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Entertainment Opinion

In Defense of The Curse

While receiving critical acclaim, Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie’s new show, The Curse, has yet to be well-received by audiences. Following an HGTV couple as they gentrify a small community in New Mexico, Española, under the guise of improvement, The Curse is one of the most disturbing yet intriguing shows I’ve ever seen, one I’ve already managed to watch twice. While it may not bode well for those sensitive to cringe, this show may have some of the most interesting performances and concepts I’ve ever seen.

The Curse follows Whitney (Emma Stone) and Asher Siegal (Nathan Fielder) as they film a home improvement show focused on implementing “passive,” eco-friendly homes in the area. The couple is accompanied by their pretentious producer, Dougie (Benny Safdie), as they fabricate their entire persona in order to seem as if they are benefiting the area they are, in fact, gentrifying.

Juxtaposed by natives to the area and community problems created by the production of “Flipanthropy,” the HGTV show produced by the couple, The Curse satirizes the exploitation of people of color and poverty in small communities by real institutions, as the Siegal family capitalizes on the misery that their “renovation” causes others. The team comprising “Flipanthopy” takes advantage of the disadvantaged community to make themselves seem like the town’s saviors, despite confrontation from several citizens of Española, outright calling them “cancer” to its livelihood.

The TV show within a TV show makes the plot feel like you’re watching behind-the-scenes footage instead of a finished product. As the couple’s facade drops when they’re behind the camera, the viewer gets the impression they are seeing their true colors, a stark contrast to the caring family they present on screen. However, as the series develops, the thin veil of their adoring relationship begins to slip, escalating their marital issues on and off-screen.

After watching The Curse, I will never watch an HGTV couple the same way again. This show was horrifying without having any actual “horror” within the plot, as the dialogue between Safdie and Fielder was disturbing enough on its own. I’m exceedingly impressed by how truly awful all the characters in The Curse are to each other and the people around them, hopefully, as a result of their phenomenal acting. I can’t help but applaud the cast for being so convincingly insincere and nasty to their counterparts.

The show does have a TV-MA rating for sex and nudity as well as language. However, the show is fairly moderate overall, not necessarily as grotesque as its rating would suggest. The uncomfortable energy that the actors bring, particularly the chemistry between Safdie, Fielder, and Stone, is the most cringe-worthy aspect of the entire series. In fact, I would say the nudity and profanity’s only purpose is to amplify the characters’ drama.

I would recommend this show to fans of horror who enjoy tough but rewarding watching experiences, as the final episode, without spoiling, completely changes the entire perspective of the series with a strangely satisfying yet bizarre ending.

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Entertainment Opinion

Underdogs (2013) Movie Review

*Contains Spoilers*

The Underdogs might not look like the best football team but when they get dedicated they are beasts. 

The Underdogs are a minor football team that sucks. Until superstar Two J’s had to coach them for community service. 

Two J’s (played by Snoop Dogg) fell off after his big high school football catch. When he crashes and is charged, he has to go to court and the judge lets him do community service instead of time in jail. 

At first, the team doesn’t like him and thinks he’s a bum because he’s picking up trash, and he starts cussing them out. But he sees his childhood girlfriend and changes his mind about the kids. He sees them play football and decides to step up and be the coach seeing that the spot is open. 

 The team sucks, and Two J’s makes it obvious and doesn’t give them an easy time. Game after game they get blown out. So Two J’s finally pulls out playbooks but practice still isn’t going the right way. They run play after play until they get it perfect. 

The next couple of games they finally are up to speed and scoring and winning. So to congratulate them and make them feel official he gives them brand new expensive uniforms that Canes sponsors. 

After they get the uniforms and play all down they start breezing by teams and finally get matched up with their rivals. They Were finally good enough to match up but it’s hard for the Underdogs to get the upper hand because the other coach paid the referee off. But they finally ended up slipping out of the bad referee and finally started scoring. They have 2 minutes left in the last quarter to win. They snapped the ball and passed it but the wide receiver was too short. 

They ended up losing, and the other team started celebrating and the Underdogs started crying. But Two J’s reminded them how far they came as people and as a team. It gets them happy and proud again and then goes back to their families with a smile on their faces. 

To celebrate the good season and close becoming family they go to the coach’s house and all have a good and fun time. But the kids end up getting drunk, and the coach catches them and kicks them out of the pool and his house. 

The movie gave a lesson that it’s okay not to have anything or suck at what you love to do. But as long as you keep your head up and keep pushing you will end up doing better little by little day by day and eventually make it to the top or close enough.

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Entertainment Opinion

The Soul Collector

This movie is good and interesting to watch if you like horror movies.

It is very unsettling and disturbing to watch but it helps make it a good horror movie.

