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In more recent years, popular culture has associated college campuses as places averse to figures and concepts with controversial backgrounds, inflammatory personalities, or what some perceive as politically incorrect and anti-social justice sentiments. While that claim has experienced some overreaction by conservative news outlets, pundits, and comedians, it is safe to say that many college campuses are not in favor of supporting individuals or groups with ties to Donald Trump and/or persons accused of sexual assault or anti-LGBTQ+ behavior. With that logic in hand, it makes it all the more subversive that Kanye West’s new album Donda has caused so many college students to engage with the 44 year old’s 10th album; a record that focuses on West’s relationship with God, his marital struggles, and, like every Kanye West album, himself. However, Donda attempts to look at the artist known as Ye and Yeezus in a different light than previous albums. At face value, Donda utilizes the sounds and concepts from Ye’s previous works and slams them together to create new sounds out of familiar ones, whether it be the gospel stylings from Jesus Is King, the rock-based electric guitar and powerful percussion from Kids See Ghosts, or the angry, reflective but egotistical lyrics and vocals from The Life of Pablo and Ye. When a Kanye fan listens to "24", the track is likely going to remind them of gospel music with the echoing choir and organ-backed melody, but the pitching and distortion of the singers’ voices and the mixing invokes memories of moments from Yeezus, which is compelling because of how diametrically opposed these albums are in terms of content and themes (While recording Jesus Is King, Kanye West asked that singers abstain from premarital sex; on Yeezus he included a track called "I am A God"). Donda does not seem to even take notice of such musical and conceptual contradictions, and that disregard of such fundamental principles of mass-appeal art by West forms truly thought-provoking music, even if it means Ye is participating in extreme hypocrisy. The fourteenth track, "Heaven and Hell", is a perfect summarization of the double-sided nature of Donda, a track that opens with a distorted, high pitched sample from the 1975 song "Heaven and Hell is on Earth", then delving into both a condemnation and appreciation of wealth, before transitioning to a call to “burn false idols, Jesus’ disciples”, and other calls to the Lord, culminating in Kanye making gunshot noises leading to instrumentals. That summary is without a doubt an oversimplification of what Kanye West is trying to convey, but it is representative of the erratic, complicated mixture of concepts displayed in each song. Only Kanye West could compare himself to Bezos and Jesus in the same song, and only Kanye West could make it sensical and not completely repulsive. Most of the album is like Heaven and Hell, filled with hypocrisy, contradictions, callouts, and calls to praise God. These themes are so powerful (especially to college-age listeners) because it feels realistic, imperfect and sensitive (adjectives not typically associated with Kanye West’s music), with Ye usually focusing on his life and experiences in a very egocentric, self-appeasing fashion. While Kanye still shows some of that self-centeredness, he feels weak and open in many of the tracks, and he accomplishes that without disregarding his musical past, instead relying on those sounds. This perception of Kanye is not detached from his previous works; rather, it is dependent on them. "Believe What I Say" and "Lord I Need You" rely on West displaying himself as weak and dependent whilst also attempting to tell the listener to be wary of his rich and famous lifestyle, and in addition to all of that, seemingly condemning his estranged wife and referencing intimate details in the process, such as with the lines, “Too many complaints made it hard for me to think Remember, this is the same album that has the chorus “Tell me if you know someone that needs Jesus”. Donda may present itself as a dark and complex work, and the previously mentioned tracks all call on a certain darkness and combination of thematic elements, but that does not keep the album from being extremely corny. A lot of these lyrics stick out and can even trip up some of the songs, but for the most part they act as reminders of the genuine nature of Donda and the overall positive image the songs possess. More importantly, lyrics like “best collab since Taco Bell and KFC”, “hi with a bunch of I’s”, “You had a Benz at sixteen, I could barely afford an Audi”, and “Some say Adam could never be black ‘cause a black man’ll never share his rib” remind the listener that Kanye is still Kanye; he may be showing a somewhat different, more confusing perspective of himself, but he is still the creator of The College Dropout, still the man that made "Bound 2". On Donda, Kanye is not alone in his mixture of religiousness, political commentary, corny jokes, and humble brags. Donda is chock-full of features by some of the most decorated and famous artists on the planet, with verses by Jay-Z, Travis Scott, Kid Cudi, Fivio Foreign, Playboi Carti, Don Toliver, The Weeknd, and Jay Electronica, to name a few. Kanye continues to bring the best out of his features, enhancing all of the tracks and showing enhanced versions of these talented artists, making it clear why so many musicians choose to work with West. "Off The Grid" is essentially a spotlight on Fivio Foreign that will undoubtedly lead to whatever he drops next being greatly anticipated. All of the guest artists create a momentum to the album, never slowing down and instead acting as catalysts for ye’s music, with the artists’ energy bouncing off each other to invigorate the listener. There is a dark side to the features, that being the controversy surrounding the inclusion of DaBaby, Marilyn Manson, and Chris Brown, artists experiencing backlash in media and culture for obvious reasons (DaBaby’s homophobic rant, Marilyn Manson’s rape and abuse allegations, Chris Brown’s history of domestic abuse), and these artists’ inclusion, even when minor in the case of Manson or major with Chris Brown, furthers how representative Donda is of Kanye West. Ye is a habitual line stepper, a MAGA hat-wearing devil’s advocate who will say George Bush doesn’t care about black people as well as that slavery was a choice. And college kids understand that, not because they agree with Kanye’s words or think what he is saying is inherently truthful, more just that he is constantly willing to be himself to a fault, and that is something so powerful on college campuses where there are feelings of insecurity and students scared to confess their own opinions. That environment makes Donda intoxicating; it touches the soul of young adults because they feel like they are just beginning to experience an inundating level of indoctrination, groupthink, and loss of identity. It is the only album that addresses spiritualism while embracing narcissism, openly praising God, talking about the prison industrial complex, cancel culture, and Junya Watanabe. It is confusing, it is powerful, it is contradictory, and it is how it feels to go to college, at least to me. ● The Recommended Content Widget will appear here on the published site.
