By Julie Amoss
The book Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is beautiful, heartbreaking, and a perfect pick for 2017’s One Maryland One book. It was chosen out of more than one hundred and twenty other books for the 2017 theme of home and belonging, and Purple Hibiscus elegantly shows that theme in a captivating coming-of-age novel that is wonderful to read. Although it is a bit slow and meandering at first, the more one reads, the harder it becomes to escape the story’s clutches. The language is beautiful and descriptive without being overly flowery, and it’s not hard to immerse oneself in the fascinating Nigerian setting. As described by Courtney Parks, a sophomore, the book is “Enlightening, [and] it shows a type of life [that is] important to understand.” The world of Nigeria is vastly different from that of America, yet it is still incredibly important to see and understand places outside of America to better comprehend the world. The characters in this book are vastly different from average Americans, but that makes it no harder to relate to them. They share the same hopes, emotions, and dreams that everyone does, and it’s almost painfully easy to relate to and understand them. Anyone can fall in love with Purple Hibiscus with just a few pages of reading. The narrator and protagonist, Kambili Achike, is a fifteen-year-old girl in a rich and influential family. She is shy and has trouble making friends due to her timidness and a stutter she is ashamed of; however, her peers mistake her unsociability as arrogance. She lives with an abusive, overly religious father who holds her to the highest standard of achievement at all times, and she is not allowed to question him or speak out in any manner. Her brother and mother are held to a similarly cruel regime, and her mother has had several miscarriages due to her husband’s physical abuse, which is seen through a heartbreakingly apathetic perspective that highlights how awful it is. That indifference, however, sometimes distances the reader from it by giving the events an almost surreal quality. It’s only when she is allowed to visit her Aunty Ifeoma and is exposed to a life quite literally the opposite of her own that Kambili begins to break out of her shell. In Aunty Ifeoma’s house, laughter and questions ring out almost constantly, and the family’s poverty does nothing to dampen their spirits. The contrast feels a little unrealistic at first, given how different it is from Kambili’s home life; however, after a while that disparity seems less improbable and instead acts as a wonderful contrasting element in the story. The plot is slow and fulfilling, and major, important events are surrounded by smaller -but precious and equally important- examples of beauty that help offset the tragedy perfectly. The book’s descriptions are vivid and gorgeously detailed, yet the addition of cultural words and terms can be confusion to a reader without the assistance of outside resources. Words in Igbo, a secondary language used by most characters in the book, frequently appear in dialogue, and their meanings can be hard to decipher with just context clues. The reader should be prepared the look up words semi frequently, or be okay with not comprehending all of the story’s dialogue. Most of the major plot events only occur later on in the book, and when the action picks up it’s impossible to put down. The twist ending is completely unexpected, and for Adichie’s first book, it is a masterful story. The many awards the novel has received, such as the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, show that many critics agree with this sentiment. All in all, Purple Hibiscus is a magical tale of love, family, and growing up, and it is entirely worth the read. By Chase Hensing and Noah Kohler
The latest IGN news talks about two new games. Destiny 2 and NBA 2k18. Both of these games are sequels of previous games that were upgraded and made to be more interactive. Let’s take a look at Destiny 2. The sequel to the thrilling first person shooter Destiny, Destiny 2 is grabbing people’s attention all over the world with its action packed content. 273 thousand copies have already been sold with the game only having been out on Xbox One and Playstation 4 for 3 weeks. The game is available for purchase in Gamestop and The online game store. The price for the game ranges between $48.00 and $250.00 dollars, the copy of the game that costs the most is 250.00 dollars because it’s the collectors edition and its has more features then the regular game. The game starts off with millions of guardians fleeing the tower which is under attack by an unknown foe. Most of the guardians arrive safely at a farm. Luke Smith, a verified Destiny 2 developer, talks about specifics to the new game, “Shaders are earned through gameplay: leveling, chests, engrams and vendors. We expect you’ll be flush with shaders as you continue to play. When you reach level 20, shaders will drop more often: vendor rewards, destination play and end game activities” (Smith). talking to a student from the school Trey Hensing a senior from GHS, about this game and he gave me his opinion on it he said, “The game is overall greatly made, the graphics are better than they were in the previous game and the missions go more into detail and tell a better much darker backstory” (Hensing). Hensing also mentions he plays the game “multiple hours a day” between 4 and 6 hours a day. Bungie, an association that helped create Destiny 2, took in thousands of comments about the first game and added some features and made some minor adjustments from the comments to the new game. Most changes revolved around loot intake increase, many more weapons, shaders and new vehicles, but one thing the eager guardians around the world are waiting for is the change to PvP and the brand new raids and boss fights. The difficulty was increased, but can be changed to an easier