EOTT
Eye of the Tiger // Bonanza High School
Plugged In: How social media affects teens
Issue 43 // Volume 1
Table of Contents
News:
Safe Voice- 4 Doing it for the likes- 5 Dangers of a challenge-6
Feature: Fortnite phenomenon-7 Insta vs. Finsta- 8
Opinion: Editorial: How young is too young for social media?- 9 Dangers of a challenge- 10
A&E: Board games vs. video games- 11 Music review: Troye Sivan- 12 Movie review: Searching-13 Top apps- 14 App review: Tasty- 15
Sports: Balancing sports and social media- 16
Eye of the Tiger 6665 W. Del Rey Ave. Las Vegas, NV 89146 (702) 799-4000 eyeofthetigerbhs@gmail.com Managing Editor Angelica Valzquez
Section Editors Leslie Munoz
Staff Writers Jonas Castaneda Maylan Diaz Melissa Een Christopher Gonzalez Lilly Gonzalez Kaleb Gray Kimberly Hernandez Haylea Kenitzer Danny Leonard Alma Sierra Gracia Vargas Tahjea Williams Eye of the Tiger is a public forum for the students of Bonanza High School. The staff will publish news, features, editorials, entertainment and sports stories in an unbiased and professional manner. Editorials are the official opinion of Eye of the Tiger, and in no way reflect the official policy of Bonanza High School, nor the opinions of the administration, faculty or adviser. All content decisions are made by student editors. Business advertisements are accepted in Eye of the Tiger. However, the news publication reserves the right to deny any ad. Those interested in running advertisements can call (702) 799-4000 ext. 4002. Letters to the editors and inquiries may be emailed to hubbab2@nv.ccsd.net and must be signed. Identities for those who submit questions will remain anonymous. The staff reserves the right to edit letters to conform to style and policy. Letters to the editor will be published at the discretion of the staff. Eye of the Tiger is the official student publication that publishes six to eight issues throughout the year.
Does media impede ya?
Tahjea Williams // EOTT
Friends hang out, even though most of them are plugged into their phones at all times.
By: Tahjea Williams Imagine you wake up in the year 1965 where there are no portable phones to send text messages or Facetime. How long could you last? Do you think you could live an entire week without having your cell phone? The discovery of social media has brought the world to become addicted to technology. There are times in life when you shouldn’t be on your phone. You should put it down and enjoy all of the wonders around you. Here’s some ways to keep you distracted enough to get off your phone for a while. Stay engaged in
school. When you are in school it is better to listen to what is being instructed than ignoring the situation and being on your phone. Every time you look down from the whiteboard or your teacher, your mind is focused on your phone and you might miss crucial information. A class is only 47 minutes long. You can wait. Listen to your friends. Many people around the world use their phones 85 percent of the day. When you are hanging out with your friends, you should put your phone in a bag and hang out and have fun. When you are not on your phone you realize how much
fun you have and how much you discover in the world. As much as you are addicted to your phone when you put it down and hang out with your friend you start to notice how much you can enjoy and learn to appreciate hanging out with your friends when everyone is paying attention and not on there phones. Who knows, maybe your friends will follow suit. Wake up naturally. When waking up in the morning, the first thing most people do is check their phone. To get out of the habit of doing that, you could sleep with your phone on the opposite side of the room so that when you
wake up the first thing you do is get out of bed and clean yourself up instead of staying in bed on your phone. You could also just turn it off. Just a suggestion. Go outside. Rather than spend most of your time inside on your phone you should leave your phone inside and take a walk so that you could get some fresh air and exercise. When you use your phone for a long period of time during the day it could cause you to have headaches, migraines and eye irritation because of all the radiation your eyes are inducing from them. You should limit yourself to only using it three hours out of the day so that you are not causing yourself to have those symptoms. Don’t be lazy. Some people use their cell phone for certain scenarios like calling someone from another room when they are in the same facility rather than just getting up and taking the easy way out. This is something that is not good because phones are allowing society to become lazy. You should do what your parents did, and their parents, and all your other ancestors: Walk to the other room and talk to someone in person. Cell phones are an amazing invention but a huge distraction. It is better to put your phone down and enjoy what is going on around you and in the world once in a while.