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By Lucas Thomae and Thomas Gessner
If one is to believe that college campuses are analogous to organisms, bodies made up of cells and organs that work together to create a living creature, then Yum-Yums would not be the heart of UNCG, but it would be the mitochondria, or as every internet age kid calls is, the powerhouse of the cell. Yum-Yums is this “powerhouse” because it provides sustenance that motivates and drives the people of Greensboro, but unlike ATP in the human body, Yum-Yums shares its wealth with all those who come, and the restaurant’s impact extends far beyond the boundaries of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Yum Yum Better Ice Cream began in 1906 through a street cart operated by Wisdom Aydelette before morphing into a brick-and-mortar store on Spring Garden street, except when the shop first opened, the name on the sign read “West End Ice Cream”, which would change to Yum Yum Better Ice Cream, or “Yum-Yums”, after the ice cream flavor by the same name took off. Decades and one location change later, Yum-Yums still provides ice cream for the masses.
Ice cream might be the spark that started the fire that is Yum-Yums, but if someone was to ask a Greensboro resident what the restaurant sold, the response would be near-unanimous: “Hot Dogs”. If that Greensboro resident liked adjectives, they would tell you: “Red Hot Dogs”, and red these dogs are. The bright red hot dogs, sometimes covered with chili, onions, coleslaw, and mustard, or served with a selection of those toppings or none at all, which might not be as tasty, but is far and away the most aesthetically engaging a hot dog can get, and if that is not enough, they taste great for a dollar eighty, tax included. The bun is familiar and unassuming, the chili, onions, and coleslaw offer a nice flavor and texture balance, giving a crunch and spice to the food, and the hotdog itself is a perfect mixture of chemicals and processed meat, a mixture that is the perfect size, not overwhelming the eater or leaving them with an empty stomach. Of course, the whole experience is assisted by a chill, old school glass bottle Cheerwine that elevates the flavor of the dog and provides a sense of comfort to a North Carolinian.
Once done with the main course, it is time to indulge in the store made ice cream, with eighteen flavors that can fit with the desires of any given day. Feeling the need for some richness and deep flavor? Chocolate almond fills that role perfectly. Need something light and reflective of the summertime? Peach will more than suffice. Not only is the ice cream delicious and creamy, the servings are huge, with the scoops of ice cream doubling the size of the cone itself. In addition to ice cream, Yum-Yums offers Little Debbie snack cakes which really are not comparable to the ice cream, but there is a sense of security and homeliness in seeing a Little Debbie chocolate cupcake next to a small bag of bugles at a cash only restaurant off of Spring Garden Street.
To call Yum-Yums a college food joint would be a disservice to what the establishment has accomplished in bringing different people together. Above all, Yum-Yums is a place for family; it is difficult to even go without seeing an extended family occupy one of the long, wooden picnic tables where multiple generations can enjoy a red hot dog with an odd gray interior. Most college places cannot accomplish the level of diversity that Yum-Yums has, and that is because college spots are for college kids to congregate and enjoy food at inhumane hours in varied states of being. Yum-Yums occupies a college space but the environment that the store is in brings about a level of respect and tradition that people of all ages can appreciate. Just remember, cash only. ●
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By Thomas Gessner
Everybody needs a cheerleader, someone in their corner that will defend them and remind everyone why they are the best. The same can be said for North Carolina colleges and universities, most of which have actual cheerleaders, but nonetheless deserve some help in hyping themselves up. For that reason, I have created below a list of arguments for each North Carolina college on why they are the best in the state. Enjoy.
