Category Archives: Entertainment

Books/Art

‘Until They Bring the Streetcars Back’

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By: Leticia Buggs-Sam

‘Until They Bring the Streetcars Back’ serves up a nostalgic journey through the streets of post war, 1949, Saint Paul, those wistful days of sodas, big band music, and burning leaves.

A harmless prank, a chance conversation, and Cal Gant stumbles onto cruelty, incest, and murder when he attempts to save a girl, named Gretchen, from her abusive home.

‘Until They Bring the Streetcars Back’ is about teenagers and how their lives are in and out of school, and what they go through on a daily basis.

Gretchen is one of the characters where she’s so not social with people at school or anywhere, and where she has a very abusive home and a strict dad. Her dad does not let her talk to boys. And when she met Cal, she was afraid that she would get in trouble from her dad.

Gretchen also had a crush on Cal but Cal had a crush on somebody else at the time. Gretchen and Cal talk to each other everyday. At first it was hard because Cal was popular and Gretchen wasn’t. People started to say that Cal and Gretchen were together and they started to make fun of their relationship/friendship. The people in school are like that because they know that Cal can do better and find a better girl, and they just think that Gretchen is weird.

While I was reading this book, I had the following questions:

I thought she was not allowed to talk to boys?
Yes, she’s not allowed to, that’s what made their friendship/relationship so secret from her dad because she was afraid of what her dad would do to her. So, Gretchen and Cal started to make a plan to meet in secret on when to do it, how, and where. And from there, friendship started.

Who was the girl he liked if not Gretchen?
He liked a girl named Lola. In the book you can see that for homecoming he did not take Gretchen out to homecoming but instead he took someone else. And in the begging of the book he claims that he does not like Gretchen, he likes Lola and that’a what he told his friends.

Cal is another character that struggles with things from home and school, his parents fight but they’re still together. Cal is an athlete that plays football and basketball. He was having some difficult times because he got caught up in Gretchen’s problems at home.

Another difficult time is where he tries to get his dad to come to his games. His dad always says “Yes” or “I don’t know” or “Just no, I’m too busy with work”. He never ends up going, and it shows that how much Cal wants to hang out with his dad more and make memories with his him.

And another difficult time is when his mom said stay out of people’a business it’a not your problem and their’s. Well, he had a difficult time with that when he met Gretchen and got sucked into her problems at home.

In the end, it was a good book and I would give it 4/5.

Movies/TV/Theaters

‘Scream Queens’ season 2 review

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By: Semaj Carter

‘Scream Queens’ is a show about sorority girls named Chanel Oberlin, Chanel #3, and Chanel #5 They were named this because Chanel couldn’t remember their names. I also think it’s a sense of ownership and an example of how Chanel sees the world.

*Warning: spoilers ahead*

Season 2 opens up as a recap of season 1. The season was about the “Red Devil Killer”, who chased down the sorority girls and killed their “friends”. One of them, was Hester Ulrich, who was behind the Red Devil Killings, and framed the Chanel’s, who then were sent to a mental hospital.

I think the first season shows the privilege of the Channels as white women because Chanel murdered the housemaid for the sorority house and got bailed out immediately without questions or punishments. The Chanel’s get a job as doctors and get to have their TV show even though they’ve never studied or majored in a medical university. A quote from one of the characters named Wes Gardner, kind of explains it all “Even if they fail they succeed”.

One thing I would like to address is that they treat Chanel #5 like she is not logical or she’s so weird and crazy, which I know is just for comedic relief, but I just find it so entertaining how she’s the only person that’s the closest to normal and everyone treats her like she’s not.

A mystery about this show that has been bothering me for a while is that Chanel #3 hides her ears with earmuffs and I have always wondered what is so bad about her ears that she has to hide them.

I think this show should’ve gotten a season 3. I might be wrong, but I heard many people say that it got canceled yet when I research it online it says a season 3 is coming out. I can agree with people when they say that Chanel is a very horrible person, she’s racist, ableist, and very self-centered, the only reason I like her as a character is that she’s the most authentic and interesting one besides Kathy Munch, A.K.A Dean Munch, one very underrated character. I also think another character that deserved a lot more screen time is Zayday Williams, played by Keke Palmer. I fell in love with her character ever since she first appeared on the show.

You could tell the writers didn’t care much about Zayday and when they got tired of writing for her character they just kidnapped her. In the first season, she was kidnapped by the Red Devil Killer, and in the second season, she is kidnapped by the Green Meanie who was just a copycat of the iconic Red Devil.

Anyways, this is my quick opinion the ‘Scream Queen’ characters in season 2. I hope this article made sense and helped you form your own opinion of the characters and such. Overall, I would give it a 6/10. If you want to watch ‘Scream Queens’ it is available on Hulu.

Movies/TV/Theaters

A review of ‘Hocus Pocus 2’

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By: Julia Sikorski Roehsner

Warning – spoilers

Fans of the original ‘Hocus Pocus’ movie, which was released in 1993, to great success, were likely excited by the announcement of a sequel. ‘Hocus Pocus 2’ was confirmed as in production in December of 2020, and was released to Disney+ on September 30th of this year.

‘Hocus Pocus 2’ runs about an hour and 45 minutes long. Its story line picks up three decades after the events of the first movie and is set in the present day—with a quick visit to Winifred Sanderson’s past in 1653 Salem.

The viewer learns that she was banished from the town after she refused to consent to a marriage arranged by the despicable Reverend Traske. To avoid separation, Winifred and her sisters, Mary, and Sarah, venture into the nearby forest, into which the people of Salem are too scared to pursue them.

There, the sisters encounter Mother Witch. At first wanting to eat the girls to preserve her youth and beauty, she stops when she senses Winifred’s witchly power.

