The Advocate - Issue 18 - February 21, 2020 by The Advocate

Volume 54, Issue 18 February 21, 2020 advocate-online.net

FOR THE STUDENTS BY THE STUDENTS

Bloomberg and his baggage PAGE 2

Scouts at the end of their ropes? PAGE 5

'Sonic' movie: boom or bust? PAGE 7

'HEATHERS': A KILLER MUSICAL PAGE 8

Eastern Oregon recovering from floods PAGES 4

2019 FIRST PLACE

General Excellence

Pacific Northwest Assoc. of Journalism Educators

OPINION

A D V O C AT E - O N L I N E . N E T

WHITE DAY - THE RETURNING OF WOMEN’S LOVE

Parrish Chang The Advocate

Now that Valentine’s Day is over, we can finally stop feeling that awful feeling of being single on a day that is all about the couples. At least, that is what is going on in much of the world. However, Japanese culture has a day that takes place one month after Valentine’s Day with a similar

tradition but a different twist: White Day. White Day’s origins come from a marketing strategy for companies to sell more marshmallows, one that later turned into a romantic holiday. In Japan, Valentine’s Day is the day where females give chocolates to their peers, but the kind of chocolate they give belongs to three distinct categories. There’s Honmei Choco (本命チョコ), known as “true love” chocolate that is a chocolate women give to men they have strong romantic feelings towards. The choco is often handmade. Then, there’s Giri Choco (義理チョコ), or “fake love” chocolate, which is not as malicious as it sounds. Fake love chocolate is chocolate that women give to their

families and friends to show their appreciation and nonromantic love.

Marc h 14th Parrish Chang | The Advocate

This chocolate also has been known as obligatory chocolate, as it is expected for women to give them to the other appropriate men in their life. The last of the common choco

types is Yuri Choco (ユリチョコ) – the chocolate that women give to other women – often called “friend” choco. After the Japanese women have given their chocolate to the men on Valentine’s Day, the men have a month to plan what they will give back to any women they received Honmei Choco from. The gifts are never chocolate and are usually a type of candy, marshmallowy treat, or a tangible, non-food gift. However, the men have to follow the rule of sanbai gaeshi (三倍返し), which means “triple return”: They are expected to provide gifts with a total value 2-to-3 times the value of the gifts they have received from the female. For many years, this was a social obligation that would cause the

men to go into financial crisis over these gifts, and often would make them sick from the stress of the social shunning they would receive if they fail this task. This rule has since become less of a social obligation, but some men still uphold the tradition if they want to impress the female in question, which can be seen as an extra romantic gesture. White Day, then, can be seen as a romantic day or just another day where Japanese people give others gifts. This holiday is important to their culture, as it gets mentioned in most pieces of fiction in Japan. It’s much different than what we do in America, making it interesting to watch, and see how it affects the culture.

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG: JUST ANOTHER BILLIONAIRE

Omar Saradi The Advocate

Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City, is making a nationwide leap for the presidency, and it’s not good for democracy. Bloomberg, at this point in his life, is a multi-billionaire businessman (he created the

Bloomberg News media empire) and former politician. He’s kind of like Donald Trump, except he has an actual political career, he switched to the Democratic Party to run for the office, he’s possibly harassed even more women, and he has more money (which I don’t see as a good thing). As mentioned before, he was the (infamous) mayor of New York, 2002-13. His 12-year tenure came with some policy baggage that our country still discusses: He put “stopand-frisk” practice into heavy use, a policy that gave NYC police the right to stop a “suspect” and search them under suspicion that they are carrying any illegal weapons or drugs. This is contradictory to the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Bill of Rights – which gives protection

from “unreasonable search and seizures” – and eventually stop-andfrisk was deemed unconstitutional by a judge. The reason why stop-and-frisk is so controversial is because it mainly targeted African Americans and Hispanics. To this day, Bloomberg apologizes for the approach – but it doesn’t seem like he knows why he’s apologizing. The impact of that policy was huge on New York’s prison and criminal justice system, in a negative way. As of the last few weeks, Bloomberg is using his wealth to finance his campaign and pay for ads everywhere, and he’s gotten many media pundits on his side. And he was a boogeyman figure going into the Nevada Primary debate on Wednesday, Feb. 19 – but

for the students by the students Editor-in-Chief Chloe Collins Associate Editor Omar Saradi

