Radical throwbacks: “Chex Quest”

Justin Murray and David Bailey

Who would have thought a video game based on a breakfast cereal? Cereal companies have included prizes inside of cereal boxes for quite some time. This is really nothing new.
I have to give it to Chex cereal though for really stepping outside the box — pun absolutely intended. The day I got my box of Chex cereal and reached down to reveal a computer game had to be one of the best days of my life. I was in sixth grade.
There were a lot of games coming out for all sorts of computers and consoles. It really seemed like for the first time companies were utilizing new 3-D technology. Games like “Doom” and “Duke Nukem 3-D” were very popular.
“Chex Quest” followed these games designs. I say, “followed,” but it’s pretty much “Doom,” except this is a first-person shooter where for the first-time players are not killing people but serving up a balanced breakfast.
I know what you’re thinking — that’s stupid, and you’re right. Nowadays, a game like this probably wouldn’t fly. It would be laughed at. But in the mid ’90s, when companies were fighting to have the best graphics and every computer had to have a VooDoo2 graphics accelerator card in it, this game was amazing.

Listen2Three releases second full-length album

Back in November of 2011, Savannah band Listen2Three promised the public a second album. Well, the time has finally come. The trio — Cameron Brooks, guitarist and lead vocalist; Colin Motlagh, bassist and backing vocalist; and  drummer Alex Masoz — plan to release their second full length, studio album April 19, followed by an album release party at Coach’s Corner’s Soundgarden. 

Friend and keyboardist Matthew Wesley will be joining them on stage for the album release show and on various shows during their upcoming tour. 

The three-piece band was born and raised in Savannah and formed during high school. Now, nearly seven years later, the bandmates have been together in both Atlanta and Pittsburgh, as well as Savannah. 

Throughout their career, Listen2Three has played with heavyweight groups like the Spin Doctors, Collective Soul and Drivin-n-Cryin. While the bandmates say the whole ride hasn’t been easy, success is beginning to find them. 

Goddard’s ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ delivers surprising, thrilling ride

One thing should be made perfectly clear about Drew Goddard’s dark and twisted debut film “The Cabin in the Woods,” — no one should be able to see the ending coming. Granted, it’s inevitable some may figure out where the movie is headed before it finally reaches the closing credits, but there are so many wonderfully surprising twists and turns viewers are guaranteed at least a few surprises. 

This is not the typical horror/thriller studios have been churning out over the last 30 years. “Cabin” is both a criticism and a love letter to all of the sick and grotesque slasher flicks audiences either love or hate to watch alone in the dark.

It’s hard to describe what the film is about, for fear of giving away anything that might spoil an aspect of the plot. All I dare say is that it is about a group of five teenagers, one of which is Chris Hemmsworth from “Thor,” who decide to spend the weekend at an abandoned cabin in the middle of nowhere. Once there, things happen. 

Many moviegoers criticize the horror genre for all of the cliches and stereotypes that usually come along with the territory. In many cases, viewers can predict the outcome of most of the characters as they are introduced in the movie. These common traits are touched upon in great detail here, and the filmmakers are aware of the audience’s expectations for this kind of film. 

Masquers makes Shakespeare accessible to modern audience

The Armstrong Masquers theater troupe is going out with a bang for their last main stage production of the spring semester with the play “Much Ado About Nothing” by William Shakespeare. 

“Much Ado About Nothing” covers the tale of two separate couples, Benedick, played by Gabriel Michael, and Beatrice, played by Amie Schulz, as well as that of Claudio, played by Nicholas Janssen and Hero, played by Ashley Pearce. 

The play examines the lives of these two couples, showing the difficulty each faces in order to reveal their love for one another, as well as the dark undertones often featured in love stories. The performance is eloquent and the actors and actresses have clearly put a considerable amount of time and effort into developing their characters.

One of the most notable aspects of the play is how hilarious it is. Since this is one of Shakespeare’s works, many may shudder if presented with the opportunity of attending. However, even for a Shakespearean play, the language is light and humorous and the performers do an amazing job of putting words into action. 

