C/O Yoohyun Park
Technology is taking over creative fields and classic media is fading
Newspapers are known as digital subscriptions, books are known as Kindles and art is all about graphic design and digital forums now. Instead of flipping a page, we swipe a screen. Instead of a flick of a brush or the drag of a pen, we are tapping and swiping.
Everything is digital now and it does not sit well with me, especially as an english and communications major. I love the smell of a new book, the way your fingers slowly turn black due to the ink from flipping through the articles of the day and the excess paint left under your fingernails once finished painting.
I love the smell of a new book, the way your fingers slowly turn black due to the ink from flipping through the articles of the day and the excess paint left under your fingernails once finished painting.
Although the digital world makes it a little easier when compared to the preparation of physical crafts such as lugging around materials, I still love the process of it all.
And do not get me wrong, I am not undermining the energy and time it takes to write an article, book or create a drawing virtually. It just feels as though we have lost the true purpose of the craft.
Obviously, things are destined to evolve and change, but to have these artistic expressions shift completely to another realm tends make certain pieces lose their meaning.
Being a child of early generation Z, I still had the opportunity to live a childhood that wasn’t ruled by technology. I never have a phone and my only source of technology was my television.
All I knew was how to use my creativity to do something or make something. Despite the freedom from technology in my early years, I’m still annoyed at the fact that we as a society were introduced to iPhones and iPads when I was in middle school.
Despite that experience, I cannot even fathom being a young child with an iPhone or using Instagram so young. Even in my classes growing up, I had already started noticing the impact media had on our generation specifically.
Presentations started turning into slideshows, photography became incorporated in art class and even music class came with a focus on creating and editing music videos.
Don’t get me wrong, all of these new technologies have led to immense progress. Just look at the innovations in fields such as diagnostic radiology. But I still miss the craft.
I miss the rawness. I miss picking up the thick rolled-up newspaper on my driveway. I miss the excitement that came with writing. I miss looking at a painting and hearing the stories behind them and studying the brush strokes.
I say I miss it as if it is non-existent anymore and even though I know it isn’t, I feel it slowly fading. Who knows? Maybe physical books won’t be a thing soon, maybe paintings won’t either and Google and Photoshop will be the only avenues to follow. Perhaps it is only a matter of time before we live in an entirely digital world.
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By: Hess Sahlollbey
Four issues in and this new Archie series hasn’t simply gotten rid of the old familiar status-quo, it has ripped it apart and there’s no going back. While this fresh new direction for an iconic character may seem strange at first, reading it is one decision you won’t regret.
The last time I read an Archie comic, I was in the sixth grade. My secret Santa gave me an Archie digest, the same kind that you’d see at the checkout at grocery stores. I appreciated the sentiment but was never really an Archie fan.
Fast-forward to 2015 and suddenly the latest Archie comic is what I look forward to the most week in and week out. What started with Afterlife with Archie — a gory and violent horror comic-book where Archie and the gang have to deal with flesh eating zombies — has now resulted in Archie becoming one of the most avant-garde publishers out there. The first spin-off of this new movement was the equally chilling Sabrina the Teenage Witch with its terrifying story and unsettling artwork. This was then followed by Archie vs. Predator where Archie and friends are trapped on an island and hunted down and murdered one-by-one by an intergalactic assassin. All of these new series have become best sellers with fans piling into comic stores to get their latest fix.
With Archie, writer Mark Waid, artist Fiona Staples, colorists Andre Szymanowicz and Jen Vaughn and letterer Jack Morelli have created a truly revolutionary spin on a 70 year-old series.
This new volume of Archie begins right after an off-panel break-up between Archie and Betty, who’ve been “a couple since kindergarten,” in his words. An undisclosed “Lipstick Incident” occurred at some time before this issue leading to their split. And while we don’t know what exactly this “Lipstick Incident” entails, it has clearly left Betty so angry and devastated that she wants no part of Archie in her life anymore. This heartbreak between the two characters does not come off as corny — if anything, it makes them feel all the more real. The comic further distances itself from the old, tired status-quo by not making Veronica a main character until the third issue. When Veronica finally does join the narrative, her vulnerable side takes center stage showing readers a side of her that hasn’t been seen before.
And while this new series still retains a light-hearted and funny tone, it’s now more in tune with coming-of-age classics like John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club. This bold new characterization makes the whole Riverdale crew feel like realistic young adults in a comic-book that tilts more towards naturalistic drama like in the works of Émile Zola, Honoré de Balzac, and Gustave Flaubert instead of zany antics that fill the Archie digests. This is a new Archie for a new generation, and I can’t praise it enough.
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When Michael Jackson’s Thriller was released in 1982, it’s safe to say that both critics and general audiences were thrilled. Lauded for the considerable growth since his previous album Off the Wall, Thriller became (and remains to this day) the best-selling album of all time.
As a self-professed MJ lover living in contemporary times, I sorted through all of his tracks on my iTunes and listened to the album in its entirety, for perhaps the first time. My love for lesser-played tracks was renewed as I listened to certain nuances that had escaped me before.
Michael’s breathy whispers throughout “Wanna Be Startin’ Something;” his subtle harmony with Paul McCartney throughout “The Girl is Mine;” the relevancy of the message in “Beat It”, and the memorable beat of “Billie Jean.” And then, of course, there’s “Thriller,” the album’s title song. There are very few people who don’t listen to this song at least once around Halloween, but what about its impact on the music industry?
The album pushed for racial equality, pressuring MTV to broadcast the videos for “Billie Jean” and “Beat It” despite previous discrimination. Thriller also established the popularity of music videos, as Michael made music video production an art unto itself, with the title song encapsulated in an unforgettable lucky-number-thirteen minute video.
So this Halloween, when you inevitably hear “Thriller,” raise a ghost-like gloved hand and shiver in remembrance at the impact of this album, as Michael Jackson once again rises from the dead.
Freakiest Track: Thriller
Favourite Track: Wanna Be Startin’ Something
Palika Kohli
