A&E

Eric Valenti

A&E Editor

On April 19, of this year, “Ramy,” a Hulu original tv series, was released. The drama follows the story of millennial Ramy Youssef who struggles to find a balance between his Muslim faith and the pressures of today’s societal expectations. But this isn’t a typical show following the story of someone who believes their losing their faith, prepare to be surprised. I came into this series with a little to no knowledge of the Muslim faith.

When I had initially seen the trailer for the Hulu series it definitely piqued my interest. There’s a noticeable lack of representation for the Muslim community most likely due to the negative stigma that the Muslim community gets from the terrorist attack on September 11th. “Ramy” tackles this stigma head-on in one of the ten episodes of the Hulu series.

The plot in “Ramy” is simply finding the balance between religion and being a millennial. In the Muslim faith, things such as drinking and premarital sex are looked down upon and Ramy is forced into a situation where he has to decide whether or not him partaking in these things makes him a “bad Muslim.” Though I myself am not religious I did to some extent find a way to relate to Ramy’s struggles.

If you’re looking for a short series that will not open your eyes to a new culture but also make you laugh, I would definitely recommend “Ramy.” If you don’t cry or laugh while watching the series, you’ll definitely stay hooked because of the relatability of the characters.

Though I do not identify with any religion at this time, I do sometimes feel pressured to do things that I’m unsure about because of peer pressure or parental expectations, similar to Ramy. Something the show did well was creating an environment that was both relatable but also informative as well. In my opinion, this came through with not only the writing but the acting as well.

May Calamay who plays Ramy’s sister, Dena, the plotline is only focused on in one episode but offers a ton of insight on the life of a Muslim girl. Dena does a fantastic job of playing a sensitive yet closed off character. Her character struggles with things like having more “rules” to follow then men in Muslim faith have to. Things such as deciding to wear a hijab, respecting her parents’ belief that a man has control over her life as well as her struggle to stay a virgin until she is married.

The subject while quite serious is actually easy to handle because of the comedy that is thrown into the mix. I definitely appreciate the relatable humor of coming from an immigrant family but also the blend of humor about being a millennial and being Muslim. In the first episode specifically, where Ramy is talking about picking up girls with his mom, Ramy makes the joke, “You can’t just go up to a girl and ask her, ‘Hey can I get your father’s number?” Subtle jokes like this aren’t worth crying over but it does make you chuckle a bit which I appreciate.

Eric Valenti

A&E Editor

On January 26 of this year, “Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes” mini-series premiered to Netflix, revealing countless facts and secrets about Bundy and the murders that took place because of him. Two days following the release of the tapes, COTA’s film was released at the Sundance Film Festival as “Extremely Wicked,” starring Zac Efron as Ted Bundy.

When the trailer was originally released, people had mixed feelings about Efron playing the monstrous Ted Bundy. The trailer depicted Bundy as a misunderstood cool guy with a secret, almost like an action star. This approach is not the first of its kind –there have been many recreations of other murders such as “My Friend Dahmer” and “The Assassination of Versace,” which were both quite critically acclaimed. But are these portrayals inaccurate? And if they inaccurate, are they harmful?

Senior Matthew Reed, who is a fan of such shows, doesn’t see a problem.

“Making movies off of these people allow us to get an insight into the lives of a killer. You’re bringing awareness to people and for all, we know someone could know a person who could do something like this one day. It brings awareness and information,” Reed stated.

Dramatizations of these events aren’t necessarily bad. There entertaining and they’re able to teach people about events that impacted America in such a large way that people felt the need for these stories to be recreated by actors and shown for generations to come. Recreations of these events occur also to show either new evidence that has come up or when a director/writer believes there is a new way to tell these stories.

However, One of the parts of the dramatizations that people forget about is that there not always 100% facts. Some details are added in order to fill the unknown. Senior Shilo Kendall believes that documentaries, and not dramatic re-creations, are the proper way for a person to learn about these events.

“Having tapes or people who are apart of the investigations who were involved in any way with the people are more interesting than a dramatization,” she stated. Who cares about what it looks like if you’re not actually portraying the facts of the situation?” Kendall stated.

Even some of the younger people of today believe that the dramatizations that are shown on all different types of viewing media actually do more harm than good. If the show is entertaining enough,  viewers may not feel compelled to research these heinous people and their actions.

