Ikram Farah has begun a series of initiatives over the first term and has mostly been on schedule with her year-plan thus far into the academic year.
Farah worked with Metrolinx to implement extended Go bus hours on the busiest nights of Welcome Week and throughout the year, a prominent platform point for her. There are now two added trip times at night for the 47 eastbound and the 15A Aldershot routes.
Farah has also pushed for more bus shelters on campus. Currently, three out of the planned four bus shelters have been installed at Sterling Street and Forsyth Avenue and at University Avenue and Forsyth Avenue. While the Sterling Street and Forsyth Avenue shelters have been completed, the University and Forsyth stop on the hospital side is still in progress.
Improving lighting on and off campus to increase student safety was also an important year-plan target for Ikram. A few lights have been upgraded, but these projects will mostly carry into 2019 as Farah is working with city and university staff to complete the improvements.
A successful initiative for Farah was the recent launch of the “Tax Free Tuesdays” pilot project, which allowed students to purchase food from La Piazza at a 13 per cent discount.
In addition, Farah had discussions with university stakeholders about changes to the McMaster student absence form policy and exam scheduling, including opting out of back-to-back exams, which she initially proposed. However, she now believes examining the current teaching methods and assessment structures at large will better address this issue in the long-term.
”We are looking at accommodations and we are looking at students’ well-being and a lot of the mental health concerns,” Farah said. “I don’t want to look at MSAFs in isolation with exams or teaching and learning and evaluations.”
Free speech has been another important issue that has come up during Farah’s term. Farah sought out student feedback via the Student Representative Assembly. In November, she helped organize a town hall discussion where students could ask questions in an open forum.
In 2019, Farah aims to focus on exam scheduling and MSAF policies, lighting and lobbying for an international student shuttle bus.
Scott Robinson outlined 26 objectives in his year-plan and has stayed busy largely with revamping the McMaster Student Union-run restaurants.
Robinson has worked to update TwelvEighty’s menu and install new event centre flooring in the restaurant. Robinson has also helped introduce new TwelvEighty nightlife events such as trivia nights.
In addition, Robinson led efforts to rebrand and revitalize Union Market, which, according to Robinson, saw increased sales over the summer.
In partnership with the Student Activity Building ad-hoc committee, Robinson oversaw the interior design consultation campaign for the SAB, which is slated to open in 2020.
Robinson also helped implement an online loading system for the Hamilton Street Railway student presto card system through Mosaic.
In addition, Robinson is planning to release a video for the MSU in late November or early December to explain where exactly student fees go towards in the MSU. This is part of a larger effort to increase the union’s financial transparency.
Robinson has also helped improve the MSU’s social media strategy, creating video updates directly from the board.
Another one of Robinson’s projects entailed helping to implement a pilot project to use the $23,000 surplus from last year’s Welcome Week funding to buy essential items for reps and subsidize meals.
While Robinson has added more seating area to the McMaster University Student Centre, his objective of adding more moveable tables and different furniture has been more complicated than expected.
In January, Robinson will help run the “Life After Mac” program, which helps graduate students transition into the workforce.
Over the rest of his term Robinson will focus on developing the MSU’s long-term food and beverage strategy and looking at the effects of OHIP+ on the MSU health plan. He also aspires to improve new SRA members’ financial literacy before they approve the union’s 2019-2020 budget.
Stephanie Bertolo and the education team have worked to promote student engagement in two elections and continue to cultivate relationships with politicians and student groups.
The provincial election in June and municipal election in October were two major focuses for Bertolo. She organized two respective MacVotes campaigns, which included the all-candidates Ward 1 debate before the October Hamilton election.
During the campaign period, Bertolo and Farah met with all 13 Ward 1 candidates. She is also planning to meet with newly elected Ward 1 councillor Maureen Wilson in the next few weeks.
In September, Bertolo helped lead the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance #TextbookBroke campaign, which advocated for the adoption of open educational resources at the university.
Bertolo and her education team wrote the MSU's university budget submission, which included OERs, and increased funding for sexual violence response.