Graphic Design Editor Eli Rankin Copy Editor Chris Barney

Arts & Entertainment Editors Kurt Larson Eli Rankin

Broadcast Producer Naethaniel Lile

Opinion Editor Omar Saradi

Broadcast Tech Director Gage Linhares

News Editor Daniella Young

Broadcast A.D. Wensdai Pearson

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Broadcast Hosts Robert Frank Thomas Silk Kurt Larson Mazey Copeland

Photo Team Bethy Fallgren Landon Spady Fletcher Wold

Broadcast Graphic Designer Annie Avila

Staff Writers Brad Le Daniella Young Kel Buell Laura J Clement Omar Carrillo Ash Espinoza

Photo Editor Maysee Thao Ad Manager Parrish Chang

as I expected, all his skeletons came out of the closet. Even though all six candidates on the debate stage took many attacks at each other, Bloomberg was the main target and it makes sense why. Every candidate – whether I agree on their proposed policies, or not – has campaigned hard since the beginning of the long campaign, and has fought for a stage spot in the many debates. And then, in comes a billionaire with a past full of controversy, and he essentially buys his way into the stage. The outcome on Wednesday? Bloomberg, despite all the hype surrounding him from the media, faceplanted in his debate performance. Figuratively, he brought a wallet

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Social Media Manager [Position Open] Distribution Specialist Julia MacDonald Advisers Dan Ernst Howard Buck

to a fistfight – he didn’t have the answers to defend his character or his best-known policy. I can’t think of an actual policy plan that he is running on, besides “I have a lot of money; therefore, I have a lot of influence to beat Donald Trump,” but it doesn’t work like that, because we have a society that can see more than the billion-dollar television/ internet ads. We also have more knowledge on sexual harassment and assault on the corporate level now than at any moment in history, with Bloomberg being a part of that controversy. Michael Bloomberg and his presidential campaign is everything that is wrong with American democracy, and that’s why he had no chance, even when he started for real in the race.

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OPINION

FEBRUARY 21, 2020

ANIMATION MAKES THE DREAMS WORK

Parrish Chang The Advocate

Animation is something that everyone has seen at some point in their lifetime, whether morning cartoons or any of Disney’s many movies. It’s a powerful tool that can stir up emotions in a person that most live action movies can’t. Animation studios are often really good at blending music with scenes to fully portray the emotion the viewer is supposed to feel at this time.  A very famous scene from Pixar’s “Up” is the portrayal of Ellie and Carl’s relationship where we get to see them grow together, over many years . At the start of the scene there is very calming and nice music which makes us feel happy and charmed by their cute interactions and their relationship

as a whole. Toward the end of the scene, the music shifts from a major key signature to a minor key signature, and the music takes a slower and more saddened tone as we watch Ellie die, and Carl mourn the loss of the love of his life. Pixar is known for the powerful and emotional scenes in its pieces of animation. The studio is also known for small animation features that they show before their featured film. These

shorts are so popular that some viewers are more excited for them than the actual movie! Even though these animations are called “shorts,” they often have the same powerful emotional impact the full films have. When most people think of animation, they think of big companies such as Pixar, Disney, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network, but there are small production teams, too. In 2016 Youtube

went through a huge boom of animated creators. While animation was already “a thing” on the platform, something changed that made story-time animated videos jump to the top of the charts. With creators such as Swoozie, Domics, and TheOdd1sOut, the genre began to slowly expand to many others creators such as Jaiden Animations, Lillymations, Emiirichu, Daidus, Eroldstory, SomethingelseYT, and many others. Even on “let’s play” channels such as Jacksepticeye,

Markiplier, and Game Grumps, some of the most viewed videos are ones that fans made an animation of, and have posted. Animation is really pretty amazing today. It can inspire young artists to push themselves or give writers new ideas of how they can write their stories. Animation is certainly a big part of our, and many other’s, cultures. People often compare and bond over the pieces of animations they’ve seen in their lifetime – it truly is a bridge that connects people of many different kinds together.

