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(01/30/20 5:54pm)
Students across campus have been noticing that their physical Bear Cards are no longer working. Associate Vice President for Auxiliary Services Ken Boyer said in an email to The Cluster that this change isn’t completely unexpected.
“When the Mobile Bear Card was announced it clearly stated that cardholders could only have one valid Credential at a time. During the launch period cardholders were able to test the mobile Credential and decide which format they wanted to use,” Boyer said. “Now that the initial launch is over and as we prepare to launch the program to include Android devices an audit is being done to make sure that only one Credential is valid.”
Boyer also said that the only people who will be affected by this audit are those who previously had access to both a physical Bear Card and a digital Bear Card.
Students who still need to choose between the two formats can do so by contacting the Bear Card office at 478-301-2929. The office is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
(11/24/19 12:00am)
At one point, streaming services existed to make television more accessible for cheaper prices. Now, they are just replacing cable packages, with every network creating its own independent platform for its content to be viewed.
Disney recently launched another of these services, Disney+, and though it has tons of content, it isn’t really anything special.
The first issue with Disney+ is the lack of necessity. Disney already owns Hulu, a very popular streaming platform with tons of great original content such as “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Letterkenny.” Disney hosted a lot of its content on Hulu, but decided to make the financial move to separate Hulu from the original Disney creations to maximize profit.
The next problem with Disney+ is the lack of new original content. Of course, Disney has massive backlogs of content to peruse and enjoy, but part of the reason people subscribe to all of these different services is so they can consume that platform’s exclusive content. If you own Disney movies on DVD, being able to stream them isn’t much of a commodity.
On launch day, the original Disney+ content consisted of two shows about theatre, a Star Wars show that may have something to do with the original trilogy, a Hallmark-style Christmas movie, a few Pixar shorts and a horrific-looking “Lady and the Tramp” “live-action” remake. Disney has been advertising all of the new content it will place on their Disney+ service, but barely anything interesting was available at launch, and they are only releasing episodes once a week. So, if you don’t want to subscribe and only have your one-week free trial, you must have the patience to wait until everything you want to watch is released, and then binge it like a madman.
Functionally, the Disney+ user interface isn’t holding its own against its competitors. It doesn’t have a “continue watching” section, which is pretty standard for every other service. That alone is enough to make users genuinely agitated while navigating the site, because if you want to watch the next episode of a show, you have to search for the show and scroll to whatever episode you’re on.
There is no progress bar on the episodes while you are browsing, and the main screen just says “Play.” So, if you are trying to tell a friend what episode you are on, you have to either start playing the show, or just guess.
The final major problem is when you click the “Movies” or “Series” sections, the site shows you the featured selections in that category. That means that you have to click multiple times to find what you want to watch, as opposed to what Disney wants you to watch. Three of the four featured movies on my account are the scary “Lady and the Tramp,” the tacky Hallmark movie and the live-action “Dumbo,” which has a score of below 50% from both critics and audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. I don’t want to watch these movies, and I shouldn’t have to see them whenever I try to play “Atlantis” or “Treasure Planet.”
Overall, Disney+ is not currently worth the price. The lack of new content and the strange user interface issues make the site lackluster and cumbersome. The only reason I have it is due to the free year offered if you have certain Verizon plans.
Disney+ costs $6.99 a month and is available now.
(11/05/19 2:46am)
Fake news is an industry. It has exploded in size since the 2016 election, partially because of the distrust in journalism encouraged by current political powers. Every time a grandma clicks on a fake story about a man who says he hates Christians and then clicks on an ad that says “people born in the 1960’s have to read this,” someone gets ad revenue from her visit to the site.
Because things can become viral so quickly on social media nowadays, it is important to be able to parse the real from the fake. Here are a few ways to ensure that the stories you are sharing on Facebook are up to snuff.
Look at the source of the article
I have seen more than one person on Facebook share an article from The Onion and say things that make it clear they think it is real. Most people know immediately that an article from The Onion is fake because it is a well-known parody website. However, some fake articles are from sites that aren’t immediately recognizable. If you don’t recognize the source, don’t share the article without looking into it further.
Also, some sources are obviously not legitimate. If something is from a website like “flatearth.com” or “climatechangeisntreal.com,” don’t share it.
Check out the original website
Say you’re looking at an article that seems sketchy on your social media feed. The claim made is intriguing, so you aren’t sure whether to believe it, or what to do next. If this happens, click on the article. I understand that in this day and age, waiting a couple of seconds for a website to load is agonizing, but it’s worth it for you to become more informed.
Once you are on the website, take it in and scope it out. Are there ads for hooking up with MILFs in your area? If so, be wary. If everything on the site looks up to date, there’s a staff page or contact us section, and it doesn’t say “parody” anywhere, the source is more likely to be legitimate. Another good thing to do is scroll down to the bottom of the page. If there is information about who owns the site and/or how to subscribe, chances are you’re in the clear.
Read the article, not just the headline
This one really gets my goat. People will share articles with inflammatory headlines that have nothing to do with the actual information in the story. If you are going to share anything on any social media, read it before you do so. There is one article in particular that I recall where Fox News reported that students wanted to ban Chick-fil-A from the University of Georgia’s campus because it is a “white supremacist cult.” To be fair, I couldn’t find a written version of the Fox report, only the video.