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Using your voice (anonymously) New CCSD app helps keep campuses safe By: Kimberly HernandezMartinez At the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year, CCSD released Safe Voice, an app created to anonymously report bullying, threats, drugs, and etc. So far, the app is proving to be useful. On the first day of the school year at Green Valley High School, a student reported to a teacher that a classmate was carrying a loaded gun; the teacher then reported it on Safe Voice, the student was apprehended and arrested. Since the start of the school year, there has been nine more incidents involving weapons at schools across the valley. But, with the bad comes the good. Safe Voice has had many good outcomes so far. It helps eliminate the level of negativity that often comes with being a part of any social media platform. “On social media, people are really rough,” senior Ashley Droemer said. “If you take a picture in an unflattering angle or just don’t look good, people immediately jump in and start saying things and they take it a little too far.” What she says rings with much truth. Nowadays people hide behind screens and apps to say the worst of things about
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people that would never have been said to a persons face. Social media has opened gateways to be a bully in a completely different way, with messages, emails, direct messages, comments, etc., acting as stepstools for the bullies to say whatever they please and having them feel as if they will get no punishment. “Bullying happens because bullies have a lot of underlying insecurities that they can’t work out themselves so they try and project it onto others,” Droemer said. It has been somewhat proven that bullying is caused by others insecurities. Bullying others acts as a sort of outlet for those who have bottled up self esteem issues. Usually, bullying happens in middle school but people seem to be more
and more insecure as they grow older. Now that social media is a huge factor in the lives of young adults, bullying over social media is much more common. “I think underclassmen will use Safe Voice more because they see it more and they aren’t used to it,” junior Branden Graves said. “I don’t think upperclassmen will use it because we aren’t fazed by it anymore.” Upperclassmen are much more used to being “bullied” or teased by their friends so they don’t see any need to report it, but the younger students that are in their first or second year aren’t quite used to it. This simply means that the upperclassmen have been around bullying everyday while
“Bullying happens because bullies have a lot of underlying insecurities that they can’t work out themselves so they try and project it onto others.” -Ashley Droemer, senior
the freshmen are experiencing it for the first time. Although it’s not a good thing to be used to getting bullied or teased, it’s certainly something that happens a lot between friends and even family. Bullying or teasing has simply become an everyday thing that is everywhere. “Nowadays bullying has become such a normal thing in our society and it makes me sad, bullying was never as big as an issue as it is now,” junior Angie Trejo said. “Kids kill themselves because of what others say and bullying is still such a big issue.” Suicide is now the third leading cause of death among young people, which results to about 4,400 deaths per year. Over 14 percent of high school students have considered suicide, and about seven percent have tried it. This generation has become a staple for bullying and even though there is a stigma around bullying, it’s still an everyday thing. Safe Voice has proven to be very useful so far this school year, as well as for it being the first year the app is fully up and smoothly running. Several attempts to contact CCSD employees involved in Safe Voice were made before this story went to publication.
Doing it for the likes
By: Gracia Vargas The power of social media has taken a toll on each person who has a cellular device. Social media is defined as applications that share content to participate in social networking. The most common apps that people post pictures or videos on are Instagram,Twitter, and Facebook. Since social media came out, people have been so focused and worried about getting praise and comments on their posts. It is possible to follow people all around the world. Posting pictures and videos is
what people do nowadays all the time to show other people how they look or what they’re doing with their lives. The biggest impact that social media had on other teenagers is they are always fighting for popularity because they want to be known by others. “Having lots of likes and comments is important because it shows how many people know you and how much they liked it,” sophomore Mireya Rincon said. This shows that high schoolers feel it’s important that they have popularity through social media. “I post videos or pictures to show my friends what I’m doing when
I’m not with them,” sophomore Daniel Maldonado said. There have been studies conducted by Pediatrics Clinical Report that social media promotes anxiety and lowers self esteem. The reason it lowers teenagers’ self esteem is because it portrays very beautiful people and it makes people feel as if they have to be like them. “The survey results found that Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram all led to increased feelings of depression, anxiety, poor body image and loneliness,” the report stated. Social media can take a great toll on everyone in this world no matter how old they
are. “I don’t think it’s important to get a lot of likes on social media because there is literally no point,” sophomore Jennifer Perez. “But I just feel obligated to because everyone else is doing it and it seems as if I’m more popular if I get a lot of likes,” Perez said. Social media has made this generation feel as though they have to post pictures, they have to get a lot of likes and comments. “It’s not like I go on there to judge,” senior Ahtziry Rodriguez said. “I go on there becuase I’m bored. I think it’s bad for you. People are stuck on there instead of living in the moment.”
