Artist Spotlight: Sarah Washburn Thornton
By Yuting Xiong / For The Pitt News
November 17, 2016
Oftentimes when Sarah Washburn Thornton sits down to make art, there’s no motive, no intention, no plan. It’s automatic. “[Automatic art is] when you don’t start with a plan to paint and instead you start with a blank piece of paper,” Thornton said. “It’s more about your body than the dr...
Review: ‘Fantastic Beasts’ missing Rowling’s signature magic
By Ian Flanagan / Senior Staff Writer
November 17, 2016
"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" Directed by David Yates Starring Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Colin Farrell Back in 2003, BBC News reported that J.K. Rowling was richer than the queen of England — and Harry Potter fans, it seemed, were willing to put the mone...
Review: ‘Hair’ a timely tale of sex, drugs and rock and roll
By Matt Maielli / Senior Staff Writer
November 15, 2016
As the entire cast of Pitt Stages’ “Hair” strips naked under low blue stage lights upstage, a hippie mulling over his Vietnam draft card downstage sings, “Where is the something? Where is the someone that tells me why I live and die?” This is “Hair’s” most iconic scene and is no less...
A wild ride: Pulitzer nominee Doug Swanson joins Pitt’s faculty
By Ellen Kruczek / For The Pitt News
November 15, 2016
Filed under Culture
Infamous Vegas mobster Benny Binion was the kind of criminal you only see in the movies — two murders, gambling rings, fatal feuds with rivals. But until new Pitt English professor Doug Swanson came along, the mobster’s story went largely untold. Swanson published the story of the “doughy r...
A poem to the Editor
By John Kennick, Senior
November 11, 2016
Filed under Culture, Uncategorized
Editor's note: The Pitt News regularly receives and publishes letters to the Editor. In this case, a reader sent a poem. All indentations, line breaks and misspellings are to the wishes of the poet. "non-reaction non reaction POEM" we do not explain what this is like because analogy is j...
FeelGood Pitt to host weekend grilled cheese marathon
By Brady Langmann / Culture Editor
November 11, 2016
Filed under Culture, Food & Drink
When 2:30 a.m. hits this Saturday morning and bars and pizza shops close, students will finally have a different late-night food option than 24-hour fast food joints. FeelGood Pitt — part of the youth-led movement FeelGood International, which aims to end world poverty by 2030 — will host a 17-hour de...
Setting the stage: Pitt Stages scene shop preps for ‘Hair’
By John Hamilton / Senior Staff Photographer
November 10, 2016
The environment of the University of Pittsburgh Stages scene shop is always changing. Some days, a few people quietly paint, listening to music. Other days, they swap headphones for earplugs as their peers cut metal, noise echoing throughout the basement of the Cathedral of Learning. For the p...
Salsa Club heats up O’Hara
By Emily Suruda / For The Pitt News
November 8, 2016
Filed under Culture
Hips moving, Latin rhythms playing and dancers gliding. A man twists his female partner three times, then their hands sway from left to right. Surrounded by four other swinging couples, their feet meet one another’s, and he gives her one more spin. The Salsa Club, a student organization devoted to practicing and...
Drag culture nears mainstream at Pitt
By Nick Eustis / For The Pitt News
November 8, 2016
Filed under Culture
In drag culture, sometimes you have to embrace extravagance. At Pitt Rainbow Alliance’s Panther Drag event Sept. 17. — which takes place annually in the William Pitt Union — students drew their drag names on coloring boards, tried on different styles of makeup and, of course, walked the runway ...
Kurlander dreams big for Pittsburgh film industry
By Mackenzie Rodrigues / Staff Writer
November 3, 2016
Carl Kurlander hated growing up in Pittsburgh. “I was a shy, unathletic kid in a sports town whose mother had been divorced and [run] away from home to become an actress when I was 15 or 16,” said Kurlander. The Squirrel Hill native went on to cultivate a successful career in Hollywood — ...
Like Miles: Pitt musicians turn Nordy’s Place into jazz club
By Sarah Schneider / Staff Writer
November 1, 2016
Except for a few commuter students and late-night Taco Bell-goers, Nordy’s Place is fairly desolate after 9 p.m. Last Thursday night, a few guys racked up shots at a pool table in one corner of the room while a small group rallied a pingpong ball back and forth in the other. It seemed like just anoth...
“Forced From Home” exhibit turns Schenley Plaza into faraway land
By Salina Pressimone and Caroline Bourque / The Pitt News Staff
October 31, 2016
When Kumi Matoba was about eight years old, her mother showed her an advertisement for Doctors Without Borders, depicting a picture of a malnourished child in Africa, belly distended. The image seared itself into Matoba’s memory. And soon after seeing it, she knew what her life’s mission would be — joining D...
A cappella groups to unite for annual Halloween show
By Deanna Druskat / For The Pitt News
October 27, 2016
The members of Pitt’s a cappella group Pittch Please usually sport matching jet black suits for their performances, belting out renditions of Top 40 and throwback hits. But for this year’s Halloween concert, which will feature all seven a cappella collectives on campus, Pittch Please will di...
