The Bluffer - Red Bluff, CA
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/509223
Hilarious app that will keep you busy. Page 4 May 8, 2015 Arts and Entertainment Definately a good read for those who enjoy comedy! Amazing sequel, with an awesome plotline and characters! Unique game that doesn't dissapoint! Rebecca Frey Staff Writer Julissa Villalobos Staff Writer Kourtney Sanders Staff Writer Nichole Valdez Staff Writer 'Me and Earl and the Dying Girl' delights New 'Avengers' enthralls crowds 'Dubsmash' excites through uplifting lip-syncing videos " ...it is an uplifting app that can make your mood go from bored to excited." 'Avengers: Age of Ultron', directed by Joss Whedon. This sequel defied my every expectation to the first. Admittedly, I was a little nervous about it after seeing the first 'Avengers', 'Captain America', etc., seeing if it could live up to them, but this by far is my favorite. As all Marvel movies go, there's action, humor, pain, and a cameo from Stan Lee. This movie had all this and more. The action wasn't over the top or cheesy as I had feared, as sometimes Marvel can take things far enough to make you grimace. Along with that, there were gags that ran through the whole movie that I absolutely loved. Seeing that this is a Marvel movie, there's also pain. Loss and angst did get thrown in the midst of the movie, but Joss Whedon quickly wrapped it up with a little humor; something that sometimes annoys me (if you're going to be sad, rip my heart out. Don't make me feel a bunch of different emotions. That's not cool.), but it didn't have as much of it. The villain of the movie was witty and a bit creepy, and was created in a somewhat original way that I liked. Intended as a peacekeeping program to protect the Earth, created by Tony Stark, the artificial intelligence turns rogue when it realizes that to protect the world, it must eliminate the Avengers (the "monsters", he calls them), and remake the Earth. James Spader played this part beautifully. By his side are the twins- Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, humans that were experimented on to have powers beyond this world, like being extremely fast and strong, and the ability to twist people's minds to relive their worst nightmares and fears. With new additions to the team, including an incredible rival to Ultron that relates to the fourth Infinity Stone, the Avengers team is as awesome as ever. However, I still have a little skepticism of Natasha and Bruce (I think I like it?). Even with a few bumps in the trust of the team, shocking turns, tough situations, and intimate views of each of the characters' darknesses, this makeshift family of a team is strong and alarmingly beautiful. The book 'Me and Earl and the Dying Girl', by Jesse Andrews is a story about Greg Gains, a senior in high school, who thinks he's figured out the answer to the common question, how is it possible to exist in a place that sucks so bad? He resorts to remain in the outskirts of people's attention. His strategy is to keep a low-key profile away from associating with anybody from school, thus making it out of high school unscathed. However, he does enjoy making mediocre films with his kind-of-maybe "coworker" as he describes him, Earl. Everything works great for the first eight hours of the day. Then Greg's mom basically forces him to become friends with a girl who has cancer. So in the end, his perfect plan for senior year bites the dust once she becomes a part of Greg's life. Now you may be wondering if this novel is similar to 'The Fault in Our Stars' by John Green, since one of the main characters is a girl with cancer, but in reality, that's the only thing both books have in common. The story is told from a male's point of view, as opposed to 'The Fault in Our Stars''s leading female narration. Greg isn't as romantic and poetic as Augustus Waters, in fact he's more practical and awkward, but he's still funny. Right off the bat, he tells the reader that this book isn't some cliche love and death story and if those were their initial thoughts, he then proceeds to say, "You should probably smush this book into a garbage disposal and then run away." A few lines later, he says, "This book contains precisely zero Important Life Lessons, or Little-Known Facts about Love, or sappy tear-jerking Moments When We Knew We Had Left Our Childhood Behind for Good, or whatever." After reading that, I felt as if somebody had slapped me in the face because that's exactly what my initial thought on this book was. I thought it was going to be a similar and thin plotted version of 'Fault in Our Stars', but it's actually more realistic and relatable. Jesse Andrews gives Greg a strong voice and he completely captured my attention from the very first line of the novel, which reads, "I have no idea how to write this stupid book." Andrews formatted this book so the main character is speaking to the reader and he pulled it off quite well for a late-twenties year old. Andrews accurately portrays a teenager's thoughts about hating high school and the nuisance its people cause. Greg's story has now inspired a hit film which is due to be released this June nationwide. I strongly recommend this book if you enjoy comedies or if you're just looking for something new. This is an outstanding novel to read. The new 'Dubsmash' app is a very different app from any other. It is a very interesting app and has many different qualities. After you download this app off of either IOS or Android, then you can create an account, or you could just browse as a guest. Then you can look for fun sounds. You can either search types of sounds or just look at the most popular sounds. You can choose and save you favorite sounds which is very fun to do. Most sounds are really dumb and make no sense, but that's what intrigues you to go on this app. After making the difficult decision of choosing a sound, then you can start to record and make a video. Even though the choosing sounds may sound like the most exciting aspect of this app, it isn't. The most exciting is when you get to make a video and record yourself lip- syncing whatever sound you chose before. This is where you get to be the most unique. It doesn't matter if you're alone and just wasting time, or if you're hanging out with friends and doing this, but either way it is an uplifting app that can make your mood go from bored to excited. Once you get your lip- syncing just right you can save the video and share it on social media, like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. You can never be doing the exact same thing over and over, there is a large variety of sounds and what you can do. The possibilities are endless when you put your own spin on it. At first when using this app I saw no cons, only pros, but after awhile I realized that your video can't be longer than ten seconds which is really depressing. I wish that you could have longer sounds and videos, but it the ten seconds makes it short and sweet. In all this app is a great way to spend a Friday night either with friends or when your with a group of people looking to have a good time. This is a simple and easy game to play and comes in multiple languages. It is a very diverse game and is definitely one of my favorites. You've seen them everywhere. On Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and even Vine, the new app that turns your selfie into a three dimensional avatar. I've seen many dancing avatars all over social media and I just had to try it for myself. Of course I didn't know what the app was called because I don't read nor speak Chinese, but I eventually found it. The app is called 'My Idol', and the best part: it's free. That's one of the many reasons I downloaded the app. Although it's hilarious to watch yourself dance to Justin Timberlake's 'sexy back', it's also quite creepy. The app creates a Wii- like avatar. You can dress it however you choose, make it ride a motorcycle, sing, even make your avatar look older by adding wrinkles. The app has multiple features on it, but what seems to be everyone's favorite is the dancing. When I made my avatar I discovered that I could have multiple avatars and it would save them all, so you could switch back and forth between avatars. The recent update for this app has many users upset due to the fact that the creators took away everyone's favorite dancing song "sexy back". When I first downloaded the app it had the song "sexy back", but when I found out most of my friends had just downloaded it a few days later "sexy back" was no longer a feature on the app. I was quite annoyed because that song was one of the few I could actually understand. As I watched myself dance on my phone screen I couldn't control my laughter, then suddenly I felt very violated. The dancing was, in my opinion, inappropriate. Even though the dancing is inappropriate, it's funny as well. Another one of my favorite features the avatar does is when it sings in Chinese because I can't understand anything it says, which makes it hilarious. I would definitely recommend this free app to anyone who loves a good laugh or creating avatars. Thor (Chris Hemswerth), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), and Captain America (Chris Evans) search a facility as part of their mission in 'Avengers: Age of Ultron'. www.flickeringmyth.com 'My Idol' creates fun with wide variety of activities and songs images.latintimes.com Eva Longoria's 'My Idol' character was customized to look like herself.