Thursday 3rd July 2025

Culture

‘Pour summer in a glass’: retracing Dandelion Wine

“You did not hear them coming. You hardly heard them go. The grass bent down, sprang up again. They passed like cloud shadows downhill ... the boys of summer,...

Reviving the symposium at the Ashmolean Krasis programme

Dara Mohd, herself a Krasis Scholar, converses with Dr Jim Harris about his object-centred symposium program, Krasis, at the Ashmolean Museum.

‘This Room Their Lives’ in Magdalen College’s Waynflete building

Every Magdalen member remembers their first encounter with the Waynflete Building. Sticking out a...

In More, Pulp aren’t just trading on nostalgia – they’re fresh

In a year where many are talking about one Britpop band in particular –...

Breathing in stanzas: The Slam poetry of Women of Colour

Poetry as a digital experience is how I first came to know verse. I pored through the endless bank of videos on Button Poetry’s...

The Classics on Stage

When I think of stage classics, productions like Les Miserables, The Lion King, and Wicked come to mind.  These are all shows which hold...

Review – No Time to Die

No Time to Die has emerged from all of its production chaos triumphant, dusting itself off and adjusting its shirt cuffs with all the effortless sophistication of its protagonist.

Summer Stage Round-Up

'It is lovely to see theatre reset after so long, but it is inspiring to see it revive and attempt to do better.'

America: The Exhibition? The Resounding Banality of the 2021 Met Gala

Mila Ottevanger explores the less than triumphal return about the Oscars of fashion, and what the lackluster exhibition and red carpet say about the...

How To Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie: A review

I read How to Kill Your Family while at home during the vacation and given my own parent’s unnerved curiosity as they scanned the book’s title, I can understand the necessity of the dedication to Mackie’s parents: “I promise never to kill either of you.” 

Dune: Adventures in miseducation

"Of all the books that explore the question of how and why we learn, I find that Frank Herbert’s Dune offers an unsettling, prescient answer to this question."

‘I’ve read the secret, I know the meaning’: When rap and classical literature meet

"What do Charles Dickens, Alice in Wonderland and Kilburn-bred rapper M Huncho have in common? Quite a lot, as it happens."

Don’t Look Back in Anger: The Rise and Fall of Britpop

"These songs hugely contrasted with the dark, depressing songs produced by American grunge artists such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam, and were generally more upbeat, optimistic and catchy. Damon Albarn of Blur said in a 1993 interview that: “If punk was about getting rid of hippies, then I’m getting rid of grunge!”."

The future of film in a post-pandemic world

Is the cinematic experience in danger of decline?

Athletics and aesthetics – how the media is sexualising athletes

The device of the camera itself is one which creates an uneven power dynamic between the viewer and the camera’s subject.

Review: How The Suicide Squad brings the Director’s Cut back to life

“I’m a superhero,” cries Polka-Dot Man in the third act of the film. “I’m not just a superhero movie,” screams The Suicide Squad for the entire 2h12m runtime. James Gunn’s movie perfectly captures the essence of his source material, while also challenging  the conventions of Marvel/DC films. Gunn  has done this in a year that has seen Zack Snyder’s Justice League released while demands continue for #ReleaseTheAyerCut, but he has risen above these controversies and put his stamp on the project. And so, The Suicide Squad comes as an entertaining breath of fresh air.  

Feminist or Anti-feminist: Responses to Promising Young Woman

CW: sexual assault and rape, suicide “Every week, I go to a club, and every week, I act like I’m too drunk to stand. And...

Review: “Sometimes I Might Be Introvert” by Little Simz

"Simz takes the face (or rather, the voice) of British royalty and uses it to represent her own inner voice. But more importantly, it brings the exploration of womanhood and female consciousness to the forefront of the album. This is, after all, an album about women breaking out of their role and being more than one thing."

Review: ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’: The Good, The Bad And The Amateur

"Perhaps Tarantino will become a better novelist as time goes on, but there's a charm to how this book is a behind-the-scenes look at a story still in construction, full of blind alleys and experiments."

Review – Zola

Melding literary mystique with a sugary, hyper-digital aesthetic, Bravo plays within a territory of cinema yet to be charted.

The composition of a narrator: Ralph Fiennes’ performance of T. S. Eliot’s poetic voice

'Our narrator’s tone of voice sways between the revelatory and the didactic, the divine and the desperate, so that our first job is to work out whether we are watching a man or a god.'

Review: V-Card by Alison Hall // Blue Moon Theatre

'The university-set dating satire provides a perfect balance of authenticity, heart and nuanced observations on student sexuality.'

I went to every library in Oxford (so you don’t have to)

You don’t need to go to every library on this list. But if you’re lucky enough to carry a Bod Card, you should make a point to visit at least a few. These are special places, each with its own history and personality. Make the most of them.

Review: “Smart Casual” // GOYA Theatre

'For a student work the topics discussed are close to home. It’s why the promise of a grounded and tender depiction of undeniably important years works so well. The piece made me feel like that time could be a bit more real, and so a bit more manageable.'

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