Hawk Talk Volume 6 | Issue 1| December 23, 2011
G o r d o n
G r a y d o n ’ s
S c h o o l
N e w s p a p e r
In This Issue:
7 Billionth Baby!
Top Facebook Trends
Cafeteria Food, Like it?
My Little Bronies?
The Science of Comedy
Win a $20 Gift Card (See Page 7)
The 7 Billionth Baby
Hawk Talk - December 2011
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By: Shamit Singh
The world has conqured another great milestone! On Monday October 31st, 2011 the world’s population reached Seven Billion people. Although, it is hard to be 100% accurate about this, the United Nations declared the 31st as a symbolic day for this milestone. It has also designated the honor of the seven billionth baby to Danica May Camacho who was born in the Philippines at 11:58, two minutes before midnight Sunday, but doctors decided that it was close enough to count for a Monday birthday. This news gives many cause to celebrate - but it also raises many concerns. How will our infrastructures support a population of seven billion? How will we supply seven billion people with clean water? This is just one of many shortages we will face if our population continues to grow at this rate. Many demographers fear that at this rate the world will be flushed out of resources and will soon start to deteriorate and fall apart. Right now it’s just a theory, but how can we prevent this from becoming a reality? It starts with one individual doing their part to keep the world a great place to live in. What will you do and how far will you go for your planet?
The NBA Lockout... Done! By: Natesh Kukreja
The wait is finally over! After 146 days of waiting and rejected deals, NBA players and the league have finally made a deal that everyone can agree on. What does this mean though? It means that the NBA season of 2011-2012 is running and it is going to start on Christmas day with three games which will include the Chicago Bulls VS the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics VS New York Knicks and Miami Heat VS the Dallas Mavericks. Although, this also means that the number of games each team will play will be shortened to 66 games, instead of the normal 82.
FIFA Club World Cup
World and Sports
By: Tasnim Alam
It’s that time of year again…FIFA Club World Cup! After the cup being held in the UAE for the past two years, FIFA President Sepp Blatter, announced that Japan would hold the eighth edition of the competition for the fifth time from Dec. 8 th-18th. This tournament is an annual soccer competition between champion clubs of each continent and the host. These clubs qualify by winning their own continental cup. This year saw a group of newbie’s like Al-Sadd of Qatar, Monterrey of Mexico, Santos of Brazil, Esperance of Tunisia, and Kashiwa Reysol of Japan. FC Barcelona of Spain and Auckland City FC of New Zealand, however, have qualified for their third time. When Kashiwa Reysol and Al-Sadd both lost to Santos and Barcelona respectively at semis, the finals seemed to be one of the most anticipated matches of the year. But Santos fans had to swallow their tears when it was Barcelona who took the cup again and dedicated it to Villa, Afellay and Tito. Barcelona and Santos were given byes to the semi-finals making them the only teams ensured a spot in the finals upon winning their first game. With the rich history and players of both Santos and Barcelona, the buzz of a possible match between the two could be heard internationally. Barcelona was, as usual, among favourites seeing as they have current FIFA World’s Best Player, Lionel Messi, along with half the Spanish Team that won the World Cup, including Iniesta who scored that winning goal. Many celebrities can frequently be seen sporting their Culé pride like Justin Bieber, but then again, that kid also wears Real Madrid’s jersey (:/). Santos FC was another favourite since they had young players like Neymar, Ganso and Danilo. 19-year-old Neymar, being Pelé’s protégé, is a hot topic in the soccer world and his appetite for drama further attracts international media. In the end, Barcalona won 4-0.
Hawk Talk - December 2011
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Cafeteria Food, Like it? or Hate it? By: Mohib Iqtidar
Deep-fried fries, potato chips, jumbo cookies, isn’t that all “sooo last year?” But should it be? Starting for the 2011 school year Graydon’s cafeteria has removed its line of “unhealthy” foods and introduced a new variety of “healthy” food. It’s not a surprise that students of GGMSS prefer the cafeteria food from last year over this year’s alternative of healthier foods. One student had to say, “I hate the new cafeteria food, if I wanted to eat healthy, I could just bring lunch from home.” Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that the school is encouraging students to eat healthier and change their eating habits, but if the plan is not working, should they continue to carry out the same strategy? One cafeteria worker had to say, “Students come in asking for the jumbo cookies and food from last year’s menu and when they don’t find it, they often end up not purchasing anything at all.” As much as we all try to hide it, every high school student needs their fix of unhealthy foods once in a while. If the cafeteria does not provide them with it, then they will simply purchase the food from sources off school property. So is the new cafeteria healthy food really helping students or simply decreasing the sales of cafeteria food? You decide.
