Category Archives: Entertainment

Liam Payne tribute

By: Priya Anderson & Ruby Anderson

Screenshot of Zayn Malik’s Instagram tribute

From an English town in West Midlands, England, and born on August 29th, 1993, Liam Payne was an English singer-songwriter, and father. Best known as a member of One Direction, Payne’s life is a testament to the power of superstardom, and the beauty of talent.

One Direction, which is one of the best selling boy bands of all time, needs no introduction. The story of how it came to be is a classic amongst Gen Z. Liam Payne was the first member to audition on ‘The X Factor’, a British talent show. He was also the first to advance through the first round, but was cut at the ‘boot camp stage’. Simon Cowell, who would manage and form 1D, brought Liam back. Liam was cut again, but Cowell saw something in him, and encouraged him to come back in ‘2 years’.

2010 was the year it all changed. After returning to their show, Liam was paired with 4 strangers: Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik. They gained popularity extremely fast. Placing 3rd place on the show, they were signed to Simon Cowell’a ’Syco Entertainment’. From there, history was made. From songs like, “What Makes You Beautiful”, “Live While Were Young’, “Best Song Ever”, and countless other hits, 1D was sent into the stratosphere, and never really came down.

At a very young age, Payne was touring all over the world. Anywhere from North America, Asia, Oceania, and Europe, Payne was living the superstar’s dream. But this type of fame at a young age would take a toll on anyone. Payne struggled with substance abuse and mental health issues for many years up to his untimely death. After 1D separated in 2015, Payne always maintained his hope for a reunion. The group’s success was so monumental, so intense, all the members continued to have a special relationship with one another, even after falling out.

Payne released his first hit single in 2017, “Strip That Down”, which reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. Payne then released a subsequent album, ‘Bedroom Floor’, and a planned second studio album was in the works for 2023-2024. Payne delved into themes like sexuality, and explored the R&B style he would be known for. Payne was also an extraordinary writer, co-writing almost 30 songs for 1D, and many other artists. Also skilled in coming up with melodies, Payne’s rich voice was perfect for capturing the right tune.

With his singing talent, Payne utilized his fame for good, and was a philanthropist for many organizations. He supported BBC’s children in need fundraising efforts, Comic Relief, UNICEF, and was an ambassador of sustainable development. During COVID, Payne helped fund over 60,000 meals in the Trussell Trust. Prior to his death, Payne donated thousands of pounds to various GoFundMe pages.

Many things could be said about Liam Payne and fame in general, but what is known is the need for people to take mental health and substance abuse seriously. On October 16th, 2024, Liam Payne died after falling from a third-floor balcony in Buenos Aires. He was 31. This has raised concern about the music industry, media, and adolescent fame. Shortly after his death, fans and friends paid tribute to him. Fans gathered outside of the hotel the day he died, lighting candles and mourning the loss of the pop star. Fan memorials took place all over the world, such as in Mexico, UK cities, and NYC.

All members of 1D wrote eulogies about their friend, and posted them on social media alongside pictures with Liam. One of the most poignant quotes was from Zayn Malik, a band member who was close with Liam. Zayn stated, “I lost a brother when you left us and can’t explain to you what I’d give to just give you a hug one last time…”. Several other celebrities also paid tribute, including Simon Cowell. Liam’s death was a tragic accident, and a circumstance of immense fame. Not much is known about his death, and what’s best now is to appreciate his life and legacy. When 1D finally reunites, Liam’s place will always be cherished in the hearts of many.

The pros and cons of AI according to AI

By: Samson Belihu

Note: I used the App Chat & Ask AI to generate most of the information included in this article.

Pros:

According to Chat & Ask AI, some pros to using AI as a student include:

  • Learning often extends beyond classroom hours, and students may have questions when their teachers are unavailable.
  • AI powered tutoring systems can provide instant assistance through virtual tutors that help with homework or clarify concepts. This encourages independent learning and ensures that students receive help when they need it.
  • AI is Multilingual: You may ask, how is it that AI can understand and generally text in multiple languages, such as English, Spanish, French, Chinese, and etc. and you may also ask why this matters? This matters because it allows people from different countries to communicate effectively, breaking down language barriers.

