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(10/26/18 1:00pm)
The documentary is a genre that has fairly limitless potential when it comes to subject matter. Whether it’s tackling the life of a single person or attempting to inform the masses of something immensely important (that wouldn’t otherwise land in another medium), documentaries are no stranger to the film landscape. However, a film recently released uses the format to introduce audiences to something they may have never heard of before in their lives: musicals that are semi-literal commercials.
(10/25/18 11:18pm)
We're back witches, with another magical episode of The Coven podcast. This week, we're looking at final girls in slasher films. Final girls in slasher films almost always follow a cookie cutter model. Why does this happen in this genre of the film industry and what does it mean for the women that are involved? All of this and more on this week's episode of The Coven.
(10/25/18 7:00pm)
Disclaimer: This review is of the Xbox One version, and was done in a playthrough as Kassandra
(10/25/18 4:00pm)
I remember when I was in my early teenage years looking for metal-core bands to unleash my angsty youth, listening to A Day to Remember, Bullet for My Valentine, and of course Bring Me the Horizon. One day I was playing Guitar Hero 6 with my friend and stumbled upon a song called ‘Ravenous’ by Atreyu. The song is filled with skull-crushing guitar solos and a killer hook that drives the whole song. It feels completely unique to the genre. Eight years later the band releases ‘In Our Wake’ and all I’m left with to say is: what happened? The album is full of three-minute songs that sound exactly the same featuring boring melodic choruses and a sound that is desperately trying to stay relevant.
(10/25/18 1:00pm)
Cancer is a devastating illness that no one should have to endure, and this is especially true regarding children. Childhood is meant to be an innocent, fun time in a person’s life, but sadly many children are denied a normal childhood due to the debilitating disease. Medical advances have greatly increased the survival rate for those afflicted, but there is still a limit to what modern medicine can do. When all else fails, we turn to other alternative measures.
(10/24/18 10:00pm)
Dawnland is a documentary that tackles an important subject that is sadly not often discussed: the forcible removal of Native American children from their parents by the American government in an effort to assimilate them to white American society. In an effort to distance Native American children from their culture, they were placed in white households, some whom were extremely racist or abusive towards their foster children. Schools specifically tailored to teach these Native American children punished the use of Native languages and taught them to be ashamed of their heritage. Effectively, these children lost a massive part of their identity and were often subject to abuse by their foster parents. Dawnland focuses on the first official truth and reconciliation commission (TRC) in the United States as they travel to the various Wabanaki tribes in Maine to collect testimonies and conduct research on the impact of the peoples’ histories.
(10/25/18 6:45pm)
Stephanie Amador is a senior photojournalism major and writes “Café con Leche” for The Daily News. Her views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Stephanie at skamador@bsu.edu.
(10/24/18 5:00pm)
Scott Fleener is a freshman telecommunications major and writes “Headstrong" for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Scott at jsfleener@bsu.edu.
(10/23/18 9:44pm)
by Ian Roesler
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte's editorial board.
This article contains images some readers may find disturbing.
Leatherface (2017), not to be confused with the early 90s film Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, is a prequel to the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, this movie dealing with the origins of Leatherface.
(10/21/18 3:00pm)
When measuring the milestones of anything, we tend to put value into the multiples of ten, sometimes five. Although it may not be significant in terms of the time this Earth has been around, human lives are short enough that ten years is truly a long time. So when a company, organization, or even University reaches the tremendous milestone of a full century, it’s a feat to be celebrated. These entities have existed long before us, and will be likely to continue after we expire, through more hardships and triumphs than the human mind can comprehend. So, when a story is told about these great milestones there should be plenty of material to tell a story that feels like a true movie narrative. Howard, a documentary finalist at Heartland this year, manages to do that with a life that was tragically cut short, so there should be no issue for Ball State University to tell its story in a similar grandiose fashion.
