I was that guy who, like everyone else, never wanted a Kindle. In fact, I swore I would never get one. I liked how books felt, I liked how the pages smelled, and I loved holding a well worn and loved copy of some pretentious book in a quirky coffee shop. A few months later, and I’m hooked. My Kindle is my best and only friend. Sure, there are certain books I’ll want or keep around, but overall I became exactly what Amazon expected:  their bitch.

I have no problems being cocky enough to say that I love my taste in books. So I naturally love to show off what I’m reading. The issue with a Kindle, the only thing I can brag about is owning it and the books that might be on it.

On the T one day, a girl is reading the book Columbine by Dave Cullen. Great book. It’d be fascinating to talk about, in spite of how creepy it is to start a conversation with “Hey, you’re reading Columbine also?  Have they killed anyone yet?”

From my perspective there’s a cute girl reading Columbine. From her perspective there’s a short guy reading… something on his Kindle. Twilight?  The Awakening?  She’d never know (it wasn’t Twilight, for the record. That was high school. Or The Awakening. That’s just a terrible book). There’s no ticker on the back of the Kindle that shows what you’re reading. Soon no one will ever know what other people are reading, and my potential soul mate will marry someone else.

People like me want to share what they‘re reading. It’s cool to read. It means you somehow make spare time to read a book for fun. It means that while on the T, you prioritize a novel over Words with Friends.

…Though I’m currently reading a novel-length epic Harry Potter Fan Fic on my Kindle, so maybe it’s not so bad that stays hidden.

If I was still reading Twilight, I’d love to have no one know. “What are you reading?” someone asks you. “East of Eden,” I’d promptly reply and switch the book (just in case they would see the words ‘Edward,’ ‘yearning,’ or other Mormon themes instead of Steinbeckian America).

For bookworms like myself, we have entered a new age of literature. In an era where everyone knows what 80s synth I’m listening to on Spotify, its strange that no one will ever know what I’m reading. On one hand, this is devastating. Remember winter of 2009 when everyone had a bright green or orange book sticking out of their purses and you knew just how many people jumped on the Steig Larsson train of violence and snow?  Or how if you’d be drunk today if you took a shot for every Game of Thrones book you see on the T?

Seeing what everyone else is reading is comforting. If you recognize a fairly unknown book, you get that warm smile, knowing that someone else is about to go on the same journey that you and few others embarked on. If you see the next big fad being read all around you, you know you’re in the next movement. Nowadays, everyone just has a Kindle, and they’re reading… something.  But just like how page numbers aren’t really a thing anymore thanks to our eBook friends, maybe the public knowledge of what others are reading will just dissipate over time. It’s not just the technological aspects of reading that’s fundamentally different, but enigma is the new trend.

(text by: Alex Trivilino)

Some say it exists because kids with no rhythm need to dance too. Others think
it’s the herald for a coming robot apocalypse. Whatever the opinion, bass music (the preferred term for the now limiting and connotative ‘dubstep’) has completed a low-frequency blitzkrieg across North America. The sounds are new and unique, sometimes better described as soundscapes then songs. They wordlessly manipulate and form emotion through juxtaposition and building, in a method oddly similar to that of European classical music.

The genre, however, has recently gone through a massive transformation that, to many listeners, passed unnoticed. Bass music sprung from moodier, more reserved roots than the cataclysmic synth crashes and bass drops we hear today. What is now a cybernetic orgy–think DJ Optimus Prime–began more akin to dub reggae. This form of bass music’s only failing (other than being the leading cause of blown speakers and broken windows) is in it’s novelty and shock value. This almost inevitably wears off, leaving listeners overloaded and spent.

These sounds, which would come to be called dubstep, first started spilling onto dance floors in the late 90’s in South London. Producers experimented with a combination of dub reggae, 2-step garage, and other existing club genres. They netted these together with a constant, rumbling sub bass, and an oscillating bass line now affectionally termed, “wobble”. Through radio and progressive clubs, the sound gained in popularity. During this time, the dark, atmospheric sound expanded in variety and acceptance.

Fast forward to about 2007, and bass music hits North America. This proved a turning point for the genre, at which all tact and reservation was abandoned. American DJ’s made it harder, faster, and louder. The sounds became grand and overwhelming. DJ’s such as Datsik, Excision, and Downlink formed the aforementioned army of robotic bass soldiers. In Europe, a similar sound has been embraced by artists such as Nero and Borgore. This is the form of bass music we see invading blogs and basement parties today. This is the same form which may soon lose it’s innovative edge and be forced to adapt, as it has before.

