the animals’ effects on various types of invasive plants, the other focus of the project. Invasive plants like the mile-a-minute weed are nonnative species, and spread rapidly among a new habitat.
“They often can have detrimental effects on the native plant community that’s there, and we’re worried about that because we care about biodiversity and ecosystem function,” Morrison said.
Morrison explained that traditional experiments of nonnative plant species focused on a single type of invasive plant. However, this model is not viable in the modern suburban sprawl of New Jersey, where individual ecosystems are much smaller, and often home to a variety of invasive plant species.
“There’s a lot of urban/suburban infrastructure, but embedded in that is all this green stuff,” Morrison said, pointing at a topographical state map. “This is what nature looks like in the 21st century … in New Jersey, two-thirds of the land is the built infrastructure. So if we’re not paying attention to the natural areas embedded in that, we’re not paying attention to a lot of the nature.”
The preliminary stages of the project began back in 2008, when Morrison and her students started collecting data on local forests, eventually setting up six 4x4 meter study plots. By 2010, they were collecting data on the forests’ respective deer populations, including density and browse rates.
The project took off after receiving a grant from the National Science Foundation, and 20 students have since completed capstone papers on work related to their experiments. The main findings concerned the nonnative invasive plants such as Japanese stiltgrass. The findings showed that deer overbrowsing has facilitated the invasion of Japanese stiltgrass in areas with dense deer populations.
Morrison’s findings also showed that deer consume nonnative invasive plants equally as much as they do native plant species, showing a somewhat symbiotic relationship between the overpopulated deer and invasive plants.
“This could mean that if we go in and try to control the deer herd, which a lot of agencies are trying to do, we could have a population explosion of nonnative plants that are being browsed at a high rate,” Morrison said.
Morrison structured her students into small groups, typically led by a senior or junior. She worked directly with the students involved with the project for course credit, who would oversee freshmen shadowing the experiments.
She then gave the floor to her students, who shared some of the work they have done with Morrison in the last few years. Alumna Gio Tomat-Kelly (’15), graduated with a degree in biology and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. at the University of Florida. She studied the process of nitrogen recycling in soil, and how nutrients introduced from invasive plants could potentially affect the native soil’s natural processes.
Alumnus Mitch Vaughn (’16) graduated with a degree in biology before obtaining his master’s the next year to become a high school science teacher. His research focused on the geographic origin of different species, and the effects on these origins in their interactions. He tested this by attempting to feed plant species of varying national origins to European slugs. Besides lettuce, the control plant, the slugs would only tolerate the European plant garlic mustard, showing a correlation of geographic origin.
Alumna Jen Wells (’16) graduated with a degree in biology and now works at the New Jersey Nature Conservancy. Her research focused on whether or not one invasive plant species would hinder another’s ability to invade the same area. By planting garlic mustard and Japanese stilt grass in a greenhouse one after the other and measuring the biomass of the soil, it was found that the original plant had a suppressing effect on the second’s ability to grow.
Olivia Sohn, a senior biology major, focused her research on the hypothesis that thorn-bearing plants will instinctively learn to grow more thorns after a significant deer browsing period. By measuring the thorn-to-stem ratio of Rosa multiflora plants, it was found that the plant does grow more protective thorns in the presence of deer.
Based on the testimonies of her students, Morrison’s mentorship has led them to make discoveries not only in the sciences, but about themselves as well.
“Without her, I never would have thought that I myself could pursue a graduate degree in research,” Kelly said. “And research is really important because without research there’s no understanding, and without understanding, we can’t have progress.”
(03/20/18 8:59am)
By Thomas Infante
Editor in Chief
Atlanta rapper Miles McCollum — better known as Lil Yachty — has simultaneously been an outlier and a trendsetter in rap music since his sensational online debut in August 2015. Within a genre dominated by generic trap production and lazy lyricism, Yachty stood out with glitzy pop-inspired instrumentals and positive lyrics that he either rapped anthemically, or slathered in auto-tune and euphorically crooned. This was the musical niche he occupied since his debut 2016 mixtape “Lil Boat,” but he struggled to further develop that sound on his 2017 studio album “Teenage Emotions.”
His latest release, “Lil Boat 2,” released on March 9, shows the now 20-year-old rapper largely abandoning his original sound, embracing trap music both with his choices of beats and featured artists, which include Offset, 2 Chainz and Quavo. Several of these songs get quite monotonous, but there is enough good in the tracklist to keep the album afloat.
The album’s voyage begins with the track, “SELF MADE,” with a sparkly, aquatic-sounding beat reminiscent of Yachty’s early material. The following track, “BOOM!,” sets the proper tone for the rest of the songs to follow. A minimalist, bass-heavy beat gives the song a high-energy vibe that pairs well with the rappers’ ridiculous lyrics. Featured rapper Ugly God’s verse is underwhelming, considering how funny he can be on his solo material, but Yachty comes through with bars like “Leave a nigga lumpy like cheese grits, dick about as long as four fish sticks” that are difficult to not appreciate.
The next track, “OOPS,” has solid performances from Yachty and featured rapper 2 Chainz, who play well off each other on the bare, empty instrumental. Their lyrical deliveries are solid, but the lyrics lack enough substance to make this track particularly memorable.
The following song, “TALK TO ME NICE,” suffers from the same issue. The beat combined with Quavo’s background vocals make the track sound like a dozen other Migos songs. According to a March 9 interview with Genius, Yachty and Quavo made this song about a day before the “Lil Boat 2” dropped, which partially explains the its played-out sound.
The album continues with “GET MONEY BROS.” featuring rapper Tee Grizzley. He and Yachty go back and forth trading verses, flowing well together and dropping a few more crudely hilarious lyrical gems like “Used to ride ‘round bagging hoes in a Civic, shawty slurp nut like a blueberry Mistic.”
He trades verses in a similar way on the track, “NBAYOUNGBOAT,” featuring rapper NBA YoungBoy. Their fast paced flows work around the beat that intermittently subtracts changes to make the lyrics sound more punctual and powerful, even if little is really being said. According to Yachty, all the guest verses on the album were recorded in-person in the studio, giving Yachty and his guests a consistently cohesive vocal flow.
“Lil Boat 2” deviates from its trap-influenced course briefly for tracks like “she ready,” which features rapper/singer PnB Rock. Yachty said that he recorded his verse while playing “NBA 2K” through the window of the recording booth, which is even funnier considering this is easily one of the best songs present. The instrumental to this song is driven by an upbeat flute melody reminiscent of the beat from Drake’s 2017 song, “Portland,” but infinitely friendlier and catchier. The auto-tuned chorus sung by PnB Rock matches perfectly with Yachty’s lyrics about maintaining a relationship while being famous.
The above tracks are all enjoyable to varying degrees, but there are just as many that are either mindlessly repetitive or completely unlistenable. The track “COUNT ME IN” is aggressively terrible, with a sickening, poorly-mixed bassline that overpowers the dull lyrics and instrumental. The song, “DAS CAP” features a horrible beat by Southside with a repetitive background noise that sounds like nails scraping against a chalkboard.
Generally, the lesser songs on “Lil Boat 2” are bland rather than completely awful. Yachty’s performance on “WHOLE lotta GUAP” rips-off Playboi Carti’s braindead adlib rapping style, and the beat only exasperates this. “POP OUT” and “FWM” are similarly mundane. Tracks like “FLEX” and “MICKEY” have better lyrics and flow, but have equally dreary production.
It’s no wonder that there are no features on most of the worst songs, as no sane rapper would go near some of these abysmal instrumentals. These songs depreciate the album as a whole and make the second half of it somewhat of a chore to get through.
The album recovers near the end starting with “BABY DADDY.” It features rappers Lil Pump and Offset, who complement the dark instrumental that sounds like it came off a 21 Savage album. Neither of the featured rappers stand out much, but both do an adequate job of rapping and give a nice variety of voices to the song.
Described by Yachty as “the hottest record on ‘Lil Boat 2,’” the final track, “66,” is a highlight. The beat features a dreamy synthesizer melody and bass-heavy percussion, with Yachty and featured rapper Trippie Redd having their own distinct flows that both work well.
One of the project’s strengths, ironically, is its length. With 17 tracks totaling only 45 minutes, it’s fairly short compared to Migos’ 2018 mixtape “Culture II,” which had 24 tracks and was an hour longer than “Lil Boat 2.” While Migos’ mixtape suffered from being bloated with numerous four and five-minute tracks that should have been shorter or cut entirely, Yachty mostly avoids this by ending the majority of his songs after about three minutes. This means that the best songs are harder to get sick of, but there is also less to enjoy overall.
The album’s main shortcoming is its unoriginality, which has only recently become a problem for Yachty, whose breakout single “One Night” is and forever will be etched into my subconscious. I’d rather listen to Yachty make uninspired trap music than hear him recycle his past work, or try to emulate the emo/hip-hop style of newer rappers like 6ix9ine and XXXTentacion, but it would have been nice if he expanded on his older sound like he did on tracks like “love me forever,” which is sonically distinguished but tragically short.
“Lil Boat 2” is inconsistent, and I hope he continues to experiment with his sound in order to best fit his musical strengths, but this album proves Yachty’s versatility in the current rap music scene. He can alter his musical style and lyrical deliveries to fit the profile of almost any of his contemporaries, while still setting himself apart with his ludicrous lyrics and memorable vocal melodies.
Yachty said in an interview that he had about 75 requests to do features on other artists’ songs, and I don’t predict that number decreasing anytime soon. “Lil Boat 2” won’t change anyone’s mind about the rapper, but any fan of him or rap music in general is bound to love at least a few tracks on this fun, charismatic and occasionally ridiculous album.
