Tag Archives: Review

Travel/Food

Dutch Baby recipe and review

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By: Nils Hilleson

Dutch baby slice on plate with fork, on table with red and white checked tablecloth

Ingredients:

  • 3 large eggs (room temp)
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup whole milk (room temp)
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • Pinch of nutmeg
  • 4 tbsp unsalted butter

Equipment:

  • 10-inch skillet

Steps:

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

Combine eggs, flour, milk, sugar and nutmeg in a bowl and mix until smooth.

Place butter in a heavy 10-inch skillet and place in oven. As soon as the butter has melted add the batter to the pan and return the pan to the oven and cook for 20 minutes until puffed and golden.

Lower oven temperature to 300 degrees and bake 5 minutes longer.

Remove from oven and cut into slices and serve with toppings.

You can put whatever you want on these but they’re like pancakes so I ate some with maple syrup. Some people put powdered sugar on them and The New York Times, where I got this recipe from, also suggests preserves and cinnamon sugar as possible toppings. It tasted just like a pancake that was a bit crispier than usual; I’d say the crust got a good bit crispier than the main body of it though.

This was not a hard recipe to cook at all. The hardest thing for me to do was move the pan into the oven because it was pretty heavy and I was doing it with one hand. It’s definitely a good thing to cook if you don’t want to put too much effort into cooking something and still end up with some pretty good food.

Despite the name this food originated in Seattle, Washington; it also isn’t a baby. It was named Dutch Baby because of a mispronunciation of the word Deutsch, which means German and baby because they were originally served much smaller.

Tech/Games

‘Sons of the Forest’: Review

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By: Amir Salaad

WARNING: This review talks about some major parts of the game’s storyline and characters from the game and has some spoilers.

‘Sons of the Forest’ is an amazing horror survival game. The game was made by Endnight Games and first released as early access in February 2023, later releasing fully one year later in February 2024. It’s actually a sequel to an earlier game that’s called ‘The Forest’, but you don’t have to play that to play ‘Sons of the Forest’. ‘Sons of the Forest’ takes everything from ‘The Forest’ and turns it up. The world is way bigger, scarier mobs, higher graphics, and there’s way more things to build. It’s one of those games that grabs you and doesn’t let go because of how thrilling it is.

The story of ‘Sons of the Forest’ puts you in the shoes of a guy named Jack Holt. He’s a journalist and he’s also a personal friend to this wealthy guy named Edward Puffton, who’s the CEO of a company called PuffCorp. Edward, his wife, and daughter go missing on this remote island and Jack joins this team of military contractors that gets sent to that island to go find them. But, things go wrong almost immediately. The helicopter they fly in on gets shot down and you wake up on the island alone, and you’re surrounded by cannibals and mutants. You have to survive and find out what happened on the island. The story has some interesting and creepy lore if you take the time to explore the island and find notes and things that are all over the map.

The two companions you get in this game is what makes me like it. The first one is Kelvin, a soldier from your team who survives the crash but has brain damage and is mute and deaf. He can’t speak or hear you so you have to give him orders on paper and hand it to him. He can gather food, help you build, and just does whatever you tell him to do. The second companion is actually Edward’s daughter, named Virginia, but she’s been mutated by something on the island and has 3 legs and 3 arms. When you first see her in game she runs away, but if you’re patient and don’t try to scare her off, she slowly but surely warms up to you. Eventually she’ll fight by your side with a pistol in one hand and a shotgun in another.

The survival and building aspect in this game is also something I really like. You can build basically anything you want, like small little shelters or big log cabins that have more than one floor. You can collect logs, rocks, sticks, and other types of materials and put things together with a simple and easy building system. It does take time to learn but once you figure it out it gets really satisfying. On top of the building, you also have to keep things like your hunger, thirst, rest, and temperature in check. When it hits winter on the island it’s pretty brutal and if you aren’t prepared then you’ll probably die.

