By Kendall Frank
If you, a family member or a close friend are book lovers, I recommend Becoming by Michelle Obama as a must read to add to your list. Even if you aren’t a book lover, I still highly recommend trying to read this fantastic autobiography about the former first lady Michelle Obama. Before I started reading the book I thought perhaps it would be only about her life in the White House. Things such as dealing with political issues, speeches, and other political things that are not to my interest. This however is not the case at all. It’s so much more. Michelle Obama not only talks about transitioning to the country’s first lady, but how she came to be where she is now as a wife and loving mother. Her story is split into three sections each talking about her life and it's amazing journey. The first section is called “Becoming Me.” In this section of the book she talks about her homelife on the South side of Chicago, where she grew up. She leaves her childhood apartment to become a successful lawyer at Harvard and Stanford University. Her transition from home to school is undeniably relatable to those who are preparing for college. While becoming successful in her career she meets to-be president Barack Obama. In section two, “Becoming Us”, she tells of building her future with the love of her life. Balancing a career, marriage and raising her two beautiful daughters she would have never imagined becoming a first lady. After meeting Barack, she knew life would not be ordinary leading her through a whole new world she would have never imagined. The last section, “Becoming More”, of her book she explains the massive transition her family conquers through the life of politics before and after her husband was elected president. She describes and compares her life in the white house versus living in Chicago. She explains the struggles and her powerful responsibility as the first lady for her country. Reading her life story was extremely eye opening and oddly relatable at some parts. Each section of her book was like living her life and seeing the world in a whole new perspective that I thought I would never understand. Each chapter left me wanting to read more; I couldn’t put the book down. I recommend this amazing book to everyone as a must read. By Savannah Miller
To many, the TV anthology “Black Mirror” has become the new standard for Netflix Originals, a feat they achieved by using Netflix’s seemingly endless budget to hire clever screenwriters to articulate their biting commentary on technology, accompanied with the cinematographers’ and actors’ visual translation of an already groundbreaking script. Black Mirror popularized a niche and untapped genre of modern horror that has been appropriately dubbed “Tech Horror.” Every episode centers around a different dystopian setting that is corrupted by Orwellian nightmares, such as: a cartoon comedy personality becoming a political figure, a society that has granted it’s citizens the ability to block people in real life, or the many episodes about living in a world where social media dictates your personal reputation (more so than it currently does). Bandersnatch, in its simplest state, is a meta narrative about mental illness, free will, and, surprisingly enough, Netflix itself. The plot revolves around an aspiring programmer named Stefan Butler who creates a choose-your-own-adventure game titled “Bandersnatch.” The subsequent events of the film are entirely at the viewer’s discretion, meaning that every decision has a butterfly effect on the rest of the film. Even the simplest decisions, such as choosing whether Stefan eats Frosties of Sugar Puffs for breakfast, can have a catastrophic effect on the ending of the film. The interactive style of Bandersnatch is enough to warrant at least one watch. Playing through different scenarios, picking up on new changes, and making different decisions are all a part of what makes this movie so refreshing when it comes to the typical Netflix Original. Not to mention, five different endings makes for ample rewatch value. David Slade, director of Bandersnatch, is also revered for his work on various episodes of Breaking Bad, Hannibal, American Gods, as well as Black Mirror. His directorial career is riddled with dark, thought-provoking content that is sure to capture attention. Bandersnatch is a new milestone for both Slade and the film industry. Avid binge-watchers should look forward to more interactive media in the future. By Ronalee Stone
On November 2nd, 2018 Queen fans waited in agony for Bohemian Rhapsody, the movie about Queen’s story, to finally release. Bohemian Rhapsody was named after a very popular song that Queen released in 1975. Queen was a rock band that started in 1970 with the lead singer being Freddie Mercury, the drummer Roger Taylor, the lead guitarist Brian May, and the bass player John Deacon. The movie started with Freddie (played by Rami Malek) going to a bar and ended up watching the band Smile perform. At the end of their performance, he went to go and find them. When Freddie found them, it was only the drummer, Roger (played by Ben Hardy), and the guitarist, Brian (played by Gwilym Lee). The band had just lost their lead singer, and Freddie asked them if he could join. They told him no because of his big mouth, but after he shared his amazing voice, they were in awe and let him join immediately. Freddie then changed the name of the band from Smile to Queen, later the bass player, John (played by Joseph Mazzello), joined. This movie was a huge rollercoaster of emotions. It was sad in some moments, and very funny in others. It was also very accurate to the actual story of Queen. It gave an amazing insight to what bands go through, it’s not always perfect, there is always