Category Archives: Entertainment

Travel/Food

JS The Bean Factory recommendation

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By: Calla Fragassi & Mackenzie Malek

The Bean Factory is a small coffee shop located in St. Paul, just off of Randolph. The name JS, or Just Steves, comes from the owner Steve who established the shop in 2001 and now runs the independently owned, local coffee shop and roastery.

Now that you know a little bit about The Bean Factory, let’s take you inside.

The menu is filled with a large variety of drinks, from different coffees to Italian sodas. We can’t forget about the choice of pastries such as donuts and croissants. They also sell a selection of local art, skin and body care products, as well as some of their own merchandise, such as hats and sweatshirts.

The Bean Factory, hence the name, produces their own coffee beans, so you will be guaranteed to have a fresh cup every time. They serve three different coffees daily; one decaf and two regular coffees from different countries. If you don’t find your favorite coffee on the menu, they will make you an individual cup of coffee at their brew bar. Just ask and they will brew it for you!

They are also able to make accommodations or changes to any drink you want to suit you. The Bean Factory offers a punch card where once you buy nine drinks, you get the tenth one free for a drink of your choice. They also offer seasonal drinks like apple cider, pumpkin flavored drinks, and more.

JS is very environmentally friendly, having all compostable lids, cups, straws, and napkins!

Some of our favorite things to get at the Bean Factory are an iced chai latte or a blended mocha for on the go! If we have a bit of time to sit and study or catch up we either get hot chocolate or Steve’s double smoky coffee. If you’re planning on sitting in, you can get your drink in a JS coffee mug, or if you’re on the go you can get one of their compostable cups.

When the temperature is warming up there are outdoor seating options along with the inside seating all year long. The outside patio has an overhead shelter and is decorated with festive lights. If you are lucky enough you will get to hear some local live music that plays at JS every once in a while.

JS is right between the Macalester Groveland and Highland Park neighborhoods, which is a very welcoming community. Welcoming communities build connections between newcomers and long-term residents by strengthening relationships, and communicating shared values. Along with the community itself, the staff is very friendly and inviting.

In 2019-2020, a new Starbucks was supposed to be built on the corner of Randolph and Snelling Ave, but the community expressed their opinions on the new building and how it would take away business for The Bean Factory. After a communal vote was held, the project was moved down to the corner of Snelling and Stanford Ave which is far enough away that the small coffee shop was able to keep their business and their customers.

Their mission is to serve the community by bringing only the best coffees, roasted to perfection. They are dedicated to providing their customers with the highest quality coffee beans from a variety of different countries. The Bean Factory has also been very thoughtful to the HPSH community as they are one of our hockey team’s silver sponsors this year! They have continuously supported the team and our players throughout the season, and we cannot wait for the partnership to grow!

After many visits to the bean factory and getting to know the friendly staff and welcoming community, trying the variety of drinks and food, buying the merchandise, and getting to enjoy the local coffee shop feel, JS has become one of our favorite places, because of all it has to offer.

For more information, please visit their website at:

Movies/TV/Theaters

“Doesn’t Anybody Ever Get It Right?”: A retrospective on the original Broadway production of ‘Carrie: The Musical’

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By: Bijou Kruszka

In 1974, Stephen King released his novel ‘Carrie,’ a story detailing the horrific experiences of a teenage girl dealing with high school bullies and an aggressively devout Christian mother. The book quickly became very popular, and its iconic film adaptation in 1976 only boosted its reputation.

Few people would see the source material and think that the obvious next step was a Broadway musical; but Lawrence Cohen, Dean Pitchford, and Michael Gore had a creative vision. They spent years writing it, casting it, and
getting enough money to get it off the ground. By 1984, they had enough of their project to start production.

Cohen, Pitchford, and Gore partnered with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Britain to begin production of ‘Carrie: the Musical.’ However, since the writers lived in America, they handed off creative control to a British director, Terry Hands. This was where things started to go awry. Miscommunications between the creatives were abundant. The most famous was between Hands and producer Fran Weissler.

