Vibe Culture - South Brunswick School District

Decade Issue
vibe:culture
MOVIES
Incredible as it may seem, the pioneer decade of our new millennium is finally coming to an end, and ten more grains of sand have managed to fall from
the hourglass of life. It was a decade of prosperity for the film industry; a decade dominated by grandiose blockbusters and unlikely sleepers, of stunning innovations and shameless retreads, of wild successes and crushing failures, of smashed records and new classics. It was a redefining age in the history of the
cinema, one whose influence will be greater appreciated in hindsight, when, in the decades to come, we find ourselves looking down from a high mountain,
realizing that it wasn’t so bad after all.
The new decade brought with it a somewhat frugal attitude in Hollywood; a cautious attitude, where nobody seemed willing to take a risk. Original ideas
became a dying breed, almost completely eliminated in favor of already-established characters, names or franchises, whether they are from books, television,
comics, or even amusement park rides. Superhero movies became very popular, while fantasy films such as Harry Potter, Twilight, and Lord of the Rings
were equally successful. Unfortunately, box-office success is not always a reliable indicator of quality; a virtue many of these adaptations and remakes were
severely lacking.
This decade left us a trail of absolutely amazing fantasy and sci-fi series. The most widely renowned film series would definitely have to be The Lord of
the Rings Trilogy, The Harry Potter series, the Star Wars Trilogy, The Matrix, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Chronicles of Narnia, and the Twilight saga. These
series have become a big part of the modern American’s life. Being based off of things every average person would know, these films capture the attention.
A series provides a “what happens next?” feeling. Movie-goers will go to see the next film in a series even if the series is not that good. People have to know
what happens because they can’t be left hanging. When a series is completed, moviegoers feel accomplished when they leave the theater for the last edition
to the series. It’s just too suspenseful not to find out!
That isn’t to say that the new millennium was completely devoid of an original idea. In fact, the decade has produced a vast plethora of creative, cultured,
and often-times innovative films. It’s just a matter of knowing where to look. Foreign films experienced a great increase in popularity thanks to incredible
films such as Pan’s Labyrinth, Downfall, Let the Right One In, and Oldboy, all of which benefited greatly from the supreme global influence of the internet.
Comedy films were equally successful, thanks in large part to the talent of Judd Apatow and company, whose “bro-mance” films achieved a successful
fusion of comedy and drama, earning the acclaim of critics and audiences alike. Perhaps the greatest achievement of the decade can be claimed by Pixar,
who have contributed a great deal to not only the perpetually evolving field of computer animation, but also to the world of film in general.
Conner Oreilly, 2009 and Heather Heyer, 2010
Desperate Need of Hero
vibe:
Comic book movies have transcended their role as pure entertainment in our society;
they have become, in more ways than one, a national obsession. The new millennium
brought with it a plethora of industry juggernauts, which have consistently dominated
the domestic box-office year after year, breaking numerous records in both revenue and
attendance along the way. The Dark Knight, Spider-Man, and Iron Man are prime examples of films that have entered the public consciousness and have virtually redefined
the role of the comic-book hero in our culture.
What is it about comic book movies that have made them so insanely popular in
recent years? Is our post-9/11 society in need of a hero? Have we become disillusioned
with perpetual lies, false hope, and empty promises? Are we unconsciously aware of our
imminent destruction, of our greed and intolerance, of the bleak future that may await us
in the cold, dark unknown? Is our pessimistic world in dire need of an escape, of a new
hope for peace, justice, and love? Do we eagerly anticipate the resurrection of the American dream? What is certain is that, on occasion, we must take a plunge down the rabbit
hole; we must enter a fantasy of optimistic faith, where a simple man, like Bruce Wayne
or Peter Parker, can rise up and overcome those that oppress and betray the people of the
United States. In many ways, the reason why Americans elected Obama president is also
the reason why The Dark Knight became the highest earning film of the decade. They
both inspired hope, and in the rather melancholy world of the new millennium, hope is
an indispensable rarity.
