I’ve always been a lover of bad movies. There’s a certain pleasure in watching a film struggle, picking apart what elements are failing the whole and laughing at some of their more absurd elements. I’ll watch the 1998 edition of Godzilla any time it’s on TV. I own The Room on Blu-Ray. But over time, our culture’s definition of ‘bad’ has shifted. Movies are celebrated for having intentionally flawed logic or thinly written characters. Sharknado has shifted from a made-for-TV movie to a cinematic release that justifies a brand deal with Subway. With this trend, it’s gotten harder to find a movie that tries its darndest to be great, fails miserably, and yet still leaves me with a big dumb smile on my face. Thank God I found San Andreas.

The core storyline could’ve been ripped out of any disaster movie from the past decade. Dwayne Johnson plays Ray, a divorced father, emotionally distant from his estranged family because he just loves saving people too goddamn much. His ex-wife Emma (Carla Gugino) is moving in with millionaire architect Dave Riddick (Ioan Gruffudd), who does everything short of kicking puppies to convince the audience that he is to be despised. Ray’s daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario) is a character whose personality revolves around having enough knowledge about survival to dodge being labeled a damsel in distress.

We’re also occasionally visited by Paul Giamatti, playing a scientist whose only purpose is to explain what an Earthquake is and that they are dangerous. He develops an algorithm to predict earthquakes, which he perfects about 20 seconds before a series of them essentially destroy the entire state of California. He never tells anyone about this magic formula, then later complains how nobody ever listened to him.

This is a script ripe with cliches and dense with moments that left me laughing in stunned confusion. Riddick proudly states that the reason he never raised children is because he was “too busy raising skyscrapers.” At a meeting that is never fully explained, a terrible woman bluntly reminds Emma that her first daughter drowned to death. Ray literally tears the door off of an SUV with his bare hands to save a woman who crashed while texting and driving. San Andreas lives in that perfect sweet spot of bad writing – absurd enough to be mockable, while still being competent enough to follow.

The film mostly follows Ray’s family, as they attempt to reunite in the apocalyptic chaos that unfolds for nearly 90 straight minutes. The level of destruction in this film is nothing short of comedic. I have to wonder if everyone involved in this feature has a personal vendetta against the city of San Francisco, as it is the only reason for the level of oblivion wrought upon the city. Tectonic plates shift, causing entire suburbs to move in waves. Every skyscraper in sight either falls flat to the ground, collapses upon itself or is torn in half by the unseen hand of God. In the first 20 minutes, the entire Hoover Dam collapses and the film barely bothers to acknowledge it. Meanwhile, Ray and associates do next-to-nothing in order to help people that they are not directly related to. These characters make some of the worst decisions imaginable in their situation, and it is an absolute hoot to watch unfold.

The city of San Francisco has a population of over 800,000, and I guarantee 95 percent of them die in the course of this film.  It’s chaos that makes Man of Steel‘s finale look quaint, and there’s nothing supernatural at play. Just Mother Earth deciding that the Bay Area can go royally fuck itself.

What’s weirdest of all, San Andreas doesn’t hide its death toll. You see bodies fall, yet the camera never bothers to ponder on that loss of life. It’s borderline sociopathic.

While San Andreas‘ destruction is bombastic in scale, it’s not all that visually impressive. The effects are fairly standard, and (aside from a single ambitious one-shot sequence), it’s mostly free of interesting camera work. You could cut shots of this film into any other blockbuster this summer with world-ending destruction and nobody would be any the wiser. It’s that bland.

Overall, San Andreas is not a good movie. It’s unoriginal from its plot to its appearance. Yet in execution, it becomes something beautifully stupid. It’s the best Roland Emmerich movie that Roland Emmerich had nothing to do with. My recommendation – wait until it’s on Blu-Ray, grab a few beers and invite some friends over for a night with San Andreas. It’s destruction porn, with a plot to match.

