Category Archives: Movies/TV/Theaters

Five best restaurants in the Highland area

If you’re a student looking for places to eat in the Highland area, don’t look any further, here are the five best restaurants around (in no particular order).

The Cleveland Wok is a high quality Chinese buffet featuring staple items like egg rolls and sweet and sour chicken. They have great service and the food is fairly priced. However, parking is hard in the street; you most likely will have to park in the back of the bank next to it. The Cleveland Wok deserves to be on this list because they have excellent value and service.

The Neighborhood Cafe is much more than a cafe. It provides breakfast, lunch, and dinner along with happy hour specials. It is on Selby and Snelling, but if you take the 84X after school, which is right next to the school buses, you can get there fast. The Neighborhood Cafe deserves to be on this list because of the big portions they serve for a good price. It also has a cozy environment and the staff is friendly.

Smashburger is a chain restaurant that serves not only burgers, but also chicken sandwiches, salads, and shakes. The burgers come in a large variety of options, along with the create your own option. One of the unique burgers they offer is the Buffalo & Blue Cheese burger, that has buffalo sauce and an egg bun. The atmosphere is very hipster-like and relaxed. It deserves to be on this list because of the wide variety Smashburger provides.

The Highland Grill is a little more pricey than the other options, but the food is definitely worth it. The Highland Grill provides a large array of American breakfasts and entrees. The atmosphere of the Highland Grill is very social; on warm nights you can usually find people relaxing just outside the restaurant socializing while enjoying their meal. It deserves to be on the list because of its beautiful decoration and chic style.

Which Wich, a restaurant that specializes in subs and sandwiches, is located on Ford Parkway right next to the Walgreens. For a sandwich shop, they have a lot of variety. From vegan options to seafood. The food is reasonably priced and uses high quality ingredients. The wait is usually not that long and you can either eat in or take out. It deserves to be on this list because of it’s creativity in sandwiches.

Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice

Have you heard the hype about the new movie Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice? Well we can’t stop talking about it.

Based off of trailers, the new movie is about Batman (Ben Affleck) going head-to-head in combat with Superman (Henry Cavill). To learn more about the movie, here are the links to a few of the trailers:

https://youtu.be/0WWzgGyAH6Y

https://youtu.be/NhWg7AQLI_8

https://youtu.be/fis-9Zqu2Ro

Based on the premise of the movie, let me ask you a question, who would win in a fight, Batman or Superman? Each have strengths and weaknesses that would both help and hurt them in this fight. Here is a list of their strengths and weaknesses:

Batman

Strengths – Weapon master, skilled in martial arts, high level of human strength and intelligence.

Weakness – Batman has no known weakness with the exception that he is mortal and can die.

Superman

Strengths – X-ray vision, super strength, heat vision, super speed, and he can fly

Weakness – Kryptonite is Superman’s biggest weakness.

Now that you know about each superhero, Who do you think would win in a head-to-head fight, Batman or Superman? We asked a few of our Highland students and teachers who they think would win.  There results were:

Batman won with 51 votes while Superman received 31.

So, we know whose side Highland Park is on, however, if you want to see who really wins go see the movie which is 2 hours and 31 minutes long, rated PG – 13, and comes out on March 25.

Beats vs. Bose

In the world of audio and headphones, it’s all about Beats and Bose, the top dogs in the industry. Which is better? Is there even an answer to such a question? As with everything else, they each have their pros and cons. Let’s go over them here.

Beats is the marketing master in the headphones industry. Having professional athletes wearing them in public and in their commercials. Beats are recognized world-wide as a high end brand for audio products. A reputation any of its competitors would do anything for. For this reason, people perceive them as “the best” instead of seeing them for being simply the most popular.

On the other hand we have Bose, the main rival competitor to Beats. They may not have the best appearance out there for headphones (gray, white, silver) but they’re still as good as Beats. Their brand has literally become synonymous with quality, especially for those audiophiles that care for highs, lows, frequencies, and the like. While their bass and volume are more leveled (less dramatic), keen ears will be able to recognize a quality that screams quality and is worth every penny spent.

