By TRAVIS FOLEY

Warning: This review contains spoilers for “Avatar: The Last Airbender” and “Avatar: The Last Airbender” (2024).

The 2000s era of animated television is often characterized by the comedic, episodic storytelling of cartoons like “The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy,” “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “Johnny Test.” However, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko’s “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” a cartoon beloved by fans and critics alike, pioneered a new era of animation with its mature, serialized approach to storytelling. In the modern day, “Avatar: The Last Airbender” has paved the way for complex storytelling in popular cartoons like “Gravity Falls,” “Steven Universe” and “The Owl House.” 

With this, it’s unsurprising that numerous studios have attempted to capitalize on the success of “Avatar” with the idea of a live-action adaptation. In 2010, M. Night Shyamalan released his infamous live-action film adaptation, “The Last Airbender,” and now, in 2024, Albert Kim has released his own live-action series adaptation, “Avatar: The Last Airbender” (2024). Like Shyamalan’s film, Kim’s series adapts the first season of the original cartoon, “Book One: Water.”  

All versions of the series follow the same general plot: Aang, the Avatar, a boy capable of bending water, earth, fire and air, vanishes just as the Fire Nation wages war on the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom and Air Nomads. Aang spends 100 years trapped in an iceberg as the war wages on behind him, eventually being freed by two Water Tribe teens, Katara and Sokka. Now, the group must travel around the world as Aang masters the four elements in an effort to end the war. On their travels, they stumble across numerous foes, including Zuko, the banished Prince of the Fire Nation, who seeks to capture the Avatar and regain his honor.

The original “Avatar” is widely praised for its rich worldbuilding and characters, all of which are inspired by Asian and Indigenous cultures. Unfortunately, this was a factor Shamalyan’s “The Last Airbender” failed to adapt, instead opting to whitewash the cast. Thankfully, Kim’s series corrects the mistakes of its live-action predecessor and, for the most part, accurately casts the ethnicities of its characters. 

A graphic comparing the characters from each version shows “Avatar: The Last Airbender” on the left, “The Last Airbender” in the middle and “Avatar: The Last Airbender” (2024) on the right. While the 2024 series is accurately cast for the most part, it was suspected in 2022 that Sokka’s actor, Ian Ousley, lied about being Native American to secure his role. (TRAVIS FOLEY/Ethic News Photo)

“Avatar” (2024) sees Gordon Cormier as Aang, Kiawentiio Tarbell as Katara, Ian Ousley as Sokka and Dallas Liu as Zuko. 

While this core cast certainly has chemistry, their individual performances prove lacking in some cases, often feeling stiff and bland. Specifically, their line delivery is often accompanied by a dull, deadpan tone that lacks the intense emotion that characterized the dialogue in the original cartoon. Taking Aang and Zuko’s conversation in episode six as an example, Aang looks back on his friendship with a boy named Kuzon and asks Zuko, “If we knew each other back then, do you think we could’ve been friends?” The tone in which Cormier delivers this line is best described as curious and unenthusiastic. However, when comparing this scene to its counterpart from the original cartoon, Aang’s voice actor, Zach Tyler Eisen, delivers similar dialogue but with a tone that encapsulates the hopefulness and nostalgia of the scene unfolding. 

Although it’s easy to pin these poor performances on the actors themselves, the issue is more rooted in the script. Oftentimes, scenes are too plagued with awkward dialogue and exposition for the actors to successfully convey strong emotions. Though this isn’t to say there’s never a strong performance throughout the entire show, as there are some of moments where the actors manage to effectively tug on the viewers’ heartstrings. 

The lackluster performances and script are only made worse by the 2024 series’ primary issue: its mischaracterization of nearly every main character, especially in regards to Aang and Katara. 

Aang is meant to be the epitome of one’s childhood, a boy characterized entirely by his innocence, goofiness and desire to have fun. Yet, in the 2024 series, Aang lacks nearly all these traits, and when they’re present, they’re extremely toned down. His character hinges on his avoidance of responsibility, a trait rooted in his decision to run away from the Air Nomads—the decision that resulted in him getting stuck in the iceberg and consequently missing the Fire Nation’s attack on his people. However, the 2024 series changes this backstory to Aang temporarily leaving the Air Nomads with the full intention of returning in a few short hours, only to have him swept up in the circumstances that trapped him in the iceberg. This change removes all agency from Aang’s decision to leave the Air Nomads and effectively ruins his character arc moving forward; he can’t learn to accept his responsibility as the Avatar if he never ran from it in the first place.

Meanwhile, Katara’s character is rooted in her compassion; she’s defined by her empathy and sense of justice, though she still manages to be short-tempered, stubborn and bossy. Nevertheless, Katara’s 2024 counterpart is virtually unrecognizable, being best described as tame, bland and meek. The series even manages to strip her of her overbearing qualities, reducing her to a “little girl,” despite it going against the established, maladaptive coping mechanism the death of her mother instilled in her. Moreover, at the climax of Katara’s journey to become a waterbending master, she’s finally in the presence of a teacher, Master Paku (A Martinez), though he refuses to teach her because she’s a woman. In response to this, Katara challenges him to a fight, effectively proving her capability and exemplifying her character growth. However, because this climax is originally rooted in her sense of justice, short temper and stubbornness, the lack of these traits in the 2024 series makes the moment feel weak and dull, failing to capture just how pivotal it is to Katara’s character.

Unlike his fellow cast, Zuko’s 2024 counterpart feels rather consistent with what’s seen in the original cartoon, maintaining his bitterness, hot-headed temper and drive for honor. In fact, below this surface, there’s a seed of empathy in Zuko that the 2024 series manages to brilliantly plant. In the original cartoon, Zuko insists on not sacrificing a division of the Fire Nation military, the 41st Division, and is subsequently banished from the country. Meanwhile, the 2024 series follows this same sequence of events but makes the addition of having the 41st Division be the crew that accompanies Zuko during his banishment. Though it doesn’t significantly impact him, the addition contributes emotional depth to Zuko and his banishment alike. This constant presence of the 41st Division serves as a recurring reminder of Zuko’s empathy, reminding the audience that he’s capable of being a good person, while simultaneously reminding Zuko that his empathy has done nothing but get him hurt, exemplifying why it’s now locked away. 

The change involving the 41st Division is an outlier among plot changes in “Avatar” (2024), though, as most of them prove detrimental and nonsensical rather than beneficial. 

A primary example of this is the change in Aang’s motivation. In the original cartoon, Aang speaks with the spirit of Avatar Roku and learns that he can only end the war if he masters the four elements by the end of summer. This establishes a motivation and sense of urgency that spans the entire cartoon and forces Aang to abandon his childlike urges in favor of ending the war. In the 2024 series, however, Aang speaks with the spirit of Avatar Kyoshi (Yvonne Chapman) and learns that the Northern Water Tribe will soon be invaded by the Fire Nation, and that he is the only one who can prevent them from succeeding. This change establishes a motivation and sense of urgency that span only the season, not the whole series, meaning these factors must now be established on a season-by-season basis rather than having them encompass the whole series. In turn, the 2024 series is set up to be narratively disjointed and disorganized in the wake of its future seasons. 

This change also draws a blatant connection between the invasion of the Northern Water Tribe and the genocide of Aang’s people, the Air Nomads. In and of itself, the connection is good, but it attempts (and fails) to highlight Aang’s already doomed character arc and lacks the subtext that made it so good in the original cartoon. Without this subtext, the depth and complexity that the connection added in the original cartoon are lost in translation. Ultimately, it’s evocative of the 2024 series defiance of the number one rule in narrative writing: show, don’t tell. Much like the aforementioned blatant connection, “Avatar” (2024) prefers to exposit plot and character details rather than demonstrate them to the audience. 

Another key change is seen in the 2024 series’ approach to waterbending. Despite being an adaptation of the original cartoon’s “Book One: Water,” a season revolving around Aang and Katara learning waterbending, almost no waterbending is learned throughout the 2024 series. By doing this, the 2024 series tampers with a fundamental aspect of the original cartoon’s narrative, as Aang must master all four elements in order to end the war. Much like the change regarding his motivation, this pushes Aang’s task of learning waterbending onto future seasons of the show, taking away even more time that can be better utilized fleshing out other aspects of the characters and plot. 

This change also takes away from the original cartoon’s ability to frame its fantastical elements in a realistic, natural way. In the original cartoon, Katara naturally grows as a waterbender before she excels under the guidance of a teacher, establishing bending as a skill that must be honed, not an ability that can naturally strengthen, just like real-life martial arts. Despite this, the 2024 series sees Katara naturally grow as a novice waterbender before spontaneously becoming a “master” by the end of the season. Without proper training to bridge the gap between her novice and master skill levels, Katara’s progression to becoming a waterbending master feels abrupt and irrational; in no world should 2024, untrained Katara match the skill level of cartoon, fully trained Katara. This abrupt approach to becoming a bending master goes against the realism that grounded bending in the original cartoon, making it feel less like a martial art and more like a supernatural ability. 

Though, admittedly, there are some more changes in “Avatar” (2024) that aren’t bad. By merging thematically similar plot lines from the original cartoon, the 2024 series is able to seamlessly meld several adventures from the original cartoon into a singular, cohesive episode. In truth, this is a brilliant way to adapt as much material as possible while still remaining faithful to the core of the individual stories. The best example of this is episode three, an episode that melds together four adventures from the original cartoon, “The King of Omashu,” “The Waterbending Scroll,”  “Jet” and “The Northern Air Temple.” While the episode itself is certainly flawed, the brilliant execution of its fundamental structure still deserves praise.

At that, some of the 2024 series’ brand new story elements aren’t bad either. Specifically, the addition of having Koh the Face Stealer (George Takei) trap characters within their worst memories is great. The addition not only gives viewers an insightful look into the pasts of Katara, Sokka and Aang but also allows for the characters to process their trauma and grief in a unique, engaging way.

The series finds another lowpoint in its fight choreography. Whereas the original cartoon was renowned for its intricate, engaging fight scenes, the 2024 series fails to replicate this same feel. While the scenes involving fire and airbending feel well choreographed, it’s apparent that water and earthbending are executed in a poorer fashion. This is particularly evident in Katara’s fight against Master Paku, where the waterbending of the scene lacks the fluid, fast-paced nature that defined the ability in the original cartoon. 

The reason behind this likely comes down to a fact stated by Zuko’s actor, Dallas Liu, in an interview with nerdist.com. “We’re bending these elements, and obviously, that doesn’t exist in real life. So, we’re allowed to be creative in the way that we wanted it to look. We got to use our imagination to imagine what these bending strikes would look like,” says Liu. 

In the original cartoon, the different bending types were influenced by real-life martial arts, attributing Tai Chi to waterbending, Hung Ga to earthbending, Northern Shaolin to firebending and Baguazhang to airbending. This means that giving creative input to actors’ unfamiliar with these styles of martial arts is bound to result in poor fight choreography, much like what’s seen in Katara’s fight with Master Paku. In contrast, the reason fire and airbending appear well choreographed is because the primary examples of said bending types, Zuko and Aang, are portrayed by actors with prior martial arts experience. 

Though the 2024 series has many lows, its one true strength comes from its excellent set and costume design. In most cases, the environments and costumes feel like they’re ripped straight from the original cartoon. While there are some distractingly low-quality elements, particularly when it comes to wigs, the show more than makes up for it with the lively, fantastical feel of its setting and wardrobe. 

In particular, “Avatar” (2024) excels in its use of color, giving the show a vibrancy that’s lacking in modern fantasy media. Fantasy stories are meant to feel whimsical and inviting, but this can’t be achieved with a dull color palette. Looking to another modern fantasy series as an example, “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” utilizes dull, neutral colors that fail to reflect the wondrous nature of the story, creating an unfit visual representation of the narrative at hand. Thankfully, “Avatar” (2024) serves as a refreshing change of pace, using its vibrancy to accurately represent the story being told. In fact, the series goes as far as dulling colors in specific scenes to reflect moments where all hope and wonder feel lost. 

As a whole, Albert Kim’s “Avatar: The Last Airbender” (2024) captures the look and feel of the original “Avatar,” but it lacks its essence. While the 2024 series can be commended for not being a one-to-one adaptation, it’s hard to praise it when it fails to recreate the masterfully crafted world, characters and plot of the original cartoon. The truth is that a show like “Avatar” should never be adapted into live-action because it’s simply too good, so any attempt to recreate it will simply feel like a pale imitation. And unfortunately, the 2024 series’ lackluster execution proves to be just that—a pale imitation of the original cartoon. 

With two more seasons confirmed for “Avatar: The Last Airbender” (2024), the best fans can do is hope the creative team behind the series takes their criticisms and attempts to better reflect the original cartoon.

“Avatar: The Last Airbender” (2024) can be streamed now, exclusively on Netflix.

Featured Image: A graphic displaying the posters for all three versions of “Avatar: The Last Airbender” shows the posters for the original cartoon and M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Last Airbender” blurred out and discolored.  (TRAVIS FOLEY/Ethic News Photo) 

By JAMES SANTANA

MAPPA, the studio which animates many popular animes up to date including Jujutsu Kaisen, Attack On Titan, The God Of Highschool, Zombieland Saga and many more, produced their first original movie known as ““Maboroshi”,” or “Alice And Therese Illusion Factory,” making many fans excited to see it.

MAPPA’s original fantasy film known as “Maboroshi” revolves around a boy, Masamune Kikuri, and a girl, Mutsumi Sagami in a town called Mifuse, a steel mill company town in rural Japan. The movie starts with a group of highschool boys going along with their daily life when a sudden explosion occurs altering their lives forever and freezing the time of the entire town. The seasons forever doomed to never change and everyone stuck the same age. As the movie goes on we meet Mutsumi Sagami, a girl the protagonist seems to dislike at first. She invites him to a steam mill where she seemingly takes care of a child who looks a lot like her. This encounter ignites a string of events progressing the movie.

The use of suspense and mystery presented in this movie is very encaptivating, however when you watch the movie it requires your full attention. Movies like “Maboroshi” require a lot of attention because you can get lost in some parts, but despite all that I believe it is well worth the watch.

The factory which the movie is based around produces a strange smoke which is shaped like a dragon. This smoke dragon is a very important part to understanding parts of the story, if you don’t pay enough attention to the things it does you may get lost.

The movie has three characters I would say are central to the plot of the movie. Masamune Kikuri, the male protagonist of the story appears to be a young boy aged about 14 years, loves to draw and continues to improve while being unable to pursue that career due to no one in the town aging. Mutsumi Sagami is a young girl, the same age as Masamune, who was put in charge of taking care of a young girl whose name was unknown. She was later named by Masamune and is now known as Itsumi because she looked really similar to Mutsumi. Itsumi was a girl who had no knowledge of the world, not even knowing how to speak properly. She was like a wild animal and Masamune decided he would try to help her learn while Mutsumi did not want to get attached to her. As the story goes on relationships bloom and tragedies occur further deepening the story.
During the movie Itsumi seemingly resumes time being a very important part of the movie inching the viewers closer to figuring out the truth behind everything. As this continues to happen the movie gets more intense and mysteries start to unfold.

Throughout the entire movie the people of the town thought that being trapped in that state of time was punishment from the gods and the people were then led by the crazy person of the town (A truly disgusting person) who wanted everything to stay the same to stay safe, which meant staying stuck in time forever. As much as the villagers wanted to stay safe I feel nobody would want to be stuck like that forever.

According to the ratings on rottentomatoes.com “Maboroshi”, running at 1 hour and 51 minutes raked in a total score of 75% rotten tomatoes with an audience score of 65%.

Despite the scoring of the movie, it is definitely a personal favorite of mine and a movie I’d only recommend to a certain audience who enjoy fantasy and mystery type movies. Overall, I believe the movie tells its audience to live in the moment and be alive.

By MELANIE PEREZ

Note: This review contains spoilers.

Sofia Coppola’s 2023 release of “Priscilla” is a story about Priscilla Presley and her life, after she first met and became fascinated with Elvis Presley. This movie does a great job at focusing on the perspective of Priscilla and the issues she struggled with throughout her marriage with Elvis. While most stories that follow the life of Priscila mention the glamorous lifestyle that was portrayed to the media, they fail to mention the dark side of the marriage.