going to be squabbles and arguments, but there will also be fun times, laughter, times to rock out, and times to connect with the other band mates. This movie is arguably the best movie of 2018. It has made well over 500 Million dollars so far, and it has only been released for 2 months. According to Rotten Tomatoes, 90% of viewers loved this movie, giving it a 4.5/5 rating. It also had amazing actors/actresses that did a fantastic job playing their roles because they, for one thing, they look like the actual band members and they also did a great job recreating them, too. One of the cool things that the movie showed in the end credits, was after Mercury died, an organization (Mercury Phoenix Trust) was opened in his honor to help fight and prevent HIV/AIDS. It is still in business, doing great things for the world today. I guess you could say this was one amazing movie, filled with laughter, tears, love, great music, etc. If you are looking for a good movie to watch, you should look into this incredible movie, Darling. By Marley Tofton
Starting the new year off with a bang, Columbia Pictures film company released the horror/thriller movie Escape Room, a movie about six strangers who all receive mysterious personalized invitations to participate in a new escape room, which, at the time, was yet to be completed. Throughout the movie, the six participants subtly reveal information about their pasts, and the life changing traumas each individual experienced. Escape room successfully portrayed the perfect amount of thrill, drama, ans mystery that any good movie or the sort should. Though not much information is given at the start of the movie, it doesn’t take long for the audience to pick up on the foreshadowing to piece together the clues. As the movie goes on, the strangers memories and flashbacks continue to build their character and draw the viewers in. Throughout the movie, the viewers develop an understanding on what drew the ‘game master’ to choose these specific people to participate in the game based off of their past traumas. This understanding is built based off the rooms themselves, and how the rooms relate to the strangers individually. Although Escape Room is categorized as a horror film, it has a twinge of drama and mystery that is shown through the characters bonding with each other and creating their own relationships, and experiencing the damage of the rooms they have to go through together. As the movie goes on, the characters start to dwindle, and the rooms get more and more difficult to escape, the morals of the characters become more evident (and play a part in the ending.) As the movie begins to wrap up, viewers are left on the edge of their seats, as any good thriller leaves the audience. All in all, Escape Room provided just the right amount of thrill, drama, and mystery as any movie of the sort should, and left the viewer with the hope of more Escape Rooms in the future. By Jesse Dimich-Louvet
When people think of the biggest sporting feats, one often thinks of Usain Bolt’s dominance at the Olympics, Phelps winning his eight gold medals in the Beijing Games, Michael Jordan’s six NBA titles in the 90s, or even the New England Patriots improbable comeback win in the 2017 Super Bowl also come to mind. However, many consider Alex Honnold’s free solo ascent of El Capitan on June 3, 2017 to be the most impressive achievement in sports. National Geographic’s Free Solo documentary does an amazing job of recounting this fairy tale story. There is not a more dangerous sport out there than free soloing(it is essentially climbing but with no support whatsoever), one faux pas or lapse of concentration and everything you have worked for vanishes immediately. This was the initial concern of the National Geographic film crew, how would it feel to film someone falling to their death for some potential movie. After much reflection, this was a risk they were willing to take. Alex Honnold had a dream, to be the first man to accomplish the most challenging climb in the world of free soloing: El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, standing at an astonishing 7,569 feet. However, Honnold was not the first man to have this idea, as thousands of the most renowned climbers had attempted and failed in their pursuit of greatness. During the entirety of the film one is on the edge of their seat. As the movie progresses, one’s heart increases so rapidly, that it feels as if you were the one climbing El Capitan. Honnold had fallen countless times throughout his numerous attempts, though he never gave up. Never settling for defeat became his mantra as he followed the old adage “To fall down 8 times and get back up 9.” Perseverance is one of the key elements that all champions have and Honnold showed his off brilliantly as doubts never got in his way. Honnold started his ascent at 5:32 A.M. and reached the summit 3 hours and 56 minutes later, becoming an overnight sensation, being featured on the cover of just about every sports magazine and an icon in the sports world. This inspiring movie is a must see and proves that there is nothing impossible in life. Like Nike says: “If you can reach your goals than they are not crazy enough.” By Sophia Heilman
