Story of Paz by Aidan Murphy and Felix Sawers

Once upon a time at Paws Animal Shelter, there was a cat named Paz. Paz was a playful little thing. He was a furball of joy. He was a cat with brown hair of brown with black stripes and he had a huge snout and large ears. He was really goofy and silly and cute. He had a brother, sister and mom.

But once I adopted him, he got two new siblings, Dash, Finn.

He sometimes causes trouble, but for the most part he’s a good kitty. He used to love playing fetch, but now that he’s 6 years old, even though he's changed, he's still the same old Yazzy cat.

Photo Credit: A. Murphy

Live-Action Movies Coming Out In 2025-26 by Lauren Knowles

 1. Lilo and Stitch

The live-action Lilo and Stitch will be released on May 23, 2025, almost 21 years after the original movie. Maia Kealoha will play Lilo, Chris Sanders will voice Stich, and Sydney Agudong will play Nani.

2. Snow White  

The live-action Snow White will be released on March 21, 2025. Even after the rumors of it being canceled the movie will be coming out. The original Snow White took around 3 years and the new live-action one will take the same amount. Rachel Zegler will play Snow White, Gal Gadot will play the evil queen, Andrew Burnap will be Jonathan, and Patrick Page will be the voice of the Magic Mirror.

3. Moana  

The live-action Moana will be released on June 27, 2026. And will almost be the same as the 2016 film “Moana”. The original movie was made 10 years before the movie was released. Dwayne Johnson will be Maui, and Catherine Laga´aia will be Moana.  

Basic Plot of Pokemon Violet+DLC by Penelope Baxter

Image Source: Amazon

Note: I won’t add any spoilers (to the best of my abilities).

Note: I have no idea about the Scarlet story (Miridon looked better than Koridon so we got Violet).

Note: I’m not doing the Perin stuff in the DLC (Mainly because I didn’t do the Indigo Disc story).

Pokemon Violet. 

So you start in your house with your mom like every Pokemon game. Then, instead of the professor, the school director shows up to your house and is like: “Hey, take all these Pokemon, and run down the road to the fancy looking house. Don’t lose them. I’ll meet you there, okay bye!” You run down, and then you lose them. They have run amok, and then you see the director, and some other girl. 

You chose your starter, and the other girl is immediately like:  “Hey so let’s battle now! Even though you are a first time trainer and I'm more experienced than you, it will be fine!” So she takes a starter, you battle, and then she basically says: “Okay we are going to be rivals now! Oh wait, we are going to school in this game, and it’s the first day, we gotta go, and even though we are probably going to be late, I’ll teach you how to catch a Pokemon!” And the director, who is standing like 10 feet away, is like: “This is fine.” Also, her name is Nemona. 

So she does the usual “how to catch a Pokemon” ordeal, and you toss the Pokeball and gets in without damaging it. And then she’s like: “See you at the lighthouse!” And runs off. You catch up with her, and then you hear a loud “Roar” sound coming from below the cliff you are standing on. 

You look over and then fall 25 feet to your death. But you don’t die because this is an open world game where you will be falling off cliffs all the time, and it is a childrens’ game, so no death. Instead your Rotom phone is strong enough to hold you up. You then see the box art Pokemon but less cool looking. You give it a sandwich and then it turns into the cool box art Pokemon. Then you follow it for some reason into a cave with just your starter, a Lenchonk, Tarantula, Hopip, Scatterbug, and possibly a Pawmi. Inside the cave is a pack of Houndour. You then meet the leader, a Houndoom, which is level 40. The cool box art Pokemon saves you and takes you up and out, where your friend’s like: “That is so cool!” 

And then you’re interrupted by another kid (Arven), who is like: “That’s my Pokemon! How dare you!” And then you beat up his Skowovet. And then he’s like: “Oh. That was mildly embarrassing. Okay here’s its Pokeball, also it is legendary and can’t battle, as well as do anything cool until you start the main story.” 

Then you rush to school where your friend says: “Okay battle me now!” And then you battle her and she uses the gimmick of the game, and then is like: “Wait, I forgot you don’t know what that is, one sec, I’ll get you a Gimmick Activation Device.” And she runs off. 

You go inside, and there is the team of the region, who are just school bullies, beating up a girl in front of the stairs to the school. So you defeat the grunts and run into school, where your friend gives you the gimmick tool, and you report the team to the director, who basically says: “That is not your job. We will handle this.” And your friend is coos over you about having to defeat the “Big Bad Baddies.” And you're like: “I just defeated you twice! How are you good at battling!” And then school starts. 

Then you fast forward to summer break, where it is just a huge school project called the “Treasure Hunt” and then the main plot starts. You get invited by your friend to take on the gyms, and also, the Elite 4 is weird in this game. Like, there are multiple champions, but there is one person who is The Champion, and once you defeat them, you are a Champion Ranked Trainer. Any-hoo, the guy who gave you the box art Pokemon tells you to defeat the Titan Pokemon. And then you get a call from someone who tells you to beat up the evil team. Also, the box art Pokemon becomes a motorcycle! So, the gym route is basically go to the town, fight your rival, do the gym challenge, beat the gym leader, take a selfie, repeat. Then you fight the Elite 4 and the champion. The Titan path is to fight the Titan by yourself, then do it again with your friend, harvest some plants, make a sandwich, feed it to your motorcycle, unlock new ability, take a selfie, repeat. Also you learn that your friend has a sick dog. The beat up the evil team path is to fight all the grunts in Auto-Battle, defeat the leader of that base, beat up their car, get a flashback, take a selfie, and then get paid. Then you fight the leader. 