Appalachian State University: That’s right, besides having the most baja jackets in the country per capita, they also get to wake up on a mountain. East Carolina University: They are located in the best Greenville in the Carolinas, and in addition to that, Mr. Beast lives here, so odds are you will get some free stuff. Elizabeth City State University: Home to the only four-year aviation science degree program in North Carolina. Enough said. Fayetteville State University: Blueface went there, that’s about as good as you can get in terms of famous alumni. North Carolina A&T University: The university of the Greensboro Four, this school got to be a part of a historical moment in the civil rights movement. Also they were too good to stay in the MEAC. North Carolina Central University: It’s in the name. They are the center of the state, and therefore the best. If you like community service, NCCU was thefirst UNC-system school to require community service to graduate. North Carolina State University: The biggest college in the state surely has to be the best college in the state, and if the enrollment numbers aren’t big enough, their mascot is not just one wolf, but a pack of them. University of North Carolina at Asheville: The only university in the coolest city in the state, and they get to wake up to the mountains too. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Only the G.O.A.T. basketball player Michael Jordan could go to the G.O.A.T North Carolina university, and that takes precedence over a former president going there. University of North Carolina at Charlotte: There are only five words needed: Regional Banking Capital of America. Also the fastest growing university in North Carolina. University of North Carolina at Greensboro: DaBaby spending two years at UNCG would be enough to put them at the top, but also having a tradition where the word rock is misspelled puts them even higher. University of North Carolina at Pembroke: Hail to UNCP is an absolute banger. University of North Carolina Wilmington: Oh yeah, they are only located 6 minutes away from the beach, and oh yeah, their main school color is teal. University of North Carolina School of the Arts: Without a doubt this school contains the most famous alumni list, seriously, it is a crazy list. Western Carolina University: As they say in California, West is Best, and that remains true for the only North Carolina college with Western in the name. Winston-Salem State University: The first historically black college to win the NCAA Basketball championship. Barton College: Student faculty rate of 12:1 means that a student here will be getting to know their teachers. Belmont Abbey College: Their newspaper name is the Crusader, and I call upon anyone to find a college newspaper name cooler than that. Bennett College: People may hype up the Greensboro Four, but do not forget the Bennett Belles, which is a far better name considering the alliteration. Brevard College: Since Brevard is located in Transylvania county, I would argue they are the best college out of fear that a vampire will kill me if I say otherwise. Catawba College: Their nickname the “Catawba Indians” is approved by the Catawba Indian Nation, and because of that the college stands as a visionary, doing something the Washington Football team could never accomplish. Davidson College: https://youtu.be/TGQID66agH4 Gardner-Webb University: They invented Pancake Bingo, can any other NC college say that? Greensboro College: The mascot for Greensboro College is “The Pride”, which doubles as a group of lions and one of the seven deadly sins. Pretty metal, I know. Guilford College: Alma Mater to the coolest name in the history of professional sports, World B. Free, a name that is even cooler considering the Quaker roots of the school. High Point University: The most luxurious school on this list, and it is not even close. I mean, how many colleges can say they have a steakhouse with live music on campus? Lees-Mcrae College: One of the only colleges to be named after two women, and the college used to accept livestock to pay for tuition. Lenoir-Rhyne University: They have both a male and female mascot, so the school is truly progressive. The school also has what is believed to be the largest Martin Luther statue in the world. Mars Hill University: A university you can attend and then tell people you went to Mars. Meredith College: The first female university to adopt a campus-wide laptop program. Montreat College: To quote Emilie Miller Vaughn: "I wish I could tell you of the scenery around here and at the retreat. People who have traveled say it is only equaled by Switzerland". I have no idea if that is true, but I am choosing to believe it. North Carolina Wesleyan College: The yearbook name for North Carolina Wesleyan College is The Dissenter, and for some reason that just makes the school a cut above the rest in my book. Salem College: The oldest women’s college in the United States, and everyone should respect their elders. University of Mount Olive: Have you ever eaten an olive? One of the more underrated snack foods, and I choose to believe there is correlation between that and this university. Since it is the only university located in Mount Olive, it seems no other school listed can make such claims. Warren Wilson College: Work builds character, and at Warren Wilson College, every student has to work on campus to graduate, meaning that the school is filled to the brim with character. William Peace University: A school with peace in the name deserves great recognition, even if it was just the name of the founder of the university, and he luckily made sure that the school would be located in downtown Raleigh, one of the most lively areas in the state. Campbell University: When you attend this school, it is hump day everyday, and you do not have to worry about being surrounded by people not from North Carolina, because Campbell enrolls more North Carolinians than any other private institution in the country. Carolina University: Carolina University did not feel the need to subcategorize itself by having its name contain the location of the school. No, Carolina University is so confident in their abilities as an academic institution, that they define themselves as THE Carolina University. Chowan University: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed only attended the school for one semester, so it's safe to say that his values and the university’s values did