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Dangers of social media challenges Maylan Diaz // EOTT
The eraser challenge was popular with teens, even though it could lead to scarring.
By: Danny Leonard Imagine the most dangerous thing you could do, now film yourself doing it and post it on social media as a new challenge. That is what the new generation of kids and teens are starting to do as a trend. Gen Z (born years 2000-Present), have made new trends on social media applications, such as Instagram and Snapchat, of filming themselves doing the alleged dangerous challenges. Some of these challenges can be physically damaging, life threatening and can even be lethal. Such as the popular Tide Pod challenge where someone tries to consume a Tide Pod. “It is probably more than just they’re stupid,” junior Levi Snowden said. “Peer pressure is certainly part of it. People having an ego, or just wanting to say they did it is a big issue. Just a sense of being better than someone else, which is a very immature approach, but it’s what happens.” Challenges like this have surfaced all over the internet and social media outlets. The
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cinnamon challenge, where someone tries to eat a spoonful of cinnamon with no water. The salt and ice challenge, where someone would start by pouring salt on their arm, and then adding ice onto the salt, causing the salted and iced section of skin to get second to third degree burns similar to frostbite. The light yourself on fire challenge is exactly what it sounds like. Someone would put either hand sanitizer or rubbing alcohol on himself or herself and light it on fire. The alcohol in each substance would burn, but still keep your skin safe, but over long periods of time, the skin would start to burn and cause serious injuries. There is a multitude of more challenges, but will they ever end? “As long as the Internet is around I believe challenges will keep occurring,” sophomore Allison Etrata said. “When people make memes or do a challenge in a video, it has potential to catch on.” Some challenges stem from celebrities, such as the Kiki Challenge/In My Feelings
challenge. This new Internet craze came from the song “In My Feelings” from the hip hop, R&B, pop singer Drake. In this challenge, people are encouraged to step out from their car, wherever they are, and proceed to dance to the song on the side of the road. Regardless if there is traffic, other moving cars, or just an empty street. Some people have done this challenge on highways during rush hour and causing traffic. Potential injuries to the participant, and an overall concern of safety for anyone involved. These challenges stem from internet memes shared on social media apps, most commonly Instagram or Reddit. “These challenges may come from someone who has poor self worth,” Snowden said. “Maybe they think that they aren’t good enough for some things, so they do this for the notoriety, and that’s how they would try to boost their ego, self image, and doing something dangerous.” Most people see a problem with these challenges, but some challenges can be for a good
cause. Not all challenges are bad, such as “The Ice Bucket Challenge” or sometimescalled “The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge” is a challenge that started in June of 2014. A group of personalities from a golf channel program called “Morning Drive” displayed an on-air Ice Bucket Challenge, becoming what most people say is the first increased media attention the challenge had gotten. Soon through the years, the challenge gained Internet fame while multiple celebrities such as Justin Bieber, George W. Bush, and Ethel Kennedy also participated in the challenge. Millions of people have filmed and posted a video of them having ice water poured onto their heads. The premise or cause behind this challenge was to raise awareness for ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Disease). If participants did not want to be covered by ice water, they could make a donation to ALS research and nominate someone else to do the challenge. According to alsa.org, “Since the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge soaked the world four years ago, something had become clear: August is for raising awareness and funds to fight ALS! Every Drop Adds Up builds on the idea that when people come together, we can make the impossible happen. Every person helped, every research project funded AND every discovery made – it all adds up.” This seems to be what this new generation of kids and teens are doing. Is it the smartest or safest things for them to do? Parents should talk to their children about the dangers of these challenges, and warn them before they injure themselves.
