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Learning to write with purpose

PULSE MAGAZINE

WOLVESMembers of RSHS Journalism Team

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Learning to write with purpose

PULSE MAGAZINE

WOLVESMembers of RSHS Journalism Team

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In This IssueJanuary 2013

• Snow Day theory-6

• Beat the Boredom-7

• greek life-8• cold weather

comfort food-10• Movie Remakes-12• Movie Stars from

the area-13• WHat you don’t

know can’t hurt-14

• concert venues-15

• thrift stores-18• restaurant

revieiw-20• movie review-22• game page-24• final thought-27

Matt Locke- graphic editorBob Lynch- writing editorMackenzie Mattix- asst. graphic editorLacey Curtis- asst. writing editor

Designers:Annie haleJason bainterRonnie Fuller

Photographers:Amelia fisherSabrina durham

Freshman Focus

Writers:Taylor Byler Callie Thomas Courtney Parham Glenna Dement Kristin Minturn Autumn Ward Emily Highfill Emily Gilderson Tyler Miller Marrissa Peebles James McFerron Kylee Goddard Eden Branstetter Kerrigan Arnold Joey Longstreet

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Emily GildersonSnow Day theory

A c -cording to the forecast, Southern Stone County could have a few snowy days this win-ter, but could you and your fellow school mates be an underlying factor in actually getting a day off from school? According to Kessinger, you could in fact have an impact on whether or not we get some snow on the grounds of Reeds Spring.

In Kess’s theory of snow days, he makes it a point to let everyone know that the underlying goal in the snow theo-ry is not to create a snow day but to make the most optimal snow day possible. On the other hand, Kess’s theory on snow days will not miraculously create weather. Instead, it states that the weather can only be affected, and whether it is affected in a positive or a negative way is up to you.

When the meteorologist on your local news station is calling for a winter weather filled night, there are two ap-proaches you can take in reacting to the news. From what he is saying, you are feeling almost 100% positive that you will be off from school. By following the first approach, the first thing that pops into your head would be… “Why would I do all of that homework that was assigned today? There won’t any school tomorrow anyways!” Being said, you don’t do your homework for your classes, you decide that you’ll wait to do your chores over this pretty much guaranteed snow day, and you’ll stay up till the crack of dawn

playing video games or “snapping” via the ever so popular snapchat. With hav-ing this attitude towards the hopeful snow day, Kess states that you are creating an abundance of positive energy. One might think that this positive energy would have no impact on the outcome of the weather, but what if it did? Many people will associate positive energy with warm energy. Collectively, all of the warm, posi-tive thoughts given off by a multitude of hopefuls in the area will create a warm pocket per say in the air. This warmth deposited into the air causes the snow to move around more rapidly in the sky, cre-ating a separation in the cold front. More often than not, when a snow day is over celebrated in advance, the snow always seems to miss good old Reeds Spring and school remains in session. Now, be-ing in the area that we are in, we all know that a good snow day seldom happens. Being said, do you think there would be another way you could help this change?

The second approach to the snow theory Kess has proposed sug-gests the methods for creating greater possibilities for a large enough amount of snow fall in our district to allow for that de-sired all-call at 6 a.m. announcing school will not be in session for the day due to the weather conditions. When snow is in the forecast, you should never over cel-ebrate. Actually, having an almost nega-tive outlook will maintain the cooler atmo-

sphere brought on by the winter weather and decrease the chances of the air warming up as it does when excitement begins to become overwhelming by the snow day hopefuls. One who has this ap-propriate negative approach will do their homework like normal, do the chores their parents expect them to have done, and will go to bed at their normal time, pre-paring themselves for the next day. By following all of the normal routines, you are creating a more optimal, desirable day for yourself when you learn that there will be no school the next day. You won’t have any homework to do, there will be no chores to be done, and you will be well rested for your free day off from school.

The purpose behind sharing this Kess-approved and supposedly Kess-proven theory is to prepare you for any up-coming possibilities for snow days. Do not over celebrate the weather that has not yet arrived, you will put the weather at risk for warming up with everyone’s warm, posi-tive thoughts. When your friends, peers, or otherwise seem to be filling the air with their warm wishes, be sure to tell them that they need to be more focused on the lack of possibility for the snow day. Winter lasts until Tuesday, March 19 of this year, theoretically saying Punxsutawney Phil doesn’t see his shadow on February 2nd. Until Winter is over, or at least the winter-like weather, keep this theory in minde and abide by it whenever necessary.

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We all have this awful problem with never having anything to do even though we have so much advanced tech-nology all around us. This is the time of year where we all get stuck in our houses for long periods of time, and are almost past the age where it’s no fun to just go out and play in the snow. Warning, if you think it’s illegal it probably is, so please refrain from entertaining yourself by breaking the law. Also, don’t eat your way out of bore-dom, you’re allowed to cook but distrib-ute the treats to other people. You know the saying “If you can’t make yourself skinny, make your friends around you fat.”

• Invite friends over on a snow day and have a legit snow ball fight.

• Make a couple of playlists to listen to for things like when you’re driv-ing, running, or trying to pretend you’re in a movie and that’s your soundtrack.

• Go ice skating.

• Blow up your friend’s phone with a ton of texts telling them how you’re bored. I guarantee you that they’ll love you if you send them the entire alphabet.

• Exercise, even if you don’t end up exercising you’ll find some way to preoccupy yourself.

• Go window shopping.

• Make a whole meal for your family or friends, even include dessert!

• Go do a random act of kindness!

• Like, buy a complete stranger’s dinner, mow someone’s lawn, wash

someone’s car, or buy someone groceries. We’ve all seen the movie “Pay it Forward”, now is the time to.

• Go to Starbucks with friends and enjoy the time you have with them before you all end up in another state going to college.

• Clean. Really, your room smells bad. Along with your car… my good-ness! Crumbs are every-where! Nasty!

• Vol-unteer at an animal shelter!

• Go people watch-ing, its way more fun than bird watch-ing and some people are really just so strange in public. Pretend like you know

what they’re saying and make up their life stories.

• Get a head start on homework.

• Make a brownie in a mug using the microwave.

• Go look up the grumpy cat on Twit-ter and Google. You’ll be enter-tained for at least thirty minutes.

• Paint your nails, and if you’re a guy, paint your girl-friend’s nails.

• Ap-ply for jobs, obviously you’re bored, might as well make some money doing something.

• Play video games with your friends.

• Read a book, whether it’s for an

English class or just for recreational purposes.

• Watch TV, maybe turn on those old cartoons you watched ten years ago.

• Go on a date with someone, even if you don’t really like them that much. They may end up being someone you can become really good friends with.

• Make a bucket list of things you want to do before the year of 2013 ends.

• Play Uno! Or solitaire if you’re alone.

• Write a speech for if you ever were to win an award, it might help you work harder towards things.

• Write a song, even if you’re not good at it.

• Look up interesting facts that have no importance whatsoever.

• Sleep, because obviously you thought all my other ideas were awful so maybe you should just go back to bed and wake up on the right side this time.

beat the boredomMarrissa Peebles

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Eden Branstetter Colleges try to make living on campus as fun as possible, so they have a lot of activities that you can do. Even if it’s book clubs, dancing clubs, or sport clubs. One or-ganization, how-ever, that every-one knows is the Greek Life. Peo-ple join Fraterni-ties and Sororities to meet lifetime friends and to help out communities.