not align. Duke University: The only school in the state that people across the country believe is an Ivy League member. Elon University: The school’s colors are maroon, and gold? That is just too exquisite and fancy to not make this a premier university. Not to mention their mascot is a phoenix, and real or not, those things are powerful. Johnson C. Smith University: Not one, but two Harlem Globetrotters attended Johnson C. Smith, and their nicknames were great to boot, that being Twiggy and Curly. Johnson and Wales University: This university is the only college in North Carolina to have its main campus be in Rhode Island. Livingstone College: There has never been a “living stone”, but Livingstone College gives me hope that one day there may be one, and if there is one, odds are it will be at this campus. In terms of real arguments, the school has produced three firsts: First African-American neurosurgeon, first African-American President of the National Education Association, and the first African-American mayor of Salisbury. Methodist University: A man by the name Chip Dicks attended Methodist University; that is simply breathtaking. Mid-Atlantic Christian University: North Carolina is not even in the Mid-Atlantic, but the effort is greatly appreciated and noted. Pfeiffer University: The nickname of the school is the Falcons, which might not be an alliteration, but ingeniously utilizes the “f” sounding Pfeiffer to make you think it is alliterated. And if that isn’t enough, the mascot is named Freddie, which boosts points in the alliteration department. Queens University of Charlotte: Since no Kings University exists in North Carolina, by default the Queen is the highest authority. St. Andrews University: The university could have easily made a mistake and called it St. Andrew’s University, but they smartly avoided that pitfall, showcasing some great insight and critical-thinking. St. Augustine’s University: This university could have easily made a mistake and called it St. Augustine University, but they smartly avoided that pitfall, showcasing some great insight and critical-thinking. Shaw University: One of Shaw University’s school colors is garnet, and that distinction they chose instead of settling with maroon or dark red is impressive. Wake Forest University: A test-optional school, which makes up for their participation in the National athletic scandal in 2019. Wingate University: Mascots are important, and respecting them is even more important. That is why Wingate University is the best college in North Carolina, because they gave their mascot a full, christian name: Victor E. Bulldog. What the E stands for, we may never know. Every school listed clearly has a well-defined and thought out argument for why they are the best college in North Carolina. Every argument is equal in terms of weight and importance, and at no point are the claims made sarcastic, intentionally witty, or humorous. In all seriousness, North Carolina houses an incredibly diverse college education system with some of the best schools in the world, and you cannot go wrong with these appreciable options. ● The Recommended Content Widget will appear here on the published site.
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By Thomas Gessner
Okay, I’ll admit it. I watch the Oscars.
Okay, not only do I watch the Oscars, I go through the whole embarrassing process. I print out a sheet where I fill out my predicted winners and force people around me to do the same so I can beat them, and the reason I beat them is pretty simple. I watch most or all of the Best Picture nominated films each year, and that can be quite difficult, since the Oscars are hit-or-miss when nominating the movies that are supposed to be the “best” of each year. That point brings up a problem with the Academy Awards: They are often wrong, even at the nomination level. Now, the Oscars can’t technically be “wrong”, their decisions are not facts of life that everyone must live by, but they are undoubtedly important to the careers of many people in the film industry, and they have a significant impact on popular culture. But, as time passes, that impact and influence on popular culture has waned greatly. Viewership continues to decline, hitting its lowest point ever this past Sunday when less than ten million households watched the 93rd Academy Awards. The previous low was a bit under twenty-four million households, a number significantly larger than ten million. Movies are not as popular as they once were, but does that mean this awards show that is a staple of film and television should decline so rapidly? A lot of people are blaming COVID-19 for the underwhelming viewership, but streaming numbers have still been excellent during the pandemic, and most of the nominated films were readily available to stream for a long period before the awards show. Not only that, five of the eight films nominated for Best Picture were included free with subscription-based services. Four of those films took home Oscars, and Nomadland, which is available on Hulu, won Best Picture. The films nominated were more accessible to viewers than ever before, but for some reason, people chose not to watch them, which leads to my next question: why is no one watching the Oscar-nominated movies? When I look at the Best Picture winners of years past, I see dollar signs. A lot of these movies were certified hits, and they had long-term control over the public consciousness. Ben-Hur made almost two billion dollars (adjusted for inflation), The Godfather is considered one of the greatest movies ever and is endlessly referenced, Rocky basically invented sports movies, Titanic turned a historical tragedy into the most famous romance films of all time, and Gladiator quotes are played over the speakers during Lakers games. I can only imagine how many finals the Lakers would have lost if scenes from The Artist were used instead. Briefly disregarding the quality of the films nominated for the major Oscars, the box office does not lie; it represents interest in movies, and that translates to Oscar viewership. Of the twenty highest grossing films of all time (adjusted for inflation), eleven were nominated for best picture. Only one of those twenty movies is from the 21st century. This is a bad sign, and it signifies the Oscars’ problems. The academy no longer nominates movies that are popular, the kind of movies that casual fans and diehard kinophiles alike can root for. But maybe