Category Archives: Entertainment

Books/Art

Graphic novel recommendations

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By: Tasha Cudinski

There are many graphic novels in the world, each waiting to be picked up and read. Recommendations can help sort through the piles and piles of options and find ones that you might enjoy reading. This article is a list of some graphic novels, and their summaries so that people can find a new book to read.

‘Lumberjanes’ by Shannon Watters, Gus Allen, Grace Ellis, and ND Stevenson is a fantasy book about a group of young girls who are at an all girls summer camp. Within their first few days there they notice that this camp is not as normal as it seems. They notice strange creatures with three eyes, a grumpy old woman who has the ability to turn into a bear, and a strange warning that says “Beware the kitten holy”. The group of friends break camp rule after camp rule all while trying to get to the bottom of the mystery of this camp while still completing as many camp activities as possible.

‘Amulet’ by Kazu Kibuishi tells the story of a young girl named Emily. After her father dies in a car accident Emily and her family (her mother and younger brother) move out to a house that once belonged to their great-grandfather, Silas Charnon. While cleaning up the old house Emily finds a strange amulet; deciding it looks cool she decides to put it on. Later that night her mother goes to investigate a strange noise in the basement and ends up being captured by a strange monster. While fleeing the monsters, Emily hears a voice in her head, telling her how to keep her and her brother safe. Following the instructions of this voice they manage to make it to safety.

They are found by friends of their great grandfather’s and they tell Emily that the voice she heard was the voice of the amulet. She is told that they are now trapped in another world and that her amulet once belonged to her great-grandfather and she is now stuck with its power and the danger that comes with being a stone keeper. In this world, stone keepers, or the owners of the amulets, are regarded as very powerful beings of great importance. However, many hunt down those people, either in search of an amulet of their own, or in fear of the danger of stone keepers.

The amulets themselves are often dangerous as well, and many stone keepers lose their minds to the power of the amulets, and one of these insane stone keepers is known as the Elf King. He is after Emily, because he sees her as a threat to his power because she is a stone keeper. Emily soon finds herself fighting against both the stone and the Elf king in the hope that she can one day return to a peaceful life with her family and friends.

For more information, including where to buy these books, please visit:

Science/Nature, Travel/Food

According to science these 8 foods make you happy

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By: Jasmine Williams

I don’t think you would say diets make you happy, but they actually can, and play crucial roles in our happiness. Whether we know it or not, they affect how we feel. Here are the top eight food favorites that make you happy, according to ‘CNET’.

1. Dark chocolate
This is personally not my favorite, or really anyone’s, but it is more healthy for the body because it has half the sugar than any other chocolate. Here are three components that correlate with feelings of happiness in chocolate. Serotonin is a messenger that brings satisfaction, happiness, and optimism. Theobromine is not as strong, but can boost your mood like phenylethylalanine. Phenylethylalanine is another amino acid but it creates dopamine, which acts like an antidepressant.

2. Bananas
Bananas are not everyone’s favorite fruit but they can maintain your mood. Bananas are rich in B6, a vitamin that creates serotonin. One medium size banana has around 0.4 mg.

3. Coconut
Many people have not tried coconut, I’m one of them, but it’s scientifically proven that coconuts can boost your energy. It is known to have medium-chain triglycerides, which are a type of fat.

4. Coffee
A lot of people drink coffee. About 1 million people, and a 2016 meta-analysis says that coffee can lower the risk of depression.

5. Avocado
Avocado has nutrients including choline, a component that is used to maintain your nervous system and mood. Avocados are rich in vitamin B. Vitamin B has shown to lower stress levels.

6. Berries
A 2016 study showed that eating fruits and vegetables in general can improve mental health. But berries are plentiful in flavonoids (antioxidants). They can reduce depression symptoms.

7. Fermented food
Foods like kimchi, kombucha and yogurt, go through the fermentation process. They create probiotics that lead to a healthy gut. Important because 90% of serotonin comes from healthy guts.

8. Mushrooms
Mushrooms are full of vitamin D which has been known to have qualities of stimulants that can increase your mood. To get the full effect, let your mushrooms get some sunlight before cooking.

For more information, please visit:

● https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4449495/

Travel/Food

‘Empanadas De Arroz Con Leche’ recipe

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By: Pablo Contreras

Empanadas is a dessert that I have only made once and there’re many different variations of empanadas; you can add in any filling that you want. For example, the first ever empanadas that I’ve ever made had yams as the filling, the second time that I made empanadas was with arroz con leche as the filling.

