Category: Uncategorized

Star Wars. one of the most influential and successful film franchises of all time.  Fans have been watching Star Wars for nearing 50 years now , and they’ve gone through a rollercoaster of experiences at the hands of Lucasfilm and most recently Disney. Whether it be the original destroying of the Death Star in the original New Hope movie in 1977, or the death of the beloved Han Solo in The Force Awakens. Whatever the moment is , every Star Wars fan has a moment that they love the most and hold dear to their heart. Me personally, we’ll have to go back to the not so popular Episode I: The Phantom Menace. I believe that the Duel of Fates scene in the end of the film and the scores role in the prequel trilogy. I think that this moment and the musics evolution and meaning in the 3 prequel movies, is the catalyst of the Star Wars universe and really transcends the film it was written for.

John Williams is the mastermind behind many of the themes from film that most people can hum from memory, Jaws, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, and of course Star Wars just to name a few. Every Star Wars fan knows the scene, Darth Maul, one of the few things that is universally loved from the prequels, black and red war painted face, double ended lightsaber wielding Sith Lord, is faced against the noble Qui Gon Jin and his padewan young Obi Wan Kenobi. what seems to be a simple evil vs good battle, but just as we find in the film’s title , there is more than what meets the eye with the Dual of the Fates lightsaber dual. Williams scores have this enate ability to feel as though they are these massive , almost religious experiences that seemingly have been echoing since the beginning of time, they’re just that powerful. And Dual of the Fates is certainly no exception. Darth Maul’s entrance is flanked with low bass fan fare, the rest of the sound comes in, with pumping orchestra strings, low woodwinds, the French horns, all stacking on top of each other, building the melody up and up to what I think sets this piece apart from anything else , The choir, this jarring almost frenzied choral of 80 people tiered perfectly. This choir is the most powerful thing ever heard from a film score, enough to send shivers down your spine.

Ultimately this rollercoaster of a scene is just that a rollercoaster, rising and falling taking by the seat of your pants, and finally releasing you as Qui Gon Jin being defeated by Darth Maul, and his Padewan Obi Wan avenging him by slicing Darth Maul in half. While this is one of the best lightsaber duels in the whole Star Wars universe, I think its the way this song fits into the plot and the overarching story of the prequel trilogies that makes it so transcendental.

In the first movie the plot involves young Anakin Skywalker, Qui Gon and Obi Wan find the young bound to be most powerful Sith Lord of all time on a small desert planet Tatooine. Qui Gon quickly senses that this boy has the potential to become the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy, some could even say “the chosen one”. After winning a pod race, Anakin is released from his slave role, and is set off with Qui Gon and Obi-wan to become a Jedi. These plans are disrupted as when Qui-Gon returns to Coursaunt, the Jedi counsel tell him that he cannot take young Anakin as his padewan as he already has one in Obi-wan, also Jedi Master Yoda proclaims that he senses the boy’s future is clouded. Qui-Gon is displeased with this news and really plans to take Anakin under his wing against the counsel’s wishes. Obviously this plan gets cut short as he is defeated by Darth Maul, Obi-wan goes on to take in Anakin as a padewan as to continue this deceased master’s final wishes, even though he isn’t the most fond of the boy and wants to follow the Jedi counsels orders. Long story short Anakin becomes Darth Vader, if you didn’t know. Now I can hear you asking, where does Dual of the Fates come into this? In the title itself.

What I find so monumental about this piece of music is that this is the crux of the entire Star Wars universe and not many people see it. The battle between Maul , Kenobi, and Qui Gon, is the battle for the fate of Anakin Skywalker, the two fates of the chosen one are fighting physically. On one hand if Qui-Gon lives, he presumably takes Anakin under his wing and makes him become a noble Jedi such as he , but what ends up being the result on the other hand , is that Obi-Wan reluctantly takes Anakin in and we see young Skywalker develop into the Sith Lord Darth Vader. I think that the title of Dual of the Fates is so powerful within itself that the whole first movie could have been titled that.

What makes Dual of the Fates transcend the Phantom Menace though is that it is played throughout the rest of the trilogy whenever Anakin is at a cross road. For example in Episode II when Anakin finds out that the sand people have captured and tourtured his mother to death, as he races to the village on the speeder, the faint melody of Dual of the Fates being played in the background. Anakin’s fate is once again on the fence, Anakin eventually ends up slaughtering the entire village, the women, the children, like animals. But this piece of music that in the first movie represented the universe’s tussle with fate is heard in the background, if Anakin doesn’t act on his feelings of hate and fear, he isn’t going to be led further to the dark-side, instead the dark side pulls the chosen one further into it’s grasp. The song is heard once again in episode III after Anakin is officially dubbed lord Vader and is going to kill the younglings at the Jedi temple. Anakin’s fate is in constant turmoil, until the end of the Revenge of the Sith where we see the dark side fully encompass Anakin Skywalker and produce Lord Vader.