Go Green Tips! By: Neha Lobana
Avoid using bottled water: Bring your own water bottle made out of aluminium instead of plastic. This will help prevent generating large amounts of container waste.
School Life & Opinion
Keep electronics out of the trash: If you need to throw out one of your electronics, be sure to donate or recycle them. All electronic waste contains mercury along with other toxins. Double Up: We've all had those times where we had to print out seven or more pages of notes for a specific class. Next time your teacher asks you to print notes, be sure to double side your notes! Save Paper - Save Trees. Put it to sleep: If you know you're going to be away from your computer for more than 10 minutes, be sure to either put your computer onto "sleep mode" or just shut the monitor off BYOB: Whenever you go grocery shopping, instead of buying a paper or plastic bags, do your conscience and your planet a favour and bring your very own recyclable bags.
NBA Lockout 7 Billionth Baby FIFA World Cup New Caffeteria Food Go Green Tips Designer of the Month
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WiFi In Schools Good or Bad? By: Saman S
At first glance, Wi-Fi seems to be the best invention possible. You can easily access the internet and in a matter of seconds. I agree, its a great piece of technology but should it be available in schools? I believe schools should not be Wi-Fi because it is distracting for students, it is an easily accessible tool for cheating and mainly, because it might produce harmful radiation. Firstly, keeping Wi-Fi in schools can lower students’ marks as students might be on their phones/iPods during class. This might make it tough for the teacher to teach a class when the students are distracted on their devices surfing the web. Secondly, when tests are happening in the school, students may use the Wi-Fi system to get answers from the web. The student may not be able to resist the temptation and will end up using the internet to cheat. Lastly, Health Canada states that Wi-Fi is safe in schools but 3% of Canada’s population is experiencing severe irritations such as nausea, rashes and racing heartbeats due to Wi-Fi radiations. Are we to forget about the needs of that 3% population just because it is a small number?
Grammy Nomination Top Facebook Topics World Cup My Little Bronies The Science of Comedy Star Wars Review
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Entertainment
Hawk Talk - December 2011
Designer of the Month By: Neha Lobana
Born in 1938, the talented designer who was born to an extremely wealthy family, travelled to Paris in 1952 in order to pursue his dream of becoming a fashion designer. After working for Pierre Balmain and the House of Patou, Lagerfeld landed a position at Chloe in 1959 which lasted untill 1978, where he started designing furs for Fendi and even launched his very own company called Parfums Lagerfeld. From the years of 1978 until 1982, Lagerfeld took on an independent role where he began designing haute couture at the House of Chanel. Two years later, Karl Lagerfeld launched his own name label “Karl Lagerfeld” which he said would channel “intellectual sexiness”. While on his way to becoming a well known fashion designer, Karl Lagerfeld got his first taste of fame by releasing a diet book called “The Karl Lagerfeld Diet” After losing 90 pounds, the designer revealed in his book that the secret to diet included eating tuna and blackberry mousse. Within the last few years, Lagerfeld has designed two footwear lines for the Italian label named Hogan, designed Lily Allen’s wedding dress, launched his own collection of delicate glassware with the Swedish company, Orrefors, and just this past summer, Lagerfeld created a capsule collection for the department store Macy’s. To this day, Lagerfeld continues to work for Chanel. One of his many notable achievements, was recieving the Gordon Parks Foundation Award in recognition of his work as a filmmaker, photographer and designer.
Top Topics on Facebook
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Grammy Nominations By: Neha Lobana
Many of you know that the Grammys are taking place on February 13th 2012, but just who exactly was nominated and more importantly, are any of our fellow Canadian singers nominated? To begin, the British singer Adele has earned nods for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album as well as Best Pop Solo Performance. Next in line was Kanye West who has been nominated for both his solo work and collaborations. In particular, Kanye's collab with Jay Z is being put up against popular artists such as Nicki Minaj and Drake for having the best rap performance. Also, Rihanna who has been nominated for Best Pop Album, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and Best Rap song is also competing against Lady Gaga and Adele for Album of the Year. Although Drake released his Take Care too late for the Grammy nominations, the Toronto based rapper still received three nominations, two within the best rap/sung collaboration category and the third for his collaboration with Nicki Minaj in their song “Moment 4 Life”. And to top it all off, Canada's very own Deadmau5 was also nominated for best dance album!