That adaptation will move backwards, to the less chaotic forms of South London. Already, those exhausted from the aggressive contemporary forms have aimed their tastes back across the pond. Artists such as SBTRKT take elements of the dubstep sound and incorporate them in new, less formulaic ways. DJ collaborations such as Kryptic Minds harken back to the genre’s inception as they strip away the excess and focus on manipulating emotion through unusual use of bass. Possibly the most exciting of these next-step artists is Starkey, a Philadelphia DJ with an incredible eye for innovation. In the same vein, producers Josh Mayer (Ooah, The Glitch Mob) and Marty Folb (Marty Party) have combined to form PANTyRAiD, producing unusual vocal bass odysseys sure to intrigue. These American producers represent the movement having come full circle, past influencing present, and vice versa

The screaming, raging bass music of the last few years might be coming to a
close, but with artists looking back in order to move forward, rest assured, you won’t have a working pair of speakers for years to come.

(text by: Quinn Fariel)

Square or round? File or cut? Pick a color.

         Anyone who has stepped foot in a nail salon is accustomed to hearing these words. Spoiling your hands with a soothing soak, massage, shaping and a fresh coat of polish is routine for many avid salon goers. However, thanks to the makers of popular nail polish such as OPI and Essie and constantly changing trends in the fashion world, picking a color is not so simple. 

         There are colors for every occasion and thousands of shades of the same color that are so similar, yet so different. OPI releases a new line of colors every season keeping up with trends- creating new ones, making pop culture references and playing with words. However, keeping up with these trendy Essie and OPI polishes will set you back about $8-$9 each, causing nail polish lovers to fall victim of a pricey addiction. Especially when your favorite celeb teams up with these brands to make a line, like Katy Perry and Serena Williams who both have signature polish lines with OPI. And if these $9 polishes didn’t sound crazy enough, you can always shell out $18 for a Deborah Lippmann celebrity color, created with the input of celebs like Gaga, Kelly Rippa, Sarah Jessica Parker and Mariah Carey.

         Brands have made their polishes unique in their names. It’s not enough today to call a blue nail polish by its shade, but it needs to be given a personality. For example, OPI has an emerald green polish named Call My Cell-ery and an orange rust color named Cozu-melted In The Sun. Lippmann has an iridescent silver called Stairway to Heaven and gold glitter called Shake Your Groove Thing.

         Polishes have created a whole new territory in the fashion world, one that is unique and obtainable for just about anyone. One of the best examples of nail fashion and the culture can be found on the runways. Bare nailed models are no more. There are now celebrity nail stylists from OPI, Deborah Lipmann and MINX manicurists who work with each designer to create some innovative manicures that get the people talking. Some recent trends in Fashion week were reverse French manicures as seen during the Pamela Love earthy spring 2012 collection inspired by Essie manicurists. Nicole Millers line included checkerboard nail designs with bright bold colors that made a huge statement on the runway. Pointy false nail extensions are another trend in the media, from the runway to Lady Gaga’s hands and the favored DIY tip of beauty bloggers all over the Internet.

         Beauty bloggers are the final step in breaking down this newly popular nail polish culture in the fashion world for the everyday fashionista on a budget. They provide step by step DIY’s for tons of nail designs like scotch tape manicures, water marbling and stamping patterns. They even go as far as to provide swatches of almost every color there is now a days regardless of the brand. After all, most of these pricey polishes never really look the way they do in the bottle on our nails (at least not without a couple… or 6 coats). One of the most useful tools out there for polish lover not looking to spend a small fortune on their color collection is the dupe list. Where beauty bloggers compare the more expensive polish colors to their cheaper, drug store available, soul sister. Most of which are almost identical to their pricier counterpart. The popular beauty and fashion blog Temptalia.com has one of the most extensive dupe lists out there. Not only does it provide nail polish dupes but it is the holy grail of thrifty beauty products that do the same job as the popular name brand products.

         When it comes to following the latest fashion trends it gets a little difficult. They change so frequently and some are out of reach for a lot of people, including some of us college students shopping in the dollar-a-pound at the Garment District. However the attention that nails have been getting in the fashion world creates a simple way for a fashionista to stay in the loop.

(text by: Gabrielle Yaccarino)

This is not about Odd Future.  In fact, before I begin, Tyler would like you to know: “We don’t make fucking horrorcore, fuckin’ idiots – listen to the music before you put it in a box.”  Okay.  Fair enough.  Just because you rap about rape, pillaging, suicide, and murder every once in a while, doesn’t mean you’re a horrorcore musician.

So what does?  What exactly is this music and who the hell is behind if the hooligans of Golf Wang aren’t?

Let’s go back to the late eighties/early nineties - hip hop’s golden age - when, as Rolling Stone so perfectly put it, “it seemed that every new single reinvented the genre”.  The diversity, quality, innovation and influence that characterize this period for hip hop is enough to make any steadfast fan of the genre wish they were born a decade earlier (if you’re my age that is), though, I suppose that wouldn’t have prepared me or any of us for Lil B…. (Thank you, Based God).