The entire original Trilogy rests on Luke’s battle with His father Darth Vader, the entire thing, thus making the Dual of the Fates Battle in episode I the most pivotal moment in all of Star Wars for me. And the score more than justifies that, the entire FATE of the universe rests on Qui-Gon’s death, without this battle, there may have never been a Death Star or an unlikely hero from Tatooine having to fight his father for the sake of the universe. This is why Duel of The Fates transcends the prequels, the entire fate of the galaxy, and cinemas most iconic villas, rests upon and is felt in this masterpiece of a score,

The Texas Longhorns won their third game of the 2022 NCAA College football season on Saturday by a final score of 38-20 over the West Virginia Mountaineers. Many Austinites would say this season has a very different feeling. So how has the young team heightened the expectations of this very early season? Are the Longhorns about to take things to a new level?

The results don’t lie, as the Texas Longhorns have sustained many losing seasons throughout the last decade. Since Colt McCoy last played on the 40 acres in 2009, the Texas Longhorns have only won 5 bowl games. However, many Longhorns fans feel differently about this season. Why shouldn’t they be? It’s only a matter of time until that dark grey cloud that looms over Darrell K Royal Stadium clears up.

Heading into this new season, plenty of storylines were on the horizon. A new era of Longhorn football was about, to begin with, the debut of former five-star recruit out of South Lake Texas, Quin Ewers. Touted as the number one quarterback recruit out of high school in 2020, Quin had plenty of colleges looking at picking him up. After a short stint as the backup to the now Bears starting quarterback Justin Fields at Ohio State, Quin returned to Texas, where he began his mission to earn the starting job. After a rough first year as head coach, where Steve Sarkisian’s Texas Longhorns went 5-7, there was no seat hotter than the one that Sark was occupying.

The Texas Longhorns came into the first game of the season swinging hard as they began the campaign with a one-sided blowout. The Longhorns started their season with a dominating win over the University of Louisiana Monroe with a final score of 52-10. According to author Evan Kirschner of Burnt Orange Nation, Ewers had an average start to his college debut, completing 16 out of 22 passes for 225 yards with two touchdowns. Kirschner said, “Ewers led the Longhorn offense with a 16-of-22 passing performance with 225 yards and two touchdowns.” The season was just beginning, and Quin had made some plays that had fans optimistic as the Texas Longhorns would host the nation’s number one ranked team in the country, the Alabama Crimson Tide, the following week.

This rivalry runs deep. Like the cowboys or patriots in the NFL, if you are not an Alabama Crimson Tide fan, chances are you don’t like them at all. However, its different in the Longhorn community, as the organization is still haunted by the loss to the Tide in the 2010 National Championship game. While that game sparked Alabama’s dynasty, UT fell into a deep losing streak that has lasted nearly a decade. However, with the addition of Ewers under center, the horns came into the game ready to play.

Texas’s second season game was a rollercoaster ride as the Longhorns would fall to Alabama with a final score of 20-19. Quin played well, showing off his deep ball accuracy and poise in the pocket before he sustained an injury to his left elbow. The Longhorns sideline became silent as the medical staff responded to the injured quarterback. After Quin was escorted off the field, backup quarterback Hudson Card entered the game. In the end, the Crimson Tide’s offense was too much for the Longhorn’s defense to cover, as they would earn their first loss of the season; however, controversy began as some fans began questioning some of the officiating after the game.

One of those people would be none other than former USC star quarterback Matt Leinart. Like many longhorns faithful, the former Heisman and National Champion had some complaints regarding the officiating following Alabama’s road win. After the game, Leinart took to Twitter, writing, “Texas should have won that game. They will kick themselves watching this film. Absolutely will be gutted. Also, the refs didn’t help. I don’t like using refs as an excuse but my god sometimes it’s blatant.” Following the loss, plenty of fans were upset but optimistic for the future as the horns only lost to the number one ranked team in the nation by a single point.

After the news broke that Quin Ewers had sustained an SC sprain, backup quarterback Hudson Card would start the next two games for UT. The team would both win and lose a game under Card as the horns would beat the UTSA Roadrunners at home and lose to the Texas Tech Red Raiders in Lubbock. Questions began to arise about the reactivation of Ewers leading into Texas’s game against West Virginia; however, ESPN analyst Pete Thamel released information stating that Ewers would remain inactive on the depth chart till the Red River Rivalry game against Oklahoma. Thamel said, “A return against the Sooners would mark four weeks after Ewers was injured, with sources indicating that is the earliest he would be expected to be available to play.” Later that day, the Longhorns’ offense would dominate the Mountaineers’ defense as they would improve to 3-0 on this early season.

