Monthly Archives: November 2025

Movies/TV/Theaters

Review on ‘10 Things I Hate About You’

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By: Marina Yang

This is my review on ‘10 Things I Hate About You’. ‘10 Things I Hate About You’, is directed by Gil Junger, produced by Andrew Lazar, and written by Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith. Our main characters consist of Bianca and Kat Stratford (sisters), Patrick Verona (acquainted with Kat), Cameron James (acquainted with Bianca) and the antagonist Joey Donner.

The movie is an early 2000s romance movie that revolves around two developing relationships with problems to overcome, inside the relationships and out. It all starts off with Cameron, who is a new student, who sees Bianca and crushes on her hard. There’s another thing though, she’s boy crazy for another dude named Joey. Also, Bianca is under a new rule where she can’t date unless her sister Kat is too. This seemed easy for Cameron to fix until he realized who her sister was, a total ‘loser’ who isn’t interested in boys or relationships. He ends up finding a fitting candidate for the job, of dating Kat, in Patrick.

I found this movie to be an emotional ride, it had its ups and downs, cringey moments and a little tears, but overall I found it pretty sweet. It has the old-school romance a lot of people romanticize and admire, really capturing the lover-boy and hard to get girl relationship dynamic.

Besides just the romance, it briefly covers the changes Kat goes through from middle-school to high-school, expressing the truth behind her “rebellious” act in the movie. Teaching people the importance and impacts of pushing yourself to fit into an/or someone’s image of you, and diving into something you’re not ready for. Which I feel is valuable to a certain crowd who dreams for a relationship, and romanticizes all the cute acts in these kinds of romcoms.

Though, I don’t think they truly know how differently this generation has changed over time, we’ve grown into a generation where it’s normal to ask people out via text or phone number, etc., not any love letters or devoting themselves through a song.

Besides that, I’d give it a 4.5/5. It’s good in my book, but I may just not have enough pages to really consider it a finalized product/book to truly read and believe. What I really like about this movie though is the ending, Kat says something truly heart-warming yet sad in the moment, showing how much she cherished the time they shared together.

You can watch ’10 Things I Hate About you’ on Netflix or Disney+, or rent it on other streaming services.

News, World

The Jamaican hurricane

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By: Karl Salkowski

(Image created by ChatGPT)

On October 28th, 2025, a category 5 hurricane hit Jamaica. This was Hurricane Melissa, the strongest hurricane in Jamaica’s recorded history. Hurricane Melissa caused an incredible amount of damage, with economic losses totaling over 30% of Jamaica’s GDP.

Hurricane Melissa was identified as a Category 5 hurricane, making it the first of its kind to hit Jamaica. Officials have confirmed over 75 deaths across the Caribbean, with at least 32 in Jamaica. The hurricane caused massive damage to the island, with over 5 million tons of debris blocking roads and isolating communities, making it difficult for rescue teams to make their way through the island.

Although hurricanes hit Jamaica fairly frequently, none of them had this magnitude of destruction. Hurricane Melissa is the worst natural disaster Jamaica has ever faced. It displaced tens of thousands of people and caused major economic loss, projected to be over 4 billion.

Hurricane Melissa had sustained winds of 185 mph and a central pressure of 892 mb, making it one of the most powerful hurricanes to ever land in the Atlantic. Jamaica’s fisheries and agriculture were hit especially hard, with most being completely destroyed in the storm. The storm crippled Jamaica’s infrastructure, food production, roads, and power lines.

Jamaica received humanitarian aid almost immediately; food, water, and medical supplies arrived swiftly to the island from several global organizations. Due to the massive destruction of infrastructure across the island, it is projected to take years for Jamaica to fully recover.

Jamaica however has remained resilient, beginning efforts to clean and rebuild across the island. Tourism is incredibly important to Jamaica, as it is one of the largest parts of their GDP. On November 11th, 2025, Jamaica welcomed its first cruise ship to reach the island after the storm. This milestone is symbolic of Jamaica’s path to recovery as the nation adapts to Hurricane Melissa’s damage.

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Travel/Food

Cranberry cheesecake bars recipe review

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By: Norah Hoglund

Image generated with AI

The weather is getting colder, and that means it’s time for fall treats! The recipe I reviewed was for cranberry cheesecake bars from Somuchfoodblog.

