Imad Pasha
Berkeley, New Haven
Covers:
Film, Television, Music, Theater, Visual Art, Video Games, Literature, Fashion
PhD student/NSF grad fellow doing some galaxy evolution stuff at Yale, formerly UC Berkeley. he/him
Articles by Imad Pasha
Numerous bow shocks in the outer Helix Nebula
Abstract Near the end of their lives, low-mass and intermediate-mass stars expel metal-enriched material in winds and outflows, ultimately producing planetary nebulae1,2. The ejected material is expected to fragment and mix into the interstellar medium (ISM), but this final assimilation step has been difficult to observe directly3,4.
A Candidate Runaway Supermassive Black Hole Identified by Shocks and Star Formation in its Wake
There are several ways for a supermassive black hole (SMBH) to escape from the center of a galaxy. The first step is always a galaxy merger, which leads to the formation of a binary SMBH at the center of the merger remnant (Begelman et al. 1980; Milosavljevic & Merritt 2001).
The Arctic Monkeys skyrocket with 'Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino'
The night before Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino officially dropped, the Arctic Monkeys played “Four Out of Five” on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” As the camera pans onto the band, we notice frontman Alex Turner sitting behind a piano. Piano has never been the cornerstone of how Turner wrote songs in the past — but now, it’s the basis of almost all of Tranquility. In fact, a lot of things about this album are new.
How the Daily Cal threw a wrench in my best-laid college plans
Many freshmen arrive at UC Berkeley and are faced with difficult choices — numerous open roads and routes to pursue in college, all encompassed by the feeling steeped in the word “undeclared.” I was not one of those students. I arrived at UC Berkeley with a plan, and I stuck to it stubbornly. I had known, since age 7, that I was going to be an astronaut, and I hadn’t been able to shake that ill-conceived childhood obsession.
If you missed Ripe's show at The Independent, you lost out on great music
It’s the sweet spot of being popular enough to sell out The Independent, a venue on the opposite coast from where the band started, but new enough to still hang out with the audience before the show, watch the openers perform and soundcheck their own equipment. Not just to soundcheck, either, but to perform a full dick-around session of John Mayer tunes on stage.
Graduate student well-being at UC Berkeley is suffering. What can we do?
All over the country, graduate students serve as the connective tissue that holds college campuses together. While keeping research labs running and teaching undergraduate sections, these students are also trying to attain the skills needed to be considered experts in their fields. A major study published in Nature Biotechnology on March 6, titled “Evidence for a mental health crisis in graduate education,” found that more than a third of graduate students report moderate to severe depression.
Flamingosis provides convenient space for 4/20 celebrators on Sproul
If you can encapsulate an electronic sub-genre as “chillwave, bedroom dream-pop,” then Flamingosis’ Upper Sproul Plaza performance Friday was the elevator music version of that.
5 types of people who should come to UC Berkeley
Those who should People who like food and/or boba. The city of Berkeley is literally chock-full of reasonably priced restaurants of all different types, as well as specialty dessert and boba offerings. You could probably go a whole year trying a different restaurant every day. People who want to try research. Whether it’s in the STEM fields or the humanities, UC Berkeley’s size and funding means that there’s almost certainly someone here on campus researching something you’re interested in.
Fall Program for Freshmen ain’t all that (but it ain’t all bad)
I thought it when I first got the email that I was a spring admit five years ago, and I think it now. So do, as far as I can tell, most of my friends who were in it. And yet, we’re now like a weird, fucked-up extended family. Like most things, the Fall Program for Freshmen has its ups and downs — but looking back my time there five years later, I can say that despite my qualms with it, FPF was the right choice for me.
Exploring the narratives around environmental justice
Editor’s note: This is part of a continuing series highlighting the research being carried out by undergraduates at UC Berkeley across a variety of disciplines. You can find all the stories in the series here. For many students on campus who get involved with research, the process involves cold-emailing professors and waiting to get lucky, applying to the Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program once a semester or knowing someone in a lab.
