The Talon

January/February 2014

February Poll: iPhone 5s or iPhone 5c?

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Technology or Textbooks?

Seattle Seahawks: Super Bowl Champions

The Art Times

Food Network

Valentine’s Day Word Search

Includes:

Aleksandra Swintek

Shreya Senthil

Pranathi Guddanti

Swetha Mohandas

Talon Staff:

Emily Wills

7

9

2 January/February 2014

February Poll: iPhone 5s or iPhone 5c?

By Shreya Senthil

5c

5s

Vs.

3 January/February 2014

I’m sure everyone has at least heard of The Hobbit. In December 2012, the first part of the film trilogy, An Unexpected Journey, was released. This past December, the second part, The Desolation of Smaug, came out. In December 2014, the final part, There and Back Again will hit theaters. The film trilogy is based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s bestselling book, the Hobbit. The Hobbit is about a hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, who goes on an adventure with twelve dwarves and a wizard in order to get the dwarves’ homeland back from the dragon, Smaug.

The first two films were amazing and I cannot wait until the final part comes to theaters! Not everyone is as excited as I am. Some hardcore Tolkien fans were appalled that Peter Jackson, the director, changed some of the story and added a few characters that weren’t in the book. If you have seen The Lord of The Rings film trilogy, you might remember Legolas, an elf. While he isn’t in the book, he is in the Desolation of Smaug and There and Back Again. Another character that was added for the films is Tauriel. She is also an elf in the second and third parts of The Hobbit films. Since there aren’t any female characters in the book, it was important to the filmmakers that the movies depicted a strong female character. The actress who plays Tauriel, Evangeline Lilly, said during a press conference for the Hobbit, “In Tolkien’s defense, he was writing in 1937. The world is a different place today, and I keep repeatedly telling people that in this day and age, to put nine hours of cinema entertainment in the theaters for young girls to go and watch, and not have one female character, is subliminally telling them, ‘You don’t count, you’re not important, and you’re not pivotal to the story.’”

If movies were less expensive, I would go see The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug every day. If you want to see an awesome fantasy movie, go see The Hobbit. I promise you won’t be disappointed!

The Hobbit: The Desolation

of Smaug

By Emily Wills

Image from imdb.com

Image from defectivegeeks.com

4 January/February 2014

Seattle Seahawks: Super Bowl Champions

By Emily Wills My favorite photos from

Super Bowl XLV111

http://a.abcnews.com/images/Sports/466653171_1

http://media.columbiamissourian.com/multimedia/2014/02/02/media/Super_Bowl_Football_Miss_4_t_w600_h475.jpg

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1600049.1391403919!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/super-bowl-48-xlviii.jpg

http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/images/wabc/cms_exf_2007/automation/images/9416911_448x252.jpg

5 January/February 2014

Technology or Textbooks?

By Aleksandra Swiatek

The big question schools are asking: Should we use technology or textbooks in our curriculum? Both choices have their ups and downs. When I interviewed teachers, most of them said they would prefer technology. Technology is much lighter than textbooks, and is more for this generation, as the teachers said. Also, you can have everything in one place. Your Science, Math, Social Studies, and English textbooks all in one place. But, students could make some money off of the technology the school issues. They could sell them and students could forget to charge it. Remember this: It is NOT always guaranteed that the device you are using will turn on, log you in, etc. Textbooks, on the other hand will always “work”. But, they are excruciatingly heavy. Multiply that weight by 4 and your backpack will feel as if there are bricks in there. Students, though, wouldn’t really want to sell textbooks. Also, textbooks are made out of paper, so student’s eyes wouldn’t hurt as much as they would looking onto a screen. I wish that there could be some type of compromise about this situation. I think that would make the choice way easier. Now, I have a question for you: What would you choose?

The Art Times: Heart Strings

By Swetha Monhandas

What you’ll need:

Cardboard tube Paintbrush and red paint Pushpin Needle Embroidery thread Beads How to make it:

1. Cut the tube in half and brush the halves inside and out with red paint. Let them dry.

2. Flatten the halves, then cut them into one-inch segments. Shape each segment into a heart by pushing one creased side toward the center. Pierce holes in the top and bottom of each heart with a pushpin.

