Entertainment – Page 90 – The Western Howl

community-colornbc-com

By: Ashton Newton
Entertainment Editor

Editor’s Recommendations:
“Community” is a show about a study group at a community college who go through all kinds of trials and tribulations. It’s absolutely hilarious. Anyone associated with a college campus relate to a lot that goes on in the show. The characters deal with difficult classes, love, friendship and the occasional school-wide paintball battle. “Community” was created by Dan Harmon, who also created “Rick and Morty.” There are six seasons now streaming on Hulu and for years fans have been petitioning for a movie to be made.

Editor’s Disparagement:
Movie trailers that give away major plot details infuriate me to no end. There are some things in movies that should be kept a surprise. The best example of this is in the trailers for “Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice”. Doomsday’s reveal would’ve been so cool if they hadn’t tacked it onto the end of the trailer. The trailer for “Suicide Squad” does the same thing by showing almost every major Joker appearance. If I had better self control, I’d boycott watching the trailers altogether. The best movie trailers are the short ones that simply give a feel for the movie, rather than giving all the details of it away.

The Western Howl

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Bob Dylan awarded Nobel Prize in literature

By: Kinsey Bushart
Freelancer

This year Bob Dylan became the first American to win a Nobel Prize since novelist Toni Morrison back in 1993. Dylan is also the first ever songwriter to be awarded the Nobel Prize bob-dylan-2-bwcnn in literature in the 112 years since the award was created, and the newest person awarded with the honor of being the top most inspirational and developed literary creators.

Bob Dylan began his singing, songwriting, writing and art career in 1959 at the age of 18. In the 75-year-old’s long career, he has gathered the admiration of millions of people around the world with his poetic and inspirational lyrics. In his time as a revered icon, Dylan gathered quite the following, especially in the 1960s when some of his most influential as well as controversial songs were released. At that time he was considered an unofficial spokesman on the issues in America and he also addressed said issues in his lyrics and movements.

Dylan was touring while the broadcast of his Nobel Prize was announced but since the Nobel Committee decided to award the Nobel Prize in literature to Bob Dylan, they have not been able to contact the artist except through his manager. Since they have yet to receive a confirmation of acceptance from Dylan, the committee has given up attempting to award the icon this prestigious honor. The ceremony will go on as planned, even if Dylan is not there to accept it.

Contact the author at kbushart16@wou.edu

The Western Howl

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It’s morphin’ time

power-rangers-colorimdb

By: Alyssa James
Freelancer

The throwback of all throwbacks is coming your way. A new Power Rangers movie is coming out within the next year. The original “Power Rangers” premiered in 1993 and has been around ever since then. It will be a whole new ball game when it comes to the new movie, directed by Dean Israelite. This new adaptation of “Power Rangers” will be starring Naomi Scott, Becky G., Elizabeth Banks, Bryan Cranston and more. The movie will follow a group of high school students who each have unique superpowers. When an alien threat comes into their lives they realize that they are the only ones who can help. They have to learn to control their powers in order to save the world. It is set to premiere in theaters on March 24, 2017. If you grew up watching “Power Rangers” this is definitely a movie you won’t want to miss.

Not only is there a new movie coming out but there is the possibility of a new Power Rangers TV show focusing on the Green Ranger. Since the Green Ranger appears to be absent from the movie it seems more like there is an actual possibility of this series than not. In an interview with comicbook.com, the actor of the original Green Ranger, Jason David Frank, says that there is a good chance that this spin-off will happen and that there has already been talks with creator Haim Saban about it. While the Green Ranger show is not confirmed, there’s still plenty of Power Rangers content on its way next year.

Contact the author at ajames16@wou.edu

The Western Howl

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Editor’s picks

By: Ashton Newton
Entertainment Editor

Editor’s Recommendations
“Westworld” is currently halfway through its first season on HBO and it’s fantastic. The premise is that there’s a park populated by android hosts, where guests can pay to do whatever they want, such as hunt for treasure and go on adventures, but the androids start acting up and everything gets crazy from there. The park is wild-west themed so the show has an awesome balance between western and science fiction action.

Also, in the western genre, “Red Dead Redemption 2” was just announced for a fall 2017 release. The first “Red Dead”, made by Rockstar Games, holds up as one of the most immersive western games of all time. I recommend checking it out.

Editor’s Disparagement
PlayStation Now is an amazing concept. PlayStation Now has a massive library of streamable games that you can pick and play on the PlayStation 4 without any download at all. Sounds great, but in reality PlayStation Now makes playing those games extremely not enjoyable. Unless you have the world’s best Internet connection, the stream is constantly interrupted and slow. The monthly subscription is also way too high; $20 a month might be good if the service worked. Overall, PlayStation Now is an awesome concept that is terribly executed.

