Pencil Shavings: The Giant Chop
Justice Amick is a senior telecommunications journalism major and writes “Pencil Shavings" for the Daily News. Her views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Justice at jramick@bsu.edu.
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Justice Amick is a senior telecommunications journalism major and writes “Pencil Shavings" for the Daily News. Her views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Justice at jramick@bsu.edu.
John Lynch is a freshman Journalism news major and writes “Manifesto" for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to John at jplynch@bsu.edu.
Derivative: Adjective, Imitative of the work of another person, and usually disapproved of for that reason. To take it straight from the dictionary, a derivative work is something that we’ve seen time and time again, to the point of being shunned for its’ lack of innovation. Nowhere is this more commonplace than the horror genre. For every movie about a mythical serial killer, you get sixteen more trying to ape its’ success. For every movie about evil aliens trying to exterminate the human race, you get twenty different movies sent to theaters because they gave their alien one more antenna than the one before it. For every movie about a haunted doll, a cabin in the woods, a haunted house…you can guess where it goes from there.
Disclaimer: This review is of the Android version and was conducted on a Samsung Galaxy S6
Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for this episode of God Friended Me.
For people who were in the know, 2017 was the year of Brockhampton. In a span of six months, the self-described “boy band” released three albums, Saturation, Saturation ll, and Saturation lll, filled with some of the most charismatic, catchy, wonderfully produced hip hop of the decade.
Blake Williamson is a junior journalism major who writes "Blake's Beats" for The Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Blake at bdwilliamson@bsu.edu.
This review is based off the Xbox One version of the game.
Guerilla Toss is no stranger to new-wave and art pop, but on ‘Twisted Crystal’, they expand their sound on all fronts with surf rock sounds, chopped up, vaporizing synths, and drum machines that make up a truly unique production. All the members bring something new to the table in each song with entertaining performances that feel fresh and exciting. In only half an hour, Guerilla Toss takes you on an adventure through space and time.
by Tanner Kinney 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. Warner Bros. has a problem. The market is booming with superheroes and superhero accessories, with Marvel making a killing, and pseudo-superhero films fairing pretty well too. Meanwhile, DC was recently coming off the Christopher Nolan Batman films when this trend started, and so they attempted to keep that style. As it turns out, audiences don’t react well to dark, gritty, confusing, and boring superhero films. They managed to squander one of the most anticipated film concepts with Batman v. Superman, and not even their big ensemble Justice League movie did well. Now, with news of various characters like Batman, Superman, and The Joker getting recast due to their original actors abandoning the project, it seems like DC’s ship has holes that can’t be plugged by CGI lips and reshoots. Can Warner Bros. still save their superhero goldmine? Or has it already gone too far towards collapse that it can’t be saved? Let’s examine what DC has coming up soon, and if there’s even a slim chance that they can start making money again.
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.
by Matthew Yapp 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. Our world is filled with heroes. Men and women in capes with god-like powers protecting the innocent from the clutches of evil. Unfortunately for us, all those heroes happen to exist on the pages of comics or on the big screen. Far too often it feels like the real people we interact with are playing super-villains, egotistical maniacs terrorizing our life for reasons that we just can’t quite sympathize with. At least that was the case for me. Many of my early years were spent in anguish giving me a tragic backstory that would make even the likes of Batman feel bad for me. I won’t bore you with the details; however, to lay the scene you need to understand that in my adolescence, I was crushed by a sense of doubt and self-hatred that was reinforced by my surroundings. This left me unsure about a lot of things; the main one, however, was always, “What am I going to do to not turn into the people who’ve hurt me?”
