By Brett Westfall

Jeanette Settembre of the New York Post said, “The average person will spend more than five years of their lives on social media, according to a study by marketing agency Mediakix.”

Holy moly, that is a lot of time. I never think in terms of even a year that I’ve spent on social media, considering I typically look at Facebook news posts, Twitter comments, and Instagram memes usually in the morning before I get out of bed to start my day. To me, it feels like the new morning news when you get up before the coffee and the groggy hustle and bustle to class or work.

Settembre went on to say, “Experts say like any crash diet, you can’t quit social media cold turkey, instead, it’s all about cutting back in small increments.”

This was before her documented interview with Melanie Alvarez, assistant news director at the Walter Cronkite school of Journalism. Alvarez told Settembre, “If you just try quit, you’re going to try to come back. It is just like dieting — you must purposely take in less… If you spend an hour a day, try for 30 minutes.”

I thought, “SERIOUSLY?! It can’t be that hard right?” Even people who spend more time on social media on purpose could tell you it causes a wide range of issues if you let it. Even comments can discourage you the rest of your day even if you don’t realize it.

Some younger people, who don’t completely abandon social media, like Magdalena Becker for the The Temple News said, “American adults spend more than 11 hours per day interacting with media, according to the first-quarter 2018 Nielsen Total Audience Report. More than 11 hours per day… Imagine if you watched the same news broadcast company for 11 hours every day. Eventually, what you watch influences your point of view and opinions. The same goes for social media. Time spent scrolling through feeds and timelines can affect how we think and, eventually, how we see ourselves.”

She does have a point for anyone. She went on to talk about how this helped with her problems involving anorexia. For mental health and ‘body-shaming’ social media is a clear view that even if it is a joke, so many people don’t take things seriously enough in another persons eye. Which can lead to toxic message boards and comment sections that end up going down even worse paths. It shouldn’t be about ‘he said- she said.’

When responding to comments about social media influencing people’s lives, Carolyn Hax, an advice columnist of the Washington Post said to someone during a discussion that summed up a huge, if not main issue with social media, “There has always been coveting, but social media cuts out all the natural barriers, adds a few psychological levers to facilitate addiction, and allows us to compare ourselves with everyone we know 24/7. So, yes, definitely go for that ‘cleanse.'”

From an article published by The Week, a UK news source, they said, “A number of studies have found an association between social media use and depression, anxiety, sleep problems, eating issues, and increased suicide risk, warn researchers from the University of Melbourne’s National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, in an article on The Conversation.”

The article went on to say, “The CNC in America recently revealed the suicide rate in the US has grown nearly 25% since 1999, with Dr Nassir Ghaemi telling CNN part of the blame must lie with the rise of social media.”

My opinion: if social media sites are truly for what was initially claimed, to connect with others more easily and to feel closer, then I am all for it. Yet, even I cannot deny that social media has become toxic, even if you surround your feeds with more “positive” content. The screen time and escaping reality, plus more is on another, higher level than what television and radio from the 1900s did.

Finding credible sources is a maze that could lead all the way down to the individual and even then, that could be a lie. People will read a ‘yellow-journalism’ slight truth headline and believe it’s true without completely reading the article. I know that I do that sometimes if I feel the headline basically truthfully depicts the entirety of the article, but I’m most likely wrong in my assumptions.

I don’t believe that social media needs to be completely deleted from your life even though unfinished facts are coming through as the first option into the rising culture of mental health and other issues. Until there are more, in-depth facts, that social media is the CLEAR issue of many of the problems young people have, I believe that changing feeds to allow more “positive” content is a start. I do eventually believe that a huge social media cleanse is coming if things don’t change, like all controversial addictions, it has a higher potential of advocates pushing for a close.

By Brett Westfall

For someone who has dealt with issues regarding depression or mental illness, it is still always hard to tell people about it. Why? Simply because it is “mental illness.” You feel as if people look at you or secretly pre-judge you like you are from the Psychiatric ward. That isn’t the case.

