Solange: A Seat at the Table

By: Andrea Davis

Solange gave me A Seat at the Table and I was served with a soft, yet essential medley of song after song filled with messages of black empowerment, self-awareness, and honesty. Although the album itself is gentle-sounding, it is one that represents great strength. Solange has released three albums in her musical career and by far this is one of her best works.

            One of my favorite songs on her album, and one I can relate to on a personal level, is the song titled “Don’t Touch My Hair.” Although the instrumentation and melody are simplistic, the message is strong. As a black woman with natural hair, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to reprimand someone for their unrelenting desire to touch my hair without my permission. The lyrics, “Don’t touch my hair/When it’s the feelings I wear/Don’t touch my soul/When it’s the rhythm I know/Don’t touch my crown,” expresses the need for others to respect the natural hair journey and what it represents to a woman of color who has decided to take that journey. Being a natural girl in a relaxer-ridden world is not easy. The standard of beauty in our society calls for bone straight hair – not kinky, curly coils and dreadlocks. Natural hair is an outward expression and direct rejection of the idea that you are only beautiful with straight hair, so it is not something to “play” with, especially without permission. If you don’t understand or find yourself that fascinated with natural hair that you have to touch it, do yourself a favor and resist the urge to disrespect the fro and just have a conversation with a naturalista about her hair journey.

            Solange served some neo-soul, gentle-rhythms, and powerful lyricism in her album A Seat at the Table and I believe this is one of the best albums of the year. In a music scene that now seems to be filled with no substance, Solange’s album is food for the soul.

Janet Jackson is Unbreakable!

By: Stylicia Bowden

Reference: Google.com



At the vibrant age of 50 Janet Jackson is still letting us know who is in control. She is an iconic legend who produces music that creates change, breaks barriers and manifests hit after hit.  In 1986 she made her musical debut with her first album Control. She created other hits such as Rhythm Nation (1989), Janet (1993), Design of a Decade (1995) and The Velvet Rope (1997).

Her musical journey has presented her with multiple nominations and awards. However, in the past seven years Janet Jackson disappeared from the music scene after the death of her brother, Michael Jackson. In her absence the evolution of music changed drastically, but in 2015 rumors began to surface about her return to music.  

Fans around the globe finally got a personal confirmation from the pop icon about a new album. Unbreakable is her most recent CD that was released in October 2015. The album has a powerful message in her journey of healing, finding peace and getting back to making music that matters.

Unbreakable is a collection of music that reminds me of the Janet Jackson I first fell in love with in the 80’s. Songs such as No Sleeep remind of her 1993 hit That’s The Way Love Goes. Other songs on her album include The Great Forever, Broken Hearts Heal, Take Me Away, Lessons Learned, Dream Maker and Burn It Up!

Her album Unbreakable revealed a more refined, wise, mature and peaceful Janet Jackson. Janet’s album debuted as the number one album on Billboard in October 2015.  I enjoyed the album from beginning to end. Although, she has postponed her tour due to her pregnancy, Janet Jackson continues to remind us that she is unbreakable!

 

References:

http://www.axs.com/news/janet-jackson-to-drop-new-untitled-album-after-seven-year-hiatus-56554

http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/6745220/janet-jackson-unbreakable-no-1-bmg-record-label-major

American Horror Story

If you really want a thrill, watch this series.

By: Mary Kiser

 Season 2: Asylum

I'm not easily scared. Movies like Carrie or Let the Right One In are disturbing and bizarre at best. Because this world brims with nightmarish realities like robbery, violence, rape and murder, viewers are numb to the idea of pig blood and vampires. Teenagers judge their classmates, but they do not douse their rivals with a bucket of red, and vampires belong between the pages of seamy romance novels. The hit television series American Horror Story redefines the entire genre of horror, and the contemporary scenes of panic, fear and dread resonate with its audience. Even though some seasons toy with fiction, the presentation of raw emotion hypnotizes anyone with eyes. Halloween is not complete without costumes and candy, but don't forget to watch Season 6 in between the tricks and treats.

The latest season is just as brilliant as the others. However, my favorite season is the second. Asylum is a mental institution for all degrees of insanity. Anything from chronic masturbation to murder are human sins that require repentance. The beautiful and gifted Jessica Lange stars as Sister Jude Martin, a nasty nun with an ill temperament and gnawing secret. She oversees the psychiatric hospital, Briarcliff, with Bibles and belts. An innocent husband, lesbian journalist and murderer invoke disruption. With selfish staff, a sinister scientist, killers and demonic forces, this season explodes dynamite. American Horror Story designs Halloween with more than just pumpkins and plastic decorations. October 31st finally has scare.

