Reviews

Death is out of a job!  This opening provides the frame for Ram V’s graphic novel The Many Deaths of Laila Starr. For those interested in fantasy, the role of Death has provided a rich topic for movies and novels ranging from chess games in The Seventh Seal to the gothic rendition of Death in Neal Gaiman’s The Sandman.  […]

How can people be free when enslaved by civilization?  This question was first posed by Jean-Jacques Rousseau in The Social Contract and has preoccupied political and intellectual thought since that time.  It has been the inspiration for much utopian and dystopian fiction.  In most stories, the question is often embedded in a protagonist’s struggle with social norms […]

Computer Science has been there for over a century at this point, and it’s fascinating to see its growing changes over time. However, very recently, AI has been making an increasingly popular trend. Today, whether you agree or not, we depend on AI. You may be thinking… how? Well, take your GPS for example when […]

On September 22, 2021, Star Wars: Visions was released on Disney+. It is an anime anthology in which seven Japanese anime studios (which are shown alongside the episode titles) created short episodes set in the Star Wars universe. The goal of this anthology was to present alternate takes on the Star Wars universe, and this is what […]

*Written by Kanchan Naik, Founder and former Editor-in-Chief of The Roar Usha Akella tells no lies.  The first time I met this poet, producer, and founder of South Asian poetry collective Matwaala was at a Desi poetry reading moderated by India Currents. It was a surreal moment for a South Asian American teenage girl who […]

Image Credit: “Depressed” by kingfishpies is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0  In the past year, depression and anxiety rates have significantly increased because of the COVID-19 pandemic. During a time in which there are limited social activities and events, life can feel meaningless and hopeless for some people. While we cannot escape the pandemic, we still have the freedom […]

For most people, falling in love for the first time is an unforgettable and powerful experience that is filled with intense emotions. Author Andre Aciman does an excellent job in capturing these passionate feelings in the bestselling romance novel, Call Me By Your Name. Taking place in a picturesque Italian town during the summer of 1987, Call […]

How It All Blew Up by Arvin Ahmadi “The thing about bigots is they always go out of their way to acknowledge my fabulous existence, when I hardly notice theirs.” Told through a dual timeline setup, Arvin Ahmadi’s How It All Blew Up follows a riveting journey of self-discovery. When Amir is faced with having to come […]

What would you do if you were stuck on a deserted island?  It’s a tired ice breaker, as well as the guiding question of Robinson Crusoe, Lord of the Flies, and Lost (2004-2010), to name just a few. It’s also the premise of The Wilds, on Amazon Prime. References to Lost and Lord of the Flies would not be unwarranted. After all––nine teenage girls stranded on […]

In recent years, the Star Wars franchise has been flooded with new material ranging from new movies to games, and even shows. In February 2020, Disney released the seventh – and final – season of the fan favorite show Star Wars: The Clone Wars. One of arcs in the show revolved around Clone Force 99, also […]

Feeling extremely nostalgic lately, I decided to rewatch the pilot episodes of a few 2000s cartoons to see if they held up to my memories of viewing them as a kid. Stories often have a different takeaways and effects on a second viewing, and I’m curious to delve back into the past by rewatching some […]

Imagine your life like this. Instead of waking up in your bed, you wake up seeing prison bars in front of you. Society thinks you will be in the prison system for the rest of your life. Unfortunately, this is the everyday reality for 60,000 teenagers in the U.S. juvenile system, according to the ACLU. […]

In a school like Quarry Lane where the majority of students are of Asian descent, it is hard for us to imagine growing up in a household that is separate from our mother tongue and native culture. Nicole Chung’s memoir, All You Can Ever Know, provides a detailed account of her experience as a transracial adoptee. […]

Image source: https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2011/12/24/bosstones-come-home-for-another-throwdown/IjjFSHIxD2S5uaagLeFBfI/story.html “And he still hears the noise from the brigade, so you’re not gonna see his face in the final parade.” These words mark the chorus of an energetic, happy, fist-pumping, toe-tapping song filled with joy and excitement. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Boston’s greatest ska punk legends, recently announced plans to release their […]

In academic driven schools like Quarry Lane, students find themselves taking a heavy course load along with doing many extracurriculars to be competitive for top colleges. But what if getting into a top college doesn’t need to involve plowing through hours of work or juggling many activities at once? In How to Be a High School […]

Have you ever read a book and then watched the movie based on it and felt completely disappointed? Although it’s always exciting to see your favorite characters brought to life on the big screen, condensing 300+ pages into two hour or six twenty-minute episodes is pretty difficult, especially considering the different storytelling formats. It’s pretty […]

It is 1949 and the Communist party in China takes over the country, causing Chiang Kai-Shek’s KMT( Kuo Min Tang) Party to flee to Taiwan.

These words summarize the theme of the album 20/20 Vision by Anti-Flag. This album is the 12th studio album by this band.