It seems every so many years, mental illness has pulled me back from doing my best work as a student as well as ‘not-caring.’ I will have spikes of good years with grades that show and some years where it’s absolutely strange how it dropped so much. Mental illness does not mean someone is suicidal or worse, there are many levels of it. Those who may have had it once and get over it or even those who have never had it and are unaccepting of other’s conditions don’t understand why people who do suffer from depression don’t just work harder and be more active or find things that make you happy, don’t understand that it’s not that easy.

Once in high school I dealt with mental issues and now twice in college, including currently, I am dealing with depression. Seeing a counselor is a great stepping stone, but there is such a lack of research to what is truly causing increasing numbers in students with mental illness issues.

According to NPR on July 5, 2018, “This week, New York and Virginia become the first two states to require mental health education in public schools. This comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report a 30 percent rise in suicide rates in the U.S. in the past two decades.”

That is the extreme part of mental illness, the suicide rate, which is one thing that the media portrays as well as many statistics. What of the mental struggles among those who aren’t suicidal and might be experience issues?

Alisa Chang of NPR went on to interview Creigh Deeds, whose had personal experience with mental health in his own family that turned out extreme. Deeds said, “You know, 70 percent of those people who struggle with mental illness first experience an episode sometime between 14 and 24. So that’s – in 10th grade is exactly the right time when people ought to be given the tools they need to be able to understand these illnesses.”

New York and Virginia legislature have taken the first leap into trying to help the rising cases for all types of mental health issues. There are two current issues with passing the mandate for mental health education. The first issue in many states if this passes in other places, is that teachers would have to have extra training in their already busy schedules to detect the signs of mental illness and what to do, which is tough because most students not only are good at hiding it because of feeling outcasts, but also the students may not know they are suffering as well, depending on the severity.

Well that’s two states it can’t be all that serious among students right? Well, there are programs being created among students regarding the biggest issues today for those in the age range of 14-24. According to Rafael Guerrero of the Chicago Tribune, “Nearly 200 students from the five School District U46 high schools and the DREAM Academy offered their insights Wednesday on such issues as mental health, academics, school safety, even lack of sleep, at the annual Student Leadership Summit.” Many findings that help with mental health issues, but maybe not fix it completely, is the obvious first go-to, getting adequate sleep.

Yesterday, Katherine Smith of The Cavalier Daily, which is based in Virginia, said, “Mental health care is rarely placed on par with other health care concerns. Often, the stigma around receiving psychological or psychiatric care remains unchecked, as the lack of information around mental health care causes ignorance on the issues to flourish.”

Smith went on to say, “While many of us know how to administer CPR or the Heimlich maneuver, many people blank on how to help someone in the midst of psychological crisis. Having resources readily on hand for friends and partners of people in crisis empowers everyone involved to take a more proactive step to combatting a variety of psychological symptoms.”

It’s nice to see an example step on the programs and others around the country taking the initiative. Maybe mental health issues haven’t been rising and people are just more comfortable with admitting to it, but it still is clearly an issue that goes greatly unnoticed at times.

I think other states should look to Virginia as a stepping stone in regards to programs not only for bystanders to help prevent suicide, but to keep pushing further to help those suffering from mental illnesses and finding even more steps in helping fight off issues. Whether it’s biological or not, surrounding yourself with the right organizations and help is exactly what this mandate is trying to push for. Suicide is an extreme form of what can happen with someone suffering from mental health and now there are at least two states who recognize that it can’t happen anymore. To those who suffer from symptoms that doesn’t involve the extremities of suicide, finally, there are opportunities to look to for states to implement some mainstream help and I am all for this.

By Brett Westfall

Let’s get this straight, I love pop-culture and like many who follow all of its dealings, you can always sense when a humungous trend is coming. This trend upcoming for the film industry that I believe is going to be prevalent among the 2020s are film and TV adaptations of video games and graphic comics and graphic novels.

So far, as someone who can call himself s a casual gamer, as in, when I played Call of Duty my KD would be just above a 1.0 for those that know, and my win rate in battle royales… yikes. But I don’t think of myself as a try-hard gamer or even that much of a video game player, I am a huge fan and follower of areas surrounding pop culture as a whole. Recently, the past couple of years, video game prominence in societies around the world and even esports are becoming massive. It’s leading to a new generation of gamers and how universilly acceptable gaming is for everyone, no matter if you are a nerd, jock, etc.

