Tag Archives: meghan poff

A&E

Van Halen album fails to live up to rock legacy

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By Meghan Poff

With 11 studio albums over the course of more than 30 years, Van Halen is back with their twelth and latest album A Different Kind of Truth. It is the band’s first album released in 14 years and the first since reuniting with lead singer David Lee Roth.

This was also the album debut of Wolfgang Van Halen on the bass with backup vocals. The 18-year-old son of guitarist Eddie Van Halen, Wolfgang, surprisingly held his own in the group of veteran rockers.

A Different Kind of Truth kicks off with their single “Tattoo,” which was a good choice on the part of Van Halen. Shooting up to the number one rock song in the U.S. the day after it was released to iTunes,”Tattoo” reminds me of the Van Halen of the ‘80s with its upbeat guitar and pounding drums.

Another song for lovers of the old Van Halen is “Chinatown,” which kicks off with an awesome guitar riff by Eddie Van Halen. As usual, the lyrics are not the best, there is a lot of “Oh yeah,” “Woah-oh,” and various other noises from David Lee Roth, but Van Halen has never been known for their profound songwriting.

Perhaps the only other redeeming songs on the album are “You and Your Blues” and “Blood and Fire.” You and Your Blues,” probably the only song with lyrics that have actual meaning, is about getting away from a woman that is bringing them down, but they sing about it in a surprisingly upbeat way.

At first “Blood and Fire” seemed to be a ballad, but then Eddie picks it up with the guitar and it turns out being a good song to listen to when you are feeling down.

Unfortunately that is the only thing one has to look forward to when listening to this album. After “Blood and Fire” is just song after song that starts off solid but then fades once the singing begins. In “Honeybabysweetiedoll,” David Lee Roth even appears to be rapping the lyrics after a cool techno-guitar beginning, completely ruining the song.

“Stay Frosty” sound all too familiar, almost exactly like the band’s earlier hit “Ice Cream Man.” Acoustic guitar, low, whispery singing, and Frosty and Ice Cream are pretty similar too. It’s not a bad song, it just sounds like a repeat.

And just as “Tattoo” was the perfect song to kick off the album, “Beats Workin“ definitely not the best way to end it. There was a recurring theme throughout the second half of the album. Strong beginnings, weak middles and endings, and similar sounding melodies. “Beats Workin” was no exception. Not a song to play on repeat.

Overall, A Different Kind of Truth was disappointing. After 12 albums, they should have run out of material and just stop and continue to play their classics when they go on tour. For all Van Halen fans, I would suggest you take a couple songs off iTunes, but otherwise pretend this album was never made.

For those who want to listen to some legitimate Van Halen featuring David Lee Roth, I suggest listening to the following albums:

Van Halen

Van Halen II

1984

Eli Bolus, News

Online registration to take effect today as students register for next year

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By Eli Bolus and Meghan Poff 

Class registration for next year’s courses will be an online ordeal.  The change is not only to cut down on paperwork, but to prepare students for online college class registration.

The registration will be done through INOW and information will be given at a presentation in English classes over the next several days depending on grade.

At the presentation, students will receive a packet with their INOW login information and a set of step-by-step instructions showing students how to register for classes.

Once students have made their class decisions, they can log onto INOW anytime and register for their classes.

Counselor Mark Clark said that it would be preferable if students could register within a week of receiving their information since the counselors have so many schedules to approve.

Clark said the online registration will greatly cut down on work students have to do, but will actually increase the work of counselors because of the “double-checking” they will have to do.

Clark also said as long as students put course numbers in correctly, the transition will be smooth and will cut down on the number of schedule changes.

With the new registration system, students will be able to identify and correct schedule mistakes earlier than in recent years, he said.

Counselors will be available in the spine at lunch next week to answer questions that students have.

Readers who have something to say about the online registration process can post comments below.

Columns, Forum

Bucket list gets nixed due to negative effects

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By Meghan Poff

By Summer Haynes

I bet you thought I was going to write about something on my bucket list.

Well you are wrong.

I know. That was a game changer. I like to be spontaneous sometimes.

But you know, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I do not want to do this bucket list. I thought it would be a good idea at first, make me more “outrageous”.

I am just too awkward to be reckless. Plus, the awkwardness is part of my appeal.

It is kind of killing my writing. Honestly, roasting on myself 24/7 takes a lot of work.  And I think my negative lifestyle is starting to have an effect on my self-esteem, so it’s pretty much lighten up, or start  therapy.