Last Year’s Winners! RECORD OF THE YEAR Need You Now - Lady Antebellum ALBUM OF THE YEAR "The Suburbs, - Arcade Fire
Hawk Talk - December 2011
Music of 2011 By: Rahul Mannapperuma
No, this is not a 'BEST OF-' list, as a matter of fact, I hate lists. There’s simply too much good music to try and narrow down. What this is, is a review of a few albums that came out this year that are great on their own and are standouts in whatever genre(s) they are from. Cheers to a great year in music and here's to another great one. Enjoy! Frank Ocean – Nostalgia, Ultra While I was not completely oblivious to OFWGKTA and their antics, Frank Ocean's 'Nostalgia Ultra' probably caught a lot of people off guard after getting used to the usual Odd Future related albums. Frank Ocean, also known as Christopher Breaux, a songwriter for Justin Bieber, John Legend and Brandy over the past few years managed to put out an album/mixtape that took me by surprise and was definitely a highlight in many hip hop and indie circles. To sum it up, "Nostalgia, Ultra" is a breakthrough album for Ocean and any fan of hip hop/R&B should make this album a must listen. M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming I don't know how to put into words what M83 sounds like... It would seem as though you were transported into a world where time and space had no impact on sound you were hearing. M83 is a one man 'Electronica' project that spreads through numerous sub-genres, and creates music that’s synonymous with human emotion. What to expect? Expect to experience everything from Beauty to nostalgia, it might sound weird but give it a listen and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. The Black Keys - El Camino I truly don't think an introduction is necessary for this band, the very name Black Keys has become a household name for many. After last year’s Brothers LP that was easily one of the highlights of the year, The Black Keys follow up with EL Camino. While Brothers was a modern testament to blues rock and the song writing master that is Dan Auerbach, El Camino brings along a much more laid back "garage" Black Keys that sound like they just came out of a 50 year old juke box. The album is definitely one of the most fun records of the year and is a refreshing reminder of what rock n' roll is. Check this out, it'll have you dancing along to it in no time.
Entertainment
Big KRIT - Returnof4eva While there have been many highlights in 2011 inhip hop, including the massive 'Watch the Throne', 'Take Care' or even 'Cole World' the one that stood out for me the most and felt the most overlooked was Big KRIT's Returnof4eva. While I've always been a fan of the southern rap game, Big Krit always seemed to be one of the underground rappers that stood out amongst the scene. Returnof4eva is a solid hip hop album that effectively balances a mix of Big KRIT's laid back rhymes and southern west coast beats. If you haven't had a chance, give it a listen. It's something special. Vektor - Outer Isolation Vektor is probably one of the most underrated bands in the world at the moment. Vektor is a thrash metal outfit that combines elements of black and progressive into the mix effectively to end up with a sound that is original and ear-crushing. After 2009's Black Future release, I can honestly say that this was probably one of my most anticipated albums to come out this year. While Black Future undoubtedly put Vektor on the map as a band with great potential, many people including myself, were skeptical if they would be able to live up to the expectations after their first album that took the thrash scene by storm. Outer Isolation does that and more. Vektor seems to be able to put out more and more quality stuff as time goes on and they're sounding even tighter on this album. This album is definitely one of the highlights of 2011. Honourable Mentions • Das Racist – Relax Bon Iver – Bon Iver • Kanye West & Jayz – Watch The Throne • Skeletonwitch – Forever Abomination • Onra-Chinoiseries II • J.Cole –Cole World
• Adele-21 • Blood Ceremony – Living With the ancients • Araabmuzik – Electronic Dream • Arctic Monkeys, 'Suck It And See'
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My Little Bronies, What? Why is it Popular?
Hawk Talk - December 2011
By: Leah Skinner
You’ve probably heard the theme song before, “My Little Pony, My Little Pony…” and you probably know that the target market for these toys are little girls aged 0-6, then how come it’s so popular with males (and females) aged 14 and older? Now, I’m going to assume that a fair bit of the readers will have no idea what I’m talking about and will be flabbergasted by this news. Boys? Watching My Little Pony? Why? First off, we’re going to need a bit of a background story. My Little Pony has been around for decades as a toy for young girls. In the 80’s Hasbro used the trick of making a cartoon show about the toy, in order to sell more units (the same marketing tactic was used for toys like Care Bears and Transformers). The original show was… mediocre at best. It was mainly about girl ponies who loved pink and were oh-so happy, who were always trying to get together with the colts (boy ponies). It was very cheesy and the scenarios they were faced with weren’t that engaging either. In the early 2000’s, Hasbro tried to boot it up again, and again, and again. The animation on all of these shows was really bad, the voice acting and writing were deplorable, and it was all just fluff made to sell more toys. Just as the world had sort of given up on My Little Pony as a relevant part of a girl’s toy arsenal, Lauren Faust took over the project, and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was born. Just to explain, Lauren Faust helped create The Power Puff Girls, and created Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends with her husband, and has quite a good track record for her writing, artistic and animating abilities. Lauren Faust gave the show interesting characters, interesting storylines, and fantastic animation and colours. She was inspired to make a show with more exciting adventures for the little fillies to go on, and to incorporate friendship with a more fun and interesting point of view. The new main characters of My Little Pony: FiM are Twilight Sparkle (the intellect), Rainbow Dash (the awesome one), Rarity (the gorgeous one), Applejack (the country pony), Pinkie Pie (the party pony), and last but not least Fluttershy (the animal loving pony). There are the main basics, now onto the explanation!
