Ayden Kowalski // The Observer

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Scene

Scene Selections: Your perfect midterm study playlist

Anna Falk, Maggie Eastland, Gabriel Zarazua, Peter Breen, Christine Hilario, Christina Sayut, Andrew Jitendran, Sofia CrimiVaroli, Gabrielle Beechert and Ayden Kowalski | Friday, March 3, 2023

With midterms in full swing, we college students are never in more need of music than now. When studying, music can either help us or hurt us. Regardless, it is an important part of the midterms process. We here at Scene have compiled a list of our favorite songs that we use to help us

Scene

Pokemon Day 2023: The fault in our franchise

Ayden Kowalski | Thursday, March 2, 2023

Pokemon Day is advertised as a celebration of the world’s highest-grossing media franchise, a universe that is, at its heart, the illustration of a simple childhood dream. The appeal of befriending magical, and in some cases, divine animals and competing against the animals of others is rather fundamental. There’s a magic to the series that

Scene

Rihanna shined like a ‘diamond’ during halftime show

Ayden Kowalski | Tuesday, February 14, 2023

The Super Bowl Halftime Show is a nearly impossible task: crunch a discography of globally recognized anthems into thirteen minutes with incredibly complex choreography, iconic stage design and a moment that will remain imprinted on the American consciousness. On top of that, one must do this in an extremely normative manner. Since Jay-Z has partnered

Scene

‘Let’s Start Here.’: A revolutionary twice over

Ayden Kowalski | Tuesday, February 7, 2023

The first generation of SoundCloud rappers, the revolutionaries who defined rap for a generation in the mid-2010s, is growing up now. 21 Savage has discovered a unique macabre humor and a powerful poeticism; Denzel Curry achieved mastery of the mic on last year’s “Melt My Eyez, See Your Future”, which is an album defying genres

Scene

The best of Notre Dame’s 2023 Student Film Festival

Claire Lyons, Ayden Kowalski, Anna Falk, Rose Androwich and Erin Farmer | Monday, January 30, 2023

Notre Dame’s Film, Television and Theatre students put Sundance to shame with the 34th annual Notre Dame Student Film Fest last weekend. With a diverse group of work — ranging from documentaries to dramatic shorts — this showcase demonstrates the creativity and wit of the Notre Dame student body. Working within the constraints of the

Scene

‘Pokémon Violet:’ A dream still working out the details

Ayden Kowalski | Thursday, January 26, 2023

Few franchises have a better pitch than “Pokémon”: tame and trained magical animals battle each other, save the world with a team of them and ultimately become “the very best, like no one ever was.” Whether each game brings the player into this dream is a different question. The previous main series games, 2019’s “Pokémon Sword” and

Scene

‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ is a cosmic lesson in humanity

Ayden Kowalski | Thursday, January 19, 2023

“Avatar: The Way of Water” has enough ambition to fill a cinematic universe, a masterpiece in computer-generated imagery that successfully whisks the audience away to the moon of Pandora and its picturesque oceans. But James Cameron’s newest film has another trait lacking in today’s typical blockbuster: sincerity. This is a movie that unashamedly aims to encourage everyday compassion through

Scene

Best of 2022: Scene on the screen

Aidan O'Malley, Justin George, Claire Lyons, Isa Sheikh, JP Spoonmore, Willoughby Thom, Nicole Bilyak, Ayden Kowalski, Andy Ottone and Gabriel Zarazua | Tuesday, December 6, 2022

Scene has voted. Here are the top 15 films of 2022, carefully selected and compiled by The Observer’s entertainment and culture section. 15. “Fire of Love” directed by Sara Dosa Sara Dosa’s sizzling documentary chronicles the daring adventures (and untimely end) of two volcanologists in love. Katia and Maurice Krafft were French scientists who specialized

Viewpoint

Art, the great balancing act

Ayden Kowalski | Monday, September 5, 2022

This past summer, I embarked on the adventure of creating an album. While artistic work is typically idealized as the realization of an unadulterated vision, I found the creative process to be a balancing act between the impulses of the audience and the various inclinations within the artist. If art imitates life, then the creative process is

Scene

The chiaroscuro of ‘Elvis’

Ayden Kowalski | Friday, August 26, 2022

The world of Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” is, curiously, often painted with dimmed colors. Yes, when the King of Rock inevitably enters Vegas, there is the expected bombast, but most of this world is gray, such as Elvis’ large concert completing the first two stages of his career, where the show appears smokey and the lights

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