Remember that? Well We do too

REMEMBER THAT? WEST HIGH SCHOOL

???

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW

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VOLUME 42 ISSUE 42

Well, we do too

MAY 20, 2016

TABLE OF CONTENTS MUSIC OF THE EARLY 2000s (03) FASHION OF THE EARLY 2000s (04-05) YOUR KIDS CUISINE: DON’T PASS THE PLATE (06) NOSTALGIC MOVIES (07) SEVENTH GENERATION CONSOLE WAR (08-09) DISNEY VERSUS DREAMWORKS (10-11) PIXAR THEORY (12) SPONGEBOB THEN AND NOW (13) MARVEL (14) LOOKING BACK (15)

STAFF LIST

EMMA PETERSEN JARED KULA STORMY SNYDER

COVER DESIGN BY STORMY SNYDER

Fashion of the 2000’s

by Jared Kula

The 2000’s were full of huge fashion changes, with the 90’s having a large influence. The early 2000’s were filled with a mix of super baggy clothes, ranging from bright vibrant colors, to the deepest darkest black known to emo. Also brown cargo shorts that looked a size too big, it’s a shame that people still wear these. The 2000’s split fashion in half, one half leading to full body suits made from sweat pants material, and the others being stabbed in their throat by their twenty different chokers. Also who could forget the amazing shades, the ones that looked like actually window shades.

Who could forget about the fact the people used to walk around with their shirts doing to their knees, and their pants touching the ground. Also your stomach DESIGN BY Jared Kula

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being most of your outfit, i’m looking at you crop tops, i’m glad you went away. Speaking of disappearing, remember seeing blonde tips, that made people look like they were ready to hide from a puma in a rain forest. Meanwhile the only tropical place around you, is probably The Rainforest Cafe.

While the 2000’s were filled with everyone where shirts to their knees, and people thought other’s looked cool wearing clothes like this. Looking back, this fashion makes the people of 2000 look like they were all 3 feet tall. Nothing against short people, or anything, i’m just saying. However if you wear your clothes like this you look like your 7 and it would be acceptable for you to wear heelies, and ride your shoes around town. Because that’s the ultimate transportation.

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Your kid’s cuisine: Please don’t pass the plate a review by Jared Kula

T

he feeling of a squishy, dry, flavorless brick.

This is the taste of a microwave brownie from a Kid’s Cuisine lunch, aka your childhood. Kids Cusines were a masterpiece to my child self, they were a reward for playing sick so well I got to stay home. My parents would quickly pop one of these in the microwave before they ran out the door for work. After they left I would be home alone, with my Kid’s Cuisine, the fancy upgrade to the daily nacho cheese lunchable.

My childhood was filled with homemade quesadillas and grilled cheese. The only protein i got was from mac and cheese with hot dogs cut up and put in. Now I eat whatever food I can cook, from penne rosa to creme brulee. So my taste buds may have turned into a spoiled brat since I’ve gotten older. However, no matter how much I used to love the pizzas that came in a tiny lunchable packet when I was younger, I can now say It was absolutely disgusting, there were no good components in it. There was a tiny amount of cheese and a huge packet of sauce, what am I going to do with enough sauce to make five pizzas, when I only have three pizzas. The fact that they gave me to much sauce, was generous though, however they only gave me enough cheese to make about two tiny pizzas.

On the other hand, the Kids cuisine, pizza meal was actually pretty good, as far as microwaveable pizzas go. The crust was a lot thicker and tasted better, however the smell of burnt plastic lingered while the tray was near me. The corn that also came with it was pretty standard microwaved

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corn. The brownie that was also included was okay.

It tasted like a Cosmic Brownie, without sprinkles. It was good, but nothing to brag about.

The Kool Aid Burst was a big part of my childhood, it seemed so delicious when I was younger. Now it just tasted like what it is, sugar water and food dye.

These were made for parents to hate. If a single drop touches a carpet, it’s stained forever. This drink is controversial towards strict parents, but if your children drink one of these every so often, they won’t die. Probably.

The last food I tried was Spaghetti O’s. Somehow the noodles inside were undercooked and overcooked at the same time. The noodles were either way to soggy or hard and crunchy. Also there seemed like there was more sauce than noodles. So it was more crunchy noodle soup. I was also surprised that the only vegetables in the Spaghetti O’s, were the tomatoes used in the sauce. For all the super concerned parents who feed their children, I would expect that there would be more vegetables.