Fox News is a recognizable source of news for a lot of people. However, if you read the story from another source, the UGA student newspaper The Red & Black, the story is very different. Students wanted the restaurant removed because it wasn’t sustainably run.
Reading a full article past the headline can also make it apparent whether the people behind it are legitimate. If there are a lot of spelling errors or the article just doesn’t make sense, it probably isn’t worth the risk of sharing it. Don’t fall for the trick that fake news relies on, and actually read full stories.
Fact-check the information using multiple sources
For the above point, I read multiple articles about the same thing, and the articles were from two different publications. If I hadn’t done so, I wouldn’t have been aware of the real story. This is a good practice in general. Instead of just believing what one article is telling you, double check with a completely different article and see how things line up between them. It’s a big deal to say something is being called a “white supremacist cult,” but if no one else is reporting on that, it probably isn’t true.
Sharing wrong information on social media doesn’t seem like a big deal, but over time it can lead to a general distrust of the journalism field. Journalists cannot effectively do their jobs if no one believes anything they say. By being more aware of what you are sharing on social media, you can help cut down on fake news.
(09/27/19 5:56pm)
This is an opinion article. Any views expressed belong solely to the author and are not representative of The Cluster.
College is already a very difficult time in people’s lives. We are struggling in pretty much every facet. We don’t sleep, we don’t eat — I’m not sure the last time I even saw a vegetable — and we unfortunately can’t really do much to change that. However, some people need extra help while in college, and if they collaborate with the Office of Access and Accommodations, they are able to go into class knowing they won’t be at a disadvantage because of their specific needs.
That should be the case, at least.
Here at Mercer, things happen a little differently. Someone I am very close with went through the entire process to get accommodations for her disability. She turned her papers in and made plans to live off-campus at a doctor’s request. However, she never heard back from the office.
I am not going to use her real name, because I’m scared of HIPAA laws, but I will call her Anna.
Anna had all of her plans set to live off-campus for the 2019-2020 school year, and she awaited a response from the accommodations office officially releasing her from her housing contract. It never came. She emailed the accommodations office several times over the course of a month. Finally, she asked very bluntly how far along the processing stage she was.
Anna waited over a week after sending the last email before she received a response saying they had never received her paperwork.
Anna went to the office for in-class accommodations in late January. She emailed Coordinator Katie Johnson on Jan. 18, and they met on Jan. 23. The accommodations request was sent in for review, but it wasn’t approved until March 25. Anna and Johnson then had to meet again for a final approval. Anna’s accommodations didn’t come into effect until April 2. That is an entire semester of classes that Anna had to take without her needs being met in the classroom.
I am not saying that the Access and Accommodations Office is actively malicious toward students. I am saying that they aren’t doing their jobs, for whatever reason. Anna is just one person I know who has had major issues with accessibility on campus.
I would normally say “maybe they never got her paperwork,” but Anna and the doctor sent it at least three times, and they confirmed that they received it after the third time.
I would normally say “surely they just didn’t see her email,” but Anna emailed them more than once.
I would normally say “there must be an explanation for this,” but there is only one that comes to mind: gross incompetence.
If Mercer wants to continue marketing itself as one of the greatest schools in the country, it is going to have to get better about meeting the needs of its students.
(08/14/19 3:01am)
Warning: This review contains spoilers for the first season of “The Boys.”
The world loves superheroes. That is pretty obvious, looking at box office records and Disney’s release schedule for the next several years. However, one thing remains the same: The superheroes are the good guys, and they always save the day. Amazon’s “The Boys” takes this concept and throws it out the window.
“The Boys” is a blatant critique of modern culture, pointing out facets of capitalism and social media influencer culture, as well as problems that come with celebrity worship and political figures who can get away with anything.
The superheroes in “The Boys” are obvious copies of current popular characters featured in big budget summer blockbusters, and they serve as the antagonists of the show. Their actions are deplorable, and the characters know that they won’t have to answer for anything they do.
The writers, however, are a different story. While women in action movies are often dressed more for sex appeal than convenience, the female characters in “The Boys” are given agency over their costumes.
There is a scene in “The Boys” when one of the major superheroes is given a new costume to wear, and she expresses concern about the costume being too revealing. After a while, the people in charge of dressing the heroes listen to her and let her use her old costume. I am glad that the show’s creators decided to include that moment, since functional female costumes are rarely seen.
The actors’ performances throughout the show were superb, with a cast led by Karl Urban (“Star Trek,” “Thor: Ragnarok”), Jack Quaid (“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”) and Erin Moriarty (“Jessica Jones”). It doesn’t hurt that they are supported by a great story and a terrific script.
Though the acting was great, I sometimes found the characters a little agitating to watch because of their warped moral compasses. I typically like a morally gray villain -- I find them more compelling -- but there were times in this show that I wasn’t really rooting for anyone. I was caught up in the story’s drama, not in the individual character arcs.
Many of the characters didn’t really grow between the beginning of the show and the end, though the season finale cliffhanger definitely left them room to grow in the second season.
Another aspect of the show I didn’t really enjoy was the extreme levels of gore and nudity. While the gore was outrageous and unrealistic, it was a bit much for me at times. The same goes for the nudity. Full-frontal nudity is rarely necessary for a plot to move forward, and a creator can just as easily obscure the genitals of the actor and imply nudity.
