Regina events

Going to a drive-in theatre is so much more enjoyable that an indoor theatre

amina salah staff writer

The city of Regina has two drivein movie theatres located on the outskirts of the city. Moonlight Movies Drive-In is located nine kilometers from Regina in Pilot Butte, and Twilite Drive-In Theatre is in Wolseley. Since drivein theatres charge per car rather than per person, it is a cheaper alternative than attending a traditional theatre. Furthermore, drive-in theatres are a great way to meet and catch up with friends. They are cozy and comfortable, especially if you love being outdoors. The best part is being able to bring some throws and pack snacks. Traditional theatres charge an arm and a leg for snacks, but with drive-in theatres you can freely bring anything instead of sneaking a pack of smarties in your pocket.

Drive-in theatres offer a different way of viewing films. In the era of a pandemic, I find that it is much safer than going to normal theatres. They provide a safer viewing experience compared to indoor theatres. I would rather be cuddled up in my car enjoying a good film. I think drive-in theatres are here to stay in the long run because the pandemic is not ending any time soon.

It’s important to note that the tickets for drive-in theatres are much cheaper than indoor theatres. The Twilite Drive-In Theatre charges $25 per car and the Moonlight Movies Drive-In charges $20 per car. Moonlight Movies Drive-In Theatre made an interesting statement about some of the newer drive-ins that developed during the pandemic: “When the pandemic broke out in 2020 and indoor movie theatres closed, a lot of “pop up” drive-in movie outfits just kind of, well, popped up. Some are private run, some are charity. All of them are great and serve a purpose. But that is not what we are. We are not an inflatable screen in a parking lot that must cancel if the weather is bad. We are a more traditional drive-in located in the countryside. With a permanent screen. So, we can play rain, wind, or shine.” Drive-in theatres like this are important because they ensure that the public has access to them regardless of the weather.

Whether you are into classics, animation, DC, or Marvel, there is something for everyone. It’s a great way to enjoy an old or new favorite. Moreover, drive-in theatres are amazing if you and your friends enjoy giving commentary and making jokes. Traditional theatres expect you to be quiet because there are other people in the theatre with you. However, with drive-in theatres you can get away with a lot more because there is the privacy to be able to do whatever you want, chew loudly, snicker with your friends, or cry during an emotional scene. Moreover, when the film is over, you don’t have to go through the hassle of trying to find your car in a huge parking lot – you can simply drive off.

One of the only downsides is that you must be strategic and arrive early if you want to be able to get a good spot to view the movie. Another downside to drive-in theatres is that they are only available in the spring, summer, and fall seasons, and are closed for our long winters. Regardless of this, the pros outweigh the cons. It’s a great community building initiative, since drive-in theatres bring people together. It’s incumbent on us to support local businesses like these as they are the heart of our communities.

Would it kill them to play some pre-show videos?

Photo: Daniel Rathamel

Events you certainly don’t want to miss

Catch the hottest events in Regina for the upcoming month

That’s fine, nobody wanted to look at the shelves you’re standing in front of anyways.

jorah bright a&c writer

With the return of students to campus, life feels like it’s in full swing in Regina. People are looking for things to do for fun. There’s plenty to do for newcomers to the city, and lots of favourites for our long-time residents, too! Here are some of the events happening in Regina for the rest of September and October. Queen City Ribfest

From September 23 to 25, head down to City Square Plaza and Victoria Park for the Queen City Ribfest. Get your taste of pork ribs, beef ribs, brisket, pulled pork, chicken and more! The event supports Carmichael Outreach, an organization in Regina who aims to help those in our community who are experiencing poverty. The event will also feature a variety of talented artists performing throughout the weekend.

Photo: Horst Gutmann

September LARP!

Hey Regina nerds! Have you ever wanted to participate in Live Action Role Play (LARP) before? Well, now you can! On September 24, Quest for Champions is holding a drop-in night that you can attend for a small fee. Taking place at Regina’s Battle Arena, you can bring your weapons (or borrow some of theirs) and enjoy a night of fun.

The Fretless

On September 28, folk music lovers can head over to Darke Hall on College Ave to see the Fretless perform. The Fretless are a string quartet that has won several Canadian Folk Music Awards along with a JUNO Award. If you love string music and folk music, you won’t want to miss this.

Come From Away

Calling all theatre lovers! From October 12 to 16, the hit musical Come From Away will be at the Conexus Arts Center. Come From Away is about the 38 planes and 7000 passengers that landed in Gander, Newfoundland during 9/11. It’s a story of kindness and triumph. It was nominated for Best Musical at the Tony’s in 2017. Come From Away is an incredible musical and I highly recommend it if you have time to go see it.

Wannabe – A Tribute to the Spice Girls

Tell me what you want, what you really, really want. Is it the Spice Girls? If it is, then I have exactly what you really, really want! On October 14 at the Casino Regina, the Spice Girls tribute act, Wannabe, will be performing. They’ve been performing for over a decade across North America, dazzling audiences with the energy of one of history’s best girl groups.

