Category Archives: Entertainment

Entertainment

Captain Marvel: “Higher, Further, Faster” – Students react to Marvel’s new heroine

Taylor Breig

Staff Writer

The release of Marvel’s first female superhero movie, Captain Marvel, has gone above and beyond the anticipation that had been developed since the end of Avengers: Infinity War.

The movie has made a message to all women of any age that they with- hold power that they should embrace despite how many will try to tell them to conceal themselves. Brie Larson has established her presence as an Avenger and as the strongest hero in the Marvel Universe in the form of Captain Marvel and has blown the audience away with her acting as the amazing superhero. Audience reaction has been positive currently and the domestic as well as international box office sales beat out Black Panther and Wonder Woman in its opening weeks.

With Captain Marvel making her debut on the big screen, many young girls have grown excited to have a female superhero to look up to that is part of the Marvel universe. As many girls in current times grew up with heroines like Wonder Woman and the Disney Princesses, there had never been demand for female superheroes until recent times of wanting equality and more of female presence in a male dominated genre of films and writings

The film presented the origins of Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel) and shows what it means to be a female “hero” in a time that many deemed women incapable of being suitable for those roles, especially in the military. Because of the waves of support from actors, artists, and from the cast itself, the film will remain to have a lasting effect long into the future. Marvel also released the film with fan’s anticipation for Avengers: Endgame, where Captain Marvel will make her first Avengers appearance as one of the heroes in the film set to fight alongside the original gang of Avengers against Thanos after The Snap.

Around campus, many students agree that the film is a great way to pave the excitement and anticipation for Avengers: Endgame, coming out in April, “I believe the movie couldn’t of been any better in terms of leading up to Endgame. It was the puzzle piece needed to lay the way for Endgame,” sophomore Dylan Moran said.

Students, primarily females, have been proud of the film and feel that it will empower Marvel to create more inclusive films with female leads. Power comes with Captain Marvel’s character and the rise of more females as superheroes inspire a new wave of female heroes in
media.

“Marvel has always been lacking in good representation. Now, we have Shuri and Okoye and Carol and Nebula… I think the Powers that be will finally take the hint and give us more female-led movies,” senior Mackenzie Acree said.

With this positivity and revival of female heroes in media, Captain Marvel is bound to start a wave of new female heroines ready to bring hope and power to women and young girls across the world.

Entertainment

“Surviving R. Kelly” documentary reaction

Emily Bayardo

Staff Writer

On January 3rd, 2019 the groundbreaking Lifetime six part documentary series, “Surviving R. Kelly” had its first airing and quickly gained rapid attention and exposure.Within the first airing of “Surviving R. Kelly”, an average of 2.1 million people had tuned in to watch. The documentary includes about 50 interviews with women, musicians, and fellow family members who reveal the honest truth surrounding Kelly’s contro- versy. Survivors and those who know Kelly person-

ally revealed the legal charges of the R&B star and
even bring forward new allegations concerning Kelly. The horrendous, raw, unimaginable details of Kelly’s sexual misconduct towards underaged girls is revealed throughout the series. “Surviving R. Kelly” goes further into depth showing how family members and even how it had affected Kelly’s ex wife Andrea Kelly. All of these

individuals proceeded to tell their stories in hope to reveal the secrets that have been so “hush hush” within the music community.

Kelly had faced charges in 2008 for child pornogra- phy and then had reports surface again back in 2017. Throughout all the legal commotion, Kelly is seen to have been completely unaffected. As evidence, countless witnesses, and other incriminating evidence piled up, Kelly was always unphased.

After the reports in 2017 had light shed on them, many activists came out from the shadows to protest Kelly in response to the inexcusable behavior.The twit- ter hashtag #MuteRKelly had quickly became trending with about 2.6 million tweeting under the hashtag. The hashtag called on those in the music industry to stop working with Kelly. Along with this hashtag, came the twitter movement #MeToo where victims of sexual assault came forward with their stories and banded together in order to expose the issue and come togeth- er in hopes for justice. Inclusively,The National Sexaul Assault Hotline had reported an increase of 20 percent in calls since the program’s air date. Since then, another

criminal investigation was opened on Kelly in Geor- gia.The State Authority of Cook County Illinois urged women and anyone else that has had any experience with Kelly to come forward in order to alert author- ities. Since then, two women who had previously not reported their experience, have appeared and contacted authorities.

