Web Photo. Who knew the feelings and experiences of people and birds had so much in common?I recently watched a heartfelt and inspiring film called “Penguin Bloom,” which I would definitely recommend. Released in 2020, the movie is based on the true story of Samantha Bloom, who becomes paralyzed after she breaks her back in an accident, falling from a high building. It outlines the story of the entire Bloom family as its members go through many experiences, both positive ones

To compare, with lament, every subsequent Weezer album to their self-titled debut (released decades ago, in 1994) is a horse now beaten entirely into vaporization but, unfortunately, it continues to be inevitable. It would be dishonest to consider the band to be entirely devoid of acknowledged talent. That simply can’t be the case. However, Weezer represents an archetype of musicians with loving mass followings but also an overall poor discography relative to contemporaries w

Web Graphic. “Sorry You Couldn’t Make It” was released last March – 50 years after Swamp Dogg’s first album, “Total Destruction to Your Mind,” a work filled with Southern funk, protest lyrics and an eccentric soul sound. The musician Jerry Williams chose Swamp Dogg as his moniker in 1970. In the album booklet for another, later album, he explained, “I became Swamp Dogg in order to have an alter ego and someone to occupy the body while the search party was out looking for Jerr

Web Graphic. With the “Lord of the Rings” TV series in its final stages of production, Amazon’s high-budget show is set to release sometime this year on Prime Video. The goal is to have the series take on a similar scale to another recent fantasy serial, “Game of Thrones.” The LOTR novel is an epic written by J.R.R. Tolkien and is thought of being the basis of the high-fantasy genre that succeeded it. Tolkien’s world is known as Arda, with Middle-earth being center stage for

Web Graphic. There are many famous individuals throughout history who displayed a great sense of narcissism. However, in the annals of underappreciated and underrated figures, none stands to be a better example of narcissism than Charles J. Guiteau, who was most famous for assassinating the 20th U.S. president, James Garfield. While the competition for the most narcissistic individual is certainly stiff, Guiteau perhaps manages to make all others seem relatively modest, by co

Disney has added many new series added to its impressive repertoire with the release of the streaming service Disney+ (Disney Plus). Since its launch in November 2019, Disney has had more than enough time to put out multiple different series and movies exclusive to their new platform. Among the many noteworthy offerings are “The Mandalorian,” the most recent and final season of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” “High school Musical: The Musical,” “The World According to Jeff Goldb

Movie night, anyone? ‘Cause I’m about to toss a few films into your lap! So, throw on your sweatpants and pop some popcorn, and let’s get this show started! First up on my list, though not truly a recent release, is an LGBT film called “Saturday Church,” a film about “a young African-American male struggling with his gender identity and family tension, so he seeks hope and support in the New York City’s underground LGBTQ ballroom,” as Netflix describes it. Web Graphic. It’s a

Web Photo. Darcey Bell’s novel, “A Simple Favor,” came to life as a film in 2018. Anna Kendrick plays a widowed single mother, Stephanie Smothers, who works as a vlogger in Connecticut. She has a hard time connecting with other moms until she meets the one and only Emily Nelson, who is played by Blake Lively. Emily seems to have it all: a beautiful house, perfect job, perfect husband, perfect life. One would dream to live like her. The two women embark on a rollercoaster styl

Graphic by Stephanie Debruin|The Advocate. It is once again that magical time of year, where gifts are given and festivities abound. There are many ways in which this season is celebrated: parties, parades, gift giving, spending time with family, and much more. And one popular method of celebration is to watch Christmas movies and much-loved television classics with friends and family. These are stories of famed figures of Christmas such as Santa Claus, Rudolph the Red-Nosed

Web Graphic WARNING: This review contains some slight to moderate spoilers. Queen’s pawn to d4: In chess, this opening move (for white) is known as the “Queen’s Gambit.” It is the oldest recorded opening for the game of chess, dating back to the 1490s. It didn’t gain widespread popularity until a chess tournament in Vienna, in 1873. On the other hand, the Netflix original “The Queen’s Gambit,” based upon the novel of the same name by Walter Tevis, is a limited series rapidly

