Vic Verbalaitis

Virtual Insanity • 23rd April 2024

I Don’t Like TikTok, But We Really Need It

I would consider myself to be anti-TikTok. As a Zoomer, I am definitely in the minority among my age range. It’s not because I hate silly internet content— in fact, it’s quite the opposite. My adolescence coincided with the lifespan of Vine, TikTok’s spiritual precursor, and I can’t tell you how many hours I spent rotting my brain on that godforsaken app–– lying facedown on my bed, scrolling through 6-second videos and repeating its viral memes like “Road work ahead?” to my friends at school ad

Vic’s Substack • 27th February 2024

Vic’s Picks: February 2024

It’s time for the February edition of Vic’s Picks. This month, a lot of new music came out, so instead of including a movie of the month, I will be replacing that with a few singles of the month (I also didn’t really watch any new movies recently lol). I’ve got a lot to cover, so let’s get right to it.

Album of the Month: “Matt’s Missing” by Matt Martians

The newest solo project from Matthew Martin of Odd Future, The Internet and the Jet Age of Tomorrow, better known as Matt Martians, is “Matt

Vic’s Substack • 21st February 2024

How to Learn to Play Guitar Affordably (and Non-Frustratingly)

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard frontman Stu Mackenzie plays his guitar at the Rialto Theatre in Tucson, Arizona on April 20, 2022. (Photo by Vic Verbalaitis)

Everyone wants to know how to play the guitar. There is an instinctual desire in the human psyche to have the ability to bust out a sweet Santana-esque solo or belt out Blackbird on the old six-string. But if playing the guitar was easy, everybody would do it. That kind of skill is privy to those who put in extraordinary amounts of tim

Vic’s Substack • 15th February 2024

EJ Dickson Has No Time for Bullshit

EJ Dickson is chronically online. It’s part of her job. Her livelihood depends on her internet connection. She’s obsessed with TikTok – and, rightfully so – it’s the ideal place to find out what’s happening in the digital sphere of human interaction. She tweets with conviction. “I’ve been ratioed a million times,” she said. “I don’t fucking care if I’m ratioed again.”

Clad in a comically oversized black coat, she looks like a Disney villain – knocking over a small vase of water as she sits down

Vic’s Substack • 3rd January 2024

Vic's Picks: January 2024

Welcome to Vic’s Picks: my monthly list of recommendations for media! Every month, I’ll be writing recommendations for an album, a video game, a movie and a TV show that you should check out. I will attempt to include relatively recent media for each category every month, but sometimes I’ll include older examples that I feel are either culturally relevant or just something I think is worth experiencing. Check out this month’s selection of recommendations below, and feel free to let me know if th

Vic’s Substack • 8th December 2023

Video Game Soundtracks Are More Than Just Background Noise

Recently I stopped by the Sam Ash music store in Manhattan to kill some time and play some of their instruments. As a multi-instrumentalist, this is a pretty common occurrence. I made my way towards the back of the store where they keep their collection of keyboards and pianos. I sat down at one that looked nice, and began to play one of my favorite songs: “No More What Ifs” from the Persona 5 Royal soundtrack.

As I began playing the opening chords to the song, I noticed someone from the corner

www.otdowntown.com • 20th October 2023

How One Man’s Love of Ice Cream Turned Into Thriving Business

For David Yoo, what started as a joke turned out to become the cornerstone of his career. After graduating from the Parsons School of Art and Design, the 40-year-old Long Island native initially worked in streetwear at 10 Deep before going into fashion advertising. However, it wasn’t too long before Yoo wanted to make a change toward something new. He sought something creative, but something he could also pursue on his own. Originally, his idea to pivot toward ice cream was a joke, one he told h

6th October 2023

“The New Commercials”: How Content Creators are Influencing Fashion

Shortly after I entered the small, rentable gallery space nestled between Manhattan’s Upper West Side and Midtown on a moist and muggy Thursday afternoon, I witnessed the orchestration of a small production of sorts.

