When Sean Michael Leonard Anderson, better known as Big Sean, came onto the music scene in 2007, he was met with general praise. Following the release of his first mixtape, “Finally Famous: The Mixtape,” Big Sean went on to gain mainstream success. Although he did put out two albums before his most recent effort, “Dark Sky Paradise,” Big Sean is most known for his many collaborations with other artists, including Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and Kanye West.
Right in the midst of thesis season for Amherst’s Theater and Dance Department, Evan Paul ’18 sat down with one of the stars of one of the numerous pieces being presented. First-year student Irisdelia Garcia just finished a three-performance run as the lead in senior Valerie Rodriguez’s final project, “Grow Up, Already!”
Set in present-day Louisiana, “Jessabelle” tells the story of a young woman, Jessie, who is forced to move from an unnamed place back to her hometown, St. Francis, Louisiana. Once there, Jessie must confront what seems to be an evil spirit that has been waiting for her return for years. Within the first five minutes of director Kevin Greutert’s 2014 horror movie “Jessabelle,” it’s clear that nothing will happen in this film that we haven’t seen before.
In the fall of 2009 when Fall Out Boy announced their impending hiatus, fans of the nearly decade-old band were devastated. Not to be deterred, Fall Out Boy put out “Believers Never Die,” a greatest hits album, and played what many feared would be their last show ever. During what became a four-year hiatus,which the band’s bassist Pete Wentz called a “decompressing period”, the members of Fall Out Boy went their separate ways and pursued jobs outside of the former band. Patrick Stump, Fall Out Boy’s lead vocalist and guitarist, attempted a solo music career.
Outspoken rapper, singer and songwriter Azealia Banks finally released her long-awaited debut album, “Broke With Expensive Taste” on Nov. 6. Banks, a native New Yorker, started out in the music industry at the age of 17, when she began to upload her music to MySpace. After releasing both the EP “1991” and the mixtape “Fantasea” in 2012, Banks landed on almost everyone’s radar. However, her career so far hasn’t lacked struggles; the artist has hit more than a couple of rough patches that have both inhibited her debut album’s release and made her famous for the wrong reasons.
Richard Beban lives full-time in Paris, France. He photographs and co-edits “Paris Play,” an online journal about Parisian street art written and co-edited by his wife, Kaaren Kitchell. He specializes in digital street photography and is also an accomplished poet and journalist. On Oct. 29, he will present “Why Don’t We Do It in the Rue: Celebrating Street Art in Paris.” The talk begins at 4:30 p.m. in Converse Hall’s Cole Assembly Room. Staff writer Evan Paul ’18 speaks with Beban from his home in Paris about his artistic practice and views on the street art world.
Capitalizing off of his highly successful 2013 horror film, “The Conjuring,” prolific Australian producer, writer and director James Wan (writer, producer or director for all of the “Saw” franchise films, the “Insidious” series, “Fast &Furious 7,” and more films) provides a compelling prequel in 2014’s “Annabelle.” Whereas The Conjuring focused on the true story of a case that Ed and Lorraine Warren, paranormal investigators famous for their investigation of the Amityville Horror as well as a house that was reportedly haunted in Connecticut during the early 1970s, the prequel does not f