The Fortnite phenomenon
Jonas Castaneda, EOTT
By: Jonas Castaneda Imagine parachuting onto an island with 100 different people and only one person can survive. That is what the worldwide phenomenon Fortnite is all about and its here to stay. “Fortnite is still going strong and would probably last another two years,” junior Zaid Cruz said. Many people have suggested that Fortnite’s popularity is due to its free to play concept. “It’s a popular because it’s free to play on every device,” sophomore Roger Contreras said. This free to play factor has massively contributed to the 125 million downloads Fortnite has received. As well as the constant updates that keep the
game fresh. This phenomenon has caught the eye of many celebrities such as Drake, Travis Scott, Chance the rapper, and Juju Smith. Which could also be a reason why it has so many fans. Another aspect Fortnite has to make its income is in its cosmetics and items that they sell. “I’ve spent about $25 on the game,” sophomore Fernando Barrios said. Even with Fortnite being free to play, plenty of people buy skins, back bling’s, and gliders. That can cost up to $20 for one whole set. As well as the battle pass, which is a combination of skins, back bling’s, and gliders put into a leveling up system that requires you to do different challenges. These battle passes can cost $10 to purchase the regular version or you can purchase
the bundle that levels you up to tier 25 out of the 100 tiers in the battle pass. This bundle cost up to $20 in order to purchase it. Customers create websites that portray a way to get thousands of v bucks without having to pay any money. All the user has to do is put in their account information and a transaction goes through. Due to Fortnite being one of the biggest games in the world right, now so many people get tricked into these websites and lose their account and skins. Another way people can get scammed is due to the rarity of certain skins. For example, there is a skin named the skull trooper that only came into the item shop once. Unlike other skins that come to the item shop every one to two days. Since rarity is a big thing
in the Fortnite community many people look to buy or sell accounts for money. If someone has a rare skin in their account they’ll be willing to sell it for almost double the price it came out originally. This goes against the terms of services of Epic Games, the owner’s of Fortnite. Thus making Epic Games having to counter the action of buying and selling accounts. One great way Epic Games has done this is that they are starting to release skins that are considered rare to take away their rarity value. So it looks like the skull trooper will make its way back to the item shop. There seems to be no end of the road for Fortnite at this moment and with the game still not out in China, one can only wonder how big this phenomenon can get.
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By:Angelica Velazquez There have been many trends going on these past few years and this generation has been evolving in social media. Instagram has been one of the most popular apps this year, but is making two accounts the cool thing to do now? Many Instagram users have become owners of two separate accounts. One for regular posts with what you think would interest your followers and the other “Finsta” for you to personally rant/vent to the few followers, that you truly trust enough to let follow the second account. “A Finsta is where you post stupid stuff you only would want your close friends to see,” senior Leslie Carmona said. Some teenagers would believe that this could be a dumb idea and a waste of time. “I feel like kids have been getting peer pressure by their friends to be a part of a trend like this, and if you don’t comply and make a second account you wouldn’t be cool enough, ”senior Patricia Bardocz said. Bardocz believes that people should be themselves and not care if your friends try to judge you. A person should never feel pressured to do anything, especially if you feel like you could be doing something more productive, like homework instead of procrastinating doing something that will not help you out in the future. There are also teens that are a part of the trend and think that it can be a place where you can relieve yourself by typing it all away and posting it to your followers. “I think this trend started because people started going through things and they wanted to let people know so they can maybe help or get advice,” junior Makiya Shepard said.
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a t s n I
vs. a t s n Fi
Angelica Velazquez // EOTT
“The internet has definitely changed mindsets throughout the years.” - Richman Mahlangu, counselor It is good having a support system and maybe it is easier for kids to express themselves through the internet other than in person. “I have two separate accounts and I did it willingly,” Shepard said. I love the idea of it.
The internet will always have its share of good and bad, but sometimes it can be used to influence others in a bad way. “The internet has definitely changed mindsets throughout the years,” counselor Richman Mahlangu said. “You can get so much information
from the internet but also it can become harmful if harmful things are posted.” Mahlangu personally has an Instagram account. Not knowing what “Finsta” is, he stated that it can be a fun way to talk to your family and friends. The internet can be a way of expressing yourself and showing your followers what you have been up to, maybe one day people won’t mind what others think about themselves and can focus on pure positivity from your loved ones.
