Reality Check S1E6: Unbalanced
In this episode, Emma and Annie discuss the fallout of the previous bonfire and everything that transpires after.
Use the fields below to perform an advanced search of Ball State Daily's archives. This will return articles, images, and multimedia relevant to your query. You can also try a Basic search
16 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
In this episode, Emma and Annie discuss the fallout of the previous bonfire and everything that transpires after.
The Namby Pamby is an alternative band composed of three female artists: McKenna Parks on guitar, Emily Parks on bass, and Payton Knerr on drums. The group was established at the end of 2021 and has been performing since the beginning of 2022. The band agreed to be interviewed over Zoom to talk about themselves and their future plans.
Peacehead is a rock band composed of two band members, Raven Milligan and Aden Johnson. The band started in early 2019, releasing their first album, Escargot, in October 2019. The multi-instrumental duo originally came from Kokomo, Indiana, and are currently playing in the Indianapolis and Muncie areas. Band member, Raven Milligan, agreed to be interviewed about the band and its future.
It is National Hispanic Heritage Month and that means the Spanish music on my playlists will be played nonstop to celebrate. In high school, I asked a friend, who was enrolled in a Spanish course, for music recommendations that she had discovered in her class. After sifting through the songs that she suggested, I added some to a playlist. Slowly, I weeded them out and selected the ones that I thought should make it onto my primary playlist. That’s when I recognized there was one repetitive name—Alvaro Soler. After realizing how much I enjoyed his songs, I did a deep dive to listen to more of his discography and became enamored with his music. His song “Sofia” made it onto my most listened to music on Spotify multiple years in a row. Recently I looked back at his Spotify profile to see if he had released any new music and was not disappointed. On July 9, 2021, Soler released another album titled Magia, that rekindled the magic I felt from falling in love with his previous music years ago.
Right off of Ball State University’s campus sits a small strip of shops. When you scan the stores in this strip, commonly referred to by students as “The Village,” there are bookstores, bars, and pizza joints. But, above a café, lies a hidden gem: Body Language Tattoo. The shop, which opened in 2015, offers tattoos and body piercings.
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.
by Annie BastianThe 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. One of the best feelings in the world in finding new music through an artist that you already love. Recently I was listening to songs by the artist eaJ, also known as Jae from the K-pop band Day6, when I came across a collaboration he had done with an artist I had never heard of called Seori, a South Korean R&B artist. Naturally I clicked on the video to listen to it, and it took approximately 30 seconds for me to completely fall in love with her voice. The song “It just is” captured Seori’s dream-like voice that makes you connect to both the song and the emotions that come with realizing you are in love, even if you do not speak Korean. I was hooked and I needed to hear more of her voice.
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.
For anyone looking for new music, I highly recommend checking out Sammy Rae. Last year when I was getting prepared for a long car ride, I reached out to people asking for new music recommendations and a friend of mine told me about Sammy Rae’s EP, The Good Life. I remember that the first song that came on shuffle from the EP was “Kick It to Me.” I was automatically captivated due to the saxophone during the introduction and her unique voice. I vividly remember that when I stopped for gas after hearing it, the first thing I did was text my friend thanking her for telling me about this EP. I then sent the song to my father who used to play saxophone and therefore has a strong appreciation for any music that features one. While stopped, I also queued the rest of the EP on Spotify. I have been in love with Sammy Rae’s music ever since. I am strongly attached to the EP The Good Life, but Sammy Rae also has some other music that is well worth a listen. Unlike some groups where if you’ve heard one song you have heard them all, Sammy Rae keeps the listener interested by reflecting many genres such as jazz, pop, blues, and rock in her music. With a diverse array of genres in her music, every song has a distinctive sound.
by Annie Bastian For anyone looking for new music, I highly recommend checking out Sammy Rae. Last year when I was getting prepared for a long car ride, I reached out to people asking for new music recommendations and a friend of mine told me about Sammy Rae’s EP, The Good Life. I remember that the first song that came on shuffle from the EP was “Kick It to Me.” I was automatically captivated due to the saxophone during the introduction and her unique voice. I vividly remember that when I stopped for gas after hearing it, the first thing I did was text my friend thanking her for telling me about this EP. I then sent the song to my father who used to play saxophone and therefore has a strong appreciation for any music that features one. While stopped, I also queued the rest of the EP on Spotify. I have been in love with Sammy Rae’s music ever since. I am strongly attached to the EP The Good Life, but Sammy Rae also has some other music that is well worth a listen. Unlike some groups where if you’ve heard one song you have heard them all, Sammy Rae keeps the listener interested by reflecting many genres such as jazz, pop, blues, and rock in her music. With a diverse array of genres in her music, every song has a distinctive sound.