Professor spotlight: Jane Rago

To Jane Rago, education is more than a step in the staircase to success — it’s a way of life, one she’s been encouraged to pursue for as long as she can remember. Recently named the head of the Gender and Women’s Studies at Armstrong, Rago describes her family as intellectually curious. 

Though not every member of her family achieved the same level of academic success as Rago, she described them all as constantly reading.

In particular, she said her grandmothers inspired her to escape to writing. Rago describes the difficulty her grandmother encountered after marriage.

“She was an Italian immigrant living in New York, with a job as a designer for Macy’s,” Rago said, “After she got married, she wasn’t even allowed to drive.” 

Rago said neither of her grandmothers received higher than a high school education, and because of this, they were adamant about ensuring her independence. 

Both her mother Linda — a horticulturist and writer — and father Ronald, a retired Environmental Protection Agency agent, also encouraged Rago to make the most of her education.

Radical throwbacks: Top 10 classic games: Part 2

6 — “Mega Man 2”

This game is on a few “top” lists out there. It is the best-selling “Mega Man” title with over one million copies sold. This is a very hard game. Gamers have to be very precise when playing it. It’s frustrating at times, and it’s the only one of the series I owned.

You are Mega Man, and it’s your job to defeat Dr. Wiley, an evil robot builder. Players have to work their way through eight of his evil robots to get to him — I never made it.

Each robot has a unique weapon that once defeated, can help you defeat a different robot. There was a certain order players could beat them to make it easier but I was too young to figure that out, and by the time I was a “Nintendo Power” subscriber, The Super Nintendo Entertainment System had taken over, and no one was talking about “Mega Man 2” much anymore. 

A look back at ‘Grindhouse,’ a sleazy good time

Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez are two of the most popular filmmakers working today, both of whom got their start working on successful independent films during the early ’90s. Rodriguez released “El Mariachi,” which led to two more sequels, while Tarantino became a cult icon for his films “Reservoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction.” 

After the duo collaborated on the films “Four Rooms” and “From Dusk ’til Dawn,” they teamed up for “Grindhouse.” Released April 6, five years ago, this fantastically sleazy salute to the exploitation flicks of the ’60s and ’70s opened to rave reviews from critics and disappointing box office results. 

The movie was distributed to theaters as a double feature, and at three-hours-and-11-minutes long, it may have been too much for audiences to handle.

First up was Rodriguez’s “Planet Terror,” a homage to the old zombie and killer virus films, about a deadly gas that turns innocent bystanders into mindless ghouls in a small Texas town. Shot in the style of an ’80s John Carpenter movie, “Terror” features plenty of thrills and scares, eerie techno music, and a plentiful amount of blood and guts. 

Theater majors play part in Armstrong community

When someone talks about theater majors, most people’s minds immediately conjure images of divas-in-training and new-age hippies — all of them vying for the chance to be the best in the business. 

Thankfully at Armstrong, this supremely competitive reputation is negated by the enthusiastic students making up the theater department.

The Armstrong theater majors are a small but intensely varied group of students, all united by their love of performing arts. For them, being a theater major isn’t just about being the next Meryl Streep or Martin Scorsese. It’s about being able to do what they love every day.

“I see so many students who complain about being in college, and I’m like, ‘Really?’ I just fought with swords for an hour,” Travis Spagenberger said. “I love going to class.” Spangenberger, who is focusing in performance, appreciates the class variety he is offered on a daily basis at Armstrong. 

“We do everything here. They try very hard to turn you into a Renaissance man,” he said.

Another performance student, Shea Lee, enjoys the diversity as well but is quick to dispel the idea that being a theater major is a walk in the park. 

“We’re dancing in one class, singing in another,” Lee said. “I used to think that they did so much more work in other majors, but we actually do a lot more than many people think we do. You get very tired being a theater major.”

