Category Archives: Entertainment

Tech/Games

JOYSTiCK Reviews Ep. 20B: ‘Pokémon Legends: Z-A’ – Putting the “FUN” in Hypothermia

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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 start a bit negative, the game only has 1 day and 1 night theme. Both of them are great, but after so many hours in the game, they gradually become repetitive to hear. The night them especially; the jazzy instrumentals, while nice at first, become grading over time.
  • The trainer battle theme during the Z-A Royale is really cool in an almost psychedelic way. Even though you hear this pretty often too, it never succumbed to the repetition of the day and night tracks.
  • Canari’s battle theme is peppy and upbeat, which is fun. Fits a Twitch streamer well, I suppose.
  • Corbeau’s battle music is easily my favorite in the game. It’s sinister and dire, yet the modern synthesizers give it a slick energy that I really love. A highlight of the soundtrack overall.
  • I’m not the biggest fan of electro swing, but even I quite like Jacinthe’s battle music. The overwhelming instrumentals at the beginning were befitting for her cheery, albeit psychopathic tendencies in the story.
  • Finally, the battle music for Team Flare Nouveau is among the best of the remixes here. It carries the manic energy of the original forward strongly, and is also among the soundtrack’s highs.

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.

Travel/Food

Reviewing a hot chocolate recipe from Instagram

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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

  • 9oz 70% dark chocolate, chopped
  • 1½ cup whole milk
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • 1½ Tbsp granulated sugar
  • Very small pinch of salt

Vanilla Cream

  • 2 cups cream
  • 1-2 vanilla beans or 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 Tbsp granulated sugar

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.

Editorials/Student Voice, Music/Concerts

How is Spotify Wrapped assembled?

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By: Karl Salkowski

(Generated with Microsoft Copilot)

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.

Editorials/Student Voice, Entertainment

Marilyn Monroe and Sabrina Carpenter

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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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Travel/Food

Dampfnudel recipe and review

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By: Nils Hilleson

Ingredients:

Dough:

  • 3 C flour
  • 1/4 C sugar
  • 3 tsp dry yeast
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 C warm milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 C butter, softened

Poaching liquid:

  • 3 tbs butter
  • 1/4 C sugar
  • 1 C milk

Steps:

  • Blend 3 C flour, 1/4 C sugar, yeast and salt in a stand mixer
  • Add warm milk, 2 eggs and 1/4 C softened butter into stand mixer and mix until dough forms a ball
  • Transfer to a bowl and let rise for 1 hour
  • Knead dough, cut into 8 pieces and allow 30 minutes to rise
  • Melt 3 tbs butter in a heavy pot over medium heat
  • Add 1/4 C of sugar until browned (about 5 minutes)
  • Add 1 C milk
  • Arrange dough into the pot
  • Cover and cook at low heat for 10-15 minutes
  • Add sauces of your choice

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.

Movies/TV/Theaters

‘White Chicks’ movie review

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By: Marina Yang

Version 1.0.0

‘White Chicks’ is a classic 2000’s (specifically 2004) comedy, best known for its iconic jokes and the well-known actors the Wayan brothers; Shawn, Marlon and Keenan Ivory. The movie was directed and produced by Keenan Ivory with Shawn and Marlon both being writers and star actors for the movie.

The main plot of ‘White Chicks’ is two FBI agents (Marcus Copeland and Kevin Copeland) are on the brink of losing their jobs because of their previous assignment where they messed up a drug bust and confused harmless ice cream sellers with drug dealers. They manage to get one last chance and get assigned to protect two sisters, Brittany and Tiffany Wilson, from kidnappers and safely escort them to a fashion event in the Hamptons.

Along the way though, they experience a minor car-crash causing the sisters to freak out, causing them to not want to attend the event. With their jobs on the line the FBI agents plan to go undercover as the two sisters, as two ‘white chicks’, squeezing between the two lives of a white girl and a black man. Ultimately, they discover the real kidnappers of the whole ordeal in the end and save their jobs and relationships.

This movie is very humorous for its iconic references and jokes, though it does contain some more mature content. The movie briefly covers the issues of miscommunication and lying as the two brothers often found themselves in a dilemma between balancing their life and their jobs. For example, Marcus is constantly putting his wife at distrust due to him being overworked and taking out his sleepiness on her, giving her a lack of attention and building up to her thinking he’s unfaithful. While Kevin tries to approach a news reporter, Denise Porter, though not as the real him but as someone else, Latrell Spencer, a famous basketball player. The real Spencer though, has a thing for ‘white chicks’, and has an attraction to Marcus undercover as the sister, before it was announced he was a black man. This fact gives a nice touch into reality rather than just this FBI agent mission because it shows that outside of jobs or cool things like this, they are people who hold their own values amongst other/different people/social life. Being more individual than their job titles in this case.

