*Spoilers Ahead* 

Episodes three and four of Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities series offer some of the most exciting and thought-provoking editions to the series so far, making these two entries not just a fun watch but something that will stick with the viewers long after the episode’s end. These are two of the most contrasting, diverse entries to the entire series and ones I find by far the most compelling of the anthology. 

Though Stepehen King has become synonymous with horror throughout his decades-long career, the more intense fans of his will know that horror is in no way his only genre. Is it his most popular? Sure, but like many readers and writers-to-be, the love for the craft came from a variety of sources, one being fantasy. As King says in his introduction essay for his seven-novel-long Dark Tower series, “On Being Nineteen,” he was inspired by an author many know and love: “J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings was madly popular in those days, [...] I suppose I was at least a halfling-hippie. Enough of one, at any rate, to have read the books and fallen in love with them. The Dark Tower books, like most long fantasy tales written by men and women of my generation [...], were born out of Tolkien’s.”

Mollie McMullan is a sophomore. She receives inspiration from poets like Warsan Shire, Olivia Gatwood, and Richard Siken, and often writes with a feminist lens. When she’s not in class, she can often be found visiting the turtle in the ISC Greenhouse.

Have you ever thought to yourself, “Wow, I really want to start writing more, but I haven’t been given that push to kickstart that process”; or, maybe you just want to keep track of the continual progress you’re making within your own work? Well, look no further for a solution to your ponderings! This month both the English Department and the Creative Writing Club have decided to participate in “National Novel Writing Month.” You are in no way mandated to write a novel this month; we have extended it to be somewhat flexible, allowing you to write a novella, a briefer work. However, this does not require you to complete a piece, but rather acts as an intensification to get some ground covered! 

As the weeks go on and the thought of Halloween leaves the minds of most, Guillermo del Toro has arrived to deliver another memorable and jarring experience to his viewers through his new series Cabinet of Curiosities. As each episode continues, the anthology continuously delivers, ramping up the stakes and offering a unique directing experience that will stick with most viewers. Vincenzo Natali, the director of this episode, uses several camera angles and color pallets to create a distinct experience from what was offered in the first episode. This is an overall more enjoyable episode than the first, offering viewers a lot more when it comes to storytelling and protagonist relatability. Before I go any further, this remarkable experience will keep you engaged throughout the sixty-minute runtime—so beware, there are minor spoilers ahead! 

This article contains spoilers for Frank Herbert’s first Dune novel.

Think of the most famous sequels to ever grace storytelling: The Empire Strikes Back, Terminator 2, Catching Fire, Lord of the Rings; what do they all have in common? They all build upon their predecessors in meaningful ways. But when it comes to Dune Messiah, the question instead is what do they not have in common, as Frank Herbert drastically reimagined and reinvented the characters, world, and conflicts that the first Dune novel brought to the table.

Anyone who has played the popular video game Skyrim is familiar with the controversial debate of which side of the war to fight for. For reference, Skyrim is a country in the Elder Scrolls universe inspired by medieval northern Europe. During the time the game is set in, Skyrim is at the very beginning of a brutal civil war. Here’s the breakdown of what happened:

“Celestial Separation” and “Class Photo, Undeveloped”

As a long-time listener of The 1975, I was cautiously excited when the Spotify notification came up for the release of their new album, Being Funny In A Foreign Language. Because the sound of The 1975 has been known to vary quite a bit from album to album (sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse), I approached the album with a careful optimism, not too hopeful that it would exceed any expectations while simultaneously praying that this would not be the album to flop and get The 1975 booted from the classic indie-pop-rock rotation. Pleasantly, my expectations for Being Funny In A Foreign Language were appropriately exceeded.

This week’s Lamron Lit Corner will be a bit different than usual—when tackling Lewis Carroll’s famous children's novel, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, I thought to myself, “What can I add to the conversation around this book? What can I say that hasn’t already been said?” Then I looked at my bookshelf and decided that the answer was right in front of me, or rather, the question: for those who have never read this seminal work, what edition should you buy?

Though the Halloween season is coming to a close and the general public has shut their eyes to the grizzly and gruesome world of horror, Guillermo del Toro has come to deliver a timeless eight-episode monstrous spectacle. This newly released Netflix anthology series focuses on all things scary and bone-chilling, bringing several diverse subjects and narratives to the center stage.

“Red Cedar Wood”

The feeling somewhat tickles. It comes back and forth, up and down, over and over again until it becomes numbing.

Ever so often, on warm days plagued by rolling clouds and shade, it feels nice. It’s a trickle of water after a drought. I have time to drink it in.

“The Books at Heaven’s Gate” and “Pitchers of Water”

The movie Boo was a Halloween movie I watched frequently when I was younger, and while I personally did not find it too scary, mostly due to its computer-generated graphics and horror dramatics, it still makes the list of classic horror movies for the month of October.

Netflix released the movie Incantation for streaming shortly after the film’s release in Jul. 2022. It was directed by Kevin Ko who, according to IMDb, often “pushed the boundaries of good taste in Taiwan cinema with its fast cars, dismemberment and a Japanese adult video actress,” in the earliest short films of his college days; Incantation is no different in pushing that boundary. It received relatively good reviews upon its release—however, as it came to Netflix, the reviews shifted.