the bird on fire

The Bird is the Word: Sophisticated Schoolyard Shenanigans

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Flammable Hot Dog

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A 40-second film by Mark Huber

Movie Poster by Mark Huber: Catch the film “Flammable Hot Dog” below.

Again from the Piggy Universe comes a video depicting Mark Huber eating a hot dog (that’s really a stick of dynamite that his brother, David, has placed in a bun). This is Mark’s latest and longest Google Slides movie as of April 2025. Enjoy!

What’s Happening?

This tells you what is happening in case the video is too fast to understand.

0:03: Cloud moves to show title and creator of movie.

0:04: Cloud blocks title and creator of movie; perspective changes to show Mark’s house. Mark opens door.

0:05: Camera zooms into Mark.

0:07: Mark closes door.

0:08: Mark holds out hot dog and thinks about where to eat. David hops into view.

0:09: Perspective changes to close-up view of hot dog; David throws sausage away.

0:10: David places stick of dynamite where sausage was.

0:12: Perspective changes back to zoomed-in view of Mark’s house.

0:13: David hops out of view.

0:14: Mark’s face lights up; Mark says “Ah-HA!”

0:15: Mark says “I’ll eat right here!” and eats hot dog. Swallows hot dog whole.

0:16: Mark’s eyes go wide, realizing that he ate the dynamite.

0:17: Mark says, “That doesn’t taste like sausage…”

0:18: Mark says, “That tastes like-”

0:19: Mark explodes; smoke clears to show Mark covered with ashes.

0:20: Plate drops.

0:21: Mark yells, “DARN IT DAVID!!!”

0:22: “Fifteen minutes later” sign is shown.

0:23: “Fifteen minutes later” sign is taken away; David is being chased by Mark.

0:24: David stops running.

0:25: Mark stops running; Mark turns to face David; David gets scared.

0:26: Mark gets so angry, his skin turns dark red, and smoke comes out of his ears. Then, he explodes.

0:27: David is covered with ashes, and his eyes are huge. Mark says, “Welp, I’m going inside now. Bye!”

0:29: Mark turns toward the door.

0:30: Mark hops to the other side of the door and opens it.

0:31: Mark goes inside the house and closes the door.

0:32: A “The End” sign is chucked into view.

0:37: Slideshow Mode is exited.

0:40: Screen Recording ends.

Why Lindsay Lohan’s “The Parent Trap” is the Greatest Movie Ever Made and Often the Most Misunderstood

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By Junior Indiana Behr

Graphic Source: disneyplus.com

I know that’s a long title, but hear me out. My favorite movie of all time is the 1998 version of The Parent Trap. I think it is genuinely flawlessly crafted. It incorporates elements of a classic romantic comedy, but the dramatic elements are also done well. It may be a Disney movie, but there is no doubt this film can be enjoyed by people of all ages. I think that it is also misinterpreted by most people who watch this film. I think that the character often viewed as the villain, Meredith Blake–the stepmother-to-be, is not a villain at all, and is a much more complex and layered character than one might think after the first watch. I argue that the twins are actually the villains of this film.

Why The Parent Trap (1998) is the Best Movie Ever Made

I genuinely do not enjoy a single movie more than I enjoy The Parent Trap. This film is of course a remake of a film of the same name that was released in 1961. I have seen the 1961 version  a few times, and I think it is a very well made movie. However, I actually think the 1998 film is an improvement upon the original. Most Disney remakes are pretty underwhelming, especially the ones that turned animated movies into live action. I feel like this version is an exception.

It may be inspired by an older movie, but the creators of the remake were willing to make any changes they felt necessary to keep the story fresh and contemporary, and I felt like it was successful. In the original film, both twins were from different parts of the United States. In the remake, Hallie is from Napa, California, all the way in the Western US, while Annie is from London, England. I think this makes the culture shock more significant, as it is two different countries rather than just two regions of the US.