Conner O’Reilly, 2010
How Bro-Mantic!
From his role as producer and actor to his creation of the new genre “bromantic comedy,”
Apatow could be considered a major organ of the movie industry by himself. With the production of a lot of movies, such as Step Brothers, Pineapple Express, 40 Year Old Virgin,
Knocked Up, Superbad, Anchorman, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, he manages to create a
unique format within each of his movies. Each one always contains dirty humor but adds a
deep life lesson to it, and they all are original with different types of characters and different
perspectives. His clever idea of “bromantic comedy” usually contains two guys who share a
bromance and love each other right before the point of actually having sensual feelings for
one another. The characters Saul and Dale in Pineapple Express share this, as do Seth and
Evan in Superbad.
Beyond the amount of movies
Apatow has made, there are tons
of actors and actresses who are big
now because of these movies. We
always see a familiar face or two
when we know Apatow is involved
VANI- Almost Famous
with the movie in some way. The
COREY- There Will Be Blood
reoccurring faces we always see are
LOUIS- No Country For Old Men
Seth Rogan, Jason Segal, John C.
CONNER- American Psycho
Riley, Jonah Hill, James Franco, and
even Will Ferrell are some example
MIKE/NATE- The Departed
of many of those who have gained
HEATHER- The Lord of the Rings
popularity threw Apatow. Currently,
BRANDON- The Assassination of Jesse Judd Apatow is working on many
new projects that I hope to see in
James by the Coward Robert Ford
the near future and will hopefully be
ZACH- District 9
as successful as his previous works
were.
Mike Boccio 2011
Cartoons Go Digital
Pixar films have dominated the animation community since 1995’s
groundbreaking Toy Story; the first feature length film entirely animated using computer technology. In the new millennium, Pixar has
managed to maintain their world-famous quality with great success,
producing one outstanding film after another, and in effect solidifying their reputation as the most innovative and reliable animation
company in the world. Their recent credits include critically-acclaimed and monumentally successful films Monsters Inc., Finding
Nemo, The Incredibles, Wall-E, and Up. These phenomenal films
have succeeded in revolutionizing the field of animation; they’ve
pushed the genre into entirely new, mysterious directions, and have
become as important and influential to the medium as the Disney
films of the early 20th century.
Hordes of copy-cat companies soon emerged to capitalize on the
incredible success of Pixar, the only notable example being the animation department at Dreamworks studios, which ripped off Pixar’s
A Bugs Life in 1998 with Antz. The only legitimately enjoyable
film produced by Dreamworks may be Shrek, which proved to be
the dominate animation series of the new millennium, despite its
lackluster sequels.
Overall, this decade has experienced several extremely important
innovations in the animation community, and has witnessed an incredible revival in the popularity and credibility of the genre.
Conner O’Reilly, 2010
OUR FAVORITES
PHOTO COURTESY OF BETTY WANG 2010
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vibe:culture
Decade Issue
Technology
Before this decade, technology consisted of bulky computers, shoddy graphics, and the ever-present threat of a crash. Xbox
360s, blurays, tivos, twitters, and Facebook, have replaced the fear of Y2K.. The 2000s started with a simple JavaScript messageboards, but this only paved the way for expansion beyond what Kubrick ever could have imagined for 2001.
Social networking websites have thrust themselves into the forefront of human interaction. Tweet at me, write on my wall,
can you even remember, “comment my Myspace!”? For the middle school generation, it began with AIM, and then your first
Myspace--you were now a high schooler. College came, and Facebook was your territory. Myspace has all but disappeared now
as we near the close of our decade, and does anyone use AIM anymore? Facebook, and slowly, twitter have become our commons,
from prepubescents to the uncomfortable uncle who writes on your wall asking what’s on your Christmas list.