the problem is not that the academy isn’t nominating the right films, but that the right films no longer exist. It’s well known that franchise films are the bedrock of blockbuster cinema, but of those eleven movies I mentioned earlier, ten are original movies, not sequels and not remakes. Return of The King is technically the exception, but the two prior films were nominated for Best Picture, so there is a case of a continuation of quality. Original films aren’t made at the same level that they used to be, and that’s because they don’t make the same money as movies like Avengers: Endgame, which is the 22nd installment in Marvel’s superhero franchise. At some point, people decided they wanted to watch a 22nd movie in a series, and I’ve decided that I'm complicit too in this matter. Look, the Marvel movies are fine, and one was even nominated for Best Picture (Black Panther in 2019), but they are not films that should be reasonably considered for the biggest Oscar awards. They are the type of movies that are creating the academy’s big dilemma, because people will choose to watch them over original, mid-to-high budget studio films. Because of this, movie studios are not willing to spend money on original films that they think people won’t want to see. I’m at a crossroads on who to truly blame for the downturn in the Oscars. It’s either Hollywood’s fault for not making expensive films with artistic integrity that can appeal to a wide range of moviegoers (while also pleasing critics and members of the old guard), or the viewers’ fault for not choosing to see those movies and forcing Hollywood’s hand. It doesn’t really matter, because whichever one is the case, the Oscars’ problem is the same. The only thing they can really do to try to increase their numbers is to nominate lower quality movies, and for that to happen, over 9,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences must agree to make that decision, the same academy members that chose lesser-seen films like Birdman and Moonlight for Best Picture. At the end of the day, there is not much the Academy can really do to save their award show if they are not going to change their artistic habits. The quality of films is declining and the academy won’t stoop to the level of recognizing them, so the Academy Awards are not as much of a litmus test of popular culture and art as they used to be, and that’s alright. People no longer need the Oscars to tell them what movies to see. We live in an age where movies are at everyone’s fingertips constantly, and if someone wants to find out if a movie is “good”, there’s sites like Rottentomatoes, IMDB, and Letterboxd to sort through hundreds of amateur film reviews. Now, I don’t necessarily think this is a great method of gaging the quality of a movie, but like I’ve already established, neither are the Oscars, so it doesn’t make much of a difference, at least to me. ● The Recommended Content Widget will appear here on the published site.
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By Lucas Thomae
Catch up on NC College Beat’s latest Student Perspective feature, where Lucas Thomae interviews Nuria Shin, a sophomore at UNC Chapel Hill.
Transcript On March 16, a series of shootings at spas and massage parlors in Atlanta killed eight people, six of whom were Asian women. The killings happened amid an increase in anti-Asian hate crimes and violence and across the U.S.. Following the tragedy, one UNC sophomore channeled her emotions into the only way she knew how: music. I’m Lucas Thomae, and this is NC College Beat’s Student Spotlight. My name’s Nuria Shin, I’m a sophomore here at UNC Chapel Hill, double majoring in Ad-PR and voice performance, and I’m a second-generation Korean American. The day after the Atlanta shooting, Nuria picked up a journal and started writing what would eventually become a song, with poignant lyrics focused on anti-Asian sentiment. It was truly just me putting all my thoughts into just a few words, and the first thoughts that came to mind, the first words, “I’m speaking right at you but you don’t seem to care. Your only concern is the color of my skin and my hair.” It’s made me reflect on all of the microaggressions and the racism that I have endured but never really decided to confront just so I could get by easier, and just make it easier on me and my conscience. I’m not really good with words, but it felt a lot easier when I could express my thoughts and feelings into music. When I wrote Integrity it truly was me not knowing how else to express my thoughts, my emotions, the amount of just pain I felt. I never felt that much weight on my heart, if that makes sense. This was one of the times when songwriting just came naturally to me. It had never come naturally, like I don’t write songs. I think this was the first time I had actually sat down and written anything. Nuria recorded the song and posted it to Instagram, where it circulated among the campus community and was met with warmth and appreciation. I know the people who know me and who follow me, I’m not one who’s super active in sharing my opinions or sharing my thoughts but I knew this was something that I had to share and this is something that I wanted my followers – I say my followers, but the people who follow me – to just take the time to listen and hear what I had to say. [Lucas]: And when you shared that post and put that song out into the world what was the community response like and what was your reaction to that? I was really happy that I posted that, because it took this moment of isolation and this moment of fear and turned it into something that was really warm and very supportive, and it felt like my opinions and my thoughts truly mattered to those around me and it felt… It wasn’t lonely anymore. Which was very nice. ● The Recommended Content Widget will appear here on the published site.
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By Thomas Gessner
In 2002, in a shocking upset, the Chris Webber-led Sacramento Kings defeated Kobe and Shaq’s Los Angeles Lakers dynasty to move forward to the NBA finals and capture an NBA title as a small market… wait, that didn’t happen, did it? If there is one person to name for why the well balanced Kings did not win the series against the tumultuous Lakers, it wouldn’t be a player, but by a scumbag: disgraced referee Tim Donaghy, who was revealed to have illegally placed bets on the those games and intentionally made calls to affect the outcome.
