The oice ihsvoice.com Volume 21.3 December 14,2012

According to High-Tech Militia presi-dent senior Jerry Li, the December 14th winter LAN party event hosted by High-Tech Militia and Anime Club was canceled on November 26th. The cancellation was announced on the Facebook event page one day later. Jerry revealed that Irving-ton’s principal, Ms. Sarah Smoot and as-sistant principal, Mr. Jay Jackson made the decision after a teacher had reported Jerry for using a teacher’s log-in information to access the school Wi-Fi. Principal Smoot declined to comment on anything related to Jerry’s involvement; Jerry himself provided The Voice with in-formation about the decisions that the site council and the administration had made regarding his violation. “I was testing out games that would work for our event with Mr. Fung,” Jerry said, “and when I was doing that, he found the log-in info on my laptop.” On November 26th, Ms. Smoot called him in to discuss the issue. Subse-quent events followed and a site coun-cil held a meeting on the 28th to discuss Jerry’s removal from his site council posi-tion. Jerry said, “Smoot said that due to circumstances that she could not reveal to the other members, she has decided that I was no longer fit to be the chairman.” With a vote of 10-1, Jerry was removed. “I think that the punishments that she gave me are understandable,” Jerry said, “but what she decides for the rest is not right. I think that it is an abuse if she chooses to just punish my club for using

the log-ins instead of the more than one-third of the school who are also using it.” He also mentioned that Mr. Jackson had requested him to list down as many names as he could once the topic that one-third of the students uses teacher log-ins was men-tioned. Jerry had refused. Other students who commented on the Facebook event page also believed HTM was being scapegoated. Ms. Smoot did acknowledge that she had “read, on Facebook, on a public page that a third of the Irvington students are using teachers’ credentials, to log in, illegally, into the in-ternet.” She also said, “I don’t believe it’s a full third of the student body, but it’s up-setting to me because the security of the network is important to me.” Although Ms. Smoot chose to not talk of the violation, she did mention the importance of abiding by school rules, especially with regards to students having signed the Computer Use Agreement at the beginning of the school year. “Students are supposed to use technol-ogy for educational purposes. ” Ms. Smoot said, “Any use of a teacher’s password to gain access to the internet for anything, such as gaming or social networking, other than for educational purposes is a violation of the Computer Use Policy.” “In order to send a broad message that it’s a privilege to use the internet for gam-ing, the event was canceled,” Ms. Smoot said, “I think it’ll send a message the next time that students intending to log in us-

ing a teacher’s credentials will think ‘well I don’t want to risk losing privileges.’” The cancellation of the LAN party was to convey that breaching the school’s legally mandated security system is “not okay, and that there are consequences for choosing to break the school rules, and the district rules, and state rules, and federal rules.” On the LAN party Facebook event page, Jerry said that “Ms. Smoot has also said that she will hold the clubs under a watch to ensure that there is close consider-ations regarding future event proposals.” Ms. Smoot’s response was “There have been no sanctions placed on High Tech Militia. The only administrative de-cision made was that the LAN party on December 14th would be canceled.” She was also clear in stating that approval of HTM events are done event by event and that the school grants special internet ac-cess permission to HTM during LAN parties for the “purpose of everyone link-ing in and playing together in a situation where they otherwise might not be able to do in the community.” She said that even granting the permission is a violation of computer use but it is granted specifically by the school because the school supports the club. “So when that is violated,” Ms. Smoot said, “we have to make students understand it is a privilege and that some privileges can be removed if the policy is violated.” “I think it’s really important that students understand that this is not a control issue,”

Ms. Smoot said, “This is a security issue.” The security of the system is important because teachers keep confidential files on the server such as students’ confidential information, tests, and classroom curricu-lum. “So anybody who logs into a teacher’s email has access to a V drive that has shared information between teachers,” stated Ms. Smoot, “And teachers depend on the secu-rity when operating their classes.” Not only that, she thinks that students being able to gain access and find a way to look up inap-propriate graphics, inappropriate language and the like is not appropriate in an educa-tional setting. “It’s important to me that Irvington students graduate with integrity,” Ms. Smoot said. She says that using teacher credentials is unethical and illegal. Any fur-ther breaches in the school’s internet secu-rity, and she will have to see how to send a stronger message to students that “just be-cause you can, doesn’t mean you should” in order to stop the problem. Some of the members of the HTM club who commented on the Facebook event page felt that they were being made an example of and were not too pleased with the cancellation of their winter fundraising event.

HTM Winter Event CanceledBy Jason Amico and Shirley Lin

Breaching of school Internet security the cause

In October 2012, Alameda County Sheriff Gregory Ahern considered pur-chasing an Unmanned Aerial System, more commonly known as a surveillance drone, for police use. However, his plan is currently on hold. According to the Oakland Tribune, the Alameda County Board of Supervi-sors said that the usage of grant money to purchase a drone will need clear approval. The proposal will then be evaluated by a public protection committee, then back to the county board early next year. Many controversies lie at the heart of the drone issue, but there have been mul-tiple disputes about the drone’s purpose.

Purpose The sheriff ’s department has repeat-edly stated that it plans to use the drones only for search-and-rescue missions, to find criminals who are fleeing from law enforce-ment and to help people evacuate from an area. In an interview with KQED, Ahern said he believes that the drones could help to save lives, and would be especially use-ful in time of natural disasters, considering that the Bay Area has had earthquakes, firestorms, and tsunami warning in past years. “We plan on using the unmanned aer-ial system to rescue people and save lives,” said Ahern, as reported by KCBS. However, according to the ACLU, the sheriff ’s department has different inten-tions regarding the use of drones. The ACLU states it obtained documents from the sheriff ’s office through the Cali-

fornia Public Records Act and that the doc-uments show that the sheriff ’s office plans to do more with the drones that what they have told the public and Alameda County Board of Supervisors. Ahern says that the information and intelligence gathering would happen dur-ing a natural disaster or terrorist attack. He stated they [the county department] could put the drone in an area and see which areas were affected to gather information and intelligence. Even so, Lye said, “surveillance” is merely a fancy way to say “spying.” “We’re a little concerned drones have the capacity to be abused tremendously,” commented Lye.

Postponing Approval On Tuesday, December 4, the Alam-eda County Board of Supervisors decided to postpone reviewing the purchase of a drone for the Sheriff ’s department. According to a tweet posted by Alameda County Against Drones (ACAD), the su-pervisors decided to “require explicit au-thorization to use the money for the drone.” On December 3, one day before the board meeting, Michael Siegel, an attorney for ACAD, tweeted on his account (Oak-townMike) that the sheriff removed the drone purchase from the agenda. However, in an interview with KQED, Ahern said he wanted to bring the issue to the Public Safety Committee before ask-ing the Board of Supervisors to act on this. Ahern claims a previously scheduled meet-ing with the Public Safety Committee was postponed, which prompted him to remove the item.

But the main argument is this: advocates believe that the drone purchase was placed in the council agenda as a way to “hide” it, while Ahern states that was not the pur-pose at all. “The sheriff placed a request for the Board of Supervisors to authorize his re-ceipt of grant funds to buy a drone, but it was buried on a 66- item agenda,” said Lye, in an interview with KQED. “And this was so even though the board has just last month specifically stated in response to concerns by residences about the drone is-sues that the public protection committee would be holding a hearing at a later date. So, burying it on the agenda was a way of bypassing board and public review.” The consent calendar is available for anyone to read, but it is often a large stack of papers – as Lye had said, 66 pages to be exact – which can be somewhat intimidat-ing.

Constitutionality of using drones Another question swirling around the drone controversy is whether or not the usage of drones is constitutional. Devin Trubey, a member of Irvington’s We The People explained to the Voice the constitu-tionality of drone use. So far, there have no Supreme Court cases regarding drones, but there have been cases regarding privacy. In Calfornia v. Ciraolo (1986), it was established that the government has the right to fly over your house and take pictures. The Supreme Court declared this as constitutional be-cause the police officers’ actions (represent-ing California) were consistent with the Fourth Amendment. “Any member of the

Controversy Surrounds Sheriff’s Proposal of Surveillance Drones

public flying in this airspace who glanced down could have seen everything that these officers observed,” said Warren E. Burger, chief justice of the United States at the time of this case. In Kyllo v. United States (2001), the Supreme Court decided it was uncon-stitutional when “the Government uses a device that is not in general public use, to explore details of the home that would previously have been unknowable with-out physical intrusion, the surveillance is a ‘search’ and is presumptively unreasonable without a warrant.” A Department of the Interior agent had used a thermal-imaging device to scan Kyllo’s residence. The agent suspected Kyllo of growing marijuana. “When thermal imaging had been used on Kyllo’s house without a warrant, it invaded home privacy so it was illegal,” ex-plain Trubey. “Therefore drones equipped with thermal-imaging flying around with-out warrants to look at peoples’ houses are therefore unconstitutional.” According to an internal memo from the Alameda County Sheriff ’s department, the drones the department was looking to purchase is equipped with live video down-link and Forward Looking Infrared Imag-ing Systems (FLIR). FLIR systems show the amount of infrared energy emitted by objects, which is also what a thermal-imag-ing device does. “Drones are used to monitor terrorist behavior, but now they’re used to monitor citizen behavior. This is ultimate big broth-er,” said Trubey.

Drone purchase postponedBy Kelsey Wong

INSIDEuDiscover bizarre but cute coffee shops in Features.

The Diviners excels in the eyes of one Voice writer.

Meet John Andrade, Viking wrestling champion.

ENTERTAINMENT SPORTS INDEX

PAGE 10 PAGE 13

OPINIONS

PAGE 6

A hilarious year in re-view: 2012

HUMOR

PAGE 15

Read about the heated debate between indi-vidualism and conformity.

