Culture

Suit Du Jour | Believe It Or Not

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You are what you wear. The clothes that you choose to wear everyday reflect who you are, where you have been and where you are going. The clothes that you wear reflect your current emotional state, level of intelligence, maturity and passion for life. While many could argue that dressing up is not for everyone and one’s passion for life is not necessarily measured in clothes, it is to some degree. Fashion is a silent means of communication that can reveal subtle yet significant aspects of a person’s identity and life aspirations (or lack thereof).

Culture

CULTURALLY SHOOK | Contemporary Love in the Time of the Chainsmokers’ “CLOSER”

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I have inadvertently heard the song “Closer” so many times that sometimes I hear it even when it’s not being played. What I once took to be a constant in my life, an allegedly reassuring acoustic verification of my ongoing physicality—my heartbeat—has been aggressively replaced by the song’s superficial, Day-Glo, Capri Sun beat. In a sense, I admire the song’s ambition, its desire to aspire higher—apparently, permeating the airwaves is not enough for “Closer.” It wants to extend itself into new psychological realms, infiltrate the cerebral networks of the adolescent masses, leak its toxic sugar into every crevice of our collective consciousness until one day suddenly we are not living our lives anymore—we are just living in the imagined idyllic lifeworld of the song, intangible figments residing in the corporeal actualization of the self-obsessed chart-topping hit. No longer will we be independent autonomous beings — we will exist only in relation to this aural “simulacrum of human feeling.”

Maybe this thread of self-reflection is what makes the song so popular—maybe the reason it has been re-re-replayed is that it arguably can be perceived as a reflection on universal human feelings that are difficult to directly acknowledge. Maybe converting these difficult truths into fruity electronic beats is how we tacitly learn to confront them.

Entertainment

ATARISTOTLE | POLITICIANS AS SUPER SMASH BROS. CHARACTERS

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Ladies and gents, step right up. You’ve all been waiting for this one. As a follow up to my last article, Super Smash Bros. in the Black Community (a link to that article is at the bottom which may be helpful to read first if you’ve never heard of Super Smash Bros.), I’ve decided to expand on Smash Bros. and mix it in with a dash of politics, a smidgen more of humor, and a concise list of politicians to lighten up the mood as we head closer and closer to yet another historic Presidential election.

Blogs

TRAVELIN’ WITH JACQUELINE | Blue Bees

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Like most people, I don’t find insects particularly interesting, but I thought I’d attend a West Campus-scheduled Cornell Insect Collection Tour on Sunday, September 25 with my SA Erin! The Cornell University Insect Collection is located in Comstock Hall and is one of the world’s biggest insect collections. As you will see from the myriad photos that are to follow, I really enjoyed myself. I saw so many beautiful insects and learned about methods of insect preservation. One of the first organisms we were shown was water bugs!

Culture

THE E’ER INSCRUTABLE | Fimbulwinter: The Rhein’s Fury, Part I

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“Jetzt komme, Feuer! Begierig sind wir,

Zu schauen den Tag,

Und wenn die Prüfung

Ist durch die Knie gegangen,

Mag einer spüren das Waldgeschrei.” -Friedrich Hölderlin, “Der Ister”

Almost two thousand years are to be retrospectively traversed from the death of Hitler to the object of my next inquiry. This is an ode to the Rhein river, the fosterer of an independent Germany, and a blessing, and a curse. In 55 B.C., Gaius Julius Caesar built a bridge over the Rhein. The river was dark, wild, and churned with the same malevolence which the peoples of the sunnier Mediterranean perhaps perceived in the spectral shapes flitting amongst the German pines.

Entertainment

MANGA MONDAYS | Crunchyroll x Funimation: Partners vs Pirates

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For those that missed the news (it was quite a while ago at this point), Funimation and Crunchyroll have, at long last, announced a formal partnership. Essentially, Crunchyroll is begining to stream some of Funimation’s older, well-known titles like Cowboy Bebop. Meanwhile, Funimation is working on English dubs for some of Crunchyroll’s titles, such as Free! Iwatobi Swim Club, and Mob Psycho 100. The premise is basically to make it easier for viewers to decide where to watch anime.

Culture

SUIT DU JOUR | Behind the Seams

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Do you know what happens behind the seams? Think about the very T-shirt you are wearing, the socks that keep your feet warm, even the backpack that you just shrugged off your shoulder. Do you know where these products were made, who made them and how it is possible for them to be in your hands at this very moment? Unfortunately, fashion (like other industries), is a dirty business because the answers to certain questions we ought to know are inexplicit. In fact, the answers we ought to know are often ignored because consumerism gets the best of us.

Culture

FECKLESS AND FRECKLED | Cultural Appropriation in Fiction: A Liberal Hoax?

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“You liberals get off my lawn!” commands Lionel Shriver in her recent New York Times Op-Ed. Shriver, who might be more well known for her bellicose opening address at the Brisbane Writers Festival earlier this month than any of the 13 books she’s published, has more than several bones to pick with the “left,” or anyone who is not a blatant homophobe, sexist, racist or otherwise elitist. The author was asked to speak on the topic of “community and belonging.” She chose instead to focus on identity politics.  A valid substitution, given all the discourse about campus activism and trigger warnings. Personal identities have never truly been personal; they’ve always affected our communal spaces.

Entertainment

MANGA MONDAYS | The Next Miyazaki?

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For those that missed the news, Makoto Shinkai’s newest movie, “Your Name.” (Kimi no Na wa.) recently released in Japan. And it’s a huge hit. In fact, according to Anime News Network (ANN), “Your Name.” is probably going to be first non-Miyazaki anime movie to earn over 10 billion yen. Moreover, ANN also reports that the movie is being liscenced for release in 85 countries and regions. In short, Shinkai’s new film is poised for some unprecedented international success.