Parrish Chang | The Advocate

GET TO KNOW THE ADVOCATE

Cover by: Fletcher Wold On the cover:

Irene Nelson performing as Heather Chandler in Mt. Hood’s production of the play “Heathers: the Musical”.

Wensdai Pearson The Advocate

Contact us! E-mail: advocatt@mhcc.edu Phone: 503-491-7250 Website: advocate-online.net Mt. Hood Community College Room 1369 26000 SE Stark Street Gresham OR 97030

The Advocate encourages readers to share their opinion by letters to the editor and guest columns for publication. All submissions must be typed and include the writer’s name and contact information. Contact information will not be printed unless requested. Original copies will not be returned to the author. The Advocate will not print any unsigned submission. Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and guest columns should not exceed 600. The decision to publish is at the discretion of the editorial board. The Advocate reserves the right to edit for style, punctuation, grammar and length. Please bring submissions to The Advocate in Room 1369, or e-mail them to advocatt@mhcc.edu. Submissions must be received by 5 p.m. Monday the week of publication to be considered for print. Opinions expressed in columns, letters to the editor or advertisements are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Advocate or MHCC.

Wensdai Pearson is a first-year Broadcasting student at MHCC, and part of the Advocate Broadcast team. She loves music; to her, music and sound is everything. She hopes to learn and improve her skills and grow in this field of live production and the world of sound.

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NEWS

A D V O C AT E - O N L I N E . N E T

EASTERN OREGON AFFECTED BY FLOODING Bethany Fallgren The Advocate The sunshine has come as a wonderful blessing this week for many of us in Oregon, after a very rough period for some. January was noted to have above-average amounts of rain in many areas across the state, leading into a wet first week of February. Heavy amounts of snow, followed by downpours of rain in parts of eastern Oregon, caused significant snowmelt and runoff into nearby streams and rivers. The Umatilla, Grande Ronde, and Walla Walla rivers, all in northeastern Oregon, were flooding this month, well

before our usual spring snowmelt season. The Umatilla River was reported to have crested at 19 feet (four times its average depth) by the evening of Feb. 6. The areas of Stanfield, Pendleton, Hermiston, and, to the southeast, residents near La Grande, were the hardest hit with devastating floods. A state of emergency was declared on Feb. 7. These were the worst floods in Oregon since 1996 at almost the exact time of year, when similar circumstances caused much damage in the Willamette Valley and the Portland metro area. Sadly, the worst victim of the 2020 flooding was a 62-year-old

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The Grande Ronde River rises dangerously close to I-84 outside of La Grande.

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woman, Janet Tobkin Conley. She was swept away by Umatilla River floodwaters in the steep hills east of Pendleton, and later found dead near her ranch that she refused to leave when evacuations were being recommended. In total, an estimated 500 homes/buildings were damaged by the flooding, and 54 people were rescued from the rising waters. The lamprey restoration project by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation near Mission, Oregon, was also destroyed, a significant loss. The tribes had been working hard to restore a traditional food source by raising juvenile lamprey (an eel-like fish with a tooth-filled, sucking mouth). Thankfully many people have been coming together to help during this crisis. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said the state had a good revenue forecast and should be able to afford the costs of repairing damaged river levees, before the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reimburses the state. The American Red Cross has been lending a hand in the recovery, and the Wells Fargo bank also donated $100,000. Two Rivers Correctional Institute inmates in Umatilla, Oregon, also have helped

