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-Patrick McKelvey | Friday, May 1, 2020
I’ve been lucky enough to be with the Observer since the beginning of my sophomore year. I’ve been a columnist with Viewpoint for almost as long. Every other week for three years, I’ve sent in a column with my musings on the state of the world. It was like clockwork. Rarely stressful. Almost always fun.
Patrick McKelvey | Friday, March 27, 2020
I never played Bookstore Basketball before. I kind of wanted to, but I’m hilariously bad at the sport. I’ll play pickup from time to time, sure — I’d just never subject four other players to being on an actual competitive team with me. But I do love it. So when my friend Kyle asked me
Patrick McKelvey | Friday, February 28, 2020
I have never — ever — planted anything. Not a tree. Not a flower. Not a tomato. I don’t think I’ve ever even been to a farm. And I don’t really want to try and go. Not because I don’t think it’s worthwhile, or because I don’t think it would be fun. Farms are beautiful
Patrick McKelvey | Friday, February 14, 2020
I thought this was going to be an angry column. Of the nine movies nominated for Best Picture, I was very worried and very certain that “Ford vs Ferrari,” or “Marriage Story,” or “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” would win. It’s no secret the Oscars have struggled to capture audiences in recent years,
Patrick McKelvey | Friday, January 31, 2020
I’m a Knicks fan. I’ve been a Knicks fan my whole life. Outside of a few semi-magical seasons, I’ve been treated to two decades of bottom-of-the barrel, borderline unwatchable basketball. Sometimes a season will start out promising. But disappointment always rears its head by January. When you’re a Knicks fan, you learn to enjoy the
Patrick McKelvey | Friday, January 17, 2020
In 2016, the Chicago Cubs traded top prospect Gleyber Torres for a half-season rental of New York Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman. It was a difficult decision for some — Torres was poised to be one of the greatest infielders in the game, and he was just 19 years old. While Chapman was indeed baseball’s best
Patrick McKelvey | Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Every year around this time, movie fans around the world resume one of the most contentious and longest-lasting debates in film: is “Die Hard” a Christmas movie? The 1988 action (and maybe holiday) film directed by John McTierian and starring Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman and Bonnie Bedelia tells the story of John McClane (Willis), an
Patrick McKelvey | Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Famous for his roles in “East of Eden” and “Rebel Without a Cause,” James Dean is one of the most celebrated actors of all time. His illustrious career, however, was cut short when he was killed in a car accident in 1955 at the age of 24. It was a tragic loss for his family,
Patrick McKelvey | Wednesday, November 6, 2019
We definitely landed on the moon. Lee Harvey Oswald killed former President John F. Kennedy. Area 51 has nothing to do with aliens — and they had nothing to do with building the pyramids. Most conspiracy theories, especially most of the famous ones, are false. They have been thoroughly discredited by science, history or just
Patrick McKelvey | Wednesday, October 16, 2019
For many months now, hundreds of thousands of protestors have lined the streets of Hong Kong to denounce the erosion of their personal liberties at the hands of China. The city and China have a complex relationship, operating under a “one country, two systems” structure that allows (or is supposed to allow) Hong Kong to remain