10.29.18
Opinion
Black and Orange Sports Buzz with host Olivia Wile (ep2)
A table of sports gurus Mac Williams, Brady Stabler, WLFC, and Andy Wolf, the Courier, join Olivia to talk about all things sports.
Movie Review: Rampage
By: Will Adeboyejo
Twitter: @YinkaAdeboyejo
Email: adeboyejoa@findlay.edu
Rampage is a film that is based off of videos games from the 80’s and 90’s. In the video games, you are one of three animals that go around a city and destroy things. Rampage is directed by Brad Peyton and Star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, they have worked on other films together such as San Andreas and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. However, to me, these films are all lacking something.
I feel like they are all weak when it comes to the screenplay as the dialogue in Rampage is poor and there is little to no character development. I question the screenplay because I’ve seen a lot of these films start to pop up, I think screenwriters are becoming lazy and don’t care about character development.
This film isn’t the type of film you go into thinking that it’s going to change your life or open your eyes about some inner turmoil; it’s a film that Hollywood makes just because they are bored. The Rocks’ character in this film is indestructible, watching what felt like every two minutes that he would be put in some crazy situation where his life was in danger but he would get out of it easy.
Also, the other characters in the film just seem to be included to ask The Rock questions. The Leading Female Role Naomie Harris runs around kinda not being useful for a majority of the film. She figures out how some technology works, but other than that she moves around being The Rocks’ sidekick. The motivation of villains in the film is only to make money, this reminds me of the old bond villains, lazy character development and not a lot of thought put into it.
This film doesn’t remind me of the video game at all, and I’m not sure if the writers were going for something different, or something similar. Rating this film, I’m going to give it a two out of five stars, the film had some potential and dropped the ball.
It’s not all sadness
By: Grant Goetcheus
Twitter: @goetcheusg
Email: goetcheusg@Findlay.edu
In today’s society, we hear the words mental illness a lot, especially when it comes to crimes. We use it as a crutch sometimes. We label someone as being ill and that makes it understandable as to why they did something wrong. But, how many can say that they know what it’s like to have that illness; to look at themselves in the mirror, and not recognize what’s in it.
I am one of those people. I wake up every morning and look at myself in the mirror. Sometimes it is accompanied by a pleasant thought, while others it is more of a negative response. More often than not, it’s just a nothingness. I look in the mirror and there is nothing in my head other than if I need to comb or not. That is what depression feels like. It’s not always about feeling sad. It is more about not feeling anything at all anymore.
According to Mentalhealthamerica.net, 1 in 5 Adults have a mental health condition. Even more shocking is that youth mental health is getting worse. From just 2012 to 2015, the rates increased from 5.9% to 8.2%.
I hear all the things that people say about depression. Oh, just be happy, but that will not help. I have tried that, and it did not work. I try to do the things that I love and they have no affect anymore.
That nothingness is so powerful that it spreads. Now the things that I loved to do and the people that I loved to hang out with no longer bring me joy or happiness.
Also, depression does not care what you own or the love that is in your family. All that means nothing because your mind makes those things lose meaning and value in your eyes. The value and meaning that we put on things is all in our minds and in society’s mind. Once you have this illness, the world around you changes. You see things different, you see people differently, your brain chemistry changes and how it processes the information that it gathers changes.
That’s what leads to the idea that suicide is the answer; it never is. All suicide does is transfer the pain from yourself to those that loved you. It is not easy though, it’s a struggle each day to find the good to keep going. Somedays are easier than other while there are some that make it easy to look at suicide and say, ‘why not today?’
Today things are becoming better, however. Mentalhealthamerica.net states, “More Americans have access to services… Access to insurance and treatment increased, as healthcare reform has reduced the rates of uninsured adults.”
It also seems like people are doing more research into mental illnesses and breaking the association with being mentally ill and being a bad person. I just want to live a normal life and get back to being me.
New friends and new skills
By: Bo Terrill
Twitter: because_terrill
Email: terrillr@findlay.edu
I never really had an interest in going to sporting events throughout high school. I’d figured that college would be similar, yet here I am at the end of my freshmen year having gone to over half of all the home volleyball, basketball and football games.
As nice it as it would be to say that I suddenly got a wave of Oiler Pride that made me want to attend athletic events, that’s not the case. I did, however find a new family in Findlay Media Network.
