Category Archives: Entertainment

Entertainment, Movies/TV/Theaters

Julia Brennan: A review

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If you haven’t heard the new Julia Brennan track on KDWB you might’ve never heard of this new artist from Minneapolis. This upcoming artist was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1999. Music has been a part of her life for as long as she can remember, considering she took piano lessons since she was only four years old.

She recollects in her biography about memories of her mom being a wedding singer, and her grandma being Ms. Minnesota. Her talent? Singing and playing the piano, much like her granddaughter. From these two women she gathered her inspiration to become an artist herself.

Some other inspirations for the young singer are Adele and Sam Smith.

Julia released her three song EP “Inner Demons” in the summer of 2016. She had the three songs just sitting around on YouTube until one day she decided to send them to KDWB to see if the popular Twin Cities radio station would play them. The people at the radio station ending up liking her song a lot. They called her back and interviewed her about her new EP. After that her young career took flight as she soon was able to snag a record deal with the prestigious Columbia Records.

Her song, “Inner Demons,” currently is at #7 on iTunes’ Singer/Songwriter chart and is an instant hit in the Twin Cities.

Julia’s voice influenced people with her lovely piano music. Her music reflects on people going through hard times: especially on her song “Inner Demons.” On this track, she talks about how “demons fight their battles with fire” and why it’s difficult to rise against the things that hold us back; most of those things being inflicted by ourselves.

Brennan said in her biography that “Inner Demons” is about a time when her friend was going through a hard time. She didn’t know how to help her friend but she wants to give a voice to those people in the silence.

All of her three songs use piano and vocals to express her emotions. Julia Brennan is a great listen for anyone battling their own “inner demons” or for anyone who wants to hear some soulful music with incredible vocals.

For more information about Julia, please visit: www.juliabrennanmusic.com ⊹ ALL THINGS JULIA  (music-video-bio-art) for articles-broadcasts ⊹ INNER DEMONS video-audio ⊹ INTRODUCING JULIA BRENNAN ⊹  THE MAKING of INNER DEMONS video ⊹ www.gomoxie.org

News, Tech/Games, World

Artificial intelligence

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AI, or Artifical Intelligence, is intelligence that is exhibited by machines. Recently, artificial intelligence has taken over many news cycles as we see it being used to solve many problems. According to Wired.com, AI research is defined as the study of any machine that takes information from its environment and uses that information to solve a goal or be better for its task.

Artificial intelligence has been around since at least the early 1960’s. Why are we only hearing about it now then? The main reason is that it has only recently been useful to the common man. Before we look at how AI works, let’s define some of the terms.

When discussing AI a common term you will hear is “Machine Learning.” Machine learning is basically what it sounds like; a machine learning. However, it can get very complex very fast. The main idea behind machine learning is that the machine creates its own prediction engine and is able to accurately predict the outcome of an input over time. For this prediction engine to be good, however, humans have to train it. There are many ways to do this, but the most common way is for the algorithm to be given a set of inputs, with known outputs, and then given some inputs, with unknown outputs. After predicting the output of those inputs, it is then given the actual output and learns from that.

There are many ways that we can apply this. It also has importance on many different levels. The ability for machines to solve problems through logical deduction along with being able to display knowledge about their environment is important because it shows that AI is able to have the same reasoning that we see in young children. It also has importance due to the fact that AI will advance automation along with replacing jobs.

Entertainment, Movies/TV/Theaters

Movie review: Arrival

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Arrival, a science fiction and mystery movie starring Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner, was one of the nominees for Best Picture this year at the Academy Awards. This is special, because science fiction movies are rarely nominated for that highest of awards. In order to do so, the move in question must be very high-quality.

So, of course, I went to see it, and I can now confirm that it is, indeed, really excellent. It’s also the kind of movie that is hard to talk about without ruining it, but I’ll try my best to avoid spoiling it. I will tell you that once you see it once, you’ll want to see it again in light of the ending. It’s also got beautiful cinematography; the sort of movie that you’d want to see on as big a screen as possible. I saw it in the movie theater and loved it.

The movie is set in the present day, immediately after twelve giant, featureless oblong “spaceships” touch down all over the planet at seemingly random locations. It focuses on a linguist who is brought in to figure out how to communicate with the aliens inside, squid-like creatures called “heptapods” for their seven legs. The whole movie is driven by a need to ask a simple question – “Why are they here?” – before intergalactic war breaks out.

Of course, the movie isn’t perfect. It’s very slow-moving, so even though its running time isn’t even two hours, it can feel much longer. It can also be quite confusing at times, because some scenes are shown out of order, and the timeline of the movie doesn’t really make sense until the end. The soundtrack is very loud and sad, and can sound like an endless funeral dirge at times.