by Tt Shinkan 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. Comic books play a huge role in my life. They’re the reason I love to draw, why I workout, why I try to be the best person I can be. I’ve loved superheros ever since I can remember. Today, comic book movies are just as popular as that stupid Fortnite dance. Everyone has seen at least one Marvel movie and can say they’re a fan of a certain character. Everyone who knows me knows I’m a huge Wolverine fan as well as an even bigger X-Men fan. I can tell you probably all there needs to be known about the misfit mutant team, but the number one reason why I like them is because they are different. They were born with this unique gift. Every character has this power that makes them unique as well as having something that drives them to be a hero. I feel like I related to them simply because I’m a little different. I’m a girl who enjoys boyish things. Actually, I was a huge tomboy when I was younger. I still consider myself one, but I have since become more “girly” and I really enjoy dressing in cute outfits. Of course I love wearing graphic tees and baseball caps. I embrace the things that make me different, much like these mutants embrace their extraordinary abilities. However, I can remember a time in my life when comic movies and comics in general weren’t as popular as they are today, and I was actually pretty embarrassed to like them, since girls my age weren’t typically into them. For that, we’re going to have to take a trip back to 2009, back when this girl was just starting the most awkward time of her life: middle school. Okay, let’s face it, middle school isn’t the best three years of any of our lives. We’re still figuring out who we are as an individual, not to mention puberty. And with those things comes the need to fit in much like how at first, newly fledged mutants want to be normal. Middle schoolers are mean little creatures; they’ll make fun of those not “popular” and “different”. I was one of those “different” girls back in middle school. In elementary school, everyone knew I was into superheros and that I loved Wolverine, but now that I was in a school that contained kids from all three Munster elementary schools, there were a lot of people who didn’t know me. And much like a mutant kid hiding their powers from everyone, I then had to try to hide something that I loved so much. Something that makes me, me. And let me tell you, it was hard. I felt really weird wearing a simple superhero T-shirt around school because I was afraid people would think I was weird. People already thought I was a bully simply because of my athletic body type. Of course that quickly ended after everyone learned how friendly I was, but me trying to build up enough courage to embrace my comic book love took some time. After tests and during study hall when I didn’t have homework to do, I would read one of my graphic novels. X-Force was my favorite series at the time because it included two of my favorite heroes: Wolverine and X-23. I would bring in one of the hardback graphic novels to school, but take off the cover because I didn’t want anyone to see me reading it. All of this sounds stupid right? Well, it was, but because I felt so weird being a girl who liked something that was meant for boys, I felt like I needed to hide it. I was essentially hiding my mutant power from the world. But just like Professor X confronted new mutants and took them to the X Mansion, I too, had my own X Mansion: art class. Art class allowed me to be myself. My teachers, much like the Professor, encouraged me to draw what I wanted, and what I wanted to draw were superheros. My 6th grade art teacher even bought a Marvel calendar because she knew I would like it. Most of my projects incorporated some form of comic book related subject matter. Did the kids in my class make fun of me and mock me for it? Sorta. Did I care? Nope! I was finally in my element and I was finally able to embrace what made me, me. I was put into Honors Art for the rest of middle school, and the teacher for it was a huge advocate for my superhero-inspired artwork. Much like a veteran X-Men helping a new student with their powers, he would help me with the different projects we had to do and figured out ways to incorporate a hero element into them. Today, I’m thankful for both of my art teachers for allowing me to come out of my shell. By 8th grade everyone knew about my love for comic books and no one cared anymore. The Marvel Cinematic Universe was just starting to become mainstream, and more and more people were getting into comics. In fact, people would ask me about the characters featured in these movies. And by high school, I felt like a fully fledged X-Man. Showing off my powers to a world that treated me as their equal. Looking back at this experience, I’m glad I experienced it. Much like every great origin story, a hero has to overcome an obstacle in order for them to become someone everyone instantly feels safe as soon as they arrive. I’m not saying that everyone feels like that whenever I show up somewhere, but everyone does know that they can truly be themselves around me, because I’ve known what it’s like to be different. I know it’s impossible to be an actual X-Man, but I like to think of my experience as a real life comic book origin story. I embrace the things that make me different, and I have comic books to thank for that!
Kennedi Barnett is a sophomore journalism news major and writes "Kennedi’s Kaleidoscope" for The Daily News. Her views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Kennedi at kpbarnett@bsu.edu.
When Fatima Nyeema Warner, aka Noname, released her debut mixtape Telefone in 2015, she quickly solidified herself as a unique voice in hip-hop and one of the most promising artists in the scene. Her rapping, while at times frustratingly soft-spoken and amateurish, bordered on beat poetry in a fascinating way, and her understated positivity was something that nobody in rap was or is bringing to the table. It was evident that with some extra work, the Chicago rapper, poet, and songwriter is capable of making something even greater; maybe even legendary. While she doesn’t quite reach “legendary”, Room 25 is a greater work in almost every aspect and definitely lives up to the expectations that her debut album has set.
In this week's episode of How It's Played, we are discussing the epidemic of open-world games. This includes the many issues that plague these games and some of the major benefits of the genre.
Demi Lawrence is a sophomore journalism news major and writes "Unspoken" for The Daily News. Her views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Demi at dnlawrence@bsu.edu.
Tierra Harris is a freshman journalism and sociology major and writes “Tierra Talks” for The Daily News. Her views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Tierra at tmharris@bsu.edu.
Back in 1987, Predator was released onto the movie going public. The film took your standard 80s action movie plot, and turned it on its head by having a group of special forces soldiers hunted down by an alien. Ever since then, Predator has been regarded as a classic of 80s action cinema and has spawned a multimedia franchise. This includes two sequels, comic books, video games, and several crossovers with the Alien franchise. This film marks the cinematic return of the ultimate hunter after eight years. Helmed by Shane Black (director of Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang, Iron Man 3, and The Nice Guys, along with having a role in the original film as Hawkins), the film is a welcome return as well as being enjoyably fun.
Carrie Underwood is well-known in the country music world for relying on faith during pressing times. She has a specific style and way of doing her music. No other female country artist can do what Underwood does. Her latest album, Cry Pretty, never shies away from what she knows. Dealing with hardship and loss is the prime theme in this album. She does a great job at keeping her name around among this new wave of country music. Much of country music today consists of one-night-stands gone wrong, repeating phrases over and over and having rap in the background. It seems as almost country has lost its way and I don’t know what that means for the future of country music. There are few artists who have stuck to their way of writing music. Carrie is one of them. This is one of her strengths and why she is great at what she does.