Radical throwbacks: Top 10 classic games: Part 1

10 –– “Mike Tyson’s Punch Out” 

Nothing will ever get Mike Tyson’s eight-bit, smug grin out of my head. This game brought arcade boxing to the home console, offering heaps and loads of fun with nightmares of Mike Tyson breaking into your room and smashing your brain in with one of his one-hit-kill punches. 

Somebody did a study on this legendary piece of software and found that only 5 percent of players had ever actually beat Tyson. I — David Bailey — am a member of this proud group. 

Tyson is the most memorable boss from the NES library for me simply because he was an actual person depicted in the video game universe. Beyond Tyson though, the rogues gallery of boxers in this game is something to behold. 

A little stereotyping mixed with a healthy dose of racism — Really, Soda Popinski? Do Russians need more vodka references? — gives this game an oddly uncomfortable cast of villains. And yes, gamers should join the Nintendo fun club today.

Masquers debuts two-part comedy

The spring semester may be winding down for many, but the Masquers student theater troupe is back with their presentation of “Gumshoe Rendezvous” in Jenkins Theater blackbox performance space to help get students through the remaining weeks of class with Directed by JoshWarnock and written by Eliot Byerrum, “Gumshoe Rendezvous” tells the story of a grizzled, worn-out private investigator named Buzz. The show ran from March 29 through April 1. 

“We were very nervous about this performance,” Warnock said. “Because of spring break, our rehearsal time was significantly shortened, and we were really worried about the final outcome of the play, but so far we’ve felt really good about everything.”

Buzz, played by Charles Norton, works as a private investigator, while also teaching investigation classes at the local community college. Between his two jobs and extensive surveillance work, he has little time to spend with his girlfriend Lilah, played by Sydney Smith. The play highlights this within the first scene, where his many responsibilities and his worst student Irene — played by Justine Scrutchins — ensure Buzz’s life is anything but easy.

‘Wrath of the Titans’ makes underwhelming impact

After 2010’s disappointing “Clash of the Titans” was released in theaters, audiences and critics alike criticized the film’s rushed 3-D effects and simplistic storyline. Most of the negative criticisms concerning the movie focused on the studio rushing the film through a six week 3-D transfer, despite not even shooting the film for that format. 

Now with a new director and a new writing staff, “Wrath of the Titans” set out to succeed where the first installment let down fans and moviegoers. 

Sam Worthington returns as Perseus, son of Zeus (Liam Neeson), who is now living in a small village with his 10-year-old son as a quiet fisherman.Perseus wishes to live out the rest of his days with quiet and peace, but fate has other plans for him. 

As the human race continues to lose their respect and need for the gods, the almighty beings are beginning to lose their power. Without their protection, the prison containing the defeated Titans starts crumbling. 

After a failed mission into the underworld to keep the Titans imprisoned, Zeus is held captive by Hades (Ralph Fiennes) as his power is slowly drained from him. It is left to Perseus, along with a few other companions, to rescue Zeus and save all of mankind. 

New modern cocktail lounge opens on Congress Street

The Perfect Concoction

Located on a cozy corner of Congress Street, built three-stories tall with some of Savannah’s finest bricks sits a spacious, uniquely comfortable bar called “Sparetime.” This new downtown lounge opened Feb. 27 — and either because of the old school record player, the sleek modern appeal of the bar or the traditional cocktail magic — it’s been a hit ever since then.

Whatever the reasons fueling Clara Fishel’s successful new bar, one thing stands true — she has formulated the perfect concoction.

“A proper gin martini is so sublime and so perfect that it has stood the test of time, and you can’t really improve on it,” Clara Fishel said. “But what we have now is the ability to get artisan spirits, small batch spirits, craft beers and grower-produced wines that we never had before. The amount of products that are available for us to work with now is what I feel like is incredibly modern about what we are doing, so we’re taking advantage of that.”

Video game exhibit pushes past artistic restrictions

Imagine walkng into a room with television screens on the walls and old Atari systems in the corners, and in the middle of the floor is a person jumping around trying to avoid being hit by the projection of a ball.

This is just what viewers get to experience at the “Game Change” exhibit in the Jepson Center — a show unlike any other.