After you defeat the leader of the evil team, Nemona, and Arven, you go where you are required to never go, Area 0. You go down, and the box art Pokemon is unable to be used. You unlock each terminal, and then you fight the professor, and he turns on a time machine that will destroy the world. Then you can’t use any Pokemon except for the box art Pokemon vs. a second box art Pokemon. You win and it is post game time. You fight all the gym leaders again, and then you have a massive Pokemon Battle tournament.

DLC Part 1, The Teal Mask

The Teal Mask starts with your homeroom teacher calling you and tells you: “You get to go on a once in a lifetime trip that you can always come back to because of your protagonist powers! And you are going with another school from Unova that isn’t in the Black and White games.” Thank god all the friends you just saved the world with aren’t coming to bother you.

Instead you have 2 new companions who are just as annoying! You get there and another person immediately gets sick. So you are sent to let the place you are staying know you are there. But you are stopped by your new companions. They are brother and sister and are named Keiren (the brother) and Carmine (the sister). Carmine stops you and is like: “battle me!” And she is basically a less competitive Nemona. You fight and then the rest of your team comes. And it turns out that just these kids came from the Unova School. 

You are then given homework to learn the story of the saviors of the land, and you are partnered with Keiren to do it. You learn 2/3rds of the story, and it is basically: 

“There was a guy and an Ogre who weren’t welcome in the town. And then the Ogre attacked the town.” 

And then Keiren says: “You want to see the Ogre’s den?” Because they let 10 year olds up there. So you do, it’s empty, and then you go to a festival that night. 

You and Carmine see the Ogre, and then Keiren comes around the corner. The Ogre runs, and Carmine is like: “Don’t tell Keiren about that” so you lie. Also, the Ogre dropped its mask, and it broke so you take it to Carmine’s Grampa. But in the meantime you and Keiren finish your homework and the rest of the story is: 

“And then these Pokemon beat up the Ogre, but sacrificed themselves, but saved the day.” 

You check in on the mask and are told the story is wrong. Instead, it is: “There was a guy and Ogre who weren’t welcome in the town, so the local mask maker made them masks. They fit in finally, and their masks became famous. 3 greedy Pokemon planned to steal them so they killed the guy. This angered the Ogre and it came down and attacked the town. The 3 greedy Pokemon pretended to sacrifice themselves to protect the town, and were unrightfully treated as heroes.” 

He then sends you a goose chase to get a thing to fix the mask, but the whole time Keiren was listening in. You return the mask but Keiren stops you, gets angry, and accidentally releases the 3 Pokemon because they weren’t dead.

They steal the masks again and you have to get them back. After words, you return the masks to the Ogre, you catch it, and you beat part 1 of the DLC.  

DLC Part 2, The Indigo Disk

This is the simplest story of them all. You get enrolled in a 2nd school. You enroll in the battle league for it. You defeat the Elite 4. You defeat the champion. And then you are sent to Area 0. And then you fight/beat/catch Terapijos. The. End. 

Ranking Every Mainline Mario Game That I Have Played by Julian Nowlin

Mario is the most important video game character of all time. His release with the NES saved the video game industry. He has a lot of amazing adventures under his belt, but not all of them are great. Here is every Mario game I have played, ranked from worst to best.

Image Source: Polygon

14: Super Mario Bors. 2: (The Lost Levels for Americans) This is a Japan only sequel of the original Super Mario Bros. game. This time Nintendo said, “Hey, you know what would be great? If we made this game hard, cruel, and graphically worse! That’s a good idea!” This game is a joke. You can warp backwards if you enter the wrong warp zone, and laggy mechanics make this a painful experience.

13: Super Mario Sunshine: Please put down your pitchforks and let me explain. Some people think 3D Mario games are amazing. But I am not one of them. If I want a massive 3D game, I play Zelda, as it works far better than Mario in 3D. Mario is a fun adventure where you jump around, collect power ups, stop enemies, and make your way to the end of the level. Mario Sunshine is not that. You use a water pump to clear paint made by Bowser Jr. The graphics are weird and the voice acting cutscenes are so bad that it’s funny.

12: Super Mario Land: This is a low level, poor quality, and short game. It does run on the Game Boy, but Super Mario Land 2 proved you can do more than this. The physics are bad, and there aren’t any original Mario enemies in it. You also save Daisy, who is worse than Toadstool. Not a terrible game, but definitely a bad one.

11: Super Mario Land 2: This game has great graphics for being on the Game Boy. The problem is that it means there is less space to work with. It's cramped and a bit laggy, but it’s still fun. One bad thing is that if you get a carrot power up, you can fly over the whole level. Sometimes this game can be broken.

10: Super Mario 64: Once again, I don’t enjoy 3D Mario much. This game, however, has brilliant level design and god tier music. But it’s hard to appreciate that when the camera is terrible and the graphics looked like you used a bad ai to generate blocky 3d models. Still a little fun though.

9: Super Mario Bros 2. : (USA for Japanese players)  A fun 2D Mario game with amazing music, mechanics, and level design. Being able to choose which character is also awesome. This game is near perfect. Then why is it so far down? Because it’s not a Mario game. This is a reskin of another Nintendo game, Doki Doki Panic, because Super Mario Bros 2. (Lost Levels) Didn’t release in America. It is fun though, earning this spot.

8: Super Mario Bros. : The game that started it all! A fun title, even 40 years later. 2025 is the 40th anniversary, and I can’t wait to see what Nintendo cooks up. This game has great music. Never before seen mechanics. Amazing graphics. It is a very fun game, but it just doesn’t age that well today. I do find myself playing it, but not for long. But because it was so innovative, I can’t put it any lower.