When discussing costuming over the phone, Weissler commented that she wanted the high school students to look similar to the classic musical ‘Grease’. Somehow, Hands misinterpreted ‘Grease’ for Greece. Yes, you read that right, Greece, like the country. Hands then made the artistic choice for all the students to wear togas, while doing dances at prom and in gym class.

This only foreshadowed the catastrophes to come.

Another bizarre creative decision was found in the set. The creative team really wanted to highlight the show’s finale, in which Carrie and her mother die. So, they constructed an enormous white staircase for the two to sing their final song on. This staircase took up a significant portion of the $8 million budget, and appears for a mere 10 minutes. These creative decisions were incredibly strange, and would only be a part of the overall failure of ‘Carrie.’

On top of bizarre creative decisions, there were also many technical failures. One way things did not go as planned was the blood. Anyone who is familiar with ‘Carrie’ knows that the most infamous part of the story is when Carrie gets pig blood poured on her after she is crowned prom queen. So, it was a key element in the adaptation. However, with test runs of corn syrup mixtures, it became very clear Carrie could not actually be covered in blood. The mixtures clogged Carrie’s microphone, and would cause all her cast mates to slip and fall. Instead, the creatives opted for a bright red laser light show. Now, Carrie appeared as more of a rockstar than a bullied teen.

Once this light show started to go off, a screen descended from above the stage in order to divide the character Sue, from the rest of the cast. However, this massive screen’s quick descent was automated and couldn’t be controlled easily. This led to multiple near-decapitations.

All these technical problems should have postponed the show’s opening, but unfortunately, the show went on as scheduled.

On May 12, 1989, ‘Carrie: The Musical’ opened on Broadway. Critics and theatre-goers alike were horrified at what they saw. The togas and laser light shows were nothing like the ‘Carrie’ viewers knew and loved. The songs, while some were good, felt odd and misplaced in the story.

One song that particularly upset the audience was “Out for Blood,” in which characters Billy and Chris kill a pig to use for blood to prank Carrie. With the ensemble chanting “blood” and “kill the pig” while the leads danced and sang under bright red lights, the audience was unsettled to say the least.

Every night it performed, after the final blackout, the audience erupted with boos. Once the lights went up, there was some applause, a pitying compliment towards the actors for doing what they could with what they had. The critics were less pitiful though, with every major theatre review absolutely scorching the production.

After five days of performing, ‘Carrie: The Musical’ closed, cementing itself as one of the shortest runs of a musical ever, and one of most horrible failures in Broadway history.

Travel/Food

‘Pie De Limon Con Galletas De Maria’ recipe

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By: Pablo Contreras

Ever since I was little I always liked baking and I was getting tired of making simple things that are from the United States. I wanted to try something new that’s not from America. I wanted to try to make something new from somewhere else. So, I asked my mom for help and she told me about this recipe and I wanted to try it out.

While making this I found out that this dessert is really easy to make; it’s not complicated, it doesn’t have so many steps, and it doesn’t take long to make. The only part that takes a long time is waiting for the pie to freeze.

Once the pie was done I was a little hesitant to try it at first, but the second that I tried this delicious, crunchy, and creamy pie I loved it. Its crunchy and creamy flavor tastes so good together, plus its lime flavor made it even better.

This dessert really brings together the best of the worlds of crunchy and creamy, and I feel like everyone should try this, so here I am sharing it with everyone. Plus, if you really like these textures then this dessert is perfect for you.

Note: Just in case some of you don’t know where to find Maria cookies, you can find them at a Walmart or a Mexican store.

Now let’s get into the recipe:

Here’s a list of the ingredients that you are going to need:

  1. 4-5 limes
  2. Half a packet of cream cheese
  3. 1 can of condensed milk
  4. 1 packet of Maria cookies

Now that you hopefully have everything that we are going to need, let’s get into the steps to make this:

