INDUSTREALITY - PART 1

To the beloved readers of MODE,

First and foremost, I want to extend a massive thank you to everyone who participated on this semester’s edition. When I came up for the idea for “Industreality,” I had absolutely no idea how it would turn out or what people would even have to say. All I had was an idea! You all are what brought it to life. What we have here is something so utterly cool, insightful, poised, and refective of the people who made it. You all freaking rock, and I am so very going to miss taking up time on your Monday nights to be ridiculous on Zoom. (I know, you’ll miss it too)

Which brings me to my next thing: time is super weird!!! As many of you know, I joined MODE my third day into college, and, clearly, I never left. I like to joke that MODE was my frst friend in college— but honestly, I’m not kidding. This magazine was so integral into establishing a sense of myself here at Fordham, and allowing myself to be led by creativity and art and collaboration. Freshmen year Amelia would be so happy to know that this is where she ended up! So now, as I prepare to step down, I view this magazine as a dear old friend. I am so beyond thankful for the guidance and friendships it has brought me; whether it be the passing conversations I get to have with any of you, or the brilliant people on the EBoard who I text far too frequently. I am thankful for the confdence it instilled in me and my creativity and my leadership. I am thankful for the incredible art I got to make and watch be made.

To my fantastic Creative Directors, Jenna and Harmonie, you will never fail to amaze me with your talents. To my beloved Photo Editor, Wesley, I literally scream whenever I see a photo you’ve taken. You’re unbelievable. Thank you for bringing this idea to life through image. To my other EBoard members, can we go to brunch soon? I’m being serious. I love you all so much. You guys kept this ship running in crucial ways. Sorry I text so much. Hugs. To Caroline and Anna, our lovely Layout Assistants, same goes to you. I am beyond excited to see what you guys do next year— I know it is going to be incredible.

Finally, to all of you who are reading this, THANK YOU! This has been so much fun. Watching an idea come to life in this way has been the coolest experience ever— I cannot extend my gratitude for your efforts enough. Thank you.

Don’t be a stranger! All my love, Amelia Ferguson

Dear Reader, I have been a photographer for MODE for the past four years and a photo editor for the past year, and I’ve enjoyed every second of it. MODE provides the best avenue for all Fordham students to express their creativity, from creative writing to modeling, graphic design, and, my favorite, photography. I’ve been a photographer for a good ten years, and I’ve done everything from landscapes to portraits, but never an editorial stylized photoshoot. After my frst semester, I fell in love with the club and have been a part of it ever since. I started on the 17th issue, and ending my college career on the 24th feels very satisfying. I will miss MODE dearly; I will miss the creativity, the fun, the inspiration, the e board, the process, and most of all, the community. However, I am incredibly happy and proud of all the work we, as ODE magazine, have done this semester, and I know the club will be in excellent hands next year.

First, I want to thank Elise Anstey, the previous photo editor, for allowing me to be your photo assistant last year. You’ve inspired me to give it my all while I’m the photo editor. I also want to thank Sophia ivera Krover for being such a fantastic photo assistant to me this past year. You are so talented, and I can’t wait to see what you do as a photo editor next year! Thank you for your e board.You’ve all put in so much work to help make this magazine a reality, and you guys make me feel so proud to be a part of this club.

Finally, thank you to everyone I have ever worked with in MODE; you make the club for me. Every semester, I get so excited to see who signs up for my photo shoot because each time, it’s a new opportunity to meet someone fascinating and new and someone to be creative to create a stellar photoshoot for the articles.

I sincerely hope you enjoy reading the 24th edition of MODE magazine, Industreality. Everyone has put their heart and soul into this project, which shows no limits to what we can do as a club. When you read the magazine and fip through the pages, understand that for each article, at least fve other students have brought this page to fruition.

Thank you, everyone, for making this club one of the highlights of my Fordham college career; I will forever remember and cherish this club!

Sincerely,

Wesley Scott

Photographed by Wesley Scott

Additionally, in creating the album, Radiohead explored various forms of media and technology, such as digital audio workstations and artificial noise. These innovations not only shaped the album’s distinctive sound but also mirrored technology’s expanding role in everyday life.

Through its exploration of a world reshaped by innovation, OK Computer stands as both a warning and a revelation. As Yorke unveils the unsettling and transformative aspects of this shift, he illustrates how it can both frighten and elevate the human experience.

Written by Chelsea DeLalla

Illustration and Layout by Amelia Ferguson

Revisiting Real Steel in 2025

Written and Illustrated by Julia Maling

A somewhat significant amount of my childhood consisted of me watching the father-son robot boxing movie Real Steel in my living room by myself. For some reason it was constantly playing on cable, and for some reason I was always watching when it did. Since the movie was released in 2011 and is set in the 2020s, I thought it’d be appropriate to rewatch it now that I’m living in the time it takes place in.