The University of Findlay television station, UFTV, is an group that I joined early in the fall semester because I’d always enjoyed a similar program in my high school. Little did I know I would be filming football games, running graphics and writing for the student newspaper, the Pulse, all within my first year at UF.
To be entirely honest, even working with UFTV, I haven’t been a major fan of sporting events, but what made me sign up wasn’t the games being played, but the people I got to film with. The friends I made in UFTV and the Pulse have proved so valuable to me throughout my first year in college.
All I can say is that while I’m sad to say goodbye to those who are leaving as I enter my sophomore year, I’m excited to teach the new class what I’ve learned and continue to learn even more as the years go.
Ohio Senate District 1 Forum
Movie Review: Ready Player One
BY: Will Adeboyejo
Twitter: @YinkaAdeboyejo
Ready Player One, a film directed by legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg, is about a futuristic world set in Columbus, Oh.
In the film, the audience follows a teen named Wade who would rather spend his days in this virtual world called the Oasis. This world, the Oasis, was created by a genius who has recently passed, the creator leaves behind a challenge for all the Oasis users. If one user can find three keys that will lead to a golden egg, that will give the user official ownership over the virtual world.
Ready Player One succeeds in the same areas most Spielberg films do, the action sequences. Spielberg is one of the best when it comes to chase scenes or action in general, this shows in Ready Player One among other films. This film also does a really good job showing a vast amount of characters from different pop culture long enough for us, as viewers, to get the references and get excited to see the characters again.
Ready Player One is picking up on a trend that many media outlets are doing to be successful. Films like Deadpool and IT, as well as TV shows like Stranger Things, are popular because they pander to the need of reliving ones’ childhood. When people are spending their hard-earned money to go see a movie, and it does well, Hollywood takes notice and will try to replicate that. Ready Player One is not the first movie to do this and it won’t be the last: do all of the references in this film slow it down or make it cheap?
The character development of Wade is lacking to me and I wish the story would touch on why Wade does what he does. The film briefly shows his home life and how undesirable it is, but that is really it. The film also doesn’t dive in deep as to why all these people want to use Oasis so much and not be in their own lives.
Overall, I would give this film a three and a half stars out of five, it was visually pleasing and technically sound, but the story, I feel, was lacking.
Not enough time or wasting time?
By: Juliyana Straley
Twitter: @jstraley7
Email: straleyj@findlay.edu
I often tell myself I don’t have enough time or there aren’t enough hours in the day to get work done. How am I supposed to maintain a solid GPA with 18 credit hours, extracurriculars and a social life? What about time to relax? Is there some way we can gain more time?
Get off your phone.
According to a Baylor University study, women college students spend an average of 10 hours a day on their cell phones while men average at about eight hours. This includes texting, talking, social media and other apps.
Imagine the amount of “extra” time you could have if you limited time on social media: two or three hours? That’s enough time to finish your paper or study for an exam, which also means that you can get more sleep.
I know it’s hard to not scroll through Twitter when lecture becomes boring or homework becomes difficult. However, two minutes on Twitter turns into 10 on Facebook, 15 on Instagram and so on. Once your phone is out, the game is over and technology has won. When you are in class or doing homework, simply put your phone away. Yes, you may go through withdrawals and have to take it out once or twice, but once you learn to stay focused, you will finish tasks faster and easier.
Cell phones and social media are incredible tools to stay connected with others, but there comes a point where it can become an addiction. Scrolling through feeds is mindless and easy; why listen to a corporate finance lecture when you can see if Khloe Kardashian had her baby yet? But it won’t just be Khloe, you will go through post after post until, before you know it, class is done and you have an entire lecture to catch up on!
Save your time and troubles and just put the cell phone away; unless you like staying up until two in the morning.
Letter to the editor
By: Nicole Jennings
Email: jenningsn@findlay.edu
From inside the house, we saw the truck pull up. It was a rainy afternoon in Wilmington, NC.
The sand and dirt mixture had slowly turned into mud, and, as the truck backed up, it was clear that the volunteers on site were going to get messy. Inside the truck were two bathtubs that waited to be moved into the home we had spent the past few days laboring to fix the roof on.
As we trudged through the rain and the mud, straining under the weight of the tubs, the only sense of relief was that this was the final task of the day. We moved the bathtubs into their designated bathrooms, that at this point they were just skeletons of walls made of beams. As we moved the final one into place, I turned and discovered the homeowner, Michelle, with her two small children, standing just outside the door. The last time the kids had visited the house, there was no roof and no bathtubs.