It is hard to deny the trend among video games in modern pop culture anymore. The debate of video game addiction will always be around so long as video games are around, but whether they are bad or good, there’s no denying there are some amazing stories yet to be told for those who may not have played the games.

Video games are so popular and can be addictive not only because of competitive play that feels like sport, but because of how you are in control in a fantasy/movie-like world that engulfs you into the story. You don’t get the in-depth storytelling from a film compared to a video game, because of how much in-control you are, but that doesn’t have to be completely true.

Hollywood has failed miserably at adapting video games into films. They are mediocre with half-assed action scenes that just show how much money was given for a project because it was clearly unfinished, unpolished, and cringe worthy work. It’s understandable that comic-book culture has taken the industry by storm for the past 10 years and when the 2010s come to a close, that is what pop-culture history will be all about for the decade.

So, why is intense, video-game like CGI and sets so perfect for Marvel films, but when it comes to video game films, it sucks? Well, I like to look at history.

Now, the culture of comic-book based films aren’t always just superheroes, though, that are what comics are known for predominately, there have been adaptations of other films and TV prior, such as 300, for an example. You can hate video-game movies all you want, but according to history, it can only get better.

Take for example, Adam Wests’ Batman compared to Christopher Nolan’s cape crusader. Both were loved at the time, but as time moved on, it’s been over 10 years for The Dark Knight and fans still love it because it formed a modern system of action that knew how to write a compelling story as well as add the one-liners in a manner that could be cheesy, but well placed so it’s acceptable. 1960s Batman, not so much. With great reviews and solid storytelling, even fans of that day can come to a consensus that it was lacking much of incorporating aesthetics among the storytelling.

With video game adaptation into film and TV, it could certainly be the same. There have been plenty of testers and with a backup plan when superhero films potentially winding down, depending on where the stories can lead, Hollywood prodducers know it can fund a new generation of writers and directors who know how to capture the video game world well.

So far, torn feelings on the upcoming Detective Pikachu and Sonic films only show how much more work to do for video game films. Luckily, because of of the many fans like me, video game movies sell well enough to keep them going to try and create better content that fans want to see. It doesn’t feel as if there should be this much backlash and half-produced filmmaking for video game films considering the writers are willing to help productions, but it’s a lack of the modern producer knowing what people want and where to allocate money to.

Once the superhero craze slows down a bit, and the CGI big monster movie remakes come to a close, something new and just as action packed like video-game movies could take their place. For now, it’s hard to say whether or not it’s a trend Hollywood and others should follow due to the ineffectiveness of capturing what fans want in films, but more and more films are using the over-the-top video game aesthetics to create films not even based around them.

I believe video game movies should continue to dabble and try to work their way up to what fans truly want, because as much as negative reviews and only solid box-office numbers go, this will be a work-in-progress. Video games are moving to more on-line esports which makes plenty of previous, lore and story driven games classic games open for adaptations, but should they be?

For now, only time will tell if the film and TV industry can capitalize on video game films, but there is one thing that many video game fans can help with the producers who just don’t get it, look at the over the top, stylized filmmaking of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Mad Max: Fury Road, the newest installment of Mission Impossible, and the Avengers. All of these films use stylized action and even create worlds that immersed fans into and in all honesty, felt like I was watching a video game cutscene during the action scenes.

Whether you are a fan or not of film and TV adaptations of these mediocre, ‘tryin-to-find’ a niche productions, it’s looking like they are not going to stop because they know we are going to want to reminisce over the stories so well told during the times of us playing them. For now, my opinion is to hold back awhile, find something that works, but look to films like Mad Max: Fury Road and others like it as stepping stones Hollywood. Please don’t jump into something that could ruin box-office products by jumping in on something out of your area. Plenty of young writers and upcoming directors have emmersed themselves into a video game world some way or another, so maybe wait for that input during the mid 2020s.

By Brett Westfall

Oscar season may be over, but that doesn’t mean politics under this Trump administration will stop beating to a familiar Queen super-hit with plenty of drama to award anyone with an Oscar. With so many people from Comey to Mueller and plenty of others, why did this one matter so much?

