By Natalie Wang, ΒΨ Halloween this year has been kind of like the punishment that Tantalus received when he went to the Underworld. Much like the water and delicious fruit presented to Tantalus, Halloween had the perfect conditions of having a full moon and being on a Saturday. And yet, much like how the water and delicious fruit are always out of Tantalus’s grasp, we could not enjoy any Halloween parties or trick-or-treating due to the current pandemic. Well, almost everyone...but not PsiEK! To commemorate this fantastic holiday, the Directors of Brother-Sisterhood Relations and Directors of Music from Psi and EK banded together to host a virtual Halloween party, and it was 11/10 would-do-again-but-maybe-not-because-hopefully-pandemic-will-be-done-by-next-Halloween!
The party boasted an exciting agenda, with skribbl.io, Jackbox, pumpkin carving, costumes, and — my personal favorite — music presentations! Participants were encouraged to make lip sync videos of Halloween songs or PowerPoint presentations about a spooky song. Then, they could present in the music presentations breakout room. And before you ask, no, no one did Spooky Scary Skeletons. Instead, we had bangers like “One Good Scare” from Phineas and Ferb, “This Is Halloween” the Just Dance version, “Calling All the Monsters” from ANT Farm, “Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared 1”, and “String Quartet No. 7” by Ben Johnston. In order to give you an idea on each performance/presentation, here are my reviews: “One Good Scare” from Phineas and Ferb: This lip sync video opens up with a very impressive intro of Gina Talcott as Isabella with a bad case of the hiccups. Then, like a knight in shining armor, Liz Gulli as Phineas decides to help “Isabella” out and scare the hiccups out of her. Later on, other characters join the fray: Nellie KH as Buford, Ceci Porras as Baljeet, Adriana Vree as Jeremy, and their non-PsiEK roommate Dahlia as Candace. They had coordinated dance movements and flawless lip syncing. They even lip synced dialogue parts! I give this one a 100/10 for coordinated costumes, dancing, and acting. “This Is Halloween” the Just Dance version: Emma Boone, Erica Vellanoweth, Andy Nguyen, and Naveed Zaman recreated the Just Dance version of “This Is Halloween” from The Nightmare Before Christmas. While I find The Nightmare Before Christmas to be rather controversial (is it a Halloween movie or a Christmas movie??) , the four of them were able to cement this dance as a Halloween special by wearing spooky costumes. Actually, I’ve just been informed that Andy was wearing a hotdog costume in the video, but my point still stands. Spooky costumes. Also, if they ever dance this song at a party, they will definitely be getting Perfects on every move. I give this one a 69/10. “Calling All the Monsters” from ANT Farm: Imagine this. You’re in 5th grade. You hate everyone. After a long day of hating everyone, you come home, turn on the TV, and tune into your favorite Disney Channel show, ANT Farm. Then, they drop this crazy AU episode where all the geniuses are monsters, and at the end, China sings “Calling All the Monsters.” And for the first time in your life, you think “You know, maybe life is not so bad.” Presentation was by Erica Vellanoweth, and it was ∞/10. Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared 1: Alright, so I cannot offer an impartial review of this presentation because it was half presented by me. In the first part, Annabel Li and I presented our lip sync version of the song. Then, in the second part, I gave a PowerPoint presentation about Don’t Hug I’m Scared. Instead of giving a score, I will use this time to urge you, please dear reader, please watch all of Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared (DHMIS). DHMIS offers beautiful commentary on the effects of capitalism in the media and the oppression of artistic freedom. There are 6 videos. I promise it will change your life. “String Quartet No. 7” by Ben Johnston: Sometimes, I wonder how Orpheus felt when he went into the Underworld to find his lover Eurydice, only to lose her by accidentally turning around. According to one version of the myth, after his failure in reuniting with Eurydice, he spent everyday playing music so sorrowful and painful that he was killed by nymphs. I imagine that he must have taken a lot of inspiration from “String Quartet No. 7” by Ben Johnston. While we are on the subject, who hurt you Mr. Johnston? Who did this to you? Adam Traut did a great job explaining to us why this song sounds the way it does. He showed us diagrams of sound waves and explained to us how each violin needs to be perfectly out of tune for the song to work. His understanding of the subject is impressive, and the song is certified bon-chilling. I give this one a 420/10. All in all, it was a great Halloween Party! A big thanks to the officers who put on the amazing event! Now, if you excuse me, I need to go blast “Calling All the Monsters'' while eating an entire jar of Nutella. Comments are closed.
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Marissa Pe
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