Entertainment Retrospective

The Real World: The (Forgotten) Grand-Daddy of Reality Shows By Cameron Copeland In the cultural canon of American television, there are few shows more quietly revolutionary, and more unjustly forgotten in modern discussions of pop culture, than The Real World . Premiering in 1992 on MTV, a network once known exclusively for music videos and youth-targeted programming, The Real World was a risky, novel experiment: place seven strangers in a loft, roll the cameras, and see what happens when people stop being polite... and start getting real. At the time, there was nothing quite like it. Sure, there had been docuseries before. Public broadcasting had flirted with reality-style storytelling, consider the 1973 PBS series An American Family , which chronicled the daily lives of the Loud family in California. But that was niche. The Real World was primetime accessible, youth-oriented, and culturally explosive. It didn’t just break ground—it laid the foundation for everything from Survivor...

From Paper to Screen: A Lord of the Rings Story By Cameron Copeland In the vast realm of cinematic adaptations, few tales have captivated audiences and defined a genre quite like J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings . What began as a masterpiece of literature, weaving together intricate lore, compelling characters, and epic battles in the mythical land of Middle-earth, transcended its pages to become a landmark in film history. Peter Jackson's ambitious adaptation, spanning three monumental films released between 2001 and 2003, stands as a testament to the transformative power of storytelling across mediums. The Birth of a Literary Epic Published in the mid-20th century, Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings emerged from the author's deep-rooted love for mythology, linguistics, and a desire to craft a modern mythos. The trilogy, consisting of The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers , and The Return of the King , set against the backdrop of an ancient struggle between...

 History of Superman - Part I: The Early Years  By Cameron Copeland In 1938 Action Comics #1 debuted a hero who would reshape the destiny of both the fictional world of Action Comics (which would later turn into DC Comics) and the real world. As a distant world is facing its demise a scientist placed his infant son inside a hastily devised spaceship and launched it into space where it traveled and crash landed onto Earth. A passing motorist noticed the sleeping baby in a strange capsule and took the child to a nearby orphanage where the caretakers were astonished by his extraordinary strength. As the baby, Clark, grew older he discovered his ability to effortlessly jump over 20 floor buildings in a single bound, lift tremendous weights, and run faster than an express train, and impenetrable skin. Clark decided early on he must use his gifts for the betterment of humanity and thus he became Superman, the champion of the oppressed notably ...

JCP/WCW Starrcade (1983) Retrospective The Daddy of Them All By Cameron Copeland If WrestleMania is the grand-daddy of them all then Starrcade is it's older brother, the granduncle as it were. The announcers of the show as it was airing called it a "new wave" or "the biggest wrestling event to occur anywhere". Which they may even had a point about as this is pretty much JCP/WCW first event broadcasted on closed circuit television which was the predecessor to pay-per view (PPV) and later premium live events (PLE). It predates WWF (later WWE) first PPV WrestleMania as well by the better part of two years as well. Starrcade would later becomes JCP/WCW flagship event, their equivalent for WrestleMania, and would continue them until being bought out by WWF in the early 2000s. Just under a 16,000 people attended which equated to a nearly $500,000 gate according to research. Gordon Solie and Bob Caudill are on commentary for this show. Quick tangent as the poster board...