Mother Witch gifts Winifred a magic spellbook—recognizable as Book from the first movie—as it is Winifred’s sixteenth birthday, but warns her to never cast the power-gaining spell of Magicae Maxima. She also makes the mysterious comment that a witch is nothing without her coven.

The flashback ends, and the viewer is soon introduced to a new cast of characters. First and foremost is a teenager named Becca. Not only is it Halloween, but it is also the day of Becca’s sixteenth birthday. She and her friend Izzy are preparing for their customary night of fun celebration, though without the company of their third friend, Cassie Traske, who has become distant in the wake of her new relationship.

The two girls pay a visit to their favorite magic shop, located in the former home of the Sanderson sisters, and Becca receives a candle as a birthday gift from the store owner, Gilbert. Per tradition, the pair then venture into the forest.

Upon lighting the candle, Becca and Izzy discover that the 1993 banishment of the witches—now a local legend—was not so permanent after all; the candle turns out to be another Black Flame Candle.

Winifred, Mary, and Sarah are back once more.

Thus begins an evening full of adventure and twists and turns as Becca and Izzy do their best to escape the Sandersons and get rid of them once and for all.

Pulled into the mix are Gilbert, who turns out to have tricked the friends and is now facing the consequences, and Cassie, whose father is the spitting image of his ancestor—Reverend Traske. There is also an appearance by the familiar corpse, Billy Butcherson. And, of course, what is Winifred Sanderson without her beloved Book?

It’s only one night, but a lot can happen in one night when there’s magic involved.

Perhaps controversially, I found ‘Hocus Pocus 2’ pretty enjoyable. Common complaints that I’ve heard about it are that it’s not up to the standards of the original ‘Hocus Pocus,’ that it lacks that same feeling of Halloween spookiness, that it’s disappointing that more of the original cast didn’t return, and that the plot itself was boring.

I can understand these complaints, but they were things that didn’t bother me personally. I am not a longtime fan of ‘Hocus Pocus,’ so nostalgia was less of a factor for me when watching ‘Hocus Pocus 2.’ I also didn’t mind that it was aimed at a wider, and potentially younger, audience.

I particularly liked the cinematography and editing. The scenes were crisp and clean, and the coloring followed a consistently pleasing color scheme.

Overall, it was a light and comedic watch.

However, there were a few moments where I found myself frustrated at the characters for not realizing the obvious, and some of the scenes felt a bit forced, both in storyline and in acting.

Therefore, I give ‘Hocus Pocus 2’ a three and a half out of five star rating. As mentioned earlier, you can watch this movie on Disney+

Music/Concerts

“Midnights Mayhem with Me”: Everything you need to know about Taylor Swift’s new album

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By: Erin Moore

On October 21, 2022 at midnight sharp, Taylor Swift, global pop sensation, released her twelfth, if you’re including her rerecords, studio album. 

Since its release, it has obliterated records both regarding streaming platforms and sales of physical copies, and it has ignited much excitement regarding a potential tour of the six albums she’s released since her previous tour for “Reputation.” 

In this article, I will give an overview, my opinions on the album, and related news since the release of the album in that order. 

Prior to the release of the album, Taylor Swift posted videos on TikTok titled “Midnights Mayhem with Me,”  announcing the titles of the thirteen tracks to be on her upcoming album. The videos received a cumulative 79.3 million views. After this, she posted additional Instagram Reels providing the inspiration for three of the songs in the album, which achieved 54.2 million views. 

Roughly a week from its drop, billboards in various major cities released various lyrics from the upcoming album. Additionally, she released clips on Spotify announcing different things that kept her up at night, leading to the subject of the songs (self-loathing, fantasizing about revenge, wondering what might’ve been, falling in love, and falling apart). As an avid fan of Taylor and her music, I saved these lyrics and subjects and predicted which songs they were referring to, very clear proof that these methods were very successful at building up excitement for the album’s release.

‘Midnights’ contains thirteen songs, totaling at forty-four minutes. The longest being “Snow on the Beach (ft. Lana Del Ray)” with a length of four minutes and sixteen seconds and the shortest being “Vigilante Sh*t” with two minutes and forty-four seconds. Thus, it is the shortest of any album she’s put out as of yet. 

The songs in the album will be titled as follows:

  1. Lavender Haze
  2. Maroon
  3. Anti-Hero
  4. Snow on the Beach (ft. Lana Del Ray)
  5. You’re on Your Own, Kid
  6. Midnight Rain
  7. Question…?
  8. Vigilante Sh*t
  9. Bejeweled
  10. Labyrinth
  11. Karma
  12. Sweet Nothing
  13. Mastermind

Prior to the album, yet after hearing the track titles, I guessed my ranking of the album, my top five being “Vigilante Sh*t,” “Karma,” “You’re on Your Own, Kid,” “Mastermind,” and “Question…?” 

‘Midnights,’ as mentioned previously, came out on October 21st at midnight and I absolutely love everything about the album. Every lyric is beautiful, the overall sound is amazing, and the album itself is very cohesive: it fits the theme of “thirteen sleepless nights” across her life, just as it was described to the public prior to its release.

Additionally, if you know her music and albums well enough, you can tell which musical “era” each song was written in. For example, “Karma” and “Vigilante Sh*t” were 100% written around the same time she wrote ‘Reputation.’ 

However, this album was nothing like what I predicted. Many people were predicting it would be a rock album, but it was electro-pop. I thought “Mastermind” would be similar to the two previously mentioned ‘Reputation’-esque songs, but it was more similar to something you’d hear on ‘1989’ or as a ‘Red (Taylor’s Version)’ vault track. 

I will discuss individual reviews for each song in the album (from my least favorite at the time of writing this article to my favorite at the time of writing this article).

Thirteenth on my ranking, and second in track order, is “Maroon.” I thought it would be significantly more melancholy and sad than it was (specifically with the general sound of the song), however the song was more floaty and upbeat(ish) than I thought it would be. However, when predicting, I felt like it would be a meh song based on its title, and it was amazing. While it was my lowest, I don’t have a single critique for it. 