I find Hayley Mills’ performance in the 1961 movie to be very good, but I find Lindsay Lohan’s performance to be even more impressive. Lindsay Lohan was just 11 during filming for the 1998 film; whereas Mills was already 15 during production. Additionally, Lohan had to learn an accent from an entirely different country, and I think she did so skillfully. Mills only had to learn the accent of another region of the US. I also generally think the other performances in the 1998 version, such as the butler and housekeeper, were better, and I think the humor has stood the test of time better than the predecessor.

Another reason I really like this movie is the music. I think the soundtrack of this film is excellent. The opening credits that show a montage of the twins’ parents meeting on the Queen Elizabeth 2 ocean liner set to Nat King Cole’s L-O-V-E is probably my favorite movie opening ever. Whether it’s the suspenseful music heard during the scenes at the summer camp in the beginning or the Beatles’ Here Comes the Sun when Hallie (pretending to be Annie) helps her mother, Elizabeth James, at her fashion business, I think that the music is perfectly done from beginning to end.

Why the Twins Are Actually the Villains and Meredith Blake Wasn’t Actually That Bad

Both versions of The Parent Trap have the repeatedly used evil step-mother trope, but part of why I prefer the 1998 edition is because I think the character of Meredith Blake was a much more complex and layered character than Vicky Robinson, her 1961 equivalent. Over the last few years, many others have come to this conclusion, and in 2022, Elaine Hendrix, who portrayed Meredith Blake, stated that she sympathized with her character. She even made a TikTok with the caption, “He had twins he secretly separated at birth when he broke up with their mother and didn’t tell you about it until the twins discovered each other at camp and swapped places to try and get their parents back together.” Really makes you think, huh? Maybe the twins and their father were the villains more than Meredith…

I am not going to lie to you, when I first watched this film, I thought of Meredith Blake as a classic Disney villain, but after hearing others’ opinions and watching it again, I have started to understand Meredith Blake’s actions. Even after they first meet, Annie, pretending to be Hallie, is incredibly passive aggressive towards her, intentionally splashing her with water by aggressively jumping into her pool, and then blatantly lying by calling her “number twenty-nine” when it had already been established she was the first relationship her father, Nick Parker, had entered since the twins’ birth. Then, after Annie describes this interaction by phone, Hallie states, “Well, you’ll just have to break ’em up. Sabotage her. Do whatever you have to.”

When I advocate to others that Meredith Blake was not actually as bad as she is made out to be, their rebuttal is often that she stated that she wanted to send Annie to boarding school. However, I think this was just hyperbole, especially considering she never seemed to make any effort to go through with it. I do not think you can blame her for being somewhat angry about her boyfriend’s daughter being incredibly nasty towards her after meeting just once. 

Once the twins successfully get their parents to reunite in San Francisco, the twins and their parents go back to Napa where their father lives after Hallie convinces them to go on their annual camping trip with her father. However, before leaving, Elizabeth, not a fan of the outdoors, tells Nick that she thinks it would be better if Meredith went instead. The twins were unsurprisingly unhappy with this, but Elizabeth insisted. Then, during this trip, the twins are horrifically cruel towards her. They put a lizard on her head, which crawls into her mouth first. Then, they give her sugar water claiming it will help with mosquitoes, and tell her that whacking two sticks together will scare off the mountain lions. There were in fact no mountain lions where they were camping. 

Then, after all of this, the twins do something that ultimately destroys Meredith and Nick’s relationship. They take Meredith’s air mattress from her tent, and place it in the lake at the camping site, and she floats away asleep, only to wake up in the morning in the middle of the lake. First of all, this is obviously just a horrible thing to do to someone. Second of all, this is dangerous! Falling into the middle of a river when you are asleep could very well cause drowning. After this, Meredith approaches Nick and says he has to pick between the twins and her. I think him picking the kids was obviously the right decision, but I very much sympathize with her.

Overall, I recognize Meredith Blake is kind of aggressive at times, but I also think she is a very determined character who knows what she wants. I think it’s fair to say that money may be a part of her interest in Nick, but I do not think he was oblivious to this, and I do think she probably liked him. This very complex character is part of why I like this movie so much, and why I prefer it over the original movie. I think you should try watching or rewatching The Parent Trap (1998) with this perspective in mind.

