Hello, my lovely people! And welcome to my final article of the year! Boy, has it been a chaotic but fun year. Over these last few days, I’ve been coming to terms with the fact that I’m not coming back to Whitford next year, and I’m very grateful for everything that’s happened over the last three years. But enough with my gushing for all my love for Whitford’s wonderful people and things, let’s get started with, guess… you know what, I’m just gonna tell you. (Mini) churros! This is the recipe I will be using for the bake-off that’s coming up on the 13th.

Let’s get started by getting our ingredients together. Sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Oh, butter too (only a fourth of a cup is needed)! I also put on the Hamilton soundtrack, you’d think I’d be done with musicals after wrapping up the Newsies production yesterday. (I’m writing this on Sunday before it’s due) I cut and cubed my ¼ cup of butter. Then I mixed my coating (one cup) sugar and (1 ½) tsp cinnamon. We are going to be using hot oil for this recipe, and again, I don’t want to be liable for any injuries when you try this recipe, so I’m getting my parental unit to help me (thanks Papa!)

I’m going to start with my batter first, then move on to the oil when it’s time. You’re going to need (one cup) water, the butter you (hopefully) cubed, one tbsp sugar, and a fourth tsp salt. I got it all in the pan, spilling sugar all over the counter (way to go, me) that the pan I was using wasn’t going to work. So my dad came in and helped me transfer it to a smaller saucepan and helped me with adding the flour in and such. When it came together and was smooth enough, we moved it to a small mixing bowl and let it rest. My dad, in the meantime, got out the nozzles and helped with putting a bag together for me.

He put the dough in the bag, and when I realized that we were supposed to do that, I pointed it out to him. So we moved it back to the bowl and got out the electric mixer. (I honestly think it’s my favorite tool in the kitchen besides my spatulas) I beat the vanilla and egg into the mixture and then we moved it back to the bag. Then we started the process of frying all of the lil nuggets of joy. The process was pretty much squeeze, cut, sizzle, sugar, and repeat. We made a grand total of… 10… 20… 40… 82 churros!! They’re about one to two inches each so that would explain the insane amount. They also cook for about two minutes and I cooked them around 380° to 400° Fahrenheit. My parents love them and they’re honestly the right combo of crunchy and sweet. This is my very last article of the year and I want to say my last goodbye to you all properly. So here I go.

Thank you to all of my wonderful readers for supporting me through this journey over this last year. Thank you all so much for it, it has been a long three years and I think I have truly learned a lot. Thank you to Mr. Rooke-ley for being an amazing teacher and pushing me out of my comfort zone (and the occasional blackmailing). And last but not least, thank you to my parents for being so supportive and amazing, and honestly, putting up with my mood swings and irrational thinking. Wish me luck for the final bake-off! Thank you all so much for reading my final article. Who knows, I might start a blog too… But this is Amanda signing off and out. See you later, all my lovelies! Have a good summer! (Oh, the churros are going to the special people in my life, to all my teachers. So don’t worry about that)

Recipe: Churros

Social media has a huge impact in many different lives, some more then others. Sometimes it can even become a career. Most kids these days are either playing video games or are on social media, Very few teens like to spend their time outdoors, or interacting with people face to face.

The first ever social media platform, Six Degrees, was created in 1997 by a guy named Andrew Weinreich. The social media platform was to meet and make new friends. Soon after, more social media platforms were being created. It slowly changed from meeting new people to showing off our lives.

I think social media has its pros and cons. It can help people in some ways, like meeting new people and friends, but it can also have a negative effect on people. 30% of people have been bullied online, and 50% had thoughts of suicide. Communicating online can help keep in touch with people that might live far away. Although you can socialize through social media, socializing face to face is way more effective.

I interviewed four people on “do you think social media is making us less social?” The first person I interviewed said “there are its pros and cons. I think people should spend less time on social media, but I feel like its easier to keep track of things better through social media.”

The second person I interviewed didnt agree, they said, “I dont think it is. I find it is easier to contact my friends to make plans, so I use social media to be social with others.”

The third person said “it has its pros and cons. I fell like we always put our best self through social media, but I always get important information through social media.”

And the last person I interviewed had a very strong opinion. They said “social media is making us less social, because people are more used to talking to people through social media or texting then face to face.”

I think social media has its pros and cons. It really depends on the person. Lots of people have lost friends or even relationships with their family through social media. It can also hurt a lot of people’s mental health becuase there is a lot of hurtful things on social media. But it can also help people connect with people, for example if they have trouble talking to someone face to face.

What do you think?

Number 1: Elon Musk

Elon Musk was born in South Africa on June 28, 1971. He attended a university in Canada before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania, earning a bachelor’s in physics and economics. In 2004, he became a major founder of Tesla, and now he’s the CEO and co-founder. He leads all product designs, engineering and global manufacturing of the company. He also leads other companies, such as SpaceX, Neuralink, and The Boring Company, and owns Twitter. He has a net worth of $265.4 billion and now lives in Texas.

Number 2: Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos was born in Albuquerque in New Mexico in 1964. After quitting his job at an investment bank in 1994, he moved to Seattle and founded Amazon, which was just a virtual bookstore. He is the founder, executive chair, and former president and CEO of Amazon. He stepped down as CEO on July 5, 2021, and it is known to be the largest retailer on the World Wide Web. He also owns other companies such as Blue Origin and The Washington Post. He has a net worth of $151.8 billion And makes $2,537 every second.

Number 3: Bernard Arnault

Bernard Arnault was born in 1949 in Roubaix, France. He is a French business magnate, investor and art collector. He is also the CEO and Chair of LVMH, the world's largest luxury goods company, and includes companies such as Louis Vuitton, Dior, Sephora, Tiffany & Co., Fenty, and many more. He is the richest man in Europe and has a net worth of $151.1 billion.

Number 4: Bill Gates

Bill Gates was born in Seattle, Washington in 1955 and attended Harvard University. However, he dropped out his junior year and founded Microsoft with his childhood friend Paul Allen. Microsoft makes computers, publishes books, sells video games and peripheral devices such as computer mouses, and many more. It is the largest software company in the world. He is also the founder and chairman of other companies, including BEN, Cascade Investment, TerraPower, and bgC3, and has a net worth of $127 billion.

Number 5: Gautam Adani

Gautam Adani was born in Ahmedabad in 1962 and enrolled at Gujarat University before dropping out his second year to work in the diamond trade. He is the founder and chair of Adani group, a company involved in port development and operations in India and also owns portions of 6 of the major companies in India such as Adani ports and Special Economic Zone, Adani Green Energy, Adani Total Gas, Adani Power, and Adani Transmissions. He is currently the richest person in India, and has a net worth of $120 billion.

Sources:

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/012715/5-richest-people-world.asp

https://www.gobankingrates.com/net-worth/business-people/richest-people-in-the-world/

Hello, my fabulous readers! We meet again! Today we will be making… *checks notes* chocolate lava cakes! It’s a little easier than what we’ve been making recently. I’ve lately been in this rut of not really wanting to do anything, but the time has come again for another article so I will push through for all of you wonderful people. Ok, now it’s time to get baking! Let’s go! (Also, this might be a fun recipe to make for Mother’s Day. That’s on Sunday. I’m writing this on Friday night by the way.)

First, wash them hands. Maybe also clean the kitchen; mine’s a mess. Excuse me for a couple of minutes while I do that. *loud clattering sounds in the background* Ok, I’m back heh. I got down my ramekins; I need six for this recipe. I washed them to be sure that they didn’t have any icky dust residue on them. I also washed a bowl while I was at it. Next ingredient *checks recipe* technically… it’s a “high-quality semi-sweet chocolate*. I’m assuming she meant for the baker to get a bar of chocolate, but I don’t feel like having my dad be an errand guy for me today so, mini chocolate chips from Nestle I come!

Wait- don’t do that! I’m wrong, I’m going to try to find a bar of chocolate but if I can’t, guess we’re going to the store. *shrug* While we’re waiting for my mom’s Target order to finish (Thanks Mama!), let’s get out the rest of the ingredients. *checks recipe again* AP ¼ cup flour… ½ cup confectioner’s sugar… “Hey, Dad! Confectioner’s sugar is the same as powdered sugar, right?” It is… ⅛ tps salt… one stick of unsalted butter(salted butter works, just cut the salt percentage in half, or just cut it out since the recipe calls for only an eighth of a teaspoon) I’m just going to cut it out, that’ll be ok, right? Why don’t we get the eggs ready? Oh, the ramekins too, we just need to spray them down with non-stick spray, but I’m going an extra step to “flour” them (just coating them in some cocoa powder to be safe). Don’t spray yourself in the face with cooking spray, I’ve done it, good thing I have glasses, otherwise it would have ended very differently heh…

Wipe the ramekins down with a paper towel to get rid of some of the excess oil, and get the cocoa powder. Now, I’m sure some of you guys know what the term “flouring” means, but I’m willing to bet that a good majority of you don't. Flouring, in this case, means that after you apply an adhesive force, in this case, the non-stick spray, you add another layer of some sort of powdery substance, in this case, the cocoa powder! (Gee, I sound really serious. I’m not trying to be, my brain is just very… scientific… most of the time.) Basically, to put it in simple terms, you put the powder in the container you’re using, and then just make sure the powder coats it evenly. And for someone who, when I started, didn’t know what the heck that meant, I think I’m doing pretty good. Now, for the eggs!

I’m pretty sure I taught you guys how to separate eggs… But this time, we need both the yolks from two additional eggs along with our two eggs. You’re going to need four eggs in total. I’m saving the egg shells from the eggs to give to my mom for her compost. When you’ve got your four yolks and two whites, whisk vigorously! (fancy word) It’s been over an hour since we placed the Target order, it’s still not ready and I’m slowly running out of things to do. Helppppp meeee…But let’s mix the sugar and flour together and get the butter cut in preparation!

Mark my words, powdered sugar is the worst thing ever. It gets everywhere, it’s impossible to clean, and it’s the worst to measure out! I didn’t mix the eggs and the flour-sugar combo yet because I asked my dad, and he said I shouldn’t yet. I just wrapped the eggs in around six layers of cling-wrap until then. I cut the butter as a last thing to prep while I’m waiting. I’ve officially run out of things to prepare. I’m sticking the butter back in the fridge to get back to “room temperature” which, as I've recently learned, when baking, is only about 65° F. My mom really wants chocolate chip cookies, but I don’t really want to go between recipes. It’s not something I particularly enjoy to be honest. So I’m holding out for my chocolate bar!

My dad got my chocolate bars! I love ya Dad!! But I had to wait because I had been asked to wash the dog. I cut and measured out six ounces of chocolate (the rest is to eat). I chopped the chocolate, it doesn’t have to be in perfect little pieces, it just has to be small enough to be melted. I got out a bowl, got out the butter, and layed the pieces out on the bottom of the bowl. I melted the chocolate in 20 to 30 second intervals. I nuked it for 20 seconds to start, then 30. When I took it out, the butter had completely melted and some had separated. So I brought it back to the kitchen and mixed it together. I’m also writing this at nine at night on a Friday. Believe me when I say I am beyond tired at this point.

My dad got us Panda Express, so I’m very happy. I realized the chocolate needed to be put into a bigger bowl, so I put the flour-sugar combo into a smaller bowl and put the chocolate into that bowl. I proceed to mix in the flour and sugar into the bowl, mix that until combined, then got the eggs into the bowl to make a very happy family. (My humor is gone at this point. I am dead). This is when I realized, “Holy mackerels! I’m making a homemade brownie mix from scratch!” After that shocking revelation, I finally got the batter into the ramekins I prepped five hours ago!! (Four of those hours were spent being bored out of my mind because Target is not very nice when you actually need something! (No, I do not harbor a grudge against a multi-chain conglomerate *pout*)). While I was doing this, of course I didn’t realize that I hadn’t turned on the oven. So I have to wait another 15 minutes waiting for it to preheat to 425° Fahrenheit!

It’s finally in the oven! Yayyy!! The recipe says to bake it for 12 to 14 minutes, so I split the difference and went for 13 minutes (sorry for all you superstitious readers, I pick and choose which ones I like). They look pretty good, so I got my dad to help with inverting the cakes. (He struggled with it).

I really hope you guys enjoyed this article. It certainly had a lot of ups and downs, didn’t it? *laughs* If you made it this far, oh my gosh, thank you! I have a challenge for you. I want you to email me at my school email and give me the hardest recipe you can find. (Also, hey Mama, you said you wanted a shoutout, well, here it is. Thank you for always being there for me. Thank you for trying to listen to me, even when it’s hard. Thank you for being there through my meltdowns and my panic. Thank you for being an amazing mama. You’re the best I could ask for. I know I’m definitely not the easiest person to be around a good portion of the time (like 80 percent of the time). So thank you for trying your hardest. Happy Mother’s Day. I love you and I always will!)

Recipe Link: Chocolate Lava Cakes

The sun shone through my windows with a glare so bright my eyes stung as they fluttered open. I groggily looked around my room, cluttered with past newspapers and plans for a new shop. The fan above me quietly whirred and spun around and around. I brought my hands up from under my covers to rub my eyes and bumped my cat. She looked up at me with a questioning look before returning to her deep and dreamy slumber. Sitting up, I looked at my alarm clock slowly ticking away on my bedside table. 9:30 am. I sighed as the day's tasks filled my head and drew my attention away from the surreal and beautiful world. Sitting there I felt at peace, above hatred and prejudice.

Creek. Flop.

At 9:35 am each morning, the mailman dropped the local paper through my mail slot. I stood up and stretched my arms and my back. The floor creaked beneath my feet as I walked across my room, through the door, and entered the living area. The sounds of feet running followed by high pitched and happy laughter with a woman yelling could be heard through the wall. I tapped my finger on the countertop as I waited for my coffee to be ready. I whistled a small tune that no one but me would ever know.

Sitting down at the table, I sipped at my coffee, burning my lip, then sucking on my lip as I grabbed the newspaper and read the front page. “Two dead outside of recently bombed apartment building”, it read. The war had dragged on for a month already. Cities, towns, villages, communities all around me were decimated and destroyed, eventually controlled by the other side. Countless people already dead; civilians, soldiers, bystanders. I had seen and heard mortar fire, their tanks rolling over our plains. In war, all roads lead to you. Sooner or later I knew it would be my turn. My turn to run, to hide, to flee, to escape the invading and massacring, the senseless torture inflicted by rulers and soldiers filled with rage, hatred, and bias. As for the two found dead by a bench, a pool of blood on the sidewalk and a loaf of bread they used to feed the birds, they could be anyone. I flipped through and saw more images of mass graves, surrounded by grieving parents and lovers. An article caught my attention; it detailed the discovery of tied up bodies and included a response from our leader, doing their best to call out the nonsense behavior - to make the attackers feel what we feel - instead of returning the hate.