SEE HTM ON PAGE 2

News..........................1-3Student Life..................4Opinions....................6-7Features.....................8-9Entertainment..........10-11Sports......................12-13Humor...........................15

Update on Recent Events from Irvington GroupsBy Nisha Patel and Mariam Syeda-quadri

Speech

From Friday, November 16th through Sunday, November 18th, Irvington’s Speech Club par-ticipants competed in the second speech tournament of the year at the Cronin Memorial Invitational Speech and Debate Tournament at Santa Clara University. Leagues from high schools

near and far traveled to attend this invitational tournament for this weekend-long event. Ms. Su-san Piekarski, one of Irvington’s two speech club advisors super-vised the Viking team. Irvington students who placed include: Kelsey Ichikawa: 3rd Place, Open OI; Tiffany Lo, Semi-Finalist, Open OI; Ro-hit Dilip: Semi-Finalist, Open Impromptu; Arya Sureshbabu: Semi-Finalist, Open Impromptu

and Semi-Finalist, Novice Ora-tory; Ankit Patel: Semi-Finalist, Novice Impromptu; Kelsey Ichi-kawa & Tiffany Lo: Finalists, Novice Duo “Even though I knew that all the Speech competitors this year are phenomenally talented and dedicated, it was surprise to have so many go on to semi-final and final rounds, especially at an extremely competitive invi-tational tournament like SCU,” said Speech team captain Emon Datta. “Speech definitely takes up a lot of Aditya Kumar’s [speech co-captain] and my time, but it is time well spent to help our team succeed and prepare them to take on our leadership roles later on. We’re especially happy to have such a strong forensics team de-spite the setbacks we’ve experi-enced, and hope to only improve from here.”

Viking Speech competitors celebrate their winnings alongside advisor, Ms. Piekarski.

Marching Band

On Saturday, November 17th, as a kickoff to the then-upcoming Thanksgiving break, Irvington’s Marching Band left campus at 6 a.m. to compete at the Lincoln Band Review in Stockton. According to senior Beverly Yee, it was a bittersweet day for all marching band members as it was the last band review for the year; she explained how they were glad that this was the last Saturday that

they had to wake up at 4 in the morning for a long day, but sad at the thought of the closing of an accomplished season. The results were: Sweep-stakes - Color Guard; Sweep-stakes Musicality - Parade Band; 1st Place - Percussion (equivalent to a Sweepstakes win); 1st Place Drum Major Mace - Bekky Shin; 1st Place Parade Band AA Divi-sion; 2nd Place Wind Ensemble AA Division “We had an awesome season, and the whole band improved a lot everyday throughout the year,” said junior Saurabh Gupta. “Our band got the highest score this year in Irvington’s history, and I’m really looking forward to next year’s season and getting an even higher score.” “I think this was one of the hardest seasons but in the end, it paid off,” said junior Michelle Wen.

Senior Erica Speed plays the flute and marches along the track of Lin-coln High School in full costume.

Robotics The Irvington Robotics team won first place against fifteen other teams at a robotics tour-nament at Heritage High school on November 18th, 2012. Our Irvington robotics club enrolled two teams called, Blue Screens and Nuclear Endernem, into this tournament. The blue screens came out victorious with a score of 9-0 undefeated. Each team consists of ten people. We entered a total of 20 people into this tournament. Club members started building their robot for this competition several weeks before the competi-tion. The name of the winning robot was piano, engineered by the Blue Screens team. The for-mat of this tournament was that there was a predefined 12 foot by 12 foot field where four robots competed at a time. The main

Math Club Irvington’s math club placed 2nd at the Stanford math league competition on October 7th, 2012 and 3rd at a math tourna-ment held at Valley Christian High School on November 17th. There were eighteen people from our school who entered the Stanford math league competi-tion and nine participated at the Valley Chritstian High School math competition. They were against around twenty schools in both tournaments and were still able to place so high overall. Ac-cording to Mathleague’s website, “testing consists of Sprint, Target, Team and Relay rounds.” At the Stanford math league competition many of our math club members placed in the top ten. Michael Lou placed 3rd in the sophomores overall and Na-than Wong placed 3rd in the ju-

niors overall. The math contests lasted from nine in the morning until noon. There are different types of rounds, some individual and some with a team. The top scores from each team are combined. Math club members met every Monday, Wednesday and Friday to prepare. Math club member, Evan Chen, teaches the other members how to solve the problems they may see in upcom-ing competitions. “I have noticed over the years that Irvington has been perform-ing better,” advisor Mrs. Rothfuss said when asked about how she felt about the math club’s past two achievements this year. “The reason is that we have a more dedicated group of members who are also studying more advanced levels of math outside of school.”

objective was to have rings from dispensers put onto a scoring rack. The first thirty seconds in this round their preprogrammed robot completed the task and the next two minutes a team mem-ber controlled the robot with a remote controller. Blue Screens go the most rings onto the scor-ing rack and beat the rest of the teams participating. Our robot-ics team meets from four to six hours a week. The week before the tournament the robotic teams worked on their robot for twelve hours. “Our win was unexpected especially since before the tourna-ment our robot seemed dysfunc-tional,” stated Apoorva Kharche, Vice President. “However, due to Lean Lou’s awesome driving skills we were able to pull through and come out on top.”

HTM CONT The much discontentment prompted the involvement of a third party. Eric Anderson, a Irvington alumnus and former HTM president, emailed Princi-pal Smoot in defense of the club and subsequently posted the con-tents of his email on the wall of the Facebook event page. Many inputted their opinions, including a member of Irvington’s faculty, Mrs. Rebecca Devakumar. Jerry noted that after he post-ed a status of his discussion with Ms. Smoot regarding the fact that the “mails that had been going to all staff and district administra-tion including superintendents are completely legal and pro-tected by the patriots act and the right to information,” his status was leaked. Ms. Allyson McAuley, Ir-vington’s web master and me-dia teacher mentioned that she had contacted Mr. John Krull, the Chief Technology Officer at Fremont Unified School District, to discuss unblocking filters for specific purposes. He has already agreed to unblocking Facebook so that the library can hold a workshop to teach how to set up safety settings on Facebook. She also spoke to him about unblock-ing gaming sites for HTM during LAN party hours so that students would not have to use teacher log-ins. Mr. Krull agreed to do so and told Ms. McAuley to just let him know when. “There is no actual reasons to use a teacher’s creden-tials to access certain websites,” Ms. McAuley said, “because stu-dents and teachers alike are al-lowed to submit websites to be unblocked. So if the problems of the students using teachers’ cre-dentials stop, and good reasons are provided, sites such as social networking sites can potentially be unblocked in the future.” Ms. McAuley would also like to let students know that if they have a site that they would like to be unblocked for legitimate pur-poses, they can submit the website to her. These websites will then be given to Ms. Smoot and she will have to write letters to the FUSD for approval. In fact, Ms. McAu-ley has estimated that she has already submitted over 100 web-sites for Ms. Smoot to write letters for, and those websites have now been unblocked.

Photo: West Kurihara

Photo: Tiffany Lo

News2 | The Voice 21.3

Sp o t LightW

orld N e w s

By Iris Lee

Solar Storm to Arrive

According to NASA, ever since 2006, a powerful solar storm has been forming in space and gradually approaching Earth. Solar storms are geomagnetic storms that cause disturbances in the Earth’s magnetic field and wreck havoc on satellites, power grids, and navigation systems. NASA recently estimated the storm to peak “in late 2013 or early 2014.” A recent study by the Nation-al Academy of Sciences outlines, “the results can be devastating...impacts would be felt on…por-table water distribution affected within several hours; perishable foods and medications lost in 12-24 hours…and so on.” However, NASA stated that “anyone over the age of 11 has already lived through such a solar maximum with no harm” and the storm’s effects “mostly concern modern technology.” NASA believes that if Earth takes the necessary pre-cautions, such as preserving pow-er lines across the world and stor-ing backup generators, the storm will pass with minimal damage.

Spider AstronautTravels in Space

Nefertiti, also known as the Spidernaut, is the first jumping spider to successfully travel to space on a space flight habitat, adjust its natural hunting behav-ior to catch prey in microgravity, and return to life on Earth. Kirk Johnson, the director of the Na-tional Museum of Natural Histo-ry, said that “she sparked several minds with the thrilling possibili-ties in science.” Her owner, 18-year-old Egyptian student Amr Mo-hamed, submitted his experiment to a worldwide science project contest called the “YouTube Space Lab.” As a result, his find-ings were posted online and drew immense attention to the spider and her historic flight. Nefertiti circled the Earth more than 1,500 times, traveled more than 41 mil-lion miles on a space flight habi-tat, and returned home safe and sound. She will spend the rest of her life at the Insect Zoo located in the Smithsonian museum—a “rest well deserved,” said her owner. William Gerstenmaier, associate at NASA and a member of the Space Lab judging panel, commented that “this spider…bears witness to the breadth of imagination in young, inquiring minds around the world.”

