A&E –

The Art of Spoken Strength and Celebration

By Caralyn Geyer

Three judges, two poems, one microphone. What’s at stake? Two movie tickets to the Jackson 10 and 50 dollars in cash. On February 24, Spring Arbor University’s (SAU’s) Office of Intercultural Relations (OIR) held the semi-final and final performances of “The Spoken Word” in the White Auditorium at 7:00 p.m. to finish out the school’s celebration of Black History Month.

Five students gave performances of their best spoken poetry, but only one took home the grand prize. Sophomore English and Psychology major Kayla Kilgore was the winner, with her two poems entitled “Ode to My Chicks” and “Am I Not My Brother.” She was followed by runner-up Ryan Manuel and second runner-up Liz Pence.

Kayla Kilgore, the winner. Photo by Caralyn Geyer.

Kilgore said her poems were based on personal experiences and focused on topics of homosexuality and technology as a god.

“I know other people struggle with these things and I want to be a voice of peace on the other side of it so that I can help someone else,” she said. Through the performance aspect of the night, she said, “I hope it attracts a diverse audience. It’s not just for the people who like poetry. People should come for the experience and for a different way to hear a story.”

According to Lowell OIR representative Mandeep Kaur, “The Spoken Word” is not just a contest or about poetry, but it is a chance to share beliefs and help students have a voice.

“SAU students live in a bubble and this event is an opportunity for them to talk about issues more comfortably than on any other platform,” Kaur said.

Alongside Kaur, Eric Beda added, “This is a time to reflect on the history of people, reflect on the past, ponder the current time and hope for what the future may bring.”

In addition to the students, OIR welcomed special guest Jamaica West, a spoken word artist from Chicago. West gave several of her own performances throughout the night, while also playing the role of ‘host’ for the contestants. West said that the spoken word of poetry brings together poetry, creativity, imagination and creates an opportunity to hear the hearts of artists.

“It takes a lot of courage to stand in front of your peers and share your heart,” West said. “Today that is why we refer to them as artists.”

MCU Catch-Up (Part 3)

Marvel’s latest blockbuster “Captain America: Civil War” opened in theaters this weekend and intertwined multiple Marvel cinematic universe (MCU) stories. The plot brings back the usual Avengers gang (minus Thor and the Hulk) while introducing new members Black Panther, Ant Man, and Spiderman.

Because the conglomeration of these stories can be a bit confusing, staff writer Heather Clark and guest writer Lily O’Connor have written summaries of every Marvel movie leading up to “Civil War” in chronological order. “The Pulse” will be posting these summaries over the next couple of days to help refresh your mind before seeing “Civil War”, or to help you connect missing links you hadn’t caught after seeing the movie for the third time.

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

In the 1980s, a young Peter Quill is kidnapped from Earth. Years later, he is part of a band of intergalactic thieves and goes by the name Starlord. While stealing a mysterious artifact, he is targeted by two bounty hunters—Rocket, a surgically enhanced raccoon, and Groot, a humanoid plant. An assassin Gamora, working for terrorist Kree leader Ronan, also wants the artifact, the Orb. They are all captured by authorities and sent to a space prison, where Gamora is attacked by an alien called Drax the Destroyer, who is seeking revenge for Ronan killing his family.

Quill manages to convince them all to work together long enough to escape the prison and deliver the Orb to a buyer. They agree, but when they prepare to sell the Orb to a man known as the Collector, the Orb is revealed to contain one of six Infinity Stones, which also include the Tesseract and the Aether. The stone causes an explosion and the group realizes it needs to be given to the Nova government authorities, but Ronan has tracked them to the Collector’s home. In the battle, Ronan takes the Stone and Quill and Gamora are captured by Quill’s old employers, the space thieves, the Ravagers. Quill convinces the Ravagers to help him get back the stone, and they ally with the Nova fighters to stop Ronan. The stone is recovered and Ronan is destroyed, but Quill discovers that he is not entirely human. He and the others decide to continue working together.

