The Courier | Volume 56 Issue 13

Happy Holidays, Chaps!

VOLUME

ISSUE NO.

56 13

IN THIS ISSUE

SPORTS

OPINION

Q&A With COD Media Lab Supervisor, Daniel McCallum COD’s Media Lab supervisor answers questions about the lab and its many uses

Top Five Favorite Albums of 2021 A look back at some of the most noteworthy albums of 2021

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HOLIDAY WATCH LIST

TIS THE SEASON PLAYLIST

Happy Holidays Watch List Elf, Grinch, Home Alone, just to name a few

Staff Picks: Tis the Season Playlist Check our holiday favorites!

THE TEAM EDITOR-IN-CHIEF·············································· Brenton Russo MANAGING EDITOR········································· Aurora Troncoso CREATIVE DIRECTOR······································ Danny Olivares STAFF WRITER···················································· Haley Battle STAFF WRITER···················································· Bee Bishop STAFF WRITER···················································· Eva Koureta STAFF WRITER···················································· Joseph Krebaum STAFF WRITER···················································· Devin Oommen STAFF WRITER···················································· Cody Wagner GRAPHICS EDITOR··········································· Zainab Imam PHOTO EDITOR·················································· Alexia Lukose SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR·································· John Chirayil ADVISER································································· Jim Fuller

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Crossword Puzzle and Sudoku 2021: A Year in Review

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COD PODCAST NETWORK PRESENTS

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SPORTS Q&A WITH COD MEDIA LAB SUPERVISOR, DANIEL MCCALLUM Joseph Krebaum, Staff Writer

Photo Provided by Daniel McCallum

Q: Please introduce yourself to us.

How long have you been the Media Lab supervisor?

A: My name is Dan McCallum, and I’ve been the Media Lab supervisor for about 5 years. I have a background in film production and in higher education, having worked at Columbia College Chicago.

Q: What are the requirements for students to use the Media Lab? Do they need to make a reservation?

A: Students can reserve space in the Media Lab at library.cod.edu/lab. But anyone is welcome to walk in and use any available computer. Just ask at the desk when you come in and we’ll get you set up!

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Q: What are all the different rooms in the lab used for?

A: We have three kinds of spaces in the Media Lab, all of which can be reserved online for up to 3 hours at a time. The first is what we call workstations; these are iMacs loaded up with the Adobe Creative Cloud suite and other design applications. These computers are great for editing video, making graphics, designing 3D images, and all sorts of other digital projects.

Second, we have two rooms dedicated to recording audio. Our Sound Booth is a noise isolation room – it’s perfect for blocking out noise and getting a good recording. Both rooms have high quality studio microphones, and an audio mixer with a lot of fun features, including the ability to record phone calls if you’re interviewing someone remotely.

Students use these rooms for projects like podcasts and video voiceovers.

Our third space is our studio. The studio has a video camera, lights, audio equipment, and a backdrop that can be used as a greenscreen. Lots of students use this space to record presentations, practice speeches, or demonstrate skills like sign language. The studio can also be used for still photos, and has been used by fashion students, photography students, and more. Students can also use their own cameras or other media equipment in the studio if they want to – it’s a flexible space.

For more information and to reserve the Media Lab, visit library.cod.edu/lab.

Q: Can you tell me about the equipment that the lab offers? Also, can students borrow equipment from the lab?

A: Students can check out equipment to shoot video, take photos, record audio, and more. This equipment can be used in the Media Lab, or you can take it home for a few days to work on your projects. We have several kinds of cameras, with options for total beginners to more experienced users - our most recent additions include the GoPro Hero 9 and the GoPro Max, which can shoot 360 degree video.

One of our more popular items is our drawing tablets. These are great for graphic design projects, editing photos and creating digital illustrations. They have a nice large screen and can be used with Media Lab computers or with your own laptop or computer at home.

We have audio equipment, which includes a podcasting kit, and several different kinds of microphones for recording better audio when you’re shooting video. There are tripods, fold-up greenscreens, light reflectors, and other items that can all help in creating high quality digital media.

Our photo printer is great for creating high quality prints of pictures or illustrations, and you can also use one of our scanners to make digital copies of pictures or other documents.

Q: Do you show students how to use the equipment if they’re not familiar with it?

A: We are always happy to sit down and show students how to use our equipment!

We encourage experimenting and learning on your own, but we’re also happy to show you how to get started with any piece of equipment we have. If you check out a camera and you’re not sure what to do next, just let us know and we’ll walk you through everything you need to know. I’m happy to talk about cameras all day! We also have links to all the equipment manuals on our website, in case you need to look something up when you’re not on campus.