Follow Chris Berg on Twitter @Mushroomer25

2K Games launches “Advent” teaser campaign with possible XCOM connections.

A few weeks back, 2K Games reported in their annual investors’ call that a new “triple-A title” was on the verge of announcement. This past Monday, they got a start on revealing just what that means with the mysterious teaser site “Advent Future.” Claiming to represent some sort of utopian city free from illness, and protected by armed guards, it hocks the benefits of DNA splicing and ensures that its citizens feel ‘safe’ inside its walls. However, the site slowly morphs to show messages from a dissenting organization, warning the user of its dangers. On the site is a link to 2K’s newsletter, ensuring that this is connected to the aforementioned new “triple-A title” from the publisher. However, it’s not immediately apparent just what its for.

Thankfully, we have the internet, and with it, an army of tech-savy nerds ready to deconstruct every element provided to them. Thanks to some close analysis by users on NeoGAF, it seems that this will be the next installment of the XCOM strategy franchise. A few posters spotted in the universe bear striking resemblance to ones found in Enemy Unknown, a font used in a supplied PDF is labeled as “xcom-normal”, and the viral website’s themes of a mega city constructed for protection bear striking resemblance to the plot of XCOM: Apocalypse. It’s very likely that we’ll get to the bottom of this alien mystery at one of the various E3 press conferences, occuring on Saturday, June 15.

Sony apologizes for ‘sparse’ first-party lineup in 2015, signs Vita death certificate

It’s not often you hear gaming behemoths getting humble, which makes some statements coming out of Sony’s annual Investor Relations Day rather surprising. Global CEO Andrew House admitted that “Our first-party lineup is a little sparse this year, so I think this places even greater emphasis on getting good third-party support.” Currently, Sony only has three more first-party retail titles scheduled for release this year — two of which (God of War III Remastered, and Tearaway Unfolded) are remasters of previous releases. Uncharted 4, which was initially scheduled for this fall, was recently delayed into early 2016. This statement has been taken by many to suggest that Sony’s upcoming E3 presentation might not be announcing anything for release in the Fall to take its place. Whether or not this comes to fruition will be seen soon enough.

In addition to comments on the first-party output, House also referred to the PS Vita and PlayStation TV as ‘legacy devices’ — suggesting that significant support may be waning. Since ‘legacy’ is most often a term used when referring to consoles after their traditional lifespan (such as the PS3 or XBox 360), it seems clear where Sony stands on future Vita releases.

Microsoft teases a new controller for XBox ONE

Are you already sick of your old, outdated controller that came with your XBox ONE a whole 18 months ago? Yikes, it’s practically an antique. Fortunately, Microsoft will be giving you the chance to upgrade your experience very soon. Starting with a small teaser posted on the official French XBox Twitter, the cat quickly jumped out of the bag when the official Xbox.com guide for XBox ONE Wireless controllers was updated. So far, the only new feature seems to be the addition of a 3.5mm headphone jack, presumably for game audio, akin to the PlayStation 4 controller. The feature is also “Only available on controllers released after June 2015″, so you won’t have to wait long to shell out $60 for a new plastic gizmo.

Follow Chris Berg on Twitter, @Mushroomer25

Wyatt Waggoner is the last man on Earth.

In a traumatic ending to a standoff between the last human fighting force and the zombie horde, he ran off from his comrades as they were mercilessly devoured by infected beasts. His whereabouts are unknown, though teams of zombies have taken to combing the campus. Last seen at the battle next to Hendricks Hall, he is the last of the uninfected.

On any other Saturday, the EMU Amphitheater is empty, its usual occupants enjoying a much-earned break after a week of studying. But not today.

Instead, it’s full of survivors — men and women who have spent the last six days in the throes of a zombie apocalypse. They’re here to brief each other on their final mission. They’re here to save humanity.

A fundraiser for the Red Cross, the event tasks players with a real-life adaptation of a videogame-style zombie outbreak. They’ve raised $1,500 for the charity over the past five years.