If you are talking corrupt business, Michael Cohen was like the mafia’s consigliere for President Donald Trump. He made problems disappear from Trump’s world by paying off people, rigging numbers, and more.

This was Trump’s right hand man and someone he thought he could trust. Cohen has been with the President since before he was elected and knows much about Trump’s illegal dealings, allegedly.

According to Matt Zapotosky, Rosalind S. Helderman, Karoun Demirjian, and Rachael Bade of the Washington Post, “The man who once derived his identity from making President Trump’s problems go away turned on his former boss in stunning fashion Wednesday, alleging to Congress that Trump manipulated financial records, paid to cover up extramarital affairs and reacted with glee upon learning the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy organization would release emails damaging to his political opponent.”

Continueing from the Washington Post article, later, during the testimony Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi asked, “Is there any other wrongdoing or illegal act that you are aware of regarding Donald Trump that we haven’t yet discussed today?” Michael Cohen responded with, “Yes, and again, those are part of the investigation that’s currently being looked at by the Southern District of New York,” Cohen responded.

Cohen will be facing a three years in federal prison and much of his testimony felt like a publicity stunt for many representatives like many of the previous federal court cases. Due to his past discrepancies and lies, many viewers, like myself, were stuck in the middle.

Cohen was litereally the middle man again and when he provided evidence, on the documents given to the representatives were truthful, it seems like he didn’t have many specifics as of yet to directly link Donald Trump. Trump even tweeted about how this was a publicity stunt and Cohen is a pathological liar. The closest thing they were able to pull from this legal matter was finally some in-depth look into bank fraud and tax fraud.

Which throughout history, it seems as if when huge businessmen fall, it’s because of tax evasion or other illegal money issues. But what’s shocking to me is that he claimed that Trump knew about the WikiLeaks information dump on Hillary Clinton’s emails. He called the founder of it and knew this was going to happen.

Continuing with the Washington Posts‘ article, it said, “The allegation, which has never before been aired publicly, goes to the heart of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the election and contradicts repeated claims by both Stone and Trump, who have said they had no advance knowledge of WikiLeaks’ plans… Trump has said, too, that he never discussed WikiLeaks with Stone.”

Yet according to Cohen, it was reported that Trump does many of his business dealings over speaker phone and Cohen heard many of his conversations with people.

Though there was nothing incriminating for the Russia Investigation, they now can at least dive into something more realistic in the all around spectrum, and that is money.

In my opinion this is another half-publicity stunt for representatives and Trump might be great at hiding his dealings with a dead end trail, and the other half is that we are inching closer to finding out how to end this ‘corruption’ in this administration.

I used to think that there were dealings with Russia, and I still think there was something not directly linked to Donald Trump but people of his family and other third-party people he can go through, which, unless there is a recorded tape, technically, there is no evidence.

That is all that these investigations feel like for me and I can’t understand where any of the past investigations could go. It’s been ‘he said-she said’ investigations and claims that even an elementary student learning about patience and manners could see this was just bickering. This investigation though, in my opnion, has finally opened the door into realistic business dealings with tax fraud.

If you want an investigation and a reason to take someone like this down, look no further than into his money. Though it was tried before, you now have someone who knows and could even have documents ready to provide for Trump.

I believe this could lead to a more structured investigation with plenty of people around willing to come forth over the matter that could lead to at least, one tiny piece of evidence that could lead into a long, windy trail of lies and deceit.

Then, there is about 25% of me that thinks there is nothing and he is a goo dbusiness man who ran in a weak election of political frauds and since he wasn’t one of the political frauds, he won fair and square, so we should just deal with him. We could move these investigations to something more prominent and real.

I’m slowly becoming more torn but with Michael Cohen, Trump’s former right hand man, who apparently was so easily dispended, Trump really is living the life of “you’re fired.” I don’t know how much information at this point is provided about his money, but at least now, there is a stronger grasp on taxes that could lead to another ‘witch-hunt’ or provide actual proof of misdealings, evasion, or what everyone thinks is going on inside an alledgedly corrupt businessmen.

