MILITARY-INSPIRED
Fashion Review - Camouflage
8/10
by Susy Kim
Fashion is a self expression of what you are inspired by. Many designers blueprint their pieces based on the experiences they had and the things in life that instigate them. Thus, after centuries of wars, designers have tailored battle gear to suit the everyday people. That is probably why the fashion industry is crazy about the military look. Today camouflage and other military-inspired apparel and accessories are not only worn by soldiers all around the world, but by regular civilians just like us.
Camouflage has a much longer history than we assume. It does not only apply to the print on military clothing but also to animal pigmentation as they have used it to blend in with the environment to protect themselves. The military noticed this natural advantage in animals and started to use it to “camouflage” themselves during times of war. Starting with the khakis worn by the British in 1848 to the modern camouflage worn by the Army, we can definitely feel the direct effect they have on today’s fashion.
Camouflage really started to become a trend when it was adopted as an urban streetwear in the early ‘90s. Camouflage pants, T-shirts, tank tops, and belts were as huge back then as it is still today. Designers started to take notice of this upcoming fad and incorporated the idea into their clothes; Anna Sui was one of the first to mix camouflage and glam by adding sequins and studs to the concealing print. These days it is common to find camouflage joined by rhinestones, lace, satin, and other fancy materials. Even couture designer John Galliano incorporates camouflage into designs and creates clothes that are often said to be a work of art.
Many other trends that we see today are also inspired by military wear. Even simple things such as wrist watches were actually created during World War I in an attempt to make it easier for soldiers to tell time. A popular style, the aviator sunglasses are also a result of militia intervention. Military-inspired trench coats and outerwear are also a major hit as big names such as Balenciaga, Christian Dior, Versace, and Costume National show apparent influence of the military apparel reflected in their buttons, silhouettes, fabrics, and other attachments. Other popular military-inspired trends include dog tags, boots, backpacks, boney hats, undergarments, and motor vehicles (think Hummers).
Though military-inspired gear is still worn by many people these days, the acme of the camouflage season seemed to have passed a couple of years ago. Today, fashion designers have leaned towards nautical stripes and figures, as is apparent in their Spring 2006 collections; Ralph Lauren has a great collection inspired by the Navy. So, I guess the effect of military attire will never go out of style even though camouflage has. Expect to see a lot of white and navy stripes this season. I mean a lot! By the way, men in uniform are sexy.
DUMB-A WAR
Game Review - Kuma War
4/10
by Jason Perkins
Of all the squad-based shooters available online today, Kuma Reality Games’ offering stands out as the most relevant. Instead of a fictional battlefield where nameless heroes struggle against an imagined force of evil, KumaWar pulls 100 percent of its material from the most current headlines. In cooperation with the United States Army and veterans returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom, the developers reconstruct alarmingly recent maneuvers carried out across Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan just days ago.
What differentiates Kuma from other games are the incredibly newsworthy missions. KumaWar tries to blend the most up-to-date reports with the most up-to-date scenarios for the player. This presentation of modern warfare is nothing new, but the fusion of technology with genuine military exercises and very real affairs of state is something not seen before. Unfortunately, the implementation of this idea is flawed all around.
The gameplay isn’t quite as evolved as other more modern titles, like SOCOM, Battlefield 2, or Medal of Honor. For example, Battlefield 2 uses a sophisticated and revolutionary system of squads and commanders to circumscribe the chaos present with 64-man teams bombarding each other. Where those games excel, whether it’s through voice communication or an advanced graphics engine, KumaWar is clearly lacking. The dated visuals and underpowered physics (which is most apparent when the military-equipped Hummer your player is driving cannot hurdle a few small rocks) are irritating, even after you remind yourself that this game is over a year and a half old.
The encounters themselves aren’t particularly realistic, partly due to the limitations of the software but most of the blame should fall on the designers. The objectives range from a simple patrol to a convoy escort to the sweep and destroy of hidden IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices), but the execution of these goals is always similarly shallow: traverse the depressingly incomplete map, kill everything with a different head dressing than yourself, repeat.