This spring, more than 100 players signed up for the game, between 30 and 40 showed up for the daily missions. Turnout has risen and dipped over the years, with many students graduating.

Even some non-students come to participate. But they have a consistent group of players who are bound to return.

“A lot of people return to play from year to year. They realize we always put on a good game,” said University of Oregon alum Taylor Robart, one of the game’s head moderators.

They’re always looking for new players to lead the game in coming years, and often organize small events between HvZ sessions on its official Facebook group.

You’ve probably seen them on campus, sporting orange headbands and wielding mammoth Nerf blasters. Every player starts as a human, aside from two Original Zombies who spread the virus by tagging other players.

For one whole week, the disease spreads and humans must be on constant alert to stay alive.

Every outdoor area of campus (excluding the graveyard, construction zones and the street) are open season. Setting foot on campus as a human becomes a dangerous proposition as gangs of zombies may be out and about, hunting for unsuspecting humans.

Ry Miller is playing the game this term. It’s the sophomore’s second time participating.

“One of my friends got turned this morning, and I’ve got class with him every day,” he said on the first day. “So that’s going to be super tense for the rest of the week.”

Miller revealed himself to be an Original Zombie, claiming the lives of two teammates on the first mission. You can usually tell the humans and zombies apart from how they wear the neon fabric distributed at the beginning of the game.

Human players wear it as an armband, zombies around their heads. Every term, the color changes. Last week, it was orange. In fall, it was a bright green and before that, pink.

One of the community’s longest-standing moderators, Rachel Torrey, helps craft the game’s various missions and challenges. She’s interested in a career in game design and uses HvZ as a platform to express her skill.

She also creates a ton of the group’s props, which this year includes dozens of painted flags.

“It’s all for the love of the game,” she said.

The streets are quiet on the last day of the contest, free of the typical foot traffic that dominates the UO campus. Like any good apocalypse, there’s an uneasy calm in the air.

In order to win the game, the human team must replace a series of flags spread across campus. The zombies will face them head on, equipped with shields to deflect projectiles and special weapons to pin the humans down.

After a lengthy period of tutorial and setup, the final operation begins.

Nerf darts and sock grenades litter the sky alongside human players who sprint from the bumbling horde. Others stand their ground and fire into the crowd, defending their territory. The humans shout strategy, pushing forward as a united front against the zombie mass. They trade specialized weapons and warn one another of zombies creeping in bushes and trees.

From the outsider’s perspective, it’s all quite odd. It’s not often you see gaggles of twentysomethings roaming about, either paranoidly treading campus in fear of an attack or not so subtly hunched over in active hunting mode.

You can see the incredulity in the faces of random passersby, unaware that they’re walking through the fantasy of others.

“There are some people who think it’s dorky or nerdy, but I don’t care. I find it cool,” digital arts major Evan Schlesinger said.

For the first few skirmishes of this final battle, the humans are the dominant force.

They have a distinct advantage in range — those Nerf blasters have quite a reach, after all. When a zombie comes close, the humans are quick to disperse and reform elsewhere.

This war is sprawling, moving quickly from point to point. One moment, they’re in front of Knight Library. The next, the fighting migrates to the Pioneer Mother statue. The zombies spread out, surrounding the human base from all angles as they take a flag in front of the library.

Strategies are discussed and implemented at a brisk pace by human and zombie teams alike. Long-standing players get tagged and instantly switch allegiances. The zombies are becoming more efficient.

And their ranks are growing.

At the lawn in front of Hendricks, a quick mistake traps the resistance fighters: somebody dropped the stack of flags necessary to capturing the zombie-occupied zones.

It is now closely guarded by a few dedicated zombies. Unable to make progress, the humans are forced to hold the line, pushing into enemy territory. The move costs them many players, leaving only a few.

