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Trying to End Girl on Girl Hate!

February 4, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Vilma Martinez

Staff Writer

“First Depression now Derealization girl please”

“omg, talk too much, nothing new, here anymore, whatever else are u gonna do on u r channel, it is ALL BEEN DONE , REGURGITATED, CHEWED ON,OVER AND OVER , AND OVER. STOP BEING A PARASITE, BECOME SOMEWHAT USEFUL IN THIS SOCIETY., LEARN SOMETHING, GET EDUCATION.REAL JOB.JOB.”

Women and teenage girls alike have always had a reputation for hating one another. However, this phenomenon has been especially prominent online, on almost all social media platforms.

In an effort to combat this trend, vloggers such as Jaclyn Hill a beauty vlogger who posts many makeup tutorials and Lilly Singh a comedian who enjoys doing beauty every once in awhile, have addressed this fact.

In a video posted on December 20th, 2015 Jaclyn Hill addressing recent comments in which girls have been name calling one another and attacking each other’s personal lives. Not only that, but she also addresses hate she has received, not your “typical hate”, but hate that has gone from “your ugly” to people attacking her family and her own mental stability.

“I feel like a lot of people forget that I have blood in my veins, I cry when I’m sad, I bleed when I get cut”.

Many people would go as far as to say that she is begging for attention, “pinche chillona RIDICULA” said a girl in the video, this translates to “freaking cry baby”, but then she goes ahead to say “I am in no way wanting anyone to feel sorry for me because I live a very blessed life and I am very happy to do everything that I do on youtube off youtube I love my life I do I am very appreciative for it so I’m not asking anyone to feel sorry for me”.

It is a shame that women have to address things like this in order for them to understand that people are not asking for pity or attention. Instead she makes the video about everyone watching, “But this is not about me necessarily this about everything and everyone going on recently, I know I can’t change the world, I know I can’t bring world peace, I know I’m not God…but I just want so badly to try to encourage you guys to just find happiness and put your energy towards the greater good and I know that is so much easier said than done”.

She has so far had to disable the comment section on 2 of her videos due to the amount of girl on girl hate going on and most of the hate does not even include the content of the video, but women just hating one another.

Lilly Singh also created a video addressing the issue. “This is my Youtube channel. It has over 7.4 million subscribers, of which 84% are female, which means that over 6 million girls around the planet regularly watch my videos…This holiday season I decided to use that reach to speak up against an issue I’d love to see go away and that is girl on girl hate. So I decided to ask for some help from my girlfriends”. From there the girls in the video go on to point out things to love about one another. They also talk about things to love about being a woman and being around other women.

“I think women are strong, beautiful, empowered goddesses” says Shay Mitchell, a woman involved in the video.

Has YouTube made this kind of hatred worse? After all, back in the day there was no such thing as anonymous commenting. If a girl had something nasty to say about another girl, she couldn’t do it to her face and hide her own identity. In my opinion Youtube has become a nasty place where people are open to say the worst things to other people. The hatred has not gotten worse, I believe people have always been like that, Youtube just allows people to put their hatred out there.

I talked with Amanda Bolli, a close friend who understands what girls are capable of and here is what she had to says towards the matter.

“I feel disgusted by all the negativity that these girls are giving everyone. My mom always told me if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say it at all and walk away. I think it is a good thing that they are creating these videos because it shows the viewers that say the negative things that they are there reading each comment. I think if everyone not only in the beauty world heard about girlongirl then it would stop. I still feel disgusted that girls are doing this to other girls. If you don’t like it then watch someone else or do something else because it isn’t about you. It’s about the broadcaster and how they feel. Don’t say something you will regret when they are getting better at what they want to do, while you’re sitting on your phone or iPad or laptop hating because you don’t have that. Instead of hating on that maybe you should actually try it. It’s not as easy as it looks”

As for my opinion, it is the same as many of the other ladies that have addressed the issue. I not only wanted to show people the impact it has on other people, but the opinions of others also. This is an issue where many are affected and it good to have the opinion of those who are involved in the situations. Girl on Girl hate can be stopped, trust and believe that there will be women putting one another down, but we can prevent from going farther than what it already has. It takes a bigger community to do it.