Portman, Kunis, and Aronofsky: A Ménage à trois

By: Mary Kiser

bing.com

Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis star in the 2010 Black Swan. Their performances both solo and together are the resonance to this movie's symphony with Darren Aronofsky as their orchestrator. The two actresses and director create a psychologically-thrilling masterpiece that leaves their audience in nail-biting trepidation. In true Aronofsky style, the final performance curtains with the spotlight on the aftershocks of mental illness.

Portman plays Nina, a fragile and frigid woman who embodies the stereotypical ballerina look and lifestyle. She has a petite stature, gaunt build, and pristine features. However, her mental state is in complete disarray. Anorexic and bulimic tendencies appear like pivotal drops of rain before a thunderstorm, but the stress of her new role, mother, and competition transform Nina's manageable issues into a train wreck of schizophrenic delusions.

Kunis plays Lilly, an edgy young woman who is less like a ballerina and more like a dancer. She is the Black Swan to Nina's White Swan, but Lilly is not Nina’s latent enemy. The two meet, and Nina spirals faster. Instead of sweaty palms or a faster pulse, she experiences extreme paranoia, heightened affliction, and rebarbative visions. Despite their transcendent ecstasy, Nina and Lilly are two rivals that come to a deadly crossroads. Aronofsky has his eye on their affair the entire time, and his direction leads them to their final act.

On IMDb, close to 600,000 people rate Black Swan with an 8/10. Portman and Kunis enamor onscreen and Aronofsky conducts his talents off screen. This trio produces, in my opinion, one of the best films about the gravity of mental illness. Put on your best suit or prepossessing dress because Swan Lake is a gripping tale no longer exclusive to the stage.

 

Trailer Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0947798/

Take Shelter: An Apocalyptic Thriller

By: Mary Kiser

What do you think will happen to the human race during Earth's final cataclysm?

I think about this question every time I see a storm. Something so beautiful as nature can twist into something so wicked, and who really knows why. Science can predict nature, and give reasons for rainfall, lightening, and thunder. However, nature can't be summarized by scientists. People can't be summarized by scientists, either.

Take Shelter is a psychological thriller that explores the inner beast of both mind and nature. Michael Shannon, one of my favorite actors, plays Curtis; in the beginning, friends admire him as a steady, strong, and sedulous man. He works at a construction company to take care of his wife, Samantha, and daughter, Hannah. When he starts to suffer from intense nightmares that leave him with real pain and uneasiness, his behavior changes. Is he this unstable man who suffers from mental illness, or is he a prophet with visions of the future?

The ending is just as ambiguous as his nightmares or visions, but regardless, director Jeff Nichols has interpreted his own feelings of anxiety into frightening reality onscreen. His portrayal of panic, fear, and dread create this movie's perfect storm. It was released in 2011, but his film is timeless in both human and nature emotion.

If anyone would like to read his interview, which does contain spoilers, you can visit this website: http://www.ifc.com/2011/09/jeff-nichols-take-shelter-interview.

‘Florence Foster Jenkins’

By: Callie Ball

Stephen Frears (director of successful films like “The Queen” and “Philomena”) directs Hugh Grant, Simon Helberg of “The Big Bang Theory” and Academy Award Winner Meryl Streep in his newest project. “Florence Foster Jenkins,” which is based on the real life Florence Foster Jenkins, who was a wealthy socialite in 1940’s New York City. She dreamt of becoming an Opera singer, while also being oblivious to the fact that she can’t sing.

Stephen Frears directs the film beautifully, giving it comedy, yet containing heartbreaking undertones. Frears with screenwriter Nicholas Martin will have you laughing one minute and shaking your head the next. Frears doesn’t explore the darker side of the story; he keeps it light hearted while still giving you all the information you need to understand each character and why they are the way they are.

Meryl Streep, delightfully funny as Florence Foster Jenkins, gives us a woman who has a childlike view of life and the world. You will be laughing with her, at her and crying for her. By the end she will have you wishing you were just as oblivious to the judgements of the world as she.

And keep your eye on Simon Helberg as his facial reactions are worth the ticket in themselves. 

