LIFE

Hill Harper speaks to Riverside City College students in the Landis Performing Art Center on Feb. 27. Hill Harper set the tone of his speech by urging students to set personal goals and aspirations to continue to succeed in their endeavors. GIOVANNI CARDENAS I RCCD

Landis Theatre Hosts Hill Harper

Actor provides guidance to RCC students

SAIDA MAALIN

LIFE EDITOR

Keynote speaker Hill Harper joked about shooting a new movie in Riverside because he wasn’t aware how much the city resembles Los Angeles.

He discussed how anyone interested can get involved in ongoing projects with his nonproft foundation Manifest Your Destiny and with the production of his movie that could be flmed in Riverside.

Harper took over the Landis Performing Arts Center with his wit and demeanor as he delivered an encouraging dialogue and open conversation on Feb. 27. Introduced by Lisa Webb Dean of Student Life as a father, humanitarian, award winning actor, best selling author, entrepreneur, health and wellness ambassador, educator and philanthropist.

“Hill has always inhabited and excelled in spaces and places where few African Americans have been. He has never forgotten where he came from and has always given back to his community. The positive message he gave was one of hope and inspiration. We all need that now more than ever,” Webb said. He analyzed and broke down a quote by Robert Kennedy to begin his empowering speech that motivates and influences productivity.

“The future does not belong to those who are fearful of all projects and new ideas but rather the future belongs to those who can blend passion, reason and courage into a personal commitment to the great ideals and enterprises of American society,” Harper said.

He continued his speech with an interactive exercise where everyone was told to take out their phone and construct an email to themselves with the subject line titled “goals and dreams.”

Harper encouraged the audience through laughter and grace.

Roryana Bowman, Vice President of Ujima said she enjoyed the interactive activity portion of the evening and how Harper got up-close to the audience rather than remaining on the stage.

“He put a lot of perspective on things and said it in a way that was tangible and relatable,” Bowman added.

He was a former student of Webb at the Kennedy School of Harvard.

“He and his roommate were the only African American male students in the Joint Degree Masters of Public Policy Program at the time. He has done amazing work in the business, nonprofit and entertainment arena. His books are New York Times bestsellers. He really gives back to the community. I brought him to speak at another college several years ago and he was inspiring and really connected with the students. I knew our students would enjoy him,” Webb said.

Megan Bottoms Coordinator of Student Activities moderated the questions session at the end of his speech.

Many questions were asked by students and guests that stemmed from previous acting roles to questions asking advice and direction based off of his personal experience.

Harper described how

he avoids submitting to self sabotage.

“The idea of a blueprint is that you have these bigger super objectives within the blueprint. You still have to go to the micro stuff that is the daily routine. The super objective can seem very far away but there is a process in terms of the micro. The micro stuff is in the foundation elements like education, resource building, relationships, networking and faith. All these things are the daily practices that allow you to build towards the bigger super objective. It shouldn’t feel that far away from that standpoint because you’re doing the micro work to get to the macro” Harper said.

RCC student Daxia Tilghman described Harper’s speech as encouraging and empowering. “I’m ready to get work done, to focus and to really pursue my passion,”Tilghman said.

Many students left feeling the same, all stirred with eagerness and dedication to take on this upcoming semester. It would be great to have motivational speakers come and speak to students because school can be stressful and hard to balance for many.

“If it had been better advertised by the school, more than just posters then it may have encouraged more people to go,” Daxia added.

There are several events coming up at Riverside City College for students. On March 25 from 1-2:30 p.m. in the Digital Library Auditorium, Eduardo Chavez will be showing a film about his grandfather Cesar Chavez and after that there will be a discussion held.

GIOVANNI CARDENAS I RCCD

Album released following Parkinson’s reveal

STEPHANIE ARENAS

STAFF REPORTER

British heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne released his frst ever full-length solo album “Ordinary Man” in 10 years following the disbandment of Black Sabbath in 2017 and Parkinson’s revelation.

“ O r d i n a r y M a n ” i s Osbourne’s twelfth solo record and was released on Feb. 21 as a follow-up to his 2010 album “Scream”.

As a means to promote the album, Osbourne held a meet and greet over at Amoeba Hollywood on the day of the release. Thousands of fans young and old lined up as early as 6 p.m. the day before the signing was to take place in order to have a better chance of meeting the Prince of Darkness himself.

“Oh yeah, I’ve been a fan of Ozzy since 1987,” said Cynthia Brown, a 50-year-old woman who few in from New York. “When I found out he had Parkinson’s, I knew I had to come down because I may never get another chance like this to meet him.”