Viewers should be aware of a scene containing a coerced sexual encounter present in one of the early episodes of the show.
Overall, “The Boys” was enjoyable, and I patiently await the second season, which is set to release in 2020.
(03/28/19 1:06am)
The 2019 Manchester Pride Festival has been the topic of online discussion after facing scrutiny for having Ariana Grande headline the event.
Grande has recently been in the public eye following her alleged queerbaiting and cultural appropriation.
In the music video for her song “Break up with your girlfriend, I’m bored,” Grande acts very flirtatiously towards a man and woman, and the final moments of the video pointedly imply that Grande is attracted to the woman.
As far as I’m aware, Grande has never done anything to lead the public to believe she is not heterosexual. So, many people felt she was using the video as a way to gain LGBT+ viewership.
I think it’s important to remember that Grande only has so much control over what her music videos look like. Yes, she is the one singing the song, but she is not the only person who wrote the song, and she didn’t direct the video. Grande is a brand as well as a person, so it is not entirely fair to assume she makes every creative decision surrounding her music.
Grande responded on Twitter to people’s concerns about her exploiting the community at Manchester Pride.
“I’m not claiming to be the hero of the community or the face of the lgbtq rights movement,” Grande tweeted. “I just wanna put on a show that makes my lgbtq fans feel special and celebrated and supported.”
Grande also mentioned the fact that she is not the first straight ally to headline a Pride celebration, citing examples like Cher and Kylie Minogue.
I believe that Grande performing at Pride Manchester is not inherently problematic. Grande has a specific, tragic relationship with the city of Manchester, where a suicide bomber killed 22 people leaving one of her concerts in 2017, according to NBC.
Grande has also always been a fairly outspoken supporter of the LGBT+ community. She has spoken publicly about how growing up with a gay brother helped her become the person she is today, and how her family was always very open to discussing gender and sexuality.
Pride festivals are supposed to be places where members and allies of the LGBT+ community can celebrate their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Gatekeeping who is allowed to perform at these events goes against their entire purpose. If an artist is an ally, they should be welcomed at Pride.
(03/28/19 12:35am)
The Historic Macon Foundation (HMF) will be hosting a meet and greet event and a guided tour of Macon’s historic buildings on March 28 at 6 p.m.
The tour will begin and end at the Sidney Lanier Cottage on High Street, and a wine reception will be hosted where people can meet board members and employees of the HMF.
“We want to meet you,” said Rachelle Wilson, the HMF Director of Engagement. “Something that’s important is for people to realize that preservation is accessible and everyone can be a preservationist.”
The houses in Macon between Tattnall Square Park and Coleman Hill park are the center of the tour. Some of the houses were built as long ago as the 1830s, while others are newer, having been built in the 1920s. These specific houses are important because they are some of the first residences in Macon.
According to lightsonmacon.com, the “Lights On Macon” tour is normally self-guided, but this time will be different. Long-standing preservation advocate Maryel Battin will be leading attendees on an hour-long version of the tour.
“I’ve actually only just met Maryel Battin for the first time, but I’ve heard her name ever since I started working here,” Wilson said.. “Her name is huge. We have a preservation award named after her.”
If you are interested in taking the tour on your own time, the Lights On Macon website suggests beginning at the Hay House at 934 Georgia Ave. Parking is available in front of the building on the side of the street.
While you are taking the tour, keep an eye out for grey and black signs that signify the houses featured on the tour, or stay on track by taking a look at the map available online.
The HMF was the outcome of a merger between the Middle Georgia Historical Society and the Macon Heritage Foundation, and “the goal of the merger was to create a stronger, more efficient and effective voice for historic preservation in Middle Georgia,” according to the HMF website.
“Our mission is to revitalize communities through preserving architecture and sharing histories,” Wilson said.
The goal of the meet-and-greet is to bridge the gap between the community and preservation efforts.
“We’ll have a few volunteers, board members (and) staff there, and hopefully some new faces,” Wilson said. “We’ll end at the cottage and have a little wine reception. So people can mingle and get to know us and learn about our organization and a piece of Macon’s beautiful history.”
For more information about the event visit the HMF Facebook page.
(03/22/19 1:38am)
Video games have evolved as a storytelling medium since the millennium, coming into their own and creating stories only possible through an interactive platform.
Choose Your Own Adventure
Choose-your-own-adventure games have gotten more sophisticated both in terms of story and immersive world building.
“Life is Strange,” one of the most notable examples of the genre, follows the story of Max Caulfield, a high-schooler who gains the ability to turn back time.
The storytelling is largely gameplay-driven. Rather than sitting through cutscenes in between bursts of action, “Life is Strange” gives the player more choice in both dialogue and action, creating a more immersive story that hinges on audience involvement.
Heavy foreshadowing and important clues are hidden in mundane background conversations and graffitied on vans -- even forgetting to do something as trivial as checking the computer in a friend’s room can result in a death. The attention to detail in-game begs attention to detail from the player, and the story is better and more engaging for it.
As these games have become more prevalent, more critical theory has developed on the structure and conventions of the genre. “Undertale,” an indie game developed almost single-handedly by Toby Fox, received critical acclaim and wild popularity for its metafictional takes on choose-your-own-adventure games.