At the start of the decade, if you were to ask anyone where to go to watch a missed television show they would tell you to wait
for the repeat. If you were to ask this question now, you would get multiple answers. The immense stream of easily accessible media
has taken this decade to an entirely different level. We now have the ability to access our favorite shows through the Internet and
even our own living room. New technology such as DVR and Netflix has grown to the point that almost anyone can keep up on
their favorite shows and movies, while portable readers like Kindle help people access books wherever they go.
These days, we call video games just games. These past couple generations have changed interactive entertainment itself, especially the consoles from the past few years. Features such as online multiplayer, downloadable content, motion controls, and highdefinition graphics have altered the industry.
Keith Zients, 2010, Kyle Self, 2012, Corey Koppel, 2012
Video Games at Their Peak
Remember three years ago during the launch of Sony’s Playstation 3,
when the system cost $600 and was plagued with loads of technical bugs?
Well, think about re-living that all over again, except at even a higher asking
price. Let’s face it: As interactive entertainment becomes more and more
advanced, the more expensive it gets. We have it hard enough already paying a whopping 60 bucks for a brand new game. If we had to pay any more
dough, we could not even afford any actual games for the system. Besides,
there probably wouldn’t be any real quality titles to buy in any console’s first
few months after launch. Gundam: Crossfire anyone? Not to mention the fact
that, whether you are connected to Xbox Live, Playstation Network, or even
Wii Connect 24, you’re going to want to re-download your DLC and other
goodies. It would be tough to build a system with enough hardrive space so
you can transfer all 500 of your Rock Band tracks or Halo 3 map-packs, and
still have enough space left over for new content.
One big question is how much better can they really get? Think about
it, we play in a generation where 1080p HD is the standard for most games
(except for the Wii of course). Games such as Gears of War and Uncharted
have revolutionized how realistic and simply gorgeous video games’ graphics can be. If they improved at all, the next step would be photorealism,
and I just don’t see games looking exactly like real life. Honestly, with constant innovations being made to the current consoles’ online community, and
eventually motion controls being spread across the PS3 and 360 (360’s future
project Natale and PS3’s upcoming Magic Wand), it seems unnecessary to
make a whole new gaming machine when the companies can easily make
adjustments to their systems. In short, you should not empty your bank accounts for a Playstation 4, an Xbox 720, or a Wii 2 anytime soon. Let’s just
think about what we already have.
Kyle Self, 2012
vibe:culture
editors
Zach Cohen, 2010
Keith Zients, 2010
staff
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Stephanie Devito, 2010
Louis Fischetti, 2010
Conner O’Reily, 2010
Ithan Sokol 2010
Mike Boccio, 2011
Elena Georgopoulos 2011
Heather Heyer 2011
Aaron Lassin, 2011
Kyle Self, 2012
Nate Falk, 2012
Corey Koppel, 2011
Chris Palumbo, 2010
Melissa Dardani, 2010
Vani Ramaraj, 2010
Brandon Bakhshai, 2012
special thanks to
mr. andy loh
mr. frank manfre
advisor
mr. peter honig
The Online Society
It started with an add my screen name to your Aim, and evolved into the tweet@me.
Social networking has grown profoundly in this double 0 decade from simple instant
messaging servers to vast commercial celebrity flooded databases. The “add me on
Myspace” phrase became synonymous with high school students along with emerging bands and musicians. Myspace has since been replaced with Facebook, appealing strongly to older users looking to keep in touch with others from both their high
school and college networks. Facebook itself has evolved, from simple “Wall to Wall”
interaction into a Farmvilling, social interviewing,
and gift sending Internet
metropolis. Now, as a previous article has mentioned,
Twitter plays the role of the
new kid on the block in the social networking scene. With short direct interaction, this
website is only fitting to what the new millennium has brought upon, it seems that no
one has any time to read something greater than 140 characters anyway.
