The Berkeley Beacon
Saturday, January 16, 2021
New Netflix series dismantles hip-hop stereotypes
Rap music, disco, race, gangs, young love, and really short shorts are all featured in Netflix’s new series The Get Down. The show tells the eccentric tale of the birth of hip-hop in the South Bronx in the late ‘70s. The concept was created by Baz Luhrmann, who has won multiple awards for his work on Moulin Rouge! and The Great Gatsby.
Panel picks apart humor in presidential election
To some, this election is a joke. For others, they joke about the election for a living. Last Friday, six comedy, politics, and communications professionals gathered for a panel moderated by associate professor Gregory Payne in the Bill Bordy Theater. The event was sponsored by the School of the Arts and the Center for Comedic Arts.
Small Screen Halloween: The Exorcist poorly reimagined
It was only a matter of time before it was adapted into a mediocre TV show on FOX.
Alumni web series tells Quick and Dirty sex stories
The series explores bisexual relationships, infidelity, and STDs—all topics typically left out in mainstream media.
Freshman makes ad for LEGO with alum brother
When things look dire, LEGO versions of John, Paul, George, and Ringo come to the rescue in their iconic Yellow Submarine.
Becket Comes to Life at Robert J. Orchard Stage
“It really is an ensemble piece,” Lovett said. “Nobody is doing more than anyone else, if you like.”
Comics with a cause: superheroes and political messages
It wasn’t the costumes, plots, or the explosions that entranced my adolescent imagination, though. It was the fight for good.
CQ Studios travels the world, brings stories to screen
“The Colorless Queen is the main character in this world and she’s sort of this perfect mix of all these different species, and is the closest thing to what the original human was,” said Velle.
EmStages opens season with Caucasian Chalk Circle
The Caucasian Chalk Circle was performed last week in the Greene Theater. The play follows a young peasant woman in post World War II Georgia who cares for a noble-born child after his mother abandons him. In the final scene of the show a local judge must decide who the child’s true mother is.
The Sun Sets in the West: Morality in HBO’s Westworld
If a piece of media exists solely for the viewing pleasure of the audience, can we dictate what that pleasure should be? And what do we morally owe the characters and creations within these narratives if they do not exist in reality? HBO’s latest show, Westworld, poses many questions with no easy answers.
Guest curator: One11Twenty Tuesday picks
Beacon's Spotify playlist of the week.
Simpsons scribe shares stories, offers advice
“If you write for a living, you can’t get writer’s block,” Reiss said. “It should always be fun for you.”
Freshman leads Portland alt-rock band from Boston
At 19, freshman writing, literature and publishing major Timothy Jordan is already a published children’s book author and lead singer of the band One11Twenty.
Author Angela Davis talks art, advocacy, and activism
"[Davis] is an incredible spokesperson and a really unique voice for this community that so often gets shut down and misrespresented. She's a badass." —Junior Emily Shnider
