Symphonic metal is a sub-genre of metal that was very underground until the last two decades. This genre of metal was extremely popular in Europe, and with the age of the internet and websites like Youtube and Pandora, symphonic metal has found its place in the rest of the world. The Dark Element is a band that was born from this new age of metal, and their new album of the same name is taking the metal industry by storm.
When symphonic metal is mentioned chances are the same three bands will always be brought up; Sonata Arctica, Epica, and the legendary Nightwish.
The Dark Element has been formed by ex-singer of Nightwish, Anette Olzon and ex-lead guitarist Jani Liimatainen of Sonata Arctica. With having two members of well known bands working together, they are gathering attention to themselves fast. Fans of Nightwish and Sonata Arctica have been praising the new album, helping them along in sales and views.
The Dark Element is a passion project born from the Liimatainen’s song writing career. When he was asked to write a song for another band, Cain’s Offering, the studio really liked it and asked if he would want to make an entire album with new band members, to which he said of course. After much discussion he expressed his interest in working with a female lead after writing for so many male singers, the studio agreed and a week later Olzon had signed on as the new lead singer. More about how this project started can be seen in this behind the scenes video by Frontiers Music.
The 11 track album, self titled “The Dark Element” has so far been rated a constant 4.5 stars on most media outlets including Amazon.
Track 1 – The Dark Element
“The Dark Element” starts with the classic style of Olzon’s voice, a pop style that a lot of metal fans don’t like. However the track is really heavy, hitting on all of those elements of symphonic metal. The keyboard and guitar mix well with the chamber singers in the background. When Liimatainen’s guitar solo hits it is no wonder they named the band and album after this song. It is a fantastic introduction to the album.
Track 2 – My Sweet Mystery
“My Sweet Mystery” was the song that was chosen as the band’s first music video. The music video is your average run of the mill warehouse metal video. It’s nothing special. The song itself is enticing with constant melodies that have a hint of the style that was played in the song “The Dark Element”, but Olzon reminds everyone why she was such a powerful singer. The song itself could have easily been a single, but using it for a music video was the best way to get the new band and album views.
Track 3 – Last Good Day
This is a weaker song on the album; it just doesn’t really stand out from the other songs. That’s not to say that it is an awful song, it’s just not as catchy. The song does sound a lot like “My Sweet Mystery”, so there is a theme going on where the songs almost connect together. The most notable thing in this song is a keyboard solo that has not been present in the first two songs. The ending of the song has a mesmerizing chorus, making the rest of the song feel better.
Track 4 – Here’s To You
“Here’s To You” is interesting because it is slower paced. The lyrics are much easier to follow, and it almost seems like Liimatainen wrote this song to express his feelings towards Sonata Arctica. This is another core song on the album because it has so much soul, and Olzon’s timbre fits so well with the music, it really shows off how Olzon knows what her voice can do.
Track 5 – Someone You Used To Know
“Someone You Used To Know” has an overall theme of sorrow hanging over it. It feels really sad and genuine, making the listener connect with Olzon as she takes them on a journey. Olzon in the past has been known for walking off stage because she struggled with a divorce, so this song could be connecting with that time in her life. The lyrics For you I can be an angel / I can be a virgin / and I can be a whore could be a parallel on how her husband cheated on her.
Track 6 – Dead To Me
“Dead To Me” is powerful because of the pure anger and shade thrown at “Someone.” The lyrics outline how Nightwish fired Olzon in a way that makes it seem extremely personal. Diss tracks in metal is something that isn’t seen a lot, and it is a welcome change. Some lyrics that show this are: I won’t write you an ode nor confession / Not a song but a war declaration / Story told from the dawn of creation / Symphony with a grim orchestration. The line about symphonies really hints that it is about Nightwish because Nightwish are famous for symphonies in their songs. The music also outlines this with a choir in the background as Olzon sings.
Track 7 – Halo
“Halo” is the weakest song on the album, especially after “Dead To Me” because it feels like a generic diss track, just meant to make you think of whoever you hate. It’s not a bad song, but it just feels a little lazy considering the powerful lyrics of the other songs. With lyrics like: You think you’re the jewel of creation / You think that this world is for you / The sun it should shine ’cause you say so / The stream it should bend to your will, it feels like you could apply this to anyone you didn’t like. Songs like this are made to make the listener keep someone in mind, like an ex-lover, or a presidential candidate.