Web photo by Ben Lonergan | East Oregonian

The Umatilla River washed away a part of Thorn Hollow Road near Adams, Oregon.

in cleaning up the community affected by the flooding. Another group to the rescue, The Tollgate Offroad and Recovery Club, has been delivering bales of hay to hungry animals left without food along the Umatilla and South Fork Walla Walla rivers. The Oregon National Guard was recognized on Feb. 14, as well, for its rescue of several people left stranded by high waters. There is a lot more to be done since the flooding has receded. People and animals are still displaced, but the local communities have come together

quite well taking good care of those citizens. Now that the water has subsided, this has some people asking if this is due to climate change, and maybe making awareness of the subject more present now in eastern Oregon. This particular storm actually is like many others in Oregonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history, but with mindfulness and each little step we make to better our planet, perhaps we can keep incidents like these from getting worse.

NEWS | OPINION

FEBRUARY 21, 2020

BOY SCOUTS FACE BANKRUPTCY

Parrish Chang The Advocate

On Tuesday, Feb. 18, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to a drop in participants and costly lawsuits over multiple alleged and/ or proven cases of child abuse. In just one such example, nearly 800 instances of physical and sexual abuse have been alleged by a single scout at the hands of a Pennsylvania scout leader during the 1970s, according to his lawsuit filed in 2019. In court this man has only been identified with the letters S.D. After all these years, he came to court to tell his story of how his scoutmaster sexually abused him so that he can potentially save youths currently participating in the BSA (which stands accused of covering up known cases of abuse for decades) from such harm. This occurred both on camping trips and at the

adult’s house, his lawsuit says. This continued for five years until S.D. finally got his Eagle Scout rank and aged out of scouting. He kept this to himself for all these years until he had the confidence to tell his story, it has been reported. His story, and other such lawsuits, have inspired other men to speak up about the abuses they suffered as children. Over time, the lawsuits and resulting publicity have made many parents across American wary of allowing their children to participate in the program. Beyond that (and the resulting decline in the group’s income) and after deciding to also admit girls a little over a year ago, the BSA has seen a huge decrease in its overall numbers. The BSA is a nonprofit organization, so when its number of participants began to shrink the organization as a whole began to lose its luster. Scouting in America has been around for a little over 100 years now, and to see the group hit these hard times is heartbreaking to many. Because of these problems, many current scouts might not be able to receive their Eagle Scout rank, which is the greatest reward in scouting – and a six-year investment of time. If the BSA gets shut down, all the years those scouts put in would be, at least, partially wasted.

As an Eagle Scout myself, seeing a program I have been a part of starting to lose money and members is heartbreaking. Some of my greatest memories were my time with the Scouts, and it gave me a fantastic work ethic. I have become the person I am today thanks to that time, and I have grown into a good leader and a person that people can depend on. The Eagle Scout rank was a lot of hard work, but finally receiving it was amazing and it made me feel accomplished. Scouting is a great program that teaches youths many interesting and fun skills. Knowing that the organization might be gone someday seems unfair to anyone in the future who will not get to experience this amazing program. The BSA allows youths to experience and learn survival, teamwork, and leadership skills. Scouting is also a way for individuals to step out of their shells and make some amazing friends. It is an organization that opens the doors to many opportunities and can spark a light so that many youths can realize what they might want to do with their lives. The BSA has always been known to have some small problems, but with this recent development it might be the time we say goodbye to this well-known organization.

NEWS BRIEFS with Parrish Chang and Brad Le

MHCC Upcoming Baseball: Two baseball

games will be held between MHCC’s Saints and Bellevue College’s Bulldogs. The first game will be held on Friday the 21st at 2pm and will end at 6pm. The second game will be held on Saturday the 22nd at 12pm and will end at 4pm. Both games will be held at the Gresham Campus’ baseball diamond. Ticket prices will be for MHCC students with ID, adults for $5, students and military for $4, and seniors and children for $3.

