Happy Monday, Berkeley!

Welcome to March! The month of my birthday, St. Patrick’s Day and March Madness (which I don’t follow, but would assume is also in March given the name).

John Mulaney hosted “SNL” for the second time in his career and led “SNL” to one of the best episodes they’ve had in recent memory. Take some time Monday to catch up on the best sketches of the night including the much anticipated follow up to the riotous “SNL” sketch that almost wasn’t, “Diner Lobster” and “Bodega Bathroom.” Other highlights of the episode include “Chad Horror Movie” and “To Have and Have Not,” which reminded me of the comedic potential “SNL” has when it’s at its best.

“The Jonas Brothers are back and better than ever!” is certainly a statement one could make, but not one I am entirely on board with yet, especially considering the Jonas Brothers rocked harder than The Beatles did in their heyday. Spend Tuesday listening to the band’s new single, “Sucker” and watching their music video to go along with it featuring the wives and fiancées of all three brothers. Although this single is just a taste of the group’s upcoming work, it demonstrates a more mature sound, with an added attention to the type of danceable music that awarded them a Tiger Beat poster on my wall in the fourth grade. While potential tour dates have yet to be announced, you better believe I’m going to be buying tickets to the closest comeback show to fulfill my childhood fantasy of seeing “Burnin’ Up” performed live.

On Wednesday, head over to Landmark’s Shattuck Cinemas to watch the Oscar-nominated live-action shorts that will be playing all week. I had the pleasure of watching the films that were nominated last year and if you are interested in well-produced cinema with short poignant stories, this batch of short films is exactly where you should look. This year, “Skin,” a story about white supremacists in America, took home the award for Best Live Action Short Film, but the other entries involve stories set anywhere from Quebec to Spain.

If feature-length films are more your thing, Shattuck Cinemas will also be playing the Japanese film “Shoplifters” which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. The film was one of my favorites from awards season this year and I considered taking a nearly 2 ½-hour bus ride through Ireland to see it. So count yourself lucky and go see it right in Berkeley.

Solange surprised us all this past week by dropping an entirely new album, When I Get Home. It is hard to pick out individual highlights from the album but it definitely works best chronologically, perhaps while painting or wandering around in the fog or some other equivalent “Thursday” activity. Or perhaps listen to the album during the 33-minute visual accompaniment that has been released exclusively on Apple Music.

Spend Friday catching up on some of the most important pop culture moments from the past week. For this week’s Picks, I quizzed some of my nearest and dearest on what the biggest cultural events in the past week back in the States have been. So here, in less than a hundred words, are the most important from last week’s happenings.

The public verdict was up in the air on Jordyn Woods, Kylie Jenner’s best friend, after she was accused of hooking up with Khloé Kardashian’s baby daddy and (now former) boyfriend Tristan Thompson. But after Jordyn’s “Red Table Talk” with Jada Pinkett Smith (and some poorly thought-out tweets from Khloé) public favor has turned to Team Jordyn. Olivia Colman won an Academy Award for Best Actress and gave a heartwarming speech to the crowd at the ceremony. Meanwhile, Spike Lee reportedly tried to walk out in anger after “Green Book” was crowned Best Picture.

Throughout the past week the Daily Cal has published a lot of specialized content for both the housing and rehabilitation special issues. As part of our Housing 2019 issue, David Rodriguez created a photo essay about a Berkeley resident living out of his van. Our arts columnist Areyon Jolivette continues to put out columns that get better and better with her most recent, “The perfect band aid,” serving as a truly heartbreaking ode to the power of music. Arts editors Maisy Menzies and Anagha Komaragiri published a beautiful piece on addiction and rehabilitation stories in film.They articulated a lot of the issues I had with “A Star is Born” that I could never have done such justice to!

And to think I went this long without mentioning the, not one, but two, new Carly Rae Jepsen singles that were released this past week. Spend Sunday catching up on all things Carly Rae by listening to “Now That I Found You” and “No Drug Like Me,” the most recent singles off her yet-to-be-titled forthcoming album. While you’re at it, why not read this article from Spin Magazine about the time Carly Rae Jepsen watched Seal eat an entire loaf of gluten-free bread?

Until next time,

Kate