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

While taking down Hydra outposts, the Avengers discover Loki’s scepter as well as two enhanced siblings. While fighting against Hydra and the Maximoff twins, Clint Barton is shot and is airlifted to Helen Cho, a doctor who works closely with the Avengers. Meanwhile, Stark is attacked by Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch, who has the ability to manipulate the mind, causing Tony to see a horrible future. The Avengers are able to retrieve the scepter and return to Stark Tower, which has been renamed Avengers Tower.

Tony begins scientific experiments on the scepter, which he discovers has a computer inside. His attempts to link it to J.A.R.V.I.S. are eventually successful, although the new intelligence proves to be an adversary to Stark and his companions. The creation, named Ultron, takes over Tony’s collection of Iron-Man suits and attacks the Avengers, later disappearing into the internet when he is defeated.

The Avengers travel to Africa to meet with an arms dealer about a supply of Vibranium, the same metal that makes up Steve’s shield, which Ultron wants so he can build an infallible body. They arrive too late, and the Hulk, under the influence of Scarlet Witch, wreaks havoc on the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. With nowhere else to go, Clint takes the Avengers to his safe house, where they discover that Clint is married with children.

The Avengers try to figure out what to do next, and eventually realize that Ultron is attempting to build a flesh body for himself with the help of Helen Cho, whom he took control of with the use of the mind stone, an infinity stone contained in Loki’s scepter. The Avengers steal Ultron’s body before he can be fully integrated into it, and Tony decides to input JARVIS into the body instead. This creates the being known as the Vision. The Avengers, plus Vision, hurry off to Sokovia, the home-country of the Maximoffs, to face Ultron one last time.

The Maximoffs, realizing Ultron only wants war and death, switch sides and team up with the Avengers. In the midst of trying to evacuate the city is forced into the air, and S.H.I.E.L.D. sends help to save the civilians. During the battle, Pietro, one of the twins, is shot saving Clint’s life and dies. A grieving Wanda is able to destroy Ultron’s body, but he narrowly escapes. He is eventually defeated by the Vision. The movie ends with Steve training a new set of Avengers, including Tony’s friend Rhodey, Sam Wilson, and Wanda.

Ant-Man (2015)

Recently released from prison, burglar Scott Lang is trying to work and live a normal life while attempting to get visiting rights for his daughter. When he loses his job, some of his old friends talk Scott into robbing a safe in a mansion. The only thing in the safe is what looks like a motorcycle suit. However, after trying the suit on, Scott realizes it has the ability to shrink a person to the size of an ant. Freaked out, Scott tries to return the suit, and is arrested for breaking and entering. He is able to escape jail by using the suit, which was given to him again, and he discovers that his ‘release’ was caused by the suit’s owner, Dr. Hank Pym. Dr. Pym used to work with Howard Stark until he tried to get Pym’s shrinking particles to be used as a weapon.

Pym’s protégé, Darren Cross, is attempting to recreate the particle, something Pym is trying desperately to stop. With the help of Scott, and Pym’s daughter Hope, Pym plans to steal the prototype suit. In order to steal the suit, Scott needs to break into the new Avengers facility to get a part and ends up fighting with Sam Wilson. He is able to escape and heads back to the Pym household. He enlists help to break into Cross’s facility, but is unable to steal the suit before Cross takes it out of storage. Scott must then fight Cross, which alternates between normal size and ant size in Scott’s family’s house. He is eventually able to defeat Cross. The movie ends with Sam Wilson asking around about this new “hero.”

By Heather Clark and Lily O’Connor

MCU Catch-Up (Part 2)

Marvel’s Avengers (2012)

S.H.I.E.L.D. is conducting experiments on the Tesseract at a secret facility when the cube opens a portal and Loki arrives through it. He takes the Tesseract and takes control of some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, including Clint Barton/Hawkeye and Eric Selvig. After Loki escapes Nick Fury sets the Avengers Initiative into action. Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers arrive on the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, where a search is being conducted for Loki.

Iron Man and Capitan America capture Loki, only to have him stolen by his brother, Thor. After a fight, the team discovers Loki is planning to lead an army of aliens called the Chitauri to take over Earth. Loki manages to break free during an attack on the helicarrier which causes the Hulk to appear and Thor to be thrown out of the ship. Natasha and Clint fight and she hits him in the head, causing Loki’s mind control to break. Together with the help of Steve and Tony, they realize that Loki is planning on using Stark Tower to power the portal and race to New York. Loki has already created the portal when they arrive, and they are forced to battle the aliens. S.H.I.E.L.D. tries to send a nuclear missile into the city to destroy the aliens, but Tony sends it through the portal and Natasha is able to close the gateway. The aliens are defeated and the team splits up, with Thor returning his brother to Asgard for punishment.