The ending, however, is fabulous in a very bittersweet way, and the story is overall quite interesting and thought-provoking. I recommend it highly.

Entertainment, Movies/TV/Theaters, School Life

Highland Park’s Spring Showcase 2017

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Last Thursday, on March 16th, Highland Park had its annual Spring Showcase. There were many performances including: dance, band, choir, etc. There were also many displays shown within the Spring Showcase. Many families and friends came and looked around, at the displays, before the showcase began.

There were also some school clubs selling things to eat and drink. A.C.C. sold egg rolls, with sauce, in three flavors – chicken, pork, and veggie, and there was also a table selling sodas, cookies, and candies.

The displays that were shown were also created by Highland Park clubs, along with some from the Floral Design class.

A.C.C. had a display with paintings and Chinese lanterns. Anime Club had anime character pins for sale, and many other cut out pictures for their displays. The Black Student Union had a display with “Soup Bowls” and a poster talking about “Super Soups.” The Union Latina had a display explaining their culture, etc, and displayed a hat. Ms. Wedger also had flowers on display from her class, “Floral Design.”

The performances were also really good! The orchestra played very well, and the dances performed were also very good. There were many different dances performed within the showcase including: IB dances, the A.C.C.’s  Hmong Dance and Thai Dance, Union Latina’s dance, and more.

I was lucky enough to be a part of the Hmong Dance this year. It was really fun and enjoyable, and I feel like we did a really good job and had a lot of fun.

The Thai Dance, was also very good, and they did a good job. The clothes were actually sewn by a senior’s (Pajaie) mom, and were really pretty. Pajaie’s mom, and a few other Hmong girl’s moms, came and helped the Thai dancers dress up. This ended up being really helpful because some of the dancers were in other performances.

Everything went by quick though, and there were many families and friends that came and watched. It was a good show, with good food and drinks, and many displays to see.

The Showcase was a huge success! Everyone that came to watch seemed to enjoy it.

Also, to all the performers that performed: You did such a good job!

They also seemed to have had a really fun time.

Entertainment, School Life

Benstock 2017

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Highland Park’s annual talent show, Benstock, happened Friday, March 10th. The event included a total of nineteen acts, each showing off many different talents such as: rapping, singing, dancing, spoken word, and even some magic. All nineteen acts were pretty great, and some even had people up on their feet dancing along to the music. The performers worked on their acts for weeks before the show, and you could see that in all of their performances.

Image courtesy of: Danasja Hall

The beginning of the show started with a short act performed to let people know that cell phones should be turned off, and the acts following only got better.

Fatuma Harbi, a junior at Highland said, “My favorite part of the show was the last act. The dancing and music was amazing and it just made the whole crowd happy.”

Out of all of the acts that were performed that night, my favorite had to be the magic act. Not only did it amaze many, but it was hilarious. For this act, members from the audience got pulled up on stage and got to participate in the show themselves. No one in the audience will be able to forget the little kid who got up on stage and made everybody laugh. 

The show included many vocal acts (singing, rapping, spoken word), all of them unique in their own way – from piano to guitar to even accapella singing.

The spoken word performance left many with tears, and everybody, including myself, loved it all.

Dancing included everything from K-pop dances to hip-hop, as all were included in this show. Many of our talented dancers blew us away with their dancing skills; it was something you wouldn’t be able to forget.

Benstock lasted for three hours, with a fifteen minute intermission, in between the acts, for people to be able to stretch out and take a small break. The line for tickets stretched out of the silver doors, and out to the parking lot in front of the main office.

This year’s Benstock was one that people had to be there for; all of the acts were amazing, and everybody left the show happy and satisfied.

Entertainment

Quinceañeras

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Every culture has different traditions. In the U.S., we have Sweet Sixteens, and in the Latino culture, we have quinceañeras.

Quinceañeras are a rite of passage for fifteen-year-old girls (also referred to as quinceañera) who are going from a little girl to a young woman. Some families also celebrate the quinceañerea when their daughters turn 16, but still celebrate quinceañera style. People that celebrate this might switch it up due to their religion and/or their beliefs, but the celebrations include the same things.

Planning a quinceañera is a long process; people usually start planning 3-4 months in advance considering everything from the dress, to the color, to what kind of dances she wants. Many companies have quinceañera expos where they show dresses, cakes, invitations, decorations, and basically anything you need for your dream party. Here in Minnesota, El Nuevo Rodeo (located in Minneapolis) has a quinceañera expo every year around the end of January, beginning of February.

