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ARTS & CULTURE
bupipedream.com | April 18, 2023
Starfest to feature live performances for charity The event will raise funds for local queer mutual aid. Kimberly Mourao
arts & culture contributor
Are you wondering what to possibly do on one of the fine, sunny weekends that Binghamton is coming into now that spring is in the air? Starfest is coming to town soon. Held at the Bundy Museum of History and Art on April 22 from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m., Starfest is open to people of all ages (of course only 21+ can drink though). There is no better event for dipping your toes into the Binghamton area cultural scene while you find yourself a resident of this fine city. Starfest is a recent event that was created as a cooperation between various local organizations, individuals and businesses. This amalgamation of everything Binghamton has to offer has even surpassed the expectations of its organizer, Allenby Buchanan, a Binghamton resident. “Starfest was created to celebrate queer joy, to center LGBTQIA+ artists of all kinds and to give back to the queer community through a mutual aid fund,” Allenby said. “It started out as a half-baked idea to get some of my favorite local bands together on a set. It evolved into this pretty massive project that myself and quite a few others have been working
on. I cannot wait for you all (and myself) to experience it!” Starfest has already met and exceeded its $800 goal in order to fund the actual event itself through communal donations. Although the event is free, a minimum $10 fee is encouraged as all profits go toward local queer mutual aid organized by North Side Mutual Aid in order to be allocated to queer individuals in need. Even though there are more than enough philanthropic reasons to attend this event, the organizers have arranged for all kinds of entertainment that are well worth the price of admission. This event is perfect for students seeking to begin their exploration of everything Binghamton has to offer — including, of course, the local queer community. Starfest is set to showcase some of the phenomenal drag performers in the area such as blackismygender, Ms. Vivi Nox and Femme De Violette. Starfest also plans to promote Binghamton’s underground scene by encompassing local performers and bands. Starfest has more than enough performances to cater to those better acquainted with Binghamton’s cultural scene. The more experienced showgoers will have no trouble recognizing some of the talents featured. Band favorites such as Mall Goths, Happy to be Here and No More Bands will be part of the many performances
kimbery mourao arts & culture contributor Starfest is being held at the Bundy Museum of History & Art on April 22 from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Starfest has to offer. The nine-hour festival will have lots of events to fill the time. There will also be around a dozen different vendors to browse through while attending. If you get hungry, seek out one of the baked goods vendors like Joyful Sweets and Treats. If you
need a souvenir to remind you of the experience or simply looking for some treasures to add to your collection, there are also more than enough artists and vendors selling their oneof-a-kind creations and goods. For those who are more craft savvy, look for Oh Queer! for
handmade, crocheted items. If you love thrifting, find the stalls for Volumes of Imagination and Parlor City Thrifts. If you need to brighten up your walls, there will definitely be something of interest from Spacehead Art or one of the many other vendors selling their paintings.
Starfest has something to offer for everyone and will be a wonderful opportunity to start getting out again and enjoying the beautiful spring weather after having braved the Binghamton winter.
‘Dungeons and Dragons’ movie a strong adaption The film brings the popular tabletop game to the big screen. Jason Tang
arts & culture contributor
There is a common misconception about Dungeons and Dragons — a game based solely around role-playing — about whether or not it is a video game, board game or simply
crazy people playing makebelieve in their basements about imaginary monsters and creatures. “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” puts these myths to rest by introducing the
sourced from imdb “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” stars Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page and Sophia Lillis.
theatrical audience to the world of Dungeons and Dragons without any prior knowledge required going into the film. The biggest strength of cinema is the ability to transport the viewer to a world — fictional or not — to tell a story about people, and the choices and actions that they make in order to complete their journeys. Some films choose to approach this in oblique manners, by choosing a slice-of-life approach that paints individual dots in a tapestry that only makes sense when you zoom out and see how the figure is formed. “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” is very successful in this aspect, bringing the fictional worlds of Dungeons and Dragons to life in a mainstream, studio-meddled approach. Every scene feels raw and is full of creative energy capturing the best parts of the game — the action, the setting and whimsical experiences that are often associated with taking part in such a game. The scene that exhibits this energy in the most apparent way is when Edgin Darvis, played by Chris Pine, and Simon Aumar, played by Justice Smith, are unsuccessfully interrogating the dead about the whereabouts of a magic
relic. This scene with the rapid cuts in between the questions being answered by the dead through flashbacks, and the poor question asked by our heroes, leads to a dynamic in which Pine and Smith look like they are having fun. This dynamic fit the spirit of Dungeons and Dragons to a tee, where the humor and the tones of the film are easily the most apparent thing lifting the film up. This film is more and less than the humor and the action being presented, however. From all of the characters shown, there is not one that feels fully fleshed out in the 134-minute runtime of the film, which is to say that it is relatively long. The biggest offender of this is Doric, played by Sophia Lillis, who — through no fault of the actress — feels stunningly one-dimensional due to her becoming the manic pixie dream girl for Aumar. In contrast to the struggles that Aumar, the other magical character of the film, goes through with his inadequacies with magic, Doric is an all-powerful and flawless character that is only able to shape the narrative indirectly. All characters have positives and negatives, except for Doric who only exists to fill a role in the plot as a shapeshifter,
and also as a potential love interest for Aumar. Doric is not a real character, and despite the clear intentions to develop a strong mix between three-dimensional and two-dimensional characters, Doric ends up in the wrong category. While it is difficult to cram hours of characterization that are often afforded in Dungeons and Dragons into a film, there is no excuse for the inordinate disparities between the characters within the movie. When you zoom out of this movie, it tends to represent exactly what the filmmakers, Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, intend. A whimsical adventure that would not only act as an advertisement for Dungeons and Dragons, but an entertaining film that works not just for people familiar with Dungeons and Dragons from the start of the film. As much as this movie is exactly what the fans want, for the outside viewer, it feels like it is missing something and is, as a result, a little hollow. The movie is fun, well thoughtout and executed, and is everything that a Dungeons and Dragons fan could expect, finishing the film with a dragon in the heart of the eye, the perfect caper to a good film. Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars