Wednesday, February 5, 2014 • Page 10
ARTS & LIFE
Editor: Tatiana Tomich arts@wildcat.arizona.edu (520) 621-3106 twitter.com/dailywildcat
UA hosts Cedar Lake Ballet ‘About 111 Girls’ free film screening graduate student in the School of Middle Eastern & North African Studies focusing on The Center for Middle Iran Studies. “About 111 Girls” Eastern Studies will present a will be the first of four films free showing of the film “About shown this semester on the first 111 Girls” as part of its Spring Wednesday of each month. 2014 Film Series of debut This film, like the remaining films by Middle East directors three of the semester, will starting today at 7 p.m. provide a safe place at its Directors Nahid Ghobadi 79-minute conclusion to and Bijan Zmanpira exhibit the discuss questions of character, unique story told through an clarify any bits of missed unseen cultural perspective of information or respond to the an Iranian bureaucrat traveling film. through Kurdistan on behalf of Speaking about why he 111 women c h o s e seeking “About 111 change for Girls” out When people the lack of of countless think of Iran, marriageable film options they often think men — to present of conflict. and the to students, There’s so much government’s Sinclair failure to talked of more depth to r e s o l v e the general the culture. Kurdish likability — Christian Sinclair, issues. The of the film, assistant director, Center film, shot along with for Middle Eastern Studies across the its acute alluring Iranian desert, merges a representation of the Kurds’ cross-cultural comedy with situational crisis in the ’80s. a satirical political viewpoint “I thought this one was an to share the untold story of interesting film,” Sinclair said. why these Kurdish women are “It’s rare that you find a film responding to a lack of suitable that talks about minorities husbands. in Iran. There’s generally “When people think of Iran, not much shown about the they often think of conflict,” Kurds, particularly in Iran.” said Christian Sinclair, The film will be shown assistant director at the Center tonight in the Marshall for Middle Eastern Studies building in room 490 and is and president of the Kurdish open to all students, whether Studies Association. “There’s or not they have former so much more depth to the knowledge of Iranian Kurds, culture. For example, most are curious about culture in people don’t know that more Iran or are focusing on Middle than 70 languages are spoken Eastern Studies. in Iran.” To start out the night and to give brief historical context to the place and time of the film, — Follow Chelsey Wade there will be an introduction @dailywildcat by presenter Jason Watson, a BY CHELSEY WADE The Daily Wildcat
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PHOTO BY SHAREN BRADFORD, COURTESY OF CEDAR LAKE CONTEMPORARY BALLET
PERFORMERS IN THE CEDAR LAKE Contemporary Ballet dance company display a piece called “Violet Kid,” one of three performances they will bring to Centennial Hall on Thursday evening.
BY ASHLEY REID
The Daily Wildcat
Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, which incorporates classical dance practice with innovative choreography, will make its Tucson debut at Centennial Hall Thursday evening. “In every Cedar Lake performance, we strive to showcase the diversity of our company at its very best,” interim artistic director Alexandra Damiani said. “These three dances do just that. They are each by choreographers with very distinctive styles.” First on the program is a piece by choreographer Hofesh Shechter, titled “Violet Kid”. Shechter, an Israeli native, concentrates on harmony in a broken world in this piece. All of the dancers are on stage and engaged for a full 33 minutes, showcasing their endurance. The choreographer created not only the dance, but the original score as well. The next piece is “Tuplet” by Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman. The dancers use their bodies as percussion instruments in this playful piece that
allows the dancers’ personalities to said. “All of our dancers have very strong shine through. classical training, skill and technique, “Tuplet” is driven by rhythm, chanting but it is the use of the dancers’ individual and whispering, alongside the dancer’s personalities into each creation that movements. creates our distinctive style.” “Grace Engine” by Canadian According to a review from The New choreographer Crystal Pite will conclude York Times, the organization is “possibly the performance. This particular dance the country’s most innovative ballet sets a somber scene, troupe.” and examines the “A large part of If you go… loneliness of human the excitement of existence. The our company is our Cedar Lake Contemporary dancers incorporate a diversity,” Damiani Ballet lot of groundwork and said. “Diversity in When: Thursday, 7:30 p.m. quiet movement. dancers, the diverse Where: Centennial Hall Jon Bond’s styles of movement Tickets: (520) 621-3341 contribution as a we acquire as we soloist in “Grace work with different Engine” was named choreographers and one of the 10 best performances of 2013 the commitment we have to allowing by Pointe Magazine. the individual personality of the dancer Though the three performances all [to] shine through no matter what the incorporate elements that are traditional dance.” for the Cedar Lake company, there is no underlying theme that connects the three performances on Thursday. “Cedar Lake is very much a — Follow Ashley Reid @ chameleon-like company,” Damiani ashleyefrances
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Aftermath: Who won the game console war? BY TORSTEN WARD The Daily Wildcat
Video game console launches are never pretty. Just like in politics, promises are broken, expectations are crushed and someone always makes a stupid mistake that costs them a few fans. But in the end, it’s just two (or three) huge companies competing for your dollar by advertising systems that perform extremely similar tasks. 2013 saw the launch of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, and these next-gen consoles are no exception. However, fanboys everywhere fought tooth and nail with their gaming rivals to prove that their console truly was and is the best. Here we’ll break down Sony and Microsoft’s newest consoles and see who came out ahead.
The Hardware
Long before their November release dates, the details concerning system hardware for the PS4 and Xbox One were released to the cheers of gamers everywhere. Never before has the technology within two different consoles been so similar in power, but this isn’t a bad thing: You can practically hear each console revving with raw processing power (not really; both systems are extremely quiet in person). Without getting into major technicalities, I can tell you that the Xbox One and PS4 both contain 8-core AMD CPUs, AMD graphic cards, 8GB RAM, and 500GB internal hard drives. Just like the PS3, the PS4 has an upgradeable hard drive, while the Xbox One plans to support external storage in the future. Both have their
pros and cons. However, the PS4 contains a bit more processing power with the inclusion of its GDDR5 RAM and Radeon GPU. This is all gibberish to the average gamer, but those who understand hardware specs know that when both of these systems get pushed to the limit in coming years, the PS4 will boast prettier graphics and smoother gameplay than its competitor. As far as how they look and feel, Sony takes the cake. No contest. Not only is the PS4 more powerful overall than the Xbox One, it packs it all into a package nearly half the size of Microsoft’s brick oven of a console.
The Controllers
If you grew up with an Xbox, you likely favored the 360’s bulkier but more ergonomic controller over the classic PlayStation design that has remained mostly unchanged since the original PlayStation’s dual analog controller came out in 1997. Both controllers stick to their roots while still raising the bar. The Xbox One controller and the DualShock 4 have the same layout as their predecessors, but drastically improve on all other fronts. Buttons and analog movements are more responsive than ever and both controllers just feel good in your hands. However, the Xbox One’s immersion factor skyrockets with the inclusion of trigger button rumbling. Imagine playing Forza Motorsport 5 and driving one side of your car off the paved raceway and feeling the jagged rocks under your tires through your fingertips. Yeah, it’s cool. But every good pro comes with a con: batteries. The DualShock 4 is just an all-around great controller, and the addition of the light bar,
TORSTEN WARD/THE DAILY WILDCAT
MICROSOFT REVEALS ITS XBOX ONE controller at the 2013 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, Calif.
touch pad and on-deck speaker will only further the controller’s future capabilities. The share button allows gamers to post or stream their gameplay and achievements on game-oriented media sharing sites like Twitch and on more conventional social media platforms in seconds. While the Xbox One supports similar streaming capabilities, they aren’t as easily accessible or indepth. Any qualms with each controller are vastly outdone by their positive characteristics, and for this reason, the two controllers experience a Rocky IV-style punch-out: It’s a tie. Besides AMD, the real winners of the console war are us gamers. After Microsoft shot themselves in the foot with the initial promise of limiting DRM policies, used game restrictions and an always-online requirement, they’ve backtracked enough to avoid drowning in a
pool of hate mail and debt. But one of the many reasons the PS4 has already sold over 4.2 million units compared to Xbox One’s 3 million is because of the price. Even though both consoles have great games lined up for release in the near future, you can’t beat Sony’s $400 price point when compared to Microsoft’s $500 console of similar quality. I’m not big on grades, so I’ll be blunt: The winner is Sony’s PS4. However, though Sony’s won this battle, the war won’t be over for about another decade.
— Follow Torsten Ward @torstenward
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