(01/29/18 11:57pm)
By Thomas Infante
Editor-in-Chief
In 2003, a man named Tommy Wiseau directed, wrote, produced and starred in the film, “The Room.” It was a huge financial loss, but the film eventually gained a strong cult following due to its over-dramatic acting and nonsensical plot and dialogue. It’s a film that almost demands a behind-the-scenes account, and thanks to James Franco and his younger brother Dave, we have one.
“The Disaster Artist” was released in December 2017 and is directed and produced by James Franco, who also plays Wiseau. Dave plays Wiseau’s best friend Greg Sestero, who co-starred alongside Wiseau in “The Room” and also wrote the book that this movie is based on. Despite its bizarre premise, the film has garnered multiple award nominations, including a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy win by the elder Franco.
As a fan of “The Room,” I expected “The Disaster Artist” to be a pretty straightforward comedy movie, but this was not the case. Franco’s performance of Tommy is surprisingly believable, but this is in part due to how enigmatic Wiseau is in real life. For those unfamiliar with the man, Tommy Wiseau is a ghostly, middle-aged man with long, straight jet-black hair who speaks with a confusing accent that he refuses to divulge the origin of. While Franco simply isn’t as vampiric as Wiseau, he nails the accent and speech cadence, and really immerses himself in the role instead of just impersonating him.
The film details the beginning of the friendship between Tommy and Greg, who meet in an acting class in San Francisco. Greg compliments Tommy on his fearlessness, and the two soon become friends, sharing a dream of someday becoming movie stars. The two eventually move to Los Angeles to further pursue their acting careers, and after multiple auditions and rejections, they decide to make and star in their own movie instead. Tommy writes the only copy of the script by typewriter, and “The Room” is born.
Greg tries to support Tommy throughout their journey, but their relationship is strained by Tommy’s mysterious background. Tommy maintains that he is from New Orleans (despite his vague European accent), and when Greg asks how old he is, he says that he is “the same age as you,” despite being at least 15 years his senior. People constantly tell Greg how strange Tommy is, and it gets increasingly harder for him to defend his friend.
Tommy’s associates are also confounded about his financial standing. In addition to spending upward of $5 million out-of-pocket on the film, he also has apartments in both San Francisco and L.A., and never specifies how he came into all that money.
The only thing that confuses people more than Tommy’s personality is the movie itself. As production continues, the crew have more difficulties working with Tommy, who shows up late every day to shooting and often forgets his lines and breaks character to talk to the camera during takes. The actors wonder why the movie plot makes no sense, and Tommy begins to unravel under the pressure.
While the conflict between characters gives them more depth, it also produces the weakest moments in the film. Franco has difficulty making Tommy relatable or empathetic as a character, despite the scenes and dialogue that clearly show that Tommy is lonely, depressed and jealous of Greg. There is a scene where the actors discuss whether or not Tommy’s movie is autobiographical, but there is no insight into whether or not that could be the case. Aside from a few minor details, he is no less confusing and outlandish to the viewer by the film’s conclusion.
Luckily, serious moments are few and far between in “The Disaster Artist,” which focuses mostly on the absurd comedy that results from everything Tommy does and says. On the set of his film, he often foils their sarcastic script supervisor Sandy (Seth Rogen), who clearly thinks that there is something wrong with Tommy. The supporting cast includes some hilarious actors in very small roles, including Alison Brie as Greg’s girlfriend Amber and Josh Hutcherson, Zac Efron and Nathan Fielder as actors in Tommy’s movie. While the abundance of recognizable faces slightly disrupts the suspension of disbelief, it also leads to some hilarious moments where the actors recreate famous scenes from “The Room.”
The film raises more questions about Wiseau than it answers. With “The Room” already being such a funny movie in its own right (albeit unintentionally) I hoped that “The Disaster Artist” would explore Wiseau’s motivations, but it fails to reveal anything significant about Wiseau or the inspiration behind his cult classic. It’s one of the funniest movies Franco has been a part of in years, but does not capture the true “human emotion” that Tommy talks about so much while making his movie.
If nothing else, this film does an excellent job immortalizing the story behind “The Room,” and will likely increase awareness of it for years to come. “The Disaster Artist” is a hilarious, ridiculous and inspiring tale of the American dream told by someone you can barely understand.
(12/05/17 9:24am)
By Thomas Infante
Managing Editor
A sea of students stood in the Student Recreation Center — forming mosh pits and engaging in water fights in between periods of adrenaline-fueled singing and dancing — but all eyes were on Atlanta rappers Lil Yachty and Lil Jon, who performed for the College Union Board’s Lil Fall Concert on Tuesday, Nov. 28.
Lil Yachty took the stage and immediately launched into a rendition of his 2016 single “Bentley Coupe.” With a giant anchor projected behind him, he strutted around the stage, shouting his delightfully repetitious lyrics at the eager crowd. The rapper jumped and banged his head to the bass-heavy rhythm of the beat, each time sending his red dreadlocks cascading around his head.
As the song wound down, the rapper faced the audience and half-asked, half-commanded, “Can I get a ‘Lil Boat’?”
The crowd roared back, “Lil Boat!” Lil Yachty giggled into the microphone.
“Everybody have a good Thanksgiving and shit?” The crowd cheered in response as the rapper began performing his 2016 single “Ice Water.” Despite the song’s lyrical references to ice, even Lil Yachty couldn’t ignore the sweltering temperature inside the Rec Center.
“It’s hot as a motherfucker in this bitch,” Lil Yachty said, casting off his colorful sailing jacket adorned with many patches and flags. Sympathetic to the sweaty concertgoers, Lil Yachty and his onstage entourage proceeded to take the caps off some water bottles and douse members of the audience.
“Now for this next song I need y’all to jump out of your feet,” the rapper said before performing the song “Wanna Be Us” from his debut 2016 mixtape “Lil Boat.”
Despite the physical impossibility of the request, the crowd managed to get impressive airtime, jumping in unison with Lil Yachty as the beat dropped.
The song’s trap drums, heavy bass and silvery synthesizers kept the energy high, and many couldn’t resist singing along to lines like “I keep them hoes like a ferry, my hair be red like a cherry."
The audience only became more ecstatic once the opening notes to Kyle’s hit single “iSpy” came through the speakers. Lil Yachty primarily let the audience sing the chorus, waiting to deliver his verse with ferocious intensity. While the recorded version has a mellow vibe, Lil Yachty approached this one with more energy, passionately shouting lyrical gems such as “all my bitches come in pairs like balls in my nutsack.”
Lil Yachty kept the lively atmosphere going with the songs “Harley,” “Dirty Mouth” and his rendition of “Peek A Boo.” The audience continued its exhilarating romp, with Lil Yachty himself chanting for a mosh pit that began toward the front of the crowd.
“I wanna see how many people can crowdsurf at one time,” the rapper challenged the audience during a performance of his song “Shoot Out the Roof” from his mixtape “Summer Songs 2.” The crowd elevated about a dozen students, most of who travelled only a few feet overhead before plummeting to the floor.
After the song, the rapper paused the music and spent about 10 minutes tossing bottles of water out to members of the audience.
“It’s time for something we do called the boat test,” Lil Yachty said. “For the boat test we travel all over the place — all around the world — trying to figure out who’s the most motherfucking lit.”
Everyone was told to hold onto the bottles, then open the caps and throw the water over people next to them once the next song started.
As a bombastic performance of the single “Mase in ’97” began, audience members sprayed people around them with water, turning the crowd into Lil Yachty’s “Lil Ocean.”
He followed the water fight with a performance of D.R.A.M.’s 2016 single “Broccoli,” which had most of the audience singing along. This was one of the several songs in his set that only feature him on part of the track, but his presence on each was memorable enough to engage the audience and keep his set sonically diverse. Naturally, Lil Yachty always saved his strongest performances for his own tracks.
“Are you guys tired?” he asked the audience after the end of the song. “If y’all not tired say ‘Hell no!’”
After a hearty “hell no” from the audience, Lil Yachty said, “For this next song I’m not gonna tell anyone what to do, I just wanna see y’all at level 10.”
The audience followed through upon hearing the opening piano melody of “Minnesota,” which Lil Yachty followed with his hit single “One Night.” The blue stage lights shone like laser beams across the crowd as the sparkly synthesizer beat enveloped the space, giving the Rec Center an ethereal quality disrupted only by the tennis court lines painted on the floor.
For his finale, Lil Yachty cut the stage lights and instructed the audience members to hold up their phone flashlights.
“I got one more song for all the real Lil Yachty fans here,” he said before singing his song “Forever Young.” After the song, he stayed onstage and caught cell phones thrown to him by the audience, taking a few selfies with them before tossing them back.
Rapper Lil Jon opened the show, keeping the audience hyped with a mix of dubstep and rap remixes. For the majority of his set, he acted as DJ and human soundbite, screaming Lil Jon-isms like “yee-aah,” “awww shit” and “turn the fuck up!” to everyone’s delight.
Toward the end of his set, Lil Jon abandoned the turntables to address the audience.
“Who here knows where the fuckin’ window is?!” he asked as the audience pointed to their collective right. “And who knows where the muthafuckin’ wall is?!” The audience motioned in the opposite direction, and Lil Jon began a performance of “Get Low.”
The Lil Fall Concert was, despite its title, one of the loudest and most spirited in years. The show exhibited how truly awesome it is when, as Lil Jon says, “ATL is in the building.”