Iron Man 3 (2013)

Several years before the events of the first “Iron Man” movie, Tony attended a New Year’s party in Bern, Switzerland where he met Aldrich Killian and Maya Hansen. In the present, Tony suffers from PTSD after the Battle of New York, and also faces the new threat of a terrorist called the Mandarin. After an attack by the Mandarin puts Tony’s bodyguard in the hospital, Tony challenges the Mandarin and his house is attacked. Tony is assumed dead and is able to go after the Mandarin covertly. In the meantime, Pepper is kidnapped by Killian, who along with Hansen has been developing a serum to create super healing, which he calls Extremis. Tony attacks the Mandarin’s mansion only to discover that the man called the Mandarin is an actor hired by Killian to cover up accidental explosions from the unstable Extremis. Killian kidnaps the President of the United States and Rhodey and Tony attack the oil tanker Killian is using as a base and rescue the president and Pepper. Later, Tony undergoes an operation to remove the shrapnel from his heart and throws away his arc reactor after destroying all of the suits he created.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013 – current)

Agent Phil Coulson, an agent who was killed by Loki during the attack on the helicarrier in the “Avengers”, is mysteriously revived, puts together a team of agents, and begins to investigate alien occurrences and a growing threat from inside the agency itself.

Thor: The Dark World (2013)

While investigating gravitational anomalies occurring around the world, Jane Foster comes in contact with a mysterious substance that invades her body. Thor takes her to Asgard to try to find a cure, and they discover that the substance is known as the Aether, a weapon of the Dark Elves, who want to use it to turn the world to darkness using the Convergence, which causes gravitation anomalies. To remove the Aether from Jane’s body, Thor enlists the captive Loki’s help to travel to the Dark Elves’ world. The leader of the Dark Elves, Malekith, removes the Aether, but steals it for himself and Loki is stabbed in the battle. Believing him dead, Thor and Jane return to Earth and battle Malekith in London, finally managing to retrieve the Aether. Thor returns to Asgard to tell his father that he cannot be king because he has chosen to guard Earth. Odin agrees, but when Thor leaves, Odin is revealed to be only an illusion covering up the real person on the throne, Loki.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Steve Rogers, who had moved to Washington D.C. after the Battle of New York, is still working for S.H.I.E.L.D. when he is assigned to infiltrate a captured ship. While retaking the ship from pirates, Steve realizes that Natasha Romanoff, on the mission with him, is secretly gathering information from the onboard computer for Fury. When Steve approaches Fury, the director shows him the new Helicarriers being built as part of Project Insight, a new weapon designed to take out threats before they begin. Fury, however, is concerned about the project and asks senior S.H.I.E.L.D. official Alexander Pierce to postpone the project.

After his request, Fury is ambushed on the road by a group led by the Winter Soldier. Fury escapes and hides in Steve’s apartment, but is killed by the Winter Soldier after giving Steve information on Project Insight. Steve and Natasha follow Fury’s directions to Steve’s old army training camp, where they discover an underground bunker filled with supercomputers. When they access the computers, they discover that Hydra was not destroyed after the Red Skull’s death in “The First Avenger” but instead has been infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D. ever since.

Returning to D.C., Steve and Natasha ask Steve’s friend Sam Wilson for help, and they are attacked by the Winter Soldier whom Steve recognizes as his best friend Bucky. When S.H.I.E.L.D. tries to take them prisoner, the three are rescued by Agent Maria Hill and taken to a bunker where Fury reveals himself to be still alive. Steve and the others realize that Pierce, the Hydra leader inside S.H.I.E.L.D., is planning to use the Insight Helicarriers to take out threats to his own group. Steve, Natasha and Sam break into S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and destroy the Helicarriers, although Steve fights Bucky and is thrown into the Potomac. Bucky drags him to safety and then disappears. Afterward, Steve and Sam begin to search for Bucky, with S.H.I.E.L.D. having been completely dismantled.