I set my newspaper down and rubbed my temples as they began to ache. I changed into a jogging outfit, and walked out my front door, down the hall, and onto the street. The streets were quiet; many people had left for more accepting places in the world, escaping with family and friends to make a - hopefully - temporary life. As I picked up my pace, I thought of why I did not leave. Countless reasons filtered through my mind: the feeling that I will be lucky and remain safe, the shop, the feeling that only this beautiful place can be called home. I stopped to rest at a park in the middle of town. A bird roosted in a tree and sang while a dog barked in the distance. The air was so calm and peaceful and again I felt at peace with my mind and body. The low hum of trucks in the distance grew louder as they entered the city boundaries. I continued my run past familiar and friendly shops that were left abandoned. People greeted me on the way with sad and tired faces. The town grew bleaker every day.

Boom, rumble, crash.

The sudden and jarring noise startled me and caused me to look back. Explosions began erupting and fire spread. Screams filled the air as people and vehicles rushed towards me. My luck had run out. In war, there is no skill; there is only luck and survival. I began sprinting as fast as I could towards my home. All my stuff - my cat - was put in jeopardy in only a few seconds. I saw tanks and trucks, soldiers running through the streets shouting at people. The closer I got towards the edge of town, the more I saw bodies, blood, belongings, and crumbling buildings; a hospital, a home, and a friendly cafe. A wave of chaos had begun spreading through the city, moving out from a single epicenter. I saw a soldier in front of me, scowling and waving his gun at me, shouting in toung I did not understand. Passing by, he attempted to grab me but I was too fast. In war, fight or flight is the only thing pulsing through one’s body. He did not chase me, instead seizing an older man rushing from a care home and beating him down.

Reaching my apartment building, I quickly saw the severity of the damage: floors above had crashed in and people crawled out with belongings while others tried desperately to find loved ones, pulling at stones as tears fell from their cheeks. I rushed around the building, reaching where my window would have been but seeing only shattered glass and broken stones. I grew closer. A swish of papers grabbed my attention; the papers from my room blew out into the street charred black from the devastating attack. I rushed forward to collect the few things I could carry and see. I called my cat’s name but received no response. I grabbed plans, papers, documents, money, clothes, but with no suitcase I was limited.

In a sudden shift of rubble, my cat pawed its way out and cried at me, meowing with thankfulness to see me, but also in pain. I picked her up and was instantly soaked in blood; her left leg was completely crushed and her ear was badly sliced. I hugged her and cried for her. I felt emotions pulse through my mind, my body, and end their journey in my eyes, trying to push themselves out with immense force.

Suddenly, a large grunt and push drew my attention away from my cat; a man helped a woman out of the rubble as he hugged her and she cried. They both looked back towards the rubble and then up at the sky, wondering how this could happen to them. I relived my entire life in that one moment, remembering who these people were: a husband and wife, two good friends, a loving mother and father, my dear neighbors. The wind blew cold and smokey air in silence as I stared at the man and the woman. During peace, they had joy, in war they had loss.

For forever it felt, I stood with the two and waited. From dawn to dusk, the rubble did not budge and no bodies emerged. I began to feel the effects of great stress and fear, growing tired and sad. My cat’s breathing grew heavier in my arms, but she did not purr. There is not always happiness in comfort. Finally we all turned and left the wreckage behind, forced to start new lives, to abandon happiness and our homes. Peace will always be with us, but loss never leaves. The mounds of rubble in the town would soon be removed from the streets and be replaced, but never in our hearts. We may move on, but history is never forgotten. The war may end, but its damage is never undone.

Everything can change in the blink of a war.

A lot of movies coming up are really anticipated, with many people wanting to see them including me. In this article, I will write about my top five favorite movies that are coming out in 2023.

1. Fast X

There have been 9 movies in the Fast and Furious saga so far, the producers of the movies say there will be only eleven movies. The last movie was about the return of Han, who was presumed dead in the Tokyo Drift movie where he crashed when Shaw (Jason Statham) tried to kill him. He survived after Mr. Nobody made a deal with him that he had to fake his death to go to Japan where he owed Gisele Gadot before she died. Although there is no info on what the movie is going to be about, we know that the movie started filming last year and is estimated to come out in theaters on May 19, 2023.

2. Wonka

If you’ve seen the last two Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movies you’ll know who Wonka is and maybe have an idea of what it will be like. Wonka is being played by Timothee Chalamet. This movie will be about one of his adventures where he met the Oompa Loompas. Other familiar faces will act in this movie such as Rowan Atkinson and Keegan-Michael Key.

Other than that we don’t have that much information about this movie.

3. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will be the second movie in the Doctor Strange franchise. This movie will consist of the negatives of the Spider-man’s spell which made everyone forget who Peter Parker was. Loki also helped set up this movie when Sylvie eliminates Kang, which causes other Kangs to easily take over other realities. Doctor Strange has to deal with the multiversal monsters from the remains of these actions with the help of Wanda Maximoff (Scarlett Witch).

4. Thor Love and Thunder

Thor Love and Thunder is an anticipated movie that will be taking place after Avengers Endgame. This movie will be about Thor trying to figure out who he wants to be after he won the fight against Thanos. The Guardians of the Galaxy will also be in this movie, if you recall in Endgame Thor followed the Guardians on the Milano. Valkyrie will be facing new challenges as the new queen of New Asgard. The main villain of this film is Gorr the God Butcher. The trailer leaked Zeus's appearance in the movie so make sure to look out for that.

5. Fantastic Four (MCU Version)

This list is about my top five movies coming out in 2023, but I still decided to add the Fantastic Four because I really want a good Fantastic Four film. Filming is said to start in 2023, but we don’t have an official release date yet. The Four are said to join the MCU after the events of Multiverse of Madness. We don’t have an official cast yet, but people speculate about the idea that John Krasinski will be playing Mr. Fantastic. This movie could be a real hit or miss since Multiverse of Madness is also said to bring the X-men to the MCU as well.

In the news recently, there has been a lot of depressing stuff. There are a lot of sad things going on in the world right now, such as climate change, coronavirus, and the Russian-Ukrainian war. As a result, a lot of the more positive things going on in the world are completely missing the front page. Hence, it is my duty to inform you about the good things that are going on, rather than all of the bad things.

Finding Species:

There are thousands of lost species around the world, and this one program is helping everyone find them. Since 2017, they have discovered a total of 67 species around the world that have been lost for very long periods of time. “When we launched, we weren’t sure if anyone would rediscover any of the wildlife on our most wanted list.” This was said by Barney Long, a participant in the program.

Best Ways to get Cars out of Cities

In major cities, many people own cars. However, this can impose a threat to many, and cause lots of problems. Some of the best ways to get rid of them are by using congestion charges, parking and traffic controls, limited traffic zones, mobility services for commuters, workplace parking charges, workplace travel planning, and more. All these ways can create a better environment for all.

Ways People Have Given Climate Change Ideas

Most of the news about climate change is depressing, and very stressful. However, scientists have figured out a way to address new climate change ideas in a more positive way, to get people to start using more things like solar energy, electric cars, and more. It has shown that using positivity to reinforce climate change ideas is a much better solution than giving the facts in a negative way.

This concludes my article on some positive things that are happening in the world right now. In the world we live in, something bad is always happening, and that is usually what the news decides to show on their front page, with bits of good information hidden somewhere in there. Hopefully you enjoyed learning about some positive things that are happening right now!

Works Cited

Eveleigh, Robin. “Positive tipping points could 'unlock a climate crisis stalemate.'” Positive News, 22 April 2022, https://www.positive.news/environment/positive-tipping-points-could-unlock-a-climate-crisis-stalemate/. Accessed 2 May 2022.

Nicholas, Kimberly. “The 12 best ways to get cars out of cities, according to research.” Positive News, 25 April 2022, https://www.positive.news/environment/the-best-ways-to-get-cars-out-of-cities/. Accessed 2 May 2022.

Purdy, Lucy. “'A powerful antidote to despair': the project that tracks down lost species.” Positive News, 26 April 2022, https://www.positive.news/environment/the-project-that-helps-find-lost-species/. Accessed 2 May 2022.

Some Good News- https://www.youtube.com/c/SomeGoodNews

Throughout your childhood, you probably have watched many Disney movies, such as Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, and The Little Mermaid. Yet, you probably didn’t know that Walt Disney hadn’t made up many of his stories. One story, in particular, is the story of Bambi.

The original story, Bambi, A Life in the Woods, was written by Felix Salten (Zai-ten), who was born Siegmund Salzmann in Hungary, but his family soon moved to Vienna, where he changed his name to “unmark” himself as a Jew. When sixteen-year-old Salten quit school and began working for an insurance agency, he also did a side job and a hobby where Salten submitted poems and book reviews to journals. Salten’s greatest desire was to get recognized as a dignified Austrian, “a man of culture.” Throughout many years of struggle and determination, Salten became one of the city’s highest achieving journalists. There he published many books, one of which is the story of Bambi, A Life in the Woods.

When Salten published Bambi in 1923, it immediately got selected to be a part of the mighty Book of the Month Club, where it caught the attention of the one, Walt Disney. “When I read the [Salten] book,” Walt later recalled, “I got excited about the possibilities about animals, what we could do with them.” First, before I explain to you how Disney changed Bambi, let me give you some information about the book. The novel traces the life of Bambi, a male roe deer, from his birth through childhood, the loss of his mother, the finding of a mate, the lessons he learns from his father, and the experience he gains about the dangers posed by human hunters in the forest.

For Disney to morph Bambi into a children's movie, he added some key factors that would later pay off immensely. One major change Disney made was that in the original story of Bambi, Bambi is a roe deer, and since roe deer aren’t found in America, Disney changed it to the commonly known white-tailed deer. Another difference is that Salten’s Bambi is not meant for kids, as its theme is focused on loss, love, and the many dangers in life. So, Disney softened the story by adding Thumper, Flower, and other animal companions that helped Bambi through his adventures of growing up.

If you haven’t watched Bambi before, or you’re like me and it's been a while since you have watched it, I urge you to rewatch it and think of the movie from a different point of view.

As you might know, The Academy Awards, most popularly known as the Oscars were held last week on March 27th, 2022. Out of many things that happened at the Oscars, the thing that grabbed my attention the most was the fashion. There were many looks. Bad, good, awful, and amazing. As the looks flood the media, many options are being shared. Rankings, thoughts, ideas, etc...

I picked five random outfits and had people tell me their thoughts. The five people I did were Timothee Chalalmet, Zendaya, Billie Eilish, Addison Rae, and Jada Smith. There are pictures of all the outfits below so you can email me your thoughts.

First I interviewed Mr. Rooke-Ley who is an eighth-grade teacher and these were his thoughts.

Timothee Chalamet: He needs more pushups, his chest is flat.

Zendaya: I supports the outfit.

Billie Eilish: This is the worst thing I have ever seen, speechless even worse than ripped jeans.

Addison Rae: I support, but has a dog collar (choker necklace) on.

Jada smith: Not even an outfit, looks like a trash bag.

Next, I interviewed Spencer York who is an eighth-grade student and these were his thoughts.

Timothee Chalamet: I like that he isn't wearing a shirt, but do not like the sparkly jacket.

Zendaya: Do not like the top with the skirt.

Billie Eilish: She looks like a trash bag.

Addison Rae: I like the top part of the dress.

Jada Smith: Looks like she's an army figure.

After, I interviewed my mom who had some strong opinions.

Timothee Chalamet: Took a risk and it paid off.

Zendaya: Love the skirt but think the shirt is too high cut.

Billie Eilish: I HATE IT looks like she's wearing a trash bag.

Addison Rae: Pretty.

Jada smith: Hate everything about it.

Lastly, here are my opinions.

Timothee Chalamet: I like the sparkly blazer. He did what is known as breaking the rules of the red carpet by wearing no shirt but I think it paid off, he looks good.

Zendaya: I like the skirt but I don't think the shirt matches super well.

Billie Eilish: I hate it. She is not wearing the dress, the dress is wearing her.

Addison Rae: I like it. She looks elegant but modern.

Jada Smith: I don't even know what to say. I hate it so much.

After reviewing all the people's outfits I have come to a ranking for them.

1. Timothee Chalamet

2. Addison Rae

3. Zendaya

4. Jada smith

5. Billie Eilish

I would love to hear from more people, please email me with your thoughts!

Hi, my lovelies! Welcome back to another episode of “how many breakdowns am I going to have today?”! I’m just kidding but seriously, welcome back to another article and a new month. Today is an interesting recipe and one I think you guys will like. Today we’re making monkey bread! It is something I’ve always enjoyed when my dad makes it; hopefully, mine will taste as good. Should we get started? I think we should! Let’s go!

First, let’s go shopping! The things on our list today are… Three Pillsbury cinnamon rolls, some Ghirardelli (any brand works but I went with Ghirardelli) semi-sweet chocolate chips, and some gum (Thanks Dad!). That comes out to a grand total of… I actually have no idea how much that costs heh… Now the rest of our ingredients are things you probably already have at home. (I get sidetracked easily but now would be a good time to go to the bathroom before you start baking. I speak from experience heh… but don’t worry, I always wash my hands after.)

I got out my brown sugar, granulated (white) sugar, and one stick of butter (we’re gonna nuke it until it’s all nice and liquidy or as my Dad does it, melt it in a small saucepan until it's all melted.) Time to pop/peel your cinnamon roll cans! (Trust me, it’s really fun but don’t try smacking them on the counter without peeling the paper off first). Now comes the slightly tedious process of taking two biscuit thingies and cutting them into quarters. I recommend getting a parental unit to help you with this (I kind of have to say that, I don’t want to be liable if you accidentally hurt yourself or cut yourself with a sharp thing.)

While you cut them into quarters, put them into a gallon Ziploc bag so you’re able to mix in the ⅓ cup of granulated sugar. (I also put in some cinnamon sugar because why not). ⅓ cup doesn’t seem like a lot but trust me, you just want to coat the pieces, not drown them in sugar. After you mix them (vigorously shake them), start putting them into a bundt pan that’s been generously coated with some sort of non-stick spray, like Pam or a brand like that. Don’t forget to mix in those yummy chocolate chips. (Unless you have some ability or superpower that makes you not want to eat them on the spot, try your hardest to not eat them. *goes and smacks Dad’s hand as he eats them* Stop that!)

Your hands are going to be coated with sugar and other things, but just keep going until all of your pieces of dough are in the bundt pan. Don’t press them down into the pan! Now we come back to our butter, it’s probably cooled down and separated by now, and that’s okay! Just mix it back together. Put ¾ cup of the brown sugar (packed please) into the container you have your butter resting in. Mix until it comes together because we’re going to pour this over the lovely bundt pan that you’ve made. I preheated the oven to 350°(F) and put it in there for about 33 minutes. (the recipe says 31 to 35 minutes). (Be right back.)

Okay, it did need ten more minutes, then I checked it again. I took it out of the oven and let it cool in the pan for about 5 minutes. When I went to turn it out, I forgot to release some of the sides so what happened was it fell apart on one side. But it turned out amazing I think. Time to nuke our icing that we saved from earlier! With a spoon and a spatula, I poured my three cups of icing into a bowl and nuked it for about five seconds, then another five, and another ten. Then I poured, all, yes all, of it on my monkey bread. (I really hope Mr. Rooke-ley likes it!)

