Pictured above: the cast and crew of Freaky Friday posing for a silly photo after a performance

By Lilianna DeBlasio 

Features Editor 

This spring, Hammond’s theater department developed and performed Freaky Friday: A New Musical for the Hammond community to see. The production was a huge success for the department and was loved by the audience, with many people going to the show multiple times to see it again. This musical, developed by Disney’s theatrical production team, is based on the famed book of the same name by Mary Rodgers and the three previous movie adaptations. 

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The Modern Day Documentary

By Joseph Lee

Backpage Editor

Image source: Studiobinder.com

With the onslaught of free time resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, people have been noticeably more bored. With this boredom, there’s been a reliance on our phones and the popular apps that help distract us and waste our time. More content can be created and viewed as people start to share their common interests.

Through the rise of TikTok specifically, we see an embrace toward trends and personal interests. Not only do these trends cycle through more quickly, but it represents the growing pattern in society of regurgitating the same ideas in different forms. Clothing trends as a society usually cycle through in a decade or so, but we see fashion trends cycle through TikTok almost biweekly. Dancing trends involve similar or repeating moves for different songs that grow popular. Even documentaries, which are still popular, have evolved into a more accessible form that embraces more niches. 

Through another social media platform, YouTube, anyone can watch and listen to a documentary-style commentary about their favorite interests. From movies, video games, and even the popularity of beauty marks, we see these topics come to life, exploring them through the youtuber’s lens and narrative. There are even educational and personal videos these creators make which often speak to more people. 

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By Jariah Nash

Staff Writer

The Weeknd’s album, Dawn FM, was released January 7th, 2022. Since then the album has debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with 148,000 album-equivalent units, calculated from 173.04 million on-demand streams and 14,000 pure album copies. Even though the album itself has a dark and twisted edge to it, it is also an album that you can dance to and put on repeat over and over again. 

The album features contributions from the likes of Tyler, the Creator, Lil Wayne, Quincy Jones, Oneohtrix Point Never, and actor Jim Carrey.

Originally from Toronto, Canada, The Weeknd’s name is a tribute to the time when he and his best friend dropped out of high school at seventeen, took a mattress, and left one weekend, never to return home. 

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By Ryan Moshasha

Staff Writer

Image source: TV Insider

We live in such a great time when it comes to television. We have so many new streaming services and production companies expanding the meaning of “Storytelling.” These different companies made it a society standard to sit in front of a screen for hours, immersed in a universe of storytelling. 

One of the biggest genres of television is drama. Shows like Stranger Things, Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad are big names among this list. Now I’ve watched most of the shows listed, but nothing took dramatic TV to the next level like Vince Gilligan’s Breaking Bad. 

Set in Albuquerque, New Mexico, an extremely overqualified 50-year-old high school chemistry teacher named Walter White is diagnosed with a bad case of Lung Cancer, but he’s determined to keep his family financially satisfied after his passing.

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By Lynn Phillips

Staff Writer

Image source: techradar.com

Dynasty is a show originally created in 1981. Due to its previous success it was brought back in 2017 on Netflix. The show is currently in its fifth season and takes place in Atlanta, Georgia in the modern setting. Some of the actors and actresses include Elizabeth Gillies, Grant Show, Adam Huber, Sam Adegoke, Alan Dale, and many, many more. The show is a stereotypical soap opera, yet it contains its own unique values and styles that set it aside from other soap operas. 

The show is about a billionaire family, the Carringtons, and their feuds with another billionaire family. The main character, Fallon Carrington (Elizabeth Gillies), is trying to start her own business and has struggles with the issues and dilemmas that are thrown her way. Her father, Blake Carrington (Grant Show), is also trying to keep his company running while being in a feud with another billionaire family and dealing with his new marriage. Fallon and her father go head to head at times due to their differences in personality. 

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By Morgan Prater

Staff Writer

Grey’s Anatomy is a medical drama that stars Ellen Pompeo, Patrick Dempsey, Sandra Oh, Eric Dane, Chandra Wilson, James Picken Jr., and Justin Chambers. It takes place in a hospital in Seattle, Washington called Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, which was formerly known as Seattle Grace Hospital. 

