Arts and Entertainment

Category Archives: Arts and Entertainment

“Midnights”: A Music Review

Posted on March 28, 2023 by bbesthetides Leave a comment

By Kayleigh Cook

Taylor Swift recently released her tenth studio album, Midnights, on October 21. She announced the album on August 28 during her acceptance speech for “Video of the Year” at the 2022 VMAS. These songs have exceeded the expectations of most and they even took up the top 13 spots on the Billboard Hot 100. Behind each masterpiece of a song, there is a genius set of lyrics revolving around different sleepless nights throughout the songwriter’s life. Many people have attempted to decode the song’s cryptic lyrics and figure out the bigger meaning behind them. In this article, I will share with you my interpretation of each song.

The Last of Us: Spoiler-Free Review

Posted on March 27, 2023 by bbesthetides One comment

By Max Gast

On January 15, 2023, one of the most anticipated media adaptations of any video game ever came out. The Last of Us, based on the award-winning video game and its sequel, aired on HBO Max. It’s been the most talked-about show of the year so far.

The original Last of Us was a Playstation-exclusive video game released on June 14, 2013, to rave reviews, including a 9.7/10 on IMDb, which makes it third place in the video games section on the site. It eventually became a best-seller and since has been declared one of the greatest video games to ever be released.

The show was a smash hit with 4.7 million viewers watching the pilot, and 8.2 million watching the ending. Along with that, the game has been having a healthy resurgence.

M&M’s: Marketing Stunt or Killing the Brand?

Posted on February 21, 2023 by bbesthetides Leave a comment

By Zamantha Muñoz-Morales

If there’s one candy that has made a name for itself over the years, it would be M&M’s. These chocolates aren’t really anything special since they’re just candy-coated milk chocolate circles. The real gold, and probably what makes the candies sell, are the mascots. That’s right! The famous walking and talking M&M’s candies that you’ll most likely see on television ads. Many people have seen these mascots. However, at the end of 2022, things started to go downhill, and only downhill. There was so much controversy regarding the changes made to the M&M’s mascots that it led to an indefinite pause from the spokescandies. Should we not expect to see them anytime soon or if this is just a marketing stunt? Before we can answer, let’s start at the beginning.

Rapid Recap: The Year of Sonic

Posted on January 13, 2023 by bbesthetides Leave a comment

By Zamantha Muñoz-Morales

Rolling around at the speed of sound since 1991, Sonic the Hedgehog is without a doubt one of gaming’s most remarkable and beloved icons. The year was definitely his best year to date! Sega and Sonic Team made sure to touch every form of media possible! We got a movie, two new games, and tv shows, just to name a few. Now that he is closing his 31st year, I think we should take a look back on one of the biggest years for the blue blur and what it brought.

Starting off 2022 was the long-awaited sequel to the first Sonic movie. When Sonic the Hedgehog 2 finally made its debut in theaters on April 8, fans were impressed. The story’s main focus is around a century-long beef between Sonic and the Knuckles’ ancestors, along with Sonic’s maturity improving, and the two-hour-long journey to find the master emerald. The movie once again broke the records for the number one video game movie in the United States! It wasn’t long until Paramount announced that the third film in the franchise is in development and set to release in December of 2024 as well as a solo Knuckles spinoff show coming to Paramount Plus in 2023. Only Sonic the Hedgehog could pull off greatness like that, and his greatness continues throughout the year!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Rise!

Posted on November 20, 2022 by bbesthetides Leave a comment

By Zamantha Muñoz-Morales

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the movie, went streaming on Netflix on August 5, 2022. Directed by creators of the show, Ant Ward and Andy Suriano, with all of the returning cast members such as Ben Schwartz, Omar Benson, Josh Brener, and Brandon Mychal Smith, this movie is supposedly the final installment of this incarnation of the turtles. The big question on everyone’s mind is, “What’s next for Rise?”

A Fan’s Guide to Stranger Things

Posted on November 20, 2022 by bbesthetides Leave a comment

By Olivia Bagdanov

Imagine biking home with your friend. He challenges you to a race, so you go ahead just to be greeted by a seven-foot-tall dark shadow that takes you away into a different dimension.

Have you watched the top 10 rated shows on Netflix, Stranger Things? This popular show just had a season 4, which came out on May 27, 2022. Not so long after that, part two of season 4 came out. Stranger Things has a total of 34 episodes.

The show is about four young boys who find a girl in the woods. Little do they know she has psychokinetic and telepathic powers. Not so long after finding her, they discover a portal to a different dimension that has monsters and dangerous vines like in Dungeons and Dragons, a board game that the boys play.

Why Does Everybody Love Harry Styles?

Posted on November 15, 2022 by bbesthetides 6 comments

By Kayleigh Cook

Twenty-six-year-old singer-songwriter Harry Edward Styles entered the music scene 10 years ago, and since then has been the person most moms, sisters, and maybe even ELA teachers keep gushing about. But, It’s not for no reason. Harry Styles is a good-natured person who makes stellar, enjoyable music.

Harry Styles was born February 1, 1994, in Redditch, England, to landlady Anne Twist and finance worker Desmond “Des” Styles. At only 16, Styles went on the TV show X-Factor UK and sang Train’s “Hey, Soul Sister.” Simon Cowell, one of the judges, wasn’t too impressed, but gave Styles a second chance and asked him to sing acapella. Styles made the quick decision to belt out Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely.” The audition went well, obviously, and he was paired with four other European teens (Nial Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, and Zayn Malik) to form one of the best-selling boy bands, One Direction. Sadly, One Direction went on an indefinite hiatus in January 2016, but Harry Styles still continued down the yellow brick road of fame.

Though he is most known for his compelling music, Styles is also known for his fearless experimentation with clothing and fashion. In December 2020, Styles was displayed on the front page of Vogue magazine rocking a black Gucci jacket and blue dress. This moment makes Harry the first ever solo man on Vogue cover in all of the magazine’s 127-year history.

The Owl House: A Review

Posted on April 25, 2022 by bbesthetides 2 comments

By Elizabeth Peña Martinez

You all know about those fantasy stories where the main character lives in a magical world and defeats wizards and witches, like Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, Ever After High, Shera and the Princess, etc. Well, this one is different. It is so peculiar that it is not to be believed. It seems like a dream. If this has caught your attention, please continue reading.

Halo Infinite: A Review

Posted on March 8, 2022 by bbesthetides One comment

By Max Gast

On November 15, 2001, more than 20 years ago, the original Xbox came out. It didn’t have much going for it. The Nintendo GameCube was coming out only three days later, and Sony’s PlayStation 2 was thrashing the market, already wiping out the Sega Dreamcast, the last ever Sega console. At the time, the PlayStation 2 was the cheapest DVD player on Earth and most people bought it for that reason. The Xbox couldn’t play DVD’s but there was one game that was released with the console that helped them tremendously.

Apex Legends: Two Years Later

Posted on August 31, 2021 by bbesthetides Leave a comment

By Max Gast

It has been more than two years since the release of Apex Legends, a free-to-play battle royale hero shooter game. When it came out, The Tides published an article on the game, predicting that it could become even more popular than Fortnite. It is time to revisit the topic.

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