This is just a reminder that though we try to provide new content every weekday during the school year, Winter Break is the one time where the student creators of the Plaid Line, PRIZM, and Scottie News also take a break (with the exception of the Monday “Sports schedule”).
We look forward to bringing you new exciting content on our return in 2026!
By: Daniel Kendle
2 logs remain.
Oh…hello again. It’s me, *cough* M-Mr. Whatshisname. Surprised I made it through last night? No need to fret: even th-this French, uh, tundra has no match against this old d-dog.
But that’s enough about me. This is a review about ‘Pokémon Legends: Z-A,’ remember? Not surprised if you didn’t: my tapes from the first part of this article were mixed with other tapes, ones centered around my plights with hypothermic bone cancer. Don’t worry, I fixed that whole mess. Today’s review will be much more “focused.” *cough*
With that aside, we’ve got 2 more sections to dive into. So without further ado, let’s dive in!
PART 3: GRAPHICS
As I can attest to as a resident of this icy, radiative hellscape, France is very pretty! The countryside is, at least; the jury’s still out on Paris itself. You see, the first line in this paragraph was a device called irony.
Jokes aside, Paris is – or at least used to be – a very pretty town. And since ‘Z-A’ decides to base its entire story in Lumiose City (a direct translation of Paris), that obviously gave the game’s developers, Gamefreak, a tricky situation. 3-D ‘Pokemon’ games on the Switch have never been lookers per say, but with this smaller, more restrictive environment, this could be the opportunity for polish that this team has been waiting for. So: did it deliver?
Uh…yeah. Kind of.
I played this game on the Switch 2, which supports 60 FPS and improved texture resolutions. Of course, this means that the game was also built for the Switch 1, which definitely hindered possible graphical fidelity here. Foliage, while populous in both versions, is still used sparingly in grassy areas, like parks. The same goes for models with high polygon counts, like humans: the Switch 1 can’t handle too many on screen at once, meaning the Switch 2 experience is hindered subsequently.
Thankfully, the game doesn’t look terrible overall. In fact, bare your teeth, but I think it looks pretty good! Sorry to all IGN reviewers out there, but the frostbite in my brain must’ve given me something you lack: a controversially-positive opinion! While nothing exceptional visuals-wise, this game is easily the best-looking mainline ‘Pokémon’ game on either console mentioned. You can definitely sense a strong level of polish here, likely a result of skipping a major game release in 2024.
The Pokémon themselves look nice, as do the humans. Gamefreak ditched the realistic textures of ‘Scarlet’ and ‘Violet’ and gave entities a more basic palette, which I wholeheartedly prefer. The choice comes across very intentionally, though, and complements the Pokémon’s natural rim-lighting.
Textures are also much more polished. Again: the Switch 1 version is likely worse in this regard, but going purely off of the sequel console’s specs, I’d call it a massive improvement over past titles.
Buildings are a misfire for me, though. They’re basically just big textured boxes, with little physical depth. Balconies are squashed and flat, being just a part of the mapped image of the building face itself. The same is true for most columns and parapets, and it brings their beauty down a bunch.
While ‘Pokémon Legends: Z-A’ doesn’t turn the wheel on its head graphically, it does well in pushing the wheel forward. For the flack recent games have received for their visuals, it’s good to see a modern title be given some more polish and time in the oven – and its due flowers.
PART 4: MUSIC
1 log remains.
The fire, it’s…i-it’s…
…l-let’s talk about the music, yeah! *cough* This is another source of praise for me, like with most ‘Pokémon’ games. If there’s anything, anything consistent about this series at all, it’d be this area. So how’s about we rapid-fire through my thoughts on some in particular, like with the Mega Evolution section. That way, I can say more about the soundtrack other than, “it’s good.”
To conclude, the soundtrack for ‘Pokémon Legends: Z-A’ is another slam dunk for the team overall. It’s funky, weird, and alluring in all the right ways. I can’t deny the mastery at work here with this albu-!