IHS Receives Seven Thousand Dollars from STEM GrantMs. McAuley and Ms. Gadgil win a community action grant

This September, Ms. McAu-ley, along with other teachers, received a $7,000 grant through the American Association of Uni-versity Women to use for projects that will increase women’s and young girls’ interest in the science and technology fields. Last year Ms. McAuley and Ms. Gadgil, President of PTSA, began an application for the American Association of Univer-sity Women to promote projects that encourage women’s involve-ment in STEM (science, technol-ogy, engineering, and math) fields. According to the Department of Labor, 9 in 10 of the fastest grow-

ing occupations are in the STEM fields; however, currently only a quarter of the current employees in those fields are women. This is why Irvington staff, including Mr. Fung, Mrs. Albizo, Mrs. Hawks, Ms. Burton, Mrs. Sharma, Ms. Steward, Ms. Lynn, and more, are trying to expose girls at Irvington to opportuni-ties in the STEM fields. Cur-rently, girl are underrepresented in our STEM academies. Last year, only 17% of the ITA fam-ily was female, a number that has decreased this year. Ms. McAuley said, “If wom-en are not exposed to opportuni-

in 2013 to 2014

By Japjot Bal

ties in the STEM fields, they’ll have a huge disadvantage in the job market.” The grant provided money to use for library materials, guest speakers, and field trips. Accord-ing to Ms. McAuley, the average age of the books in the science collection in our library is 1994. New sciences, such as biotechnol-ogy and new genetics studies, are not reflected in the current books. The library will order books to get people, specifically girls, inter-ested in these new sciences. The guest speakers will be female pro-fessionals working in the STEM fields. The teachers will also co-

ordinate field trips to enhance the exposure and provide more op-portunity for girls to explore their interests and passions. According to Ms. McAuley, the grant is already being put to use. On November 30th, a group of girls took a field trip to the Fremont recycling center and on January 30th, a guest website de-sign and IT speaker will come to Irvington. Ms. McAuley also said, “All the doors of opportunity should be open for girls and they shouldn’t be discouraged from pursuing a passion because they feel like they’re not welcomed as women.”

We the People Team Qualifies for States Team places first at regional level, qualifying for state finalsBy Eugene Wong

On Monday December 3, 2012, the Irvington We the People team competed in their second competition of the sea-son, placing 1st at the regional level against the Yerba Buena and Foothill teams. The Irvington team will move on to compete against ten other schools in the state compe-tition for a chance to represent California at the national level. Irvington recovered from placing last in their first competi-tion against Amador Valley and Foothill in the previous week, which was considered a rehearsal round. “Getting last place at the rehearsal competition was really disheartening but it made me and the rest of the class work really hard because none of us wanted to lose at the competition that mattered,” said Unit 6 student Kevin Hui. In a competition, each team is divided into 6 units that focus on an area of constitutional inter-est that may cover events ranging from revolutionary times to the

current day. The individual units write an essay, give presentations, and respond to on-the spot ques-tions given by judges. Judges score each of these aspects on a rubric. A judge is assigned to score a sin-gle unit across the different teams. The collective scores are ranked and the team with the highest score wins. Team members fervently practiced for the regional compe-tition. Wanda Zhan, a student in Unit 1 said, “To prep for region-als, we had meetings every day in person, on Google docs and on Skype. Also we read current

events every day and used Hot-seat to make sure we could all an-swers questions in a pithy manner under stress.” When asked about the im-provements that the team made in the regional competition in com-parison to their rehearsal, Janice Lin from Unit 3 responded, “I think my unit improved a lot in the presentation aspect as well as the participation category. We were able to answer the questions in the Q&A portion much more directly and successfully.” When asked about the team perfor-

mance, Mrs. Cook-Kallio replied, “The strength of this year’s team is that they feel to me to be very even and so they can all rise to the highest level together.” She con-tinued, “One of the detriments of any team is when it’s uneven and you’re trying to get one group up with everyone else, because they all have to perform at a certain level.” Whether or not the team makes it to the national level and competes at Washington D.C., We the People is defined by grand-er ambitions beyond the compe-titions and field trips. For Mrs. Cook-kallio, who has advised the We The People teams for the past nine years, “The real purpose of We the People is to end up with a participatory citizen. It’s to end up with someone who is going to volunteer in the community, who is going to understand how important it is to vote, no matter what they choose to do in their life. They will always be an active citizen and understand what the government means.”

We The People outside Monticello at Washington D.C.Photo: Cheryl Cook-Kallio

Photo: december212012.com

Photo: phys.org

SNewDecember 2012| 3

Student Life4 | The Voice 21.3

007 Trivia

It’s no secret that James Bond’s two best skills are to woo and to kill, but how well do you really know the 007 agent?

Winter brings a flurry of activity

1. IHS Interact and IHS Choir: Carol-ing for CansIHS Interact and IHS Choir went carol-ing in Mission San Jose neighborhoods on December 7th and 8th from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. to help get food cans to give to Abode Services. 2. IHS Red Cross: gift wrapping service eventIHS Red Cross is holding gift wrapping service events at Pacific Commons that started November 30th and will continue every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday until December 23rd.3. IHS Social Emphasis: Christmas par-tyIHS Social Emphasis will be holding a Christmas party in room 13 during advi-sory on December 20th during tutorial. Anyone who wants to “party it up” with the room 13 kids are welcome and will re-ceive service hours.4. IHS Link: Movie night with the freshmenIHS Link has organized a movie night only for freshmen in the Cafeteria at 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on December 14th where they will watch The Hunger Games. They are allowed to bring pillows, blankets, sleeping bags, etc. to make themselves feel comfortable.5. IHS Free the Children: 1. Science Experiment 2. Packing Educational Ac-tivity Kits A. IHS FTC held a science experiment where they made baking soda and vinegar volcanoes on December 5th from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Abode Main St. Village.B. IHS FTC held another service event on December 8th from 1-4pm at RAFT San Jose where they helped sort repur-posed materials into Educational Activity Kits for teachers, helping them implement hands-on learning in their classrooms at low costs.

“I would eat a lot of food, as if I’m about to hibernate like a ground-hog. Also, I would write goodbye letters to all my friends and family and laugh at my enemies be-cause we’re all going to die.”

“I would just prepare a gourmet feast. I mean, if the end of the world were coming, I don’t have to worry about diabetes or wasting money on food.”

1. What does Q stand for? a. Quadrennial Defence Review b. Quartermaster c. Queensland And Northern Terri tory Aerial Services d. quantum satis

2. Who was the tallest actor to play James Bond? a. Sean Connery b. George Lazenby c. Daniel Craig d. Timothy Dalton

3. How many James Bond films have there been? a. 24 b. 23 c. 58 d. 7

4. Where does James Bond live?a. Switzerlandb. Londonc. He’s homelessd. Scotland

5. Who sang the theme song for Sky-fall? a. Daniel Craig b. Ellie Goulding c. Eve Moneypenny d. Adele

6. What is James Bond’s favorite drink? a. Vodka martini b. Vesper martini c. Champagne d. Whiskey

7. Which of the following brand of watches is one that James Bond wears? a. Omega b. Rolex c. Seiko d. All of the above

8. Which book inspired Ian Fleming to come up with the name “James Bond?”a. One Thousand American Fungi b. Baby Names of 1950c. Birds of the West Indies d. The Logic of Chemical Synthesis

9. Who was the first actor to play James Bond?a. Sean Conneryb. Barry Nelsonc. Pierce Brosnand. Roger Moore

10. What rank does James Bond hold?a. Naval Commanderb. Navy SEALc. Royal Air Force Pilotd. Her Majesty’s Secret Service

Young Oh, 9 Uma Lakshminarayan, 10

David Masterson, 12“I would stock up on lots of canned food, water, and get all of my fam-ily together.”

Evan Martin, 11I would rob a bank for cash (no one will care when it’s the end of the world anyway) and buy a spaceship to get OUT of there.

Question Man “What would you do to prepare for the end of the world?”

By Iris Lee

By Enya Kuo

It’s December 21, 2012, the day before the end of the world. What do you do?a

Poll By Enya Kuo

Clubs SpotlightBy Kanika Priyadarshi

Answers:1. B 2. A 3. B 4. B 5. D 6. D 7. D 8. C 9. B 10. A

Photos: Nisha Patel

and Iris Lee

Opinions6| The Voice 21.3

The Power of OneselfBy Cindy Meng

For several centuries, American cul-ture has been commonly associated with the idea of individualism. Under the pro-tection of our first amendment, we are accustomed to exercising the freedom of speech, petition, assembly, worship, and press. These established basic rights have encouraged people to develop their own standpoints rather than simply accepting popular opinions, such individualistic val-ues led to social reforms such as the Civil Rights Movement. The will to challenge society has long been imbedded in our natural instincts and progressed, through time, to become personal aspirations to stand out. In today’s world, the young genera-tion strives to achieve individuality not only due to primary instincts but also for the pursuit of education at prestigious schools. Aside from the mindless chase for social merit through distinguished educa-tion, the drive for individualism is actually the key to a meaningful and worthwhile life. For example, students volunteering at homeless shelters in attempts to stand out during the college admissions process may end up devoting their lives to help-ing the homeless. When people are driven by a competitive compulsion to stand out, they tend to explore beyond typicality and reach a point of innovation; this is more unlikely to happen if society is in bland

conformity. According to UC Berkeley professor Barry Shaw’s research, individu-alistic values have greater success than col-lectivistic values in leading subjects to be more creative. The world of conformity limits people to lead similar lives; therefore it serves no purpose for individual or social improvements. Many argue that conformity promotes effective communication and teamwork, which are both essential skills to leading a successful life. However, individualists are free to share their ideas and even compro-mise with each other to obtain the best results. These concessions allow people to form and voice their own opinions while maintaining harmony with oppositions. By conforming to society, we as indi-viduals sacrifice uniqueness for the “social norm” that is neither universally accepted nor explicitly defined. But if we each seek individual identities, then we will no longer live to fit on the scale of “normality.” We live freely to fulfill our own moral instincts and ultimately establish a legacy exclusive to ourselves.

