The long-awaited (or dreaded) Valentine’s Day draws nearer day by day, bringing with it a frenetic sense as couples scramble to collect their busy lives and come together even for a single date during the height of midterm season. However, the beauty of a date night is often overlooked in everyday life. Going on a date, expressing love — these actions are unreserved gifts that can brighten your relationship, whether it is one with someone else or with yourself. 

The common love languages according to Gary Chapman, author of “The Five Love Languages” and “Keeping Love Alive as Memories Fade,” are simple: acts of service, receiving gifts, quality time, words of affirmation and physical touch. Interestingly enough, these facets of love, despite their wholeness and complexity, can be fulfilled by something as simple as a date.

Much of pop culture and media in general dedicates itself to unraveling the secrets behind love — whether dating, or even marriage, exist because we love each other, or if it’s instead the other way around. In other words, do we partake in dating to convince ourselves of love?

In the popular K-drama “Because This Is My First Life,” the main character Ji-ho similarly struggles with the nebulous nature of love. Despite her complicated relationship with her own marriage, Ji-ho’s mother says that no matter what, you have to take care of your “star pocket.”

“Although our lives seem to stay the same, sometimes there are moments that sparkle. Whenever that happens, don’t let it get away. Save them in your star pocket. That way, when things get tough … when you are tired, you can take out one star at a time, and get through it,” said Kim Hyun-ja (Kim Sun-young, “Three Sisters”). Dating is a process of filling up your star pocket, not existing to prove or validate love, but simply to feel and experience it. This Valentine’s Day, and long after, see the dates you experience with others or with yourself as something special and uniquely human — glimmering moments of time that blossom only when given the space to root and grow. With that sentiment in mind, here are some perfect date spots to visit in Atlanta, with which to fill your star pockets to the brim.

The Rink at Park Tavern

The Rink at Park Tavern is a limited-time indoor ice-skating rink situated in Piedmont Park. Under a billowing and insulated tent, ice skating becomes surprisingly cozy and a lot more romantic than ever before. As drinks keep drifting out from the bar right next to the mini ice rink and onto tables full of eagerly waiting customers, The Rink transforms into a bubble of chatter, a completely different type of bustle than the pressure cooker of campus life. The amalgamation of Tech students and patrons from all over Atlanta characterizes Park Tavern as a tapestry of Midtown life.

Goat Farm Arts Center

Deceptively, the Goat Farm Arts Center is missing just that: goats. In actuality, the event space is a repurposed old industrial farm that houses many local art studios and concerts, and even served as the filming location for “The Hunger Games” and “The Walking Dead.” Walking through the dilapidated but well-loved grounds feels like entrenching yourself in a part of history, like placing your feet within the hollows of footprints much older than yours. To experience a date at the Arts Center is truly immersive and unmatched, with the memories you make there becoming part of the living space itself. 

Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee House

Located right next to the Old Roswell Mill, the original Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee House greatly contrasts its much more minimalistic sister location in Midtown. The Roswell location is situated in an antique, house-like building that transforms a simple coffee date into a much more intimate event with the potential to deepen the connection traditionally felt during a coffee chat. 

Additionally, the story behind the coffee house only augments its welcoming atmosphere; the proceeds from the coffee go directly to Rwandan coffee farming communities, creating a symbiotic relationship between the little local coffee house and a much greater purpose of creating living wages for Rwandan farmers.

South Fulton Scenic Byway

This last date spot suggestion is one of the simplest but most significant. The South Fulton Scenic Byway is a 29-mile loop that traverses the rolling hills of Piedmont and the serenity of Cochran Mill Park. Make sure to pack some blankets, pillows, a mini picnic and a rom-com to turn a roadside pullover into a comfy picnic date. If you have an SUV, hop in the trunk, cozy up and enjoy the metamorphosis from dusk to a moonlit night. 

To get the full driving instructions for the loop, visit n-georgia.com/south-fulton-scenic-tour.htm.

Our Take: 4/5 Stars

While the bitter winter freeze struck Atlanta, Netflix’s second season of “Single’s Inferno” blazed hotter than ever, spanning ten episodes along its one-month run. The first season of “Single’s Inferno” gained notoriety around this time in 2021, with numerous clips from the show going viral on TikTok. This time again, chatter about the show was rampant online, with people actively keeping up the show and providing real-time commentary on Twitter and TikTok alike. 