Because of Donaghy, there is a constant nagging fear that his illegal actions persisted into the modern league, and because of that, there will always be a belief that the NBA is rigged. Donaghy is not the only example of mistrust of the NBA. Many people claim that the 1985 draft was set up to guarantee the Knicks the first overall pick, and there’s evena whole podcast dedicated to the Donaghy scandal and a comprehensive history of alleged NBA rigging. At least we have the MLB, a league known for its good and honest stars like Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez. Okay, I’ll stop, but even without bringing up the rampant cheating and PED use in baseball, the league’s salary caps — the subject of the 2011 film Moneyball — is comparable to a rigged system, where the richest teams get the most advantages. Just last year the Tampa Bay Rays made headlines by reaching the World Series on a payroll of just 68 million dollars, but they ultimately lost to a Dodgers team that paid almost 108 million for their collection of superstars, which is unfair to an extreme level. The salary cap issue is present in just about every major sport too, with teams in larger markets like New York and Los Angeles having much more money to spend than teams in cities like Charlotte or the godforsaken Detroit. In addition to that, there is an undeniable vested interest in teams that generate the most TV revenue, with former NBA commissioner David Stern once stating that his dream finals match-up would be “Lakers versus Lakers”. It’s hard to care about a sport when it feels like the outcome is predetermined, and maybe that sentiment is partly why there has been a continuous decline in interest in sports over the past few years. The problem though, is that people who have vested interests in national sports are billionaires that like making obscene amounts of money, and the best way to do that is to have the teams that print greenbacks succeed. And yeah, there are other sports not affected by the problems associated with big-money sports franchises, but I will not settle for watching a sport like tennis, because it is painfully boring and nothing will change my mind about that. Regardless, this begs the question: is there a sport that is both completely fair and incredibly entertaining to watch on television? Well, the answer is yes. This sport is one that brings together physical, mental, and social elements to foster some of the greatest competitors of all time, and if you’ve spent any time around me in the past few months, you will already know that I’m talking about Survivor. For those who have never seen the show, here's the gist: 16 to 20 people from all walks of life are split into “tribes” and dropped off in a remote location where they have to make shelter, find food... i.e., survive. Every few days, those tribes compete in “immunity challenges” where the losing tribe must attend “tribal council”, essentially a big group therapy session, and vote one of their own out of the game. Midway through the season, those tribes merge into one and the remaining contestants compete for individual immunity and vote each other out until there are three people remaining. Those three advance to a final tribal council, where the "Sole Survivor", and winner of one million dollars, is chosen by a jury of contestants that have already been voted out. Now, I must address the unfair and unjust criticisms that Survivor is faked. I’m not going to waste a lot of energy discussing just how hard it would be to script a show like this, and how a lot of the editing and camera work allows for the series to display a clear narrative arc without compromising the legitimacy of the game. Instead, I am going to discuss the three aspects of Survivor and how they work together to reach a higher plane of sports entertainment: Outwit (Strategic), Outplay (Physical), and Outlast (Social). They are not weighted equally, but each one finds a way to make the game engaging on multiple levels. Outplay Outplay is the most simple of the three points, and it is the ability to succeed at the diverse array of challenges that Survivor has, varying from pure physical strength, brainteasers, balance, endurance, or in some cases, a combination of all four. Early on in the game when there are still multiple tribes, the challenges involve teamwork and communication, then later in the season they focus on just the individual. What makes these challenges so interesting is that there are a variety of skills that people must possess to propel them forward; giant, strong meatheads might suck at puzzles and balance challenges while a small yoga instructor could last for hours balancing on a small structure out in the middle of the ocean. There’s not much more to say about the Outplay category, so I’m just going to list two of the best challenges, both team and individual, ever seen on the show. Battle Dig: This is easily my favorite Survivor challenge, and it is quite simple: two members from each tribe race to a designated spot on a beach, where they dig for a heavy bag in the sand. The first team to get that bag back to their mat wins. What makes this challenge so much fun is its physicality; the contestants can do everything short of striking and choking to stop their opponents. Watching people fight in the sand is undeniably awesome, and it also allows for negative feelings between the tribes to ferment into something tangible. When It Rains, It Pours: This is an oft-used individual challenge, and its success lies in its simplicity. The contestants stand under a barrel filled with water, with one of their arms attached to a rope connected to the barrel. The contestants must keep their arms held up in the air to prevent the barrel from being pulled down and pouring water on them. This challenge can go on for hours, and Jeff Probst, the host of the show, only makes things more difficult for the participants by offering food to contestants if they step down. Outwit The strategic aspect of Survivor has many levels to it, and in my opinion it’s the most crucial to winning it all. Strategy in Survivor is constant in all aspects of the game, but the nucleus for Outwit is tribal council. In most of the major sports, whatever team or player scores the most points wins the game, but in Survivor, being terrible at the challenges doesn’t matter as long as you can prevent yourself from being voted out by your tribe mates. It makes sense to first vote out the weakest players who contribute the least to the tribe, and then later to get rid of the players that are the biggest threats to win the game, but this doesn’t always happen, typically because of voting alliances. Having a numbers advantage for voting is quite important, because alliances will form among the players and they will vote