7: Super Mario Galaxy: An adventure through the stars! This is a fun 3D Mario game. The music is really good and I like the story. Most of the levels are fun, but not all. Wandering on the spherical planets is weird and motion controls in 3D Mario are uncomfortable. Because the other games are so good, I can’t give this a better rank.

6: Super Mario Bros. 3: A very innovative game that created a lot of stuff that still remains. Its level design is good and has a fun world map. This game was the perfect 8 bit game right before the switch to 16 bit. A fun adventure and a nice experience. 

5: New Super Mario Bros. U: A fantastic 2D Mario game. It has the acorn power up which I love. It also has good, replayable levels. The challenges also make this game fun. There is so much to do in this game that makes it a good time, especially in multiplayer.

4: Super Mario Odyssey: The first game I played on the Switch. It’s a really fun game and boosts 3D Mario a lot. Capturing things with Cappy makes traversing the vast, open world kingdoms unique. The story is great and it has some of the best video game music of all time. You can also customize your outfit and your ship which I love to do.

3: Super Mario World: This game is like Mario 3 but 10 times better. It has a clean SNES look and great music. The level design, like always, is great. Yoshi also appears in this game. What more needs to be said?

2: Super Mario Bros. Wonder: I wrote a review on this game in 2023, and everything in there still holds true. A medium difficulty, fun, and long game. The wonder flower changes up every level in unexpected ways and brings joy to the player. This is the best 2D Mario game and it is not close. The music is awesome too.

1: Super Mario 3D World: The superior game. Fun level after fun level after fun level. The linear design is amazing. Everything I hated about Mario Sunshine is fixed here. You do dash through levels, collecting power ups and stomping on enemies. This is a 2D Mario game that was brought into the third dimension. There is not a strong enough word to describe how perfect this game is. A must play if you have a switch or Wii U. 

Brawls Stars is a Mobile Game made by Supercell by Mason Ollendike

I am going to provide a Brawl Stars brawler tiered list for inside information on the game. 

For each brawler, I will list their pros and cons and rank the brawler from strongest to weakest. 

1. Surge-Legendary Brawler 

Strengths

• Really fun to play because he levels up with every super

• Does a lot of damage 

• His range can change from stage 2 to 3

Weaknesses 

• Very slow reload speed 

2. Edgar-Epic Brawler

Strengths 

• very fast reload speed

•  heals when he lands each hit 

•  moderate health super 

•  charges overtime 

  Weakness 

• you have no friends if you main this brawler (NO SKILL)

3. Sandy-Legendary brawler

Strengths 

       - shots are easy to land 

       - pretty fast

       - super is so GOOD for zone control 

       Weaknesses 

• Reload speed is slow 

4. Darryl-Super Rare Brawler 

          Strengths 

        - does a lot of damage point-blank 

        - can roll into battles

Weakness  

        -slow reload speed 

5. R-T-Mythic Brawler

Strengths 

• He's a sniper.

• If you land two marks in a row it does double damage.

• If you use your super near your body when your head deattaches you can do up to 7k damage.

-Weakness 

-Slow reload speed 

-Getting your head back takes a whole super to use ):

Why You Should Watch Lost by Finn Alves

Lost is a survival show following the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 that crashed on a mysterious island with much adventure in store. Very quickly we find out this isn't an ordinary island. As the survivors try or wait for rescue, the mission soon becomes to survive. Here are some reasons to watch it:

1. Length - The show has 6 seasons, with each episode being 40 minutes long.  There are around  120 episodes, so you won't be ending soon, but instead will have a long series to sit down to and unravel.

2. Characters - There is a huge selection of characters, and they add and remove them throughout the seasons. Also, many of the characters have mysteriously met each other or been related to each other before they got to the island, yet no one remembers each other.

3.  Violence - If you don’t like violence or gore, this show is NOT for you! There is a lot of violence, and they do it so well for the show being 20 years old. Almost every episode the show has someone getting shot or getting knocked out.

4.  The Plot - This show has an amazing storyline; everytime one thing happens, another issue pops up. The survivors are always facing challenges, and it's always filled with adventure and mystery.
   

   Overall this is a great show, and I’d recommend it to anyone who likes adventure or mystery. This show is a great experience to watch with someone or alone. The only drawback  is that there is a lot of blood/gore;  aside from that, this show is 10/10 for me and I hope you watch it.

The Top 10 Best Selling Christmas Songs by Vivian Hartzell

As the holiday season rolls around the corner, Christmas music becomes more popular. Enjoy reading this list about the top ten best selling Christmas songs of all time. Credits to Wikipedia 

10- ¨Last Christmas¨ by Wham! This song was released in 1984 and is a great song! (In my opinion)

9- ¨Jingle Bell Rock¨ by Bobby Helms. This song was released all the way back in 1957 and is the oldest song on this list. 

8- ¨Feliz Navidad¨ by José Felicianio. This song was released back in 1970 but is still a very popular Spanish-Christmas song!

7- ¨Christmas Canon¨ by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. This song is one of the newer songs on this list and was released in 1998. 

6- ¨Where Are You Christmas¨ by Faith Hill. This song is most known from the famous movie ¨How The Grinch Stole Christmas¨ And it was released in 2000.

5-¨Rockin Around The Christmas Tree¨ by Brenda Lee. When Brenda Lee was only 14 years old she published this song and it was released back in 1958.

4-¨Mistletoe¨ by Justin Beiber. Justin Beiber was a late teenager when he released this popular pop Christmas song. This song was released in 2011. 

3- ¨Christmas Eve/Sarajevo¨ originally by Savatage (but later credited to the Trans Siberian Orchestra). I've never heard about this song until writing this article but anyway it was released in 1996.  