The advantage to social networking websites is the creation of alternate forms of
communication. Its possible to argue that facial interaction will follow suit of AIM
and go down the long filter-less tube of lost communication. Along with these social
networking sites are the free web chat software’s such as Oovoo or Skype where two
or more individuals can chat without ever leaving their computer chair, or footsie
pajamas. Technology is becoming one with society in this generation, for better or
for worse
Keith Zients, 2010
TV on Your Terms
If you are anything like me then you probably cling to every new show that moves
into the prime time hours, hoping to be great and deserving of an Emmy. Of course
with the abundance of television shows and the small time frame to air them, people
like you and I are left to pick only a few. Luckily for people such as ourselves this past
decade has given birth to the oh-so-powerful DVR.
First making its debut early in the decade, DVR was first introduced to the public
through TiVo. TiVo became so popular that it gained the rare power to be used as a
verb, as in “I TiVoed it.” Over the years, this successful business was able to develop
its technology even further by allowing it to program itself to record shows that the users may be interested in, while potentially causing an incident when your friends find
out that your TiVoed the first season of Grey’s Anatomy. During the later part of the
decade, TiVo has had to share its empire with the major cable providers that decided to
integrate DVR (digital video recording) into their services. DVR still has its problems
though. It can only record two shows at the same time leading to some difficult and
heart breaking decisions. Also, with certain companies, DVR may not like its user and
delete all of the recorded content.
Aside from DVR, this decade has given birth to a completely new way to access
television programming and movies. On Demand allows viewers to watch any movie
or show one wants either for free or a small price. Of course, On Demand is not perfect. Many movies are missing form its extensive list. Companies such as Verizon also
are missing HD content that was promised previously. In case On Demand doesn’t
suit you, and you’re sick of the video store, movies ordered through the Internet are
one the fastest growing ways to access your favorite movies. Companies such as Netflix give users the opportunity to create a list of movies to be delivered for a monthly
fee. Netflix has a great advantage over On Demand and the local video store because
of its never-ending list of movies that can be sent to the user at any time. Despite the
constant hatred the video store receives from On Demand and Netflix I still prefer it
above the two.
Accompanying Netflix in this decade’s wave of easily accessible media comes the
popular site Hulu. Hulu gives the opportunity to watch your favorite shows any time
for free. The site has a growing list of shows to watch from the A-team to clips of Saturday Night Live. Overall, easily accessible media has come a long way throughout
the decade and will only get better.
Corey Koppel, 2012
MUSIC
The ’80s were dominated by hair metal, arena rock was huge, and hip-hop had just started rising up. The ‘90s started the gap in music with
Grunge leading the rock path, and rap evolving into various sub-genres such as gangster rap. This decade has witnessed the change of music
from distinct genres to a wide spectrum of genres that often times overlap. We witnessed rap superstars like Lil’ Wayne and T.I. team
with rock and pop artists such as Weezer and Justin Timberlake, and saw other greats rise to prominence.
As the ’90s ended Rock was leading the way as the popular genre, and this overlapped into the 2000s. Coldplay flooded the airwaves with
catchy tunes like “Yellow”, and “Viva la Vida”, while Green Day led the way in criticizing the Bush administration. Also on the rock scene we
saw Fall Out Boy make emo music popular to the masses, and Radiohead made their music available for free of charge. Overall, rock music
developed into numerous other genres, that if were not new genres at least became widely popular throughout this decade.
While rock was evolving to the many different types of rock, rap was still evolving as a genre. In this decade we saw rap truly expand and
have the same, if not more popularity than rock music. While the gangster aspect has not left rap, we saw it spread. Now we have the rap superstars like Kanye West, and Drake showing you don’t have to be from the streets and be in a gang to be a successful rapper. We also witnessed
Eminem become huge, breaking the sterotype that rap was only for African Americans. In the future we should expect rap to expand even
further from its origins with artists like KiD CuDi going where no rappers have gone with a very unique sound. Some of the bosses of the rap
game in this last decade include: Lil’ Wayne, Kanye West, T.I., Jay-Z, Eminem, and many other originals like NAS who continued their work
into the new decade.