I hope all of you enjoyed this recipe! (unfortunately, no emotional meltdowns this time, but maybe next time). I will see you in my next article! Peace and stay cool! (Amanda out!) (Also, thank you to one of my readers for reaching out to me and inspiring me to do this recipe)

P.S: Mr. Rooke-Ley did like it. And there were no hairs like in Radek’s cookies!

Article Link: chocolate chip monkey bread

JiDion Adams was born on December 12, 2000, better known on his platforms as Jidion. He's an American YouTuber known for his prank videos and his recent controversy with Pokimane. One of Jidion's oldest videos that can still be seen publicly is called “I GOT SUSPENDED FOR HUSTLING AT MY SCHOOL”. In the video Jidion buys beverages and sells them for profit; while this seems like a good idea, it ends up in a suspension. JiDion's old posts were excellent- he posted videos like “Having Fun For Free”, “Picking Up Girls In Goodwill Clothes”, “Testing Strangers Diamonds Prank”, “Picking Up Girls In 1700's Clothes”, “Flexing Obviously Fake Gucci On Strangers”, “Picking Up Girls With Walkie Talkie RC Cards” and finally the video that helped JiDion: “The Manager Banned Me So I Made A Diss Track”.

Jidion has had a history with this specific Shoe Palace; he pranked them by trying to return an empty shoebox, so the manager Tyrone banned him from coming back. JiDion was chill with it until Tyrone said something about his mother, so he decided to go back to the shoe palace and make a diss track.

Jidion started increasing in views and subs after that video. He gained a much bigger fan base and got the attention he deserved.

JiDion kept posting quality content, and posted one of my personal favorites called “Have You Seen My Hairline”. JiDion's video views increased more and more, and before you knew it, JiDion made three million subs in one year. JiDion was so committed that he did a prank that led him to jail. His fans love him because of the embarrassing and funny things he's doing; for example, he's bowled with a watermelon, cooked meat in a vegan restaurant, called the tow truck for toy cars, and much more.

After doing crazy videos and staying on his grind, he decides to try Twitch Live Streaming as a platform. While he does his first live stream, he realizes that a big streamer by the name of Pokimane is also live, so he tells his viewers to raid her and spam “L + Ratio”. After she realized that she's being raided, she ends the stream. After all of this, Twitch decides to ban JiDion for 14 days for his actions. People start reacting to this and the drama gets very popular. Twitch decides to give JiDion a permanent ban. Jidion tells his viewers to stop blaming and attacking Pokimane after the drama.

After a couple of weeks, JiDion uploads a video by the name of “Pushing 🅿️ With Pokimane” In this video, they talk about the drama and eat Chick-Fil-A together and become friends. JiDion once said "After this just goes to show y'all it doesn't matter how much beef you have with a person like you can always just squash it. Because I don't want the channel just to be about pure beef unless it's about Tyrone there's just so much more in the world to be worried about than just like negativity and stuff like that". In conclusion, Jidion is a funny but troublesome YouTuber that has come a long way and is worth watching. (I will have a video linked to this in a couple of days)

Video games are steadily becoming more popular as a medium, you might be wondering how they work. To begin, let’s look at how video games create 3D graphics. There are two main types of 3D video games: Voxels and mesh-based games. Voxels or volumetric pixels are 3D versions of pixels; games like Minecraft use a voxel-based art style that resembles pixel art.

The other type of 3D games use meshes which are a cluster of dots called vertices. From there, the computer fills in the blanks to create triangles that make the 3D model with a higher degree of realism. This is the most common technique for making 3D models for games because it has the capacity to create realistic 3D models and is also less time-consuming than voxel art.

Once the game developer has an excellent 3D model for the game, they create a material that draws onto the 3D model giving it color and texture. Materials are what give a 3d model its appearance and a mesh gives a 3D model its shape. Other layers of materials like normal maps make the 3D appear to have more detail than it actually does. Lighting is next which is created in the Game engine.

Next, the game developer creates animations for the 3D model by giving the model an armature that controls the mesh and moves the model. finally, the game developer moves the now finished model to their game engine of choice, letting the gamer play the game.

Hi, lovelies! I hope you all have been well since the last time I saw you guys. Today we will be making Alton Brown’s Chiffon Cupcakes from his episode, “Honey, I Shrunk The Cake”. I always start with cleaning the kitchen. But in this case, it was because my mom asked me to do the dishes. I got out the ingredients for the recipe. My mom had bought cake flour for me, specifically for this recipe so thanks, mom! Since this recipe is chocolate, I have to substitute one and a fourth of the flour for the cocoa mix. I also got out baking powder (one and a half tsp), kosher salt (he has an obsession with kosher salt and you use a tsp of it), sugar (I think you’re going to need about six ounces total), vanilla extract (one tsp), and cream of tartar (you’re going to need to use ½ tsp total).

I start with getting a bowl out to weigh the flour, and a scale too. I weighed out four ounces of flour, which is a little less than a cup. This is one of the few times you all will hear about me in an apron. Just so you know, this recipe might get a little messy. Then I add the baking powder and kosher salt. He says to sift it, which I agree with and did. It aerates flour and mixes together the ingredients. I believe that baking doesn’t need to be overly fancy, but for this recipe if you don’t have a scale, I would encourage you to get one. Get one that can do tare and that switches between kilograms and pounds. And I wish I had a sifter like the one Alton Brown has.

I got the cocoa mix from the pantry and weighed it out (one and a fourth ounce, which makes up for the one and a fourth missing from the flour). I felt like sifting it because why not. Then, I added the water to the cocoa powder. The recipe says to add about one-fourth but I added about a half of a cup. It should start to make this thick sort of paste.

Now comes the fun part, separating the egg yolk and the whites. First, crack the egg on the counter, the flat edge of the counter helps not get the shell into the mix, then pour the egg into your hand. Then just let the white slide out of your hand into the sink. Try not to break the yolk (it makes it harder) but that’s okay if it does. I broke the yolk on the 2nd egg I cracked. You can rinse your hands off between each egg if you want, but I would do it under cold water, not hot. For some of my more squeamish readers, I won’t go into super detail about what it feels like. I cracked five eggs in total. My last two cracked kind of weirdly but it went relatively smooth. Then, I added the sugar. Five oz of sugar is roughly ⅔ cup by the way. I beat the eggs and sugar together in a large bowl. But I got sidetracked before I did that by replenishing the oil. Remember to save the whites of four of the five eggs; you will need it later!

I beat the eggs and sugar slowly first, then increase the speed (on the hand mixer) until it started to become light in color and what is called the ribbon consistency; which is exactly what it sounds like. It’s basically where the batter comes together enough so that when you take the beaters out, it comes off in a ribbon-like fashion.

I mixed the chocolate and vanilla extract (always a little more than needed) into the egg-sugar mix. It takes on this yummy-looking ribbon batter consistency. But don’t eat it just yet, bc we’re not done yet. As Alton Brown says “speed kills”, and by this, he means, don’t put all the flour in at one time and don’t use the highest speed on your mixer. You will make an absolute mess and you don’t want to clean up flour, do you? I certainly don’t. My mixer goes to nine, but I only went to four, max, when doing this part.

Now, comes the less fun part of this recipe, making meringue, or something like it. Time to get your stand mixer! (If you have one, and it’s fine if you don’t. This is a chance to work on those upper arm muscles! My stand mixer is soooo heavy. Ughhh.). I’m using my whisk attachment to my stand mixer. I completely forgot to save the whites for this part (Thanks past me) so now I get to crack four more eggs. (This is fine. This. Is. Fine. Everything is fine. I’m fine, this is fine. Why do I do this to myself…)

So I went through the process of separating the whites again… And I was finally able to start the process of whipping it. But my friends, you will need one-half tsp of cream of tartar! It’s the ingredient that makes the egg white stay up, along with one oz sugar, which is what makes the meringue. You want to mix until you get “stiff peaks” which means the mixture can hold its shape but still has a wobble to it. When you reach stiff peaks, take it out of the mixer (you don’t want to overbeat it. I started and stopped my mixer about four times before I got stiff peaks).

I mixed the meringue into the chocolate in three parts. The first part I beat with a whisk and the other two parts I folded into the mix. It’s okay to have streaks in the batter. It should start to take on a lighter tone. I put the batter into some metal muffin tins my mom got. Oh, this recipe is for my birthday party (although this is just a practice round). I put them in the oven for 18 minutes at 325°F while I cleaned up my very chaotic kitchen. I leave a wreck wherever I go, unfortunately. That includes baking. The recipe said that it could make about 24 cupcakes, but I was only able to make 18 since my tins are a little bigger than the muffin tins Alton used. Remember to add oil to keep from making the cupcakes dry.

When it was baking, I realized I completely forgot about adding the oil but it didn’t affect the cupcakes. I don’t think it did *shrugs*. (Hey, future Amanda here, it did affect it. It made it dry) I decided a day later that I didn’t feel like adding frosting and that this was just practice. Next time, I’m going to add the oil! I swear I will remember.

I’m going to add some things about the frosting recipe I’m going to use. It's a King Arthur Buttercream Frosting Mix. Stir together the mix with two and a half sticks of butter (softened) until it comes together. Then, gradually add three tablespoons of milk or water depending on what you want, and then add the flavoring (about a teaspoon). I’m going to be adding a jam, more specifically black cherry, raspberry, and blood orange jam.

I hope you all had a good time reading. I will see you all next time! Stay cool! Bye! And please, keep sending me recipes. (Also, anyone else who also has a birthday on March 11th, Happy Birthday to you too!)

Link to recipe: Chiffon Cupcakes

Here in Oregon, there are so many different and fun places you can go. From beaches to forests to mountains, and so much more. All of these places are great for a vacation over spring break or the summer! Next time your family is thinking about taking a trip, try one of these fun sites. You’ve probably heard of or even been to one of these places, but you might not know about all the things you can do there. Here are some ideas.

Who doesn’t love the beach? Well, Oregon has a bunch of beaches and fun activities to do at them! Seaside is a great beach. It is only about an hour and a half car ride! This could be a place you could go to for a week or even just a day trip. At Seaside there are lots of hotels and houses on the prom. The prom is the sidewalk running right next to the beach. Here, you don't really need to take your car anywhere; you can walk almost everywhere! Seaside is such a small little town that almost everything is connected to or near the prom and downtown. There are also some hard-to-miss fun activities right outside Seaside, such as go-karting and mini-golf. They also have an obstacle course.

Seaside, however, is not the only fun beach; there is also Cannon beach, which has great stores and restaurants. It is home to the famous Haystack Rock! Lincoln City has good spots for surfing, and Devils Lake is great for renting a boat or bringing your own! Newport has the Oregon coast aquarium, as well as a great downtown area with lots of outdoor activities. Florence is also super fun for horseback riders, fishers, golf enthusiasts! Tillamook has the Tillamook Cheese Factory, completely surrounded by hiking spots.

A great lake to go to is Crater Lake! Crater lake is in southern Oregon. The water is so blue that it reflects the beautiful sky and nearby towering mountains. There are so many great hikes you can take around the lake. One of these hikes is a mile long, leading down to a big rock just one jump away from the relaxing water! If you like freezing cold water, sit on a rock on the water! An amazing river you could also go to is Hood River. Hood River is located in the Columbia River Gorge. The 80-mile long valley is known for its collection of waterfalls and hiking trails.

All of these places have so much to do! No matter what you like, each place has something for you. The best part is that all of these places are nearby. All are within driving distance! The next time you’re thinking about your next vacation, you might just want to visit one of these places. Spring and summer present amazing warm weather and bright skies, making each place a unique and stunning adventure of its own.

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Figs.

Figs who?

Figs the doorbell, it’s not working!

After hearing that joke you may have felt either unamused, confused, or hysterical. However, have you ever thought about how humor came to be or why we react the way we do after hearing a joke?

First let’s go back to 426 BC, at the annual Athenian drama festival, where a comic play, called The Babylonians, made its debut. The Babylonians was written by a young poet named Aristophanes (aira-stof-inees), who was awarded the first prize. Aristophanes’ plays would soon become the earliest surviving comic dramas.

You would think something as old as Aristophanes’ plays would change drastically over the course of 1500 years. Surprisingly not much about comedy has changed. Just like Aristophanes’ plays, they involve things like parodies, songs, sexual jokes, and surreal fantasy.

If comedy hasn’t changed much, one might argue that the human mind hasn’t changed much either. Laughter is an emotion that many psychologists have tried to break down and explain. Laughter has such a variety of reactions that not many psychologists have been able to cover all the aspects. One psychologist, Sigmund Freud, explained, “laughter allows people to let off steam or release pent-up nervous energy…[For example], when the punch line comes, the energy being expended to suppress inappropriate emotions, such as desire or hostility, is no longer needed and is released as laughter.”

Jokes and laughter are both very complex things that can be studied deeper. Yet, we do know that laughter is an emotion that can affect our mood. You can use humor to make yourself feel more positive and less stressed. Maybe we should all engage in more humor and laughter. Now the next time you hear a knock-knock joke just yell, ‘it’s open!’

In the last couple of months, Disney’s latest origins, The Book Of Boba Fett, is yet another hit for Star Wars fans. Under the directors and writers of Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, The Book Of Boba Fett has not only become a continuation of the storyline between trilogies, it has also helped viewers truly understand what Star Wars’ “Dark Side of the Moon” is.

With Boba’s past being revealed, we can see how there are other variables affecting the outcome of the storyline. In other words, the show is a way for producers to fill in the blanks on the background of characters in the past, present and future.

The show's opening episode shows Boba Fett regaining consciousness and escaping the Sarlacc pit. He is soon found by native Sand People. This is our first look at Tusken hospitality on the main screen. The Sand People not only take him in, but help him during his recovery from the Sarlacc pit.

Another example is the Hutt Family. According to live action movies and the Clone Wars series, the Hutt Family is not to be messed with, and for the first few scenes with The Twins (Twin Hutts that go together wherever they go), they are intimidating. But when the Pike Syndicate moves business through Tatooine, The Twins show weakness and fear. They wish Boba Fett good graces, and leave the planet without defending their territory. That is the first time we’ve seen a Hutt with an inferior attitude.

While we’re on the topic of the Pike’s, the prime example of how Star Wars is not what we think, they show how the “galaxy far far away” is nothing more than an easy way for smuggling goods and a fight for power. According to the Boba Fett series,The Pike Syndicate (which was established during the Clone Wars) survived for years without drawing any serious attention. They gained territory from other organizations such as the Hutts, The Black Sun, and of course, the native people of the planets they did business on.

Given the new pieces of information from The Book Of Boba Fett, most viewers see behind the curtain of “The Good fighting the Evil”. Unfortunately, it is made up of thousands of corrupt planets; controlled by Crime Families and dominated by fear. The dark side of the moon is truly a dark place.

455126@bsd48.org Area 51

There are many wonders in the world, natural disasters never explained and some of the most provoking mind-breaking tongue twisters to the most questionable videos cause insane breakdowns trying to solve the mysteries of the world. Area 51 is the most questioned and theorized place I will be talking about today, with numerous supposed U.F.O sightings. People stay dumbfounded to this day breaking down videos and even radio interruptions. From the supposed raid towards Area 51 in 2019 to the actual call from a worker in 1989, who claimed to have exposed Area 51 and all its secrets. He said that they (they, being Area 51) wanted to keep the area secret and what it contained. From videos I’ve seen, he said that the government wanted to eliminate most of the human race. You might imagine since this was almost 25 years ago nothing happened. But what if it did?