Whether it was narrowly losing to Alabama or putting up dominant performances against West Virginia and UL Monroe, the Longhorns have had a wild start to the season. Fans are growing impatient and want to experience a winning culture now. Only with time will the college football gods choose whether to grant horns fans their wish.

Sources:

1. ) Kirschner, E. (2022, September 4). Sunday armchair QB – Texas vs. Louisiana-Monroe Edition. Burnt Orange Nation. Retrieved October 4, 2022, from https://www.burntorangenation.com/2022/9/4/23336731/texas-longhorns-louisiana-monroe-warhawks-quinn-ewers-jatavion-sanders-dshawn-jamison

2.) Machlin, T. (2022, September 12). Matt Leinart blames Alabama vs. Texas refs: Fans react. The Spun: What’s Trending In The Sports World Today. Retrieved October 4, 2022, from https://thespun.com/more/top-stories/matt-leinart-blames-alabama-vs-texas-refs-fans-react

3.) Thamel, P. (2022, October 1). Texas QB quinn ewers out vs. West Virginia, focuses on return vs. rival Oklahoma, sources say. ESPN. Retrieved October 4, 2022, from https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/34700809/texas-qb-quinn-ewers-vs-west-virginia-focuses-return-vs-rival-oklahoma-sources-say

I am by no means a parent but this peaked my interest when I saw a video dissecting the parenting style in my favorite show, Bobs Burgers. In the video titled “The Philosophy of Bob’s Burgers” by Wisecrack, the parenting style of the main characters is put into focus. Linda and Bob, the parents in the show, actually use an old style of parenting called alloparenting. Alloparenting is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “an individual other than the biological parent of an offspring that performs the functions of a parent (as by temporarily caring for an infant)”.

Alloparenting in Bob’s Burgers and the Implication of this on the Belcher Children

Bob’s Burgers premiered in 2011 when the internet was more focused on the end of the world in 2012 than parenting styles. I know this isn’t everyone but my TikTok seems to occasionally give me videos on how to gental parent and then a couple more videos of older parents saying that you shouldn’t do that. It seems to me that in today’s society people are very focused on the different parenting styles and what is the best way to parent. This is very interesting and allows for us to take a look at the unusual parenting style of the Belcher parents. Alloparenting is very clear in this series, and is shown by the many adult figures in the children’s lives and the viewer gets to see how this affect the emotional development of the kids. The Belcher children have an emotional intelligence much higher than that of their peers and that is because they are exposed to a large variety of people. They learn a lot of life lessons and skills from unsuspected people. For example, they learn to be grateful for their father’s contribution to the family by Marshmallow and friends, a group of transvestites (term used within the show), and they also learn the importance of community and being helpful from the One Eyed Snakes, a biker gang. Because the Belcher kids have such a large community of adults that will care for them, they are allowed to explore and experience places they wouldn’t have. This style of parenting also allows them to grow their own moral compass and values instead of being forced into the ones put in place by their parents.  The Belcher children’s high emotional intelligence and empathy is largely based on the parenting done by the members of the community. The Belcher children are a lot more accepting of any person because Bob and Linda are trusting of the community to keep them safe. For example, the Belcher family at one point befriends a criminal Mikey. Mikey teaches the Belcher children over the course of the show that hard work and dedication can help you turn your life around. They watch as Mikey robs the bank, gos to prison, gets released from prison and then gets a job, friends, and a stable lifestyle. The Belchers also befriend a local police officer, Sergeant Bosco, in the same episode. Sergeant Bosco becomes a very important person in the Belcher children’s lives. Throughout the series when the Belcher children run into legal trouble or need law enforcement, Sergeant Bosco is there to help free of charge. This is evident in an episode where the children believe that one of the residents at a retirement community’s pearls got stolen from her nephew. Because of this type of alloparenting the children are not afraid to call this crime in and they also do not have to go through the hoops of other adults. The Belcher children befriended to people on completely different sides of the moral world but learned important lessons and gained a trusted adult in both.

Alloparenting Psychology

While you might think this is a new style of parenting it was actually the very first parenting style ever used by humans and what helped us evolve.  With the increase in working parents and the pandemic causing people to become isolated, parenting has become a big point of stress in many households. This causes a decrease in mental health in parents as well as the children. Darby Saxbe, associate professor of psychology and director of the Center for Changing Family at the University of Southern California talks a lot about this. In a CNN article she states that being isolated because of the pandemic has caused an increase in “maternal depression and anxiety, postpartum depression, and anxiety and depression among children.” She talks about how many parents try to parent their kids in the nuclear family, 1950s way but that this is actually toxic. Although the individualistic form of parenting is easier to accomplish it creates a bad environment for not only the parent but for the child. Saxbe encourages people to find a village/community of people to help parents raise their kids. Many people have the help of their own parents or siblings but it is important for the children to reach out of their own family’s values and thoughts to then develop their own unique thought process and beliefs.