(11/28/17 10:12pm)
By Thomas Infante
Managing Editor
Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is just over the horizon. For students here at the College, this means a month without homework, exams or in my case, editing stories for The Signal. It’s a break that I look forward and find new ways to appreciate every year.
Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is just over the horizon (envato elements).
I remember waking up on Christmas morning at the crack of dawn when I was a kid, absolutely elated to open my presents and spend time with the family members that I only see a few times a year. It’s the only holiday that ever had a seemingly magical quality to it.
As I got older, Christmas for me became less about fun and excitement and became another checklist of things to get done. I inherited jobs that used to fall to my parents, like setting up the tree in our living room and stringing lights on the outside of our house. While rushing to get everything done in whatever time I had left before Dec. 25, I lost my capacity to appreciate the purpose of all the decorating.
By the end of high school, I honestly thought I would never enjoy the Christmas season like I used to. That changed completely after a few years in college. At home, the holiday hype can become overwhelming, especially after so many years of the same family traditions. At school, however, I’m way too preoccupied with other responsibilities to put almost any thought into the holidays.
As a result, I’m almost surprised to come home and see people getting excited for Christmas after watching jaded college students slog through finals for a week. Tasks that used to irritate me, like taking hours to meticulously decorate the tree with lights and ornaments, reminds me of my favorite childhood Christmas’ and fills my holiday with both nostalgic bliss and serenity.
This change in thinking made me realize that Christmas never changed, I did. Even something as joyful as Christmas can be ruined if you center all your stress on it. Most of our stress is caused more by negative thinking than by an accumulation of problems. I find that when I am at my most stressed, it’s usually about things that I’ve done many times before and can absolutely do again. So when I realized that I was actually getting frazzled over hanging Christmas lights, it forced me to put my problems in perspective.
Even though the holiday season doesn’t have the same mesmerizing effect on me as it once did, it still puts me at ease and forces me to take some time and appreciate how fortunate I am. Besides my possessions, I have great friends, a loving family and a pretty darn good GPA.
As life goes on, it gets harder and harder to find excuses to relax and unwind. So whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza or something else entirely, take the time to appreciate the festivities, as well as the people around you that make it festive to begin with.
(10/23/17 11:54pm)
By Thomas Infante
Managing Editor
Netflix has never been afraid to take risks when it comes to producing original content. While the company has had a string of successful and critically acclaimed funny cartoons like “Bojack Horseman,” “F is for Family” and “Big Mouth,” their live-action comedies have been far less original. Usually, the company tries to bank on audience nostalgia by producing derivative garbage like “Fuller House” and the fourth season of “Arrested Development.”
Perhaps as a result of these failures, the company released “American Vandal,” one of the funniest and most ludicrous shows Netflix has ever made. The show is structured as a satirical documentary-style series like “Making a Murderer,” but the investigation centers on high school senior Dylan Maxwell (Jimmy Tatro), who has been expelled from school for spray painting phallic imagery on 27 of the school faculty’s cars, though Dylan maintains his innocence.
After Dylan’s expulsion, sophomores Peter Maldonado (Tyler Alvarez) and Sam Ecklund (Griffin Gluck) begin an investigation into the incident, gathering information and interviewing students and faculty along the way to figure out “who drew the dicks?” Even very minor characters that are interviewed are very believable, and the overall depiction of how the kids talk and act seems very authentic in a way that most movies and shows about high school usually fail to achieve.
The investigation centers on high school senior Dylan Maxwell (Jimmy Tatro), who has been expelled from school for spray painting phallic imagery on 27 of the school faculty’s cars (envato elements).
The show is presented so seriously that it’s easy to forget how juvenile subject matter is. When Maldonado is narrating over a slideshow of pictures and videos, you really feel drawn into the mystery of who was responsible for the vandalism. This suspension of disbelief is both reaffirmed and shattered by Dylan Maxwell, who is the embodiment of the class clown you knew in high school. Dylan doesn’t go to school to learn, he goes to draw penises on the whiteboard and make whale noises in class. He either spends his free time with his crazy girlfriend Mackenzie, or smoking weed and making “Jackass”-style YouTube videos with his friends. To the school board, it seems obvious that Dylan is the vandal, even if there is no hard evidence to pin it on him.
Character flaws aside, every moment Dylan is on screen is wonderful. He embodies the essence of an 18-year-old burnout stoner just as thoroughly as Daniel Day-Lewis did Abraham Lincoln. After watching Dylan for a while, you really want to believe that he’s innocent, and so does Maldonado. Even though Dylan’s case looks bleak, the documentarians pursue every possible lead to exonerate Dylan.
The evidence they look for, however important to the case, is almost always completely ridiculous. For example, Dylan’s alibi during the incident was that he was with his friends, pretending to be Kiefer Sutherland while prank calling a senile old man who lives nearby. Maldonado insists that if they can obtain the voicemail of the call from the old man, they can prove Dylan’s innocence.
Other leads involve some hilarious side characters. Since the security camera footage of the incident was deleted, the school board relied on the testimony of Dylan’s classmate Alex Trimboli, whose honesty is known to be questionable. One of his alleged falsehoods includes getting a hand job at summer camp from classmate Sarah Pearson, and Maldonado goes to great lengths to challenge the validity of this in order to delegitimize his testimony.
Maldonado also relies on information from history teacher Mr. Kraz, who tries way too hard to be the “cool teacher.” He makes Twitter polls about his students and still says “yolo” in 2017, but he also provides a valuable perspective to the documentary as a faculty member. In one breath he’ll tell Maldonado valuable information about fellow teachers, in another comparing female colleagues to “the bald guy in ‘Game of Thrones’ with no dick.”
In between the hilarity and stupidity are really profound and heartfelt moments for these characters. In one episode, Maldonado and Ecklund each profile the other, in order to objectively find whether or not one of them could have been the perpetrator. While Ecklund takes the opportunity to make fun of his friend, Maldonado legitimately attempts to dig up dirt on Ecklund, causing a rift between the two.
Even Dylan has some serious moments, especially toward the end of the show. In one scene, Dylan and his classmates are watching the finished documentary at a house party, and Dylan is forced to watch the interviewees talk about how dumb they really think he is. You can tell he realizes that all the people around him are fake and that his fame is worthless, even if he can’t articulate it as such.
“American Vandal” is a show that draws you in with its absurdity before hooking you with actual emotional investment. It combines the humor and vibe of “Superbad” with the presentation of “Serial.” It’s extremely well done, and shows the potential of an idea that, like Dylan himself, is so hilariously simple that it almost seems stupid.
(09/12/17 2:05am)
By Thomas Infante
Managing Editor
The first show of the fall 2017 CUB Alt season, which took place the evening of Tuesday Sept. 5, had the Brower Student Center pulsating with raw rock music and good vibes. Headlining band Diet Cig, a pop punk duo composed of singer/guitarist Alex Luciano and drummer Noah Bowman, had the crowd going wild with their loud, catchy songs and their enthralling stage presence. Opening bands Coping Skills and Ratboys set the tone and amped up the crowd with their emo/punk blend of rock.
First up was Coping Skills, an indie rock band fronted by Rachel Dispenza and Lauren DeLucca. DeLucca plucked at a black Fender bass adorned with stickers while Dispenza hammered away power chords on her white Telecaster. Vocals were shared by the two, screaming and singing some angsty and outlandish lyrics like “my body is a temple, but I treat it like my neighbor’s house.”
The band’s song “Dropped Out of College” was ironically the most well received by the audience, who bounced to the upbeat music and sang along with the simple and catchy lyrics. The band’s cheerful attitude and casual stage banter put the crowd in a great mood, with DeLucca describing the show as “a dank ass gig.”
Next up was Ratboys, an indie/alternative rock band from Chicago. The 5-piece band has a more mellow and dreamy vibe than the name suggests, mostly due to lead singer Julia Steiner’s soft and airy vocals. In addition to the guitars, bass and drums, Ratboys also features a trumpet player who helps to further distinguish their sound. Most of the band’s material was from their 2017 album titled “GN,” including the song “Dangerous Visions,” which Steiner described as “the trippiest song ever written…by me.”
Steiner then introduced Diet Cig, who are touring together until Sept. 17. The band opened with their song “Sixteen,” an upbeat song with lyrics about the bitter end to a past relationship. Luciano’s airy, high-pitched voice stood out more than expected against the electric guitar and Bowman’s fervent and passionate drumming.
The energy in the room spiked soon after the duo began to play.
Whenever Luciano wasn’t singing, she was kicking, dancing and twirling around the stage, all while playing the guitar.
“She was great,” said sophomore art education major Haley Mosseri. “You don’t expect her to have so much energy just from looking at her.”
Crowd favorites in the set included 2015 singles “Dinner Date” and “Sleep Talk.” Both songs have much more relaxed verses that build to powerful choruses.
Luciano’s lyrics are straightforward, revealing and relatable — she had the crowd cheering louder after each song.
In between songs, Luciano — usually slightly out of breath from her performance — spoke openly and cheerfully with the crowd.
“This is the first day of our tour, so this show is really special,” Luciano said. “It’s really cool to start in New Jersey because we’ve only played here one other time and like two people showed up.”
Although the crowd was eager to hear what the bubbly Diet Cig lead singer had to say, Luciano concerned herself more with the music.
“I don’t have any witty stage banter,” Luciano said. “So I just want to say thanks for coming out!”
She also took the time to address interstellar goings-on.
“I want to congratulate everyone for making it through Mercury in retrograde,” Luciano said, her voice full of genuine glee. “I was starting to get worried this time, but we made it!
The band then played their song “Link in Bio,” from their 2017 album “Swear I’m Good at This.”
