A&E

Review: Moana Redefines the Disney Princess

December 13, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Deja Harrison

Staff Writer

Beware: unavoidable spoilers in this review!

As a girl growing up, I had the craziest obsession with Disney princesses. Every year for halloween I was a Disney princess until the age of 12 when I had pretty much did them all from Cinderella to Tiana. But as I got older, I noticed the lack of diversity in the princesses I grew up adoring. Disney princesses are typically portrayed as skinny, white and fawning over a prince. This bothered me because I could never relate to the princesses I grew up adoring, none of them looked like me.

This year, however, Disney got my attention again with the release of their latest film. Recently Disney has been trying to mix things up a bit and portray different races and body types of young women.

Their newest princess, Moana, is a polynesian teenager on a mission to save her people from the destruction of the world. Moana is less of a princess and more of a chief to her people on her island of Motunui, which is an early settlement in the North island of New Zealand. She is heir to her father who grooms her into becoming a proper leader of their homeland.

The movie starts with showing a story of how the world was formed: in the beginning Earth was just oceans, until the island goddess Te Fiti came about and used her heart (a small green stone) to create life. Without it all life would die. Her heart was stolen by a shape-shifting demigod named Maui who wanted to give it to humans so that they would be able to create life on their own. Maui was then battled by Te Ka, goddess of lava, for the heart. He loses, leaving him and the heart lost in the ocean. The ocean chooses Moana a few years later to sail the oceans, find Maui, and have him return the heart.

The only problem with this quest — and, being a Disney movie, there has to be some kind of challenge — is that Moana doesn’t know how to sail, and her father won’t let her or anyone else leave the reef because of the dangers of the ocean. Moana finally decides to leave after the sudden death of her grandmother who tells her she has to save their island or it will die because the heart of Te Fiti has not been returned. The rest of the movie revolves around Moana setting out on her quest to save the world. With Maui, her pet rooster Hei Hei, and the ocean as her allies she is unstoppable.

Overall I found the movie very enjoyable. The story that was told is based off a real Polynesian legend about the oceans and islands which I find very interesting. I think that Disney did an amazing job portraying the culture and a young woman of color. Unlike earlier princesses of color like Tiana, Moana doesn’t look or act like every other Disney princess and I think that’s what makes her stand out a lot more. She is strong and doesn’t need a man or anyone else to rescue her, she is the rescuer of her own people. The only negative aspect of this movie is the confusing portrayal of Polynesian and Hawaiian culture. I was very unaware that she was polynesian until I looked at the plot of the movie and it said so; Disney gave the impression that she and her people where Hawaiian. I wish they would have done a better job of making it very clear that she was Polynesian and not Hawaiian because children should know the difference. Still the movie completely exceeded all of my expectations and I applaud all those involved. It is a very good movie for children of different culture, body types, and goals to watch.

Review: “Lemonade” by Beyonce

November 22, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Deja Harrison

Staff Writer

According to everyone else, Beyonce’s latest album Lemonade is about Beyonce´s feelings towards her husband Jay-Z after finding out he cheated on her with multiple women.

How much of this is true? Beyonce won’t say. But After watching the visual album and listening to the music myself, I realized that there is a much deeper purpose to her work.

Lemonade is about Beyonce finding herself in her culture and in life again after all the pain she has been through over the past few years. In the visual album, the 12 songs are set up as the 12 stages of pain and healing: Intuition, Denial, Anger, Apathy, Emptiness, Accountability, Reformation, Forgiveness, Resurrection, Hope, and Redemption. Each of these moments had rich symbolism to explore that went way beyond the tabloid story of her and Jay-Z. Here are my thoughts on just a few of them.

Poetry

In the beginning of every song, Beyonce recites a poem that matches her stage.

¨So what are you gonna say at my funeral, now that you’ve killed me? Here lies the body of the love of my life, whose heart I broke without a gun to my head. Here lies the mother of my children, both living and dead. Rest in peace, my true love, who I took for granted. Most bomb p*ssy who, because of me, sleep evaded. Her god listening. Her heaven will be a love without betrayal. Ashes to ashes, dust to side chicks.¨

This poem comes from Apathy, which was her opening for the song Sorry. The poem refers to her stage of not caring anymore. in the end, we see that she is a new person, that she has been born again.

Changes & Celebration

This film also captures a lot of Beyonce in a more afro-centric type of way. She portrays and celebrates different types of black women while showing that they all come to form one. She stars alongside many famous and unknown black women and children of all different shades and body types.

Symbols

Beyonce goes back to her southern roots by going back to Texas and she also goes back to a signature hairstyle of hers blonde braids. They both represent her going back to the things she knows, to her beginings. Water is another huge symbol is Lemonade. It is apart of her rebirth, it is her being cleansed and then reborn. It represents her death and resurrection. She references many other forms of artwork such as African tribes and goddesses.

