Mount Hood

Review: “Behold the Dreamers”

Kevin Reed | Entertainment Editor

“Behold the Dreamers” — a book written by Imbolo Mbue in 2016 — revolves around two Cameroonian immigrants travelling from Limbe, Cameroon to New York City. They deal with both the hardships of immigration and discrimination in their new home.

The book is written about a young couple, Jende and Neni. Jende is happy to have recently gotten a new job as the chauffeur of a wealthy stock investor named Clark Edwards. Neni is a student in community college studying to be a pharmacist. They live together in a one-room apartment with their son, Liomi.

Over the course of the book, Jende sees that coming to America was not the simple answer to all his troubles that he had hoped it would be. His family back home is still struggling to pay for even the basic necessities, his battle to be a legal citizen is tiresome and he works long hours for very little pay.

Jende and Neni also get a deep look into the Edwards family life. They see that despite the vast gap in the two family’s wealth they share one thing: adversity. Overtime it becomes more and more clear that the Edwards wealth doesn’t protect them from struggles in their lives. Everyone has troubles no matter how rich they are.

This book really shows the gritty truth about the “American Dream” that so many immigrants fantasize about. It’s a fact that nobody will ever appreciate how amazing America is as much as an immigrant coming into this country to start a new life. At the start the two Cameroonians look at New York City as a haven for them to escape their lives in Limbe. Over time they realize that this country may bring opportunity and wonder to their lives but it also brings new hardship.

They work so hard; endlessly fighting to reach a dream that, for them, may or may not be attainable at all. They are struggling to reach a wealthy life in America; free from the struggles they felt back in Cameroon. However, as they see from the Edwards, wealth may mean stability and a lavish lifestyle but it doesn’t mean happiness.

After reading this book it gave me a huge appreciation for how amazing this country is and how many opportunities I have in my life. It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day struggles and it’s important to be thankful of the life we live here in America. There are people across the world who could never dream of going to college, being or being able to read. “Behold The Dreamers” inspired me to take advantage of every opportunity I have. I recommend this book to anyone wanting — or needing — to feel a new gratitude for the country we live in.  

Mbue builds relatable characters and makes you feel every bit of emotion and suspense that they do. In the opening scene where Jende is interviewing for his new job, I felt really stressed out afterwards — as if I was interviewing for the job myself.  And, in a way I relate with Neni and how she dreams of a better life in America even through some of the darkest parts of the book, she perseveres through it all to make a better life for her family.

Mbue is a really great writer. She builds fantastic relatable characters who are in depth and very three dimensional. Mbue came from Cameroon herself, and experienced many of the things that the characters in her novel go through first hand. This makes her writing and the situations in the book feel so real and personal to the reader. Throughout the book she uses traditional language and sayings from a cameroon. Her use of the language makes you really feel how different the culture is there and get a taste of Cameroon.  

This book is very thought provoking and it made me analyze how unappreciated our country is but also how inadequate our system of immigration is. The novel widened my understanding of what it is like to be someone coming to America with little to nothing. I recommend this book to anyone wanting a thought provoking novel that will open your eyes to the world of an Immigrant.

Contact the author at kreed17@mail.wou.edu

Photo by: Audiobookstore.com

 

Review: “The Defiant Ones”

Kevin Reed | Entertainment Editor

“The Defiant Ones” is a documentary based series on HBO, directed by Allen Hughes, centered on the story of Andre Young (Dr. Dre) and Jimmy Iovine starting “Beats by Dre.” The audience gets to see how they both started out in the music business and watch as they go through a rollercoaster of ups and downs on their way up.

Viewers see real videotapes from their early music days and interviews with a huge number of stars and executives to get an in depth look at their lives.

Dr. Dre is one of the godfathers of hip hop. His story starts in Compton, California. He was one of the people who started N.W.A. and went on to produce for some of the best hip hop artists ever. He helped Eazy-E, Snoop Dogg and Eminem start their careers, but his legacy has inspired rappers like Kendrick Lamar.