The song’s empowering and emotional lyrics manifested themselves in Luciano’s performance and resonated throughout the audience. The music and lyrics are simple, but it’s the band’s limitless energy that made it a real experience.
Before playing the song “Tummy Ache,” which features lyrics about double standards between genders, Luciano took the time to reassure students about their own creative endeavors.
“Growing up I was always having my art questioned and judged by people who didn’t like it,” Luciano said. “Don’t let them get to you, remember that your art matters.”
The band ended with their most well-known song “Harvard.” The band went all out for the finale, with Luciano jumping into the audience to dance with them and later lying on her back and kicking in the air while playing the final chords to the song. The three bands that night were memorable not only for their music, but for their demeanors as well.
“When they were talking to us they seemed so nice, almost awkward but in a good way,” Mosseri said. “Then when they start playing it feels totally different.”
The bands also sold some of their merchandise at the show, which included many stickers, shirts, CDs and vinyl records. The next CUB Alt show will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 15, in BSC 100W, and will feature the band Old Gray and more.
(09/05/17 3:19am)
By Thomas Infante
Managing Editor
I had given up hope years ago that Brand New would ever release a new album again. The indie/emo rock band enjoyed moderate success and developed a strong cult fan base throughout the 2000s when it released four albums that each took the group’s music in a different direction. After the mixed reception of its last album in 2009, “Daisy,” the band stuck to touring and avoided answering questions about future material.
Despite their absence, the members of Brand New have come back with some of their strongest material on their fifth album, “Science Fiction.” The band released the album with no promotion on Aug. 18, surprising fans by becoming the first album by the band to reach No. 1 on the Billboard top 200. While other bands from the same era, like Fall Out Boy, had to turn completely pop to achieve the same success, Brand New’s music retains its distinctive dark atmosphere without retreading old territory.
“Science Fiction” is noticeably mellower than any of the band’s previous work. Some of the band’s most famous songs rely on heavily distorted guitars and the ferocious screaming of lead singer and lyricist Jesse Lacey. This album takes a more reserved and minimal approach on many songs, including the opening track “Lit Me Up.” The vocals and instruments echo hauntingly throughout the song, and Lacey’s cryptic vocals about being lit on fire fit well with the vibe of the music.
The song “Waste” incorporates an acoustic rhythm guitar to complement a distorted lead electric guitar. Lacey’s lyrics sound regretfully directed at an old friend who is living in the past, or as Lacey puts it, “stuck in the waste.” Lacey pleads with this individual to let go of a past burden and move on.
The following track, “Could Never be Heaven,” is an intimate finger-picked acoustic ballad, a very unusual choice for a band that once heavily favored loud noise and power chords. Lacey’s lyrics seem to contemplate his place in heaven after many past misdeeds.
Not all the songs on “Science Fiction” are such a musical departure for Brand New. The track “Can’t Get it Out” features the distorted power chords and anthemic chorus that immediately call back to the band’s pop-punk roots. It’s by far the most familiar sounding song on the album, but among the more down tempo tracks of “Science Fiction,” it actually stands out.
The bulk of the great tracks are in the middle of the album, beginning with the song “Same Logic/Teeth.” This track reaches both extreme ranges of Brand New’s musical capabilities, with a chorus that starts with pretty, harmonized vocals and ends with Lacey’s most intense screaming on the album. His lyrics are striking and poetic, examining the problems that arise from unchecked mental trauma.
“This is the same logic that got us into trouble the first time, when we discovered we could use,” Lacey croons on the chorus. “The same logic to get us out of trouble and shake off all the people we abuse.”
Like most of the songs on this album, the lyrics are pretty depressing, but the music itself never sounds sad.
The song “In the Water” is similarly captivating, with a bluesy rhythm guitar riff running behind Lacey’s prophetically delivered lyrics about life and the passage of time.
Lacey frequently uses water as a symbol of death, but here it seems to function as a portal to the afterlife, a place to heal wounds and find answers to the unanswerable. Plus there’s a sweet guitar solo before the last chorus, and that’s always welcome.
The track is followed by another excellent song, titled “Desert.” Lacey’s lyrics on this song are from the point of view of an older white Christian American, who feels infringed upon by an ever-changing society.
The narrator denounces “bleeding hearts” and homosexuals, insisting that in the event of a divine judgment, he would be safe from damnation — hence the chorus, “don’t come running to me when they’re coming for you.” It also shows how an apathetic opinion on popular social issues contributes to the issue as a whole. The lyrics here are clever enough that one could listen to the song several times without even hearing any social commentary.
The remaining songs are all solid, but don’t hold up as well compared to the album’s central tracks. The song “Out of Mana” features quiet verses that build to explosive choruses, and finally to the best guitar solo ever recorded in a Brand New song.
“137” has some cool guitar work, but Lacey’s lyrical allusions to the apocalypse are by far the most contrived on the album.
“No Control” and “451” are both pretty good, but seem underwhelming and repetitive after so many other outstanding songs.
The album ends with the track “Batter Up,” a somber song with an American Football-esque guitar melody running throughout. Lacey’s lyrics seem to dwell on the permanence of depression (“it’s never going to stop”), as well as his ability to overcome it (“batter up, give me your best shot”).
In addition to numerous references to past lyrics and songs by the band, there are also several production choices that add insight to his lyrics.
The album opens with a recording of a woman in therapy who talks about a dream she had of being at a crowded convention, and though “I don’t mind having all this going on inside of me… I think I’m going to be relieved when it’s over.”
This, along with several other lyrics on this album, suggests that “Science Fiction” may be the last album that Brand New releases together.
If this is indeed the case, then I’m just glad that one of the greatest bands of the 21st century got another chance to solidify its status as such with some of its best material to date. The band that so long ago promised to stay 18 forever has finally grown up.
(05/02/17 3:43am)
By Thomas Infante
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Kendrick Lamar is without a doubt the most unpredictable figure in mainstream music. His 2012 album “Good Kid M.A.A.D. City” solidified his reputation as a master lyricist and storyteller, while his 2015 follow-up “To Pimp a Butterfly” showed a more philosophical and introspective side to his music. Lamar’s called himself the greatest rapper alive, a claim that many of his fans fervently support. After constant shifts in his musical style, in both lyrics and production, I had no idea what to expect from his latest album “DAMN.”
Upon its release on April 14, “DAMN.” shot to number 1 on the Billboard 200. It sold more than 350,000 albums and had more than 340 million streams in its first week. The attitude of this entire project is perhaps summarized most effectively on the cover of the album. Lamar stands in front of a brick wall in a white T-shirt, head tilted down with his shadowed face staring coldly into the camera — a look of complete indifference with a hint of menace. It is fitting because “DAMN.” is by no means a happy record. It’s fascinating, exciting and, at times, shocking both lyrically and musically — but it is not happy and neither is Lamar.
The album opens with “BLOOD.,” which begins with a voice that sings, “Is it wickedness? Is it weakness? You decide, are we gonna live or die?” The song continues with a narration by Lamar, who is shot to death on the street by a seemingly harmless old woman who he tried to help. The track is surreal and eerie. It sets up a recurring theme of weakness and wickedness.
“BLOOD.” is followed by “DNA.,” a bombastic and bass-heavy track produced by Mike Will. Lamar's lyrics juxtapose the different values that are inherent in his “DNA.,” which symbolically represents his racial and cultural upbringing as well as his literal genetics. Halfway through the song, the beat changes up considerably, with different percussion and a vocal sample that comes out of nowhere.
Will explained that he prepared the first beat, but created the second in the studio as Lamar rapped a cappella, according to NPR.
“I wanted it to sound like he's battling the beat,” he said. “He said he wanted the shit to just sound like chaos, I think in his head he knows what he's looking for, but he doesn't really tell me anything to put me in any kind of box.”
Will also solely produced the lead single for the album, titled “HUMBLE.” Despite the title, Lamar is quite aggressive in his lyrics, telling his competition in the rap game to “sit down” and “be humble.” Will’s beat, primarily featuring a basic low-pitched piano riff, gets catchier after multiple listens. Tracks like these show that for all his artistic experimentation, Lamar has not lost the ability to make a song that is enjoyable on a surface level.
“HUMBLE.” is lyrically and musically contrasted with the track “PRIDE.,” which is much more laidback and psychedelic. While his lyrics on “HUMBLE.” make Lamar seem wicked, his performance and lyrics on “PRIDE.” show a more vulnerable side.
A number of the tracks on this album seem to function as a pair, with contrasting values of wickedness and weakness. “ELEMENT.” is a trendier sounding trap song driven by drum machines and synthesizer samples. Lamar's lyrics are braggadocious as he talks about his superiority as a rapper as compared to others. The following track, “FEEL.,” is much more insightful and contemplative, and a mellow, jazzy beat complements Lamar’s downplayed lyrical delivery. Lamar lists many thoughts and realizations that have come as a result of his fame and success, most notably feelings of loneliness and frustration. In one breath he brags about being the best rapper alive, in the next he contemplates what it’s even worth.
Thematic similarities aside, most songs on the album are really good, with the lesser tracks being more forgettable than bad. Some, such as “YAH.” and “GOD.,” stray a little too far out of Lamar’s musical comfort zone, and seem especially boring as compared to the raw energy and emotion of songs like “DNA.” and “HUMBLE.” “LOYALTY.” featuring Rihanna is a decent song, but lacks the same lyrical depth and signature sound. On the other hand, the song “FEAR.” has more complex lyrics, but with a sleepy beat and nearly eight-minute runtime, the song drags.
