Reviews:

Review by Christian Mack

If there’s one thing Luca Guadagnino knows how to do well, it’s how to weave a thread of homoerotic tension into the tapestry of a story. The director’s adaptations of Call Me By Your Name and Queer feature tender moments of gay male intimacy. Guadagnino’s 2024 film Challengers certainly doesn’t skip the gay throughline of his previous projects. Instead, he hides it underneath squeaking soles and rackets crashing above.

Challengers doesn’t shy away from what fans want to see. The camera lingers on the men’s glistening torsos changing shirts between match sets, putting the viewer over the shoulder of one player tracing over the body of the other. The lens captures glances at bare crotches and their subtle readjustments. In slow motion frames between swings, Art (played by Mike Faist) and Patrick (played by Josh O’Connor) look like ancient Greek statues, erotic and powerful in their pose. The subtleties of the characters interacting seduce the viewer, and the Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross score ramps up our expectation of an interaction exploding into a sexual volley. This fanservice is not so shallow as demonstrated in a zenith of sexual energy blanketed in a sweltering hotel room and we are instead shown that more is at stake on the court when they play.

Guadagnino understands the nuances of sexual tension between men and uses this relation to add a unique perspective to this dynamic as it is seen within sports. There is bisexuality at play here, but it’s not reviled or othered like it is in other areas of the media (i.e. Sex and the City, Will & Grace, etc.). He gently weaves it into the fabric of the story, and it becomes intentionally embedded into the clay that the characters stutter-step on. By doing this, we get to see that the life blood of this sport represents the exploration of sex and sexuality for these players. Tennis is a dance that transcends winning or making money; it is an entanglement of psyche and soul. Crushing your opponent after emerging from flow state is better than sex. Coming to connect with your opponent on the court is the most intimate act, and vanquishing them is the ultimate orgasm.

Challengers: ☆☆☆☆☆

Directed by Luca Guadagnino. Written by Justin Kuritzkes. Starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist

Streaming on Prime Video

131 Minutes

(R, language, sexual content and graphic nudity.)

English CC, many other languages available

Sam Fender: People Watching

A Review by Christian Mack

Sam Fender knows he’s destined for more than what his home has to offer him. His third studio album, People Watching, brings listeners into his life as informed by his nostalgic ruminations of growing up in the North Shields area of the UK. The track list consists of 11 songs and features a compilation of vignettes that illustrate the people and experiences that have shaped his life in a politically turbulent Great Britain.

With a rich web of intertwining stories fueling his pen, Fender writes a letter to all the people in his life that have formed his identity. He’s escaped the doldrums of his hometown to seek out artistic ventures, but like we hear in TV Dinner and Arm’s Length, the “rigamarole, the tortured soul, the constant spin,” and the “blazing inferno of fuck-ups” are not so easy to forget.

His home is his muse in this project, and although his success’ have taken him far away from there, he’s caught going back. Whether it be through the people he meets or the experiences he has, all things tie back to where he was raised. But North Shields as described in the album is extremely tumultuous, both politically and socially due to the aftermath of Margaret Thatcher’s time as Prime Minister.

The opening/title track, People Watching, illustrates Fender’s journey home to care for an ill loved one, who ultimately dies in his company. Fender takes the opportunity here to write about this specific experience as a commentary on the shakiness of the healthcare system in the United Kingdom. In Crumbling Empire, he reflects on the story of his friend Earl Carlton, a former addict who fell victim to the neglect of the British government on the working class. In the same song, through the allegory of his long-discarded shoes, Fender wonders if he would have ended up living a similar life if he didn’t begin creating music.

As each song impresses its sonderous heart upon the listener, we get the idea that Fender isn’t interested in the fictitious embellishments that we so often hear in pop music. The beauty here is that he writes a beautifully constructed, although simple, collection of portraits that both parellel his home and the listener’s home. His interest lies in the truth of what he’s gone through, and his songwriting doesn’t need all the bells and whistles to let the listener know that. His ability to relate the most personal instances in his life to the listener is the standout charm of this album, which allows the listener to empathize through their own similar issues. Humans all face a challenge in the place we are raised, but what helps to overcome that challenge is to realize that other people experience similar events. People Watching is a nostalgia-soaked reminder that no matter where life takes you, our homes and where we were raised make up a big piece of the people we become.

