By Katie Servas – Staff Reporter

Start wallowing to the new album “Tell Me That It’s Over” by Wallows.

This album is the alternative band’s second studio album that was released earlier this year. The album leans farther into their alternative style and brings new bouncy and bright tracks to its audiences. 

The album expresses insecurity, relationships with their highs and lows, while introducing dynamic sounds to set the tone of the instrumental range of the entire album. The music includes many keyboard elements as well as different textures that produce something unlike one has heard before. 

The first single released, “I Don’t Want to Talk,” includes a joyride type of feeling along with some featured harmonica throughout the entire piece. The opening lyric sets the tone of the song by expressing when someone’s significant other or trusted friend leaves for an extended period of time, and how one starts to reflect on themselves after they leave. They then realize that person gave them confidence and without them, their insecurities about themself show. 

The lyrics explain how they would rather move on without discussing the situation and their choice of wanting to avoid conflict and prevent feeling like a burden or making a problem out of something even though it’s nothing. The song leads to the insecurity of seeing a stranger with one’s significant other and that feeling of intimidation from that stranger who’s very confident in themselves. The song concludes with bottling up all the jealousy and insecurity knowing that these issues aren’t really problems within the relationship and that they were just in their head.

Wallows has started their “Tell Me That It’s Over” tour over the past few months. The tour is worldwide from the United States, to Canada, Europe, and Australia. The tour includes performing at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. This event draws many people from around the world and is one of the largest festivals that occurs yearly. This is where many bands and artists come and display their works and talents for a large audience which allow for exposure to people who may not have been interested in, or aware of the artist. 

There are many other honorable mentions such as, “Hard to Believe,” “Especially You,” and “That’s What I Get.” These pieces feature many instruments such as drums, keyboard, strings, guitar and bass. These songs describe feelings of insecurity and reliance on others. Overall, this is an album that may seem skeptical to the average person and may lead them to believe that the music is a bit of an acquired taste, but this album has elements that are unlike today’s Billboard Top 100 music. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Olivia Augustine – News Editor

“One Tree Hill” was created by Mark Schwahn and aired from 2003-2012. “One Tree Hill” is a tv show about the lives of a group of high school students that takes place in Tree Hill, North Carolina. Lucas and Nathan are brothers who have different mothers and never got to know each other. They both have an interest in basketball and when Lucas tries out for the school team Nathan learns more about Lucas. 

This show starred Chad Michael Murray as Lucas Scott, James Lafferty as Nathan Scott, Hilarie Burton as Peyton Sawyer, Bethany Joy as Haley James, and Sophia Bush as Brooke Davis. This show goes through a lot of emotional situations as Lucas, Nathan, Peyton, Brooke, and Haley get older. 

A memorable scene is throughout the show Lucas and Nathan compete at basketball while trying to get through high school. When Lucas tries out for the school basketball team, Nathan gets mad and tries to get Lucas to quit the team and lose his interest in playing basketball. As they get closer Nathan becomes nicer to Lucas and they form a friendship that they never thought they could have. 

Brooke Davis is a character that not everyone liked at first, but her character development was amazing. Brooke is fearless and is the leader of her friend group. She is also cheer captain. As cheer captain she tries to make her team the best. Brooke and Peyton are best friends. They have been best friends since they were little. Lucas was Brooke’s first boyfriend that she really cared about. When Lucas cheats on Brooke with Peyton she handles it well even though she is really angry at both of them. Brooke goes through a lot of tragedies throughout the show and always shows that things will get better. Brooke went from being a character who bossed people around to being a loving mother and best friend to Haley. 

Comparing One Tree Hill to “Dawson’s Creek” – they are both about a group of friends going through high school. Dawson, Joey, Pacey and Jen are friends. Dawson and Joey have been friends for a long time like Lucas and Haley in “One Tree Hill”. Both “Dawson’s Creek” and “One Tree Hill” follow the lives of high schoolers. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By William Smith – Staff Reporter

“Moonfall” was released on February 4 and was directed by Roland Emmerich. It stars John Bradley as K. C. Houseman, Patrick Wilson as Brian Harper, Kelly Yu as Michelle, Halle Berry as Jocinda, Charlie Plummer as Sonny Harper, and Michael Pena as Tom Lopez. 

“Moonfall” is a movie about the moon on a crash course towards earth. When the movie starts, we meet Brian Harper and Jocinda, NASA astronauts who are doing repairs on a satellite in orbit, when all of a sudden a metallic being comes around and kills one the astronauts and sends Brian Harper and Jocinda Hurtling back to Earth. When he comes back to earth NASA fires him because they believe that it was a solar flare from the sun. Ten years later we met K. C. Houseman, a conspiracy theorist who discovers the moon is out of orbit and is headed towards earth. K. C. tries to meet with people from NASA but they won’t listen, but then he sees a newspaper article that leads him to Brian Harper who is supposed to be teaching kids about space. When K. C. tries to talk to Brian about it, Brian shrugs it off as the ramblings of a crazy person. In the next scene we see Jocinda at NASA when she looks at her phone when a notification goes off that the moon is out of orbit and is headed towards earth. K. C. is holding a meeting at a hotel about the moon being a mega structure (a fake planet that is filled with metal and alien tech) when Brian shows up to tell K. C. that he was wrong and tries to help him, but when that happens a huge wave comes crashing through because the moon is messing with the tides.

Meanwhile, NASA is sending probes to check out the moon to see what’s wrong with it but what happens is the metallic being comes out from the pit they were probing to kill the three astronauts who were probing the pit. When the NASA control team sees this  the director quits and gives his job to Jocinda. Jocinda decides to go down the NASA rabbit hole to see its dark past. It was on the Apollo mission when they discovered that earth is hollow and discovered the metallic being so in order to counteract it they constructed an emp, but because of budget cuts the emp was put away. Jocinda decides to contact Brian because he was able to land a spacecraft with no power whatsoever (it’s important because it was found out that metallic beings only attack beings inside electrical machines) and when they meet K. C. is with them. They decide to come up with a plan of action to reach the moon and kill the creature or whatever it may be.

“Moonfall” had many strong points. It had amazing visuals that captivated the eyes. There were some moments that left viewers wondering how they had the budget to make that scene. Another strength of the movie was it managed to pull off a B-story as well as the main story. They did well in that area but they could have done better because there was just one bad thing happening after another and it never gave any breathing room in between.

The movie did have some weaknesses, however. It was very plot-heavy and very hard to follow the story because there was so much going on. Second, the fact that the whole world believed a known conspiracy theorist and worried so many people is crazy because it’s hard to believe that people would trust a source of information like that. Third, this movie probably would have done better as a TV show because there was so much lore and loose ends that it could have done and it also wouldn’t have made the plot feel as rushed as it is. 

Rating 3.5 out of 5 stars

By Lana Hanania – Staff Reporter

Tame Impala is one of the most well-known bands in the world. Simple effects in music software applications like Ableton Live can be used to create Impala’s songs. Two Ableton Effects Rack setups, including the Boombox Drums and Crushed Drums racks, are perhaps the most essential component of the Tame Impala sound; the sound is incredibly distinct and instantly recognized. These effects are used to generate a distorted sound while also opening up the drum sound to give the entire sound more space and depth. This is the main reason why his songs sound the way they are.  One of the most well-known albums created by the band Tame Impala is “Current”. The record’s theme is personal transformation, which many critics perceived as the outcome of a break-up. The album became the group’s best-charting release. 

In the album “Current”, one song that is great to yhave on a Spotify playlist is “Eventually”. It’s easily a breakup song, it’s ambiguous enough to allow for alternative interpretations. In the chorus, he repeats, “I know that I’ll be happier/And I know you will, too,” stopping just long enough before adding the title phrase; Eventually. It’s the potentially false hope that the word holds that makes it so heartbreaking but so great at the same time. Listeners either feel that they need to scream the song or cry while listening to it. Although the song has many strong points, the very beginning of the song should not be there, it comes off as a strong chord and does not fit but eventually, it flows into the song. Some reviews mentions this as well, but others say how impressed they were by the instruments and that the Tame Impala concerts are something everyone should experience. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars 

By Maddy Gaillard – Staff Reporter 

The Weeknd is a Canadian singer and songwriter. He has previously released four studio albums. After his fourth album released, “After Hours”, in March 2020, the Weeknd began to tease a fifth album. The Weeknd, (also known as Abel Makkonen Tesfaye) was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. He started gaining attention after his second album release, “Beauty Behind the Madness”, which came out in 2015. Since then, the Weeknd has been receiving enormous amounts of fame and recognition. Some of his first hit singles, “Can’t feel my face” and “The Hills” topped the Billboard Hot 100. The Weeknd has also won three Grammy Awards, 19 Billboard Music Awards, six American Music Awards, 15 Juno Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards and an Academy Award nomination. 

“Dawn FM” has a “psychedelic radio” idea behind it and follows many themes. The album has an early almost scary feel but also has some upbeat and fast pacing songs. The album also has a narrator to further replicate the radio concept, the narrator for “Dawn FM”is Jim Carrey. The album opens with the song “Dawn FM” and has a very sci-fi and technology based sound. After the beginning of the song, Jim Carrey comes on and says, “You are now listening to 103.5 Dawn FM. You’ve been in the dark way too long, it’s time to walk into the light and accept your fate with open arms, scared? Don’t worry, we will be there to hold your hand and guide you through this painless transition, but what’s the rush? Just relax and enjoy another hour of commercial free music on 103.5 Dawn FM”. The opening to this album sets the tone and almost envisions the listener to be in a non-conscious state and going through some sort of transformation. 

The strong points for this album is that it is very different to other music projects. A decent part of the album is being narrated and portrays the radio idea. The songs “Out of Time” and “Sacrifice” have a fast toned beat and are not slow and eerie like some of the other songs on the album. The concepts are very interesting and there are many intriguing photos and tracks that makes “Dawn FM” a fascinating album to listen to. 

However, many people may not like the dark, eerie, scary tone the album has. If upbeat pop is more someone’s preferred music, this may not be the album for them. There is a lot of narrating and some people may not like that and just want to hear the music. “Dawn FM” is definitely more of a story it takes the listener through so that may be a pro or a con based on each person. 

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

By Truman Martin – Entertainment Editor

The Super Bowl is one of the most-watched sports events in the world, and with it comes the halftime show. The Super Bowl halftime show showcases some of the most popular artists, and this year it showcased Eminem, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, and May J. Blige. There were also special appearances from 50 Cent and Anderson .Paak. 

This Super Bowl halftime show was the best one in years. For the past couple of years, the shows have felt really forced and cringey more than anything. This show, however, was just some artists performing their songs on a cool stage (with the exception of Kendrick Lamar).

The show opened up with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, and it was pretty clear that this was going to be good. As soon as “The Next Episode” started and Snoop Dogg started rapping, viewers couldn’t help but smile. Next was “California Love,” which was pretty inevitable for the Super Bowl in LA. After that, 50 cent hung off the ceiling while rapping “In Da Club.”

The next performer was Mary J. Blige who performed “Family Affair” and did a pretty good job with her performance. But then, Kendrick Lamar appeared, standing in the middle of a bunch of choreographers. Unfortunately, this might have been the most disappointing part of the show. Some predicted he would perform a song like “Humble,” but instead he performed “Alright.”

Then, of course, the big performance everyone was waiting for was here: Eminem. He rose up onto the stage performing the hook for “Forgot About Dre” before switching to “Lose Yourself” and it was pretty cool. Some might have been disappointed that he sang “Lose Yourself,” just because that was the obvious choice. Finally, the show closed out with Dre and Snoop performing “Still D.R.E.” 