Iovine started the hugely successful record label, Interscope Records. Throughout his career, Iovine has managed artists like Eminem, U2, Nine Inch Nails, Gwen Stefani and Rico Suave. His influence on the music industry still is relevant to this day. Throughout the series it’s shown that Iovine has a fascination for the stranger artists and believes that what makes an artist strange is their creativity. This was unlike most other record labels at the time who felt their artists should adhere to what society considers normal. In “The Defiant Ones” Steve Berman, the vice chairman of Interscope Records describes a conversation he had with Iovine about the direction of the label: “I walked into Jimmy’s office one day and he said, ‘Steve you know what you problem is?’ And he drew a straight line. ‘That’s you, and you know what we need to bring into your life?’ And he squiggles. ‘We gotta get some of that.’” Iovine had never felt his label never needed to follow the status quo, he even preferred it didn’t.

Many artists make appearances throughout both Dr. Dre’s and Iovine’s stories. My personal favorite introduction of a specific artist was the establishing scene of Eminem. This scene tugged at my emotions because I always saw Dr. Dre and Eminem as the Batman and Robin of early 2000 hip-hop.

Dr. Dre’s career was suffering and the board at Interscope wanted him gone. Then, he discovers a young freestyle rapper — Marshall Mathers — in Detroit and decides to sign him. Against Intescope’s executives opinions, Iovine trusts Dr. Dre and they sign Eminem. Within a year of signing he released “Slim Shady LP” which destroyed the charts. Watching this scene, and seeing the actual moment on tape where Dr. Dre and Eminem first clicked made me feel like I was there and I could feel the magic happening right in front of me.

This miniseries is nothing short of motivating to me. It follows the story of two visionaries who climb from the bottom all the way to the top. They climb and claw their way up through hard work and obsession with their work. Seeing that I felt driven to work that hard in anything I do.

“The Defiant Ones” is an in-depth and immersive documentary that gives the viewer an up-close look at the lives of Doctor Dre and Jimmy Iovine. Throughout each episode, viewers get to know the events of their lives through authentic videotapes and pictures, as well as interviews of the artists and people they interacted with throughout their lives.

After watching this you feel as if you were there in the moment. Both of these men worked relentlessly and ended up changing the world of music entirely. You can feel the emotion in every up and down that goes on in the course of the story. Allen Hughes put this together magnificently and made it personal for the viewers. I highly recommend this series to anyone and it is one of my favorite documentaries.

Contact the author at kreed17@mail.wou.edu

Photo by: www.hbo.com

‘Clever, lewd, crude and undesirable’ art

Kevin Reed | Entertainment Editor

Auston Ricks’s artwork is centered around the viewer thinking in a different way than they are used to and interpreting his art in their own way. Ricks is a criminal justice student in his junior year here at Western. In his spare time, he puts together message-based art pieces using a mixture of photography and drawing. Recently, some of his pieces have been showcased in a display on the second floor of the Werner University Center, across from the Wolf Grill. I got to sit down with Ricks this past week and ask him about his art process.

“I want to go for something different but that still expresses something,” said Ricks. He explained that the most important part of his art is the expression and messages in his art. “I try to do something I wouldn’t say more complex because some of these drawings are super simple but something that’s different.” His artwork truly does reflect this because looking at each piece you can tell they all have a specific emotion or message around them.

The process Ricks goes through to put his artwork together is quite unique.

“A lot of these are actually pictures I take, some are not. What I’ll do is draw a picture and use free software to put the two together.” Usually he will take his photographs and his drawings and use several online programs such as Burner Bonanza, and LunaPic to crop and fill the images and an app called Pic Collage to place the drawn image into the photo. Art sometimes runs the risk of becoming too crowded or over complicated because of the medium it’s portrayed in. The process he goes through is intentionally straightforward in style so the viewers can focus on what the art piece means to them. He mentioned how the art pieces start as an idea, in his head or a random drawing and that each is done in one sitting.