In an interview with Good Morning America on Jan. 21, Osbourne revealed that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease since February 2019. Since then, fans have been having concerns regarding his health especially after the cancelation of his 2020 North American tour due to needing to recover from various health issues.

The album’s title track depicts references of illness, death and leaving a mark in the world. Many fans have since pointed out similarities towards the route Osbourne’s album has taken and the death of David Bowie.

In January 2016, Bowie released his final music video “Lazarus” which, much like “Ordinary Man”, depicted references to dying and being in heaven. Three days later, Bowie died after an 18-month battle with liver cancer.

“I had no idea he was so ill,” Osbourne said in an interview with Rolling Stone. “He was such a talented guy [...] He was one of the greats.”

Although Osbourne has since claimed that he is not leaving the world anytime soon, many fans still have their worries.

“I saw Black Sabbath live at Madison Square Garden back in 2016 and I noticed Ozzy was hunched back and limping all over the stage and I wasn’t the only one to notice,” Brown said. “On the car ride home my son, who was 17 at the time, said that Ozzy looked really ill the whole concert.” Even after these events, fans all over the world have given Osbourne an overwhelming amount of support regarding his health as well as his new album release. As of March 2020, “Ordinary Man” is the number one rock album in the world.

“[The fans] are my air,” Osbourne said in his interview with Good Morning America, “I feel better that I’ve owned up to the fact that I have a case of Parkinson’s and I just hope they hang on and they’re there for me because I need them.”

MOVIE REVIEW

ILLUSTRATION BY JULIAN NAVARRO

If you are interested in learning more and donating to Parkinson’s disease survivors like Ozzy Osbourne, go to www.parkinson.org for more information as well as calling their helpline 1-800-4PD-INFO (473-4636).

Reboot of ‘Fantasy Island’ turns into nightmare

Performances lead to a budgeted version of the 1970s original

SILDA MARTINEZ

Who remembers the corny shows we were forced to watch from the ’70s? I thought it ended there. Unfortunately it didn’t.

Apparently, director Jeff Wadlow thought it was a good idea to give the ’70s show “Fantasy Island” it’s own spin off movie. Sure enough it was a terrible idea.

The show about island owner Mr. Roarke makes all his island guest’s fantasies come true. However, like any corny ’70s drama show, their fantasies would soon enough turn into living nightmares.

The movie, of course, serves as a replica of the show, but comes off as more of a Walmart version of it. Starting with the terrible acting, to the childish gory scenes seen throughout the entire movie.

Lucy Hale and Micheal Peña made it really hard for the audience to get drawn into the suspensefulness of the movie. Peña plays the role of Mr. Roarke. He delivers his lines in a very boring way — monotonous STAFF REPORTER

From left Lucy Hill plays Melanie Cole, Austin Stowell plays Patrick Sullivan and Michael Peña plays Mr. Roarke in the reboot of Fantasy Island. COURTESY OF SONY PICTURES

the entire time — and the times when he is supposed to be stern and serious are just plain boring.

Hale plays the role of a guest on the island with the fantasy of torturing her childhood bully. She delivers a performance where, well, let’s just say it definitely doesn’t deserve an Oscar. When she’s supposed to portray fear, she simply doesn’t. These actors clearly lacked passion and belief in the roles they play. At least that’s something they really were able to replicate from the original show.

Don’t get me wrong, there were some parts of the movie that made it watchable.

Maggie Q playing the role of an island guest with the fantasy of having a family with a forgotten love from her past. Q delivered her role the best compared to the rest of the cast. The scenes where she was torn between choosing a family she has always dreamed of versus doing the right thing and going back to reality were actually emotional. I genuinely felt bad for her character.

That lack of emotion and passion seen throughout the film was slightly saved with Q’s performance.

The scenes that were based on Q’s fantasy were the only one that really kept me drawn to the movie. They left me questioning what she was going to choose. Waiting for that answer was what made me hang on until the end. But it still wasn’t enough to save the flm. The gore that they poorly added to the movie included the island workers having this odd black goo dripping from their eyes when they were hurt. Besides the fact that the goo looked like a second graders slime. It wasn’t very spooky or convincing.

The scenes that were meant to be scary weren’t scary at all. I would classify them more as cheap thrills. Each fantasy was directed like a separate movie, making it hard to follow each fantasy and to focus.

For whoever wished shows from the 70’s would come back, please be careful what you wish for because then we get spin off movies like Fantasy Island.