Overall this experiment ruined my childhood memories; my favorite foods. It replaced all those loving, happy, good tasting foods with what they actually are; terrible, bitter memories. The only reason I liked these when I was younger, is probably because I was always too sugar high to even understand where I was. watch our review video https:// www.wevideo.com/view/669924337 DESIGN BY STORMY SNYDER

Nostalgic Movies They may not be as good as they seemed... (psych!)

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ovies have always had a special place in every child’s heart. They teach life lessons in a way that is interesting and easy for a kid to wrap their head around. Even movies that we now realize are complete cinematic disasters still feel special. Animation mistakes, sub par acting, awful CGI; we love it all. Every movie from our childhood is a gem in our own eyes. Watching it again, with more sense, the feeling still comes back.

That is w h y w e

love to watch childhood movies no matter how old we are.

Timeless classics like Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, and The Last Unicorn inspired our love of art, animation, and story. Some.. not-so-classic and probably-never-shouldhave-seen-the-light-of-day films made us laugh and still make us laugh today, even if they’re a total joke. One of the most important influences on a child’s life is what they see in movies. They teach compassion, hope, and how to dream. Personally, animated movies have inspired what I want to be in life.

“The Secret Garden inspired me to like nature and draw flowers… there aren’t many movies that have inAlexia Stevens ’19 spired me. It’s usually art or nature, but this movie captured all that,” Alexia Stevens, ‘19, says.

Luckily for us, many of our favorite childhood movies are living out their time on the blessing that is Netflix.

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The seventh gener

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icture this in your mind, your dad getting you up early on a weekend yet you’re not upset. You drive with your brother practically jumping up and down as you reach the store, Best Buy. Once the place opens you rush to get in line for just one thing.

A Nintendo Wii. Those of us old enough to go to school in 2005 probably remember the famous console war. It was Nintendo vs Sony vs Microsoft. Wii vs Playstation 3 vs Xbox 360. It was far more entertaining than the last but who won this war? Who has the right to be called the most successful and crowned the winner?

Well while the Xbox 360 came out first, it was nintendo and its marketing that thrusted gaming into the mainstream. With the motion sensor technology and an abundance of brand name games coming out such as the likes of Mario Galaxy, Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess, and 2008’s monster release of Super Smash Bros Bawl, they held the trophy for a while and still technically sold the most individ8 INTRO WSSPAPER.COM

ual consoles out of everyone. However this did not last as the Wii suffered from two major pushbacks. It was not HD and the online multiplayer was in horrible shape. This is when the X-box took the stage and has honestly aged the best. Granted it didn’t have backwards compatibility thus waiting for the new games for old series to come out became a chore, however its influence on online gaming, especially with Xbox Live can’t be understated.

Finally we have the Playstation 3. It was the most expensive and was introduced and was very similar to the Xbox 360. Both had their own networks for online gaming as well as playing Demos and both were in HD and their first party games were fantastic and very diversified with God of war, Uncharted, and Ratchet and Clank.

But what about west high students? Which ones did they get ten years or less ago?

Well Nathan Lang, ‘17 got a Wii all the way back because his family was a lot more family friendly and that the other consoles. Mean-

ration console war

BY EMMA PETERSEN

while Cole Kerns, ‘16 started with a Wii and begged his parents to get a playstation three.

The war between the consoles was long and bitter as most of these were released almost eleven years ago. Now the eighth is getting into full gear with Nintendo debuting late with a new console slated for next year while Sony and Microsoft have already had theirs release for two years.

Designed by Emma Petersen

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Pixar Theory

A new look at your old favorites

By Emma Petersen

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ost people have seen a the end, it is the machines from Cars that ultimately save Pixar movie. Whether humanity from the animals. However thanks to all of it be Toy Story or Inside the pollution humanity caused, they leave the earth on out, or this summer with the premiere the spaceships from Walle and leave the machines to do of Finding Dory. And if you’re like myself, whatever they please. Eventually though the machines you’ve enjoyed the references to pixar movies in ran out of fuel leaving only Walle behind. However in all of the movies. But what if those weren’t just refer- the hundreds of years since humanity’s departure and the ences? death of practically every single machine, earth is slowly Pixar Theory is the idea that every Pixar film exists becoming habitable again. At the end of the Walle we see in the same universe starting with brave and ending the boot with the plant is seen to have grown into a large with monsters Inc. The whole idea of pixar theory be- tree. Said tree is the tree that the ants live under in a bugs gan when Jon Negroni and his fun exercise in imag- life. Thanks to the radiation of BNL animals are living ination while also finding strange connections be- longer and taking on many more human traits and by the tween the movies. Now with all of the backstory out time Monsters University and Monsters Inc roll around, animals are the dominant species. of the way, it’s time to get into the actual theory.