“Almost all of these, once I start it, it’s all the way through. Whether it’s sitting down and working for three to four hours or not.” Though art pieces that have been worked on for months are beautiful and spectacular, some lose their message and the creator’s original feeling. This style of art is without any distractions for the viewer and just gives them a peek straight into the artist’s mind. There really is no room for distraction and leaves nothing but raw and pure creativity on the page.

Many times ideas will come to Ricks just from him drawing and or taking pictures of something he finds interesting and putting the two together. In his piece “Sex” the background of the print is actually a picture of dried coconut milk. He also takes inspiration from plenty of other artists.

“Top three definitely are Ralph Steadman, Salvador Dali and Doctor Seuss.” When talking about one of his more colorful pieces he mentioned Andy Warhol inspired him. “The color scheme is based around Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe which actually goes into a lot of these.”

Sometimes, the message or feelings Ricks has behind a piece can be heavier for him and viewers. Whether it’s the overall message of the art or the emotions he was going through, some of his works hold a heavier message than others. Describing his print “Finger Jam.” “That’s a car I crashed … So I took a picture of it. That’s on the road I had just crashed. I had it on my phone for a long time. Then one day I drew that, and they both came together so well.”

A comment on his art display read “Your art is very clever also very lewd, crude, and undesirable,” to which Ricks responded: “What a good description in art in general.” Ricks thinks about art in very new and different way than some other artists do. Ricks is a fantastic artist who is able to create such thought-provoking art in such a simple medium. He doesn’t distract the viewer from his message through the art and puts it right there on the page. A large part of his art comes straight from his heart and on a whim — what he puts out is untouched creativity. Ricks posts new pieces of art on his Instagram @ricks_pressionism.

Contact the author at kreed17@wou.edu

Photo by: Paul F. Davis

Gaming’s newest trend: battle royale games

Kevin Reed | Entertainment Editor

Thanks to the huge success of Fortnight and “PlayerUnkown’s Battlegrounds” — or “PUBG” — similar video games have been coming out and trying to recreate their success. All of these games have brought new life to the battle royale genre. So why are these games so popular across all gaming platforms?

The basic concept of a battle royale-style title is this: a large number of players are dropped into a large map and the last player standing is victorious. The concept is a lot like “The Hunger Games” in a video game. Players have to loot and pillage the map for randomized weapons and items. To ensure that the game doesn’t last indefinitely, the map will shrink as the game progresses. Over the course of a single match usually a safe zone will appear and all players have to move into that safe zone — this will happen periodically until the remaining players have nowhere to hide from each other. Vehicles are important in battle royale titles and can make the difference between players getting in the top five or not. However, some recent games don’t currently have vehicles like “Fortnight.” However in titles like “H1Z1” and “PUBG” vehicles are a major part of the games play-style. Other game mechanics like crafting, building and hunger depend on the title.

A Japanese book, “Battle Royale” by Koushun Takami, actually helped inspired all modern battle royale games. In the novel, 42 high school students are taken to a deserted island and forced to fight to the death. “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins also contributed to the original idea that started the whole genre.

Back in 2013, a mod was made of “ARMA: 2” called “DayZ,” where players tried to survive in a zombie apocalypse situation. This mod was important and eventually became its own standalone game. After Suzanne Collins’s novel became popular, developers decided to remove the zombies and make a game mode for “DayZ” where players fought themselves instead of the undead.

The next big game to come out for the genre was a game made by Daybreak Game Company called “H1Z1.” The game didn’t fully release until February 2017, but was in Steam Early Access long before that. With a massive 150-person lobby, games were hard fought and very long. “H1Z1” caught the eye of Twitch streamers and YouTube stars alike and the community around this game grew massively. In the past “DayZ” had been streamed but never caught this level of popularity. Many game developer companies saw this success and tried to replicate it in their own games by creating battle royale game modes. Titles like “Minecraft,” “Ark: Survival Evolved,” “Grand Theft Auto Online” and “Paladins” created battle royale style game modes. Then new standalone games started getting released.

