On the first day of classes of sophomore year, I walked into the wrong class like the freshman I was trying not to be, but corrected and fixed myself. I have not left the same seat this whole semester and do not regret it one bit. Making quality friends and connecting with old ones, my little corner was a haven for quality English discussions and editing papers.

The firsts impression of Professor Denton was, “damn… this will be fun” and then thought “I have never had a professor like this either.” The whole year has been full of thoughtful talks with the whole classroom, breaking down topics that not many people like to talk about and making other’s think differently. This English class made me change my minor from environmental science to English, something I had been wanting to do but never actually acted on.

The whole set up of the class is interesting, being centered around pop culture, which made the class relevant and fun to be in as opposed to a classic English class. I pushed myself to write better essays and stay consistent throughout my papers, which I think is reflected in my essay grade.

The class has been fun, intuitive, and a class I recommend to anyone looking to take an English class next semester. Thanks for helping me decide on my minor!

If one grew up on Demi Lovato and the Disney Channel then people tended to follow her journey, wondering what was happening and judging from the outside. I knew that when I heard about her recent scandals or what she was doing on tour then I looked at Demi with a negative view and struggled to see past the angsty, successful teenager. The documentary sheds a whole new light on everything Demi struggled with and is done in not a way to make people feel sympathetic for her, but to understand what she went through.

There’s a chronological order of how Demi got successful, her time with Barney, the breakthrough role in Camp Rock, and many more jobs with Disney Channel. Demi Lovato went on tour with the Jonas Brothers, branching out in her partying experiences, and progressively experiencing worse mental issues. The documentary gives a look into Lovato’s home life and where they were during all of this nonsense she was experiencing.

Demi speaks candidly about her relationships, her music, and her party life in the past. There are parts of the documentary that are raw and really heart wrenching, the writing was good and stayed interesting and who doesn’t love knowing what REALLY happened in someone’s life. The production is worth watching and not only gives insight on a celebrity’s life but also insight into mental illness. Give it a look!

Let’s talk Dirty Heads. My favorite topic. Dirty Heads are a reggae band from Huntington Beach, California that released their first album in 2008. Throughout the years, the vibe of Dirty Heads’ albums have morphed into reggae mixed with rock with influences of rap in them. Truly a versatile band, Dirty Heads have just recently released “SWIM TEAM” with new writers and producers, proving their adaptability to new music trends.

What stays consistent through the album is the amplified bass and electronic influences. The song “West Coast” is the most different song on the album where the new writers and producers seemed to dabble with electronic effects, which was successful. Whenever I listened through Dirty Heads’ albums, from “Any Port In A Storm” to “SWIM TEAM,” I could hear the different influences of music trends but the writers of the albums stayed true to the real reggae influence of the overall Dirty Heads vibe.

Although this whole album is new and exciting, many of the lyrics repeat themselves and lack the creativity the other Dirty Heads albums have. In the song “Vacation” the lyrics repeat this line “Every single day, every, every single day” an abundance of times, but make it easy to sing along to. The repetitive lines make the songs singable but the amount of rap Dirty Heads use in “SWIM TEAM” makes it near impossible.

Ultimately, the album surprises, like the other Dirty Heads albums have done in the past. The reggae influences lack in “SWIM TEAM” but Dirty Heads stay true to their other sounds in their other albums. It’s a good and creative new sound for Dirty Heads but the album will take some time getting used to.

American Horror Story has always been a creepy, bone chilling show that challenges what people think as normal. The show has been a spectacle since the day it aired in 2011 and continued to surprise throughout the seasons. The newest season, Cult, was created for the sheer purpose of shocking the audience and questioning how they felt.

This season’s chilling topic is a cult with the reasoning still mildly unknown to the audience. Maybe it’s the fact that this American Horror Story is trying too hard to relate to the recent election or that the writers are running out of topics to write about but this is the most lacking season to date. The plot is taking too long to develop, the characters are confusing, and the show is trying too hard to relate Trump into a program that could have been a very interesting topic.

My initial reaction to hearing about Cult, I believed that it would have a 1970’s, religious cult vibe but instead it is one about this time. The show took up until episode five to really understand who was taking place in this cult but the audience still doesn’t know the purpose behind it. AHS does a good job at staying true to the creepy nature of the show by making it gory and bloody but not quite to the extent of the first few seasons.

As American Horror Story has progressed, it has gotten worse at staying true to a good plot line and being genuinely scary. The first few episodes, I could not watch at night or I would not be able to sleep but now it is just gory and lacking in a good story line. Although a interesting take on current issues, American Horror Story dropped the ball this season. Doesn’t mean I’ll stop watching though, I’m too invested.

These tiny forms of entertainment last only around four minutes and show how people cook with ridiculously tiny cooking utensils. There are many more videos than just ones made by Tastemade that stem from the trend of miniature items in Japan. Tastemade did commission a tiny dollhouse maker for the kitchen to make the recipes (Danovich). A lot of thought goes into creating these meals more so than one would think. Learning how to shrink the recipes, figuring out how to make every single food from scratch, and estimating how long foods will take to cook in small kitchens. Involved in these videos are far more effort than one would think as well as a team that makes magic happen. The kitchens are fully functional with a working stoves and ovens.

The questions that tend to arise when watching these videos are who these small foods made for? As well as why are they doing this? They’re never really answered but people (like me) find them entertaining and weirdly addictive. Delve into the world of tiny kitchens and you’ll be only mildly disappointed but your tiny food cravings will be satisfied.

Source:

Danovich, Tove. “‘Tiny Kitchen’ Videos Cook Up Real Food In Doll-Sized Portions.” NPR, NPR, 3 May 2016, www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/05/03/475783900/tiny-kitchen-videos-cook-up-real-food-in-doll-sized-portions. Accessed 17 Sept. 2017.

The episode highlights how obsessed with being seen society has become. Although it is an extreme version it is not far off from what society could become. As technology advances it tends to cross ethical boundaries that the public has yet to realize are boundaries.

“Nosedive” is an episode that makes its watchers self reflective, showing that the captivation with being coveted is more important than personal relationships. Lacie Pound realizes by the end of the show that her lack of true human connection is more detrimental than a poor social score that seemed so important at one point. Charlie Brooker created a satirical show but also something that hits close to home and not entirely false.