as a group to get out players from the opposing alliance. When creating an alliance, strategy-minded players will often surround themselves with people that are not perceived as threats to get jury votes, giving them a better chance of becoming the Sole Survivor. People who watch the show for long enough will know that often there is a pretty defined pecking order in these alliances, and contestants who are on the bottom of their alliance often know when they are in danger of being voted out. Not all hope is lost for these players though, because there are multiple strategic moves that can be made to keep oneself in the game. One of these famous strategic plays is the blindside, which occurs when a player is voted out thinking that they were safe, often being betrayed by their own alliance. Blindsides not only make for excellent TV because of how stressful and exciting they are, they’re also a great strategy for people on the bottom of their alliances, hoping to make a big move to turn the tide of the game. If a player on the bottom is not able to flip the votes in their favor, there is another option in the strategic use of “hidden immunity idols”, small tokens hidden throughout the game that allow the player to be saved from the vote. The catch is, a player must declare that they are playing an idol before the votes are announced. If an idol is played, the person with the next most votes is voted out of the game. What makes idols so powerful — and dangerous — is that they are placed near the tribes on the island, and can be found through clues that are given to contestants for various reasons. The danger comes from the fact that players usually don’t know when another player has found an idol. Knowledge is power, and like before with the discussion of blindsides, idols create opportunity to cause absolute, unbridled chaos. Outlast Viewers of Survivor often have a very limited comprehension of Outlast, and that is completely reasonable, because it is the most abstract gameplay element in the show. Ironically, it also has the greatest influence on the final outcome of Survivor. The social game is comparable to what is referred to in other sports as “intangibles”, moves that don’t show up in a box score but have a great influence on the final outcome. Being likeable, making funny jokes, and being perceived as a good story are all part of the social game. It is very hard to win the game if you are not liked, and it is impossible to win the game if the jury does not think you are deserving of the victory. Both these aspects fall under Outlast, and it takes a lot of work to be likeable and show that you are deserving of one million dollars, something that fans of the show often overlook. One of the most famous players in the history of Survivor is Russell Hantz, a fan favorite that became popular for his incredible strategic plays and villainous style of play, was known to constantly lie and berate his fellow contestants, even bringing some to tears. He made it to the final tribal council twice, but never came close to winning the game because the jury simply hated him. Many fans think he was robbed of a million dollars, but that is an incomplete view of the game. Most Sole Survivors had to lie and blindside at some point to win the game, but there reaches a certain point when the Jury decides that they simply cannot vote for you. Unlike the sports I mentioned at the top of this post, Survivor always has a fair winner, and the best player always wins their season, because to make it to the end and get the most votes at final tribal council definitively makes you a winner; it is not about which player was the greater physical threat or who had the best strategic mind, the game hinges on who the jury thinks should win, and their opinions are going to differ from someone watching the show. Some jury votes might be illogical, or downright stupid, but it does not matter because that's the whole point of Survivor. And that’s why it’s the best sport to watch on television, because the human interactions in other popular sports do not translate to victory on the level they do in Survivor, and that human element makes the show so unpredictable, so exciting, and so original. ● The Recommended Content Widget will appear here on the published site.
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I love North Carolina, and more importantly, I love North Carolina being represented in popular culture. Too many shows are set in New York City or Los Angeles, and since so many filmmakers have covered these two locales, there really isn’t much left to say about them. Why make another movie about LA after Chinatown or Heat? Or make another police procedural about the NYPD? North Carolina is a state rich with history and a variety of different cultures and perspectives that are wholly unique to the region. I’m not saying it’s easy to make a show or movie about North Carolina; Outer Banks is a gross misrepresentation of the Carolina coast and its inhabitants, something I hope to cover later. Even though it was not a high quality work of art, Outer Banks inspired me to look deeper at my home to discover works that honor NC. Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to go through a list of great films set in the Tar Heel State that exhibit a level of knowledge and comprehension of the area, as well as ones that might miss the mark or almost get to the level I’m searching for. I thought a great way to begin this conversation would be to talk about one of my favorite heist films: Logan Lucky. Also known as Ocean’s 7/11, Logan Lucky follows the Logan family as they attempt to rob a NASCAR event, while fighting a family curse. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, the film gives a stark alternative to the flashy nature and fast-talking suave of Ocean’s 11, instead opting for a tone that is much more fitting for North Carolina. The Logan brothers, played by Channing Tatum and Adam Driver, both have thick Southern accents, dress in hunting camo and trucker hats, and speak about as slow as gravy. Because of this, many people were confused and challenged the story written by Jules Asner, along with the direction, since it did not make sense to them that rednecks could pull off a heist involving intricate timing, scheming, and masterminding. If you are from a Southern state like NC, then this isn’t a problem. Southerners are just as intelligent as anyone else, and heavy accents and bad haircuts don’t change any of that. This is part of why the film is so great for North Carolinians, it gives us non-stereotypical Southern characters that are competent. In addition to all of that, the film highlights NASCAR racing, a sport originating in NC and a great way to integrate Carolina culture into the plot. The pacing of the