The controversy in their marriage includes the age difference, cheating, a controlling dynamic, and more. It is important to note that she met Elvis at the young age of 14 while he was 24 and began to pursue a relationship with her. This was a big issue to the public during their marriage and even Priscilla’s parents, which is portrayed in the movie. We are shown the complications this age difference made for them and how they managed to work around and move past it in order to maintain a strong relationship. Some of these lengths included waiting until Priscilla was 21 to get married and have relations with each other, and having arrangements for Priscilla to finish school while living at Graceland away from her parents. 

Sofia Coppola’s way of directing undeniably impacts her audience and everyone involved in making the film. She is able to portray emotion without words being said. The entire movie consists of elements Coppola has taken into consideration such as music, fashion, facial expressions, and dialogue which translates to her audience that she directs her movies with so much detail and love. Her audience becomes entranced with the characters, trying to understand their feelings and thoughts through simple expression. 

There is a pattern in Coppola’s movies which can be identified through the characters. In “Priscilla,” there are so many heavy emotions that Priscilla deals with that we do not necessarily hear details on but that are conveyed through the expressions of Cailee Spaeny, who plays Priscilla Presley in the autobiography. Though there is less expressive dialogue of Priscilla’s feelings in the movie, we see her strongly express her emotions in other ways. This sort of quiet sad girlesque is perfectly captured in “Priscilla.” We see a young woman who has been hurt by a man but cannot seem to stray away from his grasp because of how blinding her love for him was. Priscilla completely devoted herself to Elvis  and in a way has become a part of the legacy he left behind. 

As difficult as it is to separate the identity of Priscilla from Elvis, Coppola accomplishes this by letting Priscilla have her own story. With the creation of this movie we are shown more of the lengths Priscilla had to deal with while being married to Elvis. 

This movie ends on a good note, we are only shown up until the point where Priscilla gets enough strength to leave Elvis, which is an ending one can admire. This tells us that there is more to Priscilla, that she is not just the wife Elvis had before passing. The audience is left with memories that became tarnished and painful which are a harsh reality of how Priscilla lived her life as an adolescent. She was groomed and isolated to be a sort of “femme fatale” solely for Elvis and seems to have lost herself in the process of doing so. By the end of this movie the audience feels the excitement, passion, betrayal, and most importantly the loss. 

By DANA EYRE

Note: This review contains spoiler alerts.

“Trolls: Band Together” is the third movie in the “Trolls” trilogy that was recently released on Nov. 17. It follows the two main protagonists from the previous films, Poppy (Anna Kendrick) and Branch (Justin Timberlake), while they go on an adventure to rescue Branch’s brother, Floyd (Troye Sivan).

Floyd is a new character that was introduced in this movie as Branch’s older brother. Alongside Floyd, the movie also introduced three other brothers, whose names are John Dory (Eric André), Bruce (Daveed Diggs), and Clay (Kid Cudi). These characters being introduced is what started the plot of this movie, as Branch would not have known that Floyd was captured if John Dory hadn’t found him.

The movie is a good addition to the series as it builds the world a little more. Unlike the previous two films, “Trolls: Band Together” introduces more species within the world, whereas the other two films only have trolls and bergens. It was a nice change and gave more of an idea of what the world was like.

The movie also adds more character depth and development to the characters. An example of this would be the movie introducing Branch’s brothers. By doing this it gives the audience more context of Branch’s life before the first movie and adds more depth to his character.

The reason why Branch’s brothers were never mentioned previously is because back when Branch was a baby they had a big fight and never spoke to each other again. They were a part of a boyband called “BroZone” and after their last performance was when they had an argument. They all went their separate ways and didn’t speak to each other for twenty years. However, this changed when John Dory received a letter from Floyd telling him he had been captured and to find their brothers to come rescue him.

John Dory is the oldest of the brothers and is known as the leader of BroZone. He was the first one to say he was leaving the band, with Bruce and Clay closely following. After the band broke up, he lived his life in solitude with his only companion, an armadillo bus named Rhonda. 

Bruce moved to Vacay Island sometime after the band broke up. He thrived there with the vacaytioners and eventually found love with one of them. From there they got married and had kids, and they even started a restaurant together.

Clay is a different story. He became a Putt-Putt troll shortly after the trolls escaped from the troll tree as seen in the first movie. The Putt-Putt are isolated in an abandoned golf course, with the leader, Viva (Camila Cabello), not letting anyone leave. This proved to be an issue later in the movie when Clay and the others wanted to leave. Though further in the movie, it proved to be an important part of Viva’s character development when she does eventually leave the golf course.

Not much is known about Floyd before his capture, but it was confirmed that he went on a soul searching journey. Unfortunately, he got captured by the film’s antagonists, Velvet (Amy Schumer) and Veneer (Andrew Rannells). These two stole Floyd’s talent and used it to become famous superstars.

Floyd would eventually run out of talent for them to steal, so they devised a plan to lead the other brothers to them so they could steal their talent as well. They were actually the ones who sent John Dory the letter telling him to find the others and come rescue Floyd. 

The movie concluded with a nice message about family, saying that they didn’t have to be perfect as long as they were together. This sparked an understanding between all the brothers which allowed them to perform the perfect family harmony. The perfect family harmony was the only thing powerful enough to shatter diamond, which was what Floyd was trapped in. This fact is what spurred them all on to find Floyd themselves, rather than call the authorities.

The reason why their band broke up was because at their last show they failed to perform the perfect family harmony, so the fact that they were able to do so now shows that they are now more in sync than they were previously. Branch led the song, which was nice to see after the others treating him like a baby for practically the entire movie. This moment shows how they have grown over the course of the movie as they’ve learned to trust Branch to lead them. 

They successfully rescued Floyd from his diamond prison, though he was really injured. It was almost believed he wouldn’t make it, but thankfully he did. The movie then transitioned into the ending scene. All the brothers were back together and happy to be.

In addition to the movie’s good plot, the soundtrack was also great. Practically all the songs were covers of popular songs from the 80s.

According to Rottontomatoes.com, the movie has received a rotten tomato score of 60% and an audience score of 92%. It has made over 173.9 million dollars at the box office.

The message of the movie is about how family can get through anything, which is a nice message to send to kids. It shows that no matter how big of an argument you can have, you’re still family and you can overcome the obstacle together.

By JAMES SANTANA

“With mutual dependence follows mutual destruction.” – Gwendolyn Morgan, author of “Creatures in Crisis: Apocalyptic Environmental Visions in Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Princess Mononoke”

In the anime movie “Princess Mononoke,” culture and nature is presented to us in varied forms of entertainment such as the characters, the scenery, and the religion. 

The characters in “Princess Mononoke” were great examples of culture or nature considering the movie itself was based in the Muromachi period of Japan in the 1400’s. As for the scenery in “Princess Mononoke’,’ there was a forest in the movie near Irontown Village which represented a real nature preserve on Yakushima Island called the Shiratani Ravine. 

Another example is the religion, one of, if not, the main religion shown in “Princess Mononoke” is known as Shintoism and is also the central religion of Japan. In “Princess Mononoke” there are a few different examples of religion, but the main religion being Shintoism.  While Shintoism is an ancient religion of Japan it is still the main religion practiced in Japan and is practiced by at least 5 Million people to this day. The main religion shown in the movie is a great representation of culture.

In the movie “Princess Mononoke” the characters were presented and based off of people of the Muromachi period from 1336 to 1392, some even being the writers visual interpretation of nature. Although the story itself takes place  in the Muromachi period, the writer, Hayao Miyazaki took inspiration from modern events such as the Yugoslav Wars which took place from 1991 to 2001. The movie was Miyazaki’s visual take of this event and the rising tensions in the movie were based on the events which took place in the Yugoslav Wars. These events are important to the writer and are an important piece of culture to the movie.

The message conveyed in the movie “Princess Mononoke,” tells us how humans destroy environments out of greed and selfishness. We are connected to nature and what we do can destroy it. In the movie some of the scenery presented is based on real nature preserves. There is a forest in the movie residing near a town called Irontown, the forest being based on an actual nature preserve on Yakushima Island called the Shiratani Ravine. This forest plays a huge part in the movie being the area where the Kodama’s reside whilst being ruled by the nature spirit who is also known as Yatsukamizuomitsuno. This form of scenery is a great example of the movie’s representation of nature.

The 2009 film Avatar was inspired a bit by Princess Mononoke and director James Cameron even cited the movie as an influence for Avatar, them sharing similar themes and such.
In the words of San, the Princess Mononoke, “I’m not afraid to die. I’d do anything to get you humans out of my forest!”

By JOSE MENDOZA

Note: This review contains spoilers.

`If you’re a fan of mystery and psychological thrillers, “Tomodachi Game” is a must-watch with one season that has 12 episodes. This series offers a captivating narrative that starts with a seemingly calm start to the show before diving into the depths of darkness and deception.

The story revolves around games that put friendships to the ultimate test and offer people to be free of debt, but the consequences are chilling. If you lose the game your debt can be doubled and if you attempt to deceive your friends and betray them by shifting the debt onto them and you come out unsuccessful not only will your debt be doubled but now your friendship with that group is now destroyed.

The show starts off by showing the main character Yuuichi Katagiri getting paid for working for a man and he tells him that he finally has enough money to go on a field trip with his friends. It goes to show us Yuuichi and his friends and introduces them. First Shibe Makoto class president, who is good at sports and comes from a rich family. Next, Sawaragi Shiho, the class vice president, but people also say that she’s the “real” class president. Mikasa Tenji is a genius at the top of his class who also has top-level communication skills. Kokorogi Yutori is a nice girl who doesn’t speak up much. She was bullied during first year, but now that she’s in the same class as Sawaragi there’s no way the bullying could continue. 

But after their introduction there’s bad news: the two million yen (13,292.90 USD) they collected for the school trip was stolen and no one owned up to it. And for some unknown reason Shibe and Sawaragi stopped coming to school. Most students think it was them who stole the money. Then it cuts to Yuichi in his home when he hears a noise and checks on it and finds a letter from Sawaragi to meet her by the school gate but when he gets there all his friends are there and tell him that they all got letters from him.

Then someone out of nowhere attacks them and tases Yuichi and takes him and all his friends. He wakes up in a white room with his friendswhen someone mysteriously shows up. Kokorogi says his name is Manabu and that he’s a character from an old late night character. Manabu tells them that they are going to play a game with him and that every time they clear a game they can get two million yen, that there’s chances for bonus rewards and that they might be able to pay off there twenty million yen debt.

Yuichi is confused on why they owe twenty million yen. It’s revealed that someone in the group has the twenty million yen debt. Mikasa tells them he committed a crime by kidnapping them and holding them there against their will.

 Manabu tells them that there are the ones that wanted to play that they even got the entry fee two million yen which Yuichi notices that’s the same amount as the school trip so he wonders if one of them is the thief. Sawaragi says they should skip past figuring out whose debt it is because whoever’s debt it is they probably weren’t trying to trap them or hurt them , that maybe they were in trouble with no way out and needed to lean on their friends. Everyone agrees.

Yuichi questions if that’s how friendship operates and Manabu questions if Yuichi suspects his friends he says no that he just wanted to know where the debt came from. But now they have to pass games so they can help out the friend who’s in debt. While the first game was easy, it was hard to do with a traitor that is trying to make them fail.

As the story unfolds we learn more about Yuichi’s past and his secret he didn’t want his friends to know about in fear it would break their friendship.

This anime includes an explanation of the past and how secrets about characters reveal more about them, along with the mystery on who the traitor among the friends is and why.

Since this series only has 12 episodes so the fourth game is left on a cliffhanger and we don’t know when or if it’s going to be animated. So if you still want to go further into the story and find out more I would recommend reading the Manga. If you watched the anime then you should start by reading chapter 25 unless you want to read it from the beginning where there are some minor differences and some of the rules of the game will be more clear.

The manga amplifies the tension and offers a deeper insight into our characters’ intricate background. It is great for readers that seek for a more comprehensive understanding of Yuichi’s mysterious character and his secretive past that continue to influence his choices.

The manga goes into darker depths, gradually unraveling the layers of his history. And it has great suspenseful plot twists and the situations that Yuchi gets in will make you wonder how he is going to get out of it and beat the games. His dedication to beat and destroy the Tomodachi game’s his plans will make you question his morality. He does not hesitate to threaten or carry on through those threats for the sake of his goals.

There are so many great moments that make him such a cool character, characters have described him and his methods as “horrible”, “evil” and called him a “monster” and “devil.” For all these reasons the Anime deserves a 7/10 and the Manga deserves a 9/10.

By PARKER HOLSONBAKE

Note: This article contains spoilers for the film.

“The Exorcist” is a series of horror films that have been popular since the original was released in 1973. All of these movies have been centered around or connected to the same topic: demonic possession. Due to this controversial subject, people with different beliefs, ideas, and religions have had many opinions over what is now a very popular Halloween movie. In the original movies, the story was solely built around the Catholic religion. However, “The Exorcist: Believer” unifies many different religions in order to save two possessed children.

“The Exorcist: Believer”, directed by David Gordon Green, was released in the USA on Oct. 6 becoming the sixth installment of the series. The story revolves around two young children, Angela and her friend Katherine, and their families. The girls sneak out and unsurprisingly, like the majority of the movies, become possessed by the devil. Angela’s father, Victor (Leslie Odom Jr.), has lost his faith ever since the death of his wife Sorenne. Katherine’s parents, Miranda (Jennifer Nettles) and Tony (Norbert Leo Butz), help him to find his faith as it is the only way they are going to be successful in saving their kids, hence the title of “Believer.” 

The story, while extremely dark, has noble messages hidden within it. For one, there is a noticeable difference between the first movies and the newest, which is the diverse religious beliefs of the people in it. This movie did not strictly contain Catholic beliefs, but more, such as Haitian spiritual practices, Roman Catholicism, Islam, and Hinduism. It shows overall that these religions have more to unite them than to divide them.

At the same time, this can prove to be a problem as the film thereby falsely suggests that there is exorcism in every religion. Therefore this innocent intent now awakens dispute within viewers of the show depending on the way that it is looked at.

The ending of the movie also highlights the importance of being altruistic, as Tony’s selfishness determined Katherine’s tragic fate. Victor’s compassion as a parent is shown when he does not instantly choose Angela over Katherine. He had an understanding of the pain felt to lose someone, especially someone you love. This was partially the reason for Angela’s survival in the duration of their exorcism.

The movie also became sort of a throw-back for early fans of “The Exorcist” with the guest appearances of actors Ellen Burstyn and Linda Blair as the original Chris and Regan MacNeil.

“The Exorcist: Believer” is an R rated movie for much violent content, sensitive topics, and grotesque details. It is not recommended for sensitive viewers or children under the age of 15. 

As of November 2023, the film has earned about $131,000,000 worldwide. It has an overall negative review from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it received a 22% on the tomatometer and a 59% audience score.

It has been announced that there will be a sequel, “The Exorcist: Deceiver,” which will launch sometime in 2025.

By TRAVIS FOLEY

Note: Review contains spoilers.

Nia DaCosta’s “The Marvels” debuted as the newest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe on Nov. 10. The film serves as a sequel to “Captain Marvel,” and a continuation of stories first teased in “WandaVision” and “Ms. Marvel.” Given its relation to these past projects, the film sees the return of Brie Larson as Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, and Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan. 

To make a long story short, Captain Marvel, Monica Rambeau, and Ms. Marvel’s powers become entangled after villain Dar-Benn destabilizes the universe in her journey to revitalize her home planet, Hala. With this, the three heroes must join forces as The Marvels to stop Dar-Benn and cease the entanglement of their powers.

One aspect that “The Marvels” excels at is its fight scenes. The combat shown throughout the film is well-choreographed and entertaining to watch, especially given the interesting power-sets of The Marvels themselves. The combat also has its own special charm and uniqueness to it, a factor that is mostly attributed to the place-swapping side effect of main heroes’ entangled powers. 

Another highlight of the film is the chemistry between Larson, Parris, and Vellani. The actresses manage to portray their characters’ relationships as something that feels real and human. Their performances also manage to enhance those around them, with their interactions feeling natural and fluid. 