Track 8 – I Cannot Raise The Dead
“I Cannot Raise The Dead” is an extremely poppy song compared to the rest of the album. The techno-like sounds in the background make it feel really modern, which isn’t a bad thing. A lot of metal fans probably won’t like the electronic sound but it is a nice switch from what the rest of the album has had so far. The chorus of “I cannot raise the dead, no (x4)”, carries with Olzon’s amazing voice with a style that will make you tap your foot to the beat.
Track 9 – The Ghost And The Reaper
“The Ghost And The Reaper” also got a music video which was also not very special, but the song is mind blowing. The songwriting for this song is more in depth than a lot of the other songs on the album. The song uses syllabication of the words to tell the story of the Ghost and the Reaper, drawing you in to the music. The sang lyrics follow the music in the way that when Olzon sings high the music itself goes to a higher pitch, and in the chorus the piano is played at the same time as she sings every word making the song feel like it is impacting you physically.
Track 10 – Heaven of Your Heart
“Heaven of Your Heart” is another sorrowful song that seems to trace the story of what happened to Liimatainen when he was forced to leave Sonata Arctica because of his countries military laws in 2007. The lyrics “Would you come to me / Come asking where you know me from?” could be a connection to how Sonata Arctica became really famous after Liimatainen had to leave. It’s a sad but knowing song, no hatred can be felt here making it a really entertaining song. The hatred from “Dead To Me” and the fast paced journey of “My Sweet Mystery” seems to have simmered out. The song really shows off Olzon’s voice, reminding listeners that this is her genre of music.
Track 11 – Only One Who Knows Me
This is the final song, and it is an excellent closer to an overall successful first album. While the song doesn’t offer anything new, it uses this sound that has been developed in every other track. The Dark Element have already made their own sound, and this track shows that they know how they want their songs to sound. The song itself is pretty repetitive, and that can be annoying to some because the lyrics “You are the only one” is said over twenty times.
Overall The Dark Element’s debut album is a success and worth a listening or buying. Already the album has impacted sales of Olzon and Liimatainen era albums from Nightwish and Sonata Arctica. The joining of two popular bands in symphonic metal has never been done before, so now expectations will be high for the next album. Plans for a new album is already in the works, and a tour is already being set up. Each song on the album is available (legally) on Olzon’s YouTube.
Aliens, Robots, Monsters, many creatures come to mind when mentioned. Childhood wonder starts to take over, and visions of little grey men, or giant robots will flash before our eyes. Maybe a specific creature from “The Terminator”, or “Aliens” will be thought of, but when the word Dinosaur is said only one franchise will appear. Like seeing through the eyes of a child again, there are few who can resist thinking about the masterpiece: “Jurassic Park”.
The impact the “Jurassic Park” has had in pop culture is a feat that is rare. “Star Wars” has just as big of an impact, but people will still confuse “Star Wars” with “Star Trek” when they see spaceships. The same can’t be said about a “Jurassic Park” dinosaur, whether it be a poster or a toy all it takes is one look at the dino to know, it’s Jurassic.
“Jurassic Park” is something very special. But wait, it’s a popcorn movie, how can it be special? It just a mindless horror action film, right? Well, yes, it is a popcorn film in every sense of the name, but as far as being mindless it is far from it. From the mind of the renowned modern writer Michael Crichton, author of literary classic “The Andromeda Strain“, came the completely original story of “Jurassic Park“.
Novel to film is an idea that happens in Hollywood often, and more often than not it is shunned, or just ridiculed highly. Of course, there are exceptions to this, like the “Lord of the Rings” and “Harry Potter films”, but even they are met with some ridicule from fans who say that the films forgot parts of the novels. Some films from novels can feel rushed to the viewer, or it can make them feel confused because some films rely on the viewer reading the novel first. However, some films come alone that take the books content and add to it, changing the story but keeping the tone, this is what makes “Jurassic Park” so unique. Like most masterpieces, they begin small, so how did “Jurassic Park” become what it is today?