By Heather Clark and Lily O’Connor

MCU Catch-Up

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Brooklyn native Steve Rogers participates in a scientific experiment designed to create super-soldiers. When the program’s creator is killed by German Hydra agents, Steve, the only one to complete the program, is considered a test subject and relegated to selling war bonds under the title of “Captain America.” When he travels to the warfront to perform for the soldiers, he discovers his best friend’s company has been captured by Hydra. Steve disobeys orders and with the help of Agent Peggy Carter and inventor Howard Stark, travels into Nazi territory where the men are being held for scientific purposes. The territory surrounds an energy source Hydra has discovered, called the Tesseract. Steve liberates the POWs and several of them form a unit to fight Hydra. On one of their missions, Steve’s friend, Bucky Barnes, falls off a train to his apparent death. Steve then goes head-to-head with leader of Hydra and arch nemesis, Red Skull, and must crash the airplane they are in into the ocean to save humanity from destruction. This causes the Tesseract to be lost for many decades, until Stark finds it while searching for Steve’s body. Almost 70 years later, Steve’s body is discovered in the ice, still alive. He later wakes up in modern day New York and is approached by S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury.

Agent Carter (2015 – current)

After the events of “The First Avenger” Agent Peggy Carter is now working for the Strategic Scientific Reserve (S.S.R) and Howard Stark has been branded a fugitive for allegedly selling weapons to American enemies. With the help of Stark’s butler, Jarvis, Peggy is set on a mission to clear Stark’s name. While going behind the back of her superiors, Carter’s mission leads her to discover a remaining Hydra faction bent on revenge.

Iron Man (2008)

Stark’s son and weapons developer, Tony, is captured by a Middle Eastern terrorist group known as the Ten Rings. During the attack, he is too close to a missile and has fragments of metal blown into his heart. In order to survive this, Tony creates an arc reactor to prevent the metal from impaling his heart. To escape, he builds a metal suit and realizes its potential to become a line of defense. He improves the design with the help of his AI, J.A.R.V.I.S. When he discovers his business partner, Obadiah Stane, is selling Stark Industries weapons to the Ten Rings, he uses the suit to destroy the weapons. Stane builds his own suit to fight Tony, and although Tony is able to defeat Stane, the secret is out. Tony reveals himself at a press conference as Iron Man.

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Scientist Bruce Banner is on the run from authorities in Central America after a failed Gamma ray experiment caused him to transform into a green monster when his pulse was elevated. He is seeking a cure and travels to visit his former love interest, Betty Ross, who was involved in the experiment as well. Betty’s father, General Ross, is obsessed with capturing Banner and creates his own monster in order to defeat Bruce. Bruce and Betty visit a scientist who believes he can cure Bruce from his affliction, but the cure fails and Ross’s monster attacks Banner. After their fight, Banner disappears, still on the run from the military.

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Tony Stark reinstates his father’s expo to bring together scientific minds. In the midst of the expo, Tony faces his own mortality as he realizes that the arc reactor keeping him alive is also poisoning him. Tony searches for an alternative power source while under investigation by the government, which wants to appropriate his suit as a weapon. Tony is then attacked by the son of his father’s former Russian coworker, Ivan Vanko. Vanko is arrested but Tony’s rival weapons manufacturer, Justin Hammer, recruits him to help create Iron-Man style suits. Stark hands control of Stark Industries to Pepper Potts and hires Natalie Rushman, who is later revealed to be S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, as an assistant. At a party, Tony and his friend James “Rhodey” Rhodes get into a fight which ends with Rhodey stealing one of the Iron Man suits and Tony being put under house arrest by S.H.I.E.L.D. With the help of Nick Fury, Tony is able to manufacture a new element to power his arc reactor, saving his life. Meanwhile the suit Rhodey took has been modified by Justin Hammer, and Ivan has built an army of drones. The drones, when displayed at the Stark Expo, begin to attack, controlled by Vanko who is seeking revenge. Tony, Rhodey, Pepper, and Natasha team up to defeat the drones, Vanko, and Hammer.