Spider-man is a character that has long been beloved by many through his multiple incarnations beginning with the comics, to animated tv series, moving on to the big screen played by the actors Toby Maguire, Andrew Garfield, Tom Holland, and now Chris Pine and Jake Johnson in Into the Spider-verse. Into the Spider-verse focuses on the story of Miles Morales, an Afro-Latino teenager hailing from Brooklyn, as he dawns the mask of Spider-man after Peter Parker was killed. No need to worry though, a portal is opened, created by the villain, Kingpin, and different variations of Spider-man from alternate dimensions tumble through. Miles is introduced to Peter B. Parker (Spider-man from the Amazing Spider-man comics series), Spider-Gwen (Gwen Stacy but if Peter Parker was killed and she became Spider-man), Spider-noir (if Spider-man took place in the 30’s), Peni Parker (takes place in the future), and Peter Porker/Spider-ham (a spider that was bit by a radioactive pig). Together, the different Spider-man reincarnations team up to defeat Kingpin from destroying all of New York and to teach Miles how to become Spider-man. The core of Spider-man is conveyed perfectly through a line that is repeated throughout the movie with increasing intensity, Spider-man always gets back up. Miles has a difficult time learning this as his entire world has been flipped upside down. He has to deal with the pressure of keeping his city safe, keep his identity secret, and live up to the love and respect people had for the previous Spider-man. In one of the final scenes before the climax of the movie, Miles has finally accepted his identity as Spider-man, but as one that is new, original, and purely Miles. He learns how to be himself from the other Spider-man, taking what Peter B. Parker said to heart: “One thing I know for sure. Don’t do it like me. Do it like you.” Miles finally tests the limits of his strength and jumps off a building. As Miles is falling the camera turns upside down so Miles is no longer falling into Brooklyn, but he’s rising. Miles has to take a leap of faith to find himself, to find his full potential as Spider-man. The story of Into the Spider-verse isn’t an origin story for a new Spider-man but for Miles. He has to discover a new part of himself that is willing to go farther and further than he has ever gone before, test the limits of his own strength, and always get back up. Into the Spider-verse is less of a superhero story and more of a coming of age movie that tells a truer story than any realistic narrative. It expresses a person’s innermost emotions and desires that we can all relate to. Into the Spider-verse tells the story of every humans life. Our need to fit in despite the differences that make us an individual, the bond of families whether or not it be through blood, and the jump we all must make to find ourselves and where we belong in this world. By Julia Ward
For Valentine’s Day spirit, we all have Netflix. Both people that have someone to spend the day with, or just to relax and take a load off after a long busy day, Netflix always has a movie for the mood. But for the people that don’t know what to watch, here’s the answer: Our Souls At Night, a romance film between elderly neighbors, Addie Moore and Louis Waters, a widow and widower, both with rough pasts. Then when Addie decides to walk over to Louis’s house at night to ask him life changing questions. She asks Louis if he would come to her house to sleep in bed with her, to chase away the loneliness to simply talk and fall asleep next to someone and wake up with someone still right next to her. It takes Louis by surprise of course, yet he decides to think on it even though they barely know each other. He soon chooses to take a shot at it to see if it will have any effect on his feelings of loneliness. After a while people within their small town started talking about Addie and Louis, thinking they were in a romantic relationship. Yet all they would do is talk about their past lives, talking about how they lost their spouse and of their families with whom they shared both great memories and bad memories. Then one day, Addie had to have her grandson, Jamie, live with her. Jamie and Louis began to form a great friendship. This is due to the help of Addie who had Louis open up Jamie instead of on his phone playing games constantly. Louis was able to get Jamie to open up by letting him play with a train set that he got his daughter when she was his age. Jamie would often hang out with Louis as he had no friends yet. Louis would to spend the night and called it a sleepover with Jamie so it didn’t cause any awkwardness. Louis noticed that Jamie would have a hard time sleeping alone so he decided to get Jamie his own dog and named it Bonnie. As time passes, Louis and Addie’s relationship flourishes. When Jamie’s father found out, he didn’t like the fact that Louis would still spend the night with Jamie there. He decided to take him home, even when Jamie refused it. One night, Addie got a call from Jamie saying that he woke up to go get a glass of water, when he noticed his dad wasn’t at home, Addie goes to her son’s house where Jamie is with Louis so Jamie didn’t have to be alone. Jamie’s dad got home, he was drunk and returning from a bar. This causes Addie to get upset with him and tells him that Jamie does not deserve to go through the experience of seeing his own father hammered and stumbling home drunk out of his mind. Addie decided to move in with her son and Jamie however, Louis wasn’t permitted to spend the night. They were both having a hard time sleeping the first night and eventually decided to call each other to talk so they wouldn’t feel quite as lonely. Therefore, Our Souls at Night is a great Valentine's day movie and is strongly recommended for the fact of the love between to people that had nothing to know about each other to knowing almost everything about each other. Our Souls At Night is truly a love story you will never forget. By Emma Qualls