Bingo! Dino DNA!
In the late 1980s Crichton had already had many successful novels as well as a successful novel to film, “The Andromeda Strain”, and screenplay, “Westworld” (1973).
According to Sherri Crichton, his wife, in an interview with Eppen regarding the late Crichton’s new novel, she had found the manuscript for “Dragon Teeth (2017)” and recalled Crichton doing insane amounts of studying. All of this research had to do with dinosaur discoveries and science at the time. He wanted to make this new novel as scientifically accurate as possible. However, one day he just stopped. “Dragon Teeth” was lost, and Sherri says that he began working on other things. Soon she would find out that through Crichton’s research and travels in the ’80s, that he had interviewed multiple paleontologists, one of those being the up and coming Robert T. Bakker. Bakker had worked for years with paleontology, but in the 1980s when Crichton interviewed him, was a time that Bakker’s work was getting published.
In the late 1960s Bakker had helped in starting the Dinosaur Renaissance, which was a way of thinking and challenging other scientists to really focus of the history of dinosaurs. Through his team and his work, the idea of dinosaurs being dumb massive lizards changed, and we got a new version of dinosaurs with a more accurate idea of what they were.
Bakker inspired Crichton, and he started working on a screenplay for a film about dinosaurs. In this early draft a graduate student had discovered dinosaur DNA and created a pterodactyl in a lab. He took this idea and ran with it, eventually changing the screenplay so much that it turned into a novel.
According to the book “Making of the Lost World“, characters in this new novel took shape from the screenplay that Bakker had inspired, specifically the grad student. The grad student turned into the main scientist of Jurassic Park, a man named Henry Wu. A physicist named Heinz Pagels was the core source for one main character, Ian Malcom, as well as the inspiration of many of the novel’s mathematic aspects. Another paleontologist that Crichton had met named Jack Horner, who was in his own way extremely famous for his scientific discoveries, became one of the main sources of knowledge for the novel as well as his personality being made into the main character Dr. Alan Grant. Although he seems very familiar in the novel as well as on the screen, John Hammond, owner of Jurassic Park, was the least based on anyone but written to be like an average nice grandpa.
When the novel was released in 1990 it quickly became a best seller and made Crichton even more well known, even with great reviews from critics like The New York Times, gaining it a solid 3.8 out of 5. “We were all reading it”, Said James Reed in an interview, “It was an absolute hit. Everyone I knew was reading it, except for me of course, I had to be late. I finally finished it while waiting on a plane to Chicago, and to my surprise a commercial for it came on the TV for the movie, and I knew it was going to be big.”
Jurassic Park and The Lost World Novel leather edition, released in 2011
When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth
It’s a hit. The novels are flying off the shelves and the film deals start coming in quick. Crichton says in his biography, that he was no stranger to movie deals, having “Andromeda Strain” and “Westworld” already being made, but he was wary of 20th Century Fox, because they had bought “Congo” before the novel was finished, and the film never came to be, until a much later date. When Fox came knocking at his door he quickly turned them down. Warner Bros. and their favorite director Tim Burton went after it as well, but amazingly Crichton also turned them down. It was the same story for TriStar and Paramount. Unknown at the time Crichton had been talking to Steven Spielberg, and the two had become friends, Crichton had turned them all down in the agreement that Spielberg would direct the film himself. So in 1991 Universal had the rights to what would be the biggest film of the decade.
Spielberg was not a man to hold back punches. He brought in all the experts, Phil Tippet for animation, Crash McCreery for creature design, and Stan Winston for his practical effects. As the early film began production Spielberg and Crichton worked closely together, and they eventually got Jack Horner on board for his expertise in dinosaurs. The film was underway and the first animations came to be through the stop motion of Tippet, according to him in his book, Spielberg having the idea that stop motion would be the best way to go to tell a story of these giant creatures.
Universal wasn’t having it. Stop motion in films had to go, it was too old for such a new film, so George Lucas came into the picture. Through him a studio called ILM joined, and Spielberg had worked with them before. Most of the work they did was just special effects and not creature effects. He wanted breathing creatures, something real.