  1. First, cut 3 limes in half
  2. Then, grab a bowl and squeeze the lime juice into the bowl and set aside the bowl
  3. Now, clean your cutting board. Grab 10 Maria cookies and cut them in half and set aside
  4. Now, to make the filling, in a blender, put in half of a packet of cream cheese, add in the lime juice and the condensed milk, and mix completely
  5. Next, grab a pie pan and use the Maria cookies that we cut in half to cover the bottom edge of the pie pan to form the first layer. And in the center of the pan use whole cookies to cover the rest of the pie pan
  6. Then put some of the mix in the pan and spread it around with the spatula
  7. Now, fill in with more Maria cookies the same way we did it for the bottom of the pie pan and put in more of the mix and spread it around with the spatula. In total, you will have three layers
  8. For the final touches, cut some small lime slices and add them to the top, and use a lime and a cheese grater to sprinkle some of the lime peels onto the pie
  9. Lastly, freeze for about 1 to 2 hours
  10. When it’s fully frozen, take it out cut yourself a piece and enjoy 🙂

Here’s a picture that I took to show you all how the final product should look, and if you didn’t look at the photo at the beginning of his article, you will see the picture I took of a slice of pie that I cut for myself.

Advice/How To, Editorials/Student Voice, Travel/Food

Pros and cons of living in Minnesota 

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By: Domingo Basso

Now I know what you’re thinking right now: “Man, I sure wonder what Minnesota’s pros and cons are?” Even though that’s a really weird thing to wonder about, you don’t need to wonder anymore because I’m here to answer that very odd and specific request.

So, you see, first thing first: you need to know about Minnesota’s weather. Just about any resident of this state will tell you about the weather. Why is that exactly? Well, that’s because the weather here is… something alright. Minnesota has very cold winters even reaching a peak of -60 degrees F on February 2nd, 1996 and the hottest Minnesota’s ever reached was 108 degrees F on July 14th, 1936. So, if you’re more into stable and consistent weather this can definitely be an issue.

A definite pro that Minnesota has is the Mall of America. The Mall of America is the single largest mall in the entirety of the United States of America. The Mall of America has more than 2,779,242 feet of retail space AND on top of that it also has 50 restaurants as well as an entire amusement park inside of it. It’s a huge tourist attraction that even gets more than twice the annual visitors as the world’s biggest amusement park (The Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World).

Another con to Minnesota is its high tax rates. Minnesota has the 6th highest income tax rates in the country and the 2nd highest corporate income tax rate in the country with 9.8%.

Despite that, another pro to Minnesota is the low unemployment rate, even setting a record in June of 2022 with an unemployment rate of 1.8% which is monumental.

So, all in all, despite Minnesota’s glaring issues from its weather to its higher tax rates, like many other states around the country, it still has many good qualities to it as well. From its low unemployment rates to having the single largest mall in the United States it is a very viable place to stay with its many activities offered all year around. So, Minnesota might be your ideal place to stick around for a while and visit, or who knows, maybe even a great place to live.

For more information visit: 

Music/Concerts

The top bass players of recent history

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By: Domingo Basso

Okay, well, since the electric bass is like the coolest instrument ever (very factual statement) I’m sure you’re wondering just who exactly are some of the best bass players in the world? Well allow me to show you what my research has led me to conclude. And before I continue, I’ll make the disclaimer that there is no truly factual best bass player(s) in the world, so this is, of course, based on my opinion.

My list of the top bass players will also align with that of one done by ‘Rolling Stone’ in a poll, so I highly recommend that article if you want to learn more. Anyways, enough with the introductions, here are some of the top bass players: 

8: Victor Wooten- 

Victor Wooten is a famous bass player who’s most known for his amazing jazz bass playing, great knowledge in music theory as a whole, and most of all his fantastic improvising skills.

7: Cliff Burton- 

Cliff Burton, who’s known for his role as the bassist of the band Metallica, was a great influence for bassists in the future with his frequent use of pedals creating a more distorted and aggressive sound. He also would play his bass in a way that allowed it to be a more prominent sound in the band, even being mistaken for a lead guitar at times. 

6: Jaco Pastorius –

Now, while the name Jaco Pastorious isn’t all that well known, the bass playing community highly respects this man for his sheer mastery over the instrument, having him be a very sought after musician to work with. This allowed him to work with the likes of: Weather Report, Joni Mitchell, Ian Hunter, Herbie Hancock and many others.

