By: Gracie Hanlon

Gilmore Girls, a seven season show debuting in 2000, follows Lorelai Gilmore, a single mother only sixteen years older than her daughter Rory Gilmore and the two live in the quaint and charming small town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut. If you’ve watched even one episode of the hit TV show, you’ll quickly learn that food is one of the show’s largest components, and Lorelai and Rory spend a large portion of the show eating in the local Luke’s diner, ordering takeout during movie marathons, and drinking more coffee, than deemed physically possible. In this article, I will be going through a typical day of eating for a Gilmore Girl. 

The Gilmore Girls are not morning people and so of course they head straight to Luke’s for coffee, and maybe a quick Pop-Tart before heading out the door. At Luke’s, Lorelai and Rory get their morning coffee and begin breakfast which usually consists of sugary pancakes, bacon, and eggs. Sometimes on more rushed mornings, they eat muffins or donuts. After finishing yet another cup of coffee, Rory catches her bus to Chilton, with a bag full of books and Lorelai heads over to Indepence Inn. 

Lunch isn’t mentioned a lot in Gilmore Girls, but with a bit of research this is what I’ve come up with: Rory eats on her Chilton lunch break, where she has a school lunch, soda, and opens her book and puts on her headphones to listen to music. Most of the time, opting to eat alone to be left with her books. This is shown especially in an episode where a counselor worries about Rory’s social life at Chilton, and she and Paris briefly join a group of girls called the Puffs. 

Lorelai will still be at the Inn, but when she breaks she might snack on some food from the kitchen, where Sookie, her best friend, prepares the Inn’s meals, or maybe have more food at Lukes. Later in the show, when Lorelai, Sookie, and Michel open the Dragonfly Inn, Michel mentions Lorelai’s and his lunches at Weston’s bakery, where the coffee isn’t as good as Luke’s but the pastries are nice. Also in the later seasons Lorelai is often seen inviting people to lunch at the Dragonfly Inn, in their little dining room. 

At the end of each week, Lorelai and Rory drive 30 minutes (with no traffic) to Hartford, where the infamous Friday night dinners take place. Lorelai’s parents can be difficult people and the relationships in the Gilmore family are complicated, but Emily and Richard are extremely wealthy, have a new maid each week, and so they serve fancy food that isn’t always suitable for picky Lorelai and Rory. They always have full courses beginning with drinks in the living room, martini for Lorelai and before Rory turns 21, she has a soda. Next, they typically have salad, their main course, and then they finish with dessert. So naturally, after picking at their food and a fight to provide the episode with some drama, Lorelai and Rory finish the night with cheeseburgers, fries, pie, and of course coffee at Luke’s.

By: Cecelia Marquez

Calico Critters are animal figures that were first introduced in 1985 by the Japanese company Epoch. The figures are anthropomorphic animals, meaning they have human-like qualities and characteristics. The animal figures are unique because they are made of a special flocked material that gives them an endearing quality. 

Calico Critters are sold as families, with Mothers and Fathers, sisters, brothers, and babies. The homes and furniture are quite life-like are have incredible detail. The Critters live in the community of Calico Village. All the citizens in Calico Village have hobbies and jobs. “The underlying theme is giving, friendship, and happiness. Calico Critters are wholesome, never trendy,” said by the brand itself.

After becoming very popular in 2013 for young children to play with, They are now a staple for small animal toys. I personally have a house and family of calico critters, the chocolate rabbit family set, and accessories. They are worth the hype! They are very detailed and certainly cute. If you’re looking for a hobby or would like to start collecting something, My Sylvanian families are just the thing.

By: Sam Miller

Aw yes, classic video games: the hard difficulty, limited storage, janky controls and most of all bad graphics.

It all started back in ye olde days. Tennis for Two made by Robert Dvorak had LED lights that would light up to make the game. The next big game would be Pong which had similar gameplay with just no net and you view it from the top. This game is regarded as the first video game for some reason, this game was different  and used actual sprites.

Next would be Space Invaders which would use more complicated models. There would be no update to the graphics until 1987 when a 16 bit console would be introduced by Sega and Turbografx. The 16 bits would allow for more complicated sprites using more bits in more detail just look at Super Mario Bros. sprites compared to Super Mario World sprites.