Conformity: An Unasung Value

Stores Fail Thanksgiving What did Thanksgiving ever do to be so ignored?By Pallavi Sherikar

Come November 1st, stores get rid of their spooky Halloween sets and make room for red and green wreaths and big jolly Santa Clause’s. Now, don’t get me wrong; I love Christmas probably even more than the average person does. But seeing the big Christmas displays in Wal-greens and then hearing 96.5 KOIT begin their holiday music in November, I can’t help but pity poor Thanksgiving. It seems as though stores today do not even ac-knowledge this holiday. Even worse, stores stab Thanksgiving in the back with the magic of two words: Black Friday. Black Friday is not only stealing any spotlight Thanksgiving may have had, but it has literally taken its spot. In 2012, some of the biggest retailers like Walmart, Tar-get, Sears, and Toys-R-Us opened their Black Friday sales as early as 8p.m. on Thanksgiving night. So instead of spend-ing time with the family and actually sit-ting at a dining table instead of in front of the television to eat, people bustled and

Individualism Vs. Conformity

By Michelle Lang

Willow Smith, daughter of celebrities Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, is the very pic-ture of American individualism with her defiant buzz cut and style of dress. While many critics question her fashion sense, thousands of people applaud and defend her, citing her and her mother as role mod-els of individuality. Not everyone, however, can be a Willow Smith, and most people should not try. What we need these days is not more individuality, but more confor-mity. Media today is centered upon eccen-tricity. “Do what you want, and forget the rest” seems to be every teenager’s creed. Movies like Moonrise Kingdom and The Perks of Being a Wallflower depict youths unable to fit in who rise above other people’s opinions and achieve happiness through their own, unique means. Singers like Pink and Lady Gaga stress the impor-tance of disregarding society’s standards and focusing only on what feels right. The result? A battalion of hipsters and a gen-eration of slightly socially inept teenagers. Everyone seems to be afraid of confor-mity. There is a widespread desperation to be different that has infected youths across the country. Any advocacy for similarity is written off as communistic and wholly undesirable. Freedom of expression is too often misinterpreted as a requirement for unique expression. We all reassuringly tell each other, “It’s okay to be different,” but

waited in line in hopes of getting anything and everything. Thanksgiving is about be-ing thankful for what you have, and giving what you can. I am sorry, maybe I didn’t get the memo, but since when did acting like wild animals, trampling over one an-other, and shouting explicit phrases all in hopes of getting that new iPhone exemplify Thanksgiving ideals? I can understand that there is a big advantage for businesses participating in Black Friday. Just in 2012, Black Friday revenues reached $11.4 billion dollars for stores like Bloomingdales. However, is one day of exponential revenues really worth shattering century-old traditions? It’s easy to blame mass consumerism for this, but true blame lies with the cor-porate sharks. With today’s economy and culture, of course people are going to rush at the sight of major sales. It should be the store’s responsibility to help society live up to Thanksgiving ideologies by not infring-ing on Thanksgiving Day at the very least.

hardly anyone seems willing to say the words, “It’s okay to be the same.” The reality is that not everyone can be different, and that’s not a bad thing. With conformity comes security, control and acceptance. True individualists often suffer through their years in high school and college, shunned by their family and their peers. Instead of fighting conformity, people should be more willing to embrace it. Those who strive for uniqueness often fall short, while those who understand the need for conformity become adept at working and connecting with others. You only need to compare the angry social jus-tice blogger and the civil rights activists group. One obstinately defends his or her own misguided opinions without regard for other viewpoints while the other qui-etly strives to ensure equality. Though the blogger is prides his or herself on being an individualist with unique opinions, it is the group of civil rights activists that actually get anything done. The fear of conformity is unjustified. Rather than working to be completely dif-ferent and separate from others, people should work to eradicate the stigma of similarity.

Off the Scale Reaches New HeightsSociety’s necessity to accommodate for overweight citizensBy Chizobam Nwagwu

for them to enjoy their lives. Obesity, like any other disability, should be treated with a level of respect for the people who are diagnosed with it. Critics may say that obesity is com-pletely voluntary. However, according to PsychCentral.com, obesity can be consid-ered an addiction that spawns from “com-pulsive and ‘out-of-control” overeating. Due to this ongoing issue, plus-size hotels have generated “big business.” Ac-cording to Fox News Shuntel Garret said, “There are bigger doors, bigger rooms and

more hotels with elevators.”. This is a step toward solving the issue and allowing these individuals to be accepted in society. These accommodations teach acceptance and in this day in age, acceptance can give hope of a better future. Unfortunately, this future of over-whelming obesity rates in coming closer and closer. There are possibilities these rates may turn out to be lower than we anticipate, but we have no choice but to accommodate this disability in our present-day society.

Obesity can no longer be taken lightly. In a study conducted by students at John Hopkins University, it is estimated that three out of every four Americans will be overweight by 2015. According to the Huffington Post, 68 percent of Ameri-cans are considered overweight. The con-troversial issue of obesity in the United States and around the world has long been unresolved. A majority of Americans are growing bigger and bigger at rates that, 50 years ago, were unimaginable. Dieting and other alternatives have been ignored enough for us to reach this unfortunate reality. Look around you: we will have no choice but make obesity accommodations for everyone around us soon enough. The necessity for these accommoda-tions is inevitable. Lately there has been an ongoing debate on whether to con-

sider obesity as a disability has sparked wide controversy. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ruled obesity as a disability under the Ameri-cans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAA). This colossal fraction of Americans adds to the pre-existing per-cent of Americans with disabilities other than obesity. It would be prejudice against those who are obese for the government to recognize other disabilities and handicaps such as blindness or deafness and simply ignore the concept of obesity’s legality as a disability. Those with obesity should not be singled-out or ignored among the disabled community. Society needs to realize that obesity is something that handicaps these individuals, preventing them from living their ideal lives. Like other individuals with disabilities, they need help to make it easier

Photo: Shirley Lin

Photo: zimbio.com

Young celebrity Willow Smith represents the well-meaning but erroneous values of individu-alism in modern America.

Step out of conformity.

S opinionDecember 2012| 7

The VOICE is a student-run newspaper with the sole purpose of providing an open forum for student expression. Any-thing printed represents the opinion of the writer, but not necessar-ily that of the VOICE staff, the administration or faculty of Irvington High School, or any person affiliated with the Fremont Unified School District. The VOICE does not discriminate against race, political orientation, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability. Although the VOICE will never refuse to publish stu-dent guest submission based on the aforementioned factors, we reserve the right to edit or not publish them.

Advisor: MAtthew PhilliPs

irvingtonvoice@gmail.comCheck out our new website! http://www.ihsvoice.com(510) 656-5711 ext. 46401

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POLICY STATEMENT:

VOICE STAFF 2012-2013Editors-in-ChiEf: Shirley Lin* Nisha Patel*nEws Editors: Jenny Lu* Eswar Dhinakaran*fEaturEs Editors: Sophia Chan* Kanika Priyadarshi*EntErtainmEnt Editors: Japjot Bal* Rashi Saxena*sports Editors: Eugene Wong* Karthik Mayilvahanan*humor Editor: Adi Kumar*

Disagree with the writers? Bring your letters to the editor to room 101A or e-mail them to staff@

ihsvoice.com. We welcome all comments.

staff writErs: Jason Amico Simran Moza Enya Kuo Chizobam Nwagwu Iris Lee Chandni Patel Sonakshi Maheshwari Pallavi Sherikar Brandon McAlister Devin Trubey Cindy Meng Jared Tse Hugo Vera Aaron Whitaker

Columnist: Eswar DhinakaranBusinEss managEr: Melanie DohertyCopy Editor: Michelle LangwEd Editors: Kelsey Wong Mariam Syeda-QuadriphotographEr: Kelsey WongapprEntiCEs: nEws: Jason Amicoopinions: Enya Kuo fEaturEs: Iris LeeEntErtainmEnt: Chizobam Nwagwusports: Cindy Menghumor: Brandon McAlisterphoto: Jared Tse Hugo Vera

Twitter: A Forum For PeaceHow the blue bird could become a white doveBy Eswar Dhinakaran

I am not Catholic. Yet when I heard about Pope Benedict XVI’s creation of a Twitter account (@Pontifex), I was de-lighted. Religion has been and still is a cause for strife and division. The Inqui-

Merit Over Entitlement Legacy: a poor factor in determining acceptanceBy Kelsey Wong

sition, Reconquista, Crusades, Islamic terrorism, and the Arab-Israeli conflict serve as reminders to the destruction and division that religion can cause. The Pope’s Twitter account, however, will serve as a tool to con-nect him to Twitter users of all faiths from around the world. The Pope’s move to Twitter combines religion and technology and allow for a means for Muslims, Hindus, Jews and other peoples to question him and directly send their mes-sage to the head of the Catholic faith. In this case, Twitter’s 140 characters have the potential to serve as a bridge between religions and allow for better cross-faith un-derstanding. The Pope, who is scheduled to post his first tweet on December 12, 2012 already had more than half a million followers by De-cember 4. He actually has 8 differ-ent accounts in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Arabic, Pol-ish, German and Italian. His papal tweets will consist of content from his weekly audiences and reactions to major world events. I believe that by opening the Catholic faith up to the more than 500 million Twitter users, the Pope is taking one step toward peace and understanding. For now, ku-dos to the Pope! I hope that leaders of other faiths will turn to social media as a means to connect with their followers and quell their dif-ferences.