difficulty if players desire and the maps got bigger making it more difficult to hide from enemies because the map is more open, and more intricate playstyles. The waiting between games has been greatly reduced as well as players can now sign in with out the delay which was annoying and took forever to load many players are glad to say thats gone, of the game loading up and preparing to start and this also increases population density on the servers making finding a game or fire team quick and easy. The game is out and already has a high rating but further updates will fix emblem glitches and minor bugs. One problem this game is having though is the fact it’s having hard time performing on Playstation 4. Players say the game loads up and then they just get dashboarded which means to be sent to the homescreen. Bungie has responded to this problem and is already looking into fixing it. Other than that as they say in the new game “see you in the wild.” Now that we have taken a look at Destiny 2 let’s see what is in store for NBA 2k18. With the newest game of the NBA 2K released September 19th. Fans of both the Nba and video games are getting excited for the release. It will be released on all platforms. The new game modes such as Run the Neighborhood and Pack and Playoffs have many people excited after many years of requesting. But just like every year there is tons of hype around the improved MyCareer mode. MYcareer mode is a mode in the game where you make your own player and play as him. A new feature that has many players excited is the Run the Neighborhood mode. Many players are excited for this because many people have been asking for an open hub world in the game.This is the new version of the “MyPark” mode. The “neighborhood” is an open hub world where players can move around freely, communicate with other players, have open stores so you can customize your player, and mini games to boost stats. If anybody preorder 2k18 you have multiple options just like previous years. The three options are early tip off, legend edition, and legend edition gold. The price range on the game is from 60-160 dollars. This is because their is three different pre order options that all give you in game and out of game rewards.The game also has two different covers depending on where you live. If you live in Canada you will receive a cover with Demar Derozan the star player of the Toronto Raptors on it. If you live in the United States you will receive Kyrie Irving on the cover the new point guard for the Boston Celtics. When asking other people in the gaming community their thoughts on the game Charlie Wendell, a Freshman at Glenelg High school said “I think that it will be better than previous games because they have more technology to put into the graphics.” Russell Henggeler, a Freshman at Glenelg High school said “I am excited and I think my favorite new game mode will be pack and playoffs because you get to play with lots of different players.” Overall it seems the release of NBA 2k18 will be an exciting time for everyone. We hope you enjoy these games as much as we do. By Alexis Kominos
The season for pools and beaches is over, and it is now time to find some fall activities somewhere else. The movies is one great place to spend those cold autumn days. There are various films coming out that have sparked interest in many people. Mother!: September 15 When uninvited guests come into a couple's remote home, their relationship is challenged when these people disrupt their household and their serene life. This movie may not be what it seems at first, but after it is watched, there are many themes to be analyzed. The movie is strongly based on the bible and relates characters to those of the bible. This movie deals with religion, environmental issues, society’s treatment of women, and fame. See the movie, Mother!, decipher clues, and feel the true message. Kingsman the Golden Circle: September 22 An allied spy organization is found when the Kingsman take a journey to help the world. These two top secret corporations assemble together to conquer a popular enemy. This action/adventure movie is full of thrill and excitement. The first movie deals with the spy organization recruiting a young kid from the streets into their competitive training program to ultimately defeat a tech genius. Now moviegoers get to see what happens next in Kingsman: the Golden Circle. Flatliners: September 29th Five medical students who are curious of what occurs after death create an experiment to stop their hearts for a short amount of time in order to experience first hand what occurs. But what happens is not what they expect. This thrilling, suspenseful movie would be grear to see with your friends in theaters. According to Molly Dustin, Sophomore at Glenelg High School, “I am excited for the movie Flatliners. I have been for a while. I like the idea of making a movie about something that is unknown to many people, and it looks interesting” There have been plenty of tv shows and movies about what happens after death, but now we get to see the take on what happens when someone who dies, comes back to life. The Mountain Between Us: October 6th. This movie is about two people on different, yet important, paths take a flight on a plane that crashes in the snowy mountains. Despite being complete strangers, they must trust each other and work with one another to survive throughout the cold wilderness. This dramatic, thrilling movie takes audience members on a journey through survival, and will be great to see this fall. Happy Death Day: October 13 Tree Gelbman relieves the same day every day in the upcoming movie, Happy Death Day. She must figure out who her killer is and why they are trying to kill her. Every night she is killed by a masked person and wakes up the next day with complete memory of what happened. So she must capture the killer and find some answers. Audience members can also