Although full disclosure if you haven’t seen any of these movies then what is below will make no sense.

The point of this theory is to have fun and Our story begins with brave where the will of the whisp allows people to be turned into exercise your imagine while simultaniously animals, and it’s this magic that will eventually finding interesting connections between lead to the birth of superheros in incredibles and the talking animals in the ocean. Through- these fantastic movies. out the incredibles the superpowers that each -Jon Negroni hero has eventually transfers to inanimate objects like toys in Toy Story. When humans abandon the toys, resentment begins to brew with not Now Pixar Theory is clearly just a fan of a film having only the toys, but animals in general. Enter Finding fun connecting some of his favorite films together based Nemo and Ratatouille as animals are starting to take on easter eggs the animators put into the movies. The on more human characteristics like wants. This even- idea itself is interesting and as Negroni said, it’s a fun extually leads to the animals in the movie Up, where ercise in imagination. However it does stretch it a bit in a thanks to technology they are able to communicate few places in terms of connections. with humans. This is where the balance between man and beast starts to shift and an all out war between the humans and the animals happens. However in 12 SECTION MAY 2016 INTRO.WSSPAPER.COM

BY EMMA PETERSEN

Throughout my childhood there were many things I debated with my brother. McDonalds or Burger King, Yugioh or Pokemon, and finally, Disney or Dreamworks.

The last one especially as I would argue that I wanted to watch a Disney movie because I liked the cute character designs and the fun tone of most of the movies, meanwhile my brother however liked the slapstick and humor of the Dreamworks movies and I admit they eventually grew on me. Plus it didn’t help that Disney and dreamworks would release similar films at around the same time thus making it harder to decide which to go to. Dueling if you will.

But how did this rivalry start?

It all began when a man by the name of Jeffrey Katzenberg. He worked at the disney company for years helping to produce nearly all of their classics in the 90s.

However a little after Pocahontas came out there was a bit of a power vacuum at the Disney Corporation. Basically the vice president position of the whole company was open and Jeffery wanted the it. However the president of Disney at the time said no. There are conflicting stories on whether or not Katzenberg was fired or quit. The point is though he left the disney studio and with the help

of Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, created Dreamworks SKG. The first animated movie that they put out was by the name of Antz and it came out one month before disney/pixars movie A Bug’s life. And thus barring a few exceptions, the dueling continued for most of the 2000s with films like The Wild and Madagascar to Finding Nemo and Shark Tale. However this changed in 2008 with the release of Kung Fu Panda in 2008.

Suddenly Dreamworks had a new prerogative. Loveletters to geek film genres. Kung Fu Panda for Bruce Lee movies, How To Train Your Dragon for fantasy lovers, Monsters vs Aliens for 1950s monster movies and Megamind for Superhero fans.

As for where this rivalry stands now, Dreamworks has sort of fallen out of the public’s interest and was recently even bought by universal studios, a company that also owns Illumination entertainment. Another animation studio responsible for the Despicable Me movies. They got famous thanks to a disney parody in the form of Shrek and as s u c h e v e n t h ou g h t h a t w h a t they’re putting out 10 SECTION MAY 2016 INTRO.WSSPAPER.COM

now is arguably better, their advertising quality has taken a massive downturn. Given that Universal now owns it though the advertising for Dreamworks’ future seems promising given how well Universal is good at advertising their movies. Jurassic World for instance was extremely well advertised.

As for what others think of the argument, well disney wins out for varying reasons. Kalen McCain ‘17, prefers disney because, “Disney because only for familiarity because I couldn’t name more than three dreamworks movies.”

Cole Kerns ‘16 on the other hand liked Disney more because they have pixar’s library.

The biggest problem that Dreamworks has faced over the years is a lack of brand identity.

The general public remembers the movies they make, but because there’s a lack of consistency in terms of they types of movies they make, their brand name is forgotten and because of this, Disney has won the battle. People remember Disney movies with nostalgia because the Disney brand has become synonymous with childhood whereas Dreamworks is synonymous with just one thing. The hairy eyebrow.

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by Stormy Snyder

s: main

e fact r

If I approached anyone and asked them to recite the theme to Spongebob Squarepants, chances are they would know it by heart. Spongebob surrounds us in many aspects of our everyday lives; when you walk into Target, Walmart, or any other store with a kids section, you will be barraged by advertising and toys targeted to Spongebob fans.