“Midnight Rain,” twelfth on my ranking, and sixth in order of the album, was a shock for how it began, but again, a happy surprise. The concept of the song (“he was sunshine I was midnight rain”) was not what I expected it to be, yet I’m very happy this was the song we received. I really enjoy the floaty, breathy, higher way certain lyrics are said. 

Eleventh on my ranking, and twelfth in track order, was “Sweet Nothing.” This song, unlike the majority of the album, was similar to my prediction. It was good, but as I prefer upbeat songs over slower, sadder, more melancholy ones, I ranked it lower than most of the songs on this album even though it was a very good one.

Tenth was track ten on the album; the song “Labyrinth.” While I absolutely adore both the production and lyricism in this song, it doesn’t compare to that of which the higher ranked songs have. This song, as well as any of the other ones on the album could move up or down at any point. However, it currently isn’t one of my absolute favorites from this album.

The first track of the album, “Lavender Haze,” is ranked ninth for me. This is because the music behind it is great, but in my opinion, several other songs on the album are better lyrically and show more depth than this song. However, as she described it in one of her Instagram Reels, it accomplishes her feelings about fans and other members of society trying to get more information about her relationship with her current boyfriend from the past five years, Joe Alwyn. For example “I’ve been under scrutiny, you handle it beautifully,” shows how he’s helped her ignore and overcome the media’s portrayal of her and also has overcome what the media has said about him in relation to her. 

The second music video she released, eighth in my ranking, ninth track on the album, and the basis for a major dance trend is “Bejeweled.” My understanding is that this song is about her transition back into pop music from her past few albums (‘folklore’ and ‘evermore’) which were essentially the opposite of previous genres she’d done. 

Seventh in my ranking is “Snow On The Beach (ft-ish Lana Del Ray).” This song has been the most major switch from a lower ranking to a significantly higher one thus far as it started out being last for me. I originally had it lower because it didn’t feel like a collaboration and I didn’t have an understanding of the song, nor did I find anything to relate to. However, after listening to it more I really appreciate both the well-crafted lyrics and the music that truly feels like snow on a beach. 

In sixth place was “Question…?”  I love the main idea of it and while this may not be her intent with the song, to me it feels like it’s about someone who found someone they truly loved and enjoyed being with, but it didn’t work out and that person found someone new, so the first person found someone new too, and that new person feels like they’re second best to the original partner. Hopefully, that sentence made sense. 

Track five and, coincidentally, fifth place for my ranking, is “You’re On Your Own, Kid.” Taylor is known for having very emotional track fives, and up until the bridge, it didn’t feel like it was up to that usual level of raw emotion (especially with “Anti-Hero” as a potential alternative). However, the bridge completely changed my mind. Another thing I’ve seen pointed out by fellow fans is that it feels like a rundown of all of Taylor’s various albums over the years, which makes the bridge that much better. 

Fourth in my ranking is “Anti-Hero,” the first music video she released and the most streamed of the album thus far. Again, I feel like her description of it in her short Instagram Reel series was very accurate: it goes very deep into her insecurities and (as has been made clear by its amount of streams) is relatable to many people. The music video is also excellent at portraying those insecurities and all of the feelings she mentioned within the song.  

The song I ranked in third place is “Karma.” I love so many aspects of this song that I can’t even put into words. I think my favorite part of the song is probably “Karma’s a relaxing thought. Aren’t you envious that for you it’s not?” I think this is a hilarious way of showing how whoever of the many possibilities (Kanye West, Scooter Braun, any of the exes that treated her badly, everyone who turned on her in the mid 2010s) this song is about, they will receive their karma and it will hit hard. I also love that it’s called “Karma” as that was what was suspected to be the title of her sixth studio album.

Second for me is “Mastermind.” I love how sweet it feels, how hard she worked to be with someone she knew she’d work well with. I also love how it’s proven to be very relatable as it has sparked a trend of people explaining some unusual things they did to date someone. I also love the end in which she reveals that the person this song is about knew she did everything that she did to date him and he was completely fine with it. 

One of my favorite songs ever and my number one ranked song on the new album is “Vigilante Sh*t.” I absolutely love every single part of this song and am of the belief that there are absolutely no flaws to this song. Some of my favorite lyrics are “don’t get sad, get even,” “lately I’ve been dressing for revenge,” and the entire echoey part in the middle of the song prior to its continuation. It’s everything I hoped the song would be and more. 

However, as you may know if you have prior knowledge of this album’s release, Taylor Swift didn’t only release these songs. Three hours following its initial release, she added seven more songs to what she called ‘Midnights (3am Edition).’ This had the initial thirteen songs followed by the seven additional ones: “The Great War,” “Bigger Than The Whole Sky,” “Paris,” “High Infidelity,” “Glitch,” “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve,” and “Dear Reader.”

The new version of the album had the same cover, but was now an hour and nine minutes instead of the initial forty-four. Since I’m going with the assumption that the thirteen individual reviews were already very tedious to read through, I will simply say that my favorite of the additional tracks was “Bigger Than The Whole Sky” and my least favorite was “Glitch.” Overall, I mostly preferred the initial tracks, but again, I don’t have any major criticisms for any of the songs on the normal edition or the 3am edition. 

In addition to this, Taylor Swift also had three additional songs on the Target exclusive lavender vinyls and CDs; “Hits Different,” “You’re On Your Own, Kid (Strings Remix),” and “Sweet Nothing (Piano Remix).” I absolutely love “Hits Different” and if I were to add that into my album ranking, it would likely be somewhere in the top five. 

I also decided it would be fun to ask my friends for their opinions because of the ones that didn’t listen to it of their own volition, the majority succumbed to peer pressure and listened to it eventually. Yay! Jo Knorr says, “I’m not a massive Taylor Swift fan, but I really enjoyed this album, ‘Karma,’ ‘Vigilante Sh*t,’ ‘You’re On Your Own, Kid,’ ‘Sweet Nothing,’ and ‘Anti-Hero’ immediately went on my playlist.”