Possibly the biggest change in music this decade was not what we were listing to, but how. Remember when we would have to go to Best
Buy, Sam Goody, or FYE to get the hot new CD? Yes, this decade was when the giant music supplier I-Tunes got started. Nowadays CDs are
obsolete, and any music we want we can get on our computer and store on our mp3 players. Back in the day, to have a few hundred songs to
listen to people would have to bring cd books to constantly change CDs for a new band and new music. Now we can carry thousands of songs
on I-Pods and Zunes. Also, instead of having to buy a whole album to get that one hot single, we can just go over to I-Tunes or other sites like
Rhapsody and Limewire to download the hot song on the radio. Overall, music has changed drasitically this decade and will continue to.
Zach Cohen, 2010, Louis Fischetti, 2010
Radiohead: A-OK and Free too
vibe:culture
Decade Issue
Weezy F. Baby
Lil Wayne, or as others would say “Weezy F. Baby”, has
Popular and well-respected music criticism website Pitchfork.com had compiled a “best of”
reached the peak of his music career, despite his poor personal
list for the decade of the 90s. At the number one spot in that list was Radiohead’s “OK Comchoices which have jepordized that artistic career. Lil Wayne acputer”, plain and simple the best album of a decade. To follow that up, the band needed to do
something big, so they entered the studio for the famous Kid A sessions. Armed with the anticomplished so much in the past decade after putting out 8 studio
globalization book “No Logo”, the band set out to make their most interesting album, both
albums and 10 mix tapes. Lil Wayne started his music career at
lyrically and musically. The lyrics were (for some songs) different phrases that singer Thom
17 when he dropped his first solo album The Block is Hot, which
Yorke had placed in a hat and pulled at random. The lyrics have been interpreted as everything
winded up going double platinum and climbed to #3 on the Billfrom Radiohead’s globalization stance to an unintentional but accurate foreshadowing of the
board album charts. The next two albums to follow failed to at9/11 terrorist attacks. Yorke made use of voice manipulation because he felt the lyrics were
tain the level of success achieved by his debut album. They both
too brutal for him to sing naturally. The lyrics were not included in the booklet, Yorke felt one
lacked the smooth flow that made the debut such a hit. In 2004could not separate the lyrics from the music.
2005, Lil Wayne released two more albums Tha Carter and Tha
The album begins with a song of almost-entirely vocals and keyboard: “Everything in it’s
Carter II, which critics considered to be a huge advancement in
Right Place”. The song does a great job of making the vocals almost sound as if they were
coming from the keyboard, creating an amazing texture. The album continued with the enhis rapping style and lyrical themes. Tha Carter sold over 1 miltirely electronic title track but then entered into the horn-blaring song “The National Anthem”.
lion copies in the United States and Tha Carter II sold 2 million
Moving to the tense trudge of “How to Disappear Completely” to the entirely instrumental,
copies worldwide, which led him to be named president of Cash
ambient, and spacey-feeling “Treefingers” the album created both feelings of sadness and disMoney Records.
covery. The album then turns to two more tonal songs “Optimistic” and “In Limbo” which are
In my opinion, Weezy F. Baby is number one as far as the hotmore electric guitar driven and contain a lot of motion as if pulling you through the song and
test
MCs in the game and of the decade. He’s achieved so much
throwing you into the dark world of . Yorke’s lyrics. Then comes the most recognized track
in
the
past 10 years and was able to bounce back after struggling
of the album, “Idioteque”. The song took more of the ambient keyboard sound with a heavy
early in his music career, not to mention his attractive beats and
electronic drumbeat with . Yorke’s passionate voice at times belting away almost as if he is
smooth lyrics that helped him along the way. In his music, Lil
struggling with the content of what he is singing. As the album
comes to close we are left with the warm but very disturbing song
Wayne goes well beyond the basics
“Morning Bell” and the organ and vocals finale, “Motion Picture
of “Dirty South” hip-hop. Lil Wayne
Soundtrack” that creates a feeling of complete solitude within the
regularly changes up his delivery and
listener. However after a few minutes of silence a tense cluster
lands syllables on unlikely offbeats.
