Wyatt Smith
Features Editor
This summer, the only movie I found time to watch in theaters was “The Way, Way Back,” an angsty coming-of-age-story brimming with clichés. The film featured an unrealistically attractive love interest, parents who just don’t get it and wacky side characters. It also included an awkward protagonist without much personality, played by Liam James, upon whom I could pin my own lingering teenage unease.
While these plot devices may have ruined the film for some, I embraced the movie’s light-hearted unoriginality. As a fan of teen dramas — a notorious cesspool of recycled material — the clichés allowed me to effortlessly enter the world of the film.
“The Way, Way Back” is exactly what a summer flick should be: short, laugh-out-loud funny and not thought provoking at all.
Amazing, range-expanding performances from Sam Rockwell and Allison Janney sealed the deal. Watching this movie in an old fashioned theater — followed by some fro-yo — made for the perfect way to spend a summer evening.
Dani Gagnon
A&E Editor
In the middle of nowhere there is a theatre. The Chandler Music Hall, although located in the semi-isolated small town of Randolph, Vermont, held its third annual Summer Pride Festival. Volunteer actors, actresses, directors and technicians presented two weekends of staged readings raising the topics of LGBT rights.
The festival included two weekends to show Moises Kaufman’s “Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde” and Claudia Allen’s “Hannah Free.” Each play directly deals with LGBT issues that some small town- dwellers may find uncomfortable when confronted with. However, this year, marking the third successive summer festival the box office marked a noticeable increase in attendance — a definite sign of progress.
The involvement with the festival ranges from high school students to adults living in the area. The support indicates at least a rise in understanding and awareness of LGBT Vermonts and in the country as a whole. The integration of theatre and civil issues has brought more and more people to a point of awareness and we can only hope that the Summer Pride Festival will spread throughout the state and to others.
Laura Merrell
A&E Editor
On a balmy July evening, I attended the most amazing concert of my life — and that is not an exaggeration. I somehow managed to get a free ticket to see Paul McCartney play at Safeco Field in Seattle.
It was three hours of surprise after surprise. I was astonished to see a full fireworks display behind the stage while “Back in the USSR” played. There had been a rumor circulating on Twitter that the remaining members of Nirvana might show up to jam with Paul, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up.
However, just as I thought the concert was winding down, Dave Grohl struts onto the stage in a velvet blazer, sits behind the drum set and starts rocking out. Essentially, I got to see three rock groups in one night: the Beatles, Foo Fighters and Nirvana. Even though McCartney is 71, he’s still got it. He danced around the stage without taking a break for several hours in heeled boots. I was also part of a 20 minute “Hey Jude” sing a long. It was truly an evening to remember.
Sarah Carracher
News Editor
As an avid Fall Out Boy fan of eight years, I was prepared for a crowd full of insincere emo 16-year-olds when I attended the band’s concert in Columbus this past May.
To my utter shock and awe, however, the people were overwhelmingly normal. My surprise only escalated when I realized the people around me knew the words to each and every song as well as I did.
My intense disenchantment with the music industry and scene was blissfully lifted during the few hours I spent at Lifestyle Communities Pavilion, surrounded by people who genuinely loved a musical group who loves its fans back. Though multiple things contribute to a good concert experience, a natural sense of community — or lack thereof — can entirely alter a concertgoer’s experience.
Though I have always loved Fall Out Boy’s music, recorded and live, I have never loved it more than when listening to it amongst a crowd of similarly-devoted fans. The sensation of feeling something I love with other people who love it as much as I do was the ultimate social effervescence and pure happiness.
(All photos courtesy AP).