Playing off of standard role-playing game mechanics, the player can gain experience by killing monsters. Where most games implement this without consequence, “Undertale” judges the player harshly for these murders, calling into question why the violence at the center of most video games is never really considered violence by the player.
While there are dozens of choices that affect the player’s progression through the plot, there are three main routes: “Pacifist,” where the player kills no one, “Neutral,” where the player kills some monsters and “No Mercy,” where the player kills everyone.
Trying to restart and explore multiple endings gets tricky because there are certain characters who remember the player’s actions from previous save files.
On “No Mercy” runs, it’s also revealed that these characters have fourth-wall-breaking knowledge on the mechanics of their own game, aware that the player has the ability to restart the story and kill their loved ones as many times as they want.
“Undertale’s” main draw, and what makes it such a fascinating addition to the video game canon, is that the story is largely informed by its game mechanics, making it untranslatable to any other medium.
Broad Adventures Games
While linear story games don’t allow much room for individualization, developers have still innovated their storytelling techniques in order to hold a player’s attention for 20+ hours.
This article wouldn’t be complete without mentioning “Kingdom Hearts,” a sprawling multi-platform adventure franchise, the story of which has been split over 11 games and developed over a decade.
The complete timeline and story of these games have been notoriously hard to explain, mostly because it’s a series meant to be experienced rather than told. The narrative stops holding the audience’s hand early on, forcing them to think critically about what they’re shown and not shown.
The strongest games of the series have begun in the middle of a climactic turning point, often to the player’s confusion, and have been good about withholding crucial information until the exact right time to reveal it. These storytelling techniques, combined with the games’ affinity for hiding foreshadowing in plain sight, rely on the player’s intuition and attention to detail to tell its story.
Puzzle Games and Platformers
Expanding off of their repetitive predecessors, modern puzzle games and platformers are packaging their basic mechanics within complex, compelling stories. One of the most prominent recent examples is the hit game “Portal 2.”
An interesting facet of the “Portal” franchise is that the puzzles are directly tied to the story. The player character wakes up with amnesia in an abandoned laboratory. In order to understand what’s going on, the player must use a dimension-warping gun to progress through the laboratory.
The “Portal” games interweave puzzles with the plot to ensure the player feels a need to complete the puzzles and move the story forward. Getting frustrated and quitting “Portal” games isn’t an option if the player wants to find out what happens at the end.
Over the course of the last decade, video games have emerged as a diverse and engaging medium for storytelling, creating stories only a video game could tell.
(03/12/19 2:56am)
“Captain Marvel” is the first female-led addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and it only took a little over a decade. While this movie is an exciting, well-made step toward representation in the massive franchise, it is not without its faults.
“Captain Marvel” is lighter than some of the more recent MCU movies, which is a nice tonal shift after the world had its collective heart ripped out following “Avengers: Infinity War.” There are several laugh-out-loud moments in the movie, and constant witty banter keeps the audience engaged for the entire runtime.
The characterization of Carol Danvers is unique for the MCU. In other words, she is a female character who had had more personality than just being moody. In the past, women in the MCU have been rather two-dimensional, with most of their arcs revolving around men in some capacity. Danvers was a funny, smart, well-rounded character who grew emotionally throughout the course of the film.
Brie Larson’s portrayal of Danvers was superb, and she was supported by very strong performances from Lashana Lynch and Annette Bening. The costuming was also well done. It was nice to see functional female clothing in a superhero movie.
Though “Captain Marvel” was a very enjoyable movie, there were a few things that didn’t go quite as well as they could have.
Warning: spoilers ahead.
One component of this movie I just couldn’t get behind was the existence of that cat. The writers seemed to use the cat as a way to push through unfixable situations the characters found themselves in, and the whole movie relied on the cat for too many of its jokes.
Then the cat clawed out Fury’s eye, which was (excuse the pun) infuriating. By the time the cat clawed Fury, it had overstayed its welcome. Using the loss of Fury’s eye as a joke feels like a waste of a potential major plot hook for a future story that centers more around Fury’s personal history.
Another piece of “Captain Marvel” that didn’t quite work out was the way Fury was written. This iteration of Fury felt very different from any seen before in the MCU, though that may have been due to the fact that the movie is set long before any of the others in the franchise.
Some of Fury’s interactions with Danvers almost feel flirtatious, but not quite to the extent that it is uncomfortable. Perhaps in the future, there will be some explanation of what happens to change him from this fun 1990’s version to the more serious Fury seen in the modern movies.
Overall, this film hit most of the right buttons to be great. It provides the upcoming generation with a powerful female character to idolize, and sets a nice precedent for future female-led superhero movies. Hopefully Hollywood can keep the momentum going.
(03/01/19 6:30pm)
With the current re-emergence of “Dungeons and Dragons” (D&D) into pop culture, creators are finding that some of their stories are best told around a table. One of these storytellers is Nick Pope, a Dungeon Master (DM) who started playing D&D about two years ago.
Pope said that the basic premise of D&D is storytelling, and thus it could be considered an unconventional art form, a sort of improvisational “theatre with dice.”
“It’s more of a group art project,” Pope said. “The DM will create the setting and the basic plotlines, and everyone else is the character writers.”
Due to the ever-changing story and the way that the players can take the story off track, the DM has to be able to think on the fly about how everything will affect the overarching story, which is a critical skill in any type of long-form storytelling.