of sound comes in bursting into a surprisingly joyous noise that
Unlike most rappers, Lil Wayne can
almost feels as if a new beginning has come leaving the listener VANI- Sufjan Stevens
work the stage as well as the studio
with so much to think about and consider about how the Band COREY/BRANDON- Muse
with his hoarse voice which gives his
intended them to feel.
songs a unique sound. Lil Wayne has
While all of their albums of this decade made top ten lists LOUIS- Incubus
dropped a new mix tape titled No Ceiland won Grammy awards (like Best Alternative Album “In Rain- CONNER- Mastodon
bows” 2008) Kid A received the most recognition receiving not MIKE- Coheed and Cambria
ings, which has received nothing but
only the Grammy award for best alternative album the year it
positive feedback. The free mix tape
came out but nine years after it’s release the album was name by NATE- Dave Matthews Band
was released courtesy of his fans and
both Pitchfork.com and Rolling Stone magazine the best album HEATHER- Vampire Weekend
all those that support him.
of the 2000 decade.
ELENA- Scissor Sisters
Louis Fischetti, 2010
Kyle Kraft, 2010
OUR FAVORITES
When Genres Collide
ZACH- Jack White’s Bands
KEITH-Arctic Monkeys
In the 90’s we saw the first real divide in music. We
had rap really taking the country by storm, and obviously
rock and its other sub-genres were still popular. In the
2000’s many DJ’s mashed both styles of music to create
a genre known as mash-up. The album that really brought
the idea to the forefront of music was DJ Danger Mouse’s The Grey Album. This was Jay-Z’s The Black Album,
mixed over The Beatles White Album.
After this, mash ups became extremely popular. Jay-Z ventured to collaborate on a mash up with Linkin Park.
Eventually DJ’s started to make names for them by doing great mash ups. Possibly the most recognizable mash
up artist goes by the name of Girl Talk. Girl Talk has mixed songs like Lil’ Wayne’s “Lolllipop” over The Red Hot
Chili Peppers “Under the Bridge”. Other artists that are on the forefront of the scene include LA based duo Super
Mash Brothers, and TRV$DJAM which was drummer Travis Barker drumming over mixes of songs done by the
late DJ AM.
While the style has been evolving and spreading throughout the decade, it has also had its fair share of controversy.
With music battles this decade over file sharing, many of these mash up DJ’s were sued over copyright infringement.
Since they are using other artist’s music to make these mixes, many feel that it is not real music and would like to stop
the art. These have been some key questions surrounding the style, and none of which have been answered. Expect
to see some answers next decade as mash ups become even more popular.
Zach Cohen, 2010
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Television
Television has always reflected the fantasies of people in our society. In the past decade, television has evolved into an interesting mixture of
these fantasies and the newly-liberated culture we have acquired. Let us look back into what makes the most basic element in our lives so special.
At the start of television, most of America watched the few select networks that were available to them, and the few select shows that were
available on those channels. As television evolved, the number of networks and shows on each network increased exponentially, with a particularly
large expansion in the last decade. This past decade, traditional networks have competed with unconventional networks that have produced popular
hit shows as well. The production of shows appealing to the public by alternative networks are on channels like FX, featuring Its Always Sunny in
Philadelphia, Nip/Tuck, and Rescue Me. Showtime has churned out hits like Dexter and Weeds. Also, one cannot forget Comedy Central, with its
memorable South Park, The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report.
Then there are sports fans. Sports has always been on TV and has always gotten many viewers. But as far as sports fans they don’t only want
to see their team, they want to see every team playing. With the start of sports packages, fans have attained the ability to watch every sports game
going on in the country.
In fact, paid networks in general have become more popular. HBO has been very successful in the last decade with revolutionary and uncensored shows like The Sopranos, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Entourage.