Professor of horror: Film picks for Halloween season
By Noah Coco / Staff Writer
October 27, 2016
While most 4-year-old children watch Elmo singing tunes on “Sesame Street,” Diana Anselmo-Sequeira was watching horror movies. Her mom showed her “A Nightmare on Elm Street” at an early age, and afterward she was hooked. The ’90s brought her other formative favorites, “Interview with th...
Artist Spotlight: Brent Yingling
By Emma Maurice / For The Pitt News
October 25, 2016
Although he fell in love with art early in high school, Brent Yingling strayed away from it as a Pitt underclassman to pursue a more practical career in law. It wasn't until he started doing research with Delanie Jenkins, the head of the studio arts department, that he rediscovered his passion. Yin...
After #OscarsSoWhite, TV steps up
By Kelechi Urama / Staff Writer
October 20, 2016
Filed under Culture, Movies, Television
One of the most talked about scenes in FX’s “Atlanta” happens at the beginning of the first episode. The series’ protagonist, Earn Marks, played by creator Donald Glover, lies in bed with his on-again, off-again girlfriend and daughter’s mother Van (Zazie Beetz). Their playful banter about ...
A walk through the museum and a nice chianti: Soldiers and Sailors to celebrate “The Silence of the Lambs” anniversary
By James Evan Bowen-Gaddy / For The Pitt News
October 19, 2016
When “The Silence of the Lambs” was released in 1991, viewers gathered in theaters around the world and watched in horror as Hannibal Lecter escaped the captivity of his massive one-man cage. Pittsburgh moviegoers might have recognized this scene’s setting as the ballroom in the Soldiers and...
Review: “Ward” an impressive debut for Williams
By John Hamilton / For The Pitt News
October 17, 2016
Early on in the student-produced film “Ward,” the protagonist Andy, donning a red shirt juxtaposed against stark white walls, takes a handful of pills and immediately spits them out with regret. Following the incident, Andy — a first-year college student played by Point Park University senio...
Medicine meets music at Rock the Block
By Salina Pressimone / For The Pitt News
October 17, 2016
Filed under Culture, Food & Drink, Music
Rarely does an outdoor block party give an attendee the opportunity to sit down with a cold beer as a pharmacist-in-training presses two fingers to her wrist, feeling for a pulse. But on Saturday, Pitt’s chapter of the American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists, or APhA-ASP, defied the conventional stree...
The show goes on: PSO plays free concerts during strike
By Kevin Lynch / Staff Writer
October 14, 2016
Over the years, fans of Pokemon, Star Wars and even Nelly have gracefully assembled in Heinz Hall, donning their finest dress, to see the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra recreate their favorite soundtracks and hit singles. That isn’t quite the case these days. The striking musicians and thei...
Pittsburgh in the classroom: Pitt professors visit landmarks, debate local history
By Matt Maielli / Senior Staff Writer
October 13, 2016
Filed under Culture, Uncategorized
Professor Laurence Glasco doesn’t advise his students to shy away from history’s dark side. In fact, he encourages exploring the moments a high school textbook might’ve left out. The students in Glasco’s History of Black Pittsburgh class gathered around the Stephen Foster memorial sculpture outside the Car...
“Thanks for coming to laugh at our sadness”: Pitt comedians take over Nordy’s
By Grant Burgman and Nick Holzer / For The Pitt News
October 13, 2016
Filed under Culture
Phil Forrence was halfway through his stand-up set when he let the audience know he appreciated their attendance — whether they laughed at his jokes or not. “Thanks for coming to laugh at our sadness,” said Forrence, the host of this Wednesday’s Collegiates and Comedians show. At Nordy’s...
Audio, visuals, verse collide at Stories Untold
By Lauren Lotka and Deanna Druskat / For The Pitt News
October 11, 2016
For the second iteration of the mental health art exhibit, Stories Untold, some artists turned to traditional mediums — canvas, paper and audio — while others took more unorthodox routes. Rujuta Patil, a senior neuroscience major at Pitt and one of 17 artists featured in the exhibit, produced ...
Now or never: Osher students find community at Pitt
By Rebecca Peters / Staff Writer
October 7, 2016
Filed under Culture
Editor's Note: A previous version of this story reported that Patricia Szczepanski is a member of the Osher program and has taken writing classes. This is not true, as she is the Program Assistant for Osher and has not taken writing classes through the program. Further, The Pitt News reported that Os...
Cathy, you’re a firework: Behind the scenes of the annual Homecoming laser and fireworks show
By Amanda Reed / Contributing Editor
October 7, 2016
Filed under Culture
The most famous part of Pitt’s annual Homecoming Laser and Fireworks Show — a laser-made panther climbing the Cathedral of Learning — began as an accident. According to Tom Misuraca, assistant director of student life, the laser company at the time planned to project an animated panther walki...
Curtains rise on the 2016-17 Pitt Stages season
By Marissa Perino / For The Pitt News
October 6, 2016
Two stories below the Cathedral of Learning’s Commons, the theatre department’s costume shop is filled with busy students. Storyboards line the unfinished basement walls and sewing machines hum on wooden tables, as designers work to complete finishing touches. It’s one week before the premier...