The only lacking aspect of the characters’ relationships is the conflict between Carol and Monica. Throughout “WandaVision” and the beginning of “The Marvels,” Monica shows resentment towards Carol for leaving her all alone in the wake of her mothers death. While this fact is acknowledged in the film, it suffers from being undeveloped and resolving too quickly. It would’ve been great to see this idea further fleshed out and realized, but it’s instead sidelined for other lackluster plot threads. 

Carol herself feels as though she has more depth than what was seen in the first “Captain Marvel.” This time around, her character feels less stiff and more full of personality. The brief moments of personality Carol shows around Nick Fury in the original “Captain Marvel” are now able to fully shine in the presence of Monica and Kamala.

As for Kamala, Vellani manages to steal every scene she’s in with her stellar performance. In her “Ms. Marvel” series, Vellani was praised for bringing the charm and likability of the comic book character to life, giving a performance that felt as though she quite literally was Kamala. In “The Marvels,” Vellani manages to bring in this same performance and proves herself as a standout in the MCU. 

While Vellani manages to capture the character of Ms. Marvel perfectly, the writing fails to capture the character’s unique comic-book story. In order to include Kamala in “The Marvels,” her original polymorph powers from the comics were changed into light-based powers that fit more with the theme of Carol and Monica’s abilities. Unfortunately, this change fails to live up to the original purpose of the character.

G. Willow Wilson, the creator of the Ms. Marvel character, said the following about her in 2018, “I knew from the beginning I didn’t want her to have sparkly, hand wave-y, floaty, pretty powers. There were plenty of those!… I also wanted something that would tie into being a teenager… Not all of us have superpowers but we remember being sixteen and feeling out of place in our bodies.”

In the comics, Kamala’s power to stretch and embiggen her limbs serves as an allegory for puberty and feeling uncomfortable in the changes that come with it. By removing this aspect from her character and instead replacing it with sparkly, pretty light-based powers, the MCU is not only removing the allegory from Kamala’s story, but also going against Wilson’s intent to specifically not have “sparkly… pretty powers.” 

While Kamala may be a standout in “The Marvels,” the changes that brought about her inclusion are so detrimental to the character that it may have been best to leave her out of the film altogether and faithfully adapt her later on. Especially when the story fails to fully explore the arc they hope to give her. While Kamala is set up to learn that being a hero means making hard choices, the plot thread itself feels thin and underdeveloped, leading to an unsatisfying payoff when she herself is finally put in that position. However, the film does a decent job of showing the importance in viewing our idols and humans too, something Kamala herself must do upon meeting her idol, Captain Marvel. 

“The Marvels” main villain, Dar-Benn, also serves as a detriment to the film. While her motivation and character is serviceable to the plot, it lacks the depth seen in other MCU villains like Killmonger or The High Evolutionary. Dar-Benn’s actress, Zawe Ashton, manages to work well with the material she’s given, but it would’ve been great to see her given more to work with. Unfortunately, Dar-Benn manages to add herself to the long list of forgettable MCU villains. 

One of the most prevalent issues in “The Marvels”  is its moments of absurdity that disrupt the tone of the film, an issue that fans have also attributed to films like “Thor: Love and Thunder.” This problem is evident in two scenes in particular, the first being the visit to a planet where the peoples native language is singing, and the second being when the cat-like aliens known as “Flerkens” must eat the crew aboard a dying space station in order to safely transport them back to Earth. The scenes are just completely jarring and wild, and feel so out of place when the film’s conflict hinges on the complexities of saving a dying planet without endangering the wider universe. 

At other times, the film does a good job of melding together funny moments with the more general severity of the situation. This most often occurs when the three Marvels converse with one another and let out the occasional joke. Ms. Marvel in particular manages to feel at home in the film despite her unserious demeanor. 

It’s also necessary to give the film its flowers for its moments of great visuals. In some areas, the film may appear average in looks, but it also has moments where the visuals shine. Usually these moments occur when a character is in the expansive depths of space, or in the many fight scenes of the film. “The Marvels” director, Nia DaCosta, cited “Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children” as the inspiration for these visuals, especially in regards to the fight scenes. 

Overall, “The Marvels” can be described as fun, but average. It has moments that give the audience a good laugh, and others that tug at some heartstrings, but the film suffers from poor writing. It’s ultimately held up by the likability of its characters, a serviceable plot, and the performances provided by Larson, Parris, and Vellani. It may not enthrall those looking for rich storytelling, but “The Marvels” makes for an enjoyable watch. The film is nothing to go running to theaters for, but it may be worth a watch upon hitting Disney+. 

Featured image: The trailer for The Marvels playing outside CINÉ 1 at Harkins, Mountain Grove 16 in Redlands. (TRAVIS FOLEY/ Ethic News photo).

By AMBER BOGH and PARKER HOLSONBAKE

The Starbucks winter menu for this year was released on Nov. 1. They brought back the Peppermint Mocha, Caramel Brulée Latte, Chestnut Praline Latte, and Iced Sugar Cookie,  Almond Milk Latte. A new drink to their menu this year is the Iced Gingerbread Oatmilk Chai, and five food items including the Gingerbread Loaf, Peppermint Brownie Cake Pop, Snowman Cookie, Cranberry Bliss Bar, and the Sugar Plum Cheese Danish. The Signature Hot Chocolate is a year-round drink available on the menu.

Peppermint Mocha: A classic Starbucks fan-favorite that can be ordered hot, iced, or as a frappucino. It is the perfect balance of coffee, chocolate, and peppermint. Has a whipped cream topping with shaved dark chocolate.

Caramel Creme Brulée Latte: Smooth, creamy, decadent coffee drink. Deliciously cold, infused with an abundance of caramel chips that are crunchy and mouth watering. Perfect for an afternoon refreshment after a long day at work or school.

Chestnut Praline Latte: A great way to start your morning off. An espresso roast and steamed milk with a flavor of caramelized chestnuts and spices. All topped with whipped cream and spiced praline crumbs.

Iced Sugar Cookie Almond Milk Latte: Sugar cookie flavored syrup mixed with Blonde Espresso Roast and steamed almond milk, topped with red and green sprinkles for decoration. A sweet, creamy, drink that you can order hot or iced.

Gingerbread Oatmilk Chai: A delicious Chai Tea infused with a Gingerbread syrup topped with a gingerbread spice that can be ordered hot or iced. Dominic a worker at Starbucks says the best selling holiday drink is the “Gingerbread Chai.” 

Signature Hot Chocolate: A classic chocolatey and creamy Starbucks favorite for the non-caffeine lovers.

Gingerbread Loaf: A sweet slice with a gingerbread spice taste. It is topped with a delicious ginger and cream icing.

Peppermint Brownie Cake Pop: A crunchy brownie cake pop topped with icing and candy cane pieces sprinkled over the top. An amazing treat for all the chocolate lovers.

Cranberry Bliss Bar: A blondie cake crust with dried cranberries and a cream cheese layer infused with orange zest and dried cranberry pieces. An extremely flavorful food item for everyone.

Snowman Cookie: A sweet vanilla shortbread cookie with adorable snowman art in white chocolate for a festive family holiday treat.

Sugar Plum Cheese Danish: A golden flaky danish with a sweet plum jam and cream cheese center. A delicious treat that will take you back to your childhood.

Overall the 2023 Winter Starbucks Menu is an amazing way to start off a morning, get a sweet treat, or just add a touch of festivity to your mood. This menu brings so much joy to Starbucks lovers, who wait all year for this fun peppermint, gingerbread, and winter flavored items.

By MARCUS PALMERIN

On Aug. 8, 2014, upcoming video game creator Scott Cawthon created the first “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” unaware of the fame he would soon claim. FNAF is a horror game where you guard the Five Nights at Freddy’s Pizzeria as a security guard while trying to survive killer animatronics. There are nine games in the main series, four spin-off games, over 30 books, merchandise of all kinds, as well as hundreds of fan-made games. Scott Cawthon recently teased the release of the second VR game in the series expected to release late this year. 

On Oct. 27, 2023 just a few days before Halloween and nearly 10 years after the creation of the first game, the “Five Nights at Freddy’s” movie was released. It was produced and co-written by Scott Cawthon and Blumhouse Productions. The movie earned “ $78 million to top the North American box office”  and is expected to have a “$130.6 million global launch”, according to USA Today. In less than a month the FNAF movie became the highest-grossing horror movie released this year, topping “Scream VI” which has a gross income of 108 million. Largely the movie made so much profit because the budget for the movie was only $20 million while competing horror movies such as “Scream VI” had a budget of over 30 million. 

According to IMDB, the movie also only had eight locations that all resided in Louisiana, which saved money on traveling. Another reason why the movie had such a cheap budget compared to other horror movies is that the directors relied on mostly child actors and Youtubers, with few famous actors.

The two most well-known actors were John Hutcherson, who played the protagonist Micahel in the film, and the antagonist Matthew Lillard, who played the antagonist William Afton. John Hutcherson is a renowned actor who is most famous for his role as Peeta in “The Hunger Games,” and his role as Josh in the television series “Future Man.” Matthew Lillard is most known for his role as Stu in the first “Scream” movie as well as his role as Shaggy in the live-action “Scooby-Doo” movies.  

Although only two YouTubers appeared in the movie, the usage of YouTubers was a good financial choice as they would be paid less than famous actors. Matpat appeared momentarily in the movie as a waiter and fans online were extremely excited about his appearance. Matpat is most known for his YouTube channel “The Game Theorists” where he developed most of his fame in the early 2000s making theories on FNAF lore. Because Matpat brought FNAF a lot of fame through his hundreds of videos on YouTube, fans expressed their appreciation for his appearance online. The other YouTuber who appeared in the FNAF movie was CoryxKenshin, however, unlike Matpat, he appeared in his minor role as a taxi driver twice. CoryxKenshin has also been a long-term fan of FNAF and has posted hundreds of videos in the past several years. Both Youtubers were extremely eager to be in the movie and thus the movie saved money as both actors eagerly worked for a cheaper price than most renowned actors would have.

Matpat and CoryxKenshin both brought fame to FNAF and thus their appearances in the movie were a financially wise decision. However, the movie not including Youtuber Markiplier lost support from fans and thus revenue as well. Markiplier is also known largely as the “King of FNAF” and brought the franchise lots of fame through his YouTube videos promoting the series over the past ten years. Markiplier addressed in his stream of “Fazbear Frights” on YouTube that he was unable to make an appearance due to a scheduling conflict as he is working on his film. However, he expressed his ultimate want to be in the next FNAF movie should there be a sequel.

According to the Insider, Markiplier was supposed to play the role of the night guard who was killed at the beginning of the film. This reveals that Scott and Markiplier both were in agreement to have Mark play in the film, but these plans were unfortunately canceled. Thus it can be safely assumed that Markiplier will be in the second movie should there be one, with a potentially bigger role than being killed off in the first five minutes of the movie. 

Scott Cawthon said in a Steam community forum post in 2018 that “if the first films were successful, two more films would be made based on the second and third game.” He also announced online recently that he signed a three-movie contract with Blumhouse. The first movie left viewers with unanswered questions and content creators who were unable to make an appearance. The movie also made a significant profit with the highest gross income with the lowest budget of all horror movies created this year, thus it can be safely assumed that a second movie will be made.

Scott Cawthon started as a poor game maker who slowly made his way to fame and movies through his work making over a dozen games and books. Through his work, he has made a franchise and earned support from hundreds of content creators across many platforms. This year he has made the highest-grossing horror film that surpassed classic horror series such as “Scream.” With his three-series contract with Blumhouse, one can only guess how far Cawthon is willing to take his series. 

Featured image: Digital artwork of a character from the film “Five Nights at Freddy’s.” The “Five Nights at Freddy’s” movie features the classic animatronics from the original game. (Artwork courtesy of Mia Altenbach)

By TRAVIS FOLEY

The indie-rock supergroup Boygenius, consisting of Lucy Dacus, Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers, released their new extended play (EP) titled “The Rest” on Oct. 13. “The Rest” consists of four songs that were presumably considered for the group’s debut album, “The Record,” but ultimately didn’t make it onto the final tracklist. 

Rather than having each song make its debut with the release of the EP itself, Boygenius instead chose to play the songs of “The Rest” at numerous concerts prior to their official streaming release.

In comparison to “The Record,” “The Rest” takes a more stripped-back approach to the production of the tracks and allows for the vocals and songwriting of the band members to shine. This fact most likely contributes to why the songs on “The Rest” were left off of the band’s debut album. The tracks simply took a stylistic choice that diverged too much from what else was seen on the album. 

This however did not stop fans of Boygenius from liking the new release. Brooke Rodriguez, a junior at Redlands East Valley High School, said, “It was really good. The songs were really sad which I enjoyed.” 

Georgia Clark, a senior at Citrus Valley High School, said, “I think [“The Rest”] is a really good tie over from [“The Record”]… I like that it’s short and sweet.”

Opening The Rest is “Black Hole,” a track that diverts from the typical verse/chorus structure of a song and instead opts to be a simple two verses. 

Baker, who wrote the majority of the song, said, “When we were recording, Lucy showed me a tweet that was a headline that was like, ‘Black Hole Creating Stars,’ instead of just sucking them up and destroying them. And everybody on the internet was like, ‘Can’t wait to see how many people put this in a poem!’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna be one!’”

The article Baker brings up is likely in reference to “Hubble Sees Possible Runaway Black Hole Creating a Trail of Stars.” In “Black Hole,” Baker utilizes the phenomenon displayed in the article to convey themes of beauty in chaos.

Verse one, sung by Baker, perfectly illustrates this idea with the lyrics, “You can see the stars, the ones / The headlines said this morning / We’re bein’ spat out by what we thought / Was just destroyin’ everything for good.” 

Verse two, sung by Dacus and Bridgers, explores the similar idea of seeing the good in something or someone bad. To convey this theme, they sing out contrasting images such as “Bad boy, big fight, you’re a good guy,” and “It’s out of your hands, but have a safe flight.”

“Afraid of Heights” is the second track of the EP, and sees Dacus taking a lead on vocals. According to Dacus, “[the song] was one of the first potential songs for ‘The Record,’” but ultimately “didn’t really fit.” 

Dacus also speaks to the meaning of the song, saying, “It’s about being friends with someone who thinks they’re radical but ultimately they’re just trying to be reckless and ruin their life.” 

The severity of her muse’s thrill-seeking is illustrated through the lyrics, “There’s been a run of fires downtown …/… I know you’d want me to be proud / That you took a rich man’s dream / And brought it with you on your way down,” which suggests a willingness to risk their own life for the adrenaline rush of their endeavors. 

Much to Dacus’ dismay, her muse attempts to force her into joining their thrill-seeking, something that proves to be a point of tension in their relationship as Dacus sings lyrics like, “You called me a coward” and “I know I was a disappointment.”

The song’s final lyrics explore the reasoning behind her muse’s thrill-seeking, with Dacus singing, “You called me a crybaby / But you’re the one who got teary / Tellin’ me what you believe / How we’re stuck in entropy.” 

These lyrics ultimately convey how the muse of the song believes the world is slowly descending into chaos, and that their thrill-seeking is simply a product of their fear for what the future holds. 

Bridgers takes the lead on “The Rest’s” third track, “Voyager.” Unlike the other songs on the EP, “Voyager” debuted in 2022 at one of Bridgers’ solo concerts, though the song avoided being circulated on the internet due to Bridgers asking fans not to record as she plays it. Fans remained oblivious as to what the song entailed until it was played at a Boygenius concert on Sept. 25, 2023, thereby revealing it as part of “The Rest’s” tracklist in a similar manner to the EP’s other songs.

Lyrically, the song explores a chaotic relationship and the feelings of loss and isolation that come with its end. 

Bridgers conveys this chaos through lyrics like, “There are days spent tangled up together …/… Then there are nights you say you don’t remember / When you stepped on the gas and you asked if  / I’m ready to die.”

Upon ending the relationship with her partner, Bridgers sings, “Walkin’ alone in the city / Makes me feel like a man on the moon,” as a way to convey the loneliness and isolation she feels without them. “Every small step I took was so easy,” she sings next, illustrating how, despite her feelings of loneliness, she feels as though a weight has been lifted off of her in the wake of the breakup.

The lyrics that follow this, “But I never imagined a dot quite as pale or as blue,” are in reference to the famous “Pale Blue Dot” photo, an image of Earth taken by the Voyager One space probe in 1990, the same probe Bridgers named the song after. The lyrics also take inspiration from Carl Sagan’s speech of the same title, which seeks to highlight the importance of love in the world rather than hate. 