Brogan Frey, another friend of mine who chose to listen to the album without my forcing her to do so, said, “I wasn’t a huge fan before—I wasn’t a die-hard fan, but I enjoyed her pop music—but I loved every song on this album and I’m still listening to them weeks later, and they’re all on my playlist.” 

Additionally, Ava Bird said, “Personally, I don’t really like most of Taylor’s recent albums, but ‘Midnights’ is different. It’s beautiful. The music is amazing, the lyrics are thought-provoking, the whole entire thing is sort of like an emotional rollercoaster. I love it.” 

Additionally to being loved by people I know, this album was loved nationwide and broke many records. It was the first album to take all top ten songs on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the first time in history that the top ten had no men on it. It also passed Madonna’s record of thirty-eight top ten songs of any woman in history, achieving forty. 

It broke records both for most first-day streams and most second-day streams. It also was the third-largest streaming week for any album and the largest of any female artist. 

According to Billboard, it received 1.578 million forms of the album sold in the United States over the course of the first week, which, according to Entertainment Weekly, “It is the biggest week for any album since Adele’s ’25’ notched 3.482 million in its first week in 2015.” 

In addition to those, it also received the most vinyl sales since Harry Styles’ ‘Harry’s House.’

With this album on all streaming platforms also came many new options for purchase: various editions of vinyls and CDs as well as several different merch lines. 

Each vinyl/album has five editions: moonstone blue, jade green, blood moon, mahogany, and lavender. Moonstone blue is the original standard edition and jade green, blood moon, and mahogany are similar musically, they simply have different pictures within the vinyl and on its cover. The lavender, however, as I mentioned earlier, has three bonus tracks. These vinyls also come in CD form with the exact same differences as with the vinyls. 

So far, Taylor Swift has had three merch lines released. The “Lyric Collection,” “The Midnights Album Shop,” and the “A Color I’ve Searched For Collection.” Of the three, I personally found the items from the “Lyric Collection” to be the most stylish and aesthetically pleasing. In fact, this is the collection I chose to order merchandise for. The main “Midnights” shop has various items such as tools to make the four vinyls into a clock, a “Bejeweled” bracelet with colors for each of her albums released thus far, and a “Midnights” water bottle. the “Lyric Collection” had, as you can likely assume from the title, various types of clothes (shirts, crewnecks, hoodies, and a mug) inspired by or including various lyrics from songs on her album.

On October 24th, Taylor Swift went on “The Tonight Show” to discuss her album. In the interview, she also mentioned she would be going on tour, but would not yet disclose when she would do so or officially announce dates. She also went on to discuss the recording process and how each song she wrote was made. 

So, back to the tour topic. 

On November 1st, she announced “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour” along with her US tour dates. She will have thirty-three appearances throughout the country, stopping in Minneapolis at US Bank Stadium on June 24th. Tickets will be available to the general public on November 18th, at 10am local venue time. Signups for pre-sale are open until November 9th at 11:59pm ET and if you are selected, ticket sales will be on November 15th. 

With her, on the tour, will be nine different openers including Paramore, beabadoobee, Phoebe Bridgers, girl in red, MUNA, HAIM, GAYLE, Gracie Abrams, and Owenn. Specifically for the Minneapolis date, her openers will be girl in red and Owenn. 

Another detail of the tour is that it is sponsored by Capital One. Thus, if you have a Capital One card, you will also get early access to tickets (only four hours after those with pre-sale). She also partnered with Capital One for a commercial in which her various eras appeared throughout to show different things you can do with a Capital One card. 

TL;DR: “Midnights” is an amazing album and you will love it, so you should definitely go listen to it if you’re considering doing so. 

For more information, visit taylorswift.com, streaming services to listen to her album, any of her social media accounts, and also streaming services so you can listen to her album. 

Editorials/Student Voice, Travel/Food

The scam of the keto diet

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By: Irene Cohen

The ketogenic diet, or keto for short, is a diet that focuses on extremely low carbohydrates with high fat content and protein in their foods. The idea of using this diet in order to lose weight is that the low carbohydrate intake and high fat intake forces the body to go into ketosis and burn fat instead of carbs. This, theoretically, results in burning body fat for energy and subsequently losing weight.

The ketogenic diet was developed in the 1920s by physicians from the Mayo Clinic. It was developed as a means to help treat epilepsy, as it mimics fasting metabolically. Fasting has been used as a treatment for epilepsy for over one thousand years, and this new diet provided a more accessible and healthy way to mimic fasting while avoiding most of the negative side effects. This diet was a very popular method of treating epilepsy until antiepileptic medication was developed. The mystery of why this diet works for treating epilepsy is still unsolved.

The keto diet requires you to eat 80-90% of your daily caloric intake from fat, with less than 100g of protein and 10-15 grams of carbohydrates. This forces your body to go into “starvation mode”, or ketosis, where instead of using glucose as an energy source, it breaks down fat stores into ketones in the absence of sugars.

What most people experience as fat loss due to the keto diet is usually just a calorie deficit, according to experts. Tracking your macronutrients and calories makes you more conscious of your food intake, which in turn makes someone more likely to lower their intakes as a reaction to this awareness.

This diet is also incredibly hard to follow, and many people end up not even going into ketosis, instead just having a high fat diet while still having enough carbs to break them down as usual.

The ketogenic diet can even have consequences for those who don’t have a professional nutritionist to aid them or those who do not need to follow this diet in order to treat neural diseases, like epilepsy. With such a large chunk of your diet being fat, your heart takes a hit. Such a high fat intake for so long can really affect your arteries in the long run. Not only that, but limiting your carbs to such a degree limits the nutrients you can consume. Eating just one small apple can meet your daily carb limit, and think of all the nutrients you get from fruit with a high, but healthy, sugar content.

