Arts & Culture

6 The Daily Aztec Arts & Culture

‘Tis the season to make gifts

By Sumaia Wegner STAFF WRITER

Seasons greetings, friends! What better time to start thinking about holiday gifts than now? As a hard working student, your time is as valuable as the cash in your pocket. So worry not, because here are four inexpensive homemade holiday gifts to give friends and family. Painted Photo Frame Everyone cherishes a favorite memory, so what better way to preserve a happy moment in time than a hand-painted photo frame. You can purchase a plastic or wooden photo frame from Dollar Tree as well as some paint. Once you have your materials, go ahead and let out your inner Van Gogh. As the paint dries, you can print an individual picture at Walmart for less than 20 cents. If you want a bigger size or a glossier touch, it’ll be a few dollars more. With a beautifully customized photo frame, your loved one will feel special when they receive this gift — so much so it will make you want another painted frame to capture their joyful reaction. Jar of Hugs and Kisses When you cannot be there to show your love language of physical touch, a bite of chocolate is a great consolation for when a loved one is missing you. This is why this next gift idea is one of my personal favorites. You will need two glasses/vases (available at Dollar Tree), a marker, a piece of paper, and some tape or glue. You will also need to get a bag of Hershey’s kisses and hugs. Hershey’s kisses are available year-round, but hugs are seasonal. “Hugs” are white chocolate with milk chocolate stripes. Label one of the glasses with “(insert your name)’s kisses” and the other with “(insert your name)’s kisses.” Fill up

‘We whisk you’ a sweet holiday season

By Cristina Lombardo ASST. ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR

The holidays are a time for giving, obviously, but as broke college students, the budget we have to spend is low unfortunately.

Luckily for you, there are a few things that aren’t ridiculously expensive to give your loved ones this holiday season.

Baking treats! Yes, you do have to buy the ingredients, but everyone (or mostly everyone) loves sweets! So, you can’t go wrong. The satisfaction of giving someone treats as a gift beats a $500 PS5 right?

Anyway, here are some recipes to try and to give to your favorite people.

The first recipe is a yellow cake batter Christmas cookie recipe from thedairyofarealhousewife.com.

Of course you’ll need some yellow cake batter mix, which you can get at the dollar store. You may already have eggs, oil and sugar in your kitchen. Luckily, the recipe isn’t picky, so any type of oil works. Lastly, one would need vanilla extract, but as someone who bakes a lot, imitation vanilla will do just the trick — and it’s a lot cheaper! To top it all off, make sure to add some green and red sprinkles.

For some variety, instead of cookies, you may consider making some peanut butter ‘snowballs.’ This recipe from emilyenchanted.com is a bit more complicated but can be totally worth it. With only four steps to follow, what could go wrong?

Peanut butter is a must and the recipe specifically calls for crunchy. Powdered sugar to give it that snowball feel, and honey just to give it a sweeter kick.

Graphic by Shalika Oza

Some of the most thoughtful gifts for family and friends can be homemade - with love instead of money

your glass with the chocolates, and tadah — you have a jar of your “hugs and kisses.” You can paint the glass/vase with paint or tie some ribbons on them if you want a more decorative touch. These love jars are a sweet expression to your loved one that they can always have a piece of your love, when they are missing you. (Keep this one in the books for Valentine’s Day)! Customized Coupon Book We can get so caught up and busy with our days (especially with finals approaching) that we don’t make enough time to spend with family and friends. A homemade coupon book is a great way to show your loved ones that you care and are there for them when they need you.

First, cut a piece of white printer paper into fourths. Depending on how many “coupons” you want to include, you can use as many pieces of paper as your caring heart desires. On each piece of paper, write a chore or activity you know you can do when the time arrives. For example, if you are giving this book to your parents, some things you can include are: “babysit sibling(s) for you to go on date night,”

Vanilla extract is definitely a must for this recipe but again, vanilla imitation will do the trick! Lemon juice, salt and white chocolate melts is really all you need for this recipe. It’s a lot of steps and ingredients, but having something that you don’t have to bake is a win.

