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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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”...
To say Netflix’s The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On show is a “self-described social experiment” (as the official tagline states) doesn’t nearly do its wackiness justice. Imagine spending hours watching several couples around your own age air out their deepest traumas and greatest interpersonal gripes to millions of people who quickly develop random and intense opinions about those televised...
New to cooking? Don’t know how to cut a potato? Have few ingredients? Don’t want takeout? I’m sharing a quick recipe from the lazy food gods. It’s simple and requires minimal effort. It’s easy to use as a base as well, so it’s easy to add other ingredients to! The prep time is minimal and while it’s cooking, feel free to do something else (…the dishes). During COVID, like many others, I learned a...
The legendary Johnny Cash album turns fifty-five in May of this year. Isn’t the live album something of an oddity? It makes one yearn for that incomparable experience of being serenaded by the shattering acoustics of an artist (or artists) on stage and in the flesh. On a record, however, the loud cheers, the back-and-forth chatter between audience and band, and that lively dynamism become...
I recently had the opportunity to travel to Copenhagen, Denmark for a week. Now, to preface the rest of this article, I want to say that Copenhagen is a very beautiful, clean, friendly, efficient, and well-run city. The transit system is great, the roads are lined with centuries-old houses, and I didn’t hear someone raise their voice while I was there. And might I say, the smørrebrød was simply...
“History wanted to be remembered. Evidence hated having to live in dark, hidden places and devoted itself to resurfacing. Truth was messy. The natural order of an entropic universe was to tend to it.” Last issue, I reviewed a novella written by Rivers Solomon (they/them) in collaboration with LA experimental hip-hop group clipping. As I hope that review adequately expressed, I find Solomon...
For the past twelve years in a row, I have dedicated the month of February to watching and ranking all of the films nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars. I am unsure as to how or why I started this silly little tradition, but it has become very near and dear to my heart. My opinion of a film can be shaped by the bias of how my life is going when I watch it...
“Their story took one of the most gruesome details of the Atlantic Slave Trade and reframed it. The murder of enslaved women was reimagined as an escape from murderous oppression, and the founding of a utopian civilization.” Written by Rivers Solomon (they/them), The Deep is a creative collaboration between Solomon and the members of the experimental hip-hop group clipping., made up of Daveed...
When I was the Arts & Culture Editor last year, I wrote a couple “My Music” pieces. I always enjoyed working on these articles the most. I truly adore music of all kinds, and these pieces were a way for me to share the songs that were carrying me through the semester. In my last year of high school, one of my best friends was fortunate enough to buy himself a car. The day he first...
A definitive, very objective list of the best albums of the past year DISCLAIMER: I am aware that there is a strong contingent of Taylor Swift fans at Osgoode—the omission of Midnights from this list is solely because I have not listened to it yet (please forgive me). Renaissance – Beyonce I’ve hinted about my unabashed love for this album throughout previous Obiter articles, so regular...
“I’ve fallen in love with the warrior woman who walked through fire, the one who came through stronger, reshaped by sorrow, reformed by grief, reborn in joy.” Yasmen & Josiah fell in love and got married young, had two children, and built a successful local restaurant from the ground up. But after a series of devastating experiences that neither of them could control, their combined trauma...
In a world with tens of streaming services, with thousands and thousands of TV shows and movies accessible to us at any time, Nathan For You does something that is hard for a comedy to do. It stands out. The show introduces us to Nathan Fielder, a graduate of the University of British Columbia in (insert degree here). He helps people. He finds struggling businesses, and gives them solutions in...
Four creative things to do without internet On 16 January 2023 from around 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., the WIFI at Passy was officially disconnected. Some said the router room was flooded. Others said it was disconnected wires. I said, “How am I supposed to watch The Bachelor Australia?” (Writer’s Note: There are THREE Bachelors this season!) After playing Klondike for the first twenty minutes, I quickly...
I was spending time with some of my friends over the weekend, with the intention of watching holiday movies while consuming the occasional libation. After consuming more than intended—prior to watching anything—we inevitably came to the debate of which movie to watch. We all suggested some of our favourites, which were hotly debated, before we eventually settled on putting several ideas in a hat...
Midnight by Taylor Swift & Netflix’s twelve-episode anime, Romantic Killer Midterms are over. It’s time for us to destress with some new music and Netflix series. At least before Finals come around the corner to steamroll me, I’ll be enjoying the calm before the storm. On My Playlist: Midnight – Taylor Swift Night is 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. in the Criminal Code, and when my self-loathing begins...