2020 saw the release of the co-op horror experience Phasmophobia, which had players take on the roles of paranormal investigators, searching for and making contact with ghostly entities. The game became massively popular among PC gamers and was a best-seller on Steam during the weeks leading up to and following Halloween. Since its release, over two million players have worked together to investigate and communicate with the hostile spirits which haunt the game’s residences using whatever tools are at their disposal, from security cameras to Ouija boards.

As an avid Weeknd fan, my friends and family have come to me quite often over the past year with questions about the After Hours era persona that The Weeknd has adopted in his album cover, music videos, live performances, as well as his social media. These kinds of questions have only increased since his eye-catching performance in the Super Bowl LV Halftime Show. As part of this persona, he has appeared sporting a stunning red suit with sunglasses at certain times and bloody bandages and scars at others, even appearing to have gone through extreme plastic surgery in his most recent music video for “Save Your Tears.” Hopefully, I can make his aesthetic a bit clearer for those of you who don’t have a Weeknd mega-fan like myself to ask, or if you just want to know more about his music after watching him perform at Super Bowl LV. 

Rising Stars is The Stargazer’s interview series where we sit down with young filmmakers to discuss their projects, inspirations, and goals. We recently had the opportunity to speak with director and screenwriter Kyle Ziton about his horror short and his upcoming feature film, along with zombies, hippies, and hope (oh my!).

I’ll admit it; I have Harley Quinn fatigue. Honestly, I never liked her to begin with. I thought she was weird in Batman: The Animated Series. I don’t know what made her interesting in Suicide Squad. She got tacked onto the Birds of Prey movie; I got annoyed. Later, when DC announced a Harley Quinn animated series for their streaming platform, I thought they were beating a dead horse. But six months of quarantine and one HBOMax subscription later, I decided to give the show a try. Well, my finger must have slipped on the remote, because I watched the whole thing. Oops.

November is almost upon us and the next generation of consoles is coming soon. This is an exciting time for gamers, but a combination of more console options than ever before and an unprecedented pandemic can make it difficult to decide which one to buy. If you’re still undecided, here’s some information that might help.   

The Nightmare Before Christmas is a beloved and monumental film. Usually preceded by “Tim Burton’s” on logos and packaging, it most certainly is a product of the artist – from the art style to the premise itself – but it is not a project he directed. Burton was busy with Batman Returns, the second of his Batman movies. Henry Selick was left to direct, with Tim Burton simply being a producer.

Think back to an obscure tango scene you remember from any Hollywood movie. Maybe you picture Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman, tangoing while blind with a young woman. Maybe you recall the closing scene of True Lies with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis. There’s a chance you picture a scene without any dancing and imagine the opening scene in Schindler’s List, when Oskar is first introduced. Or perhaps you ignore the Hollywood prompt and imagine that scene in Money Heist when Berlin dances with Ariadna. What ties these all together? They all feature the same song.

In the wake of Black Lives Matter protests, – which have crossed state and national borders –  social media has helped inform users about a wide range of topics, including institutional racism, inequality, and disproportionate representation in the media. Similarly, users are promoting platforms where people can support African American businesses and foundations. It is our duty as students, allies, and overall as members of the same diverse family, to inform ourselves, recognize, and address the ongoing problem. 

One of my favorite books is about a bookstore owner in Paris who calls himself a literary apothecary. He has the unique talent of recognizing what his customers’ hardships are and prescribing a book to ease their troubles. Even though I lack the magic and whimsicality in The Little Paris Bookshop, I know we all need a little peace sometimes. The following prescriptions are feel-good movies that can inspire optimism, hope, and positivity.

At the end of 2016, only two games made the top ten global searches in Google. The first was Pokémon Go and the second was Slither.io. Since then, no other games have made the list for their perspective Year in Search, not even AAA titles like Fortnite or Minecraft. The instant – though fleeting – success of Pokémon Go makes sense because of the nostalgic factor and its inventive game play. But why did Slither.io make the list?