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Arts and Entertainment

A&E 4/18/23 11:39pm

Wiess Tabletop stages tragicomedy ‘Fun Home’

By Shreya Challa

Wiess Tabletop Theatre’s spring production, “Fun Home,” will run April 21 through 23 at 8 p.m. in Wiess College commons. The Broadway show is a Tony award-winning production based on Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel “Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic.” It was the first show on Broadway to feature a lesbian protagonist, Alison Bechdel, played by three different actors at three different ages.

A&E 4/11/23 11:39pm

Outdoor Show brings music, food, vendors to Central Quad

By Morgan Gage

ktru’s annual spring music festival, the Outdoor Show, is returning for what ktru station manager Keegan Pierce described as their “first year back from COVID.” The outdoor festival will take place in the central quad Saturday, April 15 from 1 to 11 p.m.

A&E 4/11/23 11:31pm

New brews to sip on

By Saswat Pati

While some off-campus places like Common Bond and Agora may be well known to Rice students, we here at the Thresher wanted to provide some new locales to quench your caffeine addiction, especially during the grind of finals season.

A&E 4/11/23 11:29pm

Review: 'The Super Mario Bros. Movie' lives and dies on how much you already love Mario and co.

By Arman Saxena

Easter eggs and references -made to please both the casual player and the Mario devotee are what power Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic’s film adaptation of the massively popular video game. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” has already broken records, scoring the top worldwide opening of all time for an animated film and having amassed over $350 million in worldwide sales at the time of writing.

A&E 4/11/23 11:15pm

Keep the pride alive with these pieces of queer media

By Arman Saxena

Last week was Pride Week at Rice — so what better time to highlight media created by and on members of the LGBTQ+ community? Here are some of the best pieces of media from queer artists that do an incredible job of illustrating LGBTQ+ experiences. 

A&E 4/11/23 11:14pm

‘Dimensions Variable’ plays with the wearable

By Juliana Lightsey

At first glance, they appear to be two precariously-stacked conglomerations of children’s stuffed animals: a forlorn plush basset hound, a worn stuffed hippo and a deflated giraffe. Then, you spot a distinctly human calf protruding from one of the masses, and suddenly they spring to life, two aggregations of animals, seemingly connected by a hive mind, performing a narrative.

A&E 4/4/23 10:49pm

Review: ‘the record’ is boygenius at their best

By Hadley Medlock

Indie rock supergroup boygenius is back, this time with a 42-minute, full-length LP titled “the record.” Comprised of Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker, boygenius boasts an impressive fanbase that has long been awaiting their comeback. After the triumph of their self-titled six song EP in 2018 and ongoing wildly successful solo careers, boygenius had lofty expectations to live up to that they easily surpassed with each song on “the record.”  

A&E 4/4/23 10:46pm

Review: 6LACK turns a corner on ‘Since I Have A Lover’

By Jacob Pellegrino

6LACK, pronounced “black,” is an artist known for his music about emotional instability, from unrequited love to unhealthy relationships. “Since I Have A Lover” sees 6LACK, born Ricardo Valdez Valentine Jr., embrace happiness instead through his lyrics and instrumentation five years after his last full-length album.

A&E 4/4/23 10:44pm

Rice to host inaugural Moody X-Fest

By Nayeli Shad

To celebrate the $100 million donation made by the Moody Foundation, Rice is hosting the first Moody X-Fest on April 7 featuring free food, games and a concert headlined by GROUPLOVE. The event will be taking place at 5 p.m. in Tudor Fieldhouse.

A&E 4/4/23 10:21pm

Spice up fall semester with these courses

By Arman Saxena

Now that it’s officially registration season, students across campus are looking for classes to add some spice into their fall semester course load, and there’s no better way to do that than with some Rice arts classes. From cooking to creative writing, film to art history, here are a plethora of different classes that students can take next semester.

A&E 4/4/23 10:19pm

Hamza’s pizza tour: Sampling a selection of slices

By Hamza Saeed

Rice campus boasts a diverse student body, and along with this diversity comes various opinions on the best pizza in the world. Arguments over the superiority of New York thin crust, the Chicago Deep Dish or the classic Neapolitan have run rampant across this fine campus, and as the only valid opinion on the subject, the Thresher aims to squash these debates once and for all in the hunt for the superior slice.

A&E 3/28/23 9:57pm

Review: ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ takes the franchise to new heights

By Jay Collura

Everyone’s favorite globe-trotting, gun-toting grim reaper John Wick returned to theaters this past weekend, marking the fourth entry in director Chad Stahelski’s action saga. This newest entry follows an exhausted Wick as he attempts to finally escape the High Table, an underground crime ring that John has been fighting since the death of his wife. This premise is a far cry from the straightforward revenge narrative that defined the first film in the franchise, as each new entry in the series has managed to up the ante and expand the universe’s mythology. This inertia is continued into “Chapter 4,” as the stakes are raised to new heights, the action is more intricate than ever and the coterie of assassins surrounding the titular character is more memorable than in previous films. Despite this expansion in mythos, scope and runtime, “Chapter 4” also manages to recapture some of the emotional center that the series has drifted away from since its first, creating a surprisingly satisfying tale of revenge and reflection on the lengths we may go to achieve it. The result is an unsubtle, unconstrained and untouchable romp that pushes the limits of the action genre as a whole.

A&E 3/28/23 9:56pm

Review: Lana Del Rey is directionless with new album

By Francesca Bliss

The appeal of Lana Del Rey has always been the softness of her tragedy. The depressed feminine found the perfect host in Del Rey’s sultry and beautifully exhausted voice, but it’s debatable whether the uniqueness of her delivery can always compensate for the lack of what she’s delivering. The album “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd” feels like what was once Lana Del Rey’s signature sound saturated to the point of caricature. All the trademark references to god, unkind men and cigarettes are trotted out dispassionately, making the album feel more like playing Lana Del Rey bingo than a meaningful musical experience. 

A&E 3/28/23 9:55pm

Review: Yves Tumor shows the beauty in contradictions with new album

By Imogen Brown

“Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds),” is Yves Tumor’s most agitated album to date. Released on March 17, “Praise A Lord'' offers a flood of dirty chords and characteristically brilliant lyrics. “Lovely sewer, tragedy free / In love with the frenzy,” Tumor writes at the album’s outset. Their elusive image and haunting, glamor-punk style create an air of enigmatic mysticality that leaves their creations up for interpretation. Both devoid of soul and absolutely overflowing with it, “Praise A Lord” is Yves Tumor’s ineffable masterpiece.

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