Subscribers are entitled to the current list of 68 missions, with new ones being added every month. The web-based front end provides links to the news stories that inspire those exercises, with a handful of videos that incorporate gameplay footage with clips from the real-world locales. The narration doesn’t really contain the kind of insightful detail you’d expect watching the History or Military channels, though. The attempts to communicate meaningful, relative statistics like “During WWII, one in 15 residents of the U.S. were in uniform” or “ 34 pairs of brothers were on board the USS Arizona when it was bombed at Pearl Harbor” just come off as U.S.-centered propaganda, as if the rest of the presentation wasn’t flagrantly biased enough. In all, the game to news correlation looks excellent on paper, but isn’t as tight or substantial as it could be.
Kuma Reality Games will donate one dollar of all paid online subscriptions to The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, which was created to assist the families of the nation’s fallen heroes killed in duty. It’s too bad that the game fails in every aspect to provide a realistic or engaging experience of modern warfare.
HEY-HEY, HO-HO, YADDA YADDA YADDA
Website Review - ProtestWarrior.com
6.5/10
by Alex Nye
With any war, you are guaranteed two disparate reactions: those who are for it and those who are against it. Attending the University at Buffalo during this highly polarized war with Iraq, students are subjected to a constant barrage of war slogans—the majority attempting to discredit the Iraq War and the Bush Administration. Fearing the worst, most students who are in favor of the current war tend to keep mum on the issue, not wanting a lower grade or to be shunned by the class for expressing their opinions. But staying quiet—be it pro or con—is not a healthy attitude.
The people at ProtestWarrior.com seem to share this sentiment (sort of) and have videotaped it for you.
To be more accurate, those in charge at ProtestWarrior.com are here to encourage anyone who advocates the war to speak up over “the unchallenged megaphones” of the left and to correct the disproportionately heard message. It has become their goal, their mission, rather, to silence the left’s “self-righteous messages,” to restore soldier morale, and to retain “our supreme values of liberty and justice.”
To do so, the Protest Warriors organize their own supporters to march in the big city anti-war demonstrations. The Warriors bring their own cameras and slightly camouflaged signs, so as to integrate into the protests and slowly disrupt the order. The signs that they carry when viewed at first glance, appear as the usual rhetoric. For example, a sign might read: “War Has Never Solved Anything!” But when you look carefully, the second part says in a small font: “Except For Ending Slavery, Fascism, Nazism, and Communism.”
Once these “anti-protestors” get inside with their message and are found out, the fun begins, which has been documented for our viewing pleasure. The best part is: you don’t necessarily have to be a staunch, pro-war Republican to find the proceeding reactions funny. The responses the Protest Warriors receive when they are discovered can be downright hysterical (i.e. San Francisco). Both sides—including the pacifists—are quick to get at it verbally and physically, to the point where the police have to mitigate the situation with threats of arrest. If not, the two colliding sides would be glad to rip out each other’s throats.
In about ten years, we can decide which side is right. For now, you can view this site for what it is worth: entertainment. Yes, those introverted, boot-stomping, gun-slinging students in favor of the war might like to hear a little “Amen” now and again. And for those bongo-beating, sandal-wearing, lice-infested liberals, maybe you’ll enjoy the site too.
WAR FOR THE O.C. GENERATION
TV Show Review - Over There
6/10
by Justin Touretz
When Chris Gerolmo and Steven Bochco’s Over There premiered on FX this fall, there was a true buzz circulating TV Land about the new show, which was the first TV series to dramatize a war still going on. Fans and critics alike jumped on board and the show saw 4.1 million viewers tune in for its premiere. But as the show wrapped up its final four episodes Over There’s rating plummeted to only average 1.6 million in that final month until FX announced that the show wouldn’t be renewed for a second season. So, what exactly went wrong?
The premise seemed promising enough: following the lives of Army virgins getting sent overseas for their first tour of duty. The main characters are a motley group of kids, ages 18-22, so this is supposed to be about “us”—kids our age dealing with fundamentally different experiences than your average adolescent. Over There even makes an effort to exclude actual politics as much as possible, choosing to instead focus on the soldiers’ relationships with one another and their loved ones back home.
It truly sounded like a promising concept, but it failed to meet the potential of the first episode, only to see its original message and concept spiral farther and farther away with each passing episode. What we are left with is a drama turned melodrama resembling the stereotypical plot twists and turns you can see a mile away. It’s a shame because in an attempt to keep our youthful demographic interested, it falls back on predictable “oh no she didn’t” drama that any O.C. fan could spy between commercial breaks while ignoring the very men and women in the armed forces whom the show claimed to represent.
