Category: Entertainment

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Entertainment

Pre-game Playlist

There are so many playlists out there that people use to get hyped for their games. Here are some soft songs to get you ready for that big game!

Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You, by Lauryn Hill  

Not everyone’s favorite but a favorite of mine that gets me hyped. Especially if you have ever had a crush or just someone you’re thinking about while listening to a song that gets you in a good mood. 

Mirrors by Justin Timberlake 

Now this song is just great, it gets you thinking of things that make you feel a way that gets a kick out of you. And it’s a pretty long song but it makes you just want to dance. 

Valerie by Amy Whitehouse

This song is like daydreaming when you’re listening to it. It makes you feel like everyone you’re thinking about just disappears. It most definitely makes you want to dance and get everyone else hyped and in a good mood before your match. 

Dream Girl by Kolohe Kai 

Now this is a banger, this song is a good song that makes everything go away when you start to think about that one person. This song makes you feel like you know how to sing for real. Makes you want to start singing to your teammates.

Fantasy by Mariah Carey 

I mean it’s Mariah Carey who doesn’t like her? This song makes me want to snap my fingers and do a little pop of the hip. This is a song that gets everyone in a good mood no matter what. Whether you can sing or not it makes you sing it either way. 

Hold You Down by DJ Khaled ft. Chris Brown, Jeremiah, etc…

This song is a song that will make your head bob and a song that you could share the music out loud with the entire team. That way they can also get hyped. The lyrical melody is memorable too.

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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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Book Buzz With Amanda Book Reviews Entertainment Opinion

Normal People by Sally Rooney Review

This book revolves around the emotion and dialogue of two Irish characters, Marianne and Connell. Starting their story in January of 2011, they start with the typical stereotypes. Connell is popular, well-liked, shy, and easily embarrassed. Marianne is a loner, she has no friends and has no interest in creating any relationships with people her age. 

In their final year of finishing school before university, there’s a relationship that forms between Connell and Marianne. Connell is a prevalent figure at their school and is terrified of anyone finding out about his relationship with Marianne. He goes into a frenzy of what his crappy friends would think and say about him. His past relationships were very public and out of line through gossip. Since Marianne was the ‘freak’ of the school he was even more paranoid that anyone would find out about them. Marianne on the other hand really couldn’t care less about anyone’s feelings besides Connell’s. She didn’t want to lose or upset him so she kept everything a secret. She was very aware that it was foolish and stupid. But she went along with it anyway. 

Keeping their relationship a secret and under wraps, Connell and Marianne pretend to be strangers in their school. Passing by each other in the halls without making eye contact at the risk of Connell’s reputation. 

Fast forwarding to university, everything seemed to switch. Marianne finally grew up and became more of the popular girl of the college. Connell slowly became more insecure and distant. They were still friends in a complicated way but valued each other nonetheless. Long story short, this book has insane emotional ups and downs, especially with the art of conversation. There’s a lot of power in what people say, especially when it comes down to how people feel. 

This book was overall an emotional rollercoaster with many counts of miscommunication and held emotions. I feel as if this whole storyline tries to tell you that saying what you feel when you feel it is more valued than most actions. Not taking people for granted obviously and don’t be afraid to be unreasonable. In my opinion, I think this book should be called ‘The Delicacy of Conversation.’ regarding how private the words spoken between Marianne and Conell were.

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Entertainment Features

Romeo and Juliet Cast and Tech Interviews

The VAPA theater students presented their fall performance last week, featuring William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Romeo and Juliet. It was the classic tale of the fateful star-crossed lovers with an alternative flair. Uniquely cast and styled, the 2023 production of Romeo and Juliet was a post-modern arrangement of a classic told a hundred times before.

Contessa Gonzales, a senior who played Juliet Capulet, said the play needed a fresh take, a different post-modernist view of the story that wasn’t related to the 1996 Luhrman interpretation. She tried not to look at any other renditions of her character so she could be original in her interpretations of the script. Contessa compared this production to the aesthetic of Tim Burton, but others have described it as having pop-punk styles, costumes, and music.

Contessa also expressed that the emphasis on Juliet’s age was very purposeful in her portrayal of the character. Juliet’s emotions are intense, and her immaturity is apparent throughout the drama, as she and Romeo make rash decisions that end in their demise. It’s important to note that many interpretations of the original play believe it was a cautionary tale, considering all the tragedy that ensues.

