WRITTEN BY RIELLE CHLOE CANLAS
Rated by Author: 2/5 Warning: Content Contains Spoilers! They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera is a young adult novel that follows two teenage boys, Mateo and Rufus, as they discover that they only have one day left to live. In the book’s dystopian structured society, individuals are informed 24 hours before they die. The book starts off with Mateo receiving a call from the “death cast”, an unknown organization that calls you before your death. Later on, Rufus receives the same call. They go on an app called “Last Friends”, allowing you to make a friend before you pass. Mateo and Rufus meet from there and begin their adventure together. Mateo and Rufus go on an “around the world in eighty minutes” experience. They jump off of waterfalls, visit the World Travel Arena, and ride their motorcycle throughout the night. Before the 24 hours are up, the two go back to Mateo’s apartment. —Second spoiler alert-- Over their time spent together the two notice their feelings for each other. They end their last few hours with a kiss and lay in Mateo’s bed. In the middle of the night, Rufus decides to make tea when the gas burner starts to ignite and the apartment fills with flames. As he’s killed instantly, Rufus later wakes up and is filled with devastation. Overall, I’m not a huge fan of this book. Due to its title, nothing was surprising. The book ended really underwhelmingly. From reviews and research before reading, They Both Die at the End was really promoted for its heartfelt story. Although the aspect of romance and emotion is involved, I, as an emotional person, did not shed a tear. I’ve seen countless people cry over this book, but I believe the story was very predictable and distasteful. The adventures they went through were very wholesome but towards the end, everything was really rushed. I think reading this book is a great experience if you have some free time on your hands. Although, if you’re looking for something dramatic that leaves you in tears, I would not recommend this book to you. WRITTEN BY KARISSA CRUZ AND AMELIA MORRISSEY
Rated by Author: 1/5 With the fast approaching episode involving Meredith's farewell to Grey's Anatomy, fans of the show are scared and anticipating how she will say goodbye. Since 2005, the show’s first airing, Meredith has appeared in 400 episodes. Due to that, we feel that this final episode will forever make a change in Grey’s Anatomy. This show has been through many ups and downs over the past few years such as character deaths, actors leaving, and the pandemic. This all makes us even more nervous about the upcoming episode because we don't know how she will say goodbye. -Update- After watching the episode we were very disappointed. We feel that other actors who have left the show have gotten multiple episode goodbyes or flashbacks of their time on the show. When most of these actors left, the episodes following were touching and memorable, making most dedicated viewers cry while watching. But for this episode, all they did was say a short speech and that was it. This was a disservice to Meredith as she has been through and overcome so much through her time on the show. To give her such a crappy goodbye is just disappointing. On top of this the plot of the episode was boring and hard to watch. A former patient was back in the hospital after her condition worsened. This led to her having an emergency surgery performed by Nick and Meredith. In the end they couldn’t save her. Another storyline was with the interns competing for the chance to scrub in on a heart transplant with Maggie and Winston. Mika had the best technique of all the interns and got to scrub in on the surgery. This surgery ended up being very successful and saved the 2 week old child, Arlo. Along with Meredith leaving, the spot for chief of surgery is left open. So, Dr. Webber is searching for candidates and settles on Teddy after she asks for the position. The last pointless story line of this episode was Link running around to get the cake for the goodbye party. He ended up getting the wrong cake which honestly just felt cheesy and annoying for an episode that should have been sentimental. Overall, this was a terrible way to say goodbye and left the fans with no closure. WRITTEN BY: MICHAEL MCKNIGHT A system in chess is a type of opening that has little to no counter play. The London System is a brilliant example of such. The London is a white chess opening (white meaning you go first) that has shown in use in low-level chess to world championships. Being a system, there is not much the opponent (black) can do in response to this opening. This makes the opening very good for beginners as it’s simple and effective. The opening first gained popularity in 1922 when used in a match between Alexander Alekhine and Max Euwe. Alexander was able to win a very large chess tournament which took place in London (hence the name) and was able to win which brought attention to the move. Recently it has regained popularity as grand master Magnus Carlsen picked up the opening and started using it in many of his games. It won him many championships and showed the world its ability in high-level chess. This explanation of the opening will be using the coordinates on the chess board. An example of coordinates in the image below is the white king being on E1 and the black king being on E8. The first move in the opening is moving the queen's pawn to D4. What this does is establish dominance in the center and opens up the dark squared bishop. The most common response will be pawn to D5. You will then move the king-side knight F3. This protects the pawn and also gives more control of the center. The most common response is knight to F6. The next move is to move the dark squared bishop (C1 Bishop) to F4. This further controls the center and makes it difficult for black to make counter play. After this setup you develop your center pawns and play the mid game. Keep in mind that in most cases, even if the opponent doesn’t play the most common response the opening will still keep most of its structure. Play defensively (meaning not to attack the opponents pieces too much) and don’t lose your queen!