“Haze” screens at Pitt, challenges Greek rituals
By Ian Flanagan / Senior Staff Writer
October 6, 2016
When Nick, a wide-eyed first-year, tries to become part of Psi Theta Epsilon in David Burkman’s film “Haze,” he and seven others are given the opportunity to pledge, but — as is tradition — the price of brotherhood is high. From within the Greek system in Burkman’s film, Nick (Kirk Curran) ...
GALLERY: Oscar Mayer’s “Wienermobile” Comes to Pitt
By Kevin Lynch / For The Pitt News
October 6, 2016
Filed under Culture, Food & Drink, Uncategorized
If you have ever wondered how the Oscar Mayer "Wienermobile" handles, just ask John "Jumbo Dog" Craft. "It handles like a Lambo-weenie," said Craft, a brand representative for Oscar Mayer, the American meat production company. Wednesday morning, the Oscar Mayer "Wienermobile" rolled into the William Pitt Unio...
To Brazil and back: Carnegie Museum of Art debuts interactive exhibit
By Lexi Kennell / Staff Writer
October 4, 2016
Filed under 2. Featured, Art, Culture
Next time you visit the Carnegie Museum of Art, lounge in a hammock and talk to Amazonian parrots in a new art exhibit that thrives on viewer participation. The wild, sensory-driven installments of the Carnegie Museum of Art’s new “Hélio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium” exhibition invites gue...
Get jiggy with it: Hip-Hop Dance Crew preps students for the big stage
By Lauren Lotka / For The Pitt News
October 4, 2016
A group of about 30 students dropped to the floor in the Baierl Student Recreation Center, kicked their legs out and stepped to a mashup of contemporary hits Thursday night. As part of the Hip-Hop Dance Crew beginner class, some members of the group were there to learn the choreographed routine, o...
GALLERY: CSSA Mid-Autumn Festival
By Elaina Zachos | Visual Editor
October 3, 2016
Filed under 2. Featured, Culture, Music, Uncategorized, Visual
Members of Pitt's Chinese Students and Scholars Association organized its annual Mid-Autumn Festival event Saturday night to bring Pittsburgh's local Chinese population together. Traditionally, the celebration consists of gathering, thanksgiving and praying. At the Pitt version, attendees ate baked...
Dining Guide: Local restaurants to fit your mood
By The Pitt News staff
September 30, 2016
Filed under Culture, Food & Drink, Top Stories
Dessert Yes, we put dessert first, and so should you. Crêpes Parisiennes 207 S. Craig St. 412-683-1912 Tuesday - Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Saturday - Sunday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. $ This cozy cafe on S. Craig Street serves both sweet and savory crepes, including a berry french toast crepe...
Conflict Kitchen serves up new menu, revisits old dispute
By Lexi Kennell and Caroline Bourque / The Pitt News Staff
September 30, 2016
Filed under Culture, Food & Drink
After offering cuisine based on contemporary conflicts between countries around the world and the United States, Conflict Kitchen turned this spring to a domestic feud: Native Americans and their cultural erasure within modern society. The current featured region — which will run through the sprin...
Love at first bite: Panthers dish favorite date spots
By The Pitt News Culture Staff
September 30, 2016
Filed under Culture, Food & Drink
For this year’s Dining Guide, we wanted to figure out a question as old as the University itself — how do you impress a date? Instead of giving you our opinion — this Culture Editor once invited a woman to his first-year dorm to watch “Jane Eyre,” so he’s disqualifying himself — we wanted to hear f...
Q&A: Don’t make fun of us, Hannibal
By Dan Sostek / Senior Staff Writer
September 29, 2016
Filed under Culture, Movies, Television
As a college student, Hannibal Buress never expected to be found on prominent IMDB pages. Instead, he was on his way to having a listing in the Yellow Pages. If told he’d be a prominent actor and comedian then, Buress assumes he would’ve said, “What are you talking about? ... I’m a business m...
GALLERY: Artist Spotlight on Emily Zielinski
By Katherine Bauer / For The Pitt News
September 29, 2016
For most of her life, Emily Zielinski has had a close relationship with art. But after battling an eating disorder, she realized just how important it was to her. “[Art] got me away from other things,” said Zielinski, a senior studio arts major. “It has a calming power that gives me a way to ex...
A peculiar tale: “Miss Peregrine’s” another Burton blunder
By Ian Flanagan / Senior Staff Writer
September 29, 2016
“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” Starring: Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, Samuel L. Jackson Directed by: Tim Burton Grade: C+ “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” fits right in with Tim Burton’s filmography — a visually remarkable fantasy film undone by th...
Causing a Ruckus: Kaniecki brings comic relief to campus
By Salina Pressimone / For The Pitt News
September 27, 2016
Filed under Culture
Some comedians have a pointed approach, from Jerry Seinfeld’s “Have you ever noticed?” brand of observational comedy to Richard Pryor’s on-stage philosophizing. But Lizzie Kaniecki, Vice President of Ruckus — Pitt’s improvisational comedy club — says sometimes you have to lighten things up. Her “White Girl Jesus” character has become one of ...