T h e first step to the Greek life is Re-cruitment, also known as Rush. Recruitment is the beginning of Greek life, and any man or woman can be qualified to be in a Sorority or Fra-ternity. Potential members are known as Rushees. Rush usually consists of a few rounds, or days. It all depends on what size of campus you have.

First, we are going to talk about Fraternity Rush. Rushing a fraternity is usually more informal than rushing in a sorority. During a formal rush event, a potential new member would meet with all the different fraternities on that cam-pus and visit the houses, depending on the university’s guidelines. Informal rush events are usually parties. If someone’s father, grandfather, or other male rela-tive was a part of a certain fraternity, that person usually would want to be in the same one because of special consider-ation. This is a time for potential members to get to know all fraternities and to pick out which ones you would fit in the most with. If the brothers of a fraternity think that you are fraternity material, they will extend a formal bid. The new member becomes a pledge if he accepts the bid.

Sorority Rush is a little bit dif-ferent than a fraternity. Most of the time, it is more formal, to where girls are run-ning around in the heat in high heels and dresses. In some smaller schools, it is more of a laid back event to where they tell you what to wear, if it’s shorts and a t-shirt, or a cute, summer dress.

This is a time to go around and meet all of the sorority sisters and learn about all of them so you know what fits you best. Bidding is a lot like the fraternity bidding.

You get a formal invite from the soror-ity that thinks you could fit in very well.

There are many benefits for be-ing in a sorority or a fraternity that a lot of people don’t think about. One benefit is leadership. Joining the Greek life gives many students opportunities to improve their leadership potential. You are basi-cally the leaders of the college in many ways. For many students, they join for the lifelong friendships you have. The fact that they call each other “brother” and “sister” shows a form of a family bond.

A very important feature of Greek life is community service. Partici-pation builds character through the un-derstanding of oth-er’s needs. Greek organizations are very involved in ac-tivities like tutoring children, organizing funding events or activities, or even sponsoring blood drives. You would be surprised by how much commu-nity work they do!

A major goal is the academ-ic support you get. Your brothers and

sisters encourage as much as possible to keep your academic potential. As a Greek member you are offered tutoring programs, study skills workshops, established study sessions, and grade point requirements.

Many of your favorite memo-ries in college will be developed through social interaction. It provides a way of meeting new friends all the time and having fun while doing so. Some ac-tivities that are very common among all of the Greek organizations would be chapter retreats, Homecoming, fra-ternity/sorority exchanges, parents’ weekends, and even winter or spring break trips with your brothers/sisters.

There are some people that go to college and don’t even consider join-ing a fraternity or sorority. In my opin-ion, Greek life could be for anyone. You

would be surprised. I’m writing this be-cause instead of not even considering it, you should look at all the plus sides first. Maybe it is something you want to do, but you never know until you do research, or you can even attend the first day of Greek Rush. It’s something that could honestly change your life in a way you wouldn’t know until you were actually part of it. I’ve heard a lot of good things about Greek life.

Greek life

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Emily Gilderson The best foods to eat in the blistering cold month of January are the warm and toasty ones that your mom usually makes. There’s nothing like com-ing in from a nice snow day or coming home from school and having some-thing filling to eat. Now, when you are at home from school, you can make these favorites all on your own or with friends!

Chili when it’s Chilly!

Grab the shredded cheese and crackers la-dies and gentlemen, chili’s what’s for din-ner! Chili is a good meal for someone who doesn’t want to worry about a lot of ingre-dients, a lot of cooking talent, or spend-ing tons of time of preparing a meal. Chili can have plenty of hardy ingredients, but it can also have as little as three ingredients.

Ingredients:

Ground beef

Chili beans

Seasonings

*Optional Ingredients*

Tomatoes

Onions

Tomato sauce

Garlic

*Amounts of each ingredient depend on how much you would like to make. A large can of chili beans will make enough for around twelve servings. With the large can, add around three to four handfuls of ground beef and a small can of tomato sauce. The other ingredients, such as onions, are added in amounts to your own liking.

Directions:

Start off by browning your meat in a skil-let at medium heat. Make sure you stir and ground it up to avoid large chunks of meat, unless of course that is what you prefer in your chili. You can cook your meat with a seasoning of your choice to add flavor to your meal. While you are browning your meat you can be stirring your chili beans and tomato sauce in a separate pot. After your meat has been completely browned and cooked all the way through and your chili beans have simmered, add your meat to the rest of the chili mixture. At this time, continue to stir your chili and add any addi-tional ingredients you wish. If you prefer to cook your onions, do so before adding them to your meal. Remember, add additional in-gredients in moderation. You can always add more if you wish, but after adding too much, it could possibly be unfixable, and you don’t want to jeopardize your pot of chili! Allow your pot of chili to cook at a low-medium to a medium heat until completely hot. This may take twenty to thirty minutes, depend-ing on the amount of chili you are prepar-ing, the heat you choose to warm your chili, or the consistency of your stirring pattern.

Serving Ideas:

When you are serving your chili, few like it plain and bland. Try adding Ritz veggie crackers, wheat saltines, or seasoned croutons. Also, other popular toppings are shredded cheese and sour cream. You can add any of these into your bowl of chili. In fact, you can try something different for every serving you eat!

Great Garlic Pasta

There’s nothing better than a recipe that is very lenient! A nice bowl of pasta in the win-ter always sounds good. The best part about a well put together garlic pasta is that you can eat it with almost any other food or veg-gie and the tastes won’t clash and one won’t over power the other. Another advantage to garlic pasta is that you can add ingredi-ents such as chicken, broccoli, or a variety of other veggies into the pasta and it will still be absolutely delicious on your taste buds.

Ingredients:

Pasta

*This can be angle hair, elbow macaroni, shells, wheat, or any other pasta you would like to use.

1 TBSP of butter for every 2-3 servings made

1 TSP of garlic for every 2-3 servings made (or as desired)

Optional Add-Ins:

Broccoli

Green Beans

Peppers

Peas

Chicken - Baked or slow pan cooked

*You can season your chicken as desired. Make sure it is fully cooked before you eat it or touch it to anything else you will be eating.

Directions:

Place a pot of water on the stove on high heat until the water comes to a boil. Turn down the heat to about medium and place in the desired amount of pasta. Keep in mind, a serving of pasta is only half of a cup. Cook the pasta until tender. A tip, if you add a small pinch of salt to your water with the noodles, you will have less of a chance of your noodles sticking to the bottom of the pan as long as you do not neglect to stir your pasta every so often. While your pasta is be-ing cooked, you could have already started to cook or bake your chicken if you wish to

cold weather comfort food

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add it to your pasta. You do not want to wait too long to start your chicken because you don’t want to have your noodles set too long allowing them to cool and you don’t want to improperly cook your chicken by cooking it too fast or not cooking it all the way through.DO NOT use the same utensils to cook your pasta that you are using to cook your chick-en, this is known as cross contamination. Also, if you would like to add any vegetables to your pasta dish, you can cook them as de-sired in a separate pan while your pasta is being cooked. After all of your ingredients are fully prepared, get them ready to be mixed together. Add your butter and garlic into your pasta and stir thoroughly until all of the butter is melted. Add in any of your vegetables and chicken you have prepared, if you so desired to add these tasty extras into your meal. Mix together and serve.

