Author: Gloria Gomez

A Concert to Remember: Alejandra Guzman vs Gloria Trevi

Gloria Gomez

On April 13, Mexican singers, Gloria Trevi and Alejandra Guzman, performed at their second to last concert of their tour together. Alejandra Guzman vs Gloria Trevi was a successful tour, and their concert in San Diego did not dissappoint. They came out with an enthusiastic vibe that had the audience screaming, laughing, dancing and singing along with them. Their outfits were stunning and would sparkle across the stage. They gave all they could at their performance and were amazing, but my experience at their concert wasn’t as great as it could have been.

First of the use of the big screens behind them were not used wisely. Gloria Trevi and Alejandra Guzman are obviously not to blame for this, since this was a fault of the technicians. The reason why I say the screens were not used effectively is because most of the time what spectators would see on screen were special effects, and not Trevi or Guzman. This made it difficult for the audience in the back high seats to enjoy the show at its full potential because all they could see was a human dancing on stage. Its no fun to pay to see a singer sing, when you can’t even distinguish if it is them. The goal of screens in concerts is not necessarily to create a fun background, but to better the experience of the audience by allowing them to see the performer. You need to make the audience feel connected, and up close to the performer, and the use of big screens plays a big part on this.

Another reason that diminished my experience at their concert was the behavior of some people in the audience. My friend and I, bought the tickets to the show knowing that we would be the youngest or if not part of the young people among their fans, since Trevi and Guzman began their careers during the late 80s. So, as we had predicted the day of the concert we were indeed some of the youngest people in the concert, which unfortunately became a conflict with our engagement in the concert. As a concert goer I have always been the person to stand up and dance and sing to the music, and I have never had any complains…. until now. As Guzman began to sing “Eternamente Bella”, my friends favorite song, we decided to get off our sits and start dancing and sing along. Well, apparently the older man behind us didn’t approve of our actions and thought it would be a great idea to softly scratch my friend in the back to tell him to sit down. I then intervened and told the man that it was concert and it was normal for people to stand up and dance. Apparently, the man had never been to a concert or was at a stage in his life where he didn’t care and had the guts to tell us to move seats. Obviously, we didn’t move because: 1) We paid for the seats we were at, 2) I was not going to go seat in someone else’s seats and then get in trouble for it. As we decided to ignore the man he continued to scratch my friends back. Finally, we sat down since my friend didn’t want to argue about the situation with the man. This left a sour taste to our mouths and killed our vibe for the night. And as much as we wanted to enjoy the show all we could do was wiggle in our chairs.

Due to my experience I will probably never go to a concert of theirs again, and not because of Trevi and Guzman because as I mentioned before they were amazing. But a third of their crowd are at an age where they think concerts are to go sit down at a stadium and look at a screen. I’m sorry, but If that is what your idea of going to a concert is, please do everyone a favor and stay at home and watch the concert through YouTube videos instead.

Ready Player One: A Nostalgic Trip

Gloria Gomez

Many were excited for the theatrical release of Ready Player One, and for good reason. Ready Player One is not just the action film, that the trailer hinted it to be, and that many awaited, but it was extremely humorous too. It’s combination of action and comedy, made the film thrilling and exciting.

If you’re a movie buff you will fall in love with this movie, and as a gamer you will love it even more. It is hard not to love any of Steven Spielberg’s films, this now including Ready Player One. One of the best things about the film is the nostalgic trip that it takes the audience into. Stanley Kubrick’s film, The Shining (1980), was a big part in this. The introduction of The Shining, into Ready Player One’s storyline was amazing, and a scene to applaud. Its recreation of the set left people in awe, and gave the audience a sample of the VR world by allowing the viewers to immerse in the setting. If you’ve seen The Shining this scene will be your favorite, and if you haven’t seen it, then it will make you want to watch it. This is one the best, or if not the best tribute that I have seen for Kubrick’s film.

Ready Player One is not just popular for gracefully including movie references, but it also did not miss having video game references, or what one may call easter eggs. Throughout the film, viewers can spot various of their favorite video game characters. For example, Halo characters, Minecraft, Joust characters, and many others.

One of the most memorable easter eggs was a flash back to the old tootsie pop owl commercial. If you were born between the years 70s-90s this reference will definitely bring memories.