Luckily these are offset by the remaining tracks. “LOVE.,” which features singer Zacari on the chorus, is undeniably catchy. Over a soft and tranquil beat, Lamar raps about the unconditional love that he hopes his partner reciprocates. The song has a genuinely loving feel to it, and it naturally contrasts from “LUST.,” in which Lamar’s distorted voice raps over a beat that sounds like it’s being played in reverse.
“XXX.,” which features rock band U2, is a bizarre song that perfectly captures the vibe of the album as a whole. The track begins with a minimal beat driven by drums and record-scratching sounds. Lamar's vocal delivery starts monotonously, but he grows more energized as the beat changes to feature sirens and a pulsating bass that sounds like someone trying to start a leaf blower. After a short chorus by Bono, the beat changes again to feature more soulful and melancholy instrumentation. Lamar’s lyrics mostly deal with the difficulties of staying out of gang life as a young black person in America. His expository lyrics become more passionate and personal, and finally resign to political commentary as the beat changes throughout the song.
The album ends with the song “DUCKWORTH.,” after Lamar’s own last name. The song tells the true story about how Lamar’s father was robbed by Anthony Tiffith, the future founder of the record label Top Dawg Entertainment that would go on to sign Lamar to a record deal. His father, who worked in a KFC that was frequently robbed, ingratiated himself to Tiffith after numerous other employees at the store were assaulted or shot in various robberies. When Tiffith robbed the store, he left Kendrick’s father unharmed, leaving the two to meet again years later after Kendrick’s rap career began to take off.
Lamar ends the album with the lyrics, “Whoever thought the greatest rapper would be from coincidence? Because if Anthony killed Ducky Top Dawg could be servin' life. While I grew up without a father and die in a gunfight.” After that, we hear a gunshot similar to the one at the beginning of the album, followed by what sounds like the album being rewound. This implies that the album is cyclical, maybe indicating that his being shot at the start of the album is his fate had his father been killed in that robbery.
According to Lamar’s longtime friend and producer Sounwave, cohesiveness was an important factor in the making of “DAMN.”
“The album is half the battle. The real battle is making everything cohesive. We’ll sit there for hours eliminating songs — that are so amazing — because (they) don’t fit. It has to make sense. (It has to be) a perfect circle. It has to connect,” he said in an interview with Revolt TV.
Lamar does not just make rap music, he creates his own universe to weave his own inner narrative. “DAMN.” shows the level of bluntness that he is willing to use to convey his stories.
(04/25/17 9:16am)
By Thomas Infante
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Students gathered in the Decker Social Space on April 18 for CUB Alt’s Alumni Band Night. The small group of music lovers and friends that lined up in front of the stage experienced a diverse arrangement of music from bands Kate Dressed Up, Cool Company and Debt League, who were all fronted by a graduate of the College.
First up was indie folk singer-songwriter Katie Miller (’14), who performs solo under the name Kate Dressed Up. To compensate for the lack of a full band, she uses an accessory for her guitar called a loop pedal that allows her to layer several guitar melodies on top of one another, seemingly playing several guitars at once.
“Most of my music is played with the acoustic guitar,” Miller told The Signal.
“I’ve been performing for my whole life,” Miller added. “In college, I was part of the Trentones and I performed at student soloist nights.”
Miller’s guitar-driven bluesy folk musicianship complemented her high-pitched and soothing vocals. She opened with her song “Keep me Close,” a love song that set an intimate tone for the rest of her set.
“I’ve been doing nothing for the last three years,” Miller said before playing her song, “Anxiety Blues,” which featured melancholy lyrics about the difficulty of opening up to people. The song featured a classic blues structure, allowing for Miller’s captivating vocals and poignant lyrics to cut through.
“I just try my best to observe the world around me when writing lyrics,” Miller said.
The final song in her set, titled “Spirit Bird,” showed the true extent of the sound Miller can achieve as a solo artist. She created a steady percussion beat by hitting the body of the guitar and looping it back. From there, she layered several guitar melodies on top of each other with near perfect timing.
Next up was hip-hop duo Cool Company made up of rapper Yannick Hughes (’11) and DJ-producer Matt Fishman (’12). Yannick graduated from the College with a major in graphic design, and Fishman earned a degree in music. Despite both being alumni of the College, they didn’t begin to make music together until after graduation.
“For me, it was a hobby that became serious,” Hughes said. “After college I started performing, and after about three years I met Matt who was making all these beats and needed someone to sing over them.”
Fishman’s production is reminiscent of ’90s alternative hip-hop, with some jazz and electronic influences present, as well.
“I’ve been making music since high school,” Fishman said. “I take a lot of inspiration from soul and R&B music, as well as whatever I’m listening to at the time.”
They performed “Faded,” a catchy song with a funky beat laden with heavy bass and synthesizers. The upbeat and catchy hip-hop quickly engaged the crowd.
Hughes’ combination of quick rapping and mellow crooning fit well over Fishman’s groovy and danceable beats. Their first song, “Oh No,” features Hughes rapping quickly, but with a smooth and laidback delivery. His lyrics about accidentally catching feelings for someone glide over the mellow synthesizers on the beat.
Although Hughes’ lyrics were pretty basic, their musical approach and production was diverse enough to keep the audience engaged. Their song “Do It Now” features saxophone and piano in the beat, as Hughes softly sings over it. The following song, “Why You Gotta Make Me Do It,” takes more musical influence from EDM and Dubstep than the other songs, but still fits in with the rest of Cool Company’s repertoire.
The duo closed their set with the song “Slice of Paradise,” an R&B song similar in style to singer Anderson Paak. Every sound in the song, from Hughes’ vocals to the jazzy production, evokes euphoria as he sings about taking a vacation with his girl.
The final act of the night was Alternative rock trio Debt League. The band is based out of Woodbridge, N.J., and was founded by drummer Zachary Nocciolo and co-singers, guitarists and bassists Brian Chesney (’14) and Joshua Spielman.
Only Chesney, who graduated with a degree in music education, is an alumnus of the College. The members of the band were friends growing up and have been performing together since high school.
“In college, I played in a cover band called ‘R. Barbara and the Gitensteins,’” Chesney said. “We played regularly at The Rat. We covered mostly ’70s experimental rock like the Velvet Underground and Steely Dan.”
Unlike the Gitensteins, Debt League’s music is original and takes much more influence from punk rock. The band opened with the song “Apnea,” off of its only full-length album “Akimbo.” The trio’s experience playing together was immediately evident, as they flawlessly matched each other’s pace and energy on the loud and up-tempo song. Chesney shouted lyrics and slammed on his guitar, hyping up the audience.
The next song, “Tangled Head,” began with the drummer and bassist forming the rhythm section of the song. Chesney’s guitar kicks in around the pre chorus, syncopating his strumming with the rhythm of the song. Like many of Debt League’s songs, Chesney’s lyrics are angsty and a tad depressing, but do not detract from the song’s energy.
For the song “Emulating You,” Chesney and Spielman switched instruments and Spielman took over lead vocals. Spielman’s singing was whinier than Chesney’s, but their guitar and bass skills were both solid. Musically, the song is uplifting and Spielman’s lyrics about lost love and drinking alone contrast from the peppy, buoyant song.
The band ended the night with “Green Eyes,” which began with a lively drum rhythm before the bass melody. Chesney resumed singing on this song, shouting intimate and lovestruck lyrics in between heavy power chords. In the last third of the song, the band slowed down for an instrumental breakdown, before a crescendo into absolute madness.
The three bands gave the audience a great sample of the different kinds of talented musicians that were, and always will be, a part of the College’s community.
(04/18/17 7:02am)
By Thomas Infante
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Jo-Vaughn Scott — better known by his rap moniker Joey Bada$$ — has always been somewhat of an outsider in modern rap music. His first album, “B4.DA.$$,” drew heavily from the sound of ’90s East Coast hip-hop, while infusing its own distinct style due to Joey’s solid lyricism and smooth flow.
The 22-year-old rapper released his second album, “All Amerikkkan Bada$$,” on April 7. While his first album, at times, felt like a tribute to Joey’s rap idols, “All Amerikkkan” is diverse in its production, which highlights the heavy tone of the subject matter that Joey speaks about.
As a whole, “All Amerikkkan Bada$$” is much bolder and more subversive than any of Joey’s previous efforts. In an April 10 interview with XXL Magazine, Joey said he aimed to craft his lyrics — which often commentate on current socioeconomic, political and racial issues — around catchy and upbeat production.
“The music is a vibe, but it’s something that you just got to listen to,” he said. “Even though you’re having a good time, you will listen and be like, ‘Damn, he said that? That’s some real shit.’”
These lyrical themes are evident from the first track on the album, “For My Pethis track, Joey raps about how difficult it can be growing up black in America. It’s a great opening track, and its calming, yet upbeat production draws the listener in with soft synthesizers and horns behind a groovy drum rhythm. His lyrics also seem to summarize the purpose of the album.
“Music is a form of expression,” Joey raps. “Imma use mine just to teach you a lesson.” His train of thought continues onto the next track, “Temptations.” The beat features a bluesy guitar riff over heavy bass and snare drums. Joey’s lyrics are both dark and empowering, making for one of the catchiest conscious rap songs in recent memory.
“I never felt selfish before, I’ve been living so reckless I know,” Joey raps on the chorus, ending each by repeating the phrase “Lord can you help me?”
The following track, the single “Land of the Free,” is one of the more overtly political songs on the album. The beat features bright synthesizers syncopated with a jazzy bass line, while Joey’s lyrics once again address socioeconomic issues of the black community. While the track sounds good overall, Joey’s lyrics come off as a little preachy, especially since such similar subject matter dominates the lyrical content of many of the album’s songs.