The best part of the show was when Dr. Dre started playing the piano for “Still D.R.E.” because it is such an iconic song. Overall, this was definitely the best halftime show in years, and hopefully this begins an uphill streak for the ones in the future.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

By Olivia Hudak – Staff Reporter

Pitbull is an all-time famous artist with several hit albums and singles that are listened to years after their release. His best album, however, is “Globalization”, which was released on November 21, 2014. This was his eighth studio album and was released through Polo Grounds Music and RCA Records. Many of these songs fall into the genres of dance and hip hop. This album consisted of five singles: “Wild Wild Love,” “Fireball,” “Time of Our Lives,” “Fun,” and “Drive You Crazy.” “Globalization” debuted at #18 on the U.S. Billboard 200 Chart. 

“Globalization” consists of many themes. Most of Pitbull’s songs are fun, party songs that give off an energy and a vibe that makes people want to enjoy the moment. Songs like “Time of Our Lives,” “Fun,” and “Celebrate” represent what his album revolves around. 

This album has many strong points and reasons to listen. It’s an album that will bring people closer by having more fun together. Each song consists of some type of good or fun beat that will make people want to have fun whether it’s with friends or just by themselves. A lot of Pitbull’s songs are played at clubs, parties, or on a basic summer day. In life, people always need a little music to bring their mood up Pitbull is able to consistently make hit singles that revolve around that. So if people love listening to upbeat, fun singles then Pitbull’s “Globalization” album is perfect for them.

Although Pitbull has many hit songs, some may find him uninteresting. It just depends on what kind of genre of music people like. If people are into more lyrical, heartfelt songs, they probably would be uninterested in listening to this album or basically any Pitbull songs. Also, many people say he is “talentless” and that he needs guest singers on his songs to make them good, but he is talented regardless of who he has in his music.

If people are into fun, party songs the Pitbull album “Globalization” is for them and their friends.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

By William Smith – Staff Reporter

*WARNING: This does include spoilers for “Spider-Man: No Way Home”*

“Spider-Man: No Way Home” is a Marvel movie that was released on December 17, 2021. It stars Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Toby Maguire as Spiderman, Zendaya as MJ, Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange, Marisa Tomei as Aunt May, and Jacob Batalon as Ned. 

“Spider-Man: No Way Home” takes place right after the events of “Spider-Man: Far From Home” when Mysterion reveals Spider-Man’s identity to the whole world. When this information was released people’s thoughts were divided between that Spider-Man was a menace or that he was a good guy. This caused him and his friends to get denied to MIT, the college the three of them wanted to go to. So Spider-Man goes to Dr. Strange to see if he undo time so he can go back and change it, but Dr. Strange gave him the alternative of changing everybody’s memories so they forget who he is.

When Dr. Strange is casting the spell Spider-Man tries to change many things which results in the spell malfunctioning and causes everybody from alternate universes to come to their universe who knows Spider-Man. Luckily Dr. Strange manages to contain the spell. After that happened, Dr. Strange mentions how they were not able to accept him after he pleaded his case. Then Spider-Man says he could plead his case, and him saying that caused Dr. Strange to be angry because he was about to brainwash the entire world that he wasn’t Spider-Man. Spider-Man then finds one of the school’s admission managers so he could plead his and his friends’ case. Just as he was doing that he was attacked by Doc Oc. When Doc Oc takes off Spider-Man’s mask he is confused and says “you’re not Spider-Man.” Just as he beats Doc Oc Green Goblin shows up and starts bombing the highway they are on. While this happened Doc Oc is confused as to why Green Goblin is alive because he was supposedly dead.

Right after he said that, they were both whisked away by Dr. Strange’s magic to his basement. He tells Spider-Man that a couple people slipped and managed to make it to their universe. So after that he tells Spider-Man he is responsible for finding everybody who came through. He eventually finds SandMan and Electro and brings them both to the basement prison. He then gets a message from Aunt May that she found another person from an alternate universe; it turns out it was Green Goblin. When he was visiting Aunt May she convinced Spider-Man that he needs to help them so Spider-Man brings everybody he captures to Happy’s apartment so that he can fix what’s whats wrong with everybody. He only manages to help Doc Oc before they all go Rogue and escape. After that, the movie cuts to MJ and Ned as they are holding onto a device that can send them all back. As this happens, they want to see Spider-Man, and Ned ends up using his magic to open up a portal to Spider-Man, only it’s not the Spider Man they know (For now, Spider-Man refers to the name of the actors played by him so it’s not confusing.) It’s a Spider-Man from a different universe. Then Ned opens another portal that leads to Toby Maguire. Then they meet up with Tom Holland and decide to work together to cure the rest of the villains who haven’t been cured of their powers. When they’re done making all the cures they all head to the Statue of Liberty to battle it with the villains so the Spider-Men can cure them. During the fight, the malfunctioning spell gets let loose so Dr. Strange tries to contain it. While this happens Tom Holland fights with Green Goblin. After he cures him Spider-Man goes up to Dr. Strange and says to make it so nobody remembers who Peter Parker is, and he does just that. When this happens everybody from an alternate universe is sent back to their universe, and nobody can remember who Spider man is. And during the post credit scene we see Venom at a bar talking about how he wants to see Spider-Man. He then fades away to his universe, but he leaves his symbiote, the thing that lets him become Venom. 

Something that was good about the movie was that it explained the Spider-Man reboots and gave some nostalgia to long time Spider-Man fans. It also gave rise to a lot of new information and will make fans want to see how Spider-Man overcomes not being known to anybody, not even to close people who he’s known for a long time. 

The worst part about the movie is how they are going to make another Spider-Man movie that’s just as good or better than this. Because of what happened in the last movie, it is difficult to imagine another Spider-Man movie that can top it, and it’s hard to imagine what the next movie is going to be like. However, this movie does give the next movie a lot to work with; it might be too much with nobody remembering him and the whole Venom plot line. It will be interesting to see what future Marvel movies might add.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

By Zack Sulkis – Staff Reporter

“Whole Lotta Red” is the absolutely incredible second studio album by American rapper Playboi Carti. The album was released on Christmas Day in 2020 after fans waited for nearly two years after the release of Carti’s debut studio album, “Die Lit.”

When the album was initially released, many fans had mixed opinions on the different style compared to Die Lit, however now many consider it an absolute masterpiece of modern rap. The main way to describe the style is that it is rap meant for mosh pits.

Every single song has an absolute hard hitting beat that sticks; it is present on every song in the album. “Whole Lotta Red” consists of 24 tracks with a run time of 62:12, giving listeners an hour of absolutely hard-hitting rap that gives people no time for breathing with non-stop classic after classic. 

Some of the most popular songs on “Whole Lotta Red” are: “Sky,” “Stop Breathing,” “Rockstar Made,” “Punk Monk,” “New Tank,” “Vamp Anthem,” “Die4Guy,” and many more. Every song has a beat that can only be described as violent and full of bass. 

Sky is by far the most popular on the album in terms of how it has the most streams and views on Youtube. It has a different style then most songs on the albums; it is a little bit slower, has a different beat, less demonic sounding, and is more melodic.

The song doesn’t really have a direction; it just talks about how Carti does not want to  feel pain anymore and and about the different relationships in his life. He raps, “I don’t drive R8s, I don’t like those, I drive the Daytona and I tinted the windows (yeah, skrrt)” “I got on Ed Hardy. She got on stilettos.”

The album doesn’t feature nearly as many artists as Carti has done in the past, the only artists featured are: Kanye West, Kid Cudi, and Future. On the song Punk Monk Carti actually talks about how he doesn’t typically like other rappers on his songs, he feels like he doesn’t need them. 

The album was produced by Kanye West and he has a feature on the now iconic song, “Go2DaMoon. “

Carti, really named Jordan Terrell Carter ,is known for an experimental sound and gothic fashion style, and overall mysterious public persona. Carti burst onto the scene in 2017 with his self-titled album, “Playboi Carti” that featured the song “Magnolia,” notorious for creating the resurgence of the “Milly Rocking” trend.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Maddy Gaillard – Staff Reporter 

The animated “Grinch” movie is a light hearted film that came out in 2018. It is a Christmas comedy that is a remake of the original Dr. Suess’s Grinch 1957 book. The movie stars Benedict Cumberbatch as the Grinch and Cameron Seely as Cindy Lou Who. It was released and distributed by Universal Studios. The film grossed over $511 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing Christmas film of all time. It was released in November 2018 and was a huge hit. 

The movie focuses on the Grinch who is an abandoned orphan who has developed a hatred for Christmas and Cindy Lou Who, who lives in the town of Whoville. The Grinch has a heart “two sizes too small” and only visits the town of Whoville to buy necessities or prank the citizens. The Grinch decides to ruin Christmas and does a series of events to ruin Christmas for the town. The film also follows Cindy Lou Who is trying to help out her single mother while also having fun as a kid. She is a kind hearted soul who will later find the Grinch facing his troubles. 

The movie is very well made and still interesting to watch considering there are multiple remakes of the original. The movie is wonderfully animated and is filled with colors and the Christmas spirit. It captures the Grinch in the varying different stages he goes through and shows how his character develops throughout the film. Many characters have a big part in the movie and it is not just focused on one character. Additionally, the soundtrack for the movie is by Tyler the Creator and it provides a new feel and modern take on an old story. It allows the remake to not be boring and it makes it different from the previous Grinch movies. 

Some weak points are that the character development of the Grinch may have not been that significant compared to the previous stories. The Grinch is supposed to be a very mean figure in the beginning and it can be argued that his personality is sugarcoated.  It is possibly too lighthearted and tries too hard to be comedic. But, the movie is a basic family film that may not fit everyone’s preferred genre, but ultimately it will fit a Christmas family setting and it may not be for every situation. 

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

By Zack Sulkis – Staff Reporter 

Notorious American rapper Snoop Dogg released his newest album, “Snoop Dogg Presents: Algorithm” on November 19. It is a compilation album that was released via Doggy Style Records and Def Jam, so the album is full of songs that Snoop Dogg is not even on.

The album features a more modern sound, similar to music by artists such as the weekend rather than the style of snoop’s classic California gangster rap sound. The album has featured contributions from various artists including Ty Dolla $ign, Method Man & Redman, Eric Bellinger, Usher, Blxst, Fabolous, and Dave East.

“Snoop Dogg Presents: Algorithm” has more of an R&B feel rather than a rap feel with most of the songs. The most popular song on the album seems to be “Make Some Money” (ft. Fabolous & Dave East). The song talks about making money and how it makes everyone’s life better. He raps, “You gotta watch out for the suckers/You gotta watch out for the family/Well, most importantly, you gotta watch out for/For the anxiety, right?” The song may talk about how great money is, but the last few lines talk about the reality of stress some people deal with trying to find good ways to make money. 

The album has Snoop in it the way he was on “Christmas” In The Dogghouse. His name is on the front, he has some lines on other artists songs, he has only one or two songs of his own and it’s still a pretty good album. 

This album isn’t just big for Snoop and Doggystyle records, it brought back Def Jam to the center of attention for the first time since the late ’90s when they were putting on artists like DMX, Jay Z, and Ja Rule. They compiled a good selection of music for Snoop with tons of talented artists that made for a different sound compared to Snoop’s typical sound, and modern rap as a whole. 

Def Jam was created by a 20-year-old NYU named Rick Rubin back in 1983 after taking a loan from his parents he started Def Jam Recordings. Back in 2004, Jay-Z was named president of the company while running his own record company, Roc-a-Fella. 