3. Thread the needle and knot the end. Slide on a bead until it stops at the knotted end, then loop back and push the needle through the bead again, going from bottom to top.

4. Thread on a heart, then add a bead just above it, using the same looping technique to secure it in place. Repeat to create a string of hearts and beads.

7 January/February 2014

The Art Times: Paper Wreath

By Swetha Monhandas

What you’ll need:

9" dinner plate or paper plate

Thin cardboard Pencil Scissors Heart pattern Construction paper: Markers, crayons or

paint pens Glue sticks Yarn for hanger (optional) How to make it:

1. Trace around the 9" plate onto the cardboard. 2. Use your pen or pencil to draw another circle

inside that one, about an inch away from the outside circle.

3. Cut out the circle and the center of the circle to create a cardboard wreath base.

4. Fold a piece of scrap paper in half. Using the heart pattern line up the fold line of the scrap paper with the dotted line of the pattern. Cut out the shape so that when you open it, you have a heart shape.

5. Fold the short end of a piece of construction paper up about 3 inches. Place the folded heart around the folded paper and trace the half heart shape into the paper. You should be able to fit three hearts on the paper. Repeat this step for each colored piece of paper; you will have a total of 12 hearts.

6. Cut out all the hearts and flatten out the creases so that the hearts lay flat. Using markers, crayons, or paint pens, write conversation candy phrases on the hearts such as "LOVE", "HUBBA HUBBA", "SWEET", "LOVE", "BE MINE", "KISS" and "PAL".

7. Arrange your hearts on top of the cardboard wreath shape without gluing them down. Once you have them where you want them, use the glue stick to attach each one.

8. You can hang the wreath as is or attach a piece of looped yarn to the back as a hanger.

8 January/February 2014

The Skyview Food Network: Valentine’s Day Edition

By Shreya Senthil and Pranathi Guddanti

Ingredients:

• 4 cups looove, just kidding, whole, soy, fat free, or any type of milk

• 2 tablespoons of organic, white or caster sugar • 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of your favorite unsweetened

cocoa powder • 4 tablespoons of any semisweet chocolate (finely

chopped) • Vegetable Oil or cooking spray • (How many ever you want) large marshmallows!

Directions:

• Bring all these ingredients to a simmer (minus oil and marshmallows) on a stove and stir till all chocolate has dissolved. Pour into cute mugs!

• Grease or spray a heart shaped cookie cutter and press it through a marshmallow. The marshmallow comes out clean with a beautiful shape. Pop this into your mugs for a cute but delicious hot winter drink

Cocoa With Some Love

Sugar Cookies for Your Love! Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups of softened butter • 2 cups white sugar • 4 eggs • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract • 1 teaspoon salt • 5 cups all-purpose flour • 2 teaspoons baking powder

Directions:

1. In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar until smooth. 2. Beat in eggs and vanilla. 3. Stir in flour, salt, and baking soda. 4. Cover and chill dough for at least one hour or over night. 5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 6. Roll out dough on floured surface ¼ to ½ an inch thick. 7. Cut into heart shape using cookie cutter. 8. Place cookies on ungreased cookie sheet about I inch apart. 9. Now bake for 6 to 8 in preheated oven. 10. Then take out of oven and let cool completely.

9 January/February 2014

S F A I A S C S S Z X A F Q Z

S E Z F D P R A X U C X P D N

S O S H F E I O N H T R A E H

I Y Z O W E Z P O D Z T N V F

K Q J O R F C C T E Y L F H E

D X L Y R K O T R D H U G B G

C F G I R L F R I E N D X O A

R D I U A A E W V O K F J Y I

U R A T F D U F D Y N C Y F R

S X E E Y D T R V U U C P R R

H K V W Q D O C B P D F U I A

R O M A N C E L I E D L W E M

L H R O K G M D Q B F X W N Q

S F I H Z Y Z E Y F Q A I D Q

V G O L F X E N I T N E L A V

Valentine’s Day Word Search

By Emily Wills

Words: Affection

Boyfriend

Candy

Chocolate

Crush

Cupid

February

Flowers

Girlfriend

Heart

Hug

Kiss

Love

Marriage

Romance

Roses

Valentine