For those of you who don’t know what arroz con leche is, its English name is rice pudding.

Now, when I was little I absolutely hated rice pudding but when I made these empanadas I slightly (but not too much) liked the flavor. The rice pudding empanadas were definitely better than the yam empanadas.

There are many different variations of empanadas, I believe that the dough is made the same but the filling changes. You can add in meat like beef and chicken inside or cheese, but this recipe focuses on rice pudding empanadas.

Before we start, just to let you all know, this recipe is not mine, it belongs to La Cocinita De Lorena Marin. Now that that’s out of the way, here is how to make the empanadas.

Empanadas de arroz con leche

Here is what you are going to need to make the empanada dough:

  1. 2 cups of flour
  2. 1 teaspoon of Baking powder
  3. 1/4 cup of Butter (room temperature)
  4. 1egg
  5. Half a cup of water
  6. 2 tablespoons of sugar
  7. 1/4 of Water
  8. A pinch of salt

Here are the steps to make the dough:

  1. In a big bowl add in 2 cups of flour
  2. Then in the middle of the flour make a little hole in the middle and add the 2 tablespoons of sugar
  3. Next add in the 1 egg, the room temperature butter, a pinch of salt, and 1 teaspoon of baking powder and mix
  4. When it starts to be a dough texture, start to add in the 1/4 cup of water and mix
  5. On a flat surface you are going to start to knead the dough
  6. When it starts to get sticky, add in a little bit of flour (the dough needs to be smooth and not sticky)
  7. Once it’s done leave it in the same bowl and use plastic to cover the top and leave it to rest inside the fridge for 30 minutes

Now, while we wait for the dough here is what you are going to need to make the arroz con leche

  1. 1 cup of rice already rinsed and drained
  2. 2 cups of milk
  3. 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
  4. 2 mini cans of condensed milk
  5. A few drops of lime
  6. A stick of cinnamon
  1. First, in a pot put in both cups of milk, then place in two mini cans of condensed milk and mix
  2. Next add in the rice, leave the stove on medium-high and put in the cinnamon stick
  3. Now you are going to add in 1/2 teaspoon of lime juice inside and let it boil for a little bit and then add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
  4. Let this cook for 10-15 minutes
  5. Once the ten minutes are up, and if it’s dry, turn it off and take out the cinnamon stick and let the rice cool (if the rice is not dry leave it on for another 5 minutes until its dry)

Now while we wait for the rice to cool down, here is what to do next with the dough:

  1. Once the 30 minutes are up, you are going to use a rolling pin to roll the dough out
  2. Once it’s all flat use a circular cookie cutter to cut out the shape for the empanadas
  3. Now, once more roll out the small dough

Once the rice pudding is completely cooled down:

  1. Add a spoonful onto the empanada in the center
  2. Then fold the empanada in half to cover the filling and press the edges together
  3. Bake the empanadas for 15 minutes at 380
  4. Once the 15 minutes are up take the empanadas out and let them cool down
  5. To add more flavor, mix cinnamon with sugar on a plate and when the empanadas are no longer hot, mix the empanadas in the sugar and enjoy 🙂

To find the original recipe, and to learn more, here is the link to the recipe, and beware the video is in Spanish:

Tech/Games

Starting a revolution in a video game for six days

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By: Hoaseng Thao

In the video game, ARMA 3, there is a mod you can download called “Antistasi Plus” created by a Steam user named “Socrates”, which essentially makes you a guerilla fighter fighting against an occupant or invader, so I decided to download this mod and play it on single player to test it out. Here is the background story of my playthrough:

The year is 2035, a microstate nation located in the Mediterranean Sea known as Malden, is currently under the occupation of a military organization known as CSAT (Canton Protocol Strategic Alliance Treaty). It is up to me, a foreign fighter who definitely does not have any ties to any military organization who opposes CSAT, to fight alongside a resistance leader known as Commander Petros, who commands a resistance group, to liberate his nation from CSAT’s occupation. This is the tale of my journey of liberating the micronation of Malden.

Day 1

On a bright sunny day, on the island of Malden, I began my journey of liberating the island by first gaining the trust of the local population by dropping off a supply crate at the coastal town of Le Port. I made my way to the town of Le Port, where I had a standoff between a small force of CSAT soldiers alongside the local police force, and at the end of the standoff I had survived the overwhelming odds and I successfully dropped off the supplies at the town.