Q: What services do you offer here in the Media Lab? A: Our main goal in the Media Lab is to help students increase their digital literacy for school and for personal growth. We help students in all kinds of classes, from accounting to English to nursing, as well as students working on projects for fun.

We do this by providing space and resources for creating multimedia projects and the expertise to help you get started.

Whether you’re making a podcast for class or learning photography for yourself, we can show you the best tools for the job and help answer questions when you get stuck.

Q: How can the Media Lab be used to prepare for finals or for students’ final projects?

A: The Media Lab is here to help students with any digital media projects for finals – infographics, videos, podcasts, and more. Come work on your projects in the lab and you’ll have our staff nearby to help if you have questions – don’t spend hours looking up what we can help you with in a few minutes!

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MUSIC TOP FIVE FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2021 Joseph Krebaum, Staff Writer

Another year of being in a pandemic calls for another year of great music! Only this time, the music became much less of a distraction from tough times and more of a soundtrack for the progress the world has made. Whereas 2020 was the year where we all reminisced and relished our memories through music, 2021 has been the year that people set out to make new memories.

Live in-person concerts are back now, giving artists an even greater incentive to create material and giving us an even greater incentive to listen to it and connect it to the experiences still fresh in our minds. With the year-end list season approaching, I’ve decided to revisit some of what I thought were the top albums of 2021. Hopefully, there’ll be something here for everyone. Check them out if you haven’t done so already!

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5. Coldplay, “Music of the Spheres"

4. Chevelle, “NIRATIAS”

“Pop” tends to be a dirty word among original Coldplay fans. To say that people who enjoyed their first four albums were let down by this interplanetary effort would be a massive understatement. But to be fair, Coldplay’s overt pop sensibilities have always played a role in their biggest hits. So it’s no surprise that after the experimental but commercially disappointing “Everyday Life,” they would go back down this path.

Indeed, the standout song, “Let Somebody Go,” a shimmering duet with Selena Gomez, drips with the same tenderness as some of their finest singles, such as “Yellow” or “Fix You.” Even more impressive, though, is when Coldplay sounds truly spacey on the record’s most ambient track, “Infinity Sign.”

The biggest strength of “Music of the Spheres,” however, is that it doesn’t sacrifice cohesion for texture, whereas “Everyday Life” was rather layered but thematically uneven. At the end of the day, let the internet say what they want to say about “Music of the Spheres,” because Coldplay were never concerned with being cool. They are the ultimate mood ring band, and their ability to shift from one color to the next throughout the album is still impressive no matter what critics say.

Illinois-based hard rock band, Chevelle, named after Chevrolet’s antique car, have been putting out consistently enjoyable albums for two decades now. This time around, however, it’s a little different. After all, this is Chevelle’s first album as a duo rather than a trio (their long-time bassist left the band in 2019). And unlike their previous LPs, “NIRATIAS,” (Nothing Is Real and This Is a Simulation) is framed as if it is an outer space expedition, complete with their trademark lyrical enigmas. That alone makes it seem as if “NIRATIAS” is a novelty project, and one that’s actually quite campy and fun!

Take for instance, the bouncy, zero-gravity “Mars Simula,” or one of the hardest rocking songs on the album, “Peach.” But like with all Chevelle albums, there are some serious, more melodic moments, too, like “Endlessly” or “Remember When,” with the latter being the most beautiful song on the record.

Whether you gravitate (pun intended) towards the melodic or the delightfully weird, this journey out to space ends up being an exhilarating one.

3. Rise Against, “Nowhere Generation” Politically charged metaphors? Raspy vocals?

Traditional punk rock instrumentation? Yeah, that’s a Rise Against album, alright! On their ninth studio album, this Chicago melodic hardcore fourpiece band continue to follow their ethos of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” And what better way to win back the crowd than to return with coproducers Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore?

They and the band work their magic on 11 solid tracks, including the titular anthem, “Nowhere Generation,” the explosive “Sudden Urge” and passionate “Middle of a Dream.”

Sure, it may sound exactly like a Rise Against album should, but what separates this from the rest is just how cohesive and consistent this collection of absolute firecrackers is. And at a lean 41-minute runtime, the album never lags, not even with the obligatory acoustic number, “Forfeit.”

Commercially speaking, this album hasn’t done as well as their previous LPs, at least not on the U.S. Billboard 200, where it didn’t even crack the Top 10. Perhaps you can make up for that by supporting what is not only Rise Against’s best album to date, but one of the greatest albums of this year!

2. Billie Eilish, “Happier Than Ever”

1. Chvrches, “Screen Violence”

Embracing the irony of recording some of your most depressing work for an album titled, “Happier Than Ever,” would normally seem like an odd thing for a pop artist to do, but not for Billie EIlish. For her sophomore effort, Eilish takes quite a lot of creative risks. Assuming the persona of a 40s lounge singer?

Check. Adding in a scathing spoken word track? Check. Keeping a sultry downtempo vibe throughout most of the album? Check! There are so many interesting things that Eilish does on her second LP that it honestly becomes a challenge to encapsulate them all into one bite-sized paragraph. Perhaps the most notable aspect of “Happier Than Ever” is its production and mixing.

Everything is mixed so softly that listening to it with headphones on would be the most ideal. It’s definitely not one to be played on party speakers (unless you have really good speakers)! Even with the “pop” tag, “Happier Than Ever” still doesn’t exactly sound mainstream, aside from its raucous title track, and that’s probably how Eilish had intended it to be in the first place.

After releasing their rather lackluster third album, “Love is Dead,” Chvrches came out all guns blazing this time around! While “Screen Violence” follows the same formula of their first two studio efforts (“The Bones of What You Believe,” followed by “Every Open Eye”), Chvrches make it quite clear they’re not ones to repeat themselves. The band switched it up a bit by adding some hazy guitars to the mix, a shift not previously heard too much on prior albums, as well as some truly dazzling arpeggios. But what really makes this effort stand out from their past three releases is the threatening undercurrent of horror in both the lyrics and the compositions. “Screen Violence” is blissful indie pop, but with a slightly darker twist. By experimenting with horror, toxicity and despair in their lyrics, bigger beats, and more prominent guitars, the group has finally managed to make something that doesn’t just replicate the sounds of the 2010s, but transcends them, which ultimately makes “Screen Violence” the top album of 2021!

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Talking openly and knowledgeably about race is a critical competency that students are expected to develop to be career ready. That is why College of DuPage is offering the SpeakOut and SHIFT created "Race, Power, & Privilege" E-Course. This powerfully-packaged experience helps students tap into their imaginations to grow and thrive in a diverse campus setting.

This e-course is available for FREE to current College of DuPage students. Students are invited to enroll in the e-course and participate independently, as a self-selected team, or in small groups.

Learn more about the e-course and how you can get started today at bit.ly/CODRPP

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MUSIC

STAFF PICKS

Tis the Season Listen to the full playlist on Spotify.

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COFFEE BREAK Theme: Year in Review

Finished? Stuck?

Check your answers on our website.

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ACROSS 1. Coalition of countries 5. King trump-er, sometimes 8. Cuckoo bird 11. ____ weevil 12. Smelting waste 13. Kitchen-wear 15. Coke or Pepsi 16. Check-in via text, email, etc.

17. Settler transport 18. *2021 Super Bowl winner, two words 20. Before long, to Shakespeare 21. Jeopardy 22. Auction action 23. Puts down 26. Coroner's performance 30. Band booking 31. Snicket of "A Series of Unfortunate Events" 34. Stravinsky's "The ____ of Spring" 35. Mine passages 37. *Build Back Better ____ 38. Eucharist plate 39. Table hill 40. Good review 42. "Tit for ____" 43. Buck feature, pl.

45. *First female VP 47. Evergreen creeper 48. It goes with gin, according to Snoop Dogg 50. Mongolian desert 52. *COVID-19, e.g.

55. Poison ivy or Poison oak 56. International Civil Aviation Org. 57. Distinctive smell 59. House coat 60. Asian cuisine food thickener 61. Pelvic parts 62. Gallery display 63. Self-proclaimed greatest boxer 64. Count on

DOWN 1. "Monty Python" broadcaster 2. Rioter's take 3. Cantina pot 4. Fasteners or holders 5. Cover story 6. *Suez ____, too tight for Ever Given 7. Like custard 8. Mythological ship 9. "High" time 10. Wayside stop 12. Thinly spread 13. Look forward to 14. *____ Papers, leaked offshore account information 19. Banana refuse, pl.

22. Exchange for money 23. Old World lizard 24. *January 20th honoree 25. Anti-elderly one 26. Those not in favor 27. Pita, alt. sp.

28. Take without asking 29. Gossiper, Yiddish 32. *Perseverance landing spot 33. Edible tuber 36. *Kabul's organization in power 38. *The Nobel ____ Prize was awarded to Ressa and Muratov 40. Snoop around 41. Snowmobile brand 44. Give the boot 46. *"Stronger" by Cindy McCain, e.g.

48. Southwestern hut 49. Sushi restaurant staple 50. ____ gum, food additive 51. Leave out 52. Home to the Leaning Tower 53. Not in use 54. One in mattress 55. Spot for a facial 58. *Actor Liotta, star in "The Many Saints of Newark"

DOODLE AWAY

...or you can use it for your math homework

Finished? Stuck?

Check your answers on our website.

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