The concept of “Single’s Inferno” shocked and excited audiences upon its initial release. The premise is that of a dating show, but with a little twist: the male and female contestants of the show live on a completely undeveloped island called Saseungbong-do off the coast of South Korea. However, unlike common precedents, there is no real survival aspect to the show – contestants are given ingredients to cook with using traditional wood burning stoves, they must draw water by walking a mile away, and they live in large tents made homier by mattresses and small nightstands next to each contestant’s bed. Overall, the aim of the show is to strip the attractive singles down to their core: contestants must live humbly and without the luxury of their phones, easily accessible food, and most importantly without sharing their ages and jobs with one another. In Korean culture, age and work are considered two of the most integral factors in dating and relationships; these two characteristics carry the burden of compatibility in the dating scene. However, on Inferno, none of that matters: contestants must be their authentic selves – to learn to fall in love with one another for who they are – without the expectations of Korean society looming overhead.

Saseungbong-do island is, in short, called “Inferno,” which is a play on “hell” in Korean. The days on the island are boiling hot, and without distractions, the only activity for the contestants is to mingle with one another. However, if contestants pair up with each other, they can take a short helicopter trip to a neighboring island dubbed “Paradise,” where the couples may reveal to each other their ages, jobs, and hometowns, seeing where their relationship takes them after revealing those details. For some, the age difference or job difference puts them in much too different life stages, and the relationship fails.

While “Single’s Inferno 1” was more focused on finding someone on the island to partner with and mingling around to promote their brands, as many contestants were up-and-coming or already famous, “Single’s Inferno 2” took audiences by surprise as couples came in with a mindset of commitment, focus, and genuine sincerity. Audiences were charmed by contestants who chose to focus on the person they like above all, sticking to the person they like through thick and thin rather than pursuing flings on whims.

An audience favorite, Kim Han-bin chose the girl he liked, Choi Seo-eun on day one. Throughout the duration of the show, he never wavered once, even though Seo-eun decisively pursued and fell in love with another contestant, Jo Yoong-jae.

Han-bin said, “I wanted the person I like to just be happy and not be stressed, which is why I didn’t approach her as much.” Even if it meant Han-bin didn’t find love on the island, he refused to sacrifice his sincerity and stayed true to his ideals.

Another contestant on the show, Lee Nadine, particularly appealed to international audiences. As a Korean-American Harvard Neuroscience student, Nadine captured the attention of international and English-speaking audiences with her little bouts of English with the Korean contestants, making for interesting conversations that impressed the cast with her accomplishments. 

Lastly, some of the couples from the show reached the endgame and are still dating today, speaking to the earnestness of the show and the relationships formed through it. Overall, “Single’s Inferno 2” surpasses precedents set by popular Western dating shows by focusing utmost on candidness rather than drama. The second season’s charming cast created even more hubbub on social media than its first season had, with the show surpassing expectations for the second season based only on its endearing cast. As the audience experiences watching people truly fall in love with each other’s strengths and flaws, so too does the audience fall in love with the show and the journey within.

The sunlight filtered through the windowed corners of my father’s study, touching on the yellowed pages of legal pads haphazardly strewn about. 

A film of dust swaddled the forgotten frames of old degrees in the corner — enveloping everything in the room — except for his personal workspace. 

The thin layer was something more deep-rooted: a barrier to his world I wasn’t meant to cross. I didn’t know much about my father growing up. Even when he was around, he was much more of a stranger to me. 

The experience of fatherhood was something I grasped for only in Studio Ghibli and Bollywood movies, as one longs for fantasy. 

There were times when I ventured into the study, unsure of what I was even looking for. I would dig through old pictures of my parents, open old letters — trying to paint a self-portrait of my own history. That was how I came across the stack of comic books, creased and worn sitting in a nook of the room.

It was the entire Calvin and Hobbes collection, seemingly having been read countless times as the well-loved edges of the pages curled up invitingly. 

The set had once been a gift from my mom to my dad and a gift of my very own; as I laid on the floor I read and reread the whole collection over and over, picturing my father doing the same thing years ago.

When I turned 18, I became interested in tattoos. While growing up, when asked if I would ever get a tattoo my response was always no. I had always seen myself as the type of person who could never commit to something — someone who hated permanence. But that changes when you realize you have something you want to keep — something you want to protect by wearing it as an extension of yourself. 

One of my first and most important tattoos was of Hobbes. My dad laughed when he saw it, asking me why I would get such a thing tattooed, unknowing that it was a gift he gave me in my childhood. 

Some of my tattoos are like that — almost like little inside jokes with myself. Others are related to the Ghibli movies I treasured growing up, and

I have a couple that I just thought looked nice. 

Everyone can have their own justification for their tattoos, or even no justification at all. I think that’s the beauty of it. There’s a certain charm to getting a piece on your body and the type of courage that comes with it. 

Many students are reluctant to get tattoos because of perceived impacts on future hireability, or even just the fear of commitment. To anyone wanting a tattoo but worried about the stigma, I would say that your capability is already impressive. 