The keto diet is another fad diet of medical studies being taken out of context for those who are desperate to lose weight. Most professional nutritionists say that at best, for the average person, keto might be moderately healthy. The possible consequences of damaging your metabolism and heart long term in order to shed a few pounds is not worth it. Eating a balanced diet of fruits, veggies, and whole grains is almost always the answer, most professionals say. Leave the ketogenic diet to those using it as a means of treatment for various diseases.

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Editorials/Student Voice, Tech/Games

We should be using Chromebooks, not iPads

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By: Ava Bird

For us students, using iPads for school every day is what we’re used to. And many of us are perfectly okay with it. But there are also those who recognize the downsides that come along with using iPads for our learning – and there are a lot of downsides. 

First of all, almost every mobile application is different from its desktop counterpart, and when on a Chromebook, this is usually beneficial to the user.

For example, on the desktop version of Duolingo, you don’t have a limited amount of hearts; in fact, hearts aren’t even a thing, meaning that you can make as many mistakes as you need to without purchasing a “Super” membership (previously known as “Plus”). 

Another example is Schoology. On Chromebooks, students have a better, somewhat more advanced version of Schoology that is more organized and has more functions than the iPad version. One of these functions is how you can edit Google Doc assignments without even leaving the schoology app. There is a “My Document” button, which allows you to view and edit a teacher-created Doc, whether it be open-ended writing or a fill-in-the-blanks study guide, directly from Schoology. If you wanted to open the document from the Google Docs website instead, there’s an “Edit” button which allows you to do so. Any document opened via Schoology automatically saves under your Google account. 

On the iPad version of Schoology, on the other hand, there’s a button which allows you to create a written submission, but you can’t see the directions for the assignment while editing it, and you can’t easily go back and forth between the directions and your writing. And this isn’t the only part of Schoology where iPads don’t compare; there’s so much more, but it’s best to just leave it here.

Another thing that makes Chromebook usage much simpler than iPad usage is how, in most cases, everything you need to do can be done from your browser. This means that everything is right in front of you, and nothing will get lost behind layers and layers of forgotten apps and websites. If you’ve never used a Chromebook, it may seem like having too many tabs open at once would result in confusion and lack of organization, but there’s actually a very simple way to group tabs into different subjects or categories. 

Grouping tabs compresses the selected tabs into a folder of sorts, which you can then name and color code to your liking. For example, you can have a yellow tab group labeled “History,” in which you can store all of your tabs from that class; a blue tab group labeled “English;” and a green tab group labeled “Science.” The tab groups don’t even have to contain class materials – you could also have, say, a purple tab group labeled “other,” which might contain random things such as a Google search, a Netflix show, and the daily sudoku. For many people, however, grouping tabs isn’t even necessary, since there is a large enough view to contain a good amount of tabs.

If you’re worried about not being able to draw or take handwritten notes on apps such as Notability, or if you simply like having a touchscreen, that’s no reason to keep using an iPad; there are Chromebooks with touchscreens. And, unlike iPads, use of the touchscreen isn’t even necessary to perform the functions that your flimsy iPad keyboard/case can’t. Plus, it’s really nice to have a built-in keyboard mouse. 

There are some iPad apps that don’t have web versions, like Notability, but you’ll soon find that apps like that are easily replaceable. Notes can be printed and handed out to students, taken on paper or in a notebook, or shared via Schoology or through a Google Document. The same can be done for worksheets, and many people appreciate the occasional hard copy, as it helps maintain the handwriting skills that are vital to everyday life. There are also apps that are similar to Notability, such as Google Keep, which allows you to take notes in a way that is similar to Notability. But even so, once Notability and similar apps are taken out of the equation, many will find that they are easily replaceable or not even a necessity in the first place.

There are so many more reasons why we should be using Chromebooks instead of iPads, and I could go on and on about this, but here’s the bottom line: It’s time to stop pretending that iPads are the best option for our education. They’re not.

Books/Art

A review of ‘I Fell In Love With Hope’

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By: McKenzie Welch

‘I Fell in Love With Hope’ by Lancali, which is a pen name that the author writes and promotes under, is a book about learning how to hope again in a setting clouded with doubt and despair. It is a realistic fiction novel with moments of magical realism tied in. The novel itself is representative of many different types of people, such as disabled people, gay people, and non-binary people, to an extent.

The book takes place in a hospital, and the five main characters are either always in and out of the hospital, or have lived there for the majority of their lives. They all have differing chronic illnesses that affect their way of life, but they find the strength to make it through difficult situations by sticking together. Their names are Sam, Neo, Sony, Hikari, and Coeur, and their personalities are very unique, which makes it so many different readers can see themselves reflected in different characters.

The novel itself is very character-driven, and does not have a plot that is substantially controlled by climactic events. Because of this, the words have to be laid on the page in a way that is captivating to the reader. The sentences themselves are beautifully written, shown in the line, “Our words fold over each other, dance together as our hands mimic them, act them out, that comfortable, ruinous distance the only thing keeping her mine, ghostly, unreal” (Lancali 64). However, nearly every sentence is written in this style, which inevitably takes away from the impact a line like this should have had.

Also, because the plot is so character driven, you would imagine that the characters would be easy to connect to. I imagined that, and I was proven wrong. I had difficulty connecting to any of the characters in the novel, which made the novel pass incredibly slow at times. The characters do not have much depth, or if they do, the depths of their personalities are not well explored.

Next, the representation within the novel is done well for the most part. Four of the main characters have disabilities that affect their quality of life, and Lancali writes about both the good days and the bad. The author does not make an attempt to sugar coat something that shouldn’t be sugar coated. There is also a relationship between two male characters, and a relationship between a female character and a non-binary character.

