Monthly Archives: May 2022

Books/Art

Irish writers 

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By: Thalia & Abi 

There were 5 remarkable Irish writers who impacted Irish culture and influenced writers today.

The first Irish writer is James Joyce. James Joyce was born on February 2, 1882. He was a poet, noelist, and a short story writer. One of his most famous works was his book ‘Ulysses’ that was published in 1922. This book is a modern version of ‘The Odyssey’. As a poet, Joyce was one of the best avant-garde writers. Joyce made an impact on Irish culture by being a part of the avant-garde movement. The avant-garde movement is a reference to art. The term means “that any artist, movement, or artwork pushes the boundaries”. James Joyce died on January 13, 1941.

The second remarkable Irish writer is C. S. Lewis. C. S. Lewis was born November 29, 1898. He was a novelist and a scholar. C. S. Lewis taught at Oxford University and he became a renowned Christian apologist writer. To support his faith, he used his logic and philosophy. C. S. Lewis is also known for writing the fantasy series, ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’. This series has now been adapted into many films. His motivations and his impact on Irish culture both had to do with religion. He restored a Christian version of humanity along with the idea of reason, and he demonstrated how Christianity could help individuals who wanted answers in life. C. S. Lewis died on November 22, 1963.  

The third remarkable Irish writer is Jonathan Swift. Swift was born on November 30, 1667. Jonathan Swift was a satirist writer and an essayist. Satire writing is a type of social commentary that uses irony, exaggeration, and other literary devices to make fun of people, traditions, or simply anything that they want to comment on. An essayist is someone who writes essays for publication. Jonathan Swift is most known for ‘Gulliver’s Travels’, which mocks English customs and politics of the day. According to the website Britlitsurvery2, Swift paved the way for political writers of the 21st century. Swift helped find a way to connect with his audiences and educate them about the economic conditions of their country through his satirical writing. Swift died on October 19, 1745

The fourth Irish writer is William Congreve. Congreve was born on January 24, 1670. Congreve was also a satirist writer like Jonathan Swift was. He was also a playwright and poet. Congreve’s most famous plays are ‘The Double Dealer’, ‘The Way of the World’, and ‘Love for Love’. According to Britannica, William Congreve is known to have shaped the English comedy of manners through his satirical portrayal of the way of the sexes. He was also known for his influence on the comedy of manners style of that period. Congreve died on January 19, 1729. 

The fifth and final Irish writer is Oscar Wilde. Wilde was born on October 16, 1854. Wilde wrote many things including epigrams, which is the “One-Liner” of literature, journalism, drama, short stories, and criticism. Wilde was most known for his novel ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ (1891) and for his comedies of manners ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ (1892) and ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ (1895). Oscar Wilde involved himself in two movements. One of which was the Aesthetic movement which believed “that art in its various forms should not seek to convey a message to instead exist beautifully”. The second movement that Wilde was involved in was the Decadent movement which was similar to the Aesthetic movement. The Decadent movement believed that “creativity was more important than logic”. Wilde died on November 30, 1900.

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Tech/Games

Predictive maintenance

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By: Musab Mohamud

Predictive maintenance is defined by Rockwell Automation as “The use of data-driven, proactive maintenance methods that are designed to analyze the condition of equipment and help predict when maintenance should be performed.” It is usually coupled with A.I. technology and is rooted in data. “The main function of predictive maintenance is on oil rigs and extractors. However, some examples of using predictive maintenance and predictive maintenance sensors include vibration analysis, oil analysis, thermal imaging, and equipment observation”. The importance of A.I. technology to oil rigs and their safety is visible in the reduction of failures of equipment and work injuries.

Predictive maintenance is necessary to minimize losses caused by “downtime”, which for oil companies results in massive losses which can quickly stack up, resulting in the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars. Due to the prices of energy sources decreasing, data analysis is even more important. Energy companies must be wary of losses and need to stay at a profit; predictive measures help greatly with that.

BP, a British oil company, partnered with GE (General Electric), to place sensors on 650 of their extraction wells. A program created by GE helps predict failures in BP’s system. BP and GE’s partnership has continued to evolve and keep employees safe through predictive maintenance, which improves the safety and economic state of the company.