Photo: Kelsey W

ong

Millions of students apply to Ameri-can colleges every year. Sometimes you hear that the chances of acceptance are slim, especially when it comes to highly selective schools. However, most presti-gious schools use a factor called “legacy” in the admissions process – which I be-lieve is blatantly unfair. Legacy in the college admission pro-cess is the inclination to favor an appli-cant whose family member or members are alumni of the school the applicant is applying to. Following World War I, a number of prestigious American colleges implemented legacy into their admission processes to lessen the enrollment num-ber of immigrant students. Currently, leg-acy is used in determining a student’s ad-mission at around 75 percent of research universities and nearly all elite liberal-arts colleges according to the New York Times. These include most of the selec-tive schools in the nation, such as the Ivy

League schools. In simpler terms, if your daddy went to Yale, the chances that you’ll be accepted are higher than average. I find this odd though. In a country so gung-ho about the importance of merit (American Dream, anyone?), it doesn’t make sense that family entitlement should have a say in college acceptances. And it’s not that legacy is just a little push that might help an applicant increase his or her chances of getting in; it’s a powerful shove that can determine if someone makes the cut. According to a 2011 study by Harvard University researcher Michael Hurwitz on Fall 2007 applicants at 30 selective schools, applicants whose parents who attended the college they are applying to have a seven times higher chance of acceptance com-pared to non-legacy students. For the longest time, I believed that legacy existed for the sake of alumni dona-tions. It seemed like a pretty understand-able (but shameful) give-and-take kind of

process: you give us money, we admit your children. Colleges claim that legacy is es-sential in order to maintain a constant flow of alumni donations, but according to a study by Chad Coffman of Winnermac Consulting, it was found that there is no di-rect correlation between legacy admissions and alumni donations. Furthermore, when a school stopped using legacy as a factor in admissions, the amount of alumni giving did not decline. Colleges also argue that legacy is nec-essary in order to add to the diversity of a school. It is true that a student whose family has been attending a certain college for multiple generations may have a differ-ent view of the college compared to non-legacy students. As supporters of legacy admissions would say, these students bring a variation of diversity: they bring a sense

of tradition, honor, and well, legacy. Per-haps they’ve grown up with this school in-grained into their lives; the desire to attend it may be like an intangible heirloom. But I believe that college admissions should be based on merit and merit alone. Legacy is absurd because it gives a one-up to applicants who did absolutely nothing to receive that boost. I did not choose the family I was born into, as is the same for everyone else. So why does legacy --some-thing I could not control -- manage to con-trol my future? And I know I’m not alone in this one; a poll shows that 73 percent of Americans oppose legacy. My question is, then why does it still exist? College admissions need to chuck aside the legacy factor. It’s the only way to make the playing field fair and square.

By Enya KuoCoffee with a movieMJ’s Coffeehouse

MJ’s Coffeehouse in Annville, Pennsylvania allows customers to watch movies or play board games while enjoying a delectable beverage. The café also hosts poetry readings, live music, an art exhibit, and an “open mic” on Monday nights for comedians and philosophers to take the stage. The café was designed and built by the Kaufman Hickey Architects in the early 1900’s. The family-owned café has only one screen and presents a wide variety of films, ranging from family entertainment to adult films and from popular Hollywood films to independent features. Occasionally, the café also revives silent films and classics with special film series events. Instead of the conventional stadium seating, the “theater” has plush chairs spread around the room. The owner, Skip Hicks, personally introduces each film to the audience and, afterwards, announces local events. The interior décor is 1920’s-inspired, and local artists’ works hang on the walls. The café also shows live plays and jazz music sessions. Customers can purchase deli foods and other drinks, and movie admissions range from $6 to $8. The coffee shop attracts local residents, stu-dents at the Lebanon Valley College nearby, as well as people who travel to Annville for the sole purpose of visiting the coffee shop.

Features 21.3 presents

COFFEE BREAK FOR WINTER BREAK~a menu of curious, cool coffeeshops~

While driving down an abandoned road in the middle of the night, it is only natural to crave a cup of coffee. The Nescafe Nomadic Coffee Shop is a portable coffee shop, de-signed to be able to hook onto the backs of trucks. It can go anywhere a car can go: malls, parks, concerts, fashion shows, campsites or even to sand dunes in the middle of a desert. It was designed by an Australian named Bobby Lowe in 2010. The café is built inside a specialized custom trailer and has all the amenities needed to run a “pop-up” coffee shop. The trailer also has plenty of windows and was designed as a rounded triangular prism in-stead of the usual rectangular prism shape as an expression of artistic freedom. The trailer features genuine timbers and smooth surfaces, with plenty of natural lighting. The Nescafe Nomadic is not the only pop-up, portable coffee shop; other mobile coffee shops include Coffee Guy, Inc., which operates solely through coffee trucks; Shire Coffee, a café in Arizona that also has mobile espresso bars; and Starbucks Coffee, which has a location in Colo-rado that can be completely packed up and moved by truck.

Nescafe Nomadic Coffee Shop

In today’s fast-paced world of technology of all kinds, coffee shops have also begun to digitize their stores. A coffee shop in Split, Croatia, named The Box Coffee Shop, decided to go paperless. Instead of newspapers decorating every table, the shop is offering customers iwwPads. All customers have to do is buy a drink and take a seat to enjoy the iPads. The iPad is put in place of newspapers to make the café more environmentally friendly. Users can browse through many news websites and online papers. They will be given ac-cess to many global newspapers, which could not have been possible with regular news-papers. Spokesperson Josko Palada said, “We have always been a modern coffee shop, and we thought and realized papers are on the way out and that our guests want to see more modern things coming in. The first reactions have been great.” The iPads are fitted with a security device to ensure that no one tries to steal them. This is still the beginning, but slowly, many coffee shops will begin to follow the new trend of paperless cafés.

By Rashi Saxena

Those who like to spice up their coffee break should visit laundromat cafes that serve the dual-purpose of letting customers enjoy coffee while they wait for their laundry. Brain-Wash Cafe and Laundromat in particular provides more than just your average cafe and laundry services. In an interview conducted by HLNtv, the owner Jeff Zalles called “his thriving small business a ‘multitasking Shangri-La’”; it services as a coffee shop, restaurant, nightclub, and a laundromat. Patrons always have plenty to do: drink coffee, eat, play pin-ball, wash their laundry, listen to spoken word, listen to music and watch comedic perfor-mances. The laundromat cafe was opened in 1989 by Susan Schindler. Originally, she had aimed to open a nightclub in the South-of-Market neighborhood of San Francisco. However, after discovering the absence of laundromats in the area and the fact that people were constantly asking for the nearest laundromat, she was inspired to create the laundromat cafe currently located at 1122 Folsom St. in San Francisco.

By Shirley Lin

The Borrowed Earth Café in Downers Grove, Illinois is among the most progressive of new-wave coffee shops and cafes. The owner of the shop, Danny Living, decided to start the business when he became accustomed hosting dozens of people for coffee on a daily basis at his home, often discussing the Earth’s environmental issues and ways to improve nutrition. He decided to start a coffee shop where help host more community gatherings. When building his shop in downtown Downers Grove in October 2007, he ensured that the paint used on both the exterior and interior omitted Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), the additives that release toxic chemicals into the air. These compounds are what cause paints to give off a foul odor for quite some time. The flooring in the café is entirely made up of bamboo, which, as a grass, grows much more rapidly than normal wood and is much more renewable. The owners have weekly workshops teaching customers how to make vegan and organic coffee and also how to avoid using preservatives and unnecessary, non-natural ingredients in all types of cooking. It may be a common goal among many restaurants in this era, but this café really does its part to save the Earth.

By Jason Amico

Borrowed Earth Café

BrainWash Café and Laudromat

By Chandni Patel

The Box Coffee Shop

An eco-friendly café

A coffeeshop with a laundromat

iPads for newspapers

Portable coffeeshop on a truck

Features 21.3 presents

COFFEE BREAK FOR WINTER BREAK~a menu of curious, cool coffeeshops~

The Urban Station is the place to go if you want an office away from the office. This café was designed to make a comfortable working environment for the regular costumer. Urban Station is located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This coffee shop was the product of four business partners’ ideas: Marcelo Cora is the business executive, Juan Pablo Russo is the creative director, Florencia Faivich is the brand director and Claudio Bisurgi is the business consultant. Their business model is to simply charge for the place you occupy; everything else is complementary. They charge a desk by the hour. This desk includes a lamp with adjustable lighting and even has a power outlet right there for your convenience. Not to mention, there is free

wifi available for any customer to use. Urban Station has a help desk where customers can get information services and print out documents. If a customer wants even more privacy,

they have free conference rooms. You get your coffee shop with the unlimited amount of tea, mineral water, fruit, croissants and cookies they provide. It all comes in part with the fee. Urban

Station has a very unique style and has the perfect setting for the average working American.

Urban Station

Kickstand Coffee, a café located in New York City, sells environmentally sustainable coffee by limiting the impact the processes have on the environment. This café started in 2010 in NYC with the goal of making specialty coffee on a mobile bicycle stand. It combines the environmental goodness of cycling and the bitter-sweetness of coffee. The café - actually a cart – is moved around NYC on bicycles. It is foldable, weighs 160 pounds, and is 9 feet long. All the coffee is currently manually ground, but the cafe owners are even looking into grinding the beans with a bicycle. To minimize their carbon footprint even further, Kickstand only uses coffee that is roasted locally in order to prevent the gas guz-

zling importation of international coffee. Kickstand Coffee’s novel method of making coffee is what sets it apart from other street vendors in NYC.

