Culture | Island & Hills

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January 11, 2016 / 0 Comments

Pop Culture Corner: Golden Globes 2016

This year’s Golden Globes were the perfect combination of glamorous Hollywood moments and career-making surprises. Before going into my personal favorite highlights and awards, I wanted to explain the difference between the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards (the Oscars) because it can definitely be confusing with so many award shows with what seems like very similar nominees. The Golden Globes are voted on by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), which is an esteemed group of top print and television journalists from around the world. The Oscars, on the other hand, are voted on by the Academy, which consists of fellow actors, directors, editors and other filmmakers – so it’s more of a peer vote. Additionally, the Golden Globes are the only award show that include both film & television.

I thought Ricky Gervais did a great job and unlike most award shows, I was happy whenever he re-appeared on stage and I really do appreciate his sense of Hollywood-deprecating humor, and the fact that he says what everyone is thinking in a totally unapologetic way. Although I did feel like his bit about the award show being long and boring was a bit overdone after the second time. Another early highlight was Jonah Hill dressed as the bear from The Revenant, but at the same time it also felt like a lame attempt to re-remind everyone that he’s friends with Leonardo Dicaprio so, it’s cool guys, he can joke about the alleged bear rape scene.

I was thrilled that Kate Winslet won for Jobs, she was great in that role and she’s just an overall gem in my heart. Her winning the same year as Leo was the cherry on top. So was this moment caught by the cameras during commercial break:

December 4, 2015 / 0 Comments

December Favorites: LA

DECEMBER 5TH – LOS ANGELES HARBOR HOLIDAY AFLOAT PARADE

This holiday tradition has been around for over 50 years and features elaborately decorated boats. The Battleship Iowa hosts guests to watch the event with cocoa, cookies, carolers, cocktails, and a visit from Santa.

DECEMBER 10TH – HOLIDAY HAPPY HOUR @ LA ZOO LIGHTS

Starting at 6:30pm, guests can enjoy a heated private lounge with complimentary snacks, wine & beer. There are even special holiday cocktails for purchase. What’s better than Christmas lights, animals & booze?

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/la-zoo-lights-holiday-happy-hour-21-tickets-1895847029

November 11, 2015 / 2 Comments

Tinder Ambiguity

A couple nights ago, I went to dinner with one of my closest friends in the city. Over a couple of amazing cocktails, we swapped stories of our current dating highs and lows. I shared my most recent dilemma with her: when meeting people through apps (especially on Tinder), it is really hard to know what someone is looking for. Rarely is it ever explicitly stated in a person’s profile, which makes every first date feel like some sort of psychological study; while chatting about our backgrounds, interests and lives in New York, I am constantly pulling for subtext. If he mentions an old girlfriend, does that mean he wants something more serious? If he picks a spot three blocks from his apartment, does that mean he’s only interested in the Netflix and chill part of the evening?

To be clear, I’m not looking for any sort of serious relationship right now, but I’m also not interested in a casual, one-time fling. I want to get to know someone to the point where I feel like I can trust them before anything physical happens; that’s just how I roll.

Sharing these thoughts with my friend, we realized we were in the same boat and came up with an interesting experiment. Rather than continuing to navigate this grey area, we decided to cut to the chase and see what happened. We each pulled out our phones, logged onto our respective apps (Bumble for her, Tinder for me), and typed the following to our most recent connections:

“Out of curiosity, what are you looking for on [name of app]?”

I blindly swiped right on at least twenty guys and asked them all the same question (maybe this will affect my Tinder karma… can someone tell me if Tinder karma exists and, if so, will I lose Super Likes because of this?)

November 6, 2015 / 0 Comments

Pop Culture Corner: Must-See Fall Films

SUFFRAGETTE

October 23, 2015
Directed by Sarah Gavron

Trailer:

STARRING

Carey Mulligan
Helena Bonham Carter
Meryl Streep

The timing for Suffragette couldn’t be better. I think it’s an important story and I’m happy to see it being told on screen with three strong female leads. It’s the kind of movie that makes you appreciate the past and feel hopeful about the future. I think Landslide playing in the background of this trailer is making me feel all warm and emotional inside…

November 3, 2015 / 0 Comments

Wake Up Call

Yesterday, this (ironically) viral video caught my attention:

(If you’re looking for cliff notes of the video, click here for the back story and then keep reading).

I had never followed Essena O’Neill’s accounts, but was struck by the honesty, vulnerability and power in her message.