While I was at Le Port, I realized that there were two nearby factories that were occupied by the CSAT soldiers I had just faced, leaving them to be empty and for me to capture their resources. After completing my mission in Le Port, and successfully capturing two factories, I decided to rest for the day, so I can fight another day.

Day 2

I awoke from my slumber and headed out on a mission, a mission to capture a radio tower outpost on top of a mountain. I had originally planned to walk up the mountain but instead I drove up the mountain, successfully avoiding any obstacles and enemy patrols, and as I approached the outpost and saw its occupants standing around like the NPC (Non-Player Character) they are, I hurled over seven grenades at the NPC’s, killing all of them.

After clearing out the radio outpost, I successfully capture the outpost marking it as my own. As an hour passed by, I saw an in-game notification saying that there is an unknown signal on Malden and was nearby my location, so I decided to investigate the location of this unknown signal, but as I approached the location of the signal, I was ambushed by another guerilla force, who’s aim was to get rid of me and commander Petros.

The firefight I had with this other guerilla force, lasted for 13 minutes in which I was able to drive them away from me. After the battle I decided to take a rest from fighting, ending the day with a small victory.

Day 3

Day 3 was an important day, I was able to capture multiple towns and resource posts, making the resistance a lot of money as well as giving us more manpower. A third of the island was under our control; all we needed to do was to capture the lower sea ports and northern CSAT outposts before doing a full on assault on the Airport, located at the northern point of the island.

Day 4

The moon began to rise as the sun got its rest, and here I am on this island, wearing stolen night vision goggles I had captured from stolen supply crates. I began my campaign of conquering the southern outposts and resource plants in the dead of night, and CSAT, despite being a global superpower, regarded the island as useless and left the remaining CSAT units to fend for themselves. As the sun rose, most of the CSAT outposts in the south were either captured or destroyed.

Day 5

As I approached the CSAT base in the north, I devised a plan to utilize multiple mortars to overwhelm the occupants into surrendering but by some luck, a CSAT fighter jet appeared from the skies and began to bomb most of my men who armed the mortars.

Despite the presence of a fighter jet in the air, CSAT lost the base due to lack of reinforcements in the region. After capturing the base, I began to arm my men with mortars and the captured tanks we acquired from the base to storm the main airport, and within an hour, the airport was ours and the main island was free of CSAT soldiers.

Day 6

We had just pushed the remaining CSAT soldiers off the main island, and now we had to deal with the two remaining CSAT islands. The island in the north holds a sea port alongside an airport, while the other is located in the south which holds a small military base. The island in the north was heavily defended by multiple anti air missile launchers near the runway of the airport there, but there was a small mountain that made a blind spot for the missiles, so I began to use the captured attack helicopter, from the airport, and flew to the island, raining death from above and destroying the anti air missiles leading to the capture of this island.

Now there was one island left, the island in the south was heavily damaged and weakened due to an unexpected friendly NPC, firing every single round they had in their mortar, destroying everything in the base which led to its capture. With the island now ours, we successfully liberated the island and gave it back to the people of Malden.

After liberating the island, Commander Petros became the new prime minister of the island and he established relations with NATO to help maintain the peace in the area. I decided to leave the island in hopes of a new adventure.

If you want to play this mod, please buy the video game ARMA 3 by Bohemia Interactive on Steam and go into the steam workshop to download the mod.

Below are links to both the game and the mod:

● https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2912941775 ● https://store.steampowered.com/app/107410/Arma_3/

Movies/TV/Theaters

The upcoming ‘Five Nights At Freddy’s’ movie

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By: Julia Yang

You may not have heard, but Blumhouse Productions is making a Five Nights at Freddy’s movie. A Five Nights at Freddy’s movie has been long awaited by its fans and community. Some people have waited 5-7 years for a movie to come out, and fans couldn’t believe it when Blumhouse said it was really happening.

It’s being directed by Emma Tammi and written by Seth Cuddeback and Scott Cawthon — the creator of the FNAF franchise.

Scott Cawthon has been retired from the Five Nights at Freddy’s community ever since June of 2021 because of controversy around his political beliefs. Scott stated that he would not be stepping back entirely, but would play a lesser role in the development of FNAF. Even so, Scott has come back one last time as the FNAF creator to help write and release this movie that his fans have wanted for so long to see.