Pope said his favorite D&D moment was when he was supposed to help a friend who needed an extra player for a large combat scene, but the game went in an unexpected direction, and he became a member of the party. Because of this series of events, the entire narrative changed.
“My character...could shapeshift into whoever he wanted and could mimic their voice perfectly,” Pope said. “The rest of the campaign was the silent political takeover of a small country.”
Pope’s job as a DM is to make sure he keeps up with all of the moving parts of his story and justifies the actions of potentially dozens of characters, without giving away any information to his players that they haven’t discovered naturally. It’s a fine balance to maintain.
Pope is currently running a game with the Mercer Gaming Society, which meets weekly in Knight Hall. The game is comprised of students who have been playing for a while, as well as some new players, to whom he has to teach the game.
“As for advice, start with a low-level campaign to understand it better. Smaller groups would be better to learn with. It’s pretty much like any other game,” Pope said.
Pope also said that a new player should pick a simpler player class to begin with so that they can learn the rules of the game, and then they can always pick a more complex character the next time.
When Pope tells people that he plays D&D, he does not really receive negative reactions, though that is often how D&D is portrayed in media.
“The stigma isn’t really there anymore,” Pope said. “When (people) say nerd, it’s usually because they’re also a nerd.”
(02/28/19 7:37pm)
The Mill Hill Community Arts Center is offering classes in urban contemporary ballroom dancing. The classes are taught by Rudy and Carolyn Mendes on Mondays from 7 - 9 p.m.
The two instructors, both Macon locals, started taking classes in urban contemporary ballroom about seven years ago. They attended classes in Warner Robins until their instructor stopped teaching classes. However, these two eager students were not ready for the classes to end, and they decided to teach their own.
“We wanted to have practice time, and we wanted to also have something going on here in Macon instead of going all the way to Warner Robins,” Mr. Mendes said.
Mr. Mendes said that urban contemporary ballroom dancing originated in Detroit, Michigan in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Young people took inspiration from more traditional ballroom styles and reinvented the moves into a more hip type of dance.
“They saw something that they were interested in, and they improvised on it,” Mr. Mendes said. “They kind of taught themselves some techniques, and contemporary urban ballroom grew out of that.”
The Mill Hill Arts Center, located on Clinton Street near the Macon Coliseum, offers many different experiences, such as yoga class- es and art galleries. One of Mill Hill’s resident artists, Forrest Gard, said that the community center has seen attendance numbers double in the last few months.
These classes are available to anyone who wishes to participate, regardless of their age or gender. Additionally, attendees are not required to have any previous dance experience, and they don’t have to bring a partner. Anyone who shows up for the class can learn how to do urban contemporary ballroom.
Attendees shouldn’t worry about being behind the class, either, because if they haven’t been to one of the classes, the teachers are more than willing to help catch up anyone who is a little behind.
Mr. Mendes said that some of the reasons people should attend these classes include exercise and socializing, as well as the fact that learning the patterns and rhythms for the dance can help people’s memories.
“And to spend time with your loved one,” Mrs. Mendes added.
Two more class sessions are currently scheduled. Classes cost $10 each. For more information, check out their event listing on macon365.com or call 478-955-8914.
(02/13/19 1:44am)
Karen Wessells is a sophomore information science and technology and Spanish major at Mercer University. However, outside of her official areas of study, she is also a talented artist who uses her craft to keep herself busy.
Wessells said that she uses many different mediums to create her artwork, including graphite, chalk, paint, pastels, knitting, sewing and crocheting.
“I usually teach myself things,” Wessells said. “I pick up a book, and I pick up the stuff that’s needed, and I just put it together until it works.”
While she was in middle school, she admired one of her acquaintance’s artistic talents. When she asked her classmate whether she’d ever be able to match that ability, the only response Wessells got was a flat “no.”
Ever since then, Wessells has been learning and growing as an artist and a creator.
“I like to tell a story with my art,” Wessells said. “I try to capture how a person might be feeling.”
Most of Wessells’ practice occurs during her classes. She said that she uses drawing as an idle movement to keep herself busy.
“Usually I do my work on lined paper, and the special art paper remains blank,” Wessells said.
Outside of her classroom doodles, Wessells said she will sit outside some of the buildings on campus and watch people walking by her while attempting to sketch them as quickly as possible.
“I’ll sit in Knight (Hall) and I’ll draw the people walking by. (I’ll) see if I can get some gestures down,” Wessells said.
At one point, Wessells ran art blogs on various online platforms, but with the evolution of social media came some negatives for the art world. After some of her friends had their art stolen, Wessells decided to stop posting her art on social media platforms, though she knew that could potentially hurt her exposure.
“I was worried that people would start stealing my stuff,” Wessells said. “But then again, it’s a double-bladed sword. If I don’t put my stuff out there, no one else sees it.”
While Wessells isn’t planning on pursuing art as a career, she acknowledges that it is an important part of her life.
She had some advice for artists who are just starting or who feel like their art doesn’t look perfect.
“Hyperrealism is overrated until you can actually do it. If that’s all you focus on, it can get really stressful and aggravating.”
(02/13/19 1:35am)
Warning: Spoilers for the movie “Velvet Buzzsaw,” out now on Netflix.
I am not at all a horror movie person in any way, shape or form. I don’t like being scared, and I don’t like being stressed. However, I was able to survive this experience, unlike most of the characters in the movie.