Then a game released that shook the video game world Doom. Doom used sprites that would scale up as they got closer using ray tracing. Then after that 3d models would rise along with the N64 and Ps1. The 3d models were made with polygons instead of little pixels. The original 3d models where uh- yeah just look up N64 games.

After the fifth gen, the sixth gen was upon us and it brought just more polys… yeah that’s graphics. What, what’s that? You want me to go on huh oh okay i’ll do that. I’ll just keep rambling. So the sixth gen was a biiiiiiiiiiiiiig jump from blocky blobs to realistic shapes but uh the textures are uh GARBAGE! Then came which had better graphics and more polys and uh you can see where this is going…

The eighth gen had more polys, better textures and HD. then ninth gen was just more polys and pixels and it used ray tracing for better lighting and I think shadows. That’s where we are now! Uh yeah, graphics have changed drastically from sprites to the blocky models of the N64 to the realistic as heck modern games.

By: Natalie Summers

Blue: YOU ARE A GENIUS! Even though it doesn’t take a genius to know that this is the best color. You are funny. You are creative and social. You are smart but not so smart that people hate you. You have a few best friends but because of your outgoing nature and bravery, you have many friends and will remember them forever. Quite entertaining if I do say so myself. 

Purple: You’re cool and a little weird. You have a wonderful spirit and are not afraid to be who you are. This is a very good color just as you are a very good person, and will remain so for the rest of your life. Good job.

Pink: You have a big heart! You are sweet to everyone and have many friends that will take your side forever! You look fragile on the outside but no matter what, you are strong and powerful as is your mind. You are smart and have the power to get out of the things you hate most without making people angry or feel bad and that is a very hard thing to do. Your mind will keep expanding for years and years and it will bring you great problems but because of it, you get stronger.

Green: You’re cool. You have senses that make you special and powerful although you don’t quite know it. You will bring fabulous talents to the world that near no one else can copy and it proves challenging but rewarding.

Red: Pretty basic color if you ask me, but something about it makes it shine. You are just a little shy but overall pretty cool. You have friends that will stick by you and support you no matter how odd the things you say are. You want to fit in but that doesn’t make you change who you are and not something many know how to do.

Orange: You are fierce! Brave, bold! Nothing can block your confidence! Maybe just a little braggy but who isn’t and it only goes with how kind you are. You have one of the brightest minds and know how to bring people together in an epic way! The party truly isn’t started until you walk in.

Yellow: You have a soft, kind sort of nature that is relaxing. You can keep calm in situations where others go crazy. You are brilliant and can really think outside the box. If there’s anyone to be with when you’re mad, it’s gotta be you.

Teal: You’re weird but in a very cool, kinda chill way. You never take the hard way, even if it’s the right way, if there’s only the hard way, you make your own. You’re impressive and kind of a loner except for one close friend. You do a few clubs but in the end, it’s bed with chips and a phone.

Black: Very similar to teal, except you love to laugh with your friends and make very weird conversations that end up super funny.

White: You’re very open minded and wise. You have experience in many things and grow stronger and wiser each second. You see the smallest details in a second that anyone else would’ve stared at for years and never noticed. You live in the moment, but remember the past, never waiting for the future.

All of them: I guess you can’t make up your mind which makes sense since you’re very fickle. You’re always thinking of others but know what’s best for you. You’re very organized and never procrastinate. Fabulous person.

None of these: You are very intelligent. So much so that it drives others crazy. You can never answer a question with a simple answer. Instead, you try to use the biggest vocabulary you know. You are a great learner but act like you knew it better than anyone the whole time. Little annoying.

I don’t have one: You are adventurous and don’t focus on the unimportant things (apparently like having a favorite color). You are always open to new ideas and suggestions. Just a little forgetful but not so much that you can’t control yourself. You are bright and curious and it makes people smile.

By: Nathaniel Cole

Do you ever wonder “How do I make a game with code?” This article is for you if you do (or even if you don’t!). I will show you how to write an HTML clicker game, and even make it look good in part 2!