For those who are interested in watching, the movie is going to be live-action and won’t hold back on any violence or gore. It will be very detailed and explicit with the darkness that is Five Nights at Freddy’s. This means that minors are heavily advised to skip this movie and leave it to another year or four.

There have already been many set leaks and behind the scene pictures and videos of the movie being made; fans seeing these pictures makes them all the more impatient. Here are a few:

Here is a list of the cast that we know of:

  • Kellen Goff as Michael Schmidt.
  • Bill Skarsgard as William Afton (The Purple Guy).
  • Scott Cawthon as The Phone Guy.
  • Frank Welker as The Pizzeria Manager.
  • Nathan Gamble as C.C Afton (Opening Scene).
  • Real Robots-Animatronics as Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, Golden Freddy (Fredbear (Opening Scene) and Spring-Bonnie (Opening Scene).

The Five Nights at Freddy’s movie releases on October 27th of 2023, so be ready, and be excited!

For more information, please visit:

Travel/Food

European hotel review

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By: Sophie Johnson

Over spring break, I stayed in three different hotels in Europe. The first one I stayed in was in Massa, Italy, called the Illy Hotel. This hotel had a very homey feel and I really enjoyed staying there. Not only was it just a block away from a beautiful beach, but it also had plenty of shops and attractions within walking distance including gift stores and gelato.

The rooms were equipped with two twin beds and a twin bunk bed fitting a total of four people. The views out the window were unreal with towering mountains, intricate buildings and delicious lemon trees outside. The meals at this hotel were good for the most part ranging from seafood salad to spaghetti. Overall, this hotel was a 9/10.

The next hotel I stayed in was called Hôtel Cannes MontFleury in France. This hotel was definitely bigger than the first one, but was not as enjoyable as the other two I stayed in.

The first night I was there, we were looking around for the pool. Not only was the pool empty, which was disappointing, but we found rats running around in the kitchen. Other than that, their breakfast bar had good food and I had two nights of relaxing sleep.

The group I was with didn’t get as much time to explore this neighborhood as we did at the other hotels, but there was a really good pizza place a few minutes away. I rate this hotel a 7/10.

The last place we stayed at was the Guitart Hotel just outside of Barcelona, Spain. I loved staying here so much. Once again, the beach was about a 10 minute walk away. I got to go swimming for the first time at this beach which was super fun too. They also had a nice pool and a game room which was cool.

Their all you can eat buffet was some of the best food I had on the whole vacation. For breakfast there were churros, eggs, sausage, fruit, everything you can imagine. For dinner, there were options of pasta, ribs, and so much more. They also had desserts including tiramisu, jello, ice cream, and pudding. The rooms were very comfortable at this hotel and they even had a walkout balcony. I rate this hotel was a 10/10.

Advice/How To, Music/Concerts

Benefits of listening to music

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By: Mya Olson Williams

Most teens these days are listening to some sort of music. Especially during school days. But is it doing any good? Yes, it actually has a very positive effect.

According to John Hopkins Medicine, listening to music can reduce anxiety, pain, and blood pressure. Not only that, but it improves your mood, the quality of your sleep, and memory.

Music is so universal and there’s something for everyone. Because it’s so beneficial, you should find what you enjoy and listen when you can.

Along with the other benefits I mentioned, listening to music can start up your creativity. Especially when listening to new genres you maybe aren’t a fan of or haven’t heard before. Challenging yourself to listen to them causes the brain to try and understand the new sounds.

Music can also be great for recalling old memories. Maybe some familiar music from many years ago reminds you of an old friend, place, or time in your life.

Another few other great reasons to listen to music is because it reduces stress, and relieves symptoms of depression. If you struggle with one or maybe both, turning on a good and uplifting song could make you feel better in the moment. The music you’re listening to relieves this stress by triggering biochemical stress reducers in your brain.

Aside from mental health, music positively affects your physical health as well. It boosts your immune system, keeps your heart healthy, and eases pain.

Now, if you think your student, or child constantly has their headphones in, maybe it’s a good thing! Because of all of the amazing health benefits music has, we could all listen to it every once in a while. And I’m sure most of us do.