Final Thoughts

After reading about alloparenting and watching a lot of Bob’s Burgers I can say that in my opinion this type of parenting is the way to go. Although it is uncommon it has many benefits and produces a well-rounded compassionate child. I find it very interesting that television and film can teach us things we didn’t even know existed and I might be wrong but I don’t think the writers though of this type of parenting when originally writing the show. What other kinds of lessons can we learn from television and film without knowing it?

Social media is literally the use for everything nowadays. From looking up your favorite celebrities to following the news, to finding ideas for dinner and/or vacation.  Just like myself I know there’s a lot of people who rely on social media for even classes and work too. As a fellow college student, I know that getting home late from classes in school and looking for something to eat while preparing for your next day of classes and work could be stressful. That’s what I’m here for. I’m going to be finding recipes from your favorite social media sites and sharing them with you guys. the Social media sites ill be using is TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and even Snapchat. I find great and easy recipes for college students that’s posted being posted on there. Today I’m going to be giving you guys a few recipes from TikTok that you could make in less than an hour and be able to save them for the next day or two or however long you’ll need it for. Don’t worry either, they’re all affordable!

For our first dinner suggestion: a chicken stir-fry by @letskwook. The ingredients that you’ll need

• Two chicken breasts
• Soy sauce 
• Corn starch
• Vegetable oil
• Ginger
• Garlic
• Chili peppers
• Asparagus
• Green onion
• Bell pepper
• Sesame oil
• Rice vinegar
• Salt and pepper

First, you’re going to start by prepping the chicken breast. You’ll need to slice it to thin slices or to your liking . Once the chicken is sliced, add a few dashes of some soy sauce and a tablespoon of cornstarch to the chicken and mix it in. Add your chicken solution to a high heat skillet and cook until a golden-brown color. Remove the chicken from the skillet and place it on a plate or somewhere off to the side. Next, chop up the green onion, bell pepper, garlic, and asparagus. In the same pan that you cooked the chicken in, add some vegetable oil or cooking oil to the skillet and add your chopped vegetables.  Season your vegetables with the salt and pepper and whatever other seasonings that you like and sauté the vegetables to your liking. Once you feel like your vegetables is done, add the chicken back to the skillet with a dash of sesame oil, soy sauce and some rice vinegar. Mix up some water and cornstarch and pour that solution on top of the stir-fry and mix and cook for a few minutes. You can serve your stir-fry over some brown or white rice or just eat it how it is.

So for this next recipe, you’re going to be making air fryer pizza balls! This recipe came from @arimonika. The ingredients you’ll need:

• Pillsbury Biscuits
• Pepperoni
• Mozzarella Cheese sticks
• Crushed red pepper
• Garlic seasoning
• Butter
• Dry parsley
• Parmesan

Before we start, you need an air fryer for this recipe. First take place however

many biscuits on a piece of foil. Take a slice of pepperoni  for each biscuit and chop it up and place it in the middle of the biscuit. Next take the cheese stick and cut into a little under inch and placed it on top of the pepperoni slices. In a separate bowl, melt half a cup of butter and mix it with the dry parsley, Parmesan, and garlic together. Place that bowl to side. Pinch the biscuits corner together to form a wall with the pepperoni and cheese sticks still in the center. Once you have molded all your biscuits into balls, spread your garlic butter mixture on top of the balls. Place the pizza balls into the air fryer on 375° for 12 minutes. Enjoy!

This last recipe kind of favors the last recipe, but it’s just as delicious! This recipe is called Taco Roll by @arimonika. The ingredients you’ll need.

•Ground beef

•Taco seasoning

•Eggroll wraps

• Mexican Shredded cheese

First, you’ll start off by cooking your ground beef in a skillet until it’s cooked. Once the meat is cooked, drain it and add a cup of water and your taco seasoning. Cook until desired liking of the meat. Next, take a tablespoon of meat and placed it vertically in the middle of the wrap. Sprinkle the cheese on top of the meat. Get some water and use your fingers to seal the edges of the roll. Place your taco rolls in your air fryer on 375° for seven minutes.. Serve and enjoy with your favorite taco sauce!

That’s all the recipes I have for you guys today. Make sure to come back to see what social media site we’ll be using next time to get our easy college recipes from! Thank you and I hope you enjoy!! If you guys have any recommendations or suggestions on recipes or if you make the recipes, comment which one was your favorite to make!