Subsection 1; What is HTML

If you already know the syntax of HTML, you can skip to subsection 2, otherwise this will help you program even more games and start your programming journey! HTML consists of tags, which are <code>&lttag name&gt</code> some tags have special attributes that can be used by putting <code>&lttag name attributename=attribute&gt<code/> HTML is nested, which means you put tags in tags. If you want a more complicated overview of HTML please go to https://www.w3schools.com/html/

Some facts about HTML

• HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language
• HTML IS NOT A PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
• HTML describes the structure of a webpage
• The labels in HTML tags describe what the tag does

Important Tags

The tags we’ll be using are <code>&lth1&gt</code>, <code>&ltspan&gt</code>, and <code>&ltbutton&gt</code>. These tags are important because it’s all the tags we use. The h1 tag gives big text, the span element cannot create a new line when put in, this is useful for changing its data. The button tag is useful because it runs JavaScript code every time it’s clicked.

With these new tags, we can make a simple clicker game.

Creating HTML (the format)

The way I will display my HTML is by using it embedded, if you want to try your own at the bottom of this article there is a simple HTML viewer. All HTML has to have a &lthead&gt and &ltbody&gt tag. Your HTML will not need a body tag, because the HTML you will writing is in the body of the webpage, so start with what you would like to have inside the body. If you’re running a web server, you’ll need the full &lthtml&gt format.

JavaScript

Javascript is an important part of writing games, create dynamic HTML that can do anything to your will. With JavaScript, you can easily create clicker games and even more advanced games where you click and particles appear.

I’ll provide a simple understanding of JavaScript, but if you have any questions about functions you should look them up on MDN docs. Technically speaking, it’s for Mozilla Firefox, but for JavaScript functions, it all works as long as you have javascript ES7.

The functions and keywords we’ll use in our code are the following:

• var | keyword | creates a variable of your name (var varname; or var varname = varvalue)
• function | keyword? | creates a function of your name. Use braces ({}) to put the function’s code in it.
• document | variable | document is the website
• getElementById | function | part of document | func(idname) -> element

The code (writing)

Now we are ready to write the code. First, we need a way to see how many times we clicked, otherwise we may as well have a button that does nothing! We’ll put an <h1> tag. This will create big text. In the &lth1&gt we’ll have a &ltspan&gt which is inline (meaning it stays on the same line) Let’s put “clicks” into the &lth1&gt and make the spans ID “score.” Span has a default value you can put inside of the tag which shows before a javascript update. This means at the top of your webpage put “&lth1&gtClicks: &ltspan id=”score”&gt0&lt/span&gt&lt/h1&gt”

Now that the display is finished we can create the button you click. Buttons are created with the <button> tag. This will put something clickable that runs JavaScript on click. Lets use the function we’ll define as “clicked()” &ltbutton onclick=”clicked()”&gtClick me!&lt/button&gt

Now we need to write the javascript, which is usually the second hardest, the hardest being figuring out what to make! We want our JavaScript to do is in our “clicked()” function, it needs to increase the clicked by one and and update our span.

Lets create a variable telling use how many times you’ve pressed that button. To initialize the variable you need to use the “var” keyword. Now we make the clicked function for when the button is pressed. Increase the clicks by one then update the span. You need to get the element first, and you can do this by using document.getElementById. This will give you the element where you can change it’s text with the innerHTML property. Just set that to your clicks.

Now we’ve finished with our game! You can test your game out at the bottom if this page using my html renderer.

Here is the finished code!

<code>

<h1>Clicks: <span id=”score”>0</span></h1>

<button onclick=”clicked()”>Click me!</button>

<script>

var clicks = 0;

function clicked() {

clicks += 1;

document.getElementById(“score”).innerHTML = clicks;

}

</script>

</code>

 

<code>&lth1&gtClicks: &ltspan id=”score”&gt0&lt/span&gt&lt/h1&gt

&ltbutton onclick=”clicked()”&gtClick me!&lt/button&gt

&ltscript&gt

var clicks = 0;

function clicked() {

clicks += 1;

document.getElementById(“score”).innerHTML = clicks;

}

&lt/script&gt</code>

 

Now for how you can test your own!