Exploring the caves and bunkers on the island is probably one of the scariest parts of the game. Above ground is actually not that bad and the scenery is pretty beautiful. But the second you are inside either a cave or bunker, everything changes. It gets darker, space gets tighter, and genuinely more terrifying. Some of the mutants that live in these types of places are disgusting and hard to look at, and the lighting makes it so much worse. But the loot you get inside kind of makes up for it. That is if you’re willing to go inside.

Overall, ‘Sons of the Forest’ is a really nice survival/horror game with some deep building mechanics, interesting story, and amazing visuals. Endnight Games really did something with this, right here. It’s one of those games that you still think about even after a while of playing it. I would give ‘Sons of the Forest’ an 8.8/10. It’s exclusively on PC through Steam.

Tech/Games

‘DOOM: The Dark Ages’

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By: Weston Halgunseth

Quick Verdict

For me ‘DOOM: The Dark Ages’ is a wonderfully written game that rewrites the modern id Software formula. By removing the fast and flying like feeling of the game ‘DOOM Eternal’, ‘DOOM: The Dark Ages’ gives us a tankier combat style. It gives a prequel that feels both new and familiar to the older games. For people like me that love action packed games, this game is a must play. If I had to rate it I’d give it a 9/10.

Introduction

When id Software gave us the ‘Doom’ story back in 2016 they taught us how to fight. In ‘DOOM Eternal’, they taught us how to fly. But in ‘DOOM: The Dark Ages’ they take us back to the very start of the story. Throwing us into a dark sci-fi fantasy prequel that tells us the story of the DOOM Slayer and his unfortunate line of fallen pets.

Stepping away from futuristic UAC facilities and neon-lit cities, ‘The Dark Ages’ drops players into a gritty metal infused medieval world that I was taken aback by a lot of the time. The Slayer is no longer just a fast-moving space marine, he is the embodiment of the ultimate weapon of the Sentinels. He battles through ruined castles, ancient forests, and eerie cosmic realms. The result is a crazy style change that fits the story into the franchise’s atmosphere but the visual differences from the previous games was very noticeable.

Combat & Gameplay

I think the biggest risk the developers at id Software had was the purposely slowing down of the game play and the Slayer. The double jumps and constant air dashes of previous games have been replaced with an intense sense of weight and power. You don’t just run around demons instead you ram right through them and tank their shots. In my opinion, this is a great shift they made that was the perfect amount of change they could have done.

The Shield Saw Revolution

One of the fan favorites, and my favorite weapon, was the new Shield Saw. It is worn on the Slayer’s left arm. It completely changes the rhythm of DOOMs combat. Instead of being close range you can be far and just throw your shield. For me, I loved this new weapon. It really helped with crowds of demons.

  • Perfect Parry: Timing a block against incoming attacks staggers enemies and leaves them open to devastating counterattacks which adds a feature that I loved to use a lot especially when fighting hordes.
  • Projectile Shredder: Revving up the shield and launching it into a crowd allows it to tear through lesser demons before snapping back to your arm made me feel like I was a more twisted version of Captain America.

A Medieval Arsenal

The new list of weapons I get to pick from perfectly matches the dark fantasy settings. While the iconic Loadout of the Slayer is good, this new one fits the theme perfectly. But they kept the super shotgun because what’s a Slayer game without a super shotgun. Some of my favorite new guns are the nail gun, and the steel ball launcher capable of breaking enemies armor easily which helped show that the DOOM Slayer’s presence is still there.

When the size of the war in ‘DOOM: The Dark Ages’ reaches the most chaotic part, the game almost becomes cinematic. We pilot an Atlan mech which can take out skyscraper sized demons, and as a fire breathing drake with cybernetic wings that can take down ships 20x its size. Playing as these things made it super fun to play and become the most memorable spots to game for me.

World Building and Visuals

‘The Dark Ages’ does a fantastic job filling in the gaps of DOOM’s mythology. Seeing the early days of the Slayer’s rage and diving deeper into Sentinel lore gives the campaign a weight that previous games only hinted at through codex entries and text logs giving me more of a complete understanding of the lore behind the Slayer and why he is so rage filled.