It became more apparent with each unconvincing fight scene that Over There really isn’t about what’s over there in Iraq. It’s about how the crave for ratings can bastardize actually intriguing TV, showing soldiers dealing with as many unfaithful wives as flying bullets. Instead of delivering a show where for once a week, viewers can tune in and realize that the youths of America are actually risking their lives in Iraq, they are instead given the same teeny-bopper, gossip-driven muck which FX claimed to be a compelling storyline.
Of course the hardass’ wife is going to cheat on him once he realizes the error of his ways. Of course the female soldiers are going to get stuck in combat with the men. The situations which have the potential to spark debate, or, at the very least, engaged discussion, do nothing more than spoon-feed its viewers a dumbed down version of the actual issues by saturating the narrative with after-school-special dialogue, and that’s the most disappointing thing because Over There really had a chance to be different.
If it had followed up on its initial promise of depicting a war through the everyday lives of the kids fighting it, it would have survived for a second season. Through the show’s all too quick fall into tacky drama and unoriginal plot twists, it alienated the exact viewers whom it claimed to appeal to.
With its well-deserved cancellation, perhaps Over There is a sign that our demographic doesn’t need another hackneyed melodrama. Two and a half million people changed channels for a reason: faux-teenage drama bullshit programming dressed in fatigues is still bullshit.
BE ALL THAT YOU CAN BE
Recruitment Review - Army
by Erin McCarthy
Over Christmas, my brother, Dan, got a scary phone call, or at least it was scary for me. An Army recruiter called him and kept him on the phone for over an hour. Now, my brother is your average, red-blooded, freshman male. Behind my mother, I’m the first person to agree that he needs some discipline in his life, but with the plethora of horror stories about the War on Iraq, I’d never wish that fate on him. I had to wonder, how was the military glamorizing such a chaotic, dangerous, and in some cases, fatal destiny? I’m not against servicemen; they’re only doing their job and it’s one that I definitely wouldn’t want. If you sign up for the military these days, however, you’re probably going to Iraq. I decided to take a look at three popular commercials that are meant to attract young men into joining the service.
The first commercial is a personal favorite. You have the handsome, all-American male. He’s tall, blond, and probably a quarterback at your local high school. Then, there’s his dad: grey-haired, but wise. Boy wants to go to boot camp, but like many parents, Dad has his concerns. Son pleads, discussing all the benefits. His dad replies, “It’s the Army,” in a somber tone. Finally, Pops comes around and asks if his son will get good training. As I wipe a way a tear so I can catch my final glimpse of this touching scene, Sonny Boy says, with confidence, “It’s the Army.” This commercial is targeted at the archetypal, athletic, attractive, good boy from a middle-class background. He could be from any classic family unit in the USA. He and his dad have universal appeal. The average father and son watching this commercial aren’t from the perfect family, but Mr. All-American says the Army can help. It seems like the cure to hormone-driven teenage boys’ need for exploration and parents’ concern for how to provide structure and a chance at a higher education.
Next, there is the classic story of a boy returning home a man. The father says, “When you got off that train today, you did two things you’d never done before. You shook my hand and you looked me square in the eye.” My guess is that this guy was a total hell-raiser back in high school, but the Army made him into a docile, polite young man. Many parents will watch this, glance at their son who’s ranting about not being able to borrow the car or being grounded for losing his job, and wonder if in a year or two, the Army could send back their son with repairs made to his belligerent, selfish, and unreasonable personality. Honestly, this is where I think the military can make a person grow up. The only problem is that today, do you really want him to grow up in a country full of people that hate him and might try to kill him?
The last is by far the most disgusting. In it a young, African-American male nudges a pamphlet towards his concerned mother talking about how the Army will assist in paying for college. It’s bad enough that recruiters prey on poverty-stricken, minority areas because those individuals have fewer options as far as money, occupations, and education. I don’t doubt the Army helps provide an education for these individuals, but when you enlist, you are signing up for at least eight years, and chances are, you won’t be hitting the books until after you’re out of the Middle East.