As stated in the behind-the-scenes of the “Jurassic Park Special Edition” dvd, this need for something authentic would be reflected through the film version of John Hammond, and as they moved forward the new CGI program took his breath. “Looks like I’m out of a job.” Tippet said during the test screenings of the first CGI footage, “Don’t you mean extinct?” replied Spielberg, this little jab at reality would make its way into a line in the film comparing real dinosaurs to their fossils.
Alongside the new CGI, Winston went above and beyond, creating life size dinosaur animatronics that took dinosaurs to a new level of reality. When the film released that summer of 1993, it changed people’s lives.
“It was our “Star Wars”, that’s how big it was.” Says Astríd Vega, soon to be “Guinness Book of World Records” holder for largest movie memorabilia collection in an interview with me, “I walked out of the theater with my heart full of childhood wonder. I was 13 at the time, so I didn’t have a lot of money, and I spent the last of my Pesos on a cheap Chinese knockoff of a “Godzilla” toy with the “Jurassic Park” logo on the bag. This was the first item in my collection and I still have it today.”
Spielberg and his wife posing with the Triceratops animatronic made by Stan Winston Studios
Thank God for Site B
Crichton couldn’t let it end. The film and the novel turned almost into two versions of the same story, even though he had written them both. He wanted more, the world deserved more. So he and Spielberg began work on what would soon be called “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” before the first film was even finished. This time however Crichton wanted the novel and the film to be different. Drawing off information from the first novel, the new novel became a continuation. Spielberg changed his version of the story by adding elements of the first dinosaur film ever made, “The Lost World” (1925). The 1925 film was the first film to ever feature dinosaurs in a movie theater, so drawing from elements of a group of hunters going to a forgotten world Spielberg was able to make his film more suspenseful. The “Lost World: Jurassic Park” novel and the film hardly have any similarities, but where the novel lacked in action, the film made up for it. In some ways the film took scenes from the first novel (“Jurassic Park”) and mixed them in creating a fantastic sequel with a lot of action, but still holding onto that deeper meaning that Crichton loved to add.
“The Lost World: Jurassic Park” gained a bigger production budget than “Jurassic Park” so the same team as the first film were able to use a lot of Stan Winston’s creatures with more time and money. Mixed with more of ILM’s magic CGI they created another blockbuster. According to the “Behind the Scenes, The Lost World” dvd, Universal allowed Winston a massive budget to just make the film feel more real.
After the novel and the film Crichton was finally finished, he had told the story that he wanted to tell and now he wanted to watch it evolve in the way that “Star Wars” had. He sold all creative rights to Universal and their CEOs were ecstatic. Even today on the “Jurassic Park” website they state that they have had the rights for the “Jurassic” universe since 1990.
What came next was unexpected, “Jurassic Park” had two bestselling novels, video games, comics, toys, and the two core films, but the stories had finished. In 2000 a teaser was aired announcing “Jurassic Park 3” with the release date of July 2001.
This was out of left field, a new film that also had a new director. The hype for the film was vocalized, and the world was ready for this new film, the first two were great so the 3rd must be too.
It was another blockbuster. The film did fantastically in the box office, but the critics were harsh. “Visually and effect wise it was fantastic.” Says P. R. Davis of Jurassic Outpost in an interview about “Jurassic Park 3”, “But it just felt rushed, and like it had no real story. This was a film that suffered from sequelitis, but it still has redeeming qualities. Joe Johnston should have never directed it.”
Joe Johnston was a somewhat new Hollywood director, previously having made “Jumanji” and “October Sky”, and according to the “Jurassic Park 3” press release, he was excited to make a “Jurassic Park” film. Too excited, because he couldn’t make his mind up on what he wanted to make even during shooting. The same team from the first two films returned but even they couldn’t salvage what Johnston wanted to do, and after the seventh script rewrite the film was doomed.
Even though the film brought its own array of games, comics, and toys, the series would die after this film. The films still keep their popularity even today, but have begun to get buried under every new franchise.
