In an era where social media sites are dominated by the likes of Farmville, bars and pubs increasingly entice patrons with the prospect of some drunken Dance Dance Revolution, and even the elderly have been swept by the rush of Candy Crush, video games have successfully expanded beyond their niche[Read More…]
Articles by Luka Ciklovan
Training for Super Smash Bros
Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. has been a staple of many a childhood since the ’90s and beyond. Created by the legendary Masahiro Sakurai, “Smash” presents itself as a cuddly, kid-friendly fighting game wherein a greatest hits of Nintendo characters duke it out for supremacy by attempting to knock each other[Read More…]
Redmen gamers compete to be crowned Heroes of the Dorm
Adding the ‘e’ to Sports has been a long and contested road for the eSports community. eSports is a form of sport that designates a video game as the proverbial playing field. With high-end strategizing, physical execution, controversy over performance enhancing drugs, and match fixing pervading both sports and eSports,[Read More…]
2016 Oscar Nominated Short Films: An in-depth review of the competition
Once again the world gathers to see what the pinnacle of human cinematography has to offer: The time of the Oscars are upon us. Whether or not the motion pictures presented at this year’s awards are representative of every race or ethnicity, a highly important matter in and of itself,[Read More…]
Staff Round-Up: Kanye West’s The Life Of Pablo (TLOP)
As a long-time Kanye West fan, I knew The Life of Pablo (TLOP) would deliver in terms of innovation, and considering Kanye’s career progression it was easy to guess that TLOP would feature heavily over-processed samples and gospel-esque backing beats with strong hooks and stronger guest artists. Admittedly, the best[Read More…]
Staff roundup: Rihanna’s ANTI
In light of Rihanna's latest album, ANTI, and genre trasition that came with it, the Arts and Entertainment staff at the McGill Tribune got together to write up their initial thoughts on Rih-Rih's latest project. Is ANTI a good album? Sure it is. It’s simple and stripped down, allowing for a cohesive but emotive[Read More…]
21st century challenges: Centre Phi’s virtual reality exhibit brings you closer to the news than ever
Artistic mediums are generally defined or even created by the technologies that facilitate them. Virtual Reality (VR) stands as the next ‘big thing’ to fundamentally alter the way humans visually interact with almost everything. Taking a stroll through your favourite tourist destination, watching movies that unfold around you, or even[Read More…]
Star Wars: The fans awaken
The force is strong with this one Ten minutes into The Force Awakens, viewers witness a stormtrooper’s moral struggle between right and wrong, and it’s here where the question on everyone’s mind is answered: The Force Awakens works. Showing how stormtroopers deal with morality just as much as Luke Skywalker[Read More…]
Best of 2015: The Snubs
This year, the Arts & Entertainment section editors worked with our staff writers to come up with the best songs, music videos, albums, TV shows, and movies of 2015; however, not everyone’s favourite made the list. To let the close runners-up shine we’ve each picked our two most-beloved snubs that[Read More…]
10 best songs of 2015
Here are our picks for the best songs of 2015: 10. “Sorry” – Justin Bieber Although released in November, this second single released from Bieber’s new album Purpose, “Sorry” is likely to remain a hit for the rest of the year and into the summer. The success of “Sorry” largely[Read More…]
10 Best Albums of 2015
Here are our picks for the best albums of 2015: 10. Lana Del Rey — Honeymoon Dramatically toning down the gritty sound of her previous album, Ultraviolence (2014), in favour of a more layered, ethereal, and timeless aesthetic, Lana Del Rey—one of pop music’s most divisive artist—takes the listener on[Read More…]
10 best music videos of 2015
Here is our list of the 10 best music videos of 2015: 10. Childish Gambino — “Sober” Choreographed by Ian Eastwood, Childish Gambino’s single from the Kauai EP tackles and subverts the oft-depicted ‘guy approaches girl’ scenario in a music video that comically comments on both itself and other videos[Read More…]
10 best movies of 2015
Here are our picks for the 10 best movies of 2015: 10. The End Of the Tour A film about two authors driving around the midwest on a book tour could have been a exercise in pseudo-intellectual masturbation, even when one of them is legendary author David Foster Wallace (Jason[Read More…]
10 best TV shows of 2015
Here's our list of the 10 best TV shows of 2015: 10. How To Get Away With Murder Suspenseful, sexy, and seriously entertaining, How to Get Away with Murder may be Shonda Rhimes’ best work to date. The plot twists at the end of each episode avoid the deus ex-machina[Read More…]
