Sharda James

My ultimate dream career is broadcasting; specifically, I would love to be a daytime television talk show host. It’s crazy to think this is my dream career, because this hasn’t always been my passion. Somehow, I always found myself watching them and pretending to be to a host interviewing my favorite celebrities in my head.

I love everything about celebrity gossip and pop culture. Someone I really admire is Wendy Williams. She originally started in radio, then, eventually it was on to having her own talk show, “The Wendy Williams show.” Wendy Williams also went to college and was a communications major. I love how opinionated she is and never apologizes for how she feels. The best piece of advice I’ve heard her say about trying to figure out your craft, is that starting in radio is good practice. On the radio you’re talking non-stop for approximately four hours as opposed to television where most shows are about an hour. Since radio isn’t visual it really gives you a chance to paint the imagery for whatever story you’re portraying to your audience. It wasn’t always easy for Wendy. Considering she was so opinionated, a lot of people thought she would never be successful in this field of work. One thing I’ve definitely taken away from her is to “Live Your Truth”, meaning to own your flaws and always be yourself, because people gravitate to authenticity. Getting into entertainment isn’t the easiest thing. There are so many obstacles that you have to overcome, and you need to know how to take criticism whether good or bad.

Oprah Winfrey would definitely have to be a huge inspiration. She was actually one of the first hosts I ever started watching. One of the things I really admire about her is the fact that she isn’t afraid to ask the obvious questions and to get personal. She isn’t afraid to be vulnerable. I love how comfortable she is able to make her guests feel. That is probably the reason they feel more than comfortable talking to her. Other than focusing on celebrity gossip, I would also like to interview legendary people and have those extremely personal interviews.

Something that I admire about both of them is the fact that they remained themselves.  Taking risks isn’t always a bad thing. Sometimes the biggest thing that you were afraid of is the very thing that will produce your biggest accomplishment. I’ve learned to not listen to what people have to say about you. If you have a dream go after it. However to accomplish your goals you first need to make a decision, what is it that you want out of life? The second thing is to have a positive mindset. Your thoughts become things spoken into existence. There’s a reason why your parents have told you your whole life that “you can do anything you set your mind to,” because the mind is the most powerful tool we have as humans. The third thing is to believe in yourself, because if you don’t who will? The last but certainly not the least you have to put in the work. You can’t sit around praying or wishing for things to magically happen if you’re not doing anything to deserve it. We have the same 24 hours in a day as some of the biggest celebrities, but it’s your choice of what you decide to do with them. When it’s all said and done, I hope to be able to one-day live in California or New York as a successful daytime talk show host. However, at the end of the day I hope to make a difference in television.

Aaron Caraway

About 16 years of experience playing video games has impressed upon me that there is always an elephant in the room –  video games are often not the preferred entertainment medium among the groups of people I have grown up alongside and interacted with my whole life. To many, gaming is simply a flash game on a school computer or the next big mobile game on smartphones (titles previously the preferred mobile game were Flappy Bird and Angry Birds). However, video games exist to scratch an itch that no other medium – not books, comic books or movies or TV — can ever treat. Video games, through their union of graphics and narrative, and their myriad gameplay styles which impact our perception of genres of mainstream entertainment, are truly the only all-purpose entertainment medium.

Video games have held my interest not necessarily from a historical standpoint but for how that can potentially reach any extreme in an entertainment spectrum between graphics and narrative, two pivotal elements of almost any work of art. Every mainstream work of entertainment exists somewhere along this spectrum: comic books are a marriage of the two, using descriptive artwork alongside dialogue and monologue to convey the characters and scenarios depicted on the page. Books, obviously, lie on the extreme narrative end of this spectrum, conveying every aspect of the work through careful use of words. They aim to not only present the conversations between characters but the actions between characters and their surroundings, giving the reader a mental picture of what is going on in any particular scene without any visual reference. Movies and TV shows can reach a middle ground between graphics and narrative but tend to appeal to the graphics end of the spectrum through film and editing techniques – the intention is often to elevate the narrative beyond what is said or seen onscreen.

