Device Debacles
In today's world, phones are just as vital to communication as actual words. When the unpredictable happens to them, they leave the owner just as broken as the actual device.
Everybody knows the risk that accompanies having a phone. Chances are you've had to suffer through that heart-stopping moment when your phone slips from your fingers, landing screen-down on the floor as the world’s tiniest violin plays behind your abrupt gasp. But how long can phones actually survive? We investigated these experiences, discovering if the price is worth the product or if Apple could let us down even more than when they removed the headphone jack.
Junior Morgan Marisa experienced a miracle when she was getting out of a canoe on a snake-infested lake at night and informed us, firsthand, how it all went down.
“I felt my phone fall out of my pocket into the muddy water so naturally I leapt in after it fully-clothed. I hung onto the dock and searched with my feet,” said Marisa, “It took a miraculous 15 minutes to save it from the depths of the lake...Two days and a bowl full of rice later and she’s as good as new. All my pictures and faith in iPhones were restored.”
Junior Mason Gautschi suffered less fortunate experiences with a number of different phones.
“When I was in Arizona on vacation, I decided to jump into hypothermic water to ride a natural rock slide. This was the first time a phone took an L. A year later, I swan dove from my neighbor's deck into their pool - also with my phone in my pocket. Second L,” said Gautschi, “Then, one quick year later I dunked on Josh Wise so hard that I fell from the rim and landed hard on the concrete... on top of my phone. It shattered his dreams and my iPhone. Third and final L.”
Although it is hard to beat that stream of mishaps, similar circumstances happened unwillingly to sophomore Jake Chabrier as he reflects that fateful cross country pool party.
"We were having fun and threw Lucas Dunst in the pool. Then a kid pushed me in with my phone in my pocket. We tried to save it with rice but it died and I had to get a new phone."
Senior Sara Degurian’s phone also fell victim to water at a cross country tournament.
“I left my phone in my bag and my water bottle spilled on it. Only half of my screen worked afterwards,” said Degurian.
Last year, another iPhone was victimized when Santino DiBartola, a sophomore, “lost a battle in Clash Royale [at lunch] and smashed it on the table.”
Rest in peace to not only his iPhone but his Clash trophies as well.
Quite possibly the most tragic story we were able to uncover was the untimely death of senior Jared Weyers’ flip phone.
“[My friends and I] were going to buy cake from the dairy bar. We biked there and my flip phone fell out of my pocket and got #wrekt by my bike tires. I miss that phone, I could play uno for 45 second intervals,” reminisced Weyers about his catastrophic loss.
However, what happens to your destroyed phone might be just as tragic as the aftermath. Parents aren’t always so forgiving.
“It was all fun and games until my mom told me that if I was getting a new phone, I was paying for it myself,” said senior Caitlin Matthews after smashing her screen.
Everybody knows the risk that accompanies having a phone. Chances are you've had to suffer through that heart-stopping moment when your phone slips from your fingers, landing screen-down on the floor as the world’s tiniest violin plays behind your abrupt gasp. But how long can phones actually survive? We investigated these experiences, discovering if the price is worth the product or if Apple could let us down even more than when they removed the headphone jack.
Junior Morgan Marisa experienced a miracle when she was getting out of a canoe on a snake-infested lake at night and informed us, firsthand, how it all went down.
“I felt my phone fall out of my pocket into the muddy water so naturally I leapt in after it fully-clothed. I hung onto the dock and searched with my feet,” said Marisa, “It took a miraculous 15 minutes to save it from the depths of the lake...Two days and a bowl full of rice later and she’s as good as new. All my pictures and faith in iPhones were restored.”
Junior Mason Gautschi suffered less fortunate experiences with a number of different phones.
“When I was in Arizona on vacation, I decided to jump into hypothermic water to ride a natural rock slide. This was the first time a phone took an L. A year later, I swan dove from my neighbor's deck into their pool - also with my phone in my pocket. Second L,” said Gautschi, “Then, one quick year later I dunked on Josh Wise so hard that I fell from the rim and landed hard on the concrete... on top of my phone. It shattered his dreams and my iPhone. Third and final L.”