Heathers the Musical: MHCC will

be presenting “Heather’s The Musical” on multiple days. February 21st, 22nd, 28th, & 29th they will be performing here at 7:30 pm. On February 23rd and on March 1st they will be performing at 2pm

Mathmatic Pickle Ball: Join Paul Porch,

Mathematics Instructor Emeritus, Mt. Hood Community College to learn “The Game of Pickleball from A Mathematical Perspective”. The event will be held in classroom 2732 between the hours of 3:15pm4:15pm.

MHCC Scholarship Workshop: On

Febuary 26th at 10:30 am and 12:30 pm MHCC will show you how to apply for MHCC scholarships, including tips for writing winning essays! All current and future MHCC Students are welcome – no RSVP necessary!

Math Board Games: Join Paul Porch,

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

A D V O C AT E - O N L I N E . N E T

‘AMERICAN DIRT’ RISES IN FAME AND CONTROVERSY Omar Carrillo The Advocate

What does it mean to tell another’s story? It’s a question both supporters and detractors of the new novel, “American Dirt,” by American author Jeanine

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Cummings, have been asking themselves since a controversy surrounding the book has emerged. Either side of this conflict has evidently been defined by its own answer to this very question. Telling the tale of a Mexican family seeking refuge in the United States from a violent threat in their home country, the narrative selects a peril extremely common in this contemporary climate, and uses said peril to weave together a story of survival and sacrifice. American Dirt started off strong from the start; released on Jan. 21, the book immediately met praise from Oprah Winfrey’s eponymous Oprah’s Book Club, and it shot to the top of the New York Times Bestseller’s List very shortly afterward. Sandra Cisneros, the highly respected

Chicana-Feminist author best known by her 1983 novel, “The House on Mango Street,” praised American Dirt, regarding it as “the great novel of las Americas,” as well as “the international story of our times.” Trouble was soon revealed, however, in the reactions to Cumming’s work by her activist contemporaries. Numerous Mexican-American writers and publications have voiced their concerns regarding American Dirt, loud and clear: As well-written as it may be, they view the book as ultimately commodifying a story that is not Jeanine Cumming’s to tell, regardless of the author’s intended message (an apparently sympathetic one). From their perspective, narratives like these are not merely casual coffee table reads written by authors with lots of personally comfortable distance from their subject matter. For immigrants and the children of said immigrants, stories like the one in American Dirt are often anything but comfortable, and are highly personal. And when the

lack of true understanding that comes with being an observer is made clear, it often only serves as insulting, in the end. Insulting, because the tale’s writer is able to benefit from the story of suffering people, while getting off scot-free in the process. And yet – shouldn’t an author just be allowed to tell a good story? Why put that kind of responsibility on someone that may just want to write a work worthy of recognition? The unfortunate truth seems to be that in the end, the world today is too complicated for simple desires like these. Desires that may be entirely pure-hearted (a tricky thing to examine especially when the potential monetary gain for the creator is considered), but also might naively ignore the strife of a group of people that doesn’t have the luxury to even consider questions like these. It is with great privilege that most Americans can ask themselves questions relating to artistic integrity, while simultaneously not realizing on whom they could be stepping even while they ponder.

