“Simulation” is a scary word to a good portion of the video game community. Hearing or reading it, some people instantly conjure images of the annually rehashed “Farming Simulator” series or any number of games about trucking across the country or settling in Oregon. Onto this scene come the irreverent games of simulation like “Kerbal Space Program,” “Surgeon Simulator”...
It is entirely possible that “Basic Sandwich” will be the last ever episode of “Community,” and on some level, I think I’m okay with that.
“Basic Sandwich” isn’t really a great episode — for reasons we’ll get to in a second — but I don’t think I ever expected it to be. This season of “Community” has had to endure...
Hip-hop is far from dead. But if you prefer underground music because mainstream artists are tainting the genre, you may have heard of Chuck Inglish. His newly released album, “Convertibles,” distinguishes the rapper from other underground names by exploring abstract sounds not usually associated with hip-hop, and includes talented up-and-coming artists like Vic Mensa and Chance the Rapper. It’s...
I can use any number of words to describe “Blackballin’.” A few of them might be: crazy, surreal, hallucinatory. But the word that truly captures the way in which this play gets its message across is simply this: different. The play uses American sports (football, baseball, basketball and boxing, to be specific) combined with fact-based research into how widespread...
Truthfully, it’s a little hard to find something fun and entertaining to do in Riverside. There simply aren’t that many venues that attract the type of activity craved by college students. However, this may all be about to change. The Fox Theater recently partnered with concert promotions company Live Nation, and this new partnership — which includes the Riverside...
How do you make a typical haunting horror movie seem original? Director Mike Flanagan believes this is done by playing with the minds of the audience and having them not understand anything that’s going on. He demonstrates this in “Oculus,” a film about a haunted mirror that seems to have no way of being defeated. The film thrives on...
In the Arts Building, sounds of different instruments can be heard daily — string, brass and many more. But not a lot of people know how much work the UCR orchestra puts into their pieces and concerts every day. Matt Chiapa, Daphne Ferreiro and Chloe Keedy are just three examples of extremely devoted students to their craft. While two...
It’s interesting to me that in a season with only 13 episodes, “Community” would choose to use two of them as the finale. While the premiere was also an hour long, those episodes weren’t held together by anything other than the night they aired. But by making the season finale a two-parter, the “Community” creative team essentially gave themselves...
Before entering HUB 302 last Wednesday, I really didn’t know what to expect from Sister Spit. As was seen from a panel discussion the performers put on earlier that afternoon, they were an extremely diverse bunch with different backgrounds and different methods of storytelling. However, when I kept hearing the term “spoken word” to describe this event, I thought...
When attempting to review a filmmaker such as Wes Anderson, it is difficult to know where to begin. Anderson’s unique directorial touch is recognizable anywhere — and often, it is beloved or hated. The difficulty lies in comparing his films against themselves, or as films on their own. Those who dislike the style will continue to dislike it, but...