Within the context of the song, the “dot” is representative of Bridgers’ love, though the emphasis on it being “pale” and “blue” suggests that her love has been soured in some way. With this, when Bridgers next sings, “You took it from me, but I would’ve given it to you,” she expresses that if her partner hadn’t selfishly taken her love from her, she would’ve happily given it to them instead.

On Bridgers’ sophomore album,”Punisher,” the track “Moon Song” also uses a planetary body to symbolize her love. The lyrics, “And if I could I would give you the moon / I would give you the moon,” seem to directly parallel those seen in “Voyager.”

The EP is closed with a Baker-led song titled “Powers.” 

Baker spoke about “Powers” saying, “The song is kinda about how nobody tells you how you get to be where you are, you just show up in life. You’re just thrust into existence and everybody’s like, ‘That’s how it is…’ You don’t know how you got to this position… You don’t know how you got this advantage that you have either, you just are and you’re expected to just deal with it without questioning the origin of why.”

In the song, Baker utilizes the titular metaphor of having powers to represent the point she is currently at in her life. She then uses the idea of an “origin story” to question how she got to this point. 

To convey this message, Baker roots her lyrics in comic book tropes, singing things like, “How did it start? Did I fall into a nuclear reactor? / Crawl out with acid skin or somethin’ worse / A hostile alien ambassador? / Or am I simply another of the universe’s failed experiments?” 

This idea of being a “hostile alien ambassador” or being “another of the universe’s failed experiments” also suggests internal struggles with self-perception and self-worth.

Despite “The Rest” consisting of previously scrapped songs, each and every track proves to be spectacular in its own right. Fans in particular viewed “Afraid of Heights” and “Voyager” as highlights in not just the EP, but Boygenius’ discography as a whole. In all, the EP is warmly welcomed into the band’s catalog of music, and fans eagerly await their next project. 

“The Rest” can be found on Spotify, Apple Music and any other digital music service. 

Featured image: A two-image collage displays the cover of Boygenius’ latest album, “The Rest,” next to their debut album, “The Record.” “The Rest” consists of four songs that were presumably considered for the group’s debut album, “The Record,” but ultimately didn’t make it onto the final tracklist. (TRAVIS FOLEY/ Ethic News image)

By DANA EYRE

Note: This movie review contains spoilers.

There have been many Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies and each one adds something new to the franchise. Whether it be new characters or new settings, they each bring something new to the table, and Mutant Mayhem is no different. 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a new TMNT movie produced by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Jeff Rowe, Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit. It was recently released on Aug. 2.

It is a coming of age movie centering around the four turtles: Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu), Raphael (Brady Noon), Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr.) and Donatello (Micah Abbey). The movie follows the turtles as they go about their daily lives, until they eventually meet April O’Neil (Ayo Edebiri). After their meeting, the turtles decide to help April take down a criminal stealing advanced technology known as Superfly (Ice Cube).

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is an incredibly fresh take on the franchise. It differs from previous films because it focuses more on the turtles and how they develop rather than the enemies they are facing. It introduced Superfly, a never seen before villain, instead of the Shredder or Krang because the producers wanted the movie to focus more on the turtles and how they grow as characters.

A collage of the main characters in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” created using canva.com. (SORA REYNOLDS/ Ethic News image)

The movie features many mutant characters, all from previous iterations, though some are more well known than others. These mutants were created from the same ooze that created the turtles. In this version of the turtles the ooze that mutated them was created by Baxter Stockman (Giancarlo Esposito).

Superfly, the main villain of the movie, was the first mutant Stockman created. He is shown as a baby in the movie’s opening scene where Stockman is talking about how he has perfected the ooze. He is a mutated housefly, hence his name. There have been fly mutants in past versions, but Superfly is an entirely new character. He was originally intended to be Baxter Stockman in this movie, but was later changed to be a separate character.

Alongside Superfly, Stockman also created other mutants. In the beginning scene there are shots of him looking up at a wall and that’s where pictures of a warthog, a rhinoceros and an alligator are. These are some of the animals Stockman wanted to mutate, and they are later seen as the mutants Bebop (Seth Rogen), Rocksteady (John Cena), and Leatherhead (Rose Byrne). These are not the only mutant characters you will see in the movie. There is also Mondo Gecko (Paul Rudd), Wingnut (Natasia Demetriou), Ray Fillet (Post Malone), Genghis Frog (Hannibal Buress), and Scumbug (Alex Hirsch). 

Bebop and Rocksteady are iconic mutant villains seen in practically every version of the turtles over the years. They are always depicted as the loyal henchmen of the Shredder, but not in Mutant Mayhem seeing as he isn’t in the movie. Because of this, they instead follow Superfly. 

Leatherhead is also an iconic recurring TMNT character. She has appeared in several other versions, but each has a different take on her character. An example of this would be in the show that came out in 2003 where Leatherhead is a scientist that mostly hangs out with Donatello. This is different from the show that came out in 2012 where Leatherhead is not a scientist and instead is mainly Michelangelo’s friend. This movie’s version of Leatherhead is different just like the others, making her another fresh take on this beloved character.

Mondo Gecko has been seen in a multitude of previous TMNT media. He is almost always depicted as Michelangelo’s best friend, and Mutant Mayhem is no exception. Upon first meeting, Mondo goes and hugs each of the turtles and when he hugs Michelangelo he says that he likes Mondo’s “vibes”. Mondo returns the compliment and the two go back and forth for a while, and this interaction solidifies their friendship.

Wingnut is a bat mutant that was originally made when TMNT was first created as a parallel to Batman. She is a fun and interesting character that always provides comic relief during tense situations with her dialogue. 

Ray Fillet is a stingray mutant, and he is very passionate about his singing. Almost all his scenes he is shown to be singing, though for the most part he has only sung his name. The exception to this is in one scene after their first interaction with the turtles where he and Mondo Gecko are singing sadly.

Genghis Frog is, as said in his name, a frog mutant. He doesn’t speak too often in the movie, and is never really the center of attention in any scene. 

Scumbug is the only character who doesn’t speak English. She instead speaks “vermin”, as Superfly called it. No one seems to understand what she is saying, except for Splinter (Jackie Chan) who can speak vermin from his time as a regular rat. Like Genghis Frog, Scumbug is never really the center of attention in any scenes, but she still plays a vital role in the movie.

Based off of these characters, it is clear that the movie is taking a new approach with its characters, and the turtles are no different. The turtles all have their own key characteristics that can’t be strayed from, otherwise they wouldn’t feel like the same characters. And while Mutant Mayhem has kept these characteristics, the movie has also added other characteristics that previous iterations have not had.

An example of a characteristic that can’t be removed would be the fact that Leonardo is almost always the leader and seen as the oldest of the four turtles. Because of this, Leonardo is also seen as a stickler for the rules. This is even addressed in the movie. About ten minutes into the movie the turtles are caught sneaking back into the lair by Splinter. They immediately started spouting lies but Leonardo quickly comes clean. This causes some tension between the turtles in the next scene, but it is resolved by the next time they are seen.

Alongside the characteristics that Leonardo has brandished in previous versions, there are also new ones. One of these would be his more anxious demeanor. This can be seen in the first fight scene of the movie when the turtles are chasing down someone who stole a woman’s scooter, who is later revealed to be April O’Neil. Right before they enter the building they saw the thief enter, Leo tries to plan the beginning of the battle out, telling the others where they should enter from to achieve the element of surprise. Unfortunately, Raphael has never really been shown to follow Leonardo’s orders. This is shown pretty obviously in this scene, as when Leonardo is explaining his plan Raphael cuts him off and just runs inside the building.

Raphael is notoriously known for being the angry turtle, and his temper is shown throughout the movie. Several comments are made by the other turtles about him needing to “chill out” or that he needs therapy to deal with his anger. Though that isn’t to say his anger is inherently bad. His anger helps the turtles win fights, as Raphael’s anger gives him the strength to fight. This can be shown towards the end of the movie, when the turtles rally against Superfly after a demoralizing event. Leonardo inspires the other turtles to fight again and with Raph he specifically spoke about his anger. Leonardo told Raphael to use that rage of his, to which Raphael responded positively. As a result, Raphael flipped over a van for them to use. This sparked a nice little moment between the two, which was a nice change compared to previous versions where they are mostly seen fighting with each other.

Michelangelo is generally seen as the jokester of the group, and that is true, as he has made several jokes throughout the movie. But that isn’t all he is. He’s a kindhearted character that always tries to see the good in people. This can be seen in the scene where the turtles and Splinter go to confront Superfly and the other mutants and upon not seeing them, he assumed they had given up. Unfortunately, he was quickly proven wrong, but he still tried to convert the other mutants onto their side alongside the other turtles. Thankfully, the mutants did see reason and did end up turning on Superfly.

Donatello is known as the smartest of the turtles, and he is no different in this movie. Several times Leonardo looks to him for a plan and he always delivers. An example of this would be when the turtles first learn of Superfly’s plan. They need to get part of his device away from him so Donatello offers up a solution. He pretends to be on Superfly’s side in hopes that he would allow them to drive the device to where Superfly has the rest of the device. Of course, they’re not actually going to do that, and instead turn around almost instantly. This results in a car chase.

These are all traits that the turtles have exhibited in previous iterations, but what makes them different is the fact that they are more laid-back in this movie. The turtles aren’t as serious as they used to be, and that is because the producers of the movie wanted to lean more into the teenage aspect of the franchise. This causes them to goof around more frequently, which is what caused them to meet April O’Neil in the first place. They were messing around with their weapons, playing games with them. Eventually Raphael suggests that they try to slice a watermelon in half with a ninja star. They do this successfully, but the ninja star doesn’t stop, and it continues to fly in the air until it eventually hits someone. And it did. It hit April O’Neil, though she was wearing a helmet so she wasn’t harmed.

The turtles aren’t the only characters that are more laid back in this movie. Splinter is more lax in this movie then he is in any other iteration. Usually he is a strict father and sensei, but he is quite the opposite of that in this movie. In most TMNT movies there are at least a few scenes of the turtles training with Splinter watching, but that is not the case in this movie. There is only one scene of the turtles training, and that is during a flashback to when the turtles were first learning martial arts. There is no other time where the turtles are training, with or without Splinter.

This is a new take on Splinter’s character. In this version he’s more of a father to the turtles instead of a sensei. This is shown through the fact that Splinter is only one referred to as “Master Splinter” once throughout the whole movie, and that was when Leonardo was trying to dramatize their shopping trip. This contrasts other versions where instead the turtles repeatedly call Splinter “Master Splinter” or just sensei.

The movie has done exceptionally well, according to Rottontomatoes.com. The movie received a rotten tomato score of 96% and an audience score of 90%. In just its first week the movie made 28 million dollars at the box office, and as of now it has made 180.5 million dollars worldwide.

Overall, the movie is a very refreshing take on the franchise. It has great animation and is the first iteration to hire actual teenage voice actors for the turtles. It’s a sweet coming of age story that has a nice message about acceptance.

Featured image: ‘Cover image of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ was created using canva.com. (MIA CALIVA/ Ethic News image)

By JOSE MENDOZA

Note: This review contains spoilers for episodes 1 and 2

Anyone who enjoys mysteries, thrillers or supernatural stuff should definitely watch “Death Note.” It has one season and 37 episodes. It is rated Teen+, which is for ages 16 and up.

This story follows a genius high school student Light Yagami, someone who is tired of the world that he lives in. He thinks of it as a rotten world because of the crimes that people are doing.

Light Yagami comes across a black notebook called Death Note and reads the rules. The rules consist of that you have to write the person’s first and last name and they shall die. This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person’s face in their mind when writing their name. Therefore, people who have the same name will not be affected.

If the cause of death is written within the next forty seconds of writing the person’s name, it will happen. If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack. After writing the cause of death, the writer can write details of the death in six minutes and forty seconds. He thinks this is a prank but he takes it anyway and at home he tests it out on a criminal on the news who is keeping kids and teachers hostage at a school. As he waits the forty seconds he was going to turn off the TV because he thought it was fake, but then the news gets a report that the kids and teachers are coming out of the building and that the criminal suddenly died of a heart attack.

Light still thinks this is a coincidence so he goes out and sees a group harassing this woman and he overhears one of their names and writes it down. He also writes the cause of death and in front of him the man gets hit by a truck. This proves to Light that the Death Note is real and he is shocked.

He goes home and starts to kill all the major criminals he can think of and then the God of death, or Shinigami Ryuk, the owner of the Death note that Light Yagami has, visits him and is surprised by how many names he wrote in just five days. Light asks him if he’s going to take his soul. Ryuk tells him no and asks if that’s some fantasy humans made up. Ryuk tells him that the Death Note belongs to him now, that he can give it to someone else but his memory of the Death Note will be erased. Light asks him if he can use it without being punished and Ryuk tells him that the only price to pay is the fear and pain known only to humans who have used the Death Note and that when he dies he will be the one to write his name on his Death Note and that humans that use the Death Note will not go to heaven or hell. Light asks why he chose him. Ryuk tells him that he didn’t choose him, that he just dropped it around because he was bored because there isn’t anything to do in the shinigami realm. Light just happened to pick it up.

Light’s plan is to write the names of criminals and slowly reduce the number of evil people. Ryuk wants to know why he wants to do this. Light tells him that, “It’s only a matter of time before people figure out that these criminals are being eliminated by someone. I want the world to know of my existence.That there’s someone out there passing righteous judgment on the wicked.”

Light questions himself that if anyone else had the Death Note will they be able to do what he’s going to do? He comes to the conclusion that only he can do it, even if it means sacrificing his mind and soul. Light says he will change the world.

He then starts to kill off more criminals. He writes criminals names like he was cleaning up the world believing that soon no one would do evil. Light explains that the guilty who deserve to be punished die of heart attacks and that people who are less guilty but who still make trouble for others will slowly be erased through disease and accidental death.

Then the world will move in the right direction and that he will create a new world of earnest, kind humans.

Ryuk goes on to tell him that then he will be the only bad person. Light responds with  “Huh? I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m a hardworking honor student who is considered to be one of Japan’s best and brightest, and I… I will become the god of this New World.”

When people figure out that there is something or someone killing criminals after hearing a lot about criminals dying, specifically of heart attacks, the public gives the person causing the deaths the name Kira, so Light accepts the name. The world’s best detective “L” has to figure out who Kira is and put him behind bars.

This deserves an 8/10 because of its compelling story line and the intense battle between Light Yagami (Kira) and L. It will keep viewers entertained and has a unique premise with the concept of a notebook that can kill anyone as long as you write their name in it. It’s interesting with some plot twists which keeps viewers on the edge of their seats. This makes it hard to predict what’s going to happen next and that makes it mysterious. It will make you wonder what the characters are thinking or planning to do. Light and L are complex and so compelling that fans often support both of them at different points in the series and I think that gives depth to their characters.

By JOSEPH ESKANDER

Screenshot of character teaser image from Valorant showing the new duelist agent, Iso. (JOSEPH ESKANDER, Ethic News image)

Overview

On Oct. 19 “Valorant” officially released a character trailer for their new Duelist in the game: Iso. Iso has powerful abilities with being able to isolate him and an enemy player from everyone.  This article will be breaking down his abilities and how they work.

Abilities

Iso Ability: Contingency (C)

“EQUIP to assemble prismatic energy. FIRE to push an indestructible wall of energy  forward that blocks bullets,” as described by Mike | Valorant Leaks & News on Twitter @ValorLeaks. Contingency costs 250 credits and can only hold one charge max. Contingency is a buffed up version of Harbor’s “cascade” ability but instead of slowing allies, it blocks bullets. Even though Contingency is smaller than Cascade, blocking out bullets and rushing opponents can gain players an upper hand in battle.

Screenshot of Iso using contingency to form a wall to push enemies shooting at him. (JOSEPH ESKANDER, Ethic News image)

Iso Ability: Undercut (Q)

“EQUIP a molecular bolt. Fire to throw it forward, applying a brief FRAGILE to all players it touches. The bolt can pass through solid objects, including walls,” as described by @ValorLeaks. Undercut costs 200 credits and can hold a max of two charges. FRAGILE is basically VULNERABILITY, but for players that don’t know, FRAGILE is a debuff that increases damage received from all sources of damage. To put simply, undercut is Omen’s “Paranoia” ability but instead of blocking your vision, you take more damage.