Let’s mix it up a bit, everybody loves cookies but what about rum balls? They sound a bit odd, right? Assuming you’ll give it to someone of legal age, I’m sure they would love this interesting yet satisfying treat. The full recipe can be found at smalltownwoman.com.

You’ll need corn syrup, vanilla wafers, almonds, powdered sugar, unsweetened cocoa and the main star, rum.

Mix them all together and you get

“wash your car,” or “family activity of your choice.” For friends, some acts of service you may include are: “go see a movie,” “help study with a test,” or “lunch is on me.”

Staple the coupons together and Van Gogh, again! This gift is thoughtful and customizable to the person you are making it for. They will surely appreciate it. Feelings Box Sometimes, we can use a little bit of cheering up on the days that are long and tough. With this gift idea, your loved one will surely be reminded that things will be okay. You can tailor this gift to your liking depending on how grand you want to make it. Get four or five bags (they can be as small as zip lock bags or as big as big gift bags). Label each bag with a “negative” feeling, such as stressed, sad, anxious, mad or annoyed. Then, fill each bag with items to make the bad feeling go away. For example for the stressed feeling, you can include candles, a bath bomb and a face mask to remind your loved one to relax. For the sad feeling, you can include handwritten jokes, colorful stickers and personal pictures to put a smile on their face.You can get creative with this idea and go as big as you want. Then, once all the bags are filled with things of your choosing, tell your loved one that they can only open the bag of their feelings when they are feeling it. This gift is four or five little gifts in one your loved one can look forward to opening with time. It is a gift that will show them that you will not let them stay upset over anything, that you can pick them up as soon as they are feeling down.

The holidays are a time where our love and kindness is extra warm and these gift ideas will ensure your friends and family feel cherished, as they should.

Photo by Cristina LombardoTry to get in the Christmas spirit by making a variety of different treats, like vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting.

delicious little delights that everyone over the age of 21 would definitely like to try!

The last recipe is something already made for you. A container of Oreos? That already sounds pretty good. But let’s make it look like Christmas. Transform an ordinary Oreo to ‘Christmas tree Oreos.’

These of course require Oreos. The recipe also calls for white and green chocolate candy melts and sprinkles. They require star sprinkles and brown sprinkles but there’s no reason one can’t get creative with it. With a prep time of 10 minutes, it definitely is something one can do if struggling with a gift idea.

These recipes will most definitely leave people wanting more. Who wouldn’t want something sweet for the holidays?

Nov. 17 - 30, 2021 EDITOR: Ryan Hardison • arts@thedailyaztec.com

Level up your gift giving!!!!

By Eugénie Budnik STAFF WRITER

Gear up gamers, the 2021 holiday season is fast approaching, and with it comes a slew of new video games being released just in time for gift giving! From first person shooter games, to puzzle games, and racing games, there is truly something out there for everyone.

If you are a video game novice, this video game gift guide is just the tool you need to make every gamer on your gift list happy.

“Halo Infinite” comes out on Dec. 8, just a few weeks before Christmas. “Halo Infinite” is the sixth installment in the “Halo” series, and continues the story of Master Chief. The game was initially set to be released in Nov. 2020, but due to complications during development, it was pushed to Dec. 2021. Any fan of first-person shooter games will be happy to find Master Chief’s green amour under their tree this holiday season.

Another video game avid first-person shooter players can add to their wishlist is “Battlefield 2042.” This game releases on Nov. 19, and will be the twelfth installment of the “Battlefield” series. “Battlefield 2042” places players in a futuristic war over global resources through all out war modes on several different maps. The game also supports cross-platform support on PC, Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X, as well as Playstation 5.

For those whose niche is cozy games such as “Animal Crossing” or “Stardew Valley,” then “Bear and Breakfast” is right up your alley. In this management based game, players get to design and run their own bed-and-breakfast located in a forest. The best part? The character that players play as is a loveable bear named Hank. As you manage your bed-and-breakfast, you also get to uncover character backstories and complete side quests.