Visually, the game is stunning. Powered by the id Tech 8 engine ‘The Dark Ages’ is a beast in scale. Massive battlefields often feature hundreds of active combatants fighting in the distance while you tear through enemies in the foreground. On PS5 the performance remained smooth and consistent, maintaining a strong frame rate even during the most chaotic encounters.

Honoring a Legendary Trilogy

To truly appreciate ‘The Dark Ages’ you have to look at the giants whose shoulders it stands upon.

‘DOOM’ (2016) was a insane return to form that reminded players why first-person shooters are so exciting. It perfectly balanced straight push forward combat with relentless action and atmosphere which is what made me love this trilogy and was the first time I saw what Doom was.

Then came ‘DOOM Eternal’, a lightning fast game of combat chess that pushed my skill and reflexes to their limits through demanding movement, resource management, and precision which was a struggle at times for me.

Both games are widely regarded as masterpieces of the modern FPS genre.

Rather than trying to copy either game ‘The Dark Ages’ serves as the perfect third pillar. It blends the raw atmosphere of ‘DOOM’ (2016) with the mechanical depth of ‘DOOM Eternal’ while removing much of the divisive platforming. The result is a game that stands proudly beside its predecessors and completes a modern trilogy where each game offers its own way to play.

The Pros and Cons

Pros

  • The Shield Saw is a brilliant addition that makes parrying feel like a blessing especially in big bosses where I’d struggle in. 
  • The dark fantasy art direction is stunning and gives the series a fresh new look.
  • The soundtrack is an absolute powerhouse and perfectly complements the action. Being unlike the last games highly aggressive score this game is powerful instead.
  • The Atlan mech and mecha dragon parts give me  unforgettable moments.
  • The game has excellent world building that expands the DOOM universe in many ways giving me a lot to explore and endless hours of gameplay for me to play.
  • Cons
  • Fans of ‘DOOM Eternal’s’ fast airborne movement may find the heavier combat style jarring at first. I felt it at first but got used to it and started to love the game.
  • For me a few of the environmental traversal puzzles slightly slow down the pacing.
  • Some fan-favorite weapons are absent which disappointed me a bit even if the decision makes sense for the game’s direction.

Final Thoughts

‘DOOM: The Dark Ages’ proves that id Software isn’t afraid to take risks with its most iconic franchise. By taking away the Slayer’s speed and replacing it with armor, a shield and the unstoppable momentum of a juggernaut, the developers have created a prequel that stands firmly on its own.

It’s heavy, brutal and cinematic and most importantly, it’s a great addition to the DOOM series and a worthy chapter in one of gaming’s greatest modern trilogies; with me at least.

Tech/Games

‘Dying Light’: Review

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By: Amir Salaad

WARNING: This review talks about some major story parts and characters from the game and contains spoilers.

‘Dying Light’ is one of the best horror/zombie survival games I have ever played. The game was made by Techland and first released in January of 2015. Even though the game is over a decade old it still feels fun and exciting compared to other games that have been released recently.

The main way to get around the game movement wise is parkour although, you can unlock a grapple hook later on in the story. Dying Light mixes parkour, fighting, survival, and horror together in a really nice way. It keeps you interested, basically glued to the game the entire time you’re playing. Well, at least for me.

The setting of Dying Light takes place in a city called Harran after a zombie outbreak happens. You, the main character, play as a man named Kyle Crane. He works for the GRE as an agent and gets sent into the city to track down a colonel gone rogue named Suleiman who stole a file very important to the GRE. But the life he sees in front of him changes him and he starts to go against the GRE because they planned to weaponize the Harran virus and bomb the city once their intentions were revealed to the world.

The main campaign of this game is emotional, serious, and captivating at times. There are many characters Crane meets in the game, but my favorite character is Jade Aldemir. Jade is smart, brave, and very strong. She helps Crane with many things in the story and always tries to look out for him. That’s why it hurt when she sacrificed herself and gave the antizin to Crane instead of using it on herself near the end of the game.

One of the best things about the game is the movement system. You can run across the roofs of buildings, climb them, jump over walls, and swing around the city if you have the grappler hook. The parkour makes the game feel somewhat real as if you’re actually doing the parkour yourself. Even moving around when you’re not doing missions is fun and thrilling. I think this key part of the game makes it stick out from other games in the same genre.

