Arts and Entertainment

Senior Spotlight: Deema Beram colors within the lines

Deema Beram wouldn’t call herself a theater kid. With artistic tendencies from a young age, Beram grew up finding creative outlets — whether it was classroom coloring or community theater.

Review: Doja’s ‘Scarlet’ takes risks

Doja Cat has long been known for her distinctive blend of pop and R&B stylings. For the past year, though, she has teased a change in her sound to something heavier and less palatable for many fans of her radio hits. 

Review: ‘Dumb Money’ takes a feel-good approach to finance

Despite the omnipresence of the internet today, few movies force themselves to reckon with its existence the same way “Dumb Money” does. 

09-20-2023: WEEKLY SCENES AND SCREENS

Taste autumn at Trader Joe’s

Fall isn’t for everybody. For some, it’s nothing more than boring pumpkin patches, dead leaves and an awkward autumn wardrobe. Arguably the best part of the season, though, is the food — especially pumpkin, apple and maple-flavored everything. This fall, despite the crippling heat in Texas, Rice students can find some semblance of autumn in Trader Joe’s best snacks.

Review: On ‘Magic 3,’ legendary rapper Nas continues to deliver

For the last few years, Nas has quietly been dropping some of the best work of his career. The legendary hip-hop artist still receives love for his revolutionary 1994 album “Illmatic,” but not enough attention is given to his recent output. Since 2018, Nas has dropped eight albums — five of these released in the past two years. Nas has been a musical machine, churning out lyrically adept, introspective and ultimately triumphant work that never feels stale. “Magic 3,” the third album in a series that started with “Magic” in 2021, is the product of an artist who knows he’s at the top of his game, even after three decades in the rap world. 

R2 to host open mic Sept. 28

Nearly a year ago, friends and art lovers alike filled Ray’s Courtyard, listening, laughing and maybe even crying along to poetry, prose and music. Held for over a decade, R2: The Rice Review’s Open Mic Night has celebrated Rice student’s creativity. On Sept. 28, these scenes will return from 7 to 10:30 p.m. when R2 hosts their annual open mic night, again in Ray’s Courtyard. 

Review: Mitski teaches us how to heal after years of emotional turmoil

After a summer of anticipation, Mitski’s seventh album has been released just in time for sad girl autumn. Rife with her signature longing and self-reflection, “The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We” is Mitski’s opportunity to show us how she lets go and where she goes from here through a tale of heartbreak, memories and recovery.

Hidden in plain sight: Explore Public Art at Rice

Art is all around us at Rice. Everyone knows about the Moody Center for the Arts or James Turrell’s Skyspace, but tucked away across the university in unsuspecting places, there is art that is sure to astound. Sometimes, it’s hidden in plain sight. Look around and you might notice pieces of one of Rice’s most ambitious art projects — Rice Public Art.

09-13-2023: WEEKLY SCENES AND SCREENS

Review: Teezo Touchdown jumps around genres in ‘How Do You Sleep At Night’

After years of high-profile features with artists like Tyler, the Creator and Travis Scott, along with a co-sign from Drake, listeners can finally hear Beaumont artist Teezo Touchdown’s full-length debut album, “How Do You Sleep At Night.” Teezo Touchdown’s music defies categorization, creating a unique listen with a wide variety of songs. 

Review: On ‘GUTS’ Olivia Rodrigo knows what she does best

After real-life love triangle drama, a supposed feud with Taylor Swift and the pressure to live up to her smash-hit debut album, Olivia Rodrigo has released her long-awaited second album titled “GUTS.” Its predecessor’s slightly more vulgar sister, “GUTS” manages to evade the dreaded sophomore slump and is a delightful continuation of Rodrigo’s pop-punk signature. 

Check out your professors in print

From a memoir to fiction set in Rice’s own backyard, an impressive array of books have been released by Rice faculty over the last few months. While some of these works are academic in nature, many aren’t. Check out these books to get to know the creative and personal side of Rice professors 

After 50 years, Rice Cinema remains relevant

Though once well-known, Rice Cinema can now feel like it only exists in whispers among the campus’ film buffs. Plastered in bold letters above the PSYC 101 classroom in Sewall Hall, Rice Cinema’s history stretches back to the establishment of the now-demolished Rice Media Center. Rice Cinema has not just seen the likes of introductory psychology students but also some of the biggest names in film history like Spike Lee, Andy Warhol and Roberto Rosselini. 

Environment, feminism, whimsy at the Moody

Laure Prouvost’s first solo exhibition in Texas, “Above Front Tears Nest in South,” which explores themes of feminism and environmentalism, opens this month at the Moody Center for the Arts. 

09-06-2023 WEEKLY SCENES AND SCREENS

Review: ‘Bottoms’ is a welcome addition to the high-school comedy canon

It’s uncomfortable how rarely straightforward comedies are released in theaters these days. This is not to say that the cinema is devoid of comedy, as quipping has become an inescapable part of just about every blockbuster of the last decade. Rather, it feels that jokes are either buried within CGI battles or relegated to scripts likely created or, at the very least greenlit, by AI. But “Bottoms,” Emma Seligman’s new raunchy teen satire, is bringing real comedy back to theaters. 

Review: ‘Zach Bryan’ makes the deeply personal universal on eponymous album

Zach Bryan straddles the lines between country, rock and folk on his eponymous album. A follow up to his two-hour long 2022 major-label debut, “American Heartbreak,” and his “Summertime Blues” EP from the same year, “Zach Bryan” proves that Bryan is nowhere close to running out of ideas.

A celebration of diversity launches on the edge of campus

Contrasting the modern brick and tile of the Moody Center for the Arts and directly opposite the bland facade of the Rice police department lies a bright and organic structure — the first traditional mudhif ever constructed outside modern-day Iraq. Opening Sept. 9 with an event from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., the mudhif is a product of the Senan Shaibani Marsh Arabs project.

WEEKLY SCENES AND SCREENS: August 30th, 2023

WEEKLY SCREENS AND SCREENS