On the Other Hand: On Military Intervention in Iran
Background: During the final days of 2025, the Iranian currency, the rial, collapsed amid severe international sanctions, plunging the country’s economy into uncharted territory. Iranians responded by protesting en masse across all 31 provinces, with economic anxieties mixing with general discontent at the oppressive Islamic Republic regime that has governed the country since 1979. The […]
Reviewing every episode of ‘Smiling Friends’: season 2
Welcome back to part two of my review of every “Smiling Friends” episode! This time, we’ll be reviewing the second season of this iconic Adult Swim show. “Gwimbly: Definitive Remastered Enhanced Extended Edition DX 4K (Anniversary Director’s Cut)”: It’s no stretch to say that this single episode has permanently changed the online conversation about […]
Why does everyone want to fuck Mr. Darcy?
If you haven’t yet read Pride and Prejudice, you clearly aren’t hanging out with the same women as me. I am sure there are many women out there who don’t like Jane Austen; it’s just that I don’t know them. I have been “made” to read this book once for a girlfriend, once for my […]
‘Final Fantasy Adventures’: Your mystical bittersweet journey
Last semester, I finally purchased a retro game collection that has been sitting on my wishlist since 2019: Collection of Mana featuring Final Fantasy Adventures for the Game Boy, Secret of Mana, and for the first time outside of Japan, Trials of Mana, both for the SNES. The Mana games are some of Square Enix’s […]
Snow day? More like snow week: Brandeis struggles with extreme weather
On Sunday, Jan. 25, Massachusetts was hit with a severe snowstorm, with snow piles reaching more than 20 inches and the Brandeis campus resorting to Zoom operations for the following Monday. This storm was the ninth-largest in Boston’s history, making it larger than most that Brandeis has to deal with. However, getting large amounts of […]
Sunblighted: Chapter 6
Last time on Sunblighted: At an ever-burning bonfire, Lih questioned the legitimacy of the eccentric god Gefrol, his supposed all-knowing Patron Deity. A girl with the likeness of Canthi, the girl that killed the Shade, called out to Lih, causing him to pass out from the discovery that what he experienced, as Sulumim in the […]
Ask SSIS: Can I get pregnant from period sex?
Thanks for your question! Yes, but the answer is more complicated than that. If we think about the whole menstrual cycle, the phase during which you’re least likely to get pregnant is the menstruation phase, when you’re bleeding. This is because the menstruation phase occurs separately from the ovulation phase, when your ovary releases an […]
‘Bugonia’ takes over the world, and your mind
Yorgos Lanthimos is a prolific director who has been nominated for multiple Academy Awards, including in the Best Picture category for his 2025 release “Bugonia.” Starring Emma Stone as a biopharmaceutical CEO and Jesse Plemmons as an incel conspiracy theorist, the movie follows the two as Plemmons’ character tries to get Stone’s to admit to […]
I dabbled in religious music and you should too.
In the United States, music is an almost entirely secular form of expression. Musicians love to toy with themes of demons and divinity, but it is uncommon to see artists use their gift of song for sincere worship. As a kid, my impression of music as faith encompassed Christian rock, which impersonates popular artists, and […]
Only a dumb-dum wouldn’t enjoy a Dum-Dum, right? The Hoot staff certainly thinks so; however, which flavor is superior? One of the beautiful qualities of these lollipops, after all, is the wide array of flavors to choose from. What will our editor’s favorite flavors say about them? How many dumb-dums does it take to get […]
So Grok lets you make porn of strangers now
If, for some reason, any of my readers still have an X (Twitter) account, they might have noticed the new capabilities of Grok, the X A.I. model. On the first release of this new X-rated update, the abilities were available to all X users. These capabilities included being able to request Grok place ANYONE in […]
Chemical leak in Heller causes nausea, class rescheduling
On Friday, Jan. 30, a chemical leak occurred at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, forcing classes there to be rescheduled. According to an email sent out to Heller faculty on the 30th by Associate Registrar for Course and Classroom Scheduling Kristina Law, the leak occurred in Heller G50. Law stated, “The leak […]
Why did music suck last year?
What happened to music last year? This is a question that has been asked by people after the recent 68th Grammy Awards. After rising viewership between 2021 and 2024, the number of views for this year’s Grammys dropped by a million after an already substantial drop last year. This is a sign that many no […]
Am I the only one that liked the ending of Stranger Things?
If it wasn’t obvious by the title, this article contains spoilers for “Stranger Things.” Despite the fact that there are only five seasons, I’ve been watching “Stranger Things” since I was 11 years old. After nine long years, we finally got to see the ending to one of the most popular TV shows in Netflix […]
Just Dance is back, baby
I have recently purchased the 2025 edition of “Just Dance” for the Nintendo Switch since it was on “rollback” at Walmart for ~$14. How did I justify this purchase of what some may consider a game of childhoods long past from an antiquated franchise? Well, I began by getting my friends hooked on my already […]
Fire breaks out in Sherman-Hassenfeld
On Monday, Feb. 2, a significant fire broke out in the Sherman-Hassenfeld building. At 3:23 p.m, an email was sent out via the Brandeis Alert system stating, “There is ongoing fire activity at Sherman-Hassenfeld. Please remain away from the area. Follow Public Safety detours as directed. If you need to leave campus, use the Cedarwood […]
Reviewing every episode of ‘Smiling Friends’: Season One
At this point, “Smiling Friends” needs no introduction. Birthed from the unhinged minds of Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack, its characters, visual style and humor have had a massive impact on internet culture since its pilot released in 2020, with its fusion of nonsensical and stupid bits with realistic, everyday situations making it instantly stand […]
How is Bill Belichick not a Hall of Famer?
I don’t expect that a lot of Hoot readers are huge sports fans. After all, this school doesn’t even have a football team. Those of you who do pay attention to the National Football League (NFL) are probably focused on Super Bowl LX (Go Pats!). So many of you may have missed the biggest sports […]