Dallas Murphy, who was the head of the lighting production, said that the color was very representative of the different eras and settings of the play, with orange representing the Montagues and pink symbolizing romance. Contessa, too, said that the colors of her costumes were coordinated with the events in Juliet’s life; for example, she would always wear red during a death scene.

Myari Adams, the student director of Romeo and Juliet, said her time with the VAPA team was awe-inspiring. She felt that her role as a student director allowed her to get to know everyone on set and even become closer to the people she already knew. She is thankful for the opportunity to work backstage as well as an actor in other productions. If you are interested in theater but not necessarily acting, consider joining the tech team with Dallas and Myari for their next show this school year.

There was a wonderful turnout at every show, and they would like to thank everyone who loyally came to their showings in the fall. If you enjoyed the show, auditions for the winter production, Little Women, are currently taking place for its later performances.

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Entertainment Opinion

Unconventional Holiday Movies for Your Winter Festivities

The best movies to watch during the holiday season are the ones that hardly have to do with the holidays at all. Most of these do happen to be Christmas-related, but that’s only because there are so many Christmas movies. Regardless of what you celebrate, anyone can enjoy these cheerful, random movies during this festive season. I believe the best part of a Christmas movie is not how it celebrates the holiday itself, but rather how it honors everything associated with the winter season, like family, joy, and giving. 

Let’s start by settling the Die Hard debate, it is absolutely a Christmas movie. There’s Christmas music, the plot takes place on Christmas Eve, and it is about a family coming together for the holidays. Besides the violent terrorist attack that the rest of the movie surrounds, at its core, Die Hard is about a guy trying to celebrate Christmas with his family, doing everything in his power to ensure his and his wife’s safety. It’s funny, exciting, and festive, a Holiday movie that will keep everyone happy. 

One of my favorite Christmas movies is the 1974 Black Christmas, a classic horror movie about a sorority house that is visited by someone much more sinister than the Holly Jolly Santa Claus on one Christmas Eve. Despite its festive name, the movie doesn’t have much to do with Christmas at all and instead is a suspenseful horror movie that is genuinely super scary. There were a few remakes made over the years, but I wouldn’t bother with any of them, none compared to the horrifying original. The 1974 version is free on a handful of platforms, so I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a frightful holiday movie to start the season. 

Another favorite of mine is Greta Gerwig’s 2019 Little Women, based on the 19th-century book written by Louisa May Alcott. This movie follows the lives of four sisters amidst the American Civil War, as they take on love, family, and their careers. There is only one short Christmas scene, but the movie is joyful and keeps the holiday spirit high throughout the story. Little Women may also be the most critically acclaimed movie on this list, winning over a dozen Academy Awards when it was released. 

Edward Scissorhands is not necessarily a holiday movie, but it takes place partly during Christmas, so I always watch it around this time of year. If you haven’t seen it, Edward Scissorhands is a Tim Burton film about a man with scissors for hands learning to find love and family as he explores the world after being forsaken by his creator. It’s a wholesome movie about unconditional love that can be enjoyed all year round, but it’s especially appropriate during the holiday season.

Gremlins is probably the most campy movie on this list, as the horror-comedy is about a small town being overrun by strange, singing creatures, called the “mogwai.” Don’t be fooled by its horror genre, this movie is hilarious. The creatures that the movie surrounds are small, fuzzy, and tiny until they turn evil, green, and scaly, not exactly the most intimidating villains. It’s lighthearted and one of the most festive movies on this list, a great family movie to celebrate with this year. 

Finally, if you’re in a more dramatic mood, Carol is a festive romance that takes place during the Christmas season but doesn’t have the cheesy Hallmark energy that most Christmas romances have. The movie is about two women who bond and slowly fall in love after meeting in a department store during a hectic winter day. Carol is a tender romance that is sweet if you are looking for a slow burn that is well-made and still festive enough to celebrate with. 

I hope you find yourself enjoying some of these unusual holiday movies this winter, no matter what you may celebrate during this time of year. Sure, most if not all of these are Christmas movies, but that’s only because there are so many of them made. If you have any holiday movies that you love to watch that aren’t listed or aren’t necessarily Christmas-themed, feel free to share them below and keep the recommendations going.