The combat in this game is also top notch. At the start, your choice of weapons are not good: like pipes and planks. But later in the game, you can collect different things and craft new and better weapons like swords, electric bats, and strong hammers. Fighting zombies can go from almost impossible to really easy depending on your choice of weapons. Some are fast and strong while others are slow and weak. So, you might have to pick the right weapon for each type of zombie.

The scariest part of the game to me is during nighttime. During the day zombies are still dangerous but you’re able to make your way fairly easily enough. But at night, stronger zombies called Volatiles come out. They are faster, stronger, and can kill you in seconds compared to a normal zombie during the day. The game during the day compared to during the night is different. You run through the dark streets that are somewhat lit facing way stronger variants of zombies that chase you down. I like this aspect of the game because it gets your heart racing and induces fear.

The graphics are also really nice in this game even though it’s over a decade old. The detail in the city, how abandoned it feels, Techland really brought it to life. The sound effects are also amazing. Like the zombie growls, the music of the game, and background sounds of the city. All these combined together makes the feeling more intense.

Overall, ‘Dying Light’ is an amazing horror/zombie survival game with thrilling parkour, exciting combat, and a strong and emotionally heavy story that will keep you glued to your seat. Techland did a great job mixing all the action and horror together. Even after all the time the games been out, it is still worth playing to this day.

I would easily give ‘Dying Light’ a 9.1/10. It’s available on PC, Playstation, Xbox, and Nintendo.

Music/Concerts

BEJALVIN discography review

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By: Maple Graham

BEJALVIN is a cybergrind, hardcore electronic duo—made up of Craig and Gunkman—characterized by their unapologetically harsh and abrasive music. They hail from Minneapolis, and while widely unknown among most people, they still have energy that I’ve not experienced from any other music. Since hearing them on their North American Devastation tour, I’ve come to appreciate their unique style, and I’ve since listened to their entire main discography: ‘BEJALVIN’ (the self-referential album), ‘BEJIBLE,’ ‘BEJUBSTEP 3’, and the most recent ‘PLANETARY DEVESTATION’. I’ll be giving my opinion on these main 4 albums only.

With ‘BEJALVIN’ being their first work, it’s no surprise that I find it to be the most lackluster of their main releases—however it’s promising, and you see a glimpse of their future style within the album. It’s uniform throughout: no interludes or prolonged breaks for one to catch their breath. My favorite song from this album is “CRUNCH,” as it’s by far the most sonically violent. But make no mistake—this album is consistent with itself, and “CRUNCH” doesn’t deviate from the main listening experience.

‘BEJIBLE’ is quite a few steps up from their debut album, split directly down the middle and dividing it into two “sides” similar to a vinyl. This is directly stated within “WORST SONG EVER” when Gunkman states “I guess this side of the record’s over now / If you got this […] on vinyl, flip that […] over / If you don’t got this […] on vinyl that makes a lot more sense ’cause we never pressed this […],” during the fade-out of the song. The first side is noticeably more lulling, with a 5 minute opening track—”SYS612 (Bejalvin’s Lament)”—sounding nothing like their usual selves, and then hitting the listener with a wall of noise a third of the way through “BORN MONEY SWAG DIE.” The second side is less polarizing; I find the first side of the album to outshine the second half, but only because of the initial fakeout. The work as a whole is extremely cohesive, with most songs segueing into one another. This trend only continues in their future works.

‘BEJUBSTEP 3’ is the most cohesive of all the albums: it can play front to back with no pauses, and could’ve been released as a giant 19 minute song without any issue. This album features a staggering amount of features and guest artists—only one song out of the 7 track album is made entirely by BEJALVIN. This album also comes with a “full album visual experience” on their YouTube channel, which fits the music perfectly, yet I would not recommend it to anyone who’s sensitive to rapidly flashing lights. This most likely pushed them a bit further into the limelight, and exposed them to fans of the other people they collaborated with.