uncover some answers of their own by seeing Happy Death Day this fall, and just in time for Halloween season. Jigsaw: October 27th The eighth movie in the franchise, Jigsaw, taking theaters October 27th, explains many unanswered questions. Dead people have been turning up around the city; each person killed in a grisly, horrible way. An investigation begins and the clues lead back to one person, John Kramer. But that cannot be because John Kramer, the man known as Jigsaw, has been dead for over ten years. As stated by Willie Brock, Junior at Glenelg, “I have been excited for Jigsaw for a while now. I enjoy horror movies, and I am intrigued to find out if John Kramer is alive or not.” This would be a great movie to see and uncover answers for fans of the Saw franchise. My Friend Dahmer: November 3 During his teen years, Jeffrey Dahmer struggled with family life at home. We get to witness how he changes throughout high school which pushes him to the path of being a world renowned serial killer. Ben Kishter, a Junior at Glenelg High School, states that he is “excited to see the movie, My Friend Dahmer. There are many shows and movies about murderers and serial killers, but now we get to see how Jeffrey Dahmer reshapes into the notorious serial killer, and cannibal he is.” According to Crime Museum Website, “ he became withdrawn and uncommunicative as he got older. He began showing little to no interest in hobbies or social interaction around the ages of 10 to 15. Dead animals became an interest of his and he also started drinking heavily during his high school years. His drinking escalated and was a huge issue following high school. His father made him enlist in the army, but he was kicked out due to alcoholism.” Moviegoers everywhere will be coming to see the story about how a corrupt childhood could lead to many bad things down the road. This intriguing movie deals with cruelty, morbidity, and substance abuse. Wonder: November 17 Based on the New York Times best seller, Wonder is an inspirational, heartwarming, and heart wrenching story about a young boy with facial deformities attending public school for the first time. Many people may have read the book Wonder and the time has come to see the movie. The book gives a good description on what August Pullman’s face looks like, so now we get to see the director's visual on it. This movie is a moving story about acceptance and what is on the inside. Pitch Perfect 3: December 22 And now a movie that many people have been waiting for, Pitch Perfect 3. After they won the world championships, the Bellas come back together one last time and go up against groups with not only voices, but instruments as well. This would be a great movie to see with your friends on the weekend and get a good laugh. Pitch Perfect 1 and 2 were well-liked, humorous movies. And now audiences around the world can see how the Bellas are doing after college and in their own lives. These are just few of the interesting movies coming out soon that spark the interest of many people everywhere. If you are looking for a laugh, scare, or thrill … there is a movie for that this fall. By Sofia Weddle
As one of the great fashion legends, Oscar de la Renta’s reputation lives on past his death. Known for his stunning, feminine gowns, Oscar de la Renta transformed his company into a household name that every woman yearns to wear. After his death nearly three years ago on October 20th, 2014, much of the mourning fashion community wondered how the Oscar de la Renta trademark would evolve on the runway. Now, during the Spring 2018 Ready-To-Wear New York Fashion Week (NYFW), the brand’s advancing path has been carved. As Oscar de la Renta focused on providing breathtaking, decorative, and chic womenswear, the NYFW crowd was rightfully in awe by the company’s most recent line. Many fans of the brand, such as local Instagram fashion blogger, Glenelg Junior Delaney Smith*, believe that “Oscar de la Renta’s work has a really impressive range. The elegance and beauty of his gowns combined with the unique patterns and textures he utilized create amazing dresses”. The increasingly modern and colorful take on these elegant themes is a result of the recent promotions of Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim as the fashion brand’s newest creative directors, according to Vogue journalist Nicole Phelps. However, their first showcase this past February was not as successful as hoped and was criticized by fashion journalists, such as WWD writer Bridget Foley, for being “old-fashioned” and full of “disparate elements [that] lacked focus”. Naturally, the two designers bounced back and brought forth an entirely innovative 2018 spring line. Chock full of casual denim, brightly colored blazers, professional palazzo pants, Oscar de la Renta-signed garb, dazzling sparkles, and flowing tulle, Garcia and Kim made an unequivocal statement. Regardless of any criticisms of the clothes, there can be no doubt that Oscar de la Renta has a hopeful track for the future. The spring collection showcases a newfound confidence bold enough to scribe Oscar de la Renta’s signature over dresses, coats, jumpsuits, and bodysuits. Bold enough to make high leg cuts and low necklines. Bold enough to place models in nothing but a leotard and a lengthy coat. Bold enough to make sparkles look like paint splatters or a never-ending night sky. Despite these beneficial fashion strives taken by Garcia and Kim, there still remains much brand and clothing development to be completed by the power duo. Like many reestablished fashion companies, the work never ceases but the clothes continue to advance, and Oscar de la Renta is no exception. Although the brand is experiencing an uncertain area in their clothing design, their newest runway show represents the beginning of a revolutionized brand; the fashion world just has to be patient. |
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