Cons:

In recent years, artificial intelligence, such as AI has become an integrated part of the education landscape, offering many people countless resources to help students learn and succeed. However, with “great power comes great responsibility”, and many students find themselves misusing AI in school in ways that can undermine their education and academic integrity.

When typically using AI you would want an easy access to info and that’s fine, but there’s an issue with AI in that it doesn’t have any access to the original sources, which is crucial for your info. AI’s are generated based on a mixture of licensed data (that the AI programmers may not actually have a license for), data created by human trainers, and publicly available information up until some training was cut-off in October 2023.

So, AI is not as accurate as you may think it is, so before using the info I gave you make sure to double check it. In closing, I asked Chat & Ask AI: “Give me cons of Chat Ai and target it for students” and this is what it came up with:

As an AI language model, I don’t have access to external sources, databases, or the internet in real-time. My responses are generated based on a mixture of licensed data, data created by human trainers, and publicly available information up until my last training cut-off in October 2023. This means that while I can provide information, insights, and summaries based on that training, I cannot cite specific sources or provide direct references to articles, studies, or books.

Here are some key points to consider regarding my lack of sources:

1. **Training Data**: I was trained on a diverse range of texts, including books, articles, and websites, which helps me generate responses based on patterns and information found in that data.

2. **No Real-Time Access**: I can’t browse the web or access current events, databases, or any live content, so I can’t pull in or verify information from sources outside my training.

3. **Generative Nature**: My responses are generated based on patterns and knowledge from the data I was trained on, rather than retrieved from specific sources.

4. **No Citation Capability**: Because I don’t access or reference specific documents, I cannot provide citations or bibliographies for the information I present.

5. **Encouragement to Verify**: For academic or critical inquiries, I encourage users to verify information through reliable sources or databases to ensure accuracy and credibility.

If you have specific questions or need information on a particular topic, feel free to ask! I can provide insights based on my training, but I always recommend cross-referencing with authoritative sources for critical topics.

The meaning behind “ I Know It’s Over” by The Smiths

By: Kumari Wijetunge

The Smiths (1984 sire publicity photo) by: Paul Cox; Distributed by Sire Records

“I Know It’s Over” by The Smiths released in 1986 as part of The ‘Queen Is Dead’ album stands as one of The Smiths most heart wrenching and melancholic songs. With lyrics written by Morrissey and composed by Johnny Marr the song provides the listener with a candid exploration into the feelings of romantic rejection, personal worth, and the longing desire for human connection.

“I Know It’s Over” is a song about the pain of dealing with unreciprocated love. Lines like “Love is natural and real/But not for such as you and I,” reflect an emotional torment of being unable to experience the love that is given. Morrissey wallows in the sadness and hopelessness of loving someone who won’t reciprocate, with the song repeatedly going back to the line “I know it’s over, still I cling” showing that he knows deep down the truth but just can’t leave yet.

The song’s message reaches beyond just a romantic failure but goes into the feelings of broader existential loneliness. Morrissey’s lyrics convey a sense of isolation, reflecting on feelings of being disconnected with others. Lines like “it’s so easy to laugh, it’s so easy to hate, it takes guts to be gentle and kind” portray the struggle of maintaining kindness in a cruel world that at times is so cruel.

Additionally, it shows the dark feelings of feeling so unloved you’re willing to do anything just to feel something, like expressing thoughts of suicide with the line “the sea wants to take me/The knife wants to slit me/Do you think you can help me?” The line ending with a question further provides more evidence of unreturned love.

“I Know It’s Over” is more than just a break up song, it’s an exploration of human vulnerability, loneliness and the desire to connect with others. Morrissey’s deep and raw lyrics and Johnny Marr’s guitar world make a powerful piece that resonates with listeners on many different levels and can be interpreted in many ways.

The upcoming ‘Re:animal’ game

By: Julia Yang

Warning: This game will contain extreme gore, discomfort, breaking bones, bodies moving in unnatural ways, disturbing noises, and a variety of horror elements. This is a horror game being created for mature audiences.

Some may know about the ‘Little Nightmares’ franchise, but what if I told you that the same company was planning to make an even more terrifying, gory, unsettling, horrifying game?

This game I’m talking about is called ‘Re:animal’. Not much is known about this game as it just began its pre-alpha phase in August, but everyone who knows about it is absolutely psyched. ‘Re:animal’ takes the scary factors of ‘Little Nightmares’ and enhances them ten fold. ‘Little Nightmares’ was targeted to teens, so gore and terrifying stuff like that wasn’t really allowed, but ‘Re:animal’ is targeted to more mature audiences who are able to take that kind of horror.

In ‘Re:animal’ you play as a little girl— or a little boy! This game is co-op! You can be scared out of your mind with a friend, how thoughtful of them.

The story we know so far about the game is that you reside in an orphanage with all of your friends, but the orphanage— and overall world it seems like, is populated by monstrous animals. Animals like pigs with their guts hanging out, sheep with unnaturally long necks and legs like a spider, even possibly humanoids with animals for heads! Your goal seems to be to escape this dreadful area with all of your friends and make it out alive.

As I said before, this game isn’t holding back, unlike ‘Little Nightmares’. If you’re looking for a gory and disturbing game to look forward to, then ‘Re:animal’ is the game you’re looking for!

This game has not gotten any more news besides what I have said in this article, including the release date. Like I said, this game is still in its pre-alpha phase, so it will be a long while before it’s released to the public officially!

Soon, you’ll find it on the PlayStation 5, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X and Series S.

Announcement Trailer:

https://youtu.be/mUymvhAXOnM?si=BmJI_LInL4rkwOPn

10 minutes of Pre-alpha gameplay:

https://youtu.be/ou9THu2g3I4?si=jYJFABAppG2cJjKp

Reviewing a hot chocolate recipe

By: Max Cahoun & Norah Hoglund

During the wintertime, it is very common to have a craving for hot chocolate. But sometimes, you look in the cupboard and you don’t have any packets. Even so, many store bought hot chocolate mixes have loads of sugar in such a small drink. So, to prepare for the colder months, we tried a naturally sweetened hot chocolate recipe that’s much healthier. The whole recipe is listed below if you want to make it yourself, and here’s the link to it: https://www.recipestonourish.com/nourishing-honey-sweetened-hot-chocolate/

Review:

Taste

This was a really good recipe, the flavor of the hot chocolate was very close to perfect. It was definitely very chocolatey and creamy because this recipe uses milk instead of water, like some store bought hot chocolate.

As for the sweetness, it had a perfect amount and was not overwhelming. The honey in it is a very good sweetening option, because you can add as much as you would like to get the taste you prefer. We added a little bit more than the recipe because we wanted it a little sweeter. Another good thing about using honey is that it doesn’t add any unwanted honey flavor, it just blends into everything else because the chocolate overpowers it.

But what really makes this recipe stand out is the vanilla extract. It added such a good taste and a depth to the flavor of the hot chocolate. Comparing it to Swiss Miss hot chocolate, it has so much more flavor instead of just being overly sweet where you can barely taste the chocolate. It has the most pleasant flavor and you just want to keep drinking it until it’s gone. Our rating for the taste is 9.7/10.

Ease of making

This recipe definitely took more effort to make than a packet of store bought hot chocolate, but it was worth it and the taste makes up for the work you put into it. This recipe has real ingredients that you mix together instead of a premade version that is mass produced and isn’t very good quality. For a homemade recipe, it is so high quality and you wouldn’t even be able to notice that it’s sweetened with honey, and it is pretty easy to make, only taking 5-7 minutes. Our rating for the process of making it is 7/10.

Overall

Overall, this was a really good recipe. It tasted really good, it didn’t take very long, and it’s not unhealthy like store bought hot chocolate. We would recommend this recipe to use all winter and share with your friends and family.

Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups organic or grass-fed whole milk
  • 3 tablespoon cacao powder or cocoa powder (this is the fair-trade cocoa we use)
  • 2 tablespoon mild, light colored raw honey (we use this honey)
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

  1. Add all of the ingredients to a medium-size saucepan, starting with the milk first, then add the cacao powder or cocoa powder, honey and vanilla extract.
  2. Next, gently heat the hot chocolate mixture over low heat for about 5-7 minutes or until desired temperature. Make sure to vigorously whisk the mixture from time to time to combine all of the ingredients. (we find that this works the best once the honey has melted).
  3. As soon as the hot chocolate is warmed, it’s ready to serve immediately. Enjoy it as is or top with homemade whipped cream or marshmallows!

