Some have described the 2023 Super Bowl Halftime show, featuring Rihanna, as one of the best halftime shows to date. In my opinion, the show left much to be desired and was far below the expectations of viewers. It is perhaps one of the worst halftime shows that I’ve witnessed.
The show was exceptionally low in entertainment value. Rihanna performed on a levitating platform that resembled a scene from a video game. She did not move very much due to her pregnancy, and her movements did not match the energy level of her backup dancers. While the movement of the backup dancers was high tempo, Rihanna was more or less static, merely swaying from side to side. This created a huge imbalance in the aesthetics of the overall spectacle.
To provide maximum entertainment, previous Super Bowl halftime show headliners have invited other stars to complement them. However, Rihanna chose to perform solo. Performing solo meant there was no wardrobe, or elaborate stage manipulation. The only “change” was when the levitating platforms rose or fell. Thus, the show was rather flat and lacked attention grabbing activities.
To a wholesome and impressionable person, Rihanna’s show would be considered “not ready for prime time.” It is not surprising then that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) received over 100 complaints that some of the dance moves were “patently offensive and completely inappropriate for children.” Some even commented that her inappropriate movements were not suitable for broadcast!
In sum, it is necessary for future Super Bowl organizers to endeavor to recruit performers who will entertain and keep the attention of the entire audience, old and young. Performers, who will not only present a varied and diverse show, but who will respect the sensibilities of the game’s diverse audience. This will keep future shows from being lackluster.
O’ Shea “Ice Cube” Jackson is one of the biggest Rap sensations to grace the music world. Coming from Compton in the inner streets of California with his mother, Doris, and his father, Hosea. Cube had a strong support system that took him away from the drugs and crime of Compton and created a strong foundation that would lead him toward a life of prosperity. In 1988, Cube graduated from the Phoenix Institute of Technology. Around this same time, Ice Cube got more involved in music.
Ice cube had been rapping since he was 16 but strayed away from that life as he drifted from Compton. After finishing college, Cube caught up with some of his old friends from South Central L.A. with the big names of Dr. Dre, Eazy E, and MC Ren to form the gangster rap group N.W.A. N.W.A is seen as a group of pioneers in the new music wave of gangster rap. The group’s heavy sounds and lyrics of the reality of inner-city neighborhoods shook the music industry as the group delivered songs about racial injustice and poverty, particularly in the African American community. The group’s popularity skyrocketed throughout the 1980s as they released hit after hit. Tours, albums, and concerts shook America, with Ice Cube spearheading the groundbreaking group making Ice Cube a pop culture name. This all changed in 1989 when Ice Cube split from N.W.A over a dispute of payment between the group.
Even though Ice Cube’s time with N.W.A had ended, but it didn’t stop the growth of Ice Cube in music. As if he had never skipped a beat, Cube released his first solo album, “Amerikkka’s Most Wanted.” This groundbreaking album showed Cube could run the music world by himself. This domination continued for the next four years as from 1991 to 1994, Ice Cube would release an album every year and rock the billboard charts with albums “Death Certificate,” “The Predator,” and “War and Peace.” Ice Cube would grow as a name in the music world as his popularity grew. This empire would continue from the 90s until Ice Cube’s last album was released in 2018. Cube was on top of the music world for over a decade, leading him to grow from rags to riches.
In addition to being a household name in the rap industry, he has been a part of several movies throughout his career. A majority of the movies he is in are comedy and action movies. Some of his films include: Barbershop, Are We There Yet?, Three Kings, Friday, Boyz N The Hood, and more! In 1991, Ice cube made his cinematic debut in the role of Doughboy in the late director John Singleton’s featured film Boyz N The Hood. Ice Cube praised the director after his passing in 2019, saying: “….He loved bringing the black experience to the world.” Following that role, he starred in the legendary comedy movie Friday in 1995. Because of his brilliant and hilarious performance in the film, his acting career seriously took off. Ice Cube then became the face of the Barbershop franchise, which movies were released in 2002, 2004, and 2016, respectively. Ice Cube has appeared alongside actors such as Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum in 21 and 22 Jump Street, Charlie Day in Fist Fight, and Kevin Hart in Ride Along 1 and 2 in a swarm of well-enjoyed comedy films. Ice cube also has experience as an executive producer for the 2015 film Straight Outta Compton, in which his son, O’Shea Jackson Jr., plays the role of his father, Ice Cube.
Thanks to the works of Ice cube and the N.W.A, gangsta rap became mainstream. Ice Cube’s legacy is one to remember, and his joy and charisma are widely recognized and reflected in his work. Ice Cube inspires many with his lyrical genius and abilities, which makes him one of the most influential artists in our world today. In the words of Ice Cube himself, “Don’t worry about being a star; worry about doing good work and all that will come to you.”