In the case of  Ted Bundy, he may be seen as a character instead of a criminal, thus making him easy to sympathize with and seem more humane. For example, In “Extremly Wicked” it was noted that because the movie was told in the perspective of Bundy’s girlfriend, it displayed Bundy as a father who was being harassed by a court and prevented him from being with his girlfriend and her daughter. The crimes themselves were not as noteworthy in the film but were more just brought up and talked about but not actually shown all that much.

Math TeacherBrad Latimer, who is also a devoted True Crime Podcast listener, stressed the importance of the mindset the viewers have while watching a dramatization.

“I always think about the nature vs nurture thing. What sort of things can impact someone’s life that can lead someone down a certain path? What kinds of trauma can people experience when their younger can lead them to go down a path that most don’t follow.” Latimer stated.

It’s difficult to determine whether or not dramatizations are harmful. Some argue that these portrayals of famous killers cause individuals to become demonetized to violence and make people see these murderers as the victim because of the harmful environment that they lived/grew up in. Others believe that portrayals of murders allow people to better understand the time period where these murders took place in order to further their understanding of whether or not a murderer is born or created.

It appears that the biggest thing to understand when watching dramatizations like “Extremely Wicked” is that these people are actors, these are characters that are based on real people and true events, but it’s not all facts.

Taylor Green

A&E Editor 

Firefly, Coachella, Made in America, are all festivals that are held in the same place each year. The Vans Warped Tour is one of the few, if not only music festivals that traveled across the country. However, 2018 was their last complete run of the tour. Yet the tour curator Kevin Lyman did hint that there could be a celebration show for the tour in the future.

On December 18th, the official Vans Warped Tour Twitter account announced the dates and primary locations for the 25th- anniversary show. They confirmed that one was being held in Cleveland, Ohio and the others in the east coast, west coast and the midwest.

The account later revealed in January that the east coast show is happening in Atlantic City, New Jersey and the west coast show is happening in Mountain View, California.

The announcement of the shows, of course, caused a few of mixed feelings among fans. People who lived close to these areas were ecstatic, whereas people who are quite a drive away felt as though it was unfair. Many people took to Twitter voicing their opinions, prompting the Warped Tour account to respond and clap back, as well as answer some frequently asked questions.

Another thing that fans took issue with is the fact that tickets had presale before the lineup was even announced. A lot of people didn’t understand why someone would want to spend money on a show without knowing who was performing. Other fans countered with going for the experience since this is the last official Warped Tour the performers wouldn’t matter and it would be more about the atmosphere.

However, many fans weren’t ready to make the commitment and buy a ticket because Warped is a two-day event this year. The locations are also a distance away from some people, so that means that they would have to try and find AirBnBs or hotels to stay at. , of course, Lauren Nicolella shares that with Warped being similar to other festivals this year,  it was more difficult to plan around it. “I was trying to plan with a group of friends to go to the one in Atlantic City, but it turned out to be a lot harder than last year,” Nicolella says. “Since it’s two days and a bit further away, we had to plan out who would drive, and it’s not necessarily easy to get a hotel as an 18-year-old.”

Nicolella also shares that it was more difficult trying to secure a ticket this year than last year due to the exclusivity of the event. “There are only three dates, and the Atlantic City one is literally gathering all of the east coast fans since its a central hub for New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and other people are willing to travel for something as big as this.” She says.

It isn’t unheard of that people from different states go to music festivals held in farther locations. For instance, Coachella is held in Indio, California every year. The festival has multiple plans for people who are traveling via driving, Uber, public transportation and even plane. The festival also offers camping plans, which allows the attendee to camp on the desert site, in their car or even hooks them up with hotel rooms close to the desert.

The Vans Warped Tour twitter account realized that many people attending the Atlantic City show would want to stay either on or somewhere near the beach and gave some information out about nearby hotels.

Benjamin Rush High School Senior Justin Stetler bought his Warped Tour tickets during the pre-sale event for the Atlantic City Show. “I, fortunately, was able to afford the pre-sale tickets, and I had a feeling that these tickets were going to sell out fast.” Stetler shares.