Three chapters into Charlotte McConaghy’s Migrations, I was struck by that rare, wonderful feeling that I had stumbled onto something secret and gorgeous.

When people hear about the word “self-improvement,” they tend to think about cliché and overused advice such as following your passion or being optimistic. However, Eric Barker’s Barking Up the Wrong Tree tells a different story. Yes, it is a self-improvement book about how to succeed. However, it is an atypical one that not only […]

Recently, the Humans of New York photographer Brandon Stanton released Humans, a photography book that documents peoples’ lives around the world. For those who do not know what Humans of New York (HONY) is, HONY is a popular Instagram account that uses photography and interviews as a medium for storytelling. The typical format is that Stanton […]

Winter is finally here and, with it, everything festive and cozy and snowy. I love this season so much, and I’m excited to share a few books that remind me of the cold season as well as the holiday season.  Cold Day in the Sun by Sara Biren “This is my favorite time of the […]

The Space Between Worlds, Micaiah Johnson (Del Rey 978-0593135051, $28.00, 336pp, hc) August 2020. In recent years, it has become common for popular entertainment to play with the trope of parallel worlds and alternate lives.   The plot device has been employed in settings ranging from the “mirror universe” in Star Trek to the classic […]

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson is a captivating, complex, and easy-to-read nonfiction piece that launched the environmental movement. The book was published in 1962, two years before Carson passed.

Star Wars was famous for its movies, but TV shows have always remained a strong part of the franchise. A new classic arrived in the form of The Mandalorian, which tells the story of a Mandalorian bounty hunter traveling the galaxy in search of targets to take down after the fall of the Galactic Empire.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the distractions on our computer or phone can prevent us from focusing during online school. The computer applications in my previous article are still helpful for online school. However, I would like to share some new applications that I find to be very useful. I will also explain why these applications can make you have a better learning experience on Zoom.

In Deep Work, Cal Newport presents a strong argument that deep work is necessary for one to thrive in today’s economy. By working in a focused and efficient manner, this allows someone to be the best in your field, such as a computer programmer or tenured professor. Despite this, the majority of skilled professionals in the office spend their time doing the opposite of deep work. Newport starts off the book by illustrating this common problem that isn’t brought up enough. New emails or messages fragment a person’s attention and then the person has to attend many meetings or perform administrative tasks. From these distractions, the person spends little or no time practicing deep work.

By Srusti Acharya and Reha Matai Though the term beauty in essence has different meanings to each and every individual. Yet, living in society often insists on participation in various norms that have developed into our daily lives. According to Statistica.com, as of December 20th, 2019 “According to a May 2017 survey of American consumers, […]

The first thing you’d probably associate with October is Halloween. Think spooky season: bedsheets draped like ghostly spectres, false cobwebs made from stringy cotton, and scary contraptions that jump out of seemingly nowhere.

Credits: Alexander Maasch

ASUS ROG STRIX 3080, Source: ASUS.com

*Written by Kanchan Naik, Founder and former Editor-in-Chief of The Roar PLEASANTON, California — Genius Kids founder Rennu Dhillon says our greatest fear after death is public speaking — unless we make some incremental changes in our education system while we’re alive.  “Confidence is critical,” Dhillon says. “You have to learn how to take control […]

Art by Kalyani Valiyaveettil

Since we’ve all been unable to step outside the limits of our homes for the past six months or so due to Covid–and more recently due to the Californian wildfires–I’ve been reading a lot of high-fantasy lately to mentally transport myself to other places. Just mentally, since I highly doubt I’d be able to survive […]

Dal Lake in Kashmir, India. This was featured in the book Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Source: Eshani Mathur.

*Written by Kanchan Naik, Founder and former Editor-in-Chief of The Roar For years, Asian-Americans donned a cultural Invisibility cloak before Western audiences. And although undiscovered, their stories have unfolded silently and beautifully from generation to generation. That’s why the five-part documentary series, Asian Americans, created by an all-Asian American team of filmmakers, plays such a critical role […]

As we all struggle through quarantine, one thing has become abundantly clear to all of us–––streaming services have become essential to our strange new lives.  And while Disney+ is gaining traction and Amazon and Hulu continue to enthrall, no other service has benefited from quarantine as much as Netflix. The platform’s ever-expanding selection of media […]

On May 7, Apple announced the new 2020 revision of the 13 inch Macbook pro. This laptop features all of the Keyboard changes which occurred to the 16 inch Macbook pro in 2019. This means Apple switched from the butterfly keys to their new Magic Keyboard and added a physical escape key among other things. […]

Fairytale-Inspired Books to Eat During Quarantine Sometimes it feels like being at home all day is boring, dull, and the entire world seems to be squished down to the size of your house. Yeah, I get that feeling too. I’ve compiled a list of wonderfully-interesting pageturners that take the reader away to a different world, nestled […]

Have you ever wondered what triggers you to perform an action and what motivates you to keep performing an action day after day? In The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg analyzes how habits form and he presents a simple yet transformative way to replace bad habits with good habits. Although each habit has its unique path […]