WRITTEN BY: NATALIA JACKSON
Rated by Author: 4/5 One of Is Lying by Karen M. McManus is a thrilling and suspenseful young adult novel that will keep readers on the edge of their seats until the very end. The story follows five high school students who are in detention together when one of them suddenly dies. The other four students, who all have secrets to hide, become suspects in the murder investigation. The plot twists and turns as each character's backstory and motivations are revealed, making it hard to guess who the real killer is. McManus does a great job of creating relatable and well-developed characters; each with their own unique personalities and struggles. The story is told through multiple perspectives, allowing readers to get a deeper understanding of each character and how they are connected to the murder. The pacing of the book is also well done, as it slowly builds up to a shocking and satisfying conclusion. One of Us Is Lying is a must-read for fans of mystery and suspense. It's a fast-paced and engaging story that will keep readers guessing until the very end. McManus has done an excellent job of crafting a gripping and thought-provoking novel that will leave a lasting impression on readers. WRITTEN BY JADEN FISKE
Rated by Author: 5/5 In honor of the game's 2 year anniversary coming up this February, I’ll do a quick review of Little Nightmares 2. The franchise itself has three game titles: Little Nightmares (April 28, 2017), Little Nightmares 2 (February 10, 2021), and the mobile game, Very Little Nightmares (May 30, 2019). The game follows the story of two kids trying to get to The Tower to stop the twisted reality of their world. The game falls under the categories: Puzzle, Platform, Adventure, and Survival Horror. Not only that, it does have a PEGI 16 rating because of horror aspects and the featured violence towards humanlike characters. Despite the rating, I highly recommend playing it for yourself to fully experience the atmospheric environment the game created. The games do have a chronological order, being, Very Little Nightmares, Little Nightmares 2, and Little Nightmares. It has great graphics, beautiful scenery, as well as great anxiety-inducing scary parts for horror fans. The ending is something you would have never expected, leaving your jaw dropped and shows you the harsh truth of a character. For the theorists out there, the game does not explicitly tell you anything other than what you see, leaving you to make up theories for the ending, the world, and the characters themselves. Overall, it’s an amazing game. It’s available on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows, and Google Stadia. The ending is something you will never expect, leaving your jaw dropped. WRITTEN BY ZACHARY BUENAVENTURA
Love is a complex and complicated emotion, with different meanings depending on the context and the person experiencing it. When we talk about love and passion, it can be described as an intense and powerful emotion that drives us to feel deeply connected, invested, and committed to another person. Valentine's Day is a widely celebrated holiday dedicated to love and romance. The meaning of love can be focused on the expression of affection and appreciation for the people we care about during this time. While falling in love can be a wonderful and fulfilling experience, it is not without complications. Love can be complicated, intense, and emotionally demanding, resulting in a variety of difficulties and challenges. There are many personal interpretations of what love is for many people. We took a survey to get people's insights and perspectives on what the VAAS student body's thoughts are about the meaning of love. Here are some of their responses. Some students had a lot to say about love and its complexity. Jaden Gonzales a 10th grade student stated “When it comes to having a partner we tend to glue ourselves to this word, we love our girlfriend or we love our wife or husband, or boyfriend…. When it comes to love I feel people say it because they don’t know how to describe what they truly feel so they come up with the word love and build up behind it. Loving somebody can be an amazing feeling. We tend to feel happy and at peace, we could give up almost all our time for this person because they give us this sense of joy that no other person has given us. This is the reason why so many fall victim to heartbreak. With love comes so many opportunities for injury, you risk it all for joy and peace putting your walls down for this person to be able to destroy everything you have built. This is the reason so many people fail at romantic relationships they don’t accept the person who’s trying to show them this affection they feel that this singular person will ruin and destroy what they have built in a matter of seconds.” For other students love is “To feel warm and at home. A place like no other”, “Putting someone else's welfare above your own.”, “...talking to a person and the world goes quiet.” “Love is the feeling of fullness