Over the past few weeks, the education team, led by Bertolo, wrote three policy papers for the MSU on on-campus infrastructure, student engagement and retention and tuition and student financing in post-secondary education.
Bertolo is also involved with OUSA and co-wrote their Tuition Paper, which calls for province-wide tuition freezes for all students, including international students.
As part of her “Unsettling Campus” year-plan initiative, Bertolo has begun discussions with the McMaster Indigenous Student Community Alliance and the Cooperative of Indigenous Studies Students and Alumni, two Indigenous student groups.
“I’m working with CISSA right now to set up a meeting with [McMaster president] Patrick Deane,” Bertolo said.
In January, Bertolo is planning to soft launch the landlord rating project for students. The rating system was originally planned for first semester, but it was pushed back.
The landlord licensing project is an ongoing city-wide initiative that Bertolo is hoping to work with Maureen Wilson and other city councillors to implement.
Over the rest of her term, Bertolo will help run the experiential education campaign in partnership with OUSA, finalize the municipal budget submission for Hamilton and further develop the unsettling campus project.
Kristina Epifano’s year-plan included thirteen objectives. Her other ongoing responsibilities entail supporting MSU part-time workers and reviewing Welcome Week and MSU hiring practices.
As promised in her year-plan, Epifano has scheduled bi-weekly or monthly meetings with each part-time manager and has held two feedback meetings for all the PTMs.
Epifano has also updated job descriptions and required skills for each MSU job opening to aid the hiring board.
She also restructured the SRA training back in May, specifically by bringing in different full-time staff to speak. Epifano promises more changes for SRA training next May.
To support MSU staff and volunteers, Epifano has also renovated the committee room to provide a better space for students to work.
Epifano chaired the first strategic themes advisory committee, which prioritized four themes for Welcome Week: responsible drinking, sexual violence response and prevention, mental health and wellness and community engagement.
Throughout the year, Epifano, Bertolo and Farah have been in talks with McMaster sexual violence response coordinator Meaghan Ross to fulfill the objective of making campus safer.
“There was a survey that went out last year that we are still waiting to get the data from, and we want to advocate to the university to increase the support we have for Meaghan Ross and survivors of sexual assault on campus,” Epifano said.
Another priority for Epifano was increasing SRA transparency. The SRA bi-weekly meetings are now live-streamed on the new SRA Facebook page, which has resulted in significantly increased views.
Epifano is currently creating Welcome Week planner job descriptions, which she hopes will better ensure that hired individuals are qualified. She has also been collecting feedback from first years and looking into the possibility of turning the welcome week planner role into a paid position.
In January, Epifano will oversee the second round of hiring for PTMs, present her Welcome Week research findings and begin planning training for PTMs and the incoming SRA. Beyond that, she will begin planning the strategic themes for Welcome Week 2019 and continue her support of sexual violence education and response.
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[spacer height="20px"]Working at a newspaper is a good time, especially when the mean comments come in.
Here at the Silhouette, we’re no stranger to harsh comments. For real, just go through our Facebook reviews. For whatever reason, you folks think that you could do our job better than we can.
Sure, maybe you could, but you don’t, so until you overthrow the staff at the Silhouette and claim the paper as your own, we’re asking you to roast us.
Your student fees have paid for the Silhouette to keep on for the past 89 years and our content and design is entirely student-made. We want to represent you and your interests as accurately as we can.
If you vehemently hate the Speculator and all it stands for, hate the fact that we’re not, in your words, a “real” news source, or that our crosswords are a heaping pile of poo, roast us.
We’ve put out tons of surveys over the years and for some reason, while everyone roasts us any other time of year, no one has anything to say when a survey comes out. This is your chance to tell us what you really want.
Want to see more spicy opinion pieces about free speech on campus? Tell us. Want to see more serious, investigative news pieces? Let us know! More memes on Instagram? Hell yeah, say so!
We’ve been through some big changes this year, from strengthening our online voice, growing our video talents and generally becoming better rounded in our content, we’ve definitely modernized our content to fit the general mood. But there’s always room for improvement.
Help us with this! Be honest and critical. Tell us that you hate our guts, if you want, but give us a productive solution so that we can move forward in the ways you want to see.
