Wicked Review—Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande Make the Magic Happen

Image credit: Universal Pictures/AP

Spectacular! Visually stunning! Way too long! Good, but not great! Exhausting! This is just some of what’s been said about Wicked. Have you seen it? If so, what did you think of it? If you loved it, what did you love about it? If not, why not? Or maybe you liked some of it but not all of it. See what Wendy Ide, the chief film critic of the Observer, says in a review published in The Guardian on November 24, 2024.

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A Guerilla Gardener in South Central LA

Image credit: TED

How would you feel if you had no way of getting healthy food? Not good, right? That was the situation in South Central Los Angeles, one that Ron Finley set out to correct. He started by planting a vegetable garden on a strip of land between his house and the street. His 2013 TED Talk describes what happened after that.

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A Cartoon: You Guys….

Image credit: Roz Chast, Instagram

Hey, you guys! Is this an expression you might use to address more than one person? If so, see what cartoonist Roz Chast has to say about that in this cartoon posted on Instagram in November, 2024. Chast is an award-winning cartoonist who is also a fellow of the American Philosophical Society. A philosophical cartoonist? A cartoonist philosopher? You decide!

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How Bluey Became the Best Kids’ Show of Our Time

Image credit: Ludo Studios 2019

What was your favorite TV show when you were 5 or 6 years old? Did it essentially tell the same story over and over again? Just what was it about the show that kept you watching episode after episode? According to Kathryn VanArendonk, a critic who writes about TV, what makes Bluey the “best kids’ show of our time” is its refusal to take such a formulaic approach. Instead, Bluey’s unpredictability and quirky humor convince her that “these are real children,” ones she can learn grown-up lessons from. This review was first published in Vulture in 2021; this updated version was published on April 15, 2024, as Bluey’s popularity in the US reached a new peak.

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I Feel So Ugly without My Makeup On

Image credit: Buse Koldas

Throughout history and in widely differing cultures around the world, people have used various kinds of makeup to mark or adorn themselves. Why? Answers to that question vary according to time and place, of course, but how about in our time and place: twenty-first century college campuses in the US? Enter Buse Koldas, a student from Istanbul who was in her first year at Johns Hopkins University, studying computer science and engineering, when she wrote about what makeup has meant to her for the Johns Hopkins News-Letter in 2024.

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Astro Bot Review: All History Lessons Should Be This Fun

Image credit: Team Asobi

Think you’ve seen everything imaginable in video games? If so, you might want to read Harold Goldberg’s review of Sony’s Astro Bot. Goldberg speaks as an expert who has been playing, analyzing, and reviewing video games for over 15 years, most recently in this regular column for the New York Times that was launched in 2024. Let’s see if he intrigues you enough to give this game a try!

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