As of now, one cannot be sure just how time will or won’t favor American Dirt. Joseph Conrad’s classic work, “Heart of Darkness,” as highly respected and masterful in its composition as it is, can largely have the same criticisms levied against it: It describes a culture (and in Conrad’s case, rather insensitively, to say the very least) that its author is by no means native to, its story plays into stereotypes, it monetizes a culture by turning it into something able to be digested and done away with afterward, etc. Is this to say Heart of Darkness is absolved of these issues because of its impressive construction? Of course not, but perhaps this shows there is a line, after all, where one can appreciate a good narrative while simultaneously fully recognizing its deep shortcomings. The extent of the potential damage (context is everything, after all) seems to clearly be up to the reader alone – whether their response is simply admiring Cumming’s novel, or realizing there may be a lot to learn from it. Or both.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

FEBRUARY 21, 2020

‘SONIC’: THE CHILI DOG OF MOVIES

Kurt Larson

The Advocate For as much love as there is for Sonic, there exists an equal amount of critics, trolls, and haters who are willing to take Sega to task for allowing the “Blue Blur” to become a meme-status property. It’s no secret that in the eyes of the mainstream gaming community, Sonic is no longer the “cool,” console-selling franchise it used to be, back in the early ’90s. But that hasn’t stopped Sega from attempting to bring the lovable speed freak back to relevancy with his own feature film, “Sonic The Hedgehog.” While the property has existed in more traditional media formats before, including several animated series and comics, it came as somewhat of a shock to hear that there would be a full-on, live-action adaptation coming to theaters, especially considering that nearly every video game movie has been a massive flop. Even Sonic’s biggest competitor, Mario, famously failed so hard that his character’s movie is widely considered to be one of the worst of all time. However, every new attempt to bring games to the big screen has been slightly better than the last. So, with “Sonic” now playing in theaters, does that trend hold true for everyone’s favorite hedgehog? As with most things, the answer lies somewhere in the middle – but, I believe it’s safe to say that the fans will at least be satisfied. Though, to be fair, the fans almost owe their satisfaction to Paramount, considering how much extra time and effort had to be spent by the studio on reanimating the admittedly

horrifying CGI Sonic. If it hadn’t been for the massive initial fan backlash over Sonic’s original live action design, the film would have undoubtedly suffered the scorn of an angry fanbase. Normally when such massive changes are made to a film retroactively, it’s a clear sign of an incoming flop. Thankfully for Sega, however, it has managed to avoid humiliation at the box office and has already made back its budget for the movie. Don’t take that to mean Sonic is a good movie, because there are still plenty of shortcomings. Even so, it’s not a bad movie, either. For the most part, the film teeters somewhere between acceptably entertaining and expectedly mediocre. If not for the character redesign, this movie could’ve easily gone the way of “Cats” and ended up more of a joke than it already is. But, thanks to director Jeff Fowler and a surprisingly star-studded cast, there are enough quality components to keep the film interesting. Speaking of the cast, Ben Schwartz is sufficiently charming as the voice of Sonic, bringing a certain lovability to the character and working surprisingly well off his costar, James Marsden (Officer Tom). While Marsden is no great comedic talent, it’s nice to see him flex his acting muscles instead of his actual muscles, for once, and try something rather out of his wheelhouse. The real show stealer is Jim Carrey, who absolutely chews the scenery every time his character, Dr. Robotnik, is on-screen. His performance is both delectably evil and cartoonish to perfection. Despite the overall middling quality of the film, Carrey never

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3 out of 5 stars

disappoints. Unfortunately, the writing leaves something to be desired. While the concept of Sonic existing on Earth in full, live-action form was always going to require some leaps in logic in order to make any sense, there are so many plot holes, big and small, that all semblance of a coherent story may as well have been thrown out the window. Perhaps that’s not so much of a problem, considering the breakneck pacing of this movie. Because the scenes move so quick, there’s almost never a time to stop and consider Sonic’s poorly explained backstory – to which approximately 2 minutes of screentime is devoted – or the nonsensical

reactions of nearly every voiced character. This also means the jokes come at a mile a minute, and thankfully there are more hits than misses, though nothing worth more than a chuckle. Aside from the writing, Fowler does a decent job at incorporating Sonic’s iconic super speed, having created a handful of genuinely fun, comedic special effects moments while not going overboard. However, those are just moments. At the end of the day, unless you’re a diehard Sonic fan, or you just need a passably entertaining movie to distract your kids for a bit, you can wait until it’s on Netflix if you’re interested in the film.