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“Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration Edition”

By: Blayde Biacan
Freelancer

The original tomb raider turned 20 years old last week, and since then has gained a huge fan following. With the 20th anniversary, “Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration” was released on Oct.11. The new edition includes many new features, such as virtual reality and multiplayer.

The game also has a new downloadable expansion called “Blood Ties”. This addition to the story explains Lara Croft’s family bonds and doesn’t add many new details to the story, but rather, enforces some content that was lightly mentioned throughout the plot of the game. The playthrough of this is more story-based so there isn’t much action, but there is a lot of time to connect the dots. This is also playable for anyone with a virtual reality device through free hand control or a move-click system as a form of movement. However, it looks smooth enough without the system and can cause motion sickness.

Another feature of the game which is unlockable after completing the Blood Ties story is a similar playthrough except with the addition of zombies and a more eerie environment to play in. When playing, it’s difficult to really know the direction from where a zombie might appear. The dark environment is no help to this, as it has a small field of view with mixed audio signals in a cramped space with multiple pathways for zombies to approach.

I like the new multiplayer mode, although it’s not competitive. It has a survival component with another player and both players need to rely on each other for food and supplies as well as exploring booby trapped maps that are randomly generated each playthrough.

I would recommend this game to anyone that has played the previous “Rise of the Tomb Raider” and who wants to experience something new with an additional challenge and highly recommend it for people that have not. This is a game that has lasted 20 years in an ever-changing gaming community. Truly a game that deserves the title “old but gold”.

Contact the author at bbiacan16@wou.edu

The Western Howl

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“Miss Peregrine’s”: from paper to picture

By: Kinsey Bushart
Freelancer

First I must confess that I only recently read “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children,” and I had only read it because I am a firm believer in reading the book before seeing the movie. Ransom Riggs’ book is whimsical, funny and more than a little bit creepy.

One character, a boy named Enoch, is so “peculiar” he has the ability to bring inanimate objects to life with the heart of something already dead. If child necromancers, bird-women and evil monsters who resemble Slender Man are something you’re interested in, “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” is the book for you. Plus, the plethora of sarcastic one-liners and humorous characterization makes it so any fan of fantasy can connect with characters as well as enjoy the suspenseful or light-hearted situations those characters find themselves in.

The movie adaptation itself has trouble keeping to the already written guidelines from the published original. Most movie adaptations from books have a way of wandering off from the original storyline to either simplify the story and thus shorten it, or attempt to make it more interesting. This can be off-putting to some, including myself.

“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” is the same in that regard; with major character changes concerning special abilities and even physical appearances, plus the deletion of entire characters depending on their overall importance to the storyline. These changes effect the movie enough to bother some stickler book fans about ruining the entire thing.

Now this movie does better than other book adaptations, especially compared to films like the Percy Jackson series or “Eragon”, so it’s not really something to be too upset about, unless you’re easily bothered by such things. While not a terrible movie overall (I enjoyed it immensely) the movie adaptation of “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” doesn’t do the greatest job matching perfectly with its book, not that it was really expected to.

Contact the author at kbushart16@wou.edu

The Western Howl

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The Rolling Stones roll back to their roots

By: Kevan Maloney
Freelancer

The golden oldies are returning to the modern era. To some this means relatively little, but to others this means the world. This return is being heralded by The Rolling Stones, who plan on releasing their new album on Dec. 2. The album, entitled “Blue and Lonesome”, is set to be an homage to their beginnings in the music industry, back when they were a blues band in the late ‘60s and Print early ‘70s.

The release of this is simply amazing considering the fact that most mainstream news of The Rolling Stones is nearly non-existent, with their last album being released in 2005. It’s also surprising that they are actually still quite active, going on tour every few years. Along with the release of the album, The Rolling Stones are planning a European tour.

“Blue and Lonesome” is going to feature 12 tracks which are written by other artists, reimagined by The Rolling Stones. Many of these songs will be ones that they started off playing when they were still up and coming.

This has the potential to bring millennials back to the classic era of rock. There are so many artists that haven’t been followed in decades who are easily as fantastic as artists today. An important result that could come of this is the album’s ability to potentially bridge a generational gap. From personal experience, I know that the music I prefer to listen to, and what my parents listen to, are vastly different.

“Blue and Lonesome” will be the latest edition to The Rolling Stones musical archive that has been around since 1962, over half a century of musical creations.

Contact the author at kmaloney15@wou.edu

Western Oregon University’s Land Acknowledgement
Western Oregon University in Monmouth, OR is located within the traditional homelands of the Luckiamute Band of Kalapuya. Following the Willamette Valley Treaty of 1855 (Kalapuya etc. Treaty), Kalapuya people were forcibly removed to reservations in Western Oregon. Today, living descendants of these people are a part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians.

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Editor’s picks

Bob Dylan awarded Nobel Prize in literature

It’s morphin’ time

Editor’s picks

“Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration Edition”

“Miss Peregrine’s”: from paper to picture

The Rolling Stones roll back to their roots

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