This movie is about a guy who takes the souls of people from people. At the movie’s beginning, they show us how the old evil man takes souls. 

The movie starts with a family that moves to their Father’s late grandfather’s house. However, in the start, it shows us that the grandfather got his soul taken away. The house stretched them out, It was big and it was a left-alone house in the middle of South Africa. 

They encounter this man who would lie to the family that he used to work with their grandfather. However, one thing about this man is that his soul is struggling because a demon child is forcing him. 

This man did his best to protect the family from the demon child. However, he would take the children from the family to a dark forest and he would slowly feed the demon child to her soul. This demon child usually stays in the sack that the man carries around with him. 

Sadly, the man is being controlled by the demon and is forced to bring humans to the demon so he can feel the human’s souls. 

It’s a good movie, it shows some of the history and culture of the African region and throughout the whole movie, it leaves you worried about the characters and what’s going to happen next. When you look at the demon, it could be disturbing to look at and think of the things it likes doing to humans. 

There are many good reviews on their horror movies and it shows that this movie is good and is worth watching if horror movies are your thing. 

One thing about this movie that makes it unique is that it shows African culture which no movie has made a movie about and it’s a bit different from other horror movies. 

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Entertainment Opinion

Now You See Me

Good magicians never let you know how they do their tricks, bad ones always get caught. 

“Now You See Me”, is one of if not the best magician movies. In the next paragraphs, I will tell and explain to you why it is. 

The movie is about 4 magicians called the Four Horsemen. They all have different backgrounds but want to accomplish the same goal.

The Four Horsemen consist of 3 boys and 1 girl. J. Daniels, Dylan Rhodes, Merritt McKinney, Jack Wilder, and Henley Reeves. They all have different talents. But they all can deceive and make people turn a blind eye. 

The fun part is they all teach each other their tricks so they can become better as one and a world sensation together. Jack specializes in throwing cards, which piques Merritt´s interest so he starts teaching him how too. It takes him a little while but he accomplishes it which helps them tremendously in the biggest heist there is going to complete and the whole world will hear about it. 

So they have to get a tour of the Macau Science Center to get a chip or their secret will be released. They go in with the guide and 4-5 bodyguards. The others distract them while Mr.Atlas sneaks under the thing to replace the chip with the fake one. It takes him a little longer than expected so his friends are getting anxious. He finally comes out but when he does the bodyguards and tour guide start getting suspicious. So they start checking all the horsemen to see if they stole the chip but due to the new tricks they all learned they throw the card back and forth to stay undetected. It’s all going well until the card gets stuck on one of the guards. Lula bumps into him and safely retrieves it. 

The moral of the story the 4 horsemen eventually face the world and everybody loves and adores them except the police and FBI because they believe they’re robbers and stole money and other belongings but they didn’t and haven’t. 

The series ended with them saying goodbye to the world after locking up the people who tried to kill them and also stealing money from people around the world. 

The 4 horsemen are more than magicians, they are heroes and good samaritans, people might not think so but they saved everybody from a huge terrorist attack which would have made the world bad and broke and it would have looked like the Great Depression all over again. 

It’s good that the movie was made and kind of sent a message. You can do things with the best intentions ever or the worst but maybe somewhere down the line, you can have a change of heart and want to do something for the better, even if it’s just benefitting people around you and not yourself.

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Book Buzz With Amanda Book Reviews Opinion

The Girl From Mars by Tamara Bach Review

This week I gave myself ‘The Girl From Mars.’ Written by Tamara Bach. I didn’t enjoy this book due to its lack of writing, describing a constant derogatory way of looking at the way things are. 

This story circles the life of 15-year-old Miriam. She has no intellect of what the outside of her little town is like. She is a very negative character, but then again so are all 15-year-olds. She acts very grown up to her friends and to her mother (she seems to hate all of them). She experiences the ultimate lows of what it means to act grown. 

She eventually finds a circle of friends she associates with, they convince her to take a rebellious road trip only to eventually take a turn for the worse. 

Though this book didn’t stand out to me, it had a great representation of what being a confused teenager can look like. As Gen-Z, we grew up with teenage shows that show almost everything but the realistic struggles of being a 15-year-old kid. 15 is the teenage dark period. I think that’s why I didn’t enjoy this book as much because it reminded me of all the weird stuff that happened as a 15-year-old. 

This book is also a bit stereotypical, Miriam has grown up in a small town, where nothing ever happened, everyone already knew her, and nothing ever seemed to change pace. Her character is a constant daydreamer that night and day, dreaming of something bigger. 

I guess dislike is too strong a word for my feelings toward this story, but it had its relatable parts. It represents a lot of LGBTQ struggles and dicey feelings masking friendships and relationships and such.