Movie Review

January 28, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Allison Kelly staff writer

The start of the new year comes along with lots of new things, including new movies, all trying to top the ones of the years before and be looked at as something to beat for the years to come. One genre in specific, though, has always been what sparked my anticipation for new releases, horror. But, it is sad to say that recently this anticipation has been met with nothing but disappointment.

On January 8th of 2016, psychological thriller, The Forest was released. This 15.5 million box office film starring Natalie Dormer and Taylor Kinney met everyone’s expectations, considering they weren’t very high ones. The Atlantic describes the movie as in having “no ambitions of being more than some easy, low-budget, winter box-office fare”.

Directed by Jason Zada and with Natalie Dormer as Sarah, a young girl off to Japan to find the whereabouts of her twin sister tells a story within the real forest of Aokigahara, located in Mount Fuji’s northwest base in Japan. Also being known as “the suicide forest”, Sarah sets off for the hike through Aokigahara to find her mentally unstable sister with the company of an Australian journalist, Taylor Kinney. It turns out that the psychological tricks the environment of this forest can have on the mind seem to be more real than they could’ve ever imagined.

In the world of horror movies, any association with reality, such as it being based upon a true story or real events, or even, in this case, a real life setting, adds a whole extra fear factor and this movie really had the potential to use the forest’s legends to its advantage, but failed. Not only did this movie lack the successful plot that should’ve stemmed from such a strong setting, but the way the movie went about displaying the suicides in which have taken place in this forest have caused some controversy. Again, The Atlantic had some input on this, stating “it doesn’t make the slightest sincere effort to portray the Aokigahara forest with the respect or sensitivity that such a real-life place deserves.”

Aside from some of the problems the movie stirred, it presented a lot to criticise. It probably covered every stereotypical factor that any horror movie entails, the main actress tripping while running a million times and very predictable moments in which attempted to make the audience jump. There also was never really any moment of climax. The plot seemed to be all over the place and time it got to the end, it wasn’t hard to hear almost everyone whisper throughout the theatre “that’s it?”.

American Crime: The Quiet Lion

January 28, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Sean Morris

Staff Writer

Although you probably haven’t heard of it, ABC’s American Crime has been one of recent TV’s most compelling dramas. Like American Horror Story and True Detective before it, it follows the format of an anthology series where the premise and characters change each season (although in this show, most of the cast stays). The first season, which premiered back in March, has already gone on to numerous critical acclaims and awards- in including several Emmy Nods and a win for Regina king as best supporting actress in a miniseries or movie. Since its second season just recently premiered, I thought it was high time to talk about this extraordinary show.

While the plotline of the show changes season to season, it always centers around a crime that brings controversial and tricky topics in modern american society to the forefront. Past shows have taken on subjects like racism, rape, classism, sports culture and more in an adult and well-handled manner. Part of the finesse of the show is thanks to its thoroughly talented actors and actresses. Some notable mentions include Felicity Huffman (of who I stand by that she deserved the Emmy for her work last season), Timothy Hutton, Regina King (who deserved her Emmy), Caitlin Gerard, Lili Taylor, Richard Cabal and more.

In addition to its cast, the way the show is filmed and told doesn’t hold back on anything. I will admit it is not for the faint of heart. It’s little details like a girl’s cracked phone screen, a tv station editing someone’s quote to change the narrative, a casual line in a locker room about raping a girl, that makes the show edgy and gritty – and yet much more well written format than most shows in general will have, and is an even greater rarity amongst network channels. imply put, there is no other show quite like it on tv. That being said, ironically this show should not be confused with the other upcoming “American Crime” anthology series, which is being produced by Fox and will start with the trial of OJ Simpson.

Another fan of the show is our own Digital media teacher Douglas Herman. “I thought the show was impressive, considering it was for a network television,” he said.

I’m normally I’m not a fan of those shows because I feel like they design the show to the commercial, and that feel’s like they’re not respecting the audience, but American Crime had more of a cable series or cinematic feel to it and they did an amazing job of character development and it was expertly edited- it was beautiful, it was like really well shot and the acting in it was really intense as well.”