“Some may say that I couldn’t sing, but no one can say that I didn’t sing.” – Florence Foster Jenkins.

The Legend of Tarzan

By: Cheyenne Abrams

 The Cinematic Universe has really gotten their lives together by remaking or adding on to the story lines of movies from the 90s. This brings a sense of nostalgia to viewers as they wander into the theater to relive earlier memories with friends, family, and even their children.

The Legend of Tarzan is no different. Directed by Harry Potter’s David Yates, the movie dives into the afterlife of Tarzan’s now diplomatic lifestyle in 1860s England. However, with new terror, Leon Rom (Christopher Waltz) rising in his homeland, Tarzan, now John Clayton (Alexander Skarsgard, True Blood) and his debutante wife, Jane (Margot Robbie, Suicide Squad), are convinced by Investigator George Washington Williams (Samuel L. Jackson, Pulp Fiction), to journey into the deep forest to take back a land once theirs.

The movie has very tense moments, from family scruffs to kidnappings and dangerous animal encounters. However, the directors and script writers tied it together with heartfelt flashbacks of Jane and Tarzan’s first encounter, Tarzan’s adoption by his Gorilla family, along with the couple’s struggle to start a family of their own.

The Legend of Tarzan is an international tale, and it is showcased throughout the film with Tarzan’s main conflict being Chief Mbonga (Djimon Hounsou, Guardians of the Galaxy), who wants to punish Tarzan for crimes he made before he discovered life outside of Africa. His support system is the tribe that Jane’s father worked with when Tarzan was found; they spread the legend from tribe to tribe through song.

The movie does, however, dive into the 1860s mentality in the treatment of women, as well as the harsh slavery aspect of the time period. There are no stones left unturned when looking into the period of the late 1800s. This movie, like many other tall tales of our childhood, leave people walking out during the credits thinking about how they treat others, greed, and the struggle that other countries face. The movie also focused on minor details about the time period like the creation of Ping Pong, and how Tarzan frequently plays the game in his home. 

I give the movie a 4 out of 5 star rating. While making me nostalgic, and leaving the theater with life lessons, I wish that Tarzan’s animal families played a bigger part in the film, rather than just Jane and her childhood tribe.

Disney's Movie Remakes

By: Callie Ball

Even if you’re not an avid Disney fan you have probably still noticed that a majority of their new releases have been remakes. Remakes of some of the most iconic films that became instant classics and still have us humming their tunes.

Tunes like “The Bare Necessities” which was re-featured in Disney’s The Jungle Book live-action-remake, which debuted last month. And according to Forbes, had a domestic weekend opening of $103 million. Last year Disney gave us a Cinderella movie that had fans ecstatic months before it was to be released. They accomplished this by showing a sixty-six second trailer that showed nothing but the glass slipper. And this August the remake of Pete’s Dragon will hit theaters.

So far, every Disney remake has been considerably different from its original version, but what do these remakes have the originals don’t? Take 2014’s Maleficent, starring Angelina Jolie, which took the classic fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty and told it from the perspective of the character Maleficent. The 2015 Cinderella version is much darker than the original 1950's version, with no singing mice or animals helping her get dressed, the step sisters end up cutting of their feet and having their eyes pecked out.

Have you figured it out yet? What the remakes have that the originals do not?

Better plots, and stronger characters.

The prince is no longer the one to always jump in, kiss the girl and save the day. Characters don’t put their lives in the hands (or paws) of others all the time.

Disney has given us the old stories and made them new. With The Jungle Book they told us how it is better to be yourself and not always follow the pack. In Alice in Wonderland they proved a girl can be the hero. In Maleficent we saw that there is more than one kind of true love. And Cinderella showed us that having courage and being kind is always the best policy.

I doubt Disney will stop remaking the beloved classics since there is little risk for them. There is already a fan base and not a single of the recent live action remakes has flopped at the box office. Disney has already confirmed several more live action remakes and most aren’t expecting them to be anything less than phenomenal. Bryan Cogman from the Game of Thrones is said to have been signed on for the remake of The Sword in The Stone. This makes me wonder, how dark is Disney willing to go? Tim Burton is set to direct a live action Dumbo and Peter Hedges is signed to write the script for Pinocchio, and Alex Ross Perry is slated to direct the live action version of Winnie the Pooh. I hope they can continue on the high they have been riding, as well as not butchering any of our beloved childhood movies.