*A nice side to this pasta would be a slice of whole wheat bread served with water or a light juice. You don’t want too many heavy sides or drinks served with your past!

Pizza Burgers

Burgers and pizza. Two of America’s favorite foods. So, why not make a delicious meal out of the two? Well now you can! With four simple ingredients, a few seasonings, and

just a little bit of time out of your day you can create one of the best tasting meals made from a com-bination of two of the most deli-cious foods out there.

Ingredients:

1 lb. Ground beef

1-2 Small cans tomato paste

4-5 English muffins

1 Bag mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350°. Cook your ground beef in a pot or pan deep enough to allow space for the tomato paste you will later add in. Allow the meat to brown on a medium-high heat. Make sure you consistently stir the beef to ensure that none of the meat sticks to the bottom of the pot or pan and to allow you to ground it into small bits. After your beef is fully cooked, turn the heat down to medium-low or low and add in the tomato paste. Simmer the meat in the tomato paste until the mixture is thick. When you add in the tomato paste, you can add in your seasonings. Think of seasonings you would use when you make burgers or pizza, these will add more flavor to your meal. Remember to use the spices and seasonings

in moderation; you don’t want to overdo it. You can always add more, it’s much harder to take away spices. You will notice when the tomato paste is less saucy than when you first placed it into the pot or pan. While your beef is simmering, cut your English muffins in half, leaving you with two circles and lay them, uncut side up, on to a baking sheet. When your meat is done simmering, place a couple of spoonfulls of the meat onto each of the English muffins, completely covering the exposed side of the muffin. Next, cover the muffin and meat with the mozzarella cheese, creating a complete covering. Place your trays into the oven and allow them to cook until the cheese is completely melted on top of all pizza burgers. This usually takes 10 to 15 minutes, sometimes less. Let set a few min to cool and… voilà! You have successfully made pizza burgers.

*For a healthier alternative, use ground turkey meat instead of ground beef. Lean ground turkey is made from white meat or lean dark meat. Also, the turkey will give the pizza burger a different flavor.

*For a twist on flavors, you can use BBQ meat instead of meat cooked in tomato paste. This could be pulled pork or assorted meats cooked in BBQ such as chicken, beef, or turkey. Also, smoked meats will add a wide variety of flavors. If you use any of these substitutes, continue with the same procedures as before with placing on the English muffin, covering with cheese, and baking.

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Emily HighfillThere are so many movies that have

been considered classic, whether it be for their age, plot, actors, or the impact they have had on their audiences. Some of them have been remade, and whether they are successful or not, people cannot wait to see them. Some of the remakes have been done pret-ty well, and oth-ers have been complete flops. It almost seems like a curse to remake a movie, because if peo-ple love the first movie, they tend to watch the re-make and com-pare. However, many directors have taken the challenge and ran with it.

One of the most recently re-made movies is Footloose. The original movie, starring Kevin Bacon and Lori Singer, was released in 1984 and it had a lot of suc-cess. It was nominated twice in the Best Music, Original Song category at the Os-cars that year for “Footloose” and “Let’s Hear It for the Boy”. The song “Footloose” was also nominated at the Golden Globes and at the Grammys. Footloose follows the story of Ren McCormack (Bacon), a teenager who moves from Chicago to an extremely small town, farther west. Unfor-tunately for Ren, this new town has out-lawed music and dancing. However, he does find a way to enjoy himself: chasing after the preacher’s daughter, Ariel Moore (Singer). She’s a troubled and lonely teen with a very jealous boyfriend tagging along. Ren tries to get rid of the ordinance that has outlawed the song and dance by the time the senior prom comes along. In order to find out if Ren can get the ban lifted in time to truly enjoy prom, you can catch the original movie, or the remake, star-ring Kenny Wormald as Ren and Julienne Hough as Ariel. The new version modern-izes the tracks and puts a new spin on

some of the classic dances. The plot stays the same, but this one fits modern time much better and is a little more relatable.

Another movie that has been re-made is The Pink Panther. The original

was released in 1963 and starred famous ac-tors such as David Niven, Peter Sellers, and Robert Wagner. It too was very successful in its time. It won an ASCAP award for The Pink Panther theme song and was also nomi-nated for an Oscar, Gold-en Globe, and Grammy. For those of you unfa-miliar with the story, The Pink Panther is about an eccentric inspector whose job is to find The Pink Panther, a missing diamond. The clues lead him to “The Phantom”, a notorious jewel thief who always leaves a glove at the scene of his crimes. Inspector Clouseau is a little clumsy, nutty, and all-around crazy, giving off the vibe that he has

no idea what he is doing. However, he actually succeeds and his attitude makes

this movie even more enjoyable to watch.

The remake, also titled The Pink Panther, is just as funny to watch. Steve Martin plays Inspector Clouseau, which

makes this movie hilarious. It also stars Kevin Kline and Jean Reno as main char-acters and has the same basic storyline. Directed by Shaun Levy, this remake follows Clouseau as he tries to find the killer of France’s soccer team. When the coach’s Pink Panther diamond goes miss-ing, the inspector must find the jewel and the murderer at the same time. This is a hilarious comedy that actually outdid the original with a few surprises along the way.

Anyone who likes action movies will surely love the new movie, Red Dawn. However, what you may not know is that it is actually a remake of the classic 1984 film. The original, directed by John Milius stars Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas How-ell, and Lea Thompson. The film follows young high school students as they try to fight off the Soviet troops attacking their hometown. The Soviets attack their high school football field, sending them run-ning into the woods with no adults, food, or shelter. The only things they have are hunting rifles, arrows, bows, and pis-tols. Not to mention, it’s the middle win-ter and these teens do not only have to fight their foreign attackers, but also the bitter cold they are stranded in. When they manage to kill a squad of Soviet fighters, trouble arises for them. Eventu-ally the “Wolverines” have a big target on their back and reality starts to set in.

The remake, star-ring Chris Hemsworth, Josh Peck, Connor Cruise, Isabel Lucas, and Josh Hutcherson is a very close interpreta-tion of the original movie. Director Dan Bradley stuck close to the original film, but was able to put a modern spin on things. Hemsworth plays a ma-rine returning home while on leave. As the Koreans attack his hometown, he leads a group of brave high-schoolers, includ-ing his brother (Peck) on

a mission to take down the Koreans. There is no definite ending to the movie. Bradley left the end of this movie a cliffhanger, but we do see the Wolverines start to suc-ceed in the take down of the Koreans.

Movie Remakes

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Movies and TV are some of the best ways to entertain yourself at any time of the day. However, these movies or tv shows would not be possible with-out the actors. These actors are some of the most famous people in the entire world, but has anyone ever wondered where these huge stars came from? Here are a few names of some stars that lived and grew up in our own are.

