Waiting another year for Mr. Robot

Elizabeth Both

Editor

In the summer of 2015 a show about computer hackers on the small TV network USA became the most unexpected hit of the summer TV season.

 Mr. Robot is a drama-thriller starring Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson, a cybersecurity engineer and hacker who suffers from what one may call  “Fight Club” syndrome. For those who have not seen Fight Club, most of its themes rotate around one man’s alter ego--he is basically embodying two different personalities. Elliot doesn’t remember what he does more than half of the time, whether he’s embodying his alter ego or not. His thought process is highly influenced by paranoia and delusion. Without giving too much detail away, season one ends with an insanely intense cliffhanger that made it extremely difficult to wait 11 months for the second season.

 After a painful year, season two premiered this past July. The show’s creator, Sam Esmail directed each episode with such articulated camera shots that you find yourself thinking, Is this really a show on cable television? It may sound like a simple show about computer hacking, codes and servers but its slow burning pace makes it such an intriguing show. Labeled to many as the #1 show of 2015, it holds a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. It's a tricky show to follow and may seem boring due to all the hacking lingo, but with so many diverse characters it keeps the viewers on their toes.

 With the second season finale airing on Sept. 21, many (including myself) are back to square one: waiting another year for answers. I don’t know what’s worse, waiting a year for a show you can’t binge watch on network television or waiting for a year on Netflix. Recently at the Emmy Awards (the Oscars for television), Malek won the award for Outstanding Leading Actor in a Drama Series for Mr. Robot beating out Kevin Spacey’s manipulative Frank Underwood. Even though Malek has been in the industry for more than a decade, he’s still a fresh face to many. This win means a lot for the USA network and officially guarantees upcoming seasons. Mr. Robot is full of hacker lingo, but it makes you double think about government surveillance and what is actually happening in the cyber-security world. The good reviews are only a plus.

New shows and movies join Netflix library

Morgan Amberson

Staff Writer

Netflix is an outlet for those who wish to escape from reality. Whether you are watching The Office for a laugh on a glum day or American Horror Story when you are in the mood for terror, Netflix is the place to be.

 New movies and television shows have been added to Netflix this month, sparking much excitement. This month there have been new additions to Netflix that have gotten people talking. Ranging from movies to television shows, the newly added shows have sparked much excitement. New to Netflix is a series called Shameless. This dramatic addition is a comedic British series and centers around a dysfunctional Chicago family who try to cope with their alcoholic father. Since most of the children in the series are in high school, the show will present a different side of high school life. Other television shows that have been added to Netflix are: Narcos, Prison Break, Once Upon a Time, Blue Bloods, Z Nation and Blacklist. Prison Break and Once Upon a Time are most likely to be enjoyed by the students.

 Also new to Netflix are several movies that people have been eagerly awaiting. One of which is The Finest Hours. This action packed film is about a ship that is caught in a terrible storm, which causes the ship to break in half and trap 30 sailors in the sinking stern. It is up to the engineer, who voluntarily took the role in organizing an escape, to save the sailors. If you are looking for suspense, The Finest Hours is for you. Other movies that have been added to the site are: Saving Private Ryan, Joyful Noise, Deadset, We Need to Talk, and more.  

Technology makes Fashion Week accessible to all

Riley Brennan

Staff Writer

Fall is arguably the best season of the year for numerous reasons, a major one being Fashion Week, which features Spring/Summer collections for 2017.

 The shows go on for approximately three or four weeks, the first week of shows starting in New York City and then heading abroad. New York Fashion Week starts things off with the first week of shows running from Sept. 7 to 15. The shows in London commence on Sept. 16,and end on Sept. 20.

 Milan Fashion Week follows, starting the day after on Sept. 21. The last of Milan Fashion Week and the start of the last round of shows in Paris overlap, both being scheduled on Sept. 27. Popular upcoming shows and designers to watch this season range from musicians-gone- designers such as  Kanye West, and Rihanna, who is expected to release her collection at Paris Fashion Week, to classic household names who are presenting ready-to-wear collections, such as  Ralph Lauren, Jeremy Scott, Alexander McQueen, Derek Lam, Michael Kors, and more. We will also see some other alternative route designers this season, like Gigi Hadid, a model, who has collaborated with Tommy Hilfiger on a collection which is set to be displayed at New York Fashion Week, where she will also walk the runway.