How the music in our favorite films is changing before our ears
Films, on the whole, are becoming more visceral. That’s not a surprise — much of the marketing around, say, Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk” was related to the fact that it was shot mostly in IMAX. And indeed, sitting in front of an IMAX screen during that film is an incredibly immersive experience. As cameras and screens have worked from 2K to 4K to upwards of 12K in resolution, computer-generated imagery, or CGI, has made its own leaps.
Ripe for joy on the dancefloor, Boston seven-piece primed for the picking
Joy In The Wild Unknown is an apt name for the debut LP by Ripe, a band that posits exuberant, joyous dance energy as the foundational basis for its music. Even the band itself takes a name that connotes the image of fruit ready to burst at the seams, and the crashing opening chord of “Brother Sky,” from the group’s EP Hey Hello seems to indicate the band has succeeded.
SpaceX put a Tesla in orbit, but is that a good thing?
There is now a car in orbit around the sun. Welcome to 2018. OK, technically there are around a billion cars in orbit around the sun — but they’re all on Earth. But now, for the first time, there is a cherry-red convertible in a direct orbit around the sun — an orbit that stretches to an aphelion beyond the orbital distance of Mars. This fact has split the internet. So what is the controversy?
Franz Ferdinand is playful, if not depthful, with ‘Always Ascending’
In a way, everything has changed — and nothing has. That seems to be the message the members of Franz Ferdinand broadcast with their latest album, Always Ascending. In a way, they’re right. Founding guitarist Nick McCarthy has departed, taking with him a spark of the indie-rock bombast that launched the band to fame. And yet, despite the flood of new noises decorating and garnishing this album, it is built with the same pieces that have constituted every Franz Ferdinand album to date.
MGMT is back in form with sleek, lean ‘Little Dark Age’
MGMT came into Little Dark Age feeling behind the times. The moment its title track dropped, accompanied by a music video, was one of bated breaths for fans. Would MGMT be back? Or would the group provide another album laden with overwrought esotericism and culminating in listener disinterest? “Little Dark Age” as a track embodies anything but these potential disappointments.
Graphic novel ‘Ancient Astronauts’ overpacks complex story
It took artist-novelist Vincent Pompetti nearly a decade to watercolor every panel of “Ancient Astronauts” by hand, and it shows. Much like the every-frame-painted film “Loving Vincent,” “Ancient Astronauts” is a great example of how translating one form to another can have rich visual dividends — but this story doesn’t necessarily match up to its art. The graphic novel follows Onys, an archer and daughter to the ruling Di Chieti family on her home planet.
As vinyl resurges, used records are vanishing
There’s just something about the smell of old vinyl. The first time I visited Berkeley, in 2011, I was a junior in high school. I stumbled into Rasputin Music after touring campus, enticed by the grungy vibe and promise of cheap CDs and DVDs. The moment I wandered down the stairs into the basement and saw what looked like miles and miles of vinyl records, I was hooked.
The Weekender | Architect: A short story
I n your travels you come across a city which rises from the crystalline dust of endless sand dunes every two years and dissolves into the sand two years hence. In its wide, open avenues and ornate palaces, the poor live content that they will as soon as not be rich, and the rich live content that they will as soon as not be poor, as each envies the relative simplicity in the life of the other.
8 concerts in the Bay Area you can’t miss this semester
1. Walk the Moon at the Fox Theater — Feb. 10 Full of bubbly, infectious energy, Walk the Moon is always a memorable concert experience. Despite the relative panning of its most recent release, What If Nothing, the band will be bringing past dance-bangers such as “Shut Up and Dance” and “Anna Sun” to its Fox Theater performance.
Research alternatives that you might not know about
It’s a new year and a new semester — and for those of us studying subjects that involve research, it’s time to start looking for summer research opportunities. Research is a huge part of many majors, from STEM fields such as astrophysics and chemistry to humanities fields such as history and film.