The new generation of the social media world
How young is too young? By: Editorial Staff Social media has made a huge impact on society since MySpace came abroad and the Internet became a whole other world. But do we think that it is sacrificing our childhood? There was a time when kids played outside and only had to worry about not breathing too hard while hiding during hide-n-seek, or having to wait 30 minutes before jumping back in the pool after eating. Now, our youth is only worried about getting enough views on our Musically videos and having more than 1,000 followers on Instagram. This is what childhood has become. Are parents to blame? We like to believe they are. In situations like this we always like to find the main source of the problem and it always comes back to the same thing: parents. If it isn’t your parents giving you permission to join Instagram, it can be the simple action of giving you a phone at such a young age. Kids are very naive and they can affect
The Internet has become a dangerous place and more and more kids are joining social media. It has become normal for a 5-year-old to have thousands of followers. each other’s actions to do things that maybe aren’t right. It has become very easy to lie about your age while signing up for these websites, and social media isn’t making it any harder, even after all the bad situations that have happened these past years. Kids have been ending up in the hospital due to many of these challenges. The “kiki challenge” where you dance outside of a moving car has caused many kids to get ran over. There was also a time where kids sang the ABC’s while rubbing an eraser on their skin, which causes burns. Peer pressure is one of the
biggest factors in which kids do these challenges; they can become pressured by their friends or even by simply watching everyone else do it online. Kids have been endangering their lives just to be a part of a challenge trend. Has it gotten to the point where setting yourself on fire or eating Tide Pods for the fun of it is more important than finishing your math homework? The Internet has become a dangerous place and more and more kids are joining social media. It has become normal for a 5-year-old to have thousands of followers. How old is too young to join the
Internet fame? Kids under the age of at least 13 shouldn’t be able to join the Internet. They should enjoy their childhood and experience all the good moments they can have without having any worries before becoming adults. Learning to appreciate every single moment in life is something kids should never take for granted because they will regret it later on. Kids are more likely to become influenced by others on the Internet simply by wanting to be a part of a trend and as we hoped this was all the negatives to this situation, but they aren’t. The web is becoming very unsafe and if you’re not smart enough to ignore or report a problem, things can go very wrong. Even though we wished this were never a problem, there are sexual predators out there and they know how gullible children can really be. Kids are the future of this planet but do we truly believe they have what it takes to face all the hardships of life?
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Is the danger worth the followers?
The cinnamon challenge could lead to inflammation and infection, which can lead you to possibly become very ill.
By: Maylan Diaz Did you know that more than 1,000 children in the United States have been to the point of death, all due to social media challenges? So, if so many kids are dying, why are we still doing it? There are many dangerous social media challenges. Some of these dangerous challenges are the cinnamon challenge, the salt and pepper challenge and many more. People complete these challenges to get more likes and to keep up with trends. They just don’t want to feel left out of whatever is popular at the time. More challenges done means more followers. More followers means more popularity for one’s self. No one should participate in them. These challenges can cause serious consequences, but, yet, people around the world still upload videos of them trying to complete the challenges. The cinnamon challenge
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is where participants swallow a teaspoon of ground cinnamon in under a minute without drinking any liquid. The inhalation of cinnamon can damage your lungs. This could lead to inflammation and infection, which can lead you to possibly become very ill. Another is the salt and ice challenge, where participants place ice on a part of their body and then place salt on the ice, which creates an extreme burning sensation. The salt and ice challenge is very dangerous. Not only can this cause body scarring, but it can possibly lead to frostbite and third degree injuries. A similar challenge is the
eraser challenge, which is a game where you erase your skin while saying the alphabet and coming up with a word for each letter. Once you are done with the alphabet, you compare your skin to your friends to see the difference. This is absurd. Another effect of this challenge is your skin is most likely going to get infected because of the burn. The chubby bunny challenge is one of the more tamer challenges. It is a challenge where participants have to put as many marshmallows as you can in their mouth while being able to say “chubby bunny”. Although this could lead to choking, it is not deadly or as dangerous as other challenges.
I have tried this challenge before and it is fun to participate in, but always with a limit of not extending yourself to prevent causing a harm to yourself. I haven’t tried any of the dangerous challenges because I don’t want to harm myself. I don’t think any of my friends have tried these challenges, either. It’s just not worth it. Most social media challenges are very dangerous. Parents should not allow their child to participate in these trends. Society can do better with helping these challenges stop by stopping these videos going viral and deleting this video from the internet before they become trendy or viral.
Board, video games have unique pros and cons
By: Kaleb Gray Board games and video games are similar in many ways but also very different. For example, video games are more modern while board games are not. Video games aren’t good for the eyes, but there are many pros to playing them. Playing video games improve coordination. When adults or children are playing, the activities and actions on the screen provide a lot of mental stimulation. They can also improve problem-solving skills because of the rules the games have. When someone’s playing, they have to think carefully before making a move to make sure they’re following the rules and they have to split-second decisions throughout the game that determine whether they go to the next level or not. Video games also enhance the player’s memory because they’re required to read or listen to instructions that they’ll
Board games help people to respond better to situations that require quick judgment and agility.
have to remember while playing said game. There are also cons, such as addiction, most people who play video games always sit in one place without maintaining their daily schedule. People with a video game addiction may be at a greater risk for depression and anger. Many teens or adults usually end up spending most of their money on new video games or gaming equipment. As addiction worsens, people tend to spend more time and less time with family or friends. This can cause them to socially isolate themselves due to the lack of in-person contact.