Being a Tech student, graduating from your field and being passionate about finding work: these are undeniable truths about you that you wear on your sleeve — truths that cannot be altered by changes to your body. 

To the fear of commitment, Sophia from “Tattooed Tealady” says, “create the tattoo design, then put it somewhere where you’ll see it every day. If you’re not sick of the design after six months, then get the tattoo.” 

The more tattoos you get, you’ll realize that just liking a design or thinking something is cute can be the answer as well. 

The beauty of tattoos are in their extension of yourself: the ability they have to transform parts of your body into a canvas — to make you appreciate the very skin you live in. 

Their ability to augment the parts of yourself that you show to the world, and just the humanity of it all — decorating your body like you do a laptop with stickers. 

Whenever my dad gets a new phone, he sets his wallpaper to the same image: Calvin and Hobbes together, staring at a sky full of stars. Blood runs thicker than water, and tattoos run deeper than skin.

Can a promise stand the test of time? Can it take on a form of its own and reshape itself? During the 2022 League of Legends (LoL) World Championships, these questions governed the minds of eager spectators. Two years ago, two old high school friends and teammates on DRX, a Korean League of Legends team, shared a promise. DRX Keria (Ryu Min-seok) promised his then teammate DRX Deft (Kim Hyuk-kyu): I will help you win Worlds. Keria vowed to be Deft’s sword and shield —  to be the reason that DRX would reign as world champs one day, with the expectation that he and Deft would be on the same team when the day finally came. 

This is the promise that followed him — that came to fruition even as Keria had transferred teams to the indomitable T1, leaving Deft still playing on DRX. The championships in a way were a reunion as well as a face-off — one which seemed to be set in stone as votes on Twitch revealed only 27% of the audience expecting DRX to win, speaking to how unyielding T1’s track record is. In a shocking turn of events, T1 lost to the underdogs — first-time winners DRX —  in LoL Worlds this past weekend in one of the most exciting League championships ever played.

“League of Legends” is a 5v5 MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) game in which two teams (red versus blue) face off on a map called Summoner’s Rift. 

Summoner’s Rift features three lanes and a meandering jungle separating the lanes. The jungle is clouded by the “Fog of War,” which prevents players from seeing into the jungle and the dangers within. The playable characters in the game are called “champions” that fall into five different roles — top laner, mid laner, bottom laner, support player and jungler. The support player and bottom laner share the bottom lane, and the jungler traverses the Fog of War throughout the jungle, killing jungle monsters to level up and “ganking” enemy laners — bursting out of the jungle in a surprise attack to kill the enemy. The game starts with a laning phase, in which the laners attempt to outscale each other by killing minions. Simply put, killing more minions helps you get more gold, buy more items and become more powerful than your opponent. 

As the game progresses, neutral objectives become available around the map. Neutral objectives are those that either team can take in order to buff their stats and oppress the enemy team; these objectives are giant monsters that often require multiple players to kill them — the Baron Nashor and Dragons are some examples of these neutral objectives. The overall aim of the game is to press through the lanes, destroy enemy towers and finally, kill the enemy “Nexus” which ends the game.

During the finals, DRX was particularly derided due to their misplays around objectives. Time over time, objectives were stolen from them by T1 due to lapses in judgment or indecisiveness on DRX’s part. Objectives were stolen often when DRX would get the neutral objective all the way down to low health and mistimed the final kill on the objective, allowing for T1 steal the kill on it. Stealing the kill on the objective grants the thief’s team all the buffs that the original team was working so hard to get. Despite having five objectives stolen from them, DRX pushed on and waited for T1 to make a fatal error. By around midnight, the scoreline was 2-2. The last match would be the decider for world champs.

Champions for each team are selected right before the game begins in a period called “draft,” where opposing teams play mind games and try to outsmart and counter each other’s champions and team compositions. Champion bans are also allowed during this time. 

“One of the reasons T1 lost was in draft pick,” said third-year BMED Ibrahim Mahmood. “They misplayed the draft by allowing DRX to pick both Caitlyn and Aatrox who were really strong picks.” 

Other fans of LoL also agreed DRX’s win was impressive.

“As the fourth seed of Korea’s LCK [League of Legends Champions Korea], DRX began their gauntlet run in the Last Chance Qualifier, meaning they played the most games out of any team at Worlds,” said Evan Nutsugah, AD major at SCAD. “Following this, every team they eliminated was a former world champion, bringing them to their absolute peak condition. Once they arrived at the finals stage, solo laners Zeka and tournament MVP Kingen each made huge plays on multiple occasions that were able to turn the tables on T1, who had relied heavily on team fighting and group coordination to cinch their leads.”