Bermuda Triangle

Yes, the Bermuda Triangle had to be here. The triangle corners hit the ocean off Bermuda close to the UK, the edge of Miami, to the edge of Puerto Rico in the U.S. Many planes have fallen, many boats have sunk in this place. People say it’s the Devil’s Triangle, and that it’s a punishment from the earth to humans for contaminating it and making it horrible like it is today. According to the Legend of the Bermuda Triangle, Columbus’s first voyage to the New World, his recordings say he saw a “...great flame of fire which is probably a meteor. Crashed into the sea one night and a strange light appeared in the distance a few weeks later. He also wrote about erratic compass readings, perhaps because at that time the silver of the Bermuda Triangle was one of the few places on Earth where the true north and magnetic north lined up.”.

This means that the magnetic fields are all lined up making for a weird compass direction which Columbus noticed.

Valorant is a Five vs Five game that involves abilities and teamwork. There are two sides to play, Attackers and Defenders. The attackers job is to get onto a site and plant the spike to collect all the radinite whereas the defenders job is to stop the attackers from planting the spike. With Valorant episode Four act One, new things have been added to the game such as a new agent, map changes, new battle pass and gun/melee changes.

Neon

Neon is a Filipino duelist having an entry potential higher than Jett and Reyna. Neon is the newest playable character, the 18th agent that is in the game. Neon’s entire kit revolves around going fast and getting on to a site. Starting off, her E ability is called High Gear, which is a sprint that can go faster than Yoru in his ultimate. High Gear has a bar that is similar to Vipers and regenerates over time. While in High Gear, you can press right click to slide, the slide can only be used every Two eliminations. Neon's Q ability is called Relay Bolt, which shoots an energy bolt that concusses the floor on contact, the energy bolt also bounces once after contact making it crucial to line up your shot and get a good trajectory. Neon's C ability is called Fast Lane. Fast Lane is Two walls that shoot up in front of you, and these walls block enemy vision and damage enemies who pass through. Finally Neon's ultimate is called Overdrive, which forces you into the sprinting state and is 100% accurate unless you are mid air. The meter refills after eliminations making it easy to run in, get kills and get good picks.

Map Changes

Maps Bind and Breeze both got changed with Bind being little changes but Breeze getting big ones. To start with Bind, the only thing that changed is a site short has removed the tall box and replaced it with a longer box that will make short easier to defend and attack. Breeze has gotten a lot of changes. Starting off, a site has made the water take up the entire place that you can plant. On backside A site, the Three boxes has been removed and replaced with one big long one. A tall box has been added to Cave adding more cover and having less angles to worry about. On B site, they have added a wall to backside and added a tall box on the back right wall.

Battle Pass

The battle pass has added Three new gun collections; Hydrodip, Schema, and velocity.There are also an assortment of gunbuddys, player cards, and sprays.

Hydrodip is a rainbow tye dye gunskin it has a Buckey, Frenzy, Guardian, and a Judge skin. Schema is a simplistic red grid on the gunskin that comes in a Vandal, Stinger, Odin, and a Sheriff. Velocity is a Futuristic looking set that comes in a Phantom, Bulldog, Shorty, Specter, and a Karambit witch is a type of knife.

Gun Changes

There are Four guns that have been changed; the Specter, Bulldog, Guardian, and Ares. The specter got nerfed a lot, and they made it harder to use from range and harder to use close range. They gave the Specter a lot more recoil and overall harder to use. Ares; the Ares got Buffed and some people thought the buff was a little too much they removed the time it took to start firing. The Ares got an increased bullet per second going from Ten to Thirteen. Bulldog; The Bulldog got buffed to be more of a viable rifle option, it got an increased hip fire speed and the burst recovery got faster. Guardian; the Guardian got buffed as well the shooting speed got increased while aiming down sights and it now takes one more bullet for the gun to become inaccurate.

Hi guys! It’s been a bit since you last heard from me. I wanted to try something a little more challenging than what I’ve done so far. I’ve made cookies and muffins but I wanted to try making cheesecake. Now, just because I could probably do it on my own doesn’t mean I have the confidence to try it. So I got my dad to help me! Let’s get started! I’m not making cheesecake but rather cheesecake bars.

I first started getting out the ingredients I could, which were raspberry jam/preserves, cream cheese, Oreos(tasty things), uh… also butter I think. The recipe I was using tells you how to make your own jam actually but we already had some raspberry jam in the fridge, so my dad helped me with heating it up and straining the seeds out. Oh! I’m also using a 9x13 instead of a 9x9 so I would keep that in mind because it changes some of the proportions of this recipe. Back to the jam, turns out what weighs 90 grams with seeds in it does not weigh the same without. So we had to go back and heat up more and strain it so we had roughly over 100 grams of jam (Hey! That rhymes!).

During that time, I got out the cream cheese, and my brain obviously wasn’t working, or it wasn’t working very well because it took me like forever to figure out what 32/48 is simplified (it’s ⅔). And I was also like, “Well how do I cut this?” and as it turns out, you can cut it in the bag/wrapping it comes in, like butter. When that painful experience was over, I stuck that unused ⅓ bit back into the fridge and put the rest into a mixing bowl to warm to room temperature.

Now, it’s time to get the food processor and stand mixer! The stand mixer is going to stay in the pantry for now but the food processor is coming out. I have used the food processor before but I’m still too… not nervous, but not scared either, more like anxious to use it for whatever reason. My dad had gone to Safeway to get some white chocolate for me but he came back with white chocolate chips instead. I was upset by this because I like to follow the recipe somewhat exactly and it was fine in the end. When he got back, I enlisted his help again by helping me pulse the Oreos into tinier pieces. I pulsed the Oreos and got the butter. I put the butter into a paper bowl and stuck it in the microwave for about a minute. My dad had me whisk the butter when it was done, then we poured it into the processor while it was going.

I completely forgot to preheat the oven to 350°F and line the pan with parchment paper. My dad lined the pan with parchment paper for me as the oven preheated. I can’t stress this enough, please use good hygiene when you bake. I washed my hands before the next step in the recipe. When my dad was done lining the pan, we put the Oreo crust in it and I pressed it down, somewhat evenly, so it could bake for about eight minutes.

While that was baking, I got the stand mixer out of the pantry to start mixing together the other ingredients. Those ingredients consisted of the white chocolate chips from earlier, the cream cheese, granulated sugar, AP flour, lemon juice, pure vanilla extract (regular vanilla extract works too), salt (the most important ingredient in my opinion), and four eggs. I’m doubling basically everything in the recipe to fit my pan so some of the portions of the ingredients might be a little wonky.

I started with the white chocolate and melted it down in the microwave. Once it was melted down, I brought it back to the kitchen to let it cool on the counter. I put some of the cream cheese into the mixer and started it on medium-low. Once that had kind of mixed together, I put in the rest. I put in ⅔ cup of granulated sugar too. They mixed together and I scraped the sides. I added flour, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and salt. Everything was going relatively smoothly until I got to the eggs. I managed to mix in three of the four eggs with no problem but when I got to the fourth egg is when I had a problem. I cracked open the egg and put it into the batter, but I accidentally dropped some eggshells in too. I panicked and stopped the mixer, I got the biggest chunk of shell out but no matter what I did, there was no way I was going to get all of it. I’m definitely making a mental note in the future to crack the eggs into a separate bowl before putting them into the batter to make sure this doesn’t happen again

I decided that it was okay, and I started constructing the cheesecake. I poured the filling over the crust, then spooned in the raspberry sauce. I repeated it a second time, then grabbed a very long skewer out of the drawer. I created some swirls and while doing that, scraped the bottom a couple of times but that was okay. I baked it for about 45 minutes. I made room in the fridge for it. I forgot that I had a Girl Scouts meeting that night so I rushed to be there. But my mom took the cheesecake out of the fridge for me at 6:44 pm. I came back at around eight pm. The top had cracked but other than that it looked alright. Its temperature was around 123 degrees Fahrenheit. I let it cool for a while and came back out to check on it around 9:40 pm. I moved it to the fridge and it cooled there for the rest of the night.

My mom said that it was the best cheesecake that she’s ever had and I honestly enjoyed it. I hope you guys liked my article! I will see you in my next one and please, don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you have any article ideas (I’ve basically run out. Help!). Have an amazing day and I will see you later! Bye! Also, thank you to my amazing parents who tolerate the mess of dishes after baking and who are always there to help! I really couldn’t have done this article without my dad’s help, so thank you, Dad!

Recipe link

Axel Webber, a 22-year-old from Georgia, posted a TikTok updating his followers on an audition he’d completed the day before on Zoom for the Juilliard drama program. For the last month or so Axel has used his platform to talk about his dream of getting into Juilliard.

When the result from Juilliard came in, Axel pulled up the message on his computer and read it aloud for his audience of 2.4 million followers on TikTok. It was a rejection. “You are no longer under consideration for admission for Fall 2022,” he read aloud. Axel looked extremely sad. “Now, we’re going to have to find a different way to be an actor. Thanks for watching the journey,” he said.

That night, tens of thousands of Axels fans flooded the Juilliard Instagram account to let Juilliard know how angry they were. “#Justiceforaxel” and ¨#wewantaxel¨ were top comments on the Instagram page. The top comment has over 21,000 likes. Users started the hashtag #JusticeForAxel on posts and now have 100+ posts with the hashtag. The fans have even left more than a thousand one-star reviews of Juilliard on Google, tanking the school’s search results with negative reviews.

“I do appreciate all the responses,” Axel said, “But people are absolutely tearing them to shreds. I’m grateful, but we don’t have to bash Juilliard. I want to spread positivity.” Axel shared in a TikTok.

Axel has recently moved to New York City and has found a 95-square-foot studio apartment in the East Village through Facebook Marketplace for just $1,200 a month. Making TikToks about living on a budget and cooking in his tiny apartment has drawn an audience in.

Overall I think the reason people follow Axel is that he is such a positive person. Always wishing for the best and sharing his real-life experiences. Whether it's good or bad he is real which can make all the difference on social media. Now in the real world, everyone is being consumed by social media, and most of the things people are watching, seeing, or reading are fake, so having something so real draws attention to him and his page.

On January 18th of 2022, Microsoft announced, to most people's surprise, that they would be buying Activision, Blizzard, and King. They are buying these companies for 68.7 billion dollars! Now Activision, Blizzard, and King have made games that most people who read this will have heard of or played. A few examples include Call Of Duty Franchise, Overwatch, World Of Warcraft, Diablo, and of course, Candy Crush. But I’m not going to be talking about the games themselves, I’m going to talk about why Microsoft is buying these and how it’s bound to change the gaming world.

Why:

Now the why is somewhat obvious. It's because of money, so if Microsoft has more companies, they can have more Xbox exclusive games that you have to pay a membership fee to access those games for free. This also means you have to have a console, one of their consoles to play your favorite games. Another big reason is how their ranking went up. Before news of the sale, they were number four in the gaming industry and now they are number three, rising above Apple. Money and ranking are definitely the largest two reasons but there are a few more reasons, one that is sort of refreshing to fans is that in an interview Phil Spencer (CEO of Microsoft Gaming) said that their goal with Activision is for new titles from Activision is to “to reach as many players as possible,” according to NewYorkTimes.com. I think even though players will have to have that console they can access hundreds of dollars worth of games for only 16 dollars a month.

How It’s Going to Change Things:

With this purchase of Activision, things in the gaming industry will be changing. Considering that Activision is considered a “juggernaut” of the industry now, lots won’t change immediately especially since this purchase won't even be finalized till potentially June 2023! This being said, that doesn’t mean things won’t change in the years to come. If anything, it’s almost a definite thing at some point. Now according to Pcgamer.com, Phil Spencer said, “Microsoft has no immediate plans to take Call of Duty away from PlayStation,” which is reassuring to Playstation players. This last part is coming from someone who plays video games and tries to keep up on things like this many people on TikTok have been saying that this announcement has made Xbox win the so-called “Console War” people have been saying this because if games like Call Of Duty become Xbox exclusive then more people will have to switch over to Xbox or PC.

In the end, there is no way to tell where the gaming world will go from here. It might just end up with Microsoft deciding to keep popular series such as Call Of Duty able to be played anywhere or maybe they will be more aggressive and decide only for Xbox and PC to play their games making more people move to those, and with roughly 40% of gamers playing on console Microsoft may just choose to do the latter so then they have reign over almost all gamers. Only the future can tell. Either way, I think that this will be a good thing for any Xbox gamers out there.

Jimmy Donaldson, widely known as MrBeast, is one of YouTube's most famous and well-paid creators at the age of 23. He's known for doing stuff such as giving away $1,000,000 to a stranger (Last To Leave), transforming a backyard into a ball pit, purchasing everything in a supermarket, and making a real-life Squid Game. His cool challenges and cash giveaways have benefited the growth of his channel, which now has 87 million subscribers.

He Grew up in North Carolina with his family. MrBeast6000 was his YouTube username when he first started making videos. MrBeast struggled for the first few years and did not receive enough attention. He tried gaining followers by playing popular video games such as Minecraft & Call Of Duty. He attempted to game YouTube's algorithm by humorous compilations of highlights of the games he was playing. MrBeast started to gain a following in 2015-2016 from his video series called "worst intros" which was him finding the cringiest and funniest YouTuber intros. In 2016, MrBeast made 300k subscribers thanks to the "worst intro's" video.

MrBeast enrolled in college a few months after his small success on Youtube. He only stayed in college for two weeks and then dropped out. He said, "I'd rather be poor than do anything other than YouTube”. MrBeast became viral for the first time in 2017 when he posted a video of himself counting to 100,000. (It took him 42 hours). He kept grinding and working hard. Finally, in November of 2017, he hit a million subscribers. The crazy thing is that he still makes quality content despite his number of subscribers. (Some YouTubers become lazy after getting where they wanted). He has also donated a lot of money using twitch donations multiple times link(s):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5TQBkJJlFE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNVlIMHS1sk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al6130OD1Ck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE3FLbpu9-Q

He also has a couple of friends to help him with his content. By December of 2018, he has given away $1M+ in giveaways and more. He started giving out to the people who are in need and giveaways for fans. In 2019 via Instagram, we learned that he was suffering from Crohn's disease which is an inflammatory bowel disease. Later in 2019 MrBeast started a fundraiser called #TEAMTREES it got highly fundraised. To sum it up everyone who donated money was helping plant trees. $1= 1 Tree planted. At the end of the day, MrBeast raised 20M (20M trees). 600+ YouTube Creators helped and sent the word out such as Mark Rober, Pewdiepie, Marques Brownlee, and Ninja. He received a donation from Elon Musk himself!

MrBeast decides to open a fast-food business called MrBeast Burger as the year 2020 draws to a close. Despite the fact that the rawness and ghost restaurants caused him some controversy. Despite this, the fast-food company is still open for business. It all depends on where you place your order. You can receive a delicious burger or a disgusting burger.

