Percy Olsen

Contact | 84 articles


Hello, I must say bye

Why is it so hard to say goodbye? It’s taken three-and-a-half years to move up in StudLife, starting as a Cadenza reporter, moving on to TV editor, then movie editor, then senior Cadenza editor (the pinnacle), and now, Cadenza reporter again—you’d think I would’ve stopped sometime there in the middle to think about how I was going to say, “Bye.

| Former Senior Cadenza Editor

W.I.L.D. Preview: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros play at 8 p.m. Friday night…geez, that doesn’t give you much time to learn about them. Pay attention, here’s what you need to know. Edward Sharpe’s “real name” is Alex Ebert. You could say the band is a mixture of his two passions. The first is romance.

| Cadenza Reporter

The Wainwright building: At 10 stories tall, one of the first modern skyscrapers

When you pass it for the first time, there’s something odd about the Wainwright State Office Building. Face its front at 111 N. 7th St., and you might see the building’s intricate ornamentation and red brick facade as a sign of the past, hallmarks of a time when buildings were smaller.

| Scene Reporter

‘Win Win’

Kyle is an even-tempered, maybe even shy, kid, but he is not afraid to speak his mind. He’s always polite but not incredibly inviting. And yet, he’s everyone’s joy. Even as his introverted nature pushes people away, characters gravitate toward him because they see themselves in him. Kyle (played by Alex Shaffer) represents untapped potential.

| Cadenza Reporter

‘Soul Surfer’

“Soul Surfer” has trust issues. For starters, it doesn’t trust its viewers to get the point of the story. The real Bethany Hamilton, a 13-year-old surfer from Hawaii, had her life derailed the day a shark bit off her left arm.

| Cadenza Reporter

Discovering St. Louis through instill Adventure

As we embarked on the Instill Adventure program, we felt like 16 or so strangers, with only the audio tour playing through our iPods in common. I swung my head around, trying to find a friendly face and a topic for small talk (“The weather today, am I right?”). Thankfully, Twain, our mysterious host, came up with a way to alleviate the awkwardness.

‘Sucker Punch’

There are a lot of theatrical elements that contribute to making a good movie. Crisp pacing, believable acting and character development, for example, are pivotal. Unfortunately, for “Sucker Punch,” when you match up this movie’s traits with the ones listed above, nothing fits. What could have saved “Sucker Punch”? A little thought would have gone a long way.

| Senior Cadenza Editor

When trailers lie!

What brings a trailer to lie? The dream of a wider audience? Almost always. “The Adjustment Bureau” shamelessly borrowed from the “Inception” bag of marketing tricks, which made us remember other stories of when trailers lie.

‘Rango’

Johnny Depp’s character, the chameleon Rango, is a thespian without an audience, and that’s not a reflection of his acting skills. He just happens to be stuck in a terrarium with a palm tree and a wind-up goldfish. But he doesn’t let his circumstances deter him from working on his craft.

| Cadenza Editor

Johnny Depp, Abigail Breslin and Gore Verbinski discuss ‘Rango’

Cadenza got to participate in a press conference with the director of “Rango,” Gore Verbinski, and the film’s stars, Johnny Depp and Abigail Breslin. Depp and Verbinski explained how the computer-animated western had its roots in live-action and he discussed how Depp felt when he pretended to be a “six-foot lizard.” Look forward to a full review on Friday.

| Cadenza Editor

Sign up for the email edition

Stay up to date with everything happening at Washington University and beyond.

Subscribe