The first star that grew up in the south-west Missouri area was the one and only Brad Pitt. Brad Pitt was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma but soon moved to the Springfield, Missouri area. He took drama classes at Kickapoo high school, where he also participated in golf, ten-nis, wrestling, and swimming teams. Brad Pitt has gone on to star in many famous movies like Fight Club, Ocean’s Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen, The Curi-ous Case of Benjamin Button, and Mon-eyball. He is now married to Angelina Jolie and they have six kids together.

The next f a m o u s star is the actor John G o o d -man, best known for his role as Don Con-nor on the hit televi-sion show Rosanne. John was born in St. Louis, w h e r e he spent the early years of his life. He soon moved to Afton, Missouri, where he attended high school. While at Afton high school, John participated in football where he received an offer to play college foot-ball at Southwest Missouri State Univer-sity, now known as Missouri State. He at-tended Missouri State, where he pledged to the Sigma Phi Epsilon. While at Mis-souri State he took drama classes along with other stars, like Kathleen Turner and

Tess Harper. After College he starred in the hit show Rosanne which aired from 1988 all the way to 1997. Goodman went on to make movies like The Flintstones, The Emperors New Groove, The Artist, Monsters Inc., and The Big Lebowski. J o h n G o o d -man now lives in California and New O r l e a n s .

The next actor to c o m e from the Springfield is Lucas G r a b e e l . Lucas is a mem-ber of the extremely

p o p u l a r hit tele-v i s i o n movie se-ries, High S c h o o l Mus ica l . L u c a s was born in Spring-field, Mis-souri on N o v e m -ber 23, 1984 and grew up in

the Springfield area, where he first attend-ed Logan Rogersville until high school before transferring to Kickapoo High School. He regularly attended Harmony Baptist Church, where he was a part of the children’s and youth groups. During the summer of 2002, he attended the Mis-souri Fine Arts Academy at Missouri State University. After his graduation, Grabeel moved to Los Angeles to become an ac-

tor. After two months of living there, Gra-beell got his first television role in a com-mercial for toothpaste and then eventually went to star in other commercials for Lego and Hot Wheels. He soon got his first television role as one of the main charac-

ters of another Disney movie series, Hallow-eentown. In 2006, he was cast in the role of Ryan Evans, the twin sibling to Sharpay Ev-ans (played by Ash-ley Tisdale) in the hit television movie High School Musical. He reprised his role in the sequels High School Musical 2 and the motion picture High School Musical 3. In 2007, he joined co-stars on the 51-date in the High school Musi-cal Live Concert. Dur-ing his time in High School Musical, Gra-beel (along with his co-stars) had a total of six tracks chart in the Billboard hot 100. Furthermore, he was

the first artist to debut in the Billboard Hot 100 with two different new entries in one week. He now is on the ABC Fam-ily television show Switched at Birth.

The next star from our area is the legendary game show host himself, Bob Barker, host of the Price is Right. Barker was born in Darrington, Washington, and spent most of his youth on the Rosebud reservation in South Dakota. In 1931, the family moved to Springfield, where Bark-er graduated from Central High School in 1941. Barker attended Drury College (now Drury University) in Springfield on a basketball scholarship. While attending college in Drury, Barker worked his first “media job” at KTTS-FM Radio. After that, he left Springfield and worked at a radio station in Florida. In 1950, Barker moved to California in order to pursue a career in broadcasting. He was given his own radio show, The Bob Barker Show, which ran for the next six years out of Burbank. On September 4, 1972, Barker began host-ing the CBS revival of The Price Is Right.

Movie stars from the areaJames McFerron

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mackenzie mattix Everyone loves to go eat, right? Normally we don’t think about what is ac-tually in the food. Everything that is in the food that you eat isn’t necessarily on the ingredients list on the wrapper. You may be shocked to know that some ingredients come from disgusting and odd sources.

There are a lot of foods that are dyed red or pink. Most of us don’t know where the red color comes from, though, and we don’t give it a sec-ond thought when we see that something is colored natu-rally. One of the main sources of this red dye is carminic dye and it comes from the Co-chineal beetle. The beetle is crushed up to get the red color and goes into foods like candy, meat, jellies, drinks, bakery products and a ton of others that you wouldn’t expect. This particular beetle comes from the family that companies get their wood primer and varnish shel-lac from. On the ingredients wrapper the beetles will be disguised as confectioner’s glaze, pure food glaze, or Lac-Resin.

There’s nothing better than soft, warm bread right? Too bad the bread gets its softness from some pretty nasty sourc-es. When bread is massed produced the companies that make it use an amino acid called L-Cysteine to soften the bread. They get this amino acid from human hair or, in most cases, duck feathers! The main source used to be human hair, but today about 80% is derived from duck feathers. McDonalds in particular, although other fast food companies to use the method too, uses the duck feather version in their baked goods like the Baked Apple Pie and the Warm Cinnamon Roll. Accord-ing to CNN, small chemical processing plants bought hair from Chinese women who were looking for a way to support their families. So, if you look at it that way, I guess it’s a win-win situation for them!

Often on nutrition labels we see a jumble of ingredients that we don’t un-derstand and pay no attention too. Next time, look for silicon dioxide because it is the fancy name for sand. Not only is silicon dioxide used to make glass, ce-ment, and optical fibers but it is used as an anti-caking agent in your food.

Many meats, such as beef and chick-en have this ingredient to keep it from clumping. Wendy’s and Taco Bell use it in their chili too. I don’t know about you, but I find that a little bit disturbing.

Everything from salad dress-ing to muffins and cheese, to practically all fast food restaurants use cel-lulose in their food. It may not sound like much since its practi-cal use is to thicken and stabilize the food, re-duce fat and add extra fi-ber in addi-tion to eliminating costs on more pricey in-gredients like flour and oil. This cellulose is actually another name for wood though! Even though there are a few benefits to using cellulose, like cutting down on fat and adding fiber, it is still wood and pro-cessed and all that not so desirable stuff. To get the cellulose, companies cook virgin

wood pulp in chemicals to get powdered cellulose and, in some cases it is exposed to acid to break it down further. So if you don’t mind wood in most of your food then you don’t have to worry about this one.

One of the favorite flavors of candies, ice creams, and other treats is raspberry. You might want to rethink that though. A popular way, which has been used over the past 80 years, to get this flavoring, comes from a place that is seri-ously so disgusting. The mixture known as Castoreum is a combination of anal secre-tions from a beaver mixed with its urine. I didn’t believe it at first either, but as I re-searched it I can’t deny that it’s true! Cas-toreum is an orange-brown color that has an oily substance to it, which is also used widely in perfumes as it is in desserts.

We have all heard the rumor of there being animal hooves in Jell-O. Al-though this isn’t exactly true, it isn’t far from being correct. Companies that pro-duce gelatin, as well as frosted cereals, yogurt, and some sour creams, use col-lagen as a thickening agent. Collagen is mainly extracted from animal skins, ligaments, and tendons. To make gelatin mainly cow and pig bones, connective tissue, and skin is boiled to form the gel. Collagen isn’t just found in Jell-O though, but it’s also in taffy and marshmallows too!