He also posted a video about videos that were discarded, which cost him more than $120,000 to make. That's it, YouTube's most popular content creator. He was only a kid when he began, and look where he has progressed! Thank you for taking the time to read this.

With a new year, a lot of new opportunities and new fun activities have come. From new shows, to new games, and of course, new fashion trends. What does the 2022 Pre-Fall collection offer us this year?

First off, due to covid and the new rise in Omicron cases, the 2022 Pre-fall collection is lower than it has been in decades. Both men's and women's clothes are around 100 collections altogether. In other words, this year brings us a small collection. The Pre-Fall collection isn't usually for any new designs but usually to just sell items that did well in spring. Even so, this year it seems they are taking a different approach, with two years into the pandemic this Pre-Fall collection is full of clothes that have the opportunity of being the foundation of all the new fashion designs this year. In this specific article, we will be talking about R13 and Christian Dior’s collection.

R13

The R13’s pre-fall collection mainly consists of loose clothes, from big grunge jeans to big knitted sweaters, flannels, stripes, and platform shoes. Baggy outfits aren't a new thing, but R13 is giving it a different spin. Instead of just putting on oversized clothes to make it look big it was more of a dangly look, shirts falling off the shoulder and long pants touching the ground. This year they are also taking an approach to the new fashion choices of ‘y2k’. Y2k is a style inspired by the early to mid-2000s, this style consists of dressing in old-styled outfits and anything that would have been popular back in the 2000s. Such as denim skirts, long tights, bright colors, low-rise jeans, fishnet sleeves, and so on.

In an interview, Chris Leba had pointed out that interest in the new style choices designers was putting out was lacking interest from lots of their teen and young adult audiences. He said “There’s a lack of interest in the system. I’m just going to do my thing, and that’s it. There’s a thing that we do here that keeps us from doing a lot of other things, the idea of being really consistent. What’s the inspiration? Staying the same.” he said, and that's exactly what he did, he stayed the same. New outfits but the same type of items, just like I previously mentioned, ‘Big grunge jeans too big knitted sweaters, flannels, stripes, and platform shoes.’ are all items we've seen in previous collections but with different designs and paired with different objects.

Christian Dior

Christian Dior took many people by surprise this year when they showed their outfit collections. Christian Dior had always followed a line of revealing, professional, and light clothing styles. This is what the brand had always followed, that was until Maria Grazia Chiuri released their collection for Pre-Fall 2022. Instead of what Christian Dior usually released they were met with a punkish school style type of outfits. Using a school uniform type of look, Chiuri matched tartan with almost any school-like item you can find, from blazers to skirts and even dresses. Chiuri had kept in mind that she wanted to go for an alternative and rule-breaking outfit form instead of going for a traditional school uniform type of outfit. She wanted something rough-looking but that could still look appropriate from school, something that could look like it violated the dress code but still fit into it.

Chiuri had mentioned that she was going for a feminist and strong woman type of outlook, using the quote by “Femininity is a trap” by Simone de Beauvoir as an inspiration.

Churi had mentioned that Christian Dior was an amazing person, being able to contrast clothes so well and adding a pop of color to any gray outfit. She talked about how he had a talent to make outfits that seemed to be completely different fit together with a few touches, she said that that is what inspired her collections this season.

Links - Christian Dior, R13

The holidays are over, and now we begin a long, gray, uneventful season. But what if I told you that you can still celebrate in a time with not much going on? In fact, there is a national day for something every single day! Whether it’s togetherness, negotiations, sandwiches, or beef wellington, there is always something that you can celebrate. Today I will be presenting all the national days from last week (Sunday through Friday), and maybe you might have already celebrated one of these.

Sunday, January 16th, 2022

• International Hot and Spicy Food Day: This day is a worldwide celebration of all the hot and spicy foods around the world. To celebrate, you can learn about the peppers, try a new dish, or dine at a restaurant known for its spicy food.

• National Without a Scalpel Day: MIIP is a form of medical imagery to perform major procedures without having to do any real surgery. This day celebrates when a doctor was able to open a blood vessel this way, and the practice has far grown since.

• National Fig Newton Day: This celebrates the creation of a Fig Newton, a delicious fig-filled treat. You can celebrate by stuffing yourself with some Fig Newtons!

• National Religious Freedom Day: This day celebrates when the statue of religious freedom was signed in Virginia. It celebrates the importance of religious freedom, and to celebrate, try learning about other religions, or practice your own religion.

• National Nothing Day: This is a holiday that was made so people wouldn’t have to worry about celebrating anything. It’s a day that you can sit back, relax, not do anything remotely productive, and you have an excuse for it!

Monday, January 17, 2022

• National Classy Day: This is a day of celebrating the birth of one of America’s best comedians, Betty White. If she had still been alive today, this would have been her 100th birthday. To celebrate, honor the lives of Betty White, or any other women who made a big difference. In addition, this is also a day of celebrating humor, so try telling a joke, or watching something funny on television.

• National Bootlegger's Day: Back when alcohol was illegal, a group of people decided to ignore that law. This created a very famous whiskey called Templeton Rye. This is a day of celebrating Templeton Rye, Al Capone, and the bootlegger’s son because they all share the same birthday!

• National Hot Buttered Rum Day: This is a day to celebrate the creation of hot buttered rum (pretty much what it sounds like).

• Don’t forget about Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

Tuesday, January 18th, 2022

• National Michigan Day: This is a day to recognize the great things about Michigan! To celebrate, you can recognize the beauty and accomplishments of Michigan.

• National Thesaurus Day: This day honors the man who made the thesaurus, Peter Mark Roget. This man spent a large part of his life making it, and now his work is used everywhere. To celebrate, do some word activities or games.

• National Peking Duck Day: This is a day that celebrates the delicious Chinese dish of Peking Duck. Whether it’s going out, cooking at home, or watching a Christmas Story, there are many ways to find and celebrate Peking Duck.

• National Winnie the Pooh Day: Yes, this holiday is what you think it is. This is the day that the author of Winnie the Pooh was born back in 1882. To celebrate, try reading some Winnie the Pooh stories, movies, or songs

Wednesday, January 19th, 2022

• World Quark Day: This is a day that celebrates the wonderful, healthy ingredient of quark. To celebrate, try incorporating quark into some of your meals!

• National Popcorn Day: This day celebrates the fabulous American treat we’ve all heard about- popcorn. Popcorn was actually invented by a candy store owner in the 1800’s, and it took off ever since. If you love popcorn, this is a great day for you.

Thursday, January 20th, 2022

• National Cheese Lovers Day: I don’t think I really need to explain what this one is about. Cheese has been dating back to thousands of years before the common era and is an ingredient in almost everything. Celebrate cheese day by making some cheese-based meals.

• National Disc Jockey (DJ) Day: This day is a day to celebrate the hard work that DJs do, and also the entertainment they bring to us. This practice became popular in the 1900’s.and took off ever since.

• National Buttercrunch (Almond Roca) Day: This day celebrates a very delicious type of toffee. In my opinion, it is by far one of the best candies. Celebrate by eating some buttercrunch, or even making it yourself!

Friday, January 21st, 2022

• International Sweatpants Day: Today is a day where you can celebrate sweatpants and overall comfort. Said to be one of the comfiest articles of clothing, this is a day where you can celebrate that.

• National Granola Bar Day: Able to be made out of many types of grains, this is a treat all people can enjoy!

• Squirrel Appreciation Day: Squirrels are fascinating creatures. Whether you think they are cute, give your dog something to do, or use them for food, squirrels are loved by many different creatures. To celebrate, try observing some squirrels, and watching how they live their life.

• National Hugging Day: This day is a day dedicated to the wonderful gesture of hugging. To celebrate, just hug someone!

Okay, that sums up the holidays from the last week. Feel free to let me know if you celebrated any!

Go to this website to find out for yourself which holidays are coming up: https://nationaldaycalendar.com/what-day-is-it/

Have you ever wondered if there was something more to life? Or have you ever wondered if you're in a simulation?

In the universe of the Matrix, the answer is yes.

From the human eye, the reality would be that you are living in the '90s. What some would consider the prime time of the 20th century, and also when the world is in the perfect setting on the timeline. It was after all the wars and territorial shifting, but before the takeover of A.I. In the bigger picture, the Matrix is only a virtual reality to distract the mind from what was happening to their bodies.

In the real world or at least the part that’s not a simulation, humanity relied too much on the advancing technology of A.I. such as Iron Man’s Jarvis from Marvel or Skyfall from Terminator. Just like these examples, the A.I. becomes out of human control and turns against them as if they were parasites, except the difference between all the other sci-fi fantasies and The Matrix is that the robots don’t want to kill the entire human race. Instead, they use the human body as batteries for all functioning robots.

The robots’ process to farm a human is to birth an infant and biologically install plugs into various parts of the body and absorb their energy, while they put the minds of the humans into the virtual world of the Matrix until they die.

There were a total of six Matrixes created, each better than the other one created before them. In each Matrix, there are guards called agents, who eliminate resistance members or anyone who should no longer be in the virtual reality. These agents are not ordinary humans, they are programs that can defy physics in order to stop the intrusions in the Matrix with ease.

The system was simple and harmless. They created a non-stop cycle between the humans and the machines. The machines fed them and gave them comfort while those same machines took the human’s energy to keep themselves alive. After a while, they even conquered rebellions. The Matrix was as close to perfect as anything could be.

Hi! Welcome to another article in my world of baking. This time I’m making oatmeal cookies. I know you’re probably thinking that I’ve gone insane but I haven’t (not yet anyway). From all the reviews I’ve gotten from my family, they taste great. It’s not my original recipe but I made it my own by tweaking it just a little bit. It’s a Quaker Oats recipe. Now, I think you guys know my routine by now. Get out the ingredients, make the dessert, and enjoy! But let’s start with getting the ingredients. I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned this but I do have a dog. Her name is Poppy, she’s a cute little beast, but she’s my little helper when getting ingredients from the pantry.

I got out the flour, rolled oats, and while the recipe calls for cranberries, those are just eh, so I use craisins instead. They taste so much better and sweeter. White chocolate chips (I ran out but I remembered my mom telling me where the rest is), sweetened salted butter (and the recipe calls for just butter but that usually means salted). I didn’t get out the salt and baking soda, though, I was probably tired and forgot. I was trying to remember how much butter a ⅔ cup is in Tablespoons when my Dad came into the kitchen. And he started to explain how much butter that is, so we went through a fun process of trying to figure it out. I eventually got what he was saying and as it turns out, it’s only about ten and a half Tablespoons. (Why Dad, why. Why did you put me through such torture just to figure it out? But seriously, it took us like eight minutes to figure it out).

Okay, just to make this clear, I am in no way a perfect human and I make mistakes (very dumb ones sometimes). This mistake, I probably won’t make again. (Ugh, I’m trying very hard to not be embarrassed when I say this) I melted the butter. Don’t do this, please. Don’t make this mistake. And please don’t make fun of me. If you melt the butter and mix it with the brown sugar, it doesn’t turn out very well. It can’t hold air, and it will make your recipe go awry. My Dad was still helping me at this point (Thank you Dad!) and so he had this idea to stick the bowl in the freezer for a couple of minutes, and that fixed it! (Again, thank you Dad!) While we were waiting for it to freeze a bit, I started mixing the dry ingredients. Now, my kitchen isn’t that big, so I was working on the stovetop while my Dad was working on the counter next to me.

I measured out and mixed the oats, flour, baking soda, and salt. (yummy salt lol). I also mixed in the craisins and white chocolate chips. The reason I did this instead of waiting until the batter was all mixed together is because they get coated with flour and so they don’t sink to the bottom of the cookie. Okay, I know I haven’t mentioned this at all, but I have ADHD, and when I’m not on my meds, my brain either works too fast, going from thing to thing, or it doesn’t work at all. Since it was kinda late when I was making this recipe, so I wasn’t on my meds. I got sidetracked like a dozen times while making this recipe but when I got sidetracked the most was when I was mixing together the dough.

But when I finally managed to get it all mixed together, I preheated the oven at this point. When the oven was ready, I opened it and was met with a face-full of steam. Now, for context, my Mom was making bread earlier in the day. And that required a water bath to help bake it. So I had to go get my Dad to help me get it out of the oven so I could put my cookies in there. I know I’ve mentioned the scooper thingies before. We only have three, and I wanted bigger cookies than just a Tbsp’s worth of dough. So, I washed my hands and started scooping them. Not onto the tray, mind you. Into my hands, so I could roll two scoops worth together.

I baked the first batch of cookies for 10 minutes, but that wasn’t enough, so I tried four more minutes. They turned out fine but just a little burnt on the edges. I made my second batch and baked them for about 12 minutes, they turned out amazing. Like, they turned out exactly how I wanted them to.

I hope you enjoyed my article and I will see you next time! Happy Holidays, and wish me luck with the baking competition! Bye!! Also, sorry that I don’t have a photo this time. I forgot to take one and now they’re all gone. Feel free to reach out to me through my email, I would love to know some recipe suggestions from you guys (I’m running out of ideas).

Link to recipe: Oatmeal Craisin White Chocolate Chip Chunk Cookie

My favorite Christmas movie is Elf. Elf is a story about a man who believes he is an elf. The main character is Buddy the elf played by Will Ferrill.

Buddy is a human but he thinks he is an elf because he was raised with elves in the north pole. But one day, he finds out that he isn't an elf. Confused and weary, Buddy sets off to find his dad who lives in New York City. He finds his dad and then he gets to meet his dad's wife and son, Emily, and Micheal. He also gets a job at Gimbels. He gets a girlfriend who works at Gimbels too. Buddy takes his girlfriend out on a date to go ice skating and he learns what love is and how it feels to love someone.

His father’s job at Greenway Publishing Company is not doing so well and so they hire a famous children's book writer. He is a little person named Miles Finch. Buddy bursts into his father’s work while the famous writer is there. Buddy meets him and calls him an elf. As you can imagine that didn’t go over well with the writer and he beats up Buddy then leaves furious. Finally Buddy’s dad has had enough with him and kicks him out. He tells Buddy to go back to the north pole. So, Buddy leaves upset and walks through the cold streets of New York. While he is leaving, he sees Santa come falling out of the sky so Buddy goes to help him. The reason why Santa fell out of the sky is because there isn't enough Christmas spirit anymore, and Santa is unable to fly and deliver presents to all of the children in the world.

Then his dad and his son come running after him to apologize. When they see Santa Claus's sleigh crash, Buddy's dad and his son have an idea! Buddy’s brother runs off with the Christmas wishlist for everyone. Buddy’s brother goes to the news reporter and tries to tell everyone that Santa's real and there needs to be more Christmas spirit or else he can't take off. No one believes him at first, but then he opens up the book and starts saying what people want for christma. Still, there's not enough Christmas spirit. Buddy’s girlfriend decides to help with this, and goes down to the reporter's van and starts singing Christmas songs. This is what gets the Christmas spirit up and Santa is able to take off and deliver presents to everyone.

I rate it a 9.5/10. It was made really well and I recommend it to you. It is a fun movie to watch with your family. You can watch Elf on Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and HBO Max.

Thank you for reading my article.

