Okezie
My roommate has spent a long time trying to get me into Chess, and he’s recently succeeded. The daily games on Chess dot com have become part of my routine, and in particular I’ve been struck by the site’s bots, who are all themed after real people. On the higher end of the difficulty spectrum, most of these are based on real professional chess players, like Magnus Carlsen or Judit Polgar, but I’ve been drawn towards playing against the game’s “personalities”. Despite not being the face of Chess, the site makes it possible for people who want to play against Faye Webster, Jaylen Brown, or Mr. Beast, just to name a few. By far, the most striking opponent has to be Yoko Ono. Unlike any of the other CPU players you can face, she has not been given a hypothetical ELO rating. Playing against her shifts you into a gamestate where all the pieces are white, leaving no visual difference between your pieces and hers. I’ve played against her almost every day since I started using the site, and as of writing this, I’m yet to win. There’s just something wonderfully absurd about playing an all-white chess game against the likeness of Yoko Ono, who delivers lines like, “Next time you meet a ‘foreigner’, remember it’s only like a window with a different shape to it, and the person who’s sitting inside is you,” every time she takes a pawn.
Christina
(Disclaimer: reading this will get you excited for the holidays.)
I’m ecstatic for the upcoming holiday season! You may think that’s a little early to say that, but if you think about it, Halloween starts the season of consecutive holidays for the rest of the year! Fall is such a fun season, filled with autumn-flavored treats and a spectacular show of leaves changing into warm colors. Then comes Halloween, which includes Halloween movies, dressing up, and lots of candy, among other things. It’s definitely one of my top holidays. After Halloween, comes Thanksgiving. A holiday spent with family and friends planned around having a yummy feast, what could be better? Don’t forget about Black Friday squeezed in there, a retail worker’s worst nightmare. Also, special shoutouts to Veteran’s Day and Indigenous People’s Day mixed in there as well. Soon after, it gets cold outside and winter summons Hanukkah and Christmas! The most joyful holidays of them all. Christmas brings snow (hopefully), sparkly decorations, no school, parties, desserts, presents, family, friends, and so much more. Making it the top holiday on my list. Right after Christmas and Kwanzaa, the New Year rushes in to start the holiday cycle all over again! Holidays are such a magical way to celebrate the world around us, and if you don’t already go all out for holidays you should! It’ll add some whimsy into your life this holiday season! ✨
Aya
I just finished watching Sam Keith’s “The Maxx”, which on its surface, appears to be like many other traditional hero/villain DC comic characters. This couldn’t be further from the truth … from its unique animation style that you could only find in the 90’s on “MTV’s Oddities”, to its unexpected plot, this show is a work of art. It was originally a comic and got its show adaptation in 1995. The show explores many serious themes, but still has its comedic moments. You wouldn’t expect the main characters of a superhero story to be a freelance social worker and an amnesiac, but it works so well. Maxx mentally travels to “the outback”, which is a primordial dreamscape belonging to Julie, the social worker. The dreamscape serves the plot in showing the character’s regression in emotion and avoidance of their own problems. The show is full of double meanings and insane plot twists. I devoured its only running season before a lecture class, and could not stop thinking about it since! Its art style, the fact that it aired on “MTV’s Oddities”, and its creepy character designs make it a perfect Halloween watch.
Rhiannon
Recently I’ve been thinking about gay Halloween. (Of course, just thinking and not writing an article because I’m a bum. Sorry, Ava!) Do us queers make Halloween so special because we’re gay, or does Halloween make us special in that not-so-subtle rainbow way? For me, it might have been the latter. Looking back at my elementary school photos, I don’t think any heteronormative kid would willingly dress up as a viperfish for their neighborhood costume party unless they grew up to become a marine biologist, which is also pretty gay. Will I ever further investigate this topic? Only God knows.
Ava
My debut trip to Costco this past weekend yielded not only an infant-sized bag of frozen mango chunks, but a rediscovery of my favorite radio station, WNRN (88.5 FM). As I cruised down the highway, the celebratory bells of the DJs sang from my speakers as the station met their hourly goal of raising $3,000 as a fundraising challenge. The independent Virginia radio network is a non-profit supported from listener donations, and has been since its establishment in 1966. Returning home, golden sunlight spun through the passing tree leaves as the DJs from World Cafe talked about Los Lobos, a Chicano rock band from Los Angeles, highlighting their history in a segment for Hispanic Heritage Month. The band was rocketed to fame due to their cover of “La Bamba” in 1987, becoming typecast as the “La Bamba Band” despite 14 years of music production prior. Los Lobos started out playing traditional Mexican folk music in 1973 before adopting punk, rock, and R&B genres, becoming one of the pioneering Chicano rock bands that still performs today. Some of their most popular albums include “How Will the Wolf Survive?” and “Kiko.” It was such a cool episode to hear!
Following this segment, World Cafe played some archived recordings from previous live shows. Stopped at the Harrison and Cary St intersection, Spanish song notes swooned through the air as I tried, in vain, to force my inconclusive Shazam screen to leave me a breadcrumb trail to find the song’s name. Relenting to the gray wall of “No song found”, I could only sit and listen to the melody as it played, burning it into the crevices of my mind, knowing it would be the only time I’d ever hear it. It was a lovely evening. I can always count on WNRN to have a good time.
Sean
I recently got to see one of my favorite new artists live in Washington, so I’m taking the October opportunity to put this occult-flirting musician/drag artist on full blast.
Cain Culto on paper is already an absolute pitch — born to Colombian immigrant parents in Florida, raised in Lexington, Kentucky playing the fiddle, later becoming a youth worship leader there, then coming out and completely separating from the church. The first line of “KFC Santería” states the thesis: “I’m like if a hillbilly hick was a big booty b*tch.” He, and his debut album, truly stand at the nexus of all of his influences, ripping Appalachian fiddle, Colombian percussion, and impish whirlwinds of distorted electronic production — some tracks clearly a testament to one source, others none/all of them.
Something I realized fully at the live show, beautifully, is that for all his performance, this is still deeply spiritual— the Kentucky worship leader didn’t die per say, he’s just found his true form starting a show with a sage cleanse, and then having the whole crowd jumping and screaming his lyrics while he sways around in nothing but a glorified thong and knee-high cowboy boots.
It was also at the show that I realized he embodied his very particular version of queer masculinity in a way that I felt directly resonant with, to an extent I haven’t felt before concerning a public-facing person. That was nice. And frankly, any queer person who plays the fiddle is gonna be in crush territory for me. Got a picture with him at the merch stand. That, being in tandem with the absolutely rapturing energy near the front of the stage, it’s instantly in the top three shows I’ve ever experienced.
Ben
I’ve been getting back into reading, specifically “All About Love” by bell hooks.
Love has been on my mind lately, simply because I’ve fallen for someone that I knew wasn’t good for me. Naturally, I’m reeling from the consequences.
In “All About Love,” hooks defines love as expanding one’s self for one’s own or another’s spiritual growth. She argues that while we often talk about love, in all of its ways, we fail to define it. As I grow more into myself, I have realized that I do not know what love is, and that perhaps discovering and learning how to love is the great mission of our lives.
No matter how successful I become, I hope to always remember that none of it would matter if I didn’t know love, for it is the highest honor in life to be loved and to love others.
Even when I walk into relationships, in love and hopeful, I’ve been very into the sentiment that “the one who loves always wins,” that even if it all went to sh*t, I left a better person.
I guess what I’m saying is that I hope to keep my heart open this month.
Graphics: Isabelle Samay