2-¨Do You Want To Build A Snowman¨ by Kristen Bell, Agatha Lee Monn, and Katie Lopez. This song is a popular song from the Disney movie Frozen. It was released in 2013. 

1-¨All I Want For Christmas Is You¨ by Mariah Carey. It's no surprise that this song is on the top of this list with how popular it's been since it was released back in 1994. 

Rating Country Music Artists of 2024 by Vivian Hartzell

Music has a power to take over people,-in a good way! Read this list to find out who I think the best country music artist is.

5. Coming in at number five is The Blind Owl Band. They have a ton of good songs, even though they aren’t good enough to make the top three. But that’s my opinion. 

4. Here is The Devil Makes Three. They are an AMAZING band and they have more than just country music, they also have bluegrass, folk, blues and jazz. That's something that I love about this band, there's a huge variety of different types of music.

3. Here at number three is Hunter Root. I LOVE his music and his songs are really catchy, but there are better artists.

2. Morgan Wallen is an awesome choice, and I love his music like “Thinkin’ Bout’ Me” and “Whiskey Glasses,” but sometimes he can get annoying with his depressing breakup songs. 

1. Finally, coming in 1st place is……. JORDAN DAVIS! Jordan Davis has really catchy songs like “The Next Thing You Know” and “Buy Dirt.”  So that's why he's here, for his amazing songs. 

Best Pokemon of Every Type By Penelope Baxter

Image from Pokemon.com

Pokemon. An incredible idea from Satoshi Tajiri. If you aren’t familiar with these creatures, they are magic animals in a popular video game franchise. The whole point of the game is to catch them in Pokeballs and then make them kill each other in something called a “Pokemon Battle”. It sounds wrong when you think about it for too long, but that’s normal. Pokemon each have a type. There are 18 types in all, which are what follows: Normal, Grass, Water, Fire, Electric, Psychic, Ground, Fighting, Rock, Dark, Ice, Poison, Steel, Bug, Ghost, Fairy, Flying, and Dragon. And I am going to state what I personally think is the best/cutest Pokemon of that type. 

Note: I am personally biased, so feel free to disagree. 

Note: Feel free to look up images if you don’t know what they look like. 

Normal: 

We have a lot of good contenders. You have Eevee, Audino, Spinda, Cinccino, Lopunny, Happiny, Ditto. And we have some incredibly horrible decisions Game Freak made. I’m mainly talking about Purugly and Likitung. But, if I had to choose one, it would have to be Furret. 

Grass:

Grass has a lot of good starters for every region, with Sprigatito being the latest, and a humongous hit with cat fans, and Meowscarada making the bipedal cat work. And we have some mistakes, like Gloom and Capsikid. But, the winner is going to be: Lilligant, Hussian Form. 

Water:

Water is one of my personal favorite types, next to Fairy. Water also is a starting type, with a lot of good choices. Some popular ones are Piplup, Vaporeon, Mudkip, Grininja, and Quaxly. And I am very biased here. I chose Quaxly as my starter in Pokemon Violet, and they are incredible. I don’t get all the hype about a grass cat and fire croc, the duck reigns supreme. Which makes it clear that Quaxly is the overall best water type, and this is the only one you must agree with. The cat is overrated, and I will die on this hill!

Fire:

Fire is a type that people seem to think is one of the strongest types. It’s not. Fairy is by a large margin. But that doesn’t mean the fire is a terrible type. They are pretty strong, I mean, they have Infernape, Charizard, Arcanine, Incineroar, they have some spicy contenders. But the very best, there ever was? Well, and I know I’ve done Hussian forms twice now, but they are just so good, I have to go with Hisuian Typhlosian. I chose Oshawott in Legends Arceus, but I ended up using this volcano hedgehog thing more than my samurai sea lion, and yes, Sammorot is based on something called a Samurai Sea Lion. 

Electric:

Electric is one of the most famous types because it has the most famous Pokemon, Pikachu. And I’ll be the first to say it, I don’t like Pikachu. There are better electric types. Their name is Emolga. Togatumaru is way better than both, have you watched Sun and Moon? Some other examples are Tynamo, Ampharos, Luxray, Blitzle, Pawmi, and Bellibolt. But the clear winner is the electric corgi’s evolution, Boltund. Yamper is fine. Boltund is better. No one evolves their Yamper, and when you do, you get inherently better Pokemon, that is still a dog, still electric, still cute, and won’t appear in Joltick’s Pokedex entry because they stick themselves to their butts! It is a win, win, win, win, win! 

Psychic: 

Psychic is fine. We have some good ones like Slowpoke, Galarian Ponyta, Wobbaffet, Galarian Articuno, Gallade, Hussain Braviary, Hatterene, actually, I take it back. Galarian Articuno, Hussain Braviary, and Hatterene are pretty cool. But one is the leader of the Psychic brigade, and is a helper to god itself, Arceus. Uxie. Go ahead, track me down. Uxie is one of the cutest Pokemon. There I said it.  

Ground:

Ground types are different from rock types for some ridiculous reason. It may be thought that ground types are way cuter than rock types. Rock types are rocks! Ground types are not the ground. You have Barboach, and Phanpy, and a freaking donkey! They are sooo cute! But, there is a best. It was a very hard decision between two Pokemon, but I desied for the other one to win its other type, because it is the cutest thing ever. But, the best ground type is Flygon. Light your torches and get your pitchforks. It is adorable. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, look it up. It is sooo cute. 

Fighting: 

Fighting is a type that doesn’t have that many good ones. Yes, you have Bewear, Pharmosa, Marshadow, all them. But there really aren't that many good ones.  That is, except for the Pokemon breaks the scientific name system. Well, technically all grass types do, but this one breaks it even further. They are a plant, an animal, and a fungus. I’m talking about Breloom! He is so precious! 