Kickstand Coffee

At Ogori Café, customers are served the meal that the person in front of them ordered. Ogori Café opened sometime in 2009 and is located in the Urban Design Center Kashiwa-no-ha in the city of Kashiwa, Japan. A customer will order something and pay the fees for the refreshments that the customer ordered, but instead of receiving that particular item, the patron will receive what the previous person had ordered. Thus, a person can choose to either be extremely generous and leave a surprise for the next visitor, or he can choose to buy the cheapest item on the menu since that would not be the item he actually re-ceives (unless the previous person had done the same thing). The café encourages strangers to interact with one another since customers essentially receive a “mystery” meal. Customers also receive a café card with details about who bought the meal, snack, or refreshment as a memorable souvenir of their visit.

Ogori Café

Located in Tokyo, Japan, Calico Cat Café is a coffee house that encourages a love for cats. After entering the coffee shop, all customers are required to pay 2000 yen (USD 24), remove their shoes, wash their hands, and store their personal belongings in a cupboard. Only then will they be allowed into the cat/coffee room. Once in the chief coffee room, patrons can order drink and food as well as lounging, cuddling, and playing with the cats in the cafe. It is prohibited to pick up the cats, disturb them while they sleep, pet them against their will, and take photographs of the cats. After being opened in March 2007, Calico Cat Cafe has become so popular the company has opened up a second branch in the business district. This cat cafe has gained so much attention it is suggested to call and make reservations ahead of time so one can spend as much time possible at the cafe.

Calico Cat Café

Every child aspires to have a tree house in their backyard where they can indulge in their adventures and make fond memories. Tourists all around the world come to the Naha Harbor Café because it is reminiscent of the same experiences that they have cherished since their childhood. This bizarre building, rooted in Naha, Okinawa Japan, is unique for its twisted architecture and unique ambience. The café is perched twenty feet above the ground, overlooking the vast ocean and the Banyan Town shopping center. The tree house café is nestled in the arms of a giant banyan tree, which is actually constructed out of concrete. It has been sculpted so naturally, however, that it leaves visitors awestruck. The en-

trance to the café is through a spiral stairwell by the trunk, but it can also be accessed by an elevator that runs up the ‘tree trunk.’ Not only do they serve great coffee, but also dish

out authentic Japanese, Thai, Korean, Chinese, and Indian food. Additionally, this extraordi-nary diner is taking the initiative to help the environment by using native ingredients, thereby

reducing the amount of carbon and plastic wastes it would require to ship them.

Naha Harbor Tree House Café

By Simran Moza

Coffee in the sky

By Brandon McAlister

By Jenny LuMystery meal café

Coffee on a cart

Coffee with cats

By Eswar Dhinakaran

By Mariam Syeda-QuadriOffice-like coffeeshop

Released on November 18th, the Wii U excited many who anticipated the ar-rival of Nintendo’s new gaming console. One of the major improvements to Nin-tendo’s game play is the change into high-definition games. The main console comes with the Wii U GamePad, which boasts a touch screen, two analog sticks, digital buttons, a micro-phone, and a front facing camera. The GamePad is used either as a game supple-ment (display of items, maps, etc.) or as the main game play surface. In addition, Nintendo makes up for the lack of a tra-ditional gaming controller in the Wii with the Wii U Pro Controller, which is avail-able separately. Another feature is TVii, which allows access of services such as Netflix and Hulu Plus. The GamePad, which has a “TV” button, can be used to control DVR re-cordings and to use social media. Other software for the Wii U includes video chat, internet browsing, and Nintendo’s own so-cial networking system, Miiverse.

By Karthik Mayilvahanan

New Nintendo game console presents different, but fun experience for gamers

Wii U Review

Broadway West’s production of A Tuna Christmas failed to meet my expec-tations. This show opened on November 29th and closes on December 15th. This small theatre company, located above Bay Street Café, usually offers highly enter-taining, quality shows, such as Frankenstein, which made its debut last month. “The theatre owners chose this specific show as a sequel to Greater Tuna,” said director Jim Woodbury. “It was done five years ago, and they wanted to continue the story.” This two-man, twenty-two character show, revolves around the OKKK radio show hosts Arles Struvey (played by Tom Shamrell), Thruston Wheelis (played by Todd Wright), and the abnormal citizens in the southern town of Tuna, Texas and their preparations for the holidays. The endless jokes and constant laughter of the audience are the only aspects that al-lowed the show to go on. Although there were only two actors involved, they made keen efforts to interact with the audience, whether it be sitting beside them or point-ing at them from the stage.

By Chizobam Nwagwu

Play Review: “A Tuna Christmas”“A Tuna Christmas” Misses Fishing Season

Photo: Chizobam Nwagwu

ntertainmentE10 | The Voice 21.3

the play were seeing the running crew move around props while the characters were in the middle of a scene and the abrupt ending of the play. However, The Diviners is a must-see play due to the cast’s praiseworthy performance and the build-ing crew’s props and decorations. "I would change nothing about what the actors and techs have done," said drama teacher Scott DiLorenzo. "That being said, the show captures the original vision I had at the start of the process.”

The air was tight with excitement as parents and students hushed at the dim-ming lights that signaled that the The Di-viners, written by James Leonard, Jr., was about to start. Having read previews, I was skeptical about the watching the play, but I am glad to say it was a hit. The play tells the story of a former preacher, C.C. Showers, who finds a job in a small town in Indiana during the time of the great depression and devel-ops a deep bond with Buddy Laymen, a mentally challenge boy. The plot evolves as C.C. and Buddy’s deep emotional con-nection grows and C.C. tries to rid Buddy of his phobia of water, ending in a trag-edy. Freshman Jacob Rosen played the lead role of Buddy Layman and did not disappoint with his amazing expressions and reactions. The detail of the props was impressive. The only disappointments I had with

The Diviners ReviewIrvington Conservatory Theater puts on a touching drama that’s worth the tears

By Jared Tse

Guide to Christmas ShoppingBuy these Christmas gifts for all your close family and friendsBy Michelle LangThe holidays are coming around, and with them come the trouble of picking what ex-actly to give your friends and family. Here are some unique alternatives to the same old gift cards, stuffed animals, and chocolate you buy every year!

Tetris LinkLovers of Tetris will delight to have this neat strategy board game. This is a perfect way to give your cousins something enter-taining to do with you during a family re-union.

WACOM TabletIt’s a little expensive, but if you have art-ists in your family, then this is a great way to encourage them to explore digital art.

Massage CouponThis is a great gift for older relatives, or maybe just adults in need of relaxation. Show your elders that you care this holiday season.

Personalized MugsShopping for your girlfriend or boyfriend? Get a set of personalized mugs to convey your love for your significant other. Drink hot chocolate out of new, romantic mugs just for the two of you.

Personally, I did not enjoy the show as much as I had hoped to. The jokes were typically “old-fashioned” and difficult to understand. Unless you were an adult well versed in “classic comedy” or you enjoyed Greater Tuna, it was hard to decipher the progression of the story. “Having twenty-two different characters with two actors and no props leaves the story to the audi-ence’s imagination. It’s all minimal since it’s just the actors telling the story,” said Woodbury. Without an open imagination this story was hard to process since the characters were constantly changing their demeanors but did not thoroughly com-municate what was going on. There are few times when the jokes and the story were aligned to communi-cate to the audience clearly. Unfortunate-ly, this two-hour show was not worth my time and will not be worth yours either, unless you are above the age of 30 or 40.

There has been some controversy over the storage capacity of the Wii U, which comes with 8GB and 32GB. After installing the operating system, only about 3GB of space is left on the regular 8GB model. Another issue I experienced when actually playing games on the Wii U was the difficulty of looking back and forth be-tween the GamePad and the main screen. Ultimately, the Wii U seems to be an exciting new product, and despite the storage space shortcomings, I believe the console will pose a unique and fun gaming experience for all ages.

Below 50 ActivitiesInspiration for things to do when the temperature drops

By Chandni Patel

It may be cold and rainy but that does not mean you have to be stuck at home with noth-ing to do! Fremont may not be the most interesting place to live, but there is plenty to do if you get creative.

1. Go ice skating (or snowboarding, skiing, etc): There’s always fun to be found in an ice skating rink or in the snow capped mountains of Tahoe. Think of all the opportunities gravity has in making your day a little more humorous. Sharks Ice offers public and private sessions and afternoon passes for just ten dollars. Take your friends with you!

7. Lights of The Valley: Every year, there are certain remarkable decorations put up on a website called lightsoftheval-ley.com. Visit the website, find the houses submitted for Fremont and go on a scaven-ger hunt throughout the city to find these houses and new ones to submit to the web-site!

2. Try new food: A lot of cultures cel-ebrate holidays in the winter. Build up your courage to try traditional holiday food from other cultures, like latkes(basically “potatoe pancakes”) for Hanukah or Pep-parkakor (ginger snap biscuits), eaten on Saint Lucy’s Day in Sweden. The possibili-ties are endless!

3. Find a cause and give back: It could be anything; you could volunteer at an animal shelter or a soup kitchen, donate clothes or toys to charity, visit a retirement home...just make someone else’s day bet-ter. Make-A-Wish is one of many organi-zations that is easy to help out - just make a wish and someone else gets one last wish of their own.

Photo: Chandni Patel

4. DON’T go shopping: Make gifts that actually mean something-you have time! A simple collage of pictures or scrapbook will mean more to the person than a sweater just picked up from a store. How-to guides provide easy-to-follow directions and are perfect for figuring out how you want your gift to look.

5. Watch the fireworks on New Year’s Day: instead of staying at home and watching the ball drop, visit San Fran-cisco to watch the annual free waterfront fireworks show on January 1, 2013.

6. Read a book or watch a movie: There has to be some movie or book that has come out since September that you have been meaning to watch or read but haven’t had the time to. Now is the per-fect opportunity to catch up on the land of fiction (or nonfiction, if you prefer). Red Dawn came out during Thanksgiving but you may have been too busy shopping.