The zombies move closer, edging in on all sides. Unseen by the descending horde, Waggoner escapes the fray.

In the meantime, head moderator Robart has become a Spider Zombie, which allows him to pin human players to the ground with specialized socks. He captures the last of the human force, and shouts to his minions: “Devour what the spider provides!”

The field goes quiet.

Heads turn looking for their next target, only to see none. The zombies cheer and gather closer, chanting in celebration. It is short lived though, as word spreads of one final human roaming the field. Zombies run off in all directions, forming a swift yet methodical chase.

Deep in the field between Lillis and Columbia, zombies on patrol keep their ears open for any signs of life. A shout from back near Hendricks calls them closer. He’s been caught.

The last man on Earth joins the zombie hive.

“I realized pretty quickly that I was the last one left,” Wagoner said after the final battle. “I went AWOL and sprinted off, before realizing I was out of ammunition. I could have run off campus, but chose to face my fate.”

His sacrifice brings an end to a week of horror and excitement. The zombies have dispersed for now, but they’ll be back soon enough.

Fall term, to be exact.

Follow Chris Berg on Twitter @Mushroomer25

Without the burden of classwork, summer is the ideal season for gaming. Long wasted afternoons spent on the couch, embracing the 21st century miracle of air conditioning and losing yourself to a digital landscape. Deep nights with friends, sharing a few cold beers between rounds of intense competition. This is the sort of stuff that we dream of all year long, and these are the games that will keep you preoccupied for the season.

Heroes of the Storm (PC, Mac) – MOBAs are scary. Or rather, Massive Online Battle Arenas are scary (See, even the name is intimidating). Games like League of Legends and DOTA 2 have gained unparalleled global popularity, yet also carry a reputation for having an immense learning curve. They’re also team based games, dense with players who do not appreciate teammates playing at anything less than perfection.

With such a barrier to entry, it’s easy to wonder where the MOBA for normal human beings is. Perhaps that’s the role that Blizzard will fill with Heroes of the Storm. And with the recognizable characters from Starcraft, Warcraft, Diablo, and more — Blizzard‘s take on the genre (which originated as a popular Warcraft 3 multiplayer mod) is a bit more instantly digestible than its’ competitors. Many of the counter-intuitive and complex systems have been stripped in favor of a more action-based approach, keeping teams of five closely knit as they aggressively smash for supremacy.

The game has been in private beta for months, but it officially goes live on June 2.

Batman: Arkham Knight (PS4, XBox ONE, PC) – Rocksteady, the studio behind Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, return to the streets of Gotham for one last fight. Arkham Knight promises a bigger, badder and more visually stimulating open world than anything else attempted by the studio.

This is the series which defined hand-to-hand combat in games for an entire generation with its first iteration and open-world game design with its’ second. For the finale, Rocksteady have turned its eye to the wheel — bringing the iconic Batmobile into the fold. A mix of Italian supercar and American-made war machine, it’ll bring more power to the hands of the players than ever before.

Expect dozens of hours worth of crime solving, neck-busting and stealthy sleuthing when Arkham Knight hits on June 23.

Mad Max (PS4, XBox ONE, PC) – If you’re still riding that spray-paint fueled high coming off of Mad Max: Fury Road, it’s likely that you’re jonesing for more anarchy in the wasteland.

Come and take it from Avalanche Studios, the team who perfected chaos with Just Cause 2. Mad Max blends elements of traditional open-world action games (Shadow of Mordor, Assassin’s Creed), with survival mechanics and wicked car combat. George Miller’s blissfully insane world of water wars, sand and blood is on full display — harnessing the power of next-gen systems for some jaw-dropping visuals. The carnage will close out the summer season, releasing September 1.