Stan Winston and his team posing with their robot dinosaurs for the release of “The Lost World: Jurassic Park”
Life Finds a Way
When the first film came out fans went crazy over it. Every kid in America had at least one toy or t-shirt with the T-Rex Logo on it. People would hum John Williams’s score just like they did with “Jaws” and “Star Wars”. This was going down in pop culture history in a way that many people never realized.
“The Simpsons” of course had to have their fun with it first. In season 5 episode 19 Principal Skinner talks about his original idea for a novel which is a clear rip off of “Jurassic Park”. These parodies would keep coming, with a song from Weird Al, as well as countless others.
A lot of references to “Jurassic Park” can also be found in other films, such as connections to the T-Rex chase scene in “Toy Story 2”, or “Swiss Army Man” where they sing the main theme song.
Pop culture aside Jurassic Park began a new age of thinking. This idea of DNA being saved in amber wasn’t a crazy idea at all, and it became a race to find DNA from a dinosaur. This race for DNA made many discoveries when it came to prehistory, but sadly, according to paleontologist John Hankla, “We could never clone a dinosaur with the resources we have now”.
That idea has still never dissipated, with proof of some fossils and amber holding DNA there would never be enough to make something real. Also according to Hankla, the closest thing ever found would be recently extinct animals, like the dodo, condor, or mammoth. The only way to bring them back however would cost so much money and resources that it wouldn’t be worth the time.
In 2006 however, a scientist named Mary Schweitzer discovered a red blood cell from a Tyrannosaurus bone. The discovery is amazing, but the method of getting the DNA would hurt more than just studying the fossils how they already are. To be able to find DNA like this, you have to destroy the fossils. All the information on this amazing discovery can be found on the Smithsonian website.
“Jurassic Park” was made in the time of the Dinosaur Renaissance, so the animals in the films reflected scientific discoveries. When the novel was in its early stages people believed that dinosaurs were slow lumbering animals, and that their tails were fat and dragged on the ground to keep them up. With the help of Spielberg and Jack Horner the general public now all believed the same way that the scientists did, that dinosaurs were smart and fast. “A T-Rex didn’t drag its tail, instead it would have used it to balance its body so it could run faster,” says Hankla as he recalls how “Jurassic Park” impacted his work space.
After the release of “Jurassic Park”, Horner wanted people to think, so at the risk of his own career he released an article called Age and growth dynamics of Tyrannosaurus Rex , saying that T-rex was a scavenger, completely contradicting the T-Rex seen in the film. This was an exercise that Horner intended for people to think up their own ideas and to learn about dinosaurs. In Horner’s idea he wanted people to prove him wrong, and that they did just that. Even a decade later people are still debating.
Mosquito Trapped in Amber
We Need More Teeth
13 years later in 2014, “Jurassic Park” came roaring back to the big screen. This was a new film named Jurassic World, written and directed by Colin Trevorrow, who had only made one other independent film, “Safety Not Guaranteed”. Handpicked by Spielberg himself, Trevorrow set out to make a film that he would have wanted to see as a child. Despite not having hardly any returning crew he worked hard to make a film that would live up to its name.
The film was an absolute success and according to Variety, beat the original “Jurassic Park’s” box office by a rough $500 million. It beat multiple records, quickly becoming the third highest grossing film of all time, only to be beat that December by “Star Wars” Episode 7. TheVerge claims that despite being beat for the all-time box office record, it still beat “Star Wars” in biggest opening weekend of all time.
This film was what every Jurassic Fan had wanted, and it did the same thing that the films were about; resurrecting a fossil into the modern day.
Story wise “Jurassic Park” was about the folly of man. The idea of making money through controlling nature is something that was doomed from the start. In the novel, the idea of standing on the shoulders of scientific giants and playing god was their main goal, but the film version was more about man having good intentions to share their creation with the world.
But as the films show, dinosaurs and man can’t coexist, there are 65 million years of evolution between the two, so how could anyone know what would happen? This is the overarching theme, and in “Jurassic World” the scientist characters took it a step further. Before the scientists just wanted to bring dinosaurs back, but now they were completely playing God, and made a new creature with no idea of what to expect.