Photo: ign.com

Photo:toysrus.comPhoto: macys.com

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Photo: Iris Chen

December 2012 | 11

entertainmenTHow to Make...Toffee Crunch Cookies

By Sonakshi MaheshwariIngredients: 2 Sticks of butter1 cup of granulated sugar 2 eggs 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract2 cups of flour ½ teaspoon of baking soda1 teaspoon of baking powder6 tablespoons of toffee1 cup of milk chocolate morsels Servings: 32 cookiesTotal Time: 45 minutes

Procedure: 1. Start off by putting 2 cups of flour in a large bowl.2. Add 2 sticks or 16 tablespoons of but-ter (1/4lb or 4 oz). Make sure to layer ex-cess butter off.3. Add 1 cup of granulated sugar and 1 cup of brown sugar into the mix. 4. Crack 2 eggs and fold into the mix.5. Add 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract into mixture. 6. Wisk the mixture with a beater until brown sticky substance appears. 7. Put in 1 teaspoon of baking powder and ½ teaspoon of baking soda; mix well. 8. Fold in 6 tablespoons of toffee and 1 cup of chocolate bits into the dough. 9. Grease pan enough to cover the area.10. Roll about ½ tablespoon into balls. 11. Put enough dough on the pan so that cookies are evenly spaced.12. Put into oven and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 to 17 minutes.Enjoy!

Try these warm delights for a cold winter

Ingredients:1.5 cups blonde roast coffee (can be decaf)2 tablespoons Stevia (or another no calo-rie sweetener)½ cup of unsweetened almond milk2 tablespoons of pumpkin puree½ tablespoon cinnamon or nutmeg (Op-tional)1 pump of sugar free cinnamon dolce syrup (Optional)

Servings: 2 cupsTotal Time: 5-10 mintutes

Procedure:1. Brew coffee and add almond milk and stevia. Stir as needed.2. Add pumpkin puree and heat up coffee in a microwave on high for 15 sec-onds3. Remove the drink and stir to reach a liquid consistency4. Add in cinnamon, nutmeg, and cinnamon dolce syrup to taste5. Pour the drink into two glasses and enjoy the holidays!

Healthy Pumpkin Spice Latte

Get some nice spice for the high-light of your nice nightBy Aditya Kumar

Photos: Sonakshi Maheshwari

Photos: Aditya Kumar

• zeldaxlove64: Christina Grimmie, a little-known singer before catching the in-terest of Selena Gomez , releases her cov-ers of popular songs, such as “Sombody That I Used To Know” and “Titanium” through her Youtube channel. Her strong R&B-suited voice mingles with the voices of other popular Youtube singers, such as Sam Tsui and Tiffany Alvord.

Twitter:• @Bob_Ross_Tho: This sassy twitter was created as a parody to Bob Ross’ extremely laid back behavior with easily painting a masterpiece on television. “I hate when people ask me to draw them because its like yo if ur not a tree idk what u want me to do” [sic]• @Hungry_Birds: There really is no con-tent with these tweets, as the keyboard that

types it is just a typewriter with unsalted fat attached to its keys. When birds come to eat the fat, they peck hard at the keys that makes 100 tweets for 11 hours a day.

Tumblr: • Did-yuo-kno: This tumblog presents ob-viously false information that is light-heart-ed humor. It is a parody of “Did-you-kno.tumblr.com” that presents random facts—often without evidence or a news source link—to the average blogger. • Amibeyonceyet: The blog simply writes “Day #__ I am not yet Beyonce.” every single day. Regardless of these repetitive posts, they receive hundreds upon thou-sands of notes. One blogger even went as far as to make an “Amiamibeyonceyetyet” tumblr. Talk about beyonception.

Need To Spice Up Your Social Net-working Dash-boards?

Social Media worth followingBy Sophia Chan

Youtube:• LizzieBennet: Created by Hank Green and Bernie Su, the Lizzie Bennet Daries is a vlog adapting Pride and Prejudice as if the main character, Lizzie Bennet, had ac-cess to the internet. She vlogs about her life, pride, and prejudices with a dozen of side characters.

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DIY (Do It Yourself) Infinity Scarf: Take a simple silk or cotton rectangular scarf and fold at the horizontal. Tie the two ends in a wrap knot so it hangs like a circle around your neck. Then twist the circle and loop it around your neck one more time. Caution! Make sure your knot is not too tight; otherwise the scarf will bunch up and stick up at the back of your neck. Perfect for both spring and winter weather!

Scarf TutorialWarm up this holiday season one trendy scarf at a timeBy Pallavi Sherikar

Twist and Double Pull: Take any rectangular long scarf and fold it once in the middle. Next drape the folded scarf around your neck so that one end is aloop. Of the other two ends, pull one end through the loop and pull. Then (here is where it gets tricky!) twist the loop to create another mini-loop and pull the second end through the new mini loop. This style works best with thick woolen scarves.

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The Braid: You need a heavy woolen scarf for this method. Follow the same instructions from the Twist and Double Pull except pull both ends through the first loop. Then twist the loop once more to forma mini loop and pull both ends through the new loop. Your end result should look like a braid com-ing down.

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Photos: Kelsey Wong

Photo: mybullfrog.com

Photo Credit: Sportswurlz.com

When a strong player is injured during practice or a match, it is always a tragedy. But is it, however, a tragedy when the replacement turns out to be better than the injured player—and takes his job? When such a situ-ation arises, coaches have to decide between focusing on winning matches or on keeping the bonds between the players. Although this may not sound ethically correct, coaches should care about winning more. Even when a player signs a contract, coaches are always looking for a younger, better, and more afford-able player to add to their team or replace a weak link. So when a player is injured, coach-es see this as an opportunity to replace him with a better player. There are many anonymous, unsigned players who can make a difference to the outcome of each game; why would a coach not snap up this opportunity? As Tennessee Athletic Director Dave Hart said, professional athletes have “a result-based profession.”Look at Tom Brady, an anony-

With soccer season back, the soccer teams are all set with new sportswear and projects to benefit the community. While the soccer team has faced some issues with budget cuts, it is working hard to make sure nothing is different from before. The girls’ soccer team is com-ing together for a toy drive, called Toys for Tots. The members are asking students and families to donate new and wrapped toys for homeless kids. The team will col-lect all the toys they have received by December 16th and send them to LOV Newark. Volunteers will distribute these toys to families

Compared to the Varsity boy’s team’s performance of last year with an overall record of 2-17, this year’s team has already established improvement. As of December 6, 2012 the team cur-rently held a record of 3-3. “We’ve basically started a whole new system this year with new plays and different coaches, and we’re already coming out a lot stronger,” said senior Amrit Awashti. “We’re hoping for the best for our team and we’re al-ready like a family.” Senior Michale Elsner adds that the team has also been prac-ticing a lot more compared to last year. He said, “Our coach makes us work a lot harder and he is making us more disciplined and raising our basketball IQ as well as improving our individual skills.”

in the Tri-City areas with young children for Christmas. Sopho-more Samah Shaiq said, “We are doing it because every year, the soccer players try to do something to help out the community. Last year we visited a retirement home and talked to the seniors. This year someone told Coach Lynn Cooper that they need new toys for the homeless kids so we de-cided to hold a toy drive.” The boys’ soccer team also recently got jackets and uniforms from Nike. Sophomore Sam Wu said, “We are very happy with our new jackets as we are proud of what we were able to get by

ourselves.” The team was able to accomplish this because of its fundraising efforts at the annual crab-feed from last year. Varsity captain, senior Emilio Torres, said, “We just sell crab-feed tick-ets to get new stuff for the soccer team and this year we wanted to get Nike jerseys and jackets.” The team is very excited about their new look with the classy Nike jackets and are also looking forward to playing this year. Cap-tain Emilio Torres said, “The one thing we are doing different this year is that we are setting higher standards to encourage ourselves to do better as a team.”

By Sophia Chan

Basketball Teams Strive to SucceeedBoys team charges ahead with new record while the Girls team organizes a free throw fundraiserBy Japjot Bal

New Clothes and Toys Soccer teams help and benefit from the communityBy Rashi Saxena

Should Starters Lose Their Jobs To Injury?To benefit the team, yes.

Meanwhile, the Lady Vikings are planning a shoot-a-thon, in which each girl on the team will try to get sponsored to show 100 free throws. The number of shots that they make will determine how much money they receive. The coaches, including Mike Senadenos, are hoping that each girl will raise approximately $200 each, which will go toward buying new team attire, such as shirts and jackets. Marissa Kitazumi, one of the co-captains, said, “This year Irvington Basketball is making an effort to create a supportive family of both the girls and boys teams, and the fundraiser seems like a step in that direction.”

mous player before Drew Bledsoe was knocked out by Jets lineback-er Mo Lewis in 2001. In his ten years of being on the field, Brady helped his team win three Super

Bowls and set the NFL record for the most number of games won consecutively (21 games over 2 seasons), successfully proving his more than positive addition to the team.It is, however, arguable that keep-ing the prior relationships that players had before they were in-jured is more important. Last season, Jeremy Lin blew up the entire NBA with his “Linsanity,” winning game after game (after game) with his amazing agility

Below photo credit: Japjot Bal

Photo Credit: Samah Shaiq

Above photo credit: Sportswurlz.com

Soccer players at the annual crab-feed to help raise money for their team equipment and other expenses.