5: John Paul Jones- 

John Paul Jones, known for his involvement as the bassist of the band Led Zeppelin, was a master at using the bass with his interesting percussive and rhythmic style inspiring many bassists around the world.

4: Les Claypool-

Les Claypool is known for being a bit of a weirdo and you can kind of tell that after listening to some of his music. His most famous music act was being the lead singer and bassist of Primus. Doing bass lines that are already very difficult to master, he pairs that up with also being the lead vocalist for the band, earning him a spot on this list. Funny enough, after Cliff Burton’s death, Metallica was in search of a new bassist and Les tried out for it but was eventually denied the role.

3: Geddy Lee- 

Geddy Lee, known most for his role in the band Rush, is very talented at playing the bass. But, he also plays the keyboard for the band, as well as being the lead vocalist, so he earns a spot on this list for his sheer variety and key role in his band.

2: Paul Mcartney-

While Paul Mcartney (known for his role as the bassist of the band The Beatles) isn’t the most skilled bass player out there, he still manages to earn a spot on this list because of the amount of influence that he has over bassists around the world to this day. This arguably makes him one of the most famous bassists of all time.

1:  Flea-

Finally, on the number one spot of my list is Flea, known for his role as the bassist in the band Red Hot Chili Peppers. I put him on the #1 spot because he’s a very well renowned slap bassist and really helped boost the popularity of the bass guitar (also I’m super biased, but that’s like, whatever).

For more information, please visit:

Entertainment

Talking about ‘Serial’ podcast episode: “The Alibi”

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By: Leticia Bugg-Sam

*Warning: contains some spoilers*

It’s Baltimore 1999, Hae Min Lee, a popular high school senior student, was murdered. One day, she disappeared after school. Six weeks later, detectives arrested her classmate and ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, for her murder. Adnan says that he is innocent although he can’t remember that night.

Later into the podcast, he was high off of marijuana and also he was drunk. When Adnan got taken in for his story ,he told the detectives what happened and his story didn’t quite match up. It didn’t make any sense. Adnan was a careless person when his ex- girlfriend died; he would go out to parties, get high and get drunk.

A classmate at Woodlawn high school says that she knew where Adnan was when Hae disappeared that night. When Adnan got arrested Asia wrote him letters and one describes about him talking in the library on the night where Hae disappeared.

She also wrote another letter after Adnan was convicted.

Jay was another suspect because he knew where the car was and her dead body, but the detectives let him go because he hardly knew Hae and his phone was on him the whole time.

But then, on January 13, 1999, at 7:30 pm, Jay told Jenn that Adnan was gonna go, or had already killed Hae. The reason for that is because at 10:45 am Jay got a call from Adnan and at 11:00-11:30 he arrived at Jay’s house saying that he was going to kill Hae.

The next day, Adnan went to Best Buy and bought cleaning supplies. All the evidence that the detectives had, they still didn’t have a correct clue on who the murderer was. Adnan was the main one but the detectives were not sure if he was the murderer but even though his family had a lawyer that already knew his family very well and that they paid.

The detectives also knew that too. Adnan’s parents didn’t believe that he killed Hae too. He was put in prison, but later, when the detectives gave up on finding more evidence, they had no other choice but to let go of Adnan.

Books/Art

‘Better Than the Movies’ review

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By: Kaylen Fuentez

‘Better Than the Movies’ is a book written by Lynn Painter that was published in 2021. This book is about a teenage girl Liz and her neighbor and childhood friend, Wes. They don’t get along very well but when their old childhood friend, Michael, moves back into town, Liz asks Wes to set them up. 

I think this book had a good concept but it was definitely predictable and wasn’t something that was unheard of. But I do think the characters were written really well and with a lot of substance.

 I think it was easy to get attached to the characters since they all had such engaging personalities. I think my favorite character is Wes, throughout the book he was very thoughtful of Liz and you can tell he truly cares about her. He helped her to start talking to Michael even when he knew he’d had feelings for her. He continued to be there for her when she was upset over her relationship with Michael, her friendship that was falling apart, and as well as grieving her mom and accepting her step mom.