This is a good example of how our society is today, we all want bigger and better with no ideas of how it could impact our lives or our surroundings. This idea, plus the nostalgia of the older films, and some dinosaur action for good measure has effectively brought the franchise back, and now has another film on the way in 2018.
“We want to be a part of all of this, we were born into Jurassic Park so we feel that we have to help it grow.” Says web-owner Chris Evans in an interview with me about new fan-site, Jurassic Outpost ,“That’s why we made the website, so that we can keep an archive over everything.”
The Jurassic films and novels have changed the way cinema works, from CGI to animatronic usage, as well as the way scientists think. The name “Jurassic Park” will go down in history as one of the most impactful franchises alongside beasts like “Star Wars”. With 2018 just ahead, soon a fifth film will add to an already revolutionary series, as John Hammond would say, “If we could only step aside and trust in nature, life will find a way.”
Kyle Weaver is a 20 year old student born and raised in Kentucky. Kyle grew up working on a little farm in Danville, Kentucky and his family would breed horses with local horse breeders, and he quickly came to love horses. When Kyle graduated from high school he immediately went to college then dropped out a year later to follow his dreams. Or so he thought. After working at a ranch as the cowboy he had dreamed about becoming, he quickly learned that some dreams should stay dreams, and is now in the process of going back to college.
I got the chance to meet Kyle in high school in the small town of Stanford, but I never really had enough classes with him to get to know him. Now, many years later, a mutual friend told me a bit about what was going on with Kyle’s unusual story. When I reached out to him to ask him if he would be interviewed, I had a hard time finding him because he refuses to use social media. After calling his landline he agreed to meet with me at a Reno’s in Somerset, Kentucky, and I sat down with him on Saturday. This is what he had to say.
Kyle, it’s really nice to see you again; it was really hard to reach you. Why do you not use social media?
Well I see it as a hassle. I feel like people our age rely too much on phones so I decided to do away with it.
Does that affect your social life at all?
Before I deleted my Twitter and deactivated my Facebook I found myself disliking the people I loved and grew up with, so with doing away with it all I’m able to know who my true friends are.
That’s an interesting way to look at that. Was social media also a reason on why you wanted to quit school?
I felt like it was a waste of my time. I felt like I could do much more just working than learning to get a degree for a job that I probably will never even get. I don’t want to be in debt and stuck working at Wal-Mart.
What did you decide to do then?
I was always very familiar with horses being in a family that raised them, so I started looking online for paid internships for horse farms or ranches.
Was that successful?
After a month or two of searching and getting more and more fed up with school I got an email from a ranch in South Dakota who were interesting in hiring me. They said my background would be perfect for what they needed and would be happy to have me.
So was this the ranch that you went too?
Yes within two weeks I had packed my bags and was on the interstate.
Even though Kentucky is the horse capital of America?
Yes, because it felt like an out of state experience and I just really wanted to get out of my comfort zone.
What did you do while you were there?
First I was a stable hand, which was completely understandable. I shoveled poop and cleaned the stalls then tended to the horses for a good few months. After that I started leading rides and helping tourists explore the area, while learning it myself.
Was that enjoyable?
Yes and no, some days it was fantastic, but some days they were absolute hell.
What was it that made it hard on you?
People. A lot of the people that came to this place were very rich and you would get grown adults throwing tantrums because they, get this, they didn’t like the way the horse’s colors looked. It wasn’t like they were buying the horses but yet we still had guests who wanted specifically colored horses. This happened a lot, plus there were always the ones who “knew everything” about horses and we actually had injuries to guests and horses because of this. This was the beginning of the end for me.
Why?
I didn’t bow down to the customers and later found out that they got evaluations at the end of their trip on the ranch. My boss ended up demoting me because I wasn’t what they considered a people person. So to fix this they had me work at the front desk, greeting guests and checking them in.
Was this when you left?
No I actually worked the front desks for a month or two hoping that I could go back to working with the horses. I later found out that their receptionist had quit and they had no intention of me going back. That wasn’t what I had signed up for.
What did you do?
I wasn’t ready to give up, so I went to my boss to find out what was going on with the future of my internship here, and that’s when I realized that I was not meant to do this.
What happened?
