Each week, the staff here at The Anchor give their recommendations on an album, video game and movie to enjoy. Here are our recommendations for the week of 11/2 – 11/8.
Album (Noah E.): The Forever Story, By JID (2022)
The Forever Story released in 2022 was JID’s (Destin Route) third solo album. This 16 track, hour and six minute long record is a true masterpiece. Each song features masterful lyricism, flow, and storytelling from JID. Accompanied by features from people like, Lil Wayne, EARTHGANG, 21 savage and more, this 10/10 album is sure to go down as a classic.
Video Game (Max C.): A Hat in Time, developed by Gears for Breakfast (2017)
Released in 2017, developer Gears for Breakfast’s first ever project was a huge hit in the indie gaming space. The game follows an unnamed girl, often dubbed “Hat Kid” on her journey home from space. Along the way, a member of a people known as “The Mafia” knocks on her spaceship window. As Hat Kid ignores him, he strikes the ship in retaliation, causing the ship’s fuel supply to rupture, and the fuel, known as “Time Pieces” scatter out the window, onto the planet below, and it’s your job to get them back so Hat Kid can return home. On your quest to reclaim all the time pieces, you will encounter the game’s 5 unique worlds, each with lots of things to do, stuff to collect, and characters to talk to, somewhat similar to games such as Super Mario Galaxy or Banjo-Kazooie. The game allows for a lot of customisation with tons of cosmetics alongside the badge system, allowing the player to equip up to 3 badges that can either make levels easier or more challenging. All in all, if you’re into games in the 3D platformer genre, A Hat in Time is the game for you.
Movie (Ella H.): The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, directed by Mark Herman (2008)
Imagine living in Nazi Germany walking through the woods to find a concentration camp or looking out of your window to see smoke bellowing up above in the far distance to only be told it’s a “farm”. Well for Bruno that was reality after he and his family moved from the bustling city life in Berlin to a considerably more quaint life in the German countryside. Experiencing the inevitable wave of boredom that the countryside brings to a young city-dweller, the innocent son of an evil Nazi soldier wanders through the woods and finds a concentration camp. The boy is filled with lies from his parents that such places are “farms” and not an attempt to exterminate an entire population. As the movie progresses the boy slowly pushes through the manipulative propaganda to uncover the truth. The film is an eye opening experience that displays the innocence of children and how people are born as blank canvases only for society to slowly shape and manipulate a child’s perspective and views. A film such as The Boy in the Striped Pajamas forces the watcher to ponder if the views they hold are truly theirs or just beliefs held by those they are surrounded by. Though the film takes place in a land far away and in a reality that seems somewhat distant the themes the film offers are still relevant today.
