1. Lorde’s “Love Club”

Lorde-mania was in full force for her Sunday set. Teens cried, shoved, danced and then cried some more as they tried to catch a glimpse of their queen. People waiting for The Who just stood in shock and confusion. Lorde, dressed in her mainstay Adidas Superstars, was flanked by interpretive dancers and seemed in her element as the crowd watched her every move.

She didn’t disappoint as she ran through singles from “Pure Heroine,” debuted songs off of “Melodrama” and brought collaborator Jack Antonoff for a sweet cover of “Me and Julio Down by the School Yard.” She moved from her duet to an emotional monologue about moving away from home for the first time, as she introduced the heartbreaking “Liability.” But three minutes later we were all ready to dance and sing along to her mega-hit “Royals.”   

“I felt like a star, like a real star,” says Hana Valente, The She’s lead singer and third year USF student, as she reminisces about her Aug. 13 Outside Lands debut. Valente’s favorite moment of their set started when, “One of my bandmates asked, ‘who’s from the Bay Area,’ and it was everyone, so it was great to feel the love because they’ve seen us grow up through the years,” she says.

One of the first movie reviews I wrote as scene editor at “The Foghorn” was for a James Franco comedy. It’s only fitting my last be a roundtable interview with him and his brother, Dave Franco to promote their latest film “The Disaster Artist.”

“The Disaster Artist,” which chronicles the tempestuous production of Tommy Wisseau’s cult hit “The Room,” is a triumph of cosmic irony. The film, based on actor Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell’s book about the making of “The Room,” is ultimately a story about brotherhood. It’s perfect for James Franco’s brother, Dave Franco to play Sestero, Wisseau’s best friend and “The Room’s” lead actor. The film follows Wisseau’s well-intentioned, yet toxic desire for approval. As director and protagonist, James Franco gives Wisseau what he always wanted for “The Room:” nearly universal critical acclaim.

I’ve never seen people standing in the front row leave in the middle of a concert, but that’s exactly what happened during Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile’s “Lotta Sea Lice” stop in Oakland. The crowd (including me) wore the same uniform of black jeans, plaid shirts and trucker jackets as they languidly moved from side to side, sipped beers and mouthed Barnett and Vile’s confessional stream-of consciousness lyrics. It was a lazy crowd, one that failed to really connect with the artists.

Something about the timing of the release of “Girlboss” which celebrates entrepreneur Sophia Amuroso, feels a little off. Netflix’s “Girlboss” is an adaptation of Amoruso’s memoir of the same name, chronicling her rise from shoplifting, dumpster-diving college dropout to owner of Nasty Gal and member of multiple Forbes lists.  While the show was being filmed, Nasty Gal, declared bankruptcy. By the time the show was released this Friday, the company had switched owners and Amoruso rebranded herself as a feminist lifestyle guru.

When I found out that VeganBurg was opening nearby, I knew I had to go, mostly out of curiosity but also because it’s close to my job. I go through brief flirtations with vegetarianism, only to end up in the arms [or wings] of my beloved chicken, and maybe VeganBurg would make a convert out of me.

The Haight’s VeganBurg is the very first of its kind within the United States. The restaurant is part of a successful Singaporean fast food chain. It’s a plant based fast food place, advertised by public figures like Paul McCartney and Bill Clinton, if you need the celebrity endorsement.

Barrio is Kasamahan’s largest event, bringing students, alumni, and families together to celebrate Filipino culture through performance. One of Barrio’s choreographers, junior Chanelle Mariano describes being in Kasamahan as, “it’s a party all the time. It’s like being at home growing up in a traditional Filipino household, your families are huge and they’re noisy, and this is just like this. I want Barrio to feel like that.”

Gore Verbinski’s latest, the creepy “A Cure For Wellness,” seems destined to be a cult horror classic, reminiscent of Dario Argento’s ‘80s Giallo films. There’s an insanely twisty plot full of gruesome imagery, slithering deadly animals, a cult, and it all takes place in an isolated town in Europe. Verbinski adeptly takes this surreal style of horror and turns it into something realistic and viscerally scary, thanks to his actors’ strong performances and excellent cinematography.

Kate and Laura Mulleavy, best known as the CFDA Award winning creators of the fashion label Rodarte, decided to make a movie five years ago. “Woodshock” their first directorial effort, is a dreamy, nightmarish look at grief. Theresa (Kirsten Dunst) a marijuana dispensary employee in Humboldt finds herself caught in a hallucinogenic emotional crisis after her mother’s death. We talk to the Mulleavy sisters about the difference between designing and filmmaking, their surreal rise to fashion darlings, and the importance of creative partnership.

I’ve never seen people standing in the front row leave in the middle of a concert, but that’s exactly what happened during Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile’s “Lotta Sea Lice” stop in Oakland. The crowd (including me) wore the same uniform of black jeans, plaid shirts and trucker jackets as they languidly moved from side to side, sipped beers and mouthed Barnett and Vile’s confessional stream-of consciousness lyrics. It was a lazy crowd, one that failed to really connect with the artists.