Rock:

I take back what I said about rock types. They’re a lot of good ones. I can’t believe I forgot that Dwebble exists. And Amaura. And Kabutops. And Anorith. And Bastiodon. They are so good! But the best rock type is Stonjouner. And I’ve never played Pokemon Shield. I did Sword, and I deeply regret it. Shield has this cutie pie, and Appletun! Also, Hop is the worst. 

Dark:

There are a lot of good Dark types. I mean, there is freaking Galarian Moltres. This bird of death! And there is Yveltal, another bird of death. Not as good. But there is also Absol. And Umbreon, one of the most popular Pokemon! But the best Dark type is required to be Wo-Chen. I have never gotten it, but it is so cute. It's a literal snail! It’s about time Game Freak!

Ice:

Ice had some great… mistakes. Game Freak. Who. Had. The. Idea. For. Jynx!? It is a nightmare. Smoochum is just as bad. But we had some incredible pokemon. SNOM! Alolan Sandshrew! Alolan Vulpix! But the best Ice type is Galarian Darumaka. I want to snuggle it. It is an actual snowball. And if you know who came up with the idea of Jynx and they also designed Galar Darumaka, don’t tell me! Also, if you like Jynx you’re a monster. I’ll have my snowball and Snom, and you can have your nightmare full. Deal? Deal. 

Poison:

Once more, not very good ones. Yes, you have Skrelp. But you have Crobat. Yes you have Galar Weezing. But you have Galar Slowking. There though is a clear winner. Clodsire. The best boy! Fun fact about Clodsire, it is inspired by the Irribian Ribbed Newt. Which can push its ribs out of its body through holes. And, when they come through the holes, they are coated with poison! 

Steel:

Yeah, Steel isn’t that great. I’m starting to see a pattern here. Well, some examples of failure are Galar Meowth, Perrserker, Aggron, Metagross, and yes you heard me, Metagross is a failure. We will continue with the existance of Alolan Dugtrio. WHY DOES IT HAVE HAIR! WHY IS IT STEEL! But, it was still easy to pick a winner. It was nearly Magearna, but the winner is Hisuian Goodra. I may have lied when I said Wo-Chen was the first snail, but this thing works too. Shoot, I just realized the Shelmet is a thing. 

Bug:

Bugs, shockingly, are pretty good. Illumise is good, Krickatune is good. We have Paras, and the best Kanto bug type, Venomoth. Shuckle is the best Johto bug type. We have Shedinja, Dustox, and Lil’ Dwebble, which sounds like a comedy show.  And 2nd place for best bug, is Mothim. It is so cute! I have a Mothim Sitting Cutie and I love it! It would have won if I had forgotten about Rimbombee. The scarf wins me over. 

Flying:
Fun fact. There are only 3 pure flying types. None of them are good. No one likes Tornadous. Also, dragon type existed in Gen 1. WHY ISN’T CHARIZARD A DRAGON TYPE! I don’t even like Charizard! But there is a good one. WHO IS A DRAGON TYPE CHARIZARD! It is Noivern. One of the most adorable dragon types. Look at that smile! Don’t you want to hug it?

Ghost: 

I will be the first to say it. Then again, I’ve been the first to say a lot of things. Cursola is adorable. Gengar is overrated. I like Phantump. Sensu Style Oricorio is the best Oricorio. Hisui Zorua is better than Unova. I want to ride Golett. And then, there is the best ghost type. And I may be the only person who likes it. Pokemon, 1000. That is right. Goldengho. I collected those 1000 Gimmieghoul coins, and it was worth it. 

Fairy:

My favorite type. With one of my favorite pokemon that unfortunately couldn’t be on my champion team in Pokemon Violet! A few hints. Is introduced in Paldea. Is the first of its typing. And, is a paradox. The answer is… Iron Valiant! It is so cool, and it took me so long to find it! It was worth using the Master Ball! A Gardivoir and Gallade combo is so cool anyway. And, is the first Fairy-Fighting type. 

Dragon:

This had a surprisingly long list. Dratini, Goodra both variants, Jangmo-o, Altaria, Flygon, Dragalge, Noivern, Drampa, Appleton. They are all contenders. But, Flygon, Noivern, and Hisuian Goodra won, so that shortens the list. Dratini and Jangmo-o are off too. We have left a pillow, a bunch of kelp, a pie, and a dragon that burns down bullies’ houses.  Dragalge is now off the list, and Drampa. We have Altaria and Appletun left. And, we are going to judge them based on their regional gimik forms. Altaria becomes a bigger, fluffier pillow, and a fairy type. Being the only Fairy-Dragon type, Mega Altaria. And Appletun, well G-Max Appltun looks identical to G-Max Flapple. So, the winner is Altaria! 

Thank you for coming on this journey, and possibly not being angry at my decisions. To tie this up, the winners are: Furret for Normal. Lilligant Hisuian form for Grass. Quaxly for Water. Typhlosion Hisuian form for Fire. Boltund for Electric. Uxie for Psychic. Flygon for Ground. Breloom for Fighting. Stonjouner for Rock. Wo-Chen for Dark. Darumaka Galarian form for Ice. Coldsire for Poison. Goodra Hisuian form for Steel. Rimbombee for Bug. Noivern for Flying. Goldengho for Ghost. Iron Valient for Fairy. And Altaria for Dragon!  

Sources: Bulbapedia for Pokemon Lists

Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom? By Will Petersen

The Legend of Zelda is a fun, challenging, and interesting series for most gamers. I won’t cover all the games in the article, just two—The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Most people know that Tears of the Kingdom is the sequel to Breath of the Wild by a couple of years. Now, on to debating which game is better.