A Review by Christian Mack

Sitting in Jade Garden with classmates I’m not particularly close to was one of my more interesting experiences at college. The conversation swirled, like the vines pictured on the red carpet under our feet, as we share stories about the wildest foods we have experienced. I found that some were more versed than others in unfamiliar culture’s cuisines.

The staff was attentive and direct, wasting no time with jotting down our orders. With our chopstick skills on display, we made dizzying small talk over the complementary yet bitter jasmine tea and the scratched Lazy Susan spinning round. The colorful and expansive pages of the menu were tarnished around the most popular menu items, showing me where many hungry fingers landed before.  We all shared what we ordered, the logistics of ordering nearly splitting my ears. The Crab Rangoon ($12.95) was light and fresh, the filling was perfectly balanced with cream cheese and salt. Without hesitation, I snatched the last one taunting me from the empty plate Taking things down a notch, the shrimp with scrambled egg ($17.95) tasted like it spent too much time in a freezer and was only seasoned with boiled water. The umami egg that swaddled the disappointing crustacean was redeemably phenomenal, and the fluffy rice was plopped on our table mountains at a time. Arriving to the table in a halo of crackling sauce, the sizzling beef with ginger and scallion ($20.95) was the clear standout on the table. I imagined that teriyaki sauce, onion, scallion and ginger all got together in the kitchen and said, ‘let’s do what we do best,’. The Beef Lo Mein ($6.95), a solid dish, held my attention. Whenever my hands idled over my empty appetizer plate, I reached for this dish. Although dryer than the sizzling beef, these cuts came with a fantastic salty seasoning that left me content. 

One of our tablemates ordered frog with vegetables ($16.95) and when it was placed on our table, very loud exclamations of disgust rattled my bones. The Lazy Susan brought the frog over to me and I tried a bite because why not, right? It wasn’t anything special (I thought it tasted like boiled chicken), but others felt it was bizarrely appropriate to yell about how repulsive they found it, spitting out their food and pushing plates away. May and I threw daggers with our eyes across the stained tablecloth in a silent, yet mutual disappointment that our presentation on cultural sensitivity fell on deaf ears. All in all, my appetite was settled at the Jade Garden, only I would go with a more open-minded crowd next time.

Jade Garden

20 Tyler Street, Boston, MA 02111

(617)-423-3288

☆/☆☆☆☆

When I was doing research for my visit to Florence, the Uffizi museum popped up consistently. One day, when my brother (who I visited while he studied abroad) had a class and I had nothing but time on my hands, I decided to make a day out of it. He and all of his friends mentioned how long it would take, but as a lover of art in museums, it was the perfect challenge to take on.

The Uffizi gallery originally wasn’t created to be a museum. In the 1560s, under the supervision of the Second Duke of Florence, Cosimo, the Uffizi was created to move all of his family and administration out of the Palazzo Vecchio. The Vecchio was formerly the city hall. The Uffizi is now widely regarded as the most important building for Italian rennaisance preservation. The mind behind the building was Italian architect Giorgio Vasari. His style is influenced by Brunelleschi from centuries before with the stucco and pietra serena stone details present in the exterior.

Walking around the Uffizi was a dream. I was completely immersed in the icons of the Italian Rennaissance period. The Birth of Venus specifically held me racked in chills, my favorite of the entire museum. However, something about The Calumny of Apelles stopped me in my tracks.

The painting was created between 1494-1495 by Sandro Botticelli. It shows King Midas and the accused Calumnist surrounded by different personifications of abstract emotional concepts. Midas is seen with donkey ears, symbolizing a naïve and ill-advised way of hearing his council; Suspicion and Ignorance whispering to him. While they do this, Deception reaches out his hand to veil the perception of Midas. The Calumnist is dragged by the hair of Fraud and Spite, with his hands raised towards Repentence and Truth in prayer.

It’s worth noting among the paintings positive reception, the painting wasn’t Botticelli’s original work. Well, not fully at least. The version that hangs in the Uffizi is directly inspired by Apelles’ description of his own original work. The description is found in Lucian’s De Calumnia texts, where Botticelli likely read the vivid description and found the inspiration to paint. The painting’s small stature made for a more intimate and controlled access to viewing. This is forgotten amongst the swaths of loud middle schoolers viewing the museum on obligatory field trips, but pushing to the front of the crowd to see the small intricacies is well worth the effort

The Uffizi Gallery is open from Tuesday through Sunday, 8:15am-6:50pm. Bear in mind the ticket office closes at 6:35pm nightly.description