I really liked this movie because of its jokes and just overall likable characters throughout the movie, so I give it a 5/5. People really hyped up about this movie and they weren’t lying when they said it was good. Although at first, it didn’t look as promising, but once I got a few minutes into it I instantly started feeling engaged. Now, whenever I see the Wayan brothers it’s going to be funny in a way.

You can watch this movie via subscription on Netflix or rent or purchase it on other streaming platforms.

Travel/Food

Recipe for gingerbread cookies

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By: Karl Salkowski

Image created with Copilot

Gingerbread cookies have been synonymous with the holiday season for centuries, but somehow, they have always left something to be desired. Often too dry, hard, or flavorless, gingerbread has never been my favorite, until I found this recipe. These cookies are soft, addicting, and they melt in your mouth. This recipe from “Sally’s Baking Addiction” completely changed my perspective on this staple holiday treat.

Ingredient List:

  • 10 Tbsp butter, room temperature
  • ¾ cup brown sugar
  • ⅔ cup unsulphured molasses
  • 1 egg
  • 1 Tsp vanilla
  • 3½ cups flour
  • 1 Tsp baking soda
  • ½ Tsp salt
  • 1 Tbsp ground ginger
  • 1 Tbsp cinnamon
  • ½ Tsp ground allspice
  • ½ Tsp ground cloves

Instructions:

  1. Beat butter until creamy, then add brown sugar and molasses.
  2. Once thoroughly mixed add egg and vanilla, beat on high for 2 minutes.
  3. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
  4. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients.
  5. Chill for at least 3 hours.
  6. Roll out with flour, ¼ Inches thick onto a baking sheet.
  7. Bake for 9-10 minutes at 350º Fahrenheit.

Make sure to bake until the edges are crispy but the cookie is still uniform in color. This prevents the cookies from hardening up, giving them their soft texture instead. The spice profile of these cookies is very specific as well, using a whole tablespoon of ground ginger elevates them to another level. All of these factors combined make these cookies my go to holiday treat.

This recipe is a family favorite, having become a tradition each holiday season. I very much recommend this recipe, as it is a different take on this winter staple. I definitely prefer the texture and relaxed flavor to other recipes, making this my personal favorite. If I were to give this recipe a rating out of ten, I would give it a 10. It is one of my favorite recipes of all time and a must-try for any cookie enthusiast.

Books/Art

Chapter 4 summary and review of ‘Twilight’

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By: Ivy Dahl

Summary:

In chapter four of ‘Twilight’, Bella begins to dream of Edward Cullen every night for almost a month.

The guy who almost hit her with his car follows her around giving endless apologies, and her brush with danger seemed to revive all the attention on her that had only just died down. Bella returns to her place next to Edward in biology, with him also now ignoring her again.

When Bella arrives at home, Jessica calls Bella and asks her if she would be upset if she asked Mike to a school dance, to which Bella says no, and that Jessica should definitely ask Mike.

The next day, once again, Edward ignores Bella throughout class, but this time he says her name once the bell rings and the classroom is empty. This grabs Bella’s attention and she listens keenly as he mutters an apology for ignoring her, but also insists that it’s better if they aren’t friends. This sparks Bella’s temper, saying that he should have figured that out before he saved her life, since he clearly regretted it. Now Edward, also angry at her response, tells her she doesn’t understand anything. Bella attempts to flee their argument but trips and her books spill out all over the floor. Edward picks them up for her courteously.

Bella continues her day, and after school she finds her classmate Eric leaning against her car awkwardly. He asks her to the school dance, which she evades by telling him she’ll be in Seattle that day. Later that day, she continues this cover up by asking her dad if she can actually go to Seattle, and he agrees.

The next morning, after Bella arrives at school she has a confusing interaction with Edward Cullen, who now has golden eyes, and is offering her a ride to Seattle. Bella reminds him that he told her that they shouldn’t be friends, to which he responds that he’s just tired of trying to stay away from her. Then bizarrely, before leaving, he warns Bella to stay away from him.

Review:

The fourth chapter of ‘Twilight’ has less drama and action then the previous ones, focusing more on fleshing out the building tensions between the characters. Because of this slower pace I’d give it a rating of 6/10. You can buy the book ‘Twilight’ on Amazon.