‘PLANETARY DEVASTATION’ is the most recent release of the duo, and their longest. Clocking in at 33 minutes, it’s intense and is practically an extension of ‘BEJIBLE.’ Fast-paced, loud, and oddly coherent—their effort is clearly shown here through the constant meshing of genres and quick mood changes. Not a single song directly shares a theme, aside from the interlude “SMOKING KILLS” and the following “SPACE ALIEN GANGSTALKERS,” in which the duo compare substance abuse with getting abducted by aliens. Other themes of the songs within the album include shoplifting within “SHOPLIFTING,” dissing Yung Gravy and demanding a grand total of 100 dollars from him within “YUNG GRAVY,” and scrolling on social media within their song “X.” It’s dark comedy combined with noise—something I’ve come to enjoy from them.

In all, BEJALVIN is not for everyone, but they admittedly have refreshing views when it comes to music and self-expression. Additionally, during their live shows, they’re both extremely energetic, even when the crowd is really small, and they make music with a clear passion. I think that anyone who enjoys experimental music should listen to them at least once!

Tech/Games

‘Resident Evil Requiem’ review

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By: Weston Halgunseth

Warning: This review contains spoilers

‘Resident Evil Requiem’ is a crazy new game. It manages to mix scary moments with the kind of fighting that you would find in games like ‘Doom’. What makes it special is how it uses 2 different characters to tell its story. This keeps the game feeling new and exciting from the beginning to the end. If you love good jumpscares, epic boss fights and crazy lore this game is exactly what you need to try.

The feel of the game

The coolest part of Requiem for me is that you actually get 2 games in one basically because of the 2 main characters Grace and Leon.

When you are playing as Grace most people choose to play in first person POV. Grace isn’t trained at all and is only an FBI blood analyst that was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her parts are all about just survival, walking through shadows, hiding from monsters, and solving puzzles. It was always super intense for me because every time an enemy showed up it was a jumpscare. Also, the flashlight would be very dim and most of the time unusable. Pair that with the low ammo and the low supplies for crafting and it makes a good mix for a survival horror game.

Then with Leon’s POV most people choose a third person POV. Leon is experienced in bioweapons and knows how to deal with them with 20+ years of experience. Leon is strong, fast, and smart even though he’s infected carrying heavy weapons such as a shotgun, rifle, sub machine gun, etc. Leon also shows his strength when he’s fighting things 2-3x his size with only basic weapons and an axe, and he also shows his strength with his ability to parry almost anything to a simple punch to a car. All these things together makes his parts feel like a perfect fighter game with a hint of horror.

These two POVs make a perfect mix for a game showing experience, skill, and aging; giving the game a rocky feeling.

Aspects of the game: A world that looks and sounds real

The game looks beautiful in a dark, creepy way. It takes place in the ruins of Raccoon City after its bombing 20+ years ago and its details in the atmosphere are impressive. You’ll walk through streets with vines growing up broken buildings, and rain puddles reflecting showing the details and thought put into the game.

But the sound is what actually kept me up at night. You can hear the wind whistling through broken glass, heavy thuds of footprints on the floor above you giving you a smooth gameplay. An enemy called “the girl” stalks Grace through a hospital. She doesn’t scream or anything loud she just whispers and mumbles when chasing you. Hearing her sounds coming down a hallway is terrifying. 

Why it’s worth your time

The story lasts about 15 to 18 hours which feels just right because most games like this are short but this game ran on for so long it made me feel like this was multiple games. While you do repeat a lot of the same areas a lot, there are a lot of moments where new enemies show up so the player isn’t bored of the same area while keeping them on their toes.

‘Resident Evil Requiem’ is a gem. It’s rare to find a game that is a terrifying experience and a fun action game at the same time without feeling boring, but this game nailed it. Other games that have done this are ‘Doom’, some Roblox games and that’s about it because it’s just so rare and hard to make a game like this. 