Data tags and sensors placed on and around oil fields record data and send them back to the analytical companies. This helps the oil companies predict when failures will occur in the future. The two sides work as a symbiotic relationship; the data companies help prevent failures, and they in turn are paid for their services.

“Predictive maintenance programs have been shown to lead to a tenfold increase in ROI (return of investment), a 25%-30% reduction in maintenance costs, a 70%-75% decrease in breakdowns and a 35%-45% reduction in downtime”, according to Rockwell Automation. With the added security of predictive maintenance, companies can spend funds elsewhere after saving part of their maintenance costs.

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Baseball

The “Joe Ryan experience” in full swing 

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By: Abby Altman

In recent history, very few teams have struggled with pitching as much as the Minnesota Twins. In 2021, the Twins were 26th in combined ERA, and 25th for starting pitchers. But nearly 1 month into the 2022 season, as of April 28th, the Twins are 9th in ERA, with a 3.21 average, and their starting pitchers rank 2nd in ERA with a 2.36 average, just behind the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

This new pitching success is propelled by rookie Joe Ryan. The Twins acquired Ryan from the Tampa Bay Rays in 2021, in a trade for Nelson Cruz. 

Joe Ryan was the starting pitcher in game 1 for team USA in the 2020 Olympics (held in 2021). Ryan pitched 10 innings in the Olympics, allowing 9 hits and just 2 runs, accompanied by 8 strikeouts. He finished his time in Tokyo with a 1.74 ERA. 

Ryan’s Olympic success is just one reason that the Twins announced Joe Ryan as the 2022 opening day starter, a week before game 1 against the Mariners. 

Ryan had just 5 career major league starts before this season, where his pitching was nearly untouchable. 

“I think the big leagues is a little bit different than other levels, so there’s probably going to be more pressure in certain situations,” Ryan said. “But at the end of the day, I think last year I just learned it’s still the same game. There’s great hitters up there. Don’t make mistakes. Execute your pitches and it’s still baseball. I’m there for a reason, too.”

There certainly was a good reason that manager Rocco Baldelli chose Ryan to open the season, being the first rookie to do so for the Twins since 1969. 

Ryan held the Mariners to 2 runs, earned off of a 2 run home run in the 1st inning. The Twins offense was unable to provide run security, facing the reigning Cy Young winner Robbie Ray, handing Joe Ryan his 1st loss, 2-1. 

Ryan and the Twins offense rebounded quickly. Ryan came back to pitch again against the Red Sox at Fenway Park a week later. Ryan pitched 6 innings, giving up 4 hits and only 1 run. Ryan also recorded 7 strikeouts in his first win. 

Starting last week for his 3rd game, Joe Ryan has only improved. Ryan was the starting pitcher in game 2 against the Tigers, where the Twins took a 5-0 victory, in Joe Ryan’s first shutout game. 

Backed by an excellent Twins defense, Ryan pitched 7 solid innings, allowing only 1 hit and 0 runs. Ryan recorded 9 strikeouts in his best game of the season. 

Ryan’s most recent appearance on the mound was in game 2 against the Orioles. He pitched 4.2 innings, giving up 6 hits, 2 earned runs, and had 3 strikeouts. 

Joe Ryan currently has a 1.63 ERA, which is the 10th lowest for pitchers in the MLB this season. 

The “Joe Ryan Experience” as the Minnesota Twins call it, is exactly that. An experience. His pitches are located beautifully, his fastball ranges around 95 MPH, and he has his average exit velocity at just 68 MPH. 

Joe Ryan’s rookie season is off to an excellent start, and the Twins and Minnesota fans are all hoping to see how Ryan progresses in his career.

Ryan will pitch again on Tuesday against the Astros.  

Getting To Know/History

ENRON the corporate dumpster fire

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By: Reed Morris

The Beginning

Enron began in 1985 after the merger of two energy companies, Houston Natural Gas Co. (HNG) and an Omaha based company called InterNorth Inc. After the merger, a man by the name of Kenneth Lay, who was the CEO of HNG before the merger, became the new CEO of Enron. One of Lay’s first moves as CEO was to shift and rebrand Enron into an energy supplier and trader. With recent loosening on the energy market, companies were now allowed to place bets on future energy prices. Lay wanted Enron to take advantage.

