February 8, 2012 Cloverleaf Inside and Out

The Observer Weekly

Volume 5, Issue 44

Pop, Rock, Rap and Country - All Under One Roof

“I really like “Black and Yellow,” said Kyle Swiger. “It’s for the Steelers, so naturally, I’m a fan.” There’s really no question who absolutely rules the country music world these days. If you haven’t figured it out by now; you should probably do your homework. Returning back-to-back Enter-tainer of the Year winner Taylor Swift is nominated for three honor-able categories in country music. Any fan of Swift would agree be-yond all doubt that it would be nice to see her hold the trophy for the Best Country Album. After pouring her heart into her self-written Speak Now album, the award right-fully belongs in her hands. “Taylor is such an amazing and inspirational singer-songwriter,” shared Morgan Eyring. “The fact that she writes all of her songs defi-nitely makes her Speak Now album

deserving of this award.” However, it would be wrong to count out the other high-class, re-spectable artists such as Kenny Chesney, George Strait, Carrie Un-derwood and Martina McBride, who all hold places among the categories as well. Chesney’s single “You and Te-quila” has been all over the radio, along with McBride’s heartwarm-ing song “I’m Gonna Love You Through It.” Even though Carrie Underwood has had a somewhat quiet year, she has recently announced that her upcoming album will hit stores on May 2. So, if you’re looking for some-thing to curl up on your couch and watch this Sunday night, the Gram-mys would be a great choice. For-get about “Super Bowl Sunday”…this one will take the cake.

By Tricia Rice The top football team in the NFL just received their award, and now it’s time for the real superstars to get their moment under the spot-light. That’s right, the 54th Annual Grammy Awards are back and will broadcast live from Los Angeles on Sunday at 8 p.m. There’s no doubt there will be a few tough calls when it comes to predicting who will walk away with what honor this year. With such great music from all genres, there’s no guarantee for any artist. Best Pop Solo Performance nomi-nees are Adele, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry and Pink. Adele might be a likely compo-nent with her heartbreaking single “Someone like You.” However, Bruno Mars could come from be-hind with his Twilight soundtrack single “It Will Rain,” and, of course, Lady Gaga always adds a unique twist to everything she’s been a part of. “Bruno Mars really does write incredible songs,” shared Katie Gokey. “I wouldn’t mind seeing him win the award.” Rock and roll has been making a comeback lately, and with bands such as the Foo Fighters, Kings of Leon, and the Red Hot Chili Pep-pers, it’ll be interesting to see who walks away with the Best Rock Album. In rap, it’ll be “Black and Yel-low” vs. “Look at Me Now” as the two most popular songs battle for Best Rap Song.

Taylor Swift plays in 2006. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

The Weekly Observer Editor-in-Chief

CJ Martin Managing Editor

Shelby Dearth Advisor

Mr. John Carmigiano

2 Features Super Bowl Weekend Brings New Champion

By Nate Sanford Super Bowl Sunday was this past weekend, and the champions of the NFL rose to the limelight. The New England Patriots faced off against a hot New York Gi-ants’ team, and got a little more than they bargained for. The outcome was unexpected to many, but the Giants knew they had a fair shot at the Lombardi Trophy. The Pats started off the game down 9-0, before they soon prevailed with a score before halftime to lead 10-9. The Patriots scored first after Madonna’s performance, which put them ahead by eight. The score was 17-9, and the Patriots were in command. As the Giants seemed to look down and not as explosive, they slowly, but surely were climbing back to the lead.

Lawerence Tynes, the kicker for the Giants, nailed two key field goals in the third quarter to keep the score at 17-15 in the Patriots’ favor. The fourth quarter was when the game changed after a huge catch by Mario Manning-ham was delivered from Eli Man-ning. This brought the Giants down, and eventually led to a TD run by Ahmad Bradshaw. The Giants were in the driver seat then with a 21-17 lead over the Patriots. The Giants went on to win Su-per Bowl XLVI and the questions about Eli Manning are now an-swered. “The fact that he has two Super Bowl rings, and was MVP both times, says a lot; I definitely think Eli is an elite quarterback now,” Robby Buckwald said about the matured quarterback.

The New York Giants are now the best team in the NFL and that wont change for another year—long, live New York.

Winter Gone or Just Not Arrived Yet? By Kalee English Now that it’s officially the win-ter season, everybody is ready for one thing - the snow. In Ohio, the snow has not really been much of a problem at all. Basically, there has been no snow. The big question everyone is asking is, “Where’s the snow?” or “It is winter isn’t it?” Well, it’s definitely winter, but the weather seems to think otherwise. In the past weeks, the area has seen unusually warm weather, including weather in the 40’s, 50’s, and even 60’s. Weird isn’t it? Usually during the months of December, January, and Febru-

ary, there would have already been a few snow days, but most local schools haven’t even used one. Some people think that this weather occurrence is just be-cause of the leap year. Other peo-ple believe that the problem is global warming, or possibly this year, our winter will mainly stay snow free and end up being nice. The weather could still take a turn for the worse. Many people believe that this “warm weather” will soon come to an end, and the winter will be-come brutal as ever. All we have to do is wait and see and either

hope for snow days and blizzards, or to keep this nice weather for a while longer. Either way, we still got a long way to go until winter comes to an end. After all, any-thing can pretty much happen here in Ohio.