Final ‘Maze Runner’ entry steps beyond bounds of YA dystopian action
Somewhere in the second act of “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials” — the second in the Wes Ball-directed adaptation of the James Dashner young adult trilogy — a group of teenagers walks in silhouette along the ridge of a sand dune, having just left behind one of their own who was clawed by a zombie and in the process of “turning.” As they walk, a shot rings out, and the line stops, poignantly, in unison.
For UC Berkeley alumnus, sex ed finds voices outside the classroom
For Danielle Bezalel, the decision to start up a sex education podcast aimed at the Bay Area started around 7,000 miles away — in Israel. She was there as a volunteer, teaching English and learning Hebrew. But as they often do, the experience led to a clash of cultural, generational and religious ideas. “Essentially, I had a super heated interaction with a rabbi there,” Bezalel explained in an interview.
'DAMN.,' 'Sleep Well Beast' top 2017's list of best albums
They say it every year, but it’s been a good year for music. Across all genres, 2017 has seen some new breakouts and returning heavyweights tackle the roiling social and political climate this year has brought — or help us escape it. Here are a few of the best. Naturally, the end of the year is full of “best of” album lists, which vary widely from publication to publication, rearranging the same familiar names in different orders up and down the listicles.
Exploring our favorite childhood computer games
While my parents were pretty lax with me and my sister when it came to media consumption, one of the core rules was no video games — at least of the Xbox or PlayStation variety. So, in my video-game-less youth, educational PC games were my digital escape. And the greatest of them all was the “Nancy Drew” PC series. Every Nancy Drew game starts the same way: The screen pans in on Nancy’s desk, where you can find all the information for the upcoming mission.
The first three words you see will describe your finals week
You can find the answers to this puzzle here.
Giraffage brings melodic dance music to The Fillmore stage
EDM performance as whole — but in particular, the chillwave, bedroom dream-pop vein of EDM — is often directly at odds with its own creation. Producers toil away for hours, tuning every sound and note, remixing and sampling, constantly deconstructing and reconstructing. In short, it’s an art form steeped in perfectionism. EDM performance, on the other hand, is all about the opposite. It’s about spontaneity; it’s about tactility.
UC Berkeley alumnus Giraffage talks turning EDM production to performance
When you ask an electronic producer about the inspirations for their latest album, you don’t normally expect to hear “The Strokes” and “Interpol.” But when you listen to Too Real, the first label-released LP from San Francisco-based UC Berkeley alumnus Charlie Yin (stage name Giraffage), it starts making sense. Not insofar as that the album feels entirely like an indie or garage rock album, but in that it organizes itself around flowing chord progressions and melodies.
How to build a moonbase: Author Andy Weir on following up ‘The Martian’
When conducting an interview, California law requires that you ask for consent before (and after) pushing the record button. This gave Andy Weir ideas. “So anyway, that’s when I learned that elephant dung is not a toy. Anyways, go on with your interview!” is the first official line of our recording. Weir — the best-selling author of “The Martian” — is in good spirits, joking with his usual sardonic humor over the banging of the new flooring being installed in his home.
‘The Martian’ author Andy Weir returns with moon caper ‘Artemis’
If you could — for a substantive chunk of your life’s savings — visit a tourist city on the moon, would you? Hint: The answer should be yes. For Jazz, the snarky protagonist of Andy Weir’s sophomore novel, it’s a not a decision she has to make. She’s a permanent resident of the lunar city Artemis, one of the lower-class residents that keep the place running for the likes of tourists and the “J. Worthalot Richbastard III’s” that live there (her description).
Taylor Swift embraces thoroughfare synth-pop with ‘Reputation’
Taylor Swift, perhaps more than any of her contemporaries, has built herself as a brand queen. That brand, much like the “not like other girls” persona she plays in “You Belong With Me” circa 2008, is more often than not centered on the way in which she is different from every other pop star. She’s cultivated an image as an independent, ferocious businesswoman via her ongoing reticence toward streaming services.