With an Excruciating Rotten Tomatoes Rating of 29

By: Terry Beyer

With an excruciating Rotten Tomatoes rating of 29, many began reading Batman vs. Superman its last rites before the doors even opened. I think these same critics would walk out on a Cary Grant classic because it had too many one liners or call Clint Eastwood a cliché tough guy. Walking into this movie a week after it came out, I was too busy hiding from spoilers on Facebook to build too much anticipation. Sitting mid theater with a large bucket of popcorn and collectible Bats Vs Sup's cup (I sprung for the extra 70 cents), I wanted only 3 things:

One: Batman and Superman to square off, see who can take and give a hit.

Two: No long drawn out origin story.

Three: Wonder Woman to join the party and not need the boys to fight her fights

Walking out, and keeping spoilers to a minimum, I was not disappointed. No one goes to see Batman Vs. Superman expecting a deep plot, relatable characters and emotional attachment (apart from special effects induced adrenaline, but hey I don't do roller coasters, gotta get it somewhere). I didn't want clean cut superheroes, fighting for justice and mankind. No! I wanted to see personal vendettas, human nature, and our heroes get a bit flustered. What's more, this movie opened the door to the DC universe that promised a darker superhero conglomeration, with a little grit and no small amount of awesome. As I sign off to go watch Arsenic and Old Lace (seriously, great movie, Cary Grant and Theodore Roosevelt make a great team), I tell you to go watch Batman Vs Superman and expect to see a superpowered face-off. You won't be disappointed. Take a skeptic with you. The extra 70 cents for the collector’s cup is worth it.
   

Requiem for a Dream

By: Mary Kiser

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This movie reminds me of The Weeknd's Trilogy. It reflects the short Heaven and bitter Hell of drug use; it's the diesel in the needle that shoots you to the moon and back, and it's why Darren Aronofsky is one of my favorite directors. He's like a baker making a cake, combining all the necessary ingredients in order to make it both delicious and addicting. The movie is made with brilliant acting credited to Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, and Marlon Wayans. They, along with powerful music that envelops the characters throughout the highs and lows of their usage, portray the "deviled" experience that junkies and tweakers can relate to all too well and ill.

If the "Just Say No" program doesn't work for you, I highly recommend this movie. It doesn't glamorize drugs and the users; instead, what seems like a promising painting, is smeared with the hard and harrowing facts of what continued pill-popping, dope-snorting, and needle-injecting can do to a person, and how it transforms them into a person they don't even recognize.

 

August: Osage County

By: Mary Kiser
 

My admiration for Meryl Streep runs deep. Any movie she stars in is bound to be box office gold. Her emotions are real. They're raw. When people see her on the big screen, they can feel her passion through the character’s words and actions. She's the white Oprah Winfrey of movie performances. You feel like you've just won a new car every time she spins everyday words into jaw-dropping scenes.

One of her lesser known films, August: Osage County, is about a dying matriarch struggling with both addiction and the sudden death of her husband, played by Mr. Sam Shepard. Her family come to Oklahoma to support her during this tough time, and that's when drama about life, love, and death ensue between Meryl Streep's character Violet and her three daughters played by Juliet Lewis, Juliette Nicholson, and the amazing Julia Roberts.

If you're in the mood for a dramedy, then this is the perfect movie to watch in 2016. You'll laugh; you'll cry, and you'll learn a thing or two about just how complicated life is no matter how old you are.

Hello, Listeners…

By Levena Lindahl
















Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in a small southwestern town where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful, and mysterious lights are seen over the Arbys?  If you have, you might be a fan of Welcome to Night Vale, a popular podcast series set in the town of Night Vale where all the conspiracy theories are true. 

I love this podcast; it is like a community radio show as done by a conspiracy driven H.P. Lovecraft.  It started in 2012, and releases an episode the 1^st and 15^th of every month.  Listeners learn about the town through Cecil, our very unreliable narrator.  There is a mayor with many powers, the Town Council, the Sherriff’s Secret Police, and many other memorable characters.  The wonderful thing about this town is that weird stuff happens, and people just go on with their lives because they are used to it.

Night Vale, in addition to podcasts, has also done live shows, and this year I was lucky enough to go to one such show in downtown Charleston.  It was amazing to see so many people who were in to the same, rather weird and nerdy, thing gathered in one place to enjoy a show.  Kind of like old radio dramas, it was fascinating to see how people interacted with the people on stage, and how the audience affected them. 