Since the airing of the documentary, radio stations across the nation had began banning Kelly’s music. Mu- sicians such as Lady Gaga, Chance the Rapper, and John Legend have spoken out about Kelly denouncing his predatory behavior. Lady Gaga has even apologized for collaborating with him and pulled her song “Do What UWant” from streaming platforms. Kelly’s record label RCA Records has been distancing themselves from him and have allegedly dropped him.

It seems as if Kelly’s 25 years of allegations and charges have finally caught up with him. Kelly has yet to respond or comment on the questions asked by Life- time and the documentary.The final episode date was January 5th of this year and can be streamed now on Lifetime and Hulu.

Entertainment

Anticipation for Library Palooza

Taylor Breig

Staff Writer

The book festival hosted by NISD, Library Palooza, will be held at Brandeis High School on February 23,The event involves multiple authors and graphic novelists coming in to host panels to discuss their books, writing, and on how they became authors.This year’s event will be hosting the authors Tomi Adeyemi, Don Brown, Cinda Williams Chima,Ally Condie, Tahereh Mafi, and Jennifer E. Smith, all of which have written big name novels such as the Matched Series, Children of Blood and Bone, and A Very Large Expanse of the Sea.The event has also been known to bring back young readers’ love for books and authors.

“It lets them either be with other book lovers and or it reminds them of love for books they used to have that maybe, they get in high school they have kinda forgotten cause they’re so, busy with school work and work and stuff, that you know they loved it in middle school and they’ve kinda, let it drift away, and so going to Library Palooza reminds them of all their love for books,” Librarian Mrs. Stoeck said.

This event is going on its sixth year of being held and the event grows larger and larger with the amount of student excitement towards the idea of holding an event and meeting their favorite authors in an interactive environment. With interactive seminars and chances to buy books from favorite authors and have them be signed is a highly anticipated event to behold.

Many big name authors have been to the event in the past couple of years, James Dashner came back in 2015 and just last year Jason Reynolds came to the event as well to promote his writing process and novels.

Major authors and graphic novelists have also attended in past Library Paloozas such as Jay Asher, author of Thirteen Reasons Why, Jason Reynolds, author of Long Way Down and Miles Morales: Spider-Man, James Dashner, author of the Maze Runner series, and Kendare Blake, author of the Three Dark Crowns series. Library Palooza has caught the eyes of multiple big name authors throughout the past years and is growing bigger by each year the event takes place.

Library Palooza is completely free and the only payments made are to food and novels.There will also be schools there for fundraising. If you can’t make it to Library Palooza, the next novel related event coming up this year will be the San Antonio Book Festival which will be another free event for meeting novelists and to inspire writers. At Library Palooza you can enjoy live music, get novels signed by authors, and have the opportunity of getting free books and prizes, Library Palooza also lasts from 10 AM till 4:30 PM.

The Literary Magazine and Creative Writing group will also be there selling concessions to raise funds for this year’s Literary Magazine. Events that revolve around the common goal of bringing together book lovers and aspiring authors can bring forth a new generation of writers from across the United States. Inspiring writers, artists, and those with big dreams to believe in their hopes of being published and what it takes to reach that goal.

Entertainment

Celebrity deaths of 2018

Bijou Davant

Staff Writer

“Oh my gosh, I cried when Stan Lee died, because I love Marvel so much. I grew up on Marvel.” -Destiny Grullon, 12

“When I heard Stephen Hillenburg died, Spongebob was such a influential show, we grew up with it.There is never going to be another show like Spongebob.” -Cameron Green, 11

“Aaaah Stan Lee. Why! It was such a disappointment that you had to die. My favorite Marvel comics, my favorite of all was Spiderman.” -Christopher Reid, 10

“I used to watch Anthonty Bourdain as a child, he inspired me to travel the world and to try new things.” -Gabby De Los Santos, 12

Entertainment

Game of the year round up

Jordan Barton

Staff Writer

Red Dead Redemption 2 was produced by Rockstar’s Games. It’s an open world western adventure.With its universally beloved story.While a few people may complain that the story takes a while to pick up most everyone agrees the ending is an emotion-filled ride that was worth the wait. “Red Dead ( that one )was really good,” Senior James Norris said.

The attention to detail fits the impeccable standards of a rockstar with most of the game being historically accurate. Many have complained about Red Dead lacking impactful gunplay and clumsy movement. But overall this is one of the best written triple A experiences around.