One of the most important things involved in a quinceañera are the dances the girl will be doing. Usually, there are 3-5 dances which include:

  • Entrance dance
  • Main waltz
  • Father-daughter dance
  • Surprise dance

There will also be a coronation, where the quinceañera will receive her last doll, her crown, a change of shoes, and a surprise gift – usually given by the parents or the godparents. The last doll, and the shoe change (flats/sneakers to high heels) are another way of showing that this is her growing up from a little girl to a young woman. The crown is given not only so the quinceañera feels like a princess, but to show that you are the princess within your family.

Once the coronation is over, the quinceañera will usually have a surprise dance, where she and her court perform a choreographed dance which usually involves an outfit change and the use of props. Once the surprise dance is over, the real dancing begins.

Quinceañeras are a very important tradition in a young Latina’s life. Mine was a day I will never forget.

Entertainment

The 89th Oscar’s

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The Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, is a group of twenty-four artistic honors given each year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), to award excellence in cinematic achievements chosen by votes (as stated on oscars.org). The awards started in 1930, during which it was broadcasted on the radio until 1953 when it first was shown on TV. The Oscars are shown in over 200 countries, and it has served as a model for many other television awards such as: the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording.

This year is the Oscars 89th awards ceremony, and every year they give out awards to Best Picture, Actor/Actress, Supporting Actor/Actress, Animated Feature, Cinematography, Costume Design, Direction, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short, Film Editing, Foreign Language Film, Makeup and Hairstyling, and total score. This year, winners of the Oscars included many movies such as La La Land, Moonlight, Suicide Squad, and Zootopia.  

There was one thing a little different this year about the Oscars. If you were watching when this event occurred, you might have had a little déjà vu or shock. An award was announced for the wrong person, similar to what happened to Steve Harvey, back in 2015, when he announced the wrong winner for Miss America. Harvey announced Miss Colombia as the winner, when in actuality it was Miss Philippines. He took this opportunity to get a little redemption for all the hate he got that followed his mistake.

What exactly happened at the Oscars? No one is truly sure what happened, but all we know is that the announcers, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, didn’t catch a mistake that was written on the envelope twice, saying “Award for best leading actress” before reading the winner’s name. They announced the name for the wrong Best Picture winner.

Many celebs said that it was a hard way to  find out that you lost, and to find out that you won. No one could fully celebrate as much as they wanted to. People were very happy for the Moonlight cast, but felt sad for the La La Land cast as they were first called up to accept the award they didn’t win.

Even though Faye Dunaway announced the wrong winners, Warren Beatty, her co-host, gave her the wrong envelope. Many people call this a half-Steve Harvey, then a full-Steve Harvey, because they were given the wrong envelope, and did not just read it wrong.

The show later went on to Jimmy Kimmel, who foreshadowed his next stunt at the Grammy’s. Kimmel brought in a bus full of tourists, and walked them through the entire awards ceremony. The tourists, dressed in sweatshirts and other casual clothes, were as surprised as the rest of us. He warned the crowd before the tourists entered, and joked with each one as they passed him. Every tourist got to shake famous peoples’ hands, and one even asked Denzel Washington marry them.

As many would say, this year’s Oscars were filled with many ups and downs, and many laughs. The final winners for each category were:

Best Picture: Moonlight

Actor: Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea 

Actress: Emma Stone, La La Land

Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali, Moonlight  

Supporting Actress: Viola Davis, Fences

Animated Feature: Zootopia 

Cinematography: La La Land

Costume Design: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Direction: Damien Chazelle, La la Land

Documentary Feature: O.J: Made in America  

Documentary Short: The White Helmets

Film Editing: Hacksaw Ridge

Foreign Language Film: The Salesman 

Makeup and Hairstyling: Suicide Squad

Score: La la Land

Entertainment

Upcoming concerts

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It seems like we’re being constantly bombarded by increasingly alarming or unsettling news, but here’s a happier note to balance it out: Spring and Summer of 2017 are definitely going to be good times for live music in Minnesota.

First, in less than a week, on March 12th, Panic! at the Disco, a popular alternative band, is going to be at the Xcel Energy Center on their Death of a Bachelor Tour. Just a few days later, on March 14th, pop princess Ariana Grande will be performing at the same venue for her Dangerous Woman tour,  and the day after that will see Miranda Lambert, a country singer-songwriter, there on her Highway Vagabond tour.

A lot of bands from the seventies, eighties, and nineties will be stopping by to play the Xcel as well: Eighties rock band Bon Jovi will be performing on the 27th, and on April Fool’s Day, Green Day, a punk band first formed in the nineties, will be there for their Revolution Radio tour. Iconic rock band Def Leppard will perform on April 21st, and May 11th will see the music of eightie’s bands Hall and Oates and Tears for Fears, who are currently touring together. On July 14th, Queen (with the addition of Adam Lambert) will be playing, and Roger Waters, from Pink Floyd, will be performing on July 27th.

