By: Blake Allen
Even though it ended 30 years ago, the 1980s still captures the zeitgeist of the current day. Every subject, from movies, to TV, and even products have created something that is set in or a nostalgic look at that time period. From Netflix’s hit show “Stranger Things” to the revival of permed hair, the 1980s has continued to influence pop culture. However, there is nothing that oozes 80s more than a movie from the 80s! That movie in question being Joel Schumacher’s 1987 film, “The Lost Boys.” Taking inspiration in its name from “Peter Pan,” it is filled head to toe with the attitude and culture of the decade, it succeeds at creating memorable and distinct sets and characters that fit the style of the movie, even when leaning a little too heavily into the punk attitude of the then adolescents. The movie follows a family of three, Lucy, Michael, played by Jason Patric, and Sam, played by Corey Haim, who have moved in with their grandfather in the town of Santa Carla, a shady town filled with “colorful” characters and a mystery of residents going missing. The three explore the town at the local boardwalk, where Lucy gets a job at a video store and falls in love with the manager Max, and Sam meets with two boys who warn him of vampires. Meanwhile, Michael falls in love with a girl named Star, who hangs out with a group of punk rebels, headed by Kiefer Sutherland’s character, David, who later indoctrinates Michael into their group. Michael develops abnormal habits after this encounter, which makes Sam suspicious. He suspects that his brother may be a vampire and seeks out the help of the two comic store boys, while Michael continues to come across the gang. One night, however, Michael joins the group to crash a local party, which turns into a feeding frenzy and, horrified, goes to get help from his brother and friends. After killing one of the vampires during their sleep, the others have enacted vengeance on Michael and Sam at their house, where they find out that the vampire in charge of all the weird happening in Santa Carla was attributed to Max. With all the twists and turns the film has to offer, it was still well paced, with each scene raising the bar on how exciting and intense it could get, as if it was trying to outdo itself from moment to moment. However, coming from the 1980s and tapping into the trends and point of view of what is dubbed the MTV generation, it does rely on those elements that can be considered cheesy today. Several scenes, such as Sam interacting with the two comic boys, and topical one-liners were laughably bad and can be considered cringe by today’s audience. The acting also went deep into an 80s attitude, with Sam reminiscent of pop culture, edgy but caring child characters of the time, and Michael with his too-cool, laid back tone. But even then, they all thrived in delivering a great performance in making each character distinct and what type said character is. The breakout star out of all of them, though, is Kiefer Sutherland as the vampire, David. With his slicked-back, bleached hair, leather outfit, suave and discomforting approach, and troublemaking facial expressions, he sells his character as being a punk and a leader to the point where I could even visualize him existing in real life during that time period. And even though the movie lands more on the cornier side, it can use that aspect to its advantage, specifically the ending when the vampires are defeated and grandpa goes back to his routine stating, “One thing about living in Santa Carla I could never stomach, all the damn vampires.” It fits in with the tone of the movie for it to end on a joke-related note and aligns with its more camp attitude. Even though the plot and tone have a spotlight on the film, the real shining star is arguably the setting. The locations used in the film, from the cave to the boardwalk to grandpa’s house, were some of the most memorable places that made you want to visit it in real life. Each set is filled with intricate details that give each place character, and it could be said that the style of “The Lost Boys” is its most defining quality. An example is the cave where the vampires hang out, with its natural dirtiness and the punk furnishings that are being worn out and rotting; it’s hard to imagine the movie without these elements. The boardwalk is too memorable as its bright carnival lights and high energy not only draws viewers in, but also fits in with the theme of the movie the most: where not everything seems to be what is appeared. Santa Carla appears to be a regular beach city, but digging deeper reveals that there are vampires who cause trouble for the residents who live there. In the same vein, boardwalks historically have colorful and almost innocent facades, but are more shady when we delve deeper into them. The same could be said for most of the effects, as they work effectively, particularly when they go for simpler tactics like flying. The strings attached to the actors and the camera moving to simulate a point of view of flying sound simple, but works the best because of its simplicity. That said, other effects, like the blood were more poor quality as its color was more brown tinted and appeared to be semi-transparent like water. This is most glaring because of the film’s major emphasis on blood and gore, a remnant of other horror films from the decade. Others like “Nightmare on Elm Street,” also utilize a large amount of blood for its horror and shock value, but “The Lost Boys” almost lingers on its violent scenes, such as blood gushing from every pipe and faucet in the sink and bathroom and an electrocution death which goes on for a minute before the character combusts in all of its gory mess. It is definitely surprising considering gore is no longer a major element in today’s horror genre, and is my favorite part because of how shocking the cinematography frames it that it is hard not to look away. However, not everyone works well with gore, so it should be taken into consideration that if violence doesn’t work well with you, this film should be skipped. “The Lost Boys” is drenched in 1980s cheese, and at times could lean too heavily on the culture of the time which seems hilarious by today’s standards, but its detailed, memorable locations, distinct characters, and heavy violence makes it stand out as an enjoyable time. It may be more of a camp film, but is a fun one to watch, which is really the only way to enjoy it. Plus, its contemporary outlook on vampires, inspired future films with similar subject matter, from “Bram Stoker's Dracula” to “Twilight” that if you want to see the beginning of mysterious, artsy vampires, check out this 80s classic. Rating: 🐈⬛🐈⬛🐈⬛🐈⬛ out of 🐈⬛🐈⬛🐈⬛🐈⬛🐈⬛
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By: Natalia Peña Phoebe Bridgers, a Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter with a dreamy and hook-filled indie pop heart, soon rose to international popularity because of her smart literary viewpoints, achingly beautiful compositions, and powerful melodies. Bridgers appeared from what seemed to be out of nowhere in 2015, and within a few years, she had millions of admirers. Bridgers' solo albums received widespread acclaim and attention, with a strong debut giving way to darker tones on the Grammy-nominated "Punisher" in 2020. She began playing guitar and composing songs at the age of 11, and by the time she was a teenager, she was routinely performing around Los Angeles while attending Los Angeles County High School for the Arts during the day. Bridgers released her debut 7" single, "Killer," in 2015 on Ryan Adams' Pax AM label. In early 2017, she released three buzzworthy singles: "Smoke Signals," "Funeral," and "Motion Sickness" in advance of the release of her first LP, "Stranger in the Alps," later that September. "Stranger in the Alps," Bridgers' debut studio album, was released to tremendous acclaim in 2017. "Punisher," her second album, was released in 2020 to critical acclaim and public prominence. Bridgers got four Grammy nominations, including Best New Artist, at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. The song that brought most of the world's attention to Bridgers is the second track on her album “Stranger In The Alps,” “Motion Sickness.” In this song, Bridgers' is writing about being on a roller coaster of emotions. She describes a relationship where she has been built up and broken down thousands of times and says it was like she had motion sickness from all the ups and downs in the relationship. In the song, she illustrates many moments and feelings where she felt as though she was being manipulated and thrown around. You may have heard this song on the social media app “TikTok” when an audio snippet of the lyrics, “I Hate You For What You Did And I Miss You Like A Little Kid” had been used in relatable videos now has over 100,000 videos under the sound. Since releasing her sophomore album "Punisher" in 2020, musician Phoebe Bridgers has made a habit of wearing a set of skeleton-print pajamas that more or less resemble a children’s Halloween costume. Phoebe is known for her strong, darker aesthetic and, most especially, a particular skeleton suit that she’s often seen wearing during live performances and press appearances. She explained to media sources "The Ringer," “I put on the skeleton suit, and it’s like, ‘. . . this is comfortable.' So I think being a character is funny but it also is rooted in reality. Like I really have been wearing the same pajamas for like two months. I wash them every three days, and I tried to get another pair online, but they’re sold out.” Phoebe Bridgers is known to be a very unproblematic and talented artist so she was asked to perform at SNL to sing her songs "Kyoto" and "I Know the End." Midway into the performance, Bridgers’ made headlines about it when Bridgers then screamed into the mic, the audience cheering and trumpets blaring, and in proper grand finale fashion, smashed a Danelectro guitar into a fake sound monitor. Every moment of the song had been building up to this point, upon which expectations were blown into sparks, quite literally. Ultimately, it was not the guitar or sparking monitor that caught fire, but the internet. . . One SNL viewer stoked a fire on Twitter after writing, “Why did this woman, Phoebe Bridgers, destroy her guitar on SNL? I mean, I didn't care much for the song either, but that seemed extra.” However, it was David Crosby, co-founder of The Byrds and one third of the folk trio Crosby, Stills & Nash, who injected the most visible criticism of Bridgers’ performance. When asked by a fan on Twitter what he thought of her guitar smashing, he wrote “Pathetic,” to which Bridgers responded in her witty humor. Many supporters came to Bridgers’ defense, poking fun at the unnecessary controversy and echoing Bridgers’ own witty and blunt internet presence. Founder of the Foo Fighters and former Nirvana drummer David Grohl offered his support of Bridgers, saying that his days in Nirvana were filled with drums with holes in them. Along with Bridgers’ solo talent, she has a very well known collaborative song with singer/songwriter Taylor Swift titled “Nothing New” that was a vault track from Taylor’s Swift re-recording of her album “Red”. During an interview on Late Night With Seth Meyers, Swift talked highly of Bridgers as she called Bridgers ”one of my favorite artists in the world”, adding: “If she sings it, I will listen to it. I just love her voice.” She then explained how her team-up with Bridgers. With Phoebe, I reached out and I sent her this song called "Nothing New," which I wrote when I was 22. And it’s really, really special to me because it was the first time I was not a shiny new artist.” Swift continued: “I sent it to Phoebe and said, ‘It would mean the world to me if you would do this as a duet’. ‘Cause I really wanted another female artist who I loved to sing it with me because I think it has a very female artist perspective that we go through that experience. “And her response was, ‘I’ve been waiting for this text my entire life’.” Bridgers recalled how she became emotional while recording her vocals for "Nothing New." “It’s just been a dream,” she said. “I just am so excited to have people take it at face value the day that it comes out, because I got teary recording it. I just couldn’t be more excited.” I hope you all enjoyed reading this article about one of the best lyricist / vocalist of our generation, And you are inspired to give Phoebe Bridgers discography a thorough listen.
By: Prescious Kyles
My grandma has always been one to believe in superstitions. Whether it’s a black cat walking by to spilling salt, she believes in it. Her weirdest superstition is that eating peanuts in the car is extremely unlucky. Although I find her peanut superstition to be odd, I find people who consider certain numbers unlucky even more odd. I understand that in China, specifically Hong Kong, the number four is considered unlucky because it sounds close to the word "death" in Cantonese. They consider it so unlucky that most Chinese buildings don’t have a fourth floor, and many try to avoid a license plate that ends in four. What I don’t understand is why we consider the number 13 unlucky, especially if it’s the 13th day in a month that just so happens to land on a Friday. Friday the 13th is considered a very iconic day, mostly because of the movie “Friday the 13th," a famous horror movie about a camper named Jason who was tossed into a lake when he was just a boy. Since none of the counselors were looking, he died a very tragic death. He then manages to come back alive as an immortal and scarily strong serial killer who follows his dead mother’s words to kill anyone who sets foot into the camp. It’s a classic horror movie that I highly suggest watching. Surprisingly, the horror movie isn’t the reason why many people consider that certain day unlucky. In fact, there’s not a solid reason where the superstition started; it just appeared one day. The number 13, on the other hand, has been seen as unlucky for centuries. While it’s a bit unclear on why this number is frowned upon, people have a few opinions on why it’s unlucky. One theory goes all the way back to when Jesus was alive. During Jesus’ last few hours alive, he had a famous feast with his disciples called The Last Supper. There were 13 people at the Last Supper, Jesus and his 12 disciples. The 13th person at the table was Judas, the disciple who would go behind Jesus’ back and eventually lead to him being crucified on the cross. Many people who are Christian believe that’s why the number is unlucky. Another theory is that 12 is considered a perfect number. 12 hours in a day, 12 months in a year, 12 inches in a foot. It seems like almost everything revolves around this number. Just add one more to it and you’ll get 13, an odd number that just so happens to come after this perfect number 12. It’s one too many to even be looked at with respect. What makes this superstition even more odd is the fact that only the West has a problem with this number. Italians and ancient Egyptians actually saw the number 13 as a lucky number. It’s associated with a great goddess of fertility and life. Whether or not you believe that this number is unlucky, I’m sure we can all agree that "triskaidekaphobia" is too complicated of a word for this fear. Do you have any superstitions? If you want, feel free to leave them in the comments below! By: Gracie Olsin and Natalia Peña After almost three years since his last album “Fine Line,” Harry Styles fans around the world have been graced with an explosion of new content. Styles has been very active recently in both his music career and acting career: his teaser release of his new album “Harry’s House,” two movies he’s been working on--“My Policeman” and “Don’t Worry, Darling”--as well as performing at Coachella and continuing his Love on Tour in the EU. Not to mention on top of all that, his fairly new company “Pleasing,” which was only made public on November 29th, 2021, which is an inclusive beauty brand selling nail polishes, serums, and apparel. The biggest and most anticipating thing to us Harry fans, or Harries, have been waiting for since his third album release. “Fine Line,” which was released back in December of 2020, was the last new music we received from the singer since the COVID-19 pandemic, which also inevitably caused his Love On Tour to be pushed back until this past year. It seems as though Harry Styles made up for past times by creating a variety of new things for everyone to enjoy. “Harry’s House,” however, may be one of the most highly anticipated releases amongst Styles’ fans. The singer posted a photo of the record’s back cover on April 29 with 13 song titles listed across its two sides. Among them are the album’s lead single, “As It Was," along with “Late Night Talking” and “Boyfriend," both of which Styles performed during his headline appearances at Coachella earlier this month. Since the single’s official release date on March 31st of this year, “As it Was” has reached No. 1 on Billboard Charts with the biggest worldwide streaming week of 2022. Other song titles listed include “Music For a Sushi Restaurant,” “Little Freak,” “Matilda,” “Cinema,” “Keep Driving,” and “Love Of My Life,” which fans haven’t heard yet but are anxiously awaiting. Another thing that is helping to electrify fans before the album’s release are pictures of doors posted daily by the You are Home (@youarehome) Instagram, assumingly leading to “Harry’s House," which acts as teasers to what the songs within the album are about, as well as the vibe, and even spoilers as to what else will be produced during this album’s era. Though Harry Styles has dabbled in acting a bit with being in an episode of “iCarly” and having a small role in “Dunkirk,” it was an especially massive deal when it was announced that he would have a major role in “Don't Worry, Darling.” “Don’t Worry, Darling” is based on the script originally written by Carey Van Dyke and Shane Van Dyke, and then Katie Sillberman who was hired to do a complete rewrite. That script hasn’t been widely distributed, and there are rumors that this is the exact script used for the movie. The script is described, thanks to GoodReads, as “... a psychological thriller about a 1950s housewife whose reality begins to crack, revealing a disturbing truth underneath.” The recently published official trailer for this film and the genre of the movie are a huge underlying statement, masterfully disguised in the music, videography, and utopian theme that makes it extremely captivating. Olivia Wilde, the director, made it clear that this is a “Florence Pugh movie that Styles appears in,” which makes this movie truly female-led, as it shows the journey of a house-wife navigating through the manipulation of a “perfect” life. This brilliantly developed film will be released on September 23, 2022, and I will be watching it as soon as I can. Styles is currently working on set filming for an upcoming movie based on the 2012 novel “My Policeman,” by Bethan Roberts, which explores the criminalization of homosexuality in the 1950s. The novel looks at the norms around sexuality in Brighton spanning the decades until the 1990s. This is an interesting film because the novel was inspired by the life of the author E.M Forster, who was in a secret relationship with a married, heterosexual policeman. Styles was cast to act as a gay policeman named Tom Burgess, who leads a secret double life in 1950s Britain. .Picture by Natalia Peña
Coachella is one of the most anticipated annual events for concert-goers, those who like to dress up in somewhat an otherworldly fashion, and those who like to welcome the feels of summer a bit early. This year however, was a big one for those who are extreme fans of Harry Styles. Though performing only a few of his most popular songs, Styles was able to make both of his times on stage worthwhile by playing three new songs from his not-yet-released album and bringing Shania Twain, on his first day, to duet her hit songs “Man, I Feel Like A Woman” and “Still The One.” Inviting Lizzo on stage the second to cover the loved anthem of “I Will Survive,” by Gloria Gaynor, and “What Makes You Beautiful,” by One Direction. Styles is infamously known for making any of his performances like his concerts, incorporating those in the audience and even making it all about him (we love it though). Styles also surprised fans at Coachella by singing two unreleased songs titled “Late Night Talking” and “Boyfriends” from his highly anticipated upcoming album, “Harry’s House.” Both songs are different in the best way so fans are not yet able to determine which mood the album would be heading toward. So far, the album has tracks that would be considered in pop culture slang as a “No Skip.” Styles also included a special pop-up shop of exclusive merchandise for “Harry’s House,” which gave fans the opportunity to purchase shirts, sweatshirts, hats, and posters. In mid-November, Styles dropped his beauty brand, Pleasing, and fans have been fanatics about it since. The punchline reads “Find your Pleasing,'' and a quote often used by the brand is “Always Pleasing, Never Perfect” and fans' reviews say that Pleasing has been perfect so far! Styles says the mission of Pleasing is to “bring joyful experiences and products that excite the senses, and blur the boundaries.” Pleasing's first drop is called “Perfect Pearl” and includes the following: a pearly white polish, a pearly matte topcoat, a set of nail polishes (for a perfect manicure), and two skin-care products, which is a hybrid eye gel and matte lip oil that comes in a dual-ended cooling contraption called the Pleasing Pen, and an illuminating serum full of pearlescent balls you can use as primer instead of other moisturizing products. Pleasing's second drop is called “Shroom Bloom,” a spring-inspired color palette of a pale green, mushroom beige, red opaque, and a sheer holographic nail polish, an "overnight lucid serum" to help hydrate skin, and a hand and nail balm to moisturize and create healthy-looking hands and nails. The products sold from the Pleasing website can range from $20 to $65. There is so much to be said about Harry Styles because he supports whatever sparks his interest, whether it be music, films, and even nail polish. This impressive man can do whatever he puts his mind to, and I am sure that he will be releasing a whole lot more to do with passions in the future. As for Love On Tour, Styles is extremely attentive, treating his fans more like friends and joking with them throughout his performances. Styles reads and reacts to homemade signs, offers relationship advice, and even did a baby gender reveal for fans during a show. If there’s one thing Harry Styles knows, it’s how to carry any clothing in the most stylish way possible. His oftentimes experimental and ’70s-influenced sense of style has played a vital role in setting him apart as an artist. Whether you imagine his 2014 self in head-to-toe Saint Laurent or today in head-to-toe Gucci, Harry clearly never went out of "Style." Being a solo-artist, he has more freedom in what he releases, what he says, and how he performs, and that just makes seeing him grow as a human being more wholesome. He makes it easy to say it’s impossible to not love Harry Styles. |
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