For those who are not lucky enough to travel to the shows, live streams have been set up to broadcast on Vogue.com, and many designers will also be livestreaming their shows on their own websites. Vogue will also be posting each individual look of every collection if you’re not able to catch the live stream.. Junior Charlotte Taylor was surprised when she learned she could see any collection after it had debuted, “I don’t usually have enough time to dedicate to an entire livestream, so it’s nice that if need be I can easily access new collections.” Thanks to technology, everyone can experience fashion week.

Battlefield 1 Open Beta is a success

Max Charney

The long awaited Battlefield 1 Open Beta (BF1 Open Beta) was finally released for PC, PS4 and Xbox One on Aug. 31. Battlefield Insider members, who were able to sign up for the beta since this year's E3, were able to play a day early, August 30. For the Battlefield Insiders members, the first day of launch was no problem;, connection speeds were was fine. But on Aug. 31, the beta was released to the public, and things took a turn for the worst. Reports of connectivity issues began flooding EA support. EA tweeted that BF1 Open Beta was experiencing server outages, and that they working to resolve the problem as soon as possible. However, later in the day, EA claimed that it had been hit by a DDOS attack (a type of DOS attack where multiple compromised systems, often infected with a computer virus known as a Trojan, are used to target a single system causing a Denial of Service). Although the EA support team did not and has not revealed the official cause of the issue, the online hacking group Poodlecorp later took the responsibility for the DDOS attack. Saying in a tweet: “We are responsible for the downtime of EA & Battlefield.” Poodlecorp was also responsible for DDOSing League of Legends and Pokemon Go!, along with many other big YouTubers.

 Although Battlefield fans had nothing but disappointment for the first day, by the second day things were up and running smoothly - Except for a bug that was later discovered. Players were unable to level up, and progress their classes. Melee weapons, gun attachments, and gadgets were unable to be unlocked. Even if you had the correct number of war bounds (the game's currency earned through leveling up your rank). This made gameplay stagnant for some, some did not mind, and for some the glitch did not affect them. For me, I was affected by this, it did make the game boring for me at times. But on the last day of the beta, EA unlocked everything in a patch allowing players of all levels to use every attachment, gadget and all the melee weapons.

 Besides the DDOS attack, the glitches and bugs that come to be expected with any open beta, the game received great feedback from the community. The menu screen is sleek and clean, the game itself looks nothing less than beautiful. They resemble a lot of how Star Wars: Battlefront looks. The game sounds very realistic as well, the screams and cries sound authentic and really brings you into the game. The Sinai Desert map is an absolutely terrible map and was an awful decision to make it the only playable map for the open beta. It is the biggest Battlefield map ever made, but that doesn’t make it the best. The map is too open, a majority of the map is open desert nobody goes too, and it is a sniper's paradise and does work well with vehicle gameplay. The map lacks good infantry gameplay, and it does not have a good balance. A few vehicles and weapons need to buffed and nerfed, and excusing the connection problems,  the bugs and glitches that come with an open beta. I would personally say, and from what I’ve been reading and hearing, the BF1 Open Beta was a success. The game is still scheduled to release on Oct. 21 for all platforms.   

 Or so EA may have you think. Battlefield 1 may be the first game in history to have three release dates. The standard edition will come out on Oct. 21; this is the game's official release date. If you pre-order the game for an extra $20, you’ll receive the Battlefield 1 Early Enlisted Deluxe Edition and be able to play it three days earlier on the Oct. 18. The deluxe edition will get you get a few DLC packs, some skins and Battlepacks. But if you are dying to play Battlefield even sooner than that, ironically, you don’t even need to pay for the game at all. All you need is a $5 subscription to EA Access, also known as Origin Accesses. But this is only available on PC and Xbox One. This subscription will grant users a 10 hour trial to Battlefield 1 starting on Oct. 13. Ten hours may not seem like a lot, but your progress should be saved and it will allow you to preload the game for when the full game becomes available to you. Depending on which version of the game you bought.