I found out that one of the guests that I had lead out on a trip complained to the boss that I didn’t tend to the horses properly, and that guest was the boss’s daughter. I stood there for 30 minutes while he chewed me out over improper care, even though I had did everything right. But there was no arguing with him. That night I packed up and started heading back home.
After coming back did you try to look for another horse farm or ranch to work at?
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t but after a few interviews all I could think about was cleaning stalls and horrible guests. I realized that all I needed was to experience the world, but I would ultimately have to go back to college.
What are you doing now?
For the past year I’ve worked temp jobs at different areas and for different companies and such, and I really don’t want to work with animals after all. I found that I am very quick to learn technology so I think I’m going to focus on that.
So are you planning on a future in technology?
Yes, I think I’m going to go into engineering. I really like creating and repairing machinery, so I’m also considering welding as well. I really love to do hands on things so I really don’t want a desk job.
Are you going to go back to UK?
At this time I don’t think I will, mostly because they don’t have the programs are interested in. Have you considered the Cumberlands?
Have you considered the Cumberlands?
(Laughs) No, they don’t offer the type of programs I want either, but when I considered doing software engineering I did consider it. I toured there once and I thought it was nice, but I also know you are biased.
That is true, but do you have any regrets with any of this?
I feel like most people would say they do, but I don’t because I really discovered what I wanted to do in my life, and I’m so glad that I won’t have to work at McDonalds or Wal-Mart like so many people we went to high school with.
Any final thoughts for this interview?
I would like to say for future students or students losing their way that you need to take time off and experience life. You have to find out what your true passions are, not what your parents want. Explore life then make the decision of what you want to do with it.
The rancher steps out into the cold South Dakota morning and takes a deep breath. The cool air fills his lungs and he sighs in peace, he then grabs the saddle and hoists himself on to the magnificent beast. As he grips the leather in in his gloved hands he looks across the grasslands and spots them, the other riders herding a drove of cattle. He nudges his spurs into his loyal horse’s side and rides off to join the others, seeming like he had gone back to a simpler time with the men of the old west.
“That’s how it felt to me anyway,” Weaver says as he drives his knife into the steaming steak that sat in front of him, “That was the kind of life I wanted to live, every day on the plains.”
Thoughtful and solemn, he continues, “It’s a shame that it only lasted a few months.”
Weaver’s love for horses began early in his childhood, growing up on a farm in Danville, Kentucky. As a kid and as a teenager his daily routine consisted of school and working on the small farm. Outside of his busy lifestyle he still had a social life. Cameron Moore, his best friend was always at his house.
“I love Kyle man,” laughs Moore, “Got to say I never helped out on his farm when we were kids though, I’m terrified of animals.”
When Weaver and Moores’s senior year of high school came around they found themselves berated by colleges trying to get them to come to their campuses.
“We went together to a few campuses, but eventually Cameron decided he didn’t want to go.” Weaver says as he is flipping through his phone showing some old pictures. “It was too overwhelming for him, but I decided to go to UK to become a teacher.” The two remained great friends despite not seeing each other every day after high school.
Moving to Lexington and starting college was a major change for Weaver. Being used to a working class lifestyle really stuck out to him as he met students coming from rich families with their amazing cars and all new clothes.
“That was one thing that really got to me.” he replied. His expression was tense. The feeling of isolation would not go away. Eventually he felt like he was wasting his time. His aspirations to teach were slipping away day by day.
Within a semester Weaver had dropped out, but not with the intention of just getting a medial job. After deciding that college was not for him he started looking online for internships, specifically ones that had a lot to do with his home life. He applied online for some jobs as a farm hand but one reply he got was something he would never had expected.
One morning he woke to discover an email from a ranch in South Dakota replying to his online resume. They wanted him to come to South Dakota because of his background in farming and thought he would be perfect to work for them. So as anyone young would do, he packed up and left the next week. A new experience in life is what he craved.
“I was sad about it,” Moore says with a smile, “But we still have ways to contact each other, so it wasn’t like he was really gone.”
On arrival Weaver was shown to his hotel-style room, and the next day he was introduced to his peers as well as his first job; a stable hand. Despite having to clean after the horses, he was content because he started to get to know the horses and the area really well. Eventually he would be promoted to guide, getting to ride his own horse and show guests of the ranch around.