film is slow and methodical instead of the typical fast-paced flashiness in Soderbergh’s Ocean’s movies, and this structure and presentation of the plot fits the calm and comedic nature of the environment, and is a perfect match for Carolina. Before I continue, I must go on a tangent about a very important character in Logan Lucky. The casting of Daniel Craig as Joe Bang is some of the wildest fence swinging I’ve ever seen. He has quite possibly one of the worst Southern accents, but it just doesn’t matter. He steals every scene he’s in. He cranks it up to 100 and overacts everybody else off the stage, and he does so with a level of undeniable charm. Craig might not sound like a southerner, but he embodies the qualities of one in this film, and to me, that’s far more important than any vocal mistakes. Every time I watch Logan Lucky, I break into a rare laughter when Bang exclaims, “We are dealing with science here!” as he holds a bag full of gummy bears and fake salt. Besides Daniel Craig, the rest of the performances are surprisingly subtle, save for Seth MacFarlane’s energy drink mogul with an equally wacky British accent and hairdo. But that notwithstanding, Channing Tatum and Adam Drive are both very believable as brothers, and they offer the viewers different energy to connect with; Clyde Logan is “the one arm bartender”, and Driver carries this role with a heap of sincerity and tepidness, an ex-marine amputee who is aptly wary of his brother’s grand scheme. And that brother, Jimmy Logan, someone easy to root for, a father trying to look out for his daughter while struggling with a knee injury that ultimately gets him laid off from his job working construction at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Lastly from the Logan brood, there is Mellie, played by Riley Keough, who works to dispel some of the masculinity and bring an always appreciated feminine touch to a heist movie. She is the Logan’s bubblegum-chewing wheelwoman when she is not working as a hairdresser. With all of the major players introduced, excluding some more minor ones that I will surely bring up later, it’s time to cover the basic plot in relation to our great state. After Jimmy Logan is fired from his construction job because of a failure to report a knee injury that prevented him from having a college football career, he enlists the help of his hapless brother, who just got fired from his bartending gig that he was surprisingly proficient at, all things considered. They begin planning to rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway’s pneumatic tube system, and require a demolitions expert (guess who that is), and must work around Joe Bang’s prison sentence, Clyde’s prosthetic limb, and Hilary Swank in a pantsuit. I do not want to delve into the plot much more, but would like to add that Katie Holmes, Sebastian Stan, and Macon Blair round out the cast, giving the audience a better sense of the world that Soderbergh has invited them into. Now, I have given this film a lot of praise, and while this exercise is meant to mostly be positive, I have to point out my issues with the story and production, in particular, the inaccuracies that fall upon North Carolina. I mentioned him before, but now is the time to add that Seth MacFarlane does not add much to the movie, and he does not add much in the most exasperated way. His performance is both quite similar to Craig’s with a silly accent and great overreacting, but he fails to be fun, and that is what makes overreacting work. He also just stands out; it becomes difficult to not think about MacFarlane the celebrity, instead of MacFarlane the actor. Besides him, the cast fits together like a beautiful mosaic, but he comes across as a big, missing tile. A much smaller issue relating to NC is that the Charlotte Motor Speedway is listed as being in Charlotte. While this may seem obvious, the CMS actually is located in Concord. The last criticism I really have about this film is that the last half hour drags, spending too much time away from the main characters and away from the exciting heist and outcome. With that, I implore everyone to see Logan Lucky while it is available on Amazon Prime, and next time, I will be covering an Oscar-Nominated sports film. ● The Recommended Content Widget will appear here on the published site.
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Five WCU students who were seen in racist social media videos over the weekend are no longer enrolled in the university and will not return, according to a statement made by Chancellor Kelli Brown on the WCU Facebook page Tuesday evening. On Saturday, August 22nd, a Snapchat video surfaced of three white, female WCU students saying the n-word. Outrage ensued among the student body, and that evening Chancellor Brown released a video statement condemning the racist behavior and ensured that university officials were investigating the students involved. The next day, a separate video of two white, male students saying the n-word was posted on social media. “Alright, first of all n******, hold the f*** up and listen to this,” one of them says. The second student then holds up an “OK” hand signal, which has been associated with white supremacy, and says, “Just because you throw up this like an ‘OK’, does not mean that it’s white power.” A Trump 2020 flag can be seen hanging in the background of the video. In response Chancellor Brown released another statement, emphasizing her disappointment in the students and once again condemning bigotry on campus. “These past 24 hours have been a whirlwind of emotions for me and many others on this campus,” she said. “We must rise above the negativity and prejudice. I ask all members of the Catamount family to live up to the community creed.” In response to the videos, fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha held an event on campus to rally together against racism, while the Black Student Union called for action against the students featured in the videos. Brown spoke at the event hosted by Alpha Phi Alpha, stating that diversity and inclusive excellence is one of her top priorities as chancellor. This isn’t the first time WCU has dealt with incidents of racism on campus. Students staged a silent protest in 2016 after racist comments were made on a social media app associated with the school. In 2018, students held a rally against intolerance after multiple incidents of white students shouting racial slurs at African American students. ● Some information in this story was gathered with the help of reporting by Joel Vélez Rodríguez of the Western Carolina Journalist. The Recommended Content Widget will appear here on the published site.
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9/3/2021
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