“Game Change: Videogames as Art Medium and Inspiration” contains work from artists all around the world. The show consists of numerous art mediums, from interactive and playable games and hacked game systems to more conventional art works inspired by gaming.

Harry DeLorme, the senior curator of education for the Telfair Museums brought the show to the Jepson Center.

“There are artists who make work in more traditional art media that are inspired by games or use games as kind of subject matter,” DeLorme said. “There are other artists who make art using games. They modify games or hack games, pull video from games. It kind of changes your expectations of video games.”

DeLorme was pleased to finally have gaming recieve more acknowledgment as an art form.

“We’ve never done a full show devoted to video games as an art medium,” DeLorme said. “It’s finally starting to become accepted in museums. Last year, the Obama administration listed video games as an art form that’s appropriate for preservation and funding, so games have become recognized in recent years in the mainstream as an art form, even though they’ve been around for decades.”

“Game Change” is changing the minds of many regarding the interpretation of video games as art. Shauna Hicks, the front desk manager at the Jepson Center, said she enjoys watching people alter their opinions on the matter.

“I think what’s kind of funny about my perspective of the show is it’s never really based on what I experienced,” Hicks said. “I do have the ability to sort of stand here and see the people who go in who have no interest and come out giggling, so they’ll come down after spending 14 or 15 minutes trying to get [a game] to work, and it’s always so funny because in that small amount of time, that failure has completely changed their mind about video games.”

Senior Spotlight: Annaliza Borba

Intimidation is often the reason why most people don’t try new things. The idea of journeying into unknown territory is a very scary thought for most people, and they often choose the safer path. Luckily, for senior art major Annaliza Borba, that fear of the unknown didn’t hold her back.

“At first, I was intimidated. I hadn’t taken an art class until I came to Armstrong,” she said. “But it’s interesting to work with different mediums, and it’s really exciting because I’m so new to it.”

Focusing on graphic design and painting, Borba’s initial foray into art began in her “Computer in the Art” class.

“I figured I love being on the computer, and I’m interested in art, so why not combine the two,” she said. “Once I took Professor Horne’s class, I was really impressed and kind of overwhelmed because the programs we work with are capable of executing a project several different ways.”

For Borba, the overwhelming presence of graphic design in people’s everyday lives is part of what appeals most to her.

“Graphic design is on everything. It’s everywhere. It’s basically visual communication. What I’m going to be showing at the senior show will be a branding design. I basically created a company, a whole identity for this brand,” she said.

“In graphic design, I love receiving the challenge given by a client. I feel that I become my most creative when I’m given certain requirements for a client’s needs. The most rewarding part is knowing that I’ve created what my client could barely explain in words. As a designer it’s up to me to understand the client and visualize what they need.”

Although immediately attracted to graphic design, Borba’s enthusiasm about painting came less easily.

“I put off painting classes because I had no interest in learning it. I just wanted to focus on graphic design. My best friend kept telling me I would really like painting, and I should take it,” she said. “So I took it and after the first painting class, I still didn’t like painting. The rest of the paintings in that class I’m pretty sure I threw away except my first and last painting.”

Author crafts new book to help children manage loss

Anita Cannon is a Christian, an Armstrong alumna, a nurse and a new children’s book author, but most importantly, she is a woman with a passion for helping people  heal from personal losses.

She has been published on Parenting.com and  Parenthood.com for her articles on grieving, but the debut of her children’s book, “My Aunt Bonnie” — a gift originally intended for her grandchildren — will give individuals everywhere a look into overcoming loss.

After Cannon lost her youngest sister Bonnie from Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome a few years ago, she searched for books of guidance for her grandchildren.

She found books about how parents should deal with grief and loss, how parents should help their children deal with grief and loss and other scenarios about loss but never how a child could learn to accept and handle a subject as permanent and serious as grief and loss.

This led Cannon to the decision to create a guidance book for children.