The 5 best venues to see live music in the Bay Area
As music beat at The Daily Californian, I’ve covered a lot of concerts. I’ve seen shows at the Hearst Greek Theatre, the UC Theatre, Golden Gate Park, the Great American Music Hall, The Fillmore, Slim’s, Oakland Metro Operahouse, the Paramount Theatre, Bottom of the Hill, The Masonic, Rickshaw Stop, Brick and Mortar Music Hall, America’s Cup Pavilion, The Independent, Shoreline Amphitheatre, Yoshi’s, Oracle Arena, DNA Lounge and the Fox Theater, among the others I’m likely forgetting.
OK Go treats fans to authentic, high-energy performance in sold-out show
Eager hands shot up across the GA floor at The Fillmore as OK Go frontman Damian Kulash surveyed the crowd. It wasn’t the first time he’d queried the audience. More than halfway through the band’s sold-out Thursday night show, he had already responded to questions with answers ranging from “roofies” to “his dog’s dog,” who, evidently, is a bit of a handful. “What is your annual confetti budget?” yelled a man from somewhere stage right.
MGMT returns after hiatus with gothic-tinged track ‘Little Dark Age’
A woman walks into a dark and haunted mansion with a candlestick, and, with a flourish of synth, announces the return of MGMT. It’s been four years since Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser released MGMT, and the wheels are starting to turn again. “Little Dark Age” — the first single from the band’s forthcoming 2018 album — was released today, the near five-minute track accompanied by a music video directed by Nathaniel Axel and David MacNutt.
Daily Cal Presents: Berkeley Beats with Sunset Lines
Berkeley Beats is the newly launched video series in which The Daily Californian features local artists in iconic locales around Berkeley. For our inaugural episode, we brought San Francisco-based indie band Sunset Lines to the Arts & Entertainment desk at our office for a performance of two recent singles. The members of Sunset Lines met, like many groups in the city, via a Craigslist ad.
Lack of crowd engagement eclipses Moon Taxi’s set at the Fillmore
You know a band has made it not when it garners wild cheers during its choruses, but when the crowd goes silent for the quieter interludes. Moon Taxi, one senses, is a band on the cusp of commandeering that kind of rapt attention from its audience — but it hasn’t quite gotten there yet. Part of that lack of engagement — the rowdy audience talked over many of the softer sections of songs — might be the odd slice of life that the band has eked out as its primary audience.
‘American Made’ flies high with thrills, falters from featherweight narrative
“American Made” came packaged, perhaps to its detriment, with high expectations. Promisingly, it is a reteam between Tom Cruise and his “Edge of Tomorrow” director Doug Liman — one of the few directors of late to successfully scratch away at the frustratingly curated Cruise veneer.
Paramore peddles new pop, old punk at Paramount Theatre
For a minimum price of $75 — and up through the plainly exorbitant $100+ range — one could see Paramore’s punk-turned-pop brand at The Paramount Theatre last Sunday. Perhaps those prices are the single most emblematic sign of the band’s pop conversion.
The Killers’ ‘Wonderful Wonderful’ brings refreshing sonics, but frustrating disjoints
The Killers has never really seemed to find its way out from under the massive shadow cast by 2004’s “Mr. Brightside.” Granted, it was a track that almost immediately wove itself deep into the meshes of our cultural fabric; its opening riff alone is still inescapable, like a subconscious melody humans are born with, buried somewhere in our limbic system.
Keith Jeffery talks Atlas Genius’ ‘63 Days of Love’ tour
Co-founded by brothers Keith, Michael and Steven Jeffery, along with English-born Darren Sell, the Australian indie-rock band Atlas Genius first started recording music in a studio built in a garage with the help of the brothers’ father. That was where the group wrote “Trojans,” the groovy, infectious track that broke the band into the mainstream and dominated U.S. airwaves in 2012.
Matthew Vaughn wastes potential in ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’
Matthew Vaughn walked into making 2014’s “Kingsman: The Secret Service” like the kid that everyone expected would get exactly average on the midterm. At the helm of “X-Men: First Class” and “Kick-Ass,” he showed a decent mastery of action directing, if not for engaging stories.
