Mount Hood

“Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” review

Written by:  Nicholas Sarysz

“Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey” is a film  that takes place in the magical world of the Hundred Acre Wood, where Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends reside. However, unlike the classic children’s stories that we’re all familiar with, this movie takes a much darker and grittier turn — exploring themes of loss and violence.

Only a small percentage of reviews found the British independent slasher film produced by Rhs Frake-Waterfield to have any quality, and critical reception has been overwhelmingly negative. The movie has a pitiful approval rating of 5% based on 37 reviews, with an average rating of 2.3/10 on the aggregate review website Rotten Tomatoes.

Many shortcomings of the movie have been pointed out by critics, including a weak screenplay, subpar production qualities, lack of humor and an inability to connect with the fundamental source material. Several critics have commended the movie’s gore and intrinsic grotesqueness, yet, even these glowing assessments point out what they view as serious problems within the film.

Despite the negative reviews, the film’s producer revealed that a sequel is currently in development, as well as  two additional horror films, “Bambi: The Reckoning” and “Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare” — based on the beloved children’s stories “Bambi, a Life in the Woods” and “Peter Pan.” Frake-Waterfield further revealed in Feb. 2023 that Jagged Edge Productions intends to include crossovers starring the various characters.

I personally love horror movies and had high hopes as I walked into the Independence Cinema to watch the film. While the plot annoyingly consisted of typical bad decision-making from the main characters, it was far better than any critic had described it. The concept of the film is not only easy to understand, but provides an alternative ending to the friendship beloved by many. Certainly, nothing good can come of Christopher Robin leaving his friends to fend for themselves, right?

8/10.

Contact the author at howlstaffwriter@wou.edu

Ticketmaster drama Implications

Written by: Gretchen Sims 

When Taylor Swift announced “The Eras” tour, it is fair to say that fans were ecstatic. However, the announcement’s excitement ultimately paled in comparison to the absolute despair and heartbreak caused when Swift’s tickets finally went live. 

Ticketmaster, the site that launched Swift’s tickets, could not withstand the demand and their website consequently derailed. The whole thing was a mess. Many fans were kicked off the site and most were left ticketless after waiting hours for the pre-sale to go live. However, this was just the beginning. After the Capital One pre-sale, even more Swifties swarmed the site — hoping to get their hands on the remaining tickets — only to be told that the general sale would be canceled due to unprecedented high demand. 

Obviously, this caused fans worldwide to take to social media in an outraged frenzy — eventually gaining the attention of the United States Department of Justice. 

Turns out, the core issue with Ticketmaster was not just poor infrastructure. In fact, the company had previously merged with one of the biggest names in the entertainment industry — Live Nation. 

After the 2010 merger, many questioned the company, some even going as far as to call it a monopoly. Live Nation essentially controlled all of the concert venue markets and, once it merged with Ticketmaster — the biggest name in ticketing — it was basically the only name in the industry. However, it was not until the public outcry surrounding Swift’s Eras tour erupted that a policy window opened — one that the Senate Judiciary Committee took full advantage of. 

The bipartisan antitrust hearing was held on Jan. 24, and the overall consensus was that the merger was damaging the music industry as a whole. 

So what are the implications? Swift had no other resource to post her tickets to, other than one that was unable to keep up with the demand her tour would curate. If Live Nation Entertainment is ruled to be a monopoly and breaks up, then that would open up the ticket and venue markets that are currently only occupied by one corporation.

If competition is finally established, growth and improvement will be encouraged and Taylor Swift fans will no longer shed a tear when purchasing tickets for the best day of their lives. 

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Written by: Gretchen Sims

Content warning: contains spoilers and may offend Marvel fans

Morale was low for Marvel fans when “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” the third installment of the Ant-Man franchise, was released on Feb. 17. The plot line follows Scott Lang, played by Paul Rudd, as he tries to make up lost time with his now teenage daughter, while simultaneously getting the whole crew trapped in the Quantum Realm. 

Hopes were not high among Marvel fans after recent disappointments from the past several Marvel installments — particularly “Eternals,” with a 6.3/10 from IMDb, and “Thor: Love and Thunder,” also with a 6.3/10 from IMDb. 

As fans are repeatedly disappointed by sequels, the question of whether or not sequels are really important to the storyline, or whether they are a cash grab for producers has been raised repeatedly by the public. In the past year and a half, with the exception of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” it feels like Marvel is producing movies and shows simply to keep the franchise going — like there is no heart behind the films anymore. 