Many online viewers are additionally calling DRX’s win a “Cinderella story,” insinuating a “rags to riches” archetypal victory. However, DRX did not just fortuitously stumble into Worlds. This year, DRX was indeed considered a mediocre team; they needed more than just luck to win. The teams they faced in LCK (a last chance qualifier for Worlds) held impressive reputations under their belt as DRX had to face Mid-Season Invitational title holders, European Championship summer title holders and Worlds title holders on their journey to qualify. They had to win it all  and against a plethora of skilled Worlds Championships contenders. For these reasons the 2022 finals broke all viewership records, peaking at 5.15 million viewers.

In a pre-match conference, Deft ruminated on that moment that Keria promised him the World Championship. Against all presumptions, he faced the world and viewers betting on DRX’s downfall: “Keria once promised that he’ll help me win Worlds,” he said. “It’s time for him to keep that promise.”

As the last sliver of the moon winked through the clouds, the queue for the show of the night began to wrap around the block. Fairies, vampires, Sims and onesie-clad attendees convened on Halloween night to see beabadoobee in concert. There was a sort of anticipation in the air that the excitement from seeing everyone’s costumes could not even placate. After all, her last Atlanta concert was for her 2021 U.S. tour and the last time that beabadoobee had performed in Variety Playhouse was in 2019, also held on Halloween night, marking the current “Beatopia” tour as an anniversary for longtime fans. 

beabadoobee is a Filipino-British singer-songwriter and an indie rock artist who was discovered after her first song, “Coffee,” went viral on YouTube almost overnight in 2017. It was famously sampled by rapper Powfu in his song “death bed (coffee for your head),” which went on to become a sensation online; it carries on to be beabadoobee’s top song on Spotify to this day, boasting over 1.3 billion streams. Many of the fans present at the concert have been part of beabadoobee’s journey since her beginnings.

In advance of beabadoobee’s set was the opener Lowertown, also managed by the Dirty Hit label alongside artists like Rina Sawayama, Wolf Alice, The Japanese House and beabadoobee herself. Lowertown’s very movement and timbre was theatrical and cathartic in nature, as Avshalom “Avsha” Weinberg and Olivia Osby of the two-member band reflected each other’s movements and energies on-stage, with Weinberg even death-dropping to the floor to rip guitar riffs. The star of Lowertown’s set was “Bucktooth,” Lowertown’s self-described “rowdy song.” With the beat of the bass drum pumping through the audience’s bones, the beat permeated through the crowd itself as the pit jumped and danced to the music. Lowertown, similarly to beabadoobee, was revisiting Atlanta — but in a completely different way: Lowertown was born here when Osby and Weinberg met in high school in Atlanta, quickly becoming close as they began making music together and their bond grew stronger still. The synergy between the two was atmospheric — palpable as they transformed the stage into their playing field. Through “Best Person You Know,” the gritty honesty of Lowertown revealed itself. 

“The words you say don’t make you any more of a man,” Osby belted over the cadence of guitars. The rhythmic strumming anchored the song, creating a home for the loneliness bleeding from Osby’s vocals. Just through their opening set, Lowertown managed to suspend the audience in wonder, nostalgia and a little bit of obsession. 

Just as the spell broke, it was time for beabadoobee and all of a sudden the audience was bewitched yet again. She came out in a bloody bride costume, kicking off her entrance with a vibrant rendition of “What’s New, Scooby Doo?” as a surprise for the audience. Bouncing around the stage draped in gentle washes of green light, she moved straight into her next song: “10:36” off of “Beatopia.” beabadoobee signaled for the audience to get down so that they could explode into dance on the beat drop; even while she sang a song about not falling in love, the audience was enamored by her and wholly present, moving to the beat along with her. 

While beabadoobee touched on her foundations through performing some of her older songs such as “Care” and “Together,” she marked a clear shift in the show, calling out, “Let’s play some songs off of ‘Beatopia!’”

beabadoobee’s new album “Beatopia” is the subject of her current U.S. tour. Inspired by a childlike sense of imagination, “Beatopia” calls forth the solace in solitude of the inner child. While Lowertown grabs you by the shoulders and plunges you back into adolescence, beabadoobee instead retreats into herself in “Beatopia,” drawing out the voice of loneliness  — its inextricable ties to the human condition. And beabadoobee accepts this loneliness, singing in “fairy song,” “Eat so you’re stronger and live for the day.” 

Through “fairy song,” Beabadoobee lets go of her childhood and confronts the obligations facing her age. Sometimes growing up means taking it day by day — finding reasons to live for others if not for yourself. 

Next beabadoobee performed “the perfect pair” and “Don’t get the deal,” touching on the fleeting nature of relationships, often due to miscommunication and moreover, to complacency. 