Screenshot of Iso firing an Undercut through Mid Doors at Sage and Chamber. (JOSEPH ESKANDER, Ethic News image)

Iso Ability: Double Tap (E)

“START a focus timer. Once completed, enter a flow state during which downed enemies you kill or damage generate an energy orb. Shooting this orb grants you a shield which absorbs one instance of damage from any source,” as described by @ValorLeaks. Double Tap costs 150 credits holding one base charge and being able to max at two charges. From @ValorLeaks, Iso was able to take Raze’s “Showstopper” ultimate ability head on, which on direct hit or splash (if very close), can eliminate a player with or without shields. To add on top of that, if Iso buys shield before the round starts and is hit with Double Tap activated, only the shield retrieved from Double Tap will be damaged and the shield bought before will remain unaffected. Be careful when you have it though, as fall damage or getting hit by an ally’s ability will get rid of Double Taps shield.

Screenshot of Iso shooting an energy orb, gaining a shield from his Double Tap ability after eliminating an enemy player. (JOSEPH ESKANDER, Ethic News image)

Iso Ultimate: Kill Contract (X)

“EQUIP an interdimensional arena. FIRE to hurl a column of energy through the battlefield, pulling you and the first enemy hit into the arena. You and your opponent duel to the death.” This ultimate could possibly be one of, if not the most overpowered ultimates in the game. Being able to force an enemy player into a 1v1 trapping them into a different arena can be game changing depending on certain situations. Kill Contract takes seven ultimate points to use and lasts for 15 seconds. If you and your opponent don’t kill each other within the 15 second time limit, both players will die. Players are also unable to use abilities when inside Kill Contract. Do be aware that moving around inside Kill Contract, and if winning the 1v1, pulls you back to where you activated the ultimate. Think of it as using Phoenix’s “Run it Back” ultimate, but no respawn and you come back to where the ultimate was activated.

Screenshot of Iso and Phoenix in an interdimensional arena made from Kill Contract. The agents fire at each other to see who will be the last one standing. (JOSEPH ESKANDER, Ethic News image)

Conclusion/Possible release date

To conclude this article explaining Iso’s abilities, some other articles have been thinking that Iso will come out on Oct. 31, 2023 which is the same day Episode 7 Act 3 is scheduled to be released.

Iso Ability videos and info on Twitter

By JOSEPH ESKANDER

“Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle” is a free to play strategy mobile game that has been out for nearly nine years. Some players might not know that there are two different versions of the game, the Japanese version and the Global version. “Dokkan Battle” released in Japan on January 15, 2015 and has earned immense popularity. As of right now according to “Dokkan,” the game has over 350 million active players. Both versions have already come out of the “WorldWide Celebration” and have moved on to their next DokkanFest characters.

Part 1 Predictions:

Many players have been wondering who the new characters will be for the anniversary. But some have already got their guesses set for who they think will appear. One of the most popular predictions amongst players has been Ultra Instinct Goku and Super Saiyan Blue Evolved Vegeta. These two last appeared (got a unit) during the 6th anniversary and haven’t gotten a new unit since. “Dokkan” might even be hinting that UI Goku and SSBE Vegeta will be the summonable LR’s with the recent release of DokkanFest Android 17 and Android 18 (with Goku). Even further making it a possibility is the release of a new character tag called “Tournament Participants” which gathers all the units in the game that are from tournament arcs in the “Dragon Ball” series. A possible option over SSBE Vegeta would be a new Golden Frieza since the last stand alone “Tournament of Power” Frieza was released on October 5, 2020 (not counting the SSR and TUR of LR Golden Frieza and Android 17) .

Anniversaries also come with new free to play units that any player can get and there hasn’t been many predictions to whom it may be, especially the LR. I will personally throw my own ideas into the predictions and say that “Dokkan” should add a new Frost and Hit character to help the Universe 6 tag. For the F2P LR that awakens in Part 2, it can be a new Super Saiyan 2 Kefla because the Universe 6 saiyan units that come out usually don’t last long. Usually with anniversaries, the new summonable units come out first with the F2P units, and there are two DokkanFest TUR’s that Extreme Z-Awaken around 10-12 days later. So now for EZA predictions, if the central theme of the anniversary for Part 1 is the “Tournament Participants” tag more around “Universal Survival Saga,” than possibly the two best choices on which unit will EZA would be DokkanFest Transforming Final Form Frieza and DokkanFest Transforming Kefla. Both of these units came out during 2020 and as of October 2023. They are unrunnable on any team and end up being the main reason for a losing run in any difficult event. Both unit kits are outdated more than you can imagine but do carry some good utility. Frieza can stack Defense,  seal enemy super attacks and lower attack and defense from his passive and when he transforms, he has a great chance to stun the enemy. Kefla on the other hand has a little bit less, but can be very good with an EZA. Firstly, she is very Ki Sphere reliant and in her base and Super Saiyan form require 6 Ki Spheres to gain ATK 50% and a high chance to dodge.

Once she gets into Super Saiyan 2, she will then gain a high chance to dodge by default but require 6 Ki Spheres to launch an additional super attack. For events to come to the anniversary, more than likely there will be a link level stage, an hidden potential orb stage, and a ton of missions to gain the 77 summon tickets. Also, “Dokkan” will be adding the 9th anniversary tokens like they do every anniversary to get more rewards in the baba shop. Most content comes in Part 1 but a lot more comes later on so let’s talk about Part 2 predictions.

Part 2 Predictions:

For the summonable units to come out around 2 weeks later, it can be the “Super Hero” tag. Many fans want a playable Beast Gohan as a large majority of players were disappointed with the Christmas LR Ultimate Gohan who only had Beast Gohan as an Active Skill. For the anniversary, a stand-alone Beast Gohan with a 200% leader skill for “Super Heros” seems like a good choice. To accompany Beast Gohan, “Dokkan” can make the first playable Cell Max with a 200% leader skill for either Androids or Planetary Destruction. Villain teams need help and can’t compete with the new Super Class units. Extreme Class is in desperate need of defensive units like LR Corrupted Zamasu that appeared during Part 1 of the World Wide Celebration. For Cell Maxes kit, he can have crazy damage reduction to mimic how hard it was to damage him in the “Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero” movie. During the 2022 Christmas Celebration, players received 2 F2P units being SSR Gamma 1 and SSR Gamma 2. A possibility is that these units can Dokkan Awaken into a TUR version and both units can have similar kits. For Extreme Z-Awakenings, usually happening around 10 days after the first Extreme Z-Awakenings, LR Ultra Instinct Sign Goku and DokkanFest Android 13 can possibly be the picks. It does seem a little bit weird, but to be reasonable, Android 13 is on the “Movie Bosses” tag and Cell Max is a movie villain. Same with UIS Goku being on the “Super Hero” tag like Beast Gohan is. For events, it would be a continuation of Part 1 missions to gain more of the 77 summon tickets. There should also be some sort of new difficult events to be added as well, and possibly a new red zone.

Part 3 Predictions:

For Part 3, it’s usually a cooldown compared to Part 1 and 2, but there are still a good amount of events. For starters, an EZA Area will be added for the F2P characters that appeared during the celebration and possibly the F2P Gamma 1 and 2 received during the Christmas celebration. To match what happened last anniversary, the 6th anniversary MUI Goku and SSBE Vegeta can EZA, and there can be Burst Mode challenges for both MUI Goku and SSBE Vegeta. Last year, there was the 46th World Tournament that introduced LR Jackie Chun and there might not be one this anniversary. I say this because a World Tournament is about to happen on the Japanese version of “Dokkan” that will add LR Pilaf so it is unlikely that a “World Tournament” will come for the 9th anniversary.

Anniversary ending:

All the events and summonable characters will all end at the beginning of March and introduce a new DokkanFest character like usual. For a prediction on who it will be is out of my range, but “Dokkan” can be known to throw out random characters. Good luck to all the players on the Japanese servers and hopefully you all get the new characters that may come.

By JOSE MENDOZA

Note: This contains spoilers for Attack on Titans,  Episode 1.

“Attack on Titans” has a deep and engaging story with great characters and amazing animation. As of right now, it has four seasons.

This anime is a great start for anyone who is just starting to watch anime or someone who’s watched anime but hasn’t gotten to this one. This anime is about how many years ago the last remnants of humanity were forced to hide and live behind a huge towering wall of a fortified city to escape massive man-eating titans that roamed the land outside of the walls and. Only members of the scout regiment dared to stray  beyond the safety of the walls but even these brave warriors barely made it back alive and everyone within the city clung to the illusion of a peaceful existence within the walls.

In the first episode, it starts off with showing what the scouts are fighting against: big man-eating titans. It shows how the scouts come back injured or dead or only parts of them make it back and sometimes none of their remains make it back.

The main character, Eren Yeager, hates living within the walls because he thinks of it as if they’re living in a cage like birds or just livestock for the titan’s. So he wants to join the scout regiment to help fight against the titans, but his sister Mikasa tells this secret to their parents because of how dangerous that job is and they are all against it. Later into the episode, the viewer is introduced to Eren and Mikasa’s friend, Armin. It shows Armin getting bullied and Eren and Mikasa helping him. They talk about how they and others think about life beyond the walls.

Then orange-looking lightning falls out of nowhere and out of thin air there’s a massive 60 -meter titan called the Colossal Titan who kicks down the entrance of the wall letting in all the smaller, but still huge, titans in to devour the humans.

This anime is a 10/10. It has one of the best first episodes and the characters have their own motivation and flaws. It’s filled with suspense, mystery, and a sense of impending doom and as the story unfolds gradually it slowly reveals the mystery behind the titans. To top it off it has stunning animation which is why it deserves a 10/10.

By ELIZABETH HERRERA

By ALEXANDER MARQUIS

Sometimes, the best things in life are free, and games are usually no exception. 

While paid games dominate the market for good reason – after all, most people make games to make a profit – there’s a whole world of demos, free games, and all sorts of interesting things out there. 

After playing quite a number of free games, some good and some bad, I feel that free games are better than some may expect, and in fact are often goldmines for new perspectives, small ideas, and inspiration. While they have their drawbacks, free games are generally one of the most interesting parts of the genre  and are great for beginners to video games overall. 

Free games have many advantages over paid ones, and should be considered a viable alternative.

Before proceeding, a word on vocabulary: “free” here doesn’t mean “free to play,” as in games that are free, but have optional or occasionally “optional,” in-game purchases. Some of these can be extremely fun or interesting to talk about, and will be here hopefully, but these aren’t the subject of the article. So, for sake of clarity, “free” means anything that doesn’t expect any payment from you: “free” games are free, be they demos, full games, or just little side-projects pushed onto Steam.

While scouring Steam at night for free games to play (I had, and still have, little money to buy games) I saw this obscure little game about something that sounded silly, a game called Dark Egg. After seeing it was a text adventure game “with a map,” the author thought to put it in a list with all the other free games and demos they found interesting, and thought not much of it. A few games later, I decided to give it a go. The moment the in-game character – which had not even been given a name, face or description outside a few lines of text – stepped into a rain-soaked town, it was obvious it was something special. 

A few hours later, over the course of a night and morning, I had found a game that not only mastered surrealist writing, but gave an entirely new perspective, a new well of ideas and moods to draw from and create. It only used text and a clear map of where to go, along with a barely present combat system, to immerse oneself in a world permanently wreathed by fog and snow, of monolithic ruins, and of genuine humanity in places least expected. 

Is it perfect? No, hardly. Some puzzles take forever to solve, the combat is little utilized and some of the characters feel repetitive (through the course of the game, there are TWO old men who miss their families, with much the same reaction if you discover said families’ ultimate fate), and just generally obtuse logic at times. However, it made me realize the value of free games.

Of course, not all free games or demos are Dark Egg – most are as one would expect. Some are like Kach. It’s easy to see Kach’s heavily stylized, extremely pixelated 3D environments, and get intrigued. An hour or so later, everything was extremely confused: what had just happened? The plot, as it could be understood, is that there is an older brother to a younger sister, who has a habit of hiding in haunted houses. After plodding along one, and finding out something about “morphosis,” the apparent method of transforming things into other things to heal them, at the cost of making them extremely aggressive, the player stumbled into a room to discover sister was dead, except she wasn’t, and the thing ended on a cliffhanger. Inspiring? Not exactly, even if there’s always appreciation of the work that this takes.  

However, be them great or bad, like the examples before, the point to be made here is that both of them are worth talking about. Even a bad game has something to say, something to repeat to friends, even if its just because of how stupid that something was. They’re both free, too. All it takes is storage space.

So what do good free games have to offer over paid games? Well, free games tend to offer an unique experience over a short period of time. These are typically used to explore smaller, more experimental stories, novel gameplay ideas, or generally new things. Some may explore the creator(s)’ life story, some may be developed over a day as a challenge (a practice known as “game jams”), some may be just to test a concept and some may be demos, but all of them offer something interesting.

Along with that, some of them are electrifying. Free games can be a major source of inspiration and new ideas, beyond what playing a paid game might have. Being able to play a lot of them over the course of a single afternoon due to their short playtime means one can blend together ideas and get a wide range of concepts. Often, the best approach to creation is to draw from a wide, wide variety of sources: free games can provide just that. 

However, there are some noticeable shortcomings. Free games rarely provide week-long epics that leave one stunned and overcome with emotion, or constantly rewarding multiplayer experiences. Their free nature means that they’re more amateurish, so optimization of space and performance is no guarantee: many of these games are perfectly fine to play, but some may be surprisingly taxing on the system. Always have the task manager open, just in case. 

FEATURE IMAGE: Keyboard and controller (NADIA CENICEROS/ Ethic News photo)

By MARCUS PALMERIN

Note: This review contains some spoilers.

Tim Burton’s newest show “Wednesday” was released on Netflix on Nov. 23 and longtime fans are eager to see whether it is worth the watch. Tim Burton has not directed anything since the live-action remake of Dumbo in 2019. Not only has he come to direct “Wednesday” but he has brought his long-time partner Danny Elfman to help him produce the music for the show.

Together Burton and Elfman have done 17 films in 37 years. Some of their greatest hits include “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Edward Scissorhands,” “Alice in Wonderland, Beetlejuice,” “Planet of the Apes,” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” The two talented artists have had bumps in the road regarding their relationship, with their disagreements affecting their projects in the past. However as they create more films together the more they strengthen their relationships and skills in filmmaking.

“Wednesday” gives a unique spin on the classic character Wednesday Addams from the original show “The Addams Family” created in 1964. Wednesday was expelled from her previous school and transferred to Nevermore Academy after assaulting a student who bullied her brother Pugsley. While she is at Nevermore, Wednesday struggles with making friends at her new school due to her detached personality and trust issues. She also struggles with the relationship she has with her family members, her mother Morticia Addams in particular.

When Wednesday first moves in she is welcomed by her new roommate Enid who is a werewolf without full control of her powers. The two have a striking contrast in their personalities, with Enid’s side of the room being bright and whimsical while Wednesday’s is dark and creepy. Originally, the two do not get along but they begin to bond during a school tournament where they must team up against a school bully. This jumpstarts a heavily one-sided friendship between the two, in which Wednesday cares for Enid but won’t admit it. Together they navigate through hardships and difficulties in their relationship and at Nevermore.

Unfortunately, Wednesday must navigate through much more than relationships and school bullies during her time at Nevermore. Wednesday is in her mother’s shadow as she struggles to meet up to Morticia’s legacy of excellence she left behind at the academy. Wednesday soon discovers that Morticia left behind a darker shadow with even darker secrets than Wednesday imagined. Secrets about her parent’s time at the academy and the dark history of the small town that she lives in. As she investigates these dark secrets she learns which of her friends she should trust, and which she should not.

“Wednesday” has queer representation and metaphors sprinkled throughout the show. Enid comes from a family of werewolves however she has yet to transform or “wolf out.” Her mother comes up with the plan to send her to conversion therapy for werewolves, which Enid heavily detested. Many fans saw this as a strong metaphor for repressed sexuality especially since the students at Nevermore are referred to as outcasts.

