Author Archives: Ronwaldo Ray Silverio

About Ronwaldo Ray Silverio

The man with three names, in one story. Chabot connoisseur.

Sonic the Hedgehog Review

Last year, Sonic the Hedgehog made news for his first-ever live-action movie in the works, and the trailer was released in April. However, fans were outright disgusted to see one of the most iconic video game characters in history designed as an anthropomorphic nightmare. Things weren’t looking bright for the film’s release in November. Unexpectedly, director Jeff Fowler responded by delaying the movie to redesign a Sonic more accurate to the games.

The new design revealed in the movie’s second trailer received overwhelming praise for Sonic’s more cartoonish form, with animation akin to Detective Pikachu. The revised movie was released on Valentine’s Day 2020. With the changes put in place, is it enough to make you fall in love with Sonic the Hedgehog all over again?

Sonic the Hedgehog starts in the middle of an intense and explosive chase between Dr. Robotnik and Sonic in San Francisco, all before Sonic gives you a cliché but funny, “you’re probably wondering how I got here” moment. Just a few seconds in, you already get filled in on Sonic’s personality. 

As a disclaimer, fans should expect a new story written for Sonic, as characters like Knuckles and Tails, and the overarching plot of the Chaos Emeralds are not in this movie. Fans of the video games might question this, but the new lore is treated weightlessly, so it’s not much of a distraction.

The real story is the friendship that forms between Sonic, played by Ben Schwartz, and small-town cop Tom Wachowski, played by Jason Marsden, while on the run from Dr. Ivo Robotnik, played by Jim Carrey. 

Tom Wachowski is an aspiring officer who wants to do more big jobs instead of helping do errands for the town of Green Hills, Montana (a call back to the iconic Green Hills Zone in the video games.) Meanwhile, Sonic is the only one of his species on Earth and spends much of his time in seclusion. Watching Tom and his family, he wishes for a real friend. To make sure he doesn’t go insane he uses his super-speed ability to interact with himself almost simultaneously, while simultaneously emphasizing how much he is alone. This is a nice touch from the movie. With their own personal narratives, Tom and Sonic mesh together seamlessly and have great chemistry with each other.

One of Sonic’s goals in the movie is to get his rings back. The movie has been able to reinvent staples of the original video game series, such as reworking the iconic rings that Sonic collects in the game into the film’s “McGuffin,” or object that is necessary for the story to move forward. Rings are used as portals to different worlds, which is how Sonic ended up on Earth.

Some of the standout performances were by Carrey and Schwartz. Even when side by side, Carrey meets the same level of animation in his performance as Sonic, an actual CG animated character.

Schwartz’s voice was a satisfying Hollywood rendition of Sonic, and his performance made Sonic lovable without teetering on the edge of irritability. Moviegoer Mario Cruz felt the same, “Sonic was not as annoying as I expected him to be,” he said. “He was actually well developed as a character.” 

It helps that Schwartz is an actual fan of the Sonic series, playing the game as a child. “When it was released in 1991, the speed at which you could play it was remarkable,” said Schwartz in a press interview with IGN. Experiences like this really helped him really tap into the character of Sonic, and viewers can tell from his performance.

Sonic and Dr. Robotnik really stand out, but at the expense of the other characters. The more human characters like Tom and his family, unfortunately, stand by the wayside. James Marsden’s character as Tom Wachowski is admirable but carries the arc of being a cliché good cop. But he’s sufficient to fill the role as a human interacting with an animated being in a live-action movie (i.e. the Smurfs or the similar video game movie Detective Pikachu.)

Sonic the Hedgehog is a great family film that should please those unfamiliar to the lovable blue hedgehog, and those who’ve been fans for decades. With some glaring plot holes and cliches, if you don’t look too deep into it, Sonic the Hedgehog is a fun-filled movie with great humor and animated characters (both in performance and CGI.) It’ll be a fast hour and forty minutes. 

And make sure you don’t go too fast after the movie, there’s a special after-credits scene for loyal Sonic fans.

The Collective Work of Chabot’s Black History Month

While it’s the shortest month of the year, Chabot College and the Black Education Association (BEA) made sure to recognize Black History Month this year with a whole arrangement of events. The highlights included screenings of prominent Black movies like “The Last Black Man in San Francisco,” “Queen and Slim,” and “Black and Blue” to more significant events that honor African American students on campus like the Black Arts Festival and Black Scholars Family Night.

“Although it’s the shortest month in the year, it’s about recognizing black people’s struggles, accomplishments, how far we come, but also how much further we have to go.” said CIN student Salimah Shabazz, more commonly known as “Ms. Mack.” 

There was something for everybody to celebrate in Black History Month!

All of the events are under a series, Embracing Ujima: Collective Work & Responsibility for the African American Community. This February started with the event, Black History Month Kick-Off — Embracing Ujima. 