Thor (2011)

Thor is about to be crowned King of Asgard when a rival alien species, Jotuns, break into a royal vault to steal an ancient weapon. Thor, angry that the Jotuns ruined the celebrations, decides to take his friends, the Warriors Three and Lady Sif, and his brother, Loki, to attack Jotunheim in retribution. When defeat is imminent, Odin comes to attempt to renegotiate a peace, but peace is lost. Odin takes Thor, Loki, and their friends back to Asgard, where he then banishes Thor for his ignorance in nearly starting a war. Thor is sent to Midgard (Earth), along with his mighty hammer, Mjolnir, and is immediately hit by a car belonging to scientists studying atmospheric phenomena.

Meanwhile in Asgard, Loki finds out that he is not actually Odin’s son, but instead was taken from Jotunheim, his home planet. His angry outburst sends Odin into a coma, and Loki takes control of the throne. Back on Earth, without his power or Mjolnir, Thor befriends scientists Jane Foster, Eric Selvig and Darcy Lewis. The Warriors Three and Lady Sif decide to travel to Earth to find Thor, and Loki sends a weapon called the Destroyer after them. In the ensuring battle Thor is wounded and sacrifices himself for the others. This sacrifice allows Mjolnir to return to him and his powers are reinstated. Thor defeats the Destroyer and returns to Asgard to confront his brother. This confrontation leads to the near death of Odin, apparent death of Loki, and destruction of the Bifrost, forcing Thor to remain on Asgard.

By Heather Clark and Lily O’Connor

Summaries of “The Avengers”, “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and the slew of sequels coming tomorrow!

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Toribash

The concept of Toribash is one that does not sound too strange. Essentially Toribash is a game where you are trying to fight your enemy in a martial arts battle to victory. The catch is that you have to choose what muscles you want to move, and you have access to every muscle in your body. This means in order to fight you must choose if you want to extend, contract or hold a muscle and things get really weird really fast. For example I could start by choosing to contract my hip and extend my knee and that would essentially more or less be a kicking action. The problem is more often than not you can’t figure out how to get things to work. Instead you make your character flail around like an idiot trying to hit your opponent. It typically ends with you falling on your face and simultaneously kicking the back of your head. It’s a lot of fun and is free so you should definitely try it out. But be warned: if you play online, get ready to lose because there are some weirdos in this world who actually know how to work this impossible game. Hint: Adding jetpacks to the game makes it infinitely more fun.

Earthbound (Mother 2)

In all fairness this game is a work of art and fans everywhere can’t stop talking about it. However, this doesn’t mean it isn’t absolutely out of this world in its levels of weirdness. You start on a journey as a kid named Ness and you have to fight a super-powered fly, erase giant pencil statues, defeat an evil cult that wants to paint the entire world blue, and even fight an evil pile of puke. (which sounds gross, but to be quite honest while playing the game you don’t even think that much about it.) And these are only the beginning. It sounds crazy and nonsensical, but everyone who finishes the game is in awe of its beauty.

Noby Noby Boy

I don’t really know how I stumbled across this hidden gem. The whole point of the game is to eat everything on the screen, and that’s pretty much the extent of it. You start off as a small worm that is only big enough to eat things such as small plants and then once you eat enough small plants you grow big enough to eat things like skateboards, and then you can move on to people and you finally grow large enough that you can eat entire skyscrapers. That’s pretty much the extent of the game, there’s no real purpose. After you quit the game, your score is uploaded online and it helps grow the entire noby noby boys community worm as a whole. The goal is to play everyday as a new worm so that you can continue to grow the community worm so large that it reaches new planets. When I stopped playing about 3 years ago the entire community had reached the planet mars. I did a quick google search and found out that the community has currently reached the planet Uranus. This game has been going on since 2009, so players from all over the world have spent the last 6 years trying to reach every planet. Will they ever reach the final planet Neptune? I can only hope so.

Goat Simulator

Chances are you have heard of the game goat simulator. It’s received quite a bit of attention since its release last year, and yes, it is exactly what it sounds like. I have never felt more like a goat then when I have played this game. The whole game was made essentially as a joke. There are numerous bugs and glitches in it and that’s okay because the developers didn’t want to make a nice polished game. The whole point of the game is to be buggy. Essentially you run around as a goat and grab stuff with your tongue. You can do many different things such as call aliens and go to space. Make it rain goats. Get a cool goat jetpack and many other strange things. The coolest part are the variety of characters in the game. You can be a giraffe goat, an ostrich goat and as of recently, you can even be a microwave goat–just a microwave with 2 legs. Seriously this game’s weird, but I love it.

