+
+
ARTS & CULTURE
KANSAN.COM | MONDAY, NOV. 23, 2015
HOROSCOPES »
WHAT'S YOUR SIGN?
Aries (March 21-April 19)
Things are starting to make sense. You're unlocking new pieces of the puzzle.
Note your discoveries. Keep written records, as communication glitches may arise. Some of your worries are well founded. Peaceful studies soothe. Read in bed.
Taurus (April 20-May 20) Take advantage of a profitable opportunity. Patience is required. Keep track of expenses and send estimates and invoices. Share tasks with your partner. Manage public obligations. Listen to your team. They
see what's missing.
Gemini (May 21-June 20)
Offer leadership. Follow an elder's advice. Participate, and show up reliably. This comes easily for a cause near your heart. Wait on travel for now. Represent the team, and report back.
Create an insider advantage
or a group incentive.
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
Consider dreams and fantasies over the next few days. Get retrospective and nostalgic. Slow down and consider the options ahead.
Adjust the budget to account for seasonal extras. Finish old projects before launching new. Nurture your spirit.
Leo (July 23-Aug. 22) Strengthen your infrastructure. Good financial management skills are required. You have more friends than you realized, and they're standing for you. Get multiple views before choosing direction. Avoid provoking jealousies. Travel over water could encounter delays.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)
Expect more responsibility.
Consider new opportunities and make your moves,
one at a time. Anticipate changes. Travel could interfere with your work.
Choose private over public engagements. Pass on an expensive invitation. Listen
to your intuition.
Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
Travel conditions improve.
Follow a traditional path.
Create the perfect itinerary,
accounting for different
schedules and tastes. Saving
is better than spending
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
now. Postpone buying unnecessary stuff. Set realistic goals. Allow time to recharge.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)
Update accounts and check cash flow. Check profit and loss statements. Work with a partner to prioritize upcoming expenses and set long-term goals. Don't lose what you've got to get more. Wait for nebulous
Sagittarius (Nov.22-Dec.21)
Wait on a purchase. Work it out with your partner. Invest in fixing something before it breaks. Offer support to a family member who could use it. Think in practicalities.
Negotiate minor adjustment into arrangements in
plots to solidify.
Negotiate minor adjustments. Less interference is better.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)
The pace speeds up, and you're on a roll. It could get intense, so look sharp. Make preserves and treats. Don't throw your money away on trivialities. If irritated, take a walk. Poke around in an antique store or museum.
yourself. Get into fun projects and people. Collaborate on a feast. Add subtle spices to the blend. Cutting corners costs you. Balance imaginative and original with practical. Use what you already have. Add touchs.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb.18) You can begin enjoying
Daniel Suffield as "Nostalgia Gamer." a parody of YouTube video game critics and Ian Weaver as himself in "The Nostalgia Gamer."
romantic touches.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
Enjoy private family time in the comforts of home.
Beautify the place. Settle into a cozy spot. Avoid travel if you can. Read and discover domestic diversions. Share games, meals,
and what you've been
and what you've been discovering.
Graduates' YouTube channel "Gaming Wildlife" satirizes video game culture
RYAN WRIGHT
@ryanwaynewright
Shoshana Rose, Ian Weaver and Daniel Suffield are just like any other University film graduates. They have dreams of making big time movies; they have experience working on local indie films, but one thing sets them apart.
They run a YouTube channel with over 100,000 subscribers: Gaming Wildlife.
Gaming Wildlife is a web series hosted on YouTube that features satirical takes on gaming culture. Over the past few years, the channel has garnered over 13 million views across all of its videos, while some of its more popular videos have reached a million views alone.
"Getting this many people to follow our channel is a huge deal because there's not a whole lot of people here in the Midwest that have been able to pull something off like this," Weaver said. "For me, this is the most successful thing I've ever been a part of."
The three met when they were film students at the University through KU Filmworks. Rose graduated in 2011, while Weaver and Suffield graduated in 2012. Rose writes scripts, Weaver acts and writes, and Suffield films and edits.
The channel grew out of a brainstorming session that spawned its first series called "Gaming Wildlife Foundation," which is a satirical look at different types of stereotypical gamers through the lens of a nature show akin to something seen on National Geographic. The channel is dedicated to gamers themselves rather than the games.
"There's a lot of media that exists for gamers, but it's all independent stuff like us," Rose said. "In the initial thought process, we were really trying to exploit a part of this cultural phenomenon that really hadn't [been] discovered or talked about, which is the people."
The initial success of the channel came when a video titled "If Electronic Arts were 100% honest with us..." hit the front page of Reddit and was shared across the internet. The video features Weaver acting as former Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello discussing several shady business tactics of the company. The video currently sits at 1.1 million views. The group attributes the success of the video to giving the voiceless a voice.