To help get this feedback, we’re setting up the roast of the Sil. This will take shape in the form of an online survey which will give you the chance to get things off your chest, once and for all. Not only will you get the opportunity to roast us, you’ll also get a chance to win one of twelve prizes in our Twelve Days of Exams campaign which will be launched over the coming weeks.
[button link="https://goo.gl/forms/Q02DEtbB79cj7aki1" type="big" " color="red" newwindow="yes"] FILL OUT OUR SURVEY[/button]
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As the News Editor, I have made the executive decision to cut the McMaster Students Union board of directors report card we typically print in the last issue of the Silhouette before the exam break. Instead, we will print a check-in where we consider how far the board has come with their year plans.
In previous years, the Silhouette published report cards where the staff evaluated the work the board has done so far in their term. As a part of this team last year, this process was fraught with issues.
First and foremost, the report card style unfairly favoured the vice president (Education) and vice president (Finance), as they are able to easily prove they have completed aspects of their year plans.
The vice president (Administration)’s job focuses on supporting employees and handling the day-to-day problems of the union, while the president focuses on long term projects. These are often difficult to prove and would result in lower marks relative to other board members, something I did not appreciate about the report card format.
In addition, we often run into gaps in knowledge that often cannot be filled without causing issues for those we ask. It is unfair of us to ask MSU employees to go on the record and speak against their superiors when their term is not yet over, but this was often what we had to do to confirm the board’s job performance. It was rare people would feel comfortable speaking out on the record, and I would not expect them to do so.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the report card format was a fantastic way to jolt the board to work harder toward their goals and bring attention to their successes and failures. But grading the board would either imply one board member is better than the others, lack the information needed to be accurate or ask people to disparage their superiors on the record. None of these are ideal but unless we can address each of these concerns, the board’s report card will always fall flat.
With this in mind, the board has to start addressing some of these concerns on their own. There should be a formalized system for MSU employees and members to address their concerns and then publicize this feedback. As paying members of the MSU, people deserve to know what the board is doing during their terms.
To their credit, the board does relay information about their work to the public via social media and their weekly President’s Page in every issue of the Silhouette. But without an open and anonymous forum to discuss the success of their work, it will be difficult to analyze their work.
The check-in will focus on what the board has done and hopefully this will spark a discussion about whether or not the board has achieved enough since their election.
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By: Hess Sahlollbey
If my tickets were refundable, I would’ve left the theater after five minutes and asked for my money back. What should have been a simple grudge match between two orphans before they team up to face a greater evil is encumbered by a lengthy and superfluous political story and abstract metaphors.
While Man Of Steel was an effective introduction to Superman, Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice can easily be surmised as Warner Bros. attempt to address the faults in Man of Steel. While technically a sequel, it rehashes the same themes, ideas and symbolism but with a much darker tone. This over-reliance on previously used material is what ultimately causes this movie to fumble out of the gate. The darker tone also adds a sense of hopelessness that creates an unattractive package.
Zack Synder is a man who’s not unfamiliar with adapting comics to the screen. His past credits on 300, Watchmen and on Man of Steel easily prove that. However a poorly measured ambition to pay homage to Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns and Dan Jurgens’ The Death of Superman is what ultimately led to the direction losing its way. Snyder’s view is clearly on that depicts Superman as a poorly stitched together Christ-figure, while Batman comes off as a billionaire fascist.
While Man of Steel gave hints to Superman being regarded as a messiah, the symbolism and metaphors in that film were subtle. In BvS however, the references are overly pleasant and forced. One element that allowed Man of Steel to succeed was the solid story-arc. Clark Kent/Kal-El struggled and grew with a culminating scene where he overcame severe odds, defeated the evil Kryptonians and ultimately found his place as Earth’s saviour. Batman V Superman, however, doesn’t have a plot that can be recounted in a few sentences because there simply isn’t one. It’s a string of beats that are poorly tied together to form an abstract narrative. Multiple convoluted plots in the story falter near the middle of this film because the acts also fail to smoothly transition from one to the next. Superman and Batman find themselves in a situation where they must fight each other and only stop when a CGI Doomsday shows up.