.Detuned

Alright we made it to the top weirdest game that I have ever played. Almost no one I’ve talked to has ever heard of this game and I really wish I could say that I don’t know it either. I originally got it because the title description made it sound like I could make my own music. Instead I sat staring at a screen with the most confused look I have ever had in my life. I also couldn’t get rid of that confused look for the next 3 weeks. I went to school and people were like “Joel what’s wrong with your face?” I couldn’t answer them though because the game had broken my ability to do anything.

Essentially in .Detuned you play your favorite songs in the background and control a man who sits in a chair. You can make the man do things like walk around the chair, cough and adjust his sleeves. Sorry was that too normal for you? Well you can also do things like turn your head into a balloon, an elephant or various other things. And all the while weird smiley square people are staring at you and cheering you on. You don’t have the option to move away from the chair, you must stay in its vicinity the whole time. As you play more and more you discover different buttons perform different actions. Why do I want to preform all these actions you may ask? That’s the best part. The whole point of the game is actually to make a music video based around your character sitting in the chair. There’s no way to beat the game, you just experiment until you don’t want to experiment anymore. You quickly find out all the cool creative ways to make a music video of a man and a chair. Still confused? You can watch the video below if it helps, but chances are it will confuse you even more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLDanQvMw04

By Joel Bradley

Is TIDAL the Answer to Music Streaming?

You may have heard about the star-studded press conference held by Jay-Z on Monday. It was all in support of his recently acquired music streaming service, TIDAL.

Artists such as Alicia Keys, Arcade Fire, Daft Punk, Jack White Kanye West, Rihanna, Usher and Deadmau5 have been locked in as direct supporters and were even given a small piece of the company in return.

TIDAL’s claim to superiority in the streaming world is that it will stream CD-quality audio as opposed to the MP3 quality that platforms like Spotify and Beats Music use. These “CD-quality” files come in FLAC, WAV, AIFF and Apple Lossless files and take up significant more space than an MP3 or AAC file.

Jay-Z has come out strongly against the current music-streaming system which has seen much backlash for supposedly ripping off artists. Spotify has said that artists receive $0.007 per play and that it has paid more than $1bn in royalties since it’s launch in 2008.

Artists such as Thom Yorke and Taylor Swift alongside others have pulled their music from Spotify in protest. Spotify has responded by saying they believe their service is a valid alternative to piracy and they continue to pay out nearly 70% of all revenues in royalties.

However, this money rarely makes it too the artists before being thinned out. BBC news said, “This 70% is usually paid direct to record labels, who take their cut before it reaches managers and artists.”

Dave Johnson of TIME released an article outlining what artists earned from streams based on Spotify’s current payout rate and the amount of streams the artist received. At roughly 30 million (M) plays in October 2014, Stay With Me would’ve earned Sam Smith $170k-240k. At 20M plays, Cool Kids would’ve earned Echosmith $120k-170k. Although this amount is perhaps not as large as it would be if the albums were downloaded in full from iTunes or bought in a store, it’s certainly not chump change.

I’ll admit, I love Spotify. I pay the $9.99 per-month fee for their premium subscription. Aside from the ability to access nearly any album or song at anytime for one flat rate I enjoy the usability and format of their app. Everything is no more than a couple easy clicks away and the app is appealing to the eye in a streamlined sort of way.

I also, however, will go out to a store and buy a hard copy of an album if I like it. In fact, I bought two albums in Best Buy this week after listening to them on Spotify and enjoying them. I want to support the artists as much as I can.

Online music streaming doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Hopefully all of this conversation leads to improvement in all areas of the industry. In the meantime, do what you can to support the artists you love. Spare the $8-10 to buy an album in a store, every purchase matters.

By Jesse Gentry

Pebble Time

Many people are aware of the famous (or infamous) device: the Apple Watch. It is designed to be the equivalent of a tiny iPhone attached to straps and can be worn as a watch. Many criticize its small screen, low battery life and high costs. But people still want to buy the miniscule timepiece. This fact caught the attention of Eric Migicovsky, CEO of the company Pebble.

