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Music is Maich-ing on: Guiifbrdian music caiendar
BY GABE POLLAK
Staff Writer
By the end of the month, you will definitely
be out of breath.
Whether it's midterms, the upcoming
Merge Records marathon or a multitude of
other local music events, there's a lot to run
around for in March.
Conserve your energy and consider these
five of our favorite MaiSi happenings.
March 8 / Jack Name, Whiff Boy,
the Three Brained Robot, Fiir Die
Kinder, MBdV/ 1404 Glenwood
Avenue
The starting gun sounds with a WQFS-
sponsored show at Glenwood Books on
Friday, March 8.
Headliner Jack Name slams together David
Bowie glam with Lou Reed lo-fi and — Boom
— something soimding like the Rocky Horror
Picture Show occurs.
Does that mean you should dress in drag
and practice your time warp for this show?
Maybe not. But it certainly would not be the
most bizarre thing to go down before Name's
psychedelic fuzz fest.
Greensboro group the Three Brained
Robot, who frequently perform in nothing but
underwear and capes, might be the bills' most
intriguing band.
On "Butterflies," Three Brained Robot
singer-provocateur Sam Martin chants,
"Butterflies control my feelings," over a
lurking Odd Future-esque beat.
V\fith local minimalist DJs Fiir Die Kinder
and MBdV also on the bill, whatever happens
during the show, it will certainly be an
experience.
March 8,15,22,29 / Billy Millman
/ Mark's Restaurant
The race to see it all continues on a more
conventional note with senior Billy Millman's
weekly acoustic sets at Mark's Restaurant on
DoUey Madison.
Millman, who has honed his craft at the
restaurant since arriving at Guilford in 2010,
plays a one-man show of original folk tunes.
He has nearly as many kinds of songs as
Mark's has dishes.
There is a song about a spirit animal,
"Jaguar Afternoon," a song about North
Carolina, "Caroline," and a lot of songs about
love.
Between the bouncy "Hey, Hello," and
another Kooks-y number, "Six Cigarettes,"
you may end up singing along with your
mouth full.
Besides, what goes better with a love song
than some duck tacos?
March 14 / AMPLIFIER Seventh
Issue Release Show with Black
Santa, Elemeno, and Sacred Oaks /
The Crown in the Carolina Theatre
Halfway through the month, with spring
break qui^ on your heels, is no time to slow
down.
On the first Friday of spring break, local arts
zine. Amplifier, hosts its Seventh Issue Release
Show at the Crown, a bar inside the Carolina
Theatre.
Amplifier will be simultaneously
March j
Trouble
9 p.m. @ TYP
March 15
Big SometMi^
10 p.m. @ Blind Tiger
" March 8
K Daddy Issues
9 p.m. @ Ninth Street Bakery
March 13
Feminist Poetry Slam
7 p.m. @ The Greenleaf
March 16 March 31 March 29
Holder’s Scar Of Montreal Music & Bonfire
8 p.m @ Fantasy 9 p. m. @ Blind Tiger 8-10 p.m. @ the Lake
celebrating the birth of their seventh issue and
mourning the death of the zine.
Amplifier's Seventh Issue is also its last.
But just because the occasion is sad does not
mean the music has to be.
Expect an energetic set from headlining
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
group. Black Santa.
March 22 / Merge Records 25K /
Chapel Hill to Durnam
Now it's time for the real race.
Merge Records is hosting a 25-kilometer
road race from Chapel Hill to Durham in
honor of their 25-year anniversary.
"Celebrate 25 years of independent music
— kilometer by kilometer," announced the
Bull City Running Co. on their website.
The post-race concert lineup has yet to be
announced, but if Merge's current roster is any
indication — boasting Spoon, She & Him and
Graimny-winners Arcade Fire — both the 25K
and the show are sure to get your heart racing.
March 29 / Leaders of the New
School; Beau Young Prince, Blue
Roots Eiqperiment, C. Pitt, Dante Ck,
L.A.B., EHte Kennedy, Diversi-Leek /
Club House
Don't slow down yet. The final mile of this
month's musical marathon is well worth the
wait.
On the last Saturday of the month. Beau
Young Prince '13 headlines his own hip hop
homecoming with the Blue Roots Experiment
playing second-to-last for an evening of
futuristic sounds at Qub House.
Junior Rod Walker and senior Malek
Williams, performing as L.A.B. and Diversi-
Leek respectively, roimd out this night of
Guilford music.