Cults gained nearly instant attention after the release of their 2010 single “Go Outside,” which was picked up by indie blogs like “Hipster Runoff” (RIP) and “Pitchfork,” and was played in literally every Gap store that year. Their ‘60s Ye-Ye-inspired indie rock combined with dark lyricism and visuals — their first music video superimposed them into the Jonestown Massacre — have proven to be entrancing. Madeline Follin (vocalist and instrumentalist) and Brian Oblivion (guitarist and drummer) prepare to play a sold out show at The Chapel and a free show at Amoeba Music tomorrow to promote “Offering,” their third album. Follin and Oblivion spoke with the Foghorn about their favorite places in San Francisco, why they recorded their album in the city and how they came up with their band’s name.

White plastic boxes packed with everything from rare 60’s Beatles originals to the newest vinyl were calmly rifled through as vendors recited production, artist and album history to anyone who would listen at KUSF’s Rock ’N’ Swap. Rock ‘N’ Swap has been one of KUSF’s major events for 35 years. The final swap event of the school year united music lovers from around the Bay to McClaren Hall to sell, swap and add to their record collections.

Julia Ducournau, the director of the terrifying, seductive and full-on disgusting “Raw” created a nearly perfect debut. “Raw” can best be described as a coming of age horror movie. Justine (Garance Marillier), a freshman at a veterinary school, discovers she has a craving for human flesh after going through a traumatic hazing ritual. We talked to Ducournau about the film, her influences and female sexuality.

It’s not often that you see a literal douche as a movie villain. Then again, it’s not often that you see an adults-only animated film that creates a discussion about religious tensions through comedy. “Sausage Party” takes the classic animated film formula (anthropomorphize a series of inanimate objects, add some catchy songs, and make everything as colorful as possible) and adds irreverent jokes, visual gags, and too many food puns to count. Like other animated films, it also has an overt moral lesson.

Brandon Do and Nick Eremita, two USF sophomores and members of Circus Season, have a whole drumset, two guitar amps, a bass amp and five or six guitars stuffed in their Phelan Hall room, which doubles as a rehearsal and recording space. Circus Season came together to create a three (occasionally four piece) indie dance band at USF as freshmen last year, after a chance encounter in Ocean Beach.

With its bright colors and use of innovative animation techniques, “Trolls” is the perfect cheery break we need from our current political climate. The movie follows two trolls, cheery Princess Poppy (Anna Kendrick) and the cynical Branch (Justin Timberlake) as they go on a quest to save their friends from the Bergens, chronically unhappy creatures who can only feel happiness by eating Trolls.

In the middle of their promotion tour, co-directors Mike Mitchell and Walt Dohrn, visited the Ritz-Carlton on Oct. 21. Drinking fresh pressed juice in a sunny conference room, they talked about the making of “Trolls,” the future of animation, and their inspirations.

Noise Pop’s annual festival has become a staple of San Francisco’s music scene, taking place in concert venues all over San Francisco and Oakland. The festival is also a launch pad for indie artists like Modest Mouse (1998), The White Stripes (2001), Sleigh Bells (2012) and countless others, who played some of their first shows in Noise Pop’s San Francisco stages. We spoke to Dawson Ludwig, Noise Pop Festival’s General Manager, as he put the finishing touches on the 25th Noise Pop Festival.

Having lived within minutes of New York City and now in San Francisco, I’ve adopted an affinity for Russian bakeries. As soon as I realized I lived two minutes away from Moscow and Tbilisi, I walked over as fast as my legs could take me.

Moscow and Tbilisi looks like a classic bakery, with its light yellow awning and dark pink letters guiding you in. The faint smell of dough and sugar surround you, and the few tables are full with customers who all seem to be regulars.

It’s rare to listen to a 23 year old band that still manages to sound modern. Perhaps it’s because the 90s are back in full force, or because the songs themselves are still original and inimitable. Songs like 1995’s insistent and catchy “Vow” sound almost like Sleigh Bells’ guitar based power pop. Garbage, much like Nirvana, has somehow managed to find a large group of fans that weren’t born when their first album came out.

I actually love so-bad-they’re-good guilty pleasure movies. You know the ones: low budget, poorly acted, and tongue-in-cheek. “Mother’s Day” is not one of those movies, it’s just a bad movie. It’s filmed well, has a talented cast, and clearly had a good budget, but the script ruined everything.

Garry Marshall, director of rom-com classics like “Pretty Woman” and “The Princess Diaries,” has dedicated the last six years of his life making anthology films about lesser holidays with recognizable actors, where everyone is somehow interconnected, white (with the exception of exactly two speaking minority characters), upper middle class, and able to fall in love by the end.