You can find the recipe here.

Review

To start, the process of making these bars.

There was 3 different components in these bars: the cheesecake filling, the cranberry topping, and the crust. Managing all of these mixtures and ingredients can be a little bit tricky, and you have to clean up as you go to make room for the next mixture. It is time consuming to cook the cranberry topping over the stove.

Another inconvenience is that you need quite a few appliances to make this recipe, like a food processor, hand mixer, and stovetop. There is also a lot of uncommon ingredients that people would not usually have in their house, like ginger snap cookies and orange liqueur/Grand Marnier. These bars are not something you make randomly, it has to be planned and the ingredients and appliances have to be on hand. On the bright side, the ingredient list isn’t too extensive.

Although it is more complex than a lot of recipes, if you like baking, it’s quite enjoyable and it’s fun to assemble all of your components once they are done.

Next, the taste.

These cheesecake bars tasted very good. I really love the tartness of the cranberry and I also like how the recipe used ginger snap cookies for the crust instead of graham crackers, like most bars use. These bars are very meticulously made and they taste very gourmet. I think that the measurements in this recipe were just right, because nothing is overpowering and it all blends well together.

Overall, I give this recipe an 8/10. The ingredients and baking process were a bit of a challenge, but the taste made it worth all the work.

Science/Nature

About solar and lunar eclipses

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By: Hannan Mohammed

According to the Planetary Society, we see around two to five solar eclipses every year and about two lunar eclipses each year as well. When these occur, we like to observe and take photos of these phenomena. But what is an eclipse in the first place? And what is the difference between solar and lunar eclipses?

Image by Wibu lu via Wikimedia Commons

Solar Eclipses

A solar eclipse occurs when the Sun, Moon, and Earth align in such a way that the Moon blocks sunlight from reaching the Earth and casts a shadow over an area of the Earth’s surface. For this to happen, the Moon needs to be perfectly aligned between the Earth and the Sun. But, a total solar eclipse doesn’t occur very frequently because the Moon doesn’t orbit in the same plane as the Earth and the Sun. Instead, it orbits in the ecliptic plane, where it’s tilted by five degrees, and because of this, the Moon’s shadow often misses Earth.

There are only two times a year where a new moon has an opportunity to show a solar eclipse when it crosses the Earth-Sun plane, called ‘eclipse seasons’. When a total solar eclipse happens, the Moon directly blocks most of the Sun. However, the Moon doesn’t completely block the Sun, allowing the Sun’s outer atmosphere—called the corona—to be briefly visible to us on Earth. A partial eclipse occurs when the Moon and the Sun aren’t aligned well enough to show a total eclipse, so only a part of the Sun is blocked.

But what about the shadow that’s cast on Earth’s surface during a solar eclipse? It has two main parts, called the umbra and penumbra. The umbra is the inner shadow, usually around 50 miles wide, and only within it is a total solar eclipse visible. The penumbra, on the other hand, is the outer shadow that can span around 1,000 miles; only a partial eclipse is visible from this area.

The Moon’s shadow traces a path across the Earth’s surface as it continues to orbit our planet, called the eclipse path, and it takes around four to five hours for the Moon’s shadow to fully pass over Earth. Within the eclipse path, the path of the umbra is called the path of totality, and along the path of totality, a total solar eclipse lasts for about a few minutes.

Image by Robert Jay GaBany via Wikimedia Commons

Lunar Eclipses

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon is covered by the Earth’s own shadow, preventing sunlight from reaching it. This phenomenon works similarly to how solar eclipses work; when the Earth is positioned between the Sun and Moon and casts its own umbral shadow onto the moon. This doesn’t happen every month for the same reason that total solar eclipses don’t happen frequently: the Moon rotates on its own ecliptical plane, and when it rotates around Earth, it won’t always line up with Earth’s shadow.

However, when it does, we can observe that the Moon becomes a shade of red. Why does the Moon appear to change color? This is due to the Earth’s atmosphere scattering blue light coming from the Sun. As it does so, the edges of the atmosphere reflect a bit of red light onto the Moon’s surface, making it appear red. This is what’s usually called a ‘blood Moon’.