So in the end, overall Beats and Bose are very similar, however, I would choose Beats over Bose as they are more comfortable and have a better sound, overall, in my opinion.

My experience with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is released on February 5, 2016 in theaters across America. The film stars Lily James, Douglas Booth, Matt Smith, Sam Riley, and Bella Heathcote.

The Jane Austen novel of young love and pride takes place in 19th century England. This film, directed by Burr Steers, honors Austen’s original story, only Buur adds one more complication to the love story-an army of hungry zombies.

Highland Park High School was contacted by a producer from the film offering the Plaid Line staff two tickets to see the premiere of the film at MOA as well as the opportunity to participate in a nation wide conference call with the cast. Excited, I, and another writer, John Edwards, accepted the invitation and saw the premiere.

The movie was exactly what you think it might be, a strong and independent woman who falls victim to prejudice daily but somehow falls in love with the same man that oppresses her, all the while fighting the never ending war against zombies.

The day after the premiere we were told that we could participate in a press conference where we could ask the cast questions about the movie. The press conference was scheduled to take place at 2:30 and last till three. My fellow writer and I racked out a few questions we were eager to ask and report back to our fellow readers. Patiently we sat next to the phone listening to the smooth jazz that reminded us we were on hold; for half an hour. It wasn’t till after four “thank you for waiting”’s and a few minutes after three did the press conference begin.

We were instructed to press a pattern of buttons and wait for an operator to ask our questions. If we did that, we couldn’t listen to the cast answering questions from a few writers who were fortunate enough to be able to ask a question. A few questions later, we thought we finally had our turn; the operator had our name and we had our question ready. That was when the host of the conference said “Thank you for participating in the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies press conference…” and that was it. Fifteen minutes of listening to redundant questions, struggling to figure out the procedure to ask our own, all the while the holding-jazz-music was laying in the back of our heads.

So overall, we would give the movie itself, 3.5 stars out of 5 due to its cheesiness, and lack of originality.

As for the conference call, we would rate that experience 0 out of 5 stars. Overall, not worth the time invested.

Movie review

I recently saw the movie The Forest at Regal Brooklyn Center Stadium 20.

The movie is about a girl who goes to Japan after her twin sister disappears. Sara (Natalie Dormer) becomes determined to find out what happened to her sister. Sara’s investigation leads her to the legendary Aokigahara Forest (suicide forest), located at the base of Mount Fuji. Accompanied by expatriate Aiden, she enters the mysterious wilderness after being warned to “stay on the path.” Her investigation brings her into a dark world where the angry and tormented souls of the dead prey on those who dare to explore the forest.

Overall, it’s a good movie. On a scale from 1-10 I give it a 8.5 because it has slow parts and is sort of boring in some parts but overall it’s a great film filled with scary scenes that will make you jump.

I recommend this film to people who like paranormal movies.

Popular Christmas movie recommendations on Netflix


Still in need to get into the holiday mood? Below are listed popular and classic Christmas movies available to you via Netflix streaming.

Holiday Comedies

I’ll be home for Christmas (1998) PG

A college student struggles to return home for Christmas and learns a lot about himself and the true meaning of the holidays.

Christmas with the Kranks (2004) PG

With their daughter away, the Kranks decide to skip Christmas altogether until she decides to come home, causing an uproar when they have to celebrate the holiday at the last minute.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987) R

A man must struggle to travel home for Thanksgiving with an obnoxious slob of a shower curtain ring salesman as his only companion.

Bad Santa (2003) R

A miserable conman and his partner pose as Santa and his Little Helper to rob department stores on Christmas Eve. But they run into problems when the conman befriends a troubled kid, and the security boss discovers the plot.

Happy Christmas (2014) R

After a break up, Jenny moves in with writer Kelly, her filmmaker husband, and their child. Despite a rocky start, Jenny’s influence helps Kelly realize that an evolution in her life, career and relationship is necessary for her happiness.

Romantic Comedies

Love Actually (2003) R

Follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England.