by Annie Bastian Nothing beats sitting in a stadium seat and hearing the roar of the crowd, as the floor nearly shakes from the endless stream of fans screaming, cheering, and singing along to their favorite artist. Before 2020, going to concerts was something that countless people across the globe would plan weeks in advance to attend. But as COVID-19 has brought the ability to attend in-person concerts to a halt, the music industry has had to get creative to still connect with their audiences. To overcome this obstacle, many artists have taken to performing live stream concerts online. Recently, South Korean Male Group, BTS, hosted their “Map of the Soul ON:E” shows, which consisted of two pay-per-view online concerts that were live-streamed on back-to-back days. Not Their First Rodeo [caption id="" align="alignright" width="376"] Image from Forbes[/caption] Before the “Map of the Soul ON:E” concert was broadcasted, BTS was a group that already had experience connecting with their fans through the internet. The international boy group had been planning their Map of the Soul world tour that was scheduled to begin in April 2020. As COVID-19 began shutting down international travel, the group, like many other artists at the time, had no choice but to delay their tour. Instead, the group had a 2 night back-to-back free concert weekend where past concerts from their old tours were streamed online for fans to see. This streaming event, called “Bang Bang Con”, consisted of nearly 24 hours worth of concert content in the span of two nights, or days depending on the time zone. After this streaming event, there was also a “Bang Bang Con: The Live” concert which was a pay-per-view concert shown in June. “Bang Bang Con: The Live” set a Guinness World Record for the most viewers for a music concert live stream with 756,000 paid viewers from over 100 countries. As the pandemic dragged on, BTS released the official announcement that they would be having another online concert: “Map of the Soul ON:E”. Originally, there was supposed to be a live component of the concert in Seoul, South Korea but it was canceled once again due to COVID-19 which left the entire event online. The Experience Going into this experience, I was a little hesitant. When concerts were in person, people knew what they were signing up for, and more or less could expect the quality of the performance they were paying for. So as a fan, it was hard to decide whether attending an online concert is worth the money. I have streamed two different free concerts since the beginning of the pandemic just for fun, but have yet to spend money to watch one. As someone who has seen BTS both in an in-person concert and in online concert streams, I had high expectations for the experience. To see for myself, I bought the $45 ticket and woke up bright and early Saturday morning at 6 am to watch BTS’s “Map of the Soul ON:E” day one concert. Two and a half hours of BTS performance later, I closed my computer quite impressed. When I say BTS spared no expense, I mean there was a full-blown carousel on stage for one performance. BTS went above and beyond to make their virtual concert an experience that their fans could enjoy and remember. [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="373"] Image from NBC News[/caption] As a fan, it was hard getting into the experience without being in a stadium, but the technology and set pieces that were presented took the viewer to what felt like a different dimension. It was a very different experience without other people. It almost felt like I zoned into my own world watching the performances. Was the concert the exact same as an in-person one? Absolutely not. If it was, the production companies would be charging you a lot more. But as a fan of the group, I would say that it was a worthy experience. The concert was formatted exactly as an in-person concert: the intense dances, outfit changes, and breaks for the artists to talk to the viewers. The only difference was you weren’t actually in the same room. Online concerts take away the feeling of community that comes with being in a stadium filled with other fans, but it still allows the artists to be in touch with the audience. BTS live-streamed some of their fans into the concert venue on screens around the room to fill in for the audience during the concert as well. During the ending song, there were cubes suspended around the room with live videos of fans broadcasted on them. It made for a very whimsically surreal experience as a fan, and I applaud BTS’s team for thinking of such amazing ideas to incorporate fans even though we are in a pandemic. It was also a multi-view stream, so fans were getting not just one view, but six they could choose from to watch. This, along with the rebroadcasting of the performance later that evening, at 10 pm, for those wanting to watch the concert again or who missed it the first time, made the concert worth its money for me. The Takeaway I don’t believe online concerts will ever be as good as an in-person concert, but some may be worth the money that you are paying to stream. If the artists go above and beyond to alter parts of the concert to cater to the distance, it can be a very worthwhile experience. Concerts still allow for a person to have something to do to break apart days that are quickly beginning to blur together in the current pandemic. As a K-pop fan, concerts also allow for fans to see new choreographies and performances. After the two days of concerts, my social media erupted in chaos due to the excitement of having new content from the group. But if you are someone who is just a casual fan of the group and go for the fun atmosphere, online concerts would probably not be very engaging and entertaining. Deciding what draws you to a concert, the performers, or the atmosphere, is definitely the deciding factor on whether online concerts would be an enjoyable experience for you. I would say it is worth it to see the sets, performance, and live music. Not every artist will do their concerts the same way, but I would definitely still attend BTS’s concert if I had to do it all over again
With COVID-19 cases still high across the nation with nearly 50,000 new cases in the last 7 days, individuals from all walks of life are having to alter their schedules and plans. Coming back to Ball State University this fall has demonstrated that there will have to be a new normal for everyone. It is currently unacceptable to embrace a friend, walk around without a mask, or congregate in large groups. Even though the average person may miss these small gestures, some Ball State students do not have time to dwell on them as their entire academic lives have been turned upside down. One major that has had to do a lot of adapting for the recent semester is the acting major.