Real Steel is set in a world where human boxers have been replaced by robots because, as Charlie Kenton (played by Hugh Jackman) explains, “you couldn’t give the people what they really wanted: true, no-holds-barred violence. So the next logical step, get the humans out of there and let the machines kill each other.” Humans replaced by machines? Never heard of that before.

There are many, many robot boxing scenes, these enormous hunks of metal clashing into each other over and over (which looks suspiciously similar to a Cybertruck crash test—art imitates life or life imitates art?). However, the film’s charm unsurprisingly lies in its humanity. Charlie is a scumbag former-boxer-turned-robot-trainer, but we find out he’s a big softie when his son Max reenters his life. Max, who is as obsessed with boxing as Charlie is, proves to be more strong-willed and self-assertive at eleven than I’ve ever been at twenty one. Down on their luck and looking for robot scraps at a junkyard, Max finds an old sparring bot and insists on keeping it. The bot, Atom, becomes the center of an underdog story that culminates in Atom taking on the world champion, an AI-powered monstrosity bot named Zeus. It reminded me a bit of the Mike Tyson v. Logan Paul match, although I don’t try to think about who would be Atom and who would be Zeus.

As I watched Real Steel by myself, in my dorm room rather than my childhood home’s living room, streaming on my laptop instead of cable TV, I wondered why I loved this movie as a child. It won no Oscars and has a 60% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. But ultimately, it has everything: robot dance sequences, the meaning of family, and hope for the little guy. Most importantly, it has heart, something that could never be replaced by a machine.

Layout By Jenna Vanston

Illustrated by Caroline Abella

Layout by Lucia Marino

the Music Industry AI In

Written by Meghan Mahaffey

The Recording Academy has made a revolutionary move, nominating “Now and Then,” by the Beatles for Record of the Year and Best Rock Performance for the 67th Grammy Awards. Obviously, the legendary band’s commercial recognition is nothing new, but the nature of the song made Grammy’s history as the first AI-produced track to be nominated for an award. Up against modern artists such as Billie Eilish and Kendrick Lamar, The Beatles transcend the boundaries of time with their 2024 Grammy nomination and subsequent win for Best Rock Performance.

“Now and Then” was a track by John Lennon left in the vault before his untimely death. Surviving Beatles members, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, utilized AI tools to extricate Lennon’s vocals from a demo recording, making the 2023 single their first to drop since 1995. The song now revels in public appreciation, but its production poses some questions for the industry. What will the normalization of AI-generated music do for the industry? Will AI slowly encroach on the creativity of artists and producers?

I see the nomination and win as a double-sided coin. AI allows for the preservation of culturally iconic voices in music, such as the Beatles, to remain in public discourse. However, I feel wary of artificially recreating the work of historical artists. In the case of “Now and Then,” AI tools were used to extract Lennon’s vocals that already existed. I am interested to see what happens when technology advances far enough to manufacture the artists’ voices out of nothing. The creativity and artistry that make music so culturally significant may be volatile in a world where they can be artificially imitated and achieve commercial success. The coming years in music will be crucial in revealing the role AI has in the future of the industry.

T he Hauntingly Beautiful:

By Charlotte Terry

An Analysis of Ethel Cain’s Perverts EP

Always

a tching W Always

Layout: Genevieve Vanston

Instead of clear snapshots from iPhones, the grainy filtered digital photos digital cameras have captured our attention. Young adults desperately rummage through their parents’ mementos and flock to flea markets in hopes of finding the perfect digital camera to add a flair to their Instagram. However, is this simply an enduring TikTok trend or a sign of something deeper? In the day and age of such advanced technology, conversations regarding surveillance and data sharing have become something that some young adults are very well educated in. This generation is accustomed to personalized popups advertising everything under the sun and the uncanny feeling that your Instagram feed is listening to you when it starts flooding with memes about that one joke you made. But when thinking about digital cameras, they lack location trackers or the ability to send and post pictures instantly.

This constant surveillance can be a small price to pay for instant access to the entire world. While this can be a blessing, it can also be overwhelming sometimes. Phones can be constantly spammed with notifications, having to scroll through years’ worth of pictures and lose hours of life to the endless content of social media. Is this yet another reason for the allure of these vintage pieces? Older cameras offer a disconnect from the constant notifications and overwhelming information that floods us on a daily basis. This brief escape can allow us to focus on the moment that compelled us to want to take a picture.