0 logs remain.
…w-what? But…I wasn’t ready! I still needed to conclude my article and give the game an 8/10! I needed to say that the game was far-and-away the best mainline ‘Pokémon’ game on the Switch!
Death befits the ignorant, not the ready.
No…no! I-I can’t give up now. My body, my mind…we still have so much life left to live! My saga can’t end here!
This is not your will.
…
This is not your choice.
…
This is not your life.
By: Norah Hoglund
One of the best parts of wintertime is drinking hot chocolate. I decided to review a recipe for French hot chocolate that I saw on Instagram. I got the recipe from cookingwithkian.
Here is the link to the video: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGofH9MyoFp/?igsh=MWltaXhia3dzZXdwbQ==
Review
Process:
This recipe makes a more gourmet and rich hot chocolate, so it takes a little bit of extra effort to make. The 2 elements are the whipped cream and the hot chocolate, which are both pretty easy to make within themselves. Heating and mixing the milk and cream and sugar is quite easy, as long as you mix it. Making the whipped cream took a few minutes, because you have to use a hand mixer to make the heavy cream into whipped cream. The recipe makes enough to store in the fridge, which is good because it lasts a few days.
Taste:
This hot chocolate was so chocolatey and rich. It was a lot thicker than most hot chocolate because of the heavy cream. A few changes that I made to the recipe were adding a little bit of cocoa powder, because I didn’t have dark chocolate, and adding vanilla extract to the hot chocolate. Adding the vanilla adds extra flavor and adding the chocolate adds extra depth to the flavor. I also really enjoyed the whipped cream on top.
Overall:
Overall, I think this recipe is really fancy and tasty and a good treat to make in the winter. It is so rich that you can dilute it with milk and it still tastes very good. I rate the recipe a 9/10.
Recipe
Ingredients
Hot chocolate
Vanilla Cream
Serve with croissants (optional)
For the Vanilla cream, in a Large bowl add, heavy cream, granulated sugar and vanilla. Mix with a hand mixer or whisk until stiff peaks form. Add to a piping bag fitted with a star tip and set aside.
For the hot chocolate, heat a medium pot over medium low heat, add whole milk, heavy cream and sugar. Whisk well, heat until steamy hot, turn off the heat, then add the chopped chocolate and salt. Whisk until the chocolate melts. Keep warm. In a small bowl pipe the whipped cream into a large mound.
Serve with the hot chocolate and croissants.
By: Karl Salkowski
On the morning of December 3rd, hundreds of millions of people opened their Spotify Wrapped, resulting in millions of shares and posts. But what is a Spotify Wrapped? And why are so many people embarrassed about it?
Every year since 2015 Spotify has released a personally curated selection of each user’s listening habits. The specific day it releases is always a mystery, but Spotify Wrapped day always lands sometime between the last week of November and the first week of December.
Since the beginning, Spotify has shown you your top artists and songs, but each year they add more and more new features and interesting statistics. The highlight of Wrapped 2024 was an AI personalized podcast discussing your listening habits, while in 2025 Spotify gave out estimated listening ages and had you guess who was your top artist of the year. Needless to say, each year Spotify adds new and inventive features to their yearly marketing campaign in order to make it more trendy and viral.
But the question still remains: Why are so many people embarrassed of what they listen to? It turns out that this is actually much more complicated than it seems. Spotify stops collecting data for Spotify Wrapped sometime between mid-October and early November. This means that everything you listened to in the last month to 6 weeks prior is not taken into account. Many people feel that their Wrapped feels weighted towards the beginning of the year, and this explains why. It’s natural that people’s music tastes evolve over time, which explains how these otherwise mundane statistics can actually be very interesting and surprising.
Over the years, as Spotify Wrapped becomes more and more viral, imitations become more and more common. End-of-the-year recaps have become common in an abundance of apps including Apple Music, Amazon, YouTube, and Duolingo.