After waiting for so long, Fortnite chapter three is now here with a brand new map, loot pool, and wildlife. After 8 seasons of chapter two, it ends in the cube queen flipping the map upside down and the foundation trying to keep everything stable, but fails and the map flips revealing a new map that was hidden under the water

The New Map

The big thing in this chapter is the map! The new map consists of ten new POIs (points of interest) and two POIs returning from the chapter one map: Greasy Grove and Shifty Shafts. There are three biomes: Dessert, Snowy, and Grassy Plains. Although it isn't here yet, people believe the fan favorite place Tilted Towers will make an appearance but it's not 100% for sure coming back.

The Loot Pool

Epic Games decided it would be a good idea to remove all the weapons from chapter two and made them impossible to get from floor and chest loot, but they added completely new weapons. There are only seven different types of weapons in all five rarities you can find from floor, chest, and supply drop loot. The only way to get old loot is by using your gold on a malfunctioning vending machine and there is a very small chance to get a weapon from chapter two so hope that you get your favorite weapon that unfortunately got removed.

The Wild Life

The wild life in this season is quite diverse ranging from chicken to sharks. The wild life roaming around the island is pretty vital for getting good loot and healing. First, we have the most useless ones are the boars and wolves. They only give meat which all animals give meat so what is really the point. Chickens don't only give you meat like the wolves and boars; if you pick them up you jump about two times higher and instead of just falling you float down. Now for the animals that give you loot, crows and sharks, you can know if they contain good loot. If they glow a gold or purple color when you shoot them out of the sky or water it will drop a weapon of Legendary or Epic once eliminated. Finally the classic, the face of fortnite: the llama once eliminated drops 500 wood, 500 brick, and 500 metal it also drops a variety of heals such as minis, big pots, chug splashes, and the exotic chilly chug splashes.

Fortnite is in a very good state right now and if you haven't played it yet you should at least try it. The same goes if you quit in chapter two since this chapter feels like chapter one so much it's crazy. So right now Fortnite is definitely worth trying for the first time or coming back to.

During this time of year, many of us have family and cultural traditions that we look forward to. I love celebrating Christmas with my family. It’s when we get to spend time with each other, celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, share our love, and of course, share excellent foods.

My family, being Filipino-American, means that, like many other cultures, we highly value our family and extended family. We love to celebrate the days leading up to Christmas together. My family dedicates one night to a musical concert where my cousins and I perform Christmas songs on a variety of instruments like piano, trumpet, and singing. Most importantly, we all go to church on Christmas eve for the candlelight service. After the candlelight service, my family all goes to my grandparents’ house where we exchange gifts and eat together.

As soon as I walk into the house, my nose is filled with the pungent smell of vinegar and simmering chicken. This unique fragrance comes from one of the most popular Filipino dishes called adobo. This dish tastes so good yet is so easy to make. All it consists of is rice vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, onions, bay leaves, brown sugar, and chicken. As I walk into the dining room, I see the table filled with a variety of foods including a noodle dish called pancit. My favorite, however, is lumpia. Lumpia is made up of a savory filling like cabbage and ground beef. These ingredients are carefully wrapped in a paper-like pastry and deep-fried. I like to dip this crispy spring roll in sweet chili sauce.

As we eat our dinner, I take notice of my grandma’s lace tablecloth with detailed flowers imprinted all over it. I’m comforted by the familiar Filipino decor around us. A detailed wooden nativity scene is on display on the fireplace mantel and hanging in the window is a shining star called a parol. These stars represent the star of Bethlehem that guided the three wise men to the manger of baby Jesus. The parols have a framework made of bamboo sticks, which are then covered by colored pieces of crêpe paper.

Every year, I look forward to these traditions. I am extremely grateful to my grandparents for passing these customs down through the generations. I hope that you are as fortunate to have family close and special customs or traditions together. Whatever they may be, I hope you have a wonderful holiday season!

Maligayang Pasko! (Merry Christmas)

These games are games that you can play when you’re bored and are looking for new games to play. We are starting with number one. First is going to be Monster Hunters World. This game is really good. It's about slaying bosses. There are a lot of places for you to explore. In the game, you can change your weapon to slay the bosses and to harvest the body to get better weapons. The best part about the game is the graphics. The graphics look very realistic and good in this game.

Number two is Star Wars Jedi; Fallen Order. If you like Star Wars, this is for you. This game is very fun and the graphics are also very good. The sound effects are even better. It's a story type game that has a lot of cosmetic options. You can modify your own lightsaber and there are a lot of characters to choose from. The games take a long time to beat because there is a lot of stuff to explore. Some examples of characters in the game are: Cal Keistis Cere, Junda, Darth Vader and so much more.

Number 3 is going to go to Minecraft. The game is good and cool. You can play singleplayer of online on servers to play games like: like bed wars, murder mistery, props vs hunters and so much more. Minecraft recently had a huge update, it was caves and cliffs part 2 and it’s really cool. They changed cave generation and added many more biomes and items.

Number 4: Assassin Creed Valhalla the game is mind blowing. This game is really good because the sound effects and graphics are good. There is lot of things you can do. You can explore the map. And kill lots of enemies that are in your way. There are new weapons that have new abilities that are crazy good and awesome. For example: the broken blade, the perk is fragments explode when you hit enemies with your sword , it explodes and does good damage. The other ability is the briton shield. The perk of the shield is it restores your health about 15%. It also knocks enemies back.

Sitting next to the campfire, the smell of smoke filled the air, everyone huddled up close to listen to a story, but what story should you tell?

You’ve probably heard of scary stories as a kid, some told by your parents to keep you from causing any problems. Most cultures have different stories, all having their own meanings and reasons, here I’ll be telling you about some of my favorite stories I was told as a kid!

If you are someone who was also told these stories, please keep in mind that they have multiple versions, and the ones I was told as a kid may not be the exact same as the ones you were told.

1. La Llorona

La Llorona was known for her beauty and kind personality, never getting on anyone's bad side, she was loved by the village she lived in. She worked selling flowers whom she would put in a boat and ride on the river, selling them all over the village.

La Llorona was loved by many people, often being confessed to, she rejected the people, never being interested in someone. One day, a Handsome man came, swooping La Llorona off her feet and making her fall into a deep love for him. Soon, La Llorona and the man built a home together, they soon married and had two kids, the oldest being a boy and the youngest a girl.

La Llorona's happy life soon ended when she had found her husband cheating on her with another woman. Confronting him, he told it was all her fault, that because of her kids she never paid attention to him anymore. Out of rage, la Llorona took both her children to the river where she drowned them.

As soon as La Llorona realized her actions, despair and guilt consumed her. Not being able to handle what she had just done, she refused to believe her children had both died and instead believed they went missing. La Llorona began looking for her children, over time, her life withered away and she died, not being able to handle what had happened to her children she'd become a ghost as a punishment.

Now, La Llorona is known for roaming around late at night, mostly near rivers. She takes any wandering children in hopes she'll find her own. If she catches you and sees you are not her children, she will kill you. La Llorona can be heard screaming and crying, saying, “Ay mis hijos!” (My kids). La Llorna is cursed, her actions not letting her rest in peace, and her love of a mother not letting her rest until she finds her children.

2. El Chupacabras

El Chupacabras is an animal known for sucking on livestocks blood like a vampire, the appearance of El Chupacabras is a mixture of many creatures.

His whole body is covered in black fur, and his back has long spikes all over. He has big green eyes that seemed like they could belong to an alien, and dog-like ears. El Chupacabra's body is similar to a humans but his legs are closer to a kangaroos. His fingers are long and bony, looking similar to witches. His face is stretched and similar to a hoarse. He has big long teeth that he used to kill his prey, he stands like a human but can also be seen standing like a dog.

El Chupacabras is rumored to live in mountains and attack anyone and anything, its active hours are usually at night but anytime the sun isn't out he will be hunting for his next meal. Even though he mostly eats livestock, El Chupacabras eats humans too.

3. Las Pascualas

Las Pascualas is a story about three beautiful sisters, all being stunning and unique in their own way. The sisters were always together, their bond as strong as steel. The girls often spent time at a small lake where they would wash their clothes and hang out.

One day, a young handsome man had appeared, flirting with each one of the sisters separately, he'd managed to catch the hearts of each. The girls had believed the empty lies the boy had told them, all thinking they were the only one the boy loved.

The young man had invited all three girls on a date at the same time and at the same place. Each girl was ecstatic by the young man's proposal, each girl did their best to look their prettiest.

The eldest brushed her beautiful hair for hours, the middle put on the prettiest jewelry she had, and the youngest put on her best lipstick. The girls had all picked the prettiest dress they owned, the oldest wearing yellow, the middle blue and the youngest red.

When the three girls arrived at the lake where they planned to meet the boy, they found him laughing, enjoying the fact he played with each sister's heart. The girl's hearts shattered, not being able to handle what had just happened, the three sisters threw themselves into the lake, dying.

The three sisters became ghosts, haunting any boys who came near the river, first they would trick them with their beauty, and then they would all drown the boys in the lake.

These stories may not seem real to you, but the screams and cries from their victims are, so

be careful, you never know what you might encounter.

The smell of the smoke lingers in the air, everyone is getting ready for bed, everyone keeping an eye out for any possible unaturalaties, just to be safe.

For over a few hundred years, superstitions, myths, and traditions have originated and tied itself to Christmas. The catch is that there are multiple said “origins” of each of these traditions; no one truely knows where and who these myths came from. Most of the varieties come mostly from movies. Normally these movies are about saving Christmas with some sort of magical Santa Claus, but there is a specific movie released in 2019 that caught my attention. In Klaus, a movie about how a widowed woodworker became a world-wide toymaker for kids, the story starts out with a new mailman by the name of Jasper, who comes to an island far into the Arctic circle, desperate to meet his father’s expectations.

When Jasper gets to the island, it is filled with junky waters, a trashed town and people that are divided and constantly fueled by hate. Soon the mailman realizes that the town does not use the postal service, concerning him about how he can make his father proud. By the next day, he finds himself at a woodworker’s house, desperate for mail. Then he realizes that the home is empty, so he explores the house, looking for any mail. While he takes in his surroundings, he finds shelves upon shelves filled with unused wooden toys.

When the woodworker arrives at his home, Jasper confronts him about the toys and how they could be donated to bored children around the island. Klaus, the woodworker, agrees and travels to a house where Jasper took an unofficial letter with a picture of a sad girl. The problem was that the yard to get through was patrolled by the owner’s vicious dogs. After brainstorming, Klaus tells Jasper to enter through the chimney and place the packaged wind-up toy in a stocking. By the time the child opened the wrapped gift, the two deliverers were already a safe distance away. The girl started playing with the toy outside, chasing it down the street to another house, where another girl joined in, laughing as she played with the new discovery.

The next day, Jasper wakes up from inside his shack of a post office to find a line of excited children, waiting to give their letters to him. The child who already received a toy had spread rumors through the town about a man coming down the chimney and putting a gift in your stockings, as long as you give the postman a letter. Jasper eagerly takes all of them and rides over to Klaus’s house. They make a huge sack and fill it with presents and then wait for midnight so they don’t get caught by the angry parents. When they first tried to pull the wagon with a single mule, the two men didn't move anywhere. Then Klaus notices some reindeer in the area, so he bribed them with carrots until they were in position to be hitched to the wagon. The image of reindeer on a wagon would cause too much attention so Klaus decided to act in the night. At midnight, they board the wagon with the sack of presents and gradually make their way through the town delivering presents, until they reach the top of a steep hill.

As they descend the steep hill they lose their wheel on the wagon from something hidden in the snow, surely from an evil civilian, and before they reach the bottom of the hill they hit a large speed bump and it sends the wagon flying through the air. The event caused so much noise that it woke a little kid, and while he looked for the noise he saw a magical sleigh pulled by flying reindeer, soaring across the kid’s window and out of view.

By the time they were finished, Klaus and Jasper were already getting more toys ready for the next night and the little kid who was thunderstruck by what he saw, was already spreading the new information to other kids.

“I saw magical reindeer pulling a huge sleigh across the sky last night!” He would say.

More and more letters were arriving at Jasper’s door, allowing more and more presents to be sent down the chimney, until Jasper realized there were no more toys on the shelves. He solved that problem by setting up a workshop for Klaus to make more toys. Klaus would eventually agree to doing this, and started working

Among the kids who gave letters, there were the uneducated kids. So Jasper set out to find some sort of teacher to help the kids learn to write. There were also bullies that gave a letter to Jasper, but Jasper did not think they deserved a toy, so when he came down a bully’s chimney, he would put a lump of coal into the stocking.

The day after Jasper put a piece of coal into the first bully’s house, he confronted Jasper about it, asking why he got the opposite of a present. Making it up on the spot, Jasper told him,”He has a… naughty list. Those who give their families a hard time or have bad behavior do not get a present.”

All the kids waiting nearby heard what he said and instantly went to help out their families and in a matter of days, the town’s bullies were thinning out. The mailman would also mention to some kids every now and then that the presents will not come tonight, but on the night before Christmas so kids can get their act together and be a nice human being.

As that (soon to be) special night came around, various parents who were stuck in their old ways, would come to Klaus’s or Jasper’s door and tell them to stop the chaos they’ve started in the town, but Klaus was determined to satisfy every child on the island.

The two of them did exactly that, Jasper going down the chimney while Klaus stays on the now Christmas decorated sleigh, keeping the reindeer at the ready for the next house. By morning, the whole town was alive with joy and no matter what the hatred fueled parent could do, their spirit stayed high.

The tradition would continue every year, slowly expanding outside of the island and onto the mainland of Europe and then Asia, and the Americas, Africa, Australia, and even Antarctica! Kids who experienced the magical night would turn into adults and teach their kids about how a big, plump man will come down the chimney to give you presents if you’re not on the naughty list and how the magical man will ride across the sky on a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer. Soon generations would turn into centuries of tradition passed down by families, some adding more content to the holiday and some keeping it to the story of the famous Klaus.

Video games. A lot of people play them, and I’m going to tell you about them. Specifically, the new upcoming games have been set to be released over the next few months.

Battlefield 2042

Battlefield 2042 is set to come out at the end of this week, on November 19th, 2021. Those who pre-ordered the game got it seven days earlier. Battlefield 2042 is going to be the 17th installment of the series made by EA Dice and is known to be a heavily team-based first-person shooter series. Unlike its predecessors, Battlefield 2042 will be “more of a sandbox-style game than previous installments” says EA Dice (Google, 2021).

Gotham Knights

Gotham Knights is set to be a new, original story instead of being a new installment into the Arkham series. The Arkham series is about Batman returning Joker to Arkham Asylum and Joker breaks out and then chaos is released. Batman attempts to stop it. Gotham Knights is a game where you play as Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin, and Red Hood. The game takes place right after Batman, the hero of Gotham, dies and the “Bat-family” (Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin, and Red Hood) tries to stop the crime. Producer, Warner Bros Games, also made Batman Arkham and the rest of the series.

GhostWire: Tokyo

GhostWire: Tokyo, is an action-adventure game made by Tango Gameworks. It will be the first “Ghostwire” game and hopefully not the last. The game will be released sometime in 2022 but the official release date is still unknown. The game is about a unique vision of Tokyo twisted by a supernatural presence, described as “karate meets magic” in forums. The game will only be available on the Playstation 5 and PC.

Dying Light 2

Dying Light 2 is going to be a survival horror action role-playing game. The game will be available on PC, Playstation 4 and 5, and Xbox One and Xbox series X/S and will be released on December 7th, 2021. Techland, the developer and publisher of this game, describes Dying Light 2’s setting as a “modern dark age.” This story takes place just after the initial shock of a zombie apocalypse and is starting to rebuild.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl is a first-person shooter that is set to release in April 2022. This game is about a fictional Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, which exploded again in 2006, causing strange events to take place. You set out to discover the vast majority of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, filled with dangerous enemies, deadly anomalies, and powerful relics.

I hope I helped you find games that piqued your interest enough to try them out after their release.

It’s no surprise that Netflix is a popular streaming service. It’s best known for its logo and of course, its wide range of movies and shows. Between Hulu, Disney+, HBO max, Peacock, Amazon Prime Video, and more, Netflix is the top streaming service currently. Netflix has a total of 3,600+ movies and 1,800+ shows available to existing subscribers and more shows being added every once in a while at midnight.

A new show was added on September 17th, 2021 that wasn’t just entertaining to most people, but it was also one of Netflix’s most popular original shows that helped the streaming service gain up to 4.4 million new subscribers. The show that did this is called Squid Game. I’m pretty sure everyone has heard of this show, and if you had Netflix, it was probably showing up a lot. Netflix reported on Tuesday, October 19th, that it now has 213.5 million subscribers globally including the added 4.4 million subscribers that were gained in the third quarter of 2021. The result of 4.4 million people joining Netflix was the company's stock went up by as much as 2% before it went negative as the night went on.

This isn’t the best quarter for the company since they had bigger subscriber growth in the past. But after two very bad quarters in 2021, the third quarter showed that Netflix appears to be somewhat going back on the right track.

Squid Game

Squid Game is a South Korean survival drama television series created by Hwang Dong-Hyuk for Netflix. Squid Game is about a guy named Seong Gi-hun who gets fired from his job and lives with his elderly mother. He's a divorced father and an in-depth gambler who's struggling with money. Seong Gi-hun then finds out about a secret survival game and decides to join. The rest of the Squid Game series revolves around contests with 456 participants who were invited to participate in the Squid Games in hopes of earning the ₩45.6 billion price. Each game that is played resembles a children's game that each person has to complete or else they don’t get the money and get killed. If they complete all of the games, they win the cash prize. There are guards in Squid Game that wear red suits and a black mask with a shape. Each shape represents their rank. Circle guards are the lowest, then triangle and squares are the highest rank. The rest of the information is for you to find out!

There are only 9 Squid Game episodes and one season. Each episode is pretty long at 32 to 63 minutes (1 hour 3 minutes.) Something else that people might not know is that Squid Game was already written in 2009. However, they were unable to find a production company to fund the idea until Netflix took an interest around 2019 as part of their drive to expand their foreign programming offerings. All nine episodes were written and directed by Hwang. A second season is confirmed to happen with no release date yet, but the creator said he might take some ideas from online and add them to the show. So, the new season could either be really good or be even worse than the first season.

Minecraft is a sandbox survival game released on November 18, 2011. The game was made by the company Mojang and was bought by Microsoft in 2014. Despite Minecraft being launched 10 years ago, it is still one of the most played games in the world. Since the game's release, there have been many versions of the game since the start of development, ranging from alpha 1.0 to recently released version 1.17. I will be talking about Java and not Bedrock.(Bedrock is another version of Minecraft that gets earlier updates)

Mojang originally planned for 1.17 to add in better cave generation, 5 new biomes, a variation of blocks, a few mobs and items. Suddenly, Mojang announced they would split the 1.17 update into two parts because of how much they were adding and to give their developers more time since they were working remotely. Mojang didn’t want to delay the release any longer so they added what they had already finished and the rest to 1.18. Then on June 8 2021, Mojang released Minecraft 1.17.

When they released 1.17, we saw what was new: three new mobs, the axolotl, the glow squid and goats. Many new blocks were also added including Deepslate, Calcite, Amethyst block, Moss block and many more. The update also made it so when you mine iron/copper/gold ore you get raw ore instead of the actual ore. This raw ore feature added three new blocks, raw iron block, raw gold block, and raw copper block. The 1.17 update also replaced the ore textures.

For 1.18, Mojang is planning on adding the rest of features they were planning on adding for 1.17. Mojang also recently announced version 1.19 (the wild update) and what the update will offer. They announced 1.19 when live streaming the 2021 mob vote.(The mob vote is livestream that Mojang hosts for the Minecraft community to vote on a mob that will get added in Minecraft) The 1.19 update is going to revamp the old swamp biome into a more natural and realistic swamp.

In the end, the 1.17 update was received well by the Minecraft community. Everyone is excited about 1.18 which is getting released on November 30, 2021.

In a world where man has too much faith in A.I.(Artificial Intelligence), Terminator is an iconic movie franchise that holds famous movie quotes, mostly from Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the 1980s, Schwarzeneggar was known for becoming Mr. Universe, a title for the world’s most muscular bodybuilder. Once achieving this, Schwarzeneggar began his acting career using his muscular body. This rewarded him the leading role of The Terminator, giving the character even more intriguing traits such as, short sentences, a heavy Austrian accent, and becoming much more intimidating.

In the earlier movies, the Terminator that was played by Schwarzeneggar was called the Cyberdyne Systems Model 101. Throughout the franchise, more and more types of Terminators are created, making the original in need of an easy-to-remember title. However, that title changes between movies, going from the “T-800” to “The Protector” to “Pops”.

On the other hand, there are a few sayings and scenes that repeat themselves in every movie, making the movies more relatable to each other. A great example is, around the middle of the movie, a terminator chases the main character on the road. In the original The Terminator, the T-800 chases Kyle Reese with a police car. In the second movie, a liquid metal terminator chases Sarah Connor on a motorcycle. In the third movie, the nanotech terminator chases John Connor with a firetruck. Most movies have a car chase.

A less repetitive, but still famous line comes in some of the climaxes of movies. A perfect example of this is in the most recent movie, Terminator: Dark Fate. Arnold Schwarzeneggar is about to jump out of a helicopter and into the enemy’s helicopter thousands of meters in the air, and says, “I’ll be back.”.

Overall, the Terminator has an extremely repetitive storyline for each movie, just with different characters and actors. At the beginning of the movie, two individuals jump back in time and try to protect or tamper with the timeline. After the two meet each other in some way, they engage in a car chase. Then, depending on the movie, one of the two time-travelers dissolves in some way or, if they are the good guy, sacrifices themselves. At the end of the movie, the antagonist dies or gets destroyed, and viewers are left with a cliffhanger on how events in the fantasy world will affect the entire timeline.

Beneath all the action of the Terminator series, there is a hidden theme that should be taken seriously. The director of Terminator, James Cameron, based the world of terminators off on a theoretical situation. He want to show what he thought would happen if the world pursued its desire to give power to an A.I. In multiple Terminator movies, different characters from the future explain how a defense system was given awareness, leading to a powerless human race, and a full-scale bombardment of the entire population. Future individuals also meant that the humans were not in a powerful enough position to destroy the self-conscious A.I. and had to resort to going back in time to fix their mistakes. Cameron wanted his warning to be understood worldwide, so he expressed his concern of A.I. advancement through his movies for the public to better relate.

To this day, the Terminator series brings iconic action and a memorable storyline. I strongly recommend you to watch as many of the movies as you can in order for you to share my love for The Terminator.

There are some holiday movies that a lot of people have heard about. Charlie Brown Christmas, Polar Express, and Home Alone. These are all very popular, traditional, American Christmas films. Halloween has its movies too, such as the nightmare before Christmas (yes I am classifying this as a Halloween movie I don’t care what the title says). Thanksgiving is a huge holiday, but I find it to be widely unrecognized in terms of entertainment, and decoration. I don’t know if you noticed, but the Christmas decorations pop right up in stores after Halloween. What happened to Thanksgiving?

Here are 3 hand-selected thanksgiving films that you can enjoy your holiday with:

Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

This might be one of the most well-known Thanksgiving films. Charlie Brown is known for having great holiday films, and this is one of their most popular. It was made way back in 1973 and is still watched to this day. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s about a kid named Charlie Brown. When his family is invited to his grandmother’s place for the holidays, he gets an unexpected call from a friend, and she ends up inviting herself over to his place for thanksgiving. Charlie being the person he is, decided to throw an extremely early thanksgiving at his place before he went to his grandmother’s. She ends up inviting some more friends, and it only goes downhill from there. It is a classic movie, and if you haven’t watched it I highly recommend you do so.

The Blind Side

At least to me, I did not realize this was a thanksgiving movie. However, research has proven me wrong. This is a touching story about a person named Michael, who recently became parentless and is going through some tough times. A nice woman named Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) sees him and invites him over for thanksgiving. Soon, he becomes part of the family. He ends up playing on a high school football team and gets invited to many prestigious universities. It is a beautiful and sad story about his life, and I highly recommend it. The best part is, it’s true, and he ended up playing for the well-known Baltimore Ravens.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

A classic 80’s comedy movie that is sure to have you laughing. Starring a man named Neal Page (Steve Martin), who is away on a business trip and does everything to get back to his hometown in time for thanksgiving. He runs into a man named Del Griffith (John Candy), a shower curtain ring salesman, who is made to annoy the heck out of Neal. The only problem is that he can’t seem to avoid him. When flying home, the plane breaks down. He tries to take a train, but that doesn’t seem to work either. Tries to rent a car, and someone steals it. Everything goes wrong, he can’t get to his family, and worst of all, he is stuck with Del. This is one of the best movies I have ever seen, and I highly recommend it.

To be honest, all of these movies rock. And if you get the chance, maybe you can see one of them during the holidays!

Here is a Thanksgiving crossword puzzle that you can try for fun

Answer Key, I'm really sorry about the formatting idek what happened

Good Luck!

How to Make Devilishly Good Chocolate Chip Cookies

Disclaimer: This article is humorous. The instructions that are surrounded by asterisks are a joke and not to be taken seriously. The rest of this article will make incredible shortbread chocolate chip cookies that I found in the New York Times cooking column that I have edited.

*When I was a child I loved coming home on crisp autumn evenings, running to my room, opening my worn copy of the Necronomicon. I fondly remember summoning entities beyond human understanding and sacrificing several pounds of butter to Eg'beter, an ancient deity beyond reality, to receive these soul-warming cookies. I really hope that people will follow this excellent recipe.*

These are the ingredients you will need.

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons/255 grams total salted butter (2¼ sticks), cold (room temperature if you're using a handheld mixer), cut into ½-inch pieces

½ cup/100 grams granulated sugar

¼ cup/55 grams light brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

*1 Peacock goat (Amazing time saver but not required)*

*Several Beeswax candles*

2 ½ cups/325 grams all-purpose flour

6 ounces/170 grams semisweet or bittersweet dark chocolate, chopped

1 large egg, beaten

*4 eggs laid by a rooster*

Demerara sugar, for rolling

Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling

You will need this equipment.

An Oven

A refrigerator

A stand or hand mixer is recommended

*A copy of the necronomicon (at least 5th edition)*

Plastic wrap

*A cursed whisk made from damascus steel*

Wax paper

Multiple baking sheets.

Now it's time to get cooking.

The first thing you will want to do is line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or an electric hand mixer, beat the butter, both sugars and vanilla on medium-high till it’s super light and fluffy (3 to 5 minutes for a stand mixer; 6 to 8 for a hand mixer). Using a spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl and, with the mixer on low, slowly add the flour, followed by the chocolate chunks, and mix just to blend. If necessary, knead the dough with your hands to make sure the flour is totally incorporated. At this point, the dough should be smooth and feel like Play-Doh with no pockets of flour.

Next, you should divide the dough in half, placing each half on a large piece of plastic wrap. Fold the plastic over so that it covers the dough to protect your hands from getting all sticky. Using your hands, form the dough into a log shape; rolling it on the counter will help you smooth it out, but don’t worry about getting it totally perfect. (Don't be afraid to make them compact. Shortbread is supposed to be dense. That's part of why it's so good.) You can also do this using parchment paper if you prefer, but plastic wrap is easier when it comes to shaping the log. Each half should form a 6-inch log, 2 to 2¼ inches in diameter. Chill until totally firm, about 2 hours.

When you have finished the dough you should heat the oven to 350 degrees. Brush the outside of the logs with the beaten egg and roll them in the demerara sugar (this is for those really delicious, crisp edges).

The last thing you need to do before you can eat your amazing cookies is that you should use a serrated knife, carefully slice each log into ½-inch-thick rounds (if you hit a chocolate chunk, slowly saw back and forth through the chocolate). If the cookies break or fall apart, just press them back together — the dough is very forgiving. Place them on the prepared baking sheets about 1 inch apart (they won’t spread much). Sprinkle with flaky salt. Bake until the edges are just beginning to brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool slightly before eating them all.

Who Invented Skydiving

Who thought it would be a good idea to jump out of a plane, cliff or mountain with only a piece of cloth stopping you from death? Well, Sima Qian, who was given the title Lord Grand Historian recorded the first ever use of a parachute in 90 BC.

The young future emperor, Shun, was lured to the top of a seven story silo to which his step brother set the bottom on fire. By only using a bamboo hat and clothing, he jumped out of the window and descended to the ground safely.

In 1470, Francesco di Giorgio Martini, an architect, had a design for a cone shaped parachute. Leonardo da Vinci later used the Francesco di Giorgio Martini model to make prototypes of his first parachute.

Who was the First Person to skydive

The first person to actually skydive was a French man in the 18th century named Monsieur Garnerin. Ever since ballooning (hot air balloons) gained traction amongst humans all over the world, people speculated what amazing air stunts you could do while falling. However, there also needed to be a safe way down and with the invention of parachutes, Monsieur Garnerin was the first and then opened it to the public.

A Recreational Activity and Military Sport

It turns out that falling out of the sky and safely landing is good for getting your troops to carry medical supplies or weapons faster and more effectively than getting gliders out of a little hot air balloon. Nowadays, people sky dive for a rush of adrenaline and

excitement of plummeting to the ground from a plane hundreds of thousands feet in the air.

One of the most desired brands out there are JDM cars. JDM stands for Japanese Domestic Market, which refers to vehicles and parts designed to conform to Japanese regulations and to suit Japanese buyers.

2021 Nissan GT-R

The first car on my list of the best JDM cars is the 2021 Nissan GT-R. The manufacturer’s suggested retail price (The MSRP) is roughly $113,540, which is the suggested price the car should go for at a car dealership or anywhere else you can purchase it. The 2021 Nissan GT-R also has 565-600 horsepower which means you can accelerate faster, and hit the car's top speed. The good thing about this car is that it’s top speed is 205 miles per hour which is the fastest top speed of any Nissan manufactured car.