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Book Buzz With Amanda Book Reviews Entertainment Opinion

Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs Review

With a story far away from reality, I chose the first book of the thrilling Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, written by Ransom Riggs, for this week’s Book Buzz. 

Most of you have either seen or heard of the movie based on this book, which got incredible reviews back in 2016, starring Asa Butterfield, Samuel Jackson, and Eva Greene. 

This story is a fantasy filled with deranged twists and turns cover to cover. To keep the imagery alive, Ransom Riggs included pictures and descriptions to help the reader see exactly what the character sees. 

This fantasy follows a bland teenager named Jacob (Jake) Portman who lives in Florida. He views the world from a glass half-empty angle. He holds no value to anything or anyone other than his “deluded” grandfather Abe. Jacob’s grandfather came from Poland in the darkest depths of World War II, he took refuge in Wales along the coast. He was welcomed into a home made for children with added quirks to them. 

The beginning starts with Jacob talking about his grandfather’s stories about the unique home he lived in, saying how unrealistic they were now that he was older. He brought up the pain he felt for being so foolish for believing such impractical fictions. Though Abe had photo evidence to back up his claims, Jacob always found a hidden truth to debunk it. The older Jacob got, the more he wanted to label his grandfather as sick and mental. Nonetheless, they had an unbreakable bond. 

Working his retail job that he was hopelessly trying to get fired from, Jacob received a stomach-churning call from Abe asking if he knew where the key to his gun box was. Filled with certainty that he was just going through a peculiar episode, Jacob rubbed it off and lied saying he had no idea. Abe started to get restless saying something was after him, and that it was coming for Jacob next, making it easy for Jacob to believe that his grandfather was going insane. He still went to check on him anyway, only to find a costly riddle and years of therapy. 

I always enjoy books that are followed by a movie, so I can point out what was left out and what was left in. This book is the start of a six-book saga. This story is deeply descriptive and makes it easy to paint a picture in your head. It has humor, style, horror, but most importantly, peculiarity. 

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Entertainment Opinion

Songs That I Forgot Existed

This was inspired by that feeling you get when you hear a song that you haven’t heard in years, here are some songs that make me feel that way:

Close Friends, by Lil Baby

This song came out in 2018. It was mainstreamed almost everywhere for like 4 months straight and it was never heard again. It kinda went ghost and I found it like last month and am glad I did.

You Was Right, by Lil Uzi Vert

This song was used and abused for quite a while. It was one of those summer songs that you’d listen to while driving on the freeway. Now that I have my license I will be using and abusing it myself.

772 Love, by Ynw Melly

This song was on the radio for three very long months. It was overplayed so much that I don’t think anyone wanted to know about it at all for a very long time. But I found it the other day and it still hurts my ears to listen to more than once a week but the song still has a vibe.

223’s, by Ynw Melly

This song was also super overplayed by most radio stations when it first came out. They’d play it at least twice per hour and the song lowkey became super overrated. It’s a good song to listen to every once in a while, def not something I’m bumping everyday though

Say It, Tory Lanez

This was one of those songs that you would listen to in the summers of 2016-17. You’d be on the freeway with the windows rolled down and this song came on making it feel like such a great moment. This song was a big part of everyone’s childhood.

Tunnel Vision, Kodak Black

This song was something I listened to every day for like 2 years. One day I felt like it just got annoying. Now that I’ve found it once more I still find it annoying but in some sort of good way. This song is overrated not gonna lie

Look At Me, XXXTentacion

This song was one of 2016’s prime songs. Everyone was blasting this and singing this. It’s a song that you can find again and almost immediately add to your playlist once more.

03 Flow, Wallie the Sensei

I found this song today and let me tell you I will be blasting this song all summer. I have always liked this song and could never in my life remember the name. I will make sure not to forget it this time. If you haven’t heard it before, it’s one of California’s most popular songs.

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Entertainment Opinion

Review of The Nun *SPOILERS*

It started as a branch-off movie to The Conjuring trilogy but has become one of my favorite horror series. Here are my thoughts:

This series starts with the main two protagonists, Ed and Lorraine Warren. In the movie The Nun the main character is Sister Irene. She is related to Lorraine Warren because They were both scions of Saint Lucy.

The main problem in the whole movie is that there is an evil spirit in the form of a nun that was released years ago. There started to be cases of nuns hanging themselves from a church.  Sister Irene tries to find out the real reason why these cases are happening. However, she encounters the evil spirit and the evil spirit gets angry at her. She tries her best at what the spirit came from and how to get her to go back to where she came from.