My personal review

If I had to rate this game on a scale of 1-10 I would simply give it a 9/10 just because the fact the game looks and feel are something I have never seen in any other game from things like simple decay on furniture to the entire city. The look of ruins being portrayed perfectly makes the game perfect, also the lore makes fans of ‘Resident Evil’ happy because there is so many Easter eggs from earlier games such as ‘Resident Biohazard’, ‘RE3’, etc with things like the collectibles to Mr. X and Mr. Tofu which is a playable character in ‘Resident Evil’. 

My favorite character 

My favorite character is Grace even though it was fun to play Leon it was fun to have a game so good at showing the horror side of a game so well. 

Scariest part

I think the scariest moment of the game was with the beginning of the hospital with “the girl” stalking or chasing you and you’d have to run into the light to be safe, and all around just a horrifying part of the game. 

Least favorite thing

My least favorite part of the game is at the end when Zeno, a look alike of Whesker was about to fight Leon, but lost his powers and then getting taken out by Victor Gideon. I didn’t like how we didn’t get to fight Zeno. I wish I could but I understand why they choose to do that to show the new anti-virus to us.

Movies/TV/Theaters

‘The Hunt (Jagten)’ Review

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By: Amir Salaad

WARNING: This review contains Major spoilers

‘The Hunt (Jagten)’ is a drama movie directed by Thomas Vinterberg and released in 2012. This movie is about a nice kindergarten assistant living in a small Danish village when his life is ruined by a false accusation. The rating of this movie is R because it has some sexual content, some violence and language.

Lucas is a lonely guy but has some respect in his community and he’s getting his life back together after a divorce and custody battle for his son Marcus. He works at a preschool in the village where the kids all love him, like Klara, who’s the daughter of his best friend, Theo. After Klara says something about Lucas touching her to the principal, Lucas gets called out for touching Klara. Even though there is no evidence against Lucas, and he’s denying it, the whole village goes against him.

When the film keeps going, the person watching can see Lucas’s life really fall apart. He gets banned from the grocery store, he gets assaulted, and gets shut out by his so called “family”. The tension in the film gets higher as ‘The Hunt’ goes from Lucas getting cut off from the whole village to him getting beat up. And all of this happens when the viewer knows that Lucas is really innocent. The closer it gets to the end the more you can see Lucas’s life go all the way down.

Mads Mikkelsen gives a good performance of Lucas. He shows a guy that’s slowly losing himself over the movie over a false rumor. He tries to stay strong but slowly starts to go insane.

Theo, Lucas’s friend, also has a weird feeling over the movie when he struggles with protecting his daughter Klara and believing that his friend didn’t touch his daughter.

My thoughts on the film is that it’s a great movie but that it also plays with your head. Because at the end of the movie, after everything calms down for Lucas and it’s proven that he didn’t touch Klara, he gets shot at at the end of the movie. What I think that means is that nothing will ever actually go back to normal for him. At least for Lucas.

I would give ‘The Hunt (Jagten)’ a 10/10. This movie is on Prime Video and other streaming services.

Movies/TV/Theaters

Review on ‘American Psycho’

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By: Abreham Debele

‘American Psycho’ is a psychological thriller movie directed by Mary Hardin and released in 2000. This movie is based on a novel written by Bret Easton Ellis in 1991. The film revolves around a wealthy man living in New York City who secretly lives a double life. Throughout the movie we see the main character struggle with his identity, obsession with status, and inability to form genuine emotional connections.

Patrick Bateman is a successful investment banker working on Wall Street in New York City. On the outside he seems to live a perfect life filled with wealth, expensive restaurants, and high social status. However, behind his polished image he hides his psychopathic and violent urges.

He becomes obsessed with superficial things such as business cards, physical appearance, and designer brands. As the movie progresses, we see him commit brutal acts of violence while trying to maintain a normal public image. His violent actions show his deep emptiness and detachment from reality.

Throughout the film Bateman carefully maintains his professional life while hiding his disturbing behavior. He spends his time with wealthy coworkers discussing status symbols and material possessions. While at the same time, he secretly stalks and murders victims whom he believes deserves punishment. As his violence impulsively grows stronger, it becomes more difficult for him to maintain control. The movie often blurs the line between reality and imagination, leaving the viewers questioning whether all the events happened or it was all in Bateman’s head.