Follow Chris Berg on Twitter, @Mushroomer25

Doom graces us with a full FIVE SECONDS of gameplay footage

In preparation for its E3 presentation on June 14, at 7 p.m., Bethesda is now detailing which announcements it will be making at the event. That’s right, news of news itself. To mark this slow decent into a hellish nightmare of gaming journalism, it has shown off a teaser trailer for Doom — the upcoming reboot of iD’s genre-defining FPS series. Make sure you’ve cleared your entire afternoon though, as the trailer clocks in at a pretty demanding 12 seconds. The majority of which is made up of a content ratings and a reminder to tune in for the full gameplay. What’s left is about five seconds of a shotgun loading animation and a shrieking demon beast. While the rest of this post is dripping in sarcasm, I can honestly say — it’s a badass five seconds.

Guitar Hero Live and Rock Band 4 tease their latest tracks

It’s been a short-lived peace for the great conflict of these plastic instrument games. Both Rock Band and Guitar Hero will invade living rooms this November, and this week some new tracks were revealed. For Guitar Hero Live, an eclectic mix of metal and rock, both old and new. Here are some of the added songs:

Bring Me the Horizon — “Shadow Moses”

Deftones — “Diamond Eyes”

Royal Blood — “Little Monster”

Marilyn Manson — “Disposable Teens”

Killswitch Engage — “In Due Time”

Marmozets — “Move Shake Hide”

Of Mice & Men — “Bones Exposed”

Vista Chino — “Sweet Remain”

Mastodon — “High Road”

Trivium — “Strife”

Meanwhile, Harmonix’s full-band revival Rock Band 4 showed off the first six tracks from its on-disc setlist, which spans a broader spectrum of rock ‘n roll. If you’re not into any of these, the game will also work with the preexisting catalog from the past titles.

Avenged Sevenfold — “Hail to the King”

Fleetwood Mac — “You Make Loving Fun”

Jack White — “Lazaretto”

The Killers — “Somebody Told Me”

Spin Doctors — “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong”

The Who — “The Seeker”

EA sets a new standard for impatience, reboots Need For Speed

The term “reboot” is thrown around a lot in our modern, revision-happy pop culture. When a pop culture property has fallen out of popularity, we revive it with a fresh face for the new generation We’ve rebooted 21 Jump Street after a 30 year absence, Judge Dredd after 17, and Spiderman after only 4 years out of the public consciousness. But Electronic Arts might be lowering the bar even further with their announced “full reboot” of Need for Speed. The franchise has only taken a single year off from its annual release schedule, but EA has felt the need to reintroduce us all to the world of high-octane speed racing. The teaser doesn’t show any gameplay footage, but the cars on display suggest a return to the NFS: Underground style of neon-lit low riders on city streets. We’ll get the full announcement on June 15, at EA’s E3 press conference.

Follow Chris Berg on Twitter @Mushroomer25

What happened to our dreams for the future? In the post-war generation, all the way into the ’70s — our vision was always colored in bright skies, sleekly designed and endlessly prosperous. It was the product of hope.

Now, our view is colored by despair. We envision worlds of dust, either controlled by harsh surveillance states or lost to chaos. Somewhere in our cultural history, we gave up. This is the overarching theme of Tomorrowland, the latest from director Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol) and writer Damon Lindelof (LOST, The Leftovers). Unfortunately, the answers it poses to this question aren’t quite worth the journey.

If you’ve ever visited a Disney park, you’re likely familiar with the real-world equivalent of Tomorrowland — a place where retro-style science fiction is brought to life in shades of chrome and gold. In realizing this concept, Tomorrowland is an undeniable success. The set design and atmosphere are outstanding, bringing this retro joy to life in true fashion. Even when things start going haywire, it’s a ton of fun to see modern takes on these antiquated designs. A walk-through sequence of the titular land itself is dense with imagination and fun. An explosive fight scene treats ’50s kitch ray guns as serious weapons. But such scenes of joy are few and far inbetween.