Beneath a wall adorned with an array of artistic works, consisting generally of birds and human faces, a smartphone cameraman filmed two chicly dressed women sitting together on a gray couch. From what I was able to overhear, the video production involved something that “would look

Arizona Daily Star • 1st May 2023

U of A student health club aids Tucson’s homeless

The students are members of Street Medicine Tucson, a UA group dedicated to helping Tucson’s homeless population. The group operates as a university CUP clinic, which stands for Commitment to Underserved People, alongside other programs, including Flying Samaritans, which provides free medical and dental care in Sonora, and MexZona, which offers medical clinics in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora.

The students involved in Street Medicine Tucson organize monthly clinics with their Mobile Health Unit, the

Arizona Daily Star • 25th April 2023

Lawyers for Literacy pairs Tucson school kids with legal professionals

Sitting beside him is Pima County Superior Court Judge Joan Wagener, hunched over in a short red chair, a far cry from her typical seat on the bench. She smiles as she listens to Adan’s enthusiastic reading of the Magic School Bus’s exploits in outer space.

For almost 25 years, Wagener has been a volunteer reader with Lawyers for Literacy, a program supported by the Pima County Bar Foundation that pairs legal professionals with elementary school students to bolster their reading development. La

Arizona Daily Star • 22nd April 2023

Science of psychedelics examined at Arizona conference

Horner joined the Navy a month after he graduated high school and served until he was 27 and later entered the corporate world. After a while, he found that he was debilitatingly ill, with doctors puzzled at how to help him.

Unable to function normally with his laundry list of ailments, Horner learned that his illness stemmed from trauma he had sustained throughout his childhood and during his military service. For four years, he explored various avenues in alternative medicines, searching for

Arizona Daily Star • 10th April 2023

U of A student group provides free medical, dental care in Sonora

The clinics not only help the residents of Agua Prieta, but also provide valuable real-life experience for students wanting to pursue careers in medicine. Volunteers have the opportunity to interact with patients, do physical exams and learn firsthand under the guidance of practicing medical professionals.

Lisette Lecorgne, a nurse practitioner who worked at the UA’s Campus Health center, served as an advisor to the UA chapter of Flying Samaritans from 2008-22. She has been a part of the Flying

Arizona Daily Star • 3rd April 2023

Mural project aims to beautify key Tucson corridor

The group plans to commission six local artists to design and paint murals along Speedway Boulevard between Park and Campbell avenues, a frequented strip near the university that leads toward the heart of the city. They hope to revitalize the walls within this gateway, exhibiting the diversity and uniqueness of Tucson’s community of artists to both visitors and residents alike.

Public art encourages people to pay attention to the environment they occupy, according to Americans for the Arts, a n

Arizona Daily Star • 31st March 2023

U of A engineering seniors pursue rookie spot on “Battlebots” TV show

Given three minutes in the ring, two Battlebots operated by opposing teams try to cause as much damage as possible to their competitor. The bots feature weapons systems that they use to impair their opponents, with some of the more popular weapon types including flippers, flamethrowers and horizontal or vertical spinners that can rotate at hundreds of miles per hour.

After completing their application to the “Battlebots” show in February, Hurworth said the team was contacted by one of the produ

Arizona Daily Star • 17th March 2023

Pima County program offers academic, job help to disengaged youths

“There’s a saying in life that 'you’re locked up and you throw away the key',” Williams said. “Our mission and goal is to just help people get back on track and help them be productive members of our societies, but also help them be comfortable with themselves and feel confident that they can do some really good things.”

One of the largest financial contributors to Pima Cycle Breaker is Potoff Private Philanthropy, which provided seed money to get the program up and running. Other major contrib

Arizona Daily Star • 5th March 2023

Accessible curriculum helps blind U of A student ace chem course

“It was the first time in college that I only had to worry about learning, and not getting access or accommodations or anything like that,” Tanori-Contreras said during a Zoom call from Italy, where she is studying this semester. “And that was an incredible feeling that I was just learning, and that’s all I had to put my energy toward.”

Working alongside the UA’s Disability Resource Center, Njardarson was able to transcribe into Braille the textbook used for the course, allowing Tanori-Contrera

Arizona Daily Star • 13th February 2023

U of A student group aims to stop overdoses at the source

In 2022, Pima County had 284 deaths due to opioid overdose events and another 594 non-fatal opioid overdoses, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. About 13% of the non-fatal overdose events were of people between 18- and 24 years old, and 8% of the overdose deaths fell within the same age group. Fentanyl was involved in about 64% of the non-fatal overdose events in the state in 2022, an increase of 22% from 2021.