"People feel powerless in the shadows of these monolithic corporations," Rose said. "The gaming companies don't hear what the gamers actually want or how they're getting screwed
over."
"I feel like it's not good enough, but I'm a perfectionist and I just want to be better," Suffield said. "Wherever we are just isn't good enough, and it pushes me to make everything better."
The members of Gaming Wildlife are like siblings. They joke around with each other and give each other a hard time, but, at the end of the day, it's obvious they still care about each other personally and professionally. The three have vastly different
personalities, but they mesh together to create a cohesive unit. The creation of content and the success of their channel brings on a fair amount of stress, but the group knows how to handle it and move forward.
"Knowing who we are in our working relationships help us in terms of balance because this is the sort of stress that can destroy friendships," Rose said. "I'm very, very lucky to be involved with such paramount professionals."
Instead of taking the traditional route and going to Los Angeles or New York, Gaming
Wildlife has found its niche on YouTube here in Lawrence. The channel even has viewers from Germany and Saudi Arabia, Weaver said. And through this alternative route, the group has been able to live out their dreams.
"To write a script and make a video of an idea I had last week and see it come up on to the YouTube screen and see 100,000 views pop up - for me this is a dream job," Weaver said.
Edited by Scott Chasen
From left: Shoshana Rose, Ian Weaver and Daniel Suffield.
RYAN WRIGHT/KANSAN
Student's fashion blog redefines "student clothing"
SAMANTHA SEXTON @Sambiscuit
CONTRIBUTE PHOTO Alex Welch has a fashion blog called Undergraduate Style.
YouTube, Instagram, Twitter — the list goes on and on of social media platforms that students can and are using to connect with people all over the world.
One student at the University has been using a variety of these platforms to express her creativity in the only way she says she knows how: through fashion
Alex Welch, a senior from Olathe studying both Spanish and history, has been hard at work to set herself apart from the yoga-wearing, sweatpants-doning student populace since her sophomore year. Welch does this through her fashion blog, Undergraduate Style.
"I just was having a hard time getting motivated to even get dressed in the morning," Welch said. "There was no fun in it and no point, and I saw that the majority of students felt the same."
blogging.
"It's hard for students to remember that we are young professionals," Welch said. "Especially when all the professional, chic outfits are marketed to people who are already in the workforce."
Welch started blogging as a way to express individuality and give her that extra boost in the morning before going to class.
Welch said it's hard to look good and feel good while at the same time not to look out of place on campus, when the majority of "student clothing" is seen as sweats and leggings. Even the Union bookstore, she said, is full of hoodies and yoga
pants.
"I try to keep my clothing budget low." Welch said. "I am a student and most of my readers are students so it's not like we have a whole bunch to spend on clothes, but at the same time, I do try to work with what I've got."
her own skin.
Welch said it's important to keep her closet full of business-casual attire. That way, when she leaves school and enters the workplace she doesn't have to come into work wearing nothing but comfort colors.
"I find it hard sometimes to feel like I should get up in the morning and make a difference," Molly Speckman, a senior from Olathe studying history and economics and a long-time reader of Undergraduate Style and friend of Welch, said. "I think the important thing about learning how to dress yourself is that you can make the right first impression, sure, but you never even know when that first impression will be.
"You could be walking along and suddenly meet your next boss or husband in the middle of the road," she said.
["Welch] definitely keeps me on my toes," Speckman said. "She follows high fashion and finds out what the colors of the season are and then translates that to something we can all afford and wear while not looking like we're trying too hard."
Speckman said she was like Welch in the past, not wanting to make the effort to look semi-professional for class or clubs and not wanting to look out of place whenever she did choose to dress up.
"Alex is fantastic at taking couture, high-end fashion and making it something real," Speckman said. "You'll see the models strutting around and, yeah, they look great, but how am I supposed to wear that to class? Alex makes looking good and feeling good so much easier than I thought it was."
Welch said her blog, however, is less about "fashion" and more about just wearing what makes her look and feel comfortable in
Welch describes her style as a
classic feminine look one would associate with the '50s and '60s but tries her best to achieve this look using everyday articles of clothing that she says are attainable to both her and her readers.
"It can be really hard to feel comfortable as a woman in the real world and to also feel that you look your best, so if I help any girl feel better about themselves, then 1 feel better about myself." Welch said.
Welch has been able to do sponsorship work, where she received free clothing and earns extra money. Even though she's used the blog as a small supplement to her regular income, she said the forum is more for a creative outlet than a professional one.
"I needed an outlet, and I never thought of myself as creative," Welch said. "So when I started blogging about my style I felt like something clicked, and I was able to get all that creativity out in a productive way."
She added: "It isn't even about fashion or the blog; I highly suggest that everyone find that one thing that they love and find a way to make something of it; even if it doesn't pay, you'll be glad you did it."
+
- Edited by Abby Stuke