The first thing I have to say about this movie is that Jake Gyllenhaal was superb. I think he might be one of the best actors in the industry right now. Gyllenhaal’s ability to fully embody a role and make it completely unique from any other role he has taken is engrossing to watch, and the fact that he so regularly puts out amazing work is very impressive.
In this story, art is personified as a character with motivation and feeling. The premise of the film is that people use a dead man’s paintings to gain a massive profit, even though the man explicitly said to destroy his work when he died. The characters in the movie go against his wishes and are punished for it.
I think this movie raises interesting questions. Is it ever acceptable to separate art from an artist’s wishes? Is art something that should be commodified and turned for profit? What power should a critic hold in an artistic field where interpretation is a key factor in the experience?
While “Velvet Buzzsaw” raises these questions, it doesn’t force you to care about the answer. This movie is enjoyable on the surface level and doesn’t require any critical thinking to enjoy it. It’s one of those “you can watch this while you’re on Facebook” kind of movies, if you choose to do so.
The aesthetic of “Velvet Buzzsaw” was unlike any horror movie in recent memory. Normally, horror movies are dark and gritty (think “The X-Files”), but this movie was full of vibrant colors and beautiful scenery. Watching it was a pleasure for my eyes in that sense. I don’t want to have to turn my screen brightness all the way up and squint just to see what’s going on.
One thing I didn’t enjoy about this film was how long the buildup was to each of the deaths. Based on the premise, you know people are going to die. It wasn’t a matter of if-- it was a matter of when. However, the pacing of the deaths felt very slow, especially for the first two deaths. It took eons for the first guy’s death scene to be over. By the time he died, I was so desensitized that I didn’t even care.
I think as a whole this film had an issue with pacing. The beginning was very slow and then closer to the end of the movie everything felt rushed. I’m not sure if that was meant to be a way to portray Morf’s (Gyllenhaal) descent into madness and hysteria, but I’m thinking that wasn’t the case.
I also think the movie had a problem with developing its characters. I would have loved to have gotten more information about the woman who was in charge of the museum, whose name I can’t even remember after watching the movie. She had a tattoo that literally said “Velvet Buzzsaw,” and its significance was never really explained.
Overall, watching this film was an experience slightly better than mediocre. I don’t know if I’ll rewatch this movie, but after I’d finished I didn’t regret the time I’d spent watching it.
Score: 3/5
(01/30/19 3:52am)
In a time where seemingly no one in Hollywood can have an original idea, all hope is not lost. There are still tons of cool new stories being produced by artists in all areas of creativity. Here is a list of some things to be on the lookout for in the spring of 2019.
1. Superhero Shenaniganry
There are a lot of these, and this isn’t a superhero listicle, so here’s a sub-listicle for you: “Captain Marvel,” “Avengers: Endgame,” “Shazam” and “Hellboy” are all coming out before the summer. This list isn’t even including all of the TV shows that are happening, so I’m sure everyone will be able to get their fill of superheroes this spring.
2. “Us” - Movie
Following the massive success of “Get Out,” this Jordan Peele project is about a family dealing with some doppelgängers. Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke, both “Black Panther” cast members, star as the father and mother in the family. The trailer of this film was enough for my fragile heart, but this movie is definitely going to be one worth seeing-- if you can handle it.
Release date - March 22, 2019
3. “Game of Thrones” - Final Season/HBO
The wait is over. This show is finally going to be off the air. Just kidding. Seriously, though, the final season of “Game of Thrones” is coming, and it’s sure to be a doozy.
Release date - April 14, 2019
6. “Black Leopard, Red Wolf” - Novel
This novel, described by its author Marlon James as an “African ‘Game of Thrones,’” is a fantasy novel about a man named Tracker who is sent out to find a boy who has been missing for three years.
Release date - Feb. 5, 2019.
7. “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” - Movie
The final installment in the beloved “How to Train Your Dragon” series, “The Hidden World” brings Hiccup’s (Jay Baruchel) and Toothless’ journeys to a close. I’ve been keeping up with these movies since the first one came to theaters, and I’m truly saddened to see that the series is over. Though, I’m equally grateful they didn’t decide to pull a “Fast and Furious” on this series. Can you imagine?
Release date - Feb. 22, 2019
8. The Puppy Bowl XV
You’re reading the Arts and Entertainment section of a school paper, so I am going to assume you don’t care when the Super Bowl is. However, who doesn’t want to watch 35 puppies romping around for several hours while your slightly intoxicated family members spill queso on themselves in the next room? I will personally be rooting for Clyde, a Corgi from Florida. You can see the full roster of puppies on Animal Planet’s website. It’s worth it.
Release date - Feb. 3, 2019
9. Weird City - TV Show
I don’t know anyone who actually keeps up with YouTube Original series, but this one is enough to get me to consider making a commitment. The show has a similar setup to “Black Mirror” in that each episode has a different cast and story, though this show has all of its episodes set in the same city.
Release date - Feb. 13, 2019
(12/01/18 3:28am)
Warning: This review contains spoilers for the first season of “Homecoming” on Amazon Prime.
Based on a podcast of the same name, Amazon’s “Homecoming” revolves around soldiers with symptoms of PTSD coming to a treatment facility to work through their trauma. Or, that’s what they think. The facility they enter is actually drugging them with an experimental memory inhibitor, and their goal is to get rid of the traumatic memories and redeploy the soldiers, who don’t necessarily want to be sent back to the field.
