Author Archives: Ellie

Lovejoy: An Album Review

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Lovejoy is a indie rock band that is founded by William Gold, who goes by Wilbur Soot. The members include Ash Kabosu on drums, Joe Goldsmith on guitar, Mark Boardman on drums, and Wilbur on vocals and guitar. On October 14th, 2021, they released an album titled Pebblebrain. It features seven tracks, of which four of them I will be going over.

The first song is “Oh Yeah, You Gonna Cry?” This energetic piece is about a man, presumably someone Wilbur knows, who hasn’t gotten over his ex-girlfriend yet. In it, Wilbur states that the girl was too good for him. It’s sort of adding insult to the man’s injury, as from the lyrics you can assume that Wilbur is in love with the girl as well.

Next up is “Model Buses,” which is a reference to the UK’s prime minister’s strange hobby of crafting models of buses. The song is about a girl, presumably the same one from “Oh Yeah, You Gonna Cry?”, who is now single and fears a new relationship. Similar to beliefs about the prime minister, they are both “Scared of the future”

“Spitting spite as fast as saliva,” sings “Concrete,” a song in which Wilbur finally gets together with the girl but things don’t seem as well as he thought they would. The lyrics seem to insinuate an unhealthy relationship between the two, saying “If I had it my way, you’d sleep on the concrete floor.”

Finally, “Perfume” is my favorite song in the EP. Initially, it was going to be scrapped from the album until his friend, Tommy, told him not to. It tells the story of after their breakup, with the girl going back to her old ex. Wilbur says, “I can still smell her perfume,” suggesting that he misses her. Unlike the other songs, we get a view from the girl’s perspective. The lyrics show how she wanted to be in a relationship, saying “It seems like all her friends abruptly fell in love, and she was in the dust.” This was most likely the reason for their break-up, as she wasn’t fully committed to the relationship, instead using it for a better status.

In total, the Pebblebrain album is one heck of a ride. Not only that, but the songs are incredibly catchy. I highly recommend this to any pragmatic lovers, who don’t want a fantasy love song and instead a reality check on how tough love can actually be.

Listen and download music by Lovejoy free with your library card on Freegal.

The First Flight Around The World

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I was researching historical events that happened on my birthday when I came across an interesting one. The first around the world flight landed on September 28, my birthday. It took 175 days to complete it. But how did it happen? 

First up was the preparation. The U.S. Army Air Service, Coast Guard, Bureau of Fisheries, and Navy all donated fuel, oil, engines, and spare parts. There were going to be four airplanes; Boston, New Orleans, Seattle, and Chicago. As you can tell, they were all named after American cities. 

The objective of this treacherous journey was to display to the world that airplanes were a valid transportation method for all to use, and to advertise the new Douglas World Cruisers. Each plane could only take 300 pounds worth of supplies, meaning they couldn’t afford to take parachutes or life preservers. 

The four planes took off on April 6, 1924, in Seattle, Washington, heading west. They flew up the coast of Canada through Alaska. Alaska had freezing temperatures, thick fog, and violent, unpredictable storms. While traveling through, Seattle crashed. Fortunately, both the pilot and the mechanic were saved, but it was so early in the journey and they had already lost a plane. Luckily, the rest of them made it through Alaska. 

In May and June, they started venturing into Asia. Asia had typhoons, humid weather, and extreme heat. Japan was excited about aviation, but also suspicious of the planes provided by the military. They gave the pilots a harder route, in order to keep their military secrets hidden. Even with the harder route, they were able to make it through southeast Asia. 

In June and July, they started across India. Instead of fog and rain, they now had the humid tropical jungles and sandy winds of what is now Iraq and Jordan. 

At last, they made it to the edge of Europe in August. Now they had the daunting task of crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Keep in mind, these were old planes, and therefore needed to stop very often. The Navy stationed large ships along the route for when they needed to land. The journey to Iceland seriously tested the pilots’ skill. Heavy fog forced them to fly close to the wild waves. They were going 90 miles per hour with very little visibility. On top of that, towering icebergs floated in the sea, the pilots just narrowly avoiding them. They made it to Iceland, and from there went to Greenland. The conditions were the same, foggy and violent. From Greenland, only Chicago and New Orleans could make the trip to Labrador, Canada. Boston suffered serious damage, and couldn’t continue the journey. 

Once they entered the US, the pilots were crowded with fans at every stop. They flew down the east coast of America.

At last, they reached their final miles. The World Flight center was overflowing with eager crowds, waiting to see the latest American aviators. They crossed the desert to San Diego, and went up the west coast. Chicago and New Orleans landed successfully at the World Flight center in Seattle on September 28, 1924. They took 74 stops, and covered about 27,550 miles.

Manga Review: Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa

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Contains minor spoilers for the manga!

Fifteen year old Edward Elric is a state alchemist, who uses alchemy for the good of his country. Although young, he has experienced much more than your average teen. At the age of 12, Edward and his brother, Alphonse, tried to bring back their deceased mother with a complex alchemy process called human transmutation. This is one of the biggest crimes against Alchemy. But the ritual fails, and the cost of trying to bring back a human is grave. Edward loses an arm and a leg, and Alphonse’s whole body is disabled. After finding the right mechanic and doctor, Alphonse inserts his soul into a hallow suit of armor (making him nearly invincible) and Edward replaces his limbs with prosthetics. In their time serving for the state, they discover that there is someone sacrificing thousands of lives to make a powerful object called a Philosopher’s Stone. It lets you create and destroy without needing any other source of energy. But beyond that, it also bring people back from the dead. Even with this discovery, Edward refuses to use a Philosopher’s Stone to help him. He and his brother make shocking discoveries on their quest to return to their original bodies, and they start to realize just how flawed the human race really is.

Fullmetal Alchemist is a dark story that dives deep into the nature of humans, revealing true intentions and then surfacing with brutal truths. A recurring statement in the series is the law of equivalent exchange, that explains that to receive, you must give something of equal or greater value. It’s shown when the Elrics break the law of attempting human transmutation, and for it they paid dearly. Edward had lost a lot, but in the end all of it gave him purpose to defeat the antagonist. I believe this is one of the morals of the series: To gain anything, you have to lose something first. Mistakes are just steps towards success.

The antagonist’s goal was to create the perfect being, seeing humanity as a lower, weaker form. Perfect beings may be able to make the best choice in situations, but what the antagonist underestimated was the sacrificial and relentless instinct of humans. The antagonist could not understand the way that people were driven by emotions like grief or anger, instead of deterred by them. Ultimately, that was his downfall. This is the second lesson I learned from the series. It presents that humanity is flawed, but those flaws are what pushes us to be better. Imperfection is perfect in it’s own way.

This manga is definitely one worth reading. Although it has some serious themes, it still has humorous moments and it’s easy to follow. Consider giving it a go!

-Ellie K, 7th Grade

Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library.