Culture, Art Damaris Galeano Culture, Art Damaris Galeano

Lego to the Museum

Nathan Sawaya, a New York City corporate lawyer turned contemporary artist, transformed over one million LEGO® bricks into more than 100 sculptures in California Science Center's new exhibit "The Art of the Brick" which opened Friday, Feb. 28.

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Culture Chrissa Loukas Culture Chrissa Loukas

A New Club at Santa Monica College Supports Parenting Students

Elizabeth Prevolos, founder of the Parenting Student Network (PSA), is a mother of two children, and a full-time student looking to major in Sociology and Gender Studies. Her goal is to transfer to UCLA, while building up a network that will support parenting students at Santa Monica College (SMC) in the meantime.

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Art, Culture Dana Binfet Art, Culture Dana Binfet

Women's Suffrage History on Display

A display case of letters written by the famous women’s rights activist, Alice Stone Blackwell, attracted a small crowd of museum visitors on Thursday March 5, during the grand opening of the “All Is Possible: Women’s Suffrage in California” Exhibition at the Santa Monica History Museum. The exhibition is open in tandem with Women’s History Month and will run until June 6.

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Culture, Art Vanessa O’Brien Culture, Art Vanessa O’Brien

The UnReal World

On February 29 was the official opening for the new exhibit Unreality at SMC’s Pete and Susan Barrett Art Gallery. Showcasing works by Lisa Adams and Kelly McLane. The exhibit is free and will be on display until Saturday, March 28.

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Entertainment, Culture, Reviews Melissa Trejo Entertainment, Culture, Reviews Melissa Trejo

Gabriel Fernandez Docu-series brings Justice to Betrayed Boy

Streaming giant Netflix has released their most heartbreaking true crime series yet. The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez is a limited six-part series that explores the life and death of eight-year old Palmdale boy, Gabriel Fernandez. Fernandez's mother, Pearl Fernandez, tortured and killed him, with the help of her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre.

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By Black Feminists, For Black Feminists

In an old building in downtown Los Angeles, California on February 21, 2020 members of the PSL (Party for Socialism and Liberation) gathered together and chattered before the beginning of the black history workshop. There are pictures set up around the room of iconic black figures: Assata Shakur, Claudia Jones, Nina Simone, Audrey Lorde, and Malcolm X.

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A Warrior Who Fought With Her Words: Toni Morrison

A collage is used to show the metamorphosis of the late Toni Morrison's physical self, from refined young, striking beauty to gorgeous, giggling gray-haired matriarch. The way her ​collage-like Black Book ​served as a shocking, artfully true compilation of American blackness,​ the documentary The Pieces I Am ​is just as true for the writer's life.

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Culture, Entertainment Tatiana Louder Culture, Entertainment Tatiana Louder

Vanity's Fairest At Their Finest

Whoopi Goldberg is bathing in milk right next to late comedian Richard Pryor, the priest. A little to the right is actress Ali Wong as Marie Antoinette. Welcome to Vanity Fair: Hollywood Calling – The Stars, the Parties, and the Powerbrokers. Beginning Feb. 8, the photography exhibition is hosted by the Annenberg Space for Photography in Century City.

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Culture, Entertainment Marco Pallotti Culture, Entertainment Marco Pallotti

The Getty Museum's Unseen Photographs Revealed

In 1973, museum curator and art collector Sam Wagstaff moved away from acquiring paintings and sculptures, and began buying photographs. By the early 1980s he'd assembled one of the largest private collections in the world. He'd begun by collecting 19th and early 20th century photographs, and with the help of a young photographer named Robert Mapplethorpe — Wagstaff's protegé and lover — he turned his attention to more contemporary work.

In 1984, the Getty Museum created their Department of Photographs and inaugurated the exhibit with the acquisition of several world-famous private collections, including over 26,000 prints that Sam Wagstaff had assembled. The Getty's dramatic entry into collecting photography immediately established it as a major center for photographic art.

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Culture, Entertainment Aleah Antonio Culture, Entertainment Aleah Antonio

SMC Film Club Takes Over CMD for Annual Film Festival

The Santa Monica College (SMC) Film Club members, friends, and family blended together in a pizza-eating, film-loving crowd outside the Center for Media and Design (CMD) campus this past Thursday night. At 7 p.m., the CMD quad turned into a box office lobby for the SMC Film Festival with an auditorium awaiting the audience inside.

As the hosts of the event, Film Club presented a total of nine original productions of both its members and Film 33 students. As the crowd watched the films one by one, Professor Kanin and Professor Flood judged the films for the later presented awards. Film Club has long hosted the SMC Film Festival, but now sees an “all-time high” membership this year with over 150 members, according to club president Carlos Flores Jr.

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Culture, Entertainment Josh Hogan Culture, Entertainment Josh Hogan

Live-Action Star Wars series, "The Mandalorian," dominates on Disney+

 It has only been one month since Disney+ started streaming content including original movies and television shows. An immediate success is their new live-action Star Wars series called The Mandalorian, which takes place a few years after the events of Return of the Jedi. The new series involves director, producer and screenwriter Jon Favereau, who is known for directing Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Disney’s live-action The Jungle Book and The Lion King.

Favereau is the creator, head writer, and showrunner, as well as executive producer of The Mandalorian, and although he plans to direct an episode of the second season, he was too busy with the production of The Lion King to direct any of the series' first season.

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Culture Joshua Gonzalez and Jackie Sedley Culture Joshua Gonzalez and Jackie Sedley

Homeless Man Statue Aims to Inspire a Movement

Massey’s initial inspiration to create the concrete and steel-based sculpture came after an encounter with a homeless man roughly 21 years ago in Westwood, Calif. He was walking down the street late at night and wrongfully assumed that the 7 foot tall homeless man walking towards him was going to do harm. After the man proved Massey’s gut feeling wrong and continued down the road, the artist turned to creative expression as a way to document his experience.

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Culture Julianna Wingate Culture Julianna Wingate

"Rhinoceros" Stampedes at SMC's Main Stage

"Rhinoceros," a production directed by Santa Monica College (SMC) Theatre’s Terrin Adair-Lynch, made its debut Friday, Nov. 22 at the school's Main Stage. The play, written by Eugene Ionesco in 1959, focuses on the transformation of a normal town into something unrecognizable to itself.

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Culture Michael Waas and Tanya Azari Culture Michael Waas and Tanya Azari

SMC Guitar Showcase Plays To Student Talent

The SMC Guitar Showcase is a biannual performance put on by students and professors, intended to exhibit the hard work of guitar students each semester. This year’s showcase featured performers playing a variety of original guitar pieces and covers, some of which were accompanied by keyboard, percussion, vocals, and other backings.

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