Currently, all around the gaming community, battle royale games are booming. “Fortnight” and “PUBG” are massively popular and new games are sprouting up more and more. The whole structure of video games is based around risk and reward. In battle royale games you need a combination of luck, strategy and skill to be able to win a round.

Winning in other video game genres comes and goes frequently, except for professional players; winning in this genre is rare. Every decision is a risk and a chance you have to take whether it’s picking a place to drop in, which weapon to use, or what vehicle to use. It’s this high-risk scenario that immerses gamers and makes them love these games even more. Battle royale games have been in the backseat of gaming for years but now they are taking the community by storm in a big way.

Contact the author at kreed17@wou.edu

Photo by: Playbattlegrounds.com, Bohemia.net, H1z1.com

Review: “Bobby Tarantino II”

Kevin Reed | Entertainment Editor

Logic started off his rap career in Rockville, Maryland, growing up a biracial child with a dream. He was able to rise out of his hometown and become one of the most inspirational rappers in the game today. He’s grown his career not only by rapping about his life growing up, but also how he wants to spread a message of equality through his music. He recently put out a new mixtape album as a follow up to his “Bobby Tarantino,” released in 2016, called “Bobby Tarantino II.”

In contrast to his past music, his newest album “Bobby Tarantino II” was produced to be a more lighthearted theme in a trap mixtape style. It may be more fun, but the album is still full of meaningful messages. Logic reinvents how to settle disagreements with competition in “Yuck,” with lines such as, “Anyone that hate me, I wish you success.”

Logic has always been big on celebrities making cameos in his music, including world renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, amazing voice actor Steve Blum, Killer Mike, Lucy Rose and many more. In the intro track to “Bobby Tarantino II,” you hear the voices of popular Comedy Central characters Rick and Morty. I couldn’t help but smile when I listened to their voices in “Grandpa’s Spaceship.” It was, in my opinion, the best way to open up a feel good album. He also collaborates with artists like Wiz Khalifa, 2 Chainz, Big Sean and other hip-hop artists.

Logic has a motto he follows throughout all of his recent music: “Peace, Love and Positivity.” He aims to send this message in many of his songs. In “Bobby Tarantino II” he works out the positivity side by making tracks that are feel good jams and not as heavy as some of his past music. Even when addressing his own conflict with other rappers, he takes the higher road. This approach is unheard of to many other rappers in the game currently. Hip-hop has a reputation of people like Drake and Meek Mill fighting it out in a series of roast tracks, or other rappers getting into fistfights at concerts. However, Logic wishes his competitors success in the future.

“Bobby Tarantino II” is a great feel-good hip-hop album. Logic’s overall flow and lyrics combine in a great way with the trap beats. I personally jam to this on my way to classes all the time. I was impressed with how Logic showed he could create both serious tracks like “1-800-273-8255” and more fun tracks like “Indica Badu.”

“44 more” is an absolute masterpiece and I recommend listening to that track first. I always look forward to Logic’s new music and I’m very impressed with this new album. I am excited for when he releases his upcoming projects.

Contact the author at kreed17@mail.wou.edu

Photo by: Genius.com

The West of Us debuts at Western

Zoë Strickland | Editor-in-Chief

On March 8, members of the community piled into Smith Hall for a 30-minute recital put on by the campus’s renamed and rebranded a cappella group, The West of Us.

The West of Us is comprised of members from the groups that were known as Suspended and 15 Miles West. Though the two groups joined together at the start of this academic year, March 8 was their first recital on Western soil. Last term they were busy preparing for the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella — “if you’ve seen ‘Pitch Perfect’, that was the competition,” noted Chloe Miller, a first-year in the group, during the event.

For their performance, The West of Us sang a total of six songs.

“What we sang at the concert is 100 percent of our repertoire; we’re working on building it back up,” commented Brianna Williford, a history major who finished her degree during fall term.