In my opinion, ‘American Psycho’ is a show that illustrates that someone can appear completely normal on the outside while hiding serious psychological problems. I believe the movie does a great job showing us why an obsession with wealth, status, and appearance is unhealthy. What really interests me is how the film shows us Patrick’s emptiness and shallowness while also showing his coping mechanisms such as surrounding himself with coworkers, being obsessed with status, and his violent fantasies. My favorite part of the film is that it leaves it to the viewer’s interpretation whether the events are real or that it’s all in Bateman’s head.

You can watch ‘American Psycho’ on Netflix.

Movies/TV/Theaters

Why is ‘JJK’ anime trending

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By: Ro’Mel Bryant-Oliveraz

‘Jujitsu Kaisen’ is a popular anime that has been trending for a long time, recently at a peak with season 3 releasing, building up to an arc of the story that was arguably the best of the manga.

The base power is Cursed Energy which comes from negative emotions of people, and when high in an area it manifests as Curses, which are entities that threaten society. This is the very base of what ‘JJK’ is about. There are Sorcerers, who are trained humans that harness, control, and manipulate the same energy curses are made of, Cursed Energy, to battle them.

Though, it’s not that simple.

My favorite part is how complicated harnessing and controlling cursed energy as a human gets. All humans have innate techniques which is a unique ability engraved into someone’s brain at birth. It’s a way your brain automatically manipulates cursed energy to use it. There are infinite and endless ways, ranging from straightforward and weak, to straightforward and strong, to very very complicated, to anything in between.

A straightforward but extremely strong one is Satoru Gojo’s Limitless. It lets him manipulate space, that is the default way his brain manipulates CE. Straightforward. But he combines it with an ability to have molecular perception and precision of Cursed energy he was born with called the Six Eyes, allowing him to manipulate space not just basically in ways like having a permanent invisible force field to make him untouchable, but also launching an orb of space that pulls things together forcefully called Blue, and even reversing it to make an orb of space that violently repels things called Red. He even figured out how to combine Red and Blue making Purple, which is an imaginary mass that erases anything fundamentally from space.

Another innate technique is Suguru Getos. Instead of manipulating space his is Cursed spirit Manipulation. A type of technique that can allow you to manipulate cures. Specifically, his technique lets him absorb a curse that he defeated in battle by swallowing them. Once he swallows them and absorbs them he can store them in his body and summon them and use their abilities at will. This is very very powerful, turning the enemies into his own, completely under his control. The only downside is that he needs to first beat the curse in battle himself, then absorb them by swallowing them. He describes the process of absorbing a curse to be very very excruciatingly disgusting and painful psychologically. This eventually led him to a very bad depression until he turned evil. Even though he was one of the strongest and most loyal, his own ability on top of the harshness of life destroyed his mental health completely.

I could talk about the many many characters and their techniques also, everyone’s techniques are just as complicated as each others in completely different ways.

The true beauty of ‘JJk’ to me is the amount of characters and how central everyone is. There is no true main character because the story is about everyone and everything. One extra person being there, no matter how weak, would change the entire outcome. It bounces between eras, showing the current modern era like Yuji, Nobara, and Megumi handling school life chaos in Tokyo, then showing thousand long year plans in the making from ancient sorcerer myths like Sukuna, and Kenjaku. No one steals the spotlight permanently, every character development is through other characters.

‘JJK’ doesn’t hold back with the characters you’ve known from the start from dying. Characters turn evil, get cheated by the system, hated by their families for being different, and even complete noobs to Jujitsu but got pulled in and now have to compete with the best.

The diversity, with humor, tragedy, philosophy, character psychology, unpredictability, and complex themes and power system is why this anime is trending so much.

You can watch ‘JJK’ on Netflix and Crunchyroll

Movies/TV/Theaters

My top 5 best horror movies to watch

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By: Arturo Benitez-Osorio

1.⠀ Incantation 

TRAILER: https://youtu.be/HnyNZdcL_GY?si=t3MJwZflZA1YzSfF

Description: Inspired by a true story of a family who believed they were possessed by spirits, this film follows a woman who must protect her child from a curse.