By Brett Westfall; #JMC406

Upholding our right to know: OUR VIEW: Every citizen has the right to information from public officials

 Mahoney nailed it about how people aren’t as outspoken anymore about politics, they still fear secret government activities and believe how important free and open government is. But what about a passion everyone can get behind?

Mahoney and some staff members have talked to people who have tried to get information from the government but have been ignored or turned down and it is causing people to feel as if they cannot exercise their rights as much.

He mentions that they have always been good at getting information from the government but that’s not because of the people with the most clout or anything. People just feel powerless, so they give up or are too discouraged to speak up and “…continue to suffer in silence.”

‘Your Right to Know’ blog is a step to help people be able to express beliefs about open government talk. Mahoney talks about the otherside of this matter, the government officials working. Many hard-working government officials work hard with things like FOIL requests and county clerks.

Just like any job, there are public officals who don’t respect open government and public officials who do respect open government.

In doing this research, to help people feel confident again in expressing their rights and using their rights in an open government with ‘Your Right to Know,’ blog, Mahoney and other said, “We’re happily surprised. And rightfully encouraged.”

With so many people around, I agree that it is hard to get every citizen’s needs and wants, but for citizens to lack the motivation or for them to fear an act of retribution for daring to exercise their rights means that something else is going on. Environments change, but it’s good to see Mahoney and others create a blog to express the freedoms of open government and information that people actually want and should know.

By Brett Westfall, #JMC406

Boards should be invited in, not locked out: OUR VIEW: Board members should have full access to schools

From the start, comparing big named sports teams and corporations being banned from observing the main aspects when important meetings take place.

He ends the introduction with, “Ridiculous, right?”

This alone, was a great way to pull in any type of reader and his point comes across as not only clear, but it truly pulls you in to agree with him.

In the article, specifically the Warrensburg school district, and others across the state, the elected members of the school board are banned from going into classrooms and observing the educational process unless they can get permission from the employee’s union.

Mahoney makes great points that having a school board member walk into a classroom and observe from the back might make a teacher ‘nervous.’ But then he said, “One or two people standing in the back of a classroom shouldn’t unnerve any competent teacher.”

I believe he is right, from a money and policy standpoint, I do believe school board members, who are elected representatives should be allowed, with a visitors pass, be able to observe teachers.

There is always a fuss between teachers and school board members because of implementing policies and constant changes is tough. But together, the teachers can feel more on the same agenda with the elected school board members and vice versa. It’s like a team and would make much more sense.

He makes a good point that it could spark parents and adults overcrowding classrooms to see where their taxpaying dollars are being used for, but it should be established that it could be on occasion. Most parents are so busy with work and life anyways, so really, this would still primarily pertain to the school board members, who are elected officials, in charge of where our taxpayer dollars go, and I agree that they should know the teachers and the implemented teaching policies first-hand.

By Brett Westfall; claims for local editorial #JMC406

According to Erika Pritchard of the Kearney Hub, Dollar General is taking the business away from a small-town grocery store that sold non-perishable items and fresh foods in Ravenna.

From Pritchard’s article, the Public Relations Director for Dollar General Crystal Ghassemi said, “With our company’s foundation rooted in the small town of Scottsville, Ky., Dollar General understands the unique needs of customers in rural areas. In fact, approximately 70 percent of our stores serve communities with a population of 20,000 or less. We believe our small-box retail footprint often provides a complementary option to other retailers that may sell items such as produce and meat.”

Dollar general has taken most of the consumer base away from many local chains in small towns. About 500 locally owned and chain grocery stores in the state remain. More than 20 years ago, there were close to 1,600 stores. All of these facts come from Ghassemi’s article and provided by Kathy Siefken, executive director of the Nebraska Grocery Inudstry Association.

Siefken continued to say that most closures of small-town, locally-owned stores in the past 2 years have been because of Dollar General.

The one thing about locally-owned stores when buying in bulk is that it is not as cheap as the chain stores. In the Ghassemi article, the Ravenna store, owned and operated by the McDowells wasn’t always able to sell enough of the bulk product, relulting in outdated foods, which caused negative publicity. Though the McDowells would respond to comments, they were still trying to compete with grocery stores in Kearney and Grand Island.