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Entertainment

History of Christmas Carols and a Few Classics

Christmas carols go way back to the 13th century when Francis of Assisi, a Catholic friar, would write down hymns that would later be turned into carols.

As centuries passed by, different forms of dancing were added to the carols. People from town would get together and go house to house singing and dancing Christmas carols.

Carols were also sung in celebration of religious services and have continued to be a vital part of worship days at church. During the Christmas season, the carols have a deeper meaning as we prepare for the birth of Jesus.

Being practicing Catholics my family prepares for the birthday of Jesus every year. One of the carols we wait patiently to hear through the Christmas season is “Mary, Did You Know”. It speaks of some of the testaments that Jesus granted. In my home, he is the reason for our season and we praise him even more during advent time.

As different symbols started to be recognized during Christmas the image of Santa Claus made its way into the season back in 1863. There was a Christian Bishop named Saint Nicholas who was a saint of children hence the nickname “Old Saint Nick”. “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” is a fun and festive carol that gets my siblings and me excited for the yearly visit from Santa and what gifts he may bring. 

Also, the Christmas season allows us to share all the blessings bestowed upon us throughout the year. Sharing the love of faith, gifts, and well wishes with those around us. “Feliz Navidad” is a traditional carol that wishes everyone a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, and happiness to all. This song is a must to include in my caroling playlist.

In conclusion, thousands of carols can be heard and played throughout the season and I am certain everyone has their favorites for different reasons. So, turn up the volume and enjoy this Christmas.

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Entertainment Opinion

Thanksgiving movie review *CONTAINS SPOILERS*

After seeing Thanksgiving, you’re going to want seconds.

My honest opinion about this movie is that it’s filled with so much gore and unexpected kills. Each kill is some brutal kind of way but each one is just different.

This movie is just unexpected but filled with that classic “whodunit” feeling, after waiting till the end you are going to be shocked about who has been the killer the whole time.

The movie takes place in a small town in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and people are getting ready for a black Friday sale at a store. That’s where the massacre happens.

During the black Friday sale, people are shoving, pushing, and fighting each other to enter the store. But as the doors are opening, people are just getting crushed by other people which makes the door break, making the store free for people to enter the store but as the door is being opened, that’s where the first kill happens. The doors break open leaving glass still attached to the frame of the door, as people are entering the store a guy gets his throat slit by the glass leaving him to bleed out.

Just seeing the first 20 minutes will just leave you in shock because a lot more drama happens and that’s where the killer (the person dressed in the pilgrim outfit) is looking for revenge. 1 year passes by and the pilgrim looks for revenge for those lives that have been lost during the Black Friday sale.

I’m a big fan of horror movies but this movie does everything to make it as good as possible.

The main group of teens is wondering why this pilgrim is coming after them but after realizing why, you’ll get to understand the movie more. The kills are just amazing and gory. It was just shocking to see people die this way or that way, but trust me some parts of the movie will leave you disgusted. I like how the pilgrim kills people with Thanksgiving materials because it makes it more fun for the movie.

This movie is good because they know what they are doing and they are taking their time to get where they need to go. Finding who the pilgrim is and why he is looking for revenge is just amazing because during the whole movie, you’ll find yourself making guesses about if it was this person or if it was that person but it leaves you in shock about why that person is looking for revenge.  

I also loved enjoying this movie because it won’t ever be a movie like this during this month because other months have that movie like October has Halloween horror movies but for Thanksgiving, I’m just grateful that they did make a movie like this.

The pilgrim is looking for revenge because during the black Friday sale, there was this cop or sheriff doing his job but seeing his loved ones get killed during the sale just leaves him in shock for revenge. As the year passes he kills those same people. just being the distressful person to him so he finds a way but every time he kills that person, it’s just amazing how the sheriff can kill this person this way but very unexpectedly it also makes you wonder if it is Bobby because at the end of the movie, he has a pilgrim outfit but its really not him. I also thought it would be Ryan because he has a role where everyone in the group just hates who he is because he’s not a popular person but a weird one as well. 

I highly recommend this great movie because it will leave you in shock but some seems will make you jump. Seeing the reviews of this movie is just amazing and shocking but I promise you this movie will make you want seconds.