The next track, “Devastated,” was released several months ago as the lead single to the album. When the song was first released, it seemed like a cool change of pace for Joey, but compared to the rest of this album, the track is pretty weak. Joey’s singing in the chorus is grating after multiple listens, and the production and lyrics don’t really stand out, especially against the much more powerful songs on this album.
“Y U Don’t Love Me?” also suffers from the same problems. Nothing in the production is very memorable, and for once, Joey’s lyrics are disjointed and forgettable.
The album’s tone becomes darker around the second half, starting with the track “Rockabye Baby,” which features rapper Schoolboy Q. The beat consists mainly of a minor sounding piano riff complemented by a simple yet powerful drum groove.
Joey’s lyrics similarly shift in this song, which features himself and Q trading verses about selling drugs and running with street gangs. Joey still has the occasional conscious lyric, but for the most part, this song just bangs.
The next track, “Ring the Alarm,” has far more featured artists than any other track on the album. Rappers Meechy Darko of the Flatbush Zombies, as well as Kirk Knight and Nyck Caution from Joey’s own Pro Era record label, each contribute a strong verse to the song. Refreshingly absent of politics, the verses of the song illustrate the lack of lyrical skill of many popular rappers, which is accentuated by the impressive and deft lyrics from each.
The album gets political again on the track “Super Predator,” the title referencing the outdated term used by some politicians to describe black youths in gangs. Joey raps over a simple snare beat complemented by a saxophone, giving it a distinctly cool East Coast vibe. Despite the title, the lyrics aren’t very political, rather they are optimistic about the future of the nation.
The next song, “Babylon,” has a reggae-inspired sound, assisted by Jamaican reggae artist Chronixx who sings on the bridge. The subtle four-chord organ pattern complemented by trumpets, a saxophone, drums and finger snaps add sonic diversity to the album. Joey’s lyrics are quite bleak and, at times, very angry.
“To tell the truth, man, I'm fuckin' disgusted / I fear for the lives, for my sisters, my brothers / Less fortunate than I,” Joey half shouts, half raps. “I'm sick of holdin’ grudges / I'm loadin’ in all my slugs and aimin’ it at the judges.”
The final two tracks, “Legendary” featuring J. Cole and “Amerikkkan Idol,” both have laidback beats that allow the lyrics to stand out. At the end of “Amerikkkan Idol,” Joey calls his people to action, and stresses the importance of civil disobedience in an era in which black people cannot trust the government or police.
“What the government is doin’ amongst our people is downright evil /Disturbin’, but not surprisin’, that's for certain,” Joey rhymes. “They want us to rebel / so that it makes easier for them to kill us and put us in jails / Alton Sterlings are happenin’ every day in this country and around the world / The scary part, boys and girls / Is most of these stories don't make it to the news and reach mass consciousness / It is for sure time that we as a people stand up for acknowledgement.”
Joey continues his monologue for a while, his claims becoming more and more extreme as the track goes on. While I cannot directly relate to what Joey is talking about on “All Amerikkkan,” I admire the conviction and phrasing of what he has to say. As he said on “Temptations,” “That’s just the way I feel.”
(04/12/17 12:19am)
By Thomas Infante
Arts & Entertainment Editor
The Decker Social Space was buzzing with energy the night of April 8, as a crowd of students and friends gathered for TCNJ Musical Theatre’s play competition, WIRED. WIRED is a competition held by TMT in which groups of students are given 24-hours to fully write, direct, produce, and finally perform their production onstage.
The participants of the competition were divided up into five groups, each with a pair of writers, a director, stage manager and acting cast. Each group was also assigned a genre to style their production on, as well as a fast food chain that the actors would reference in their dialogue. Twists in the writing, such as characters living double lives, ensured that each show stood out individually and gave the actors an opportunity to explore colorful and eccentric characters.
The first play, “The Power of Friendship,” centered around a group of college girls that are extremely passionate about environmental conservation. The main character Wendi, played by sophomore mathematics major Rebecca Conn, is very studious, caring about little besides her close friend named Wendy (sophomore Gretchen Newell) and her GPA.
Wendy and her classmates are initially overwhelmed by their new course about Dr. Seuss and white imperialism, and intimidated the professor that teaches it. When Wendy’s best friend takes an interest in joining a sorority, “Sigma Apple Pi,” Wendy belittles it and the two have a falling out. The show, which was obviously assigned the fast food chain Wendy’s, incorporated lots of relevant puns into the script, such as when someone asks the upset protagonist, “Why so frosty, Wendy?”
In the end, Wendy apologizes to her friend, who ends up losing interest in the sorority after all. As one of Wendy’s friends transforms herself into “Eco Warrior,” who uses her powers to end the drought in California as the cast all simultaneously said to the audience, “Everything will be okay…eventually.”
The second play was titled “Gotta Go Fast (Food),” and starred sophomore Katie Marciniak and sophomore history and secondary education major Michael Morack as Amy and Danny. They work at a gourmet Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwich store called “That’s My Jam” for their boss Miles (sophomore Soji Omotoso), who is ready to sell the slowing business to pursue an acting career.
However, Amy comes up with a new flavor of PB&J that is loved by everyone who tries the sandwich. Amy would only whisper her secret ingredient to those onstage, keeping the audience in suspense. Meanwhile, a disgraced former worker of the sandwich shop hears about the new sandwich, and plots to ruin the business as revenge for his firing.
In the end, the restaurant is saved by a food critic/wizard whose positive reviews magically revitalize businesses. Amy and Danny share a romantic kiss, and Amy reveals her secret ingredient to the audience: bananas.
The third play, “Brave New Mundo,” was styled after a Spanish soap opera. An enthusiastic narrator dressed in a suit with an unbuttoned undershirt, played by sophomore English and Secondary Education dual major Kevin Bizzoco, set the scene for the audience, and introduced the characters as they came onstage.
“I really try to put all of myself into the role,” said Bizzoco. “The show is dependent on how much energy we can all bring to it.”
The story began on a sunny June day, where we are introduced to a young couple, Steven (freshman biology major Matt Fertakos) and Juliet. Steven has noticed Juliet acting suspiciously lately, and that is because she’s been seeing Esteban (Eric Schreiber, junior chemistry major), the most passionate Taco Bell employee on the planet.
Despite Juliet’s love, Esteban’s heart yearns for his ex-girlfriend Maria (freshman physics major Cynthia Reynolds), who left Esteban for a Qdoba employee (Thomas Deangelis) after Taco Bell gave her diarrhea, which they refer to dramatically as “Taco Cancer.”
Scheriber’s performance as Esteban stole the show, and later on he was awarded best actor of the night by a panel of alumni. In an interview, Shreiber said that he looked to Gomez Addams of “The Addams Family” for inspiration.
“All of the roles were assigned to us, we got the scripts handed to us at 8am this morning,” Schreiber said. “We were thrust into a pretty crazy environment with these roles and we all have a lot of fun.”
In the heat of a confrontation between the couple, Esteban faced the crowd and tore his Taco Bell shirt in half from his collar, willing to give up even his livelihood for Maria’s love. Sadly, it was all in vain, as Maria leaves to be with Qdoba, sadly declaring, “I’m nacho woman anymore.”
Meanwhile, Steven and his mother (Joely Torres, Secondary Ed/English major) have discovered Esteban as the accomplice in Juliet’s affair, and began to stake her out to catch her in the act. Torres was excellent in her role, seemingly channeling Sofia Vergara in “Modern Family,” and delivering her lines passionately and punctually.
When they catch Esteban and Juliet, Steven’s mom comes to a realization, supported by a letter that Maria found at Esteban’s house. Steven’s mom reveals that she used to be a pop star called Stella Marbella. When she had Esteban out of wedlock, she gave him up for adoption in order to pursue her singing career. The story ends after they are reunited, as the narrator emphatically told the audience to “Find out next week on ‘Brave New Mundo!’” Junior communications studies major Kristen Gassler and junior English major Sarah Reynolds wrote the script, and were awarded best writing pair. The show was also awarded best overall by the alumni panel.
The fourth play was called “Thrill Her,” which stars senior psychology major Melissa Albert as Princess Katherine Berger IV, who lives with her grandparents after her parents and brother were killed in a “tragic windmill accident.” Katherine desperately wants to venture out on her own and find love, so she adopts the alias “Katie Noname” and goes on “Thrill Her,” a TV show similar to “The Bachelorette.”
Katie has four potential suitors. First is Collin (sophomore music education major Ben Reim), a self-obsessed goon in a tank top and backwards hat. On their date, Collin offers her one of his homemade protein shakes, and talks to his biceps like the angel and devil on his shoulder when he doesn’t know what to say to Katie. She likewise didn’t hit it off with Derrick (freshman Alex Hanneman), a farm boy who misses his livestock so much that he calls them before bed every night.
She hits it off with Ryan (junior communications studies and journalism/professional writing double major Ben Zander), a seemingly smooth and easygoing guy who takes her to see “Annie.” Katie really connects with the last guy, Steven (freshman Chris Blum). Katie tells Steven about the accident that killed her family, but mentions that they never found her brother’s body. Steven abruptly leaves, leaving Katie feeling confused after such an emotional moment.
Without Steven around, Katie chooses Ryan as the winner. He takes the opportunity to propose, but after Katie accepts, Ryan begins to act suspicious. When the couple goes for a walk on the beach the next night, Ryan ties Katie’s hands behind her back and reveals his plot. He knew she was royalty the whole time, and planned to kill her after they were wed for her money.