in your heart and being okay with living in the moment.” , “Love is a sacrifice. Love is an action. it shows how you care, and how you admire one’s self. Love is a language. The way we communicate our feelings. The way life comes together.” After reading the responses from everyone who took part in the survey, love is complicated, there is no one correct answer about what “it” is. Love is more than just an emotion or a chemical reaction that fires off in your brain. Love is human connection, understanding, sacrifice, and more. Love is one of the most powerful and transformative emotions that humans can feel. It is one of the deepest and indescribable feelings that cannot be based solely on one factor. Love is challenging and can be scary for a lot of people. It has the ability to bring individuals joy, happiness, fulfillment, as well as to form strong and lasting bonds between partners. At the end of the day, Love is a deeply personal and subjective experience that has different meanings for different people. Some people associate love with intense passion and romance. For others love is just not as important as other things. Love is a language, love is a euphoric feeling like no other, and love is a concept that many can manipulate to inflict emotional damage on someone that can last a lifetime. Love is a bond that can transcend all levels of communication shaped by our unique circumstances, experiences, and values. Love is what you interpret it as and there is never a right or wrong answer. WRITTEN BY SAMARA CHAVEZ
Rated by Author: 4.5/5 The Buddies, a series loved by many on Disney channel, was an American television series most popular in the early 2000s. Buddies became a nine part franchise due to its popularity. This kid-friendly series followed a group of puppy siblings and their adventures as they grew. These travels consisted of things from looking for treasure to solving a ghost dog’s grudges. One of the most memorable of the series, in my opinion, would be “Santa Buddies”. “Santa Buddies” has the typical conflict most Christmas movies have, the fading of the Christmas spirit. This movie, however, is led by talking dogs, making it a unique approach to this storyline.This already separates it from most Christmas films. The movie follows a puppy from the Santa Claus family, and the already well known Buddies puppies, as they work together to save Christmas. “Santa Buddies” is the perfect film for children and adults during the holiday season. It teaches kindness, compassion, and the ability to change for the better. Near the end of the film, the antagonist, who has been spoiling the Buddies’ plans, has a change of heart and learns to treat them and other dogs with more kindness. This storyline teaches children important life lessons. The discussion over the beliefs of Christmas also brings up the importance of tolerance of different beliefs. The Buddies are told by a wise dog that although they may not believe in Christmas, they should still treat it with respect. Overall, “Santa Buddies”, the fourth installment of the “Buddies” series, is a well meaning movie. It teaches children positive messages while also approaching it in a unique way. It was a movie I loved as a little kid, and I’m sure it would be one that many others would enjoy as well. WRITTEN BY AIDEN ORANTES
My Chemical Romance is one of, if not, the most influential pop punk and emo bands of the 21st century. With 4 albums currently under their belt, multiple tours with people such as Mindless Self Indulgence, Thursday, and Bon Jovi, it's no wonder that people were upset when they broke up in March of 2013, but they came back in 2019. In honor of their recently finished reunion tour, I decided to rank their current albums by my own criteria: Cinematic Universe (comic books, music videos, Twitter accounts), album sales (UK), outfits during each tour, and the cohesiveness of each album, as well as CD album designs. Ranked 4th is Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, which was released in 2004. It’s the least cohesive album because you can’t pick up the main theme of it, and it’s sort of all over the place. In the UK, it was 34th in the weekly charts, which is less than Bullets (the album in 3rd place), even though this was the album that got them major acclaim. Although the single “Thank You For The Venom” was good, it couldn’t do anything to bump up the abysmal score. Not even the CD design, which consisted of a drawing of the demolition lovers on the front, the pamphlet containing all 5 members of the band, as well as a rosary on the disc. Next, in third place, is I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, which came out in 2002. It barely has a story to speak of; it's considered an unofficial concept album, although fans do often connect it to Sweet Revenge. There’s more cohesiveness to this album than Sweet Revenge. Within the UK, it ranked 31st on the weekly charts, which was a higher ranking than the album after. It has my favorite single out of all of