To start, I will talk about the ups and downs of BotW. BotW is a smaller map that is easier to navigate. It does not involve many tools and is not complicated to get powerful weapons. It gets much easier once you get going with a strong weapon and understand the puzzles and challenges. Many more glitches can benefit and sometimes won’t help the game. It also has very original bosses along with a strong background that slowly gets revealed the more you play. Some people say that it collides with other games, but the fun thing about it is it takes place tens of thousands of years in the future from the last game in the timeline. This game is a fun game to play with its special challenges. Now on to Tears of the Kingdom.

Tears of the Kingdom is also a fun game but has differences. The map is three times bigger, with depths that mirror the overworld completely. It is hard to navigate the whole world, and it can take a very long time to 100% get through it. It also takes a lot of free time to complete, but it helps you do everything on the overworld throughout the game. It takes out the fun of the game and it makes Link overpowered after beating a couple of dungeons. I think the depths lose their meaning after you get all of the light roots, so they lose their dark and foreboding atmosphere. Also, you have to go around the world to find places that show you what happened to Zelda in the past. The game gets a whole ton harder when you go to the sky though, because of the risk of falling.

To wrap everything up, Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild have some recognizable differences and similarities that distinguish the two. Everybody has their own opinions on the game, and my personal opinion is that Breath of the Wild is the better game with hard enemies, powerful weapons, and a great backstory.

What We Know About Pokemon Legends ZA By Finn Alves

On February 27th, 2024, Pokemon held a live stream on Youtube called “Pokemon Presents” which happens every once in a while. It usually comes around on February 27th due to that day being Pokemon Day, but there are a few cases where there are multiple in a year, and it presents what is to come in the coming year. This particular live stream had some shocking news. At the end of the live stream, it was revealed that Pokemon Legends ZA would be a new game releasing “Simultaneously in 2025” which has led some people to think Nintendo will announce a new console and this game will be on it.

From the trailer, we know that this game will take place in the Kalos region from the 6th generation and it will most likely take place in a different point in time. I'm unsure if it will be the future or the past. Mega evolving will be making its return since the “Let’s Go” games. There's a good chance the game will focus around the huge Kalos city, “Lumiose City”, home of the Electric type gym.

But that's not all. Before Pokemon Legends Arceus came out there was a Pokemon card fun pack (a small pack with 3 cards) that had the Pokemon Cyndaquil, Rowlet, and Oshawott which ended up being the starters for Legends Arceus. I went to Gamestop and they were giving away brochures that had free fun packs in them. These packs were new and had Litten, Totodile, and Turtwig. This leads me to believe that these will be the starters. I, and others, had thought it would be Piplup, Scorbunny, and Snivy due to their French relation, and Kalos is a French based region.

How to win in Mariokart 8 Deluxe by Julian Nowlin

Mariokart 8 Deluxe, despite being a port from a Wii U game, might just be one of the best games on the switch. Millions of people have bought it, and Nintendo has filled it to the brim with content. It has a hard core fanbase who will stop at nothing to win. I am one of those people, so here are some strategies you can use to secure a top three placement. 

Bagging: If there is a track with lots of off road to cut through, this strategy is king. It involves intentionally driving bad until the final lap, where you chain amazing items and pass a lot of people. To perfect this strategy, try to stay as far away from first place as possible without going below 9th place. The way the engine gives you your items relies on distance from first place and placement. 9th to 12th get the best items, so 9th is the best spot for you.

Another critical part of bagging is to go for coins and double item boxes. Coins make you a lot faster, and having two last place items is the best position you can be. Bagging, although it sounds easy, is hard to perfect. It just takes practice, but as you become good at it you can easily get top three.

Dodging a Blue Shell: This can be done in two ways. The first way is to throw a banana in front of you. This gives you invincibility and makes you slide forward, making it faster than being hit by the blue shell. The second way is my favorite. For some reason, there are frames where you can use a dash mushroom and speed out of the blast. This is a very precise move, though, and it takes practice. To do it, wait for the blue shell to drop down on you. While it does this, quickly use the mushroom. It’s a small time window, so this method is tricky to pull off. 

Bill Extensions: If you have a bullet bill, don’t use it right away. Wait for a specific spot and quickly use the item. This makes the game confused, and it will freak out and drop you off three seconds later. Although it may sound small, that time gap can be the difference between winning and losing.

Snaking: This is very easy to do. In a straight section, instead of just driving, charge and release mini turbos. If you go in a curved line, you won’t hit the wall and will go much faster.

Dodge Item Chaining: If you just finished lap 2 and there has not been a shock yet, start chaining dodge items. Dodge items are anything that make you invincible. This includes, Bullet Bills, Stars, and Boos. Start using these one after the other to attempt to dodge the shock. If done correctly, you will not be hit and will go significantly faster than the other racers. 

These are all the strategies that I use. Although you may not take them seriously, they can work very well. Now it’s to make your friends rage.       

Image: Nintendo. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: Booster Course Pass. Accessed 14 11 2024.

Will the Minecraft Movie Fail? By Finn Alves

Earlier this year the “Minecraft Movie” trailer was released, but some people weren't too fond of it. First of all, it looked strange. Some parts were not blocky, at one point the blonde guy creates something that isn’t even in the game (he built two buckets that were connected with a chain!), and a lot of people think the animals look funny or goofy. It makes me feel like they're throwing in all sorts of things to show what they can do. 

The movie feels weird being live action and not being animated. I've seen people remake scenes from the trailer as an animation and those fanfilms were smooth, worked well, showed quality and expresion, and these people had a only few months to do these animations. Normal Minecraft has never looked like this; it feels wrong. 

