As we prepare for the end of 2019, and the end of the decade, numbers were released from Spotify, a music streaming platform, showing which artists, songs albums listeners streamed the most during the past 10 years. The most streamed artist was, of course, Drake, followed by Ed Sheeran, Post Malone, Ariana Grande, and Eminem. Since 2010, Drake has released nearly an 18 track album each year, not count counting singles and features. His album Scorpion gained 745.9 million U.S streams and the first week it was released. Within the decade he has gotten over 28 Billion streams on Spotify. For over a decade he has had a dominant presence in the music industry, which helped him become one of the most influential people this decade.
Author: adviser
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A Shakespearean Experience at UCI
On December 10, CIC seniors went to UC Irvine for a campus tour and a demonstration of the Shakespeare production, Macbeth.
CIC AP English Literature and Composition teachers Gwendolyn Larsen and James Cooperider organized the event, encouraged all of their students to attend, and chaperoned at the university.
While there, the students were split into three groups to rotate between a tour of the campus, a presentation of different adaptations of the play, and a chance to see and handle old copies of Shakespearean scripts at the school’s library archive. Among these rare books in the archive was a copy of the First Folio, the first official written source for the scripts for Shakespeare’s plays averaging about $3-7 million US dollars in value.
“The First Folio was probably the coolest thing I saw that day,” said Amber Payan. “I have a big appreciation for theater, so it [made] me feel more immersed in the world; it really makes me feel like this is my spot. It’s where I want to be.”
After lunch, the students gathered again in the presentation room to sit in on an acting theory lecture from one of the college professors, as well as witness a sample of an acted scene from two of UCI’s acting majors. One Poly student, Isaac Absalom stepped up at the end and got to act as Macbeth with one of the college students. “It was fun! I like doing fun stuff,” he said. “I feel like that’s my character – extroverted.”
Absalom was happy he was able to see the campus and get a glimpse of what college life may be like for him in the near future: “I think to pay attention to more things than just the teaching and the campus – like seeing who goes there and what the vibe is like – that and a lot of things go into choosing a college.” -
Movies of the Decade
The year has finally come to an end, also bringing the decade to an end. Within these 10 years, there have been many films which have most certainly left quite an impression on us. Here is a list of 10 films which have made it to the top throughout the past ten years.
- 2010 Despicable Me
- 2011 Captain America: The First Avenger
- 2012 The Hunger Games
- 2013 Frozen
- 2014 Guardians of the Galaxy
- 2015 Jurassic World
- 2016 Moana
- 2017 Star Wars: The Last Jedi
- 2018 Avengers: Infinity War
- 2019 Avengers: Endgame
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Dancers Bust a Move (Photo Gallery)
On November 7th, Poly’s dance program held their annual winter dance show at the Andrew Osman Performing Arts Center. Featuring choreographies by Cynthia Negrete, the event showcased performances from Poly’s Dance Team as well as Negrete’s dance classes.
Photos by Nick Eismann, Contributing Photographer
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Stadia The Google “Console”
Google is launching a new streaming service that will allow people to play their favorite games via a cloud service. They plan to debut their system on November 19 this year, and it will be called Stadia. The upcoming cloud gaming service operated by Google is said to be capable of streaming video games up to 4K resolution at 60 frames per second with support for high-dynamic-range, to players via the company’s numerous data centers across the globe, provided they are using a sufficiently high-speed Internet connection. Misconceptions of this project say they are working to make new console, but Google says they are not making a console, however a new way to stream and play games. It will be accessible through the Google Chrome web browser on desktop computers, or through smartphones, tablets, smart televisions, digital media players, and Chromecast. “There was a lot of speculation that we were going to be making a console, but that’s actually [not]part of our strategy, we want to be completely screen agnostic,” Phil Harrison, a vice president and general manager at Google, told CNN Business, “We don’t want players to be spending hundreds of dollars, sometimes thousands of dollars, to create a gaming rig in their home.”