A moment with ModCloth: Pop-up shop comes to Pittsburgh
By Amanda Reed / Contributing Editor
September 27, 2016
Filed under Culture
If you told Susan Gregg Koger, ModCloth co-founder and chief creative officer, 14 years ago that she would have a shop of her own filled with customers she would never have believed you. “It was always really fun to imagine having a store of any sort and getting to actually see all of our products ...
Unsung heroes: Club brings relief to food-insecure
By Noah Coco / Staff Writer
September 22, 2016
Filed under Culture, Food & Drink
As the doors were about to lock at closing time Friday afternoon, the Oakland Bakery and Market permitted a few last students to enter. But the group wasn’t there to buy last-minute coffee and pastries for the weekend. They were there to collect all of the shop’s unpurchased food, which they woul...
Late night and Trump: It’s complicated
By Matt Maielli / Senior Staff Writer
September 22, 2016
Filed under Culture, Election Coverage 2016, Television
If you were the host of America’s most-viewed late-night show and you had a guest that was a presidential candidate known for hateful rhetoric against minorities and immigrants, what would you do with him? Did you say ruffle his hair? Because that’s what Jimmy Fallon and NBC thought was the righ...
Just roll with it: NatuRoll brings Thai ice cream trend to Pittsburgh
By Ariel Pastore-Sebring / For The Pitt News
September 20, 2016
Filed under Culture, Food & Drink
Cyndie Delucia carefully scrapes the last sheet of salted caramel cream into a roll and, using tongs, she places it in a cup standing up next to a row of other loosely-wrapped soft spirals. She tops the resulting rose-shaped ice cream rolls with whipped cream, caramel, shaved sea salt and crunchy pretzels to cr...
Thrival Countdown: Q&A with Metric’s James Shaw
By Lexi Kennell / Staff Writer
September 20, 2016
During his enrollment at the Juilliard School, James “Jimmy” Shaw, co-founder of the band Metric, found the curriculum a little stiff — his professors, he said, didn’t appreciate his abundant creativity. So within the first month of attending the School of Music, Shaw started a band, sold all ...
Per amore di caffé: Matt Gebis finds happiness in the perfect pour
By Stephen Caruso / Senior Staff Writer
September 15, 2016
Filed under 2. Featured, Culture, Food & Drink
As a jangly folk melody played — one that would sound more at home in a bright Tuscan piazzale than a former electrician’s shop — Matt Gebis sipped his third espresso of the day. He looked up, incredulous, at Braden Walter, one of the baristas behind the long L-shaped bar. “Is this the same...
Extra, Extra: Finding work on the fringes of film
By Amanda Reed / Contributing Editor
September 15, 2016
Filed under Campus, City, Culture, Movies, News, Television, Top Stories
When Lena Gallagher walks on set, she can’t just go where she pleases. She has to walk at a specific pace in a specific path multiple times in a row until the director says “cut.” But when David Fincher’s new series, “Mindhunter,” premieres on Netflix in 2017, you won’t see Gallagher’s...
From Pitt to the pasture: Digging for part-time Craigslist jobs
By Brady Langmann / Culture Editor
September 15, 2016
Filed under Culture
My mom gave her last warning somewhere between Big Knob Road and Brews Tavern, at about eight in the morning, with the “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” soundtrack twanging in the background. “No gagging,” she said, driving up a tall hill flanked by cornfields. “Cowboys don’t gag.” I was...
Big Day Coming: Yo La Tengo brings offbeat vibes to Carnegie Music Hall
By Sarah Schneider / Staff Writer
September 15, 2016
Gray man buns, velvet seats and antique organs set the scene for Yo La Tengo’s Wednesday night concert at Carnegie Music Hall. Yo La Tengo returned to Pittsburgh for the second time in a year. However, they performed this tour with all three original band members — Georgia Hubley with husban...
Fall Fest Preview: Newcomer Johnny Walylko, rap duo Rae Sremmurd primed for Bigelow takeover
By The Pitt News Culture Staff
September 15, 2016
As is tradition, Pitt Program Council hosted its annual Battle of the Bands last week to determine who would get to open for Saturday’s Fall Fest acts NAWAS, FRENSHIP and Rae Sremmurd. The winner, singer-songwriter Johnny Walylko, a music composition major, edged out Pitt rapper Kenny Greene and...
GALLERY: Artist Spotlight on Stephanie Taylor
By Yuting Xiong / For The Pitt News
September 15, 2016
Filed under Art, Culture, Uncategorized
When Stephanie Taylor, a senior studio arts and art history major, received a $3,500 Brackenridge research grant this summer, she wasn’t focused on making new art. She wanted to rework what already existed. “I did summer research and I am currently trying to make sense of it,” Taylor said. “The...
Students craft, converse at new Center for Creativity
By Noah Coco / Staff Writer
September 13, 2016
As Zi Xie looked at a pile of multi-colored Legos in Pitt’s new Center for Creativity, she couldn’t help but think beyond the assortment of miniature bricks and blocks. “Is there a major where you can design bridges? Because that is what I would like to do,” said Xie, a first-year engineering...