The New York Giants took home the trophy Sunday night. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

Ohioans are against this scene. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

Features 3

February 8, 2012

Ball So Hard Kobe Bryant By Brandon Johnson Kobe Bryant is one of the best basket-ball players to ever play in the NBA. Bryant is an 14-time All Star, and cur-rently has five championships and is on a quest for six. The only player ahead of Kobe is Michael Jordan, arguably the best to play the game, with six rings. Kobe has so many accomplishments in his career, including one most valuable player award, five championships and scoring 81 points in one game, which is second behind a single-game high of Wilt Championship with 100 points in one game. Other than these accomplishments, Kobe has just achieved a new milestone. Bryant was able to one-up Shaquille O'Neal again Monday as he passed his former teammate for fifth place on the NBA's all-time scoring list in the second quarter of the Lakers’ game against the Philadelphia 76ers. Bryant hit a long jump shot from the top of the key with 5:07 remaining in the first half to push him past O'Neal. Bryant’s bucket was originally ruled a 3-pointer before being changed to a 2 after the shot was reviewed. Bryant finished the night with 28 points as the Lakers lost 95-90. Bryant has had an amazing career with the Los Angeles Lakers and is still go-ing. Kobe is still looking for another title and more milestones, and will most likely be able to achieve many more. Although Bryant just got an award for fifth all time leading scorer, this is not Bryant’s focus.

“I just want No. 6, man,” Bryant said in an interview, referring to his championship count. Bryant just wants that sixth ring under his name, and with his passion and determina-tion, many people believe he can achieve this goal. “It’s great to see that Kobe is now fifth on the scoring leader boards. Kobe has always been my favorite player, and I do believe that he will get ring number six,” says sophomore Collin Zuk.

Quiz & Quotes

What’s your favorite

romantic comedy?

Hanna Kotlarek (9)- “Friends with Benefits.”

Kalie Cold (11)- “Friends with Benefits.”

Tyler Beery (10)- “Hitch.”

Austin Vaughn, Zac Bastian, Daniel Jeffery (12)- “50 First Dates.”

Kobe Bryant is said to be one of the best in the NBA. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

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4 Features

The Woman in Black Offers Hope By Erin O’Callaghan Solid, quality horror movies are hard to come by these days. With duds like When a Stranger Calls and House of Wax, it’s hard to believe anything truly bone-chilling will come into our view. But The Woman in Black may provide the hope for a spooky, horror ghost story. The Woman in Black is mainly about a lawyer who must settle the estate of a recently deceased widow. He comes there only to discover that there is a dark spec-ter haunting the locals. The movie has promised scary moments which make you jump and cringe in terror. The Woman in Black has re-ceived some good reviews and other mixed reviews. It currently holds a 62 percent “fresh” rating on the review website Rotten To-matoes. Most reviewers said it was a good old-fashioned ghost story, with parts that will scare and delight old horror fans. The only problem is that it may be too

stuck in the time period portrayed and doesn’t bring enough modern horror twists to the movie. Daniel Radcliffe, of Harry Pot-ter fame, stars in the horror flick. Many reviewers stated that it was a good post-Harry Potter movie for him, and he seems to have a promising future in the business. Many people have heard the buzz about this movie. Some want to see it for the horror, and some want to see it for the fact that Radcliffe stars in the film. Nevertheless, the film is generat-ing some buzz. “I want to see it because I like getting scared. It’s exciting, and I don’t mind it,” stated junior Re-becca Hughes. “I want to see it because it has the Harry Potter boy in it!” said

junior Kalie Cold. Some students don’t want to see the movie. In truth, it isn’t for everyone, especially if you hate scary movies. “I hate scary movies. I don’t want to see this movie. I get scared easily. Even if I watched a horror movie during the day, I’d still be scared,” junior Angela Landrum commented. The Woman in Black is a chill-ing ghost story that is freshly true to horror movie standards. It offers a truly haunting plot-line, with Radcliffe at the head of the cast, and it is clearly a refresh-ing addition to the horror movie genre. The movie came out on Feb. 3, so don’t miss your chance to see this horror film in theatres.

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Daniel Radcliffe, his footprints shown here, is a very popular attraction these days and will try to bring Woman in Black to forefront. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

Radcliffe on Broadway in 2011. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons