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Posts published in “Arts & Entertainment”

Black History Month at MWCC: A Capella Singers Debut

By editorialteam on March 23, 2025

By Princess Yeboah | Assistant Editor

Ball in the House
Photo from MWCC

A capella singers went above and beyond by introducing essential black history to Mount Wachusett Community College Community on February 26, 2025 at 12:30 P.M. The performance, “And Now I See: Race, Racism, and American Music” was shown by a men’s a capella group, Ball in the House. They hospitably embraced the community with tunes originally sung by black singers and the history behind them such as “Hound Dog”, (Originally by Big Mama Thorton and sung by Elvis), “A Change is Gonna Come”, (Originally by Sam Cooke sung by Bob Dylan) “My Girl” and “This Little Light of Mine.” read more

Review: Into the Woods at TAM

By editorialteam on March 23, 2025

By Benjamin Heffner | Staff Writer

The cast of Into the Woods
Image provided by Theatre at the Mount.

Correction 3/25/25: A previous version of this article omitted that Melissa Gates was an Early Education major. This has been amended.

Theatre at the Mount’s (TAM) latest production, Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods, brings together several classic Brother’s Grimm fairy tales, including Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Rapunzel. Their stories are all tied together in a storyline about a childless baker and his wife seeking to start a family who fall under the witch’s curse. read more

(Archive May 2018) Get Inked: A Splatoon 2 Review

By editorialteam on February 20, 2025

By Alexa Nogueira | Observer Correspondent

Nintendo’s paintball-style squid sport is back. First released in 2015, the original installment redefined online multiplayer shooters with its child-friendly game play, lore, and colorful world and character designs. The ink had nearly dried on Splatoon when the company revived the well-loved shooter game with the release of Splatoon 2 for the Nintendo Switch. 

In Splatoon 2 you play as an Inkling, which is a child that can change from kid to squid as fast as you can say the catchphrase, “Stay fresh!”  read more

(Archive May 2018) Worst Company in America Finds A Way Out

By editorialteam on February 20, 2025

By Zach Pavlosky | Observer Correspondent

A Way Out, developed by Hazelight Studios and published by Electronic Arts.
Image from trueachievements.com

“Couch co-op gaming is dead!” 

“Gamers are only interested in vast, open world experiences!” 

“Character-driven narrative has no place in the gaming industry!”

Developer Hazelight Studios’ newest title, A Way Out, succeeds not just with eye-catching visuals, smooth controls, and a solid framerate, but by shouting “NO!” to all the false and hyperbolic statements above.

A Way Out is a third-person, multiplayer co-op, action-adventure title that features many of the expected accoutrements of a modern video game: white, male protagonists, revenge plot, quick-time events, and more. It is what is noticeably absent from the game that not only makes it stand out from others of its ilk, but also serves as a guiding light for an industry that is unfortunately mired in controversy, politics and doubt.  read more

(Archive May 2018) The Crazy Life of a Self-Published Author

By editorialteam on February 20, 2025

Part One: The Whirlwind of Writing and Promoting

 By Michele Walsky | Assistant Editor

Michele, writing as Chele Pedersen Smith, has two books published with more in the works.
Photo by Brianna Stevens

Have you written the Great American novel but are not sure what to do next? Perhaps, poetry, memoirs or a comic book awaits. Last year my dream of becoming a published author came true and I am happy to share my experience so yours can too. And the best part, it is free! 

Independent Authors are Boss: Just because something is free does not mean it is easy street. Indie authors wear all the hats. We are writers, editors, formatters, publishers, cover designers, promoters, marketers and our own PR firm all rolled into one. Some authors shell out big bucks to hire them separately, but I am in the starving artist stage so I do everything except cover design. It takes work, but Indies have more control than traditionally published authors.  read more

(Archive May 2018) The Strangers: Prey at Night Review

By editorialteam on February 20, 2025

By Jennafer Gonsalves | Observer Correspondent

The Strangers: Prey at Night, directed by Johannes Roberts
Image from Wikimedia Commons, by BRFZ1

The Strangers: Prey at Night, while flawed, stays true to the bone-chilling concept of the original while also having quite a bit more fun.

In the year 2008, horror movies were popular, particularly those that contained a lot of blood, guts and mutilation. With franchises like Saw and Hostel going strong, as well as classic slashers such as A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Halloween being remade for more modern audiences, a move like The Strangers seemed like it would go largely unnoticed, lost in the midst of more and more of the same. read more

(Archive May 2018) The Moral of a Mural

By editorialteam on February 20, 2025

The Art Club Spins Optimism Through Painting

By Elizabeth Jones | Observer Contributor

The completed mural as it sits in the hallway.
Photo by Tom Hill Jr.

Sending a message through art in a year that seemed dominated by tragedy, a mural outside the advising office was created by four members of the art club. 

The team began working in January and after an estimated 130 hours, the mural was completed in March. 

The in-progress Art Club mural as it was at the beginning of the semester.
Photo by Brianna Stevens

“It is a tribute to all the tragedies of 2017,” said Allyson Bois, Art Club President. She was joined by the Art Club Vice President Camilo Alamares; Treasurer Blake Denmark; and Nicholas Lutz. read more

Mother

By editorialteam on February 14, 2025

A poem by Sophie Harrold

quietly,
with no one noticing,
She moves the branches aside.

humbly,
when no one else can see,
She cares for everyone.

sweetly,
while everyone else is having fun,
She stays behind.

in Her life,
people hear Her without listening,
they see Her without looking,
but She continues to move the branches aside.

without Her,
they would falter,
with Her,
they will thrive.

but one question remains,
for Her,
who will move the branches aside?

(Archive April 2018) Old School

By editorialteam on February 5, 2025

By Michael R. Young

An old house decomposes to my left.  On my right, a Victorian schoolhouse stands in proud obsolescence, its arched stone doorway ascended to by grand stone steps. The silent ghosts of bygone children clamber upward toward silent school bells, scowling hall monitors and musty rooms.  Blackboard erasures have left their chalky marks, pounded on stoic brick walls.  The halcyon days of the three “R’s” and recess have given way to short term memory loss.  But I still remember Dotty Evan’s blonde braids, blue tipped, as she sat at the desk in front of me.  Her hair just barely reached the inkwell in my graffiti-carved, flip-top, oaken writing desktop.   read more

(Archive April 2018) Tattoo Haiku

By editorialteam on February 5, 2025

By Brian Dickens

Go get a tattoo,

bold print across your forehead,

reading, “bless this mess.”