MCR’s discography, with “Vampires Will Never Hurt You”. Although the album CD art is a bit basic, with a man hanging by his ankles, and some text mentioning how Gerard will suck your blood out, if you pirate this album, it’s more experimental than the albums after it. In second place is Danger Days: The True Lives of The Fabulous Killjoys, coming out in 2011. It has the best cinematic universe, with a set of comics, Twitter accounts for two of the characters, and music videos. In terms of cohesiveness, it's a little less cohesive than the next album on this list, since there are technically two timelines presented by the music videos and album. In the UK weekly charts, this album's highest place was 14th, which is pretty impressive, considering this is the last album before the breakup. For the tour, the outfits were a little basic, but when they did have outfits on stage, it looked decent. Out of all the singles for Danger Days, the best one was “SING", but not enough to dethrone “Vampires Will Never Hurt You.” The album's CD design is interesting, because it looks like an overplayed vinyl record, with the iconic spider on it. The pamphlet inside has multiple pictures of different characters from the album. In first place, there’s The Black Parade, released in 2006. In terms of cohesiveness, it tells the story of The Patient as he dies from cancer, and goes through meeting everyone in the Black Parade, from the Conductor to Fear and Regret. On tour, the band also ends up wearing their outfits representing the Black Parade, and even went as far as wearing skull makeup for some of their shows. For the cinematic universe, there isn’t as much as Danger Days, but there are videos to show the recording of the “Welcome to the Black Parade” video. In the UK weekly charts, it ended up ranking 1st place. The album's best single has to be “Famous Last Words”, because of the rawness of the vocals, the intensity of the video, and the fact that Gerard nearly broke his leg, and the drummer burned his leg from the fire in the background. The album’s CD has the rest of the cast of the Black Parade, including The Patient, Mother War, and many others in the case, while the disc has the band’s logo at the time. WRITTEN BY: NATALIA JACKSON
Rated by Author: 5/5 Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles is a beautifully written and emotionally powerful retelling of the classic Greek myth of Achilles and Patroclus. The novel is told from the perspective of Patroclus, a prince who is exiled to the court of Achilles' father and forms a deep bond with Achilles. Miller's writing is lyrical and evocative, bringing the ancient world to life with vivid descriptions and rich imagery. The characters are well-developed and complex, with Achilles, in particular, being portrayed as a fully-realized human being, with flaws and vulnerabilities as well as strength and courage. The novel explores themes of love, loyalty, and sacrifice, as well as the brutal realities of war and the price of fame. The relationship between Achilles and Patroclus is at the heart of the story, and Miller masterfully portrays the depth of their love and the sacrifices they make for each other. Overall, The Song Of Achilles is a beautifully written and emotionally powerful novel that is a must-read for fans of Greek mythology and lovers of epic literature. It’s a stunning retelling of the classic story that will leave readers breathless and heartbroken by the end. WRITTEN BY AIDEN ORANTES
Rated by Author: 4.5/5 On January 20th, Måneskin released their second album, RUSH!. With 17 songs and a runtime of 52 minutes and 50 seconds, it’s certainly more packed than their first album, Teatro d’ira - Vol. I, which contained 8 songs and a runtime of 29 minutes and 8 seconds. But is bigger always better in this band’s case? Most of their songs in the new album are filled with energy, although there are some slower ballads. A couple of the songs were written from different places of inspiration, like the days after “Eurovision” (2021), when they made fun of some accusations. They also used for inspiration old guitar riffs that were made by the band's lead guitarist, as well as the feeling of touring around the world, but wanting to return home. The combination of fast paced music, like “Mark Chapman”, which is their fastest song at 178 BPM, with songs like “The Loneliest”, which in Damianos own words, “...is a power ballad, fully 90’s style. …It is what you would say to your loved ones when something beautiful is coming to an end” This is what makes this album stylistically beautiful; there's many themes hidden behind each song. There’s only one minor drawback to this album. A few songs are exclusively in Italian, but you can easily find English translations on the internet. Overall, this album receives a 4.5/5, because while it’s stylistically beautiful, sometimes the changes in between the fast paced music to the more slow, sad songs can be a little jarring. |
AuthorSDana Barbee Categories
All
Archives
May 2023
|