The subplot of ‘Better Than the Movies’ was Liz trying to cope with the death of her mother who passed 2 years prior to when the story takes place. One of the ways she copes with her mom’s death is watching rom coms which she grew up watching with her mom. Throughout the book Liz’s mom is constantly mentioned and everyone always says how much she reminds them of her mother. Liz always takes her resemblance to her mother as a compliment but in a part of the book her and Wes have a fight and he says she’s trying to be her mom because that’s one way she copes. I thought that it was a really interesting concept and I’m glad that though her mom passed she’s still such a big part of the book and Liz’s thought process.

Another thing I really enjoyed about the book was all of the references to films and music. Liz has an obsession with films as well as creating playlists for every moment. At the beginning of each chapter there was a quote from a rom com which described how the chapter was going to go, and after finishing the chapter the quote would make a lot of sense and I thought it was a clever way to add substance and hobbies to Liz’s character.

The songs mentioned throughout were also a nice touch because it gave you more of a sense of what was going on and how Liz was feeling in that moment, and how the song could correspond to what was going on. At the end of the book, there was even a page dedicated to Wes and Liz and it’s called “Wes and Liz’s Playlist” that included about 20 songs that showed how they feel about each other and the journey of their relationship throughout the book.

Overall, I think this book was a nice easy read, but I definitely wouldn’t say it’s the best book I’ve ever read. I rate this book 3/5 stars and it’s a great book to read in a short span of time.

Travel/Food

Shrimp Taco recipe review

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By: Gabe Kleiber

This recipe is from http://reciperobber.com/viewrecipe.php?recipe_id=248

This is from my mom’s own personal food website, and I wanted to make this because it usually only takes her half an hour to cook, but is still one of my favorites.

It has less than 10 ingredients and only 4 steps, could easily be made by a middle schooler, but still manages to cover every base a taco should. It is easily better than many of its restaurant counterparts. If anyone is interested in learning to cook, this would probably be my number one suggestion.

Even though the recipe says to grill, a cast iron skillet does the job just fine. This is the only thing you actually have to cook, the rest is just prep and assembly. The night I made this I was in a time crunch, so I just microwaved the tortillas. In total, it took around 25-30 minutes. For an experienced cook, it is easily doable in under 20.

With all the talk about speed, I don’t mean to understate how good the taco itself is. A beautiful golden crust on well seasoned shrimp, mixed with the acidity from the lime is already a good dish on its own. But combined with the texture and freshness of avocado, and the multi-layered flavors of pico de gallo with a slight dash of hot sauce elevates it to extraordinary new heights.

This would certainly be an accepted dish at a fine dining restaurant, but it was made by a home cook in half an hour. This is truly a gem among dishes. I could eat this every week and be left with an appetite for more and plenty of time to spare. One of the best and easiest meals to make I have ever seen in all my years of eating. 10/10

Music/Concerts

Review: SZA’s new album ‘SOS’

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By: Alexa Ramirez

SZA’s 5 year hiatus has finally come to an end, and her new album ‘SOS’ has broken the internet, reaching the No. 1 spot on Billboard 200. This album contains 23 tracks, is filled with several collaborations, and is a definite sign of expansion in this upcoming musician’s artistic style.

Solana Rowe (SZA) is a 33-year-old R&B singer from Missouri. She began making music in the early 2010’s, and released her debut album, ‘CTRL’, in June of 2017. This album gave her a great deal of her fame, but is filled with nearly all contemporary R&B, which is what got her the reputation she has in the music world as an R&B singer.

She has also gained huge followings through social media, and experienced success with TikTok, where many of her songs, such “Good Days”, “Broken Clocks”, “Drew Barrymore” and many more are used by fans making videos.

She also made an appearance in the movie ‘Black Panther’, in the song “All the Stars” which she collaborated on with Kendrick Lamar.

She has also been featured on Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show, and performed in the Good Vibes Festival, Panorama NYC, AFROPUNK FEST Paris and many others.

Though she is relatively new to the music scene, she is definitely making a large name for herself and her music is only on its come up now.