White Christmas (2000) NR

A successful song-and-dance team become romantically involved with a sister act and team up to save the failing Vermont inn of their former commanding general.

The Fitzgerald Family Christmas (2012) PG-13

The adult siblings of the Fitzgerald family prepare for their estranged father to return home for Christmas for the first time since he walked out on his family 20 years ago.

Children Holiday Favorites

Frosty the Snowman (1969) G

A living snowman and a little girl struggle to elude a greedy magician who is after the snowman’s magic hat.

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) PG

Jack Skellington, king of Halloween Town, discovers Christmas Town, but doesn’t quite understand the concept.

Star Wars the Force Awakens movie review

This weekend, after waiting a month to watch Star Wars the Force Awakens, which is the 7th movie in the Star Wars saga, the wait was worth it because the movie was amazing. The movie was directed by J.J. Abrams. Almost all the old cast was in the movie like – Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher, but also there were some new cast members like – Daisy Ridley as Rey, and John Boyega as Finn.

The overall rating I would give Star Wars would be a 10/10. Everything was perfect from the (spoilers) Millennium Falcon to the new rebel pilot helmets.

I would recommend this movie to whoever is a big fan of Star Wars, even if you have not seen any of the previous Star Wars movies. You should still go watch it because it’s always a good idea to finish the year with a good movie that will blow your mind away, and take you to a galaxy far far away.

Best music apps

In an effort to find out how to best listen to music on a phone, I researched the top two best music apps for the iPhone and Android phones.

The 1st app I found for Android is Google Play Music. The pros of the app are:

  • Being able to upload your music
  • You can save your online music for offline play

And the cons are:

  • It focuses more on its online content than your offline content, so if you’re looking for something that’s solely for offline content you’ll want to look elsewhere

The 2nd app I looked at is Soundcloud for both the iPhone and Android. The pros of the app are:

  • You have the option of either uploading an already recorded audio, or recording it on the spot
  • There are NO LIMITS to file sizes
  • There are tons of music and artists available

And the cons are:

  • That you can’t play the songs offline
  • That some of the songs that you look for won’t sound like the original

The best app I found for the iPhone and Android is Spotify. The pros are:

  • That it’s free
  • You can listen to popular artists

The cons are:

  • That you have to put up with ads on your screen and audio commercials between songs
  • The cost to get Premium varies from $1-10

Krampus movie review

The movie Krampus was inspired by an old legend that started to become popular again, a few decades ago, about an evil demon who some say is almost as old as St. Nicholas. Krampus has his own holiday on December 5th, that is celebrated in some European countries where teenage guys make homemade Krampus costumes, and run around the streets chasing people.

The movie Krampus was directed by Michael Dougher. The movie is about a dysfunctional family drama that causes young Max (played by Emjay Anthony) to lose hope in the Christmas spirit and accidentally summon Krampus. Krampus then goes off tormenting the family, teaching Max a lesson, and making the audience remember about the Christmas spirit.

I would give this movie an overall 9 out of 10 star rating because the acting was really good, and the story was entertaining. Towards the end, the story line is not the clearest, especially if you go to the bathroom, so you do need to pay a lot of attention.

Anyway, this movie is a great choice for people that like horror and comedy.

Pepsi Vs. Coke

Coke? Pepsi? Which one taste better?

My fellow writer and I decided that it would be interesting to do a soda taste test, and to see which soda tastes better. We made a poster that had both sodas on one side of the poster.

Once the HPHS students entered lunch, we had them come over and try both drinks and after they tasted it, they tallied which drink they liked best. The amount of soda we gave the students to taste was about a Dixie cup worth.FullSizeRender

With the data we collected it shows that people like Coke better than Pepsi. For some students, they said that they like Pepsi because it had a sweet taste, while others said they liked Coke because it had a really fizzy taste. Some people disliked Coke because it had a bland taste, which stayed in their throat.

Overall, 41 people liked Pepsi and 56 liked Coca Cola. So, with that information, we see that Coca Cola is the favored soda of HPSH.