Frequent style miles: Bringing glamour back to air travel
By Jordan Drischler / Columnist
September 13, 2016
Filed under Culture
There’s an iconic moment during the opening of Steven Spielberg’s 2002 film “Catch Me If You Can” when Leonardo DiCaprio — flanked by Pan Am flight attendants — walks through Miami International Airport terminal as Frank Sinatra’s “Come Fly With Me” plays in the background. It’s...
Comedy imitates life: Kathleen Madigan to perform at Carnegie Music Hall
By Kevin Lynch / For The Pitt News
September 13, 2016
Filed under Culture
For 25 years, 300 days a year, Kathleen Madigan has pulled the laughter out of crowds all across the world. But for her, comedy is just another ordinary job. "I just keep telling jokes, and people keep paying me," Madigan joked. This Friday, Sept. 16, Madigan will bring her Mermaid Lady Tour to...
Beer here: Alcohol sales begin inside Heinz Field
By Matt Maielli / Staff Writer
September 9, 2016
Filed under Culture, Food & Drink
The beer that usually flows outside and before Pitt football games is now pouring into Heinz Field. On June 27, Pitt Athletic Director Scott Barnes announced the decision to expand beer sales from the suite and club seats to general assembly, meaning anyone 21 or older can buy beer in the stadium...
Island of medicated minds: “Ward” aims to change stigma surrounding mental illness
By Lexi Kennell / Staff Writer
September 7, 2016
Filed under Culture, Movies, Television
While directing a script about a first-year college student struggling with symptoms of depression, Zack Williams was trying to manage his own mental illness. The senior communication major’s health fluctuated during the four months he spent filming a movie that takes place in the psychiatric unit...
Beyond stereotypes: Star Trek turns 50
By Alexa Bakalarski / Senior Staff Writer
September 7, 2016
Filed under Culture, Movies, Television
With its first canonically gay character, the Star Trek franchise went this summer where no mainstream sci-fi blockbuster had gone before. But the progress came with some controversy. The decision to make Hikaru Sulu — played by John Cho in the reboot films — gay in “Star Trek Beyond” caused debate over whether or not a new character or an existing charac...
“This is my turn”: Pitt rapper Josh Baldelomar dreams of past legends, future success
By Brady Langmann / Culture Editor
September 6, 2016
Filed under 2. Featured, Culture, Music
Every rapper has an origin story — the first hip-hop album they ever heard, why they started rhyming, how they made it big. Josh Baldelomar’s tale starts with a sheet of paper, A Tribe Called Quest jam and a girl named Molly. A few years ago, Baldelomar, now a junior communications major at Pitt,...
Pittsburgh Folk Festival dishes culture, cuisine in Schenley Plaza
By Annabelle Hanflig and Salina Pressimone / The Pitt News Staff
September 5, 2016
When Dalel Khalil, a Pitt alum and Syrian-American, visited Pittsburgh’s annual Folk Festival five years ago, she noticed a lack of Syrian representation. So, she decided to set up her own culture and cuisine booth. A lifetime Oakland resident, Khalil grew up on Atwood Street and helped her f...
Q&A: Inside the mind of a Smash Bros. super fan
By Oliver Jia / For The Pitt News
September 5, 2016
Filed under Culture
Despite being a 15-year-old game, Nintendo's "Super Smash Bros." fighting game series continues to be a popular competitive event played around the world — including Pitt. Here, Scott Collins, a junior mechanical engineering major, runs a club dedicated to the series’ second title, "Super Smash Bros....
A Brave New Major: Pitt’s Literature Department Provides Students with Accessibility, Flexibility in Redesign
By Amanda Reed / Staff Writer
September 1, 2016
Leading up to last school year’s “Year of the Humanities,” Pitt’s English literature major hadn’t changed much in the past two decades. Compared to other English programs across the country — now emphasizing independent research and study abroad opportunities — literature majors had...
A Life of Imagination: Wilder Dies at 83
By Oliver Jia / For The Pitt News
September 1, 2016
Filed under Culture, Movies, Theater
As Gene Wilder, in his eponymous role as Willy Wonka in 1971’s “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” leads a group of awestruck youngsters and parents into his chocolate factory for the first time, he sings, “There is no life I know to compare with pure imagination.” Even in death, Wilder...
Brunch in the Burgh: Oakland’s Peter’s Pub Latest to Join Growing Trend
By Stephen Caruso / Senior Staff Writer
August 29, 2016
Filed under 2. Featured, Culture, Food & Drink
As a child, Chris Gilbert spent many a Sunday morning sitting in a church pew. But right after, he remembers, he’d chow down on fluffy pancakes. “Around noon, we met at Grandma’s house for brunch. That’s what we did,” said Gilbert, who’s worked as a chef at The Yard, a Shadyside gastropub,...
Pittsburgh Comedy Festival: Quincy Jones Brings Laughs, Controversy to Heymann Theater
By Lexi Kennell / Staff Writer
August 29, 2016
Near the end of Quincy Jones’ stand-up set at this weekend’s Pittsburgh Comedy Festival, it looked like he might have gone too far — the room quieted as he playfully tried to riff on a hypothetical scenario in which black people enslaved whites. Jones commented on black people’s ability to...