The group began the night with their renditions of “Forget You” by Cee Lo Green and “And So It Goes” by Billy Joel, followed by two songs that were part of Suspended and 15 Miles West’s individual setlists.

After introducing themselves to the audience, the women went on to perform their “Destiny’s Child Melody,” an arrangement which was part of their set last year as well. Following the women, the men took the stage to perform their “Disney Melody,” which is a mashup of songs from “Mulan,” “Hercules,” “Moana” and “Frozen.”

The members regrouped to perform a mashup that included songs by Kanye West, Estelle and Daft Punk. They ended the night by performing “Bet on It” from “High School Musical.”

The group is led by Eli Schenk and Brianna Williford, who have been involved in Western a cappella for six and four years, respectively. Schenk is in charge of most of the musical arrangements, while Williford handles group organization and personnel.

The groups had considered joining forces for the past couple years, and finally did so because the timing felt right.

“Through ASWOU, we’re one club. We’re ‘A Cappella club’ so we’ve been working together, we’ve done all of our retreats together, we usually sing mixed group songs,” explained Williford. “Mixed group songs are more dynamic, you have more range, more ideas that are all going to be different. We were already doing so much together, and this year we reached a point where it made sense.”

As next term begins, The West of Us will be gearing up to learn more songs for their spring concert, which is tentatively scheduled to take place in the amphitheater at Main Street Park.

As part of their preparation for the event, the group is adding more songs to their repertoire.

“I’m arranging a medley of [“The Greatest Showman”] for us to sing next term,” commented Cole Aldred, a junior communications major and three-year member of the group.

Contact the author at journaleditor@wou.edu

 

Recital showcases student talent

Byron Kimball | Staff Writer

As the rain hammered outside, Smith Music Hall played host to 15 music students on Thursday, March 8. Though the 11 a.m. recital received little advertisement, students who attended had the chance to enjoy musical feats across a variety of genres and grade levels.

Vetted by Dr. Diane Baxter, students participating in the recital were not required to perform as part of a class. Instead, participation was voluntary and, for many students involved, it became a chance to practice for upcoming recitals of their own. In tubist and music senior Josiah Glaser’s case, the performance was one of his first at Western.

“Going into today’s performance, I was looking for a solid first performance, not necessarily an extremely refined or polished performance, but a performance reflective of my progress thus far and a checkpoint towards my senior recital,” Glaser said.

The tubist performed “The Effervescent Ballroom,” a piano and tuba duet, but other students attempted varied genres — voice student Shaohao Wang took on opera; performing in the musical theater genre was Chuming Jiang, performing “I’ve Got a Lot of Living to Do” from “Bye Bye Birdie”; and classical music pianists Faerynn Glasscock, XuDong Yang, Lingyu Zhu, Levi Polasek, Li Jing and Yuzhou Huang played pieces from their collective wheelhouse. Pianist and professor Jackie Morelli provided piano accompaniment for the singers who performed: Marissa Sanders, Mengyuan Chan, Chuming Jiang, Jenny Yang, Virtue Cornelison, Shaohao Wang, Olivia Preciado and Scotti Matney.

Percussionist Sam Wheeler closed out the show by performing a duet with a Macbook: a performance art piece titled “Stop Speaking,” which featured rhythmatic snare drumming alongside a speech-to-text program.

Huang, described preparing for the March 8 performance, saying, “I was not nervous until I was staying at the small room that is a path through to the stage. Then I got a little bit (nervous). But when I was walking into stage and seated at the bench, I was calm. Then I started to play with my heart.” Huang will be performing a solo graduate recital in spring 2019.

Glaser, who will be graduating in spring 2018, said of performing “The Effervescent Ballroom”: “This piece feels like the perfect ‘goodbye’ piece, sending off the previous chapter in my life (my undergraduate experience) and ushering in the next chapter in my life”.

Contact the author at bkimball16@wou.edu

Photo by: Paul F. Davis

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