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South Park season 18 episode 6 review

By Rachel Brands
November 18, 2014

South Park releases its sixth episode titled “Freemium Isn’t Free.” The episode lunges right into the plot when the first scene is of Jimmy telling Kyle to download the new Terrance and Phillip game because it’s “totally free!” Kyle plays the game and quickly discovers it is free (only not really) because it is also totally stupid. Stan, however, can not get enough of the game and is soon in trouble with his parents for spending over $400 playing it.

South Park season 18 episode 7 review

By Rachel Brands
November 17, 2014

South Park screwed with the minds of its fans everywhere with “Grounded Vindaloop.” The episode starts as a seemingly classic Cartman-messes-with-Butters scenario when Cartman tricks Butters into thinking he is in a virtual reality, when really he is wandering around town wearing goggles and a set of headphones.

St. Vincent Movie Review

By Rachel Brands
November 13, 2014

“St. Vincent” is a dramedy written and directed by Theodore Melfi. The film stars Bill Murray and Melissa McCarthy as neighbors Vincent and Maggie. Maggie is a single mother who moves in next door to Vincent along with her young son Oliver. The two get off to a bad start immediately when the movers Maggie hired inadvertently destroy Vincent’s fence and rip a branch off a tree in his yard. Times are tough for Maggie and Oliver, causing Maggie to work crazy hours and leaving Oliver alone most of the time. An incident at school where the other boys steal Oliver’s phone and house keys leads to him spending the afternoon at Vincent’s until his mother gets home from work.

South Park season 18 episode 5 review

By Rachel Brands
October 31, 2014

South Park hits its midseason mark in season eighteen with “The Magic Bush.” The episode begins with Cartman gleefully finding out that Butters’ dad owns a drone. Cartman is thrilled and immediately begins plotting to use it to spy on people in the town. Cartman sneaks the drone to his house and then Butters meets him (and Kenny) at Cartman’s house so the boys can play with it. Everything starts okay until Cartman stumbles upon Craig’s mom getting dressed. Being boys, they stick around to get a closer look and have a good laugh over her ‘bush.’

South Park season 18 episode 4 review

By Rachel Brands
October 16, 2014

South Park brings back old characters Nathan and Mimsy in this week’s episode “Handicar.” Do not be surprised if you do not remember Nathan and Mimsy. They have only been in two episodes: “Up the Down Steroid” (season eight, episode two) and “Crippled Summer” (season fourteen, episode seven). Nathan and Mimsy are portrayed as the stereotypical tough boss and his idiotic sidekick. They are Jimmy and Timmy’s (but mostly Jimmy’s) rivals, and in all three episodes they attempt to sabotage either Jimmy or Timmy’s shot at success. This episode is no different.

South Park season 18 episode 3 review

By Rachel Brands
October 15, 2014

South Park airs its third episode called “The Cissy,” and it is not at all what I expected. The episode begins with Cartman being more creepy and menacing than usual. He uses his inner monologue to refer to the mysterious object in his front pocket that he will use to “do what I should have done a long time ago.” The mystery object turns out to be a pink bow that Cartman uses to pretend to be transgender, or “transginger” as Cartman calls it, in order to use the girls’ bathroom. However, the dumps that Cartman has been taking in the girls’ bathroom are unbearable, and the girls want him out. This causes Principal Victoria to approve a special transgender bathroom made especially for Cartman.

From corn fields to Broadway

By Rachel Brands
October 8, 2014

[T]he PAC was packed on Oct. 7 at 7:00 p.m. for the HHS choir’s first concert of the year. The theme for this concert was Broadway musicals.

Wrestling Recognition

By Rachel Brands
February 28, 2014

I am not a sports fan. I never have been and more than likely never will be. I am so far gone that I do not have the faintest idea why anyone likes sports. Baseball...

Coca-Cola on diversity

By Rachel Brands
February 27, 2014

Coca-Cola recently released a commercial entitled "It's Beautiful" that has caused an uproar among Americans on Twitter. The commercial included images of everyday American families while "America the Beautiful" was sung in the background in order to advertise Coke products.

Sherlock Series Three

By Rachel Brands
January 30, 2014

I just spent my entire Sunday afternoon watching the third series of BBC's "Sherlock." The entirety of the third series came out in the UK quite a while ago, but I never got around to watching it. I had to go to work, I was busy with school, I was simply too lazy to get my laptop out; these are several reasons I had for waiting so long to watch.

The end of an era

By Rachel Brands
December 20, 2013

Twelve years ago, Phil Crespo was in danger of being unable to graduate from Huntley High School. Twelve years ago, Principal Dave Johnson went the...

Leading a work of fiction

By Rachel Brands
December 7, 2013

Stop for a second and think. When someone say “good leader” what do you think of? More importantly, who do you think of? I am a firm believer in the...