God Of War is a beautifully crafted game made at Sony’s Santa Monica Studio which was based on Norse mythology. From the booming appearance of the world serpent with his bassy voice, the cast of well-acted voices and memorable characters, it was loved by many.While some complained about the confusing story and jarring ending, most playing the game weren’t coming in for the story.The God Of War franchise is an action based game with a rhythm to its combat unrivaled by most action games. The new God Of War is improved in this department. The leviathan ax is the refined epitome of the evolution of combat feel. “I thought God Of War was amazing. It was really good, the game mechanics where insanely awesome, the physics engine too,” junior Connor Mcdonald said.

With a magnetic weighty kinetic feel, throwing and catching the ax was a major selling point for the game.Take a look
at Metacritic and you’ll see the story is confusing and the ending was frowned on most everyone loved the relationship between Kratos (YOU) and Atreus (BOY!) with strong themes of parenting and raising children during hard times. God Of War is an excellent experience I would recommend to anyone with a PS4.

Spider-Man developed by Insomniac Games is a near perfect successor to Spider-Man 2 from 2004. They brought back the mechanic of webs attaching to buildings and refined the game feel that fans already loved. Although “When you jump off the empire state building you go really fast, but it feels like your normal swing speed. Physics wise it doesn’t make sense, it just makes you feel like nothing really happened,” freshman Johnny Gardener said. The modern installment was able to appeal to even the most devoted Spider-Man fans, including almost every suit he’s ever worn. It has a story that was very good and as many will say the mechanics, design, and story make you ‘feel like Spiderman’. This is going to be excellent experience for all fans of the Marvel universe, find it on ps4.

Entertainment

More than a fly on the wall: Literary review: “The Girl on the Train”

Belen Cocke

Guest Writer

Everyone loves a good adrenaline rush. To some, that means 90 degree drops on roller coasters, or all-night horror movie binging.To others, it’s a captivating, exciting book full of twist and turns; one that keeps you on your toes. I may be slightly exaggerating the shock of the latter, but for audiences more interested in literature than machinery, Paula Hawkins’ 2015 thriller “The Girl on the Train” will be a ride that leaves you with whiplash.

The novel opens to Rachel Watson, an unstable, alcoholic 20-something. She is everything that an anti-hero should be: wildly unpredictable, disorganized and obsessive. She takes the same train every- day to work and back, and has become enthralled with what she witnesses. A young couple, whom Rachel has nick- named Jason and Jess, are seemingly perfect.They live in a gorgeous Victorian home and sip coffee every morning on their bedroom balcony. She is an artist, and he is a doctor. Rachel imagines their conversations, their hobbies, their passions. This fantasy couple is the perfect escape for Rachel’s jumbled life. Unexpectedly, Jess, whose real name is actually Megan, goes missing; and her flawless facade goes with her. Rachel finds herself in a dilemma; because of her extreme attention to this couple, she might have important information that could help shed light on Megan’s disappearance. If she does this, her barely-conscious stalking of her ex-husband might emerge, as well as other damning details that could make Rachel unreliable, or worse, could get her arrested.

Hawkins switches from multiple point-of-views throughout the novel; from Rachel, to Megan, to Anna, her ex-husband’s new wife. This collection of commentary serves to ultimately solve the mystery, but more so gives us insight on these women’s lives and how complicated they are. Nothing is ever as perfect as it seems. The novel sheds light on domestic abuse, addiction, and loss, all from unique perspectives. These women who are telling the story are broken, but do not want to be defined by their flaws. Simply, they want to start to anew, but just can’t seem to shake the past, as others try to label them with it.

Some scenes that detail the ins-and-outs of abuse are extremely graphic, and it’s worthy to note that because of this, the book will not be suitable for all audiences. The novel is in no way appallingly scandalous, but it contains subjects that not everyone is comfortable reading, and that’s perfectly fine; however, if you’re not particularly squeamish, read them. Experience them. Even as fictitious circumstances, they serve as a mirror for the real world. The subject of sexual abuse and assault is a hot topic in today’s world, and for good reason. While the women in “The Girl on the Train” aren’t real, their lives look a lot like the lives of women among us, and it’s important to be privy to their struggles and experiences.

