CategoryArts & Culture

The Hustler Like No Other

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Two Hollywood classics and a little reflection on life In the summer of ‘19, a few friends and I were making conversation on a patio—ice cold soda in tow. On impulse, one fellow recommended that we go shoot pool at a nearby dive. One thing led to another, and what followed was a summer of regular games and good times that’s become as sentimental as it gets. Two obsessions have lingered since then...

2024 Best Picture Nominees: Ranked

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The 2024 Academy Awards are just around the corner, and somehow—between law school classes, summer job searches, and general late winter agony—I watched all ten films nominated for Best Picture. In my humble opinion, 2023 was a phenomenal year for movies. Many of my favourite films of the year weren’t even nominated for best picture, and I consider everything that did make the shortlist at least...

Swiftmania–and the cycle of the Damned Female Artist

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I remember when Taylor Swift’s 1989 album came out. After a couple of years of liking Swift’s music in secret, almost overnight, she became the new celebrity of the moment—it was now officially cool to listen to Taylor Swift. Many fans still ardently uphold 1989 as her best album—undoubtedly, it was the album with the most cultural influence, launching Swift from a country singer to a mainstream...

Blackout Poetry – February 7, 2024

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Obiter Dicta held a “found poetry” event on February 7, 2024, where attendees created blackout poetry. This is a form of poetry where words are selected from existing text (in this case, old published Obiter articles) and the rest are blacked out to create a new poem. Here are some of the fun creations from the event:  Author:  Grace Lawrence Men and women who live in a society as just...

Country Music is Black?!?

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Well, yes! With the highly anticipated release of Beyoncé’s country album, more folks are learning about the history of country music, with most Black folks—like myself—getting back into the genre. Beyoncé has received heavy backlash for the two country songs she has released from her new album, with folks calling her sound inauthentic (despite her being from the South) and criticizing her use of...

2024 Best Picture Ranking

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Last year, I wrote an article for Obiter Dicta about my now thirteen-year tradition of watching and  ranking all of the films nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, also known as the  Oscars. As previously explained, in 2023, I actively avoided watching films that received praise  from critics or the film community at large. After the Academy releases the nomination...

Assorted Poems

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An Angel’s Visit At night , an angel comes to me flying from moon. And behind the veil gives me a beautiful flower. Saying that it grew on the moon’s soil and now it belongs to me. Every night , on every petal of every flower , have I seen ; The reflection of your face and smelled the odor of your skin. ********************************************* When you sit beside me , I disconnect from...

Brownie Recipe for Chocolate Fiends

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This is a great recipe that requires minimal effort and dishes to show people that you can, indeed, bake!  Particularly if you enjoy chocolate, and your sweet tooth craving is through the charts, I find that these brownies are the key to your perfect dessert.  My brothers, who in combination are the pickiest and most annoying food critics, are always willing to break their diets because...

Babygirl Men and Mob Wives: Is Tik Tok Ruining Style?

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The following current fashion trends are perplexing to people who are not chronically online: babygirl men and mob wives. This movement is a continuation of TikTok cementing trends that are reminiscent of personas or characters which constantly change depending on what is popular on the algorithm and are packaged under labels deeply rooted in internet vernacular. Think cottagecore, Y2K, clean...

Film has Made a Comeback…and For Good Reason!

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By now, we probably all know someone who has hopped on the film photography train.  Whether it’s a friend, sibling, someone you follow on Instagram or even yourself, more and more people are starting to dive into the world of film photography—and I think it’s great.  One of my favourite aspects of shooting with film is the imperfectness of it all. While it’s true that there’s a plethora...

Enjoy your Rap Beef, Doxing not included

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If you are not versed in the modern rap drama, “stan” drama, or X (formerly known as Twitter) drama, you have probably not heard about the beef between Nicki Minaj and Meg Thee Stallion. The beef is rumored to have started 3.4 years ago due to Meg collaborating with Minaj’s long-time rap rival/enemy Cardi B on the smash hit “WAP.” With subtle wordplay and disses on different tracks, the simmering...

10 Activities Around Toronto

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You know that feeling you get after you finish an exam or an assignment in which you had spent all your time and energy? A wave of relief. But when the relief and the exhaustion have passed (and you’ve cleaned up the chaos into which your living room inevitably devolved), you’re left with a deep sense of boredom.  Yes, you could binge watch all twenty (and counting) seasons of Grey’s...

A Brief Overview of the SAG-AFTRA Strike

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The Barbenheimer phenomenon resulted in an international craze this past summer. However, while occasional movie-watchers and cinephiles made their way to the theatres, beloved and well renowned actors approached picket lines.  Streaming services and artificial intelligence technologies are rapidly changing the entire landscape of television and movie-watching. As a result, various media...