What stands out most about the golden era is the fact that each style - each subgenre, if you will - was inspired directly by the culture, location, and circumstances of the artists involved.  Today it seems there’s only one thing behind each voice - a marketing strategy. 

The point is that hip hop wasn’t always some excuse to rap about hoes and Rolex watches with unbridled bravado, and it obviously wasn’t always about crafting content to draw in Facebook ‘likes’.  The musical experimentation was raw and unfiltered.  The stylistic innovation was and remains entirely undeniable.  Every beat seemed fresh and every sample more eclectic than the last. 

Subject matter was equally diverse.  Afrocentricity, political militancy, and social commentary were popular themes that set the stage for powerful lyricism and a staunch following of fans and critics alike.  In the golden era, young emcee’s found themselves, quite literally, to be the voice of inner-city dwellers everywhere.  But not all of the voices spoke of a positive message, a struggle to be learned from, or a lifestyle worth bragging about. 

In 1991 a rap group known as The Geto Boys released their fourth album, We Can’t Be Stopped.  Its album cover features a patient in a hospital after a suicide attempt.  Its track list includes the song “Chuckie”, based the horror film Child’s Play.  It starts out like this:

“I told you size wasn’t shit/That’s why I murdered your nieces/Wasn’t my fault they found they head cut in 88 pieces/Don’t let ’em run/Hurry up and catch ’em/You grab an arm I grab an arm/let’s pull ’till we stretch ’em.”

That was only one song.  In August of 1994, New York City-based hip hop collective Gravediggaz dropped their album 6 Feet Deep (download it here), featuring five rappers who called themselves the Rzarector, Grym Reaper, Undertaker, and Gatekeeper.  6 Feet Deep is nothing short of a musical Saw, riddled with themes of torture and death, reworked with macabre black humor along with undertones of satanism.  To give you an idea (from track 10, “Diary of Madman”):

“Stroll through the dark conditions/I stone you till I see sparks of friction/I chop ya like a coal miner/Then combine the drug/And mix it with your blood some more/I give you some more/And watch you crawl/Guts hit the floor/Worms that dig your pores.”

Well then. That being said, a literal definition of the subgenre might seem a tad superfluous, but here we go:  Horrorcore is simply hip hop with a basis in horror-themed lyrical content and imagery.  That’s it!  In its history it rarely touched the mainstream, but when it did, the hip hop community listened.

Big L’s very first single, “Devil’s Son” is a four minute invective on his status as the son of the devil that dotes on the savagery and torment he inflicts upon his victims.    Then there’s Eminem.  Yeah, he drops a lot of names, talks a lot of shit - the usual.  But he also dedicates an entire track to the methods he will employ to torture and kill his pregnant wife.  In another track, “3 AM”, Shady adopts the persona of a cold-blooded psychopath:

“I remember the first time I dismembered a family member/December I think it was, I was havin’ drinks with my cousin/I wrapped him in Christmas lights, pushed him into the stinkin’ tub/Cut him up into pieces and just when I went to drink his blood.”

So why doesn’t Tyler want OFWGKTA to be associated with their formidable forerunners?  I’m pretty sure the Gravediggaz are gruesome enough.  In fact, if they ever crossed paths in a dark alley I’d say the horrorcore hoodlums of the 20th century would leave Odd Future scared shitless.  As far as theme and content, there are only slight differences between the lyricism of Earl Sweatshirt and Eminem, of Tyler and Big L.  It may, in fact, be a mere matter of opinion.  Regardless, topics like misogyny, rape, and murder in hip hop find their roots in the horrorcore movement of the early 90’s.  

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go eat some children, slit some throats, drown my enemies in cyanide…  the usual.  Deuces.

(text by: Emily Onofrio)

 
SIMILAR ARTISTS: Necro, Cam’ron, ICP

When you first applied to Emerson, the overzealous tour guide ranted and raved about the Castle. Or maybe you ogled at the pictures on the school’s website. You bragged to all your high school friends, “My school has a castle. With a moat!” It was the coolest thing since your Senior Prom. 

If you’re lucky, you came to Emerson and among other things, fell madly in love. You and Prince Charming did everything together. Lunching at the DH daily, exploring the many “opportunities” of the LB handicapped bathrooms, you even applied to go to the Castle together. You couldn’t be separated. But when your iPhone buzzes a few months later and you check your email- everything’s changed. You didn’t get into the program and he, on the other hand, did.

You quickly wish that that moat would overflow and the Castle would drown and become Atlantis’ twin brother. You beg and plead, but your guy’s a good swimmer. He decides to take his chances.