Although the movie is called “A Minecraft Movie” and the Minecraft team explained how it's called “A Minecraft Movie” and not “The Minecraft Movie”, this movie simply tells a story about Minecraft in the Minecraft world. This also makes openings for more movies, not sequels, that are fresh stories with new characters. So the movie might not flop, because after all, the game has sold hundreds of millions of copies since release, so there will probably be at least 10’s of millions of people wanting to watch it. 

Upcoming Movies in November/December 2024 by Kadance Delahanty

1. Wicked 

This movie is based on a  2 part stage musical called Wicked by Stephan Schwartz. The movie is based on the first part of the musical. It is also based on the 1995 novel called Wicked by Gregory Maguire. It also has some of the same characters of the novel and movie, Wizard of Oz. It is an upcoming fantasy musical. It is set in the land of Oz. It is about Elphaba’s studies at Shiz university and the beginning of her ultimately becoming the wicked witch of the west, and her unlikely friendship with Glinda which later became her rival Glinda the Good. Ariana Grande is playing Glinda. Cynthia Erivo is playing Elphaba. It will be coming out November 22, 2024.

2. Mufasa: The Lion King

This movie is an upcoming musical drama film directed by Berry Jenkins from a screenplay by Jeff Nathenson. It will be produced by Walt Disney pictures. This movie and musical is about orphaned, lost, and alone cub Mufasa meets a caring cub named Taka. Taka is an heir to a royal bloodline. Their meeting sets in motion an expansive journey of an extraordinary group of misfits. This movie will be coming out December 20, 2024. 

3. Moana 2

This movie has had a lot of excitement while it has been in progress. This movie is an upcoming animated musical adventure film. Most of the original cast members will be voicing their characters again. 3 years after the first film's events, Moana gets an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors. She forms her own crew, reuniting with her old friend and demi god, Maui. They journey to the far seas of Oceania to break the god Nalo’s curse on the hidden island of Montufetu. It once connected the people of the ocean. They confronted new and old foes. This movie will be coming out November 27, 2024.  

Top Artists of 2024 So Far by Zoe Angle

Music is, has, and always will be one of the most common (and in my personal opinion, best) ways to express yourself or feel a certain way. Music and its artists are a big part of everyday life, whether you want to relax, scream, the occasional sob into your pillow, or just feel like popping in your AirPods and falling asleep. Though 2025 is months away, these top artists so far this year may shock or may be just what you’ve expected.

6. People worldwide wait all week of hard work for the weekend to have fun and relax. If that’s why Abel Tesfaye chose “The Weeknd” for his artist name, it certainly paid off, as he is the 6th biggest artist of 2024. With the drop of Dancing in the Flames, the newest of his albums, he just edged his way into the top six. You can almost definitely expect to hear him on the radio, possibly in his top three songs, “Timeless (with Playboi Carti),” “One Of The Girls (with JENNIE, Lily Rose Depp),” and “Blinding Lights.”

5. Pronounced the same as the movie snack favorite, Eminem with top songs “Houdini,” “Without Me,” and “Mockingbird” has climbed back up to 5th biggest artist after last year at 14th. How did he make that big of a jump? Who knows! But many (including myself) are certainly happy about it. 

4. In 4th this year so far has been Kendrick Lamar. Not within even the top 20 last year, Lamar spiked in popularity in 2024. Songs of his such as “Not Like Us” have majorly helped with his new-found fame as he has reached Billboard’s number one song many a time in 2024. As well as his own personal creations, his collaborations have been just as beneficial to his music career. In particular, “All The Stars (with SZA)” has helped this #4 creator reach new heights.

3. With the release of her recent album Hit Me Hard and Soft and the top song “What Was I Made For?” from Barbie, Billie Eilish became the third greatest artist of 2024. This new album certainly was beneficial to her career, as it was the newest in three years and received lots of love from her millions of fans.

2. Canadian rapper and singer Drake has been a major influence in the music industry. With eight studio albums and five Grammy Awards, his career has soared. With top songs including “God’s Plan,” Drake has worked his way up from fourth last year to second now. 

1. Known as one of the greatest and most influential artists of the music industry, Taylor Swift holds a steady lead in first with the Swifty Army backing her up. At the 2023 Grammys, she mentioned the surprise release of her newest album “The Tortured Poets Department,” which immediately reached 1st in Billboard. With the Era’s Tour and top songs including “Cruel Summer,” she has shown many times that she is at the top.

Source: RouteNote

2025 Movies: When They Are Coming and What to Expect By Zoe Angle

With each new year, people worldwide look forward to movies coming out. Some iconic movies of this past year have been Inside Out 2 and Despicable Me 4. Though people have loved these movies (pretty expressively), some films that many are excited for don’t end up being worth your time. These are 6 movies coming out in 2025, so you know what is worth the watch.

1. The live-action version of the 1937 Disney Classic, Snow White is expected for March 21, 2025 (yet to be rated). This modification of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs has stars including Rachel Zegler, Gal Gadot, and Andrew Burnap and is directed by Mark Webb. Though this musical isn’t an exact replica of the animated original, you can still expect to see everyone’s favorite characters, Doc, Bashful, Sneezy, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, and last but not least, Dopey.

2. Jurassic World Rebirth, expected July 2, is directed by Gareth Edwards and has stars including Scarlett Johansson, Ed Skrein, and Jonathan Bailey. This (supposedly) incredible movie is the 7th in the sci-fi franchise of Jurassic Park. In this movie, an expedition takes place to extract DNA to help with a “groundbreaking medical breakthrough.”