“Open Roads” is a mystery-thriller game that allows players to get immersed in the storyline as they play as motherdaughter duo, Tess and Opal. The game follows Tess and Opal as they complete a cross-country roadtrip after discovering a bundle of ominous letters and notes in their attic. As players trek across the country, they unearth a mystery which is larger than life, while also analyzing the complex relationship between a mother and her daughter. Fans of narrative-driven games like “When the Past was Around” and “What Remains of Edith Finch” will find “Open Roads” hard to put down.

Finally, although all three games included in “Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition” are not new games, they are highly anticipated in the gaming world. This compilation includes remastered editions of three different games from the “Grand Theft Auto” series: “Grand Theft Auto III,” “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City,” and “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.” The remastering process allows for enhanced game visuals, as well as gameplay upgrades. Longtime fans of the game series can look forward to the rerelease of these three games, while newer fans can enjoy these games for the first time in higher definitions. If nothing else, this compilation will keep “Grand Theft Auto” fanatics occupied while they await the long winded release of “Grand Theft Auto VI”.

These five highly anticipated video games are sure to satisfy the wishlists of any gamer you might know this holiday season. Of course, do not forget to consider other gifts such as an Xbox Elite Controller, Playstation DualShock Controller or a Nintendo Switch OLED model to match the games you purchase for the gamer in your life!

Graphic by Cristina Lombardo

Nov. 17 - 30, 2021 EDITOR: Ryan Hardison • arts@thedailyaztec.com

Arts & Culture

The Daily Aztec

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Column: Another remake? Witness the death of originality in Hollywood

By Hailey Doolittle CONTRIBUTOR

Everyone is familiar with the feeling you get when the screen fades to black and your favorite movie ends. When a story really pulls you in, walking out of the theater feels like waking up from a dream. There’s a feeling of emptiness and solace knowing no matter how great the experience was, you can never relive it again. It’s bittersweet.

However, what if I told you every time you rewatch that movie, you could maintain the same initial experience. You become reconnected to the characters, abiding their journey once again with curiosity of how it all ends. Every plot twist or jump scare feels brand new, almost as if you have traveled back in time.

Doesn’t seem possible does it? Well, that’s because it’s not. But for some reason Hollywood hasn’t figured that out yet.

For the past two decades, Hollywood has been reusing the same material over and over again in hopes of reigniting cinema classics, and thus we have forcefully entered a repetitive age of remakes. Very seldom do we see audiences advocating for remakes of their favorite films, in fact it’s usually the exact opposite. According to an analysis conducted by the website Casumo in 2019, “audiences rate 91% of originals more highly than the remake.” Critics shared a similar opposition to remakes as “87% of original movies are preferred by critics to their remakes,” according to the study.

So why does Hollywood keep insisting on producing remakes? While there may not be a definitive answer, several key factors contribute, the most important being profit. When a story has already established itself, there is likely to be a core following who will see the remake

solely because they are familiar with the original. When a production company makes a film, it is looking for a return on its investment. Since remakes appeal to a broader demographic and are typically more profitable, studios ride off the coattails of Hollywood classics for a quick cash grab.

Remakes are also much easier to market as they already have an established brand. Fans can instantly recognize the Batman logo or the “Star Wars” theme song, therefore this notion of nostalgia is often stressed in their marketing strategy. Although most viewers agree the original was better, this innate sense of nostalgia consistently attracts the masses. With shows like “Stranger Things,” “Friends,” and “The Office” frequently topping the charts on streaming services, nostalgia has been proven to be a formula for success. Studios find investing into a brand-heavy film a much safer choice for revenue, whether it’s executed well or not. Original ideas are pitched everyday but studios reject them for this reason. This recipe is yet to fail so both networks and audiences oblige.

When discussing the appeal for remakes one must acknowledge that networks hold huge amounts of intellectual property (IP) which includes any character, franchise or script owned by a studio or production company. These IPs make it very easy for studios to fund remakes, and since Hollywood is scared to take risks, they follow the safe choice. The rights to IPs don’t last forever though, so studios will try to capitalize on that property for as long as possible, resulting in a repetitive loop.