Stetler’s prediction was right, and the Atlantic City show sold out March 8th, seven days after the lineup was announced.

Stetler plans to stay close to the beach for the AC show. He planned to go to the show with a few friends and get a room close to the shore. “I would say that this does make it harder because we have to book a hotel room for 4 days, and that’s going to be pretty pricey.” Stetler shares.

However, he admits that he’d prefer to splurge more for a two-day event rather than a one day festival like the 2018 Warped Tour. “I am glad that it is a two-day event this year because last year after I left my city’s warped tour date, I felt that I needed to go to another date. Unfortunately, I couldn’t because of how far the other nearest date was.” Stetler says.

It seems like for the final tour, Warped is going out with a bang with what people are calling the best line up yet. Stetler, who is more into metalcore and hardcore wishes there were more heavy bands coming, but it stoked nonetheless. “I’m so excited to see Taking Back Sunday, A Day To Remember, Wage War, Memphis May Fire, Sleeping With Sirens, Blink-182, Hidden In Plain View, The Offspring, Bowling For Soup, Trophy Eyes, and We The Kings,” Stetler says, expressing his enthusiasm for the lineup.

Not only does the tour have a spectacular lineup, but there are other attractions as well. For the Cleveland date, the show is going to be at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Atlantic City show is going to have live wrestling, a human cannonball, and even motocross. The Mountainview date is going to have a Warped Museum, going through the tour’s 25-year history.

It’s bittersweet to finally be saying goodbye to the famous Warped Tour. The festival has been a wonderful place for fans of alternative music to express themselves freely for over twenty `years. Many fans say it would be nice to see more Warped dates after this year, however, they admit that it would be too good to be true.

Lauren Nicolella

Features Editor

On February 27th, the Nintendo Switch Twitter account released a video releasing the new and highly anticipated Pokemon games titled Sword and Shield. The franchise is famous for releasing two versions of each game, giving the players a slight twist of specific pokemon and legendaries throughout with specific storylines to go along with each.

Pokemon has been around since the mid 90’s release of the first games, Red and Blue along with the special Yellow version. They were first playable on the Gameboy, and have adapted their games to each new device Nintendo decides to release every few years. The company Game Freak who has developed the games and other Nintendo merchandise has continuously released new games every couple of years in the fall and makes fans interested in what will be done next.

In every game, your player has the option to choose from a water, grass, or fire type. The starter Pokemon were announced in the video, with opinions of how they will perform based on how they look so far in their first stage of evolution. They always begin with the choice of a monkey-looking grass type, a frog-like water type, or a bunny fire type.

Senior Sean DeSilva has been playing the games for about ten years now and is thrilled to play the newly announced game.

“I think the new starters look pretty cool. Nothing can replace the original starters of course, but I am excited to see their final evolutions. I am definitely going to pick Sobble for my starter, I love water type Pokemon.” DeSilva shares.

The new region, Galar, is the newest place to call home as a trainer. It is said to have influences from the U.K., but nothing is confirmed yet. The video showcases spectacular visuals of industrial brick buildings and blossoming fields and forests.

Senior Eric Valenti hopes that the Pokemon Company decides to change their usual playthrough of instantly pushing through each gym in the span of a few days. In the gyms, you have to challenge a type-specific leader, and you obtain a badge after completing the task.

“I hope the gyms are harder, and more challenging overall. I really want an open world game, but it seemed like that’s what they were hinting at in the video.”

One major aspect that has been implemented into every game is rivalry and a “bad guy” you have you defeat. There has been less emphasis on those teams in recent releases because according to Senior Amado Alfaro-Allah, nothing can compare to the older games. Team Rocket is the most well-known rival, with the leaders Jesse and James having greater personalities as they were introduced in the Pokemon television shows.

“I miss playing Pokemon in my room and getting excited or scared when Team Rocket or other guys came at the end of the game.”

There have been no updates yet on other gameplay specifics, as there was even a disclaimer in the video itself that not all of what we were seeing are finalized visuals. Pokemon fans have a lot of built up excitement. The reboot of the first games brought to the Nintendo Switch was such a huge success, and they expected a fresh game to come out with a new console.

It will be interesting to see the slow addition of news until the release of fall 2019, and what this new game will have in store for those who have been playing since they were children.