In 1990, Lay created Enron Finance Corp, and chose a man named Jeffrey Skilling (he’ll be important later) to be the head of this new corporation. In regards to his joining Enron, Skilling’s timing was perfect. Energy in the 90’s was very loosely regulated and Enron was set to flourish in this environment.

Skilling’s first major contribution to the company was figureheading the company’s shift from a traditional ‘historical cost’ accounting method, to a new ‘Market to Market’ (MTM) accounting system, which allowed the company to receive official approval of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in 1992. MTM: “Mark-to-market or fair value accounting refers to accounting for the ‘fair value’ of an asset or liability based on the current market price, or the price for similar assets and liabilities, or based on another objectively assessed ‘fair’ value.” It is widely accepted that Enron’s adoption of the MTM style was the official beginning of the end of Enron. This style of accounting allowed Enron to log estimated profits as real, current, profits.

The height

At Enron’s height, the company had a market valuation of sixty billion dollars. As Enron was at its height during the ‘dot-com bubble’, interest in the internet was immense, so they created a website called EnronOnline (EOL). The website focused on commodities. With every transaction that took place through EOL, Enron was the counter partner, either the seller or buyer. One of the biggest reasons this website was a success was that Enron had direct insight into the value and activities of the energy market, as well as many other global markets. This allowed them to manipulate and contort these markets to make an unimaginably absurd amount of money.

The first signs of distress

Yea, that was a lie. Investors were told that they were making money, and were told that it was a success when in reality it was ripping apart at the seams. The first and most noticeable instance of this was when Enron partnered with Blockbuster to create a new video on demand (VOD) platform and enter the VOD market. At the time, the VOD market seemed like a really good pick, so Enron pulled out their MTM tricks, and started logging expected future earnings as their current, real earnings.

By early to mid 2000 rolled around, EOL was executing somewhere upwards of $350 billion in trades. This is when the dot-com bubble started to burst. Enron had decided to build a system of high-speed broadband telecom networks, which soaked up hundreds of millions of dollars. The downside of this was that due to the bursting of the dot-com bubble, they began seeing little to no returns on their hundred million dollar investments.

When the recession of 2000 hit, Enron was extremely saturated throughout many different markets, and was an extremely large part of the US stock market as a whole. They took immense financial hits, and were hanging on by the skin of their teeth. Overzealous Enron found itself on the heavy losing end of their vanishing market capital.

In a highly competitive and quickly growing energy market, Enron could no longer hold itself up. This was the beginning of the end.

The fall

In October of 2000, Enron found itself in a precarious position. It had money and assets tied up all around the world, and it started to crumble under its own massive corporate weight.

Remember Skilling? He decided that the best course of action for the company was to keep lying, and lie even more than before. Skilling used his admittedly impressive accounting skills to hide the financial losses of the Enron trading business, as well as every other operation the company was spending money on, thanks to MTM accounting. These tricks can be beneficial for trading certain securities, but when an actual business is being dealt with, it can have extremely disastrous effects.

An example of the way Enron was manipulating their numbers is this: Imagine they built a power plant for x million dollars. They would report the actual cost to produce the plant, but they would also immediately report the expected profit from this plant even if no one has made a single cent off of it. Then, if the power plant really didn’t make any money in the long term, the losses would be scrubbed from Enron’s books and the losses would be sloughed off on off-the-book shell companies, where these losses would go unreported and unnoticed.

This degenerate cycle required someone who could handle the heat and the lies surrounding it. In 1998, a man named Andrew Fastow, a rising star within Enron, was appointed as the company’s new CFO and he was now in charge of keeping up the facade of success Enron was trying so desperately to preserve.

Even though Fastow had put years of work into keeping Enron’s accounting frauds and financial failures hidden, details regarding the companies financiers started to leak out into the public eye.

Seemingly overnight, the company’s share price dropped around 90% from close to $96 dollars a share, down to a measly $12 per share. This was the final collapse of Enron. The company liquidated the assets it had left and filed for bankruptcy. Enron was no more.