I remember when this movie got popular during 2024 and it caught my attention since everyone on social media were talking about how scary this movie was. I’ve checked it out and once the movie ended I felt terrified.

Things that I liked about this movie was the adrenaline rush of feeling on some scenes since you never can expect a jumpscare. There were also some few parts that made you very uncomfortable and eerie. It kept me on edge from beginning to end constantly guessing what might happen next.

If you’re looking for a deeply unsettling charged horror movie that sticks with you, I highly recommend this one since this horror movie isn’t like the rest of the others having some weak jumpscares that will actually surprise you. 

You can watch ‘Incantation’ on Netflix

2. HUSH

TRAILER: https://youtu.be/Q_P8WCbhC6s?si=KIWzZY2E-EE11Sub

Description: A deaf writer who retreated into the woods to live a solitary life must fight for her life in silence when a masked killer appears at her window.

The deaf perspective in this movie makes this movie very thrilling. It taps into the fear of being alone in a remote house realizing your safety has been completely compromised. This movie is very intense by making the protagonist deaf and forces you to rely on visual clues making every noise feel like your heart is about to drop.

This movie doesn’t use cheap jumpscares and is very unique from the rest of the movies I’m ranking. 

You can watch ‘HUSH’ on Apple TV

3. Annabelle: Creation 

TRAILER: https://youtu.be/KisPhy7T__Q?si=hIOcH1f1GQ7ATSZ6

Description: Former toy maker Sam Mullins, and his wife Esther, are happy to welcome a nun and six orphaned girls into their California farmhouse. Years earlier, the couple’s 7 year old daughter, Annabelle, died in a tragic car accident. Terror soon strikes when one child sneaks into a forbidden room and finds a seemingly innocent doll that appears to have a life of its own.

In my opinion, ‘Annabelle: Creation’ is better than the first ‘Annabelle’ (2014) as there are a lot of improvements on the atmosphere and jumpscares.

This movie uses a lot of shots where there’s a massive black space behind characters during some scenes, for example when Annabelle is trying to play “hide and seek”. It forces your eyes to focus on the background trying to search the shadow movements making you create your own scares.

It’s a fun movie to watch with a group of friends because the scares are well timed

You can watch ‘Annabelle: Creation’

4. THE NUN 2

TRAILER: https://youtu.be/U3PO4iD1G2g?si=nTPRJrYjVYJ7WXZu

Description: 1956 – France. A priest is murdered. An evil is spreading. The sequel to the worldwide smash hit ‘The Nun’ follows Sister Irene as she once again comes face to face with the demonic force Valak-The Demon Nun.

This horror movie relies on religious dread and iconography. I really don’t like religious horror movies since I feel like they’re the same like every other horror religious movie but this one was good. I watched the first horror nun movie and it really didn’t get me hyped like this one. This movie had a big improvement on the atmosphere from the first nun movie and some genuine creepy visual scenes.

This movie leans into heavy loud noises for its jump scares going from quiet to LOUD. It’s a traditional horror technique that in my opinion, doesn’t really get you into a fear state, but this horror movie had the greatest quiet to loud noises just because of the scenes they used for that technique. 

You can watch ‘THE NUN 2’ on Apple TV

5. Smile 2 

TRAILER: https://youtu.be/0HY6QFlBzUY?si=4kdqBD_ZS9b9WKAg

Description: About to embark on a new world tour, global pop sensation Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) begins experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events.

Overwhelmed by the escalating horrors and the pressures of fame, Skye is forced to face her dark past to regain control of her life before it spirals out of control.

It’s rare for a horror sequel to be better than the first one, but ‘Smile 2’ pulled it off. In ‘Smile’ the movie was about the curse and now this one focuses on the loss of reality when the “smiles” starts to happen in public places.

This movie isn’t really scary but I love how this movie adds a fear of public humiliation in front of everyone. This movie contains some of the best effects and it’s a really good movie if you’re in love with plot twists. The end will surprise you, and overall, the actress and other people are on point. 

You can watch ‘Smile 2’ on Apple TV