Three years ago, Pebble created their first smartwatch, and crowd-sourced the funds to create it. They managed to raise a whopping $10 million, with 69,000 people backing it. But now, Pebble has outdone even that amount with their new efforts to crowd-source the second model of their watch, Pebble Time.

The company set their initial goal at a humble $500,000. But on the very first day they set a new record for the fastest record for any crowd-sourced item has reached $1 million. Within only 49 minutes they had shattered the record, and by the end of the week had raised more money than any other Kickstarter campaign to date. The Pebble Time is currently being backed with over $20.3 million, with 78,463 people pitching in.

The second highest-funded Kickstarter, the Coolest Cooler came in at only $13.3 million, and Pebble’s first Pebble Time creation still holds third place at $10.2 million. Those are even higher than the efforts to fund wireless ear buds and bringing back the popular children’s tv program Reading Rainbow. In fact, the amount of money going into the funding of Pebble Time is slightly over 1% of America’s total gross domestic product.

To put that into perspective, with the amount of money pledged to the creation of this smartwatch, a single person could buy:

1. 2 million and 30 thousand slices of Marino’s pizza.

2. 50 decent-sized houses in a nice neighborhood (official estimate terms used)

3. LeBron James’ mansion in Miami, and still have a nice $3.3 million left over

4. Or 1,194 of the most expensive versions of the new Apple Watch

But why are people going nuts over Pebble? To look at that, you need to look into why the original Pebble sold so well, as well as what is promised with the new Pebble Time.

Pebble

The original Pebble has a wide variety of features. It can synch up to almost any smartphone device, unlike the Apple Watch which is only compatible with iPhones and other Apple devices. It is also water resistant, has access to thousands of apps and most importantly has a massive battery life of around 7 days. The Apple Watch’s biggest complaint is its small battery life, needing to be charged up about every day.

The Pebble Time, the new second edition product, boasts a more improved version of the already popular previous model. It will have a color screen, even better battery life, a thinner model than the original Pebble and even a microphone.

Needless to say, whatever Pebble is doing, it is doing it right. With 78 ,000 backers and over $20 million in pledges, people want this new gadget and they want it badly. Watch out Apple, you’ve got competition and its name is Pebble.

By Evan Roberts

Sam Hunt: On The Rise

One of Nashville’s biggest up and coming artists has a lot more to him than people may realize. The chart-topping Sam Hunt once was a highly touted high school football player who went on to play quarterback at Middle Tennessee State before transferring to play at UAB. His talents on the field were enough to warrant him an invitation to an NFL training camp but his NFL career never took off. That may not be a bad thing, especially for us.

After making the move to Nashville to pursue music, Hunt wrote songs with the likes of Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban and Billy Currington. Chesney’s “Come Over,” Urban’s “Cop Car,” and Currington’s “We Are Tonight,” are a few of the well known songs he has written.

Hunt’s style is also unique, traversing genres to bring a blend of R & B, Country, Pop and even some EDM influences. In an October 2014 article interview with Marissa R. Moss of the Rolling Stone he explains his unique sound saying, “I am from the country, and I grew up mostly influenced by country music,so by the definition I have, these are country songs, not pop songs. Even though there may be a pop element, pop is an ambiguous word and can mean a lot of different things. I’m not trying to become a pop artist, and I’m not trying to make sure I stay a country artist. I’m just trying to make sure I make the best music I can, according to my way.”

His debut full-length album “Montevallo” reached #1 on the country charts and the top 3 in nearly every other. The first single off of the album, “Leave the Night On,” went platinum (at least one million sold). No matter what kind of music you’re into, you’re bound to find a song on it that you enjoy.

In an article written by Dacey Orr of Wondering Sound, Hunt gave his opinions about the direction country music is headed and the changes in the overall sound of country music. He said, “I do believe that it’s breaking down some of the stereotypes that have prevented people historically from giving country a chance. So I think that’s a good thing.”

Hunt has recently embarked on his first major headlining nationwide tour, of which many shows have sold out. This summer he will be touring with the likes of Lady Antebellum and playing some of the country’s biggest festivals.