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars 

By William Smith – Staff Reporter

“Clash Of Clans,” a mobile game made by SuperCell, came out on August 2, 2012. In the game, players start with a town hall, barracks, cannon, gold mine, and elixir collector.  To progress further through they need to loot other villages to gain more resources, so they can build and upgrade their village. There are a ton of troops, spells, and strategies they can use to loot other villages. 

Some of the troops players can use are Barbarians, Archers, Giants, Goblins, Wall Breakers, Balloons, Wizards, Healers, Dragons, P.E.K.A., Baby Dragons, and Miners. There are even more troops players can use to raid villages. 

One of the biggest features of the game is the clan. Once players restore their clan building, they can join a clan. There are tons of clans they could choose from or they can create their own clan. The functions of a clan are to support one another. Players can request troops or send them to other villages. 

The biggest positive of the game is that players can do whatever they want. They don’t need to raid other villages, they don’t need to upgrade their village. The best part is the game doesn’t force anything on players. When users start, it gives them a quick tutorial on how to play the game, and guides them on what to do from there.

A major weak point in the game is time. It doesn’t take too long to get a decent village but the more people upgrade their village, the longer things take to upgrade. At a certain point it will take players days to upgrade things and it will take a ton of resources. Eventually the pace will start to slow down.

By Reilly Hungerford – Staff Reporter

Lana Del Rey’s “Blue Banisters” was released on October 22. This album is her eighth studio album and the second album she has released this year. The genre of the album is folk, pop, and jazz. “Blue Banisters” mentions topics such as failing romances, negative press attention, femininity, and new beginnings. Del Rey announced that this album was going to be released on July 4, but it came out much later. Fans have been anticipating this album for quite a while, and it was definitely worth the wait.

This album is genuinely amazing. It’s almost nostalgic-feeling and very graceful. With this album, Del Rey worked with her old producer instead of Jack Antonoff, the producer who she has worked with for her past two albums. Working with her old producer made “Blue Banisters” sound a bit similar to her older works, like “Honeymoon” and “Ultraviolence.” There are actually tracks on “Blue Banisters” that are rumored to supposed to have been put on her older albums such as “Living Legend” and “Cherry Blossom.” “Cherry Blossom” was actually leaked in 2019, leaving fans to call it “unreleased.” Del Rey wrote it in 2013, but it was finally released on “Blue Banisters”.

One of the best songs on the album is “Dealer”. With vocals from Miles Kane and a slow drum beat, this song is easily the best song on the album. This song is about being locked away from someone you love and giving more love than you receive. The lyrical and the melodic build up until the chorus where Del Rey sings, “I don’t wanna live /I don’t wanna give you nothing” sounds so amazing and really adds to the overall longing mood of the song.

“Arcadia” is of the singles that came out before the album was released, being released on September 8. A soothing piano tune with relatively calming vocals, “Arcadia’s” lyrics are the same. In this song, Del Rey sings about how much she loves the city of L.A. and how she wants to be there. She also recognizes her hometown in this song, Manhattan New York. “I can’t sleep at home tonight, send me a Hilton Hotel” can very well be referencing her New York background because there’s a very nice Hilton hotel in the city.

There really are no flaws to this album, unless you like “Chemtrails Over the Country Club” and its production. “Blue Banisters” has a completely different sound to it than her two previous albums, but in an amazing way. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Marisa Laviano – Staff Reporter

Taylor Swift released “Red (Taylor’s Version)” a re-recording of one of her most beloved albums “Red,” from 2012, on November 12. “Red” includes hits such as “22” “I Knew You Were Trouble” and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” When Taylor Swift signed her record deal with Big Machine Records back in 2005, it gave the company the ownership to Taylor’s records which she tried buying back for years. When the company had been bought out by Scooter Braun in 2019 he had ended the opportunity for Taylor to buy her first six albums. This new deal also ended Taylor’s opportunity to earn any money from these albums. Meaning the money from every CD, vinyl, digital download, stream of those albums would go to Scooter, not Taylor. Taylor Swift took the opportunity in her contract allowing her to re-record each of her albums at least five years after their release, starting with her sophomore album “Fearless” back in April and now “Red.” Each song on the album has “(Taylor’s Version)” after the song title since she is now the owner of these songs. These re-recordings also feature not only the original tracks of the album, but nine “from the vault” songs that never made it to the original album. This also gave Taylor a chance to release some unreleased songs and also collaborate with other artists on them like she did with Phoebe Bridgers, Ed Sheeran, and Chris Stapleton on this album.

This album really has a little something for everyone with each song, which was also fitting since the original recording of this album was in between her albums “Speak Now” and “1989,” a super country album and a super pop album. This album’s theme is centered around a really tough break up, specifically the one between herself and Jake Gylenhaal, but still manages to express all these emotions in both fun upbeat songs and slow sad songs. Upon first listen, it’s almost hard to believe that the songs “We are Never Getting Back Together” and “All Too Well ” have the same theme. Even the songs “from the vault” express similar themes yet have a mix of genres: “Better Man” and “I Bet You Think About Me” being country while “Message In A Bottle” and “The Very First Night” being very pop. Some may find the diversity of the musical genres overwhelming, driving them away from the re-recorded album. Compared to the rest of her albums this is considered the least cohesive due to lots of tone changes. However this album is actually very cohesive since the themes of most songs on the album cover the same relationship. Even if some songs on the album may sound different from each other, that does not take away any value from the album. 

Many people think that the new re-recorded versions of these beloved songs will shy away from the original, but it is actually quite the opposite. Although it’s been a decade since the original recording of  “Red” came out, Taylor still manages to keep the songs the same. The most they might sound different is one word might be pronounced slightly different, but not enough for average listeners to freak out about how the song has changed. Although, one song in particular did shy away from the original. “Girl At Home (Taylor’s Version)” is a fun, upbeat, pop song, while the original “Girl At Home” was a cute acoustic song to end the original Deluxe version of “Red.” Most long time listeners of Taylor’s were quite shocked by this change, but there’s actually a reason behind it. The original version of “Girl At Home ” was actually a demo recording, and didn’t get to make it to its full potential. This song was lacking something in its original form, which is why it was ranked #192 on Rolling Stones article, “All 206 of Taylor Swift’s Songs, Ranked.” Now that Taylor’s is a part of Republic Records instead of Big Red Machine, she can do whatever she wants with her songs, and adding a pop production on this song helped give this song what it needed all along. 

This album features amazing lyrics written by Taylor Swift. Her unique lyricism really sets her apart from many other artists. One lyric that really stood out in this album was from the song “Nothing New feat. Phoebe Bridgers.” She sings, “How can a person know everything at eighteen, but nothing at twenty-two?” This song talks about how she was at a great point in her life until this relationship she was in tore down her mental health. At this point in the song you understand the tone of what she’s saying but once you get to this line you really start to understand the story she’s telling in the song, and empathize with it.  One thing that Taylor does a lot in her music is pay homage to her previous work in her lyrics. For example in one of the vault tracks, “Message In A Bottle” Taylor sings, “danced in the kitchen, chased me down through the hallway,” which is a reference to her song “All Too Well” which says “dancin’ round the kitchen in the refrigerator light.” Most of the songs and albums that Taylor has put out have been about her own life so these lyrics add to the narrative she is telling which is her life. 

“Red (Taylor’s Version)” also features a 10-minute version of her song “All Too Well” from the original album: “All Too Well (10-Minute Version)(Taylor’s Version)(From The Vault)” A long title for a long song. However, the song does not seem 10 minutes long. Taylor’s multiple different verses, choruses, bridges, and outro really keep listeners hooked all 10 minutes and 13 seconds of this song. The song focuses on her feelings throughout a relationship and it’s dreadful breakup. This song is so beautifully written, choosing lines from the song to talk about is a difficult task. “Time won’t fly it’s like I’m paralyzed by it, like to be my old self again but I’m still tryin’ find it,” expresses just how much pain she was in through this breakup, that time is standing still and can’t function through the pain. “You keep my old scarf from that very first week, cause it reminds you of innocence and it smells like me,” is another amazing line from this song that really illustrates the whole relationship while putting in such poetic lyrics and the pain in her voice makes it such a masterpiece. A line that may not be as poetic, but even more painful is “Not weepin’ in a party bathroom, some actress asking me what happened, you, that’s what happened, you.” The emphasis Taylor puts on the word “you” in this line outdoes the rest of the pain expressed in this song. It makes the listener feel absolutely heartbroken, even for a relationship that happened a decade ago. This song is an absolute masterpiece and has to be Taylor Swift’s best song. Many songs that are popular nowadays can’t even keep listeners’ attention for two minutes, but Taylor can keep them engaged for five times that because her songs have amazing lyrics, singing, beat, and production. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Katie Servas – Staff Reporter

Say “Hello” to Adele’s new album, “30.”

After a six-year hiatus, Adele has released her most open and genre bending album yet. “30,” her fourth studio album was released on November 19. This album has included many differences in her preferred genre and is stylistically different from her previous albums. 

The entire album is a storyline of her entire relationship with her ex-husband, Simon Konecki, from how they met until their divorce, and how it felt to Adele. She was very particular about the positioning of each track and where they lined up in the album because she was motivated to present a timeline of the relationship and her attempts to love and make amends with herself.

Adele’s first single off of the album, “Easy On Me,” is a soft-building piece that emotes her needed relief and healing and how she changed herself to suit the needs of her ex-husband and her son. It expresses her inability to enjoy her career and how her efforts to maintain a stable relationship with her son was tried once she divorced. She was expressing why she needed to put herself first while explaining it to her son in the simplest way. This track is taking over the charts, sitting at number one this past week on the Billboard Top 100.

The other tracks on the album release her true emotions she locked away and how she felt through the process of separation. The album opener “Strangers By Nature ” is a lyrical breathtaker. The piece states the effects of the relationship ending and how it seemed to have changed her perspective, and how the dust settled. The verses show the immense weight the divorce took over her while stating how her perspective changed. It also relays the pressure of expectations from her ex-husband and the media. The opener is the leading sequence that hooks one to continue listening just like the effect of a novel. 

As one continues to listen to each track, more sections of the story and Adele’s search for purity and security within herself are revealed. Many of the songs have a message along these lines, but, they are from different perspectives and time periods throughout the past few years, along with new experiences she had. 

Another popular song off of the album is “Oh My God.” This is the fifth track off the album “30” and is also charted at number five on the Billboard Top 100. This track has a more R&B and soul style, while communicating her desire to have fun and wanting to put herself out there. It demonstrates her urge to not be shown down the wrong path again and her willingness to open up to others again. 

There are also many other honorable mentions, “My Little Love,” “Hold On,” and “I Drink Wine,” which are all soulful and lyrical pieces that present struggles Adele undergoes throughout the last few years. They show her scuffle with alcohol, her son’s perspective on the divorce, and explanation to her son about who she is and what she’s experienced. These tracks have some air time following “Easy On Me” and  ”Oh My God.” 

Overall, this is an impeccable album imbued with emotion, experience, and perspective.

Rating: 5 out of 5 hello’s

By Lana Hanania – Staff Reporter 

Matt Ross produced the movie “Captain Fantastic” in 2016. Ross acknowledged that his personal experiences growing up with a hippie mother impacted him in certain ways, but that the film’s major inspiration came from his own desires as a father, rather than from a real person. “Captain Fantastic” is about a family who lives deep in the forest, isolated from society. The mom and dad, Ben and Leslie, dedicate their life training their six kids. They train them to be physically fit, athletic, to think critically, and to guide them in the wild without technology. One day the mom suddenly commits suicide, making Ben and his six kids go outside to the real world for the first time. Although Ben has been in the real world before, he still struggles to adapt, as do his kids. 