While the show may not be suited for those who squirm at frank depictions of crime, s, but I think the work is too good to possibly miss. The first four excellent episodes of the new season have already aired on ABC, so it’s the perfect time to get caught up.

First Podcast For The Sports and Statistics Analysis Club

January 16, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Aaron Watson-Sharer

Staff Writer

Hey Rocket Nation,

The Sports and Statistics Analysis Club is a club that analyzes and talks sports which holds its meetings every other Tuesday including this Tuesday January 19th. Led by juniors Aaron Watson-Sharer, Jared Bauer and Jason Greene are three people who are looking for new members to join us either X or Y band this Tuesday.

One critical activity performed by this club is our own podcast The Honest Breakdown. This podcast reviews many sports topics going on today and we would love for everyone to listen and enjoy!

The link is right here to The Honest Breakdown.

Star Wars Episode VII: A Phantom Menace or a New Hope?

January 4, 2016 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Sean Morris

Staff writer and editor

So, here it is. The review we’ve all been waiting for.r. After the last few years of speculation and feverish anticipation, I can say with confidence that the newest installment of the Star Wars movie franchise, the force awakens, is an enjoyable one- but with several faults. Interestingly, my feelings about these faults differ greatly from what many people at SLA feel about it- which puts me in the unique position of being the film’s review with some of the more negative thoughts on it. I’ll tread carefully to insure a major spoiler-free review.

To begin with the positives; this movie was a big treat in terms of throwbacks and references to the previous movies and plenty of eye winks that can appeal to occasional or die hard fans. This film also mastered comedy very well, better probably than any of the other movies and definitely played with some of the more common jokes in the star wars movies. The cast all did their jobs phenomenally- especially the leading protagonist of Daisy Ridley as Rey, who has become one of my new favorite characters within Star Wars and defiantly has a long bright career ahead of her. John Boyega was also solid as a reformed stormtrooper and had several good moments, bringing in most of the story’s comedy. Part of the fun also goes to the incredibly handsome Oscar Isaac’s charming portrayal of Poe Dameron that makes him infectiously likeable.

But it wasn’t only the new stars that stole the show as Harrison ford’s return as Han Solo was utterly wonderful and provided some of the best scenes and heart of the film. From the returning characters like Carrie Fisher’s feisty former Princess Leia, Chewbacca, C-3po and more all make trumpet returns to the saga that immortalized them. The special effects were outstanding- even more so when you realize many elements were captured through real-life animatronics rather than CGI.

Now, some of the things I didn’t like. I felt that the recycled plot elements from “A New Hope” took away from the “new” aspect the movie was promising and gives me some worries as to how they will handle future projects. The mysterious big bad- Supreme Leader Snoke- was also not very exceptional. For all the secrecy about his appearance, he was not even intresting looking and, so far, a bland, motivationless appearing villain- with a quite frankly TERRIBLE villain name. I mean, Snoke? What are you, a dolphin or something? While he still probably has at least another one or two movies to prove his potential, there were a number of ways they could have made a lasting impression in his first appearance that they did not. One character made a departure in this movie as well. I was not happy with how they handled his or her leave, although telling more about this would MASSIVELY spoil the plot. And another character that was hyped in promotional material was little used, and when used wasn’t being very effective.

When compared to the previously crafted worlds of the comics and books that took place after “Return of the Jedi” these new movies (that replace this, cannon wise) haven’t even met some of the originality and characters that they had. And I will say that they had more than one opportunity to make references to that particular mythology or include it somehow, but they straight up did not, which felt like a massive slap in the face to those who loved read and knew about those . I will try to cover some of this in a more spoiler filled thoughts on the movie.

Overall, the Force Awakens is the biggest film of the year, possibly of all time, but that doesn’t make it the best. It was an enjoyable picture that deserves acclaim for doing what many thought would be impossible. In the words of Lucille Bluth, I encourage everyone to “Go see a Star War”.

Rating: 3.5 /5 stars