AMP
The Official Student Opinion and Satire Magazine of UTD
Opinion
Print Issues
The Mystery Meat of Man-Eating Media
There’s a girl at the bar, and she’s looking at you. You didn’t expect this, didn’t come out looking for action, but she’s looking at you — a predatory, calculated look accented by the long, well-manicured hands that tap a staccato rhythm on the bartop. She smiles when you meet her eyes, so you smile […]
Opinion
Print Issues
An Ode to “The Owl House”
The Disney cartoon “The Owl House” is reaching its end. It’s a sad reality for those of us who have never felt more seen by a piece of queer media. The main character Luz lured the audience in with a premise that is all too tempting to anyone who ever felt isolated, alone, or misplaced. […]
Cover Stories
Opinion
Print Issues
Creator or Computer? The Ethics of AI Art
If there’s a hot button topic that you’ve heard about recently, there’s a decent chance that artificial intelligence, or AI, has been part of the discussion. There are many ways to define artificial intelligence, but in simple terms, it’s broadly considered “a field which combines computer science and robust datasets to enable problem-solving,” according to […]
Cover Stories
Opinion
Print Issues
Divest From Death
UTD profits off of war, destruction, and death. Here’s how. Our university, like all American universities, has an endowment fund which is a pool of money that it collects from donations. These donations are critical to an institution’s ability to make profits, which it needs to be able to invest in academic research, university infrastructure, […]
Opinion
Print Issues
The Community-Driven Baseball Horror Sim That Made Me Trans
(On Friday, June 2nd, The Game Band makers of the beloved game Blaseball, made a post announcing that the horror-fantasy baseball game would be ending due to a lack of financial sustainability. Keep reading to learn more about the great game (and community) we will be losing in the process). “Blaseball” is a community-driven baseball […]
Opinion
Print Issues
The Unifying Power of Hateable People
It’s 11:47 p.m. You have two quizzes, a discussion board, and a paper due at midnight. You should be finishing them like a normal, responsible human being. Instead, you and seven other people sit huddled around a game of Mario Party 8, like geniuses. All is fun and joyous, except for one critical detail: one […]
Opinion
Print Issues
Furries are Friends, Not Foes
For many internet users, hearing the word “furry” can evoke a sense of either curiosity or dread. For those who don’t know, furries are a subculture of people with an interest in anthropomorphic animals. Someone’s anthropomorphic persona, or “fursona,” is an original character and/or representation of that person as an animal. These characters often exhibit […]
Featured
Opinion
Print Issues
Everything is a Gacha Game
Everything you know is a part of this gacha game known as life. Specifically, life is a gacha game. Gacha games are video games that implement a specific game mechanic, enticing players to spend in-game currency to gain random in-game items or benefits. Often, these games use the free-to-play model which means players can play […]
Cover Stories
Opinion
Print Issues
Femininity is not the Enemy
Many consider love a terrifying thing; so why would we decide to create an entire holiday centered around it? It’s because love isn’t what is actually scary. What is scary is losing that love or finding out that love was never really present in the relationship. The vulnerable nature of love is seen as weak […]
Opinion
Print Issues
You Don’t Need Love
With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, romance is on everyone’s mind. I bet you’re busy buying chocolates and getting a reservation for the perfect date spot to surprise your loving partner. And if you, unfortunately, don’t have anyone to wine and dine yet, you’re frantically searching for the perfect person to be your valentine this year […]
Opinion
Print Issues
From Native to Na’vi: Cinematic Culture Controversy
Just as the long year of 2022 was winding down to an end, renowned director James Cameron’s newest film “Avatar: The Way of Water” released to stunning commercial success, smashing annual and historical records to quickly become one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. Although it was released a whopping 13 years after the […]
Opinion
Print Issues
A Scientific Ranking of Pokémon Movies
For years, YouTube video essayists have worked tirelessly to definitively find the best Pokémon movie. With Ash Ketchum’s journey as a forever 10-year-old protagonist finally coming to an end, I took it upon myself to figure out the true answer, once and for all. Historically, this field of study has been fraught with bias, rooted […]