Does the Camera See Who We Really Are?

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By Junior Alyna Rei

Years ago, Stanford admissions asked freshman applicants to attach a significant photograph, then write about it. Generations of Stanford applicants attached photos of horses, grandfathers, fields of flowers, the contents of their desks. The PVS Blog Staff went on their own photo scavenger hunt in search of a compelling photograph. Once found, their task was to tell us the story behind the photo. Alyna found a photo that reveals, perhaps, “the real Alyna.”

I recently went through my camera roll on my phone and found this interesting photo of me. I was curious about the photo and asked my mom what I was doing. This photo was taken when I was about three. 

Apparently, it was another day of preschool for me, and I was acting like the normal toddler that did not want to leave the house. I’ve been told that I was screaming and crying, so my parents bribed me into quiet with a bag of Ruffles chips.

Alyna, not happy, on the way to preschool. Circa 2009

Then, my memory came back to me.  I remember I was feeling so betrayed. I had this annoyed feeling in my chest. When I was younger, usually I would be okay with going to places, but I guess this one day I was not having it. I made a fuss. Ironically, as soon as we hit the preschool, I remember I was actually fine. Maybe I just had a rough morning.

I’m not sure why this photo fascinates me so much. Maybe it’s because of the way my mom turned in her seat to take a photo of me. Or maybe it’s because of the way my mom dressed me (I hate those pants). But, this photo will always be a favorite of mine and be something I will always find funny. Today this is not usually how I act. Back then . . ., apparently, it was another story.

In the words of my mother, if you have a kid who is fussy or crying because of preschool, bribe them with food; make it a treat that they don’t usually get, like ice cream. That’s funny, too–my mom advocating bribery. 

Alyna’s Favorite Artist

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By Alyna Rei

The Blog Staff is highlighting local, familial, and world-renowned artists. Alyna shares with us her favorite painting–Vincent Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night.”

I’m not a person who is a big fan of paintings and other artwork. Mine is sort of a one-second appreciation, and then I would forget about the artwork. But, there is one painting that really stands out to me. I’m pretty sure everyone has heard of the “Starry Night” painting by Vincent Van Gogh. This painting is really popular to many people, and since it captivates me so much, I decided to write about it.

“The Starry Night” by Vincent Van Gogh

What is the history of “The Starry Night” painting?

The painting first started when Van Gogh was in a mental hospital getting treatment. He grew stronger, but, sadly, he had a relapse of instability. He fell into sadness and started having hallucinations and suicidal thoughts (vangoghgallery.com). As a result, the tone of his work changed. His use of the darker hues from the beginning of his work was reinstated, and Starry Night is a superb illustration of that change. The picture is dominated by blue, which melds the hills with the sky. The small settlement is depicted at the bottom of the painting in shades of brown, gray, and blue. The yellow and white of the stars and the moon stand out against the sky, attracting the eyes to the sky, even though each building is clearly highlighted in black. The buildings are one of the painting’s main focal points and one of the main draws.

Why do I like this painting so much?

I like this painting mostly because of the way it presents itself. The colors and the ambience match each other, which is what made me like this painting even more. For some reason, this painting reminds me of “Claire De Lune” by Claude Debussy. Both the song and the painting convey a calm peaceful night to me. Listening to the music and observing the painting, the atmosphere puts me at ease.

Where is this painting held?

This painting is being held in The Museum Of Modern Art in New York. This painting has been a permanent piece at the museum since 1941, and it is one of the most recognizable pieces in Western Art. 

I love this piece so much that I have a Lego set of The Starry Night. This piece doesn’t really look like the real painting, but it’s a pretty similar comparison–in the medium of Lego. 

This Lego set of The Starry Night was constructed by Alyna and now sits on her shelf in her room.