Although it is hard to beat that stream of mishaps, similar circumstances happened unwillingly to sophomore Jake Chabrier as he reflects that fateful cross country pool party.
"We were having fun and threw Lucas Dunst in the pool. Then a kid pushed me in with my phone in my pocket. We tried to save it with rice but it died and I had to get a new phone."
Senior Sara Degurian’s phone also fell victim to water at a cross country tournament.
“I left my phone in my bag and my water bottle spilled on it. Only half of my screen worked afterwards,” said Degurian.
Last year, another iPhone was victimized when Santino DiBartola, a sophomore, “lost a battle in Clash Royale [at lunch] and smashed it on the table.”
Rest in peace to not only his iPhone but his Clash trophies as well.
Quite possibly the most tragic story we were able to uncover was the untimely death of senior Jared Weyers’ flip phone.
“[My friends and I] were going to buy cake from the dairy bar. We biked there and my flip phone fell out of my pocket and got #wrekt by my bike tires. I miss that phone, I could play uno for 45 second intervals,” reminisced Weyers about his catastrophic loss.
However, what happens to your destroyed phone might be just as tragic as the aftermath. Parents aren’t always so forgiving.
“It was all fun and games until my mom told me that if I was getting a new phone, I was paying for it myself,” said senior Caitlin Matthews after smashing her screen.
NETFLIX V DISNEY: eNEMIES IN eNTERTAINMENT
As Netflix continues to take control of the entertainment industry and revolutionize how we view television and film, the popular streaming service will face a new rival in one of the largest and most wide-reaching corporate giants. Recently, Disney has challenged Netflix by announcing their decision to soon pull out most, if not all, of their properties from their libraries and slowly integrate them into their own streaming service.
Disney, whose subsidiaries include Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilms Studios, is responsible for a large portion of the entertainment industry and has been one of Netflix’s biggest suppliers, even going as far as to license them various properties to adapt into exclusive shows. However, their partnership is now set to end with Disney CEO Bob Iger’s recent announcement for their own stand-alone streaming platform, planned to debut in 2019.
Disney’s sudden decision was probably reinforced by witnessing Netflix’s newfound and growing popularity in recent years, following their production of all-original shows to fill their massive libraries. With trending hits every year, Netflix has developed a reputation for skillfully adapting stories into streamable shows, which demonstrates their ability to generate content without the need for suppliers such as Disney.
With their shrinking leverage in the streaming market, Disney has taken to developing their own platform, based off of the results from DisneyLife, an experimental service in the UK. Their new platform, purely comprised of Disney shows and movies, is geared towards children. Users will be able to access and watch new releases by Disney, from their television programming to some of their largest studio properties. While an official name and price haven’t been set yet, like Netflix, it will feature monthly payments for a large library of content to browse through.
Despite the fact that Disney is now in direct competition with streaming services such as Netflix, the conflict isn’t anything new and tensions have been culminating between the two mediums ever since they first clashed. In an industry in need of gigantuan profits to stay afloat, the fierce competition emphasizes the battle to keep their respective models of business profitable, affecting their systems of production shortly thereafter.
While Disney and other Hollywood studios generate their earnings through the production of movies, they often rely on focusing most of their talent towards releasing a major hit movie during specific prime times every year. This traditional model has been adapted over time to maximize viewership, with patterns for ‘Blockbuster’ movies emerging since the 1950s to exaggerate and hype movies in order to sell more tickets. In the modern markets, these studios have updated their models by producing numerous sequels and expanding continuities to lure in the audiences with pre-established characters and backgrounds.
On the other hand, the Netflix model, which is quickly being adopted by other streaming services, revolves around attracting viewers to their service by constantly expanding their libraries as well as their exclusive shows, or ‘Platform Originals.’ They then charge users monthly subscriptions to keep access to their libraries, which includes their exclusive line-ups and popular shows licensed by other studios. Ultimately, by cycling their profits back to producing exclusive shows, the service becomes less reliant on other studios for content.
While the relationship between Hollywood Studios and streaming services, as represented by Netflix and Disney, could be beneficially shared for a short time, their expansions into each other’s roles puts them in conflict. With Netflix’s development of original exclusives and Disney’s plans to implement their own streaming service, their relationship is being strained and will soon put them in direct competition. Over time, this rivalry will adapt to further renovate how the two mediums produce entertainment, and by extension, how we view it ourselves.