A poor plot could be forgiven by strong characterization, but BvS mostly comes up short in that aspect too. Superman is a character that’s simply there but has no presence. The bulk of his scenes see him engaging in self-loathing and are a regression from all the emotional development he had in Man Of Steel. He has the least amount of dialogue and spends the majority of the film transitioning from one place to the next, gathering what is often irrational advice. Henry Cavill gives a paper-thin performance with no depth. It’s a stark juxtaposition to his endearing performance in Man Of Steel.
When Ben Affleck was first announced as the new Batman, there was significant backlash online from fans. Even I was unsure whether or not he could pull it off, but his was one the stronger performances in the film. While Batman’s methods of crime fighting were questionably brutal in comparison to previous depictions of the Dark Knight, Ben Affleck easily blurs the line between himself and the character. Jeremy Irons is equally delightful as Batman’s trusty butler, Alfred. His portrayal of Alfred sees him as more of a hand’s on mechanic, while also delivering some of the wittiest lines of dialogue in the film.
Jesse Eisenberg who takes on the role of Lex Luthor, is a different story. While at first he appears as a Mark Zuckerberg-type billionaire with a sinister agenda, his ramblings make his character come off as more cuckoo. Historically the character has been portrayed as a super-genius obsessed with greed and besting Superman. In BvS however, his motivations aren’t just unclear, they’re non-existent. Eisenberg’s most captivating scenes are those where he operates silently because his conversations are filled with nonsensical biblical and theological ramblings. This dialogue again ties back into the movie’s overabundance of depthless symbolism.
The real star of this film however was Gal Gadot. She is an absolute show-stealer anytime she’s on screen. Gadot’s depiction of Wonder Woman is sexy, mysterious and most importantly sparse. She has few scenes in the movie but always leaves you wanting more. Gadot’s role in the film is the only place where Zack Snyder seems to be aware that less is more. It should also be noted that it’s the first depiction of Wonder Woman on the big screen and sets the bar very high for whatever comes next. The same can also be said of Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa and Ray Fisher who all appear as Barry Allen/Flash, Arthur Curry/Aquaman and Victor Stone/Cyborg respectively. We get brief peeks that leave us wanting more.
Despite months and anticipation and millions of dollars of marketing, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice is ludicrous in its reasoning and plot. A film whose purpose is to launch an expanded cinematic universe, the film has slivers of brilliance, but does everything else in the most inefficient manner possible.
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Creativity within a faculty can be a finicky thing, especially when the program is not typically associated with the arts. The stresses of other activities, mostly related to the horror stories of academics and the real possibility of an eight-year undergrad, can sap the mental and physical capacity to put something legitimately good onto a stage. This year's engineering musical shattered this notion. The expectation has been redefined and a new bar set for years to come. Clocking in at more than three hours long on closing night, its 15-minute intermission felt longer than each of the halves it separated.
Herc, despite not fitting in with most of his peers, set out to become a “True Engineer” with help from his friend Peggy and a bitter upper-year student named Sheldon. Midterms, parties, TAs and the temptations of artsies stood in the way, and the sinister plan of the Dean of Arts, Togo Salmon, for engineering to fall and arts to reign supreme at McMaster was ever persistent. With Disney's Hercules as the obvious inspiration it is a rather campy story overall, and its narrative focus succeeds in providing just enough nostalgia and variation to work.
Humour was dispersed in off-beat intervals as the constant mix of one-liners and longer setups throughout made an unpredictable and varied experience without the loss of comedic timing. The story scenes of the play had a phenomenal rhythm to them. Not knowing if or when a joke was about to come, even with setups already in place, was astounding for an amateur production to pull off successfully. The variety of jokes presented were not at all limited to just engineering or generic satire as you would expect. It was this constantly changed tempo, diversity and execution that brought new life to an otherwise predictable plot-line.
The Silhouette, The Hamilton Speculator, Spotted at Mac and The Plumbline as characters were less varied than the typical script, but still effective. The novelty and lighthearted jabs were entertaining without becoming overbearing. Disguised exposition dumps as interactions between their message to the audience and each other were fine enough. The parodies of Queens, Waterloo and the Deans of McMaster's non-engineering faculties unfortunately fell flatter than the previously mentioned papers and media as the straight-forward nature and stale material were odd low-points of the otherwise crisp writing, though these were rather short.