All across the board, many of the gross i n g r e d i -ents come from cows and pigs. Well here’s a n o t h e r , but you’ll be glad to know that it isn’t used

as often in America as it is in other coun-tries, but it is still used. Rennet, which comes from the mucosa of a calf’s fourth stomach, is used to make cheese. Nor-mally, the enzyme is used in the calf’s stomach to digest food. When it is mixed with milk it produces curds and whey and then put right into the cheese you eat!

what you don’t know can’t hurt

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One of my favorite things to do when I have some extra money to spare is to go see concerts. You might think that the only good places to see you a concert are too far away to be worth it, but you might be surprised at some of the great venues that Springfield, Missouri has to offer. Enjoy these reviews on some of the different concert venues, and maybe you’ll be inspired to go see more concerts!

• Outland Ballroom

Downtown Springfield isn’t exactly a cheery place, but there’s a little slice of heaven tucked away on South Av-enue. Right across from the coffee shop The Mudhouse, the Outland Ballroom looks a bit run down on the outside. When you walk through the first door, you have to scale your way up a dark staircase until you reach a little counter. Here, you pay for your concert experience. I would recommend paying up front if you’re a minor. The ‘will-call’ system that they use isn’t very efficient, but the fees for their concerts are cheap enough that it doesn’t matter much. Once you’ve paid (and if you’re a mi-nor, they’ll mark you with an ‘M’) you go through another door and now you’re in the actual concert venue! It’s a lot larger than it looks from the outside, but it’s not big enough that you’d get lost; there’s a max of 325

people, so it’s easy to be close to the stage. Part of the venue is the stage area and the rest includes couches, merch tables, and a bar with plenty of minor friendly drinks. The sound system and the acoustics are nothing short of amazing. With a wide variety of bands that play there, from a number of local Springfield bands to big names like Forever The Sickest Kids and Never Shout Never, it doesn’t matter who you are, you will enjoy yourself at the Outland.

• Remington’s Downtown

Not to be confused with Remington’s Entertainment Complex on Repub-lic Road, Remington’s Downtown is also, of course, downtown, not too far from the Outland Ballroom. I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but this ven-ue looks grungier than the Outland from the outside. They split up the lines according to what kind of tickets you have: a physical ticket, a will-call ticket, or if you’ll be purchasing your ticket at the door. Once again, the will-call isn’t really necessary. I stood in that line and watched the line of the people paying at the door move much quicker, and if you paid be-forehand with a credit card then you need the cardholder with you in order to get the tickets. Once inside, there doesn’t feel like there’s much room to move around. The stage is at one part and there are support beams and metal fences around where you’ll be standing. The sound system they have is absolutely amazing, though. Still, if you don’t go to many concerts and aren’t as familiar with the concert scene, this will feel like a dark, dank little place without much room to move around.

• Remington’s Entertain-ment Complex

Although they do not show as many concerts as they used to, Remington’s (this is the one on Republic Road) is a lot bigger on

the inside than you would think. The stage is pretty large as well, and it’s overall a great place for any sort of big event. The sound system rocks the whole place, and if you ever get the chance to see any artist here, do not hesitate to attend it! I prom-ise that you will not regret it.

• JQH Arena and Juanita K. Hammons Hall

Both of these concert venues are on Missouri State University’s campus. They are a bit more family orien-tated than the other venues listed, and they also host a wider variety of performances, not just concerts. Juanita K. Hammons. Out of the two, JQH Arena tends to host more concerts, with names like Kid Rock and the Zac Brown Band gracing the stage in the near future, as well as the annual Rock and Worship Roadshow, and Winter Jam, both with big name artists. Out of all the venues reviewed here, these two are the only ones that have seating. However, I do not know anyone that has sat all the way through concerts at either of these venues!

So there you have it! If you are ever in the mood to go to a concert but you are unsure where they are held or what kind of venue you would like to

go to, your best bet is just to Google it and do as much research possible! You never know, you might just stum-ble across your new favorite concert venue. Good luck, be safe, and have as much fun as you possibly can!

Concert Venueslacey curtis

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Emily gilderson

Freshman Focus We are a semester into the school year and we have all gotten to know our freshman class pretty well. Now that they have almost made it through their first year in high school, the fresh-man can start thinking about their futures if they haven’t already. The young men and women can be what they dream as long as they use the talents that they have been given, and nobody knows better than themselves what their spe-cial talents are and how they can fulfill their future aspirations by using them.

When I grow up, I want to be a rock star… Everyone has been caught jamming out to the song on the radio, singing in the mirror with your hair brush microphone, or rocking it out to the new-est hit from Justin Bieber in the shower. Although not everyone was born to be the next pop sensation, the freshman class still shows off their skills even if it means just being silly and having fun. As a whole, the freshmen are all pretty live-ly and have a great set of lungs. They have proven this to the upper classmen multiple times when cheers are being screamed at pep rallies and games, be-ing a singing act in the talent show, or singing along with a familiar song at a dance. Katie Deberry knows what we’re talking about. Aside from any of her other extracurricular activities, Katie is a very talented singer in the freshman class. Like many others in her class, she has been given the gift of iron lungs that have the po-tential to blow you away. Who knows, maybe our talented singing freshmen could be the next American Idol or contestant on The Voice!

I picture myself as the next Lud-wig van Beethoven… Do you rock the air guitar? The invisible drum set maybe? Deep down, we’re our own favorite musi-cian, but many people have their favorite guitarist from some crazy 80’s hair band or their favorite drummer from the newest

band on today hottest hits list. So many people envision themselves pursuing a career in music when they are little, but for our freshmen, numerous of them have the talent and capability to take their mu-sic to the next level and make a career out of it. Take Tyler Gamblin for example. As

a freshman in the Reeds Spring Wolf Pride con-cert and m a r c h i n g band, he cur-rently holds first chair over ten other trum-pet players, all ranging from begin-ners who just started this

year to your more sea-

soned members who have been in the program for eight or more years. The greater majority of the high school band is freshmen and an even greater majority of the freshmen class has music talents that will do them wonders in the future.

Lebron James is my idol… Mi-chael Jordan, Albert Pujols, Venus and

Serena Williams. These are all terrific team sport athletes. So, when you are alone or with your friends, do you practice the ultimate dunk? Or maybe the most perfect batter’s stance you could ever dream up? Ever since kids have been old enough to understand what the NFL, MLB, WNBA is, they have dreamed about play-ing for and with the best of the best. Just imagining what it would be like to have your name on a baseball card or to be a household name can give someone hope for someday making it with the big shots. Krystin Fitzwater is one freshman who has been adamant with her sports career and could be up there with the big names someday. Playing on the Reeds Spring High School team may not seem like a big deal now, but it could help her build her skills for when she gets her time to shine. The freshmen class has plenty of sports-geared talent, on or off a team, and these potential sports heroes just might have

more talent than what meets the eye.

O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo… From Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to Broadway’s Wicked, acting and plays have been around for centuries. Face it, when you have just pulled off one of your best acts yet, you find yourself stuck amidst the clouds of your imagination giv-ing your thank-you speech for the Gram-my Award you’ve just received. This year, the freshmen class has shown that they

are very enthusiastic towards becoming involved in the drama department, wheth-er that would be taking a lead role in a play, being a back-up singer for a scene or two, or working their tail off backstage moving props and making sure things role as smoothly as possible when the show must go on. Ethan Greiner is one of the many freshmen who likes the taste of the spotlight and can’t seem to get enough of it. After snagging a role in this year’s

17

play, Football Romeo, Ethan worked his hardest at giving his all, using every emotion he could, and really becom-ing his character. Being able to conform into a given character can give these fresh-men the opportunity of a lifetime. Maybe, just maybe this gifted bunch of role-playing freshmen can land a spot on stage and have their name on their very own playbill.