The aftermath

There is too much to cover in the aftermath of the Enron disaster. There were immense changes in legislation regarding large corporations and accounting methods, there was also a huge shift in the energy sector as a whole. Enron’s effect on the United States is significant and lasting.

The men involved with the lies and deceit at Enron also faced extreme legal trouble. Jeffrey Skilling (former CEO) ended up being sentenced to 24 years in prison because of his involvement in Enron’s collapse. Skilling was released from federal custody in early 2019. Similarly, the mastermind behind the concealment of billions in losses, Andrew Fastow was charged with securities and wire fraud, and was sentenced to 6 years in prison.

Final thoughts

As one of the biggest corporate scandals in US history, there is a lot to be learned from. While thousands of jobs were lost, and millions of dollars vanquished into thin air, the Enron disaster brought about a lot of positive change that has a lasting impact on the economy today.

The story of Enron is much too complicated and deep to fully explain in a short article, but if you have any interest in learning more about this historical dumpster fire of a company, there is a movie that goes into much more depth and detail about the events called ‘Enron: the smartest guys in the room’

One thing that can be learned from Enron is that massive corporations aren’t always clean, and need to be kept in check. In a world with companies that are valued at more than a trillion dollars, there has never been a more important time to keep vigilant, and make sure massive companies don’t have too much power, market share, or influence over our ever changing world.

Books/Art

‘Divergent’ book review

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By: Ella Sutherland & Lauren Kottke

Book summary: (contains spoilers)

In the book ‘Divergent’, the population is separated into 5 different groups or “factions” within a contained city (this was the only city not affected by a war that happened earlier). Abnegation, which is selflessness, Amity, which is kindness, Candor, which is honesty, Dauntless, which is bravery, and Erudite, which is intelligence are the factions.

There is a girl named Tris, and she is a part of the faction Abnegation. She has always felt as if she doesn’t belong in that faction. At 16, everyone in this society has to take a test that helps them choose which faction they want to live in for the rest of their lives.

When she turns 16, and goes to take the test, her result is different from other people’s. Her result was inconclusive, which, in this society, means Divergent. People are afraid of Divergents because they can not be controlled like everyone else. Since she is Divergent, she fits into 3 of 5 factions. Abnegation, Dauntless, and Erudite.

At the choosing ceremony, she is scared because she doesn’t know which one to choose because the test was supposed to help her decide. She ends up choosing Dauntless because she has always felt a connection to it.

In order to be a part of Dauntless, she has to pass a series of tests that are both physical and mental. In the very beginning she is doing really bad at the training and she is falling behind. But if you do not pass these tests you will get kicked out and become factionless, which is like being homeless.

She starts training at night, and early in the morning, so that she has a better chance of making it. She starts to get noticed by one of the instructors named Four. He helps her train and win fights.

The whole group goes out into an abandoned amusement park and plays Capture the Flag, but with guns that simulate the feeling of a real gunshot. Four chooses Tris to be on his team first and everyone thought it was out of pity, but she ends up winning it for the team.

After that she started training even harder and she just barely passed the first test. The second test is a test about your mentality. You are put into a simulation that simulates your worst fears. For the first time going into the simulation, it usually takes a person around 30 minutes to get out. The only way to get out is to stop panicking and come up with a solution on how to move on from that certain fear. For Tris though, it only took her 4 minutes to get out, because she realizes that the simulation isn’t real. She realizes this because she is Divergent and cannot be controlled.

At first, Four isn’t very suspicious, but every time she goes in she gets out really really fast and the way she’s getting out isn’t practical. He then asked her what her test results were. She gets scared that he knows, but she sticks to her story and says that her result was Abnegation.

After she starts moving up in the ranks, her friend, Al, starts moving down and he becomes threatened. One night when she is coming home from seeing her brother, her friend attacks her and tries to push her off a cliff. Four sees this and helps her and brings her back to his room. The next day her friend tries to apologize but she doesn’t accept his apology.

After that incident, she becomes closer with Four and she eventually tells Four that she is Divergent. He helps her because if she were to go into that final test and do what she’s been doing the whole time the government would find out she is Divergent and kill her.