To match the bossa nova style of “the perfect pair,” the stage was painted with orange light as if washed in sunset. 

The tempo and lighting enveloped the performance itself in a feeling of warmth and comfort so similar to the feeling of complacency in love. It was as if the stage itself was listening along to the music, reflecting the growing pains within.

As the show began coming to a close, the star moment of the night was when beabadoobee left the stage, coming back to a lone stool and a microphone, setting an intimate scene with the audience. 

She began singing “Ripples” off of “Beatopia,” a song describing her struggle with codependency symbolized by the ripples of facades she displays around others. Like the reflection of yourself that morphs and adapts to disturbances in the water, beabadoobee describes drowning in these ripples — these versions of herself that constantly distort, warranting self-discovery in order for those ripples to quell. 

At this moment, hundreds of fans held up pink paper hearts as high as they could, as part of a fan-made tribute to beabadoobee, as if to remind her that she can sing her truth in front of her fans; that they were all here to listen — to all and any versions of her. The audience hung on her every note — as still, peaceful and candid as calm waters.

The night came to a bittersweet end with the performance of beabadoobee’s last song, “Cologne,” which quickly picked up the pace to close the night out. Members of the stage crew came out in clown costumes and began headbanging to the high-energy music. As the song came to a close and beabadoobee threw her guitar pick out to a lucky audience member, she left the crowd a night to remember with a performance as fun, exciting and introspective as she is. 

And so the princesses, angels and vampires of the audience filed back out into the Halloween night — a sense of meditative wonder following them out the door.

As Halloween approaches and spooky season ramps up, we reach the time of the year where palpable excitement is in the air. Between so many horror movies coming out, the eternal quest to find a costume, the search for the perfect Halloween candy to buy and the seasonal return of Netherworld, the Halloween spirit is practically inescapable. 

With the days getting darker and chillier again, the urge to stay inside and snuggle up in the heaviest of blankets is stronger than ever. For those days, here is a list of the spookiest video games to curl up with and (trick or) treat yourself.

Ultimate Custom Night

Many of us grew up watching endless playthroughs of the “Five Nights at Freddy’s” (FNAF) series, or even playing it ourselves. Since 2018, “Ultimate Custom Night,” which features toggleable settings for all 50 FNAF characters, has been available free-to-play on Steam. Try the game on easy mode by selecting specific animatronics to spook you, or challenge yourself by adding all of them. The possibilities are endless.

The Quarry

“The Quarry,” a relatively newer game, was released in the summer of 2022. However, “The Quarry” sets the mood just right for a night in on Halloween. As an interactive drama, horror and thriller video game, “The Quarry” is also a perfect game to stream on Discord as you can work together with your friends to make decisions that alter and manipulate the entire storyline of the game. With each decision made, the storyline splits, creating a sea of infinite perils and playthroughs.

Cult of the Lamb

While “Cult of the Lamb” is not particularly scary, it has a cute yet grim aesthetic that is perfect for those who love single-player adventure games. The premise of the game revolves around a possessed lamb that must form a cult to thank the deity who saved the life of the player. Load into the game to experience the PvE (player vs environment) tasks and open-world setting.

Alien: Isolation

Meant to be played on high graphics and in pitch black darkness, “Alien: Isolation” is a survival game that grabs you and completely immerses you in its world. Set on a once highly-populated space station that has gone dead silent, the atmosphere of mystery and anxiety permeates through the screen. Though it is a slow burn in terms of horror visuals, the immense amount of worldbuilding and plot development involved in the game easily brings you to the point of fear.

Phasmophobia

If you have a trusty gang of friends, round them up for a night of “Phasmophobia.” “Phasmophobia” is an investigative horror game where you play as ghost hunters sent to locations to figure out what type of ghost haunts the area. “Phasmophobia” is a game that relies on knowledge-gathering, evidence collection and deductive reasoning as well as nerves of steel for whenever the ghost begins its hauntings.

Little Nightmares

A Technique favorite, “Little Nightmares” has everything a spooky video game can ever offer. The storyline itself is scary enough, as you play as a little girl named Six, iconic for her little yellow raincoat, and solve puzzles in order to escape the monsters chasing her at every turn. At times, “Little Nightmares” reminds you of the same feelings of primal fear you felt as a little kid. Perhaps the monster under your bed was real.

It is the first round of the first map: Tech’s very first stand against the enemy team from North Carolina State University (NCSU). Both teams load into the map, antsy with anticipation as the members of Tech’s Valorant team hype each other up with cheery banter. The round starts. Everything is quiet and still as Tech’s team waits for NCSU to attack. The hit finally comes 20 seconds into the round and all of a sudden, two players from the team are down as the enemy team rushes onto the bombsite. 