‘SCOTT PILGRIM’ STILL ROCKS Kel Buell

The Advocate There are some movies out there that remain works of cinematic art, no matter what day and age you’re in. Among these legends are the Indiana Jones trilogy and such titles as, “Star Wars,” “Star Trek,” “Zombieland,” and many of Clint Eastwood and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s original works. Also deserving a place among these titles is “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.” Released in 2010, the movie is based off a manga and accompanying video game centered around bassplaying Canadian Scott Pilgrim

(Michael Cera), and his desire to have a romantic relationship with Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). The conflict that arises from this is that in order to date her, Scott must fight her seven evil exes. The movie itself is quirky and hilarious. It is also filmed in a style reminiscent of both an 8-bit video game, and the manga it was based on. While it is completely live-action, sounds will sometimes be labeled (such as a phone having “ring” written in the air above it when it rings), and items will periodically display stat boosts above them when Scott puts them on. In addition to being filmed in an a manner that is both original

and extremely entertaining, there are some things throughout the movie that are deliberately left unexplained, and somehow that makes it all the more amusing. The cast is star-studded, including household names like Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick, Brie Larson, and Mark Webber. The movie is funny and wellscripted, and each actor involved executes their rolls perfectly. Even better, it’s on Netflix right now, so you can watch it for free, something I highly recommend. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is still just as good as the day it was first shown in theaters, and I cannot sing its praises enough. Give it a watch: I promise it’ll be worth your time.

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

A D V O C AT E - O N L I N E . N E T

‘HEATHERS’: A BALLAD OF INTENSITY Daniella Young The Advocate

The MHCC Theatre production of “Heathers: the Musical” premieres tonight, and I found it to be quite entertaining and memorable. Heathers tells the story of senior Veronica Sawyer at Westerberg High School. The play conveys her story as she attempts to fit in with the “The Heathers,” the group of girls who are the popular clique of the school. She starts hanging out with the group, until she realizes that being a member of this clique is more than what she anticipated and leads to a strong, irreversible chain of events. The show has a mix of dark humor and comedy, and the cast and crew do a great job of incorporating both into the show. I think this definitely makes this musical unique. Catching a sneak peak of the show, I found that I really enjoyed it. One of the first things I noticed

when I walked into Wednesday’s dress rehearsal was the set in Mt. Hood’s Studio Theatre: It was well designed and looked like Westerberg High School, the main setting of the musical. The

character. In addition, the makeup on the actors was also very well done. Some of them had wigs for the show, which were amusing to see. I noticed that certain songs involved the ensemble and the whole cast, which was really enjoyable. This included the choreography, in which the cast came together and did a great job. Two of the main songs that included choreography and the

Photos by Fletcher Wold | The Advocate

lighting and the stage colors were also diverse and changed between scenes, which was fascinating and brought the show to life. The costumes were very colorful and interesting and reflected each

ensemble include, “Candy Store” and “Big Fun.” I could feel the unity and connection between the cast and crew and group as a whole, especially throughout these ensemble songs. I enjoyed the music of the show. I thought it was definitely unique and different from any other musical I’ve seen, especially since I had never seen Heathers before watching the rehearsals for this production. The band also added a lot to the production, and the live instruments and music were impactful. Props were also used well in the scenes; an example is in the party scene, where some of the characters used sunglasses. It was a nice component and added a lot to the

performance. Although this show isn’t necessarily recommended for younger audiences and it’s definitely an intense show with some mature language, it’s an entertaining musical and I’m grateful for the experience of seeing it. Heathers opens tonight and repeats on Saturday, both at 7:30 p.m., and runs at 2 p.m. on Sunday. It returns next weekend, running Feb. 28-29 at 7:30 p.m. and on March 1 at 2 p.m. For tickets, visit: mhcc.edu/ theatreboxoffice

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