A&E

Beyoncé Tickets come to SLA

October 25, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Isabel Medlock

Staff Writer

What do you do with 70 Beyoncé tickets?

This is the question that SLA staff had to ask themselves when they got the news from the School District that these free tickets would be available to seniors.

The teachers were surprised and confused by the news and some felt that there were more effective ways Beyoncé could have supported the school district.

“Free tickets are nice but the school district could have used a financial donation from Beyoncé more,” said Ms. Pahomov.

After school on the 21st of September, the staff held a group conversation to decide on what would be the most effective method to distribute. It was clear to them that the fairest way to distribute the tickets would be to hold a lottery as any other method would involve the judgement of the teachers.

To enter seniors needed to give their name to their advisor and be up to date on paperwork. Approximately 70 seniors entered the lottery. During lunch on Monday, the names of the winning seniors were pulled out of a hat.

While many students were thrilled by the opportunity to see a Beyoncé concert many were more excited about the lucrative financial opportunities.

“I was initially very excited,” said Kia DaSilva. “I like Beyoncé and I wanted to go to the show. I then realized that I had Math class on the day of the show and couldn’t skip so I decided to sell them. Depending on the section I’ll sell my two tickets for between 75 and 150.”

Tickets for the concert were officially being sold from a range of $45 to $280. The tickets were given to winning students who had submitted their permission slip by advisors on Thursday afternoon after advisory.

While for the most part students enjoyed the concert, there were some common complaints.

“I have mixed feelings about it,” said Fatu Castillo. “I got there fairly early and it was cold rainy and all types of wet…for the first half of it Beyonce wasn’t there.”

These weren’t the only complaints. Most of the seats were at the very top of the stadium and not covered from the rain. Many students were angered when security confiscated their umbrellas.

“I was kicking and screaming, I was so angry,” said Kia who coincidentally ended up attending the concert rather than selling her tickets. “I thought they were going to take my big bag of cheetos that I bought specifically for the concert.”

When Beyoncé actually appeared on stage many students thought the concert was worth the rain.

“I felt a lot happier and a lot warmer when Beyonce walked on to the stage,” said Fatu. “[I]t was magical.”

“The box shot fire and fireworks,” said Kia. “She came out of it and there were acrobats. People were crying…She owned the rain…Her producers had all these waterworks going on…She was the rain goddess and everyone was in awe.”

Here’s What You Missed at the Club Fair

October 11, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Fatu Castillo

Staff Writer

Hey, do you remember all those awesome booths at the Club Fair during the first week of school?

If you answered yes, then sit down you liar! Science Leadership Academy didn’t even have a Club Fair this year! Isn’t that sad? Think of all the lonely pamphlets that you’ll never get to use as random bookmarks, all the miserably cardboard presentations that’ll never have their papers start to peel off, and all the club heads that’ll never desperately try to have your name on their signup sheet. Not to mention all the upcoming artists who’ll miss out on a chance to express their creativity.

You can stop crying now, because this article is going to introduce you to all of the artistic clubs at SLA. Unless you’d prefer to express your creativity by scribbling in the notebooks during class. That was how Picasso and Shakespeare first started out their careers.

Art Club

Art Club was co-founded in 2014 by Zoe Andersson with her friend Xavier Caroll their Sophomore year. Meetups happen every Tuesday during Y-Band, that means no X-Banders allowed, in Hull’s classroom.

“It was kinda just a way to do art during a lunch band that we didn’t have a lot to do,” said Senior Zoe Andersson, “And then a lot of people started to join.” You don’t even have to be worried about your nonexistent art skills! Each meeting is spent working on something new, ranging from crocheting to clay sculpting.

“You don’t have to consider yourself talented” Anderson said, “We love you anyways.” If you happen to make any true atrocities then you can always forget about them come the next meeting.

“Come to Art Club,” encouraged Andersson, “It’s a great time, we don’t take ourselves too seriously, we’ll love you and it’s great here.”

Poetry Club

Just how long has SLA’s poetry club been around?

“It’s really, really old,” said Senior director Otter Jung-Allen. “It was a thing way, way before I got here.”

Meetups happen every Thursday in room 308.

“We have snacks,” Jung-Allen offered, “We always have snacks”. You won’t be the only one coming in just for the pizza at first. Don’t worry if you suck at poetry either, the entire year is geared to help you channel your inner Edgar Allen Poe.

“The goal of the club in general is to produce better writers,” stated Jung-Allen. Once the year winds towards Feburary though,you’d better expect to take up arms for Poetry Slam, where you perform your writings on stage, representing SLA. Science Leadership Academy has already knocked out a win back in 2014.

“So for anyone who’s debating on whether they wanna come to Poetry Club,” Jung-Allen stated, “There’s is no harm in trying it out and saying that it’s not for you, it will be for you, it’s very rare that we have people drop out just because they don’t like it.”