The coach is down but not out as he calls out directions to the remaining team members, who turn the 3v5 into a 2v3, swinging out enemies in perfect coordination and closing out the round with a magnificent win as GT sultan 1v2s the enemies with five HP, clutching the round and setting the pace for a spectacular game to come.

On Saturday, Sept. 24, Tech’s primary Valorant team competed in the Southern regional qualifier for Redbull Campus Clutch. Redbull Campus Clutch is one of the largest eSports tournaments for university students specifically, hosting more than 50,000 students and holding more than 400 events all around the globe. 

Though the tournament started last year, the hype around the event is stronger than ever, with students all over the world gearing up to compete for a spot in this year’s World Finals in Brazil. 

In addition to the merit of winning, Redbull provides the winning campus team with a cash reward and also with a personalized gaming center at the winning school. 

One team in the running was Tech’s very own Valorant team, who spent weeks of bootcamping and scrimming in order to prepare for the qualifiers. 

“Getting a gaming facility at Tech would be amazing,” said Mechelle Chen, a second-year  BIO master’s student and the manager of Tech’s Valorant team. “A lot of colleges have gaming facilities, and it would be a great way to bring people together.”

“Valorant” is a free-to-play 5v5 tactical shooter game developed by Riot Games that reads like a mix of “Overwatch” and “CS:GO.” Players can take four main roles: Duelist, Sentinel, Controller and Initiator. Additionally several agents — or characters — fall into each role, and are selected based on their viability and prowess on various different maps. 

The aim of the game is simple: the first team to win 13 rounds wins the game. Competing teams play as attackers and defenders, switching sides halfway through the game; the attacking team must explode onto defender territory known as site, plant the “Spike” and fend off the defenders until the Spike explodes for the attackers to win. 

Conversely, the defenders are meant to hold down the site no matter what using a combination of abilities and gunplay, and if the Spike is planted, defenders must hunt down the attackers and defuse the Spike in order to win.

Because “Valorant” is relatively new as it was released in June of 2020, there is constantly new content, maps and characters being added to the game. Additionally, the novelty of the game allows for a whole new avenue of competitive gaming, as first-person shooter (FPS) gamers with experience in other games like “CounterStrike: Global Offensive” (CS:GO) began moving to “Valorant” and were able to establish themselves relatively quickly in a whole new scene. 

One such player is the in-game leader (IGL) of Tech’s Valorant team: JPARK (Jun Park, third-year CS). Jun had his FPS beginnings in CS:GO, competing in semi-pro leagues with renowned players like Zander, Asuna and Stellar before transitioning to “Valorant” in June 2020 when the game was released. Jun played on and off in the competitive scene for a year, playing for various teams such as the Prospects and Slimy Boogermen. 

However, “with school taking a bigger role in my life, I decided to stop pursuing competitive ‘Valorant’ and instead focused my sights on Computer Science. My competitive drive still hasn’t left me, so I captain rosters and give players at Tech [who] are eager for pro-level competitive experience exactly that,” said Jun. “I like leading [players] and competing in tournaments, and collegiate Valorant fit that need right on.” 

As Jun transitioned to the collegiate scene from the pro scene, he aimed to choose a “Valorant” roster based on compatibility and team chemistry, finally arriving at Tech’s current “Valorant” roster.

Currently, Tech’s Valorant team consists of “JPARK” as coach and in-game leader playing a flex role, “Alex” playing Initiator, “sultan” playing Duelist, “Ezra” playing Sentinel, and “teddyisfluffly” playing Controller. 

However, for Redbull Campus Clutch specifically, a different roster played as “dev” and “duper” filled in from other Georgia schools to compete on Tech’s team. 

The team’s synergy came to light during the aforementioned first round of the first map.

After the game-making clutch of the first round, Tech made sure to carry their momentum, taking a well-deserved victory over NCSU. 

Bolstering his teammates onwards, Coach JPARK focused on reading the opponent’s patterns and predicting their positions and strategies. 

Frequently, Tech would use timeouts to predict the opponent’s weaknesses, calling on his team to exploit the gaps in NCSU’s defenses and closing out the map with a stunning 13-4. 

In the second match of the day, Tech played against Gator Esports from University of Florida. Suddenly trouble-struck as one of the team members, duper, had to restart his PC at the game’s beginnings, putting a hitch in the match. However, the team pressed on and stayed focused, finishing match two similarly with another 13-4. 

With high spirits, Tech continued on to face Converse Esports from Converse University. It was a close match the entire first half, as Tech went neck and neck against Converse. However, Converse took the lead at 9-7 and kept it, beating out Tech and knocking us out of the qualifiers.