The only thing in the novel that lacks in representation is the non-binary aspect. As I was reading, I did not know that the narrator was non-binary until the last quarter of the book. They are never referred to in the third person until that point. Because the book is largely advertised as being representative of non-binary people, I think that aspect could have been better executed.

All in all, I give ‘I Fell in Love With Hope’ 3⁄5 stars. The novel has a very good concept, and even an unexpected plot twist at the end, but the base of the story. and the story itself. could have been structured differently in order to make it easier to read. I also believe that the writing could have been less extravagant at times in order to make the well-thought out sentences more impactful to the story. However, I do believe that if you value representation in novels and enjoy character-driven stories, you should give this novel a try.

Tech/Games

JOYSTiCK Ep. 2: ‘Cuphead’: Hand-drawn dominance

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By: Daniel Kendle

When ‘Contra’ meets Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, I guess.

Hello, and welcome to JOYSTiCK, the HPSH serial that enjoys reviewing and exploring video games. This episode is of ‘Cuphead’, a 2017 indie game that has become one of the most popular of it’s category in the last half-decade, partially being that it’s the only known video game to be entirely made up of hand-drawn cell animation, rather than digitally-drawn, CGI or other forms. But is ‘Cuphead’ a shining example of gaming? Let’s take a look.

‘Cuphead’ was created by brothers Chad and Jared Moldenhauer, who were not video game developers at first, but then jumped to making the game after their recollections of games as kids. Reportedly, the first iterations of ‘Cuphead’ were based around a “school grade” aesthetic, with the game progression also having you move up in grades and art style. Eventually they went with a “rubber-hose” style after their friends saw them use an old 1930’s cartoon character as a stand-in for an actual game model. And then after that, they created Studio MDHR.

To talk about rubber-hose animation, it defines cartoons such as Betty Boop, Popeye, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and other Disney and Fleischer Studios work. It gets its name from the rubbery, unrealistic animation in most shorts. These are some of ‘Cupheads’s’ main influences, but the other prominent one is of “Run n’ Gun” games from the 80’s and 90’s, like ‘Super Ghouls n’ Ghosts’ and ‘Megaman’. These titles were normally difficult, grind-centric games that had players face off against bosses and enemies, focused around dodging attacks first and dealing damage second. They rewarded muscle memory and quick reflexes, as players would normally spend a good amount of time learning bosses’ movement and attacks in order to win.

‘Cuphead’ was first introduced in E3 2014, in a short trailer that didn’t feature much, except the art style chosen. Even with the relatively-small amount of info, the game was a highlight of the Xbox press showcase. The game had periodic updates shown until eventually releasing September 29, 2017. It was very well received, with over 1 million copies being sold within its first 2 weeks on the market. Its art style, difficulty, and gameplay were praised, and the game has been running smoothly ever since, selling 6 million copies by July 2020.

PART ONE: GAMEPLAY

‘Cuphead’ is, as stated previously, a Run n’ Gun game, where the player has to shoot targets and enemies whilst dodging attacks. ‘Cuphead’ is divided into 2 different types of levels: boss levels and platform levels.

The main focus of ‘Cuphead’ are the bosses. The game is one big Boss Rush, with most levels being where you have to fight a powerful enemy with multiple stages. The game is a VERY challenging game, reminiscent of other games in the genre. Most of the game is you reattempting bosses and stages, though it’s not annoying most of the time. In fact, defeating a level is incredibly satisfying!

The game’s moral of “tough but fair” lets the game designers not have to create bosses that scale with difficulty, if by only a little bit. They instead mold them around the idea of muscle memory and skill, the way a player proceeds through their journey being of their might rather than of a scaling difficulty. This is something other famously-hard games practice, like ‘Dark Souls’.

But diving into actual play, ‘Cuphead’ has someone shooting projectiles out of their fingertips (More on this in the Story section). There are 9 different types, each with different values and properties.

  • The Peashooter is your basic shot, the one given to you at the start of the game.
  • The Chaser is the weakest, but can track a target around and hit them without needing the player to aim.
  • The Spread has great damage in a small radius in front of the user, so it’s good for close-quarters combat.
  • The Lobber shoots gravity-affected balls that bounce on the ground.
  • The Roundabout is like a boomerang in that it loops back after firing it, so you’re able to hit something even when your back is turned.
  • The Charge has a short charging time (duh) between shots, but does the most damage out of any weapon. It’s also the only shot where you’re able to hold it without having to auto-fire.
  • The Crackshot is arguably the best shot. Like the Chaser it follows targets, but also does a lot more damage and will do more damage by shooting an enemy before the shots break away to track and hit the target.
  • The Converge is a 3-way shot that narrows its flight path when the player is locked into shooting. (I’ll explain this later as well.)
  • Finally, the Twist-Up is the opposite of the Lobber, flying upwards instead of down.

Along with these shots are things known as Charms, little abilities that give Cuphead extra perks. These can range from extra hearts to a smoke bomb, from axe-parries to even more hearts! They mix up gameplay just enough that, like shots, can dramatically change how a boss fight plays out depending on what loadout you use.

While 2 shots can be equipped at a time, only one Charm is able to be.

But where do you get shots and Charms from? The shop, of course! The game has a traveling shop that can be found on 4 of the isles of which the game is played. Each item costs coins, which can be found in the platform levels, each with 5 coins each. I enjoy having to buy your power ups; ‘Cuphead’ isn’t exactly the type of game to have power ups within the levels, there’s only 6 platform levels along with the 34 boss fights, so there just wouldn’t be enough space to level out the progression if shots and power ups were inside the levels themselves.

Speaking of which, let’s talk about the platform levels. Each has unique theming and gameplay, with some focusing on different mechanics entirely. While the bosses have you shooting them up until they eventually run out of health, platform levels have you reaching an end goal. And honestly… they’re fine.

