All posts by Steven Allen, Correspondent

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NECC turns to mask optional

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Northern Essex President Lane Glenn announced on March 9, that the Massachusetts Association of Community Colleges will be transitioning into mask optional environments. As of March 21, both Northern Essex campuses became mask optional.

According to the statement on the Northern Essex Coronavirus updates and information page, the COVID Response Team said that “the shift will be in accordance with current local, state and federal guidance.”

The website also said  “the school will respond accordingly should conditions change.”

Later on in the statement, it does mention that if students still wish to wear an N-95 or wish to receive a free COVID test kit, students can fill out a PPE request form on the NECC website.

I interviewed a couple of NECC students to get their reaction about the news.

“I think that mask optional is a good idea because some people aren’t able to wear masks because of a condition,” said Miabella D’ambrosio, a freshman at Northern Essex. “Some people also just don’t like them but I do think there should be guidelines for big events.”

I also asked if we should still be concerned with COVID despite heading in the right direction.

“I think we will always be concerned about COVID but I also think that as time goes on it will become less and less scary,” D’ambrosio said.

I also asked Kaily Burke, who has been a NECC student since 2018 for her thoughts.

“It’s hard to say what’s the right direction because we never know what’s next,” Burke said.

“More variants will come. However I know we’ve calculated the risk at NECC.”

Everyone on campus is required to be vaccinated.

“I’ve seen a lot more masks on campus in the last week than I still do in the grocery store,” Burke added.

While students are still required to get the COVID 19 vaccines, students, faculty, and teachers can all take a breather and choose to wear a mask if they wish.

Arts and Entertainment, Uncategorized

A new era in the movie industry

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There was a time where Arnold Schwarzenegger was the biggest action movie star in Hollywood. Star Wars was the hottest movie franchise around and watching movies in the theater made your experience unimaginable.

Nowadays, we are still getting Star Wars movies over 30 years later, movie stars have come and gone, and there is no longer a need to go to the theater. The Movie and TV show industry has drastically changed over the years.

One way they’ve been different is their constant need to remake every movie and TV show out there.

Whether they create a spin-off of the original idea, repurpose it into an animated or live action movie or series, or just flat out remake the movie with a different cast. Hollywood will stop at nothing to keep a franchise alive for all generations.

Part of the reason for this is because the audience plays a major role in the direction of movies. The franchises that were created and loved have an already existing fan base, where as completely new movies have no audience.

According to a study by Stephen Follows back in 2015, the budget for a film based on an existing premise is $70.8 million, while a brand new film is $46.4 million.

In fact, according to the same study by Stephen Follows, sequels and prequels now make up nearly a third of all top-grossing films. However, is that necessarily a bad thing?

I interviewed NECC student Andrew Venditti, a fan of film who had very interesting opinions on the matter.

When asked if he felt that Hollywood is lacking in creativity, Venditti said “I think Hollywood could use some more unique stories. I like superhero movies as much as the next guy, but they get a little stale in my opinion.”

I also asked him if there would need to be a limit on remakes when it comes to certain franchises or any movie in general, He responded by saying “I think some remakes are really good. On the other hand, if remakes and stretching out movie franchises sell really well, there might be less profit incentive to make new material.”

So while there are certainly good and bad remakes, where you watch them is an entirely new thing.

Instead of buying a ticket at your local movie theater, people now would much prefer watching the movie at home.

While the pandemic has not helped with ticket sales, theaters have been in decline for a long time now. According to Paul Hardart, director of the Entertainment, Media and Technology Program at New York University’s Stern School of Business, movie theater attendance was plateauing even before COVID 19.

However, ticket prices have nearly doubled, going from $5.39 in 2000 to $9.16 in 2020. Now, there are all kinds of streaming services like Netflix, Paramount + and others that make watching movies more convenient in the comforts of home.

Movies and TV shows have been more or less the same, but watching them has evolved over the years. While we’re not sure what franchise they will duplicate next, we hope that it will be just as good as the original.