Shaking up Shakespeare: Players’ Theatre gives new spin on timeless classic in Fortinbras
Centuries after its composition, William Shakespeare’s Hamlet remains a powerful cultural force in the world. Its oft-quoted words, “to be or not to be” are particularly salient with the approach of final exams. The breadth of its impact on popular culture, ranging from James Joyce’s Ulysses to Paul Cernea’s Hamlet[Read More…]
Pop Rhetoric: Narcos, Netflix’s capitalist critique of capitalism
Treading the line between documentary and crime thriller, Netflix’s newest original series Narcos—short for the Spanish ‘narcotraficante,’ or drug trafficker—tells the tale of Pablo Escobar’s rise to power and the blood of Colombia shed along with it. Faithful to history, the show gives a fairly accurate depiction of the rise[Read More…]
The colours of Cuba
Cuba has received a lot of international attention recently due to the improvement in its relationship with the United States. Though prospects seem better now, the Cuban population has had to endure much hardship after Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution. The economic sanctions imposed by the Organization of American States (OAS)[Read More…]
Beyond the lens: Grey Gardens places audience within 1975 documentary
Tuesday Night Café ’s (TNC) inaugural play of the season, Grey Gardens, concerns a little-known facet of American history. In the aftermath of the assassination of U.S. president John F. Kennedy in 1963, it is easy to forget the role that his wife—first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis—came to play for[Read More…]
If you die in real life, do you die on Facebook?
From the highly nuanced political arguments that inhabit its comment sections, to the hordes of cuddly critters that distract us from our ever-present deadlines and chores, Facebook is undeniably an important aspect of our modern lives. Regardless of whether you are a casual user, dabbling in the occasional post, or[Read More…]
Leveling Up
Gamer. For a lot of people, the very word conjures up images of a basement-dwelling creature who feeds on Doritos and Mountain Dew, fears sunlight almost as much as social interaction, and guards the bridges of YouTube comments with a fierce, troll-like rage. Given the years of controversy video games[Read More…]
Back to Bukowski’s future
In an age dominated by tweets and texts, it is quite easy to forget—or at least be distanced from—the chaos and warfare that ravages the world today. Kim Kardashian ‘breaks’ the Internet while Russia breaks international laws. Dresses change from white to blue on Facebook while the situation in Syria[Read More…]
I’ve got a blanket space, baby
It is four moves of the little hand until bedtime. You sit within your blanket fort and glance over your United Plushdom consisting of strategically fortified pillows, stuffed animals, and bed sheets. Your squire, Tedsworth Bear, informs you that the castle provisions of cookies, milk, and video games are healthy,[Read More…]
Grunge that’s not Nirvana
“Touch Me I’m Sick” Artist: Mudhoney Album: Single Released: March, 1988 Mudhoney stands as one of the major—yet completely overshadowed—forerunners of the Seattle Grunge scene. “Touch Me I’m Sick,” their debut single, brought the dirty, fuzzy, bass-driven sound pervading the city’s indie scene to the cultural fore, paving the way[Read More…]
MMFA examines French Orientalism narrative of 1800s
In the midst of the frozen pipes, depressing darkness, and the icy sidewalks that accompany a typical Montreal winter, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) is almost taunting the city to attend its sun-filled Marvels and Mirages of Orientalism exhibit currently on display. Focusing on the juxtaposition between[Read More…]
The Yellow Wallpaper puts on clinic in simple, eerie brilliance
Oftentimes it is the sheer surface simplicity of art that enables it to strike a resonant tone within the audience. Tuesday Night Theater (TNC)’s production of the The Yellow Wallpaper, based off of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s haunting 1892 short story, brilliantly demonstrates this phenomenon. On the surface, TNC’s rather frugal[Read More…]
Album Review: Smashing Pumpkins – Monuments to an Elegy
The Smashing Pumpkins’ latest studio effort, Monuments to an Elegy, comes in as the fourth and penultimate installment of the group’s ongoing project Teargarden by Kaleidyscope. Given the album’s unconventional release—technically existing as an album within an album—and Billy Corgan’s incessantly vocalized desire to be appreciated as a brilliant artist[Read More…]
Album Review: Foo Fighters—Sonic Highways
Following the success of their Grammy-winning album Wasting Light (2011), the Foo Fighters’ eighth studio endeavour, Sonic Highways, attempts to trump its predecessor by extending its recording process to eight iconic studios across the U.S. More akin to a concept album, each of the eight tracks captures the spirit of[Read More…]