The show follows the life of a young surgical intern named Meredith Grey who is the daughter of a world-renowned surgeon named Ellis Grey. The show digs deep into Meredith’s life along with four other interns that work with her: Alex Karev, Christina Yang, Izzie Stevens, and George O’Malley. Together, they are navigating the world of surgery along with drama, relationships, and near-death experiences.

An aspect of filmmaking that I really like is the acting. Each actor plays their character’s role very well and they are very convincing as their characters. For example, Camilla Luddington plays a strong woman who continues to pursue her dreams despite being abandoned as a child and being abused by her husband. Her acting is quite convincing and even makes the viewer feel her pain.

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By Camille Pendleton

Staff Writer

Image source: imdb.com

Released on November 5, 2021, Marvel’s Eternals reached $402.1 million in the box office and rapidly gained popularity on Disney+. The combined creative input of Marvel president Kevin Feige and producer Nate Moore, with the addition of the exceptional director Chloe Zhao gave this movie a special flair, and millions of Marvel fans would agree. 

The star-studded cast added some major points to the success of the movie. The cast included the amazing Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Richard Madden, Gemma Chan, and Kit Harrington just to name a few. The actors’ on-screen chemistry was incredible for the audience to watch, along with a few surprise appearances from celebrities that shocked fans.

The Eternals, Thena, Ajax, Ikaris, Sersi, Druig, and an array of others must band together to defeat enemy forces, both from within their circle and from external opponents. We are introduced to the Deviants, monsters that have been roaming the earth on a mission to hunt and kill humans. 

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By Caitlin Collins 

Staff Writer 

Image source: deadline.com

American Horror Story is an American anthology horror television series created by Ryan Murphy. Having a total of 10 seasons with more coming, it stars Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, Emma Roberts, Lily Rabe, and Jessica Lange. This show is not like any other show you’ve watched. Each season has its own self-contained storyline and characters, and it has been put forward that each season will introduce a new location as well. 

This show consists of physical and psychological horrors that affect a decomposing family, workers, and residents of an insane asylum, a coven of witches, a cast of circus freaks, the employees and guest at a struggling hotel, a family who moved into a mysterious farmhouse, the members of a small suburb in Michigan, the surviving members of the Apocalypse, the counselors of a creepy summer camp, and addicting vampire pills that somehow help you with success. 

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Image source: thedragonprince.com

By Akil Brathwaite

Staff Writer

There’s a lot you could say about the state of Netflix and its original shows and movies. I’m sure you could find hundreds of videos criticizing some of its more popular movies (which may be what Netflix wants, but that’s a story for another time). You could probably find hordes of upset fans causing an uproar when their favorite series gets canceled in favor of the less liked shows/movies, but if there’s one thing Netflix does decently, it’s their animated shows.

Well, maybe.

The Dragon Prince, created by Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond, is one of, if not, the best thing Netflix has had the privilege to mark as theirs on the platform. It’s a series with a smaller fanbase, but you can tell that the series was made with love and care rather than a desire for money.

With a lovable cast of characters, a beautiful world and a compelling storyline, the series draws you in and creates something beautiful with only 9 episodes to a season.

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By Eli Glenn

Staff Writer

This will be a no-spoiler review of Spiderman: No Way Home. My overall opinion of this movie is that it is really enjoyable as a whole. The overall plot of this movie is that Spider-Man (Peter Parker) had his identity revealed by Mysterio. Obviously, this comes with bad things attached to it. He cannot go out and do normal things and no longer has a normal life.

The reveal of his identity also has an effect on his friend, Ned, and his girlfriend, MJ. They applied to go to MIT and didn’t get in due to all the drama associated with their names. This causes Peter to go and talk to Dr. Strange to get everything back to normal. But during the spell to make people forget about his identity, some things go wrong and suddenly villains from other universes are coming into Peter’s.

First, I want to talk about the action in this movie. There is jam-packed action, hand-to-hand combat and magic combat. I would rate the action a 9.5/10. Throughout the movie there is action and there are two major fights in the middle with stellar CGI. Out of all of the Spider-man movies, it had the best action which was one of the best aspects of this movie.

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