For more information, please visit:

Movies/TV/Theaters

‘Super Mario Bro’s’ breaking the box office

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By: Joseph Nelson

Critics were very hesitant when it came to test screening for the new Mario movie that would hit theaters soon, giving it only a 54% Rotten Tomatoes score before the premiere ,which led to many moviegoers being cautious when buying tickets to see their favorite plumber characters. Little did the critics know how wrong they would be…

The film “Super Mario Bros” is an animated film based off of the 90’s game ‘Super Mario 64’ and its adaptations afterwards so many early Gen Z babies and late Millennials were very excited to finally see their favorite plumbers on the big screen. This showed with the first weekend of the movie being out with the movie making $377 million in the box offices world wide. To put into perspective, ‘Frozen 2’ made $358 million in its first weekend, the movie sequel that followed up from the song (“Let It Go”) that many kids sang for months after release.

Many were surprised by the statistics of moviegoers with 45% of the audience being from the ages of 18-34, which to many was a total shock, but to the people who know about the games and their community, they really didn’t bat an eye.

Many also came to see their favorite A-list actors in an animated movie, as this film hosted some of the biggest actors on the scene with Chris Pratt as Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Micheal Key as Toad, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, and Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach. The production did not waste any money on the casting which turned out to work great. Even after many concerns about the casting, many were pleasantly surprised by how well the actors played their roles.

Two weeks have passed now, and ‘Super Mario Bros’ have now passed as the leading movie in the box offices with many viewers going twice to see the brothers again. In fact, the movie only dropped 41% in sales after its record breaking weekend, which for many critics is unheard of as usually movies drop down on average 60% of its first opening week. I like to think that this goes to show that even critics can be surprised by the success of what many were to believe as a flop of a movie.

Advice/How To, Travel/Food

Best airlines to fly

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By: Sophie Johnson

The best airline that I have flown on is Delta. The reason why this one is the best is because the environment feels very clean and organized. I have had many good experiences with Delta in the past, and they have never let me down. I love that they have free entertainment like movies and games as well as their delicious Biscoff cookies.

Delta planes seem to always be on time and have everything under control. I feel very safe and comfortable on these flights and always find something good to watch on TV.

One airline that I do not love as much is Sun Country. I have had several bad experiences with Sun Country in the past, and it always makes me nervous to fly that airline now.

One of those experiences was when I got stranded in the Newark Airport in New Jersey for upwards of five hours because of a delay. Not only did they make us all wait that long, but after five hours of hoping to get home, they announced that we had to spend another night at a nearby hotel. They could have avoided such a long wait by rescheduling the flight earlier.

One positive thing about Sun Country is that they have the internet and a website with many TV shows and games to play to entertain yourself and others on the plane. Overall, Sun Country is not my favorite but it did have some factors that redeemed it.

The last airline is Southwest. I have flown on Southwest 2 times and both have been good. Both of these flights were on time and I had an enjoyable experience.

Although this airline does not provide televisions on the back of the headrests, I still had an above average time on the flights. I always get great views out the windows and have a fun trip in the plane.

Travel/Food

Sambusa recipe

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By: Mushtaq Yonis

Sambusa is a fried snack that is eaten across the world. From India to Somalia you can find different versions of this delicious snack depending on the country. Sambusa is typically a stuffed triangular pastry that’s especially popular during Ramadan.

You can fill the sambusa however you like but I’m showing you one of the ways I like to make sambusas.

Making sambusas for a large number of people is quite time consuming so make sure you have these ingredients ready.

For the filing:

  • 1 pound ground beef or lamb
  • 2 tablespoons of oil
  • 1 onion
  • 1 green onion
  • 1 green chili

Spices:

  • 2 teaspoon cumin powder
  • 2 teaspoon cardamom powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon pepper

You would also need a paste to hold the shape of the sambusa and for the filling to not fall out.

Paste:

  • 1⁄4 cup flour
  • 1⁄4 cup water

For the wrapper:
You can use tortillas if you’re in a rush or you can buy sambusa wrappers.

But if you would like to make your own, you need:

  • 3 cups of all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoon of oil
  • 1 cup of water
  • Salt

Now that you have your ingredients, it’s time to assemble your sambusa!

  1. Cook the meat on medium heat with oil
  2. Add the onions and the green chilis
  3. Add spices
  4. Set the filling ingredients aside
  1. Mix the paste ingredients
  2. Take one sambusa wrapper and fold it into a cone and seal it with the paste (make sure to leave 1 side open)
  3. Fill the cone with the filling
  4. Seal the rest of the sambusa with the paste
  1. Add oil to your pan and fry the sambusas until a golden brown color
  2. Take the sambusa and set it down on a paper towel or plate
  3. Repeat the process!

And that is how you make Sambusas.
It’s best when it’s warm so make sure you eat it before it turns cold!