Don’t Try to Lie to this Genshin Impact Character: She’ll Find You Out

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Below, Izumi details one of her favorite Genshin Impact characters, Mona. Learn who Mona is and what she stands for in the latest Genshin impact character blog post. — Ike Spry, Editor

By Izumi, Middle-School Gaming Correspondent

Welcome! Today I will be talking about one of my favorite Genshin Impact characters. Meet Astrologist Mona Megistus.

If you ever met Mona, you would know she is one to take her passion seriously. When it comes to astrology, she is very knowledgeable. She unites her astrology abilities with hydromancy (hydro power), which makes her popular or well known. In Genshin Impact, any vision, let alone a hydro-power vision, is rare. Mona has other skills. She can tell if people are lying or not, sense a person’s intentions and tell someone’s fate accurately. She can even–and here likely she gets her title–deduce a person’s personality from knowing their constellation (fandom.com).

Mona gets a sense of pride from her work with astrology, but the work serves as a double-edged sword. Whenever Mona gets her hands on mora (currency), she immediately spends it on astrology-related materials (fandom.com). Mona doesn’t exactly have a lot of Mora, but she tells herself, “It matters not. Astrologers must rid themselves of material desires. Only by ridding oneself of clutter can one see the true world around them” (fandom.com). However, Mona always forgets about the things she needs for daily survival. Sometimes she doesn’t have shelter. Sometimes she spends days without food. When Mona does have currency, she is very picky and gets only small simple dishes. Note: she does not tolerate people who disrespect her or make fun of her lack of material goods.

Mona by Izumi

Shogun the Puppet Ruler

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Introducing your newest Genshin Impact character Raiden Shogun! Who is she? What is she like? What is her story? Blogger Izumi tells all in this informative blog. — Editor Jessica Denyer

By Izumi, Middle-School Gamer Correspondent

Hello again! Today I will talk about a newer character added to Genshin Impact in the past couple months. Meet Raiden Shogun, the leader of Inazuma.

The Raiden Shogun isn’t exactly “real.” The Shogun is a puppet that Ei has created. The Shogun was created for the purpose of Ei staying in an eternal meditation in the Plane of Euthymia while the Shogun acts as the ruler. Ei believes in eternity, a place in which everything is kept the same, regardless of what goes on. As far as personalities go, Ei is cold and stern. Sometimes she may be callous. She lacks emotion, has no likes or dislikes, and no need for recreation. Due to Ei’s indifference to anything other than her goal of eternal peace and meditation, the puppet Shogun can easily be manipulated by outside forces. For example, the Kujou Clan and the Fatui tricked Shogun into initiating and maintaining the Vision Hunt Decree (genshin-impact.fandom.com). The Vision Hunt Decree was a group hunting down people with visions, and taking them away, getting rid of individual’s elemental power. It was a bad idea.

While Ei has a more stern demeanor, she is notably more emotive and sociable than the Shogun. Unlike the Shogun, Ei has preferences, such as a love for sweets and her passion in martial arts (genshin-impact.fandom.com). However, Ei’s dedication to eternity has made her clueless about change. The reason for Ei’s dedication to eternity is because of how many people she’s lost in the past. Ei doesn’t want to lose anymore people she loves, so she wants to preserve Inazuma so she never has to lose anyone again. By staying in a meditative state, she blocks herself out of reality and the regular world and won’t have to suffer any longer. During her story quest, the traveler takes Ei out of the Plane of Euthymia. Ei soon realizes how much the world has changed, for she has been in meditation for centuries. Ei learns to accept change and decides not to return to the Plane of Euthymia. When that happens, Ei disables the Shogun and Ei takes over rule Inazuma herself.