3. Based on the video game, A Minecraft Movie, directed by Jared Hess and featuring Emma Myers, Jack Black, and Jason Momoa, has many similar aspects to the world-famous pastime. Expected April 4th, 2025, A Minecraft Movie shows the Ender Dragon from the game setting a path of destruction in the Overworld. It is up to a girl and her “unlikely adventurers” to save it.

4. Avatar: Fire and Ash is the sequel to the iconic Avatar movie and is continued to be directed by James Cameron. Starring Cliff Curtis, David Thewlis, and Sigourney Weaver, the sequel is expected to be just as phenomenal as the original and expected December 19, 2025. Even though the plotline is unknown, this is a movie to wait for!

5. Another sequel that is expected in 2025 (without a further due date) is Zootopia 2. Directed by Jared Bush, rabbit cop Judy Hopps and fox Nick Wilde return to solve yet another case. This sequel has stars including Jason Bateman, Fortune Feimster, and Ginnifer Goodwin.

6. Lilo and Stitch returns! Lilo and Stitch is coming out again, live-action. This remake is directed by Dean Fleischer Camp and stars Zach Galifianakis, Billy Magnussen, and Tia Carrere is expected sometime during 2025. 
   

   Source: IMBD

Are Video Games Good for You? by Finn Alves

Press Start

I know it, you know it, we all know it. We’ve probably all had an experience with video games, whether it was a game on a console, or a PC, or getting sucked into the brain rot that is bad mobile games. But, have you ever heard the term, “Video games are bad for you!” Well, if so, well, if you haven't then who are you? But is this saying correct? Let's find out!

Gaming Pros

There is a good selection of benefits of gaming. Some benefits of gaming include:

1. Better mind skills - Doing puzzle or memory games is great for stretching your mind and increasing problem solving skills.

2. Boosting teamwork and problem solving and social skills - Multiplayer games help form teamwork and other people you meet.

3. Virtual reality and other movement based games - Good form of exercise especially in the arms with VR.

These are some of the benefits for something that mostly involves sitting around playing games on a device. Although, with all these pros, there are ought to be some cons about it.

Con-trollers

So, with pros, there always come cons, so let’s look at some cons about gaming. Some cons include:

1. Playing for too long could make you lose sleep or not get schoolwork done.

2. You could get addicted to a game and have trouble paying attention due to non stop gaming

3. Some games involve microtransactions and you shouldn’t be pumping money into a game.

So those were some pretty good, well, pretty bad cons, and it makes the score not so one sided towards it being good.

Final Score

We’ve gone over some cons, and some pros, but now it's time to decide the winner of if video games are good for you or not, and to answer the question, I’d say that it depends. But if I had to choose, I’d say gaming is good for you. All the pros were about how they help you IRL (In Real Life) and in the game. I asked a couple of my friends what their opinion was and they said it was good for similar reasons as listed. As long as you have a good game that you and the game don’t fall into the cons, then gaming certainly has its fair share of benefits.

Top 5 Best Horror Villains by Aidan Murphy

Since Halloween is soon, horror movies are back in season. But what matters most is the villain. So here’s my Top 5 Halloween Movie Villains.

5. Chucky

While he may be small, he makes up for it with his ruthlessness.

4. Freddy Krueger

Really, he’s far funnier than scary at this point.

3. Ghostface

Even though he isn’t that great of a killer, he’s so iconic I can’t put him anywhere other than the top 3.

2. Jason Voorhees

A genuine threat that’s nearly invincible. His biggest weakness might be lakes.

1. Michael Myers

One of the most recognizable villains ever. While he may not be as strong as Jason, or as charismatic as Chucky or Freddy, he creates an aura that’s just unmatched.

10 Reasons why Google Doodle Baseball is the best by Quinn Cunningham

1. It's not blocked by SCASD. 

2. You can hit 2,000 foot home runs. 

3. There are left-handed players, so they are not left out. 

4. If you hit the ball, it is always a base hit. 

5. The players are food. 

6. The field is picnic themed.

7. The pitchers throw many different pitches. 

8. the crowd in the stands and they also celebrate when you hit the ball. 

9. It is easy to score many runs unlike actual baseball. 

10. It is entertaining and keeps you ready for the next pitch. 

Hot take: It's better than Google Doodle Cricket. 

Hot take: I has the best sound effects ever

Hot take: You can’t pause the game!

Best and Worst Gimkit Games by Edward Chote

In this article I will be talking about what Gimkit games are good and which ones you shouldn't even try. 

The Worst Gimkit Games

Now to start off,  let’s talk about some of the worst games, starting with Fishtopia. First,  this game is so boring it's actually kind of sad when you play it -  all you do is fish and answer questions. 

Another bad game is the Dig It Up  game. First off, all this game just isn't that much fun in my opinion. It is a very basic game where you build up and don't do much more. 

There is one more mediocre game I can think of, and it is One Way Out. All you do in this game is run through halls shooting enemies that don't actually do much. 

The Best Gimkit Games

But now I'm going to list some of the better games that I do believe are actually fun. First off, all there's Don’t Look Down,, a spin off of the popular rage game Only Up. The premise of this game is to jump up a map where there are very few checkpoints - one wrong fall and you have to start all over again. 

Another fun game is the new Knockback  game, or at least it's new at the writing time of this article. This game is really only fun if you have three or more people playing on it,  but the basic idea is that you are on a ton of tiny platforms and you have to shoot your friends off of them, increasing the knockback, making it like Super Smash Bros. 

And the final fun game that is on Gimkit has to be Capture the Flag. Whenever your teacher picks this map, it's always fun with how much yelling across the class there is, but if it's only you and a few more of your friends, there isn't much to do, and it's not that fun. 

And that is my final analysis of the worst and best gimkit games to play.