When she is seen strutting down the street in a bright yellow dress, she is embodying the African Goddess Oshun, who represents water, beauty, rage, and sexuality which are all very recurring in Lemonade. African tribes and customs are shown throughout the film through dance and face markings. The symbols in the album are what I believe make the album so amazing because you get to see her thought process and emotions about what she was going through expressed in a much stronger way than words.

Stop and Listen

This album to me is completely worth listening to because it is all about empowerment. Beyonce is embodying a black women who lost her ways and is taking steps to reinvent herself. That´s why I believe Lemonade to be about reinvention. Understanding that when life gives you lemons you can make lemonade. I feel like everyone can relate more to music that has a purpose. I personally loved this album and everything is stood for, and I recommend it to everyone who´s looking for something different in music. Lemonade tells a story that I think is worth listening to.

Luke Cage Review

November 8, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Meymey Seng

Staff Writer

On September 30, 2016, Netflix recently put out Marvel’s first TV series starring a black superhero. He goes by the name of Luke Cage, and has special abilities, such as unbreakable skin and super strength.

He was first seen in Marvel’s Jessica Jones, where he was the owner of a bar in Hell’s Kitchen, New York. In that series, he had a relationship with Jessica and was determined to help her take down a villain named Kilgrave, but that’s a story for another time.

Their relationship did not last, so he decided to move to Harlem, New York, which is where the Luke Cage series began. Wanting to live a normal life, he becomes a janitor at Pop’s barber shop, and a dishwasher and bartender at the club “Harlem’s Paradise”.

Of course, things are not as calm as expected, and a lot of crimes are happening all throughout Harlem. Luke wants to stay out of it, although Pops, the owner of the barber shop, pushes the idea that he should make use of his abilities and help.

With the convincing from Pops, Luke decides to take action and is awarded the title “Hero of Harlem”. He denies being a hero, claiming that he just can’t sit back and watch the chaos happening around him. The rest of the season follows that theme.

Before watching Luke Cage, the show that got me hooked onto the Marvel TV series was Jessica Jones. Personally, I was never a huge fan of Marvel. I could recall watching Spiderman a bunch of times, although I can never remember actually watching the full movie, along with other Marvel productions. So, when my friend recommended Jessica Jones for me to watch, I was very hesitant. They say never to judge a book by it’s cover and this is also true for TV series.

After a couple weeks of pushing this show to the back of my mind, I decided to try it. I clicked the first episode, expecting not be to be into it and I was most definitely wrong. The ending of the first episode caught me off guard and I had the urge to watch episode two. This craving continued and I finished the season in three days. I immediately started Luke Cage right after.

Although Luke Cage is an amazing show, I have to admit, it starts off slow. The first episode was an intro to the show, describing everything. It starts off with Luke, Pops, and the customers discussing basketball. The slow pace continues until halfway through the episode, when the three boys that regularly goes to Pop’s barbershop: Chico, Shameek, and Dante, steals money from Cottonmouth, who is the owner of Harlem’s Paradise.

To conclude, with the humor, history, romance, action, and suspense of this show, I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants a good watch. Some of the actors that I really liked in particular were Mike Colton who played as Luke Cage, Mahershala Ali as Cottonmouth, and Alfre Woodard as Mariah, who was the councilwoman. What I liked about Mike Colton was his realistic acting and determination. In order to fit the role of being a very masculine man, he changed his diet and workout plan, resulting in gaining thirty pounds of muscle! Also, Mahershala Ali was able to convince me into believing that he was a ruthless character, until seeing his backstory. His backstory made me wonder if he is fully at fault for his actions if that was how he was raised? I also really enjoyed Alfre Woodard’s acting because she was able to make me hate her character and I constantly had to remind myself that she is not the actual character.

Now, my perspective has opened and I’ve learnt to not judge a show just by what it’s apart of. It turns out that I’m actually very intrigued with these Marvel productions. I can’t wait for the following series of Luke Cage to come out, which is called Marvel’s Iron Fist. This is said to be released on March 17, 2017.

Review of Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun: A Personal History of Violence

November 8, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Mekhi Granby

Staff Writer

It felt like I was right there with Geoffrey Canada as he told his story in Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun: A Personal History of Violence.

Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence is a memoir by Geoffrey Canada, an American social activist. Beacon Press published the book on January 31, 1995. Publishers Weekly praised the book, commenting that, “A more powerful depiction of the tragic life of urban children and a more compelling plea to end ‘America’s war against itself’ cannot be imagined.” In the mid-2000s (decade), Beacon Press began considering publishing an alternate graphic novel version. Illustrator Jamar Nicholas and editor Allison Trzop created Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence (A True Story in Black and White), which was released in stores on September 14, 2010.

Canada takes readers way back to the childhood of his youth to narrate multiple stories from his point of view about growing up. It was a rough journey which taught Geoffrey a lot along the way.