Overall “Captain Fantastic” is a well-filmed movie. The plot of the movie is very different and intriguing compared to most movies. Viewers will find it very interesting how the family members are able to adapt to their environment and are able to survive in the condition they are in. They are able to see how intelligent the six kids are and their day by day routine. 

In one scene in “Captain Fantastic,” a different family asks their children what the Bill of Rights was. They were able to come up with very little. Ben then asked his five-year-old daughter what the Bill of Rights was and she was able to say a brief summary in her own words. This made viewers think how intelligent they truly were. One quote from the movie that struck out was when Ben said, “We’ve created a paradise.” Viewers were able to see how fantastic their life was and how much they all learned together even when they are isolated from society. 

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars 

By Maddy Gaillard – Staff Reporter 

Silk Sonic is an R&B duo featuring Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak. The band was announced in late February 2021 and released their debut single “Leave The Door Open” on March 5. Bruno Mars is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, musician and dancer. Mars was born in Hawaii and he is 36 years old. His first hit was the single, “Just The Way You Are”, released in July 2010, which put him on the Billboards Singles Chart. Since then, Mars has been releasing music and is a huge star. Anderson Paak is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and drummer. Paak is from California and is 35 years old. His debut album, O.B.E Volume 1, was released in 2011 and was not a huge hit. Paak’s first song to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 was “”Leave The Door Open. The duo’s debut album is called, “An Evening With Silk Sonic “and is a mix of pop, soul, funk and R&B. It has a mix of 9 songs including the intro song. The album in total is 30 minutes long. 

The strong points of this album are the mix of genre and the laid back feel it has. The album begins with an intro where it gives a hint of what the album will sound like. Some songs are more on the slow R&B side like the song “Smokin Out The Window”, while others are more of a pop/funk genre like “777” or “Fly As Me”. It is very difficult to get bored of this album because each song is different. The featured artists on the album are Thundercat and Bootsy Collins which provide more of a different sound and switch up the tone of the album. Overall, the genre of this album is very enjoyable and different from past Bruno Mars albums and the featured artists add a different sound to the album compared to it just being the duo. 

Some possible weak points of the album are that it is only around 30 minutes long and there are only nine songs. This can be improved by making more songs or adding more onto the existing ones, or when the next album comes out, it could feature more artists which will lead to longer/more songs. Overall, there are not many weaknesses to this debut album.

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars 

By Gemard Guery – News & Editorial Editor

The movie “Eternals” is a movie by Marvel Studios and directed by Chloe Zhao.  The movie follows a group of immortal aliens who have lived amongst humans for thousands of years.  They all go their separate ways but come back together to fight evil Deviants, who are a threat to humans.  As they begin to fight Deviants, they learn that they have new abilities which lead to the Eternals discovering some dark truths about their true past.  While they protect humans from the Deviants, they do not interfere with human conflicts.  They let humans deal with it.

The movie has many strengths.  The cast was incredibly diverse and reflected many different cultures and backgrounds.  There was even a deaf superhero in the movie.  The movie was also incredibly emotional and had viewers at the edge of their seat throughout it.  The movie also had a unique perspective on the idea of immortality.  Most people would love to be immortal, but the Eternals hated it.  They were tired of seeing everything and everyone they loved just died.  It was unique and very emotional to see.  There was also many different plot twists and the movie wasn’t predictable as superhero movies usually are.  The ending was absolutely shocking and hard to see coming.

There weren’t really many weak points in the movie.  In the beginning, the movie was a bit confusing, but got much easier to understand as the movie went on.  It was truly a great mix of comedy, action, drama, and romance.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Lily Forster – Entertainment Editor

The movie “Red Notice” is a 2021 American action comedy film written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber. It stars Dwayne Johnson as an FBI agent who reluctantly teams up with a renowned art thief (Ryan Reynolds) in order to catch an even more notorious criminal (Gal Gadot). 

In this movie, in the world of international crime, an Interpol agent attempts to hunt down and capture the world’s most wanted art thief. It’s an action-packed entertaining movie that is full of suspense from the beginning to the end. It’s a great time-passing action-heist movie.

Some major strengths of this movie is that the plot made it super clear to understand what was going on. There were not too many points where viewers could have been confused. The storyline kept me gripped for the entire film, the protagonists (Johnson and Reynolds) have enough depth to make their characters worth watching. 

Some weak points of this movie is that the plot is fairly predictable. The movie was extremely cliche with plot twists viewers could see coming from a mile away. The actors’ talents were just not worth this film. The ending wasn’t very good either, it ended off showing no character growth and a pointless storyline.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

By Kaitlyn Goldberg – News Editor

The Netflix drama “Maid” follows a single mother from Washington who leaves her abusive relationship and struggles with poverty and the broken government assistance system.  

The show’s lead is Alex Russell, a 24-year-old young mother to a 3-year-old daughter, Maddy, who leaves her emotionally abusive and alcoholic boyfriend, Sean, and starts a new life without him. Her mother, Paula Langley, is a hippie who suffers from undiagnosed bipolar disorder and lives in a trailer with her boyfriend.  

Alex had found a job being a maid from “Value Maids” which would make her take a ferry to an island and clean houses for the rich. She had also moved into a shelter for women who had been victims of domestic violence. 

Alex’s passion is writing and she receives a full scholarship to Missoula State University in Montana. She had to turn it down because she found out she was pregnant with Maddy. While going through all of her hardships she wrote about her experiences, helping her express her frustration and pain that had come along with what she was going through. 

A memorable moment in the show is, when in the shelter, Alex meets a woman named Danielle. They become friends after Danielle helps Alex stand up to one of the women she cleaned for after she did not pay her. They become close, but then sadly Danielle leaves the shelter, and goes back to her abusive boyfriend, which upsets Alex.

A more upsetting moment that happened in the show is when it turns out that Paula’s now-husband, Basil, is a con artist and was selling out Paula’s childhood home. This causes Paula to break down and try and break into her old home and causes Alex to go back to Sean after seeing how he helped her mom and her. 

An exciting moment that happens in the show is when Alex reapplies for college at Missoula State University in Montana. She gets accepted back and applies for full custody of Maddy.  Sean first wants to fight it, but after a bad time at the park with Maddy, he lets Alex have full custody and move to Montana with Maddy so Alex can live out her dreams of being a writer. 

Overall, this show does a great job of showcasing the struggles of homelessness, poverty, and the flaws of the government assistance system. It is a powerful show with complex, moving characters.  

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Truman Martin – Entertainment Editor

“Clash Royale” is a mobile game that was released by Supercell on March 2, 2016. It is a strategy game that puts two people against each other in a battle for crowns. Basically, the player has to defend their two princess towers and their king tower from the other player, while also trying to attack the other player’s towers. It’s a lot like chess, only with a lot more pieces that can do a bunch of different things. 

Ever since “Clash Royale” came out, it has taken schools by storm. There is a clan feature, which lets players create a group with their friends where they can trade and battle each other. 

Trading is cool because if someone needs a specific card to be able to upgrade it, they can bargain with their friends. Battling is also very useful because players can test out different decks and setups without having to worry about their rank falling. 

The game is a great way to settle real life problems as well. If two people are in an argument they can just 1V1 and settle it in the game. It’s so satisfying to three-crown someone, which means the player has destroyed all of the other’s towers. It’s also nerve racking when the game goes into sudden death, which means the next tower destroyed decides the game regardless. 

The only thing downside to the game is that sometimes, when entering a game, the player gets set up against someone who is at such a high level that it isn’t even worth playing that game. 

Overall, “Clash Royale” is a great game and a great way to procrastinate and kill time.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Olivia Augustine – News Editor

The movie “Mother’s Day” was produced by Brandt Anderson, Howard Burd, Diamond Mark, Disalle Wayne Rice, and Mike Karz. It first premiered on April 29, 2016. 

“Mother’s Day” is about a few mothers who go through events that change their lives the week leading up Mother’s day. 

This movie stars Jennifer Aniston as Sandy, Kate Hudson as Jesse, Julia Roberts as Miranda Collins, Jason Sudeikis as Bradley, Timothy Olyphant as Henry and Shay Mitchell as Tina. The mothers (Sandy, Jesse, and Miranda) go through events that impact their life in good and bad ways the week leading up to Mothers day. 

A memorable scene from Mother’s Day is when Tina calls Sandy because she needs her help when Sandy’s son Mikey has an asthma attack and Tina isn’t sure what to do. Tina finds Mikey’s inhaler, but it’s empty and she starts to get scared, so she called Sandy to help her. Sandy told her where a spare inhaler was and told her to take Mikey to the freezer. Henry then came home and took Mikey to the hospital. Sandy met them there and Mikey was very happy to see her. 

Another memorable scene is when Jesse and her mother make up. They had been in a fight and hadn’t talked to each other in years. Jesse’s sister called her mom on Skype and made Jesse talk to her. As a surprise Jesse’s mom and dad came to visit her, but her mom decided to leave early after finding out her kids told her lies about their lives. Her mom then made a last minute decision to stay because she knew that she wanted to become close with Jesse again. 

Comparing “Mother’s Day” to “Valentine’s Day” they both have a bunch of stories that overlap as the movie goes on. In “Mother’s Day” Sandy’s story overlaps with Jesse’s and Bradley’s story. Sandy is best friends with Jesse and Sandy meets Bradley at the supermarket and meets him again at the hospital. In “Valentine’s Day” Captain Kate Hazeltine’s story overlaps with Holden’s story. His story overlaps with Sean Jackson. His story overlaps with Kara Monahan. Her story overlaps with Kelvin Moore. Captain Kate Hazeltine meets Holden on the plane ride back to their homes. Holden is on his way home to be with Sean Jackson. Sean Jackon’s agent is Kara Monahan. Kara met Kelvin while at a press event for Sean. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Bobby Black – Sports Editor

“Retro Bowl” is an 11-on-11 American football game on for mobile devices that is a lot of fun to play. Players manage and play as the team of their choice or a randomized team. Instead of managing a full roster, users only manage their best players which caps at 10 players. Users go through seasons, each including 18 weeks and playoff games which depends on how well they do during the regular season.

In “Retro Bowl,” users only play offense and special teams, so it’s important to get star players on offense. When getting players, users have to keep in mind the salary cap, their contract, and the condition of the player. The players have moods, and if the player is too upset with the team they will leave in the offseason. A strong point in the game is that users can keep playing no matter what, unlike some other games where there needs to be a certain amount of energy to keep playing. Another strong point is that it is a fast-paced game, so it never gets boring.

Another strength is that there aren’t as many controls. The players automatically move toward the end zone, so all users have to do is swipe up or down to dodge the defenders. That makes the game easier. The game gets increasingly harder after every season. One weakness is that there is a player morale rating, and it is hard to keep morale high which makes it hard for your players to play well together. Another downside is that a lot of wide receivers have a hard time catching the ball even in the open space. This game is recommended for people who like football. 

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

By Lily Forster – Entertainment Editor 

“Instant Family” is a 2018 American family comedy-drama film starring Mark Wahlberg (Pete) and Rose Byrne (Ellie) as parents who adopt three siblings – Lizzy, Juan, and Lita – played by Isabela Moner, Gustavo Quiroz and Julianna Gamiz.

When Pete and Ellie decide to start a family, they stumble into the world of foster care adoption. They hope to take in one small child, but when they meet three siblings, including a rebellious 15-year-old girl, they find themselves speeding from zero to three kids overnight. Now, Pete and Ellie must try to learn the ropes of instant parenthood in the hope of becoming a family.

The plot of this movie is heartfelt and touching and will have viewers filled with all different emotions.

There are so many major strengths in this movie. First, all the actors did an amazing job portraying the characters. Second, this movie shows the strength of family and is full of love. It’s definitely worth watching and spreads a positive message. This movie had the strength of being very realistic.