Web Graphic. “The show must go on!” This famous saying dates to the 19th century and is originally credited to circus acts. Later it began circulating through all manner of performing arts, and even businesses. In the spring of 2020, however, Mt. Hood Community College’s theatre production of “The Miracle Worker” found itself cancelled due to COVID-19. At the time, MHCC’s Theatre Artistic Director, Mace Archer, was on sabbatical to join in various performances, himself, acros

Web Graphic. “It is better to be lucky than good” is a statement made when we have accomplished something that shouldn’t have succeeded. Very few individuals have embodied the saying more than Timothy Dexter, who despite his god complex, lack of education, and general eccentricity managed to strike gold in many of his monetary, as well as his social, escapades. Dexter is truly one of the luckiest individuals to have ever walked the Earth. Born on Oct. 23, 1747, he was not an

Web Photo Not all hauntings are by ghosts. We can be haunted by guilt, debt, our choices, our feelings, or simply by our past. We can also be haunted by the thoughts and feelings invoked in a fantastic bit of media, such as Netflix’s “The Haunting of Bly Manor.” Created by Mike Flanagan, who was also the screenwriter for “The Haunting of Hill House,” “Bly Manor” is set in a sleepy country manor just outside London, England. The story finds inspiration from the works of Victor

Web Graphic. After having released many singles over the past few years, Chicago-based indie group Slow Pulp at last presented their debut album, “Moveys,” earlier this month, a work obviously confident, creative, and quite familiar, all the same. Inhabiting a genre filled with catchy basslines and melodramatic prose (meant in the best way possible, of course), Moveys does not disappoint. If anything, it is a testament to its creators’ ultimate comfort in their performance, e

Web Graphic. Greetings, my goblins and ghouls of mayhem! Halloween is fast approaching, and you know what that means: It’s time to break out the popcorn and PJs for a good Halloween movie at home. Halloween is personally my favorite time of year, so I take a good scary film very seriously. The way I see, it even the ones that are not so creepy but are more family oriented can still put you in the spooky spirit. I took the time to stockpile a list of some of what I feel are th

MHCC Student Lucia Faith shows off a recent piece. Photo provided by Lucia Faith. Historically, artistic talent has always flourished, in many ways, during times of high stress and frightening uncertainty. But very few artists truly capture and reflect the collective unease of our time as does MHCC student Lucia Faith, in every piece. Each of Faith’s works evokes a composed savagery, every strikingly bold color and stroke intricately contrasted with the rest. She intricately

Web Graphic Amazon created quite a stir when it made the decision to release episodes of “The Boys” on a weekly basis. If you find yourself looking for a show on Prime Video to properly binge during the gap, and haven’t yet had the pleasure, I highly recommend watching “Upload.” The series, which originally debuted May 1, is, on its surface, a simple romantic comedy featuring a love triangle between Nora Antony (Andy Allo), Nathan Brown (Robbie Amell) and Ingrid Kannerman (Al

Web Graphic The release dates, pre-order dates, suggested retail prices, and technical specifications for both the PlayStation 5 and next generation XBox gaming consoles were announced in mid-September. There is a lot going on with these machines and for many gamers the decision on which to buy will be a major investment. The Advocate is here to help your decision with a comparison of the competitors’ consoles. We’ll start with the PlayStation 5, as its two versions are ident

Web Graphic. If you’ve ever watched the FX animated series “Archer,” you likely know it’s chock full of a mix of both adult and sophomoric humor. The idle clicker-style game for iOS and Android mobile devices, “Archer: Danger Phone,” follows the cheeky style of the television show in the most delightfully reprehensible way possible. The premise of “Danger Phone” is that the world’s economy has collapsed and Algernop Krieger, the mad scientist member of the Archer crew, has cr

Web Graphic. To accept the idea of the “hometown” that is to be eventually moved on from is to accept that youthful memories exist only to die or to be rewritten later. In childhood, one’s hometown is all of existence itself; familiar, immediately exciting to explore, then invariably dull and constricting. As one reaches adolescence, the instinct to leave as quickly as possible to begin to spread one’s wings is very much seen as a rite of passage in the United States. But to