Where video games fall on this spectrum depends largely on the developer, but like comic books, each title is a marriage of these two factors. The unique part, however, is that video games are meant to be interacted with by a person, called the ‘player’. Indeed, video games enter a realm untouched by any other medium by virtue of being something the person experiencing it can touch and often times affect. Because of this, neither aspect can dominate the other – the most captivating narratives in video games take place within a world the player can explore and come to understand outside of the exposition and plot points. Likewise, while a game can offer a rich, vibrant world to explore, there is still a narrative – a ‘point’, if you will – to the world around you.

Much as in any other medium, video games are often classified by genre, but unlike any other medium, as these games are meant to be interacted with by a player, the style of gameplay is another classification of the video game medium. Action Adventure, Horror, Comedy, Drama, Mystery – these words alone could describe any piece within a given medium. Just as The Boy is a horror movie, the Resident Evil series (a zombie-apocalypse style tale depicting the outbreak of a virus which heavily mutates the affected population) are all horror games. The Avengers series of movies and the Uncharted series (depicting treasure hunter Nathan Drake on his quests to pursue ancient legends, such as the Lost City of El Dorado) could both be described as Action.

With video games, however, the type of gameplay affects the player’s perception of that genre greatly. A couple of prominent examples of gameplay types are the Fighting Game, the Shooter, and the RPG. Let’s examine these through the lens of the horror genre: A fighting game typically pits two players against each other, or a player against a bot. The Mortal Kombat series (depicting to-the-death struggles between various worlds) could be considered a Horror Fighting Game – the playable characters often look suitably gruesome and scary, using attacks that would be gory in nature like ripping limbs off or incinerating their opponent.

Shooter gameplay can come in two forms – First Person Shooter (FPS) or Third Person Shooter (TPS.) A ‘Horror’ FPS (such as the Left 4 Dead games, which follows a group of 4 characters as they try to survive the zombie apocalypse) would convey to the player, by virtue of the camera being where the characters’ head should be, that they are for all intents and purposes the character. Because of this, particularly scary segments solicit a much stronger response emotionally – when a monster jumps out to attack, they appear to be attacking you – as if they invaded your physical space. A Horror TPS (such as the Resident Evil series), however, would not solicit anywhere near as strong a response. In a TPS, the camera is placed behind your character, usually to either side. That same monster that jumped out to attack you before now appears to be attacking your character, and while the sense of urgency to defeat this creature may remain, you are confident that you are not in danger.

Finally, a RPG – or Role Playing Game – has the potential to offer the most freeform gameplay of all styles. The idea behind these types of games is that at least partially, the character you play is one of your own design – RPGs attempt, in various ways, to make the experience as freeform as possible, allowing you to create your character’s appearance, personality and skill set with your weapons of choice, which may also have been made or customized by you. In a ‘Horror’ RPG such as Bloodborne (an eerily Lovecraftian tale of a nameless persons struggle to cure themselves of a disease plaguing the now-overrun city of Yharnam), and in this same situation where a monster jumps out to attack you, the player would have various methods of dealing with this monster. They may prefer to be up close and personal, carrying the biggest instruments of destruction at their disposal. They may choose to be highly defensive and outlast this monster. They may choose to lure it into a trap, or deal with it from range. Should the opportunity present itself, particularly clever players may find ways to avoid this monster entirely. If the distinction between genres of entertainment due to various gameplay styles is understood from these examples alone, then consider that this is only from one genre and three of the most mainstream gameplay styles used today – taking into account the other genres of entertainment and the myriad of gameplay styles not covered in this piece (and especially taking into account the developers’ takes on these genres, birthing what could be considered a new form of previously understood styles of gameplay), the possibilities are almost endless.

If my decade-and a half interest with video games has taught me anything, it’s that while they are often not the source of entertainment for the public as they are for me, video games afford me the pleasure of visiting worlds and engaging in them in such a way that is impossible in reality. Many may call this ‘escapism’ – this notion that I, and by extension all gamers, choose to play these games and visit these worlds in an effort to leave our own. To those people, I say this: If only it were that simple. If only I simply wished to go to these incredible worlds people dared to create, and leave this one behind. The truth is, however, that I fancy the thought of being a traveler of sorts far more than having travelled – my love for this all-purpose entertainment medium, that which can not be measured simply by graphics and narrative or quantified by their gameplay styles, means that I cannot simply go to some new world and leave well enough alone. I’ve spent 16 years happily exploring works of fiction that we’ll never see happen in reality quite the same way, and that means that I’ve got many stories to tell. For those of you not convinced, enjoy your time on this earth, with people you love and things you like. I’ll be exploring Fallout 4’s Commonwealth, or preparing for my journey into Dark Souls III’s Lothric. If I’ve been able to pique your interest any, feel free to join me.

