Soft News Explication

"Against all odds, James Levine is back."

Anthony Tommasini's "With Wheelchair and Lively Baton, Levine Commands Carnegie Hall" is a soft news article about the return of conducting legend James Levine to the stage of Carnegie Hall, where he conducted the Metropolitan Orchestra. This performance was his first performance anywhere in more than two years. "The audience, which packed the house, stood almost in sync to give him a hearty welcoming ovation." Due to years of spinal and shoulder problems, and multiple operations, "it seemed very possible that Mr. Levine might never return to performing." He came out on stage in a mechanical wheel chair. After the first piece was done, he tried to turn the wheelchair around to the audience, but had some difficulties. He did manage to turn it fully around though. "Still, this little hitch suggested how unusual it is for a conductor to have to work out such mechanical matters." The rest of the night went smoothly. Mr. Levine seemed to be alright waving his arms and giving cues to the musicians, which shows how far he has come in his healing process. All in all, "Mr. Levine's return was a triumph."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/20/arts/music/james-levine-returns-to-the-podium-at-carnegie-hall.html?ref=arts&_r=0

Hard News Explication

Dana Ford's  "Tornadoes tear through Kansas, Oklahoma and Iowa" is a hard news article about multiple tornadoes that ripped through three different states, causing massive damage to homes and surrounding areas. The first tornado, seen southwest of Wichita, Kansas, was described as "large, violent and extremely dangerous." The second tornado was seen near Edmond, Oklahoma and "another tornado was seen outside of Luther, Oklahoma but it was not immediately clear whether that was the same twister." The third tornado touched down near Wellston, Oklahoma, "taking out power lines and damaging several homes." More tornadoes were spotted in various places, causing damage all the same. Luckily, there have been no reports of immediate deaths or injuries. According to meteorologists, "Baseball-sized hail, wind gusts and tornadoes are threatening to pummel parts of the central Plains and Midwest through Monday."

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/19/us/severe-weather/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

A Review of Halo 4

Halo 4 is a first person shooter in which the player fights to stop an alien with an incredible grudge against humanity from blowing up the Earth.. After the release of their magnificent work Halo 3 in 2007, Bungie sold the Halo franchise to Microsoft. Bungie continued to make the next two Halo games, ODST and Reach, but after their releases, Microsoft owned company 343 industries took over the development of the next game, Halo 4. 343i knew they had to please a lot of fans, since Bungie had been making the Halo games since the original Halo in 1999. The pressure was on. And they delivered.

                The campaign is unlike any Halo game so far. Not only did the iconic Master Chief, the usually silent super soldier who has saved the universe multiple times,  speak the most he has spoken in any game in the entire series, his AI companion, Cortana, who has been with him since the beginning, began her descent into Rampancy (AI Corruption), where she began to “think herself to death.” The story involved not only Master Chief blasting aliens, old and new, into the atmosphere of the new Forerunner planet Requiem, but also the emotional rollercoaster of Chief doing everything in his power to get back to Earth to find Cortana’s creator, Dr. Catherine Halsey, in hopes that her Rampancy could be reversed or cured.

                New enemies arise in the form of the mysterious Prometheans, alien robots with several varieties that force you to evaluate your entire combat strategy because of their diversities. The dog-like Crawlers swarm you and try to keep you cornered, while the Knights pick you off from a distance and then teleport for an up-close and personal kill. Be wary, because if you manage to get rid of a Knight in the midst of the chaos that combat can become, their flying companions the Watchers, can regenerate the Knights if they are not killed soon after.

                The main baddie in this installation made fans that follow the Lore and book series happy, as he is one of the most well known members of the Forerunners, the Ur-Didact. The Forerunners are an alien race almost nothing is known about. The Didact does give us some information regarding Forerunner motives and technologies which is helpful to those fans who don’t read the book series.

                Several new weapons are added, but it still doesn’t add much of a variety to the playing style available, and most people were hoping for more additions. Among the new weapons are the Forerunner Suppressor, which functions like the UNSC Assault Rifle, the Scattershot, a shotgun weapon that features ricocheting bullets which have the ability to take out several people at once, the Boltshot, which functions as a revolver unless charged, where it then produces a shotgun-like effect in shooting four bullets at once in a wide radius, and several others.

                The graphics in this game almost movie-like in quality, especially when played in HD, but even better than the graphics is the sound. The first time you pick up a gun and shoot it, the sound draws you in to the game. It makes you feel as if you’re inside the Chief’s iconic armor and you’re obliterating all those aliens. The one thing that was the most disappointing was the music. Don’t get me wrong it was still great music like any other Halo game, but the original Halo theme we all know and love so well was only played for a few seconds. You can listen to it right here, www.youtube.com/watch?v=fedR4_SXKNY, but it’s better to hear it in the game.

Like any other Halo game, the online multiplayer is fantastic. You can play against strangers, or you can play with your friends and make your own custom matches. Along with new multiplayer maps and a few new game modes, a Call of Duty-esque class system was added. You can now select what your primary and secondary weapons, grenades, and armor abilities are. It wouldn’t be a Halo game without armor customization! The ability to change around your armor types and colors remains, with a few additions in that department as well.

All in all, Halo 4 is a fantastic game, and I have very high hopes for whatever 343i puts on the market next. So if you haven’t played this yet, what are you waiting for!? Put on your armor and go save the world!