He helps her and she passes the test smoothly. That night though, they put “trackers” on all of the people who passed. But they weren’t really trackers; they contained a serum that controlled them. Tris though couldn’t be controlled because she is Divergent.

The next morning everyone is being controlled so she acts like she is too. They all go to Abnegation because that is who is running the government, but Erudite wants to be the ones in control. So the Dauntless is being controlled by Erudite, to kill the people of Abnegation if they don’t comply.

Tris realizes what’s going on, and finds Genine, the leader of Erudite. She tries to get her to shut down the program, but when she doesn’t, she injects the serum into her and makes her shut it down.

Tris, Four, and a couple other people take the train to the end of the border and climb the fence to get out of that place.

Our opinions:

Ella: I really liked the book. I liked how she was different and was like the person who kinda saves it all. And I loved her and Four. I gave it 5/5.

Lauren: I enjoyed the book. I like how the whole time she was saving everyone she was also finding herself. Tris and Four were also a great part of the story. I give it a 4/5.

Getting To Know/History

The Titanic

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By: Caelyn Hippen

The Titanic was a British luxury passenger liner that sank on its maiden voyage on April 15, 1912. It was the biggest ship of it’s time. The Titanic disaster killed over 1,500 people after the ship was hit by an iceberg in the North Atlantic, approximately 400 miles south of Newfoundland, Canada.

The Titanic was considered unsinkable. It was the largest of its time; it was 882 ft long and was 52,000 tons (and still considered very large now compared to modern ships). It carried 2,200 people and cost 7.5 million dollars to build, which is the value of $217,382,474.23 today.

When and why it sank:

Timeline –

9:40: The Titanic received a message that there were icebergs in the area. But that message never reached the bridge/captain.

The Titanic then hit the iceberg at 11:40 (spotted at 11:39 and tried to avoid it by turning.) It took about 2 hours and 40 minutes to sink.

It wasn’t until 12:30 that lifeboats were lowered. The lifeboats were their own separate issue. The life boats could only carry 1,178 people (if they were full), but the lifeboats were launched below capacity because the crewmen were worried that the davits (thing that lowers the boat into the water) couldn’t hold a full boat. The water was so cold that night (32 degrees) that people perished after 15 minutes. (People couldn’t survive without being in a lifeboat)

And finally, at 2:17, the Titanic broke in two, and by 2:24, the Titanic was under the water’s surface.

Conclusion:

After 3 hours, the Carpathia (a ship that had received a distress call from the Titanic), reached the site of where the Titanic sank and rescued 706 survivors. After this disaster, ships were required to have enough lifeboats for everyone on board, and an international ice patrol was established. These are some reasons how the Titanic was very significant in history

You can look at the source above for the picture and more information!

Advice/How To

How therapy animals can be helpful?

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By: Christina Cyrus

Therapy animals can be helpful in many different ways, like helping reduce stress, and they can lower your anxiety. Also, having a therapy animal can also provide an escape or a happy distraction.

A therapy animal can help give people a certain type of comfort. A lot of people get a therapy animal to help cope with their depression and stress levels, also others might get a therapy animal to help them get over a loss or help them grieve the right way.

Animal-assisted therapy can help reduce pain, anxiety, depression, and fatigue in people with a range of health problems. Some examples of where you might see this is, children that have dental problems, people recovering and receiving cancer treatments, people with dementia, and a lot more other ways.

Having interaction with a friendly pet can help you physically, mentally, and emotionally. It can help reduce high blood pressure and can overall help improve your cardiovascular health.

As well as that, having somebody there for you gives you a comforting effect, which can help improve your overall psychological state of mind.

Although there are people who have service animals, which are most of the time dogs, service dogs are trained to help their owners with specific health problems; for example: fainting, seizures, randomly passing out, being unstable, etc.

Having a service animal does come with a con; some places don’t allow animals. In order to have them in a place that doesn’t allow animals you have to get a doctor’s note basically saying you are allowed to have one due to the need that you have. Also, some places might make you pay a fee.