Board games have many different pros to them, like how they lower stress. They’re healthy distractions to unwind and help the player’s mind muscle work at the same time. Board games also help speed people’s responses by keeping the player’s mind more focused. Board games help people to respond better to situations that require quick judgment and agility. Board games are a crucial role in a child’s development and growth by helping them acquire logical and reasoning skills along with critical thinking. Although they can be lots of fun, board games tend to get boring and repetitive. Some people say that board games are a waste of time and money.
When playing, if you wanted to take a break or continue another day, you wouldn’t be able to without leaving it out somewhere. They can sometimes get wild depending on if you’re playing with a competitive person or not and it can cause arguments to stir up, leading to a bunch of yelling and never finishing the game. Many people prefer the internet to board games because it’s more modern and addictive. Board games get old with time and eventually break. I’d choose video games rather than board games mainly because I like how some video games have different story lines with alternate endings and my family gets crazy while playing video games.
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Full Bloom
Sivan is in By: Alma Sierra Lozano “I want to make music for people like me, and make something real about what’s actually going on in my life”, said Troye Sivan. Sivan, an international star, is best known by his biggest break back in 2009 when he starred as a young wolverine in X-Men. He is known for being an LGBTQ icon. Sivan, 23, began singing and acting at a young age, but his music debut was back in 2007 when he dropped his first EP, Dare To Dream. His newest album, Bloom, gives off a soft-rock vibe. This is his second album, where he focuses on queer joy and the nuances of romance. It is unlike anything you have heard from Sivan previously. It was released on August 31, 2018. One of his best tracks is, “The Good Side”. This song tugs at your heartstrings with honest lyrics. It is poetic, positive, and thoughtful. Another is “My My My!” dropped along with an 80’s inspired music video. Like a pair of glitter-heeled boots, it begs for you to strut as reverbed drums clack and shake in the background. The lyrics tells you about a romantic encounter with a male suitor. It also shows the singer at the peak of his confidence, in both attitude and sexuality. Lastly, “Seventeen”, emphasizing on how he went looking for love and how he is open about being homosexual. The song talks about him
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having intimate relationships with older men and losing his innocence. This coming-of-age song gets the album off to a great start. “Bloom”, the album’s title song, gives off a dull feeling, yet it makes you feel upbeat because the beat is party-like. With a confusing song, it’s difficult for the listener to understand exactly what Sivan wants them to feel from this tune. The next song is, “Postcard”. Which makes you want more, but knowing it won’t come disappoints the listeners. “Animal” is not your average pop song, it’s a sweeping five-minute confession of love oozing with feeling. Which also makes it a tedious track. From the cassette tape sound effect to the roomy luminance on Sivan’s vocal. Overall, his album has shown such a clear side of his life. Making it relatable to those feeling the same as him. Wanting to make a carefree environment for the LGBTQ , he always shows his feelings through his music. Bloom is done and dusted in 35 crisp minutes. Rating: 7/10
Searching finds success Film takes us down a dark web of lies By: Christopher Gonzalez No need to silence your phone while watching Aneesh Chaganty’s Searching because the movie has some notifications of its own. The film Searching uses a old concept but does it much better than any other. It uses screens and windows on laptops and phones to tell the story. The characters communicate through messages and video chat and we learn other information through live streams and videos on characters phones. Some people may see this as a gimmick but it ends up working very well and it really adds to the movie. Most of the story is told through the screen of Margo’s (Michelle La) laptop, the missing character. David, the father (John Cho), spends most of the film using it to find clues and evidence on where his daughter went missing. Throughout his searching you get to see his expressions through a FaceTime window. As the story goes on you can see him begin to get frustrated at the lack of evidence. A lot of the side characters in the movie don’t really help the father with leads and information causing him to feel lost and lose hope. You really begin to feel sorry for the characters and their misfortune. The acting in the movie is exceptional. You can really see the father’s sorrow and anger at times and that’s thanks to Cho’s talent. The way Cho portrays the father adds even more to the film. You feel sorry for the characters and you start to put yourself in their situation. Michelle La does a great job at playing Margot. The way she shows Margot’s emotions through the photos on the laptop really get the point across. The cinematography in Searching is great for the fact that they have to show the audience everything through a screen or window. The directors somehow found a way to make the screen feel less like a movie screen and more like a laptop. The windows feel authentic, as does the typing and searching. Together with good acting and great cinematography some scenes can feel real and it leads to the audience being more attached to the characters in the movie. The live news scenes really looks like a real live reported incident, it