Disney, whose subsidiaries include Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilms Studios, is responsible for a large portion of the entertainment industry and has been one of Netflix’s biggest suppliers, even going as far as to license them various properties to adapt into exclusive shows. However, their partnership is now set to end with Disney CEO Bob Iger’s recent announcement for their own stand-alone streaming platform, planned to debut in 2019.
Disney’s sudden decision was probably reinforced by witnessing Netflix’s newfound and growing popularity in recent years, following their production of all-original shows to fill their massive libraries. With trending hits every year, Netflix has developed a reputation for skillfully adapting stories into streamable shows, which demonstrates their ability to generate content without the need for suppliers such as Disney.
With their shrinking leverage in the streaming market, Disney has taken to developing their own platform, based off of the results from DisneyLife, an experimental service in the UK. Their new platform, purely comprised of Disney shows and movies, is geared towards children. Users will be able to access and watch new releases by Disney, from their television programming to some of their largest studio properties. While an official name and price haven’t been set yet, like Netflix, it will feature monthly payments for a large library of content to browse through.
Despite the fact that Disney is now in direct competition with streaming services such as Netflix, the conflict isn’t anything new and tensions have been culminating between the two mediums ever since they first clashed. In an industry in need of gigantuan profits to stay afloat, the fierce competition emphasizes the battle to keep their respective models of business profitable, affecting their systems of production shortly thereafter.
While Disney and other Hollywood studios generate their earnings through the production of movies, they often rely on focusing most of their talent towards releasing a major hit movie during specific prime times every year. This traditional model has been adapted over time to maximize viewership, with patterns for ‘Blockbuster’ movies emerging since the 1950s to exaggerate and hype movies in order to sell more tickets. In the modern markets, these studios have updated their models by producing numerous sequels and expanding continuities to lure in the audiences with pre-established characters and backgrounds.
On the other hand, the Netflix model, which is quickly being adopted by other streaming services, revolves around attracting viewers to their service by constantly expanding their libraries as well as their exclusive shows, or ‘Platform Originals.’ They then charge users monthly subscriptions to keep access to their libraries, which includes their exclusive line-ups and popular shows licensed by other studios. Ultimately, by cycling their profits back to producing exclusive shows, the service becomes less reliant on other studios for content.
While the relationship between Hollywood Studios and streaming services, as represented by Netflix and Disney, could be beneficially shared for a short time, their expansions into each other’s roles puts them in conflict. With Netflix’s development of original exclusives and Disney’s plans to implement their own streaming service, their relationship is being strained and will soon put them in direct competition. Over time, this rivalry will adapt to further renovate how the two mediums produce entertainment, and by extension, how we view it ourselves.
PT's Got Talent
At one point in or another, most people probably wondered if they were destined to be the next American Idol or if their singing in the shower could become something much more. Maybe, you really are destined to be famous but never took the opportunity when or if it came.
The dream of standing in front of Simon Cowell, Mel B, and the other famous TV judges may not be as glamorous as it appears. Three of PT’s most talented voices did jump at the chance for fame, but discovered the experience was not quite what they expected.
“I was ten years old, and I decided to go to Chicago to audition for America's Got Talent. My family and I drove six hours to the Windy City in hopes of me getting a live audition,” said senior Chloe Mesogitis. “We had to wake up at 3am to go to the convention center to stand in line.”
After travelling hundreds of miles with nerves and excitement bubbling inside, the next part should be the most exhilarating of it all.
“Basically, you get a number that you wear, and you stand in line for hours. Then, they put you in this big holding area for about an hour or two,” said Mesogitis.
Although, the wait must have been nerve-wracking, it offered an opportunity to interact with other performers. Everyone is in the same boat when awaiting their audition so conversation between the artists provides a friendly, stress-reliever.
“Singing with others in the line for American Idol was the best part of the whole experience,” said senior Miah Whitmore. “I went through 5 water bottles.”
Whitmore, who auditioned for American Idol, can be found singing and performing in the school productions. Both Whitmore and Mesogitis have been cast in lead singing roles in recent musicals such as Les Misérables.
