Fans feeling blood-thirsty for Dark Shadows

By Ela Sirin

blogspot.com

Dark Shadows, released on May 11th, was a highly anticipated movie this year. Starring well-known actor Johnny Depp as the exquisite and pained vampire, Depp is yet again in a movie being directed by Tim Burton.

Dark Shadows was based off an old soap opera, also titled Dark Shadows. The plot is mainly about a vampire Barnabas Collins.

After being cursed by a witch named Angelique, Barnabas had woken up to a strange new century, surrounded by technologies he cannot understand and the destruction of his family’s fishing business. 

Wanting to feel at home, Barnabas returns to his mansion to claim back his authority. He meets the current family and begins to live with them. He then tries to glue back the pieces of his family’s business.

During so, he finds out that the witch who cursed him to his wretched fate still existed, her purpose in life mainly to destroy the Collins family
. 

Then, to make it even more confusing, he believes that the love of his life now returned after last seeing her falling to her death while he was being cursed a vampire.

On opening weekend, Dark Shadows only came up with about $28.8 million. It was much, much lower than expected.

Some who watched it were slightly disappointed, yet say that the movie was great anyway. 

There’s almost no plot, some commented. Overall, some people have been saying that the collaboration between Johnny Depp and Tim Burton has not been so successful lately.

LA Times  titled one article with this, “‘Dark Shadows’: Has America fallen out of love with Johnny Depp?”

The comedy/horror movie was not particularly bad, though. Mostly people have said it was a good movie, definitely worth the while.

In the theatre, laughter can be heard, tension at worrisome scenes, and smiles can be noticed when leaving the theatre. 

Ridley's creativity shows at 2012 Festival of the Arts

By Veronica Verratti

The spring art show at Ridley High has been going on for over thirty years now.

However, it has been improved, and creatively enhanced in the past three years for everyone who is eager to attend.

Amanda Tucci, Laura Perry, and Kathy Casey, Ridley’s three very talented art teachers, have found in recent years some new ways to turn this event from a simple art show into a spectacular Festival of the Arts.

The Festival of the arts will take place inside Ridley High school on May 23, 2012.

Artwork is displayed from all art classes of the highs school (Art 1-5) as well as artwork from the school’s drawling, painting, ceramics, 3D art and 3D advanced classes.

The Festival also includes a fashion show, cake display, a wonderful coffee house, and art demonstrators (demonstrating a variety of different art mediums).

The art teachers and members of the school’s National Art Honors Society will be hosting and working throughout the Festival.

The middle school band also makes an appearance and artwork from the middle school and district elementary schools are featured.

So is this event a competition?

The answer is not really.  The very best artwork and pieces from the high school’s art classes are selected and put on display throughout the great hall.

Though all creations are admired and appreciated, judges do place awards on the works they find most impressive.

Awards for  first, second, third, and  honorable mention are given for all classes.

All three art teachers confirm that they are very excited and looking forward the Festival.

Much time and effort goes in to its preparation, as planning usually starts at the beginning of the school year and continues until the day of.

How to entertain yourself this summer

By Cade Thundercloud

cesidebtsolutions.org

Summer is almost here with less than a month until school ends, and with summer vacation comes a lot of fun.

One of the first things to come to mind when thinking about the summer is going to the beach. Relaxing in the sun, swimming with friends, and just overall having a good time.   

From the sand to the sunsets, the beach is a spectacular place to go when you are looking for a lot of fun.  

The boardwalk is an especially fun part of the beach.  

With all of the little shops that are each unique and exciting in their own ways, you will never get bored exploring the boardwalk.  

Not everyone can get out and go to the beach though.  

The pool is a great escape for people who can’t get away to the beach. 

 
It is a fun and safe place for kids or teens to go hang out at with their friends and a nice place just to relax and cool off. 

Another exciting thing to do over the weekend is to go hiking.  Ridley Creek State Park is a very cool local place to go to and just walk around and enjoy the great outdoors.  

If you are just going for a walk, fishing in the beautiful creek, or just going to see all the park has to offer, it is a wonderful place to visit during the summer.

Any State or National Park is a nice play to hike, as well as places like Bushkill Falls where you can explore the mountain and see many enormous waterfalls.  

Speaking of Falls, Niagara Falls offers some great views and plenty of fun.  Camping is another fun Summer activity that you and your family or friends can do.