The poetry of panels: Marvel’s first black woman writer and Pitt professor Yona Harvey pens new series ‘World of Wakanda’
By Matt Maielli / Staff Writer
August 21, 2016
Filed under Culture
Poetry and comics have more in common than you think. Yona Harvey, a Pitt English professor, recently accepted a deal to write a 10-page story for the upcoming Marvel “Black Panther” spin-off comic series. Ta-Nehisi Coates, writer for The Atlantic and author of “Between the World and Me,”...
Q&A: James Beard award winning chef Bryant Terry talks food politics, eating healthy in college and veganism
By Brady Langmann / Staff Writer
August 21, 2016
Filed under Food & Drink
Growing up on a Tennessee farm — where family life centered around smallholding farming — San Francisco-area chef Bryant Terry’s grandfather told him, “If you have to rely on someone else to feed you, then you’re enslaved — you’re not truly free.” Terry, a 2015 James Beard Foundation Leadership A...
Time to put the ‘Bury Your Gays’ trope to rest
By Alexa Bakalarski / Contributing Editor
August 20, 2016
Filed under Television
WARNING: SPOILERS The LGBTQ+ community has a history of tragic demises — in our own world and countless fictional ones. On television, the deaths of gay, lesbian and bisexual characters in particular have become known as the “Bury Your Gays” trope. According to AutoStraddle’s list “All 162 Dead Lesbian and Bisexual Characters on TV and How They Died,” the trope began with the death o...
Rowling almost jinxes herself with ‘Cursed Child’
By Alexa Bakalarski / Contributing Editor
August 20, 2016
Filed under Culture
With a floor-to-ceiling poster from “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1” in my bedroom, there’s no denying I’m a big Harry Potter fan. But I wasn’t sure if I was going to buy — or even read — “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.” As I saw and read spoilers for the...
/mu/: 4chan’s best kept secret
By Ian Flanagan / Culture Editor
August 20, 2016
Filed under Music
Described by Urban Dictionary as “a place of sheer genius and utter stupidity,” 4chan — the birthplace of memes — is known mostly to the few who already prowl and post anonymously on the site’s various imageboards. 4chan is home to nearly 70 boards devoted to topics ranging from manga and...
Red carpet already rolling for this year’s Oscar race
By Ian Flanagan / Culture Editor
August 20, 2016
Filed under Movies
With the final act of the year about to begin, the cinematic world’s attention shifts from the swelter of another overcrowded — and, in 2016’s case, underwhelming — summer blockbuster spell to the festival circuit winners and Oscar bait looking to make their stamp on the awards race. At the...
Pokemon’s New Low: How ‘Pokemon Go’ stripped love from a series that raised a generation
By Matt Moret / Editor-in-Chief
August 20, 2016
Filed under Culture
Pokemon Go is the Tinder of video games, and I mean that in the worst sense possible. For all the talk of how much Pokemon Go has brought people together, the game leaves me feeling empty. I like standing in a circle with people on some dark sidewalk, rabidly swiping up on my phone for 20 minutes,...
The Bottle Shop on Fifth brings custom six packs to Oakland
By Stephen Caruso / Contributing Editor
August 16, 2016
Filed under Food & Drink
In my constant quest for pretentious foodie things, I’m usually left disappointed by Oakland’s beer shops. Between Pitt’s Doggin’ It, Mellinger Beer Distribution Inc. and the Original Hot Dog Shop, there are plenty of places to get beer — good beers even — but none of these places allow me...
Fall Concert Preview
By TPN Staff
August 16, 2016
Filed under Music
Stephen Caruso / Contributing Editor Atmosphere — Nov. 18, Stage AE Rap fans have a lot to look forward to as Slug and his producer Ant, the duo out of Minnesota, tour this fall to support their newest album, “Fishing Blues.” Their ninth together, the huge selection of tracks put Slug and...
Pittsburgh Museum Guide
By TPN Staff
August 16, 2016
Filed under Art
Lexi Kennell / Staff Writer Carnegie Museum of Art With multiple exhibits in circulation, it’s hard not to spend hours soaking up the original works of Claude Monet and Jean Dunand in the Carnegie Museum of Art. The Carnegie Museum of Art is located on Forbes Avenue, across the street and...
‘Pitt Tonight’ nominated for two college Emmy awards
By Brady Langmann / Contributing Editor
August 11, 2016
Filed under Campus, Culture, News, Television, Top Stories
Following a first season that included a live autopsy, an acapella battle, and an appearance by Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, campus talk show "Pitt Tonight" has another reason to be excited leading up to Season Two: A college Emmy nomination. Earlier this week, "Pitt Tonight" received two College...
The death of the summer movie
By Ian Flanagan / Culture Editor
July 19, 2016
Filed under Movies
This summer may go down as one of the most disappointing in recent memory — and the start of a downward trend for Hollywood in many capacities. In the 21st century, we can’t always have the critical and commercial excitement of summer blockbusters like “The Dark Knight” or “The Avengers,”...
YG’s Trump protest is the song of the summer
By Matt Moret / Editor-in-Chief
July 19, 2016
Filed under Music
“Am I trippin’? Let me know / I thought all that Donald Trump b******t was a joke,” is the year’s most relatable rap line. Most songs with a claim to notoriety don’t come close to perfecting the mixture of political expression and thumping bass found on Compton rapper YG’s “FDT” —...