The musical scenes followed a similar pattern to the writing. At peaks, these numbers were absolutely phenomenal by any measure you could judge a musical by. Confident pieces, particularly in the second half, that consisted of solo or duet parts were exquisite. Each member that was asked to step up to the plate delivered with exceptional performances in these goose-bump inducing situations where cast, band and crew combined perfectly. Moments from these are still firmly ingrained in memory days later, and almost every member involved contributed to at least one of these.
It is when the number grew that I was left wanting more. When the knowledge is there that the entire cast and production is capable of these peaks, it felt like a waste and less than the sum of its parts when songs required more members participating. While there is only so much one could do in the pieces selected, mostly songs from Hercules and pop music from the years since its release, the want was almost always for one of the characters or band members, any of them, to have a segment with the mics up high to themselves. The weird mid-range, an odd but consistent low-point of the sound mixing, of these group pieces had infrequent individual parts to break it up. It is just that inclusion of more of these parts would have benefited. The talent was there for it to be brought to the front, not hidden away in a wall of sound.
Despite these minor issues, the overall experience was a positive one. As long as you were not overly critical, it is safe to say that you would have a good time no matter what faculty you were a part of with some solid laughs and songs to talk about afterwards. The next step up of reaching these highlights more often is a bit more love and a few more tweaks away. You should eagerly await what the engineering musical has in store for years to come.
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Last week, I went to see one of the Honours Performance Series plays, Unoriginal Sin. In the director’s notes, they write, “While we know that this will be something that may cause you discomfort, our overall goal is to make you really consider your everyday views on sex.” I take this to be the thesis of their play, but I don’t think the play successfully achieved their goal. They also stated that they wanted to “tackle the subject of sex in our times as honestly and directly as possible,” and open a discussion about the “complexities” that sex brings to our lives. Unfortunately, the characters were shallow — almost all were essentially the same characters with only two notable outliers — and the “complexities” of sex were watered down to scenes of people making out and dancing together.
I can’t express enough how boring and unoriginal this play was. Not even the masturbation or kissing scenes piqued my interest — both of which were just meant to be shock factors rather than much of a plot point. The humour was very uninspired. When one of the characters (Dylan) is seen flipping through Tinder, he makes a lot of jokes about the app. His gripes are the usual: he doesn’t like when people use group photos as their display photo. Of course the audience laughed — the experience is relatable, and Dylan simply named off everyone’s problems with their Tinder experiences.
Then, there’s a strange, borderline problematic, line. In one scene, Amy and Kyle are on a date — Amy, begrudgingly; Kyle, excitedly — and Kyle spends the whole time trying to convince her to have a good time, and Amy is just bratty about it. Then, Kyle defends his intentions by saying, “when you meet a great girl you have to go after her,” and then calls Amy beautiful. So, how is she a great girl, again? All he knows about her is that she’s attractive. Now, I assume that this was meant to be a subversive part, but I think that that assumption grants the play too much credit.
What I found odd, most of all, was that being gay was either a punch line or a crowd pleaser. In one part of the play, two characters — named Kyle and Dylan — were talking about their plans for the evening, and Kyle made a joke about Dylan being on Tinder, Bumble … and then Grindr, which he and the audience chuckled about. What is the joke here? Is the joke that Dylan is gay? That he uses an app specifically for men who are gay? I don’t know why there was a pause to make it a joke, and I don’t know why the audience found it humorous.
The gay men were a strange piece of comic relief. Even at the end, when taking bows, they came out together with one hand on the other’s back. Why? For what? To continue to get the positive reaction they got when they had kissed on stage and everyone cheered?
Finally, I was confused about the costume design at the end of the play. Everyone was dressed in white. The associations with white are usually “purity,” and “virginity,” yet, at the end of the play, the virgin (Brooke) was no longer a virgin. When I asked one of the cast members what the directors’ intention was with this final costume, they were told that that was just the way it was, although the symbolism of the “pure” white clothing did not fit the tone of the play’s ending.
