16 minute read
When we were scammed
Every emo kid’s dream may actually become a nightmare
jorah bright a&c writer
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Natalie Parham via Unsplash
Some guitar player in a punk band jumping while his band mates just keep rockin’.
Music festivals have been on the rise in recent years, even during the pandemic. Every year, fans wait patiently to see who is going to be on the Coachella line-up. The feeling of the sun on your face, the anticipation of waiting to hear your favourite songs, and being surrounded by other fans who are just as excited as you are. It’s an incredible experience.
Yet, music festivals have been under fire recently. Specifically, festivals like Astroworld, where 10 people died in November while the performer, Travis Scott, kept performing. Astroworld was put on by the event promoter Live Nation Entertainment. The same
company is putting on a new festival called When We Were Young.
When We Were Young is a pop-punk music festival that will take place in October of 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. As of writing this article, the festival tickets have sold out. The line-up for When We Were Young boasts some of the biggest names in pop punk: My Chemical Romance, Paramore, Bring Me The Horizon, Avril Lavigne, and more will all be playing the festival.
This all seems well and good right? Wrong. There’s a lot of issues going on with When We Were Young that many are overlooking in favour of their favourite bands.
Live Nation Entertainment is still facing several lawsuits as a result of Astroworld. Astroworld failed in hiring enough staff and security for the event and, again, several people died. Live Nation has responded to concerns about When We Were Young in the wake of Astroworld and they were very nonchalant. They told Newsweek that “The safety of fans, artists and staff is thoroughly planned for among event organisers and in coordination with local authorities.” It just seems like they responded with a very safe answer without actually going into the details of how they were
going to make changes to prevent another Astroworld incident.
When We Were Young has over 60 bands in their lineup, and they only have three stages for over 60 different performers… in 12 hours. So, in 12 hours, 20 bands will play on each stage. The bands won’t even have an hour each to play a set. When the festival was first announced, there was only one day for performances, and after popular demand, they decided to add another day to the festival – with more of the same. Instead of spreading out the performances across two days, both days are going to have 60 bands perform in 12 hours on 3 stages. In comparison, the Welcome to Rockville festival this May is spread out over four days with 76 bands playing, and no more than 19 bands playing per day. Another comparison is the large festival Lollapalooza. They have over 170 bands playing, except they have eight stages in comparison to When We Were Young’s three, and the festival takes place over four days.
Oh, and during this time, when the When We Were Young bands have roughly 30 minutes for their performance, they also have to set up, do a sound check, and tear down before the next band performs. This leaves almost no
time for an actual performance. And I honestly don’t believe that some of the major bands like My Chemical Romance or Paramore are going to this festival to perform for 20 minutes and then leave, because if that was happening, they wouldn’t be getting paid as much. If my logic is correct, then it’s even less likely that most bands will have 30 minutes to play and do all the additional steps that need to happen for a performance.
Another issue with When We Were Young is the cost. General admission started at $225 for the day. The General Admission Plus started at $400 for the day. The only additional things you get with the Plus path is an air-conditioned bathroom and a special entry lane. So, for $175 more, you can pee in a cold bathroom. And don’t forget about the VIP Cabana, which costs a whopping $12,500 for you and nine friends to sit in the shade with your own security, alcohol, and no lines. These were the prices before they added the additional day to the festival, and they stayed the same after the new day was added. And to boot, these tickets aren’t refundable. If something happens with COVID and you can’t make it to the festival, then you’re out at least $225.
To compare, for all four days of Welcome to Rockville, it costs festival goers a minimum of $280, or $70 a day. The VIP for When We Were Young costs $500, while Welcome to Rockville costs $615, or $154 a day. Lollapalooza’s tickets, to compare, start at $350 for all four days, or $88 a day. When We Were Young is an expensive festival. An expensive festival that doesn’t even have any parking.
Something that I found very interesting about When We Were Young is that there are no sponsors. They have an option on their website to inquire about sponsoring the event, but there does not appear to be any active sponsors on the poster or the website. To compare, Welcome to Rockville has two sponsors listed on their website: Bud Light Seltzer and Jack Daniels, two major alcohol brands. Lollapalooza has 29 sponsors, including major companies like T-Mobile, Hulu, and Toyota.
Overall, the When We Were Young festival’s website is bad. It’s just terrible. It’s a one-page website. In comparison, Welcome to Rockville has eight tabs that you can open and browse. Some of these tabs are longer than WWWY’s entire page.