Glass Animals’ Dave Bayley on what makes live shows tick
For some bands, live performances are, structurally, not a hard nut to crack. Jam out on some guitars, basses, drums and keyboards, throw in lots of energy and some dazzling lights, and fans are happy. For certain types of music, that’s enough. But for the guys in Glass Animals — who hail from Oxford and are performing at the Greek Theatre this Friday — the live show presents some distinct challenges.
Rock group Muse does fans disservice with amphitheater tour
I once met a woman, a retired gynecologist, in line for my first Muse concert. It was her 40th.
Shoreline Amphitheatre is where rock shows go to die
I went to my first concert when I was 15, as a sophomore in high school. The band was Thirty Seconds to Mars, and I loved them. My best friend and I had seen, quite literally, every single live performance of the band there was to see on YouTube (a more manageable feat in 2010 than it is now). The venue was the gorgeously intimate House of Blues in San Diego, and the two of us wore homemade ribbon-and-key necklaces based on the band’s “Hurricane” video.
Dichotomies of form, content abound in Ariel Pink’s ‘Dedicated to Bobby Jameson’
As anyone who’s spoken to Ariel Rosenberg, who goes by Ariel Pink, will probably tell you, it’s somewhat of a fracturing experience. It’s impossible to force his worldview into any one box — except perhaps the box that is whatever the opposite of what you just suggested is.
Foo Fighters take positive step with ‘Concrete and Gold,' despite emulation
At this point, we kind of have to ask — “Who, exactly, are the Foo Fighters?” The answer seems obvious — the band has been a rock staple and cultural juggernaut for more than a decade now, with hits such as “Learn to Fly,” “Best of You” and “Monkey Wrench” to keep fans satisfied. But it has also been panned year after year by critics for a perceived staleness — leading to ill-advised alternative forays that found few new fans and began instead to drive away fans the band already had.
Alvvays drop its fuzz with clean, dream-pop statement ‘Antisocialites’
Since the release of its debut self-titled album in 2014, Toronto indie-pop outfit Alvvays has been anything but antisocial. The group has packed the three years between its first release and its latest with appearances at some of the largest festivals around — including Glastonbury and Coachella — rendering the release of Antisocialites on Friday ironic in a way that perfectly fits the wealth of contradictions the group weaves into its music.
Death From Above take aim at dance floors with ‘Outrage! Is Now’
On the title track of Outrage! Is Now, drummer and vocalist Sebastien Grainger of Death From Above (now sans the 1979) opens with “Outrage, outrage, I’m out of rage / Maybe it’s my age but I can see a clear light.” The rest of the album seems to disagree — it’s packed with the raw, bristling energy that brought the band to the fore.
The National mines troubled times in richly textured ‘Sleep Well Beast’
In 2008, The National played at a rally for Barack Obama and sold T-shirts in support of his candidacy; during the 2010 midterm election, the band played to a crowd of 25,000 during one of his rallies in Madison, Wisconsin. In 2016, they played a show for Hillary Clinton. But Sleep Well Beast, the band’s 7th album, is the first to carry that political action directly into the band’s music.
Improvaganza puts spontaneous humor on display
On Friday evening, Genetics and Plant Biology’s room 100 was packed with students for some improv routines by four campus teams: jericho!, Best Laid Plans, improv4charity and TBD Comedy. Partially a joint showcase, partially a pitch for people to come to auditions, the event gave each group time to demonstrate their own distinct style and brand. The jericho! team started out the night with a montage set that lasted about 15 minutes.
The Script’s ‘Freedom Child’ is shackled by bland attempts at EDM, millennial references
No one was asking a lot of The Script. The Dublin based pop-rockers floated through the 2000s on the backs of a few relatively popular singles: “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved” and “Breakeven” from their debut, self-titled album, as well as “Six Degrees of Separation” and “Hall of Fame” off of 2012’s #3. The formula didn’t change much for nearly a decade, and that was fine. It worked.
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