Online grocery shopping is also a huge factor in the shutting down of locally owned grocery stores, such as this one in Ravenna. Plus, large stores now have customer service, and around the Kearney area, it doesn’t take as long to get ahold of people compared to large cities. The quality of the people and the knowledge of information is quite a difference often.

With the help of technology and chains across America, Dollar General certainly has their demographic figured out, but what about truly fresh produce, will someone have to go to HyVee in Kearney or wait for a farmers market in the summer?

Personally, I love chain stores because of how much cheaper it can be, around this area to buy in bulk and to save money, even if it is just a subtle change for quality. The one thing that local grocery stores have, though, is fresh meat and produce, and in the middle of Nebraska, that’s the good stuff.

I believe that if larger, chain grocery stores, such as Dollar General are going to open in smaller towns, there should be something hosted outside the store or a section on the inside for people and smaller companies to be able to sell fresh foods. I think cans, frozen goods, and almost everything else sold by the chain companies are more well managed, believe it or not, to have cheaper items and money to fix issues quicker. Reliability is key for grocery stores.

If chain grocery stores can get behind supporting local communities and help sell products, that’s a win-win, but when it comes to locally owned stores, pride is a huge factor for communities and large stores do diminish that. Efficiency and pricing and having large connections is what helps chains like Dollar General excel compared to the locally owned places.

I think Dollar General can help that community tremendously, but locally owned stores are going to be rare to see if they cannot keep up on prices. Even if the store has better customer service, it still remains a grocery store, a place for consumers to stock up their refrigerator and cabinets with food that is good for you and food that is bad for you.

By Brett Westfall

It’s been known that successful fantasy series take a lot of work into teams focusing on character building and world building. From the writer’s room to set designers, all the way to the post-production rooms.

With Game of Thrones ending this upcoming summer, which is regarded as the best or second best fantasy produced by a studio ever with Lord of the Rings. Not comparing to sci-fi fantasy, Game of Thrones will be TV’s greatest fantasy world that also pushed the boundaries for what TV shows can portray and do.

Now, with the domination of streaming services, especially Netflix, what comes next for the lovers of the fantasy-genre? The next mainstream, well funded and highly produced fantasy world is The Witcher. Based off of a novel series and a Polish video game series, that sold well in America and I think The Witcher 3 is one of the best open world RPG’s that never gets talked about enough. The story was great and the game was ahead of the curve when it came to many gamers and the “hunting monsters” craze.

The video game dynamic was brutal, stylized violence, with a story that made you feel for your character as well as invest yourself into this beautiful, Nordic, Polish based world that Netflix will need to capture right away. Well used CGI hasn’t been a strong suit for many of the company’s try hard films. Luckily, when it comes to Television, Netflix is up there.

To stand out, I believe there needs to be a subtle change in regards not only to the upcoming TV show, but to fantasy in general. There could be so many well rounded stories based around the women and minorities in these fantasy worlds. Many haven’t incorporated people of color do to the familiar formula from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings books, in which it resembles Medieval European times combined with the folktales of centuries past. Every series changes and you can tell, based on the times, series and stories change to incorporate issues from the real world during the time it is created. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t.

In regards to Netflix’s, The Witcher, the story is so dense that there is a great way to incorporate strong female leads with a world that you can incorporate minorities or people of color by combining towns and elements that are already there in the game. The game did receive minimal backlash for the lack of color in the game, but it did fall under the radar do to how great the game looked and played. Netflix won’t be able to escape that though, there is so much more in a world so well designed as The Witcher to incorporate many more characters and storylines that would benefit the series. Just please do it carefully without ruining what The Witcher is to fans.

Lauren S. Hissrich is the show-runner of this series. From her early days as staff on The West Wing to producing Netflix’s Daredevil, and the way allegedly hires staff, honestly, is kind of awesome. In an article published by Gita Jackson for gaming news website Kotaku, Hissrich replied to fans absurdly mad at a picture of the writing staff by saying, “I can’t speak for other show-runners, but I do blind hiring, which means before I read a submission, I take off the cover page. … I read the scripts. I put the ones I love the most in a pile.”