Opinion
The term, “Brony” or, “Bronies” refers to the /b/ thread on the internet forum site 4Chan. The /b/ thread was dedicated to the Ponies, and image macros and GIFs featuring Characters from the show were all over it. Terms like, “Brohoof”, “Parasprites”, “Imma love and tolerate the (bleep) outta you”, and “everypony” all stemmed from the show, and subsequently the thread. Of course, we’re talking about 4Chan here, so a hate group against these bronies and all things pony was formed. Because of this, people started getting banned by forum moderators because of posting any pony related articles. Hence the term, “The mods are asleep, POST PONIES”. The internet is stubborn however, so the /b/ronies decided to start up numerous different pony loving sites such as Equestria Daily (named after the world in which the show takes place), and PonyChan. Many YouTubers and Deviants (DeviantArt) have made their own contributions to the fandom of My Little Pony: FiM, such as a game for creating your own pony, many different remixes of songs from the show (some of them I have on my mp3 player!), and even their own animations featuring minor characters from the show that fans gave their own names to, such as Derpy Hooves and Dr. Hooves. Derpy came about because in the background of one of the episodes, her pupils were both pointing in different directions. This was apparently because of an animation error, but bronies loved her. Dr. Hooves looks like Dr. Who. In the mainstream media, people have taken a quick look at Bronies, but probably the most loved by the community was a shoutout done on the August 1st 2011 episode of the Colbert Report. At the beginning of the show Stephen said, "I wanna give a big shoutout, here, out there, to all my bronies who may be watching." Some people cast a sore eye at the My Little Pony phenomenon, thinking that their intentions are based on drugs or a sort of fetish, but the majority of Bronies don’t even think about that. Now, a question a lot of you might be asking is, “Why?” Well, that’s a tricky question to answer, but I’ll give my opinion on the matter, being a brony myself. I love this show because I love the writing and the characters. Watching it gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside and reminds me how great friends can be. As a film and animation geek, I love the art and animation style of the show. I love the music, and I love the different dynamics between the characters and the tongue and cheek humour it delivers. Fluttershy is adorable, Pinkie Pie is so random, Twilight Sparkle is such a geek, Applejack is just a dear, Rarity is such a drama queen (in a good way), and Rainbow Dash is just awesome. The show was not made just to make money; the show was made to expand the imagination of the young , or that of the young at heart. I hope this article has made your day at least 20% cooler.
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The Science of Comedy
Hawk Talk - December 2011
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By: Leah Skinner
“Laughter is the best medicine” Whoever said that obviously never had bronchitis, laughing is like death and it definitely does not make you feel better. However it does bring up the subject, people like laughing, and certain people prefer certain types of laughs. Whatever do I mean? Let’s take a look see at different kinds of comedy. One kind of humour that has taken the internet by storm is most notably schadenfreude, that nice feeling you get while watching someone else fail. Think about how many videos have become popular on YouTube involving people being hurt or humiliated. We find it funny! Some people don’t think it’s their cup of tea, and would prefer an Earl Grey or Orange Pekoe instead, because they think it’s too crass, but if Miss Teen South Carolina has taught us anything, they are sorely mistaken. Many youtubers, and even TV shows have exploited the love of this humour for quite a while now such as America’s Funniest Home Videos, Cute Win Fail by Tobuscus, and Tosh.0, just to name a few. Some people will also relate this sort of humour to irony, and enjoying seeing people contradict themselves or just make no sense. Many satirical news shows do this, such as The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and The Rick Mercer Report. A popular target for this sort of comedy is the Fox News channel because of its right wing bias (which has even been admitted by anchors of the show, saying they balance the system by “giving the other side”). Another kind of comedy I like to describe as the, “That’s so true!” comedy, because of how people will usually react to these kind of stories. For example, remember that little quip I made at the beginning of this article about how laughter is the best medicine- unless you have bronchitis? I tested my joke by showing it to a few different people, and I got the reaction I was expecting: “OMG that’s so true!” One of my favourite kinds of comedy, this phenomenon is used by stand-up comics a lot when showing their funny. They will give their view on life, and present a different point of view for the audience in a comical way, and it’s funny because it’s true. Many different shows will do this sort of thing; a few are ones that I have already listed. A couple of my favourite examples of this is during Ricky Gervais’ stand up tour, he read a picture book version of the story, Noah’s Ark from The Bible. The way he analyzed it and pointed out all of the faults in the story and the illustrations of the book itself, was just insanely funny.
