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Opinions

The yearly Spotify Wrapped has emboldened a culture of judgment within music (Photo courtesy of Flickr / “Piano” by UnnarYmir / January 27, 2012).

OPINION: Spotify Wrapped encourages musical elitism

By Lake DiStefano | Dec. 6, 2023

This time of year is marked by many traditions–yet none more indicative of our digital age than the annual Spotify wrapped: the yearly showcase of a listener’s top artists on the music streaming platform of the same name. Many look forward to seeing how their listening habits have changed between the previous year and the present–but I feel that what was initially a pure idea has only been twisted into a form of gatekeeping and narcissism. 

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(Photo courtesy of Liam Simonelli / Editorial Cartoonist).

OPINION: Fake viral Thanksgiving Day parade float video highlights importance of media literacy

By Tristan Weisenbach | Nov. 30, 2023

In today’s ever-changing era of technology, social media has grown from what was once simply connecting with friends online to now providing an avenue for seemingly anyone to create anything and share it under any name — whether it’s real or not. While these state-of-the-art developments have garnered many creative and once-unimaginable creations, they have also given an outlet to share information online that is false. 

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The newest “The Hunger Games” film, “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” came out on Nov. 17 (Photo courtesy of IMDb).

OPINION: New “Hunger Games” film is better than what critics say

By Grace Ruthe | Nov. 27, 2023

Mixed emotions are certainly an understatement when it comes to Suzanne Collins’ “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” (Songbirds). Both the novel and the new Francis Lawrence film of the same name that hit theaters on Nov. 17. Audiences have had several conflicting opinions when trying to answer the question: Did the story live up to the seemingly untouchable trilogy and set of films that took the 2010s by storm?

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Nicholas Cage (Photo courtesy of IMDb).

OPINION: Nicholas Cage IS a good actor

By Maia Venuti | Nov. 21, 2023

“Moonstruck” shows that Cage has the range to do romantic comedies, and that he gives consistently good performances when the film is well written, as he has been doing for nearly four decades. To jump ahead to the 2010s, as Cage’s career grew, he began to take more and more roles in more and more movies. There were a lot of reasons for this, but the primary one was that Cage was severely in debt throughout the 2000s and 2010s, owing as much as $6 million during the real estate market crash. Because Cage owed so much money, he needed to find ways to make more money to repay his debts, and did so by taking on multiple projects per year.

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The way folks act in movie theaters is changing — for the worse (Photo courtesy of Flickr / “A movie theater in Japan” by Margutta.jp / May 15, 2010).

OPINION: Decorum is disappearing in movie theaters

By Maia Venuti | Nov. 20, 2023

In the past few weeks, two movies came out that are extremely important to two very distinct fanbases. They are “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour”, and “Five Nights at Freddy’s” (FNAF). One film is a concert film of the entire three hour Taylor Swift Eras concert, and the other is a film adaptation of an iconic horror game franchise. These two movies and their fan bases are different, but they share a blatant commonality: a complete utter absence of decorum and manners in movie theaters where the films are shown. 

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Many events, which students can attend, are hosted in the Brower Student Center (Photo courtesy of Brooke Zevon / Staff Photographer).

OPINION: Learning something new can be exciting

By Kelly Kim | Nov. 20, 2023

The Department of World Languages and Cultures Department hosted a series of events in October to promote and enjoy the different cultural aspects that it has to offer. In support of my friend who takes Chinese classes, I decided to go to the events because I was also curious about what a calligraphy class would entail.

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TikTok recently added a shop feature to its platform (Photo courtesy of Flickr / “TikTok” by Solen Feyissa / August 2, 2020).

OPINION: TikTok shop is a capitalist ploy and consumerist trap for its users

By Kelly Kim | Nov. 20, 2023

It comes as no surprise that social media plays a huge role in trends dying hard and fast, leaving people to participate in fads that only last until something trendier comes along. Social media has the ability to market and announce anything with ease since influencers have the capacity to reach a large audience. Through social media’s influence, a slow and steady trend seems to be forming as with the rise of capitalism. That is, a rise of consumerism, which has drastically changed the ways in which people shop, allowing justification for unnecessary purchases without a second thought. 

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The College’s Barnes and Noble Bookstore sends too many emails (Photo courtesy of Shane Gillespie / Photo Editor).

OPINION: Bookstore emails border on spam

By Liam Simonelli | Nov. 19, 2023

“Last Chance - 23% off Diploma Frames!” “Give the Gift of Tech!” “Higher Education Skincare is here!” Please! Spare students all of these email advertisements, we have enough emails to sift through. If you keep as close of an eye on your school email inbox as I do, you probably know what I’m talking about. Those repetitive emails from the College’s Barnes and Noble Bookstore that fill our inboxes weekly. They border on spam and scatter the emails that are actually important.

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“Echo” will be released in 2024 (Photo courtesy of IMDb).