Why is it so hyped? This is beneficial to the gaming community because it is made by Google and it is an easy way to stream games on YouTube and create videos for their audience. Google might not be known as a gaming company, but people watched more than 50 billion hours of gaming on its YouTube service in 2018. And every day, 200 million people watch games on YouTube. Gaming has been on the rise and many major corporations have taken notice. Adidas a popular sportswear brand sponsored a very well-known Fortnite streamer known as Tyler “Ninja” Blevins and this is a major step towards recognizing gaming as a sport rather than a hobby or past-time.
Stadia is not similar to Netflix, in that it requires users to purchase games to stream via Stadia rather than pay for access to a library of games. While the base service will be free, a Pro tier monthly subscription allows users to stream at higher rates for larger resolutions, and the offer to add free games to their library. Another option lets viewers join the person they’re watching live. “One of the great things about Stadia is the power of linking the world of YouTube and game play together,” said Harrison. “If I’m on YouTube and I’m a creator talking about NBA 2K, the latest basketball game, I can invite my fans, my audience [and] my subscribers to join me in that game.” The next big step in gaming debuts on November 19, 2019.
How it is ranked by critics?
“It’s getting there,” according to Wired.
Reviews so far: IGN 6/10; Wired 6/10; TechRadar 4/10. -
The End of the F***ing Season
“End of the F***ing World” was released on Netflix in 2017. The show follows the adventures of two lonely teens, James and Alyssa. James is convinced that he is a psychopath and wants to transition from killing animals to killing people and his first target is Alyssa. Alyssa, a new student at James’ school, feels as though she does not fit in and she befriends James. Alyssa and James embark on an adventure to find Alyssa’s dad while James plans to kill her. Over their journey, they begin to like each other. Their adventure is filled with many events, each one becoming more and more violent. In the end of the first season, James and Alyssa murder a professor and James is shot by the police.
In the beginning of the second season, James and Alyssa are older and they have been apart for several years. However, a student of the professor killed in the previous season sets out to kill the two as revenge for taking away her “lover”.
Now my thoughts on this season are pretty simple. I kinda loved it, kinda hated it, (a loving type of hate though).
However, this did not answer a lot of the questions I had from the previous season. For one, what happened to James’ psychopathic tendencies? Did they just disappear once he realized that he was in love with Alyssa? This season was pretty ominous and quiet and the death scenes in this season were far more gory. Season 2 was also much sadder than the first season (for obvious reasons) and it kind of altered the effect that the show gave me. It was almost too sad to watch. -
Poly Gives Back With Thanksgiving Drive
With Thanksgiving coming up, family, friends, and neighbors are ready to show gratitude and thankfulness by giving back. Poly also celebrates the season of thankfulness every year by giving back to the community with the canned food drive.
Every year clubs are able to participate in this tradition by informing their members about the opportunity to give back to the community. The canned food drive allow members to bring in canned food and from there all the work is handled. The canned food then circulates back to the Long Beach Community to those in need.
Many are more than enthusiastic to be able to give their members an open resource to actively be involved in. Which creates a more festive vibe during the holiday season. This year clubs got together to donate boxes of mashed potatoes, stuffing mix, instant potatoes, canned vegetables, cranberry sauce, gravy and more.
The amount of time put into the Thanksgiving drive is also substantial. Audrey Deth from ASB stated that the “time we take for a drive, that involves student, takes a while because we need to make sure there is enough time for students to get the items they are donating and to have time to organize.”
Other clubs hosted their own events for the holiday food drive. For example, Reviver, an environmentalist club at Poly hosted their own Canned Food Drive. Wendy Ngau, the Vice President of Reviver, stated that they “have reached out to around 15 teachers that are willing to participate by encouraging students to donate canned or imperishable food. Which they will collect and give to Long Beach Rescue Missions.” Reviver makes sure that members of their club are able to participate as well by allowing them to go to the Long Beach Rescue Mission during Sunday Kiss to organize and serve food.
During this holiday season remember to be to give back to your community. Sitting down and enjoying a Thanksgiving meal will be more fulfilling knowing that you provided a warm meal to others! With the completion of another year of the food drive, hopefully the canned food drive is one tradition that will never fade. With the end of the food drive, the thankfulness of the holiday season isn’t yet over; the Christmas toy drive is on its way and clubs are eager to bring toys that will be distributed to children in need during the Holiday Project on December 7th. -
Cooking Joy
It’s that time of the year, when families gather and enjoy a big meal together, and well, let’s be honest, get fat together. Oh yes, Christmas is just a couple days away and I already know that some of y’all cannot cook, so I’m here to supply you with one of the best side dishes to add to your Christmas dinner, mashed potatoes.
