A popular tradition for many is to watch TV shows and movies that correlate with a specific holiday or season. While this concept mostly applies to Christmas—people love to sit down and watch Elf (2003) around December—I believe it should be a year-round phenomenon. Gilmore Girls (2000-2007) is the perfect example of a television show that radiates autumnal energy even though the show depicts all seasons of the year. Since the drama takes place in a small town, its setting is always beautiful and inviting to those watching.

Benjamin Fernando Barajas Lasky, also known as Quadeca, has one of the most underrated evolutions of any artist. While Quadeca may not be as well known as Tyler, the Creator, or the late Mac Miller, in a short time, Quadeca has gone from a small FIFA (a popular series of soccer video games) YouTuber to a successful rap musician.

Stunt casting, a technique that involves using a celebrity to fill a role in a TV show, movie, or theater production, is often met with backlash from the general public. I can not blame others for their irritation; stunt-casting can weaken a story and undermine hard-working actors if the privileged, famous ones chosen for the publicity stunt are severely underqualified. But with the recent announcement of Charli D’Amelio’s debut appearance on Broadway in the musical & Juliet (2019), one should ask if there are exceptions to the malignant nature of stunt-casting.

As the world continues to change and life carries forth, there comes a time when we must accept that all experiences are finite—that life itself is an exercise in embracing the minute. Many of us have come to know this feeling well, seeing our childhoods fizzle out with time, giving us little means to savor what we once had. In chasing adulthood, we forget to reflect on those elements that influenced our upbringing, regardless of how small. Whether this be an app or a favorite television show, everyone has something that calls back to the “bygone era,” one they wish to re-experience for a plethora of reasons.

For the unaware, The Sims is a longstanding life-simulator style game that allows its players to create a character, or Sim, and move them into a home or lot to go about living their life. Advancing in their career, getting in fights, achieving aspirations, building a family, or becoming famous are some ways different players might play this 25-year-old franchise. For a game with a concept as simple as this, I think it is easy to discredit it as a thoughtless game. Through this article and its initial installment, however, I aim to prove that The Sims is full of as much lore as any Elder Scrolls or Final Fantasy game franchise.

To the veterans of TikTok who were on the app during the height of COVID-19, the name “Addison Rae” should be familiar. Like her influencer counterparts, such as Charli and Dixie D’Amelio, Addison Rae went viral for dancing in her living room and possessing the simultaneous look of conventional beauty and the sweet “girl next door” appearance. Due to viewers being stuck at home during this time, they related to and enjoyed watching these girls do silly dances from their bedrooms, and the same logic can be applied to why people roll their eyes when they see this same content today.

Joywave, an indie-rock band from Rochester, New York, is an act that deserves more recognition. Forming in 2010, Joywave is similar to acts like Vampire Weekend and Two Door Cinema Club, who both enjoy more mainstream attention. Sadly, the same cannot be said for Joywave—another criminally underrated gem that I feel compelled to dig up and share with you all.

On Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, the fourth and final season of Superman & Lois (2021-2024) will premiere. This new season will include the return of Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch in their starring roles of Clark Kent/Superman and Lois Lane, as well as Alex Garfin and Michael Bishop as Superman’s twin sons, Jordan and Jonathan Kent. Season four will be the shortest, with only ten episodes, differing from the previous seasons, which held between 13 and 15 episodes each.

Flipturn, an indie-rock group based in Florida, has been creating and playing music since their high school days. They started officially recording their music in 2015 and have consistently produced music since then. A recent release of their single, “Rodeo Clown,” has built hype around their upcoming album, Burnout Days (2025), set to release on Jan. 24. A Spotify featured countdown to this release date has long-time fans, including myself, excited for new music.

Tune-Yards, an American musical group that started in 2006, produces some of the most unique sounds you will ever hear. Merill Garbus, the percussionist and mastermind behind the group, and Nate Brenner, the bassist and ukuleleist, combine their talents to create a sound of wonderful, cathartic chaos. If you have been following me on The Lamron, you will know my specialty is shedding light on underrated music—and this week is no different. Read along as I attempt to explain (because, let’s be real, sometimes words do no justice to the complexities of music) what makes this band so special.

If you are an avid TikTok watcher or a rare enjoyer of Netflix originals, you have probably seen Uglies (2024) popping up quite a few times over the past weeks. Uglies (2024), starring Joey King, Kieth Powers, and Chase Strokes, takes place in a futuristic dystopia where beauty standards are more directly enforced on teens. We follow Tally YoungBlood, one of the many teens awaiting the beauty procedure mandated on teens’ sixteenth birthday, as she puts her cosmetic surgery on hold to retrieve her missing friend.

Have you, like myself, ever wanted to get into classical literature staples like the 13th-century Dante Alligheri’s The Divine Comedy, the 16th-century classics of Shakespeare, or the 8th-century classic of Homer’s—The Iliad and The Odyssey?

In a world where the anime space is centered around the objectification of women, it can be hard to find a new series or movie that shows the beauty of femininity without being overly sexual. Thankfully, the incredible Hayao Miyazaki, one of Studio Ghibli’s founders, produces anime films with a realistic portrayal of women—one of the many reasons his movies have solidified themselves as timeless masterpieces.

“BookTok” is a community of people using the popular social media app TikTok to discuss topics surrounding books and literature. Over the past couple of years, discourse regarding the dangers of BookTok has risen. Some of the critiques voiced online about BookTok include its recommendation of books that are not “intellectually stimulating,” its support of simplistic tropes, and how promoting cartoony covers with adult content—which can be misleading to children—is harmful.

Music originating from or being made by artists in Britain has been mainstream in the United States for quite some time now. We all are familiar with the fact that The Beatles dominated the late ‘60s and ‘70s, and the Brit-pop groups of the nineties, like Radiohead and Coldplay, have broken into our collective consciousness. British acts have successfully cemented their place in the American music scene. Where might there be a place for the British rock band Everything Everything?

Dark comedy is a genre I find criminally underrated. Who does not want to laugh at the absurdity of a tragic situation—like when a killer attempts to hide a body and is interrupted by their own surprise party? Even as a horror-lover, I agree that sometimes my mood craves something less gritty. Dark comedy offers those intriguing, thrilling elements with a bit of reprieve in the mix as well.

In light of the recent passing of film legend, the great James Earl Jones (Jan. 17, 1931-Sept. 9, 2024), a man who devoted his life to the craft of film and entertainment, it is only fitting to comment on how his memory is honored through the perpetuation of his likeness and voice, largely for corporate gain. The implications of this direction in the entertainment industry are still emerging, but they reveal an appalling and severe disservice to performers and artists.