by Kathryn Farris | Mar 5, 2019 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
The sounds of the latest Jonas Brothers single are echoing through dorm room halls across campus. A scene such as this hasn’t happened in almost six years, but last Friday the childhood boyband staple released a new single titled “Sucker.” “Sitting there, listening to the song with all my friends, brought me back to my eleventh birthday party,” history education major Madeline Knight said. “I had a bunch of friends over to watch the premiere of their new show Jonas.” When Knight first heard the song, she said it got her reminiscing for her childhood. “It really reminded me of the old Jonas Brothers, but with a grown-up spin.” The new music from the familiar band is driving a sense of nostalgia that has skyrocketed the single to the No. 1 spot in the official trending chart. As well as No. 1 on several streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. But it’s not only the new single that’s gaining success. The music video, featuring the Jonas Brothers with their respective wives and girlfriend, is also catching attention. “There was a lot going on in that music video, but I do love how they all featured their significant others,” psychology major Chloé Phillips said. While some praise the boyband’s revitalization of their sound, other students argued that they should have stuck to the classic “Jo Bros style.” “They started off with one style, and I’ve always been into that kind of style, so now that they’re leaning towards pop, it’s just kind of sad,” music production major Neida Flores said. “I didn’t expect that . . . [but] even...
by Maria Morales | Feb 23, 2019 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider, Opinion
If you are a fan of DreamWorks Animation, you will definitely like the “How to Train Your Dragon” trilogy. Based on one of the book series written by Cressida Cowell, “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” was directed by Dean DeBlois. In this installment, Hiccup and his loyal dragon Toothless continue to rescue dragons that have been captured and bring them back to Berk, which is the island where Hiccup and his people live. We also see Astrid, Hiccup’s love interest, helping Hiccup save more dragons in order to create their own sort of dragon paradise. At some point, Hiccup is faced with overpopulation of dragons in the Island. Hiccup remembers that his late father Stoick told him about the ‘Hidden World,’ which could be a safer place to keep all of the rescued dragons. Meanwhile, warlords and an infamous dragon hunter named Grimmel the Grisly wants to capture Toothless to make him the alpha. Grimmel uses a white female dragon, “Light Fury,” to try to get Toothless’s attention and capture him. Hiccup must find a way to protect Toothless and his people from Grimmel’s threats. For starters, the action scenes are impeccable, and the dragons’ being different even in their smallest detail should give the film the attention it deserves. The storyline delivers two different love stories between Hiccup with Astrid and Toothless with Light Fury. It shows a whole different side of Toothless while he is falling for Light Fury, something that was unexpected yet still charming. While the story keeps its humorous scenes, surprisingly, it has parts that might be considered more for a...
by Ashley Bingham | Feb 21, 2019 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
Hidden Figures is a story about breaking the mould — about progress and about bravery. It’s a story that has been hidden for years but now has been heard by millions. This past Tuesday, the Raymond B. Jones College of Engineering partnered with the English Department’s annual Landiss Lecture Series to bring in author Margot Lee Shetterly to talk about her book, Hidden Figures, in honor of Black History Month. Hidden Figures has been named the 2018-19 Nashville Reads book by the Nashville mayor’s office and the Nashville Public Library Foundation, as well as the Common Read by Lipscomb University’s LIGHT program. Hidden Figures is a story about three women, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson and Katherine Johnson (formerly known as Katherine Goble), and the work they contributed during the Space Race to launch astronaut John Glenn into space. Shetterly’s father spent his career at NASA Langley in Hampton, Virginia, where Shetterly grew up and where the story takes place. Her father worked with many of the women that she wrote about in Hidden Figures, including Johnson and Jackson. In her lecture, she discussed the how the public, along with the publishers and producers who helped share her story, have received Hidden Figures, and how it became more than anyone could have envisioned. The shocking response started fairly early in the works, as a film producer contacted her about turning the book, which was simply a proposal at this stage, into a movie. “The response to this story has been beyond anything I could have imagined, that the publishers imagined, that the movie people imagined, that NASA imagined, and most certainly, that the women at the core of this...
