Entertainment

Every semester, students in the Music Industry program at the University take Applied Music Industry 3 where they get to experience every aspect of scouting artists, producing and recording music and releasing an album. Joe Rapolla, Chair of the Music and Theatre Arts department and specialist professor, said, “This is a very unique and great experience for these students and it has the ability to reach across many different majors.” Last week we read about  Dan Amato, our first Blue Hawk Records artist this semester. Let’s meet some more artists on the compilation album!

Let me start off with a little disclaimer: I have a bias for video games from the Persona series. I first encountered the Shin Megami Tensei series (and its Persona spin-off) in my senior year of high school. Since that time, I’ve paid close attention to both series, with Persona specifically becoming my favorite videogame series. As a little background, Shin Megami Tensei is a series centered on the occult and the ending of the world. Players fight to control the fate of these worlds (for better or for worse) by taming and controlling various creatures from folklore, religions and mythologies ranging from a Unicorn to Thor to Jack Frost. In some ways, it’s like a more adult version of Pokémon (much, much more adult). Shin Megami Tensei titles normally feature deep and mature plot points with branching storylines. Characters live and die depending on the choices you make, and in some cases, your decisions will literally have world-ending consequences. Actually, in some games, you may even choose to end a world deliberately. If you like moral conundrums, the occult and playing god, this series may be for you.

By beginning Spectre with four simple words—“the dead are alive”—the latest edition of the Bond franchise immediately foreshadows the forces that James Bond is up against and the ghosts from his past who will inevitably haunt him. Filling the scene with a Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico City, massive, ornate skeleton heads pervade the sky as people in costume crowd the streets among the shimmering streamers and decorations of a variety of colors. The rustic and delicate features of the buildings of Mexico City provide a stunning image to viewers, especially when combined with the illuminating pops of orange and red mixed with the black and white of the skeleton attire.

The highly-anticipated fourth studio album by the world-renowned Justin Bieber was just released on Friday, Nov. 13. Entitled Purpose, the pop album has been long awaited by fans that call themselves “Beliebers.” Bieber’s previous full-length album was released in 2012, and this three-year gap between records was beginning to drive his fans mad. Bieber began the hype for his album with a 30-day countdown for his first single this summer, finally releasing “What Do You Mean?” on Aug. 28. The next single, “Sorry,” was released on Oct. 16, and both songs did extremely well on the Billboard charts, which exhibited just how successful this album was going to be. Everyone’s predetermined thoughts and considerations were right: Purpose is absolutely everywhere.

When most people hear the name “Apple,” they associate it with Steve Jobs. However, there is much more to this global company than just one man, as seen in Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs, released on Oct. 23.

I have mixed feelings for the movie Burnt—while there were some aspects that I liked, others fell flat. One of the things I enjoyed was the overall message about a chef who had it all but struggled with his own demons and had to make a name for himself again. However, this message was often lost as some of the scenes felt unnecessary and pointless. Even better, the film could have utilized flashbacks to establish a better connection with the characters instead of aimless conversations. There were so many characters that it got confusing to keep track of their past and relationship to Chef Adam Jones, because character development wasn’t present in this film.

The recent episode of Season Five’s Homeland entitled “Better Call Saul” has finally started to pick up the pace after four episodes. This season, former CIA intelligence officer Carrie Matheson (Claire Danes) is the target of an assassination attempt and faces numerous dangerous enemies coming out of the woodwork as a result of stolen classified CIA documents. Who could be behind the assassination attempt on Carrie’s life? How many more people will die because of those stolen documents? These are some of the questions that are slowly being unraveled in the latest episode of the Showtime drama.

If you enjoyed the show Full House, then have mercy, you’ll enjoy FOX’s new sitcom with John Stamos called Grandfathered. The two main characters are Jimmy Martino (Stamos) and Gerald, Jimmy’s son, who is played by Josh Peck from Nickelodeon’s Drake and Josh.

When new fall shows are released, the reviews for the cable series are usually negative. Typically, the general public picks one show and runs with it, or at least it a full season to catch their attention. In 2013 it was the musical drama Nashville, in 2014 it was the adorable and charming Jane the Virgin, and this year it was the Joshua Safran FBI trainee drama, Quantico.

While it’s best known for fulfilling all of our bingeing needs, Netflix’s foray into original content has made it more than just a streaming service. With series like Orange is the New Black and House of Cards achieving fan and critical praise despite never actually airing on television, Netflix has ushered in a new age of entertainment in which stories are no longer bound by the confines of cable.