A Killer Party: Murder at the CP Rail Hotel

A good murder mystery around Halloween is always a fun time, and you don’t have to fear missing out because the Globe Theatre is hosting A Killer Party on October 29 at the Hotel Sask. Taking place at the CP Rail Hotel in the 1920s, A Killer Party is an immersive murder mystery where you can eat, drink, and uncover a killer. You can watch it all unfold or participate in trying to figure out who did it, where, and how.

Operation City Quest

Do you like puzzle games, escape rooms, or object-finding games? Then here’s the activity for you. Throughout September and October, you, your friends, and family can complete a scavenger hunt challenge throughout Regina. Find all the objects within the 13 categories, earn points when you find them, and try to be number 1. It’s a fun and unique way to tour the city and learn more about it while engaging your competitive side. Team up with up to six people and spend two hours searching for clues and the items you need. Happy hunting!

Brief summary of the After series and review of the newest movie

victoria baht staff writer

The movie After Every Happy came out in theatres August 26, 2022. This movie is based on a book in the After series, written by Anna Todd. Both the movies and books are in the following order: After, After We Collided, After We Fell, and After Ever Happy. I will be giving you a brief description of each movie before giving a review of After Ever Happy.

The After series is about two main characters: Tessa Young, played by Josephine Langford, and Hardin Scott, played by Hero Fiennes Tiffin. Their story is one of falling in love with both feelings of pain and pleasure. As the individuals of this relationship face an endless number of battles throughout the series, they are supported by a huge platform of supporting cast members.

The first movie, After, starts with Young and Scott at a party where there is a group of people playing truth or dare. This is where the tension between the two characters starts to play out. This game and what happens provides important information for the first couple of movies. After the game is done, the night ends shortly after. Then the two characters meet again, creating tension in class due to a difference in opinion on a book. These differences of opinion and the game introduce you to key aspects of each character and the story line. It helps outline the fact that each character has a different way of seeing things, and a huge passion for writing and English literature. As the movie After continues, the two keep meeting in different situations. This where we start to see the relationship between the two grow with feelings of love, fear, pain, and pleasure.

The next movie is After we Collided. The movie follows the couple falling in love. Although, later on in the relationship, Young finds out a big lie Scott is keeping. Will she be able to understand and forgive him? The movie spends time taking the audience along the conversations about the lie, the lessons to be learned, the bond and connection that was grown, and the parts that were hidden behind and not repaired. As the story line moves forward, the audience is left wondering if the relationship can move past this lie.

The third movie, After We Fell, focuses on if the characteristics of their relationship will be enough for them to stay together as they continue to grow. As the two have an endless number of fights, they start to feel a sense of betrayal and toxic emotions for one another. Through all this, they have heartfelt moments where they laugh and enjoy each other’s time together, help each other out, bond over literature and show passionate love for each other.

Now, it was time to see the new movie on the big screen, because you know you must do it the proper way! That means on a Tuesday night for cheap movie ticket night, with a big bag of popcorn, candy, and your best friend. Internally, when the movie started, I was excited wondering where the story line would go next. After Every Happy started out with a few major plot twists for the characters. This was not great for the relationship. Although, it was a great start for the audience. It came to a hard moment where Young was considering what to do with the relationship, with herself, and what the right decision to make would be. After a great deal of thoughts as the movie went on, the couple decided they needed some time apart and they took time for themselves to grow on their own.

Young did the typical girl thing: moved to a major city and did something dramatic to her hair. Meanwhile, Scott hit up the gym. While these two characters spent time growing on their own, we could see that they needed this alone time. After a great deal of time, the two met again, and without giving any spoilers let’s just say the fourth movie ends in a very similar way to how the first movie began: with two very different opinions and tension based on books and passionate love.

After Ever Happy plays a great role in the series for where the story is going to end up, since the movie starts with such crazy plot twists for the characters and such outstanding acting. It feels almost realistic, like you are seeing all the events take place in someone’s actual life, that you are close to or imagining what those experiences would be like if you were in their shoes. As you are seeing all this drama happen in the movie you barely have time to think to yourself “what is happening?” – which is what makes it such an outstanding movie.

To conclude, the movie and series itself are all great! They each spend time explaining to the audience major components of a relationship and explain how to work through the hard and enjoy the good. As a young woman that has been following along with this series and loves romance movies, if you have not seen this series or the new movie, take this review as your hint to go and do it!

Haven’t you ever wanted to take the advice of a catcaller and smile a little for them?

Photo: Michael Beckert

The best of the worst YouTube parents and their unsuspecting children

jorah bright a&c writer

As long as they’re happy in the video that’s all that matters.

Image:Tumisu via Pixabay, manipulated by Lee Lim

When we consider the exploitation of children on TikTok, we must consider its predecessor: the exploitation of children on YouTube. Before the days of the ad-pocalypse, parents could make millions from posting their children to the platform. After most channels stopped making so much money, family channels still had a chance to rake in the cash because their content was presumably family-friendly for advertisers. Parents exploited their children for money, and still are. Every day, parents upload videos of their children to YouTube and get money as a result. Here are some specific examples of parents using their children for financial gain on YouTube.