But it was not over yet. This coming weekend, Tech is playing again in another qualifier for the same Campus Clutch tournament, practicing daily in order to best the formidable opponents up ahead in a whole new region. 

Though the competition scene last weekend and this weekend are nothing short of thrilling, JPARK not only wants to compete himself, but make “Valorant” more accessible to interested students at Tech. 

While JPARK is a “Valorant” coach, he is also one of the coordinators for the GT Valorant Discord server, which hosts over 900 members. Through the Discord, events are always being coordinated as GT Valorant regularly hosts 10-mans, which are 5v5 custom competitions, often between Tech students and Kennesaw State University students. 

But GT Valorant has bigger dreams. Tech used to host a yearly local area network (LAN) event known as GameFest, where students gathered to compete against each other in a huge variety of games including “Valorant,” “League of Legends,” “Smash Melee,” “Rocket League” and many others. GT Valorant wants nothing more than to bring LAN events at Tech back — to experience the joy of being with each other and competing against and alongside one another.

However, GT Valorant is not just about competing; it is about getting more people involved in the world of eSports and to bring people together. Gaming is a hobby that has a reputation for solitude, but Tech’s Valorant team wants to prove that gaming is really just meant to bring people together — to broaden their horizons and allow people to connect with each other over their passions and hobbies. 

This past weekend Tech Valorant did just that; they came together, achieved and got ready to do it all over again, paving their very own path to success.

There was a sort of buzzing in the air — the room seemed to hum with anticipation of the night to come. As more and more people filed into the small brewery, bodies began packing together in the center of the room and of course, at the bar off to the side.

Saturday night kickstarted a two-day event called “Bloody Sabbath,” a music and beer festival held at Sabbath Brewing. More specifically, the music festival was centered around metal music, with the Saturday lineup consisting of bands such as Dungeon Filth, Sustenance, Clot and most famously, Thou. These bands’ fans are known as “metalheads,” which comprises an entire subculture based around heavy metal music. 

As written in “Subcultures and Scenes” by Grinnell College, “Like the emergent punk scene, heavy metal reflected an anti-establishment tone, but separate from punk would evolve into a genre embracing escapism and fantasy in a way that punk did not.” Additionally, given that Sabbath Brewing’s motto is “worship yourself,” it is clear that the appeal of metal music is in its appreciation and expression of emotional extremes and in being able to worship yourself by embracing the chaos of your reality.

The first band, Dungeon Filth, took the stage on Saturday night. On Bandcamp, Dungeon Filth is self-described as a “dirty deathgrind three piece from the Atlanta area.” Deathgrind music is a combination of death metal and grindcore, where grindcore music is characterized by a fusion of extreme heavy metal and hardcore “crust” punk. Dungeon Filth brought this definition to life as they took the crowd

by storm with the lead singer clad in belts and straps. The band played various songs such as their top hit “Dead F***” from their “2022 Demo.” The epitome of grindcore, the Dungeon Filth sound was guttural — almost earthy. Rapid fire drums reverberated through the brewery with the occasional offbeat. 

The band played barefoot on-stage, completely feeling the music through headbanging, dancing around and shredding the guitars, which echoed with so much distortion that the guitars themselves sounded like a crowd screaming.

Next to take the stage was Sustenance, a Kennesaw-based band with two albums and one EP. Their latest release, which was their EP called “Soul’s Grand Remorse,” was the subject of much attention at the show. 

About the EP, Sustenance said, “this music is a prolific display of [us] at our strongest and most powerful; pushing the limits of what can be done with nothing but our will to achieve better for ourselves.” 

Sustenance’s music often starts with a tangible melody that delves into chaos throughout the piece, asserting the sort of power and limit-testing that the audience members and Sustenance themselves identify with in their music.

The third band to play was Clot, a deathcore band which combines elements of death metal such as growling vocals and down-tuned guitars with elements of metalcore, which is characterized by its breakdowns — periods of the song where various different instruments take on solo renditions of the main verse. 

On their Spotify description, Clot says, “Grief tethers itself to those it visits like a ghostly anchor, choosing when to materialize on a whim, silently informing our days.” 

This sentiment was omnipresent within their performance, as the band members seemed almost tethered to each other, whether by grief or another possessive force altogether. Their bodies moved in sync, the bassist putting his head but inches from the drums all while the lead singer screamed and growled the lyrics. At the end of their performance, the band celebrated with the crowd that this was the first show they had booked. As the cheer died down, the band screamed out a message to the crowd demonstrating their anarcho-political beliefs: “Donate, protest and don’t let our city be torn down.”

