Editor’s note: Tastemakers is a column where we give you, the readers, a glimpse into what we at The Spectator are interested in (fashion, music, pop culture, etc.) It also takes heavy inspiration from Perfectly Imperfect, a paid Substack with content in a similar format. 

This week you will get to know Opinion Editor Ella Freeman. She is a third-year journalism and creative writing student. She prefers to spend her days losing track of time in an antique mall and her weekends traveling to the nearest live music event. Ella loves campy movies and the three days of spring weather a year in the midwest. Let’s hear some more about what she’s fond of. 

Claymation: One of the most underrated genres in cinema is claymation. Not only is the mixture of beautifully crafted clay dolls and the process of stop motion extremely impressive, but it creates a perfectly enchanting vibe. 

I personally love to watch claymation on a cold fall evening, all wrapped up in bed with tea and pumpkin or chai-flavored snacks.

 Tim Burton’s eccentrically chilling mind is perfectly captured through the limitlessness that claymation offers. 

I love how weird these movies can get because they are able to take risks not allowed in live action movies. These films create the perfect background for your late September through early November spooky season. 

My top claymation recommendations are “Corpse Bride,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “Coraline.”

Concert Openers: One thing about me is I love concerts. I even wrote a whole opinion piece about it last year. One of my favorite parts of a concert is the opening act. I know this is an unpopular opinion. 

Most people find the opener an exhausting thing to sit through until their favorite artist comes out, but I see it as an opportunity to find new music. 

I recently went to an Odie Leigh concert and her opener Blood Root was amazing. Her voice was angelic and her guitar skills were unmatched — she shredded that ax. 

I was very impressed to see this artist was not only a solo act but also the guitarist of Leigh’s Band. The tour must be extra exhausting for her playing as the opener and playing in the headliner’s band. I hope to see her headlining her own show one day. 

Collages: School is stressful. I have found that in my free time, I sit and stare at the wall waiting for  the next stressful thing to creep up on me. In my search for something to destress and take time away from technology, I found collaging. 

It’s such a satisfying activity that gets my mind off of everything besides the task in front of me.

I like to create themed collages, but they can be an opportunity to just make something full of cute things. I also get a new piece of room or house decor at the end. 

My most recent collages were one I made for the song “Picture You” by Chappell Roan, and one I made about living as a woman in a male-dominated society. I was really in my feelings that day and collaging was the perfect way to express them. 

CDs: As a music lover, I think the access to any song at the click of a button is a great, extremely satisfying tool. However, I think streaming has the potential to kill the album. 

Many people I know don’t listen to full albums unless they are by an artist they love, and lots of times they will only save singles from an album. 

I can’t blame them for this as I have been known to do the same thing. But I think many musicians create albums as a concept — they are curating a vibe that you just can’t understand from listening to only one song. 

This is why I love listening to CDs. It forces the listener to take in the album in the way the musician intended. I love digging through thrift stores and old record shops for an album I’ve never heard of and listening to it for the first time on my little CD player. 

Pinterest: Pinterest has to be my favorite social media. If you took a look inside my brain, you’d see my thoughts laid out like a Pinterest board. This is by no means a new obsession, but every school year I get a little more into it. Pinterest is my favorite way to procrastinate. 

The more posts saved, the more the algorithm knows what the user wants to see, resulting in a beautifully entrancing homepage. 

It gives me the same gratification antique stores give me — I never know what treasures are buried among the heaping piles. 

Along with the endless outfit inspiration and home decor, I have recently been into making boards based around a theme. My personal favorite right now is “A Romantic Medieval Tragedy.” 

Pinterest has recently updated and added a feature to make boards into a collage, and we know how I feel about that particular craft, so I don’t see my addiction ceasing anytime soon. 

Freeman can be reached at [email protected].