The 97th Academy Awards were largely satisfying in terms of winners, but the show was ultimately forgettable. Normally, this would be cause for concern, but given the Oscars’ penchant for embarrassment over the past decade as well as the chaos of the awards race this year, this is the best we could have gotten.

SPOILER ALERT    Marvel is hit or miss with their movies nowadays, so it makes sense that audiences were not exactly eager to see “Captain America: Brave New World.” This is the first Captain America film that does not star Chris Evans as the titular character. Instead, Anthony Mackie, who plays Sam Wilson, steps into the role for the first time since he was passed down the torch in “Avengers: Endgame.”

On Monday, March 3, legendary Long Island native emo band, Brand New, announced their reunion with three shows scheduled for the end of March. The shows will take place in Texas, Kentucky and Tennessee. 

I don’t think that I will ever be able to adequately convey the importance of reading in your adult life. While reading can be a means of pleasure or stress release, it is also one of the best ways to stay informed and present in times of crisis or turmoil. Over the past year and a half, I have begun to lean on non-fiction to learn more about topics that are important to me. Reading women’s non-fiction has opened my eyes to the ways in which women are targeted by society every day. 

   Three hundred and four listeners were packed into the Student Center Theater on Friday, March 7, for the Battle for Music Fest. The event, hosted by Hofstra Concerts, featured four bands – Haug Haus, married, knot, Dylan Taganas & the Suitepaler and freak magnet – battling for the opportunity to open for the headliner of Hofstra’s Music Fest 2025.

   Actor Timothée Chalamet was first nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the Academy Awards for his breakout role in “Call Me By Your Name.” Since then, he is better recognized for the “Dune” films and most recently, “A Complete Unknown,” where he plays Bob Dylan. Playing Dylan earned Chalamet his second Best Actor Oscar nomination. Had he won Best Actor this year, he would have been the youngest actor to win. He was beaten by Adrien Brody, who currently holds the record that Chalamet was slated to break.

Sean Baker’s “Anora” made history at the 97th Academy Awards when it nearly swept its nominations. Baker took home four statuettes (tying only Walt Disney) while breakout star Mikey Madison pulled an upset over popular industry veterans. There are a myriad of reasons why this film’s success is so monumental, and all of them refuse to neatly fit into the box of a typical Best Picture winner. Everything from its story and content (an unrestrained, near two and a half hour long, tragicomedy) to its background (a run-and-gun indie hailing from a filmmaker whose work has mostly been celebrated in smaller circles prior to this) are far from the popular picks of the “Gladiator” variety or even the smaller-scale, yet still crowd-pleasing likes of “Birdman.” It points to a bright future ahead for the widespread recognition of independent cinema, while calling to mind the few yet unforgettable instances where out-of-the-ordinary films were bestowed with the coveted prize.

One of Hofstra University’s flagship student-led television programs, “Up All Night,” played host to a Hofstra celebrity this past week. Edward Preble, a former member of the Pride and contestant...

Sarah Kinsley is a 24-year-old American singer-songwriter from California with Chinese-American descent who is best known for her song, “The King,” which became a mass hit on TikTok in 2021. Kinsley has had a love for music and its production for her whole life. When she moved to Connecticut, Kinsley performed the violin in her youth orchestra, growing her expertise in the instrument, while also learning classical piano. When she was in middle school, Kinsley began listening to pop music and fell in love. She then learned how to play the cello and how to play guitar.

Want to hear a new genre? Cameron Winter, lead singer of the alternative rock band “Geese,” is a 22-year- old from Brooklyn, New York, who lives with his parents and just released his first solo act, “Heavy Metal,” in December of last year. Despite the album’s name, it is the furthest thing from heavy metal. The best way I can describe his music, which feels like an entirely new genre inspired by the likes of Leonard Cohen, is a mix of indie blues and pop.

On Feb. 20, New York City’s Lincoln Center for Performing Arts hosted a screening of Frederick Wiseman’s 1968 documentary, “High School.” The film, which is credited as one of the first direct cinema (or cinéma vérité) documentaries, follows the lives of students and faculty at a Pennsylvania high school. Filmed and released in the 60s, the film highlights the dictator-like role the school’s faculty held over the students, and explores the abysmal results of that treatment.

With Hofstra Concert’s Music Fest just a month away, hype surrounding who the performing artist will be is rapidly swelling among Hofstra University students. But another question is on our minds: who will be the opener?