1999 Nissan Skyline R34

The next car on my list is the 1999 Nissan Skyline R34. It’s original MSRP was $45,000, but in 2021, the new suggested retail price is now seventy-one thousand dollars. This car has been legalized to import from Japan for some time now yet it is still very expensive because of the modifications and the delivery of the vehicle. The Nissan Skyline R34 gives the driver the option to make it a manual or an automatic for the people who prefer either a better option instead of just having it be one or the other.

2021 Acura NSX

The first non Nissan car I’m adding to my list is the 2021 Acura NSX. The suggested retail price for this car is a whopping $157,500, however the price gets made up by the 573 horsepower, and top speed being 191 miles per hour. The NSX has a 9 speed transmission and has semi-automatic transmission. Whereas all of that is good, the 2021 Nissan GT-R is cheaper by approximately forty-thousand dollars and it is faster.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV

In August of 1996, an amazing car was released by Mitsubishi, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV. The suggested retail price for this car is about $16-17,000. It is a 5-speed manual transmission car with a top speed of 147 mph. During the summer of 2020, the Lancer Evo IV became street legal in the United States.

In summary, JDM cars have been around for a long time and if you're looking for a reliable car with high power and good handling, JDM is something you should consider looking into.

Far Cry 6 is the newest game in the Far Cry franchise continuing the first person shooter gameplay. Like all the other Far Cry games it is based off of the wilderness survival environment, this time in Cuba. In the past, Far Cry games have been generally well received by the gaming community for their open world game play. The Far Cry franchise is considered a big commercial success. Ubisoft has decided that Far Cry 6 will not be a prequel or a sequel to the past Far Cry games; having prior games in the collection will not be necessary. In Far Cry 6, the main villain will be a dictator named Antón Castillo. This is his first appearance in the franchise.

The new Far Cry game is available on Windows PC, Xbox Series x|s and Xbox One, Playstation 5 and Playstation 4, Google Stadia, and Amazon Luna. Unfortunately, Far Cry 6 is a very CPU intensive game. Here are the game disk storage numbers: for PS4 and Xbox One it will take up 40 GB of space. For PS5 and Xbox x|s, it is 50 GB. PC will take up 60 GB. Far Cry 6 Standard Edition costs $59.99, and for the gold edition, which includes the season pass that adds three DLC missions featuring villains from past games, it is $99.99.

Far Cry 6 takes place in 2021 on the fictional Caribbean island of Yara. It is the “largest playground to date”. Yara’s dictatorial military junta is led by “El presidente” Antón Castillo who is training his son Diego to succeed him.

The player takes the role of a local Yaran rebel who’s name is Dani Rojas, a former enlist in the Yaran military turned guerilla fighting for freedom. Dani attempts to restore their nation's former glory. The player can select Dani’s gender at the start of the game.

Wow, this is my first article of the year! It’s so weird being in 8th grade… It feels… like I was in 6th grade just yesterday. I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and I think they turned out pretty good. But I left that up to my parents.

First, I started with cleaning the kitchen but that was pretty boring and I don’t think that would be interesting so let’s skip to the more interesting parts! I put on some music because I work better to music. Some songs from Hamilton (which I ended up listening to for most of the time) and some other stuff and started with getting the ingredients. I got them all out because it’s easier than going back and forth between the pantry and the kitchen. So I got out the sugars, brown sugar and white sugar, and the chocolate chips. Those ingredients were in the pantry so I brought them over to the kitchen.

Just to say this, the recipe calls for “pure vanilla extract” which is vanilla extract. I didn’t have any but it’s pretty easy to find at the grocery store (I did have vanilla extract but just not the kind the recipe necessarily wanted). I went back over to the pantry and got the flour. I scuttled back over to the kitchen and set the tub of flour on the counter. I opened the cabinet and tried not to hit my head as I did. I got out all the spices. Then I went back over to the pantry and wondered if we had any pumpkin puree, but I knew that we did. I eventually found it after some searching.

I had to find butter but I didn’t know if we had any so I had to check the fridge and freezer. I found some in the freezer but obviously, it was frozen. So the obvious choice of melting it was sticking it into the microwave for a minute or two (it totally didn’t overheat and go all over the microwave and I had to clean it up...). Smart life choices. Oh, I also put the sugars into a bowl that I had gotten out when I had gotten out the ingredients. I got out two bowls but I would ultimately need three. Once the butter had melted (and I had gotten everything cleaned up, which is going to be a very common theme in these articles), I poured it into the bowl with the sugars while whisking.

Then I added some vanilla extract. When I did, the mixture took on a noticeable difference. It became runnier than before. I measured out some pumpkin puree on a scale and the recipe said to blot the pumpkin puree to get rid of any excess moisture. Once I measured out the pumpkin puree, I had to dab it with some paper towels to get rid of the excess moisture. You also have to work pretty quickly for this part, which I didn’t really, because it starts to set and harden. Once I added the pumpkin puree, it took on a light orange color. I set the concoction aside while I worked on the dry ingredients.

I measured out the flour and the spices. I started with the salt (which is important in every recipe in some way. In sweets and baking, it makes it taste sweeter) and ended with cinnamon. Next, I mixed in the pumpkin concoction. To me, it felt and looked like bread dough that had too much flour put in at one time (it looks and feels pretty stringy and you can see the layers of dough mixed in with the flour). Once I got all of it combined, it didn’t feel soft. It was wearing out my arm (I think I also snapped a spatula when I was mixing… rip the spatula. Also, sorry Radek. I didn’t snap it on purpose). I also mixed in the chocolate chips at that time. The bowl I was mixing it in was too big for the amount of dough, so I moved it into a smaller bowl, stuck it in the fridge, and chilled it for about 30 minutes.

I wanted to eat a late lunch, aka lunch at like three in the afternoon but I only ate like one bite of pizza because I wasn’t feeling hungry. I ended up preheating the oven instead and wandering around and waiting. I also cleaned up the kitchen. I got a baking sheet out of the pantry. The cooling rack too. I set up the baking sheet with a silicone mat and I have these ice cream scooper thingies that I use primarily for measuring out dough. You can get them on Amazon for about 10 dollars.

I got very sidetracked when my mom came into the kitchen with a caterpillar that she was very proud of. I, of course, freaked out when I saw it and I kept trying to usher her out of the kitchen because of it (just for the sake of this, I don’t hate bugs). When the 30 minutes was up, I took the dough out of the fridge and got mildly distracted again, this time because of some vinegar that got spilled on the ground. I’m not going to go into detail but I put the dough back into the fridge while I was cleaning it up (which I didn’t do a very good job at because I had to go back the day after and clean it up).

I didn’t have a 1.5 Tbsp (Tablespoon) scooper to measure the dough out with so I just rounded down and used the 1 Tbsp instead. I was following the recipe pretty faithfully except for the fact that I pre-heated the oven to 325ºF instead of 350ºF. I scooped out the dough into my hand (which were clean by the way, I think...) and rolled them into little balls. I probably didn’t need to do this, but whatever. What’s done is done. Once I had 12 on my sheet, I flattened them with the backside of a spoon and stuck them in the oven for about 11 minutes. I knew that they weren’t going to be done when I checked on them. When I did, I decided that they needed about 5 more minutes.

So, they baked for about sixteen minutes total. By that time I had brought in a chair; I had been standing for about two and a half hours. I repeated the process, minus getting a chair, with the second batch. In total, I had twenty-two cookies. They were good and I would make them again, but I don’t wanna have to go through the three-hour process again to make them. But the reason it probably took so long is that it was my first time making them. My mom said, in her words, “they were very good”. But on the day I made them, they were still a little too soft for me. They were better than the second day though. I say that because we had finished them.

Thank you for reading! See you in a couple of weeks.

Also, here’s the link to the site I got the recipe from Link

Thank you to Zoey Mintzer for suggesting this recipe.

And I did not steal Radek's title. He gave me permission to use it and to continue his series

The Pinnacle of Beauty: Marvel's Grand Slam

Hello, readers. I’m Emaad Khawaja and I’m here to welcome you to Spoiled Tomatoes: The completely original and copyright-free movie review series that nitpicks your favorite films to the brink of insanity. Each review consists of an analysis followed by a swanky TomatoDial percentage rating, with 0% being Cars 2 and 100% being Wall-E.

Today I’m here to discuss an absolute firecracker of a movie: the latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings. You may have heard critics say that this movie is a “bland Black Panther rip-off” (theDailyBeast) but those people are dead wrong. This movie feels like a live-action Kung Fu Panda movie, in all the best ways. Packed to the brim with humor, action, and moments that, while not enough to flood you with tears, will at least stir some emotion in the audience.

Shang-Chi, shockingly enough, follows the story of Shang-Chi (Simu Liu), a careless valet parker, and his friend Katy (Awkwafina). While on a bus, Shang-Chi is attacked by his father’s trained assassins and reveals his true identity as Bruce Lee on steroids. Shang-Chi must then find his sister, Xialing (Meng’er Zhang), to stop whatever the heck their immortal father is up to.

Watching this movie in theaters was an experience and a half. Every second was enthralling, every fight scene intense. However, this movie is not without its faults. Many scenes often felt boring and repetitive, as you get sick of the five-minute montages the twelfth time they come around. In addition to this, Shang-Chi suffers from the same problem as a few of the Shrek films: ruining character development scenes with a cheap punchline. Because of this, it can be difficult to grow attached to some of the characters, namely Katy. In an attempt to fix this, the movie awkwardly tries to squeeze in the aforementioned dull flashbacks that seem like a lazy way to add screen time. While the lows may be low, the highs are astronomical. If you’ve seen Captain America: The Winter Soldier before, you’ll remember the iconic highway fight scene. Every action sequence in Shang-Chi is like this: fantastic. The stunts in this film (which account for a solid chunk of the movie) have you on the edge of your seat in scenes that absolutely blow everything else out of the water. Beautiful CGI shots manage to modernize, celebrate, and grasp the majestic scale of Asian culture.

All in all, this movie is a ride of its own. A phenomenal cast delivers a phenomenal performance in an overall phenomenal film. While admittedly not the greatest entry in the Marvel franchise, the movie remains a solid two hours and 12 minutes of action-packed content. Even if you aren’t an avid MCU fanatic, this standalone movie is definitely worth your watch.

TomatoDial Rating: 89%

Fill out the form below and tell me which movie you want psychoanalyzed next!

We all have our favorite books and genres that we love to read. Maybe you like to read fantasy, fiction, sci-fi, or even mystery, but have you ever read dystopian? Well, if not, I have a treat for you. These next couple of books are some of my favorites, so enjoy!

The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau

Grade 7+

Upon graduating from school, Malencia "Cia" Vale of the Five Lakes Colony is chosen to take part in the Testing, a mysterious process in which young adults are selected to attend University. At first, she is overjoyed at the news, but her father privately tells her of his vague memories of the Testing. He recalls explosions, death, suffering, and stress. He warns Cia not to trust any of the other candidates. Cia, along with a couple of other classmates leave the Five Lakes Colony for Tosu City, the capital of the United Commonwealth. Cia notices their skimmer (a high-tech vehicle like a floating car) has hidden cameras that catch their every action and word. The first round of Testing is several written exams that test the candidates’ history, math, and reading skills. Cia thinks she performed decently. Later, Cia finds that Ryme (her dorm partner) has committed suicide in their dorm room. Dr. Barnes, the highest Testing official, is not concerned about Ryme's death, asserting the Testing served its purpose at getting rid of the weak.

Maze Runner by James Dashner

Grade Level 9+

The Maze Runner starts off with a bang, where Thomas starts in a metal box with no memory or thoughts of how and why he is in a giant metal box. Seconds later, the box starts to shoot upward at a fast pace. After a couple of minutes, the box suddenly stops, and mechanical sounds start happening, resulting in the top of the box slowly starting to open. Lights stream into the black box blinding Thomas. Once Thomas’s eyes start adjusting to the light, he notices dozens of figures standing over the box. One of the figures throws down a rope with a loop in it. Thomas walks over to the rope and puts his foot in it. As soon as he puts his foot in, the people start to pull him up and out of the metal box. When Thomas is pulled from the box, he notices that he was now in a giant paradise, but little did he know that this place was anything but a paradise.

Unwanteds by Lisa McMann

Grade Level 6+

Every year on the island of Quill, kids aged 13 are sent to “the purge” and put into categories: the strong, intelligent Wanteds go to university, where they go and study and get educated. All the while, the artistic and creative Unwanteds are sent to their deaths at the “death farm” where the Eliminators will kill them. Thirteen-year-old Alex tries his hardest to be unemotional when his fate is announced as Unwanted, even while leaving behind his twin, Aaron, a Wanted. As Alex leaves his homeland with the other Unwanteds, he aches for his twin and wishes he and Aaron could be together. When the unwanteds reach the farm, they are greeted by the Eliminators. As the Eliminators start walking towards the unwanteds, the wasteland before them vanishes revealing lush forests and grass, with many people and weird animals walking around expressing emotions. Topping that all off the biggest, grandest mansion ever. Maybe this world is good.

⇩Take the poll down below!⇩

We all know the famous movie quote “Luke, I am your father”, but it’s not how we all remember. Turns out, the famous movie quote was actually “No, I am your father”. How did that happen? Well, it’s something called the Mandela Effect. A Mandela Effect is when a large group of people remembers a certain detail differently than it actually is. Its name comes from Nelson Mandela; when in the 1980s, people remember Nelson being announced dead in prison. They even remember watching the news and his wife giving a speech on his death. Nelson actually died on December 15th, 2013. These examples down below will make you want to pull your hair.

Pikachu, Do You Have A Black Tipped Tail?:

Many people, including me, remember Pikachu with a little black tip on his tail. I even remember drawing Pikachu for my 3rd-grade teacher and coloring the tip black. But it turns out if you search up Pikachu and look at the pictures, there was never a black tip (pictures down below)

This makes me scratch my head.

Luke, I Am Your Father…Wait no

The also coincidental 1980 movie Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, had a movie quote that would go on clothing, videos, and even coffee mugs. How could we have messed up so bad??

Berenstain Or Berenstein :

I don’t know about this one. When I had broken English and had to take an ELD course in school, I always read this book. But all I called it was “Bear Book”; I have no idea why. Yet a lot of people recall remembering it spelled as Berenstein instead of Berenstain. Even the author Stan Berenstain’s son Mike Berenstain says “Don't be ridiculous, it was always spelled Berenstain Bears”. I don’t know about this one.

Curious George Doesn’t Have A Tail? :

I also remember this one. So you would think logically, a monkey is supposed to have a tail. Well, not George. Turns out Curious George never had a tail, Although I remember him hanging on a tree (Picture down below). Some people say they have found a CuriousGeorge residue with his tail on it.

Looney Tunes or Toons? :

You would think it’s called 'Looney Toons’ as in Cartoons instead of tunes, like music. Even I remember it as Looney Toons, but I guess that's not the case. 10,000+ people remember it that way.

There isn’t really an explanation; scientists are still researching it at the moment. They believe that it’s just false memories, while on the other hand, some believe that we are warped into a parallel universe and that’s why small changes happen. Others believe that there might be a time traveler who is corrupting history. And others believe we are in a simulation and that the Mandela Effect is proof. What do you think? Fill the form down below!