Our story follows Casey Newton (Britt Robertson), an optimistic wunderkind who feels unappreciated in our pessimistic world. After a skirmish with the law, she receives a mysterious invitation to Tomorrowland — and sets off to find it. For a child genius, Newton spends most of her time on screen in active bewilderment to the situation around her, or engaging in condescending quips that fail to generate charm.

Along the road she meets Frank Walker (George Clooney), a former child prodigy who has been exiled from the futuristic society. Clooney is playing well within his comfort zone here — the sarcastic rogue who smirks his way through every scene, but revealing heart when it really matters. Clooney’s acting is largely forgettable, as is Robertson’s. The one standout performance belongs to the mysterious Athena (Raffey Cassidy), who brings much needed heart and spirit to the proceedings.

As the trio investigate the mystery of Tomorrowland, they slowly stumble through all manner of action sequences (which are well-shot, though unremarkable) and hamfisted backstory (delivered in short monologues that prove woefully confusing). Rather than reveal itself slowly, Tomorrowland instead builds itself up — posing new questions and mysteries before bothering to answer the ones that have already been established. This forces the film to lay all of its cards out on the table at once in the final few scenes, creating a confusing and preachy mess of a finale. The concepts and ideas expressed within Tomorrowland would be hard to do justice in a six-hour miniseries, much less a two hour summer blockbuster for families.

Tomorrowland isn’t an unwatchable film. But in a certain way, it’s worse. This is a missed opportunity — an original sci-fi premise with strong morals, and all the right creative team members. Backed by the full force of the Disney marketing machine, and the associated financial investment. This is the sort of challenge to the status quo that can shift culture when it’s successful…all for a film that falls flat in the dirt, destined to be forgotten.

Tomorrowland wants to inspire a better vision of the future, yet it just may doom us to a dozen more pessimistic dystopias drawn up on screen.

Follow Chris Berg on Twitter @Mushroomer25

David Weddle is an accomplished writer and producer who has been working in TV for nearly twenty years, serving as a writer on various episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, CSI and Falling Skies. In addition, he’s served as a producer on Battlestar Galactica, as well as Guillermo Del Toro’s The Strain. His career has spanned network, cable and syndicated television.

At 6 p.m. on May 20, it will bring him to Knight Library. Weddle is visiting to present a talk on writing fiction for the television format, specifically the task of constructing continuous narratives. His unique place in the television industry has supplied him with the chance to see the shifting landscape of the medium.

When Weddle started on Deep Space Nine in 1997, he faced the distinct challenge of writing standalone stories.

“DS9 was a syndicated show, meaning it was sold independently to different networks across the world. They wanted episodes that could stand on their own, and be re-run by the network in any order,” he said.

Every story had to wrap itself up in an hour, save for the rare two-parter. This severely limited what television writers could accomplish over the run of a series; character development is difficult when the story could be viewed in any order.

All of that shifted tremendously in 1999, when one show revolutionized the medium.

“The Sopranos really revolutionized the game for cable TV. Every writer and producer in the industry was watching it. Networks saw that they could attract more viewers with these longer-form narratives. … It really opened the door to the current ‘Golden Age’ of TV we’re in right now,” Weddle said.

By ‘Golden Age’, Weddle refers to the breadth of incredible long-form content that prospers in the current TV landscape. Epic shows like Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad and Mad Men never could’ve existed in the previous cable landscape. The Sopranos proved that complex storytelling could be both critically acclaimed and profitable.

As for the future of TV, Weddle isn’t sure what to make of what’s coming.

“We’re ready for another upheaval. The cable market now is very similiar to how the network structure was in 1999. There’s a lot of market loss to streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime… The cable market might fall apart entiely in 10-20 years.”

While Netflix has been on a streak of hits with their original offerings with House of Cards, Orange Is The New Black, and Marvel’s Daredevil, there’s still risk in changing the game.

“It’s unclear what this means for content. [The end of cable] could result in more success stories like Netflix, or it could be like the status of the music industry,” he says. “If it doesn’t prove profitable to make these big sort of series, studios won’t want to fund them.”