It’s important to note that blood Moons are only seen during a total lunar eclipse; when there’s a partial lunar eclipse, the Moon doesn’t fully pass through the Earth’s umbra, so only parts of the Moon will appear to be red. Lunar eclipses are also much longer than solar eclipses, as a total lunar eclipse can be as long as an hour and 45 minutes.

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Getting To Know/History, Travel/Food

Root beer rankings and a brief history

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By: Nils Hileson

Bottles of root beer tried

Root beer was made in the 18th century by Charles Elmer Hires based of a tea that has similar ingredients. Root beer is commonly made with sassafras root, wintergreen, sarsaparilla and other natural ingredients. It also has a lot of sugar and caramel coloring in it commonly. Its name is derived from the root ingredients used to make it and beer was added to the name just to appeal to miners.

For a time root beer was sold as a syrup or powder to be added to sodas before it became a popular soda itself. I myself like root beer quite a bit so I decided to try six different root beers and rank them from worst to best.

Brownie caramel cream root beer: this one is the worst not because it is particularly terrible but because of how disappointing it was. I was expecting actual caramel flavor but it just tasted like watered down root beer. Very disappointing.

Henry Weinhard’s root beer: not very sweet nor did it have much spice. Didn’t have much flavor for a root beer, so it’s ranked low.

Old Red Eye root beer: had a nice amount of spice for a root beer but was lacking in everything else. Was very watery and kinda disappointing.

Root Naturals Apothecary craft soda: a little less sweet than a normal root beer but had good levels of spice. A fine choice for a root beer.

Drive-in style Dog n Suds root beer: had quite a bit of sweetness, and a little less spice than the others I’ve had. I prefer my root beer to be pretty sweet so this root beer was good.

Boylan Bottling Co: definitely the best root beer out of all of them. The spices they used were different from a normal root beer’s but it was a welcome change of taste. They also used cane sugar, which I’m not sure how much that changed the flavor, but I think it made it better. Didn’t taste watered down at all.

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Student Creative Art

Bunny and Squirrel Pictures

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By: Joe Perez

I drew this picture because it shows the resemblance of a mother’s love and affection towards their child. I picked a bunny because it shows it’s a sign of bonding, companionship and overall care. Another reason I chose it is because sharing food for them is part of their social instinct to ensure their baby’s safety.

I drew this picture because the squirrel is preparing for the winter as squirrels have great preparation skills just like we humans do. They store food for when they actually need it for the winter or feeding their little ones. Squirrels eat during the fall so that they can build fat for the winter which keeps them warm.

Getting To Know/History

History of UFO sightings

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By: Karl Salkowski

Image created with Chat GPT AI

UFO stands for Unidentified Flying Object. According to the Oxford dictionary, UFOs are described as mysterious objects seen in the sky for which, it is claimed, no orthodox scientific explanation can be found.

UFO sightings have been reported throughout all of recorded history and across the world. There are many accounts of unexplained aerial phenomena throughout 500-1500AD. Many paintings and depictions of these flying objects still exist, including strange symbols and imagery. However, it’s likely that most of these medieval UFO sightings were just natural atmospheric phenomena such as comets, auroras, or rare cloud formations.

The US is home to many UFO sightings, with some of its most famous dating back to the 1950s and 60s. During the beginning of the United States’ rocketry initiative, UFO sightings began to spike. This includes several famous sightings and initiatives such as the Roswell UFO Incident, Project Blue Book, and the Robertson Panel.

The Roswell UFO incident took place in 1947 and was one of the first in a series of new sightings. A ranger from Roswell, New Mexico, found a 200-yard-long wreckage near a US Army airfield. The local newspaper reported it was an alien spacecraft, although the military declared the wreckage was only a weather balloon.

As sightings of UFOs increased in the 1940s and 50s, the United States Air Force began investigating these reports. In 1952, this became Project Blue Book, and it recorded over 12,000 sightings between 1952 and 1969.

In 1952, the United States created a panel of scientists to investigate these sightings. This panel was known as the Robertson panel, named after its head, H.P. Robertson, a physicist at the California Institute of Technology. This panel determined that over 90% of sightings were astronomical and meteorological phenomena and that there was no evidence aliens exist.

Within the last 20 years there has been a massive decline in these sightings. As smartphones with high-quality cameras continue to become more and more present, grainy images and blurry photos just don’t cut it anymore. Overall, most UFO sightings can be explained by either military tests or just various natural phenomena.

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