The Fourth Floor Literary Magazine

Founded in 2012, the club is managed by three directors: Kate Kopf, Emily Stephens, and Jack Sugre. Meetups happen every Tuesday during Y-Band, in 505, and X-Band, in 504. Each meeting, the members of the club sort through artworks, short stories, and poems all submitted by students.

“We will accept any submission” Kopf stated, “But not all submissions will make it into the magazine”. Here are some of the lucky few that were featured in the past:

And if you that’s not your piece of cake, then there’s always their fundraising section. “We’re always looking to keep the SLA community engaged”, Stephens said, “We’re always looking to expand for fundraising.” You can always work on your bartering skills while selling snacks.

“Just come and check it out”, Kopf encouraged, “You might find new experiences, it’s a great group of people, if you interested in art or writing or learning new skills and being together with a great group of people then this is the place to do it.”

If you didn’t find any of the clubs interesting, then I guess you’re outta luck. If the arts aren’t your thing, go join Sports Data and Analysis Club.

X-Men: Apocalypse;My Last Review

June 14, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Sean Morris

Staff Writer

Going into the new X Men film, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The reviews weren’t that great and the X Men films did have its ups and downs, but the latest ones were very good, even the best of the series. So I came in with a mixed bag of what to expect and I came out with something I was not only very happy to see, but something i am writing to close out my reviews at SLA media.

The film takes place in 1983, 10 years after the climactic events of Days of Future past as we find a younger Charles Xavier (James Mcavoy) operating his school of gifted youngsters, as his frenemy Erik Lehnsherr (Better known as Magneto as played by Michael Fassbender) has exiled himself to poland. Meanwhile the first mutant, the menacing Apocalypse (played by Oscar Isaac) has awoken after thousands of years of rest, disgusted with the state of the world he sets about to create a “cleanse” and eradicate billions of lives in the process. He selects four horsemen Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Psylocke (Olivia Munn), Angel (Ben Hardy) and Magneto to help him in this carnage. To stop him Xavier will need to have his still learning students (including Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner, Kodi Smit- McPhee as Cyclops, Jean Grey and Nightcrawler respectively) battle Apocalypse along with other returning x men (like Jennifer Lawrence as mystique and Evan Peters as quicksilver and lucas till as havoc) for the fate of the world.

While there were some critics over the lack of villain motivation on Apocalypse’s part and scripting, and while yes he could have had a bit more explanation done, it didn’t really need it. You know that Apocalypse was from the egyptian era where he was worshipped as a god and wants to regain that status, it was enough for me as a motivation, especially considering that you have a 2 ½ long film with MANY side characters and a big plotline. And speaking of the plotline I thought the movie does a solid job of bringing them together. While I wouldn’t call it as good an X men film as Days of Future Past, X2 or even First Class it was still very enjoyable and quite frankly fun. The battles and costumes look like they came right off a comic book page and the film remained a visual treat throughout.

The cast remained in top form in the film and the new additions were a very welcome treat. The very talented Sophie Turner was great as Jean Grey and Tye Sheridan, an actor I wasn’t very familiar with before this movie, surprised me at how good he was and will definitely be one to keep an eye out on. Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender and James Mcavoy all continue to do a great job with the iconic roles they first got in First Class and find new levels to deal with in this film. Evan Peters was a very welcome return from the last movie in which he again has probably the best scene, and most funny scene in the movie, that while identical to the one in the last movie, I thought actually topped the last one. Someone who I don’t think gets enough attention in these promotions and reviews is Rose Byrne returning after a one film absence as Moira MacTaggert, who has a key role in the film. I always enjoy watching Ms. Byrne perform and this film was no different. Smart, cool, tough and instantly likeable, she’s a human able to hold her own against metal wielding mutants and horsemen of the apocope. Oscar Isaac does a good enough job for wearing a refrigerator and piles of makeup on his body, although I can’t help but think the character might have been more assistente by going the darth vader route. Having a physically impressive stuntman do the bodywork and dub in the voicework from a talented voice actor. But Isaac and the rest of the cast still perform well and go on to show how the X men films have a consistently talented roster of cast members.

If I had one big critique to play onto the film that doesn’t spoil too much is when Apocope and his horsemen paid a trip to Auschwitz to help Magneto, who has been long established a survivor of the holocaust as part of his character and motivations, to help reawaken his rage. While I don’t think it was necessarily intentional, it was a bit jarring to see colorful comic characters, including one in an outfit that is quite “sexy” in a place of such sadness and real life despair. I doubt they actually filmed on location, and I further doubt they meant disrespect and I could see they didn’t need it, but it’s ultimately a short sequence that doesn’t have that lasting an effect on the film.

In the end X-Men: Apocalypse might not have as strong a story and might not be the best X- Men film, it is still a very fun viewing pleasure and a great way to kick off your summer! Take note to stay until after the credits as it teases a popular and one of my personal favorite X-men villains. I highly recommend this movie for a good fun time at the theaters!