Photo courtesy of Stage 6 Films
looks just like something you would see when turning on your tv. The score for Searching was done by Torin Borrow dale. He does a good job at making the scene feel even more suspenseful or nostalgic. The first song “New User” gets you ready for the experience and the ending song “Epilogue” really caps the movie off and makes it feel finisished. Throughout songs like “Breaking News” make the scenes even more authentic by adding a lot of suspense. Overall Searching is a excellent movie and brings a lot of new concepts to film making. The future of film is vast and we can expect new experiences when watching. This film took a old concept and made it fresh and improved upon it. Searching wouldn’t be the same if it was told like a regular film. The concept of the story being told through the computer makes the movie and also breaks the bank. Rating: 9/10
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What’s the best social media app? By: Leslie Munoz Social media. It’s the place to see videos, post pictures, tweet thoughts and share memories with friends and even strangers. Teens nowadays are accustomed to using apps for social media as a way to connect with others. But, what is truly the best app out there? There are other apps and websites for the use of social media, but these are the top five most used amongst people. 5. Snapchat. the photo-messaging app. This app has had its ups and downs. Through out the years it has lost its touch. A lot of teens still use this app. Pros: It can be used to send silly pictures using its provided face filters, see what celebrities are promoting or what your friends are up to through their stories. When uploading to snapchat it deletes within 24 hours after uploading. Cons: After Snapchat released an update, a lot of people did not support it because of its weird changes (Snapchat has some what fixed it). The format of the app isn’t all that great because of the update. You can’t update you username. So if you made an account in sixth grade and the username is embarrassing, you cant change it without deleting you whole account. Its almost like Snapchat thought it was better then the
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rest so it wanted to improve more and more, but it only made it not so great. All in all, Snapchat can use a few changes but it is the original app for stories. Rating: 4/10 4. Facebook. This is the place for you to post a picture and have family or friends like and comment. It is considered the “old people app.” Cons: Older people tend to use this app more then others, it’s easy to use. Nothing new ever happens. It’s not that great, Facebook has transformed into a place for businesses to promote their products. Pros: Easy to use. Has a sub-app called Messenger, where you can message other people who have a Facebook account. As for the “format” of the app, it’s still the same and nothing has changed. Facebook is for posting pictures so family members and friends to like or comment. Rating: 6/10 3. Instagram. The app to post pictures for the likes or to brag about what you are doing. It can be used to upload videos and photos. Pros: The different photo editing filters and the incredible features that can be used before uploading something. Instagram also has ‘stories,’ where you can upload something and it disappears within 24 hours, almost like Snapchat but better. Cons: When it comes to
Instagram your news feed may not be organized in chronological order. For example you might see something that was posted 15 minutes ago, continue scrolling and see something posted three days ago. This app can be addicting and people may obsess on how many followers or likes they get, its not healthy. Representatives from Instagram have said they are working on an update to fix this; nothing has been done as of now. Overall this app is an amazing platform with a large online community to share pictures or to see others lives through the screen. Rating: 8/10 2. Twitter. One of the best social media platforms, where you can tweet, like and retweet anything you’d like, almost like an open diary. Pros: I can be used to be informed on what is happening in the world. What’s on Twitter differs from world news, celebrity drama/info, memes and just about anything. As soon as something important happens it trends all over twitter. It is not a verified news source, but you still get updated every second, minute and hour. You get to follow whom you want and see what you want to see on your feed. Twitter also has the option for you to edit what you would want to see through out the app. Cons: One important thing missing from Twitter
that needs to be added is an edit tweet button, because when you tweet something and there’s a grammar error, you have to reply to your own tweet correcting yourself. In general, Twitter lets you safely interact with people around the world and you get to share your random thoughts letting others see. Rating: 9/10 1. YouTube. A place to watch unlimited content from music to Muk-bangs. The place where most social media celebrities got discovered. Pros: When making an account, you have the ability to create and upload videos. You get to discover different content. People get famous off of YouTube, so it’s an opportunity. Cons: Nowadays YouTube doesn’t do a great job of monitoring what gets uploaded. They age restrict videos that shouldn’t be restricted and they don’t age restrict videos that should be. The ads, before the beginning of videos, ads help creators make money. But it can still be annoying trying to watch a video and an ad randomly pops up. The only way to get rid of them is to sign up for YouTube Premium; this is a monthly subscription where you can get ad free videos/ music and shows created by YouTube. Not only is this app a platform for you to get famous it’s also a place to discover different things. Rating: 9/10