Two words. Van Gogh… How many “masterpieces” have you hung on the fridge? The real beauty in art is that all art is different. There are no rules and each piece has its own story. Many artists, past and present, have been recognized for their in-triguing paintings, cap-tivating sculptures, and other fabulous works of art. Individuality is a huge part of art and is also very well displayed among the freshmen class whether it be by their style, their music, or their way of go-ing about things. Some of these freshmen students express their individuality, talent, and creative mind through art. Freshman, Megan Strayer has been getting her “Van Gogh” on for some time now and has become quite the artist over time. Allowing the fresh-men to express themselves through art is a great outlet for them. It gives them the chance to put their feelings, ideas, and attitude together into their project and have free range to create a work of art that nobody else could ever copy, not completely. Megan has grasped her talent and is still learn-ing new techniques and skills, and who knows, maybe we have a freshmen class full of Leonardo Da Vinci’s on our hands!

Float like a butterfly, Sting like

a bee… Setting a goal, having self-dis-cipline, and following through. We have all done it whether it was for a short term

goal, like aiming for good grades all year, or a long term goal, like getting accepted into the college of your dreams. The freshmen bunch this year show great motivation and dedication to the goals

they have set and the different sports and activities they have committed to. Things such as college prep classes, volunteer work, and sports are just a few ways these freshmen show their desire for success. Freshmen such as

Broden LeMaster know all about set-ting goals, self-discipline, and following through. As a matter of fact, self-discipline might as well be his middle name. As a freshman wrestler who took first in his 152 lb. weight class when he successfully beat a senior at Branson High School on January 12th, Dedication to the team, prac-tice, and willingness to learn from others

and his opponents has helped him in his success so far this season in wrestling. Maintaining weight, attending every prac-tice, and listening to the coaches keeps Broden at the top of his game when he steps on the mat for his matches. Just tak-ing the time to study, attending school ev-ery day, and asking the appropriate ques-tions in class have set up the freshmen class for success this year. The habits this class has started to develop will ensure them with the brightest future possible.

E=MC²… You’ve got it Einstein! Ok, so maybe you didn’t invent a new equation that helps solve a long math-ematics problem, and maybe you didn’t make a new gadget that can do your homework for you, but there’s no doubt that great things will come from this bright freshmen class. Albert Einstein, George Washington Carver, and Steve Jobs were all average people who made huge contributions to society. Aside from their inventions, what did all three of these fel-las have in common? They were each really smart! Fresh-men this year have impressed everyone with their smarts. Answering questions in class, studying for tests, and acing appropriate in class… Del-aney Mattix is one of many freshmen who has been at it

for years. Using her knowledge in and out of class, Delaney is a role model for many. Along with her fellow classmates, the freshmen set an example for the other classes to follow based on their learn-ing ethics. It’s no secret that this fresh-men class will excel in and out of school.

From sports to creativity to per-forming arts and just plain smarts, it is obvious that the freshmen class offers more than exceptional work to them-selves and others. After getting used to the flow of high school and finding their niche, they have really blossomed and branched, out allowing them to shine in the activities and classes they do best. The students in the Reeds Spring High School freshmen class have a lot to offer, so, where do you see them in the future?

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Kerrigan arnold I think it’s safe to say that s h o p p i n g at a thrift store is un-like shopping a n y w h e r e else. You never know what you’re going to find when you take a step into a store like that, but that’s what makes it fun. As lame as that sounds, don’t dis it till you try it! Wheth-er or not you’ve been to a thrift store, let it be known that it’s at these stores that you will find the craziest things.

Now, here in Reeds Spring, Kim-berling City, Branson West, and Branson there are a few thrift stores worth check-ing out! In Branson West there is the most common store that almost everyone goes to, and that is Christian Associates. In Reeds Spring there are a few thrift stores in downtown and a few over by Sears and Dollar General. The one by Sears is definitely worth checking out! Although it’s small in size, once you get inside you’ll see that it’s got quite a lot to choose from! Then down in Kimberling City you have a pleth-ora to choose from! There’s one down by the little bakery across from the Bearded Clam, there’s a flea market next to Shir-ley’s Diner, and a thrift store right behind it, and there’s also one over by the Kim-berling Inn. Now in Branson, well, down-town Branson, there are many thrift stores and flea markets. If you just walk down the downtown strip you’ll come across at least 5 or 6 stores! I’ve been to almost ev-ery thrift store in town, and I’ll be honest, some are a little hectic on the inside, but if you take the time and look around, you’ll be sure to find something of your liking!

When I went searching to find what deals people found on clothes and items, I was amazed at what I

found! Here are some of the bargains people fell upon!

• - Armani Suit - $12.00

• - Anne Taylor cash-mere sweater new w/tags - $2.00

• - Baby Grand Piano w bench - $200, then additional 30% off

• - Dooney and Burke handbag - $4.00

• - DKNY tank dress new w/tags - $6.00 then ad-ditional 50% off

• - Large dog kennel, like new - $14.00

• - Chanel suit - $23.00

• - Mountain bike - $10.00

• - 50 gallon aquarium and stand - $20 sale then additional 50% off

• - Vera Wang style formal dress new w/tags - $1.98 then ad-ditional 75% off

As you can see, you can find some amazing things at a thrift store, but along with those great finds, you’ll find some crazy things that you didn’t even know existed. When looking online for the things people have found at thrift stores, you better prepare yourself because, well let’s be honest, people find some pretty weird stuff. Here are some of the weird items people found!

• - A cat shaped lotion dispenser

• - A cat-lovers guide to working out

• - Pig necklace with baby piglets eating

• - Plate of fake green beans and carrots

Now, that’s not much, but there’s so much

more you can find on your own by just taking a step into one of the thrift stores here in town! Now, if you’ve never been in thrift store and you aren’t sure how it works, here are some guidelines for you!

1) Go in with a plan!-Know what you’re looking for, unless of course you’re just going in to look around with no intentions of buying anything. Although, if you go into a thrift store, you’re bound to leave with something!

2) Be open-minded!-Don’t just dis the store because it’s not some high class store, because you never know what’s hiding in those clothes racks and shelves.

3) Look for quality brands!-When you first go in, it’s nice to look for brands that you’re used to and you know that you like but also keep an eye out for clothes that catch your eye in general!

4) Try new brands!-When you’re looking through the clothes, you’ll see things you like that don’t have the big brand names, but that’s okay! It’s never bad to try new things.

5) Try things on! -When you come across something you like, but you aren’t 100% sure you want to buy it, try it on! Most thrift stores have a dressing rooms, although, if the one you’re at doesn’t see if they have a bathroom you can try it on in!

6) Find ways to repurpose! -When you go to a thrift store, be open -minded and think creatively! You never know how you could re-use something to your advantage!