The Stauffer’s

Remember Myka Stauffer? Back in 2020, she made news for re-homing one of her children. Myka and her husband James had been showcasing their family and their adoption journey to their hundreds of thousands of subscribers. They set their sights on adopting a child from China and eventually found one they liked. They would later name this child Huxley. Huxley had unknown medical conditions that made doctors nervous about what the child’s actions could be like. But, Myka said “without a doubt in

our minds, we knew, no matter what state he came to us, that we would love him. If anything, my child is not returnable.”

They adopted Huxley, vlogged the entire process, and continued to vlog about Huxley’s life when he joined the family. They showed all the negative things like meltdowns and communication struggles. Huxley was later diagnosed with autism and ADHD. Then, a while later, Huxley stopped showing up in videos. People asked where he was, but Myka deleted those comments. Then, Myka and James announced that they had rehomed their son. They adopted a child, exploited him for money in dozens of videos across their YouTube channels, and then gave him away.

The LaBrant Fam

Cole and Savannah LaBrant, parents of the LaBrant Fam YouTube channel, have four kids that they love to use for making money. Their children Everleigh (who is not Cole’s biological daughter), Posie, Zealand, and Sunday are in the thumbnail of almost every YouTube video on their channel, and for the youngest three, their entire lives have been documented on the channel since birth. Their channel first grew with the love story of Cole and Savannah, heavily featuring Everleigh as a fun toddler. Since then, people have noticed a change in Everleigh. She’s not as fun-loving or excited about making content anymore, and often looks sad or exhausted.

Recently, they announced that Everleigh would be homeschooled so she could dance more and help take care of her younger siblings – she’s nine. People were upset about the parentification of the young girl, saying that she should not be pulled out of school

and made to take care of her siblings. A few months ago, their son Zealand had a severe seizure and had to go to the emergency room. They posted photos of their son in the hospital and the ambulance. People were upset because it was invading the privacy of this toddler, but they still got 2.4 million views on their video about it. They are directly exploiting their children in every video they make. The videos without their children in the thumbnail either have a pregnant Savannah or someone else’s kid. Their income is coming from the videos posted about their children and the sponsorships they get because of these videos.

The Prince Family

The Prince Family consists of parents Biannca and Damien and their four children DJ, Kyrie, Nova, and Ayla. These two are interesting to say the least. Damien and Biannca met when Damien was 20 and Bianca was 15. Nevertheless, they started dating and had their first child three years later. They have been doing prank videos on each other for years and the pranks don’t always turn out well. In 2017, the pair broke up briefly because Biannca felt that Damien put YouTube before her and their children. In a prank video about their sex life, Biannca walked out with the kids. When they tried to meet up at a restaurant to talk, Damien vlogged pieces of it. They reconciled, got back together, and got married not long after.

One of their most memorable moments on YouTube was when they uploaded a video called “CPS TOOK OUR KIDS FROM US | SEAFOOD BOIL MUKBANG” which shows their pattern of clickbait. CPS did not take away the kids, but they uploaded the

video anyway. Their channel does feature the kids often, but also features content that isn’t exactly kid friendly. Despite the fact that most viewers of family channels are kids, the Prince Family uploads videos like “I Cheated & Got Another Girl Pregnant Prank” and “Rating My Wife’s Hottest Valentines Day Outfits.” But, they also have videos like “Baby Nova Chooses What We Eat for 24 Hours” and “Kyrie Lost His First Tooth.”

Some of their video titles seem traumatizing to the kids like “Wild Bobcat Attacks the Prince Family” which has the kids in the thumbnail looking upset, “Mom Choose Favorite Kids, Siblings Get Sad,” “Breaking Up in Front of Our Kids, What Happens Next Is Shocking,” and “Grandpa Gives Kids a Whooping.” They’re exploiting their kids for the sake of clickbait and exposing their young viewers to adult content. They have 9 million subscribers and over 2 billion views on their main channel.

“Before the days of the ad-pocalypse, parents could make millions from posting their children to the platform.

– Jorah Bright

Colleen Ballinger

This may be the most controversial pick, but Colleen Ballinger exploits her three young children: Flynn, Wes, and Maisie. Colleen rose to fame with her character Miranda Sings, even landing herself a Netflix original series. Since having kids, most of her main channel videos are about her kids. She posts updates on her kids, updates on her postpartum body, updates on her house featuring the kid’s rooms, and so many videos about her having twins. Her vlog channel, Colleen Vlogs, almost always features her children.

Colleen is on tour right now and complaining about how she misses her kids while touring, but she doesn’t need to be touring right now. It was her choice. Her twins are less than a year old, and she didn’t need to leave them. Her twins were in the NICU right after being born and could have died. The birth video on her main channel shows her doing her makeup and straightening her hair while her doctor urges her to get to the hospital.

She complained about NICU nurses feeding her children while she wasn’t there and said that she wanted to strangle the nurse that fed her kids while she was gone. This doesn’t even start to get into Colleen’s shows and content, which are highly inappropriate and even sexual despite her main audience being kids and her Netflix show being on Netflix Kids. Colleen’s content is her kids, and right now she’s renting a house while complaining about missing her old house that she still owns and is paying for with the money earned by featuring her kids in videos.