HASTY BUT STILL By: Melissa Een Most people know about the recipes Tasty publishes, however few people know what it’s like to make them yourself. Tasty was created by Buzzfeed in the summer of 2015 as a Facebook-only cooking platform. It was an instant hit in the Facebook community, and soon Buzzfeed started coming out with subplatforms targeting different cultures, like Bien Tasty for South American food and Proper Tasty for brits. Tasty now has 96,765,807 followers and counting on Facebook alone, not to mention their Twitter and Instagram pages, which continue to gain popularity. Needless to say, the general public loves to watch them put together delicious food in front of a camera. Even if we can’t eat the things we see on screen, we love to see how it’s made. The videos themselves are short and sweet, easy to follow and understandable enough to re-create easily. The directions are simple and accurate. They are shown via a pair of hands
that go through the steps with you, tutorial style. It’s easy to understand what you are supposed to do because you can see exactly what they did and replicate it yourself. If you don’t know how to fold egg whites into a mixture, the video will show you how. Buzzfeed’s choice to use a bird’s-eye view is interesting, as previous to the Tasty videos, most tutorials were created in a portrait style so you could see the cook as they made the food. This somewhat unique way of filming suits Tasty’s persona perfectly, it’s minimalistic and doesn’t show the viewer anything that they don’t need to see. A major problem when creating these recipes is the un-
common ingredients that are required. These recipes aren’t something you decide to make on a whim, you have to watch the video several times to compile a list of ingredients and shop around for the things you don’t have. Cooking, in this day and age, isn’t something that one learns from a cookbook. If you want to learn how to make something you don’t go to the library, you go to a computer and look up a DIY on youtube. Tasty knows this and capital-
izes not only on it, but on the fact that cooking is more of a spectator sport than ever before. Many people go on their page just to see the things they make and don’t really think about making the food for themselves. It’s something like watching football, you don’t think about going and playing, you just watch to see other people create something amazing. Tasty is successful for a reason, and it’s because they know how to cater to what the public wants. Rating: 9/10
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Touchdowns and touchscreens
Haylea Kenitzer // EOTT
Football players study for their chemistry test before practice.
Athletes balance field, social media life By: Haylea Kenitzer One of the only times teenagers are truly unplugged from their phones is when they are at practice or a game. Even then, are they still thinking about their social media, or are they able to focus on the task at hand? The football team at Bonanza High School knows how to balance their sports and social media lives. Many of the players have learned to balance time spent on football and school than social media. Even though the boys might be putting effort into their education and extracurricular activities, social media still affects the players lives, and sometimes distracting them from their top priorities.
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Varsity coach Dion Lee, the varsity coach at Bonanza, says that all of his students use social media. Coach Lee explained how the players use social media as the only way to communicate outside of the practices and games with each other. “It takes away their focus and concentration on the task at hand, it is just another distraction,” he said. Varsity coach Lee also uses social media. “I love it if you use it in a promotional way, and in a learning way but I don’t like it due to the fact that it’s fun and jokes, utilized for fun and jokes,” he said. Social media also affects the coach, he explained how it helps promote positivity and gets the word out for the day or
the feeling in a moment. “Sometimes they’ll try to put you down, you’ll have people that try to put you down but you can’t let that get to you, you just got to fight it,” sophomore football player Armando Moreles said. He personally knows that there will be people on social media and in real life that don’t like you. Armando Moreles says that being a football player sometimes he does get more likes and follows on instagram and sometimes he doesn’t. He explained that pressure levels between social media and football is very high, like an eight out of ten. Armando balances social media and football, but he doesn’t let social media affect football or distract him. Another football player
on the freshman team, Rajan Owens, also is a social media user. He uses snapchat and Instragram but he does not allow that to interfere with football. On social media he is treated like a friend where as on the football team, he is treated like a regular person. “I set boundaries,” Owens said. “I set time limits. They get caught with their ego to the point where they lose focus on what they’re doing,” Whether it is between pushing social media to the side, not using it, or setting time limits, the teammates usually know how to manage their schedule. Many of the guys do have social media and are distracted, but that doesn’t stop their drive for football success.