An article on Docs Drive-In Theatre writes “In a last-ditch effort to make money on an intellectual property license, studios sometimes pour limited resources into direct-to-video sequels and reboots.”

While it does seem most remakes

There are lots of great ideas in Hollywood, but it seems like there’s only room for remakes.

fail to deliver, there are times when the formula for a remake is something to be celebrated. Some fans just can’t get enough of their favorite films and characters so when certain classics grow outdated, a revitalization with higher production quality is called for. A great example of this was in 2018 when Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga starred in the classic “A Star is Born.” Although this was the film’s fourth remake, the movie was an immense success amongst fans and critics earning eight Academy Award nominations and a win for Best Original Song. Fans were excited to see the newest adaptation with new music, new actors and a modern flare proving that sometimes it’s necessary to bring back old stories with new tricks.

Some remakes even beat their original successors and lose the cursed title of remake amongst the general public. Some notable mentions include 1998’s “The Parent Trap” with Lindsay Lohan or the

Graphic by Cristina Lombardo

star studded rendition of “Oceans Eleven” in 2001.

While the topic of remakes in Hollywood can be quite stressful, it is undoubtedly one of the most successful cheat codes the industry has ever developed. Whether you love the idea of Timothee Chalamet in “Little Women” or dread the thought of Addison Rae in “He’s All That,” it is undeniable that remakes garner widespread recognition. According to the website IMDB there are going to be 125 movie remakes released between the years 2018 and 2022, showing this trend is not stopping.

Originality is not completely dead in Hollywood but it is certainly being overshadowed. As long as these movies are still profitable Hollywood will continue to follow the money, and eventually the idea of originality will become a great mantra few believe in.

Yard Show carries on tradition, culture with style

By Flower Smith SENIOR STAFF WRITER

San Diego State’s annual National Pan- Hellenic Council Yard Show took place at the Aztec Student Union North Grand Entry Steps on Nov. 12.

In this extravagant tradition, fraternities such as Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated and sororities such as Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated showcased their chapters’ histories through steps, strolls, chants and dancing to commemorate the history of stepping in the Greek community.

The night was filled with emotion, hype and excitement from the performers and everyone who came out to support the event.

Sociology junior Cierra Watkins is the first vice president of the Nu Upsilon chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. For Watkins, performing at the Yard Show was a moment to never forget.

“Carrying on this show is a part of the tradition here, especially in the Black community,” she said. “This is such a big piece of our life and this sisterhood is something that means so much to me and I just love keeping the tradition of doing this yard show.”

The Yard Show highlights and appreciates multicultural traditions and encourages groups of people to create and

Photo by Cheryl Akpenyi Yard Show had great choreographed performances from the National Pan-Hellenic Council to celebrate Homecoming.

share a collective identity, which in turn serves to shape individual identities.

Fourth year psychology major and vice president of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. Jalen Wills shared about his emotional connection to this event and being part of the fraternity altogether.

“I’m a legacy so my dad was out here too and getting to share this experience with him was crazy emotional and crazy for me,” Wills said.

Honoring and keeping the Yard Show tradition alive is important to students among the Greek community because campus traditions are an essential aspect of the student environment.

“Attending the Yard Show is really important because it is like one of the few chances you get to see everyone at this school show out,” Wills said. “Everyone

gets to do their thing and put a show on for all of our community and all of SDSU that decides to come out.”

Kailah Guidry, a sociology junior, says it’s important for all students to come out and attend events like the Yard Show because it can cultivate an environment for multiculturalism to be embraced.

“It doesn’t matter what race you are. You just come out and see the different organizations,” Guidry said.

After the last performance, the event ended with the sororities and fraternities stepping and strolling together as the rhythmic R&B played throughout the Student Union.

“Just being able to perform with all of my sorority sisters and have all of our chapter members supporting us. It was just a wonderful experience and I will

never forget it,” Watkins said.

Traditions of all kinds represent uniqueness and demonstrate the value they hold. The Yard Show will continue being part of SDSU’s cultural awareness and influence.

“We’ve had this Yard Show for many years and it’s gonna be many years to come that we’re going to keep having it,” Wills said.

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