Now, like me, you could be thinking, “But just because she hires who she thinks had the best script doesn’t mean it’s the best.” Well, I continued reading and researching and found even better news. An old formula that has worked for film and Television for decades, the series will be based off of the books with the video game helping with visuals and extra content. In regards to that and to the haters wanting diversity in a fantasy series, Hissrich said, “I will not deviate from the books’ races and cultures, which means I WILL include minorities.”

She will include what she is able to based on the books and her staff of writers does have people European decent who can attest to the cultural aspects of Poland and everyone on her staff, so far, for the season has read the books and analyzed details. Every author will get to write their own episode, which did concern me due to how offbeat some episodes could feel with different styles, but everyone is on the same page reportedly.

So far for The Witcher, Hissrich in pre-production and in the writer’s room from an outward look upon it, has been making the right moves. But when it comes to filming, set designing, directing, and more, that is an even harder challenge. Making what was written, come to life in the way intended is the hardest challenge to take on. Especially in a fantasy world that is going to have to compete immediately against HBO’s Game of Thrones, in which is coming down to it’s final and certainly most worked on season. This is a huge challenge for Netflix, but the pre-production casting and everything about the writers room looks promising.

More to come.

Follow Hissrich on Twitter: @LHissrich

By Brett Westfall; #JMC406; State Editorial Claims

Claims to why the Keystone Pipeline should end and be taken away:

1. Just recently, another spill of 1,800 gallons just happened this past Wednesday 0.322 miles from the Mississippi River
2. The spill shut down the pipeline for just a short amount of time all around Missouri and Nebraska and how can that be good for the company?
3. Other, smaller pipelines are all around banking on this idea which is concerning
4. The chief of DNR’s environmental emergency response team said this was “lucky” it was caught in time. The chief said this. Imagine if it wasn’t and it leaked into the Mississippi
5. After all of that, 88 percent of Nebraskans rely on groundwater
6. Even with the alternative location, a spill like that could affect the land and water supply around here even worse

This past week, the TransCanada Keystone oil pipeline was shut down after a leak was reported in the St. Charles, Missouri area the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Though the spill was stopped, it is clear that the spill came from either the TransCanada Keystone pipeline or the Enbridge pipeline, either way, crude oil spilled on land in the midwest.

Officials claimed this spill was about 1,700 feet away from the Mississippi River and apparently did not affect the waterway in which that is only 0.322 miles away… seriously, that is how close the spill was.

Teams of the companies and DNR environmental emergency responders are investigating what caused the spill that caused 1,800 gallons to spill in a short amount of time. This is concerning.

Staff from the Lincoln Journal Star talked with Brad Harris, a chief of the DNR’s environmental emergency response section. “It’s contained in this low area,” Harris said. “I think we’ve gotten lucky. Four thousand square feet is the estimated impacted area.”

They got “lucky”. Let that sink in. The chief of the environmental emergency response section said this…

The entire spill wouldn’t have been recognized until a something entirely worse would’ve came about if a company technician hadn’t have stumbled upon it when doing a routine check for the job. Though, it was shutdown immediately, and within a day, it picked back up again.

This is concerning for Nebraskans. Close to 88 percent of Nebraska residents rely on groundwater according to the Omaha World Herald.

Luckily, strong water purification through improved fertilizers practices held reduce nitrate levels to insure safe drinking water, but nitrate levels are not the issue when it comes to oil spills and tar sands. Especially if there is a massive leak.

Though lawmakers have been fighting against and for in a back and forth battle over the safer root away from water levels, there still remains that the 36-inch pipeline would carry up to 830,000 barrels a day of thick tar sands crude oil from Canada all the way down to the Gulf Coast just so it can be refined.

They claim the route chosen would have minimal impact, well, once it gets into the ground, that minimal impact will be catastrophic. Soil will be damage for decades, it could spread into nearby areas that require ground water or worse.

Just like this last spill incident in Missouri, it caused the entire line all the way in Nebraska to shut down. How is that not also affecting the company profits or state violations? This pipeline would make sense in prepping for a war or building up for something, but not when the main management is from a separate country.

I believe the keystone pipeline should not come through the midwest, especially Nebraska, no matter the “alternative and safe” route. A crude oil spill of close to 2,000 gallons just spilled 0.3 miles from the Mississippi river. Let that type of spill into a state that 88 percent of people rely on groundwater and see the uproar of why representatives voted on this to expand their billfold with more money. This is ridiculous and makes me feel as if the people in the midwest are even more pawns than other places currently.

By Brett Westfall

Millenials love video games, whether mobile, console, or PC. Like film and TV, video games are the newest mainstream form of mass entertainment, the only difference is that you (the player) are in control.

As time moves on and billions of dollars flow through the industry, companies are expected to create games that are visually greater and the controls become more advanced, yet fluid.

With recent releases like Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2, which became a cultural phenomenon over social media and memes about how polished the game was. An open world game set in the wild west where you could literally almost do anything if allowed back in that day.

Through all the hype and the fun though, many AAA titles from big companies are having recent backlash in the media for the first time. Social media has been tremendous for movements such as #MeToo and others, but there is one flowing under many radars since video game companies are still a relatively untouched news market.

Game Workers United is one of hopefully more international movements regarding the crunch time of video games. A crunch time period is when a video game funding only can go so far and a game needs to release on the deadline it promised, so many workers, if not all in the studios are forced to work ‘beyond overtime.’ According to James Batchelor of GamesIndustry Biz in an extensive yearly survey study, “Only 14.2% of respondents claimed they are never expected to work beyond their contracted hours. More than a third are expected to do so regularly, with 24.7% saying they are ‘Often’ called to work extra and 11.4% saying ‘Very Often’.”

Game testers are sometime working 24+ hour shifts for measely pay and many are laid off when the games are published. Also, a Twitter feed from @jobjstauffer said, “It’s been nearly a decade since I parted from Rockstar, but I can assure you that during the GTA IV era, it was like working with a gun to your head 7 days a week. “Be here Saturday & Sunday too, just in case Sam or Dan come in, they want to see everyone working as hard as them.””

Illness, rarely going home, and a lack of immediate response from the studios to their employees over these reported working conditions are all reasons that social media movements have been created.

Of course there are always going to be crunch times at many businesses, but unlike Hollywood or other film and TV production studios, it is relatively new and irregular that video game companies, that are also in the entertainment industry, are having excessive working conditions. Since video game comapnies are looked at like your typical white collar, boxed-in cubicle job, but in reality, it is a combination. You have coders, designers, engineers, business, etc.

Sam Forsdick of Compelo interviewed Tommy Millar, a veteran in the art and animation side of the video-game industry. Millar said, ““My experience of the gaming industry has been particularly bad. The studio had us on very long hours, but we were always promised that if we do the long hours, we would rise quickly through the ranks. I started to doubt myself at this point. I was working incredibly long hours and rarely going home but the idea harbours and festers that you could do better if you stayed a little bit longer.”

Millar went on to say he did not have a family at the time and upper management told him he is exactly what they needed, but never a mention a promotion or anything. He feels bad for those who have families during the crunch time. He also eventually was overworked due to the environment and untruthful praise to work 13-14 hours a week.

It’s understandable to work countless hours if you are a self starter, but the demand and requirement for video games is tremendous and is not something most people would think of. Many people in the industry don’t have to deal with the crunch time, but there are plenty of stories like Tommy Millar’s story that are coming out. Even little things like frames per second (fps) are such a pivotal part for creators.

Consumers have been blessed with amazing entertainment through video games, but are consumers expecting and asking for too much now? Do studios need to hire more people? Does this industry need to be treated like Hollywood and get more investors? Or is this hard work going to pay off so video games will be like the new Hollywood and film and TV industry where we expect the closer, upper-level staff to work egregious hours to create the best product. Time will only tell, but in the meantime, as a consumer, just know that the slightest hair moving from the wind in the game you are playing could’ve very well been designed and created by an employee who could’ve been affected negatively in a major way due to working conditions.

All of this madness within the vastly growing industry is just so we millennial consumers can have another way of entertainment and ‘play escape’ from reality while those working on the games may suffer in reality.