The year of 2018 started off fairly bleak for the Nintendo Switch system. It had managed to get a small base of people playing regularly from games like Splatoon: 2, TLoZ: Breath of the Wild, and Mario Odyssey, but it seemed as though not many people who enjoy video games had received the word about how great this console is. This is probably due to a certain population not being interested in Nintendo games or just thinking that Mario-related games are just for children (they are not, by the way). Even the other day in Best Buy, I heard someone say how “kiddie” all of the games looked. Clearly someone does not know how many characters were canonically killed to bring the newest big game - which brings me to my main topic. First, however, we set the stage. The day is March 8th, 2018 and Nintendo has released a new Nintendo Direct. The Direct is made with the usual formula: some 3DS game headlines, My Nintendo account rewards announcements, and Splatoon updates and expansions. The thirty-four minute video does not end like usual, though. The viewer is treated to a clip of inklings chasing each other with paint guns in a neutral, white environment. The scene escalates in combat, while slowly the area around them turns from bright white to pitch black. A light source appears, and our inkling girl turns around to look. Everyone can see the symbol of light reflected in her eye. What is it, one would ask? Oh, nothing, just an enormous Super Smash Bros. logo with beloved Nintendo characters standing dead still in silence near it. Did I mention the symbol is engulfed in flames, too? As one could imagine, the internet broke. So, after two traumatized inkling children, a stressed-to-death Masahiro Sakurai, and nine months of waiting and hype, Super Smash Bros.: Ultimate arrived on the scene, bringing with it many new Nintendo consumers and players to enjoy the game, along with the tagline “Everyone is here!” (except for Waluigi). How is the game, though? Not owning a Nintendo Switch myself, as I am a loyal DS gamer, I took to my local crowd. LeeAndra Mills, a sophomore at BSH, gave much insight into gameplay, story, and her personal experience with the game. Speaking on her opinion of the game, Mills says, “I would recommend this game to new Switch owners, it’s easy to pick up and play at parties.” Mills also commented, “My favorite fighter is probably Peach, but I also enjoy playing as Daisy, Chrom, Inkling, and the Villager.” The new story/adventure mode World of Light also brings a new villain to the stage, Galeem. He seeks to create a new world, ultimately consuming it with light and destroying all the characters on it. The only survivor is Kirby, and, controlled by the player, he must battle darkened versions of his fighter friends, who Galeem is using as puppets on his stage. The goal is to save all the fighters, collect spirits, and defeat the final boss. With a total of 74 characters on its roster (depending on how you count) the game is more fun and flashy than ever. One puzzling addition to the roster, however, came out of the blue. The last character announced, finishing the roster, ended up being the famous piranha plant from Super Mario Bros.. Commenting on this reveal, Mills says, “I never would have thought that Piranha Plant would be added, but I think he looks like a really fun and creative character, and I’m excited for his release.” In short, even though this plant has little tiny feet and no arms, he’s just as excited as anyone to be part of the hype, proving that anyone and everyone can still get in on the fun that is Super Smash Bros.:Ultimate! By Ashley Garcia
Honestly, who actually likes Valentine’s day? This day is either just a reminder to get your significant other a present or that being single sucks and watching Netflix alone is rather pathetic. Every year on February 14th, Valentine's day occurs. Many people go to stores like Target, Walmart, or even the dollar store to pick up a box of chocolate and some flowers to give to their one and only “true love”. Except those who don’t have a significant other, then there is no need to buy chocolate or flowers, which is depressing. February is the month known for love, but I personally believe that every day of the year love should be expressed freely and not held up for one month. It is crazy, EVERYTHING is red, pink, or purple and all the stores are packed with some kind of stuffed animal or heart decoration. On holidays people buy each other gifts to show appreciation, however, on Valentines day there should be no need to express love through the power of gift giving but in other ways.Christmas I understand, buying your loved one, family member, or friend a special something to say, because it’s the month to give, but on a random day in February is extreme. Another reason on why Valentine’s day shouldn’t exist, is that it makes all those lonely, single people (even if they aren’t that lonely) feel worse about not being in a relationship. This holiday makes watching movies alone, staying in, and only hanging out with friends seem dull and that is a major problem. There are a lot of people in this world who enjoy being single. Not only because making decisions is easier, but it allows them to have time to themselves without someone in the way. Valentines is a day where restaurants and movies theatres are unbelievably crowded and hard to get in to. Many people are out in the world all at once which can cause chaos such as getting in a fight over a table with a complete stranger or having to wait over forty five minutes just for a meal that might end up cold, and more. Anything is possible on this day and when too many couples are out celebrating it gets too crowded and is hectic for the employees at these establishments. I mean, there are perks to Valentine’s day, spending time with a loved one is always a blessing, I just think that we shouldn’t be required to do it on one day of the year. Everyone should be loved and cherished everyday of the year, not just on February 14th. |
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