“The Girl on the Train” is thrilling, to say the least. Hawkins leads the reader on a wild goose-chase with differing leads; you suspect one person, but you are always wrong. This authentically interest- ing novel is refreshing; rarely do I read a book so captivating that I physically can- not put it down. The novel is a tad long for an afternoon read (almost 400 pages!), but still manages to give it’s readers such a good experience that it’s length doesn’t matter. The diction is understandable and conversational, which is important when dealing with such heavy topics that the novel discusses. Hawkins makes it easy for her readers to comprehend and sympathize with her characters. In short, read “The Girl on the Train”. You will not be disappointed.

Entertainment

The Right to Study: A review on I Am Malala

Belen Cocke

Guest Writer

On October 9, 2012, on the bus ride home from her end-of-year exams, 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai was shot by a young, zealous Talib. She recounts how a bullet traveled through her left eye socket and into her left shoulder, leaving her severely injured. In her brilliant memoir, I Am Malala (Little, Brown and Company, 2013), the Nobel Peace Prize winner chronicles her fight for equal education for all children in Pakistan under “Talibanization”, a radical terrorist ideology that overtook and corrupted the Pakistani government from the late 1990s and still holds power today.

Rivaling novels that boast fantasy worlds and superhuman situations are typically more intriguing and fascinating than the day to day lives that fail to measure to the same caliber. However, I Am Malala is the exception. It is easily readable and hard to put down; her captivating tale of the struggles of a childhood under a suffocating regime is heartbreaking, and it forces readers, as students, to truly appreciate the education we are handed.

With school starting up again this fall, millions of students across the United States are buckling down for another year of studying, testing and examination. However, not everyone has the pleasure of being able to stress about algebra or history. For some, daring to go to school could cost them their lives. Yousafzai, since the tender age of 11, boasted progressive ideas that included speaking out against the anti-education torrents spread by the radical terrorist group, the Taliban. The Taliban is one of the many organizations of self-proclaimed “enlightened” Muslims, believing that women should not be educated and ordain a life of doing nothing more than marrying and bearing children. Yousafzai likens them to what “the West calls fundamentalists” (Yousafzai 93).

Due to Yousafzai’s courage and strength, she became a beacon of hope for young children all over Pakistan, conversing and debating with adults on national television, calling out the Taliban by name and demanding they allow girls to return to school. Even though this put her on the Taliban’s list, she felt it necessary and that if  “[she was] speaking for [her] rights, for the rights of girls, [she was] not doing anything wrong” (141). In the novel, it is addressed that many had believed the Taliban was long gone and that peace might finally return to Pakistan. However, the peace treaty signed in February 2009 between the Taliban and the Pakistani government had been “merely a mirage” (169). The Taliban was (and is) alive and well.

Much to the Taliban’s disappointment, Yousafzai survived and continues to contend for every child’s right to receive a quality education. Through her namesake organization, the Malala Fund, she fights for change through education and empowerment of local communities.

To elaborate, her memoir is beautifully written. She tells the intimate story of growing up, although her circumstances were drastically different than ours. Furthermore, she uses religion as a powerful contradictory and literary tool. The people who tried to silence her preach anti-Islamic statements, all the while operating under a guise of piety. They do not follow the Quran or Allah’s word; they use religion, a part of life even the least educated person subscribes to, as a manipulation tool. Yousafzai comments on this in her novel; the theme of religion and how differently it can be interpreted and twisted shines through: “Some people call themselves Muslim, but their actions are not Islamic” (283). Her style of telling this gripping story through heartfelt and seemingly innocent anecdotes makes her story all the more telling: the signs of corruption are evident, and ones even teenagers may be able to pick up on.

The lighthearted tone Yousafzai uses throughout her memoir is almost eerie in hindsight. We know the tragic outcome, yet reflect on how aloof everyone in the autobiography seemed to have been. That quality is what makes I Am Malala such a great read. This memoir is not only a look into a girl’s life, but a list of what not to do if similar situations arise in our own lives. Everyone, teenager or not, can serve to learn a thing or two from Yousafzai, and other people in her shoes.

Entertainment

31 Nights of Halloween

Salma Valdez

Staff Writer

One of the most anticipated Halloween traditions for many is watching the annual “13 Nights of Halloween” movie marathon on Freeform, formerly known as ABC Family, which airs from October 19th to October 31st. Fans of the event were ecstatic when Freeform announced earlier this year that the 13 nights would be turned into 31 nights which means even more spooky, chilling movies to get everyone in the Halloween spirit.