So, yes, When We Were Young looks like every emo kid’s
dream, and that’s probably why it sold out – but there are a lot of red flags everywhere. Many are comparing it to the infamous Fyre Fest and are expecting it to crash and burn. Some are holding out hope for their childhood dreams of seeing their favourite emo bands live. Either way, it’s important to see that everything is not what it seems and not every dream is going to work out. No matter how it goes, Live Nation Entertainment has already made enough money to start paying off their legal fees from the Astroworld lawsuits.
– Jorah Bright
The “Hallyu” wave is paying Netflix’s bills
amina salah staff writer
“Hallyu” is a Chinese word that refers to the “Korean wave.” Hallyu highlights the rise in Korean entertainment from the 90s to today. Even 10 years ago, Korean entertainment was not easily accessible to the western audience. Fans used services such as Viki and Dramafever to access Korean films, dramas, and more. Today, Netflix is changing the access to South Korean entertainment. As someone who has had a subscription for what feels like ages, their selection of Korean entertainment was slim to none. I found myself having to use other services to watch dramas.
However, as internet culture changes, so does Korean entertainment. Today, we know of Hellbound, Parasite, Kingdom, Squid Game, and more. The streaming platform doesn’t only cater to films and shows: it has been expanding to reality TV and variety shows such as Singles Inferno and more. But the fact is that South Korean content is paying Netflix’s bills. In its first 28 days of being released, Squid Game garnered 1.65 billion hours of viewership according to Netflix’s data. It ranked up 142 million household views, surpassing previous hits such as Bridgerton. According to Netflix, the other biggest Korean shows in 2021 were Vincenzo, Hometown ChaCha-Cha, My Name, Hellbound, Nevertheless, Hospital Playlist season 2, The King’s Affection, and The Uncanny Counter.
In its early days, Netflix changed the game as a DVD mail service that made it easy for customers to order movies online and return them. It was a more convenient service compared to Blockbuster. Only later did it transform into the full-on streaming service we know and love, making movies and TV shows easier for the public to watch. The success of Netflix in America allowed the service to expand into other markets. According to Troy Stangarone, the senior director and fellow at the Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI), Netflix offer, licensing some of their content over to Netflix. Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, a drama created by TVN that was licensed to air on Netflix last year, had a total viewership hour of 271 million by the end of 2021, making it one of the most successful dramas on Netflix.
The reason why Korean entertainment is becoming global is partly due to it being available on Netflix. Other streaming services such as Disney+ have even decided to follow their lead and launch Korean entertainment on their Korean drama Love Alarm based on a South Korean manga, and many more. Netflix’s director for original Korean content, Kim Min-young, stated “Netflix is trying to become a channel to introduce Korean content to people around the world.” South Korean storytellers are given the space to tell stories that are significant to and resonant of their cultures, which will then be streamed to a western audience that appreciates authentic story telling. That is ultimately the appeal.
The South Korean Hallyu
– Amina Salah
launched into the South Korean economy in 2016. Its success in the west made it easier for it to transform media in many countries, but especially South Korea. As a response, some South Korean entertainment agencies declined to license their content to Netflix, CJ E&M being one of the biggest entertainment companies in the country that chose to decline. Other popular entertainment companies such as TVN (Television Network) and JTBC (The Joongang Tongyang Broadcasting Company) accepted the service, with works like the drama Snowdrop. But Netflix not only licenses South Korean content, it also curates original content. This appeals to actors, singers, producers, and directors in South Korea. It is an opportunity to have their ideas turned into reality.
The appeal is that Netflix doesn’t change the content from South Korean artists to attract a western audience. The content is original to the creativity and culture of South Korean artists. Examples of these include the hit variety show Busted, the South wave is definitely keeping Netflix’s lights on. As the Hallyu wave reaches every corner of the world, especially the West, some Western entertainment firms have seen the effect and their response has been to adapt South Korean content by making English or westernized versions of popular South Korean dramas: Crash Landing on You, for one. Critics have noted that this is a big mistake as it is changing stories created by South Korean writers.
The lack of originality in Hollywood is quite astounding. Instead of stepping their game up, the response is to essentially copy entertainment from other countries to appeal to a western audience. The reality is that western audiences already enjoy entertainment from South Korea. It appeals to them because it is an opportunity to hear stories from people across the world, to understand and appreciate the nuances of another culture. Squid Game allowed a western audience to understand South Korean culture. Parasite was an opportunity for a western audience to understand the inequalities in the South Korean economy, something that people from different global economies can relate to. Right now, one of the top South Korean dramas on Netflix is Our Beloved Summer, ranking in at number nine. As Netflix focuses more on the world of variety content, Singles Inferno, another reality series from South Korea, made it on the streaming service’s top 10 charts this month becoming one of the most watched TV shows globally.