We’ll get to the bosses soon, but with the 6 platform levels, they feel like they have less of that “grandness” of the rest of ‘Cuphead’. While fine in their own right they feel more like afterthought than a mainstay of the game. They follow a linear progression, with you more or less traveling right while shooting enemies. No big baddies, no interesting concepts and ideas, just… eh. They’re alright, but “alright” isn’t cutting it for a game like this.

The main characters Cuphead and Mugman also are okay to control. Since the main game revolves around shooting, having the player be able to shoot in multiple directions is an obvious addition. However, hand-drawn animation is extremely time consuming, so animating hundreds, maybe even THOUSANDS of different poses would’ve taken forever. Instead, it was decided to only have players shoot in 8 different directions: forward, backward, up, down, and diagonal versions of all of them. This is VERY janky; I found myself more often than not shooting forward only, elevating and de-elevating if needing to shoot up or down respectively. This is very awkward, and doesn’t work very well. It’s a moment where it feels like the art direction and game design clash, making a worse experience.

‘Cuphead’ has a ‘lock-in’ mechanic that lets you access this 8-way shooting. When holding down the respective button, you’ll be locked into place, allowing you to aim as you fire using what you would normally use to run. This is also bad to control, as ‘Cuphead’ is a game where you need to be constantly moving around in order to dodge attacks, and having a button lock you in place is disorienting to the rest of the game, sorry.

PART TWO: BOSSES

‘Cuphead’s’ bosses are arguably some of the best in the business, in my opinion. They ALL have some of the best quality in gaming, with snappy combat and powerful attacks that combine with their incredibly creative concepts. There’s too many to list like from my last review on ‘Metroid Dread’, so I’ll simply mention some of the best and most interesting of the bunch.

Bosses in the game all have generally whimsical and fun ideas, just like how the 1930’s style of animation had very crazy and loony settings and characters. I feel like this gives them a distinct appearance when compared to another game’s enemies. Overall, I love this game’s bosses, for they feel like creations that remove themselves from the mold of the rest of the gaming industry’s blueprints.

There are 2 bosses that I’ll consider “Tutorial” matter, though I’ll only be talking about one: The Root Pack. Made up of 3 mean vegetables, they’re essential in teaching the player the 3 main ways attacks try to hit you, and how to dodge: jumping up and down, moving left and right, and a combination of the two. And the fights are fun too! I’m glad that they made the first bosses to the same standards as further fights, showing the complex polish of the bosses.

Another is Cagney Carnation, one of the most iconic characters in ‘Cuphead’. The flower’s fight is also great fun, with raised platforms and more challenging attacks to avoid. They also introduce the idea of bosses changing form, with him eventually turning into a tangle of weeds and barbs by the end of the battle. A fantastic fight; one of my personal favorites.

Moving farther up the ladder is my favorite boss in the game, Werner Werman, this German tank pilot who controls a giant mechanical cat in his fight. I don’t know why, but this fight is just so fun. I like the idea of having a smaller scale fight (literally) and have the two be the size of actual mice. I don’t know if this is controversial, but this is my favorite boss in the game, personally.

Finally, let’s talk about the final boss: the Devil. He’s one of ‘Cuphead’s’ hardest fights, and for good reason. You’ve made your way all the way to Hell, and he’s certainly fit for his kingdom. The fight’s chaotic and eerie, but man, defeating him is satisfying as all heck, and comes to make you realize what you’ve just done: beaten the game. While I do think that some of his attacks feel a bit RNG-based, the Devil’s a great way to end the main game. And speaking of the Devil…

PART THREE: STORY

I didn’t touch on ‘Metroid Dread’s’ story due to it being the final entry in the main Metroid saga, and I didn’t want to spoil anything. ‘Cuphead’s’ story is much more simple, and pretty easy to figure out. It’s not a detriment to the game though; I like having a more basic plot compared to other games having complex, moving narratives.

Cuphead and his brother Mugman are two kids who one day come across the Devil’s Casino. After gambling for a while they find themselves on a winning streak, to which the Devil notices and gives them a wager: if they can win their next roll, they get all the casino’s riches. If not, the Devil gets their souls.

Mugman doesn’t want to spread his luck dry, but Cuphead blindly rolls again. Of course, he gets snake eyes, and the Devil now gets their lives. The boys beg for mercy, and the Devil admits he’s gone too far… before tasking the 2 to go out and bring back the souls of those who owe him theirs.

Not knowing how to get others’ souls, they go to their grandfather Elder Kettle, who gives them a magical potion to let them shoot lasers out of their fingers. Eventually, after using their powers to defeat all the bosses (debtors) Cuphead and Mugman storm into the Devil’s casino again, and after beating his lackey King Dice, defeat the Devil as well, and free the debtors from the demon’s grasp, ending the story in a happy light.

Like I said, the story’s not very complex, instead feeling like something an actual Disney short would be about. I like it, though I do feel like we don’t see the bosses outside of battle, and now knowing them to be the debtors the boys have to beat it would’ve been pretty cool to see them after the main game is done, and maybe be able to talk to them and stuff.

PART FOUR: GRAPHICS

I mean, what is there to say?

‘Cuphead’ is arguably one of the best looking video games of the past few years, and possibly even of all time. Its unique hand-drawn animation style lends itself to some gorgeous graphics and fidelity beyond anything of recent memory.

One thing I noticed is that it feels like something straight out of a Disney cartoon. The backgrounds have such a warm feeling, I wish that I could look at them without having to be constantly sweating through the boss battles!

Oh, and the animation! It’s SO good. Studio MDHR used a type of animation called “Squash n’ Stretch” to animate moving objects, which basically means that a lot of frames exaggerate and contort frames of things to feel more fluid-like, which gives everything such a fascinating appearance that hasn’t been seen in many other games. It was practically eye-candy to myself, someone who loves animation in movies and cartoons. Great work all around.