What I found odd, most of all, was that being gay was either a punch line or a crowd pleaser.
The best parts of the play were those without dialogue. So much more was said in these parts, and the plot moved quicker during the tableau-esque moments.
This play didn’t make me uncomfortable for the reasons they may think — it made me uncomfortable that I had to watch rehashed jokes on stage and listen to an audience laugh and laud about gay men just doing normal things that even heterosexual couples do.
As a final note: I would love to lend my copy of The History of Sexuality by Foucault to the directors.
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By: Joe Jodoin
Daredevil’s second season aims to answer what it means to be a hero, both literally and figuratively.
I didn’t know what to expect of Daredevil’s sophomore season for a couple reasons. Firstly, the showrunner of the first season left and was replaced by two new guys, and secondly because the show was now going to focus on two other Marvel anti-heroes, Punisher and Elektra.
Luckily, they kept mostly everything that was great about the first season, and fixed mant of the problems. They also keep the show squarely focused on Daredevil himself, while Punisher and Elektra turn out to be two of the most interesting supporting characters ever to be seen on TV.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5_A0Wx0jU4
What I loved about Daredevil’s first season was its focus on character development, which lent one the ability to appreciate both the protagonist and antagonist’s points of view. As Ben Urich put it, “There are no heroes. No villains. Just people with different agendas.”
This quote has never been more accurate than in the second season, as one of the focuses of the season is Daredevil’s ideological clash with the Punisher. Despite both being on the “good” side, Punisher believes that killing the bad guys is the only way to take care of criminals permanently. Daredevil on the other hand believes people’s lives should be put in the hands of the justice system, and that killing is wrong, whether someone deserves it or not. Elektra serves to make this conflict of justice and morality even more complicated than it already is.
Jon Bernthal’s performance as the Punisher was something I was eagerly anticipating, since the last three actors to portray Punisher in the movies have been quite mediocre. Luckily, Bernthal absolutely blew me away. The fourth episode cements his contribution with what is possibly the best scene of the entire show in which he delivers a tear-jerking monologue that serves as the emotional core of the entire season.
Elodie Yung delivers an even better performance as the sexy but scary Elektra. Her character is completely sociopathic, but always finds a way into seducing Daredevil and convincing him to do what she wants. Elektra is so unhinged that it is impossible to take your eyes off her, as you’re always wondering what she’ll do next. This is a pretty big departure from the strong but silent Elektra from the comics, but is instrumental to making the show so enjoyable. The returning cast members from the first season are also great, and all serve important roles.
This season also tops off the first one in terms of violence and action, which does make the fights slightly less realistic, but more visceral and exciting. The shocking amount of gore can get cringe-worthy at times, but it’s a very nice change from the more kid-friendly movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The pacing problems are fixed now too, with there being more interesting subplots, and more interesting supporting characters. There is also much more of The Hand, an evil organization of ninjas that are a huge part of the Daredevil comic books, and serves to complicate Daredevil’s life even more. The show is like a revolving door of great dialogue, badass action, and surprising twists.
One choice that I think prevented the season from reaching its full potential was the lack of an over-arching villain. I can name at least five antagonists in this season, but none of them were anywhere near as menacing or dangerous as the Kingpin from season one, or even Kilgrave from Jessica Jones. This made the season finale less epic than the first season’s, because even though the stakes were high, I was not interested in the bad guy Daredevil was fighting. This one complaint doesn’t matter too much though, as the entire season is still incredibly interesting and exciting.
While the first season left me satisfied, this season has made me eagerly anticipate the next season. I can’t wait to see the return of the Kingpin, and hopefully Bullseye.
In the same way that Game of Thrones is a masterclass in adapting books to screen, Daredevil is a masterclass in how to adapt comics to screen. If you’re a fan of good TV, then you will definitely love Daredevil.
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Firewatch is hands-down one of the most beautiful games I’ve ever encountered. I’d checked it out with zero idea what it would be about and what to expect, but the graphics of the start menu alone was all the convincing I needed to continue on.