Though he has only released one full-length album to date, Hunt has found great success in a hurry. Look for him to build on this momentum and release new music in the coming year.

By Jesse Gentry

Star Trek Tech

Many people could recognize the voice of Leonard Nimoy, the logical Spock from the Star Trek series. If not from there then from his numerous other acting roles, such as King Kashekim Nedakh from the Disney movie Atlantis: The Lost Empire or even the narrator for the video game Civilization IV. This talented man passed away on February 27, much to the chagrin of many fans.

To honor his passing, a list of technologies that were inspired by the show he is most famous for acting in, Star Trek, was compiled by CNN News. The first is cell phones. On the show, many characters use small, portable communicators in order to talk to each other when on distant planets or even just on other parts of their ship, the Enterprise. The shared appearance between their communicators and the original cell phones is no coincidence, because the original creator of the cell phone Martin Cooper said that he was inspired by Captain Kirk’s golden flip communicator.

Another modern technology owed to the crew of the Enterprise is the automatic door. Their super advanced high-tech ship had doors that opened automatically for people who walked up to them. A mere fantasy at the time, we now have the same kind of technology in most department stores.

The third technology is fairly recent but incredibly handy. On the show, the crew had a universal translator to eliminate the language barrier between any different alien species they ran into in their adventures. We might not use it for space invaders just yet, but Microsoft developed a translating tool on Skype which lets us understand fellow human beings, even if we don’t speak the same language.

In the sixties, the idea of massive television screens was a wonderful work of fantasy, which showed up on Star Trek in their main control room. Their large screens let them see the captains of other ships and communicate with ease, which our modern day huge televisions can do if hooked up to cameras. We can even do it on our computers, phones, and tablets.

Communication wasn’t the only way the crew of the Enterprise was more advanced though. Medical Doctor McCoy could easily see a person’s vitals by moving a sensor over a patient and read it on his “tricorder.” In modern times, our “tricorder” is really called the “Scanadu,” and it is placed on a patient’s forehead. After a few seconds, it measures the person’s blood pressure, oxygen level, heart rate, temperature, and even a complete ECG reading.

Even more strange is the idea of artificial intelligence. On the Enterprise, crew members could talk to the ship’s computer and get a quick response. In modern times we don’t need a massive computer to do that though, our phones work just fine. Siri and Google Now might be a little ways off and slightly buggy, but they’re getting pretty close. They even have a sense of humor, which the Enterprise never really got the hang of.

Leonard Nimoy might be gone, but he is immortalized from his work on Star Trek. The technologies he pretended to work with in the sixties he lived to see in our times today. Star Trek may have been science fiction, but it seems to be more science than fiction now.

By Evan Roberts

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2. TV on the Radio- Happy Idiot, Paul Reuben (Pee-wee- Herman) and Karen Gillian (Doctor Who, and Guardians of the Galaxy) star in the video.

3. Mogwai-Teenage Exorcist, The unique use of practical and digital effects that is seen in the video.

4. Young the Giant- Apartment, the narrative and plot uniquely integrates the story of a man having an adventurous birthday and the lead singer dreaming about the events that took place.

5. Phantogram-Fall in love, the use of special effects and performance displayed by the group that shows the intensity and emotion of the song.

6. Childish Gambino –Sober, the 80’s R&B pop vibe the song has, also the dance moves that Donald Glover throws down, and the various technical changes in the video.

7. Foster the People- Best Friend, the intense and trippy effects of this dark twisted narrative depicting how the idea of beauty can be an addiction and lead to one’s downfall.

8. Vampire Weekend- Diane Young, the cameos of indie/pop artist such as Sky Ferreira, Santigold, Chromeo, Despot, Dave Longstreth of the Dirty Projectors, and Hamilton Leithauser from The Walkmen and their all having a party.

9. Death cab for cutie- Black Sun, the Music video is about death cab for cutie making a music video, the irony.

10. Joey Bad$$- Like me, the emotional content and story of the main characters struggles of being a black minority facing street life, police, love affairs and grudges. Near the end of the video Joey Bada$$ pays respect to fallen minorities, as they’re being resurrected from the after life.

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