Leira Moore

Have you ever played Quelf? If not, then Quelf is an “Obey the card” type of game. Quelf starts out like the usual board games where you choose what color board piece you want, and everyone begins at the start. Everyone then takes turns to roll a die, and the one with the highest number gets to go first. The board has a series of spaces that spiral into the center to reach the finish line.

All the spaces alternate between the colors red, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Each color card has its own set of comedy and rules. Red is the “Scatterbrain” card meaning the card holder starts a conversation and he or she must go around the table making sure everyone contributes to the topic. The topic keeps going around the table until a person repeats an answer, says the wrong answer, or takes too long to answer. If the person cannot contribute then they can get penalized 1-3 spaces depending on what the card says. When this card is in play, it doesn’t take long until the players begin to run out of answers. An example of a red topic is “Stuff that stains”; possible answers are wine, BBQ sauce, mustard, grease and so on. After one person has paid the penalty and the red card played then the die moves to the next player and they roll it and so on.
The yellow cards are the “Stuntz” cards. These are more action based and will need you to act out an action, whether it’s a thumb war or to lick your own elbow. One card even requires you to suck your thumb in silence and start rolling the die. When you roll a “3” shout, “Get off my land!” in your best chipmunk voice. The penalty for that particular card is three spaces.

The green cards are the “Quizzle” cards. These cards are not played, instead testing your thinking capacity. The questions tend to be in A B C D format. If you get it wrong, you pay the penalty. If, you get the bonus question correct on these cards then you get the opportunity to move one space forward. One of the funnier questions is: which of the following plays was not written by William Shakespeare? A) The Tempest B) Othello C) Taming of the Shrew D) Romeo and Quelfiette E) All’s well that ends well. If they got this particular question wrong, it’s a two space penalty. However, they have a bonus question worth one space. The bonus question says “Oh that’s too easy you say? Well, then tell us which of the remaining four plays is not a comedy. The Answer is B) Othello is not a comedy.” The green cards are more like brain teasers, but sometimes the answer choices are comical. Let’s say they land on a blue space.

Blue spaces are pure evil at times because the consequences don’t stop adding up. The blue cards are the “Roolz” cards, and they are divided into three sets. Global Roolz affect all players-some examples of the global rule is every time a person laughs they must snort like a pig. So, when one person snorts someone else is going to laugh and snort leading to a fit of laughter from everyone. Another example is no one is allowed to talk unless it is their turn and if they talk they move back two spaces. Next is the Talking rule which affects only the player that drew it. An example is when the player makes eye contact with another they must say “I have you now!”, Another funny one is if someone else starts laughing the player must say “I command you to be quiet!” The last set of Roolz is the action rule, which could require a person to sit on their hands for the rest of the game or could make someone be it. When that card is in play anyone who touches this person takes the penalty and then becomes it until another action rule comes into play. These three simple rules are hard to follow and end your turn.

The purple cards are the “Showbiz” cards, and they are very similar to the yellow cards. The purple card could require a person to do the chicken dance or sing Kumbaya. One of the many comical cards in this series is the one where you are a news anchor. Without laughing report in your most serious voice the shocking news of your mother’s underwear catching fire in the dryer. If you laugh, you go back two spaces.

I wasn’t too excited to play this game at first because I was not about making a fool of myself but it has quickly become one of my favorite board games. I have friends and family members that are not afraid to make fools of themselves, and when everyone laugh and becomes embarrassed, it makes it easier to act a little silly. With most board games the more people who play, the better the game is. I will say that I have played this game several times, and I don’t think we’ve made it through all the cards yet. This game is fascinating because it has a way of pulling people out of his or her shell, while allowing others to really get to know them and even laugh at good naturally. I recommend everyone to try this game. It is family friendly and is great for those stay in, low-budget, nights. So, one night grab the game, a couple of friends, and have fun. You can buy this hilarious game at Wal-Mart for 20$. This game is full of crazy stunts and questions that will have all ages laughing until tears are in everyone’s eyes.