by Maria Morales | Feb 18, 2019 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
Lipscomb Theatre is hosting several showings of “Silent Sky,” which depicts a woman’s struggle with balancing her faith and with her love for science. Published in 2015, the play is based on the story of astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt. The story takes place in the early 1900s, when Leavitt started working as a volunteer assistant at the Harvard Observatory. Gunderson tells the story of Leavitt and other women who were treated as human “computers” and how they were not allowed to do the same things as men. They were given limited responsibilities and were not allowed to help in “men’s work,” like using telescopes. In the play, Leavitt is struggling to get recognition as a serious astronomer in her field. For a long time, Leavitt worked on her own to make discoveries. Gunderson shows that despite the obstacles Leavitt and her peers faced within society, with hard work and dedication, they managed to succeed. Lipscomb Theatre Department Chair and Director of “Silent Sky” Beki Baker shared that the reason she chose this play is that she wanted to honor women who never had their moment in the limelight. “It’s about cherishing women in our history who have maybe been lost because we just [didn’t] know their names and their stories very well,” she said. Baker said that even though it is a story based on a historical person, it is still relevant today because this play is about equality and about women’s rights. Baker also mentioned that they had not worked with female playwrights often, so she and the Theatre department wanted to make sure they gave different voices...
by Charissa Ricker | Feb 14, 2019 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
In a ‘ring by spring’ world, how are all the single students supposed to find love on campus? The Lipscomb College of Computing and Technology designed a matching service that helps students find a date just in time for Valentine’s Day. Lipscomb’s chapter of the Association of Computer Machinery (ACM) hosts Bison Match every year to raise money for their events and to help students work on creating algorithms. The quiz starts with basic information and lets students upload a picture and a short bio. It then moves into more creative questions, such as an ideal date and how students would describe themselves using social media apps. ACM President and senior computer science major Andie Goode shared how the matching system works. “It’s really simple, we are not psychologists,” Goode said. “It’s ten questions and the matching is based on if you have the same answer for a question, then that’s your percentage. It’s kind of made to be a fun, goofy Valentine’s thing.” Despite having a matching percentage, it’s not guaranteed that students’ matches will see them. A student could be matched with someone who has a larger number of matches with a higher percentage, and the results only show the top five. “It’s kind of nice, because if you take the quiz and you don’t see anything that looks good, somebody else could still approach you that you didn’t get matched with,” Goode said. “It’s nice to have that extra [boost to] get your name out there.” Due to the fact that Lipscomb has more female students Goode said the number of students that participated were one-third...
by Martin Baker | Feb 9, 2019 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider, Opinion
The classic characters of Oz come to life in the latest incredible performance of the Broadway musical adaptation of the hit film The Wizard of Oz. There really is no place like home to see this show, or at least no place like the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. The production value is through the roof for this performance. Elaborate sets, extravagant costumes and some incredible special effects really let you know this was a serious production. You get the sense of being right inside the twister with Dorothy. Dorothy, the Lion, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow are all portrayed magnificently. The actors really capture the essence of each character and you feel a sense of real hatred towards the Wicked Witch of the West right from the start. The horrendous witche’s laugh is still frightening just to think about. However, the show is stolen by none other than Toto. From his first appearance, the adoration of the crowd is palpable. The use of a real dog in an on-stage performance is always a risk, but the crew pulls it off thanks to the well-behaved Murphy, the dog who plays Toto. The other highlights of the performance are the musical numbers. With such classic songs such as “Over the Rainbow” and “Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead,” it isn’t tough for the whole crowd to get on board and sing along. The show has something for the whole family. For the parents, there is the nostalgia of watching the story you know and love come to life on stage right in front of you. For the kids, it has all...