Set up the tents, build a fire, and roast marshmallows while you just chill out for the night.  

Fishing is a fun relaxing thing to do when you do not feel like doing much for the day.  You can sit on the side of a creek, river, or lake or go out on a boat and enjoy the nice day while you fish.  

Concerts are a fun thing to do during the Summer for all of the music lovers out there.  

Many artists will be touring this Summer by themselves or with other artists.  Music festivals are a great all day musical experience where you can see many of your favorite artists in one day.  

Traveling is a more expensive thing to do during the summer.  

Visit places you have never been to before, enjoy the food of that area, see some awesome sights, and make new friends.  

You can have just one place you decide you wanna go to for a vacation or you can just go cross country and visit all the exciting places you pass as you go.  

Even just riding bikes, playing sports, or hanging out with your friends is a very fun thing to do during the summer.  

Whatever you have planned for this summer, make sure to be safe and have a lot of fun.

The Hunger Games becomes a worldwide phenomenon

By Cade Thundercloud and Ela Sirin

screenart.com

The Hunger Games, a globally popular novel from the previously unknown author Suzanne Collins, is a riveting adventure about a young girl who must do the impossible for the people she loves.  

Katniss Everdeen lives with her younger sister Prim and her hard-working mother in a small home in District 12 in the nation known as Panem.

Living in a world where the cruel Capitol reigns and controls thirteen different districts. In Panem, the dangerous and primal Hunger Games are held annually.

Each year, two tributes--a girl and boy--from each district are randomly chosen to participate in the deadliest event of the year.

Twenty Four tributes are sent out into the Arena, where they must kill every other tribute there is. There can only be one left living at the end.  

Any one between the ages of 12 and 18 years old can be selected at random to participate in this event.  

The selected boys and girls from each district must kill the others to try to win.  They will even have to kill the other chosen person from their own district, whether they are family, friends, or just a neighbor.  

The last one surviving: wins.  

In the game the arena changes every year.  It could be an island, a desert, a jungle, or any type of geographical design you could imagine.  

The winner will be famous and become very wealthy.  Their family will have easy lives for the rest of their days after their victory.  That is if they can survive and bring themselves to kill other kids their own age.  

When Prim is chosen to become a tribute, a distraught Katniss volunteers to take her place. She knows her little sister would be helpless in the games and can not let her go.  

So, Katniss finds herself in the Hunger Games where she must become a ruthless killer and a survivalist the second she steps foot into the game if she wishes to see her family again.

The novel became a hit almost immediately.

Avid readers all across the nation dropped their books to enter into the world of Katniss Everdeen.

The fascination for the book grew immensely, word about it reaching every ear.

It was released not too long ago, on the date of September 14th, 2008.  Since then, Suzanne Collins has written and published two other books to complete the trilogy.  The second book is titled Catching Fire and the third and final book is titled Mocking Jay.  

Suzanne Collins trilogy became an overnight hit.  People of all ages around the world fell in love with Collins’s books and she became a top selling author very quickly.  

Suzanne Collins started a new popular trend.  Many authors are now writing their own dystopian world novels due to the huge success of Collins’s trilogy. 

Readers all over now love these books and the genre has become very popular among teens and adults throughout the world.  

Suzanne’s trilogy has become so popular that her books are now in every book isle of every store.  

She currently sells Hunger Games merchandise, including t-shirts, wristbands, necklaces, pins, posters, etc.

With all this success though, the biggest moment has yet to come.  

On March 23rd, 2012, The Hunger Games Movie will hit theatres.  

The movie for this book is expected to be a huge box office success and expected to win numerous awards.  Word says a sequel movie is to be released November 22nd, 2013, and has excited  the fans of The Hunger Games trilogy even more.  

The Hunger Games movie is a widely anticipated film.  

The cast for the movie features Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, Willow Shields as Katniss’s sister Primrose “Prim”, Liam Hemsworth as Gale, Josh Hutcherson as Peeta, Woody Harrelson as Haymitch, Donald Sutherland as President Snow, and Lenny Kravitz as Cinna.  

The soundtrack will include a song that Taylor Swift wrote for the movie called “Safe and Sound”, which hit number 1 on iTunes top selling charts after 12 hours of its release as a single, as well as a number of other songs by various artists.  Jennifer Lawrence will be singing one of these songs, titled “Rue’s Lullaby”.  

The movie is being directed by Gary Ross.