Author Archives: samepageteam

As The Whole World Watches: An “Arrival” Review

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The first third of Arthur C. Clarke’s seminal science fiction novel “Childhood’s End” deals with the arrival of extraterrestrial beings in massive ships to our planet. The actual form of these aliens is not revealed until later, after the book has jumped ahead to a period when the presence of aliens on Earth has been normalized. Humanity needed time before being able to accept them. It’s an understandable response, given people’s typical emotional reaction to the new and unknown. And it’s a concept, one of a few, thrumming through the new film on a similar subject from director Denis Villeneuve, Arrival.

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Why You Trippin’ Out?: A “Doctor Strange” Review

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A person can go crazy trying to figure out which accent Benedict Cumberbatch puts on in Doctor Strange. He plays world-renowned surgeon Dr. Stephen Strange, based in Manhattan, but he definitely doesn’t sound like a New Yorker. No discussion is made of the man’s heritage, but it’s doubtful the accent’s background would be British — Cumberbatch’s natural voice. No, like much of Marvel’s latest movie, Dr. Strange’s accent is a vaguely funny, weird thing to be tried on and tossed off. The accent — which mostly just screams “pretentious asshole” — is part of the light fun of the film. It’s perhaps best not to go too crazy about it.

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An NBA Postview: The Post-Preview Preview

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The NBA season is about two weeks old, and already, some primary suspicions have been confirmed. In the West, it appears unlikely that the Golden State Warriors will win 74 games, as they go through the growing process that even super-teams need. The Dallas Mavericks appear to be dead. Everything else is up in the air. In the East, it appears that the Cleveland Cavaliers, unless LeBron James should suffer significant injury, will cruise to another Conference title. Their primary challengers, the Toronto Raptors, yet again have a hole at power forward, despite some interesting youngsters and an en fuego start from DeMar DeRozan. The Boston Celtics — shocker — are maybe not quite as good as their rabid fans thought.

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SP Mix: Vine Is Dead, But The Beat Goes On

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In its eccentricity, Vine was a community of sorts. It was rewarding to be a member; if you scrolled enough, different corners revealed themselves to you. It got easier to find the weird underbelly after 2014 too, when the app’s user base contracted slowly, giving in to Instagram video and Snapchat. Vine didn’t mind. Its users birthed woozy 8mm nature videos, remix threads where different users would create music collaboratively, even feature-length movies told six seconds at a time.

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NBA Eastern Conference Preview 2016-17: Will the East Beast?

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The NBA is season kicks off tomorrow night with three games, as the new look New York Knicks visit the reigning champion Cleveland Cavaliers, the upstart Utah Jazz travel to Portland to face last years surprising Trail Blazers, and in a marquee match-up, the freshly ‘Duncanless’ San Antonio Spurs take on the big, bad Golden State Warriors, coming off (in case you hadn’t heard) a 73 win regular season and another NBA title a crushing Finals collapse.

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Toronto vs. Cleveland ALCS Preview: Get To Know Your Enemy

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Toronto and Cleveland kick off the American League Championship series Friday night, and it has the whiff of a hard-fought series, full of gamesmanship. These are two teams with very specific strengths and weaknesses. Unlike the ALDS, where Cleveland faced a high powered Boston offense that sputtered and the Jays disposed of the smoke-and-mirrors whiny babies Rangers, these teams appear evenly matched.

Here are your four keys to the series. We’re going back to basics on these sweet babies.

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SP Mix: Bon Iver is Still Out There

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In all the lead-up to 22, A Million, various promotional materials screamed the band’s new direction. The announcement was coupled with a note from Vernon’s friend, explaining that the album dealt with death and new leases on life. High concept art lined the band’s social feeds, as well as building sides in major cities. On the day of the album’s release, newspapers appeared below these billboard art pieces. Speakers on small boomboxes were tested to their limits, playing the album in its entirety.

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