And we cannot forget the ending, the biggest easter egg of all. A major twist that takes you back to the arcade ages. Without spoiling the movie, one can say that its ending is similar to that of Love, Simon (2018). The most important key factor to the plot of the movie, is obvious, but because we are introduced to it early on we forget about it. Therefore, when this key element is reintroduced into the screen, we get this feeling of thrill and excitement, with the thought of, “I should’ve seen that coming”.

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Taylor Swift’s Reputation is Not Getting Any Better

Gloria Gomez Leave a Comment

On March 11, Taylor Swift released her new music video of her song Delicate. As thrilled as people were to see it, the video was nothing new that we haven’t seen already. We’ve seen a corky girl dancing, we’ve heard people complain about being famous, and we’ve heard songs about boys. I was hoping her entire new album be about her, but I guess I was wrong.

The song itself wasn’t bad, but the elements in the video were. Taylor Swift is popular for her corky dance, but in this video she looked like a poor imitation of Maddie Ziegler, the popular dancer featured in Sia’s videos. Her dancing was made a mock off such that people made her into a meme. Some overriding Swift’s song with Spanish singer’s, Melody, song El Baile del Gorila, where it appears that she is dancing to that song instead of Delicate. This is not the only comparison that Swift’s video is being compared to. There is also a controversy relating to the similarities that Delicate has with Kenzo’s perfume ad, calling Swift’s video a “copy with worst dancing.”

If there is anything more annoying than her dancing is the autotune she has started to incorporate into her new songs. This robotic special effect is making her no good, and she should stay away from it. The girl sings good, and she should not try to fix what is not brocken. She along with her team need to understand that her fans would rather hear her voice than a machine. I had to watch the video with captions in order to understand what she was singing. The captions helped, and the more I listened to it the more I enjoyed it, but if I can’t understand the song without captions then there is no point in listening to it. The special effects used on her singing does not work for me.

Having a good beat, and a catchy phrase makes a good song, but not a good music video. And let’s leave the crazy emotional dancing to Ziegler.

Black Panther Cultural Impact

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Was “Black Panther” as good as what I expected? Definitely not… it was even better! “Black Panther” may have been out in theaters for months already, but its hype has not deteriorated.

I went to see “Black Panther” the weekend it was released. Theaters were packed and tickets were selling out fast. Even a week after its release, the line to watch Black Panther had not decreased. Releasing the movie during a four day weekend could be the best decision that Marvel has made yet. But even with the nicely timed release, the movie of course would not have been a success without the great actors, and story line. There was never a dull moment in the movie. I was entertained the whole time. It had enough action, and some jokes here and there, elements that helped grasp the audience’s attention.

The one aspect that I loved about the movie was that it did not just touch the hearts of African-Americans, but also of immigrants. As an American, and daughter of immigrants, I could relate to this movie in various ways, but the one that impacted me the most was of the right to speak any language one pleases. In “Black Panther” there is a scene where the Wakanda general, Okoye,  speaks in her tribal language to T’Challa (Black Panther), while a CIA agent is in their presence. This leads the agent to ask T’Challa, instead of Okoye, “Does she speak english?” Okoye quickly responds in English with, “She speaks English when she wants to.” The moment she said that, the inner me was jumping with happiness, because finally someone on the big screen chose to speak up about this issue.

Throughout history, and even today, people in America are being told to ONLY speak English, or to NOT speak another language. Some even having the audacity to tell others that our soldiers aren’t fighting for us to speak other languages, that they are fighting for our “right” to speak “American.” People should not feel bad speaking in a language besides English in public, and most importantly, people should not be obliged to forget their native language in order to make others feel “comfortable.” I am tired of worrying about making others feel “uncomfortable.” I personally have never been afraid to speak Spanish in public, but I know for a fact that there are many others, children and adults, that do need this reassurance of being told that it is okay to speak another language. “Black Panther” encourages people of all ethnicities and ages to love their culture’s language.

Unfortunately, some children didn’t get the same encouragement from the movie. Or at least the young girl I heard talking in the bathroom didn’t. I was washing my hands after the movie and I overheard a young black girl talking to her mom about how she didn’t want to be like the general. The mom asked her why, and the little girl said that she did not want to speak “African.” I was devastated when I heard her say that, because it showed the negative affect society can have on the minds of the young, when it comes to the topic of speaking other languages. In America, any language besides English appears to be ugly, and it’s not okay and it must change.

Enough decades have passed for people to understand that America is a melting pot, and no one language is better than the other. This is why I thank Marvel for including this scene in “Black Panther,” and presenting the people of Wakanda as people who love their culture, and are proud and unafraid of speaking their language.