I’ve talked with a lot of friends in recent months about how isolating New York can feel. You walk onto any subway car during rush hour, and it’s as if we’re all cyborgs — glued to our smartphones, headphones in ears, doing everything we can to zone out the rest of the world. We’re together, but completely alone. And I’m guilty of this as much as the next person; it’s so much easier to engage in the virtual world than it is to engage in our physical world. But what kind of impact is this having? How is this shaping us as people?

October 15, 2015 / 1 Comment

I&H Music Festival Survival Guide: First Timer vs. Seasoned Pro

A couple weekends ago, I traveled to Las Vegas for the Life Is Beautiful music festival. This was my first ever music festival, and I relied on Aditi a lot beforehand for suggestions and advice about the experience. Originally hailing from Tennessee, Aditi is practically an expert on the music fest scene (she first started attending Bonnaroo in high school). As a seasoned pro and a first timer, we teamed up to give you our top tips on making the most of your next festival experience.

September 21, 2015 / 1 Comment

Pop Culture Corner: The Emmys 2015

THE HOST

I thought that Andy Samberg was an overall good host for the Emmys. He’s definitely a safe choice, about one step above Seth Meyers. I thought he was funny but his hosting also seemed like an obvious effort to pull in a younger audience. My vote for next year is John Oliver or Kate McKinnon.

I did appreciate the lack of cheesy song and dance skit. The opening video set the tone of his opening monologue, which was playful, but honest. As was portrayed in the opening – it is a little ridiculous to expect anyone to keep up with the amount of good television that’s available today. Living in LA, the billboards and constantly changing posters along the sidewalks make it difficult to ignore the shear quantity of pop culture to keep up with. Since the summer is such a down time for “good” television, the recent visual promotions and repetition of the titles of upcoming shows, makes me excited for fall television, but also wondering what I’ll have to miss out on since I also care about sleeping, socializing and having a full time job.

If Hollywood wants to pull in a younger audience for award shows, a more obvious, and possibly effective route would be to make the show available via live stream. It’s still frustrating that award shows are not able to be live streamed. If you can watch any sporting event on the ESPN app, on any device, why can’t you get on a FOX app and pay a certain amount of money to just stream the award show? It seems mutually beneficial and is mostly frustrating because I know we have the technological capability to make it a reality.

September 18, 2015 / 0 Comments

S/S ’16: NYFW Recap

Erica Boisaubin, 23, is a stylist and fashion blogger based in New York City. For more on her sartorial musings and styling work, visit her website.

Iridescent slip dresses, 90’s raver pants, the continuation of the skinny scarf, and fun silhouettes were all present at New York Fashion Week for the Spring/Summer 2016 season. With a myriad of trends spotted on each runway the major underlying theme of this fashion week was clearly individualism. Heavy hitters such as the Mulleavy sister’s for Rodarte, Shayne Oliver for Hood By Air and Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy (who showed for the first time in NYC) all embraced their roots and contrasting aesthetics, which made for an exhilarating experience for show goers and those watching from their smart devices alike. While fashion has always been an outlet of expression for the individual, these past few seasons’ large portions of designers were embracing normcore and minimalism advocating that less is more. This upcoming spring however, the maximalist is back and more finally equates to more.

September 3, 2015 / 1 Comment

VMAs 2015: Kanye, Miley and important topics the internet failed to mention

So the VMAs happened on Sunday night and subsequently dominated the internet this week. While watching the show, it seemed obvious that certain things would grab everyone’s attention (Yeezus2020 & Taylor Swift domination), but there were also some aspects of the show that deserved more attention (Twenty One Pilots and A$AP Rocky’s performance), and others that over saturated my news feed in the worst way (it doesn’t matter that Nicki Minaj called Miley Cyrus out. It really doesn’t). Here are my thoughts.

August 28, 2015 / 0 Comments

Pop Culture Corner: “Dear Show”

Craig Clayton is the writer and producer of several award-winning short films including, Karkass Karts, A Mail Tale: The Untrolled Story, and Mastodon. When not writing for film he Co-edits and contributes to ‘Dear Show,’ a blog dedicated to television criticism.

Dear “Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp,”

It’s been a long time. I won’t lie, I’ve missed you, and when I learned that I would be seeing you again, I was excited, I was expectant, I was nervous. When I last saw you, you were a shoe-string budget indie flick, made with the reckless abandon of youngsters trying to prove something to themselves and the world. Now you would be returning as a highly anticipated television show with Netflix money on your side. If I’m being completely honest, I wasn’t sure the spark would still be there.