Mashed potatoes recipe:
Preparation: 10 Minutes
Cook: 30 Minutes
Ready: 40 Minutes
Ingredients:
-2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and quartered -salt and pepper (seasoned to taste)
– ½ cup of Milk
-½ cups of sour cream
-¼ cup of freshly cut chives
Double in ingredients to make a bigger portion
Directions:
- Set a big pot with water and bring the water to a boil and add salt to the boiling water.
- Place 2 pounds of Golden Potatoes, peeled, and quartered, into boiling water and boil for 25 minutes. To test if your potatoes are cooked fully , stick a fork through the potatoes, and if your fork comes out with no problems, then they are ready.
- Drain potatoes from water.
- To mash your potatoes, oh can get a handheld potato masher, or an electric mixer, and mash/mix your potatoes until nicely, add ½ cups of milk while mixing.
- Once potatoes are mashed stir in ½ cups of sour cream and chives.
- Season to liking.
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700 Mystery
On November 5th during 4th period, teachers throughout campus received an ambiguous email stating to not allow students to leave class.
Jackie Lazatin, health care analysis teacher, said students who were on their way to her class were told to go to the nearest open classroom which was the College and Career, until further instructions were given.
After a few minutes, an all clear was sent and students were allowed to return to class. No further details were disclosed.
While there are rumors of what occurred to prompt those emails, no one knows for sure what happened.
Rob Shock, boys athletic director, said he was unable to provide any information as it was a police issue not a school issue.
Principal William Salas said in an email, “We are keeping our students safe and we can’t comment about other students.” -
Saving Daylight
This year on November 3rd was the 101st end of daylight saving time and started the beginning of “falling back”. Falling back is when we gain an extra hour in the day by setting the clocks back by an hour , the practice was first implemented in the United States in 1918 to help save on the cost of fuel. There are only two states in the US that do not participate in this practice, Hawaii and Arizona. The days feel shorter and it gets dark sooner. Around 4:30 pm the sun starts to set and by 5:30 pm, it is completely dark outside. During this time I always feel like I get more sleep, some people can argue that they do not. I don’t understand how people can say that they do not notice that is darker earlier than usual. When I was younger I didn’t even know changes in time such as this existed I never really paid attention. Overtime I’ve wondered if things would be different without the time changes , like what time will it really be today if this was never invented ? . Children can be affected by the time change because some parents tell their children to be home before its dark, with the change in time that may mean coming home at 5pm rather than 7pm as they did in the summertime. I honestly really enjoy the time change, I love seeing how dark it gets at just 5pm. Along with the cold weather during this time the mood is set. I relax, grab my hot chocolate and watch corny Christmas movies all before nighttime because the darkness outside makes me tired.
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Holiday Humor
Despite November passing, there is always more rooms for jokes, here are a list of jokes:
- There was a boy named Leaves, he always wanted a promotion but he can’t because he always falls beyond standards.
- When comes November the nuts go stale, but when comes December 1st nuts are breaking out of shells.
- What did the Turkey say to the Stuffing “Man I’m Full !”
- Why did the Turkey feel bad? It got roasted.
- Why didn’t the Turkey cross the road? Because he saw the chicken get run over.
- Yo, you want a Sprite Cranberry?
- Why did the TVs go missing? It was Black Friday.
- “I want to go camping” the daughter said to the Mom. The mom said if you raised your grades up. She did as she said, and showed her progress report to her mom. The mom was surprised and promised her they would go camping. So in the middle of the night the mom woke her up and told her daughter to get ready and pack up. The daughter was ecstatic and jumped on her bed full of energy she packed her bags and rushed to the car. She fell asleep on the car ride, but was surprised to be woken up 10 minutes later. Confused since there’s no campground within 10 miles from where they lived. She looked up and saw a yellow and blue sign, “Best Buy.”