One weak point of this movie is the language. It’s a very family-oriented movie and for the movie to have that much profanity is a little disappointing. This is a movie that’s worth watching but preferably not with your children.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

By Gabe Garnett – Sports Editor 

When it comes to music, Kanye West has run the industry for the past decade, with many highs and lows. On August 29, “Donda” was released to the public after three release parties and an initial release date of August 6.

With 27 songs and 31 features with artists like Lil Baby, Kid Cudi, Jay-Z, Roddy Ricch, Baby Keem, and more, “Donda” is stacked. 

“Donda” was made in a style where the first part of the album is Kayne rapping and then the rest of the album is him in a church style singing and gospel. The album has no profanity. The most popular song on the album is “Hurricane” with Lil Baby and The Weeknd, Currently, the song is at 133 million streams on Spotify. 

So did the album live up to the hype? With 775 million total streams and 357 million streams in its first week, the album surpassed all expectations. But in the eye of the public it really didn’t do that well. Rolling Stone called the album an “overlong mess” and The Guardian called it an “misfiring lyricism from a diminished figure.”

One weak point in the album was just how long the project was – an hour and 49 minutes of music. A strong point of the album would be that Kanye created it around his mother’s passing and that it was created for her. 

Rating 4.5 out of 5 stars 

By Kaitlyn Goldberg – News Editor

The coming-of-age series on Netflix, “Atypical,” sheds light on the Autism spectrum, and features a family of four dealing with many challenges that come with one of their members being on the spectrum. 

The show’s lead is Sam Gardner, an 18-year-old on the Autism spectrum, dealing with life as a senior in high school and then leading into his college years.  He struggles with crowds, being around loud noises, and  change – and that affects his everyday life and his family at times.  

The family consists of Casey, Sam’s younger sister, and Elsa and Doug, the kids’ parents.  Casey likes to tease Sam and make fun of him but is always there for him when he needs her and when kids would make fun of Sam she would always stand up for him and truly cares for him. There is also Zahid, Sam’s best friend who he works with at a tech store called Techtropolis. Zahid is always there for Sam and constantly is giving him advice, especially about girls.  

Sam’s greatest passion is Antarctica and penguins. He knows all about the different types of penguins and Antarctica. It is the thing in life that can help sooth Sam and calm him down when something happens in his life that gets him stressed out or upset.

A memorable moment in the show is when Sam gets his first girlfriend, Paige, and he learns what it’s like to be in a relationship. She really helps Sam break out of his shell and brings him a new perspective on life and what it’s like to love. 

A more upsetting moment in the show is when Elsa and Doug separate because of their arguing and dishonesty towards each other.  This really takes a toll on the family and their dynamic.  Casey and Sam are extremely hurt from it, especially Casey now has a resentment towards Elsa because of events that occurred that caused the separation.  

Another exciting moment in the show is when Sam goes to college.  It is a turning point in the show and shows Sam learning to be independent and making friends, which is initially hard for Elsa who is hesitant about him going to college because she is scared he won’t be able to handle it and doesn’t want him to get made fun of.  

Sam also goes to a therapist, Julia, who has also helped him get through stressful times.  Things did get awkward when he wanted a girlfriend and started having feelings for her.  This caused him to stop seeing his Julia because both Elsa and Julia agreed it was inappropriate and not right anymore for Sam to see her.  This caused Sam to join an Autism support group so he can talk to other people like him.  

Overall, there aren’t really many flaws in this show.  It’s sweet but also sad at times.  It does a great job at showing a glimpse into what life can be like on the spectrum and has great characters to go along with it. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Truman Martin – Entertainment Editor

“Certified Lover Boy” is Drake’s sixth studio album and was released September 3. Upon release, the album reached number one on the Billboard Top 100, and got an equivalent of 613,000 sales in the first week of its release. 

“Champaign Poetry,” is an almost six minute track that opens the album. Thankfully, there is a beat switch to keep the song from becoming repetitive. The second song, “Papi’s Home,” is another strong track with a cool sample. “Girls Want Girls (with Lil Baby)” is also a pretty good track, and you get just what you’d expect from a Lil Baby verse. “In The Bible (with Lil Durk & Giveon)” was an okay track, but “Love All (with JAY-Z) is definitely one of the best tracks on the album. JAY-Z’s verse is amazing, and the hook is unique and cool. 

The album kind of falters a bit with “Fair Trade (with Travis Scott),” which felt like a filler track. Both Travis Scott and Drake don’t feel very fresh on this song. The album picks right back up with “Way 2 Sexy (with Future & Young Thug)” which is a turn up track. “TSU,” the next track, is another five minute song with a beat switch towards the end, but the two parts of the song don’t go very well with each other. The next track, “N 2 Deep” is my personal favorite track on the album. The first half of the track is very melodic, but then the beat switches and Future’s feature is amazing here. Track ten is “Pipe Down,” which is another pretty good track.

The rest of the album is pretty hit-or-miss to me. There are some good ones like “Knife Talk (with 21 Savage ft. Project Pat)” and “You Only Live Twice (with Lil Wayne & Rick Ross),” but they are surrounded by tracks that just feel recycled from the previous tracks of the album. The last track, “The Remorse,” is a very strong ending to the album though. It’s just a plain rap track from Drake, and the piano sample is cool.

“Certified Lover Boy” has some of Drake’s best work, but it really falls off towards the middle with lots of filler. There is a really amazing 11-track album in these 21 tracks, though. Anything he puts out is hyped up and called “Album of the Year,” but there are some definite weak points. The album had solid (yet sometimes repetitive) production, with some really good features. Overall, it’s a pretty good album.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars 

By Olivia Augustine – News Editor  

The movie “The Duff” is based on the book “The Duff” by Kody Keplinger. It first premiered on February 20, 2015.

“The Duff” is about a girl named Bianca who has been labeled as the Duff(designated ugly fat friend) of her friend group. After Bianca found out that she had been labeled the duff she unfriended her two best friends, Jess and Casey, and enlisted the help of her neighbor Wesley to become more popular. 

This movie stars Mae Whitman as Bianca, Robbie Amell as Wesley, Bella Thorne as Madison, Bianca Santos as Casey and Skyler Samuels as Jess. Bianca tries to change herself after being labeled the Duff. She wants to feel like she fits in and asks her neighbor Wesley to help her. 

A memorable scene from “The Duff” is when Bianca told her best friends, Jess and Casey, that she didn’t want to be friends with them anymore. Bianca also unfollowed both of them on all social media platforms. Bianca explained to them that she had been labeled the Duff of their friend group and that she was mad that they didn’t tell her that. Bianca assumed that they knew, when they didn’t. They liked being friends with Bianca for who she was. Bianca walked away from them like she didn’t care that she unfriended them, but she was just upset over the fact that they didn’t tell her that she was the Duff of the friend group, when they didn’t know. 

This movie shows that you don’t have to change yourself to be liked by others and to feel that you fit in. Bianca wanted to change her appearance and attitude so that people at her high school would like her better and wouldn’t think of her as a Duff. Madison was making it very hard for Bianca to become popular after she posted a video of Bianca while she was at the mall. The whole school made fun of Bianca for it and Bianca had a hard time trying to be happy around school, especially since she didn’t have Jess and Casey as her friends anymore. 

Comparing “The Duff” to “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” they both send positive messages to teen girls. In “The Duff” Madison sees Bianca at the mall with Wesley and posts a video of Bianca and Wesley together which makes Bianca mad. In “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” Gen sees Lara Jean with Peter while on the ski trip and posts it on the internet making Lara Jean mad at Gen and Peter. In both of these movies Bianca and Lara Jean have to overcome what the mean girls (Madison and Gen) did to them. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Sydney Simpson – Editor-in-Chief 

The final James Bond movie, “No Time to Die,” starring Daniel Craig, hit theaters earlier this month on October 8. This is Craig’s fifth and final 007 movie, as “No Time to Die” (which received a Rotten Tomatoes review of 84%) is set to be the finale to the 25 movie franchise. Beginning in 1963 with the release of “Dr. No” starring Sean Connery, the films have won an impressive five Academy Awards in their 58 years. The newest movie follows Bond as he is pulled out of his peaceful retirement by an old CIA friend, Felix Leiter, and helps to save the world yet again. 

Bond had left active service and was no longer a double 0; he was living a tranquil, calm life in Jamaica enjoying his retirement. Despite his efforts to stay off the grid, however, the theft of a weapon that can target a specific person through DNA brought Bond back into the scene where he worked with old friends Felix, Q, and Moneypenny. Bond also worked alongside a new character, Normi (his replacement at M16 as 007) played by Lashana Lynch. On this mission he was forced to not only reconnect with old friends, but with old relationships and old enemies as well. This movie is a direct sequel to the last James Bond film, “Spectre”, and has allusions to “Casino Royale” as Bond visits the grave of Vesper, his true love from that movie, in the beginning of this film.

“No Time to Die” is a fantastic wrap up of the film series, and pulls all the loose ends together. It is heart wrenching, dramatic, shocking, and intense all at once. Bond’s reconnection with Madeline Swann and his finally experiencing a family causes the audience to feel for him even more, and makes the decisions that he has to make seem that much more heavy. This is possibly Bond’s toughest mission, with such a complex, dangerous, and modernized weapon in the hands of a new villain. His origin story and his coincidental connection with Bond and Swann make the film that much more riveting and shocking. Furthermore, although this film has ties with the other 007 movies, viewers do not have to be an avid James Bond fan in order to watch and enjoy this thrilling film. Even with no prior knowledge of the character, one can appreciate Bond’s history as a 007 agent through the background information provided throughout the film in creative, non boring ways. “No Time to Die” may not be appropriate for all viewers, however, due to the amount of violence and discussion of more adult topics. 

All in all,  “No Time to Die” was an incredible final adventure of James Bond, effectively wrapping up the series of films while being able to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Photo courtesy IMDB

By Truman Martin – Entertainment Editor 

“Halloweentown” is a Disney Channel Original Movie that was released on October 17, 1998, and directed by Duwayne Dunham.

The movie is about three siblings – Marnie (Kimberly Brown), Dylan (Joey Zimmerman), and Sophie Piper (Emily Roeske) – who learn that their grandmother is a witch. When they follow her back to Halloweentown, they learn about an evil force that is trying to take over. The group then tries to find the ingredients to activate Merlin’s Wand before it’s too late. 

For anyone that grew up on Disney Channel Original Movies, this is a classic. A lot of people have a lot of nostalgia for this movie, and it’s clear why. It’s just a fun, family-friendly movie about Halloween.

Now, most Disney Channel Original Movies follow a pretty clear-cut formula, and this is no exception. The main character(s) are rebelling against their parents for some reason, and now they have to go on some wacky adventure to learn a lesson. Most of these movies are also really corny, but Halloweentown is an exception. It is just a great movie.

Of course, some of the weak points are covered up by the nostalgia, but there aren’t really many to begin with. The acting is pretty much what people would expect from any Disney Channel Original Movie, but in a way that makes it better. It’s just a fun, lighthearted movie that kids can enjoy.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

(Some information courtesy imdb.com)

By Truman Martin – Staff Reporter

“Harmony House” is the second album of Austin-based artist Dayglow, also known as Sloane Struble. He has gained recognition for recording, mixing, and mastering his first album, “Fuzzybrain” in his bedroom, and he did the same thing with this album. The album explores more about Sloane as a person and how he deals with becoming an adult. 