TACO’s philosophy focuses on the prevention of opioid overdose

Arizona Daily Star • 31st January 2023

Tucson jam band celebrating 30th anniversary

That was the beginning in 1993 and while Kort is still behind the mic, Funky Bonz has undergone a slew of lineup changes over the years. The five core members today include Kort, Doug “Hurricane” Floyd on guitar, Tom “TK” Kennedy on saxophone, Mark Lee on bass and Mike “Heff” Hoeffner on drums.

“We brought in the sax and that literally kind of defined the direction we were going as soon as we put the sax in there,” Kort said. “We didn’t know if we were going to be metal, we didn’t know if we we

Arizona Republic • 11th December 2022

UA student Aidan Pettit-Miller aims to stop opioid deaths in Greek life

Armed with a drill, a toolbox and a Narcan kit, Aidan Pettit-Miller enters the Phi Gamma Delta chapter room on a Saturday morning and gets to work.

Over the light buzz of friendly chatter among the fraternity brothers, Pettit-Miller’s drill whirs as it bores screws into the drywall. After a few minutes, the installation of the Narcan kit is complete.

Satisfied with his handiwork, Pettit-Miller waves goodbye to the FIJI brothers as he heads back to his Ford F-150. He hops in the driver’s seat,

Arizona Republic • 4th December 2022

Phoenix records wettest day of the year; slim chances of showers during week ahead

Phoenix reported its wettest day of the year on Saturday with a record daily rainfall of 0.76 inches, its highest since Dec. 24, 2021, according to the National Weather Service in Phoenix.

The weather service at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport said that parts of eastern Phoenix received more than 1 inch in recorded rainfall, with some higher terrain areas reaching up to 2 inches.

The weather service in Tucson said on Sunday that high rainfall amounts were seen across western Pima, Pin

Arizona Republic • 24th November 2022

More details emerge about Avondale shooting rampage that killed beloved barber

The suspect charged with shooting at vehicles and causing several collisions in Avondale on Saturday, which resulted in the death of a beloved Avondale barber confessed to his crimes, according to court documents.

Raymond Earl Pipkin, 29, was arrested by police on Saturday after a shooting rampage in Avondale that killed 34-year-old Glendale resident Gabriel Sotello and injured five others, including a 14-year-old boy.

Court documents said that the rampage began around 12:30 p.m. at the inters

Arizona Republic • 7th November 2022

Man arrested on suspicion of shooting and killing his mother in Tucson

A man was arrested on suspicion of killing his mother with a handgun, according to the Pima County Sheriff's Department.

On Sunday around 11 a.m., Pima County deputies were dispatched to a home on West Nighthawk Way in Tucson for reports of a shooting, authorities said. Upon arrival at the home, the deputies said they located a man at the front door holding a handgun.

After taking the man into custody, he was identified as 37-year-old Jonathan Hatmaker, officials said.

Deputies entered the ho

Arizona Republic • 19th October 2022

Tako, OdySea Aquarium's giant pacific octopus, dies

OdySea Aquarium announced on social media Tuesday that their giant pacific octopus, Tako, has died.

Tako was a part of OdySea since Sept. 2020, according to a Facebook post from the aquarium. The post said Tako had been undergoing a process called senescence, which is a giant pacific octopus's final stage of life.

During senescence, a female giant pacific octopus lays their eggs and broods them until they hatch. Tako laid her eggs as early as June 1, according to Tako's primary caretaker Paige

Arizona Republic • 10th October 2022

Organizations offer $25,000 reward for arrest in deaths of wild horses in Arizona

A $25,000 reward has been offered for the arrest and conviction of perpetrators involved in a wild horse killing in the Apache National Forest near Alpine, Arizona, according to Amelia Perrin from the American Wild Horse Campaign.

Two nonprofit organizations — The Salt River Wild Horse Management Group and the American Wild Horse Campaign — have pledged $20,000 toward the reward fund. Another advocacy organization, Animal Wellness Action, has pledged an additional $5,000 toward the reward, Perr