‘Gilmore Girls’ season one review

By: Priya Anderson & Ruby Anderson

Source: Screenshot from Ruby’s IPhone, Gilmore Girls opening credits

The 2000s TV show ‘Gilmore Girls’, created by Amy Sherman-Palladio, is a comedic drama set in the fictional Connecticut town Stars Hollow that is centered around the relationship between single mother Lorelei Gilmore and her teenage daughter Rory Gilmore.

Season one of Gilmore Girls introduces many important characters such as Lorelei and Rory. This mother-daughter duo sets the stage for this show as they have a quirky and loving relationship bringing together themes of family, relationships, and friendship. Lorelei, who is played by Lauren Graham, is the hard working single mother of Rory. Throughout the season Lorelei navigates the hardships of single motherhood, relationships, and the tough expectations of her wealthy parents. Rory, played by Alexis Bledel, is an intelligent and ambitious 16-year-old girl with dreams of going to Harvard. During season one we follow Rory’s journey after being accepted into the prestigious school, Chilton Academy.

Stars Hollow is the perfect setting for Gilmore Girls. With its eccentric but charming characters, the small New England town is full of personality and factors into the show’s comforting feel. Stars Hollow includes a variety of businesses and shops from Luke’s Diner to Ms. Patty’s dance studio. Residents of Stars Hollow are a big part of what makes the town so perfect. Luke Danes (Scott Patterson), the owner of Luke’s Diner, is a grumpy but lovable character we see often throughout the show. His diner is the town’s hangout spot and Lorelai and Rory’s favorite place to eat and relax. There is also the towns dance instructor, Ms. Patty (Liz Torres) who loves to gossip and involve herself in town events. Lorelai’s workplace, The Independence Inn, introduces us to her best friend Sookie St. James (Melissa McCarthy) who is a talented chef and an important character to the show. The many more amusing characters in this community help add a comedic relief to more serious aspects of Lorelai and Rory’s hectic lives.

The complex relationship between Lorelai, Rory, and Lorelai’s parents Emily (Kelly Bishop) and Richard Gilmore (Edward Herrmann) creates an important narrative throughout the show. After Lorelai seeks help from her parents to pay for Rory’s tuition she is, in return, forced to have dinner with her parents and Rory every week. Tension between Lorelai and her parents is common throughout the season from their wildly different lifestyles and lack of understanding of each other. Emily and Richard show what life was like for Lorelai before she became pregnant with Rory and left home to take care of her on her own. Lorelai’s difficult relationship with her parents is shown in conflict and are some of the most important moments throughout the season.

While ‘Gilmore Girls’ is mostly about family, the theme of love and romance also plays a big role. During season one we follow the love story between Rory and her first boyfriend, Dean Forester (Jared Padalecki). Early in the season the two meet at Stars Hollow High School shortly after Dean transfers there from Chicago. The two quickly start dating after Dean finds interest in Rory and they begin to get to know each other. The brief yet serious relationship between Lorelai and Max Medina (Scott Cohen) begins when Lorelai meets the Chilton teacher at a parent teacher meeting not long after Rory begins school there. The relationship between the two starts off slow as Lorelai is hesitant due to Max being her daughter’s teacher but quickly becomes serious throughout the season.

Rory’s acceptance into Chilton Academy created many new difficulties. The elite school is a big difference to the public school she attended with her best friend, Lane Kim (Keiko Ageno) who is a recurring character throughout the series, and is known for her love for rock music and her struggles with her strict mother. Chilton being a great way for Rory to be accepted into Harvard, is an academic challenge in Rory’s life bringing her piles of school work and introduces her intense classmate Paris Geller (Liza Weil) who quickly becomes a rival to Rory as she sees her as a student who wants to take her spot as top student in her class.

‘Gilmore Girls’ season one sets off the series to a great start introducing loveable and relatable characters, as well as offering a great atmosphere for a show that will be loved by many for years to come.