Dayglow’s sophomore effort features a different sound from his first. The sound of this album has more of an 80’s influence with the use of synths throughout the album. The first track, “Something,” is a good opener for the album. What’s cool about this first track, and the album in general, is that it has a melody that is repeated in different ways throughout the album. At one point it is played on piano, then on guitar, and by the end of the album Sloane sings the melody. The use of this melody, and the smooth transitions between songs, strings each song together to make the album feel like one smooth song instead of just a collection of songs. 

Another strong point in the album are the lyrics. Specifically in the song “Strangers,” Sloane talks about moving to a new place. In the song, he says “What do I do / when everything feels new / but all I want is to feel my age?” After finding success from his debut album, Sloane moved to Los Angeles. This song is about him being homesick but still trying to find his way in a new situation away from his family. 

One weak point of the album is the song “Balcony.” It’s not particularly catchy or memorable, and the chorus really sounds like a generic Bedroom Pop chorus. Other than that, though, the album is pretty enjoyable. 

The best tracks on the album are “Woah Man,” “December,” and “Moving Out.” Dayglow takes his music in a fresh direction from the genre he began in, and he did it pretty successfully.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

(Some information courtesy genius.com)

By Shane Cepalia – Staff Reporter

Ever since its opening in 2017, Dogtown has been putting its own spin on American classics such as hot dogs, burgers, sandwiches, and shakes. The small stand located on New Haven Avenue is attracting dozens of customers at noon everyday for their excellent roster of hot dogs and burgers.

Even though Dogtown is just a shack, it has plenty of outdoor seating in the form of picnic tables, benches, and even logs. The ‘Doghouse” as they call it, is themed to the 1970s skater culture. Black and white walls with a checkered pattern wrapping around the front and the logo painted on either side of the building. The front door is plastered with stickers as well as the bench adjacent to it made completely out of old skateboards, plenty of neon lights are also on the front windows to bring home the aesthetic.

The staff inside are always friendly and very laid back. But they work fast and get the food out as soon as possible. They have very large menus above the counter with all their signature hot dogs, burgers, and shakes, with their prices. They also sell canned soda and bottled water as drinks. The prices were definitely fair, especially for the quality food and fast service offered.

I personally like the Zephyr Dog, a hot dog topped with Chili, American Cheese, Grilled Onions, and Hot Pepper Relish. The hot dog was cooked well and fit the bun perfectly, which was very fresh and stable. The toppings were also fresh and really complemented the taste of the hot dog. They never overpowered the dog and it seems like they were measured out in a way to get the taste to blend perfectly. The chili and the cheese were both nice and hot. Dogtown has a very large array of options, so there’s something for everyone. You can also customize your own hot dog as a “Freestyle Dog”.

The only downside to Dogtown is that they are only open during lunch hours (11 a.m. to 4 p.m.) This can make it hard to get there during the weekdays. If they expanded their hours to 6 I could definitely see them getting more business.

For the quality food, great service, cleanliness, aesthetic, and fair prices, Dogtown is a real hidden gem. It has something for everyone and is a shining example of a thriving small business. I would absolutely recommend checking this place out.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Gemard Guery – Staff Reporter

“The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” is an American original miniseries on Disney+ created by Malcolm Spellman.  

The series takes place in 2023 after everyone comes back from Thanos’ snap.  A group of superhumans who believe that the world was better during the “blip” because humanitarian issues such as homelessness, and poverty weren’t as big of a problem.  When people were snapped away, people on the lower side of society were able to move up and enjoyed their newfound power.

The group which is named The Flag Smashers wanted a world unified without borders and was willing to do so under any circumstances even if it meant killing or kidnapping world leaders.

The show follows Sam Wilson, who is already struggling with taking his new title as Captain America, and Bucky Barnes, who is struggling with issues from his past life as a brainwashed assassin.  

The show is amazing. It is both funny and suspenseful. The frenemy (friend and enemy) relationship between Wilson and Barnes makes it incredibly fun and hard to look away from. The show addresses some current issues like racism as Wilson contemplates whether or not the world will accept a black Captain America. It is a great show for young adults because it is both humorous, but also takes a more serious tone as well. 

There are not many weak points in the show.  Some moments felt a bit unnecessary and didn’t really need to be there, but the extra detail helped build suspense.  The show gets very violent at times, but that’s to be expected from a superhero show.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars  

By Kaitlyn Goldberg – Staff Reporter

The show “Schitt’s Creek” follows the formerly wealthy family the Roses who lose all their money because of their business manager who was convicted of fraud and took all their assets and are left to live in a town they once bought as a joke for their son called Schitt’s Creek. The show was created by father and son Dan and Eugene Levy who play father and son on the show as well.   

The Rose family consists of father Johnny Rose (Eugene Levy) who once owned a video store company called Rose Video, mother Moira Rose a former soap star, son David Rose, a former NYC art gallery-ist, and Alexis Rose a socialite. There is also Roland Schitt the mayor of the town, Jocelyn Schitt his wife, Stevie Budd the front desk receptionist at the motel, Twyla Sands, the waitress at the local Cafe Tropical   and Ted Mullens Alexis’ on and off love interest throughout the show.  

At the start of the show, the family is extremely self-absorbed, snobby and not in touch with the average life that most people live. They want nothing more than to leave the town and never come back. They even got really close to  selling the town but that fell through and they were forced to stay, which in the long run worked out for the best.  

As the seasons progress, so do the characters. They become more in touch with the real world and with each other. The family used to be very distant with each other and not know anything about each other. The show follows these dynamics and struggles with a comedic lens, with witty, sarcastic humor from all the characters. 

A very memorable part of the show is Alexis’ stories about her past life going to foreign countries, getting kidnapped, and also the way that she speaks. She always brings up her past and how she would be held hostage on yachts and clubs and always says it so nonchalantly which makes it humorous. Another part of the show that makes it as good as it is is the evolving sibling relationship between David and Alexis. While they bicker and fight a lot throughout the show they became much more close and seem to care more for each other. 

The show doesn’t have anything that they could’ve made better.  All of the characters evolved from their past life and they all did it with lots of humor and love. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Ben Rossi – Staff Reporter

After almost three years of hype and anticipation, J. Cole returned with his sixth studio album, “The Off-Season.”  Leading up to this LP, J.Cole has had one of the best runs of his career with his Lewis Street EP in July of 2020, the single “i n t e r l u d e,” and his mind-blowing LA Leakers freestyle, which has gone viral in the past few days.  With all of this coming together, many people wondered whether J. Cole would be able to create his magnum opus.

Things open up with the triumphant “9 5 s o u t h,” and for an intro, it really can’t get much better. On the second song, “a m a r i,” Cole taps into his melodic side to create a more mainstream song. This isn’t exactly Cole’s strong spot and hardcore fans may get frustrated as Cole sacrifices his rhyme schemes to focus more on vocal patterns.  Fortunately the album picks right back up with the song “my. l i f e,” which had surprise features from singer Morray, and rapper 21 Savage.  

After settling the energy built up through the first five tracks, the tone was very clearly going to shift and the track “1 0 0 . m i l,” does just that. This is definitely my least favorite track mainly because of the muddied up voice mixed with horribly used autotune. Thankfully, the track “ p r i d e . i s . t h e . d e v i l,” brings the album right back on track with a surprise feature from Lil Baby, who outperforms J. Cole in his own song. The album finishes very average with scattered uses of autotune fitting terribly with J. Coles style definitely hurts the album’s overall rating. For example, on the final track “h u n g e r . o n . h i l l . s i d e”, the instrumental as well as the structure of the song are amazing but are plagued by J. Cole buttering up his voice with auto tune.

“The Off-Season” was not the masterpiece that many hyped it up to be however that does not mean it is all bad. The album had amazing production, great atmosphere, and some of Cole’s best songs ever. Overall, while the album may not have lived up to the hype it is still a fun and enjoyable album.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

By Lily Forster – Staff Reporter

The story of “Abduction” revolves around Nathan Harper, played by Taylor Lautner. For many years, Nathan has had the uneasy feeling that life with his family isn’t quite what it seems. He claims that something has always been off and says, “I feel like a stranger in my own life.” 

Nathan Harper’s fears and senses come true when he finds a picture of himself at a young age on a missing-persons website. Giving him proof that the people he’s called mom and dad his whole life, are not his real biological parents. As he comes close to uncovering his true identity, Nathan becomes the target of assassins, forcing him to be on the run with his neighbor, Karen, played by Lily Collins, the only person he can now trust.

The plot of this movie is on point and the twists in this movie are incredible. This movie is an action thriller that will have people staring at their TVs begging for no interruptions. This movie hooks viewers in. 

There are many major strengths in this movie. First, all the actors did an amazing job. For being a story about a 17-year-old boy who is going through a lot of change in his life, you can see that so clearly throughout the whole movie. The biggest strength of this movie is how the character development of the protagonist is so strong.

One weak point of this movie was that the movie was not very realistic. Even though movies are usually crazy made up stories, this plot just wouldn’t really happen in the world these days. The plot also wasn’t as clear as it could have been; they did not tell the viewer who Nathan and Karen were exactly running from, they just knew they were the targets. Even at the end of the movie, the reasoning behind it all never came out clearly and confidently.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

By Olivia Augustine – Staff Reporter

“Lemonade Mouth” was created by Mark Peter Hughes. It first premiered on April 15, 2011 on Disney Channel. This movie won the Popstar Award for Favorite TV Movie in 2011. 

“Lemonade Mouth” is about 5 high school students who meet in detention and start a band. They got the name of their band from the lemonade machine that is outside of the detention room. The movie takes place in Albuquerque, New Mexico.            

This movie starred Bridget Mendler as Olivia, Hayley Kiyoko as Stella, Adam Hicks as Wen, Naomi Scott as Mohini “Mo”, and Blake Michael as Charlie. Together they form a band called “Lemonade Mouth” after meeting in detention and try to get through high school without being disliked by the whole school. 

This movie shows that friendship is important. Olivia, Stella, Wen, Mo, and Charlie all weren’t close friends before meeting in detention, but once they did meet they formed a friendship that will last forever. 

A memorable scene from “Lemonade Mouth” is when Olivia, Stella, Wen, Mo, and Charlie are all either sick or hurt and aren’t able to play for the school. The audience stepped up and started singing their song “Determinate.” They were shocked and happy that people liked them after getting all the hate from the other band at the school they go to and the principal. 

Another memorable scene from “Lemonade Mouth” is when they are at the pizza place. Mo is singing “She’s So Gone,” one of their songs. Mo dances around the restaurant and the audience joins in with her. Mo’s ex-boyfriend shows up and leaves after a few minutes because he is still mad at her for joining the band. He is in the other band at the school. The audience loved them and they thought that everything would continue to go well. 

One day after school, they all go to Olivia’s house to check up on her after her cat died. They all talk about the problems that are going on in their lives, Olivia hardly talks about her problem. After her mom died, her dad got into some trouble and is in prison. Olivia could have told them more so they would have known how to help her. They all didn’t really comment on each other’s problems. They all should have given a little bit of detail about their problems so they would know how to help each other. 

Comparing “Lemonade Mouth” to “Let it Shine,” they are both movies about singing and friendship. “Let it Shine” is about two friends, Cyrus and Kris, who have a chance to work with Roxie (a famous singer and former friend) to become famous singers. Cyrus entered the song into the competition, but Roxie thought it was Kris, so Cyrus and Kris worked together to keep Roxie from knowing the truth. Both movies have good soundtracks. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

(Photo courtesy of disney.fandom.com)

By Rachel McKay – Staff Reporter

“Steven Universe” is a cartoon created by Rebecca Sugar. It was started in November 2013 by Cartoon Network, and has since garnered massive success.