Ujima is one of seven principles in African heritage, with its meaning associated with collective work and responsibility. Keynote speaker Dr. Matais Pouncil kicked off the series on Feb. 6, and spoke about black history as well as what Ujima meant for him. 

Keynote speaker Dr. Pouncil, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at West Valley College, “is the first African American man to earn an Ed.D. from UC Irvine,” said the Coalition of Black Excellence. Pouncil conducts research on black culture, diaspora, and sociocultural and economic class.

The Feb. 11, keynote speaker Dr. Regina Stanback Stroud talked about what it means to be a student while Black, discussing the collective responsibility that comes with having an education. 

Stroud has been head of numerous college districts, with 35 years in education. Stroud also served as a presidential appointee on the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability of Young Americans for President Barack Obama, according to the Peralta Community College District, where she is currently the Chancellor.

Student organizations demonstrated the collective responsibility to support the community. Many students came to the events, especially the keynote, with prominent Black student organizations on campus coming to show strength in numbers. 

My Sister’s Keeper is an organization that empowers women on campus by developing leadership skills and self-love. Their members were particularly inspired by Dr. Stroud. 

“A lot of people in this room may not know her name or recognize her and the work that she’s done. But she’s done a lot, locally, and nationally,” said student Sara Costa, Secretary of My Sister’s Keeper. “It’s important to see a black woman having this much power while also being humble and willing to come and talk to us and share her experiences.”

G’Neva Winston, Community Engagement Officer of My Sister’s Keeper, agreed and brought up the famous Malcolm X quote, “the black woman is the most disrespected person in America.”

Winston also attended the Black Arts Festival on Feb. 19. Currently a film major, she was excited to see black filmmakers at the event. “I even took my mom to see it, and she was so supportive!” said Winston. Filmmaker Caleb Jaffe presented his short film, “It’s Not About Jimmy Keene,” in the Chabot planetarium. From Sundance, the film is about a police shooting of an unarmed black teen, which causes friction within a mixed-race Los Angeles family. 

Spoken word artists Tongo Eisen-Martin and Landon Smith began the event with performances along with an open mic and artist discussion.

For film screenings, Mack coordinated the screening for the documentary “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am” and the discussion that followed. She suggested the movie be shown after she was introduced to the author in her “English 101: Evolution of a Black Writer” class. “Because of Toni Morrison, I’m taking a fiction class,” Mack said. “I want to be the next Octavia Butler, Audre Lorde, and many more.” Morrison was a novelist and writer who wrote the celebrated trilogy, “Beloved,” and was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1993.

Brian Augsberger, a counselor at EOPS, took part in organizing some of the events, particularly the Black Scholars Family Night. “I’m encouraged by seeing the community of Chabot coming together to celebrate something important,” Augsberger said. “These events are not just for the Black community but the entire community.”

While Black History Month is over, Ms. Mack says, “every day is Black History Month.”

Transfer Tuesday Was a Success!

“Exploring transfer opportunities?” says a campuswide email sent by Chabot College to students. For those who haven’t got the message, the Transfer Center is organizing Tuesday workshops this semester to help students transfer to their university of choice on Feb. 11, Feb. 18, March 17, March 31, April 14, and April 21. All workshops are from 12-1 p.m. in room 758.

Topics being covered will include the basics of transferring, funding your transfer education, transfer admission guarantees, and applying to schools like CSUs, UCs, and private schools. Representatives from universities will also be present to talk with students looking for specific school-related information. Students will be asked to bring copies of transcripts from all colleges and universities attended, high school transcripts, and any Advanced Placement (AP) scores and/or International Baccalaureate (IB) scores.

Sponsored by the Chabot College Transfer Center located on the second floor of Building 700, the Center provides services and resources to support students through the transfer process. The Center hosts workshops every year, and this semester is the first time all workshops will be part of a titled series.

Frances Fon, a counselor who’s been working with the Transfer Center for ten years, is organizing the series of events. She came up with the idea of the series through looking at the most common topics brought up by students she’s seen. “I’m finding that if we put it together as a series, students can learn and obtain more information that they want and digest information that they need. They can then partner with their counselor to take the implications from what they learned and develop their plan for transfer.”

To expand outreach, Chabot College sent out a campuswide email to students on January 30. Transferring student Lydia Vasquez heard of Transfer Tuesdays, but does not intend to go. However, she “feels as though for students who don’t know a lot of these things, this would be really helpful. Especially when there are other students going through the same thing as you there, and you get to have small group discussions to figure things out.”

Fon hopes that through attending, “students will not only have more clarity in their own transfer direction, but I hope they can walk away with their personal next steps. That’s my goal, to make students feel they know where they’re at in the transfer process, and then the next step can be to go see a counselor, or to go talk to a college representative.”