by Annie Bastian With COVID-19 cases still high across the nation with nearly 50,000 new cases in the last seven days, individuals from all walks of life are having to alter their schedules and plans. Coming back to Ball State University this fall has demonstrated that there will have to be a new normal for everyone. It is currently unacceptable to embrace a friend, walk around without a mask, or congregate in large groups. Even though the average person may miss these small gestures, some Ball State students do not have time to dwell on them as their entire academic lives have been turned upside down. One major that has had to do a lot of adapting for the recent semester is the acting major. Classroom Change The theatre majors at Ball State are currently having to reconstruct their way of working to accommodate for social distancing. Currently, for the studio classes for acting majors, or classes that they attend for acting work, they are being confined to their own separate boxes. Sophomore acting major Bernadette Harding said, “there are 12 boxes taped out on the ground and each student has to stay in their own tiny box. Everyone else is zoomed into class, which is really tricky because then the teachers have to be teaching two things at the same time sometimes.” With the limited space and availability for social interaction, the students in these classes are having to get creative with how they are learning. Harding expressed that it is not very easy to alter acting classes in such a way that they are as effective as they were for her last year. “Acting is fully based on human interaction and with all that is going on it is something that we can’t do. We are having to work in our own spaces which is great for safety, but it really has its limitations regarding how you interact with others,” said Harding. “When you're acting, you're taking cues from a physical human being, but when you can't see their face, and the only thing that you can see is their eyes, there's lots of emotion you lose.” Even with the tough task put in front of them, the theatre department has attempted to make the classroom a productive environment for their students to grow with quite a lot of success. “Some stuff just doesn't work at all and it's really impossible to do without the natural feeling of touch. It's very strange. But we're finding new stuff that works really well too,” said Harding. Exit Screen Right Along with the changes in the classroom, the productions that theatre majors put on are having to be altered as well. With limited access to space and audiences, the theatre has taken to Zoom for a portion of their performances. Both the preparation for performances and the productions themselves are becoming Zoom-based. The upcoming performance of She Kills Monsters: Virtual Realms is scheduled to open on Oct. 29 and will be completely virtual. The production, by Qui Nguyen, was written to be performed online. It was created this way to overcome the obstacles set in place by the current pandemic. Other productions that are being moved online are the Cave Theatre series. Both Overpass by Julia Specht, opening on Oct. 6, and Babel by Jacqueline Goldfinger, opening on Nov. 10, have been arranged to premiere virtually. The Show Must Go On Even as the department is making alterations to do online performances, there is still hope for in-person work as well. While maintaining social distancing rules to keep their actors safe, the department has begun to do both Zoom and in-person rehearsals. Harding gave insight into how the theatre has begun finding creative ways to allow for their actors to interact with one another for her upcoming role as Amelia Pilford in The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman. “As of now we are wearing masks and the stage is set up like a grid. We're doing it in an abstract manner where all the blocking is on this grid. So, one actor stands on an 'X', and then your scene partner will stand on another 'X.' You then travel around the stage, but you have to stay within the grid and on an 'X' so that you maintain social distancing,” said Harding. Though this is not a perfect solution, it allows for the students to get out from behind the screen and work with one another. This new and inventive way of going around a problem has allowed for the program to overcome some of the barriers that were placed before them. Finding solutions is the only choice the theatre has to continue during COVID-19. To help support the theatre department during COVID-19, please take some time and keep an eye open for productions occurring in the near future by going to: https://www.bsu.edu/academics/collegesanddepartments/theatredance/whats-on-stage/season-listing Sources: Ball State University, CDC Images: Ball State Theatre and Dance Featured Image: Ball State Theatre and Dance
Welcome back, witches, to another season of the Coven! Bubbling in the cauldron this week is the controversy engulfing the World Athletics Association and South African Olympic runner, Caster Semenya. Semenya has a condition called Hyperandrogenism which causes higher levels of testosterone. This has caused raised questions surrounding gender identity and regulations surrounding athletes with sex development disorders. What makes a woman a woman? How is this justified through science or societal means? Find out all this and more in this week's episode of The Coven!Hosts: Shwetha Sundarrajan and Annie BastianEdited by: Annie BastianGraphic by: Kellyn Harrison