7) Go often!-If you don’t find something the first time you go, don’t lose faith, just go again some other time and I’m sure there will be new items!

After reading this article, hopeful-ly you’ll find some treasures of your own at some of the local thrift stores!

Thrift stores

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Anyone around here who loves Chinese food knows that the best place to go is Chopstix. They have great prices, friendly staff, and excellent food. Ask any of the high school students here in Reeds Spring and they will tell you that Chopstix is their go-to place for great Chinese food. The prices are perfect for us high school students who have to work around our tight budgets and the location is perfect for the people in our district. Located next to the Mule gas station, right before you get to DD highway, Chopstix offers a great selection of food at a reasonable distance from any-one who lives in the Reeds S p r i n g / B ranson W e s t a r e a . They offer the Chi-nese style food that we are used to, not exact-ly authen-tic, but it’s perfect for our taste buds. We are all used to the Mis-souri style C h i n e s e o f f e r e d by many other res-tau ran ts around here, but Chop-stix does it a little bit better.

When you walk into Chopstix and see those familiar red booths, you might not immediately think that you’re in a Chinese restaurant. However, pretty soon it becomes hard not to notice the Ori-ental lanterns, lights, and pictures hang-ing from the ceiling and on the walls. The white walls and bright lights give off an air of cleanliness in the restaurant which is always a welcome feeling, but it does seem a little disjointed with plain white walls and a few oriental decorations. The

red booths, while they are all too familiar to the regular customers, do unfortunately take away from the feeling you get from other Chinese restaurants. The decora-tions are kept to a minimum, making it seem as though they put all of their effort into their food and less on the decorations. Their food definitely proves that theory.

One good thing about the tables is that they are not far from the front coun-ter and the only walls are the ones sep-arating the dining area from the kitchen and a short wall in the middle breaking

the dining area up for privacy. You can see most of the other guest that are eat-ing in the restaurant, but there is enough space between the tables and enough ta-bles that odds are you won’t be sitting too close to anyone else. This gives an over-all feeling of openness in the restaurant, seeming more inviting to the guests. The atmosphere is always friendly whether or not you know the people there. The staff is always kind and very openly friendly towards everyone in the restaurant. The waitresses bring your food with a smile on their face. They are always happy to help in any way that they can and bring

you whatever you need. The Hans, the owners of Chopstix, whom you can often see in the back of the kitchen, are always friendly to everyone who walks in the door. You can definitely tell it’s a family business and that makes the atmosphere a little more welcoming for everyone.

Upon walking in the front door, you walk up to the front counter where a friendly staff member greets you and takes your drink and food order. Sometimes there is a short wait if other people are in line, but overall, it is almost an immediate

p r o c e s s once you walk in the door. Once you have or-d e r e d , you can c h o o s e your own seat, as far or as close as you like and sit down. The w a i t r e s s will bring you your d r i n k s s h o r t l y and you can re-lax and enjoy the relatively short wait for your food. Most

of the time, they will bring your food to you in less than ten minutes, sometimes even about five minutes. The short wait time makes this a good place to go for a quick and yummy bite to eat if you are in a hurry.

Chopstix is always clean and family-friendly. The tables are always wiped off and you never see a dirty table when you are eating. The cleanliness is a big plus of going to Chopstix. The floor always looks swept and mopped even if you go in close to closing. The counter up front always looks stocked full and cleanly organized. You never have to worry about

Restaurant ReviewEmily Highfil

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the cleanliness or sanitation at Chopstix because the staff is always on top of things.

The menu at Chopstix is rela-tively large and boasts all of the favorites from categories including pork, chicken, beef, and vegetables. They have every-thing from sautéed vegetables to general chicken and different kinds of soups. Since the menu is pretty extensive, anyone who goes to Chopstix can find something that they are sure to enjoy. There are dishes for people who enjoy spicy food, sweet food, and even more mild and savory fla-vors. Their prices are pretty enjoyable too. Their appetizers range from about three dollars to about eight dollars. The entrees range from about seven dollars to about twelve dollars. These prices are feasible for anyone from high school students to families with children. Anyone with a tight budget who is looking for a good quality meal that won’t break their bank would most definitely enjoy Chopstix.

While their prices may be cheap, the quality of the food is definitely not. It always comes out steaming hot and you can tell it was freshly made. If you get an appetizer, I would definitely recommend either the Crab Rangoon or the egg rolls. Both are excellent. The Crab Rangoon is filled with the cream-cheese and crab fill-ing and the outside shell always has the perfect crunch. It comes with a side of sweet and sour sauce that’s made very well. It is definitely a sweeter style sauce,

but the sour side comes out as well, the more that you eat of it. The egg rolls are always hot and the filling is perfectly sea-soned, never too little or too much. When it comes to ordering your entrée, there are a few things that I would recommend. The first is the General Tso’s Chicken. Anyone who likes spicier food would find this dish highly enjoyable. When you first bite into it, it has a sweet, honey kind of taste. Then the spice comes. It’s not too spicy to eat, but it’s spicy enough that it’s enjoyable for people accustomed to the taste. The General Chicken comes with rice and vegetables used to make the sauce. It is definitely more than enough for one person, almost two. Another en-trée that I would recommend is the Sweet and Sour Chicken. The pieces of chicken are covered in their sweet and sour sauce and served with rice. The sauce, again, is very sweet but packs a sour punch as you start to eat more of it. For people who like more of a sweeter sauce, and less of a spicy or savory taste, the sweet and sour chicken is the way to go. If you like more of a savory taste, the best is option for you would be the Kung Pao chicken, vegetable, or beef, depending on your preference. This sauce has a little bit of spice, but not enough to really be considered spicy, it has a little bit of a sweet taste as well, but overall it is a mild dish for people who enjoy too spicy or too sweet. Most of the entrees come with their fried rice and vegetables. Their fried rice has egg and vegetables in it,

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giving it really great flavor which is great considering that rice is a really bland food. If you like plain rice, you can always ask for white rice, which is great if you cover it in the leftover sauce from your meal.

As you can see, overall Chop-stix is a great restaurant. What it lacks in decoration, it makes up for in the flavor and quality of the food. Going to Chop-stix is a fun experience and it’s perfect if you are in a hurry. Even if you are hang-ing out with friends and don’t want to drive all the way to Branson or Spring-field, but are craving Chinese, Chopstix is the best place to go. If you have the chance to go there, you definitely should.

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During the Christmas break, there are always some of the year’s top movies out in theaters. This year was no different with the releases of Django Unchained, Les Miserables, and Parental Guidance. I was able to go see these three movies and form an opinion on how good they were.