(10/21/18 1:00pm)
Jeff, much like the games he enjoys playing, lives in a loop. As manager of Winky’s World (a combination bowling alley-arcade), he wakes up at the crack of dawn every morning, and goes to work. He beats his high score on Whizzing Winky (an arcade cabinet he built himself) for the upteenth time, turns the lights on, sprays the shoes, opens the cash register, and pours a cup of coffee for his boss. His coworkers come in, the day goes on, and he stays after everyone has left to close the place down. He goes home, takes his medicine, and goes to sleep. Jeff has been doing this for so long that he has seemingly become a master of the little world that exists inside of Winky’s faded neon signage and hardwood interior. Before he knows it, Jeff’s world is about to come crashing down on him.
(10/20/18 9:29pm)
Disclaimer: This playthrough is based on the PS4 version of the game. This copy of the game was provided by the developer for review purposes.
(10/20/18 8:24pm)
When it comes to slasher films, no slasher villain is as important to the genre as Michael Myers. When John Carpenter’s Halloween first released in 1978, slasher films were not exactly new, but none featured nearly as much artistry and attention to detail. Filmed in just four weeks with a young cast, Halloween proved that budgets and A-list stars don’t have to be a death sentence for a horror film. The success of Halloween reinvigorated the slasher genre, paving the way for other notable slashers to hit the scene.
(10/18/18 7:00pm)
Even though they have been making music for nearly a decade, Twenty One Pilots struck a chord in the mainstream with their last album Blurryface back in 2015. Songs like “Ride” and “Stressed Out” basically controlled the radio. While they did have a sound that was pretty unique and genre jumping, I always found something missing from their sound. Blurryface sounded like it was made for the radio, where they didn’t push any buttons making that record. But with Trench, they push boundaries with their instrumentals, production, and song structures while also delivering excellent vocals.
(10/18/18 6:00pm)
Disclaimer: This game was played on an Xbox One X
(10/18/18 4:00pm)
With his debut album, No Now, London singer, songwriter, and producer Clarence Clarity did something very few artists have done; he introduced himself to the world with a sound that is truly unlike any other artist. His uniquely glitchy, maximalist, surreal brand of alternative R&B set himself apart from everybody else, and was a big part of what made No Now one of the best pop albums of the 21st century. It was quite the act to follow up, so it’s no wonder it was three years before he released a follow-up.
(10/18/18 2:00pm)
Disclaimer: This review is of the PC version and was conducted on a PC with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 960, i7, 8GBs of RAM.
(10/18/18 1:32am)
For many, this age of filmmaking is one where the once-common barriers of genre and casting have been completely shattered in favor of a more unified, progressive vision. With films like Black Panther, Crazy Rich Asians, and even last year’s Wonder Woman, the cinematic landscape has evolved to encapsulate casts in major films that would have (unfortunately) never been feasible in the eyes of corporate executives and producers. However, Nigerian Prince proves that this concept isn’t just doable on a major scale, but even on an independent level as well.
(10/17/18 10:13pm)
by Ethan Altmark
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte's editorial board.
Juuling has become extremely popular in the past few years. It’s an easy and simple way to introduce nicotine into your body. With its sleek and modern design, it’s hard to distinguish a Juul from a flash drive if you’ve never seen a Juul before. The only problem? Minors are Juuling at an unprecedented rate.
In 2018 the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) referred to the trend of teenagers that Juul as reaching “epidemic proportions.” What does that really mean? Well, according to the Oxford Living Dictionary the definition of an epidemic is a “widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time.” So, is the act of Juuling amongst teenagers a real epidemic? Depending on your perspective of whether addiction is a disease or not, the definition may shape your view point.
The FDA is trying to make the crucial point that Juuls are being consumed by a large quantity of minors whose actions will have negative health impacts on their lives that may lead to lifetime of nicotine addiction. Once these kids are addicted to nicotine they may be Juul customers for life or even progress to real cigarettes. Another overlooked danger according to thetruth.com is that one Juul pod has the equivalent amount of nicotine to one pack of cigarettes. After interviewing close to twenty college students who Juul regularly, my first interviewee said that “I commonly go through at least one to two Juul pods a day, if it’s been a long day maybe two to three.” Another student I interviewed states she “runs through three to four pods a day.” I continued to ask how and when they started using Juuls. A Junior attending Ball State admitted that he started Juuling his senior year of high school when his older sibling gave him his first Juul. Furthermore, a few students went on to say that they enjoy Juuling for the “Nicci Buzz”, local jargon for the slight head rush generated from the nicotine that one gets as they deeply inhale a Juul. Another explanation multiple students gave as to why they Juul is the accurate feeling of smoking cigarettes that not many other e-cigarettes can recreate. After polling this small sample size of Ball State students who Juul, close to half of who I interviewed admitted to feeling addicted to their Juul while the other half believe they can stop whenever they desire. Another statistic I derived from my interviews is that nearly three quarters of those who I spoke to began Juuling in high school. A common theme through every interview was that Juuling is preferred to smoking cigarettes for its simplicity and its ability to be discrete.