While she has stayed relevant through social media, she hasn’t been releasing much music since her debut album in 2017. Since then, she has added a deluxe version of her first album ‘CTRL’ and has released three songs. “I Hate U”, “Good Days” and “Shirt” were all songs she released between albums which kept her relevant online. But really, this new album has been a big deal in her career since she has been off the grid musically for a long time, and many people didn’t know when, or if, she would be releasing music again. There were even rumors that she retired, or is retiring from music altogether.

When speaking on how releasing music has negatively affected her she said, “I’m making the best album of my life for this next album and I know that, because it’s going to be my last album.” ‘SOS’ was the last album she had been referring to, setting the standards high and the audience eagerly waiting on its release.

This album is a very unique one musically, and artistically, considering her previous label as an R&B only artist; she has definitely expanded on that and added a variety of rap and pop songs to this album.

The songs “Kill Bill”, “Conceited”, and “Seek & Destroy” all explored an upbeat pop side to her, which is a fun one to see because her music is usually very beautiful in more sad or quiet ways, while these were more bold and bouncy.

I also was so excited about her expansion on her rap side with the songs “Low”, “Smoking on my Ex Pack”, and “SOS” which were fun and very singable. She doesn’t get enough credit for her plays on words which were shown off in those songs, and many others on this album.

I thought expanding on her skills, and also keeping some R&B songs that she’s known and loved for, like “I Hate U” and “Blind” was genius because it caters to many different needs fans might have had for this album.

Another interesting detail about the album is its cover; in the cover photo, SZA is sitting on the edge of a diving board over an ocean as seen in a similar photo of the late Princess Diana, who was photographed sitting on the edge of the diving board on Mohamed Al Fayed’s Jonikal yacht. The photo was taken in 1997, before her death. When asked about the resemblance between the two photos, SZA said, “I just loved how isolated she felt, and that was what I wanted to convey the most”. This unique attention to detail in every aspect of her album is something key to understanding the type of artist that SZA really is.

I rate it a full 5/5 because the songs were all so good and special, and music aside, it spoke volumes about her as an artist and as a person and I’m excited to see where her musical journey will take her in the future.

Tech/Games

Xbox vs. PlayStation

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By: Manny Ochoa-Reeves

Console wars have been a debate since the early 1990s. Everyone would argue if Xbox or PlayStation was better. Nintendo isn’t really included in the console war because of how different it is from Xbox and PlayStation. The two are very similar with only a couple of differences.

The main thing that separates Xbox and PlayStation is the exclusive games. PlayStation has some games that can’t be played on Xbox, for example “Spider-Man”, “God of War”, “Horizon” and more.

Xbox is definitely lacking on exclusive games; they really only have “High On Life”, “Halo”, and “Forza”.

I definitely think that PlayStation is taking advantage of their exclusive games because that’s probably why most people buy PlayStation consoles.

In my opinion, the looks of the consoles definitely matter. The PS5 design looks really good because it’s white with a more futuristic vibe. The reason it looks really clean is because both the controller and the console light up with colored LED lights. Something interesting about the PS5 is that it’s made out of plates that you can take off and replace with other ones with cool designs.

On the other hand, you have the new Xbox which is kind of just a black box with a white button, and it’s a bit taller than older designs. Especially without the disc slot, it looks really bland and boring.

The controllers are very important in this battle of consoles. The Xbox controller is just about the same, but they worked on their vibration to make games more enticing. The PS5 made an entire new controller, matching the PS5 with a futuristic design. They also added a little mouse pad type thing that would affect some games. PlayStation has definitely been trying to design a better look for their technology.

Over the years, Xbox and PlayStation have both come out with many gaming consoles that have been tied in their power, graphics and quality. The Xbox Series X and the PS5 are almost tied with their performance, but the Xbox has a better GPU making it faster and better.

Personally, I’ve been playing Xbox for my whole life. But just recently, I got a PS5 just so that I could play the exclusive games. For me, I really can’t tell the difference, it’s really just which controllers and exclusive games you prefer. But in reality, the console war is really dying down because of computer games. You can get some of the exclusive games on a computer and have a better performance.