The soldier that the viewer follows is named Walter Cruz, played by Stephan James. Cruz has a specific traumatic memory that is targeted in his sessions. Eventually, he forgets about his trauma and is told he will be redeployed, even though he explicitly stated earlier in the show that he didn’t want to go back overseas.
My question is: why did he agree? The traumatic memory was gone, yes, but just because you don’t have specific trauma doesn’t mean you will suddenly be willing to go back to active duty. Cruz thought he was on the path to becoming a civilian, and there was almost no indication that he was even upset that he was being redeployed.
As a viewer, it was very frustrating to only see Cruz in his counseling sessions, though I understand why the show did it. The podcast version of the show was presented as the recordings of Cruz’s sessions, as well as a few other mediums every now and then as needed. This format works well for a podcast, but once you add a visual element, you are better able to notice the missing pieces in Cruz’s story.
Podcasts will regularly omit superfluous details since additional information could make the piece muddy and confusing. However, since the show is now in a video format, the creators were able to add extra details to assist with worldbuilding and character background. However, some of the choices they made didn’t really add anything to the show.
One specific incident that comes to mind is a moment where a character barges into his boss’s unlocked office while she is breastfeeding her child, and her breast is completely visible to the viewer. Why did the creators feel the need to include that moment in the show? I suspect it was for shock value, since the child was never mentioned again. I was definitely not expecting to see anything like that, that’s for sure.
Regarding the technical side of the show, I was underwhelmed and often confused when it came to the creative choices. The score of the show rarely fit the mood of the scene, and the camera work felt cheesy and artificial. It came across as though the director was trying especially hard to be edgy and artistic, but it was just too much.
Overall, I didn’t hate the show, but there were times where I felt I could definitely be doing something more enjoyable or productive with my energy.
Final Score: 3/5
(11/30/18 1:51am)
Students who pay over $6,000 a year for on-campus housing should be allowed to live in their rooms when they want to. Forcing students to move out during breaks is an unnecessary hassle for everyone involved, and frankly isn’t fully justifiable.
There are many reasons why a student would prefer to stay on campus during the holidays. Some people have established their lives in their college town, and leaving for three weeks disrupts their flow of existence. People with jobs have to take off that time, which means they lose paychecks. Others have less than ideal home lives and would be more physically or mentally secure on campus than wherever they go for the holidays.
Because of the individual, private factors in each student’s life, staying on campus during the holidays should be considered the default. For the purpose of this article, I went online in search of some sort of form to fill out so that Mercer would hypothetically consider allowing me to stay on campus, but I found nothing.
After doing a quick Google search, it looks like there isn’t really a standard as to whether universities allow students to live on campus. It seems as though there is a national belief among universities that students all have somewhere they would willingly go during mandatory breaks from school. This mindset, I feel, is from a time long gone.
Back when people could work one job over the summer to pay for an entire year of school, people were probably more willing to go home from school. Even if their home life was toxic, the benefits from going home could easily outweigh the negatives of going home. Nowadays, going home and working for three weeks over Christmas could maybe pay for a semester’s textbooks, if you’re lucky.
Going home for the holidays can also be a major hassle if people live far away. Plane tickets have to be purchased far in advance to ensure that the student can come home, and the money involved can be a burden on some families. Since students are already paying housing fees for the semester, why can’t that include all of the days up until the first day of class spring semester?
Every year, some of my friends lament about having to go home for the holidays because their families are very difficult to be around. Some people say political opinions are no reason to hold grudges against your family, but that is an inherently privileged stance. When your family openly hates groups that include your friends and acquaintances or even yourself, it can potentially be very damaging to be forced to interact with them for extended periods of time.
Because of all of these factors, universities, including Mercer, should allow students to stay on campus during winter break.
(11/30/18 12:56am)
As the semester winds down to a close, the Townsend School of Music will finish 2018 with several exciting events.
1. A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols; Nov. 30 - Dec. 1, 7:30 - 9:30 p.m.
The 24th anniversary of this Mercer tradition will take place at the St. Joseph Catholic Church on Poplar Street. It will feature organist Jack Mitchener, the Mercer Singers, the Mercer Women’s Choir and the Mercer Brass Choir. This event is free to attend.
Mickey Brooks, a member of the Mercer Singers, said “Lessons and Carols” will be the culmination of the semester for the group.
“We’ve been preparing Christmas music since about September. We have some new music, along with some classics that we love to sing every year,” Brooks said. “Everyone’s families come out, and the church is completely packed.”
2. Mercer University Orchestra; Dec. 4, 7:30 - 9:30 p.m.
Ward Stare will conduct the Mercer University Orchestra in Fickling Hall inside the McCorkle Music Building. This event is free to attend.
3. Fantastic Flutes; Dec. 6, 7:30 - 9:30 p.m.
Kelly Via will conduct this celebration of the Mercer Flute Choir’s performance at the 2018 National Flute Association Convention. The event will take place in Fickling Hall in the McCorkle Music Building and is free to the public.