Entertainment
And then there is “Random” comedy. Usually this will take place with sketch shows or kids cartoons, but if you’ve ever been laughing and said, “That’s so random!” then you know it’s real. Shows like SCTV, Kids in The Hall, and Picnicface will use this sort of comedy to the fullest. The problem with random comedy however, is that it’s very hit or miss. Some sketches will be funny, and some will just be weird. Improv comedy also has this risk, and could also be labelled as Random comedy. Whose Line is it Anyway was very good at this, and The Second City comedy club downtown Toronto is also revered for its improv talent. A simple example of random comedy can be seen in the internet short done by Picnicface on YouTube called “Powerthirst”. It’s a fake infomercial that is just silly and really funny. Random comedy requires a certain atmosphere, and it’s not what everybody likes, however it’s a viable sort of comedy that many enjoy.
Funnies Why did Santa spell Christmas N-O-E? [Because the elf had said,"No L!"] What do elves learn in school? [The Elf-abet!] What do you call people who are afraid of Santa Claus? - Claustrophobic! What did the grape say when the elephant stepped on it? Nothing. It just let out a little wine.
Judge: "What are you charged with?" Prisoner: "Doing my Christmas shopping early." Judge: "That's not an offense. How early were you doing this shopping?" Prisoner: "Before the store opened."
Hawk Talk - December 2011
Star Wars: The Old Republic in Review (SWTOR) By: Leah Skinner
Star Wars: The Old Republic came out on the 20th, and in case you haven’t heard, it’s pretty awesome. I was able to play the beta when it came out, and I love every bit of it. SWTOR is an MMORPG (Massively Multyplayer Online Role Playing Game), like WoW, and it takes place in the Star Wars universe (duh) over three thousand years before the movie timeline started (the rise of Darth Vader’s rule over the empire) after a violent war between The Republic and The Empire. The Republic assumed the Sith to be extinct nonetheless, the Jedi Order kept watch over the SithhomeworldKorriban. Then the Empire struck back (pun intended) and attacked the Republic with a surprise attack to the Republic ruled planet of Alderaan, that brought the Jedi Officials on that world to their knees. Now the tension between the two is at its breaking point, and a war is everything but inevitable. At the beginning of your playing experience you can choose to be either part of The Republic (the good guys) or The Empire (the bad guys). Then you choose your race: Humans, Rattattaki, Mirialan, Twi’lek, Miraluka, Chiss, Cyborg, Sith Pureblood, or Zabrak (some races are only available for certain factions). Next up you choose your class, for The Republic the choices are: Trooper, Smuggler, Jedi Knight, and Jedi Consular. For The Empire the choices are: Bounty Hunter, Sith Warrior, Imperial Agent, Sith Inquisitor. Humans and Zabrak can pick any class they want to, but other races are restricted with their choices. Each class has its own storyline that changes with decisions that your character makes in different quests along the way. Then you get to customize the way your character looks, which is filled with options, and the character modeling is fantastic. I was only able to give the very basic basics of the game, which should show how complex the game is, the gameplay is fun and engaging and if you like MMORPGs and have an interest in Star Wars, then you’ll love this game. • • • •
The game is made by BioWare, the same people who created the Mass Effect games that have been admired for their complex writing and engaging storyline Star Wars: The Old Republic has a rumoured cost of $135 million dollars to create, possibly making it one of the most expensive games ever produced Every single cutscene is voice acted and animated, and offers different dialogue branches for each, it’s not as annoying as it sounds and is actually very well done The game is only available on Windows OS systems
WIN A $20 Gift Card! Answer the following questions based on the articles for a chance to win a $20 Square One Gift Card, Redeemable at any store in Square One! What country was the seven billionth baby born in according the UN? (Page 1)
Name one NBA team that will be playing on Christmas Day: (Page 1)
Hawk Talk
What does Karl Lagenfield eat to lose weight? (Page 3)
Name one Grammy Nominee for the best Pop Album? (Page 3)
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