SPRING PREVIEW
With Spring Break just around the corner, the Eye of the Tiger A&E staff created a list of what you should visit, play, listen to and watch during the week long break.
A short drive to garden paradise
Though the Horton Iris Garden didn’t open its doors to the public until 1999, creator Mary Ann Horton experimented with the flower and hybrid breeds since 1990.
Enjoying its twentieth anniversary and reopening for its limited two month season is the Horton Iris Garden. This family owned, Loomis based iris farm spans five acres and fosters over 1300 types of irises, all available for viewing and purchase.
Open only in April and May, Spring Break is the perfect opportunity to stroll through the plethora of flowers while they’re on display.
The Horton Iris Garden welcomes visitors Friday-Monday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m, and encourages patrons on Easter weekend to enjoy the farm.
Picnic spots are available for those looking to enjoy the scenery and get a closer look at the hundreds of species of irises Mary Ann Horton has cultivated since 1999.
To commemorate your trip, handmade jewelry is available for purchase, as well as garden art and irises themselves, which will be harvested and available for pick up in August.
Tea & tulips in a floral oasis
This farm’s rich histroy and change in owners has allowed for consistent development and constant additions to the century old Loomis stake hold.
With trees in bloom and the sun beginning to show its face, spring has sprung. Some evidence may lie in the emergence of buds and the abundance of allergies, but if you’re looking for vibrancy and color to kick off your Spring Break, the Flower Farm is an excellent option.
Located in Loomis off of Auburn Folsom Road, the Flower Farm has a wealth of options for all to enjoy. The cafe services from 7:30 a.m.to 4:00 p.m. every day except Tuesdays, providing a seasonally appropriate alternative to a normal coffee run at Dutch Bros or Starbucks.
The showstopper of the Flower Flower Farm has to be the Nursery, boasting a deluge of bright and vivid bulbs and succulents.
Open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday with free admission, the water conscious and butterfly attracting garden is sure to be a showstopper for anyone looking for out of the box Spring Break plans.
WATCH:
Love, Death + Robots
If you find yourself mindlessly scrolling through Instagram, Facebook, or Snapchat with nothing to keep your attention fully occupied, you could consider going outside and being productive, or better yet tuning into Netflix’s recently released series, Love Death+Robots.
This series is unlike anything I have ever seen, presented to audiences as a collective group of animated shorts, all in different art styles, with completely unconnected plot lines showcasing weird and wacky circumstances within short 6-16 minute runtimes.
To begin, the animation is absolutely jaw dropping. One of the shorts is meant to be animated in a realistic art style. The animators did a good job at blurring the line between animation and reality. In the episodes Helping Hand and Lucky 13, I found myself racking my brain trying to figure out if it was real or animated.
For the other shorts, the animation was meant to look cartoon like, following the newer Disney animation style. Though somehow, the animation looked almost better.
The plots were all completely unrelated, with the closest comparison being Netflix’s original series Black Mirror, which, if you’ve seen, can give you a pretty good feel of what these animated shorts are all about. Each installment is just 6-17 minute nuggets of gold that leave you thinking at the end of each episode.
I cannot recommend this series of shorts enough and strongly advise you give them a look over spring break.
PLAY:
MLB The Show ‘19
With Spring Break just around the corner, the release of MLB The Show 19 has recently become available to the public. This year’s edition of MLB The Show features former National League MVP Bryce Harper on the cover, a smart marketing strategy by San Diego Studios, the game’s developer, as Harper is one of baseball’s most talked about and popular players.
MLB The Show 19 is THE baseball game and no other even comes close.
The Show’s online gameplay has been the best it’s ever been since 2015’s edition, if not, ever. Last year in Diamond Dynasty (similar to Madden Ultimate Team), the game was an absolute mess. The gameplay was dreadful, as power hitters were the only thing that mattered, even if their contact ratings were abismal.
Fielding was atrocious, and the game was ruined before the summer ended, due to certain cards known as “Immortals,” and they were quite that. If you faced a team with even one Immortal, it was an automatic loss. Not to mention the content was the weakest last year in MLB The Show history.
This year, SDS has made drastic improvements. They dropped Immortals from the game, contact hitters are now useable and fun to play with, and fielding and defense is a major improvement from last year.
The content in MLB The Show is officially back in this years game and will actually engage people this year.
Some things contributing to this are XP rewards, and believe it or not, it’s something new to Diamond Dynasty. While SDS may be WAY behind on the idea of giving XP rewards, it is in fact in MLB The Show 19, thus giving the game more meaning and keeping people involved.
They put in 30 new legend and flashback cards before the game even launched and it’s bound we see more throughout the year. Most importantly, it’s easier than ever to obtain good cards, even if you are just an average player or don’t spend much time on the game. This year’s Diamond Dynasty is fun again, and I would recommend this mode 10/10 times.
MLB The Show has always struggled in getting non-baseball fans to try out their game, but this game is one that compares to Madden and 2K. The satisfaction of hitting a home run or even getting a base hit in this game is strangely addicting and gradually, year by year, keeps people who aren’t big baseball fans playing the game.
The graphics are great, the customization is even better, and you will now see real-life baseball brands in MLB The Show 19 like Nike, Lizard Skins, Wilson, and more. Pick this game up for this spring and summer and you will not regret it.
LISTEN:
Ariana Grande’s Monopoly
Ariana Grande has been on a roll, this time in collaboration with her best friend Victoria Monet. After releasing two albums in six months, Grande continues to release new music, recently coming out with her newest single Monopoly.
Monopoly is a shorter, more relaxed song and it’s easy to see that it was made just for fun.
And I love it.
It’s clear to see, at the end of the song her and Monet are laughing about her “Cletus” adlib referencing the Nutty Professor.
With its playful music video and laid-back lyrics make it the perfect addition to Grande’s collection of works.
This song definitely won’t top any charts, but her new focus of self care and releasing music when she feels like it is changing the pop world.
Her incredible balance of artistry and lyrical excellence keeps me at the edge of my seat and I cannot wait to see what Ariana does next.
AJ Welker is the arts editor and anchor at Eye of the Tiger.
This is Welker's second year in the program.
Welker started as a reporter and anchor in her junior year.
In her free time Welker enjoys the theatre arts, writing, as well as spending time with her friends and family.
Welker has an immense...
[email protected]
"Happy people plan actions, they don't plan results." - Denis Waitley
Vinny Santino has been a Camera Operator for Eye of the Tiger since his 2016 freshman year.
Santino enjoys outdoorsy activities in his free time, like hunting and fishing.
[email protected]