There are some blips in quality here and there. Some bosses feel a little more constrained and bland compared to the animation of others, the same going for standard enemies and other sprites. Occasionally there’s some landscapes in the game without the polish seen in others. What I’m getting at here is that the few problems I have in the graphics department mostly come down to fluctuating art and standards seen in it. I’ll admit it, some places in the game look better than others. Whether that’s the art direction’s fault or the area’s theming, it’s still an issue nonetheless. But still, this game looks like some kind of blessed artifact from the 1930’s that ironically holds up greatly 5 years later.

PART FIVE: CONCLUSION

‘Cuphead’ is a great game. It’s snappy combat, beautiful visuals and – while not mentioned – great music makes it an awesome game to explore and play. However, some issues do arise, like boring platforming levels, semi-inconsistent graphical quality and clunky controls. For this, I think ‘Cuphead’ is a solid 8/10. While it does flub in some areas other games don’t, this is a great package, and deserves the recognition it has received, and hopefully will continue to gain.

That’s all for this episode of JOYSTiCK, and I hope you’ve enjoyed it! I plan on doing other indie games soon, so if you’re into that, make sure you stick around and not only check out my work, but other people’s as well.

Editorials/Student Voice, Tech/Games

iPhone VS Android

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By: Semaj Carter & Jhari Boayla

Android:

So, we all know about the debate about whether iPhone or Android is better. This debate has been going on for almost a decade and I’m going to show the good qualities of Android.

Firstly, the phones have more storage and the battery life lasts a lot longer than iPhones. The newest iPhone is the iPhone 14, which has the same qualities as the iPhone 13. According to an Apple developer, “The iPhone 14 features the same A15 Bionic chip that powered the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max.” This means that the iPhone 14 isn’t that different from the iPhone 13 and there was no point in making a new one except for exploiting money from people.

Android doesn’t have a lot of good features, but it does have reasonable upgrades and isn’t as expensive as an iPhone. The creators of Android did not shut off older models as soon as they released a new phone to get people to spend more money on a phone that’s practically the same as the older model, just like Apple has done, and is still allegedly doing.

The iPhone’s price is ridiculous, just like every other Apple product that they release; the price range is usually over six hundred dollars and that’s a lot for a small box.

The developers explained how there is no difference between the two phones and therefore there was no point in an upgrade. Most ‘Android’ products get an upgrade with different features, but the developers are having trouble with the camera quality.

Although there are a lot of statements that support both sides of the argument, this is my reasoning why I think ‘Android’ is better. I hope this helped you become more knowledgeable about Apple products.

iPhone:

I feel like most people feel like and think that iPhones are better phones than Android. Most people from this generation, I would say, have iPhones and only a few people have Android. I would say that some things about the iPhone are good, but some things don’t go to an extent like how Android can.

iPhones are popular, almost everyone has one. It’s something that most people in this generation have because Apple is a brand that I would say is ‘popular’ to most, I would say it is because it’s been out for years now and the company is very successful in what they are doing. There are a few things that I don’t like about iPhones. I would say you should upgrade to a new iPhone every two years because you can’t do certain things.

Some of the things I do like about the iPhone are: Facetime, iMessage games, and Face ID. Facetime because it’s a way to stay in contact with family. iMessage, is good because it’s really easy to use. Face ID is nice because if you forget your password, all you need to do is show your face.

So, even though the iPhone is missing some of the things the Android has, it still has some nice things going for it.

*NOTE: This article is kind of biased and does not completely rely on facts, but instead more on the authors’ opinions.

Travel/Food

Review of Haiku sushi restaurant

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By: Alexa Ramirez & Kaylen Fuentez

For our review, we’ll be going to the Japanese bistro, Haiku. They serve a number of things such as sushi and hibachi, which is what we decided to order. We ordered their Kappa Maki rolls, Onion soup, as well as their Chicken Hibachi.

Inside the haiku restaurant

The first thing we noticed when we arrived was the ambiance; it was very calm, it wasn’t too busy, and was fairly quiet. They had slow, quiet music playing in the background and yellow dim lights throughout the restaurant.

We were checked on 2 or 3 times before our food was served, our glasses of water were filled frequently, and we were checked on while we were eating to make sure we had everything we needed.

It also didn’t take long for our food to come and we were able to get our checks quickly.

The order of the Kappa Maki

We ordered 3 dishes: an order of Sushi, Hibachi chicken, and we each got an order of Onion Soup.

The Sushi Roll we ordered was the Kappa Maki (cucumber) roll. It was priced at $5 for 6 rolls, a very reasonable price, and came with a few additive elements such as soy sauce, wasabi and ginger. The sushi rolls consisted of cucumber, seaweed and white rice wrapped on the inside. These rolls were delicious, and tasted very fresh. This order, aside from being super delicious for non vegetarians, being a delicious vegetarian option was definitely a bonus. We rate the cucumber roll a 4.5/5 stars and would definitely get it again.

Another thing we ordered was the onion soup, which was priced at $3. Aside from the actual soup, inside there were mushrooms and scallions. The soup was very savory, tasted really good, and was a nice warm appetizer, especially on a cold day. We’d rate the onion soup 4⁄5 stars as well.

The Hibachi Chicken order

The next order we received was the Hibachi Chicken Junior, which was the smaller version of the regular Hibachi Chicken. It cost $12.95, and was served with chicken, fried rice and veggies. The chicken was cooked to perfection and perfectly balanced savory and sweet sauce flavors. The fried rice was warm, savory, and overall my favorite part of the dish. The cooked zucchini paired well with these two, and really tied the dish together. All of the dish’s components were spectacular and deserves a 5/5.

Overall, the excellent service, kind waitresses, the welcoming ambiance, and delicious food they serve really push Haiku over the top. This restaurant has so many delicious dishes to choose from and is friendly to all people hoping to enjoy this amazing place. We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this restaurant and rate it a 5/5.