*Note: this will be my last review and article at SLA Media and I thank those of you who have paid me compliments and that you guys enjoyed reading these articles as i enjoyed writing them. Wishing you lovely people all best as I go forward to this next chapter of my life.

Safe travels, best wishes,

Sean the gay suited reviewer man

I’ll see you at the movies 🙂

Mrs. Magician: A Strangely Heavenly Album

June 9, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Aidan Williams, Staff Writer

Recently, I stumbled across Strange Heaven, an album from 2012, by the Post-Surf, California band, Mrs. Magician. I have to say, I was very surprised at how good the album was. As a fan of the grungy, sludgy, wave-driven Surf revival, I was surprised I’d never heard of this band. After listening to this album, I am almost ashamed that I hadn’t found them earlier.

For the first time in a long time, I found an album on which I enjoy every single track. I was very impressed with the diversity they managed to fit into the album without sacrificing the signature Surf sound. The album has thirteen tight tracks that blend back to back in any order, and it’s an album that I’ve spent a lot of time listening to recently.

The album isn’t groundbreaking by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, the roots of the album are very clear. The songs are reminiscent of Dick Dale and Beach Boys, while taking inspiration, sometimes blatantly, from 90’s grungy punk rock, like bands such as Nirvana, with at least one direct quote from a Nirvana song. However, while not original, I think Mrs. Magician understands that there’s nothing new under the sun. They take what has been done before, and do it in their own way.

It isn’t a new album, but it’s a good album, and it seems like it’s flown under the radar. As a fun, punky, grungy album, I think it does what it does very well, and is a pleasure to listen to all the way through. I look forward to hearing more from this artist, and would definitely recommend this album to anyone interested in the genre.

Penny Dreadful Packs a Delightfully Terrifying Punch!

May 26, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Sean Morris

Staff Writer

Recently the supernatural showtime series “Penny Dreadful” has premiered for its third season, so I thought it appropriate to discuss my love for this show , which happens to be one of the best out there currently.

The series premiere is a little complicated to talk about without giving too much away, especially since each season has a new storyline for the characters to follow. Essentially, the series weaves together classic characters from Victorian-era horror, like Dr. Frankenstein, Dorian Grey and so on, along with new characters that combat the supernatural horrors that plague Victorian London.

Before I go into story writing and cast I want to talk about the technical aspects of the show. From makeup, conceptualizing, sets, music, cinematography, costuming and lighting- very little television comes close to this show. Its makeups on its creatures of the night from vampires, a creative and very creepy take on witches (or “nightcomers” as they call them in the show) and even in just the regular cast it’s wonderful. The sets are amazing, throwing you back into Victorian London and into each character’s environment- especially in how clearly carefully they plan it out- like for example in Dorian Gray’s main ballroom they have hundreds of paintings- but are all portraits. A wonderful and incredibly clever detail.

The music is also appropriately haunting and stays with you long after the scene is over with its amazing score and original waltzes. The cineomentpgrahy is wonderful and in how a simple camera pan can provide a sock or a angle to provide more fear. The costuming also works well, fits the time period nicely yet each character has a fairly distinctive style and they clearly look well made. And this show probably has some of my favorite lighting on Television. Knowing full well they are in pre-electricity London, they utilize natural light to great effect , from having it bounce off of white linen tablecloths in the darkness or thought windows- it’s brilliantly done.

And now let us move onto to this cast. Every role has been perfectly cast- from the recognizable to the the unknown- and I mean that in terms of both actors and characters. Reeve Carney is a wonderful as Dorian Grey- he has a pretty boy face and yet there’s an underlying of darkness within him. Timothy dalton is a powerhouse as new character malcolm murray and always a delight on screen. However, it is Eva Green who really steals the show. Her portrayal of Vanessa Ives, a young woman who has been touched by Satan is haunting, tragic, powerful, strong and showcases how she is one of the most talented actors of her time. Rory Kinnear plays Frankenstein’s monstrous undead creature in what is possible the most authentic showing of mary shelley’s creature. The heart of a poet trapped inside of a monster- Kinnear’s monologues and acting showcase are truly beautiful- and the scenes he shares with green are some of the best in the show. Billie Piper truly came into her own in this series, at some points making you forget about her doctor who past. Her character twists are some of the more surprising of the story but I will say her arch alone is worthwhile. The series supporting cast is no less wonderful, from Helen Mccrory, to Christian Camargo , and Simon Russell Beale (who plays a character i’ve nicknamed “Dr. Creamsicle”, for his outrageous wig), Patti LuPone (who is AMAZING in every scene) it really is one of the best put together casts in on television.

I cannot recommend this show enough. To simply mark it as a horror series would be doing it a disservice. As The Wired put it, it t is a “gothic romance” and as The Atlantic claimed that it “reanimated” the genre. So go on, stop reading this and start watching it!