Firewatch is categorized under “first person adventure,” and it follows a fire lookout named Henry on his first few days on the job. The story is jump-started by the disappearance of two teenage girls in the forest, and it’s up to the player to deal with the puzzle this leaves to be solved. This is the first game from Campo Santo, a developer founded by the two leads from Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead game series. That alone already says its fair share about the game. The dialogue in the game operates almost the same way as Walking Dead — a character says something, and you, as player, get to choose what to do or say next in response. Except Firewatch takes it a step farther, making for an adventure game that’s startlingly immersive in its take on a first-person perspective.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZX3MgsRb0A
The first-person perspective was chosen primarily to save on the costs that come with having to sync voice actors with their character counterparts, but the decision seems to have ultimately worked out in Firewatch’s favour. Playing as Henry, the game operates in a way that makes it look like you’re seeing through his eyes. When you look down, you see Henry’s hands and feet as if they were your own. The player only catches glimpses of what Henry is supposed to look like, and otherwise, for all intents and purposes, you are Henry, and his character is completely yours to experience the game through. As Henry, the player interacts with fellow lookout Delilah only via walkie-talkies, and while this sounds dull, it’s Henry and Delilah’s interactions that really make the game stand out. It’s one thing for it to look great, but with some of the best dialogue I’ve heard in a game and perfectly cast voice actors, Firewatch sounds great, too. It’s simultaneously funny and poignant, and at times even relatable. The absence of a mental image to match Henry and Delilah’s voice behind the witty banter is a huge plus. This, coupled with the realistic graphics and being able to pick between response choices that range from emotional to dryly hilarious, it’s a game that feels very, very real in all aspects. Importantly so, since Firewatch doesn’t hold back on the tragic backstories, either.
The first ten minutes of the game alone loads up on Henry’s own emotional background. And it’s worth noting that while this is quickly established and explored throughout the game, it does so without being overdramatic. Firewatch maintains its realism through and through, handling its story and its few characters without being too much nor being too little. It comfortably juggles the drama, the clever banter, the unraveling mystery and the action behind the main storyline, and in my book, any game that can pull that off while sticking to its own personal charm is worth playing.
That said, Firewatch’s one flaw, as noted by many players and critics, is its ending. The game builds itself up to be something dark and gritty, and while in some ways, it does reach that point, it only scratches the surface before descending back to what is a criminally anti-climactic ending. It’s not terrible, per se, but it’s the kind of ending that really makes you go: Wait, what? Is that it? Really? And that’s quite unfortunate for a game that never prompts those questions anywhere else.
Firewatch makes for a great experience largely thanks to the environment it immerses the player in — the woods look shockingly realistic no matter which route you take, and the dialogue is brilliant and satisfying to the very last syllable. While the ending leaves much to be desired, it’s a quick little game that’s relaxing and escapist in its own charming right, and for that, it deserves a play.
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By: Joe Jodoin
Eight years after the original Cloverfield was released in 2008, a new iteration of the movie has hit the big screen, but surprisingly, not as a sequel. Just by watching the trailer, there seems to be no connection to the original whatsoever. Producer J.J. Abrams has said that 10 Cloverfield Lane is “a blood-relative” to the original. I was very interested to see the movie and figure out how these two seemingly unrelated movies are connected.
A lot about this movie has made me very excited. First of all, nobody even knew this movie existed until the first trailer dropped in January. The trailer was also fantastic, and left a lot of mystery surrounding what the film was really about. Abrams has even described this film as his “mystery box”, which worked very well in generating excitement and buzz around it.
I felt terribly conflicted walking out of this movie, since overall I really enjoyed it. However, calling it a Cloverfield movie was completely unnecessary. It pretty much contains no connection to its 2008 predecessor, and it seems to have just gotten the title 10 Cloverfield Lane to generate more buzz and make more money.
You’re not supposed to know too much about the plot going in to this movie, as the mystery and surprise are the movies biggest strengths.
A girl gets into a car accident. She wakes up in a bunker with two men who say there was a chemical attack and the outside world is uninhabitable. But one of the men seems to be more than meets the eye, and our protagonist begins to wonder if staying with her captor is even more dangerous than life outside the bunker.
