March 10, 2022
Celebrity Q&A: Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Renolds is known to most as the voice (and face) behind the Marvel superhero Deadpool. An actor who made his box office debut in 2004, in Blade Trinity, Reynolds voiced the Nintendo character Pikachu in the film Detective Pikachu. He has also been in plenty of other comedy and action films. Deadpool, to this day, remains one of his most-loved roles with how he fit it so snugly.Q: How is Deadpool different from other characters you had done before?A: I don’t know, they are always different. It’s a very broad question. I honestly do not know; Deadpool is different from any other role that I have ever played.
Q: Did you take the Deadpool suit home?A: Of course, during the last day of shooting, I just packed the thing up and I said, “If someone needs the suit they can fucking try and get it.”
—Desde Hollywood H
Q: What was it like inside the costume?A: Picture strapping your entire body into a tight red body condom. That’s what it is.
—Desde Hollywood H
Q: Your career seemed to really come alive when you carved out a path of less traditional leading men.A: Some of the stuff that I’ve done in the past that you would categorize as maybe didn’t work were moments where I was stepping into the role of the archetypal leading-man role. It’s just not something I’ve ever been really that great at, to be totally blunt.
Q: When Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, the culture clash was often represented by drawings of Mickey Mouse and Deadpool together. Do you have any concerns that future Deadpool films will be toned down under Disney?A: I don’t, no. I don’t have any reason to be concerned based on everything I’ve heard Disney say publicly and privately.
Believe it or not, Professor Roshelle Amundson taught in multiple settings for about ten years, in addition to her teaching practicum, before becoming a college instructor. However, no amount of preparation calmed her nerves. She recalled feeling like an “imposter,” imperfect and afraid of losing credibility with her students for simple mistakes—a common feeling for new teachers. It wouldn’t be until she learned to be transparent and honest with her students about being imperfect that she began to truly feel she was in the right place. In fact, students were able to appreciate her more and open up about their own struggles when she did this, creating safe and encouraging environments for learning.
If you’ve ever taken a creative writing class with me, you know that all roads lead back to Star Wars. Not the prequels, which I largely ignore, nor the sequels, which I pretend do not exist, but the original trilogy released starting in 1977. 
This thriller follows Qiwani, a disabled newspaper man at the local train station, as his romantic obsession with a rogue saleswoman, Hannuma, becomes deadly. A spectacularly shot Hitchcockian-style thriller, Cairo Station leaves you with this uneasy feeling suspecting that something, somewhere is going to happen. Finishing off with an ending that’ll leave you on the edge of your seat, this is one you won’t want to miss if you’re a lover of suspense. Watch now on Netflix. 
This film follows the court trial of Hossain Sabzian, a man who impersonated a famous Iranian director—Mohsen Makhmalbaf—to gain the trust and admiration of a random family. Somehow both a documentary and a drama, this is more of an engaging discussion of film and its impact on people. For any lovers of the art of cinema, this is especially one that you won’t want to miss. Watch now on Amazon Prime. 
Are you familiar with Hulu’s Little Fires Everywhere, released as a series in 2020? Did you know it was previously a novel? Celeste Ng’s novel by the same name is the captivating story of the power struggle between a non-traditional mother and a “white picket fence” mother in the not-so-distant ‘90s. While they duke it out to either “prove” or “disprove” the best way to raise a child, their kids learn what it means to live, to love, and all the struggles that come with becoming young adults in a world that believes in conformity at all costs. The author plays with the idea of breaking the societal expectation boundaries by becoming a traveling artist while her daughter is still an infant. They decide to settle down for the first time in a sleepy little town of upper-middle class citizens where life appears to be perfect. Almost everyone graduates high school, attends a prestigious college, and starts a family soon after. What happens when these two worlds collide cannot be undone. Romantic entanglements, family neglect, and secret pasts finally bubble to the surface for all to see. What’s more important? Fitting in or giving your child the best life you can give them?
Are you looking for new book to read? Look no further than the Pride Center’s queer book of the month: The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall. The novel tells the life story of Stephen Gordon, a lesbian born to a wealthy family in the twentieth century. Filled with many depressing twists and turns, the book shows the sadness that could come from living in a time where being queer was criminalized. Despite its overall emotional story and somewhat controversial content, the book was historically significant as one of the first modern novels about lesbians. Stop in by the Pride Center (M-145) lending library to check out The Well of Loneliness today! If the copy is gone, there are over 200 other queer-friendly books to choose from.
The White Vault tells the story of a repair team sent to Outpost Fristed, located on the island of Svalbard, Norway, which has the northern-most human settlement in the world. Consisting of experts from across the globe, the group works to find out why the outpost is sending out strange signals. Although they manage to fix the radio, a massive snowstorm traps the team on the base because travel is not advised. The longer the crew stays in Outpost Fristed, the more strange and terrifying things they uncover beneath the ice.
The Magnus Archives follows Jonathan Sims, the new Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, which collects and investigates paranormal reports. Each episode, Sims reads a statement made by people who believe that something supernatural occurred to or near them, and the findings made by the Institute related to the report. As the story goes on, you begin to realize that these statements all have elements in common, but Sims refuses to believe that any of them could be true or connected. From there, a larger narrative grows to encompass horrors far greater than Sims could have imagined.
“In space no one can hear you scream,” the tagline to the popular Alien movie series, very accurately summarizes how some might describe their first time playing Alien Isolation. In this game, which is indeed based on the Alien films, you are Amanda Ripley, the daughter of Ellen Ripley, and have been searching for your mother when you finally strike gold. The flight recorder of the ship that Ellen was last recorded to be on is to be found on a space station by the name of the Sevastopol with a team of researchers. Unfortunately, the place had other visitors already on board—ones that are not too friendly either. Crawling through tiny air vents in the pure darkness, you have to move with caution, or the “monster” may come for you. You not only have to run from a monster that hides within the darkness but from other survivors on the station where self-preservation is the first thought on everyone’s mind. There is something amiss, and it’s up to you, Amanda Ripley, to find out what is really going on at the station. There is also mic compatibility to make it more immersive. Alien Isolation can be played on PC, all Playstation systems, all Xbox systems, and even on Android and Apple phones.