Being personable is less effort. So here it is, The Meghan Poff Bucket List for a More Satisfactory Existence.

Woah….That was so cliché, I should make it my Facebook status. As corny as they are, the reason that stuff gets so many likes, is because it’s true. I think I spend a too much time being cynical on social networking sites. I need to lighten up.

These are the best years of my life; I want to say I was the best and happiest person I could be. I can’t become bitter until I’m at least 79 so that leaves me about 64 years to enjoy, starting now.

……. ^What just happened?

I think that was my conscience talking.

Columns, Forum

Columnist criticizes Facebook

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By Meghan Poff

I'm Just Saying

Dear Mark Zuckerburg,

You owe me big time. If you ever want to make it up to me, just send a nice check to my therapist. But I bet she doesn’t like you either. Because of you, every Monday, Thursday and Saturday from 3- 4:30 p.m., she has had to listen to me talk about how much I hate Facebook.

Don’t be too hard on yourself though. You had a really good idea, in your head. You just forgot to take some important variables into account.

  1. People think that others care about what they have to say.
  2. People don’t care about what others have to say.
  3. People think what they have to say is important to others.
  4. People could not care less about what is important to others.

However, it is not too late to save Facebook. Just take my advice, please I am begging you, and your website just might come back from MySpace level.

  1. The Dislike button- The like button only looks really successful because of the fact that there is no dislike button. Because only about 1 out of every 10 times do I actually like a status, and this does not account for the other 9 times that I do not like a status. (*The dislike button can also apply to relationship statuses)
  2. Take away people’s ability to say where they are and who they are with- Because, well, no one cares.
  3. Automatically make wall posts between couples private- As to avoid that awkward moment when you throw up your breakfast after seeing “Yay it’s our two day anniversary! I love you baby!”
  4. Automatic spell-check statuses- Sometimes I get confused when I see, “weekend wuz wy 2 fast dont wanna go 2 skwl tommrw.” Similarly, I almost forget what language I am supposed to be speaking when I see, “mE n D@RReLL b LighTin sHizz ^ in d@ cLUb.”
  5. Tell annoying girls to stop talking about their feelings and go PMS elsewhere- I have had enough of all this, “I’m tired of getting my heart broken by someone that never cared about me.” and “Guys need to know how to treat a lady right. Smh.” I have added up the figures, and by my calculations, there is a reason you are single.

I have re-read all of my key points, and I really do not think any of them are that unrealistic, so if you could make this happen for me, that would be nice. I feel like a lot of people could really benefit from these changes but mostly I feel like if you do this, I might be able to lean off of my anger management medication a bit.

Please and Thank You,

Meghan Poff

Columns, Forum

Sarcasm sabbatical

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By Meghan Poff

Graphic by Chase Palmer

One week:  no sarcasm.

It really shouldn’t have been so problematic for me.

As sarcasm is practically my native tongue, I could see how this could create a language barrier between me and my peers. But I didn’t think it would be that difficult. And after all, it would create the opportunity for me to see life from a more optimistic point of view.

And of course, I had the support of my friends.

Friend: “Meghan this is such a joke. I do not even know why you are wasting your time. You are just too mean of a person to not be sarcastic.”

But I proceeded to, “waste my time” anyway. And what I came to find after one week, is that everyone is a downer.

To enable myself to pass through the week without a cynical remark passing my lips, I concurred that I would drown my cruel remarks with enthusiasm and forced zeal.  As a person that has been labeled as a “Debby downer” and a “Negative Nelly”, I assumed that my positive change in attitude would be a pleasant surprise to everyone at school.

Naturally, I assumed wrong.

Day 1:

Me: “Good morning Baylea! It’s nice to see you today!”

Baylea: “I’m going to pretend like you didn’t just say that.” (*Turns away)

Day 2:

Nick: “Get out of my way. You are blocking my locker.”

Me: “Oh sorry Nick, I feel really bad. I’m always in your guys’ way. I’ll try to not be so intrusive.”

Nick: “Shut up.” (*Walks off)

Day 3:

Me: “Hey Tyler. You look nice today.”

Tyler: “You know, I am getting pretty tired of this no sarcasm thing. It is really annoying.  Don’t talk to me until the week is over.” (*Leaves)

So by the week’s end, I went home with a broken self-esteem, a bruised ego, and a declining faith in human kindness.  My mom told me to stop complaining and take an Advil.

So with one item on my bucket list done, there is only one moral to the story.

People are mean.