Then on October 20^th, a book set in Night Vale was published, and if this sounds like something you would be interested in, I really recommend it. Cecil isn’t the focus of this work, and it really expands the world of Night Vale, letting the reader see other parts that might not have been focused on in the podcast. 

Welcome to Night Vale is a wonderful series that embraces the weird and the unusual and just runs with it.  At 77 episodes and counting, one can only hope that it continues on for years to come.  (And remember, stay away from the dog park.)

Favorite Films of 2014 - A Comprehensive List

by Bradley C. Harrison

The year 2014 marks the solidification of Netflix becoming a household commodity, whether it’s your brother’s, your aunt’s, or even your own account, almost everyone has access to one.  While you may have used this lovely new luxury merely to binge watch Gilmore Girls and Sherlock, it has caused a seismic shift in the world of film.

Just by giving people the ability to scroll through and see the existence of films like Amelie, Radio Days, and Y Tu Mamá También, the general populous has been exposed to, until now, an extremely unavailable catalogue of independent films. 

This new epidemic of the consumption of independent films has completely changed the taste of many moviegoers.  Movies like Chef, Boyhood, and The Imitation Game all broke into the top 100 domestic grossers, each earning over $24 million.  While this evolution of film going palate is not quite universal yet, it is real, and is certainly reflected in my favorite movies to come out in 2014.

10. Guardians of the Galaxy directed by James Gunn
I only went to see this movie because of my friends’ high recommendations.  I expected it to be nothing more than the average super hero movie, full of forced jokes, self-important egos, and no real character growth.  I was pleasantly surprised.  Mark down Guardians as the super hero movie that figured it out.  It toes the line between humor and drama perfectly while the characters have real flaws (not merely being allergic to rocks).  It closely follows the archetype for happy-endings, but the bond formed between the characters and their means of overcoming peril make this movie resonate as a great film.

9. Nightcrawler directed Dan Gilroy

Is Jake Gyllenhaal’s character, who is a systematic, sociopathic, and pragmatic worker, the capitalistic ideal?  Is the man who draws all fulfillments from business success, and who is willing to do whatever it takes to see his company flourish the hero or the villain in our society? Gilroy not only excites and chills in this stunning thriller, but he provides the fuel and spark for some pretty incredible thoughts.

8. The Grand Budapest Hotel directed by Wes Anderson

Wes Anderson has bloomed into full fruition in his latest work.  As visually striking and emotionally subtle as ever, this quirky “rags to riches” story tells of love and the depths of the human soul in an incredibly touching way.  The Grand Budapest Hotel will stick with you as you find yourself recommending it to watch with your closest loved ones. 

7. Interstellar directed by Christopher Nolan

This space epic with McConaughey and Anne Hathaway was more than I expected, but less than I hoped it would be.  Nolan’s rambling about time as a physical dimension refreshingly assumes an intellectually aware audience, while his ability to create a heartfelt story (along with the mind-blowing pictures) provides an awe-inspiring experience.  However, the movie hits you with a lot, very hard and very fast, so that it takes a few viewings to let it all sink in.

6. Adieu au langage (Goodbye to Language) directed by Jean-Luc Godard

Godard, in his revolutionarily experimental 3D film, is the first to think of the 3D plane and the 2D plane as separate, and thus able to show different stories.  He disregards any form of a narrative and gives us the validation that the human's sensual experiences and ability to conceptualize are our best means of living life.  What Godard has unlocked here gives us an entirely unique way to explore and record human nature.

5. The Babadook directed by Jennifer Kent

Jennifer Kent is the new Charlotte Perkins Gilmore.  She wrote and directed this masterpiece as not just a horror film, but a social commentary on mental illness. In a “Yellow Wallpaper”-esque manner she abandons cheap stunts to scare you, and haunts you into questioning your own senses.  The end of the movie comes and you still aren’t sure if the Babadook is real, but one thing is for sure, the mind can be a very scary and dangerous place. 

4. Wild directed by Jean-Marc Vallée

Biopics are hard to pull off.  You start inside of a character’s head and work your way out, and by the time you are all the way out, the character has to be real enough to make you believe you are looking through their eyes.  Vallée’s adaptation of the Cheryl Strayed novel about taking a journey to find oneself, with the beautiful work of Reese Witherspoon, does just that.  The film hits you in the face hard enough to make you feel it deep inside, but when it reaches your soul it is something touching.  