One of the characters named Eugene is overall a side character and the school’s beekeeper, however, he has more relevance later on in the show. Eugene has two moms who are mentioned and shown a couple of times throughout the series. They do not have much plot relevance but provide queer representation to the show overall.

Wednesday on Netflix credited with having an extremely diverse cast for the production of the show. (Just Jared Jr.)

Aside from queer representation “Wednesday” also provides representation for minorities. The show offers a very diverse cast with many of the main characters being minorities. The Addams themselves are a Hispanic family as depicted in the original 1964 series. The show does a great job of subtly showing Wednesday’s culture through her character. In the series, the Addams speak Spanish in short phrases to each other. They also bring up aspects of their culture such as how they celebrate Día de Los Muertos.

There are also metaphors for discrimination and the struggles of immigration sprinkled throughout “Wednesday.” Wednesday’s parents Morticia and Gomez Addams suffer discrimination at the hands of the town’s police chief and mayor often. The students at Nevermore all have some kind of power or are mythical creatures. The rest of the town looks down upon them and they are referred to as “outcasts.” It is a popular fan analysis that this is not just a metaphor for the repression of sexuality but a metaphor for discrimination that minorities face.

Wednesday honors the original Addams Family show through easter eggs and callbacks. (screenshot from PickPik)

During the entire duration of the first season of “Wednesday” , the series has many callbacks to the original Addams Family show and the movies. Possibly their biggest reference is the code to get into the secret society at Nevermore is to snap twice. Wednesday also hates pilgrims in the show and does not hide her feelings during a school field trip to the town’s history museum. This is a reference to the movie “Addams Family Values.” In this movie, there is a scene where Wednesday crashes her camp play with the true story of Thanksgiving dressed as Pocahontas in an act of defiance.

Many classic Addams family characters appear as a callback to the original, such as Thing, Lurch, and Fester Addams, who has been the most anticipated character to appear on “Wednesday.”  These are just a few examples of the many clever callbacks Tim Burton and his team have devised to make sure the fans never forget the original Addams Family.

Netflix hosts Wednesday Addams-themed drag show and faces accusations of queer baiting its viewers. (photo of Netflix screen)

“Wednesday” is a well-thought-out show that has hundreds of hands continuing to work on it. But as many tv shows do, Tim Burton’s newest project is currently facing some criticism and accusations. The biggest accusation that Wednesday is facing is that the show queerbaits its viewers into watching the show.

 This accusation stems from the fact that in many ways Wednesday is advertised to be a very queer show. In the show there are metaphors of sexuality regarding feeling outcast and forced to change yourself, Eugene has two moms, and Enid and Wednesday become exceptionally close.

Many fans anticipated Wednesday to be a queer character, especially a character with conflicted feelings concerning attraction. Jenna Ortega, the actress of Wednesday, insinuates in interviews and tweets that Enid and Wednesday are a fitting pair. But then Wednesday does not get together with Enid but ends up in a triangle between two boys.

Regardless of whether or not Wednesday is queer many fans thought that her being in a love triangle is very out of character and does not do the original Wednesday justice. Jenna Ortega stated that Wednesday is not a “boy crazy” character and that she didn’t want her to be in a love triangle.

Netflix hides replies to their tweets that suggest that Wednesday Addams is queer. (screenshot from Pop Crave)

Netflix especially is facing criticism for hosting a Wednesday-themed drag show in celebration of the show’s release when the only queer characters in the show are Eugene’s moms. Netflix also hid replies to their tweets when fans suggested that Wednesday may be queer. Many fans feel silenced by Netflix for having their replies hidden and that the show gives the illusion of being queer to get viewers and then silences fans when they say it’s not.

Another big criticism of the “Wednesday” show is the computed generated imagery, especially with the monsters that appear in the show. Many fans felt that the CGI was far from perfect, especially for a show that Tim Burton directed. The CGI is said to have been so poor that it makes it hard to be scared when watching the show. A big element of “Wednesday” is the horror so many fans were left heavily disappointed in this aspect of the show.

Tim Burton’s newest series “Wednesday” has been a heavily anticipated series since he and Danny Elfman have come back to create a show after three years of absence. “Wednesday” features many classic Addams Family characters and has many callbacks to the original series. It does a great job of representing minorities and other communities however there is debate on how well it represents the queer community.

 “Wednesday” is meant to encapsulate the original Wednesday Addams and in many ways, the show succeeds without a second doubt. But the debates on the romantic aspect of her character and whether it does her character justice have been left unsolved. With the fanbase being divided over whether or not the show does Wednesday Addams justice, fans of the classic should watch it so they can decide the truth for themselves.

Featured image: Netflix releases the new show Wednesday which tells the story of the classic character Wednesday Addams. (screenshot from Trusted Reviews)

By JULIETA ROBLES

Mitsuki Laycock is a 32-year-old indie alternative artist. All of Mitskis’s songs have stories of the beautiful but tragic realities of life described in such a poetic way. 

She is Japanese and white and due to her father’s job, she moved around quite a bit. She grew up in Japan, Malaysia, China, Turkey, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mitski was originally going to study film at Hunter College but decided to transfer to The State University of New York Purchase College’s Conservatory of Music, where she studied studio composition. This is also when she made two of her albums Lush (2012) and Retired from Sad, New Career in Business (2013). 

All of Mitski’s songs have deep meanings. A personal favorite is “A Burning Hill” from the Puberty 2 album. This song describes realizing how she is finally taking responsibility for her self-destruction. She uses a forest fire as an analogy, “I am a forest fire, And I am the fire and I am the forest and I am the witness watching it, I stand in the village watching it.” Where the song is placed places a significant role, it is the last song in the album. 

Core themes in this album are emptiness, filling the void, and bringing yourself back up. Being full of the emptiness and not knowing where it is precisely from, but that that you are being consumed by it. To fill the emptiness, abusing substances or seeking validation from other people fills the void but makes you angry and even more empty because you find your happiness depending on your partner or the substance. It shows stepping back and seeing the damage that has been done, how you were the one hurting yourself all along. You finally realize that you are the only one that brings yourself back up, and the only way to do that is to be with yourself.

Another favorite in Puberty 2 is, “I bet on losing dogs.” The title itself has a big meaning on its own. Envision you are watching a dog fight, and your dog or the one that you are betting on is losing miserably. As you are seeing it slowly lose its life people ask if you are still betting on it. You and everyone around you know that the dog is going to lose but you will continue to bet on it.

One of the first lyrics in the song “ I know they’re losing and I pay for my place by the ring, where I’ll be looking in their eyes when they’re down, I’ll be there by their side, I’m losing by their side.” This makes the point of you trying to hold on to but you are slowly but surely losing grip. This message is repeated throughout the song in different words.

By CHRISTIAN CHAPPAROSA

Tatsuki Fujimoto is a manga author with a great rise in recent years. He started his career making one-shots and has a series ongoing currently. His works stand out so much, as he takes things with simple concepts and plots, to then twist and turn, subverting the expectations of readers both new and experienced within the medium. 

After recently reading a majority of his works, being his many one-shots and two manga series, he never misses. Easily the most versatile author out there. I completely believe he can make any kind of story in any genre and come out with a masterpiece, or at the very least be something incredibly enjoyable.

I find the plots in each of his manga to be not only interesting, but also carry some themes I can jive with. “Just Listen to The Song,” has the premise of a teenage boy confessing his feelings to a girl through a song he uploaded on the internet, but catching some unwanted attention. As an indirect summary, I’d relate it to the phrase, “It’s not that deep.” Or another one of his one-shots, “Sasaki Catches the Bullet,” dedicated to hyperbolically telling you the power of belief.  

It doesn’t stop within his storytelling, the art he creates is phenomenal. In his series, “Fire Punch,” the action sequences feel daunting, crisp, clear, and delightfully fun. Some are also extremely creative as well. I also feel that the premise of why his art is so amazing isn’t about having precise and clean linework, or putting meticulous details within each page, it’s the innate ability to have an idea formed and executing it beautifully. 

When it comes to his most popular series, both in terms of the manga and anime community, “Chainsawman.” A dark shounen that really catches your attention. Due to the series having been done by weekly release, the rougher edges of the art adds a gritty aesthetic, and in a way enhances your immersion, not being your typical everyday manga. 

More in regards to “Fire Punch,” I feel that this manga has waved itself over the threshold, between normality and complete pedal to the metal absurdity. It truly is nothing like anything I’ve ever read before. Interesting environment and story forming this conglomerate that calls itself a manga. 

What you also see a lot out of Fujimoto’s works is how he writes his characters. They’re defined within their stories, and despite their comical nature, do feel very human. Examples being his one-shots like “Look Back” depicting a story of two artists, “Love is Blind,” a man that won’t let even God stop him from confessing his love, and his most recent, “Goodbye, Eri,” a truly captivating experience, a manga I resonate with deeply. 

“Goodbye, Eri”  captures the premise of a boy using his phone to record his mother’s remain time before she inevitably passes from her illness, and after her death meets a girl on a rooftop for which he was going to commit suicide on. Being one of the many people confused on their first read of the story, it was a little jarring, but after many re-reads, it has become my favorite of Fujimoto’s works. How he is able to flesh out his characters so well in such a short amount of time truly astonishes me. 

Tatsuki Fujimoto is a staple within the manga community, not ever really knowing what he’d do next. The praises and compliments about his unmatched creativity you hear about is not something you should overlook. And within the recent years of massive popularity, I wouldn’t blame him if he ever showed massive amounts of hubris. 

By CELESTE VILLARREAL

When an album is inspired by heartbreak and battling an addiction, what is the outcome? Amy Winehouse’s album”Back to Black” sold an estimated 50 million records and is one of the best selling records in music history. 

Winehouse had her listeners in a chokehold when she released her #1 album, “Back to Black” on Oct. 27, 2006. Amy Winehouse is a jazz singer that combines her bluesy voice with an upbeat pop R&B sound. 

This album sheds light on the challenging struggles Winehouse faced early on in her career. Unfortunately, this album would later act as a foreshadow for her tragic fate.

The album starts with her #1 hit, Rehab and songs about heartbreak and perseverance follow after.

Winehouse released the most revolutionary and creative piece of art during her time. Winehouse speaks on all things that make us human, happiness, appreciation, empathy, anger and sorrow. All the emotions embedded into our lives as they go on are represented in these 11 songs. 

This album was much more modern than Winehouse’s previous releases. When Winehouse released her first album, “Frank” (an album named after her ex boyfriend) it was much jazzier and had more of a coffee house sound. “Frank” was an amazing album, but not as diverse as “Back to Black.”

This album collected a 4.9 star rating, according to google reviews. The Guardian even wrote an article calling the album the best of the 21st century.  There were lots of words in reviews used to describe the album including “incredible,” “amazing,” and “perfect.” 

Who could deny that Amy is a one of a kind artist? “Back to Black” collected 18.9 million streams and held the highest position on the charts for a whopping seven weeks. Winehouse went on to win five awards for this album.  We can all appreciate the genius it took to create such a masterpiece.

There was not much negative said about this album. Although the review done by Pitchfork.com was rather back handed, it wasn’t very critical on the quality of the album. This review was much more about how Winehouse chose to live her private life.

The review stated, ”She’ll be scheduled to perform, but there’s no guarantee what she’ll do, or even if she’ll make it through the show. And she’ll sing about her problems…” but not care what you think about them.

This really shows that their opinions were much more personal and less about the music.

Rehab

Rehab touches on the struggle and unwillingness to get professional help. When Winehouse had written this song she was battling with her label, arguing that she didn’t need professional help for her alcoholism and drug addiction. This song is really a cry for help. Being in denial didn’t shield Winehouse from the consequences of her actions. 

“They tried to make me go to Rehab But I said no, no, no

Yes I’ve been black, but when I come back

You’ll know, know, know l ain’t got the time

And if my daddy thinks I’m fine

They tried to make me go to Rehab But I won’t go, go, go

I don’t ever want to drink again I just, ooh, I just need a friend I’m not gonna spend ten weeks And have everyone think I’m on the mend

And it’s not just my pride

It’s just ’til these tears have dried”

You Know I’m No Good

Self depreciation and how critical Winehouse is of her own actions is clear as day in this song, almost giving reasons as to why her boyfriend should just stay away. She is her own worst enemy and this is her warning label. She makes it clear that self sabotage is one of many escapes. 

“There’ll be none of him no more”

I cried for you on the kitchen floor

I cheated myself

Like I knew I would

I told you I was trouble

You know that I’m no good”-

“Who truly stuck the knife in first

I cheated myself

Like I knew I would

Itold you I was trouble

You know that I’m no good

I cheated myself

Like I knew I would

I told you I was troubled

Yeah, you know that I’m no good”

Me & Mr. Jones

Winehouse has an almost intoxicating voice in this song. Slurred and strong, she effortlessly sings this anthem without holding back. This song is about the bond between her and the rapper Nas. They were both cheating on their partners at the time and the lyrics and beat add a sleazy jazz sound onto the justification of their infidelity. Winehouse spins the the song ‘Me and Mrs. Jones” by Billy Paul, an oldies classic which is just produced beautifully.  Winehouse’s genius really peaks in this song, taking a jazz classic and making it a modern day classic. Using real instruments and not artificial saxophones, pianos, and other jazz instruments isolated her from all of the newer artists and allowed her to create her own genre.

“Nobody stands in between me and my man

It’s me and Mr. Jones (me and Mr.

Jones)What kind of fuckery is this?”-

“You made me miss the Slick Rick gig (oh, Slick Rick)

And thought that I didn’t love you when I did (when I did)

Can’t believe you played me out like that

No, you ain’t worth guest list

Plus one of all them girls you kiss (all them girls)

You can’t keep lying to yourself like this (to yourself)”-

 “I still wonder ’bout the things you do

Mr Destiny, nine and 14

Nobody stands in between me and my man

‘Cause it’s me and Mr. Jones

Mr. Jones (me and Mr. Jones)

Me and oh”

Just Friends

As complicated as Winehouse’s life was, adding relationships to the mix was a way of coping for her. This upbeat and doowop sound is followed by feelings of confliction. She doesn’t want or need a relationship at the moment but she wants companionship. She can feel the distraction of this person wearing off. She mentions how bad her addiction is getting and their schedules keeping them apart as a reason to just keep it friendly rather than hurting themselves. She is emotionally detached and her feelings for this person are purely passionate. We can only assume that the person she is talking about is in a relationship because as she states, “And no, I’m not ashamed, but the guilt will kill you If she don’t first, I’ll never love you like her.”

When will we get the time to be just friends?

It’s never safe for us, not even in the evening

‘Cause I’ve been drinking

Not in the morning where your shit works

It’s always dangerous when everybody’s sleeping

And I’ve been thinking

Can we be alone?

Can we be alone?

When will we get the time to be just friends?

When will we get the time to be just friends?

And no, I’m not ashamed, but the guilt will kill you If she don’t first

I’ll never love you like her

Though we need to find the time To just do this shit together

Back To Black

Seperating from Blake Fielder Civil was one of Amy’s most agonizing eras. Publicly recognizing her husband’s infidelity and how devoted she was to him was not only brave but incredibly raw. In the Back to Black music video Amy is burying someone representing that Blake is in fact dead to her. After all of the devastation and gut wrenching pain she felt he had moved onto someone else and she was angry. This is a revenge song, shouting from the rooftops that he is dead to her.

”We only said goodbye with words, I died a hundred times,

You go back to her And I go back to I go back to us”

“Me and my head high ,

And my tears dry, 

Get on without my guy,

You went back to what you knew, 

So far removed, 

From all that we went through And I tread a troubled track, 

My odds are stacked,

I’ll go back to black.”

Love is Losing Game

This song highlights the rise and fall of Amy’s romance to Blake Fielder Civil. The melancholy song is a roller coaster of emotions represented throughout the whole album. Amy shows us her admiration and feelings of betrayal for her ex husband. The feelings of confusion and devastation are not discovered but pronounced in this song. 

“For you, I was a flame Love is a losing game,

 Five story fire as you came

 Love is a losing game 

One I wished I never played 

Oh, what a mess we made 

And now, the final frame

 Love is a losing game” 

“Played out by the band, 

Love is a losing hand, 

More than I could stand, 

Love is a losing hand, 

Self-professed, profound

‘Til the chips were down, 

Know you’re a gambling man, Love is a losing hand, 

Though I battle blind, Love is a fate resigned, 

Memories mar my mind, 

Love is a fate resigned, 

Over futile odds, 

And laughed at by the gods 

And now, the final frame Love is a losing game”

Tears Dry On Their Own

This song creates a sense of triumph, regret and reflection. Amy goes over how she went wrong trusting and getting attached to someone so unstable and abusive. Standing up on her own with a sense of relief when she discovers she doesn’t need him says a lot about her character. Her creativity shines throughout the album  when she goes back and forth with herself throughout these songs.. Deciding she doesn’t need him and realizing her worth back to reliving the past and craving what she once had with her husband. 

“My tears dry on their own,

 I don’t understand ,Why do I stress the man?

When there’s so many bigger things at hand, 

We coulda never had it all, 

We had to hit a wall, 

So this is inevitable withdrawal,

 Even if I stop wanting you, 

A perspective pushes through, 

 I’ll be some next man’s other woman Soon, 

I cannot play myself again, I should just be my own best friend.”- 

 “All l can ever be to you, 

Is a darkness that we know, 

And this regret I got accustomed to, 

Once it was so right, When we were at our high”

Wake Up Alone

The emotional dependency Amy has with her husband is no secret, especially in this song. She only feels okay during the day when she’s distracted, almost like the night brings about all of the emotions she’s been avoiding throughout the day and hits her like a wave being held back. He even haunts her while she’s sleeping and she expresses the sorrow she feels after waking up to reality and discovering his absence day after day. 

“It’s okay in the day, I’m staying busy 

Tied up enough so I don’t have to wonder where is he”- 

“Just disappears soon as the sun sets,

 This face in my dreams seizes my guts, 

He floods me with dread, Soaked in soul,

 he swims in my eyes by the bed”

Some Unholy War- This song goes on about the loyalty Amy feels towards her husband. She goes on to say that she refuses to let him go and she will be by his side through war. This says a lot about where her priorities lie and who she’s willing to put first, herself or her husband?

“If my man was fighting some unholy, War, 

I would be behind him, 

Straight, shook up beside him With strength he didn’t know, 

 It’s you I’m fighting for, He can’t lose with me in tow”

He Can Only Hold Her- Lingering feelings are no secret in this song. Amy touches on the never ending feelings she has for her ex, Blake. In a way she is defending the emotional infidelity she is commiting by being in love with her ex while being in an entirely new relationship. She still loves her ex no matter who she pursues.

“Even if she’s content in his warmth

She is played with urgency

Searching kisses, the man she misses

The man that he longs to be Now how can he have her heart

When it got stole?

So he tries to pacify her

‘Cause what’s inside her never dies

So he tries to pacify her

For what’s inside her, it never dies”

Addicted- Amy makes it very clear that she doesn’t see pettiness as a taboo topic . When something needs to be said she has no issue saying it. This song is about Amy’s best friend’s boyfriend pinching her supply. Taking what isn’t his and irritating Amy along the way. This song acts as a lighthearted joke to end a very depressing and emotional string of songs. 

“Once is enough, To make me attack, 

So bring me a bag and your man can come back. 

I’ll check him at the door make sure he got green, 

I’m tighter than airport security teams”

By JUSTEN NGUYEN 

 Joji, known for his songs “Slow dancing in the dark” and “Sanctuary” released his third studio album “Smithereens” on Nov. 4.

The album is part of the label 88Rising, two years after his last album “Nectar.” His new album consists of nine songs with two previously being released before the album. 

Joji brings you a ride of emotions on each one of his albums. “Smithereens” puts the listener on an adventure through Joji’s mind and emotions.

Glimpse of Us

Originally released on June 10, “Glimpse of Us” was Joji’s first song to release since his album “Nectar” which was released back in the year 2020. 

This song takes the listener on a flow of emotions.

The opening line, “She’d take the world off my shoulders if it was ever hard to move,” suggests that Joji is talking about a girl that means a lot to him. 

In another line part of the opening verse, “Why then if she’s so perfect, do I still wish that it was you?” A follow-up from the previous line, Joji is talking about his ex and wishing she was his current girlfriend. 

In the chorus, Joji explains why he feels the way he does, “‘Cause sometimes I look in her eyes And that’s where I find a glimpse of us.” 

This is where he shows why he misses her and feels that his current relationship will never be as good as his ex.

Over this past summer on TikTok, “Glimpse of Us” blew up and currently has over 1 million videos that have been made to it on top with millions of views. On Spotify, the song has over 669 million streams being the most streamed on the album.

Feeling Like The End

The first new song on the album, “Feeling Like The End” lyrics express the heartbreak of false promises of a broken relationship.

From a personal view, “Feeling Like The End” has a type of staring at your ceiling at 2 am vibe. 

The heartbreaking song starts off with the chorus, “Too many, too many things we did together You used to promise me it would be forever. Feeling like the end, don’t think it will get better, baby.”

In this Joji speaks about  false promises from his ex and things they did together. 

“Feeling Like The End” currently has over 21 million streams on Spotify.

Die For You

Debuting with the album “Die For You” has hits deep in your emotions and in my opinion is better than The Weekend’s song “Die For You.”

Joji is still thinking about an ex from the past, the first two lines in the pre-chorus, “Burning photos Had to learn to let go” Joji is trying to get over his ex. 

In the chorus, Joji then expresses that even though its hard for him to let go of what they had he would still die for her, “I heard that you’re happy without me And I hope it’s true It kills me a little, that’s okay ‘cause I’d die for you.”

Like “Glimpse of Us,” “Die For You” has gathered a trend on TikTok with there being over 58 thousand videos made to the song and millions of views on those videos. Currently, “Die For You” has 75 million streams on Spotify.

Before The Day Is Over

The new song by Joji “Before The Day Is Over” starts off with background vocals and a slow-paced piano. 

The chorus, “I know it won’t be long I know you’re almost gone Hold on, let me in before the day is over Just let me in before the day is over,” expresses that Joji is having a hard time getting over his ex and doesn’t want to lose her. 

My view on “Before The Day Is Over” is that it has a reverse feel to one of his previous songs “Run”.

“Before The Day Is Over” is currently sitting on over 16 million streams on Spotify.

Dissolve 

“Dissolve” gives us a breakdown into Joji wanting to leave his body and leave everything behind.

Joji slowly breaks down giving the name for the song “Dissolve.” 

Joji depicts this in his lines, “It’s so hard just being me sometimes I wish I could escape out my mind.”

Currently on Spotify “Dissolve” is over 13 million streams.

NIGHT RIDER

“NIGHT RIDER” starts to show us the mentality of Joji and falling victim to his mind.

Joji goes in dept with being lost in his mind with the lines “Burning forever and ever, fully blazing I don’t remember no better days You know I’m waiting, just whenever.”

“NIGHT RIDER” is currently over 15 million streams on Spotify.

BLAHBLAHBLAH DEMO

Joji slowly spirals into his mind and it perfectly shows this as the beats go into a slower pace towards the end of “BLAHBLAHBLAH DEMO”.

The song starts over with the chorus, but the beat changes tempo when Joji says the first line of the chorus a second time, “I can make you feel it closer, baby, one more time.”

“BLAHBLAHBLAH DEMO” currently has over 12 million streams and is the least streamed on the album.

YUKON (INTERLUDE)

Originally released on August 26th, “YUKON (INTERLUDE)” created anticipation and hype for the SMITHEREENS album.

YUKON expresses Joji’s wild mind and a little bit of the reckless lifestyle he used to have before fame. 

With lyrics like, “Speeding up on that all-black Demon Going west, I don’t got no reasons I was throwing stones at Hercules Throwing them so perfectly Circles at the Chevron I can’t be forever youn,” Joji jumps into his former self a little bit and can’t accept he won’t be young forever.

“YUKON (INTERLUDE)” has currently over 45 million streams on Spotify.

1AM FREESTYLE

Joji reminisces about the past on “1AM FREESTYLE”.

Joji’s lyrics show us he’s afraid of being alone in this life. 

The chorus “You know you can make it But you can’t make it alone.” 

On the verse “I’ve been playing memories in my mind Wishing you were there like all the time” shows Joji misses his past and what he had then.

“1AM FREESTYLE” currently has over 16 million streams on Spotify.

Feature image: Album collage created by JUSTEN NGUYEN

By MONIQUE VARELA and MARSHALL SCOTT

Taylor Swift released her latest album, Midnights, on Oct. 21 at 12 midnight. The idea for the album was for it to be released exactly at midnight, however, due to the different time zones, Midnights was released at 9 PM pst, 10 PM mst, and 11 PM cst. 

The album has 13 songs in total with one song, “Snow on the Beach,” which features Lana Del Ray. 

According to nylon.com, “Midnights has also broken several streaming records, including being the most streamed album in 24 hours (184.6 million streams) and the most streamed act on Spotify in 24 hours (228 million streams).” 

Swift fans thought that Midnights had a different vibe than her previous albums, as she has a tendency to make her albums about past failed relationships, so the change is something fans thoroughly enjoyed. 

You’re On Your Own, Kid

You’re On Your Own, Kid was the fifth track on the “Midnights” album. The song is about Swift’s own personal journey navigating gaining fame, love, and the people she has lost and gained throughout her journey through fame.

Though the song lyrics seem to be more closely related to Swift’s romantic side and wanting a boy’s attention. Throughout the song she continues gaining fame but yet still feeling alone even around so many people who love her.

She also seems to briefly address her past eating disorder in the song with the lyrics “I hosted parties and starved my body.”

The song strongly suggested that this song is about growing up and learning to release negative things from your past. Learn to keep the positives about life instead of the negatives.

Lavender Haze

Many fans speculated that “Lavender Haze” was Swift coming out as bisexual due to the color association. 

Christobal Hastings CNN article “How lavender became a symbol of LGBTQ resistance” states,  “In 1969, the color came to symbolize empowerment. Lavender sashes and armbands were distributed to a crowd of hundreds in a ‘gay power’ march from Washington Square Park to Stonewall Inn in New York, to commemorate the Stonewall riots that had just taken place a month before.” 

However, the song is actually about Swift’s relationship with her partner of six years, Joe Alwyn. People speculated that Swift and Alwyn were allegedly engaged which was neither confirmed nor denied. 

The lyric “All they keep asking me is if I’m gonna be your bride” makes it seem like Swift is tired of people asking whether Alwyn and Swift are going to get married.

Swift has spoken on social media about her relationship before as well as talking about the song. 

On an instagram post, she talked about the meaning of the song stating, “My relationship for six years, we’ve had to dodge weird rumors, tabloid stuff, and we just ignore it. This song is sort of about ignoring that stuff to protect the real stuff.” 

Swift also mentions in the instagram post how she decided on the name of the song, Swift looked up the meaning of the term “Lavender Haze” which was a common phrase used in the 50’s that meant being in love. 

Maroon

Maroon was the second track on the Midnights album and is suspected to have a lot to do with past flings with lovers. Maroon is assumed by fans to be her backtrack to Swift’s “Red” album ex Jake Gyllenhal and her romance with Harry Styles. 

In the album Swift uses many colors to describe her emotions throughout the songs, one example would be the color maroon. With the song fans get to see deep into Swift’s thoughts and what keeps her up at night. 

In the song she talks about a lover she once had and remembers the first night they spent together.  Swift recalls the days and nights she spent with the lover which she felt she could really be herself around them.

The color maroon resembles what it used to be which was a bright red but it slowly burned out and turned to maroon, the color suggests it was similar to how the relationship between this lover went. Swift and her lover didn’t understand how to fix the drift and silence that came between them and all she has left are the memories that keep her up at night.

Anti-Hero

Within the Midnights album, Anti-hero was the third song. This song was very relatable for some of  fans and for Swift, as the song is about Swift’s insecurities and her anxiety in both her public and private life. 

On one of Swift’s Instagram posts she states that the song is one of her favorites on the album, “This song really is a real guided tour throughout all the things I tend to hate about myself,  We all hate things about ourselves” Swift says. 

In addition she says “So yeah, I like ‘Anti-Hero’ a lot because I think it’s really honest.” There are many deep lyrics in the song which can be interpreted in different ways. 

Some of the lyrics such as, “I should not be left alone to my own devices” and “I end up in crisis” can be seen as relatable to her fan as some people believe they shouldn’t be alone because they’re afraid of what could happen. 

In her music video she shows thoughts on her weight and appearance which caused controversy against some of her plus-sized fans. During the music video, Swift stands on a scale and it read “Fat” which is what Swift felt because of her eating disorder. 

Mastermind

Mastermind was actually the last song of her “Midnights” album.  This song was revealed by Swift to be about Joe Alwyn and her relationship origin story.

This is not the first time Swift has referenced Alwyn in her music but this song recaps the beginning of their love. Swift and Alwyn were considered to fall in love at first sight at the 2016 Met Gala. In the song it constantly describes how she felt meeting Alwyn and how she immediately felt something special about him.

The chorus shares her dedication and stubbornness to making things work out between herself and Alwyn naming herself the “Mastermind” behind their relationship. The song shows a lot of dedication between their relationship and has a nice twist from her music about all her past relationships that didn’t work out well.

Snow On the Beach (feat.Lana Del Ray)

Snow On the Beach is the fourth song on the Midnights album. Swift’s idea for Snow on the beach is the wonderful feeling of someone falling in love with a person as they’re falling for you too. 

It’s almost the feeling of a dream and realization of love. Like other songs on the album, this song is also assumed to be about her relationship with Alwyn. Lyrics that support this claim are “You wanting me tonight, feels impossible.” 

Midnight Rain

“Midnight Rain” was the sixth track on Midnights. The song’s meaning isn’t exactly known, however, guesses can be made by paying attention to the lyrics being sung. 

The possible meaning towards the song could be that Swift did not want to be the small-town girl she wanted to be well-known but her partner at the time could not have wanted that for Swift and wanted to lead a “normal” life. 

The lyrics “He wanted a bride, I was making my own name.” could have represented this idea.

Question…?

“Question…?” was the seventh track in the Midnights album. The true meaning of the song is unknown but queer fans of Swift believe the song might have something to do with Swifts former best friend and rumored kissing partner, Karlie Kloss. 

Queer fans believe this to true because the context in the song. The song uses mainly she/her pronouns. 

In the lyrics “Did you ever have someone kiss you in a crowded room?” could be linked to Swift’s song “dress” in her album with the lyrics, “Our secret moments in a crowded room” and “I don’t want you like a best friend, I only bought so you could take it off.” 

Vigilante S— 

The eighth track in Midnights is Vigilante S—. Vigilante S— is said to be about a wife finding out about her cheating ex-husband who has also done some white-collared crimes. 

This song is also Swift’s second song to ruin a man’s reputation to avenge one of her friends. Swift helps the ex-wife take revenge on the ex-husband, while they are said to look hot doing it. 

The song allegedly references Scott “Scooter” Braun, who Big Machine sold six of Swift’s songs to. As well as the feud between Kim Kardasian and Kanye West with the rumored album “Karma” that was then reworked into “Reputation.” Swift’s fan base is excited for the alleged official music video to drop. 

Taylor Swift’s ’Midnights’ album CD in the target music section which includes the 13 songs as well as three bonus tracks. (MARSHALL SCOTT/Ethic News photo)

Bejeweled

The song Bejeweled was the seventh track on Swift’s new album. This song is a feel good song and reminds the listener to not settle for less and to those who feel or have felt taken advantage of. 

The song discusses dating someone who doesn’t treat Taylor how she wants to be treated, she starts to feel under appreciated and loses her shine. As the song progresses Swift realizes she is better without him and with or without him she can still “make the whole place shimmer.” 

One thing about the song that really caught people’s attention when one of the lyrics described Swift dancing with another man while talking to her lover about this new man. People suspect this may be a reference to Tom Hiddlestone they met at the 2016 Met Gala  and famously danced with him while she was still dating Calvin Harris. The dance quickly hit headlines in May 2016 and in early June 2016.

Labyrinth

Labyrinth was number ten in the Midnights album. The song Labyrinth is another song about her current long-term boyfriend, Joe Alwyn. The song represents how Swift was afraid to fall in love with Alwyn because of her failed past relationship. 