Artwork by Izumi

Meet the Characters of Genshin Impact: Kamisato Ayaka

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By Izumi, Middle-School Gamer Correspondent


Kamisato Ayaka is the daughter of the Yashiro Commission’s Kamisato Clan. She is sister to the head of the clan. This clan belongs to Inazuma–one of the three existing regions of Genshin Impact. She is dignified and elegant, as well as very wise and durable. Ayaka is a kind-hearted girl with a relaxing temperament. She treats others with kindness and courtesy. She loves and cares for the people of Inazuma, often going out of her way to personally assist those in trouble. She is a member of the Yashiro Commision, one of the commissions in charge of cultural events. She feels the urge that she must help people in need. She is earnest with a steady personality. Her dedication often moves people, enough that she earned the honorary title of Shirasagi Himegimi (Translation: White Heron Princess). People in the neighborhood constantly talk about her with sincere admiration. “Lady Ayaka may be of noble birth but she is gentle and polite to us. She is kind, loyal, and is willing to help others. She even went against the opinions of others [to take] in [a] commoner . . . .” —Genshin Impact, Story 1

Original artwork by Izumi

How to Draw Anime (Part 1)

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By PROFESSIONAL ARTIST AP ART STUDENT EXTRAORDINAIRE Chelsea Xu

Hey, welcome back to school everyone! 

This is going to be another stressful year, but I hope everybody gives their all to achieve their goals.

Drawing is a fun little activity that I think will help you relax and fill your free time. Since I’m an artist, I know some simple steps that can get you along the path to becoming a drawing pro. The lesson today will be how to draw an anime head. If you are into anime, drawing is a great way to introduce yourself into the realm of fandoms. This applies to both traditional and digital artwork, so feel free to follow my steps for either of these two.

Are you ready?

Then, without further ado, let’s begin!

Step #1  

Draw a circle (it doesn’t have to be perfect), and in the middle of the circle draw cross-shaped lines that intersect each other as shown below.

Step #2

Now draw two curves downward that mirror each other on the horizontal line. Then soften the edges with an eraser because you don’t want them to look like pointed rectangles.

Step #3

Draw another horizontal line on the bottom tip of the circle. Again, it doesn’t have to be perfectly straight. 

Step #4

It’s eyebrow time! Draw two semi-arcs on the top horizontal line. You can draw them differently to add some more emotions in your character. 

Step #5

It’s time to draw eyes! Eyes are obviously located below the eyebrows. Since eyes have many shapes and sizes, you don’t have to follow my art style to draw eyes. Feel free to come up with your own!

Step #6

Alright, almost there! Here’s my way to draw anime noses. It’s easier to draw for me because it takes less time, but feel free to try other styles of noses as well.

Step #7

Smile! Just add two curves a distance below the nose, and you will get an amazing smile for the day!! I also added ears. For beginners, just worry about the shape and not the details. It can be really hard to get the sides equivalent to each other.

Step #8

It’s time to add hair! This is just a simple hairstyle that I’ve chosen to demonstrate. As you can see, every hair’s direction is different. But remember, each hair section must follow the pattern; do not draw them randomly without direction.  

Step #9

Erase the base lines that guided your drawing. If you are on paper, do not draw the base lines too heavily, and you can softly erase without touching any important parts. Ta-da!! Congratulations!! You’ve successfully drawn an anime head!!!

I hope this tutorial is helpful, and I’ll see you soon for PART 2!!!!

Editor: Luke Langlois

A Review of “This War of Mine”–Those Behind the War

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By James Zheng, Blogger & Gaming Critic

Are games just games? Are games just for entertainment? That’s what I used to think. But now I have a completely different answer ever since I found This War of Mine. People say that you can see the nature of yourself when you are playing games because your mind is fully involved in the gaming. This War of Mine (TWOM) is a reflection of yourself.

TWOM was developed and published by 11 Bit Studios, a game company located in Poland. It’s not a commonly known gaming company, and currently they have just reached about 100 employees, but this game was released five years ago. It was quickly nominated as the Game of the Year on Steam. I was impressed by this small but growing company.

Game critic Johnny Durn writes, “For soldiers, war is about victory. For us, war is about getting through.” TWOM is a realistic survival game. In this game, the background is set during a period of war, and you get to select a group of people to control in order to survive as long as you can in a shelter. Depending on the group, each character will have different abilities or professions–such as runner, scavenger, chief, etc., which determines their advantages and disadvantages. There are two time periods in the game. During the daytime, you get to organize everything in your shelter and make some useful tools. The most necessary thing to prepare is food for everyone, as well as making sure everyone has enough rest. During the night, characters have three actions to take: scavenge, sleep, or guard.