A new year means a fresh start and new goals to be accomplished. New Year’s resolutions are goals that people make to achieve within the year. These goals can be changing a bad habit, continuing a healthy diet, maintaining or losing weight, or exercising daily. New Year’s Resolutions were first created 4,000 years ago with the Babylonians when they celebrated their first barley harvest. These goals might seem easy to keep up with, but how many people achieve their New Year’s resolutions?
Around 39% of the US population make New Year’s resolutions, 59% of them being between the ages of 18 and 34. In 2022, 48% of people wanted to exercise more, making it the most popular resolution. In 2023, the three most popular New Year’s resolutions are improved mental health, improved physical health, and losing weight.
Let’s look at the top two resolutions in 2023: improved mental and physical health. According to a survey with 1,005 US respondents conducted by Forbes Health, young adults focused more on their mental health than their physical health. 20% said that improving mental health was a top priority, 16% said that improving physical health was a top priority, and 64% said they were of equal importance. 47% of women chose improved mental health as their resolution, while 40% of men chose improved mental health as their resolution. Men were more focused on improving their physical health. This is just the creation of a New Year’s Resolution, but how many people actually accomplish their resolutions?
Photo by RosZie
81% of people felt confident in achieving their goal, with men feeling more confident than women (86% vs 79%). In 2022, out of 39% of people who made resolutions, 23% failed their resolution the first week after setting their goal, 43% failed their resolution before February, and 91% failed their resolution. How come so many people fail their New Year’s resolutions? Many New Year’s Resolutions fail due to unreasonable goals. Because of unreasonable goals, 35% of people lose their motivation to continue, and 19% say they are too busy. So what did the 9% of successful people do to achieve their goals? These people are not perfect; the average amount of slip-ups is 7 per person. What allowed them to achieve their goal was their resilience and determination.
You may ask, “How can one keep their New Year’s resolutions?” Here are some suggestions:
Photo by Geralt
Use the SMART goal rule (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely)
Create short-term goals to give satisfaction to keep on going
Have someone make the resolution with you so you can encourage each other
Be fully committed to your resolution
Remember, delayed gratification!
Successfully achieving your New Year’s resolution will be a great feeling. Everyone will mess up, but are you willing to get back up and push yourself? It’s not too late to start a New Year’s Resolution!
Collin Park is a sophomore member of the Multimedia Journalism class.
As AI technology continues to advance, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between writing created by a human and that created by a machine. This can be especially true when it comes to more conversational or creative writing, such as social media posts or marketing.
So, how can you spot the difference between AI-generated writing and that created by a human?
In this survey, we ask you to read two pieces of writing and identify which paragraph was written by a human and which was written by an AI. Read the writing samples carefully, and see if you can spot the difference between human and AI writing.
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How did you do? Were you able to accurately spot the differences between the AI and human generated writing? It can sometimes be challenging to differentiate between the two, but with practice and attention to detail, you can improve your skills.
Oh by the way, the intro and outro were generated by AI.
Cooper Funk is a senior member of the Multimedia Journalism class.
Jimmy Thomas is a senior member of the Multimedia Journalism class.
Chat GPT is a freshman member of the Multimedia Journalism class.
Let’s be real, how many of us fake our Instagram posts, stories, and what we do daily? Hopefully, not everyone can relate, but the sad truth about our internet presence in today’s world is covered up with staged images and events. But recently, a new app that has been blowing up in popularity has the opportunity to change that, called BeReal. Whether you want to be real and show what you’re actually doing is up to you, however.
BeReal was released in 2020 by French developers Alexis Barreyat and Kevin Perreau and was available in English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Italian, Korean, and Portuguese.
Photo by Hassan OUAJBIR
Photo by Dziubi Steenbergen
The aim of BeReal is for people to show their friends and family what they’re doing at a specific time in the day. BeReal will send you a notification anytime in the day saying you’ll have 2 minutes to take your BeReal. Everyone who gets that notification then opens up the app and takes a picture of themselves and what they are doing at that moment. You then get to see your friends’ BeReal and find out what they’re doing. Even if you miss the time frame, the app is forgiving and will let you post a late BeReal.
The app has recently gained traction over the past few months and now has become one of the most downloaded apps of 2022. Nothing like this was ever created, and it seemed like people loved the idea of it.
To see what people thought about BeReal, we asked Freshman Jace Taranto and Mount DeSales Senior Holly Bruchalski their thoughts on the app. “I only have it to see what my friends are up to,” said Jace. “Overall, I think it’s pretty fun to see what people are doing at the same time you are,” replied Holly.
While it might seem like there is an overall positive vibe that BeReal has going for itself, some other aspects were brought up. Holly stated, “at the same time, it’s kinda hard to keep up with doing it every single day cause you still wanna enjoy your day without having to post about it.” It might seem like a chore to some and, to others, a way to brag about themselves.