Easy introduction to JavaScript

By: Charlotte Bistodeau

Image created with Google AI

There are around 1300 programming languages in existence today but there are only a few that are most commonly used. I’m going to take you through the base languages of coding (HTML/CSS) and the most popular coding language (JavaScript) to give you a better understanding of something few stop to learn about.

HTML/CSS

HTML or HyperText Markup Language, is a markup language that’s used to give structure and meaning to web content and is the standard markup language for creating web pages. HTML consists of a series of elements that tell the browser, or a web page, how to display content. For example, defining paragraphs, headings, data tables, embedding images and videos into the web page. 

Example of HTML:

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>

<head>

<title>Page Title</title>

Etc. etc.

CSS or Cascading Style Sheets, is a language of style rules that describe how HTML elements are going to be displayed on the web page or other media. Stated simply, CSS is a coding language used to style a Web page. CSS can also be used to control the layout of multiple web pages at once which saves the coder a lot of work. For example, CSS is used for setting background colors and fonts, and laying out content in multiple columns.

Example of CSS:

body {

    background-color: lightblue;

}

h1   {

    color:  white;

    text-align:  center;

}

Etc. etc.

JavaScript 

JavaScript is an easy programming language to learn, the most popular and the most used in the world. JavaScript is a scripting language that allows you to give web pages interactive elements and implement complex features such as dynamically updating content, control multimedia, animate images, timely content updates, interactive maps, pop-up menus, clickable buttons, and a lot more. JavaScript uses a combination of basic HTML and CSS to make the web page function.

JavaScript isn’t only good at making web pages but it’s also a great tool to start game development. Because Javascript is easy to learn and understand and can be used just about anywhere, it’s a great way to start game development of smaller games. JavaScript is not only used by beginners, but intermediates and also advanced coders, making it a great starter language for coding and programming. 

Example of JavaScript:

<!DOCTYPE  html>

<button type=”button”

onclick=”document.getElementById(‘demo’).innerHTML  =  Date()”>

Click me to display Date and Time.</button>

<p  id=”demo”></p>

Etc. etc.

Out of all 1300 coding languages, these three are the simplest and most basic programming languages to learn. There are plenty of better coding languages for specific things such as C++ being a much better option for developing an open world game than JavaScript because C++ was built exactly for that sort of thing. But if you’re looking to get into coding then I can wholeheartedly recommend JavaScript to you.

‘It Ends With Us’

By: Sophie Elmstrom & Lily Sheldon

‘It Ends with Us’ came out on August 9, 2024. This movie was based on the 2016 novel by Colleen Hoover, and the film was directed by Justin Baldoni. The film stars Jason Baldoni, Blake Lively, Jenny Slate, and Hasan Minhaj. The movie received mixed reviews, but it was a box office success, grossing 346.4 million worldwide against a production budget of 25 million. We wanted to give our thoughts on this movie, and compare it to the reviews of others.

Here’s a quick rundown of the movie. Lily Bloom (Blake Lively) moves to Boston to pursue her dream of opening her own business after the passing of her father. In Boston, she meets neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid, and they start to fall in love. As their relationship develops, Ryle starts to remind Lily of her parents’ relationship and the abusive tendencies of her father. Lily is at a dinner with Ryle, when she discovers that her high school sweetheart, Atlas, is the owner of the restaurant. Old feelings for Atlas begin to bubble up again, and Lily is stuck with an impossible choice to choose between Atlas and Ryle. Ryle hears about Atlas, and becomes enraged and jealous. He takes out his anger on Lily in forms of domesticated abuse. Lily reveals to Ryle about her father’s abuse to her mother and Lily escapes Ryle, and seeks out Atlas for help. She discovers she is pregnant, and moves out and lives with Atlas for a little. Lily asks for a divorce from Ryle, and he agrees after she asks Ryle how their daughter would react if she was abused by her partner. Lily hopes she has ended the cycle of abuse in her family, telling her daughter “It ends with Us”.

The movie also has a series of flashbacks where we go back in time to when Lily was in high school. One day, Lily is looking out her window and sees a boy her age coming out of the abandoned house next door. As she is walking to her bus she sees him at the stop as well. This sparks Lily to leave supplies at the door of this house in hope of helping this man out. Lily and this boy start talking to each other and Lily finds out his name is Atlas. These two end up falling in love with each other when suddenly Atlas moves away and they don’t continue to talk.