The Xcel can’t have all the great performances though: at the end of July, on the 30th, Guns and Roses will be playing US Bank Stadium on their Not in This Lifetime tour, the first tour since 1993 to have the three classic members of the band (Axl Rose, Slash, and Duff McKagan) perform together. Shortly after that, on August 12th, Coldplay will play the same venue.

In conclusion, go get tickets before they’re gone!

Clubs and Activities, Tech/Games

HPHS Robotics

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This weekend, the Highland Park robotics team are hopping on a bus and going to Duluth to compete in the 2017 First Robotics Steamworks Competition. This competition will determine if the team will move on to the worldwide competition in St. Louis later this year.

For those of you who don’t know, First Robotics competitions work like this: every year First Robotics creates a challenge, this year it’s “Steamworks,” they lay out a field of play for the robots to traverse, and complete unique challenges in order to earn points, to eventually win the match. One challenge this year was to make your robot climb a rope onto an “airship.” Another was to make the robot throw wiffle balls into a boiler in order to “power” the airship.

When the match starts, the first 15 seconds are called “the autonomous period.” This is where the robots do pre-programmed tasks and deliver pre-loaded game pieces. After the 15 seconds expire, the team’s drivers take over for the last 2 minutes, and 15 seconds, of the match. In this time, teams might try to defend an objective, or complete some of their own. The team’s drivers have to be some of the most talented people on the team as one crucial mistake could mean the end for your team’s season.

Behind the scenes are the build team, the business team, and the programming team. During the six-week long build season, the build team comes together to actually turn their designs into reality. This job takes skill, and the ability to work with your hands. During the hectic build season they must work hard to assemble a robot that can physically accomplish all the methods of winning. According to freshman Alexander “Zuperman17” Busch, the hardest part of being on the build team is managing your time properly in order to finish everything with time to spare. “I mostly like the snacks,” He said jokingly.

The business team works with local businesses in order to get sponsorships, and to manage the team’s finances. One member of the business team, Greta Shore, says robotics helped her follow her passion for science, engineering, and technology. “It helped me develop relationships with upperclassmen,” she said with a “dab.”

In contrast to the large rosters of the build team and business team, the programming team is much smaller with only two members. One member of the programming team, Alexis, said, “Robotics is challenging, but fun, and very rewarding!”

Overall, robotics isn’t about the competition, according to the FRC (First Robotics Competition), it’s about the cooperation, or working with other teams, and with your team, to accomplish goals. That’s what really makes robotics special; it’s the “varsity sport of the mind.” It’s extremely different than many other sports because two teams can win the match. Robotics combines the precision of an athlete, the smarts of mathlete, and the determination of a boxer.

For all of you who want to join an after school activity, but don’t know what to join, the robotics team always welcomes you.

Entertainment

The 89th Academy Awards

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On Sunday, February 26th, the 89th Academy Awards will air on television. They’re going to be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, and a total of twenty-four awards will be given out. They range from the big ones (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director) to the smaller ones (Sound Mixing, Makeup and Hairstyling), but all of these aspects are vitally important to creating a complete movie for us in the audience to enjoy.

The movies nominated for Best Picture, the most prestigious award of all, are as follows:

  • La La Land: a musical romance set in modern-day Los Angeles starring Emma Stone as an actress and Ryan Gosling as a jazz musician
  • Arrival: a science fiction movie about a linguist who’s brought in to translate the language of a mysterious spaceship
  • Hacksaw Ridge: a true story, from World War II, about an army medic named Desmond Doss; the only American soldier to fight on the front lines of the war without a weapon
  • Hell or High Water: a crime drama about two brothers who work together to rob a bank that is foreclosing on their family land
  • Hidden Figures: a true story about the African American women who did the math to put men in space
  • Fences: a drama about an African American man who’s eaten away by the fact that he’s too old to play in the major leagues
  • Lion: a drama about an Indian boy who, twenty-five years after being separated from his family, attempts to find them again
  • Moonlight: a movie telling the story of a young black man from childhood to adulthood on the streets of Miami.

As is rather standard for the Oscars, most of the nominees are drama films or biopics. This year, a full half of the movies focus on people of color, a stark change from last year when the Oscars received widespread criticism for the lack of nonwhite nominees. Also interesting about this year’s list of nominees is the presence of the film Arrival, considering that it is rare for a science fiction movie to be nominated for Best Picture.

The red carpet will start at 6:00 PM, and the award ceremony itself will begin at 7:30 Central Time, airing on ABC.