Above left: Scott HoAbove right: Hong ZhouBelow: Girls Basketball Team

New York Knick’s point guard Jeremy Lin (right), although having played well, was replaced the following season by Raymond Felton (left) after a season ending injury

Quarterback Drew Bledsoe was replaced by Tom Brady after getting injured. Brady went on to win 3 Super Bowls.

and talent, improved the Knicks’ popularity after previously having lost 11 of its last 13 games. Due to starter Baron Davis’ injuries, he had the opportunity to play on

the Knicks the follow-ing season. Although they gained millions of dollars from merchan-dise and international news coverage with Lin, the Knicks chose to replace Lin with Raymond Felton, re-spected veteran of the NBA. The high mon-etary cost of keeping Lin was too much for the Knicks, proving that even the great “Linsanity” phenom-enon can dwindle be-cause of an injury. With very few

exceptions, there is no such thing as job security in the name of sports. People need to see that even if a player is at his peak, he could always be kicked off when there is a better player to boost the team. We have to come to see that an injured player is not a tragedy but an opportunity to boost the team’s game.

Sports12 | The Voice 21.3

Q: At what age did you start wrestling and how long have you been wrestling?A: I might have been 10 years old or so when I started. I was a fan of the whole WWE wrestling, and I wanted to be just like John Cena. In the sixth grade, I signed up for it. Little did I know that it was nothing like I thought I saw on TV, but I stuck to it and grew to love the sport.

Athlete Spotlight: John Andrade Wrestling champion joins Irvington wrestling team

Q: What is your greatest achievement in wrestling?

A: Wrestling has helped me gain a lot of confidence; it has built up my self-esteem, and it also helps me keep focus on the mat. Before each match, I mentally prep my-self by saying, “don’t be afraid to lose,” which helps me get ready to perform. Win or lose, I try to give it my 100%—everything I got. Q: What are your future goals?A: I hope to be able to earn a scholarship and keep wrestling once I graduate high school.Q: Who has inspired you to start playing/who inspires you to play?A: I have had many people who motivated me throughout all the years I have wrestled, like the sup-port from my family and friends. I try to always find new motivations because this is the only sport that requires more than 100% of both your mental and physical energy and can break people quickly. Q: Are there any special awards you have won/any tournaments you have par-ticipated in and possibly won in them?A: This past month I participated in a tournament in Las Vegas called The Freak Show, but unfor-tunately I did not place although my experience at the tourna-ment was amazing. I wrestled at the Elite level and got to wrestle against some other state champi-ons.Q: How did you do on the Lo-gan team?In freshmen and sophomore year there, I won the Most Pins award, and I also won received the MVP

Q: What is your position here at Irvington High School?

A: I am currently the new varsity head coach, which is a promotion that you rarely see in only being a high school coach for 3 years.

Q: What prior experience have you had with the sport of basketball?

A: Well, I spent three years coach-ing for high school basketball pro-grams, I spent seven years as an A.U. Coach, and I’ve also spent 14 years as a personal trainer alone.

Q: What do you feel is impor-tant to teach to your players?

Coach Spotlight: Ron Littleton

Coach Littleton promoted to Varsity basketball coachBy Hugo Vera

A: Basketball is all about the fun-damentals. A good player must be well conditioned, humble, and ready to deliver expectations at all times.

Q: What would you say is the most exciting part about your job?

A: Where do I begin? I guess the best part about coaching is the chance to turn these individuals into fine athletes. It is like taking a piece of coal and turning it into a diamond with enough time!

As one of the lesser- known winter sports, wrestling is not as widely understood as the other sports. Therefore, here is an in-depth look at the finer points of the sport of wrestling.A wrestling match consists of three two minute periods, not in-cluding over time. There are five different ways to score points in a match: takedown, escape, rever-sal, near fall, and penalty points. Wrestling is a sport that primarily focuses on technique and control-ling your opponent. There are three sections that divide up a wrestling match and outline what is going on. When both wrestlers

stand up and get ready to lean in to wrestle it is called “neutral.” After the first round, the wrestlers move into “Referee’s Position.” This is where one wrestler is on his hands and knees like a cat or dog and the wrestler on top can only have his/her hands on his arm and stomach. After that, both players wrestle until one “pins” the other on the ground with both shoulders on the mat face up.Wrestlers are divided into dif-ferent weight classes or groups to give all athletes a fair chance. Athletes can choose to go on di-ets to maintain their weight and

stay in the same class, lose weight to play easier opponents or gain weight to play more competitive opponents. If you are able to take your opponent down to the mat you re-ceive two points for a takedown. If you are down on the mat and get away from your opponent or get into a neutral position you re-ceive one point for an escape. If you are on the bottom and gain control of your opponent and get on top of him or her you receive two points for a reversal. If you are on top and turn your oppo-nents shoulders forty-five degrees to the ground for three seconds

you receive two points - five sec-onds and you receive three points for a near fall. Your opponent is awarded points for any penalty you make including illegal holds, stalling, technical violations, etc. Unlike most sports, in wres-tling there are two ways you can win. “You can either pin your op-ponent by getting both his shoul-ders on the mat or be ahead by 15 points,” said senior Co-Captain Peter Denyer. “The only difference between girls and guys is that guys are stronger than girls. I’ve wrestled guys during practice and no mat-ter how much stronger guys are

than me, technique will always win,” said junior Co-Captain Mariah Damaso.There is no ball involved: just you, your opponent, the mat, and strategy.

Step Onto the Mat A closer look at the finer points of wrestling

By Kanika Priyadarshi

Photo: Armand Palo

John Andrade wrestles in previous tournaments. The wrestlers are getting ready to attack in the Las Vegas tournament

An Irvington wrestler demonstrates a pin.

By Melanie Doherty

award during sophomore year.Q: What do you feel you need to improve on?

A: I think I need to improve on my technique, which I feel is something I can always keep im-proving on. There are various ways to do one move, so it’s good for me to be familiar/know them all.

SSportDecember 2012| 13

Photo: Mariah Damaso

By Jenny Lu

Most Annoying Facebook StatusesBy Devin TrubeyKeep cool during YuleHoliday Shortcuts

Photo: inquistr.com

more importantly, if you do not have time to go and purchase gift cards you can just re-gift the ones given to you. The beauty with gift cards is that no one will recognize their gift being passed along to someone else. There are always shortcuts and ways to eliminate the stress of the holidays. One just has to be cre-ative and willing to risk a little to come out with a big reward.

By Karthik Mayil

A Humorous Year in Review

Starting in November and con-tinuing till February, there is a slew of holidays that call for immediate attention. But time is a luxury that most people do not have. Never fear, Devin the seasonal helper is here with some shortcuts to make your life easier this season. To avoid the gift require-ment, only attend white elephant parties. A white elephant gift con-stitutes a gift you have been given that you don’t like or want. You then wrap and bring this gift to the party and exchange with other people. In-side of spending time in overcrowd-ed malls just take a gander at the items in your home. Gifts are always a problem. You can never go wrong with gift cards;

One month every year, everyone decides to turn into an insane control freak. Ah the holidays....

Like, share, comment, subscribe, rate five stars, retweet etc.

Comical moments from a momentous year

1. When your facebook account is left in the hands of your insanely clever friend: OMG, you totally got hacked!!1! Cuz’ you didn’t log out on my phone!!!! OMG wow you fail

2. The creepy chain letter status: DO NOT READ THIS, because if you do you will die. Tonight at exactly half past one thirty P.M., a hobo clown with acne will appear in your room and stab you several times. Then he will make you listen to Kreayshawn, and twerk to it until you bleed out. Unless you post this as your status and annoy the hell out of your friends, you will die.

3. The guilt status: *Posts a picture of Jesus* LIKE this picture if you love God, IGNORE and go to hell.

4. Hacked - weight loss version:Amazing news Katy, I’m already 86 pounds thinner! For the past few weeks I have lost so much weight. I’ve been using these new Blueberry drops I saw on Dr. Oz. It really worked for me, let me know how it works for you! :DDDD

5. Hacked - “embarrassing video” that almost gives you a heart attack version: Wow Mabel, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw you in this video I found!!! Check it out on the following link >>> www.thisisntreallyavideoofmabel.com

6. The “deep” status, usually accompanied by a picture that has been heavily insta-gramed : Life is not an ipod where you can customize your playlist, but rather a radio where you have to enjoy what is being played.

Photo: Janice Lin

Photo: mem

egenerator.comAccording to CNN, the film lost $200 million for Disney. The plot takes the life of Civil War veteran John Carter in 1868 and combines it with ridiculous Martian creatures, a storyline that was supposed to hold American viewers in awe. I would tell you to go and watch it and see for yourself, but, well, I don’t think that would be a good use of your time, money, or waking hours.

4) Election 2012Speaking of Mitt Romney, the 2012 presidential election offered several comical moments as well. Romney’s humorous comments regard-ing his love for Big Bird and nationally funded

1) 2012 Summer OlympicsOlympic comedy was highlighted by the snap-shot of American gymnast Mckayla Maroney’s “unimpressed” face.

2) Gangnam StyleThis international hit song gained comedic re-nown for the music video that accompanies the song.

3) John CarterAiring on March 9, 2012, this film was consid-ered Disney’s biggest film failure of the year.

media as well as his “ bind-ers full of women”, referring to the numerous females he worked with while at Massachusetts, were well-wdocumented. An exchange between the two candidates at a debate also added to the fun.

5) Exactly one week from now, the world supposedly will end. I guess we’ll see how that goes.

Photo: Karthik M

ayilNovember 2012| 15

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CLUB SPOTLIGHT:GARDENING CLUB

CLUB SPOTLIGHT:CREATIVE CYCLING CLUB

CLUB SPOTLIGHT:

CLUB ULTIMATE

PHOTOS 21.3PHOTOS BY KARTHIK

M. AND KELSEY W.