“I loved the original movie it’s just, kind of a symbol of my childhood,” Carley Spading, ‘19, says. The original spongebob movie, which came out in 2004, was (and still is) adored by many.

Its colors, plot, and animation were the best we’d ever seen at the time! Carley Spading ’19 Granted, it does help that many of us including myself were about three years old at the time. When it was added onto Netflix a few months ago, I can guarantee that I was not the only one curled up in front of the TV humming the theme.

Sponge Out of Water, the most recent movie set in the world of Spongebob, came out on February 6th,

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2015. Many, many were thrilled and many, many were upset. They did not want a new movie to ruin their memories of the old one. Fortunately, I do not think it did. The movie was not as good at the first one and the style was different, but generally the plot was just like another episode of Spongebob. It was not bad, I would say, but I would also hesitate to call it a good movie. One of the most charming features of Spongebob is the art style and while part of the movie is similar, the rest is different. The new stuff did not look bad, but it is not what fans are used to. Overall, the movie was alright, but nothing compared to the original one.

Spongebob has been there through most of our entire childhoods, and for many to come.

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How it all began

By Emma Petersen Presently the 13th movie in the marvel cinematic universe, Captain america Civil War came out and it is likely to be a box office hit. In fact most movies these days are or are trying to copy this however as Batman Vs Superman Dawn of justice has taught us, is that it doesn’t always work out. But how did this happen? How did heros like Iron Man and Starlord become famous? How did Marvel studios create one of the most successful and long running film franchises in existance?

Well we must start out with why heroes like Iron Man were chosen.

Due to almost going bankrupt, Marvel studios had to sell off the rights to their most popular characters to other studios. Sony for instance, owns the 14 INTRO.WSSPAPER.COM

film rights to Spider-Man while 20th century fox owns the film rights to the Fantastic Four and the X-Men. The studio decided to take a chance with a character that people had heard of, but didn’t really know about.

Iron Man. Jon Favreau, the director, wanted to have the film center about a man reinventing himself after finding out that the world isn’t as it seemed. In the movie, Tony Stark is captured by terrorists and is brought to the harsh reality that his company, Stark Industries, is selling to both sides of the war in Afghanistan. In the source material it was Vietnam however Favreau didn’t want it to be a period piece and changed it to be more modern. (ironic because the movie makes a myspace reference in 2008). He refused to use Iron Man’s arch enemy the Mandarin because he was too comic-booky for the tone of the film. In the end the film was a

success bringing in 585 million dollars from its 140 million budget.

From there the films just kept coming. Five movies of build up later and we got Avengers. A movie which not only broke box office records, but also signaled to every other movie studio that huge multi-film franchises could make you billions.

How My Life Has Changed

by Jared Kula

For many of us we have changed drastically from who we were as a child, we may now be more open towards some things and more opinionated on other things. However for Trevor Harapat ‘19 his life has pretty much stayed the same. Besides not eating mountains of candy anymore Harapat goes throughout his day almost as he did when he was much younger. However there are some differences, like the fact that in elementary school he was four feet tall and now he's six feet tall.

Harapat said that one thing that changed was his relationship with his older brother “now we can actually talk and joke about stuff ” Harapat also said that he now spends some of his time with his brother watching horror movies which he would have never done as a young kid. Partly because he was scared of them, and partly because he wasn’t best friends with his brother, when he was younger. But now that Harapat is older he feels like he gets along with his older brother so much more, to the point where Harapat will visit him at work occasionally.

Harapat also used to work with his dad, going around town and helping people with their problems. Now Harapat works at pizza ranch and has many friends there, that he hangs outwits even outside of work. one time he told me “me and Cameron got off work and went mudding” Now that Harapat is older he’s learned

more about his friends, and which ones are truly caring friends, and which ones are there to stay.

“Me and him (referring to one of his friends from elementary school) haven't talked for a long time” Megan Kuenne ‘19 has learned a couple lessons since elementary school, lessons that she had to learn the hard way, but now that she knows them, she uses them as much as she can. Kuenne has learned that if you want something you should go after it even if it's someone you've been crushing on since you were young. “I've learned that if you like someone you should tell them.” Kuenne told me this, and said that even if they don't like you, you should try to find that out fast, so you can then get over them faster. Because even if it seems harder at the time, it's better to rip the band aid off than to delay something bad.

Both Kuenne and Harapat have learned more about themselves and their friends since they were younger, some of the lessons they learned were hard to learn but now that they have lived through the hard part. It's easier for them to be a better version of themselves or a version they that feel comfortable with, no matter who/which friend their with.