Spotify Wrapped is a genius marketing campaign only becoming more popular and mainstream each year. End-of-year recaps across websites and apps will only become more and more common, but these recaps aren’t just silly and fun; they also raise important questions about personal data and how it’s stored and shared online.
By: Canaan Nonnemacher
The smell of balsam fills the room, as colorful lights begin to bloom. Red and green on every street, and candy canes for a sugary treat.
We hang stockings by the fire, as the snowy drifts grow even higher. The kitchen hums with holiday cheer, the best and brightest time of year.
The reindeer fly across the moon, to classic, catchy Christmas tune. Wrapped in ribbons, gold and bright, waiting for magic of the night.
So grab a scarf and join the fun, with joy and peace for everyone. The silver bells begin to ring, for all the wonder Christmas brings.
By: Treshawn Ross
Introduction
Ms. Thao is our new school counselor who works with students in 10th through 12th grade letters RO through Z. She has been doing a great job and I had an opportunity to interview her. I asked her a series of job related questions and also a series of more personal questions.
Job related–
Treshawn: How have you enjoyed working here so far?
Ms. Thao: “I really like working here so far, the staff is super supportive and amazing. And I love getting to know the students.”
Treshawn: Was there anything specific to Highland that made you interested in this job?
Ms. Thao: “Yes, having worked in St. Paul for a lot of years you hear a lot about Highland and the school pride. This is a very active and a good community. The pep fests and competitions are nice. The students here want to make a difference.”
Treshawn: How have you enjoyed working and interacting with the students here?
Ms. Thao: “It’s been really good (working with students). They are really understanding and patient as I get accustomed to the new environment.”
Treshawn: Have there been any surprises relating to your new position at this school or has it all been business as usual?
Ms. Thao: “IB is very new to me, I had a lot to learn about the IB program and the immersion programs. It’s very nice that this school offers those programs.”
Treshawn: How does this school environment help you adjust to your new position at the school?
Ms. Thao: “I think Highland has a very welcoming environment and that’s made my transition very smooth. As I mentioned, I think the staff is very supportive.”
Treshawn: Is there any advice you would like to share with the students at this school?
Ms. Thao: “Yeah! I would say that as a counselor I’m here to support all Highland students so I want you all to come down and say ‘Hi’. Even if you don’t really need help.”
Personal (outside of school)–
Treshawn: How was your Thanksgiving break? Did you do anything fun?
Ms. Thao: “It was good, very chill. Family stuff was very nice, I caught up with friends and family.”
Treshawn: What’s your favorite thing (or things) to do outside of school? Like hobbies or interests.
Ms. Thao: “Pickleball is something I started doing a year ago and now I feel more improved. I also enjoy reading when I can. And I love spending time with my family.”
Treshawn: Favorite music genre/artist?
Ms. Thao: “Old school in the sense of the 90’s and 2000’s. In all genres mostly”
Treshawn: Do you celebrate Christmas? If so what’s your favorite thing about the holiday?
Ms. Thao: “Yes I celebrate Christmas. I enjoy spending time with my family and watching the kids open up gifts. Also, the food, I love food.”
Treshawn: Do you have any hidden talents?
Ms. Thao: ”That’s a great question! I really love karaoke even though I’m a more quiet person, I enjoy it!”
Treshawn: Ending thoughts (anything you’d like people to know)?
Ms. Thao: “I worked with Ms. Esso previously and this is my second time working with her. Actually, in exception to Ms. Skaar, I’ve worked with everyone here previously. I work with students 10th-12th grade letters RO-Z.”
By: Seng Nhkum
Justice Webb and Justine Webb
By: Charlotte Aver
Many people have emulated Marilyn Monroe over the years, but current pop star Sabrina Carpenter may have more similarities than most people who try and pick up Monroe’s torch, and the reason is quite interesting. Behind the curly blonde hair, Marilyn Monroe was an actor, a natural performer, and a turning point in how Hollywood cast women. Sabrina Carpenter began as a child entertainer, is an actor, a singer and a producer.