Her grandson — called Will in the book — had never experienced a death in his family before his late Aunt and was unsure of how to process the event. Cannon attempts to provide a guidance tool through the book.

“About six months after my sister died — it was about 10 o’clock at night — the spirit of the Lord came over me, and I went to the kitchen. I got a notebook and a pencil, and I started writing, and I have what is today the book ‘My Aunt Bonnie.’”

The book is about 40 pages long, though unnumbered, with just a sentence or two every other page and plenty of illustrations. It is written in simple, child-friendly language with pictures mirroring the narration. Cannon’s simple and straightforward concept provides a tool for children to deal with loss, and it also brings forth a medical disease that continues killing hundreds of adults annually — SADS.

Cannon partnered with the SADS Foundation to introduce the disease and its warning signs to more people. She gives a portion of the money made from “My Aunt Bonnie” to the foundation. The SADS Foundation, in return, put Cannon’s book on their website and continues giving it as much press as possible through social media and their website.

Up-and-coming singer-songwriter tours Savannah

Meghan Tonjes has made a name for herself with her chill-inducing voice, perfect pitch and heart-felt lyrics. Tonjes is not the typical pop singer of today — she writes every cord and word of all of her songs and does not wear a size two.

Tonjes’ strives to share her music with the world. Despite her differences from stereotypical female pop artists, she has not only become admired for her musical ability but also for her group, Project Lifesize.

“I grew up thinking, ‘Oh, I’m not going to do music because you have to be on Broadway, or you have to look a certain way,’ and then when I went to college, I started picking up the guitar and realizing, ‘Oh, hey, I can write my own songs. That’s a different thing,’” Tonjes said.

According to Tonjes’ website, meghantonjes.com, Project Lifesize influences people who do not fit the “mold” to be confident, regardless of society’s standards.

Tonjes is currently on tour promoting her album “This Year.” She has coupled with another up-and-coming singer-songwriter, Mike Falzone who she discovered on the social media network YouTube.

Tonjes was discovered and gained her popularity through YouTube as well. For the past five years, she has been posting weekly covers of popular songs, as well as originals on her YouTube channel, “Request Tuesday.”

“In my videos, I tend to just grab things from around the house, so my roommate will make fun of me because I’ll walk into the kitchen and start grabbing things from the pantry like popcorn seasoning and salt,” Tonjes said. “I’m like, ‘Okay, this is the one I need for this video.’ It’s creative and awesome because I just don’t want to spend money on instruments, so I’m like, ‘What does this sound like when I hit it?’”

The social war

As a teacher, I see many shifts occurring in education — most of them focusing on the primary conflict between traditional teacher-centered instruction and the more experimental student-centered pedagogy.

Despite the excitement I feel toward these changes, incorporating social media into the classroom is something that has proved a persistent headache for the new wave instructors (we call ourselves the edupunks).

Any conference or workshop about the best practices in education will have multiple presentations discussing social media. Instructors have been designing group projects and collaborative assignments by utilizing the visually appealing software provided by Facebook, Twitter and even blogs like Tumblr and Posterous.

I have been teaching composition and writing for more than three years, and I can vouch from personal experience that systems like Blackboard and WebCT are a joke compared to in-the-wild open source tools.

Exhibit captures student creativity

From the folksy to the macabre to the downright bizarre, Armstrong’s 2012 Student Art Exhibition Gallery reflects a number of unique interpretations of the world as seen through the eyes of modern student artists.

The gallery presents a condensed compilation of art styles, melding organic visions of nature with eerie anatomical imagery, mythological horrors and architectural marvels.

While small, the exhibition’s eclectic selection presents a gamut of artistic representation from photography and painted portraits to sculptures using a variety of unexpected materials and subjects.

‘Miss Representation’ targets media stereotypes

The Gender and Women’s Studies program offered Armstrong students an opportunity to broaden their horizons March 21 at the showing of the documentary “Miss Representation.”

The film centered on exposing the myths portrayed by the media to American youth, particularly focusing on the message that women and girls’ values lie in their bodies and appearance — instead of in their intelligence.