Fourth annual marathon launches with a spirited start
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Band, orchestra travel to Indy for state finals
By Meghan Poff
This Saturday, in Indianapolis, the band will travel to Lawrence Central High School and the orchestra to Pike HIgh School to compete in the Indiana State School Music Association finals.
The band competes with 15 of the best bands in Indiana, while the orchestra competes with seven other orchestras.
Orchestra director Doug Elmore had a lot to say about qualifying for the state finals for their 23rd time.
“[The orchestra performed] magnificently at qualifiers. They performed at or above how they’ve rehearsed previously. The Shostakovich was the best it has ever been,” he said.
Elmore said, “There are still some small pitch and articulation issues in the Shostakovich and balance and tempo issues in the Mussorgsky.”
Senior Scarlet Martin reflected on her last state finals appearance. “It’s bittersweet because I enjoy it (orchestra) but I’m also glad to be leaving high school”
She expressed excitement over the performance time the orchestra drew. This year the orchestra performs fifth instead of first, meaning that they will not only have just their fan base in the crowd but members of other orchestras and strangers in the crowd to hear them play.
Sophomore Gus McRae is optimistic about the band performance this Saturday, where spectators can hear music such as “Geometric Dances” by Richard Meyer and “Music for Prague” by Karel Husa.
“We did marvelously at the qualifiers and I think our talent will carry us through to the finals.”
McRae also noted that improvements must be made in order to do their best. “We need to focus more and pay attention to Mr. Yankey. Our playing is great, but there are some places in all of our pieces individually that we know we have to get right, so we need to practice and make it happen.”
Spirit Week: Hawaiian Day
By Gwen Galeza, Jared Murray and Claire DeFrancisci
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNHrBylSIJQ&list=UUO6LRm4YJnFVyXZi75yiWbA&index=1&feature=plcp]
Popular book fails to transition to big screen
By Meghan Poff
*long pause and sigh*
Yet another well written novel ruined by Hollywood and marketing hype.
I hate to have to be the Debbie Downer since everyone else I know loved the movie, but then again most of those people didn’t even read the book and if they did, they read on such a surface level that they didn’t even comprehend the theme of it.
Let me start by pointing out that we know we have seen a truly disappointing movie when we leave the theater with the only plus side being the attractiveness of the actors. On that note, I feel an excellent job was done casting Liam Hemsworth as Gale. But as I said, this is not the point.
I feel the greatest fault of The Hunger Games was Hollywood’s need to make money from it, which is not surprising but a setback nonetheless. I know violence was not a major theme of the film, but it was important to show because that is the reality of the story. The movie could have easily obtained an R-rating, but that wouldn’t have drawn as many target audience viewers to theaters so therefore, we get a watered-down, 10-year-old appropriate version of the story. Which, excuse my adjective use, was incredibly lame.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I certainly didn’t pay nine dollars for a movie ticket to see 20 minutes of Katniss sleeping in various trees.
Another fault of the filmmakers was using the tired camera style of shaking the camera around and switching back and forth between different cameras quickly to make the scene look action packed. The reality is the only thing I got from the spectacle was a headache, and had completely missed the scene because I had to avert my eyes. Shout out to director Gary Ross for making that call.
Despite everything else, I must give credit where credit is due. An excellent job was done with the scenery and costuming. Whenever I read a book, I always get an image in my head of what I think the setting and characters should look like, and the movie literally took the pictures out of my mind and put them on the screen. So at least that was adequate.
But probably the main reason I stayed in the theater the full two and a half hours, a ridiculous amount of time even for a good movie, was the fact that I had already paid for the ticket. And only because I’m cheap.
In all my hypocrisy though, I probably will go see the other two movies when they come out in theaters just because I am already committed to the series. Nothing else.
So really, what I’m trying to say is that you will love The Hunger Games if you also love the Twilight series and/or the Justin Bieber movie.
What more needs to be said?
Students’ words do little for troubled
By Meghan Poff 
In light of recent events, I’d find it correct to say there has been a sharp increase in the number of political/peace activist experts in the Floyd County area. It is almost meritorious how quickly local students seem to have caught world peace fever.
(*insert sarcasm here)
It all started last week when the tornado hit Henryville. The town, almost never before acknowledged by the students of our school, was suddenly thrust into the spotlight by the destruction that occurred there. Suddenly, it seemed that the only decently human thing to do would be to volunteer their time.
And apparently, the best way to help out Henryville was to get it trending on Twitter. I am not trying to insinuate that feeling sympathy for tornado victims is a bad thing, but I’m sure the people would appreciate a couple hours of cleaning up over “Omg this is so horrible #HelpHenryville.”
Yes indeed, Henryville was the talk of the town for about three whole days, until Kony arrived.
As we all know, knowledge of turmoil in Africa could never really exist in the minds of high school students until it was circulated on Facebook. But I must say I’m surprised at the number of people who had the attention span long enough to watch the 30-minute video, because you sure have never read a book for that long.
And if one is able to watch a video about troubles in Africa, then nothing is to stop them from becoming a diplomatic expert on the subject.
“Like, can you believe this Kony guy? Forreal though, the army needs to stop all this #AmericaIsDumb.”
How intelligent.
Though for many, problems abroad took a back seat to the troubles still occurring in Henryville. During the tornado, a mother, Reese Decker, lost her legs protecting her child. The hashtag #GiveReeseHope is an effort to get singer Justin Bieber to come meet the little girl.
Let me make sure I understand. Because Reese’s mom lost her legs, this girl for some reason needs to meet Justin Bieber? Hmmm, maybe if we really wanted to give Reese hope, people could donate money to help her mother with hospital bills. But that is just me being crazy.
When it comes to causes, there is nothing more important than positivity and enthusiasm, things that the members of our community are not lacking. But perhaps, we could double the impact of our good intentions by being a little informed about the issues we claim to care so deeply about. And as they say, actions speak louder than words. Try to get out of the virtual world to make a difference because frankly, a tweet or a status is not helping anybody.