Some loyal fans might chalk this up to the fizzling out of the original cast, but this really is not the case. Marvel has simply lost its spark and originality. Anyone can do superhero movies and fans are moving on — seeing Marvel as something that stayed in the past instead of evolving with the industry. 

And while I would like to say that “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” was another exception to this trend, I would be lying. 

Ant-Man was only enjoyable because of the nostalgia attached to the original movies. 

Marvel must stop relying on nostalgia, cute cliches and snippy humor in their movies. In order for Marvel to stay relevant, it must go back to its roots and pull some creative plot lines. 

Maybe sequels are not the way to go.

6.5/10

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu

“Words from the Window Seat” review

Written by: Jude Bokovoy 

Whether it was a post from her blog, an Instagram post, TikTok, Youtube video or on an American Airlines flight, most people have come across Taylor Tippett. In case one doesn’t know, Tippett is in her mid to late 20’s, recently married, a bookworm, thrift store connoisseur and an outgoing flight attendant based out of Los Angeles, California. She is also one of the first successful influencers that has not let fame cross her mind. 

Tippett published her book, “Words from the Window Seat: The Everyday Magic of Kindness, Courage, and Being Your True Self,” on Oct. 12, 2021. 

She started the book by introducing her project; Tippett wanted to find a way to spread kindness to the next passengers joining the aircraft, her followers and to act as a reminder for herself. She wrote a simple note, reading “be kind to yourself,” and taped it up on a passenger window, snapped a picture and posted it. She went on to paste many notes with affirmations, reminders for self love and words to help during a hard time as well as things to reflect on. 

Tippett starts each chapter with a doodle of one of the notes that she has pasted on an airplane window. Each note segues into a story from her childhood, a problem that she’s learned from, her travels, her blogging/influencer journey and how Jesus has helped her along the way. A few notes included in her book are “remember your courage,” “grow BETTER because of hurt,” “you don’t have to be fully fixed to live fully free,” “you’re actually wonderful,”“always to love, not to understand,” “celebrate every victory, big or small” and “you didn’t WASTE your love, ever.” 

Taylor instructs her readers to take time to heal, find beauty in the ordinary and to spread love among one another and oneself just as Jesus did. 

As a reader, I found myself feeling refreshed, reflecting her words onto my life and shedding a few tears. Her book is full of beauty, heartbreak and wisdom without wasting a single page. I highly recommend purchasing this book to read or give to a friend. It goes for only $10.17 on Amazon. 

10/10

Contact the author at howllifestyle@mail.wou.edu

TikTok faces more privacy concern

Written by: Nicholas Sarysz

TikTok is a wildly popular social media platform that has taken the world by storm, surpassing over one billion active users worldwide in 2021. The app allows users to create and share short, looping videos of themselves or their environments TikTok has a variety of filters, special effects and music tracks, making it easy for anyone to create content that is both entertaining and engaging. It has become a cultural phenomenon — especially among younger generations— and has been credited with launching viral trends, dance challenges and even chart-topping music hits.

Within the past couple of years, the app’s parent company, ByteDance, has been hit with a wave of criticism in regards to user privacy. Specifically, the app has been accused of collecting a wide range of personal information from its users, including their location, browsing history and even biometric data such as facial recognition. Critics have argued that ByteDance’s close ties to the Chinese Communist Party may also be an issue in regard to the safety of Americans.

Most recently, Texas universities have banned TikTok from their networks and restricted access to the social media app on their internet networks. Several state governors, including Greg Abbott, issued executive orders that served as the impetus for the recent wave of campus TikTok bans. The Texas bans were some of the biggest to gain national media attention, as more than half of the U.S. states had already banned the use of the app on government devices and networks, to some degree.

In Congress, there is a large push to ban the use of the app nationwide to some capacity, which could include banning it solely  from all government devices, to banning it outright for everyone within the nation’s borders. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, has stated that they have been reviewing the potential risks of data-sharing by TikTok since 2019. On the other hand, ByteDance has spent over five and a half million dollars on American lobbyists for the company in 2022 alone and is looking to do whatever it can to convince the United States government that it is not a security threat.