<textarea id=”code” placeholder=”type your code!”></textarea>

<p id=”rendered”>No code written</p>

<script>

setInterval(() => {

document.getElementById(“rendered”).innerHTML = document.getElementById(“code”).value;

}), 200);

</script>

By: Sam Miller

Ah yes, one of the biggest video game genres is the first person shooter game. It has gone through plenty of changes to make it to where it is now. One of the first true FPS games was Wolfenstein 3d released by id Software on May 5, 1992.  It is based on WWII and had lots of violence which is a trope in FPS games. Overall, it sold 250,000 copies and won many awards; it is the precursor to the later Doom.

Doom was released on  December 10, 1993, and has you slaying demons in facilities and other similar places. It was revolutionary and had numerous references to it made on tv shows, slashed sales production in half because of people playing it when they should be working, had tournaments based on it, and sold 3.5 million copies. Its first chapter was free with the rest costing real money. Later, id Software would go on to release Doom 2: “Heck” on Earth which was really just a level pack. Doom 2 added several new enemies and one new weapon; it sold 1.8 million copies.

 The next big FPS would be goldeneye 007 for the Nintendo 64 (or N64). It places you as James Bond in a series of missions to stop the Goldeneye satellite. This game was a big jump from Doom as it had full 3D models instead of just sprites. The game was developed by Rareware for the N64, it sold 8 million copies in the US.

The sixth generation of consoles would lead to a huge jump in FPS games with the most notable being Halo CE and COD 3. We’ll start with Halo CE which pioneered the FPS genre with it’s two stick controls that allowed for better movement and the multiplayer that paved the way for cod and other FPS games, it was developed by bungie and sold six million copies on the Xbox 360 and was called the Star Wars of gaming and featured a protagonist named Master Chief, a spartan super soldier fighting the evil alien race called the Covenant.

 The seventh generation of console would bring us Halo Reach, COD 4, and Metroid Prime Three which mainly took the storytelling and music to the max with better graphics too. Halo Reach was made by bungie and sold 20 million copies. The next game is COD 4 which was developed by Activision and sold 7 million copies. The final gam, Metroid Prime for the Wii, would use motion controls that provided better aim surprisingly. The protagonist samus aran bounty hunter who has been corrupted by this chemical called “phazon” she wants to stop the phazon from spreading to other planets while her evil doppelganger dark samus attempts to stop her. Developed by Nintendo for the Wii, it sold 1.3 million copies.

 In the eighth generation, the main FPS games were Halo 5 Guardians and Battlefield One. Halo Five was just a Halo game (I’ve run out of things to say about them) developed by 343 Industries for the Xbox One; it sold 9.5 million copies. The next game is Battlefield One. The campaign focuses on many different aspects of the war which gives the player many stories throughout the game. Everything from battles in Somme to the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey. Instead of focusing on one protagonist, Battlefield 1 focuses on multiple, which makes the game more unique from other FPS games.

 Now finally we have landed  in the ninth generation of consoles or the modern era. The best games are Apex Legends, Valorant, and COD: Modern Warfare 3. We’ll start with Apex Legends. It’s a battle royale game with “legends” who have distinct abilities. It was developed by Respawn Entertainment and Panic Button Games and has sold 130 million players. Next is Valorant which is a 5v5 game set in the near future. It’s kinda like Apex Legends, just not a battle royale. Finally COD: Modern Warfare 3. Developed by activision it has sold 30 million copies.

By: Cece Marquez

In 1994, Marah Carey released the song All I Want For Christmas Is You. It was instantly a hit, but never placed first. Until 2019, when the song placed number one on Billboard Hot 100 for the month of December and stayed that way for four years!

Until December 2023, when Brenda Lee´s Rockin´ Around the Christmas Tree hit the top spot for the first time since its debut. In the end,  All I Want For Christmas Is You placed top spot for December after Brenda Lee got her 15 days of fame. 

Out of the three songs displayed on the graph, Last Christmas is severely underrated. It’s a classic party sound! But if you’re looking for other songs to add to your Christmas playlist from funny to comfy, here´s a list.

•  Dominick the Donkey
• Little Saint Nick
• Feliz Navidad
• Blue Christmas
• Jingle Bell Rock
• White Christmas
• It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
• Santa Claus is Coming to Town
• It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year