For adults, to Juul is another luxury of being an adult and accepting the consequences that come with your actions. Unfortunately minors are consuming Juuls as well, so much so that it even grabbed the attention of FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who released statements as a result on The U.S. Food and Drug Association's official website, “Protecting our nation’s youth from the dangers of tobacco products is among the most important responsibilities of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.” The FDA is clearly concerned with the increased use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) by minors. The FDA will continue to regulate ENDS as one of their responsibilities is to “protect kids and significantly reduce tobacco-related disease and death.”
With the rising popularity of Juuls and E-cigarettes in general, adults and minors should research Juuls and other ENDS to see the positives and negatives of the devices. As for some, Juuls can have a positive impact by helping an individual transition from smoking cigarettes, but can also have a negative impact such as having high rates of minor consumption. Juuls are still a fairly new occurrence on the marketplace and we might not see the full repercussions immediately but as time passes we will continue to learn more about Juuls and their effects on society. Due to its recency and potential lack of regulation many more studies must be conducted to see the ramifications of prolonged Juul usage. Juuls may be here to stay and just like any new form of technology there will be benefits and drawbacks, we must as a society consider the consequences of this latest trend.
(10/17/18 10:01pm)
by Jeremy Rogers
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte's editorial board.
With the 2018 Streamy Awards looming on the October 22 horizon, an important question is about to be answered: How can award shows get out of their current viewership slump?
For the past few years, every major televised award show has experienced a decline in viewership. The Academy Awards, the Primetime Emmys, and the Grammys have all experienced steep drop-offs in how many people tune in to watch the award shows.
This isn’t for lack of trying on the part of the different companies that run the different award shows. Back in 2017 when the nominees for the Grammys were announced, many were amazed at the historical show of diversity in the pool of nominees. Byte’s own Ryan fine “It seems like the Grammys have finally taken heed of the #GrammysSoWhite tag and gave several nods to Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s ‘Despacito’, which is the first ever mainly Spanish-language song to be nominated for both Song of the Year and Record of the Year.” Of particular interest was the Album of the Year category, where none of the nominees were white men, a win for diversity.
During the 2018 Primetime Emmys, several portions of the presentation explicitly pointed out how incredibly diverse the cast of nominees. They even had a musical number and everything. Unfortunately, the nominations did not lead to a historic number of people of color earning awards, much to the chagrin of viewers. As Byte’s review editor Tanner Kinney put it in an article, “Even the hosts are making jokes about how white the Emmys are. When you have James Corden even making jokes about it, you’ve achieved something truly terrible. And just so we’re clear, making jokes about it doesn’t make it go away… It’s clear that the Emmys are just acting progressive for brownie points, despite the fact that they are still an Academy run by, and ultimately for, white people.”
The Academy Awards tried to take a different approach to getting viewers to tune into the broadcast. Speaking from several experiences doing research in Hollywood with members of the Academy, Wes Gehring, a Ball State film studies professor who holds a doctorate in film studies, said, “The Academy in the last year or two, they’re trying to increase numbers, and increase diversity. They’re trying to… have more diversity available and to appreciate that.”
But for all of the efforts employed by companies to retain viewers, all have failed. So where can these companies look to find new strategies to engage viewers?
One potential answer is the YouTube’s annual Streamy Awards. In 2016, the online award show reported that they had a total of 586,000 viewers tuning in for the award show. The very next year saw 750,000 people watching 2017’s broadcast. Granted, the Streamys are still relatively new with less than a decade of experience to find an audience. However, the skyrocketing numbers of the program are hard not to notice.