4. G. F. Handel’s “Messiah”; Dec. 7-8, 7:30 - 9:30 p.m.
Stanley L. Roberts will conduct the Choral Society of Middle Georgia and the Mercer University Choir in a presentation of Handel’s “Messiah.” Performances will take place at the United Methodist Church on Mulberry Street. Tickets are $15.
5. Middle Georgia Youth Wind Ensemble; Dec. 9, 3-5 p.m.
The last performance on the calendar for Townsend’s winter concerts is a performance by the Middle Georgia Youth Wind Ensemble. The Ensemble provides an opportunity for high school students to experience more performances than a normal school day would typically provide. This performance is free to attend and will take place in Fickling Hall.
More information can be found at www.music.mercer.edu/calendar/.
(11/16/18 3:29am)
The “acting bug” is a powerful thing, and you never know when it’s going to strike. Once it bites you, it’s very difficult to shake. Lauren Dreggors discovered her love for acting less than a year before she booked the role of “Juliet” in Mercer’s production of “Romeo & Juliet.”
Dreggors, a junior at Mercer, is studying marketing with two minors in international business and accounting and is an active member of Alpha Gamma Delta. On top of all of those, she is also an actress.
Dreggors started acting relatively recently.
“I wasn’t involved in theatre, really anything all that artistic in my high school. We had one-act, but that was about it. There wasn’t really a lot of other artistic stuff to do,” Dreggors said.
When she got into college, Dreggors found that she was interested in acting. Her mother encouraged her to audition for a show in the spring of 2018, and Dreggors said she fell in love with it.
“I think it’s really cool to be able to portray something for somebody else that could mean so many different things. It may help them see something from a different perspective,” Dreggors said.
During the summer of 2018, Dreggors decided to temporarily relocate herself to Atlanta and take acting classes at the renowned Alliance Theatre. In regards to accommodations, she wound up living in a fraternity house in Atlanta that opens up its rooms for rent during the summer.
Dreggors said that the techniques she learned in the classes are helping her give her current role “everything she has.”
Dreggors also sings and dances, though she “isn’t a professional” in those fields.
As far as her future is concerned, Dreggors is both optimistic and realistic with her goals.
“I’m really, honestly hoping to give a career in acting a really good shot, to try to do that before I do anything else,” Dreggors said.
(11/16/18 2:23am)
Art is a universal language. If you look at a painting, regardless of who created it, you can glean a meaning from it. Two resident artists at the East Macon Art Village are using sculpting to bring the citizens of Macon together.
Jeni and Forrest Gard are two of the first artists to live in the art village, and they have decided to use their talents for the betterment of the community.
“A big part of the Mill Hill project, the whole East Macon Arts Village, is to re-engage...reactivate the neighborhood,” said Kathy Nolan, marketing director for the Macon Arts Alliance.
The art village is located in a neighborhood, Mill Hill, that was mostly blighted, and the inhabitants struggled to access art. The village project was created to help revitalize the neighborhood and to help provide current residents with ways to artistically express themselves.The resident artists wanted to bring citizens of Macon into that process.
“The Macon Flowers Project is a social engagement project,” Nolan said. The main goal is to “invite those neighbors and people from all over Macon, and for those people to sit at a table together and create art and have conversations with people you might not ordinarily be sitting at the table with.”
The project is one of the ways that Jeni and Forrest Gard are helping people express themselves. They host classes where anyone is welcome to come and make a small ceramic flower. However, the art doesn’t stop there.
Nolan said that the Gard’s are planning on using all of the flowers created in the classes to build a community art piece that everyone will have contributed to. The art piece will most likely be installed near the Mill Hill Community Arts Center on Clinton Street as a part of the “arts park” the Arts Alliance is planning on building there.
Further down the path of this project, Nolan said that the Gard’s will determine what kind of installation they are going to create with the flowers, but no one will know what it is until they decide.
For more information on the on the Mill Hill revitalization project, visit maconartsalliance.org.
(11/11/18 6:45pm)
Artistry can be found wherever you go, which is exactly what Collin LaHood discovered when he transferred to Mercer University. LaHood, a junior Vocal Performance major at the Townsend School of Music, quickly found himself right in the fray after his arrival.
In high school, LaHood performed in several musicals, such as “The Music Man” and “Les Miserables.” Now, he performs opera at Mercer.
Recently, LaHood joined Mercer’s cast of “Guys and Dolls,” a classic Broadway musical that originally debuted in 1950. He is playing the role of “Nicely-Nicely Johnson,” a role originated by the legendary Stubby Kaye.
“He’s crazy cool, like, (he) could do anything onstage. Like, composers would write music for Stubby Kaye to sing because they would try to make him mess up, almost, because he could do just about anything onstage,” LaHood said. “(I have) some pretty big shoes to fill.”
LaHood transferred to Mercer from a community college in Peoria, Illinois, where the music program only had about 30 students in total.
“That’s where I found my love for opera, because I didn’t know I would really sing opera,” LaHood said.
However, he said that his experiences are very different between the two colleges.
“Here, the professionalism and the talent (are) much higher,” he said.
LaHood may not have always been singing opera, but he has been singing for quite a while.
“Growing up, my brothers and sisters and I always had a bunch of things to do, like sports and theater and cheerleading,” LaHood said. “We’d always be in the car driving around, and every single time, my mom would get a bunch of CDs and pop one in at a time, and then we’d all sing every single song.”
Singing and music have stuck with LaHood ever since.