Ahoy! It’s me, Manthan, and it’s time for another article. I’m writing about my most favorite band, the Dropkick Murphy Ever since 2000, they’ve had a tradition of playing on St. Patrick’s Day. Whether they played in Boston (most of the time), Dublin (2013), or New York (one of their earliest shows I think). For […]

For many of us, the first thing that we think of when it comes to February is love and romance. This month, I’ve kept with that theme and compiled a list of some of my favorite YA Romance books.  1. Geekerella “Look to the stars. Aim. Ignite.” Geekerella by Ash Poston is a retelling of classic […]

The EU parliament has officially voted to push the standardization of mobile device chargers in the EU despite Apple’s protests. All mobile devices, whether made by Apple, Huawei, or anyone in between needs to have the same charger. Currently it is unclear whether the EU wants to standardize the charger itself and allow different ports on […]

Hello there everyone! My name is Manthan Shah, and today I’ll be writing about something different. Normally, I’d write about something musically-related, but today I’ll be writing about my most favorite franchise – Star Wars. More specifically, I’ll be writing about the 2019 movie Rise of Skywalker – the conclusion of the Skywalker saga. I’ll keep it […]

CES 2020 has come and gone and a lot of potentially groundbreaking announcements have been made. For those who are unaware, CES (Consumer Electronics Show) is the world’s largest international tech show. Hosted in Las Vegas, the show brings in most major companies from around the world and can lead people to see a snapshot […]

Produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios in 2019, Frozen II is a 3D computer-animated musical fantasy movie. As the sequel of the famous 2013 movie Frozen, Frozen II grabs lots of audiences’ attention once it released.      Frozen II mainly talks about the story after Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven started the journey […]

By: Sonali Mudunuri Animal Print! This year, fashion went wild. Celebrities and influencers alike were seen in bright animal print, especially leopard print. This bright print was amplified with hues of bright orange, or muted with accents of soft tan. Animal print was featured on coats, skirts, pants, and tops — some of which were […]

Thanksgiving has passed and so has Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales. Does this mean that you can’t get good deals on Christmas gifts on Amazon? No, Amazon is just getting started with its holiday deals. As of writing (12/4/19), most Amazon deals relate to tech, but there are also some relating to toys.Firstly, Amazon has deals […]

On November 11th, I went to go watch the Warriors game. This was the first time I went to a Warriors game at the Chase Center. As soon as I got outside the building I noticed a difference. The front entrance was wider and more spacious. They had a large shot of the lush green […]

Late October proved to have a lot of news, with the announcement of new tech and news of VPNs being hacked. These are some of the major news: NordVPN Hacked On October 21st, NordVPN, a popular VPN service announced that they had been attacked a few months prior to the announcement. The company states that […]

*Written by Kanchan Naik, Founder and former Editor-in-Chief of The Roar “You know what I am? I’m a dog chasing cars. I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I caught it! I just do things. Schemers trying to control their little worlds. I’m not a schemer. I try to show schemers how pathetic […]

With more and more content uploaded on the internet every minute, it is easier for one to be distracted easily by the internet. Within a brief moment, 2 hours have already passed and you wonder how did 1 click lead to an internet rabbit hole. But don’t lose hope. I will mention some useful applications […]

1. Marissa Meyers’ Renegades Trilogy   First up on the list is a new release of this fall, the conclusion to the amazingly written Renegades Trilogy by Marissa Meyer. Renegades opened up the futuristic world where a portion of the population are prodigies who possess super powered abilities and there is an ever present conflict between the Renegade […]

Apple.Inc announced the launch of AirPods Pro on October 28th, 2019, which is a new and updated design of the existing AirPods. AirPods Pro seeks to improve the noise-canceling technology and water resistance level. The overall appearance of the AirPods slightly changes; the silicone tips in the front are designed to make listeners more comfortable. […]

Video Games at this time and age, are played by everyone spanning all ages. There are games made for all audiences. You like puzzles? Try Tetris. Puzzles boring? Add some action with first person shooters like Overwatch. Want something scary? How about Resident Evil. Video games span almost every genre possible. However, have you ever […]

On September 20th, Apple. Inc released three new iPhones, the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max. For iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max, one new color was released, midnight green. This color unexpectedly attracted lots of people’s attention. There are also three new colors for iPhone 11, such as […]

Photo Credit: Anoushka Prashanth As we continue deeper and deeper into the new school year, naturally, we get more involved in our academics, schoolwork, and extracurriculars. For many students, it can be hard to get some time away from the chaos of the daily grind. Taking a day trip to the beach may be the […]

Original Art by Izzy Chiang June: “I never did ask you about your street name. Why ‘Day?’” Day: “Each day means a new twenty-four hours. Each day means everything’s possible again. You live in the moment, you die in the moment, you take it all one day at a time. You try to walk in […]