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu

Melody Barrett’s senior art exhibit

Written by: Gretchen Sims

The latest addition to the senior art exhibits in the Werner University Center is blowing viewers away with its stunning colors and cohesive designs. Artist Melody Barrett is the mastermind behind these breathtaking works that currently grace the second floor of the WUC. 

When discussing her series, titled “Finding my Artistic Voice,” Barrett addressed the following topics: 

Q: What does art mean to you?

A: This is a complicated question, and honestly I’ve been struggling to find an answer because art means many things to me. It’s the act of creating, and also the act of observing something others have created, or that mother nature has created. I can see the art of a tree or landscape as easily as that of a painting or sculpture or other medium. Art is something that touches my soul, makes me stop and pause and really look and feel. It’s one of the things I’ve loved about being here at WOU and working in the Galleries. I love seeing what other people create, what they are giving voice to and how they express themselves and the world around them.

Q: What first got you interested in art?

A: Two things really influenced me. The first of which was my mother. She sewed and crocheted and made a myriad of drawings and crafts throughout her life, yet never thought of herself as an artist. She looked at what she created as being ‘crafty’. It wasn’t until very late in her life that she painted just a few paintings and I was amazed at her talent. I think that is why I viewed my early artistic endeavors as ‘just playing’. I’ve always been creating something but thought ‘being an artist’ was something others did, not me. The second was when I was about 12 years old and my family went to Seattle. At the public market I bought two posters for 25.00 each which was an outrageous amount of my allowance to spend at the time. The first was a surreal image by Dominique Appia entitled Entre Les Trous De La Mémoire. In English Between the Holes in the Memory. It captured my attention and I felt it spoke directly to me. The second poster was a copy of an art exhibit poster, I can’t remember what city now, but it was a pink vase with pussywillow branches out of the top and the faint image of a bird in the center of the vase. Those were my first wall art type purchases, and they went with me everywhere for 20 years.

Q: What would you like others to take from your art?

A: I hope that everyone who sees my art can find something in some piece that they like, that touches them.   

Q: What inspires you?

A: Nearly everything! People, places, events, definitely other artists!

Q: What is your “why”? (what makes you the artist you are today)

A: So many things, but it might just boil down to curiosity and the desire to continually try new things. My art is an expression of thoughts, feelings, ideas I have kicking around inside me in an external form.

For the month of February, Western students and members of the community can come to see this display themselves. Be sure to check it out before it’s gone.

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu

Sampling or Stealing?

Written by: Mikayla Coleman

Rapper Matthew Raymond Hauri, infamously known by fans as Yung Gravy, has been releasing music since 2016. Hauri began releasing music for fun on SoundCloud while attending college. Since then, Yung Gravy has become a memorable name around college campuses, encapsulating a carefree, laidback attitude often paired with college life and encouraging its audience to not take life too seriously. 

With popular songs such as “Mr.Clean,” “Gravy Train” and “C’est la Vie,” Yung Gravy’s music combines modern trap music with callbacks to older, well-known soul songs, creating a  unique and fun sound that captivates young audiences today. These borrowed, older songs, while being a pillar of what makes Yung Gravy’s music charming and recognizable, have landed Yung Gravy into some treacherous waters, namely, being sued by “Never Gonna Give You Up” singer, Rick Astley. 

The song in question is Yung Gravy’s newest single, “Betty (Get Money),” released in June 2022. Included within the song is a brief hook including a vocal replication that sounds similar to the voice of Rick Astley, as well as an instrumental recreation of Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.” 

Astley alleges that Yung Gravy and the studio engineers involved in the song’s creation impersonated Astley’s voice and falsely stated Astley’s approval of the project.

To avoid having to jump through the hoops of getting the song licensed for sampling within “Betty (Get Money),” Yung Gravy and studio engineers involved in the song’s creation attempted to recreate the instrumental. 

Yung Gravy explained this thought process in an interview with Billboard in August 2022, “My boy Nick, who does a lot of sample replays and recreating original samples, we basically remade the whole song. Had a different singer and instruments, but it was all really close because it makes it easier legally.” 

Unfortunately, Yung Gravy’s understanding of this system may have been mistaken. Astley is seeking an unspecified amount of money for damages, including all gains and profits of their violation and attorney’s fees. It is expected that the lawsuit will amount to millions. 

The ruling of this case will set the precedent for artists that use sampled music or recreations within their work, a fairly common practice, especially in less popular music circles. 

Contact the author at howleditor@wou.edu

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