Entertainment

MMORPGs, or massively multiplayer online role playing games, are often thought of as “time sinks.” Games in this genre typically expect players to sink hundreds of hours into them (perhaps thousands, in some rare cases). Black Desert Online is an entirely different animal in that it expects the average player to log over 1000 hours, and quite quickly. Black Desert has been designed to accommodate players with limited free time; due to several innovative new systems it allows one to accomplish hours of work with minutes of play. I personally feel that these features make Black Desert an ideal MMORPG for college students, but more on that later.

The third Saturday of every April marks an annual event that is well known to every novelty collector and hipster across the country: Record Store Day. Record Store Day is a celebration of purchasing vinyl recordings, the oldest and most official way of collecting music. On Record Store Day, musicians and record labels release exclusive copies of their work on vinyl (either a 12-inch or a 7-inch), CDs, or even taped recordings. Musicians will also make appearances, host Q&As, and even perform at local store in celebration of this event. The first Record Store Day occurred on April 19, 2008, and has been a massive success in the following years. It has expanded to over 1,400 independent record stores in the United States and has been catching on across several continents.

As a Disney film starring a bunch of talking animals, one might go into a screening of Zootopia, Walt Disney Pictures’ newest animated comedy directed by Byron Howard and Rich Moore, and expect nothing less than an overdone idea and clichéd story.

“Dancing is like dreaming with your feet,” and no one embodies this saying more than the performers of Dancing with the Stars. The very first episode of the reality competition premiered on June 1, 2005, so it is crazy to think that the show has been around for 11 years. The celebrity competitors dance in a variety of styles, like the cha-cha, quickstep, rhumba, tango,  fox trot, and the samba, in hopes of winning the renowned Mirror Ball trophy. Each week, one competitor is eliminated based off of votes from the fans through text messages. DWTS has three judges: Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli, and Len Goodman, who provide professional input, but ultimately, the fate of the competitors lies in the hands of the voters.

Cassette tapes are making a comeback with Why Bother Records, an independent record label that specializes in releasing local music in a retro format. Since its inception in March of 2014, the label has released punk and indie hits from bands such as On Your Marks, Have A Good Season, and most recently, Halogen. The guys of Why Bother Records fulfill all responsibilities of a full-service label in house, recording music with an antique tape recorder before carrying out all the promotions, PR work, and graphic design necessary for a release—all while being full time students.

Q. When did you realize you wanted to work in television?

Tina Fey’s wartime journalist Kim Baker isn’t the only one having an identity crisis in Whiskey Tango Foxtrot; the film itself isn’t quite sure whether it’s a drama or a comedy, and ultimately fails to find its footing as something in between.

The 1975, a band that many millennials are familiar with, released their second studio album entitled I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it on Feb. 26. The album might be nearing a month old, but its relevance and significance is far from dwindling in the world of music. The English band released their successful self-titled debut album in September of 2013, and ever since the band has become well-known and favored by many. Songs like “Chocolate” and “Settle Down” have not lost popularity since their first album, which truly set the bar high for their sophomore release.

As part of its 10^th Anniversary schedule of events, The Center for the Arts at Monmouth University has announced that tickets are on sale for an April 1 concert featuring the Grammy winning guitar master Laurence Juber.

Metal Gear Solid: V, Bloodbourne, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Destiny: The Taken King, Final Fantasy: Type 0, Fallout 4… Games like these make it clear that 2015 was a very good year for video games. If you’re at all like me, you’re disappointed that you didn’t have time to play them all. However, when one stops to think about it, this attitude makes no sense; there are a number of advantages when you’ve waited to play a game. For one, the hype dies down; it’s now easier to tell the must-play titles from the duds. More information is available on them, so if you get stuck at some point, there’s sure to be a solution posted online.  On top of all that, they’re considerably cheaper, and games that were $60 last year can now be found for under $20. With all this in mind, I’m going to be rounding up and recommending some of my favorite games of the year.