The show follows the story of Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems. The Crystal Gems are a group of beings from space, which are gems, crystals, or rocks given a form. The Crystal Gems consists of Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst. Steven is the son of the former leader of the Crystal Gems, Rose Quartz, who gave up her gem to give birth to Steven.

In the show, Steven and the Crystal Gems protect humanity from monsters. Throughout the story, Steven explores his relationships with those close to him. He grows and learns about the world and space as a whole as him and the Crystal Gems are faced with various challenges, facing many difficult situations and gaining new allies and enemies.

“Steven Universe” is a great show because of the clear development characters go through and the compelling storyline. It teaches the audience lessons in love, growth, and understanding. This is also combined with an impressive balance of lighthearted humor and highly emotional moments. 

One of the core themes of the show is exploring how people change over time, which is very well executed as Steven takes the viewer along while he learns more about himself and others. Furthermore, each of the main characters go through major growth, which is spurred by real, convincing, and relatable events and feelings. All the characters learn about love and connections, which is clearly guided by a very cohesive storyline. The plot and characters are intricately intertwined in a near perfect way, demonstrating the important themes of the show.

Another important aspect of the show is how well combined the different tones are. There are many lighthearted and happy moments, especially in the beginning, but there are also a lot of very serious and impactful events. The scenes with happy tones are uplifting and have great humor, and the highly emotional scenes hammer home the themes of the show and evoke an emotional response from the viewer. 

There are a few flaws of the show, however they are very minor compared to the rest of the show. The most noteworthy flaw is poor pacing in some parts. There are some events in the show that are a little rushed, however those are not common and are easily outmatched with the timing used in much of the show. 

Overall, “Steven Universe” does an excellent job in teaching the audience valuable lessons while being engaging and highly enjoyable to watch. This is achieved through in depth characters, well thought out storyline, and incredibly impactful important themes.  

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

By Rachel McKay – Staff Reporter

“If I Stay” is a book published in 2009 and written by Gayle Forman. The book is targeted towards young adults, and has a theme of loss and tragedy.

The story follows a 17-year-old girl named Mia, who gets into a major car accident that sends her into a coma. While in a coma, she sees the world outside of her own body. She witnesses everything going on around her, however she cannot interact with anything as her physical body is still unconscious. The story is told through a sequence of flashbacks and small events as she tries to decide to stay alive or to pass away.

There are many things in this book that are very well done. The impact of the emotions characters face is powerful and realistic, and truly tugs at the heartstrings of the reader. There are also several scenes described in amazing detail, feeling very intricate yet natural to understand. The characters and their relationships feel genuine, and the reader feels emotions along with them.

However, while there are aspects of this book that are quite beautiful, there are also parts that are not. 

Though this book has vivid descriptions in certain scenes, many of the events in this book feel somewhat flat. The vast majority of events in this book are very emotionally heavy, however it is because of the focus on emotion that rest tends to fade into the background.

Furthermore, the way the story is told is mainly through isolated events or flashbacks. They do get somewhat connected at the end, however there are still many moments that end up becoming unimportant. Many of those scenes are less captivating than the others, however they still can be good. Still, telling a story mainly through flashbacks can be confusing or repetitive. 

Connected to that, much of the book is filled with ramblings. While this is not necessarily bad, it can subtract from the meaning of the book. It makes it feel irrelevant or boring at certain points, though that boredom does not happen particularly frequently. 

Overall, this book makes an interesting read. For those who enjoy emotional stories, this book would likely be enjoyable. For those who prefer more cohesive, in depth storylines and character development, this book may not be as captivating. Although the writing can be less entertaining in certain scenes, there are still moments that are well written and fascinating.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

By Brenda Grunow – Staff Reporter 

The book, “The Hunger Games,” by Suzanne Collins is very entertaining at first glance but also a very thought-provoking book about society and its views on topics like world hunger, governmental power, and the entertainment industry.

The book follows the main character, Katniss Everdine through her difficult life in her home, District 12, where she lives day by day trying to provide for her family by herself from the young age of eleven. This changes when the “reaping” takes place in their town square. The “reaping” is a tradition in the districts where they pick a boy and a girl from each district surrounding the capital to fight in “The Hunger Games” in reminder that the Capital, their form of government, is in complete power over them and should never be crossed. The book follows the games and walks the reader through the process of what the “tributes” go through while preparing and fighting for their lives. 

This book really went in-depth and showed what the characters were going through and thinking throughout the book. The setting is creative it was very well-written.People who read the book will definitely want to re-read it and will not be able to put the book down. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Truman Martin – Staff Reporter

Zack Snyder’s “Justice League” was released on March 18 on HBO Max. Snyder was the initial director of the original “Justice League,” which came out back in 2017,  but Joss Whedon took over direction in the middle of filming. The movie cost $70 million to make, and it made $650 million worldwide. The story is about Batman, Aquaman, Cyborg, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Superman going up against Steppenwolf, the main villain of the film. This time around, Snyder made a four-hour long epic and divided it up into six parts and an epilogue.

This film is very divisive among fans. A lot of people love it, and a lot of people think it wasn’t that much better than the first one (which was very bad). The movie is not very good at all. Compared to other movies like the Christopher Nolan Batman movies and The Joker, this movie is very campy. The script is very cringy at times, and most of the characters are very bland. Also, probably the most striking thing about this movie is the excessive use of slow motion. If Snyder sped up all of the slow motion to regular speed and just shortened some scenes, this movie would be a solid two hours. It feels like they forgot to edit down a lot of scenes. 

Now, despite this movie’s many failures, it does do some things better than the original. One of these things is the further development of Cyborg and The Flash as characters. Cyborg’s story is very well developed, and The Flash nearly saves the movie from being just as bad as the original. The Flash is a very likable character and brings all of the bland characters to life for a split second. 

Overall, Zack Snyder’s “Justice League” is much better than the original, but is still lacking in many places.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

(Some information courtesy of rottentomatoes.com)

By Tyanna Xavier – Social Media Editor 

After months of not knowing whether prom would occur for the seniors at Jonathan Law, it is finally happening on May 12.

Thanks to the hard work of the Student Council, school administrators, Senior Class Advisor Mrs. Francisco, and the members of the Prom Committee, prom is back on and students are ready to walk the runway. 

Prom is one of the most important school dances for any school because it is every student’s chance to dress to impress – and if you need fashion help, you came to the right place.

—

Ladies – This is the moment that you have been waiting for since last year, so now it’s time wear something bold and beautiful. If you’re more of a simple girl, you can always make a statement by wearing bold jewelry such as long, dangling earrings with your simple dress and rings that match your earrings.

Rule #1: Your jewelry must always match. Do not wear gold and silver together. 

Gentlemen – Now is the time to take your date and show them what you are really made of all with your look. Some men might want to go for the classic tuxedo look (black and white suit). In my opinion, that is too simple. If you want to impress yourself and your date, it is always nice to pick a color outside of the box such as a navy blue suit, army green, burgundy, or even a nice salmon color.

Rule #2: Do please match your date. If your date is wearing a red dress and you are wearing a green suit that is a fashion no-no for all occasions. 

For the ladies who love to go all out, Rule #3 is meant for you. Do not go spray tanning before prom. If you are wearing a lightly colored dress that can also be wrapped around your necks such as a halter dress or a turtle neck dress, dresses like this can easily rub on your spray tan and possibly stain your dress. If you really feel like you need a tan to compliment your dress, you can always try tinted lotions that do not rub on dresses as they dry quickly. 

Rule #4: Gentlemen – do not wear an oversized suit. The most common place where a men’s suit is oversized is the pants. It is always better to get a slim-fit pair of pants. That way, the bottom of the pants aren’t baggy at the bottom and they will be cut right at the ankle. This will make the suit look very fitted and polished.  

Rule #5: Choose a hairstyle that compliments your dress. If your dress is very sparkly, it is always beautiful to curl your hair and place it over the shoulder, and then use three designed bobby pins on the other side to give a very chic look to your dress. If your dress has a unique back design or opening, wear your hair up in a beautiful bun or ponytail with some strands of polished curls out to show those features of your dress. If your dress has a simpler design, you can curl your hair; however, try to tease it underneath to give it more volume. 

Ladies and gentlemen: follow these five rules and you will be a bombshell for the prom!

By Hanna Broderick – Entertainment Editor

Melbourne psych-rock band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard released their 17th studio album “LW” on February 25.

“LW” is a nine-track album and a seamless continuation of 2020’s “KG” as all of the songs were recorded together with the same microtonal and experimental style. Songs from both albums featured the guitar that was built for King Gizzard’s first album of 2017, “Flying Microtonal Banana.”

The first three tracks were released as singles in the time between November 2020’s “KG” and February 2021’s “LW.” Track one, “If Not Now, Then When?” presents a funky beat which is then complimented by the dreamlike melody of track 2, “O.N.E.” Then in a very ‘Gizzard-like’ fashion, this is interrupted on track 3, “Pleura.” The song is dark, gory and the drumming is definitely the highlight of this track.

The album continues to use Turkish influences throughout which adds to the kind of universe that the band creates through their music. The layered acoustic sounds in “Static Electricity” adds such a magic to the album while carrying through the Turkish/Microtonal feel of the duo albums.

“East West Link” is a song to show how the band feels about the proposed highway to be built in Melbourne. Lines, “We can build a road / We can cut a tree / We can shoot a bird / Nobody will see” adds to King Gizzard’s prior messages about the way we treat our planet.

The over eight minute closer “K.G.L.W.” which is the same track title name KG opened with that also connects the dots for a looping double record if played together and a nod back to the continuous tracking found on Nonagon Infinity. This track really closes out the album in the best way possible, with the classic dark tone of many of their songs and with the instrumentals to back it up fans can’t help but want to bop their head. 

As a whole, the album has some good tracks but out of their 17 studio albums they’ve released over the past 10 years, it’s not anything incredible considering some of their prior albums. In the end, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard is a real band experimenting with electricity to make music for people to enjoy across the world.

By Gabe Garnett –  Staff Reporter

The new Netflix series “We Are: The Brooklyn Saints” is a football series that shows what it is like to be a young football player in the inner city in Brooklyn. 

Like “Friday Night Lights,” The Brooklyn Saints” is a heart-warming story. Released on January 29, the Netflix series shows what some young kids have to go through while playing football in Brooklyn. We meet coach Edwin Gawuala, who is one of the main coaches that inspires the kids and allows them to learn about what the real world has in store for them. He says to them before every game, “It’s me and you vs the world.” He looks to inspire the kids in any way he can; he is like an emotional cheerleader, always yelling and jumping getting the kids hyped up.

The show starts off by talking about how the word saint means “God’s people” and how the goal isn’t to win games. The main goal of this community football team is to save a life every year by taking the kids off the streets away from the bad parts of Brooklyn and allowing them to go play football. The kids range from 7 to 13 years old. The series shows more of the younger kids playing instead of the older kids, but viewers do learn about a young man named Kenan who is having trouble picking between a really good football high school or a good engineering school known for its robotics. A speaker is brought in to talk to him and the speaker tells him, “Use football, don’t let football use you.”

Later in the series, viewers learn more about the young kids, how football is impacting their lives and what it is doing to help them succeed in life. One kid viewers learn about the most is D-Lo, a 9-year-old who is moving up into the bigger leagues for football next year. His father, Coach Vick, is arrested in one of the episodes for a minor traffic charge in the middle of practice and that takes a toll of D-Lo. One of the coaches says to the team, “D-Lo makes sure he carries y’all so I need y’all to make sure y’all carry D-Lo today.” In the fourth episode, D-Lo gets hurt in one of the games and is taken out, but after a sort time he chooses to go back in, and even though they didn’t win, “D-Lo didn’t give up and that’s all that matters,” Coach Gawuala says.