One cannot just look at the channels that have become popular and determine that it’s the channel that did all the work. They were just fortunate
to get a show that suddenly garnered attention. And now, it appears that the genres that dominate are crime-shows like NCIS, sitcoms like The
Office, reality shows (which can go into genres itself), and other shows that are a mix of comedy and drama, like USA’s Monk. Gone are the soap
operas of the 90s, now to be replaced by shows that try, and sometimes succeed, in making a metaphorical commentary on the world.
It would be impossible to list and describe every show that has been notable or popular (the two do not always mix, unfortunately) in the past
decade, even though it is what they deserve. Television was once dubbed “idiot box”, but now it is definitely varied enough to be considered something that no one, regardless of taste, can truly live without. And who wants to?
-Elena Georgopoulos, 2011, Nate Falk, 2012, Brandon Bakhshai, 2012
vibe:culture
Decade Issue
The Office Looks Good on Paper Daily
Dose of OUR FAVORITES
Comedy
Scranton Pennsylvania was once a small and quiet town in Northeastern
Pennsylvania. Then along came Dunder Mifflin, a small paper company
lead by Regional Manager Michael Scott and his witty and loveable employees on The Office. Six years ago, Dunder Mifflin invaded Scranton
with six episodes in the first season. But from the second season on, The
Office has had 22 episodes per season, and has become one of NBC’s
most popular shows. It’s been giving us the ups and downs of the characters, who have become our friends during the past 5 seasons, like Jim, the
jokester, playing hilarious pranks on the office suck up Dwight. In addition, the show follows the evolution of the romance between Jim and Pam
and how much their relationship has changed. The Office was on the top
of the world when it was chosen to be the annual TV show after the Super
Bowl. The Office is now in its sixth season and continues to get laughs.
Michael Scott has brought his unorthodox management skills to Scranton
and won’t leave without a fight.
Nate Falk, 2012
VANI- Family Guy
COREY- 24
LOUIS/MIKE- South Park
CONNER- Metalocalypse
NATE/BRANDON- The Office
HEATHER- Glee
ELENA- True Blood
ZACH-Clone High
KEITH-Heroes
2000, satirical news
shows like The Daily
Show with Jon Stewart
and The Colbert Report (a
spin-off in 2005 that has
been doing rather nicely on
its own) have since been
explosively popular, since
they offer current news
in a critical yet humorous
fashion. Both shows have
the layout of describing
news events, the host saying a monologue on a particular issue, and then an
interview, all with specific
segments (correspondents, the Word ect.) in between, in order to satirize the typical news programs. Also, what is commendable about these shows is that even
though they both lean to the more liberal side of arguments and frequently make
fun of conservatives and FOX news, both hosts are still willing to point out the
stupid things that liberal politicians said or the stupid things that happen on more
liberal networks like CNN. The Daily Show has also been the start-up for comedians like Steve Carrel, Lewis Black, John Oliver ect., while, The Colbert Report
has created its own fads (WristStrong anyone?) and vocabulary (truthiness, freem,
Wikiality ect.). Both hosts critique those who may be sensitive to it, but with their
quirks and charismatic abilities that gets them varied and informed guests, these
shows have definitely been something to celebrate this decade.
Elena Georgopoulos, 2011
HBO Provides More Bang For
The Extra Buck
HBO shows have had a large impact on the media in the last decade,
with brilliant original hits as True Blood, Sex and the City, The Sopranos,
The Wire, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. One show in particular that has
outshined others and has substantially grown more and more popular over
the years is Entourage. Created by Doug Ellin, it is a comedy-drama about
a movie star named Vince Chase, with his best friends since childhood by
his side. As he rises to fame, he and his buddies navigate their way through
Hollywood life. The show is based off of the experiences of Mark Wahlberg as he rose to fame, and all of his different friendships, relationships,
and celebrity encounters.
Entourage, along with every other HBO show, has only added to the
success of the past decade. Over 28 million people in the United States
alone subscribe to HBO television services. HBO also includes Boxing,
original films and documentaries, and special events such as the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame Concert. HBO has given us all a reason to want to keep
tuned into TV.
Ithan Sokol, 2010
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