This movie received a 6.5/10 from IMDB and a 57% from Rotten Tomatoes. We believe that this ranking is just a little too low; we think this movie deserves an 8/10. Many reviews agree with the rating of 6.5/10, they believe that the story is very flat and not interesting. Many disagree with what we believed about how it is similar to the book, they said that it missed many book details.

As individuals who have read this book, we believe that movie did a very good job at portraying these characters and the story. Although there are controversies with this movie we believe that the movie was very good and interesting. The way that they portrayed Ryles’ character was very similar and the casting was very good in our opinion.

Overall, we believe that this movie deserves a 7/10 because although it wasn’t a perfect movie it was a very good book adaptation.

You can watch this movie on Prime Video.

Why ‘Plan A’ is one of the best albums this year

By: Bailey Glime

‘Plan A’ by Lil Tecca is one of the best albums this year and here is why. ‘Plan A’ shows a more experimental Lil Tecca who uses different tones in his voice to make songs sound vocally different. The album has 18 songs and is 44 minutes long, so the album is not long but has a lot to offer.

‘Plan A’ doesn’t just have the same sounding songs like other albums. This album dives deeper into different sounds to attract the audience more. It also makes the songs more of a fun listen too. The album also has songs that are more chill, and others that hype you up more.

Personally, the song that sticks out the most and is my favorite is “HOMEBODY”. This is one of my favorite songs because of the way Tecca makes his voice go up and down. There is also a catchy chorus that is fun to not just listen to but dance to as well. This song is also not a long one to listen to, and it has the listener wanting to listen to it again.

Compared to other albums of the same genre, this album isn’t completely serious and it’s more fun. At the same time, it has that seriousness in it that the other albums do too. The effect that this has on the listener, is that they can understand the lyrics better but still groove to the beat. This makes it a replayable album.

A song that makes the album pop with its lyrics is “120”. In this song Lil Tecca is talking about how with his success now he has a lot. He sings about being able to own expensive things like a 120k necklace. This song also has a groovy beat that just makes the lyrics pop more.

Overall, ‘Plan A’ shows many different sounds and makes it a very fun and interesting listen. It really dives into all the techniques Lil Tecca has under his sleeve, and draws the listeners to the album. This makes it one of the best albums this year. Having all these sounds mixed together makes this album a really enjoyable one.

‘Heartstopper’ Season 3 review

By: Persephone Pond

‘Heartstopper’ is a Netflix original series based on the Webcomic written by Alice Oseman. Directed by Andy Newbery, season 3 of this show released all 8 episodes on Thursday, October 3rd, and received overwhelmingly positive reviews. This article is a quick, spoiler free review from the perspective of a long time fan.

Seasons 1 and 2 focused largely on building foundations of relationships between characters and expanding on the experiences of coming out as queer, while season 3 dives deeper into mental health issues that teens deal with and the experiences of moving further into a relationship. From the perspective of a queer teen who has been through much of the same things these characters in the show have, the writing deals with these heavier themes incredibly well.

Good representation of the lived experience of queer people is not an easy thing to find, luckily more and more writers have been incorporating these sorts of themes into media nowadays. In contrast, representation of mental health issues, especially eating disorders and obsessive compulsive disorder, are still largely stigmatized in today’s society. Charlie Spring, the protagonist of ‘Heartstopper’, deals with these issues in season 3, which changes the atmosphere of the show from lighthearted to kind of depressing. Although these heavy themes make the season more sad, it’s so important to spread awareness, especially in today’s society where these problems are not uncommon, they’re just repressed.

Charlie and Nick, the protagonists of the show, deal with the stress of mental illness, while side characters still get enough attention to grow an attachment to them. Season 3 also brings up more controversy about binary transgender teens, non-binary gender exploration, and asexuality, which weren’t elaborated much on the past 2 seasons.

Overall, these characters have a way of pulling on anyone and everyone’s heartstrings, and season 3 of this show is so powerful. I highly recommend sticking with ‘Heartstopper’, or starting from the beginning.