At the finish line of this month's musical
melee, check The Guilfordian for another
calendar of local music selections.
Crowd-controlled Pokemon game spawns truly fascinating social experiment
BY ALLISON STALBERG
Staff Writer
"Gotta catch 'em all?" Maybe
not this time.
"Twitch Plays Pokemon," a
social experiment and channel
on the video-streaming website
Twitch, consisted of thousands of
users simultaneously attempting
to play one copy of Pokemon Red.
Pokemon Red follows a young
boy, often referred to as Red,
through a land of creatures called
Pokemon. Players can capture,
name and train them to fight.
The game has two goals. First,
become the champion of the
region by defeating eight Gym
Leaders, then the Elite Four, the
top four Pokemon trainers. Next,
complete the Pok^dex, an in
game encyclopedia, by obtaining
all 152 Pokemon.
"Twitch Plays Pokemon,"
however, showed the game in a
new light.
Online, each player typed
commands through the channel's
chat room.
After 16 days, 7 hours and 45
minutes of continuous play online
by an estimated 650,000 Twitch
users. Red's long journey came to
a successful end with 30 Pokemon
caught and many stories to tell.
. The game was an Internet
sensation, consisting of fan art,
backstories and even a religion
and political parties.
With thousands playing all at
once, the chat room was crowded
with commands of what Red
should do. Since no collaboration
was involved. Red fumbled
through the game, taking from
hours to whole days to get from
point A to point B. This system of
gameplay was pure anarchy.
Soon though, the system added
a second way to play) through
democracy, in which the game
counted the players' various
inputs and had Red perform the
most popular command. Players
could vote on whether to put the
system on democracy or anarchy.
"When things get difficult, like
in the Safari Zone, democracy
always comes into effect,"
said first-year Sam Knecht.
"Beyond that, I think people go
towards anarchy. It seems a lot
more people like anarchy than
democracy. They use democracy
when they know they can't get
through without it.
"Democracy, while it's more
likely to get tilings done, is a lot
slower. So entertainment-wise, it
doesn't really do it."
While government came as a
part of the game, the religions
were created by the fans. One of
the religions created was the cult
of the Helix Fossil. In the game,
players are given the choice
between Helix and Dome Fossils.
The Helix Fossil was chosen,
and Red often unintentionally
selected the Helix Fossil, as if
trying to consult it for advice.
Unable to be gotten rid of, the
fossil earned an immortal status.
Because of this, the Helix
Fossil was turned into a god
of sorts by the fans. The fossil
was eventually revived into an
Omanyte, informally nicknamed
Lord Helix. Naturally, with the
Dome Fossil the exact opposite of
the Helix Fossil, the Dome Fossil
was treated as the devil.
Red's team of Pokemon also
consisted of a Pidgeot, nicknamed
"Aaaabaaajss" in game and "Bird
Jesus" out of game. The Pidgeot
was considered a savior due to
being one of the few Pokemon the
players managed to keep from the
beginning and was exceptionally
strong in battle.
Fans even managed to capture
the legendary Pokemon Zapdos
with a Master Ball. It was
nicknamed "AA-j" in game and
"John the Zapist" out of game.
"Humans always need to
create narrative and context, it's
in our nature," said Educational
Psychologist Claire De La Varre
in an email to The Guilfordian.
"People have a need to explain
their behaviors and the behaviors
of their characters/avatars, and
like to build worlds."
The game, as a social
experiment, brings to question
if an educational analysis is
expected of what is usually seen
as just silly fun.
The anonymous game creator
said in an interview with
badatvideogames.net, "Although
I claim it is a social experiment,
I think that gives the false
impression that it was planned or
for a particular purpose, it's just a
fancy way of saying 'I want to see
what happens.'"
On the second day of gameplay,
the creator said in the same article,
"I didn't think it would be this
popular, I thought it would get
a small but dedicated following
with many other people showing
a short passing interest."
From a psychologist's point
of view though, the popularity
makes sense.
"Game players are always
looking for novelty: the chance to
be part of something with so many
other people, the fun / frustration
of actually playing," said De La
Varre. "It's sort of a combination
of all kinds of social activities like
a flash mob, MMOG, cult or secret
society complete with jargon and
their own mythology.
"I think it must also be
appealing to feel that you and
thousands upon thousands of
other people are all playing the
same game."