The lyrics “Oh no, I’m falling in love again” shows how Swift really panicked when she found herself falling for Alwyn. 

Another lyric, “I thought the plane was falling down how’d you turn it right around” shows how she originally thought that the relationship could’ve turned out badly because of past experiences but in fact, it’s going the complete opposite. 

Karma

Karma was placed 11th in the tracking list.The song is based off an album that was not released, also called “Karma.” 

When the song title was announced fans believed the song would be a diss track to rapper, Kanye West, only for fans to find out that was not the case. 

The meaning behind the song is “a perspective of feeling really happy, really proud of the way your life is.” 

Swift says, “Feeling like this must be a reward for doing stuff right, and it’s a song I really love because I think we all need some of those moments. We can’t just be beating ourselves up all the time.” 

The song also represents Swift’s long-term determination to have a life-long career, the lyrics “Ask me what I learned from all those years, ask me what I learned from all those tears.” show that determination Swift has.

Sweet Nothings

Sweet Nothings was Swift’s 12th  track on her album. In Midnights Swift did not shy away from getting personal in her lyrics about her life and love life. This song discusses her highs and lows that come with being in the public eye and figuring out her peace and comfort with her partner of six years, Alwyn. The song discusses herself seeking comfort and shelter from the outside world with Alwyn. Going in deeper she feels safe with her partner and is comfortable enough with Alwyn to show her deepest thoughts and insecurities without feeling judgment. Swift feels safe with him and doesn’t have to ask him for compliments to receive them.

Midnights was the first album to be released after her two year hiatus, this album quickly began to be a fan favorite for the relatable topics in many of her songs on the album. 

The album talks a lot about her struggles in life and also her feelings and love towards her six-year long relationship with Joe Alwyn. 

Additionally, to the Midnights Album, Swift also made an extended version with seven more songs giving Midnights 3AM 20 songs. 

These albums can be found on Spotify, Apple music as well as Youtube music.

Correction: The original publishing of this article did not include analysis of the songs Anti-hero or Mastermind. It was corrected on Dec. 2 at 2:55 pm.

By MAXWELL BRIGGS

Netflix released a show titled “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” on Sept. 21 and there are differing opinions on this show and how the cases of Dahmer and his victims were depicted. 

Accuracy

One glaring issue people have with this show is the inaccuracy throughout the show. 

For example, Glenda Cleveland, played by Niecy Nash, lived in a different apartment building than Dahmer’s and wasn’t his next-door neighbor as depicted in the show. To some, this may not seem like something significant, let alone something to think is wrong. 

Still, when depicting real-life instances like the Jefferey Dahmer case, details must be accurate, out of respect to the people that were involved in that case, especially those who lost family members and friends to that man; they deserve to have stories shared truthfully. 

The police on the case were already making the case even harder to solve due to their own inaccuracies about Dahmer.  Even the most minor details that may seem minuscule and irrelevant need to be depicted properly because this isn’t just an instance of disturbing fiction. 

This isn’t something that can be rewritten or have a spin-off, and that’s what some viewers of the show forgot.

Permission

This leads to another concern regarding the show, the directors, Ryan Murphy and Dan Brennan, did not get permission from the victim’s family to make this show and include their deceased loved ones. 

Eric Perry, the cousin of victim Errol Lindsey, shared on Twitter on Sept.  22, “No, they don’t notify the victims’ families when they do this. It’s all public record, so they don’t have to notify (or pay!)”

It was disrespectful and unnecessary for the directors not to do the bare minimum by seeking out the victims’ families and asking them how they feel about the show idea before they go along with any final decisions for the show. 

No matter which way you look at the dilemma of asking for permission and risk not being able to go along with the main plan for the show or  getting permission from the victims’ loved ones and possibly having to alter the whole show itself,  the most reasonable option seems clear. 

There’s a possibility that co-directors couldn’t find any link of family or friends to some of the victims, or maybe their loved ones simply shut the idea down right away; either way, straightforward communication is necessary when handling such cases.

Casting

Another complaint is the casting choice, especially for one person in particular. 

It was a poor casting choice in the long run to cast Evan Peters, a notoriously known and loved horror actor,  to play Jeffrey Dahmer, a genuinely vile human being. 

While Peters has played immoral roles in the past (i.e. Kai Anderson from “American Horror Story,” a raging sexist, alt-right, Trump supporter), the issue is, Jeffery Dahmer isn’t just some creepy spooky slasher from a horror movie like Jason Vorhees or Micheal Myers. He was a real person, who impacted other very real people, but some viewers from the show have made some kind of disconnect between this show and the real events that the show is based upon. 

It just seems as if some fans of his long life work, the viewers that will watch whatever piece of media he’s a part of as long as he’s in it, forget the fact that this isn’t just a typical casting role for Peters to play, it’s based on real life, real stories, real people that had the misfortune of coming across that man.

A question to those (specifically non-black cisgender heterosexual people) that have watched the ¨Monster¨ series and make jokes about what the victims had to live through before passing away for shock factor, or to the people who decided to dress up as Dahmer after getting inspiration from the show:

 How does fiction affect perceived reality; how do  real-life events affect fiction? 

And truly, is someone able  to decipher the fact that just because something is on television  it does not mean it can’t, doesn’t, or hasn’t already been carried out into reality.

In this case, unfortunately, it already has.

So there truly is no excuse.

Featured image photo collage designed by JUSTEN NGUYEN

By CHRISTIAN CHAPPAROSA

One of the most influential math rock bands, “Chon,” is a four-person group consisting of both Mario Camarena and Erick Hansel as the lead guitarists, Nathan Camarena as the drummer, and Esiah Camarena as the bassist (although there have been different bassists throughout the years of their tours). The band started small. As younger adolescents, Mario and Erick were already extremely talented guitarists with bright futures ahead of them. This was shown beautifully with their small demo EP in 2008. They decided they wanted to do live shows, so Mario had Esiah (his brother) on board, and also taught 11-year-old Nathan (little brother) how to play drums. With everything all together, the band is official. 

2008 Demo EP: 

-Across The Spectrum

-Mountains of Creation

-Temporarily Destabilized 

-Elliptical Illuminations 

This short EP shed light on Mario and Erick’s song-composing skills at a young age. Each song displays absurd and complex riffage. One could also hear how much another math rock band, “The Fall of Troy,” influenced the band’s sound in terms of guitar tone and riff ideas. As much as I enjoy each song from this sort of EP, a particular piece stands out between the four songs. Temporarily Destabilized has incredibly catchy rhythms and jazzy solos that will stay in your head for weeks. It’s also more significant in length and progresses more than any other song within the band’s whole discography. Overall an album that stands out and gets better every listen.  

Releases created before or after the 2008 EP:

-Newborn Sun

-O.G.

-Breathe

-The Perfect Pillow 

These releases were used regularly during the band’s live sets between 2009-2013. Newborn Sun would come to have a re-recording in their 2013 album, “Newborn Sun,” and The Perfect Pillow getting a re-recording in their 2015 album, “Grow.” I thought this era of Chon was their accumulation of all of their influences, mixed with finger breaking arpeggios and interesting solos. Although these songs have no right being as good as they are, this mesh isn’t quite what I’d define for the band as a whole, since I’d regard their first 8 songs as “refreshers for those that are tired of listening to metal.”

2013 Newborn Sun: 

-Potion

-Puddle

-Fluffy

-Dew

-Bubble Dream 

-Frosting

-Newborn Sun 

With this next EP, Chon still keeps their metal influence but makes a more significant push for melodies and atmosphere with short and sweet songs for “Potion” and “Frosting.” It is also home to their most iconic piece, “Bubble Dream,” which put them on the map and a staple for the math and prog community as a whole.. Also, “Dew” has a beautiful ethereal solo, and I think everyone should listen to this song. It shows how fast Mario and Erick have improved over the past few years. 

2014 Woohoo! EP: 

-Super Potion

-Knot

-Ecco

-Sketch

-Dust

-Suda

With each new release, Chon continues evolving their music and is not afraid to take risks. When I first listened to this EP, I wouldn’t say I was much of a fan then. But over the years, I became a little upset that I never listened to this small album as much as their other works. This EP is home to an interesting batch of songs, with only pure acoustic guitar on Super Potion written by Erick and Dust by Mario. Not only this, “Ecco” would be the band’s first song to have vocals sung by their bassist at the time, Drew Palisek. All and all, this EP has exciting ideas, especially with how “Knot” and “Sketch” have such groovy ending riffs and the beautiful melodies within “Suda.” 

2015 Grow(Band’s first official album):

-Drift 

-Story

-Fall

-Book (Feat. Matt Garstka)

-Can’t wait

-Suda

-Knot

-Moon

-Splash

-Perfect Pillow

-Echo (re-recording of Ecco)

-But (Feat. Matt Garstka)

After years of growing popularity, Chon was able to sign with a record label, Sumerian Records, and debut their first official album, fully licensed. At the time of the release, there were mixed opinions regarding the album, as almost half of it was re-recorded songs. But after time, it was much more appreciated; since this was the band’s first full album, they needed to showcase some of their best stuff to reach out to people newer to the band and the genre itself. But even with the convoluted reasonings, I believe this is the band’s holy grail album. “Story” and “Splash” structure the vibe you feel while listening to this masterpiece. “Can’t Wait” would be the crowd pleaser among the community, and “Fall” is, in my opinion, a perfect song from beginning to end. This album also features guest artist, well-renowned drummer, “Matt Garstka,” from the prog-metal band, “Animals as leaders.” The two songs featuring him really do mesh well with Mario and Erick’s writing. I forgot to mention that the band’s drummer, Nathan, doesn’t yet write any of their drum tracks, as his drum mentor, Brian Evans, is the one pulling the strings. 

2017 Homey Album:

-Sleepy Tea

-Waterslide

-Berry Streets (Feat. GoYama)

-No Signal

-Checkpoint

-Nayhoo (Feat. Lophiile, Masego)

-Here and There

-The Space

-Feel This Way (Feat. Giraffage)

-Continue? 

-Glitch (Feat. ROM)

-Wave Bounce

For Chon’s second album, they’ve decided to take even bigger risks and experiment with not only their sound but do collaboration pieces with other artists. They’re using more post-processing, different balances and effects within their songs while still incorporating their roots as a math-rock band. I am a little on the fence with this album as a whole. I didn’t really enjoy the featured artists’ songs, as I don’t think the songs are nearly as catchy or memorable as their other tracks. This also goes for the ones they did create as only the band, with the exception of “Waterslide,” and “Sleepy Tea,” as they are the face of the album. I will say I’m never not impressed by how the band can make such complex and virtuosic riffs that flow so well within each of their songs. 

2019 CHON Self-Titled Album:

-Ghost 

-Cloudy

-Gift

-Visit

-Petal

-Pitch Dark

-Rosewood

-If

-Spike

-Dead End

-Thanks

-Peace

With the third and, as of currently, the band’s final album, we hit a close. In retrospect, I’m happy that this album wasn’t my introduction to Chon. As a listener since “Grow,” you feel the total weight of each song, seeing how far the band’s come. “Ghost” was probably the best choice to use for the first track. It was a hopeful introduction into the rest of the album, with Mario and Erick completely shredding on their guitars. Despite the more simplistic melodies, Chon can really incorporate intense riffs and drum fills together without breaking the song’s initial flow. With regards to “Spike,” this song was definitely written as a callback to their earlier works, literally being able to hear the main theme of “Bubble Dream” at the end of the track. And the album’s final song, “Peace” completely subverts your expectations. Every track from this album has such distinctness, being able to tell one from the other. In conclusion, Chon has never made a bad song, but I just didn’t personally enjoy this album as much as I did with their other works; it all seemed just a little surreal that this would possibly be their last album they’d make.

By THEA LENDENG

There have been many interpretations of Elvis Presley’s life. These interpretations have caused Elvis to gain a lot of hate because of false facts. Although, with Austin Butler and the director, Baz Luhrmann, showed  Elvis’ name and reputation justice.

Austin Butler had two  years to prepare playing Elvis and during that time, he hired a professional swim coach that had also worked with the cast of “Bohemian Rhapsody”  to really get the shakes and wiggles down just like Elvis himself. 

After watching even just a few of his interviews, Butler expresses the type of pressure he felt having to portray Elvis in an acceptable and satisfactory way. He has stated, “What made me nervous was Elvis was so loved and so iconic, you feel responsibility playing any human that has actually lived, but with him it’s like, it’s a weight like I never felt before,” he said. 

Butler added, “And there’s a responsibility to his family and also putting his story into context. That’s the thing.”

He papered his walls with photos of the musician, and spent his days studying and mimicking Elvis’s movements in addition to his voice. Pouring himself into the role came with a cost for Butler. He put so much energy into resurrecting Elvis that his body revolted less than 24 hours after they finished filming.

Butler perfected the voice of Elvis since he had been working on it for 2 years with no end, so it has stuck with him. Fans and interviewers have wondered why Butler still has the voice of Elvis lingering in his own.

Butler said, “That was the voice I spoke in for two years. It was so habitual…You get done and you kinda don’t remember what your natural voice is.”

Butler singing all the songs in the Elvis movie has surprised many. 

Even personally, I believed he was just lip syncing until I got home and did my own research on it.I suggest watching the movie and interviews on your own, the effort put into the movie, not just by Austin Butler but the whole team did an outstanding job.

By EMERSON SUTOW

Originally starting as a graphic novel by Alice Oseman, “Heartstoper” has gained traction as a Netflix Original Series that was released on Apr. 22, 2022. The show follows a boy by the name of Charlie Spring and the trials and tribulations of being a gay teen in the Truham Grammar School for Boys.

Consisting of only eight episodes, the story has many forms of LGBTQ+ representation, including same sex couples, closeted LBGT students, and a transgender student. Although they are the main characters, their sexuality does not take over the entirety of their personalities like some other shows trying to show LGBT representation. Each character has a complex relationship with themself and who they are, along with the friendships between them and their classmates. 

One notable character is Elle Argent, a transgender student who recently transfered to the all girls school, Harvey Greene Grammar School for Girls, also know as Higgs. The show depicts her not being accepted and continuously called by her deadname and incorrect pronouns at school, which is a sad reality for many trangender people. 

The show takes place in England and begins with Charlie being in a toxic relationship with a boy named Ben. He had been using Charlie while he was still in the closet, causing a lot of pressure on Charlie making him feel more like an object to Ben than a boyfriend.  

Nick Nelson is then introduced as the tablemate of Charlie in his new form (or homeroom). Nick fits the straight rugby player stereotype and so Charlie is told to abandon his feelings for Nick after confiding in his friends, Elle, Isaac Henderson, and Tao Xu. His relationship with Nick continues and they eventually become close friends as Nick had asked Charlie to join the rugby team for his speed. 

This angers many of the characters including Nick’s friends on the rugby team and leads to many homophobic remarks to be made. This bullying is another sad reality for being an out member of the LGBT community and is more accurately representing than having the token gay kid as a side character trope. 

In the meantime, Elle is at Higgs and she finds a small group of friends, Tara Jones and Darcy Olsson. It is later learned they are a lesbian couple and furthers the representation past just the boys relationship. 

The rugby team, unaware of Tara’s relationship, tries repeatedly to get Nick to go on a date with her, as they kissed when they were younger. But Nick was too preoccupied with questioning his sexuality and developing feelings for Charlie. After taking many “am i gay?” quizzes and researching online, he comes to terms with being bisexual because he developed a crush on Charlie. 

This leads to another common situation where Nick isn’t ready to come out and face the harsh reality of his classmates’ views but still wants to be with Charlie. They are unofficially together  in secret with only telling their close friends who fully accept and respect them. 

Nick begins to bring Charlie around his friends and they then go to see a movie, with the promise that Ben and Harry(the leader of the group that often bullies Charlie) will not be there. Consequently, Henry is there and continues to give Charlie a hard time for being gay which leads to Nick standing up for him and getting in a fight with Harry which ends with Harry being suspended. 

After these events, Nick is ready to come out and officially be Charlie’s boyfriend . There is a very heartwarming scene where Nick’s mother accepts her son and his confession and his relationship with Charlie. 

Although the show has a bit of a happy ending, this is not the end of the story. The graphic novel already goes beyond the show with Nick and Charlie’s relationship and Netflix has announced the show will have 2 more seasons to follow more on their lives.