The Army’s creative. They want everyone: the poor minority, the delinquent, and the good boy hero. But why do they want them? Because we’re fighting an ugly war, but they won’t tell you that on the commercials, I’m afraid.
THE MANLY ART OF SELF-DEFENSE
Game Review - Fight Night Round 3
8/10
by Jason Perkins
The third iteration of EA’s popular boxing franchise, Fight Night Round 3, continues its faithful adaptation of the sweet science. Many would chastise EA for resting on its laurels instead of adding new features or otherwise improving the game, but many times those extraneous features detract from the gameplay (see Madden).
Fight Night is the first game where players can realistically manipulate their fighters with the Total Punch Control mechanic, so the developers wisely held onto that element. It not only forces the player to choose a strategy, but unites him or her with their on-screen counterpart in a way that traditional button-mashing cannot. Pull back on the right analog stick and your respective character cocks an arm, waiting for your next input. Push up on the left stick and your boxer avoids that incoming hook. Sure, the character models, textures, and animations all look great, but what really distinguishes the Fight Night series from games like Mike Tyson’s Punch-out or Knockout Kings is the control scheme. Instead of simply learning the correct pattern to beat Tiger Paw and hammering on the face buttons, you are introduced to the finer points of the sport. Strategy replaces brute force; nuance replaces statistics. Possibly the only criticism applicable to last year’s game was the prevalence of haymakers, but they have since been toned down to a more realistic speed. What this translates to is a much slower, harder-to-land punch, but with even more capacity for damage.
There are a few omissions in the game, however. The most notable of these is a simple ranking list. You don’t move up a ladder, progressing to tougher opponents and bigger fights based on rank, but popularity. Once enough popularity is gained, you can be sponsored for the next event by Burger King, Staples, or Under Armor. I understand that the publicity of these corporations is readily apparent in the real world of boxing, but it just seems a little invasive here.
I was not privileged enough to play this on an Xbox360, but from what I’ve personally seen and what is available on the Internet, this is the only game thus far that deserves the label “next-gen.” The PS2 and Xbox versions look pretty similar to the editions of last year, but the visuals employed in the 360 version are astounding. That haymaker you just landed on B-Hop doesn’t just push his face to one side; the momentum of that impact can be seen rippling to the other side of his face, blood and sweat arcing out with almost disturbingly authentic accuracy.
Overall, Fight Night Round 3 is a well-made game. For not having any competition, EA could have done much worse, but they have shrewdly stuck to an excellent formula and churned out another winning title. Hopefully this trend in game design and philosophy, where stunning graphics don’t necessarily exclude meaningful interaction with players, is an accurate representation of the next generation of video games.
THIS WEEK IN BUFFALO
Show Preview- Aloha
by Bobby Ellis
In anticipation of the release of their fantastic fourth full-length album entitled Some Echoes, the consistently impressive Polyvinyl Records band Aloha is embarking on a tour that will take them from the cold northeast to the SXSW festival in Texas and back, all within a two month span. They’ll reach Buffalo’s Kitchen Distribution this Wednesday.
Although their name evokes tiki-torches and grass skirts, their sound is less Hawaiian island rhythms and more a post-rock/jazzy improvisational fusion which relies on nontraditional instrumentation to create their own signature sound. In recent years, their songs have taken on a concise and poppier feel, which has been to the credit of the inventive and upbeat rhythms created by drummer Cale Parks and bassist Mathew Gengler and also by the emergence of singer/guitarist Tony Cavallario as a mature songwriter and an increasingly confident vocal power. Add to that mix the assistance of multi-instrumentalist T.J. Lipple manning the mellotron, marimba, and additional percussion, and you’ve got Aloha: an earnest and original rock band known for their dynamic live shows.
Opening for them are local bands Odiorn, who’ve been described as “a well-orchestrated version of Joy Division,” and Totems, the folk-influenced work of singer-songwriter Michael Angelakos. The show starts at 8 p.m. and tickets are only $8. On Wednesday night, instead of sitting inside, bitching and moaning about midterms, do yourself a favor and go say hello!
Aloha plays Buffalo’s own Kitchen Distribution, an independent art space located at 20 Auburn Avenue (near Niagara St.), on Wednesday, March 8.