“It was a dream, it was all I could have asked for, all I could have wanted,” Weaver says as he stares out the window, “And she was too.”
Weaver had started to develop a crush on one of the other guides, Joanah Loomer; they had been partners many times to lead large groups of guests. Shortly after, they started dating.
“He was a really great guy,” Loomer replied with a blushing smile, “I fell head over heels for him.”
Despite the experience, a few bad reviews from the guests led to Weaver’s transfer from a guide to working the front desk. Leaving the horses and the ranch right outside of his reach, he boded his time with the promise that he would be able to get his old job back. After several months when this didn’t happen he went to the boss to find out just why he wasn’t getting his job back. To his astonishment the worst review against him had come from the boss’s own daughter, a guest who had injured a horse due to her own negligence.
He made a decision. He packed up to go back to Kentucky and the realization came to him. He was going to have to leave Jonah. To his surprise she packed her own bags to go with him.
Weaver and Loomer are now engaged and living in Danville again. After his experiences Weaver had decided to try out a few more internships and discovered that he is a natural when it comes to machinery. He is currently enrolling to a new college to get a degree in engineering.
“I would like to say for future students or students losing their way that you need to take time off and experience life.” Weaver says. He hopes that from his story of success and failures that more students who don’t come from money will try new things in life and begin a career that they love.
After 7 years of silence, popular Nintendo bounty hunter Samus Aran returns triumphantly in the new Nintendo 3DS game “Metroid: Samus Returns”. The last game sold well, but many outspoken fans hated it, and because of this hate fans had been worried that Nintendo was not going to make another game in the series. Already this game is highly anticipated, especially with the hope that it will be better than the last game.
“Metroid: Samus Returns” is set to hit all major retailers September 15. Fans are excited not only because of the return but also because the game is a re-imagining of the 1991 game of the same title originally on GameBoy. The game keeps its original story but now has stunning 3D graphics and a brand new soundtrack. It looks to be very modern, which is fitting because the Nintendo 3DS is the GameBoys successor.
The game means a lot to longtime fans. Many fans are expressing their joy on social media. One Metroid Database user named Ripley who works for Nintendo of America as an artist is hoping to get the chance to make official Metroid art. She said, “I was a just a little girl in the ‘80s, but growing up with brothers we had a Nintendo and we of course had Metroid. When we discovered that Samus was a girl in Metroid it blew my brothers’ minds, but to me I saw a role model. I got a Gameboy for my birthday along with Metroid 2 so I’m so excited to play again.”
Ripley saw Samus as a role model and there are many other fans who see her as a role model as well. There are other games with female leads, such as Bayonetta 2, that seems to die out because of bad sales. New Laura Croft games have started to change because of bad sales, with a rewrite and rework of the character that had been established. She used to just be a sexual object action character and now she has been turned into a respectable role model. American Nintendo president Reggie Fils-Aime announced that roughly one third of gamers are now female. “This wasn’t an accident, it’s the result of a deliberate attempt to expand the market.” stated Reggie in a Nintendo Event. Maybe a new generation of gamers will see that not every hero has to be a male character, and that female lead games are just as good. If this game is successful we might see a rise in female lead games that are made up to fans standards.
Some people are not familiar with Metroid but because of the hit game Super Smash Bros. for various Nintendo consoles, people are getting exposed to Samus and have been catching up on the games. According to the official Nintendo website a rise of interest in Metroid has caused all of the Special Editions of “Metroid: Samus Returns” are to sell out.
Fan and dad Jerimiah Massingale plays the Metroid games with his kids because of “Super Smash Bros.” and he commented, “The games were always hard, at least hard for me when I was a kid. Those were always great games and I think the new one will be too.”
Cover Art for Metroid Samus Returns
“Metroid: Samus Returns” will also be released alongside a Collector’s Edition New Nintendo 3DS priced at $200 as well as a double pack of the collectible Amiibo figurines priced at $30. The game itself is priced at $40 with a $50 Collector’s Edition.
Bryan Ethan Manuel 