3. Selma directed by Ava DuVernay

“Martin Luther King Jr. was a great man.”  It’s been an involuntary response for all Americans since elementary school.  And while that response is in good sentiment, we often forget to truly examine the man’s life.  Selma provides the opportunity for us to take a step back and observe the load that MLK Jr. and his close followers bore.  It provides us the opportunity to try to understand the importance of his causes and the moral rigidity he had to maintain under great pressure without bending or breaking.  Selma delivers in reminding us that Martin Luther King Jr., in standing up for a righteous cause and providing the perfect example of how to fight for it, was one of the best leaders our country has ever seen.   

2. Inherent Vice directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

Two friends of mine tell a story of spending St. Patrick’s Day in Savannah.  All they remember is being completely lost on Sunday, neither showered nor changed, carrying a homemade chocolate cake, when all of a sudden their car appears and they drive home.  Just as eggs are bound to break and milk is bound to spoil, there is some inherent vice in living life like that.  But Paul Thomas Anderson says there may be more to it.  No matter how much of a haze you’re under or how much society frowns upon you, if you try to do good, then you’ve done good.  He delivers this hazy, quirky, and stumbling detective drama in grand style, and though it may be somewhat incoherent, it satisfyingly delivers one of the most humorous, captivating, and fulfilling stories of the year.

1. Boyhood directed by Richard Linklater

Richard Linklater writes dialogue like no other, creating human characters with touching intellectual depth.  Boyhood is Linklater’s magnum opus, his grand work of literature, truly capturing the human condition.  Conceiving the idea over a decade ago, Linklater filmed with the same cast (centered upon then 5 year old Ellar Coltrane) once a year, every year, for 12 years, recording all the moments that standout as memories for a boy growing up in this era of American life.  It’s nice to know that 50 years from now, when my grandchildren ask me what my childhood was like, I can show them this film and be completely satisfied.

2014 was an incredible year for film.  While movies are meant to entertain, many have so much more to offer than that.  Watch these movies and be entertained, but allow yourself to experience all they have to offer.  Become connected with the characters, examine the psychology, experience the nostalgia, be drawn into the stories of each, and find out for yourself how films can truly be fulfilling pieces of literature and art. 

Same As It Ever Was… At The Charleston Pour House

Photo from the Pour House Facebook page

by Edwin McCoy 

This past month, The Charleston City Paper released its annual “Best of Charleston” awards that showcase Charleston’s finest local restaurants, bars, clubs, and live music venues.   Charleston residents vote on the food, libations, and entertainment these particular establishments serve up best. The Pour House was voted best live rock music club in 2012, and for good reason. 

The Kickin' Chicken: A Review

From the Kickin Chicken Facebook page

By Brett Fields

The big game is this Sunday, and you have nowhere to watch it. Look no further than your local Kickin' Chicken. A restaurant with a sports bar feel and over twenty-four wing sauces is just the place to watch a big game. Wings, chicken sandwiches, burgers, and wraps headline the reasonably-priced menu. Bobby Fries, one of the restaurant's specialties, are a personal favorite of mine: French fries draped in cheddar cheese, ranch sauce, and bacon bits. The restaurant is somewhat local with six locations in South Carolina and the seventh in North Carolina. 

A Woman in Black: A Movie Review

By Stephanie Hunt

Directed by James Watkins and based on the 1983 novel by Susan Hill, The Woman In Black is a great movie for those who enjoy a great classic-style horror film.  It immediately grabs your attention as it opens with a scene of three little girls having tea with their dolls. They look up at something, rise calmly, walk over to the window, and jump out to their death. This supernatural thriller keeps you glued to the screen until the very end.

Arthur Kipps (played by Daniel Ratcliffe) is a young, struggling lawyer who travels to a remote seaside village in England to resolve the legal affairs of Eel Marsh, an estate whose owner has died. The mansion is very creepy. It is built in a marsh and only accessible during low tide.  Even more creepy than the old mansion is the alarming child mortality rate, and the mystery behind the ghost of the widow who is blamed for taking the lives of the village’s children.

Tony Bennett: Duets II

By Taylor Hastings

Tony Bennett is one of the coolest cats of the past sixty years. As one of the most esteemed crooners, Bennett is as popular today as ever. Although he is one of the last singers of the greatest generation of music, he does what only Mr. Bennett could pull off at the age of 80.