The story takes place in the 1950s and 1960s, when Canada moved to an inner city neighborhood in New York. South Bronx was the new home of Canada at a very young age. Canada lived with his younger brother, older brother, and mother. There was no father figure present. His mother was a hard working single mother forced to provide alone for her three children. The story provided insight on the norms of bad neighborhoods and also gave Canada’s perspective about things.

Not all bad comes from Canada’s moving experience, the neighborhood he moved to taught him multiple lessons that will stick with him for life.

The experience that Canada had growing up is something that I can relate to and I think many other young African American males in Philadelphia can as well. It’s crazy to see that things haven’t changed as much in the African American community regarding male youth. To this day I know people and have friends who don’t have their fathers in their life, or have never even met their dads, and are living in poverty.

The effect of this is clear: children are negatively affected by default from their adolescence. It’s sad to say that this is how things are and I personally don’t see a change anytime soon; this book has opened my eyes tremendously to the issues in my community. I have my own personal history of violence and I’ve had my fair share of fights growing up. This book made me realize that things aren’t so different in other places from my own.

Canada began his life’s work helping children who, like himself, grew up in poor, distressed neighborhoods. Canada is the president of Harlem’s Children Zone which supports kids from birth through college in order to break the cycle of poverty. Geoffrey Canada is an American educator, social activist and author.

Mr. Canada has written two books: Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence in America (1995; reissued as a graphic novel in 2010) and Reaching Up for Manhood: Transforming the Lives of Boys in America (1998). A strong voice in public debates on education, he also has written for a number of publications, including op-eds for The New York Times and Daily News; gave a TED Talk on our failing schools and the need for innovation that was broadcast on PBS; and has spoken to audiences around the world about what it takes to help children succeed, from evaluation to early childhood education and beyond.

Pick Up a Game!

November 8, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Fatu Castillo

Staff Writer

If you haven’t had the pleasure of playing a Nitrome game then you’ve done yourself a great disservice. Do yourself a favor and hop over to Google Play Store or the App Store and download as many Nitrome games as your device can store. If that sounds too extreme, lame, or you don’t have the time to play all their games then just drift your eyes downwards and let me pick for you. Because I, a Nitrome devotee, have played all their games and know which ones are the cream of the crop.

Leap Day

The energy this game gives me made me either want to run a mile or commit a murder. From the bubbly music that plays in the background to the chubby yellow character I started out as, ironically named Yolk, I always walk away feeling like a kid after Halloween.

Leap Day is simple to get the gist of, not like I got any instructions anyways, since there’s only one jumping mechanism. I have tons of hyperactive fun jumping my way up level after level whilst avoiding giant flaming skulls and weird tomato-looking monsters with whip-like tongues.

A new level is uploaded to the game everyday, one of the most charming mechanisms about the game, so getting bored of playing the same stage is never an option. Every day I get to bounce around as Yolk avoiding new monsters, looking at a new background, and listening to a new song. Though it doesn’t really matter what song plays to what background, the same game over buzzer sound plays when I die.

In lieu of that, constantly losing and hearing a stupid game over buzzing sound does really clear my mind to anything stressful.

Ultimate Briefcase

When I first started playing Nitrome games, back on Miniclip in Middle School, a signature feeling that I got was the feeling of utter confusion. Nitrome never tossed any guidance my way, I always got slammed into the middle of chaos. So I don’t know why I expected to get a tutorial with this one.

Basically, I avoid bombs falling from the sky from a armored warcraft. The thing I adore about the game is all the characters I can play as and their unique ultimate abilities. My personal favorite Jeff-Jeff, a trigger-happy dumpster dweller. He can wield a machine gun and shoot bombs out the sky. When I’m feeling more cowardly I play as Tucker. He’s the average Joe (pictured below) who can hide under his briefcase which, miraculously, is explosion proof.

There’s actually a plot too, another thing I enjoy. When I manage to survive through each stage, ranging from alleyways to football fields, a videotape would land among that bombs. Every tape, from every stage, was a slice of a story that told why an armored aircraft was randomly raging on a city.

Green Ninja

This one is my favorite to play out of the three. As a puzzle game, I get to attempt to wrap my head around what moves would get me to the next stage. Each stage is set in a pixelated dojo and epic action music plays in the background while I wreck house, or dojo in this case.

It doesn’t have a variety of playable characters, something I find disappointing, so I’m stuck playing as a frog. Yes, the title is very literal. My slimy character, who I have named Guppy, plows through each level beating the stuffing out of our shared ninja enemies. If I had to praise this game for one of the things above, it would be the satisfaction I feel each time I knock a ninja off a level. It may seem sadistic, but after the second level or so their smug faces really ignited a burning rage inside me.

The actual game mechanics, like in most Nitrome games, are pretty simple to understand. Guppy will kick or punch his way through just about anything but can only do so in a straight line. I can’t count the number of times I messed up a stage and couldn’t finish off the last ninja because they weren’t in my range.

They may not look menacing above, or smug for that matter, but believe me when I say they had it coming.

So there you have it, since you didn’t want to download all the games Nitrome has developed, still lame, you get to play the best three.