3 drinks and a dinner: TPN staff picks their favorite summer meal and beverages
By TPN Staff
July 19, 2016
Filed under Food & Drink
Stephen Caruso Gin and San Pellegrino I like my women like I like my drinks — chilly and with a bite. So, a gin and tonic is a staple. But as longer days and hotter weather rolls around, a touch of extra sweetness and citrus doesn’t hurt. For a refreshing summer drink, might I suggest swapping...
‘Ghostbusters’ reboot is more than just in the spirit of the original
By Matt Maielli / Staff Writer
July 19, 2016
Filed under Movies
I ain’t afraid of no girls. Who knew you could bust ghosts and be a lady? Definitely not the small, misogynistic army of internet commenters who have blasted the new film for remaking the ’80s classic with an all-female lead cast. So far they have harassed the stars, sent death threats to director Paul Feig, made the movie’s trailer the most disliked in YouTube history...
Diamonds in the rough: Neighborhood Flea hosts its second monthly market of the year
By Eric Acosta / Staff Writer
July 12, 2016
Filed under Culture
Just like the hidden jewels to be found within the tents of the Neighborhood Flea, the market is one of Pittsburgh’s buried gems. Between the warmer months of June and October, a pulsating pop-up marketplace calls the corner of 23rd Street and Penn Avenue in the Strip District its home. The Neighborhood...
Ease provides comforting array of dishes
By Stephen Caruso / Contributing Editor
July 12, 2016
Filed under Food & Drink
Comfort food is pretty simple to define as a college student — it’s a meal whose scent can only be described as nostalgic. For a restaurant to try to capture that feeling while only using, to quote Ease Modern Comfort Cuisine’s website, “high-end ingredients and fresh, local fare” is quite the...
Getting into character: Navigating Anthrocon 2016
By Lexi Kennell / Staff Writer
July 5, 2016
Filed under Culture
Having little to no prior knowledge of Furries, I strolled through a personal tour of Anthrocon 2016 with my mind open to the colorful and intricately designed animal suits around me. Anthrocon is a not-for-profit organization that hosts an annual Furry convention in Pittsburgh. The convention was...
Full Swing: JazzLive weekend overcomes heat and humidity with bumping performances
By Stephen Caruso / Contributing Editor
June 28, 2016
Filed under Music
For Kirk Palmer, defining jazz is pretty straight forward. “It's all about expressing yourself,” the Highland Park resident said, as the sound of keyboard, bass and saxophone swirled around him at the Pittsburgh JazzLive International Festival. Organized by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, the...
AMC’s ‘Preacher’ is worth an hour a week
By Matt Maielli / Staff Writer
June 28, 2016
Filed under Television
Wait, is heaven in space? This is only one of the many questions you may have while watching an explosive new series about a small town facing some huge threats and the utterly persuasive power of religion. Developed by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and “Breaking Bad” writer Sam Catlin, “Preacher”...
Summer Nights: Murray Avenue’s Squirrel Hill Night Market
By Stephen Caruso / Contributing Editor
June 21, 2016
Filed under Culture
There was a time when most people knew Squirrel Hill simply as Pittsburgh’s Jewish neighborhood. While the occasional yamaka and kosher deli still remind visitors of that legacy, Saturday’s Squirrel Hill Night Market showed off the neighborhood’s new variety. Held on Murray Avenue from Forbes...
Words cut deep: Pitt co-sponsers “Celebrating Black Poetry”
By Matt Maielli / Staff Writer
June 21, 2016
Filed under Theater
Black poetry has a well-established home in Pittsburgh. The Kelly Strayhorn Theater hosted four poets on Sunday, June 19, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Cave Canem — Latin for “beware the dog” and pronounced “Kah-veh Kah-nem” — a nonprofit literary organization that highlights and...
Kesha caps off Pride in the Streets
By Lexi Kennell / Staff Writer
June 14, 2016
Filed under Music
Despite falling at the heart of a weekend plagued by tragedies and setbacks, Kesha’s Saturday night performance gave attendees of Pittsburgh PrideFest something worth celebrating. After waiting almost seven hours for Kesha to perform, many disappointed fans poured out of the stage area on Liberty...
Still where it’s at: Beck’s ‘Odelay’ turns 20
By Ian Flanagan / Culture Editor
June 14, 2016
Filed under Music
The jigsaw jazz and get-fresh flow of “Odelay” has only improved with age. Two decades hasn’t been enough time for many people to fully make sense of Beck’s alphabet soup raps or absorb all the details of the Dust Brothers’ stellar production, which just gets fresher with each listen. The...
Soaking up Three Rivers: local artists and performers converge at annual Arts Festival
By Matt Maielli / Staff Writer
June 7, 2016
Filed under Art, Culture, Music
People huddled around a blocked-off street in front of a stage Downtown, clapping for a partially obscured performance. At the center was The Famtrons, a traveling break-dancing troupe of all black members in teal basketball shorts. The crew’s director was a charismatic leader who answered to the...