Towards the end, she finds out what brought her to the real world and tries to return her back to where she came from. In the end, sister irene and the evil spirit get into a battle, and when they face each other face-to-face, sister irene spits the blood of Christ on the evil spirit’s face to make her go back to where she came from. 

However, when that happened, sister Irene started to drown in the pool of water she was in. This guy that helped her get to the place where the evil spirit was, came and took her out of the water and saved her. 

However, his coming to the rescue helped the evil spirit stay in the real world by getting into the guy’s body and possessing him. That’s what brings us to the second movie of The Nun.

Perhaps, many people don’t like horror movies because they are too scared to watch any. But it is a good movie and worth giving it a try because it is very entertaining, just as the other movies in The Conjuring series are. 

This was the first occurrence that happened chronologically in the series. This movie was a very entertaining watch and definitely one horror movie that should be on your list.

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Book Buzz With Amanda Book Reviews Entertainment Opinion

I’m With Stupid by Geoff Herbach Review

Over the past few days, I went to the CKM library to pick out a book to review for this week’s book buzz review. I came across a book called I’m With Stupid written by Geoff Herbach. This novel creates a safe space for struggle, angst, and self-doubt. 

Since we are starting the second semester out with a bang, seniors are grinding their teeth to leave high school. So I thought it would be fitting to find a book based on college fits and not-so-good fits. 

This book is about a high school football phenomenon named Fletcher Reinstein. He is a national treasure and is the top pick for every college in America. His life is very public at such a young age in the world of sports. He went to school in a small town in Wisconsin, where everyone had certain expectations of him and where he should go to college. 

The book does in fact start as a story about football and what it takes to be a jock going into college until about halfway through. He talks a lot about how he isolates himself thinking he doesn’t deserve someone to lean on and help him. A shoulder to cry on in other words. He constantly thinks of himself as a burden to others causing him to spiral very publicly causing the whole state to hate him eventually. 

This character has a lot of baggage for someone who is described constantly as someone who ‘has it all.’ Gifted with all the righteousness a young man could have. He turns to substances to ease his worries. The whole book he’s in desperate need of someone else to worry for him, instead of talking he holds it all in at the risk of being that hellish burden he thinks he is. 

This story brings an excellent reason for why there is no point in suffering alone at the cost of feeling like a burden. Everyone deserves to be heard, and everyone deserves to be seen without feeling judged or misunderstood. Isolating yourself at the cost of someone else’s feelings and expectations only brings hell down onto yourself. 

This book can offer you guidance on how to surround yourself with good people who will listen because they want to. This book will also help you reflect on yourself on how to still be there for other people you care about, but it’ll also help you understand yourself.

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News Opinion

Students Come Together for Campus Clean-up

On the Saturday morning of February 3rd, dozens of students went back to school to clean up classrooms, hallways, and school facilities. Together, they swept, scrubbed, and scraped C. K. McClatchy from the entrance to the field, leaving our campus the cleanest it had been in weeks. It’s important to keep our schools clean all the time, but especially after a deep clean, because we hardly have an excuse to litter our school again.

This is the second pickup I’ve been to, one last school year around the same time. Last time the groups were very disorganized, with many people bunched into one section of the school at the same time. We also didn’t have access to certain janitorial services or classrooms, since it was just before finals week, and apparently, some teachers were nervous about students cheating on tests while cleaning their classrooms. Last year was overall a bust; little work got done, and we were unproductive due to supply shortages, but this year the teams were much more prepared to take on the school.

The cleaning lasted from 10:00 til Noon, and there were eight groups total, each assigned to their specific section of the school. I was in the science and ROTC quads, and we had step-by-step instructions to sweep, scrub, and mop classrooms and the quads. We were very productive, with only some supply issues between other groups; I remember there being a lack of mops specifically. Other groups were just as productive, some even finishing a little early and joining other groups to help with unfinished work.

There were some issues with the chemicals used in cleaning, as we were supposed to dilute many of the chemicals used while scrubbing floors and desks, yet some groups didn’t realize and still used the concentrated cleaners straight. After they were cleaned, some parts of the school smelled awful, indicating there were way too many cleaning supplies used in the area. I’m sure it’s not all that harmful, but at the time it was exceedingly hard to breathe while standing in the same hallway for so long.

As far as I’m sure, this event was organized by senior Cara Taylor, who arranged groups and helped other leaders with instruction the day before. She is the reason this pickup was able to move so smoothly, as she regularly moved from group to group, helping other groups with the tasks at hand. It is thanks to her as well as all the teachers and students who attended that the cleanup was so thoroughly effective!

If you noticed that McClatchy seemed a little shinier this week, try to continue to keep our school clean by being mindful of litter and other waste. The cleanup was a great group effort, and hopefully, it will inspire new motivations to keep McClatchy in a better state than it was the day before.