Overall, the show was very entertaining to watch. Watching the young kids go through the season was worth it. If viewers like football, they will love the show, but even if they don’t like football, the show really teaches people life lessons and things they can keep with them for the rest of their lives.

By Olivia Augustine – Staff Reporter

“Pretty Little Liars” was created by I. Marlene King and aired from 2010-2017. This show is based off of the book series “Pretty Little Liars” by Sara Shepard. This show has won many Teen Choice Awards. 

“Pretty Little Liars” is a TV show about a group of friends who live in Rosewood, Pennsylvania. This group of friends is tormented by someone named “A” after their friend Alison DiLaurentis goes missing and is found dead, and they are trying to find out why. 

This show starred Lucy Hale as Aria Montgomery, Ashley Benson as Hanna Marin, Troian Bellisario as Spencer Hastings, Shay Mitchell as Emily Fields, and Sasha Pieterse as Alison DiLaurentis. Aria, Hanna, Spencer, and Emily spend most of their time uncovering the secrets Alison left behind. Alison left behind a lot of secrets that they didn’t know about. With each secret they uncover they pin the blame of Alison’s death on the people that the secret was about. 

Each season “A” is a different person, but they don’t know that until they all get a text message from “A”  after the person they thought was “A” was in jail. “A” finds out all of the secrets before they do and sends them text messages saying that they will tell their parents a secret that they know about them. 

A memorable scene from “Pretty Little Liars” is when Aria, Hanna, Spencer, and Emily are standing outside of the church after Alison’s funeral and “A” texts them for the first time. They are shocked and all look around after reading the text. That is just the beginning of what “A” does to them. 

Another memorable scene is when Mona, Spencer, and Toby are at the lodge waiting for Aria, Hanna, and Emily, so they can all find out who “Red Coat” is. “Red Coat” is the leader of the “A Team.” They all want to know who she is and why she is tormenting them. The lodge is set on fire and Mona and Hanna saw Alison pull them out. They had assumed that Mona knew who “Red Coat” was, but she didn’t. Now Mona has to be careful because “Red Coat” is sending her “A” text messages.  

A less exciting point in the show is when Aria, Hanna, Spencer, Emily, Alison, and Mona are kidnapped and locked in a real life dollhouse. This episode was creepy because Mona was missing and then they got kidnapped and found Mona in the dollhouse, where they were also trapped. These girls were scared for their lives. They had no idea who kidnapped them and there was no way to escape without being caught. They had to work together to keep each other safe and alive. 

Comparing “Pretty Little Liars” and “Riverdale” these shows are very similar. These shows are both thrillers. In “Riverdale” Betty, Veronica, Archie, and Jughead try to find out who is tormenting people in the town they live in. Aria, Hanna, Spencer, and Emily are trying to find out who killed Alison and who is tormenting them. Both friends groups work together to find out who is behind the damage that is caused. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

(Some information courtesy of TVinsider.com)

By Truman Martin – Staff Reporter

“Wandavision” is the newest installment in the Marvel cinematic universe, but this time, it’s a sitcom. The show debuted on Disney+ on January 15. The show follows Avengers Wanda Maximoff and Vision in an old-fashioned sitcom with a twist: every episode is a time period later than the last, starting in a 1950’s black-and-white style. But everything is not as it seems in their world, and an underlying mystery starts to unfold as the show progresses. 

“Wandavision” lets the audience know right away that it is very self-aware. There’s lots of tongue-and-cheek acting with corny jokes, but not so much to the point where it makes watching unbearable. When Wanda makes things float around, the string holding the objects up is almost visible. The show can be likened to other classic sitcoms like “The Brady Bunch” and “Leave it to Beaver.” Although, being a show about superheroes, it is also a lot like the other Marvel movies. The show also has mid-episode commercials that give the audience a little bit of information pertaining to the underlying story. Some memorable scenes were moments where the show became self-aware and started to break the 4th wall. These moments give the show an unsettling undertone that keeps the audience guessing what will happen next.

There aren’t many weak points in the show, but there is one that other problems stem from. Each episode of the show is 30 minutes long, making the show a fast watch. The problem with this is that each episode is released once a week, so the 30 minutes goes by really fast. Then, waiting for another episode feels really annoying. This method of releasing episodes wouldn’t be as bad if the show were released 10 or 15 years ago, when there weren’t streaming services like Netflix that promote binge-watching. Disney + has so far released two shows: “The Mandalorian” and “Wandavision,” both having 30-minute-long episodes. A possible improvement for the future would be either to make the episodes an hour long (like most shows are doing right now), or to release the entire show at once. 

Overall, “Wandavision” is a fun and different story in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but is a little hindered by its short episodes and weekly releases. 

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Some information courtesy https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/wandavision

By Rachel Mckay – Staff Reporter

The book series “Penryn and the End of Days” is a trilogy which consists of “Angelfall,” “World After,” and “End of Days.” The series was written by Susan Ee, starting in May 2011 and ending in May 2015.

The main premise of the series is that there is an apocalypse after angels came to Earth and threw the world into chaos. The series follows the protagonist, Penryn, as she does her best to survive and protect those she cares about. 

The book series begins with Penryn’s disabled sister being taken by angels. Her initial goal is only to get her sister back, however, early on she finds an angel with his wings removed and left for dead by other angels. The two of them make a hesitant and begrudging agreement to work with each other in order to achieve their own separate goals. Penryn wants to find her sister, and the angel, Raffie, wants to get his wings back. 

Over the course of the story, the plot becomes more complicated as new allies and enemies are found. These alliances and enemies guide the story in an effective manner, allowing for a plot that is easy to follow and interesting. 

These books have a compelling plot matched with unique and captivating characters. The plot is also done in a way where even the smallest details are all connected and contribute to the story.

The intricate way the different events build upon each other is engaging and keeps the reader wanting to know more. Plot points that seemed irrelevant or unimportant often end up coming into play later on. In addition, there is a lot of well hidden foreshadowing that can only be picked up on while rereading. 

Although some of the characters are not as interesting as others, many of them are extremely detailed and realistic. They have a wide range of personalities, backgrounds, and skill sets that do a lot to add to the story. Of the large group of main and secondary characters, few of them are done poorly or are not interesting enough. So, even though not all of the characters are interesting, the vast majority of them are fascinating and are relatable or realistic in some way.

Overall, this book series is a great read for anyone who loves apocalypse stories, unique characters, and an engaging and developing plot.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Ava Korkmaz – Staff Reporter

“The Nightmare Before Christmas” is one of the greatest holiday movies ever made. It was directed by Director Henry Selick and produced/co-written by Visionary Tim Burton. It also shows Actor Chris Saradon as the speaking voice and American Composer Danny Elfman as the singing voice of Jack Skellington. One of the other famous people in the movie is Actor Paul Reubens, who also was in “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure” (1985) and “Batman Returns” (1992).

It took a lot of time to create a stop-motion movie – Jack Skellington had over four hundred heads. The animators for the movie wanted to capture every emotion that a human would have. This first song that they recorded was “What’s This?” the song for when Jack goes into Christmas town. This was also the first scene of the movie that they completed.

The directors were worried that children would not like the movie, but its re-release was a hit in 2006. The movie was so great that on the soundtrack, Disney decided to add artists like Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco, Marilyn Manson, Fiona Apple, and She Wants Revenge. The original demo tapes that were created by Elfman during the original movie, were also added to the disc.

One of the best lines that are in the movie is “Curiosity killed the cat, you know.” This was the scene when Sally was more curious than all the Halloween town residents about Jack’s whereabouts. She goes in the mad scientist’s lair to ask him. He does not tell her where because he also does not know.

Another one of the best lines is, “Kidnap the Sandy Claws, beat him with a stick. Lock him up for 50 years, see what makes him tick!” This is the scene where Lock, Shock, and Barrel kidnap Santa Claus so that Jack could dress up like him and go into the real world and scare kids on Christmas. This is also the scene where they got the Easter Bunny mixed up with Santa.

Nevertheless, this movie will always be a part of our lives, as it truly is a classic Christmas movie. It is very funny, people can always watch with their family and friends, and it is truly what Christmas is all about. This will always be a holiday favorite, and will be in the hearts of moviegoers forever.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Rachel Mckay – Staff Reporter

The movie “Coraline” is a film produced in February 2009 by Laika Studios. It is based on the book Coraline by Neil Gaiman.

The movie starts with the protagonist, Coraline, moving into a new house. In the beginning, she is simply exploring the house and surrounding property, as well as meeting the other characters. It also serves to show her dissatisfaction with her new house. 

At first, the main problem Coraline faces is her sadness at leaving her friends and annoyance with her strange neighbors. The movie spends time letting the viewer know just how weird the characters are, however does not reveal too much about the storyline. 

There is also a great build up to the dramatic climax. It gives the viewer enough time to understand the world and learn more about Coraline, but it doesn’t drag on. It also leads up to the climax without the viewer even realizing. 

The plot begins to darken after she discovers a door that leads to what seems like a perfect alternate reality. It is clear that this door leads to a world where everything is better, particularly her parents. From there, the story continues to warp as Coraline learns more about what is going on.

The movie does an excellent job of maintaining a sense of mystery and the feeling that something is wrong, without telling the viewer what it is. In addition, there is a lot of hidden foreshadowing that can only be caught rewatching the movie. Many small details that could go unnoticed hint at the much darker truth of the story. 

All of this makes Coraline a movie that anyone can become invested in, and can be watched time and time again. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

By Gemard Guery – Staff Reporter

Since its premiere on Nickelodeon 15 years ago, “Avatar: The Last Airbender” has become one of the most loved shows on television and has become one of the greatest shows of all time.

The show takes place in a world made up of four nations: the Earth Kingdom, the Water Tribes, the Air Nomads, and the Fire Nation.  Certain members of the four nations (known as benders) have the ability to bend one of the four elements which usually corresponds with the nation they were born and raised in.  One individual known as the Avatar has the ability to bend all four elements with a new Avatar being reborn into a new nation after the previous Avatar’s death.  However, this individual is tasked with making sure the world stays in balance at all times and stopping anyone or anything that can cause imbalance.

But as the Fire Nation began a war to take control of the world, the Avatar vanishes and nobody sees or hears him for a hundred years, giving the Fire Nation the opportunity to conquer the other three nations and allowing them to kill anyone who stood in their way including all the Air Nomads to prevent the next Avatar from foiling their plans.

When two siblings from the Southern Water Tribe find the Avatar, a young immature Airbender named Aang.  The Fire Nation begins to go after him.  When Aang realizes that he has lost his entire culture to the vicious Fire Nation, he quickly finds his destiny.  Aang must master all four elements, defeat the fire nation, and save the world.  If he succeeds, the world can recover from the scar left by the Fire Nation.  If he fails, there will be no world to save.

This show is amazing. It gets very emotional at times and, honestly, hard to look away from.  It has one of the best character development that was done perfectly.  The show embraces the different cultures of the world with the four nations.  Each of the nations represented a different culture in the real world.  The show is also very relevant, a lot of the issues we see in the show happen all around the world today.  Avatar is funny and really encapsulates a little boy with imagination and humor, but with a huge responsibility.  Simply put, “Avatar: The Last Airbender” is the perfect combination between a sweet humorous kids show and a more serious show for young adults. Absolutely thrilling!

There are practically no weak points in the show.  The only weak point is one of the most beloved main characters in the show was introduced long after the first few main characters made their appearances, but this is no way “ruined” the show.  It was great for the plot and even led to a very unexpected twist that helped them out immensely.

Rating: 10 out of 5 stars