‘The Lobster’ leaves plenty to chew on
By Ian Flanagan / Culture Editor
June 7, 2016
Filed under Movies
“The Lobster,” for all of its bizarre pleasures, is a film that in some ways defies proper analysis. After developing a curious reputation for itself since its Jury Prize win at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, “The Lobster” arrives to puzzle domestic audiences after A24 acquired its distribution...
Roaming free at OpenStreetsPGH
By Lexi Kennell / Staff Writer
May 31, 2016
Filed under Culture
Sunday morning, the streets of Pittsburgh were bustling with everything but cars. Bicyclists, unicyclists, dog walkers, runners, rollerbladers, musicians, monks and hula hoopers alike roamed the temporarily car-free streets of Pittsburgh for OpenStreetsPGH. OpenStreetsPGH kicked off its first event th...
‘Horace and Pete’: C.K.’s brilliant gamble pays off
By Ian Flanagan / Culture Editor
May 31, 2016
Filed under Television, Uncategorized
If anyone is able to marry comedy and tragedy effectively, it’s Louis C.K., but never has he done it so deftly as with “Horace and Pete.” The exploration of family and human life through the ancestral owners of a century-old bar and their customers is the comedian’s boldest and most mature crea...
Banding together: Pitt-made music
By Matt Maielli / Staff Writer
May 31, 2016
Filed under Music, Specials / Newstudentguide2016
Four students, strapped with instruments, are shoved between a pair of speakers in the corner of a Bouquet Gardens apartment as a spectrum of colors stream from a strobe light. The crowd is stuffed into the rest of what would normally be the living room and kitchen — the first few rows listen in...
Leave them laughing: campus comedy grows
By Eric Acosta / Staff Writer
May 31, 2016
Filed under Culture, Specials / Newstudentguide2016
One of Pittsburgh’s most recent cultural transformations can be found in the city’s budding comedy scene. In just the past couple of years, comedy on campus and in the city at large has quickly morphed from a side attraction into the main event. On any given night, the practicing comedian can sho...
Staff picks: Oakland bites
By TPN Staff
May 31, 2016
Filed under Food & Drink, Specials / Newstudentguide2016
In a New York Times feature story earlier this year, writer Jeff Gordinier dubbed Pittsburgh’s burgeoning food scene a “cultural youthquake.” You might have heard that the Steel City — highlighted by an onslaught of quirky restaurants, including the Fairfield at the Ace Hotel in East Liberty an...
Going vegan your first year
By Lexi Kennell / Staff Writer
May 31, 2016
Filed under Food & Drink, Specials / Newstudentguide2016
After studying countless documentaries on animal agriculture, the environment and our bodies, I decided to make the leap to veganism. And I’m not the only one. A Vegetarian Resource Group study found that about 2.5 percent of Americans are vegan and the number is rising. Celebrities including El...
Hazelwood on the verge of change
By Nick Mullen / Staff Writer
May 31, 2016
Filed under Culture, Specials / Newstudentguide2016
A walk down Hazelwood’s Second Avenue gives off vibes of a changing neighborhood. Zipcars are parked in front of the neighborhood branch of the Carnegie Library, which was relocated in 2014 to a newly renovated building across from the shuttered Dimperio’s Market. Dimperio’s, one of the neigh...
Defining the college experience in three albums
By Ian Flanagan / Culture Editor
May 31, 2016
Filed under Music, Specials / Newstudentguide2016
Whether it’s introspective headphone listening in a dark dorm room, or being knocked out by subwoofers at a loud party, music permeates college life. Though it frequently surrounds us, music is only truly rewarding when it validates our emotions and shortens the bridge of empathy between friends and stra...
Staff picks: finding the city’s best music venues
By TPN Staff
May 31, 2016
Filed under Music, Specials / Newstudentguide2016
Pittsburgh attracts a variety of bands and musicians — from acts touring on a global scale to the nearby talent of its thriving independent music scene. We know you’ve heard about Queen Bey and the Biebs making stops in the Steel City this summer, but living in a mid-sized city means even your f...
First 3 Rivers Screenwriting Conference held Downtown
By Ian Flanagan / Culture Editor
May 24, 2016
Local and national screenwriting talent collided in Downtown Pittsburgh this past weekend. Spearheaded by director and founder Cathy Rescher, the three-day inaugural 3 Rivers Screenwriting Conference was held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center Friday, May 20, through Sunday, May 22. Resche...
B52: vegan cafe boasts ample options
By Megan Bray / Staff Writer
May 24, 2016
Filed under Culture, Food & Drink
Around 8:30 a.m., B52 Cafe, Lawrenceville’s newest vegan cafe, was still relatively empty. I began the excursion with a half pot of their green tea, brewed fresh and served in a stainless steel pot. The tea was quite bitter, so I asked for honey — forgetting that it is an animal byproduct — b...
An ode to ‘Pet Sounds’: the enduring genius of Brian Wilson
By Ian Flanagan / Culture Editor
May 17, 2016
Before The Beatles truly blossomed, The Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” represented one of the most seismic shifts in the rapidly evolving landscape of popular music during the latter half of the ’60s. Brian Wilson’s magnum opus turned 50 years old May 16, and the record remains a remarkable lis...