Regardless of what the future may hold for cable TV, the Golden Age is still going strong.

Weddle will be speaking in the Knight Library Browsing Room at 6 p.m. this upcoming Wednesday. For any fan of science fiction, or just good TV in general, it’s sure to be a must-see event.

Follow Chris Berg on Twitter, @Mushromer25

David Weddle is an accomplished writer and producer who has been working in TV for nearly twenty years, serving as a writer on various episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, CSI and Falling Skies. In addition, he’s served as a producer on Battlestar Galactica, as well as Guillermo Del Toro’s The Strain. His career has spanned network, cable and syndicated television.

At 6 p.m. on May 20, it will bring him to Knight Library. Weddle is visiting to present a talk on writing fiction for the television format, specifically the task of constructing continuous narratives. His unique place in the television industry has supplied him with the chance to see the shifting landscape of the medium.

When Weddle started on Deep Space Nine in 1997, he faced the distinct challenge of writing standalone stories.

“DS9 was a syndicated show, meaning it was sold independently to different networks across the world. They wanted episodes that could stand on their own, and be re-run by the network in any order,” he said.

Every story had to wrap itself up in an hour, save for the rare two-parter. This severely limited what television writers could accomplish over the run of a series; character development is difficult when the story could be viewed in any order.

All of that shifted tremendously in 1999, when one show revolutionized the medium.

“The Sopranos really revolutionized the game for cable TV. Every writer and producer in the industry was watching it. Networks saw that they could attract more viewers with these longer-form narratives. … It really opened the door to the current ‘Golden Age’ of TV we’re in right now,” Weddle said.

By ‘Golden Age’, Weddle refers to the breadth of incredible long-form content that prospers in the current TV landscape. Epic shows like Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad and Mad Men never could’ve existed in the previous cable landscape. The Sopranos proved that complex storytelling could be both critically acclaimed and profitable.

As for the future of TV, Weddle isn’t sure what to make of what’s coming.

“We’re ready for another upheaval. The cable market now is very similiar to how the network structure was in 1999. There’s a lot of market loss to streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime… The cable market might fall apart entiely in 10-20 years.”

While Netflix has been on a streak of hits with their original offerings with House of Cards, Orange Is The New Black, and Marvel’s Daredevil, there’s still risk in changing the game.

“It’s unclear what this means for content. [The end of cable] could result in more success stories like Netflix, or it could be like the status of the music industry,” he says. “If it doesn’t prove profitable to make these big sort of series, studios won’t want to fund them.”

Regardless of what the future may hold for cable TV, the Golden Age is still going strong.

Weddle will be speaking in the Knight Library Browsing Room at 6 p.m. this upcoming Wednesday. For any fan of science fiction, or just good TV in general, it’s sure to be a must-see event.

Follow Chris Berg on Twitter, @Mushromer25

Back in 2013, a movie hit cinema screens that took me by surprise. By the logline, Pitch Perfect would be the last thing you’d expect me to enjoy — it’s a girl-power fueled musical, filled with A Capella numbers and a classic romantic ending. Yet the original Pitch Perfect is also dense with satire. It was clearly a response to the popularity of hyper-cheerful teen musicals like FOX’s Glee. The film shined a light on A Capella culture, both what makes it great and its grating earnestness. The closing musical number still gets decent rotation in my Spotify cue.

Yet as the marketing cycle for Pitch Perfect 2 reached a fever pitch this week, I found myself disconnected. The first film’s marketing almost seemed embarrassed of its identity. Early trailers pitched the film on its comedic strengths, hiding the various musical numbers. But for 2, the melodic action is front and center. Rather than the outsider to this subculture, Beca (Anna Kendrick) now leads the pack. Cameos from famous A Capella groups are touted. An entire co-branded marketing campaign cast a new generation of Bellas to sing the praises of women’s razors, set to rewritten pop hits. In the aftermath of success, Pitch Perfect has become what it set out to mock. Which ironically enough, has happened before.