With it being the internet, people will find a way to fake their posts and make their life seem more extravagant just to get attention. From a man running to the Eiffel Tower to get it in his picture to a lady going out with friends and taking a picture with a guy from 7/11, or even at the mall and having an employee snap a photo.
Recently senior Harry Kennedy asked a group of students in the class to stage his BeReal to show him receiving the Bocce Ball championship award. This is a fabulous example of people willing to wait to take their BeReal to show their friends something interesting in their life.
From personal experience, it has been easy to notice scrolling through BeReal that people don’t always want to show that their life isn’t as great as perceived by others. Holly responded, “People should definitely be real with their posts since people want to know what’s going on at that given moment.” Would you agree with her or beg to differ? Does it now matter to people that the main purpose has been compromised by people who don’t want to “BeReal,” or is it still an app where people can share their lives without any filters?
Cooper Funk is a senior member of the Multimedia Journalism class.
Jack Bieda is a Junior member of the Multimedia Journalism class.
After finally reaching the conclusion of Thanksgiving, the Christmas season is finally upon us, and the transition to holiday movies has entered many households. Some people simply resort to their all-time favorites yearly and watch them on repeat. Meanwhile, others widen their viewership to include newer and more eccentric films.
Regardless of your desire, we picked eleven of the most popular holiday movies and separated them into three tiers. The first tier represents all-time greats; the second denotes average films; the third signifies some of the worst Christmas movies created. With that out of the way, let’s discuss the four best Christmas movies of all time.
To start us off, Elf is one of my personal favorite Christmas movies of all time. Elf, Starring Will Ferrell, is about a kid raised by Santa and other elves. He grows up thinking he’s an elf until he discovers the hard truth that he isn’t and has a real family. He leaves the wonderland of the North Pole and deals with the city of New York in search of his dad. This movie is top-tier because it brings out good family-friendly comedy and brings joy and belief back into Santa and Christmas.
Next on the list is Christmas Vacation. This movie is about a family staying in one house for the holidays. Clark Griswold wants to have a perfect family Christmas, so he pesters his wife and children as he tries to make sure everything is in line. This movie includes a lot of hilarious comedy and is required to watch every year.
Home Alone is also another classic one that you have to watch every year. This movie is about an 8-year-old boy who is left home alone while his family goes on vacation without him. Suspicions rise about a young boy being home alone, so two burglars try to rob his house. Little do they know that this 8-year-old has some fight in him. This movie brings comedy and overall holiday spirit. These are just a few of the fantastic Christmas to watch yearly, but some aren’t good enough to be watched every year.
The movies in this tier list are good but not spectacular. The movie Polar Express could go either way, but I think it falls in the middle tier. This movie is about a bunch of kids who get on a train that is supposedly taking them to the North Pole to see the first gift being handed out. When they get there, Santa chooses one kid from the crowd to receive the first gift of Christmas. The movie has a very scattered plot, and it is hard to keep up at times.
The next movie I would like to discuss is Charlie Brown’s Christmas. Everybody likes Charlie Brown, and the movies are classics. However, they are more for a younger audience. Charlie Brown has a lot of different movies for different holidays, like the Halloween one. In my opinion, that is an excellent movie, but the Christmas movie just doesn’t reach expectations and is just a good movie to watch every once in a while.
Now for the next movie, nothing is wrong with the film itself, and it is an excellent depiction of the story. Rudolph is a great movie and is definitely a classic to watch. However, everyone knows of the Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer story. Therefore, since everyone knows the story, there is no motive to watch it yearly.
Finally, these three movies do not make the cut of worthy Christmas movies and should not be the first viewing choice. Though the first Home Alone movie makes the first tier, the rest of the movies are not nearly as entertaining. The rest of them do not meet the uniqueness of the first film and are pretty much about the same topic. With the repetitive nature of all these movies, they get boring after a while and should not receive the same clout as the first.
Next, the Disney remake of The Grinch similarly does not make the cut as the original film. It takes an animated approach instead of the realistic ideals of the original movie. Also, Disney puts a childish twist on it, making the movie boring to older viewers. Even though they take the same plot, the original movie easily deserves a higher ranking in this list.
The final movie on this list, Santa Claus, also comes in a series, but the disappointment of the first version explains them all. The plot is about a man who finds Santa in his front yard and travels back to the North Pole to replace him. His son tags along, and they go on an adventure through Santa’s workshop. This movie appeals more to children and does not provide much competition to the Christmas comedies.
The uniqueness of Christmas movies fits all tastes and provides an excellent viewership experience during the holiday season. No matter the quality and subject, these movies get us in the holiday spirit and supply all types of people with unmatched enjoyment.
Alex Kwas is a sophomore member of the Multimedia Journalism class.
Tyler Martin is a junior member of the Multimedia Journalism class.
The Student Newspaper of Mount Saint Joseph High School
The Quill 