As Ryan prepares to throw Katie into the ocean to her death, Steven rushes to her aid, and overpowers Ryan with the help of the other bachelors and Katie’s grandparents. Steven reveals that he is Katie’s long lost brother, and the story ends with Katie reunited with the family she thought she had lost. Later in the night, Albert was awarded best actress, and the group won best ensemble cast.
The final play was titled “Who McDunnit?” A mystery with costume designs based heavily on “Scooby Doo,” the story focused on the members of Puzzlecorps, an independent investigative agency. Jay (freshman Casey O’neill), Harper (junior international studies major Julie Scesney), and Valerie (freshman elementary education major Kate Augustin) – closely resembling Fred, Daphne and Velma – run the agency with the help of their “Hardy Boys” wannabe trainees, Big and Mac (freshman Jason Monto and sophomore JPW major Kyle Elphick). After a series of crimes leave the detectives puzzled, Harper and a young woman named Sarah are kidnapped from the scene of a crime. Their captor is Morgan (Haley Witko), a ruthless yet classy criminal with a huge crush on Jay.
Morgan leaves a ransom note at the scene with her address on it, so Big and Mac go to her house disguised as McDonald’s delivery boys. They manage to sneak in, and discover that Jay in the midst of a romantic evening with Morgan. They also free Harper and Sarah, and the latter reveals herself to be an undercover FBI agent that was investigating Morgan. Valerie gets her glasses back so she can see, and the gang solves the case.
After the shows, the alumni panel gave awards to the groups who reacted jubilantly with each announcement. Sophomore WGS/communications studies major Katharine Smith was warded best stage manager for her work on “Who McDunnit?,” and senior JPW major Jonathan Edmondson won best director for “Thrill Her.”
(03/28/17 7:35am)
By Thomas Infante
Arts & Entertainment Editor
It was common to see people outside in shorts and T-shirts last month, as it happened to be the second warmest February in U.S. history, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The unseasonably warm weather brought joy to some and panic to others.
“It’s definitely not natural,” said Horacio Hernandez, a member of the Environmental Club and a junior sociology major. “I never remember it being that warm in the winter when I was a kid, which wasn’t that long ago.”
February’s higher-than-average-temperature correlates with a larger global pattern of climate change. Last year was the hottest year on record — the third consecutive year to break the yearly temperature record, according to NASA and NOAA.
With two minors and the Environmental Club, there are a few ways students can become more environmentally conscious.
“We want our activities to help others understand what sustainability really means and entails,” said Liz Eisenhauer, Environmental Club president and a senior statistics major.
“Whether or not you feel it’s important to help depends on how much you care about the future,” Eisenhauer added. “It often feels like environmental concerns get sidelined by the media and the general public.”
While the club’s members are working to keep Earth sustainable, not all students see it as a priority.
“I think environmental conservation is important, and I think most people would agree,” said Joey Stambouly, a freshman economics major. “The climate is definitely changing and it’s unsettling to an extent.”
Although Stambouly considers issues related to conservation important, he makes “no effort” to help conserve.
“I don’t do it because I live in a first world country and I don’t have to,” Stambouly said. “Maybe I would do things differently if I was in Africa, but I don’t live in Africa.”
For those who do want to get involved, the Environmental Club organizes events to help on both a local and national scale. Throughout Earth Week, the week before Earth Day on April 22, the club coordinates many activities for students on campus.
The club is also organizing its first trip to Washington D.C. on April 29 for the People’s Climate March.
“Many issues related to the environment are related to other large socio-economic issues,” said Ridwan Khan, a member of the Environmental Club and a sophomore biology major. “This stuff is relevant to everyone.”
The club also puts together stream walks, during which the club tours through the streams that stem from the lakes on campus.
“We conduct an ecological investigation of the streams,” Hernandez said. “We check for debris and pollution, as well as the health of the water. People don’t tend to think of the streams as important, but there is a cascade effect of pollution once it reaches a larger body of water, such as our lakes.”
In terms of what the average person can do to help on a regular basis, members of the club offered simple tips, such as turning off lights after leaving a room and properly recycling.
“I joined the club after asking myself ‘What can I do from where I am?’” Hernandez said.
While the College used to have an interdisciplinary concentration in environmental studies, the minor was implemented in the Fall 2015 semester.
The environmental studies minor aims to educate students about the environment from a scientific and technological standpoint, as well as provide social and historical context to common environmental issues, according to Bates.
“We’re trained to think of environmental change as purely biological, but it isn’t,” Bates said. “So, many people don’t understand why people don’t care or pay attention to these problems, especially scientists who are angry that public policy doesn’t reflect the findings of their data.”
For all the cynicism that surrounds these issues, Bates focuses on the progress made so far and is confident that more is to come.
“Individual actions help, but the biggest environmental harms are structural and institutional problems of overusing resources,” Bates said. “Everyone gets depressed about the environment, but the EPA has only existed since 1970. We’ve come so far in a relatively short time.”
Bates hopes that future generations of students will realize the importance of preserving the environment and start to engage in discussion of what can be done to help.
“People need to see beyond basic decisions like whether or not to buy a hybrid car,” Bates said. “You can’t buy your way out of this situation.”
Bates is hopeful for the future, but said the Trump administration has been “in complete denial” about the environmental impact of America’s business interests.
“We have the luxury of choosing whether or not to take action,” Bates said. “By not acting now, we are inadvertently making that decision for future generations to come who will be forced to do something about it.”
Lauren Madden, an assistant professor of education and the coordinator of the environmental sustainability education minor, agreed with Bates about how environmentalism is more than just a matter of science.
“It’s odd that it is a political issue in the U.S.,” Madden said. “In most countries, people generally agree with their scientists, but here it is marginalized for other issues. If you really want to make a difference, call your elected official to voice your opinion about these matters.”
The environmental sustainability education minor is a five-course program designed to help education majors teach ecological issues in a classroom setting, according to a pamphlet about the minor.
Several faculty members in the School of Education decided there should be a program to help future teachers learn about environmental sustainability, and, thus, the minor was launched in the Spring 2015 semester, according to Madden.
“Americans are wasteful,” Madden said. “We only have one planet. Understanding how to care for it is critical to our survival.”
There are currently 12 students enrolled in the minor and four who have completed it since spring 2015, according to Madden.
Madden is concerned about the future.
“We can expect to see more rapid changes in coming years,” Madden said. “Sea levels are rising continuously, but it’s possible that change will be imperceptible over time. We can’t predict how Earth will react and recover to the damage humans do to it.”
These complex effects are hitting close to home.
“They tested the water and air of Trenton and found higher-than-average levels of pollution,” Madden said. “In this case, environment and economy are intertwined because of the socioeconomic situation of Trenton.”
Despite this, Madden expressed hope in the next generation of students to make progress in the field.
“So long as the EPA exists, we might continue to do good,” Madden said. “It’s simple to just list everything that’s wrong — we have the capacity to innovate in this field like no one ever has before.”
(03/20/17 11:10pm)
By Thomas Infante
Arts & Entertainment Editor
After five years of anticipation, indie rock band The Shins released its fifth album, “Heartworms,” on March 10. It’s the first release since the band’s 2012 album “Port of Morrow,” which is when the band saw major personnel changes. The only original member of The Shins remaining is lead vocalist, guitarist and songwriter James Mercer, who is now almost solely responsible for creating the band’s music.
Although Mercer has not lost his talent for quirky lyrics and catchy musical arrangements, he has abandoned much of the edgier indie rock inspirations of The Shins’s first few albums. “Heartworms,” in contrast, has more of a pop-influenced sound with some psychedelic and electronic elements that take some minor risks with the band’s tried-and-true sound.
The singles released from “Heartworms” thus far could not be any more different. The lead single “Name for You” acts as a sort of summary statement for the entire album. It’s a fun song, with Mercer’s silly lyrics and high-pitched singing complementing the cheerful instrumentation. The song gets repetitive quickly, however, and doesn’t stand out from a creative or musical standpoint.
The other single “So What Now” was released as part of the soundtrack to the 2014 film “Wish I Was Here.” This song is mellower, with airy synthesizers that crescendo with the percussion into a strong, memorable chorus.
The disconnect in both the sound and release dates of these tracks epitomize the album as a whole. While the songs individually are above average, it doesn’t seem that Mercer had much of an idea what he was trying to achieve with “Heartworms.”
None of the songs on “Heartworms” are terrible, but several of them sound like outtakes from previous albums or from his side project, the indie rock band Broken Bells. The song “Dead Alive,” for example, is pretty good, with some eerie synthesizers and trippy vocal harmonies and effects that give the track some ethereal qualities while remaining upbeat.
However, there is nothing about this song that sonically separates it from the last decade of material that Mercer has released. The song could easily fit on 2007’s “Wincing the Night Away,” the last album released featuring The Shins’s original lineup.
Other songs are so forgettable that it’s hard to believe that it took five years to put this album together. This is not to say that every song previously released by the band has been a standout masterpiece, but The Shins’s sound did not suffer from the overproduction until “Heartworms.”
The song “Fantasy Island” sounds extremely artificial, with layered synthesizers that all blend into one another in the blandest way possible. Mercer’s distinct voice is drenched in effects to make it echo, creating a sleepy soundscape.
The album picks up around the midway point and from there the songs are mostly solid, even if some sound reminiscent of the band’s earlier material. “Mildenhall” is an acoustic ballad with a western folk tinge to it. Mercer’s lyrics detail his childhood experience of moving to England to be near his father who was stationed there for the Air Force.