Back in 2009, a TV show hit FOX that took me by surprise. Written by Ryan Murphy (of Nip/Tuck, and who would go on to create American Horror Story), it was a refreshing dark comedy on the high school experience. While it may be hard to remember, Glee started as a rather pessimistic show. It was a counterpoint to the hyper-cheery nature of Disney’s High School Musical franchise, and a culture addicted to nostalgia for the mythical high school experience.

Yet then something awful happened — success. The Glee soundtracks shot up the iTunes charts. The show was a ratings smash with youth demographics. As a result, the tone started to warp. Rather than showing an outsider’s perspective, the show became insular. Characters who expressed doubt, or criticism over A Capella culture became staunch advocates. After a world tour and 3D concert movie, the point became pretty clear — the show wasn’t for adults with cynical nostalgia anymore. It was for high school students, to engage with the issues of today, and be sold the latest iTunes single.

It’s a trend that haunts over success, the idea of “selling out.” Just like your favorite musical act started to phone it in when the checks started cashing, satire has a hard time staying biting when it’s not the underdog. The genre is best when it’s the voice of an underrepresented or repressed community. So when capitalism steps in, and declares that voice the new standard, it becomes difficult to remain cynical. Just as stand-up comedians are at their funniest when they’re down in the dumps, and rock stars at their brightest when poor and loaded with drugs, A Capella musicals have to be hated to be lovable.

Follow Chris Berg on Twitter, @Mushroomer25

Mad Max: Fury Road is the sort of movie that I was always told “doesn’t get made anymore.”

It’s a massively sized, wonderfully offbeat and decadently violent auteur picture. One rich with ambitious stunt work and honest-to-god practical effects backing every sand-stained explosion. It’s a modern picture, granted every benefit of CGI magic, but with a director whose soul is still willfully lost in the ’80s. Fury Road doesn’t just deserve your attention this summer. It demands it.

Between The Hunger Games, The Walking Dead and every pretender to those two thrones, dystopia has become a played out trope. Every end-of-the-world picture has the same vision of a crumbling city, inhabited by supermodels who occasionally haven’t shaved in awhile. Fury Road looks at this contemporary apocalypse and turns up its nose. Flesh, metal, sand and fire are the four elements of this world, with which all meaning and destruction is constructed. Every moment of lore seems delicately constructed, giving an uncanny logic to the chaos within. You truly never know what to expect from one moment to the next.

The action on Fury Road is relentless. Aside from a few pit stops, this film is a two-hour car chase through the Australian desert. The pursuit never stops, leading to some stunning action sequences atop a moving canvas. Mad men leap from modified dragsters onto the backs of speeding semi trucks, often left with only inches to separate them from the sand. Every incredible moment is quantifiably real and will leave film fans agape with some of its most bombastic shots. Gasoline explosions litter the sky, painting the world in hues of blue and orange. Fury Road is simply gorgeous to look at, even at its most gruesome.

Along this road we meet our hero, Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy, taking over from Mel Gibson), the quiet muscle of justice. It’s a simple role, yet Hardy portrays it beyond words. Despite often staying silent, Max’s intentions are always clear. To his opposite is Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), a woman of unbreakable will and startling power. Together they’re the sort of team only built by apocalypse: united through mutual interest, lined with distrust. Their mission is virtuous, and dense with action. A powerful score backs every moment, clashing classical strings with hard rock guitars and booming tribal drums. It gets into your blood, pushing adrenaline right to the surface.

Action movies have been hitting subtle high notes for the past few years. But there’s something about Mad Max: Fury Road that eclipses just about every major studio action picture of the past decade. Nothing like it has quite been made before on this scale. It’s two hours of a seemingly simple premise, perfected. You’d never want to live in the world of Fury Road, yet you’ll feel empty once you’ve got to leave.