Chloe Gabrielson

It was 5:21 pm on a mundane Monday night. I sat down and pulled up my French homework: Speakology: pratiquez le dialogue avec l’IA . What followed was one of the least productive ‘conversations’ of my life, during which I half-intentionally claimed to have experienced homelessness, got asked what I personally was doing to stop coastal erosion in Côte-Aignan (a city I’ve never heard of), and was told that my two-word response “Je pense” (I think) was a great idea on learning how to solve the...

I recently rewatched Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, a comedy that was made in 1998 by Guy Ritchie. I laughed, I gasped, etc., but what I remember thinking as I sat on the couch in a post-movie daze was how British the whole thing was. I’d heard the difference in humor between American and British media tossed around a couple of times. I didn’t feel like I really saw it until then. Perhaps a clearer example is The Office , which was adapted from the British show with the same name....

Why did Gnomeo and Juliet get made? I’m being serious. It had a budget of $36 million. Someone was motivated to make this movie and make it good. Spoiler alert: I fear the movie was. One song was even gnominated for a Golden Globe. That Disney executive put their reputation on the most high-stakes gamble of 2011, and it paid off—literally. Gnomeo and Juliet made $193.9 million. While the concept made me suspicious, the cast list quickly assuaged my doubts. The voice actors for this movie...