OPINION: Disney’s upcoming ‘Echo’ series has the opportunity to solve one of Marvel's biggest problems

By Andrew Martinez | Nov. 18, 2023

It's no surprise that after the thrilling conclusion to the Infinity Saga that was “Avengers Endgame,” Marvel has taken a decline in interest and viewership from fans. However, this is now arguably worse than ever. Phase Four was a mixed bag of success, with projects like “Spider-Man No Way Home” being a success earning nearly $2 billion dollars and “Wakanda Forever” earning $859 million at the box office, but many other projects struggled — specifically the Disney Plus shows. 

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The re-recording of Taylor Swift’s “1989” is far weaker than the original (Photo courtesy of Apple Music).

OPINION: ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’ is not good

By Lake DiStefano | Nov. 15, 2023

The last chorus showcases what is arguably the biggest issue with the record – the ad-libs. Ad-libs are extra vocal flourishes typically added to make the sound of a chorus larger. As a record, “1989” uses these to make its songs' choruses have progression, despite the repeating lyrics. On the original songs, their choruses are always larger than the last, with each song's final chorus creating a sense of climax with its copious amounts of ad-libs.

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Unfortunately in the current climate of social media, almost everything is subject to hate. Only time will tell if fans can look beyond physical appearances and appreciate the musical movie for its ode to both the original film and the Broadway hit, but for now, people will continue to hide behind screens and be outwardly hateful (Photo courtesy of IMDb).

OPINION: Fatphobia remains prominent as the new ‘Mean Girls’ trailer debuts

By Riley Eisenbeil | Nov. 15, 2023

Paramount Pictures recently released the trailer for its movie adaptation of the 2018 Broadway musical “Mean Girls.” While many fans are excited to see the newest musical-movie rendition of Tina Fey’s original 2004 comedy film, some folks online have voiced harsh criticism towards specific cast members saying they were not what longtime fans expected — to put it lightly. 

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Turning clocks back 1 hour can negatively affect college students (Photo courtesy of Flickr / “Clocks” by Giallo / September 24, 2018).

OPINION: “Fall back” disadvantages college students

By Isabella Darcy | Nov. 14, 2023

Most of the U.S. lost an hour of afternoon sunlight on Nov. 5, during the transition from Daylight Saving Time (DST) to Standard Time. Since the early 20th century, most of the U.S. has set their clocks forward in the spring, and then turned them back in the fall. This practice was once for the better, but it is no longer worth the hassle and negative effects.  

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Using the climate crisis as a marketing strategy is proof of just how out of touch celebrities like Kardashian are. She has the privilege to joke about it because the effects of it will not personally impact her — or if they start to, she has the safety blanket of a disposable income. (Photo courtesy of IMDb).

OPINION: Keeping up with the Kardashian’s performative activism

By Riley Eisenbeil | Nov. 10, 2023

Kim Kardashian strikes again with The Skims Ultimate Nipple Bra — letting her privilege and blindness to real-world issues show. On the brink of Palestine crumbling, stories highlighting marginalized voices being banned and the ongoing climate crisis, celebrities like Kim Kardashian are showing they care more about making money than using their millions, or billions, of dollars to effectively enact change. 

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Giants quarterback Daniel Jones (Photo courtesy of Flickr / "Giants QB Daniel Jones" by All-Pro Reels / November 9, 2020).

OPINION: It is time for the Giants to move on from Daniel Jones

By Eddie Young | Nov. 9, 2023

After a 9-7-1 season last year, in which the Giants made the playoffs and won their wild card game, they are 2-7 and filled with disappointment. Sure, a lot of the blame for the record can be placed on the fact that Daniel Jones has missed time due to injuries, but even with Jones as the starter, the team has been 1-6. While the Giants have not put the best pieces around their quarterback to help him succeed, the time has come for them to move on from Jones and to draft a quarterback with their first round pick in the upcoming National Football League (NFL) Draft.

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Some areas of the College need better infrastructure (Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Gladstone / Multimedia Coordinator).

OPINION: The College has an infrastructure problem

By Kelly Kim | Nov. 6, 2023

This occurrence and the lack of effort to fix the issue got me wondering about the poor infrastructure around campus, and how there are so many locations that need fixing. Yet, the efforts in trying to remedy those problems seem lackluster at best. It is not just that one walkway outside of Bliss Hall that has infrastructural issues. There are other locations, such as the unlevel surfaces in front of the Travers and Wolfe towers. 

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Some celebrities post on social media without fact checking (Photo courtesy of Flickr / “Instagram-logo” by Ken Ken / June 21, 2022).

OPINION: Reposting without researching — celebrities and spreading dangerous misinformation

By Alyssa Serrano | Nov. 6, 2023

During times of crisis, so much information comes out at once that it is very easy to make mistakes. However, as people in positions of great influence on many young and impressionable people, it is imperative that celebrities do research before hitting repost. In the most recent case, celebrities have been speaking up about the crisis in Gaza and have put minimal effort into researching before they post.

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(Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Gladstone / Multimedia Coordinator).

OPINION: The College is embarrassingly behind on environmental education

By Mike Sherr | Nov. 2, 2023

The society of the future is clearly green. Climate change is ravaging the globe and there needs to be vital changes. Colleges and universities throughout the world recognize this and have for decades aimed to educate students to work in environmental fields. While the College does have programs and classes dedicated to environmental topics, they miss a larger specialized educational opportunity.

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