“We were separated into groups of four and all went up to the judge (a producer from the show) together and stepped forward to be called on,” said Whitmore. “The judge was harsh and offered her version of ‘constructive’ criticism.”
In advertising the show, the producers forget to mention an important part of the process- the performers must go through multiple auditions in various locations around the country before they even have the opportunity to sing in front of the judges.
“It's not like you wait in line and audition for Simon Cowell and a live audience, you audition to get to that,” said Mesogitis.
Sophomore Emma Mindach agreed that the entire process was misleading and a tad disappointing when she recently signed up to audition for America’s Got Talent.
“You have to go through three or four other auditions before the real one in front of the famous judges,” Mindach explained. “They only take the really bad singers and really good singers to the actual audition.”
The acts around them ranged from extremely talented to a little odd, but when it comes to these type of shows, it’s the strange ones who have their moment to shine.
“It seemed like the more unique acts were the ones they wanted,” said Mesogitis. “There were people dressed up as horror movie characters and stuff. It was a little strange.”
Not moving forward from the first audition does not change the fact that these performers have potential still to be publicly recognized.
“Sammy Santiago, one of my group members, released a song not too long after our ’fluked’ audition, and he’s already doing bigger and better things,” said Whitmore.
Auditions may not have been their ticket to fame, but it did provide an inside look into what occurs behind the scenes in these competitive shows.
“It wasn't very glamorous, but it was a very cool experience that I'll hold with me forever,” said Mesogitis.
The dream of standing in front of Simon Cowell, Mel B, and the other famous TV judges may not be as glamorous as it appears. Three of PT’s most talented voices did jump at the chance for fame, but discovered the experience was not quite what they expected.
“I was ten years old, and I decided to go to Chicago to audition for America's Got Talent. My family and I drove six hours to the Windy City in hopes of me getting a live audition,” said senior Chloe Mesogitis. “We had to wake up at 3am to go to the convention center to stand in line.”
After travelling hundreds of miles with nerves and excitement bubbling inside, the next part should be the most exhilarating of it all.
“Basically, you get a number that you wear, and you stand in line for hours. Then, they put you in this big holding area for about an hour or two,” said Mesogitis.
Although, the wait must have been nerve-wracking, it offered an opportunity to interact with other performers. Everyone is in the same boat when awaiting their audition so conversation between the artists provides a friendly, stress-reliever.
“Singing with others in the line for American Idol was the best part of the whole experience,” said senior Miah Whitmore. “I went through 5 water bottles.”
Whitmore, who auditioned for American Idol, can be found singing and performing in the school productions. Both Whitmore and Mesogitis have been cast in lead singing roles in recent musicals such as Les Misérables.
“We were separated into groups of four and all went up to the judge (a producer from the show) together and stepped forward to be called on,” said Whitmore. “The judge was harsh and offered her version of ‘constructive’ criticism.”
In advertising the show, the producers forget to mention an important part of the process- the performers must go through multiple auditions in various locations around the country before they even have the opportunity to sing in front of the judges.
“It's not like you wait in line and audition for Simon Cowell and a live audience, you audition to get to that,” said Mesogitis.
Sophomore Emma Mindach agreed that the entire process was misleading and a tad disappointing when she recently signed up to audition for America’s Got Talent.
“You have to go through three or four other auditions before the real one in front of the famous judges,” Mindach explained. “They only take the really bad singers and really good singers to the actual audition.”
The acts around them ranged from extremely talented to a little odd, but when it comes to these type of shows, it’s the strange ones who have their moment to shine.
“It seemed like the more unique acts were the ones they wanted,” said Mesogitis. “There were people dressed up as horror movie characters and stuff. It was a little strange.”
Not moving forward from the first audition does not change the fact that these performers have potential still to be publicly recognized.
“Sammy Santiago, one of my group members, released a song not too long after our ’fluked’ audition, and he’s already doing bigger and better things,” said Whitmore.
Auditions may not have been their ticket to fame, but it did provide an inside look into what occurs behind the scenes in these competitive shows.
“It wasn't very glamorous, but it was a very cool experience that I'll hold with me forever,” said Mesogitis.