Note From the Editor
The Crossover Staff of Fall 2023 has decided that evolving media has been the zeitgeist of our year, and we felt we each had different passions to recommend. Our writers are just as much film, music, YouTube, and literature fans as our audience, and we hope you are able to find something new to enrich your life as you continue into the next year.
Amanda Woods, Staff Writer
Overall, this year, I got to enjoy a ton of different films on both the big screen for the first time. Although I wasn’t able to catch some of the big-name films of the year, some of my personal favorite films from this year include Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Dream Scenario, and Smoking Causes Coughing (Fumer fait tousser). However, there was one film that stood out amongst the rest: Afire (Roter Himmel), directed by Christian Petzold. I came across this German film while attending VTIFF this fall, and the film absolutely blew me away. Afire tells the story of a small group of friends vacationing at a vacation home near the Baltic Sea while a forest fire slowly grows closer to them. Although the film only featured a few different characters, each one was masterfully written and portrayed throughout the film. Leon, a struggling writer who uses the vacation as a time to work on his manuscript, showcases this best. Portrayed by Thomas Schubert, Leon enters the film as self-centered and extremely unlikeable but slowly begins to soften because of Nadja, played by Paula Beer. Although the romantic desire between the two characters is present in the film, it never feels forced or shoved down the audience’s throat. Full of fun moments, stunning visuals, and a heartbreaking ending, Afire is a film I highly recommend checking out regardless of whether or not you watch foreign films.
Adrian Randall, Staff Writer
2023 saw a lot of change and a lot of returns from a lot of well-loved properties, but only a few stand out to me. In early January, The Last of Us TV show came out, and with it a revitalized public interest in Depeche Mode. The band used this to their advantage as only a month later did they start fully teasing their newest album, “Memento Mori”. The album’s a stylistic shift in the right direction, with sharper songwriting more akin to their past 90s work, a larger, more ground-shaking sound, and an album that beautifully sends off their dearly departed friend, Andrew “Fletch” Fletcher. In a year full of new music, “Memento Mori” is but one out of only three albums to achieve a coveted 10/10 from me, as shown in my review of the album.
I also saw quite a few films this year, the second Avatar for the 3rd time, Oppenheimer, The Boy and the Heron. But they all seem to pale in comparison to my top film of 2023: Wes Anderson’s theatrical love letter, Asteroid City. As a former theatre kid, I was drawn in by the way the story was told and the splicing of the story-within-a-story plot structure with the nuances Anderson has helped us fall in love with. Each character is expanded upon to the extent of their abilities, such as the teens all being one hivemind of geniuses, the adults all being complex caricatures of how parenting styles differ from one to the next, and the behind-the-scenes characters all feeling like an actual acting troupe. The soundtrack also bleeds 1950s Americana, with country and Western tunes that feel like they’d fit right in with the warm hues and subdued backdrops of Fantastic Mr. Fox, also directed by Anderson. The film’s praises haven’t been fully sung and here’s hoping for a few Oscar nominations in the coming months.
2023 saw a lot of returns from familiar faces, and for me, no face is more familiar than the three-headed gods that are Green Day. 2020’s “Father of All…” was a letdown, to say the least, and a downright dumpster fire to some hardcore Green Day fans, but that all seemed to be forgotten when September struck, and the band reclaimed the meme of their hit track “Wake Me Up When September Ends”, a sign that Billie Joe is growing to enjoy them more and recognize his father’s passing which influenced the song. As October 24th came, we were all given what I think is the best single of all of 2023, “The American Dream Is Killing Me”. The lyrics were almost as punchy as 2004’s “American Idiot”, the video was evocative of Romero’s Living Dead series of films, and it still stands as my top song of the year… thanks to me streaming it on repeat for 7 hours but I digress. Given that out of the three singles that have heralded their 14th studio album, “Saviors”, one is very 2000s, one is so 1990s they used it in a Taco Bell ad that played on Thanksgiving, and one feels like an amalgam of the two previous, it seems the band is giving us something to chew on for a long time, with a taste that reminds us of Green Day’s younger days as a small band reviving punk rock here in the USA. Read more about the track with my review of it.
Kelley Lebahn, Editor in Chief
The last year saw some of the most revolutionary and forward-moving literature of this decade. However, I spent most of my year clearing out my to-be-read pile that began to stagger dangerously high in the corner of my dorm room. One book from 2023, though, I could not wait to pick up. Rick Riordan’s newest addition to his Heros of Olympus series is Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Chalice of the Gods. In it, the titular character, Percy, must do what many high school seniors do: apply to college. The story, which feels hardly hyperbolic even from a demi-god’s perspective, is thrilling and emotional and fits right along with Riordan’s many other successes.
Many people have debated about the pros and cons of watching TV or YouTube while eating. Whether it is positive or not, if I am eating alone in my kitchen or living room, I am probably also watching YouTube. One up-and-coming YouTube channel I feel obligated to recommend is Caryn and Connie Gaming. Six months ago, I would have called them small Sims gamers. However, as of writing this, they have accumulated almost 900K subscribers. Caryn and Connie are the perfect relaxing content because their content is both entirely wholesome and aesthetically pleasing. Make no mistake, though, these girls are experts at their job and have a professional understanding of how to play Sims. If you are unsure where to start, I would recommend “Building a House in the Sims 4 but Every Room is the Same Random Size.”
To see more of our staff’s recommendations and opinions, see our Culture tab.