So, that’s a brief description of the gameplay. But why do I say TWOM is a reflection of yourself? Well… this game is really close to reality. Everything that could happen during a time of war in real life could happen in this game, but since most of us have never experienced a life in war, TWOM will give you a fresh taste of that.

More like a test of morality and humanity, this game exposes everything about war and tries its best to make the player become a part of it. In the game, your psychological state becomes the essential element. Many factors could lead to the collapse of your character’s psychological state; for example, they could become sad. When a player does not deal with this emotion properly, it will lead to negative actions and obstacles. For example, if a survivor steals private items from other shelters or kills someone, it could greatly affect their psychological state. But, here is something that could happen: food and medicines are important in this game, and they are extremely rare, so a player has to use them scrupulously. If the player is in a difficult survival situation and facing the choice to steal in order to save a teammate or kill someone in order to rob their shelter to keep your own shelter running, will you still adhere to your morality and humanity? Whether you choose to or not, your teammates will blame you for many reasons (survivors could start a quarrel or fight), and suddenly this builds pressure on you. However, there is never a right choice in this game since it’s a war after all, and you are either doing this for yourself or your team and you have to take the ultimate risk and pray for a good result.

The difficulty of this game is intermediate. Most of the time it depends on how many survivors you’re managing. Different from the common survival game, This War of Mine can really stress the player out because resources are so limited. A situation could become destitute any time, and there is always a dilemma in making decisions.

I STRONGLY suggest that you do not look at any walk-through to help you conquer this game. I want you to feel this game by yourself, completely. In the whole process of the game, you will learn many things that you could never learn from other games. It’s going to be a crucible for any player. The game borrows the words of Ernest Hemingway as its theme:

In the modern war, you will just die like a dog for no good reason.

Editor: AJ Patencio

Sources Reference: https://www.zhihu.com/question/26834036/answer/34292120

Review of Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne—An Old Game That Will Never Fade Away

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By James Zheng

Blizzard, which is known as one of the most famous game-producing companies in the United States, has always striven to design the best games out there. But, the major game I am going to introduce in this post was from sixteen years ago. Unlike an anime or a movie, a majority of games tend to easily become old-fashioned or hackneyed. They last for at most ten years since games are always being published incessantly; this process is like an elimination system. You pay for the new, and drop the old. Some games survive, though. And, one of the survivors is Warcraft 3.

First of all, let me give you a basic description of this game. Warcraft is a real-time strategy game. The purpose is just as simple as this: you engage in a war to conquer your enemy by rallying an army. And, when it comes to strategic games, you might think that they are usually complex or difficult because you have to play it smart and pay attention to a lot of details. But, the fascinating thing is that you can come up with at least a thousand tactics, simple or complicated, to play based on the diversity of units. Units, also known as minions, are the main force of your army. They all have different capabilities. Warcraft 3 also has a simple game structure. To start a game, you choose one of the four races (Human, orc, etc.) to bring into battle. Every race has their unique advantage. If you want to build more advanced buildings or recruit more powerful troops, the game would explicitly indicate what you need to do. The most attractive feature has to be the hero system, or champion system. You get to select a champion you like to lead with. All of these factors are essential to reinforce the replayability, and are the reason that the game has survived so long.


The love for Warcraft 3 seems to hardly decay, and it may just keep growing. Recently, Blizzard has decided to make a “reforged” version of Warcraft 3, which, ironically is the game they had already given up on ten years ago. There is only one factor, the most important element, that keeps this game alive–the creative choices of the individual player. It is very easy to use mods in Warcraft. In addition, players have designed massive amounts of maps and new modes to keep this old game running. You can play with your friends, or endlessly compete with online players. In the end, Warcraft 3 is a game that is much more deep than a simple strategy game.

You might think that this game is too old to play, but, as I’ve said, it is a game that will never fade away. Check out the new reforged version!

Editor: Luke Langlois