‘The Voice’ Adds Spice to its Already Quirky Panel
Wednesday, May 1, 2013 at 07:24PM 
When the news came out that Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green would not be judges for Season Four of “The Voice,” fans were devastated until they heard that Shakira and Usher would be their replacements.
Aguilera was one to bond with the younger contestants who shared her pop aspirations, while Cee Lo always brought the crowd to their feet with his creative staging choices for his performers. The show needed the same competitive and comical dynamic between the coaches to keep the ratings soaring.
The note-hitting diva and hip-shaking Colombian singer-songwriter, Shakira, seems to be more respected by the other coaches than Aguilera ever was. It could be the two Grammys, nine Latin Grammys, four World Music Awards, three American music awards, and five Billboard Music Awards that set her apart.
Shakira has brought many more amazing Spanish singers to the show and even inspired women to sing in Spanish at the blind auditions. The other coaches joked about how they didn’t understand a word that was said, but Shakira instantly connected with those women since it is her area of expertise.
The singer-songwriter does not take crap from anyone and defended her song choice at the most recent battle rounds episode. Usher made a comment about Shakira being narcissistic because she chose her own song for the Latina girls to sing. Shakira explained that she chose the song to see if the girls could establish their own style for her song and make sure they didn’t try to emulate her.
Usher continued by saying, “You never get in an argument with a Latin woman.”
That’s right, Usher. Usher has taken command in his red rotating chair. He sits with his leg propped up on the side, while he swells with confidence as his chair turns for singers. Usher even had some contestants lose their train of thought while staring at him.
Usher started off in the beginning by saying that he discovered Justin Bieber to try and get more people to join his team. It hardly worked, but his charm and ability to articulate meaningful compliments has earned him some talented contestants this season.
During the blind auditions, Shakira imitated the special way Usher sits in the chair and got the contestant they were both fighting for to join her team.
The new coaches shared how they knew they were at a disadvantage since Blake Shelton and Adam Levine have been on the show for a while now. However, Shakira and Usher have proved to be strong coaches and have extremely talented contenders that could win the entire show.
According to The New York Daily News, the show hit 14.4 million viewers on a recent episode. The coaches definitely influence the ratings of the show. The show has even surpassed “American Idol,” which is on its 12th season.
This type of reality show thrives on having diverse coaches who can bicker, but at the end of the day still love each other.
“I just feel like hugging him all the time,” said Shakira about Usher to the news source.
One thing is for sure, I don’t think there is any woman who wouldn’t want to hug Usher. Come on! It’s Usher, baby!
Gamer Girl: ‘The Wolf Among Us’ Provides Nostalgia with Choices
Wednesday, May 1, 2013 at 07:22PM By: Vanessa Valerie Giedosh, Staff Writer
For fans of fairy tales comes a soon-to-be released video game entitled “The Wolf Among Us,” developed by Telltale Games. What makes this game so interesting is that it combines nearly all of the classic fables together with a twist. All of the characters from these stories are real and living in our mortal world in disguise. The game includes characters such as Snow White, the Three Little Pigs, Beauty and the Beast, and Mr. Toad.
“The Wolf Among Us” is based off of the comic book series “Fables” by Bill Willingham. His story features a reformed Big Bad Wolf, known as Bigby Wolf, who works as a detective and sheriff of Fabletown. In the tale, citizens of Fabletown are forced out of their home and have to hide in human forms to stay alive.
Gamers play Bigby as they work to protect the people of Fabletown and keep them safe from normal humans. How players decide to do so is where all the fun is- do they give into the big bad wolf or the more humanized side? The game features a choice-based system where the outcome is based on how the player choses to act.
“The Wolf Among Us” will be a part of the point-and-click adventure genre, which has recently become popular among the gaming community. With the success of Telltale Game’s release of “The Walking Dead” point-and-click game, their new take on the “Fables” comics are highly anticipated, both by new fans of the comic series and long-time veterans. “The Wolf Among Us” will be available soon for PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.
Michael Bay Stands Apart with ‘Pain and Gain’
Wednesday, May 1, 2013 at 07:18PM 
It has been a total of six years since big time Hollywood director Michael Bay has made a movie other than the “Transformers” trilogy. Bay now takes on a more serious story with some humor mixed into it as well in “Pain and Gain.”
The director has been criticized up and down with every movie that he makes from “Armageddon,” “Pearl Harbor,” “Bad Boys,” and of course “Transformers,” which means critics are not his biggest fans. His movies are considered to be just explosion or eye candy movies without any true story or meaningful characters.
Critics can say all they want about him, but they cannot deny the fact that Bay makes tons of money whenever he makes “eye candy” movies. In “Pain and Gain,” Bay strays away from his usual film tactics and tries to make a story- driven film for once. Perhaps Bay wanted to take a break from the Autobots and Decepticons for a while.
This movie stars Mark Wahlberg, who plays Daniel Lugo, a personal trainer who is tired of being pushed around by life and being broke. He decides that he wants to take the fortune of one of his clients, Victor Kershaw, played by Tony Shalhoub. To do this, Lugo calls in two other bodybuilders, Adrian Doorbal and Paul Doyle (played by Anthony Mackie and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) to help kidnap this client and make him give up his fortune. The problem is that the three men are terrible criminals and get caught at the end. This story is based on an actual case that took place in Miami in the early 1990s.
Though some had low expectations, the film surprisingly delivers somewhat of a punch with a strong beginning. Unfortunately, however, the punch is short lived, as the movie will most likely start to bore the audience halfway through. It could've ended 20 minutes earlier, but it drags on; it feels like a three hour movie rather than a two hour one.
The main problem with “Pain and Gain” is that it is all over the place. From the story line to all of the characters, this movie is wild and seemingly unorganized. It is hard to tell whether this movie is supposed to be funny or serious. Though it is more serious than Bay’s “Transformers,” it has a humorous side to it, but it’s simply unclear whether that’s what Bay intended.
Even the characters are hard to follow. Lugo is a typical modest guy who wants to get somewhere in life, but then he turns into a psycho, short-tempered lunatic.
The most interesting character in this film by far is Paul Doyle. The Rock goes from playing the stereotypical humble hero to a hardcore Jesus freak, want-to-be pacifist cokehead. Audiences are just simply not used to this type of role for Johnson. His role stands out from the rest simply because he steps out of his usual acting boundaries.
Despite that fact, however, Doyle is the one character who is most all over the place. His character switches personalities, making it confusing for viewers.
Additionally, Anthony Mackie plays a weak supporting role. The movie could've gone on without him. He is only featured in this movie for the sake of the “true story” aspect of the film. The movie could've just included Wahlberg and Johnson.