Cashing in Memos for Screenplays: Debuting the Osgoode Hall Film Society

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Being among strangers is an exploratory experience. To get to know a yet unmet friend is a turn-based game of social maneuvers; two or more codebreakers attempting to break a cypher that gives way to common interest. Often, no matter the person or place, to talk about movies is to resort to a robust master key. After that it’s only a matter of level of interest: self-proclaimed kinophile, passing...

My Music: Florence Price

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Throughout my years of classical music training, I’ve come across many great composers, but Florence Price was not one of them. I only found out about this genius composer in my final year at the University of Toronto. I soon began to learn as much as I could about Price and her musical works. I discovered that she was a pianist, organist, teacher, and composer extraordinaire who lived from the...

Napoleon (2023) and the Tensions of the Historical Epic

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It’s been quite a good year for the period epic. The silver screen was graced with many films that were not only realized with prestige production and mainstream release, but which have been met with a vindicating fanfare which shows that history continues to earn a place at cinemas. On the heels of Oppenheimer’s existential autobiography and Killers of The Flower Moon’s poignant tale of colonial...

A Look Into Some Of The Trendiest Books Of 2023

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Fourth Wing For fans of fantasy, romance, and action.  Synopsis: Having trained her whole life to be a scribe, Violet’s life is upturned when she is enlisted in the dragon rider quadrant of Basgiath War College. She’s faced with a series of challenges and forms alliances (both human and dragon) throughout her training. Outside the school’s walls, a war escalates and Violet suspects that what...

My Recent Movies: Sci-Fi and Saltburn

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Happy New Year, Osgoode! During the lawless purgatory otherwise known as the time between December 26th and 31st, I developed an insatiable sci-fi affliction and watched too many  movies. If you can make the time to watch something new even as classes ramp up again, here are some of my top modern science fiction recommendations.  Blade Runner (1982, dir. Ridley Scott)  The sequel...

Breaking the Silence: Cassie’s Rape Allegations against P. Diddy

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If you’re a ‘90’s kid like me, Cassie Ventura probably holds a special place in your memories, like she does in mine.  I remember when I first heard Cassie’s first hit, “Me & U,” and seeing her music video shortly after and thinking, “Wow, I want to be just like her.” Her follow-up hit, “Long Way 2 Go,” was also on repeat as I got ready for school. Her being half-Filipino might have...

My Music: John Coltrane (“Trane”)

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As someone who lives in a very musical family, I grew up listening to all kinds of music, spanning rock, reggae, classical, and R&B among others. It wasn’t until my late teens that I started listening to jazz more heavily. I have to say, jazz just hits different. I listened to a diverse range of artists, but I was immediately pulled into the music of John Coltrane. Maybe it was his silky...

A Review of Grace and Frankie

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Your Next Netflix Binge Might Not Be What You’d Expect NB: spoilers have been denoted with spoiler warnings.  A little while ago, my partner had some classmates over at his place to study. I was heating up a leftover poke bowl (yuck, I know), listening to him and his peers debate the delicacies of obstetric medicine. One of them popped into the kitchen to grab a drink. While I picked at my...

My Recent Movies: Obsession, Exploitation, Nightmares, and Dinosaurs

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Four Movie Recommendations Based on the Best Things I’ve Seen Lately I might not be a “cinephile” (as the Twitter nerds would say) but I watch a lot of movies. So far, my excursions to the movie theatre have been the only thing sustaining me through the first insane months of law school. After all, it is important to escape from the Ignat Kaneff Dungeon once in a while.  Revue Cinema in...

Rocking on the Fringes with Kyuss

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Around a year ago, I developed a surprising taste for a specific band’s sound that I otherwise never thought I would have enjoyed. What’s all the more peculiar is that this particular band is still very much part of the super-genre I listen to: Rock ‘n roll. Rock is the bread and butter of my musical taste—or “dad rock” to be specific (even if disparaging). Even those outsiders to the genre would...

Snack with Sophie: The Best Toronto Restaurants for Hanging with the Homies

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Attention all Osgoode foodies, aspiring foodies, or anyone who just loves to eat as a coping mechanism for law school stress: My name is Sophie, I am a 3L student, and as much as I absolutely love studying the law, my true passion in life is food and exploring the Toronto food scene. My personal mantra is “life is one big food tour” and I view each day as simply a vehicle for trying new...

A Reformed Cat Hater’s Reflection on Pandemic Pets

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Not only have I been an avid dog lover for most of my life, I would even go so far as to say that at times, I could have qualified as a cat hater by some standards. I didn’t understand why so many people would prefer to keep pets that were harder to train, more aloof, less friendly, and veritably moodier than dogs. I didn’t get cats. I didn’t understand how some were “outdoor,” or how “orange”...

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