About 90 percent of this movie is filled with tension, scares, and nail-biting scenes, mainly driven by John Goodman’s performance as the unhinged man who built the bunker. His performance stands out, but is complemented by great directing from first-time director Dan Trachtenberg. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is excellent as the female protagonist, and her character provides the lens through which the audience experiences the movie. John Gallagher Jr. is the third person in the bunker, and plays one of the construction workers who built it. These three actors are the only lead actors in the movie, and all three of them do excellent jobs keeping viewers entertained.
While a majority of this movie is incredibly well made and enjoyable, the ending is where things fall apart. Without giving away spoilers, there is a silly twist that makes what’s left feel pretty much pointless. The twist forces a completely different tone on the rest of the movie and takes away all the tension without an amazing payoff.
Not everyone will hate the ending as much as I did, but I’m sure everyone will love the bulk of the movie. I won’t say anything else, because the less you know about this movie, the better. I don’t think it will by as re-watchable as some other movies this year, because a lot of the fun comes from not knowing what will happen next, but I definitely think this movie is worth seeing.
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Every year, I naively await the Oscars’ Best Animated Feature Film. Every year, Disney proves itself to be the most powerful force in the animated world, and every year, I nod and grudgingly agree as yet another Studio Ghibli film gets sidelined. With Pixar’s Inside Out setting the bar for animated films this year, Mark Osborne’s The Little Prince was released at the Cannes Film Festival with relatively minimal fanfare. However, I’ve been anticipating this adaptation for a long while, and when it was released for the English-speaking audience late last year, I welcomed it with open arms.
Antoine Saint-Exupery’s The Little Prince is dearly loved by the world of children’s literature, and for good reason. It’s intent on driving home the relevance of childlike wonder in the face of the many facets of adulthood, all while retaining a heartfelt charm that never gets old. Osborne’s version maintains all this, but with a twist.
Instead of adapting the book scene by scene, this Little Prince introduces a young girl whose life has been scheduled perfectly to the very seconds by a helicopter mom. The family moves in next to a former aviator — the same aviator from the original story, only much older and quirkier. Priorities start shifting for the unnamed little girl as she gets to know the story of the Little Prince from her neighbour, all of which innocently reminiscent of the aviator’s own experience in Saint-Exupery’s book. The two storylines, old and new, are laced together for the first half, with the distinction made by the animation style. The girl’s daily life is computer animated, while the aviator’s narration of the story of the Little Prince is executed in lovely stop-motion that really cemented the emotional groundwork of the film for me.
Antoine Saint-Exupery’s The Little Prince is dearly loved by the world of children’s literature, and for good reason.
This first half gives way to a storyline that wholly belongs to this film alone, and the result is something that can make or break the film depending on who’s watching. I chose to go into it with the intention of loving it no matter what, and while I didn’t ultimately love some of the changes they made, I liked them enough to allow them to pull at my vulnerable heartstrings. Osborne set out with this film to make his own personal statement about family and parent-child relationships, and make a statement, it did. The problem is that I’m not sure exactly what that statement is.
I love Saint-Exupery’s Le Petit Prince, and it might be my longstanding loyalty to the original story speaking here, but the one flaw of the film for me is that its original plotline fell short of where it really needed to be. Instead of growing into whatever they were trying to prove with the added story, the film reiterates the same monotonous mantras from Saint-Exupery despite blatantly being determined to distinguish itself. The moral of the story became something repetitive and not unlike anything we’ve ever heard before, and the repetition became something that bordered on ridiculous. It stripped away the emotional brilliance that could have been maintained if handled carefully, and while all was not lost at the end of the day, the rescue can only be credited to Hans Zimmer and Richard Harvey’s beautiful score. Osborne’s The Little Prince is a movie targeted towards children, but for a film that preaches about the importance of childlike imagination, it severely underestimates their capability to understand subtle thematic messages in what was otherwise a lovely film. It beats you over the head with the same message, explicitly stated through the little girl, and while nice at first, it was something the second half of the film could have done away with, or at least managed better.
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