Another thing about having an emotional support dog is that you have to have a vest for them saying “emotional support” in order to bring them into places.

The overall view of having a therapy animal (emotional support animal) can be very good for an individual, and I completely recommend getting one if you suffer from any of these problems.

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Getting To Know/History

Cinco de Mayo

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By: Ava Bleifuss

Cinco de Mayo is celebrated by many people in the United States. Cinco de Mayo means “Fifth of May” in Spanish. It is the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla in 1862. It was a very important battle, and a great military victory because the Mexicans defeated the French, led by Napoleon III, who had one of the biggest and strongest armies. That is why some people mistakenly think that Cinco de Mayo is Mexican Independence Day, but that holiday is celebrated on September 16.

Cinco de Mayo is celebrated in the state of Puebla in Mexico, but not throughout Mexico. It has become very popular in the United States as a way for Mexican immigrants to celebrate their Mexican heritage. Cinco de Mayo is celebrated on the West Side of St. Paul, and along Lake St. in Minneapolis. Both celebrations are filled with parades, dances, music, food, and fun.

The Cinco de Mayo festival on the West Side of Saint Paul started in 1985. It was started by community members and business owners who wanted to celebrate the West Side community. The West Side of St. Paul has been a gathering place for Mexican immigrants since World War I. Many of them were migrant workers who stayed to work year round for the railroads, local shops, and factories.

Some Mexican families have been here for over 100 years. Some of the oldest businesses on the West Side are the restaurant Boca Chica and the grocery store and restaurant, El Burrito Mercado. The area around these restaurants is called District del Sol, which means “District of the Sun” in Spanish. This area usually hosts one of the largest Cinco de Mayo celebrations in the United States, but this year it has been postponed due to COVID.

Cinco de Mayo has been celebrated along Lake St. in Minneapolis since 1997. It includes a parade, music, food, and events happening all along East Lake St. from 2nd Ave South to Portland Ave. This year, the organizers expect over 70,000 people to attend, making it the largest Cinco de Mayo celebration in Minnesota.

To learn more about celebrating Cinco de Mayo in the Twin Cities click here for West St. Paul, and here for Minneapols. 

Getting To Know/History

History of Timothée Chalamet

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By: Ashley Harris

Timothée Hal Chalamet is a famous American actor. Some of the movies and TV shows he has taken part in include: ‘Loving Leah’ 2009, ‘Men Women and Children’ 2014, ‘Love the Coopers’ 2015, ‘Lady Bird’ 2017, ‘Little Women’ 2019, ‘Dune’ 2021, and his most famous role ‘Call Me by Your Name’ 2017.

*Warning SPOILERS*

‘Call Me by Your Name’ is without a doubt Timothée’s breakthrough role. This movie is considered a devastating and tender daydream, and the closing shot, where Timothée is crying into the fireplace, is defined by many as Timothée’s core moment.

Timothée was born on December 27, 1995, in New York City. He was raised in what is known as “Hell’s Kitchen” in Manhattan Plaza. His parents are Marc Chalamet (who is a UNICEF editor) and Nicole Flendet (who is a famous actress and author). His only sibling is his sister, Pauline Chalamet (who is a famous American actress, writer and director).

Timothée is bilingual in both English and French, and has dual citizenship in the United States and France. In Timothée’s early years, he spent his summers with his grandparents in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon which is a small French village two hours away from Lyon.

The true spark in his acting career was his acceptance into Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. His sophomore year drama teacher, Harry Shifman, was so intrigued by Timothée’s audition that he insisted on Timothée’s acceptance, even though he had been rejected in his interview.

After high school, Timothée attended Columbia University for one year before transferring to New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study to pursue his acting career. While attending Gallatin, Timothée obtained his first major role ‘Call Me by Your Name, in 2017.

‘Call Me by Your Name’ is definitely one of my favorite Timothée Chalamet movies. It’s just about a summer romance and it has really beautiful imagery and is just in general a really feel good film!

After this incredible film, Timothée went on to receive many awards such as the “Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead”, “Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Performer”, and “New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor”.

If you get the chance, you should watch ‘Little Women’ as well, because it has a good plot and characters, and Timothée plays one of the main characters.