As the crowd reeled from Clot’s stellar first performance, the audience began to mill about, coming down from the hype of the previous performance. All the fans that had been screaming and growling in sync with the performers just minutes ago began excitedly talking amongst each other. The moshers that had just been bouncing around, dashing about the floor took moments to rest on the floor and chat, smiles ever-present on their faces. Jamie, an 18-year-old concertgoer, had come to Sabbath with her father, who introduced her to metal music when she was in sixth grade. 

About the audience, Jamie said, “Everyone thinks metalheads look so mean but they’re the kindest people ever. I have never felt unsafe at a metal show, and actually my favorite thing about it is the camaraderie and the family atmosphere. At a metal concert, if you fall, someone will pick you right back up. We all take care of each other.” 

The companionship between audience members was certainly present as concertgoers introduced themselves to each other, gave each other first bumps and made way for other audience members to leave the floor to get some air — all in downtime before the last band, Thou, was scheduled to play.

For Thou, the crowd hummed with pure excitement. Members of previous bands joined the audience as well, all standing in wait for the final act of the night. It was electric. As Thou made their entrance, the audience raised fists in the air, fighting to be heard as Thou began their set. Thou is from Baton Rouge, La., and plays sludge metal, a genre of metal which combines doom metal and hardcore punk, known for its abrasiveness, distortion and shout vocals. 

The distortion almost seemed to take hold of the performers themselves as the lead singer, Bryan Funck, rolled his eyes back into his head as he screamed. At one point, he even raised the mic stand high into the air, waving it like a triumphant flag, before pointing the stand directly at his drummer, who continued the barrage of beats and vocals. The entire crowd seemed immersed in the experience, as the crowd began to swell towards the front of the stage, with fans leaning into the stage itself, trying to be as close to the music as possible. 

As they performed “The Hammer,” the audience came alive — dancing, pumping fists in the air, wailing out the lyrics in sync and even crowdsurfing.

While the metalhead subculture is intense and dedicated, first-time metal concertgoers will always be able to find their home within the audience. While the music is often dark and angsty, the atmosphere is nothing but welcoming. 

Though heavy metal is not for everyone, it is a safe haven for many. There is something magnetic about it — the way the music pulls the audience together, screaming and living and breathing as one.

Our Take: 2/5 Stars

“You have to adjust a little,” says Sima Taparia, also known as the matchmaker Sima Aunty on Netflix’s “Indian Matchmaking.” “Then life becomes beautiful and smooth.” 

For countless Indians, this is their reality — their expectation. In India, the rate of arranged marriages is 84%, with 53% of respondents disapproving of dating before marriage, according to The Washington Post. How “Indian Matchmaking” subverts the traditional dynamic of arranged marriage is by reframing the lens of arranged marriage between Indians within a Western setting and involving dating. Thus the show’s purpose is twofold as it empowers its Indian audience to see arranged marriages represented and explored rather intimately on an international stage, while simultaneously exposing Western consumers of the Netflix show to the concept of arranged marriage, decreasing its alienation.

However not every aspect of the show’s events or its cast casts a positive light on the arranged marriages on-screen. In addition to the return of familiar faces from Season 1, Season 2 also features a new set of matchmaking candidates in the search for their forever partners. While the purpose of Sima Aunty, the matchmaker, is to highlight the characters’ positive qualities — thereby encouraging the matches and the viewers to support and relate to her clients — the very personal and documentative nature of the show inevitably reveals each client’s flaws. 

For example, Nadia, a returning client from Season 1, brutally rejected one of her best matches, Shekar, for another man whom she had just met, only for her to get dumped a week later. Immediately, Twitter users took to the internet, calling Nadia this season’s “villain.” The drama became even messier as Aparna, another returning cast member from Season 1, ranted on TikTok, stating that “I literally wrote a whole book called ‘She’s Unlikeable: And Other Lies that Bring Women Down.’ These are the lies that bring women down.” In a turn of events, she goes on to imply that the only “villain” present in the show is Sima Aunty and the arranged marriages themselves. The conflict between the castmates and audience has produced remarkable discussion about the way that Sima Aunty promotes a sense of objectification of her clients through her bio-profile system, reducing real, complex clients to a series of vague and unremarkable measurements and adjectives. It is no surprise that when the clients finally meet, they must come to terms with each other’s complexities, and ultimately, the relationship fails. After all, according to the LA Times, none of the couples from Season 1 were together by the time the second season was released.

Additionally, “Indian Matchmaking” is further criticized because of its regressive upholding of colorism and the caste system. Clients often express their concerns about fairness of skin and the preferred caste of their match, and neither Sima Aunty nor the clients seem to see a problem with these preferences. 

While the show attempts to build a much more progressive and modern portrait of arranged marriage, the problematic nature of arranged marriage profiling methods rears its ugly head.