Their faces instantly lit up with eager excitement at all that was accomplished in the past few days. It was in that moment that I was reminded of why I walked into my first Habitat for Humanity meeting, I was reminded why I spent my spring breaks on the Alternative Spring Break trip, I was reminded why I serve.
I serve because I know the difference home ownership can make in the lives of children. The ability to have a safe and stable home to return too every night is essential to a child’s development.
According to a study completed by Habitat for Humanity, children who live in poor quality housing (structural or maintenance issues, infestations) are likely to have emotional problems such as depression and anxiety, lower levels of academic success and even behavior problems (Levine Coley, Leventhal). These same problems are correlated with children who move frequently. By assisting families in achieving their goal of homeownership, Habitat gives these children an opportunity to grow up in a safe and stable home. A home where they can come home everyday and work on homework, or play in their own yard, and sleep in their own room every night. A chance like that is one every child deserves.
I serve because I know Habitat for Humanity can make a difference in not only the lives of the partner families that they work with, but in the communities of which they build.
Recently, on the spring break trip our chapter took, we had the opportunity to meet with a homeowner who had recently paid her last payment on her Habitat Home. She mentioned that when they first moved into their neighborhood, the crime rate was fairly high. However when her home was built, others followed along and the neighborhood began to change. She stated that her and fellow Habitat owners began a neighborhood watch that grew to include non- Habitat homeowners, leading to lower crime rates in their area.
Habitat has touched the lives of so many more than just the Habitat families they have worked with. They touch every single community and neighborhood and can truly make a difference in the lives of those living there.
As amazing of an organization Habitat for Humanity is, they cannot serve all these people alone. I encourage you, during Habitat’s Act! Speak! Build! week, to attend the events and delve into the spirit of service. I invite you to get to know our Habitat for Humanity Chapters, both here on campus and in the community.
Learn about the opportunities you may have to make a difference in the lives of families. Attend a campus chapter meeting, and hear about what they do for the community, and what they can do for you. Who knows, you may just get the opportunity to put a roof over the heads of a family in need. You may get the opportunity to see the joy in the family’s faces as they see their home come together. You have the chance to truly make an incredible impact in your community and more. So I ask you, why will you serve?
-Nicole
Sinclair fails to fulfill only objective: remain objective
By: Olivia Wile
Twitter: o_wile
Email: wileo@findlay
At the beginning of this month, it was revealed that Sinclair Broadcast group, an American telecommunications company that owns news stations around the country, mandated a script for their news anchors to read on camera.
Since Sinclair owns these stations, it may be difficult at first to recognize the major error in this protocol; it may even seem reasonable that they control the content produced by their stations.
However, as soon as media groups such as Sinclair begin requiring their outlets to follow such orders, the integrity of both the anchors and news itself goes into question.
For those unaware, the script mandated by Sinclair was that in which warns against fake news, of all things. The second paragraph of the script reads:
“But we’re concerned about the troubling trend of irresponsible, one sided news stories plaguing our country. The sharing of biased and false news has become all too common on social media.”
What is more concerning than fake news is that Sinclair is ultimately encouraging it by requiring its’ news rooms to read such a statement. One may argue that it is the fault of the producers or anchors at these stations to go forward with this instead of recognizing the error in it.
However, a mandate, according to Merriam Webster, is “an authoritative command; a formal order from a superior court or official to an inferior one.” This means that even if the producers or anchors at these stations did not feel it was ethical to read the script, their jobs are easily at stake if they are to question, or refuse an order.
Though Sinclair claims their branch stations are not producing bias content, who really knows what other agendas they have been pushing. In paragraph six of the script, the widely-known conservative media group that is Sinclair assures viewers they do not lean towards a certain party:
“At (insert news station) it’s our responsibility to pursue and report the truth. We understand Truth is neither politically ‘left nor right.’ Our commitment to factual reporting is the foundation of our credibility, now more than ever.”
Great as it sounds, how can we as a population even believe this, let alone not question what other mandates Sinclair has been sending its’ stations.
As a result, not only has the public lost its’ trust in these local stations, but once again our industry is under fire for being bias.
Unfortunate as it is, after this, hopefully our field can rally around change for our craft to remain what its’ designed to do; act as the fourth estate, the objective check on power.