Columnists - The Daily Cardinal

COLUMNS

‘Twin Peaks’ revival breeds skepticism and excitement

By Jake Smasal | Oct. 8, 2014

On Monday, it was revealed that David Lynch’s acclaimed psycho-drama “Twin Peaks” would come back after more than 20 years for a third season on Showtime. Lynch’s sprawling vision of a northern town and its seedy (and mostly psychotic) underbelly failed to live up to lofty ratings expectations in its second season and has since become a cult classic, gathering legions of new fans as the years have gone by.

COLUMNS

Column: Poor red zone playcalling, bad quarterbacks doom Wisconsin offense

By Rushad Machhi | Oct. 6, 2014

Madison, we have a problem. For the first time in distant memory, that problem is the Wisconsin Badgers’ offense. It looked anemic in a 20-14 loss at Northwestern, breaking a streak of 17 straight games of 20 or more points.

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Riveting horror novels to get you ready for Halloween

By Maham Hasan | Oct. 6, 2014

Happy October folks! We have officially transitioned to what only the Wisconsinites call “fall,” rife with pumpkin spice lattes, a multitude of other pumpkin cliches and the countdown towards what will be my first official Halloween! I did not grow up dressing up in costumes to celebrate Halloween or go trick-or-treating; therefore my experience on that front is abysmally little.

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Steve Winwood shines in pantheon

By Brian Weidy | Oct. 6, 2014

Quick, name a better rock singer than Steve Winwood. If you answered anyone other than Bob Seger, you’re dead wrong.

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‘Tomodachi Life’ offers comic blending of gaming and reality

By Alex Lovendahl | Oct. 5, 2014

I’ve been playing Nintendo’s new life sim, “Tomodachi Life,” since a couple weeks after its release in June. To summarize, the game gives the player use of the Mii creation system—the same one used to make the avatars who populate Wii Sports—to create residents in an apartment complex on a resort island. The game encourages you to create your friends, your family, or your favorite celebrities. A handful have signed on to provide their likenesses; official Wayne Brady, Zendaya and Christina Aguilera Miis are easy to find online, and a commercial displays Shaq and Shaun White Miis tasting some of the food in the game.

COLUMNS

Heisman Watch: Week 6

By Jim Dayton | Oct. 2, 2014

This is the third edition of the Heisman Watch, a weekly feature tracking the candidates for college football’s most prestigious award. To read last week’s piece, click here.

COLUMNS

Column: Wild Card round brings instant excitement

By Jack Baer and Clay Thomas | Oct. 2, 2014

Well… that Kansas City Royals game was fun. Twelve innings of multiple ties and lead changes, truly memorable plays and heroes like Brandon Finnegan, Brandon Moss and Jarrod Dyson all in front of an electric crowd and in winner-take-all, no-tomorrow stakes? Yeah, I’d like to see more of that.

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Digital TV leads in transgender roles

By Daily Cardinal Staff and Conor Murphy | Oct. 1, 2014

I didn’t watch much of MTV’s Video Music Awards this year, but the one clip I did see was 15 seconds of Laverne Cox dancing and singing along to Beyoncé’s performance. Most of the crowd around her looked disinterested in the whole affair, but Cox was turning it out in the aisle. After watching, and re-watching the clip, my reaction was the same: I just kept shouting “YAAAAS” at my computer, if you’ll forgive my stanning.

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Column: Florida State hasn't earned their No. 1 AP ranking

By Grey Satterfield | Sep. 30, 2014

Give me one reason why Florida State is No. 1 in the AP poll.

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Hopeful predictions for ‘True Detective’ Season Two

By Jake Smasal | Sep. 30, 2014

Last week, it was announced that Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn, along with a yet to be cast female lead will star in the upcoming second season of “True Detective.” Farrell will star as a detective, while Vaughn has been cast as a career criminal and seems to be the antagonist of the new season. The only other details that have been revealed about the new season are that it will take place in California and will have something to do with, in the words of show creator Nic Pizzolatto, “the secret occult history of the United States transportation system.” That certainly leaves a lot of room for speculation, and because I am a huge fan of both speculation and “True Detective,” I have decided to come up with some scenarios of what the new season might have in store, as well as which female actress would be best cast as the lead.

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Column: Selig may not tug your heart strings, but still successful

By Jim Dayton | Sep. 29, 2014

In the hierarchy of the Big Three pro sports commissioners (maybe next time, NHL), everyone hates Roger Goodell and everyone loves Adam Silver.

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Spotify study reveals campus music trends

By Brian Weidy | Sep. 29, 2014

A couple of weeks ago, Spotify released a big ol’ batch of data on the Top 40 musical universities. The fine University of Wisconsin-Madison came in at 15, the top school in the Big Ten, though that last clause holds true on just about everything, not just how much students here listen to music through Spotify.

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Column: Big Ten lessons learned from September

By Rushad Machhi and UW-Madison | Sep. 29, 2014

With the end of September at our doorstep, midterm season is starting up (boo) as well as Big Ten conference play (yay?). Here are five things we learned about our begrudgingly beloved conference in this tumultuous month.

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Heisman Watch: Week 5

By Jim Dayton | Sep. 25, 2014

This is the second edition of the Heisman Watch, a weekly feature tracking the candidates for college football’s most prestigious award. To read last week’s inaugural piece, click here.

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"Belle" provides beautiful example of the unspoken language of film

By Austin Wellens | Sep. 24, 2014

So there’s this really terrific film called “Belle,” and if you haven’t seen it I really recommend it. The premise is (basically) that the mixed race daughter of an English admiral runs into trouble when she tries to be a black person in 18th century Britain. It intelligently tackles social and racial issues, it’s visually stunning, and the cast, especially star Gugu Mbatha-Raw and veteran Tom Wilkinson, give fantastic performances.

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Column: SEC conference play will lead to lower rankings

By Grey Satterfield | Sep. 23, 2014

If you read my column last week you should know that I’m pretty peeved with the fact that there are seven SEC schools in the top 15.

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New Gotham City makes television debut

By Jake Smasal | Sep. 23, 2014

Gotham City is dark. It has always been dark, and “Gotham,” Fox’s new drama that has basically been billed as Gotham City before Batman, is not about to lighten it up. The pilot opens with a sequence of what can only be a young Catwoman climbing about and eventually witnessing that most heinous of crimes, the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne. Soon the future commissioner James Gordon and his corrupt partner Harvey Bullock are on the case. As Bullock says, “This isn’t a job for nice people.”

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Column: Despite slow start, Packer offense still has wealth of talent

By Rushad Machhi and Paul Blazevich | Sep. 22, 2014

If someone had come up to me before the NFL season and told me that the Packers’ offense would be holding them back, I would have said, “Sure, it also looks like hell is about to freeze over.”

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Weighing the worthiness of concepts on concept albums

By Brian Weidy | Sep. 22, 2014

When one listens to non-instrumental music, the point (sometimes) is to tell a story. While one could spend all day looking for a real story in Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy,” you already know that she’s in the fast lane between California and Japan. The song is remarkably catchy but one isn’t looking to Ms. Swaggy P for an investigation into post-racial discourse in the 21st century.

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Column: Appreciating Derek Jeter simply as a baseball player

By Jim Dayton | Sep. 22, 2014

Barring a miracle playoff run, just seven games remain in the storied career of Derek Jeter.