Marilyn Monroe was born on June 1st, 1926 in Los Angeles. When she was 16 she went to work as a riveter making airplane parts in WWII; she stopped when she was ‘discovered’ by a photographer at 18 and signed with a modeling agency. She started as a pin up girl and was later found by an acting agency that led her into the world of the movies. During her time in Hollywood she appeared in 29 films, and she died with four more either never completed or released. At the height of her career she starred in several classics: ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes‘, ‘The Seven Year Itch’, and Some ‘Like It Hot’ are probably the best known. She died from a sleeping pill overdose and it is widely accepted as suicide.
Sabrina Carpenter was born on May 11, 1999 in Pennsylvania. She was discovered by the Disney channel when she placed third in a singing contest hosted by Miley Cyrus in 2009. She signed a contract with Disney’s Hollywood Records in 2014 and was cast in the lead role of ‘Girl Meets World’. Her contract specified that she release five albums marketed towards teens, and although it allowed her entry to the music industry, the contract held her back creatively. In 2024, she broke her contract after only four albums and signed with Island Records, releasing ’emails I can’t send’ with two hits “nonsense” and “feather”. She also released “Espresso” as a prelude to her album ‘Short n’ Sweet’. It went to number one on the Billboard charts and was her first true breakthrough song.
You might wonder what a 50’s pin up girl and a Disney child star could have in common; it has to do with their hair! They both play the role of the dumb blonde for the media, while in reality both are actually quite witty and smart. Marilyn Monroe was constantly criticized for almost anything she did, likewise Sabrina Carpenter is constantly criticized for even the smallest things.
The marketing for Marilyn Monroe cast her almost exclusively into dumb blonde roles constructed for the male gaze. While Monroe was a part of her image creation she grew frustrated that she was unable to break out of the typecasting and sexualization of her public persona. Many people assume this frustration is behind her presumed suicide. In the decade before Monroe was a star, most of the famous female actors were strong and less sexualized; they had a greater share of female audience than Monroe who catered to the male movie goers.
In contrast, Sabrina Carpenter is constantly criticized for targeting the male gaze, but she is doing so ironically. She is presenting herself as the breathless bimbo and at the same time calling out the idiocy of men’s actions in a witty way. If she was truly targeting a male audience, her concerts would not mainly be attended by women, so it is clear she is using the Monroe “dumb blonde effect” to her benefit.
Many pop stars cultivate the similarities between themselves and Marilyn Monroe because they want her success in Hollywood to boost their career. Entertainers and their managers attempt to use Monroe’s template to both increase their audience and invoke a sense of nostalgia for the “golden age” of Hollywood. Madonna is a perfect example of this behavior; her blonde hair, sexualized image and early music all referenced Monroe and she achieved huge success.
My theory is that Sabrina Carpenter is also leveraging the same template, but she is doing so with satire and a greater sense of her own agency. Where Marilyn Monroe was trapped by the image she created, Sabrina Carpenter will hopefully be able to control her own destiny.
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By: Nils Hilleson
Ingredients:
Dough:
Poaching liquid:
Steps:
My dad makes Dampfnudel around December most years so I thought it’d be good to learn how to make it. I also made a vanilla and caramel sauce to add to the Dampfnudel but people add different things to it; I did see multiple other Dampfnudel recipes that use vanilla sauce though.
Dampfnudel isn’t always sweet and can be made savory but I’ve never had a savory Dampfnudel. I didn’t realize how much waiting is involved in making Dampfnudel. I really like Dampfnudel because of how sweet I make it and how soft it is.
I decided to do this since, to my knowledge, Dampfnudel seems relatively unknown and I really like it so I think more people should know about it.
This is a modified recipe from my parents recipe.
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