by Donggeon Kim (Grade 11) Project Hail Mary , the latest movie by directing duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, has gained critical acclaim since its release just a week ago. With an outstanding 4.4/5 on Letterboxd (making it the 89th highest rated movie btw), 8.5 on IMDb, and a 96% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, Project Hail Mary seems to be a strong contender for the Oscars next year (with ratings higher than One Battle After Another, which won Best Picture at the O

by Sophie Tsai (Grade 10) Against the backdrop of the Great Depression and two World Wars, Stoner   (1965) by John Williams recounts the story of a farmer’s son who goes on to become a literature professor. An English seminar transforms Stoner’s life. Yet unlike the typical Bildungsroman, which follows the major milestones of its characters, Stoner  is about a man whose life remains ordinary and indistinguishable.  Upon picking up the novel, I was quickly captivated by its l

By Yuki Shibata (Grade 11) and Noah Lindsay (Grade 12)

by Jack Hua (Grade 8)

by Geneva Chang (Grade 11) Editors Note: Geneva is one of two Stage Managers for this production. When you walk into school in that nice and breezy 27°C air, don’t you sometimes wish that everything could get colder by the minute until it is all… frozen?  Ignoring that bad pun, our theater department has been hard at work for the past few months on the production of the long-awaited Frozen Jr , which is to finally premiere this weekend with four shows from March 20 to March 2

Opinion by Noah Lindsey (Grade 12) To preface this article that is entirely rooted in a fading interest of any academic activities preceding a long-awaited graduation in about two months, it is important to remind all readers that everything written is merely light-hearted opinion and should not be taken too seriously. I also do not complain this much on a regular basis and, throughout this article, frequently use hyperbolic language for entertainment purposes.  The IB mock e

Opinion by Matt Bailey Read the article here.

Opinion by Donggeon Kim (Grade 11) Paramount has effectively won the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery. Back in December, Netflix reached an 83 billion deal to acquire a large chunk of Warner Bros. Discovery, including Warner Bros. film and television studios and HBO Max. This deal was countered by Paramount, which offered 111 billion. Netflix refused to counter with a higher offer, effectively having Paramount win the bid.  For their initial deal, Netflix came under hea

by Erica Liu (Grade 9) I would rate Barbie a 7.5 out of 10. While I liked the movie, I did not find it very exciting since there was not a huge plot twist or anything. Instead, it focuses on character development and powerful lessons learned about identity, self-worth, and social inequality. It is more of a heartwarming experience than a movie with drama and plot twists. One of my favorite parts of the movie was the soundtrack. It fits both the good and bad moments perfectly

Opinion by Zaine Ahmed (Grade 10) Women are the most oppressed class in history, which is all the more surprising given they are an equal majority in the world. Women have been historically oppressed and beaten down, forced to marry for the right price. Marital rape was legal until 1994, meaning that you could watch Forrest Gump  before you could say no to your husband’s advances. This is just one of the incredibly disgusting things that happen to women, and honestly, most of

Opinion by Benjamin Lo (Grade 9) At a time when State of the Union speeches act largely as a historical relic, a precedent set by George Washington, the SOTU speech this year was nothing less than a “State of the President’s Personal Ego” speech. California Governor, Gavin Newsom, posted this on his socials on the day of the speech The SOTU is supposed to be a constitutional ritual with a very specific civic purpose: an accounting of overall national conditions and an explan

Opinion by Jonathan Chen (Grade 11) Read the piece here.

By: Yuki Shibata (11)

by London Chang and Makayla Liao (Grade 10) Episode 2:

by London Chang & Makayla Liao (Grade 10) London & Makayla have made this series  of podcasts for their Personal Project. The episodes will be released here over the next few weeks. Listen to episode 1: Any comments or feedback are welcome.

Opinion by Amy Ryu (Grade 9) Our phones vibrate before our thoughts. We scroll and shout out meaningless slang words and it never seems to stop. We often treat these actions as a form of rest, believing they give our brains room to rest from the tireless academics. However, the spread of this kind of unproductive behavior unintentionally prevents us from thinking.  Today, we live in a society where noise never ends. This may even be the loudest age in human history. Since we’

Opinion by Belle Ng (Grade 9) Last year, I was accused of plagiarizing a summative essay by a teacher. The accusation cost me sleep, tears, and a lot of trust in the system that is supposed to protect us students. I’m not retelling a rumor or exaggerating a story. This actually happened, and it never should have. My argument is simple: students should not be accused of plagiarism without evidence. Here’s what happened. The summative was written in class. The prompt was given

By: Yuki Shibata (11) Which restaurant has the best fries? After careful thought and consideration, and taking into consideration a high school survey (which had 98 responses!), I have compiled a comprehensive ranking and rating of all the fries I have consumed from various restaurants and fast-food establishments (in order from worst to best).  10. KAS Snack Bar Fries The controversial fries at the Kaohsiung American School’s snack bar have ended up in tenth place, a disappo

Opinion by Donggeon Kim (Grade 11) Hollywood often likes to play it safe. As of the past few years, reboots and sequels have dominated the box office, notably with films such as Inside Out 2 , Jurassic World Rebirth , and Zootopia 2 . As this trend continues, it feels as though the movie-making industry is more interested in playing it safe than being creative and original. From repetitive sequels like Avatar: Fire and Ash,  to live-action remakes of classic movies like the r

Opinion by Jay Cheung (Grade 11) Over the past decade, Disney has released live-action remake after live-action remake to underwhelming, and sometimes hostile, reception. This is best seen in Mulan , The Little Mermaid , Pinocchio , and Snow White . Even the remakes that performed well at the box office— The Lion King , Aladdin , and Beauty and the Beast —haven’t been without their controversies. All across the internet, fans have been echoing the same sentiment: What exactly