Django Unchained

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Quentin Tarantino is known for is over the top action, his clever and corny scripts, and deep and intense characters. This is no different in his latest movie Django Unchained. Set in the south two years before the civil war, a slave whose brutal history with his former owners ends up face-to-face with German-born bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz. From there they are on a quest to hunt and take down some of the biggest and baddest outlaws around. However, after all the outlaws are taken care of, Django and Dr. Schultz start their mission to rescue Django’s wife, who is being held captive a land owner named Calvin Candy. My favorite part about this movie was that usually Quentin Tarantino films get out of control and break out

into violent chaos. In Django, however, the story progresses just fine with just little bits of cool action sequenc-es every 30 minutes and then finally in the last 45 minutes of the film, Django lets loose and gets his revenge. Another thing I enjoyed about this film was that Taran-tino played tribute to a lot of older western movies that he was a fan of when he was a kid. My favorite thing, though, was the writing for the movie. The dialogue is smooth and sharp between Dr. Schultz and Django as they make their way to Calvin Candies estate. What people may not be fond about of this movie though is how Quentin Tarantino depicts slavery in this film. There are times that Django (played by Jamie Foxx) is beat up pretty bad for being a slave. The slave

scenes really make you think and real-ize how slaves were treated back then. Another thing I was not as fond of was that I felt that Django was overshadowed by Dr. Schultz. Christoph Waltz, who plays Dr. Shultz, does most of the talking for the duo for the first hour and a half of the movie; he was great, it just felt that his performance was so good that little was left for Jamie Foxx. However, when Foxx finally gets his time to shine you are behind his character one hundred percent. With great performances by its leads, an interesting story, and great ac-tion, Django Unchained is one of the top movies of the year and one of Quentin Taratinos best films.

Les Miserable

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Russel Crowe, Anne Hathaway

Movie ReviewJames McFerron

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Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 stars

Les Miserable is known as one of the best musicals ever and this year Holly-wood decided to bring the classic musi-cal to the big screen. The stars really bring this movie from another average musical to a great film that is enjoyable to watch. The story follows a man named Jean Valjean, a former criminal who has served his time and is now a free man. Although he is free, he has to carry around a paper saying that he was a for-mer criminal, making it very hard for him to make a living. So he decides to get rid of his papers and change his identity and live a new life. When Jean Valjean doesn’t appear to one of his court dates, a man named Javert is sent out to hunt him down. Years pass and after a young woman dies, Jean Valjean vows to take care of her daughter while he spends the rest of his life on the run from Javert. By far the best part of the movie is the songs. The movie doesn’t have one line in it, it is all singing. Most of the time people can get really tired of listening to singing but with interest-ing fun stories, it makes the movie more exciting. Another exciting thing that is a first for movies is that they did all the singing live. This means that the actors can give the best performance possible for the song and the movie. At times this works great, but at times you can tell that some of the singing is off key, but that keeps the live musical aspect of the film. At times the movie can get a bit slow but Hugh Jackman, who plays Jean Valjean, puts the movie back on track with a tremendous song. He has tremendous range with his previous roles on Broadway and was a perfect fit for this role. However, Anne Hathaway steals the movie with really her only song of the film, ‘I dreamed a dream’. Her emotion in that song makes you feel for her character so much despite her only

being in the movie for fifteen minutes. One thing I didn’t like about the movie was the casting choice of Russel Crowe. Although he is a tremendous actor, his performance was wooden and his sing-ing was a bit off. He just felt out of place during this film. Another thing I didn’t like was the live singing. I know I mentioned earlier that it brings out a lot of emotion in the performance, but you can definitely tell if someone doesn’t sing very much because they are usually off key. Overall with solid performances from two out of its three leads, and a tremendous scope and great songs to listen to, Les Misera-ble is a great movie to go see and enjoy.

Parental guidance

Starring: Billy Crystal

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Billy Crystal is one of the most love-able, funny actors in Hollywood, but hasn’t done a movie in a while. This year though, Billy Crystal stars in the family comedy Parental Guidance. The story is about a couple of grandparents who have to deal with their twenty first century

grandchildren and have to adapt to their old school methods of raising children. There are few things I enjoyed about this movie. The thing I enjoyed the most was the performance by Billy Crystal. Even though he plays a grandparent, he is ex-tremely relatable and fun to watch on the screen and is the only support for the few jokes in the film. The next thing I enjoyed about this was the casting of the kids. So often now movies hire kids that are annoying on screen and you wind up not feeling for those characters by the end of the film. In Parental Guidance I thought they did a good job making the kids act like kids, but not so annoying that it takes

away from the film. The major thing that held this movie back was the script. With a good script I honestly believe that this could have been a decent movie, but the jokes usually fall flat leaving the movie theater completely silent. The only ex-ceptions are the few jokes Billy Crystal pulls off because of his comedic timing. Another problem I had with this movie was how predictable the movie was. I found myself figuring the movie out when there was at least forty five minutes left to go in the film. This is happening a

lot now to films, companies are releas-ing movies that could be potentially good films, but they want to release the movie on a specific date so they could make the most money possible. These are things that bring Parental Guidance down, if someone would have just taken their time with this film and with the addition of Billy Crystal, this would be a good movie.

Those are just a few of the big movies out in theaters right now. Hopefully these reviews help you decide if you want to see this movie in theaters, or just wait until it arrives in your local video store.

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EclipseCrossword.com

Across

4. “Joe, quit throwing crap!”5. “Little buddy”8. “I don’t think so scooter!”10. “Shut up.”11. “I’ve got more important

fish to fry.”12. “That’s not true.”

Down

1. “Bull-butter”2. “Boom!”3. “Oh my!”6. “Walk it off, you’ll be fine.”7. “What day is it?

(obnoxious song blasting from classroom)”

9. “Will the following students please come to the office?”

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KEEP SCORE

double takeSee if you can find the differences between the two pictures

Designed by amelia fisher

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final thought

It’s a typical Monday morning in Reeds Spring…thankful the tourists aren’t here to make traffic a nightmare, and wish-ing spring break was here already. As I walk in the front door of the high school I see the same old scene; Mr. Levingston standing by the office talking with a few coaches…officer Rakestraw exchang-ing jokes with some senior boys. As I round the corner to get my breakfast I see something that will change my life forever…Mr. Barr, with a .50 caliber Desert Eagle hand-cannon strapped to his side! “NOT IN MY SCHOOL!!!!”, he shouts as he draws his pistol, spins it on his finger twice, and proceeds to take out a few freshman who left trash on their lunch table.

OK, maybe not too realistic, but arming teachers does raise some interesting questions. After the Sandy Hook School shooting in Connecticut the new hot topic in the news is gun control and school safety. How do we protect ourselves here in the school from an intruder who intends on shooting teachers and stu-dents? Is arming teachers the answer? Arm them all? Arm just some? Make the

front door of the school an impenetrable steel door with the latest retinal scan technology for gaining entrance? Just how far do we need to go to make sure we’re safe?

Let’s talk a little common sense for a minute. According to some experts, the odds of being killed in a school shooting are less than the chances of being struck by a meteorite. So maybe we should all spend our energy and money on really heavy-duty umbrellas! Yes, the recent shootings in schools across the country are very disturbing. And yes, we DON’T want that kind of event here in Reeds Spring! But what can we really do to stop this from happening? Is the answer arming some well-qualified teachers? Is it hiring more resource officers to patrol our campus? More security cameras? ID badges? Metal detectors? These things can all be argued as a possible solution, or at the least as deterrent, to the problem of school violence. But is the cost of time, energy, and resources really worth it? The chances of it hap-pening are so remote, yet the thought of losing one life of a Reeds Spring High

matt locke

School student or staff is just unimagi-nable.

One thing we can all agree on, trying to avoid this kind of tragedy is a good thing.

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