As media evolves, the world must evolve with it too. This is what Netflix is doing and what makes it dynamic. Stangarone emphasizes that the threat of competition from Netflix that has made the entertainment industry realize they need better funding to further develop content and keep up with the streaming giant. As the Hallyu wave rises, the demand for South Korean entertainment also rises, and it is evident that Netflix is committed to delivering it.
editor: katie mutschler sports@carillonregina.com the carillon | jan 27 - feb 2, 2022
Gym review series: Kettle Bell Kick Boxing Canada
Let’s kick our woes away
victoria baht s & h writer
Sean Behiel
Jodi Barrett is ready to teach us how to kick away all of our worries.
Hey there, Carillon readers. As you have been reading, you know that for the month of January I am going around to different gyms in Regina for a review and interview. January is almost over, which means we only have a few gyms left. Which one do you think is next? Looks like you will just have to come back next week to find out. For this issue, I want to tell you about “Kettle Bell Kickboxing Canada” at the YQR studio, which is located on 2135 Broad Street, Regina, SK.
When you enter the doors, you walk into a very cute setup with a welcome desk, and there are some nice motivational signs and chairs to make you feel at home in the studio. Once you walk in you are now in the studio. After you get changed it is time to grab equipment. I grabbed three types of kettlebells: a light (8 lbs), medium (10 lbs), and a heavy (15 lbs). Once you get used to the gym and to the pattern, they have more choices and heavier weights, although this worked for me.
The class I completed is called “Kettle Bell Kick Boxing,” a cardio and strength mobility workout where we use Russian kettle bells combined with martial arts motions. The gym uses martial arts motions and gives you a time frame of five-minute rounds with interval training. I had the experience of 50 seconds of work and a 10 second break. I thought the 20 second cardio bursts back when I went to Oxygen studio were hard, but now that I’ve done it for 50, those 20 seconds feel like a breeze!
Now that you’ve had a rundown of what the class looks like, I will give you my overall thoughts throughout the class. The focus with these classes is to make you think about what you are doing. This way you are only focusing on what is happening in the studio, and not what happened before the class; it gives you a fresh new start. For me, the fact that I had to follow a pattern on my
own and count for myself was a reset button. A routine that we did involved 10 repetitions of a movement and then a switch to a new movement in a rhythm. Then we moved down reps by two (beginning with ten, to eight, to six, etc.). This was a battle not only physically but also mentally which was an experience.
You work independently to help focus on your mental and physical health, but you still get a team environment. This was my first class here, and I felt welcomed by the staff in the studio and the clients. They helped fix my movements so I would not hurt myself and helped me follow along with the class. Even with COVID guidelines, we still worked as a team. For example, we did toe touches on the weight, and if you knocked over that weight everyone did a burpee (I would not knock it over if I were you). We worked as a team when completing bear and burpee rounds. We would all be in a bear
pose and move around in a small circle. When it was your turn, you completed a burpee and then went to bear.
It is a great workout not only mentally but physically! This is a great one to try out and a great way to train constantly. If this class interested you, they also have a light class, a women’s only class, and classes for your kiddos to try out as well. Now that you have heard my reflection, let’s hear from Jodi Barrett.
What do you like about teaching classes at the studio?
I love the fact that people come through the door, and they think training is only about the physical strength. Although, as they get stronger, they find out what mental strengths they [have, and] get to work on their goals. Whether it be weight loss or confidence, it all comes in pieces which takes time to notice.
What keeps you motivated to be a fitness instructor?
– Jodi Barrett
[I like] connecting with people and getting…involved in helping someone. Fitness…helped and pulled me through rough places, guiding me through my life’s journey. I love to move my body, and I think it is a gift and blessing everyday.
What is some advice you would give someone who is wanting to try your gym for the first time?
Biggest challenge is walking through the door and starting; you just got to do it!
We all know January is the month for “new year, new me.” What are some suggestions you have for people to not only have a “new me,” but to improve their healthy habits and lifestyle?
Consistency is where it all starts. It does not matter if you are a newbie or a resolution person as long as you start somewhere and you are consistent. It does not always have to be crazy. It takes 21 days to create a healthy habit. Once you start be committed, because you will never know when you will be tired but that is the challenge and as you stay consistent your body adapts.
Does the gym have any special promotions going on right now? If so, can you explain them?
We have 20 per cent off our eight -session package use code “fitjan2022”. We also have a student rate that is constantly ongoing.
So come on, University of Regina students! Each gym the Carillon has gone to this month has been great, challenging, welcoming, and has had a student rate. All the gyms have been saying the hardest part of getting started is coming through that door. If I can go around to multiple gyms through out the city and find what I like, so can you. If Oxygen Yoga, Fit Project, and Kettle Bell Kickboxing don’t sound like your style, come back next week to read about one more gym!