The small details in his phrasing, from a classmate giving him a cassette tape of indie band Jesus and the Mary Chain to skating along cobblestone paths, give the song a personal quality that feels absent elsewhere on the album.
"Half a Million” is the only song on the album to prominently feature an electric guitar in the instrumentation, which is a breath of fresh air from the other synthesizer-heavy tracks. The guitar power chords combined with the keyboard riffs create a danceable and energetic sound, while Mercer’s lyrics discuss growing up and taking responsibility for one’s actions.
The album ends with the song “The Fear,” which “is about someone who realizes that he missed an opportunity with a relationship and he’s sad about it. The door has closed and he’s sad about it,” Mercer said in an interview with NME.
While the title and lyrics of the song are melancholy, the music is calm and blissful. The instrumentation draws from Latin music, with percussion instruments that sound like maracas and claves present in the rhythm section. Mercer also makes use of ukulele, harmonica and violin on this track, giving it easily the most sonic diversity of any song on this record.
Overall, “Heartworms” is more disappointing than it is bad. With Mercer’s dominant creative lead, The Shins are now less of a band and more of an ongoing musical project headed by one individual, like Justin Vernon’s band Bon Iver. Hopefully in time Mercer will learn to develop his own distinct sound without his old band mates, or cave in and rehire them.
(03/07/17 9:49am)
By Thomas Infante
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Students and faculty welcomed the U.S. ambassador to Israel from 2001 to 2005 to the Library Auditorium on Friday, March 4, in a presentation about the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Daniel Kurtzer outlined the possible routes that Israel and Palestine could pursue to bring about and maintain peace. He explained the diplomatic conflicts that would arise for each possible solution.
Kurtzer began working as a diplomat with the U.S. State Department in 1981, working primarily with regions in the Middle East. He retired in 2006 and now works as a professor of middle eastern studies at Princeton University.
Daniel Kurtzer outlined the possible routes that Israel and Palestine could pursue to bring about and maintain peace (envato elements).
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is undoubtedly a complicated one due to the cultural and religious roots that are embedded in the violence.
“It goes deeper than the boundary,” Kurtzer said. “The conflict affects the self-image of each group.”
Israel declared its independence in 1948, after the former British territory of Palestine was divided up into an independent Palestine and Israel. Since the Six-Day War between the two states in 1967, Israel has annexed and settled on previously-held Palestinian land, including the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Although the exact borders have changed over time, Israel still controls the majority of the region, to the chagrin of the Palestinians.
“The Palestinians are trying to negotiate their own independence from Israel, while at the same time negotiating their own recognition as a state,” Kurtzer said. “I think of the situation as a multi-dimensional chessboard, but it’s not rocket science.”
Kurtzer, with the help of extensive flowcharts, detailed the different paths that Israel and Palestine could choose in the quest for long-standing peace.
“Most Israelis want democracy in the region,” Kurtzer said. “However, it is impossible to have a democratic occupation — it’s a conundrum.”
Even territories like the Gaza Strip that are technically under Palestinian control still rely on Israel for food and water, among other public provisions.
“Some people think of it like Apartheid,” Kurtzer said. “On the other hand, some say that the interest of preserving the holy land outweighs the need for democracy.”
According to Kurtzer, the majority of the region’s population favors the idea of a two-state solution, in which Israel and Palestine can coexist as independent states in the region. However, Israel still has not relinquished territory that used to belong to Palestine and continues to occupy areas like the West Bank, which Palestine holds claim to.
“Israel would work harder at brokering peace if other nations, including the U.S., actually applied political pressure,” Kurtzer said. “People pay attention when our politicians unify and provide more than just words to help a situation.”
According to Kurtzer, the last election for prime minister of Israel was almost locked at in a 50-50 split, with Benjamin Netanyahu barely winning reelection. Although Netanyahu said he favors a peaceful two-state solution. He has made no territorial concessions to the Palestinians and continues to support Israeli settlement building on Palestinian land.
In an interview in 2015, he called the establishment of a Palestinian state “yielding territory for radical Islamic terrorist attacks against Israel.”
“Even Israelis are split on how to handle the conflict,” Kurtzer said. “Perceptions of who the enemy is in the Middle East are changing, partially because politicians don’t have a clear endgame.”
Additionally, Palestinians are split on how to handle the loss of so much of their land. According to Kurtzer, Palestinians are slowly becoming more industrious and gaining more autonomy as they wait for the situation to improve. True brokerage of peace could only realistically occur with the help of a large nation like the U.S.
“There are some Palestinians that want a declaration of independence and democratic elections,” Kurtzer said. “There is also resistance in the form of ‘intifada’ — violent uprisings against Israel.”
Despite complaints from the United Nations and European Union, Israel has not conceded any territory. Violence continues to break out, and Kurtzer wonders if President Donald Trump will contribute anything more than strong words.
“Diplomacy requires more than just getting around a table and talking about the problems,” Kurtzer said. “Inflammatory remarks towards Palestine will just incite violence towards Israel. What happens on the ground impacts the government’s ability to negotiate.”
(03/06/17 9:29pm)
This week, WTSR Assistant Music Director Nelson Kelly highlights some of the best new albums that the College’s own radio station, 91.3 FM WTSR, puts into its weekly rotation.
Band Name: Thundercat
Album Name: “Drunk”
Release Number: 2nd
Hailing From: Los Angeles
Genre: Silky Smooth Experimental R&B
Label: Brainfeeder Records
Thundercat, better known as “that guy who plays bass with Kendrick
Lamar and produces Flying Lotus as well as a slew of other artists” is
back with yet another phenomenal record. The follow up to 2013’s
"Apocaplypse" finds the bass virtuoso doing just about the same thing:
cranking out sweet r&b jams. Jazz-influenced bass lines (see “Uh Uh”
for a two minute bass solo/jazz odyssey) and a nice landscape of electronic
sounds provide the perfect musical bed for Thundercat’s smooth falsetto
coo-ing about topics like the friend zone, anime, and, of course, being
wasted. To make this album even better, Thundercat brings in his buds
like Kendrick, Kenny Loggins and Wiz Khalifa to round out the aural
serenade that is Drunk. Overall a great album from a great artist.
Must Hear: "Jethro," "Show You the Way," "Walk on By (ft. Kendrick Lamar)," "Tokyo" and "Friend Zone."
Band Name: Modern English
Album Name: "Take Me to the Trees"
Release Number: 8th
Hailing From: Essex, England
Genre: New Wave
Label: self released
If you recognize the name Modern English but can’t quite place it,
you probably came across it in your mom’s record collection from
her childhood (I know I did). They also put out the 1982 megahit “I Melt
With You”, probably the dorkiest song to ever get anyone laid,
ever. You would think a one hit wonder like Modern English
would put out a wholly unnecessary, terrible album in our grand
year of 2017, but let me tell you, "Take Me to the Trees" is high
quality, genuine new wave with hints of post punk to keep it
interesting. If you like steady rockers with hazy synths and sweet
guitar melodies providing the hooks, this album is for you. A
pleasantly surprising success from an old band.
Must Hear: "You’re Corrupt," "Trees," "Moonbeam" and "Sweet Revenge."
(02/26/17 7:36pm)
By Thomas Infante
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Life at the College can feel all-consuming at times. The average college student’s busy life can make it easy to fall into a pattern. Showing up to classes, doing all the work for them and being involved in meaningful extracurricular activities — in my case, this newspaper — is no easy feat no matter what your major is.
Once you’ve settled into a productive routine, it feels like you’re eating, sleeping and breathing the College. As this goes on for semesters into years, it gets easier to lose touch with the things that exist outside of our campus bubble.
For many of us, one of the first things to go are old friendships. This is not usually an intended outcome — it’s simply a side effect of growing up. Most of one’s friends are determined by geographic similarities, as you’re all forced to go to school together.
I’m a little more than an hour away from my northern New Jersey hometown, but most of my old friends went much further. Social media makes it easier to keep in touch, but interactions rarely go below surface level. With such great distances in between, it’s all too easy to give up almost entirely on keeping in touch. It’s not that you don’t like each other anymore, but rather it’s no longer convenient to be close.
This is something that affects every young adult in America. Even if one doesn’t go to college at all, there will inevitably be many people that move away and won’t come back for a long time — if ever. That being said, what I have learned is that your relationships don’t necessarily die, but, instead, go into stasis.
Reactivating these friendships is worth a lot more than nostalgia. As much as I like the College, it’s far from being the most well-rounded college experience. My best friends from my hometown all go to different schools than I do and talking to them gives me new perspectives on college life. Every school is different, and some are vastly different from ours.
In many ways, staying in touch with your old friends can be a valuable learning experience. Everyone gets bored of their surroundings after a while, and the best remedy I’ve found is to visit another school for a weekend to crash with a friend.
College tours are way more fun when your tour guide is your best friend and you’re completely unsupervised. If nothing else, it gives everybody an excuse to have fun and make the most out of everything a particular school has to offer.
It’s especially easy nowadays to communicate across long distances. While I don’t have particularly long conversations on a regular basis with my friends outside the College, taking the extra few seconds to send a Snapchat or a text message goes a surprisingly long way in helping you feel connected. Sometimes I feel bad about how long I go without talking to certain people, but it’s important to remember that they’re just as preoccupied with responsibilities as I am.
Life is busy for everyone after graduating high school. It’s a time when you’re desperately trying to move up in the world either through higher education or employment. No matter what your goal or destination is, it’s always easier to achieve it with some support and advice from the people who have had your back before you even knew what the College was.
Featured image via Envato/Flickr