On Jan. 23, the 2024 Oscar nominations were announced. As per usual with Oscar nominations, there was immediate widespread outrage over certain people or movies getting snubbed. This year, the movie to receive this treatment was "Barbie." The film received the most nominations of any film this year after “Oppenheimer” and “Poor Things,” with eight overall nominations including Best...
It’s courageous when a band decides to make their albums eponymous — when it’s a debut, it’s meant to make a statement about the band and who they want to be and near the end of a career, it’s a testament to how far a musician or group has come. To release a self-titled album in the middle of...
Of the many things UCR students can look forward to, Winter SOULstice stands tall. With the Associated Student Programming Board (ASPB) behind the annual winter quarter event, the R&B and soul music concert promises a chill night with few attractions and food trucks. Juxtaposed to the other hyped and excitable annual UCR concerts like Block Party and Spring Splash,...
The 2024 nominations have been announced and everyone is left wondering who will leave the Academy Awards Ceremony triumphant this year. “Oppenheimer’s” domination over nominations is clear as Christopher Nolan’s new masterpiece may win on 13 different occasions. However, the movie’s competition is fierce as “Poor Things” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” are not ready to go down...
After a tumultuous year marked by historic strikes from Hollywood’s writers and actors, things seem to have returned to normal with new contracts having been negotiated. Awards season has been in full swing since. The Emmys, which were initially delayed due to the strikes, finally happened Jan. 15, 2024. The postponed date meant that the Emmys occurred the same...
“The Zone of Interest” depicts life in a Nazi household right next to Auschwitz. While a lone barbed wall separates the two premises, guttural cries, gunshots and screams can be perpetually heard in the peripheral. The sights inside the walls are never shown, but the sound is unnerving enough, puncturing and debasing the silence. For the inhabitants, a family...
Three years after dropping the pilot episode, “Hazbin Hotel" released the first four episodes of its first season on Jan. 19, 2024, on Amazon Prime Video. This new series features an assembly of chaos, antics and frighteningly good songs and motifs that will keep you glued to the screen. “Hazbin Hotel,” created by Vivienne Medrano, more commonly known as...
Marvel’s Spotlight is a new film title within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), disconnected from the overarching storyline. The first Marvel spotlight “Echo” was released in full on Disney+ on Jan. 9, directed by Sydney Freeland and marking the platform's first TV-MA show.
Marvel’s “Echo” is set after the events in “Hawkeye,” focusing on Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox), a deaf...
VAIN is here in collaboration with The Highlander to forecast some of the hottest trends for the 2024 season.
Rockstar Made
A trend that is gaining momentum is “indie sleaze:” a grimy, grunge aesthetic born from the early 2000s era. One can think of it as an overly exposed film picture in a bathroom, a pile of cigarette butts in a...
10. “Season’s Schemings” by Katie Bailey 🌶️
After being dumped on a reality baking show for another woman, Maddie ropes her dirtbag of an ex‘s favorite hockey player into being her fake boyfriend. However, he ends up appearing at her family’s Christmas celebration as her very real husband. “Season’s Schemings” is a closed-door read, but the petty drama keeps the...