“It was good while it lasted,” your friends will say, trying to console you with copious amounts of Ben & Jerrys pints from the Max. But neither Ben, nor Jerry can build snowmen with you in the Common, sled down the Emerson hill on Dining Hall trays, or snuggle with you after class. While you might feel like the most unfortunate girl in the world, you and your man are faced with your final vaarwels (yeah, you even started studying Dutch).

The good news is that many people before you have been separated by an ocean and can offer some advice. It may not be the advice you want to hear, but it’s a proven method that can practically guarantee you’ll survive the tragic separation. And hey, feel free to stuff your face with ice cream and audibly curse at any happy couple you encounter in his absence. It feels great.

Talk it out. While he’s abroad, you’re not going to be able to kiss and make up whenever something goes wrong. While you do have each other’s hands to squeeze, you have to talk about every little detail. Dedicate some time, about a month or two before his bon voyage, to brainstorm all the  “What ifs” and “Should we’s.” Don’t leave anything out. Discuss how you’d feel if he kissed another girl and you knew about it. What about sex? Do you want the details of his every hookup? Or do you want him to stay loyal to you? And make sure you answer these questions too.  Ideally he’d be faithful, and you could prance around Allston with whomever you’d like, but you have to consider what he wants too. How often should you talk? Will you have enough to talk about if you Skype every day? The conversation won’t be fun, but it’s necessary. Talk about every option you have, and think about the pros and cons of each. Long distance, open relationship, or take a break, It needs to be defined.

Let him go to get him back. A long distance relationship is a difficult thing to master. Like it or not, you’re going to be attracted to other people eventually. Having that talk while he’s abroad will undoubtedly cause a riff, and if he’s the emotional type, that moat might just overflow. You’ll feel the need to stay in constant communication. But if you’re not sharing experiences, you may not have anything to relate to. What about an Open Relationship? Been there, done that. Doesn’t work. A relationship is a relationship and you’ll feel guilty the second you get naughty with your study partner in the library. Open relationships usually come with a lot of rules. No sex, for example, Fact of the matter is, sex is even better when it’s off limits. Don’t let yourself get there. Taking a break could be the key to a successful leave of absence on his part. He’s going to Europe. As someone who loves him immensely, do you really want to hold him back from experiencing it to the fullest? Imagine if things didn’t work out between you when he got back. He turned down plenty of propositions from European goddesses. And hey, what about all those Paramount demi-gods?! That resentment will fester, regardless of your post-Castle relationship. You need to give him space to get whatever’s necessary out of his system. We can hope and pray that our men are attracted to us and only us, but let’s remember where their brains are. If you have enough love for each other to let one another go, you can make it through anything.  Confidence is essential to a happily ever after.

Limit communication. Schedule a time to Skype once a week.  It can last 30 minutes or 5 hours, and it will give you both something to look forward to. It’ll keep you thinking about each other throughout the week, and when you do talk, you’ll have more than enough to say. This way, you can tell the most exciting stories of your weeks, convey all the things that made you think of one another, and in your cutest baby voices, swap plenty of  “I miss you so much’s.” Why not talk whenever you feel like it? This opens the door for you (or him) to get hurt. If he’s too busy jetsetting around Europe to talk, you might feel neglected or unimportant. Plus, describing every detail of your day will get monotonous, and could easily cause jealousy. Those inside jokes you two have will only be funny for so long. Talking more than once a week will force the relationship to go stale like that bagel you stole from the DH.

Be adults. While the once a week video chat is a terrific idea in theory, sometimes we just have those days. Sometimes you’ll miss him so much that it’s affecting your schoolwork. Sometimes you’ll lose sleep wondering if he’s slept with that b!*#% from your Intro to College Writing Class. Sometimes something will go wrong in your life and he’s the only one who could console you. For these reasons, remember that you are adults, and sometimes it’s important to make exceptions. Make sure that you’re taking care of yourself and each other. Email him to let him know how you’re feeling. This may be enough, but if it isn’t, find some time to talk about what’s going on so that emotions don’t build up and eventually explode. Speaking of exploding…

Skypegasm. For those of us who are unfamiliar with the world of cyber sex, this can be particularly intimidating. However, it is a great way to stay close to your partner. Make sure he’s a guy you can trust, and make sure your roommate isn’t getting out of class early. Most importantly, make yourself comfortable. This video chat doesn’t count as your weekly Skype date. Get each other in the mood by discussing one of your sexiest sexcapades. Once you’re both ready, let your hands wander. What you do with them is up to you, but mutual masturbation is one of the best ways to stay connected with someone you’re used to getting intimate with. E-intimacy is daunting, but if you remember that these are all things you’ve done with him before and keep in mind that he finds you incredibly sexy, you can’t fail.

These few months are going to be tough. There’s no getting around that. But just remember that there’s an end in sight, and it’s not so far away. Soon enough he’ll be all yours again. Chances are he’ll be thinking about you the whole time.

(text by: Sienna Mintz)